Affirmative Action for Jared Kushner

The latest issue of the New Yorker has an article by Dexter Filkins on Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.  What a crook Kushner is.  What a crook Kushner’s father was, sentenced to two years for tax evasion, witness tampering and wire fraud.  (Today he is ambassador to France.)

Jared wasn’t the brightest student, so how did he get into Harvard?  It’s not like he was a DEI student.  What he did have going for him was that his father gave Harvard two and a half million dollars.  That did the trick.

Now this rich little son-in-law is out making billions from foreign countries because of his connections with Donald Trump.  The corruption of these people is unbelievable.

This is exactly who we are

I’ll bet you have heard the phrase “This is not who we are” any number of times.  It is certainly in use since Trump was inaugurated in January 2025.  

It is time to own up.  This is who we are.  We have held migrants in tiny cages, called “small metal enclosures” by the Department of Homeland Security.  According to the report, “the use of such restrictive spaces is highly unconventional and does not align with standards of humane treatment.” 

The report, produced by an internal Department watchdog, was then denied by the Department.  “All detainee facilities are clean, and any allegations of inhumane conditions or excessive use of force are FALSE.”[ibid.]  The cages were used at the detention facility called Alligator Alcatraz.  That is so cute, isn’t it?  Trump made jokes about it.

Gov. DeSantis said conditions at the state-run facility were part of the state’s efforts to remove criminals in the country illegally from the streets of Florida.  The governor’s communications director said “left-wing media wants to focus on a confinement area for violent criminal aliens who have proven they cannot remain peaceful while awaiting deportation.  He added, “[W]e’d make it even smaller if we could.”

We are also paying countries to take deportees who have no connection to their destinations.  For example, we are paying Equatorial Guinea to take deportees, a country where those deportees are kept in prisons and horribly mistreated.

I’m going to imitate Trump in a Truth Social post:  THIS IS EXACTLY WHO WE ARE.  IT IS WHAT WE HAVE BECOME.  WE ELECTED THIS DICTATOR, AND OUR COURTS, OUR CONGRESS, AND OUR BILLIONAIRES PERMIT THIS.  AND COME NOVEMBER, WE HAD BETTER STOP THIS.

Goofing off

Some readers have told me the posts are too serious, not funny, too dry.  So, thanks to my friend Bill in North Carolina, here are three items to amuse you:

1.  Kash Patel has a new book out:  50 Shades of Hay.

2.  Headline:  “Fox relieved to learn that Trump is only banning news networks from the White House.”  (That one was from Andy Borowitz.)

3.  Old Soviet Union Joke:  

Guy stops by the news stand every day, scans the front page, doesn’t buy the paper.  One day the vendor asks what he’s up to.

Guy says, I’m looking for an obituary.

Vendor:  Those are toward the back of the paper, comrade.

Guy:  Not the one I’m looking for.

"volunteer my ass off"

Tonight I spoke to a woman whose name I was given as a possible volunteer for the Democratic campaign this fall.  She was so pleased to be contacted and said she was, and I quote, “ready to volunteer my ass off.”  It is that kind of attitude and commitment that will propel Democratic candidates to victory in November. 

Annie Dillard, 1945-2026

Her most famous book was Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, sort of a Walden about her experience with the natural world near Roanoke, Virginia.  Her book that I liked  better was An American Childhood, an account of her growing up in Pittsburgh.  She was one of those kids who read a great deal, loved her neighborhood library, and found the people in her neighborhood to be worthy of respect.  I also found it refreshing that as soon as she had memorized her phone number, she was allowed to roam her neighborhood by herself.  Here in Towamensing Township it seems the kids aren’t allowed to walk a hundred feet from the bus to their front door without a parent meeting them

And here is a factoid that was not in the New York Times obit.  Her dad was an extra in “Night of the Living Dead.”  I don’t know how I know that, but it might have been in mentioned in An American Childhood.  I know I didn’t just make it up.

No need to worry about AI

We live in strange times.  Here is Steve Bannon and Bernie Sanders telling us we need to rein in AI.  It is too dangerous and needs to be regulated.  Here are tech bros running AI companies who are sounding an alarm that AI needs to be regulated.

But wait.

Trump said concerns are overblown.  No need to be concerned.  No need to be alarmed.  Fears are overstated.

But wait.

Isn’t that the guy who said global warming is a hoax, who said he would end the Russian war against Ukraine on his first day in office, who said that Covid would be over in weeks, who had a better health plan than Obama, who would end inflation, and who would end the war against Iran in a few days and then in another few days and later in another few days, etc.?  I’m not so sure I want to trust that guy.

Mail-in ballot victory, but we need more

One of the few things I have in common with Trump is that we both vote using mail-in ballots.  For some reason he decided that it was ok for him, but not for me.

Now the Supreme Court has ruled that he does not have the power to prevent states from using a system of mail in ballots.  

He’s mad at the Supreme Court justices he appointed, evidently thinking that since he appointed them, they should follow his wishes.  On the other hand, two justices–Thomas and Alito (not his appointees, just his lap dogs)–voted that the President of the U.S. can arbitrarily mess up voting systems.  

If normal people ever get back into power, one of the structural reforms we will have to make is to fix the Supreme Court.  There are any number of ways to do that, and I won’t go into them here, but it should be high on the agenda. 

James Talarico on Jimmy Kimmel

As probably every reader knows, the FCC Chair, in a move right out of Dictatorship 101, threatened Jimmy Kimmel with legal problems if he interviewed Texas Senatorial candidate James Talarico.  The FCC Chair said that late night TV hosts could not interview political candidates, ignoring the fact that Trump was interviewed on that very show when he was running for president.

So Kimmel put the interview on YouTube.  Please watch it.  Talarico explains his positions, but he is also very funny.  The YouTube video already has over 6 million views.  It should have more.  It is really one of the best political interviews I have seen.

10 Commandments in Texas schools

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 9 to 8 that Texas schools can be required to post the 10 Commandments in every classroom.  The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled this to be unconstitutional in the past, but the Fifth Circuit now contains quite a few Trump appointees, six of whom voted with the majority.  

Here is what I don’t get.  Given the behavior of Texas politicians, wouldn’t it be more important to post the 10 Commandments in the halls of the Capitol, in the legislative chambers, in the Governor’s official, and anywhere Ken Paxton does business?

Cutting SNAP benefits

The “Big Beautiful Bill,” passed in July 2025, made it harder to qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which you may know as SNAP.  This has meant that over one million children have lost food assistance.  And the ballroom construction continues.  

Now Vance is pushing for another change in the assistance program.  Money would be diverted from working single mothers to provide more assistance for married families, one of whom does not work.  We all know that single moms are generally bad people, right?  Let’s punish them.  And their kids.

See Jessica Grose, “The White House’s Miserly Family Plans,” New York Times, (Sept. 12, 2026), p. A21. 

Firemen save Trump on 9/11

I did not realize that Trump was brought to safety on 9/11 by two strong firemen.  I don’t know why he did not tell us this before; it certainly seems almost providential.

When I heard about this I was moved to write a poem.  I titled it

“Trump is saved”

The sky was blue,

The planes flew 

Into the walls.

The frantic calls

Came to nine-one-one.

This was no fun.

But give a shout.

Trump made it out.

Fetterman

Never really trusted him.  That whole thing about tattooing the dates of people killed in Braddock while he was mayor struck me as some kind of public performance.  He garnered publicity trying to revive his town of Braddock, but that wasn’t so impressive.  Braddock is tiny.  Weissport has more people than Braddock.

You can tell a great deal about a politician by the way he treats his staff, and from the earliest days of his Senate career, word was that he treated his staff like crap, and he evidently hasn’t improved.  I never could abide “pro-labor” types who acted like overseers to their own employees.

The whole hoodie business annoyed me from day one.  I have never been known for my clothing style, but if I were in the U.S. Senate, I would dress the part.  The hoodie thing was simply a way to draw attention, just like the tattoos.

I hate the way he treats his wife, an immigrant.  He should be a champion for immigrants.  He is not.  She ought to divorce his ass.

Finally, he is not very bright.  It is obvious from many of his comments, from his failure to do what his doctors advised, and his statements on current issues, including his stand on Israel and his sucking up to the worst President in U.S. history.

For thirty-two years I lived in a state that had adopted three Progressive reforms–the initiative, the referendum, and the recall.  I know there were some problems with the initiative, and I don’t remember the referendum being used, but I really miss that recall.  Pennsylvania doesn’t have the recall.  We are stuck with this clown for over two more years.

Old people and technology

As many readers know, I don’t own a cell phone.  I like the freedom that brings.  I suppose at some point I’ll get a flip phone, especially if I drive across the country again, but right now I’m happy without it.  I also don’t carry a credit card, although I do have one in case I ever need to fly somewhere.  

Today I read a message from my friend Bill.  I want to share it; it sums up how I and some of my friends feel in today’s world:

A society that forces a ninety-year-old to use a smartphone in order to access basic rights is not a modern society; it is a society that has decided to cast aside its own elders.

By 2026 everything has become an app, a code, a portal.  Yet the very people who built this country with their own hands now find themselves illiterate in their own homes.  If booking a medical appointment or paying a bill requires the help of a son or granddaughter–assuming there is one–then the system has failed.

This is not innovation.  It is exclusion.

Technology should serve people, not determine who is still entitled to dignity.

When we leave behind those who came before us, we are not evolving.  We are merely becoming more comfortable–and more selfish.

The world is going to hell in a bushel basket

A far-right political party won the most votes in the former East German state of Saxony-Anhalt.  Why beat around the bush–a neo-Nazi party won the state election.

In Britain the racist party Reform UK is polling very well.  In Spain the far right Vox Party is doing well.  In France Marine LePen is riding high.  And in Serbia thousands of Serbs gathered to mourn the death of the war criminal and Bosnian Serb general known as the Butcher of Bosnia, responsible for thousands of deaths and convicted of genocide.

The American President is reinstalling racist statues that glorify the Confederacy and doing his best to rig the upcoming election.

Where do you even flee to in these times?

Rachel Cusk's new novel

Rachael Cusk has a new book out.  It’s entitled Life of M.  I will now give you advice.  Don’t buy it.  Don’t read it.  If you find a copy, burn it.  

I tried to read one of her books entitled The Outline.  Notice the word “tried.”  It was beyond boring.  The correct word is enervating.  Remember old telephone directories.  They had a better plot.  Did you ever try to read one of those “terms and conditions.”  Way more interesting.

Charlie Kirk and Dolly Parton

Do you want to know how far we have declined as a country?  The flag was  flown at half-mast for Charlie Kirk but not for Dolly Parton.  That tells you all you need to know.

We Try Harder

Avis was the second largest car rental agency in the 1960s; Hertz was first.  Avis came up with a a campaign that stressed its second place with the tag line that said, “We’re number 2, but we try harder.”  

In Carbon County, PA, the Democrats are definitely number 2.  There are literally thousands more registered Republicans, but for how long?  Two weeks ago the Democrats sponsored a booth at the Ukrainian Festival; the Republicans did not.  This week the Dems had a booth at the festival in Weissport; the Republicans did not.  At both of these festivals people came up and ordered signs, said how glad they were to see us, and expressed irritation with Republican policies.

We know we are number 2.  We are clawing our way back.  Look for us at future events.  Don’t be surprised if we are present for your wedding party or your bar mitzvah or your Quinceañera.  We really are trying harder.

Teaching Civics

The first time I heard that many schools were no longer teaching Civics, I was amazed.  I can’t remember detailed facts from my high school civics class, but I remember Mr. Gordos telling us how lucky we were to live in a town with a variety of ethnic groups and religions living in harmony.  

In college I was showing another student my high school yearbook.  My classmates included Carazo, Merluzzi, Nogueira, Sarik, Krawchuk, Bobita, Kinek, Constenbader, and Muniz.  He said, “Didn’t you have any Americans in your class?”  I just stared at him.

The Times today had a conversation between Frank Bruni and Bret Stephens.  Stephens said that while the world would obviously be a better place when Trump was no longer president, he thought our problems are so much deeper than that one man and his administration.

He added, “My view is that everything started going wrong when we abandoned the cause of teaching civics.”

Do schools even discuss personal responsibility, caring about the community, service, self-reliance, participation in self-government?  I am not talking about mumbling the Pledge of Allegiance before meetings or standing for the National Anthem.  I’m talking about citizenship, about the kind of patriotism that we saw in Minneapolis during the ICE raids.  Perhaps they are still learning that kind of citizenship in Minnesota.  I’m not so sure about the rest of the country. 

God Wasted a Huge Opportunity

The poet Katha Pollitt has noted that God wasted a huge moral opportunity with the ten commandments.  She wrote:  “How different history would have been had he clearly and unmistakably forbidden war, tyranny, taking over other people’s countries, slavery, exploitation of workers, cruelty to children, wife-beatings, stoning, treating women–or anyone–as chattel or inferior beings.”

Instead we get one about honoring the Sabbath and another about not coveting your neighbor’s wife’s ass.  I’m a little shaky on that last one; I think that’s what it says.  In any case, Pollitt has a point.

Causes for failure in battles–A review

On Jan. 9 of this year I posted a list of reasons for failures in battle.  The list was from a course by Dr. Gregory S. Aldrete I was listening to.  Given what has happened in Trump’s war with Iran, I think it is time for a review.  It is amazing how well this list explains the on-going failure in American policy.  This is textbook.

1.  Failures in planning.  Includes failure to define objective and failure to pay attention to intelligence and the strengths of the enemy.

2.  Failures in leadership.  Includes incompetence, working above one’s ability, and inability to work with other leaders.

3.  Failures in execution.  Includes such problems as splitting one’s forces, moving too early or too late, and not knowing when to cut one’s losses.  Reinforcing failure is a common theme.

4.  Failures to adapt.  Change occurs, and a leader must be ready to adjust to meet those changes.

check, check, check, check.

This war will be a subject for study in military colleges for decades.  I doubt there are many times that all four factors come into play at once, but here we are.

Hannah Arendt on public lying

In Hannah Arendt’s last known interview, recorded for French television in 1973, she spoke about the problem of governments lying.  Here is what she said:

     If everyone always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but that no one believes anything at all anymore–and rightly so, because lies, by their very nature, have to be changed, to be “re-lied,” so to speak.  So a lying government which pursues different goals at different times has constantly to rewrite its own history. That means that the people are deprived not only of their capacity to act, but also their capacity to think and to judge.  And with such a people you can then do what you please.  

Have we reached the point where no one believes anything at all anymore?    Think about it.