COMMENTS ON SOME CURRENT HAPPENINGS

By Ruth A. Sheets

In response to several comments on threads I follow on Substack, I wrote the following and thought I would share:

It is becoming more clear over time that Donald Trump is not a person of intellectual prowess.  He is totally self-absorbed something he has perfected over time.  He cares little for what happens to this nation as long as he is comfortable, can do whatever he wants without challenge, will never be held accountable for anything harmful he does, and given credit for anything positive other people have done.  He has turned out to be a whiny toddler who has adult weapons.  That is a dangerous combination. 

Now he has dementia, so it seems, his billionaire and billionaire wannabee handlers know they have to keep Trump corralled and satisfied with their heavy attentions, ego-tending, and information presented to Trump in a way he can understand.  The Steves are among the more appalling, pushing immigrant removal, for example.  There are plenty of others, hypocritically, some of them actual immigrants or children of immigrants who have been coddled because they have money, but want immigrants, even citizens removed (I guess they are the exceptions who will be allowed to stay)! 

Our media's cowardice in so many instances is beyond disgraceful.  So many of those media are operated by rich white men who have been privileged all their lives to the point they have no clue they are privileged, seeing themselves as brilliant, stronger, more clever than anyone else and their posts and content supporting or dismissing Trump’s anti-democratic actions as acceptable.  However, it is probably more likely that inheritance and luck are more critical factors as well as people's foolish belief in the superiority of rich folks that account for their prominence and positions.  They run their platforms for the benefit of themselves and their fellow oligarchs. 

The Bezos, Musk, Theil, Fox, Heritage Foundation wealthy, and others are smart enough to know that Trump and most Republicans in office can be easily manipulated and bent to their will with enough cash.  It looks like Trump is their mascot at this point, the guy who has to be covered without his realizing it.  The purpose, so the work of the destruction and take-over can continue. 

We need our state governments to rise up.  They could start arresting anyone who tries to kidnap immigrants or anyone else without due process or anyone running around grabbing people while wearing masks, hoods, or other identity-concealing clothing.  They can stop anyone trying to take over the federal buildings in their states, or try to sell the properties.  We all need to remember those buildings do not belong to Trump and his cronies; they belong to We the People.    

What we all should know is that we have to keep protesting, keep challenging, keep pointing out what is being done that is illegal, even pushing our courts to stand with us and our Constitution rather than with a man who is making pronouncements written by others whose motives are not for the benefit of the American people or anyone but themselves.

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT THIS?

By Ruth A. Sheets

I attended one of the best online conferences I have ever been to on Monday, April 7, 2025, presented by the organization, Patriotic Millionaires.  It covered the current economic and political situation here and abroad and what we can do about it.  The symposium was called “Stopping the Brologarchy.”  It is nearly all men who are involved in the attempted destruction of our government and our economy, men groomed to believe in their superiority displaying masculinity that is toxic to everyone but themselves, probably to themselves too. 

Powerful speakers from all over presented a clear, comprehensible picture of what is going on, a sense of how desperate the situation is, and that we must do something to stop this and work toward a world, nation, and communities that are more equitable.

The presenters gave us the reality of our situation from tariffs designed to do as much harm around the world as possible (even putting tariffs on islands with only penguins), to firing thousands possibly millions of government workers, to undermining health and research that impact the world.  They described a Trumpian goal as wrecking the world economy so the very rich can take over and subdue everyone and have an open season on people’s rights, even survival, based on whether the people capitulate to the “master’s” will, and they do mean masters, those men who revel in what the rest of us see as toxic masculinity.  Abigail Disney, for example,  informed us that the violence against women has not decreased over time even though only a small fraction of men participate in it, but is acceptable to those men in charge. 

The presenters then left us with a few important considerations as we work to make essential change:

1. You can’t change anything you don’t understand or acknowledge.  When we have knowledge, we have ability to act, our power.
2. We must commit to do something we are not already involved in doing, something new to us.  If we can, we should, make a commitment to do one more thing.  Ask, what do I need to learn to do that one new thing?
3. We need to fix the disease that is eating us alive.  It is a mathematical cancer that involves wages that are too low and a corrupt inequitable tax code and so much more.  If we don’t deal with the disease, nothing will improve sufficiently to make a positive difference.  Taxing the wealthy at high levels is critical. 
4. Focus  on the money and deal with it on local and state levels, who has it, how it is being used, and the lies being told about it.
5. !Demand a positive opposition, not one that is just a bit better than the other side.  We need to focus on actions that will actually work for the positive.  It is time to be done with what the Director of Patriotic Millionaires calls the throttlebottoms (folks that are bottom-feeders driving everyone else down).  They need to be countered at every opportunity because they have nothing good to offer anyone.
6. Find a small group of committed people to connect then work with.  There are many great organizations working on these challenges.  Help make small groups larger with the aim of making things better. 

Director of “Patriotic Millionaires” Erica Payne, reminded participants of the clarity of this reality, those involved with the current destruction process are evil.  We all must be the light that shines through the darkness and gives us hope that we can make things even better for all of us than before this crisis.

THE CABINET OF INCOMPETENTS

By Ruth A. Sheets

On April 2, 2025, Robert Reich presented his weekly poll, this time about the presidential cabinet , put into place since January 20^th.  OMG!  It was a hard poll.  The question, “Which of Trump’s cabinet officers is the worst?  His choices:  Pete Hegseth of Defense, RFK,Jr. of Health and Human Services, Pam Bondi the Attorney General, and Marco Rubio Secretary of State. 

There is another cruel incompetent who should be included, the new director of Homeland Security (a cabinet-level position that should not even exist, has far less reason than the Department of Education which actually does positive things to help our children and young people).  Kristi Noem The head is a dog murderer who feels about the rest of us the way she seems to have felt about her dog before she killed it and dumped it into a quarry. 

Among the poll members, there's Rubio whose family were "refugees" from Cuba.  They and their cohort came here and did a lot of disrupting over the years, particularly in Florida and few "long-time American citizens” demanded they be deported and that their children, like "Little Marco" are not citizens.  What an evil hypocrite! 

There is nothing positive to say for either RFK,Jr. or Hegseth.  Neither of them should ever be in charge of anything since they can't even take care of themselves properly.  They are both ignorant of not only the departments they were foolishly approved by our Senators to run but ignorant of just about everything else too; they prove it every single day, putting us all at risk.  I chose RFK,Jr. in the poll because he is undermining the already precarious health of this nation with his lies and disinformation, putting us and the rest of the world at risk. 

Pam Bondi’s  law school should erase her from their records of graduates or rather should never have graduated her in the first place; she is a person of no moral compass who knows nothing of our Constitution and cares less than that about it or this nation, only her infatuation with Donald Trump, adult-toddler-in-chief.  She like the rest of the Trumpers and Trumpettes just makes things up as she goes along just to see what she can get away with, and she is getting away with a lot, or thinks she is. 

They are all despicable, the whole crew, like McMahon in Education and the rest of the ignoramuses our Senate Republicans and a few Democrats chose to sick on us.  None of them has a clue, but tries to pretend they are working for their god and will follow his wishes even though dementia has clearly taken hold.  They were chosen since they play the role of sycophant quite well and together represent the worst of America, not one of them worthy of any positive recognition.  Thank you Senate Republicans for proving your judgment is just as poor as Trump and his handlers and fan club hoped it would be.  Justice would be that every single Senate member who voted for these destroyers and incompetents would be voted out.  Not likely, but one can dream! 

MARCH GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

By Ruth A. Sheets

Today is the last day of Women’s History Month which overlaps one day with “Trans Day of Visibility.”  I am a family member of trans persons, a friend of more, and a supporter of trans persons everywhere.  Despite what people like Donald Trump, and his warped administration believe, transgender persons have been part of the human community probably from the beginning of our species. 

Over time, trans persons’ degree of acceptance in groups and societies has varied.  It is only in the past century or so that science has been able to help facilitate a match between a person’s gender identity and physical body and hormones.  However, it seems over time, trans people have found ways to live their correct gender despite having non-matching physical characteristics, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. 

What is going on now?   As far as I can tell, it is about control.  Anti-trans persons want to have sufficient control to say, “you are illegal and I am going to hurt you if you don’t agree with what I believe and you don’t live as your birth sex.”  There is no honest reason for this white “straight” male stance, but they don’t care; it’s about control.  For Trump and friends, their public stance is that white “straight” male is the basic human form and everyone else is inferior and in need of control by those white “straight” men whose money or something else magically adds to their intelligence and puts them in power, supposedly letting them determine who is acceptable and who is not.  So let’s see who is acceptable to them:

• - “Trad (traditional) Wives” who stay at home, demand nothing, pump out lots of white babies, and care for hubby as though he were another of her brood
• - Men who are willing to work hard for crap wages so the rich white men, magically in charge can bring in huge salaries for minimal work 
• -people of color, invisible except as servants, house cleaners, hotel “maids,” custodians of golf clubs and other hang-outs for the rich white men and their accepted buddies
• - International leaders who will bow and scrape in subservience to the American autocracy and give “good deals” for everything the rich white American men demand
• - People who look, talk, think, and act just like themselves, but not too much

The unacceptable includes the rest of us:

• - Smart, clever, creative women who are independent, even choosing not to have a hubby or to bear children
• - White men who dare to challenge the white male status quo, writing and speaking about just how stupid such a world view really is
• - Researchers who have known for some time that female is the basic human form; males need extra hormones injected in the womb to become male,
• - Scientists who work to understand and will share the truth, demonstrating just what fools’ men who choose conspiracy theories and bad science, like RFK, Jr. and friends are
• - LGBTQ+ persons because they don’t fit the “acceptable” male-female behaviors
• - Judges who rule honestly, can’t be bribed, and hold to their oath to our Constitution
• - Protesters of the dictatorial nature of the current government, folks who want Black History, women’s history, Asian-American history, Hispanic History, Native American history and more, respected, taught, and shared

You get it, the rich white “straight” men and the tiny fraction of “allies” they permit into their sphere, resent everyone who is not a perfect minion.  They want to defeat and subdue anyone who is not willing to accept enslavement and is not OK with abuse and denial of rights.  These rich white “straight” men are scared of the rest of us and are putting forth massive efforts to control us all so they can do whatever they wish unfettered with no regulation, no oversight.  They assume their wealth and power will keep them from suffering from the smoggy air, bad water, unwilling workforce.  They are now recruiting the minions whom they will use to control us, if we permit it. 

Trans persons and LGBTQ+ persons in general are not the ones who are doing damage to our society.  Having trans girls on girls’ teams will not destroy a sport that men have ignored forever.  It is not trans people using their appropriate bathrooms that put anyone at risk; it is white males and some other men who think it is their right to prey on other people who pose a threat, though minimal at best.  Let’s fight the rich white “straight” male desire to control everything and everyone, and to do harm to anyone who does not succumb.  There are more of us than there are of them, a lot more!

So, let’s celebrate!  Be glad that many people are working to make it possible for all people to live their lives as they choose.  Happy Day of Trans Visibility!