Wag the Dog. Again. And Again. And Again.

There is a whole lot to unpack this week. I had planned to write about the State of the Union and, by extension, women's sports, but like SNL's original thoughts about this week's opening, that's ain't happening. Like everyone else, I am stuck on Iran, the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia....and, on the side, why the hell President Felon spent the weekend dancing at a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago instead of in Washington DC.  But that begs a different kind of question. We'll get to that, too. 

There are a whole lotta questions that need to be asked for which I'm not seeing satisfactory questions...much less answers. 

Question #1: Is this attack even legal?

Without consulting Congress, this administration attacked yet another country. Board of Peace, my ass, He doesn't give a shit about the Constitution or the role of Congressional governance/oversight as continually made clear with each new attack. And what's possibly worse, is that when he gets bored he turns his back on the victims of his machinations. Just ask Ukraine how he's working out for them. All hat, no cattle, as the saying goes. He's abandoned Ukraine, just like he ultimately signed the death warrant for Afghanistan. He signed off on the plan, then walked away, leaving the Biden Administration to try to sort out and clean up the mess.

President Felon already describes this action as a "war" in his announcement to We, the People, on Saturday

The Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war, but we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission.

Yet, this is an undeclared "war" which is forbidden by the Constitution as it explicitly states only Congress can declare war. Article I, Section 8, Clause 11:

[The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; . . .

In other words, this is yet another case of President Felon exercising power that are specifically NOT granted to a sitting president. 

Former Federal prosecutor at the DoJ, Ankush Kardori writes in Politico:

The Trump administration’s war also cannot be squared with the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which allows the president to initiate hostilities abroad “only” when there has been “(1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.” Trump did not even attempt to argue that any of these conditions had been met, probably because he could not seriously do so. 

As for international law, the attack on Iran goes much further than the Trump administration’s military campaign to oust and arrest Maduro, which itself ran afoul of multiple domestic and international legal prohibitions.  

The U.N. Charter —which was overwhelmingly passed by the U.S. Senate and signed by President Harry Truman in 1945 — prohibits the use of force “against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.” The U.N. Security Council can authorize the use of force in support of a party’s “right of self-defence,” but that did not happen here. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has already condemned the strikes as a violation of the U.N. Charter.

In other words, the short answer is "NO," this is not legal on any level...but we already know he doesn't give a shit. 

Question #2: Does anyone really have a plan for what happens next?

While there is no question about the need for regime change in Iran, and the removal of the mullahs as rulers, there is also a long history of what happens when the US takes a sitting government down. One needs only look at the long term chaos in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan. and most recently Gaza to understand that if no plan for what happens next is in place, these places are unable to suddenly produce a functional government to lead. Same thing with the Arab Spring. Lots of slogans but not a leader in sight to unify any of the toppled governments...and now, it's  back to business as usual. Economies pretty much collapsed in the wake of these optimistic revolutions. And Gaza? President Felon is too busy lining his own pockets to pay attention to the spiraling of Gaza.

Back in the 80s when Iran fell the first time, the underlying reason why that revolution actually succeeded was because there was already a shadow government in Paris ready to go. That was the one that gave Iran the first ayatollah, Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini. These guys had a plan and they executed it almost flawlessly. Does Pahlavi and his friends have a government in exile ready to step into the breach? If they don't, the current dead ayatollah, Ali Khamenei, was known to be in ill health and it's believed his succession had already been laid out. You can bet if that's the case, it's already moving forward to consolidate their position as the legitimate rulers of Iran. 

Still, I listened carefully to former former crown prince Reza Pahlavi on 60 Minutes talk about how he wants to lead the transition to democracy, saying he did not want to be king or president or prime minister...but rather the guy who shepherds them into a functioning government. Very well spoken, but does he have a shadow government in place waiting to step in? That wasn't clear. If the voice of the Iranian Diaspora is any indication, he can, with their backing, begin the long process of going home which, if you listen closely, is what they want. Just like the Jewish Diaspora, they long to return to their home, and gee, I don't blame them one bit. 

Question #3: Why now? Why at just this moment?

Anyone remember the movie WAG THE DOG with Dustin Hoffman? IMDB sums it up rather succinctly: 

Shortly before an election, a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer join efforts to fabricate a war in order to cover up a Presidential sex scandal.

If you haven't seen it. you should watch it. It's out there on all sorts of platforms. It's pretty funny. Of course, the name EPSTEIN is never mentioned....but in the here and now, every time a new Epstein scandal rises over the horizon, this presidential Fruit Loop creates a crisis to take it off the front page. And usually he succeeds...for a moment. 

It's no secret that President Felon has not been totally exonerated in the Epstein files. Yes, I know he keeps saying that, but that's part of the fantasy he's spewing. But the newest allegations are seriously horrifying should they turn out to have been intentionally removed from the files. According to an investigation conducted by NPR:

The Justice Department has withheld some Epstein files related to allegations that President Trump sexually abused a minor, an NPR investigation finds. It also removed some documents from the public database where accusations against Jeffrey Epstein also mention Trump.

Some files have not been made public despite a law mandating their release. These include what appear to be more than 50 pages of FBI interviews, as well as notes from conversations with a woman who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago when she was a minor.

NPR reviewed multiple sets of unique serial numbers appearing before and after the pages in question, stamped onto documents in the Epstein files database, FBI case records, emails and discovery document logs in the latest tranche of documents published at the end of January. NPR's investigation found dozens of pages that appear to be catalogued by the Justice Department but not shared publicly. 

But there is so much more to this timing that any Jewish kid can tell you about: PURIM.

Let's pretend you actually have read the bible, specifically the Book of Esther. It's an interesting book to be in the canon since it never mentions G-d in any way, shape or form. What it does talk about is a guy named Haman. Here's the short version:  King Achashverosh, the king of Persia, deposed his queen, Vashti, and needed a new one. A contest was held to find a new queen and a guy named Mordechai sent his niece Esther to try out. She wins and becomes the new Queen. Meanwhile his prime minister hates Mordechai and the Jews and plots to destroy them. To make a long story short, Esther intervenes, Haman is hanged on his own gallows, and the Jews stop the attacks. In other words, like so many of our holidays, they tried to kill us, we won, let's eat. Kids dress up in costumes, but instead of trick-or-treat, we go around giving shalach manot,  gifts of food and sweets (often in secret) to our friends and neighbors. 

Tonight, Purim begins at sundown. We will gather to read the Megillah. Every time Haman's name is mentioned, it will be drown out with graggers, boos, and hisses. Kids dress up in costumes as Esther, Mordechai, even Haman, but instead of trick-or-treat, we go around giving shalach manot,  gifts of food and sweets (often in secret) to our friends and neighbors. We will sing and dance and have plays to tell the story as we celebrate the destruction of Haman and the saving of the Jews of Persia.

Perhaps you missed this....Israel and Persia have been allies for a thousand years. After the exile, Persia helped us to return to our land and helped rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Persians are not our enemies. They sheltered Jews during World War II. Jewish communities in Persia/Iran thrived...until the ayatollahs took over. It shouldn't surprise anyone that the Iranian Diaspora turned to Israel for help. 

But did they get the help they needed from the US....or were they played to wag the dog? To provide yet more smoke and mirrors to hide a sexual predator from prosecution as he wages an illegal war?

Question #4: Will Israel be blamed for it all?

Funny, all those pro-Gaza people shouting to free Palestine and now decrying the bombing of Iran. Don't they realize that Iran is the moneyman for Hamas and the terrorist? Where were their voices as thousands of Iranians were being slaughtered by their government? Why were they silent to those pleas for help? 

Oh. There were no Jews involved. 

Well, now there are. I do worry about not just the timing, but the preparedness of the Iranians to take back their country. We can only hope there really is a government in exile waiting in the wings to step up. 

I should probably mention there are already those who claim Netanyahu conned President Felon into attacking Iran, especially at this time of year. They already claim the US is being used as a proxy by Israel...and Saudi Arabia. They will espouse the ol' Jewish Cabal theory of world domination. Never mind that President Felon is a loyal disciple of the Christofascist Brigade.

If you are asking my opinion here, I will tell you that I truly believe Khamenei had to go, that Iran needed to be free. But I am not convinced that the actions of President Felon are warranted without the backing on Congress and adherence to the law of the United States. Unless someone knows there is a plan and a government waiting to go, this is doomed. As for Netanyahu,  getting deeper into bed with that sexual predator just means he's got the fucking of his life. Israel does not deserve that. They deserved a plan and a plan, not this rogue cowboy shit that's going down. Feckless Felon says it can last 4-5 weeks....as Ukraine about that. I do not trust him to wage this action. It's all about him and his pockets and how much the Saudi royal family is paying him. It' all about the baksheesh.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

I'm trying to get this thing done so I can go don my costume for Megillah reading with the kiddies tonight. They don't know I'm wearing a costume, but I am. I'm going as Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great, and often said to be the mother of Achashverosh. Or so some legends claim. In other words, I'm going as Esther's mother-in-law. Once upon a time, I wrote a midrash for her: QUEEN 101: Intro to Queenship. I always had a soft spot for Vasti and I do like Atossa. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

The lingering cold in my nose kept me from 

the annual rush of baking and sending out

hamantashen. 

Next year, I'll do better.

The Message....And The Medium

Theodore Roosevelt - May 7, 1918

"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else." 

This appeared in an editorial President Theodore Roosevelt wrote for the Kansas City Star in 1918. No longer the president by the time he composed this, Roosevelt made known his feeling about criticism of anyone holding the office: it needed to happen. It's basically required of every resident of the United States, not just citizens. Not to be able to criticize a president for his actions was denying the American public the opportunity for transparency in the office. After all, the President of the United States was nothing more than a public servant to be held to the most stringent standards. 

Or, as the movie DAVE reminded us:

I forgot that I was hired to do a job for you and that it was just a temp job at that. I forgot that I had two hundred and fifty million people who were paying me to make their lives a little better..."

 

Gee, isn't that really what our elected officials are supposed to be doing? Once they are elected, isn't the post supposed to represent all of the people in a district, state, or congress?

But that's not how this administration rolls, is it? It's all about President Felon and his ability to control the narrative and, by extension, the presumed beliefs of We, the People. Only that's not going so well. His poll numbers are tanking daily. To shore up support, his cabal does scary things...like hanging banners from public buildings to remind us not to dick with this guy: 

Labor Dept., Justice Dept,, and, of course, The Heritage Foundation.

It's all a bit too 1984 for me. 

I don't think it's working. Do you? Anyone else remember the Macintosh 1984 ad?

Like Marshall McLuhan said, the medium is the message. McLuhan is spot on when he says the content of the medium is a message that can be easily understood by the observer. He said, 

Indeed, it is only too typical that the 'content' of any medium blinds us to the character of the medium.

I totally get this in a visceral kinda way. I'm a visuals person. I think in images. I think that's why one of my directing professors labeled me Spellbound in the the Darkness. Very true, y'know. It's why I quote plays, movies, even novels...because I see the images and I wonder what the hell is wrong with you if you don't. 

If you're not seeing the images broadcast in the media and not rearing back in disbelief and horror, there is something decidedly lacking in your ability to perceive the messages these manipulators are sending. If you're missing the message in boots, camouflage, balaclavas, and masks, you're not paying attention. The images are not benign; these are meant to terrify those on the street as well as the viewers. If you are not over-the-moon angry about kids being snatched by ICE, then you are no better than the Germans who drew their drapes and refused to believe crimes against humanity were taking place in the streets around them. 

Nor do I believe any of this is done without planning, forethought, and manipulation. There is a gestalt at work and most people are too busy wringing their hands to notice, so let me spell it out for you: President Felon fought tooth and nail to keep the unredacted Epstein files from being released. Thousands of mostly men are now paying the consequences for communicating with the pedophile swamp dweller. Those names are now public. Use your imagination here and follow the bouncing idea:

1. Feckless Felon promised to keep the files redacted and/or closed to public scrutiny. 
2. These things do not come cheap, so how much money do you think the billionaire buddies would pay to keep their names outta the news?
3. Who claimed he had the power to do that...if contributions were made to various charitable/political "foundations?" 
4. That had to be a significant revenue stream, right?
5. Now that all the names are public and lots of billionaire buddies are being hoisted on their own petards, I'm thinking the supporter funded revenue stream has slowed to a bit of a trickle. 
6. What to do? What to do? Oh, that's easy: lie to We, the People, about anything and everything while claiming you've been  completely exonerated in the Epstein files even though your name appears thousands and thousands of times. 
7. Shutdown the government and blame Democrats while thousands of workers, both federal and non-federal lose pay, homes, healthcare, and jobs because it deflects from what's really in those files.
8. Since SCOTUS blew up your tariffs, go figure out another way to sabotage American trade and, in turn, the economy. People will be too busy screaming about that to worry about the Epstein files. 
9. Count on your billionaire buddies to increase the revenue stream as long as you are able to use smoke, mirrors, and red herrings to keep the attention away from them. 

You think I'm kidding, right? Guess again. I'm not. WIth Stephen "the slimeball Miller, Pam Bondi, Karoline Leavitt, and Kash Patel in charge of state secrets, and Bezos, Bari Weiss, and the Grey Lady herself spinning the stories, you know damn well, as I do, nothing is happenstance and everything has to do with money. 

Follow the money.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.... it's time for my favorite musical number: The Sidestep

If only the Great Tangerine was a quarter as talented as Charles Durning (z"l)

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

For years, I maintained nice Jewish kids did not play hockey.

I was wrong. 

There are some pretty great b'nei mitzvah kids

wearing gold Olympic medals this week:

Aerin Frankel, Quinn and Jack Hughes, and Jeremy Swayman

יישר כוחכם ילדים

Yashar kochachem, yiladim!

Making Jewish mothers everywhere kvell!

Monument Man ~ Part Deux

Ramses II at Luxor

I started last week's episode with the best of intentions....and found hacking up a lung or two was not conducive to writing. So, let us begin again: When I was a kid, I was fascinated by giant statues of kings. I mean, really. Who would want a statue of himself that big? It was crazy! What was he trying to prove? My dad explained he wanted people to remember him as a great king and a larger than life warrior. Egyptians, we went on, were really preoccupied with what came after death and accordingly, they built pyramids and temples to show off their wealth and power. When I insisted people didn't do  that sorta thing any more, he scoffed, "au contraire, ma fille sceptique!" Since the internet hadn't been invented yet, we looked in the Encyclopedia Americana and looked at pictures of all sorts of really big statues. Napoleon, Mao, Stalin, ...you get the drift. 

And I also think most of us remember pictures showing statues of dictators being torn down and destroyed. We were inundated with images of Saddam Hussein being toppled, literally and figuratively all of Iraq. People hated his very image. Just like they hated Stalin. And Lenin. And all sorts of oppressive leaders. It doesn't matter if they were kings or queens, elected or installed via coup. The ones who put up monuments to themselves usually ended up in the dust along with the monuments. 

Sycophancy has long been a staple in both administrations of President Felon. In order to survive at his table, you have to kiss whatever ass he's demanding be kissed. Individuals and state governments must kowtow to his whims to receive any previously allocated funding. States he does not like, for whatever reasons, do not receive emergency FEMA funding. Applications are not denied; they are simply ignored. Just as North Carolina's Attorney General. I'm sure Jeff Jackson would love to tell you about that. This entire administration is based on denying assistance to those who need it most. Food and heat programs are slashed. Health care has become unaffordable to huge swaths of population, yet somehow there are funds for demolishing half the White House, building an arch , and a gold statue of him for display at some golf course. 

One can also point to his dismantling of international agreements and defense alliances together with his endless humiliation of Ukraine's Volodymyr  Zelenskyy. What he has proven repeatedly to both Americans and our allies is that he is not to be trusted. 

President Felon wants his face on a $1 coin commemorating the 250 anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. This is a departure from the norm which holds no living person is depicted on a coin, yet a spokesperson for the US Mint says this breaks no law. But it actually does violate an 1886 law requiring “only the portrait of a deceased individual” appear on currency and securities. 

Back in March, 2025, Sidney Blumenthal wrote in The Guardian::

Sycophancy is the coin of the realm. In Donald Trump’s court, flattery is the only spoken language. He does not need an executive order to enforce it. Fear is the other side of the coin. Loyalty must be blind. Obedience is safety. Cronyism secures status. His whim is dogma. Criticism is heresy. Debate is apostasy. Expertise is bias. Objectivity is a hoax. Truth is just your opinion. Lies are defended to the death as articles of faith. New ones are manufactured on an industrial scale by his press office for social influencers to spread. Denying facts proves fealty. The rule of law is partisan. Russia is our trusted ally. Britain and France are “random countries”. Retribution is policy.

Frankly, the entire article is prescient and he is a harbinger of what is yet to come. 

One of the really interesting things, and not in a good way, is the lack of a national arts program that supports and preserves America's unique cultural footprint. The Smithsonian is the closest thing we have at the moment to an agency preserving American culture in all its diversity. It's important to understand that there are actually 21 separate museums and facilities under that umbrella. The following are the 14 inside Washington D.C. 

1. Anacostia Community Museum
2. Arts and Industries Building
3. Freer Gallery of Art (part of National Museum of Asian Art)
4. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
5. National Air and Space Museum
6. National Museum of African Art
7. National Museum of African American History and Culture
8. National Museum of American History
9. National Museum of the American Indian
10. National Museum of Natural History
11. National Postal Museum
12. Smithsonian American Art Museum
13. National Portrait Gallery (shares building with SAAM)
14. Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) (visitor center)

[It's also important to note that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, while a federally owned institution, does not fall under the aegis of the Smithsonian.]

Please note the museums on this list. They represent a wide swath of Americans. They are a testament to the diversity which has made America America. And, according to President Felon, are WOKE. On August 19, 2025, he used social media to state:

The Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are the last remaining segment of ‘WOKE.’ The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been – Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future. I have instructed my attorneys to go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities where tremendous progress has been made.

He personally attacked and attempted to remove the director of the National Portrait Gallery, Kim Sajet, only to be told he did not have the authority. Thus began the attack on the nation's cultural legacy.  An exceptionally thorough piece in The Guardian, Trump’s assault on the Smithsonian: ‘The goal is to reframe the entire culture of the US’ is an absolute must-read if you want a good overview of what's happening:

To use different language, Trump wanted museums to reflect a Maga vision of American history that was nationalist and triumphalist, and downplayed reflection on darker aspects of its past, specifically its history of slavery. His views were of a piece with his other, smaller, forays into the cultural arena – his desire, for example, to build a triumphal arch in Washington, or his personal role in vetoing what were regarded as “woke” artists from becoming Kennedy Center honourees.

Whereas the first Trump administration left cultural matters largely alone, in his second term it has made them a priority. Through lawsuits and executive orders, threats and intimidation, the administration is seeking to shift the country to the right, an abrupt and extreme escalation in the long battle for control over the narrative of American history fought by both the right and the left. To do so, he is targeting the institutions – universities and museums – that form people’s minds and imaginations, their sense of identity. “The goal,” as one senior employee of the Smithsonian told me, “is to reframe the entire culture of the United States from the foundation up.”

If the goal is to reframe American culture, it comes with his face on everything. His likeness, his litany of lies, his dubious accomplishments, and worst of all, it's at the loss of our national identity. Vice President Bedbug has been assigned to the Smithsonian's board of directors in order to supervise the shift toward MAGA . What's left of the White House issued a broadside last March called Restoring Truth And Sanity To American History It is possibly the most nauseating crock of shit one can imagine....to date. It begins:

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered

If that doesn't chill you to the boots, one section is particularly egregious in its nefariousness:

Sec. 2.  Saving Our Smithsonian.  (a)  The Vice President, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Associate Staff Secretary, Lindsey Halligan, Esq., shall work to effectuate the policies of this order through his role on the Smithsonian Board of Regents with respect to the Smithsonian Institution and its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo, including by seeking to remove improper ideology from such properties, and shall recommend to the President any additional actions necessary to fully effectuate such policies. 

(b)  The Vice President and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall work with the Congress to ensure that future appropriations to the Smithsonian Institution:

(i)   prohibit expenditure on exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy; and

(ii)  celebrate the achievements of women in the American Women’s History Museum and do not recognize men as women in any respect in the Museum.

 (c)  The Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Secretary of the Interior shall take any other measures within their authority to promote the policy of this order. 

(d)  As appropriate, the Vice President shall, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and Special Assistant to the President and Senior Associate Staff Secretary, Lindsey Halligan, Esq., work with the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate Majority Leader, to seek the appointment of citizen members to the Smithsonian Board of Regents committed to advancing the policy of this order.

Considering his racist, white supremacist proclivities, it's easy enough to deduce his intentions. 

But what does this all have to do with monuments? Everything. The reframing of American history to remove honesty and replace it with his bleached version is to further isolate the US from the real world. By casting himself as superhero, military hero, or even some sort of evangelical religious leader, he is mythologizing himself in a way the framers of our Constitution specifically warned about. In his Substack today, John Dickerson tackled exactly that issue:

The framers described power as “a cancer,” and an “ocean.” They believed it possessed an “endlessly propulsive tendency to expand itself beyond legitimate boundaries,” as Bernard Bailyn describes it in The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Men withered under power’s sway. Patrick Henry warned, “If your American chief be a man of ambition, and abilities, how easy it is for him to render himself absolute.” Samuel Adams argued that power defied human restraint: “Such is the depravity of mankind that ambition and lust of power above the law are predominant passions in the breasts of most men.”

A chief executive who envisions himself as grandly as President Trump does exhibits the self-regard the framers feared most. This leads, they believed, to a president who privileges loyalty and whims above duties to the country and the people. The psychology of such rulers convinces both themselves and their followers that to please the ruler is to please the state.

Maddie McGarvey/NY Times

One might conclude this continued aggrandizement borders on self-deification and may be a preliminary step in the establishment of some kind of dynasty à la the Kim family of North Korea, with Barron as his designated heir. Even the attempted fashion deification of Melania in her Amazon extravaganza is an element to be considered. And of course, we would be remiss not to mention Don the Colossus, the 15' statue that has been commissioned, is supposed to go to Florida...assuming the sculptor is paid. 

And then there's his Arch of Independence, a 250' monstrosity destined for Memorial Circle on the mall, dwarfing the Lincoln Memorial and smack dab in the middle of the Washington National Airport's flight path...an airport already known for midair collisions. Of course, it has to be bigger than any other arch in the world, bigger than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, or the Arch of Constantine in Rome, or Monumento a la Revolución inMexico City. One might think the size of his arch must be inversely proportional to the size of his winkie.

Not nearly as far-fetched as it might have sounded the first time around, there is a distinct drive to not just to redact American history into something that favors his brand of narcissism; he is setting himself up with royal aspirations. One might be a one-off, but clearly there is a pattern emerging...and it's not a good look for America.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

We are at the very precipice of dangerous times. The proposed SAVE act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) is, in reality, an act designed to suppress the vote by making it significantly more difficult to cast a vote. In essence, much of that act serves as a poll tax, something that will disenfranchise millions of voters. Various election bodies have repeatedly said voter fraud is almost nonexistent, but this administration is the one that asked for exactly that: for the state of Georgia to produce 11,780 votes. In case you forgot, the phone call and request by President Felon was recorded by Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger:

What I want to do is this. I just want to find, uh, 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state.

None of this is an aberration for this president or his administration. They are nothing more than a house of cards built on a bed of lies. The deeper this goes, the more We, the People are in jeopardy of losing our right to vote in a free and fair election. Having been living in a war zone these last few weeks, I have come to seriously fear what the government can do....what they may do....and whether or not it can be stopped. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week
The best thing for an old fashioned head cold is

soup, sleep, and trashy novels. 

Trust me on this one. 

Monument Man ~ Part One ~ No Intro Today

Ramses II at Luxor

When I was a kid, I was fascinated by giant statues of kings. I mean, really. Who would want a statue of himself that big? It was crazy! What was he trying to prove? My dad explained he wanted people to remember him as a great king and a larger than life warrior. Egyptians, we went on, were really preoccupied with what came after death and accordingly, they built pyramids and temples to show off their wealth and power. When I insisted people didn't do  that sorta thing any more, he scoffed, "au contraire, ma fille sceptique!" Since the internet hadn't been invented yet, we looked in the Encyclopedia Americana and looked a pictures of all sorts of really big statues. Mao, Stalin, Queen Victoria, Robert E Lee, Mount Rushmore, Lincoln...you get the drift.

And that's all yer gonna get tonight. 

I am on the tail end of a head cold and sleep is not my friend. When I had the flu, at least I wasn't hacking up a lung. 

I really do want to write about monuments...especially the giant golden president, arch d'trump, Penn Station, and Dulles airport after himself. At least the colossus sculptor said it wasn't going anywhere until he was paid in full. Probably a good move.

No, I'm not shitting you on this. 

I promise I will write the rest of this for next week. 

BOGCAATJ. Be of good cheer and all that.....<cough, cough, cough> ...jazz

sj

The Wifely  Person's Tip o'the Week

Yes, I am hydrated.

Yes, I actually made a pot of chicken soup.

Being sick sucks.

Just To Be Clear

I'm trying really hard not to be screechy. Everybody and their mothers are writing about what's happening in Minnesota these days. Some of it is true, some of it is total horse-hockey. People (including me) can be really hot and passionate about this subject. Several hundred people walked out onto real ice on Bde Maka Ska to send a message to the world: SAVE OUR STATE. See, here's the thing: ICE has been around for a long time doing their job with warrants and due process in their polo shirts and khaki pants. They were not running around the street of Minnesota looking like some paramilitary vigilante force. I don't care what anyone says: these costumes are meant to terrify and intimidate; that's exactly what they do. 

This is not to say there was never any pushback in regard to illegal aliens and deportation orders; there was. But ICE should know who is already in jail just like they used to know. Real criminals in the prison system were picked up on release and deported. I used to prep some of those airline tickets. It was part of my job whenever I was on loan to the government branch. I don't think I could do that in this environment. 

Just to be crystal clear in regards to my position of immigration law:

1. I believe in the Constitution of the United States, especially Amendments 14 and 44.
2. I support the existence of immigration law
3. I support the right to due process for all people within the jurisdiction of the US
4. I support the right to apply for asylum. 
5. I do not support the idea of open borders.

The 14th Amendment states:

 All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

There are two phrases in there 

1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States
2. nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

that speak directly to the condition of the individual. Any number of cases heard in the Supreme Court deal with that very issue. A good one to look at is Shaughnessy v. United States ex rel. Mezei as it is presented in Cornell's Legal Information Institute. Just about every case comes down in favor of "any person" meaning both citizens and non-citizens alike, regardless of their immigration status.

The breakdown is not really about illegal immigrants, it's about the tactics being used. American citizens are being swept up. Legal immigrants with residency status are being swept up. ICE is using immigration check-ins as a way to sweep people into an amorphous net. None of these sweeps allow for due process. People are locked up, denied access to attorneys, denied basic human health necessities.When the office who shot Renee Good walked away from her car, he called her a fucking bitch and it was heard on the tape around the world. She was alive when the car crashed and then denied medical attention. THIS is what people are fighting against. It's not the law as much as it is the absence of the law. 

The story of Liam Conejo Ramos is not an isolated case of child-grabbing. His cute hat helped him to not just make headlines, but to start a groundswell rejection of ICE tactics. The picture was not staged, not taken by a photographer; it was taken by a bystander. He was used as bait, and there are lots of witnesses to testify about what happened at the front door. Even so, ICE and DHS continued to lie about it. Is this what we have come to expect and accept? A confederacy of liars running our government? 

Off the scale, folks

Apparently, yes. Wag the dog is the order of the day. Anything to misdirect away from Epstein and the files. Demolishing part of the White House, changing the name of The Kennedy Center, going after settled 2020 election results..........all red herring to deflect this real issue of a sexual deviant-pedophile-crook who is lining this own pockets with YOUR money every time he sues the government for doing its job. Now he's suing the IRS for $10,000,000,000 for leaked tax info. Isn't he supposed to release his taxes when he runs for office? What a crock... and just think, we're supposed to lap it up with one of his golden plastic spoons. Uh, not happening. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

As long as I'm doing WP positioning, I want to clarify something about me and AI. 

1. I do not condone using AI for any creative writing. Period. If you use AI to write, it's not your work, it's a collaboration between you and a machine and should be subject to full disclosure.
2. I use a spell checker and that's it. If you read this regularly, you know I have more than my fair share of typos. And no, I'm not a great speller so I do look up a whole lotta words.
3. I do not use AI for any part of the blog. I view Google as a sort of card catalog. I avoid AI research results because I believe those results are not trustworthy. I search and research using the long form....meaning I type in my parameters, ignore the annoying AI box at the top of Google, and then search "by hand and eye." 
4. I do not use AI in writing my books. EVER.  My voice is my voice and no machine is gonna tell me how to write a sentence to "make it better." I am the Queen of Prepositional Phrases and proud of my ability to edit those suckers out. (I can cut thousands of words from a manuscript by doing that. Just sayin'.)

On another day, I'll talk about AI and art as an emerging medium. Just like people said photography would destroy painting, moving pictures would destroy theater, and television would decimate movies, and CGI would stifle the imagination, none of those things happened and new art forms became art. But I'm saving that for a day when I don't wanna rant about the government. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Proud Mam Moment:

The Senior Son just release a new EP and I gotta admit

CRUMBS TO A FEAST

is my new favorite earworm. 

Apple Music

Spotify