Things I failed to mention earlier

With so much chaos being thrown at Americans every day, it is difficult to keep up. I have blogged four times already this week, but there are a few things I failed to mention. In fact, the first one of the items is from three weeks ago.

I started compiling the list for today’s post on Tuesday night. At first, I was going to blog about two items. As usual, though, the fire hose of egregious actions perpetrated by the Trump Regime continued to come at us. The result is seven items.

I could have added more.

White House Records

Every Presidential Administration is required to preserve all correspondence and documents and turn them over to the National Archives at the end of that President’s term.

The Trump Administration can’t be bothered with such evidence, so White House Counsel David Alan Warrington sent out a directive to the White House staff three weeks ago to alert them to major changes.

Those changes were not ordered by Congress or by the National Archives or by the U.S. Supreme Court. That leaves one source: The Trump Administration itself.

Mr. Warrington was quoted as saying the new guidelines are a “significant departure from historical practice.”

Maegan Vazquez of The Washington Post interviewed University of Maryland Professor Jason R. Baron about the policy change. Baron told the newspaper that there was nothing in the memo to prevent “the White House from directing the transfer or destruction of White House records, including tens of millions of e-mails, either before or after the end of the president’s second term in office.”

The article went on to describe the lackadaisical tenor of the memo as it told White House staffers they are “free to retain” previous policy. The article quotes Baron as saying, “The new guidance says such texts must be preserved only ‘when they are the sole record of official decision-making, government action, or contain unique information not available elsewhere. Staffers are ‘encouraged’ to memorialize the information in those exchanges ‘in a more accessible format, such as an email or memorandum,’ … rather than directly taking a screenshot or otherwise sharing the relevant exchange in its entirety.”

With Trump’s track record of the handling of government documents, what could we possibly have to worry about?

UPDATE: Federal Judge John Bates of the DC District Court ruled on May 20, 2026 that the White House must comply with the Presidential Records Act and preserve ALL presidential records. That includes text messages. It remains to be seen if Trump will comply or if there will be consequences if he doesn’t. It also isn’t known how many records have disappeared since Mr. Warrington’s memo was issued in April.

The $1.776 Billion Slush Fund & an Even Sweeter Deal

Surely you heard about it this week, unless you live in a cave.

Trump sues the IRS for $11 million.

Trump withdraws his suit against the government he leads.

The U.S. Department of (In)justice, formerly known as the Department of Justice, sets up a $1,776,000,000 slush fund for anyone who was treated unfairly by the Biden Administration to apply for compensation. This, of course, includes the MAGA rioters who assaulted police officers and trashed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, with the encouragement of Donald Trump.

These are the people who constructed a gallows on the U.S. Capitol property and chanted “Hang Mike Pence!” These are the people who would have killed or severely wounded Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi if they had found her that day.

It wasn’t enough that Trump pardoned them. Now, he wants the American taxpayers to pay them $1.776 Billion for their “suffering.”

This is the same President who promised to bring prices down, promised to end inflation, and said a week or two ago that the United States can’t afford to pay for healthcare or childcare. I guess not. We have too many ballrooms, blue paint, and gold doo-dahs to pay for while giving money to the criminals who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

This week, Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney who is now the acting U.S. Attorney General drew up a sweet deal for not only Trump but his entire family. In a Congressional hearing on Tuesday, Blanche would not rule out a convicted felon being considered for the slush fund. I guess includes President Trump, since he is a convicted felon. Perhaps Trump will get the entire $1.776 billion. 

Is the 1776 figure supposed to make us feel patriotic about this ruse?

Two police officers who were assaulted in the attempted coup on January 6, 2021 have filed suit to try to stop this slush fund from being created.

Since Congress holds the federal purse strings (at least on paper/according to the Constitution), we can hope Congress will put a stop to this corruption before it can go forward.

In return for dropping the suit, Trump and his family and any and all of their businesses are immune to Internal Revenue audits. This is from the person who is head of the U.S. Justice Department.

Every single day gets worse.

Come to think of it, Trump never shared any of his tax returns with the public during his first term. He claimed he could not because he was under an IRS audit.

Hmmm… looks like he just lost that excuse, but somehow it won’t matter.

This slush fund for Trump to use to monetarily reward the rioters who trashed the U.S. Capitol, assaulted police officers, and tried to stop a peaceful transfer of power on January 6, 2021 coupled with the Trump family’s virtual “Get out of jail free” card from the IRS is without a doubt the most egregious (even by Trump standards) and blatant act of corruption to ever be perpetrated by a United States President.

And yet… he still has supporters. Go figure!

Trump’s Ballroom

The Republicans in Congress want to set aside $1 billion for Trump’s ballroom, which started out at $200,000 and was going to be completely paid for by Trump’s friends.

A billion dollars here, a billion dollars there… pretty soon we’ll be talking about some real money.

On Tuesday, Trump said the ballroom will have six stories underground. A few seconds later, he said it will have three stories underground.

Either way, I’m sure Putin knows more about it than the American people who are paying for it. Anything the Russians can’t see from their satellites; Trump is bound to tell them. Anything he knows, he announces, and if he doesn’t know it, he just makes it up. He’ll probably give Putin a tour when it’s finished.

Ebola Outbreak in Republic of Congo

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo a public health emergency of international concern.

You may recall that Trump pulled the United States out of WHO. He also ended USAID. He also decimated the Centers for Disease Control.

Not only can the United States not help Congo, we don’t have doctors or scientists to officially send there to analyze the current strain of Ebola. It is caused by the Bundibugyo virus. There are no approved drugs or vaccines to fight it.

Famine in much of Africa

Meanwhile, the worst famine in decades is spreading in Africa.

The United States Government won’t be there to offer aid, unless the famine outlasts the Trump Regime.

Cyanide bombs on public lands

The Bureau of Land Management has gone off the rails.

The Biden Administration banned the use of spring-loaded cyanide bombs to kill wildlife on public lands in 2023.

Of course, the Trump Regime has reinstated the practice on 245 million acres of public land. Animals are baited by the scent. When they pull on the scented bait, a sodium cyanide pellet is fired into the animal’s mouth. This results in convulsions, paralysis, and then death.

Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

It never ceases to baffle me at the joy this administration takes in killing any living thing.

More than 50 family dogs have been killed by these cyanide bombs since 1990. The bombs are an equal-opportunity killing machine. They can’t tell the difference between a coyote, an endangered species, or a child.

Way to go Trump!

Please contact your Representative in the U.S. House and ask them to vote for H.R. 4180 and you U.S. Senator and ask them to vote for S. 2179. Known as Canyon’s Law, passage of the bill would ban the use of M-44 cyanide bombs on public lands.

It is called Canyon’s law for 14-year-old Canyon Mansfield who was sprayed by a cyanide bomb along with his dog in 2017. The dog died, and Canyon was rushed to a hospital and survived. Canyon and his dog had gone for a walk in the hills behind his family’s Idaho home.

Netanyahu – Trump’s puppet

On Wednesday Trump said that Netanyahu “will do whatever I tell him to.” Actually, he said it twice.

Trump also said he has a 99% approval rating in Israel, so he might run for Prime Minister there.

Please! Go!

It seems that our Republic has slid right into a dictatorship. Trump can do anything he wants to do and there is no one to stop him. He promised to “drain the swamp” in Washington, DC, but instead he has widened and deepened it. He has given “political corruption” a whole new meaning.

However, … “We the people….” Election day is November 3, 2026.

We the people can drain the swamp. We the people will drain the swamp. I have to believe that.

Janet


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

Attacks on Nature are Never-Ending

Some of my blog readers have dropped by the wayside. I suppose they got tired of my rants about the corruption in the Trump Administration. It’s a free country. Each individual is free to bury their head in the sand. Each individual is free to say, “I don’t watch the news any more. It upsets me.”

To that I say, “I’m glad it upsets you. It should upset you, but do you think that by ignoring it you are making things any better?” (If you are more than 90 years old, I will give you a pass. You have already done your part to try to preserve our democracy.)

The news upsets me, but the people who choose to ignore it upset me more. But, like I said, it is a free country. You don’t have to participate. You don’t have to care about the rest of us. You don’t have to care about future generations. You don’t have to do your part.

Today, I will draw your attention – if you’re still with me – to just three things that you might not have heard about, if you have stopped watching the news. Even if you still watch the news, you probably did not hear about these actions.

Bureau of Land Management

The Bureau of Land Management quietly removed “conservation” as a use for public lands. Let that sink it.

Photo by Immo Wegmann on Unsplash

What uses are approved?

Grazing, mining, and energy development.

The Public Lands Rule (also known as the Conservation & Landscape Health Rule) was finalized in 2024 to conserve and restore federally-owned public lands that had been damaged by drought, development, wildfires, and invasive species.

It is beyond sad that the Trump Administration hates nature so much. We, the American people, own these lands. They were supposed to be held in trust for future generations – you know… like previous generations put them in trust for us. Ever hear of the National Park system? It did not happen by accident.

This is what you get when you put a New York City alleged-businessman in the White House, and then blindly approve everyone he nominates to Cabinet positions and judgeships.

In repealing the 2024 Rule, the Bureau of Land Management says that by removing conservation as a legitimate use of land, “balance” will be restored as grazing, mining, and energy development will be prioritized.

They really think we are stupid.

The EPA and toxic coal wastewater

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed rolling back the rules governing the release of toxic wastewater from coal plants. In the old days, like April 2026, coal plants were required to treat wastewater before it could seep into rivers, lakes, and streams.

Why, you may ask?

Because those rivers, lakes, and streams eventually provide drinking water for millions of Americans. Also, beings like fish and salamanders also live in those waters. They are part of our ecosystem. They are not beings to be trashed.

Photo by Andy Holmes on Unsplash

Why do reasonable people not want coal waste in their drinking water?

Because it contains such things as arsenic, mercury, and lead.

The policy put in place by the Biden Administration to restrict coal wastewater release was projected to keep 660 million pounds of toxic waste from reaching our waterways per year.

Why is the Trump Administration pushing to end this policy?

The official reason is to “bolster the power grid.”

Trump likes to talk about “clean coal.” I’m not sure what “clean coal” is. Trump hates wind power and solar power, but he loves coal-burning plants. He loves toxic black coal and calls it “clean.” Calling it “clean” does not make it so.

Ever heard of Black Lung? Anyone in your family want to be a coal miner? Anyone in Trump’s family want to be a coal miner?

I knew Trump hated the natural world’s beauty. The concept that the world’s natural beauty holds value just by being, well, natural and beautiful, is a concept he was obviously not taught at home or in the expensive private schools he attended.

The natural world allows us to breathe clean air and drink clean water, but Trump’s hatred for such things for the American people is overwhelmingly complete. In his eyes, the natural world only holds value when a dollar sign can be attached to it.

What a sad man. He is to be pitied for his narrow-minded short-sightedness and worship of the almighty U.S. dollar. Oh… and gold. The tackier the better!

Trump’s Triumphal Arch

I have had the privilege of visiting Washington, DC several times. Those visits always left me awestruck and proud… and wanting to visit again.

One thing that never crossed my mind was, “What our nation’s capital needs is a 250-foot-tall arch to block the view of the Lincoln Memorial from parts of Arlington National Cemetery.”

View of Arlington National Cemetery and the Washington Monument
Photo by J. Amill Santiago on Unsplash

Never crossed my mind.

Trump is hellbent on building this monstrous arch. He brags that it will dwarf the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and will be 30 feet taller than the world’s tallest arch – the Monumento a la Revolución in Mexico City.

In the process, he is attempting to skip the permitting process and the competitive public bidding process (like he did when he gave one of his buddies the $7 million contract to paint the bottom of the Reflecting Pool bright blue like a swimming pool.)

He bypassed the legal requirement of public competitive public bidding by claiming that painting the bottom of the Reflecting Pool bright blue was “an emergency.”

The way the Reflecting Pool was designed and built, government buildings such as the Washington Monument were reflected in the water. The beautiful blue sky was reflected in the water.

Trump said in one speech that some people call it a pond. He thought it was funny and said it could be called many things. I’ve always heard it called the Reflecting Pool.

Trump has no respect for its name or purpose. He has a better idea.  Let’s paint it a gaudy bright blue so it will resemble a swimming pool! And while we’re at it, let’s not put the project out for competitive bids. I know a guy. He does not build pools, but I know a guy who might know how to paint. He can pocket $7 million and be beholding to me.

I’m glad I’m old and will never visit Washington, DC again. I want to remember it the way it was before Trump arrived. Before he tore down the East Wing of the White House without permission and lied about how “the ballroom will not touch the White House.” Surely you remember when he said, “It won’t touch the White House.” He failed to mention that he was going to demolish the East Wing.

I want to remember Washington, DC without a golden Trump arch.

To those of you who still worship Trump & his 20-foot Golden Statue at Doral Golf Club

I pray you will see the light before it’s too late and we lose everything.

I know your stock portfolio is brilliant. I’m sure your 401(k) is secure and soaring.

You preach the love of Trump from your church pulpits every Sunday and again on Wednesday night.

Do you really believe you and Trump are “doing the Lord’s work?”

Do you really believe Trump was “sent by God” to destroy the environment and break all our laws?

I pity you.

I hope your children and grandchildren will enjoy seeing all your money, because chances are they won’t ever see a national park, or breathe clean air, or drink clean water.

They are going to smell the waste that is dumped in our streams – like I smelled back in the 1950s and 1960s in the textile mill belt in the piedmont of North Carolina. They are going to breathe the dirty air in their cities like I saw first-hand in Charlotte in the early 1970s when I started working.

With the repeal of the laws and policies governing pollution, that’s what we are going back to. Young people don’t understand that, because they haven’t seen it. They didn’t smell Buffalo Creek in Concord, North Carolina before it was even in sight. They haven’t seen 20-story buildings shrouded in brown air.

To the rest of you

I wish I could ignore the rampant corruption in the Trump Administration and spend my time writing historical fiction. That’s what I would rather be doing instead of watching our beautiful environment and democracy crumble.

In my early adulthood, I worked for several city and county governments. Much of my job in each position was putting projects out for bid. It was… and is… the law. It was not up for debate or question. I just did it. I did it many times. I never considered trying to circumvent the law or the spirit of the law.

My upbringing and my education in political science and public administration grounded me in following the law. Those laws were there to protect the taxpayer. Those laws were there to protect our democracy.

Those laws are in place to protect the American taxpayer from the likes of Donald Trump, but the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court have torn down the guardrails. Donald Trump has been left to ignore and trample such laws into the dirt.

The laws are still there, but Trump thinks he is above the law.

November 3, 2026 is election day for EVERY member of the U.S. House of Representatives and one-third of the U.S. Senators. Things could change with the November 3 election.

“We, the people….”

Photo by Larry Alger on Unsplash

Janet


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