SOME CHANGES I WANT TO SEE

By Ruth A. Sheets

June 11, 2026

When this Trumpian/oligarchical insanity has passed, I would like to see some serious changes to our current government.  Ahead are some of my suggestions.

1. Our full legal code needs to be thoroughly combed.  Laws that oppose human rights (the Comstock Act and others) voted down permanently and discarded.  Then a second combing to dump laws that are too vague and can be interpreted in ways to harm people a group like the Trumplicans can use as a weapon.  Our laws should acknowledge our wonderful diversity and that We the People are the most important factor in our democracy.

2. Immigrants who have lived in this nation for 10 or more years and have worked and contributed should have a path to citizenship that is quick and fair.  This should include the DACA young people.  ICE is abolished and rules set up or a Constitutional amendment that would outlaw the construction of a paramilitary such as ICE and the Border Patrol have become.  All concentration camp prisons are closed permanently and deportations to 3rd countries are totally stopped.  No one is imprisoned without due process.

3. Caring for our planet, cleaning up our environment, and developing renewable/clean energy with support to make it affordable and cheaper than fossil fuels are critical for our planet's survival.  Connections like the Paris Agreement are reinstated and seriously followed and other nations are encouraged to follow them too.

4. No top-level positions in our government can be filled with people who have no experience in the area they are nominated for:  HHS Sec. must be a medical expert and have medical experts under them who actually know what they are doing; a Sec. of Defense must have not only some military experience, but diplomatic and management skills too.

5. The Supreme Court will have 18-20 year term limits at which point they may choose to stay in a lower court.  They will have a code of ethics and be held to it on penalty of suspension, just as lower court judges do.  The Supreme Court will be expanded to 13 (I’ve also heard 15 suggested to expand the number of districts too) one justice for each district court.  A nominee must already be a judge on a lower court and will need approval from at least 3 non-partisan professional legal organizations like the ABA and have a record of fairness in any previous court position.

6. The Federal government and state governments will support elections and pass severe limits on how much money any person, including corporations can contribute to a campaign, less for the narrower the position in territory.  Every single penny donated to a PAC or campaign will be recorded with the name of the person that donated it and no foreign contributions and no “dark” money will be permitted on penalty of the candidate being removed from the ballot if there is evidence the campaign knew of the “donation.”  Automatic voter registration will take place for every American citizen upon reaching age 18.  Incentives will be given for people to vote, perhaps a small tax break that will increase after a significant number of elections.  Vote by mail would be available for everyone who wants it no questions asked.  

7. All gerrymandering for any reason, political, race, religion, etc. will be halted.  Agreed-upon independent groups will design the districts using fair computer algorithms, keeping towns intact when possible. 

8. The minimum wage around the country will be set to go with the cost of living average in each state where possible starting with $18 per hour and gradually moving up to reach $25 in 5 or 6 years.  There will be overtime pay increases too.

9. The entire tax code will be carefully examined by people who understand economics and taxes from both parties and independents, cleaning it up, making it more fair, dumping tax breaks for the very rich who do some shady practices to avoid paying taxes.  Millionaires and Billionaires will pay their fair share of taxes up to 50% for the folks at the very top.  Free online submission of tax forms will be available for anyone who wants to use them.  The tax code needs to be completely overhauled with citizen input at every stage.

10. Public Education is a common good that needs to be expanded and encouraged.  Charter schools should be reincorporated into the regular public school system to make funding fair.  Voucher programs would be gone since they only serve to give rich people more money they don't need to support private and religious schools.  Civics education should begin in Kindergarten and be age appropriate through grade 12.

11. End monopolies in nearly all areas with specific exceptions, some utilities, for example.  Then make sure that no billionaires can own more than 1 media platform and no more than 10 radio or TV stations or newspapers around the country.  Local news coverage should be encouraged with some assistance when needed.  We need good journalism not a pack of oligarchical lies, disinformation, and ignorance to rule our airwaves or computers/phones.

12. Above all, there must be universal healthcare!  No one should have to forgo treatment because they can't afford it.  We have the tech and the ability to make this happen.  Private insurance corporations can be assisted to cover areas other than healthcare.  There are several other nations that have such healthcare programs and we could learn from them how to do it well. 

Probably the first thing we will need to do, though, hard as it will be, we must hold accountable, the people who have caused this chaos, this harm to the people of our communities The targeted could begin with DOGE, the various department secretaries who chose to dismantle needed programs and services without permission, ICE guys on the streets who killed and otherwise harmed people, those who proposed and developed the concentration camp prisons which they allowed to treat people worse than one would treat animals (and no one should be treating animals that badly). 

Trump and his white house toddler pool and the Trump relatives should be first in line for investigation and indictment.  No blanket pardons for these people.  The country needs to know what they have done, to whom, and what they themselves gained financially and otherwise from their efforts. 

So, these are some things I and others have been thinking about and what we need to do.  We must get things started as soon as we can because Republicans have a way of sabotaging every positive thing that Democrats and independents do to make things better.  Repubs screw things up and Dems have to clean up their mess and if they take more than a couple of months to fix something Repubs have screwed up for 4+ years, people vote the party that made the messes back into office.  It is nuts, but just what happens.

We can do this if we have the will and the quality reps and senators in office.  Even if we have to wait until 2028, we can at least get started and let the American people know what we are up to, how they can help, and where they can share their ideas for what they would like to see happen.  As lawyer Joyce Vance always says, “We’re in this together.”

FEAR AND EVIL IN TRUMPLANDIA

 By Ruth A. Sheets

June 3, 2026

I like responding to comments on my several threads.  One commenter said that people are trying to be a bit better because of some of the ridiculous, even appalling things this current Trumpian regime (my term) has been doing.  This was my response.

 I do hope you are right about people wanting to do better, but it seems EVIL like that displayed by Trump and his white house toddler pool is not easy to stop.  They get their hooks into so many places and people who then feel they must be loyal to the hookers.

 They proceed by proving their moral compass doesn't exist or is in the shop being repaired  (maybe permanently).  Integrity is an unnecessary burden.  Kindness just gets in the way.

 Trump and his toddler pool can’t make their takeover on their own; they have to get media involved so they can pass the message on and forge the chain that ends up giving power to people who do not deserve it, people who promote fear in ways I consider evil.

 The target of Trump and his “friends is not what one might expect since he is a racist, misogynistic fool.  His target, white men.  He knew there are a lot of scared white people who have been groomed over time to believe they are the ones being treated badly by those people, the ones who don’t look like them.  They were and are angry and often afraid.  They needed to be seen by people in power as the put-upon guys being abused by the people who are just cheating; they’re “welfare queens” and “affirmative action hires.”

 Donald Trump was just the guy they wanted for their salvation.  Now they are desperately clinging to Trump, an ignoramus with dementia because they bought the message that Trump would save them from the libs, the woke who have “done them wrong,” that they are being replaced by those people, you know, the ones that don’t look like them. 

 I suspect those scared white folks don’t really have a clue what replacement would mean for them, but it doesn’t matter.  There is a whole cadre of folks out here, willing to plant seeds of something that sounds horrible, and the imaginations of the scared are off and running and there is no opportunity in their minds to stop and actually consider the implications, the fact that they are being used.  Why should they wonder about what that means?  Why would they want to know that for decades, Donald Trump has been one of the masters of the con, and he and his buddies are conning them, conning all of us. 

 Trump is a rich white man as are most members of the white house toddler pool (a bunch of whiny white people, mostly men who complain, blame, insult with the goal of intimidating and silencing their targets), afraid someone will find out that they might not be the brightest bulbs in any string.  Being rich, white, and male are the only requirements for those scared white folks to guarantee their superiority.  They have been convinced nothing can be worse than being “replaced” by those people!

 The real problem,  they don’t want to notice that they and all of us are already targets of the rich white males in power.  Those rich white men want us all to be replaced by AI machines on the job, rather than messy people/workers those rich corporate masters don’t want to deal with.  Those humans  might demand higher taxes on the rich, better wages, more caring behavior on the part of the corporations, more integrity, stopping their cheating.  The folks in power are not willing to give these up, so everyone suffers, including those scared white residents of Trumplandia.  The rich white men in power don't even think of them except when they need their votes and can lie their way into the hearts of Wwhiteland. 

 Black, Hispanic, native American, LGBTQ, and other groups are aware of how those in power feel about them and are working on ways to stop the onslaught.  Scared white folks think they are safe from this Trumpian/rich guy insanity, and will someday be those rich white guys themselves  (they won't).  Their dreams make them “work” to keep those who care for nothing and no one in power, hoping they will get rewarded for giving up any integrity they might have had. 

 For Trump, his toddler pool, and the oligarchs, those scared white people exist only in November every even year when they can be handily used to vote to keep the uncaring, money and power addicts in charge.  It would be great if we could get the scared white folks to look at their racism, misogyny, homo/transphobia, xenophobia to see the damage it is doing to them and their families, while they are being told they are keeping those people in their place.  The people they target have done nothing to harm them while the members of Trump’s toddler pool have done a lot of harm. 

 Right now,  scared white folks think they have truth on their side, sure everyone not like them is evil, trying to steal from them (getting a free ride), all the things the evil-rich in charge keep feeding them, their banquet of lies.  Unfortunately, their religious leaders often reinforce that, identifying Trump as “god’s messenger” (not likely).   

How do we reach people who are too scared to even begin to look at their lives and what they are doing and agreeing to?  I think any approach needs to be from many different angles depending who is being addressed.

• Listen more than speaking.  A lot of Trumplandia is used to being told what to do and not listened to
• Say things like (and mean them), I understand your position.  Have you thought that:  you are helping to pay for a war you did not agree to-  that is raising gas prices a lot; really, tariffs are taxes on us, you too, not the countries the products and services are from; immigrants are your neighbors and do a lot of the work you and I most likely wouldn’t do and are not skilled at. 
• Ask people, what is it within your faith that makes it acceptable to starve, abuse, and imprison innocent people, to pollute our air and water, allow the rich folks to dictate what happens to the rest of us;  ignore global warming when it is God who is the creator?  What role does love have in your life as a Christian or Jew?
• What do you think your taxes should pay for?  Who should decide?
• Are you familiar with our Constitution?  Would you like a copy (give them a pocket Constitution if they would like one.) 

I think you get the idea.  Accusing the scared folks will not make any points.  I suspect many of them know they are being used and feel the anger of knowing that.  Bringing them to a place where they can start to see how they “are being used” by their “heroes,” without saying those words can make a positive, maybe even freeing difference for them and for us all.

 This is complicated and will take effort on our part, but it can work.  It’s worth a try!

PATRIOTISM FOR ME IS . . .

By Ruth A. Sheets

Lucas Kunce of Missouri and his group Heartland Patriots asked people to comment on what we think patriotism is.  This is my response.  I am sure it is not complete because I wrote it in about 15 minutes and took another 20 minutes or so to edit, but I believe I got some of the main points I think are critical, at least for me.  I am hoping every American has a realistic sense of what it means to be patriotic, particularly in this 250^th anniversary of our “Declaration of Independence” and it’s only partly related to our military.

For me, a patriot:

-cares what happens to the people of this nation. 

• believes peace is what everyone should be working for and war should never be a personal choice by anyone, not a president who has proven he cares for no one and nothing but himself. 
• believes in equality/equity for all, not just for rich white men. 
• believes in basic human rights as well as the rights our Constitution gives us which include bodily autonomy for everyone, the right to a fair wage/salary, universal healthcare, respect for everyone no matter their gender or gender preference, the right for immigrants to be in this nation and a respect for the many contributions they have made here over the past 250+ years, appreciation for the indigenous peoples of this nation and their right to have their treaties and other agreements honored.
• acknowledges that racism, misogyny, homo/transphobia, classism, and xenophobia exist in this nation and need to be seriously addressed to try to avoid electing those who drink from the mug of hatred and dismissal of others to any significant offices. 
• Runs for office to serve, not to be served.  Is Aware that they need help and knows when to ask for it when in over their head with the complexities of a situation. 
• values public education and supports it at every opportunity. 
• values our children, all of our children and works to make their lives and those of their families successful. 
• acknowledges that global warming and environmental devastation are real and that all of us have a responsibility to do everything possible to slow their destruction, to limit using fossil fuels, work to re-forest and protect the many environments that we share with the plants and animals of this world, to conserve water and cut pollution. 
• believes in science and what it teaches us about how the world works, how to ease suffering, how to make life safer and more joyful for all of us, and that it is essential to update knowledge as new information comes to light.  
• appreciates the gifts and talents of others, particularly in the arts and supports them.
• demands honesty and integrity in our media and refuses to connect with media that choose to lie, dish out misinformation, and create disinformation.
• votes in every election once the age of 18 has been reached until they can't vote anymore due to age, illness, or death. 
• reveres the first Amendment of our Constitution and does not try to limit the rights of others while trying to say that their own rights are more important.  
• values, honors, and will stand up for our Constitution and those laws that support it, not counter it. more that support our rights as human beings and as Americans. 
• This all means that a patriot is a kind of hero that comes in all colors, religions,  genders, ages, education levels, cultures, and with many languages and practices, serves in our military if they choose, knowing the risks involved, and knows how to refuse an illegal order. 

Hail to our patriots all of the many millions of them, including those we remember this last week in May for their sacrifices, even death  in the name of this nation. 

 

LAYING IT OUT

By Ruth A. Sheets

May 20, 2026

I do believe our various media gave Donald Trump the tools he needed to become a national, then global menace.  Trump was "glib," a New Yorker with money and properties (didn't matter how he got them or what was being done with them), and he had friends. 

This trio of circumstances launched an ignorant, narcissistic, hateful charlatan onto a stage where he didn’t belong.  Unfortunately, the various media found a lot for themselves in what he was doing, and kept promoting him ("The Apprentice, Miss Universe, The Regis and Kathy Lee Show” ).  They enhanced Trump's actions and created a “star” who could travel in all sorts of circles plugging himself and his supposed greatness. 

However while Trump was being lauded by  the media, he was involved in let’s call them “crimes” that included theft, rape, fraud, rape of minors, lying, cheating contractors for his properties, red lining, and more, on to the present.  Some people knew about Trump’s behavior, but just considered him one of the “bad boys” who were to be tolerated.  There were rumors of his involvement with the New York Mafia, though people rarely talk about it. 

Developing a “connection” with New York’s media was critical to Trump’s rise.  From the day of Trump’s ride down the “golden escalator” in 2015, Trump or his actions were the first or second phrase or story in nearly every newscast.  That was true even when he wasn’t president or anything else official, and it is still happening.  That was primarily because he did or said things designed to direct attention to himself.

Trump’s dementia now makes it harder for him to even know what is going on, but that doesn't matter since he,  Toddler-Trump (as I refer to him), has an entire toddler pool of sycophants surrounding him that we pay for that includes a  traitorous white house staff (Miller, Vought, Wiles, Vance, etc.; 6 Supreme Court justices, Republicans in Congress; all cabinet heads; all whom Trumplandia nominated for any government position with Senate approval; Republicans throughout state legislatures; the Heritage Foundation, The Federalist Society, and other similar right-wing political organizations; many white evangelical fundamentalists; the oligarchs, including Musk, Theil, the Ellisons, and more, who use Trump as much as he uses them. 

That sounds like a lot, but in reality, it is a small minority of Americans.  However, they are in power and as they say, "have all the weapons."  It seems to me we are going to need a significant resistance group formed everywhere in this nation to stand up to these anti-American, anti-democratic thugs who have an ignoramus at their head and a lot of money in their pockets.  We need to be louder, broader, and more demanding in protest of Trumplandia.

This group of Conservative, Republican, amoral entities are doing their best to undermine our government.  They began in Trump’s first term with a huge tax cut that went nearly all to the super rich who already have far far too much.  Then in the second term, Trump released the illegal DOGErs (Department of Government Efficiency) young computer guys   under Elon Musk, to tear apart many of our government agencies and departments.  They are responsible for the deaths of at least 700,000 people around the world who depended on the food, medicines, and healthcare provided by US-AId.  We don’t have a count yet of the deaths here from programs cut and conspiracy theorists in important offices making false pronouncements. 

Trump and the Dept. of Homeland Security (Dhs) set ICE on innocent immigrants in our communities, while lying they were only going after serious criminals.  Alas, lies are Trumplandia’s coin of the realm, and Republicans these days must be able to lie with skill all the time if necessary (if Trump orders them to do it). 

Trump now owns the Republican Party and  our amoral Supreme Court Roberts 6. 

 

Each member of Trumplandia has their “job.”  Congressional Republicans push through every stupid, illegal bill Trump and his white house toddler pool give them.  The Roberts 6 rule on cases in ways that will give Republicans more seats in congress and enhance the racial, gender, and other differences among us.  Republicans in legislatures across the country must take their states to levels of racism and misogyny that haven’t been seen for decades.

 

Trump’s cabinet was nominated and approved because they will permit Trump to do as much damage to this nation as possible.  Trump ordered the start of a stupid deadly war for his own ego and he and Pete Hegseth of DOD have been playing it as though it were a video game, adding destroying small boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific as their bonus plays.  All of this is illegal internationally, but who is going to charge them or hold them accountable, particularly now that Trump is building a white house fortress as described by Heather Cox Richardson (and Trump himself, although not in those exact words).  Trump is also trying to reward the January 6^th insurrectionists for their something:  bravery, loyalty to Trump, willingness to “stand ready?”

 

I suspect everyone I write to knows all of this, so I want to provide some suggestions for things we can do to surround these thugs with a wall of disapproval created by the diversity that is America, something that really scares Trumplandia.

• Make a list of the issues most important to you.  Figure out who to contact regarding that issue, then write, call, sign petitions, etc. related to each issue.
• Find and support organizations with similar values to yours, read their publications, and support them financially if you can, even if it is only a tiny donation.
• Attend public protests, townhalls, and local actions related to the issues that concern you and your community most.  You can’t do everything, so do what you can when you can.
• Talk to young people about what is going on and encourage them to pay attention, to work hard to get a good education, even if they are a little bored.  Those in power now don’t want them to become educated at all, so do it to spite them.
• Read books from different cultures, particularly those the right-wing fearmongers want to ban, then share favorites with others.
• Use public transportation when possible.  Walk when it makes sense.  Use your car less often.  Encourage others to do this too.
• Stand with neighbors to stop ICE, using a warning system if you see them.  Protest them when you can.
• Attend school board meetings when possible to say your piece about what is happening in the schools in your area. 
• VOTE IN EVERY SINGLE ELECTION!!!  Don’t tell yourself “ah this election is just a primary; it doesn’t matter”; it does!  Those In power want us to stay home so their pathetic whiny white candidates can get into or stay in power; we don’t need them!

 

I bet you have lots more ideas.  When we pool them together, we can have a set of strategies to stand against the authoritarians, the would be kings.  We can stand strong in this 250^th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, and tell Trump and his toddler pool that We the People of the United States aren’t gonna take them and their anti-American bullying anymore”!

IT’S NOT JUST “THE ECONOMY, STUPID”

By Ruth A. Sheets

A member of the comment thread for Heather Cox Richardson’s Substack reminded us “It’s the economy, stupid.”  That phrase supposedly shot Bill Clinton into office in 1992 and will fix things for Democrats today.  I thought I should respond, so, here it is.

it is the economy, of course, but we need to make it far more than that!  The protection of our rights as Americans being taken away by Trumplandia, at every turn to make us totally subservient/enslaved to them is in the works.  That is more worrisome than what is happening to our economy and that is pretty bad.

Last week, the Supreme Court Roberts 6 gave the Confederate states the freedom to gerrymander to their heart’s content racially, of course, just don’t call it that.  In other words, bring back Jim Crow, but don’t call it that.  This is directly related to the economy.  It is also deeply tied up with the endemic racism that exists in this nation and only marginally dealt with from the time of the Civil War.  The Roberts 6 knew full well they were permitting a set of racial gerrymanders, but if states “pretend”/lie it isn’t, no problem.  Without proper representation, the people suffer.

I hope Democrats got the word that the old way of doing things, the monied elite in control of the Party will no longer work.  Dems need new, more powerful strategies than supporting the centrist malleable candidates ignoring progressives.  Democrats must jump in and tell those in gerrymandered southern districts that they are being used.  The manipulators are magnifying their positions toward others to assure their compliance with whatever foolish idea Republicans in power come up with.  Dems need to get out the word that once those Republicans get tired of harming the “hated” groups, they will come after the rural and suburban white folks as loafers, illegal landowners, or whatever comes into their addled fascist brains.  Donald Trump is at the center of what is going on even though his dementia won't let him remember any of it and he will lie to say it didn't happen.  

An effective basic Democratic platform must be universal, then added to in each district to meet specific needs of those folks.  Some points I believe should be on the basic platform: 

• universal healthcare
• full bodily autonomy for all
• a living wage for every job, workplace safety, and unions
• end of tariffs and Congress approving all money as the Constitution requires
• automatic voter registration upon citizens turning 18 and fair voting districts

independently drawn

• court and criminal justice reform at all levels
• fair taxation for all without loopholes for the rich
• Effective regulation of the economy with stronger guidelines for consumers
• properly administered Social Security and other retirement programs
• fair regulation of Artificial Intelligence, social media, and other tech
• significant funding for renewable energy and addressing global warming
• clean air and water, with a fully-functioning EPA and related government agencies
• protection of our public lands and National Parks, with very limited mining and logging with guidance from Native Americans and other experts
• strong support for our public schools, early childhood, child care, and free community colleges which care for and educate our precious children
• support programs for struggling Americans:  SNAP, WIC, housing support, etc.
• reinstatement of supports for diversity-equity-inclusion, plus full rights for all populations, immigrants, differently abled and LGBTQ persons 
• rebuilding strong relationships with the world particularly our allies including reinstating US Aid and other international service organizations and stronger ties with the UN
• improvement of public transportation
• and more based on what a committee of strong progressive Democrats see as essentials.  

Americans everywhere need to be encouraged to VOTE in every single election, not just those of high media interest.  We need people to make calls and texts, knock on doors of all sorts of people and actually listen to their issues, get folks registered to vote, put billboards up wherever possible that present parts of the Democratic platform, flood social media with the positives of the platform and the candidates who support it in the district, hold weekly press conferences to let people know what Democrats federal, state,  and local are doing for the people and what they are opposing and why.  Demand better, more honest media coverage of this regime.  Call out the tech bros who are only for themselves and what they can get their AI to do for money and power.  

That is a lot, but we could do it despite the forces arrayed against us.  We have nearly 6 months to get this going!  Skip the stupid infighting among Democrats and make this happen!  Yep, it’s the economy plus! 

CONSERVATIVE FEAR AND LOATHING

By Ruth A. Sheets

May 3, 2026

In Joyce Vance’s “Civil Discourse” Substack of April 30, 2026, she asked a couple of really important questions:  why are conservatives so afraid of democracy? Why are they afraid to let the voters decide elections? 

After this week’s appalling Supreme Court Roberts 6 decision to gut further the Voting Rights Act, this is my enhanced response to Joyce’s questions.  I have been an active political being since I was 14 or 15 years old.  I wrote to my governor, my senators and my Rep, even the president, and still do, concerning issues I see as important.  One thing I noticed is that conservatives than and now, are people who are scared of the future, although more recently, the fear is showing up in ways and intensities that have not been seen for a while.  Conservatives seem also to be scared of life.  They often hide in conservative religion which can trap them in a one-way-of-thinking scenario with "sin" at the center and that everyone is an evil sinner, or everyone but they themselves is (it varies). 

As I see it, conservatives think they got whatever position they have in life through their own unaided natural ability and skill, but possibly down deep, fear that isn't the truth.  Instead of realizing that most people have doubts like that, they put others down, wanting to keep them down, thinking that will somehow raise themselves up. 

Many conservatives don't want to "let voters decide elections" because those less-talented, lower-class voters would never pick the “right” people.  Believing that, those in charge of American conservatism must rig the election in favor of the "good" guys (usually men) or ultra compliant women, and with money, media, and some AI, they do. 

These days, maybe always, conservatives tend to get wealth in a variety of ways and will fight really hard to keep it and use it for themselves to get even more.  It seems wealth begets conservatism; conservatism often fosters wealth for those at the top too. 

Non-conservatives have a range of points of view, and rightly so.  Those often conflict, which can mean a lack of unity.  Each group may have its own goals, its own “critical” issues to fight for, its own style.  Often those non-conservatives don’t take the time to heed each others’ issues, certain theirs is the most important.  Conservatives have had decades, maybe centuries to shape their message, too often involving lying, blaming, deceit, name-calling, gaslighting, etc.  One might correctly think they need these tactics because their message is poor or unpopular.  Conservatives seem to listen to no one and nothing but money and their personal comfort, so they use whatever they can to undermine their opponents, their enemies. 

Our nation and planet are in trouble, all of us.  As far as I can tell, conservatives don’t really care as long as they get theirs.  It is critical that non-conservatives find many different ways to work together to defeat conservatism, or at least put it on a back shelf.  We truly don’t need its efforts to wreck our lives, our democracy.  We can’t stand by and just watch everything destroyed that this nation has worked for as it “progresses” toward forming “a more perfect union.”

We can decide on, as many have recommended, a set of positions, issues that non-conservatives can hold in common and can stand on no matter what is thrown at us, like: 

• valuing diversity and the histories of all groups;
• stopping divisions stoked by conservatives and others;
• ending violence against immigrants, closing concentration camp prisons, abolishing ICE and limiting Border Patrol to the borders;
• developing ethical requirements for our Supreme Court, term limits to 18 years and limiting the number of justices any one president can appoint, increasing the court to 13 justices to cover all districts with 1 justice each;
• ending gerrymandering of all kinds while making sure minority voters actually have proper representation;
• reforming our tax code to make taxation fair for everyone, everyone pays at least a bit and those who have more pay a whole lot more,  including corporations;
• limiting shareholder power in corporations;;
• bodily autonomy for all people, not just men;
• enhancing support programs for all Americans:  SNAP, WIC, FEMA, whatever is needed;
• universal healthcare;
• nominees for judgeships/justices approved by at least 3 independent legal organizations, with candidates who have  experience on the bench or quality legal cases they have handled;
• regulating AI while at the same time valuing and supporting science and research;
• working harder for renewable energy and restoring our environment as global warming is seriously addressed. 

I bet there are a few others, but those would be a start that all non-conservative candidates could support.  It's time to come together to stand against the scared white conservatives who would destroy everything we have so they can feel safe and in control of those scary others, rather than try to improve life for all.

LETTER TO OUR PA SENATORS

By Ruth A. Sheets

April 29, 2026

This is my most recent plea to our Pennsylvania senators concerning immigration.  

Dear Senators,

As your concerned constituent, I’m writing to ask you to vote YES on S.J. Res. 99.  Stop the cruelty directed at immigrants living and working hard in this country, harder than most citizens work, including the entire membership of this Trump regime!

As you know, Last October, the Trump administration eliminated automatic extensions for work permits of immigrants – a policy that had been in place for over a decade, and for no reason other than racism and simple cruelty!  They and any of you who go along with this should be ashamed, but it seems shame has no place in Trumplandia, which has permitted members of their Klan to do enormous harm to people who have not deserved it. 

Trump lied that he and his “team” only wanted to arrest and deport serious criminals who are immigrants,  but, that is not who they are going after.  They have ordered and Congress has approved with its inaction, separating families, arresting and imprisoning families with children, deporting parents from their American children and spouses, murdered American citizens as well as immigrants, allowed armed masked thugs loose on the streets of our communities.  There are no excuses that will make up for what has been done and it appears racism, fear of the other, and a drive for personal power have been at work. 

Huge amounts of  money have been paid from our taxes to rich corporations who run concentration camp prisons where the incarcerated people have been forced to live in conditions no one should want anyone to endure:  severe overcrowding, given garbage to eat they called food, been denied medical care, been beaten, tortured, and more, and for what!

Under this immigration work permit policy, workers who filed their renewal paperwork on time were protected from losing their jobs while they waited on government processing. It was straightforward: if you did your part, the government wouldn't punish you for its own delays.  Trump's/Musk's DOGE and Dept. of Homeland Security Noem fired so many people that of course, there were government-produced delays, so Trumplandia permitted ICE to start arresting those waiting-folks then imprisoning them, and more, and for what!

That protection is now gone, with no honest justification from this administration. An estimated 3.8 million immigrant workers can now be legally fired and deported through no fault of their own, simply because federal processing backlogs are slow, deliberately slow. These are people who followed every rule, filed every form on time, and built their lives here. They don't deserve to lose their livelihoods, their families, and their community because of a bureaucratic backlog they have no control over, but a group of men in charge who hate people of color do. It’s neither fair nor right and you should know that. 

Congress has done little to nothing to help these hard-working people who trusted this nation to help.  Congress has been participating in the evil being done mostly by doing nothing and just tacitly agreeing to whatever Trump and his clown car of evil demand.

S.J. Res. 99 would restore the protections those immigrants deserve. That’s why I’m asking you to vote yes, so that 3.8 million people’s lives are not needlessly harmed. We are watching to see whose side you are on, the evil and ignorance of this current regime or the side of human beings who are being brutalized so a bunch of scared white folks can practice their racism unimpeded.  Thanks for what I hope is your attention.   Sincerely, Ruth Sheets

Feel free to use this as a template for contacting your senators.

OPEN LETTER TO TRUMP’S SYCOPHANTS

By Ruth A. Sheets

April 9, 2026

Dear “Friends,”

I have decided it is imperative I finally write to you all.  It seems you have fallen off the path of true public service into the ditch filled with slime coming off the lie and disinformation factory up the road, owned and operated by rich white men for their benefit and that of Donald Trump. 

Do you realize you have chosen to follow a man who was never what he claimed to be.  For some reason our media just loved projecting him as a great businessman when he was not nearly that, you know, bankrupting 6 times.  I know he called those bankruptcies being “smart.”  Would you have considered yourself “smart” had you bankrupted even once, OK, twice?

In order to follow Trump a man with failing mental capacities for years, you chose to sacrifice whatever decency you may once have had, possibly for personal gain, possibly to get revenge on someone.  Neither of these is what one would think of as the action of a decent human being.

When I hear of your antics, it reminds me of a Toddler (Trump), playing with his toys, making them participate in his fantasy, being wherever told to stand, spouting whatever nonsense comes from Trump’s dementia-laden mouth.  You are expected to treat the beings around you as though not worthy of care, actually, worthy of abuse.  All of this on the command of your toddler-in-chief.  How does it feel to be a toy in the hands of someone unable to think clearly, has no compassion for you or anyone else, and feels no allegiance to our Constitution?  It can’t be fun!

I feel some sympathy for women in the sycophantic sphere because you have decided the Mar-a-Lago Barbie face is your best look and perfecting the perfect pout works well for you.  You insult everyone around you who recognizes you as the sycophant you are.  I thought you were proud of your role.  You should be telling everyone just how much you love being a toy in Trumplandia.  I feel your lack of pain when two of the best of you in your sycophancy, Pam Bondi (Trump’s Pseudomommy) and Kristi Noem (Trump’s Enforcer) were dumped, Pam in favor of someone Trump considers a better Pseudomommy and Noem tossed away because she got more attention than Trump himself.  Yo Ladies, consider what you are sacrificing for this particular honor as members of Trump’s Bimbo Squad.

Pete Hegseth, you know you are participating in criminal activities with that little war you and your toddler boss started, well, just because.  It didn’t work, you know.  Despite Trump’s words to the public, none of your goals were met and “destroying an entire civilization” is not a path to righteousness or Heaven, however you define them.  I bet your generals tried to tell you that.  Ooops, that’s probably why you tried to fire them.  And, your racism and misogyny are showing, not properly promoting women and men of color.  Shame Shame!!  You’re supposed to do it quietly and pretend you didn’t do it; they just resigned or chose not to be promoted, or something like that.

And, DOJ sycophants, you all are not supposed to push crimes under the rug, like the murders of Good and Pretty in Minneapolis, and the 26 or so people who died in your concentration camp prisons.  Oh I know, that is supposed to be under the Department of Homeland Security, but you have quickly tried to hide the facts on those cases, which is not your job.  Honesty no longer reigns in DOJ and that is sad, but expected when sycophants are in charge.

Then, you let your toddler-boss force you to claim global warming/climate change is not happening.  That is beyond stupid.  You, yes even you can see it is happening and that fossil fuels and poor farming practices are causing it.  You forget that you live on this planet too and will suffer along with the rest of us when the warming becomes too intense.  I suspect you are planning to be dead by then, but what about your children and grandchildren or don’t you care about them either?  We had a good program of renewable energy going before Trump’s rule, but alas, I know, sycophancy does not permit science or common sense, just obedience, even if the one to be obeyed is making pronouncements in the throes of dementia.

Trashing immigrants, asylum-seekers, and refugees makes you all look like hypocrites since you had parents or grandparents who immigrated here.  I know, I know, your people came here “the right way.”  You know that is BS.  They came here the same way everyone else who is not Native American came here.

So, I just want you to know that sycophancy is not a good career choice beyond the here and now.  Consider finding a new career, maybe in the private sector you all have been working so hard to protect, to finance, and to confiscate our hard earned tax money for.  Maybe they will be OK if you take the job of sycophant for them too.  Just sayin’.

Peace, Ruth Sheets

  

 

 

BREAKING THE MOLD

By Ruth A. Sheets

In a Substack piece, Robert Reich, Professor Emeritus at UC Berkley, wrote about getting voters to vote for candidates who have their interests at heart.  I started thinking about how hard that is going to be for Republicans, maybe some Democrats too.  This is what I came up with in response. 

Over the years, we Americans, and people of other nations too, have been carefully groomed by the rich and powerful to go for the loud-mouthed white male as having the "best" answers to every question of importance, the “mold.”  Those loud-mouthed white men decided what is natural among the beasts of the field and birds of the air and among human beings too.  They told us what to buy and what makes us beautiful/handsome.  They told us they knew how to rule and that it was right for loud-mouthed white men to rule the world.  Well, those same loud-mouthed white men took us into Holocaust, into endless wars, enhanced significantly the wealth gap, have blamed poor people for being poor, have used the taxes paid by working people all over the world to produce and buy war machines that have no other purpose than killing our fellow human beings and any other creatures that get in the way. 

Here, the Republican Party has made recruiting those loud-mouthed white men into their ranks critical, and put a lot of money behind them.  What those in charge of the party recruitment knew is that in the position of "president" you can put the not-so-loud and definitely not very competent, but behind them must be a loud-mouthed white man.  If you can't manage that, go with the loud-mouthed guy for president who can lie like a rug and the guys in charge can make the public believe every word. 

If one looks at Republicans say from 1960 onward, every victorious Republican presidential candidate has fit one of the molds or other.  Nixon could be a loud-mouth, but he depended on others like his VPs Lodge and Agnew to do the shouting while Nixon pretended he was just like a thoughtful judge.  Goldwater fit the mold perfectly, threatening all sorts of people and groups with American might.  Ford was the least like the mold, but he was only needed to pardon Nixon of his crimes.  He did it and was gone.  Reagan was portrayed as everyone's grandpa, but he had no clue.  His VP was rich and knew how to manipulate folks behind the scene and did, Bush,Sr.  As president Bush,Sr. had all the words, but also had racism and misogyny to keep him in favor.  Bush,Jr. was incompetent, but I think, wanted to do a good job, at least some of the time.  His VP Cheyney was the needed loud-mouth. 

Trump was the perfect creation that fit the mold sufficiently to be carefully shaped using Trump's own loud-mouthed white man tendencies to believe himself better than everyone else when in reality, he was not smart, a bad businessman, a cheat, a liar, a rapist, and more.  That could easily be covered by a lying media and his loud-mouthed hatred of everyone he chose to or was directed to hate.  With the Republican Party cheating in elections, Trump was elected, then re-elected.  He gives the rich white men in corporate power nearly everything they want while enriching his family (well, the corporations enrich them so their patriarch won't get out of line during the takeover of our democracy). 

Republican voters are drawn to this kind of loud-mouthed bullying that Trump portrayed so well before his dementia made it harder for him to know what is going on.  How do we convince Republican voters that they are focusing on the wrong hand.  The corporate magicians are doing them immense harm while they watch their Trumpian puppet lie his way through this corporate destruction machine.  It will be hard for them to break out because their loyalty has been so carefully groomed and tended.

On Saturday, March 28, 2026, people all over the country rallied to try to draw attention to and stop the loud-mouthed bully in the white house.  In our tristate area, the media practically ignored the whole day’s activities, giving no more than a minute to the event while covering Tiger Woods’ car crash in Florida for a far longer report.  That truly is what we are dealing with, a corporate media that props up an old man with dementia while ignoring the American people.

It’s time We the People work harder to “break the mold” and find more ways to get information to people who are stuck in their perceived need for loyalty to a party that left them behind long ago.  The people and corporations in power want to drain them of their will to act, and to distract them from making good decisions for their lives; it’s working.

I didn’t mention the Republicans who lost the presidency, except for Goldwater because for the most part, they were white men who did not fit the corporate/conservative uncaring mold:  Dole, McCain, and Romney.  And, they didn’t have the VP back-ups to counter their decency.  The Democrats who ran against them had ideas that were more powerful to capture Democratic voters.  Remember, when Democrats get out to vote in their greater numbers, unless there is  AI or media-based  fraud, Democrats win. 

AN ILLEGAL UNNECESSARY WAR

By Ruth A. Sheets

March 26, 2026

We are in a war with Iran.  That sounds unbelievable!  There was no vote in Congress.  There was a minor build-up, but little notion of what a conflict with Iran would look like, no strong purpose for this war, and it is being called a war by Donald Trump and the media that are tied to his every word.

It does work to put Baby Donnie's name on this war insanity, but he did not orchestrate this.  He ordered the attacks, so has, as “commander-in-chief,” ultimate responsibility.  But, he had enormous help because he is not smart enough about war to do much.  He blathers a lot, lies a lot, blames everyone when something doesn't work, and cannot plan anything that makes sense.  Trump threatens anyone, with backup from ensnared lawyers, Elon Musk, and the other oligarchs if they don't do exactly as they are told.  His current "helpers" are just about as stupid as he is:  Miller, Vought, Vance, and especially Hegseth.  None of them know anything about conducting a war, even the two who supposedly served in some capacity or other, but not in command of active troops. 

Hegseth fired many among the military leadership that would have been aware of how to plan for conflict, particularly the women because, well, misogyny works so well for our Baby Donnie.  Then the generals, admirals, and whoever else was in charge followed illegal orders as the veterans in our Congress reminded them they shouldn't do. 

I just read recently that there is a whole cadre of US military fools who are trying to bring about Armageddon, thinking that killing a lot of people through starting a nuclear war will send them to "heaven" or something.  It seems to me they are crazy, but crazy is what is present and welcome throughout this entire Trumpian regime!  That is shameful, but also terrifying!

A majority of Americans do not want this war and have made that known, but it seems Trump is so wrapped up in his own fantasy world, he does not care.  He thinks he has “obliterated” the Iranian military and whatever else his brain soaked in dementia thinks has been “obliterated.”  I think our Baby Donnie has fixated on the word “obliterated” and is running with it because it sounds so powerful.  It is not true that our military has obliterated anything in this war except maybe, our positive reputation with our allies.

We the People do need to make known how we feel about this war through signing petitions, writing directly to our representatives and senators, calling them, and attending a “no Kings” rally on Saturday.  Donald Trump and his white house toddler pool think we are all stupid, with him as the smartest guy anywhere, worthy of being king of the world.  We need to find ways to prove he and his handlers are wrong about that, and everything else too.  

ST. PATRICK’S DAY THOUGHTS

By Ruth A. Sheets

March 17, 2026

This morning I was “watching” the St. Patrick’s Day Parade” rerun on CBS Philly.  The parade has been held in Philadelphia since 1771.  That surprises people because we think that the Irish only came here in the 19^th century to build our railroads and because of the potato famine AFTER 1846.  That there was an active Irish community in Philadelphia before the signing of the Declaration of Independence is not usually part of our history lessons. 

We seem to like to put people and events into boxes that we can readily identify and fit those boxes on a timeline that we can easily follow, that is if we care at all. 

William Pen envisioned a colony, Pennsylvania where people of all backgrounds could come and live in peace.  He didn’t understand the Native peoples, but thought they should have a place too, as well as people from all over Europe.  He welcomed the first Germans in 1683 which opened the door to many future arrivals. 

The English came and settled all over Eastern North America, but they were joined almost from the beginning with Scots, Irish, French, and Swedes.

Enslaved peoples from Africa were brought here assumed to be illiterate “savages.”  In reality, many were Muslims who held an important world faith.  Others shared the faith of the peoples from which they came.  They may have been unaware of the ways of English people, but it became clear to anyone who paid attention that Black people were enormously talented, but their talents were used in service to white people whose faith not only permitted enslavement, but even promoted it. 

The white Christian faith of the time also permitted judgment of other people by their color, language, faith, country of origin, and other attributes which were categorized related to which were most relevant to the folks doing the judging. 

Despite the judgments, it is clear Philadelphia had an Irish community large enough to have a parade in the city 5 years before our attempt at independence.  I suspect at that time there were no signs that said “No Irish Need Apply” as one would find   75 or so years later.  I would imagine there were Black people watching the parade and appreciating the marchers too.  There was a significant free Black community in the city due to emancipation by former owners and sailors from ships docked in the harbor.  I suspect if we could check old records, we could find all sorts of other folks who settled here and helped shape this land even before our independence from Britain. 

For me it is tremendously sad that this nation’s people have decided to regularly elect people who do not appreciate our real history of diversity.  They prefer the white history that says since the founders were all white men this nation is just white men with the rest of us inferior to them because we have no history here that is worthy of mention. 

Nearly an entire political party, Republican, has chosen this “reasoning” and is sticking to it no matter the evidence to the contrary.  They see those who are not rich, white, and male as those to be used by themselves in whatever capacity they choose for us. 

• They want immigrants of color kicked out of the country.  They don’t realize just how much of the work those folks do and how much a part of our communities, even Philadelphia they are. 
• They want women to be in the home taking care of their hubby and popping babies as fast as possible to “replenish the white race” or something equally outrageous and insulting.  It’s fine to choose staying at home to do that,  but to be forced is criminal!  They have decided that teaching and nursing are not real “professions” of course, because the majority of those professinals are women.
• They want people of color to give up their high-level jobs to white men whenever white men come calling for that job.  We have seen what happens when such a scenario plays out.  The current Trumpian Regime has nominated and the Senate Republicans have approved the most incompetent set of white men in official government roles in our history.  The women they have approved are equally incompetent, but must look like Barbies and act like the inanimate doll too, and they do. 
• They want our “free press” to blurt out constant lies given to them by those incompetent white men and women in charge, I guess to make those ignoramuses seem somehow worthy of their positions.  They pretend the truth is not worth paying attention to, even when it involves the lives of our fellow Americans and immigrants who are our neighbors.  They arrest Black journalists, well, maybe just because they can, hoping no one will care.
• They give huge sums of money to anyone who will do their bidding and use their money and influence to bring more power and money to Trump and his entourage and toddler pool of white folks in government who have no clue.

So, this St. Patrick’s Day, we need to think about the rich heritage this nation holds and the many advances we have because of that great diversity.  Making enemies of those more talented than themselves means this Trumpian Regime is settling for what is often the worst of us instead of the rich talented diversity that is America.  If we don’t stop them, we all lose.  Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  See you next week at “No Kings 3.”

A CASE FOR IMPEACHMENT

By Ruth A. Sheets

March 2, 2026

Let’s face it, Donald Trump has dementia and no longer (if ever) abides by our Constitution, the founding document he swore to uphold and defend.  It seems a case for impeachment is appropriate at this moment.  In fact, a case for the impeachment of this entire Trump regime is strong.  Here are some of the charges I believe should be made against Trump and his Klan.  I identify Trump as the culprit, but he has been assisted by a wide range of sycophants and cabinet officials as well as many in our military and the rich oligarchs. 

• He has unleashed troops against American cities, our citizens as well as others legally residing here, even leading to murder and “accidental” death in numerous cases. 
• He has established concentration camp prisons for people arrested by ICE and the CBP (border patrol), which are run by contracted rich corporations who treat those incarcerated there as though they are slaves, even animals.
• He has appointed people to critical positions who are unqualified then threatened members of Congress if they didn't approve them.  Those appointees prove every day their incompetence and utter disdain for our Constitution and the American people. 
• He was an insurrectionist who now pretends that insurrection was some kind of act of love for this nation, after he pardoned the whole band of insurrectionists. 
• He threatens our ability to vote, trying to undermine all aspects of our constitutional right to vote, even pushing Republican legislators to pass unnecessary acts to stop people from voting, possibly getting the US Postal Service involved.
• He has attacked small boats in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific, killing around 140 people, claiming without evidence that they are drug smugglers, threatening the US even though those boats could not have reach the United States.
• He has attacked the sovereign state of Venezuela, kidnapping the President and First Lady of the nation, bringing them here, again with little to no evidence that they have been involved with smuggling drugs to the United States.
• He has threatened Cuba and stopped oil shipments and other necessities, which has put the lives of the people of Cuba at risk.  There is no stated goal for this cruelty.
• He has threatened numerous nations in the Western Hemisphere for US military intervention if they don’t comply with his demands.
• He has illegally accepted gifts, even quite expensive gifts from other nations (emoluments) which the Constitution explicitly forbids.
• He had the East Wing of the white house demolished without anyone’s permission even though he does not own the building and had no right to make changes without oversight.
• He and Elon Musk invented a group called DOGE that raided government buildings, stole our personal information, threatened employees, fired hundreds of thousands of Federal workers, dismissed the investigators who help to keep us safe by checking food and drug safety, aircraft and flight safety, shipping, imports, stopping diseases from impacting our people, and more.
• He has taken over the Department of Justice, installing an AG whose experience would not have prepared her for the job.  She was one of Trump’s personal lawyers, so she now has turned the DOJ into Trump’s personal revenge agency, firing anyone who doesn’t go along with it.
• He has approved the arrest of journalists for covering protests in Minneapolis because they are Black and were attempting to find out the truth about an ICE operative.  
•   And now, he and Netanyahu of Israel have started a war with Iran based on a lie about nuclear weapons, with no evidence, and no approval by Congress.  This is the same BS Bush,Jr. used to get us into a costly war with Iraq. 

Any one of these acts should have been grounds for impeachment, but this war on Iran, hooking up with Israel, a nation that is perpetrating Genocide on Palestinians, and bombing the capital of Iran, killing its leader and civilians, purposely to send a message to the Iranian leadership is the line that should never have been crossed.  How can this entire regime be permitted to remain in power.  The entire cadre needs to be impeached and immediately charged with high treason, then held accountable in our courts. 

We’ll see if Republicans have the guts to do the right thing for a change!  I hope they do before we start wars with more nations and our democracy fades into history.

WHERE DID THIS MESS COME FROM – A BRIEF HISTORY

By Ruth A. Sheets

We the People are living with a sizable political and social mess which didn’t begin with Donald Trump.  It is true he is incompetent, but he, alone, did not create this destructive anti-American cadre of incompetence, although he did release them on the people and institutions of this nation.

As I see it, so much of it began with Gerald Ford's pardoning of Richard Nixon, claiming pardoning a criminal for his actions while president would help to heal America.  The pardon told political operatives that a president, if properly groomed and paid off, can pardon anyone from Federal crimes.  Folks can complain but, pardons can’t be challenged.  In the wrong hands, as we have seen, a president can pardon insurrectionists if he can call them “patriots” or “heroes,” just don’t call them traitors.

Ronald Reagan seemed like such a "good guy," an actor, you know,” but he had little positive experience of governing.  He was a crappy governor of California, having law enforcement attack college student protesters.  He claimed illegal drug use and poverty as excuses to harm his fellow citizens and to give rich white men more power, a chunk at a time.  While in office, his efforts ended a lot of the support for California’s public universities, and cut property taxes for the very rich.  As president he encouraged big business to move into nearly every facet of life, giving them big tax cuts and the warped idea of “trickle-down economics,” if the rich got more money it would drip down to everyone else; it didn’t.”  He blamed people for needing welfare, claiming they were stealing from the American people (welfare queens).  Under Reagan, wages were cut and cost of living raises were not maintained.  Unions were “discouraged.”    

Bush Sr. went right along with the big business good program, even getting us into a war many thought was just great, giving lots of business to large corporations who would produce the weaponry needed for the war.  Racism got a boost too with the “Willie Horton” ad that “hinted” that Black men are unredeemable criminals.  Future president Donald ?Trump used that “theory” to take out an ad in the “New York Times” demanding the innocent Black men accused of the infamous Central Park murder, be put to death.  

Bush,Jr. was not actually "elected" by the popular vote, but with the electoral college, his brother in charge in Florida, and cheating just part of the way things are done in Florida,he became president, again no real experience of governing beyond signing death warrants in Texas.  Bush,Jr. got us into two wars and a major economic crisis (the Great Recession) that Democrats were required to clean up after, just as they had to do after his dad left office. 

The whole time, Republican presidents and members of Congress were being manipulated to blame all the ills of the world on Democrats, poor people of color in particular and immigrants whenever they could work it in.  They ran McCain in 2008, but his age and his pick of Palen as his running mate were marks against him.  The “Great Recession” didn't help him either. 

President Obama and VP Biden, inaugurated in 2009, got about 50 days to get the mess cleaned up.  That couldn’t happen because the crisis was deep and they had next to no support from Republicans.  Instead of giving the “bail-out” money to the homeowners, they paid the banks who had helped bring about the crisis and millions of people lost their homes.  Many are still trying to recover completely, 17 years later. 

Rich conservatives desperately looked for someone who could "relate" to the Republican base and would buy and spread the BS Republicans and the oligarchs were pushing.  They found their guy in Donald Trump, an incompetent rich white businessman who was manipulatable, hateful, resentful of everyone who had things he wanted and would do anything to acquire, in short, a child-man.  A show “The Apprentice” was built around him, an entire fraud.  It was sold as "reality TV," but it definitely was not reality.  Trump was a loose canon, but workable.   While campaigning in 2016, Trump would mouth the lies fed to him by the last guy to talk to him out of his collection of sycophants or from the voices on “Fox News.”  He didn't win the popular vote either, but the electoral college negated 3 million votes and he took office. 

Democrats were shut out of most of what was going on until 2019 when they took the House.  They did keep Trump and his crazies from doing more damage, but what Republicans had done was enormous:  cutting taxes massively for the very rich, allowing immigrant children to be separated from parents and thrown into cages on behalf of scared white guys who can't stand immigrants who are smarter, harder-working, and just all-'round “better” than they are.  Their Supreme Court picks were sycophants who would do what they were told, most of the time.  They mismanaged a pandemic and left the economy in shambles.  Lying was and still is the order of the day for Republicans in power. There seems nothing they won’t lie about!

Russell Vought, a rich nobody, and his whiny white friends at the Heritage Foundation wrote an anti-American white supremacist 900+ page diatribe called "Project 2025" during Biden's term to undermine our government, and turn Americans against each other solely for the benefit of the very rich, mostly white men with far too much money.  Then, I do believe that during the 4 years when Biden was working to make significant advances, particularly related to climate change, international relations, and transportation and general infrastructure, you know, the things America needs, The project 2025ers went to work to get a system in place for “stealing” the election in 2024, and keeping power permanently,  possibly practicing on certain races in 2022.  There is some evidence related to AI interference in "swing state" voting in 2024.  Democrats, fearing to be seen as just like Republicans whining over the 2020 election which Trump definitely lost, didn't challenge the results and allowed the project 2025ers into office to put their nefarious plans in place.  They should have been arrested the night they entered our departments claiming to be the DOGE, a non-existent government entity that was designed by Musk and friends to steal Americans' private information for his own benefit.  The lying, cheating, militarization, etc. continue. 

We are not helpless, despite Trump’s desire that we should be.  There are things we can do to clean up this mess!

1. Get everyone we know and even don't know to be sure they are registered to vote, signing them up NOW and encouraging them to vote in every election.

2. Pressure our media to report the truth.  For example, Ms. Good and Mr. Petty, in Minneapolis were murdered by an ICE operative and Border Patrol officers!  There is no real controversy, no mistake about that, despite Noem’s and Trump’s lies.   The liars need to be called out on their actions and lies, all the time on every social media platform, newspaper, NPR/PBS, and traditional network, as creatively and by as many people as possible.

3. Continue to protest the ICE and Border Patrol killings and abuse, in Minneapolis and in all our communities.  Report on the  bad treatment in the concentration camp prisons, so people will know that this evil is going on in our name and with our tax money. 

4. Write letters, make calls and sign petitions to lawmakers at all levels demanding they follow their oath of office and stop this Trumpian anti-Americanism.  

5. Do not lose hope, give up, or allow ourselves to think that Trump and his crazies are worthy of any respect beyond that of being human beings; they do not care what they are doing except that it will hurt people their boss Baby Donnie doesn't like.

6. Encourage a lot of people to read our Constitution over and over so we can knowledgeably demand our Congress start following and living by it and the oaths they swore.

 

Those are just a few things, each doing our little or big part to stop this Trumplican mess.  Trump has dementia and needs to be gone from office, but so do Vance and Trump’s handlers whose plot is to destroy this nation so their rich buddies can take over.  We don't have to allow it, so let’s not!

FACING OUR HISTORY

By Ruth A. Sheets

February 6, 2026

 As I listen to and contemplate current news briefs, I am reminded that doing harm to people white men don’t like, as ICE is being permitted to do, has been part of the American experience nearly from the beginning. 

 Slavery happened and Black people were the victims no matter how much white folks want to believe that enslavement saved Black people from ignorance and savagery and want to cut slavery from American history; it won’t happen!  After the Civil War and supposed freedom, in our south and in some northern locations too, Black men and women and their allies were lynched for wanting something better, more fair, more equal.  Those white perpetrators were extremely rarely held accountable.  White women and children came to sites of lynchings and cheered, jeered, and showed themselves and their white male perpetrators to be worse than anything those being lynched could possibly have done. 

People were killed for their faith at least as long as there have been “Christians” in this nation.  There have been reports of possible killings of Irish Catholics working on railroads in the middle 1800s.  KKKers targeted Catholics as well as Black Americans in the south and Chinese and Japanese were attacked for just being who they are, mostly in the West.  Then, there are the many Native Americans who were killed just because white men wanted their land and them gone.  The one thing these events have in common, white people, most of them men.   

 

Trump, Miller, and the rest of the white house white toddler pool have grabbed onto that "right" to be white and hateful, even murderous if they choose.  America until January 20, 2025 was better, but the strains of that old white male destruction are being revived and heard, even in the ICE recruitment ads.  I would bet those ICErs would be delighted to hang a few people and commit the same horrors their ancestors did to those who wanted their right to a piece of the pie.  They’ve already dragged innocent people face-down along the street, including a pregnant woman, smashed car windows, broken into homes, kidnapped people and sent them, even children and old people, into appalling prisons far from home and any legal defense.  They committed murder on several occasions while Donald Trump implies only 2 out of thousands is no big deal. 

Trump and his sycophants forget their heroes:  Trump, Miller, Musk, and a bunch of others have recent immigrant ties, Trump’s mother was not a citizen when he was born and his father a second generation American.  Miller’s Lineage in America is not long, neither is Musk’s (overstayed his visa).  The hypocrisy is astounding!  Those white men don’t care because, well, they’re just so special, you know! 

This country needs to face the reality of who we have been and what we want to become.  I know we don’t want to be what we were, particularly many white Americans don’t.  We have a responsibility to work hard to make things better for more than just the super rich white guys who want to rule.  We do need to be protesting in every way we can, doing our best to stop the violence against women and people of color, citizens and immigrants alike.  That's what we are called to do.

In our protests, we must do everything possible to keep our elections free and untrumped,  and ICE off our streets.  Our Congress needs to be held accountable, anyone in either party who supports ICE and the other things DHS is doing need to be unelected ASAP, every single one!  Some things we can do include:  watching for ICE in our streets, giving warnings, filming, and getting in the way whenever we can show this Trump regime we are done with their hate, anger, fear and resentments that lead to revenge.  We are not in a schoolyard with a bunch of toddleresque bullies; we are ordinary Americans and our allies who are tired of the Trumpian toxic garbage!  We are looking for quality adult leadership!

 

 

HOPE IN THE NEW YEAR

 By Ruth A. Sheets

The first month of the new year has passed and the political upheaval that began just over a year ago continues at an alarming pace.  We are not helpless!  Here are a few of my ideas to direct some of our efforts to stop this tyrannical takeover.  The Substacks I connect with regularly present actions we can take.  Here are a few of my responses, slightly modified in some cases to include more recent events.

  

Lilla, I like your idea of finding ways to educate the American people about the truth. We could do it

• through supposed innocuous advertisements by decent corporations and agencies, mentioning kindnesses people have done as part of their ads, giving a fact about our constitution and its amendments at the beginning or end of each ad, “did you know that . . .” 
• presenting cartoons with positive themes about immigrants and others who do good works to help the people of this nation and the world and make it "cool" to watch them and share them among young people.
• Introduce local scholarships for people who do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly, but not too humbly in this world.

We have to be creative now in what we do because the creeps have had a half-century+ to do their dirty work against our nation and the world.

 

David, I heard Eli Wiesel speak once and wondered how he, Victor Frankel, and so many others maintained hope in the face of what they had experienced in the Holocaust.  It makes me see that we have within us individually and in groups, the ability to not only sow hope, but also to live it ourselves, making connections with people to keep us/them from losing hart and falling into the chasm of hatred, fear, unchecked anger, and utter cruelty that feed the fascists and other authoritarians who want only power to keep people under their thumb to get whatever they want with impunity.  We need to become the actors, as Bernie Sanders, AOC, and so many progressives have done, speaking, writing, drawing, composing works that can break through the walls that fascists and others build.   Hiding our heads and pretending none of this matters and there is nothing we can do is not acceptable. 

 

Joseph the challenge is that we don't all have the same idea of what it means to be "a good person" or virtuous.  For Trump and his toddler pool, it is to get as rich as possible, stepping on whoever happens to be in the way of their accumulation of money and power.  People who want to just be rich as their life's goal think a good person is one who can do whatever it takes and not look back.  I think we can put out some portraits of what it means to be a person of virtue, "a good person" through children’s books, articles, posters, Tee-shirts, and social media directed toward young people.  We can include civics education in our schools from Kindergarten through college, incorporating it through reading, science, and social studies, even math with material at each child’s learning level, making lessons fun and compelling.  We can emphasize, in our news and entertainment programs, people who have done positive things that matter, large or small (skipping quickly over those who are not people of virtue instead of dwelling on them).  We could do this through a campaign , pushing networks, social media platforms, and even NPR/PBS to stop putting Trump’s various actions and his name as the first thing on all of their news reports; he isn't worthy of the honor, particularly when he has done something illegal, like bombing boats in international waters, kidnapping the president of Venezuela, and threatening to invade other nations.  Cover these, but only with facts, reminding people that these are wrong actions. 

 

Marc, It can be pretty dark now, but we will come out on the other side of this as a different nation, hopefully for the good. Again neighbors are helping neighbors and many on our courts are working to stop the insanities of this regime. It is giving us a good look at those who do not value this nation, our constitution, and our laws. We need to focus on them to see who they are, what they are doing, and how they can be redirected. The oligarchs need to be addressed directly with higher taxes on all their wealth as well as their corporations. Having too much, as they do is bad for everyone. We could make a big difference on how this insanity is moved out.  We all need to stay vigilant and peaceful, protesting whenever we can and encourage others to protest with us no matter the obstacles. Courage, our values,  and our Constitution should be our guides.  Hope should give us what we need to keep moving forward.

 

It’s time more effort is placed on covering the actual courage being displayed in our nation, and it isn’t in the white house or among ICE or the Border Patrol.  Kudos to the people of Minneapolis for weathering the bitter cold to stand up to Trump’s paramilitary thugs.  Thanks to people all  over the country who are finding their voice and courage to protest in the face of this Trumpian regime.  Keep in mind the next “No Kings” event is set for March 28^th.  I hope to see you there in person or in spirit!

WHAT WILL WE DO AS AMERICANS?

 

By Ruth A. Sheets

January 21, 2026

This morning Robert Reich presented a challenging “Office Hours” in his Substack column.  He asked what we would risk “to counter ICE’s Bullying and Brutality?”  He gave 4 choices from “doing nothing” (writing to members of congress and signing petitions) to putting one’s life on the line.  I was not the only respondent who had some difficulty with this question.  Issues of racism, immigrants, and ignorance came up as one would expect.  These are some of my thoughts on this question. 

To one comment, I said, how terribly sad that whole communities have chosen to teach and curate hatred of anything they don't understand or fear instead of working together to understand and include.  There is value for some in this kind of negative behavior performed while claiming a religious faith that demands love and inclusion as well as service.  It helps some people to believe in their own superiority. It is a deeply engrained hypocrisy that has for many, become normalized.  Trump is just the most current practitioner, the con artist who sets one group against another and models how to do it while looking like the "good guy" just passing on the  secrets of life.  It seems We the People, or at least the part of us that cares about this nation will have to stand en masse to show others that they don't have to build their lives on hatred, dismissal of others,  and ignorance unless they choose, and it is  a choice.  Trump will never stop his conning ignorance because dementia does that to a person, but We the People can help each other become more like the people we claim we are.    

Compliance was a topic because of the way a lot of Republicans, white people in power, and some others have “obeyed in advance” to the illegal orders and actions of Trump and those around him.  My response to that is, people who so easily comply and go along with what the rest of us know is nonsense do it because they think it is what their group expects of them.  If they don't, they won't be accepted by that group, for them, a disaster.  We so often teach our children to comply "because I said so" and forget in our frustration that an explanation is necessary, if not at that moment, shortly afterward.  Women are groomed and threatened into compliance from birth and it is amazing that so many of us manage to break out and say "no."  Peer pressure is enormous in most people's lives and unfortunately those peers who are bullies and bad actors get by far the most attention and coverage.  Just look at our media to see how this works in real time.  Trump was often covered far more than Obama or Biden when they were actually president.  Those who are most susceptible definitely took notice and got the message that Trump was something special or the media wouldn’t cover him so much, and their loyalty went directly to him.  It still rests there no matter how much those people suffer from Trump's actions.  I do not believe these people are stupid, just willing to follow what is expected of them with as little fuss as possible.  We encourage that kind of compliance and blame people who don't comply as being "bad mothers" or "absent fathers" or "troublemakers" or whatever term those doing the manipulating come up with to shame people back into line.  Thank goodness there have always been people who would resist that shaming and called it what it is "BS."  We need more of that standing up right now, but without insulting too badly, those who have been cowed by the social pressures to conform and comply. 

Related to the many comments about the Trumpian treatment of immigrants, I said, yes, immigrants have always been America's strength, but rarely seen as that until the masses had become used to their presence, their accent as it disappeared, and their different customs.  Unfortunately, many Americans never allowed themselves to "get used to" Black and Native Americans, possibly because those folks had been present here from the beginning.  It was so hard for people who had been groomed to believe in the inferiority of Black and Native peoples, to readjust to the fact that they are at least as intelligent and capable as white folks and due to appalling treatment over the years had become even more resourceful in their efforts to survive.  It seems a whole lot of people like believing in their own superiority and will do nearly anything to keep that false idea alive and kicking.  We saw that on full display in the 2024 election when a woman of color who was eminently qualified ran for president.  I am sure there was some fraud perpetrated by Musk and his AIers, but if the same number of Democrats had come out to vote as had in 2020 for Biden, the Musk cheating would have been obvious and caught.  They didn't and despite all their whining about something or other, the real reason was racism and misogyny, the deep-seated need to keep a woman of color out of high office.  I am guessing we don't think about it much, but it is there and part of nearly everything white people do.  I taught in a disadvantaged school district with about 85% of the students Black, Hispanic, and other people of color.  I told them that it was likely I, as a white woman, would do or say something racist in my time with them, even though unintended because that is how endemic racism works.  I asked them to tell me if/when I did.  I don't know if I did because they never said anything, but I did know it was a definite possibility that racism would raise its ugly head at times.  The mostly white men recruited for ICE are guaranteed steeped in the racism that is endemic and are encouraged by their "leaders" to grow it and use it to "identify" immigrants of color they can snatch (kidnap) and drag off to the prisons that they are told those people deserve for daring to come into this supposedly "white country."  It is clear this is racism and also that our Supreme Court's Roberts 6 embody that racism, even Thomas whom one would think should know better.  ICE operatives are permitted to whine "I was scared for my life" as they murder and brutalize people when they are the only ones armed, masked, and wearing combat gear.  Does that mean white men are more easily damaged than unarmed people of color?  Inquiring minds want to know.   

This issue will not go away.  I am hoping Congress will be sick of the anti-American behavior of ICE and Sec. Noem of the Dept. of Homeland Security, and will totally defund and disband ICE.  ICE is a menace and we all need to think of how we will respond if/when they show up at our door.