If YOU are a caring, decent human being; especially if YOU are a decent, caring American – then you MUST read “Now Is the Time of Monsters,” by Ezra Klein; January 19, 2025; New York Times.
The four monsters: “Donald Trump is returning; artificial intelligence is maturing; the planet is warming; and the global fertility rate is collapsing.”
“To look at any of these stories in isolation is to miss what they collectively represent: the unsteady, unpredictable emergence of a different world.”

First, Trump: “Democracy does not die in darkness. It degrades through deal-making…We have seen this termitic corruption consume democracies elsewhere…Orban’s Hungary..” For perspective read “How Democracies Die” [Levitsky & Ziblatt], “On Corruption In America” [Chayes], “How Fascism Works” [Stanley]

Then, seriously examine Trump’s first week in power. Pardoning 1,500 CONVICTED people who trashed the U.S. Capitol; injured, disabled, murdered police; hunted and intended to execute a Vice President and various Congress members – all in an unprecedented coup effort – which many said they were doing because Trump called them to do it.

Next, examine Trump’s efforts to suppress criticism of him and make him accountable. He’s conducted a 10-year war against ANY & ALL media that dare to point out his 30,XXX lies, his stupidity and incompetence, his cruelties, his illegalities and un-Constitutional attempts.

Next – examine Trump’s efforts to ensure “loyalty.” He and his allies intend to purge ANYBODY in government they can – legally or illegally – who aren’t “loyal” to whatever weirdness exists in Trump’s teenage mind. Witness his firing of government inspectors general. Look up WHY Congress created their positions.

Next – examine Trump’s unprecedented effort to purge government civil servants. For perspective, examine WHY government civil service employees were given protection from political hacks: “By the mid-1820s, government jobs were commonly used as political rewards. An incoming President would dismiss a large number of government workers..and replace them with members of his own party..to enhance the President’s control of the bureaucracy.” Laws passed in 1853 and 1855 to get competent people. In 1881, a frustrated office seeker murdered President Garfield – leading to the Civil Service Act of 1881. [World Book Encyclopedia]

Next – examine Trump’s relationships with billionaires, especially in light of his infamous 2017 tax cut law that primarily benefitted the wealthy – which he wants to renew! In spite of the fact it WILL increase the U.S. national debt by trillions [his 2017 billionaire’s tax cut is 25% of the current federal debt].

Next – examine Trump’s control of the “Republican” Party – now essentially a personality cult. Review the demands he’s made, starting with NOT approving CONSERVATIVE-created bipartisan immigration reform bill that would’ve substantially improved U.S. border enforcement. Trump ORDERED “Republicans’ to vote against it – so HE COULD CAMPAIGN ON IMMIGRATION in the 2024 election!!! [is this THE definition of corruption? ]

Next – review material, just in ordinary media, on hw Trump intends to operate on the basis of fear and intimidation – whatever it takes to BULLY people, including foreign governments, into doing whatever stupid, cruel, destructive, illegal or un-Constitutional thing he’s thinking of doing. For perspective, read up on dictatorships, fascism, authoritarianism, criminal mob bosses

And then – there’s “PROJECT 2025” – the FAR RIGHT’s wish list, some 900 pages, so extreme that 2024 voters didn’t like it – so in typical Trump fashion, he lied – saying that like Col. Klink – “I know nothing” about it. Major authors of “Project 2025” NOW are in key positions of his administration – so they can implement “Project 2025” over YOU.

Second – A.I. As with all technology, THE big issue: HOW will A.I. be used – for the betterment of ordinary people like YOU – or – for criminal things, for un-democratic things? Will it develop into a threat to humans because it can outthink us? Among its numerous flaws – it has shown great propensity to lie and make stuff up. America and China are in a race to be #1 – what if China wins? What happens if A.I. is owned and controlled by the same oligarchs now largely running much of American society? Only a strong, democratic government, can police this – BUT – it’s highly unlikely a Trump government, based upon lies, fear, deal-making, pro-oligarchy – is going to be that government. What can happen between January 20, 2025 – and – January 20, 2029. that is irreversible???

Third – Climate CRISIS. OUR world is breaking heat records virtually every month. We KNOW oceans are too hot by centuries of records – creating storms, etc. We are NOW getting all kinds of extreme weather that scientists have warned us about. If we continue to burn fossil fuels at current rates – the earth, as we know it, is DOOMED Here is perhaps the ultimate example of GREED – some rich people determined to continue getting richer – when their actions will place their own children and grandchildren in peril.

Fourth – Population Collapse. All over the “advanced” world, countries are NOW not producing enough people to simply. replace themselves. Some are on a path to cease to exist as currently structured. Falling birth rates can produce instability – as currently seen in world news. And – for many countries, immigration is THE ONLY chance to survive successfully. BUT – now we have Trump’s war on the people doing the dirty, dangerous, work of American society. Work Americans have refused to do for decades – see comments by farmers, business people, economists.

In various fiction forms – fairy takes, comic books, movies – heroes ride in to save the day. WE SHOULD. BE. SO. LUCKY. Greed has already made climate CRISIS worse beyond scientific models and fears. Our “heroes’ will have to change to more creative power sources, or, we will either return to a new “ice age”, or, the earth will become uninhabitable.

Norms, policies, laws. COULD be written to control A.I. for ordinary people’s benefit – but GREED and weak/non-existent government action [paid for by the rich] WILL allow A.I. to be used to make some wealthy even more rich and powerful, and to create a nightmare society surpassing “1984.”

The BIG, largely unanswered question on population collapse: WHY are people all over the world CHOOSING to have fewer children? What has happened since 1960 that has led people to WANT fewer children? Is this, again GREED – is in the rich of America deliberately destroying the 1947-73 mass middle class mixed blue-white collar prosperity??? What kind of support will encourage people to have children?

And then. there’s an election in which the world’s leading “democracy” chooses to give power to an ACKNOWLEDGED, an PROVEN, cruel, selfish, greedy, liar, and un-democratic “man.” At a time demanding a Washington, a Lincoln, an FDR, an Eisenhower – America, and the world, must now deal with THE anti-Washington. A “man’ whose ego demands he be surrounded by sycophants and incompetents; a 78-year old teenage cult leader

Naughty thought: wouldn’t YOU love to be the “fly-on-the-wall” when all those billionaires, politicians, businessmen, oligarchs, etc. fly to Florida to kiss Trump’s ass – so you could see if he actually makes them do it!!!
Naughty thought #2: would you like to see if he makes them do any other acts while down on their knees?

Sobering thought: †here are 1,453 more days until January 20, 2029. What could possibly go wrong?

Literary thought: Don’t you wish Mark Twain and H.L. Mencken were still alive to write about all this? What could they do with Trump’s l/23/25 statement about the U.S. Federal Reserve bankers and economists: “I know interest rates much better than they do.” ?????????

Be kind to each other. And – hang on to people you love, and. your wallet.

!!!!***!!! “Trump transforms Ja.6 narrative” [D.Barry, A.Feuer; 1/6/25; New York Times]: “Violent, unprecedented assault on American democracy has become what president-elect calls a “day of love”…he and his loyalists have laundered the history of Jan.6..as his allies in Congress and the media play down the attack and redirected blame to left-wing plants, Democrats and even the government..violent rioters..somehow became martyrs…What happened and why seemed beyond debate..Tens of thousands of hours of video footage. thousands of seized cellphones..the largest digital crime in history…But sand was already being thrown in the eyers of history.”

*** “ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why would we let them have ideas.”
{ Soviet Russia dictator. Joseph Stalin }

1] “Reminders of Jan. 6 attack fading” [Mary Clare Jalonick; Assoc. Press]: “..many Republicans try to downplay it, echoing..Trump’s claims that the carnage of that day is overblown and that the rioters are victims. In some ways, it’s like the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, that shook the foundations of American democracy never happened.”
“Congress passed a law in March 2022 to require “an honorific plaque listing the names of all officers of the United States Capitol Police, the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, and other Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies and protective entities who responded to the violence that occurred at the United states Capitol on January 6, 2021….But almost three years later, there is no plaque.” [***and no explanations!!!]
“In the days after the siege of the Capitol, Republican condemnation was near-universal…Then-House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy..said a week later that Trump “bears responsibility” for the attack. But McCarthy soon made amends, traveling within weeks to Florida to meet Trump..a fateful decision, kicking off Trump’s return to power.”

*** “Tell a lie loud enough and long enough and people will believe it.” [Adolf Hitler]

2] YOU can review all reports of January 6, 2021 – LIVE, that 300 million Americans saw with their own eyes LIVE on January 6, 2021. YOU can listen to reports made LIVE by police who were attacked, injured. But, YOU can’t listen to some police reports – because they DIED, in the line of duty, defending YOUR national Capitol. In those LIVE recordings, YOU can observe some rioters carrying CONFEDERATE flags – an apt symbol for the treason that occurred.
YOU can search out some of the hundreds of confessions by now shamed rioters, some possibly in YOUR area. YOU can search court proceedings from all over America leading to 1,250 convictions – and what they were convicted for.

***. “Truth is the most precious thing. That’s why we should ration it.” [Soviet Russia leader. Lenin]

3] For perspective: “Erasing History..How Fascists Rewrite The Past To Control The Future” [Jason Stanley, 2024]: “Democracy requires a common understanding of reality, a shared view of what HAS happened, that informs ordinary citizens’ decisions about what SHOULD happen, now and in the future. Authoritarians target this shared understanding and leave us unmoored, resentful, and confused. By setting us against each other, authoritarians present themselves as the sole solution.”

*** “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” [George Orwell]

4] YOU can research recent attempts to rewrite American history, rewrite science, for political and ideological gains, for economic gains. THE greatest, BIGGEST LIE, in human history is climate change denial – in spite of the fact OUR world is changing – for worse – right in front of YOUR eyes.
Rewriting American history is done to maintain control for certain groups – by telling YOUR children what happened in the Americas, 1492 forward, didn’t happen or didn’t happen the way that’s inconvenient for certain people. Or, in 1981-2025 America, that things the FAR RIGHT finds “bad” or inconvenient are “fake news.”
Examples abound, especially in states controlled by Republicans. Attempts have been made to say American slavery “wasn’t that bad,” that Blacks actually had “a good deal,” that their owners [!!!] treated them with great “loving” care, etc.
YOUR children should NOT know about religion-justified “Jim Crow” segregation, 1865-1970s. YOUR children should NOT know the second most victimized group in 1619-19xx South was “poor white trash,’ many of whom died in the 1861-65 Civil War protecting the top 1% slave owners. YOUR children should NOT learn the slave-owning South [up to 2025] has historically been THE most poor, least democratic section.

YOUR children should NOT be taught about genocide conducted against native Americans from 1620 forward – the murders, massacres, broken treaties, government Indian boarding schools young native Americans were forced to attend – to WIPE OUT THEIR CULTURE, land theft, “The Trail of Tears,” the “reservations” they were forcibly confined to – the poverty, alcoholism, unemployment, female abuse, etc. that resulted.
For some, it will be inconvenient to teach YOUR children about the WW II Navajo “Code Talkers” who helped win the Pacific war, taking part in every assault the Marines conducted, sending messages in their language the Japanese couldn’t translate. [“Navajo Weapon,” S. McClain; “Yankee Samurai,” Joseph Harrington]

YOUR children might also NOT learn about Japanese-American Nisei who “helped shorten the Pacific War by at least two years, saving over 1 million lives.” Nisei linguists participated in EVERY battle from the Aleutians to Okinawa – translating, communicating, in intelligence. This in spite of 120,000 fellow Japanese-Americans locked up in concentration camps. [“Honor by Fire…Japanese Americans at War in Europe and the Pacific”, Lyn Crost]

YOUR children might also NOT learn about the extent of misogyny, persecution, restraints and limitations employed against American females, 1620-2025. NOT discuss “barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen.’ NOT discuss the Salem Witchcraft Trials [all but one prosecutor a minister]. NOT discuss WHY American women couldn’t vote until 1920. NOT discuss “the glass ceiling” and wage differentials; and MUCH, much more…..

*** “Anybody who doesn’t take the truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.”
[Albert Einstein}

YOUR children might NOT discuss the war against American workers, 1865-2025. NOT learn about workers being persecuted, fired, jailed, murdered, for trying to form unions. They might NOY learn about WHY “American” companies, 1970s-2025, have either threatened to move factories, or DID move factories out of America to avoid paying living wages, avoid taxes, avoid regulations; bring in foreign workers at lower wages.
YOUR children might NOT learn that in 2025 America, billionaire owners refuse to negotiate with unions; that billionaire/millionaire capitalists, including manufacturing, have greatly inflated the ratio of employee-owner income in THEIR favor [ like from 30-40-50 to 1 to current levels of 200-250-300 to 1]. That at the height of American dominance, America had 1 billionaire [maybe] in 1956, and NOW there are over 750, not to ignore centi-millionaires

YOUR children might NOT learn that America was NEVER a “Christian Nation.” That there are MANY quotes from the Founding Fathers [!!! no “Founding Mothers”!!!!] in ABSOLUTE OPPOSITION to the idea of ANY kind of theocracy. Indeed, one of the Founders’ 4 primary fears was the misuse of religion. Start with “The Establishment Clause” [Leonard Levy, 1986]. Research Baptist Isaac Backus and Baptist John Leland; Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson; the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom.
Research 1775-1800 state constitutions on religion [“Faith of the Founders,” Edwin S. Gaustad; 1987-1993-2011] – especially 1776 North Carolina, Articles XXXIV. 8 states BANNED an active minister from their government!!! 4 states banned a “religious oath of office” [Article VI !!!]. 10 states prohibited an “established church” [Bill of Rights !!!].
***!!!***!!! 1640s forward – “separation of church and state” is OLDER THAN THE U.S. CONSTITUTION !!!!!!!!!!

*** “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”
[ Soren Kirkegaard ]

5]. And. THEN !!! – there is the daily rewriting of history, science, and much else – by the reactionary billionaire-funded RIGHT WING FAKE NEWS EMPIRE of radio, TV, internet, books, magazines, “studiers,” “commentators. A MAJOR reason WHY Americans are divided and confused is the BIG LIES emitted EVERY day by the FAR RIGHT communications NETWORK to brainwash good Americans. They have succeeded

The goal: a PLUTOCRATIC THEOCRACY. They’ve succeeded in moving America to “conservative” [actually REACTIONARY] positions on many things, and now, we’ve elected THE most unprincipled, amoral, greedy, liar, in presidential history to a second term. He will be surrounded by oligarchs enacting “PROJECT 2025” goals.
Whatever the Trump administration does, it will be “justified” by rewriting history, science, laws, the Constitution, American traditions, American culture. It is KNOWN – Trump’s tariffs, taxes, deportation scheme – DON’T ADD. UP. Farmers, business people, economists, tax experts have all testified against them. Because THEY WILL INCREASE YOUR COSTS!!! Trump already reneged [Nov. 25, 2024] on YOUR grocery bills being lower!!!!!

*** “Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of men who can fabricate it.” [Hannah Arendt]

We are disgraced. Once our president – Washington – was renowned for his character and judgment. WE have elected a “man” renowned for his lack of character and judgment. Washington prevented a revolt by military officers, “our” recently elected president ENCOURAGED & STARTED A REVOLT against the U.S. government; still lies about it.

Once our president – Lincoln – said “With malice toward none, with charity for all..” WE have elected a “man” renowned for his lack of charity, and above all – for his malice toward many.

Once ur president – FDR – was called a “traitor to his class,” the wealthy, because he REALLY tried to help “the forgotten man.” WE have elected a “man” renowned for his TALK about helping ordinary people – like YOU, but his POLICIES favor the rich and connected

Once our president – Eisenhower – said “May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion. WE have elected a “man” who tolerates NO dissent from his “wisdom” and who demands loyalty to himself above all.

Once our president – Republican Hoover – said “The trouble with capitalism is capitalists. they’re too damn greedy.” WE have elected a “man” who said “You can’t be too greedy.” And LIVES that creed.

Once our president – Republican Ford – said “Truth is the glue that holds government together.” WE have elected a “man” who said over 30,000 documented lies as “our” president; whose entire public life has been built on DOCUMENTED falsehoods; who for the last decade has won or been a top candidate for the Politifact “Big Lie of the Year; who objected to to his 2024 campaign speeches being fact-checked.

Once our president – Republican Coolidge – said. “The governments of the past could fairly be characterized as devices for maintaining in perpetuity the place and position of certain privileged classes, without any ultimate protections for the rights of the people. The Government of the United States is a device for maintaining in perpetuity the rights of the people, with the ultimate extinction of all privileged classes.” WE have elected a “man” who is building a government of billionaires; ho has selected two of them to create “government efficiency – who’ve said they’ll cut $2 trillion fromYOUR government’s budget [which cannot be done without cutting things like Social Security &Medicare]; a president whose $1 domestic “achievement” was an immoral, anti-democratic 2017 tax cut for the rich which he wants to renew in spite of its responsibility for 25% of national debt, trillions more if extended.

Once our president – Republican Theodore Roosevelt – said “No people is wholly civilized where s distinction is drawn between stealing an office and stealing a purse>”. WE have elected a “man” who ORCHESTRATED a plot to steal the 2020 election, then told THE BIG LIE that it wasn’t he – who lost by 7 million votes!!! – but his opponents who’d stolen the election. The Capitol was trashed, police were killed & injured, hundreds convicted of rioting said they’d “been called” by this “man’ to “stop the steal.” !!!

Once our president Cleveland – said “Communism is a hateful thing and a menace to peace and organized government; but the communism of combined wealth and capital, the outgrowth of overweening cupidity and selfishness, which insidiously undermines the justice and integrity of free institutions, is not less dangerous than the communism of oppressed poverty and toil.” WE have just elected a “man” who talks about “the deep state,” who’s vowed to fire government officials who dare discipline him and his businesses, who nominated a “loyalist” to run America’s to law enforcement agency [and that man vowed to clean house of disloyal people]; who put far right zealots on a severely corrupted “supreme court” who have undermined American democracy with lying decisions.

II. We are disgraced – because we are damaging and killing our own children. We tolerate four plagues that have damaged children here and around the world: climate crisis denial; social media poisoning their minds; gun violence; censorship.
Read the New York Times Magazine for November 10, 2024 for young people’s stories from Peru, Bangladesh, Tanzania; Greece; Alberta; Nigeria; New Zealand on the impact of climate crisis NOW and for their entire lives.
Read “After Babel..How Social Media Dissolved The Mortar of Society And Made America Stupid” [Jonathan Haidt; May, 2022; The Atlantic. Read “The Dumbest Generation..How the Digital Age Stupifies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future” [English professor Mark Bauerlein]
Watch the DVD “Cyberbully” [ABC Family]; then research the number of children committing suicide and going to doctors for mental health help; spending 4-6-8 hours daily on social media because they’ve BECOME ADDICTED.
December 18, 2024, Washington Post: more than 31,000 K-12 students experienced a 2024 school shooting; 426 school shootings since 2/20/99 Columbine High. December 17, 2024, New York Times: guns are the leading cause of deaths of children in 2020 and 2021
An elementary teacher reports these children’s questions about an active shooter: “If I was in the bathroom, should I jump out the window?; “How will we get to our homes if we don’t know how to cross the street yet?; “What if I can’t find my teacher and all the classroom doors are locked?”; “If the shooter came into the room and killed people, would you have to go home by yourself?” What “civilized” society FORCES its children to HAVE to ask such questions ?????
Read “Book Bans Harm Kids” [ Editors; December, 2024; Scientific American ]: “Censoring what children read deprives them of reality and the chance to feed their curiosity and develop empathy…Under the guise of protecting children from harm, they vow to defund public libraries and alter school curricula. But its the book bans themselves that cause the most harm, robbing youngsters of opportunities to think critically, explore ideas and learn about experiences different from their own. The people responsible for moving books from classrooms and libraries are trying to limit the flow of information. Their efforts aim to undermine democracy..create..young people who will not question authority..”

A “Our Children Are Drowning” letter [Minnesota Star Tribune; 12/21/24]: “Our children are drowning – emotionally, socially, and mentally – and we’re standing on the shore, reacting only when they go under…We must face a difficult reality; Our children are not learning what it means to connect, to belong, to feel seen and supported…We need to rethink how we raise, teach, and nurture our children.”
***Our children are drowning because this “society” has STOLEN THEIR CHILDHOOD INNOCENCE.

III. VIGILANCE
*** “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few.” [Wendell Phillips]
*** “The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a low extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.” [Robert W. Hutchins]
*** “We can either have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentration in the hands of a few. but we cannot have both.” [Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis]

!!!!! Educate YOURSELF !!!!!
1}. Research pre and post-1980 American income, wealth, tax statistics. Much happens because of dramatic post-1980 changes – CORRUPTIONS -actually. From 1947-73, America – by DESIGN – had balance in those statistics. We had rich people, what we DIDN’T have, was obscene greed, allowed by law. The lower 90% struggles – BY DESIGN – because the top 1% – about 3.5 million – live in previously unimagined luxury [accept for the Gilded Age of 1865-1900 – which they’re trying to recreate] . A totally CORRUPT “supreme court” has facilitated this with immoral decisions like “Citizens United.” As long as we have current “campaign finance” existing – NOTHING will improve for the lower 90%.
2]. “Democracy in Chains” [Nancy MacLean, 2017]: ‘..the single most powerful and least understood threat to democracy today: the attempt by the billionaire-backed radical right to undo democratic governance…a stealth bid to reverse-engineer all of America, at both state and national levels, back to the political economy and oligarchic governance of midcentury Virginia…”
3] “Dark Money…The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right” [Jane Mayer, 2016 – or – see “Dark Money DVD, directed by Kimberly Reed.
4]. “Evil Geniuses”. [Kurt Andersen, 2020]: ‘…the New Deal gave way to the Raw Deal. Beginning in the early 1970s, by means of a long war conceived of and executed by a confederacy of big business CEOs, the superrich, and right wing zealots, the rules and norms that made the American middle class possible were undermined and dismantled. the clock was turned back on a century of economic progress, making greed good, workers powerless, and the market all powerful while weaponizing nostalgia, lifting up an oligarchy..”
5]. “Perfectly Legal”. [d.C. Johnston, 2003]: “The tax system is becoming a tool to turn the American dream..into an impossible goal for tens of millions of Americans…used to create a nation where fewer stable jobs and less secure retirement income…used by the rich..to shift risks off themselves and unto everyone else…perhaps worst of all, our tax system now forces most Americans to subsidize the lifestyles of the very rich..”
6] “Erasing History..How Fascists Rewrite The Past To Control The Future”. [Jason Stanley, 2024}. – just like the fictitious “Big Brother,’ and sending “bad” history “down the memory hole”!!!!! – explains how much of the FAR RIGHT’s war on education, their censoring “bad’ books and “bad” information – so THEY can LIE to YOU and YOUR children.
7]. “How Democracies Die” [S. Levitsky 7 D. Ziblatt, 2018]: “The good news is that there are several exit ramps on the road to authoritarianism. the bad news is that , b y electing Trump, we have already passed the first one.”
8] “The Death of Truth..Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump” [M. Kakutani, 2018 – Pulitzer Prize winning literary critic]: “truth decay” – the diminishing role of facts and analysis in American public life, fake science, fake history, fake Americans on Facebook, fake followers; much more fakery. – outside of crooks – most of it by the FAR RIGHT

*** Mr. and Mrs. lower 90%: DO SOMETHING!…..SPEAK UP!…REFUTE LIES!…VOTE! WHY? The war, identified by billionaire Warren Buffett – is directed at YOU, YOUR CHILDREN, YOUR GRANDCHILDREN, it is an ORGANIZED THEFT of the 1947-73 golden American middle class prosperity: shipping jobs overseas, virulent hostility toward ANY labor union, BUYING LEGISLATION in states and Washington. As Nobel Prize in economic winner Joe Stiglitz said – the post-1980 inequality DIDN’T JUST HAPPEN, it was DELIBERATELY planned and executed. Do REAL research – mostly off the I-net: the Reagan, Bush II, Trump regimes have permanently damaged American democracy – BY DESIGN. Speak up, act – or it WILL get worse… for YOUR children and grandchildren…….time is running out on YOU

*** “Never let yourself be persuaded that any one great man, any one leader, is necessary o the salvation of America. When America consists of one leader and 155 million followers, it will no longer be America.”
[ Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower ]

1] “Trump gives ‘Person of the Year’ interview to Time magazine” [Meryl Kornfield; 12/13/24; Washington Post]: “Trump hedges on food price promise”. YOU might want to consider: Previous Time “Person of the Year” persons included Vladimir Putin, Joseph Stalin [2!!!], Adolf Hitler.

***”The best index to a person’s character is [a] how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and [b] how he treats people who can’t fight back.” [ Abigail Van Buren, “Dear Abby ]

2]. “Justice” – “Justice delayed is justice denied.” {William E. Gladstone}
A] Questions??? How much money, and from whom???, has Donald J. Trump spent trying to delay [ EVADE] justice – the accountability for his violations of SEVERAL U.S. laws, in several courts ?????
B]. A long-standing law: documents involving ANY president during his term ARE NOT his personal property. Pence, Biden, Trump were all discovered to have violated this – Pence and Biden returned materials – TRUMP REFUSED.
C] Trump was RECORDED making phone calls [a]. to Ukraine asking for “dirt” on the Bidens, [b] to Georgia asking for 12,000 more votes. In what world are these “legitimate presidential Constitutional functions ?????
D] “Material fro Russia probe went missing” {M.Haberman, J.Barnes; l1/16/23; New York Times]: “Disappearance of highly classified intel was during Trumps last days in office.”

***. “There can be no equal justice when the kind of trial a man gets depends on the amount of money he has.”
[ Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black ]

3] Pardons – mercy, or, ?????
A] “Trump Pardoned Them: Now They’re Helping Him” [B.Reinhard, M.Roig-Franzia, C.Morse; 12/3/23; Washington Post}: “Never before had a president used his constitutional clemency power to free or forgive so many people who could be useful to his future political efforts.”
B] “How a Troubling Trump Pardon Hurt a Major Criminal Inquiry” [M.Schmidt, M.Haberman, J.Swan, A.Feuer; 11/26/23; New York Times]: “Nearly three years later, the consequences of Mr. Braun’s commutation are becoming clearer..dealt a substantial blow to an ambitious criminal investigation..”
C]. “Jan. 6 rioters looking forward to ‘coming home’ [M.Kunzelman; 11/8/24; Assoc. Press]: “Rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, are celebrating Trump’s victory and hoping he makes good on his campaign trail promise to pardon them..More than 1,000 defendants have pleaded guilty or been convicted..”
D]. “Biden mulls preemptive pardons” [T.Pager, M.Kornfield; 12/6/24; Washington Post]: Talk focuses on potential political targets of retribution by Trump”

***”Of all the costs imposed on our society by the top 1%, perhaps the greatest is this: the erosion of our sense of identity in which fair play, equality of opportunity, and a sense of community are so important…our democracy is being put at peril.” [Nobel Prize winner Joe Stiglitz, “The Price Of Inequality]

4] Retribution – “Whoever has shown no mercy, he shall have judgment without mercy.” [James 2″ 13]
A]. “Trump’s picks support retribution” [{A.Blake; 12/8/24; Washington Post Weekly]: “At least nine choices for senior posts have made clear they want to get rid or of target opponents.”
B]. “Trump’s Foes Fear His Retribution..Pointing to legal threats, some say efforts for revenge have already begun” [H.Knowles, C.Itkowitz; 12/21/24; Washington Post]: “Trump’s first impulse is to go after people who cross him…that’s what’s going to happen, and what’s happening now..The goal ..is to create a climate of intimidation..”

***. “Indeed, revenge is always the pleasure of a paltry, feeble, tiny mind.” [ Juvenal ]

5] Payback
A] “Trump boosters expect big returns on their investment” [E.Lipton; 11/18/24; New York Times] : “Executives who gave millions stand to profit…limit the reach of federal regulations on A.I….make room for cryptocurrencies to thrive…ease the antitrust crackdown on big tech companies…buy more military drones…don’t raise taxes on billionaires..” [ did I miss it here, or, is aid to Mr. & Mrs. lower 90% NOT under consideration !?!?!?!!!!!!!!???????]
B] “Trump Family Business Is Preparing To Profit. [E. lipton, B.Protess, D.Yaffe-Bellany; 12/6/24; New York Times]: “It looks like Trump is panning to flagrantly violate key anticorruption provisions of the Constitution again, said Zephyr Teachout, ” a Fordham Law School professor.
C] “Trump picks crypto advocate Atkins to run SEC” [M.Goldstein, D.Yaffe-Bellany,; 12/5/24; New York Times]: “Ex-Securities and Exchange Commissioner favors looser regulation of digital assets”
D]. “Tycoons of Tech Steer Transition For Trump Team…Touching Nearly Every Department Despite Little Experience” [T.Schliefer, M.Haberman, J.Swan; l2/8/24; New York Times]]: .”…shaping hiring decisions and even conducting interviews for senior-level jobs..one of the most conflict-ridden presidential transitions in modern history…clashing mightily with the notion that Mr. Trump’s populism is all about helping the working man.”

*** ‘…the single most powerful and least understood threat to democracy today: the attempt by..billionaire-backed radical right to undo democratic governance..a stealth bid to reverse-engineer all of America..back to the political economy of oligarchic governance of mid-century Virginia..” [ Nancy MacLean – “Democracy in Chains” ]

6]. ??? Co-President Musk ???
A] Headlines, 12/19-12/21/24: “Shutdown looms as GOP kills bill”. {Washington Post], and, “Scrambling in D.C. to avert shutdown” [Assoc. Press}: “..Musk boasted on X ..after he spent the day blasting the legislation..” [12/19]; “..Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk, who called the legislative plays from afar..” [12/21]
B]. “Will Musk have the guts to take on insurers?” [J.Burcum; 12/21/24; Minn Star Tribune]: “..it’ll be very interesting to see if Musk and the Trump administration have the courage to take on AHIP..Said Richard Kronick..If Republicans are serious about cutting spending, Medicare Advantage is the most fertile ground to be paying attention to because of thr overpayments..”
C]. “Elon Musk blasts SEC probe into Twitter”. [12/14/24; T.Romm, F.Sidddiqui; Washington Post]: “..Musk has reprised many of his public rebukes on the SEC, an agency whose trajectory he may now shape as the leader of the “Department of Government Efficiency..”

***. “In whose delusional mind is democracy made ‘better’ by allowing wealthy people to control more of it.”
Jon Stewart – in “On 1984,” edited by James Daley ]

7] Trump’s Enablers and Accomplices
A] “There’s a Reason Trump Has Friends in High Places” [J.Bouie; 6/16/24; New York Times]: “Capital..tries to have it both ways..freeloads off public power…thirst for profit periodically tempts some fractions..to rebel against public power…these business leaders have come to believe..’the threat to capitalism from the Democrats is more concerning than the threat to democracy from Trump.'”
B] “Trump is Nothing Without Accomplices” { S.Levitsky, D.Ziblatt; 9/10/23; New York Times }: “Individual autocrats..are never enough to wreck a democracy. Democracy’s assassins always have accomplices among mainstream politicians.. ˇhe greatest threat to our democracy comes..from the ordinary politicians..who protect and enable him.”
C]. “The GOP’s war on arithmetic”. [C.Rampell; 12/15/24; Washington Post Weekly]: ‘..[the Republican Party]..is near unanimous frustration with the pesky laws of arithmetic. That cutting taxes would reduce future tax revenue..perpetually aggrieves them..Republicans’ solution: invent a New Math…The CBO’s budget-scoring methods don’t support Crapo’s fiscal fantasies…Trump’s habit of torturing data until it confesses….Peter Navarro, tried to bully career statisticians into changing how they measured deficits…”
D] “Trump loyalists purging voter rolls”. [A.Berzon, N.Corasaniti; 3/14/24; New York Times]: “Activists targeting key states, Times discovered…targeted Democratic areas, relying on novel legal theories ..[with].. no grounding in fact..”

*** “Wherever Law ends Tyranny begins.” [ John Locke ]

8] SAVING AMERICAN. DEMOCRACY – What Barriers to Dictatorship Remain?
A]. “Will the Supreme Court Stand Up to Trump?” [S. Vladeck; 11/17/24; New York Times]: “The problem for the court – and for the republic – is that it’s going to be much harder for the justices to push back this time around, even if they want to..because of the sharp decline in public support..”
B] “What will the military do if Trump gives unconstitutional orders?” [ML Cavanaugh; 12/22/24; L.A. Times]: “Unfortunately, the answers aren’t straightforward.” [What’s “legal” and what’s “illegal”?}
C] “Will the Senate Save America From Trump’s Cabinet?” [J.Conason; 12/15/24; The Progressive Populist]: “If you were seeking to destroy the country, the Gabbard, FGaetz, and RFK Jr. picks were exactly the ones you’d make.”
D]. “GOP bloc curtails power of Trump” [C.Edmondson, A.Duehren; 12/22 24; New York Times]: “Something unusual happened last week after President-elect Donald Trump ordered House Republicans to back legislation raising the debt limit: Dozens refused.”
E] This leaves. YOU!!! Are YOU, fellow Americans, willing to speak out against destructive, anti-democratic. moves by His Excellency, Donald Trump ???
For perspective: less than one month after getting elected on his promise to IMMEDIATELY lower. YOUR grocery costs – he said that would be hard – meaning it. WASN’T GOING. TO. HAPPEN !!! Numerous economists, plus people in farming and business have repeatedly told us. – Trump’s tariffs WILL. RAISE. YOUR. COSTS.
Deporting ANY significant numbers of illegal migrants WILL RAISE YOUR COSTS because they’re NOW doing work Americans havw refused to do for decades. Cutting taxes on the already OBSCENELY RICH – will either/both – cut government services YOU rely upon and/or RAISE YOUR TAXES. – because Trump’s “numbers” DON’T ADD UP..
Economists, many others, tell YOU the Musk-Ramaswamy “government efficiency” fraud of cutting $2 trillion can ONLY be done by cutting things like SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE – unless they adequately fund the IRS so it can save over $1 trillion a year in taxes not paid; unless they reduce the national debt interest payments – so we aren’t WASTING $1.2 trillion a year in interest on that debt [CREATED PRIMARILY BY REPUBLICAN TAX CUTS]

*** “The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of a private power to the point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That, in essence, is Fascism: ownership of Government by individual, by a group, or any other controlling private power.” [President Franklin D. Roosevelt]

*** “At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” [Abraham Lincoln]”