Category: US History

More telling things about Trump Administration

Today’s blog post is a continuation of Sunday’s, Various telling things about Trump Administration, (which I meant to schedule for today but hit the “publish” button instead of the “schedule” button my mistake.)

As I said in Sunday’s blog, the nightly TV network news programs cannot cover everything in a half hour. Here are some things you might have missed hearing about.

Columns at what’s left of the White House

President Trump wants Corinthian columns on the new White House ballroom. Rodney Mims Cook, Jr., Trump’s appointee who chairs the Commission of Fine Arts, says there are Corinthian columns at the U.S. Capitol and the U.S. Supreme Court building, so he can’t imagine why the lowly Ionic columns were put on the White House 200 years ago.

The White House, Washington, DC. (Photo by Melo Liu on Unsplash)

Cook says he has not yet discussed with the President that the existing Ionic columns on the North Portico and South Portico of the White House should be replaced with Corinthian columns.

Example of an Ionic column. (Photo by Maik Winnecke on unsplash.com.)

As reported by The Washington Post, “The Corinthian would be inappropriate for the Executive Residence,” said Steven Semes, a professor emeritus of architecture at the University of Notre Dame and an expert in classical architecture, warning that it would ‘harm’ the original design of a building long known as the ‘People’s House.’

Example of a Corinthian column. (Photo by Ruben Hanssen on Unsplash)

“He added that the White House’s Ionic columns evoke ‘the character of dignity, grace and a kind of intimacy or domesticity,’ whereas Corinthian columns are ‘used to express the height of formality and monumentality’ for buildings such as the Capitol.”

The official White House response earlier this week was that there are no plans to replace the Ionic columns at the White House. How many times have we heard the Trump Administration say, “There are no plans,” only to see something like the East Wing of the White House become a pile of rubble?

The truth is not in these people.

Just you wait. We will wake up one morning to see piles of rubble where the Ionic columns now stand. Money is no object to the Trump Administration, unless you want to spend money to benefit human beings.

The wrecking ball being used at the White House is a metaphor for what the Trump Administration has done to our country and everything it stands/stood for.

Shoes

Perhaps the latest fiasco within Trump’s inner circle is that he decided to order wingtip shoes for each of the cabinet members (or, I’m assuming, only the male cabinet members), but he overlooked one detail. Shoe size.

 He (or one of his minions) guessed at what shoe size each person needed. It seems that Secretary of State Marco Rubio now must wear shoes several sizes too big. The pictures are laughable, but I doubt Secretary Rubio is laughing as he tries not to walk out of his gigantic shoes.

Do we not have one single department head in the Trump Administration who is brave enough to tell the President that they aren’t going to wear the shoes?

I read that he has also given these shoes to other VIPs and lawmakers he likes. I refuse to say the brand name and give the company any more free publicity.

It’s not enough that his people must mimic Trump’s every word; they must also wear the shoe brand he prefers, no matter what size they are.

It is more than a little jarring to know that in the middle of an illegal war, the U.S. President is thinking about buying shoes for his rich friends.

Has there ever been a more out-of-touch U.S. President?

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Since President Trump put his own name on The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts last year, numerous artists have cancelled their appearances in protest.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC. (Photo by MIKE STOLL on Unsplash)

As a result, Richard Grenell, Trump’s appointed director of the facility, has now lost his job.

Trump could not let us think that the cancellations were a result of his naming the building for himself. It had to be someone else’s fault. It just had to be.

The beautiful, iconic living memorial to President John F. Kennedy will close on July 5 for two years for “renovations” and “upgrades.” I doubt it will resemble its old self when Trump gets through with it.

I choose to remember it the way it was. Trump can put his name all over it in flashing neon lights if he wants to, but it will always be remembered as it was in its original elegant form, and it will NEVER be thought of as “The Trump Center.”

Another baseball cap faux pas

It wasn’t enough that President Trump wore a baseball cap to the Dignified Transfer of the remains of the first five Americans killed in the war in Iran. Even after receiving criticism – or perhaps because he received criticism – for his inappropriate choice of head gear, he then used a photo of himself at the somber event to launch a “pay-to-play” scheme.

It begs the question, “Was the white “USA” baseball cap all part of a grander money-raising plan?”

It is inappropriate and disrespectful to our fallen military personnel and their families to use photographs of one of their flag-draped coffins and his baseball cap adorned head to raise money, and it is beyond the pale that he is using this photograph to offer donors national security briefings.

You didn’t know that? Please keep reading.

The soldiers killed in the first day of Trump’s war were Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa; Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Sgt. 1stt Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa; and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, 54, of Spotsylvania, Virginia.

Mr. President, they were human beings. They were part of our all-volunteer armed forces. They volunteered to put their lives on the line from the people of the United States of America. They swore to defend the United States Constitution. Unlike you, they took their pledge seriously.

And now, Mr. President, you use a photograph of yourself in a ridiculous baseball cap along with the top of one of their flag-draped coffins in a pay-to-play scheme.

The request was signed “President Donald J. Trump.” Never Surrender Inc. paid to send it out for him. By paying to play, donors were told they would have “National Security Briefing Membership.”

Let that sink in for a minute….

Here is part of the online report from Navy Times on https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-military/2026/03/14/trump-fundraising-email-uses-photo-of-march-7-dignified-transfer-of-deceased-soldier/ which includes quotes from the pay-to-play scheme:

“’I’m the strong commander who stares down tyrants, obliterates terrorists, and never backs down,’ Trump states in the email. ‘This is for patriots ready to stand with that kind of unbreakable strength. Not for the weak or the wavering.’

“The email promises donors a series of private national security briefings and updates on ‘threats facing America… border invasions, foreign adversaries, deep state sabotage, and every danger the fake news hides.’

“’You’ll get the inside scoop DIRECT from me, President Trump,’ the email continues, ‘the leaders who’s rebuilt the greatest military in history, and put America First like no one else.’”

This scheme goes way beyond being inappropriate. What national security briefing details does Trump and/or Surrender Inc plan to share with donors? This goes beyond stupid and reckless.

Add this scheme to the trash pile of never-ending Trump money-making schemes. We can only hope this scheme fails like many of his other schemes. I mean, you have to be pretty inept to bankrupt a gambling casino, don’t you?

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

The Coming of the Railroad in 1854

I wrote a local history column for Harrisburg Horizons newspaper from May 2006 through December 2012. Before you residents of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania get too excited, I will clarify that this free weekly newspaper existed in Harrisburg, North Carolina.

Of the 175 newspaper columns I wrote, six were a series of articles I wrote about “The Coming of the Railroad.” This is an important local topic for without the North Carolina Railroad there would be no Town of Harrisburg, NC today.

It’s hard to imagine the town without a railroad today, even though in an effort to establish “high-speed” rail between Charlotte and Raleigh, the at-grade railroad crossings in Harrisburg were replaced with bridges in 2013. That’s a story for another day.

Imagine a rural farming community in 1854, about halfway between Charlotte and Concord. Was everyone excited about the coming of the railroad? Farmers were probably not happy about the piercing whistles of the steam engines scaring their livestock, but they were possibly pacified by the fact that the depot planned for the community would give them a convenient way to sell their agricultural products.

Photo of a steam train
Photo by Claud Richmond on Unsplash. (NOT a photo of a Harrisburg, NC steam train.)

Prior to the coming of the railroad, it is said that it sometimes cost a farmer half his profits to transport his produce to market by wagon. Poor roads and distances to markets prohibited the transporting of perishables very far.

Although Charlotte has a population of a million people now, in 1854 it had a whopping 1,000. The State of North Carolina decided it would be good for the economy to construct a railroad from Goldsboro, in the eastern part of the state, to Charlotte in the southern piedmont.

The State sold bonds in New York City to finance the project. Ten thousand shares were sold at $100 each.

Goldsboro was chosen because it had rail service to the port at Wilmington, NC. A railroad from the south to Charlotte and one from the north to Danville, Virginia, which threatened to extend a line to Charlotte, would surely mean that goods from western North Carolina would be shipped to Virginia or to the port at Charleston, South Carolina.

It was understood from the beginning that much of the construction labor for the project would be undertaken by slaves of property owners living along the rail right-of-way. Some of the slave owners were paid on a yearly basis for supplying their slaves for the project.

I found it interesting that wrought iron T-rails manufactured in Wales were used in the initial construction of the 223-mile-long railroad. The rails weighed 60 pounds per yard and were brought in through the port at Charleston.

In the early 1850s, a steam locomotive needed on average a cord of wood (that’s a stack of wood eight feet long, four feet wide, and four feet high) and 1,000 gallons of water for every twenty-five miles. A tender could carry that much wood and water. That is what dictated the approximate distances between some train stations.

That’s how the little farming community of Harrisburg, North Carolina got a train depot and the designation as Harris Depot on maps.

If you are interested in learning more about the North Carolina Railroad and the ways the coming of the railroad and depot changed life in a farming community in the early 1850s, look for my book, Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Books 1 and 2. Book 1 contains the first 94 local history articles I wrote, including the series about the railroad. Book 2 contains the other 84 local history articles I wrote, including more articles that reference the railroad.

Topics in the two books include such things as the blowing up of the King’s gun powder in 1771, a minuteman in the American Revolution, President George Washington’s 1791 visit, the 22-mile ring dyke the town sits in, general stores, family-owned groceries stores, education in the 1800s and three Rosenwald Schools, how the town got phone service and electricity, our Ukrainian doctor (Nicholas E. Lubchenko) who escaped from the Russian Army, the cotton economy of the area until the mid-20th century, Hurricane Hugo in 1989, floods, earthquakes, the building of roads and bridges, the changes necessitated by the high-speed rail project, mail service from the 1800s until the early 21st century, the construction of the Charlotte Motor Speedway and the running of the first World 600 NASCAR race in 1960… and much more.

Here are the links for purchasing the books on Amazon:

Photo of the front cover of Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 1, by Janet Morrison
Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 1,
by Janet Morrison

Book 1, in paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Harrisburg-Did-You-Know-Cabarrus/dp/1888858044/

Book 1, in e-book: https://www.amazon.com/Harrisburg-Did-You-Know-Cabarrus-ebook/dp/B0BNK84LK1/

Photo of front cover of Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2, by Janet Morrison
Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2,
by Janet Morrison

Book 2, in paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Harrisburg-Did-You-Know-Cabarrus/dp/B0BW2QMLHC/

Book 2, in e-book: https://www.amazon.com/Harrisburg-Did-You-Know-Cabarrus-ebook/dp/B0BXBQ1F79/

If you live in the Harrisburg, NC area, you can find the books in paperback, Tuesday through Saturday, at Second Look Books, 4519 School House Commons.

I hope my blog post today whetted your appetite for reading more about the history of our little town of 20,000 now. I imagine many of our local stories are similar to ones in your town’s history.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Various telling things about Trump Administration

I really try not to write about politics every day on my blog, but there are things happening that do not get coverage on the nightly news programs because there are just too many things for journalists to report on.

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

There’s the war in Iran. There are shootings and terrorist attacks. There’s Punch the monkey and his stuffed animal from IKEA in Tokyo. There’s the Kīlauea volcano blowing its stack in Hawaii. There are the women who were abused by Jeffrey Epstein and his rich friends who apparently are not going to face consequences in the United States like they are in Great Britain.

In a 30-minute news broadcast, minus eight to ten minutes of commercials, a host of happenings fall on the editor’s floor. Today I will touch on a few of those.

Trump’s attitude about the war in Iran

President Trump wants other countries to police the Strait of Hormuz. We’ll see how that goes. He also wants the crews on oil tankers to just be brave and go through the strait. Easy for him to say.

He wants China, France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and “others” to send warships there to secure the two-mile wide passage. He says things will go “well” with the U.S. coordinating things.

The President said the U.S. may hit Iran’s Kharg Island a few more times “just for fun.” His cavalier attitude over putting American military personnel is harm’s way and spending U.S. tax dollars is deplorable. This is not a video game.

President Trump says he will know when the war is over because he “will feel it in his bones.” He started the war because he “had a feeling.” As a student of history, I don’t recall any other U.S. President approaching a war based on “feelings.”

Can you imagine the misogynistic outcry there would be if a female U.S. President ever said such a thing? She would be the last female U.S. President!

One day he calls the war “a war.” The next day he calls it “an excursion.” The objectives of the war change hourly.

If we get to have a Presidential election in 2028, I hope voters will remember the ramifications when we elect a President who is unable to communicate their objectives or their dependence on facts.

The FCC

After President Trump accused the news media of “intentionally misleading” the public in their coverage of the war in Iran, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr threatened to revoke broadcasters’ licenses.

We’ve heard these threats before from the Trump Administration, as they try to dictate news coverage.

This is an attack on the free press and a major foundation of our nation. Countries like Russia, China, and North Korea have state-controlled television. We cannot allow this to happen in the United States! If you want to watch and listen to state-controlled TV, you can watch Fox News.

Carr warned that a network’s coverage of the war in Iran will be taken into consideration when their broadcast licenses come up for renewal. In a social media post, Carr warned them that they still had a chance to “correct course” and stop broadcasting “fake news” and distortions of the war.

Carr wrote, “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.”

He accused broadcast networks of “running hoaxes.”

Carr doubled down on this in an interview with CBS News later on Saturday.

The trouble is that the law is left to interpretation now. Until recently, it was generally agreed that the news media should be free to report facts. Under the Trump Administration, they are being pressured to only report things that put Trump in a good light. This is what they have in autocracies like Russia, China, and North Korea.

Carr has encouraged broadcast networks to air “patriotic pro-America content” this year as we mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. But when a politically-appointed FCC Chair starts to dictate broadcast content, we and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution are under attack.

When the politician in power gets to decide the definition of “public interest,” freedom of the press is in peril.

We have not heard the last of this. If push comes to shove, I imagine we will see a case going before the U.S. Supreme Court.

I only took one Constitutional Law course in college, so I’m no expert; however, I know under the First Amendment to the Constitution it is illegal for the government to censor free speech.

Print media

The President criticized The Wall Street Journal for reporting last Friday that Iran had damaged five U.S. Air Force tanker planes in Saudi Arabia. It seems he did not want that reported to the public. He insisted that four of those planes had “virtually no damage and are already back in service.”

He is so thin-skinned that he takes honest journalism as a personal affront.

He called The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal “Lowlife ‘Papers’ and accused them of wanting the U.S. to lose the war. He called journalists “sick and demented people.”

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Are you tired of winning?

Donald Trump told us that if he was elected U.S. President, Americans would get tired of winning.

Trump wanted the Nobel Peace Prize so much that he invented “wars” around the world so he could claim he ended them. These were wars no one had heard of until he said he had ended them. Singlehandedly, of course. He was so desperate for a trophy that FIFA created a gold one just for him.

After ending all those wars and only receiving accolades from FIFA, I guess his patience ran out in February. The war in Iran has taken the glaring lights of public attention off the Epstein files. Great Britain is punishing British men who abused the girls in Epstein’s orbit, but the United States is tap dancing around the issue. The FBI has not even interviewed the hundreds of accusers, and one cannot help but conclude that is at the direction of Trump. I’m not saying he started a war to take our attention off the Epstein files, but I believe it is serving his purposes.

Americans are being told by Trump every day that we won the war in Iran in the first hour. He has been unable to give us a consistent answer for why he started this war.

In a speech this week, Trump bragged about how he got to name this war “Operation Epic Fury.” He claimed he was given 20 names to choose from and he really loved the way “Operation Epic Fury” sounded. He was telling it like he was leading a high school pep rally, egging on the audience to laugh and cheer at his excellent naming skills.

One day he calls it “a war.” The next day he calls it “an excursion. (I thought an excursion was a side trip you could take on land as part of your vacation cruise package.) The next day, he said it was “a war and an excursion.” How can anyone call what Trump ordered to be done in Iran since February 28 an excursion?

WAH! WAH! WAH! — like the teacher being ignored in a cartoon. It is getting more difficult by the day to keep paying attention, and that’s what Trump is counting on.

At a cost to Americans of nearly $1 billion per day just for the military price, that is staggering – especially from an administration that gutted money for cancer research and so many heretofore valued things we depended on the U.S. Government to support “for the good of all” not just for us but for the good of people around the world.

And what did Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency accomplish last year, if the Department of Defense could spend $2 million of Alaskan king crab, $6.9 million on lobster tail, and more millions on rib-eye steaks in September alone? And the Department of Homeland Security could purchase more than 2,000 vehicles for Immigration and Customs Enforcement with “ICE” painted on the sides in huge letters… when everyone knows ICE vehicles display no identification?

The blood-thirsty rhetoric coming from the Trump Administration in the form of not just their words but the childish and extremely offensive way the White House has put out videos that make war look like a video game were a new low for Trump and his inner circle. Every time we think they can’t stoop lower… they hit a new low. There is no end to it.

Photo by Jeff Kingma on Unsplash

Trump said he will accept nothing short of an unconditional surrender by Iran, but when his press secretary was questioned about that she said that complete surrender will be whatever Trump decides to define it as. It has been hinted that Trump can just say Iran has surrendered, whether Iran has surrendered or not. That is no surprise, since Trump has never been bothered or worried over facts or the truth.

When questioned about the bombing of the girls’ school in Iran, Trump said Iran bombed it. He said Iran isn’t very accurate with its bombs. With all the evidence indicating that it was a Tomahawk missile, Trump’s explanation doesn’t hold water. If you are waiting for him to admit that the United States made a horrible mistake, don’t hold your breath. Several explanations have surfaced over why the school was bombed by mistake, but we do not have President who knows how to admit error or apologize for anything.

Can you seriously imagine any former U.S. President wearing a white “USA” baseball cap to Dover Air Force Base to accept the flag-draped coffins of Americans killed in war? I watched the “Dignified Transfer” live on television last Saturday. It is called the Dignified Transfer for a reason.

Trump showed his true colors by wearing a white USA baseball cap – part of his own brand’s merchandise – to the ceremony. Wearing the cap wasn’t bad enough. He did not remove the cap as the flag-draped coffins were presented in front of him. It was shocking to see but, since it was Donald Trump, it was not surprising.

Trump cannot tolerate criticism, so after being criticized for wearing a baseball cap to the Dignified Transfer on Saturday, he did not attend the Dignified Transfer on Monday night for Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington.

Trump wants us to think that he has already moved on.

Yesterday, in yet another ludicrous attempt to make Americans think our attack on Iran was a fantastic idea and overwhelming success, Trump said on social media that America is going to make “a lot of money” since the price of oil has skyrocketed this week because we are the largest oil producer in the world. He is an insult to our intelligence… or at least to those of us who never voted for him.

Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan was attacked by a terrorist yesterday. A terrorist opened fire and killed the instructor in an ROTC classroom yesterday at Old Dominion University in Virginia.

There appears to have been a massive lack of foresight put into the decision to bomb Iran – and that just might be the biggest understatement of all time. Lack of foresight and lack of forethought are the hallmarks of the Trump Administration.

Who thinks you can poke a bear and not pay the consequences? Who thought we could poke the radical Islamists in the Middle East and not expect them to lash out at us and all their enemies?

Why didn’t Trump and his advisors consider that they might shut down the Strait of Hormuz?

Why didn’t Trump and his advisors consider that they had sleeper cells in the United States?

Why didn’t they take into account that the extremists who survive this war and the descendants of the extremists and innocent people killed in this war will dedicate themselves to terrorizing us?

The battle cry of Iran this week is “Death to America!” The battle cry of Iran has been “Death to America” for 47 years, so it is difficult to see what this war has accomplished.

Trump told us months ago that we had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear war capabilities, but some days this month we’re being told it was their nuclear war capabilities that necessitated the current war. And Trump doesn’t understand why we cannot believe a word he says?

If Trump thinks bombing Iran in 2026 will not result in Islamic extremists retaliating against the U.S. and Americans for the rest of time, he clearly knows nothing about ideological extremism.

Perhaps today he will stop bragging about defeating Iran and get back to talking about how easy it would be for him to take over Cuba and Greenland. We get up in the morning and brace ourselves for whatever he said or did overnight and what he will do or say next. He is exhausting.

Americans, are you tired of winning yet?

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

#OnThisDay: New York Times v. Sullivan, 1964

Today is the sixty-second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court case, New York Times v. Sullivan. It is a landmark case regarding free speech. I give a simplified synopsis of the case in today’s blog post.

Photo by Ashni on Unsplash

The New York Times published an advertisement written in the form of an editorial. The purpose of the ad was to raise money for the defense of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a perjury case.

In the ad, allegations were made against the police in Montgomery, Alabama. Although he was not mentioned by name in the ad, Montgomery’s Public Safety Commissioner L.B. Sullivan took offense at some of the statements in the printed advertisement. The ad criticized the Montgomery police for their treatment of civil rights protesters. Since they were subordinates of Sullivan, he believed his reputation was damaged by the allegations.

As required by Alabama law in libel cases, Sullivan requested in writing that the newspaper retract the information. The newspaper refused.

Sullivan sued The New York Times and a group of African American pastors for libel.

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled in favor of Sullivan and awarded him $500,000 in punitive damages.

The New York Times appealed and the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a unanimous decision, the Court ruled in favor of the newspaper. The decision raised the bar for defamation lawsuits. Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. wrote the opinion. The decision established that it is not sufficient for a public official to prove that statements written about them are false; they must prove malice.

Prior to The New York Times v. Sullivan, in libel law, “malice” meant knowledge or gross recklessness. It was accepted thought that a person would not knowingly disseminate false information unless they had bad intentions.

The ramifications of the ruling

New York Times v. Sullivan made it more difficult for public officials to prove that they have been libeled. The case established that the plaintiff must prove that the words in question were written with “actual malice” which is not an easy thing to prove.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

War in Iran and My Second DIY Writing Retreat

Donald Trump and Israel started a war with Iran just after midnight Eastern Time on Saturday.          I say “Donald Trump” and not “the United States” because Trump did this without the blessing of the U.S. Congress. He did this after telling the American people that, if elected, he would not start a war.

This is the man who was furious over not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

There must be “an imminent threat” against the American people for the U.S. President to take such an action. Democrat members of the U.S. Congress are furious and saying that intelligence reports indicated no such threat.

The U.S. Constitution gives the U.S. Congress the power to declare war. In this case, the Congress was not even informed that this was about to happen.

As I write this on Sunday night, Iran is retaliating by bombing numerous countries where the U.S. has military bases. Three U.S. military service members were killed and five seriously injured in a Iranian drone attack on a U.S. military base in Kuwait.

It has been reported that Lebanon has bombed Israel and Israel has bombed Lebanon.

No one knows what the near or far future holds as a result of this attack on Iran.

Trump says he joined Israel to take this action to save American lives – not today, but in the future. He expects the Iranian people, who are not organized and have few resources, to now waltz in and create a new government since the bombs have killed the supreme leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

I don’t see that happening. It would be wonderful if the Iranians, who have suffered under a brutal regime for 47 years could take control of their government, but I fear they do not have the wherewithal to do that.

I see the U.S. mired in another endless war started on a whim by a man who dodged the draft five times during the Vietnam War.

By the time this blog post “goes live” eight hours from now at 5:00 a.m. Monday, Eastern Time, there is no telling what will have happened.

I’m a “night owl,” so I was still awake after midnight last Friday night when I learned that Trump and Israel had started this war in Iran. I had already planned my second DIY (Do It Yourself) Writing Retreat for Saturday afternoon.

It was difficult to turn off the TV and distract my brain from current events and focus on 1768 in North Carolina, but I managed to do that.

I needed to make a major change in my historical novel’s plotline. Research last week had uncovered a fact that changed the course of the story somewhat. That necessitated deleting many paragraphs, rewriting others, and juggling some scenes.

It was tedious work, but I committed to it for around six hours. The result was a net gain of 2,200 words – one of my most productive writing days. My word count stands at 60,000. I’m aiming for 90,000 words.

After accepting the fact last week that I am a binge writer and I cannot force myself to set daily business hours to work on my novel, freed me to stop feeling guilty for not working on it every day. I plan to schedule more DIY Writing Retreats in the near future as I continue to find a writing process that suits me.

I plan to blog about the last story – which is more of an essay – in my latest book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, on Tuesday. I’ll just “wing it” after Tuesday, depending on what the coming days bring.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

To tariff or not to tariff? That is the question.

I celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Friday in the Learning Resources, Inc v. Trump case! FINALLY! Finally, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to rein in Donald Trump’s overreach of presidential powers!

In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs Trump has inflicted on other nations (and, ultimately, the American consumer!) over the last 13 months under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were illegal. The Court ruled that the IEEPA cannot be used to impose tariffs.

The Court reminded Trump that tariffs are a form of taxation, and taxation is a power of the U.S. Congress – not the U.S. President.

Trump did not take the Court’s decision well, to put it lightly.

Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash

Trump responded by making one of his typically rambling, long statements, calling the U.S. Supreme Court Justices derogatory names including, “fools and lapdogs for RINOs” (Republicans in Name Only). He accused them of being anti-American and under the influence of foreigners. He said they should be ashamed of themselves and their families should be ashamed of them. It went on and on from there. I cannot quote his entire rant here.

Following his statement, he held a press conference in which he refused to answer a question from CNN (calling the news network “fake news” because he is offended by the truth) and answered the questions posed by other reporters and journalists as vaguely as he chose.

The event was a display by Trump unlike any other statement and press conference by any other U.S. President in history. He was a toddler whose parents had said, “No,” but whose parents had then left him to his own devices and allowed him to vent his anger and frustration on the world stage. There are no guardrails on his words and temper.

His remarks would have been embarrassing; however, after 13 months, I will not be embarrassed by anything Trump says or does. I did not vote for him. I have not been shy about expressing my opinions about Trump and his childish incompetence, hatefulness, racism, and disregard for the U.S. Constitution.

I watched his entire public statement and press conference on Friday afternoon. In a word, it was horrible. In other words, it was painfully indicative of how Trump believes he is above the law and can do anything he wants to do. He said, “I can do anything I want to do.” It wasn’t the first time he has said that.

In addition to lashing out at individual U.S. Supreme Court Justices who had been appointed to the Court by Trump himself and from whom he expects loyalty to him instead of loyalty to the U.S. Constitution, he then twisted the ruling into a pretzel by quoting at length the dissenting opinion of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Although a dissenting opinion in a U.S. Supreme Court decision is not law – it is part of the minority opinion, — Trump clung to Kavanaugh’s words and later said that Kavanaugh is his “new hero.” (I can’t help but think back to Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearings in 2018 after Trump nominated him. All I can remember from the hearings is Kavanaugh’s repeated, angry defense, “I like beer!” Not exactly “hero” material in my book.)

In the press conference, Trump said nothing will change. He will continue to impose any tariffs he desires. He announced a new 10% global tariff on top of all the existing tariffs. On Saturday, he announced the new global tariff will 15% instead of 10%.

There’s no telling what that global tariff will be by the time this blog post goes live on Monday, February 23. (I am writing it on February 21.) This new global tariff is imposed using Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. That Act allows the U.S. President to impose duties up to 15% for 150 days to deal with “large and serious” balance-of-payment issues. Friday and Saturday’s 15% global tariff takes effect today.

Trump indicated that he is exploring additional ways to get around the Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump ruling. His Commerce Department, headed by Howard Lutnick of Epstein file fame, is investigating Trump’s options.

Trump’s tariffs on steel, aluminum, and motor vehicle imports were not affected by Friday’s Supreme Court ruling.

As only Trump can do, he portrays himself as the most pitiful victim in history and repeated on Friday that the United States is the most victimized country in history. As a 73-year-old American, I have never felt that the United States was a victim. I have counted it a privilege to have been born in and lived my entire life in the most blessed and prosperous country in the world.

For the first 72 years of my life, the United States was the “beacon on a hill.” It was the world’s symbol of freedom. It continues to be the world’s greatest experiment in democracy, but it is currently being tested from within like it has not been tested since the Civil War in the 1860s.

Just as people in the midst of a war or national crisis don’t know what the outcome will be, I don’t know how this greatest experiment in democracy will end. However, Friday’s 6-3 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court was the first ray of hope I have seen in 13 months.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Just another week in Trump World

For those of you who are sick and tired of my political rants in my blog posts, I regret that Donald Trump and his ilk have put you in that state of mind. I do not apologize for the tone or the content of my political postings. As an American citizen, I feel it is my duty and obligation to use my First Amendment freedom of speech right to voice my opinions.

As I have stated before, it was never my plan when I started blogging more than a decade ago to take my blog in a political direction. I feel strongly about the direction Donald Trump is taking my country, and I cannot keep silent. I am obligated to speak out as I see him governing from a Fascist playbook.

The FCC and Stephen Colbert

Trump’s FCC Chair, Brendan Carr, is the Pam Bondi of the Federal Communications Commission. He is only in that position to do Trump’s bidding.

Photo by israel palacio on Unsplash

On Monday, Stephen Colbert of CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was scheduled to interview James Talarico, a member of the Texas State House of Representatives. But there was a problem: Talarico is a Democrat.

Under the law, late night talk shows are not required to give equal time to Republican and Democrat politicians, but Trump and Carr are never bothered by laws they disagree with.

Colbert was told CBS would not air the interview. He said he was told he could not mention on his show on Monday night that the interview had been pulled. As only Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel can do, he talked about it and paid his respects Carr and the FCC.

This isn’t the first talk show to get in trouble for hosting Talarico. He appeared on “The View” on the ABC TV network a few weeks ago, and now “The View” is under investigation by the FCC.

I never have and never will watch Fox News, but from the little bit I’ve seen and heard of it I don’t think they abide by any equal-time rule. Perhaps Carr should turn his attention to Fox News even though it is Trump’s mouthpiece.

The appalling deportation case of Godfrey Wade

We have witnessed 13 months of abuses perpetrated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and many of those abuses victimized American citizens. Many of them were inflicted on immigrants who were going through all the proper channels to stay in the U.S. and/or seek citizenship.

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

Godfrey Wade legally immigrated to the United States as a teenager more than 50 years ago. He went on to serve overseas in the United States Army. He was pulled over in Conyers, Georgia last fall for failing to use a turn signal. It was discovered that he had failed to appear for an ICE hearing in 2014 because ICE sent the hearing notices to the wrong address and Mr. Wade was not aware of the hearing date.

After being held in a detention center for more than five months and filing an appeal for his deportation order, Mr. Wade was deported to Jamaica. His family is appealing his deportation.

Who knew failing to use a turn signal could get you stopped by the police? That’s certainly not a law I see enforced in North Carolina. I can’t help but wonder if Mr. Wade was pulled over since he was black. It irritates me when other drivers do not use their turn signals, but I didn’t know anyone was ever stopped by police for the infraction.

Thank you for your military service, Mr. Wade, and Happy Black History Month.

Congressional Medal of Honor

Speaking of military service… yesterday in Rome, Georgia, Trump said he will “test the law” to award himself the Congressional Medal of Honor. It’s beside the point, I guess, that this is the nation’s award for military valor in action and Trump repeatedly dodged the draft during the Vietnam War, claiming bone spurs. He thinks he deserves it “for bravery” because he flew to Iraq once.

What a small, pitiful man. He tarnishes everything he touches.

According to https://www.cmohs.org/medal/design, “The U.S. Army and U.S. Navy have always had separate designs for their personnel. Until the U.S. Air Force introduced its design in 1965, all airmen received the Army design. The U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard receive the U.S. Navy design.”

I wonder which design Trump will demand to hang around his own neck. It will be another in a long line of beautiful and honorable things he will tarnish.

Black History Month

At a Black History Month event, Trump went off topic and ranted about “illegal aliens” committing the vast majority of crimes in the U.S. Of course, that’s not true. The truth never has interfered with anything Trump wanted to say.

Most crimes in our country are committed by U.S.-born people, mainly men.

The Board of Peace

Trump appeared to fall asleep (again) at the inaugural Board of Peace, which he invented after he changed the name of the Institute of Peace to the Trump Institute of Peace.

I’ve never seen anyone so rabid to put their name on everything. There’s no end to it. I look forward to the day his name is removed from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Trump’s Arch of Triumph

I was encouraged yesterday to learn that Public Citizen, a watchdog organization has sued to try to stop construction of the 250-foot-tall Trump Arch of Triumph in Washington, DC because it will ruin the views of the Lincoln Memorial and other monuments as seen from Arlington National Cemetery.

Trump wants his arch to be the tallest in the world, of course. He operates under the illusion that bigger is always better, gold is never gaudy, and might is right.

Iran

Trump is itching to bomb Iran. I guess that’s what the Nobel Peace Prize Committee gets for not giving him that coveted prize. He’ll show them! He must take out his revenge on someone, and it’s not necessarily the person or people who slighted him.

The Epstein Files

As other countries, like Great Britain, show us that there is still such a thing as consequences for actions, here in the United States the U.S. Department of Justice seems incapable and uninterested in bringing charges against any of the men who abused little girls and teens. Trump feels sorry for former Prince Andrew for being arrested, but he cannot bring himself to express sorrow for the abused girls.

The U.S. Assistant Attorney General Todd Blanche says the lurid and disgusting photographs in the Epstein files are not enough proof to file charges against anyone. The U.S. Department of Justice has managed to “investigate” the case without taking testimony from any of the victims.

This is akin to recently reassigned U.S. Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino stating that the victims in the murder of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis were the ICE officers who pulled the triggers.

The Trump Administration is following the fascist playbook in thinking if they just tell us enough lies enough times, we will doubt our lying eyes and ears.

Yesterday when asked about former Prince Andrew’s arrest, Trump replied, “I’m the expert in a way because I’ve been totally exonerated.” The definition of “exonerated” is “to clear from accusation or blame.” Did he just admit wrongdoing? I didn’t realize he had been exonerated.

I’m sure there were a dozen other things I could have included in today’s blog post, but I’ve been distracted by the Winter Olympics and failed to take notes on the things Trump was doing.

I hope to have something uplifting to blog about next week. I just never know. The daffodils in my yard are blooming. Spring must be coming!

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Let’s have the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, Dear Congressman

I have written about my Congressman before, and it has never been complimentary. It is not positive in today’s post. I try to keep an open mind, but I will be surprised if I ever have anything good to say about him.

What is my latest criticism of him? He doesn’t quite tell the truth when it comes to the SAVE America Act. The SAVE America Act passed in the U.S. House of Representatives and has gone to the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Capitol
Photo by Caleb Perez on Unsplash

When my Congressman and most of the champions of the SAVE America Act try to summarize it, they say it is “just” voter ID. There is more there than meets the eye, though.

The SAVE America Act, if passed by the U.S. Senate as written for the House and, subsequently, signed into law by the President (which is a given), will require voters to show proof of U.S. citizenship.

My Congressman is proud to be a co-sponsor of the SAVE America Act. And now, to get to the title of today’s blog post, I will quote from Representative Mark Harris’ weekly email from February 14, 2026:

“Americans are required to show ID to board an airplane, open a bank account, and even enter Costco. So why are Democrats making a fuss over applying the same standard to federal elections?” He went on to call this “common sense.”

Photo by Marcus Reubenstein on Unsplash

There is simply something wrong with Mr. Harris’ paragraph: He is conflating a birth certificate with a Costco membership card. I have a Costco membership card, and I did not have to prove I was born in the United States to get it.

Mr. Harris made a serious mistake when he wrote, “applying the same standard to federal elections.” The examples he gave do not require the same standard (proof of U.S. citizenship) but we are heading toward a national requirement to have proof of citizenship in order to vote.

There is nothing wrong with that on the surface. I do not think non-citizens should vote. I also do not think more than a handful of non-citizens try to vote in the U.S. The proponents of the SAVE America Act are wielding it as a solution to a problem that does not exist.

The SAVE America Act is its proponents’ way of making it more difficult for poor and disabled people to vote. It adds unnecessary “hoops” for voters to jump through. For instance, if your current name does not match your birth certificate you must provide additional documentation to prove that you are the individual named on your birth certificate. If you don’t have easy access to transportation, gathering all your documentation and taking it to designated government offices is a burden.

I’ll let you in on a little secret… this requirement that you need to prove why you no longer go by your birth name is primarily a problem for married women. How many married women do you know who did not change their name when they got married? How many married men do you know who changed their name when they got married? I rest my case.

This will also cause anyone who was adopted to have to produce additional documentation.

To quote one of my Facebook friends, “this fuss the Democrats are making about the SAVE America Act is much ado about nothing.”  She went on to explain that “it only costs $165 to get a passport.” She obviously trusts the Trump Regime. I don’t.

I was born in the United States to American citizens. At one time, I had a U.S. passport. A passport proves citizenship. I let my passport expire and have had no reason to spend $165 to apply for a new one. That amount of money is not easy for me to come by. I am not alone in that situation. It is impossible for wealthy members of Congress and wealthy citizens to imagine that.

I recently had to renew my driver’s license. To get a “Real ID,” I had to take my birth certificate, my expiring driver’s license, and two utility bills addressed to me at my current address to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

I tried to get an appointment at the DMV in October, but the first available appointment within 100 miles of my home was on December 31. True story. Perhaps it isn’t like that in your state, but that was my experience. My only option was to go to a DMV office, stand in line for hours, and be seen after everyone with an appointment had been seen – or be told to try again the next day. My health does not allow me to stand outside for hours, especially in the winter.

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

It remains to be seen if my “Real ID” will suffice to prove that I am qualified to vote in November 2026 or November 2028. This is an issue every American needs to pay close attention to as it works its way through the legislative branch of our federal government.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Embarrassing Performance by U.S. Attorney General

In my blog post last Friday, I promised a near future post about U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

If you saw her performance last Wednesday in front of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, you probably do not want to be reminded of it. I saw all of it that was televised, and I wish I could unsee and unhear it.

The audacity of Pam Bondi to prance into The Capitol and call members of Congress names! It was a circus but not an entertaining one. It was an embarrassment. Her body language alone was abhorrent, not to mention her trash mouth.

Photo by Simon Ray on Unsplash

It was a performance meant for one person only: Donald Trump. I am sure he thought it was a brilliant display. Even when she was reminded that it is her job and sworn duty to uphold the U.S. Constitution and to represent the United States of America (i.e., the people!) in all her dealings as U.S. Attorney General, she continued to call members of Congress derogatory names and refuse to look the Democrats on the committee in the eyes.

The hearing was supposed to be for Bondi to give U.S. Representatives some answers about the Epstein files and the recent and current operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Instead, it was half pep rally for Trump and half demonstration of how sarcastic and snarky the current U.S. Attorney General can be when facing legitimate questions that make her squirm.

In case you missed the performance, when being asked questions by Republicans on the committee, Bondi smiled and gushed. She thanked them profusely for “asking that question.” When asked “a yes or no” question, she replied accordingly.

When asked questions by a Democrat on the committee, Bondi made a great show of shuffling the papers in front of her and looking down. She was suddenly busy, busy, busy. Instead of answering “yes or no” questions by Democrats, she deflected – usually by turning to that Congress member’s section in her three-ring binder so she could attack that Representative personally with a reference (true or not) to a vote that Representative made sometime in their career along with her editorial comments (true or false).

She repeatedly said, “Mr. Chairman, I refuse to get down in the gutter with these people.” She called one of them “a washed-up lawyer.” She hurled various insults at most of the Democrats. The fact that she had that three-ring binder at her fingertips was visible evidence of her disdain for every Democrat Congress member. She used the same binder when testifying before a U.S. Senate Committee.

She accused one member of the committee of being antisemitic, even though that member’s grandfather died in the Holocaust.

Even the BBC questioned why Bondi lost her temper in the hearing.

Early in the hearing, survivors of the sexual abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein and his rich and political friends in high places were asked to stand where they were seated in the audience. Bondi never acknowledged their presence. Even when asked by at least one member of the committee to turn around and look at the survivors and family members of at least one victim who is now deceased, Bondi would not do it. She is apparently incapable of looking truth in the face.

Bondi cares not that she is now the U.S. Attorney General because she was confirmed for that position by the Congress of the United States. She has a particularly peculiar way of showing her appreciation for the misguided confidence they put in her after her shaky confirmation hearings last year in which she said she would not “weaponize” the U.S. Department of Justice. Yet, that is all she has done since assuming office. I have heard people who knew and respected her as the State Attorney General in Florida say they no longer recognize her as the person they used to know.

Her behavior was bizarre, to say the least. When asked a question about the Epstein files, she “answered” by touting the fact that the stock market reached and broke the 50,000 mark the day before, then bristled when a Democrat on the committee asked, “What does that have to do with the Epstein files?”

It was horrible to see and hear a U.S. Attorney General stoop to such childish and insulting behavior. Such behavior as demonstrated by Bondi would not be tolerated in a court of law, and it should not have been tolerated in the U.S. Capitol. She should have been held in contempt of Congress, but she wasn’t because the committee is chaired by a Republican – a very self-righteous Republican who does not have enough respect for the institution or his position in Congress to even wear a suit.

In “answering” one question, she waxed poetic about what a wonderful U.S. President Donald J. Trump is. It was gag-worthy and inappropriate.

The U.S. Attorney General is not supposed to be beholding to the U.S. President.

The person in that position is not supposed to be political.

The person in that position is not supposed to be a cheerleader or public relations representative for the U.S. President.

The U.S. Attorney General is not supposed to do the President’s bidding.

In just one year, Bondi has broken every time-honored rule – written and unwritten — governing her position.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.