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.
Author: janetsm
In November 2025, I published Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories. In the fall of 2025, I published a devotional book: I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter AND I Need The Light! Companion Journal and Diary. I write North Carolina local history and Southern American colonial historical fiction. I enjoy doing extensive research as well as the writing that research supports. My stories and novels-in-progress are about the common people. I'm the author of Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Books 1 and 2 and a vintage postcard book titled The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
In case you were getting optimistic about the U.S. Congress (and let me be clear, I have no idea why you would have been), let me share with you a portion of the email I received on Saturday from the man who “represents” my district in the U.S. House of Representatives.
I said “from the man who ‘represents’ my district” because I cannot say “from the man who represents ME in the U.S. House of Representatives.” He does not represent me in any way, shape, or form.
The United States Capitol Photo by Kyle Mills on Unsplash
His hate-filled newsletters and emails do not reflect any of my core values, even though he is a preacher. In fact, that makes his name-calling and prejudiced statements seem that much more vile.
I know from my experience working in local government that electing a minister to a county commission or city council can go sour very quickly. The U.S. Congress is no different. Politics brings out the worst traits in people.
There is an important reason why our country was founded on the idea of separation of church and state. It’s part of the First Amendment – you know, that Amendment that was openly attacked last week by the Trump Administration.
The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America
Back to Mark Harris’ September 22, 2025, email…
The Biden Administration
This is what U.S. Representative Mark Harris remembers from the four years of the Biden Administration: “Under the Biden administration, the FBI spent more time and resources targeting Christians and churches than violent criminals. But the era of weaponizing our justice department is over!”
What is he talking about?
FBI Director Kash Patel
I watched FBI Director Kash Patel appear before the House Judiciary Committee last week. What I saw was a defiant, rude, nervous man fumbling with a hundred little pieces of paper. What I saw was a man who refused to answer “Yes” and “No” questions. I saw a man who lashed out at members of Congress. I saw a man who performed that day for an audience of one on Pennsylvania Avenue.
This is what U.S. Representative Mark Harris saw: “This week, FBI Director Kash Patel appeared before the House Judiciary Committee, and his testimony made one thing clear: law and order have returned. Joe Biden’s FBI targeted parents at school board meetings, Catholics, pro-lifers, and everyday Americans. But President Trump and Kash Patel put an end to all of it!”
In closing
The icing on the cake was the next sentence in Mr. Harris’s email to me: “America is a safer place than it was 9 months ago.”
Why don’t I feel safer?
He feels safe because he is voting the way Trump wants him to vote and he is saying the things Trump wants him to say. He will feel safe until he learns that his loyalty to Trump is not reciprocated. Trump will eventually turn on Mr. Harris because Trump turns on his supporters when he no longer needs them. Isn’t that what mob bosses do?
And why didn’t Mr. Harris address the fact that freedom of speech is under siege in the United States?
“Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” ~ Brandon Carr, Federal Communications Commissioner, September 17, 2025
I guess Mr. Harris wasn’t paying attention on September 17. He was too busy doing Trump’s bidding and basking in his newfound sense of security.
I have emailed Mr. Harris with various concerns. His responses only serve to remind me that he and Dear Leader are right and I am wrong. Nevertheless, I will keep reminding him who he works for and to what document — not to which man — he pledged his allegiance when he took the oath of office.
“No taxation without representation!” It is 1775 all over again.
Yesterday, President Trump and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. – who has no education in medicine – announced that they had found the cause of autism: folate acid deficiency and mothers taking Tylenol.
Isn’t it amazing that hundreds, if not thousands, of researchers have not been able to find what causes autism over the last 60 years, but Bobby Kennedy, Jr. figured it out in a few months?
And what could be easier than blaming pregnant women? As if pregnant women don’t have enough to worry about, Bobby has now told them that it is their fault for their child’s autism if they took a Tylenol during pregnancy.
Photo by Hush Naidoo Jade Photography on Unsplash
It was Dr. Trump who spilled the beans. What Kennedy had to say was anticlimactic Touting it in advance as the most important press conference of his career, Trump came out and in no uncertain terms gave medical advice to pregnant women.
I’m glad I don’t own stock in the company that makes Tylenol! It was obvious that Dr. Trump had never seen the word “acetaminophen” before. He stumbled over it horribly. I thought everyone knew about acetaminophen, but I guess not.
It seemed to be a new word for Dr. Trump, but that did not slow him down in warning pregnant women to just grin and bear it through pain and high fever. I guess like he would?
He said they can take a “small one” but only if they just can’t stand the pain or high fever. He went on and on, pronouncing “Tylenol” like it was a nasty word. Sort of like he says, “China.”
Nothing like terrorizing women who are currently pregnant by telling them that the Tylenol pill they took last week might cause the fetus they’re carrying to be born with autism.
Easy for Trump and Kennedy to say. It’s also easy for them to use their platforms to make sweeping proclamations based on junk science, which is the only “science” they know anything about. Isn’t it Trump who thinks windmills cause cancer?
Trump and Kennedy have put the Centers for Disease Control in shambles.
Kennedy loaded the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices with known anti-vaccine activists and at least one mathematician with no medical training whatsoever so the committee could make dangerous recommendations last week. The committee did not disappoint Kennedy. It’s like people used to say about computers: “Garbage in, garbage out.”
Instead of listening to physicians and researchers who have dedicated their lives to immunology, we now have a U.S. Government giving citizens medical advice based on fiction and lies.
This is what we get when we have a Republican-dominated United States Senate confirming the nomination of an anti-vaxxer who admits he has a worm in his brain to be U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. We got what the U.S. President and the U.S. Senate think we deserve.
In the so-called memorial service for Charlie Kirk on Sunday, Trump quizzed the audience about what MAHA stands for. “Make America Healthy Again.” What should have been a reverent Christian memorial service for an assassinated conservative activist turned into a political rally as soon as Trump stepped on the stage with pyrotechnics and Lee Greenwood belting out “I’m Proud to be an American.”
That shocking display set the stage for what Trump was going to say. At least we were forewarned, and no one should have been surprised by it. The surprise would have been if Trump had walked up to the podium and calmly delivered words of peace and talked about Charlie Kirk instead of talking about himself. That would have been shocking!
How strange for Charlie Kirk’s young children to be subjected to fireworks and hate speech at their father’s memorial service! Was that supposed to give them comfort? Oh… I forgot… it wasn’t about Charlie Kirk or his children. It was about Donald Trump. It always is.
Trump is so far removed from Christianity, he has no clue how offensive his behavior and remarks yesterday were to real Christians. I guess he forgot to wear his MAGA baseball cap. He ranted about hating his opponents. He ranted about “left-wing liberal lunatics.” He bragged about the crowd size.
I have been to more funerals and memorial services in my 72 years than I can count, but I’ve never heard a speaker at one of them talk about hating people or call half the population of the United States “lunatics.”
People keep saying, “This is not who we are.” I used to say that. I’ve uttered those words in 2025, but I can’t say those words now. America, that’s who we are. It’s time to face the truth.
When the President of the United States can openly talk like that and no one in the United States Congress says one word of criticism, that’s who we are.
We need to admit it. As long as half of us are in denial, we cannot address the problem. Step 1: Admit there is a problem.
I don’t know whether American students still learn about Nathan Hale. I’ve heard that students are now taught that U.S. History began when George Washington became President.
I hope that is an urban myth. If a child isn’t taught that there was an American Revolution, a Revolutionary War, and why those came about, it will not mean anything to them to know that George Washington was our first President.
In case you need a refresher about who Nathan Hale was, I’ll give a brief summary.
Nathan Hale
Nathan Hale was born in Connecticut in 1755. He graduated from Yale University in 1773 and became a teacher. He joined a Connecticut regiment in 1775 and was commissioned as a captain the next year.
Hale went behind enemy lines on Long Island during the siege of New York. Deemed guilty of spying, he was captured on September 21, 1776. He was hanged by the British in Manhattan on September 22, 1776.
He was barely 21 years old! I did not realize he was that young until I was doing some research to write today’s blog post.
Things were not going well for the Americans, so leaders used Nathan Hale’s hanging as a rallying cry.
Hale has often been quoted as saying, “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country,” but there is no proof that he uttered those words. British Captain Frederick Macenzie, who witnessed the hanging, wrote in his diary that Hale’s last words were, “it is the duty of every good officer to obey any orders given him by his commander-in-chief.”
Hurricane Helene Update, 51.5 weeks after the disaster
As of Friday, 38 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene. That count included five US highways, two state highways, and 31 state roads.
Interstate 40 is, of course, still just two lanes, 35 miles-per-hour.
Don’t hesitate to travel to western North Carolina. Just be aware that there are still spotty road closures. The area needs tourists to support all the small businesses struggling to recover from this September 26, 2024, natural disaster. Eat at a diner instead of a fast-food chain restaurant. Make sure the souvenir you buy was handmade by a local artisan and not mass-produced by a large corporation.
A Note in Closing
I’m pleased to announce the publication of I Need The Light! Companion Journal and Diary to go along with I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter. Both books are available on Amazon.
We are living in strange times. Pay attention to what is happening. Ignore the attacks on free speech at your own peril.
It is not humanly possible for one person to keep up with more than a fraction of the bad things that have happened this week to the American way of life. I have blogged the last two days about the demise of freedom of speech under the Trump Administration.
I will just mention three other items of concern from the last seven days.
NATO, tariffs, Russia
Trump went on a rant on social media on Saturday morning in which he laid out how he is going to blackmail all the other NATO countries into not buying any oil from Russia. He said when they all agree to that, he will in turn place sanctions on Russia.
What a lame way to announce he has no intentions of sanctioning Russia! Any former U.S. President would not have had to wait on all other NATO nations to act before he could put tariffs on Russia.
U.S. Department of Education
One of the main things Trump ran on last year was the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education. It is ironic that the more department employees they fire, the more new ideas they come up with for new programs.
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash
The illustrious U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced a new idea this week. Since her background is in the wrestling industry, I really doubt it was her idea. I think any thinking person can figure out the source of the new plans she announced on Wednesday.
McMahon said not enough young Americans love America because they don’t have any knowledge of America. (That’s a paraphrase, but you get the point.) To remedy this, the U.S. Department of Education (I guess until it no longer exists, if we can trust Trump to eliminate it) is partnering with 40 conservative organizations to create The America 250 Civics Education Coalition.
Someone apparently slipped up and told McMahon that 2026 will be the 250th birthday of the United States of America. Who knew! She is scrambling as 2025 comes to an end to teach every American student some civics next year.
The Administration that has pledged to root out all vestiges of wokeness and all vestiges of indoctrination is now partnering with the most politically and religiously conservative organizations in the country (including Turning Point USA, Turning Point Education, Hillsdale College, the America First Policy Institute, and The Heritage Foundation) to “encourage” all students in the United States from elementary school through higher education to learn about “American history, values, and geography with an unbiased approach.”
I’m trying to get my head around how one would teach geography in a biased way. I thought geography was factual. Oh, I just smacked my forehead. I just remember that I was told for 72 years that the Gulf of Mexico was the Gulf of Mexico, but President Trump renamed it this year to the Gulf of America. I guess teaching children and college students that it is the Gulf of Mexico is now considered “biased.”
I don’t want to beat a dead horse over this, so I will just leave you with a quote from Linda McMahon. Keep in mind that she is the U.S. Secretary of Education. She said the following on Wednesday in an interview with Marisa Schultz, news editor for the Washington Examiner:
“”I mean, when you have high school students that don’t know you know what those three departments of our government are for heaven sakes, they don’t know what even that you have to register to vote in different states. I mean, it is appalling the lack of knowledge that many of our students have. And so one of my initiatives is to make sure that patriotic education, even though the Department of Education does not control curriculum, we don’t hire teachers, we don’t buy books, we don’t do any of that. But let’s encourage, if we can.”
Two things jumped out at me from that quote: (1) The U.S. Secretary of Education thinks we have three “departments” in the U.S. Government and (2) The U.S. Secretary of Education has trouble forming a complete sentence.
We are doomed.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for the teaching of civics in our schools, but I’m not in favor of a lopsided, skewed right-wing white Christian view of government, history, and geography being taught.
There is no courage, bravery, or integrity in our corporate institutions. There is no courage, bravery, or integrity in our three branches of government.
By the way, Secretary McMahon, we have three branches of government, not three departments of government. Maybe you aren’t the best person to be in charge of the teaching of civics in our country. Just sayin’.
Trump and his entourage are royally treated by the King Charles
There were more cringe-worthy photographs and quotes from Trump’s trip to London this week. I cringed to see how inappropriately the First Lady and the White House Press Secretary were dressed for dinner on Wednesday night, but I also cringed to see how King Charles kowtowed to Trump.
The British Royal Family sets the bar high for decorum, and Trump trips over that bar every time he goes across the pond.
With the demise of free speech in America this week, I admit I did not pay much attention to Trump’s trip, but I understand that he announced in front of God and everybody that he was the first United States President to be invited to Great Britain.
Does he not remember that he was invited there in 2018? Is he so ignorant of history that he does not know that numerous United States Presidents have been invited to Great Britain over the centuries?
It is just one more in a long line of indications that everything is all about him. I’m hard pressed to think of anyone in the history of the world who had a bigger or more fragile ego than Donald John Trump, Sr.
What struck me this week above everything else about Trump’s trip to England was that not only do citizens of Great Britain have more freedom than American citizens to protest the U.S. President, but the press there has more freedom to ask the U.S. President pointed questions than American reporters and journalists. That alone should be what Americans are taking away from the trip.
Yesterday, on the 238th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution, Brandon Carr, the Chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) went on a podcast and showed his true MAGA colors. He did Trump’s bidding. Using the language of a mob boss, he threatened ABC if the network did not fire late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
Meme created by Janet Morrison
Trump once again publicly announced his disdain for the ABC network before he left from Great Britain on Tuesday.
Instead of finally showing a backbone and not caving in to pressure from the Trump Regime, ABC kowtowed to Donald Trump and his minions once again. Trump’s minion du jour yesterday was Brandon Carr.
These people have no shame. Carr was wearing a U.S. Flag on his lapel as he did Trump’s work on that podcast. I’m surprised he wasn’t wearing a big cross necklace like so many of Trump’s people do as they spout hate.
Once you give in to a bully, that bully owns you. Most people learn that on the playground when they’re five years old. The executives of the large corporations, universities, museums, law firms, etc. in the United States did not learn that lesson as children or young adults. They are learning it in 2025, and it is a hideous thing to watch because it means the destruction of the Constitution of the United States.
Yesterday, on the 238th anniversary of the September 17, 1787, signing of the Constitution of the United States of America, the United States reverted to our colonial rule under King George when criticizing the king was against the law.
Here we are. Half the voters voted for this last November. When you vote for a person who has no understanding of right and wrong, no understanding of the Constitution of the United States, and only understands the power of money, this is what you get.
Half of you voted for it and the rest of us are getting slammed with it. Speaking to those of you who are happy about government censorship of free expression, I feel sorry for you because you have no appreciation for the incredible freedoms and opportunities you were handed at birth just by being born in the United States.
When a wannabe dictator tells you he is “going to be a dictator on Day One,” you should believe him.
In the coming days, we will either see Republicans in Congress grow a backbone and speak up for free speech and reel in the FCC, or we will see them continue to be complicit in the dismantling of the Bill of Rights.
Since the official responses from the White House and Trump and his family have been to celebrate, I am not hopeful. There is an old saying in America: “Monkey see, monkey do.”
I’ll keep sounding the alarm as long as I’m allowed to. This is not the country I knew from 1953 through 2024.
Last fall and winter as I planned the topics for my blog for 2025, all I came up with to write about on Monday, September 15 was James Fenimore Cooper’s 236th birthday.
Last year, I was trying to blog about my journey as a writer, a history buff, and a reader. I planned to continue my routine of blogging every Monday. Even at that pace, I came up sorely lacking for a topic for today’s blog post.
Nevertheless, I left James Fenimore Cooper’s birthday on my editorial calendar for today.
Little did I know what 2025 held for all of us. Little did I know what last week held for us.
James Fennimore Cooper is one of most-celebrated Early American writers, but I will not blog about him today. His 236th birthday holds no interest for me.
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
We find ourselves in a volatile time not just in the United States but around the world.
There is inflamed political speech in the United States. It might not be worse than ever before, but it is being fueled like never before due to social media and around-the-clock television. (Yes, young people, the TV networks used to sign off at midnight or 1 a.m. The national anthem was played, and then a “test pattern” filled the screen until morning. I’m not making that up!)
Today I will follow up on a couple of things I included in my blog on Friday.
The murder of Iryna Zarutska
In my blog post on Friday, September 12, I shared a long list of things I am sick of. One of them was,” I’m sick of politicians like J.D. Vance blaming North Carolina Governor Josh Stein for the August 23 murder of Iryna Zarutska by Decarlos Brown, Jr. on a light rail train in Charlotte after Gov. Stein said we needed more law enforcement officers.”
If you somehow missed hearing about this case, Iryna Zarutska was a 23-year-old Ukrainian who fled the war there and settled in Charlotte. She got off work that night, boarded the Blue Line light rail in Southend, just south of uptown Charlotte, took an aisle seat, got out her cell phone, and had her earbuds in.
Ms. Zarutska had bought a car, but she couldn’t get an appointment with the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles to get her driver’s license until October. So she was taking the light rail to and from her job at a pizza parlor.
Mr. Brown was in the window seat on the row directly behind her, but no one was sitting in the aisle seat next to him.
Less than five minutes later, Mr. Brown unfolded a pocket knife, jumped up, and stabbed Ms. Zarutska in the neck without hesitation or warning.
Three weeks after Ms. Zarutska’s cold-blooded unprovoked murder, a reporter drew it to Trump’s attention. It immediately became a flashpoint and battle cry for the Trump Administration.
What I didn’t go on and say in Friday’s blog post was that Decarlos Brown, Jr. is suffering from Schizophrenia and his mother has tried to get him the treatment he needs. Mr. Brown is 34 years old. His mother cannot force him into treatment, and she should not be held responsible for his actions. That part of the story is not getting the attention it needs because, as a country, we don’t want to talk about mental illness – much less do anything about it.
It is the lack of a mental health system in the United States that meant that Decarlos Brown, Jr. was on the train that night and not in a treatment facility. He was convinced that Iryna Zarutska was “reading his mind,” according to his sister. He told police that he was controlled by things in his body. That is not Gov. Stein’s fault, so let’s just stop blaming Democratic governors and mayors for all our societal failures.
There was a case of Schizophrenia in my extended family. This family member’s father did everything humanly possible under the law to get his adult child help. The system prevented this adult from being kept in a mental health facility long enough for them to get the treatment that was needed.
If an adult is not seen as a threat to themselves or to someone else, they cannot be held in a mental health facility against their will. The irony is that people who need mental health care often do not know they need help.
The irony is that once a person with some mental health issues is treated and is on a medication that helps control their symptoms, they often conclude that they are cured or that nothing was wrong with them to begin with and they stop taking their medications.
How many times do we have to hear that? How many times do we have to see it with our own eyes?
I don’t know what the answer is but if there had been a law enforcement officer sitting in front of or near Ms. Zarutska, they probably could not have prevented her murder. It happened just that fast, and it happened from behind without warning. Just because Mr. Brown was restless and sometimes talking to himself, that’s not against the law.
President Trump has called for Mr. Brown to receive the death penalty. Since when is having Schizophrenia a capital offense?
Until our country finds the courage, will, compassion, and wisdom to address mental illness, this will not be the last tragic murder. We find the money to develop weapons to defend ourselves against other countries, but we don’t find the money or the will to truly care for our fellow Americans who are ill due to no fault of their own.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk
Another item on my list on Friday was, “I’m sick of Trump’s followers claiming that every Democrat is rejoicing in Wednesday’s assassination of Charlie Kirk and that they “should all burn in hell forever.” Some of the loudest conservative talking heads were quick on Wednesday afternoon to proclaim that “we are now at war.”
What I did not go on and say on Friday was that Charlie Kirk had extreme political views, but he had a right to those views and he had the right of free speech to voice his views – just like I have the right to write my views in my blog.
Political violence has no place in the United States, but it certainly is a part of our history. I don’t know that one political party has a monopoly on political assassinations and attempted assassinations. People are quick to point fingers and place blame.
Instead of speaking on television on Wednesday night to call for a lowering of political hate speech, Trump spoke of tracking down anyone and everyone who had anything to do with the assassination. He immediately blamed the “far Left” and the news media for spouting hateful rhetoric that caused this assassination.
The person or people involved in Charlie Kirk’s assassination do need to be brought to justice, but we need a U.S. President who has the wisdom and self-awareness to recognize that he is partly to blame for the vicious political rhetoric in our country today.
We should be able to voice our opinions on politics, religion, and anything else without fear of being murdered. A sign of an advanced society is the free exchange of ideas. I thought I was living in such a society, but maybe I have been naïve the first 72 years of my life.
I think we’re at a turning point, and the arrow is not pointing in a good direction.
Hurricane Helene Update
As of Friday, 38 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene. That count included five US highways, two state highways, and 31 state roads.
As I reported two weeks ago, the rebuilding of five miles of I-40 in the Pigeon River Gorge in North Carolina at the Tennessee line is expected to be completed by the end of 2028 at a cost of $1.3 billion. One lane in each direction at 35 miles-per-hour continues since the partial reopening.
As fall approaches, visitors are encouraged to plan trips to the mountains in western North Carolina. Just be aware that portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway and some other roads remain closed. Check routes online when planning your trip.
As usual, what I started to write for my blog today grew much longer than I anticipated. It is overwhelming to realize how many things I’m sick and tired of. You’ll be glad to know that before publishing this post, I deleted several items.
I love my country, but it has gone off the rails in a myriad of ways. I’m old enough at 72 years old to remember the 1950s and 1960s. We’ve been through some contentious times in my lifetime, but the 2020s have a different feel.
We are in a whole different era of vicious name-calling and a whole different era of too many people thinking the only way to settle a disagreement is by using a gun.
Things are coming to a head on many fronts, and it is impossible to know what the future holds.
Photo by Richard Lee on Unsplash
Here are a few of the things I’m sick of.
I am sick and tired and beyond disgusted at what the Trump Administration is doing to our country and the world. I’m sick of waking up every morning and dreading to turn on the TV or the computer and hear what he and his minions have done under the cover of darkness.
I am sick of seeing his orange face and hearing his word salad speeches that make no sense. I’m sick of him calling people names. I’m sick of his stupid red MAGA caps. I’m sick of seeing how he has defaced the Oval Office with gold doo-dads and gaudy picture frames. I’m sick of seeing the orange and white striped picnic table umbrellas and concrete he had installed to deface the White House Rose Garden.
I’m sick of all the misguided people who appear on news shows and defend Trump. I’m sick of the hate they spew. I’m sick of the smirks on their faces as they talk about immigrants as if they aren’t human. I’m sick of them saying it’s okay that there are more guns than people in the United States now.
I’m sick of all three of the men who “represent” me in Washington, D.C. going along with everything Trump wants, which makes them complicit.
I’m sick of the majority of Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court not standing up against Trump’s power reach.
I’m sick of the rewriting of history to fit Trump’s agenda and narrow views.
I’m sick of politicians like J.D. Vance blaming North Carolina Governor Josh Stein for the August 23 murder of Iryna Zarutska by Decarlos Brown, Jr. on a light rail train in Charlotte after Gov. Stein said we needed more law enforcement officers. Gov. Stein does not control how many security officers the private company that operates the light rail hires, so let’s not blame him for Iryna Zarutska’s murder just because he is a Democrat.
I’m sick of the Trump Administration taking advantage of Iryna Zarutska’s murder to take attention off the Epstein Files. The President of the United States is calling for Decarlos Brown, Jr. to get the death penalty. Since when is having Schizophrenia a capital offense?
I’m sick of Trump’s followers claiming that every Democrat is rejoicing in Wednesday’s assassination of Charlie Kirk and that they “should all burn in hell forever.” (Yes, that’s a quote from a Facebook post by a Christian I know.) Some of the loudest conservative talking heads were quick on Wednesday afternoon to proclaim that “we are now at war.”
I’m sick of the liberals who said Charlie Kirk got what he deserved. No one deserves to be murdered for their beliefs!
I’m sick of Trump only being concerned about “beautiful” women. He put his condolences to Charlie Kirk’s “beautiful wife” on social media, which tells me that he wouldn’t have felt bad for her if she were not beautiful. I’m sick of the demeaning language that Trump and his ilk think is the only way to refer to a woman because what else could give her value as a human being except her looks? Erica Kirk had just lost her husband and the father of their two young children. Was that tragedy made worse by the fact that she is “beautiful?” I don’t think her looks will ease her grief or magnify it. Few of us can imagine the depths of her grief.
I’m sick of him saying crime only happens in cities that have a Democratic mayor.
I’m sick of him saying the American consumer is not paying for the tariffs he has placed on every country in the world except the country he loves best: Russia.
I’m sick of him saying the abuse of teenage girls by Jeffrey Epstein and his friends is a “Democrat hoax.”
I’m sick of women not being believed.
I’m sick of people only getting upset when white children are kidnapped, especially if they have blonde hair.
I’m sick of white men, who have had privileges they don’t even recognize, much less acknowledge, saying that every woman of color who is educated and serving in a position of power is there only because DEI gave them a free pass. It is those white men who often got free passes into whatever career they wanted solely because they were white males.
I’m sick of politicians offering nothing but thoughts and prayers after every school shooting.
I’m sick of people saying, “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” It seems to me that guns certainly make it easier for people to kill people, and it is far too easy for people in the United States to obtain guns.
Photo by Tom Def on Unsplash
I’m sick of them saying Joe Biden was unfit physically or mentally to be President while Trump is in the background speaking unintelligently about who knows what and is unable to say a complete sentence or walk in a straight line.
I’m sick of them saying there is nothing wrong or alarming when the President of the United States says and then demonstrates daily that he wants to be a dictator.
I’m sick of them saying it doesn’t bother them at all that Trump pardoned the insurrectionists and cop killers who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
I’m sick of them saying it doesn’t bother them at all that Trump tried to get the State of Georgia to “find” him 11,780 votes.
I’m sick of them saying they think it is wonderful for Trump to militarily take over the country one city at a time in the name of saving us from crime.
I’m sick of the attacks on medical and scientific research.
I’m sick of the attacks on vaccines.
I’m sick of the attacks on public education.
I’m sick of the attacks on universities.
I’m sick of the attacks on the Smithsonian Institution.
I’m sick and tired of being lied to.
I’m sick of one hundred different curve balls being thrown at us every single day to the point that we cannot keep up with what is happening, which of our rights are being trampled, and which government program has been dismantled. It is exhausting.
After reading the above list, I hope you understand why I continue to blog about the Trump Administration and societal issues in America. I don’t enjoy doing it. Life is short, and there are many things I’d rather be writing about or doing.
I cannot see injustice, the failing of societal norms, and governmental wrongdoing and say nothing.
I do believe the right-wing conservative Christians would call Jesus “woke.” In a round about way, they are doing exactly that.
Two evangelicals have published books in the last year claiming that the Democrats are carrying empathy too far… and furthermore, that’s a sin.
I won’t name them here, because I don’t want to give them or their books free publicity. I’ll just share my thoughts on the subject.
Early in the second Trump Administration, Elon Musk stated, “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.” It’s sad to see people who profess to be Christians jumping on that bandwagon.
Is that why all the right-wing conservative Christian “faith leaders” who gather in the Oval Office for photo ops with Trump remained silent when his Administration dismantled USAID?
There was great fanfare when Trump established a so-called Faith Office in the White House, but what has the office done except hold an expensive banquet for themselves and their ilk – all the big names in tele-evangelism and such?
Where was that Faith Office when USAID was destroyed?
Where was that Faith Office when medical research funding was slashed?
Where was that Faith Office when childhood cancer research was halted?
Where was that Faith Office when ICE agents arrested 20-year-old nursing student Allison Bustillo and held her for more than six months in a detention center 350 miles from her home and never gave her due process. Her “crime” was fleeing violence in Honduras as an eight-year-old child, coming to America, studying nursing at a university, and caring for her younger brother who has autism. With no grounds for deportation, the U.S. Justice Department just kept her in limbo in a detention center for months on end.
The silence from the so-called Christians in the White House has been deafening.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think there should be a right-wing Christian “Faith Office” in the White House or in any other government building. There’s a reason the Constitution of the United States of America does not establish a State Religion.
Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash
But if you establish a Faith Office in the White House and fund it and advertise it and brag about it, maybe it should put its money where its mouth is and speak up for common decency that most world religions claim to be rooted in.
If you think Jesus is in favor of taking food and medicine away from sick and starving children, I believe you need to start reading a different version of the Bible. None of the versions I have paint that picture of Jesus.
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