You will see from today’s list that it doesn’t take much to make me happy these days. I will take little victories for democracy any time I can find them.
Writing blog post after blog post about bad and unjust things going on in America lately, I was determined to blog about things that bring me hope.
Today’s post is, unfortunately, not as long as any of my posts about the things that worry and frighten me, but today is dedicated to things that bring me hope.
It serves as a reminder that, just like the seven recipients of the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize that I blogged about yesterday, Environmental Justice, sometimes it just takes one person to take a stand and make a difference.
- Twelve children of active-duty US military personnel in the US, Japan, and Italy are suing US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for removing books about race and gender from Pentagon schools.
- At 1:00 a.m. (ET) on Saturday, April 19, the US Supreme Court issued a ruling that blocks the Trump Administration from sending any more migrants to El Salvador under further notice. Not that a US Supreme Court ruling will stop him.
- On April 18, Judge Amy Berman Jackson held an emergency hearing about the impending firings of 1,483 employees of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. She halted the employees’ access to their computers until an evidentiary hearing can be held on April 28 with witness testimony.
- Under the lame guise of fighting antisemitism, the Trump Administration continues to attack universities every day. BUT… the faculty senates of the universities in the “Big 10 Conference” are creating a Mutual Academic Defense Compact (MADC). It’s sort of a mini-NATO. Under the agreement, if the Trump Administration attacks one of the member universities, it will be considered an attack on all member universities. The resolution is in response to the Trump Administration’s “legal, financial and political” attacks on academic freedom and universities’ missions. Yes, folks, it has come to this! This give me hope that other conferences throughout the US will create Mutual Academic Defense Compacts.
- Millions of Americans held peaceful protests across the country on Saturday.
- CBS News reports that District of Columbia US District Judge Royce Lamberth has ordered the Trump Administration to rehire all Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Network staff at least for the time being. He also ordered all Congressional funding must resume to those outlets. A Voice of America journalist and her colleagues filled a suit against Kari Lake, the acting CEO of the US Agency for Global Media – a supposedly independent federal agency that oversees public service media networks. With Kari Lake in charge, thought, there’s no chance for it to act independently of Trump. The judge granted a preliminary injunction. A preliminary injunction was not granted to Radio Free Europe because it filed a separate lawsuit.
- The April 20 deadline for US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and US Secretary of Homeland Security to give President Trump a joint report about border security was extended. In that report, they are supposed to state whether or not they think the President should invoke the Insurrection Act. That Act would give him the authority to declare martial law. The extended deadline for the report gave us a breather! We just don’t know what the new deadline is… or if Pete Hegseth will still be Secretary of Defense long enough to participate.
- Three students in the Rutherford County, Tennessee School District and PEN America (a writers’ organization) are suing the school board for removing more than 150 books from school libraries. The lawsuit was filed with the US District Court Middle District of Tennessee at Nashville. The removals were based on a list circulated by Moms for Liberty instead of school board members or apparently anyone connected with the school district reading the books themselves. Moms for Liberty is known for pushing book bans based on their belief that reading a book will contaminate a child’s mind. They believe they have the right to dictate what all children should not read. Bizarrely, one of its chapters in Indiana quoted Hitler’s “He alone, who OWNS the youth, GAINS the future” statement from a 1935 Nazi rally.
- On April 17, four members (sadly, but predictably all Democrats) of the US House of Representatives Committee on House Administration signed a letter addressed to Vice President J.D. Vance asking him to reject possible changes made in the 21 museums, 14 libraries and research centers, and the National Zoo – all part of the Smithsonian Institution. As Vice President, Vance is a member of the Smithsonian’s board of regents. In a March 27, 2025, Executive Order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” and prompted by Lindsey Halligan, Esq. of Colorado beauty pageant fame, Trump wants to eliminate “divisive” and “anti-American” content from the Smithsonian and restore “monuments, memorials, statues, and markers” that have been removed from public spaces since 2020. The Executive Order gives Vance the authority to determine what content is “improper.”
- An indigenous woman has been named the new president of Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. Dr. Heather Shotton is Wichita and Affiliated Tribes and a Kiowa and Cheyenne descendant. What makes this especially notable is the fact that Fort Lewis College started out as a military fort from 1878 until 1891. Ironically, the fort was built to protect white settlers from Indian raids. In 1892, it was turned into a federal Indian boarding school and served in that capacity until 1909. Approximately 1,100 children attended the Fort Lewis Indian Boarding School, and at least 31 of them died there. Here’s a link to an article that gives more information about the dark days of the boarding school: https://www.cpr.org/2023/10/03/state-investigation-report-released-indian-boarding-schools/.
- CBS and other news outlets reported that an article documenting the career of Nicole Malachowski, the first female US Air Force Thunderbird pilot, is back online. That gives me a fraction of an ounce of hope, but it should never have been removed! Women and ethnic minorities who have served with honor in the US military should not have to go through the humiliation and disappointment of seeing records of their accomplishments removed from government website. They or others on their behalf should not have to raise cane and make such a stink that the government finally caves in and puts the information back online. What we have here is much larger than one person’s military record being trashed. What we have is an attack on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion because apparently some white men are so insecure they just cannot tolerate a woman or a person of color being recognized for accomplishments that they themselves did not attain. It especially stinks coming from a US President who did not serve in the military. One person’s record being put back on a website is not sufficient. Some of the pages still cannot be opened. And what about all the people whose records were taken down and have not been restored to a place of honor?
- This one might surprise you, but I found hope on Wednesday when Ukrainian President Zelensky rejected the peace agreement that Trump thought he could force on Ukraine. Trump thought Zelensky would roll over and play dead and agree to giving Russia everything. Trump has no understanding of Zelensky’s love of country. He cannot identify with that concept. Trump’s claim that Russia’s “concession” is not taking all of Ukraine is reprehensible.
- And last, but not least, there are rumblings that Pete Hegseth might be on his way out as Defense Secretary! He must have one of those “Friends & Family” Plans so he can share real-time bombing details with his wife, brother, and his personal lawyer on his cell phone. Even a child knows when to keep a secret.
Until my next blog post… tomorrow
I hope you are reading a good book that you don’t want to put down long enough to read my blog.
Remember the people of Ukraine, Myanmar, and western North Carolina.
Janet
Janet's Writing Blog 
Here in Europe, too, there is hope that this dangerous foolishness will be stopped before it causes even more harm. We follow it with growing concern, but also with the belief that there are still enough people who can make a difference. The threat is real, but so is the resistance.
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So good to hear these things Janet. And I am glad that you found some peace among them. More, much more needs to be done but I think people will start waking up. Today I could not believe it, for as I am doing my morning walk through town I see a young lad wearing a Yale U sweatshirt and a red MAGA hat! And I was told that they had released for sale MAGA 2028 hats! I was about to know knit off the lad’s head but instead looked up at the hat then gave him an angry stare… unbelievable!!! Why would youth want to support and admire an old fart autocratic type leader???
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What a shocking thing for you to see on your morning walk! Yes! How can a young person support Trump? They say (whoever “they” are?) that Trump is heavily supported by the uneducated young men but I cannot imagine why a Yale student would support him… unless that young man has extremely wealthy parents. As much money as the wealthy people have supposedly lost in the stock market this month, I don’t know how they still support him either. Or… perhaps the young man you saw this morning bought the Yale sweatshirt and never set foot on a college campus. I don’t know what to make of it either, Francis. It must have taken great restraint on your part to only give him an angry stare. I think his sweatshirt and MAGA hat are a perfect example of the dichotomy that is the American society today. Nothing makes sense anymore. Nothing! And, yes, I also heard about the Trump 2028 hats! I would like to say these people are delusional, but his people and the Republicans in Congress are just evil and conniving enough to find a way for him to run for a third term… or I think he could just refuse to vacate the White House. With the FBI and DOJ fully on his side, there will be no law enforcement agency to physically remove him. I put absolutely nothing beyond the realm of possibilities now. I have almost lost all faith in the system. I find glimmers of hope in the little things I blogged about this morning, but individuals are up against a huge obstacle: the Trump machine. I’m trying not to lose hope, but the day in and day out abuses of power are overwhelming. Knowing that half the population were so gullible as to vote for him last November after he had shown us what he was make me seriously question their ability to ever rise up against him. Realizing how stupid and hateful so many of my fellow Americans are in their hearts has been the most difficult part of this to accept. People I thought I knew. People I thought were good people. I know now they really aren’t good people. I know now that a lot of people who go to church every Sunday and profess to be Christians have no understanding of the teachings of Christ. God will judge them and He will judge me, but from a human point of view I cannot begin to understand how someone who believes in Jesus Christ and supports Donald Trump in any way, shape, or form. He is possibly the Anti-Christ. If not, he’s pretty close. It’s difficult to have hope for America’s future. I let my passport expire because I had no plans to ever again travel outside the US; however, I have filled out my application for a new passport and hope to get to a processing facility next week to submit it. I realized that my driver’s license is not proof of citizenship, and I don’t want to carry my birth certificate with me at all times. I plan to carry my new passport card with me at all times once I receive it, in case things here get even worse and I’m ever in a situation in which I have to prove my citizenship to keep from being detained or worse. In my first 72 years, it never once occurred to me that I would have to prove my citizenship while in the United States. Perhaps I’m over-reacting, but I don’t want to take any chances. The writing I’m doing on my blog might be my downfall someday, but I’ve decided democracy is worth fighting for. I’m willing to face the consequences. I don’t recognize my country. I’m glad you lived here during better times.
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It is very sad to realise that people one thought of as upstanding and kind turned out to be scoundrels. That is most definitely, the hardest part. I loved my life in the US. I was not there as an immigrant, but as part of a family that had gone there initially because of a work contract from a European company. I stayed and served the US in the Army, then in the Coast Guard, and in the local police department where I lived. I served under Reagan, who I did not vote for or liked (politically, not as a person), but I would never serve a man like the one there now. All the best to you Janet. We must never lose hope and always know, with the knowledge of our faith, that there will be better days. Have a lovely Friday and greetings from Spain. (Oh, and the lad on the street, I think he bought that Yale sweatshirt at Lefties, a local store like the Gap and I saw him again at a terrace (an outside bar) close to my neighbourhood and he is from Holland!)
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Matroos, I’m trying to cling to these little glimmers of hope, but it is daunting. It took outside forces to stop Hitler. I’m afraid our old allies will be so angry with Trump that they will not come to our rescue. I’m losing hope that we can save ourselves because too many of Trump’s supporters are in control of Congress. I hear that Republicans in Congress are afraid to speak up because they think Trump’s people will bring physical harm to them and their families. The rate at which the foundations and built-in safeguards are being destroyed is unbelievable. I knew a Trump second term would be damaging to our country, but it has already been so much worse than I imagined. We’re only three months into four years. It is so hard to be hopeful.
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I had not known the circumstances of your living in the US and having dual citizenship. Thank you for sharing that, and thank you for all your service to this country. I didn’t like Reagan’s politics either, but I never feared that he or his policies would destroy the US. There have been a few Presidents elected in my lifetime that I did not agree with or vote for, but Trump is the first one who is evil. Others had policies that I did not think were in the best interest of our country, but I never feared that they would destroy the fabric of our society. I never thought they hated democracy. And that clown you saw this morning… such a misguided young man to think it’s “cool” to wear a MAGA hat! I hope you will not continue to see him. If you’re like me, the very sight of one of those red hats is like waving a red cape in front of a raging bull! I feel total disgust for those people. I’m not out and about much, so I rarely see anyone wearing a MAGA hat. I guess I just don’t hang out at the “right” places, but I know I’m around people at the grocery store, the drug store, the post office, and at church who aren’t wearing the hat but they harbor those same beliefs. It’s the ones who sit around me in church that disappoint me the most.
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Dear Janet,
We’re following everything closely over here and feel deeply connected to what you’re going through. In my surroundings, I truly don’t know a single person who supports Trump. People here clearly see that you — and so many others — are victims of him and of those who continue to support him.
You are not alone. Across the world, many people still care deeply about justice, humanity, and truth.
At the same time, there’s a growing sense of unease here in Europe. The threat from Putin feels increasingly real. Recently, all 18-year-olds in both the Netherlands and Belgium received letters inviting them to join the military on a voluntary basis — a clear sign of rising concern. Even though it’s not mandatory, it’s unsettling. That kind of fear hasn’t been felt here in decades.
Keep writing. Keep feeling. Keep hoping. Goodness is far from defeated.
I’m thinking of you.
❤️
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So much good news. Thanks, Janet. I needed to hear these facts. I’m very interested in the Mutual Academic Defense Compact (MADC). So glad schools are organizing to protect their academic institutions.
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There are plenty misguided youth in EuropeJanet. That lad was one for sure. Thankfully most here in Spain are not on their side, but we’ve our own political clowns to deal with. And I am glad that all my US expat friends are all Democratic and on the other side of this coin.
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Thank you, Matroos. I’m trying to think positively, but it is so hard. I’m unsettled to learn about the letters since to 18-year-olds in the Netherlands and Belgium. The threat is real, although what we are hearing here is that Putin is losing so many soldiers daily that his push for Ukraine is not sustainable. Of course, he has North Korean soldiers helping but they have no real combat training. It seems they can goose-step with the best of them, but I hear there are of little use in combat. Who knows the truth of it, though? I admire the Ukrainians so much for how they have held off Russia this long. It’s embarrassing that they can’t depend on help from America anymore. We don’t know what Putin has on Trump, but that’s been our suspicion for nearly a decade. Why did he put tariffs on every country in the world except for Russia and Belarus? He holds Putin in such esteem! The pre-Trump Republican Party held Russia in contempt, but now it is the Party of Trump. And now Trump’s online store is selling “Trump 2028” baseball caps. How many Constitutional Amendments is he going to be allowed to trample? It sickens me to see how Trump buddies up to Putin and I’m horrified to think how countries’ allegiances will divide up if there is another world war. I do not trust Trump to side with NATO. He is just that evil. I keep you in my prayers, Matroos. You and all the people in Europe, for you do not have the luxury of an ocean between you and Russia and China. Not that an ocean will stop a nuclear missile. There are rumblings that Pete Hegseth cannot last much longer as Secretary of Defense, but Trump is completely unpredictable and such a liar. No one knows whether he will leave Hegseth in office or not. His incompetence matches Trump’s. I feel bad for all the level-headed true patriots in the military having to serve under such horrible leaders. Too many people here are focused on economic worries and aren’t focused on the destruction of our democracy. Of course, that is part of Trump’s larger plan: Keep the people distracted with the price of groceries and the stock market gyrations, and in the background you’re quietly dismantling the federal government. Personally, I don’t want to live here in an authoritarian state, regardless of the economy. I guess that’s just the political science student in me. Thank you for your always encouraging words. They mean more than you can imagine.
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Thanks, Rebecca. The MADC gives me more hope than anything else I’ve heard. If we lose the independence and intellectual freedoms in our colleges and universities, we’ve lost more than we can imagine.
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In case you’re interested, you can order a Trump 2028 basebase cap from Trump’s online store for a measly $50. Thought you’d like to know. Hahahahahahahahaha! Be sure and tell your friends. Maybe y’all can get a group discount. (We can laugh now, but we won’t be laughing in 2028.)
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Well I tell you, even though I lived in the south, I prefer a Yankees cap! 😊
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I would, too, if forced to choose between the two! Ha ha ha!
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Absolutely! Hehehe… goodnight Janet and all the best.
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I’ll add one that gave me a little glimmer of hope yesterday. Did you happen to see an interview on CNN with a Republican Congressman called Rick McCormick, from Georgia, I believe. I’d never come across him before but you probably know him. He started out trying to pretend that Trump was doing a good job over the peace process in Ukraine, but as Kaitlan Collins continued to question him, he got more and more open and eventually admitted that he too thinks it’s ridiculous that Russia should gain from this war and that America should recognise Crimea as belonging to Russia. I checked him out later and discovered that he’s pretty right wing, so it gave me a bit of hope that people who have been defending Trump in public might be getting close to reaching their limits.
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Enjoyed your list of things that make you happy, Janet.
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I think all of the push-back is beginning to have an effect on Trump and his flying monkeys. The question now becomes, What’s next?
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I watch Kaitlin Collins almost every night, but I missed it last night. I hadn’t heard about her interview with Rep. McCormick. Good for Kaitlin! She really knows her stuff and stands her ground. I would love to think there are some cracks beginning to form in the Republicans in Congress! Thanks for the info!
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I must admit, I was really just trying to convince myself that there was hope. I’m not really feeling it, Pat. Working on blog posts for next Tuesday and Wednesday (and possibly Thursday, the way things are going.) I already have a list of 20 awful things to write about.
Have a nice weekend. Let’s hope Trump just attends the Pope’s funeral, keeps his mouth shut, and doesn’t start a war while he’s over there! He’ll be out of sorts if he goes a whole weekend without playing his beloved golf.
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I just hope he behaves while in Italy for Pope Francis’ funeral. We know he won’t be able to keep his mouth shut, though, so he’s bound to say something really stupid and offensive. I’m sure the rest of the world leaders cringed when they heard he was coming.
I shudder to think what could be next. I’ve already compiled a list of 20 terrible things to blog about next week. Started out making a list for Tuesday’s blog. I guess I’ll have to spread it out over several days, and by then there will be 20 more things to add.
I read tonight that he’s launching an investigation into UC-Berkeley over foreign money. I’d forgotten they were questioned several years ago over Chinese money and a joint research institute built in China. So there might be a need for an investigation, but I have a hunch it’s just another attack on a university. Makes me so angry!
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I was appalled to hear that the evil one would be attending the Pope’s funeral.
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I am waiting to find out where Biden and Trump were sitting at the funeral and how Trump will spin it if he thinks he can benefit from the comparison. No golf–how the poor man suffers so. Scarier by the day.
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I was, too, Liz. I’m sure he went only to see what was in it for him. I hate that his brief meeting with Zelensky is getting any coverage. Just another photo op for Trump.
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Yes, that will be interesting to see. I haven’t seen that yet. Too bad Zelensky had to meet with him briefly, probably just to be lectured again and so Trump could have a photo op. I’m sure Trump went just to see what he could get out of it. He certainly held no respect for Pope Francis or for anything Pope Francis stood for. He flies off to the Vatican while a US citizen gets deported to Honduras. I’m sure the Republicans will say it was okay because she’s only two years old. My question would be, “At what age is it illegal to deport a US citizen? Six? 12? 17? 94?
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Starve him of attention, and he’ll wither and die.
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That’s right.
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His cabinet are daily showing their disdain for everything but themselves. As one reporter said, he left less than an hour after the funeral so he could spend the rest of the weekend playing golf in Bedminster. Must be getting to hot for fat old men in makeup to be playing golf in Palm Beach.
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Yes, sweat and heavy orange makeup aren’t a good combination.
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