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.
Last Friday, October 10, 2025, my blog post was “My Congressman sent a newsletter,” and as much as I hate giving him free publicity, I will blog today about his October 11, 2025, newsletter.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, I believe his October 11, 2025, newsletter illustrates the current standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the United States Congress.
By the way, Representative Harris still has not responded to my email to him on October 4, even though I requested a response and his newsletter on October 11 states, “We are always here to serve YOU!”
Photo by Andy Feliciotti on Unsplash
These are the opening statements in U.S. Representative Mark Harris’ October 11, 2025 newsletter to his constituents in the North Carolina 8th District:
“Dear Janet,
“Week three of the Schumer Shutdown, and the radical Democrats are still holding America hostage!
“House Republicans have already done our job by passing a clean, no-fluff, no-strings-attached spending resolution to fund the government. But the Left, obsessed with its woke agenda, is refusing to fund the government unless they get free healthcare for illegal aliens and funds for transgender surgeries. This is an assault on American values!
“Enough is enough! If Democrats want to play dirty, we’ll use this opportunity to continue advancing the America First agenda by cutting wasteful federal departments and programs. If they’re not critical now, they don’t belong in our budget.
“I applaud the OMB Director Russ Vought for already slashing and exposing the waste, fraud, and abuse in our government. He’s already cancelled $8 billion in Green New Scam funding. He also halted $18 billion in New York City projects tainted with unconstitutional DEI principles. This is what draining the swamp looks like!
“If Chuck Schumer and his cronies keep stonewalling, we’ll keep cutting. Director Vought should continue to use this opportunity to cut wasteful programs and departments.
“But I want to make it clear, despite the shutdown, my office is open and still working for YOU. If you have questions about this issue or need assistance, please contact my office! We are always here to serve YOU!”
Those opening remarks were followed by a section titled, “Obamacare is a scam!” Next was “Bring them home. End the War” about the war in Gaza. That was followed by a section called, “Here are some other news stories of what I’ve been up to lately” which included seven links.
Rep. Harris continued Saturday’s newsletter with “Constituent Corner: This week, I had the profound honor of preaching at GraceWay Baptist Church, right here in the heart of North Carolina. It was a truly uplifting experience to worship alongside a congregation so deeply devoted to their faith, reflecting God’s love and obedience in their daily lives. Their commitment to living out Christian values was inspiring, and I am grateful for the warm fellowship we shared.”
My thoughts
What Mr. Harris does on his own time is not my concern, as long as it’s not illegal. After all, the founders of the United States wanted our Senators and Representatives to be citizens and not professional politicians. So, Mr. Harris preaching is not in and of itself a problem, as long as he did not use his sermon as a campaign speech.
I worry about the blurring of the lines between church and state. The separation of the two is a foundation and strength of our country. Americans are free to practice any faith or no faith. Our government does not have the right to make laws regarding the practice of religion.
Out of curiosity, I visited the website of the church at which Mr. Harris preached last week. I immediately noticed they offer no Sunday morning groups for single adults ages 30 through 54. Everything for those ages is labeled for couples. Any church that sees its mission as providing activities/support only for married people in any age category is lacking in its vision. I don’t recall that Jesus Christ held gatherings just for married people, but I digress from the point of this blog post.
When I planned my blog’s editorial calendar for 2025, I thought I would be writing today about the 233rd anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone of the White House.
I thought I would write about the construction of the White House; how it survived the flames at the hands of the British on August 24, 1814; and its current transformation during the Trump Administration.
That’s what I thought until Friday. So much happened on Friday, I decided to ditch my earlier plans and focus today on more pressing concerns. I also want to catch you up on some of my writing projects.
Ramifications of the federal government shutdown
Photo by the blowup on Unsplash
More than 4,000 federal government employees were fired on Friday by the Trump Administration as the White House continues to blame the Democrats for the shutdown. President Trump announced that the “layoffs” would be “in Democrat programs” and the Democrats need “a dose of its own medicine.”
I’ve always thought that federal programs were for all Americans, regardless of their political leanings or voter registration. In 2025, though, it appears that the programs and services provided by the federal government are being labeled as “Democrat” and “Republican.”
The ones seen by President Trump as being “Democrat” are now fair game for being slashed and the employees who implement those services will be fired.
I thought it was against federal law for government employees to be fired based solely on the existence of a government shutdown, but I guess I was misinformed.
As the federal government shutdown continued and neither side showed the will to compromise, we entered the weekend anticipating something we usually don’t see during a government shutdown: 1.3 members of our military not getting a paycheck on the 15th of the month. However, President Trump said on Saturday that he had found the money somewhere to pay the military.
Democrats in Congress attempted to bring a bill to a vote on Friday for the military to be paid, but Republicans blocked the vote. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said the Republicans voted three weeks ago on the budget, which would have provided pay for the military. Johnson’s paycheck not being affected by the shutdown, he seemed unable to consider the hardship his actions/inactions would cause most military families.
The weekly newsletter I received from my U.S. Representative on Saturday plainly illustrates the standoff between the two political parties in the U.S. Congress. I will share that newsletter with you in tomorrow’s blog post as we sink deeper into this shutdown and all the uncertainties and hardship it causes.
The Nobel Prize for Peace
Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash
President Trump will whine about the Nobel Peace Prize for the rest of his life. He claims Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan woman who won it on Friday, called him that day and told him he “really deserved it.” He claims to have ended eight wars since January 20.
A detail that seemed to be missed by Trump was that nominations had to be submitted by January 31, 2025. That was just ten days into his second term. He has campaigned to receive the Nobel Prize all year. Most people who are awarded the prize don’t do that. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of anyone else who has openly begged for it.
True to form, a few days ahead of the announcement of the award, Trump said that it was rigged and he probably not receive it. After the announcement on Friday, Trump said that the Nobel Committee “put politics above peace” in awarding it to Maria Corina Machado. He also once again claimed that President Barack Obama received it “for doing nothing but destroying our country.”
Has anyone ever seen a 79-year-old be such a sore loser?
Qatari Air Force coming to Idaho
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made a stunning announcement on Friday. He said that Qatar is going to build an air base at Mountain Home, Idaho. These was shocking, especially in light of the fact that in 2027 President Trump called Qatar “a big funder of terrorism.”
A few hours later, on Friday night, Hegseth had to clarify his announcement – which had been heard around the world. Actually, Qatar is NOT building an air base in Idaho or anywhere else in the United States. They will send fighter pilots to the U.S. Air Force Base in Idaho to train.
Whew! That’s a relief!
We knew there would have to be a payoff after Qatar gave Trump that $400 million plane that the U.S. taxpayers are paying $1 billion to rehabilitate so Trump can take it with him if he ever moves out of the White House. Perhaps this is the beginning of the payoff.
I don’t think Hegseth majored in communications in college.
President Trump’s semi-annual annual physical
Photo by shahreboye on Unsplash. (I tried to find a picture of an x-ray of a fist. That would have been more appropriate!)
President Trump had his second “annual” physical exam on Friday and was once again pronounced to be “in excellent health” even though he doesn’t appear to be and he doesn’t speak like a person in “excellent health.”
Additional tariffs on China
President Trump announced tariffs imposed on China amounting to 130%. Since most things American buy were manufactured in China, the coming months or years should be interesting.
I’m fortunate because I already have everything I need. I shouldn’t need to buy anything but food and medicine for the foreseeable future.
As an aside, I noticed last week that the cereal I often eat for breakfast came from Germany instead of Canada. It’s been coming from Canada for years. I’m still trying to figure out how it can be cost effective for a box of cereal to be shipped all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. Perhaps it is grown in Germany and packaged in the United States. It is a wheat product. I don’t have anything against Germany, but I’d prefer to get my wheat from farmers in the United States or Canada. It just makes more sense.
A Quote from Sunday
If I hadn’t heard it, I wouldn’t have believed it. The 4th Congressional District of Ohio must be so proud of their U.S. Representative, Jim Jordan. Yesterday on TV, Representative Jordan said, “I think the ICE agents are doing the Lord’s work.”
What a horrible thing to say about Jesus Christ!
The Christ that I worship would never condone masked men going around snatching people on the street or out of their beds in the middle of the night, pepper spraying a Presbyterian pastor who was praying for them and their detainees, detaining people for months on end, then deporting them (or not – perhaps just detaining them indefinitely) to random countries where they don’t speak the language.
I think Mr. Jordan needs to read the New Testament. He has been misinformed if he thinks ICE agents are doing “the Lord’s work.”
My writing projects
I continue to try to spread the word about my devotional book and the companion Journal and Diary on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter AND I Need The Light! Companion Journal and Diary are available on Amazon and from your favorite bookstore. We need all the help we can get as we navigate the next six months.
I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter, by Janet Morrison
I Need The Light! Companion Journal and Diary, by Janet Morrison
I edited several of the historical short stories I have written for my upcoming book: Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories. My sister and I are doing one more proofread. I created a bookmark for the book on Bookbrush.com. I also created an information sheet about it to distribute to independent bookstores and the public library system here in Cabarrus County.
Want to see what part of the cover looks like?
Partial cover of Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories
I hope to have the book ready to self-publish through IngramSpark and Kindle Direct Publishing before the end of October, so stay tuned!
See – I don’t spend ALL my time tracking the political news. Each of us must find a way to put one foot in front of the other every single day as we navigate unchartered ground.
I continue to read the newsletters my U.S. Representative sends me. I don’t know why I keep subjecting myself to them. Why are we tempted to turn our heads and look when we pass an accident on the highway? My reading these newsletters falls in that same category.
Photo by Simon Ray on Unsplash
In part, last Saturday he wrote, “Congressional Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, have officially forced the federal government into a shutdown.
“Even though House Republicans passed a continuing resolution to fund the government two weeks ago, Senate Democrats are holding the federal government hostage.
“Like you, I believe your hard-earned tax dollars shouldn’t go towards [sic] absurd expenditures, like healthcare for illegal aliens, transgender surgeries, and payments for deceased individuals on Medicaid rolls. Yet these are among the absurd demands Democrats are making.”
He also wrote, “I am leading a dozen lawmakers in demanding accountability for the FDA’s approval of a lethal abortion drug…. The government shutdown is the perfect opportunity to clear out bureaucrats who are not aligned with the values of this Administration and the American people.”
My response to my Congressman
I copied my response to Congressman Harris. Unfortunately, I deleted it before I had a chance to paste it into this blog post.
I was respectful, but I told him I find his newsletters offensive. I told him in my 70+ years he is the first U.S. Representative I have ever had who continually blames the other political party for every problem in our country.
I told him I am offended that the Republicans, at the lead of President Trump, call Democrats, government employees, and journalists “enemies of the people.” I told him I don’t consider myself “an enemy of the people.”
I told him that he in no way represents me.
I told him that even though his newsletter usually mentions Christian values, I do not see any Christian values reflected in his newsletters or in anything President Trump says or does. I told him I see nothing in the Trump Administration that reflect the teachings of Jesus Christ.
I wish I had thought to point out to him that it is against the law to fire federal employees just for the fun of it during a government shutdown, so it’s not the “perfect opportunity to clear out bureaucrats who are not aligned with the values of this Administration and the American people.” Of course, that won’t stop Trump from doing it.
I told him “I see our country crumbling, and it is a sad and horrifying thing to see.”
Here’s the response I received from Representative Mark Harris
[This section of my blog has been left blank because I have not received a response from Representative Harris.]
In conclusion
It’s a bad feeling when you know your President sees you as less than human (i.e., last Saturday’s “gnat” comment) because you’re a registered Democrat. It’s starting to feel like my Congressman agrees with him.
I miss the “good old days” when Americans were Americans and not seen as liberals or conservatives, Democrats or Republicans, human beings or “gnats.” States were just states. They weren’t “red states” and “blue states.” Just states. Just the United States.
I dream of the day when we can go back to just being Americans.
It is time for President Trump’s diehard supporters to honestly listen to the way he talks, and then tell me if you think he is all right.
After being nearly an hour late arriving in Norfolk, Virginia, last Saturday to speak at the 250th birthday celebration of the United States Navy, President Trump rambled through a political and largely incoherent speech. I cringe to think how embarrassing the nation’s 250th birthday will be next year with Trump at the helm.
As far as I know, he is the first U.S. President to treat a gathering of military personnel like a political rally. Of course, this was not the first time he has done that. He does it on a regular basis, including his speech to 800 Generals and Admirals at Quantico, Virginia, on September 29, 2025.
Photo credit: Sven Piper on Unsplash.com
While making a flicking motion with his hand last Saturday, Trump said, “We have to take care of this little gnat that’s on our shoulder called the Democrats.” He said Democrats “want to give all our money to illegal aliens.” I imagine there were some Democrats in his audience that day. His name calling needs to stop. He is 79 years old, not seven years old.
Trump referred to sorties as “sortays.”
Photo credit: Sachin Nayak on Unsplash
He said we would have won the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan “but we got politically correct. We are not political correct any more. Now we win.”
He said the Navy blowing up drug cartel boats in the ocean “is an act of kindness.” He bragged that we’ve been so good at blowing up boats that there aren’t even any fishing boats out there anymore.
Trump told the sailors that he could have prevented the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. I’m quoting part of his speech verbatim, in case there is still any doubt in your mind that our President cannot make a coherent statement. On Saturday, he said,
“I wrote about Osama bin Laden exactly one year ago, one year before he blew up the World Trade Center. I said, ‘You gotta watch Osama bin Laden. And the fake news would never let me get away with that statement unless it was truth but, I said one year before to Pete Hegseth, I said one year before, in the book, I wrote — whatever the hell the title, I can’t tell you, but I can tell you there’s a page in there devoted to the fact that I saw somebody named Osama bin Laden, and I didn’t like it, and ‘You’ve gotta take care of him. They didn’t do it and a year later he blew up the World Trade Center. So we’ve got to take a little credit because nobody else is going to give it to me.'”
I find it hard to believe that Donald Trump discussed Osama bin Laden with the then 20-year-old Pete Hegseth in the year 2000, but that’s what he said last Saturday in Norfolk. Either that, or he thinks the World Trade Center was blow up this year and he talked to Pete Hegseth about Osama bin Laden last year.
Most of his speech last Saturday was inappropriate for a captive audience of U.S. Navy personnel.
Photo credit: Y S on unsplash
To the sailors’ credit, they were silent while the president waited in vain for booing from them when he asked if they had heard of President “Barack Hussein Obama.” He never misses a chance to include President Obama’s middle name as a blatant jab at the name which has roots in the Middle East. The insinuation is always that President Obama is a Muslim, which he is not.
It was jarring, though, to see the young sailors seated behind Trump react with laughter when he called Democrats “gnats.” It is troubling that they have not been trained in the military tradition demonstrated by their Admirals on September 29. Is their training lacking? Were they not reminded in preparation for Trump’s speech to not show approval or disapproval for political remarks he might make.
Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash
We have a U.S. President who regularly treats speeches to our military personnel as a political rally.
The United States military being non-political is a bedrock foundation of our country. If we lose that, the citizens of the United States will no longer trust our military to protect us.
He is abusing the National Guard by sending them from one state to perform law enforcement duties in another state. Surely, the Governor of Illinois and the Mayor of Chicago will win their lawsuit against Trump for sending the Texas National Guard to Chicago this week. If the courts let us down on this case, our democracy is surely doomed.
It is heartbreaking to have to write about the state of things in the United States. If you are reading this in another country, it must be confusing. Trust me, most Americans are just as confused as you are.
U.S. Government Shutdown
The Republicans blame the Democrats. The Democrats blame the Republicans. But in 2011, Donald J. Trump said if the federal government shutdown, it would be the fault of the President of the United States.
Thousands of federal employees are in limbo. Thousands of others, like air traffic controllers, are expected to continue to work without pay. I seem to recall a Trump slogan: “Make America Safe Again.” Do you feel safe yet?
Trump’s tariffs have hung the American farmer out to dry. Between abruptly ending USAID and getting in a tariff war with China, the soybean market has all but disappeared.
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
No one in the White House or the U.S. Congress appears to care if thousands of farmers lose everything they have while the political games play out.
Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash
Every single American depends on the American farmers every single day. Where does Trump think we will get our food after all the farmers go bankrupt? They cannot bounce back from bankruptcy like he has. He does not have a clue what a farm is or how it functions.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi please the audience of one she was performing for yesterday before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, but I don’t think she impressed the nation.
If the majority of Americans thought she behaved professionally, then we are in deeper trouble than I thought.
It was a horrible display of sarcasm and dodging every question. She is the poster girl for RUDE.
The FBI, Southern Poverty Law Center, & Anti-Defamation League
Photo by David Trinks on Unsplash
The Associated Press reported: “FBI Director Kash Patel says the bureau is cutting ties with two organizations that for decades have tracked domestic extremism and racial and religious bias, a move that follows complaints about the groups from some conservatives and prominent allies of President Donald Trump.
“Patel said Friday that the FBI would sever its relationship with the Southern Poverty Center, asserting that the organization had been turned into a “partisan smear machine” and criticizing it for its use of a “hate map” that documents alleged anti-government and hate groups inside the United States. A statement earlier in the week from Patel said the FBI would end ties with the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish advocacy organization that fights antisemitism.”
I found it odd that the Trump Administration is cutting ties with the Anti-Defamation League while simultaneously punishing universities it claims are discriminating against Jewish students. It appears that the U.S. Department of Justice can’t decide whether to help Jewish people or persecute them. As President Trump often says, “We’ll have to wait and see.”
The FBI has worked in partnership with prominent civil rights groups for decades, but I guess Kash Patel doesn’t want any part of it. Or, perhaps he’s just following Trump’s orders. The Southern Poverty Center and the Anti-Defamation League have provided research on hate crimes and domestic extremism to the FBI in the past, but it seems some conservatives think they are not fair.
Meanwhile… President Trump breaks the law by sending the Texas National Guard to Chicago, uninvited and unwanted
Trump is also talking about invoking the Insurrection Act. Funny how he did not invoke it or even call up the National Guard on January 6, 2021, when The Capitol was under siege by his angry mob.
In the last four days, Trump has called Democrats “gnats,” “low IQ people,” and “Somalians.” I guess he got tired calling us “the enemy of the people” and “left-wing lunatics.”
Students of history, can you name a dictator from Germany who used those same tactics in the 1930s to dehumanize the citizens?
Although Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) emergency preparedness grants (Emergency Management Performance Grants) have always been distributed to states based on U.S. Census population figures, last week states were notified that they cannot access those funds until they adjust their population counts to reflect this year’s deportations of illegal aliens.
Photo by Andy Feliciotti on Unsplash
States were notified last Tuesday, September 30, that they must submit certification of their population as of that date. They must include their methodology and confirm that individuals deported by the United States are not included in that population count.
Keep in mind that the taking of a census is a function and responsibility of the federal government and states are not set up to conduct population counts. Funds will not be released to states until FEMA has reviewed and approved the methodology used and the population certification.
“The Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) provides state, local, tribal and territorial emergency management agencies with the resources required for implementation of the National Preparedness System and works toward the National Preparedness Goal of a secure and resilient nation. The EMPG’s allowable costs support efforts to build and sustain core capabilities across the prevention, protection, mitigation, response and recovery mission areas.”
This new policy flies in the face of the purpose and objectives of the EMPG.
This new policy applies to all states but, reading between the lines, it is particularly aimed at states like North Carolina that have Democrat governors for those states are more likely to have so-called “sanctuary cities.”
However, North Carolina is growing in population and my hunch is that even after undocumented immigrants who have been deported are removed from the 2020 U.S. Census tally, North Carolina will be able to prove a net growth in population. In that case, this new Trump Administration policy just might backfire.
FEMA has not issued any guidelines telling states how these unprecedented state-conducted censuses are to be conducted or reported, which means the states are left to guess at how to go about this.
It leaves FEMA free to arbitrarily deny methodology used or to challenge population figures submitted. That is a probability coming from an administration that is accountable to no one.
Any administration that repeatedly withholds funds that were approved by the U.S. Congress cannot be trusted to ever release funds to Democrat-led states since we have been labeled “the enemy within.”
I only read one entire book in September. I pre-ordered it early in the summer and had great expectations that it would contain some information to supplement my research about the Great Wagon Road.
The Road That Made America: A Modern Pilgrim’s Journey on The Great Wagon Road, by James Dodson
The Road That Made America, by James Dodson
Perhaps I should have done more research into the book itself. It was not what I expected, but I read the entire book. I did not want to miss a morsel of new detail about the Great Wagon Road.
I will not write a review of this book, because it very well might be my fault that I expected too much from it. I know from experience that it is difficult to recover a high rating once someone has left a mediocre review.
For what Mr. Dodson set out to write, he did an excellent job. It just wasn’t what I hoped for or needed.
If you are looking for a travelogue that is about half set in Pennsylvania and pretty much peters out when he gets to the northern piedmont area in North Carolina, you would probably enjoy this book. The author tells where he ate, where he stayed, and who he met along the way. He met some old friends along the way and he gives background details of their years of friendship. There is an emphasis on the Civil War battlefields along or near The Great Wagon Road, so a Civil War buff would find that of interest.
It just wasn’t what I hoped would supplement my research for the historical novel series I’m writing.
My reading continues to suffer
I have been in a reading funk since January 20. Actually, it dates back to November 5, 2024. You can read between the lines and figure out why I have lost my desire to read. It is a sad and dangerous thing for a wannabe writer to stop reading.
My writing projects
This summer I finished writing and self-published I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter and I Need The Light! Companion Journal and Diary. They are available on Amazon and you can look for them at your favorite bookstore.
If can even order the devotional book (and soon, the companion journal) from your favorite independent bookstore by going to https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com, click on the book covers and place your order by using the Bookshop.org button.
I appreciate each of you who have ordered either or both books.
At the request of a distant cousin who is a very dedicated member of the Sons of the American Revolution, last week I set my short stories aside and wrote the honoring statements for four American Revolutionary War patriots and soldiers who are buried in Spears Graveyard of Rocky River Presbyterian Church in Cabarrus County, NC.
With that research and writing completed on Saturday evening, I turned my attention back to proofreading and editing my historical short stories. Stay turned for an announcement in a few weeks when I publish Traveling Through History: Historical Short Stories.
Hurricane Helene Update
As of Friday, 35 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene. That count included five US highways, two state highways, and 28 state roads, meaning three state roads opened last week.
Of course, sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina will remain closed for another year or more, and I-40 at the Tennessee line will continue to be just two lanes at 35 miles-per-hour for a couple more years while five miles of the highway are being rebuilt in the Pigeon River Gorge.
But western North Carolina is open for business and tourists this fall. Just be aware that you might run into a detour, and you can’t drive the full length of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Before I get into the meat of today’s post, I must share a U.S. Postal Service incident. This might just be indicative of what’s wrong with our mail service today.
This afternoon, my sister took a large envelope to the post office for me along with my $20 bill. The postage was going to be $2.72. The clerk said she could not take the $20 bill as payment “because my computer says I don’t have change for it in my cash drawer.”
We will never know if the computer was correct. It seems like there should be a way for a postal clerk to open the drawer and see if the computer is correct. If the computer is correct, perhaps there should be a way for a postal clerk to get some cash from somewhere in the post office so he or she can sell a stamp and give a customer change for a $20 bill.
Without further ado, I will bring three things to your attention that are minor when taken alone; however, it is the relentless daily parade of such minor actions that are piling up.
Little-by-little, things are being done – or undone – behind the scenes. It feels like an out-of-control unraveling.
National Council on the Humanities
Trump has relieved 22 members of the 26-member National Council on the Humanities of their duties this week, leaving only four white men who were appointed by Trump. This council advises the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) about such things as grants to award.
The council was scheduled to meet next week “to submit nominations for the National Humanities Medal, consider three “sole source” grant applications and review statue proposals for Trump’s National Garden of American Heroes,” according to a report by The Washington Post.
Members of the council are appointed to serve six-year terms. Their only compensation is payment for travel and time spent in meetings.
The council needs a quorum of 14 to hold a meeting. Replacements must be approved by the U.S. Senate.
The acting chair of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Michael McDonald, informed members of the council in April that some NEA and NEH funds were being directed to Trump’s National Garden of American Heroes and the country’s semiquincentennial celebration in 2026.
Fewer grants than usual have been awarded since March; however, the agency’s largest ever grant of $10.4 million was awarded in September to Tikvah, “a think tank and education center that describes its mission as advancing ‘Jewish excellence and Western civilization through education and ideas,’” according to The Washington Post report.
What does this wholesale “firing” of nearly all members of the National Council on the Humanities mean for the future of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts?
Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash
The director of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home as resigned because First Lady Melania Trump wanted to take one of President Eisenhower’s swords from the museum and give it to King Charles.
The Eisenhower Museum houses three of the World War II U.S. Army General’s swords: a Sword of Honor from the City of London in 1947, an honor saber from The Netherlands in 1947, and his West Point officer saber.
In the end, West Point supplied the First Lady with a replica saber and the Eisenhower Museum director resigned.
Is this part of the larger Trump Administration’s attack on museums? I don’t know what the First Lady’s motivation was in her request to the Eisenhower Museum. It seems a stretch to think she had personal knowledge of the holdings of the museum in Abilene, Kansas.
Federal support for charter schools instead of public schools
I don’t know if every state got new federal money for charter schools or if it was only North Carolina, but North Carolina received a $53 million grant for charter schools.
Just imagine how much could have been accomplished if the Trump Administration had awarded each of the 115 public school systems in North Carolina $460,869.56 instead of handing it to charter schools!
According to wunc.org, “U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced a $60 million increase in total funding for the Charter School Program Grant this fiscal year, making the announcement during National Charter Schools week this past May. It brings the department’s total investment into charter schools to more than $500 million over the next five years.”
The unc.org report also stated, “This additional federal investment in charter schools comes as the U.S. Department of Education has been rolling back competitive grants previously awarded under the Biden administration to public school districts. Notices from the department about revoked funding say that the grant projects do not fit the Trump administration’s priorities, often citing language in grant applications related to diversity, equity, inclusion or hiring practices that consider race.”
As if that weren’t bad enough, the North Carolina Legislature continues to pour tax money in the state budget to give vouchers to every family that wants to send their children to private school, even if they are wealthy and could do that without the vouchers.
This very public non-support of public education is taking us down a bad path. As long as the government does not support public education, the politicians can continue to criticize public schools and it will be a self-fulling prophecy.
In closing
It is getting increasingly more difficult to watch and listen to, but it is incumbent upon each American to pay attention.
It isn’t good for our mental health to concentrate on the news for hours on end every day, but if we all just turn off the news completely and refuse to keep up with what is being done – or undone – we will lose our democracy.
For as long as we have open and free elections, we each need to be informed about who we are voting for on all levels of government. If we do not make informed choices, we will cease to have open and free elections. We could go in the direction of Russia where they have elections but there is only one name on the ballot.
Meanwhile, the federal government shut down at midnight on Tuesday. I think the blame falls on the U.S. President; his hand-picked Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought (who helped write Project 2025); along with the Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress. None of them are upholding their oaths of office. None of them appear to take their jobs seriously and act on behalf of the American people.
This is an insane way to run a country. You can’t run a household like this, so why do they think they can operate the United States of America like this?
It is getting more difficult by the week to blog about the things going on in our federal government. I have just about run out of words.
I know I’m “preaching to the choir” because people who read my blog either already agree with me or I’m “spitting in the wind” if they don’t. None of you are going to change your minds at this point. You either acknowledge what has happened to our country or you don’t.
If you have not seen and heard enough since January 20, 2025, to join the Resistance, you never will.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
Violent rhetoric
In case you thought all the nasty people were “on the left,” I will just take a moment to point out that it was John Gillette, a Republican Arizona State Representative who posted a threatening statement on X in response to an old YouTube video clip from March in which Democrat U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal talked about preparations for street protests against the Trump administration.
Gillette’s post: “Until people like this, that advocate for the overthrow of the American government are tried, convicted and hanged … it will continue.”
Congress member Jayapal in no way advocated for the overthrow of the American government. As far as I know, peaceful protests are still protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
No rule of law on international waters
Trump has put U.S. military personnel in violation of criminal and military law by ordering them to kill 17 people in boats in international waters. Just because Trump says those 17 people were smuggling drugs into the United States doesn’t make it true.
Traditionally, drug smugglers who are caught in the act are arrested and tried in a court of law. Trump’s tactic this year of ordering the military to blow up boats, the boats’ occupants, and all possible evidence of a crime is reckless and wrong.
What the meeting at Quantico cost us
It was a meeting that could have been securely held via Zoom. In an apparent show of power, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth summoned hundreds of Generals and Admirals to Quantico, Virginia, for a meeting yesterday.
They had to leave their command posts from all over the world with one week’s notice for what was reported to be a 71-minute meeting. Or, maybe that was how many minutes Trump rambled on about how he loves his signature, about President Obama and President Biden, and about the multitude of wars no one can identify that Trump claims to have ended this year.
The parts of his talk that I heard were incoherent ramblings. If anything, they were worse than his usual “weavings.”
I heard the cost of the meeting for taxpayers was $6 million, which is pocket change for Trump and his ilk. No big deal.
But the monetary cost of the meeting is the least of our worries.
If I get started writing about the remarks Secretary of Defense Hegseth said about women in the military, social justice, and climate change, I will say some things I should not put in print. I know some women in the military who could fight just as hard and effectively as Hegseth. Just sayin’.
Every American should be horrified by the words of Hegseth and Trump. When the Secretary of Defense of the United States of America announces to the world that we will no longer abide by “the rules of engagement,” it is indeed a dark day in our country and the world at large.
If the United States military is no longer going to abide by the international laws and norms for the conduct of war, then no one in the world is safe.
When a United States President thinks it is a good idea to send troops into our cities to train, it is a dark day for our country.
When a United States President cannot tell the difference between a live news report (i.e., reality) and an old video clip of a civil unrest and declares war on Portland, Oregon, we should all be very, very afraid.
When the United States President posts an AI-generated racially-doctored and derogatory meme of the Minority Leader of the United States Senate and the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives on social media, one is led to ask if he is 79 years old or 12 years old. (I apologize to all the 12-year-olds of the world. That was unfair to you.)
All this from this week, folks. And it was only Tuesday evening as I wrote this.
The Federal Government Shutdown
Here we go again. The United States Congress cannot figure out a budget for more than three months at a time. Regular people should be so lucky!
It is sad that so many of the members of Congress think this is a game. They are playing with peoples’ lives and livelihood. Trump glibly said he will just fire a lot of federal government employees. That’s a great attitude, isn’t it?
As if the National Park Service employees remaining in the mountains of North Carolina haven’t already taken it on the chin since Hurricane Helene twelve months ago… as if the basket weavers, glass blowers, quilters and other textile artists, potters, furniture makers, wood crafts persons, and jewelry artisans of the Southern Highland Craft Guild haven’t already nearly gone bankrupt… the United States Congress just shut down the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville as part of the federal government shutdown. At least, that’s what has happened during prior shutdowns.
So, Senators and Representatives, why did you choose to kick the people of western North Carolina when they were already down?
It is the very beginning of the fall tourist season in those mountains. Countless people have worked to reopen and reconstruction roads and businesses to serve tourists and residents alike. They have pinned their hopes on the 2025 fall tourist season to help them hang onto the businesses they lost or nearly lost to the hurricane.
Members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild greatly depend on selling their unique creations at the Folk Art Center. To say it is a shame that it will be closed for the duration of the government shutdown would be the understatement of the year.
The Folk Art Center is also the home of the 20,000-volume Robert W. Gray Library of “books, exhibition catalogs, video, and more relating to craft from around the world.” (https://southernhighlandguild.org/folkartcenter/)
And this, America, is just one small victim of the federal government shutdown – all because Republicans and Democrats no longer talk to each other – and most of them on both sides of the aisle apparently couldn’t care less about you and me. They have forgotten who they work for, and they have forgotten their oaths of office.
In closing…
I think most of us in the United States are weary. The reckless attacks on our democracy are taking a toll on many of us. It’s like trying to stand up to the unrelenting force of a fire hose.
I am so old that I remember the decades when women and people of color almost had equal rights.
I remember when members of our military could be proud of their service and could have respect for their Commander-in-Chief and the Secretary of Defense, even if they did not agree with some of the decisions made and orders issued.
I remember when we could depend on the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court to protect us.
I remember when politicians had the skill and desire to compromise to make our 249-year-old experiment in democracy work.
It’s sad to feel like the best years of the United States America are behind us.
If you’re tired of reading my blog posts about Hurricane Helene, just imagine how tired of the slow road to recovery the residents of western North Carolina are.
Saturday marked the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene ravaging much of western North Carolina. As I wrote this on Saturday, North Carolina was in a State of Emergency in preparation for a possible hit from what was developing into Tropical Storm or Hurricane Imelda.
As you can imagine, the word “hurricane” rattles us in North Carolina – all 500 miles or so from the Outer Banks to the Tennessee line.
I have tried to include a report on the area’s recovery every Monday in my blog. You may be tired of reading about it, but I believe it is important for me to use my little blog to remind all of us that it takes years for people and a landscape to recover from a natural disaster.
We tend to have short attention spans now, and there are so many things happening in our country and world that news organizations cannot dwell on the past.
We tend to think in terms of hurricanes being a coastal threat, but most of Hurricane Helene’s rath was visited upon the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina, some 500 miles north of where it made landfall on the Gulf coast and dumped up to 31 inches of rain on a rugged, remote terrain. It was a “perfect storm” of wind and rain coming on the heels of several days of heavy rain.
It is estimated that Hurricane Helene did $60 billion in damage to North Carolina alone. Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee also had damage, but my state’s damage was so severe that I have chosen to concentrate on it.
Likewise, I have primarily reported on the status of road repairs. That is not to ignore the fact that damage to homes, businesses, and lives is even more important. It is just not possible for me to gather details about the recovery of those aspects of life. I hope my weekly updates about the repair and reconstruction of our roads and highways have served as an indicator that people’s lives are still in disarray.
Today I will share with you a sampling of the damage, the progress being made, and the never-give-up spirit of the people of western North Carolina. There have been many milestones in the recovery, but there is still a long way to go.
Please don’t forget the people.
Photo by NASA on Unsplash Not Hurricane Helene.
Coal deliveries via rail
WLOS-TV in Asheville reported that a CSX coal train arrived in Spruce Pine on Thursday – the first train headed south to arrive in Spruce Pine since Hurricane Helene hit a year ago. Sixty miles of CSX railroad tracks were severely damaged in the storm.
Fish hatchery
The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission reports that the Armstrong State Fish Hatchery in McDowell County, which was nearly destroyed by the hurricane, is anticipated to be fully operational in November. More than 600,000 hatchery fish died in the storm. The facility was partially operational last spring.
“Each dollar anglers spend to fish for mountain trout in North Carolina returns $1.93 to its economy and results in a $1.38 billion impact, according to new data from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC).”
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Some people are still living in FEMA housing. In fact, people are in some cases opting to purchase the FEMA trailers to continue to live in.
WBTV in Charlotte reported that “state officials estimated as of Wednesday, Sept. 24, North Carolina had received federal funds to cover about 10.6% of the state’s total $60 billion Helene damage estimate.”
The station’s online report quoted an Avery County elected official as saying, “They keep changing the goalposts.” There is growing frustration in Avery and Yancey counties after FEMA denied funding for debris removal that local officials thought were eligible for reimbursement. Mountains of tree debris create fire hazard during dry spells in such heavily wooded areas.
Local officials in mountain counties are complaining about how slow the paperwork is being processed by FEMA along with inconsistency in guidelines. A FEMA spokesperson decline an interview with WBTV and offered no explanation of the cleanup projects in Avery County.
Veterans Restoration Quarters
Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry’s decades-old transitional shelter for homeless veterans was severely damaged and uninhabitable after the hurricane.
The more than 250 residents were evacuated during the hurricane induced flooding of the Swannanoa River during the storm. Water was more than a foot deep as the last evacuation bus pulled away from the property.
The WBTV report stated, “The timeline for reopening the Veterans Restoration Quarters is likely years away and is estimated to cost at least $13 million.”
Food relief
Last week 1,800 boxes of groceries were packed by volunteers in Charlotte and distributed near Asheville by MANNA FoodBank, Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, and Food Lion.
The CEO of MANNA FoodBank was quoted in a WSOC-TV report as saying, “And what we’re seeing is the highest need for emergency food assistance that we’ve ever seen in our 42-year history.”
“We became a major distribution hub sharing life-saving supplies with 15,000 people a day in impacted zones from Marshall to Chimney Rock, Barnardsville, Burnsville, Spruce Pine, Pensacola, Waynesville, Marion, Old Fort, Black Mountain, Swannanoa, Asheville, and Fairview–towns big and small and mountain hollers. We shared millions of pounds of food, millions of gallons of water, and millions of necessities from hygiene, first aid, and tools for clean up and repairs.”
“We know it will take years to heal these mountains and our people. And we are committed to be here for the long-haul until the last nail. And we need people to join us in this commitment. We carry deep wounds from this storm, but we are stronger than we could have ever imagined. We know that together we can restore, heal, and rebuild this beautiful land and lift up our mountain neighbors. We invite you to join this movement to heal Appalachia.”
Brother Wolf Animal Rescue
Excerpts from Brother Wolf Animal Rescue’s newsletter last Thursday, looking back over the year since Hurricane Helene completely wiped out their facility…
“We lost neighbors, communities were swept away, and Brother Wolf’s entire campus…everything we had built since 2007, was swallowed by floodwaters. Every physical asset we relied on to save lives was gone overnight.”
“The day before the storm hit, something extraordinary happened. In just two hours, 100 animals were urgently evacuated from our shelter and carried into the arms of loving foster homes, saving them from a fate we can’t bear to think of.”
“In the days after, with no power, no water, no internet, our staff met in parking lots and drove through broken roads to orchestrate the transport of 150 animals out of the disaster zone. With partners, we treated over 1,200 injured pets—covered in fish hooks, with broken bones, sick from toxic floodwaters—and stood beside their families as they survived a nightmare.”
“These are the facts, but no list of numbers can tell the whole story. Because the hurricane did not end when the waters receded.It is still here. It is in us. It will be with us forever—a lasting scar and, somehow, a guide for what’s to come.
“And through all of it, the animals have been our compass.
“When people think of animal rescue, they often picture the animal being saved. The dog carried out of floodwaters, the sick cat adopted from an overflowing shelter. And yes—that is true, we do save them; but what is just as true is how those same animals save us.”
“Today, one year later, the world feels heavy – full of griefs far beyond our own. In this shared sorrow, we’ve discovered that even as we mourn what was lost, animals are finding new beginnings. Families are laughing again. Neighbors are still helping neighbors. And together, we are slowly healing.”
“The ASPCA opened their doors to us, temporarily sharing their space so we never had to stop helping animals. Not for One. Single. Day.”
“As we look ahead, we carry both the weight of what was lost and the bright hope of what is to come. The road to rebuilding will be long, but also filled with possibility—and we are more certain than ever that the future holds incredible things for Brother Wolf, for the animals, and for our community.
“A new chapter is unfolding for Brother Wolf, and your kind heart is woven into the fabric of our story. Your belief in us has carried us through the darkest year of our lives, and together we are stepping into a future brighter than we could have ever imagined. Our story continues, written in every life touched, and enduring beyond storms and time: in saving them, we save each other too.”
Jake Jarvis of Precision Grading
I have mentioned Jake Jarvis of Precision Grading of Saluda, North Carolina, several times on my blog since September 27, 2024. I continue to follow him on Facebook. He is still out and about with his heavy equipment in the mountains of North Carolina every day, helping people and not charging them a penny unless that have insurance money with which to pay him.
Hurricane Helene Update at the end of Year One of Recovery
As of Friday, 38 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene. That count included five US highways, two state highways, and 31 state roads. That’s the same as last Friday’s NCDOT report. Progress seems slow, but remember that more than 1,400 roads were closed a year ago Saturday.
Of course, sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina will remain closed for another year or more, and I-40 at the Tennessee line will continue to be just two lanes at 35 miles-per-hour for a couple more years while five miles of the highway are being rebuilt in the Pigeon River Gorge.
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