Vote and Vote Early if You Can

I mailed in my vote yesterday to show the cruel, corrupt, and incompetent clown in the White House and the spineless Republicans who have enabled him that this isn’t the America a majority of Americans want. America doesn’t do dictatorships or take kindly to aspiring dictators. It is a country with a constitution, the rule of law, and a set of inspiring ideals that it is constantly striving to live up to. Besides the corruption and incompetence, I’m confident that most Americans are repulsed by the cruelty and outright war crimes we have witnessed since this wannabe tough guy took office, whether against Iranian schoolgirls, innocent Palestinians, Latin American fishermen, or immigrants who were following the rules but were still shipped off to hellhole prisons in third countries without any due process.

Although the ineptitude of the Democratic Party is primarily responsible for getting Trump reelected, we need to vote for them this time in order to put a check on this out-of-control president and to start holding him and his minions accountable. The Republican loss must be so bad that the party is forced to break from Trump and become a legitimate political party rather than a cult of personality. At the same time, the Democratic Party needs to remember that many voters aren’t voting for them but are voting against the Trump Republicans. Hopefully both parties will get the message and make the adjustments so that in 2028 we won’t be forced to choose between a candidate who may be ready one day, AOC, and one who will never be, Vance. I’d personally prefer a 2028 choice between Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie.

I conclude this plea to vote with a few important but disturbing videos because I hope more Americans see things like these as we approach this election so they aren’t just angry about fuel prices or prices in general, which they have every right to be, but are even angrier about what is being done in their name with their tax dollars. We can’t be silent in the face of these atrocities. This election is our best chance to speak out against them, what is happening in our country, and what our country is doing to the world. It’s our chance to show the rest of the world that there are enough good and informed Americans to get the country back on the right track where it can use its power and influence to lead by example instead of throwing its weight around for illicit and immoral gain for those close to the president and his big-money backers.

Abdul El-Sayed for U.S. Senate

The majority of Michiganders who voted in this Democratic primary election have shown AIPAC and other super PACs that their elections cannot be bought so easily. These voters have also made it clear that they are not ok with their tax dollars being used to start unnecessary wars or sent abroad to fund oppression and violence against children and other innocent people regardless of their race or religion.

On Tuesday November 3rd Michiganders must once again turn out in record numbers to ensure Democratic Party outsider Abdul El-Sayed defeats Trump loyalist Mike Rogers. As Senator, he will continue to take on Trump Republicans and the establishment Democrats who have failed to address the massive problem of money in politics and the desperate need for campaign finance reform.

Six Months to November

Greetings, it’s been 30 days since my last post so I thought I should check in and wish anyone reading this well. I hope your life is going great despite the war and political situation. On the bright side a midterm reckoning is coming because a clear majority of Americans are not happy with this wannabe king and his sycophantic administration. In the meantime it’d be great if crazy-crooked-lying-sleepy Trump could at least try to be as concerned about being a decent person as he is about profiting from the presidency and putting his name and face on monuments, money, and passports. I hope all Americans will commit to voting in this year’s primaries and general election for candidates who are anti-authoritarian and are not afraid to stand up to the one we currently have in The White House.

Enough is Enough – 25th Amendment

The majority of Americans had had enough even before this illegal, reckless, and poorly planned war of choice against Iran. Trump was never fit for office and he’s now lost whatever bullshit artist wit and charisma he once had and was able to use to create a cult of personality and take over the Republican Party. For the good of the country and the world, those still supporting and enabling this disturbed and deteriorating man really need to stop and his cabinet should invoke the 25th amendment to remove him from power. As citizens we need to make it clear that we aren’t on board with this war or the country’s trajectory and vote out those who are. America, with all its flaws, is better than this, much better than this, and history will not judge those who supported and enabled this president and administration kindly.

No Kings Protest March 28th

Americans dissatisfied with where their country is headed and with the instability and chaos their elected government has unleashed onto the world will make this the largest protest and one of the most peaceful protests in American history. Americans will show each other and the world that they do not accept this corrupt and incompetent wannabe king president, his sycophantic enablers in the government, or this reckless, poorly planned, and entirely unnecessary war that has already killed thousands, displaced millions, and wasted tens of billions of dollars.

Troops on the Ground

Here is a repost from over 11 years ago. I cringed every time I heard the phrase “Boots on the ground” all throughout the Iraq and Afghanistan wars so as soon as I had a place to publicly put something on the record I wanted to say something about it. Now that I’m hearing this phrase everyday regarding Trump’s reckless and poorly planned war of choice in Iran I felt the need to repost it in hopes it might reach a few more people and persuade them to stop using this extremely unpleasant phrase.

January 3rd 2015 “Boots on the ground” — First “collateral damage” as a euphemism for innocent victims of what is oftentimes criminally negligent manslaughter and now this. Military euphemisms are dangerous because they make war seem less repulsive than it really is therefore we should all oppose their use. I suggest we replace this term with “troops on the ground” or even “sons and daughters on the ground” in order to show what’s really at stake because boots can be replaced, people can’t.

Trump’s War of Choice

The death, destruction, and chaos seen since Trump started this ill-advised and poorly planned war were entirely predictable. It is why previous presidents have refused Israel’s attempts to drag the U.S. into a regime-change war with Iran. With thousands dead, many more injured, and millions displaced, the situation will almost certainly get worse unless a diplomatic solution can be found. Far from helping Iranians or Americans, Trump’s war of choice has…

1.) strengthened domestic and international support for Iran’s oppressive regime.

2.) increased resentment towards the U.S. while destroying its credibility as a negotiator.

3.) damaged the global economy and strengthened Putin’s Russia by increasing oil prices.

4.) weakened international law by normalizing attacks on smaller countries by larger ones.

5.) killed or wounded thousands of civilians including those at that elementary school in Minab.

6.) cost American lives and has made Americans far less safe and secure at home and abroad.

7.) caused Gulf states to question the value of their alliance with and investments in the U.S..

8.) exposed the limits of U.S. power providing valuable insights to its geopolitical rivals.

9.) encouraged Iran to seek nuclear weapons to provide deterrence against future attacks.

10.) set back the Iranian people’s hard-fought progress towards freedom and democracy.

Furthermore, the tens of billions of dollars being spent on this war of choice could have and should have been spent building schools, hospitals, and civilian infrastructure, not on destroying them. With that said, we must not allow U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East or elsewhere to be determined by Israel or any other country, and we should vote out any politicians that seem more concerned about the state of Israel than they are about the United States of America. If a candidate claims the U.S. has a “biblical responsibility” to Israel like U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) did recently, then they should seek public office in Israel, not in the U.S..

Track AIPAC

After the U.S. backed mass slaughter and destruction in Gaza, the increasing violence and oppression in the West Bank, the murder of nearly half of all journalists murdered in 2025, and now with Israel having pulled the only U.S. president that was dumb and/or compromised enough to go along into a war with Iran an increasing number of Americans are finally recognizing the toxicity of this “alliance”. Moreover an increasing number of Americans are no longer falling for the lie that all criticism towards the Israeli government equates to anti-semitism. I hope this raised awareness and shift in public opinion will help ensure that this year we get the liberation day we were promised last year. Unlike last year instead of being liberated from affordable prices I hope this year America will be liberated from Israel who continues to drain American resources, put Americans in harm’s way, and help America damage its reputation in the Middle East and around the world like no other “ally” ever has.

However it must be noted that the U.S. a country of nearly 350 million people is fully responsible for allowing a country of 10 million people to have this kind of influence in their government so I’m not trying to place all the blame on Israel as they’re just looking out for their own fundamentalist interests and are trying their best to reclaim the land they think their god left them and if America and Americans are dumb enough then why not take advantage of them in order to achieve these aims that don’t take into account all the other people living on the land they want. If you want to make this liberation day a reality be sure to vote in your primary election and before you do find out which of the candidates is taking money from AIPAC and other pro-Israel lobbies and which reject such money. I’m not just singling out Israel, although it definitely deserves to be singled out, because we shouldn’t be electing politicians that accept money from any groups that lobby on behalf of foreign countries and governments.

Track AIPAC

Minab

Now that more information has come in since the elementary school in Minab was bombed it seems that around 175 people were killed with most of them school girls aged 7 to 12. Absolutely sickening and yes it looks like it was done by the U.S. due to them being too lazy or incompetent to update their list of targets. I oppose this war of choice because as history has shown us there are a lot more ways for it to go bad than to go good and the longer this war goes on the more schools, clinics, and civilian infrastructure the U.S. and Israel will blow up and the more innocent lives that will be lost.

If you don’t want to see the U.S. and Israel turn Tehran into the next Gaza then let your representatives know how you feel about your tax dollars and perhaps your loved ones being used to carry out this reckless war. Also every time you hear about another American service member who has tragically died in this unnecessary conflict and about the families they leave behind remember those teachers and students starting their school day at that elementary school in Minab and all the families they leave behind along with all of the other innocent Iranians dying and suffering in this poorly planned war.

Find and Contact Your Elected Officials

War Powers Resolution

A war powers vote must be held as soon as possible so we can see where each and every representative in the House and Senate stands on this reckless and illegal war, and so we can hold those in favor of it accountable at the ballot box. Americans should not allow Israel or any other foreign country determine their country’s foreign policy especially when Israel, much like the U.S., is run by a corrupt criminal far more concerned with staying in power and out of jail than he is about creating a more peaceful and prosperous world.

The U.S. should immediately end this war and restart negotiations before the situation gets even worse. The war has only just begun and it has been reported that an elementary school has been bombed resulting in the deaths of over a hundred school children. This is what happens when you start a war and have missiles flying over densely populated areas. It has also been reported that Iran’s Supreme Leader has been killed but he was nearly 87 years old and would have died on his own soon enough without the need for this military action that is sure to increase support for his oppressive regime and hatred towards the U.S..

From America First to Israel First

Trump could be compromised and it might be due to something his old partner in crime Epstein might have passed on to Israeli intelligence before his arrest and “suicide”. After this launch of a regime change war on Iran as negotiations were proceeding well with future negotiations still scheduled I wouldn’t be surprised if compromising material existed and was alluded to by Netanyahu during at least a few of his visits to the White House over the past year in which he lobbied the president to go to war with Iran on behalf of Israel.

Congress needs to depose the Trumps like they did the Clintons and release the rest of the Epstein files so crimes can be investigated and victims can get justice as this will send a message to the rich and powerful that they are not above the law and a message to victims that their accusations will be taken seriously and properly investigated, moreover it will help Americans determine whether or not their president is compromised by a foreign government and if this is one of the reasons he is pulling them into a reckless and illegal war.

Release the Files

Dear Representatives in the House and Senate,

We will not be distracted and this will not go away so please support and advocate for the release of all of the Epstein files and push the Department of Justice to provide Congress with an adequate number of computers to access the unreacted versions so we can get to the bottom of this scandal, hold those guilty of criminal activity accountable, and ensure that any future crimes like this are properly investigated regardless of who is accused of committing them as no one should be above the law.

Sincerely,

Your Constituent

Find and Contact Your Elected Officials

Diplomacy Not War

The U.S. has enough problems as it is and should be much more concerned about its own government, justice system, and law enforcement than it should be about Iran’s. If it was as simple as dropping a few bombs and having a democratically elected human rights respecting government replace the current fundamentalist regime then it would be debatable whether or not Congress should declare war and whether or not Americans struggling to make ends meet should pay for it. However considering that a military dictatorship or civil war would probably be the most likely outcome of overthrowing the current regime and that this would probably be even worse for the Iranian people and the region I think it’s best to continue applying pressure diplomatically with the support of other countries who don’t think governments have the right to murder protestors and dissidents.

We saw what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan and I prefer not to see what would happen if such a regime change war was attempted in Iran which has a population greater than Iraq and Afghanistan combined not to mention strategic partnerships with China and Russia. As much as I’d love to see all of the world’s terrible regimes be replaced by better ones I wouldn’t bet on the U.S.’s ability to bring it about especially when their own regime is so rife with incompetency and corruption. In fact an unprovoked attack by the U.S. might have the opposite effect and rather than overthrowing Iran’s fundamentalist regime it might actually help strengthen it by gaining it support at home and abroad while further weakening international law, damaging the U.S.’s already terrible reputation, and setting another dangerous precedent for other countries that feel like overthrowing their neighbor’s government.

As for the main cause of this flare up in tensions it needs to be made clear to Israel that if it attacks Iran again thinking it can draw in the U.S. like it did last year it is seriously mistaking because this time they will be left to deal with the consequences on their own as this is the only way they will learn that they can’t go around attacking and murdering their neighbors with impunity. Israel helped pull the U.S. into the disastrous Iraq war and it must not be allowed to do the same with Iran. Just think of what the U.S. could have achieved for its citizens and the world had it not spent nearly 20 years and trillions of dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Furthermore just think of the millions of people who have died or been damaged as a result of those two disastrous wars and the instability they created. Never again, we want diplomacy not war, and if war is what Israel wants then let them do it themselves without any support from the U.S..

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Accountability for ICE

ICE must be held accountable when they assault and murder innocent people or break the law in any other way. What makes the ICE murder of Alex Pretti even worse are the lies from people like Kristi Noem and Greg Bovino which are easily disproven by simply watching the videos we fortunately have. To call this man a “domestic terrorist” or claim he wanted to do “maximum damage and massacre law enforcement” is disgusting. Lies like these have given ICE a false sense of impunity and is one of the reasons why they’re behaving like a bunch of poorly trained trigger-happy masked thugs.

If Americans feel ICE should only be going after the “worst of the worst” and not people who have lived peacefully and productively in the country for years then they need to take it up with their elected officials and if necessary vote them out of office as soon as they get the chance. However they should not try taking what they feel is justice into their own hands by harassing ICE agents as they do their jobs as this is a recipe for future tragedies and will only further contribute to the chaos so peacefully protesting and filming from a safe distance YES, harassing law enforcement officers in the line of duty NO.

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Impeach, Convict, Remove

Recently when asked if there were any limits on his global powers Trump said “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”. This brazenly corrupt and increasingly delusional demagogue is drunk on power and those who have been serving him the intoxicating elixir of praise and rationalizing every messed up thing he has done are responsible. Republican officials need to stand up to this corrupt menace to Democracy and the rule of law or answer to their constituents who do not want the U.S. represented and behaving like this in their name with their tax dollars.

January 6th Fifth Anniversary

All Americans should ask themselves how the man responsible for making January 6th 2021 such a dark day in American history not only avoided jail time but was actually elected president a second time by the majority of U.S. voters. America has really lost its way and the last year goes way beyond politics as usual. I write this in hopes that a humbled U.S. will emerge from this psychotic episode better than it was before. However after nearly a year of this mad king and watching how the checks and balances we were so proud of have failed to keep him checked or balanced I’m a bit worried that the darkest days may have yet to come. In the meantime let’s continue trying to break the spell this conman has put on many of our fellow citizens so they realize they’ve been lied to because the swamp Trump promised to drain has only become more toxic and corrupt.

Venezuela

Would the U.S. and the rest of the world be better off if the U.S. kidnapped and incarcerated the President of Venezuela or would the U.S. and the rest of the world be better off if Venezuela kidnapped and incarcerated the president of the U.S.? Members of the House and Senate must work together to get a hold of this reckless and corrupt president who continues to destroy the reputation of the country and if they can’t voters must replace them with people who can.

Trump can’t run a business let alone the U.S. so how is he now supposed to carry out this imperialist oil grab and “run” Venezuela which unlike the U.S. was already a mess before he got there? Even if this works out well for the U.S. and Venezuela at what cost was it to international rules and norms and what precedent does it set? For one it has cost the U.S. just about all credibility to criticize Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Mainland China’s preparations to take back Taiwan.

The U.S. is turning a world that had been on its way to a rules based order where bigger stronger countries had to respect the sovereignty of smaller weaker countries and in which disputes were settled through diplomacy and not by unilateral military action into a world where might is right and the only law is the law of the jungle. U.S. voters must stop this march towards a new age of unbridled imperialism where the world is divided into spheres of influence and run by corrupt autocrats.

Despite the terrible precedent this sets I hope the removal of this dictator will turn out well for the people of Venezuela. The U.S. needs to work with Venezuela to hold free and fair elections that the U.S. will accept regardless of the winner and their policies towards U.S. oil and mining companies. As for the natural resources they belong to Venezuela and must be used to benefit the Venezuelan people so the last thing Trump should do is make this look like an imperialist oil grab which is exactly what he’s doing.

Happy Healthy New Year

I hope this year brings more peace and political stability than the last. I also hope that the U.S. will stop behaving like a reckless bully and start acting like a responsible stakeholder. As bad as this administration has been and is for the U.S. and all it’s supposed to stand for, e.g. democracy, human rights, and a fair and impartial judiciary, it’s important to remember that it and its “stable genius” leader is merely a symptom so people shouldn’t fool themselves by thinking that everything will be great once the wannabe king is gone because the actual disease is tribalism and political polarization along with an increasingly corrupt political and campaign finance system and this will be much more difficult to change than a president.

If we’re going to stop this and any future slide towards authoritarianism we need to get more people out of their information bubbles and thinking as independents open to voting for the best candidate regardless of party affiliation. Then we need to place more limits on presidential power, undo gerrymandering, start ranked choice voting, and elect more independent and third party candidates so there’s a true swing vote in the House and Senate and politics isn’t just a perpetual and increasingly ugly game between the Blue team and the Red team. All this is easier said than done but 2026 is a new year filled with new hope and midterm elections. In the meantime let’s hope the republic and its system of checks and balances will fare well in this stress test as it approaches its 250th birthday.

Paramount Boycott

The right to boycott is as powerful as the right to vote. Just look at the quick reversal Disney did on Kimmel’s firing after so many people canceled their Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions last September. The next target of a boycott should be Paramount for the direction they’re taking CBS News and specifically for spiking a 60 Minutes story on CECOT and the U.S. deportees who were unjustly sent there. It’s already been ten days since it was spiked and if Paramount doesn’t want to completely destroy the reputation of CBS News and 60 Minutes it should be aired as soon as possible in order to shed more light on the injustice that has taken place and to help prevent further injustice.

I don’t object to tough prisons for deserving inmates but desperate people looking to escape difficult circumstances, many of which the U.S. itself helped create, that have no criminal record should not be sent to them. Moreover CECOT goes beyond tough prison and into the depraved realm of medieval dungeon and should not even exist in a civilized world. Furthermore most of the people sent to CECOT last March had entered the U.S. legally and many were following the procedures of the previous administration before being wrongfully labeled as “the worst of the worst” by the current administration without any due process and sent off to a hellhole notorious for human rights abuses.

If you think this story shouldn’t have been spiked at the last minute and should be aired on CBS in the U.S. as soon as possible then consider canceling your Paramount+ subscription and tell them why you’re doing so. If CBS News and 60 Minutes isn’t enough of a reason for you know that the new CEO of Paramount David Ellison wants to use some more of his daddy’s money so he can get his hands on Warner Bros. Discovery which owns CNN so if you think CNN is bad now just imagine what it will become if Ellison controlled Paramount gets a hold of it maybe he’ll let Bari Weiss run that one too.

https://support.paramountplus.com/s/article/PI-How-do-I-cancel-my-subscription?language=en_US