Category: rant

FIrst and foremost, we disagree on political positions. That’s true for every administration. You disagree with the positions and policies when Democrats are in charge, and I disagree with the positions and policies when Republicans are in charge. The party out of power has disagreed with the party in power going back to before this nation was a nation. So let’s set that disagreement aside, for now.

I do hope we can agree with one thing: The Constitution should be the supreme law of the land. We got rid of kings and monarchs when we established this nation, and no matter how much we love a particular politician, we don’t want that politician to be an all powerful king (or dictator). We want the Constitution to be supreme, and we agree that we must follow that Constitution, messy as it is. That also means we have to deal with things we don’t like. You may not like freedom of speech or religion, and I may not like the right to own guns, but they are in the Constitution, so we somehow make it work.

Thus, with respect to an administration implementing their policies — whether or not we agree with those policies — that implementation must be constitutional. It must be in accordance with the words of the Constitution. It must follow the laws established by Congress, for the Executive Branch does not create laws — it ensures that congressionally-created laws are faithfully executed. If it doesn’t like a law, it works with Congress to change the law. Oh, and regulations? Those need to be the executive branch filling in the details regarding a law that Congress has passed. They should not be, essentially, new law.

We have three parts of government to explicitly prevent Kings. Congress makes the laws. The Executive ensures those laws are executed (and takes care of foreign policy, subject to congressional approval). The Judiciary determines whether actions taken by Congress or the Executive are Constitutional and in accordance with the laws passed by Congress (if those were Constitutional).

Alas, this is where we are running into a problem with the 45/47 administration. They are ignoring the constitution, which requires due process for anyone in the country (not just citizens). They are trying to suppress freedom of speech, and trying to impose particular religious views on everyone. They are thumbing their nose at judicial decisions. They are trying to govern by Executive Order. Out of a hatred for particular groups, they are declaring things as foreign invasions that are not invasions; and they are using the media they control to create a false narrative of fear. These are problems.

There is no problem with removing undocumented immigrants. HOWEVER, they must be accorded due process. They must be given the chance to show they are truly undocumented, for America is a nation of its word: If we have given legal permission for someone to be here, we should honor that. Right now, the administration’s ICE enforcement is deporting people without due process, and in doing so, they are expatriating US citizens and legal residents — hard-working Americans, not criminals — with the undocumented. They are not giving them the right to challenge their deportation, or to challenge their imprisonment. That, my friends, is unconstitutional.

The administration is also, intentionally, treating these people with hate and violence. They are grabbed, with no time to inform their family, no way to communicate. Small children are taken to holding prisons, and not given any support or help to navigate the system. Treating people with respect has been a hallmark of America. Are we abandoning those ideals to behave like a tin-pot dictatorship?

The administration is violating law by sending the military to our cities, creating violence where there was only peaceful protest. They aren’t asking the state governments. They are just ordering troops. This, also, is unconstitutional. States control their national guard unless there is a demonstrable invasion.

They are also creating a culture of fear, and disrespecting Congress. They are handcuffing and throwing to the ground members of the US Senate, simply for asking questions (which is their congressional duty). They are disregarding elected leaders of the community, with members of the Executive Branch saying “We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into this city.”. No, folks, it was the people that elected this leadership, and government MUST be responsive to the people. This is not a dictatorship; it is a representative democracy whose authority is the Constitution.

So, to the 45/47 supporters out there: While I strongly disagree with your leadership’s policies, as the elected leaders, they do have the authority to work to implement them (just as the other side should have the ability to peacefully protest them). HOWEVER, that implementation MUST be Constitutional. It must come from Congress, and it must accord due process, follow the laws and funding enacted by Congress, and must be humane. It must respect leaders elected by the people.

Here’s a simple test: If the party you don’t like was behaving like this — that is, governing by Executive Order, disrespecting Congress, ignoring the courts, disappearing people without due process, cutting programs and agencies that they didn’t like without congressional approval, assaulting congressional leaders, putting the military in cities without the governors approval to enforce their power — would you find it acceptable? If the answer is no, then that answer applies whomever is doing it. If you find it acceptable, I submit you would be more comfortable in a dictatorship, not a constitutional republic.

The mention of funding was there for a reason. Constitutionally, it is the Congress that has the power of the purse. They are the ones that allocate funds, and the Executive Branch is charged with executing the funding priorities established by Congress. This administration is ignoring that. They are ignoring congressional mandates on how funds are to be spent. In doing so, they are destroying American’s leadership position in science, health, and research. Administrations can change directions — that’s their prerogative. However, they must do it in accordance with the Constitution: They must convince Congress to rescind funding and change the laws regarding how those funds are spent. The Executive Branch cannot govern by fiat and executive order, acting as if it was led by a King or Dictator.

America is a constitutional republic with three EQUAL branches. We’ve been lazy, and have allowed the executive branch to grab too much power. That’s bad when the party you don’t like is in power, and, truthfully, it is bad when the party you like is in power. We’ve also allowed the two-party system to usurp the voice of the people: Our leaders in Congress should be more responsive to what their constituents are saying than what party leadership is saying. Party leadership’s goal is to stay in power, not to do what is right for the nation.

We need Congress to represent the people, and to work together for what their constituents want. Right now, we have members of Congress that are scared to listen to their constituents. They pledge allegiance to what the President says and what the Party says, for that’s what keeps them in power. They don’t listen or care about the impact of those positions on the people they represent. That’s wrong — whichever party is doing it.

In summary, I hope we can all agree that recent administrations have drifted away from Constitutional norms. Congress must listen to and represent the people, and work in their interest (and not be rubber-stamps for a political party or specific leader). The Executive Branch must not make laws by fiat, but must faithfully execute the laws Congress establishes, within the Constitutional boundaries. The Judiciary must be respected and non-partisan, interpreting the law and ensuring it is followed.

Recently, there’s been a meme going around that states that Trump is going after Harvard because they rejected Barron, but accepted the Obamas. Now, that meme is pure supposition; Snopes rates it as unverified. To me, the reason that meme is going around is not its accuracy; it is because to the liberal community, it is plausible. That’s the real problem: We’ve come to believe that the President using the power of his office to take personal revenge on those who he believes has harmed him in any way is normal.

It is not.

The job of the President is to ensure that laws passed by Congress are enforced. He doesn’t get to create new laws; he doesn’t get to selectively enforce laws on those he doesn’t like. The President doesn’t get to take punitive action because someone told him “no”. The President doesn’t get to withhold legally authorized funding because a private organization exercised the right of free speech (or allowed a private individual, attending that private organization, to exercise the right of free speech).

It is clear that the President is selectively targeting Harvard. He doesn’t seem to be going after any other university with equal vengeance, so the impression being given is that this is some form of revenge. We don’t know the specifics, but revenge does seem the most logical explanation. After all, his excuse of antisemitism isn’t strongly borne out, nor would it engender this specific response (it hasn’t for other universities where similar speech has occurred). His excuse of wanting immigration records is also not borne out; HHS and ICE should already know the students on Student Visas that are attending Harvard. No, this is clearly punitive. This is a personal grudge.

We elect the President to work in the best interest of the nation, not himself or his family. We’ve already seen numerous examples of where this President is working to benefit his family or pocketbook.  We also expect the President to have a sufficiently thick skin that he can set aside the personal grudges while in office. After all, we didn’t elect a King (or Queen) that can yell “Off with their head” at the slightest provocation.

Harvard has done nothing to justify the response it is getting from this administration. We need to somehow get our congresscritters and the courts to stop this policies of revenge. I may not agree with what the Harvard students have said to provoke the President, but they do have the right to say it.

ETA: It appears that the attack on Harvard may be motivated not be revenge, but the Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther. The NY Times has a longer exploration of the project. However, it is important to remember that disagreeing with the Israeli government on the handling of Gaza DOES NOT imply agreement with the goals of Gaza leadership. In particular, support for a two-state solution, where it is recognized that both Israeli and a Palestinian nation have a right to exist in peace and with secure borders, is not antisemitism.

This is something I’ve been thinking about writing for days, even weeks. Bottom Line Up Front: I WANT MY TAX DOLLARS TO GO TO WHAT TR*MP IS CUTTING, NOT ELON MUSK’S MINIONS.

The Tr*mp administration is gutting funding to things like scientific research, the arts, humanities, weather forecasting and research, public broadcasting, health initiatives, education initiatives, and such. Well excuse me, but that’s where I want my tax dollars to go. Why is the government cutting these things? Ostensibly, because they are DEI or “Woke”, but really because Tr*mp’s minions think this is the way to “own the libs”, forgetting that Congress authorized this spending, and Congress has the power of the purse. But then again, Tr*mp doesn’t seem to believe he needs to follow the Constitution, and he has no idea what the Declarations of Independence is about.

So with these cuts, will I at least see my taxes drop significantly, so I can donate the funds to these organizations? Nope. Federal spending is UP under Tr*mp: more spending for his golf trips, paying for DOGE and its staffers, and fighting all the lawsuits his actions start? I don’t want my tax funds paying for his golf or DOGE.

Am I at least seeing prices drop from all of this? Nope. With tariffs, prices are going up up up. Food prices. Commodity prices. Paper product prices. Tr*mp is doing this for a political purpose, and has already indicated he doesn’t care if people get hurt, or what people has to pay. In fact, he’s so disconnected he doesn’t even know what people are really paying.

Perhaps it is helping his investment buddies? Again, not really. He’s created such volatility in the market that those depending on the market for income or retirements have seen TRILLIONS in value wiped away. He single-handedly tanked one of the best economies and brought us to the brink of recession. He says his moves are good for business, but business says they are not. Business needs a reliable way to plan, and his volatility has made planning impossible. So they stop spending, especially with the impacts of tariffs — which business can’t afford to absorb (and he threats to take action against anyone who passes them on).

It is clear that this administration’s policy is not the betterment of the nation, or the following of the Constitution. It is operating from two policies, and two policies alone: (1) “Own the libs” — do anything that is perceived to upset liberals, not caring the impacts of those actions; (2) “revenge for political or personal enemies” — use the power of the Federal government to settle personal grudges.

Well, I don’t want to pay for those policies. I want my tax dollars to fund scientific research, the arts, humanities, weather forecasting and research, public broadcasting, health initiatives, education initiatives, and such. Withholding tax dollars won’t fix it (they are taken from my paychek anyway, at least until I retire). Protests in the street, while putting out a good image, will only lead this administration to more forcible suppression. We must push Congress to “grow a set” and do their job: Remind the administration that it is Congress’ job to increase or decrease spending, and that these small agencies are not where the waste is. These cuts impact people, and more than just “the libs”. Most voters in this country support pennies from their taxes dollars going to these efforts.

Congress: Do your job. This cutting and hurting people must stop.

This is the article that prompted this screed: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2025-05-05/national-endowment-for-the-humanities-california-indigenous-history-missions

The age of American Exceptionalism is over. Tr*mp, and his administration, killed it.

Over the weekend, I’ve been reading the tea leaves, so to speak, and thinking about America’s future and the impact of Tr*mp, 45/47. My conclusion is that Tr*mp is serving as the catalyst that moves American from the “Shining Beacon on the Hill” to a sovereign nation, like any other. Let me explain.

For much of its history, America was just like any other sovereign nation. But during the 20th Century, thanks to WWI and WWII and what came right afterwards, America assumed a leading position among other countries. Thanks to the work of folks like Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson, America began a leader. We resolved worldwide conflicts. We were the leader in science, in medicine, in industry. Our statecraft resolved conflicts; our humanitarianism saved lives. We were the refuge for those persecuted. We were a beacon of justice, a nation where liberty and justice was truly FOR ALL.

Donald Tr*mp, and his minions, have killed that in a few short months. It is unclear if we will ever climb back up that mountain; indeed, to listen to a large portion of the country, they don’t want us to climb back. They think “America First”, but by that they mean “America isolated and self-sufficient”. In that isolation, they don’t realize what they have lost. Here are some examples.

• Europe. Tr*mp’s horrendous treatment of Ukraine and Zelinsky, who has been a long term ally and who had agreed to give up their nuclear weapons in exchange for promises of American protection, has stunned Europe. More importantly, it has spurred Europe into action. The nations of Europe, working together, are developing a peace plan for the region and will present it to the US and Russia. Europe is also planning to spend more for its own defense (defence), realizing it can no longer depend on America. Is that good or bad? Hard to say, but it does mean that America is no longer the leader in that region that it once was. It is also bad for American defense companies, who were making a lot of money selling arms and munitions to Europe. If America is untrustworthy and imposing tariffs, they may also decide that locally-made is better.
• Middle East. Tr*mp’s notion of buying Gaza and turning it into a resort has pushed the Arab nations into action, and they are meeting to devise their own plan for the rebuilding of Gaza. This would push out Hamas, and install a new Palestinian Authority 2.0 to govern the region. This could ultimately be a good thing and might bring stability to the region, although the longer term impact on Israel is harder to say. But, I think, if Gaza and the West Bank are governed by a group with no Hamas ties, backed by all the other Arab nations (including those Israel has peaceful relations with), there might be a solution. But the key thing is: America will be on the sidelines of that solution.
• North America. Tr*mp’s treatment of Canada and Mexico may very well draw these two countries into a tighter alliance, if only for protection. This alliance could spread to the other democratic nations of Central and South America. None of these countries trust Tr*mp.
• Medicine. RFK Jr. has shut down medical science at NIH, and slowed work on new vaccines. But the health issues will not go away, and others will pick up the slack. I expect to see European consortiums and private industry establishing standards. I see the UN taking a role in selecting the flu vaccine for each year. I see other nations picking up the skills to investigate pandemics and develop solutions. In short, the Tr*mp administration’s abandoning of health science will remove America from the leadership position and make it a follower, just like most nations. America will become, at best, a middle-tier nation instead of the leader in technology and research.
• Science. Tr*mp’s shutdown of research at NSF and similar agencies will have significant impact on America’s standing in the research community. We will lose funding for students in the industries to attend conferences and learn from others. We will see less research funded. The net impact of this is that other countries will pick up the slack and the leadership. We’re already seeing this with research from China and South Korea, and we will likely see similar growth from India. This adds to the already strong work coming out of Europe and the FSB countries. Remember that this research has been the source of American innovation — not just NSF research, but research done through groups like DARPA and for DOD projects — and this American innovation is what created things like the Internet. No more. The next big innovations will likely come from somewhere else. America as the innovation leader will be no more.
• Weather. Tr*mp may gut NOAA and the NWS because he is afraid of climate change research, but weather and climate isn’t going away. Other nations will pick up the slack and the science, and will become the leaders in the field. This is an area I can see Canada picking up the mantle, especially for North America, because accurate weather is required for commerce. In the short term, there will be big impacts in lack of preparation for incoming storms, and people will be killed.  This will also impact the American aviation industry; pilots and air traffic controllers depend on accurate weather information to establish flight plans.  Shipping depends on ocean weather. Our commerce will suffer.
• Humanitarian Aid. People have, and will, die in response to Tr*mp’s abandonment of USAID and similar support. This creates a void that other countries will step in to fill — most notably, China. This is what is referred to as Soft Power, and China excels at this. It will move more countries into alliance with countries like China, India, and Brazil, and reduce America’s influence. NGOs will also pick up the slack, as will faith-based initiatives.

In the longer term, Tr*mp’s initiatives may well do some of what he wants: Isolate America, make America focused on itself. It may reduce some spending, but nothing all that significant. It will certainly increase the grift and fraud from the American oligarchs, but that’s the subject of a future blog post. It will increase the power of Russia, especially as the US reduces the efforts it was taking to stop the interference of Russia in US affairs, where Russia has long wanted to interfere in our elections and control our computer systems.

Will it make America Great Again? No. It will make America less significant globally. We’ll be just another nation, not the leader of the free world. Tr*mp will have abandoned that mantle, and he will have abandoned it in such a way that we never might get it back completely.

This morning, while in the shower, I was musing about a post I had read on FB about 15 minutes earlier. Of course, I can’t find it again, but the post was about DOD schools in Europe removing posters and textbooks about the accomplishments of blacks, women, and minorities (Update: I found the article). This was being done in response to the DEI Executive Order. We’ve seen similar things happening over the last two weeks. Posters of women cryptographers being covered at the National Cryptological Museum. Pages on the Tuskegee Airman being removed from DOD site. Numerous examples of the accomplishments of minorities being scrubbed from the collective consciousness.

So my mind went to the question of  why this is being done. And the answer that I came up with is the erasure of history: the eventual end goal is to celebrate only the accomplishments of European White Men, probably Christian. This allows the narrative to be promoted that minorities have not contributed anything, and are therefore worthless. We all know what we can do with worthless things. Yup, they are planning to go there.

The train of thought then went to a different station. It was then thinking about all the names we have out there celebrating these folks. Names on buildings. Names on highways. Names on streets. There was a brief muse on how Trump and the new DOD Secretary want to return Confederate names to DOD bases. Why? Do you have to ask at this point?

But it then returned to all these minority names on schools and buildings. These are much harder to remove, and each name will prompt some to ask the question: “Who was ______?”. The answer to that, my friends, is good danger and good trouble, for we can show the value of minorities.

So we must now intensify our naming efforts. Name those schools. Name those highways. Get the names carved in stone. Make them hard to erase. Work your hardest to prevent the erasure of history.

Oh, and why *this* userpic. If you know TGOV, if it about two women cross-dressing to get around society’s conventional restriction on men.

And to think it has been only a week. Le sigh.

Trmp has been a busy little boy, trying to root any any whiff of DEI in the Federal Government, and through being a bully, almost everywhere else too. But I don’t think Trmp, or his allies, have put a lot of thought into it. Their belief, it seems, is that DEI means that unqualified people are getting the job simply because they check some boxes, and qualified people (which in Trmp’s eyes mean white males) are not.

That is nonsense.

All DEI does, primarily, is get applications into the door. It helps make all people aware of job opportunities, so they will apply. After that, they still need to meet the requirements of the jobs. Assuming all the job requirements are met, the employer is free to pick whomever they want. Sometimes, that’s the white guy. Sometimes, it’s not. Further, diversity is often more than just protected characteristics: It can mean picking people with different background, or different experiences, or different schools. All that leads to a better workforce. But the key thing is: all these people are equally skilled.

So what is Trmp really after? It becomes clear in his gutting of the Lyndon Johnson era EO: He wants to gut equal opportunity. He wants the freedom to discriminate. This is shown in his gutting of the investigative arms that would prosecute discrimination claims. His executive orders claim they are equal opportunity, but if someone discriminates, they can get away with it.

He’s also taking the time to gut offices related to accessibility and accommodation. That’s going against the ADA, and there will be likely lawsuits against that. Of course, the legal team in the DOJ that would prosecute such cases … dismissed.

In doing all of this, he’s being true to what he has always been: someone who is against minorities (which is well known in his real estate dealings), and someone who is against those differently abled (remember his mocking of Biden’s stutter or the disabled reporter). We also know his attitude towards women.

This leopard never met a face he didn’t like to eat.