Week of March 16, 2025

Here goes…

1. From the file “I’m Pretty Sure our Legislators Have Better Things to Do.” The Minnesota legislature introduced a bill declaring TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome – a social media term used to insult Dems when they are appalled by the appalling things Trump does) an ACTUAL mental illness. I’m sure they all have degrees in Psychology.

2. Remember how they told us they only have a problem with illegal immigrants, and mostly those with violent records? Many of us saw the signs that they were after more. They are now including immigrants whose application for legal status in the country is under review. And it got much worse later in the week (more later in the list).

3. Look it’s ok if you don’t understand how it is that a person might feel like they are the wrong gender and wants to live their life in the opposite gender, but should we really make it a felony to do so? Well if you live in Texas….. Btw 0.6% of people identify as transgender. (NBC News) Way to prioritize your workday for maximum effectiveness!

4. More DEI hating garbage. The highly esteemed US Marine Band (established 1798) judged a contest for teenage musicians and chose an ensemble of Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Indian students to play with the band at a concert. But because of Trump’s (stupid) DEI executive order, it was cancelled. The kids were, as you can imagine, crushed. Well, the saving grace was 60 Minutes, who did an in depth story about it and had them play on the broadcast. Instead of performing before hundreds, they performed before millions. (CBS)

5. US withdraws from effort investigating Russian war crimes in Ukraine including the Yale Lab University's Humanitarian Research trying to locate the 30,000 children ABDUCTED by Russians from Ukrainian families. (BBC)

6.There is a Golden Mount Rushmore statue with Trump's head on it on display at Mar-A-Lago. Sometimes I am just so embarrassed. Yes, sure, in the grand scheme of things, what difference does it make. Except that it’s a clear display of how much he loves the idea of being an Oligarch (a gold Mt Rushmore?), and what, he thinks he’s George Washington? (Atlanta Black Times)

7. Musk and DOGE force their way into the Institute of Peace with the help of DC police. This is a congressionally authorized program that, you know, promotes…peace.

8. "We are encouraging illegal immigrants to actively self-deport to maybe save themselves from being in one of these fun videos." Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. “Fun”. So, the Administration spent who knows how much on a highly choreographed and dramatic video of them deporting people without due process (about as anti-American as it gets). Many of whom are likely NOT criminals, are not illegal and who have been ripped from their families because they had the wrong tattoo. “FUN videos”. (Fox News)

9. Invoking the Alien Enemies Act, something only used during war and in recent history used in incredibly shameful ways (Japanese Internment) Trump defied a court order, grabbed a whole bunch of brown people, shaved their heads, shackled them together and flew them to an El Salvadorian prison known for its use of torture. They have not fully reviewed these cases because they ignored due process laws. We are now finding out that many had no criminal record. (CBS, LA Times, AP). The Right is cheering this on while for years telling us, don’t worry, these folks are fine as long as they are here legally.

10. Continuing in the Administration’s brazen lawlessness, "I don't care what the judges think." President Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, said on Fox News. Asked what would come next, "Another flight. Another flight every day." (Axios, The Independent)

Look, the Right wants a king or a dictator (as long as it’s their dictator). They don’t care that the Legislative and Judicial branches are co-equal (and REALLY important checks and balances).

JD Vance: "If the secretary of state and the president decide this person shouldn’t be in America, and they have no legal right to stay here, it’s as simple as that." Nope. Some folks really need a refresher from Schoolhouse Rock. It’s just that simple and entirely core to who we are as a country.

11. Trump is nuts. Just nuts. (I said what I said.) The President of the United States of America posts rants like this dozens (occasionally over a hundred) times a day. Often at 3 am. (Roll Call, Newsweek)

12. Articles about the Navajo Code Talkers have been removed from DOD websites citing DEI initiatives. (Axios, The Guardian). By the way, these were not “DEI hires” (in the way the Right sees it – entirely misunderstanding DEI). They were recruited by the government BECAUSE they had rare skills. But this is what happens when you take a dull hatchet and start bashing at things. Especially if your underlying feeling is that the appreciation of the accomplishments of people of color and women is …just…”woke” (another thing they don’t understand).

13. Trump is drastically increasing logging. Some estimates say 100 million acres will be freed up for logging, much of it on public land. (Newsweek) Chad Hanson, wildfire scientist at the John Muir Project, speaking to The Guardian: "This Trump executive order is the most blatant attempt in American history by a president to hand over federal public lands to the logging industry." Uncle Rod noted, "Not only is he mindlessly opening millions of acres to logging, the business brainiac is timing this piece of genius right when timber prices are at all time lows. Great time to flood the market, bonehead."

Hanson added: "What's worse, the executive order is built on a lie, as Trump falsely claims that more logging will curb wildfires and protect communities, while the overwhelming weight of evidence shows exactly the opposite."

More logging dries out the forest floor and increases wind speed among other things. Look, selective logging of small trees and clearing brush (fuel) makes sense in fire prevention. (ProPublica) But just cutting down the forest so, you know, it won’t burn is a weird way of managing a forest. But it is not about fire prevention, `It’s about the $ and Trump’s inexplicable grudge with Canada (who sends us 25% of our timber).

14. Following up on the Arlington National Cemetery story from last week: Medgar Evers, a World War II veteran who fought segregation in Mississippi, is among service members whose histories have been scrubbed from the Arlington site. (Mississippi Today). Unless they have backtracked, the list of notable graves only includes white men. Heather Cox Richardson put it best today: "The erasure of Indigenous, Black, Hispanic, and female veterans from our military history is an attempt to elevate white men as the sole actors in our history."

15. Good News: Federal judge blocks dismantling of USAID, saying it "likely violated" the Constitution. (AP, ABC News) But again, who will enforce the law? Because remember they “don’t care what the judge thinks”.

16. The Pentagon removes, then restores the military record of Jackie Robinson. (ESPN, MSNBC) Again, bashing things in with a dull hatchet without a care in the world for the consequences. But making it rather transparent what the goal is. Jackie Robinson is famous. He was harder to erase.

17. The US could lose its status as a Democracy from a global watchdog that measures these things. "If it continues like this, the United States will not score as a democracy when we release [next year's] data," said Staffan Lindberg, head of the Varieties of Democracy project, run out of Sweden's University of Gothenburg.(CBC) I know, the Right doesn’t care about what other people think of us and many are in fact hoping for the end of Democracy (while also trying to argue we are not a Democracy we are a Constitutional Republic – which newsflash – is a kind of Democracy)8. Trump is plastering his name on infrastructure projects funded by JOE BIDEN’S Infrastructure Act. (The Pennsylvania Independent). I mean, of course he is. Remember when Republican Congress persons kept taking credit for infrastructures in their districts after voting no on the bill? Yea9. The Trump administration cut a clause from federal contracting rules that had been on the books since the 1960s: Companies are no longer explicitly prohibited from having segregated facilities. (Reuters, NYT) REALLY? WHAT IS WITH ALL OF THIS BLATANT, IN YOUR FACE, RACIST GARBAGE, AND HOW IS THAT BRINGING DOWN INFLATION?

18. Trump just announced he is going to “pave over” Jackie Kennedy’s White House Rose Garden to look like the patio at Mar-a-Lago. (Yahoo, Newsweek etc.) No, I’m not kidding.

19. Johns Hopkins to lose 2,000 jobs after Trump’s $800m cut in USAID funding. I’m starting to see stories like this on social media: A friend drove two hours today for her breast cancer chemotherapy only to learn it was canceled due to NIH cuts. Clinical trial ended midstream. No treatment, no restart, no plan, no information. Her bro-in-law's chemo was also canceled. Anecdotal of course, but it is undeniable that these utterly thoughtless actions are already having devastating consequences.

20. Trump signs an EO dismantling the Department of Education, complete with cheering school children (sigh). (AP, NYT,) I must note again that the Right thinks the Federal Dept of Ed creates curriculum that “indoctrinates” kids. So, they want the power to go back to the states. NO, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, NO. The states create curriculum and educational standards. The Feds have programs to make sure poor students and special needs students have access to education.

21. Remember I was telling you that brown people with no criminal record are being deported? Well, Venezuelan soccer player Jerce Reyes Barrios deported to El Salvador over a tattoo mistaken for gang ties, despite no criminal record. But he had a tattoo, so… (ABC News). Folks, THIS IS WHY WE HAVE DUE PROCESS. Imagine the people taken who were not lucky enough to be a well-known soccer player. They WILL be tortured in an El Salvadoran prison, that OUR GOVERNMENT IS PAYING, and who will ever know, or be able to do anything about it?

22. Oh, but if you can imagine, IT GETS WORSE. Trump is REVOKING the legal status of 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. They are not criminals. They are not here illegally. They all have a financial sponsor. These are people already living in the US, who came here escaping political oppression. The program is temporary, and it is not known how many have applied for citizenship. But Trump cut it short for these folks, throwing, as they say, red meat to his base. He could have honored the promise this country made to these people and changed the program for future recipients, but no. As usual, chaos reigns, racism (again) is on full display, and cruelty is the point.

23. Trump just FIRED the ENTIRE Civil Rights branch of the Department of Homeland Security. (The Hill, Axios, NYT, USA Today) This means EVERY person responsible for monitoring Trump’s immigration crackdown — to protect the lives of innocent women, children, and families — is gone.

24. Five reporters at the New York Times are joining forces to alert the public that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is giving Elon Musk access to one of the most guarded secrets in the Pentagon, the US contingency plans for an attack on China, should that unfortunate situation ever become necessary. (Thanks Uncle Rod)(Reuters, NPR). I’ll note that Trump is denying this report. For whatever that is worth.

25. Trump dismantles Voice of America. For eighty years this radio station has broadcast accurate information to folks living in authoritarian regimes in order to promote freedom and Democracy). (PBS, NYT) Remember when we used to be a beacon of hope for people in authoritarian regimes? Apparently, Trump didn’t like what someone said about him on the broadcast. By the way, this is also a very bad sign for freedom of the press and independent journalism. I remember when I used to be proud of my country.

Lastly, (and not current list related) people like me often reflect on when the Trump disaster should have ended or been prevented. There are so many unforgivable moments. But for me, I think the Access Hollywood tape should have done it. He’s on tape for gosh sakes. No one can deny he said it. No one can blame the radical left or the dreaded MSM. He said, “grab them by the pussy” (sorry mom) ON TAPE!

I want you to watch the reaction of 2 Gen Z young women, who were too young at the time, reacting to the tape now.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f7Aq9_593CU

If you’ve made it all the way through this list, you deserve a medal! And you have my sincere appreciation. Thank you!

And as always, in the words of Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton, “So what did I miss?”