Bill's Focus

And a recipe for sanity

It is getting really dark in America. The US military is patrolling our nation’s capital – purefully for performative political purposes. A US president hosted (with a red carpet welcome) an indicted War Criminal head of state on US soil – a murdering thug who has an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. A US president is commanding a state to redistrict (“get me 5 more MAGA House Reps”) because he is worried about our midterm elections. A terrified president wants to eliminate “mail in voting and voting machines”. A president is making billions of dollars through a Crypto Con scheme funded by rich foreign investors.

What could go wrong? It’s all a horror show in what used to be the most admired democracy in history. Now we are a cesspool of corruption and incompetence.

In order to maintain my sanity I look for some inspiration, daily escapism and a wee bit of humor.

The hopeful bright side:

The battles over gerrymandering of Congressional districts are disgusting. But they don’t solve the big problems that MAGA Republicans have made worse…and created. We will need to fight hard to win the House back. But two things are true. The political winds are at our backs. The MAGA madness and all the damage it is doing is NOT popular. And gerrymandering has no impact on Senate races. They are statewide contests. I see some surprises for MAGA. Ya can’t do this much bad shit to so many people and expect to be elected.

Josh Turek is running for the Iowa Senate seat currently held by Joni Ernst who is infamous for reminding us that “We are all going to die” when asked about people losing their health care. Josh is an example of what could be the future of a sane and responsible American democracy. Please watch one of the best campaign launch ads I have ever seen.

Fantasy analogy:

We all need some escapist entertainment. I highly recommend the latest installment in the Star Wars anthology. “Andor”. Season 1 was released in 2022. We are about to complete Season 2 – released this year. The parallels between the “Empire” and our current “Kleptocracy” are unmistakable. Watch it on Disney +. “The Revolution Starts Now.”

Artful snark:

This short little clip from South Park is worth a viewing. It gets to the core of how much of America feels right now:

---

Remember. Our message. EDI. Please repeat it. We must be pitbulls. Don’t let it go.
Epstein – Show us the files. What is being hidden?!
Dementia – He wanders on rooftops. He can’t finish a sentence or a thought!
Inflation – It is back. Thanks tariffs!

Leave a comment

Share

Type your email…

Subscribe

Three issues that resonate

I have a a few letters in the hopper. But they aren’t ready. I try to be careful and edit thoroughly. Could be a flaw. Could keep me out of trouble.

In the meantime I just opened this gem from “The Old Curmudgeon”. Jon Margolis is one of my favorite substack authors. This piece is concise and it identifies simply how we are going to take back the Senate and how we are going to turn the tide on this onslaught of authoritarianism. If Congress were to assume it’s rightful place in our government by asserting its Constitutional RESPONSIBILITIES, the Wannabe King could be hobbled. Here is how we “make it so”:

How Democrats Take The Senate

Jon Margolis

Aug 16, 2025

A great many people, a lot of them smarter and more knowledgeable than your humble servant, believe that the future of democracy in the United States will depend on the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections. (If you want to suggest that there will be no elections next year, feel free to do so in the comments, where I can ignore you.)

Most attention so far has been concentrated on the House, where Democrats need only a few more seats to take over the majority. Republican desperation over that very real possibility may be seen in their efforts to further gerrymander not just Texas, but even Indiana and Missouri. (Missouri, you say, wonderment on your face? Yes.) While it may seem like a more daunting task for Democrats to retake the Senate majority—which would mean picking up at least three of the 33 seats up next year—I suggest that the possibility is well within reach.

The first necessity is—as I’m sure you realize—to believe that it can be done. I’m going to show a way. Maybe not the way, but one way. (I do not propose to handicap individual races here.)

The classical reasoning about midterm elections is that they are always a referendum on the president. If that’s true, then next year’s results are already baked in. Trump is well underwater and it’s very, very unlikely that he can resurface in the next 14 months; indeed, it’s much more likely that his numbers will continue to slide. However, there are a goodly number of presumably safe seats on both sides of the aisle, which will make his personal popularity less important than we might think, unless something really important happens; I won’t speculate on what that might be. Still, Trump’s unpopularity sets a tone, and it is one that Democrats should lean on; at least, it provides a grounding for their candidates.

Midterm elections are also characterized as prime opportunities to attack. Democrats need to ride that to a fare-thee-well. Forget all that stuff about good progressive values to make society better. The object—the need—is to win. It’s time to recall George Patton: “No poor, dumb bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You win a war by making the other poor, dumb bastard die for his country.” We are in a war, and it’s important to put every Republican on the defensive and to keep them penned there. If we do that, we’ll show that a lot of the conventional wisdom about the midterms is just plain wrong. So, Democrats need to go on the attack, everywhere, and if they do that the results on November 4, 2026 will look a lot better than the punditocracy thinks today.

The platform should be very simple, so that Democratic candidates can repeat the important points over and over and over again:

1. All Epstein, all the time. “Why hasn’t Senator Claghorn called on the president to order the release of ALL of the Epstein files? What is he afraid of? Does he want to cover up child abuse, or allow others to do so? Even if the courts prevent the release of a few grand jury transcripts, that is absolutely no excuse—none, at all—for holding back the rest of the information. The people of _________ demand to know the whole truth, and they deserve no less. We must remember the victims, and act on their behalf. If Democrats are in the majority in the Senate next year, I pledge to you that starting in January we shall have a full, fair and open investigation to uncover what went on and who was responsible. If that includes Democrats, so be it. I challenge Senator Claghorn to make the same pledge.”

2. Focus on Trump’s mental state: “We all know that the president’s health, especially his mind, is declining. He is often confused. He frequently does not get his facts right, sometimes embarrassingly so. He said, not once but twice, that he was going to Russia to meet Vladimir Putin. As I’m sure you all remember, that meeting was in Alaska, and Alaska is very much part of the United States. Senator Claghorn knows that, or at least I think he does. The fact is that President Trump’s mind is getting weaker and weaker. I’m sure you’ve seen that. Does Senator Claghorn deny it? If he accepts what we all know to be true, what is he doing about it? This is important. The president controls our nuclear weapons. As Trump will tell you every moment, he thinks the president controls just about every important thing in the government. Does Senator Claghorn agree with that? If he does, does he think that so much power should be in the hands of a man whose mind is going downhill, and fast? Now, the 25th Amendment to the Constitution permits a majority of the cabinet to move the president aside if he cannot carry out the duties of his office. Does Senator Claghorn believe that it is time for the Amendment to be used to protect the American people, and to put Donald Trump on the sidelines? If he doesn’t, are there any circumstances, any at all, in which he would agree that it should be used? We deserve to know.”

3. Inflation (virtually certain to rise in the next year): “Senator Claghorn may try to deny it, but we all know that inflation is eating away at your savings—if you have been able to save at all—and making it harder and harder to put food on the table and pay your family’s bills. That inflation has its roots in Trump’s foolish and illegal tariffs, which were never going to be paid for by foreign countries and were always going to be on the backs of the American people. Yet Senator Claghorn has never shown the courage to say out loud that those tariffs are a sales tax paid by ordinary Americans on the necessities they have to buy every week. Oh, government bureaucrats, controlled by Donald Trump, may say that inflation is not so bad, but you and I know that prices are only going up, and we are feeling the pain. Why won’t Senator Claghorn level with the people of _________ and admit that? And what is he going to do about it? Please tell us, Senator, as you ask for votes.”

That is a basic outline of a campaign. It’s not poll-tested and it hasn’t been vetted by any consultant, not just because I can’t afford to pay for such shenanigans, but also because I believe that too much of that—too much triangulating—has had a good deal to do with where we find ourselves today.

Even if you think that I am way off base, I hope you will agree that Democrats need to be on the attack from now to Election Day next year. Oh, and threatening Republican control over the Senate will also help to take over the House.

—

Please tell your congressional representatives, and everyone you know, that Donald Trump is too damaged to remain in the presidency.

—

-86 47-

My concluding thoughts:
1. Inflation (and “Unaffordability” ) should be number one. The impact of tariffs and the Federal government firings have barely begun to impact the typical household.
Unemployment is just beginning to show up in the stats. Food and other expenses are just beginning to worsen. Next shoe to drop? Corporate earnings that will suffer as consumers begin to hold back. Two thirds of the economy is consumer spending.

2. The Epstein issue is easy to keep alive. Why is Maxwell being given preferential treatment? What has she given Trump to achieve new freedoms after being convicted of trafficking in child prostitution?

3. Trump’s decline is far more obvious than Biden’s and certainly ridiculous. He is babbling like an escapee from a lockdown memory unit. He is trying to run the entire world on the fly using information gathered from Fox News. His incompetence and betrayal of basic human values were on display in Alaska. What does Putin have on this guy? Why does an American president smile and welcome a murdering thug – an indicted international criminal – on American soil? Because he is deluded enough to think Putin will give him something. And because it is another distraction from the tragedy of the “Unaffordability/Inflation” issue and the Epstein coverup.

Some may say that taking back the Senate is an unrealistic dream. But keep in mind that “gerrymandering” does not impact Senate elections. Statewide dissatisfaction can deliver some surprising results. More on this soon.

None of these issues are going away. They are growing. They will bury this Fascist Faker.

Thank you Jon Margolis for this strategy and FOCUS.

The Handmaid’s Tale or an Inquisition?

For your Sunday morning reflection. I offer three short clips that are among the great HORRORS of this administration and the Republican efforts to dismantle environmental protections, facilitate a theocracy, and distribute MORE wealth to the ultra rich. First, a short story.

I have shared with you my garden stories. Working the Earth for food at our Community Garden is satisfying on many levels. We get to eat well. We get to share the harvest. Every year I learn something new about various crops. We win some, lose some. I just keep planting. Asparagus, beans, garlic, lettuce, squash and more. Critters and bugs eat some of it. I just keep planting more.

Yesterday I spoke with the mother of a friend who has a plot near ours. She was watering his beautiful plot while he was away on an extended hiking vacation in Canada.
“He told you what happened to him, didn’t he?”
No, what happened?
”He works for the EPA. For two years he has been working on a research paper that was to be included in new legislation. It appeared that the bill was about to pass in Congress. His team at the EPA sent champagne to his home to celebrate.”
That’s great!
”Not really. His whole team was fired. All of them. He was offered a buyout plan that required him to reverse what his two years of research had concluded. He was to lie and get paid as he was being shown the door.”

Welcome to the NEW DARK AGES of America.

Welcome to the AMERICAN TALIBAN.

Enriching the Rich while killing the Poor.

So there you have what Republicans seek. Profits over the protection of our small planet. A nation where women “submit” to men and Christianity is the National Religion. And a country where a handful of people have more wealth than 50% of the rest of us.

This is scientifically stupid. This is morally reprehensible. This is obscene.

and Throw it Harder

Beto O’Rourke is a fighter. Democrats need more fighters. There is no time to lose.
”Democrats need to worry more about getting back into power than being right!”

Beto O’Rourke is calling upon every state to tackle redistricting aggressively. Gerrymandering is an artificial construction of a voting district to benefit a particular party. Both parties have done it. It is wrong.
It is a power struggle we have been losing.

This short video is a good explainer:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/wonkblog/gerrymandering-explained/2016/04/21/e447f5c2-07fe-11e6-bfed-ef65dff5970d_video.html

Republicans have been experts at this effort to disenfranchise voters they don’t like. That’s how we arrived at a House of Representatives that DOES NOT represent the views of a large majority of Americans. Otherwise, how could a Congress pass an unpopular bill that butchers programs that feed and care for millions of Americans?

Trite but true: Democrats keep bringing a knife to a gunfight. And then we argue about why we lost. Democrats crow about funding from small donors and how we should eschew big donors. Idealism is nice. But that’s using a pen knife against an AR-15. Being idealistic and “right” has not worked.

Partisan control of congressional redistricting after the 2020 elections, with the number of U.S. House seats each state will receive.

Blue – Democratic control

Red – Republican control

Yellow – Split or bipartisan control

Green – Independent redistricting commission

Grey – No redistricting necessary

Example: Texas Party Registration Statistics

• Total Registered Voters: 17,323,617

• Democrats: 8,054,976 (46.50%)

• Republicans: 6,574,201 (37.95%)

• Third Party/Other: 0 (0.00%)

• Unaffiliated: 2,694,440 (15.55%)
  
  12 of the 38 Texas Members of the House of Representatives are Democrats
  That is 32% and yet 46% of Texas voters are Democrats.

Once Democrats have ousted the MAGA Nazis, we can work on reforming the way districts are drawn. We can pass election laws that favor the average citizen and reduce the influence of big money. Until then we need to pull out all the legal stops and do battle – to win the elections – not just some moral argument.

And here is a clip from 6 days ago. If you enjoy listening to a Democrat with fire in his belly who wants to go toe to toe with the Fascists, watch this interview as well. Guess what? He speaks clearly, in complete sentences that make sense – with sincere passion.

https://independentvoterproject.org/voter-stats/tx

Credit for finding this profile of Beto O’Rourke goes to my brilliant wife who also cooked this wonderful eggplant parmesan.

Villainy and Stupidity Officially Declared by Trump Administration

“The clean energy future is no longer a promise. It’s a fact.”

ANTÓNIO GUTERRES, United Nations Secretary-General (22 July 2025)

Here is a portion of his speech offered yesterday:

”The sun is rising on a clean energy age.

Just follow the money.

$2 trillion went into clean energy last year – that’s $800 billion more than fossil fuels, and up almost 70% in ten years.

And new data released today from the International Renewable Energy Agency shows that solar – not so long ago four times the cost of fossil fuels – is now 41% cheaper.

Offshore wind – 53%. [cheaper!]

And over 90% of new renewables worldwide produced electricity for less than the cheapest new fossil fuel alternative.

This is not just a shift in power. This is a shift in possibility.

Yes, in repairing our relationship with the climate.

Already, the carbon emissions saved by solar and wind globally are almost equivalent to what the whole European Union produces in a year.

But this transformation is fundamentally about energy security and people’s security.

It’s about smart economics.

Decent jobs, public health, advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.

And delivering clean and affordable energy to everyone, everywhere.”

But apparently our President Putz is not one to trust the public, his generals or his scientists. Despite the fact that 197 countries have agreed that the Climate Crisis is real, he has now directed the Environmental Protection Agency to end its fight to save the planet. End the progress in developing LESS EXPENSIVE energy production. This administration is stupid. Lousy at sensible business practices. Perhaps we now have a clue as to why there were so many Trump bankruptcies?

And now, Trump and his Clowns are also clearly enemies of the planet and all its inhabitants.

Our list of abuses from the MAGA madmen and the oiligarchs is very long. Fill in the blanks, folks. BUT THIS…
This is utter madness.

BREAKING NEWS:
E.P.A. Is Said To Have Drafted a Plan to End Its Ability to Fight Climate Change
”According to two people familiar with the draft, it would eliminate the bedrock scientific finding that greenhouse-gas emissions threaten human life by dangerously warming the planet.”

Read the whole NY Times article here (paywall by-passed).

For a deeper dive, go here. Read the science.
”….in 2009 [the report] that said that six greenhouse gases were harming public health.

In more than 200 pages, the E.P.A. at that time outlined the science and detailed how increasingly severe heat waves, storms and droughts were expected to contribute to higher rates of death and disease.”

What do you think about this? Doesn’t this seem like Looney Tunes? Like our nation has lost its mind? How can the country with the best schools, the best technology, the most scientists, the most money to fund whatever it wants…how can we be in this place? How can we be the ONLY developed nation to deny science? To defy business logic? To defile an entire planet for the benefit of a few much too rich fossil fuel oligarchs? Are you as horrified and embarrassed as I am?

Here’s my “feeling” today:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/climate/epa-endangerment-finding-rescind.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Yk8.rAh6.2BTMT1NnB9R7&smid=url-share

https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2016-08/documents/endangerment_tsd.pdf

Therapy photo:

A Champion for Democracy

What could be more important than protecting our Earth from becoming uninhabitable for our species…and many others? Sure, I’m on board with finding out the truth about Trump and Epstein. But while we are all obsessing about this soap opera, the government corruption and planetary destruction continue unabated. There is a bigger crime story here.

Fortunately, we have a few “pit bulls” in Congress who are grabbing hold and not letting go.

From a NY Times piece of November 1,2024:
“It’s important to start by looking at this systematically and structurally,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island and chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, who is investigating oil industry campaign donations.

Mr. Whitehouse referred to an analysis by the International Monetary Fund that found American fossil fuel companies receive $700 billion of subsidies each year, when accounting for federal tax breaks and undercharging of environmental costs. He was not surprised by the contributions from oil interests to Mr. Trump.

“To protect a $700 billion subsidy, what is the amount that would be economically reasonable to spend in its defense?” Mr. Whitehouse asked.”

“According to a new analysis by Climate Power, Big Oil spent $450 million to influence Donald Trump and Republicans throughout the 2024 election cycle and 118th Congress. This funding includes direct donations, lobbying, and advertising to support Republicans and their policies.”

Do some math with me. $450 Million invested in Climate Denying candidates ensured a return of $700 Billion. Net ROI of $699,550,000,000. Not a bad, eh?

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse recently gave his 300th “Time to Wake Up” climate speech on the floor of the Senate. This time, it wasn’t about the facts of this planet’s threatening disasters. It was about the dark money financial scam that has been enabling it. The fossil fuel industry has been funding lies and supporting climate change deniers for office. Because the Citizens United decision allows the industry to plow unlimited funds into campaigns.

”Democrats can turn all this to their advantage if they get “more vocal and aggressive”, Whitehouse argued. “The good news is that the American people hate dark money with a passion, and they hate it just as much, if not more, in districts that went for Trump as in districts that went for Biden.”

Democrats also need to recognize “how much [public] support there is for climate action”, he said. “How do you have an issue that you win 74 [percent] to 12 [percent] and you don’t ride that horse as hard as you can?”

I agree. Dark Money has brought us to this point. Making it a big public issue is a tool to restore responsible climate leadership. Thank you, Senator. I will write my Senators to join you in this campaign to stop the fossil fuel industry from destroying the planet.

But I also think we need to spread the word about the very frightening events that are unfolding or could happen in dramatic fashion.

Did you know that there are volcanoes under the Antarctic Ice Caps? I didn’t.

”Melting Glaciers Will Lead to More Volcanic Eruptions, Study Suggests. Now, All Eyes Are On Antarctica” Smithsonian July 9, 2025

”If volcanoes begin to erupt in Antarctica as a result of glacial melt, the heat from these reactions will spur a positive feedback loop, further accelerating melting. A bevy of eruptions would also likely affect the global climate, as carbon dioxide and methane are released when ash and lava are spewed into the atmosphere.”

Look no further than Iceland where retreating glaciers have relieved the pressure that held the magma beneath the surface.

The end of an era is unfolding. Climate stability as we knew it is crumbling. And our president is concerned with adding more gold leaf to the Oval Office.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is a Standup Hero for America and the World. Our president is an Enemy of the Earth and all its inhabitants.

Now back to our regular programming. Here is Senator Whitehouse (a former prosecutor) referring to the latest episode the soap opera. “As the White House Turns”

https://climatepower.us/news/new-report-oil-and-gas-industry-spent-450-million-to-influence-trump-and-the-119th-congress/

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/01/climate/oil-gas-donations-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.YE8.wTDX.KP7rWIlp-YEB&smid=url-share

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/10/sheldon-whitehouse-fossil-fuels?CMP=share_btn_url

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/melting-glaciers-will-likely-lead-to-more-volcanic-eruptions-study-suggests-now-all-eyes-are-on-antarctica-180986945/

Q’Anon crew furious about the Epstein Files

Could Epstein be $rump’s Watergate? Could there be that moment when a Republican Senator walks into the Oval Office and says: “Sir, we don’t have the votes to save your job…” ???

Richard Nixon won re-election in 1972 – winning 49 states (all except Massachusetts and the District of Columbia) and 520 electoral votes. The overwhelming victory of someone who soon would be viewed as a crook. The country was shocked.

In August of 1974: Senator Barry Goldwater told Nixon that he had taken a “nose count” and could find no more than fifteen firm votes for acquittal. Nixon resigned.

I’d rather write about something more interesting or about someone with value. But if Heather Cox Richardson will devote another whole letter today to Jeffrey Epstein and considering Donald $rump’s recent meltdown about him…it kinda makes you think this could be $rump’s Watergate Moment. Maybe. It also suggests that very educated people like HCR sense the blood in the water. The sharks are circling. I don’t mind throwing some more “chum” in the water.

AG Bondi refused to release the “Epstein Files”. Kash Patel, director of the FBI has long pitched the idea that release of the files was important because the names revealed would be prominent Democrats and members of the “Deep State”. His number 2 at the FBI made this issue a centerpiece of his talk show career.

The truth is out there and it is too valuable to stay hidden for long. Bondi’s office is not impregnable. I predict a “leak”. Or a heavily redacted document release. I won’t predict the results. But denials can only work for so long when there is overwhelming information to the contrary.

$rump has flipped out that people are “still talking about Epstein…that creep.”

When a public figure tries to suppress information, it’s like trying to control a volcano. The pressure just keeps building. And something has to give…

And now, another attempt at capping a volcano. Maurene Comey who prosecuted Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell has been fired. This smells like fear on steroids. Watch for Comey to become a “blame target”. A diversionary tactic. But it will only feed the fires.

”Trump Considered Pardoning Epstein Accomplice Over Concerns She Would ‘Say Anything’ About His Relationship With Epstein, Author Claims”

Ghislaine Maxwell is serving time for her role in procuring underage girls for prominent men on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein. I suspect she is simultaneously afraid for her life and/or quietly negotiating for a pardon.

From the Michael Wolff interview with Epstein:

”He offers a portrait of Trump womanizing, yelling at staff and living a basically friendless life with only his daughter Ivanka, his secretary and his bodyguard truly loyal to him. Trump, he said, was almost “functionally illiterate” but did read the Page Six gossip column in the New York Post. He was “incapable” of reading a balance sheet, and any “act of kindness” would have been an accident, Epstein said

But it is Epstein’s description of Trump’s conduct toward women which is likely to attract most attention, given the pair’s long friendship, and the 28 women who have made accusations against the former president of sexual misconduct (all of which he denies). Many of the attacks are alleged to have occurred when he and Epstein were friends. On the tape Epstein can be heard saying, “He’s a horrible human being. He does nasty things to his best friends, best friends’ wives, anyone who he first tries to gain their trust and uses it to do bad things to them.” On one occasion, Epstein alleged, Trump took a woman to what he called “the Egyptian Room” in an Atlantic City casino. Epstein alleged, “He came out afterward and said, ‘It was great, it was great. The only thing I really like to do is f— the wives of my best friends. That is just the best.’”

Of course, all of this information was available long before $rump ran for election in 2024. His campaign managed to dismiss, suppress and distract from the behavior of a narcissistic NYC “playboy” – brilliantly done. But it’s all back to haunt him now. The more they try to push this aside, the more publicity it will generate.

Why now? Why could it begin to regain traction in 2025? Because Republican actions are increasingly unpopular. The MAGA/Oligarch coalition is revealed for what it is – thieves of services for most of us to boost the fortunes of billionaires. Oh, and they are exploding the national debt. Tariffs that make no sense but could derail the economy. Treating “others” as disposable political tools. Deporting the people that provide us with food and all manner of services. All of this is widely unpopular.

Despite the continued fealty of most Republicans in Congress, the heat is on them. See the video at the end of this post.

For now, it is the “Q” folks who are in a rage. They were promised the “Epstein Files”. But could this be the crack in the armour that allows the Republicans who were previously cowed into obedience to break away? After all, it’s one thing to be horrible to “others’ – but can you stand by a president who witnessed (or…) the abuse of girls “on the younger side”?

The volcano of Epstein would normally be a side show. But if disillusioned MAGAs wanted to blame someone, and sideline him, here’s the perfect vehicle. Epstein said: “Donald $rump was my best friend for 10 years”. They chased women together. What are the chances that our president didn’t know about his activities, or…?

I could be wrong. It happens all the time. But maybe, the hiding of the Epstein Files will give some disgruntled $rump supporters the “off ramp” they so desire. Maybe. I hope that the “Epstein Reveal” will cut the leash that this malignant monster has yanked on the neck of Congress. And the Supreme Court.

Maybe the “Emperor” will finally be revealed as having no clothes. (Sorry)
Or he could be eternally labeled with the “P” word? Is this “the thing”?
The bridge too far?

In the meantime, the Earth is burning up. Floods and Fires. Millions desperately leaving their homes for safety and survival. Out of control wars. Perhaps the greatest crime of “47” and his team of criminals is that the world has taken its eyes off the really important issues. A distraction so petty and vile – while the planet and its inhabitants face such great perils.

See you on the streets!

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-13-2025

https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/july-16-2025

https://www.inkl.com/news/trump-considered-pardoning-epstein-accomplice-over-concerns-she-would-say-anything-about-his-relationship-with-epstein-author-claims

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU08/20250227/117951/HHRG-119-JU08-20250227-SD006-U6.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/16/nyregion/maurene-comey-prosecutor-fired-jeffrey-epstein.html?unlocked_article_code=1.XE8.GLWd.4BV7rsJNqGZ-&smid=url-share

Bonus video. If you would like to see and hear a citizen who works in health care confront his NJ Congressman. Watching him unload some truths was satisfying. There will be lots more “town halls” like this.

By a “Liberal Farmer”

Substack is evolving just like all forms of media. It’s much more than a writers platform now. You can find interviews and all manner of interesting stuff. In a real sense, it is my “favorite channel”. I just came across “Cass”. Her post below has gone “viral”. Let me help spread her message.

Tap on her picture and read the whole short post. Explore how she deals with horses. Learn about her world view – especially about people. It’s reassuring. It clobbers some stereotypes. If you love animals, you’ll enjoy her interactions with them.

Hats off to Cass.

Preventable Death – thanks to “47” and Elon

The following is today’s post from Robert Reich, one of the few substack authors I pay for. We know that $rump’s policies will kill Americans. Well, here ya go.

Texas has been “all in” for MAGA. Let’s see how the parents of the kids lost in this flood feel. About the fact that they COULD have been warned. Talk about preventable tragedy. This is just the beginning.

For more, this is an update from the NY Times (paywall by-passed)

Friends,

The United States government is no longer able to protect us from real hazards, such as flash floods, because it’s shifting funds to fake hazards, such as a non-existent immigrant crime wave.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been stripped down so much it can barely respond to emergencies, yet it’s funding detention centers such as “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades.

The National Weather Service’s San Angelo office, responsible for some of the areas hardest hit by Friday’s flooding, is missing a senior hydrologist, staff forecaster, and meteorologist.

The Weather Service’s nearby San Antonio office, which covers other areas hit by the floods, is missing a warning coordination meteorologist and science officer who are supposed to work with local emergency managers to plan for floods, including when and how to warn local residents and help them evacuate.

The office’s warning coordination meteorologist left on April 30, after taking the early retirement package offered by Musk’s DOGE to reduce the number of federal employees.

At both offices, the vacancy rate is roughly double what it was when Trump returned to the White House in January.

It’s the same across much of the federal government. Callers can’t get through to Social Security offices. Hazardous waste sites and drinking water facilities aren’t being inspected. National Park services have been scaled back. There aren’t enough air-traffic controllers to safely guide takeoffs and landings at the nation’s major airports.

Trump’s newly-enacted Big Ugly Bill will take funds out of Medicaid and food stamps. For what? To finance another giant tax cut for the rich, along with 10,000 more ICE agents and a gulag of detention camps.

I’d like to believe that this worsening catastrophe may eventually have positive consequences.

For one thing, it could help us appreciate what our government is for. And why we need a competent and effective civil service rather than Trump lackeys and sycophants.

It will also push every American to choose sides, between a government that protects us from real dangers or a police state, between American democracy or Trump fascism.

Some have already been forced to choose — managing partners at law firms, a few university presidents, some top editors, federal judges, and many government employees.

But as the axe of Trump fascism comes down harder on America, the rest of us will have to choose.

We will demand a democracy that works for the people.

As we become unprotected from corporate malfeasance, climate change, fraud, ill-health, horrific accidents, and toxic chemicals — all so that big corporations and their top executives and major shareholders can make even bigger profits — more of us will take a stand.

As the nation becomes a police state with an internal army and a gulag of prison camps, more of us will speak out.

It will be a national reckoning.

It may be our last best hope.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/05/us/politics/texas-floods-warnings-vacancies.html?unlocked_article_code=1.UU8.bmR2.3Cv84QGb5WKz&smid=url-share

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/sunday-thought-a-national-reckoning

They can’t ruin it

Part 1
Try just reading the bold text:
July 4, 1776
”We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

Part 2
I considered flying our flag upside down – as a distress signal. But decided against it. The MAGA Nazis aren’t going to ruin my day.

Part 3
Concentration Camp Karma

Part 4
Sophie: Still a Feisty Patriot at 13. WOOF!

Remember that we have thrown off the yoke of kings before. We’ll do it again.
Don’t let them be a brain worm. Keep your personal power of happiness.
Please enjoy your Holiday Weekend!