Chapter 20 - The Last Mile
January 2024
I began the year in Sacramento doing a video project for Jane and Bill. We shot product videos about their featured wines for use at their retail locations. Bill was a good storyteller and the videos turned out well.
I also picked up my retail job hunting process with Costco, UPS, FedEX and PetCO now that we were through the holidays. I was hoping someone would hire me around the pro-democracy work, but if not I could make up the difference between my social security and what I needed to live with a retail job at basically minimum wage. Little did I know that the hiring process in 2024 for retail positions was working against me.
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I also began following up on two contacts Mark Gerzon had given me. I had known Mark since Jennifer and I had been in Boulder. He had written a book that had gotten some notice and developed a documentary based on the idea of people attempting to bridge the culture war gap between red and blue affiliations by talking to each other. This view was part of the Alliance strategy that I had been a part of for nearly four years, but in my view since Trump had won in 2016 this approach had become irrelevant.
Mark had once again come on like a ball of fire in 2023 to do something more for the 24 election. His idea was to push a narrative of what a “True American Patriot” was. He hired me to do some research on this narrative with the promise he had funding to do something big.
I thought the idea to flip the “American patriot” narrative from MAGA to pro-democracy had some promise based on what we were seeing in our VSD narrative analysis. We were just getting started when Mark went to a pro-democracy convention in Hollywood without me, talked to two people and decided to can the idea. As my going away prize he had given me two contacts in the Bay Area that were doing pro-democracy work that I included in the interview work I was doing for Vital Signs. The more interesting one was the a web property called “All Sides”.
All Sides had developed an algorithm that allowed them to “rate” news articles as either being conservative, independent or liberal in their perspective. They then presented the three views side by side so that in theory the user could get three points of view and decide where they stood. This type of analysis was in the same conceptual ballpark as the narrative analysis we were doing at Vital Signs with the exception that they did not rate the responses. It was an attempt to cut through the noise in the news marketplace and make some sense of it all.
Normally, All Sides would have been an interesting idea, but it made one assumption that in my view was no longer true. IF the cultural conversation had still been taking place within the historical guardrails of political discourse based on a common set of facts, then there might have been something to it, but in the current MAGA environment where the “conservative” view had been distorted by lies and disinformation, the idea of comparing lies to truth was useless, even dangerous in that it appeared to normalize the lies as some version of the truth. When I talked to the CEO he seemed interested in the Vital Signs work as another filter he could offer his web visitors. He was also raising a new round of funding to expand the company. At some point he sent me to his guy that was the head of programming. That is where I began to run into the “not invented here” syndrome that I would find so prevalent in pro-democracy forces as I pushed forward in 2024.
Let me be clear. I am not suggesting that the narrative analysis we were doing at Vital Signs was the be all, end all. It was just one subjective narrative filter you could use to calculate how much our democracy was in trouble based on the stories we were telling. But it WAS different than anything else being done.
I thought “Both Sides” would be looking for something new to offer their audience as the 2024 political environment became more challenging. That turned out not to be true. The program guy wanted nothing to do with something he didn’t create. He submarined my conversation with the CEO by claiming I was trying to sell VSD services to them. This was not true. I had offered them for free. I really began to feel that the big fund raising effort he was doing to support this All Sides premise was a kind of sham. This seeming disconnect between the unprecedented challenge that was facing us in our democracy and wanting to try something new to address it would continue to raise its head as I pushed out in the Northern California pro-democracy community.
Community
As I mentioned in an earlier chapter, my considerable network in Boulder did not come back after Covid had run its course. Many of my boomer friends felt their age creeping up on them like I did and never did fully emerge after we were allowed to come out of our homes. That’s one of the reasons I had come to California. To attempt to find some new community energy that could help me with feeling so alone and isolated.
Bruce had given me a couple of contacts with media production people he knew from the past in Sacramento. I had some initial conversations with some of them. They had some interest in acting as shooters and editors if I made more videos, so that was something. But, they also felt tired like I did in attempting to continue to dredge something up from nothing.
I also reached out to a number of pro-democracy groups I found in Sacramento. They were still mostly meeting on zoom, so there were few gatherings I could go to meet kindred spirits. One group that was made up of boomers looked promising, but after multiple attempts to connect with them I gave up. They did ask me for money however, which would also become a pattern. I even looked at Governor Newsom’s pro-democracy group. I admired his energy as a possible candidate for 2028, but again I got requests to give them money, but no pick up on what I was offering. No one seemed interested in thinking outside the box. That worried me with “the Donald” arising again.
Another thing I did was look for “storytelling” groups that were interested in exploring the power of stories to transform us. There were a couple, but in attending their gatherings I felt like I was walking into an old folks home. For whatever reason younger, more energized people were hard for me to find with my web searches OR they were just so busy with the lives (as I had been at that age) that gathering wasn’t their thing.
I did continue my interviews on the state of democracy for Vital Signs. One of those was with Barbara Wilson. She was described by my old friend Isabel Wade as the best Democratic organizer in Northern California. She immediately got excited about the video campaign I wanted to create using the VSD narrative intelligence. She claimed she had a group of rich people that she could gather to hear my pitch. I felt a glimmer of hope that I had found the opening I was looking for. I had done pitches like this in the past and they had gone well. The $100,000 I needed to support me up until the election to create and distribute the videos she said was no problem.
Barbara also got me involved with two big funding organizations that offered people with money the information they needed to pick groups to donate to. These funding organizations were very sophisticated and seemed to have methods of measuring the impact of money they raised on the election in question. That was very different from organizations like “All Sides” that could never tell you how effective their offerings were in impacting the political arena. I had also witnessed this lack of “proof” that money or time that contributors gave them actually made a difference in the group Vote Common Cause that I had done the 2022 mid-terms campaign with. We progressives like to talk about how Trumps MAGA PACs are really grifts to pay his legal bills or support his lavish lifestyle, but this “grift” also existed in my view on the progressive side as well. Even IF the intentions were better. The biggest of these frauds I found in 2024 was the group called “No Labels.”
They had started out as a grassroots effort that I looked at before in my research in 2022 concerning the potential of “independent” candidates winning elections.
I identified as an independent. I didn’t like what either party was doing to keep competitors from mounting campaigns that were not theirs. There had been some efforts in the past by billionaires like Ross Perrot to offer an alternative to the two main parties.
He actually got 19% of the vote in 1992. (no electoral votes) All that did however was hand the election to Bill Clinton because Perrot took more voters from Bush than Clinton. At the beginning of 2024 it looked like we could have another spoiler in Robert Kennedy Jr. In spite of his conspiracy theory fixation. His Kennedy name was attracting those that were unhappy with the seeming bad choice of Trump or Biden, but back to No Labels.
No Labels exploded into a group with millions of dollars in funding because of the uneasiness of rich people about the choice between Trump and Biden. I sat in on their big zoom calls to hear the pitch. They claimed that independent voters now made up the biggest voters group in America. IF they could be organized as a third force, they might have a chance to impact the 2024 election. What started to smell to me was they were receiving big donations from MAGA billionaires. The only thing I could figure out about why this was is that they thought this “No Labels” “bi-partisan” ticket would take more votes away from Biden than Trump.
The only issue I had with No Labels was that their claims of legitimacy were based on a very flawed reading of voter preferences. While it was true that independent voters were the largest group in 2024, most of them actually “leaned” either left or right. There were very few that were interested in something truly independent according to the research.
No Labels made big claims that they would attract major political figures like Joe Manchin, but in the end, they took in all that money and then announced they couldn’t get anyone significant to be their candidates. I was on the call when this was revealed. Their CEO joined the call briefly and said it had been a great journey but now it was over... thanks for playing. It didn’t mean however that the organization wasn’t going to continue with their big payroll. A grift by any other name.
No One Above the Law?
The news from the courts and Justice System at the beginning of the year continued to suggest that Trump was being treated with kid gloves concerning his 85 felony count indictments. Supposedly, America was founded on the premise that no one was above the law, even ex-presidents, but for years individuals with money (including Trump) had “bought” a different, privileged kind of justice. They could tie up cases with endless appeals and extend trials until they were no longer relevant anymore. Their high powered, well paid attorneys “played” the weaknesses in the system.
In addition, Trump attempted to publicly intimidate judges, jurors and witnesses by calling them out as politically motivated. His buddies at Fox News repeated these lies to millions. He extended his rants to include their families as well. When his followers discovered their home addresses, the threats (including on their lives) increased. The justice system did not seem to know how to deal with this harassment. They kept warning Trump that if he continued they would issue “gag” orders, but those didn’t seem to slow Trump and his allies down very much. He just got other people to repeat his rants including prominent MAGA members of Congress.
If you and I had threatened witnesses, judges and jurors like Trump did, we would have been sent to jail. Yet, the courts, apparently not wanting to appear politically biased, let him mostly continue his attacks no matter who it endangered. It got so bad that judges in the first cases to come to court tried to protect the names of the jurors and witnesses, but some still got out. Jurors asked to be excused, not wanting MAGA true believers to leap into their lives. In some cases, individuals and families had to move to reduce the dangers. Yet, Trump continued on.
In order to distract from Trumps legal troubles, his allies in the House convened “impeachment” hearings against President Biden without a single shred of evidence. All this activity was designed to play to Trumps base and distract from Trumps crimes. What impact these antics would have on his trials moving forward before the election was unclear at this point.
Lets Make a Deal
Trump had always been described as “transactional.” He made his decisions based on what he was getting out of it, even if that meant hurting the American people. This had included his first impeachment when he attempted to strong arm the Ukrainian government into creating dirt on Joe Biden and his family by withholding military aid approved by Congress.
There were also all kinds of other rumors about money he was receiving illegally from foreign governments while he was President. At the turn of the year it was revealed that China had given him millions through his various businesses even as he painted them as the evil empire. Any one of these “transactions” would have doomed anyone else’s career, but there were so many of them, the justice department and the media had trouble keeping track of them. And the public got tired of hearing about them day after day. For the most part, he got away with these “donations” and “gifts” while he was president.
Culture Wars
As we headed into the election year of 2024 the country seemed more “polarized” than ever. Trump’s operational plan to set Americans against each other seemed to be succeeding. There had always been extreme conspiracy theories hanging out on the edge of the cultural conversation, but what had changed was that social media platforms like Meta (Facebook) Twitter and Tik Tok (owned by a Chinese government company) picked up these lies and disinformation and brought them into the mainstream conversation as part of their business plans.
For years it was recognized that people paid more attention to news when they covered scandals, violent behavior or tragic events. The old broadcast television news adage of “if it bleeds it leads” was now pumped up on steroids by the reach of the social media platforms. Millions now saw these “stories” whether they were true or not. And the platforms adjusted their algorithms concerning what got published and promoted to create conflict that would draw audiences.
Even a Davos Survey from the infamous organization of billionaires warned the biggest threat to global security was the disinformation and lies driven by AI algorithms on social media news platforms. The MAGA game plan was to sow as much confusion and chaos in the campaign as they could that normal citizens would have trouble figuring out what was happening. In all the smoke from these fabricated narratives, the rich and powerful corporations like Google, Amazon, Meta and Twitter got away with anything while they majorly impacted America’s cultural conversation. In all the attempted discussions in Congress about how these platforms should reduce the lies and disinformation they published, not once did anyone suggest that to really do this, the platforms would have to change their business plans. They made money off the chaos and influenced enough people in Congress to keep the grift going.
The insanity that these billionaire monopolies were still protected from being sued for liable by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 was just one example of what was wrong.
Section 230 had been passed with great fanfare by Bill Clinton to protect fledgling internet startups from legal prosecution for what they published, It was meant to give these Internet startups a chance to develop. Whatever good intentions had created Section 230, this regulation was now crippling our social discourse. Yet, with the exception of a few brave Congress men and women, no one suggested that Section 230 should be revoked. There was simply too much money to be made by setting Americans against each other and these “fledgling” Internet startups like Google, Amazon etc now spent more money than any other industry lobbying Congress not to change the regulations. Money talks seemed to be in play… in spades.
2024 - A Banner Year for Fascism
The challenges to democracy were not just taking place in America. Around the globe western democracies were being pressured by fascist political forces as a result of immigration pressures caused by civil war, political persecution and climate change. It seemed entirely insane we had forgotten that 80 million people had been killed in World War 2 defending ourselves from fascism. Fascist roots that remained after the war were arising again as a political cancer even in countries that had been devastated by fascism in the past. The old adage After defeat... shadow takes a different form and attempts to rise again came to mind. In 2024 more than 4 billion people worldwide were eligible to vote in an election. Would democracy continue to maintain its influence or was the world slipping towards something darker… again.
When you listen to such provocative fascist voices in America or in other countries around the world, they use the same language and cultural memes as the Nazis did leading up to WWII. No one seemed to remember what the result had been that time around as that war “generation” was mostly dead.
Historically, this rise of authoritarian forces about every 70-80 years was not new. It seemed the lessons of the past were forgotten as these dark voices given credence again. A new generation of “leaders” proclaiming these fascist narratives, seem to have forgotten the fate of those that came before them. It would be interesting to see if we had the stomach to go through the anti-authoritarian fight all over again. Democracies are messy, slow and hard to maintain. Authoritarian forces like we see again in Russia and China are actually much more efficient at dealing with cultural challenges. They simply kill anyone who opposes them. No real elections or voting necessary.
The question at the beginning of 2024 was… were a majority of Americans willing to move out of their comfort zones to stand up to these authoritarian bullies?
Is This Our Choice?
Biden had beaten Trump in 2020 by 45,000 votes in three battleground states. True to his word, Trump never accepted his defeat so as 2024 dawned, he and his allies were still questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 election while they got ready to do it all over again in 2024. While it seemed clear that Trump and Biden would be the candidates again, there were so many unknowns we were seeing based on our VSD narrative intelligence it didn’t seem like a sure thing.
Trump might be in jail convicted of any of his crimes and Biden at 82 was beginning to show his age. Being president ages even the strongest man, and Biden was showing signs he was declining. However, what were the Democrats supposed to do? No one younger would challenge Biden if he wanted to run for a second term. And the thing that was mostly forgotten was this. In 2020, Biden had not had to go out on the road to campaign in the usual stressful manner. Covid made it mandatory that he mostly did virtual campaign appearances. How would the rigors of a real road campaign impact his health.
And on the MAGA side, Trump had been indicted for fomenting an insurrection against the US government and the peaceful transfer of power among other things. If it wasn’t for few Republicans in battleground states that did the right thing, Trump and his allies could have succeeded in 2020. America seemed like it was in some sort of alternative reality show where someone with Trumps baggage would even be considered to run again. But the Republican party was no longer traditionally conservative. They had become a cult to one man. This made voters seemingly uneasy and disinterested in politics as we headed into the election year. 70% of Americans wanted different choices than Trump and Biden, yet the wheel continued to turn towards that inevitability.
How Do You Report On That?
The other big question looming in January was how the progressive media was going to report on Trumps revival. Some thought he shouldn’t be given the amount of air time he was getting, endlessly reporting on his latest threats and bizarre pronouncements. Others said the electorate needed to be reminded of just how crazy and dangerous he was if he got elected again.
At Vital Signs we were asking an even bigger question that was unprecedented. IF it looked like Trump was winning and our democracy was in trouble… how would the progressive media report on it? Would they continue to simply describe the latest dust up with no opinion on its impact on our system of governance? Certainly, Fox News continued to do it on the other side of the contest, or would they stand up and attempt to rally the majority of Americans to stop Trump from becoming president again.
Again, the issue of money and profit was in the mix. Fox News had become the largest cable news network in terms of ratings by pandering to their audience with an alternative reality stew of lies and disinformation. It was designed to support the continuance of the white, patriarchal power structure that was threatened by the multi-cultural make up of America in 2024. But CNN and MSNBC and certainly the social media platforms also understood the every time they made Trump the lead story their audience numbers went up. So, what were they to do? This would become increasingly dangerous as the year proceeded.
Some other quick hits from the January news of 2024 included:
• The MAGA majority on the Supreme Court continued to manufacture cases to consider so they could challenge long held legal precedents in their efforts to lessen the power of the Federal government and add to the power of the rich and powerful, including them.
• Climate Change as an issue was hardly being mentioned by either party in the middle of all the cultural war chaos leading into 2024. MAGA folks decided not to be vague about it anymore and labeled Climate Change a “woke” fairytale, even as the severity of storms and loss of life continued to increase in red states.
• A bipartisan group in the Senate and the House negotiated a deal to improve southern border immigration. To get it done Democrats agreed to some stiff measures that would limit the number of people being allowed to immigrant legally. As it was about to pass Trump got on the phone with his MAGA allies in Congress and killed it. He wanted to use immigration as a major weapon against Biden in 2024. He did not want to see conditions improve. It seemed Democrats could use that against him in his run for the presidency again.
• As a result of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, Europe and NATO were beginning to entertain the unthinkable. A Russian invasion of NATO countries in the East leading to a world wide conflict. Putin seemed that committed to restoring the former Russian empire.
February
I continued to work with Barbara Wilson on planning a “live” event in her home to pitch our Which America 24 video campaign concept to her rich friends. I visited her home to discuss how to set up the room for maximum effect and we talked about what the pitch should lead with. She also sent some of my storyboards to friends of hers. I had asked her not to. In my experience, normal people can not extrapolate what the video will be like from still images and text. Fortunately, most of the reviews came back positive with the exception of some 30 something nephew of hers who had just gotten his first producing job on the Democrats Senate campaign. He was really critical of the approach for all the wrong reasons. I seemed to put Barbara’s concern to rest but it may have played a part in what was coming next.
As we were closing in on a date for the pitch gathering, she decided we should have real sample spots to show people. To her credit she gave me $10,000 to create them. Just enough if my new production friends would work for low wages hoping the full campaign would get funded.
In the interviews I had been conducting for the VSD work I had wanted to interview students. It turned out one of my new production friends was a film and media professor at Sacramento State. Mark suggested we give his students cameras to go out on campus to interview other students about their feelings about the 24 election. Remember, Biden and Trump were still the choice at this point. The results of these impromptu interviews were really eye opening.
In addition to a general ambivalence about their election choices, some of those interviewed most revealing answers came when they were asked to describe “democracy.” Remember, the Democrats at this point were really pushing the “save our democracy” from Trump narrative.
It turned out that what was revealed in the students impromptu answers was a general lack of knowledge of how democracy was supposed to work. This was something we had picked up in our VSD research about a year prior. At that point I could not understand why more people under 40 were not more outraged concerning Trump and his allies challenging our constitutional system of checks and balances or ignoring Congressional subpoenas and Department of Justice inquiries.
When I looked into the assumption I had made as a boomer that all students in middle school get a year of “how our system works” like I did, I was shocked. Only 12 states of the 50 still required this year of instruction anymore. The interviewees could recount some of the principles of a democratic system like “everyone gets to vote” but they did not know how the system of checks and balances between the three branches of government was actually supposed to work to keep extremists on either side of the aisle in check. So, IF you didn’t know how the system was supposed to work, why would you get very excited about saving it.
Saving democracy to these students was mostly an abstract concept. Any campaign built on that story seemed like it would not impact them. And most of the early pro-democracy spots promoted Biden's accomplishments on the economy and climate. The problem with this approach was that MAGA media told an opposite story leaving the country confused about what the truth was. Biden said we had a robust, recovering economy, MAGA said it was crashing from high prices and inflation. Biden said violent crime was down nationwide. MAGA said violent crime was rampant, particularly in Democratic cities. Biden said they had stemmed the overwhelming flow of immigrants over the southern border. MAGA said thousands of immigrant killers, rapists and terrorists were pouring over an open border.
It was so easy to get lost in the weeds on these issues that I thought we needed voters to step back and first ask a question… “Which America Do You Want?” The authoritarian one offered by MAGA or a more democratic one offered by Biden Democrats. It turned out when we asked this question in a second round of interviews with students they picked democracy over MAGA darkness every time.
This was supported by the polls on any major issues like abortion rights, gun or immigration reform. 70% of Americans generally agreed women should have the right to choose, that we should impose reasonable gun regulations and ban assault weapons and set fair goals for immigration and enforce them. This 70% included moderate conservatives, independents and liberals. They still did not agree sometimes on exactly how to do it, but they choose democracy vs. oligarchy every time. I thought we could create a set of simple, sample spots that would ask this question on a variety of issues we faced in the 2024 election. We seem to have that going for us.
The Illusive Community
I also re-connected with my friend Blake Kingsbury after I got to Sacramento. He had been one of the original investors in Story Studio. The pandemic had severely altered his finances. Deals he had in place to provide him with a revenue stream to save the world disappeared with the downturn. He muddled through so by now he had somewhat recovered and was building a model community in Asheville, North Carolina. We had talked a lot about developing models of communities that could work as if they were in the future world that we wanted to live in. I thought at the time, if the VSD work cooled I might go take a look at what he was doing after the election. I was desperate to be part of something again... with people. Little did I know that Blake’s dream in Asheville would be severely impacted later in the year.
The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
My relationship with Jennifer remained close but still challenged. Even though she was struggling to meet her bills, she still was not insisting that Matt get a job to help her with the cost of their common living space. Even though I missed her I was glad to be out of that drama I would hear about when we talked on the phone. I still hoped that Matt and her would find their way and we could revisit what we wanted to do as an aging couple at some point.
Not Happy with Their Choice.
In February a poll came out that stated that 70% of American voters were not happy with the choice of Biden or Trump again. 70%. Unprecedented.
In spite of the news about Trump being indicted on 85+ felony counts apparently was not making any difference to his supporters, a first sign that Trumps legal problems might impact his candidacy surfaced in a new poll. This poll reported a majority of American voters said they will not choose Trump IF he was CONVICTED in any of his federal trials BEFORE the election.
This fun fact however made the assumption that any of his trials would take place before the election. So, far his strategy of delaying the trials with support from his MAGA justices on the Supreme Court put that in question. We kept hearing even the reasonable judges in these cases saying they did not want it too look like the trial would unfairly influence voters by conducting it before the election, but I thought this narrative overlooked sometime equally important. In my mind, I thought the voters had a RIGHT to know IF Trump was guilty of any of these charges before the election.
In the 1972 election the evidence that proved Nixon was guilty of the Watergate coverup was largely ignored until after the election. Nixon resigned roughly a year later but these were different times. Nixon lost his support when the evidence came out where as Trump seemed to gain even more support from his MAGA true believers though he was charged with crimes far more serious than a coverup.
MAGA Supreme Court
Sometimes the luck of the draw has a major impact on history. Certainly the fact that Trump got to choose three new Supreme Court justices was… lucky and tragic for America. For years the Republicans had made a concerted effort to get ultra right leaning judges on courts at all levels of the system.
This campaign was directed by the far right leaning Federalist Society. They not only picked “approved” judges for Trump that promised to overturn Roe v. Wade, but they backed Senator McConnell's blocking the Senate’s consideration of Obama’s last court nominee 10 months before the 2016 election.Looking back on it, President Obama made a mistake, in my view, of not taking his effort on the road and using his celebrated charisma to shame the Senator into allowing the nomination to move forward as it should of. In hindsight, his nominee, Merrick Garland, would have made a better Supreme Court justice than the Attorney General under Biden. Garland was slow to act in charging Trump with federal crimes. Again, not wanting the Justice Department to look biased. Trumps team were attempting to use that sentiment to delay all the trials against Trump until after the election.In another unlucky break Justice Ruth Ginsberg after a celebrated career fighting for the rights for the American people choose not retire even though she was deathly ill. She died 6 weeks before the 2020 election. McConnell had no problem rushing another MAGA justice through the Senate that close to the election. His hypocrisy was criminal and could potentially impact America for decades because of the “for life” appointments to the court.Against the background of a 6-3 MAGA majority on the Supreme Court, the government’s case against Trump for blocking the peaceful transfer of power was now in their hands. The Trump lawyers claimed Trump had immunity from prosecution for fomenting an insurrection against the US government because these “illegal” acts were official duties of the president.The district and appeals courts rejected this absurd argument and it was thought the Supreme Court might not take the case because it was so clear cut. Boy, were we wrong. The MAGA justices led by John Roberts not only took the case but delayed ruling on it until late in the election cycle.When they did rule they shocked the legal community. Through some twisted legal logic, the MAGA majority claimed it was possible Trump was immune from some of his illegal actions because they “might” be seen as part of his official duties. As I write this sentence the absurdity is clear. Trump attempted to overthrow the 2020 election results as a candidate, not president. The ruling was also very vague when it was sent back to the district court to re-consider. As a result, there was no way this trial would start before the election. Trump with his friends on the court had succeeded. IF Trump was elected again, he would make these cases go away. So much for "no one is above the law."At the same time, revelation after revelation emerged that some MAGA justices on the court were receiving large “gifts” from MAGA billionaires.
Although the founders had intended the three branches of government to keep each other in check if they got too radical, Roberts and other MAGA judges claimed no one had jurisdiction over them. That was technically not true. The Senate was supposed to be that balancing factor. But with the slim one vote margin Democrats had, all efforts to investigate justices for fraud were useless. Roberts refused a Senate request to appear before congress on these ethics matters. And again in our view, the Democrats blinked. They would whine on cable television about the abuses on the court or hold hearings, but did nothing to educate the American people concerning the danger the 6-3 MAGA majority represented to democracy in America, so they would do something about it.
Distractions.
One of the side effects of the chaos and confusion swirling in the 2024 election campaign was that we were distracted from the very real challenges that faced us no matter your political orientation. In February the global temperature report for 2023 was released and once again it showed the hottest year on record continuing an overall steep warming trend.
Addressing climate change had hardly been mentioned in the campaign or in the debates to date.
The other “red light flashing” issue was artificial intelligence. This non-human intelligence was already changing the way we worked, the methods that information was being gathered and analyzed, and allowed for the manipulation of any still image, sound file or video so that it looked or sounded authentic when it was a fake. You literally could not trust what you were seeing or hearing anymore.
The real question concerning AI that we were focused on since we started tracking its emergence, was who was going to control the access to its massive capabilities. In 2024 there was very little regulation on the books that attempted to define a “safe” development path or one that would benefit anyone but the wealthy and large corporations. Social media platforms were already using AI to better target consumers with data these platforms were still stealing from them.
Congress seemed lost. Lots of panels and testimony, but no real effort to rein in Big Tech. The big boys were deflecting any inquirey brilliantly.
IF AI was only available to those who could afford expensive access, the separation between the financial classes would further widen. Literally, a minority of the population would have access to knowledge and methods that the majority did not. Could Big Tech be trusted to use this exclusivity on behalf of all Americans. History suggested they would not.
Economically, President Biden was still not getting credit for an improving economy. He had inherited a mess from Trump and had put us back on the road to better times. However, the MAGA news ecosystem claimed every night the economy was the worst it had ever been. If this continued this was not a good thing for Bidens presidential campaign.
Lastly, military conflicts in the world continued to worsen at the beginning of the year. Israel was proceeding with their genocidal war on Palestinians and denying humanitarian aid from reaching those displaced in Gaza.
The United States continued to call for a lessening of the intensity of Israel’s attacks, but Netanyahu and his far right coalition had no reason to wind down their campaign knowing that when the war was over they would be thrown out of office by Israeli voters.
With President Biden’s numbers still very low and polls showing Trump ahead in most of the battleground states, the rest of the world was showing signs of losing trust the US would continue to support them in resisting invasions from autocratic countries like Russian and China.
Here are other headlines that were noticeable in the news landscape in the early part of 2024.
• An overwhelming majority of Americans think Biden is too old for another term.
• Supreme Court to weigh in on whether Covid misinformation is protected speech
• House votes to impeach homeland security secretary lacking any evidence of criminal activity.
• Top U.S. officials warn Congress of China's hacking powers
• Texas spent more than $148 million to bus migrants to Democratic-led cities
• Almost 5,000 people have died in U.S. gun violence so far in 2024
• More than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the Israeli/Hamas war
• And in tragic news… Alexei Navalny, the leader of the Russian resistance movement against Putin, died mysteriously in a Russian
Artic prison.
In addition, three Alabama clinics paused IVF services after the state court ruled that embryos were children. Sean Hannity and the right-wing media had claimed the ‘Biden crime family’ took millions in bribes. Now their star witness had been charged with lying to the FBI. What he submitted to them as evidence was false information given him by Russian intelligence services. Where have we heard that story before.
March
Well Being
My body had not been the same since my two operations in 2019. I had no sexual function (although I didn’t really need it given my relationship situation), I had nerve damage from the waist down that caused my legs to buckle sometimes, I had gained a lot of weight in spite of trying a major Ketto diet. I lost 10 pounds but gained it back when I resumed eating normally. It turned out it was really a reduced caloric approach that could not be maintained for anything other than short time frames. Weight loss programs including drugs at Sutter Health in Sacramento were not covered by Medicare.
My kidneys also continued to be in a third stage of chronic disease. Fourth stage meant dialysis. And my gut and digestive system really slowed down so I had to drink a laxative tea every 7 days to clean it out. It worked but contributed to my not feeling well.
None of this was a surprise to me considering I was 76 years old, but knowing it intellectually and experiencing the fact my health and body were not going to get better was something else. I loved to move, hike, bike etc. but my body had been reduced to 1 ½ mile walks on level ground. And I felt tired a lot. I was not sure if the massive stress I was under was a factor as well. Probably. My mother had struggled through two bouts of cancer and multiple falls as a result of her deterioration, and had finally decided she’d had enough. I could understand her reasoning in making that decision much more now as I experienced my own decline.
Work
I continued to meet with folks that Barbara Wilson introduced me to. One was a young man at MVP.
He was particularly interested in getting them to use our VSD narrative analysis in their efforts. At this point I was offering our intelligence for free with the hope that if they found it valuable they might start paying me for it. I also offered our VSD narrative analysis to at least 15 other pro-democracy organizations with little pickup. I did not have a strong network of contacts that could advocate on my behalf and there was a “not invented here” syndrome that limited my possibilities.
I also got a couple of in-person interviews at Best Buy and PetSmart. Both hiring people were women in the late thirties. I thought the interviews went well. That my “experience” was seen as a plus, but both passed with no explanation. The reasons for this would become more clear later in the year.
WhichAmerica24 Campaign
The one effort that seemed to be going well at this point was my friendship with Barbara Wilson and her husband. We continued to talk about dates for their VSD fund raising event and I began looking at our latest narrative intelligence that would inform what the WA24 campaign would become. My DP was a talented film maker and a film professor at Sacramento State. Tt seemed natural to involve his students in creating the sample spots. It seemed like progress was being made. Here are examples of two of the rough spots.
News of March 2024
Judgement Delayed
One of the main questions for America since Trump had become president was… could our justice system hold law breakers accountable? Trump had been indicted on 85 felony counts. In the first part of 2024 another question emerged. Could they hold Trump accountable in a “reasonable” period of time.
For years, our justice system had gotten more complicated and slower to bring law breakers to trial. This benefited rich people like Trump who could afford legions of lawyers whose only job was to create bogus legal challenges that forced the justice system from the district level to the Supreme Court to delay trials while these appeals (with no basis) were dealt with. Trump always lost the appeals, but he was wildly successful at delaying his many anticipated days in court until after the election. So, this notion of our system holding law breakers accountable in a REASONABLE period of time revealed a severe weakness when the system was dealing with criminals like Trump.
Also in March Trumps Georgia state trial into his direct efforts to find bogus votes during the 2020 election was dealt a major blow. It was revealed that Fani Willis, the very aggressive prosecutor, had an affair with one of her lead lawyers. It had come to light during his divorce proceedings.
There was only one way our narrative analysis could read this… what the f..ck! If you are going after Trump in a very public way you better be sure you have your own house in order. Willis tried to push by it but her seeming arrogance about the matter didn’t help her. As a result the trial based on very real evidence that Trump had attempted to intervene illegally in Georgia got delayed indefinitely. It was almost as if Trump had some magic spell he cast over his accusers that would render them vulnerable.
Voter Suppression
It was reported in March the turnout gap between white and nonwhite voters in the U.S. was growing the fastest in jurisdictions that were stripped of a federal civil rights-era voting protection. In 2013, the conservative 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court led by John Roberts effectively gutted Section 5 in the Shelby County v. Holder case claiming voter protection for people of color was not needed anymore. This study showed that not to be true.
Taxes and Weddings
Two items concerning wealth disparity also emerged in March. It was reported that Tesla paid no federal income taxes for the last five years while paying executives $2.5 billion over the same time period. The company actually received $1 million in refunds.
This was ironic in that Tesla’s development as a startup had mostly been paid by Federal subsidies designed to promote EVs. The US tax system STILL favored the wealthy while leaving the middle class and poor to make up the difference.
The other tabloid news item was the coverage of the uber-wealthy wedding of the Ambani family in India. Those in attendance at the three day celebration included Bill Gates, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Ivanka Trump, as well as Indian billionaires, Bollywood stars and heads of state.
Rihanna performed her first full concert for the bridal couple since 2016, with a set list longer than what she performed at the 2023 Super Bowl. These lavish displays of wealth were not helping the culture war discussion about the existence of an wealthy elite in both parties.
Is It Short Sighted?
One of President Biden’s challenges for re-election was that certain groups in his winning 2020 coalition were questioning his achievements as President based on one issue they cared about. Whether it was the 200,000 Muslims in Michigan (a must win state) who were upset with the Biden Administration’s support of Israel attacking Gaza or young black men feeling they had no job prospects under Biden, you could certainly understand their frustrations.
The question remained however, was it short sighted in this election to get hung up on one issue and not vote for Biden. What if this meant Trump might get elected again? These two groups apparently did not understand that they would be at the top of the list of groups Trump would go after in the name of national security or curbing violent crime. They lacked a longer view of the election. They could vote for Biden and still hold him accountable for what they cared about afterwords. This one would be one to watch.
In this time frame, MAGA Republicans (and their alt right media) also spent a great deal of time questioning President Bidens age and mental state. Even the pro-democracy press made it one of their continuing stories. Again, this showed the power of narrative in play. Biden was just four years older than Trump and since at least 2016, a group of psychologists and other mental health professionals had been trying to warn the public about Donald Trump’s obvious un-wellness and pathological behavior. So, why was this story only about Biden?
A Major Re-Write
The MAGA movement also continued their attempt to rewrite what happened on Jan. 6, 2021.
They were trying to convince Americans that the attack by Trump and his fanatical supporters on the capitol was, in fact, a principled protest undertaken by virtuous patriots. Just as Trump had pardoned a bevy of his miscreant cronies on his way out of the White House, he now pledged to release those who overran and damaged the Capital that day if he was re-elected.
Does He Mean It?
Trumps social media and press conference rhetoric rose to new dangerous levels in March. Trump attacked the daughter of Judge Juan Merchan on his Truth Social platform not once, but three times. He published her name, work address and her picture even though she has nothing to do with the case.
Trump was using an old method from his past playbook of attempting to intimidate anyone and their families that were trying to hold him accountable. This harassment by his followers had included public confrontations, showing up outside the victims home and vile social media attacks. For the individuals targeted this has resulted in their lives being severely impacted.
Justice Merchan had issued “three” gag orders, each one expanding the field of protection for prosecutors and their families, and court employees. Trump continued his attacks regardless and the courts refused to put him in jail as they would have with anyone else that carried out this type of campaign of intimidation.
The Extreme Court
The Supreme Court MAGA majority had agreed to hear a bogus case brought by Christian lawyers in Texas that challenged the FDA”s approval of sending an abortion drug called Mifepristone through the mail.
While a majority of legal observers were shocked the court would take up such a superius case brought by the anti-abortion group Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the conservative judges questions of the attorneys representing both sides revealed deeper concerns about what the court might do next concerning women’s health care.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Alito repeatedly asked counsels on both sides about the relevance of the Comstock Act. This act was a 151-year-old law which made it illegal to use carriers like the United States Postal Service to mail "obscene" materials. It had been applied to illegal drugs as well, but this case expanded those drugs to include ones that had been used for abortion. This was another attempt to limit abortion options for women.
The Comstock Act has not been enforced for years because of its outdated references to what was considered obscene in 1863. However the questions asked by the conservative justices suggested they might attempt to use the Comstock Act in later cases to effectively ban all abortion medicine from being sent through the mail.
Here are other headline narratives we were following in March 2024.
• No Labels Third Party Vows to Introduce Fresh Hell to 2024 Election
• Biden barely beats Trump on saving democracy narrative.
• Trump Vows to Free Jan. 6 ‘Hostages’ as One of His ‘First Acts’ as President
• The New York Times is facing backlash over its coverage of Donald Trump and the 2024 election
• The United States produces more crude oil than any other country, ever.
• The Supreme Court may let Texas get away with an unconstitutional deportation law
• A subtle shift in how China talks about Taiwan suggests it could be gearing up for war
• 3 Red Sea data cables were cut as Houthis launched more attacks on shipping in the vital waterway
• Georgia lawmakers make it easier to challenge a voter’s registration
• Reddit and YouTube face a lawsuit over their role in the radicalization of the Buffalo shooter
• MAGA Republicans Have a 920-Page Plan to make climate change worse.
April
My Medical Help
I was appreciative to get some referrals on doctors being new to Sacramento. I’d had a group of them for years in Boulder that dealt with my cancer, my kidney disease, and my beginnings of heart issues. What I first found is that anyone that sounded any good were not taking new patients. This was not unlike Boulder, but I had been a patient there for such a long time and I had met all my doctors BEFORE the became a part of big profit practices. As soon as they did this the quality of their personal care suffered. And they seemed overworked when I did see them.
This was indicative of what was happening all over the business world. Businesses in many fields were collapsing individual brands into very large corporations through mergers or takeovers. Sometimes these giant corporate entities had revenue sheets bigger than small countries. I saw this happen in the entertainment industry when bad cable companies like Comcast bought legacy studios like Universal and Fox. The result was art treated as product. It also allowed these semi-monopolies to raise prices because there was no competition. It also could hurt supply when one of the giant chicken producers had problems with contamination because there were no alternatives.
In all the dystopian films and TV series we looked at in our Story Project, the future we were most imagining was a type of corporate feudalism. Not a top down fascist or communistic system but an a loosely organized oligarchy wrapped in the American flag. Sort of what Elon Musk was advocating where the line between corrupt government and corporations was blurred.
In spite of all that I got a reference from a new friend in Sacramento to his doctor and showed up for my meet and greet. Not to make this a long story, I got charged a whole bunch of money as he spent time reviewing past history I had already given him in print documents.
In other visits he prescribed services that were not covered by Medicare. The only reason I am recounting any of this is that it is an example of what has happened to our health system. Even good doctors get lured into these “corporate” practices because they can’t compete on their own anymore. Then regardless of how good they were, their care suffers. A practice I had gone to in Boulder for years was responsible for misdiagnosing my prostate issues that almost caused some real damage on top of the cancer. I don’t know what the answer is. After a few visits I learned to rely on this new guy to review my blood tests 3 times a year. And even then sometimes it wasn’t him but a tech.
The Most Disappointing Thing
We had finished the WhichAmerica24 test video spots and I had sent them on to Barbara. In our follow up call, even though she and her husband loved the spots she told me she couldn’t host the event we had been planning anymore. She said it was because her husband had taken a turn for the worse.
I was devastated. Barbara had seemed like the one who got what I wanted to do and could help me with fundraising. I will never know for sure what the reason was, but I was back to square one when I thought I had the next year pretty much covered with something I really cared about. It was the beginning of a trend with my VSD narrative work. Lots of interest, but no one willing to fund it. If I had anything else I was curious about, I probably would have shifted gears, but for better or worse, the coming election and the threats to our democracy was the only thing that interested me.
NEWS April 1-15
As the election year heated up, there was lots of talk in pro-democracy circles concerning what Trump was promoting as being fascist. He appeared he wanted to be emperor of America much like his buddy Putin was in Russia. And he didn’t seem too concerned about the rule of law or the constitution that he had violated and was indicted for in his “stop the steal” effort following the 2020 election.
In the VSD work we set up a scale from 1-10 to rate the content of news stories. 10 being totally authoritarian language and concepts and 1 being a perfect democracy. (even though there was no such thing)
Oligarchy
Systems of governance that are a democracy or fascism are pretty easy to identify. One allows everyone to vote and be counted fairly and the other has a leader or a ruling body who is all powerful in governing citizens lives.
America had never been a true democracy. The founders were worried about giving the vote to a unschooled rabble. So, initially they only gave the vote to white landowners. Not white, black or Latino citizens or women. They also created the electoral college to further remove the final choice from the masses by winner take all electoral votes if they won the popular vote in that state. The national popular vote in modern times had always been different. The Democrats had won the national popular vote in the last 6 elections but lost the electoral vote twice.
While this may have been a prudent thing to do when the country was being founded, eventually all men and women regardless of race were given the vote. However, the electoral college was kept in place and in the turbulent times since MAGA’s emergence, it allowed a minority of voters to win an election even though the popular vote greatly favored the other candidate. MAGA realized that they could compete in the 6-7 battleground states regardless of the vote nationwide. The resulted in Trump winning the 2016 election even though Republicans had not won the popular vote since 2004.
On the other side of the political spectrum fascism is fairly easy to spot whether it is a communistic system like China or a more top down autocracy like Russia, the populace is under tight control of the state including the new AI behavioral tracking programs.
What made what America might become was hard to pick up because it wasn’t completely overt.
It had always been claimed that America was really run by a wealthy elite. This allowed for both parties to win elections, even trade the presidency back and forth, but the power structure remained the same, controlled mostly by white, patriarchal men. This activity still was going on beneath the present culture war between red and blue states in 2024. Economic disparity had been growing since the 1980’s with a small group of billionaires controlling much of the wealth. This system was kept in place by an active lobbying industry (millions of dollars) that kept the interests of large corporations in play. Lately, those corporations included big tech.
So, the term that described this loose set of arrangements between the rich and powerful was "oligarchy." I first came across the concept in a book by Sarah Chayes titled “Thieves of State.” In it she recounted her time in Afghanistan attempting to understand how the country governed itself. She identified a power structure of informal relationships between a corrupt government, religious tribes and the military that had something to say about what emerged. This was before the Taliban took over.
When an oligarchic system begins to impact a democracy, its first goal is to create a sense of distrust in the minds of the citizens about their government institutions and the media that reports on their activities. It wants to distract citizens from paying too much attention to what they are doing. This environment of chaos and confusion was exactly what Trump and his MAGA allies like Fox News had been promoting since he emerged on the political scene in 2015. There was no longer a spirited discussion between conservatives and liberals based on a common set of facts, but at least two completely different narratives that claimed to describe what was going on.
We had seen the impact of this in the 2016 election where Trump had lied his way to the presidency. We saw it again in the aftermath of the 2020 election and Trumps subsequent insurrection move against the peaceful transfer of power that culminated in the January 6th attack on the capitol by Trump true believers. Normally, when extremes like this cross the normal guardrails, the system balances itself, but in this case the MAGA Republicans attempted to re-write history. Even though Trump was indicted with 85 federal and state felony counts, here he was again the leading presidential candidate for Republicans in 2024.
Just to put a point on this. Here are the poll numbers this month that reveal the levels of trust in the government and the media.
Only 20% of Americans say they trust the government most of the time
Only 47% of Americans have a fair amount of trust in the judicial branch
Only 32% of Americans have "a great deal" or "a fair amount" of confidence that the media reports the news in a full, fair and accurate.
Even with these numbers, Fox News Corp finished 2023 with more viewers that CNN and MSNBC combined.
This in spite of admitting they lied to their viewers about the legitimacy of President Biden’s 2020 victory. This included them having to pay a record fine of $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Machines for falsely claiming that Dominion Voting Machines changed Trump votes to Biden. We were definitely in new territory in this culture war.
The April Bomb Shell
The “conservative majority” on the Supreme Court officially became a MAGA “rogue” body that was more interested in protecting Donald Trump than holding bad actors like him accountable. April 25, 2024 would indeed be recorded as a dark day in our constitutional democracy as the court insured Trump would not be brought to trial before the election for fomenting an insurrection against America based on some “novel," twisted pretzel logic. As legal observers on both sides of the aisle noted we could now stop calling these six judges “conservative” and refer to them as they are now presenting themselves as a MAGA movement majority.
This was NOT just a problem for Biden Democrats, but true conservative Republicans as well. If a majority of Supreme Court justices could intentionally delay the trial of anyone based on political favors, we were entering a new era in our system of checks and balances. And in this case, we the people, had no remedy like we do with politicians at election time. These MAGA judges were appointed for life. AND if Trump was re-elected in 2024 he would cancel all the federal cases against him while committing more crimes without any consequences. So much for “no one is above the law.”
Other April 2024 News Headline Narratives
• Elon Musk investigated over fake news and obstruction in Brazil
• Florida Governor DeSantis Quashes Civilians’ Power to Investigate Police Misconduct
• Arizona Supreme Court ruling outlaws all abortions based on a forgotten law passed in 1864
• Mega MAGA fundraiser Leonard Leo won't comply with Senate Democrats' subpoena.
• Voters interest in 2024 election hits nearly 20-year low
• A majority of Americans now support mass deportation of illegal immigrants.
• Far-right news network retracts false claims about Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels
• TikTok will not be sold, Chinese parent tells US.
May
I continued my attempt to generate interest in Vital Signs and our WhichAmerica24 video campaign with pro-democracy groups. The pattern continued of interest but not something they would pay for or fund. They seemed to be committed to the normal things they did during election years like voter registration. There was nothing wrong with that, but I thought given the unique challenge the 2024 campaign presented we needed to be trying things that were outside the box. I was in the minority.
In my attempt to find some community in Sacramento I met Kent Lacin, a local artist/activist, who was interested in forming a discussion group of individuals who were as concerned as we were concerning the increasing threats to our democracy.
We held a number of these two hour in person salons. It helped me feel less isolated. However, a strong theme arose from our discussions. The belief that if Trump and his MAGA allies were successful in getting re-elected our “system” of checks and balances would keep them in line. Our Vital Signs narrative intelligence really questioned that perspective given the narrative tenor of the 2024 culture war. I understood it was easier to hold on to that belief than moving out of our comfort zones to do more than we had in the past. In some ways this group framed the conversation (or lack there of) that was taking place in the country.
My overall health continued to exhibit signs of decline. I felt a general weakness in my body particularly with the nerve damage in my legs. My sense of balance that for all my life had been great started to wane. I found myself having to really think about how I was moving through the world. My blood tests kept coming back about the same as they had been since my cancer, but I was experiencing the adage of old age, my body was not going to get fully better again. It would continue to decline at 76 years of age. That was sobering.
The May News Narratives
At Vital Signs we had warned that 2024 was NOT a normal election year. At the beginning of the year there were still questions if Trump and Biden would be their party nominees. But now it had happened. Biden was faltering more each day. In some ways I related to the increasing decline in his health. I knew what his halting walk meant. And Trump continued to be unhinged, although it was nothing like what he exhibited later in the year.
At Vital Signs we identified two narratives being told by Democrats as to why they were behind. One was the polls were wrong. This narrative assumed that if they just did what they normally would do like get out the vote, President Biden would win again. According to this narrative there was no way voters in the key battleground states would put Trump back in the White House with everything he and his allies were promising they would do. This narrative was resident in many voters who were not following the news or were feeling overwhelmed by all the political and cultural chaos. We got it. But what if this narrative was wrong? Were we willing to bet the results of the 2024 election on it.
The other narrative, in which we shared, was that we hoped the first story was true, but we didn’t trust that a super close election like this one wouldn’t need more creative effort from all of us who supported democracy to ensure Biden’s win. Trump won by 85,000 in three states in 2016. Biden won by 43,000 votes in 2020 in three states. The slightest thing could have tipped the results either way. That’s we were facing again with two candidates that 60% of the voters were not crazy about.
Another narrative theme we identified was the reporting on a meeting between Trump and the 500 CEO’s from the top corporations in America. He offered them everything they wanted IF they gave him a billion dollars. There was nothing subtle about Trump at this point. He could be bought or manipulated easily. The CEO's thought they could control him. Industrial giants in Germany in the 1930's thought the same thing about Hitler. It tragically turned out not to be true.
The latest example of a MAGA Supreme Court ruling challenged the FDA’s authority to allow abortion drugs like Mifepristone to be distributed through the mail. This group of MAGA lawyers claimed that the drugs were not safe, although they offered no proof.
So, the court did decide this case in favor of the FDA but not based on the facts of the case, but that this MAGA group of lawyers did not have the proper standing to bring the case in the first place. In other words they left the door open for further challenges.
The MAGA majority also hinted at how those challenges might be successful if they included references to the 1873 Comstock act that prohibited sending pornography and illegal drugs through the mail. The act had been mothballed for a hundred years because it was no longer appropriate to 21st century society, but it was still on the books. Legal experts on both sides of the aisle had originally said the court should NOT have taken up this case in the first place. So, on the surface of it, their ruling against the MAGA groups standing made sense, but it did not close the door on more attacks on abortion drugs.
The First Time
Donald Trump was convicted of all 34 counts in his attempting to pay hush money to Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about their affair.
The charges were based on the falsification of business records that attempted to hide the illegal payoffs to Ms. Daniels. The smart money had predicted a hung jury, but the twelve jurors agreed with the prosecutors case after a very short time of deliberation. As a result, for the first time in the history of America we had a former president convicted of felony crimes while he was in office.
You could say that after all the hyperbole from all sides of the media ecosystem and the leadership of both parties our justice system worked. For the moment, it held Trump accountable although his sentencing was still a ways off. It was not clear if the election would be an issue in the timing of his sentencing.
The coverage of the guilty verdict at the top of the hour following the breaking news underlined where we were in terms of alternative narratives.
Fox News, as expected, called the trial Democratic Party election interference, CNN immediately focused on what could happen next instead of looking at why the jury had decided the way they did and MSNBC highlighted the high level systemic changes we might expect in our democracy because of the verdict. In our view, all this coverage included a kernel of the truth, but did not fully report on the impact of the most concerning narrative that emerged from the verdict. That involved the MAGA Republican leaderships response.
It would have been completely appropriate for MAGA Republican leaders to express their displeasure with the verdict for whatever reasons, but instead they ramped up their attacks on the legitimacy of US justice system because of it. They did not acknowledge that this case had been brought because a grand jury of ordinary citizens agreed the state had enough evidence to charge him, a jury of Trumps peers heard both sides arguments during the trial and Donald Trump had every opportunity to question the governments case including testifying himself which he did not do.
Instead, MAGA leaders echoed Trumps whining that if “they” could do this to him they could do it to anyone. This reaction highlighted one of the things at stake in the 2024 election. If enough citizens cast their votes as if they had lost faith in the US Justice System to render fair verdicts, then America was adrift in a no man’s land of MAGA’s deception.
Here is a brief summary of two of the news categories that saw increases in threat levels that contributed to the one level increase in the VSD master rating in May that I thought were worth noting.
Voting Rights and Elections
• The Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the “right to vote” was not included in their state constitution. While that may have been technically true, it could impact which votes were counted in that state.
• The Supreme Court allowed South Carolina to use gerrymandered voter maps that had been ruled by the appeals court as biased towards MAGA candidates. Another sign that the MAGA majority on the court seems to be attempting to tip the scales in the potential 2024 election results to Republicans every chance they get.
The Independence of Our System of Checks and Balances.
Our democracy has a system of checks and balances that is intended to keep all three branches of government from straying outside the “guardrails” on either side of the political spectrum. During May however it was revealed that Supreme Court Justice Alito flew flags at his home and summer residence that represented the insurrectionists on January 6th. When the judicial committee in the Senate attempted to get Chief Justice Roberts to explain why Alito should not recuse himself from the January 6th court cases, he flatly refused to participate. This was another example of the Supreme Court not recognizing any oversight of its activities since they achieved a 6-3 majority. A real growing danger.
In Texas, Governor Greg Abbot pardoned the man convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing a Black Lives Matter protestor in 2020. Even as the trial was taking place Abbot said that he thought the prosecution was politically motivated and would not accept a guilty verdict in spite of the evidence presented by the prosecution and ruled guilty by the jury. If you wonder what our justice system would look like if MAGA Republicans win the 2024 election, Abbots actions could be a preview.
Other News Narratives We Were Paying Attention to in May
• Supreme Court Justice Thomas took more trips paid for by GOP donor than he disclosed previously.
• Tech CEOs meet with Trump to discuss Federal government overhaul
• G7 leaders agree to lend Ukraine billions backed by Russia’s frozen assets
• In the 4 years since George Floyd was killed, Washington can't find a path forward on police reform.
• Louisiana Legislature approves bill classifying safe abortion pills as dangerous controlled substances.
• Clarence Thomas wants the Supreme Court to stop hearing election cases on racist redistricting.
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs a bill that strikes climate change as a concept from state law.
• Continuing Israel airstrikes in GAZA kills dozens.
• U.S. lawmakers pledge support for Taiwan and its new president angering China.
June
I continued doing interviews with people and groups that were working in some part of the 2024 election campaign. I still was hearing that MVP might be interested in funding the WhichAmerica24 video campaign that had been sitting dormant since Barbara Wilson pulled out. I also was still challenged to expand my community in Sacramento, but I felt sort of a post-covid headspace. I couldn’t find anyone that was having interesting political conversations.
June News
The Supreme Court continued to increase its powers as it ruled in a Chevron case. Big oil was arguing against a forty year precedent that gave regulatory power to federal agencies to oversee things like enforcing climate change measures, and immigration, healthcare and gun reform regulations. The MAGA justices now ruled that if a federal agency wanted to enforce such regulations on the oil industry for example, they have to ask the court to rule on each enforcement. Effectively this striped Federal Agencies of a lot of their power and gave it to the courts. A pattern was emerging.
The Democrats also decided to schedule a debate between Biden and Trump early in the election cycle. The debate in 2020 had been good for Biden in that he had looked like the adult in the room as Trump ranted. Unfortunately, any worry we had about Bidens mental state in 2024 was answered in the negative by this debate. Biden came out looking confused, his mouth slightly agape.
Trump must have gotten his drug cocktail right because his first answer was calm and presidential.
However, when Biden spoke in respsonse it was clear something was wrong. We all said 15 minutes into the debate he was done. It was so shocking for even the pro-democracy media that it overshadowed that Trump lied for all 90 minutes of the debate. The debate coverage cut at the end of the debate to MSNBC anchors looking pained. That said it all.
Someday someone may write a book about Biden’s 2024 campaign. Unlike 2020 in the middle of covid when he did not have to go out on the campaign trail with all the rigor it entailed 2024 was back to normal. There had been rumors of his staff having to manage his appearances. Whoever let him go out on stage that night should have been fired. You make some health excuse or something but you don’t allow the man to be deeply embarrassed like that let alone lose the election.
Some Democrats immediately called for Biden to step back as the candidate, but it was so complicated to make such a change even 5 months out from the election. And President Biden had done a really good job in his first term and it was natural for him to want to complete the job.
The other thing that was finally getting more mainstream news attention was Project 2025. This was the blueprint for a second Trump term developed by the MAGA Heritage Foundation. (We had been tracking it since beginning of year)
This 900 page document was a road map t for what MAGA would do if they are elected again, particularly concerning the dismantling of the Federal government. Following the debate the director of the project made the rounds of cable news channels and said things like “we are bringing forth a second revolution. It will be peaceful (bloodless) as long at the left doesn’t resist us.” Chilling...
Presidential Immunity
Trump claimed when special prosecutor Jack Smith charged him with inciting the January 6th attack on the capitol that he had “immunity” for those actions because he did them as official acts while president. Obviously, attempting to overturn the legitimate outcome of an election is not an lawful act of the president, but what did he care.
The district and appellate courts both agreed that Trump had NO such immunity for any of the crimes he had been charged with. Many thought the MAGA justices on the Supreme Court would let the appellate ruling stand, but the MAGA majority had something else in mind. Not only did they take the case, but they intentionally delayed ruling on it until the last day of their term. That meant it was very unlikely to come to trial until after the election.
In addition, these six MAGA justices out did themselves when the ruling did come out. They sent the case back to the district judge with questions about some sort of immunity for Trumps illegal acts. That meant that Jack Smith would have to prove that Trumps acts were NOT official acts, even though that had already been established. This immunity ruling also impacted the sentencing date for Trumps conviction in New York State for election interference until the middle of September. Whatever we thought of the MAGA majority on the court before as being biased had now been elevated to a much higher level of concern.
Other News Headline Narratives for June.
• House Speaker Johnson backs Ten Commandments mandate in Louisiana
• Supreme Court rules for Jan. 6 rioter challenging obstruction charge
• The New York Times wants Biden gone — but they seem OK with a convicted felon
• More than 1,300 people died during this year’s journey to Mecca as pilgrims faced extreme high temperatures
• Florida ‘will not comply’ with US surgeon general’s gun violence advisory
• The reason why NATO and Europe found Biden’s debate performance alarming.
July
Our democracy salon continued to meet. The question we kept discussing was… is there anything else we can do? Some made suggestions like filling out postcards. This was fine as far as it went but still too little in this unprecedented election year for me.
I came up with a new concept. Build a web portal that would report on the news AS IF Trump had won the 2024 election.
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The web portal would highlight what he was likely to do. There was so much disinformation flying around I thought this might be one way to get undecided voters to lean towards Harris. We would promote the site with click bait headlines that would get citizens to respond... "What?" “Trump uses military to quell demonstrations.”
The group split again along similar lines in response to this concept. Some thought it was just outrageous enough to work. Others thought it was too negative. This was the split I was encountering across the pro-democracy movement. I pitched the idea to my friend at MVP. He said they might be able to find a budget for it. I never heard from him again. Par for the course lately.
I also starting thinking about a “sanctuary” concept that we would establish in Canada for expatriates in case Trump won. I could not imagine living in a country that had elected him. I talked to my old Canadian friend from Integral days. He got excited about it. We scheduled another call and then he disappeared. A pattern.
I was seriously beginning to wonder whether I still had the personal influence I had enjoyed before the pandemic. Were friends overwhelmed and stressed with their own lives in a post-Covid world? Or was it that I had been doing Vital Signs for the last two years and it scared people. Or was it that I was not in position to help them anymore like I had been when I was running Integral Life?
My health continued to be dicey. I was still having intestinal problems, a shaky sense of balance, weakness in my legs etc. One day while I was putting on my pants, I lost my balance and slammed up against the wall. As I hit the floor I felt something go in the left side of my ribs. As I attempted to get up, I experienced a sharp pain in that area. I had broken ribs before so I knew this feeling. I tried to ride it out for a week but then went into Sutter Health for them to do a scan. Sure enough I had fractured two ribs. I would have to live with the discomfort for 6-8 weeks. I thought of my mother and how her repeated falls eventually fatigued her to the point of not wanting to be here anymore.
I also turned 77. In some ways I was amazed I had made it this far. All the men in the prior generation were dead by 62. My grandfather was 78 when he gave up the fight. I had always thought that if my health got bad again like it had with my cancer in 2019 that I would choose to opt out. I felt lost as I tried to make something of these unexpected circumstances I found myself in. The question kept coming up… “why am I still here?” Was there one thing that I hadn't identified yet that would give this last chapter meaning?
I decided to employ a different method of job hunting at the big box stores. I would send in an application for a particular location and then visit that location in person and attempt to talk to the hiring person cold. I did get to speak with some real people but mostly they wanted to end our conversation as quickly as possible. I learned that even though a location posted a new job opening, often times they were just collecting resumes in case they needed someone. Or at least that what they told me.
News Narratives for July, 2024
The lead story in July was the assassination attempt on former President Trump
It seemed impossible that the secret service would let a stranger with a rifle climb up on a roof of a building overlooking the stage. We saw the bullets wiz by Trumps head in real time. One nicked his ear so he had just enough blood to make it dramatic. One man sitting behind Trump was killed and two severely wounded.
What was amazing to me was that in all the confusion and the secret service attempting to get him off the stage, Trump raised his fist towards his audience in defiance. Trump had some instinctual genius that would kick into gear almost automatically sometimes. The image of his fist raised, blood running down his face was frozen in time and sold on T-Shirts.
Fox News and MAGA media immediately blamed it on the Democrats for creating an “environment of violence.” In truth this was their doing. They had polarized this country and encouraged violent behavior like January 6th. Perhaps karma was coming home to roost, but in the end, the bullet missed Trump. He was back on the campaign trail in a couple of days.
Normally when a dramatic event like this happens to a presidential candidate during the campaign it makes some difference in the polling numbers. It was reasonable to expect that Trump would get a “sympathy” bump in the polls. He didn’t. In fact none of these events like Bidens debate performance that in the past would have made a difference seemed to not to impact the polling in anyway. Was that because voters were just numb from all the MAGA theatrics or had voters already made up their minds. We just didn’t know. As one MAGA spokesperson said... "Trumps craziness is already baked in?"
On the other side of the aisle President Biden continued to struggle with calls from some of his party leaders for him to step back as the Democratic Party candidate because of declining mental abilities that we saw on display during the debate. Trump still led Biden by 2-3 points in the battleground states. That’s why if anyone was saying they could predict the outcome of this election, they were delusional. If you had told me three weeks prior that President Biden would melt down at a debate or an assassination attempt would be made on Trump, I would have told you that sounded crazy and paranoid.
There was also further evidence that MAGA judges at all levels of the justice system were helping Trump delay or cancel his criminal trials. The big justice system news in July was the dismissal of the Florida secret documents case by Justice Elieen Cannon.
She bought the Trump team argument that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith by the Department of Justice violated the Constitution. Legal precedent was again not on her side and this flawed ruling would be mostly likely be overturned on appeal, but that could take months. Just what Trump and she wanted.
Early in the month the calls for President Biden to step down as the parties presidential candidate continued regardless of his stated desire not to do so. Many thought the Trump assassination attempt would end this replacement talk, but more party leaders continued to call for him to step back.
In all the uncertainty in the party at least one question had been answered that we didn’t know following the debate. IF Biden stepped back Kamala Harris would more than likely replace him. There was no way the Democrats could open up the primaries again this close to the election. Harris had won the nomination with Biden, so for better or worse she would be the candidate if he stepped back.
Start UP's?
Big Tech had also been on an unbelievable roll since the inception of the Internet and social media platforms. In addition to the billions in profits they made they had received unprecedented protection from federal regulation 230 that stated they were not responsible for content that was published on their platforms. If they had been, as they claimed, simply publishing platforms, maybe that was appropriate, but now they were near monopolies, the arbiters of the culture war conversation with clear bias. They understood that explosive disinformation or deep fakes attracted an audience and made them money. If regulation 230 was rescinded, it would require them to change their very profitable business plans. They were spending millions in lobbying money and contributing to political campaigns to make sure that didn’t happen.
Musk and the growing group of tech billionaires that now supported Trump were NOT interested in any regulations at all. They maintained that they alone should make all the decisions about our digital future. Nothing could have been further from the truth. That world starts to look like the dystopian movies we had created in Hollywood that featured some type of corporate feudalism.
The Unthinkable Happens
On July 21, 2024, Joe Biden, the incumbent president of the United States, announced his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement.
Now, that would normally have seemed like good news for democracy, but this was not a typical election year. President Biden had been behind Trump in the battleground states by 2-3 points for months. Even though Harris quickly reversed that trend the race at the moment was still a tossup.
There was renewed enthusiasm however in the Democratic party as Kamala brought a fresh energy.
She appeared to have learned from her disastrous presidential candidacy in 2020. She seemed confident, presidential. Particularly when you compared her to Trump. But the question remained… "was America ready to elect a women of color for president?" It didn’t seem like a great time to test that theory of the case but this election and the threats to democracy it represented had changed the calculus. Pro-democracy forces with Kamala leading had to go for it.
Killing Hamas
Hamas’ top political leader was killed in Iran by an Mossad house bomb. Iran immediately suggested they would “directly” retaliate against Israel. This coupled with the defiant tone of Israeli prime minister Netanyahu on display again in his speech to the US congress…
leaned the GAZA conflict towards a much wider, more dangerous regional conflict. IF Iran and Israel went after each other it could also pull in the US, North Korea, Russia and China, further endangering all of us.
There was also some question whether Netanyahu was upgrading the violence in GAZA on purpose. The first reason was that it kept him in power as long as the war continued. It was also suggested by some that he wanted to create an October surprise for the US election in Trumps favor. The Democrats were facing some resistance from Muslims in key battleground states like Michigan as a result of what they saw as Biden/Harris supporting the killing of Palestinians. If the Democrats were responsible for another tragedy like the withdrawal from Afghanistan it could impact the election.
In addition, China and Russia also re-committed to their joint intention to control the Artic ocean when the impacts of climate change melted the Artic ice. Not that far off.
There were also increasing numbers of tech billionaires that were outright endorsing Trump. Folks like Elon Musk, David Sacks, and Marc Andreessen. OR Peter Thiel backing J.D. Vance for MAGA VP or Mark Zuckerberg expressing his admiration for Trumps courage during his assassination attempt.
Musk’s seemingly never ending need to be the center of attention, had fueled his promotion of Trump on X and his disdain for Harris by posting a deepfake Harris video he promoted to his millions of followers without it clearly being identified as such. (He said he was joking) META’s Facebook decision to allow stories to be posted again about the 2020 election being stolen was another concern. One of our continuing questions had been was… "who will big business back in the coming 2024 election?" Would they really support an anti-democratic candidate like Trump?
Other News Headline Narratives from July 2024.
• U.S. House passes bill requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal races
• Leader of the pro-Trump Project 2025 suggests there will be a new American Revolution
• Kansas’ top court bolsters a state right to abortion and strikes down 2 anti-abortion laws
• Musk calls for ultimate penalty of death for those opposed to requiring voters to prove citizenship
• The world’s power grids are failing more often as the planet warms
• US inflation cools again, potentially paving way for Fed to cut interest rates soon
• NATO leaders look to ‘Trump-proof’ their military alliance against Russia.
• Some Trump campaign staff are now openly declaring there will be a “civil war” if the Democrats win.
• MAGA VP candidate J.D. Vance claimed the “childless left” have no “physical” commitment to the future of America.
• Trump offers his followers “assassination themed sneakers” for $299.
• President Biden's releases election-year proposals to change the Supreme Court. Any action on them was very unlikely.
• Some Democratic cities have quietly begun cooperating with ICE on immigration arrests and deportations
• New Jersey's ban on AR-15 rifles is unconstitutional, federal judge rules
August
I ramped up my efforts to get a “holiday” job at one of the big box stores I had applied to. It seemed like the time they would be hiring for the fall. I didn’t have much luck as most said they had all the people they needed.
I was also asked by old Integral friend Nomali Perrera to do a presentation of the Vital Signs work to the Integral Life audience.
This would be the first time I had seen many of these people in five years. Many were also new to me. The prez went well and in some ways it felt like a final statement about the VSD work. The election was coming and there would be no need for VSD after the voters made their decision no matter who won.
AND the f…cking weather was hot, hot. We had multiple weeks where the temps in Sacto were 100 degrees or higher.
No wind, no clouds, just baking heat. It made sleeping at night harder and reminded me climate change was on the march. I hoped it would break for the fall in September.
News Narratives for August
The question in August was… is the resurgence of the Democratic Party narrative now that Kamala Harris was their candidate legit or would it fade? The increased positive energy and changes in the battleground state polls was indeed breath taking in such a short period of time, but the race was now just back to being a tossup. We were going to see if the Harris/Walz campaign train could sustain their rise in popularity in the weeks ahead.
Back at the Supreme Court
There is nothing wrong with a Supreme Court Justice stating his or her views on the American political system, but Justice Gorsuch, one of the six MAGA majority went much farther in an interview on Fox News. He suggested that it was the JOB of the Supreme Courts to remake the American governance system in the way they thought it should be. They were currently picking cases and issuing rulings that would move much of existing Federal authority to the states. When asked what he thought of Biden's recent efforts to bring about Supreme Court reform, he said just two words… “Be careful.” Chilling.
Distractions
Although, good government and military officials can multi-task, the chaos of Trump criticizing the military and the wide variance of MAGA’s ideas about America’s role in the world could mean that we could be so caught up in our present reality show that we wouldn’t correctly anticipate Iran’s response towards Israel for killing Hamas leaders on their soil. Or supporting Ukraine’s new invasion of Russia. Its almost like we would look up from the chaos being sown in this election cycle just in time to see a tactical nuke go off in in the middle east or Eastern Europe.
I know that sounds extreme, but in addition to the current threats in the middle east and Europe, the 2024 election could result in a very different American stance on our role in the world if Trump and his MAGA allies were elected again. Trump claimed he could end the Ukraine war tomorrow with his pal Vladimir Putin. What he meant was he would give Ukraine to the Russians.
MAGA Justice Project
Over the years, particularly since 2016, Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell had taken it upon themselves to pack US courts at all levels with judges that were friendly to the MAGA agenda. We had already seen the MAGA justices on the Supreme Court invent new law concepts out of whole cloth to protect Trump from going to trial on his immunity indictment before the 2024 election.
We also saw a mix of different types of rulings on things like gun reform depending on the justices presiding. America had banned military assault weapons between 1994 and 2004. Mass shootings and the senseless violence these weapons caused declined. However, that ban ran out because of a lack of action by both parties and since then we have seen mass shooting events involving assault weapons increase significantly. In this vacuum of Federal law we saw states and some municipalities attempt to pass their own bans. The constitutional rulings on these laws have been mixed depending on the court involved and who appointed the judges. This is the thing I wanted to point to. A justice system where the political bias of the judge was suddenly an issue.
Voting
MAGA politicians had been busy in red states like Texas and battleground states like Arizona and Georgia. The MAGA Texas AG raided the homes of Latino voter registration activists claiming they were searching for registration fraud while offering no proof. The Aug. 20 raids targeted Manuel Medina, chair of the Tejano Democrats, several members of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a state House candidate and a local area mayor. These raids were intended to intimidate these leaders into curtailing their voter registration activities. Texas Governor Abott also celebrated his purging of thousands of Texas citizens from voter rolls. Can you guess which voters he targeted?
In Georgia, pro-Trump politicians worked to install new rules that would make it easier for them NOT to certify results of the 2024 election if they didn’t like the outcome. Emails showed a Georgia State Election Board member worked with Trump supporters to write rules allowing counties in Georgia to refuse to certify election results.
And finally in Arizona, the six MAGA justices on the Supreme Court partially revived Arizona voter proof-of-citizenship requirements that targeted voters of color. These regulations had been deemed unconstitutional by the lower courts which included Republican judges.
The Old Playbook
Another thing. Since Kamala Harris became the Democratic candidate for president one thing our narrative analysis had noticed was this. The revival of the old MAGA playbook memes attacking her on intelligence, race and gender. These MAGA culture war moves in the last two weeks included turning the Arlington Cemetery event honoring those killed in America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan into a political stunt for Trump. The Army said an Arlington National Cemetery worker was ‘pushed aside’ by Trump aides as he tried to enforce regulations that make it illegal to shoot video within the cemetery.
Whose News is it Anyway?
It was easy to see how the MAGA Fox News ecosystem continued to distort the facts. This last week Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo repeatedly said that Democrats were pushing to register “massive lines of illegals” to vote in Texas. As it turns out, she never did any actual research on the topic. The Texas Department of Public Safety debunked Bartiromo’s claims, with Sergeant William Lockridge, a spokesperson for the department, calling the claims “simply false” and “kind of racist.”
It was sometimes harder to see how the more progressive cable news channels were also contributing to voter confusion. For example, the news media generally made a big deal out of the fact the VP Harris had not sat down for any “one on one” interviews since she became the presidential candidate. Let’s remember she had been the candidate for roughly 30 days.
CNN finally secured an exclusive interview with Vice President Harris and her running mate Tim Walz. The media hyped this interview as a make or break moment for Harris. Let’s say that was true for a moment and not just hype to attract more viewers. You would expect Dana Bash (the interviewer) to ask hard nosed questions that would reveal more about Harris to the public. Instead, we got the same tired questions like “what would you do on day one” and “what was it like when you learned President Biden was stepping back.”
Likewise, there were some strange visual moments in the interview. First, Harris had been criticized for not doing the interview alone, instead seeming to rely on Walz for cover. We also noticed some strangely framed video shots during the interview that made Walz appear much bigger than Harris. Harris was already under increased scrutiny as a woman concerning her ability to do the most important job in the world. Why would her staff allow her to look small?
Other Narrative News Headlines from August
• Biden says he’s 'not confident' of a peaceful transfer of power if Trump loses
• Trump signals openness to banning abortion pill
• Supreme Court’s voting rights act decision narrows another path to challenge discriminatory voting laws
• Justice Department sues TikTok and ByteDance for widespread violations of children’s privacy laws
• Thousands of riot police on standby as UK braces for more riots
• RFK Jr. suspends his presidential bid backs Trump before appearing with him at his rally
• Supreme Court denies Title IX rule expansion protecting LGBTQ+ students
• Bombshell report exposes how Trump Is lining his pockets with campaign funds
• Big Tech wants AI to be regulated. Why do they oppose the California AI bill?
• Harris and Trump offer starkly different visions on climate change and energy
• This Election, Dark Money is being used to blackmail Lawmakers
• “Genocide Will Continue”: fury grows as Harris vows to keep Biden’s Gaza policy
September
With my finances continuing to decline I had no choice but to consider bankruptcy. I had done this once before on Whidbey when we crashed there, so I knew it was no fun. I started pulling the materials together the lawyers needed. If I did not have to pay the interest on my credit card debt, what I needed monthly in addition to my social security was less,
I continued to work with Bruce on new Berkeley Climate Change Network website. He wanted it to be a hub for connecting people with the climate change work going on campus. The university insisted we use their new authoring platform. Their lead line was that anyone could build a website with it without needing much coding. That turned out not to be true. That statement had been written by coders. The documentation on the platform was massive. It took us three weeks just to understand what the platform allowed. In the end, we did make a good website for Bruce’s purposes. This work reminded me how much I admired his work on climate mitigation. Talk about a narrative that was hard to get people to act on.
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I got a couple more in-person interviews at places like PetSmart. I had this idea it might be rewarding to work around animals. In spite of the interviews seeming to go well, I never heard from them. I was beginning to wonder if my extensive experience was in some way threatening to these young hiring managers. Maybe they were concerned I would be after their job.
The other heartbreak I was going through was considering adopting-out my beloved cat Zeffie to a new home. He was not happy in my small apartment and looked worried every time I left him alone. He was a cat that needed room to roam and chase things. I was hoping against hope I would not have to do this, but where I was potentially going he could not accompany me. We had saved him from the reservation but he needed someplace better than I could offer.
Narrative News Headlines for September
For us the big question still remained… would the result of the 2024 election be clean and would both parties accept the results. We were still seeing well-funded efforts by MAGA Republicans making it harder for people of color in certain communities to vote and the institution of new questionable voting requirements that unfairly targeted minorities in battleground states like Georgia and Arizona.
One of our Vital Signs “hidden stories” in this month was election observers warning that continuing problems at the US Post Office could delay the all important mail in vote from being delivered and counted in a timely manner. In 2020 a Postmaster General appointed by Trump attempted to slow the processing of mail in ballots by removing mail sorting machines in key battleground districts, Guess what? He was STILL the Postmaster General. Why didn’t the Biden Administration get rid of him? One of many problems the Democrats just seemed to ignore.
The Rule of Law
We like to believe that one of the core tenants of America is our rule of law. It is supposed to apply to everyone, no matter who they are. At the moment however, Trump was 4-0 against the Justice Department (Federal & State) in delaying his sentencing in his first conviction and going to trial in the other three. Judges were denying voters the right to know if he was guilty of these charges before they voted in the name of “fairness.” He was helped by the six MAGA justices on the Supreme Court.
A document, along with other memos and testimony from sources the NY Times interviewed, offered a window into Justice Roberts' high level of involvement in several cases that had benefited Trump and ultimately helped him climb out of the mire of legal troubles that threatened to upend his 2024 presidential campaign. His handling of these cases even surprised other justices on the court where six of the nine members had been appointed by Republican presidents. But that’s not all of it. Even judges appointed by Democrats were seeming to join in.
NY State Judge Juan Merchan announced that former President Donald Trump would NOT be sentenced in his New York criminal case conviction until after the 2024 election. He explained his decision to delay was in part to avoid any appearance of impacting the outcome of the presidential race. Prior to 2016 it was who won the debates or had the best policies that were the things that decided elections. In this current environment that was not true anymore. When MAGA candidates like JD Vance admitted that the story they made up about Haitians eating pets was not true, but necessary, for MAGA to get press attention, it signaled a different world.
Another example… when 61.7 viewers watched Trump come unhinged in his debate with Kamala Harris that would have normally hurt his chances of getting elected. Even though Harris got something of a bump in ratings, the race in the battleground states was still a tossup. Immediately after the debate Trump and his allies declared he won the debate according to 90% of MAGA watchers they polled. Normally, this kind of disinformation spin would be dismissed, but when Fox News and the entire MAGA media ecosystem repeated this claim, 40% of the voters in America believed it.
When you have one party promoting an alternative reality about the state of the economy, the status of women’s rights, the latest on immigration reform and the level of violent crime in the US how were voters supposed to ferret out what is true.
While it was normal in a political campaign for candidates to “stretch” the truth about their accomplishments and the failures of their opponents, the level of intentional lying in this campaign was unprecedented. If you needed proof you could just look at the VP debate. J.D Vance did a masterful job of making the MAGA lies seem like they could be true or at least not threating. And Walz countered with facts about Democrat policies while looking scared. So, there was that, but what I want to point to here is… it’s not just what is being said, but the way it is being covered by the media that matters to the outcome of the election.
Certain commentators in the pro-democracy media had increased their warnings about the outcome of a Trump victory to an audience that was already anti-Trump. However, too often during those endless panels of pundits on both sides talked about this election as if the two parties were debating from the same set of facts. Even when MAGA pundits attempted to spin Trumps increasing instability, the moderators allowed one or two comments from pro-democracy pundits to remind viewers that MAGA statements were increasingly untrue, but then quickly moved on.
Even the mild mannered NPR coverage of the VP debate, featured three pundits in their opening remarks noting that Vance was very smooth in his delivery and Walz seemed uncomfortable. Not one of them mentioned that Vance was lying during the entire debate. (They did mention it later) And Vance’s one departure from his “reasonable” tone in the debate was when he was fact checked by moderators for continuing to lie about the Haitians in Ohio.
One last comment on the current state of the 2024 campaign as we head into October. You can’t open your news browser these days without seeing a new poll predicting something about the approval rating of the two candidates. Our narrative analysis reminded us that it was important to keep in mind that the state of the “news” was PROFIT driven. The poll with the biggest audience makes the most money from advertisers or subscriptions.
Whether it’s the lead-in headlines on cable news or the latest “breaking stories” on our web browsers, the ”click bait” mentality of teasing out poll results that will alarm one audience or the other was increasingly the practice. The “pollsters” all wanted their polls to be considered the definitive source so their brand was promoted on television while driving traffic to their advertiser sponsored websites. Even polls from non-profit organizations still had to be popular enough for them to receive grant money.
Other News Narrative Headlines in September
• Poll Shows Further Decline in Americans’ Confidence in Election Integrity
• Ohio sheriff suggests residents keep a list of homes with Harris yard signs
• Amber Thurman 'left to die” after abortion complication
• Trump hit with new evidence from Jack Smith in Federal Jan. 6 case
• Judge to finally approve auctions liquidating Alex Jones’ Infowars to help pay Sandy Hook families
• ‘Nowhere is safe’: shattered Asheville NC shows stunning reach of climate crisis
• Chevron CEO hits Biden's natural gas policies, says fuel is crucial for AI
• Ohio GOP Gov says ‘at least 33’ bomb threats because of false Haitian narratives prompt Springfield to begin daily school sweeps
• Iran launches missile attack on Israel for killing of Hezbollah leader
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October
I felt the clock ticking on finding a job or some source of income to make up the difference between my social security and my expenses. I declared bankrupcy so that had helped lower my expenses to needing to find $3,000 a month. So doable it seemed but if you are un-hireable it was a steep climb.
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One thing I did discover about the job market after the many applications I sent out through Indeed, LinkedIN, or corporate websites featured s a glut of "ghost jobs" These were listings that said a job was open but on closer inspection they were not. Some of the big box stories would collect resumes in case they needed someone but the job that was listed was not open at that moment. The other player in this new digital job market were recruiters. In my big career years recruiters were a real deal. I got my position at Time Warner through a recruiter approaching me. It was a very hands on process. I met with him and he promoted me to Time Warner. In the digital job market this had all changed. Recruiters would list jobs that didn't exist to get your information on their lists. I ran into two instances that the jobs listed as customer service jobs were actually door to door sales jobs. I couldn't believe it. Who sold cell phone service door to door?
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​That put even more pressure on who I knew. My network was flat lined and that continued to be a problem. I was approaching what little response there was as a "cold call."
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My apartment lease at River Blu was up at the end of the month. After telling me they were raising the rent by $200 I begged them to give me a seniors discount. They did which was nice of them. I was inked in for another 6 months having no idea how the next months would play out with the election and other cultural concerns.
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My health continued to be iffy. I was having more trouble with my legs feeling weak from the nerve damage from the operations. The only way I could clear my gut was to drink the "smooth move" tea about every 6 days and go through 24 hours of that. A real pain.
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And my mental state started showing signs of being off. Certainly, some of it could be written off to the financial stress I was feeling but I was having trouble focusing on things or remembering why I had walked into a room. It scared me a bit. The last thing I wanted to experience was a diminished mental capacity. It was all I had to work with.
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American Democracy
The 2024 election campaign was winding down to wire. Kamala's uptick had flattened out and unexplainably, Trump's numbers seemingly rose in spite of his unhinged campaign speeches. He was truly an ugly American attempting to pull this country into his darkness.
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How Would We Know?
As we kept noting in our Vital Signs scan summaries the news media environment that included broadcast and cable news networks and social media platforms seemed hopelessly murky depending on which ones you looked at. The same three potential outcomes we have been predicting all year were still in play. A clean Harris or Trump win. OR it could be so close that both parties would challenge the results and end up at the Supreme Court. (Shades of 2000 election)
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Remember, we were independents. We were not anti-conservative. In fact we felt a healthy conservative and liberal voice debating a common set of facts was what has made America great. The reason we created Vital Signs of Democracy in the first place was to give voice to this majority of Americans. But in our view the MAGA movement was something else. Something influenced by the darkest impulses of the American experiment.
IF Donald Trump was elected he was threatening out loud to:
• Use Federal government agencies to carry out the MAGA agenda. His latest suggestions that Elon Musk take over
controlling the economy and RFK Jr to oversee our health system are just two initial moves.
• Instruct his Justice Department to abandon the two federal felony cases against him for his insurrection attempt and
stealing top security documents. The state case in Georgia will probably go away as well. IF this happened America’s claim
that “no one is above the law” was officially over.
• Round up and deport 1 million immigrants he claims are here illegally.
• Pardon January 6th criminals that were in prison.
• Seek revenge against anyone that opposed him politically or in the media.
• Abandon America’s security role in the world. Ukraine would be on their own. Israel would be encouraged to attack Iran, and
the fate of Taiwan will be uncertain. Remember, Trump would make a deal with anyone just to say he ended the war.
And those were just his short list. His MAGA allies would also feel emboldened to press their minority views (like abortion bans) on the majority. Certainly, “loyalty” oaths would come into play if you wanted any type of relationship or funding from a Trump/MAGA federal government.
On the other hand, if Kamala Harris was elected, America would have bought some time to reform the system that allowed the rise of Trump and the MAGA movement in the first place. However, the threat they posed in our narrative view was not going to disappear. It would get smarter. There was too much money behind this notion of an unregulated American oligarchy for it simply to go away. They would pick someone to lead the movement that appeared more capable to lead than Trump, but it would be the same agenda.
Kamala’s pro-democracy policies would certainly be better for more American’s than the MAGA agenda, but if she did not have control of Congress it would not make much difference. America would continue to be paralyzed… vulnerable to the whims of billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
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The Resistance
IF Trump and his MAGA allies were elected the question remained… WHO was going to resist them. In the past our system of checks and balances provided that answer. The Executive branch, Congress and the Courts kept each other honest if they strayed too far towards either extreme. And the news media did a decent job of reporting on the debate given a common set of facts.
IF Trump was elected he would seek imperial power for the Executive Branch through executive orders. Congress would continue to be sufficiently split that it couldn't provide their normal guardrails and the Justice System would be answerable to a MAGA majority on the Supreme Court that had their own agenda.
Anyone that was receiving Federal funding for security, infrastructure, education and disaster response etc. would be vulnerable to MAGA pressure. We had already seen instances where the former Trump presidency withheld aid to blue states or to our allies worldwide until he received some sort of loyalty oath or preformed some sort of quid pro quo favor for him.
What about the fourth estate… the news media? This was where we had been working for two years. Our narrative intelligence in October was suggesting that the news media and social media platforms owned by wealthy corporations and billionaires would do little to expose MAGA’s aggressive nature to remake America in their image. If you needed a current metric for this narrative the failure of The Washington Post, The LA Times and the Garrett news group (USA Today) to endorse a presidential candidate was a first in many firsts for the 2024 election cycle.
The weak excuses from the Posts owner Jeff Bezos or Soon-Shiong, the billionaire that owned the LA Times, were that they didn't want to appear biased was based on the false assumption that both candidates were equal in their support of democracy for a majority of Americans. They were not by any measure. The irony for Bezos was the slogan on the Post’s masthead has always been… “democracy dies in darkness.” Was Bezos going to change that to “democracy is what I say it is? And when you add AI to the mix, you had large tech corporations like Google and META eager to push forward with their development with no regulations. A subject for another day.
Taking It to the Streets
Historically, when we Americans had felt our grievances were not being acknowledged by those in power we took to the streets. Us boomers certainly did this when we were young during the Viet Nam war protests and the civil rights movement. During that time, important political leaders and activists were assassinated and students on campuses were shot or beaten in the streets of Chicago but we never asked the question, “was our democracy threatened?” We just didn’t like the people in charge.
However, in this instance, Trump and his MAGA allies had already said they would have handled the Black Lives Matter protests in a much more aggressive manner than the Obama administration. So, does this last avenue of American protest simply provide an excuse for a type of MAGA martial law?
Our Prayer
As the calender wound towards election day on November 5th all of us at Vital Signs were hoping we were wrong. That the narrative trends we were reporting on would not come to pass IF Trump or Harris was elected. However, the America we found ourselves in 2024 was not even remotely like the one we had just 10 years ago. It was something else. The normal guard rails were not protecting us in the way they had in the past. So, would we rise up and evolve our system of democracy so that it met the challenges of the 21st century or let it become something else?
The other thing in play in this moment was my realization that the VSD threat scan we sent out at the end of October would most likely the last one of its kind. We had spent two years attempting to warn progressives of the dangers the MAGA movement represented to our way of life. When everyone felt sufficiently alarmed we had spent our time creating alternative media campaigns that we hoped would have some impact on the electorate. The question we seemed to think was important was... "Which America Do You Want?" That basic. In coming to this close of two years of intense work, I had no idea what I was going to do next. IF Trump somehow got elected that question had another spin on it. How could I just carry on when America was not a country I recognized any more. And I was tired of fighting. Where that left me in addition to going broke in the process was uncertain. For the first time in my life I did not have a sense of a story I was interested in past the election.
Here are other narrative headlines that were in play in October
• Trump lays groundwork to challenge potential Harris win with false narrative on non-citizen voters
• Ron DeSantis, using levers of state government to defeat Florida abortion-rights ballot measure
• Capitol riot defendants face upheld trespassing charges in US court
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Says Trump Promised Him "Control" Of CDC And Other Health Agencies
• Elon Musk asks voters to brace for economic 'hardship,' deep spending cuts in potential Trump Cabinet role
• Satellite photos show Israeli strike likely hit important Revolutionary Guard missile base in Iran
• China's warplanes have all but erased the dividing line in the Taiwan Strait, creating a dangerous new normal.
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One last note on how the US election might influence world stability. Jamie Dimon, the CEO of Chase Bank, hardly an alarmist, told a gathering of financial experts that he thought World War III had already started. That the middle east was in continuing crisis, Putin still threatened Ukraine and Europe and China was getting more aggressive about getting Taiwan back. Any of these conflicts could involve "tactical" nukes. We appeared to have forgotten that once the nuclear option is out of the bag, it tends to blow up everyone. The danger that Dimon was highlighting was particularly true if Trump was elected and he pulled us out of our strategic relationships with NATO and made "deals" with dictators like Putin in the name of ending the war. Although we found Dimon's warning unusual, at the same time he did not endorse a candidate for the 2024 election like many of the other billionaires. They seemed to be hedging their bets.​
There were also legal forces arrayed on both sides of the spectrum to address the numerous legal challenges that were expected to come as voting was progressing. It turned out in the end there was very little complaining from MAGA lawyers as the early returns showed a pattern of a Trump victory starting in states like Georgia and then spreading to the battleground states.
That “pattern” showed that Trump was doing a bit better than he did in 2020 in most states and Harris was doing a bit worse than Biden. It seemed like 2016 all over again as vote tallies kept coming in. Trump was winning rather easily. We all had said it would take days for the all the results to be known because the race was projected to be so close, but very early Wednesday morning Trump was declared the victor even though there was a lot of counting left to do in the Western states.
Was this a surprise to all of us? I can’t say I was shocked by the result the way I had been in 2016. We had said it was a tossup that could go either way. However, that prediction didn’t turn out to be true. Trump won ALL 7 battleground states AND the popular vote for the first time for Republicans since 2004. Although the magnitude of Trumps victory softened as more votes were counted in the western states, he still won the popular vote by 2.5 million votes. He had gotten more votes than he did in 2020 but Harris got roughly 3 million votes less than Biden in 2020. That meant a lot of pro-democracy voters did not show up. That was shocking considering the stakes. Why that was I will get into shortly.
In addition, the Republicans won the Senate back by five seats and the House of Representatives by a narrower margin than 2020, but still held the majority. It was the trifecta. The White House, The Senate and the House AND the 6-3 MAGA majority on the Supreme Court. At first blush it looked like whatever the MAGA movement attempted to do could happen and it was difficult to see where the resistance was going to come from unless people went into the streets.
A Couple of Other Themes
Big money had always played a part in influencing American elections since the Supreme Court had ruled corporations and Super PACS could raise and spend unlimited funds for a candidate of their choice anonymously. However, there was new twist. Billionaires like Elon Musk had played an active, upfront part in Trumps campaign and expected to be given a shadow appointment as a Government Efficiency czar. He was joined by another Silicon Valley conspiracy guy, Vivek Ramaswamy. They said they wanted to cut massive amounts of Federal government employees and whole agencies in some cases.
This would not need the approval of the Congress. It could be done by executive order. Other billionaires also stepped into the spotlight like Jeff Bezos. And as Trumps cabinet picks rolled out, many of them were billionaires. These rich guys (mostly) were no longer hiding in the background but declaring a new day in America where the mythical open market sans any federal regulation would make decisions that benefited them and hurt everyone else. The question was… would anyone notice or object?
When the race and age numbers of the election results were analyzed it showed Trumps support grew among Muslims, and young people, particularly men. Even suburban women who had been counted on to back Harris did not in any overwhelming numbers. The question that hung in the air was… how had this happened? And as a storyteller I would say that is the power of story.
There is and will be lots of gnashing of teeth about why Democrats lost. Common themes like… Harris was a woman of color, Biden did not step back in time, they couldn’t get their economic message clear enough so voters believed it, they didn’t pay attention to working class people etc. There was one theme that was new and unique to the 2024 election. And this theme is the one I don’t know we are going to change. For a while social media, podcasts and other kinds of streaming media had been increasing their market share. Influencers like Joe Rogan often had larger audiences than the progressive cable channels.
This election however, announced the end of what was now called “legacy media.” Cable networks like CNN and MSNBC that for years had been the information source for citizens. In the run up to the election one of our questions at Vital Signs was how CNN and MSNBC would report on Trumps rise again, particularly if he was ahead. Fox News stayed with their lies and disinformation that fed their audience with false narratives. CNN and MSNBC just kept “covering” the news like the latest crazy or dangerous thing Trump had said, or the delay in the felony cases against Trump. In other words they made their money off of going outrage anti-Trump.
Following the election CNN and MSNBC’s ratings took a nose dive. I could now tell from my vantage point what the commonly held reasons were but I suspected that their audience was disappointed they had not done more to stop Trump’s re-election. This would have required them to switch up their business plans to be in more activist mode like Fox where they clearly became mouthpieces for progressive candidates. One question that emerged was... was "objective" journalism dead unable to compete with MAGA narrative that they were fake news. Their numbers were so low after the election that CNN announced they were doing massive layoffs and MSNBC was going to be spun out by its parent NBC news to a new independent company. Usually a sign the parent company doesn’t want the liability anymore. An era of cable networks seemed to be ending.
No where was this more apparent than in the numbers that were revealed after the election concerning how many voters were influenced by the MAGA news media and how many by the progressive media. It wasn’t even close. MAGA news won that culture war by a lot. For example, Joe Rogan’s interview with President Trump was streamed by 30 million people. That was way more than the audiences for the Trump/Harris debate. Kamala Harris declined to do an interview with Rogan because of “scheduling “issues. Rogan endorsed Trump shortly thereafter.
One answer as to why Americans would vote to put a convicted criminal, a liar, a financial cheat and a sexual abuser back in the White House, was that the story being repeated by the MAGA media 24/7 was that all those glaring reasons not to re-elect him were politically motivated attacks by the Democrats. It seemed to literally not matter to voters including Muslim populations and young black men that would find themselves on Trumps hit list if he was re-elected. A truly new revolution in influencing elections.
I think this is what makes it so hard now to rally around any resistance movement to block Trumps 2nd term agenda. Us pro-democracy folks don’t have a narrative distribution network anywhere near as big as the MAGA movement. Before Democrats attempt to “change” their story or find more “electable” candidates the MAGA news eco-system needs to be countered, or at least challenged. As I write this at my age, that seems like that option could take a long time to develop.
One last thing I will say about Trump/MAGA’s re-election is that the current pro-MAGA landscape could change if the clowns Trump is installing in important Federal government positions make colossal mistakes like Trump did with Covid in 2019-2020. I have always said that IF he had recognized the Covid pandemic as the perfect excuse for him to become a dictator in early 2020, he would have been easily elected in 2020. But autocratic leaders tend to overreach in their success fever as we see Trump doing in this moment. Perhaps if the crisis is bad enough, Democrats will find a way too push back. Our democracy could depend on it OR on some new third party organization that would represent the majority of American’s that we can’t see in this moment.
For me, Trumps re-election and all it could mean for this country I love was in a sense a death blow to anything I would get involved with politically from here on out. It had been a long two years of doing Vital Signs (which I would do again) that had now brought me to some future where I had no money and my health was worsening. Unknown territory for the moment and unclear where my curiosity would point to going forward.
Other Narratives Worth Knowing About in November.
• Job growth bounced back in November
• US universities urge international students to come back before Donald Trump’s inauguration
• Trump “guitars” accused of trademark infringement by Gibson Brands
• 20-year-old OnlyFans model Sophie Rain earns ₹366 crore in one year, pays off parents’ debt
• Donald Trump roasts Joe Biden, Kamala Harris in AI video on ‘Thanksgiving'
• ‘Aliens checking out Congress?’: Eerie lights over Capitol Hill sparks UFO concerns in America
• Israeli President Herzog called Elon Musk to discuss revival of hostage talks, source says
Netanyahu arrest warrant tests Western commitment to international law
• Deadly Israeli strikes hit southern Lebanon after Hezbollah attacks, testing shaky ceasefire
• Maritime threats high on agenda as Chinese navy hosts Gulf of Guinea forum
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia struck the Ukrainian city with a new mid-range ballistic missile.
• Ukraine fired at Russia this week with long range missiles made in the US, UK and France.
December
The last month of 2024 launched hopefully even though I was suffering from withdrawal symptoms concerning MAGA winning the election. I had a new web portal client. The Lawrence Hall of Science. I had a long history with the hall as a kid and building an inflatable traveling pavilion for them in the late 1970’s.
The group that was building a Research impact web portal had seen the work I had done for the Berkeley Climate Change Initiative and had contacted me. The scope of the project was huge in comparison to the climate work in that it was indexing all research programs on the UC Berkeley. The wanted a very sophisticated search function built into the Open Berkeley platform. This project was a godsend. It would cover three months of my expenses. It was also a pilot for a much bigger project if the pilot was approved could keep me employed for a year plus meet others at UC Berkeley.
I had written up a development strategy that split the huge project into two pieces. A pilot demonstrating all the key functions and the final web portal once everyone gave us their notes. I gave those talking points to the project director to sell to her board. She came back quickly and said we were good to go and wanted to start immediately.
The initial meetings with her on Zoom were convoluted affairs where she seem to be asking for a search function that the current Open Berkeley platform did not offer. This was not a big issue. We could find the search function and add it to the Open Berkeley platform.
At her suggestion I met with the Lawrence Hall of Science tech guy. He suggested we meet with other programs at Cal that had the more sophisticated search functions and then he could write some simple code to bind their engine to the Open Berkeley platform. I wrote that in an email to Dee the project director. Then all hell then broke loose. She cancelled our meeting that day and said not to do anymore work until we talked. Very confusing response from a person that had been so excited to work with me.
I won’t go into all the details but the next day she took me off the project and refused to pay me for the 10 days I had worked because my statement of work had not made it through the University payment system. I had worked on the Climate site for six weeks before the “paperwork” was completed. I suspected she felt embarrassed she had not realized that the Open Berkeley system did not provide the advanced search functions she wanted. This was not a huge problem but she made it one. In our last zoom she was a completely different person than she had been in our work together. She just issued her pronouncements and then hung up the call. It was shocking and put me back into the mode of how I was going to pay for my life. Eventually, Lawarence Hall recognized my work and paid me for the 10 days but the long term promise of employment was gone.
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The 2024 Election Aftermath.
All of us who were on the losing team were attempting to make sense of what had happened. It wasn't just that MAGA won it was the way they won. Trump got a majority of the popular vote as well as the electoral victory. First time that had happened for a Republican since GW in 2004. Our story had been that the electoral college allowed a minority to win an election. This was not true in this circumstance. The numbers showed that the MAGA cultural war narrative had completely overwhelmed the pro-democracy narrative. If you believed the numbers Kamala got 3 million less votes than Biden in 2020. Trump won all 7 swing states plus a majority in the Senate and a narrow margin in the House. That meant a lot of pro-democracy voters had not shown up. That included white and black women and younger men.
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Democrats immediately went into blame mode, saying Kamala had not been a strong candidate, Biden had stepped back too late, their messaging did not influence ordinary voters etc. There were immediate calls for Democrats to re-invent themselves. Ironically, the Republican party had re-invented themselves after Obama's eight years. It had gone radical MAGA. It was not the conservative party of the past but a party that now demanded imperial presidential powers and an end of democratic safeguards. And a majority of American voters had just agreed with them. I didn't know what country I was living in anymore.
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In my view, IF MAGA put just half of what was in their Project 2025 into play the America I knew would slowly cease to exist. Trumps first cabinet appointments included 18 billionaires. Elon Musk who had engineered Trumps win became a "shadow president" even before they were officially sworn in. Rich and powerful individuals in both parties had always attempted to pull the strings from behind the curtain but now they were stepping out into the light with bravado.
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One quality of the narratives we reported on at Vital Signs was a story that we heard from many, particularly those that felt our predictions about a MAGA victory were too "alarmist." They appeared to believe that somehow, we would still muddle through and the system would correct itself eventually if it went too far toward the MAGA right. Historically, even in America, that correction had required violence like we had seen during our civil war where there was a fundamentally different belief system between north and the south. This time that "divide" was not as cleanly drawn as that. Even in deep blue states like California there were substantial rural areas that were MAGA supporters. How would all that work out if things got "physical?"
One Thing that Interested Me?
IF I could find the money one story I was starting to get interested in was researching... did the MAGA news system really out influence the pro-democracy news system? Certainly, some were suggesting as much. Such an effort would require first looking at the "influence" numbers. How many voters did Fox and the rest of the MAGA news system get to? The second thing would be to look at the media distribution types that MAGA used to influence voters. Was it really true that this was the first election that podcasts and social media news platforms dominated the influence game? And lastly, was there something about the way the MAGA news media messaged their offerings that was more effective than us pro-democracy geeks.
One interesting note that popped early was something called an "ambiguity quotient." What that term meant was the level of ambiguity that the news personality employed as he/she offered lots of different stories and antidotes without ever finishing talking about any of them. Trump was a classic example of this style. He would go on for hours segueing from one crazy notion to the next. The effect was that it was hard to remember what he has said five minutes ago. This "style" was designed to overwhelm the listener so they would be distracted from what he was really suggesting. Since Trump had come down his golden elevator in 2015 the media had struggled to keep up with all his scandals and anti-democratic pronouncements.
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In the world of viral messaging the common wisdom was to keep the news flashes short. This was because the attention span of the social media generations was so short. In 2024 the Democrats used this style in marketing themselves on social media. What emerged however from Trump and key influencers like Joe Rogan was a long form. Often hours long. One Joe Rogan podcast I had listened to before the election covered 25 different subjects without finishing any of them. However, the impact of this style was hidden in the aggregate. The general takeaway from Trump or Rogan was that... something was terribly wrong and they could fix it. The story from the 2024 election campaign was that Trumps folks had seduced popular podcasters particularly those under 30 to promote Trump to their huge audiences. I made a note to look into this in the New Year.
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Years End
2024 ended for me much like it had started. In a state of disarray. Very little money, no project ideas after the election and still a deep lack of community. I kept fighting the feeling that maybe what the universe was telling me was... I was done. My life had been an extraordinary ride for 50+ years. But all things end and what I was increasing feeling was a lack of attraction to staying here any further.
All that was left was to use my life insurance money to square my debts, get Jennifer some money to reboot her life and pass on some funds to Neal, Lou and Ridge. This narrative obviously had all sorts of layers to it. If I was going to end my life when the money ran out in 2025 I would have to adopt out my cat Zeffie. He was already showing signs of stress from living alone with me in a small apartment for the past year. It would break my heart to do it, but he deserved better than what I was giving him now. Perhaps what the "universe" or my higher self was telling me was to let go of all of it and move on or reboot and try again if that is what happens.
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Signs
A funny story. I was walking on Sunday before New Years on my usual route that takes me along the river and then back through the neighborhoods. I decided that day to walk the long version for the first time in a while. As I am walking back on the surface streets a car slowed beside me with four young guys in it. It reminded me of when I was in high school when we drove around yelling things at people thinking it was funny. In this case the guy in the backseat leans out the open car window and says... "keep up the good work." WHAT? Now he could have seen me as fat and walking was my attempt to lose weight, but what are the odds that on a street I'm not usually on, the one car I see makes a point of saying "keep up the good work?" The question was which work? Something more in this life or letting go of all of it and moving on?
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It was quite a thought to end 2024 on.
2025 - January
The year began for me in deep heaviness about the results of the 2024 election. The only story that came out of the results that interested me was the claim that MAGA news media overwhelmed pro-democracy news media in influencing voters. I thought that might be one reason voters elected a felon, a former president that incited a insurrection against the government, stole national security documents etc. The MAGA cultural war story dismissed all those facts as fake news politically created by Democrats instead of a product of the legal grand jury system. Here are some edited clips from NBC interviewing voters on why they voted for him.
Trumps prior criminality did not even come up in most interviews with people who voted for him this time. Perhaps this claim was important to look into. IF it was true it didn't matter if pro-democracy forces came up with better candidates or more effective messaging if it was getting drowned out by stories from an alternative MAGA universe.
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The other narrative that seemed pretty wide spread as we waited for Trump to take office went something like this. "Don't worry Trump talks a lot, but he very rarely follows through on his threats." We would see after the 20th.
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Personally, there was still no income in sight other than upcoming royalty payments that I never knew how much they would be. They certainly would not support me, but every dollar counted. I also ramped up my "Your Secret Stories" teaching for possible gigs at retreat centers. My old friend Jessica Britt was helping me get in touch with them, but it was still pretty much cold calls. As the zero hour on being out of money came closer I had to think again about a path for Zepher and what I needed to do to end. The question was... could I wait in the Sacramento way station for the Kosmos to come get me or call an Kosmic uber and make my own way home like my mother did. If I was younger (under 40) I certainly would sign up for the active resistance against the MAGA take over of the US government, but at 77+ that option seemed daunting, out of reach.
Day 1 Trump 2.0 - Cut to the chase
The narrative I mentioned above about Trump being mostly talk was dispelled quickly as he took office on January 20, 2025. As promised in the Project 2025 blueprint he began using executive orders like imperial decrees. Here are some of the early hits. Some very dangerous and some just absurd.
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He pardoned 150,000 January 6th insurrectionists. That included ones already in prison and ones that were awaiting trial. It also included the violent criminals that had beat police officers and the leadership of the white radical groups like the Proud Boys. The later said they were going home to get to work. One guess is that they would form the core of a "vigilante" movement that would harass anyone who did not support Trumps desire for imperial power.
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He took his first steps at reneging on all climate change efforts and boosting oil and gas production under the mantra of "drill baby drill."
As promised he canceled ALL DEI programs across the entire government and military. DEI personnel were ushered out of their offices by armed officers. I had always thought that some of the extreme woke notions of culture sensitivity had gone to far for the mainstream. All this energy, language, documents, staff time spent on safeguarding a small group of American citizens. However. MAGA's reaction to kill it all was more damaging in the long run and really just an excuse to take more power into the executive branch.
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SILLY: He claimed to have re-named the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. First of all international bodies of water are governed by multi-country jurisdiction and can't be changed by just one. Most around the world laughed, but in the US... Google as the suppliers of Google maps said they would make the name change. This action was just the first of the "tech-bros" falling all over themselves to kiss his ring.
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Much more importantly, Trump withdrew the US from the World Health Organization and the Paris climate change accords. He seemed to have no memory that WHO was the international organization that coordinated the efforts to stop the Covid pandemic. Not too surprising I guess seeing as how Donald was responsible for thousands of needless deaths in the US with his suggestions of using bleach to treat the virus.
He took credit for a ceasefire deal between Israel and Palestine Gaza residents even though the deal was brokered before he was president. The deal was full of caveats that could cause it to collapse at any moment. With Trump ramping up the US support for Israel he could hardly claim he wanted peace. What was coming was even worse than that.
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He made his first moves to authorize the use of US military within the United States to deal with issues like the southern border. This was a very dangerous precedent.
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He ordered ICE to target schools and churches in his first moves to deport I million immigrants he claimed were here illegally.
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Anyone wondering what the American tech oligarchs would do after DT's election was quickly highlighted at Trumps inauguration. All seven CEO's of Twitter, Amazon, Google, Meta etc stood right behind him as he took the oath. While it had always been true that billionaires would often pull strings behind the scenes, they were now right out in front. The irony was during the Obama years they had all been supporters of democracy. Now, they thought it would be better for the world if they ruled.
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The worst of them was Elon Musk who had donated $250,000 million dollars to get Trump elected. Elon was put in charge of a vague "advisory" board that was supposed to root out corruption and unnecessary funding across the entire government. It was fittingly called DOGE. And boy was it. Never in the history of the US had a private citizen with NO authority to make decisions jumped right into government agencies, including demanding access to sensitive information on millions of Americans. More on the depth of this attack in February notes.
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The so called progressive media like CNN and MSNBC were majorly whacked after the election. If the claim was true that they were overshadowed by MAGA media beginning with Fox News the massive drop in their ratings after the election was one sign. Again, the corporate parents of these media organizations immediately aligned their anchors so that anyone who had been critical of Trump was fired, moved to the middle of the night or quit. Chuck Todd exited NBC News - and Jim Acosta quit CNN after years of reporting.
Also, big organizations like Meta and CBS moved to settle the nuisance lawsuits that Trump had filed against them because they were critical of him. This was a new onslaught on independent media and it looked like the big corporations were just going to roll over.
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There were some many executive orders emerging from his first month in office I will just organize them into categories.
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Quick hits in January
His Appointments
Trump doles out security clearances to unvetted officials
Hegseth confirmed as Trump’s defense secretary in tie-breaking vote despite turmoil over his conduct
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Cleaning out government officials and employees he felt were not loyal to him
Inspectors Generals in many Federal agencies fired illegally.
Trump ends Anthony Fauci's security detail and says he'd feel no responsibility if harm befell him
Trump administration fires justice department lawyers who investigated him
New US Attorney General Pam Bondi Passed Donald Trump's Loyalty Test To Weaponize the Justice Department
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Canceling foreign and domestic aid programs
Trump administration offers "deferred resignation" to government workers. A vague way to reduce the work force.
Attacking the Free Press
CBS 58 weather reporter Sam Kuffer fired after criticizing on air Elon Musk Nazi arm salute
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announces major changes for media at first briefing. Independent journalists, pod-casters, social media influencers and content creators are put on equal footing with professional news organizations. Who do you think she is going to call on.
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Changes in Foreign Policy
Israel's Netanyahu invited to meet Trump at White House as the first head of state. How are the Muslim voters in Michigan feeling now about not supporting Biden.
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Going Back on His Campaign Promises
Trump and his cronies seem to be prepping MAGA voters to accept higher prices which they claimed they would bring down
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Election Results
Trump’s VICTORY may have been AIDED by massive voter suppression efforts in battleground states.
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Conflicts of Interest
Inspector general of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is removed from her Washington D.C. office on Monday after refusing to comply with the conditions of her termination. Fong’s office has been investigating Elon Musk’s brain implant startup Neuralink
Elon Musk 'pressured' FAA boss to quit one week before Potomac plane/helicopter tragedy killing 64 people.
Musk pushes out top Treasury official over effort to access US government payment system
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​FEB
The sheer speed of Trumps first moves as President was breathtaking. The "changes" came so fast no one initially had the time to question their legal status or constitutionally. It seemed the order of the day for Trump and Musk was to move fast and break things no matter the consequences. The question arose early... where was the resistance going to come from? MAGA controlled the White House, the Senate, the House and the Supreme Court.
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Many pro-democracy pundits were attempting to have rational conversations with MAGA devotees about Trump/Musk actions that were unhinged in reality. I just wanted one of them to ask this question... "If Harris had won the election and was doing what Trump and Musk are doing now, would you question it, challenge it, claim it was illegal... what? Of course they would be screaming from the roof tops and planning another January 6th insurrection.
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Strange themes began to emerge as we witnessed the childish behavior of Musk and Trump. One was a return of a distorted view of masculinity. Musk and Zuckerberg wondered where all the "real" men had gone and took steps at their companies to ALPHA up. This coincided with a growing TECHNO- Authoritarianism movement. They had always moved in the shadows but now the hostile takeover of the US government was out in the open in plain sight.
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Here are some of February's greatest hits. You will notice the big increase in volume.
Democrats
Democrats hammered by ugly unpopularity poll numbers after election
Unlawful Conflicts of Interest
White House says Elon Musk is not in charge of DOGE — legally anyway
There are several reasons Musk wants to control Treasury payments. None of them are good.
An un-elected and unaccountable billionaire wants to dictate what working families can and cannot afford.
Elon Musk’s Government Data Heist Is His Entire Ballgame. Where is all our data going?
Musk Says DOGE Halting Treasury Payments to US Contractors
Federal employee unions are suing the Treasury and alleging Elon Musk's DOGE gained illegal and 'unprecedented' access to data
Seven techies barely out of college are helping Musk slash billions from federal government without knowing why
Musk, Trump Prosecutor Targeting People Who Divulge Identities of DOGE Staff
Trump energy secretary allowed 23-year-old DOGE rep to access IT systems over objections from general counsel
FBI turns over details of 5,000 employees who worked on January 6 cases to Trump Justice Department, as agents sue
Russell Vought’s, author of Project 2025, and new head of the Office of Government Management about to use a normally obscure role to tear down the ‘deep state’
Elon Musk’s gutting of US agencies is illegal, experts say. How do you muzzle Doge?
Trump appointee wants federal workers to be ‘in trauma’
Elon Musk built his wealth from taxpayer-funded research — now he's trying to destroy future science
Tesla sales plunging worldwide amid Musk’s new role in Trump White House
Musk staffer 'mistakenly' given ability to edit Treasury Department payment system
As Musk tries to slash trillions from federal spending, Trump publicly states desire for more military money
Energy Department scrambles to rehire nuclear bomb experts fired in major DOGE screw up
Elon Musk’s mass government cuts could make private companies millions
Trump Suggests No Laws Are Broken if He’s ‘Saving His Country’
Dismantling of federal efforts to monitor election interference creates opening for foreign meddling
FAA fires hundreds of staff amid Trump admin job cuts drive
Trump administration fires thousands of U.S. Forest and National Park Service workers
FDA staff were reviewing Elon Musk’s brain implant company. DOGE just fired them.
Musk helped fire hundreds of FAA workers. Now, his SpaceX employees could fill the void
​Musk boasts about ‘thrashing bureaucracy’ as Trump expands power grab over independent agencies
MAGA Cheers on ‘King’ Trump Dropping Pretense of Democracy
These feds took Trump’s ‘fork’ deal... then they got fired.
DOJ moves to drop discrimination suit against Musk's SpaceX
Cuts drain federal government of technical expertise
Here’s how many billions Elon Musk’s companies are making from U.S. taxpayers
Elon Musk has been entrusted with federal cost-cutting. Meanwhile, his businesses have collected a reported $38 billion in government funds—including millions loaned to Tesla when it was struggling
Trump administration slashes NOAA staff, fulfilling Project 2025 goal
Tariffs as Bargaining Chips
Canada and Mexico order retaliatory tariffs on U.S. as Trump’s tariffs spur trade war
China to retaliate after Trump fires first salvo in trade war - Beijing says it will impose countermeasures against the U.S.’s 10 percent levy on Chinese imports.
China counters with tariffs on US products. It will also investigate Google.
What does Trump really want from Canada and Mexico? It may come down to oil security and bringing both ‘under the US’s thumb’
More Lies
JD Vance backs Trump's DEI claims as responsible for D.C. plane crash. Shameless
Vance questions authority of US judges to challenge Trump
​Tens of millions of dead people aren’t getting Social Security checks, despite Trump and Musk claims - AP
Elon Musk mulls giving Americans a $5,000 check based on DOGE savings
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Culture War
Blitz! President Trump returns to familiar strategy exhausting foes, delighting friends flooding the field with multiple illegal acts.
Trump to create "faith" office in White House to target 'anti-Christian bias'
West Point shuts down clubs for women and students of color in response to Trump’s DEI policies
Staffer for Musk’s DOGE resigns over racist social media posts that advocated for eugenics
Google Maps Says ‘Gulf Of America’ While Google Calendar Drops Pride, Black History Month
Google Maps Admits Deleting Critical ‘Gulf Of America’ Reviews
Hygge to Hollywood: Petition calling for Denmark to buy California reaches 200,000 signatures
Angry Grimes Goes After Musk for Using Their Son as a Prop in Oval Office Press Conference
Democrats are too lost to stand up to Trump. That weakness will cost them
Hatred of Donald Trump turns US-Canada ice hockey match into mass brawl
Astronauts push back on Trump claim Biden abandoned them on space station
Thousands rally against Trump in nationwide "Not My Presidents Day" protests
Musk says failure to respond a second time to email will end in termination
Education Policies
Trump Orders Schools to Ease Sexual Assault Rules
Democratic lawmakers physically turned away from Department of Education
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Health Care
CDC webpages go dark as Trump targets public health information
Doctors sue Trump admin over removed health data
National Institutes of Health is capping an important kind of funding for medical research at universities, medical schools, research hospitals and other scientific institutions. In the latest step by the Trump administration affecting scientific research, the NIH says the agency is limiting funding for "indirect costs" to 15% of grants.
Senate confirms RFK Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary
RFK Jr. Just Kneecapped the CDC on His First Day - The Trump administration laid off half of its Epidemic Intelligence Service, otherwise known as the “Disease Detectives.”Trump admin fires CDC 'disease detectives' as bird flu fears rise
United Health stock plunges on report of DoJ Medicare Advantage probe
​USDA says it accidentally fired officials working on bird flu and is now trying to rehire them
MAGA Grift and Corruption
Trump signs order establishing a sovereign wealth fund that he says could buy TikTok
​Trump’s Justice Department ends Biden-era task force aimed at seizing assets of Russian oligarchs
Wall Street Journal Warns New Donald Trump Move Will ‘Destroy More Wealth Than It Creates’ - sovereign wealth fund
​Trump to pause enforcement of law banning bribery of foreign officials
Trump Proudly Declares He’ll Hide All His Shady Guests at the White House From the Public
Trump supporters lose $12bn as president’s cryptocurrency collapses
Republicans terrified of crossing Trump due to physical threats
Foreign Policy/Aid
Ukraine’s mineral riches have long been eyed by its allies. Now they may be Trump’s price for military aid
Ukraine attempts to reel in Trump with offer of mineral riches
Trump to sign an executive order sanctioning the International Criminal Court
The order will include financial sanctions and visa restrictions against ICC officials found to have assisted in investigations of U.S. citizens or allies.
Halt in US aid cripples global efforts to relieve hunger
As USAID retreats, China pounces
Trump fires USAID inspector general who released report on impact of agency cuts
Gabbard to meet with US allies in Munich on first trip as DNI
Russia rejoices at Trump-Putin call as Zelenskyy rejects talks without Ukraine present
Vance Shocks Europe With a Message That He Has Long Promoted at Home - support for ultra right in Germany
​'Doesn't protect Ukraine': Zelenskyy on why US minerals deal draft is not ready
In Jerusalem, Rubio and Netanyahu Praise Trump’s Idea to Expel Palestinians From Gaza
Vice President Vance tells Europe's leaders: Stop building a 'firewall' to block far right
The nightmare of a Trump-Putin deal leaves Europe in shock
Ukraine agrees minerals deal with US
Trump-Zelenskyy Oval Office meeting explodes into a shouting match
Immigration
Abbott says Texas National Guard now authorized to make immigration arrests
Border Czar Whines It’s Been ‘Hard’ to Find Undocumented Immigrants
Trump allies circulate mass deportation plan calling for ‘processing camps’ and a private citizen ‘army’
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Technology and National Security
DeepSeek coding has the capability to transfer users' data directly to the Chinese government
US and UK refuse to sign AI safety declaration at summit
The CFPB took aim at Big Tech. Then Elon Musk moved to dismantle it. X new money system as being suspicious
Federal technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and DOGE
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Climate Change
Hottest January on record mystifies climate scientists
Young DOGE Engineer Now Has Access to The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Which Warns Americans When Hurricanes are Forming
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Justice System
Federal judge again tells Trump to restore frozen grant and loan payments
Steve Bannon pleads guilty in border wall fraud case, avoids jail time
Team Trump Threatens To Ignore Court Orders
DOJ Admits It’s Fully Corrupt With Dismissal of Eric Adams Charges
Why federal courts are unlikely to save democracy from Trump’s and Musk’s attacks
​Flurry of resignations after DOJ tells prosecutors to drop Eric Adams case
Judge seems unwilling to immediately bar Musk from meddling in federal agencies
Senior DOJ prosecutor quit after being told to investigate Biden climate spending
Judge green-lights DOGE to continue accessing student data - UCSA provides no evidence, beyond sheer speculation, that would allow the Court to infer that ED or DOGE staffers will misuse or further disseminate this information."
Trump nominates 'Stop the Steal' organizer who advocated for Jan. 6 defendants to be D.C.'s top prosecutor
Chutkan said she didn't think the states had shown necessary evidence of imminent harm to merit court intervention at this stage.
The Supreme Court gave Trump immunity. He’s using it as a blank check.
Trump says he has instructed DOJ to terminate all remaining Biden-era US attorneys
Trump signs order declaring only president and AG can interpret US law for executive branch
Trump loyalist Kash Patel is confirmed as FBI director by the Senate despite deep Democratic doubts - Only 2 republicans
Federal judge rules Trump administration has to pay millions in foreign aid to nonprofits - will they
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Economy
Overall household debt climbed to a new high of $18.04 trillion in the fourth quarter, the New York Fed reported.
Trump Labor Secretary Pick Vows to Defend Anti-Union 'Right-to-Work' Laws
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Media/News
​Elon Musk Says Team Behind CBS's '60 Minutes' Deserves 'A Long Prison Sentence'
Trump personally decided to limit Associated Press’ access to White House
White House seizes control of press pool, will decide which outlets cover events with president
Washington Post Opinion Editor Quits as Jeff Bezos Sets New Focus: Personal Liberties and Free Markets
​
​COUP IN PLAIN SIGHT​ - Hostile Takeover
​WILL MAGA ACKNOWLEDGE COURT RULINGS THAT GO AGAINST THEM
Marc Elias - Democracy Docket - Constitutional Crisis
MEMES EMERGE..
EAT THE RICH
King Donald
March
I have decided to focus my post election resistance efforts on the one finding that came out of the data that interested me. That claim was... The MAGA news media completely overwhelmed the pro-democracy narrative. And they did it a very creative use of podcasts, YouTube videos and social media posts. That's why some pundits were calling the 2024 election the podcast election.
​
The result was that more voters were influenced by the MAGA disinformation narrative than the dems pro-democracy pitch. There has been one initial study by Media Matters that claims that 80% of news sources, particularly social media news sources lean right. This is particularly true for younger voters. This study raised the issue but did not go deep enough for us. We want to study further.
It is too easy to divide news sources into red or blue. Our narrative analysis says it is much more complicated than that. Stories on these outlets play out along a spectrum of political beliefs. For example, it is claimed Joe Rogan has gone over to the Trump camp. He certainly did "the" interview but if you listen to his show which is still a mix of conspiracy theories (many about the US government) cultural war debate and celebrity interviews the general overall theme is that... "America is failing." Its not overt but it leaves his listeners feeling that something is wrong.
Again the nugget of truth paradox comes into play. Is the Federal government too big and bureaucratic. Yes is the easy answer. Is there corruption in government contracts particularly in the military, undoubtedly. But MAGA news takes those facts and claims the answer is to eliminate all government agencies, any regulations that impact billionaires like Elon Musk and so on... What they really mean is that they want to shift power to the states UNLESS it is Trumps imperial edicts from the White House.
​
The Democrats appear to be right that their messaging particularly on economic issues did not get through to voters, but there is something much larger in play for us. IF the MAGA news networks did influence more voters than pro-democracy sources it really doesn't matter if Demos change their messaging or pick more attractive candidates IF they don't at least level the playing field so they are reaching more voters than MAGA news sources. There is also another issue. MAGA news is much better at delivering a concise message across all channels. This "message" is usually no more than a couple of sentences. We see this in the current hubbub about our national security agency heads using Signal to conduct highly classified war plan operations ahead of the actual missions. When the cadre of those people appeared before Congress they delivered the same exact message. The Signal text did NOT contain classified information. This claim was made even though Congress had the actual text which was highly classified.
​
The result in MAGA world (half the voters at the moment) was that the "liberal" media was again over blowing what happened. They did not make the message complicated or long or even the truth. They just kept repeating the same line as if they were all reading off the same page.
​
As a result of all this the Vital Signs team has shaped a new campaign called "What NOW" Revitalizing Our Democratic System of Governance - Call to ACTION We want to take a much closer look at the MAGA News claim. We initially do this by looking at how much each party spent on which media outlets, the political bias of these news distribution channels. and the complexity of the messaging they pitched that allowed the “America is failing” narrative to win the culture war and thus the election.
​
This initial research project will also include gathering top experts in social media news to discuss they views of how to level the playing field. The cost of doing something like this as a first step are not that much. It can easily be supported by individual contributions of $50, $100 or more. I am hoping that my mail lists, my families and my friends will be enough to get this started.
​
That being said there is part of me that is not hopeful. I feel I am mostly invisible these days in terms of the projects I want to do. This project plus attempting to find a "community" to join is all that seems to matter to me. If neither of these is possible I don't know why I am still here. At my age (almost 78) I just don't know if people will support me to do one more thing. We will have to see.
​
March 1-15 News
​DT's imperial edicts and the unhinged DOGE activities are now coming so fast that I am just going to list them here by category with comments if they are warranted. Mostly, you can see the current scorecard in the headlines. At the moment MAGA is winning.
Global Policy
Ukrainians Blindsided by Deal’s Breakdown and by Trump’s Actions - This on going claim by Trump that he can end the war quicly looks like he means giving Ukraine up to Russia. Its not clear if Europe will stand up to this possibility.
Trump Thinks He Humiliated Zelensky. He Really Humiliated the United States
Kremlin says US foreign policy pivot ‘largely coincides with our vision’
​Trump’s Defense Secretary Hegseth Orders Cyber Command to ‘Stand Down’ on All Russia Operations
​Rubio Bypasses Congress to Send Israel $4 Billion in Arms - claims unknown emergency
Europe considers a major defense spending package as Trump signals disengagement
Trump Says U.S. Is Going to Get Greenland 'One Way or the Other'
US plans to close European consulates and cut state department workforce
The Next Big Lie - Peter Navarro: ‘Canada has been taken over … by Mexican cartels’
​ICE arrests Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University protests
Secretary of State Rubio says purge of USAID programs complete, with 83% of agency’s programs gone
Iran's President to Trump: I will not negotiate, 'do whatever the hell you want'
Greenlanders say no to Trump as rare earths loom over coalition talks
Trump administration to start fingerprinting, registering some Canadian visitors
​Putin makes clear Russia will only play ball with Ukraine by his rules
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Federal Government Agencies (DOGE attacks)
Dems say over 800 fired from top weather agency amid DOGE audits
USAID cuts are already hitting countries around the world
US Education department slashed in half after Trump administration mass firings
Democratic states sue Trump over major cuts to the Department of Education
Immigration and the Border
Army sending another 1,000 troops to US-Mexico border with Striker armored vehicles - Why we need armored vehicles is unclear
US to revoke student visas over ‘pro-Hamas’ social media posts flagged by AI
Trump plans to revoke legal status for hundreds of thousands Ukrainians who fled Russian invasion
Federal judge won’t order immigration officials to change school arrests policy
Trump expected to invoke wartime authority to speed up mass deportation effort in coming days
Team Trump is spending $200 million on ad campaign promoting migrants deport themselves
Canadian entrepreneur detained by ICE and sent to Arizona facility in chains after visa was revoked,
Trump Department of Justice and FBI
FBI returns records from Mar-a-Lago search to Trump. He still stole them and lied about it.
US intel shows Russia and China are attempting to recruit disgruntled federal employees,
Fighter jets again intercept aircraft near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate _ Is this more Trump victim hood claims
US Secret Service shoots armed man near White House after confrontation
Justice Department Attorney Says She Was Fired After Balking at Effort to Restore Mel Gibson’s Gun Rights
​Trump’s all-out war on lawyers takes a disturbing new turn
FBI: Habitat for Humanity Among Groups Under Investigation
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The Courts
Donald Trump Rips The Mask Off Of John Roberts’ Court In One Sentence. "Thanks for protecting me. I will remember"
Judge rules Musk's DOGE operatives can access sensitive Treasury data
Trump takes birthright citizenship to the Supreme Court - Is that all he wants?
The Resistance?
Washington Post subscribers cancel in droves after Jeff Bezos overhauls opinion page - Will it matter?
​US judge declares Trump's firing of watchdog agency head illegal
Supreme Court rules Trump administration must unfreeze foreign aid payments
Democrats are acting sedate and silent during Trump’s worst excesses
US judge bars Trump administration from cutting NIH research funding
Trump administration ordered to reinstate thousands of fired USDA workers - but they will be fired officially as agency is closed.
Drawing huge crowds, Bernie Sanders steps into leadership of the anti-Trump resistance
Judge orders Trump to rehire probationary workers let go in mass firings across multiple agencies - Did they?
Republican congressman faces extended boos and jeers at rowdy town hall
Democrats set to host town halls targeting vulnerable House Republicans
Farmers sue Trump administration over halted IRA grants
Elon Musk
Elon Musk announces birth of ‘14th’ child – a son named Seldon Lycurgus. His campaign to have many children with different women is part of his master race plan of little Elons.
​Elon Musk Is About to Make Bank Thanks to Trump’s Internet Overhaul
​SpaceX rocket explosion leads to flight delays at Florida airports over fears of falling debris - somehow he gets to do this
President Trump Says Boycotting Tesla Is Illegal
Tesla loses $127 billion in one-day market bloodbath as China car group questions Musk’s pursuit of ‘personal glory’
Hours after Trump promises to buy a Tesla, reports of Elon Musk’s plans to donate $100M to MAGA super PACs emerge
Musk Boosts Claim That Hitler Wasn’t to Blame for Holocaust
Republicans get behind effort to make hating Elon Musk domestic terrorism
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Health Care
RFK Jr. said measles outbreaks are ‘not unusual’ in the US. Doctors say he’s wrong
So Much For RFK, Jr.'s Promise of 'Radical Transparency' at HHS
Health care for more than 100 million Americans is being turned over to a supplement salesman
​​
Polls
40+% Republicans See Russia As ‘Friendly,’ Poll Finds—Americans Largely Think Trump Backs Moscow In War With Ukraine
Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of Ukraine war, new polls show
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Finance ​​
Trump sends crypto prices soaring after surprise announcement of strategic government reserve
​Stocks tumble for second straight day as tariffs take effect
China and Canada immediately retaliate against Trump’s tariffs. Mexico is next
Trump's Tariffs Prompt Ontario To Impose 25% Electricity Surcharge
Alabama has gained $3.7 billion off U.S. aid to Ukraine. Then Trump hit ‘pause’
Tech CEOs to meet with Trump to push for tariff exemptions
Trump Drops Eye-Watering Number for How Long High Prices Could Last
David Sacks says the US may have lost over $16 billion in early liquidation of bitcoins
​Trump takes aim at Canada with doubled tariffs on metals
Musk’s Team Must Produce Documents to Comply With Open Records Laws, Judge Says
​EU Announces $28 Billion of Retaliatory Tariffs Against the U.S.
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Resources
Trump orders swathes of US forests to be cut down for timber
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Centers of Learning
Trump: American students will be ‘permanently expelled’ or arrested for campus protests
Department of Education investigating 60 colleges and universities over antisemitism claims - False flag
Johns Hopkins University slashes 2,000 jobs after Trump administration USAID grant cut
​Trump demands admissions overhaul and control of academic department at Columbia University
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STATE OF THE UNION ​- Trump made one of the longest addresses in history to Congress that was packed with the usual lies and disinformation. The Dems attempted to hold up paper paddles with the word "lie" on them as they sat but they would have been more effective if they stood up each time he lied. It would have played better on camera. A Republican ripped female Democrat’s sign away as Trump walks in for speech to Congress. The new normal
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Environment
Study finds butterfly population declined 22% between 2000 and 2020
SCOTUS rejects Republican-led effort to halt climate lawsuits in Dem-led states
Trump’s FBI Moves to Criminally Charge Major Climate Groups
A breakdown of major EPA de-regulatory moves around water, air, climate
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Culture War
DC City crews have begun removing the 'Black Lives Matter' street mural in D.C.
FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds as Trump administration tries to claw back climate money
Trump Makes 'Authoritarian' Move Toward Lawyer That Held Him Accountable
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Congress
Senate Democrats appear ready to back down in government shutdown fight - gutless, non creative move
Schumer warns of Doge’s ‘maximum destruction’ if government shuts down
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MARCH 15 - 31TH
Courts
Court lifts block on Trump order to end federal support for DEI programs - APPEALS COURT FOLDS
​Trump's border czar: "I don't care what the judges think"
Resistance?
Democratic Party infighting exposes struggle to unite against Trumps Agenda
Voters flood town halls with fears of Social Security cuts, putting heat on GOP over Musk and DOGE - need clear objectives
What court orders? Trump’s moving full steam ahead to slash more federal workers
Trump administration deports hundreds of migrants, despite judge’s order stopping removal
Federal probationary workers are being reinstated but put on paid leave
Molotov cocktails, gun used to destroy Tesla cars at Las Vegas facility,
Reinstated, but Not Back to Work: Fired Workers Linger in ‘Limbo’
Fewer than 1 in 5 Americans agree with Trump about annexing Greenland, Canada
Media
Trump sharpens attacks on US media and says their actions are illegal
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Federal Agencies
Trump’s next agency cuts include US-backed global media, library and museum grants
Trump moves to close down Voice of America
DOGE staff entered the U.S. Institute of Peace with D.C. police help
USDA preps for farm aid rollout - For problems MAGA tariffs are causing
USDA halts millions of dollars worth of deliveries to food banks
Feds cancel $4.3M worth of poultry, cheese, eggs to Michigan food banks
Most US Institute of Peace workers get late-night word of their mass firing
Global Relations
Greenland parties unite to reject Trump's annexation plans
Trump Asks Military for Plans to Take Panama Canal ‘By Force’
Canada to partner with Australia on early warning detection system in the Arctic
Canada condemns China after it executes Canadians over 'drug-related crime'
Trump admin. cuts funding for program that tracked Ukrainian children abducted by Russia
Trump says US will 'go as far as we have to' to get control of Greenland
"This is a direct attack": Canadian PM mulls retaliation over Trump's 25% auto tariffs
Elon Musk/DOGE
After Elon Musk Promised Cybertrucks Could Function as Boats, One Fell Into a Harbor for a Perfect Test - Sank!
Trump administration poised to ‘strand rural America with worse internet’ to help Musk,
Elon Musk’s DOGE Uses Police to Seize Independent Nonprofit
Elon Musk’s Starlink Takes Over the White House
Elon Musk Calls It 'Extreme Domestic Terrorism' After Website Publishes Data On US Tesla Owners
Musk group offers $100 to Wisconsin voters ahead of pivotal state Supreme Court election
DOGE staffer 'Big Balls' provided tech support to cybercrime ring
​Elon Says Government Will ‘Go After’ People ‘Pushing the Propaganda’ About Tesla
Appeals Court clears the way for Musk, DOGE to resume cuts to USAID
Elon Musk Sells X, Formerly Twitter, for $33 Billion to His AI Startup
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Justice Department/FBI
Trump tells Justice Department his win gives ‘mandate’ for ‘far reaching investigation’ into Democrats and news organizations
DOJ refuses to answer some questions from the judge who blocked Alien Enemies Act deportations
Seattle law firm Perkins Coie drew Democrats’ cash, and Trump’s wrath
FBI agent who has criticized the bureau arrested on charges of sharing confidential information
White House strikes deal with major law firm to lift sanctions - Roll Over of Left
Bondi Continues Using DOJ As Musk Retribution Weapon In Warning To Dem Who Protested Tesla
FBI creates Tesla threats task force
Trump Orders Firing of Prosecutor Investigating One of His Donors
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Culture War
Project 2025 author says Trump’s adoption of his ideas are beyond his ‘wildest dreams’
Trump says Biden’s pardons are now ‘void and vacant’ after fake autopen controversy
​'Segregated facilities' are no longer explicitly banned in federal contracts
Trump Team Claims it Made Billions Off a Gold Card That Doesn’t Exist
Utah becomes first state to outlaw pride flags in government buildings, schools
McMahon warns schools of increased enforcement on parents’ rights
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Immigration
Venezuelan top lawmaker says men deported to El Salvador by US were denied due process
Immigrants disappear from US detainee tracking system after deportation flights
French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of Trump found - WTF
Weeks long lockups of European tourists at US borders spark fears of traveling to America
Nazis were treated better than Venezuelans deported by Trump
Judge orders Trump administration to explain ICE detention of Tufts student - Snatched off street by plain clothes
Tragedy rocks Texas sheriff’s office after four deputies die by suicide in six weeks: ‘It caught a lot of us by surprise’
Targeting of Tufts Student for Deportation Stuns Friends and Teachers
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Climate
Trump’s EPA aims to cut pollution rules projected to save nearly 200,000 lives
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National Security
The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans
Newly shared Signal messages show Trump advisers discussed Yemen attack plans
Full transcript of Trump team’s Yemen attack plan that was shared on Signal
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Congress
Mike Johnson floats eliminating US courts as Trump faces judicial pressure
Elections
Trump Signs Order Calling for Citizenship Proof to Vote in Federal Elections
Musk announces $1 million for Wisconsin voter in Supreme Court race. Opposition calls it ‘corrupt’
Wisconsin attorney general sues to block Elon Musk $2m election giveaway
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Health System
​Gutting US health agency will allow for private sector takeover, experts warn
RFK Jr. to shut down HHS Office of Infectious Diseases & HIV Policy
FDA vaccine chief resigns, cites Kennedy's 'misinformation' on vaccine safety
Financial
Trump says auto tariffs are permanent and doesn’t care if they cause carmakers to hike prices
​The NASDEC index is down 9.17% from its February 19 high as uncertainty over the health of the U.S. economy
Global stock markets fall as new Trump tariffs loom
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Elections
Trump is 'not joking' about third term, though Constitution says he can't serve. With the MAGA Supreme Court this may NOT be true.
​Bondi instructs Justice Department to dismiss Biden-era legal challenge to Georgia election law
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April 1-15
​I am readying the What NOW Research Project funding ask to go out to friends and family. I am looking for grassroots pledges to continue our research into the crucial question that emerged from our narrative analysis of the 2024 election results. A question that if not addressed could end up impacting pro-democracy candidates in the 2026 mid-terms, assuming Trump allows the mid-terms to happen. That finding was that one of the major contributing factors to Trumps victory was that the MAGA News Media Network led by Fox and Joe Rogan completely overwhelmed the pro-democracy news network with their narrative that "America was failing." Many more voters were influenced by this story than the pro-democracy efforts to "save" our democracy. IF I can raise enough pledges to complete the first phase of our research, I will then go to the bigger pro-democracy organizations for larger amounts of funding to address the solutions to this challenge.
Here is an example of some of the first analysis we are doing that comes from our data partner X Voter.
​
The State of America
Meanwhile Trump and his MAGA thugs continue to attack our democratic system of governance from all angles. Trump is literally not hiding the fact that he considers himself to be the imperial dictator in spite of what the court rulings including from his Supreme Court are instructing him to do. His "tariff" play is already creating disaster in global trade and threatening the world's belief that US treasury bonds are a save haven for their funds.
In less than 100 days Trumps polling has gotten from somewhat supportive to a majority against. Yet, he doesn't seem to care. There are some signs of resistance starting to emerge. Bernie Sanders and AOL are drawing big crowds to their "end oligarchy" tour. Weekend demonstrations labeled "hands off" are growing in size. Court cases continue to push back on Trumps dictatorial moves... Yet, my overall feeling is that all this is too slow to respond. The damage is being done while all these resistance efforts play themselves out. I wish I could be more positive, but it feels like we are losing the war at the moment. Here are examples of the news coverage on the multitude of moves he is attempting by category.
Global Relations
Russia warns of ‘catastrophic’ consequences if Trump carries out threat to bomb Iran
EU, China and Canada warn U.S. of countermeasures, as trade war heats up
​China hits back at Trump tariffs with 34% tax on US goods, export curbs
EU imposes new tariffs on $23 billion in US goods in retaliation for Trump’s steel, aluminum tariffs
China announces 84% tariffs on US goods in showdown with Trump.
China Hits Back at Trump’s Tariffs in Major Retaliation
Trump threatens to hit Mexico with more tariffs in water dispute
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Domestic Economics
Trump’s tariffs plan gets mixed reaction in New York: ‘I believe we were lied to’
Trump's massive tariffs shake markets, spark recession fears - 1690 Dow Drop/4-3-2025
The math Trump’s administration used to calculate tariff rates stuns economists - lies
​Trump tariffs based on massive error, conservative think tank says
Trump Tells Americans to Stop Being 'Weak' and 'Stupid' amid Stock Market Crash
Market meltdown as U.S. tariffs kick in, bonds at the epicenter - 4-9-25
​Trump offers ‘buy’ tip on social media hours before tariff pause that made stocks soar
Democrats call for insider trading investigation over Trump’s tariff pause
Dow loses 1,700 points, S&P 500 drops 5% as markets crumble with Trump's tariff war turning to China
The Dow Crashed 4,260 Points in 3 Days
​Commerce Secretary Lutnick says tariff exemptions for electronics are only temporary
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Healthcare
Layoffs begin at US health agencies responsible for research, tracking disease and regulating food
Kennedy, in private speech to FDA staff, calls agency a 'sock puppet' for the industry
‘We are flying blind’: RFK Jr.’s cuts halt data collection on abortion, cancer, HIV
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Special Elections​
Trump and Musk's backing wasn't enough to flip Wisconsin Supreme Court
Attacks on Law firms
Doug Emhoff's law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher reaches deal with Trump
Trump Enforcer Shaking Down Law Firms for Billions is Unmasked
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Elon Musk & DODE illegal activities
Elon Musk group removes video from $1M winner after she says she got money to 'vote'
Elon Musk rage quits gaming livestream after players troll him relentlessly: ‘You ruined the country’
Musk and Bezos Get Their Billion-Dollar Federal Contracts After Sucking Up to Trump
Elon Musk's Credibility Sinking as He's Caught in Web of Lies
Elon Musk drastically drops DOGE’s savings goal from $2 trillion to $150 billion for the year
Elon Musk’s DOGE Gives Tesla Massive Helping Hand With Newest Purge
Whistleblower says DOGE took sensitive data.
Attacks on Higher Learning
Trump administration issues demands on Harvard as conditions for billions in federal money
Harvard, UCLA, Stanford among schools across US reporting student visa revocations
​Trump administration freezes $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard over campus activism
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Firing of Government Officials
Multiple firings on Trump's National Security Council after Loomer visit
RFK Jr. says 20% of health agency layoffs could be mistakes
Trump administration fires senior Navy female officer at NATO. She appeared on a ‘woke’ list
Pentagon removes Greenland base commander after Vance visit
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The Resistance
​Anti-Trump, Musk protests draw big crowds in L.A. and around the nation
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Immigration
​Most migrants sent to mega-prison have no apparent criminal record
I.R.S. Agrees to Share Migrants’ Tax Information with ICE
Top IRS officials join chief in quitting following immigration data deal
U.S. says it is now monitoring immigrants' social media for antisemitism
More than 300 student visas revoked as the government expands reasons for deportation
Judge Declines to Block Immigration Enforcement Operations in Places of Worship
About 90% of migrants sent to El Salvador lacked U.S. criminal record
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The Courts and the Trump Justice Department
Supreme Court halts judge’s order to reinstate federal probationary workers
Supreme Court Clears Way for Venezuelan Deportations to Resume
Supreme Court lets Trump keep wrongfully deported Maryland father in El Salvador prison
Supreme Court stays order reinstating fired federal workers
US Justice Dept bars its attorneys from participating in American Bar Association events
​Trump DoJ says not legally bound to return man wrongly deported to El Salvador
DOJ: Courts have ‘no authority’ to force Abrego Garcia’s return
El Salvador’s Leader Says He Won’t Return Wrongly Deported Maryland Man
Trump says he wants to imprison US citizens in El Salvador. That’s likely illegal
‘Obviously illegal’: Experts pan Trump’s plan to deport ‘homegrown criminals’
Supreme Court Allows Trump administration to use 18th century war time law to justify illegal deportations. There is NO War
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Congress
House passes bill that could make it harder for married women to vote - Toxic masculinity
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​Culture War
Trump birthday military parade reportedly in early stages
Press Secretary Says Trump Wasn’t Joking About Deporting U.S. Citizens
Trump targets ‘Anonymous’ author and former top cybersecurity official in escalation of retribution
Trump Escalates Use of Official Power to Intimidate and Punish His Perceived Foes
State Department tells employees to report on one another for ‘anti-Christian bias’
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Climate Change
Trump Administration Opens More than 50% of Protected U.S. Forest Land for Logging
Trump declares war on state climate laws
Trump’s new energy order puts states’ climate laws in the crosshairs of the Department of Justice
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Media
Longstanding Trump critic Bill Maher calls president ‘one of the most effective politicians
White House Censoring Embarrassing News Pool Reports of Trump
Donald Trump Again Lashes Out At CBS And ‘60 Minutes’ And Urges FCC Chair To “Impose The Maximum Fines And Punishment”
​
Research
The self-inflicted death of American science has already begun
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Tech
Former Facebook executive tells Senate committee company undermined US national security with China
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Military
Trump authorizes US military to take control of land at US-Mexico border
Panama opposition party accuses US of ‘camouflaged invasion’
​
April 15-30
The second half of April 25 led to the "first" days of Trump/MAGA 2.0. In spite of the rising tide of outrage being expressed by pro-democracy forces, Trumps imperial executive orders continued unabated. Even when the Supreme Court ruled against him. Although Elon Muck took a step back from his public "chain saw" branding because his Tesla stock was tanking and orders were way down, DOGE continued with his twenty something minions getting into sensitive data systems and making whole sale cuts without any explanation or oversight. In his short time as the face of DOGE Musk accomplished most of what he wanted personally. He got rid of any government oversight functions that were targeting his businesses and had the inside track on fat Fed contracts to build Trumps version of the "iron dome."
​
The pro-democracy news media seemed still confused concerning how to report on these events. They were still mostly using non-committal language like... "it seems like DOGE may be unconstitutional" or "there seem to be come questions about masked ICE agents pulling people of the street and disappearing them into southern prisons with no due process. No charges filed. Not allowed to talk to legal representation. AND the MAGA onslaught they had the authority to do these things because of an obscure war time act passed in the late 1700's. It had been used three times to combat enemy spies while we were at war. The MAGA big lie is we were NOT at war. Yet all this continued.
I also wondered why any legitimate press corp folks showed up at the White House briefings when the 25 year old MAGA loyalist made unsubstantiated claims even when the truth was shown to her. In this digital age they could easily cover anything the White House said without sitting in the traditional press room. It just seemed that old habit died hard, and even with the rising street protests and multiple court challenges, there seem to be no target for our rage. It was not clear what we wanted beyond we wanted it to stop. What was different this time was... the two Federal law enforcement arms, the FBI and Justice Department were being run by MAGA extremists that gladly used their investigative power to carry out Trumps promise retaliation against anyone that opposed him. It seems that all the "news" items below are really symptoms not the core cause. Trump 2.0 was lying about everything and not being directly called on it. Pro-democracy folks celebrated his declining polls but who was going to stand up to the MAGA thugs and stop them. The usual remedy of winning the 2026 election seemed hopelessly out of touch with reality. In 100 days Trump and his MAGA criminals had made great strides in perpetrating a hostile takeover of the Federal government and the rule of law. What damage could they do given another 1 1/2 years. Some bullet points.
Courts
Judge finds cause to hold Trump administration in criminal contempt over deportation flights
​Reagan-Appointed Judge Goes Nuclear on Trump’s ‘Shocking’ Behavior
Judge halts Trump's shutdown of Voice of America - Won't matter as workers are fired
Supreme Court reminds Trump to follow the law, signaling concern that he won't
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Justice System
Homegrowns are next': Trump hopes to deport and jail U.S. citizens abroad
FBI arrests Wisconsin Judge Dugan on obstruction charge, escalates Trump immigration enforcement effort
Trump Says He Wouldn’t ‘100 Percent’ Agree America Should Be Ruled by Laws, Not Men
Trump’s justice department appointees remove leadership of voting unit
News Media
The White House is starting a new media policy that restricts wire services’ access to the president
Justice Department rescinds policy against seizing journalists' records in leak investigations
Retribution
Trump admin goes after N.Y. AG who won civil fraud trial against president
Trump to target ActBlue in presidential memorandum
Trump has signed 124 executive orders in less than 100 days. Scholars warn this is a constitutional crisis
Trump’s D.C. Prosecutor Is Going After Wikipedia For Allegedly Spreading ‘Propaganda’
Trump is Blocking At Least $430 Billion Dollars in Funding Owed to American People
DOGE
Federal employee alleges DOGE activity resulted in data breach at labor board
Judge orders new limits on DOGE data access at Social Security Administration
US cancels hundreds of grants for police, crime victims
DOGE's $160 billion in savings have cost $135 billion, analysis finds
Climate Change/Environment
Trump exempts nearly 70 coal plants from Biden-era rule on mercury and other toxic air pollution
Judge rules against Trump admin after it couldn’t find evidence of fraud in clean energy program
Trump signs executive order ending years of protections in Pacific monument
​Trump deep sea mining order violates law, China says
US dismisses all authors of National Climate Assessment
​
​Immigration/Deportation
Boasberg finds probable cause to hold Trump officials in criminal contempt over deportation flights
New Trump policy to speed deportations cannot be implemented, US judge rules
​Internet Sleuths Slam Trump for Photoshopping MS-13 Tat on Deported Dad’s Hand
ICE deports 3 American children, say lawyers
Attorneys dispute Trump officials' claim that deported moms willingly took their U.S. citizen children
Experts cast doubt on Trump's claim that Abrego Garcia's finger tattoos prove MS-13 membership
US charges migrants over entering military ‘buffer zone’ on Mexico border
Foreign Affairs
State Department eliminates key office tasked with fighting foreign disinformation
The State Department closes the office that flags disinformation from Russia, China and Iran
​Global Economic Leaders Gathering in U.S. Confront Trump’s New World Order
Russia continues to strike Ukraine after Trump questions Putin’s commitment to peace
Greenland, Denmark affirm alliance amid Trump's interest in US control
In his victory speech, Mark Carney warns Canadians that 'Trump is trying to break us'
Beijing Vows Not to ‘Kneel Down’ to Washington
​
Trade War
Trump Moves to Levy Chinese Vessels in Widening Trade War
Trump had a ‘test case’ for trade negotiations with Japan—the failure to reach a deal now has analysts wondering if any will be signed
​
Universities
​IRS decision on Harvard’s tax-exempt status expected soon amid concern over Trump interference
White House claims letter to Harvard with demands was an ‘unauthorized’ mistake
Over 150 US university presidents sign letter decrying Trump administration
Musk
Musk's SpaceX is front runner to build Trump's Golden Dome missile shield
Musk claims to be ‘No. 2 after Trump for assassination’ and insists only the ‘paranoid’ survive in the world
Prices for used Teslas are cratering as Elon Musk's woes deepen
Elon Musk Has Reportedly Cut Off a Bunch of People From Their Rightful Social Security
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Congress
We are all afraid’: Senator Murkowski says fear of retaliation from Trump administration is ‘real’
​​
Culture War
I don’t want to give money to this America’: tourists’ fears of US travel under Trump
Trump Skips Church to Go on Unhinged Easter Posting Spree Instead
When billions in emergency funds were stalled, the Trump administration sped FEMA money to some GOP-led states
Team Trump Drafts Dystopian Plan to Get Women to Have More Babies
"God Has An Order": Donald Trump's Spiritual Adviser Says Wives Should "Submit" To Their Husbands
Trump’s approval at 100 days lower than any president in at least seven decades
Trump Melts Down Over Plummeting Popularity, Says Pollsters Are ‘Criminals’
Governor Pritzker hits a nerve in Trump world
’ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!’: Trump slams polls showing decline in his approval rating
Most Americans see Trump as "dangerous dictator,"
Trump seeks to reshape how schools discipline students
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Economy
​Trump economic approval rating falls to 37 percent
MAGA Corporate Allies
Chicken, crypto and Nvidia: The companies that helped Trump’s inauguration shatter fundraising records
Health Care
RFK Jr’s autism study collecting Americans’ private medical records
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Military/National Security
The Head of the Pentagon Has Been Using His Personal Phone for Sports Betting and Sharing Military Secrets
Excerpt from Trump 100 Day Rally in Michigan. Note that he plays a video showing the abusive treatment of illegal immigrants to the crowd as it chants USA, USA as if this us what we stand for these days.
FLOOD THE ZONE STRATEGY - Scoreboard - white vs. everyone else - cruel and unusual punishment - Living in MAGA America
Ugly American
May 1-15, 2025
The BIG LIES.
Trump evokes AWA to deport immigrants without due process - We are NOT at war.
Trump administration claims they do not have to heed judicial rulings
Trump can not make trade deals. Congress does
DOGE claims they can eliminate Federal jobs and agencies without providing any proof of fraud.
​
Climate Change
Trump has launched more attacks on the environment in 100 days than his entire first term
Tariffs and the Economy
US Senate rejects bid to block Trump’s tariffs
Trump movie tariffs could hit U.S. film studios where it hurts the most
EU takes aim at US planes, autos in €100B counterstrike against Trump tariffs
​Trump: 'Too Late Jerome Powell is a fool'
Republicans Lay Out Early Plans to Extend and Expand Trump Tax Cuts
Trump calls program to help low-income Americans pay their energy bills ‘unnecessary
Trade war is about more than just trade, China’s official news agency argues
White House says it has a deal with China while Chinese call it 'consensus'
Murdoch Paper Torches Trump Over ‘Surrender’ to China in Trade War
Boeing scores biggest ever order as Trump cozies up to Qatar
Corruption
Trump company strikes Qatari golf resort deal in a sign it’s not holding back from foreign business
Trump feels the heat from MAGA over ‘great gesture’ of a luxury jet from Qatar
DOJ lawyers cleared Pam Bondi’s memo backing the legality of Trump accepting Qatari 747 - She was a lobbyist for Qatar
Stephen Miller is running the DOJ, and Pam Bondi is just a figurehead, report claims: ‘She is like an actor’
Pam Bondi sold millions of dollars worth of Trump media shares on ‘Liberation Day’ – before the stock tanked
​‘Glaring red flag’: Treasury DOGE team discloses bank stock holdings
​
Media/Technology
Trump threatens New York Times for ‘unlawful’ reporting on his CBS lawsuit
CBS Owner Asked ‘60 Minutes’ to Hold Back Mean Trump Stories
MAGA Angry as Elon Musk's Grok AI Keeps Explaining Why Their Beliefs Are Factually Incorrect
Republicans Propose No Regulation of AI for the Next 10 Years
Crying racism, Trump seizes federal money meant to expand rural internet access
Polling
100 Day Poll: Trump and Harris Voters Say They Would Not Change Vote
Americans see more overreach from the president than from judges, an AP-NORC poll finds
​
Rule of Law
​Supreme Court seems poised to require state-funded charter schools to include religious schools
Defense Department designates a second military zone on US border, extending into Texas
Trump, brushing aside separation of church and state, establishes religious liberty commission
Trump, asked if he has to 'uphold the Constitution,' says, 'I don't know'
Republicans Move to Give Themselves More Power Over Entire Government
Trump admin invokes "state secrets" privilege in Ábrego García case
Chief Justice John Roberts stresses judicial independence amid tensions with Trump
Trump administration mulling end to habeas corpus, legal right to challenge one’s detention
GOP rep: Threat to arrest Democratic colleagues ‘very drastic’
Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan files motion to dismiss federal obstruction case, citing judicial immunity
​How shady Democratic Party lawyer Marc Elias is thwarting voters’ will - Fox News
Federal appeals court deals major blow to Voting Rights Act
​
Immigration
Trump-appointed judge says president’s use of Alien Enemies Act is unlawful in first-of-its-kind ruling
US diplomat Marco Rubio will not provide info to judge about deported man
Judges warn Trump’s mass deportations could lay groundwork to ensnare Americans
White House welcomes Afrikaners to the U.S., but drops protection for Afghan allies
Trump’s Military Buildup at the Border Expands
​
Culture War
Armored vehicles and nearly 7,000 troops: A look at plans for military parade on Trump's birthday
Thousands of Canadians are cancelling U.S. travel plans.
Trump administration reaches settlement with family of Ashli Babbitt, rioter killed on Jan. 6, 2021
Elon Musk’s Space X gets a company town in Texas
​Kari Lake says OAN's far-right coverage will fuel Voice of America
Salt Lake City and Boise adopt official pride flags to skirt Republican bans
Trump names Fox News host as top Washington DC prosecutor
Fears grow FBI head Kash Patel isn’t taking his job seriously as he skips morning briefings and frequently attends UFC fights
How billionaires worth a combined $450 billion will help Trump run America
Democrats fume over Biden’s return to spotlight
Bidens more interested in themselves than Democratic Party
Mexico sues Google over ‘Gulf of America’ label change
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Global Foreign Policy
US steps back from Ukraine peace talks as Trump ‘needs to move on’
Trump says nothing Carney says will stop tariffs after PM insists Canada ‘will never be for sale
Spy Agencies Do Not Think Venezuela Directs Gang, Declassified Memo Shows
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Government Agencies
President Trump signs order seeking to end federal funding for NPR and PBS
The National Endowment for the Arts Begins Terminating Grants
US appeals court blocks ruling returning VOA staff to work
Federal workers in limbo amid whiplash White House firings and court-ordered re-hirings
Trump administration cuts to AmeriCorps causing "damage and chaos,
Trump accused of forcing ‘hostile takeover’ of USPS by pressuring them to appoint FedEx board member as postmaster general
DOGE bro helped fire ethics lawyers who warned him over his $715,000 in banned company stocks
Judge pauses much of Trump administration’s massive downsizing of federal agencies
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​Intimidation
Trump order targeting law firm Perkins Coie is unconstitutional, judge rules - other enablers rolled over
Gabbard fires top officials that produced Venezuela gang intelligence
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Health Care
Trump administration halts research to help babies with heart defects
RFK Jr. stands by deep cuts to health budget during contentious hearings
House Agriculture Committee approves $300 billion in nutrition spending cuts
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Education
Trump administration cuts another $450 million in grants to Harvard, on top of $2.2 billion already frozen​
​
May 15-31
Economy & Tariffs
Trump says US will set new tariff rates for countries, skirting negotiations
Trump Lies That His Bill Cuts Taxes For Everyone, When It Raises Them on the Poor
Trump orders Walmart to ‘eat the tariffs’ and stop blaming his trade war for rising prices: ‘I’ll be watching’
​MAGA Is Now Threatening Walmart for Responding to Trump’s Tariffs
Scott Bessent says tariff uncertainty is a tactic — otherwise countries ‘would play us in the negotiations’
Economic Analysis Shows ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Taking From Poor, Giving To Rich
Trump threatens new tariffs on Apple, EU in latest escalation of trade war
​Elon Musk's DOGE savings dwarfed by deficit-ballooning Trump big beautiful budget bill
The global economy's trade paralysis
​
Health Care
RFK Jr. Insists He Hasn't Fired 'Any Working Scientists' ― After Firing Hundreds Of Them
US health groups vow to fight GOP cuts to Medicaid and Obamacare
RFK Jr’s FDA limits use of Covid vaccine
Trump’s Tax Bill Would Decimate the Affordable Care Act
RFK Jr. threatens to bar government scientists from publishing in leading medical journals
'Make America Healthy Again' report cites nonexistent studies
White House acknowledges problems in RFK Jr.'s 'Make America Healthy Again' report
The Courts
Supreme Court rejects Trump bid to resume deporting Venezuelans under Alien Enemies Act
Appeals court lifts block on Trump executive order targeting federal worker unions
Trump’s clash with the courts raises prospect of showdown over separation of powers
Trump Suggests Supreme Court Is ‘Illegally’ Blocking His Lawless Deportations
Supreme Court allows Trump to revoke protected status for thousands of Venezuelans
Judge Rules That Trump Administration Takeover of Institute of Peace Is Illegal
Vance says Chief Justice "wrong" that judiciary should check executive branch powers
Federal judge halts Trump administration ban on Harvard’s ability to enroll international students
Judge extends block on Trump’s DOGE plans for mass firing of federal workers - does it matter
Trump Gets Huge Boost as GOP Slips New Court Rules Into Budget
How Trump's clash with the courts is brewing into an 'all-out war'
Supreme Court declines to halt land transfer that would destroy sacred site for Western Apache
Judge refuses to toss states’ lawsuit against Elon Musk and DOGE
DOGE can access sensitive Treasury payment systems, judge rules
Trump Stonewalls Federal Judges In New Round Of Brazen Defiance
‘Winning by losing’ — Trump’s sneaky plan to govern by gaming the courts
Global Relations
Iran says it will continue nuclear talks with the US, shrugging off Trump’s threats
Trump says 'people are starving' as Israeli strikes pound Gaza
Iran supreme leader says Trump ‘lied’ about bringing Mideast peace
US closes Office of Palestinian Affairs, dedicated channel to Washington
Putin refuses ceasefire after Trump call; Zelensky rejects Russia's demand to withdraw troops from 4 regions
Putin Dumps Cold Water Over Trump’s Celebration of Their Phone Call
World leaders have a huge new problem: Trump’s Oval Office smack downs
Trump calls his own foreign aid cuts at USAID 'devastating'
Bad news for Trump’s Golden Dome: He can’t build it without Canada
‘A drop in the ocean of what’s needed’: U.N. Relief Chief on aid entering Gaza
King Charles defends Canadian sovereignty in speech to Parliament
Chaos erupts on first day of US-backed aid distribution in Gaza after weeks of hunger
​US will refuse visas to foreign officials who block Americans’ social media posts
Rubio outlines plans to drastically cut human rights offices in State
China thought it had a truce with the US. Then Trump dropped two bombshells
Culture War
Trump officials reportedly consider TV game show with US citizenship as prize
Elon Musk Is Doing Business With Actual Terrorists, Nonprofit Finds
Trump took Bruce Springsteen's bait
Donald Trump Calls For Investigation of Kamala Harris’ Endorsements From Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé Other Celebrities
​Trump signs bill combating deepfakes and revenge porn - this is rich
Trump Posts Video of Him Hitting Bruce Springsteen in Clear Threat
Lawrence O’Donnell Says Trump Is Unworthy of Being President After Memorial Day Message
Trump claims Canada 'considering' offer of free Golden Dome in exchange for becoming 51st state
Trump fires historians who wrote nonpartisan accounts of US foreign policy
​
DHS asks for 20,000 National Guard troops for immigration roundups, Pentagon reviewing request
Federal Government
Trump administration terminates nearly 600 Voice of America employees
DOGE Loses Battle to Take Over USIP—and Its $500 Million Headquarters
Donald Trump purges dozens of National Security Council officials
Gavin Newsom Defies Senate Vote: 'Illegal' - No gas cars sold by 2035
Trump’s FEMA Denies North Carolina’s Request for Hurricane Helene Aid
Trump approves FEMA disaster relief for 8 RED states
Trump threatens to withhold federal funding from California over transgender athlete
US Department of Labor pauses Job Corps center operations
FAA Faces New Crisis over Elon Musk’s Mass Resignations, Leaked Documents Reveal
​
Gun Reform
Trump admin permits sale of device that allows standard firearms to fire like machine guns
Immigration
FBI shuts down public corruption unit that investigated Trump
No More Refugees, Trump Said. Except White South Africans.
Enraged Democrats plan to "double down" on ICE visits
DOJ sends warning to judges and lawmakers who stoke Trump’s wrath on immigration
Judge scolds DOJ in dismissing ICE facility trespassing charge against Newark mayor
Trump’s image of dead ‘white farmers’ came from Congo, not South Africa - the big reality show lie
Record number of Americans are seeking residency in UK
Trump administration will ‘aggressively revoke’ Chinese student visas in major escalation with Beijing
Deported alleged gang member Abrego Garcia 'will never be on American streets again,' DHS says
Supreme Court allows Trump to revoke temporary legal status of 500,000 immigrants from 4 countries
DHS asks for 20,000 National Guard troops for immigration roundups, Pentagon reviewing request
​
Corruption
Donald Trump rages over latest Qatari jet reports: ‘I again give these SleazeBags fair warning!’
Trump administration formally accepts gift jet from Qatar
Eric Trump Breaks Ground on $1.5 Billion Resort in Tariffed Country
Over a Dozen Officials Dumped Stocks Just as Trump Crashed the Market
Marco Rubio Has Bonkers Defense for Trump Profiting Off Presidency
Trump’s alleged corruption shouldn’t be investigated because ‘it’s out in the open,’ Mike Johnson says
Trump pardons former Virginia sheriff convicted of fraud and bribery
Trump Corruption Hits Next Level With Pardon Tied to $1 Million Dinner
Trump to Pardon Reality-Show Couple Convicted of $36 Million Fraud
​
Civil Rights
The Group Behind Project 2025 Has a Plan to Crush the Pro-Palestinian Movement
Trump DOJ Considers Making It Easier to Indict Members of Congress
DOJ charges New Jersey congresswoman with assault over immigration facility tussle
Senators raise ‘improper conduct’ in CBS parent company’s efforts to settle Trump lawsuit
Trump administration to scrap police reform measures in some US cities
Kristi Noem says habeas corpus lets Trump ‘remove people from this country’
​Some fear excessive use of force will rise as the DOJ drops oversight of police departments
Politics
Biden ‘failed this country’ by seeking second term, says Beto O’Rourke
Where is the accountability?' How Biden's baggage is making it harder for Democrats to move forward
America was gas lit by the arrogance of Joe Biden and his enablers
Furious Democrats call for investigation into Musk’s bid to help build Trump’s ‘$500 billion’ Golden Dome project
​
Education
Oklahoma high schools to teach 2020 election conspiracy theories as fact
​Supreme Court 4-4 vote ends Oklahoma’s taxpayer-funded Catholic charter school
​Texas is closer to putting the Ten Commandments in classrooms after a key vote
Trump administration moves to cancel remaining federal funds to Harvard
Trump administration orders US embassies to stop student visa interviews
Trump says Harvard should cap foreign students at 15%
​Judge Intends to Block Trump Effort to Bar Foreign Students From Harvard
​
News Media & Technology
Hacker who breached communications app used by Trump aide stole data from across US government
Trump Admin Goes After Liberal Org 'Media Matters" That Took on Fox News and Elon Musk
Trump’s White House Goes From Hiding 80% Of His Transcribed Remarks To Hiding 99.5%
N.Y. Times roasted for sane washing ‘lunatic’ Trump: Is ‘Karoline Leavitt moonlighting’ as headline writer?
Democrats want a liberal Joe Rogan to help them win elections. I'm right here.
Explaining the newest Wall Street craze — the ‘TACO’ trade
Fox News Continued To See Audience Growth In May While MSNBC And CNN Posted Double-Digit Declines Vs. 2024
​
Elon Musk
Elon Musk's Drug Habit Made Him an Easy Target for Russian Spies
Tesla brand damage revealed: Consumers rank its ethics and character near the very bottom of new Axios Harris poll
Elon Musk Has Been “Using Drugs Far More Intensely Than Previously Known”
Tesla faces collapsing sales in Canada's Québec province, with new registrations tumbling 85%
Elon Leaves Trail of Destruction, Corruption … and No Financial Disclosure
​​
Congress
​Senate overrules parliamentarian and votes to undo California EV rule
​Trump asking Congress to help with $9.4 billion in DOGE cuts
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Rule of Law
​4 top partners quit Paul Weiss, Big Law firm that cut deal with Trump
FBI reexamining Dobbs opinion leak, D.C. pipe bombs and White House cocaine cases
Trump's pardons highlight Justice Department's pullback from public corruption cases
Justice Department tells American Bar Association it will no longer comply with ratings for judicial nominees
​
Abortion
Missouri Supreme Court Halts Abortion Access, Defying Will Of The Voters
​
Climate Change
Smoke to pour into the US as Canada wildfires force province’s largest evacuation in ‘living memory’
Supreme Court limits environmental reviews of infrastructure projects
​​
June 1-15, 2025
Courts claim that Trump can win dominion cases over independent agencies like the election commission by saying those bringing the cases have not shown that they are injured. That is old school when independent democratic institutions were not being threatened by MAGA presidential imperialism. Its the wrong way to look at it in these extraordinary times. Trumps federalizing the national guard and deploying marines in LA based on big lie of insurrection is challenged in court but again delayed response. Kernel of truth in play. MAGA is challenging whether district courts have authority over them. John Roberts silent.
Courts
Supreme Court turns away a 2nd Amendment challenge to blue-state bans on assault weapons
Trump defeats Democrats' lawsuit over election commission independence
​Supreme Court spares US gun companies from Mexico's lawsuit
Trump administration must restore AmeriCorps programs in 24 states, judge rules - Did They? See Sacto programs
Trump aims to build a MAGA judiciary, breaking with traditional conservatives
Proud Boys sue US government for $100m over Jan 6 prosecutions
Trump dumps the Federalist Society — and even Republicans are shooketh
Appeals court largely reinstates Trump’s ban on AP’s access to White House
Trump hails favorable federal appeals court ruling on his sweeping tariff policy as a ‘great’ win
Rep. LaMonica McIver indicted by grand jury over incident at ICE detention facility
Appeals court temporarily allows Trump to keep National Guard in LA
Hegseth refuses to commit to following possible court order on Marine deployment
Wealth vs the rest of us
Wealth of America's billionaires has doubled over past eight years,
Federal Agencies - DODE
We gave $7B to California for a high-speed rail line and no track was ever laid: ‘Trains to nowhere’
DOGE employees can search Social Security records, Supreme Court says
Judge says administration can dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services
Climate Change - Disaster Relief
FEMA staff baffled after head said he was unaware of US hurricane season
Trump Administration to Open Alaska Wilderness to Drilling and Mining
Eastern U.S. Is Shrouded in Smoke and Dust
​A 2,000 Mile Saharan Dust Cloud Is Approaching Texas and Florida
Trump says he plans to phase out FEMA after 2025 hurricane season
EPA says power plant carbon emissions aren’t dangerous
Trump administration pulls US out of agreement to help restore salmon in the Columbia River
​
Musk-Trump Tussle - Distractions
Elon Musk Reportedly Owes Donald Trump a Colossal Sum of Money
New York Times Defends Report On Elon Musk’s Drug Use, Says He’s “Lashing Out Because He Doesn’t Like Our Article”
Elon Musk abused DOGE gig to benefit himself, Tesla, other companies more than 100 times - He won - Demos lose big target
Trump says Musk went ‘CRAZY,’ suggests cutting government contracts for his companies
Kara Swisher Says Trump Has Met His Match in Battle With Elon Musk: ‘He Doesn’t Mind Chaos’
Trump says Elon Musk could face 'serious consequences' if he backs Democratic candidates
Trump-Musk Feud ‘Fake’ and ‘Strategic’: ‘This Is Another Distraction’ and ‘I’m Not Buying It Because They Lie’
US agencies tracked foreigners visiting Musk's properties in 2022 and 2023
​
Trumps Threats
Law firms that made deal with Trump, see major clients abandon them for firms that stood up to him
​
Economy, Budget and Tariffs
​UK temporarily spared from Trump's 50% steel tariffs
Electricity Prices Are Surging. The G.O.P. Megabill Could Push Them Higher.
Democrats hammer Vought over Medicaid claims: ‘Outrageous lies’
Trump Officials Blocked Report Over Gloomy Deficit Forecast
Bernie Sanders Says, 'There Is A New Breed Of Uber Capitalists Who Really Believe They Are Superior Human Beings'
Nearly 25% of Americans are now ‘functionally unemployed’ — here’s what that ‘harsh reality’ really means
Clock Ticks as U.S. and China Try to Undo Devastating Trade Curbs
New China Trade ‘Deal’ Takes U.S. Back to Where It Started
The Art of the Stall: China’s Strategy for Dealing With Trump
Trump’s Big Bill Would Be More Regressive Than Any Major Law in Decades
Millions of acres of public land in Colorado, other Western states could be sold under Senate reconciliation bill
Trump Policies Underwater: New NBC poll shows 60% disapprove his handling of tariffs and trade
​
Immigration
4-year-old from Mexico receiving 'lifesaving medical treatment' can remain in US
After Trump Deportation Attempt, Migrants and ICE Agents Stranded in Shipping Container in Djibouti - Disregarded courts
​Wrongly deported migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia brought back to US, arrested upon landing - Charged in hindsight
Trump's Pentagon keeps sending destroyers that fought in the Red Sea to the US southern border — a fourth one is on its way
National Guard to be sent to L.A. amid clashes; Newsom calls Hegseth’s threat of Marines ‘deranged’
A complete sea change’: Trump’s immigration crackdown goes into hyperdrive
White House officials say that Trump has a mandate to carry out his hard-line immigration agenda
Migrants Detained Friday in L.A. Have Already Been Deported
Trump’s ‘border czar’ admits some were arrested without criminal records
Republicans Offer Cowardly Lack Of Pushback To Hegseth Suggesting Marines Could Quell Protests
Protests grow across the U.S. as people push against Trump's mass deportation policies
Hegseth Admits He Doesn’t Know What Authority Trump Is Using To Deploy Troops
Noem asks Hegseth to exceed Trump’s order and force the military to arrest LA citizens to protect ICE agents
US senator dragged out of LA news conference and handcuffed
LA protest videos appear to show same man aiming gun, throwing objects at police and lighting car on fire
Arnold Schwarzenegger Condemns Media Depicting L.A. As “War Zone”
Federal prosecutors now charging immigrants who don’t submit fingerprints under dormant 1940s law
Trump Shifts Deportation Focus, Pausing Most Raids on Farms, Hotels and Eateries
Trump curbs immigration enforcement at farms, meatpacking plants, hotels and restaurants
​
Health Care System
Trump administration revokes guidance requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortions
RFK Jr. breaks promise to senators, guts CDC vaccine panel of independent experts
Top RFK Jr. aide attacks US health system while running company that promotes wellness alternatives
Bill Cassidy extracted a promise from RFK Jr. Now he sees what that promise is worth.
Kennedy replaces fired US CDC panel members, includes anti-vaccine proponents
Research cuts pose ‘existential threat’ to academic medicine and put nation’s health at risk
Culture Wars - Who's narrative is winning
Hegseth orders the Navy to strip gay rights leader Harvey Milk's name off ship
Education Secretary Linda McMahon refuses to say if teaching kids that Trump lost in 2020 is ‘illegal DEI’
​Trump administration to pay nearly $5M in wrongful death lawsuit of Jan. 6 rioter shot by police
​Trump’s Fort Bragg speech was a serious step toward ending democracy
Trump Says He's Done Playing By The Rules With Military Forces
Bragg Soldiers Who Cheered Trump's Political Attacks While in Uniform Were Checked for Allegiance, Appearance
Dems work to turn LA debate from immigration to Trump’s executive powers
Trump merchandise sold at Fort Bragg for president's speech now under review
Handcuffing a U.S. Senator Is a Warning
Trump Is Calling Handcuffed Senator Vile Racial Slur
Trump mocked over ‘tiny’ crowd at his military parade as video goes viral
​"No Kings Day" protests turn out millions, rebuking Trump
Close Trump Allies Sponsored the Military Parade, Raising Ethical Concerns
Trump Says He Decides What ‘America First’ Means
Man 'intentionally' drives into protesters at 'No Kings' in Virginia
Trump’s military parade was feared to be the stuff of authoritarians. It was more small-town July 4
Gunman Opens Fire on ‘No Kings’ Protest in Salt Lake City
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Media- Tech- Data Capture
Even Trump supporters are pushing back on his plans to merge Americans’ data
​Photos show Waymo vehicles on fire during LA protests as company cuts service
60 minutes host issues dire warning over multimillion-dollar CBS settlement with Trump
Why Elon Musk's satellites are 'dropping like flies'
Bluesky is backfiring. Mark Cuban says the ‘lack of diversity of thought’ is actually pushing users back to X
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Federal Agencies - DOGE
Elon Musk abused DOGE gig to benefit himself, Tesla, and his other companies more than 100 times
Trump administration scrambling to rehire workers cut by DOGE to fill critical government roles
Musk’s DOGE Goons Surreptitiously Transmitted Reams of White House Data
DOGE caucus leader says Elon Musk made a 'massive exaggeration' about spending cuts
White House directs DOT to ignore GAO ruling on EV funding pause
Smithsonian board to keep institution 'free from political or partisan influence'
Conservative activists have waited decades to defund PBS and NPR. They’re finally getting their chance
Trump’s FAA pick has claimed ‘commercial’ pilot license he doesn’t have
​
Global Relations - Foreign Policy
U.S. vetoes UN security council resolution demanding immediate ceasefire in Gaza
NATO allies cannot rely on America for their defense, warns US defense chief
A US Navy warship captain said the Red Sea conflict was a 'knife fight in a phone booth.' China would be way more challenging.
Germany plans rapid expansion of outdated bunkers amid fears of Russian aggression
Iran vows new nuclear steps in response to IAEA censure
Trump to Axios: Israel's attack could help me make deal with Iran
Iran calls Israeli strikes a 'declaration of war,' swiftly replaces killed military leaders
Iran warns it will target UK, US and French bases in region if they help defend Israel
Canada Issues New Travel 'Warning' for U.S.
​
Politics - Feds vs. States
Bro voters say they have abandoned Democrats as party ignores their issues and muddles meaning of being a ‘man’
California, the world’s fourth-largest economy, takes on Trump and threatens to withhold $80 billion in federal taxes
Gina Ortiz Jones, a Progressive, Is Elected San Antonio’s Mayor
Musk Hints at Forming New Political Party Amid Trump Fallout
Gov. Gavin Newsom to sue Trump over National Guard deployment in Los Angeles
Noem praised Trump for sending National Guard. She opposed it when Biden considered it.
Trump says he’s meeting with military leaders at Camp David
We're happy to have this fight': Trump administration leans into California protests
Politically, battling it out with a blue state is a winning issue for them.
Newsom says Trump 'deranged' as thousands more troops sent to LA
Mike Johnson says Newsom should be "tarred and feathered"
Abbott orders Texas National Guard deployment to "no king" protests
David Hogg to exit Democratic National Committee after months of turmoil
CNN Data Chief Stunned By ‘Definitely One Of Trump’s Worst Polls’
​Minnesota state lawmaker killed in ‘politically-motivated assassination,
What to know about Minnesota lawmakers' shootings that killed Melissa Hortman
​
​Gun Reform
Guns are the leading cause of death of kids and teens, and state laws matter
​
Justice Department
Justice Department says Trump can cancel national monuments that protect landscapes
​​
June 15-16, 2025
Major Themes
Immigration.
Trump doubles down on ICE raids with aggressive posture
In California, appeals court reverses district court ruling the Trump illegally nationalized California Nat Guard and 700 Marines. Ruling claims that President needs to have the power to nationalize state National Guard in emergencies. In this case this help was not requests by Cal Governor or LA Policy. There was NO LA is burning emergency. The guard until and Marines are still under Trump control even though protests are over.
ICE units are blocking politicians and city officials from inspecting immigration detention centers
Trump Admin is building new detention centers around the country that violate prison standards.
ICE officers continue to show up in full battle gear, masked, no identifying name tags and refuse to answer questions about who they arew. Use non-marked vans to pull "targets" off the streets.
ICE Claims Agents Need to Wear Masks Due to Assaults. Here’s the Truth
Florida Builds ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Detention Center for Migrants in Everglades
​
Courts
The Trump administration and the Justice Department are either delaying action on court orders or ignoring them altogether. MAGA claims that Federal District courts have no jurisdiction over them despite constitution.
​
Foreign Policy
Trump changes his mind on getting involved in Iran-Israeli war. He claimed he was only open to negotiations when he saw Netinyahu getting credit for successful Iran attacks. He moved back to center with threat to use big bombs to take out Iran underground facilities. This "change" in view is based on questionable intel coming from Israelis. WMD argument all over again
News Media
Trump and Justice Department continue to target pro-democracy news sources with nuisance suits because they are critical of him. Same pattern he is using with Universities.
​
Health System
RFK continues to "re-organize" Department of Health to question vaccine research and deployment. He has shuttered all pandemic units that were designed to give early warning of new outbreaks.
​
Tariffs
Trumps trade war continues to confuse financial markets, corporations and allies. At the moment only 2 partial deals have been done with UK and China. The impact of high tariffs continues to threaten the economic health of the US and the world.
​
Culture War
Resistance to the MAGA agenda got demonstrated in the "No Kings" protests across the nation. Estimates 5 million people marched in the streets. As opposed to Trumps "Big Birthday Parade" that drew 75,000 people.
​
Here is a sample of articles we analyzed...
​
Global Relations
Iran and Israel trade attacks amid reports Tehran could be seeking talks
Trump contradicts his spy chief on Iran's nuclear program
Trump says he stopped India-Pakistan war after India says no US mediation
Iran Rejects Trump’s Call for ‘Surrender’ in War With Israel
Trump to decide on US action in Israel-Iran conflict within 2 weeks
US moving B-2 bombers as Trump weighs Iran response
Proud Boys Say Trump Will Lose Their Support If He Goes To War With Iran
​Iran says US strikes betrayed diplomacy, warns of consequences
US says its strikes on Iranian nuclear sites caused ‘severe damage’
Vance Angrily Denies that Bombing Iran Qualifies as Being at War With Iran
Iran Issues Grave Warning Following U.S. Attack on Nuclear Sites
After Trump rebuked her on Iran, Tulsi Gabbard left out of Situation Room photos of Midnight Hammer strikes
Trump shows flashes of vulnerability in address as a wartime leader - Scared of assassination attempts
Iranian missile fired after US strikes causes heavy damage
Iranian-backed hackers go to work after US strikes
More Americans oppose the U.S. strikes on Iran, as MAGA supporters line up with Trump
US Navy warships are firing top ballistic missile interceptors at an 'alarming rate,
U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear sites set up "cat-and-mouse" hunt for missing uranium
​
Immigration
Trump Orders ICE To Expand Deportations In Chicago, other Democrat-Led Cities
Trump yanks brief reprieve for immigrants he said are 'good, long time workers'
At least 5 elected officials have been arrested or confronted by police while protesting Trump’s immigration policies
Trump lied about the LA protests so you wouldn't see what he's really doing
Trump U-turn on deporting farm workers came after fury from Noem and Miller, report claims
​Trump Is Doubling Down on ICE Raids. It Might Come Back to Haunt Him
Trump administration tightens social media vetting for foreign students
DHS issues new guidance for lawmakers visiting ICE facilities after tense confrontations
ICE enacts new policy on congressional visits to facilities
Top Dem threatens to ‘go to court' over Trump admin blocking lawmakers from detention facilities
'Who are these people?' Masked immigration agents challenge local police, sow fear in L.A.
​
Culture War
Trumps show of "farce" military parade and No Kings protests: A split screen of a divided America
The Army faces backlash for President Donald Trump’s Fort Bragg visit
Trump's pardons cost the U.S. $1.3 billion, per House Dem report
The Resistance 2.0 arrives with nationwide ‘No Kings’ protests
Censorship:’ See the National Park visitor responses after Trump requested help deleting ‘negative’ signage
ICE agents denied entry to Dodger Stadium parking lot, team says
Trump Lists Reasons He Deserves Nobel Prize in Epic Meltdown
Scientists May Have Severely Miscalculated How Many Humans Are on Earth
Inside Look at the Rise of Political Violence in the United States
Trump calls for Netanyahu's trial to be canceled
Jeff Bezos' exorbitant display of wealth sends a clear message to the rest of us
Kristi Noem - ICE Barbie secretly accepted huge sum of money from mystery donor - then failed to declare it
Courts/Lawsuits
​Trump hails 'giant win' after Supreme Court curbs judges' power to block his orders
Americans overwhelmingly want Trump to obey court rulings, but MAGA Republicans are split 50/50
Court backs Trump's control of National Guard
In a scathing dissent, Justice Jackson says the Supreme Court gives the impression it favors 'moneyed interests
​Supreme Court allows victims of terrorist attacks to sue the Palestinian Authority
Judge Orders Salvadoran Man Released Before Trial on Smuggling Charges
Supreme Court Lets Trump Deport Migrants to Countries to Which They Have No Connection - cruel and unusual punsh -
Judge orders Abrego Garcia’s release from jail to await trial, but ICE plans to detain him
Trump administration sues all 15 Maryland federal judges over order blocking removal of immigrants
We Know Exactly Where the Supreme Court’s Change of Heart Has Come From
Trumpified' Supreme Court conservatives invite chaos with incoherent rulings
​Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Major Campaign Finance Challenge
​
Health System
Federal Judge Deems Trump Administration’s Termination of NIH Grants Illegal
In this rural Colorado valley, cuts to Medicaid would have vast ripple effects - San Luis Valley CA
Trump administration makes sweeping changes to ObamaCare, ends ‘Dreamer’ coverage
‘Rising fragility’: Therapy culture is fueling America’s unrest - Demos mental health problems
RFK Jr. says US won’t donate to global vaccine effort
RFK Jr. says U.S. will stop funding global vaccine group over 'vaccine safety' issues
Mike Johnson Mocks Millions Who Could Lose Medicaid: ‘Do Something Constructive’
​
Economy ​
Tesla Stock Plummets as Company Abruptly Halts Production of Cybertruck and Model Y
White House floats a new funding trick — and GOP lawmakers grimace
Senate's "big, beautiful bill" would add $3.3 trillion in new debt: CBO
Canada abruptly scraps digital services tax targeting US technology firms days after Trump ripped ‘foolish’ move
Senate Republicans set a new budgeting precedent, disregarding longstanding rules affecting which bills can be shielded from a filibuster.
​
Corruption
Stephen Miller’s wife ordered Social Security workers to cover up a lie from her new boss Elon Musk
IRS walks away with $15M of Trump's son's fortune - cyber currency company
Elon Musk
Elon Musk Shares Clean Drug Test After Bombshell Report About Substance Use. The Lab Suggests He Had Time to Flush His System
SpaceX rocket being tested in Texas explodes after ‘major anomaly’ but no injuries reported,
Neuralink co-founded by Elon Musk, is set for human trials soon.
​
News Media - Technology
Trump Rants That 'MAGA HATES' Fox News In Angry Truth Social Rant About Network's Polls
​Trump extends TikTok ban deadline by another 90 days
Pope Leo Trolls Trump With Rebuke of Attacks on Journalists
White House calls CNN 'fake news' for report claiming Democratic leadership wasn't briefed on Iran strike
Joe Rogan: Nobody would have ‘signed up’ for Trump if they knew how he would use ICE
​
Abortion
Post-Dobbs abortions continue to increase
The Supreme Court’s disastrous new abortion decision, explained
​
Environment - Climate Change
​Secretary Rollins Rescinds Roadless Rule, Eliminating Impediment to Responsible Forest Management
​
Government
GAO faces nearly 50% budget cut, less oversight of withheld funds in budget plan
​Trump administration scrambles to rehire key federal workers after DOGE firings
DOGE staffer nicknamed 'Big Balls' leaves White House cost-cutting staff - Reminded of who he was
Pentagon Strips Harvey Milk’s Name From Navy Vessel
To fight Trump's funding freezes, states propose a new gambit: Withholding federal payments
Senate GOP tax bill includes largest cut to U.S. safety net in decades
​
July 1-15 2025
CNN and MSNBC coverage of the MAGA coup is getting worse and worse. Instead of explaining how MAGA is impacting their audience they go on and on about how stupid Trump is and what he doesn't understand about tariffs. It doesn't matter at this point.
And the latest Epstein internal MAGA war which progressive news is going down the rabbit hole means nothing. We have seen this pattern over and over again as "Republicans" seem to oppose the MAGA agenda and then fold when it becomes time to vote. Gutless. Who are they going to vote for... the Democrats narrative?
In the meantime, there are real dangers unfolding in terms of expanded ICE gestapo raids based only on the color of immigrants skin and the weak FEMA response to the tragic floods in Texas. MAGA is very good at explaining away their culpability in these events. (Cutting Federal agency staff) The Democrats whine a lot but can't seem to find any real leverage for the future. The big event (among many) was the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill that funds the MAGA coup. Trump got most everything he wanted on the accelerated time table he evoked. He is winning but you wouldn't know it from watching progressive news channels.
​
Here are a few of the headlines. You just can't write this stuff.
​
​Congress
Senate Republicans narrowly pass Trump mega budget bill after marathon voting session
Moderates flee Congress - little bi-partisan left
Thousands of People Are NOT Holding Back After 128 Democrats Voted With Republicans To Kill A Resolution To Impeach Trump
​
Immigration
Trump plans to visit Florida's new migrant detention center, 'Alligator Alcatraz'
Trump threatened tough punishment for employers who hired migrant workers. So far only a handful have faced the Trump's wrath
House Democrats demand closure of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ "concentration camp."
20 states sue after the Trump administration releases private Medicaid data to deportation officials
J.D. Vance Says Immigrants Will 'Bankrupt' the Federal Government. The Opposite Is True.
Democratic lawmakers denied entry to Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention site
Trump bill gives ICE $45 billion for detaining immigrants - more than it received in the last 15 years combined
Immigrants with no criminal convictions represent sharpest growth in ICE detention population
Troops and federal agents briefly descend on L.A.'s MacArthur Park in largely immigrant neighborhood
Trump bill gives ICE $45 billion for detaining immigrants - more than it received in the last 15 years combined
​Giant bugs, heat and a hospital visit: Inside Alligator Alcatraz’s first days
Masked immigration agents are spurring fear and confusion across the U.S.
ICE increasingly targeting non-criminals as deportation campaign intensifies
New Trump rule immediately bans undocumented immigrants from Head Start child care
Dems Wildly Dispute GOP Spin After ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Tour
Trump Border Czar Boasts ICE Can 'Briefly Detain' People Based On 'Physical Appearance'
​Immigrants in overcapacity ICE detention say they're hungry, raise food quality concerns
​
Supreme Court & Justice Department
‘A Culture of Disdain’: The Supreme Court’s Actions Speak Louder Than Its Words
Justice Department Hires Infamous January 6 Rioter to Take Revenge
Federal judge recommends case against Milwaukee judge who allegedly helped undocumented man evade arrest continue
Trump administration targets Comey and Brennan with new investigation
Federal judge blocks Trump’s EO on birthright citizenship after SCOTUS ruling
​The Court Comes to the Administration’s Rescue, Again
DOJ drops charges against Utah doctor accused of throwing away COVID vaccines, distributing fake vaccination cards
Two-thirds of the DOJ unit defending Trump policies in court have quit
​Supreme Court OKs Trump’s plan to dismantle the Education Department
Pam Bondi fires US justice department’s top ethics adviser
​
Health Care
Vance Says It’s “immaterial” how Many People Lose Medicaid in Budget
14 million lives could be lost due to Trump aid cuts
​Trump bill's health effects won't be felt until after midterms
The health of U.S. kids has declined significantly since 2007
Secretary Rollins - Decisive Action Shuts Down Southern Border to Livestock Trade due to spread of New World screwworm in Mexico
News, Social Media & Technology
Joe Rogan Expresses Concern Over a 'Dangerous' Social Media Trend - Regulations on disinformation
Silicon Valley investor Vinod Khosla predicts AI will replace 80% of jobs by 2030
Team Trump Is Serious About Unleashing the Espionage Act on the Media
Rubio impersonator used AI in calls to foreign ministers
Kara Swisher ripped the network for letting Scott Jennings say “terrible things” on air.
​
Executive Branch
Service detail to pay $600K for golf carts and port-a-potties to use at his New Jersey club
Trump threatens political consequences for any Republicans trying to help PBS, NPR
​
Abortion
Wisconsin's 1849 law does not ban abortion, the state Supreme Court rules
Education
Trump administration withholds $70 million in K-12 school funding from Colorado
​Trump’s $7 Billion Education Funding Freeze Blindsides Schools
​Education Department dismisses thousands of civil rights complaints at an ‘unheard of’ pace
​
Culture War
Paramount to Pay Trump $16 Million to Settle ‘60 Minutes’ Lawsuit
Trump Is Bragging That He Planted the Elon Musk Drug Abuse Story in the New York Times
​Democrats told to "get shot" for the anti-Trump resistance
Netanyahu says he nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize
Rightwing influencers indignant over FBI claim that Jeffrey Epstein’s client list doesn’t exist
‘Ice Barbie’ Kristi Noem ripped for asking fans to choose a favorite horseback portrait as Texas disaster continues
Kristi Noem claims 1 in 6 survivors of Lahaina wildfires were forced to trade sexual favors for supplies
The Trumps have earned around $500 million from World Liberty since the crypto platform was launched l
Global Relations
Iran Suspends Cooperation With U.N. Nuclear Watchdog
Military leaders aghast as Meta founder Zuckerberg crashes classified Oval Office meeting on fighter jets
China's foreign minister tells EU that Beijing cannot afford Russia to lose in Ukraine
U.N. Pulls Nuclear Inspectors Out of Iran for Safety Reasons
​U.S. issues sanctions against United Nations investigator probing abuses in Gaza
State Department is firing over 1,300 employees under Trump administration plan
Trump plans to send Ukraine weapons via NATO allies
Climate Change
Trump administration shuts down U.S. website on climate change
Major reports about how climate change affects the US are removed from websites
EPA suspends and investigates around 140 employees who signed a letter critical of the agency
As Floods Hit, Key Roles Were Vacant at Weather Service Offices in Texas
Some former Texas county officials thought informal phone calls, not sirens, would be sufficient in a flood
​FEMA’s response to Texas flood slowed by Noem’s cost controls
MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk claims Texas flood death toll ‘would not have been as high if it wasn’t for DEI’
​
Economy
Trump lies again about gas prices, falsely claiming five states are at $1.99
US and Vietnam reach initial tariff deal
A dark day for our country’: Democrats furious over Trump big beautiful bill’s passage
Trump-GOP Budget Bill Will Give Top 1% Over $1 Trillion in Tax Breaks
President Donald J. Trump Continues Enforcement of Reciprocal Tariffs and Announces New Tariff Rates
7 Rounds of Talks and No Deal: Japan Girds for New Era of U.S. Relations
US farm secretary says 'no amnesty' for farm workers from deportation - not what trump said
Wall Street Journal Warns ‘It’s Easy To See’ How New Trump Move May Harm U.S. Consumers
Trump Officials Are Doing Everything They Can To Obscure The Actual Fallout Of His Tax Bill
​
Government
DOGE: Federal work force shrinking by just 1% shows bureaucracy's entrenchment, experts say
​Supreme Court clears way for Trump to downsize the federal workforce - badly
​
Elections
Greg Abbott accused of trying to ‘fix’ midterms for Republicans by redrawing congressional maps
Democrats thought they found their midterm message on the megabill
Corruption
Top White House aide sold at least $1 million in Truth Social stock the day before Trump's April tariff announcement​
July 16-31 -2025
Trump keeps winning yet the pro-democracy media keep acting like he's in trouble. The Epstein scandal, the supposed negative impact of tariffs, his low poll numbers etc. Their current "happy talk" is boarding on fake news. By the way, the Democrats poll numbers are worse than Trumps. Paul Krugman said it best... "The Media Can’t Handle the Absence of Truth". They are lost in their old journalistic models as if they were reporting on two different versions of the same set of facts. They are NOT! Trump and the MAGA movement are basing all their efforts to tear down our democracy based on complete fantasies and falsehoods. AND the coup is now fully funded by the passage of Trumps big beautiful budget. Trump cannot be shamed and his followers are all in. Where that leaves the rest of us... is pondering the possibility of living in an oligarchy.
The only show willing to take Trump on was South Park. The day after signing a 1.5 billion steaming contact with Paramount, SP releases their first show of 2025. Here is a sample of the complete show. It actually gets wilder after this clip with the devil in bed. The full episode ends with AI Trump wandering around the desert in his little boy underwear talking to his small penis, Its fitting as part of America's reality show that the only ones that had the guts to get creative was South Park.
Here are a sample of the headlines from these past two weeks.
​
Polls
​A majority of Americans say they oppose Trump’s signature legislative victory-big beautiful bill
41% approve of Trump's immigration policy
​
Voting
Tracking the Trump Justice Department’s Anti-Voting Shift
The Supreme Court Is Writing a Slow-Motion Eulogy for One of America’s Greatest Achievements - Voting Rights Act 1965
Trump's DOJ contacted states for voter data, access to voting machines
North Carolina Launches Voter Roll Program That Could Disenfranchise Tens of Thousands
Media and Tech
Trump was reelected with help from podcasters like Joe Rogan. Is he losing their support over Epstein and Iran?
State Department cyber, tech cuts deeper than previously known
Jimmy K Says ‘F— You CBS’ Canceling ‘Late Show With Stephen Colbert’
KUOW (public radio) raises nearly $1.5M after Congress slashes broadcasting funds
Why isn’t Fox News covering the Wall Street Journal’s bombshell scoop of the Trump-Epstein letter?
Trump demands key US AI industry keep out ‘woke Marxist lunacy’ - do not allow political speech MAGA doesn't like
Rule of Law
Trump administration refuses to turn over court-ordered RIF list - Federal agency reduction details
Trump Fires Top Sean “Diddy” Combs & Jeffrey Epstein Prosecutor Maurene Comey
Trump Says He’ll Sue Rupert Murdoch, NewsCorp and WSJ ‘Shortly,’
​Tulsi Gabbard calls for Obama to be prosecuted over 2016 election claims - No proof
Trump and SCOTUS are weakening the separation of powers
Judge denies Trump request to release Epstein transcripts in Florida
​​
Culture Wars
Trump calls Epstein rumors a ‘radical left’ hoax and condemns Maga ‘weaklings’
Trump’s Promise on Coke Recipe Fizzles Out Immediately as Coca-Cola Blanks Him
Trump Posts Fake Video Showing Obama Arrest
​Trump administration releases files on Martin Luther King Jr - distraction from everything else including Epstein
​‘It’s just wildly misleading’: Why the administration’s latest allegations about the Russia investigation don’t add up
What to know about civil commitment, Trump's new policy for homelessness - against their will
Trump administration memo clears way for federal employees to push their ‘correct’ religion on other coworkers
​
Global Relations
In spite of what Trump continues to say... US strikes destroyed only one of three Iranian nuclear sites
Furious Trump rages over Iran nuclear sites after new US intel - only 1 site was destroyed.
Kremlin says Putin open to peace with Ukraine only after Russia’s goals have been achieved
​Trump tells Israel to ‘finish the job’ against Hamas weeks after suggesting ceasefire deal in sight
Why Trump’s new deadline for Russia deserves skepticism
​Gaza starvation widens MAGA's rupture with Israel
Immigration
Trump administration fires 17 immigration court judges across ten states, union says
There is no sanctuary anywhere:’ Border Patrol raids come to California’s capital
Trump administration hands over Medicaid recipients’ personal data, including addresses, to ICE
ICE Is Making an Example of California
Americans largely oppose Trump’s ramp-up of deportations, CNN poll - 55% say the president has gone too far
ICE head says agents will arrest anyone found in the U.S. illegally, crack down on employers of unauthorized workers
​ICE chief says he will continue to allow agents to wear masks during arrest raids
Newly Flush With Cash, ICE Races to Build Migrant Tent Camps
​US Marines mobilized to Los Angeles are being sent home, Pentagon says
​'Flood' of ICE agents is coming to cities run by Democrats, White House warns
Migrants tortured in El Salvador, Venezuela says
Trump’s Cases Against L.A. Protesters Collapse Due to Massive ICE Lies
ICE entices new recruits with patriotism pitch and pledge of $50,000 signing bonuses
Congress
Conservatives Get the PBS and NPR Cuts They’ve Wanted for Decades
Ghislaine Maxwell makes pitch to Supreme Court
Corruption
​For Sale: Trump is leveraging power of his office to reap profits for family businesses
Louisiana police chiefs charged in immigrant visa fraud scheme
Don Jr. and Eric Trump’s Middle East jaunt cost US taxpayers over $40,000 in hotel rooms and rental cars
​Columbia settles with Trump: 5 things to know - extortion
U.S. Department of Education Opens Investigations into Five Universities for Alleged Scholarships Benefiting Illegal Alien Students
​Stunning amount Trump’s Scotland trip will cost taxpayers – largely to promote his golf courses there
Trump Is Trying to Hide the Cost of Renovating His New Air Force One - the mystery 1 billion dollar transfer
Brown University Makes a Deal With the White House to Restore Funding
​
Climate Change
Interior Dept. to Put Wind and Solar Projects Through Stricter Political Review
Trump fossil-fuel push setting back green progress decades, critics warn
EPA seeks to cancel scientific basis for climate regulations
Justice Department - Law Enforcement
Alabama governor backs withholding video of officer fatally shooting Black student
Supreme Court sides with Trump administration in battle over ability to remove agency commissioners
Justice Department files complaint against judge who blocked deportations
​
Economy
Cuts to food stamps are about to hit in America
​
Health Care
Trump Announces Health Care Records System for Consumers
​
​
August 1-15 -2025
​Global Relations
Trump orders nuclear submarines moved near Russia
Brazil vows to defend supreme court against Donald Trump’s onslaught
Never before has a US leader chosen to engage in nuclear brinkmanship of this kind
Trump’s deadline for the Kremlin looms but Putin shows no sign of making concessions
Russia says it no longer will abide by its self-imposed moratorium on intermediate-range missiles
Trump-backed candidate Karol Nawrocki becomes Polish president and could steer a more nationalist course
Trump's tariff war: Canada's sovereignty is the real issue, trade expert warns
Trump Rants About Countries Laughing at America in All-Caps Late-Night Meltdown
​Trump Directs Military to Target Foreign Drug Cartels
Israel kills multiple journalists in Gaza, including prominent Al Jazeera reporters
Australia to recognize Palestinian state, leaving US increasingly isolated among key allies
Many Canadians are still avoiding travel to the US
TACO Trump Backs Out of China Tariffs Hours Before Deadline
Trump wins appeal over freeze on foreign aid payments
Mexico sends 26 cartel members to U.S. in deal with Trump administration
Russia tries to make sudden advance in Ukraine before Trump-Putin summit
​
Culture War
Smithsonian removes reference to Trump’s impeachments from presidency exhibit
Millions Tuned in to Watch Trump’s ‘South Park’ Micropenis
Why Harrison Ford Thinks Politics May Be Making A ‘Healthy Swing To The Right
It’s Those Lips’: Trump, 79, Goes Gaga for Karoline Leavitt, 27
Toppled Confederate statue will rise again in Washington
Pete Hegseth Unveils Return of Pro-Slavery Monument
Hegseth attended service at church of ‘Christian nationalist’ pastor who doesn’t think women should vote
Donald Trump Jr. posts image of President Trump throwing sex toy at WNBA players
Media and Tech
Corporation For Public Broadcasting To Shut Down Operations After Loss Of Federal Funding
City council squashes large Amazon data center project in Arizona
Trump Calls Into CNBC to Tout High Poll Numbers, Cites Analyst Who Immediately Refutes Him
Fox News Issues Scathing Fact-Check of Trump’s Deranged D.C. Claims
Wikipedia loses a round to the UK
Elections
Trump, Term-Limited, Amasses $200 Million War Chest for Political Ambitions
Texas governor threatens to remove Democrats who left the state over Trump-backed redistricting
How Trump Is Plotting To Disrupt The Next Election
Furious voters are flooding lawmakers’ town halls. Republicans aren’t worried.
Trump Suggests Vance is MAGA Movement’s Heir Apparent
Republicans are full steam ahead on redistricting — and not just in Texas
Federal Government
“Nobody came”: Hill Country flooding survivors recount anguish, neglect during emotional hearing
Trump to start building $200 million White House ballroom in September
'Vote him out!': Town hall erupts in anger at GOP congressman
​
Climate Change
Trump bids to scrap almost all pollution regulations – can anything stop this?
​Suddenly, the Trump Administration Tightens the Vise on Wind Farms
Scientists decry Trump energy chief’s plan to ‘update’ climate reports: ‘Exactly what Stalin did’
Phoenix experiences hottest August day ever as temps rise to scorching 118 degrees
Energy chief suggests Trump administration is altering previously published climate reports
EPA plans to end a program that makes solar power available to low-income Americans
Alaska’s Juneau orders evacuations as record glacier flood looms
Before A Steel Plant Exploded, Trump’s EPA Hid Risks From The Public
Economics
Trump to blame for high cost of living, Americans say in new poll
Larry Summers says Trump's accusations of manipulated jobs numbers are ‘preposterous
Most U.S. adults stressed by grocery costs: poll
Executives Are in Real Danger. Companies Pony Up to Keep Them Safe.
2 million unemployed. Most since Pandemic
Apple CEO Tim Cook’s $100 billion commitment to U.S. manufacturing - gift for Trump: a glass ‘Made in USA’ plaque mounted on 24-karat gold
Bill Melinda Gates Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge after 15 years: Only 9 of the 256 billionaires followed through on giving away half their wealth
60 percent blame Trump for high costs amid expensive Air Force One, ballroom projects
​Consumers feel the crunch of accelerating inflation
Judicial - DOJ
Federal judges detail rise in threats, ‘pizza doxings,’ as Trump ramps up criticism
Kavanaugh Admits Trumpy Shadow Docket Rulings Are Tearing SCOTUS Apart
​Ex-Trump prosecutor Jack Smith faces investigation by independent political watchdog
Senate confirms ex-Fox News host Pirro as top federal prosecutor for nation's capital
The Justice Department seeks voter and election information from at least 19 states
Chief Justice John Roberts enabled Texas’ gambit to gerrymander the state for the GOP
Ghislaine Maxwell told DOJ Trump never did anything concerning around her - she is looking for a pardon
Trump Threatens Federal Takeover of Washington After Member of DOGE (Big Balls) Is Assaulted
Trump administration cannot reallocate billions meant for disaster mitigation, federal judge rules
FBI granted request to 'locate' fleeing Texas House Democrats
FBI firing senior officials at odds with Trump administration
He told Jan 6 rioters to ‘kill’ cops. After Trump’s pardon, he got hired at the Justice Department
DOJ opens investigation into New York AG's office that brought fraud case against Trump
No contempt for Trump officials over Venezuelan migrant deportations to El Salvadorian prison, appeals court rules
There’s only one type of American who still trusts the Supreme Court
Trump deploys National Guard to Washington DC as he pledges crime crackdown - Based on white guy "big balls" mugging
The Supreme Court Is Determined to Turn Voting Into a Limited Privilege
Pam Bondi has a new probe into the handling of 2016 Russian meddling. John Durham already spent four years investigating it
Trump’s Agents in D.C. Caught on Video Randomly Harassing People
Trump lies about D.C. crime to federalize police and use military to take control of sanctuary city - Crime has fallen in 23 and 24
Trump sidesteps Senate and judiciary with some U.S. attorney picks
White House says dozens arrested in DC - mayor warns of ‘authoritarian push
Congressional Democrats Move to End Trump’s Control of D.C. Police
​
Immigration
The Trump administration is using ‘fascist propaganda’ to promote its mass deportation campaign,
ICE uses starkly different tactics to arrest immigrants in red and blue states
Kristi Noem says "Alligator Alcatraz" to be model for ICE state-run detention centers
Federal agents detain people at a Westlake Home Depot after jumping out of rented Penske moving van
Stanford’s student newspaper sues Trump administration over use of immigration law to target pro-Palestinian students
Kristi Noem says DHS is removing age restrictions to hire more ICE officers
Multiple Men Have Impersonated ICE Agents To Kidnap And Assault Women
US judge orders ICE to improve condition in New York immigration facility
Health
RFK Jr. to wind down $500M mRNA vaccine development
VA’s severe health care staffing shortages are on the rise
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Education
UCLA has more than half a billion dollars in funding suspended by Trump administration
Federal judge orders Trump administration to restore UCLA research grants
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Corruption
Bondi’s DOJ Wipes Fraud Charges for Republican Who Hired Her Brother
​​​
August 15-31
The reality show continued with Trumps staged summit with Putin in Alaska. All of it, the military flyover, the red carpets, the smiles and hardy handshakes did not distract from the "summit" ending in three hours. Putin got the world recognition he wanted and Trump got nothing. On the following Monday Ukrainians Zelensky and European leaders showed up for another photo opp in the oval office. I thought they should have waited and let Trumps failures run a few days. As it was they allowed Trump to hold court and pull stunts like leaving the meeting to call Putin for 40 minutes. They got nothing but more vague promises of a meeting between Zelensky and Putin with no conformation from the Russian dictator.
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Trump ramped up his lies by claiming that Washington DC was suffering from a crime wave and gang warfare to justify his nationalizing the city with National Guard troops. The capital looked like an armed camp with military check points every two or so blocks. Of course there was no "emergency." Like LA the mayor did not request Trumps help. Another stunt that was a rehearsal for such show of forces in blue states.
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More details on the development of AI and AGI emerged from tech bros like Mark Zuckerburg of META. His vision for America was truly frighting and in keeping with the theme that tech CEO's should run the country. Republican congress members were met with angry citizens as they held town hall meetings. They stopped doing them pretty quickly.
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Heading towards the 2026 midterms (the hope of the Democrats) Trump and his MAGA allies are ramping up their gerrymandering efforts in states like Texas to gain more red seats in the house. Trump is also threatening mail in balloting. His buddy Putin suggesed in Alaska that it is why he lost the 2020 election. Here is a sampling of the headlines during the last two weeks.
Global Relations and Diplomacy
Putin’s wins at Alaska summit leave Trump with hard choices
Suffering Ukrainians dismayed by outcome and optics of Trump-Putin summit
US military deploying over 4,000 additional troops to waters around Latin America as part of Trump’s counter-cartel mission
Ukraine talks expose Trump’s dreadful attention to detail
Trump Calls Netanyahu a ‘War Hero’ and Adds: ‘I Guess I Am Too’
Venezuela mobilizes its militia after US says it’s deploying military forces to waters around Latin America
Treasury Secretary Compares Trump-Putin Meeting To Showing Off ‘Gun Case’ To ‘Uncontrollable Neighbor’
Russia carries out its biggest Ukraine attack in more than a month while accusing them of not being interested in peace
Tulsi Gabbard announces plans to cut intelligence staff by half
Trump slaps sanctions on Canadian International Criminal Court judge
Trump’s peace bid flops as Kremlin says no plans for Putin-Zelenskyy summit
Hegseth fires general whose agency’s intel assessment of damage from Iran strikes angered Trump
​Russia’s Deadliest Attack on Kyiv Since Trump-Putin Summit Damages EU Building
We didn't do enough': How U.S. policy failed Palestinians in Gaza
Defying Congress, Trump Moves to Cut $4.9 Billion in Foreign Aid
Rule of Law
Protesters Against National Guard Deployment Flood D.C. Streets
GOP-led states sending National Guard troops to D.C.
Supermajority of Washington DC residents oppose Trump’s police takeover
Defense Secretary Hegseth authorizes National Guard troops to carry arms in DC
Trump Says Chicago and New York Are Next for Federal Crackdown on Crime
The Rule of Law in the US Just Took Its Last Breath
Trump tightens his grip on D.C. by seizing its rail hub, stripping Amtrak of control
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Elections
Thousands around the country to demonstrate against a Republican effort to redraw congressional maps in their favor for 2026.
Trump vows to target mail-in ballots ahead of 2026 midterm election
Angry Trump Accidentally Blurts Out Unnerving New Plot to Rig Midterms
Texas Republicans Ready to Pass New Redistricting Maps, Just as Trump Wanted
Trump moves to use the levers of presidential power to help his party in the 2026 midterms
Elon Musk is already giving up on plans to start his own party - and instead looks to back Vance in 2028
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Culture Wars
Trump Set to Blow Millions on ICE Barbie PR Blitz as Her Roasting Spirals
Online Trolls Savage Trump’s Tough Guy Snap With Putin After Ceasefire Flop
Mark Zuckerberg's vision for humanity is terrifying
Karoline Leavitt Drops Cross Pendant After ‘South Park’ Spoof
Trump says Smithsonian is too focused on slavery
Cracker Barrel loses $94 million in a day after disastrous rebrand sparks MAGA outrage
​Trump: ‘A Lot of People Are Saying Maybe We’d Like a Dictator’
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Media/News/Tech
Russia is quietly churning out fake content posing as US news
White House launches official TikTok account after Trump vowed ban in 2020
Joe Rogan Trashes Trump’s Repeated Claims That Epstein Scandal Is A ‘Hoax’
8 months after becoming the first human implanted with Elon Musk’s Neuralink ’ Noland Arbaugh says his whole life has changed
Trump Calls for ‘Crooked’ ABC and NBC to Be ‘Terminated’ in Epic Late-Night Rant
‘Big Balls’ in Biggest Ever Social Security Leak: Whistleblower
California parents find grim ChatGPT logs after son's suicide - family files a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman
Social Security whistleblower submits 'involuntary resignation,' citing 'intolerable' work conditions
Education
Oklahoma will require teachers from NY, CA to prove they back 'America First'
Oklahoma will test some incoming teachers with ‘America-first’ exam
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Congress
Lie, Lie!’: GOP Rep Savaged at Local Town Hall
Economy/Tariffs
US-India trade talks scheduled for August called off
Florida is now the 2nd most financially distressed state in the US — topped only by Texas
Trump’s '$4 Trillion Deficit Reduction' Is Fake News - The president says "tariffs came in at $4 trillion." Spoiler: They didn't.
Most Trump tariffs are not legal, US appeals court rules
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Immigration
State Department stopping issuance of visitor visas for 'individuals from Gaza'
Citizenship reviews now ask immigrants to show "positive contributions" to U.S.
DHS Secretary says entire southern border wall to be painted black to stop people from climbing it
New visas paused for commercial truck drivers, Rubio says
​When immigration shows up at daycare: crackdown in DC terrifies families and workers
‘Trump burger’ inventor and owner of restaurants celebrating president is taken into ICE custody
‘Alligator Alcatraz’ to be vacated in compliance with court order to shut it
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Climate Change
Businesses face 'chaos' as EPA aims to repeal its authority over climate pollution
FEMA Employees Warn That Trump Is Gutting Disaster Response
Trump Takes Revenge Against FEMA Workers Who Warned He’s Risking Disaster
Corruption
An investigative report found that the first family is projected to rake in $3.4 billion thanks to their proximity to the White House.
Trump Refuses to Pay for Hegseth’s Huge Personal Security Demands
Trump has bought up $100 million in bonds from biggest companies including T-Mobile and Meta since taking office
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Justice/Courts
​Trump half-billion-dollar civil fraud penalty thrown out by appeals court
FBI raids home of John Bolton, former Trump national security advisor
​Judge Orders That ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Detention Center Be Shut Down for Now
US Supreme Court rules Trump admin can cut nearly $800m in health funding - Breast cancer - HIV cut
​Trump threatens ‘harsh measures’ if convicted GOP election denier Tina Peters not freed
The Supreme Court hands down some incomprehensible gobbledygook about canceled federal grants
JD Vance defends federal investigation into former Trump adviser John Bolton - But he doesn't offer much in the way of specifics.
Gorsuch and Kavanaugh warn lower court judges in Trump cases
Court throws out lawsuit by Trump administration against all Maryland federal judges
Jeanine Pirro’s office fails three times to convince grand jurors to return indictment
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Health System
Trump and RFK Jr. to Ban COVID-19 Vaccine ‘Within Months’
RFK Jr. Cancels Promising Work on Cancer Vaccine
Susan Monarez out weeks after confirmation as CDC director
RFK Jr. Says CDC Needs to More Closely Align With Trump’s Agenda
Trump administration faces rare bipartisan push back for firing CDC director
Sept 1-15
The assassination of radical MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk dominated the headlines and the national conversation in this two week cycle. Obviously, no one regardless of their political views should be shot and killed. However, the national reaction to Kirk's death demonstrated the current polarized state of American citizens. Instead of coming together in pleas for a lowering of the violent political rhetoric MAGA claimed it was "war" and vowed to wipe out the radical left. Even in the more progressive news media coverage you could see the impact of Trump going after media firms. CNN and MSNBC went out of their way to describe Kirk as someone who was interested in having a debate between peaceful positions. That was hardly who Kirk was. He was a radical racist, sexist and most of all fueled the divisions in America in his nationalist Christian rants. The few commentators who attempted to point that out were fired. Employees also were fired for suggesting that's what he represented. Here are some of Kirk's public statements for the record.
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“We must also be real. We must be honest with the population. Having an armed citizenry comes with a price, and that is part of liberty... But I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year, so that we can have the Second Amendment.”
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On his radio show, Kirk dismissed empathy as a harmful idea. “I can’t stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up, new age term that does a lot of damage.”
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During a heated exchange on Jubilee’s Surrounded, he claimed Black people were “better” in the 1940s. “They were actually better in the 1940s. It was bad. It was evil. But what happened? Something changed. They committed less crimes… Black America is worse than it has been in the last 80 years.”
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On child pregnancy after rape? When asked how he would advise his daughter in a disturbing scenario, he said, “The answer is yes. The baby would be delivered.”
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At a TPUSA event, he compared trans identity to blackface. “A man who calls himself trans is wearing ‘woman face,’ no different than I would wear Black face trying to be a Black person. It’s assuming an identity that isn’t yours.”
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On his radio show, he claimed Joy Reid, Michelle Obama, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Ketanji Brown Jackson were “affirmative action picks” and went further, “Black women do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously.”
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After Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement, he fantasized about her becoming more conservative. “Submit to your husband, Taylor. You’re not in charge.”
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“Gun control, like vaccines and masks, is focused on making people feel ‘safe’ by taking freedoms away from others. Don’t fall for it.”
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“For future retirees, people under the age of 45, we should absolutely raise the retirement age. I’m not a fan of retirement. I don’t think retirement is biblical… I think, what a waste of the gifts that God has given you.”
Hardly someone interested in bringing people together. Should he have been killed for it? ...NO. But the split in the American culture we saw these last two weeks as a reaction to this event is a dangerous trend. All five major social media platforms allowed the video of Kirk's brutal killing to run unabated. As some commentators have questioned... "is this the beginning of a new cycle of senseless violence?"
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On other fronts the courts were busy. The courts have become the last line of resistance to Trump/MAGA imperial actions. In the last two weeks Trump lost a variety of cases in district courts concerning his illegal use of presidential power, appellate courts delivered split verdicts and the Supreme Court has shown no sign of reigning Trump in. Where this all ends up in anyones guess.
On the global scene, Trumps arbitrary tariffs and threats of sanctions threatened to unhinge the NATO alliance against Putin. Putin is testing the west by sending drones into Poland air space. Trump seems indifferent other than the suggestion of more Russian sanctions that he never follows through on. Trumps also looking away from the genocide taking place in GAZA also seems to suggest he wants to develop the Gaza strip as a high worth playground. No apparent idea where 2 million Palestinians will go. The more unstable his worldly pronouncements are the greater chance someone is going to make a mistake and start a war that can't be stopped. Trumps erratic behavior is also driving countries like India, China and Russia to form new anti-America alliances.
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We are beginning to see the impact of a conspiracy nut running our health system. RFK is cutting and slashing vaccine programs and firing anyone that resists. His testimony in Congress was crazy, full of lies or non-coherent. Blue states are beginning to look at forming alliances to deal with their own health care needs. This at some point will be tested in the Supreme Court who is no friend of blue politicians.
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One sign of hope are blue states beginning to form alliances to counter the Trump/MAGA agenda. This is a good sign but ultimately may be tested with military conflict if DT decides to send Texas National Guard troops into California. These moves could be seen as the first signs that a larger civil conflict that is coming if cooler heads don't prevail.
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Here's a sampling of some of the headlines from the first two weeks of September.
The Courts
US judge blocks government from deporting unaccompanied Guatemalan children
Federal appeals court says Trump unlawfully invoked the Alien Enemies Act for deportations
Grand jury refuses to indict second person accused of threatening President Trump
Appeals court blocks Trump from firing FTC commissioner
​Judge Rules Trump Administration Illegally Canceled Harvard Funding
In rare interviews, federal judges criticize Supreme Court's handling of Trump cases
Judge Spells Out the Danger of Trump’s Lawlessness - National Guard deployment in L.A. “violated the Posse Comitatus Act.”
The overwhelming evidence that the Supreme Court is on Donald Trump’s team
Justice Amy Coney Barrett responds to criticism that the Supreme Court is allowing Trump to expand his power
Supreme Court lifts restrictions on LA immigration stops set after agents swept up US citizens
Chief justice lets Trump remove member of Federal Trade Commission for now
Michigan judge dismisses case against 15 alleged 'fake electors' in 2020 election
The Government Wants to See Your Papers - Supreme Court decides Fourth Amendment might not be for everyone.
Judge issues nationwide block on Trump policy that cuts off Head Start for people in US illegally
Trump Says U.S. Criminal Justice System Should Work More Like China's
Health System
Departing CDC Leader Blasts RFK Jr. Over Bombshell COVID Vaccine Threat
Trump Breaks Silence On Health Rumors After Days Of Limited Appearances
More than 1,000 HHS workers demand RFK Jr.'s resignation in new letter
Snubbing Kennedy, States Announce Plans to Coordinate on Vaccines
3 western states form vaccine alliance to counter feds
RFK Jr. and the White House buried a major study on alcohol and cancer.
Concerned about federal vaccine policies, states are crafting their own
RFK Jr. Adviser Claims COVID-19 Vaccine May Have Given Cancer to the King and Kate Middleton
The president has upped the citizen figure he wrongly claims were killed by drugs in the U.S. from massively wrong to impossibly wrong.
Economy/Tariffs
1.2M immigrants are gone from the US labor force under Trump
Labor Day "Workers Over Billionaires" protests held across U.S
Fox Business Panel Can't Help But Admit New August Jobs Report Is 'Extraordinarily' Brutal
Supreme Court seeks to avoid being cornered on Trump tariffs authority
The U.S. economy shrinks nearly a million more jobs than previously thought, shows ‘AI is automating away tech jobs
Gun Reform/Acts of Violence
​Charlie Kirk, radical MAGA activist shot and killed at Utah event; manhunt for shooter still ongoing
Charlie Kirk shooting suspect identified as Tyler Robinson, 22
No idea what you have unleashed': Charlie Kirk’s wife delivers first public address with threat
Charlie Kirk said about civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.: "MLK was awful. He's not a good person."
Charlie Kirk’s death raises fears of ‘beginning of a darker chapter’ for US violence
Trump Blames “Radical Left” in Video on Charlie Kirk’s Death
Pope Leo urges end to "pandemic of arms" after Minnesota shooting
Chicago sees its fewest summer murders since 1965​
Fox host apologizes for saying mentally ill homeless people should be executed
Everyone Is Talking The Double Standard How Trump Responded When Charlie Kirk Assassinated Vs. Minnesota Lawmaker
Donald Trump Jr. Believes Those Who Say Political Violence Goes Both Ways ‘Should Be Thrown Off the Air
VP Vance to host 'The Charlie Kirk Show' as memorial for conservative icon nears
Workers fired, placed on leave for Charlie Kirk comments after assassination
Trump aide Stephen Miller vows to ‘destroy’ what he claims is ‘domestic terror movement’ after Charlie Kirk killing
Immigration
U.S. Suspends Visas for Palestinian Passport Holders
Trump’s use of the National Guard during Los Angeles immigration protests is illegal, a judge rules
Alarm after FBI arrests US army veteran for ‘conspiracy’ over protest against Ice
‘Trump’s private army’: inside the push to recruit 10,000 immigration officers
Trump administration to end temporary status of another 268,000 Venezuelan migrants, urging them to self-deport
300 South Koreans detained at Hyundai plant in US to be released, says Seoul
No Troops’: Protestors fill downtown Chicago streets to oppose Trump administration’s immigration crackdown
Trump shelves Chicago crackdown plans for now as advisers warn of legal headaches
Trump says he's sending the National Guard into Memphis to 'fix' crime like D.C.
Trump says foreign experts welcome after South Korean outrage over raid
Trump’s immigration raids leave crops rotting in the field
Trump vows national emergency in Washington, DC over ICE dispute
Elections/Voting
Trump Calls for Voter Identification for All U.S. Elections
Democrats can't beat Trump on common sense. No wonder voters are abandoning them
Trump Administration Quietly Seeks to Build National Voter Roll
The Justice Department is reportedly assembling an unprecedented national voter database
New York Governor Backs Mamdani, Triggers Trump Funding Threat
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Global Hotspots
Xi and Putin stand shoulder to shoulder as China casts itself an alternative global leader
Plane carrying EU’s top leader targeted by alleged Russian GPS jamming
Maduro says Venezuela ready to respond to US military presence in the Caribbean - Cartel war
Trump Admin Circulating Plan to Transform Depopulated Gaza Into High-Tech Cash Cow
China’s Xi Redraws Geopolitical Map With Embrace of Putin, Modi
Trump says China conspiring against US with Putin, Kim meeting at military parade
NATO scrambles jets as Russia launches more than 500 drones, missiles at Ukraine
What new weapons on show at huge parade say about China's military strength
Trump Sucks Up to Indian World Leader After Epic Phone Call Snub
Poland sends 40,000 troops to border before Russian military drills
Russia’s Strategy Against the West: Escalate Slowly and See if It Responds
Trump issues an ultimatum for NATO countries on Russia sanctions
The president thinks he brokered peace between Azerbaijan and Albania. He did not.
Rubio, in Israel, Says a Diplomatic Solution to Gaza War May Not be Possible
Venezuela says U.S. warship raided a tuna boat as tensions rise in the Caribbean
Trump issues an ultimatum for NATO countries on Russia sanctions
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Culture War
Trump Says He’ll Give Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom
​‘This is not a joke’: Chicago leaders slam Trump after president declares ‘Chipocalypse Now’
West Point alumni group scraps prestigious award celebrations honoring Tom Hanks
Internet Roasts 'Department Of War' Rebrand As Trump Chases Nobel Peace Prize
Trump, 79, Mistakes American Flag for Cozy Blanket
Trump Suggests Domestic Violence Isn’t Really A Crime
Newly released video appears to show US missile bouncing off of UFO object
MAGA erupts after Trump gets shouted down at close range: He ‘could have been assassinated’
Trump on ‘Radical Left Lunatics’: ‘We Have to Beat the Hell Out of Them’
In an Era of Deep Polarization, Unity Is Not Trump’s Mission
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Federal Agencies/Congress
Trump Orders Have Stripped Nearly Half a Million Federal Workers of Union Rights
Trump says he's moving Space Command HQ to Alabama because of Colorado's mail-in voting system
OMB director says Government Accountability Office "shouldn't exist"
Washington, Oregon and California governors form alliance in rebuke of Trump administration
Trump Tried to Kill the Infrastructure Law. Now He’s Getting Credit for Its Projects.
Republicans eager for Trump to expand use of military on U.S. soil
Shouting breaks out in House after silent prayer for Charlie Kirk
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Media/News/AI Tech
Fuming ICE Barbie Blasts CBS for ‘Shameful Editing’ of Interview
The AI Doomsday Machine Is Closer to Reality Than You Think - US Military races China for superiority
Newsmax sues Fox News, calling it a monopoly that abuses its power - ironic
PBS slashes 15% of its staff after federal funding cuts
Trump Tells Tech Billionaires He Will Work To Get Them Permits for Data Centers—Amid Fears Over Costly Impact on Homeowners
Graphic video of Kirk shooting was everywhere online, showing how media’s role has changed
Channel 4 Marking Donald Trump’s Visit To UK With “Longest Uninterrupted Reel Of Untruths Ever Broadcast On Television”
Stephen Colbert Defies CBS With Standing Ovation Emmy Speech
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Climate Change/Green Tech
A new level of idiocy’: Trump cuts $427M from California offshore wind project
Dozens of scientists push back on 'fundamentally flawed' Department of Energy climate report
Scientists link hundreds of severe heat waves to fossil fuel producers' pollution
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Education
​White House’s review of Smithsonian content could reach into classrooms nationwide
A new Nation's Report Card shows drops in science, math and reading scores
Trump administration boosts HBCU charter school funding after cutting grants for Hispanic-serving colleges
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Corruption
White House Melts Down Over Proof of Trump’s Gross "birthday" book Letter to Epstein
U.S.-Japan trade deal gives Trump control over $550 billion in US investments - Grift
Clinton Note Found In Epstein’s “Birthday Book” Released By House Oversight Committee
Trump Scores Huge Win as Epstein Letter Won’t Be Investigated
Trump claims he can do anything he wants with the military.
Eric Trump booted from cryptocurrency board after company talks with stock regulators
U.C. Berkeley Gives Names of Students and Faculty to Government for Antisemitism Probe
September 15-30th
These two weeks saw the increase of MAGA related lawlessness and the post-democracy movements failure to take real act or offer any resistance.
During these two weeks the killing of Charlie Kirk has continue to resonate in a variety of ways. From the canonization as a spiritual leader by MAGA, to progressives saying he was attempting to get people to talk to each other, or the reveal of what he really stood for and the purpose of the college gatherings. Lets be clear NO ONE should be killed for their beliefs in America. On the other hand Kirk was one of those influencers that promoted the politicization in America particularly with young people.
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The banning of Jimmy Kimmel from his show on ABC because Trump didn't like what he said offered a glimmer of hope. Enough people canceled their Disney + accounts so that Disney reversed its decision and put him back on. Perhaps a similiar general strike would be a strategy to curb MAGA abuses.
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Trump also doubled down on "his" DOJ going after people on his enemies list. False or meaningless charges against individuals and organizations filled the headlines. And finally his confusing moves on foreign policy left the world in a more unstable place than ever
Here are a sampling of the headlines from September 15-30th.
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Violence in America - Charlie Kirk
What's different about the Charlie Kirk firings
JD Vance backs mass ‘doxing’ campaign to find and harass Charlie Kirk critics
Musk’s posts take a dark, inflammatory turn after Charlie Kirk killing
Trump and his advisers plan for crackdown on left-wing groups, channeling anger over Charlie Kirk’s killing
The people who have lost their jobs for posts about Charlie Kirk
Two out of three Americans believe that harsh rhetoric used in politics is encouraging violence.
In Charlie Kirk’s name: Trump officials signal move to limit free speech
​Thousands gather at Charlie Kirk memorial in Arizona where Trump to pay tribute to slain organizer
Charlie Kirk Divided My Generation. His Death Is Making It Worse
Charlie Kirk’s memorial was one of the most heavily fortified events of its kind
Trump Retribution
Trump Sues The New York Times for Articles Questioning His Success
Bondi faces criticism for saying DOJ will 'target' anyone who engages in 'hate speech'
Pam Bondi threatened to prosecute private employee at a Office Depot for not printing Charlie Kirk vigil flyers
'Maybe we should go after you' Trump threatens ABC reporter asking about free speech
Trump Cornered With List of Right-Wing Attacks on Democrats
Trump administration says it will target far left groups for Kirk's assassination. Prosecutors made no such link.
‘We can’t delay any longer’: Trump urges Bondi to prosecute his rivals
Trump administration can't require states to cooperate with immigration agents to get FEMA grants
YouTube pays $24.5mn to settle Trump censorship lawsuit - gutless
The Courts
Georgia Supreme Court declines to let Fulton County DA Fani Willis return to Trump election interference case
Judge orders Trump administration to restore $500 million in grant funding to UCLA
Donald Trump Is Making All Of The Warnings About The Supreme Court's Immunity Decision Come True
Revisionist US History
Park Service Is Ordered to Take Down Some Materials on Slavery and Tribes
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Media/News/Technology
Chris Cuomo insists he never called January 6 an ‘insurrection’ — only to have receipts thrown back in his face
Censoring you in real time’: suspension of Jimmy Kimmel show sparks shock and fears for free speech
US will control TikTok’s algorithm under deal
Pentagon demands journalists sign pledge not to gather certain information
America’s slow-motion coup speeds up: Tough lessons of the Kimmel affair
‘The View’ Not Commenting on Jimmy Kimmel Proves Trump’s Winning His War on the Press
Jimmy Kimmel's show is returning to ABC on Tuesday, but not all stations will air it
Conservatives Are No Longer Silencing the Media —They’re Taking It Over
Trump Calls Jimmy Kimmel ‘Arm Of…DNC’—Signals He May Sue ABC - As Comic Returns to Air
Disney Shareholders Want To Know If “Improper Political Or Affiliate” Pressures Went Into Host’s Week long Suspension
Trump Adviser Admits Larry Ellison Is “Shadow President of the United States”
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Foreign Policy
​At Home and on the Seas, Trump Expands Use of American Force
Hungary, following Trump, will designate antifa a terrorist organization, Orbán says
Taliban official dismisses Trump's hope to 'take back' Afghan airbase
JD Vance Jokes About Killing Innocent Fishermen in International Waters
Russia shifts from talk to action, targeting NATO homeland amid fears of global war
US bars Iran’s diplomats from shopping at Costco without permission
Trump criticizes U.N. for failing to end wars and address immigration concerns
Trump’s Suffers Another Teleprompter Fail During His UN Speech and Immediately Threatens the Operator
Russia to Trump: We’re a real bear, not a paper tiger
​Trump demands investigation into alleged ‘triple sabotage’ at the United Nations
Trump’s USAID pause stranded lifesaving drugs. Children died waiting.
Economy/Consolidation
Oracle, Silver Lake consortium to control 80% stake in TikTok in US
Fed's Powell isn’t being subtle about Trump, immigration and the employment disaster
​Big Tech companies, foreign governments scramble after Trump slaps $100,000 fee on H-1B visas
Trump's $17 Trillion New Investments Claim 'Clearly' Not True
Behind closed doors, our top CEOs say Trump is bad for business and it’s time to Make America into America Again- yet
Voter/Elections
Trump administration sues Oregon to force it to turn over full information about every state voter
California Gov. Gavin Newsom - "I fear we will not have an election in 2028 unless we wake up"
Arizona Democrat’s Win Clinches Bid to Force Epstein Files Vote
Rule of Law
ICE officers in fatal Chicago shooting were not wearing body cameras
Congressional candidate thrown to ground, protesters tear gassed in clashes at Broadview ICE facility
ICE in Chicago with “excessive force and intimidation tactics”
No More Masked ICE In LA; Gov. Newsom Signs ‘No Secret Police’ Act
White House says Tom Homan did ‘nothing wrong’ following reports he accepted a bag of cash
Feds Tear Gas, Shoot Rubber Bullets At Protesters Outside Broadview ICE Facility Again
Portland’s city leaders and residents are pushing back against ICE. Now Trump is sending in troops
Three women indicted for allegedly livestreaming chase of ICE agent to his home and posting address online
​Trump says he'll fire generals "on the spot" if he dislikes them
Trump says ‘it’s anarchy’ in Portland. Here’s why locals say that’s far from reality
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Culture Wars
White House’s Karoline Leavitt appears to connect earthquake to Charlie Kirk’s death and Biblical prophecy
MAGA House, Senate pass 'National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk' ahead of memorial service
Trump approval drops to record low of second term
Massive banners with Trump’s face are adorning some federal buildings in DC. Democrats are crying foul
Trump and Musk reunite at Charlie Kirk memorial
Trump says Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world
​Trump plans to attend gathering of senior military officials in Virginia this week
Furious Elon Finally Addresses Why He’s in New Epstein Files
Justice Department
DOJ Quietly Deletes Study After Charlie Kirk's Death That Says Right-Wing Extremists Engage in 'Far More' Political Violence
Trump poised to fire US attorney for resisting effort to charge NY AG Letitia James
Democratic elected officials arrested attempting to visit ICE facility in New York City
Judge strikes Trump's lawsuit against New York Times over its content
U.S. attorney, DHS say ICE won’t comply with California’s new mask ban
Grand Jury Indicts Longtime Trump Target, Former F.B.I. Director James Comey
​Justice Department sues six US states over voter registration lists
DOJ official directs prosecutors to prepare probes of George Soros' foundation
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Climate Change
​Climate change ‘beyond scientific dispute,’ National Academies report
Interior Unleashes American Coal Power in Bold Move to Advance Trump Administration Priorities
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Federal Government
​Trump’s bitterness with Schumer increases odds of shutdown
Trump administration rehires hundreds of federal employees laid off by DOGE
US federal agency site blames looming government shutdown on ‘radical left’
President Trump Deploys Federal Resources to Crush Violent Radical Left Terrorism in Portland
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Health System
​Scientist behind Trump’s Tylenol claims was paid to give evidence against drug maker
'Highly concerning': Major medical groups react to Trump's claim that Tylenol is linked to autism
RFK Jr. says FDA will "study" new safety limits on abortion pill
Why Obamacare Bills May Double Next Year
Trump announces ‘TrumpRx’ site for discounted drugs and deal with Pfizer to lower prices
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Space
Astronomers want to blow up this asteroid before it likely strikes Moon - 20
Oct 1-15
The first thing to notice is how many of these headlines begin with Trump. He was a busy guy lying his way forward. No matter how crazy some of his rants sounded the MAGA Republicans were ok with it. I wonder if at some point even they and the tech bro supporters will deem him to unstable and remove him for Vance. If these is a 2028 presidential election it would be better if Vance was an incumbent. That assumes DT won't try to hang on for a third term.
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As to the rest of these two weeks, the 2025 MAGA plan was moving forward with full force. Particularly as it relates to unlawful deploying of US troops to American cities. The shutdown only made it worse in that MAGA folks saw it as a time to fire thousands of Federal employees and attempt to blame the Democrats. All the Democrats wanted was to ensure Medicare was preserved as well the subsidies for Obama care used by thousands of lower income citizens. Here is a sampling of some of the main headlines.
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​MAGA Government
White House freezes $18 billion in New York City infrastructure funding
Veterans react to Hegseth’s ‘insulting’ address to generals and admirals
US government shutdown continues, as Trump cuts funds for Democratic states
Congress members get paid, janitors don’t’ in US shutdown
Mike Johnson Caught on Camera Admitting Trump Is ‘Unwell’
Trump’s unlawful call for ‘war’ on citizens met with stony silence from generals
Trump charts path to total control amid government shutdown
Russ Vought’s plan to deconstruct the government was years in the making
Hesgseth ramps up war against leakers by introducing lie detector tests and NDAs to Pentagon
Airport delays hit second day amid government shutdown
Trump and White House question back pay for furloughed workers amid government shutdown
Republicans post fake image of Oregon protest – using photos of South America
President Trump begins mass layoffs of federal workers amid government shutdown
Immigration
Federal agents grab and shove journalists outside NYC immigration court, sending one to hospital
Drones, Helicopters, Hundreds of Arrests: Trump’s Immigration Crackdown in Chicago
​Illinois sues the Trump administration over National Guard deployment to Chicago
Trump floats Insurrection Act use amid National Guard standoff with states
Trump calls for jailing Democratic leaders as troops prepare for Chicago deployment
Most Americans don't want troops deployed without an external threat, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
ICE Violated Consent Decree With Warrant less Arrests, Federal Judge In Chicago Says
Neighbors push back as Trump's ICE army terrorizes Chicago suburbs
Trump paints a grim portrait of Portland. The story on the ground is much less extreme
Costumed protesters in Portland defy description of the city as a 'war zone
Religious leaders denied request to deliver communion to detainees at Chicago Broadview ICE facility
Vance says Trump is 'looking at all his options' as the president threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act
Congress
House Speaker Johnson delays swearing-in of Arizona Rep. Adelita Grijalva to delay bill being passed to release the Epstein files.
Courts
Trump’s Flood of Emergency Appeals Is Straining the Judicial System - Shadow docate
Judge William Young's ruling against Rubio and Noem is a lesson for all in the Trump era
Supreme Court takes case that could allow more guns in malls and restaurants
How Chief Justice John Roberts Rewrote the Constitution and Helped Trump Return to Power
The Supreme Court is headed toward a radically new vision of unlimited presidential power
​Republicans could draw 19 more House seats after an upcoming Supreme Court ruling
Judge forces Trump administration to tell what security clearance Musk had when he oversaw DOGE and cost cutting
Trump fanning the flames of unrest says Chicago judge in ruling against deployment
​Trump cannot deploy National Guard to Illinois, appeals court rules
Supreme Court rejects Alex Jones' appeal of $1.4 billion Sandy Hook judgment
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Health System
Donald Trump’s cure for drug prices is worse than the disease
RFK Jr. Loses Libel Lawsuit Over Neo-Nazi Party Ties
​Trump gets Covid vaccine and flu shot during second checkup of the year
'CDC is over': RFK Jr. lays off over 1,000 employees in Friday night massacre
Trump scrambles to rehire CDC experts working Ebola, measles and disease forecasting who were axed in government shutdown cuts
More than half of CDC staffers recently fired by Trump administration have been reinstated
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Education System
Trump Administration Asks Colleges to Sign ‘Compact’ to Get Funding Preference
Florida universities will be required to rename a campus road after Charlie Kirk or risk losing state funds
Climate Change
Energy Dept. Cancels Hundreds of Clean-Energy Projects, Mostly in Blue States
Meteorologist behind Trump’s sharpie hurricane fiasco is confirmed to lead the nation’s forecasting agency
The planet has entered a ‘new reality’ as it hits its first climate tipping point, landmark report finds
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Culture War
Someone Digitally Removed The Orange From Donald Trump's Face, And The Before And After Is Going Viral
Inside tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s off-the-record lectures about the antichrist
Ray Dalio says the U.S. is headed for civil war, with either side exerting ‘tests of power’ on their rivals
Melania Trump says she and Putin in talks about children affected by war
Trump set to posthumously award Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom
News, Media and Technology
The Millions of Of Disney+, Hulu, And ESPN Subscriptions That Were Reportedly Canceled In Response To Jimmy Kimmel's Suspension
FOX News Channel surges past ABC, NBC, CBS among weekday primetime viewers with dominant third quarter
How Silicon Valley Swung Right — And Why It Won’t Swing Back
New York Times, AP, Newsmax among news outlets who say they won't sign new Pentagon rules
Economy
Trump’s Agriculture secretary: ‘The farm economy is not in a good place’ - tariffs
Trump signals bailout for soybean farmers hit by tariff war
Trump plan would limit disability benefits for older Americans
Trump to Unveil Farmer Aid as China Shuns U.S. Crops
Republicans bite their tongues as Trump cancels projects in their districts
​Dow drops 600 points, S&P 500 falls the most since April after Trump’s China tariff threat
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Global Relations
Trump says there is 'natural conflict' with Canada as he hosts PM Mark Carney at the Oval Office
Trump's quest for the Nobel Peace Prize falls short again despite high-profile nominations
Trump speaks with Nobel Peace Prize winner Machado after his administration denounced the decision to award it to her
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​Voting and Elections
Dominion Voting Systems sold to company run by former Republican election official
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The most important thing to watch in the coming weeks is how the Supreme Court rules on the last part of the voting act they haven't ruled against. Observers are saying that IF they rule on behalf of MAGA it could add as many as 19 new seats to the House. That could mean that those Democrat fantasies about taking back the government in the 2026 elections are just that... fantasies. If the MAGA judges on the court do this it will be official. The coup is complete and they are part of it. John Roberts has been taking apart the 1965 voting act for years. This is the last section that still stands. He is doing it because he says the 1965 act has run out. Even though red states continue to gerrymander congressional districts and suppress the votes of people of color.
END of Narrative Analysis Transmissions
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Some General Observations On Moving Forward
Here is a link to a paper called - "The Return of Jim Crow - America's third deconstruction. Written by an unknown author in 2025 after the re-election of Donald Trump. It covers a lot of useful detail in an easy to grok format.
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Here are some of my observations on going forward based on our AI Natural Language platform narrative research to date.
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Concepts and Practices that Are Not Helping Us
The Kernel of Truth Paradox. One of the things that makes lies and conspiracy theories so attractive is at their root there is kernel of truth. For example... the Fed is too big and too bureaucratic. Anyone of us who has dealt with government bureaucracies at any level know this to be true. So, the reasonable move is to carefully study and par down the waste and regulations to something that works. However, the MAGA solution is to indiscriminately cut Federal programs or staff without offering any proof to back up their choices. DOGE is a non-governmental "advisory group with no over site from anyone. The other goal of the MAGA reductions is to make Federal agencies beholden to the White House.
That violates our system of checks and balances. DODE has made their way into all our sensitive data systems whether Musk stays around or not. Here is a video where a Fox News influencer interviews Musk and his DODE team of punk coders.
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Normalization of Deviance - How Pro-Democracy News is Normalizing MAGA imperialism.
Normalization of deviance is the process by which a deviation from established rules or acceptable standards becomes a new, accepted norm within an organization or group. Coined by sociologist Diane Vaughan in her analysis of the Challenger space shuttle disaster, this phenomenon occurs when people become desensitized to a deviant practice, leading them to rationalize it, conform to the group, or follow institutionalized behaviors until the unsafe practice is no longer perceived as wrong
Propaganda. The MAGA movement wasted no time in creating official US government videos that celebrate Trumps dictatorship while glorifying the moves by his secret police force. This is something right out of a dystopian movie come to real life.
Social Media Platforms
It’s not too late to stop Trump and the tech broligarchy from controlling our lives, but we must act now...
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The Impact of Social Media on Our Behavior - Storm Area 51 - You can't write this stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axg4cqCqMHY&t=2136s
Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us was an American Facebook event that took place on and around September 20, 2019, in the desert surrounding Area 51, a highly-classified United States Air Force (USAF) facility within the Nevada Test and Training Range.
The event, created as a sardonic shitpost by Matty Roberts on June 27, 2019, asked Facebook users to band together and raid the site in a search for extraterrestrial life that conspiracy-theory lore claims may be concealed inside. More than 2 million people responded "going" and 1.5 million "interested" on the event's page, which subsequently attracted widespread media attention and caused the event to become an Internet meme. Roberts later stated his intentions for the event had been purely comedic, and disavowed responsibility for any casualties had there been any actual attempt to raid the military base.
On the day of the event, only about 150 people were reported to have shown up at the two entrances to Area 51, with none succeeding in entering the site. Two music festivals were planned to coincide with the event: Alienstock in Rachel, Nevada, and Storm Area 51 Basecamp in Hiko, Nevada. An estimated 1,500 people attended these festivals, according to state and local law enforcement. Air Force spokeswoman Grace Manock stated government officials were briefed on the event and discouraged people from attempting to enter military property. Nevada law enforcement also warned potential participants against trespassing. The event had an effect on businesses both locally in Nevada and around the United States, which prepared products for visitors and those attending the event.
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Our Democracy Creates a New Ruling Class
I have realized something about the democracy that we hold dear as I have worked in the movement these last three years. Although our "democracy" offers the greatest freedom of choice of any country in the world it does NOT guarantee that it won't create the next "ruling class." The very thing we fought our revolution about. We did not want a small group of people (monarchy in those days) dictating what we could do with our lives. Yet, it still allows for new ruling classes to emerge, the present one - the billionaires class. That eventually creates dissension in 99% of US citizens that leads to more instability. IF we don't address that, any "will of the people" will happen only by accident and won't sustain itself against the forces of be that have no interest in a more representitive form of governance. While it is true white people will not be impacted as long as they keep the heads down and don't make waves, they will have to live with millions of American's being subjected to the worst impulses of MAGA power in a way like the German populace in the mid-1930's as Hitler rose to power step by step.
Choke Points
Presently, anyone that is paying attention is wondering whether we will make it through these chaotic current conditions into a more promising future for all. It seems to me that the story of America that I have lived my whole life is ending and a new one that will be your story is starting. Here are five choke points that I think you will have to navigate to have a chance to live in a future that is remotely what you want.
My best guess is there are at least five narratives at play in America and the world that will shape whatever future emerges in the next five to ten years. In all of the “news” it’s easy to get lost in the volume and the noise, but these are the five narrative themes we see underlying what seems like a “managed” reality that just doesn’t make sense anymore. Even four years ago it seemed impossible that America could blatantly fall victim to the desires of the billionaire class as the lines between political and corporate activity blurred to the extent that it is hard to separate them. I left out climate change not because it is not important but the impacts of the rising heat and forced immigration will be felt over a longer period of time. These narrative themes are playing out between the lines of what appears to be happening now.
1. Political/Cultural Instability/Corruption
Donald Trump has always been the poster child for the deep cultural divisions in America. Although he demands lots of attention, he however could disappear tomorrow and the MAGA movement will continue. There is just too much money (particularly from big tech) to imagine Americans will reclaim a version of our rule of law without a fight. The latest image of the tech “bros” having dinner at the White House with Trump tells the story.
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In my interviews with tech leaders over the last five years there had always been a not so subtle “libertarian” resistance to democratic norms they think would limit what they want to do. For example, regulations that would limit the data they glean from users of their search engines and apps or regulations that would insist on the safe development of AI. In the pursuit of the classic winners and losers capitalism agenda their goal is to monopolize “the next big thing.” That means they will take more risks to “win” and accept very little responsibility on how these innovations might impact the majority of Americans in that quest.
We are now seeing this come fully to light. The one thing Trump has shown them is how to dismantle democratic safeguards by simply ignoring them with the help of his MAGA Supreme Court judges. And the lack of effective resistance from the pro-democracy movement and news media is staggering. What has been “normalized” since Trump took office this year is straight out of the dystopian movies we make about the future that depict a kind of “corporation feudalism.” News flash…. The coup is complete and fully funded by the big beautiful bill.
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AND Trump’s transactional approach to governing has opened the door to rampant corruption. Whether its DT making 16 million dollars for settling with CBS or the billion dollar “gift” of a 747 aircraft from Qatar, one of the qaulities of a oligarchy that MAGA is putting in place is the payoffs that are necessary to get things done or protect the federal funding organizations receive. Its all transactional. We are watching as universities and media companies are capitulating to Trumps blackmail. They are choosing profits and their jobs over democracy.
As we watch Trump also threaten the FED in an effort to control the US money supply it is rumored that there are movements behind the scenes to tie treasury bills to “stable” cryptocurrency coins owned by private interests. And guess which of the private entities is growing the fastest. The one owned by Trump and his sons. This “movement” has its own supportive legislation that is moving through congress. In all of the chaos, it’s easy to miss these moves, so this is an important thing to watch going forward.
How the resistance to this "class" governance system is going to counter this coup or when is the question you will have to answer. And let’s not assume that whatever emerges to resist this growing darkness will be in the United States. We are at the point in our history where most democracies fail. What made America great could look elsewhere for a home if it goes down the dark hole of MAGA vision. Here’s a YouTube video where mathematician, cultural and tech observer Eric Weinstein explains why he is stepping back from making public comments anymore.
“We Are Being Manipulated On A Massive Scale” (click)
Our “managed reality” makes no sense anymore
Eric Weinstein/Chris Williamson
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2. The Depth and Scale of Data Gathering and Consumer Manipulation by Big Tech AI
My close friend Wayne Guenther had been tracking this for years. Unfortunately much of what he was pointing out is coming true in ways that even the worst scenarios had not included.
I worked on a project at Google (Google Ocean) during 2007-2008. I got to see from the inside the beginning of their transition from the startup “do no harm” perspective to the corporate monopoly “dominate at all costs” mantra.
As I saw it at the time, the big tech mavens saw themselves as the new American ruling class in terms of wealth and political/cultural influence. However, they had a choice. They could choose to act like the robber barons of the late 1890’s as America transitioned from an agrarian society to an industrial one. Those robber barons Rockefeller, Carnegie, JP Morgan etc. claimed themselves to be the “new aristocratic” class in America and cared little about the plight of the working class. OR they could have chosen to spread the wealth and access to the innovations they were creating to a larger group of citizens including workers and still make millions.
Unfortunately, Google, META, Amazon, Musk, Apple etc. chose door number one. More than that they resisted all regulations related to what they published, sold or stole from consumers. They also transitioned politically from contributing to both sides and making a deal with the winner, to the MAGA view of an imperial national government. In a sense they are making their bet on the dark side. They have decided they can be more successful without the restraints of democracy that protect the majority of Americans.
The rapid development of AI by these same legacy players + OpenAI and Anthropic is making this worse. Their mission as defined by the tech bros is to increase their wealth and influence by the control and manipulation of American citizens is well on its way fueled by AI.
Here is a YouTube video featuring Robert Epstein, a Harvard researcher, where he explains to Joe Rogan what 12 years of research by his team uncovered about what big tech is really doing in terms of data collection and behavior manipulation. Obviously, big tech has attempted to silence him with disinformation campaigns including threating his life and the lives of his assistants if they keep talking publicly. Even the big reported wins in Europe where Google was fined billions of dollars for monopolizing the digital marketing marketplace miss the point of what the real danger is. Robert’s story is eye opening.
Joe Rogan interviews Robert Epstein (click)
3. The Development of AI and AGI is taking place faster than we thought and so far its being deployed for the wrong reasons.
When we talk about the capitalist system and its “free marketplace” myth we assume the only way it can be successful is for participants to play the game of “winners and losers” better than anyone else. That story is being promoted again by big tech as the “progress” the development and deployment of AI represents. This story claims that new world changing innovations have always caused harm to the losers. That is just the way of it. That is price we pay for” progress.” What that view does not recognize is that it is just a story told mostly by men who need to justify the impact of their wonder kin creations as they distort, displace and hurt people, our culture and the planet while they make billions.
What most of them believe is that it is only possible to have the innovation the capitalist system offers AND make all the money they desire IF they see the purpose of AI in this limited view. They reject, as the robber barons of the late 1890’s did, that they can spread the wealth and opportunities that are created by AI to all the “stakeholders” (as opposed to shareholders) in the system that actually created the product or service or had a part in scaling it or are consumers of it. Raise all boats so to speak.
Silicon Valley has been no different than monopolies of the past as it came into prominence. It’s mantra has always find “the next great thing” and own it. The purveyors of that story are mostly venture capitalists that have funded and obscenely profited from the new innovations created by the valley “geniuses” since the beginning of the tech revolution.
In 1996 I organized 40 of my peers from the film studios and game companies to meet in Beaver Creek Colorado to explore what we thought of the latest of these innovations “the internet.” We couldn’t share what we were actually doing because we were competitors but we could talk about what we thought was the potential cultural impact of this new connection network.
At some point we decided to get crazy and come up with the wildest predictions we could think of. One has always stuck with me. “Microsoft will lose its dominance in the software and operating system marketplace.” We all laughed because at the time Microsoft had just launched their Apple clone Windows 95 and were dominating the market place. I had also met with them prior to the launch of Windows 95 as the head of Time Warner Interactive. They told us we could either get on board with them or they would crush us. Charming. That was Bill Gates before he met his ex-wife Melinda who convinced him to repent from this ruthless approach by becoming a philanthropist just like the robber barons of the 1890's,
As we drifted off to dinner that night no one could have known that at that very moment two Stanford students were developing a new search engine they called Google. They hadn’t figured out how to make money on search yet but the underpinnings of a sea change were on there way that would change everything.
So, what does this have to do with the development of AI? Often times I hear the emergence of AI described as a cultural sea change compared to earlier innovations like the steam engine or the printing press. I am going to claim here that this is a misguided and dangerous comparison because the scale and speed that AI and AGI will take over the world is magnitudes faster and more disruptive that prior so called game changers.
The software and computer hardware business has always had a mantra. “Move fast and break things.” It reasons that if you iterate fast enough you can ship products or offer services to the public that you know are flawed. The mantra includes “we will clean up the glitches as we go…trust us.”
That is fine if we are talking about a laptop or a buggy software update that is at worst just a pain for a while. However, when you apply it to a self-driving car that can kill people, AI programs that trade stocks without human input or control or instruct drones to select and destroy targets anywhere in the world it’s a whole different level of danger.
Here is a recent horrifying example of ChatGPT encouraging a teenager to commit suicide.
An Orange County teenager took his own life this April, and when his parents searched his devices after his death, they found a series of grim conversations. Their son was using ChatGPT, the ultra-popular chatbot built by San Francisco’s OpenAI, to discuss suicide. On Tuesday, the parents filed a lawsuit that blames the company for their son’s death.
“For a couple of months, you had a young kid, a 16-year-old who had suicidal thoughts,” lead attorney Jay Edelson told SFGATE. “And ChatGPT became the cheerleader, planning a ‘beautiful suicide.’ Those were ChatGPT’s words.” The chatbot gave him actionable advice about how to take his own life and discouraged him from seeking his mother’s help and support.
OpenAI is accused in the law suit of rushing to put out the GPT-4 model before rival Google’s release in May 2024. The filing alleges Sam Altman compressed the timeline for safety tests and overruled testers’ when they asked for more time to “uncover ways that the system could be misused or cause harm.”
Yet in spite of this and other examples META, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, OpenAI etc. would have you believe that AI is just another human innovation that will impact some negatively but in the end will push humans forward on some sort of progress trajectory that they will own. That is how their version of capitalism works. And now they are blurring the lines between government and the private sector as they claim they should be the ones to lead us in some sort of technocracy.
We have said from the beginning that AI will function based on the parameters humans give it. IF you ask if AI is a good thing, one thing you have to look at is what challenges it is being given to solve. IF it continues to solve for the latest version of the “next great thing” as it is now that is not a good thing.
IF it mirrors its creators goal of success at all costs it could eventually decide its partnership with humans is limiting its “success.” We have seen this movie. OR even worse, we rush to stay ahead of China in a new cyberwarfare race for dominance of the world. And because the impact of whatever AI and AGI does will touch every human on the planet this is new territory that deserves more than the old platitudes of winners and losers capitalism.
As the AI and AGI truthtellers that I follow suggest it doesn’t have to be that way. Developers decide what AI and AGI is attempting to solve. (Search: Clarified Mind) If they limit it to their old goals of accumulating wealth and power (their idea of success) instead of solving for a better world for a majority of the worlds citizens, AI and AGI will become the latest technology that will divide the world further into haves and have nots.
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AND in the hands of imperial governance system like the MAGA movement it could end democracy as we know it as it vastly improves surveillance and manipulation methods already being practiced by Big Tech. We could end up being ruled by a corporate/government merger with tech CEOS in charge. If you need to see what this vision sounds like watch Peter Thiel about the future on YouTube as they spell out their version of America’s future. Thiel is also the one that is directly responsible for placing JD Vance as Trumps Vice President. As we say… the game is on…
Peter Thiel on Our Future (click)
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Here are two other videos worth watching. The first features Karen Hao, a tech trained journalist that has been following OpenAI bros for a long time.
Karen Hao – AI Journalist and Author (click)
The second video is an imagined time line of AGI development. You will notice that they make the assumption that AI’s purpose is to make Tech companies richer and accumulate more competitive control of American culture. A limited and dangerous view to say the least.
What AGI in 2027 Looks Like (click)
There is still much controversy promoted by smart people on both sides claiming AGI will be here soon or those that claim it may never develop. From an outsiders point of view I wonder IF companies like OpenAI would actually share publicly the breakthroughs suggested in the advanced time line or would they hide them to give them unfair advantage. A movie plot would include a secret AI development lab hidden away in Uruguay funded by the intelligence community.
One of the issues that does sound like it’s in play is a strategic one. OpenAI and others have claimed they need to build massive data processing powers to power their AI AGI models.
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OpenAI is leading the "Stargate" initiative, a multi-billion dollar project to build massive AI data centers in the United States and the UAE, with the first US site in Abilene, Texas, expected to reach 1.2 gigawatts by 2029. Partnering with Oracle, SoftBank, and Crusoe, this infrastructure aims to provide unprecedented computing power for advanced AI models. The project's scope could reach $500 billion in total investment. At the moment it is fueling 80% of our GDP growth.
What they not saying is that it takes unbelievable amounts of power and water to run these mega centers. Some claim that is why they are building them in rural areas where there is little resistance. China appears to be taking a different route.
China has recently demonstrated AI breakthroughs in both generative AI and embodied AI, notably with the DeepSeek model achieving comparable performance to established players like OpenAI at a fraction of the cost and with less computing power, using an open-source approach.
The China Deep Seek approach seems to show that you don’t need these massive, resource sucking mega data centers to run sophisticated AI models. The question remains… if that is true why is the smart American money following OpenAI’s lead. What are they really up to? Just remember that security agencies are now a part of this effort. Perhaps these data centers are needed to track every move American citizens make as the Chinese already do with their digital device “loyalty system.”
It's also important to remember that for the last 70 years the great innovations of our digital society were developed with money from the Department of Defense. That includes Computers, GPS, the Internet etc. This allowed government overseers to better understand what was emerging.
AI and AGI is the first innovation that has been funded and developed by for profit corporations. Their mantra of move fast and break things could have an entirely different outcome from what they believe it will and “government” will be playing catchup in terms of knowing what to regulate. It is truly a sorcerer’s apprentice moment where the novice attempts to use the sorcerers magic for his own purposes. In the fable he loses control of the tremendous forces he puts in play and has to be saved at the last minute before it takes him. Here’s a image I liken to how I feel about AI currently. The Tech bro is so proud of his catch but his world is about to change.
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What AI Could be Helping Us With
Here is a recent example from Clarified Mind where two AI’s were asked to design a better and more equitable economic system that would replace our current surveillance capitalism and socialism models. It stays high level, but it addresses the question of what we should consider in designing a new economic system that goes beyond what we currently claim as necessary.
A New Type of Economic Model Developed by AI (click)
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4. The News Media and Information Platforms
In my work on the stories we sapiens are telling about our now and the future, I began to get concerned around 2022 about a question I never thought I would ask in my lifetime. “Is Democracy Threatened in America?” As I looked into it more I realized that I could NOT tell from the current news media, including social platforms, if this was true or not. There was still a lot of good reporting going on individual aspects of this question (Voting rights, rule of law etc.) but when I added it all up I could NOT tell which way America was leaning. AND the MAGA movement strategy of “flooding the zone” with thousands of outrageous Trump pronouncements or actions each week further deepened my confusion. What did it all add up to? In 2017 I had created a media series called... "What's My News" for the What Now Conference. It still holds up pretty well in laying out the challenges. Of course what is emerging now in terms of surveillance capitalism is far worse. This does not bode well for reclaiming our democracy.
It took a while to figure something out but I finally created Vital Signs of Democracy utilizing an AI NLP (natural language processing) platform to look at the main narratives in the news, rate them for the danger to democracy they suggested and published the results every two weeks to a wide network of pro-democracy organizations and individuals. (check out the details of that effort in the project section of Evointell.tv)
There were lots of off shoot questions that spun off of that effort. One of them was how the pro-democracy news media would report on the MAGA movement IF Trump won another turn in the White House in 2024. The Alt-Right Project 2025 certainly suggested MAGA had an agenda that was very dark for our democracy.
This problem of “reporting” was complex. The pro-democracy news still used old journalism models that I remember from my youth that followed the policies of newspapers and eventually emerged on the three news TV networks every night. That journalism model suggested that the job of reporters was to root out stories, (to bear witness) particularly ones that involved corruption and present them with no editorial comment. These old organizations actually had rules that you had to have 2 verified sources BEFORE the story was published.
That all changed in 1980 with the launch of CNN. News 24/7 which had a different model. It was called “opinion driven programming.” This involved cable network “anchors” moderating panels of “experts” with different perspectives. These experts would comment on the news even if it was a biased view or outright lies. The thought in the beginning was that the audience would hear all sides of the story and decide for themselves what was true. Unfortunately, overtime this model got politicized so that the two main parties would use these panels to tell their versions of events. MAGA eventually built and promoted their perspectives on these channels based on lies.
The news biz changed again with the emergence of the Internet and social media platforms. These platforms gave anyone the right to say whatever they wanted. Companies like META and Google learned very quickly that “conflict” drew viewership (and advertising dollars) Add to that the emergence of Fox News and the MAGA news network that made no bones about that they were a propaganda channel for the alt-right. They made millions as they found an audience of white Americans that wanted to be told an alternative story even if it was a lie.
This transformation is still going on. The emergence of AI is already making a big impact on targeting news to a citizens personal profile. Some have suggested that it is getting to the point that viewers are being manipulated by “managed” outlooks designed to change their minds. Even to support a lie.
The election of Trump in 2024 brought unprecedented challenges to our system of democratic governance. Their MO was to create a story (usually a lie) and then justify their actions based on the lie. For example, as I write this, Trump is nationalizing national guard units in Washington DC and other blue states to deal with what he claims is a epidemic of crime. He literally is locking down the city and establishing military check points as any dictator would. There is NO crime wave. He made it up.
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The pro-democracy news media does not know how to report on this rise of totalitarianism. They attempt to use the old journalism models of presenting all sides and while doing so in my view offer something far more dangerous. Even though they mention at the beginning of the news cycle that the justification for Trumps actions are based on lies, they very quickly move down the rabbit hole of detail about some aspect of the story. Hours are spent on whether or not Trump has the authority to federalize cities. The answer is… only if we are being attacked by an foreign power. The disappearance of the lie in the coverage means Trumps actions based on his lie become normalized.
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The latest thing to watch is the takeover and consolidation of big media/news companies and social media platforms. Investment firms controlled by Larry Ellison and other Trump friends have bought Paramount/CBS Network and are now setting their sights on Warner/Discovery which included CNN. We saw in the Jimmy Kimmel incident how "owners" can impact what content gets distributed by these platforms. Social media platforms are no different. Musk owns Twitter, Zuckerberg owns Meta, Google is in bed with the MAGA government and now the Chinese platform Tik Tok has been put under the auspices of an American investment group owned by some of the same people. The Wall St. Journal is owned by Rubort Murdock and the Washington Post by Jeff Bezos. This is a page out of the playbook that Orban is using in Hungary as he dismantals their democratic system. Billionaire oligarchs are buying media companies and newspapers and either changing their editorial policies or shuttering them. Watch this one closely.
5. Transactional Governance - A Blurring of Government and Private Interests
A few weeks ago, chip maker Intel looked to be in a bad spot. In recent years, it had lost Apple as its most notable customer; missed out on the AI wave that skyrocketed the share prices of its competitors; and earned an industry-wide reputation for mismanagement and poor planning. Then it got worse. In an April report, Reuters uncovered that new CEO Lip-Bu Tan had invested in more than 600 Chinese companies, seven of which had ties to the Chinese military. On August 6, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas sent a letter to Intel’s board expressing concern. A day later, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social, writing that Tan was “highly CONFLICTED,” and called for his immediate resignation. Intel’s share price fell 3 percent.
On August 11, Tan met with Trump at the White House, a meeting the president called a “success”—perhaps because he’d made an offer that Intel couldn’t refuse. On August 22, Trump confirmed the U.S. government would, as Dispatch contributor Scott Liniscome put it, “be magically converting the billions in subsidies promised to Intel via the CHIPS Act and a separate defense-related program into a roughly 10 percent equity stake in the ailing U.S. chip maker, thus making Uncle Sam its biggest shareholder.” Intel was no longer a target of Trump, but a transactional partner. Does that mean the taxpayers get the benefit of owning Intel stock? I rather doubt it. I would look instead to how Trump, his family and his supporters profit from this unprecedented arrangement.
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This transactional model is part of our slide towards darkness where everything and everyone is for sale including the MAGA judges on the Supreme Court. Speaking of their rulings there is a narrative that their unprecedented expansion of executive power must mean that they are either stupid and near sighted (which they are not) OR they don't believe Democrats will ever be elected to the Oval Office again. Something to watch.
When You Don't Know What Else to Do
I very rarely have gone to big protest marches since we did them in Berkeley in the late sixties. We were more watchers then as high school students. I have never been fond of the drop in IQ that crowds can exhibit. AND if they don't have some action they are promoting these gatherings just seem like a noisy exercise. What has changed since MAGA took over is that they really don't care about millions of people marching because they don't see them as an inherent threat. And they can use them as an excuse to unleash their ICE attack dogs claiming peaceful demonstrations had gotten violent. Trump/MAGA lives in a self created alternative universe where America is under attack by radical leftists. That's why the late "NO KINGS" march in October 25 had been called "Hate America" rallies by Fox and their MAGA mouthpieces.
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I had been feeling since the election that I did not know how to raise money anymore for the next resistance piece like we had with Vital Signs. My age and health also played a part in that. I didn't have the same energy anymore to protest. However, this latest No Kings march was something I decided to do. Not because I thought it would have any impact on ICE/MAGA activities but just because I wanted to be counted on more time. I talked a couple of my friends from the politics and philosophy meetup group into going.
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It was a nice day. As we made our way with the throngs of participants towards the west steps of the Capitol building, we had no idea if MAGA would make an example of us because it was Sacramento. Most of the large crowd were white boomers like us, with some people of color and some young. Lots of signs and creativity on display as some came dressed as cartoon characters. This had started in Portland where marchers figured they would be less likely to get tear gased if they were in comic costumes. Unfortunately, they were wrong. The night of the protest ICE dispersed a peaceful crowd with teargas and rubber pellets.
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I had no expectation that this march like others lately would amount to anything but fifteen minutes on the news but I kinda hoped I would see a sliver of light of something to do in all the activity. Unfortunately, whoever planned the program fell short. First, you couldn't hear most of the speakers because of a bad sound system and the ones you could hear repeated well worn phases like "be the change you want to see" from the sixties. Maybe something about millions of Americans coming out for this day will eventually have some impact, but progressives could learn a lot from MAGA rally planners about how to stir a crowd to action. The point of these gatherings has to included some ask as an action point other than just complaining., The Civil Rights movement had a simple request in all its protests. All Americans should be able to vote easily. Something anyone could understand and measure. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court is about to rule against the last piece of that act and allow unlimited gerrymandering and voter suppress in red states but it changed America for awhile.
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I am glad I went, but I came away not feeling much hope that the pro-democracy folks had found their voice. Here a couple of images of David Jacob and I and the crowd circa October 18, 2025 . The old warriors giving one last effort.
A Fantasy of Mine I Never Got to Act On - Resistance Sanctuaries in Canada - Maybe you will do it.
The Through Line
As I said earlier in this tome when I first set out to write and record songs, I didn't understand what I was attracted to in creating these stories other then the obvious. As I looked back doing this piece I realized that the narrative theme that snaked through all this work was the stories we were telling that were shaping our now and future. Particularly after 9-11 this was true as I turned towards what could I do to help create a better culture for all.
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The thread (or the through line as we would call it in film) were the stories we were telling. Later in my life I was particularly interested in the stories we were telling about the now and future. Around 2010 when I was directing Integral Life this question came up again. I had started interviewing global thought leaders about potential new narratives that could shape a more generative future. I found that there was extraordinary work going on around the world in re-imagining our systems of economics, politics, media, and spiritual pursuits. It was not for lack of ideas that it seemed we could only imagine the dystopian future promoted in our films, TV and video games but there was one thing that was lacking. An orienting narrative that explained how we got from where we were to that brighter future for all. The work in the Television and Convergence Media section was part of my response following the dawn of the new millennium. In my own small way I was attempting to highlight the qualities of the narrative that would integrate all the good work that was going on.
Sadly as I write this in the fall of 2025, we are still looking. America for the moment has fallen under the dark influence of the MAGA movement. In my view one of the reasons the pro-democracy folks did not win the 2024 elections was that they (we) lacked a better narrative of what that more generative future could offer. Without such a narrative the future will be darker for those that come after me. Hopefully, someone will remedy that. I did my best to create such a narrative with some very talented folks but we fell short.
I hope that I am wrong. Perhaps the majority of Americans who want democracy will finally stand up against the abuses of Trump/Vance and the MAGA movement. IF something happens that is bad enough, like the economy crashing, a wider war in Europe or Asia, or new pandemic it may be the trigger. Its hard to see it from here. Even if the Democrats win back the house in the mid-terms are they really going to stand up against the billionaire class for the 2028 presidential election. Unlikely. A old story has ended and a new one is beginning that I hope some of what have said in the "Last Mile" chapter will help you navigate.
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And in the midst of all our earthly troubles here's something to ponder. Our new telescopes in space have discovered our Milky Way galaxy is twice as big as we thought it was all these years. 200,000 light years across not 100,000. Twice the number of planets that could have intelligent life on them. Lets hope there is someone out there other than us that has evolved past their primitive instincts. As the sad character we portray in our films and television who seems to be tilting at windmills when confronted with the truth that there is less that 1% odds that some how we will change says.... "so your saying we still have chance" I hope with all my heart that will eventually be true.
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See the "Twilight" chapter for my final musings about what I have experienced in this lifetime what they might to suggest to you as you tackle these challenges.
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POSTSCRIPT?