Surrender or Strategic Withdrawal?

The fight in Congress… actually among Democrats in Congress… over voting yea or nay on the horrendous Republican CR is seen by many Democrats as a surrender to Musk, Trump, and MAGA. I admit I see it that way too. To quote David Corn at Mother Jones, “if you aren’t punching back, you are the punching bag.” 

But, Minority Leader Schumer and a small group of Senate Democrats (and one independent) chose to fight another day. They figure that over the next few months DOGE will have so damaged American’s expectations of government services, that anger over higher prices and a crumbling economy, and that Trump’s disregard of civil rights and the rule of law will shift the battlefield. There is a real possibly that Trump/Musk will overplay their hand with Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Schumer and friends hope the American people will be pissed! They believe that not only Democrats and the American people, but also some Republicans in purple districts/states, will have second thoughts about supporting the mad king and his court jester. 

Time will tell if Schumer is right. In the meantime he may even lose his leadership position. But, the strategic withdrawal card has been played and won’t be available a second time. Democrats and a growing number of Americans of whatever political persuasion will have drawn a line in the sand and said ENOUGH… we are no longer the punching bag for a bunch of bullies.

The Mad King’s Chaos and Confusion

Chaos and confusion. Tariffs on, then off, then on again. Formerly friendly trading partners appalled and angry. Everybody loses trade wars. The stock market falling. Prices in my local market rising. Uncertainty and complete lack of clarity about direction is apparent to Wall Street and Main Street.

Historically Republicans were opposed to tariffs but GOP Representatives and Senators continue to kiss the ring of the mad king. Under the National Emergencies Act, Congress has the power to end this so-called “emergency.” Congress needed to act on the resolution to end the false emergency within 15 days—so to dodge having to vote a bit of parliamentary trickery stops the clock until the end of the session.

Republican cowards, like lapdog Ben Cline, are enabling this authoritarian madness to continue. Trump inherited a strong economy that was the envy of the world. Less than two months in this presidency the economy is cratering… the administration says the economy is in “transition.” Transition to what… recession… or worse?

Protect Our National Forests

An executive order by President Trump directs the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior to issue new guidance within the next 30 days to accelerate timber harvesting on federal lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), with the goal to “fully exploit our domestic timber supply.

Contact Representative Ben Cline to protest cuts of Forest Service employees and the executive order to decimate our national forests.

This executive order would end compliance with the Endangered Species Act, bypassing critical protections for Virginia’s most vulnerable animals and plants. There’s no way to increase timber production without targeting old-growth and mature forest stands that do the crucial work of providing habitat for wildlife, filtering municipal drinking water, providing recreational opportunities, enhancing wildfire resilience, and absorbing and storing the carbon necessary to fight climate change. It’s also unclear how timber sales could be planned, administered, and implemented when the government has just fired thousands of Forest Service employees.

My family has enjoyed camping, hiking, exploring, canoeing in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest. We have often explored and camped in other national forests while cross country traveling. My family drinks municipal water from the national forests.

Tell Ben Cline to protect our national forests.

Donald Trump… the man, the monster

This description of Donald Trump was posted in the comments on a Washington Post article about tariffs on Mexico. It was credited to Nate White. It is too good, too accurate to not share.

“Donald Trump has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honor and no grace – all qualities, ironically enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.

And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

He is a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies like Putin, Xi, Epstein, and Kim; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.

He’s a slug, a Jabba the Hutt of privilege, and it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of gibberish. Even his flaws have flaws. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.

If Dr. Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.”

Trump… the Manchurian Candidate

Hey Ben, maybe you can hold some townhall meetings to discuss the Manchurian Candidate? President Zelensky pointed out that America has oceans for protection. But, what if the invasion is from within, directed by a powerful and aggressive force from without? What if the rot and the subversive danger is deep in our constitutional system?

 

John Locke anticipated thugs like Trump and Musk

 In his 1690 Second Treatise on Government, John Locke noted that when a leader disregards constitutional order, he gives up legitimacy and the people are justified in treating him as a “thief and a robber.” “[W]hosoever in authority exceeds the power given him by the law and makes use of the force he has under his command…ceases in that to be a magistrate; and, acting without authority, may be opposed, as any other man, who by force invades the right of another,”

Ben Cline… it is time for you to do a bit of reading.

Ben Cline’s five accomplishments last week

I emailed Rep Ben Cline (VA 06) to ask what five good things he’d done for the United States last week so that he could comply with the DOGE command. Knowing Cline wouldn’t respond, a helpful friend supplied the answers: “1) Called my most generous donors to find out what favors they’d like me to do for them. 2) Visited remote western towns in my district to explain to people how they will be better off when their local clinics close. 3) Drafted a bill to change the name of Shenandoah National Park to Harry Byrd NP. 4) Attended Jud Comm meeting to strategize ways to impeach woke radical leftist judges who are disloyal to our Dear Leader. 5) Invited teenaged DOGE techies to program office computers to auto-delete *** ****‘s emails.”

Two weeks of chaos and retreat

Donald Trump has been president a couple weeks and it feels like two years of misery. The chaos is by design… confuse, confound, overwhelm everyone. It is all about revenge and retribution. The Constitution… who cares? The rule of law… doesn’t apply to me! Government by the people… they are peons who don’t matter. The psychopath at the helm doesn’t give a shit about much else than himself and his perverse fantasies.

Trump places tariffs of Mexico and withdraws them claiming victory but it was hollow. Announces plans for a U.S. takeover of Gaza only to have aides walk it back the next day. His policies are a bad joke of empty rhetoric.

Courts are stepping in to block his birthright citizenship, firing of government workers, and other lawless atrocities. I applaud those judges. But what if Trump and the sidekick who bought unwarranted influence during the election, refuse to obey? Who enforces the courts decisions? The House of Representatives could impeach… ha ha… a bunch of compliant pussies.Things will change with the 2026 elections… maybe so, but with gerrymandered districts and lots of dark money will they change that much? Would the Senate convict? Not likely. On the unlikely chance they did find the criminal guilty and ordered his removal from office… would he leave? If he didn’t what could anybody do?

Trump is a psychopath. Musk an evil and greedy power grabbing bastard. Our constitutional checks and balances were supposed to block such men. But when an entire political party… the Republicans… are so smitten with power, so devoid of a moral barometer, and so castrated after bending the knee can ther truly be meaningful checks and balances? I fear for American democracy.

Meanwhile the price of eggs soars.

February. The truth no longer marches on.

February 1, 1862. “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,” the Atlantic Monthly published Julia Ward Howe’s “ Battle Hymn of the Republic” harkening the righteous cause of freedom during the early days of the Civil War. “His truth is marching on.”

February 1, 1865. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Joint Resolution by which Congress sent the Thirteenth Amendment to the states for ratification. The Amendment abolished slavery. The hopes and dreams of equality expressed that day were crushed in the coming years by segregation, lynchings, and Jim Crow laws.

February 1, 1960. Students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University sat down at the lunch counter at F. W. Woolworths in Greensboro, North Carolina. They ordered donuts and coffee but were refused service. They were joined by more protesters in the next couple days and protests spread across the South over the following months. In July, after losing profits, Woolworths served four Blacks (actually employees of the store in street clothes) and the death of Jim Crow was beginning.

February 1, 1976. President Gerald Ford designates February as Black History Month to honor the neglected accomplishments of Black Americans.

February 1, 2025. President Donald Trump has revoked a decades old executive order that protected equal opportunity. His administration has ended diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the federal government and is bullying states, localities, and private industry to end them also. The State Department and the Defense Department no longer recognize Black History Month.The president falsely blames the tragic accident over the Potomac on DEI.

The lies are marching on. The Lord weeps.

Chaos. Confusion. Division.

Just over a week into the second Trump administration and it feels like a year… or more. His buyout “offer” is sowing chaos and confusion across the Commonwealth’s 145,000 federal employees. Have a couple of those employees in my family! Governor Youngkin, an erstwhile Trump lackey, says this it what voters wanted in the last election. Meanwhile Senator Tim Kaine in a fiery senate speech (reported in the Richmond Times-Dispatch) told federal workers the President has absolutely no authority to offer the buyout and the budget has no money for people who don’t show up to work. “ Don’t be fooled… If you accept that offer and resign, he’ll stiff you just like he stiffed those contractors… He doesn’t have any authority to do this.”

In another story, Costco is standing up to the administration’s demand to end DEI policies and initiatives. So, of course another Trump boot licker, Attorney General Jason Miyares (along with GOP peers in other states) is pressuring Costco “to end all unlawful discrimination imposed” by the retailer’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies. I’m heading to Costco this morning and I just  contacted their customer service to state my support for the policies and urging them to stand up to bullies. Many other retailers caved without a whimper. 

GOP… Grand Old Party. Not so grand anymore. Pitiful. Hateful. Divisive. Deceptive. Appeasing an authoritarian. Nope, not very grand!  

Fifty Three Days and the Death of Democracy

On January 30, 1933 Adolph Hitler became chancellor of the Weimar Republic and immediately began an assault on that constitutional republic. As recounted by Timothy Ryback's fascinating history, "How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days" published in The Atlantic, Adolph Hitler "systematically disabled and then dismantled his country’s democratic structures and processes in less than two months’ time—specifically, one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours, and 40 minutes. The minutes, as we will see, mattered." 

Hitler swore an oath to uphold the constitution but almost from the beginning began talking about his mandate from the German people to carry out his plans. He began firing government officials and replacing them with loyalists and withdrawing from international commitments. The chancellor wanted to purge the county of foreigners, revive the economy, and drain the 'parliamentarian swamp." 

Before long Hitler's opponents and skeptics began to fall in line or remain silent. They barely protested when National Socialists convicted of crimes and treason were released and became heroes. Concerns about an independent judiciary, press freedom, and citizens rights were brushed aside, after all, Hitler was building the economy and securing the borders. One politician expressed concerns about the dictatorial powers being granted to Hitler under the enabling act, but the announced, to laughter, that he and his party would be supporting it.

In less than two months Adolph Hitler had destroyed democracy. And we all know what came next...!

Fifty three days. Donald Trump's inaugural address with filled with lies and angry threats directed at political opponents and other nations such as Panama.

Fifty three days. Donald Trump has been in office less than a week and he's already pardoned January 6 rioters and insurrectionists who committed treason by storming the Capitol and interfering with the constitutional duties of Congress. Many of them attacked, injured, and even cause deaths of police offices. Trump has regularly praised these criminals and now has his brownshirts ready to act on his every utterance. 

Fifty three days. Donald Trump has illegally fired dozens of inspectors general in a number of different agencies. These watchdogs are tasked with assuring the agencies follow the law, don't waste taxpayers money, and meet ethical standards. The inspectors general are Senate approved and can be removed only with 30 day notice to that body.

Fifty three days. Trump's executive order to end birthright citizenship is an attempt to rewrite the United States Constitution. Fortunately a federal judge... a Reagan appointee... has blocked the illegal order for now, but it is bound to end up before a Trump-friendly Supreme Court.

Fifty three days. Already nearly every Republican (including lapdog Ben Cline) in the House of Representatives is licking his boots and doing what is puppet Speaker Johnson wants. Most Republican Senators are marching in lockstep or keeping their views under wrap – evidence – nearly every Republican Senator voted to approve Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. Never mind that Hegseth is clearly unqualified and corrupt, there are serious questions about his commitment to women's role in our armed forces, his alcoholism, abuse of women. His only qualification, it seems, is being a total Trump toady. 

Stay tuned as we count down fifty three days... we are under a week into the second Trump atrocity. Trump's billionaire buddies are jockeying for position of influence in the Trump White House. Elon Musk gives the Nazi salute. There is indeed "Rot at the Top."

Not. My. President

 American (Rotten) Pie

Long, long time ago 

I can still remember how history used to make me smile 

And I knew if we had a chance that government by the people could make those people dance 

And maybe they'd be happy for a while 

But January 6 made me shiver 

With all the hate MAGA Brownshirts could deliver

Bad news on the doorstep 

I couldn't take one more step 

I do remember that I cried 

When I read about his election pride

Then something touched me deep inside 

The day American democracy died

So bye-bye, Miss American Pie 

Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry 

And them MAGA boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye 

Singin', January 20 will be a day of lies

This'll be the day that truth dies

This’ll be the day that democracy dies.

With apologies to the great Don McLean

Convicted. Felon.

 

Convicted Felon Donald Trump

Donald Trump will be the first convicted felon in the White House. Nevertheless, the “rule of law” failed the U.S.A. No punishment for the felon. He skated on the January 6 treasonous insurrection case and on the theft and retention of classified documents case. Donald, Sam, and Clarence are conspirators. He will take office and commit more felonies under the shroud of dubious immunity. Trump’s pawns like Bobblehead Ben crow and pledge to support his every atrocity.

The big joke on democracy is 

that it gives its mortal enemies the means for its own destruction.

                                           ~Joseph Goebbels