Tag: Authoritarianism in America

Regulations — the favorite punching bag of every guy with a yacht, a tax shelter, and a Twitter account where he posts photos of himself holding a sink. Conservatives talk about “cutting red tape” like it’s a noble crusade. But let’s be clear: that “red tape” is the thing keeping your drinking water from giving you superpowers (the bad kind), your mortgage from vanishing overnight, and your kid’s breakfast cereal from containing uranium dust.

But go ahead, tell me more about how deregulation creates jobs.

Spoiler: It doesn’t. Not unless you count “hazmat cleanup” as a booming industry.

Let’s talk about what happens when the rules get tossed out the window and the market is left to its own “invisible hand” — which, by the way, seems to mostly punch downward.

Love Canal, Times Beach, and the entire premise of Erin Brockovich didn’t just happen in a vacuum. These weren’t just “bad actors.” These were the results of industry being trusted to “self-regulate.” That’s corporate-speak for “We pinky promise not to poison anyone, unless it’s more profitable to do so.”

Or how about Texas in 2021, when deregulated energy markets left people literally frozen in their homes while energy companies raked in record profits. “Freedom!” isn’t so free if you’re boiling snow for water.

But let’s fast-forward to one of the biggest deregulation bonanzas of our time: the 2008 financial crisis.

Here’s the short version: In the late ‘90s and early 2000s, a toxic cocktail of deregulation hit the financial sector. The Glass-Steagall Act — which had kept commercial banking separate from investment banking since the Great Depression — was repealed. Wall Street was unleashed to invent all sorts of creative financial “products” that even the people selling them didn’t understand. Mortgage-backed securities, credit default swaps, subprime loans — basically, casino chips backed by the hopes and dreams of people just trying to buy a house.

The result? A speculative bubble inflated by fraud, greed, and a total lack of oversight. Then it popped. Hard. Millions lost their homes. Millions more lost jobs, savings, retirements. Meanwhile, the banks that caused the crisis? Got bailed out. CEOs got bonuses. You got a recession.

And that, my friends, is the magic of deregulation.

Now let’s talk nuclear power — because nothing says “trust us” like radio active isotopes.

Ask the folks who lived through Chernobyl or Fukushima what happens when safety gets sacrificed for profits. In Japan, the Fukushima meltdown wasn’t just a natural disaster — it was a regulatory disaster. Investigations later revealed that warnings were ignored, risks were downplayed, and the industry was basically policing itself. Spoiler: It wasn’t.

And before you say, “Well, that’s overseas,” remember that Three Mile Island happened here. In Pennsylvania. In the land of “free markets” and “innovation.” The partial meltdown was a wake-up call that regulations — inconvenient as they may be for the profit margin — are the only thing keeping us from glowing in the dark.

And now: Your Brain on Deregulation – But why stop at the environment or the economy? Let’s move on to the brains of our children — brought to you by deregulated tech bros who totally care about your kids.

Social media platforms — yes, those unregulated dopamine slot machines in your pocket — have become the modern-day equivalent of lead paint for your kid’s brain. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube — they’re all designed to keep users scrolling, clicking, comparing, consuming. And since there are basically no rules, they’ll shove whatever content keeps eyeballs glued to the screen: disinformation, conspiracy theories, body image nightmares, cyberbullying, and literal teen mental health crises.

And what do the CEOs say when they’re dragged in front of Congress? “We’re committed to safety.” Sure. Just as long as it doesn’t interfere with quarterly earnings.

There’s a reason the people who build these platforms don’t let their own kids use them.

These aren’t accidents. These are results. These are the logical endgame of removing every safety net under the guise of “freedom.” Spoiler: it’s not your freedom they care about. It’s theirs — to profit, pollute, and never face consequences.

Enter Elon Musk: a man who wants to colonize Mars, but thinks Earth has too many rules.

In 2023, he proposed “zeroing out regulations,” as if we’re all just one IRS form away from becoming SpaceX engineers. But let’s be honest: this isn’t a libertarian thought experiment — this is a billionaire looking for a cheat code.

Because here’s the truth: deregulation doesn’t hurt people like Musk. He’s not living next to the factory spewing out mystery fumes. He’s not drinking from the contaminated well. He’s not working the night shift with no OSHA oversight and no air conditioning. He’s tweeting about “freedom” from a private jet while ordinary people are left to clean up the mess.

And when things go wrong — and they always do — he won’t be the one left holding the bag. You will. Your community. Your lungs. Your savings. Your future.

So here’s a challenge:
Name one federal regulation that, if repealed, would make your life better.

Go on, I’ll wait.

Because most regulations exist for a reason. They were born from hard lessons and real suffering. Clean Air Act? That came after skies were filled with smog and kids had asthma by age six. Financial regulations? We learned what happens when you don’t have them. Labor laws? Your 40-hour week and weekends didn’t come from corporate generosity — they came from regulation.

What the right calls “red tape,” the rest of us call protection — from exploitation, from pollution, from economic collapse. It’s the guardrail between you and the abyss.

The Bottom Line is that Deregulation isn’t about helping you. It’s about freeing the powerful from responsibility. It’s about letting the few do whatever they want while the rest of us carry the cost — in our paychecks, our health, our environment.

So when someone tries to sell you on “less government, more freedom,” ask them: whose freedom are we talking about? Because if it’s the freedom to dump toxins in your backyard, crash the economy, and walk away richer, that’s not freedom. That’s theft.

Regulation isn’t the enemy of prosperity. It’s the reason prosperity is even possible for people who don’t have lobbyists. It’s the only thing standing between corporate power and the rest of us. And frankly, we need more of it — smarter, stronger, and unapologetically on the side of public good.

So yes. We love regulations.

And once you’ve lived through a world without them?
You will too.

There’s a saying that’s been floating around for years — maybe you’ve heard it: “You can’t fix stupid.” Well, after the Trump era, we can confirm that not only can’t you fix it — you also can’t reason with it, debate it, or even Google it out of someone’s brain.

My father once joked, “I’ve made up my mind, don’t confuse me with the facts.” We laughed. Oh, how we laughed. What a funny little one-liner! Then came MAGA, and suddenly that offhand quip wasn’t a joke anymore — it was a political platform. It was policy. It was the default setting of millions of Americans, all running on the same glitchy software: fact-resistant nationalism 1.0.

Let’s be clear: we’re not talking about innocent misunderstanding here. We’re not talking about Uncle Joe who thinks the moon landing was filmed in a parking lot. No, this is next-level. This is a systemic refusal to believe anything that doesn’t come from a red-hatted, blue-checked Twitter account or a guy in a suit yelling into a camera about how wind turbines are causing cancer.

When presented with hard facts — say, a unanimous 9-0 Supreme Court decision smacking down a Trump policy — the Trump team didn’t even flinch. No pivot, no apology, not even a polite “we disagree with the Court.” Nope. They held a press conference in the Oval Office, and Steven Miller stood there like some kind of haunted ventriloquist dummy and told the nation, with the straight face of a man who’s never once blinked in his life, that they had actually won. Vindicated! Triumphant! Black is white! Up is down! Cats are dogs! War is peace! And don’t you dare ask questions, or you’re the problem.

This isn’t just confirmation bias. This is gaslighting on a national scale. It’s the political version of “Don’t believe your eyes, believe me.” They lie so boldly, so shamelessly, that some people start to wonder if maybe they’re the ones who got it wrong. (Spoiler: they didn’t.)

The MAGA movement perfected the art of turning delusion into doctrine. The strategy? Simple:

1. Say something wildly false.
2. Say it louder.
3. Repeat it until your followers believe it, the media reports it, and the rest of us are too exhausted to argue anymore.

And if that doesn’t work? Just accuse your critics of doing the thing you’re actually doing. Rigging elections? Check. Politicizing the justice system? Check. Undermining democracy? Triple check. It’s like watching a toddler knock over a vase and then cry because you did it.

What makes this dangerous — more than just frustrating — is that this isn’t a bug. It’s the feature. It’s how fascism works. First, you destroy trust in institutions. Then you create your own alternate reality. Then you punish anyone who tries to leave the cult.

We are not in a policy debate anymore. We are not arguing over tax brackets or zoning laws. We are standing at the edge of something far more serious: a coordinated attempt to replace democracy with authoritarian rule — and to do it while telling you it’s for your own good.

And yes, we can joke. We should joke. Humor is a survival skill. It’s how we stay sane when surrounded by people who genuinely believe JFK Jr. is coming back to run as Trump’s VP. But we cannot afford to dismiss this as just “stupidity.”

Because stupidity can be laughed off. This? This is strategy. This is propaganda. This is how you overthrow a country in broad daylight — not with tanks, but with talk shows. Not by silencing dissent, but by flooding the zone with so much nonsense that truth itself becomes irrelevant.

So yes, you can’t cure stupid. But you can outvote it. You can outnumber it. You can call it out, confront it, and refuse to normalize it. And most importantly, you can recognize that beneath all the chaos, confusion, and conspiracy theories lies a very clear goal: absolute power.

And if we don’t stop it now, we may not get the chance again.

What is conservatism, exactly?

Depending on who you ask, it’s either a noble defense of American tradition… or a never-ending tantrum about the modern world. But let’s break it down.

Some say it’s about preserving tradition. Others think it’s about limited government. To hear Fox News tell it, it’s about loving your country so hard you hate half the people in it. Sounds great, right? Very official. Very flag-pin-on-the-lapel energy. But when you peel back the bumper stickers and catchphrases, what conservatism actually stands for is pretty simple: power for the few, distraction for the many, and a deep, abiding fear of change.

So let’s take a peek behind the slogans.

The Myth of Small Government

Conservatives love to say they believe in “small government.” It’s right there on the box, like a marketing label: Now with 20% less regulation! But let’s be real — nobody actually wants small government. What people want is effective government.

Can you name a federal regulation that would make your life better if it was repealed?

You know what small government looks like? It looks like crumbling infrastructure, underfunded schools, no response when disaster hits, and a public health system so broken that a preventable virus can kill over a million Americans while half the country argues over whether masks are a liberal conspiracy. Can you name a federal regulation that would make your life better if it was repealed?

And the kicker? Conservatives don’t even practice what they preach. They slash welfare programs, but balloon military spending. They want government out of healthcare, but all up in your uterus. They hate “big government” right up until it’s handing out tax breaks to billionaires, bailing out banks, or deploying federal agents to tear-gas protesters. That’s not small government. That’s government for them, not you.

Fiscal responsibility? Please. Republicans haven’t balanced a budget since cassette tapes were popular. The national debt exploded under Reagan. It skyrocketed under Bush. Trump inherited a growing economy and still managed to tack on nearly $8 trillion in new debt — before COVID even entered the Signal chat. But sure, tell me more about how Democrats are bankrupting America because someone on food stamps bought a box of cereal.

Family values? You mean the party of hush money payments, family separation at the border, and Supreme Court justices who think their religion should dictate your uterus? Got it.

“Family values” is another one of those phrases that sounds great on paper. Who doesn’t love families? Who doesn’t want values?  But in conservative politics, “family values” usually means one thing: control. Control over women’s bodies. Control over what kids learn in school. Control over who gets to be a family in the first place.

It’s always “about the children”… until they’re actually born. Then it’s: No paid maternity leave. No subsidized childcare. No universal pre-K. And God forbid you need food assistance — suddenly your “choice” (forced) to have a baby is your financial burden to carry alone.

They love to shout “adoption is the answer!” but how many of them are lined up to be foster parents? Spoiler: not many. The foster system is overloaded, underfunded, and full of children the “family values” crowd never seems to mention once the headlines move on.

Conservatives are too busy banning books and drag shows to fight for actual child safety. Their “values” begin and end with controlling what people can do, say or believe.

Personal responsibility? Sure. Unless we’re talking about gun violence, climate change, corporate pollution, Wall Street bailouts, opioid manufacturers, tax-dodging billionaires, or… well, anything that actually requires responsibility. Then suddenly, it’s everyone else’s fault.

Now, let’s talk about what conservatism has actually done for America. And… that’s the sound of crickets.

Meanwhile, everything that makes this country better — you know, the stuff that actually improves people’s lives — was brought to you by progressives, liberals, and civil rights activists who were told, at the time, that they were ruining the country:

Social Security Medicare, Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Minimum wage, The 40-hour workweek, Public education, Interstate highways, defeated the Nazis, (You’re welcome).

Child labor laws? Brought to you by the people who don’t think 8-year-olds belonged in coal mines.

Conservatives didn’t fight for those things. They fought against them. Tooth and nail. And they lost — because progress always wins, eventually.

Political Violence — Let’s Talk Facts

Let’s address the elephant in the room (and no, not the GOP mascot — though close): political violence in America overwhelmingly comes from the right.

We’re not talking about protests or mean tweets. We’re talking about actual violence — threats, plots, attacks, assassinations. The FBI and DHS have consistently reported for years that the biggest domestic terrorism threat in this country isn’t Antifa or BLM. It’s right-wing extremism.

Storming the Capitol, Plotting to kidnap a sitting governor, Mass shootings with manifestos echoing Tucker Carlson talking points, Threatening school boards, election workers, and librarians? All coming from the same direction.

And yet, somehow, we’re told that the real threat is teachers who say “gay” in a classroom or a Target display during Pride month. It’s a classic bait-and-switch — distract the public with manufactured outrage while ignoring the armed men in tactical gear who think democracy is about who has the most ammo.

So if conservatism isn’t really about facts, or fiscal responsibility, or actual values that help people… what is it?

It’s a vibe. It’s a culture war. It’s fear, dressed up in patriotism and packaged nightly by Fox News and sold by billionaire puppet-masters who know that as long as you’re busy blaming immigrants, drag queens, or Colin Kaepernick, you’re not asking why your rent’s too high, your job has no benefits, and your insulin costs more than your car.

This Isn’t Left vs. Right. It’s Bottom vs. Top.

See, progress isn’t a left vs. right issue. It’s bottom vs. top. It’s us — the 99% — vs. the handful of people hoarding the power and the wealth while they tell us to fight each other over bathroom signs and books in school libraries.  The culture war is a smokescreen. It’s easier to get you to hate drag queens than ask why your wages haven’t gone up in a decade. It’s easier to fear immigrants than question why billionaires pay less in taxes than teachers. That’s not an accident — it’s strategy.

But here’s the thing: most people — conservative, liberal, independent, undecided, uninformed, or just tired — want the same basic things. Safety. Opportunity. Dignity. A fair shot. A better future for their kids. And we can get there — but not if we keep falling for this divide-and-conquer scam.

So next time someone tells you “conservatives stand for traditional values,” ask them which ones. Because if your values depend on who you get to exclude, oppress, or ignore — they’re not values. They’re insecurities with a flag sticker slapped on them.

America doesn’t need to go back. It needs to grow up.

And that’s a value worth standing for.

by Rob C

Art by 

Get my New Book “Democracy for Sale” How Corporate Greed is Destroying Democracy and Endangering the Planet – available @ Democracy4Sale.com or on Amazon and booksellers everywhere.

The Constitution of the United States — that quaint little document we all learned about in school, between throwing spit balls and drawing on th desk. Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, due process, free speech — yeah, that stuff. The masterpiece of Enlightenment thinking that our country was founded on, but who needs that when we’ve got king Trump.

The Trump administration made one thing crystal clear: constitutional rights are not for everyone. Not anymore. Why cling to dusty old ideals like “due process” or “freedom of speech” when we could be embracing the exciting new model of conditional liberty?  Those are now privileges — selectively handed out based on your immigration status, your politics, and how loudly you applaud during a flag-waving photo op.

Take political dissent, for instance. What used to be considered the bedrock of a healthy democracy is now — thanks to the magic of administrative fiat — grounds for deportation. Speak out, criticize, or attend the wrong protest, and suddenly your visa disappears faster than a campaign promise. Legal residents — people here lawfully — have been disappeared simply for criticizing the administration. No trial, no hearing, just gone. You might even get a complimentary flight to a prison in a country you’ve never been to or fled in the first place. Don’t worry though, it’s all very efficient (not really), on your taxpayer-dollars.

Of course, some folks will shrug and say, “Well, that’s just happening to illegals and gang members.” You know, the bad guys. The ones we just know are guilty because… well, because someone said so. Probably in all caps. On Twitter. By a guy with a flag emoji in his username. But without due process, how do we know that? We don’t. And that’s the point. The administration accuses, and that’s all it takes. No evidence required. No defense allowed.

And the rest of us? Too many are silent. Maybe because they think it won’t affect them. But let’s be honest — if freedom of speech only applies when you agree with the government, it’s not freedom. It’s obedience.

The surveillance state thanks you for your cooperation. Remember that old quote: “They came for the trade unionists, but I wasn’t one of those, so I said nothing”… That’s not just history. That’s a warning. Today it’s immigrants and dissenters. Tomorrow it could be you.

But here’s the thing about due process: it’s not just a bureaucratic nicety. It’s the only thing standing between justice and tryanny. Without it, accusations become convictions, opinions become evidence, and the truth becomes… whatever serves the moment. And if that doesn’t bother you, congratulations — you’re the reason it’s working.

If we don’t defend rights for everyone, they’ll mean nothing for anyone.

by Rob C

Art by Signe Wilkison

Get the new book @ Democracy4Sale.com

Let’s get something straight right out of the gate: Donald J. Trump is not a monster. That would imply a level of mythic menace he frankly hasn’t earned. No, Trump is a man—a man who, like a slightly overgrown theater kid who never got the lead role, craves attention, validation, and applause more than your average Golden Retriever on Red Bull. He’s a bit narcissistic (okay, more than a bit), a tad detached from reality (we’re being kind here), but fundamentally? He just wants to be loved. Or at least obeyed. Or maybe just retweeted.

Yes, he’s got the subtlety of a wrecking ball and the self-awareness of a houseplant, but his thirst for approval is almost… endearing, in a tragic sort of way. If he weren’t playing dress-up with nuclear codes and democratic norms, he might’ve made a solid game show host. Oh, wait.

Trump’s Imaginary Friends: “John Barron” Will See You Now

Before he was the self-declared “stable genius” in the White House, Donald Trump was already proving his talents as a one-man PR department—literally. Back in the 1980s and 90s, Trump would call up reporters pretending to be someone else entirely—most famously under the pseudonyms John Barron and John Miller—to gush about how fabulous Donald Trump was. Because when the media isn’t fawning over you enough, why not do it yourself in a fake voice?

In one now-infamous 1991 recording obtained by The Washington Post, “John Miller” just happens to sound exactly like Trump. And wouldn’t you know it—this totally-not-Donald-Trump guy was calling up reporters to spill inside dirt on Trump’s love life, his wealth, and how basically every woman in Manhattan wanted to date him. How convenient.

When pressed on it years later, Trump denied it was him. But, oops—he had already admitted under oath in a 1990 court case that he had used the name “John Barron” before. It’s a little hard to keep your lies straight when your alter ego is on the legal record.

Journalist David Cay Johnston, in his book The Making of Donald Trump, covers this bizarre chapter in detail. He describes how Trump routinely manufactured media attention, inflating his net worth, popularity, and desirability with the help of his trusty imaginary friends. It was like playing make-believe, but with real estate and national news coverage.

It’s almost cute—like a child putting on a puppet show to get attention. Except the child is a grown man who somehow ended up controlling America’s nuclear codes.

But here’s the thing: the real danger isn’t the man waving his arms on stage shouting about crowd size and toilet flushes. It’s the people behind the curtain—the ones whispering into his ear, stroking his ego, telling him he’s not just right but chosen. These are not needy showmen or reality TV relics. These are people who know exactly what they’re doing. And that? That’s where things get dark.

Take Stephen Miller, for instance. If Voldemort and a DMV line had a baby, it might resemble the dead-eyed architect of the family separation policy. He didn’t just implement cruelty—he delighted in it. The suffering of children at the border wasn’t a bug of the system. It was the feature. Miller doesn’t see crying toddlers as human beings. He sees them as threats to a mythical “Western civilization” he apparently learned about from a very racist storybook.

Then there’s Russ Vought, the quiet little ideologue behind Project 2025, the charming little manifesto aimed at replacing constitutional democracy with a theocratic autocracy. It’s a plan to gut the federal government and replace it with purity tests—religious, ideological, and let’s be honest, probably racial too. You know, just good ol’ American values, if America was founded by the Handmaid’s Tale writers.

And of course, Steve Bannon, the man who looks like he crawled out of a haunted whiskey barrel. Bannon doesn’t hide his goals. He brags about them. He wants a permanent Trump presidency—two terms, three, five, however many it takes to finish the “deconstruction of the administrative state,” which is fancy talk for demolishing every institution that stops men like him from turning the country into a white-nationalist fever dream. The Constitution? Cute. The 22nd Amendment? Optional, apparently.

Now, normally, you’d have safeguards. The FBI, for instance, does background checks to ensure key officials aren’t compromised by foreign powers or personal vulnerabilities. Little things like massive debt, blackmail potential, ties to foreign adversaries. You know—minor stuff. But under Trump, those background checks… Gone. Instead, we got Kash Patel—a man with as much experience in federal law enforcement as your neighbor’s dog—and a penchant for conspiracy theories and enemies lists that make Alien Lizard People look like peer-reviewed science.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: a man as emotionally stunted, praise-hungry, and validation-dependent as Trump doesn’t need to be a genius or a plotter. He just needs to be in the room. The dangerous ones are those who know how to manipulate someone like him—who feed his fantasy, his delusions, his endless need to feel powerful, adored or feared.

Trump may not be a monster, but he is the perfect vessel for them. A man hollowed out by decades of insecurity, obsessed with his image, desperate to prove himself to a world he thinks laughed at him—and easily swayed by flattery, fear, or force. And with long-standing ties to people like Vladimir Putin, dating back to at least 1987, it’s not hard to see why many believe he’s been compromised. That’s not a conspiracy. That’s just reading the room.

So no, Trump is not a monster. But maybe that’s not the cause of relief it might seem.
A monster you can fight.  A man doesn’t have to be evil to be manipulated by monsters.

That’s where the real horror begins.

This is not politics as usual. This is not a moment for detached analysis or passive observation. What is happening right now under the Trump Administration is an existential threat to the Constitution, to civil liberties, and to the very foundation of American democracy.

We are witnessing the unlawful detention and forced disappearance of American citizens—protesters, students, journalists—simply for exercising their First Amendment rights. People are being pulled off the streets by federal agents with no identifying insignia, transported across state lines, held without charges, denied access to legal counsel, and in some cases, reportedly transferred to secret facilities in Louisiana, with speculation that they may be handed over to foreign governments. This is not speculation or hyperbole—it’s a violation of constitutional law, human rights, and every principle this nation was built on.

This is not America. Or rather, it is becoming a version of America we once claimed we would never allow.

The Collapse of Due Process

The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution guarantee that no person shall be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” That means fair notice. That means a chance to defend yourself in court. That means a lawyer. That means protections from arbitrary imprisonment and government abuse.

Without due process, there is no freedom. There is only power—unchecked, unchallenged, and brutal.

What the Trump administration is doing now—snatching people from protests and denying them their rights—is not just illegal. It is authoritarian. It is textbook fascism.

Criminalizing Dissent

Let’s be absolutely clear: these people are not criminals. They are American citizens, legal residents, and student visa holders. They are exercising their constitutional rights to speak freely, to assemble peacefully, to petition their government. And they are being targeted for it.

Because this administration doesn’t care what the Constitution says. It cares only about loyalty. About obedience. About silencing those who dissent.

We’ve seen this tactic before—just not here. Secret detentions. Threats to journalists. Criminal investigations of political enemies. It’s the playbook of authoritarian regimes across the globe. But now it’s happening here, under the banner of “law and order” and “national security.”

“First They Came…”

“First they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

There’s a reason Pastor Martin Niemöller’s words still echo nearly a century later:

We must speak now. Because we are seeing the beginning of something profoundly dangerous. The rapid erosion of civil liberties. The normalization of political persecution. The quiet, deliberate dismantling of democracy.

This is a five-alarm fire.

If the Constitution is to mean anything—if it is to be more than just a piece of parchment behind glass—then it must be defended, especially now, when it is being shredded in plain sight. The Constitution Is Not a Suggestion!

The Trump Administration has already shown us who it is. It has attacked the judiciary, defied congressional subpoenas, pardoned its allies, encouraged political violence, and now, it is detaining and disappearing its critics.

What more do we need to see?

We Must Not Go Quietly

This moment demands courage. It demands resistance—not just from activists, but from every American who believes in the rule of law, in human rights, in freedom. If the courts don’t act. If Congress doesn’t act. We, the people, must act!

Because once the machinery of authoritarianism is built, it will not stop on its own. It must be dismantled by the people it seeks to silence.

And that means raising our voices, showing up, documenting everything, protecting each other, and refusing to accept this as normal.

This is not normal. This is the line in the sand!

Do not go quietly. Not now. Not ever.

by Robert Cain

(Image credit: Bill Bramhall | Copyright 2022 Tribune Content Agency

In the grand theater of political maneuvering, few acts are as audacious as accusing your adversaries of the very transgressions you’re committing. Enter Donald J. Trump, the maestro of projection, who has elevated this tactic to an art form.

Trump has vociferously accused President Biden of “weaponizing” the Justice Department. Yet, in a move dripping with irony, Attorney General Pam Bondi, a staunch Trump loyalist, has initiated investigations into law firms that previously represented opponents of Trump. These firms are now under scrutiny, with some being coerced into providing pro bono services to support Trump’s initiatives. The American Bar Association has decried these actions as an assault on the legal profession and democratic norms.

Big, Beautiful Double Standards! Remember the uproar over Hillary Clinton’s private email server? Trump lambasted her for jeopardizing national security. Fast forward, and we find Trump himself under investigation for removing classified documents from the White House to his private residence. The FBI’s inquiry into this determined that he had jepordized our national security, but yeah, Hiliries emails.

“Lying Adam Schiff,” Trump sneers, targeting the congressman who led investigations into his conduct. Yet, this comes from a man whose falsehoods are so prolific that fact-checkers have dedicated extensive resources to cataloging them. The House’s censure of Schiff over his comments on Trump-Russia investigations adds another layer to this complex narrative.

Election Integrity? As long as Trump wins. Trump’s cries of election fraud are legendary. Post-2020, approximately 60 judges, including those he appointed, dismissed his claims as baseless. During the 2024 campaign, his declaration, “I don’t need your votes, I have plenty of votes,” and “you’ll never have to vote again” raised eyebrows and questions about the integrity of his campaign strategies, but was it just the rantings of an unstable genius? or was it insider information about the outcome of the election?

Enter The Election Truth Alliance (ETA), a non-partisan watchdog, conducted an analysis of the 2024 elections. Focusing initially on Clark County, Nevada, the ETA utilized the county’s Cast Vote Record (CVR) data, which provides a ballot-by-ballot account of votes cast without revealing voter identities. Their methodology involved acquiring official data, meticulous data cleanup, and rigorous analysis to identify unexpected trends. Preliminary findings in Clark County’s early voting data revealed concerning indicators of potential vote manipulation, absent in mail-in or Election Day data. These anomalies prompted the ETA to recommend further investigations into the integrity of the voting process. I know that these guys are just computer nerds but the data shows serious evidence of tabulation manipulation. Tabulators are where voting machines send their voting data. If an algorithm was to change votes just enough to create a win for Trump, without triggering a manditory recount, the data would look just like that in the 7 swing states, but the data anomilies weren’t present in the others. Coinsidence?

November Surprises – The 2024 Senate races delivered unexpected outcomes as well, with Republicans flipping four seats to secure a majority. Notably, several races defied polling predictions, leading to speculation about underlying factors influencing these results. For instance, in Pennsylvania, Democrat Bob Casey was projected to win but narrowly lost to Republican David McCormick by 0.3 points—a 3.7-point polling error. Such discrepancies between polling data and actual outcomes raise questions about the accuracy of pre-election forecasts and potential irregularities. ETA looked at something call over/under vote, where a Presidential candidat should normally get about 2-3% more votes than the down ballet candidates, but in the 7 swing states, Harris got significantly less votes than the down ballet and Trump got a unbelievably higher marging. This didn’t occure in non-swing states. 

We need to require audits and paper ballets in all elections but especially in the upcoming mid-terms.

Is Trump clarvoyant or was this election “rigged” as he would say.

Trump’s strategy of accusing others of his own misdeeds serves as a smokescreen, diverting attention from his actions. This raises critical questions about the secutity of our voting processes. Without accountability, the future of our democratic experiment is in peril.  Without a free & fair voting system there is no democracy, we might as well be Russia.

Please go to https://electiontruthalliance.org/ and read, watch and determine for yourself

by Robert Cain

TAX CUTS—the perennial promise of “prosperity” peddled by politicians. We’re told that slashing taxes, especially for the ultra-wealthy and colossal corporations, will ignite economic growth, create jobs, and somehow, miraculously, pay for themselves. It’s a narrative as old as trickle-down economics itself, and just as false.

The lie of Trickle-Down Economics- It goes like this: cut taxes for the rich, and they’ll invest more, spurring job creation and wage growth that benefits everyone. In reality, this “trickle-down” is a scam resulting in the greatest economic inequality in history and massive national debt. CEOs and billionaires aren’t the benevolent job creators they’re made out to be; they’re profit maximizers. When their tax bills shrink, they most often channel the money into stock buybacks, dividends, and offshore accounts rather than into worker salaries or new hiring.

To understand the disparity, consider the U.S. household income distribution:

Under $50,000: Approximately 38% of households.

$50,000 to $75,000: Around 17% of households.

$75,000 to $100,000: About 12% of households.

$100,000 to $200,000: Roughly 23% of households.

Over $200,000: Approximately 10% of households.

Despite the majority earning less than $100,000, tax policies disproportionately favor those in the highest brackets. Also, they are immune from Social Security contributions at this income.

Let’s break down the beneficiaries of these tax cuts:

2017 Tax Cuts: Distribution by Income Bracket

According to the Tax Policy Center, the average tax changes by income percentile for 2018 were as follows:

Lowest 20% (Income up to ~$25,000): Average tax cut of approximately $60.

Second 20% (Income ~$25,000 to ~$48,600): Average tax cut of about $380.

Middle 20% (Income ~$48,600 to ~$86,100): Average tax cut of around $930.

Fourth 20% (Income ~$86,100 to ~$149,400): Average tax cut of approximately $1,810.

Top 1% (Income over ~$732,800): Average tax cut of about $51,140.

These figures illustrate that higher-income households received substantially larger tax cuts, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of their income.

Projected 2025 Tax Cuts: Anticipated Distribution

As of April 2025, discussions are underway to extend and expand the 2017 tax cuts. While exact figures are yet to be finalized, preliminary analyses suggest a continuation of the previous pattern:

Top 0.1% of Earners: Could receive an average tax cut of approximately $314,000 if the individual and estate tax provisions are fully extended. 

Top 1% of Households: May see tax cuts averaging around $61,090 in 2025. 

In contrast, lower and middle-income households are projected to receive minimal benefits, with some analyses indicating potential tax increases for these groups. For instance, the middle 20% of earners could face an average TAX INCREASE of about $1,500.

The Ballooning National Debt

As of March 6, 2025, the U.S. national debt stands at a staggering $36.56 trillion. Servicing this debt isn’t cheap; in fiscal year 2025 alone, interest payments are projected to total $952 billion, consuming a significant portion of federal spending. This escalating debt is largely attributable to successive tax cuts that have slashed government revenues without corresponding spending reductions.

The Tax Gap: Unpaid Taxes Bleeding the Treasury

Compounding the issue is the tax gap—the difference between taxes owed and those actually paid. The IRS estimates an annual gross tax gap of around $696 billion. This shortfall exacerbates the fiscal strain, limiting the government’s ability to fund essential services.

The Cost of Priorities: Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

So, why do we lack universal healthcare, top-tier public education, and robust clean energy initiatives? It’s not due to a lack of resources but a siphoning off of our tax dollars toline the pocket of the CEO class and their political hacks. The revenue lost to tax cuts and unpaid taxes could have been invested in programs that benefit all Americans, not just the privileged few.

It’s Time to reclaim our future – The lie that tax cuts for the wealthy stimulate the economy is a sweet smelling bull shit. In reality, these policies have led to increased national debt, underfunded public services, and greater economic inequality. It’s time to challenge the status quo, demand fair tax policies, and invest in a future where prosperity is shared, not hoarded. Our collective future depends on it.