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"Either this nation shall kill racism, or racism shall kill this nation." (S. Jonas, August 2018)
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"How do you spell ICE in German? GESTAPO." (S. Jonas, July 2025)
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"First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist.
"Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
"Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
"Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me." Pastor Martin Niemoller (c. 1946)
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2-6-26: Only the willfully blind can be blind to what will likely go down in history as the Greatest Set of Scams Ever. Well, Trump has always wanted to be good at something!
2-9-26: As I have said elsewhere many times: Running on open racism, Trump won the Presidency two out of three times, and if he is physically capable (notice that I didn't say mentally) he will be trying for third in 2028, on the same theme, which from the first time around he actually broadened it to the Fatal Three: Racism, Sexism, and Xenophobia (Click Here). Why should he/they change now?
2-16-26: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was invited to make the opening address for the 1940 Annual Meeting of the "more nativist-than-thou" Daughters of the American Revolution. He began it with two words: "Fellow immigrants." It should be noted that FDR's Dutch ancestors arrived in the Hudson Valley in the 17th century, well before the ancestors of most of the Anglo-descendants in the audience.
2-16-26: In his response to Chamberlain's "giving away" part of another country on Sept. 30, 1938, to Nazi Germany (to be followed by Hitler taking the rest of it the following Spring), Winston Churchill made this statement (in part): "Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting. And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. . . This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigor, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time." How prophetic he was. And how much will his words apply to anyone who sits on the sidelines as the P2025TrumpRepubloFascists (click here) continue their march to destroy Constitutional Democracy in the United States.
2-17-26: Anti-Semitism formed a basic component of the political engine of Nazi Fascism. Religion-based anti-Semitism ("the Jews" killed Christ") had a long history in Europe, going back to St. Augustine in the 5th century of the Common Era. It was politicized beginning in the late 1870s by a pair of Austrians who thought that it might be useful as an electoral strategy as the era of parliamentary elections was getting underway. Since religious anti-Semitism had been in their culture for centuries, many Germans were, at one level or another, anti-Semitic. In the United States it is of course racism, going back to "1619," that plays the same role. Trump makes no bones about his. It is out there, front and center.
2-24-26: As the great New York Yankees catcher, and wordsmith, from the 1950s famously said: "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Well, as Steve points out so well, we are at several upcoming forks in the road, for our nation. By Jan. 20, 2029, we will have either returned to being a nation governed by a Constitutionally democratic system or will have been converted to some version of what for some years now I have been calling "TrumpRepubloFascism" (Click Here-and-Pr-Project-2025_Trump-240808-198.html). The first fork is, obviously, the upcoming mid-terms, which the TRFs are so desperately trying to fix. Whether they are successful or not will largely determine what happens at the next fork, again obviously the 2028 Presidential election. The third fork will be, if the TRF's win then (that is, of course, "win"), will the whole nation succumb to TRF for an indefinite period of time or will one of two alternate, closely-related roads be taken: secession and/or civil war.
2-23-26: As a downhill skier (although never a racer) for over 50 years from 1958 (and a very part-time certified ski instructor, later in that time), I have always watched the Winter Olympics with great interest. This one, mounted by the Italians at various sites in Milan and the Dolomites, was very impressive. And the Closing Ceremony, with its emphasis on Peace and Harmony, was especially impressive. Given that message, I was led to wonder just how many bookmakers in London (where they make book on all sorts of chance events), were already setting odds on just how many nations would be boycotting the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles if Trump is still President at that time.
2-25-26: Taking care of my time, I did not watch too much of the "State of the Union" address (better entitled "The State of Trump's Ego"). I did happen to see one episode which I think perfectly encapsulated both the speech and indeed beyond it, the 2nd Trump Presidency. He awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor to a seriously injured U.S. servicemember who sustained his wounds while participating in the totally illegal kidnapping of the President of a foreign country who, apparently, will remain imprisoned indefinitely, with or without trial, in Trump's United States.
2-25-26: I have said this often (including earlier in this column), but it is worth repeating. At this critical time in our nation's history, it is obvious that the central issue facing us is, are we going to fully return to being a Constitutional Democracy with Separation of Powers at the Federal level, or are we going to continue down the road to replacing it with a modern form of fascism, towards which the TrumpRepubloFascists (TRFs) and P2025 are attempting to drive us. The central feature of TRF is a unitary Central government, which itself is the defining feature of all forms of fascism. The Constitutional Government forces have not lost yet, but the TRFs are getting perilously close to winning. If they manage to fix the 2026 mid-terms, which they obviously are both overtly and covertly trying very hard to do, it is very hard to see how all will not be lost.
3-4-26: And here is a most critical event, with a comment, from March. Without warning (and without a formal Declaration of War), a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian naval vessel in international waters, off Sri Lanka Click Here). In the primary times of black flags with a skull and crossbones or crossed swords emblazoned on them (16th to the 18th centuries), under Admiralty Law this sort of attack was defined as "piracy:" that is when non-state actors commit war-like acts against ships, such as hijacking, taking hostages, stealing cargo, etc. In this case the hostile act was carried out by a U.S. Navy ship, without warning (and in the days of piracy there was at least warning given). The Iranian ship sank to the bottom of the sea, taking most of its crew (again, in an undeclared war) with it. But the Trump Regime has now sunk even lower than that ship. It remains to be seen what, if anything, will happen in the Halls of the UN, NATO, the European Union, and etc. (the U.S. Congress [?, ho, ho, ho]), and whether Xi Jinping will cancel the scheduled Trump meeting. He should.
(Article changed on Mar 09, 2026 at 1:09 PM EDT)
