I write southern historical fiction, local history, and I've written a devotional book. The two novels I'm writing are set in Virginia and the Carolinas in the 1760s. My weekly blog started out to follow my journey as a writer and a reader, but in 2025 it has been greatly expanded to include current events and politics in the United States as I see our democracy under attack from within. The political science major in me cannot sit idly by and remain silent.
On Friday, July 18, I started gathering bits of news to share in a blog post on Friday, July 25, but by Saturday morning I had accumulated more than enough for a blog post. Therefore, this Friday’s post became today’s post.
With legislation, Executive Orders, Executive Proclamations, and changes to the U.S. Tax Code coming down the pike daily, it is difficult to tell whether some of the items are MAGA (Make America Great Again) or MAHA (Make America Healthy Again).
Air Pollution
Bloomberg reported that Trump signed a proclamation last Thursday night “allowing chemical makers, coal-fired power plants and other facilities to bypass a range of environmental regulations on grounds that the waivers are needed for national security purposes.”
It is amazing what falls into the “national security” category in 2025!
The facilities have been given a two-year waiver from adhering to Environmental Protection Agency rules.
Included in the waiver are certain facilities of United States Steel Corp., Cleveland-Cliffs, Inc., Dow, Inc., BASF SE, Phillips 66, and Citgo Petroleum Corp. Also, coal-fired power plants in Ohio, Illinois, and Colorado were exempted from air pollution mandates that limit emission of mercury and other toxins.
It seems Trump is determined to take us back to the “good old days” of choking air pollution that his followers younger than 60 years old don’t understand because they are too young to remember them.
Photo by Nick van den Berg on Unsplash
I’m confused. Is this MAGA (Make America Great Again) or MAHA (Make American Healthy Again)?
Personal Medical Debt
I thought Trump didn’t like for one judge to have the power to make a ruling that affects the whole country, but I guess it depends on the ruling and how it fits into Trump’s desires.
A Trump-appointed judge has overturned a Biden-era rule that removed medical debt from individuals’ credit reports.
So now, if you’ve had a catastrophic illness or accident, that medical debt will now show up on your credit report. It’s one more way for Trump to kick people when they’re down.
Is this Making American Great Again or Making America Healthy Again?
Environmental Protection Agency Firings
The New York Times reported, “The EPA said that it would eliminate its scientific research arm and begin firing hundreds of chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists, after denying for months that it intended to do so.”
Someone tell me: Is this Making America Great Again or Making America Healthy Again? I’m at a loss to know how this fits into either one of those grandiose Trump slogans.
New $250 “Visa Integrity Fee”
As if people in other countries already didn’t want to visit the United States under the current political climate, it just came to light that Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” which Congress adopted slaps a new $250 “visa integrity fee’ on visitors to the United States.
After September 30, 2025, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem can increase the fee at her discretion.
Trump and Professional Sports Mascots
Trump is demanding that the Washington Commanders of the National Football League and the Cleveland Guardians of the Major League Baseball change their mascots back, respectively, to the Redskins and Indians. He claims Native Americans are “clamoring” for the name changes.
As usual, it is a case of blackmail. The Washington Redskins now play at a stadium in Landover, Maryland. But in April the franchise started working on a deal to move the team back to the District of Columbia if a new stadium can be built on the site of the old Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium.
Now, Trump is threatening to put the skids on the stadium deal if the franchise owners do not change the team’s name back to the Washington Redskins.
I’m not sure what his beef is with Cleveland, but his new slogan yesterday was MIGA (Make Indians Great Again.) The Cleveland Indians changed their name to the Cleveland Guardians in 2021 after Native Americans had called for them to drop “Indians” as their mascot for decades.
Hurricane Helene Update
North Carolina Governor Josh Stein and his wife, North Carolina First Lady Anna Stein, spent last week in western North Carolina to take advantage of the beauty and recreational opportunities the region offers and to draw attention to the fact that most of the area is reopened now and in need of the economic support that tourists bring.
As of Friday, of the 1,457 roads that were closed in western North Carolina last September due to Hurricane Helene, all but 34 are now completely open! That’s the full opening of 10 roads just last week. Forty-three roads have partial access.
I-40 at the Tennessee line is still just opened with a total of two lanes and a 35 m.p.h. speed limit, and most of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina is still closed.
Until my next blog post
Support the First Amendment rights that comedians have… or had until last Thursday. The First Amendment might not always be there.
Support your local public library system. It might not always be there.
Read whatever you want to read. The day may come when you cannot do that.
Pay attention to current events as reported by reputable news media. (By the way, the orange narcissist’s propaganda outlets do not fall into that category.)
Don’t be too distracted by the political chaos and dismantling of our democracy that you forget the people of Ukraine, western North Carolina, and the Hill Country of Texas.
It continues to feel like news items are coming out of Washington, DC like water from a fire hose. I can’t keep up. For my mental health, that’s a good thing.
Some things get more coverage by the media than others, so I try to include some things in my blog posts that might have missed your attention.
I thought about listing the following items in order of outrageousness or evilness, but I gave up. Here they are in random order.
I believe God is weeping
The Trump Administration Regime has ordered nearly 500 metric tons of emergency food that was intended for distribution in Africa and the Middle East through USAID to be burned. Let that sink in.
Photo by Caleb Kim on Unsplash
The $800,000 (You read that right: that’s $800 thousand) worth of food was specifically intended for children under five years old in war-torn and disaster-stricken countries. It would have fed 1.5 million children for a week. By the way, it will cost $130,000 to incinerate the food.
Since the Trump Regime shut down USAID, there was apparently no one in the Trump Government that had the authority, capability, or the moral courage to get the food distributed to anyone – not even here in the United States.
Another 60 metric tons of food already paid for by the American taxpayer sits in warehouses around the world. Without USAID workers, it is doubtful any of it will be distributed. Therefore, it will eventually have to be destroyed.
It seems to me on the political level alone this is a slap in the face of the American farmer. You know – that American farmer that Trump and MAGA folks claim to love so much. That farmer grew that food.
How dare Donald Trump accuse USAID or any current or former U.S. Government agency of being wasteful!
More deportations to third-world countries
CBS News reports that the Trump Regime admitted on Tuesday that a group of violent criminals had been deported to Eswatini. Eswatini used to be known as Swaziland. It is a tiny country in Africa.
Photo by John McArthur on Unsplash
The deportees were not from Eswatini. They were from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam, and Yemen.
The Trump Regime says they were deported to Eswatini because they were such violent people that their home countries refused to take them.
It has not been disclosed what Eswatini gets out of the deal. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security claims that the countries accepting our deportees promise not to persecute or torture them.
I suppose we can take them at their word on that. (By “them” I mean the United States and the countries accepting our deportees.)
The irony is that Trump has maintained for years that other countries were sending us their criminals and the worst scumbags of society. It appears he has learned from those countries, and now the United States is doing it. We’re just proudly announcing that we’re doing it. Somehow, this is supposedly making America great again.
Corn farmers will have to take one on the chin for Trump
Trump has decided he’d rather his Coca-Cola be sweetened with cane sugar (mostly imported, by the way) than from corn syrup made from corn grown in Iowa. I understand that’s the difference between the Coca-Cola recipe in Mexico and the one used in the U.S. Who knew Trump preferred Mexican Coca-Cola to American Coca-Cola?
Photo by Katherine Volkovski on Unsplash
The American Medical Association says there’s not much difference in the “nutritional” value of a Coke sweetened with corn syrup and a Coke sweetened with cane sugar. When you’re dealing with a beverage that has no nutritional redeeming value….
Anyway, Coca-Cola appears to be just the latest private corporation that Trump wants to strong-arm into submission to his whims. Some of us remember the last time Coca-Cola tried to tinker with its recipe in America things did not go well.
FICA Club World Cup Trophy
It was embarrassing enough that President Trump refused to get off the stage so the Chelsea 2025 FIFA Club World Cup tournament champions could celebrate their win on July 13, but he didn’t stop there. The 24-carat gold trophy designed by Tiffany and Company and valued at $230,000 is now in the Oval Office. The Chelsea team got to take home a replica.
You simply cannot make this stuff up. I thought it couldn’t be true – not even for Trump – but I verified it on snopes.com.
I saw online that the Chelsea team photoshopped Trump out of the picture of them receiving the trophy and celebrating on stage.
I shudder to think how much gold Trump will take from the 2028 Summer Olympics!
Covid-19
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has dropped a case against a doctor in Utah who was accused of falsifying Covid-19 vaccination certificates and destroying $28,000 worth of government-provided Covid-19 vaccines.
Decrease in workforce at State Department
More than 1,300 employees of the U.S. State Department were let go last week. Waste, I guess?
Don’t you just hate it when diplomacy, time-honored relationship, goodwill, and mutual understanding get in the way of hate and war?
Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship threatened
President Trump threatened to take Rosie O’Donnell’s U.S. citizenship away from her because she spoke out against his policies.
I had no idea the President of the United States could take away someone’s citizenship. (I’m being facetious… He can’t.)
The Federal Reserve
Trump continues to be critical of Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve. One day he’s going to fire him. The next day he isn’t going to fire him. On Wednesday he said he was surprised that Powell was appointed to the position.
Well, duh! Trump appointed him in 2017. Now he says Powell is a terrible person and claims that he was appointed by President Biden.
Firings at Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi fired 20 employees of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The 20 people worked on investigations into Donald Trump and his first administration while Joe Biden was U.S. President. In Trump’s 2024 campaign and in Bondi’s confirmation hearings, they both vowed to get rid of everyone at the DOJ who participated in investigations against Trump. The political firings at DOJ last week were made to get rid of the weaponization of the Justice Department. (You can’t make this stuff up.)
Photo on Unsplash
She also fired Joseph Tirrell, the Justice Department’s senior ethics attorney. He is a military veteran and has served his country in one way or another for nearly 20 years.
It is a sad day when the U.S. Department of Justice fires the top person looking out for ethics.
The IRS and the Johnson Amendment
The IRS announced on Monday that churches can now endorse politicians and not lose their tax-free status as a religious organization. My Baptist preacher Congressman sees this as a tremendous victory for our First Amendment rights of free speech.
Photo by Sean Lee on Unsplash
I don’t see it as a victory for anyone except pastors and churches that want to dictate how their congregants vote. It’s a shame their church members cannot be trusted to think for themselves.
I heard a audio clip of President Trump saying he didn’t see anything wrong with it if there is a candidate they like whose beliefs align with theirs. That shows how little he knows about religious organizations or Christianity. This is a slippery slope.
The Johnson Amendment was named for then U.S. Senator Lyndon B. Johnson. It became part of the U.S. Tax Code in 1954. It prohibits all 501(c)(3) non-profit organization from endorsing or opposing political candidates.
I’m a little puzzled over how the Internal Revenue Service can just wipe part of the U.S. Tax Code off the books, but apparently in the land of Trump it can.
Recission Bill– Cuts to Public Broadcasting Corporation & USAID
The U.S. Senate gave Trump a huge gift yesterday morning when they voted 51-48 (one Senator was in the hospital and missed the vote) to cut $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and $8 billion from foreign aid programs, including what little was left of USAID.
Although Senators Collins and Murkowski voted with the Democrats, Thom Tillis of North Carolina chose to vote for the cuts while at the same time making a speech on the Senate floor in which he said passing the bill was a mistake that the Senate would have to fix later.
What?
The bill was then sent back to the House of Representatives for that Republican-dominated body to rubber stamp it by today.
I am going to miss “NOVA,” “Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates,” “Nature,” “BBC News America,” “Amanpour and Company,” “BBC News,” “PBS News Hour,” “North Carolina Weekend,” “Cook’s Country,” “Antiques Roadshow,” “Burt Wolf: Travels & Traditions,” “Rick Steves’ Europe,” “Doc Martin,” “My Music With Rhiannon Giddens,” every one of the Ken Burns documentaries, “Somewhere South,” “America’s Test Kitchen,” and “Lidia’s Kitchen.”
My sister will miss “Midsomer Murders” and “Death in Paradise.”
I’m sure others will miss “Sesame Street” and other children’s programming.
Photo by Meg von Haartman on Unsplash
Others will miss “This Old House,” “Woodwright Shop,” “Austin City Limits,” “Grantchester on Masterpiece,” “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries,” and “Sit and Be Fit.”
I could go on, but you get the picture. I hope you took time to let your Senators and Representatives know that you did not want the federal government to end its support of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. I did. It just fell on their six deaf ears.
Hearing U.S. Representative Randy Fine, a Republican from Florida, interviewed yesterday, it became clear that some of the members of Congress don’t know what they are voting on. Fine justified the elimination of money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Corporation (CPB) from the federal budget because “we have broadband and streaming now.”
First of all, if the public television stations don’t have the money to produce programming, no amount of broadband internet service or streaming capabilities will make non-existent programming available to people with broadband and/or streaming. In order to stream a TV program, it is my understanding that the program has to exist. However, I’m just a citizen, so what do I know?
Second of all, Mr. Fine, everyone does not have broadband internet service and everyone does not have internet service that is strong enough to enable streaming. I know that, because I’m one of them. I don’t live in a remote area; however, I do live on a road that does not have a high enough population for Windstream to upgrade our service. I can barely get so-called high-speed internet. Streaming? Forget about it.
Trump doesn’t like the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) – “public TV” or National Public Radio (NPR). Therefore, Republicans in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate cannot like them. Congressman Fine repeated the Republican Party line yesterday about PBS and NPR: They are “woke left-wing radical propaganda.”
That’s what this week’s email from my Congressman, Mark Harris, said, too. I guess Trump, Fine, and Harris nailed it. After all, when I watch “Antiques Roadshow” or “This Old House,” all I see is “woke left-wing radical propaganda.”
Margaret Taylor Green’s new concern
I couldn’t help but laugh when I read that U.S. Representative Margaret Taylor Green of Georgia is afraid that passage of the GENIUS Act – a crypto currency bill pushed by Trump – could be a sign of the “End Times” referenced in the Book of Revelation in the Bible (Revelation 13:16-17).
Photo by Traxer on Unsplash
She fears it will be “the sign of the beast.”
That’s hilarious! I thought the red MAGA baseball caps might already serve that purpose as “a mark on their foreheads.”
Just a few things we’ve lost since January 20, 2025
We won’t fully grasp what we’ve lost due to Executive Orders and legislation in the United States since January 20 until next year and the years thereafter.
We’ve lost the sanctity of our national parks to name just one.
We’ve lost an estimated 90,000 children in Third World countries who have died of starvation or disease since January 20 because the Trump Administration halted food and medical aid programs.
We’ve lost medical insurance coverage for millions of our fellow citizens.
We’ve lost after-school literacy programs for millions of our children.
We’re rapidly losing the separation of church and state that was so very important to the people who fought in the American Revolutionary War.
We’ve lost much of our civility and respect for our fellow Americans.
We’ve lost the simple elegance of the Oval Office and seen it turned into a gaudy gold frame shop.
We’ve lost the beauty of the White House Rose Garden.
We’ve lost our position of diplomatic influence in the world and replaced it with a stance of bullying, intimidation, black-mailing, and strong-arming.
Just a few things we’ve gained since January 20, 2025
Oh… but we’ve gained the disrespect of the rest of the world.
We’ve gained a para-military masked national police force.
We’ve gained a concentration camp in the Everglades.
We’ve gained an ability to disappear people.
We’ve gained an ability to deport immigrants to remote war-torn countries of questionable motives.
We’ve gained two obscenely gigantic U.S. flags on the White House lawn. They block the view of the beautiful White House, but Trump says they are the most beautiful flag poles in the world. Those new flags at the White House remind me of the one at a huge RV park near the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
By cutting $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, that $1 billion saved can be used to start renovating the dilapidated prison on Alcatraz Island off the coast of California. To use Trump’s favorite adjective, what a beautiful use of that $1 billion instead of using it to support educational TV and non-commercial radio and the national and local emergency alerts those PBS and NPR stations send out – especially in the rural areas of the country!
We’ve gained the realization that our American democracy was as fragile as the paper the U.S. Constitution was written on almost 250 years ago.
Until my next blog post
Keep reading that book you checked out from the public library or purchased from an independent bookstore!
Remember the people of Ukraine, western North Carolina, and the Hill Country of Texas.
When a bill in the U.S. Congress is nearly 1,000 pages long, most of the details never get reported to the American taxpayers. After all, they are just footing the bill.
A few members of Congress even accidentally admitted they did not read the entire bill.
Over time… no doubt, over a very long time… more details of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will come to light. One such detail popped up on my computer screen last Friday. Since it has not received much attention, I will share it with you today.
Included in the OBBBA is $85 million to relocate the retired NASA space shutter Discovery. It belongs to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, and is housed in the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar The Udvar-Hazy Center is an annex at Dulles International Airport.
Discovery weighs 161,325 pounds and measures 78 feet by 57 feet by 122 feet. It looks a little worse for the wear in the photographs on the Smithsonian’s Air and Space website, so one has to wonder what moving it would do to it. It flew nearly 150 million miles in its 28 years in service.
Photo by Jay Labe on Unsplash
U.S. Senator John Cornyn, a Republican representing Texas, wrote the provision in the OBBBA which would relocate Discovery to Houston, Texas. Cornyn maintains that moving the space shuttle to Texas would right “this egregious wrong” because Texas has played such a big part in NASA’s space program.
U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat representing Virginia, stated, “This ridiculous transfer would make Americans pay a $30 fee to view a shuttle that they can see for free right now in Chantilly.”
Kaine questions the message the relocation of the shuttle would send to Americans for them to pay $85 million to move the shuttle halfway across the country while Medicaid and nutrition assistance funding is being slashed by the same piece of legislation.
I agree with Senator Kaine. $85 million would pay a lot of medical bills for low-income Americans.
It seems to me that Texas could be given the next big piece of NASA equipment to be retired.
Until my next blog post
I hope you get to see Discovery for free before it is moved to Texas.
I hope you have a good book to read.
Remember the people of Ukraine, western North Carolina, and the Hill Country of Texas.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is all the rage now. It is the latest shiny object. All kinds of businesses want to jump on the bandwagon and use it to either make more money or replace employees with it. Either way, it promises to increase their profits.
Proponents tell us that AI will streamline our lives. We will accomplish more by doing less work.
Opponents tell us that AI will eventually be so much smarter than humans that it will have the ability to kill us.
My hunch is that there is some truth at both ends of the AI spectrum.
AI has the potential to organize certain aspects of our lives. It has the potential of making medical breakthroughs happen faster than would otherwise be possible.
AI in the hands of the wrong people has the potential of turning into a technology Frankenstein.
What about AI and literature?
I have noticed over the last month my inbox has been bombarded with emails about webinars promising to make my life as a writer oh so simple. The ads promise that the webinars and courses will teach me how to save time. Some of them promise that AI can write my blogs for me. AI can plot a novel for me. AI can write the novel for me. AI will free up all my time and load up my bank account with money.
The best part? I won’t have to write any more. No, actually, that’s the worst part. I won’t get to write any more.
I read the first couple of those emails, just to see what they were claiming. Now, I just hit the “delete” button. If it is from a formerly-reputable source, I then hit the “unsubscribe” button.
These people and companies that used to offer webinars and courses — some of them for free – have helped me become a better writer. Some of them have made me aware of practices or software that I have benefitted from. But now they have crossed over to “the dark side” and lost my respect.
There is a problem with the promise made by many of these emails I have received. The sources of those emails have lost sight of the heart of creativity. I am a writer. I want to write. I don’t want AI to write my blog posts. I don’t want AI to write my historical novel or short stories.
Going a step further, I don’t want AI taking the words I have painstakingly written after I did tedious research. As I said in my opening sentence today, “It was bound to happen sooner or later.”
The stress of last week leading up to my AI experience on Friday
Last week was busy and stressful. I finished the final proofread of the 188-page devotional book I have written, I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter.
It has taken more than a year to write it, format it for publication by IngramSpark and Amazon, create the cover on Bookbrush.io, and complete countless proofreads and edits. But last week, I downloaded the manuscript and the cover and hit the “submit” button on the IngramSpark website. Hitting the “submit” button was a freeing exercise. A weight was lifted off my shoulders!
By the way, I had to state to IngramSpark that I had not used AI or any AI content in the writing of my devotional book.
A bleed problem was identified on the first cover I submitted, which created 48 hours of panic in me. The second time I submitted it, it passed muster. Whew! I approved the e-proof I received two days later, and I ordered a paperback copy to inspect before I move forward seeking Advanced Review Copy readers.
That’s just a little of what I dealt with last Monday through Thursday.
Then, I opened my email inbox on Friday…. But first here’s a little background.
My publishing experience with Arcadia Publishing
In 2014, Arcadia Publishing published my vintage postcard book, The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina as part of the company’s Postcard History Series. Writing that book was a labor of love and a crash course in dealing with a publishing company.
Arcadia Publishing has strict guidelines governing word count and character count for every postcard the author chooses to include in the book. I did a great amount of research so I could write the best caption possible for each postcard. You wouldn’t believe how tedious it is to rewrite a paragraph umpteen times to try to decrease the character count by one or two or twenty-five.
The history buff in me tried to pack as much history into the book as possible. When I asked for a little leeway, I was sternly informed that it was a postcard book and not a history book. Lesson learned. My vision for the book did not quite line up with Arcadia’s vision.
My postcard book is still available from Arcadia Publishing and on Amazon in paperback and e-book. Occasionally, it can be found at an independent bookstore. Every year or two I receive a small royalty check. I am proud of the book.
Then, I opened my email inbox on Friday….
The email I received from Arcadia Publishing last Friday
With my devotional book manuscript submitted to IngramSpark and my galley proof ordered, I looked forward to having a day on Friday to catch up on some things and turning my energy to marketing I Need The Light!
But then I opened my inbox and found an email from Arcadia Publishing. The subject line, “Royalty Opportunity” immediately grabbed my attention, but the first sentence took the smile off my face.
“Arcadia has been presented with an opportunity to provide content to a major technology company involved in AI development. The request is to use the content of your title(s) for AI training purposes.”
I did not like the sound of that. The next sentence was in bold font and tried to entice me with a $205 royalty at the end of 2025. I live on a tight budget, so $205 was tempting. It will take me upwards of ten years to receive $205 in royalties from Arcadia from the sales of my book.
I read on as the letter indicated that such “opportunities could be very limited in the future. Recently, two courts ruled that AI training is ‘fair use’ of copyrighted content, for which tech firms need not compensate authors. If future cases result in similar rulings, it will be increasingly difficult to secure payment for content.”
The letter went on to say that Arcadia has the right to let this undisclosed technology company have access to my copyrighted words under the contract I signed in 2014, but out of the goodness of their hearts they are giving me the chance to opt out of this one arrangement.
I opted out and then I wrote Arcadia Publishing an email
I was tempted to take the $205 at the end of the year. I could really use that money, so I had to take some time to decide what to do.
I thought about some of the well-known authors who have stood up against their publishers and nefarious AI schemes. They had more to lose than I do. What difference would it make, especially if the next time a tech company makes a deal with Arcadia Publishing the company doesn’t bother to let me opt out?
That little voice in the back of my head kept saying, “Don’t take the money,” and that little voice prevailed. I opted out.
I did not leave it at that. This is the letter I sent to Arcadia Publishing:
“I am disappointed in Arcadia Publishing for cooperating with an undisclosed company to assist in their AI training. Your decision was, no doubt, made solely on money and how Arcadia Publishing can benefit financially from such a scheme.
“The fact that you did not disclose the name of the AI company you have made a deal with indicates a lack of transparency.
“Your decision shows a lack of respect for the creative work of the writers who have entrusted you with their intellectual property. I appreciate the fact that you did the ethical thing by asking for my permission.
“I would have much preferred to have received a letter from you informing me that you had been approached about such a business arrangement but you had declined to participate. Such a communication from you would have made me proud to be an Arcadia Publishing author.”
That was my first brush with AI wanting to use my intellectual property for “training purposes” and it is just the beginning.
I thought my work was safe. After all, I own the copyright to each of the books and short stories I have published. That copyright is in effect for 70 years after my death.
The email I received on Friday served as a stark reminder that just because I own the copyright, my work is still vulnerable to unscrupulous tech companies that want to use my hard work to their advantage and profit.
As if we did not have enough to worry about in 2025, along comes AI.
Until my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read. If it is a good book, it was written by a human being and not by a computer.
Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
Sometimes topics for my blog just fall into my lap. That was the case with today’s post about Jane Renwick Smedburg Wilkes.
As I was doing the research for yesterday’s blog about Good Samaritan Hospital in Charlotte, I was led to do some research about a July 17, 1911, train wreck near Hamlet, North Carolina. The train wreck research led me to a Richmond County Daily Journal newspaper article (https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/news/108231/pair-of-researchers-seeking-more-information-on-train-wreck-from-1111-years-ago) which provided additional information about the hospital. The link is a little elusive, but I hope you can find it if you want to read more about the train wreck.
I am a Carolina Panthers fan, but I can’t afford to go to their games or to anything else at Bank of America Stadium; therefore, I have not seen the historical marker pictured in that online newspaper article. None of my online research about the hospital mentioned Jane Renwick Smedburg Wilkes.
That historical marker reads: “Good Samaritan Hospital (1891-1961) Site of the first independent private hospital in North Carolina built exclusively for African-Americans. Established by Jane Renwick Smedburg Wilkes of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. One of the oldest black hospitals then in operation in the U.S.”
When I saw Jane Renwick Smedburg Wilkes’ name on that historical marker, I knew there had to be a story there.
As much as I just wanted to tell her story today, it soon became obvious that I could not tell her story without also telling a little bit about her husband. Since I had never heard of either of them, I had a lot to learn. There were some serendipitous findings along the way.
I was born in Charlotte and have lived most of my life in or near the city, but until a couple of weeks ago I’d never heard of Jane and Jack Wilkes. Jane’s is not the kind of name one easily forgets once they have heard it. The fact that I had never heard of her makes me sad, but it mainly makes me a little angry. I should have known her name and a little about what she did.
An online search of her name brought up so many articles and resources that I began to wonder how I would be able to condense her life into one blog post.
Reading that titles of some of the online articles about Jane piqued my interest and curiosity. She was born on November 22, 1827, in New York City to a wealthy family. She was one of 13 children and grew up on the family estate in the Catskill Mountains.
So how did she end up in Charlotte, North Carolina, being a nurse to Confederate soldiers, and establishing a hospital for black people?
My hunch was that marriage must have brought Jane to Charlotte, so I started my research there. Her story takes a strange turn.
This gets a little involved, but bear with me. In 1853, Charles Wilkes and a firm in New York entered an agreement and established The Capps Gold Mine Company. (You may recall that the first gold discovery in the United States was in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, in 1799. Cabarrus is the county immediately east of Charlotte. Goldmining in the area in the early decades of the 19th century necessitated the establishment of a branch of the United States Mint in Charlotte. The area was a hotbed of mining activity until the Civil War pretty much put a halt to mining.)
Charles Wilkes’s wife’s uncle, James Renwick, owned the land where the St. Catharine’s Gold Mine and St. Catharine’s Mill were in western Mecklenburg County (the county of which Charlotte is the county seat.) Silver, pyrite, and chalcopyrite were also mined there.
It turns out that Jane married Charles Wilkes’ son, Captain John “Jack” Wilkes, on April 20, 1854. Jane and Jack just happened to be first cousins, but I’m not going down that rabbit hole other to say they had nine children. Also, I can’t resist to comment that it is just the South that is the butt of jokes about cousins marrying cousins, but Jane and Jack were both from New York. Just sayin’.
I don’t know the details of it, but Jack Wilkes ended up coming to North Carolina to manage his father’s property. It took some digging, but I finally figured out how Jane of the wealthy Catskills family ended up in Charlotte.
After living near St. Catharine’s Mill, in the 1870s Jane and Jack moved into Charlotte and lived on West Trade Street. When I read that Jack owned and managed a flour mill, an iron mill, and a cotton mill, I had to delve into that part of their story.
An unexpected connection with my family
Reading that Jack Wilkes owned and managed an iron mill in Charlotte sent me on a search to find out more about that. My father was a structural steel draftsman. He worked for a few years in the 1960s as a draftsman at Mecklenburg Iron Works, which I knew at that time had been in operation for more than 100 years.
Sure enough, it turns out that Jack Wilkes acquired Mecklenburg Iron Works in 1859. There is proof that it was in business at least as early as 1846. My father’s connection with a company owned by the husband of Jane Renwick Smedburg Wilkes made me even more regretful that I had not learned about her before now.
Through my father’s employment at Mecklenburg Iron Works, I knew that the company made cannonballs for the Confederacy during the Civil War. The company also manufactured the gold stamp mill still in operation for demonstration purposes at the Reed Gold Mine State Park in Cabarrus County.
Jane and Jack’s married life
It pained me to learn that Jane and Jack owned more than 30 slaves. Many of them worked in their mills. That was interesting to learn because I tend to associate slaves in the United States in the 17th century and the first two-thirds of the 19th century as living and working on plantations. I honestly had never thought about any of those slaves working in factories.
And how was it that Jane and her husband owned more than 30 slaves, yet she ended up helping to establish Good Samaritan Hospital in Charlotte in 1891 to serve the black people of North Carolina?
Jack and Jane sided with the South in the Civil War, but tow of Jane’s brothers fought in the Union Army and Jack’s father gave monetary support and supplies to the Union.
It sounds like the classic “brother against brother” kind of story associated with the American Civil War!
During the Civil War, the Confederate Government took over Mecklenburg Iron Works and it was used as a naval ordnance depot. Wilkes got the factory back after the war ended in 1865 and changed production from cannonballs to agricultural equipment. The company was sold to Carolina Steel Corporation in the 1960s.
Back to Jane Renwick Smedburg Wilkes, the original subject of today’s post
Jane joined St. John’s Episcopal Church in High Shoals, North Carolina. High Shoals is in Gaston County, just west of Charlotte. It was originally a textile community. I don’t know if Jack joined the church there or not. When they moved to Charlotte, they both became members of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church where Jane served as president of the church’s Aid Society.
During the Civil War, Jane volunteered at several of the camps in Charlotte where wounded Confederate soldiers were brought. The experience made a deep impression on her. Soon after the war she started leading the effort to build a civilian hospital in Charlotte.
Jane was the leading voice, apparently, in the establishment of St. Peter’s Hospital for white people in 1876. With that accomplished, she started working for the construction of a hospital to serve black people. The result was Good Samaritan Hospital, which was the topic of my blog post yesterday, https://janetswritingblog.com/2025/07/14/getting-a-local-history-lesson-in-a-round-about-way/.
In 2014, Charlotte Trail of History installed an 800-pound, 7.5-foot-tall statue of Jane Renwick Smedburg Wilkes just off East Morehead Street near the address 1445 Harding Place in Charlotte.
When I set out to find out something about Jane Renwick Smedburg Wilkes, I had no idea what a journey it would be! Thank you, Tangie Woods, for prompting me to go down this path.
Until my next blog post
If you have a good book to read, consider yourself fortunate. Many people in the world don’t have that luxury.
Don’t forget the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
Tangie’s blog was about the man who, in 1920, started the first hospital for black people in Miami. After reading her post, I wanted to find out more about the first hospital for blacks in my area.
You just never know where a little research is going to take you. I started out looking for the history of Good Samaritan Hospital in Charlotte and in the process I learned about a train wreck in 1911, the murder by a mob in 1913, and a woman who was instrumental in the establishment of the hospital. The hospital and that July 17, 1911, train wreck are connected, so I decided to write about both during this anniversary week.
I was aware of Good Samaritan Hospital because it was still in existence when I was growing up. It makes me feel ancient to remember that when I was born there was still racial segregation in medical care.
Good Samaritan Hospital, or “Good Sam” as it was affectionately called, was built in Charlotte in 1891 after the project was spearheaded by the congregation of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. The first hospital for white people in Charlotte, St. Peter’s Hospital, was built in 1876.
In the beginning, Good Samaritan Hospital had 20 beds. A School of Nursing was established there in 1903, which trained nurses for the next 50 years.
With the help of the Duke Foundation and the Colored Sunday School Union, it more than doubled in size in 1925. A major expansion was completed in 1937, bringing the bed count to 100.
Good Samaritan Hospital’s response to a train wreck
The importance of Good Samaritan being the only hospital to serve black people in North Carolina was brought to the forefront on July 17, 1911, when a freight train and a passenger train collided head-on near Hamlet, North Carolina, some 75 miles east of Charlotte.
Brandon Lunsford’s article indicates that 83 black patients were brought from the train wreck to Good Samaritan Hospital. Eighty of the 83 survived their injuries. The way in which medical care was given to the victims of the train wreck raised Good Samaritan’s reputation.
(I don’t have the time right now to take a deep dive into that discrepancy. It could be something as simple as a typographical error in the resource material used for either article. I hope it is not because so many of those injured were black people. I couldn’t help but wonder if the early newspaper accounts only reported the number of white people injured. I’ll leave it to someone else to go down that rabbit hole.)
Regardless of the total number injured, all of the black people injured in the accident had to be transported 75 miles to Charlotte to the only hospital serving black patients in the North Carolina, and Good Samaritan Hospital should be remembered and celebrated for that.
The Richmond County, NC newspaper article cited above states, “Many of the injured were members of St. Joseph’s AME Church. They were located in an inferior, wooden passenger train [car] due to segregation laws at the time.”
Back to the history of Good Samaritan Hospital
Good Samaritan Hospital was in the news again on August 26, 1913. Brandon Lunsford’s article reports the following: “A mob of about thirty-five armed men stormed the hospital and captured a black man named Joe McNeely, who was arrested five days earlier for the shooting of Charlotte policeman L.L. Wilson. McNeely, who was also shot and recovering at Good Samaritan, was dragged out into the street by the angry mob, shot and mortally wounded. No one was ever convicted for McNeely’s death, and the crime remains an ugly mark on Charlotte’s history.” (That is another piece of local history I was not aware of.)
The Episcopal churches in Charlotte continued to support and take administrative responsibilities for Good Samaritan Hospital in to the 1950s, but the financial burden was making that increasingly difficult.
In 1961, the City of Charlotte and Charlotte Memorial Hospital took ownership of Good Samaritan. Its name was changed to Charlotte Community Hospital. It closed in 1982 and became the Magnolias Rest Home.
To make land available for the construction of Bank of America Stadium (formerly, Ericsson Stadium), the former Good Samaritan Hospital was demolished in 1996.
Good Samaritan Hospital Historical Marker
The Richmond County Daily Journal article cited above includes a photograph of the historical marker outside Bank of America Stadium in downtown Charlotte. It reads as follows: “Good Samaritan Hospital (1891-1961) Site of the first independent private hospital in North Carolina built exclusively for African-Americans. Established by Jane Renwick Smedburg Wilkes of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. One of the oldest black hospitals then in operation in the U.S.”
Jane Renwick Smedburg Wilkes?
Who was Jane Renwick Smedburg Wilkes and why am I just now hearing about her?
You’ll have to read my blog post scheduled for tomorrow to find out who she was.
Hurricane Helene Update
The North Carolina Department of Transportation has changed how it is reporting road closures on its website, so my weekly updates will change accordingly. At least, I could not find the detail presented in quite the same way as it was in the past. Also, there was lots of flooding in the northern piedmont and eastern parts of the state due to Tropical Storm Chantal last week.
As of Friday, 37 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene and 50 had limited access. Five road were reopened last week.
Of course, I-40 through the Pigeon River Gorge is still just two lanes with a 35-mph speed limit, and most of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina is still closed.
Until my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read.
Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
Just because I’m not blogging every day about politics, don’t assume I’m no longer paying attention to current events and government actions in the United States. I suppose my post last Thursday night proved that, though. I can only hold it in for so long, folks!
After spending an inordinate amount of time taking notes, checking sources, and writing blog posts for the last six months, I have now made time for what I prefer to do with my time: getting my devotional book published and marketed, and getting my historical novel and historical short stories written so they can be published. Those works in progress are near and dear to my heart.
For what it’s worth, I continue to let my US Senators and US Representative know where I stand on the issues. Sometimes they respond. I almost wish they wouldn’t, because their responses just make me angrier.
I wrote about politics in my July 3 blog post, but I did not address specific Congressional votes, US Supreme Court rulings, or Presidential Executive Orders. Here are a few of the matters that have been on my radar lately. One or two of them might be news to you because, other than Alligator Alcatraz, they did not get a lot of press coverage.
Teaching reading: “radical left agenda”
This news came to light last Thursday: The White House wants to slash funding to states for literacy programs, English language instruction, and after-school programs because “they promote a radical left agenda”. If that is approved, it will cost North Carolina $168 million in lost funds.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
This “radical left agenda” broken record is wearing thin with me. If teaching someone to read or teaching an immigrant English is “radical left agenda,” then call me a radical leftist! I’ll wear that badge proudly! Since when is teaching someone to read a radical idea? If it is, I guess I was radicalized in Mrs. Caldwell’s first grade classroom in 1959.
When did reading become “radical left agenda?” One of my college friends in the early 1970s had a 30-year career as a reading teacher. I don’t know where she stands politically now, but in the 1970s she supported Jesse Helms. You couldn’t get any more “right” on the political spectrum than that!
I’m glad I learned to read when I did, before teaching reading was outlawed.
Trump v. Casa
I am terribly upset by the US Supreme Court 6-3 decision in Trump v. Casa on June 27, 2025. It gives President Trump the freedom to issue thousands more Executive Orders without having to worry that a US District Court judge will issue any injunctions. It is an alarming green light for Presidential power and abuse of power.
Job Corps
There are at least 21,000 students currently doing coursework and hands-on training through Job Corps. It was started as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty in the 1960s as a career training program for low-income and at-risk youth.
Everyone does not need a college degree to prepare for a chosen job. Job Corps is a program that helps fill in the gap so low-income youth can get the training they need to get a better job.
Even though Job Corps directly puts young people on track to qualify for manufacturing and other jobs, the Trump Administration has “paused” the program because somebody up there thinks the program’s results are poor and we need to do something about budget deficits. (After all, Congress just added $3 trillion to our national debt last week and cuts have to be made somewhere. We certainly can’t make billionaires pay their fair share in taxes!)
The Job Corps program was abruptly stopped, as is typical of the Trump Administration. They didn’t take time to assess the program and to look at changes that could enhance it. And all this was done while the same Trump Administration is crying for trained workers to work all the “beautiful” factories the Trump Administration says it is bringing back to America.
Common sense would tell me as a former public administrator that if a program isn’t showing positive results, you need to look at it and see what needs to be fixed. Make those changes and try to get the program back on a positive note. If all that fails, then scrap the program.
It feels like we’re returning to “the good old days” of the 1950s and 1960s when in the southern piedmont of North Carolina, 16-year-old couldn’t wait to quit high school and go to work for Cannon Mills for minimum wage. With Trump attacking every level of education, is this the deja vu we have to look forward to?
Natasha Bertrand of CNN
A few days ago White House Press Secretary launched a barrage of verbal attacks on CNN reporter Natasha Bertrand. Criticizing reporters for reporting the “facts” manufactured by the Trump Administration which she represents was not becoming or professional.
But the Trump Administration is like a dog with a bone. Once they latch onto a person or a group of people to attack, they just can’t help themselves. They continue to go for the jugular.
Trump went off the rails in his Cabinet meeting on Monday as he, unprompted, dragged Natasha Bertrand’s name through the mud. As with Karoline Leavitt’s unprofessional and purely political attacks on the reporter last week, Trump followed suit in his Cabinet meeting and said Bertrand should be fired. It is beside the point that she reported an assessment made by the Trump Administration. He went on to attack the media in general and threatened that “I think changes are gonna be made to the media.” Since he oversees the Federal Communications Commission – which grants and renews (or does not renew) broadcast TV licenses, I think we can safely see that his words qualify as a threat to TV networks that do not report the news with the slant he wants.
Trump especially delights in criticizing intelligent and professional women. They intimidate him because he can’t do what they do. For one thing, they speak in complete sentences.
“Alligator Alcatraz”
The development of the so-called Alligator Alcatraz Detention Center in the Everglades would have been bad enough without President Trump and Secretary of Defense Hegseth joking about the detainees needing to learn how to run in a zipzag motion while being chased by alligators. Not to mention the pythons.
Photo by Kyaw Tun on Unsplash
These are human beings, and I don’t see anything funny about the entire immigration situation.
Over the last two or three days there have been reports of inhumane conditions at the facility, but I will withhold details until they are substantiated.
(A piece of advice for Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem: Women who refuse to dress in proper business attire will never be taken seriously by their male colleagues. Just sayin’.)
Jackie Kennedy’s White House Rose Garden is Gone
The iconic White House Rose Garden established in 1961 by First Lady Jacquelyn Kennedy is no more. Trump said the grass was always wet and wreaked havoc with high-heel shoes. (Don’t you just hate it when nature does that to you!)
Photo by Reanimated Man X on Unsplash
Trump had the entire rose garden and that stretch of lush, green lawn at the White House dug up and paved over.
For someone who calls random things like legislation “beautiful,” the man clearly doesn’t know beauty when he sees it. To him, only money, oil rigs, military tanks, detention centers, other man-made things, masked ICE agents, and an occasional nude model or porn star is beautiful.
Chickens in California
Photo by Thomas Iversen on Unsplash
Since Trump puts no value on life – human, animal, or plant – on Wednesday his administration sued California over its regulation of eggs and chicken farms. The reason? According to Reuters, because “the state’s anti-animal cruelty laws created ‘unnecessary red tape’ that had raised egg prices throughout the U.S.”
Let’s just blackmail another country
President Trump is clamping tariffs on Brazil, although Brazilians purchased $3 billion more in goods from the US in the first five months of 2025 than Americans bought from Brazil. There’s that, so we must look deeper into Trump’s “reasoning” for issuing this tariff. And, if you haven’t heard about it, you’re not going to believe it.
Instead of sending Brazil his usual tariff form letter, Trump sent a letter explaining that he is placing a 50% tariff on imported Brazilian goods because he thinks former president, Jair Bolsonaro, is being treated unfairly. Bolsonaro has been indicted for trying to overturn the 2022 election in Brazil.
I guess for Trump it just felt like “déjà vu all over again” and he feels compelled to come to his friend’s aid. In his tariff letter, Trump stated, “This Trial should not be taking place. It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!”
One headline I saw said that the letter looked like it was written by a fifth grader, but I think that’s unfair to fifth graders.
By the way, they speak English in Liberia
In one of a long line of embarrassing things Donald Trump has said, yesterday he put on his condescending voice and complimented President Joseph Boakai of Liberia for speaking such beautiful English. He asked President Boakai if he was educated. He asked him where he learned to speak such beautiful English. He told President Boakai that he spoke better English than some of the people around the table where they were sitting.
That last sentence was definitely true, for President Boakai speaks in complete sentences and President Trump does not.
By the way, President Trump, English is the official language of Liberia.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Ridiculous distractions in June
With the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial and the Jeff Bezos wedding over with, maybe journalists can get back to real life and reporting the news we need.
Until my next rant blog post
I’m glad I have more years behind me than I have in front of me.
I hope you have a good book to read.
Don’t take freedom for granted.
Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
(I have not forgotten and I’m not ignoring the flood victims in Texas; however, I will leave it to bloggers in that state to blog about the recovery in the coming months. Since I live in North Carolina, I will continue to give updates on the recovery in my state.)
I didn’t plan to blog today, but the I received an email from my Congressional Representative. (I refer to him as “Representative” only because that is his title. He represents me in name only.)
My frustration and disgust with the way things are going in the United States this year builds up in me until I just have to rant. I tried to wait a whole week, but it didn’t work out. I really am trying to be a better person, but the powers that be are making it ever so difficult.
I originally titled today’s post, “Thoughts about Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” but then I realized that it’s not Trump’s bill any more. Both houses of Congress now own it. And every U.S. Representative seat and one-third of the U.S. Senate seats will be up for grabs in November 2026. It’s interesting how all but a handful of the Republicans gleefully voted for it.
Photo Credit: Andra C. Taylor Jr on unsplash.com
The Big, Beautiful Bill
The so-called Big, Beautiful Bill was narrowly passed by the House of Representatives and was sent to the Senate. The Senate made some changes to it and it passed by one vote only because Vice President J.D. Vance voted to break the tie after Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska caved in to pressure from her fellow Republicans.
At least in the end, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis decided to come down on the right side of history. He voted against the bill on the Senate’s final vote because he knew it would take Medicaid coverage away from probably more than 600,000 North Carolinians and possibly result in the closure of some rural hospitals.
The bill then returned to the House of Representatives where it was once again approved by a narrow margin. President Trump signed it into law on Friday with his big, beautiful black Sharpie pen while fighter jets flew over the White House. All his celebrations seem excessive, very expensive, and “in your face” to most Americans.
Polls showed that 60% of Americans were against the bill, but Donald Trump rules and 99% of the Republicans in the House and Senate fall in line without question. After all, they left their consciences at the door when they went in to cast their votes.
Speaking of the Big, Beautiful Bill, according to US Senator Ted Budd…
I received a newsletter from Ted Budd, one of the US Senators from North Carolina. This is how he explained how wonderful Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill is and why he voted for the bill that increased our national debt by more than $3 trillion:
“This week, the Senate amended and passed President Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill,’ which included major reforms to slow the ballooning cost of government programs and root out waste, fraud, and abuse.
“The bottom line is this – the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ lowers taxes for families, makes our country safer and more secure, and unleashes economic growth for the future.
“I voted in favor of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act because the people of North Carolina deserve more of their hard-earned wages, a more secure border, a reinvigorated military, responsible spending reforms for government programs, and a thriving economy.
“Helping Americans keep more money in their pockets by extending key provisions of President Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Preventing the largest tax increase in American history will save the average North Carolinian $2,474 in 2026.
“Working families will receive significant savings with the increase and permanence of the child tax credit, expanded tax credits for paid leave, enhanced 529 savings accounts, and additional childcare access.
“This legislation lowers taxes for seniors relying on Social Security.
“AND SO MUCH MORE …”
Yeah, right, Senator Budd. You just keep believing that.
Interesting that he forgot to mention what the bill did to Medicaid recipients in North Carolina and the national debt.
U.S. Representative Mark Harris’ email about the Big, Beautiful Bill
The icing on the cake for me was when I received a response on Tuesday from US Representative Mark Harris. I had emailed him (again… and again) imploring him to represent the people of the 8th District of NC instead of Donald Trump.
Since he is (or was) a Baptist minister, I finally even pulled the Christianity card on him … to no avail. With the fraud that surrounded his campaign a few years ago in which his own son testified against him and which forced him to drop out of that race, I was not surprised that my words about “caring for the least of these” fell on deaf ears.
His response to me was, in part: “On July 3, 2025, I proudly voted in favor of the Senate Amendment to H.R. 1 when it passed the House by a vote of 218 to 214. It was signed into law by President Trump on July 4, 2025. With this crucial reconciliation package across the finish line, President Trump will be empowered to continue leading America into a new golden age.
“First and foremost, this legislation unlocks President Trump’s America First agenda and will help keep our economy strong by lowering taxes for individuals, families, and small businesses.”
After listing a few of the wonderful ways the bill will make us all rich again in this “golden age” he wrote, “Additionally, the bill fulfills our promise to keep our communities safe and our country sovereign. It fully funds our border security by providing $175 billion to hire of thousands of new ICE agents, add detention beds, bring on more immigration judges to streamline the deportation of illegal aliens, and complete a strong and secure border wall.”
Jesus must be so proud of him!
Mr. Harris, I’m sure you will seek reelection in 2026, because you obviously have no shame and haven’t read the New Testament in a very long time. You are actually proud of voting for $175 billion to hire thousands of new ICE agents and add detention beds!
Mr. Harris, will the thousands of new ICE agents be as heartless and cowardly as the ones we already have who are afraid to show their faces? Will they be as sick as the officers who showed up in Los Angeles this week just to intimidate families enjoying an afternoon in a public park?
Everything about this “Big, Beautiful Bill” makes me sick. It reeks of turning America into a police state. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, the sick get sicker, and no one but the wealthiest among us know who or what they can depend on.
Mr. Harris’ email sent me right over the edge last night. I’ve never felt so un-represented in my life.
Until my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read.
Do what you can to give aid and comfort to the people affected by the flood in Texas.
Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
After my blog post for yesterday got too long for anyone to want to read, I split it up into two posts.
The books I write about today will sound familiar to those of you who follow my blog, but I think both warrant a revisit.
White Hoods and Broken Badges, by Joe Moore
White Robes and Broken Badges, by Joe Moore
If this book sounds familiar, it might because I blogged about it on October 7, 2024, in What I Read Last Month & a Hurricane Helene Update . I read it again last month because on my recommendation it was the June book for the book club I’m in.
It was sobering the first time I read it, but it was even more chilling to read it during Donald Trump’s second term in the White House. All the things Moore anticipated and predicted about a second Trump term are coming to fruition right before our eyes.
We are in a bad place in the United States, and we have the 2024 voters to blame. I’m beyond mincing words about the people who brought authoritarianism down upon us when they put on their red MAGA baseball caps and voted last fall.
After reading White Hoods and Broken Badges, I have a better understanding of just how deeply embedded in our government and all levels of law enforcement the Ku Klux Klan and all the various allied white supremacy and white nationalist people are.
Moore says whereas the KKK and militia groups like the Proud Boys used to not mix or associate with each other, now they have joined forces under a common cause: the destruction of our democracy. Their goal is a second civil war in the US, and it has already started. All it needed was the blessing of a second Trump term as US President.
Moore says that whereas it used to be that white supremacist tried to infiltrate law enforcement, now there are people in law enforcement who recruit them. Therein lies the KKK’s power. He writes about the part white nationalist groups played in the January 6, 2021, insurrection and how they fueled the mob attack on the US Capitol.
He went so far as to state, “It’s estimated that somewhere between half and three quarters of all self-identifying Republicans either identify as white nationalists or hold white nationalist beliefs. That means as much as 30 percent of the United States population wants to see the country burn.”
He knows whereof he speaks. As a confidential informant for the FBI, he infiltrated the KKK twice over a ten-year period. He and his family are living under assumed names.
Please read this book. The statistics I’ve cited are in the opening pages of the book. The book itself is a well-written account of Moore’s time infiltrating the KKK and the things he witnessed. You won’t be able to be complacent after reading it.
How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith, by Mariann Edgar Budde.
How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Live and Faith, by Mariann Edgar Budde
I blogged about the fourth chapter in this book in my June 20, 2025 blog post, Reacting to the Cards You Are Dealt. I invite you to read that book and the post I wrote in response to reading the fourth chapter. I hope to eventually read the entire book.
Until my next blog post
Get a good book to read. Your local public library has lots of them, and a library card is free!
Don’t forget the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
This has not been a good reading year for me when it comes to fiction. You may recall that I did not read any novels in April and only read a couple of books in May. There are plenty of wonderful novels out there, I’m just not in a good place mentally right now to concentrate on a plot and enjoy them. The memory problems caused by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome are a daily frustration.
Nevertheless, my blog today is about two of the four books I read or attempted to read in the month of June. I will blog about the other two tomorrow.
My Name is Emilia Del Valle, by Isabel Allende
I thought this would be the historical novel that would rescue me from my drought of reading since January 20, but not even Isabel Allende could do that.
My Name is Emilia Del Valle, by Isabel Allende
I enjoyed the first half of the book, but then I was too distracted by current affairs to concentrate on the war in Chile in the 1890s. I wanted to see if Emilia would locate her biological father in Chile and, if she did, I wanted to see how that meeting took place and if they formed a relationship. (Spoiler alert: After that meeting took place, I began to lose interest in the rest of the plot.”
I cheered Emilia on because she was a female trying to be a writer. I cheered her n when she got a job as a reporter for The Daily Examiner in San Francisco, for that would unheard of for any newspaper in the US in the 19th century.
It was disappointing for me when I lost interest in the story. That’s not a reflection on the writing, for Isabel Allende is a wonderful novelist. Some of her other novels have held me spellbound. I think it just was not the right time for me to read this book.
Please don’t let my comments deter you from reading it.
Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service, edited by Michael Lewis, with essays by Michael Lewis, Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, John Lanchester, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell, and W. Kamau Bell
This book pulled at my heartstrings, because in my early adult life I was a public servant. That was what I prepared myself for in six years of college. As is true for most public servants/government employees in the United States, I had little interest in politics.
If that statement sounds strange to you, then you have a misunderstanding of how government in the United States works.
If that statement sounds strange to you, you need to read Who Is Government?
Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service, edited by Michael Lewis.
This book is a collection of stories about specific unsung heroes who work in our government. None of them wanted fame or fortune. You don’t know their names.
They were just doing their jobs, all the while dodging the arrows being shot at them daily by a general populous who choose to believe and perpetuate the myth that all government employees are incompetent and lazy.
The writers of Who Is Government? beg to differ with that long-standing misconception of government employees.
The essays in this book are about a government employees who did such things as:
Figuring out how to make “roofs” in coal mines so they would not collapse – a problem that has killed thousands of coal miners worldwide;
Figuring out an almost flawless way to run the National Cemetery Administration so that the 140,000 veterans and their families are interred annually are treated with the utmost precision and care as well as immaculately maintaining the final resting place for more than 4 million other veterans in our 155 national cemeteries;
Figuring out how to build the future Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope “which will have a panoramic field of vision a hundred times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope” and will perform something called starlight suppression to enable us to see behind and around faraway stars;
Keeping track of every statistic imaginable, which is what the Consumer Price Index actually is – and it doesn’t just happen – it takes lots of government employees measuring things and keeping meticulous records that an individual could never do but all our lives are affected by that number;
Catching and arresting cyber criminals who are defrauding people or perpetuating pedophilia on the internet and the dark web;
Overseeing and accomplishing the digitalization so far of 300 million of the 13 billion government documents so that every American, regardless of their location, will have access to all the records housed by the National Archives and Records Administration;
Working in the US Department of Justice (I hope Olivia still has a job there!) in the antitrust section because she sees helping to enforce antitrust laws as a way to make sure one person’s American Dream does not “impede on other people’s American Dream”; and
Helping doctors find new treatments for rare deadly diseases. (I sincerely hope Heather still has her job, but I’m not optimistic.)
Each of the above stories is fascinating. Each one renews my faith in the United State Government and serves as a reminder that ours is a “government if the people, by the people, and for the people” as so eloquently stated by Abraham Lincoln in The Gettysburg Address.
As I stated a few paragraphs ago, the writers of Who Is Government beg to differ with that long-standing misconception of government employees being incompetent and lazy – that misconception that the Trump Administration and the teenagers working for Elon Musk latched onto with all their might and money this year. And thousands of hard-working, knowledgeable, dedicated, non-political government employees lost their careers.
The brain-drain and experience-drain that resulted from the massive firings and layoffs in the US Government and the trickle down through various state and local government programs won’t be recognized or calculated in its entirety for decades.
In many cases, we will never know what we lost. We will never know the cures for cancer or Alzheimer’s Disease that were missed because the researchers that were on the cusp of those discoveries were let go in the name of “government efficiency.”
We won’t be able to ever recover the beauty and plants and animals that have been and will be lost to mining and deforestation in the name of “government efficiency” and “Make America Great Again.”
If I sound bitter, it is because I am. If I sound unforgiving, it is because I am.
Who Is Government? should be required-reading for all Americans – or at least for everyone in Congress and in the Trump Administration. If they read it, they might not be so quick to paint all government employees with that “incompetent, inefficient, and lazy” brush.
I will close by quoting a paragraph in The Cyber Sleuth” essay in Who Is Government? written by Geraldine Brooks. That essay tells how effective Jarod Koopman and his cyber crime team at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have been in catching criminals ranging from bitcoin fraudsters to pedophiles.
This is my favorite paragraph in the book: “The next time a politician or a pundit traduces the IRS, or JD Vance suggests firing half the civil service and putting in ‘our people,’ consider whether a system that filled out its ranks with a new batch of political loyalists every four years would have the expertise of these dedicated lifelong civil servants.”
In 2016, many Trump supporters said, “We need a businessman in the White House.”
I might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I’d like to know what business fires their employees without any consideration of their value or merit every four years just so they can hire all new people. I don’t think that business would last long. That business model makes no sense for a for-profit enterprise and it certainly makes no sense for the United States Government.
Hurricane Helene Update
As of Friday, of the 1,448 roads in North Carolina that were closed due to Hurricane Helene last September, 1,409 were fully open, 39 were closed, 50 had partial access, and one was closed to truck traffic. Eight roads reopened last week.
The statistics posted online by the NC DOT are a little difficult to follow as it is unclear in the chart by geographical divisions which roads are completely closed and which ones of partially closed, etc. Five US highways, three state highways, and 43 state roads are indicated on the chart without explanation of exact closure status.
I-40 is still just one lane in each direction with a 35-mph speed limit, and most the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC is still closed. That road is not included in the DOT chart since it is a federal park-maintained road.
Until my next blog post
Keep reading for pleasure.
Hold your family and friends close.
Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
And remember the people of Texas where there was devastating flooding in the wee, dark hours of Friday morning. The death toll continues to rise as I write this, and there are still 11 missing from Camp Mystic along the Guadelupe River. From my Hurricane Helene update above, we know they have a long, difficult road ahead.
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