Category: Politics

We’ll have none of that!

It has been a few days (well, four) since I blogged about politics in the United States, so today I’ll try to briefly hit on some things you might have missed.

Office of Special Counsel

Paul Ingrassia was appointed the lead the Office of Special Counsel by President Trump and be his liaison with the Department of Homeland Security. That is the office that handles such things as illegal campaign actions by high officials. Thirteen of Trump’s senior aides were found to be in violation of the Hatch Act during his first term in office.

The problem with Paul Ingrassia being appointed to this position is: He is a former far-right podcaster who in while Trump tried to overthrow the 2020 election posted, “Time for @realDonaldTrump to declare martial law and secure his re-election.”

Don’t expect any whistle blowing within the Trump Administration.

The National Association of the Deaf

During the Covid 19 pandemic, all 50 states provided American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters during their governors’ press briefings, but the Trump White House refused to do so even after repeated requests from the National Association for the Deaf (NAD) and members of Congress. This led NAD to file a lawsuit against Trump on August 3, 2020 which asked for the immediate use of ASL interpreters during television broadcasts of coronavirus press conferences and briefings.

The suit maintained that the White House was in violation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The Act mandates that people with disabilities have access to all White House communications. That is, of course, crucial during a public health crisis. After a judge ordered the White House to provide ASL interpreters for all Covid 19 press briefings, that was done.

President Joe Biden took office on January 20, 2021, and four days later announced that there would be ASL interpreters for all White House press briefings.

Fast forward to January 20, 2025, the day Trump’s second term began. On that day, he signed an Executive Order to halt all Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) programs and activities in the federal government.

No more ASL interpreters at the White House or in any department in the Executive Branch of the US Government.

“It’s Déjà vu all over again.” The National Association for the Deaf filed a lawsuit against President Trump, press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles for being in violation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Closed-captioning is helpful, but it usually skips or misinterprets some words. For people who are completely deaf, being able to watch an ASL interpreter is of paramount importance.

What’s the point of complaining about cuts to Medicaid if we’re all going to die anyway?

At a town hall meeting on Friday, Republican US Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa was questioned about the cuts to Medicaid that are in the “big, beautiful bill” passed by the US House and now under consideration by the Senate. Her response to her constituents: “People are not – well, we all are going to die, so, for heaven’s sakes.” Her words were met with jeers.

NBC News also reported, “Ernst also got into testy exchanges about DOGE cuts and her support for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Butler County town hall, but was asked repeatedly about the proposed Medicaid changes.”

When this happens when citizens go to public meetings held by a US Senator or US Representative, their questions should not be brushed off in such a way.

When writing your US Senators and Representative appears to be a waste of time

Three weeks ago, I wrote emails to both US Senators from North Carolina and my US Representative expressing my concern that the US had been placed on the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist due to human rights.

Senator Thom Tillis responded the next week and thanked me for writing him about the border crisis.  

Senator Ted Budd responded last Thursday and told me repeatedly that he is working hard to uphold the US Constitution.

Representative Mark Harris responded a week or so ago and only praised the job President Trump is doing and said that every Executive Order signed by Trump should be codified into law by the Congress.

Now that I know how they feel about the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist….

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

On Friday, Trump fired Kim Sajet, the Director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. She had held the position for 12 years. Her crime, according to Trump was for being “a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI.”

So, if you hire or promote persons of color or women, you are not welcome in the Trump orbit.

If a person can lose their job for being “a highly partisan person,” it seems to me that would include everyone Trump has hire or appointed… or pardoned.

A false economy and a public health gamble.

Reuters reported that the Trump Administration cancelled a federal government contract with Moderna for the late-stage development of its bird flu vaccine for humans.

Are we heading for Remigration?

Remigration is a policy that calls for the removal of migrants. The goal appears to be to create white ethnostates.

It came to light last Thursday that the US State Department had sent a 136-page notification document to six Congressional Committees for approval by July 1. In addition to creating an Office of Remigration in the State Department, the document says that the new office “will also actively facilitate the voluntary return of migrants to their country of origin or legal status.”

Much of the Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Bureau will be eliminated, as if the US isn’t already on a human rights watchlist!

The document tells of dramatic changes coming to the US diplomatic service, and the establishment of a new Deputy Assistant Secretary of State position to oversee “Democracy and Western Values.”

That last part is cringe-worthy. Trump’s disdain for democracy is one thing that worries me, and what do they mean by “Western Values?”

American Bar Association, thanks but no thanks

In a letter to William R. Bay, President of the American Bar Association, on May 29 US Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Mr. Bay that the US Department of Justice will no longer take ABA ratings into consideration in judicial nominations because “its ratings invariably and demonstrably favor nominees put forth by Democratic administrations.”

The letter went on to say the American Bar Association will be treated like any other “activist organization.”

Kudos to CNBC reporter Megan Cassella

Photo of three tacos
Photo by Jarett Lopez on Unsplash

Kudos to CNBC reporter Megan Cassella for daring to ask Trump what he thought about TACO: Trump Always Chickens Out.

In fairness to the Republicans…

On Tuesday, May 27, the US Supreme Court declined to review a lower court’s decision that allows the transfer of sacred Apache land in central Arizona to a foreign copper mining company.

The Apache Stronghold coalition of indigenous and non-indigenous people last year lost their case in front of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals. So, this started under the Biden Administration.

The Apache Stronghold maintains that copper mining in the Tonto National Forest sacred lands will create a crater.

Once more, the federal government slaps the faces of indigenous people.

Until my next blog post

Keep reading everything you can. I hope you’re reading a really good book now.

Hold family and friends close.

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

Get in line and take a number

As if President Trump did not pardon enough criminals on January 20 when he pardoned some 1,500 insurrectionists from January 6, 2021, he has continued to issue pardons on a fairly regular basis. He has made a mockery of Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the US Constitution:

“The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.”

Traditionally, US presidents have used the power of the pardon to correct a miscarriage of justice – when a person known to be innocent was imprisoned, for instance. Sometimes its use has been questionable; however, it is a power given to the US President and there is no recourse.

Most pardons in the past would have been reviewed by pardon attorneys within the US Department of Justice. They would have advised the President about each particular case. Those attorneys are gone now, under Trump. There is no one to question or advise him except his political appointee Ed Martin.

President Trump appears to interpret the presidential power of the pardon to mean it is a “get out of jail free” or “avoid going to jail” card for registered Republicans who support him through violence against the peaceful transfer of power or through monetary contribution. And along the way, throw in activists who are supported by your anti-abortion base.

Before leaving office in 2021, Trump pardoned Steve Bannon, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn and seven Republican members of Congress who had been convicted of corruption.

1,500 January 6, 2021 Insurrectionists

He hit the ground running on Inauguration Day 2025 by pardoning 1,500 Capitol rioters, including those convicted of attacking police officers.

Photo of a newspaper box showing a newspaper with the headline: Pro Trump Mobs Storm US Capitol
Photo by little plant on Unsplash

23 Anti-Abortion Activists

He pardoned 23 anti-abortion activists who were convicted of being in violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act by blocking patients’ entry to a facility. Under the Act, individuals can peacefully protest but they can’t block entrance to a facility that offers abortion services.

Former Illinois Governor Blagojevich

Then, Trump pardoned former Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich. Blagojevich had served eight years in prison after being charged with trying to sell Barack Obama’s seat in the US Senate after Obama was elected President in 2008. NBC News reported that Blagojevich was convicted of “shaking down” a children’s hospital executive for campaign contributions. He also held up a bill in Illinois involving horse-racing in exchange for campaign contributions. In pardoning Blagojevich, Trump said, “I think he’s a very fine person. This shouldn’t have happened to him.”

Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey

On March 11, Trump pardoned former Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey who had served two weeks of a 21-month sentence for campaign finance fraud. It was beside the point that Kelsey had pleaded guilty.

Former Las Vegas City Councilmember Michele Fiore

In April, Trump pardoned former Las Vegas City Council member Michele Fiore. She was convicted of six felonies stemming from her raising tens of thousands of dollars to pay for a statue of a slain police officer. The problem was that the statue was never made and she used the money for rent, plastic surgery, and her daughter’s wedding.

Culpeper, Virginia Sheriff Scott Jenkins

On May 26, Trump pardoned former Culpeper County, Virginia Sheriff Scott Jenkins. Charged with taking $75,000 in bribes, including $15,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents, Jenkins had been sentenced to ten years in federal prison. Trump said the case against Jenkins was “an elaborate conspiracy against an obscure local sheriff who was targeted by ‘monsters’ for political reasons.” Although Jenkins was sentenced after Trump took office, the president is blaming the Biden Administration for weaponizing the Justice Department against Jenkins.

Health Care Businessman Paul Walczak

On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that Trump had pardoned Paul Walczak. Walczak pleaded guilty in November to “not paying employment taxes and not filing his individual income tax returns.” The Department of Justice presented evidence that Walczak had withheld nearly $7.5 million in taxes from his health care companies’ employees but did not pay that money to the Internal Revenue Service. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay more than $4 million in restitution. But Walczak’s mother paid $1 million to attend a Trump fundraiser at Mar-a-lago and a month later her son is miraculously pardoned. He gets to walk away from his prison time and he does not have to pay any restitution.

Todd and Julie Chrisley

Involved in a reality show I’d never heard of, Todd and Julie Chrisley were sentenced to seven and 12 years, respectively, after being convicted of a $30 million bank fraud scheme and tax evasion.

On Tuesday, Trump called their daughter, Savannah, and told her he planned to pardon them because “they were unfairly treated.” (He is a broken record on himself being unfairly treated!) A jury found the Chrisleys guilty and the Appeals Court agreed with the jury.

It certainly did not hurt for Savannah to have been a speaker at the Republican National Convention. I guess that’s why Trump had her phone number.

Former US Congressman Michael Grimm

CBS News reported on Wednesday afternoon that President Trump had issued a full pardon for former FBI agent and former Congressman Michael Grimm of New York.

Grimm was convicted in November 2014 of tax fraud after underreporting wages and revenue and filing false tax documents related to a restaurant he owned. This went on for several years and then he lied about it under oath. He served eight months in prison.

Who’s Next?

During the swearing in ceremony for Jeanine Pirro as US Attorney for the District of Columbia on Wednesday, Trump said he is considering issuing pardons for the men who plotted to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. Of course, Governor Whitmer is a Democrat.

Trump said he watched the trial and thought the defendants were railroaded.

It is shocking but not surprising that Trump would consider issuing the six people charged with conspiring to kidnap Whitmer because the indictment described some of the men as being linked to a militia group.

Included in the evidence presented by the FBI were videos defendants took of Whitmer’s vacation home, proof that they had estimated how long it would take police to respond to an incident at the home, and audio tapes of defendants talking about the “use of deadly force.” The US District Court Complaint, which lays out the evidence, including the use of explosives and tactical gear, can be read in full at https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/press-release/file/1326161/dl?inline.

Trump has shown a liking for such groups since the deadly march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, after which he said “there were good people on both sides.” One side were neo-Nazis carrying torches and chanting, “Jews will not replace us!” The other side were peaceful protesters showing their dismay with neo-Nazis marching in the streets, spouting their hate.

People associated with militia groups were very much involved in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, which included threats to “Hang [then US Vice President] Mike Pence, and threats against many individual US Representatives, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

The irony is that on January 20, 2025, Trump pardoned the people who constructed a gallows on Capitol grounds and chanted “Hang Mike Pence”, but then claimed former FBI Director Jim Comey was threatening to assassinate him for posting a photo of seashells spelling out, “86 47.” The FBI investigated Comey over the incident and some Republicans in Congress said Comey should have been put in prison over the incident.

While campaigning, Trump said there were two systems of justice in the United States. He’s proving that is now true.

As I worked on this blog post on Wednesday afternoon, it was a challenge to keep up with the pardons being issued. I understand he pardoned seven people on Wednesday.

In case you’re keeping score

President Biden issued 80 pardons in four years. President Trump has issued at least 1,536 pardons since January 20, 2025. So far, Trump favors pardoning violent offenders and financial offenders. The only prerequisite is that they support Donald Trump.

Trump has appointed Ed Martin as his pardon attorney. Martin will vet applicants for pardons. Apparently, the floodgates are now open for anyone convicted of a crime while Joe Biden was President has a good chance of being pardoned… as long as they are registered Republicans.

I looked into Ed Martin’s past. In addition to his being a lawyer, there were three other prerequisites I found for him to get his new job: He organized “Stop the Steal” rallies for Trump, he called Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential election that aided Trump’s election a hoax, and he said that 2020 US Presidential election results in which Trump lost to Joe Biden were a hoax.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read this weekend and that you find other ways to relax and escape the stresses of this world.

Don’t take anyone or anything for granted.

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

Tying up some loose ends

I used to struggle to write a 500-word blog post. Now I struggle to keep them under 2,000 words. As long as Donald Trump is in the White House, I will not run out of material. Of course, I might be shut down before then. Nothing is guaranteed or taken for granted anymore.

You put a crooked New York City businessman in the White House, and this is what you get. I would like to think the voters have learned a lesson.

Pay to play

I don’t claim to understand crypto currency. Investing in it is not on my radar. It seems to be the newest, shiniest object to grab Donald Trump’s attention. If there is a way to make a buck, he will try it.

Photo by Scottsdale Mint on Unsplash

Making a profit is the only thing he understands. That’s why he is so bad at running the federal government. Government is not designed to turn a profit. Therefore, Trump sees it as something unnecessary. Something to be torn apart. Trashed. But I digress.

The business side of Donald Trump – which no one would ever confuse with the public Donald Trump – found a way to cash in on the crypto currency industry. It is a way for him to receive millions of dollars from rich Americans and even richer foreigners.

Trump has again pushed the limits. No other president in our history would have considered doing anything like that.

He hosted a dinner for his investors at his golf club just outside Washington, DC. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was quick to defend the entire thing. She explained that it was all on the up-and-up because he did it at night “on his own time,” and the dinner was not held at the White House.

When one is a government employee at a high level or in any position of respect, they are still representing the position they hold even “on their own time.” If you don’t believe it, just ask any public school teacher.

Government employees are not free to break the law “on their own time.” Those in positions of authority are never really “off the clock.” Again, just ask any public school teacher.

Ms. Leavitt also emphasized that the dinner attendees, who had paid an average of $1.7 millions did not expect anything in return except a dinner.

Yeah, right, Karoline.

When Jake Tapper of CNN asked US Speaker of the House Mike Johnston, about it, he said he didn’t know anything about the dinner. He went on to indicate that he was too busy last week to know about it. Keep in mind that if something isn’t important to the Speaker of the House, it doesn’t get brought up on the floor of the House Chamber.

Nothing to see here.

Harvard University, again/still

On Tuesday, Trump cancelled all government contracts with Harvard University totaling around $100 million. Those contracts include medical and agricultural research. President Emeritus of Harvard University and former US Secretary of the Treasury, Larry Summers, called it “extortion” in an interview on CNN. Mr. Summers said, “If Harvard can’t resist these steps toward tyranny, who can?”

Yesterday it was revealed that Trump wants to limit Harvard to having no more than 15% of its students from other countries. In the 2024-2025 school year, 27% of the student body were international students.

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

A bill of attainder is a legislative act that declares a person or group guilty of a crime and it goes on to provide for punishment, often without a trial. The US Constitution probits bills or acts of attainder. I’m no expert on Constitutional Law, but it seems like President Trump is crossing a line as he targets Harvard University.

Nuclear Energy

Trump signed four Executive Orders on Friday easing regulations on the nuclear power industry. As reported by NBC News, “The executive orders aim to reform nuclear energy research at the Department of Energy, clear a path to allow the Energy Department to build nuclear reactors on federally-owned land, overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and expand uranium mining and enrichment in the U.S.”

A photo looking down on a nuclear power plant.
Photo by Patrick Federi on Unsplash

I cringe to think about which federally-owned lands he will put nuclear power plants on and which national parks and national monuments will be decimated by uranium mining.

The regulations were put in place for a reason, but Trump cannot be bothered with evidence or regulations. The safety of the public is the least of his concerns.

50% Tariffs on the European Union

On Friday, May 23, Trump announced that 50% tariffs would begin on Sunday, June 1 on all goods coming into the US from countries in the European Union.

Oh, wait! That was last Friday. On Sunday, May 25, Trump announced that 50% tariffs on the European Union will begin on July 9.

It’s just Thursday, May 29. He will probably change his mind many more times before July 9.

When Democrats change their minds, Republicans call it “flip-flopping.” When Trump does it, they don’t call it anything.

Or maybe this is all a moot point. As I was preparing to schedule this post last night, the three-person United States Court of International Trade ruled that President Trump cannot use the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs. That law requires a “national emergency” for tariffs to be imposed, so Trump declared a series of “national emergencies” that did not exist.

The ruling last night gets to the question of whether the US President has the authority under the IEEPA to impose “unlimited tariffs on goods from nearly every country in the world.”

Of course, the Trump Administration will appeal the ruling. He never passes up an opportunity to appeal a court ruling.

Here we go!

Deal with Nippon Steel

When asked to talk about the new deal between US Steel and Nippon Steel on Sunday, President Trump called Nippon Steel “Nissan” three times in forty seconds.

Photo of a metal worker
Photo by Erwan Hesry on Unsplash

This was a deal that President Joe Biden blocked late in his term in office due to national security concerns. Trump used to be against it, but now he’s all for it.

Is Trump “flip-flopping,” or is this nothing?

The EPA needs a new name

Calling the EPA the Environmental Protection Agency is now a farce. On Saturday, May 24, Reuters reported the following: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has drafted a plan to eliminate all limits on greenhouse gases from coal and gas-fired power plants in the United States, the New York Times reported on Saturday, citing internal agency documents.

“The EPA argued in its proposed regulation that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from power plants that burn fossil fuels “do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution” or to climate change because they are a small and declining share of global emissions, according to the NYT report.

“The EPA also said that eliminating those emissions would have no meaningful effect on public health and welfare, the report added.

“According to the United Nations, fossil fuels are by far the largest contributors to global warming, accounting for more than 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90% of carbon dioxide emissions.

“The EPA did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reuters could not immediately verify the details of the NYT report.

“The U.S. government under President Donald Trump has moved quickly to remove all federal spending related to efforts to combat climate change and to eliminate any regulation aimed at addressing greenhouse gas emissions as part of its effort to bolster oil, gas and mining operations.

“On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives advanced Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill, which may end numerous green-energy subsidies that have supported the renewable energy sector.”

The draft of the EPA’s plan reportedly went to the White House on May 2. The President has not acted on it specifically yet. The New York Times report indicated that there will be an opportunity for public comment probably in June. I’ll believe that when I see it.

The public hasn’t been given a time to comment on anything since January 20.

Perhaps the EPA can be renamed the Environment Attack Agency (EAA) or the Attack the Environment Agency (ATEA).

 How about a new Trump battle cry? MACA! Make America Choke Again!

National Security Council

On Friday, May 23, it was announced that the Trump Administration was cutting the staff of the Office of the National Security Council by half with those employees putting placed on administrative leave.

These were the people who monitored events and trends around the world so the US President could be kept up-to-date daily on the things a person in that position should know about. Since Trump rarely reads his daily briefings, I guess he decided the support staff of the National Security Council was a waste of taxpayer money.

ICE instructed to triple arrests

It was reported by CNN yesterday that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem are demanding 3,000 arrests per day by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Considering ICE has already made a number of false arrests, we can now expect that number to triple.

Ximena Arias Cristobal, a 19-year-old college student of Dalton, Georgia, has finally been released after being mistakenly arrested for a traffic violation made by another driver in a car similar to hers. She was detained by ICE for two weeks.

She was brought into the United States by her parents when she was four years old. She said in an interview on CNN that the family has tried repeatedly through various lawyers for 15 years to become American citizens, but every door has been closed to them. If deported to Mexico, she will be sent to a place she is not familiar with and it will be difficult for her to continue her college studies in Spanish.

Should ICE set up a staging area in a church parking lot?

On May 20, ICE set up a staged an operation in the parking lot of Central United Methodist church in Charlotte as preschool children were being picked up by their parents and grandparents. The church had not approved the intrusion.

This activity by ICE has been condemned by local faith leaders and state legislators. Jennifer Copeland, Executive Director of the North Carolina Council of Churches said, “The places where people come to worship, pray, study, and live out the tenets of their faith should be unavailable for this kind of posture.”

Central United Methodist Church offers Bible studies in Spanish and the church’s preschool is bilingual.

An uplifting commencement address by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell

In my blog post on Tuesday, one of my topics was President Trump’s commencement “speech” at West Point. If you missed my post or didn’t otherwise hear about it, please read my Tuesday post:

In contrast to Trump’s speech at West Point, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spoke at Sunday’s commencement at Princeton University. His audience apparently got a more appropriate speech that the cadets at the US Military Academy.

Reports say that Mr. Powell told the Princeton Class of 2025 that universities in the United States are “the envy of the world and a crucial national asset.” He called on them to preserve democracy and not to take universities in the United States for granted.

Fortune reported online: “I strongly urge you to find time in your careers for public service,” Powell said. “Since the founding of this great democracy 250 years ago, generation upon generation have assumed the burden and the honor of moving us closer to the ideal that all are created equal. Now it’s your turn.”

President Trump has long been critical of Mr. Powell.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read.

Don’t forget the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

No more contempt of court? (& other concerns)

Today I will touch on a variety of things going on within the Trump Administration. None of the news organization can cover everything, so I try to gather items from reputable sources across the board.

No more contempt of court for people like US Presidents?

Photo of a gavel
Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash

Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” which was passed in the US House of Representatives by a whopping ONE vote, is being hashed out in the US Senate. Various aspects of it get picked up by the broadcast news, but one item that is getting almost no publicity is perhaps the worst slam on our democracy yet: It will eliminate the power of courts to hold officials in contempt for disregarding court orders!

That bears repeating: As it was passed by the US House of Representatives, it will eliminate the power of courts to hold officials in contempt for disregarding court orders.

Trump is already ignoring court orders and no court has had the guts to hold him in contempt, so the remedy appears to be for us to strip the courts of any power they could hold over an elected official.

As a regular citizen, if I am called up for jury duty and I don’t show up, I will be held in contempt of court. The judge will order officers of the law to come to my house and transport me in the back seat of a police car to the courthouse where I must appear before the judge who is already unhappy with me. That’s the law. There are consequences when regular citizens break the law.

If this tiny part of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” is passed by the Senate, he will sign it into law, thereby making himself untouchable by the Department of Justice.

The last guardrail will be gone.

You have 215 Republicans in the US House of Representatives to thank, but they don’t need your thanks. They have already been thanked by Donald Trump.

Now, we wait to see what the US Senate will do with that 1,000-page “big, beautiful bill.” Will they have the guts to remove the part that strips the judicial branch of our government from its power of checks and balances? Or will they see it as their own way out of being held accountable by the justice system?

Suppose they pass it as it is written. How happy they will be if we have another presidential election someday and a Democrat is elected President? (I did not use the word “if” by mistake. I intentionally used it.)

Be careful, legislators, over what you codify into law. It might come back to bite you.

And that, my friends, is how a 249-year-old democracy is dismantled.

Harvard University

Photo of a red Harvard graduate school banner hung on a pole on the side of a building
Photo by Manu Ros on Unsplash

Another way a democracy is dismantled is to attack and take control of its institutions of higher learning.

It was great that a judge placed a temporary injunction against Trump’s order that he would prevent Harvard University from enrolling any international students, but the damage has been done.

Even if Harvard wins in court, Trump has done irreparable damage to higher education in the United States because there is now a level of fear among students from abroad who will, no doubt, think long and hard before coming to our country to study.

And will students who are American citizens now think twice before they participate in a peaceful protest? Will Trump sign an Executive Order to prevent them from finishing their education? If he can do it to foreign students who are here legally to study, what is to stop him from doing it to American citizens?

And if the courts rule that he cannot do that? Nothing will happen to him. In 2024, the US Supreme Court ruled that the sitting US President cannot be charged with a crime. In May 2025, the US House of Representatives voted 215 to 214 that an elected official cannot be held in contempt of court. Will the US Senators agree?

The irony in Trump’s order that Harvard can no longer admit an international student is that his order would eliminate foreign Jewish students from Harvard all in the name of ridding the university of antisemitism.

Trump is like a dog with a bone. Over the weekend, he took to social media to demand the names of the international students at Harvard along with the names of the countries from which they came. He wants those countries to now pay. Since those students already pay for their education, I’m not sure what their countries are supposed to pay for… or who gets the money. Probably not Harvard.

His governance via social media and Executive Order are really getting old. Since Trump rules by Executive Order, the “big, beautiful bill” passed y the House of Representatives last week was one of the only things they’ve had to do since January 20.

Let’s be clear. This is not an attack on Harvard University. It is an attack on and a threat against every college and university in the United States. Harvard is just the test case to see how far he can push back on academia.

After all, he did say, “I love the uneducated,” when he was campaigning for office.

In an oddly-related story, the Pentagon promotes Kingsley Wilson

I didn’t know her name either, so don’t feel bad. She has been promoted to the position of Press Secretary for the Department of Defense. She is an interesting pick, in light of President Trump’s outrage over antisemitism at Harvard.

It is reported that Wilson has repeated antisemitic comments regarding conspiracy theories against a Jewish lynching victim whose cause helped found the Anti-Defamation League. It’s so bad that some Republicans have criticized Wilson’s employment in any position at the Pentagon.

The Trump Administration is consistently inconsistent.

Speaking of the Pentagon, while I still can

Brian Stelter of CNN reported that more restrictions have been placed on journalists covering the US military. New credentialing constraints were issued by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last Friday night. Also, key parts of the Pentagon that journalists have had access to in the past will now require them to be accompanied by an official escort.

The Pentagon Press Association’s statement said it has tried to communicate with Hegseth “to keep in place a professional working relationship that as persisted for decades,” to no avail.

Stelter reported, “The association said it is ‘puzzled’ about why the Defense Department ‘is devoting such attention to restricting Pentagon media instead of engaging with it as senior leaders have long done.’ Hegseth’s public comments indicate that he views the media as the opposition. He has denounced what he called the ‘hoax press’ and promoted himself by appearing on Fox opinion shows hosted by his friends.”

Hegseth used to be a Fox News personality, like many of the other members of the Trump Administration.

Can someone please tell him to lose the red baseball cap?

First of all, the MAGA campaign caps are baseball caps. They aren’t “MAGA hats.” I know “hat” sounds more high class than “baseball cap,” but that’s not what they are. A man’s hat has a brim all the way around. A baseball cap has a bill on the front.

It was embarrassing enough that the graduating cadets at the US Military Academy at West Point had to listen to a political speech from Trump as their commencement speaker on Saturday, but did he have to wear his bright red MAGA baseball cap?

I have a hunch that he had to wear it because the event was held outside and there are some major issues with Trump’s balding head and his dyed blond locks of hair having to be swept in all directions. What if the wind picked up? What if his hair couldn’t be controlled with grease like it appeared during his Oval Office ambush of South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier in the week?

Too bad he couldn’t just rent a cap and gown and dress like a normal college-level commencement speaker. And what was the pink necktie about?

A video clip that I saw on TV showed Trump saluting while wearing his campaign cap. I tried to find out what he was saluting, but I couldn’t find it. I hope he wasn’t saluting our flag! Whatever he was saluting, it was a ridiculous and embarrassing image of a US President.

In a world where President Barack Obama was heavily criticized by Republicans for wearing a tan suit once, how is it now acceptable for President Donald Trump to wear a baseball cap everywhere he goes? Asking for a friend.

If a man wears a cap to a baseball game, he automatically removes it for the playing of our national anthem. I imagine the national anthem was played at the West Point commencement ceremony. I wonder if Trump removed his cap for it. We’ll probably never know.

Before I leave Trump’s speech at West Point, I will quote one line from it that sent a chill down my spine. He said, “The job of the U.S. Armed Forces is not to host drag shows, to transform foreign cultures, but to spread democracy to everybody around the world at the point of a gun.”

What a bizarre statement! That sounds like we’re going to force democracy on people “at the point of a gun” whether they want it or not. All the while, he is working every day to destroy our democracy. I don’t think another country wants his brand of democracy!

Photo of a building at West Point with a statue in front of a George Washington on a horse
Statue of George Washington on a horse in front of a building at the US Military Academy at West Point.
Photo by Dave Lowe on Unsplash

That was not the most bizarre thing Trump said in his nearly hour long “speech.” In addition to drag shows, he talked about trophy wives. (That must have made the female cadets uncomfortable… and that was probably why he brought up the subject.) He talked about boats and yachts.

His mind wonders and his words tend to follow his mind when he strays from reading the teleprompter. It has become one of his trademarks. He refers to it as “weaving” and justifies it as something he does by intention.

If any other US President had almost daily gone off the rails and rambled about sundry topics in every speech or other public remarks, the 25th Amendment would have been enforced and the Vice President would have replaced him.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read and time to read it.

Value time with family and friends. Tomorrow is promised to no one.

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

I couldn’t help myself…

I ended yesterday’s blog post with “Until my next blog post, which I hope won’t be until next week…,” but here I am posting again today.

I could write 1,000 words about today’s topic, but I’ll just stop with the following 168 words.

Harvard University

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Yesterday, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem informed Harvard University that it can no long accept international students unless it meets all the Trump Administration’s demands in 72 hours.

One of those demands to for the university to give Noem films of all student protests that have taken place over the last five years.

International students make up 27% of the undergraduate and graduate student body of Harvard. That’s more than 7,000 students who now must transfer to another university or go home.

Under the guise of punishing Harvard’s leadership for not punishing antisemitic activity, Trump is going out of his way to hurt not only the international students but all the students, faculty, and the ideals of higher education in the United States.

This is not technically blackmail under US law because Trump is not demanding money from Harvard, but I do believe it meets the spirit of the law.

Other words that come to mind are extortion and coercion.

Or perhaps exaction.

Until my next blog post

Let’s all just try to have a peaceful weekend, as Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer in the United States.

Janet

More Snippets of What’s Happening to and in the US

As we continue through another week of the Trump Administration, I’m blogging again today about some of the things that are going on here in the United States. I wish I did not need to do this. It is not what I ever had in mind for my blog. With the free press continually under attack by Trump, though, I believe I’m doing what I must do.

Yesterday’s ambush of South Africa’s President

In another embarrassing and bizarre ambush, yesterday Donald Trump blindsided President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa in the Oval Office with a video and stack of papers claiming widespread genocide of white farmers in South Africa. I had flashbacks of how he ambushed Ukrainian President Zelensky in February.

At least once, Trump made a mistake he has made before when he said, “Africa and other countries.” Apparently, the private education Trump claims to have received did not include geography.

Before the day was out, Agence Frances Presse was rightfully calling yesterday’s meeting: “The Ambush Office: Trump’s Oval becomes test of nerve for world leaders.”Perhaps other world leaders will not request meetings with Trump or accept any invitations that come from him.

With ambush as the US President’s modus operandi, it is unlikely any other nations want their presidents or prime ministers to visit our country.

Emboldened by his week of being praised in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, Trump is full of himself and showing his true colors. He just can’t help himself.

The flying palace

The US Secretary of Defense accepted the $400 million airplane “gift” from Qatar yesterday, so now the American taxpayers are on the hook for the estimated $1 billion it will cost to gut it and rebuild it to Air Force One security standards. All this, so Trump can take it to his future presidential library, which is an oxymoron if there ever was one.

States’ rights

I read on Sunday that although Trump brags about being all for “states’ rights,” there is a provision in his budget bill that bans state and local governments from regulating Artificial Intelligence for 10 years. States can’t make laws about AI. No state laws about facial recognition, AI surveillance, or the misuse of date AI collects.

Miscellaneous Research

In the name of eliminating waste in the US Government, thousands of studies being conducted at state-supported colleges and universities have been cancelled by the Trump Administration. Without taking the time or even making the effort to analyze what they are cutting, they decided it would be easier to just de-fund anything and everything remotely associated with diversity, equity, or inclusion (DEI).

The Charlotte Observer published a report about 17 grants totaling $469,069 that had been awarded to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte that have been cancelled by Trump, while WSOC-TV reported that UNCC has lost $14 million in federal funds.

The 17 grants that the newspaper wrote about were cancelled, some of which were already in progress, included such things as the spread of online misinformation; encouraging girls and black youth to pursue careers in computer science; youth with disabilities transitioning into independent living; autoimmune disease (pemphigus) research; and black youth suicide detection and prevention.

It is obvious that any studies or programs that had anything to do with diversity, equity, or inclusion (DEI) were the grants being cancelled. Grants to study or help African Americans were obviously targeted, while 74% of patients with the potentially fatal autoimmune disease pemphigus are white and 61% of them are women.

UNC-Charlotte is just one of the 16 institutions that are part of the UNC system. What UNC-Charlotte has lost is a drop in the bucket compared to the federal grant losses at UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State University at Raleigh.

This has happened in every state and at countless colleges and universities, both state-supported and private.

Our apologies to France

In a 51 to 45 vote, The US Senate confirmed Charles Kushner as US Ambassador to France. He is the father of President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. In 2005, the elder Kushner was sentenced to two years in prison for 18 counts, including tax evasion and witness tampering. He pleaded guilty to the tax evasion and making illegal campaign contributions.

Ashli Babbitt Settlement

US taxpayers learned on Monday that the Trump Administration is paying the family of Ashli Babbitt nearly $5 million. Ashli Babbitt was the insurrectionist killed at the US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Yes, you read that correctly.

Ms. Babbitt was shot as she tried to breach the barricaded House Speaker’s Lobby. President Trump has called her a “martyr” and a “patriot.”

Making America Safe Again?

There was a glimmer of hope after the elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas in 2022. There was bipartisan support for investing in mental health support for students. But then the Trump Administration came along in 2025.

The US Department of Justice cancelled hundreds of grants that funded local government and community organizations’ gun violence prevention programs.

Photo of children holding signs saying thoughts and prayers don't stop bullets.
Heather Mount on Unsplash

Then the Trump Administration blocked $1 billion in grants for student mental health because this was no longer in “the best interest of the federal government.”

The latest example of the Trump Administration’s “Make America Safe Again” mantra is the legalization of “forced reset triggers.” I’m no firearms expert, but the best I can tell from reading and hearing the news reports is that this device enables a semiautomatic weapon to become even more deadly as it makes the shooter able to fire hundreds of rounds in a minute.

So when US Attorney General Pam Bondi said last week that this “will enhance public safety,” what did she mean? I guess I’m just stupid, because I don’t understand any of this.

Venezuelans losing Temporary Protected Status (TPS)

On Monday, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Trump Administration. The Court granted emergency application to the Department of Homeland Security to proceed with the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who had been given TPS by the Biden Administration. This ruling overruled a district court order.

US loses its AAA bond rating

And then there’s this, which sent stock markets around the word into a loss on Monday.

Shall I say something good that Trump did?

To be fair, I will point out that on Monday President Trump signed into law the Take It Down Act. The bill, which was championed by First Lady Melania Trump, sets stricter penalties for the distribution of non-consensual intimate imagery online and “revenge porn.” The bill had overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress.

Finally, something most Republicans and Democrats can agree on!

Trump’s US Interior Department loves plastic

The US Department of the Interior was recognized last June for its ongoing efforts to phase out the use of any and all single-use plastics. That was Joe Biden’s Department of the Interior.

Donald Trump’s Department of the Interior has rescinded the order behind that phase-out. So much for curbing pollution in our national parks. All bans on plastics on all federally managed land are being lifted.

US Secretary of Homeland Security’s Misunderstanding of Habeas Corpus

US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem got tripped up in a Congressional hearing on Tuesday when US Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire referenced White House advisor Stephen Miller’s comment earlier in May that the Trump Administration was “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus.

Senator Hassan asked Secretary Noem, “What is habeas corpus?”

Secretary Noem’s response was jarring. She said, “Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country, and suspend their right to –”

Senator Hassan jumped in to cut her off. “That’s incorrect,” Hassan said. She went on to explain to Noem what habeas corpus is.

As I stated in my May 14, 2025, blog post, The New American Dream?: “Habeas corpus is a legal procedure by which a report can be made to a court alleging the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and requesting that the court order the individual’s custodian to bring the prisoner to court, to determine whether their detention is lawful.”

I also referenced habeas corpus in my May 19, 2025, blog post.

Senator Hassan and Secretary Noem’s exchange did not stop there.

“So, Secretary Noem, do you support the core protection that habeas corpus provides, that the government must provide a public reason in order to detain and imprison someone?” the senator asked.

Noem’s response was lame and telling: “I support habeas corpus. I also recognize that the president of the United States has the authority under the Constitution to decide if it should be suspended or not.”

In case we needed any more proof, we now have a member of President Trump’s Cabinet and his close advisor both stating in public that the suspension of habeas corpus is under consideration.

Meanwhile

Against my better judgment, I signed up for my US Representative’s newsletter. This former Baptist preacher does not disappoint. This week’s newsletter sang the praises of Trump ad nauseum. He is pushing for congress to codify into law every Executor Order Donald Trump has signed.

Here’s just one paragraph from his long newsletter of Trumpian praise: “It doesn’t matter if we have to vote seven days a week. The Republican Congress needs to be passing bills that codify the executive orders that have been advancing the America-first agenda. That’s why I joined 16 of my colleagues in calling on Speaker Johnson to prioritize codifying President Trump’s wins into law.’

In case you missed my May 19, 2025, blog post, I gave a little background information about Representative Harris and the election fraud that landed him in court in 2018.

Mr. Harris has not responded to my email to him a couple of weeks ago about my distress over the fact that the United States is on the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist for a narrowing of civil liberties.

He is a prime example of why I am frustrated with people who claim to be Christians but support Donald Trump. There is a disconnect there that I will never understand.

Until my next blog post, which I hope won’t be until next week…

I hope you have a good book to read and time to read it.

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

Snippets of what’s happening to and in the US

Every time I think I won’t feel compelled to post on my blog multiple days a week, I am proven wrong. To live in the United States today is to live wondering what is going to happen next. Our new normal is to expect the unexpected. Every. Single. Day.

Our new normal is to expect things to get a lot worse before they will get better. Our new normal is to know that things are probably never going to return to what was normal for the last 80 years.

Last night, we learned that the Trump Administration, against a US District Court order, deported immigrants to South Sudan.

Photo of a person's head in the dark inside of an airplane peering out the window
Photo by kian on Unsplash

Apparently, Trump thinks it does not matter that it was against a court order. Apparently, Trump thinks it is okay to deport people to South Sudan where there is fighting between opposing forces and a civil war taking place in neighboring Sudan. He thinks it is all right to deport people to a country in Africa… even though at least two of those deportees were from Southeast Asia.

One of the individuals is from Vietnam and one is from Burma. The nationalities of the others – indeed, the total number of deportees on that flight – has not been revealed. Immigration attorneys say there are “likely” at least ten other immigrants on that deportation flight.

I apologize for referring to these two people as “deportees,” “immigrants,” and by their nationalities; however, I have not found their names. But they are human beings. They have names. They probably have families.

By living in the United States of America, they have had rights. They had a right to a hearing before a judge to determine if they could remain in this country or if they should be deported. That did not happen.

Common sense tells me that if a person is to be deported, they should be deported to their country of origin. They should not be deported to a country in which their language is not spoken. They should not be deported to a country in which their language is not spoken and in which a civil war is underway.

I have run out of words to express my horror at what the Trump Administration Regime is doing. My vocabulary is exhausted.

US District Court Judge Brian Murphy of Boston held an emergency hearing yesterday about this case and scheduled another hearing for today. In the meantime, according to The Wall Street Journal, the judge ordered the US to maintain custody of the deportees and ensure they are treated humanely.

I often pray that Donald Trump will accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and turn from his evil ways. I often pray those words. It would truly be a miracle, but I believe in miracles. We experienced a miracle in my family on Christmas morning in 1978. Miracles do happen.

Now, to what I had originally written for today’s blog post…

While some of us are still struggling to understand how the technicality of the Trump Administration saying the $400 million flying palace from Qatar is going to the US Department of Defense and not to President Trump, small bits and pieces of the “big, beautiful budge bill” are coming to light.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson wants the bill passed by Memorial Day (May 26) or at least by July 3.

It’s almost impossible find out what is in the bill, since it is not available online for the public. Hey, it’s just our money, right?

I have read that this budget will add $150 billion to the Pentagon’s budget, pushing the Defense Department’s budget to more than $1 trillion.

Photo of a pile of US paper money
Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash

I have read that this budget takes Medicaid healthcare coverage away from 13 million Americans. These are children, people living with disabilities, and the elderly.

This budget will give the wealthiest people in the United States additional tax breaks. It is those tax breaks and the increased defense budget that resulted in the politicians choosing to leave 13 million citizens without health coverage.

It is no big deal to them. Those 13 million people are not likely to raise a stink The ones under 18 years of age can’t even vote. They are America’s most vulnerable citizens and, hence, the easiest for the people in Congress to target.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: Many, if not most, of the members of the US Congress claim to be Christians, so what about any of this follows the teachings of Jesus Christ? (At least, when they are running for office, they claim to be Christian. How many of them, when asked, “What the last book you read?” answer, “The Bible”?)

Why do so many Christians across this country think cutting Medicaid is wonderful. “It will save us money! Cuts must be made!”

Yes, it will save us money to spend on more weapons. It will save the richest among us money because they will pay less in income taxes.

Just like eliminating USAID will save us money because why would the richest country in the world want to send medical and food aid to the poorest countries in the world?

Just like cutting off the funding for medical research will save us money… but only in the short term.

The motive behind one “big, beautiful budget bill” is to overwhelm Congress and the public. Put everything in one bill, and it will be so long that nobody can read it.  That’s the point. At 1,116 pages, I would guess that very few members of Congress have read the entire thing.

Granted, there is wasteful spending in the federal government. Granted, if wasteful spending is not stopped, our national debt will continue to increase

My objection is with the manner in which the Trump Administration has chosen to address the problem. We hear example after example of worthwhile research and aid programs being slashed just because Elon Musk’s teenage employees with no knowledge or interest in the operation of government in a democracy were given free range to eliminate agencies and programs with the touch of a button on a keyboard.

Wholesale, sweeping cuts in government grants have resulted in the immediate loss of jobs, careers, and doctoral degree research studies. Those are just the instantaneous losses that are visible to the thousands of individuals affected.

The long-term effects will not be realized this year or next year. They will be identified in the coming decades when we learn that cures for various cancers would have been discovered in the 2020s if not for these budget cuts.

President Trump warned us that there could be short-term pain due to his single-handedly imposed global tariffs, but he is yet to even own up to the pain he has inflicted in the name of taking waste out of the government. He has yet to own up to the short-term losses in medical research, much less long-term losses we can only imagine.

And yet, his followers still say he is a “wonderful President.” Some of them still dare to say he was sent by God.

Under the Cover of Darkness

When a person or group is proud of what they are doing, they tend to do it in broad daylight. If that group is a legislative body, they definitely do it in broad daylight. If that legislative body is the United State Congress, they tend to do it at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time or later so the citizens in the Pacific Time zone will be awake to see it or hear it.

The US House of Representatives Committee on the Budget held a vote on Trump’s “big, beautiful budget bill” at 10:00 p.m. on Sunday. Who does that? Who meets late on a Sunday night to vote on something important?

Photo of the US Capitol building at night
Raphael Assouline on Unsplash

It gets worse. The House Rules Committee scheduled their next meeting for 1:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time this morning.

My erratic sleep habits almost guarantee that I am wide awake at 1:00 a.m. on a Wednesday morning, but I’m the exception to the rule.

Making America Healthy Again?

While politicians boast about money saved, they fail to mention the medical and social research being lost. What is the real cost in terms of lives?

We’ll never know what diseases could have been prevented, treated, or cured if the research Congress had approved had not been terminated by the Trump Administration.

We will have to pin our hopes on other countries picking up the slack and hiring the researchers the United States is losing.

Until my next blog post, which I hope won’t be until next week…

I hope you have a good book to read.

Value time with family and friends.

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

That’s pretty much all I wanted

I majored in political science and minored in history in college. My Master’s degree is in public administration. I can’t just turn all that off, even though I graduated 50 years ago.

I used to not be a political person. I just wanted government on all levels to work at their highest and best purposes. I wanted honesty and transparency in government. I wanted the politicians to have as little influence as possible over the actual daily operations of the government.

I wanted government employees to be left alone by the politicians to guarantee the water was safe to drink.

I wanted government employees left alone by the politicians to make sure building permits were issued and followed up by trained and certified building inspectors to make sure houses and commercial buildings were built to meet construction standards and codes.

Photo of construction workers on a high-rise building
Photo credit: Etienne Girardet on Unsplash

I wanted government employees left alone by the politicians to register the deeds for all real estate transactions within the county.

I wanted professional librarians left alone by the politicians to use their years of training to purchase age-appropriate materials to benefit all citizens.

Photo of a bookcase with a woman's hand reaching up to the books
Photo credit: Guzel Maksutova on Unsplash

I wanted the archivists at the State and National Archives to be left alone by the politicians and trusted to gather and preserve the articles of history for future generations.

I wanted governing licensing boards to be left alone by the politicians so that I could trust that a person with M.D. or R.N after their name had the knowledge and skill to treat me when I am sick or hurt.

I wanted government employees to be left alone by the politicians so they can regulate the insurance industry and speak up for a citizen when they believe they have been mistreated by an insurance company.

I wanted medical researches to be left alone by the politicians so they can work tirelessly to find causes and cures for diseases.

Photo of a man looking into a microscope
Photo credit: Lucas Vasques on Unsplash

I wanted university professors to be left alone by the politicians so they can teach from their knowledge of their chosen field without fear that they might say something that offends someone.

I wanted college and university students to be left alone by the politicians so they can take any course they want to take, read any book they want to read, and non-violently protest anything they want to protest without fear of being kicked out of school, arrested, or deported.

Photo of peaceful protestors
Photo by Duncan Shaffer on Unsplash

I wanted public school teachers to be left alone by the politicians so they can teach what their grade-level students need to learn so they can progress through the education system and be free thinkers.

I wanted park rangers to be left alone by the politicians who have absolutely no understanding of or appreciation for the natural world.

I wanted government employees to be left alone by the politicians so they can monitor air quality and prevent us from returning to the smog of the 1950s and 1960s.

Photo of a city enshrouded in smog
Photo by Nick van den Berg on Unsplash

I wanted our system of elections to be left alone by the politicians who are determined to make it more and more difficult for a person to vote… all in the name of preventing voter fraud, when fraud by politicians is a much bigger problem than voter fraud. (Case in point, my current US Representative, Mark Harris, who used to be a Baptist preacher, hired someone to go around marking absentee ballots for people in his 2018 run for the US House. His own son even testified against him. His operative was charged with several counts of obstructing justice and possession of absentee ballots, but he died before the case went to trial. Mr. Harris escaped being criminally charged, brushed the dirt off himself, and successfully ran from NC’s 8th District in 2024. In another case, Mark Meadows, who served as Chief of Staff for Trump in his first administration, claimed a home address in a remote area of the mountains and cast his vote in North Carolina in 2020. The address he gave as his residence was a dilapidated, vacant mobile home which he had probably never laid eyes on.) But somehow, it is the everyday citizens who cannot be trusted to vote.

I wanted the United States to continue the USAID program of distributing food and medical aid to the poorest people in the world.

Photo by Andrej Nihil on Unsplash

I wanted the United States to not only maintain but to strengthen its decades old (and in some cases, centuries old) international alliances.

I wanted to be allowed to be a Presbyterian and not have some right-wing conservative evangelical dogma forced on the public at-large that paints all American Christians with a broadbrush of misinformation.

I wanted the separation of church and state to remain a valued principle. I did not want a Presidential Administration to parade under the guise of being Christian while openly, as well as under the cover of darkness and behind closed doors, attacking everything from science to education to medical research to food safety to immigrants to museums to clean air to the arts to clean water to libraries to national parks to habeas corpus to national forests to the United States Constitution to our very sense of security.

I wanted a United States Government that did not operate through intimidation and threats to individuals, groups of people, and institutions.

I wanted our system of government, though flawed, to continue to generally work for the good of the whole.

Photo credit: Anthony Garand on unsplash.com

I wanted every citizen to have an equal opportunity to follow their dreams and be allowed to live in peace.

I wanted a President who did not embarrass me every time he opened his mouth.

That’s pretty much all I wanted.

I miss that America.

Janet

Why doesn’t the US Congress do something about Trump?

I rarely blog on Saturdays. Of my 755 blog posts, I doubt if more than two or three have been on a Saturday.

This week, I ran out of days. That has happened twice recently, so I’m afraid there is a trend developing.

I had originally planned today’s topic for Thursday, but it got pushed to Friday, and in the wee hours of Monday morning, it got moved to Saturday.

Today’s topic centers around a question I’ve seen a thousand times on social media and comments on my blog since January 20, 2025. I don’t begin to know the answer, but the other day I stumbled upon some information that shines a light on one of the ways the members of Congress who are trying to do something about the Trump Administration are being stopped in their tracks.

Photo Credit: Andra C. Taylor Jr on unsplash.com

Why doesn’t the US Congress do something about Trump?

Many of us are at our wit’s end wondering why the Democrats and Independents in the US Congress aren’t doing more to stop all the destruction being wrought by the Trump Administration.

Today’s blog post focuses on some efforts by Democrats in the US House of Representatives and how those efforts have been thwarted.

I would still like to know why neither the Republicans nor the Democrats in the US Senate have not been able to do anything to stop Trump. It seems to me that people in the US Senate should all have the welfare and preservation of our democracy as a priority, but it appears that few of them do.

The following information somehow got past me on April 29, 2025, but the new media can’t report everything. Or perhaps I was on politics overload that day and just missed it.

There are 435 seats in the US House of Representatives. On April 29, there were 220 Republicans, 213 Democrats, and two vacancies. That’s a slim majority for the Republicans, but it is a majority and means that the Republicans chair every House committee and sub-committee. The system virtually guarantees that the Speak of the House will be of the majority party, which Representative Mike Johnson, of course, is. The Speaker of the House controls what bills can be brought up for a vote, so he holds tremendous power.

A monkey wrench thrown in the system on April 29, 2025

This is complicated and, to my knowledge, was not reported at the time by mainline news organizations.

Under the rules of the US House of Representatives, any legislator may introduce a “resolution of inquiry” for consideration. That inquiry is then referred to a committee. Although the majority party can stall and essentially block a resolution of inquiry from going beyond committee referral, a resolution of inquiry has special dispensation: 

“If the committee to which such a resolution is referred has not reported the measure back to the House within 14 legislative days after its introduction, a privileged and non-debatable motion to discharge the committee of further consideration of the resolution becomes available on the chamber floor.”

In other words, if the committee to which an inquiry resolution has been referred does not report back to the full House within 14 legislative days after its introduction, it can then be introduced to the full House.

However, on April 29, 2025, an interesting and very pointed clause was included at the end of a House Resolution 354: “Each day during the period from April 29, 2025, through September 30, 2025, shall not constitute a legislative day for purposes of clause 7 of rule XIII.”

“What’s the big deal?” you may ask.

It means that none of the resolutions of inquiry put forth by Democrat members of the House will be considered until after September 30, 2025, if then… if ever. (For obvious reasons, no Republicans have put forth any resolutions of inquiry because they don’t want any Trump Administrations shortcomings to be investigated.)

Those resolutions of inquiry pertain to such concerns as the partial shutdown of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, Elon Musk’s possible conflicts of interest as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and the deportation of certain individuals to El Salvador.

Two specific House Resolutions that will now not be considered are H.R. 255 and H.R. 286.

House Resolution 255 calls for President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to turn over all communications regarding the Signal app interchange about US military strikes on the Houthis in Yemen that included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg.

House Resolution 286 directs President Trump to share all communications and documents related to DOGE’s use of artificial intelligence to mine federal agency records of “sensitive, personally identifiable information of American citizens.”

So those investigations are dead in the water, thanks to the Republicans in the US House of Representatives. The Republicans in the House have no interest in finding out why the US Secretary of Defense thinks it is acceptable to relay military scheduled bombing details via a less-than-secure social media app.

The Republicans have no interest in delving into Elon Musk’s gathering of American’s personal information in the name of “Government Efficiency,” even though their own personal information has probably been compromised.

And the Republicans in the House have no interest in investigating the “administrative errors” being made in the deportation of people to El Salvador.

The only reason the Republicans don’t want any of these issues to be investigated is that the findings might reflect poorly on Donald Trump. Therein lies the fear those US Representatives live with 24/7. When they assumed office, each of them pledged to defend the US Constitution but when it comes down to it, all they want to defend are Donald Trump and their own reelection prospects.

Ever since the party-system evolved in the US, politicians have connived and created new rules to steer legislation in ways to benefit themselves or to protect the President if he is from their political party. That’s a practice as old as humanity; however, when a democracy is as divided as ours is now in the United States, it seems particularly reckless for the party that has such a slim 220 to 213 majority in the House. (There are currently two vacancies, in case you’re wondering why 220 plus 213 only adds up to 433.)

If there is nothing to hide…

If the Trump Administration has nothing to hide, it seems they would welcome the investigations the Democrats have called for, but that is not to be. Not until after September 30.

The incident in New Jersey on Friday, May 9, 2025

Three Democrat members of the US House of Representatives (Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez, and LaMonica McIver, all of New Jersey) visited the Delaney Hall detention center in New Jersey on Friday, May 9. Members of Congress have the right to do that.

Also in the group was Ras Baraka, the mayor of the City of Newark, New Jersey.

The government’s side of the story is that Mr. Baraka was told he was trespassing and was asked to leave. He was there to protest the existence of the detention center which was constructed without the government obtaining a building permit.

Photographs show a heavy police response, with all officers wearing masks and sunglasses. Long story short, Mayor Baraka was arrested and held for a few hours.

The video shown on TV shows a lot of pushing and shoving by Homeland Security police officers. On Saturday, the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Laura McLaughlin, said the three members of Congress who were involved might be arrested. The investigation is ongoing.

Although this incident happened just a week ago, it seems like a month ago. It has disappeared from the headlines.

It’s as if Oprah is back, “Here’s a plane for you, and a plane for you…

I haven’t heard this mentioned by any of the main TV networks. It has been reported by the Associated Press and The Washington Post that the Department of Homeland Security wants to buy a new $50 million plane for Secretary Kristi Noem, other DHS officials, and top US Coast Guard officials to use.

$50 million here, $50 million there. Pretty soon they’re be talking about a lot of money. Isn’t it nice that the Trump Administration is getting rid of waste in government?

This just seems wrong to me on so many levels. First of all, what’s wrong with flying commercial or traveling by car? Government employees are not supposed to fly around in $50 million private jets. Period.

At least we now know what the Trump Administration meant when they said they were ushering in a “Golden Age.”

But what are the major TV networks reporting?

They are reporting on the Sean Diddy Combs trial, the Menendez brothers parole order, and the Kim Kardasian theft some years ago.

In this age of instant information, it is becoming more difficult for Americans to get any real, substantive, or important news.

I am becoming as worried about the press as I am about our government. When reporters are too distracted by bright shiny objects to inform us about the dismantling of our democracy, we have indeed lost perhaps the most important pillar of our society.

Until my next blog post

As I write this on Friday afternoon, President Trump is on his way home from the Middle East. I’d like to think he is returning to real life after his week of being wined and dined by the oil-rich countries in the Middle East. I fear this week of praise and opulence will only leave him on “a high” that will embolden him to even more frightening words and actions.

I hope you have a book that is so engrossing that you hated to put it down long enough to read my blog!

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

National Cancer Institute Appears to be in Limbo

I wish I had included this in my “Some things we’ve lost, like …” blog post on May 6, 2025.

The National Cancer Institute is one of the 27 components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

A couple of weeks ago, the National Cancer Institute had 28 Scientific Advisors. Today it has none. I copied the following from the National Cancer Institute’s website (National Cancer Institute (NCI) | National Institutes of Health (NIH) on May 7, 2025, because it will probably disappear soon:

“The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is the federal government’s principal agency for cancer research and training. Established under the National Cancer Institute Act of 1937, NCI is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of 11 agencies that make up the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

NCI’s mission is to lead, conduct, and support cancer research across the nation to advance scientific knowledge and help all people live longer, healthier lives.

“As the leader of the cancer research enterprise, collectively known as the National Cancer Program, and the largest funder of cancer research in the world, NCI manages a broad range of research, training, and information dissemination activities that reach across the entire country, meeting the needs of all demographics—rich and poor, urban and rural, and all racial/ethnic populations. Specifically, NCI focuses on two broad roles:

“Cancer Research

  • Leads the nation’s research efforts to improve cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis, and survivorship
  • Supports 72 NCI-Designated Cancer Centers and more than 5,000 grantees
  • Coordinates and supports all phases of clinical trials across 2,500 clinical trial sites nationwide, seeking the development of new and improved cancer treatments
  • Supports intramural research scientists in our own laboratories and clinics
  • Partners with industry, private philanthropic organizations, other federal agencies, and other national and foreign institutions to engage in cancer research and training opportunities that otherwise might not be possible because of their complexity and cost
  • Collaborates with private-sector life sciences companies to advance promising innovative technologies that fuel improvements in detection, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer
  • Supports the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, the only federally funded research and development center dedicated exclusively to biomedical research
  • Maintains long-term storage of publicly available cancer genomic and clinical data
  • Supports construction of laboratories, clinics, and related facilities for cancer research

“Training and Support for Cancer Researchers

  • Strives to attract, train, and retain the best minds to become the next generation of cancer researchers
  • Provides support to scientists and their institutions to create outstanding environments for researchers to train, conduct basic and clinical research, and care for cancer patients
  • Funds training and career development opportunities across a broad spectrum of cancer research disciplines through training grants, fellowships, research career development awards, and research education grants
  • Supports targeted cancer research training for individuals from backgrounds underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences to achieve and sustain a diverse workforce
  • Provides comprehensive training programs that support the needs of qualified individuals at all stages of their career development, ranging from middle-school students to independent researchers
  • Offers training opportunities centered in hospitals and research institutions across the nation, in addition to intramural training programs offered at NCI laboratories and offices in Maryland

“As a federal agency, NCI receives its funds from Congress. The bulk of our budget supports extramural grants and cooperative agreements to facilitate research conducted at universities, medical schools, hospitals, cancer centers, research laboratories, and private firms in the United States and abroad. These funds also support intramural research at NCI’s laboratories and offices in Bethesda, Rockville, and Frederick, MD.

“Our investments have led to declines in the rates of new cancer cases and cancer deaths overall in the last few decades in the United States. In line with this improvement, the number of cancer survivors in the United States has more than doubled from 7 million in 1992 to more than 15 million in 2016—and is expected to rise to more than 26 million by 2040. These trends reflect advances in cancer detection, diagnosis, and patient care that have resulted in people living longer, healthier lives than ever before.”

I copied the following paragraph from http://Grants & Funding | National Institutes of Health (NIH): “The National Institutes of Health is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world. The NIH invests most of its nearly $48 billion budget in medical research seeking to enhance life and to reduce illness and disability. NIH-funded research has led to breakthroughs and new treatments helping people live longer, healthier lives, and building the research foundation that drives discovery.”

So how does the National Cancer Institute continue that work without any scientific advisors?

After reading online that the National Cancer Institute was looking for candidates to apply for the position of Advisor in Bioinformatics in the Surveillance Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, I copied the following from https://www.cancer.gov/about-nci/careers:

“The largest of the institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is a premier research center that offers research, programmatic support, and training opportunities at its laboratories and offices in Maryland. 

“In accordance with the https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/hiring-freeze/ dated January 20, 2025, which is effective immediately, we have been informed that all recruitment activities must cease.”

If you voted for Trump and you did not want this to happen, it is time for you to let President Trump, your two US Senators, and your US Representative know you don’t like this. That power rests with you.

The Trump Administration should be afraid of YOU now. It should be afraid of the people who elected them. Please, please show them that they should be afraid of you!

When you write or call their offices, be sure to tell them you voted for them and you voted for Trump. They need to know that their base is not happy with this decision

If, like me, you didn’t vote for Trump, either of your US Senators, or your US Representative, you should contact them anyway and let them know your displeasure. Just don’t count on hearing back from any of them.

We need a businessman in the White House?

What really irritates me with my public administration background is that we keep being told the government needs to be run like a business. “We need a businessman in the White House.”

If this is the way business works, thank goodness businessmen (of course, they are all men!) weren’t in charge of our government for its first 248 years. If they had been, we wouldn’t have lasted into the 18th century, much less until 2025.

No wonder Trump has bankrupted so many companies. It must take a certain level of business acumen to bankrupt a casino.

Trump’s embarrassing remarks in Qatar

Speaking to US military personnel at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar this week, President Trump mocked France for celebrating the Allied victory in World War II on May 8.

I watched the video. Trump said, “We love France, right. But I think we did a little more to win the war than France did, do we agree?”

How dare he!

He continued, “You know. I don’t want to be a wise guy. But when Hitler made his speech at the Eiffel Tower, I would say that wasn’t exactly ideal.”

Trump went on to repeat a supposed conversation he had with French President Emmanuel Macron, mimicking Macron’s voice.

Trump said, “Russia was celebrating, France was celebrating, everybody was celebrating but us. And we’re the ones that won the war. We won the war.”

Someone needs to remind Trump that it was European countries like France that were bombed and occupied by German troops.

Someone needs to remind Trump that it was a joint effort by Allied troops from many countries that won the war. The United States of America did not single-handedly win World War II!

This was a pathetic show of ignorance of history by President Trump in front of a captive audience of American troops.

Until my next blog post

I sincerely hope you have a good novel to read. I hope you are not in the doldrums like I’ve been in since Inauguration Day, unable to enjoy a novel.

But I do hope you are disgusted with how our country is being run.

Support small local businesses and restaurants. They need your business.

Support your local public library system! They are always operating under tight budget restraints. If you don’t darken the door or ever check out a book, music CD, or other resource, it makes it difficult for them to justify their very existence. It makes it difficult for them to justify their budget requests for the next fiscal year. Did you not know that?

In North Carolina, at least, local governments’ fiscal years begin on July 1. May and June are when county commissions are studying budget requests and deciding where to make cuts. Public libraries are often a target of those cuts. This is a critical time to let your local elected officials know that libraries are important. Sadly, many of them never use a public library and are ignorant of the resources they hold.

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet