I write southern historical fiction, local history, and I've written a devotional book. The two novels I'm writing are set in Virginia and the Carolinas in the 1760s. My weekly blog started out to follow my journey as a writer and a reader, but in 2025 it has been greatly expanded to include current events and politics in the United States as I see our democracy under attack from within. The political science major in me cannot sit idly by and remain silent.
ICE agents to have warrants before entering a private home – you know, like local police;
ICE agents not wearing masks – you know, like local police;
ICE agents to have name and ID number visible on uniform – you know, like local police;
ICE agents to be relieved of duty during an investigation into their excessive use of force or firing their gun or murder – you know, like local police;
ICE detainees to have access to adequate water, food, and medical care;
ICE detainees to have the right to a lawyer – you know, like in a county jail or state prison;
ICE agents to have and use body cameras – you know, like real police officers; and
ICE agents to have standardized uniforms – you know, like real police officers, not mercenaries.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
I’d love for my Republican friends to grab a red pen, then read and circle all the items they believe are “left-wing,” ‘radical,” or “lunatic.” Then, to honestly ask themselves which of the things on the list they want their local and state law enforcement officers to start or stop doing.
For starters, raise your hand if you want all local, state, and federal officers to wear masks.
I’ll wait, if you need to think about it….
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
I prepared a blog post for today about one of the stories in my book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories; however, recent events and revelations must take precedence. To blog today about one of my short stories seemed frivolous.
On Thursday, February 5, 2026, Donald Trump offered one of his word salads at the 74th Annual National Prayer Breakfast.
Photo by Deb Dowd on Unsplash
As Trump is wont to do, he went off on a tangent and just couldn’t help himself. Instead of talking about “a higher power,” he talked about his power and how unfairly he has been treated.
Instead of looking to the future like all our other U.S. Presidents have done, Trump’s mind is stuck in that wonderful year 2020. You know – that year he told us to drink bleach to kill COVID-19. That was the year he said COVID-19 was a hoax until he ended up in the hospital with it.
Trump’s speeches have always been erratic and nonsensical – and then, he goes off script and things quickly deteriorate even more.
At last Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast, among numerous other off-the-beam things, he said, “They rigged the second election, I had to win it. I had to win it. I needed it for my own ego. I would’ve had a bad ego for the rest of my life. Now I really have a big ego, though. Beating those lunatics was incredible, right? What a great feeling, winning every swing state, winning the popular vote.”
He was apparently referring to the 2016 election when he continued rambling and said, “You know, they said, I didn’t win the popular vote. I did. They always say, ‘While Donald Trump did not win the popular vote,’ they always say, ‘while Donald Trump did not win the popular vote,’ you know, sitting up against they said, ‘while Donald Trump did not win the popular vote, he won the president.’”
He tends to get in a verbal loop from which he can’t remove himself. “Broken record” comes to my mind and to the minds of my readers of a certain age.
Thinking he was being funny, he made fun of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson for wanting to pray before eating a meal. I don’t think poking fun at someone for wanting to pray before a meal was the best “joke” to tell at a “Prayer Breakfast.” Just sayin!
Trump rambled and verbally meandered for an hour and 15 minutes. It would be one thing if he talked coherently, intellectually, and in complete sentences about something of national interest for 75 minutes, but that isn’t possible. You only need to listen to him speak for one minute to know that’s never going to happen. He appears unable from what I’ve witnessed since 2019 to do any of those things. He neither has a command of the English language nor a command of national – much less international – affairs.
The fact that he was elected U.S. President once, much less twice, is one of the great mysteries of life. They voted for him instead of a former Secretary of State. They voted for him instead of a sitting U.S. Vice President and former Attorney General of the most populous state in the union. But guess what… they were both women.
Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by almost three million but, thanks to the antiquated Electoral College system we have in place, the popular vote doesn’t matter. Nevertheless, Trump just cannot forget that Clinton got more votes than he. Even though he was elected, he still whines and says the election was “rigged” and “unfair.” What a sad, miserable man.
No matter how advanced we Americans think our country is, we cannot as a people vote for a woman who is head and shoulders more qualified than a so-called businessman who has bankrupted too many businesses to count, can’t put a sentence together, has the most fragile ego of anyone we can name, and brags about molesting women. You wouldn’t hire him to work for you or to do work in your home, so why did you vote for him to be the President of the United States?
Enough is enough! Why do we have the 25th Amendment?
Raise your hand if you’re a Christian. Keep your hand up if you think Trump had a clue where he was on February 5, 2026, or what prayer is.
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
For several weeks, the newsletters from my “representative” in the U.S. House of Representatives landed in my spam box. How apropos!
U.S. Capitol Dome Photo by Simon Ray on Unsplash
But then Saturday, February 7, 2026, rolled around and there it was! Right there in my inbox. The title of his newsletter jumped out at me… just as he and his pitiful staff intended: “Americans’ Safety Is In Jeopardy– Courtesy Of Democrats.”
I took the bait. I did not want to read his newsletter because he has never said or written a word that was worthy of the time it took for me to listen or read. But, I thought, Okay, what’s he preaching about this time?
In case you wonder why I chose the word, “preaching,” it is because he is a Southern Baptist preacher. He used to be the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Charlotte. It’s unclear now as to why he is no longer on the staff there, but could it be the congregation got sick and tired of his far-right hypocrisy that runs counter to the teachings of Jesus Christ? I’m merely speculating. I know nothing of how grounded his congregants were in the New Testament.
Bear with me as I quote his newsletter from February 7:
“Dear Janet,
“Spot the hypocrisy: Democrats allowed the Obama administration to deport millions and raised no objections.
“An yet, when President Trump does the same, Democrats shut the government down because they want funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to end.
“DHS is not just Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); it is: FEMA, ICE, U.S. Secret Service, etc. Democrats are willing to allow multiple vital organizations that provide SAFETY for Americans to be defunded.
“My Republican colleagues and I will not stand for this.”
My response to Representative Harris:
Dear Mark,
I assume I can call you Mark, since you addressed me by my given name. There is apparently no need to stand on ceremony.
Your gaslighting of your constituents continues to reach new lows. You forget that quite a few of us are old enough to remember the Obama Administration. Since you are unaware of the difference in deportations while Barack Obama was U.S. President and the deportations your constituents with eyes wide open have witnessed during the reign of Donald Trump, allow me to point out just a few of the differences:
Deportation agents under the Obama Administration did not hide behind masks;
Deportation agents under the Obama Administration did not drag American citizens from their cars and ship them off to detention centers hundreds of miles away;
Deportation agents under the Obama Administration did not break the car windows of American citizens;
Deportation agents under the Obama Administration did not murder American citizens who were driving cars; and
Deportation agents under the Obama Administration did not murder a nurse who was kneeling to come to the aid of a woman who had been knocked to the ground by masked, heavily armed, poorly trained deportation agents.
This list is just the tip of the iceberg.
So, Mark, I suggest you read 21st century U.S. History; read the U.S. Constitution that you swore to protect, defend, and uphold; read the oath of office you swore to uphold so help you God; and read the New Testament while you’re at it, if you can read. You are against public education, so that indicates to me that perhaps you never learned how to read.
By the way, most of your constituents were educated in public schools and public colleges and universities, so we know some history, we studied the U.S. Constitution, and we know how to think for ourselves. We know a puppet of Donald Trump when we see one.
And, Mark, when you are willing and able to speak the truth to me and to Donald Trump’s face, I’ll be happy to listen to you… but not until then.
Sincerely,
Janet, an angry citizen of North Carolina’s Eighth Congressional District
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
Just when we thought things couldn’t get worse…. last Friday morning came along.
Around midnight last Thursday night, Trump posted photos of former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama on his Truth Social (an oxymoron if there ever was one!) page with their heads superimposed on the bodies of apes.
I’m white, but even I recognize that dog whistle!
Before you Trump worshippers start attacking me, I know it is possible that Trump himself did not post that abhorrent photo on the Truth Social account that bears his name; however, he is ultimately responsible for everything that is posted on said account. Period. Full stop. No ifs, ands, or buts. He is responsible even though he will never own up to any of his responsibilities.
We’ve been subjected to various explanations from Trump and his highly-paid, snarky staff. We’ve been told he didn’t see it. We’ve been told it was funny. Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s spokesperson was so entertained by the incident that she could hardly control her giggles while pointing out that there was nothing wrong with it… it was all from “The Lion King”… and, after all, former Vice President Kamala Harris was portrayed as a turtle. The Vice President Kamala Harris tidbit offered by Ms. Leavitt was supposed to make us feel better?
It’s beside the point that there weren’t any apes in “The Lion King.” I really wish everyone associated with the making of “The Lion King” would sue Trump for copyright infringement. He loves lawsuits.
We were told that it was all just in good fun… that Trump was the King of the Jungle and all Democrats are supposed to bow down to him because we are lesser animals.
We were told that an unnamed member of Trump’s staff “accidentally posted” the picture of the Obamas as apes. How does one “accidentally” post something on the social media account of the President of the United States?
How does one “accidentally” post photographs of former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama portrayed as apes… well… anywhere? Did the unnamed Trump staffer accidentally create the image? Did he or she accidentally come across it while looking for disrespectful fake images of our black former President and First Lady?
Trump said he will not apologize because, “I didn’t make a mistake.”
I beg to differ. Did he not make a mistake when he hired the staffer who has permission to post on the president’s social media account? Did he not make mistake when he gave another human being permission to post to his social media account?
We were told that no harm was done, because it only took the White House staff 12 hours to remove the post. We are supposed to believe that no one working in the White House can figure out how to take down a social media post in less than 12 hours?
No, my friends. All of us are not stupid. All of us did not vote for this. All of us are not all right with this blatant display of racism.
Forget about the fact that the posting of this image was extremely childish. Forget the claim that it was all in good fun. Forget the claim that the rest of the post was serious and truthful.
When you get right down to it, this was nothing but blatant racism put on a social media platform for all the world to see, and there was absolutely nothing accidental about it.
If you can excuse any part of this horrific display of hate, then you are part of the problem. Go ahead and circle the Republican wagons. Go ahead and claim that somehow this makes America Great Again. You are only fooling yourself.
I hope I live long enough to see the day when this sham of a presidential administration is over. I hope I will be here to help pick up the pieces and reinstate the Constitution of the United States of America. I hope I live long enough to see evangelical Christians have a Paul on the Road to Damascus conversion experience and accept the fact that there is nothing Christian about this President whom they adore.
I am sick and tired of the excuses Trump’s followers and supporters give us no matter what he says or does. I’m beyond sick and tired of seeing his staff members wearing cross necklaces when the truth is not in them.
I’m sick and tired of everything about Donald Trump and his ilk.
This is what real class and integrity (two things Donald Trump will never have!) look like:
Former U.S. President Barack Obama Photo credit: Library of Congress
Former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama Photo credit: Library of Congress
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around
The tenth story in my new book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, is about a dog and the woman who befriends him.
I have loved dogs all my life, so I wanted to include a dog in at least one of the stories in my book. I thought about the noble Plott Hound – the State Dog of North Carolina.
Henry Plott, the son of immigrant from Germany, Johannes Plott, bred this particular hound dog to hunt black bears in the mountains in western North Carolina. Mr. Plott immigrated to North Carolina in 1750. The hound he developed is descended from the “Hanover hound” of Germany.
Mr. Plott was so successful that the Plott Hound was registered with the United Kennel Club in 1946, was recognized by the American Kennel Club in 2006, and was exhibited for the first time at the Westminster Show in 2008. It was named the official State Dog of North Carolina in 1989.
I know two of the descendants of Johannes Plott, so I have a special interest in this. Writing this story gave me an excuse to learn a little more about the Plott Hound. I hope you dog lovers will enjoy the story I wrote about “Buddy” and Lois, the retired teacher who took him in.
Thank you for supporting my writing. Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, is available from Amazon or ask for it at your favorite independent bookstore. It is available to libraries and bookstores through IngramSpark.
It can be ordered through my website, https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com, by clicking on the Bookshop.org button. If you order the book via my website, as a Bookshop.org affiliate, I will get a small commission.
If you live in the Harrisburg area, ask for it at Second Look Books.
I see you’re scratching your head over the topic of my blog post today. I don’t blame you. Unless you are a graduate of Dartmouth, a resident of New Hampshire, or an expert on contract law, you’ve probably never heard of this U.S. Supreme Court case.
I was tempted to just brush it off and blog about a story in my new book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, but then I remembered the significance of the case and why learning about it is important for us today.
I’ll give a brief version of the story, for that’s really all you probably want to know. If you want to know more, you can dive into it.
An iconic building at Dartmouth College. Photo by Ronni Kurtz on Unsplash.
In 1769, King George III of Great Britain issued a charter to Dartmouth College as a privately-funded school.
In 1816, the state legislature in New Hampshire decided to convert Dartmouth College into a state university. The legislators, as state legislators tend to do, thought they could just change Dartmouth’s charter by shifting control of the college to a board of trustees appointed by the governor. The school’s corporate seal, other corporate property, and record books were removed.
“Not so fast!” said the former trustees. Those earlier trustees filed a lawsuit against William H. Woodward, the secretary of the new board of trustees. They hired none other than Daniel Webster to represent them. He was a graduate of Dartmouth, but was yet to gain fame as a U.S. Senator and as the 14th and 19th U.S. Secretary of State.
It is reported that Mr. Webster made such an impassioned argument before the Supreme Court in Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward that Chief Justice John Marshall was nearly moved to tears.
Webster was apparently extremely convincing, for the Court handed down its decision in favor of Dartmouth on February 2, 1819. The actions taken by the New Hampshire Legislature were invalidated, and Dartmouth returned to being a privately-funded institution of higher learning.
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
The Court’s decision was based on the sanctity of a contract. The Dartmouth College’s corporate charter qualified as a contract between the King and the school’s trustees, and the United States Constitution, Article 1, Section 10 prohibits a state from passing laws to impair a contract.
In case you’re wondering why I thought it apropos to blog about Dartmouth today…
Dartmouth’s administration refused to sign the agreement that U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon sent to nine colleges and universities (Brown University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, University of Texas at Austin, University of Virginia, and Vanderbilt University) on October 1, 2025.
To refresh your memory, the agreement would dictate how the signing colleges and universities would change their admissions policies and the way faculty would be hired. As I stated in that blog post, “By signing the compact, the colleges and universities give up their right to make public a stance on societal or political events. They must be neutral, as in no opinion, no free thinking, no thoughts whatsoever. You know, sort of like operating in an authoritarian nation.
“They must also agree to define sex as ‘male’ and ‘female.’ They must do all this while they ensure there is ‘a broad spectrum of viewpoints’ on their campuses. I’m not sure how you can do that while meeting the other requirements. Some of the requirements appear to negate the others.
“In return for signing the compact, a college would receive preferential treatment for federal funding. It seems like a high price to pay.”
The ten-page agreement was called “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which strikes me as a misnomer.
The President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was the first to refuse to sign the agreement, so that’s what I wrote about in that October 15 blog post.
Two days later, Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia joined MIT in rejecting the agreement.
Being from North Carolina, I don’t know a lot about Dartmouth, but Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward and the Dartmouth administrators’ October 2025 refusal to cave in to the blackmail deal offered by the Trump Administration tell me all I need to know.
Hurrah for college and university administrators with morals and courage to stand up to bullies!
Hurricane Helene Recovery Update
I haven’t given a Hurricane Helene recovery update since January 8, so I will do so today. The rest of the nation may have forgotten about Hurricane Helene, but North Carolinians have not forgotten.
Portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway have not reopened since Hurricane Helene damage in September 2024. I-40 at the North Carolina-Tennessee border remains just one lane in each direction with a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit.
I was unable to find a detailed report from the North Carolina Department of Transportation about the roads still closed due to the hurricane. Friday’s report dealt with road closures due to ice and snow.
Governor Josh Stein and North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson continue to seek funding and reimbursement from the federal government, but the response lags behind the U.S. Government’s response to earlier national disasters. It is a sign of the times.
Repair work continues on the Lake Lure dam on the Broad River, and debris removal there also continues. It is hoped that the lake will be back to full pond and ready to reopen in May in time for the summer tourist season.
Local TV stations in Charlotte have hurricane recovery news items occasionally. They try to remind us that our lives in the piedmont went on after Helene, but our fellow citizens here and there in the mountains are still dealing with the loss of homes and businesses as well as transportation routes that were destroyed.
There was a news item from WLOS in Asheville last week celebrating the reopening of a Walgreen’s on Tunnel Road in Asheville. It was so heavily damaged by the flooding of the Swannanoa River during Helene that it closed for 16 months for a complete remodel. It reopened on January 22. The article noted that a U-Haul store had also reopened. That’s indicative of how long it has taken for life to return to normal in the mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee since the hurricane. Businesses – even national chain businesses – have struggled to rebuild. I have no idea how many small family-owned businesses will never recover.
Life has not returned to “normal” in portions of the mountains in North Carolina. I think the people are adjusting to a new normal. Hurricane Helene changed much of the landscape forever.
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
With a possible major ice storm predicted here on January 24 and 25, and the accompanying possibility of power outages stretching into the week of January 26, I am scheduling this blog post on Thursday, January 22, to be published on January 27. Our power lines are not underground here, so ice storms wreak havoc with our electricity.
This post is about the ninth story in my historical fiction book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories. “Slip Sliding Away: A Southern Appalachian Short Story,” transports the reader to 1875 and an isolated cove in the southern Appalachian Mountains.
I originally wrote this story in the early 2000s. In fact, it was my first historical short story. It has gone through many revisions (and, hopefully, improvements!) since then. It is the story I offer as a free e-download on my website (https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com) for subscribers to my e-newsletter. If you wish, you may do that to get a free for my fiction writing style.
In “Slip Sliding Away,” Hannah Johnson’s husband, Daniel, has seriously injured himself. A late spring blizzard sets in. Hannah retrieves an envelope of powder from her box of private treasures in the corner cupboard. She adds small amounts of the powder to her suffering husband’s tea as the night passes and she has no way to call for help.
Is she using the precious powder to ease his pain?
And what part does Daniel’s brother, James, play in this story? In fact, all of Daniel’s brothers play a part in this story as it progresses. Therein lies some humor in this otherwise serious subject matter.
You will have to read the story to find out about the powder and Daniel’s ragtag brothers.
How to get a copy of “Slip Sliding Away”
“Slip Sliding Away” is available as a standalone short story on Amazon. It is available in paperback and e-book on Amazon.
“Slip Sliding Away,” by Janet Morrison
Of course, I would be thrilled for you to purchase my book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories. “Slip Sliding Away: A Southern Appalachian Short Story” is one of more than a dozen stories in the book.
Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, by Janet Morrison
It is available in Harrisburg, North Carolina at Second Look Books, or you can order it from any independent bookstore in the U.S. by visiting my website (https://janetmorrisonbooks.com) and clicking on the Bookshop.org button. (Full disclosure, as an affiliate of Bookshop.org, I will receive a commission from any books you order through Bookshop.org by going through my website.)
If you enjoy my books, please leave a brief review on such online sites as Amazon and Goodreads.
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
I don’t know if the Pledge of Allegiance is still recited in public school classrooms like it was in the 1950s and 1960s.
Photo by Cris Constantin on Unsplash
I will be 73 years old this week, and I remember standing beside my desk in elementary school, facing the American flag that hung from a wooden dowel at an angle from the wall of the classroom, putting my right hand over my heart, and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
I did it even before I understood the words we were saying.
I pledged my allegiance to the flag and to the republic it represented.
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
My generation learned from an early age to revere the flag and to revere the ideals the United States of America strives to attain and uphold.
We were born after World War II. Yes, we are the “boomers” who the Gen X-ers make fun of. We did not yet know or comprehend the horrors of war. We had no concept of liberty and justice. We were too young to know that our country was special and unlike any other country in the world.
We slowly learned those things. We learned that all American citizens did not enjoy the same rights and privileges that we in an all-white school took for granted. We learned about civil rights by living through the Civil Rights Movement and school desegregation. We learned that all people are the same, regardless of skin pigment.
Somehow, the 31 simple – yet profound – words of the Pledge of Allegiance settled into our bones and our minds and our souls.
I might not remember what I ate for breakfast this morning, but the words of the Pledge of Allegiance still easily roll off my tongue.
Did Donald Trump ever learn the words of the Pledge of Allegiance? Perhaps it was not taught and recited in the prestigious private schools he attended in New York. I don’t know.
Did James Donald Bowman recite the Pledge of Allegiance in his school in Ohio? My hunch is that he did, even though he seems to have forgotten. You probably know him as James David “J.D.” Vance. (I still think it is a stretch to call the northeastern suburbs of Cincinnati “Appalachia,” but I digress.)
What about Kristi Noem? Was she taught the Pledge of Allegiance in the school she attended in South Dakota? Surely, she was. I know nothing about the political science department at South Dakota State University, but I question the validity of her Bachelor’s degree.
And what about Gregory Bovino? Did he learn the Pledge of Allegiance as a young student in California? I am appalled to report that he graduated from Western Carolina University and received a Master’s degree from my alma mater, Appalachian State University. This sickens me. I don’t know what his degrees are in. I pray they are not in political science. His buzzcut, his olive-green uniform, his practice of hurling tear gas canisters at protesters have allowed him to become the poster child for the crackdown on illegal immigration that the Trump regime espouses. The cross body strap his uniform includes is reminiscent of Hitler’s “brown shirts.” This is not a look that we are accustomed to seeing in the United States. On Saturday, Bovino adamantly told us that the federal agents in Minneapolis had followed their training that morning when they killed Alex Pretti. Before Mr. Pretti’s bullet-riddled body was cold, Bovino claimed that Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” That’s how afraid members of the Trump regime are of a Veterans Administration ICU nurse armed with a cell phone.
What about Stephen Miller? It is ironic that he allegedly campaigned to get the Pledge of Allegiance said in his high school in California. Most of the things he says about our rights as Americans call into question the political science education he received at Duke University.
Karoline Leavitt is of a younger generation, so perhaps she never learned the Pledge of Allegiance. She often wears a necklace from which hangs a cross – a symbol of Jesus Christ. It is offensive when people wear cross necklaces or verbally claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, yet the truth is not in them.
What has happened to these people? Did the Pledge of Allegiance not settle in their bones and their souls?
The Pledge of Allegiance does not mention telling lies. That comes from the Bible. The Eighth Commandment instructs us to “not bear false witness.’ In other words, it tells us not to lie.
When a person is raised in a home where the truth is always told, that commandment becomes second nature. It becomes a core value. Telling the truth is what you do. You don’t have to pause and decide whether to tell the truth. It’s just what you do.
When a person is exposed to lies in their home or in their work place, perhaps the telling of lies becomes second nature to them.
I don’t know much about the private lives of the people in the Trump Administration, but I know they are feeding the American people and the world a lot of lies about what transpired on Saturday morning in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
They are telling me not to believe my eyes and ears.
Two days after the murder, members of the Trump regime are still defiant. They will defend the actions of the ICE and Border Patrol Officers until the end. Until the end of our democracy. They told us weeks ago that Trump’s federal agents are above the law.
They seem to have lost sight of the Pledge of Allegiance, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of America, and the Ten Commandments.
The United States is a country rooted in the rule of law and the ideals proclaimed in our founding documents. The political party to which Donald Trump and his regime belong claims to be rooted in the Bible. They don’t pay much attention to the New Testament, but they claim to love the Old Testament.
That’s where the Ten Commandments are found. It is in the Old Testament that we are instructed not to tell lies.
I suggest that Trump and the members of his regime take a few minutes to sit quietly and read the Pledge of Allegiance, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of America, and the Ten Commandments. All of this might be new literature for them, but I think taking time to read these documents and Bible verses might be beneficial for them and the nation they vowed to serve and protect.
My faith in what is being taught in the political science departments at the public and private universities in the United States is being shaken. I fear the students who were born after my college days are not being taught the tenets of democracy that I was taught in school and on the university level. I fear they are not being taught to serve the public with integrity and honesty.
I fear they were not taught that the government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
I would have much preferred to have written scene 43 in my historical novel this afternoon, but I’ve spent several hours contemplating and writing this blog post. And yet, people wonder why it is taking me so long to write my novel. My brain is being torn between 2026 and 1768.
The irony is not lost on me. The people I’m writing about who were living in North Carolina in 1768 were also rebelling against tyranny. That’s not what the novel is about, but the colonists’ patience with the English Crown was already growing thin.
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
I write this on Sunday afternoon during an ice storm. The worst of the storm is predicting over the next hours, but I will try to get this blog post written and posted before the power goes off. The events of this weekend in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and my government’s official response to it/explanation of it compel me to speak out.
We Will Not Be Silent, by Russell Freedman
The fact that we have a United States President that is hellbent on destroying the very foundations of our democracy is not bad enough. We have American citizens who are not only applauding the wrecking ball he has taken to the people of Minnesota; they are justifying what he is doing.
I am appalled at the number of Americans who are saying that Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good “got what they deserved.”
I am appalled at the number of Americans who can watch the same videos I’m seeing of Saturday morning’s murder in Minneapolis and not see what I see.
The video shows that the gun Mr. Pretti was legally carrying had been removed from him by a federal agent. Then four or five federal agents were all over him while he was held on the ground. Then, more than 10 shots were fired at him, and Mr. Pretti lay there dead. It appears that one of the federal agents fired five shots at Mr. Pretti, who was already lying motionless on the ground. Then, all the federal officers scattered.
The U.S. Government says Mr. Pretti was holding a gun when he approached to try to rescue a woman who had been shoved backwards to the ground by a federal agent, but what he held was a cell phone. They sprayed him with pepper spray or some other chemical because he was trying to shield the woman. He was trying to film the incident with his cell phone. He was not reaching for his gun.
He had a permit to carry a firearm. That is a right that Republicans hold as the most sacred right an American can have. They value it above our right to vote, above our right to worship, and above our right to assemble.
These are the same people who called 17-year-old high school drop-out Kyle Rittenhouse a hero for openly carrying a high-powered rifled down the street in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August 2020 during civil unrest. Rittenhouse fatally shot three people. Trump invited Rittenhouse to the White House so he could honor him as an American hero. A real patriot, according to Trump and his ilk. Rittenhouse was acquitted, claiming “self-defense.” He is now a darling of the Trump regime.
However, these same people are saying that Alex Pretti deserved to be shot to death because he was legally carrying a firearm – a firearm that was not in his hand. It was in a holster.
The “weapon” in his hand was a cell phone, but the federal agents did not want their actions recorded. They had to do something.
The U.S. Government says the federal agents were being threatened.
A federal agent should never feel threatened by a cell phone, unless that agent is doing something illegal or immoral.
Mr. Pretti was a 37-year-old ICU nurse at a Veterans Administration hospital. He had apparently gone into the street with his cell phone to observe and record the protest.
The U.S. Government immediately accused Mr. Pretti of being a domestic terrorist. That’s also what they immediately called Renee Nicole Good after they shot her in the face as she drove away from the ICE agents.
This is now a U.S. Government that does not want us to believe our own eyes. This is now a U.S. Government that does not want us to believe our own ears. This is a U.S. Government that wants us to forget every word of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.
But the thing that frightens me more than my government is my fellow American citizens who think this situation is just fine. They are the citizens who say, “Trump is just going after the worst of the worst. He is just going after the murderers and rapists. He is just going after the people who are here illegally.”
The people who say those things are the people who scare me. Those are the people who would say that Anne Frank got what she deserved. They are the ones who would have defended Hitler’s thugs and “brown shirts” in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. They are the ones who would have said the Jews “got what they deserved.”
They are the ones who today are saying, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti “got what they deserved.”
They are the ones who today are saying, “If you just do whatever an officer tells you to do, they won’t kill you.”
They are the ones who say, “The Holocaust never happened.”
They are the ones who will say, “Nothing happened in Minneapolis on January 24, 2025.”
Never in my first 72 years of life would I have thought this would be the state of things in the United States of America in 2026, but here we are. We have a segment of the population who truly believe, “If you just do whatever an officer tells you to do, they won’t kill you.”
My questions for them are as follows:
If an officer tells you to wear a yellow star on your clothing, would you willingly do that?
If an officer tells you to climb into a train boxcar, would you do that?
If an officer tells you to watch them abuse and arrest a peaceful protester and never say a word about it, would you stand idly by and never say a word?
If an officer uses your five-year-old child as bait to try to bring you out of your home so they can haul you and the child away to a detention center more than 1,000 miles away, would you be okay with that?
If an officer uses your neighbor’s five-year-old child as bait to try to bring your neighbor out of his or her home so they can haul them away to a detention center more than 1,000 miles away because they committed a misdemeanor, would you be okay with that?
Are you aware that it is a misdemeanor to be in the United States illegally?
Are you aware that being shot to death is not a legitimate “punishment” for committing a misdemeanor?
Are you aware that being shot to death is not a legitimate “punishment” for filming a peaceful protest?
Are you aware that being shot to death is not a legitimate “punishment” for coming to the rescue of a fellow citizen who has been shoved to the ground by a federal officer?
And yet, we have a convicted felon “serving” as President of the United States.
We live in a country today that honors felons and murders American citizens for coming to the aid of another citizen being physically abused.
The U.S. Government says that Alex Pretti interfered with a federal operation.
It appears to me in the video that Alex Pretti saw an unarmed woman being pushed backwards to the concrete sidewalk in Minneapolis. Mr. Pretti tried to record the incident with one hand while trying to protect the woman with his body and his free hand.
If the federal agents were properly trained instead of being given $50,000 signing bonuses, they would not have murdered Alex Pretti.
Mr. Pretti, being a trained nurse and an American citizen, saw an abuse of power and tried to do what any law-abiding citizen should do.
God, help us.
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
As I write this on the night of January 20, 2026, Trump is on his way to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (In fact, news came in as I wrote this that Air Force One had been turned around due to an electrical problem. Trump will be moved to a back-up plane.)
This gathering includes many NATO countries – the very NATO countries he threatened with tariffs this week. He will, no doubt, attempt to dazzle them with his perception of the current economy of the United States. Those of us who live here, know better. The picture he painted today in his news conference was far-removed from reality. He will embarrass us in Davos. He would embarrass himself, but that is not possible.
The next couple of days will not go well. Trump never comes across as Presidential here at home or on the world stage. Will he further insult our allies at this forum? Probably. That’s all he knows to do. At the very least, he will probably make fun of French President Emmanuel Macron’s eye condition. Trump has a record of belittling people with medical problems.
In today’s news conference, he finally feigned regret that an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. Did you hear why he pretended regret today? Because someone told him that Ms. Good’s father was a Trump supporter.
I cannot remain silent as I see my government attack the least of these among us. As a Christian, it is my responsibility to speak up for the people who have no voice or whose voices are being ignored. As the President claims ICE agents are only going after “the worst of the worst,” my eyes and ears know better.
American citizens are being accosted and detained. One has already been killed on a street in Minneapolis. My government has not come after me yet, but if I wait until it does, there will be no one left to speak up for me.
Without further adieu, here is my planned blog post for today
Today’s post is about the eighth story in my short story book. “A Letter from Sharpsburg,” is a fictitious letter from an imaginary Confederate soldier who had fought in the Battle of Sharpsburg in Maryland during the American Civil War.
Photo by John Kostyk on Unsplash
As I explain in the book, it was general practice for the Union to name battles in the Civil War for a nearby physical feature, such as a creek. It was the practice of the Confederacy to name battles for the nearest town. This has led to confusion for more than 160 years.
This battle took place along Antietam Creek, near the town of Sharpsburg. Therefore, the Union called it the Battle of Antietam and the South called it the Battle of Sharpsburg.
Another example is the First and Second Battles of Bull Run (Union name) being called the First and Second Battles of Manasses in the South. It seems to me that we studied the Civil War almost every year in elementary school, but I don’t recall ever being told how or why the North and the South had different names for the same battles. Knowing the reason behind this practice would have been helpful.
I patterned this fictitious letter after letters one of my great-grandfathers wrote to his parents and sister during the Civil War. It was common in that day for a soldier to begin a letter with the words, “I seat myself and take pen in hand to write you a few lines.”
I chose this battle because more Americans were killed on the battlefield that day than on any other day in American military history. It is said that 2,100 Union soldiers and 1,550 Confederate soldiers lost their lives on September 17, 1862 near Sharpsburg, Maryland. Nearly 10,000 Union soldiers were wounded and more than 7,700 Confederate soldiers were wounded there that day.
In my book, I included author’s notes, questions for consideration, and a bibliography of the sources I used in writing “A Letter from Sharpsburg.”
You can find the paperback at Second Look Books in Harrisburg, NC, or ask for it at your local independent bookstore. Bookstores can order it from IngramSpark. It is supposed to be available at Barnes & Noble, but I’ve been told it is not necessarily in stock in the brick-and-mortar stores.
If you purchase my book and enjoy it, please give it a rating on Amazon and write a brief review of it for that site or Goodreads.com. Also, recommend it to your friends!
Word of mouth publicity is the best! Thank you!
Keeping me honest
My readers continue to try to keep me honest, which is my goal as a writer of historical fiction. Facts matter to me. Facts form the basis for my writing.
I mentioned in an earlier blog post that it had been brought to my attention that I have the wrong date in my book for the Battle of Kings Mountain. Yesterday, a friend clued me in that in “Ghost of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse: An American Revolutionary War Ghost Story,” I have someone calling 911 to report an incident to the police in 1963.
Unfortunately, 911 emergency service did not come into being until 1968. In my flimsy defense, I will point out that I originally had the story set in 1973. When I changed it to 1963, I failed to catch my 911 error.
I appreciate my historical errors being brought to my attention. This will help keep me on my toes as I write my novel. If you find another historical error in my book, please let me know.
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
Janet's Writing Blog 