Why People Tune Out

Here is a sample of today’s headlines from the New York Times:

China’s New Barges Could Ease an Invasion of Taiwan

Rising Fears for Free Speech After Greenpeace’s Defeat

Trump Denies Car Exhaust Contaminates Environment

Upending the Transition to Clean Energy

Justices Weigh South Carolina’s Bid to Deny Medicaid Funding for Planned Parenthood

F.D.A. Layoffs Could Raise Nation’s Drug Costs and Erode Food Safety

C.D.C. Cutbacks Threaten Public Health, Critics Say

Lawyers for Man Wrongly Deported to El Salvador Assail White House

If New York Puts Casino in the Bronx, the Trump Organization Will Get $115 Million

Officer Won’t Be Charged in Fatal Shooting of Boy Who Had a Pellet Gun

"This Land Is Mine"

It’s a movie we are watching on Turner Classic Movies.  Made in 1943 and directed by Jean Renoir (living in exile in the U.S. at a time when we were fighting fascism, not promoting it) the movie stars Charles Laughton as a timid schoolteacher who gathers the courage to fight back.

The movie shows how the occupying authorities censor the content of school books and control the inhabitants of the town with both propaganda and threats of arrest.  It is amazing how close it feels to what is happening in my country today.

"Trump Denounces Smithsonian Exhibition"

 That headline appeared in today’s New York Times.  Trump is angry about an exhibition at the American Art Museum entitled “The Shape of Power.”  Trump says that the show “promotes the view that race is not a biological reality but a social construct, stating ‘Race is a human invention.’”

Race is actually a human invention.  It is not a biological reality.  Blacks and Whites and Asians are not separate species.

This goofball, who never read a book in his life, is now issuing an executive order demanding changes in the exhibit and pushing a theory of race that has been discarded for years.

Doesn’t he have enough to do?  Shouldn’t he be scamming people out of their life savings for his bitcoins.  Shouldn’t he be preparing troops to invade Greenland?  Aren’t there more hairdressers to be sent to prison in El Salvador?  Good grief.

Info for this post is taken in part from Zachary Small, “Trump Denounces Smithsonian Exhibition,” New York Times, (April 2, 2025), p. C3.

The Book Club

About two weeks ago my friend Kim told me that after a meeting, four members of her book club were discussing what they could do about the policies of the Trump administration.  She said they were angry but unsure how to channel that anger.

We decided to invite them and their friends to a meeting/seminar on what they could do.  Each of them would invite friends to join us.  We’d have some pizza and wine and come up with suggestions.  We were hoping for eight to ten people.  We met tonight–about 25 participants.  Some of the suggestions were to stay informed, follow certain podcasts, and write, email, or phone members of Congress.  We distributed the names and addresses of our Senators and our House member, and then we all wrote cards and letters–over 60 in all.  A number of the participants also agreed to join an anti-MAGA demonstration on Saturday in Jim Thorpe.  

It was so pleasant (and energizing) to be in a room full of intelligent people concerned about the direction of our country and willing to act on their concerns.

How you can tell it's a cult

I’m a Democrat.  Let’s say you told me you thought the American withdrawal from Afghanistan was a disaster, and that Joe Biden ought to be ashamed of it.  I would agree.  Let’s say you said Joe Biden should have stuck by his promise to be a one-term president instead of hanging on.  I would agree.  Let’s say you said Obama should have never announced that “red line” policy in Syria and then went back on his word.  I would agree.

So would most Democrats.  We can be critical of all kinds of Democratic actions.  Sometimes maybe more than we should be.

Now ask MAGA supporters to name some Trump policies they oppose.  Ask what they think about some of the worst things–supporting Putin over Ukraine, deporting people who are here legally, giving polluters a license to defile the air and water, picking on Canada and Denmark.  They will not criticize Trump.  They will make excuses.  They will say you are being unfair.  Give him a chance.  Look at all the good things he’s done.  You’re just being “woke.”   He makes no mistakes.  He is a god.

The National Museum of African-American History and Culture

Earlier this week we drove to Washington to visit the museum.  I told people we were going before the Trump administration closed it down.  It occurs to me that it could happen.  These people are nuts.  Grabbing legal immigrants off the street.  Arresting people for speaking favorably about Palestinians.  Prescribing Vitamin A to cure measles.  The list of stupid and illegal actions would fill a book.  If they stop the Voice of America or USAID, shutting down a museum would be easy.

So see it as soon as you can.  Check out Chuck Berry’s red El Dorado.  See the exhibit on Blacks in the American Revolution (both sides.)  Watch the short films.  Eat the corn bread and the mac and cheese.  Prepare to spend a full day.  It is an experience.

Income tax time

I fill out our income tax return forms.  Unfortunately, I’m not very good at it.  You know that line of people you see at the tax office just before midnight on April 15.  I was in that line at least three times.  Probably the worst year was in the mid ‘80s when we had to sell our car to pay our taxes.

I usually pay a penalty because I don’t do that quarterly estimating thing.  It’s worth the penalty rather than having to deal with taxes four times during the year.

Tonight when I started to put the records in order I noticed that I don’t have a 1099R for my pension from the warehouse job.  I know that will be a hassle.  

I am proud that I never cheat.  One year I paid more than President Reagan.  (That was when presidents published how much they paid, not like the grifter currently in the White House.)  I declare scrap metal income, fair prize income, my piddling dividends from my New York Times stock, and the money I make from selling electricity to PPL from our solar panels.  Elon Musk needs that money for his contracts.