Category: Racism & Bigotry

Trump’s National Security Strategy – The Eastern Hemisphere

Yesterday, I primarily blogged (https://janetswritingblog.com/2025/12/10/trumps-national-security-strategy-the-western-hemisphere/) about the Western Hemisphere portion of the Trump Administration’s National Security Strategy which was released last Friday, although it bears a November 2025 date. It was quietly released and posted on the White House website: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf. I encourage you to read the document and draw your own conclusions. Yours might not align with mine.

In addition to the Western Hemisphere, the document addresses Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa – in that order.

Photo of a map of the Old World Eastern Hemisphere
Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash

Asia

As only a document coming out of the Trump White House can say, the Asia portion of the strategy begins with the words, “President Trump single-handedly reversed more than three decades of mistaken American assumptions about China: namely, that by opening our markets to China, encouraging American business to invest in China, and outsourcing our manufacturing to China, we would facilitate China’s entry into the so-called ‘rules based international order.’ This did not happen. China got rich and powerful, and used its wealth and power to its considerable advantage. American elites—over four successive administrations of both political parties—were either willing enablers of China’s strategy or in denial.”

That’s rich, coming from Trump who had so much of his Trump brand merchandise manufactured in China! And his daughter had her line of jewelry made in China! The Trump family took full advantage of the “mistakes” of precious U.S. Presidents and got richer and richer at the expense of the American factory worker.

The document goes on to state, “… the Indo-Pacific is already and will continue to be among the next century’s key economic and geopolitical battlegrounds. To thrive at home, we must successfully compete there—and we are. President Trump signed major agreements during his October 2025 travels that further deepen our powerful ties of commerce, culture, technology, and defense, and reaffirm our commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. America retains tremendous assets—the world’s strongest economy and military, world-beating innovation, unrivaled “soft power,” and a historic record of benefiting our allies and partners—that enable us to compete successfully. President Trump is building alliances and strengthening partnerships in the Indo Pacific that will be the bedrock of security and prosperity long into the future.”

Several hundred words later, the Asia section of the document ends with, “We will also harden and strengthen our military presence in the Western Pacific, while in our dealings with Taiwan and Australia we maintain our determined rhetoric on increased defense spending. Preventing conflict requires a vigilant posture in the Indo-Pacific, a renewed defense industrial base, greater military investment from ourselves and from allies and partners, and winning the economic and technological competition over the long term.”

It appears that Australia was thrown into that last paragraph as an afterthought.

Europe

The European section of the National Security Strategy begins by throwing Europe under the bus, as Trump likes to do. He is critical of every country, including his own. Nothing is good enough. After laying out some supposed statistics (I say supposed because, sadly, I don’t believe anything the Trump Administration says), the document says if the current trend in Europe continues, “the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less. As such, it is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies.”

The paper goes on to address the threat Russia poses with its nuclear weapons and the need to “reestablish conditions of strategic stability across the Eurasian landmass, and to mitigate the risk of conflict between Russia and European states.

I find the following statement in the NSS interesting, considering the Trump Administration’s propensity to make it more difficult for U.S. citizens to vote and its blatant efforts to prompt states to gerrymander Congressional district lines to assure him of retaining the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

That statement: “A large European majority wants peace, yet that desire is not translated into policy, in large measure because of those governments’ subversion of democratic processes. This is strategically important to the United States precisely because European states cannot reform themselves if they are trapped in political crisis…. Not only can we not afford to write Europe off—doing so would be self-defeating for what this strategy aims to achieve. American diplomacy should continue to stand up for genuine democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history….  Our goal should be to help Europe correct its current trajectory. We will need a strong Europe to help us successfully compete, and to work in concert with us to prevent any adversary from dominating Europe…. We want to work with aligned countries that want to restore their former greatness.”

The document then addresses NATO and its future as “certain NATO members will become majority non-European.”

The Middle East

This section of the NSS begins by addressing energy and how the Middle East is not as important in that arena as it was for decades. It touts the fact that the U.S. is now an energy exporter. It also boasts that Trump has “revitalized” U.S. alliances in “the Gulf.” It says the threats to peace in the Middle East are not as strong as the news headlines indicate. It brags about the U.S. June 2025 Operation Midnight Hammer attack on Iran’s nuclear program.

Africa

The NSS document starts this section by criticizing past American policy in Africa as spreading liberal ideology. Instead, the Trump Administration seeks to partner with “select countries” to create trade to replace the foreign aid of the past.

This section of the document ends with, “The United States should transition from an aid-focused relationship with Africa to a trade- and investment-focused relationship, favoring partnerships with capable, reliable states committed to opening their markets to U.S. goods and services. An immediate area for U.S. investment in Africa, with prospects for a good return on investment, include the energy sector and critical mineral development. Development of U.S.-backed nuclear energy, liquid petroleum gas, and liquified natural gas technologies can generate profits for U.S. businesses and help us in the competition for critical minerals and other resources.

In other words, what’s in it for Trump? He can only see the world through the lens of business. That lens only sees how he can personally benefit financially.

I hate to have such a distrust for and poor perspective of a U.S. President. I don’t enjoy writing any of this.

Janet

Trump’s National Security Strategy – The Western Hemisphere

What we have here in the United States is obviously a Wizard of Oz situation.

The White House quietly released the November 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) and posted it on the White House website. Since it is the announcement of the official U.S. foreign policy, there is usually a bit of fanfare with its release, but not this year.

Most Americans will never hear about it, much less read it.

It begins with a letter signed by Trump but obviously written by someone else. Probably Stephen Miller. Why do I say that? Simple. It is written in complete sentences.

The letter

That letter is enlightening because it does list the “eight raging conflicts” Trump claims to have put an end to in “just eight months” this year. In case you’re having trouble keeping up with the wars Trump has ended, here’s the list as found in this letter: Cambodia & Thailand, Kosovo & Serbia, the Democratic Republic of Congo & Rwanda, Pakistan & India, Israel & Iran, Egypt & Ethiopia, Armenia & Azerbaijan, and Israel & Gaza, although Israel is not named in the letter. (He wouldn’t want to show the government of Israel in a bad light, would he?)

The letter is full of bluster and boasts of all the amazing things Trump has done and all the “weakness, extremism, and deadly failures” of the Biden Administration. As only Trump can boast, the letter states, “Over the past nine months, we have brought our nation — and the world – back from the brink of catastrophe and disaster.”

The NSS document

The NSS document itself contains 29 pages of details of what the United States wants and what the United States wants from the world.

Some of the introductory remarks would be laughable if they weren’t so sad. For instance, “We want to maintain the United States’ unrivaled ‘soft power’ through which we exercise positive influence throughout the world that furthers our interests” rings hollow considering the Trump Administration obliterated USAID.

The sudden obliteration of USAID not only resulted in the starvation of hundreds of thousands of children but also their preventable deaths by the withholding of medical treatments – not to mention how the cessation of the food aid programs hurt the American farmer terribly.

The paragraph that really made me gag, though, was this one:

“Finally, we want the restoration and reinvigoration of American spiritual and cultural health, without which long-term security is impossible. We want an America that cherishes its past glories and its heroes, and that looks forward to a new golden age. We want a people who are proud, happy, and optimistic that they will leave their country to the next generation better than they found it. We want a gainfully employed citizenry – with no one sitting on the sidelines – who take satisfaction from knowing that their work is essential to the prosperity of our nation and to the well-being of individuals and families. This cannot be accomplished without growing numbers of strong, traditional families that raise healthy children.” (Notice the subtle reference to “traditional families.”)

Dear Leader Kim Jong Un of North Korea couldn’t have written that paragraph better! Delete the words “American spiritual” and I would swear I was reading a translation of a statement by Kim or Xi.

A paragraph that sent chills down my spine, though, was this one: “We want to ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and discourage mass migration to the United States; …we want …; we want … ; and we want to ensure our continued access to key strategic locations. In other words, we will assert and enforce a “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine;….”

It was “Trump Corollary” that got to me. Why does his name have to go on every cotton-picking thing?

The document goes on to delineate U.S. policy by region: The Western Hemisphere, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Introductory remarks that preface the regional details include, “The United States is by every measure the most generous nation in history – yet we cannot afford to be equally attentive to every region and every problem in the world.”

The Western Hemisphere

Photo of an Old World drawing of the western hemisphere
Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash

The so-called “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine involves making new partners and reconsidering our military presence in the Western Hemisphere. This seems to involve beefing up our Coast Guard and Navy presence “to control se lanes, to thwart illegal and other unwanted migration, to reduce human and drug trafficking, and to control key transit routes in a crisis.” It also includes “targeted deployments to secure the border and defeat cartels, including where necessary the use of lethal force to replace the failed law enforcement-only strategy of the last several decades.”

Also, “…as we prioritize commercial diplomacy, we will work to strengthen our security partnerships – from weapons sales to intelligence sharing to joint exercises.” This is in response to non-Western Hemisphere nations’ incursions of influence in recent years.

But the National Security Strategy goes on from there and seems to concentrate on the economy and what’s in it for United States companies. As a student of political science, it reads to me as a complete overhaul of the U.S. State Department and the responsibilities of our diplomats and State Department employees out in the field. This makes me cringe.

The U.S. “will reform our own system to expedite approvals and licensing – again, to make ourselves the partner of first choice. The choice all countries should face is whether they want to live in an American-led world of sovereign countries and free economies or in a parallel one in which they are influenced by countries on the other side of the world….

“All our embassies must be aware of major business opportunities in their country, especially major government contracts. Every U.S. Government official that interacts with these countries should understand that part of their job is to help American companies compete and succeed.

“The U.S. Government will identify strategic acquisition and investment opportunities for American companies in the region and present these opportunities for assessment by every U.S. Government financing program, including but not limited to those within the Departments of State, War, and Energy; the Small Business Administration; the International Development Finance Corporation; the Export-Import Bank; and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

“We should also partner with regional governments and businesses to build scalable and resilient energy infrastructure, invest in critical mineral access, and harden existing and future cyber communications networks that take full advantage of American encryption and security potential.

“The aforementioned U.S. Government entities should be used to finance some of the costs of purchasing U.S. goods abroad. The United States must also resist and reverse measures such as targeted taxation, unfair regulation, and expropriation that disadvantage U.S. businesses. The terms of our agreements, especially with those countries that depend on us most and therefore over which we have the most leverage, must be sole-source contracts for our companies. At the same time, we should make every effort to push out foreign companies that build infrastructure in the region.”

The part about U.S. State Department – or any other U.S. Government employee – who interacts with countries in the Western Hemisphere to understand that it is “part of their job to help American companies compete and succeed” is a 180-degree change in the purpose U.S. Government employees. It is not part of the job of a State Department employee to promote American companies! At least, it wasn’t part of their job until last Friday. That is absolutely not the job of the U.S. diplomatic corps!

I suppose this being put in writing by the Trump Administration should come as no surprise. After all, the U.S. State Department no longer makes “peace agreements;” it makes “deals” because Trump has an overwhelming lack of understanding or appreciation for the traditional functions of government in a democracy.

Western Hemisphere Command

It was not a coincidence that we learned on Thursday or Friday that two U.S. military command centers will be moving to Fort Bragg here in North Carolina over the next year as a new “Western Hemisphere Command” has been announced.

Possible blog post tomorrow

If I can recover from reading the Western Hemisphere portion of the National Security Strategy, I will blog tomorrow about how it addresses Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

I invite and encourage you to read the complete NSS document for yourself and not to take my word for it at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf.

Janet

Another Trump Nail in the Coffin of the CDC?

The advisory committee on vaccinations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were hand-picked by notorious vaccine-denier Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He just happens to be Trump’s pick for U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. He received the blessings of and confirmation by the U.S. Senate to serve in that capacity.

Photo of gloved hands holding a hypodermic needle
Photo by Mufid Majnun on Unsplash

There are things I would like to say to and about the Senators who voted to approve Kennedy for that Cabinet position, but I will temper my remarks here. To give a person who for decades has promoted conspiracy theories about vaccines to Secretary of Health and Human Services was a travesty.

When the U.S. Senate approved the likes of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, and Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security… we get what they voted for: dangerous incompetence.

When people held their noses and voted for the likes of Donald J. Trump for U.S. President, we got what they voted for: dangerous incompetence and a colossal hatred for anyone who isn’t a rich, white male.

What we have now is a growing avalanche of physicians and other medical professions telling us not to trust anything that comes out of the CDC, the Federal Drug Administration, or Health and Human Services. Let that sink in!

On December 5, Trump said he supported the recommendations of the CDC vaccine advisory committee (many of whom are known vaccine deniers) in their recommendation that we abandon the 1991 CDC recommendation that all newborn babies in the U.S. receive the hepatitis B vaccine.

Apparently, Trump knows just as much about immunology as the quacks and Republicans on the advisory committee. Having a medical or any level of a health degree was not a prerequisite to be on the committee. Let’s just let any person off the street who supports Trump form new vaccinations policies and schedules for all Americans. What could possibly go wrong?

The hepatitis B vaccine decision flies in the face of medical data. In 1990, approximately 20,000 infants in the U.S. got hepatitis B. In 2020, twenty infants in the U.S. got hepatitis B. The vaccine not only prevents the liver damage caused by hepatitis B. It also prevents the liver cancer that can result from that liver damage.

It remains to be seen how this ill-advised new CDC policy will play out over the coming years. Will pharmaceutical companies limit production of the hepatitis B vaccine? Will parents who want their newborns to be protected from this highly-contagious disease be able to get the vaccine for their children? No one knows the answers to those questions.

A memo that Trump signed on Friday praised the new CDC recommendation and went on to endorse the new policy that instead of leading the world in health science, the CDC will now follow the lead of “peer, developed countries.”

I guess it’s fortunate that Trump’s children and grandchildren were all vaccinated as newborns before this 34-year-old mandate got scrapped last week. His future grandchildren and great-grandchildren might not be so fortunate.

When Trump promised to “drain the swamp,” we didn’t know he thought the CDC was part of the swamp.

We are left to wonder if the CDC will survive three more years of attacks by Trump and Kennedy.

Meanwhile, in Washington, DC last week…

In a move that is so blatantly racist and narcissistic, the Trump Administration removed Martin Luther King Day and Juneteenth as days that all our national parks could be visited for free and replaced them with… you are not going to believe this… Trump’s Birthday!

This is not a joke. This is the truth. You can’t make this stuff up!

Janet

Report about “Alligator Alcatraz”

The United States of America used to be a nation of laws, or am I naïve?

I did not plan to blog today, but something came to my attention that I can’t let slide.

Amnesty International has issued a 48-page report. I thought it was going to be a report on the organization’s findings throughout the world but, no, it is a report on detention facilities in the State of Florida. 48 well-documented pages.

This is a photo of a hand-held sign that says, "Human Rights For Future - Amnesty International"
Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash

The name of the report is “Torture and enforced disappearances in the Sunshine State: Human rights violations at “Alligator Alcatraz” and Krome in Florida AMR 51/0511/2025” and can be found at https://www.amnesty.nl/content/uploads/2025/12/AMR_51_0511_2025-Torture-and-enforced-disappearances-in-the-Sunshine-State-vf.pdf?….

Photo of an alligator showing his teeth
Photo by Gabriel Soto on Unsplash

The U.S. Detention Center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” due to its location in the Everglades and the manner in which it was publicized by the Trump Administration and the early reports that came out of there, has completely fallen off the radars of news organizations. With Border Patrol and ICE activities in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, New Orleans, and Minneapolis-St. Paul dominating the news cycles along with the Epstein Files and whether the United States is going to bomb Venezuela and force a regime change in that country… “Alligator Alcatraz” cannot compete for attention.

Thank goodness it hasn’t fallen off Amnesty International’s radar. The organization’s report this week paints a horrible picture of conditions at “Alligator Alcatraz.”

I know there are Americans who glibly turn a blind eye to any reports that put the Trump Administration in a bad light. They seem to think it’s acceptable for the U.S. to bomb boats in international waters and launch multiple attacks to kill any survivors. They also tend to agree with Trump that anyone who ends up in a detention center is sub-human and deserves horrible treatment. Many of these people also claim to be Christians. This baffles me, but that isn’t the purpose of today’s blog post.

(And why is Trump’s good buddy, Steve Witkoff, giving Putin advice on how to negotiate with Trump? But I digress.)

PHoto of fingers gripping a wire fence
Photo by Mitchel Lensink on Unsplash

I cannot easily summarize the report in this blog post, but here are a few highlights:

Lights are on around-the-clock;

Although the United Nations considers solitary confinement lasting more than 15 days to be torture, but at “Alligator Alcatraz,” some detainees have been in solitary confinement for more than 100 consecutive days;

Inadequate/ill-maintained plumbing results in toilets overflowing and flooding cells;

Detainees are allowed one five-minute shower per week;

Mold, insects, and rodents abound;

Food is often spoiled or maggot-infested;

Medical and mental health care are often withheld;

At least four detainees have died due to medical neglect;

Detainees are effectively dropped from the immigration court system because ICE and GEO Group refuse to report them to other government authorities;

Guards have used pepper spray in closed cells and then denied decontamination;

Sexual assault is occurring;

Detainees are punished if they complain about conditions;

Force-feeding has been used without proper medical oversight

There are 1,400 detainees being held there now at a facility built for 700;

ICE renewed GEO Group’s contract to operate the facility inspite of all the evidence that the company is not maintaining current standards of incarceration in the United States; and

The Department of Human Services Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties has not inspected “Alligator Alcatraz” since July 2025.

My thoughts

Call me a “bleeding heart liberal” if you wish, but I would ask you if this is now the acceptable penal standard in the United States of America? Do we aspire to be a “Third World” country?

Is anything on the above list making “America Great Again” or did I misunderstand Trump’s campaign promise?

If you are all right with our country treating detainees horribly, then you and I have fundamental differences in how we interpret the teachings of Jesus Christ as well as the letter and spirit of the United States Constitution.

The sobering lines of Martin Niemoller’s much-quoted “First they came” statement/poem come to mind.

A meme that reads, "First they came for the immigrants, but I wasn't an immigrant."

They haven’t come for me yet, but I feel compelled to speak up for the least of these among us and alleged atrocities committed by the United States Government or its private contractors such as GEO Group.

I love my country. That is why it hurts so much when we fall short of our potential and our history.

Janet

I’m back!

When I blogged on November 7, I had no idea I would not blog again until November 22. My sister is recovering nicely from her surgery. The jury is still out on the condition of her sole caregiver. (LOL!) The main reason I haven’t blogged in 15 days is that my desktop computer went rogue on November 11. I did not have time to call for help for it until late yesterday. My new best friend/computer guy came today and I am now back in business as a blogger and a writer.

The timing couldn’t have been worse for computer problems with my new book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, just being released. All the publicity memes and ads I created in advance on Bookbrush.com (I love Bookbrush!) could not be accessed and posted on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Bluesky. I can still use them, of course, but the dates I labeled many of them with have now passed. I’m living in a time warp of sorts.

Photo of the paperback of Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, by Janet Morrison
Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, by Janet Morrison

I have not been able to mail 85 book publicity postcards in the metro area because the local independent bookstore has not received her shipment from IngramSpark yet. Another case of hurry up and wait.

I’m not one to always look for the silver lining in a black cloud, but (1) my sister is improving each day and (2) I’ve gotten some much-needed exercise putting ice packs on her wound every 20 minutes all day every day. I’ve averaged walking more than three miles-a-day, which is probably 2.5 miles more than my usual.

All of this came at an inopportune time. Some of you have, no doubt, missed my daily political rants. Others of you have probably thanked God for the absence of them.

“Let them eat cake!”

During my absence from the blogosphere this month, President Marie Antoinette ordered the U.S. Border Patrol to leave Chicago and descend upon us here Charlotte. I watched local and national news programs as the masked and heavily armed Border Patrol Agents roamed Mecklenburg County and beyond (including very small mountain towns more than 100 miles to the west) and randomly round up anyone who looked or sounded Hispanic — regardless of their citizenship status.

They came without coordinating or communicating with the Sheriff of Mecklenburg County or the Charlotte Chief of Police. Standard protocol is that a federal law enforcement agency alerts local law enforcement of their operations so local police do not interfere with the operations. It just helps for local police to be aware of what the feds are doing, but that’s not how U.S. Border Patrol works.

They pointed high-powered weapons at unarmed men, women, and children, broke out car windows, and detained people for days without their families knowing where they had been taken. I understand some were taken hundreds of miles away to Georgia.

Photograph of Charlotte skyline at dawn or sunset with light shining yellow and purple through clouds
Skyline of Charlotte, North Carolina. Photo by Daniel Weiss on unsplash.com.

The general terrorism in sections of Charlotte with high Hispanic populations resulted in Hispanic- and Latino- owned businesses closing shop all week in an effort to keep their customers safe. Grocery stores and other businesses offered home deliveries to customers who were afraid to leave their homes.

Some 30,000 Charlotte-Mecklenburg school students stayed home from school out of fear of either being picked up in transit or out of fear that if they went to school their parents would be arrested and taken away before they got home from school that afternoon.

A teacher at East Mecklenburg High School was interviewed. She eloquently described what last week was like in the school system with 21 percent of the students being afraid to go to school. She did not use the word “terrorized” lightly. She spoke of teachers making home visits to their scared students to reassure them and to deliver food and toiletries to their homes.

What we have now in America is students not only having to worry that a shooter is going to come into their school and murder students and teachers, they also have to worry that the United States Government is going to send men in unmarked vehicles and wearing full military garb plus masks and sunglasses that completely hide their identities to harass them and possibly zip tie them and haul them away to parts unknown as they just attempt to attend school.

It did not help the situation for Assistant White House Chief-of-Staff Stephen Miller to announce that those 30,000 school students stayed home this week because they were all illegal aliens. Stop lying, Mr. Miller! Most of those students are American citizens. They just don’t have a white face like you have, Mr. Miller. That’s all they are guilty of. Since you don’t appear to be Native American of indigenous ancestry, Mr. Miller, I assume that you have immigrants in your family tree. Most Americans do.

When all was said and done in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, in less than a week, more than 370 individuals were arrested out of a population of 1.2 million. President Antoinette enjoyed his Great Gatsby-themed party in Florida as he sent Border Patrol Agents here under the guise of arresting “the worst of the worst.” The final report isn’t out yet, but the last I heard only two gang members were arrested. Of the first 170 people arrested, only 44 had police records (including such things are parking tickets and speeding tickets.)

At least one U.S. citizen’s truck window was broken out by Border Patrol. He was taken miles away. Border Patrol kept his truck keys. At least two women from Puerto Rico were accosted, questioned, zip-tied, and led away to an unmarked vehicle. The Trump Administration hasn’t learned yet that Puerto Rico is a U.S. Territory. Its residents are U.S. citizens. I can’t un-see the video of Trump throwing paper towels at Puerto Ricans after Hurricane Maria in October 2017. It was when Hurricane Maria hit that Trump told us that Puerto Rico is an island surrounded by water. Duh!

Before I close, I want to emphasize how the U.S. Border Patrol Agents are dressed. The word “mask” is woefully inadequate to describe what they are wearing. These so-called masks are heavy knit fabric. It reaches from their throats to their eyes and encircles their heads. Dark sunglasses cover their eyes. They wear hats. (I can’t help but compare them to the Ku Klux Klan… cowardly white people afraid to show their faces.)

They are dressed in fatigues with bullet-proof vests. Wads of zip ties hanging from their belts or one of their numerous pockets. They are heavily armed. They appear to be very short on patience and totally void of empathy for their fellow American citizens. They have been filmed stopping in the street in a residential neighborhood, jumping out and accosting two Hispanic-looking men who were hired to put lights on a resident’s outdoor Christmas tree.

It has come to this: random racial terrorism being practiced by the United States Government at the direction of the United States President.

They seem to have left Charlotte, although the website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security indicated they would be here until December 4. Is that a trick?

New Orleans, apparently you are next on Trump’s hit list. Remain calm and vigilant. Remain calm and vigilant. Be on the lookout for unmarked SUVs bearing Illinois license plates.

Update from Chicago

Marimar Martinez, the teacher in Chicago who was shot five times by U.S. Border Patrol, is recovering from her injuries and is returning to the classroom. She had been called a “domestic terrorist” by Border Patrol after she blew her vehicle’s horn to warn residents that the agents were in the neighborhood, but all charges against her were suddenly dropped this week.

Border Patrol accused her of ramming their vehicle, but video of the incident proved it was their vehicle that sideswiped her care. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security continues to publish falsehoods about her though, even as the department has dropped all charges after their case fell apart in a hearing.

Trump calls for execution of lawmakers

In other news here in America, when six Democrat lawmakers dared to make a video to remind all U.S. citizens that members of the U.S. military are not required to obey an illegal order, Trump called for the six to be arrested and executed.

Republicans told us that Trump did not mean it, and that’s supposed to make it okay.

As a writer, I know that words are more powerful than the sword. It is frightening and embarrassing that we have a U.S. President who is reckless with his language. It is also frightening that no one in a position of authority is holding him accountable for anything he says or does.

Resignation of U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene

Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia surprised everyone last night when she announced her resignation from the U.S. Congress as of January 5, 2026. Trump calling her a “traitor” was a bridge too far for this staunch ex-supporter of him and his administration. Perhaps other politicians who have sold their souls to the devil should take note. When he turns on you, you are dead to him.

This gives me a glimmer of hope that there are cracks in Trump’s armor.

Mozambique

It is being reported that ISIS has quickly gone into Mozambique since USAID has halted. ISIS is not filling the gap in aid. They’re filling the gap of influence. They’re recruiting the young men. They are beheading people who don’t comply with their demands.

People with decades of experience in the U.S. State Department warned us that in addition to millions of people starving to death, the halting of USAID would result in radical terrorist groups rushing in to take our place. It appears those decades of government service meant they knew a lot more about international relations than Trump and his minions will ever know.

All Trump could see was we were spending money to help Third World countries and he detested that policy. He couldn’t be bothered to understand that much of that food aid was a product of American agriculture. Even in his second term in office, Trump doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.

All those people who thought it was not in our national interest to ship American grain and other agricultural products to other countries, how do you like the prospect of ISIS spreading its hate for America among “the least of these.”

Most Trump supporters pride themselves in being Christians. This continues to baffle me. What version of the Bible tells you to hate the foreigner? I’ve never read that version.

In closing

That’s my rant for today. Maybe it’s a good thing I haven’t been able to watch or listen to as much news this month as my usual! I hope to blog about my new book in a couple of days.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

When you have a minute, please look for my books on Amazon.

Remember the brave people of Ukraine, as it appears Trump has been played like a fiddle by Putin.

I am fortunate that the U.S. Constitution protects my right to criticize the U.S. President.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

Janet

They erased his words

In case you live in a so-called “Blue State” – one that is not controlled by the Republican Party – you might think that most of the authoritarianism exists on the federal government level.

I live in a state that elected a Democrat for Governor last year (thank goodness!), a Democrat for Lt. Governor (and, therefore, President of the State Senate), and a Democrat for State Attorney General, but our General Assembly – State Legislature – is dominated by Republicans.

Last week, to ensure that President Trump will endorse Phil Berger in the 2026 election, the North Carolina General Assembly voted to redraw/re-gerrymander the U.S. Congressional Districts in our State. Phil Berger is President Pro-Tempore of the N.C. State Senate. He represents the 26th District in the State Senate.

Photo of part of hte North Carolina Legislative Building in Raleigh
Photo by Elijah Mears on Unsplash

Before last week, North Carolina had 10 Congressional seats held by Republicans and four seats held by Democrats. That wasn’t good enough for Trump, even though he only received 50.86% of the popular vote in North Carolina on November 5, 2024. Trump and his supporters call 50.86% “a mandate.”

Before last week’s vote to blatantly gerrymander North Carolina “because California redrew its map in favor of the Democrats” Don Davis, who just happens to be one of only two black North Carolinians in the U.S. House of Representatives. Under the new map, it will be nigh unto impossible for Don Davis to keep his seat in Congress in the 2026 election.

Before last week, I did not know who Michael Garrett was.

North Carolina State Senator Michael Garrett of Greensboro, who represents the 27th State Senate District in the General Assembly, made a speech on the floor of the Senate chambers. Since the Republicans in the North Carolina Senate voted to strike it from the record, it has been put on YouTube. I invite you to listen to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY8KNA-qTdg (Sen. Michael Garrett Delivers Powerful Speech Against Republican Rigged Maps.)

Senator Garrett’s response to his speech being stricken

In response to his speech being stricken from the official government record, I will share what Mr. Garrett wrote on his NC Senate Facebook page. I copied the following from https://www.democraticunderground.com/106913604. That website says it copied the following “from Michael Garrett NC Senate FB page on NC redistricting,” and I am bringing it to your attention today. Here it is:

“They Were So Afraid, They Erased the Words.”

“Yesterday, I stood on the Senate floor and spoke truth about what happened in North Carolina. About democracy being stolen in broad daylight. About rigged maps and broken promises. About betraying every sacrifice ever made for the right to vote.

“Then something extraordinary happened.

“Senator Grafstein moved that my remarks be spread upon the journal, entered into the permanent record of this body. This is routine. It happens constantly. It’s almost always done without objection, a simple courtesy extended across party lines for speeches on both sides.

“The Republicans immediately objected.

“They forced a vote. And on a straight party line, they voted to keep my words out of the permanent record.

“In my entire time in the Senate, I have never seen this happen.

“Let that sink in for a moment.

“They rigged the maps. Then they voted to erase any record of someone calling them out for it.


“This isn’t about me. This is about what their fear reveals.

“They weren’t afraid of my words because they were false, they were afraid because they were true. They weren’t blocking the record to protect themselves, they were doing it because they know history will judge them harshly for what they did yesterday.

“They stood on that floor, voted to rig our elections at Trump’s command, and then, in the very next breath, tried to memory-hole anyone who dared to say it out loud.

“That’s not the behavior of people confident in their principles. That’s the behavior of people ashamed of their actions.

“If what they did was righteous, they’d want it documented. If their cause was just, they’d welcome debate for the permanent record. If they believed they were serving North Carolina, they’d let history judge them on the merits.

“But they don’t believe any of that. They know what they did was wrong. They know they sold out democracy. They know they chose Trump over the people of North Carolina. They know they stole voices and rigged maps and betrayed their oaths.

“And they’re so ashamed, so terrified that future generations will read what was said and render judgment, that they won’t even let the words stand in the record.

“But you can’t erase truth by blocking it from a journal.

“You can’t make democracy’s defenders disappear by parliamentary procedure. You can’t memory-hole a movement by refusing to record it.

“Those words were said. Thousands watched online. The press reported it. North Carolinians heard it. And now millions more will hear about it, because their attempt to silence it only amplified the message.

“They tried to bury the truth. Instead, they proved it.

“Their fear is our proof. Their shame is our vindication.

“Because you don’t try to erase words from the record unless those words have power. You don’t vote on party lines to block routine motions unless you’re terrified of what they represent. You don’t abandon decades of Senate courtesy unless you know, deep in your bones, that history will not be kind.

“They are losing, and they know it.

“Not today’s vote, they won that. They got their rigged maps. They’ll steal their seats. They’ll cling to power for a few more years.

“But they’re losing the war that matters. The war for legitimacy. The war for history’s judgment. The war for the hearts and minds of the next generation watching this unfold.
“This weekend, millions marched saying “America has no kings.” Yesterday, North Carolina Republicans proved exactly why those marches were necessary. They rigged our elections, tried to erase any record of opposition, then went home thinking they’d won.

“They have no idea what’s coming.

“Because every time they silence a voice, ten more rise up. Every time they rig a map, a thousand more people organize. Every time they betray democracy, a million more Americans understand: this is the fight of our generation, and surrender is not an option.

“Their fear means we’re winning. Their desperation means our movement has power. Their need to erase us from the record means they hear us perfectly, and what they hear terrifies them.

“So we get louder. We organize harder. We fight fiercer.

“They can block words from a journal, but they cannot block the march of justice. They can erase speeches from the record, but they cannot erase the promise from the hearts of a people who refuse to bow to kings.

“They were so afraid of the truth, they voted to erase it from history.

“That tells you everything about the weakness of their cause and everything about the power of ours.

“Yesterday, truth was spoken. Today, they’re still trying to silence it. Tomorrow, we rise louder than before.

“The fight continues. The promise endures. And every desperate attempt they make to silence us only proves we’re saying exactly what they fear most:

“Their time is ending. Democracy’s reckoning is coming. And no rigged map, no stolen vote, no erased record can stop a people who refuse to be silent.

“We’re just getting started.

“#NoKings #NCPolitics #DefendDemocracy #TheyreAfraid #Democracy #WeAreWinning”

Take courage from Michael Garrett’s words

No matter where in the world you live, take courage from Michael Garrett’s words, even though the Republicans in the North Carolina State Senate did not want you to hear them.

As NC Senator Michael Garrett said, the politicians are choosing their voters instead of the voters choosing their politicians.

The wheels are falling off the bus rapidly.

Janet

Just another week in America

It is heartbreaking to have to write about the state of things in the United States. If you are reading this in another country, it must be confusing. Trust me, most Americans are just as confused as you are.

U.S. Government Shutdown

The Republicans blame the Democrats. The Democrats blame the Republicans. But in 2011, Donald J. Trump said if the federal government shutdown, it would be the fault of the President of the United States.

Thousands of federal employees are in limbo. Thousands of others, like air traffic controllers, are expected to continue to work without pay. I seem to recall a Trump slogan: “Make America Safe Again.” Do you feel safe yet?

Trump’s tariffs have hung the American farmer out to dry. Between abruptly ending USAID and getting in a tariff war with China, the soybean market has all but disappeared.

Photo of letters on wooden blocks spelling out: USA Tarriffs.
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

No one in the White House or the U.S. Congress appears to care if thousands of farmers lose everything they have while the political games play out.

Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

Every single American depends on the American farmers every single day. Where does Trump think we will get our food after all the farmers go bankrupt? They cannot bounce back from bankruptcy like he has. He does not have a clue what a farm is or how it functions.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi please the audience of one she was performing for yesterday before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, but I don’t think she impressed the nation.

If the majority of Americans thought she behaved professionally, then we are in deeper trouble than I thought.

It was a horrible display of sarcasm and dodging every question. She is the poster girl for RUDE.

The FBI, Southern Poverty Law Center, & Anti-Defamation League

Photo of the seal of the FBI
Photo by David Trinks on Unsplash

The Associated Press reported: “FBI Director Kash Patel says the bureau is cutting ties with two organizations that for decades have tracked domestic extremism and racial and religious bias, a move that follows complaints about the groups from some conservatives and prominent allies of President Donald Trump.

“Patel said Friday that the FBI would sever its relationship with the Southern Poverty Center, asserting that the organization had been turned into a “partisan smear machine” and criticizing it for its use of a “hate map” that documents alleged anti-government and hate groups inside the United States. A statement earlier in the week from Patel said the FBI would end ties with the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish advocacy organization that fights antisemitism.”

I found it odd that the Trump Administration is cutting ties with the Anti-Defamation League while simultaneously punishing universities it claims are discriminating against Jewish students. It appears that the U.S. Department of Justice can’t decide whether to help Jewish people or persecute them. As President Trump often says, “We’ll have to wait and see.”

The FBI has worked in partnership with prominent civil rights groups for decades, but I guess Kash Patel doesn’t want any part of it. Or, perhaps he’s just following Trump’s orders. The Southern Poverty Center and the Anti-Defamation League have provided research on hate crimes and domestic extremism to the FBI in the past, but it seems some conservatives think they are not fair.

Meanwhile… President Trump breaks the law by sending the Texas National Guard to Chicago, uninvited and unwanted

Trump is also talking about invoking the Insurrection Act. Funny how he did not invoke it or even call up the National Guard on January 6, 2021, when The Capitol was under siege by his angry mob.

In the last four days, Trump has called Democrats “gnats,” “low IQ people,” and “Somalians.” I guess he got tired calling us “the enemy of the people” and “left-wing lunatics.”

Students of history, can you name a dictator from Germany who used those same tactics in the 1930s to dehumanize the citizens?

Janet

A Friday Wrap-Up

Some weeks I have blogged on Friday as sort of a catch-up or catch-all about what’s happened over the past week. I do not wish to fall into that as a routine or habit. Too much is happening. I don’t want that self-inflicted pressure.

However, I will take the opportunity today to comment about a few things that stood out to me this week. Most, you have heard about. Others, probably not. No one can read and hear it all. It is not humanly possible as we are traveling through a political and social world propelling us at warp speed whether we want to be propelled or not.

I will not take the blame

According to Trump, it is my fault and the fault of people like me who dare to be critical of the tactics of ICE who caused a snipper – who was a registered Independent — to murder two ICE detainees on Wednesday in Dallas, Texas.

I beg to differ. Is it not Trump who is sending ICE agents out in over-sized face masks, sunglasses, and riot gear without badges or any identification in unmarked vehicles to snatch people off the street?

Perhaps it is the pictures and videos of the ICE agents that have fueled anger in our country.

When the person who has the loudest microphone and biggest name recognition in the entire world uses his platform every single day to call individuals and groups of people ugly names, we have reached a dangerous place not just in the United States but worldwide.

When the President of the United States verbally, in writing, and on social media daily calls people names and makes baseless accusations, does he not need to bear part of the blame for the political violence in our country?

Special Education Grants Cancelled

As the Trump Administration’s ongoing war against diversity, equity, and inclusion, the U.S. Department of Education has cancelled a grant made to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the training of future preschool teachers who want to teach students with disabilities.

Since 2011, the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the university has run the SCRIPT-NC program through which it has contributed to special education training for about 10,000 students taking classes in child care in the statewide community college system.

The Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute announced in the fall of 2023 that it had received a $1 million five-year grant to help fund SCRIPT-NC. With last Friday night’s Department of Education announcement, UNC will lose $200,000 this year and apparently the funding for the remaining three years. The grant to UNC was one of 25 grants for special education teacher training programs that were abruptly cancelled by the Trump Administration last Friday night.

The cancellation notices all cited diversity, equity, inclusion, or race in the grant applications. Each of the cancellation notices concluded with the following words: “the project would be in conflict with agency policy and priorities, and so is not in the best interest of the Federal Government.”

The U.S. Department of Education claims those grants will be repurposed to support special education. Are we left to assume they will be repurposed to only help white children from wealthy families? I don’t know what else we are supposed to conclude.

The grant applications were filed while Joe Biden was President. His administration encouraged applicants to explain how grant money would be used to help underserved populations. The Trump Administration is not interested in the underserved citizens of our country.

How are any of us supposed to function when a new President comes into office and cancels everything the prior President’s administration supported and programs that the U.S. Congress funded? These grant and federal program cancellations are destroying everything from education to infrastructure to our economy.

When you can’t count on what is here today to be here tomorrow, how are you supposed to accomplish anything?

I’m glad Trump has no control over the sun or gravity. We can still count on them being here tomorrow.

My source for the information about the UNC grant: https://www.wunc.org/education.

Speak Up for Justice

Photo on Unsplash

I had the opportunity yesterday afternoon to watch and listen to another live presentation online from the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. These monthly informational discussions are free to watch on Zoom.

Yesterday’s program was “Unprotected and Under Fire: State Judges at Risk as congress Weighs Action” and the panel was made up of judges from across the country.

If you aren’t aware, you need to be aware that more and more of the 30,000 judges in our country are receiving verifiable death threats. It is estimated that one-third of the state judges and their families have received such threats. This must stop!

If judges are forced out of fear to rule in a certain way on a case instead of ruling based on their interpretation of and respect for the rule of law, our democracy will crumble.

State judges do not have the protections that federal judges have. Senate Bill 2379 was introduced on July 22, 2025, to address this dangerous gap in protection of members of the state judiciaries. The short title is “Countering Threats and Attacks on Our Judges Act.”

Please urge your U.S. Senators to support this. If you wish to read the entire bill as it stands now, the text can be found at https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2379/text/is.

Domestic Terrorism Memo

ABC News reported yesterday afternoon that “President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a promised presidential memorandum implementing an administration-wide effort aimed at alleged ‘domestic terrorism’ and ‘organized political violence.’

“He said it was directed to tackle what he claimed was a rise in ‘bad people’ and ‘anarchists’ from the left and groups that he said funded them.”

He is blatantly only going after “bad people” who oppose Republicans. He isn’t going after “bad people” on the right like the ones who assassinated Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, on June 14, 2025, after attempting to assassinate John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette earlier that morning. Elected officials who are Democrats plainly don’t count in Trump’s book.

Only the people on the left side are “bad people,” according to Trump as he daily refers to us as “left-wing lunatics.”

Free Speech

Photo of a young woman with blue tape across her mouth
Photo by Brian Wangenheim on Unsplash

It seems that when it comes down to it, Trump has a corner on the free speech market. Although freedom of speech is guaranteed in the United States by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, we have witnessed an assault on free speech for several weeks.

After a public outcry, ABC put “Jimmy Kimmel Live” back on the air. We won that battle, but the war is not over.

Trump will continue to push the limits of his power to try to quiet all voices that dare to speak out against him. The first group dictators go after are the comedians. We are seeing that play out here. Intimidation. Threats. Naming which comedians are next on his list on social media.

Trump continues to go after universities and journalists. He said this week that it ought to be against the law for a journalist to say anything bad about him. I’m sure writers are on that list. Comedians, writers, and intellectuals are always on such lists. Need I go on?

Now, Democrats are supposed to remain silent as Trump and his supporters spew their hate?

Weaponization of the U.S. Justice Department

The federal indictment of former FBI Director James Comey by a grand jury yesterday afternoon will stand as a stark reminder that Trump will leave no rock unturned as he instructs the U.S. Justice Department to go after his political enemies and people who criticize him.

Trump fired the federal prosecutor who refused to bring charges against Comey. This week he appointed an insurance lawyer who used to work for him and has never prosecuted anyone in her life to prosecute Comey. Reports indicate that she has never even been involved in the prosecution of a case.

Perhaps all this is just to embarrass Comey and cost him a lot of money. If I were pressing charges against a former FBI Director, I would want an experienced prosecutor on the case. But what do I know?

Trump has named Comey and numerous others he wants indicted or arrested and has announced that they are all guilty, corrupt, bad people who should go to prison.

He told U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in a social media post on Saturday to go after Comey, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff, and New York Attorney General Letitia James. As I stated in a blog post earlier this week, Trump hold grudges.

Comey is being charged with lying to Congress five years ago, but what about when Pam Bondi testified before Congress on January 15-16, 2025, that as U.S. Attorney General she would not weaponize the U.S. Justice Department, was that a lie?

In the United States today, we can only pray that the rule of law will prevail and ask God to continue to give us the strength to speak up for the Constitution.

The indictment of James Comey yesterday was shocking but not surprising. Whether Comey is guilty or not, I hope the countless accusations Trump has made in speeches and on social media against Comey will result in the unraveling of these indictments.

The United States Department of Justice is exactly what that says. It is the United States Department of Justice, not the President of the United States’ Department of Justice.

Our democracy cannot stand if we have a U.S. President who can dictate that the U.S. Department of Justice can and must go after his political adversaries. It cannot and will not stand if that is where we are.

At 8:00 p.m., Thursday night, September 25, 2025, as I write this, it feels like we are there.

Janet

Let’s put a name on ICE detention: Allison Bustillo

This is a story I have been sitting on since last Tuesday. It is impossible to make sense of what has happened here locally.

I do not personally know the young woman or her family, but hearing this family’s story on WSOC-TV in Charlotte stopped me in my tracks. I have not been able to get the report off my mind.

Her family fled violence in Honduras in 2013 when Allison Bustillo was eight years old. They found a home in North Carolina. Allison studied hard. No one in the family ever broke the law, except for staying in the United States without proper documentation.

Allison wants to be a nurse. At 20 years old, she was studying nursing on a scholarship at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, until February 2025 – the day ICE agents showed up at her house. They were looking for someone who did not live there but, in the process, they took Allison from her home. This was traumatic for her family, which includes her brother who is on the autism spectrum.

Photo by Jennifer Grismer on Unsplash

Allison was taken 350 miles from her home to the ICE Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. She tried to get released. She had broken no laws. She had been brought into the United States as an eight-year-old child.

The Stewart Detention Center is operated by CoreCivic. CoreCivic contracted with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to operate the prison, which has an official capacity of 1,752 inmates.

The ICE agents who arrested Allison Bustillo did not have to identify themselves. They didn’t have to show a badge or an identification. They didn’t have to show their faces. But Allison Bustillo was not allowed those privileges, so without warning or due process she was taken from her home and placed in a federal detention center hundreds of miles from her family.

But no one in the Trump Administration cared. Not even after her family secured the services of an attorney.

One of the ironies is that Allison was not eligible for voluntary deportation, but she was stuck in that detention center for six months. Imagine! Six months!

Her attorney was finally able to get permission for her to leave the detention center and leave the country without a deportation order. She will board (or already has boarded) a commercial flight to Honduras. Alone.

A 20-year-old nursing student returning to the country she fled 12 years ago as a child whose family sought a safe life.

Allison’s mother said, “The only memory my daughter has of Honduras is when someone put a gun to our heads.”

Here is a link to the local news report I saw last Tuesday, in case it is still accessible: https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/shelby-woman-forced-leave-us-after-months-ice-custody/RLPE6QKWOVGLXC6KHNEXT2Q5OU/.

My thoughts

I am embarrassed to be an American in 2025.

Trump was elected partly because he promised to get the illegal alien criminals out of our country. Perhaps some of the people who voted for him thought he would use legal means to accomplish that. Perhaps they thought he would only remove the hardened criminals.

They were horribly mistaken.

He has repeatedly said that only “the worst of the worst criminals” will be arrested and deported. That is a lie. Plain and simple.

A case in point is the Guatemalan minor children he tried to deport in the middle of the night this weekend. Fortunately, a judge put a stop to that. Trump needs to understand that even an undocumented child from Guatemala has the right to due process in the United States of America.

What happened to “Give me your tired, your poor… your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” that the high school chorus used to sing?

What happened to “the land of the free and the home of the brave” from our national anthem? We have failed our national anthem this year… or, I suppose we failed it on election day last November. I don’t think I can sing it anymore.

What happened to the Republican Party?

What happened to common decency?

What happened to my country?

God, help us!

Janet

Blog topics keep dropping in my lap

One of these days I hope to be able to enjoy reading fiction again. I miss the days when I wanted to read every historical novel that was published. I can’t remember the last one I read. I’m pretty sure it was before Inauguration Day 2025.

I miss not having books I’ve read to blog about the first Monday of each month. I read parts of several books in August, but I didn’t finish reading any of them.

I settled down at the computer on Friday evening after supper to look for that afternoon’s weekly update on the status of road repairs in western North Carolina since Hurricane Helene a full eleven months ago. I can’t imagine the stress the people who live or work along some of those roads must be under at this point.

For eleven months, I have tried to give an update on Mondays of the progress being made in repairing western North Carolina since the hurricane. Roads are not the most important things being repaired or needing to be repaired. People lost family members, their homes, their businesses, their friends, their communities, and their sense of security. But I don’t know how to report on how those losses are being coped with or healed. I report the progress being made in rebuilding roads and highways because that is something tangible that I can find statistics about. I hope in some way it reminds people in other parts of the United States that just because Hurricane Helene is no longer in the headlines, it doesn’t mean it is over.

On Friday evening, I didn’t know what I was going to blog about today, but I knew I needed to include my weekly update about the roads. I sat down at the computer to get that part of today’s blog written.

But before I could put anything in the search engine, a disturbing piece of breaking news popped up. Although the announcement was put online shortly before 6:30 p.m., the national news channel I watched at 6:30 did not mention it. I guess it was more important to talk about this being Labor Day weekend and how that would specifically bring in lots of business for a particular convenience store chain on steroids.

The free publicity the network gave that convenience store chain was bizarre. It was the kind of story one would expect on “a slow day for news.” But we have not had “a slow day for news” in this country in eight months.

Instead of reporting on how busy the franchises in that convenience store chain would be over the long holiday weekend, I wish that network had reported on what the U.S. Supreme Court did on Friday.

National Institutes of Health

Photo of a woman in a white lab coat looking into a microscope.

The piece of news that was not reported is devastating to a lot of people. In a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump Administration can indeed cut $783 million in National Institutes of Health grants connected to diversity programs. Thus, the injunction that a federal judge had put on the action has been lifted.

Too bad that 90,000-square foot ballroom that’s going to dwarf the White House isn’t in place. I’m sure lots of people in The White House would love to go dancing to celebrate this victory over medical research and diversity.

Voice of America

Photo of a silver microphone.
Photo by Jono Hirst on Unsplash

Another thing Trump could celebrate over the Labor Day weekend was the firing of more than 500 employees of Voice of America and its parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, on Friday night. It comes across as, “Happy Labor Day! You’re fired!”

Voice of America was founded by the United States in 1942 to combat Nazi propaganda. Every week for 83 years, it has delivered news to 420 million people in 63 languages in more than 100 countries.

But the Trump Administration does not see the need for it and has been working for eight months to destroy it. One of his Executive Orders in March placed more than 1,000 journalists on indefinite administrative leave.

Kari Lake, an Arizona politician, is tasked by Trump to dismantle Voice of America. She fired 500 contractors in May and tried to fire 600 federal employees in June.

Trump says the Voice of America is speaking for our adversaries and not for the American people. He has produced no evidence. By “our adversaries” does he mean North Korea, China, and Russia? Or does he mean his Democratic political adversaries? I tend to think he means the Democrats. He cannot tolerate people speaking the truth.

Some tariffs ruled illegal

Photo of letters on wooden blocks spelling out: USA Tarriffs.
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

A Federal Appeals Court has ruled that some of the tariffs ordered by the Trump Administration are illegal. We haven’t heard the last of this. Like a dog with a bone, Trump won’t let go without a fight.

Chicago prepares for Trump

Photo of a huge dome-like reflective sculpture in Chicago reflecting the sky and buildings
Photo by Sawyer Bengtson on Unsplash

The City of Chicago and the Governor of Illinois prepare for an invasion by Trump’s military this week. The mayor of Chicago vows to not roll over and play dead.

Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an order on Saturday stating that the Chicago police will not “collaborate with federal agents on joint law enforcement patrols, arrest operations, or other law enforcement duties including civil immigration enforcement.”

The mayor’s order “urges” federal officers in Chicago “to refrain from wearing masks, to wear and use body cameras and to identify themselves to members of the public with names and badge numbers.”

That is what local law enforcement officers do, so why shouldn’t federal officers be required to do the same? The argument that Trump’s thugs must wear masks because their lives are in danger doesn’t hold water. Every law enforcement officer’s life is in danger when they are on the job, but they don’t get to hide behind masks like Trump’s people or the Ku Klux Klan.

Hurricane Helene Update

As of Friday, of the 1,469 roads and highways that had to be closed in western North Carolina due to Hurricane Helene, 33 were still closed and 38 have partial access.

A temporary US-64/US-74 between Chimney Rock and Bat Cave opened last week.

Another section of the Blue Ridge Parkway reopened on Friday, meaning that the 85 miles from Asheville to the parkway’s southern terminus near Cherokee are now open! Work continues on various sections of the road north of Asheville.

It was announced last Thursday that the rebuilding of I-40 in the Pigeon River Gorge North Carolina at the Tennessee line is expected to be completed by the end of 2028. That’s not a typo. 2028.

The NC Department of Transportation is constructing a retaining wall along the Pigeon River below the highway, which will be 30 feet thick and 100 feet tall in some places.

A temporary wall now allows two lanes (one in each direction) to be open with a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit. Monitoring devices are in place to alert drivers to possible landslides.

The reconstruction of five miles of the interstate in the gorge is expected to cost $1.3 billion.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Alert Update

US-441/Newfound Gap Road in the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park is expected to be repaired and reopened by September 30. Earlier estimates were in October. Heavy rainfall caused the undercutting a section of the road between Mile Marker 12 and Mile Mark 13 during flooding on August 2.

Hurricane Erin Update

NC-12 on the north end of Ocracoke Island, NC reopened last Monday and ferry service to Hatteras Island resumed. By the end of last week, what was left of Hurricane Erin was lashing the Butt of Lewis on the northern tip of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Erin did not give up easily.

Too much news

In less than 24 hours from Friday night until midday on Saturday, I went from not knowing what I could blog about today to having an abundance of topics vying for my attention. I miss the good old days of 2024 when there wasn’t much news on weekends.

Janet