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.
“Eat at Joe’s” is a running joke on Looney Tunes and various cartoon studios, so I just couldn’t resist making the connection when I started seeing Forbes and many other news magazines and organizations reporting on the horrible sanitation rating one of President Trump’s golf clubs was given.
Photo by Joel Durkee on Unsplash
They say there’s no such thing as “bad publicity,” but…
It took a month for it to hit the news, but Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey Golf Club scored 32 out of 100 on a Somerset County Health inspection on May 6.
The golf club received, by nearly 30 points, the lowest score of 115 retail eating establishments inspected in Somerset County in May.
Between having expired milk and raw meat stored at 50 degrees F. instead of the required 41 degrees, it’s a wonder people haven’t died of food poisoning.
Half of the 18 health violations in the report were deemed “critical.”
How many of Trump’s rich friends did not feel well after eating there? “It must have been something I ate.”
I would not knowingly eat at a restaurant with less than an “A” sanitation rating. I’m glad I’m not rich enough to eat at a Trump golf club.
Something to cringe about
If this isn’t cringe-worthy, I don’t know what is.
President Trump says he is going to have a new ballroom built at the White House. He claims US Presidents have wanted it for 150 years, but he is the first one who knew how to build it.
If it is half as gaudy as what he has done to the Oval Office, I don’t want to see it. On Truth Social he wrote on June 6 that it “will be compliments of a man known as Donald J. Trump….”
I wouldn’t want to be the contractor, because Trump is known for stiffing the people he owes money.
I sort of wonder about people who speak of themselves using their full names, but I digress.
Something to smile about
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was shipped off to a prison in El Salvador by the Trump Administration by mistake has been returned to the United States to stand trial.
That’s what should have happened before he was sent to prison.
The US Department of Justice is now charging him with human trafficking, according to US Attorney General Pam Bondi.
According to US President Donald Trump on Air Force One yesterday, Kilmar Abrego Garcia “is a terrible person.”
Now, we’ll see if someone labeled “a terrible person” by the US President can get a fair trial. As Americans, that is all we wanted for him. That’s all I would want for myself if I were accused of a crime.
It is a relief to know that, to some degree, we are still a country of laws.
Something to laugh about
After having nothing to laugh about since January 20, President Trump and Elon Musk gave us plenty to laugh about on Thursday. Nothing like fighting in public! It was bound to happen sooner or later. Stay tuned, everybody!
Until my next blog post
Enjoy your weekend. Be careful where you eat!
Read!
Don’t forget the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
Mr. Ira Lee Taylor of Harrisburg, North Carolina, was an unassuming man. I grew up knowing him as my mailman and the father of a friend at school. It wasn’t until 2006, when I started writing a local history column for Harrisburg Horizons newspaper that I learned from another local World War II U.S. Army veteran that Mr. Taylor took part in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day.
That invasion took place 81 years ago today. Very few veterans are still here to tell their stories. Interviewing Mr. Taylor a number of times in the six years I wrote for the newspaper was one of the privileges of my life.
Instead of June 6, 1944, only being a date in a history book, it became a day of incredible heroism and sacrifice as I heard Mr. Taylor’s vivid memories of that day, the training in preparation for it, and the other battles he was in throughout the war in Europe.
Mr. Taylor served in the U.S. Army’s 4th Division. The entire 4th Division left New York City on four ships on January 19, 1944. About passing the Statue of Liberty, he said, “That was a beautiful thing. We said, ‘We don’t know whether we’ll ever see you again or not.’” Many of them never did.
More than one hundred other ships joined the 4th Division over the next three days. The Liberty Ships were carrying ammunition, food, and other supplies. He said the ships would scatter during the day, but at night they would close in almost touching each other. It took eleven days for them to cross the Atlantic and arrive in Liverpool, England.
They were transported by train from there to Devonshire, England, where they trained for the invasion of Normandy which was occupied and heavily fortified by the Germans.
He talked about how they meticulously prepared their trucks and other equipment so they would be sea worthy. They practiced loading everything up and going to the port of Plymouth. From there, they would sail down the English Channel to a place that was set up to look like “Utah Beach” in Normandy where they would train for the invasion.
Each time they set out, they didn’t know whether it was the real thing or another practice run. Of course, they did not know exactly what they were training for.
After months of planning and incredible secrecy, the invasion was scheduled for June 5, 1944. General Dwight D. Eisenhower knew he had a small window of opportunity before the moon would begin to wane.
No, June 5 is not a typo. That was set as the day for the invasion. The night before, Mr. Taylor said the troops were briefed. They were told, “The 4th Division will make the landing on D-Day. We’re sacrificing the 4th Division to make that landing. We anticipate eighty percent casualties. You’ll pass two islands in the Channel on the way – one’s Guernsey and the other one’s Jersey. You might hear some shooting and all, but don’t worry about it. That doesn’t concern you at all. Two other outfits are taking care of that.”
“The morning of June 5, the gate was locked with an MP guarding it. They wouldn’t let us out, and the boys started singing, ‘Don’t Fence Me In,’” Mr. Taylor said with a chuckle. But then the mood turned somber and they knew this was it.
Mr. Taylor’s outfit set out late on the evening of June 4. They got halfway across the English Channel and a huge storm came up. General Eisenhower was forced to call off the mission, but the invasion had to take place no later than June 6.
So Mr. Taylor’s outfit loaded up again on the night of June 5 before dark. He was on one of 499 ships that took part in the invasion.
Patton’s 3rd Division, the 90th Division, and the 4th Division were all lined up, but the 4th went out first because it was to hit the beach in the first wave.
If you’ve seen the movie, “Saving Private Ryan” or some war documentaries, you might have an inkling of an idea what the invasion was like, but I don’t think any of us can really grasp the horror of it. One thing a film doesn’t give you is the smell, but Mr. Taylor talked about the smell.
He talked about how special troops sneaked onto the Normandy coast before daybreak on June 6 and disarmed many of the mines on the beaches, right under the noses of the German soldiers. At the same time, glider troops were silently landing inland carrying tanks and infantrymen. The 82nd and 101st Airborne dropped ten miles inland, behind enemy lines.
Mr. Taylor talked about the four hundred light and heavy bombers that flew over them until six o’clock in the morning.
The 4th Division missed its target by about a mile, but started landing on Utah Beach at 6:30 a.m. on June 6, 1944.
Mr. Taylor talked about the mines and the iron crosses all over the beach as the Germans anticipated an invasion, the 50-caliber machine guns, the wounded soldiers being taken back to the Landing Ship, Tank (LST) he was on. It carried twenty tanks and 200 troops and doubled as a hospital.
Mr. Taylor was in many battles, including the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of Huertgen Forest. He had majored in Forestry at North Carolina State University at Raleigh, so he had a particular appreciation for the Huertgen Forest of fir and pine trees, but it was there that the 4th Division lost half of its men and the forest was shattered in the fighting.
Mr. Ira Lee Taylor with his World War II medals, February 24, 2007.
Needless to say, Mr. Taylor felt fortunate to survive the war. He came home, married his sweetheart, and got a job at the post office. Somehow, he put the horrors he had witnessed behind him, but in his later years he wanted to share his story. And I’m a better person for having interviewed him.
If you are interested in reading all of Mr. Taylor’s stories, my five-part newspaper series can be found in Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 1, which is available in paperback at Second Look Books in Harrisburg and in paperback and e-book from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Harrisburg-Did-You-Know-Cabarrus-ebook/dp/B0BNK84LK1/). That book contains the first 91 articles I wrote for the newspaper.
Until my next blog post
Take some time today to think about the men who took part in the D-Day invasion. We owe them a debt of gratitude that we can never repay.
I was having a pretty good Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t raining and it was warm. My fibromyalgia pain was lessening with the dry day and temperatures in the high 70s. The incessant wind had brought some of the smoke from the wildfires in Manitoba to the southern piedmont of North Carolina, blocking the sun, but I was inside doing Saturday chores and catching up on some filing and correspondence.
Then, I made the mistake of clicking on the newsletter from my Representative in the US House. I use “Representative” loosely because he does not represent me at all.
Photo Credit: Andra C. Taylor Jr on unsplash.com
I have had Republicans represent my district in the US House, and I have had Democrats represent me in the US House. I have read their newsletters and emails through the years, but I must say the newsletter I received today from Representative Mark Harris (that’s the Rev. Mark Harris) is by far the most partisan, biased, and lie-filled communication I have ever received from any of them.
I will let Rev. Harris’ May 31, 2025, newsletter speak for itself, so no one can accuse me of slander. I hate to give Harris any publicity, but his newsletter is so off-the charts for someone who is supposed to serve all his constituents, I just have to share it.
Here it is, in all its glory and entirety, minus all the photographs because they would have copy and download into WordPress:
“Dear Janet,
Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have diligently worked to identify waste, fraud, and abuse, ensuring responsible use of taxpayer funds. Now, it’s time to make DOGE’s reforms permanent.
“Rescission authority” allows the President and Congress to cancel previously allocated spending which would solidify DOGE’s efforts.
Next week, the White House is scheduled to submit a rescissions package to Congress, incorporating many of DOGE’s proposed cuts, including frivolous expenditures such as:
$45 million for diversity scholarships in Burma
$6 million for tourism promotion in Egypt
$9 million for gender norm initiatives
$47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia
These extravagant pet projects are unjustifiable. American taxpayers should not be footing the bill for the Left’s wish list. I promise to fight to cement DOGE’s legacy and rein in the Swamp’s out-of-control spending habits.
Defunding NPR
Let me be very clear: there’s nothing in the First Amendment that requires taxpayer dollars to prop up Left-wing propaganda.
In addition to making good on DOGE’s diligence, the upcoming rescissions package from the White House is set to include measures to cut government funding for NPR – a mouthpiece for radical progressive ideas.
For decades, these institutions have dispersed left-wing narratives on the taxpayers’ dime. NPR’s reporters and editors purposely created and promoted news articles designed to damage President Trump during the 2016 and 2020 elections, including promoting the Russian collusion hoax.?NPR even went as far as to refuse to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story due to fears it could help President Trump’s 2020 reelection bid. As recently as 2023, NPR put out an article denying the clear athletic advantage biological males have over girls in sports, attacking young women who have spoken out about this issue.
It’s time to separate partisan propaganda from the taxpayers’ wallets.
President Trump is Restoring Justice
The Biden administration’s Department of Justice unfairly targeted Christian organizations, pro-life grandmothers, and even the current President, all while overlooking violent acts by radical groups like Antifa as well as alleged misconduct by figures such as Hunter Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
That era of politicized justice has ended. President Trump is restoring integrity to the Department of Justice.
Following recent unprovoked attacks on peaceful Christian gatherings in Seattle, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino has pledged to prosecute groups engaging in targeted violence against religious communities.
Similarly, the FBI is reopening investigations into high-profile cases previously ignored under the Biden administration, including the 2023 discovery of cocaine in the White House and the leak of the Dobbs Supreme Court opinion, which incited threats against conservative justices.
President Trump and Republicans are committed to upholding law and order across the nation.
Joining Bo and Beth Weekly
Are you interested in hearing regular updates about what I am working on for you? Tune in every Friday at 7:20 am on WBT Charlotte News Talk as I join Bo Thompson and Beth Troutman to discuss the latest from Washington and what I am doing to serve the people of North Carolina’s Eighth District! You can listen live on their website at this link here or tune in on 99.3 FM.
Here are some other news stories about what I’ve been up to lately:
I was absolutely blown away by my tour of Conn-Selmer’s Ludwig plant. Crafting a wide range of musical instruments for the students of North Carolina’s Eighth District, they’re truly “making some noise” and inspiring creativity in our community.
During my visit to the DaVita Kidney Care Facility in Monroe, I was impressed by their commitment to providing top-notch care for their patients. Thank you for your outstanding work in serving the healthcare needs of North Carolinians—keep it up!
Serving YOU!
My team is currently working to resolve cases for nearly 150 people across our district. If you or someone you know is unable to get answers from the federal government, please do not hesitate to call my district office. Whether you need help with the IRS, VA, Social Security, or even getting a passport for an upcoming trip, we have a team of constituent service representatives ready to serve you. You can call us at 704-218-5300 or visit my website at https://markharris.house.gov/services/help-federal-agency.
If you want to keep up with what I am doing every day on your behalf, you can follow all of my social media links down below!
If your friends, relatives, or neighbors would also like to sign up for these weekly updates, they can do so by sending my office a quick email or simply by signing up here. For more up-to-the-minute updates, you can follow my press team on Facebook and Twitter.
Sincerely,
Mark Harris Proudly Serving North Carolina’s Eighth Congressional District
What I want to say
What I want to say, I cannot put in my blog.
Suffice it to say that I live in one of the most-gerrymandered districts in a completely gerrymandered state, and I am not represented in Congress by Mark Harris, Ted Budd, or Thom Tillis because they only represent the man who lives in the White House. Rev. Harris has obviously never watched PBS.
Mid-term election for Harris and end-of-six-year-term election for Tillis on November 3, 2026. That day can’t come soon enough!
It could be worse
At least I don’t live in Marjorie Taylor Green’s district in Georgia. Regarding that “big, beautiful bill” she voted for last week, Green posted on X: “Full transparency, I did not know about this section on pages 278-279 of the OBBB that strips states of the right to make laws or regulate AI for 10 years. I am adamantly OPPOSED to this and it is a violation of state rights and I would have voted NO if I had known this was in….”
On the other hand, Mark Harris probably still doesn’t know it.
Until my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read, and I apologize for ruining your day by inflicting Mark Harris’ newsletter on you.
Make sure your voter registration is in proper order and intact well before November 3, 2026.
Remember those of us who have taxation without representation, just like we did 250 years ago. That time it resulted in a revolution.
Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
I was determined not to blog today. I had already planned a post for tomorrow, and I will leave it for then.
Last night I read an article by Lisa Desjardins, a correspondent for PBS NewsHour. I felt it was important to share with you what she reported. I received it in an email as a subscriber, so I cannot in good conscience copy it and post it here.
It has been a few days (well, four) since I blogged about politics in the United States, so today I’ll try to briefly hit on some things you might have missed.
Office of Special Counsel
Paul Ingrassia was appointed the lead the Office of Special Counsel by President Trump and be his liaison with the Department of Homeland Security. That is the office that handles such things as illegal campaign actions by high officials. Thirteen of Trump’s senior aides were found to be in violation of the Hatch Act during his first term in office.
The problem with Paul Ingrassia being appointed to this position is: He is a former far-right podcaster who in while Trump tried to overthrow the 2020 election posted, “Time for @realDonaldTrump to declare martial law and secure his re-election.”
Don’t expect any whistle blowing within the Trump Administration.
The National Association of the Deaf
During the Covid 19 pandemic, all 50 states provided American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters during their governors’ press briefings, but the Trump White House refused to do so even after repeated requests from the National Association for the Deaf (NAD) and members of Congress. This led NAD to file a lawsuit against Trump on August 3, 2020 which asked for the immediate use of ASL interpreters during television broadcasts of coronavirus press conferences and briefings.
The suit maintained that the White House was in violation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The Act mandates that people with disabilities have access to all White House communications. That is, of course, crucial during a public health crisis. After a judge ordered the White House to provide ASL interpreters for all Covid 19 press briefings, that was done.
President Joe Biden took office on January 20, 2021, and four days later announced that there would be ASL interpreters for all White House press briefings.
Fast forward to January 20, 2025, the day Trump’s second term began. On that day, he signed an Executive Order to halt all Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) programs and activities in the federal government.
No more ASL interpreters at the White House or in any department in the Executive Branch of the US Government.
“It’s Déjà vu all over again.” The National Association for the Deaf filed a lawsuit against President Trump, press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles for being in violation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Closed-captioning is helpful, but it usually skips or misinterprets some words. For people who are completely deaf, being able to watch an ASL interpreter is of paramount importance.
What’s the point of complaining about cuts to Medicaid if we’re all going to die anyway?
At a town hall meeting on Friday, Republican US Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa was questioned about the cuts to Medicaid that are in the “big, beautiful bill” passed by the US House and now under consideration by the Senate. Her response to her constituents: “People are not – well, we all are going to die, so, for heaven’s sakes.” Her words were met with jeers.
NBC News also reported, “Ernst also got into testy exchanges about DOGE cuts and her support for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Butler County town hall, but was asked repeatedly about the proposed Medicaid changes.”
When this happens when citizens go to public meetings held by a US Senator or US Representative, their questions should not be brushed off in such a way.
When writing your US Senators and Representative appears to be a waste of time
Three weeks ago, I wrote emails to both US Senators from North Carolina and my US Representative expressing my concern that the US had been placed on the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist due to human rights.
Senator Thom Tillis responded the next week and thanked me for writing him about the border crisis.
Senator Ted Budd responded last Thursday and told me repeatedly that he is working hard to uphold the US Constitution.
Representative Mark Harris responded a week or so ago and only praised the job President Trump is doing and said that every Executive Order signed by Trump should be codified into law by the Congress.
Now that I know how they feel about the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist….
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
On Friday, Trump fired Kim Sajet, the Director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. She had held the position for 12 years. Her crime, according to Trump was for being “a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI.”
So, if you hire or promote persons of color or women, you are not welcome in the Trump orbit.
If a person can lose their job for being “a highly partisan person,” it seems to me that would include everyone Trump has hire or appointed… or pardoned.
A false economy and a public health gamble.
Reuters reported that the Trump Administration cancelled a federal government contract with Moderna for the late-stage development of its bird flu vaccine for humans.
Are we heading for Remigration?
Remigration is a policy that calls for the removal of migrants. The goal appears to be to create white ethnostates.
It came to light last Thursday that the US State Department had sent a 136-page notification document to six Congressional Committees for approval by July 1. In addition to creating an Office of Remigration in the State Department, the document says that the new office “will also actively facilitate the voluntary return of migrants to their country of origin or legal status.”
Much of the Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Bureau will be eliminated, as if the US isn’t already on a human rights watchlist!
The document tells of dramatic changes coming to the US diplomatic service, and the establishment of a new Deputy Assistant Secretary of State position to oversee “Democracy and Western Values.”
That last part is cringe-worthy. Trump’s disdain for democracy is one thing that worries me, and what do they mean by “Western Values?”
American Bar Association, thanks but no thanks
In a letter to William R. Bay, President of the American Bar Association, on May 29 US Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Mr. Bay that the US Department of Justice will no longer take ABA ratings into consideration in judicial nominations because “its ratings invariably and demonstrably favor nominees put forth by Democratic administrations.”
The letter went on to say the American Bar Association will be treated like any other “activist organization.”
Kudos to CNBC reporter Megan Cassella
Photo by Jarett Lopez on Unsplash
Kudos to CNBC reporter Megan Cassella for daring to ask Trump what he thought about TACO: Trump Always Chickens Out.
In fairness to the Republicans…
On Tuesday, May 27, the US Supreme Court declined to review a lower court’s decision that allows the transfer of sacred Apache land in central Arizona to a foreign copper mining company.
The Apache Stronghold coalition of indigenous and non-indigenous people last year lost their case in front of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals. So, this started under the Biden Administration.
The Apache Stronghold maintains that copper mining in the Tonto National Forest sacred lands will create a crater.
Once more, the federal government slaps the faces of indigenous people.
Until my next blog post
Keep reading everything you can. I hope you’re reading a really good book now.
Hold family and friends close.
Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
I usually blog about the books I read the previous month in my blog post on the first Monday in the next month, but on May 5 I blogged about the Cabarrus Black Boys blowing up King George III’s munitions shipment on May 2, 1771.
I felt compelled to blog about the US being added to the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist on May 12. The rest of the story of the Cabarrus Black Boys needed another Monday post, and I blogged about Memorial Day on May26.
Therefore, here I am on the first Monday in June needing to report to you about the books I read in April and May. Fortunately for you, I didn’t get but two books read in those 61 days. I have a lot to say about both, so settle in.
My reading in April
I was too distracted by the dismantling of the US Government and its worthwhile programs and projects to read any fiction in April. I was unable in April to read or write any fiction. I missed both.
If you’ve been reading all or most of my blog posts over the last three months, you know the majority of my reading has been current events. You also know that I am distressed, angry, and depressed over the state of things in the United States.
It is that distress and depression from the daily flood of bad news from and about the US Government that prevented my reading any fiction. As of the end of April, I had read nothing for pure enjoyment since reading The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon and The Lion Women of Tehran, by Marjan Kamali in January and I Was Anastasia, by Ariel Lawhon in February.
That is the longest I’ve gone in my memory without reading a novel since I finally realized in 2001 that fiction can be as educational and thought-provoking as nonfiction.
Since I deal with Seasonal Affective Disorder in the fall and winter, this is my favorite time of year (except for the snakes reappearing in my yard after their winter hibernation!) Therefore, I should have been loving each day in April and May, feeling free and confident, and simultaneously reading two or three novels at any given time. Instead, Instead, I felt like I was living in a dark cave. I checked books out from the library, but many of them were returned unread. I was in a reading slump.
My reading in May
Worth Fighting For: Finding Courage and Compassion When Cruelty is Trending, by John Pavlovitz
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was reading this book in April. I finished it in May. John Pavlovitz wrote this book in 2024. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, he was a pastor but his congregation left him. They decided they didn’t agree with him about welcoming the stranger and caring for the poor, so he and the congregation parted ways.
This book was right down my alley, so it may or may not be to your liking.
Worth Fighting For, by John Pavlovitz
Mr. Pavlovitz points out that, “Fighting for the stuff that matters isn’t for the faint of heart. If courage and compassion were easy, we’d experience a lot more of them in the world…. Keep breathing, stay hydrated, and fight well!”
He writes, “As we go about the work of being compassionate human beings in days when cruelty is trending, there are two wounds we need to be constantly mindful of and sensitive to: the wounds of the world and the wounds we sustain attending to them.”
Also, “The only way humanity loses is if decent human beings allow the inhumanity to win, if they stop fighting, if they resign themselves to their circumstances.”
At the end of many chapters, Mr. Pavlovitz states a truth, asks a question, and then gives a strategy.” It took me several weeks to read the entire book because I stopped to give some thoughtful time to each of those. I did a lot of journaling. Some of it was soul searching. It was a helpful spiritual and ethical exercise.
He writes about righteous anger, and says, “…everyone believes their anger is righteous, their cause is just, and their motives are pure.” He goes on to say that Christians need to “aspire to … redemptive anger, focusing on what results from our responses, the fruit of our efforts and our activism: Do they bring justice, equity, wholeness? Are more people heard and seen and respected in their wake? Is diversity nurtured or assailed because of them?”
He says, “The beautiful collective outrage of good people is actually the antidote to hateful religion.”
As we continue through 2025, Mr. Pavlovitz has not been shy about voicing his concerns about the Trump Administration online and on social media. I think he has lost some of the optimism he held when he wrote Worth Fighting For a year ago. I’m right there with him on that!
He writes, “It’s easy to blame Donald Trump for the collective heart sickness we’ve seen here in recent years, but he didn’t create this cruelty – he simply revealed it and leveraged it to his advantage. He didn’t invent the malevolence that social media trolls revel in, but he did make it go mainstream. He didn’t pollute an entire party, but he set a precedent for open ugliness that scores of politicians have fully embraced in order to court his base – and that’s simply the ugliest truth about where we are in this moment: while those who serve as our representatives in the world continue to lower the depths of human decency, we, too, will continue to descend unless we resist it fully”
And all that just comes from the first 15% of the book.
He writes about the MAGA movement and how he wrestled with trying to figure out what made so many people fall for Donald Trump’s lies. I can identify with that. I’ve been trying to figure that out since 2016.
I gather from his more recent writings that he is not wasting anymore time on that.
The present situation and indications that the former United States as a democracy with a caring and compassionate population is rapidly becoming a hate-filled money-hungry nation turning its back on its long-time allies are the things we must focus on today.
I’m afraid it is. There is much about my country that I do not recognize in 2025.
I could write a lot more about and from Worth Fighting For, but I’ll leave it for you to read the book for yourself and do some soul searching.
We Will Not Be Silent, by Russell Freedman
When I searched my county’s public library system for books about the White Rose resistance in World War II Germany, this was the only book I found. It is a book of fewer than 100 pages, but it packs a real punch. It is nonfiction.
We Will Not Be Silent, by Russell Freedman
The book follows the Scholl family and several friends of the older Scholl children. Each of the boys joined the Hitler Youth and each of the girls joined the League of German Girls; however, each one became disillusioned with the militarism and lack of socialization. The drills became drudgery and the propaganda got more and more irritating.
The older son and daughter were instrumental in the secret resistance movement called the White Rose. White Rose leaflets started appearing in a few mailboxes at the end of 1942. They started with just 100 copies and asked people who received them to pass them around and copy them. The leaflets told people to resist “wherever you may be… before it is too late….”
Those words are now especially chilling to me in the United States in 2025.
The name “White Rose” was arbitrarily chosen when it was started by four medical school students. It was decided from the start that their resistance would be nonviolent.
Eventually, 12 students were involved in the movement and three more leaflets were written. A Munich architect let them use his basement and duplicating machine at night. This enabled them to print thousands of copies. They fanned out individually to purchase small amounts of supplies so as not to create suspicion.
The third leaflet encouraged acts of sabotage anywhere possible.
The fourth leaflet called Hitler a liar. It ended with, “We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace.”
Hans Scholl and his fellow medical students were sent to the Russian front as medics, and Sophie Scholl had to work in a German munitions factory during her summer breaks from studying at the university.
Hans’ girlfriend got a larger mimeograph machine and started a White Rose branch in Hamburg. The network then spread to Berlin and Saarbrucken.
The fifth leaflet was titled, “Leaflet of the Resistance in Germany.” Philosophy Professor Kurt Huber got involved.
Hitler was losing the war. Germany lost 330,000 of 420,000 troops in the siege on Stalingrad. It was that battle that inspired Professor Huber to write the 6th leaflet.
Thousands of copies of Leaflet Six were made. Hans, Sophie, three of their named friends and others took turns as couriers. They carried backpacks and suitcases filled with leaflets to distant towns by train and mailed some so they’d have various postmarks.
Hundreds of copies were left in phone booths at night, on parked cars, etc. Always traveling alone, they hoisted their luggage up into overhead bins on the trains, then went to sit in another car so if their luggage was searched the police could not trace who put it there. (It was another day and time, for sure!)
While Professor Huber wrote the 6th leaflet, Hans and his friends Alex and Willi took turns painting anti-Nazi slogans on university walls and public buildings. They used black tar-based paint, so the slogans would be especially difficult to remove.
Trouble hit, though, when Hans and Sophie went into a classroom building to distribute the 6th leaflet. From a third-floor stairway balcony, Sophie dropped leaflets that floated down to the lobby where a janitor saw them. He looked up and saw her.
Sophie and Hans were arrested. Others were eventually arrested, including Christophe Probst. Hans and Sophie took full blame, hoping to save the others. They were tried on February 22, 1943. It was not a real trial, of course. It was just a show to root out opposition.
Sophie, Hans, and Christophe were sentenced to be beheaded by guillotine.
More White Rose participants were arrested and beheaded, but the Resistance grew, spurred on by the executions. Leaflets were smuggled into Sweden and Switzerland. By the end of 1943, British warplanes were dropping the leaflets by the tens of thousands.
The Voice of America broadcasted praise for the White Rose students.
The White Rose students who had not yet been executed were liberated from their prisons by Allied forces after Germany surrendered.
There is a memorial to the White Rose students in the square outside the main entrance to Munich University. It is a unique memorial of white ceramic tiles made to look like the White Rose leaflets. They give the appearance of leaflets dropped on the pavement.
In the entrance hall in that classroom building where Sophie and Hans were caught, there is a bronze bust of Sophie Scholl.
The White Rose Museum was founded in 1984 by the surviving White Rose members and relatives of those who lost their lives. It is housed in that same building and is staffed by volunteers from the White Rose Foundation.
One thing that was pictured in the book that was news to me was that prior to the development of the gas chambers at the concentration camps, the Nazis used mobile gas vans in which to exterminate disabled people. “The victims were locked in an airtight compartment into which exhaust fumes were piped while the van’s engine was running, resulting in death by carbon monoxide poisoning.” In the big scheme of the atrocities of the Nazis, I suppose that isn’t surprising. I just have an image in my mind now of these vans going all over the countryside to murder people who were physically unable to be herded into boxcars to be carried off to concentration camps.
Hurricane Helene Update
As of Friday, 51 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene. That five US highways, three state highways, and 43 state roads. That report is identical to the one from Friday, May 23.
I-40 near the Tennessee line is still just two lanes with a 35 mph speed limit, and most of the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC is still closed. It will be news when I can report otherwise on either one of them.
Last Wednesday, US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced that a little more than $400 million will be going to North Carolina to reimburse the State for highway repairs and reconstruction due to Hurricane Helene. This is wonderful news!
I reported in my May 28, 2025, blog post, Hurricane Helene Recovery Update about the denial of additional matching funds from FEMA, so it was especially good news from the Department of Transportation the next day.
Governor Josh Stein says that the requested funding from FEMA that was turned down will mean the State will have less money to spend to help small businesses and municipalities.
Until my next blog post
Read! Read! Read! Please don’t be one of those people who says, “I haven’t read a book since I graduated from high school.”
Keep friends and family close.
Don’t forget the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
As if President Trump did not pardon enough criminals on January 20 when he pardoned some 1,500 insurrectionists from January 6, 2021, he has continued to issue pardons on a fairly regular basis. He has made a mockery of Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the US Constitution:
“The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.”
Traditionally, US presidents have used the power of the pardon to correct a miscarriage of justice – when a person known to be innocent was imprisoned, for instance. Sometimes its use has been questionable; however, it is a power given to the US President and there is no recourse.
Most pardons in the past would have been reviewed by pardon attorneys within the US Department of Justice. They would have advised the President about each particular case. Those attorneys are gone now, under Trump. There is no one to question or advise him except his political appointee Ed Martin.
President Trump appears to interpret the presidential power of the pardon to mean it is a “get out of jail free” or “avoid going to jail” card for registered Republicans who support him through violence against the peaceful transfer of power or through monetary contribution. And along the way, throw in activists who are supported by your anti-abortion base.
Before leaving office in 2021, Trump pardoned Steve Bannon, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn and seven Republican members of Congress who had been convicted of corruption.
1,500 January 6, 2021 Insurrectionists
He hit the ground running on Inauguration Day 2025 by pardoning 1,500 Capitol rioters, including those convicted of attacking police officers.
Photo by little plant on Unsplash
23 Anti-Abortion Activists
He pardoned 23 anti-abortion activists who were convicted of being in violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act by blocking patients’ entry to a facility. Under the Act, individuals can peacefully protest but they can’t block entrance to a facility that offers abortion services.
Former Illinois Governor Blagojevich
Then, Trump pardoned former Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich. Blagojevich had served eight years in prison after being charged with trying to sell Barack Obama’s seat in the US Senate after Obama was elected President in 2008. NBC News reported that Blagojevich was convicted of “shaking down” a children’s hospital executive for campaign contributions. He also held up a bill in Illinois involving horse-racing in exchange for campaign contributions. In pardoning Blagojevich, Trump said, “I think he’s a very fine person. This shouldn’t have happened to him.”
Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey
On March 11, Trump pardoned former Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey who had served two weeks of a 21-month sentence for campaign finance fraud. It was beside the point that Kelsey had pleaded guilty.
Former Las Vegas City Councilmember Michele Fiore
In April, Trump pardoned former Las Vegas City Council member Michele Fiore. She was convicted of six felonies stemming from her raising tens of thousands of dollars to pay for a statue of a slain police officer. The problem was that the statue was never made and she used the money for rent, plastic surgery, and her daughter’s wedding.
Culpeper, Virginia Sheriff Scott Jenkins
On May 26, Trump pardoned former Culpeper County, Virginia Sheriff Scott Jenkins. Charged with taking $75,000 in bribes, including $15,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents, Jenkins had been sentenced to ten years in federal prison. Trump said the case against Jenkins was “an elaborate conspiracy against an obscure local sheriff who was targeted by ‘monsters’ for political reasons.” Although Jenkins was sentenced after Trump took office, the president is blaming the Biden Administration for weaponizing the Justice Department against Jenkins.
Health Care Businessman Paul Walczak
On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that Trump had pardoned Paul Walczak. Walczak pleaded guilty in November to “not paying employment taxes and not filing his individual income tax returns.” The Department of Justice presented evidence that Walczak had withheld nearly $7.5 million in taxes from his health care companies’ employees but did not pay that money to the Internal Revenue Service. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay more than $4 million in restitution. But Walczak’s mother paid $1 million to attend a Trump fundraiser at Mar-a-lago and a month later her son is miraculously pardoned. He gets to walk away from his prison time and he does not have to pay any restitution.
Todd and Julie Chrisley
Involved in a reality show I’d never heard of, Todd and Julie Chrisley were sentenced to seven and 12 years, respectively, after being convicted of a $30 million bank fraud scheme and tax evasion.
On Tuesday, Trump called their daughter, Savannah, and told her he planned to pardon them because “they were unfairly treated.” (He is a broken record on himself being unfairly treated!) A jury found the Chrisleys guilty and the Appeals Court agreed with the jury.
It certainly did not hurt for Savannah to have been a speaker at the Republican National Convention. I guess that’s why Trump had her phone number.
Former US Congressman Michael Grimm
CBS News reported on Wednesday afternoon that President Trump had issued a full pardon for former FBI agent and former Congressman Michael Grimm of New York.
Grimm was convicted in November 2014 of tax fraud after underreporting wages and revenue and filing false tax documents related to a restaurant he owned. This went on for several years and then he lied about it under oath. He served eight months in prison.
Who’s Next?
During the swearing in ceremony for Jeanine Pirro as US Attorney for the District of Columbia on Wednesday, Trump said he is considering issuing pardons for the men who plotted to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. Of course, Governor Whitmer is a Democrat.
Trump said he watched the trial and thought the defendants were railroaded.
It is shocking but not surprising that Trump would consider issuing the six people charged with conspiring to kidnap Whitmer because the indictment described some of the men as being linked to a militia group.
Included in the evidence presented by the FBI were videos defendants took of Whitmer’s vacation home, proof that they had estimated how long it would take police to respond to an incident at the home, and audio tapes of defendants talking about the “use of deadly force.” The US District Court Complaint, which lays out the evidence, including the use of explosives and tactical gear, can be read in full at https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/press-release/file/1326161/dl?inline.
Trump has shown a liking for such groups since the deadly march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, after which he said “there were good people on both sides.” One side were neo-Nazis carrying torches and chanting, “Jews will not replace us!” The other side were peaceful protesters showing their dismay with neo-Nazis marching in the streets, spouting their hate.
People associated with militia groups were very much involved in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, which included threats to “Hang [then US Vice President] Mike Pence, and threats against many individual US Representatives, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
The irony is that on January 20, 2025, Trump pardoned the people who constructed a gallows on Capitol grounds and chanted “Hang Mike Pence”, but then claimed former FBI Director Jim Comey was threatening to assassinate him for posting a photo of seashells spelling out, “86 47.” The FBI investigated Comey over the incident and some Republicans in Congress said Comey should have been put in prison over the incident.
While campaigning, Trump said there were two systems of justice in the United States. He’s proving that is now true.
As I worked on this blog post on Wednesday afternoon, it was a challenge to keep up with the pardons being issued. I understand he pardoned seven people on Wednesday.
In case you’re keeping score
President Biden issued 80 pardons in four years. President Trump has issued at least 1,536 pardons since January 20, 2025. So far, Trump favors pardoning violent offenders and financial offenders. The only prerequisite is that they support Donald Trump.
Trump has appointed Ed Martin as his pardon attorney. Martin will vet applicants for pardons. Apparently, the floodgates are now open for anyone convicted of a crime while Joe Biden was President has a good chance of being pardoned… as long as they are registered Republicans.
I looked into Ed Martin’s past. In addition to his being a lawyer, there were three other prerequisites I found for him to get his new job: He organized “Stop the Steal” rallies for Trump, he called Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential election that aided Trump’s election a hoax, and he said that 2020 US Presidential election results in which Trump lost to Joe Biden were a hoax.
Until my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read this weekend and that you find other ways to relax and escape the stresses of this world.
Don’t take anyone or anything for granted.
Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
I used to struggle to write a 500-word blog post. Now I struggle to keep them under 2,000 words. As long as Donald Trump is in the White House, I will not run out of material. Of course, I might be shut down before then. Nothing is guaranteed or taken for granted anymore.
You put a crooked New York City businessman in the White House, and this is what you get. I would like to think the voters have learned a lesson.
Pay to play
I don’t claim to understand crypto currency. Investing in it is not on my radar. It seems to be the newest, shiniest object to grab Donald Trump’s attention. If there is a way to make a buck, he will try it.
Photo by Scottsdale Mint on Unsplash
Making a profit is the only thing he understands. That’s why he is so bad at running the federal government. Government is not designed to turn a profit. Therefore, Trump sees it as something unnecessary. Something to be torn apart. Trashed. But I digress.
The business side of Donald Trump – which no one would ever confuse with the public Donald Trump – found a way to cash in on the crypto currency industry. It is a way for him to receive millions of dollars from rich Americans and even richer foreigners.
Trump has again pushed the limits. No other president in our history would have considered doing anything like that.
He hosted a dinner for his investors at his golf club just outside Washington, DC. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was quick to defend the entire thing. She explained that it was all on the up-and-up because he did it at night “on his own time,” and the dinner was not held at the White House.
When one is a government employee at a high level or in any position of respect, they are still representing the position they hold even “on their own time.” If you don’t believe it, just ask any public school teacher.
Government employees are not free to break the law “on their own time.” Those in positions of authority are never really “off the clock.” Again, just ask any public school teacher.
Ms. Leavitt also emphasized that the dinner attendees, who had paid an average of $1.7 millions did not expect anything in return except a dinner.
Yeah, right, Karoline.
When Jake Tapper of CNN asked US Speaker of the House Mike Johnston, about it, he said he didn’t know anything about the dinner. He went on to indicate that he was too busy last week to know about it. Keep in mind that if something isn’t important to the Speaker of the House, it doesn’t get brought up on the floor of the House Chamber.
Nothing to see here.
Harvard University, again/still
On Tuesday, Trump cancelled all government contracts with Harvard University totaling around $100 million. Those contracts include medical and agricultural research. President Emeritus of Harvard University and former US Secretary of the Treasury, Larry Summers, called it “extortion” in an interview on CNN. Mr. Summers said, “If Harvard can’t resist these steps toward tyranny, who can?”
Yesterday it was revealed that Trump wants to limit Harvard to having no more than 15% of its students from other countries. In the 2024-2025 school year, 27% of the student body were international students.
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
A bill of attainder is a legislative act that declares a person or group guilty of a crime and it goes on to provide for punishment, often without a trial. The US Constitution probits bills or acts of attainder. I’m no expert on Constitutional Law, but it seems like President Trump is crossing a line as he targets Harvard University.
Nuclear Energy
Trump signed four Executive Orders on Friday easing regulations on the nuclear power industry. As reported by NBC News, “The executive orders aim to reform nuclear energy research at the Department of Energy, clear a path to allow the Energy Department to build nuclear reactors on federally-owned land, overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and expand uranium mining and enrichment in the U.S.”
Photo by Patrick Federi on Unsplash
I cringe to think about which federally-owned lands he will put nuclear power plants on and which national parks and national monuments will be decimated by uranium mining.
The regulations were put in place for a reason, but Trump cannot be bothered with evidence or regulations. The safety of the public is the least of his concerns.
50% Tariffs on the European Union
On Friday, May 23, Trump announced that 50% tariffs would begin on Sunday, June 1 on all goods coming into the US from countries in the European Union.
Oh, wait! That was last Friday. On Sunday, May 25, Trump announced that 50% tariffs on the European Union will begin on July 9.
It’s just Thursday, May 29. He will probably change his mind many more times before July 9.
When Democrats change their minds, Republicans call it “flip-flopping.” When Trump does it, they don’t call it anything.
Or maybe this is all a moot point. As I was preparing to schedule this post last night, the three-person United States Court of International Trade ruled that President Trump cannot use the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs. That law requires a “national emergency” for tariffs to be imposed, so Trump declared a series of “national emergencies” that did not exist.
The ruling last night gets to the question of whether the US President has the authority under the IEEPA to impose “unlimited tariffs on goods from nearly every country in the world.”
Of course, the Trump Administration will appeal the ruling. He never passes up an opportunity to appeal a court ruling.
Here we go!
Deal with Nippon Steel
When asked to talk about the new deal between US Steel and Nippon Steel on Sunday, President Trump called Nippon Steel “Nissan” three times in forty seconds.
Photo by Erwan Hesry on Unsplash
This was a deal that President Joe Biden blocked late in his term in office due to national security concerns. Trump used to be against it, but now he’s all for it.
Is Trump “flip-flopping,” or is this nothing?
The EPA needs a new name
Calling the EPA the Environmental Protection Agency is now a farce. On Saturday, May 24, Reuters reported the following: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has drafted a plan to eliminate all limits on greenhouse gases from coal and gas-fired power plants in the United States, the New York Times reported on Saturday, citing internal agency documents.
“The EPA argued in its proposed regulation that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from power plants that burn fossil fuels “do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution” or to climate change because they are a small and declining share of global emissions, according to the NYT report.
“The EPA also said that eliminating those emissions would have no meaningful effect on public health and welfare, the report added.
“According to the United Nations, fossil fuels are by far the largest contributors to global warming, accounting for more than 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90% of carbon dioxide emissions.
“The EPA did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reuters could not immediately verify the details of the NYT report.
“The U.S. government under President Donald Trump has moved quickly to remove all federal spending related to efforts to combat climate change and to eliminate any regulation aimed at addressing greenhouse gas emissions as part of its effort to bolster oil, gas and mining operations.
“On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives advanced Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill, which may end numerous green-energy subsidies that have supported the renewable energy sector.”
The draft of the EPA’s plan reportedly went to the White House on May 2. The President has not acted on it specifically yet. The New York Times report indicated that there will be an opportunity for public comment probably in June. I’ll believe that when I see it.
The public hasn’t been given a time to comment on anything since January 20.
Perhaps the EPA can be renamed the Environment Attack Agency (EAA) or the Attack the Environment Agency (ATEA).
How about a new Trump battle cry? MACA! Make America Choke Again!
National Security Council
On Friday, May 23, it was announced that the Trump Administration was cutting the staff of the Office of the National Security Council by half with those employees putting placed on administrative leave.
These were the people who monitored events and trends around the world so the US President could be kept up-to-date daily on the things a person in that position should know about. Since Trump rarely reads his daily briefings, I guess he decided the support staff of the National Security Council was a waste of taxpayer money.
ICE instructed to triple arrests
It was reported by CNN yesterday that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem are demanding 3,000 arrests per day by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Considering ICE has already made a number of false arrests, we can now expect that number to triple.
Ximena Arias Cristobal, a 19-year-old college student of Dalton, Georgia, has finally been released after being mistakenly arrested for a traffic violation made by another driver in a car similar to hers. She was detained by ICE for two weeks.
She was brought into the United States by her parents when she was four years old. She said in an interview on CNN that the family has tried repeatedly through various lawyers for 15 years to become American citizens, but every door has been closed to them. If deported to Mexico, she will be sent to a place she is not familiar with and it will be difficult for her to continue her college studies in Spanish.
Should ICE set up a staging area in a church parking lot?
On May 20, ICE set up a staged an operation in the parking lot of Central United Methodist church in Charlotte as preschool children were being picked up by their parents and grandparents. The church had not approved the intrusion.
This activity by ICE has been condemned by local faith leaders and state legislators. Jennifer Copeland, Executive Director of the North Carolina Council of Churches said, “The places where people come to worship, pray, study, and live out the tenets of their faith should be unavailable for this kind of posture.”
Central United Methodist Church offers Bible studies in Spanish and the church’s preschool is bilingual.
An uplifting commencement address by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell
In my blog post on Tuesday, one of my topics was President Trump’s commencement “speech” at West Point. If you missed my post or didn’t otherwise hear about it, please read my Tuesday post:
In contrast to Trump’s speech at West Point, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spoke at Sunday’s commencement at Princeton University. His audience apparently got a more appropriate speech that the cadets at the US Military Academy.
Reports say that Mr. Powell told the Princeton Class of 2025 that universities in the United States are “the envy of the world and a crucial national asset.” He called on them to preserve democracy and not to take universities in the United States for granted.
Fortune reported online: “I strongly urge you to find time in your careers for public service,” Powell said. “Since the founding of this great democracy 250 years ago, generation upon generation have assumed the burden and the honor of moving us closer to the ideal that all are created equal. Now it’s your turn.”
President Trump has long been critical of Mr. Powell.
Until my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read.
Don’t forget the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
I usually have a brief update on Hurricane Helene recovery in western North Carolina at the end of my Monday blog posts. That’s what I had planned to do yesterday, but news from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Friday afternoon prompted me to move yesterday’s report to today.
I wish I had some photographs to include in today’s post, but I don’t want to use pictures that are not in the public domain. You can see still photos and videos of the damage left by Helene by doing online searches. Television website such as the one for WLOS in Asheville are good sources, as well as this link to the National Park Service website: https://home.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/helene-impacts-and-recovery.htm.
It has now been eight months since Hurricane Helene, and it probably is a distant memory for most Americans. However, as of Friday, 51 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene. That count included five US highways, three state highways, and 43 state roads. You may recall that right after the storm, there were more than 1,200 roads closed in the state.
I failed to mention the last several weeks that I-40 near the Tennessee border is still just one lane in each direction with a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit for the foreseeable future.
It is an arduous undertaking to rebuild an interstate highway down in a gorge. It took years to construct the highway through those mountains. Its reconstruction cannot be rushed.
I have driven that section of I-40 a number of times. It is not a leisurely drive as you always see recent rockslides that have been caught behind the miles of steel mesh covering the side of mountains. I always feel a sense of relief when I successfully navigate that winding stretch of highway and can loosen my grip on the steering wheel.
Most of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina is still closed for the foreseeable future. A total of approximately 95 miles of the parkway are open, but much of that is in one- to four-mile long sections The longest section in NC that is open is a 46-mile section from Balsam Gap to the road’s southern terminus at Soco Gap near Cherokee.
Rail Service
Norfolk Southern freight train service from Tennessee was restored to Asheville on April 25, a full seven months after the hurricane. In addition to rail lines being destroyed, the Newport Bridge over the Pigeon River in Newport, Tennessee had to be replaced. Due to more than 100 washouts due to the hurricane, 13 miles of train track between Newport and Asheville had to be replaced.
On May 21, The (Raleigh) News and Observer reported on the restoration of the rail service as well as the remaining rail service recovery in western North Carolina.
The newspaper reported, “Now the company is focused on 16 miles of tracks east of Asheville, between Black Mountain and Old Fort. That part of the line tops the Eastern Continental Divide with a series of horseshoe turns through rugged terrain and was heavily damaged by landslides and wash outs.
“Not only does the Old Fort line connect to Norfolk Southern’s freight network in central and eastern North Carolina, but the N.C. Department of Transportation is studying that route for possible future passenger trains between Salisbury and Asheville.
“Norfolk Southern says it expects to rebuild the Old Fort section by sometime this winter.”
In addition to Norfolk Southern, CSX and Blue Ridge Southern operate train service in western NC. The Blue Ridge Southern line connects Hendersonville and Waynesville with the Norfolk Southern railyard in Asheville.
The Raleigh newspaper report says, “CSX, whose line through the mountains is a key link between the Southeast and Midwest, is still working to rebuild about 40 miles of tracks along the North Toe and Nolichucky rivers from Spruce Pine northwest into Tennessee. The flooded rivers washed out two bridges and miles of track in the steep, remote valley.”
FEMA
The 2025 Hurricane Season begins in five days, and the word on the streets is that FEMA is not prepared.
It was reported last week by WSOC-TV in Charlotte that FEMA is allowing some people in western NC to purchase the FEMA trailers they are living in at a discount. It made me sad to see a trailer park of FEMA trailers just a few feet apart and to think that those people are faced with a decision now to pay for those “temporary” units and I guess live in them for the rest of their lives. How disheartening that must be!
On Thursday, May 22, FEMA informed NC Governor Josh Stein that it is ending the direct assistance for the US Army Corps of Engineers. Gov. Stein thanked FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers for all that’s been done to remove debris let by Hurricane Helene in western NC.
The governor said, “I am pleased that they will stay in North Carolina to finish existing missions, and my team looks forward to working closely with them to get those jobs done quickly. Together, we have removed more than 12 million cubic yards of debris from our roads and waterways. Unfortunately, there remains vast amounts of work yet to be done. Our state’s debris removal program is prepared to contract and execute the remaining debris removal and will work diligently and with urgency to complete those jobs as soon as possible.”
Also on May 22, the NC House of Representatives unanimously passed the Disaster Recovery Act of 2025 Part II, which is the fifth round of Helene relief funding. This latest bill provides $464 million for recovery efforts, bringing the NC House’s total allocations to date to a total of $1.8 billion. This bill now goes to the NC State Senate for consideration.
But then the bottom fell out on Friday afternoon. FEMA denied North Carolina’s appeal to extend 100% cost reimbursement for debris removal cost-sharing for the hurricane. It is estimated that it will cost an additional $2 billion to finish cleaning up the debris left by Hurricane Helene. That’s a huge expense for a state like North Carolina to incur with no hopes of being reimbursed by the federal government.
During his campaign last October 21, Donald Trump visited western North Carolina for some a photo ops and told the people that he would respond to their needs. He went over the top (as only he can do) with lies about how the Biden Administration had let them down. He told them that Biden was going to steal their land. He told them that Biden had directed the storm to hit western North Carolina!
He accused FEMA of only giving hurricane victims a total of $750. Of course, the $750 people who have lost their homes in a natural disaster is what FEMA gives them to meet their immediate needs until long-term assistance can be determined. Whether Trump spoke out of ignorance or intentionally lied is up for debate.
In October 2024, Trump accused the Biden administration of diverting FEMA assistance from North Carolina to house illegal immigrants. He said, “$1 billion of FEMA spending was ‘stolen’ for migrants.” None of that was true.
Out of desperation, some of the people believed him and then voted for him just two weeks later. Some of them now see this as a case of “bait and switch.”
NC Governor Josh Stein responded to Friday’s decision from FEMA with his usual grace, class, and facts: “The first step to help western North Carolina recover is to clean up all the debris. So far, we have removed more than 12 million cubic yards of debris from roads and waterways, but given the immense scale of the wreckage, we have only scratched the surface. FEMA’s denial of our appeal will cost North Carolina taxpayers potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up out west. The money we have to pay toward debris removal means less money toward supporting our small businesses, rebuilding downtown infrastructure, repairing our water and sewer systems, and other critical needs.
“Despite this news, we are going to stay the course. We will keep pushing the federal and state governments to do right by western North Carolina. We will keep working with urgency, focus, and transparency to get any appropriated money on the ground as quickly as we can to speed the recovery. We will not forget the people of western North Carolina.”
I’m embarrassed to say it, but North Carolina voted for Trump last November. Perhaps the rest of the states need to take note: This is how Trump rewards his supporters.
If you live in a “a blue state” (or “a red state”) you’d better hope you don’t have a natural disaster in the next three and a half years. Just ask the people in Missouri and Kentucky who feel abandoned by FEMA since the deadly tornadoes experienced there this month.
I hope NC’s two Republican US Senators take note. I hope our Republican US Representatives take note. Y’all have backed Trump on every turn. Did you expect help for your state in return?
We have a crisis of government spending in this country. It must be addressed; however, suddenly pulling the rug out from under citizens is not the American way.
How FEMA operates needs to be assessed but making rash decisions about how its programs are implemented in places hundreds of miles from an ocean that have been devastated by a hurricane while denying that the climate is changing might not be the best time to pull on that rug.
No one living hundreds of miles inland can prepare for 30 inches of rain accompanied by tropical storm force winds. It’s one thing to build a house where the ocean waves lap at the foundation. It’s another thing altogether when the home several hundred miles inland where multiple generations of your family have lived gets washed away.
Until my next blog post
I hope you are reading a book that has you so captivated you will stay up all night tonight to finish it.
Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
Today I will touch on a variety of things going on within the Trump Administration. None of the news organization can cover everything, so I try to gather items from reputable sources across the board.
No more contempt of court for people like US Presidents?
Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash
Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” which was passed in the US House of Representatives by a whopping ONE vote, is being hashed out in the US Senate. Various aspects of it get picked up by the broadcast news, but one item that is getting almost no publicity is perhaps the worst slam on our democracy yet: It will eliminate the power of courts to hold officials in contempt for disregarding court orders!
That bears repeating: As it was passed by the US House of Representatives, it will eliminate the power of courts to hold officials in contempt for disregarding court orders.
Trump is already ignoring court orders and no court has had the guts to hold him in contempt, so the remedy appears to be for us to strip the courts of any power they could hold over an elected official.
As a regular citizen, if I am called up for jury duty and I don’t show up, I will be held in contempt of court. The judge will order officers of the law to come to my house and transport me in the back seat of a police car to the courthouse where I must appear before the judge who is already unhappy with me. That’s the law. There are consequences when regular citizens break the law.
If this tiny part of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” is passed by the Senate, he will sign it into law, thereby making himself untouchable by the Department of Justice.
The last guardrail will be gone.
You have 215 Republicans in the US House of Representatives to thank, but they don’t need your thanks. They have already been thanked by Donald Trump.
Now, we wait to see what the US Senate will do with that 1,000-page “big, beautiful bill.” Will they have the guts to remove the part that strips the judicial branch of our government from its power of checks and balances? Or will they see it as their own way out of being held accountable by the justice system?
Suppose they pass it as it is written. How happy they will be if we have another presidential election someday and a Democrat is elected President? (I did not use the word “if” by mistake. I intentionally used it.)
Be careful, legislators, over what you codify into law. It might come back to bite you.
And that, my friends, is how a 249-year-old democracy is dismantled.
Harvard University
Photo by Manu Ros on Unsplash
Another way a democracy is dismantled is to attack and take control of its institutions of higher learning.
It was great that a judge placed a temporary injunction against Trump’s order that he would prevent Harvard University from enrolling any international students, but the damage has been done.
Even if Harvard wins in court, Trump has done irreparable damage to higher education in the United States because there is now a level of fear among students from abroad who will, no doubt, think long and hard before coming to our country to study.
And will students who are American citizens now think twice before they participate in a peaceful protest? Will Trump sign an Executive Order to prevent them from finishing their education? If he can do it to foreign students who are here legally to study, what is to stop him from doing it to American citizens?
And if the courts rule that he cannot do that? Nothing will happen to him. In 2024, the US Supreme Court ruled that the sitting US President cannot be charged with a crime. In May 2025, the US House of Representatives voted 215 to 214 that an elected official cannot be held in contempt of court. Will the US Senators agree?
The irony in Trump’s order that Harvard can no longer admit an international student is that his order would eliminate foreign Jewish students from Harvard all in the name of ridding the university of antisemitism.
Trump is like a dog with a bone. Over the weekend, he took to social media to demand the names of the international students at Harvard along with the names of the countries from which they came. He wants those countries to now pay. Since those students already pay for their education, I’m not sure what their countries are supposed to pay for… or who gets the money. Probably not Harvard.
His governance via social media and Executive Order are really getting old. Since Trump rules by Executive Order, the “big, beautiful bill” passed y the House of Representatives last week was one of the only things they’ve had to do since January 20.
Let’s be clear. This is not an attack on Harvard University. It is an attack on and a threat against every college and university in the United States. Harvard is just the test case to see how far he can push back on academia.
After all, he did say, “I love the uneducated,” when he was campaigning for office.
In an oddly-related story, the Pentagon promotes Kingsley Wilson
I didn’t know her name either, so don’t feel bad. She has been promoted to the position of Press Secretary for the Department of Defense. She is an interesting pick, in light of President Trump’s outrage over antisemitism at Harvard.
It is reported that Wilson has repeated antisemitic comments regarding conspiracy theories against a Jewish lynching victim whose cause helped found the Anti-Defamation League. It’s so bad that some Republicans have criticized Wilson’s employment in any position at the Pentagon.
The Trump Administration is consistently inconsistent.
Speaking of the Pentagon, while I still can
Brian Stelter of CNN reported that more restrictions have been placed on journalists covering the US military. New credentialing constraints were issued by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last Friday night. Also, key parts of the Pentagon that journalists have had access to in the past will now require them to be accompanied by an official escort.
The Pentagon Press Association’s statement said it has tried to communicate with Hegseth “to keep in place a professional working relationship that as persisted for decades,” to no avail.
Stelter reported, “The association said it is ‘puzzled’ about why the Defense Department ‘is devoting such attention to restricting Pentagon media instead of engaging with it as senior leaders have long done.’ Hegseth’s public comments indicate that he views the media as the opposition. He has denounced what he called the ‘hoax press’ and promoted himself by appearing on Fox opinion shows hosted by his friends.”
Hegseth used to be a Fox News personality, like many of the other members of the Trump Administration.
Can someone please tell him to lose the red baseball cap?
First of all, the MAGA campaign caps are baseball caps. They aren’t “MAGA hats.” I know “hat” sounds more high class than “baseball cap,” but that’s not what they are. A man’s hat has a brim all the way around. A baseball cap has a bill on the front.
It was embarrassing enough that the graduating cadets at the US Military Academy at West Point had to listen to a political speech from Trump as their commencement speaker on Saturday, but did he have to wear his bright red MAGA baseball cap?
I have a hunch that he had to wear it because the event was held outside and there are some major issues with Trump’s balding head and his dyed blond locks of hair having to be swept in all directions. What if the wind picked up? What if his hair couldn’t be controlled with grease like it appeared during his Oval Office ambush of South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier in the week?
Too bad he couldn’t just rent a cap and gown and dress like a normal college-level commencement speaker. And what was the pink necktie about?
A video clip that I saw on TV showed Trump saluting while wearing his campaign cap. I tried to find out what he was saluting, but I couldn’t find it. I hope he wasn’t saluting our flag! Whatever he was saluting, it was a ridiculous and embarrassing image of a US President.
In a world where President Barack Obama was heavily criticized by Republicans for wearing a tan suit once, how is it now acceptable for President Donald Trump to wear a baseball cap everywhere he goes? Asking for a friend.
If a man wears a cap to a baseball game, he automatically removes it for the playing of our national anthem. I imagine the national anthem was played at the West Point commencement ceremony. I wonder if Trump removed his cap for it. We’ll probably never know.
Before I leave Trump’s speech at West Point, I will quote one line from it that sent a chill down my spine. He said, “The job of the U.S. Armed Forces is not to host drag shows, to transform foreign cultures, but to spread democracy to everybody around the world at the point of a gun.”
What a bizarre statement! That sounds like we’re going to force democracy on people “at the point of a gun” whether they want it or not. All the while, he is working every day to destroy our democracy. I don’t think another country wants his brand of democracy!
Statue of George Washington on a horse in front of a building at the US Military Academy at West Point. Photo by Dave Lowe on Unsplash
That was not the most bizarre thing Trump said in his nearly hour long “speech.” In addition to drag shows, he talked about trophy wives. (That must have made the female cadets uncomfortable… and that was probably why he brought up the subject.) He talked about boats and yachts.
His mind wonders and his words tend to follow his mind when he strays from reading the teleprompter. It has become one of his trademarks. He refers to it as “weaving” and justifies it as something he does by intention.
If any other US President had almost daily gone off the rails and rambled about sundry topics in every speech or other public remarks, the 25th Amendment would have been enforced and the Vice President would have replaced him.
Until my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read and time to read it.
Value time with family and friends. Tomorrow is promised to no one.
Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.
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