Category: Uncategorized

Constitutional Rights

I listened to  House of Representatives committee examine the Director of ICE yesterday.  What struck me was this.  Republicans consistently used the phrase “criminal aliens” to identify those who are in the United States without proper documentation.  So here’s my question.  If those folks are actual “criminals”, then shouldn’t they get the “criminal rights” that the United States Constitution requires? 

The Fourth Amendment requires judicial warrants for searches and seizures based on probable cause.  The Fifth Amendment requires indictment by Grand Jury, and due process of law. The Sixth Amendment guarantees a right to a public and speedy jury trial with witnesses, the right to confront the accusers and the right to legal counsel.  And the Eighth Amendment guarantees a right to bail.   And yet, these “criminal aliens” don’t get any of these rights when it  comes to ICE.

Undocumented

The American Civil Liberties Union defines being “undocumented” this way:

The act of being present in the United States in violation of the immigration laws is not, standing alone, a crime. While federal immigration law does criminalize some actions that may be related to undocumented presence in the United States, undocumented presence alone is not a violation of federal criminal law. (ACLU)

A good example of this is someone who comes to the United States on a tourist visa.  They enter the country legally, but if they fail to return home within the visa limitations, then they remain in the country without permission.  They are undocumented, not criminal.

There ARE undocumented folks who commit “real” crimes.  Many of them are in jail right now. (The conservative Cato Institute estimates that there are nearly 70,000 undocumented persons in US Prisons.  There are 1.25 million total prisoners in the US, so around 5% are undocumented, about the same percentage as the total number of undocumented in the population).  And, many of them are removed from the United States after serving their prison sentence, here.

ICE recognizes that “documentation” is not, in itself, a crime. It’s a “civil” offense, similar to traffic laws on a local level.  And they take advantage of that fact, by using “administrative procedures”.  Most of the time, if you get a traffic ticket, you pay the fine and go about your life.  More serious offenses might require a court hearing, and perhaps suspension of driving privileges. But, unless you commit multiple serious offenses (driving under the influence, vehicular homicide) you aren’t in jeopardy of arrest and jail. A similar “civil law” status gives ICE the powers to hold and remove the undocumented from the United States with little judicial intervention.  

Labels

The reality is that the vast majority of undocumented folks in the United States have NOT committed a crime.  Labelling them “criminals” is legally incorrect.  It’s a political gambit, to stoke fear and justify the draconian measures of Stephen Miller and his “private” army, ICE.  But, let’s give them what they’re asking for.  Let’s make being undocumented “criminal”.  

That ends ICE “renditions” out of state to more “favorable” areas.  Midnight flights to Louisiana and Texas violate due process rights.  And, those “arrested” for being undocumented ought to have the same bail rights as any other “criminal”, and all those Sixth Amendment rights, including the right to counsel.  None of those things are happening now.  

The Supreme Court ruled in Yick Wo v Hopkins (US 118 356, 1886) that EVERYONE in the United States; citizens, documented non-citizens, and undocumented non-citizens, have the right to due process of law including Constitutional rights.   It’s old, established, Constitutional law.  Stephen Miller and ICE are circumventing those rights by treating the “undocumented” as “paperwork” issues.  But the resulting penalties; seizure, imprisonment without bail in far away and remote locations, no counsel or judicial proceedings, and deportation from the country, are far beyond what even the real criminals are receiving for their crimes.  It’s not just a ticket, and it’s not just “paperwork” when a five-year old with a bunny hat from Minneapolis ends up in Federal “custody” in Texas.

Let’s call it out.  Either criminalize the undocumented, and give them their legal rights, or get ICE off the streets, and leave the undocumented alone.  Maybe ICE could do what we actually pay them to do:  find those dangerous criminals who happen to be undocumented, and use the “paperwork” to get them out of the country, fast. 

 They’re probably not the ones wearing bunny hats.

Know Nothing

There are two iconic media moments that directly apply to the EPSTEIN FILES.  The first:  an early scene in the very first Star Wars movie, The New Hope. Luke Skywalker and droids R2D2 and C-3PO first meet Obi Won Kenobi, one of the last of the Jedi Knights.  They are trying to get through to a ship, past the Imperial Storm Troopers sent to find the droids.  As they pull up to the town of Mos Eisley, a squad of Troopers approach their vehicle.  Obi Won then shows his mastery of “the force”.  He puts in the Trooper’s mind the thought; “These aren’t the droids we’re looking for” and “You can go about your business, move along, move along”.  It was our introduction to “Jedi Mind Tricks”. 

The second moment is older, back to the days of 1960’s television and a show called Hogan’s Heroes.  It was an improbable comedy about a German World War II prison camp, and the espionage ring run by the Allied soldiers imprisoned there.  Each episode showed Hogan and his team out-witting Colonel Klink, the commander of the camp. However, there often was one German soldier who realized what was going on, Sergeant Schultz.  But he wanted nothing to do with “blowing the whistle (literally)” on Hogan’s crew.  So his answer always was:  “I know nothing, nothing!!”.

It’s all about those in authority ignoring the plain facts in front of them.  What was “miraculous” in Star Wars, and convenient in Hogan’s Heroes, is troubling today.   And that’s what the Government expects us to believe about the EPSTEIN FILES.

Where We Stand

Currently there are six million pages of EPSTEIN FILES in the possession of the Department of Justice.  There is a law, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, requiring Justice to release all of the files.  Of course, there are limited exceptions.  The names, pictures, and identifying information of victims should be redacted.  Since Epstein engaged in pedophilia, any photos or videos that would show such acts should be restricted.   And finally, any release of information which might impinge on future criminal indictments should be controlled. Keep in mind, most of the heinous acts took place in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.  While there is no federal statute of limitations on those types of crimes, it would be difficult to try those cases at this late date. 

Yet of six million pages, only three million are released.  Many of those are totally redacted, blacked out so that the public can’t know what’s on them.  And it now seems that Justice redacted names, not of the victims, but of the participants in the acts.  Many of the victims have had their full information released, including even driver’s licenses and social security numbers.  But the names of many of those who joined Epstein “for the fun”, seem to be protected.

Jedi Mind Tricks

The Justice Department is engaging in their own attempt at “Jedi Mind Tricks”.  They are saying that the three million is all there is to see. Nothing in the other half, the other three million pages of documents, is going to be released.  Attorney General Bondi and her team are saying, “There’s nothing to see here, move along, move along”.  They’ve given no specific reason for the “redaction” of half of the evidence, leaving Americans to reach their own conclusions.  

Some, even some Congressmen, are going along with the Justice Department, taking Sergeant Schultz’s view, “I know nothing, nothing!”.  But most of us aren’t falling for Pam Bondi’s attempt at mind tricks.   And other Congressmen, just now able to see the unredacted portions of the first three million pages, are saying that there are well known names involved.

Who’s Implicated

So what’s going on?  Why would the Department of Justice try to hide the names of those who “played” with Epstein, and reveal the names of the victims?  The answer is in the names and stature of the “participants”.  Here are some of the names already mentioned in connection with Epstein:

And then, there’s Donald Trump , the current President of the United States.  In the three million documents currently released, Trump’s name is mentioned 38,000 times. To compare (as MSNOW commentators made note): in the entire seven-book series about Harry Potter, Harry is “only” mentioned 18,956 times.  

While Epstein’s “heyday” was over twenty years ago, many of those connected with him still have enormous power.  They are protected; from embarrassment, from disgrace, and perhaps from indictment.   Even if folks like Donald Trump aren’t “guilty” of something, the current Justice Department actions are making them look guilty.   But, Americans aren’t falling for “Jedi Mind Tricks”.  And we aren’t closing our eyes and saying “We know nothing”, either.  

The Epstein Transparency Act made it clear.  Americans want to know; no matter how deep, no matter which political party, no matter the reputational costs.  It’s only when we fully understand what was going on; in New York, Palm Beach, New Mexico, a Caribbean Island, and perhaps even just down the road from here in New Albany, Ohio; that we can determine what the consequences really should be.  The only solution is for Justice to release all the files: the sooner, the better.

No more tricks.

History

America: we are divided.  Sure our politics are that way, and have been for a while.  Even before Trump, there was the Tea Party.  And before that, there was the “crisis” over Bill Clinton’s immorality.  Remember the Republican Speaker, Newt Gingrich, who impeached Clinton?  He was having an affair at the time, while his wife had cancer.  And then his replacement, Bob Livingston, was “outed” for his affairs by Larry Flynt (Hustler Magazine), and never took the job.  And the man who finally did become Speaker, Dennis Hastert, turned out to be a former high school wrestling coach who molested his kids.  As my mother would say, “the pots” were definitely calling “the kettle” black.

And we have been divided musically.  There are modern hip hop folks.  Some very close to me are Electric Dance Music aficionados.   I live in Pataskala, and often hear modern country music blasting from cars and garages.  And a few of us “older ones”, are still listening to rock from the 1960’s and 70’s.  But music doesn’t have to divide.  One of the best concerts I went to was Garth Brooks.  And I’ve been completing the “last chance” tours; the Eagles, Stevie Nicks, the Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, and variations of Led Zeppelin and the Who.  And I love some Bluegrass, summer with James Taylor, and even Chris Stapleton.  

Super Bowl

But America, we’ve found a new way to divide ourselves:  the Super Bowl halftime show.  Now that show always had some controversy.  I think it really started with Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake at Super Bowl XXXVIII (38) back in 2004, when the famous “wardrobe malfunction” occurred.  Janet’s naked breast was revealed to a national television audience.  (I was driving home from Cleveland, and only got to “hear” the controversy at the time).  The NFL tried to serve the eclectic tastes of American music, from Rock to Country to Pop to Rap.  And this year, they brought in Bad Bunny.

Full disclosure:  I truly had no idea who Bad Bunny was until he was announced for the NFL halftime show.  Google’s AI defines his style as “Latin Trap and reggaeton”, or, “musica urbana”.  Anyway, I caught up with him through his month long series of concerts in Puerto Rico, where I realized two things:  my Spanish isn’t very good, and his beat is.  No, I’m not a Bad Bunny fan, but he definitely gets things going, and that’s all good.

Musica

Bad Bunny is Puerto Rican.  That makes him a natural-born American citizen, much to the surprise of many.  Even though the current President discovered the Puerto Rico was an island, surrounded by ocean (just before he started throwing paper towel rolls), it’s been a part of the United States since the Spanish-American War in 1898.  That’s longer than five of the states have been in the Union.   The main language of Puerto Rico is Spanish, and Bad Bunny, like most Puerto Ricans, is fluent in both Spanish and English. 

But his “musica” is in Spanish.  He’s Latino, like many of the folks the ICE is trying to “round up”.   And he is clear that he thinks the current Trump campaign to “rid” America of undocumented migrants is wrong.  So the battle of the Patriots versus the Seahawks in Super Bowl LX was subsumed by the American battle over the actions of Trump’s Department of Homeland Security.  (Super Bowl LX, that’s sixty.  You know you’re old when you remember Super Bowl I, back in 1967, when the Packers beat the Chiefs, and Jazz trumpeter Al Hirt was the halftime show). 

Winners and Losers

So America divided:  the Bad Bunny halftime show, or the alternative, Turning Point halftime show, streamed online.  Turning Point headlined Trump supporter Kid Rock, along with country stars Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, andGabby Barrett (yeah, I don’t know them either).  And, just like the game, score was kept.  Around 140 million watched Bad Bunny. About six million watched Kid Rock.  

Of course, Bad Bunny had the advantage.  He was live on the actual game field, not pre-recorded in Atlanta.  He was joined by Lady Gaga, and Ricky Martin.  And folks were watching halftime of the football game on TV, not “tuned in” to a streaming computer screen.  So it’s really not fair to claim “victory” for the anti-Trump forces.  But, on the other hand, only six million determined to make the “political statement” of turning their back on Bad Bunny.   Maybe they didn’t even watch the game. But even at the Mar-A-Lago Dinner Club, the Super Bowl party watched…Bad Bunny.  Trump didn’t like it.

We can divide over anything.  Remember when Kid Rock decided the Bud Light was “trans-beer”.  He shot his AR-15 into a six pack.  And we can find fault over Janet Jackson’s wardrobe, or Cold Play showing a rainbow image (gay?) in Super Bowl L (50).  But Bad Bunny took full advantage of his moment on the stage.  And his message was:  Love America, Love Puerto Rico, and…just love.  There was even a real wedding on stage during the show.

Maybe we shouldn’t be so divided about that.

The Courts

After the 2020 elections, there were fifty-eight legal cases challenging the Presidential results.  Fifty-eight times lawyers went to Courts; local, state and Federal; to challenge the narrow Joe Biden victory over Donald Trump.  And fifty-seven times, the varying Courts in the United States found that the election count was accurate.   Not surprisingly, most cases were in the “swing states”:

• Pennsylvania – 17 cases
• Georgia – 12 cases
• Michigan – 8 cases
• Wisconsin – 7 cases
• Arizona – 7 cases
• Nevada – 2 cases
• Texas – 2 cases
• Washington, DC – 1 case
• Minnesota – 1 case
• New Mexico – 1 case

            (The Ohio State University has a full listing of all of the cases).

The election results of 2020 were “fully litigated”.  Several went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, a body already slanted for the Republican President.  But even those Justices failed to find reason to rule in his favor.  Trump finally sent a mob to disrupt the Congressional certification of the election on January 6^th, 2021.  But the Insurrection failed, and on January 20^th, Joe Biden was sworn in as the forty-sixth President.

The States

In Arizona, the Republican state legislature ordered a full investigation of their 2020 votes.  They hired the “Cyber-Ninjas” to do a detailed audit of every vote.  The “Ninjas” were really hired to “fix” the results in Trump’s favor.  But even they couldn’t do it, because, there was no “fix” in the first place.  After spending millions of Arizona dollars, all the “Ninjas” could do was slink out of town. The results didn’t change.

In Georgia, the Republican Secretary of State machine counted the votes once, then ordered a physical hand count of every Georgia ballot. He then had a machine count taken again.  Biden won the election, all three times.

So why is the WINNER of the 2024 Presidential election, now the forty-seventh President Donald Trump, still trying to “win” the 2020 election?

Original Lost Cause

In the decades after the American Civil War, the former Confederacy waged a renewed battle, this time with what in modern terms we would call a “propaganda” campaign.  At the time of the war the struggle was clearly a Nation divided by Southern determination to maintain slavery.  But the story was “re-imagined” as a war for “state sovereignty” over “federal over-reach”.  

The massacre of black soldiers at Fort Pillow was forgotten, and the heroism of Pickett’s Charge elevated.  In the early 20^th century, monuments were erected to Southern sacrifice all over the South. The Confederate generals were exalted over the Union leaders who defeated them.  Confederate Robert E Lee was the brilliant strategist; Union General Ulysses S Grant just a “butcher”.

By the 1950’s, most Americans, North and South, had a totally different view of the Civil War than those who actually participated in it. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that our education system began to look at the “Lost Cause” movement for what it was; a false story written by the loser to justify their sacrifice and failure.  The “Lost Cause” remains a force today.  It’s difficult for many Americans to put false “education” of decades aside, and deal with the fact of an economic system built on the forced labor of enslaved humans.

Modern Lost Cause

The Trump Administration, like the defeated Confederacy of old, is trying to re-write history.  They have their own “Lost Cause”, the election of 2020 when the reality of the Covid Pandemic turned a close margin of the Nation’s vote from Trump to Biden. (Just as the reality of inflation resulting from Covid recovery narrowly turned the Nation from Harris back to Trump).  But, in their mythology, Trump couldn’t lose.  So it must be some conspiracy, some cabal of liberal Democrats that nefariously altered the results.

Speaker Mike Johnson explained it all so well this week.  He acknowledged that there is no evidence of election fraud, no reasonable scenario where the 2020 election was “stolen”.  But, he said, it didn’t “feel right”.  After all, as they counted the votes, Trump was winning, and then, as the count went on, he lost.  

Commentators call it the “Red Mirage”, when typical modern voting behaviors cause more Republican votes to be counted “up front”, and more Democratic votes counted afterwards.  For example:  Pennsylvania reports out the election day votes before any absentee or early votes are reported.  So if more Republicans vote on election day then Republicans look like they’re winning on the first reports. More Democrats vote early or absentee, so later reports “drift” back to Democratic as more ballots are added.  But Johnson claims that this is “evidence” of fraud, even though the explanation was clear even before the counting  began.

Johnson must know this.  But he’s willing to use his “feelings” to persuade Americans that there is something “crooked” with the American electoral system.  And that “crookedness” isn’t historical for Johnson and the Trump cohort, it’s their “evidence” of current and even future election rigging.  It’s their excuse to take control of the election process.

Elections in America

The US Constitution is clear on the point: “The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time make or alter such regulations…” (Article I, Section 4).   States control elections, Congress may make regulations regarding them.  

But President Trump wants to “Federalize” the election process, particularly in those states that voted against him in the last elections.  A “Federalized” process would be a Trump controlled process, the final step in making sure he stays in office, even after his second term expires.  He would make the “Red Mirage” a real thing, cutting off vote counts when he is ahead, regardless of the remaining ballots left uncounted, as he suggested in 2020. 

What’s to Lose

The goal of the Republican leaders is to make Americans “feel” that the elections are “rigged”.  That would make them more amenable to changes to our election system, even though a “Federalized” system is more likely to be “hacked” (perhaps the point).   Currently the United States has fifty-one different systems.  That diversity is one of the ways that we secure our elections from interference.  

The “Lost Cause” myth of the 2020 election isn’t just a way to assuage Trump’s hurt ego.  Here’s what Trump has to lose.  If a 2026 Congressional election puts Congress in Democratic hands, Trump will face two years of opposition, investigation and probable impeachment.  And if 2028 puts a Democrat in the White House, it’s unlikely they’ll make the same mistake Biden made in 2021.  It won’t take two years to begin an investigation of Trump’s improprieties as President.

There is an entire theory that Trump ran for President in 2024 to avoid the Jack Smith investigation.   Now that he’s in office, surely he’ll continue to do whatever he can to stay out of jail.   His willingness to alter or abolish our voting system to save himself from the consequences of his actions, is a seminal threat to American Democracy.

Violent Encounter

A car stops on an open road, blocking both lanes.  Armed occupants leap from the vehicle, and race back to the car behind them.  Inside that blocked vehicle, a woman confronts masked, unidentifiable armed men surrounding her, ordering her out of the car.  She doesn’t give in.  She videos the encounter, she calls the police, the real police, for help, and she tells them she is not violating the law, just observing.

But the armed men open the driver’s door, and drag her from the car.  Her husband arrives. He sees the car being searched, and demands to know where the warrant is. The two sides bicker over the US Constitution, and whether unidentified men can take a person into custody for the offense of “following their car”.  It’s tough to make a real obstruction charge, when she physically wasn’t obstructing.  The true charge would be “annoyance of so-called Federal agents”.  But that one isn’t written in the books.

Detention Facilities

This story is not from an apocalyptic movie of the 1970’s, about a dystopian future when armed thugs wander the streets.  This scene is actually from yesterday’s news.  It’s happening all over America.  Federal “agent” brutality is only one side of the what America looks like today.  The “Big, Beautiful Bill”  that Congress passed last year, allocated $165 Billion to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).   That’s almost 20% of what the Department of Defense gets to run all of the Armed Services:  Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy and Space Force and build ships and planes and a “Golden Dome” defense system that Ronald Reagan dreamed about.

They’ve more than doubled the number of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and CBP (Customs and Border Patrol) agents, to 22,000.  And they are contracting for detention facilities (camps, jails, areas) throughout the US, to the tune of $45 Billion.  To put that into some perspective:  our local school district recently built a big, beautiful new high school designed for 1500 kids.  It cost around $100 million (and it’s already at capacity).  Homeland Security is building detention facilities that are the equivalent of 450 of those big high schools throughout the country, to house “detained” migrants.  And I’m sure they aren’t worried about keeping a “three foot interval between desks in a classroom” that the new school has.  

A Million a Year

The Trump Administration leaders (Stephen Miller at the fore) are interested in deporting a million people a year. They want to wipe America clean of what they call “illegals”.  (Note:  illegal implies that they are criminals, which the vast majority of undocumented are not.  Crossing the border without permission is a “civil” offense, akin to getting a traffic ticket.  Many entered the United States with permission, and even the help, of the government. We don’t call speeding or even serial parking violators criminals, do we?).  But Miller is going farther than that.  With little notice, he has ordered DHS to revoke the “Temporary Protective Status” (TPS) from Haitian immigrants.  That’s in spite of their homeland being ruled by ruthless, murdering gangs, and still suffering from the twin economic disasters of earthquake and hurricane.  

Those Haitians have lived for years in the US, built lives, and powered the economic re-birth of American towns like Springfield, Ohio.  Now they will be uprooted.  And if they do not leave the United States immediately, then they will be considered “criminal”.  While a Federal Judge has granted a temporary reprieve, soon, ICE and CBP will start wandering the back roads of Springfield, looking for a black man at the wheel, or a black woman in the grocery line, and demanding “papers”.  If they don’t produce the papers, or are “revoked” TPS Haitians; they could end up in one of the camps, jails, areas, facilities that DHS is building.

History Remembered

We’ve been here before in America.  Soon after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, many Americans looked at people of Japanese ancestry as “the enemy”.  And it wasn’t just folks with Japanese citizenship, it was US citizens who were descended from Japan as well.  On Hawaii and the West Coast, these AMERICAN CITIZENS were placed into custody, and taken to remote “relocation camps”; far away from their homes and properties.   Men, women, children and the elderly were under armed guard, behind barbed wire, held without due process for years.

The euphemistically named “Japanese Relocation” during World War II has been a source of American shame ever since. None of the “relocated” were ever convicted of espionage.  And, there were no German or Italian descendants “relocated”, even though war was declared on those nations as well.  It was done purely on a racial, and racist, basis.  

Revisiting Our Shame

 I once had the son of Japanese immigrants, born an American citizen in Los Angeles; speak to my eighth grade classes.  He was the shortstop on his high school baseball team one day, a regular American kid.  The next game was his big concern. But the next day, he was “interned” as a possible enemy.  He ultimately earned his way out of the camp. He joined the US Army to fight in one of the most highly decorated units of World War II.  But he never forgot how it felt to be “a US kid” one day , and “the enemy” the next.

The Trump Administration will argue; “they aren’t citizens”.  But the world has seen what camps: relocation, concentration or refugee, really means.  A majority is trying to “contain” a minority.  And it’s happening here, again.  The shameful acts of the Japanese Relocation have become the current blueprint for the Department of Homeland Security.  And they’ve got all the money they need to do it.  

I love America, but I am ashamed of what we are becoming.

Border Czar

Tom Hohman is in Minneapolis.  Hohman, Trump’s “Border Czar”, is directly taking over ICE Operations there.  He’s got a tough job.  His agents were randomly searching for undocumented migrants and taking men, women, and children in custody often without any due process of law.  The actions of his agents were countered by the citizens of Minneapolis.  Many have tried to protect folks who have committed no crimes, but simply are undocumented. (And before we get lost in the weeds, crossing the border “without papers” is a  civil offense, not a criminal offense).  

“Agitators” followed ICE teams randomly driving the roads, looking for “illegal immigrants”.  The ICE teams focus on the “looks” of possible undocumented, with all of the civil liberties violations that entails.  Minnesota citizens created networks of “warners and watchers”, blowing whistles and horns when ICE was around.  And they stood witness, both personally and with video, of ICE actions.  The seemingly untrained and badly led  ICE “teams” often lashed out at the citizens, with chemical weapons and physical attacks. It’s resulted in the shooting deaths of two, both US citizens.

The Battlefield

Hohman promises a change in strategy.  He uses “battle terminology” to describe ICE actions, saying some agents have been “in theater” for eight months.  “In theater” means doing their job, in the United States.  And clearly, to Hohman, the United States is a battlefield, where ICE is fighting what he calls a valiant and necessary war to clean the streets of the undocumented.

He promises more ICE operations.  He promises continued deportations.  But he also promises that the “random” drive-by operations led by the officer he replaced, Greg Bovino, will not be the strategy.  Hohman promises to focus on those undocumented who commit other crimes, targeting operations to capture specific individuals.  And he intimates that there is some kind of “deal” made with the mostly Democratic leaders of Minnesota, to give ICE access to undocumented being held as criminals in Minnesota’s jails and prisons.  

To push the military analogy a little farther, it’s kind of like the opening scene of the movie, Patton. The US Army in North Africa, fresh from a horrible defeat at Kasserine Pass, is waiting.  The general who led them to defeat, has been sacked.  The soldiers look slovenly, undisciplined, and defeated.  And in comes General George Patton, flags flying on his Jeep, demanding discipline, decorum, and readiness.  Tom Hohman is Trump’s Patton.

At the Top

For those who hoped that the ugly, un-American actions of ICE were over, Hohman made it clear that he’s going to continue to “wage war” on the undocumented.  As he said, “If you’re undocumented, you are always at risk”.  But Hohman plans to focus on the campaign promise Trump made during last year’s Presidential election.  He’s going after criminals, not just any undocumented.

The concern we should have, is the true leader of the ugly American campaign is still in charge.  Stephen Miller is still Deputy Chief of Staff in the White House.  It was Miller’s demand that 3000 undocumented be deported a day, that drove the random round-ups that led to violence.  It’s Miller’s firm assertion that all undocumented persons are  “criminal”, simply by being undocumented. That means children and grandparents should be thrown into jail without due process, and dumped in foreign lands. And Miller put Kristi Noem in place as the Secretary of Homeland Security, with old, trusted, Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski at her side. Nothing has changed at the top.

“Justice is Coming”

Hohman promises that “justice is coming”.  He wasn’t talking about the undocumented criminals.  He was referring to the protestors, the “warners and watchers”, who use social media to track and disrupt ICE operations. Just as the Justice Department opened “obstruction” investigations of Governor Walz and Mayor Frey, the organizers of the “warners and watchers” may be subject to Federal intervention.  It’s a chilling thought:  the US Government using the power of the Justice Department to stifle political dissent.  But it’s a sign of our times.  The Justice Department demands the voting rolls from swing states, and even sent the FBI into the Fulton County (Atlanta) board of elections.  Attorney General Bondi offered to take ICE out of Minnesota in exchange for their voter information.  

What we can expect is the ICE will be more disciplined, and better organized, and less likely to “pick fights” with civilians.  Hopefully they will be less likely to use deadly force.  And we can brace for an ICE “publicity tour” of all the horrible criminals that are caught and deported.  But with Miller, Noem and Lewandowski still at the helm, don’t expect the real policy to change.

America is still in the “business” of “cleansing” the undocumented.  And it’s still un-American.  

Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin was a lawyer and politician in France in the mid-19^th Century.  He was an early leader of the French Revolution of 1848, but he later led a “protest” against the Revolutionary government, one that others called an “insurrection”.  He was exiled.  But what he is famous for is this phrase, the stereotype of a politician :

“There go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.”

On Video

“Fern” is the first snowstorm of 2026.  It dropped more than a foot of snow on Pataskala, and from Saturday night through Monday morning, most folks were stuck at home.  Along with the snow, the temperature dropped through the floor.  As I write this essay, it’s eight degrees outside, with a windchill of  minus fifteen.  Tonight it will be “real temperature” minus four.  So like most folks, we were in the house, mostly watching TV (and taking care of the dogs – the little one does not like snow above her head!!!).  

Jenn and I watched as the very real tragedy in Minneapolis unfolded.  It was well documented by phone videos, the essence of protest against ICE.  Americans  who oppose ICE can’t stop their actions in the streets.  All they can do is document, on video, for the world to see.  

That documentation is a powerful thing.  Why do most Americans know the name of an obscure place in Selma, Alabama, the Edmund Pettis Bridge?  Because the police brutality in March of 1965 there was documented on film, and quickly shown to the American people.  It interrupted ABC’s “Sunday Night Movie”, ironically, Judgment at Nuremburg.  “Bloody Sunday” became a turning point in the Civil Rights movement, and helped pass the Voting Rights Act.

We all saw what happened.  And no matter what “interpretation” others tried to force on us, we all believed our “lying” eyes.  Alex Pretti did not have a gun in hand, he had a phone.  Alex Pretti was on the ground, face down, with ICE agents on each limb, when his gun was found.  And he was shot in the back, first once, then nine more times.  We watched an execution on the street of Minneapolis, just as we watched a police officer choke the life from George Floyd five years ago, not too far away.

Politics

The “politics” started from the moment the videos went public.  Secretary Noem declaimed Pretti as a “domestic terrorist”, and created a whole false narrative about an attempt to create “mass ICE casualties”.  Greg Bovino, the “on site” ICE commander, lectured America about “good and bad choices”.  He claimed Pretti “made a choice”, and got the consequences.  It echoed Defense Secretary Hegseth’s favorite phrase, “FAFO” (F##k around and Find Out). 

And many Republican politicians, including Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, hid behind the results of some future investigation. That’s despite ICE itself was running that investigation, not Minnesota authorities or even his own FBI.  But it all rang false, compared to the multiple views of the actual event.  Americans kept watching it, over and over, as the snow piled up and the temperatures fell.  And what we saw wasn’t anything like what they were saying.

Circles

And there was a second issue.  If we drew a “vin diagram” of American politics, many of those dedicated to Second Amendment protections would fall in the same “circle” as those who support the actions of the current Administration.  But here was an American citizen, clearly shot because he legally was carrying a gun.  He didn’t “brandish” it, he didn’t reach for it, the ICE agents wrestling with him didn’t even notice it until Pretti was already face down on the ground.  But ten shots were still fired at him at point-blank range.  

And that “contradiction” has required politicians to change their tune, even those in the White House.  Not only do Americans believe their “lying eyes”, but we know the gun wasn’t the issue, even those who circle the President. 

Surprise, ten Republican US Senators are questioning ICE actions in Minnesota.  Surprise, Bovino, the “poster boy” of the Trump/Stephen Miller migrant roundup, is headed back to his post in El Centro, California, and soon to retire.  And surprise, President Trump had a “good conversation” with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.  It sounds like things will change in Minneapolis, and the ICE “flood” will end.  

Republicans are realizing that “their people” can’t support what happened in Minneapolis.  Even a Republican running for Governor in Minnesota dropped out of the race.  Sure, he couldn’t accept the “spin”.  But he also saw the political reality:  a Republican can’t win in Minnesota right now.  Minnesotans believe their “lying eyes”.  

“There go the voters,  I must follow them, because I am their leader.”

I have never “published” two essays on the same day – but here goes.  The “Sunday Story” was ready to go, but the events of yesterday demand a response.  Here it is.

Concealed Carry

Saturday,  the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) set a new standard for Americans.  If you carry a concealed weapon, you are eligible for an “instant” death penalty.  You don’t have to pull the gun out, you don’t have to shoot, you don’t even have to threaten.  Just the mere fact that you are “carrying” means that four or five DHS agents can shoot you, on the ground, in the back, on the street, even if your gun is “whisked away” by one of their compatriots, prior to execution.

I’m not a gun guy.  All of my “guns” are closed barreled track starting pistols.  But I do understand there’s an inherent danger in carrying those guns.  They “look” real, and, in the right set of circumstances, they might elicit a “real” response by law enforcement.  So I’m careful how I store, transport, and carry them; especially because I often do so on public school grounds.  But here’s a point:  even if there were real, in the state of Ohio, I can carry a concealed weapon “at will” (not on school grounds).  We are a “Constitutional Carry State”, defining the Second Amendment to the Constitution as allowing all eligible citizens to have a concealed weapon.

Minnesota is not a “Constitutional Carry” state.  They require concealed carry permits to have a concealed weapon.  And, Alex Pretti, a 37 year-old ICU nurse at Minnesota’s Veteran’s Hospital, had a permit to carry a weapon.  And he was executed by a squad of Homeland Security “agents” on Saturday morning.   

Brandishing

Why was he carrying a concealed weapon at the moment he stopped to help a woman shoved down in the snow by ICE?  Because it’s his right to do so.  Because, whether I like it or not, America is “awash” in guns.  Alex Pretti isn’t the only “non-right-winger” I know who “packs” a gun. It’s just as much his right to do so, as it is the “right-wingers” who proclaim their fealty to the Second Amendment.

Secretary Noem had her “cover story” ready to go.  Pretti was “brandishing a weapon”.  As I learned in my service on the Licking County Grand Jury, “brandishing” has a very specific legal definition.  If a person reveals a weapon for the purpose of threat, then it’s “brandished”.  It might simply be the lift of a T-shirt, revealing the handle of the gun in the waistband. 

But what if the Federal “agents” are the ones who lift the shirt?  And what if the they lift the shirt, after they level Mr. Pretti on the ground, with six agents holding him down?  And what if, a Federal “agent” takes the gun, and steps away back into the street?  Is Alex Pretti “brandishing” a weapon that is no longer on his person?  Watch the video, the shots are fired after the gun is removed.

That’s not any kind of legal law enforcement activity.  That’s an execution. 

Rear-Guard Action

ICE knows they’re in trouble.  They have done everything they can to control the narrative, and to block outside investigation.  Even the FBI isn’t allowed to be involved in this crime.  DHS is doing their own, internally controlled investigation.  Want to bet what the conclusions will be?  

The Minneapolis police department is trying to push their way in.  They recognize that there can be no justice without a trusted, impartial agency looking into this atrocity.  Ultimately it will be up to the Courts.  A Minnesota Federal Court already has demanded that all evidence be “preserved” by DHS.

The Administration is fighting a “valiant” rear-guard action, trying to invert the blame.  It’s the “violent protestors”, it’s that the Minneapolis Police aren’t helping, it’s the Mayor and the Governor encouraging protest, it’s that ICE has a “hard job”.  There’s no talk about their failure in this “mission” to rid America of migrants.

Lying Eyes

It all comes back to believing your “lying eyes”.  We can all see the altercation.  It’s very clear what went on.  We can even see the agent in the gray coat (no uniforms for ICE) grab the gun from Pretti’s back, and step back from the “scrum”.  That’s when ICE opened fire.   We’ve heard all sorts of terms about ICE:  “bully-boys”, Gestapo, America’s Brownshirts.  That is what they look like.  But it also looks like a bunch of untrained people given weapons, and a mandate to do “whatever it takes”.  

What needs to happen?  ICE needs to withdraw.  They need to regroup.  Ultimately, in some future administration with a more reasoned view of the world, ICE needs to be dissolved and replaced.  But assuredly Trump needs to get back to what he promised in the campaign:  that they would remove the worst criminals.  That does not include five year-old boys, or old men in the underwear (a US Citizen), or seventeen year-olds on their way to school.  The sooner Trump realizes that the current ICE actions are simply stiffening opposition, the sooner things will “get better” for him.

Unless of course, the goal is to create this chaos, in order to claim insurrection, enabling Trump to disrupt local American governments with Federal intervention.  Isn’t that what all of the “Second Amendment” folks were afraid of; the “Black Helicopters” swooping in to take over?  

They might be coming now.

This is another in the Sunday Story series.  No politics here, just some sadness and good memories.  It’s the end of an era.

Jeep Guy

Jeep’s don’t usually die of rolling over, or getting stuck in the mud.  Jeeps are tough.  They’re a lot like old men – they last until finally some creeping, quiet disease finally eats them away.  It’s rust that gets Jeeps.  And rust finally got mine last week.

I was a “Jeep guy” long before little ducks or “peace signs” out the window were in style.  I bought my first Jeep (and my last new car) in 1994, a “TJ”, with the square lights.  It was so basic, the backseat and the rearview mirror were “extras”.  But it was new, and it was a real Jeep, and I had a blast in that car.  

Jeeping

Sure, things happened.  I didn’t realize that the shallow lake I was driving across would suffocate the exhaust.  We had to push it the rest of the way out.  And when I dropped it into a huge hole in a field, it backed right out (but my face hurt from hitting the steering wheel!).  And when one of my runners tore up his ankle in the forest, I didn’t even realize that a gas line broke as I ripped between the trees to get him. It wasn’t until he was on the way to the hospital, and a puddle of gas was forming, that I figured it out.

I learned about seat belt tans (highway driving with the top off and no shirt on), and big puddles over the windshield (but it sure was fun driving through them).  There were drain plugs in the floor if you got caught out in a flood.  And I learned that while snow was no big deal, four-wheel drive and ten cents didn’t do you any good on ice. That white, two-door, soft top Jeep with big tires became my trademark.  And it lasted for fourteen years.

Rust Never Sleeps

But rust finally got it, with holes in the floorboards and the sides.  It got too cold to drive in the winter, even with a great heating system.  So I went out and bought a used 2004; another white, two-door Jeep with a soft top.  It was a newer version, a YJ with the traditional “big eyes” of Jeeps.  It was even more fun, and had plenty of adventures as well.  In fact, it’s the only Jeep I ever got stuck.  I was “playing” in a parking lot after a big snowstorm, and the Jeep skidded right up on top of a snowdrift.  Low four-wheel drive, even in “creeper” gear, doesn’t work if the wheels aren’t touching the ground.

Luckily, one of my students showed up with a tractor and a chain.  He laughed, and pulled me off the snow bank, and off I went.

For a while the Jeep was the “toy” car.  The Suburban, Yukon, and the Silverado Truck were the “family vehicles”.  But with Jenn out looking for dogs, and my taking on a full-time officiating load, we needed it back in business.  The last ten thousand or so miles have been a lot of highways, ending at track meets.

The Gift

My Jeeps took care of me.  And this last one gave me the ultimate gift.  I drove back from a track meet last Saturday night, fifty miles or so at my usual highway speed near 80 miles an hour.  Everything was fine.  I pulled off the exit to go home, and stopped at the gas station to pick up a couple of things.  When I got back in to drive that last five minutes, all of a sudden the Jeep was uncontrollable. Any speed over twenty miles an hour, and  it felt like a wheel fell off, like the back half of the Jeep was on ice, like I was driving too fast on a flat tire.  It felt like the Jeep was going off the road, either left into traffic, or right into the ditch. 

I called Jenn, told her I’d be late.  Then I crept down the back roads.  If I stayed under 20 miles per hour I could still keep control.  I dropped the Jeep at our trusted car mechanic, Steve, and Jenn picked me up.  I pretty much knew then it was over.  But Wednesday morning, Steve gave me the official bad news.  The frame was broke.  The springs the held up the back of the Jeep were no longer connected, just drifting in the air.  

It could have broken at 80 miles per hour on I-70.  It could have been an uncontrollable crash.  It could have been…but it wasn’t.  The Jeep got me safe, and got me home.  I slowly drove it back  from the shop, the engine still humming, the clutch still firm, even the heater still cooking along.

Showing Respect

It’s probably the end of my Jeep-ing days, now thirty-one years later.   There’s no fixing the frame, welding good metal onto rust.  And I’m not in the position to build my old Jeep onto a new frame.  We’re looking at a “new car” (to us) Equinox, or Forrester, or the like.  My ducks, and my gear shift knob, will now have a hallowed place on my bookshelf, beside the Plymouth Fury III logo (my first car) and the Volkswagen piston with the hole in the top. 

So if you’re driving a Jeep, and some strange old guy in a Chevy “grocery-getter” flashes you the peace sign, remember; it’s a Jeep reflex.  Maybe he just forgot what he’s driving. Or maybe he’s just respecting your choice:  a Jeep.

PS: We bought a “new to us” vehicle on Thursday. It’s a Buick (really, wouldn’t you rather drive a Buick?). It’s smaller (to us), an Envision. The Envision has all wheel drive, and all the bells and whistles (heated seats, blue tooth everything, automatic lights, even remote start!!). It’s an “adult” car. It’s still fun to drive, but…it’s not Jeeping!!

The Sunday Story Series

2021

• Riding the Dog  – 1/24/21
• Hiking with Jack – 1/31/21
• A Track Story – 2/7/21
• Ritual – 2/14/21
• Voyageur – 2/19/21
• A Dog Story – 2/25/21
• A Watkins Legend – 3/7/21
• Ghosts at Gettysburg – 3/14/21
• Lessons from the State Meet – 3/28/21
• More Lessons from the State – 4/4/21
• Stories from the Road – 4/11/21
• A Bear Wants You – 5/1/21
• My Teachers – 5/9/21
• Old Friends  – 5/23/21
• The Gift – 6/6/21
• Echoes of Mom – 6/20/21
• Stories of the Fourth – 7/3/21
• Running Memories – 7/25/21
• Lost Dog of Eldora – 8/1/21
• Dogs and Medals – 8/8/21
• The New Guy – 9/5/21
• Stories of 9-11 – 9/12/21
• The Interview – 9/26/21
• Night Moves – 10/3/21
• Funeral for a Friend – 10/11/21
• National Security – 10/24/21
• Boots on the Trail – 10/31/21
• Taking Care of Mom and Dad – 11/14./21
• Dogs Found and Lost – 11/21/21
• Watching Brian 12/12/21
• Stories from Shiloh – 12/19/21
• Team Trips – 12/26/21

2022

• Uphill, Both Ways  – 1/9/22
• Old Trophies – 1/30/22
• The Last Time – 2/7/22
• Olympic Miracles – 2/13/22
• Mind Numbing – 2/20/22
• Track Weather – 4/3/22
• What’s Missing – 4/11/22
• A Scouting Story – 4/17/22
• Waterproof Paper – 5/8/22
• Origin Stories – 5/22/22
• Origin Stories – Part Two 5/29/22
• Back at State – 6/5/22
• Out in the Country – 6/19/22
• Pataskala Downs – 7/4/22
• Car Stories I – 7/24/22
• Car Stories II  – 7/31/22
• Old Man Experience – 8/7/22
• Cross Country Camp – 8/14/22
• New to the Pack – 8/21/22
• Car Stories III – The Bus – 8/28/22
• A Day in the Life – 9/4/22
• Stupid Human Tricks – 9/18/22

2023

• Fair or Foul – 2/26/23
• Immigrant Story – 3/12/23
• Busy Season – 5/15/23
• Of Jeeps and Bucks – 5/28/23
• A Pole Vault Story  -6/11/23
• End of an Era – 6/25/23
• Paybacks – 7/2/23
• Graying in Pataskala – 7/17/23
• Being a Goat – 7/23/23
• Toy Truck – 8/20/23
• Medical Terms – 8/27/23
• Missing Margaritaville – 9/3/23
• The McGowan – 9/10/23
• Who’s Watching – 10/22/23
• The Saturday Before – 10/29/23
• A Tale of Turkey, and Dogs – 11/26/23
• Bruno’s Story – 12/3/23
• Out in the Country – 12/10/23
• Christmas Eve – 12/24/23

2024

• Rube Goldberg – 1/12/24
• Our Pataskala Kroger’s – 2/5/24
• A Sad, Sad, Dog – 2/11/24
• Singing in the Tornado – 3/3/24
• Your Safe Spot – 3/17/24
• Easter Dawn – 3/31/24
• Swarms – 4/14/24
• Lowest Common Denominator – 4/28/24
• Seniors – 5/12/24
• Season’s Over – 6/22/24
• Camp Morning – 6/30/24
• Jeeping – 7/7/24
• How Mondo Won the Gold and Started a Dog Fight (almost) – 8/6/24
• Fifty Years of the McGowan – 9/8/24
• A Walk in the Woods – 10/22/24
• Smokin – 12/6/24
• Coal for Christmas 12/16/24
• Provenance – 12/22/24

2025

• Lost and Found – 2/22/25
• Catching Cars – 3/2/25
• PV Mentor – 3/31/25
• Dogs, Jeeps, Fireworks and Beer Coolers 7/6/25
• It’s About Time – 7/27-25
• Gas War – 11/30/25

2026

• The End of My Nose – 1/18/26
• The End of the Jeep – 1/25/26

NATO

The United States of America ratified the North Atlantic Treaty, the basis for the defense agreement we call NATO, in July of 1949.  That treaty went through the entire Constitutional process (US Constitution, Article 2, §2).  President Truman negotiated the deal, then sent it to the United States Senate for ratification.  As a treaty, it needed to receive a 2/3 vote of the then 96 total Senators.   It was confirmed by even more than that, 82 to 13.  

The Constitution establishes that once a treaty is ratified, the process has to be fully “reversed” to get out of it.  The President cannot do it on his own (nor can the Senate). This was further strengthened by the Defense Authorization Act of 2024, requiring that either Senate approval or a separate Act of Congress was needed to “quit” NATO.

An act of the President of the United States to violate the North Atlantic Treaty without the consent of Congress, then, simply is illegal.  And attempting to takeover a fellow NATO nation’s territory is absolutely violating the treaty.

A Coward In Congress

If a President of the United States tries to break a law, it’s up to the Congress to check him.  The most obvious check is to impeach and remove the offending President from office.  That requires a majority of the House to impeach, and 2/3 of the Senate (now 100 Senators, 67 to reach 2/3) to convict. 

 America is too familiar with the process. Donald Trump has already been impeached twice.  The second time, after the Insurrection of January 6, 57 Senators agreed to removal.  Several more might have joined them.  But the Senate Minority Leader of the time, Mitch McConnell, convinced them to hide behind the “fig leaf” of, “he’s out of office anyway, so there’s no reason to take the political risk”.  

We remember McConnell’s cowardice well.  Immediately after he torpedoed the conviction, he gave a passionate (for McConnell) speech on the floor of the Senate about how “responsible” Trump was for the Insurrection.  He guaranteed that the Courts could take action, where he failed.  And we are all still paying the price for that failure today.

A Coward in the Court

We reasonably expect that if any American breaks the law, from Joe Smith on Main Street to Donald Trump on Pennsylvania Avenue; he will be dragged into Court.  But another “coward” gave Trump an official, Supreme Court authorized, “Get Out of Jail Free” card.  Chief Justice John Roberts created a new Presidential “privilege” out of  thin air, granting the President full immunity from criminal action for any “official act” he might take.  Whatever boundaries the “law” placed on Donald Trump in his first term, Roberts tore them all down before he was elected to his second term.

When  Vice President JD Vance, a Yale educated lawyer, said that the ICE “bully-boys” had absolute immunity, he was committing malpractice.  While those masked-thugs do have heightened protection for their official acts, they still can be held to account.  But now, according to the majority on the Court, the President cannot.

The Order

So if the President of the United States orders American military forces to invade Greenland, what’s left to stop him?

All of the officers in the US military. The Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, Navy, and Space Force all take the same oath of office.

I ___, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

 Their sworn duty is to support and defend the Constitution.  Any order they receive that violates the Constitution is therefore an unlawful order.  These officers are required to disobey unlawful orders.  What is an unlawful order?

An order becomes unlawful when it directly conflicts with higher law or exceeds the issuer’s authority. Common categories include:

• Orders that require a war crime or clear violation of the law of armed conflict (e.g., targeting civilians, torturing detainees, executing prisoners). 
• Orders that require violation of the Constitution or federal statute (e.g., summary punishment without due process, clearly illegal domestic law-enforcement tasks) (court-martial.com).

The Last Wall

If Donald Trump issues the order to invade Greenland, in direct contravention of the North Atlantic Treaty, it is a manifestly Unconstitutional and therefore unlawful order.  If  Congress cannot muster the strength (Democrats in Congress will try), and if the Courts determine to step aside, then it’s up to the military itself.  Of course, one of the Trump Administration’s first moves was to fire the legal leaders of the military branches.  Trump wanted no opposition, no questioning of “legalities” like he encountered with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, in 2020.  

But, if Congress and the Courts fail, it’s up to the military to recognize that the President is beyond his authority as Commander and Chief to invade Greenland, dismantle NATO, and wage wars of imperial expansion.  It is not a choice: they are obligated, to disobey the order. And that’s not just the generals of the Joint Chiefs. That obligation is on the entire officer corps, from those with four stars on their shoulders, to those with a single bar. They swore an oath.

 We ask a lot of the military, every day.  They use their talents to defend our country when those same talents would earn more money in private industry.  They go where they’re told, risk their lives, and  “stand the wall” to protect the United States.  And now, they may have the last, best chance to save the Constitution that they took an oath to support and defend.

This is the “break glass” moment.

.

Pax Americana

Greenland, Canada, Cuba, Nigeria, Venezuela:  the “Pax Americana” that prevented a third World War for eighty years is at an end.  The Trump Administration clearly wants a new era of expansionism.  It doesn’t matter that Trump himself isn’t going to be a “King”.  Imperialism isn’t based on crowns and thrones, it’s based on the root word of  “imperial”.  That’s “empire”.  And Trump is determined, far more than any other US President in history, to build an American Empire.

To mirror history, just a little bit.  Around the beginning of the Christian Era (“zero year”), the Western World was dominated by Rome.  The Romans not only were conquering the Mediterranean coasts, but also attacking deep into Northern Europe.  And, in the process of building an empire, they lost their Republic, the “elected” form of government that lasted for almost 500 years.  A byproduct of these conquests was that the Generals became the Emperors.  That’s concerning, history “rhyming” again.

Manifest Destiny

Empire building isn’t new to the United States.   Even the Founding Fathers looked west to the vast North American continent, with Thomas Jefferson doubling the size of the new United States with the Louisiana Purchase.  The US fought wars of conquest:  the Mexican-American War, the Plains War against the Native Americans, the Spanish-American War.  And the US pursued expansionist policies, Manifest Destiny of the 19^th Century. America purchased Alaska and land in the Southwest, took Pacific Islands as coaling stations, built the Panama Canal, and developed a large Navy to project power around the world (Teddy Roosevelt’s “Great White Fleet”).  

America is the largest power in the world, and has been since the 1940’s.  In the past, that strength contained an obligation, to try to keep peace in the world, a peace we failed to keep after World War I.  And before my more “cynical” friends attack:  the United States has clearly profited from our strength.  We have, time and time again, stepped into the internal affairs of other nations in order to gain economically.

War with Eastasia

In Orwell’s novel about authoritarian government, “1984”; the government switches alliances in a single day.  From war with “Eurasia”, they flip to war with yesterday’s ally, “Eastasia”.  Then the government claims;  “We have always been at war with Eastasia”.  But in our real world, we’ve never done this kind of “1984” style flip.  

Denmark is a NATO ally, nominally in charge of Greenland’s foreign policy.  The US already has treaties with Denmark and Greenland, giving full US military access to the entire island.  There were fifty US bases in Greenland over the past eighty years.  Today one remains, Pituffik Space Force Base (formally called Thule).   But instead of exercising rights and obligations under the current treaties, the United States is threatening to “take over” Greenland.

That “take over” would be an attack on Greenland and Denmark, a clear violation of the NATO agreement.  US military action would require that the rest of NATO to invoke Article 5, and come to the support of Denmark/Greenland against a US invasion.  It is the end of NATO, the end of Pax Americana.  And it plays directly into the hands of the true rivals of the United States, Russia and China.

Why Greenland

There is plenty of speculation that this is some conspiracy by Trump and Putin to “divide the world” to their own benefit.  But, speculation aside; to what advantage is a “full possession” of Greenland to the United States?

It’s not about defense, even defense of the anticipated new sea lanes across the climate-changed Arctic Sea.  What was once a full ice cap for most of the year, has shrunk enough that the fabled “Northwest Passage” from Europe to the Pacific is coming into view.  Trump spokesmen will say that we need to “control” those new routes, and only “possession” of Greenland (and maybe Canada) will assure it.

But NATO already controls from the Norwegian border west to Siberia, the vast majority of the Arctic Southern coast.  The rest is Russia itself.  So if it’s not military, not even commercial shipping; then why Greenland?

Is it just Trump’s ego?  Does Trump need to match Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase; match Seward’s purchase of Alaska?  Certainly that’s possible.

Real-Politik

But, whispering in Trump’s ear, are the “real-politik” voices of Project 2025.  And they are telling him that the future isn’t about Arctic passages.  It’s about access to minerals, the “rare earth” that powers batteries and silicon chips and the future of artificial intelligence.  China is the number one country in the world for “rare earth” minerals.  The United State is second.  But assured supply of those minerals is assured access to the future economy.  

And as climate change continues, unabated by the now-fractured governments cooperating to control it, the Greenland icecap is shrinking.  And what is likely underneath that ice? That’s what Donald Trump really wants.  

So when he talks about Greenland, he’s really talking about assured mining rights.  When Trump talks about supporting Ukraine, he really talking about the right to mine Ukraine’s vast mineral wealth.  When he talks about Venezuela, it’s not just about oil.  It’s about the minerals buried far beneath the jungle. The same is true about Nigeria, and even Canada.

Trump doesn’t want to negotiate for those mineral rights.  He just wants to take them, no matter the sovereign rights of the peoples there, or “old treaties” from other eras.  His America not only wants an empire, it wants to rip the wealth from the Nations it conquers.

There is a trilogy of block-buster movies about humans from Earth ripping the wealth and the soul from another planet, the Avatar series.   If you need a vision of what Donald Trump wants America to be, check them out.  

I can assure you, WE aren’t the “good guys”.

Forty Years

Today is Martin Luther King Day, 2026.  This “holiday” is relatively new.  Surprisingly, it was “proto-type” Republican-Conservative President, Ronald Reagan, who signed the law into effect in 1983.  It was fifteen years after King’s death. The first Federal holiday was actually celebrated in 1986.  That’s forty years ago.  

For most of those forty years it seemed like the rights of minorities in the United States progressed.  Each passing generation endured the biases of the past, and let many of them go.  What was “exceptional”, changed:  minority kids were able to go to the best colleges. Minorities got management jobs in business. Minorities (the majority of many professional athletic teams) became coaches and managers.  Hell, a black man “called the future”, and became the President of the United States in 2009.

Call the Future

To be honest, that was the beginning of the backlash.  It certainly wasn’t Barack Obama’s fault. Politically he moved to the “center” during his Presidency.  And, he was always sensitive to the fact that he was the first Black President. Obama didn’t make many of the changes for minority rights that we expected, and his Black constituents anticipated.  He “tread lightly” on that issue.

But many white Americans felt that a Black President was a “bridge too far”.  So, if the kernel of the backlash was in the election of 2008, the first iteration of protest was in the “Tea Party Movement” (“tea” stood for “taxed enough already”).  Sure, they were against big government and increased taxation; but they were also mostly white “victims” of big government.  

Victimhood

The essence of “white victimhood” is that white men (mostly) did not receive the same advantages their fathers had.  I can attest to the truth of that.  It was 1973, and I was applying for colleges.  Another student in my high school, with similar grades, extra-curriculars, and test scores, applied for many of the same schools.  He was black, I was white.  He was admitted to one high-level school,  I was “wait-listed”.  

I was OK with that.  As a black man in our 1970’s society, he certainly had a harder “way to go” than I did.  Universities called it affirmative action. That allowed schools that were overwhelming white to diversify their student bodies.  It was the right thing to do, then, and still is today.  

So, starting in the 1970’s, white men started to lose their “advantage”.  Instead of just competing against other white men, they had to compete against the whole range of racial, ethnic, and gender groups.  It was, and is, what diversity, equity and inclusion in America is supposed to be about.  

MAGA

If the Tea Party was the kernel of backlash, the MAGA movement was the whole ear of corn.  MAGA made white “victimhood” a major building block in their ideology.  Even the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court added to the concept.  John Roberts declared that, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”  

That trite statement implied that discrimination against minorities was “over”, and there was no need to take further measures to remedy the centuries of mistakes of the past.  And , it was “gas on the fire” of MAGA.

So today, “DEI” is now a “dirty word”, as is affirmative action.  The MAGA authorities now in power want to declare “white people” the winners of the “race”, and tell everyone else to “catch up” on their own.  As I often told my government classes, it’s like the white group starts the 100 meter dash at the starting line, and the other groups have to start 10 meters farther back. It’s unfair.

Written in Stone

Despite MAGA, and Donald Trump and JD Vance, there is an inevitable outcome to the minority crisis.  Within the next decade, white people will no longer be a majority in America, no matter how many people of color ICE kidnaps and deports. America will be a minority/majority Nation.  The balance of political power will shift.  

Trump, Vance, and the 2025 Project folks are fighting a “valiant rear-guard” action, trying to stop time. They are even trying to convince Americans that non-white, non-citizens of the United States sway voting outcomes. That’s simply not true, but the truth isn’t important to them.

 MAGA will not succeed.  Change in America is already written in the stone of demographics, and while MAGA can try to cover that up, or hold back the tide of the future, Dr. King himself had the final word, over a half a century ago.

Dr. King

(Speech on the steps of the State Capitol, Montgomery, Alabama, March 25, 1965).

I know you are asking today, “How long will it take?” Somebody’s asking, “How long will prejudice blind the visions of men, darken their understanding, and drive bright-eyed wisdom from her sacred throne?” Somebody’s asking, “When will wounded justice, lying prostrate on the streets of Selma and Birmingham and communities all over the South, be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men?” Somebody’s asking, “When will the radiant star of hope be plunged against the nocturnal bosom of this lonely night, plucked from weary souls with chains of fear and the manacles of death? How long will justice be crucified, and truth bear it?

I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because “truth crushed to earth will rise again.”

How long? Not long,  because “no lie can live forever.”

How long? Not long, because “you shall reap what you sow.”

How long? Not long:

Truth forever on the scaffold,

Wrong forever on the throne, 

Yet that scaffold sways the future,

And, behind the dim unknown,

Standeth God within the shadow,

Keeping watch above his own.

How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

This is a Sunday Story.  There are no politics today (whew!!), just a story about, of all things, smells.

Covid

It was the middle of track season in 2022.  We all “adapted” to Covid, now a part of our lives.  It’s still out there, by the way.  About 47,000 Americans died with Covid as a “factor” in 2024, the last year there’s good data (NPR).  And of course, there’s the whole “politics” of Covid.  It’s been stricken from our collective memory, as well as official reports.  So it’s tough to be sure how “Covid free” we really are, or were, or will be.

But this essay isn’t about the politics of disease.  It’s about a known side-effect of Covid, long term consequences of having the disease, called “long Covid”.  And on April 11, 2022, I wrote an essay (What’s Missing) about my experience with it.  I lost my sense of smell. 

There’s a Forrest Gump riff about it:  I couldn’t smell “shit”.  Really, we had five dogs at the time, and my job was to pick-up the backyard.  And, I couldn’t “smell the coffee” either.   I’m a “smoker” guy, I enjoy smoking ribs and turkeys and hams and all sorts of other things.  I could stick my head in the actual smoker, filled with hickory smoke.  I could sense the “burn”, but I couldn’t smell hickory.  

Gone Missing

More importantly, I couldn’t smell the gas if the stove was left on, or burnt toast, or whether it was a clean or dirty t-shirt, or whether there was a radiator leak in my twenty year-old Jeep.  My sense of smell just disappeared.

I could still taste, but there’s a huge difference between a perfectly done ribeye when you can smell it, and when you can only taste it.  I found myself moving to more spices; hot sauces and peppers.  No smell, but I definitely could taste them.

And that’s the “way it was”, with one exception.  In September of 2022, I did something really stupid, and flipped a lawn tractor over on top of myself (see Stupid Human Tricks).  That required a “rebuild” job on my shoulder.  And what I found was, after a couple of hours under general anesthesia, all of a sudden I could smell again.  It came back in a rush, and lasted for a couple of weeks.  Then, almost as quickly as it arrived, it was gone.  Two weeks of one-handed “smelling the coffee”, then it was “blank slate” again.

Frustration

And that’s how it was for the past three years.  It was a note in my medical chart – “Long Covid, loss of smell”.  And while there were theories about how to get it back:  “Put your nose in a coffee bag, inhale deeply, remember what coffee used to smell like”, they didn’t work for me.

One of the most frustrating experiences was going to the “candle shop”.  There were all the jars with exotic names:  Grandma’s Christmas, Summer Grass, Grandad’s Pipe, Cinnamon Spice.  Open the jar, stick my nose in and…nothing.  It could have said Marty’s Old Running Shoes, it didn’t matter.  Going there was a frustrating experience, both for me, and for Jenn, who wanted my opinion.

It’s Back!!

Medically it’s been an annoying fall.  Without going into detail, getting old sucks.  It’s required lots of very personal medical procedures (nothing too serious).  Suffice is to say, that I was under general anesthesia twice in the past six months, with one more to go.  None of it is “fun”, and here I am, a couple of months after the second surgery.

But there is one upside.  I can smell:  the coffee in the morning, the burnt toast in the toaster, even the ribeye cooking on the grill.  (The advantage of winter:  the poop is frozen in the back yard and doesn’t smell!!).   And so far, for the last couple of weeks, it seems to be getting better (stronger?).  

When I was a little kid, my eyes got progressively more near-sighted.  I didn’t realize it, until the “grade-level” eye tests.  We stood in the cafeteria pick-up line, where we got our milk cartons at Southdale Elementary in Kettering, Ohio. At the other end by the “check-out”, there was an eye chart posted on the wall.  I distinctly remember being told, “move up until you can read the top line”.  I was already past the main course to the vegetable area, when I called out “E”.  That’s when I realized all the other kids could read what was on the chalkboard, without going up at the end of class.

My sense of smell “snuck up” in the same way.  And even when I realized I was “smelling”, I didn’t put much faith in it.  I’ve been fooled before.  But right now, today, I am smelling stuff.  And I hope it lasts.

I even put my nose in the cinnamon candle jar this morning.  Christmas was right there, three weeks late.  It was right at the end of my nose. 

The Sunday Story Series

2021

• Riding the Dog  – 1/24/21
• Hiking with Jack – 1/31/21
• A Track Story – 2/7/21
• Ritual – 2/14/21
• Voyageur – 2/19/21
• A Dog Story – 2/25/21
• A Watkins Legend – 3/7/21
• Ghosts at Gettysburg – 3/14/21
• Lessons from the State Meet – 3/28/21
• More Lessons from the State – 4/4/21
• Stories from the Road – 4/11/21
• A Bear Wants You – 5/1/21
• My Teachers – 5/9/21
• Old Friends  – 5/23/21
• The Gift – 6/6/21
• Echoes of Mom – 6/20/21
• Stories of the Fourth – 7/3/21
• Running Memories – 7/25/21
• Lost Dog of Eldora – 8/1/21
• Dogs and Medals – 8/8/21
• The New Guy – 9/5/21
• Stories of 9-11 – 9/12/21
• The Interview – 9/26/21
• Night Moves – 10/3/21
• Funeral for a Friend – 10/11/21
• National Security – 10/24/21
• Boots on the Trail – 10/31/21
• Taking Care of Mom and Dad – 11/14./21
• Dogs Found and Lost – 11/21/21
• Watching Brian 12/12/21
• Stories from Shiloh – 12/19/21
• Team Trips – 12/26/21

2022

• Uphill, Both Ways  – 1/9/22
• Old Trophies – 1/30/22
• The Last Time – 2/7/22
• Olympic Miracles – 2/13/22
• Mind Numbing – 2/20/22
• Track Weather – 4/3/22
• What’s Missing – 4/11/22
• A Scouting Story – 4/17/22
• Waterproof Paper – 5/8/22
• Origin Stories – 5/22/22
• Origin Stories – Part Two 5/29/22
• Back at State – 6/5/22
• Out in the Country – 6/19/22
• Pataskala Downs – 7/4/22
• Car Stories I – 7/24/22
• Car Stories II  – 7/31/22
• Old Man Experience – 8/7/22
• Cross Country Camp – 8/14/22
• New to the Pack – 8/21/22
• Car Stories III – The Bus – 8/28/22
• A Day in the Life – 9/4/22
• Stupid Human Tricks – 9/18/22

2023

• Fair or Foul – 2/26/23
• Immigrant Story – 3/12/23
• Busy Season – 5/15/23
• Of Jeeps and Bucks – 5/28/23
• A Pole Vault Story  -6/11/23
• End of an Era – 6/25/23
• Paybacks – 7/2/23
• Graying in Pataskala – 7/17/23
• Being a Goat – 7/23/23
• Toy Truck – 8/20/23
• Medical Terms – 8/27/23
• Missing Margaritaville – 9/3/23
• The McGowan – 9/10/23
• Who’s Watching – 10/22/23
• The Saturday Before – 10/29/23
• A Tale of Turkey, and Dogs – 11/26/23
• Bruno’s Story – 12/3/23
• Out in the Country – 12/10/23
• Christmas Eve – 12/24/23

2024

• Rube Goldberg – 1/12/24
• Our Pataskala Kroger’s – 2/5/24
• A Sad, Sad, Dog – 2/11/24
• Singing in the Tornado – 3/3/24
• Your Safe Spot – 3/17/24
• Easter Dawn – 3/31/24
• Swarms – 4/14/24
• Lowest Common Denominator – 4/28/24
• Seniors – 5/12/24
• Season’s Over – 6/22/24
• Camp Morning – 6/30/24
• Jeeping – 7/7/24
• How Mondo Won the Gold and Started a Dog Fight (almost) – 8/6/24
• Fifty Years of the McGowan – 9/8/24
• A Walk in the Woods – 10/22/24
• Smokin – 12/6/24
• Coal for Christmas 12/16/24
• Provenance – 12/22/24

2025

• Lost and Found – 2/22/25
• Catching Cars – 3/2/25
• PV Mentor – 3/31/25
• Dogs, Jeeps, Fireworks and Beer Coolers 7/6/25
• It’s About Time – 7/27-25
• Gas War – 11/30/35

2026

• The End of My Nose – 1/18/26

Into the Weeds

A Federal Judge in South Carolina, Cameron McGowan Currie, recently threw out indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.  The decision did not deal with the substance of the charges.  Judge Currie ruled that, as a matter of law, the US Attorney for Eastern Virginia was not legally appointed to her office.  And since the Trump-appointed Lindsey Halligan was the only signature for the United States Department of Justice on the indictments, the indictments themselves were invalid.

Talk about going down “into the weeds” of legality.  But Judge Currie wasn’t just dealing with the political “hot potato” of retribution and revenge.  She had a much broader point, the consistent actions of the Trump Administration to subvert the Constitution of the United States.  Halligan’s appointment was only the tip of the iceberg.

Presidential Appointments

It all goes back to the basic “checks and balances” of the branches of government set up in the  US Constitution.   The President has the right to appoint the officers of the Executive branch.  Most of those appointments, including US Attorneys, are required to be approved by two-thirds vote of the US Senate.   And the authors of the Constitution did not see the Congress as a “full-time” body. They allowed the President to make “temporary” appointments during recesses of the Senate (US Constitution, Article 2, §2). 

So the normal method of appointing US Attorneys (there are 93, one for each Federal District), is that first the President nominates a candidate. Then the Senate holds hearings and determines whether to confirm by two-thirds or not.  The Senate, by tradition, gives wide latitude to the President to appoint “his choices”.  Traditionally, over 90% are confirmed.  

Also by tradition, US Attorneys resign from their office at the end of the Presidential term.  So in this particular case, the Eastern District of Virginia, the Biden-appointed Jessica Aber resigned after Trump was inaugurated.  Her assistant, Eric Siebert, was temporarily appointed (US Code §546) to serve in the role for up to 120 days under Federal law. He was well on the way to Senate confirmation.  All of the parties involved:  the President, Virginia’s Republican Governor, and even the two Democratic Senators from the state, favored confirming Siebert.

Revenge or Evidence

But Siebert made a “fatal” mistake.  He refused to indict two of Trump’s “enemies”, Comey and James.  He simply could not find the evidence to back an indictment.  By law, there needs to be enough evidence to create “probable cause” that a crime was committed. That’s more than a 50% certainty, that it happened.  In addition, by Department of Justice regulation, the prosecutor must be reasonably sure they can reach the “beyond reasonable doubt” standard , 90% certainty for conviction in court.  Siebert didn’t think he had either standard.

The Trump Justice department fired Siebert.  They then appointed another “temporary”, Lindsey Halligan, a real estate lawyer that previously did work for Trump.  The legal issue is on this second appointment.  According to 28 US Code §546 after 120 days, “If an appointment expires under subsection (c)(2), the district court for such district may appoint a United States attorney to serve until the vacancy is filled.”  In simple English, after 120 days, the local District Court (judges) gets to fill the vacancy, until the Senate confirms a candidate. 

Judge Currie is not a local district court judge.  Because of the conflict of powers, the Comey/James indictments case was heard by an “out-of-district” Federal judge in South Carolina.  Halligan’s signature was the only one (and only attorney willing to sign) on the indictment.  Judge Currie ruled that the indictments themselves were invalid.

Trump’s Appointee

In multiple other Federal Courts, judges are citing Judge Currie’s decision in challenges to Trump temporary appointees.  Currently five different so-called US Attorneys are under scrutiny.  And the Trump Administration is fighting back, calling Currie a “Democrat-Activist” Judge (she was appointed by Bill Clinton).  The Justice Department is also lashing out at other Judges respecting Currie’s decision. 

 Federal Judge David Novak, a Trump appointee, demanded that Halligan explain to the Court why she is still acting as the US Attorney. The entire weight of Justice’s leadership struck back.  Attorney General Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Blanche and Halligan all signed onto to a response. It said that, “The bottom line is that Ms. Halligan has not ‘misrepresented’ anything and the Court is flat wrong…” (News Nation).

But the reality is simple.  If Trump can temporarily appoint, over and over again without check, then the Senate is denied the power to confirm appointees.  The Courts can step into this early with their ability to appoint US Attorneys. But the larger point is all about the Trump Presidency trying to grab unlimited powers.  

Of course, the Supreme Court will have a say in this decision.  And no one should feel secure that they will even take a stand, or what their decision might be.

The Battle Hymn

The Battle Hymn of the Republic was written early in 1862, in the midst of the American Civil War.  It was the “theme song” of the Union, and marked the transformation of public support in the North from a Civil War to preserve the Union, to a war to end slavery.  It was later that year that Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order that was the legal “beginning of the end” of slavery.

The Battle Hymn of the Republic is perhaps the most stirring of American  patriotic songs.  It places a vengeful God firmly on America’s side, “…trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored,” and “He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword”. It was re-written a couple of times.  The lyrics to that tune (originally named “Oh Brother”) were first revised to praise John Brown.  In October of 1859, Brown led an attack on the US Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), with the intent of arming a slave revolt in the South.  The assault failed, and Brown was soon convicted of murder and hanged.  

His attack is now seen as the “end of compromise” between North and South over slavery, and the beginning of the final slide to the division of the United States.  The song was called “John Brown’s Body (lies a moldering in the grave)”.   Once the war started, the song was re-written to make it less “specific” to Brown and more general to the Union cause.  

National Anthem

It may be the most stirring of “America’s Songs”, but The Battle Hymn “failed” to become the national anthem When Congress and  President Hoover finally agreed on one in 1931  (36 U.S.C § 301(a)).  It lost out to Francis Scott Key’s early homage to the flag,  The Star Spangled Banner.  

Like almost everything in the United States, it was a matter of compromise.  The Battle Hymn was the rallying cry of the North in the Civil War, a song calling for freedom at the end of a “terrible swift sword”.  It was a song of conquest, and countered by the Confederate Dixie Land. Key’s Star Spangled Banner was also a bloody war song.  The seldom heard third verse contains the line, “Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.  No refuge could save the hireling and slave, From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave”.  But the enemy he referred to was the British fleet and troops in Baltimore Harbor, not “fellow Americans”.  

Looking at the history of the two songs is constructive in one way.  The Battle Hymn was a call to one side of an American problem.  It was a song of division, the division faced by America in the mid-19^th century.  It called on Americans to stand with the “right side”, “God’s side” of the Civil War.  The Star Spangled Banner calls on Americans to honor a very real flag (still hanging on the Smithsonian Museum of American History).  It puts all Americans on the deck of the British truce ship, hoping against hope that the flag, the fort, and the Baltimore would survive the British bombardment, “ ‘Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave.  O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Song of Division

All of this to say:  we are a nation of the Battle Hymn of the Republic right now, not the Star Spangled Banner.  

We are so clearly divided politically, and morally.  Like the era before the Civil War, it has become almost impossible for “civil discourse”.  There is one side and there is other side, both believing in the absolute certainty of their stand.  The events of the last week firmly underline the reality:  now Americans can even look at the same videos and still come to completely different conclusions.  The old “don’t believe your lyin’ eyes”, has now become, let your ideas tell your eyes what you see.

Who’s in the middle?  The essence of political polarization is that there is no room for the middle, no place for them in political debate.  The “middle” are seen by both sides as the “uneducated”.  If they only “knew” then they would take “their” side.

Which leads to the final question:  it took a Civil War, blood on the battlefield, to “solve” the Battle Hymn versus Dixie Land crisis.  One side today already claims the Star Spangled Banner flag as their own, waved as a symbol of “their” side.  The violence has already begun.  Our “John Brown’s Raid” moment may already be past.  Perhaps we need another anthem.  

America the Beautiful is still available.

Star Spangled Banner

By Francis Scott Key

O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
⁠What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
⁠O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
⁠O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
⁠Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
⁠As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
⁠That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more?
⁠Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave,
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand,
⁠Between their loved home and the war’s desolation,
Blessed with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n rescued land,
⁠Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

The Battle Hymn of the Republic
by Julia Ward Howe

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.

Chorus:
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.

Chorus

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
“As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on.”

Chorus

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.

Chorus

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

Chorus

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,
Our God is marching on.

Chorus

My apologies for the profanity. It’s a profane day.

I Call BS

ICE agents murdered a woman in Minneapolis yesterday.  The United States actions in Venezuela, if done by any other nation in the world, are those of a “terrorist state”.  The shear rolling in the “shit” corruption of American Government and business, from CBS “adjusting” their news broadcast to mollify the President, to Trump offering the American oil companies the “gift” of Venezuela; is disgusting, breath taking, and incredibly disappointing. 

I call “BS” on it all.  I support the Mayor of Minneapolis who said exactly what needed to be said: “ICE get the FUCK out of Minneapolis”.  And, I support Governor Tim Walz, who says that the ability to protest and speak out, “…is a patriotic duty”.  I do it publicly, in writing, and often.  

The shooting in Minneapolis was videoed by a bystander.  President Trump called the woman, videoing an execution of a civilian on the street, screaming at ICE for the murder, a “professional agitator”.   If that’s true, so am I.  I stand with Minnesota.  I stand with the Mayor and the Governor.  John Lewis called it “getting into good trouble’.  This day, we should all be “professional agitators”, against the death of a mother of a six year-old child, Renee Good.

America is what we allow it to be.  And very few Americans, even those who voted for Trump in 2024, want this to be our America. 

Domestic Terrorist

At the moment, Democratic leaders and legislators have little power to stop all of this.  The Mayor of Minneapolis and the Governor of Minnesota are both Democrats.  ICE has forced themselves on Minnesota, with all of the connotations that “forcing oneself” means.  There is no way to make this “right”. And, what we can expect is that the Trump Administration to “double-down” on their “holy quest” to find undocumented migrants.  Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, a cowboy hat carefully placed on her coiffed hair, jumped the narrative before Renee Good’s body was cold.  She called Good a “domestic terrorist”. 

Law enforcement is always careful not to criticize the actions of their “fellow officers”.  Today it’s in the streets of Minneapolis, tomorrow it might be in downtown Newark, Ohio.  But there are some obvious flaws in the ICE “bully-boys”.  They are badly trained, badly led, and imbued with a philosophy of confrontation.  Clearly, they are well aware of how the Nation sees them as bullies and Fascists.  And, at least for some, they are reveling in the role.

Americans make a deal with law enforcement:  we give them life-taking force, in exchange for protecting the peace and enforcing the law.  We expect that they will be trained to make the choices necessary to preserve their own lives, while serving their communities.  Here in Central Ohio, many go through the 210 day Columbus Police Academy.  But the “instant” ICE agents are trained for their highly specific job in just 47 days.  Then they get a gun and a badge, and are sent into unfamiliar communities.  It’s a setup for yesterday’s tragedy.

What We Earn

We all need to get in “good trouble”.  We all need to stand up for the America we believe in, the America we want.  America does not need to be a Nation of “bully-boys” on the streets, “bully-boys” in the economy, and “bully-boys” in the world.  But Renee Good should teach us all another lesson as well.  Until we take our country back, we are all at risk.  It’s easy to hide in our “safe” communities and do our jobs, and live our lives.  But sooner or later, we all will have to make a choice about our Nation.  

We need more “political agitators”.   The only “lever of power” we hold at the moment is our voices, and we must make them heard.  In our near future, we will determine what kind of America we will have.  We won’t get what we deserve . We will only get what we earn.

Five Years Ago

Five years ago today, America was at a turning point.  A mob  stormed the Capitol Building in Washington, DC.  Their goal:  to stop the legal certification of electoral votes which determined that Joe Biden was President.  Over 1500 were ultimately charged with crimes.  

In American history, it is the only time that a mob tried to alter the outcome of the Presidential election by disrupting Congress.  And, it was only through the courage of the Capitol and Washington Metro Police, and the leadership of both parties in the House and Senate, and the Vice President, that the election certification was completed.

It could have happened before – but it didn’t.

The Election of 1800 

 The first “change of party” election from Adams’ Federalist to Jefferson’s Democratic-Republicans, Jefferson won the popular vote. But there was a complicating tie in the Electoral vote between the President and Vice Presidential candidate from same Party (Jefferson and Burr).  That was ultimately clarified by adding an amendment to the Constitution (12^th) creating votes for both President and Vice President.  Adams left town before the inauguration.

The Election of 1824

The clear winner of the popular vote (Jackson with 40%) did not win a majority of the electoral votes, and the House of Representatives chose JQ Adams (33% of popular vote) in their tie-breaking role.  Jackson left home to plan for 2028 when he decisively defeated Adams.

The Election of 1860 

A four-way split of votes between candidates for President left no one with a popular majority (Lincoln had 40% of the vote, ahead of Douglas’s 21%).  Lincoln did have a clear majority of the electoral vote, and was certified as President.  Between certification and inauguration, several states withdrew from the Union, leading to the Civil War.  Lincoln won the War.

The Election of 1876 

The clear winner of the popular vote (Democrat Samuel Tilden) did not win a majority of the electoral vote, due to contested votes in some of the newly reinstated Southern states. A Congressional committee determined which candidate got the contested votes, and Republican Hayes won by one electoral vote.  Democrats in Congress agreed to a “deal” ending the Reconstruction era. 

The Election of 1960 

The clear winner of the popular vote, Democrat John Kennedy, was rumored to have “cheated” in Northern Illinois to win the state.  The loser, Republican Richard Nixon, chose not to pursue the issue.  It was rumored that Nixon might have cheated in Southern Illinois.

The Election of 2000 

The clear winner of the popular vote, Democrat Al Gore, contested vote counting in Florida that showed a narrow win for the Republican, George Bush. That slim margin (less than 500 votes out of almost six million) gave Bush a majority of the electoral votes. Recounting continued in the state for over a month, and the Republican leadership of the state, including Bush’s own brother the Governor, determined to certify Bush.  Gore took them to Court. The US Supreme Court, in a 5-4 partisan split, ordered the recounting stopped, and the Bush certification to stand. That confirmed Bush as the President, and Gore graciously called for unity behind Bush on national television.

The Election of 2020

Democrat Joe Biden narrowly won the popular vote, and the Electoral College. Republican Trump claimed that the election was “rigged”, and went to Courts sixty different times to contest the outcome. In all but one case he lost out-right, and the one case he won was on a technicality that did not impact the vote totals. But Trump continues to claim he actually won.

Bully Pulpit

In all of these contested elections, even the one before the Civil War, no one sought to stop the legal change-over of the Presidency.  Losing candidates were hurt, angry, frustrated. Some went to Court to contest the decision. Andrew Jackson, known for his hot temper, determined to make sure 1828 had a different outcome.  Even Richard Nixon, who twelve years later committed multiple crimes to try to guarantee his re-election, didn’t try to disrupt the legal process in 1960.

Only one tried to use the “bully pulpit” of the Presidency to bring forth “the mob” and stop Congress. Only one threatened his own Vice President for following the Constitution.  Unlike Jackson and even Nixon, Donald Trump did everything in his power legally, then went far beyond legal to try to hold onto his Presidency.  He called out the mob (“for a wild time”) to overthrow the Congress.

Jack Smith

We spent an entire Saturday listening to Jack Smith’s deposition to the House Judiciary Committee.  After over the eight hours of questioning, three things became apparent.  Jack Smith, is a seasoned national and international prosecutor with no partisan “axe to grind”. He is completely convinced by the case that Donald Trump is guilty of criminal conspiracy to overthrow the election.  

Jim Jordan, the Republican Chairman of the Committee and well-known Trump ally, knew the power of Smith’s findings.  First he tried to completely silence Smith’s message. Instead of holding an open hearing, he restricted it to a closed deposition. When the public pressure for information grew too much to bear, Jordan released the video in a full length, raw and un-edited form, making it difficult to watch, and an 800 page document.  And, coincidentally of course, Trump started a war with Venezuela.

Who Won?

It’s been five years since the Insurrection.  And now, what we thought we won, is lost.  Five years later, Trump is President (gosh, no riots on January 6^th, 2025 after that close election). The Insurrectionists are now out of jail, in power, and our history is whitewashed.  Even in deposition questions to Smith, some Republicans hinted at “FBI undercovers” leading the rioters. (Smith noted that he found no evidence of that. There may have been some “confidential FBI informants”). We are in a time,  “Where white is black and black is white”. The forces of misinformation and disinformation seem to have the upper hand.

No one may ever be held accountable for what happened in 2020.  But the message of what happened still rings clear: in the words of Jack Smith, the videos of the January 6^th Committee, and in the protests and marches that continue to go on today.  Our Nation has been “reversed”. But it can be “reversed” yet again.  It will take folks of courage: Americans who believe their “lying eyes”: about January 6^th five years ago, prices today, and massacres on boats and American “adventurism” abroad. 

We must believe in them.  We must believe in that America.  And we must believe that we can make a difference and “call” the change to come.

FAFO

The US invasion of Venezuela last weekend wasn’t about drugs.  It wasn’t about “nation building”, and it wasn’t about democracy.  By Sunday afternoon, Americans and the world got down to the real reasons for the incursion.  Meanwhile, as the US bragged about only three Americans wounded, reports are that at least forty Venezuelans were killed (NYT).  Under the aegis of Defense Secretary Hegseth’s favorite phrase, the Venezuelans “FAFO’ed”. (F**k Around and Find Out.  He addressed this to the world along with Trump, Rubio, and the Chief of Staff).  That’s along with the 115 others killed in the “boat strikes” (NPR).   I bet little Pete has “high score” in his FAFO game.

The US military invaded a foreign capital and took the President and his wife.  The two were staged for pictures, then transported to a prison in New York.  They’ll stand trial on drug conspiracy charges, much like Juan Hernandez, the former President of Honduras.  He was sentenced to a forty-five year Federal prison term.  President Trump pardoned him a few weeks ago.

Righteous Might

So why did the United States set the “example” of using our “righteous might” against a much smaller nation?  President Trump himself said it:  oil.  The Trump Administration wants access to Venezuelan oil reserves, the largest in the world (World Population).  The inept corruption of the Maduro Administration left that nation with only a trickle of what could  be production outdoing Saudi Arabia.  Trump claimed that the oil in the Venezuelan ground was really “US oil”, stolen from American companies in 1976 when the resource was nationalized.  At that time, the big multi-national petroleum companies (Exxon, Mobil, Chevron, et al) were compensated; paid more than a billion dollars for their assets.  And they were invited to stay (Caracas).

And, Venezuela has a vast wealth of “rare earths”, minerals to be mined to help fuel the modern world.  Nickel, bauxite, iron ore and many others are potentially available (Investor News).  But since the Venezuelan government has done little to “open up” that “rare earth” wealth, the US is coming in to get it.

Gunboat Diplomacy

This isn’t new.  In 1853 US Commodore Matthew Perry sailed a fleet into Tokyo Bay, and pointed  his cannons at the Japanese capital.  He gave them a choice:  negotiate with us, or we will attack.  The Japanese recognized the inevitable, and opened trade discussions with the Americans, and Perry’s action became the prime example of “Gunboat Diplomacy”.  Using force to open up regions to US economic development didn’t stop there.

The late 19^th and early 20^th century were replete with US examples of military force against smaller nations.  In Central and South America, the US sent in ships and troops dozens of times over the years, often to support US companies, especially oil, mineral and agricultural companies (US Sugar and Anaconda Copper are just two).   It’s what the US Marines “did” in the late 19th century.

So let’s call this invasion what it is: the US stealing control of the economic development of Venezuela.  It’s the same reason that Trump blew up at Ukrainian President Zelenskyy during a public meeting  at the White House last year.  Trump wanted Ukrainian “rare earths”; Zelenskyy wasn’t willing to give away Ukraine’s resources.

19^th Century Policy – 21^st Century World

Trump loves the economic policies of the late 19^th century; tariffs, and now, forced economic development and Gunboat Diplomacy.  “Imperial America” is throwing out migrants from South and Central America, and then threatening to take over their birthplaces as well.  Venezuela was first, Columbia and Cuba may be next on the list.  The Gerald Ford Carrier Group is still on duty in the Caribbean. 

And, in a wholly amoral way, Trump’s view might be successful.  He sees the world as a “zero sum game”, either we get the resources or someone else does.  I’m sure he’s found a way to personally profit from this as well, but in the larger sense, it’s a simplistic economic view that might have some support.

But there’s a bigger issue here, in the 21^st Century.  If the US can do this, then what prevents other “big nations” from taking over smaller nations.  How are US actions in Venezuela different from Putin’s action in Ukraine?  What about China, looking for any excuse to try to subsume the independent island nation of Taiwan, and the East China Sea?  

Where is the “moral standing” of the United States, if we are doing exactly the same thing in Venezuela, and other countries within our “sphere of influence”?  After all, this is the historic “Donroe Doctrine” (European Council).   But, the US has been doing this since John Quincy Adams (the Monroe Doctrine, that is), back in 1823. Surely what was “good policy” then, is still right for modern America, and the modern world?

This is a fictional story, based on the very real state of the world and the United States.

Pre-Dawn Raid

The news broke before dawn on Sunday morning.  The Florida “White House”, Mar-A-Lago, was attacked overnight by an armed force.  Despite a valiant defense by the US Secret Service, the attackers were able to pierce the security perimeter, and capture President Trump and, surprisingly, First Lady Melania Trump.  They were whisked away in a US military style Black Hawk helicopter out to sea.   Their location was unknown, somewhere outside of the United States.

It clearly was not a “terrorist” act.  It was a full-scale military incursion into the United States, similar to the Seal Team Six assault on Bin Laden.  In fact, witnesses described what looked very similar to a NATO force:  mostly US vehicles, weapons and tactics.  Casualties occurred on both sides of the battle, with several Secret Service agents injured:  three killed.  It’s assumed that the attacking force also took casualties, but they extracted the fallen from the scene.  No one was left to interrogate.  The one identifying marker:  the attacking forces were all blonde, well-built Caucasian men.

US Reaction

By Sunday afternoon, Vice President Vance and the US government were using all of the catch-phrases of American indignation.  Vance paraphrased President Kennedy: “We will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the safe return of the President and his wife”.  House Speaker Mike Johnson revealed classified data as he mis-quoted Franklin Roosevelt, saying, “Today, a day that shall live in infamy, the United States was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the forces of an ally”.  Johnson further called for the “righteous might” of the American people to come forth in unity.

Who were these blonde attackers?  What military force had the capability of launching such a lightning assault, clearly with the goal of seizing the “leader of the free world”?

International Court

By Sunday night we had a better idea.  The World Court in the Netherlands revealed a sealed indictment against Donald Trump, President of the United States.  The indictment charged both war crimes, particularly the deaths of over 100 civilians on the high seas, and financial crimes, accepting bribes from foreign leaders.  The US is NOT a signatory to the International Court treaty.   The Court could not demand extradition of Trump from the US.  But, now that Trump is within the jurisdiction, the Court revealed the charges.

Also listed as “co-conspirators” on the indictment:  Vice President Vance, Secretary of Defense Hegseth, and Secretary of State Rubio.  Their security details were immediately supplemented by agents from Homeland Security’s Investigations division (HSI).  Rumors spread that the Administration was concerned about the loyalty of other US security forces.

So where is the President?  Where is Melania?  They are in an “undisclosed location”, somewhere in the Netherlands.  It turns out the attacking force is well trained by NATO:  the famous Corps Commandotroepen (KCT), the Commandos of the Royal Netherlands Army.  After all, the Court indicted Trump on incredibly serious charges.  It’s a treaty obligation of the Netherlands to enforce appearance for the indictment.  So they went and got him.

US Precedent

The United States has long claimed precedence for “reaching out” and bringing world criminals to justice.  They  invaded Panama, ostensibly to bring President Noriega to justice in US Federal Court.  The US also kidnapped former President Hernandez of Honduras to bring to trial.  And they invaded Iraq for the specific purpose of taking Saddam Hussein out of office and hold him accountable.  Noriega and Hernandez both served time in US Federal prison.  Hussein was hanged. And of course, Osama bin Laden was executed by Seal Team Six in his home in Pakistan.  

The most recent example of “reaching out” was US Forces invading Venezuela to capture President Maduros and his wife to face Federal charges in New York.  The Dutch explained that they are simply following the US example.  In fact, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands used an old English proverb:  “What’s good for the goose, is good for the gander”.  

The question remains:  is this really about the World Court charges, or is this a more general attempt by the European Union and the NATO alliance to create a “regime change” in the United States?   Will the Europeans be satisfied with just Trump? Or are the other “conspirators” at risk?  And how will the Democrats, the domestic political opposition to Trump, react to the kidnapping?  Will they “stand united” with the government, or will they say what they really think:  “I told you so”?

What will the United States, in their “righteous might”, do?

Bowing to the Base

The Ohio state legislature is “bowing” to the will of the people.  Well, not quite all of the people.  Probably not a majority.  Perhaps a majority of the people who voted for the current Republican legislature.  In the end, the legislators in Columbus are doing “the usual”: knuckling under to the extremists that make up their primary voters, the MAGA crowd. 

Without disappearing too far into “the weeds”,  Ohio has a long standing problem with funding public education.  At the turn of this century, the State Supreme Court ruled that the way Ohio funds schools is unconstitutional.  The Court said, “(Ohio)…fails to provide for a thorough and efficient system of common schools.”  But, like gerrymandering and legalized marijuana here in the Buckeye State, the legislature doesn’t “feel bound” by the rulings of the Court.  While they pay lip service to “thorough and efficient”;  ultimately how much money public schools have to create a quality education is still based on how wealthy the local community is. Live in a “rich” district, get a “rich education”. Live in a poor district – not so much.

The basis of Ohio school funding is the local property tax.  In my community, the school system gets about 66% of that tax money. Other local services: fire, sheriff’s department and the various county services, divide the rest.   How much you pay is based on the tax value of your property.  Property valuations have nearly doubled in the past five years. Supposedly most school issues (bonds and levies) are based on a set dollar amount, not a “percent” of value.  But, somehow all the taxes still doubled. Local folks are not happy.

Just Cut

So the legislature has arbitrarily cut local property taxes.  Many in our community are rejoicing, hoping to cut a third or more from their tax bill.  But here’s the rub:  the School District looks to lose about 10% of its income.  That’s around $7 million. What’s are they supposed to do?  

80% or more of a public school operating cost is employees, mostly teachers.  So to reduce the budget by 10%, the “meat” to cut is staffing.  Let’s say the “average teacher” here makes $60000 (that’s what AI says).  To cut $7 million from the annual budget, it’s simple: cut a third of the teaching staff!!  That’s right, there’s around 250 teachers in Southwest Licking, fire a third and you save around $7 million.  

Of course that’s not realistic.  Teachers are the ones doing the work – right?  Class sizes of 50 and 60 kids don’t work (though I remember trying in the early 1980’s). And, as Covid so clearly showed, computers are NOT the teachers of the future.   In fact, cutting that many staff members is beyond ridiculous.  So what’s any school district,  particularly the local schools here, supposed to do?

Sure: they can cut busing, cut co-curriculars, cut everything that motivates kids to go to school; everything that makes for a great “public school” experience.  We’ve been through all of that before here.  It’s no fun: for the school, the staff, the parents or the kids.  And it doesn’t help property values either.  No one wants a house in a stripped down school district, even in the booming metro-Columbus market.

Back to the Voters

Instead, the schools have to go to the public and ask for more money.  They will ask voters for more property taxes, to replace what the state took away.  But that surely is going to be a “heavy lift”.  I’ve been involved in school levy campaigns for years.   Go to the community and say: “The State cut your taxes, but we need them to run the schools.  Give ’em back”.   That’s a tough sell.  

There are other ways to fund schools on a local level:  our District already has a  0.75% income tax.  It raises about $9 million.  But all of folks excited about reducing and abolishing property taxes aren’t likely to be interested in doubling the income tax.   That certainly would be the fair way to apportion school costs, IF the whole state was taxed and then the money was divided.   It would get Ohio “square” with the State Constitution, a fair and equitable system of finance, giving everyone in the state the same opportunities.  But it’s not likely to happen in Ohio.

Fund Public Education

And then there’s one other source of income.  The State of Ohio is spending over a billion dollars of public education money to subsidize private schools through  vouchers.  Currently, regardless of income, if you want to send your kid to a private school, state education money goes in their proverbial “backpack”.  That’s another part of the MAGA creed.  They believe public schools are “woke” institutions indoctrinating “woke” ideologies. They want their kids in ideologically restricted private schools.   At least, that’s what they think.  

But, as a former public school teacher, I can tell you that I couldn’t even “indoctrinate” kids to turn in their homework or not stick gum under the desk, much less  believe in “woke” stuff.  Instead of paying kids to go to private schools, Ohio could just take that public tax money and apportion it among the public schools. Parents who want private education could do what they always did:  pay for the privilege. That would go a long way towards solving the problem.

There’s an old saying:  “That dog won’t hunt”.  The current state legislature is bent on supporting private education, and cutting public schools.  If you were a conspiracy theorist, you might think it’s a plot.  Those MAGA folks are getting what they wish for – I guess.

Meanwhile, the public schools are left “holding the bag”.  Future financial plans are instantly invalid, and the really hard work of going back to the ballot for funding has just begun.  Welcome to Ohio, “The heart of it all”, or at least the heart of school tax campaigns!!!