I’ve been sitting here thinking about what’s left to say.

Here’s where I’ve landed.

At some point, there is nothing left to debate except what we are going to do with the responsibility we have been given.

You’ve seen the corruption.

You’ve felt the inflation.

You’ve seen the masked thug’s street executions.

You’ve heard the never-ending lies.

You’ve heard the self-aggrandizement, the endless boasting, the obsession with money and power, the war mongering, the vanity projects, the insistence that everything is about Trump and nothing is about you.

You’ve watched billions diverted into wars and private pockets while most people struggle to get by.

You’ve seen money spent on helipads, ballrooms, monuments and gold coins while we’re told there isn’t enough for Medicaid, Snap benefits, childcare or any of the things that make our lives better.

You’ve seen foreign money buying our President, buying his sons.

You’ve watched the chaos. The lack of accountability.

You’ve seen the attacks on the free press, your right to vote, birthright citizenship, the postal service, trade, farmers, your wallet.

Share Randi’s Substack

Maybe you’ve protested.
Maybe you’ve called your representatives.
Maybe you’ve written letters, sent emails, donated money, knocked on doors or tried to convince someone you love to pay attention.

Maybe you’re exhausted.

But you have been given a responsibility.

You are responsible to exercise your right to vote.

You see how hard Trump fights to take away YOUR vote.

You wonder what you can do to stop him.

Subscribe now

Use YOUR vote.

Not my vote.

Not your neighbor’s vote.

Yours.

Look at what was promised, what was done, and who benefited from the choices that were made. Stop and appreciate your freedom. Your rights. You see what their true value is now.

See the grift and dishonesty for what it is.

Forget the minutia. The daily distraction. Today’s viral story. None of it matters.

Time to VOTE.

No one can do that part for you.

Vote in person. Vote by mail. Vote early or on election day. Just vote.

Make them count you.

Ballots are going out.

Want to know when yours is coming?

Go to Vote.gov and select your state. There you will find your official state election information. There you can check your registration and find out how to vote by mail or where to vote in person.

Check it. Make your plan. Then vote.

There’s nothing left to say until after the votes are counted.

God Bless America!

Leave a comment

How do you say goodbye to a beautiful friend?

A dear animal that slept in your bed, zoomed around the dog park, got pure joy when you came home or even entered a room or opened a car door? A soul that loved hearing, “Who’s a good boy?” “Want to go in the car? or “Mommy knows.”

A dog is a special creature that just wants to be your best friend and if you throw the ball, he will be.

I am mourning. It’s really hard.

I’ve always had a dog. My entire life I had good boys and lovely girls and I’ve outlived them all. I think it’s the price you pay for such unconditional pure love, but I’ll never be okay with it.

Alan was an apricot labradoodle with a great big personality. An administrator, supervisor, boss of the kitchen. Big brown eyes that spoke to you. Mostly, they said, “I want that,” or yelled, “Give me that,” or “Cookie! Cookie! Cookie!”

I’ve never seen a dog as food motivated as Alan. I always told Howard, “You think he loves us, but he’d go with anyone who fed him.” I still believe that.

He was a medical handful too. He had two knee surgeries, diabetes that required twice daily insulin injections at 6am and 6pm, cataracts that required surgery to restore his sight, and at the end of his 15th year he lost the ability to walk, so Howard carried him from room to room.

We have an “upstairs/downstairs” house. Alan hadn’t been upstairs since the first knee surgery seven years ago. After the second surgery he was even more compromised. Howard took him to a woman who did physical therapy for dogs, except she really didn’t. People like that need to rethink their lives and be grateful that we are non-violent people.

Every morning I stood on the landing at 6am looking for him. When he was still able, he’d be on the blue velvet sofa in the living room. At the end, he was on the floor in the living room. The way he looked at the couch. Howard tried to lift him up so he could sleep on it, but it just frustrated him that he couldn’t get down on his own. He gave up and slept on the floor.

Every morning at 6am I led him out the front door, through the garage, into the great room, across the patio, and into the kitchen for his meal and insulin. Why? Because even the three steps to the kitchen had become too much for him to manage.

The night before Howard and I decided to help end his suffering; Alan stood in a corner, looked up, cried. It was unlike anything we’d ever heard from him. Truly heartbreaking.

There comes a day when you have to ask yourself if you’re keeping him going for you or for him?

We just had that day and honestly, our boy was tired. Tired and sad he couldn’t get on the sofa and knock the pillows off or get upstairs, or sleep with us or make it through the night without peeing in the house. We never scolded him, but you could feel his shame.

Now, I scroll. I watch videos of Coco, Dodo, Manu, MillieTV and any doodle I see. I watch Huskies speak and those videos of shelter dogs finding their person, make me cry.

Dog lovers advise you to get another dog, while others suggest enjoying your freedom and traveling now that you have the chance.

He gave us his whole life. How do I honor him?

I don’t know for certain, but I will miss my biggest best beautiful boy.

The Last Battle

If it should be that I grow frail and weak
And pain should keep me from my sleep,
Then will you do what must be done,
For this — the last battle — can’t be won.
You will be sad I understand,
But don’t let grief then stay your hand,
For on this day, more than the rest,
Your love and friendship must stand the test.

We have had so many happy years,
You wouldn’t want me to suffer so.
When the time comes, please, let me go.
Take me to where to my needs they’ll tend,
Only, stay with me till the end
And hold me firm and speak to me
Until my eyes no longer see.

I know in time you will agree
It is a kindness you do to me.
Although my tail its last has waved,
From pain and suffering I have been saved.
Don’t grieve that it must be you
Who has to decide this thing to do;
We’ve been so close — all these years,
Don’t let your heart hold any tears.

Leave a comment

The United States Navy carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has about 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard. It left San Diego on November 21, 2025, originally for a Pacific deployment, but was redirected to the Middle East.

It has now been deployed for more than 250 days and has gone more than 200 consecutive days without a port call. Trumps’ port blockade has made pulling into a port too dangerous.

The Trump administration is currently enforcing a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports, an act of war, and the situation around the Strait of Hormuz remains dangerous. The Pentagon said yesterday that the Navy can maintain the blockade indefinitely.

That creates a serious problem for The Lincoln:

A normal port call is one of the primary ways a carrier replenishes supplies, repairs equipment, gets fresh food aboard, and gives sailors a chance to get off the ship. Liberty! Drinking, girls, tattoos! OR not.

But sending a large U.S. carrier into or near a port in a war zone—particularly while the U.S. is actively blockading Iran can expose it to missiles, drones, mines, small-boat attacks and other threats. The U.S. has actually used force to enforce the blockade. On August 11, U.S. forces fired on and disabled a Panama-flagged vessel that attempted to violate the blockade.

The Lincoln could potentially make port calls at friendly or partner-country ports in the region. The problem is that the number of safe, practical ports available—and the circumstances under which they can be used—are much more limited during an active war and blockade. A key part of why the sailors’ situation has deteriorated.

Multiple current reports—including Stars and Stripes and the Wall Street Journal—say the Lincoln’s last actual port call was in December 2025.

Its deployment was originally expected to end in May, but there is still no publicly announced return date. The crew keeps being extended without knowing when they are going home. The mental-health reports are disturbing.

Families and sailors have independently reported severe exhaustion, food rationing, declining morale, suicidal thoughts, sailors talking about jumping overboard. At least two incidents reportedly stopped sailors from going overboard and one sailor who did get overboard last month had to be rescued in rough seas by helicopter. A sailor whose wife says he actually attempted to jump is now on medical hold.

The Navy has not provided the number of suicide attempts or overboard incidents and says that, based on the information available to command, it has not identified an increase in reported suicidal ideation or suicide attempts aboard the Lincoln.

The living conditions being reported by families and sailors are disgraceful.

They report food shortages, water shortages/contamination concerns, backed up plumbing, no working showers, shortages of hygiene supplies, disrupted mail and care packages, extremely long workdays, little time off, periods when sailors couldn’t do laundry and of course, 200 days without being able to get off the ship.

The families finally confronted Navy leadership.

More than 200 family members attended a meeting with Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao and senior Navy commanders in San Diego last week.

The meeting reportedly became extremely emotional. One spouse told Navy officials that her husband had messaged her that he hoped he wouldn’t wake up the next day. Families described watching their loved ones deteriorate mentally while having no idea when they would come home. One sailor’s wife whose husband attempted to jump overboard said he’s now on medical hold and fears that his 13-year Navy career could be destroyed because he became so burned out. That’s a remarkable situation: someone who apparently reached a psychiatric crisis while serving on an extraordinarily prolonged combat deployment is reportedly worrying about being punished or discharged rather than simply being treated as someone who needs help.

Share Randi’s Substack

And now Congress is getting involved.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao a formal letter demanding answers.

He wants to know:

Who authorized each extension of Lincoln’s deployment?

What was the original deployment schedule?

What operational requirement justified each extension?

How is the Navy going to sustain the Middle East carrier presence?

What is being done about the reported health and safety problems?

How will these extraordinarily long deployments affect future fleet readiness and maintenance?

Blumenthal specifically cited reports of basic-supply shortages, water contamination, backed up plumbing, deteriorating mental health, deck-safety concerns and mail disruptions.

Sen. Ruben Gallego has gone further, calling for a bipartisan congressional delegation to go aboard the Lincoln and conduct an oversight investigation.

Here’s the really important question: WHY can’t they bring them home?

The Navy has essentially said that The Lincoln is operating in a highly contested Middle East environment, with traditional regional supply hubs disrupted by combat. We are asking bigger questions:

If the United States needs a carrier in the region this badly, why is the solution to keep one crew at sea for month after month after month? What kind of planning went into this deployment? Was there any real strategy or was this our Commander in Chief riffing? Improvising a war nobody wanted or needed.

The Navy has told families that the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group is being prepared to relieve The Lincoln, although officials haven’t given a date because of operational security. Other reporting indicates The USS George Washington is being prepared to relieve The Lincoln.

That’s important because it means the Navy appears to recognize that The Lincoln needs relief.

And there’s another troubling pattern here:

Senator Blumenthal points out that the Lincoln isn’t necessarily an isolated case. The USS Gerald R. Ford recently spent 326 days at sea, which he described as the longest modern U.S. carrier deployment since the Vietnam era. So, this may be bigger than one troubled carrier.

It raises the possibility that the Navy is running out of carriers and crews capable of maintaining the operation being demanded of them.

The Lincoln’s sailors may be the first very visible warning sign of a much larger readiness problem.

The most recent reporting now identifies The George Washington as the relief carrier. The Pentagon/Navy has not publicly provided a precise handoff date, citing operational security.

And there’s an interesting strategic consequence: The George Washington is the Navy’s forward-deployed carrier based in Japan. Sending it to the Middle East leaves the Pacific region without a U.S. aircraft carrier according to the AP.

That’s extraordinary. That’s unacceptable. That’s less than ZERO planning.

Today when Trump was asked about the families who are reporting their sons, daughters, husbands and wives aboard The USS Lincoln, are describing horrific conditions, Trump’s response was, “No. They’re not.”

When asked if the deployment had gone on too long, Trump answered, “No, no, no. Not nearly long enough.”

Trump also said this today:

Our Commander in Chief seems fixated on stamping his name on everything—coins, concert halls, the Department of Justice, airports, Trump-class “Golden Fleet” battleships, prescription drug cards, gold visas for wealthy immigrants, passports, $250 bills, National Park passes, savings accounts, and more. On top of that, he’s building illegal ballrooms and grand arches to glorify himself, even in defiance of court rulings.

The sailors? Losers and suckers.

81 Days until Midterms!!

Leave a comment

NOTES

Multiple USS Abraham Lincoln sailors have tried to go overboard amid extended deployment, families say

USS Abraham Lincoln families press Navy leaders over sailors’ mental health | Stars and Stripes

[2026-08-12] Blumenthal to Defense Department: What Are You Doing To...

Democratic senators demand answers about conditions aboard USS Abraham Lincoln - CBS News

Not Just the Lincoln: Families Describe Human Waste, No Food, No End in Sight Across Multiple Ships - MeidasTouch

Representative Max Miller (R-OH) publicly portrayed himself as a law-and-order conservative and yet here we are.

Ohio House Member Max Miller is the current subject of serious allegations of domestic violence made by his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH).

The accusations—including claims that he held a gun to her head, threw hot water on her, shoved her into a wall, physically assaulted her during custody exchanges and fractured his two-year-old daughter’s collar bone have renewed questions about whether Congress should hold its own members to any ethical standards at all.

Court filings reveal the nature of the allegations, but nothing has been proven in Court.

Nevertheless, Max Miller joins a growing list of Republican members of Congress who have used violent rhetoric or have been accused of violent conduct.

Paul Gosar (R-AZ) posted violent imagery depicting killing AOC, Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) statements endorsing shooting Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Former Senator Mark Wayne Mullin (Now DHS Secretary) wanted to fight Teamsters President Sean O’Brien.

Representative Cory Mills (R-FL) was investigated for alleged domestic violence in 2025. Three police reports document the nature of the abuse. One recording instructs the victim to lie and recant.

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) responded to a Facebook post from a man who called him a “traitor” over his vote against certifying the 2020 election, with a challenge to fight. The challenge was accepted, but no fight occurred.

During a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol with Rep. Lauren Boebert and others, activist Jake Burdett interrupted with questions. Video shows Higgins grabbing, shoving, and escorting Burdett away before Capitol Police detained him. Burdett accused Higgins of assault. Higgins defended his actions, saying the activist was threatening and that he had merely escorted him out.

Threatening armed protesters in 2020, Higgins posted on Facebook a photo of armed Black demonstrators and wrote: “I’d drop any 10 of you where you stand... We just eliminate the threat... That’s not a challenge... it’s a promise.”

Facebook removed the post for violating its policy against inciting violence.

Following the federal indictment of Donald Trump in 2023 Higgins posted military-style language including: “Buckle up. 1/50K know your bridges. Rock steady calm.”

Critics interpreted the message as encouraging military style confrontation. It made no sense to me but Higgins later said supporters should let Trump handle the situation.

Clay Higgins still holds his seat.

On Monday, August 1, the House Ethics Committee referred Republican Member, Chuck Edwards (R-NC) for censure (?) after an investigation of claims of sexual harassment by Congressional staffers and creating a hostile work environment.

Two days ago, Republican State Legislator Austin McCollum, endorsed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders for Benton County JUDGE, was arrested on Domestic Battery Charges!

The latest domestic violence story comes out of Ohio, where Congressman Max Miller’s wife, Emily, along with her 2-year-old daughter and her father, Senator Bernie Moreno, are speaking out just before the 2026 midterms.

Let’s set the stage:

Last week nearly 6 years post Covid, a hearing called by Senator Rand Paul featured 85-year-old Anthony Fauci Max Miller’s father-in-law, Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH), played the tough guy asking, “Who the fuck do you think you are?” A flood of messages poured in on social media and to his Senator Moreno’s offices. Critics pointed out that while the Senator was willing to publicly curse out Dr. Fauci, he remained silent about his own son-in-law’s violence toward his daughter and granddaughter two years ago.

After waiting for a reply from the Senator, he finally posted on X:

“As a father and husband, I can tell you the last two years have been pure hell for my wife Bridget, our daughter Emily, me, and our entire family in the aftermath of Emily’s divorce. It has been horrific to watch this play out in full public view, all while knowing an innocent two-year-old girl is caught in the middle. Our priority has always been protecting our daughter and our granddaughter. Out of concern for the safety of my family, I hoped to keep this matter private but Max Miller’s increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior has made that impossible. As he has admitted privately, Max Miller needs serious psychological help. He is a danger to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter. If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them. He should not serve in the House of Representatives. I believe Max Miller needs to seek professional help to end the clear pattern of abuse he has left in his wake. I believe he should not be free to continue endangering others until he does. I ran for office because I wanted to make a difference for the country that gave me every opportunity to succeed, and to leave this nation better for my children and grandchildren. That sacrifice has been especially hard on my wife Bridget, whose big heart and steady support have never wavered. I owe it to her, to Emily, and to my granddaughter to speak the truth now.”

11:22 AM · Aug 2, 2026

Share Randi’s Substack

Hey, let’s prescribe him some testosterone! Oh, yeah, that already happened.

An audio released by Rep. Max Miller himself, features his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, accusing him of having a drug problem. She found needles beside his bed. Miller denies illegal drug use and says the needles were for prescribed testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). Not that testosterone replacement therapy makes a young guy more aggressive or anything. Hegseth is prescribing it for young military members. What could possibly go wrong?

Republicans are approaching a potential make-or-break moment next week: Aug. 5 is the last day to replace Miller on the ballot, and at least some in the party are quietly raising alarms with the House majority.

Miller appears just one percentage point ahead of his Democratic challenger, Brian Poindexter, in a district that Mr. Trump won by double digits in 2024. The Democratic campaign arm has yet to spend any money in the district highlighting the claims against Mr. Miller, which aides said they planned to do.

Stand back and stand by?

Senator Bernie Moreno made a statement late this afternoon

Leave a comment

NOTES

Dometic Abuse Allegations Rock an Ohio Race

Assault, Misogyny, Verbal Threats: Records Detail New Allegations Against Rep. Max Miller – Mother Jones

Max Miller’s Denial Video Excerpt

Max Miller’s Entire Denial Video

Miller Media Folder - Dropbox

Marjorie Taylor Greene Advocates for Shooting Obama and Clinton

Representative Cory Mills Investigated for Domestic Abuse

Congressman Clay Higgins removes activist from news conference

‘Platner on steroids’: Max Miller abuse claims have Republicans silently sweating - POLITICO

Arkansas GOP state Rep. Austin McCollum arrested on domestic battering charges

One of my favorites - Mark Wayne Mullin’s Let’s Fight Moment in the US Senate

Threats at the 2024 GOP Convention

Military.com Sexual Assault in the Military

1 in 5 Female Service Members Report Being Sexually Assaulted

Taylor Farms, a privately owned California-based produce empire built by Bruce Taylor, and valued at an estimated $7 billion, is at the center of an FDA investigation into a multistate Cyclospora outbreak linked to shredded iceberg lettuce.

Public campaign finance records show that Taylor Farms (through Taylor Fresh Foods) donated $1 million to MAGA Inc., the super PAC supporting Donald Trump’s political operation, on March 26, 2025.

Company representatives met with White House and FDA officials. Shortly afterward, the FDA withdrew an earlier laboratory finding, saying the positive Cyclospora test was a false positive, while also stating that its epidemiological investigation still points to Taylor Farms’ shredded iceberg lettuce as the likely source? Huh?

I’m sure the $1 million donation to Trump’s super PAC bought absolutely no access whatsoever. Just a coincidence that meetings happened and, afterward, the FDA withdrew its announcement of a positive Cyclospora test while continuing to identify Taylor Farms’ shredded iceberg lettuce as the likely source of the outbreak. Purely coincidental.

Taylor Farms has also spent big on lobbying related to industry regulation. In early 2025, it hired lobbyists at the firm Sidley Austin to advocate on behalf of the company on “regulation of food safety,” according to disclosure documents. Since then, the company has spent $810,000 on its lobbying efforts.

Share Randi’s Substack

As Noah Berlatsky wrote for Aaron Rupars excellent Substack Public Notice:

“RFK Jr. and Trump removed cyclosporiasis from the FoodNet mandatory food surveillance program. In the past, FoodNet would be testing for cyclosporiasis and monitoring cases on an ongoing basis in order to find and contain outbreaks early. But now, former FoodNet epidemiologist Jodie Guest told the BBC, “we don’t have the data we normally expect to go back to use to help us … you’re starting in the dark.”

But this is just a part of Trump and RFK’s brave, lonely fight to spread explosive diarrhea from coast to coast.”

In 2013, the FDA named Taylor Farms as a source of a cyclospora outbreak that sickened hundreds. In 2015, the company voluntarily recalled multiple products containing celery because they may have been contaminated with E. coli. And in 2024, the company recalled certain yellow onions as part of an E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders. Following the outbreak, CBS News reported that FDA inspectors found dozens of violations at the Colorado Taylor Farms facility linked to the Quarter Pounder outbreak, including minimal handwashing and dirty equipment.

But just weeks after Trump's inauguration, the administration dismantled key parts of the nation's food safety infrastructure. The USDA National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods was eliminated. Roughly 20,000 FDA positions were cut, including employees involved in food safety. The Food Safety and Inspection Service lost 913 workers. The CDC lost about 3,000 employees in a chaotic reduction that one former official described this way: "Now, there's nobody to answer the phone."

Similarly, the cruise ship hantavirus outbreak happened after the CDC let go of all its cruise ship inspectors, and now preventable diseases like measles are making a comeback, all while science denier RFK Jr. serves as HHS Secretary.

FUN FACT:

As of yesterday, July 21, the CDC reports that measles cases in the United States have hit a record high in 2026, climbing past last year’s total of 2,289 to 2,295 confirmed cases by mid-July. The CDC says 93% of this year’s cases are linked to outbreaks, with most involving people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown. Measles was declared eradicated in the US in 2000.

MAHAahahahahaha. Sorry. Not sorry.

Leave a comment

NOTES

RFK Jr. says cyclosporiasis outbreak is ‘under control’ as Mexico casts doubt on link to Taylor Farms facility

Taylor Farms Spent Big on MAGA and Anti-Regulatory Lobbying Before Diarrhea Outbreak | WIRED

Who Owns Taylor Farms? Bruce Taylor, $7B Revenue (2026)

Taylor Farms made huge donation to Trump group after loosening of rules that could have prevented explosive diarrhea outbreak

Cyclospora Outbreak: Weekend Update | Shouldn’t Need to Be a Lawyer by Matthew Cortland on Patreon

The CDC Fired All Its Cruise Ship Inspectors Before the Hantavirus Outbreak

Measles Resurgence: 2,295 US Cases in 2026 With Months to Go

TRUMP’S DOCUMENT DUMP SHOWS RUSSIA HELPED TRUMP WHILE CHINA DIDN’T DO MUCH OF ANYTHING

TRUMP IS NOT A VICTIM

Like a dog with a bone, Trump won’t let it go.

Thursday night at 9 p.m. ET, the Dear Leader returns to PRIME TIME to once again warn of election fraud.

Maybe this time he’ll tell us the intelligence community uncovered an international conspiracy. Maybe Russia poisoned Lyndsey Graham in Ukraine. Maybe China and Elaine Chao, aka Mrs. McConnell are working together. Maybe The Islamic Republic of Japan is hacking into our voting machines? Maybe Alien Martians plan to illegally vote. ALIENS!

Or maybe the real point is simpler:

We can’t have an election.

It almost doesn’t matter what the latest excuse is, because one thing hasn’t changed:

The President has no constitutional authority to run state elections. Not in November. Not in August. Not ever.

A President cannot:

❌ Order a state to change its voting laws by executive order
❌ Tell a state how to count ballots
❌ Cancel or delay an election
❌ Reject certified state election results
❌ Take over state election offices
❌ Unilaterally impose national voter ID, mail-ballot, or citizenship verification rules

Still, in March, Trump threatened states with losing DHS money tied to terrorism prevention, emergency response and infrastructure protection, unless they change their voting systems. Oy, the irony.

In a March 2026 executive order, (see above) the administration warned states to use new voter-verification systems, new mail-ballot restrictions, and expanded federal involvement in election administration or lose federal Homeland Security dollars.

Trump’s executive order directed DHS and other federal agencies to create state-by-state citizenship lists, restrict the distribution of Vote-By-Mail ballots to approved voters, and authorize federal action against jurisdictions he deems noncompliant.

Supporters say these measures are necessary to ensure election integrity and prevent non-citizens from voting in federal elections. But as we ALL KNOW that very rarely happens:

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s analysis of the Heritage Foundation’s election-fraud database found 77 instances of noncitizens voting between 1999 and 2023. 77 instances over 24 years!

Recent state audits have found a handful of cases, or none.

Documented and prosecuted cases number in the dozens, not the millions Trump claims. Election officials and multiple studies have concluded that noncitizen voting occurs but is very rare. Noncitizen voting has never happened on a scale large enough to change or affect the outcome of a national election.

Voting-rights groups, election experts, and numerous state officials argue that in addition to the lack of fraud, election administration is primarily a state responsibility under the Constitution. They contend that using federal funding as leverage to force states to adopt voting rules favored by the administration amounts to federal coercion (blackmail) rather than legitimate oversight.

Multiple lawsuits challenging the order are already moving through the courts.

A coalition of States plus the District of Columbia filed suit challenging Trump’s March 2026 executive order on voting and mail-in ballots, arguing that election administration is primarily a state responsibility and that the president cannot unilaterally impose these changes

So, can Trump use his office—and potentially billions of dollars in federal funding—to pressure states into changing how they conduct elections?

NO.

Courts have blocked federal efforts to implement voter verification systems or funding-linked conditions in separate but connected cases.

As for coercive behavior:

In National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, the Court ruled that Congress could not force states to expand Medicaid by threatening the loss of existing Medicaid funding, describing that level of pressure as unconstitutionally coercive.

The Court found, financial pressure can become coercion and that federal spending conditions cannot become a “gun to the head.”

Of course, the President, ALONE cannot withhold appropriated security funding tied to unrelated election policy. Courts would see that as coercion and unconstitutional unless Congress explicitly authorized it. They won’t.

The BIG question is, if the evidence is so compelling, why use financial pressure to change voting rules?

The BIG answer is, because Trump can’t WIN the midterms without cheating!

Take a gander at TRUMP’S LATEST POLL NUMBERS

Prediction: If states don’t adopt Trump’s rules and he loses, he’ll claim fraud. If states do adopt Trumps rules and he loses he’ll claim voter fraud.

4 MONTHS UNTIL ELECTION DAY!

Leave a comment

NOTES

SAVE US FROM THE SAVE ACT

NON-CITIZEN VOTING

TRUMP’S LATEST POLL NUMBERS ARE UGLY

The 2025-2026 Roberts Court ended on June 30, 2026.

The Court decided several of the year’s highest-profile cases in its final week, including birthright citizenship (it’s a thing), transgender athletes, (a GOP political goldmine) and the GOP wish list for gutting the Voting Rights Act and eviscerating campaign finance limits.

Facing an unprecedented crisis of legitimacy after revelations that some justices accepted undisclosed gifts and luxury travel from wealthy benefactors, coupled with a Code of Conduct that lacks an independent enforcement mechanism, public confidence in the Court’s impartiality has eroded. As it should.

The Courts decisions to weaken voting rights, gerrymander away most of the majority black districts in the South and allow campaign finance rules to all but disappear favor the GOP just ahead of a very important midterm election.

For years, the Supreme Court followed the principle that courts should avoid changing election rules shortly before an election. Often associated with the "Purcell principle," this approach was intended to minimize voter confusion and prevent disruption as Election Day approached. Not anymore!

In National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission, the Court struck down the federal limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with their own candidates. The decision means Republican and Democratic party committees can now work directly with candidates and spend unlimited amounts to help elect them.

The case stems from a four-year-old, 2022 lawsuit filed by JD Vance, Former Republican Congressman Steve Chabot of Ohio, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee, challenging the Federal Election Commission’s enforcement of limits on so-called “coordinated party expenditures”

The majority framed the case as a victory for the First Amendment. Political speech. Money really does talk, just not to you.

For decades, campaign finance law drew a distinction between independent expenditures and coordinated expenditures. If a group truly acted independently, it could spend freely. But once spending was coordinated with a candidate, Congress treated it as something much closer to a campaign contribution because coordinated spending has only one goal: helping the candidate’s campaign.

The practical result is hard to ignore. Billionaires can now function as massive fundraising and spending operations working hand-in-glove with candidates, without the coordinated spending ceilings that Congress enacted after Watergate to reduce the risk of corruption.

The obvious questions:

If unlimited coordinated spending poses no meaningful corruption risk, why did Congress impose those limits in the first place?

And if it does pose a corruption risk, why has the Court concluded that concern no longer justifies the restriction?

The Court has consistently moved campaign finance law in one direction. MORE MONEY IN POLITICS. Fewer restrictions = more political spending.

This is a system in which the voices with the greatest financial resources gain ever greater influence over who gets elected, who governs and how.

There is another detail that everyone needs to know because it makes this decision even more disgusting.

The agency responsible for enforcing federal campaign finance laws is effectively castrated.

The Federal Election Commission is supposed to have six commissioners, with no more than three from the same political party. The law requires at least four commissioners to form a quorum before the FEC can take substantive actions, like opening investigations, issuing advisory opinions, adopting regulations, or imposing civil penalties.

Today, the Commission has only two sitting members.

Without a quorum, the FEC is unable to police campaign finance violations or respond to new legal questions arising from the Supreme Court’s decision.

At precisely the moment the Court has expanded the ability of billionaires and political parties to coordinate unlimited spending with their candidates, the federal agency charged with enforcing the nation’s campaign finance laws lacks the necessary members to carry out its mission.

President Trump has not yet nominated enough commissioners to restore the agency’s quorum.

The nation’s chief campaign finance regulator is operating with its hands tied while the rules governing political money are undergoing one of their most significant changes in decades.

The Supreme Court has once again fundamentally changed the relationship between money and politics.

The consequences of this decision won’t be measured in law review articles or judicial opinions. They will be measured in billions of dollars flowing into campaigns, in elections won and lost, and in the growing perception that political power belongs to those who can afford to buy the loudest microphone.

The Court calls it protected speech. I call it The Great American Auction.

Congressional decisions affect us all, but billion-dollar industries can SPEAK to your Congressman and Senator about it. Tax rates, antitrust enforcement, energy policy, healthcare rules, defense contracts, and financial regulations have enormous financial consequences. Spending tens of millions on politics may be viewed as a worthwhile purchase if it influences policies affecting much larger sums.

Large donors have greater access to candidates and officeholders through fundraising events and political networks. Access increases their opportunities to present their views and threats.

Political spending essentially chooses which candidates become viable, and what ideas receive sustained public attention, i.e. immigration over inflation.

Some donors also invest in think tanks, advocacy organizations, and litigation groups, to shape policy, then fund candidates who will carry out the agenda. Think Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.

Some buy their own Supreme Court Justice.

For more than two decades, (Clarence)Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from the Dallas businessman (Harlan Crow) without disclosing them, documents and interviews show. A public servant who has a salary of $285,000, he has vacationed on Crow’s superyacht around the globe. He flies on Crow’s Bombardier Global 5000 jet. He has gone with Crow to the Bohemian Grove, the exclusive California all-male retreat, and to Crow’s sprawling ranch in East Texas. And Thomas typically spends about a week every summer at Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks. The extent and frequency of Crow’s apparent gifts to Thomas have no known precedent in the modern history of the U.S. Supreme Court.– ProPublica

Clarence Thomas Secretly Accepted Luxury Trips From GOP Donor — ProPublica

Samuel Alito faced scrutiny over an undisclosed luxury fishing trip with billionaire Paul Singer.

In the years after the undisclosed trip to Alaska, Republican megadonor Paul Singer’s hedge fund has repeatedly had business before the Supreme Court. Alito has never recused himself. – ProPublica

Samuel Alito vacationed with GOP billionaire who had cases before the court

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has given a series of floor speeches naming names and documenting the capture of the Supreme Court. The full playlist is below in NOTES,

Here’s a delicious summary of what we know:

Investigative reporting by ProPublica, The New York Times, and The Washington Post has documented gifts, luxury travel, undisclosed relationships, and other ethical concerns involving members of the Supreme Court. These investigations have raised serious questions about judicial ethics and the adequacy of the Court’s self-policing.

If the evidence is so compelling, why has there been no accountability?

You’ll love this bit:

In 2023 the Supreme Court pretended to adopt its first formal Code of Conduct for the justices. Pretend because, there is no independent ethics office to investigate complaints. There is no disciplinary process for violations. Each justice decides for himself or herself whether to recuse from a case. There is no review or appeal if a justice declines to step aside. The Code does not create penalties for violating its provisions.

Dexter’ Morgan’s Code (Yes, Dexter the Serial Killer) is more ethical and effective than our Supreme Court Code of Ethics!

As a result, many legal scholars and ethics experts described the Code as largely aspirational.

So, without a Code of Ethics for the Court, without a functioning Federal Election Commission, how is it possible that JD Vance and the Republican Senatorial Committee sued the FEC without the Court acknowledging the there is no FEC?

What really needed to be litigated was Trump’s failure to appoint enough commissioners to restore a functioning Federal Election Commission. Without a quorum, the FEC was unable to enforce many campaign finance laws, leaving the nation’s chief election watchdog neutered.

Instead, the Roberts Court declined to stop the steal! The message, critics might say, was: Why rock the superyacht?

5 months until election day!

Time to sink the superyacht.

NOTES

Sheldon Whitehouse - The Scheme Playlist

Supreme Court erases party spending limits in federal elections | AP News

GOP Money FEC Report

US supreme court strikes down limits on campaign spending | US supreme court | The Guardian

The Debate Over Transgender Athletes in Schools | GovFacts

Political Opportunism: Politicians discovered that transgender athletes provided an emotionally resonant issue that could mobilize voters without requiring difficult policy trade-offs on complex issues like healthcare or economics.

I DISSENT

Justice Elena Kagan, called it “plain to see” that race played a role in the decision to terminate the TPS designation for Haiti.

“The evidence they have offered includes statements by the President so repellent and racially inflected that the majority declines to put them in print…. So here are some of those statements. Haitians are “eating the dogs - They’re eating the cats. They’re eating—they’re eating the pets of the people that live in Springfield, Ohio.” And: Haitians are also eating “other things too that they’re not supposed to be.” And: Haitians in the United States “probably have AIDS.” And: Haiti is a “shithole country,” which is “filthy, dirty, [and] disgusting.” And: Haitian immigration is “like a death wish for our country.” And: Haitians, along with some others, are “poisoning the blood” of our country. And: “Why is it we only take people from shithole countries” like “Haiti [and] Somalia”? “Why cannot we have some people from Norway [and] Sweden?” The majority briefly replies that those remarks are not “overtly racial,” but it is hard to know what that means. Haitians are Black. (Norwegians and Swedes not so much.) The references—of filth, disease, and primitiveness—are shot through with racial stereotypes and tropes. It is hard to imagine the statements being made today of any White community….The statements fairly shout, in their racial undertones and overtones alike, that race entered into the President’s resolve to remove Haitians from this country.”

Meanwhile Justice Alito writing for the majority wrote:

"Political discourse by prominent public figures is increasingly couched in terms that would have scandalized the public just a short time ago. But whatever one may think of those statements, they are ‘insufficient to show that the termination of Haiti's TPS designations was based on the race of the Haitian people.’"

If that conclusion strikes you as difficult to reconcile, you're not alone. How can repeated public statements targeting Haitians be acknowledged as offensive and racially charged, yet be deemed legally irrelevant to assessing whether race played a role in a policy directed specifically at Haitians?

IT CAN’T. This 6-3 Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to terminate TPS for Haitians and Syrians is grotesque. Disgusting. Malformed. Hideous.

In the lower courts, District Judge Ana C. Reyes of the District of Columbia indefinitely halted the Trump administration’s effort to end the protection, finding that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision was driven by racial bias rather than an accurate evaluation of conditions in Haiti.

“Kristi Noem has a First Amendment right to call immigrants killers, leeches, entitlement junkies, and any other inapt name she wants. Secretary Noem, however, is constrained by both our Constitution and the [Administrative Procedure Act] to apply faithfully the facts to the law in implementing the TPS program,” Reyes wrote.

The revocation of TPS for the Haitian community will have its greatest effects in Florida because this state has the country's largest Haitian population. Not everyone of Haitian ancestry has TPS—many are U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, or have other immigration statuses. However, Florida does have a huge number of TPS holders whose ability to live and work in the U.S. could be affected if they do not qualify for another legal status.

Haitian TPS holders now risk being deported to a country rocked by years of famine, natural disasters, disease outbreaks, water scarcity, housing chaos and an absent government. The United Nations estimates gangs control 85% of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Haiti has been without an elected president since the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. Following his death, a Transitional Presidential Council (TPC) was established to exercise presidential powers starting April 25, 2024, but it dissolved on February 7, 2026, without holding a presidential election, leaving the country without a president.

Haitians contribute to their communities in countless ways. They are doctors and lawyers, business owners, realtors, builders, but the greatest contribution is in the health care field. Many Haitian women work as Certified Nursing Assistants in places like assisted living facilities and home care. Losing these dedicated workers will deeply impact seniors and their families in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Palm Beach and St. Lucie County.

The only purpose the Supreme Court had when taking this case was to deny any judicial review for these legal immigrants and that is exactly what this decision does. Now, the Trump Administration is reportedly considering relocating Haitians and Syrians to third countries. I can imagine they might think about sending Haitians to the Congo and Syrians to Somalia, but I’m not sure yet.

What I know is that Team MAGA is fired up with racism and hatred, to the point where they’ll harm themselves just to make a point. Deporting people with no real place to return to is not only cruel, but it’s happening in the midst of a nursing shortage.

The majority ruling did not acknowledge the racist words spoken by the President in public forums repeatedly, but Elena Kagans dissent pulled zero punches. The decision gave Trump carte blanche over immigration matters, so if you think Minneapolis was a sick and twisted ICE operation, just wait.

The administration is expected to begin implementing the deportations around July 27, 2026, after the lower courts enter orders consistent with the Supreme Court's decision.

To my Haitian friends and neighbors, apply for Asylum now!

Leave a comment

NOTES

The US Created the Conditions in Haiti

Florida Haitians Go Into Hiding

February 2026 Decision to Halt Termination of TPS

District Court Judge Ana Reyes

Haitians Deserve Better

UPDATE JUNE 13, 2026

After waiting nearly a week for the results of my lung cancer restaging CT scan, I finally saw that the chest CT report had been posted to my portal. Unfortunately, it contained the same error that had already been identified and corrected months earlier.

The Original Error

Months ago, a radiology report incorrectly stated that I had undergone a left upper lobectomy—a surgery I have never had. After discovering the error, I requested a correction. An addendum was eventually issued confirming that no lobectomy had occurred.

The Error Reappeared

The new report specifically referenced “lobectomy scarring,” despite the prior addendum correcting that point.

Clarifying the Record

· There has been no lobectomy.

· There are no surgical staples.

· There are no surgical clips.

· There is no history of surgical removal of my left upper lobe.

The Larger Concern

At this point, the question is no longer how the original error happened. The more troubling question is why, after being formally corrected, the same error reappeared in a subsequent report written by the same radiologist.

Fierce mediocrity reigns supreme.

Leave a comment

Today I learned that my lung cancer Restaging CT scan is apparently on vacation.

Not literally, of course.

The people who read and process these scans are taking vacations. Everyone deserves time off. But when I called to find out why I still didn’t have the results of my restaging CT scan of my chest, abdomen, and pelvis, I was told it is “vacation time” and that I should wait another three to five days.

Three to five days.

If you’re healthy, that may sound reasonable.

If you’re a cancer patient waiting to find out whether your treatment worked, whether the disease has spread, or whether the next phase of your life is about to begin, it sounds like an eternity.

This is not a routine screening exam. This is a restaging scan for lung cancer. The purpose of the scan is to answer one of the most important questions a cancer patient can face: What happens next?

But somewhere between the CT tech who performed the scan and the radiologist who was supposed to interpret it, my cancer became paperwork.

That sentence captures something that has bothered me for months about modern health care. The problem is not usually incompetence. It is mediocrity.

Mediocrity is more dangerous when it starts to feel normal.

Who will look at a delayed cancer scan and say, “This is unacceptable.” Instead of, “Your report is in a queue. Staffing is short. Somebody is on vacation. You just have to wait.” Shrug.

But increasingly, the patient is expected to do much more than wait.

We’re expected to track down test results, get pre-authorization faxed to insurance carriers, coordinate communication among specialists, notice errors in our medical records. We’re expected to become quality-control managers for a system that insists we trust it.

A recent CT found that my left upper lobe had been surgically removed.

It had not.

That seems like a significant detail. Upper left lobe surgically removed. You’d think I’d remember that. You’d think there would be clips (surgical staples) in my body to guide the radiologist through the surgical area. You’d think when I said I did not have surgery, I’d be believed.

I never had surgery. I never had surgery to remove my left upper lobe. Yet there it was in black and white, part of the permanent medical record. Had I not read the report myself, who knows how long the error might have remained there?

I was able to fight for an addendum to the report so future care givers wouldn’t treat me as if I lost my upper left lobe. I had to figure out what to do and it took weeks to navigate the labyrinth of paperwork and phone calls needed to amend the report. A simple phone call between the radiologist and my oncologist would’ve got it done, but the imaging center would not agree to speak to her even after I signed an authorization. She called the radiologist twice. He would not get on the phone with her.

I had to get it done.

The correction depended on me. I was the one who read the report. I was the one who had to act. My oncologist, who ordered the scan, was NOT in their SHARE system. I had to sign an authorization to release health information just to include her. They still would not speak to her, and SHE ORDERED THE DAMN SCAN!

The system ultimately fixed the mistake, but only after the patient became the quality-control department.

That seems to be the unspoken expectation in modern health care. Patients are encouraged to advocate for themselves, but advocacy increasingly means catching errors that should never have made it into the record in the first place.

The experience left me wondering how many patients never notice these mistakes.

How many people assume the chart is correct because surely someone checked?

How many treatment decisions begin with records that contain errors nobody caught?

Imagine if airline passengers were expected to verify the pilot’s flight plan.

Imagine if bank customers were expected to reconcile discrepancies between departments because the institution couldn’t communicate internally.

Imagine hiring an attorney to defend you in a serious lawsuit. You receive a copy of the court filing and discover it states that you previously pleaded guilty in a case that never existed. It states you served five years in prison! No one would call that excellent legal representation. Most people would question the reliability of the entire process.

I would call all of those systems broken.

Yet in health care, patients are increasingly expected to accept this as normal. We are told to advocate for ourselves, but advocacy often means serving as the final fact-checker for our own medical records.

The people working within the system are not the villains. Most physicians, nurses, technicians, and support staff are trying their best within structures they did not create. They are overbooked, overburdened, and constrained by administrative demands that often seem disconnected from patient care.

But acknowledging that reality does not excuse the result.

For patients, especially cancer patients, time does not move at the same speed it does for everyone else.

A week waiting for a package delivery is an annoyance.

A week waiting for a restaurant reservation is a minor inconvenience.

A week waiting to learn whether cancer is growing, shrinking, or spreading feels like a lifetime.

Every day contains questions.

Every day contains uncertainty.

Every day contains the quiet fear that the answer may not be what you hope it is.

It is a person’s future.

It is a family waiting for news.

It is a treatment plan hanging in the balance.

It is sleep lost, anxiety gained, and days measured differently than they are by people whose lives are not organized around scan results and blood counts.

When mediocrity becomes routine, nobody notices it anymore, except the people whose lives depend on excellence.

I do not accept the idea that patients should monitor the system instead of the system monitoring patients.

The greatest problem in American health care may not be malpractice, negligence, or incompetence.

It may be the quiet acceptance of mediocrity.

Share

No one ever said:

Can anyone recommend a mediocre surgeon?

Do you know a mediocre hairdresser? I want a mediocre haircut.

Do you know a mediocre restaurant?

I need a mediocre radiologist.

If you have a similar story let me know in the comment section!

I’d love to hear from you

Leave a comment

“Power can rewrite history with grotesque false narratives.” - Scott Pelley.

Whether people agreed with him or not, it said something important: Americans are no longer just arguing about partisanship or policy. They are arguing about whether the system itself can still be trusted.

Because something is off. We aren’t well.

America is being poisoned.

Not by a foreign enemy. Not by a natural disaster. Not by fate.

By Trump. He’s slowly killing the Constitution. Freedom of Speech, the Free Press, Equal Protection Under Law.

But also, what we tolerate. What we excuse. What we decide is “normal” or even acceptable, when it clearly isn’t.

Not in one moment. Not in one election. But over time.

Slowly.

Systematically.

America is being poisoned.

The poison doesn’t arrive all at once.

It drips.

Slowly.

Over time.

Over many infusions.

One more norm, gone. One more institution, weakened. One more abuse of power rationalized. One more warning, ignored. Until one day, what used to be unthinkable and debilitating becomes our fate. A country we do not recognize. A life with little opportunity and the end of freedom to choose our leaders.

There are moments in American history when citizens are given a chance to correct a course that has become dangerous. Not a guarantee. Not a cure. Just an opportunity to try.

This is one of those moments.

Political debate revolves around personalities, scandals, and the outrage cycle. But beneath the headlines, deeper structural changes are taking place—changes that affect voting rights, the independence of the entire justice system, the balance of power, and ultimately whether ordinary Americans still have meaningful control over their government. Their lives. Their freedom.

One example is the ongoing fight over congressional maps in states with long histories of voting discrimination.

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act was a stroke of genius. It required States with established, provable histories of racist laws that prevented black citizens from voting to notify the federal government if they wanted to make any changes to election laws, redistricting maps, polling locations, or voting procedures.

The idea was simple: stop discriminatory practices before they happened rather than forcing citizens to spend years fighting them in court afterward.

That system ended in 2013 when the Supreme Court decided Shelby County v. Holder. The Court invalidated the formula that determined which jurisdictions were subject to preclearance. The practical result was that states previously covered by Section 5 no longer had to submit voting changes for federal review before implementing them.

Last April Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act was gutted too. A 6-3 Supreme Court found that the Voting Rights Act itself used race to draw districts and struck down most of Section 2. This kind of double-speak is frightening.

The consequences of that decision continue to unfold today. Alabama’s mid-term elections will be chaos thanks to another 6-3 decision yesterday. Alabama’s election will be held under a never-before-used congressional map that intentionally discriminates against Black Alabamians.

But the debate is no longer confined to voting rights.

Consider Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Three felony indictments. A years-long legal saga involving allegations of securities fraud, abuse of office, and obstruction of justice tied to whistleblower claims inside his own agency. An impeachment by his own party in the Texas House. Ongoing questions about misconduct, political influence, and adultery. Can our accountability machinery keep pace with the abuses of office?

Then there is Trump’s slush fund. Trump, as president, was on both sides of the dispute, undermining the existence of a genuine “case or controversy.” Looking for “collusion?” That is COLLUSION.

Todd Blanche testified yesterday he won’t move forward on the fund but still refused to put it in writing and still seeks immunity for Trump and his family from IRS audits. That saves Trump about $100 million. That costs us $100 million.

For the first time our national security is political. ICE and Homeland Security have been weaponized. Trump’s new nominee for Director of National Intelligence, much like outgoing Intel Wiz Tulsi Gabbard, has no background in Intelligence. He is the homebuilder and current Federal Housing Finance Agency Director, Bill Pulte.

Last year Congressional Democrats demanded records from Pulte alleging potential abuses of his authority against political opponents, when he accused Democrats of “mortgage fraud.” He never produced them. He proved willing to weaponize his agency to attack Trump’s perceived enemies. Can you imagine what he could do with Intel?

Each incident by itself may appear isolated. Together, they tell a larger story.

Americans are being asked to trust institutions at the same moment they see those institutions used as weapons for the President to wield against his perceived enemies. Trump believes the US Treasury is there to be looted.

That is why voting rights, court integrity, and the impartial administration of justice are not separate issues. They are connected by a common question:

Who holds power accountable when the institutions designed to do so are under pressure themselves?

Speaking truth to power was always hard, but it just got even harder.

CBS cancelling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was just the warning shot. Last month, the entire senior leadership of 60 Minutes, Executive Producer Tanya Simon, senior producers, editors, and on-air talent were let go. 60 minutes is drawing 9 million viewers, growing its audience, dominating its competitors, and remaining one of the most profitable hours on television. (Executive Producer Bill Owens resigned in 2025 over lack of editorial independence from the network.)

New statement from Scott Pelley:

There has never been anything in America like 60 Minutes. The Sunday tradition is the most successful program of any kind in history. For more than a decade, its innovative growth on every major online platform has extended its reach to countless millions around the world. This spring, at the end of our 58th season, 60 Minutes grew rapidly with an unheard-of 9% jump in viewers on CBS. “60” has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories. When stewardship of the program passed to my colleagues and me, our responsibility was to expand energetically into a new age of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects. Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration. The waste is heartbreaking. Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause. Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos. For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done. Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all. At 60 Minutes, we have fought harder than anyone knows to save the program that became an American icon. We owed that to our millions of viewers. I am deeply moved by the thousands of wishes we have received to “keep up the good fight.” Most of the men and women of CBS News are still in that fight. But now the collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well. I depart after 37 years at CBS with one emotion—a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again—a day when sanity, competence, and courage return.

We also lost Jim Acosta and Don Lemon at CNN along the way.

So, who will speak up now?

The answer, imperfect as it may be, remains the same as it has always been in a democracy: We will. We will speak.

Voting is not a magic wand. It does not instantly repair institutions, lower prices, end wars, or restore trust. But it can start the process of slowly dripping the antidote into the poisoned system.

Voting remains the most powerful peaceful weapon citizens possess.

That is why Trump keeps coming for it. Be ready.

Sorry.

In a moment like this, when our country is in peril, don’t ask the meaning of life. Life is asking. What’s the meaning of you? – Scott Pelley Wake Forest Commencement Address

Leave a comment

NOTES

The GOP’s Five Paxton Problems – Karl Rove

What Trump Wants From Bill Pulte - The Atlantic

25A1314 Allen v. Milligan (06/02/2026) Sotomayor dissent (begins page 5)

Scott Pelley 2025 Wake Forest Commencement Address

Project 2025 Tracker - Home

Earlier in 2026, Trump filed a lawsuit claiming the federal government improperly leaked his tax returns to the media during his first presidency. The lawsuit argued that the IRS failed to protect confidential tax information that was leaked by a former contractor, Charles Littlejohn, who had already pled guilty and been sentenced to 5 years in prison for disclosing tax records of Trump and other wealthy Americans to media outlets.

The Settlement Agreement lays out the crime:

On January 29, 2026, Plaintiffs filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, stating that a former IRS employee/contractor, Charles Littlejohn had illegally obtained access to, and illegally disclosed, Plaintiffs’ tax returns and/or tax return information to media outlets in violation of the Internal Revenue Code and the Privacy Act.

Trump reportedly sought about $10 billion in damages. The Justice Department negotiated a settlement with the IRS and Treasury.

Instead of paying Trump directly, the administration announced a settlement agreement. According to DOJ statements, Trump would drop the lawsuit in exchange for a formal apology, protections related to future tax audits, and creation of a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

The plaintiffs were Donald Trump, The Trump Organization, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump.

DOJ settled the case with the named plaintiffs in the lawsuit itself — not with a separate outside group but the DOJ said the fund would compensate people who claimed they were victims of politically motivated prosecutions, investigations, or “lawfare.”

How, you might ask, can a settlement for one lawsuit become a compensation mechanism for unrelated people? It can’t. Class action lawsuits represent many people harmed by the same event or company, i.e. BP Oil Spill or Exposure to Asbestos or other private individuals who had their tax information exposed.

January 6 defendants, or Trump allies investigated by DOJ, or other unrelated individuals did not suffer the same legal injury as Trump’s tax-return leak case.

There must be a proposed “class”

“A class action is not a political or administrative grouping — it’s a judge-certified legal structure requiring tightly connected claims.

A plaintiff can’t just say, “I was harmed by the government.” They must define a group, such as “All individuals prosecuted under policy X between 2018–2024” or “All taxpayers affected by Action Y.” Maybe they were all harmed by having their taxes revealed to the public, but that group has to show they were all harmed by the same government policy. That the policy that caused harm applied to all class members.

So, if a “fund” is paying broad categories of people without class certification, critics argue it is not operating like a court-supervised class action settlement, which is why the structure becomes a legal farce.

There are other requirements to be certified as a class, and almost all require common issues to predominate.

“Unrelated cases” are the problem. If some people are Jan. 6 defendants and others claim they were wrongfully detained and yet others claim they were victims of state sponsored terrorism, or any other case with different facts and legal claims, they usually cannot be one class.

They should share a specific legal injury caused by the same policy or action. In this instance they should all be victims of leaked tax documents.

Courts generally reject class certification when injuries differ too much. That’s called failing commonality.

While Charles Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison last January after pleading guilty to one count of disclosing tax return information without authorization, the IRS determined that the data breach affected roughly 406,000 taxpayers.

Littlejohn, leaked the returns of Trump, Elon Musk and other wealthy individuals to the New York Times and ProPublica.

Now that is a class action waiting to happen.

Remember, Charles Littlejohn pled guilty to ONE COUNT of disclosing tax return information without authorization, so that leaves 405,427 taxpayers whose taxpayer information was inappropriately disclosed by Mr. Littlejohn.

Also, there’s this:

January 6 felons can’t get a reward from taxpayers.

Section 4 of the 14^th Amendment of the United States Constitution states that neither the United States or any State shall assume or pay any debt of obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States.

If the practical effect of this is rewarding or reimbursing people for participating in January 6, then taxpayer money is effectively supporting an insurrection after the fact, which Section 4 forbids. Legally speaking, I’m on my own here. The 14th Amendment hasn’t been litigated a whole lot since the Civil War, but I’ll bet I’m right.

So, maybe this “fund” might be a good old-fashioned taxpayer funded slush fund.

Trump’s billion-dollar personal stash of taxpayer dollars he can use to pay for political favors or rewards to whomever he chooses for whatever reason or no reason at all, or to create a billion-dollar MAGA private militia.

A panel of 5 “Commissioners” hand-picked by Todd Blanche and Trump would decide payouts with zero Congressional Oversight. (See Note below)

But that doesn’t change the fact that Trump has no class.

Congress can restrict the funding to compensation for a court-approved class action lawsuit. Congress went home last week rather than take a vote, because they haven’t thought of this yet.

We vote in 6 months!

Leave a comment

NOTES

The Hair-Raising Settlement Agreement

“The Anti-Weaponization Fund shall consist of five Members. Within 30 days of the Effective Date, the Attorney General shall issue an order appointing the Members, including the Chair of The Anti-Weaponization Fund, with such order being treated as incorporated herein. One of the Members shall be chosen in consultation with congressional leadership. The Members shall serve until The Anti-Weaponization Fund is concluded as described below, unless they resign or are removed by the President, who can remove any Member without cause.”

BOOZ ALLEN CONTRACTOR EXPOSED 406,000 TAX RETURNS

CHARLES LITTLEJOHN PLEADS GUILTY

CLASSACTION.ORG LIST OF CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS

2023 January 6th Convictions

House Judiciary Democrats detail crimes committed by Jan. 6 rioters

Ashli Babbitt’s Family to Receive $5 Milllion

14th AMENDMENT SECTION 4

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

START HERE

Gerrymandering explained:

Trump is not popular. He knows he is going to lose the House and maybe the Senate in the midterms if the people are allowed to vote and have their votes counted.

Trump has nothing to do with lowering prices or fixing a broken health care system. Trump is about enriching Trump, protecting his grift and his own behind.

Everyone seems to know this. That is why there is cheating going on. Racial and Partisan Gerrymandering mid-census. Democratic districts are being broken into pieces and folded into Republican districts to dilute the black “democratic” vote. The South’s gonna do it again.

Of course this is about race. Just recently Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh writing for the majority Supreme Court said ICE could profile people by race, accents and language. So, let’s not pretend they didn’t.

Tennessee Breaks Up the ONLY Democratic House Seat to Punish Black Voters

Black Disenfranchisement Has Not Been This Intense Since Jim Crow | Truthout

Matt Brown reports for the Associated Press-MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — For 21 years, Steve Fowler and Sam Wilson have performed together in a band on Memphis’ renowned Beale Street. And for the past decade, the men have been neighbors on a quiet, leafy avenue.

But as of Thursday, they will no longer cast the same ballot despite living across the street from each other.

That’s because Tennessee’s Republican-controlled legislature redrew the congressional district of Memphis, which has long enjoyed its own Democratic-leaning U.S. House seat. Now, the city is split into three Republican-leaning districts, its majority-Black population sliced up and bound to mostly white, rural and conservative communities along lines that branch away from Fowler and Wilson’s East Memphis neighborhood.

A line runs down the middle of the street, placing Fowler in the 8th Congressional District, which runs hundreds of miles to central Tennessee across a dozen counties. Wilson is zoned for the 9th District, which extends across most of the state’s southern border before curving up to encompass the largely white and affluent Nashville suburbs.

“I think it’s horrible,” said Fowler, who is white. “This isn’t just going to be bad for Black folks in Memphis, but poor whites in these new districts also aren’t going to get services. How are any of these congressmen going to serve all these different counties?”

WE VOTE. THEY DECIDE?

Virginia Map Overturned by Virginia State Supreme Court in the Middle of Voting!!

Virginia lawmakers were considering a constitutional amendment that would let Democrats redraw the state’s electoral map.

Many Virginians had already voted early in those elections.

The court majority argued those early voters may not have known where candidates stood on the amendment when they cast their ballots.

So the concern was about voter awareness and timing? That’s what the Virginia Supreme Court ruled. I’m 800% sure this ruling will be appealed.

No one can explain it because it’s inexplicable.

And then there’s the new Florida gerrymander just approved by the Republican State Legislature BUT…Floridians VOTED TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION TO PREVENT THIS IN 2010!!

TRUE! Fifteen years ago, in 2010, Florida voted to amend the state Constitution to prevent redistricting based on party or race and set additional rules about gerrymanders. It passed with 63% of the vote. There were two Constitutional Amendments. They were called the “Fair Districts Amendments.” Most of us called it Amendment 6.

Those two constitutional amendments added language to the Florida Constitution saying districts cannot be drawn “with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or incumbent and that no district be drawn to deny racial or language minorities the equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice.” It also required districts to be contiguous, compact, and equal in population where feasible, using existing boundaries when possible.

WE VOTED!! It passed. It’s part of the Florida Constitution! constitutionalinitiatives.dos.fl.gov.

NOW, in 2026, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office has proposed a new congressional map that opponents say violates the Fair Districts Amendments. The map, approved by the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature, could shift Florida’s congressional delegation from 20–8 Republican–Democrat to 24–4 Republican–Democrat

Lawsuits filed by Equal Ground, Common Cause, the NAACP and the UCLA Voting Rights Project, seek to block the map from taking effect.

Democrats, voting-rights groups, and some legal scholars — say this is essentially ignoring the will of Florida voters and violating the Fair Districts amendment. These cases center on the Fair Districts Amendment’s prohibition against drawing partisan districts and the map’s partisan outcomes.

Whether those maps are constitutional under Florida’s Fair Districts rules is now being fought in court. Elections for the 2026 election cycle in Florida have already begun with various deadlines only weeks away.

• The Presidential Preference Primary was March 21, 2026.

• Florida’s regular state primary election (for governor, Congress, state legislature, etc.) is August 18, 2026.

Important deadlines for the August primary include:

• Voter registration / party change deadline: July 20, 2026

• Early voting: generally begins around August 7–8, depending on county

• Vote-by-mail request deadline: August 6, 2026

Florida is a closed primary state, so you must be registered with a political party to vote in that party’s primary.

Ohio voted in 2015, 2018 against partisan gerrymandering and in 2024 voted NOT to replace their current map drawing process.

In Ohio, voters rejected a 2024 ballot initiative that would have created a fully independent redistricting commission. That means the existing system stayed in place, where elected officials and the Ohio Redistricting Commission still control map-drawing.

So, when Ohio later redistricted, state leaders were not overriding a voter ban on redistricting itself. Instead, voters chose not to replace the current system.

The existing constitutional structure remained, and lawmakers/commission members retained authority to redraw maps under that structure.

Ohio already had years of litigation over maps after the 2020 census. The Ohio Supreme Court struck down several Republican-backed maps as unconstitutional under anti-gerrymandering reforms voters had approved earlier in 2015 and 2018. But federal courts ultimately allowed some disputed maps to be used anyway because election deadlines were approaching.

That’s why it’s so confusing:

Ohio voters previously approved anti-gerrymandering standards, then rejected a stronger independent commission, leaving their current system in place, while courts and lawmakers continued fighting over what the constitution actually permits.

So, the state can still redistrict because the power to do so never disappeared; the dispute is over who and how and under what constraints the maps are drawn.

Parse much?

You get this. You voted against this, and here we are, once again living with this, in a race to the bottom of the fairness and democratic barrel.

Alabama, Louisiana, and South Carolina may be next on “the drawing board.”

These states were so racist that under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 Section 5, they were required to submit any voting-law changes, voter ID rules, redistricting even moving polling places, for federal “preclearance” at least 60 days before they could take effect. When lawyers talk about “Section 5” or “Shelby,” that’s what they mean.

In Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court struck down the preclearance requirement those states had to submit to.

That is why you are seeing map changes so close to if not during elections. Section 5 is still needed!

We already learned years ago that the Supreme Court has been purchased.

Federalist Society | Founding, Membership, Agenda, & Supreme Court | Britannica

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has the receipts. SEE BELOW

But we haven’t lost a thing YET.

IF every Democrat registered and showed up to vote in November along with every Independent, maybe joined by the share of Republicans who’ve had enough of this we take back the house and likely the Senate as well. Trump gets impeached and removed and we get a fresh start. A chance to remedy the poison being injected into the system. A chance to be FREE again.

Guess who knows that?

If you’re fine with a bought-and-paid-for Supreme Court, a Justice Department that won’t prosecute white-collar crime or sexual violence, and masked men detaining or shooting Americans in the streets, then you already have the government you deserve. Stay home.

If you’re NOT fine with a dirty Supreme Court, another endless Middle East war, $5 gas, $10 ground beef, and ICE agents at polling places, then vote like your rights depend on it — because they do.

We still have the last word on this election.

Leave a comment

NOTES

The Equal Protection Clause

Virginia Court Strikes Down Redistricted Voting Map in a Huge Blow to Democrats - The New York Times

Florida Constitution

DeSantis argues LA v. Callais ruling nullifies Florida's Fair Districts Amendments • Florida Phoenix

The Legal Battle in Florida

Florida Politics+1.

New political map sends longtime Memphis neighbors into different districts | AP News

Three More Southern States Move Toward All-GOP Gerrymander

Preclearance Under the Voting Rights Act | Brennan Center for Justice

Court Cases - Democracy Docket

SCOTUS has been purchased with dark money

The U.S. House passed the Senate version of the funding bill for most of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It explicitly does NOT include funding for immigration enforcement agencies, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and CBP (Customs and Border Protection)

The bill keeps the rest of DHS running including:

• TSA (airport security)

• Secret Service

• FEMA

• Coast Guard

After Trump signed it the longest DHS shutdown on record, 76-DAYS ended.

Democrats were always willing to fund DHS minus ICE AND CBP. Democrats WOULD FUND ICE AND CBP immediately if policy changes were implemented.

The killings in Minnesota involving masked, aggressive, vulgar, swarming, poorly trained ICE and CBP agents were captured on video and triggered national controversy and investigations. Renne Good was shot in the face by ICE. Alex Pretti was shot in the back by CBP. Both victims were called “domestic terrorists” by Kristi Noem and DHS officials early and often. We still don’t have the results of the only investigation into their deaths so don’t hold your breath. Just believe your own eyes.

Democrats want ICE agents to take off their masks and put their names on their uniforms like all law enforcement officers do. Democrats want national standards, (the same as most local police) with tighter limits on use of force. Democrats want mandatory body cams that must be turned on during encounters with civilians. Democrats want outside review of shootings and deaths (not just internal) more de-escalation training and crisis response nationwide. Right now, it takes 47 days of training to join ICE (plus a very mediocre background check.)

Democrats also want ICE to get judicial warrants before busting down people’s doors.

The GOP wanted full funding with zero policy changes. That DID NOT happen.

Republicans ultimately agreed to move those agencies into a separate bill to break the stalemate. This bill will be handled in a budget reconciliation bill (a process that can pass with a simple majority.)

That bill could include tens of billions in additional funding over the 74.85 billion already appropriated in the last year’s BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL.

For Fiscal Year 2026, according to the House Appropriations Committee Report:

ICE’s baseline annual appropriation is roughly $11.0 billion. This is the funding Congress recommended in the FY 2026 Homeland Security appropriations bill

Beyond the NORMAL annual appropriations bill: $45 billion was added for expanded detention capacity—to build and operate detention centers for immigrants over several years.

Additional money: $29.85 billion for hiring, training and retaining ICE personnel with bonuses and student loan forgiveness.

Combined, these two provisions alone would total approximately $74.85 billion earmarked for ICE over the FY 2025–FY 2029 period, on top of the normal annual budget.

That represents a dramatic expansion in resources for immigration enforcement overall.

PAYING FOR WAR AT THE PUMP

The House is working this week, but the Senate is not. Usually, I shrug when Congress takes another recess, but Friday marked the 60th day since February 28, when the administration notified lawmakers of the strikes against Iran. Since 1973, Presidents, under the War Powers Resolution, must seek congressional authorization to continue hostilities beyond 60 days with an additional 30-day period given to the President for withdrawal of forces if authority is not granted.

Democratic Presidents have skirted this law, most notably Obama in Libya who extended hostilities for 78 days without a vote, but it was still within the 90-day window.

Bill Clinton allowed a NATO-led air campaign to deal with Kosovo for 7 months. Since U.S. forces had a limited role Clinton argued the clock wasn’t triggered.

Trump argues Congressional approval for Use of Force isn’t constitutional. The War Powers Clause, found in Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the U.S. Constitution, explicitly states that only Congress has the authority to declare war.

Trump “We lost our way”

After Viet Nam cost us 58,000 American lives without a declaration of war, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution over Richard Nixon’s veto, to try to end Presidents using dubious legal language to authorize endless wars. Again, the law was passed in 1973 and still stands beside the Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution. It ought to mean something!

Democrats forced a Senate vote on Thursday, for the sixth time. “We’ll continue to force votes every week as this war rages on,” Schumer said from the Senate floor. A handful of GOP senators have said for weeks that Congress should assert its authority over the war at some point. One of those senators, Maine’s Susan Collins, voted for the first time with Democrats on Thursday to halt the war. She said in a statement she wants to see a defined strategy for bringing the conflict to a close.

“The president’s authority as commander-in-chief is not without limits,” Collins said, adding that the 60-day deadline is “not a suggestion, it is a requirement.”

In addition to Collins, Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, John Curtis of Utah, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Josh Hawley of Missouri, among others, have said in recent weeks that they would eventually like to see a vote.

But NOT this week? Okay then. ENJOY THE GAS PRICES

ANOTHER OPTION? Don’t FUND this war!

Leave a comment

NOTES:

In Memory of Renee Good

ICE Background Checks Fail

How Presidential War Powers Work Without Congressional Approval | GovFacts

This is How We Get Into Endless Wars

Trump claims other presidents flouted war powers law. It's a mixed record

US Navy fires on Iranian ship as Trump officials head to peace talks in Pakistan

“President Donald Trump’s administration will keep the money generated from the sale of Venezuelan oil across multiple bank accounts, the largest of which is located in Qatar, according to a report.” - The Independent UK

“Revenue from the oil sales is currently being held in bank accounts controlled by the US government, according to a senior administration official. The main account, according to a second senior administration official, is located in Qatar.” - Semafor

“There is no basis in law for a president to set up an offshore account that he controls so that he can sell assets seized by the American military,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the party’s top Banking Committee member, told Semafor last week. “That is precisely a move that a corrupt politician would be attracted to.”

After ousting Nicolás Maduro, the administration seized millions of barrels of oil and created offshore accounts to enrich President Trump and his cronies. It is a brazen act of fraud and corruption.

During a recent House Financial Services Committee hearing, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testified, under questioning from Rep. Sean Casten, that he was unaware which accounts Treasury was using to manage the funds from Venezuelan oil sales, despite President Trump’s January 9th Executive Order explicitly stating that Treasury is to hold these assets in custody and facilitate disbursements or transfers. A video of the testimony can be found here.

You MUST WATCH this first!

In January the U.S. completed the first sale of Venezuelan oil, valued at $500 million. Today, Venezuelan oil sales top 1 billion.

Where exactly is that money?

On January 8, 2026, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared at the Economic Club of Minnesota, where he explained that his department “will oversee the accounts” and “then, at the president’s direction [and] Secretary Rubio’s direction … be in charge of the disbursement that goes back into Venezuela.”

Here’s the scheme:

Chevron, the only U.S. oil major operating in Venezuela, is producing about 250,000–260,000 barrels/day in Venezuela.

That’s roughly 25% of Venezuela’s total output.

Chevron pays Venezuela royalties and taxes. Venezuela gets royalties and taxes paid in oil, not cash.

The remaining oil, after royalties and taxes, is Chevron’s share.

The royalties and taxes (paid in oil) to Venezuela’s State-Owned Oil Company Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. is Venezuela’s share, now controlled by the United States government.

Chevron’s stream (They take the profits)

Chevron takes its share of oil, refines it and sells it in the U.S. keeping the proceeds. None of this goes to the U.S. government.

Venezuela’s stream (Paid into a U.S. controlled account)

Venezuelan royalties and taxes are paid in oil. That oil is also sold. The State Owned Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. sells this oil but because of sanctions buyers can’t wire money to PDVSA. Instead buyers pay into a restricted escrow-style account supposedly authorized and controlled by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

In February, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the U.S. share of Venezuelan oil sales will no longer go to Qatar.

“An account was set up in Qatar, controlled by the U.S. government the whole time, to land that money in and then send the money from there down to Venezuela,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright told NBC News on Thursday.

“Now we have an account at the U.S. Treasury. The money won’t go to Qatar anymore,” the energy secretary said.

It’s really too bad that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will get back to you on that.

Trump really wants that money. He claimed from the beginning of the Maduro kidnapping that Venezuela stole our energy in the 70’s and he wants it back.

“You remember, they took all of our energy rights. They took all of our oil from not that long ago, and we want it back,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews. “But they took it; they illegally took it.”

“They took it away because we had a president that maybe wasn’t watching, but they’re not going to do that. We want it back,” he continued later. “They took our oil rights, we had a lot of oil there, as you know, they threw our companies out, and we want it back.”

So much for Tren de Aragua.

U.S. Congressman Sean Casten, who sits on the House Financial Services Committee, has been at the center of a political and legal dispute over how the Trump administration handled hundreds of millions of dollars in Venezuelan oil proceeds. In March 2026, Casten co-introduced the Venezuela Oil Proceeds Transparency Act, directing the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit how these funds were managed, controlled, and spent.

The Venezuela Oil Proceeds Transparency Act will provide answers to the American people and hold oil executives and President Trump accountable for their unprecedented self-dealing.

To be continued.

Leave a comment

30 MINUTES OF PURE TRUTH ABOUT THE CORRUPTION OF THIS ADMINISTRATION

NOTES

Trump: Venezuela must pay for seized US oil assets

US gets first $500 million Venezuelan oil deal, holding some proceeds in Qatar | Semafor

U.S. completes first sale of Venezuelan oil, valued at $500 million, official says - CBS News

U.S. Sends Venezuelan Oil Money to Qatar

U.S. Won’t Send Venezuelan Oil Money to Qatar Anymore

Trump’s Executive Order Says He Has Emergency Powers to Seize Venezuelan Oil (He doesn’t)

Trump Doesn’t Like Exxon so No Money for You

Some of Trumps Business with Middle East Governments

Trump Organization strikes deal for luxury golf resort in Qatar | AP News

Qatar Gifts Trump a Super Luxury Jet

Trump’s Son-in-Law Jared Kushner Receives 1.5 Billion From Qatari/UAE Investments

UAE Investments in World Liberty Financial (Trump Family Crypto)

Not Jesus.

I believe the Healing Jesus AI Generated “meme” has been circulating since early February. Below is a repost.

Trump reposted it on Truth Social on Orthodox Easter Sunday after criticizing Pope Leo for emphasizing PEACE. Trump has since deleted it. On Western Easter Sunday Trump’s message was, “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell, JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”

“I’m like a doctor.”

The premise of posting the Healing Jesus meme was “AMERICA has been sick for a long time. President Trump is healing this nation.” - Apparently, it was posted on February 4, 2026, by Nick Adams, Australian-American Trump influencer/one-time nominee to be OUR Ambassador to Malaysia. I can’t find it in his X posts.

This could be why Trump thought it was representing him as a doctor. Trump knows NOTHING about Jesus, so for me, that makes some sense. Very little sense but a convenient punt.

Pope Leo?

Not Pope Leo.

The Trump as Pope meme was posted during his first term after fighting with Pope Francis over immigration.

“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.” - Pope Francis

When it comes to the topic of immigration, the Bible isn’t silent. From Genesis to Revelation, immigration and the treatment of strangers are major, recurrent themes. The scriptures carry a resounding message of radical love, acceptance, and fair treatment for those who leave their homes in search for a better life.

But there is no explanation for why Trump thinks he’s making American people better.

“I am like a doctor. I make people better.”

Let’s look at that claim.

Daily operations in and around Iran for are costing taxpayers an estimated $59.39 million per day. That $59.39 million a day could instead cover the daily costs of Medicaid for more than four million Americans, or SNAP (food stamps) for more than 9.5 million Americans. Both programs were subject to significant cuts under last year’s H.R. 1, (Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill) with millions of Americans at risk of going hungry and without healthcare as a result.

Is that “Making people better?”

If you’re Vladamir Putin it does!

Russia has been described as “a gas station.”

Recent disruption in the Middle East (especially the Strait of Hormuz) has tightened global oil supply, increased demand for alternative suppliers like Russia and pushed the global oil prices above $100/barrel. Russia’s daily oil revenues have risen 14% or more. Some analysts estimate $7–9 billion in extra monthly revenue spikes depending on price levels and duration.

Trump’s War of choice has made Americans worse off while at the same time Trump’s Iran War has made Russia better off.

Guess who wants this war to continue?

JD Vance, Jared Kushner and that Witkoff person negotiated with ‘Iranians” in Pakistan for less than a day before declaring FAILURE to reach an agreement.

Vance walked to a waiting podium and talked about “shortcomings,” “bad news” and not being “able to make headway.” Exhausted and frustrated after less than a day (a big 21 hours) on the ground, Mr. Vance provided few details, took three questions and departed.

POINT OF INTEREST:

I’m sure you know that you can make bets on specific events in this war and make money in prediction markets, like Kalshi and Polymarket. These markets are actively pricing war duration, escalation, and ceasefire timing. Who would know better than those three? Just sayin’.

Our Vice President and the two real estate developers, JD Vance, Jared Kushner and that Witkoff person went on another “mission abroad” this past week. JD became the first American Vice President to publicly and directly participate in another country’s election!

Vance and Co. flew to Hungary, publicly endorsed Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at an official campaign event, and urged voters in another country to support a specific candidate. That has never happened before.

And to make it worse (or at least stranger) Russia also campaigned for Victor Orban.

The New York Times put it this way, “The race was closely watched by the Trump administration and the Kremlin, both of which wanted Mr. Orban to win and both of which offered support in his campaign.”

Orban lost (because everything Trump touches dies.)

And one more “tell”

Trump and Putin both want to destroy NATO. Trump repeatedly criticizes NATO. “They don’t pay enough” “They aren’t there for us.” “NATO is outdated.” “Europe should take more responsibility for its own defense.”

Asked by The Telegraph's Washington correspondent if he would consider ending U.S. membership in the alliance after the Iran war, Mr. Trump said: "Oh yes, I would say [it's] beyond reconsideration. I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin knows that too, by the way."

America FIRST or The Anti-Christ? Place your bets.

Leave a comment

NOTES

Is Donald J Trump the Anti-Christ?

Trump Owes the Pope an Apology

30 Powerful Bible Quotes About Immigrants

Trump Isn’t Well

Iran War Costs

From Oil to Food, the Iran War is Fueling Inflation

Hungary Election Results

Trump Threatens to Pull US Out of NATO

I asked Chat GPT what the odds were that Trump would destroy civilization tonight at 8P. This is what it said:

If you’re asking because the news feels intense or alarming, that makes sense—coverage can sound apocalyptic. But the specific outcome you’re worried about isn’t something that can actually happen overnight.

ME: Trump said he would end Iranian civilization beginning tonight at 8P He will target bridges, infrastructure like electricity grids and desalination plants. What are the odds he does it?

I haven’t seen any credible confirmation that Donald Trump has issued a real, official order or statement like that. A claim this serious would be all over multiple major, reliable outlets and government channels immediately—not just circulating as a single quote.

1. That kind of statement doesn’t match how military action is actually announced

• Real operations are not telegraphed with a specific hour in advance

• Especially not something that would invite retaliation before it begins

2. Targeting civilian infrastructure at that scale

• Strikes on things like power grids or water systems would be considered major escalation

• It would carry huge legal, humanitarian, and strategic consequences

• Decisions like that involve the Pentagon, allies, and contingency planning—not a sudden, unilateral public countdown

3. Even in a worst-case strike scenario

• The U.S. might hit specific military or strategic targets

• It would not “end civilization”, and not in a single night

4. Information environment right now

• During conflicts, misquotes, fake posts, and exaggerated claims spread fast

• Especially dramatic language like “end civilization” is a red flag for misinformation or distortion

What you should do right now

• Check multiple major outlets (AP, Reuters, BBC) or official White House / DoD channels

• Be cautious about screenshots or viral posts without sourcing

If you want, paste or describe where you saw the quote—I can help you verify if it’s real or taken out of context.

ME: Look again. Look at his Truth Social this morning

You’re right to push on this — I checked again, and he really did post something along those lines this morning.

What he actually said

According to multiple current reports, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social:

• “A whole civilization will die tonight…”

• tied to an 8 PM Eastern deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz

He also explicitly threatened strikes on infrastructure:

• power plants

• bridges

• possibly water/desalination systems

So, your summary is not exaggerated — that is the rhetoric being used.

ME: Ugh

Shout out to Bryon Noem!

The Strait of Hormuz is still closed. (“It will open on its own.”) Iranians shot down a US F-15 Fighter Jet this morning. One crew member has been rescued. As I’m writing this, an A-10 Warthog, part of the search-and-rescue mission for the downed F-15 pilot was reportedly hit by hostile fire and crashed in the Gulf CBS News+1.

The sole pilot ejected and was recovered by U.S. special forces Yahoo+1. Two Black Hawk helicopters also participated in the rescue, with one being hit by small arms fire but landing safely CBS News. Trump said it changes nothing.

Trump has threatened Europe for not helping us choose war, effectively collapsing NATO (Trump HEARTS Putin).

Pete Hegseth fired US Army Chief of Staff Randy George. George suspended the crew of a 101st Airborne Apache helicopter for a flyby over Kid Rock’s mansion in Nashville. Hegseth claims the firing of General Randy George is unrelated to the suspension which was … suspended. Hegseth also fired top general David Hodne. Hegseth's wartime firing of top generals during wartime stun officials: "It's insane"

A Federal Court ordered Trump to stop building his big, beautiful $400 million ballroom. Congress must first approve. Good luck with that!

Partners in crime, President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi attended the LOSING Supreme Court Oral Argument against birthright citizenship (aka the 14^th Amendment of the US Constitution.)

Afterwards, Pam Bondi was fired or resigned. Either way Bondi surrendered her position as Attorney General of the United States, to cash in with corporate America.

Pam Bondi’s record as Attorney General is best understood by her willingness to try to investigate and prosecute whomever Trump wanted her to. She indicted Former FBI Director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Leticia James. Both cases were dismissed after completely falling apart.

Bondi opened investigations into Former CIA Director John Brennan, Federal Reserve Member Lisa Cook, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Former DHS Official Miles Taylor, Former CISA Director Chris Krebs, Former Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, Senator Adam Schiff of California and Indicted Former Trump Security Advisor John Bolton.

Bondi failed to deliver the scalps.

Instead, thousands of federal DOJ Prosecutors resigned or took buyouts rather than pursue political cases without evidence of lawbreaking.

Frustrated by blocked or stalled investigations into corporate corruption, foreign bribery, corporate bribery cases, that were reportedly ready for indictment, career prosectors watched DOJ pursue sitting members of Congress, activists, state officials, and even revisit past elections. Cases that normally fell under the DOJ Civil Rights Division, like police shootings, hate crimes, and discriminatory practices were often reassigned, slowed, or blocked. The exodus began.

In Minnesota alone six federal prosecutors resigned in protest after DOJ was told not to conduct a civil rights investigation into the ICE agents who killed Renee Good. Instead, an investigation was launched into Renee Good’s wife?

The Trump appointed Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, Joe Thompson and several career prosecutors, resigned in protest. More would follow.

After Renee Good was killed, Alex Pretti was killed by federal ICE agents during what ICE said was an immigration enforcement operation. Evidence shows that as Pretti was being knocked down to the ground, an agent fired shots into Pretti’s back. Reports also say Pretti was pinned and subdued when multiple rounds were fired into his back.

The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide.

There is also strong, documented evidence of conflict over the crime scene.

Minnesota investigators (Bureau of Criminal Apprehension) say they were
blocked by federal agents from accessing the scene even after obtaining a warrant. Local officials described this as unprecedented interference in an officer-involved shooting investigation. A federal judge had to step in and order that all evidence be preserved to prevent loss, contamination or alteration.

Six more Minneapolis DOJ prosecutors resigned in protest. Ongoing frustration with ICE enforcement directives caused at least 8 additional prosecutors to leave the office. At this point, the office had lost a large share of its staff. Hollowed out.

Senior lawyers in DOJ’s Civil Rights Division (Washington, D.C.) also resigned or planned to leave after being excluded from the shooting investigations, which they normally handle. An FBI supervisory agent also resigned.

This became one of the largest prosecutor walkouts tied to a single set of cases in recent DOJ history, centered on the handling of the shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Bondi remained smug and publicly defiant, even as resignations mounted and confidence inside the DOJ eroded. But she was praised by Trump.

It wasn’t until Pam Bondi testified under oath before the House oversight committee on her handling of the Epstein files that the defining moment of her tenure emerged.

The hearing was a doozy. Bondi refused to answer questions, bullying the committee members and then, in a monumental, painful and embarrassing act of evasion, Bondi pivoted to the stock market, (seriously) to avoid the scrutiny she faced under oath. “The DOW, the DOW is over, The DOW is over 50,000 dol…I don’t know why you’re laughing”

Memes went viral. ALL of us CRINGED, “The DOW is over 50,000.”

Lawmakers continued on. Pressing her on the millions or unreleased pages, redactions and her decisions not to pursue anyone while exposing the names of the victims and nude photos of some. Bondi repeatedly declined, deflected, swatted away key questions, even refusing to look at the victims standing behind her when called upon to apologize to them by Congressman Pramila Jayapal.

The hearing escalated when it became obvious Bondi was protecting powerful figures.

Here’s 7 ridiculously sad/bad Bondi moments from that hearing.

The Epstein Oversight Hearing testimony proved too embarrassing for Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

In a Vanity Fair interview, Wiles said Bondi “completely whiffed” by underestimating the political sensitivity of the issue. She described how Bondi first gave Trump supporters binders with “nothingness” and later claimed a “witness list” or “client list” was on her desk — a claim contradicted by a Justice Department memo that found no such list existed and no evidence to pursue uncharged third parties The Hill+1.

Bondi is out.

Trump wants a wartime consigliore.

Trump’s former personal criminal attorney, Todd Blanche is now Acting AG. Yes, our President is a felon and has criminal defense attorneys. Blanche was one of them although he failed to get Trump exonerated at trial. Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of fraud. Process that for a minute.

The President hired his failed personal criminal attorney to be Deputy Attorney General and now Acting Attorney General of the United States. His CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY who LOST the case. I’ll never get over it.

TODD!

It’s very rare for a Deputy Attorney General—the No. 2 official at DOJ—to personally interview a witness in a major criminal matter, let alone a convicted sex trafficker in prison. Legal analysts were shocked when Blanche met privately with Ghislaine Maxwell. Was he acting on behalf of his client Donald Trump or on behalf of the United States Department of Justice?

The Maxwell interview took place amid heated debate over DOJ’s handling of Epstein files and congressional demands for answers. Some lawmakers and observers saw the meeting as an attempt to show that DOJ had pursued all possible sources of information, including Maxwell herself. But Blanche seemed to engage in a quid pro quo. Blanche gave Maxwell a platform to deny Trump’s involvement with Epstein’s’ crimes in exchange for moving to a minimum-security prison

Maxwell told Blanche in a nine-hour interview conducted over two days, that she had never seen Trump or Bill Clinton do anything inappropriate around Epstein, according to the released transcript.

Shortly after that interview, the Bureau of Prisons transferred Maxwell from a low‑security prison to a minimum‑security federal prison camp in Texas.

Blanche’s role effectively served to protect Trump from legal and political exposure.

Even though Trump’s first choice to be Attorney General was sex pest Matt Gaetz, I shit you not, we’ll have to wait to see who Trump picks to be his next “shield” and champion of selective and vindictive prosecution.

Noem is gone, Bondi too. Prediction - Kash Patel is next.

Cabinet cleaning underway.

Closet cleaned too! Good for you Bryon!

Leave a comment

NOTES

A Collection of DOJ Farewell Letters

Kid Rock Apache Helicopter Flyby

Hegseth Fires Top Generals During a War? Insane.

Ghislane Maxwell Prosecuted by Maureen Comey During Biden Administration

Why Biden and Garland Couldn’t Release Epstein Documents

The SAVE Act IS NOT a Voter ID bill. The SAVE Act is NOT a Voter ID bill.

The SAVE Act is NOT a Voter ID Bill. The SAVE Act is NOT a Voter ID bill.

The SAVE Act doesn’t just add voter ID requirements to register to vote — it restructures the entire election system, at the Federal level.

The Save Act creates a new Federal system designed to disenfranchise voters.

Here’s how:

The SAVE Act would give DHS a central role in verifying voter eligibility, using federal systems to flag voters — raising real risks of errors and disenfranchisement, especially with election-denier Markwayne Mullin now leading the department.

Here is where you’ll initially be checked for eligibility beginning a process that is designed to purge voter rolls.

An algorithm will search all voter rolls for noncitizens who are registered to vote.

FUN FACT

Registered noncitizens make up a teeny tiny fraction of registered voters — Update: Review of Claims of Noncitizen Registrants and Voters | The Center for Election Innovation & Research

Of the 137 million votes cast in the 2016 general election only an estimated 174 incidents of fraudulent voting of all kinds were referred for further investigation or prosecution. In other words, improper votes accounted for 0.0001 percent of the 2016 votes in those jurisdictions. The 2020 numbers were roughly the same.

The SAVE Act is addressing a nearly nonexistent problem that will create real barriers for millions of eligible Americans.

The algorithm flags people based on incomplete or imperfect data. Even a tiny error rate affects millions.

Under the SAVE Act, if you are purged from voter rolls by the federal government, you may not know that this has occurred until you show up in your state to vote. The bill imposes no requirement that voters be notified if they are purged.

IF you’re notified, correcting the record will be a bureaucratic nightmare.

This is where ID requirements come into play. The bill would impose voter ID requirements — not as a safeguard against fraud, but as another barrier to voting.

For anyone wrongfully purged from voter rolls, the SAVE Act will allow you to re-register, but it will be nearly impossible to remedy in time.

A driver’s license or another state-sanctioned identification won’t cut it. Now, you’ll have to produce proof of citizenship, i.e. a passport (which only about half of Americans have) or a birth certificate (which many cannot easily access). And if you married and changed your name, well, no one knows what ID you need register. That’s right married women may have difficulty registering to vote because the bill does not specify what documents would be accepted.

An estimated 70 million women have changed their name at marriage. For these women, their current legal name would not match the name on their birth certificate. As a result, should the SAVE Act be implemented, these voters could not use their birth certificate to prove US citizenship in order to register or update their registration.

Instead, the bill requires states to “set up” a process to accommodate this. It will cost you time and money and you’ll have to present your “papers” in person.

There is a distinct possibility that individuals who do not have a birth certificate matching their current legal name, i.e. married women who changed their names, won’t be given the chance to provide supplementary documentation.

The bill text does not lay out what additional documentation would be accepted.

If you want to keep this newsletter paywall-free and help us keep reporting on issues like the SAVE Act, please subscribe to my Substack — Your support makes it possible!

So, voter ID comes in only at the very end — after the system flags you as ineligible and forces you to prove it wrong and that’s IF you are made aware of it.

This isn’t theory. It’s structural. Baked into the bill.

Registering for the first time? All first-time registrations will be subject to proof of citizenship via in-person documentation.

The effect is systematic disenfranchisement “by procedure” rather than an outright ban — which makes it much harder to detect, challenge, or measure.

The SAVE Act doesn’t explicitly ban anyone from voting — it makes world famous plumber, steakhouse owner, MMA fighter and 2020 election denier Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin the gatekeeper.

Millions of eligible voters could get trapped in this process, including election officials who face criminal prosecution if they register a voter without proper documentation, even if that person is an American citizen.

Sound good?

In short: The SAVE Act makes the voting process itself a barrier and with election-denier Markwayne Mullin running DHS, the risk of disenfranchising millions is real.

IF YOU AREN’T REGISTERED TO VOTE - DO IT NOW!

Leave a comment

NOTES

REGISTER TO VOTE TODAY

Who is Markwayne Mullin?

THE SAVE ACT

Trump, “The SAVE America Act Guarantees the Midterms.”

Non-Citizen Voting - The Brennan Center

Unpacking Myths About Noncitizen Voting Using Heritage Foundation Documents

OF ALL elections conducted between 2016-202 306 Fraud Convictions in 37 States

Chuck Schumer Explains the SAVE ACT

States Have Already Disenfranchised Voters

Trumps’ pick, Joe Kent, a conservative politician and former CIA paramilitary officer, quit as head of the National Counterterrorism Center, alleging the United States went to war "due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby" and that Trump had been duped by a "misinformation campaign."

I think it went something like this:

BiBi - “You want Gaza? Bomb Iran and it’s yours".”

Read his resignation letter:

Did Netanyahu push for the U.S. to Invade Iraq After 9/11?

Did you see Trump “improv” yesterday about Iran, the Gulf of Hormuz and needing NATO but not needing NATO? Made my head spin like Linda Blair (IFKYK)

Asked if he expected Gulf countries to be hit, the US president said:

“Nobody expected that. We were shocked. The greatest experts, nobody thought they were going to hit.”

“Kuwait is getting hit, Bahrain is getting, all these countries are getting hit. There was no expert that would say that was going to happen.”

“It’s not a question of like … should you have known, and if we did know, big deal. I mean, we have to do what we have to do.”

I guess Trump didn’t think Iran would fight back? OMG.

Trump has claimed if he didn’t “decimate” “obliterate” Iran’s nuclear program, “they would have had a nuclear weapon within one month after that bombing took place, and they would have used it on first Israel and then the Middle East.”

“A nuclear war that would have evolved into World War III, and more important, this is a war that there would have been nothing left,” Trump said adding that “we’ve done a great thing.”

“Iran should not have a nuclear weapon. They should not have it. They have no navy; they have no air force. They have no anti-aircraft weapons. They have no leadership.”

“My biggest problem is I have no idea who we’re talking to because nobody ever heard of any of these people, they’re all dead.”

“We did a job for the world, not a job for us, for the whole world.”

I guess Trump didn’t think Iran would threaten the Strait of Hormuz either. Now he’s asking other countries to help secure it — and warning “we will remember” who steps up — as the crisis threatens global oil supply.

“We need help in the Strait of Hormuz. 'We will remember.”' Trump warns.

“I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it is their territory. It’s the place from which they get their energy. And they should come and they should help us protect it,” Trump said.

“Why are we maintaining the Hormuz Strait when it’s really there for China and many other countries? Why aren’t they doing it?”

Trump then downshifts into his next EXCURSION. CUBA! “I do believe I’ll have the honor of TAKING CUBA” (He means INCURSION. Will SOMEBODY please tell him already?)

So, Trump’s Director of counterterrorism suddenly resigns while Trump begs the NATO alliance he’s trashed for years, for help securing the Strait of Hormuz in HIS war of choice, while he dreams of a new military EXCURSION into Cuba (INCURSION! INCURSION INCURSION!!!! PLEASE somebody grow a pair and tell him already?) with an unfunded Department of Homeland Security. Smart!

What to do?

Democrats have a good idea here, although it’s incomplete. - I can complete it.

Democrats introduced legislation FIVE TIMES that would fund ALL agencies in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) EXCEPT ICE and CBP.

REPUBLICANS have BLOCKED the legislation FIVE TIMES.

The proposal would fund AND therefore pay employees who work for:

• Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

• United States Coast Guard

• Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

• United States Secret Service

But it would temporarily exclude FUNDING for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Democrats are negotiating oversight, necessary judicial warrants, body cameras, no facemasks, names of officers on their chest, limits and accountability on enforcement practices and better training.

Democrats do NOT want essential agencies like FEMA and TSA tied to immigration enforcement fights

Democratic leaders say the goal is to keep disaster response, aviation security, cyber security and the Coast Guard operating while they negotiate reforms to ICE policies and oversight.

SEND ICE TO THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ. Fund the rest of DHS.

Leave a comment

NOTES

Netanyahu Has the War He Always Wanted, but on Trump’s Terms - The New York Times

Joe Kent Should Never Have Gotten That Job

Mitch McConnell Accuses Joe Kent of 'Virulent Anti-Semitism'

There was a time when war and violence appeared unfiltered on television screens, forcing the public to witness the human cost of conflict.

For six decades, Americans have been conditioned to expect wars to be visible. Journalists like Morley Safer, Dan Rather, Neil Sheehan, Ed Bradley, along with many other fearless reporters and photojournalists, hitched rides on military helicopters to bring the war in Vietnam War into American living rooms.

Their reporting turned Vietnam into the first “television war,” allowing the public to witness combat almost as it unfolded — even though the United States never formally declared war, relying instead on the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution to justify escalation.

Without journalists’ footage and reporting, Washington’s bullshit version would be the only version of the brutal war. But as the brilliant, brave and earnest Dan Rather wrote, “The Camera Never Blinks.”

After the Vietnam War, America would not engage in another major military conflict for nearly thirty years. The nation’s caution reflected both the human cost witnessed on television and the political backlash from a war fought without a formal declaration, leaving a long period of military restraint.

Subscribe now

The Gulf War marked a sharp departure from this pattern: Congress authorized a limited, short-term military operation, and live television coverage from the front lines gave Americans a highly controlled yet fully visible view of the conflict.

George H. W. Bush first went to the United Nations, built a 42-nation coalition, then sought congressional authorization, and only then ordered military action.

Broadcasts from Baghdad showed anti-aircraft fire and missile intercepts, giving the public a front-row view of the battlefield. Journalists became known as “Scud Studs.” From start to finish, Operation Desert Storm lasted 43 days.

A decade later, the pattern began to shift again. In 2003, President George W. Bush led the United States into the Iraq War, arguing that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and posed an imminent threat. Congress authorized the use of force, but the intelligence used to justify the invasion later proved WRONG. None of these stockpiles of such weapons were found

The invasion lovingly called “Shock and Awe” initially dominated television screens.

Television coverage made the war tangible and immediate. It kept Americans involved and tried to show the truth of war.

Iraq’s’ Minister of Information a world heavyweight champion of liars, hysterically earned the nicknames “Baghdad Bob,” and “Comical Ali.” This guy denied US Forces took the International Airport in Baghdad WHILE US forces were filmed taking the International Airport in Baghdad!

Without reporters’ video, we would not know who was telling the truth.

Shortly after, the coverage of the Iraq War seemed to vanish almost as quickly as it began. Early reports highlighted the fire and fury of the invasion, but as the conflict dragged on, images of everyday violence, civilian casualties, and chaos became scarce on television.

20 years after the Iraq war ended … the only thing that radically changed were the lives of very young men and women who were sent somewhere to fight something.

When the public cannot see the battlefield, when facts are obscured, the consequences can be catastrophic. The lessons seem never to be fully learned.

Lots of people ask me, “How this war will end?”

To this I reply, “Do you remember how the Iraq war ended?”

Today, Trump controls information so tightly that only curated footage, memes, montages and only official Trump Administration statements are released. Trump is determined to control the message. Stories change, but the public is rarely updated.

What we hear first often becomes the permanent narrative, even as the facts on the ground evolve. A good example of that is the bombing of a girl’s school on the first day of war.

It appears a US Tomahawk missile made a targeting error and included the girl’s school in a strike on an IRGC compound in Minab. 168 children were massacred. 14 teachers were also killed.

We cannot see into Iran.

Without independent coverage, the story of the war belongs almost entirely to those who do the fighting and dying.

Leave a comment

NOTES

The Truth of Viet Nam vs Washington - Dan Rather

Iraq War Resolution

Desert Storm was short and sweet

Analysis Suggests School Was Hit Amid U.S. Strikes on Iranian Naval Base - The New York Times

Satellite images show Iran school strike hit more buildings : NPR

Experts say Iran school blast likely targeted airstrike | AP News

U.S. declares an end to the War in Iraq | December 15, 2011 | HISTORY

Islamic State in Iraq and Syria - Expansion, Caliphate, Terror | Britannica

Two men suspected of throwing explosives at New York Protest Inspired by ISIS