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Fear Now Stalks America

 

Dictators and tyrants have long used fear and brutality to both rise to and hold onto power.   So too did white supremacists of the Old South use fear and brutality to keep black citizens subordinate and deprive them of their civil rights.  Now, in 2025 America we see a would be dictator implementing a white supremacist agenda - namely, Project 2025 - using fear to subdue would be critics and encourage responsible citizens to keep quiet or to look away as horrors are visited on others, especially non-whites.  In my life time, I do no ever recall the fear and ugliness that is palpable in so many, be they a member of a racial minority, LGBT or simply someone who believes in equality and due process.  Under the Felon's regime, no one is truly safe from retaliation and retribution for merely voicing justified criticism of the regimes corruption and/or unlawful acts. Sadly, most Republicans seem totally fine with the destruction of civil rights and an agenda to take America back to a mix of the Gilded Age and the 1950's.  A column in the New York Times looks at where we now find ourselves as many wonder if they are next on the target list even as they try to go about their everyday lives.  Here are column highlights:

Like the fog in Carl Sandburg’s poem, fear has come on little cat feet, seeping silently into various parts of American society. It sits, looking over not just harbor and city, but all of America. I have seen and been affected by this fear over the past several months. It has seeped into our military, our civil service, universities, law firms, C-suites and the leadership of nonprofit organizations.

It wasn’t always this way. During George W. Bush’s presidency, I worked with a number of organizations that opposed his administration’s torture program — euphemistically called “enhanced interrogation” — that was employed by the C.I.A. against suspected terrorists after 9/11. After President Barack Obama signed an executive order ending the program, my colleagues and I held a small party to celebrate. At that party, I remarked that we should be grateful for the fact that we lived in a nation where we could publicly oppose the policies of our government without fear of what that government might do to us. We didn’t worry about being arbitrarily arrested or investigated, having any government funding for our organizations cut off, or being personally and viciously attacked on social media and in the press.

I cannot make that statement today. [The Felon] President Trump does not accept dissent and is using fear to try to suppress it.

Let’s start with our military and civil service, communities with which I have had a lifetime of experience and maintain close contact. The fear in the Pentagon today is palpable. The firings of general officers without cause have sent a chilling message to everyone in uniform. I served through several changes in political leadership as an Army officer and later as a Defense Department civilian. Both the targeted removals of senior military leaders and the mass firings of members of our federal civil service that are taking place are unprecedented and clearly designed to eliminate dissent, replace professionals with political loyalists and create a climate of fear.

Next, the lawyers, another community that I am part of. The Trump administration is attempting to coerce major law firms into refusing to represent clients whom it disfavors and to represent clients it favors. Among the many lawyers I know, this is widely seen as a direct assault on the foundation of our legal system. But for many of those lawyers, fear of losing work that requires access to government buildings, including courts, is a strong motivator.

Recently, I spoke to a group of graduate students and professors at Harvard. All were concerned about the effect of the administration’s unmistakable attacks on academic freedom and freedom of speech on campus.

The administration has threatened prosecutions against former government officials and private citizens. It has threatened companies with the loss of government contracts and threatened nonprofit organizations across the country with cuts to funding. This climate of menace and apprehension extends to companies’ willingness to employ or associate with those who criticize Mr. Trump or his administration. I am one of those people.

Since I left the government in January, I have been told by several organizations that they either couldn’t openly employ me, hold my security clearances or otherwise be associated with someone visibly criticizing the administration. . . . . One corporate chief executive told me I had become toxic for writing and speaking about the administration’s abuses of power. I expected some of these responses, but it’s disappointing to experience, nonetheless.

Mr. Trump’s use of fear as a weapon has been most pronounced with undocumented immigrants and communities of immigrants more broadly. Certainly, Americans strongly support deporting undocumented immigrants who are violent criminals. But the Trump administration has terrorized immigrants from all walks of life, including those in the United States legally. A few years ago, I represented a woman seeking asylum because she had been persecuted by members of her government. When an immigration judge granted her the right to remain in the United States indefinitely, the assumption was that she was finally safe. Now she must live in fear once again.

All these institutions and communities are a source of American strength. Indeed, they make America great. But now they are all, to varying degrees, under attack and experiencing a new sense of trepidation. Fear is the universal tool of authoritarians, and it is a clear sign that our democracy is in danger that so many Americans now have reason to fear their government. Fear has come to our country, and unlike Sandburg’s fog, it isn’t moving on any time soon.

Wednesday Morning Male Beauty

 

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"Big, Beautiful Bill" is Robbing Working-Class Americans

The reverse Robin Hood agenda of the Felon and today's morally bankrupt Republican Party is on open display in the "big beautiful bill" passed by Republicans in Congress at the Felon's bidding.  Ironically, far too many working class Americans stupidly voted for the Felon and Republicans believing the lie that they'd do a better job on the economy.  Instead of benefitting under this regime, they are enduring (i) higher prices thanks in no small part due to the Felon's tariffs, (ii) continued high interest rates urged on by the huge projected increase to the national debt, and (iii) the slashing and plundering of many government social programs upon which many in the working class rely on given their often barely living wages.  "Owning the libs" and supposedly bashing the "elites" is coming at a very, very high cost. And the worse impacts disingenuously - and by calculated design - will not occur until after the 2026 mid-term elections with the hope that these same voters can once again be duped into voting against their own interest. One has to wonder what it will take to get these voters to open their eyes to how they have been betrayed.  An editorial in the Virginian-Pilot looks at how the working class and middle class have been robbed to benefit the rich:

The “One Big, Beautiful Bill” that passed through Congress is a raw deal for working-class Americans. It should be called the “Billionaire Bailout Bill.” At the center of the bill is a cruel tradeoff: deep Medicaid cuts that rip healthcare away from millions in exchange for tax breaks and corporate handouts to the top 1%. It spurs a massive transfer of wealth from those who can least afford it to those who need it the least.

The bill’s supporters call it a “fiscally responsible” package, but it adds $3 trillion to the deficit. The truth is, this bill demands sacrifice only from one side of America: working families, rural communities, seniors and people with disabilities who rely on Medicaid to survive.

By capping Medicaid spending and shifting costs to states, the bill sets the stage for devastating coverage losses, longer wait times and fewer services. It is death by a thousand bureaucratic cuts — and it is intentional.

These cuts are about making room for massive tax breaks at the top. While families struggling to pay for insulin or mental health care are told to tighten their belts, the wealthiest Americans and the corporations they own are handed billions in tax giveaways. The same people telling us the country “can’t afford” to care for our most vulnerable somehow find endless room in the budget for private jets and stock buybacks.

Let’s be clear: Medicaid is not a handout. It is a lifeline. Nearly 80 million Americans rely on it — including children, pregnant women, people with disabilities, the elderly and workers in low-wage jobs that don’t provide health insurance. Slashing this program doesn’t just harm those directly affected. It weakens hospitals, especially in rural areas, where Medicaid dollars keep the lights on. It forces families to choose between medicine and groceries. It erodes the very foundation of public health.

And what are we getting in return? The Billionaire Bailout Bill is filled with loopholes and giveaways to industries that already rake in record profits. Hedge funds, private equity firms and pharmaceutical giants get sweetheart deals while community clinics prepare for layoffs and service cuts. Private-equity moguls still get to pay lower tax rates than truck drivers and nurses. This isn’t bad policy — it’s theft. It’s taking from those with nothing to spare and giving it to those who already have everything.

According to Americans for Tax Fairness, “The tax provisions of this legislation cannot be viewed in isolation from the rest of the legislative package. In its entirety, this reconciliation package proposes the most radical transfer of wealth from low- and middle-income families to wealthy households in American history.”

And with this bill adding trillions of dollars to our national debt, it is now the burden of younger Americans to pay for it.

We should be furious, not just at what’s in this bill but at the process itself and our representatives who act remorseless in the face of the American hardship they just voted for.

I agree with the Catholic bishops who condemned the bill stating, “The Catholic Church’s teaching to uphold human dignity and the common good compels us to redouble our efforts and offer concrete help to those who will be in greater need.”

The One Big, Beautiful Bill may be beautiful to multinational corporations and CEOs, but it’s a disaster for the rest of us. We need to stop pretending that austerity for the poor and abundance for the rich is “reform.”

It’s not reform — it’s theft.

Tuesday Morning Male Beauty

 

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GOP Food Assistance Cuts Will Harm Rural Grocery Stores

Even if one ignores the immorality of leaving many elderly and children to go hungry due to federal food assistance cuts - i.e., the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ("SNAP") - so that the very wealthy can enjoy even more tax cuts, as a piece in Politico lays out, there will be adverse economic impacts on many small, rural grocery stores that rely on SNAP payments to survive. Republican claims that more intense work requirements will drive people to get jobs and boost the local economies, the reality is that the elderly, disabled and children are either unable to find employment or are physically unable to work. Often this is particularly true in rural, Republican voting areas that lack the population and/or income levels to attract large food retailers.  If small independent grocers go out of business, these areas could lose the only food store in the community.  In addition, the closure of such stores will have an adverse economic ripple effect on these already hard pressed communities.  It's yet another example of rural Republican voters supporting politicians who enact legislation harmful to their constituents best interests.  When will these people ever learn that appeals to "god, guns, and gays" and rages against the federal government "interference" are only aimed at duping them into slitting their own economic throats?  Sadly, the Felon and his Republican political whores care nothing about the harm they are doing.  Tax cuts for the wealthy are all that matters. Here are article excerpts:

The deep cuts Republicans made to federal nutrition programs this summer are poised to devastate independent grocery stores that are central to many low-income communities, including those that voted for President Donald Trump.

Food aid recipients often make up the majority of small grocers’ customer base in remote areas and food deserts — places that have limited options for fresh, healthy food.

But a central part of paying for the GOP policy megabill Trump signed on July 4 relied on slashing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation’s largest anti-hunger initiative.

Even though some provisions in the new law won’t go into effect for another three years, others, like expanded work requirements for SNAP participants, could kick some families out of the program and hit the bottom lines of small grocery stores within months. It’s a chain reaction set off in Washington that’s likely to reshape how people access food in more isolated communities even if they don’t use federal assistance.

“I lean pretty heavily right most of the time, but one of the things that I do lean to the left on is we’re a pretty wealthy country, we can help people out,” said St. Johns, Arizona, Mayor Spence Udall, whose town overwhelmingly supported Trump in 2024.

“The businesses that will be affected most by this are the businesses that are most disadvantaged, that are struggling, and you’re going to find that in the rural markets,” he added.

Udall’s community, which sits halfway between — but still far from — Phoenix and Albuquerque, has one grocery store and one local food bank serving over 3,500 people. If the store shutters due to the food aid cuts, the next closest option for groceries is roughly 30 miles away.

Republicans’ overhaul of the anti-hunger program will lead to thousands of job losses and a drop in revenue across the agriculture, retail grocery and food processing industries, according to a study from the Commonwealth Fund.

Independent grocers said in interviews that they are considering cutting staff or pivoting to e-commerce and delivery services to stave off some of the anticipated profit loss.

“I’d just as soon cut a leg off than have my customers out in the poorest county of the United States go without food. That just isn’t an option in my mind,” said RF Buche, the owner of the only grocery store for the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. “It is as essential as anything that is in that area.”

Between 60 percent and 80 percent of Buche’s customers rely on SNAP, accounting for nearly half of his revenue. Buche said he’s weighing layoffs in order to keep his doors open.

Republican lawmakers, many of whom represent districts with substantial numbers of food aid recipients, defended their megabill, saying the cuts will ultimately help low-income families and their local communities. . . . . House Agriculture Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.), a top negotiator in the plan to slash SNAP. “A significant number of people who currently are on SNAP through unemployment will now be climbing a ladder of opportunity, which [means] they’ll be able to have more resources to buy more food. So our grocers are going to do well with this.”

Democrats like Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) disagree and are exploring ways to mitigate the SNAP cuts through upcoming legislation and negotiations. . . . Several Republican and Democratic state officials have already warned that it will be difficult to backfill the loss of federal dollars. They will need to consider redirecting funds from existing programs, cutting benefits, raising taxes or finding some alternative method to protect their budgets.

Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) said that his state is bracing for “tens of thousands of people” losing access to SNAP.

“The key here is that if we keep enough folks buying at local rural grocery stores, those local rural grocery stores have a higher chance to survive,” Vasquez said. “We have to make sure folks either have money in their pocket and that states can make up the shortfall in SNAP cuts to preserve that access, or for other folks, provide alternate means to be able to feed them.”

Tom Charley owns Charley Family Shop ‘N Save in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, a town about an hour outside of Thompson’s district. Like Buche, Charley is considering reducing his workforce as he braces for the megabill cuts to slice into his store’s already razor-thin profit margin.

If a community loses a grocery store, especially a rural community, the economic impact is often broader than the individual store’s revenue loss, said Stephanie Johnson, vice president of government relations for the National Grocers Association.

In many areas, small grocery stores double as community hubs, hardware stores and stock products from local producers. Each SNAP dollar spent in a rural area generates $1.50 in local economic activity during recessions, per USDA data.

“The grocery store employs 15 people, maybe more, and if we lose the grocery store, what do those people do?” said Udall, the St. Johns, Arizona, mayor. “It’s not just about people shopping at the grocery store. It has a ripple effect.”

Sunday Morning Male Beauty