Category: Uncategorized

Big Tent

So let me tell you a little bit about the Democratic Party.  Ken Martin, the Democratic National Chairman, just outlined the “bottom line” of being a Democrat:  “Make people’s lives a little better”.   Democrats are a Party that represents widely divergent views.  They are the Party of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and the powerful candidate for Mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani (Zoor-ran Mom-daah-ne: I can say it even if his former Democratic opponent, Andrew Cuomo, can’t). They call themselves Democratic Socialists. And Democrats are also the Party of Henry Cuellar of Texas, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and even John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.  No one would ever dare call those folks “socialists”.

Democrats are the Party of the “big tent”.  So what drives them to move forward as a single political group?  It is Martin’s “bottom line” – “Make people’s lives a little better”.   His fellow Minnesotan,  Vice President and longtime Senator Hubert Humphrey defined “liberalism”.  “Liberalism, above all, means emancipation—emancipation from one’s fears, his inadequacies from prejudice, from discrimination, yes, from poverty.”  That 1967 definition still applies to the Democratic Party today, no matter that the “liberal label” has gone far out of style.  

It’s that ultimate goal that keeps Democrats of different “stripes”, different methods, together under one banner, our “big tent”.  

By the way, in a recent and incredibly divisive non-partisan local election here in the Pataskala area, one faction searched for the worst possible insult to throw at an opponent.  They used the “L-word”, “Liberal”, to paint that opponent as unacceptable to local voters.  It’s funny:  the opposing candidate is a lot of things, but, take it from me, a liberal:   he’s no liberal.  He’s more of a “populist” in the negative, “I’m a victim”, Donald Trump mold.

Blind Justice

All of that is in contrast with the current Republican/MAGA Party, where any deviation from the “Party Line” is snuffed out.  Even in the Justice Department, the ostensibly “blind justice” arm of the Trump government, two prosecutors brought up the past record of a  man convicted of gun offenses and threats to former President Obama.  They put in the sentencing document that the offender was a January 6^th insurrectionist.  The prosecutors did their jobs by outlining the convicted man’s actions in the Capitol, a record of violence.  But, the MAGA line is that there was no Insurrection, just a peaceful “First Amendment” protest outside the Capitol on January 6^th, 2021.  (Don’t believe your “lying” eyes).  Speaking the truth cost those two career prosecutors their jobs.

The sure path to oblivion for members of that Party is to stand against Trump.  There is a long line of “former” politicians, forced out of the political world because they dared to deviate from the “Make America Great Again” dictum.  The one surviving exception; the former “Queen” of MAGA, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.  She not only stood up against the coverup of the EPSTEIN FILES, but now is calling for health insurance reform to re-open the US Government.  We’ll see how that goes – Trump is snubbing her now, and remains silent on her possible Senate run.

Goals and Methods

The media from all ideological positions, hone-in on Democratic internal strife.  MAGA Republicans claim that the Democratic Socialists are “closet Communists” who represent the entire Democratic Party.  Even Democratic leaders like Senator Chuck Schumer shy away from supporting the “left-wing” of their own Party.  But the reality of the Democratic Party is this.  

Democrats hope to make “…people’s lives a little better”.  That’s true at the National level, and at the local level as well.  How they go about achieving that goal might be different, with labels like “socialist” and “Blue Dog” used to describe methods, but the goal of making things “better” remains the same.  So what’s the difference between Democrats and MAGA/Republicans?

Where’s Your Address?

We know the Democratic over-arching theme.  What we need to discuss is; what is the MAGA/Republican goal?  Perhaps the best way to describe that is the difference between “Wall Street and Main Street”.  On Wall Street, the stock markets are soaring to near record highs.  Big money is making bigger profits, and by that measure, the country is, to quote President Trump, “…better than ever before”.  

But the view from Wall Street is opposite to the view from Main Street.  The cost of living is high; one job isn’t enough to take care of a family; and the everyday issues of living are just… hard.  We are looking at soaring insurance costs, and Christmas shopping with prices up because of the President’s tariffs. 

The MAGA/Republican goal is to “Make Wall Street Great Again”.  One Government action after another helps the rich get richer, regardless of the impact on those who live in the real world of Main Street.  If Democrats are trying to “make people’s live a little better”, it seems that MAGA/Republicans are striving to make sure their wealthy backers get even more wealth. They support Wall Street at the expense of Main Street.  Democrats are committed to Main Street. 

And that’s the difference.

Headline

I just read the headline, “Trump authorizes immediate nuclear missile tests”.   The first thing that came to mind was the old 1953 Bugs Bunny Cartoon.  Bugs was on an assembly line, testing cannon shells.   The shells came by on a conveyor belt, and Bugs took a hammer and banged on the top.  If they didn’t explode, he chalked “DUD” on the side.  “Just think”, he said, “In thirty years I can retire!!!”.  It was funny – but not so much in a world entangled by the Cold War, with nuclear destruction hanging over all our heads.

So, I envision a gloomy Air Force enlisted man, climbing a ladder to the top of a Minuteman III missile in a  Nebraska silo, hammer in one hand, chalk in the other.  Then it dawned on me.  Trump didn’t want to check the missiles.  He wants to blow one up!  

Thirty-Three Years

The United States hasn’t exploded a nuclear weapon since 1992, thirty-three years ago.  George HW Bush was President (Dad, not Son).  It was an underground test in the Nevada desert, where the only sign of detonation was the dust rising from the vibrating surface.  We stopped nuclear testing after that, for several reasons.  First, underground, underwater, or airburst on the surface, nuclear testing was horrible for the environment.  Second, by taking “testing” off the table, it gave the US an advantage in nuclear weapon limitation talks.  Third, we already had enough “test data” to know what worked, and what didn’t.

And finally, by 1993 computers progressed far enough that we could “model” the impacts of differing nuclear weapons.  We no longer needed to actually set one off; the computers could give us all the information we needed to determine what changes to make on the “next generation” of weaponry.

Computational science has come a long way since 1993, the year I bought my first Apple PowerBook.  That was a slow, gray-screened, limited tool.  But it was a “laptop”!!   I expect that nuclear modeling has advanced as well, making environment altering detonations totally unnecessary.  So why, almost out of the blue, did President Trump ordered testing to resume?

Flexing

Donald Trump is nothing if not predictable.  The United States is “flexing” our military muscle all over the world.  We are blowing up boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, ostensibly because they are smuggling drugs.   Dozens of people, maybe drug runners, maybe innocent fisherman, are dead.  Trump is using the military in the streets of American cities, a “show of force” against crime, that’s a lot more show than force.  And finally, Defense Secretary Hegseth is all “show”, demanding his Department be called “THE WAR DEPARTMENT”.  He’s more worried about the “Warriors with Abs” then with real military preparedness.

So it should be no surprise that a President fixated on demonstrating strength, would want to use the ultimate weapons.  He already dropped the MOAB on Afghanistan ( Massive Ordinance Air Black Bomb or colloquially, Mother of All Bombs) costing millions of dollars.  This past year, he’s used several of the GBU-57 “bunker buster bombs” on Iran, at $3.5 million apiece.

 But Trump has access to the most powerful arsenal in the world.  How could he NOT want to set a few off, just to let the world know that he has the biggest – missiles.  Besides, it fits his normal foreign policy position:  unknowable, erratic, Quixotic, arbitrary.  What goes for one Nation, say Israel, is completely different than another, like Ukraine.  Trump intentionally wants to keep the world off balance with untenable positions: threatening China with 100% tariffs for example.  So how could he not use the ultimate “Trump Card”, or at least let the world see that they still work?  

The Cost

There is the obvious environmental cost of setting off a nuclear weapon.  And there is the danger of “normalizing” nuclear weapons, reversing American policy of the last three decades.  Recently, only North Korea has detonated nuclear weapons, and that was eight years ago.  But if the United States opens the door, there’s no doubt that Russia, China, and perhaps other nuclear powers will feel required to join in .  

That’s not good for the world.  Other than outlaw states like North Korea, the world has stepped back from the nuclear edge at the height of the Cold War in the 1980’s.  Now, Donald Trump wants us to “step up” to the edge again, all for his Presidential vanity.  

Maybe we should give him the chalk and hammer.

This is NOT a Sunday story – It’s a very political look at our times.

Marathon Training

I am not a marathon runner.  In fact, after decades of coaching and running distance, my knees won’t handle “the strain” of  running anymore.  I am relegated (on the shelf) to an elliptical machine.  You just don’t get much scenery or companionship on those “runs”. 

But I’ve been around plenty of marathoners over the years, and  I understand the dedication it takes to cover 26.2 miles on foot.  One of the “sacred” moments in marathon training, is the Sunday “long run”.  The marathon distance has a different impact on the body than shorter races.  It’s actually pretty simple.  Most well trained human bodies can store about twenty miles worth of energy.  But, somewhere around that twenty mile mark, the marathoner hits “the wall”. All of the regular stored energy is exhausted, and muscles have to “switch fuels”, literally in mid-stride.  

Some runners can’t get through that transition, cramp up, and are unable to continue.  The Sunday “long run” takes runners to that edge, without pushing too far beyond it.  That way their bodies learn to adapt, without needing as much post-run recovery (they’ll need that after the full marathon).  It’s a physiological necessity to “teach” a body how to deal with “the wall”.

ICE Block

Even folks my age still compete.  And that leads us to a whole different story.  A sixty-seven year-old marathoner was coming home from a Sunday “long-run” with his training team in Chicago.  Of course he was tired; long-run days burn a lot of fuel, even you don’t get to the twenty-mile mark.  He turned his car onto his street and found ICE blocking the way.

He rolled down his window and asked to go home, only to be “greeted” with demands that he move his car.  As he started to explain, the car door jerked open, and two “bully-boy” ICE agents in full combat regalia dragged him out of the car.  Did he resist?  Maybe, he didn’t have a lot of choice.  He was a “skinny” distance runner against powerful young agents.  He was surprised, even shocked at their response. Wouldn’t you resist in the same situation (Reddit)?

Neighbors

The neighborhood, already on the street, reacted.  Folks ran up to the ICE agents, screaming for them to release their friend. (By the way, the runner was a US citizen).  Profanity rang out, as ICE agents threatened any civilian who dared to get in the way of their “apprehension”.  Ultimately, the sixty-seven year old was hospitalized, with broken ribs and internal bleeding.  Those injures were from the knees driven into his back as he was thrust face-down on the pavement.

This is America:  a normally quiet street on Sunday in Chicago, prepared for their annual kids Halloween parade.  Instead, tear gas filled the air.  If it was your community, your neighbor face-down on the ground, what would you do?

Violence Begats Violence

Five years ago we watched George Floyd murdered in slow-motion on the street in Minneapolis.  Police stood “guard” over their fellow officer as he slowly crushed the life from Floyd over nine minutes.  We know, because we could watch all nine minutes on cell phone video, courageously taken by a bystander.  The officer on top of Floyd, Derek Chauvin, was convicted and sentenced 22 ½ years in prison for second degree murder.   

Bystanders recorded their neighbor in Chicago on the ground as well, despite ICE agents aggressively ordering everyone to stand aside.  Violence begats violence.  So how long will Americans stand aside and let ICE act as “bully-boys”?  At what point will the neighbors say that this terrorizing campaign is enough?  What will the consequences be when ICE creates violence and a neighborhood responds in kind?

Respect

We are all taught to respect authority.  On a local level, I have a ton of respect for the police, prosecutors, and those others who risk their lives to protect mine. I know them, and I know how difficult their job can be.  But at what point does the Trump Administration depend on that “respect”, to cover their own atrocious behavior? That’s exactly what they want:  folks terrorized in their own streets and homes.  ICE directs violence to enforce Trump’s own political views.  In fact, there’s not enough violence for Trump yet.  Some ICE Regional directors aren’t “all-in” on the abuse.  They are being removed, and more compliant replacements inserted to do whatever it takes to keep their job.  

That includes injuring kids, pregnant women, and sixty-seven year old runners home from “long-run Sunday”. And what about those who really are undocumented migrants?   Well, God help them, because ICE is on the way.  What will the bystanders, us “regular” American citizens do:  continue to stand by and watch, or take action?  What do you expect?

Nuts and Bolts           

There is nothing so “nuts and bolts” in politics than setting up political districts.  What used to be a “gift”, knowing which areas voted one party or the other, is now an analytical science.   In the old days it was “institutional knowledge”, the old “pols” could tell you how this street or that block voted. Now it is simple plusses and minuses in a digital world.  Computer programs have sliced and diced our nation into almost pre-ordained chunks of votes.  Ohio is a classic example.

Look, everyone knows that the cities of Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton, Akron and Toledo are going to trend significantly Democratic.  And we know that the glorious fields of corn and soybeans spread between those cities are going to be significantly Republican.  That’s not “advanced political thought”.  Really, it’s just common sense.   

So we used to make political districts just like we used to make apple pie.  Sure, there’s apples and there’s crust.  But what went into the apples and the crust; all of the small additions that Grandma used to put in, that’s where the real differences were made.   But today, you plug the apple, cinnamon, sugar, flour, butter all into a computer, which will then “put out” the “perfect pie”.  And you can tell the computer what “perfecter” you want:  more apple, cinnamon, or butter. The computer varies the outcome to give you the exactly the pie you want.

Gerrymandering

And we used to cut that pie in fairly normal slices, keeping pieces in regular shapes and sizes.  Occasionally a piece of apple filling might slip into another piece, but generally our districts were recognizable geographic areas.  Today, in our computer driven political world, a “piece” of the pie might stretch in a narrow strip from one side to the other, carefully avoiding other sections.  It might look like a snake, or a duck, or, as it did in 1812 in Massachusetts, a salamander.  Since that “salamander” was crafted by then-Governor Elbridge Gerry, it became known as a “Gerrymander”, the term we use for pre-ordained districts today.

So who controls the “pie” here in Ohio?  It’s a committee: the Governor, the State Auditor,  the Secretary of State, the Speaker of the House, the Senate Majority Leader, and the Senate and House Minority Leaders.   The “Commission” was created by a popularly voted Constitutional Amendment (2015), designed to end partisan gerrymandering, and make “fair” districts. 

Here’s the problem: put five Republicans and two Democrats in a room, and tell them to divide the state fairly. Right — that works about as well as you think it does.  

Ah, but the outcome has to be approved by the Ohio Supreme Court.  Surely the highest Court in the state would be impartial, sticking to the spirit of non-partisanship shown in the 2015 Amendment process.  There are seven members of the Court, six are Republicans, one a Democrat.  One is the son of the serving Governor, another is the son’s best friend.  So, not surprisingly, the Court finds a way to “allow” the Republican plan to become Ohio law.  It’s an all “Red” Ohio Apple pie.

Numbers

Here’s the numbers.  In the 2024 Presidential election, over 70% of Ohioans came out to vote.  55% voted for Donald Trump, 43% voted for Kamala Harris.  It was a clear Republican win, especially in a state that only twelve years before voted 51% for Barack Obama to 47% for Mitt Romney.   So let’s give Ohio Republicans their due:  Ohio is at best a 55-45 Republican state, very “Red”.

In the United States Congress, Ohio has fifteen representatives:  ten Republicans, and five Democrats.  While we may vote 55-45, in Congress we are 66% Republican.  In the State House of Representatives, there are 65 Republicans to 34 Democrats, again 66% Republican.  And in the State Senate, Ohio has 24 Republicans to 9 Democrats, over 70% Republican.    In the state legislature that 66% number is very important.  It gives them a built-in ability to override the Governor, even a Republican Governor, who might veto an extremist Republican bill.

Ohio remains Republican.  A Democrat in Ohio is voting in pre-determined political districts.  When I cast my ballot for a Democratic state representative, Senator, or US Congressman, I know my vote is cast in vain.  My legislative districts are carefully drawn to guarantee that the Republican wins.  The current Gerrymandering, now on computer driven steroids, is able to split my county, even my little city, in order to dilute my vote, and amplify my Republican neighbor’s.  

Choosing Voters

In the old days, before the  computerized “Red Map Plan”, districts chose their representatives. (Thanks a lot, MSNBC commentator Michael Steele, former Republican National Chairman).  Sure, Democratic areas voted for Democrats, and Republicans areas chose Republicans.  But today, the legislators can plug their proposed districts in a computer program, and slice and dice communities to get the electorate they want.  Voters don’t chose candidates; candidates chose their voters.

And that “ass backwards” approach guarantees not just Republican control, but Republicans that find it totally unnecessary to even negotiate with their Democratic colleagues.  In fact, it encourages extremism, because the “real contests” aren’t in the general election.  The determining election is the primary, between Republicans, where the votes are dominated by the extremists in the Party.   So when a state legislator proposes a law to ban humans from marrying Artificial Intelligence computers, or pre-determines for high school students that a “successful life” requires jobs, marriage, then family (not making that up), both have a great opportunity to become our laws.  

And,  for my Democratic friends:  it all sounds like doom and gloom – time to move out of state.  There is one ray of sunshine.  Neither political party can Gerrymander the entire state.  On the re-districting commission, there are three seats elected statewide.  Change the Governor, Auditor and Secretary of State, and Democrats can literally change our world.  Oh, and changing the Ohio Supreme Court (also statewide election) would help too.

This Week’s List

• 100% Tariff on China
• US bombs boats in Caribbean and Pacific
• Government Shutdown
• No Kings March
• Sanctions on Russian Energy Companies
• Teetering Ceasefire in Gaza
• Poster kerfuffle in Washington
• Where did the East Wing of the White House go?
• Trump’s screams at Zelenskyy, again
• Immigration Czar Homan took an FBI $50,000 bribe, Vice President doesn’t know
• Trump wants to “bill” Department of Justice $230,000,000
• Trump threatens to jail Illinois Governor and Chicago Mayor
• Trump threatens to sue Ontario, Canada
• NBA gambling scandal
• NY Attorney General Leticia James arraigned in Federal Court
• President suggests we might attack Venezuelan territory
• Trump leaves to tour Asia
• And, of course, The EPSTEIN FILES

Firehose

One thing for sure – Donald Trump leads by “volume”.  There’s an overflow of information and events, so much that’s a difficult to “keep up”.  The public impact of the  “No Kings March” just six days ago, with more than seven million Americans protesting this President, is drowned in the flurry of events since.  

All of that’s not a coincidence, not a mistake.  It’s a well-conceived effort by the Trump Administration to keep “the opposition” off balance.  And it works.  Congressional opposition is forced to “pick and choose” which outrageous action to attack.  And when different leaders choose different issues, it makes the Democrats look unorganized and scattered.  

The “firehose” of events even keeps Republicans off balance.  They become afraid to say anything, because so much is going on they can’t keep up.  As the old saying goes, “Better to be silent and look stupid, then open your mouth and prove it”.  And for the general public, it’s simply exhausting.  We’re drawn like a moth from candle flame to fireplace to inferno, unable to focus on a single issue.  It provides cover for whatever else the Administration does that might be objectionable. (Perhaps I should say whatever the Administration does that is not objectionable).

Across the Bow

In other discussion forums, I’ve been waging a debate over the American actions on the “high seas”.  We are sending both drones and USAF Fighters to destroy boats in international waters.  The Administration claims those boats are transporting illegal drugs, mostly Fentanyl.  Since Trump has declared a war (a Presidential action not sanctioned by Congress) on both drugs and on international gangs like Tren de Aragua, he claims that those boats are “fair game” for destruction.  Dozens on those boats have already been killed.

The US Coast Guard has “interdicted” drug boats for centuries.  Before it was drugs, it was illegal alcohol in the “rum runner” days of  Prohibition.  In fact,  the Coast Guard was established in the 1790’s to collect taxes from incoming commercial shipping. Interdiction means stop, search, seize and arrest.  It’s the ancient Naval action of “firing a shot across the bow”, threatening destruction unless the boat allows the Coast Guard (or Navy) to board. 

It’s a matter of humanity.  Even drug dealers in the United States aren’t subject to the death penalty.   There should be some form of “due process”, of providing evidence of criminal activity.  And the Coast Guard interdiction is that same process, this time under “International Law” on the high seas.

But just blowing up a boat; without any “shot across the bow”, without direct knowledge of their actions and cargo, is barbaric.  It’s not the action of a civilized nation, in fact, it the kind of rogue behavior we’d attribute to terrorists of the past.  Add to that; the Trump Administration then proudly shows video of these executions on television for Americans to be “proud of”. It’s just another part of the tsunami of actions.

Kerfuffle

Steve Schmidt is a former Republican campaign operative, including as senior advisor to John McCain.  After the rise of Donald Trump he led the Republican opposition, then left the Party to help found the “Lincoln Project” opposing Trump.  Since that time he set up another political opposition group, called the “Save America Movement”.   At the moment, Save America is trying to be a gadfly to Trump’s advisors.  

Save America plastered Washington, DC with posters of Trump Deputy Chief of Staff Steven Miller, with the phrase, “Fascism Isn’t Pretty” across the bottom.  It worked. Miller “ordered” the posters removed.  Now Save America has come back with posters that are glued to poles and locations in DC, requiring them to be scraped off, instead of just pulled.  It’s all “light hearted”, but of course it’s not.  But, at least this time, it’s keeping the Trump folks dealing with “nonsense”, instead of the rest of the Nation.  

EPSTEIN FILES

And, like a riptide off the beach, the EPSTEIN FILES still lurks below the waters.  Is Speaker Johnson keeping the House closed because of the shutdown (not required)?  Or is he just avoiding swearing in the newly elected Democratic Congressman from Arizona, to prevent a majority vote requiring the Department of Justice to release the full EPSTEIN FILES.  

The United States is in crisis.  The Government is shutdown.  Most Federal employees are furloughed, and most of the ones still working aren’t getting paid.  Air Traffic Controllers, the US Military, the FBI, all “essential workers”, are missing paychecks.  And what is the President of the United States doing?  He’s leaving town, going to Asia for a week, allowing the shutdown to fester.

Clearly that’s not in the Nation’s best interest.  But maybe it’s in the best interest of Donald Trump, when it comes to the EPSTEIN FILES.  How much is Trump involved, and how many of his friends are involved as well?  We don’t know.  But one concern is that American actions in the world, from Venezuela to the East Wing of the White House, might be to cover his involvement.  And for those who say Trump wasn’t involved – the answer is simple.  Release the EPSTEIN FILES and prove it.

PS – this just in: Steve Bannon says Trump is running in 2028 – the Constitution be damned!!

Dancing Frogs

Before we get started, here’s a funny story out of Portland.  There is an ongoing demonstration in front of the ICE facility there.  It’s not the nightly “battle” of the George Floyd era.  It’s simply folks expressing their displeasure with the actions of ICE in Portland.  There are regular folks with signs and there are religious leaders praying for ICE to stop. One minister was shot in the head by ICE with a pepper ball from the roof of the building (that’s true).  

And then, there’s the dancing frogs.  The frogs captured the imagination of the Nation, big, cartoony frogs standing up to ICE agents in full battle regalia.  Supposedly, one day the frogs showed up with fishing poles, donuts on the hook as bait.  What were they doing:  ICE fishing. 

I admit,I had a tough time “fact-checking” that story – but even if it’s just a “tale” (a frog tail?) it’s still a good one.  If they didn’t do that, they should.

Number Six

Saturday I was Umpire number Six at the Central District Cross Country Championships.  An umpire at a cross country meet is a passive task.  You watch the runners go by (twice each race, twelve races total).  You make sure they stay on the course, in between the white lines painted on the grass.  Umpires watch and report athletes who foul each other in some way, or discover athletes who are in illegal uniforms, or call out other illegal aids from non-competitors.  And, a couple of times during the six hour meet, I went to the aid of an injured athlete.

If all that sounds exciting, it really wasn’t.   The mere presence of umpires keeps runners from doing anything stupid.  So, for most of the day I’m “just an observer”, a guy in a white shirt with a white signal flag, trying not to get “coach-y” and get caught up in the competition.  And, of course, I get to see many old friends from my decades as a high school cross country coach.

Cross Country runners are their teammates best fans.  When the boys team is running, the girls team is cheering and vice versa. And, inevitably, there’s “that parent” with the cowbell (just what we need, more cowbells!!).  Folks say some interesting things out there on the course, many that I don’t think would motivate me as a runner with two miles in and one more to go.

So it didn’t surprise me to hear chanting during the race.  But this chant broke my intense “official” concentration:  “O-H, I-O, Donald Trump has got to go!!!!”.  

Down the Road

That wasn’t part of the meet.  But just down the road, hundreds of Americans were protesting the Trump Administration in the “No Kings” march.  It was the local town; Hilliard’s version of the event.  And there were smaller marches all over Central Ohio; in Mt Gilead and Pickerington, Newark and Westerville, Mt. Vernon, Grove City and in deep-red Somerset out in Perry County, as well as the “big” rally downtown at the Statehouse. 

They joined an estimated seven million Americans who rallied, marched and chanted on October 18^th.  The “No Kings” movement is a demonstration of Americans showing “No Fear” of retribution by the Trump Administration.  They sent a message, one that MAGA-Republicans certainly heard.   “No Kings” wasn’t the radical-left, George Soros backed, “Antifa”, undocumented, Marxist, Communist, America “hating” violent rioters that President Trump, Speaker Johnson and the rest warned about.  They were Moms and Dads with their kids, Grandparents with white hair, teenagers in their first demonstration, and just regular folks who finally found a way to stand up against the America we are becoming.  They were NOT AFRAID, something that it’s getting harder to say in this era of MAGA repression.  

No one was arrested.  Seven million demonstrators:  no violence, burning, overturned cars, or tear gas.  The only police actions were to stop the few counter-demonstrations that went too far.  

Hope

What did they achieve?  In a one word answer, hope.  Many opponents of the Trump Administration worry that they are alone, isolated from the “Resistance”.  They feel helpless against the impact of tariffs, ICE “vanishing” neighbors down the street, and a President who makes a public spectacle of executing Venezuelan fisherman on the high seas.  

Seven million Americans stood up on Saturday.  Some even missed their Saturday college football game on TV, as if that was some kind of American sin.  Gosh, even in O-H-I-O (if you know, you know) the big rally with ten thousand people happened right after the Buckeyes kicked off in Wisconsin.  It didn’t matter.  Standing up to Trump authoritarianism was more important.  

I was unable to march.  But, very quietly, under my breath, at Umpire position number six, I was joining in with the good folks of Hilliard. 

They gave me hope too.

“Where Oh Where, Is Congress tonight?  Why did you leave us here all alone?  I’ve searched the world over looking for Government, but you’re dodging problems, so ‘poof’ you is gone.” Borrowed from Ronnie Milsap and the TV show Hee Haw, – 1977.

The Speaker

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has a dilemma.  He can stay in Washington, refusing to negotiate with Democrats and look helpless at the government closure.  Or he can send his GOP majority home, so the Democrats don’t have anyone to talk to (and his own majority party won’t pressure the Speaker to actually do something). It’s Fall Break for the MAGA members, as their Republican boycott of the House is on its fifth week.  No undergrad ever had it so good.

The Speaker of the House is second in line to be President, right after the Vice President.  When Nancy Pelosi held the gavel, she was the most powerful woman in the Nation, able to run her slim majority with an iron hand in a velvet glove.  Many would argue that she was so powerful that she brought down her own President, Joe Biden, only weeks before the Democratic Convention in 2024.  Pelosi, like her or not, was a giant; diminutive Johnson, not so much.

Johnson deeply understands that he holds his job at the whim of Donald Trump.  As long as he toes the Trump line, the President remains in support.  But should Johnson actually try to do something outside of Trump’s dominion, he could go the way of other “former” Republicans leaders like Kevin McCarthy.  As the Washington saying goes:  it will be time to go “write your book”.

What Trump Wants

So what does Trump want?  It’s pretty simple, actually:  to be unfettered by Congressional controls.  Biden struggled to pass legislation, to make deals with “the other side” to get things done.  There’s a list: the CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, the American Rescue Plan, and the Infrastructure Act.  Trump chooses to govern by executive order.  He wanted his “Big, Beautiful Bill”(BBB), essentially a massive tax cut for the rich, and was able to bully even the fiscal conservatives in the Republican Party who ultimately fell in line.  It’s all he wanted from Congress, and now that he’s got it, they can remain on “break”. 

The Democrats are still fighting the battle of the “Big, Beautiful Bill”, now through the “enabling legislation”, the budget.  They have found the “soft spot” in the Republican plan.  In the next three weeks, health insurance renewal notices will go out nationwide.  And with the funding cuts of the BBB, those bills are going to be a lot higher.

Trump was elected by the post-Covid inflation.  He was able to argue that it was “Biden’s fault” (and Harris’s fault too) that prices went so high.  But now, Trump “owns” high prices.  Today, a 16 ounce Ribeye at the local Kroger’s cost $21.99.  Gas prices still hover around $3.00/gallon.  But if health insurance costs go up dramatically, a lot more Americans are going to “know the pain”.  

Does Trump care:  probably not.  He doesn’t have to run for election again.  (OK, there’s the whole “third term” thing, but if he’s going to ignore the Constitution, then clearly finding enough votes to win won’t be the problem).  But all those vacationing Republican members of Congress do.  And the pressure is growing on them to come on back to DC, and work out a deal.

Excuses

You can hear it in Johnson’s excuses.  First it was all about “health care for illegals”.  After that was disproved, then it was all about “health care for folks who don’t work”.  Now that’s kind of disappearing as well.  This week their tactic is; “Democrats made the Affordable Care Act, and it was never affordable.  Now Republicans have to fix it”.  They’ve been trying to “fix” the ACA since 2012, with no success.  (Facts are: Democrats made the Affordable Care Act with multiple sources of funding, which Republicans and the Republican Supreme Court consistently cut).

But the political pressure of those insurance bills is unrelenting.  John Thune, the Republican Senate Majority Leader, is now hinting that it’s time to “negotiate” with Democrats.  It’s really a simple deal:  it takes sixty votes to get the budget through the Senate.  All fifty-three Republicans voting leaves them seven votes short.  Three Senators, two Democrats and an Independent have “crossed over”, leaving Republicans  still in need of four votes.  

Momentum

The original “demand” was that the Democrats “have to vote” for the budget to re-open the Government.  But the onus is on the majority to find the requisite votes.  It’s what politics is all about, making a deal.  And even if the Senate reaches a compromise (likely to happen), then the House would have to agree (not so likely).  But the biggest problem is that neither Thune nor Johnson are free to negotiate, without the permission of Donald Trump. 

It’s October 20^th.  The shutdown began on October 1^st.  There’s major economic ramifications of a massive Federal workforce not getting paid, and most not even able to continue doing their jobs.  The United States is like a big oceangoing passenger ship.  It can coast for a long time without engines, simply on momentum.  But it will gradually slow to a stop, and so will the American government, with huge economic impact.  And meanwhile, the Republican members of Congress hide out at home, and the American people dread going to the mailbox.  

That insurance bill is going to hurt, and vacationing GOP Congressmen and Senators are likely to feel the pain.

Resistance

The resistance is struggling.  I can tell, by the whispered conversation in the hallway; by the loud yawn from the staff, waiting to close an empty room.  It’s faltering:  what started out with a vengeance at the beginning of the Trump Administration has slowed.  To be truthful, it is low on fuel, almost adrift in a terrifying sea of authoritarianism.  What led to this failure?

In part, it is fear.  Not the “fear itself”, Franklin Roosevelt kind of fear, but real fear, practical fear.  What will happen to my job, my family, my life?  If I am a “resistor”, will the secret police, dressed in camo and masks, come to my home? The black helicopters that the crazies on the “other side” always feared, are now theirs.  The “inmates are in charge of the asylum”. Ask those poor folks in Chicago, with masked agents fast roping onto their roof.  Will my neighbors, just as strong in the belief of the sacredness of their cause, turn on me?  

Sunshine Patriots

In February it seemed like a reasonable risk, a sacrifice that American citizens were obligated to make.  Thomas Paine, the Conscience of the American Revolution, said it this way.

“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” 

It always sounded so compelling.  But now we know what the “summer soldier, the sunshine patriot” was thinking.  The alternate path, shrinking from the crisis and hiding from the obligation, looks so easy, so safe.  People are threatened.  They lost their jobs, moved their homes, were forced to hide.  Some have even died.  It’s real, now.  It’s easy to “shrink”, to “stay small” and hope the storm will pass over.  Let someone else be the one that stands.  

Came for Me

First they came for the Communists.
And I did not speak out, Because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the Socialists.
And I did not speak out, Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists.
And I did not speak out, Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews.
And I did not speak out, Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me.
And there was no one left To speak out for me.

German Pastor Martin Neimöller wrote this famous poem, “First They Came”.  It spoke of the inevitable outcome of authoritarian rule, spreading from “easy” targets to everyone.  Even as a Lutheran Pastor and Nazi sympathizer before World War II, Neimöller himself ended up in a Nazi concentration camp.  He did not “shrink” enough, and the whirlwind finally took him in its grasp.

And that’s the point.  Ultimately, we will all get swept up by the “secret police”.  First they came for the migrants, and I wasn’t a migrant so I didn’t speak out.  It isn’t far-fetched at all to see that, in the end, they will come for me.   

Fatigue

Thomas Paine again:

“Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess. Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.”

Fear and fatigue go hand in hand.  It was easy to stand up in April, fresh from defeat and hoping to turn the tide.  Now it’s October, and the drip-drip-drip of authoritarian action has worn us down.  Some are choosing to “go small”. 

No Choice

The point:  we really don’t have that choice.   We must resist, now.  We must fight this fight now, or we will certainly have to fight it later when the authoritarian forces gain even more power.  General Douglas MacArthur is not even on my top ten list of “favorite” military leaders.  He was a General/Politician, a bad mix of power and ego.  But, like most politicians, he had a great speech writer.  And when he came back to the Philippines to fight the Japanese conquerors, he said, “I Have Returned”.  And he called on the Filipino people to join him in his quest: 

“…For your homes and hearths, strike! For future generations of your sons and daughters, strike! In the name of your sacred dead, strike! Let no heart be faint. Let every arm be steeled.” 

So we must be “steeled” now.  And, before my “friends on the other side” scream out, I’m not calling for violence or assassination.  I am calling for Dr. King’s resistance, non-violent protest to challenge authoritarian inequity.  There still is a chance to peacefully resist, to change the course of America back to one that “bends toward justice”.   But, we need to strike now, to speak out for the least of us, because if we do not, as Pastor Neimöller found out, they will come for the “most” of us.

Framing

Words often determine the “structure” of debate.  In the argument over abortion; the anti-abortion crowd won the framing battle with “pro-life”.  Those that favor allowing abortions are “pro-choice”, but that doesn’t have the same power.  What’s the obvious opposite of “pro-life”, well, “pro-death” of course.  Winning the label battle is a huge step towards winning the political debate.

The same is true with our current debate over migrants.  One side speaks of “undocumented”, migrants in the United States, or to use the old ethnic insult, those “without papers”.  The other side uses the term “illegals”, describing those that violated border policies to enter the country.  Both of those are loaded terms.  “Undocumented” are folks who failed to file paperwork, something most Americans can understand.  “Illegals”, as Stephen Miller would be the first to say, are criminals.  And that’s how they choose to frame the debate.

Apparatchiks 

We are in an unprecedented time of “transparency”.  So much of what we say, publicly and privately, is now “codified” on digital memory.  What used to be an actual conversation, my mouth to your ears, is now an email, or a text, or a video recorded for posterity.  We used to know what was “in public”, and what could be whispered quietly for only the few to hear.  Now, those whispers tend to be texts in the dark of night.  While your phone screen may be on “nighttime” mode, those texts remain in a record.  The fact that you were in bed in pajamas, makes no difference.

That’s what the Young Republicans just discovered.  To step back for just a second, both the Republican and Democratic Parties have a “youth division”.  Young has a little different meaning in the political world, since the minimum age to vote is eighteen.  “Youth” politicians, are described as those from eighteen to forty years old (which doesn’t sound that “young” to me, even at my advanced age).  In both political parties, these “young up-and-comers” represent the future leadership.  They may not be the candidates out in front of the electorate, but often are the future precinct or county chairmen, or the staffers who work for elected officials.  In the old Soviet world there was a great word for them:  “apparatchiks”.

For Real

Even forty is young enough to “live” in the text and social media world.  And since everyone does it, it’s easy to fall into a false sense of privacy.  Telegram, supposedly a more secure texting app, still has it weaknesses.  But the Young Republican leaders of New York, Kansas, Arizona and Vermont didn’t realize the risk until it was too late.  The web-based journal Politico, got their entire text chain.  Here are some samples.

•             – Everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber
•             – You’re giving nationals to much credit and expecting the Jew to be honest
•             – Great.  I love Hitler
•             – I’m ready to watch people burn now
•             – I’d go to the zoo if I wanted to watch monkey ball 
•             – When do we start bullying dude?
•             – He also hates the Jews
•             – They love watermelon people
•             – If we ever has a leak of this chat we would be cooked fr fr  
  • (translation:  for real, for real)
•             And many, many more (Politico.)

Conversation Frame

So what is the structure of their internal discussion?  Well, it’s about anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, Nazism, and about pure old fashioned American racism.  They are using these terms of hate and historic massacre, to describe what they hope to do to their political opponents.  And, in this case, not the members of the other political party, but their internal political rivals. 

Do I think the “Young Republicans” are not-so closeted Nazis?   I don’t know. But they cavalierly  use the events of the Holocaust to describe their own actions.  That, at the minimum, desensitizing them to the very real historic impacts of the era.  And that framework  is also clearly accepted by the members of the “Club”, at least the several involved in the text chat.  As we saying goes: “If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck”.  

And members of the larger Republican “club” accept them as well.  Vice President Vance “poo-pooed” their words, calling them “kids”.  Vance implied that no one should be blamed for the mistakes of their youth (NBC). But they aren’t kids.  They are, as my son would so bluntly put it, “Grown Ass Men”.

What About

And in true MAGA fashion, Vance then pivoted to a “what-about”.  What about Virginia Democratic Attorney General candidate Jay Jones?  A few years ago, he sent some ill-advised texts, one saying about the Republican Virginia House Speaker, “(He) should get two bullets”.  The comment were in the heat of a legislative battle over gun control.  But they were stupid.  Jones was a “Grown Ass Man”.  And he took complete responsibility for them, apologized, and acknowledged his own stupidity.  

No one in the Democratic Party is saying, “He was just a kid”.  But that’s exactly what the Vice President of the United States is saying.  Anti-Semitism, Nazi admiration, direct and disgusting racism:  just kids.  Kind of like the “locker room talk” we started with back in 2016, when the Republican candidate for President talked about “grabbing them in the…”.  We all remember the rest.  

Fiddle About – from the Rock Opera Tommy by the Who

Nixon 

Our internet-fueled world moves swiftly.  Yesterday, the least likely President of all achieved a peace deal in the Middle East.  There’s an old political phrase, “Nixon went to China”.  It’s ironic, because Nixon made his political “bones” by being a rabid anti-Communist.  So when Nixon really did go to China, to sit with arch-Communists Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, he may have been the only American politician with the political ability to do so.  Trump is much the same. Perhaps, for the first time, he really was the “only one” who could solve the Middle East.  I hope it lasts.

Meanwhile the United States Government remains “technically” closed.  Congress has failed to reach a budget agreement, now going on for two weeks.  And because there is no budget, there is no money available to continue government functions.  That used to be a “HUGE” deal.  

Remember the late 1990’s, when the government shutdown, and all the normal White House staffers were sent home.  Only the senior advisors, and the unpaid interns remained to continue “running” the government.  One of those interns, a twenty-one year old woman, brought pizza for the senior staff, and ended up having sex with the President.  We remember how that ended.  As a high school senior government teacher, I had to dance around the meaning of the word “is”, and the meaning of the word “sex”.

Abnormal Times

I don’t see any “furloughs” in the White House.  They seem to be ignoring all of the “trappings” of a Government shutdown.  Probably safer for the young interns there.

In “normal times”, there would be on-going negotiations between the majority leaders and minority leaders in the Congress, and a President trying to get the doors open again.  But these are not normal times.

Trump left to go to the Middle East.  House Speaker Johnson refuses to talk to Minority Leader Jefferies, and won’t allow the House to come back into session.  He won’t even swear-in a newly elected Congresswoman from Arizona. (That might have something to do with a House move to force the Justice Department to reveal the “entire” EPSTEIN FILE). And while the Senate is at least in session, they don’t seem to be talking either.  This shutdown feels semi-permanent.  

Blame Game

At first, Republicans blamed the shutdown on Democrats wanting to give “undocumented migrants health care”.  But the reality of Federal law snuffed out that argument. Law prohibits spending Federal money on the undocumented, with an exception for hospital reimbursement for lifesaving care.  When that fell apart, the Republicans simply said that they won’t spend the money.

Meanwhile, Democrats are waiting for the November insurance bills to hit American kitchen tables.  The expected increases, Dems hope, will force Republicans to start negotiating.  Pressure has to come from somewhere, and Democrats hope the Republican base will be shocked by the rising costs, and start to push their leadership.

American leaders are “fiddling about”.  Not much is getting done in Congress, and the President seems pleased to be unfettered with the legal niceties of legislative approval.  So what’s the problem?

Real World Problems

Government workers are facing their first payday without a check.  Their last full payment was on October 1.  That’s 1.6 million workers in the United States, a big chunk of the economy that will be unable to spend for rent and food.  There are government services curtailed:  social security checks will go out, but processing of new or changed social security benefits is delayed.  TSA agents and FAA air-traffic controllers are required to work – but they aren’t getting paid.  National Parks remain open, but unsupervised, and un-serviced (think trash and restrooms). 

When will the shutdown end?  When the pressure grows so great on the politicians that they are required to talk to each other.  Will that be when the Republican base starts screaming about insurance, or when the pressure on any four Democratic Senators who “hold the line” of the shutdown gets so bad, that they decide to fold.  Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman and Nevada’s Catherine Cortez-Masto, along with Maine Independent Angus King, already have.

We’d expect bleary-eyed Senators to be talking all night.  In other times, we’d have a President locking everyone in a White House conference room until they came out with a deal.  But today, there seems to be no appetite for negotiations, and the Federal doors remain closed.  

It’s just another sign of our polarized times; so divided, that we can’t even talk about it. All we can do is “Fiddle About”.  

Song for this essay – For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield (Stephen Stills)

Spirit

I am a terrorist.  I hate America. I am, believe or not, against fascism.  I guess that makes me ANTIFA (anti-fascist).  At least, that’s what the President and his MAGA-Republicans in Washington are telling me.  Next Saturday, many Americans will protest against the fascist/authoritarian actions of the Trump Administration.  My family and friends and my spirit will be marching with them.  The Republican leaders may call them terrorists and America haters, but those marching are acting in the spirit of America, as old as the Boston Tea Party, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

So let’s get a few of things straight.  I’m working on Saturday, at an all-day Cross Country meet, and I will be unable to join the “No Kings” march here in Central Ohio.  And that’s annoying, but a commitment I made months ago, before the march was announced.  While I’ll wear the “black and white” of track official on top, underneath, nearer my heart, will be a “No Kings” T-shirt.  

Petition

The government cannot makes laws, or act, against the freedom of political expression.  They cannot make laws or act against the right to assemble.  And, they cannot deny the right of citizens to petition the government for redress of grievances.  If those words all sound familiar, they should.  It’s the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, three of the five guaranteed restrictions on the Government (religion and the press are the other two). It’s the first thing the Founding Fathers added to the original document.  So citizens gathering in the public “square”, speaking out against government action, and asking for change, are directly protected.

I participated in the first “No Kings” March last spring.  It was a picture of America.  There were “radicals”, who want dramatic change, even Socialists (Oh MY!!).  There were little kids, running around in red-white-and-blue t-shirts.  I saw lots of young folks who were driven to the street by the injustice they saw on their phone screens every night.  And, there were a lot of “Boomers”, my generation.  So what are all of those Medicare recipients doing out in the street, “…singing songs and carrying signs”? 

Boomer Guilt

The answer is pretty simple.  We know what America should be, and we know what America looks like right now.  Us “Boomers” feel an obligation (and guilt) that the country we had so much hope for descended so quickly into the authoritarian abyss we see today.  We owe the next generations a better place. Our country, that just a few short months ago seemed “…on the long arc of the moral universe, bending towards justice” is now bending backwards.  We need to straighten that arc out, again.

And, deep in the “Boomer Memory” (maybe easier to remember than the location of our glasses, phone and car keys) are the marches of our youth.  They (the Government) didn’t want us out in the streets then either, back in the 1960’s and early 70’s.  We marched against a useless war, and called for political change.  We wanted civil rights for all Americans, regardless of the color of their skin.  We learned that civil “action” can lead to change, even with the most conservative leaders like President Nixon or Governor Rhodes.   

Frogs

Really, I want to get a “frog suit” and join the protests in Portland.  I want to dance in the streets in front of the ICE “agents” (are they really trained Federal officers, or just contracted thugs?).  If that’s what ANTIFA does, I’m all-in.  And if the Federal Government decides to attack the Frogs, as “dangerous interference with ICE operations”, then who is the real loser in that encounter?  The frog dancers, or the bullies with zip-tie handcuffs, trying to bind frog-arms?  Does Portland really need the National Guard to “put-down” a costumed protest?  

In all seriousness, the United States is in crisis.  The President is sending armed troops into American cities without the “consent of the governed”.  Rumors of this Administration actually invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, and using the regular US military in the streets of American cities, abound.  The President chooses “crime” as his excuse for action.  But “crime” is down in all of those cities, and, in fact, is “up” in Republican “controlled” areas.  And what crime are the frog dancers committing?

Boiling

And there’s a whole scenario of Federal suppression of the First Amendment rights that seems to be on the table.  It’s a “boiling frog” analogy:  the more Americans get accustomed to seeing troops in the streets, cities governed by martial law, and direct Federal intervention, the more likely it is that those same troops will “protect” the elections in 2026.  They’ll make sure that the vote is “protected” from opposition. Especially those costumed protestors mocking ICE in Portland.  By the time the general citizenry realizes what’s happened, it might be too late. And then, democracy itself will be cooked.

October 18^th is another opportunity for millions of Americans to “petition the Government for redress of grievances”.  As Lincoln said, “It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this”.  And if that threatens the MAGA-Republicans:  maybe they should look closer at what they are doing to America.   

“Something’s happening here…”

Dam Bills

It seemed like a “no-brainer” to Republicans in Congress.  The “battle” over health-care was already won.  Cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act were “in stone” in the “Big Beautiful Bill”.  The huge savings, over $1.4 Trillion, would go to the Republican cornerstone policy, reducing taxes.  Those reductions would be negligible for lower income families, but for those in the billionaire and multi-millionaire class, it’s big bucks.  

But Congress has a two-part system of implementing laws.  When I was teaching the process back in the “old days” of Senior Government Class, I explained it this way.  To build a dam, it requires a bill to pass the House, Senate and get signed by the President.  Only then would the “dam” bill become a “dam” law.  But to pay for that “dam” law, there has to be a “dam money law” passed as well; an appropriation of money for the dam.  It’s a two-part process.  

Arcane Procedures

Republicans ran up against the budget bill (a money law), including the income tax reductions in the “Big, Beautiful, Bill”.   Instead of having a whole budget battle, they  simply asked for a continuing resolution of existing spending.  That budget bill would just continue things as they already are, including the Big, Beautiful tax reductions, for a few months.  Without passage, there is no “money law” to run the government, and most government spending and activity is shutdown. 

Democrats saw a chance to exercise some real power.   While the House of Representatives is a simple majority to pass a bill (Republicans have a five vote majority), in the Senate there is a process that requires sixty votes to end debate (called cloture), before a vote can be taken on the actual “bill”.   There are fifty-three Republicans in the Senate, so they need seven more votes to end debate, before they can pass the continuing resolution by a simple majority vote.  

Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Leader of the Senate, saw a chance to actually make a difference.  He stopped the budget bill, demanding that the medical cuts of the “Big, Beautiful Bill” get put back in.  How could he go wrong?  Many folks will see the results of those cuts on their annual insurance cost statements, due on their kitchen table at the end of October.  That is especially true for those folks on Medicaid or with Affordable Care Act insurance, who will see huge increases.  

A Winning Issue

It’s a “win-win” for the Democrats.  They’re fighting to keep health costs lower.  If they win, and those costs stay about the same, and Democrats actually got something done for the people, even without control of the House, Senate, or the Presidency.  And if they fail, then Republicans are fully responsible for the dramatic increases in costs.  That will be an albatross around their neck in the 2026 Congressional elections, perhaps the key to Democrats regaining a majority in the House and maybe even the Senate.

Republicans tried to counter by mis-directing the argument to one they are much more comfortable with, undocumented migrants.  Republicans are confident that attacking the undocumented is a winning strategy.  They’ve committed billions of dollars to funding the ICE round-ups, and are trying to place Democrats in the position of defending folks that aren’t legally in the US and can’t vote in elections.  

The problem for Republicans, is that very little government money actually goes to support undocumented migrant health.  In fact, there are clear laws against doing so.  So, after the first flush of “illegals getting government health insurance” passed by, most Americans understood that it was a dodge, a side issue.  They sat around their kitchen tables and calculated how much more of their limited income would go to insurance costs, or worse, direct medical costs.  And they don’t like it.

Boiling Frogs

So here we are.  Republicans are doing the “boiling frog” routine.  They are sitting in a pot of rising insurance costs, and the heat is going up.  They can either find a way to jump out before the pot boils, or they can get stewed in the November 2026 elections.  And Democrats can keep saying, “Well, you have all the majorities.  You are in charge.  You can fix all of this”.  No one really is listening to the arcane mechanics of Senate cloture motions.  

Politically Democrats can’t lose.  But the reality of huge insurance increases for the American people will absolutely turn up the heat on the Party in control.  And the deadline for many will be when the bill shows up, sometimes around November 1^st.  Want a guess how long the government will be shut down?  The closer to the insurance bills, the more pressure to “make a deal”. 

Republicans can either jump out of the pot and make a deal, or they can let the bills hit the kitchen table.  When insurance costs go up dramatically, most Americans aren’t going to be thinking about the undocumented. 

They’ll put blame where blame is due – the Party in charge.

Credit

Credit where credit is due.  If the “Twenty Point” Plan of the Trump Administration comes to fruition and the current War in Gaza ends, then President Trump deserves credit.  Maybe he even deserves his ultimate desire, the Nobel Peace Prize.  But for those, like the “Morning Joe voices” of MSNBC who echo Trump by saying this is the “biggest negotiation ever”, I say this:  “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over”.

Let’s be clear:  Gaza has been destroyed.  Satellite surveys estimate that 80% of the habitable buildings are leveled or damaged.  More than 50,000 civilians (not Hamas soldiers) are dead. Starvation is rampant, and with winter coming on, Gaza will be a humanitarian disaster, even if “the deal” is consummated this week.  

The last “protected” part of Gaza are the remaining Hamas forces.  While the surface of Gaza looks like an old black and white photo of Berlin at the end of World War II, underneath is a tunnel system longer than the New York and London subways combined.  Current estimates are that only 40% of those have been destroyed. Where the tunnels remain, so does Hamas.

The founding principle of Israel was summed up in the term, “Never Forget”.  What was meant to refer to the Holocaust, is now extended to the October 7^th Hamas attack two years ago.  Added to that should be the phrase “Never Forgive”.  The Netanyahu government demands an unlimited amount of Palestinian blood in retribution.  And the politics of Israel are stark:  to remain in power, Netanyahu MUST “win the war”.  Anything less will result in his removal from the Prime Minister’s office, and apportionment of blame for the failures that allowed the October 7^th attack to happen in the first place.

Butcher’s Bill

Winning for Israel originally was the total destruction of Hamas.  But that included, as a “sidebar”, the return of the hostages.  Now, two years after they were taken that “butcher’s bill” remains.  257 were taken hostage originally.  148 have been released or rescued, alive.  75 were killed in captivity (58 of those bodies were repatriated).  Three more were killed by “friendly fire” as they tried to escape in Gaza.  That leaves 48 still held: 25 presumed dead, and 23 thought to be still alive after more than two years of captivity.

So what are the levers of power?  Who is the Trump Administration able to “push” to reach some kind of agreement between these “blood enemies”?  Here’s what I see as  leverage that might end the bloodshed, at least for a while.  

The most popular politician in Israel isn’t Benjamin Netanyahu, or even his political opposition leader, Yair Lapid.  The leader with the most leverage in Israel is Donald Trump, the President of the United States.  Israelis see Trump as the only person in the world that can bring an end to the Gaza War in a “pro-Israel” manner.   And that makes the internal Israeli politics similar to the politics of the Republican Party in the United States.  The critical issue going into the next Israeli election may be Trump’s support, just like here in the Ohio’s statewide primaries in 2026.  

Who Does He Stand For?

If Trump stands with Netanyahu, then the current Prime Minister might survive the inevitable blowback from the October 7^th attack.  “Bebe” has pushed off elections “due to war” for two years.  Now he’s up against a deadline in October of 2026.  And while Netanyahu’s coalition contains hard-right parties that want nothing to do with a “peace plan”, Trump’s influence may be strong enough to overcome their pressure as well.  

Netanyahu needs Trump to stay in office, and Trump knows it.  As we see in American internal politics, that symbiotic relationship makes politicians do things we’d never thought possible.  Strong Ukrainian supporters grow silent.  Powerful state’s right advocates now support Federal government intervention in Democratic cities.  Those who claimed that the Justice Department persecuted Republicans, are gleeful as that same Department prosecutes Democrats.  All of that is under the leverage of Trump, who can end a primary campaign with a single “tweet”.  

So will Netanyahu stand up to his right-wing supporters to say, “80% destruction, 50,000 Palestinian lives is enough”?  He can only do it with Trump behind him.

Hamas

And what leverages Hamas?  Simple survival is the quick answer.  They face absolute destruction, and the Iranian help they’ve depended on for decades is now been (temporarily) disrupted by the Israeli and US bombing campaigns.   The other Islamic Nations surrounding Israel; Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan; want the war to end.  They want nothing to do with the Palestinians themselves, a “headache” they tried to avoid for nearly a century.  But war is disruptive, and threatens to drag them into direct conflict with Israel.  It already has in Lebanon and Syria.  So they are supportive of peace, but have little leverage on Hamas.

Qatar has leverage.  They have they served as the “safe space” for the Hamas political wing to emerge in public.  And, with tacit Israeli acceptance, Qatar put almost $2 Billion into Gaza, including some direct support for Hamas itself.  Israel signaled its current displeasure with Qatar by launching an attack on Hamas ceasefire negotiators there last month.   President Trump responded by guaranteeing Qatar’s safety (an almost “Article Five” statement, an attack on Qatar is an attack on the US).  He directly repudiated Israeli actions.  It was that statement that began the serious “leverage campaign” on Netanyahu, and led to this final agreement.

In the background are the other Islamic Middle Eastern states, particularly Saudi Arabia.  And Trump has used his direct representative to Prince Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS), the leader of Saudi, to pressure the deal on a region-wide basis.  Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner is unique.  He has a personal friendship with MBS, and he’s also the godson of Netanyahu.  It everything ends up being personal, then Trump has the “person” to push the parties to agree.

End of the Beginning

There is an agreement – tentatively.  There are hostages to be released, both on Hama’s part (the survivors and the dead) and by Israel (1200 prisoners).  Israel must move its military into defensive positions, and stop combat operations in Gaza.  Hamas must give up weapons.  And there’s a great deal of “territory” left undecided – most importantly those tunnels.

It’s a start.  Hopefully humanitarian aid can immediately flow into Gaza, to stave off starvation, and begin to bring care and shelter to the million or so Palestinians still there.  

The ultimate concern though, is what is left for the next generations.  For Israelis, there is the indelible memory of October 7^th, similar to Americans’ memory of 9/11.  And for Palestinians, there is the terrible losses of civilians to Israeli actions. That will fester.  And it’s likely to produce a whole new generation of terrorists willing to do anything to extract revenge.  

Peace in Gaza today is important.  But the “peace in our time” in the Middle East that the President offers, has a long, long way to go.

Cold War

At the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the United States, were poised to launch nuclear Armageddon.  The theory that “kept the peace” was a concept called “Mutual Assured Destruction”. The idea was that, no matter how devastating the nuclear attack one nation might launch on the other, the opponent’s response would be equally as disastrous.  Total destruction of both sides was “assured”.  No wonder the acronym was “MAD”.  

The organization of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, founded by Einstein, Oppenheimer and many others fresh from the Manhattan Project, really knew best what the outcome of “MAD” would be.  To illustrate the point, they established the “Doomsday Clock” in 1947, representing how close the world was to manmade total devastation; “midnight”.  The first “clock” was seven minutes to midnight.  The farthest away from midnight was at the end of the Cold War in 1991, seventeen minutes to midnight.  The closest it’s been to “midnight”, is right now, at 89 seconds.

Why so dangerous?  The world today is incredibly unstable.  Russia threatens nuclear response if the West intervenes “too much” in Ukraine.  North Korea continues to build intercontinental ballistic missiles to carry their existing nuclear warheads.  India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, are on the edge of conflict.  China continues both political and military expansionism, including the ongoing threat to Taiwan.  And the Middle East remains unstable, with Israel a known nuclear power, and Iran and perhaps others working to have their own “bomb”.  

The Mutually Assured Destruction of the Cold War no longer holds nations in check.  And the United States is totally distracted by its own internal conflict. 

Democracy’s Clock

We are on a different kind of clock. This one ticks away the seconds of Democracy.   What does “midnight” represent on this timepiece?  The end of the US Constitutional “experiment”, started in 1788.  The removal of the very rights that caused the American Revolution in 1776.  And when will the “bell toll” for American Democracy?  On November 3^rd, 2026 and on January 4^th, 2027, if the United States fails to have a free and fair election.

There is a “revolution” going on right now, one occurring under the “color” of law.  The President is claiming extraordinary powers “under” the Constitution, and no other branch of government is standing up to his extra-legal actions.  The Supreme Court already granted full immunity to the President himself.  They look to Congressional powers to “check and balance” the Executive.  But Congress continues to accede to every Presidential demand, and allows him full rein in his actions.

The Revolution

Does this look familiar?

• He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers (*extra-legal executive orders).
• He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance (*ICE).
• He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures (*National Guard).
• He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power (*National Guard).
• For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: (*ICE and National Guard).
• For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: (*Tariffs).
• For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: (*Tariffs, Health Insurance increases).
• For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: (*ICE detention).
• For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences (*ICE removal).

            *Examples of Trump Administration actions

These are some of the actions that Thomas Jefferson noted in the Declaration of Independence.  In 1776 these actions also were done “under the color of law”, the sovereign right of the monarch, King George III of Great Britain.  Americans rejected these as violating the “self-evident rights” of all persons.  Here we are again.

Standing for Democracy

The governors of some of the states are standing up against the “quartering of troops”.  California, Oregon and Illinois are fighting in the lower courts to keep the Federalized National Guard from coming into their states without their consent.  And the lower Courts are standing with the states, against the President.  But that’s no guarantee; the right-wing cabal on the Supreme Court might still choose to support the “unitary executive” principle, much like the “sovereign right of kings” we fought against in the Revolution.

The President faced huge scrutiny for asking the Secretary of State of Georgia to find 11,780 votes for him to turn the 2020 election.  But today, when the President demands of Republican state Governors that they create districts slanted to elect more Republican Congressmen, it’s all “business as usual”.  

And when those same Republican states move to restrict voting, making it more difficult to maintain the right to vote, it goes almost unnoticed.  

Due process and free speech rights were first denied to foreign students legally in the United States.  Then those rights were denied to undocumented migrants whose sole crime was to be “without papers”.  Now, the Attorney General of the United States declared that ICE should “crackdown”, not only on the undocumented, but on legitimate protests against ICE actions.  

And the President is using the regulatory powers granted to his office by the Congress, to control the free speech of broadcasters and political opponents.  Is that “legal”?  It might be.  But it is certainly Un-American, a clear violation of the intent of the First Amendment.  

Midnight

The clock is ticking.  The hands are growing closer to midnight.  The America we thought was inevitable, the  result of Manifest Destiny, Reagan’s “Shining city on the hill”, is not just at risk.  It is slipping away, perhaps already gone.  The last, best chance of saving America is a free and fair election in 2026, to replace the existing Congressional majority with one that will stand up for Congressional power, and the American people.  

If we fail to achieve that goal, the clock will be at midnight.  The destruction of our democracy will be assured.  We need action to hold onto the vestiges of the Constitution, to maintain the last freedoms with have.  Our last chance is to speak up with our words and our ballots. The American experiment is up for grabs.

Time is short.

• “I said, war, huh, What is it good for?
•  Absolutely nothing, say it again…” – War, The Temptations

Declaring War

Ask Donald Trump:  the United States is at “war”.  We are at “war” with narco-terrorism.  We are at “war” with domestic “left” extremists.  And, of course, we are at “war” with undocumented migrants and on “crime”.  The Executive Branch of the American Constitutional Government is “declaring” War after War, War, and taking action based on those “declarations”.   ICE, the “front line” in the “war on the undocumented”, is expanding from 6500 to 16500 agents.  The President is Federalizing the National Guard in certain “Blue” states, Oregon, Illinois, and California, in order to “control the streets” of “Democrat Run” cities.  The US military is blowing up ships on the high seas.

Those of us raised on “School House Rock”, are a little confused.  We thought that the United States Constitution granted the power to declare war to the Congress (Article I, Section 8, Clause 11), not to the President.  But it’s not Congress making all these “declarations”, it Donald Trump and his minions, Stephen Miller or Russell Vought.  America is at War, and President Trump is “leading us”.  

Heritage Foundation

It isn’t that the President can’t take action against drugs.  We’ve been “waging” war against drugs for half a century. Richard Nixon “declared war” on drugs in June of 1971.  But Nixon’s “declaration” at a press conference was “symbolic”.  Nixon really wasn’t planning on waging war, he was simply emphasizing a White House focus on combatting drug use. (In a half century that war continues to be lost).  

But the Trump Administration has a different “attitude” about the word, “war”.  It’s technical, based on the Constitution and recent law. And it’s important to consider as we wage war against such dangerous “undocumented criminal hotbeds” as Chicago and Portland.  (Even the far-right fear of “black helicopters” is now reality, as masked military-like agents fast-roped down onto a Chicago apartment building). 

It all started in the heartbeat of right-wing political thought, the Heritage Foundation.  When the January 6^th Insurrection ended, those “thinkers” were faced with ultimate failure.  Joe Biden was going to be President, and the House and Senate were Democratic.  After four years of the first Trump Administration they were unable to change America to what they wanted, and now Democrats were bringing things “back to normal” once again.

They had years of political “exile” to think through a “do-over”.  What if they got a second chance to run America?  What could they do differently to really change the fundamental structure of the American government, and make America “Great” (White?) again?  And while they publicly pressed a “states’ rights” agenda (ask the Governor of Texas), privately they were developing a whole theory based around a “unitary executive”, that gave the President unprecedented power and control over the entire Federal government.   

Immunity

They were even willing to risk extending some of that power to Joe Biden.  The right-wing majority on the Supreme Court created a brand new Presidential perk during the Biden Administration; absolute immunity from prosecution for any “official act”.  Biden didn’t take advantage of a power he didn’t want or believe in, but if Trump could get back in, that could “excuse” any action he took.  It simply had to be “official”, and nothing is more official than an “Executive Order”.  

Congress still has the power to declare war.  But, Congress hasn’t “declared war” since the days after Pearl Harbor in 1941.  Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam, Lebanon, the invasion of Panama, the Persian Gulf War, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, all took place without declaration, but simply with Congressional authority ceded to the President.  The AUMF (authorization of use of military force) from 9-11 is still in effect, twenty-four years later.  There’s a specific reason that the Trump Administration uses the words “narco-terrorism”.  Terrorism is a defined term in the AUMF, so the President can claim to take “approved” war action against “narco-terrorists”.  

War gives the President expanded authorities.  During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, the right to have a hearing in court if arrested, for some parts of the United States.  During the Second World War, Roosevelt rounded up American citizens of Japanese descent and put them in “relocation” camps. Those clear violations of citizenship rights were tolerated, because “we were at war”.  

Changing America

The geniuses at the Heritage Foundation want to expand those Presidential War powers even farther; against undocumented migrants, and now, against any opposition to their political plans.  We keep hearing the words “domestic terrorist” applied to folks like George Soros and the mysterious “ANTIFA”.   

The President always claims extraordinary powers in times of war.  The other American institutions, Congress and the Courts, have recognized the need to “act swiftly” in wartime, assuming the risk of mistakes that swift action might entail.  But the “norm” has always been to retract those powers after the crisis was over.  Today, the Heritage scholars are reversing that trend, creating issue after issue where “war powers” are given to the President.  Congress is unwilling to stand up for themselves, and the Supreme Court majority  is aligned with the Heritage views.  And it doesn’t help that Congress has declared the government, and themselves, “closed”. The Executive is all that’s left.

And this President, unlike his predecessors, sees no imperative to restrict his own powers.  War is “good” for him, “good” for his power, and “good” for those behind him who believe in an altered America.  They are striving to achieve their vision, even at the cost of the very foundations that made America different than any other country in the world.   

“Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set Ye Free”

(John 8:32) Engraved on the entrance of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia

Just Dems

This essay is specifically written for my Democratic friends.  Republicans, MAGA-world folks, please, please don’t read this one.  This is the “secret sauce”, the hidden issues that our debates are really all about. This one’s about “the Truth”.  In this age of “my facts” and “your facts”, this one doesn’t fit, because it’s just “truth”:  too much “truth” for many to handle (A Few Good Men – “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH”!!!)

So let’s call this out:  MAGA-world is claiming that Democrats want to give money to undocumented migrants for health care.  It’s their big talking point screamed from the mountain tops, the podium of the White House briefing room, and every time House Speaker “Harry Potter” opens his mouth.   That’s a straight-up, bald-faced, lie; a lie they know is a lie.  But they don’t care.

Against the Law

It is against US Law to give undocumented migrants US money.  That includes Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP benefits, Affordable Care Act benefits, and the Children’s Health Program.  The Law forbidding it: the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 (that rolls right off of the tongue).

Now if you ask Democrats if they “want” to give health care to undocumented migrant children, that’s a whole different story – ask Maxine Waters (or me).  But it really doesn’t matter what we want.  The law is the law, and Democrats are NOT trying to change the law.  

There is ONE exception:  hospitals are required to treat emergency aid cases, regardless of their documented status.  And some of THOSE expenses can be reimbursed through emergency Medicaid payments.  But Americans are usually pretty good about saying “nobody should die because they can’t pay”, so we let doctors in the emergency departments continue to save lives.

If it is illegal to give government aid to undocumented migrants, and it will continue to be illegal to give government aid to undocumented migrants; then what is the shutdown argument really about? The answer, of course, is what almost every government argument is about, money.  In this case, a lot of money:  $1.4 Trillion.

Rich Get Richer

The “Big Beautiful Bill” cut $1.4 trillion from government health care programs.  Among those was the Republican “boogey man”, the Affordable Care Act, where funding was added to help America get through the Covid pandemic.  That funding helped keep ACA insurance costs lower, and allowed millions of Americans (not undocumented migrants) to have health insurance.  That added money was cut.  It was used to pay for what the Republicans wanted most:  a huge tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the biggest tax payers:  the rich, and the corporations.  

The budget now in front of Congress is where “the rubber” of the tax cut meets “the road” of higher insurance costs.  Under the US Constitution, Congress is required both to pass a law saying what they want to do (the “Big, Beautiful, Bill”) and a law funding what they want to do (the Budget).  Now it’s time for “round two”, the Big, Beautiful Bill’s budget resolution. 

Party Lines

The members of the House of Representatives voted as expected, along party-lines, with the Republicans exercising their six vote majority to approve the budget.  But the arcane rules of the US Senate require that to pass the budget, there must first be a “cloture” motion passed to end debate on the budget.  That “cloture” motion requires sixty Senators to support it.  Republicans have a 53 to 47 majority, so it requires seven Democrats to agree to end debate, and bring the Budget for a direct vote where a majority would win.

Two Democrats, Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman and Nevada’s Catherine Cortez-Masto, joined the Republican majority, as well as Maine Independent Angus King (who usually votes with Democrats).  But to get to “cloture”, it will require four more Democrats to join in.  Until an agreement is reached with four more Democrats, there is no US Budget, and therefore the government is “shut down”.  

Fooled Again

So what we really are debating is the cuts that will raise millions of Americans insurance costs, and also will cut Medicaid benefits to millions more Americans.  Those cuts will give a lot of already wealthy people and corporations more money. 

Unfortunately (to me), none of that will help undocumented migrants.  They will still be pursued by masked ICE militia, and harassed for just trying to make a better life in the world.  But that has nothing to do with the budget, the government shutdown, or US health care. 

But don’t be “fooled again”.  This shut down isn’t about migrants.  It’s about giving rich people more money, and making health insurance more expensive for everyone else.  

Insurance Season

It’s October in Ohio.  The burning bushes in front of the house are just starting to tint.  Soon, they’ll live up to their name, flaming red for the autumn season.  The very first set of leaves are already on the lawn, but plenty still hold fast to the maple trees above.  The mornings are actually cool, even sweatshirt cool, while the afternoons are still summer eighty degrees.  Within a few weeks, that too will fade.  Almost time to put the shorts away for next spring, and get used to “long pants” once again.

October is also “insurance season”.  It’s the time when health insurance companies notify their customers what coverage will cost for next year.  And while the season may be called “fall”, falling isn’t likely to be reflected in the cost of coverage.

Look, I’m old and retired.  A major part of my insurance is covered by Medicare.  But if you haven’t had to navigate the “Medicare” world, there’s two things you probably don’t know.  First, Medicare “major medical”, pays 80% of  hospital costs. But the Medicare that pays part of regular doctor appointments, and vaccines, and “equipment”, is called Part B, and has a monthly bill.  I’ve had Part B for four years, and already the cost has gone up 25%.

The rest, the 20% of costs, and drugs, and dental, and vision, requires a separate private supplemental insurance.  

How High?

Like the leaves falling outside, the bills will arrive on the kitchen table here in Pataskala.  Several of those bills will come from insurance companies.  I don’t dread the maple leaves on the lawn, or the Burning Bushes changing.  But I do worry about what’s coming in the mail:  the increase in insurance costs.  Even “old folks” like me, on Medicare, share the concern – how much of our income will have to go to pay insurance this year?

The Medicare Part B 2026 cost is already out there:  an 11% increase.  What will happen with the supplemental insurance?  We’re holding our breath, but even the conservative estimates in the press call for at least a 6.5% increase.  And for those Americans who get their insurance outside of their employer or the Medicare program?  If they were able  to take advantage of the Affordable Care Act, it’s likely that their costs will jump as much as 75%.  If they used to qualify for Medicaid, they may no longer even be eligible because of changes made by Congress.  And, even if they do still qualify, they will find that Medicaid covers less, and costs more. 

I don’t know how your personal finances work, but a 75% jump in health insurance would be devastating to ours.  Already, insurance is one of the “big three” expenses  along with mortgage and food.

Driving Costs

What’s driving all these costs?   

US Hospitals are the fourth most profitable industry in the country.  Direct Insurance, including workman’s compensation, is the eighth (IBIS).  So don’t worry; folks are definitely making money on your healthcare.  But there are other factors driving health care costs.  There are rising costs in everything, from the wages of health care workers to the costs of syringes (mostly made in China, and subject to increased tariffs).  And then, there’s the cost of the uninsured.

We live in the United States.  At least until now, we all agreed that if someone is sick and goes to the hospital, they ought to be treated, whether they can pay for it or not.  When someone shows up unconscious from a fall, hospitals don’t wait for a credit card.  And until this year, the government helped cover the cost of the uninsured.  But that was slashed in Mr. Trump’s “Big, Beautiful, Bill”, to help pay for the $4 Trillion in tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.  

Hospitals will still treat the uninsured, and the cost of those treatments will be shared by everyone.   Everyone, that is, who pays for health insurance.  

Hold Your Breath

What’s today’s government shutdown all about?  It’s about this:  Democrats are trying to put some of the money back in healthcare spending, money that was taken out for the big tax cuts.  Republicans want the tax cuts, and are perfectly content to have health care costs go up for the rest of us.  It’s not an “even trade”; most folks taxes won’t go down, but their insurance costs will certainly go up.  

So as you sit at your kitchen table on this beautiful fall day – don’t hold your breath for a lower insurance bill.  

You’ll end up in the hospital, and you might not be able to afford it!!

Hubris

I just caught a glimpse of Secretary of “War” Hegseth preaching to the top command echelon of the United States military.  I’ll call it what it is:  pure hubris.  This relatively young man, a combat veteran himself (but most qualified for his current assignment by his “dangerous” Fox News Weekend duties) demanded that ALL of the leaders of the military, from every branch, come to him.  He didn’t want a video link, and he couldn’t send an email. 

No, he needed “butts in seats” in Quantico, Virginia, regardless that those leaders had to travel from all over the world. In spite of the literally millions of dollars this exercise in ego cost America, he required them to leave their incredibly important posts.  The US Armed Forces is publicly “deactivated”, the American military threat-response compromised, for Pete, because he wanted their attention, RIGHT NOW.

Warrior Ethos

Pete is a “true believer” in the “Warrior Ethos”.  It’s all the rage in the white, male, thirty-something set (though Pete himself is forty-five).  It’s modeled from what they call “The Teams”, the near mythical Special Forces who do America’s “dirty work” throughout the world .  Most Americans are familiar with Seal Team Six, who “took out” Osama Bin Laden back in the Obama Administration.  But younger men know them better from video games like “Call of Duty”.   

Hegseth didn’t want to lead a “Defense” Department.  He wants to be an offensive guy, who gets it; that battles are dirty, and takes “tough guys” to win out.  He sees the military as a brotherhood, almost a Priesthood of dedicated men who put on the vestments of the uniform and sacrifice themselves for the Nation. 

It’s a “war” out there, so we should be a “War” department.  It’s all kind of “George Patton” thing. That’s for the Boomers who remember George C Scott’s opening monologue in the movie “Patton”, the one that President Nixon watched to steel himself for military decisions.  Hegseth (and Trump) both spoke in front of a US Flag backdrop today, identical to the movie set. That’s not a coincidence.

Brilliance

And there is a place for Warriors in the “War” Department.  But to go back in our history for a moment, Patton is a great example.  He was a “Warrior” in the Hegseth model.  He used profanity to make himself a “common guy” like his soldiers. Hegseth just told the mass of Generals in front of him, “FAFO”.  He used initials.  (I’d expect a “real” Warrior would just say it: “Fuck Around and Find Out”).  Patton led forces successfully into battle. He even mixed an almost childlike Christian religious devotion with his Warrior ethos.  

But what is easy to forget is that Patton was a tool (yes in both ways).  He was managed by two of the greatest military leaders of any time, Generals Dwight Eisenhower and George Marshall.  Neither of them were part of some physical “Warrior Ethos”.  In fact, General Douglas MacArthur called Eisenhower, “…the best clerk I ever had”.  Marshall and Eisenhower were brilliant organizers, able to put personnel, materiel, and strategy together to win World War II.  Sure, Patton had his part, but he wasn’t “critical”.   He was the “point” of one spear, of the thousands of spears that the brilliant organizers had to put in place to win.

Modern Defense

We need “Warriors” in the military.  We also need “Programmers” and “Guidance Specialists” and “Supply Clerks” and “Nuclear Engineers” and “Research Analysts” and “Strategists”. And, to put it bluntly, it doesn’t require testicles to be any of those things.  This “brotherhood” concept is based on a mythical, video game view of what American defense is all about.  It’s not real – and never really has been.   George Washington as a young man was a Warrior.  But, during the American Revolution, he was a strategist, willing to retreat, give away key cities like New York and Philadelphia, and even be a “politician” to win the war.  

I’m sure that there are “Warrior Ethos” Generals in the military, who are proud of what “young Pete” is doing.  And I’m also sure there are generals who recognize that in our modern world, “Warrior Ethos” isn’t the key need in American defense.  What is needed:  an ability to use all the “tools” available, men and women of all kinds, physically strong or mentally adept or both.  It was the “odd man” in his bathrobe who “won” the Battle of Midway, detecting the Japanese code for Midway Island.  It was the gay man who broke the Enigma code for Great Britain. And, it was courageous women, like my own mother, who led the fight in Nazi occupied Europe.  

They wouldn’t be part of Pete’s vision of the “brotherhood”.  They aren’t welcome in Pete’s military today.  

And that is a big loss for America.  

Color of Law

This may be the most delicate subject I’ve tackled.  So, up front, I need to be clear:  assassination and terrorism are not legitimate tools of protest.  In my view, the assassination attempts on Trump and the brutal assassination of Charlie Kirk, all were politically beneficial to the MAGA movement.  There’s nothing so powerful as a martyr.  Trump’s “Fight-Fight-Fight” moment in Butler, Pennsylvania won him the Presidency.  And MAGA-world is now raising Charlie Kirk to political “sainthood”.  Vice President Vance in particular is doubling-down to stifle protest, all in the name of Kirk.

But there’s plenty of political violence to go around, much of it committed under the “color of law”.  The signature Trump policy of sending out roving squads of “ICE Agents” to round up undocumented migrants without warrant or due process is violence that we see every day.  People of color are tackled in the street by masked para-military “agents”, thrown into unmarked vehicles and whisked away to unknown locations. 

Those undocumented are dumped into brutal and inhumane conditions.  The Administration brags about it; “Alligator Alcatraz” and El Salvador’s CECOT and  Rwanda (for God’s sake). The violence is the point.

Sending military forces onto the streets of American cities against the express wishes of local and state governments is violence. Using the Justice Department, and regulatory agencies as cudgels to attack ( get “retribution” on) political enemies is violence.  And the stripping of political and physical rights from visa holders, the transgendered, and many Americans whose sole “flaw” is to stand against the President, is violence.

Crazies

American history is replete with the people’s response to this kind of  “legal” violence.  Sure, there was the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s, based on Dr. King’s philosophy of non-violence.  But there also were Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) who took further actions. And ultimately the Black Panthers, were willing to stand for their rights with guns. 

There were the anti-Vietnam War marches, student non-violent protests on college campuses across the country.  But there also were the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), who were willing to go farther. And finally the Weathermen who specifically targeted government buildings for destruction.

Again, I am not advocating violence in response to Trump’s authoritarianism.  What I’m pointing out, is that once the government chooses violence as a means of controlling the nation, it shouldn’t be a surprise that violence is also a response.

And, independent of political ideology, there are “crazies” who will find motivation in the chaos created by violence.  They might kill Democrats (Minnesota) or they might kill Republicans (Utah), but their common thread isn’t political ideology, it’s personal instability.  In American history, the violence of slavery not only generated over 300 “slave rebellions” (not insane, just desperate), but also an environment where attacks like John Brown’s raid on the US Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry were not only foreseeable, but inevitable.

Norms

Of course, the violence of one side is used to justify an increase in violence on the other side.   A policeman once explained to me about how he engaged with a suspect. “I will respond with one step higher than they do”.  It’s easy to say, they did this, so I’ll do this much more. And that’s the path our Nation is on right now.  One side says they have the “legal power” of the government, the consolidated authority of the unitary executive, to do almost anything they want   The other side says they “represent” a defense of American freedom and tradition, with the  “moral authority” of our historic legacy on their side.  

Previous Presidents, even in tremendous times of crisis, felt the weight of maintaining American “norms”. George Bush’s response to 9-11 was the huge power-grab of the Patriot Act.  Government actions that were seen as intrusive and likely Unconstitutional before 9-11, were handed over to the Executive branch soon after. But as time passed, the extremes of the Patriot Act were narrowed by the Courts, the Congress, and also by the Presidents themselves.  

Witch’s Brew

But President Trump is steeped in the extremist ideologies of the Heritage Institute. He’s advised by Stephen Miller, Russell Vought, Tom Homan, and billionaires whose fortunes give them unlimited access and authority. There seems to be no boundaries.  He’s backed by a Congress unwilling to exert their independent authority.  And, he’s “regulated” by a Supreme Court majority beholden to those same ideologies and billionaires.   It’s a “witch’s brew” that sees violence under the “color of law” as an acceptable path of governance.  

The inevitable counter-violence plays right into their hands.  It’s what they want, to justifying even more power, and more violence.  It’s an ugly, unending circle, and where it stops … nobody knows.

Hamilton

There is an entire section of the Broadway production of Hamilton, The Musical, when the personal tragedies of the central figure overwhelm the show.  Hamilton’s torrid sexual affair is discovered by his political opponents, and he counters by publishing all the details in the “Reynolds Pamphlet”.  His wife, Elisha, doesn’t leave him, but she cuts him out of her life.  Then their oldest son, Phillip, is killed in a duel while defending his father’s good name.  That ultimate tragedy brings Alexander and Elisha back together again.

It’s heartbreaking, culminating with the haunting song, “It’s Quiet Uptown”, about living the unimaginable loss of losing a child.

As the audience deals with all of the Hamilton’s personal agony, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison enter the stage.  Jefferson pleads to the unseen playwright, speaking for himself and the audience; “Can we get back to politics?”  Madison joins in, “Please?”

Rhyming

Sometimes, history “rhymes”.  America has been on a roller coaster of emotions from ICE roundups to troops in the city streets.  A scandal of massive proportions looms with the EPSTEIN FILES.  Then the darling of the MAGA-Republican movement, Charlie Kirk, was brutally shot down on an Utah college campus.  The fallout from the assassination is still reverberating, but meanwhile, another shooter opened fire on a Dallas ICE facility.  One detainee was killed, two others were wounded.  America is stricken with the tragedies, and the steep fall into the chaos of the Trump Administration.

Can we get back to politics, please?

Deadlock

Congress is deadlocked over a looming budget deadline.  On September 30^th, the government authorization to spend money expires.  If there is no new authorization, essentially a law passed by Congress and signed by the President, the government will literally shutdown.  

This is a common political issue, regularly dealt with by America’s leaders.  But to avoid a shutdown, it requires something very difficult to do in our ultra-polarized world; cooperate.  It takes a majority of the House of Representatives, but more importantly, it requires sixty Senators to reach an agreement.  In the US Senate, the count stands at 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats.  At least seven Democrats are needed to sign onto a deal. Then the President still needs to sign the “bill” into law.  

Democrats, in the minority in both Houses of Congress, are making a stand on health care.  They are fighting to keep the government support of the Affordable Care Act at the same levels.  Republicans plan on cutting that support, likely throwing millions off of government assisted health insurance.   The Senate seems nowhere close to reaching some sort of budget deal, though, that’s really not unusual, five full days before the “drop dead” date. 

Hard Ball 

But the White House is playing an even greater game of political “hard ball”.  Today, they’ve threatened to fire thousands of Federal employees if the Democrats refuse to sign off on the health care cuts.  The Trump Administration will not only close the government down, they’ll take the opportunity to cut more jobs (after the thousands let go in the DOGE cuts earlier this year).  

This is the kind of threat that concerned Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer last spring.  Back then, he was afraid that shutting down would increase the Presidential power grab that was then just beginning.  It will be interesting to see if Schumer will fold again this next week.  Perhaps Trump already grabbed the power that Schumer was so worried about.

All of this is nothing new.  President Bill Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich had a similar standoff back in the 1990’s.  And Jimmy Carter famously walked from the White House to the Capitol to resolve a budget standoff back in the 1970’s.  But today, there is one significant difference.

What Trump Wants

Past shutdown standoffs always were predicated on the belief that all parties, ultimately, wanted the government to stay open.  Government shutdowns are messy.  Folks that depend on the government, from healthcare, to payment for government contracts, to the National Parks, get closed down.  While Social Security payments (and Medicare, run by a private contractor) continue, many other government functions stop.  It’s bad for the country, and bad for the economy.

But there are real questions whether the Trump Administration wants the government to stay open.  They are committed to cutting the Federal government to “the bone”.  A shutdown may give them the excuse to do that anyway.  

It’s back to “normal” politics this week, but with a twist.  There’s nothing “normal” about the Trump Administration.  A shutdown may be just what they want to do.  After all, if Congress can’t do anything, all that’s left is the President, unfettered by Congressional oversight.  Hamilton, Jefferson and Madison would roll in their graves about that.