Tag: Epstein Files

Just another week in Trump World

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

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

The FCC and Stephen Colbert

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

Photo by israel palacio on Unsplash

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

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

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

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

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

The appalling deportation case of Godfrey Wade

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

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

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

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

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

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

Congressional Medal of Honor

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

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

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

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

Black History Month

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

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

The Board of Peace

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

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

Trump’s Arch of Triumph

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

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

Iran

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

The Epstein Files

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Janet

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

I’m not represented in the U.S. House of Representatives

I may as well live in the 7th Congressional District of Arizona.

I’m not represented in the U.S. House of Representatives any more than the residents of the 7th District of Arizona. That’s the district in which Adelita Grijalva was elected on September 23, 2025, but Speaker of the House Mike Johnson refuses to install her because she is a Democrat and she will vote to have the Epstein files released.

Johnson might lose his position as Speaker of the House if he allows the truth to come out. At the very least Trump will have him “primaried” in 2026. But that’s enough about him.

Photo of dark clouds over the dome of the US Capitol Building
Photo by Kyle Mills on Unsplash

My Representative in Congress

Three weeks ago, on October 10, I blogged about some of my frustration with my U. S. Representative: My Congressman sent a newsletter.

I’m still frustrated with him. I requested a response from him when I emailed him on October 10, but I haven’t received a reply yet. Of course, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson gave my Congressman a nice paid vacation the last week of September, all of October, and the foreseeable future.

My Congressman’s newsletters set my hair on fire. At least I know where he stands. He stands with Donald Trump. And he despises the likes of me because I don’t stand with Donald Trump. No doubt about it.

His newsletter on October 18 opened this way: “Dear Janet, Pro-crime Democrats continue to release dangerous criminals onto the streets to roam our neighborhoods.”

This guy represents me in no way, shape, or form.

Any U.S. Senator or U.S. Representative who spews hate against everyone in their opposition political party has no right to “serve.” Such people have lost sight of their job description and oath of office.

My Congressman went on in his October 18 newsletter to call on the City of Charlotte to ask for the National Guard to descend upon us.

The subject line of his October 25 newsletter was “The Democrats are Using the Troops as Leverage!” That pretty much set the tone for the entire newsletter.

In the meantime, I will not receive a response to my October early October letter to him. My Congressman will keep preaching. (Jesus must be so proud!) After all, that’s his “calling” and I guess he will represent the people of the 8th District of North Carolina in his spare time or whenever he decides to take that $174,000-a-year job which also gives him a $79-per-day food allowance and lifetime retirement and health insurance seriously.

I don’t think the mothers with young children or the elderly individuals who get the equivalent of $6.00-per-day in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits are the problem – especially since SNAP benefits end at midnight tonight, thanks to President Trump refusing to turn loose the $6 billion “rainy day” fund Congress earmarked for SNAP in the event of a government shutdown.

I don’t think the members of Congress know how disgusted Americans are. This “Mexican Stand-off” between the Republicans and Democrats must stop! I think both parties are to blame for the shutdown.

Starting tomorrow, a lot of people aren’t going to have any money for food, here in the richest nation in the world. The “Pro-Life” Republican Party is obviously only interested in babies being born. They don’t care whether they have anything to eat once they exit the womb. We’ve always known that, but starting tomorrow it will be blaringly obvious for the whole world to see.

I wonder what my Congressman and President Trump are eating this weekend.

Janet