Donald Trump and maga Republicans must stop the failures in the unpopular Trumpzi cruelty agenda

Editorial: Homicide on the high seas published in The Times Union newspaper in New York state.

Donald Trump is seriously mentally ill.  

"Trump clearly has his eye on projecting power". 

He is is ordering extra-judicial killings of suspected drug dealers; Congress needs to make clear that he lacks the power to declare war.

Donald Trump is sending U.S. military forces into the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean to blow up small boats suspected, without evidence, of transporting drugs.

And, in a style entirely befitting an administration run by a former reality show star and a military led by a preening ex-Fox (Fake❗) News personality, the Trump administration released video of the obliteration of the small craft for viewers to enjoy or recoil from, depending on one’s thirst for blood and stomach for state-sanctioned homicide.

Donald Trump claims his authority allows him to declare a state of armed conflict with drug cartels, which he designated as “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” in an executive order on his first day in office and has since expanded. He says these groups “present an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”

Rather than treat drug trafficking as an international criminal matter and work cooperatively with foreign governments to interdict traffic outside the U.S., Donald Trump is deploying the military to go after suspected traffickers in international waters, and possibly even in other nations’ territorial waters. More than 50 people have been murdered in such strikes so far — for allegedly committing a crime that is not a death-penalty-eligible offense.

The strategy drew condemnation from Columbian President Gustavo Petro after the death of a man he said was a lifelong fisherman on a boat that was adrift. Mr. Petro called it murder; rather than offer evidence to defend his actions, Donald. Trump said he would cut U.S. assistance to and impose new tariffs on Columbia.

U.S. officials have presented no substantial proof to the public that the people being killed are drug traffickers. We’re to take the word of an administration that’s notoriously lax with facts as it cites “intelligence.”

The broader picture here can’t be ignored. Donald Trump has deployed warships, fighter jets and troops to the Caribbean as he tries to force out Venezuela’s president, Nicholas Maduro. 

In fact, Donald Trump is actually planning a 💲20 billion bailout for Argentina — contingent on his favored political candidates remaining in power. To the north, Mr. Trump has been hostile to Canada and talked about annexing Greenland.

Donald Trump clearly has his eye on projecting (illegal❗) power — that morally neutral commodity — throughout the Western hemisphere, regardless of the alliances and friendships it risks. He's enabled by an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in a government (and more specifically a military establishment) that the president and his lieutenants have been purging of career lawyers, inspectors general and other officials and watchdogs who would normally warn against potentially illegal actions.

Enablers of evil Donald Trump also includes a Congress controlled by Trump’s party that has been timid when it comes to even questioning his violations of laws such the Constitution's vesting the power to declare war with Congress, not with the president.

But, Congressional Republicans seem as unbothered with Donald Trump’s violation of that document, because he is eager to trample it. They had best remind him about who declares war in this republic — and pronto, ❗ before he starts a much bigger one than the military equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel.

#ImpeachTrumpAgain #Impeach25thAmendment NOW❗

Donald Trump and maga Republicans must end the reign of anxiety and fear caused by their GOP "SHITdown" policies

Echo opinion published in the Los Angeles Times by Jackie Calmes.

Saturday’s October 19, 2025, nationwide (and international) “No 👑Kings” rally vies for bragging rights as perhaps the largest single-day protest in U.S. history. The volume of protests and the numbers in the millions who attended sparked Donald Trump's disgusting monarchical outrages.

Leave aside Trump’s grotesque mockery of the protests — his post that night of an AI-generated video depicting himself as a becrowned pilot in a fighter jet, dropping poop bombs on citizens protesting peacefully below. Consider instead two other post-rally actions: On Sunday and Wednesday, “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth announced first that on Trump’s orders the military had struck a seventh boat off Venezuela and then an eighth vessel in the Pacific, bringing the number of people killed over two months to 34. The administration has provided no evidence to Congress or the American public for Trump’s claims that the unidentified dead were “narco-terrorists,” nor any credible legal rationale for the strikes. Then, on Monday, Trump began demolishing the White House’s East Wing to create the gilded ballroom of his dreams, which, at 90,000 square feet, would be nearly twice the size of the White House residence itself.

As sickening as the sight was — heavy equipment ripping away at the historic property as high-powered hoses doused the dusty debris — Trump’s 💲250-million (now re-evaluated at 💲300 million) vanity project is small stuff compared to a policy of killing noncombatant civilian citizens of nations with which we are not at war (Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador). Yet together the actions reflect the spectrum of consequences of Trump’s utter sense of impunity as president, from the relatively symbolic to the murderous.

“In America the law is king,” Thomas Paine wrote in 1776. But, not in Donald Trump’s America.

Among the commentariat, the president’s desecration of the East Wing is getting at least as much criticism as his extralegal killings at sea. Many critics see in the bulldozing of the People’s House a metaphor for Trump’s destructive governance generally — his other teardowns of federal agencies, life-saving foreign aid, healthcare benefits and more. The metaphor is indeed apt.

But what’s more striking is the sheer sense of impunity that Trump telegraphs, constantly, with the “je suis l’état” flare of a Louis XIV — complete (soon) with Trump’s Versailles. (Separately, Trump’s mimicry of French emperors now includes plans for a sort of Arc de Triomphe near Arlington Cemetery. A reporter asked who it would be for. “Me,” Trump said. Arc de Trump.)

No law, domestic or international, constrains him, as far as the convicted felon is concerned. Neither does Congress, where Republicans bend the knee. Nor the Supreme Court, with its 6-3 right-wing majority, including three justices Trump chose in his first term.

The court’s ruling last year in Trump vs. United States gives Trump virtual immunity from criminal prosecution, but U.S. service members don’t have that protection when it comes to the deadly Caribbean Sea attacks or any other orders from the commander in chief that might one day be judged to have been illegal.

The operation’s commander, Navy Admiral Alvin Holsey, reportedly expressed concerns about the strikes within the administration. 

Then, last week he announced his retirement after less than a year as head of the U.S. Southern Command. It could be a coincidence. But I’m hardly alone in counting Holsey as the latest casualty in Trump and Hegseth’s purge of perceived nonloyalists at the Pentagon.

“When the president decides someone has to die, the military becomes his personal hit squad,” military analyst and former Republican Tom Nichols said Monday on MSNBC. Just like with kings and other autocrats: Off with their heads.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a rare maverick Republican, noted on Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that in years past, the Coast Guard would board foreign boats suspected of ferrying drugs and, if contraband were found, take it and suspected traffickers into custody, often gleaning information about higher-ups to make a real dent in the drug trade. But, Paul added, about one in four boats typically had no drugs. No matter nowadays — everyone’s a target for deadly force. “So,” Paul said, “all of these people have been blown up without us knowing their name, without any evidence of a crime.” (Paul was the only Republican senator not invited to lunch with Trump on Monday in the paved-over Rose Garden.)

Ecuador said no evidence connects a citizen who survived a recent U.S. strike to any crime. Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the United States of murdering a fisherman in a September strike, provoking Trump to call Petro a “drug leader” and unilaterally yank U.S. foreign aid. A Venezuelan told the Washington Post that the 11 people killed in the first known U.S. strike were fishermen; national security officials told Congress the individuals were headed back to shore when hit. Meanwhile, the three countries and U.S. news reports contradict Trump’s claims that he’s destroying and seizing fentanyl — a drug that typically comes from Mexico and then is smuggled by land, ❗ usually by U.S. citizens❗.

Again, no matter to America’s 👑king, who said last week that he’s eyeing land incursions in Venezuela now “because we’ve got the sea very well under control.” Trump’s courtiers say he doesn’t need Congress’ authorization for any use of force🤥😡 . The Constitution suggests otherwise.

Alas, neither it nor the law limits Trump’s White House makeover. He doesn’t have to submit to Congress because he’s tapping rich individuals and corporations for the cost. Past presidents, mindful that the house is a public treasure, not their palace, voluntarily sought input from various federal and nonprofit groups. After reports about the demolition, which put the lie to Trump’s promise in July that the ballroom “won’t interfere with the current building,” the American Institute of Architects urged its members to ask Congress to “investigate destruction of the White House.”

Disparate as they are, Trump’s ballroom project and his Caribbean killings were joined last week. At a White House dinner for ballroom donors, Trump joked about the sea strikes: “Nobody wants to go fishing anymore.” The pay-to-play titans laughed. Shame on them.

Trump acts with impunity because he can; he’s a lame duck. But other Republicans must face the voters. Keep the “No  👑Kings” protests coming — right through the elections 🗳️- VOTE this November and next❗

Bluesky: @jackiecalmes
Threads: @jkcalmes
X: @jackiekcalmes

Donald Trump and maga Republicans are using hunger as a weapon against American citizens!

Americans preparing to line up at food banks while Donald Trump builds a decadent 💲💲300 million ballroom. 

Echo opinion letter to The  Los Angeles Times Editor: Donald Trump is ‘using hunger as a weapon’ in government shutdown.

Dear Editor: We have seen DonaldTrump cut off food and medical aid to poor countries, especially in Africa, which will likely result in tens of thousands, if not millions, of deaths. Now we are seeing his cruelty here in the U.S.

By cutting off federal food assistance (or SNAP), he is using hunger as a weapon in a partisan power play (“Trump administration posts notice that no federal food aid will go out Nov. 1,” Oct. 26). Since the basic political disagreement responsible for the government shutdown is whether healthcare insurance subsidies will be ended, what Trump is telling millions of poor and working-class Americans is that if they want food, they must give up healthcare. Meanwhile, he is building himself a gilded ballroom to wine and dine his (evil 👿)wealthy 🤢 guests.

From Michael E. Mahler, Los Angeles

To the editor: We just made a huge 💰donation to our local food bank, which we have supported for years. I feel like I further understand those currently faced with the decision to either keep working in the government to save it, or to quit over not wanting to help this (💢evil👹) Trumpzi administration.

From Carol Spector, in Ventura, California

Incompetene Pete Hegseth is Donald Trump maga Republican puppet! Wrong to give military medals to 7th Cavalry that massacred at Wounded Knee

Published in Substack Letters from Leo by Christopher Hale:

Wounded Knee Memorial: Massacre Site (December 29, 1890) is located in southwestern South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation at the village of Wounded Knee, SD.

Pope Leo Rebuked Him. Now BishopPops Are Slamming Hegseth’s Wounded Knee Decision:  It’s the second time in a month Hegseth’s drawn fire from the Catholic Church. This time, they say his decision glorifies genocide. By Christopher Hale

In Rapid City, South Dakota, Bishop Scott Bullock and a group of Jesuit priests delivered a scathing rebuke of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to let soldiers who massacred Lakota Indians at Wounded Knee keep their Medals of Honor.

“On that day, U.S. Army soldiers massacred nearly 300 Lakota women, children, and unarmed men. This was not a battle. To recognize these acts as honorable is to distort history itself,” the Catholic leaders wrote in a joint statement.

They stressed that those who died at Wounded Knee “are sacred” — and even the perpetrators, while also children of God, committed “grave evils” that “cannot be honored.”

Hegseth announced in late September that the 20 soldiers awarded Medals of Honor for Wounded Knee would retain them, deriding critics as “politically correct” and insisting the men “deserve those medals.

The Catholic response was swift. The bishop and Jesuits rejected Hegseth’s revisionism as not about politics at all, but about conscience.

Their stance is rooted in what they call “prayerful correctness, grounded in truth, conscience, and compassion,” 💙🙏not partisan agendas.

“We reject any narrative that erases the humanity of the victims or glorifies acts of violence,” the letter declared, urging America to face its painful past honestly.

Now Hegseth has drawn the Church’s ire yet again — and bishops and priests are doubling down.

The Wounded Knee dispute isn’t just an isolated historical argument; it’s a microcosm of the moral divide between Trump’s (Fake💢😡) “greatness”-obsessed vision and Leo’s 🕇Gospel-centered ethic.

In Pope Leo’s view, true greatness means repentance and solidarity with the oppressed, not whitewashing atrocities.

As the bishop wrote, “If we deny our part in history, we deepen the harm… We bear a moral responsibility to remember and speak the truth.”

By standing with Native Americans seeking justice for Wounded Knee, Leo’s Church is effectively telling Washington that no political calculus can justify celebrating an injustice.

In the face of power, Pope Leo and his bishops are choosing moral truth over “historical pride.” And they’re reminding America that some honors stain the nation’s soul until they are revoked.

Even the Republican-controlled South Dakota Senate recently agreed, voting 32-1, that honoring the Seventh Cavalry for Wounded Knee only “dishonors” the Medal of Honor and implies complicity in genocide.

In other words, truth and justice demand rescinding those medals — not celebrating them.
Pope Leo’s Showdown with Trump’s Agenda

For Pope Leo XIV, this controversy is part of a wider clash with the ethos of the Trump administration.

On September 30, 2025, Leo publicly warned that Hegseth’s hawkish talk of war was “worrying”, critiquing the newly minted “Secretary of War” for framing U.S. power in terms of “lethality.”

“This way of speaking is worrying… One must always work for peace,” Leo admonished, after Donald Trump signaled a shift from a Department of “Defense” to a Department of “War.”

It was a rare papal rebuke of a sitting U.S. official, and it underscored Leo’s fundamental point: Christian conscience cannot be subjugated to militant nationalism.

Pope Leo Rebukes Hegseth’s ‘Secretary of War’ Title Change & War Hawk Rhetoric

Hegseth has drawn the Church’s ire and bishops and priests are doubling down.

As the bishop wrote, “If we deny our part in history, we deepen the harm… We bear a moral responsibility to remember and speak the truth.”

By standing with Native Americans seeking justice for Wounded Knee, Leo’s Church is effectively telling Washington that no political calculus can justify celebrating an injustice.

In the face of power, Pope Leo and his bishops are choosing moral truth over “historical pride.” And they’re reminding America that some honors stain the nation’s soul until they are revoked.

Donald Trump and maga Republicans enable the hideous desruction of the White House East Wing of the "People's House"

A "haunted House"?  No❗ Sadly, this is the "people's house". The once upon a time this was the White House, but now it is the ugly destroyed East Wing- demolished by Donald Trump. 😡 Where are the Republicans❓😢 SOS 🆘 people have some questions about the destruction of their house🏠 Echo opinion letter published in the Boston Globe. 

Not a "haunted👻 😨house".❗ NO, this is the Donald Trump demolished White House East Wing

The Boston Globe.....Re “Preservation of East Wing became demolition: Trump initially said it wouldn’t be affected” (Page A1,Globe, October 23): Why is anyone surprised that wanna-be dictator Donald Trump is tearing down a substantial portion of the White House, after previously paving over Jackie Kennedy’s beloved Rose Garden? And for what? To build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom, which Trump claims is “much-needed.” A ballroom for whom❓ For what purpose❓


Massachusetts native John Quincy Adams popularized the phrase “The People’s House” to describe the White House during his presidency. But under the (evil👿) Trump administration, it has become a trashy Mar-a-Lago on the Potomac.

After Donald Trump succeeds in renaming the Kennedy Center in honor of himself and its opera house in honor of the "Fake❗"  Melania, do not be surprised when he proposes renaming the Washington Monument. 😡

Of course, in between Trump will be busy promoting a new “Arc de Trump” in D.C.😢😢

This is just what dictators do. We know this, we just never expected it to happen here or be done so brazenly in full view of the public.

From Mark P. Petracca in Mashpee, a town in Massachusetts

The writer is professor emeritus of political science at the University of California at Irvine.

Republicans must face the historic parallels between ICE raids and 1930s Nazi Germany - Chicago immigrants are hiding in fear

The moral test feels painfully familiar. Shadows of the 1930s.

By Jennifer Obel for the Philadelphia Inquirer- Excellent reporting❗

"I thought of families in Europe who hid neighbors in attics and back rooms..."

This is what is happening to immigrants and citizens in Chicago right now | Opinion

Right now in Chicago, immigrants are fleeing the militarized city at night, helped by U.S. citizens who fear for their own safety.

Just before 9 p.m. on October 15, Tracy pulled up outside the townhouse on the west side of Chicago. She ushered Juliana and her 6-year-old, Yori, into the back seat and headed for Union Station — the overnight train to New York City, their best shot at safety.

For a month, mother and daughter had barely opened the door of their one-room apartment. Yori stopped attending first grade. Juliana stopped cleaning houses. Neighbors left groceries at the threshold.

In mid-September, during a construction site raid, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained José, Juliana’s husband and Yori’s father, and deported him to Venezuela. He was “lucky”: at least he wasn’t lost in detention purgatory or sent to a prison in El Salvador.

From Venezuela, José texted me about conditions at the Broadview Detention Center, where he had been held before deportation, calling them inhumane.

He asked for only one thing: “Please help my family to leave Chicago. It’s too dangerous for them there.”😟😡

I first met José outside my local grocery store, Jewel-Osco, in Wilmette, one of Chicago’s North Shore communities. He held up a sign, looking for odd jobs. 

Many Venezuelan immigrants who congregated around the Jewel ended up there when Texas Governor Greg Abbott bused them to Wilmette shortly after 2023, when they crossed the border.

I spoke with José and hired him to do some repairs and painting. He traveled by subway two hours each way for work, Juliana and Yori in tow. While José worked, I drew with Yori.

One warm summer day after José finished working, we all walked to the edge of Lake Michigan, where Yori made sand castles.

These were good people who faced difficult circumstances. It felt right to help them.

José was a proud craftsman, and I recommended him to other friends, including Tracy — one of the three of us who would later make sure Juliana and Yori had some money and helped arrange their transportation to New York after José’s deportation.

What happened last month is not the 1930s. But as a Jewish woman, I can’t ignore the echo of that dark period.

The author's great-uncle, Max Berg, standing, third from right, was a Jewish immigrant from Poland, the third of seven children. He became a successful lawyer in New York and, on the eve of World War II, sponsored 49 families to enter the U.S. These individuals wrote to him because they shared a common last name, though it remains unclear whether they were actual relatives. Many of those he sponsored became judges, writers, and leaders in their respective fields.Read moreCourtesy of Jennifer Obel

In Adolf Hitler’s Berlin, families packed by day and moved quietly toward the border by night, clutching papers that might open a path to New York, a city that, for many, meant survival.

They wrote to cousins, begged for affidavits, queued at consulates, and measured hope in stamps and signatures. The promise was simple: make it to New York, and you can gain freedom from terror.

Our family, led by my great-uncle Max Berg, had settled in New York City after immigrating from Poland. On the eve of World War II, letters began arriving from people in Europe desperate to escape Hitler. They wrote because they shared his last name — Berg — hoping for a connection that might save them.

Max never knew whether any of the 49 families were actually relatives, but he sponsored them all, buying their passage and covering their first month’s rent so they could begin new lives.

The differences matter, of course. Hitler engineered annihilation; today’s migrants are not facing that. But the moral test feels painfully familiar.

When government policy makes ordinary life like work, school, or a doctor’s visit unsafe for families who pose no threat, do we widen the circle of protection or narrow it? In the 1930s, too many Germans hid behind drawn curtains rather than opening their doors.

As residents of Philadelphia and other American cities steel themselves for the possible deployment of immigration agents, Chicago offers a bleak preview of this chilling and shameful moment in our nation’s history.

My hometown has faced an onslaught of immigration enforcement as part of Operation Midway Blitz. Chicago has responded to the crisis by widening its circle of protection. Our neighbors are already organizing.

Rapid-response networks canvass homes and storefronts, sharing “know your rights” cards and training witnesses to safely document encounters with ICE — even here in the affluent North Shore, where there are few immigrant residents but many immigrant workers.

We also hold peaceful protests, which include clergy and citizens from across Illinois, to exercise our right of free speech.

And we record encounters whenever possible. In some instances, Chicagoans have faced down multiple ICE agents wielding weapons during an attempted arrest. In one such incident, a man, once pinned to the ground, was released because bystanders gathered to document and demand accountability.

However, ICE agents are using aggressive tactics, often crossing the line into violence directed at protesters and people who document their activities.

On September 19, federal agents, who appeared like snipers perched on a rooftop at the Broadview Detention Center, shot a local pastor in the head with a pepper ball and then teargassed him.

In recent footage, rows of agents in tactical gear surround protesters and push their faces into the pavement. On October 10, a producer with a local television news program was thrown to the ground, handcuffed, and detained without cause.

These are not “isolated incidents,” but rather tactics intended to intimidate and provoke. Chicago feels combustible — one itchy trigger finger from our own Kent State massacre.

The real suffering isn’t confined to the protesters, of course, but to the detainees inside Broadview’s walls. In Lake County, Ill., immigration attorney Kimberly Weiss described the case of her client, Juan — who, like all the immigrants included in this commentary, was willing to be included in this essay only if his surname was withheld. (Likewise, some of the native-born U.S. citizens I interviewed agreed to participate only if their surnames were withheld, for fear of retribution.)

Juan is a widowed father of four U.S.-born children, ages 12 to 20, detained by ICE outside his home. “His children contacted me terrified,” 💢Weiss said.😰

That same night, she filed emergency motions to stop his deportation and request bond, with a hearing set for the next morning. “It would have been a strong case,” she said. “He entered legally, held valid documents, like a work permit, Social Security number, and driver’s license. He’s a union roofer, a widower caring for his U.S. citizen children. He qualified for lawful status under a widower petition.”


But before the hearing could take place, Juan was gone. Weiss said her client described Broadview Detention Center as so inhumane that he couldn’t endure another night. Detainees had no access to water. The air was so thick and suffocating that Juan witnessed others gasping for breath.


Officers threatened Juan into signing his deportation papers, using an ICE agent as a “translator” to deceive him. Without his glasses and terrified, he finally signed. By the next afternoon, Juan was across the border.

There’s no accountability for what happens inside Broadview,” Weiss said. “It’s overcrowded, filthy, and cruel. There is no oversight, even when the conditions amount to torture.”

Stories like these ripple far beyond detention centers. Dread doesn’t stop at the gates of Broadview. Anxiety seeps into neighborhoods, workplaces, and schools, touching even those who are U.S. citizens.

During a recent nighttime raid in a South Shore neighborhood, Blackhawk helicopters dropped armed federal agents on top of an apartment building, as dozens of masked ICE agents arrived in trucks.

Hundreds of agents moved through the building, kicking in doors, setting off flash-bang grenades, and rounding up residents as they slept. Children were separated from parents, zip-tied, and held in vans for hours.

Imagine being a child, awakened in the middle of a peaceful slumber, snatched from your parents, and restrained. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security proudly boasts about the raid, but dozens of those arrested were U.S. citizens.

We’ve now reached the point where friends of mine, Indian American physicians named Shila and Ravi, make sure they and their 14-year-old daughter always leave the house with their driver’s licenses and U.S. passports, in case they are stopped by ICE.

“Show me your papers” is a demand one might expect from the Gestapo, Hitler’s secret police, but as Americans, we do not expect this, and should never accept it.

“Being a brown-skinned woman in America means constantly proving my right to belong,” Shila told me recently. “My citizenship and contributions never seem enough to erase the question — ‘Where are you from?’ — that marks me as foreign. I’ve learned to live with this othering, but seeing my child inherit it breaks my heart.”

“What was once an occasional ‘Go back home’ has become a deeper threat: ‘I’ll make sure you get home,’” she added. “But where is home when this is the only one we’ve ever known❓ 🏠🏡Nothing can shield us from the fear that belonging can be questioned or revoked at any moment.”

When ICE occupied Los Angeles and the National Guard was deployed, José and I exchanged texts so that I could better understand his asylum case.

José then called me at the end of August. I could feel his embarrassment reaching through my phone, but he asked: Could he and his family move in with us? He’d heard about the planned ICE buildup and wondered whether his family would be safe in the predominantly Latino neighborhood where they were living.

I declined. I thought of families in Europe who hid neighbors in attics and back rooms, and felt the weight of closing my door to him. My daughters were still home from college, and there wasn’t space for anyone else. I also wanted time with my girls before they left.

And truthfully, I wasn’t sure José and his family would be any safer in my predominantly white suburb. I suspected my next-door neighbors were Trump supporters, and worried they would report him.

Still, I told myself that by mid-September, when the girls returned to school, I would offer them refuge.

But when I finally texted him, it was too late. He had already disappeared. 

Donald Trump and maga Republicans must end murdering people on the high seas especially when the Coast Guard is trained to intercede

An echo opinion published in the New York Magazine Intelligencer

Trump Wants to ‘Kill People’ Without War By Ed Kilgore, political columnist for Intelligencer since 2015.

Pete Hegseth confirms the killing.

In response to press questions about his administration’s escalating attacks on fishing boats (without proof of cause) in the Caribbean and the Pacific that were allegedly involved in drug trafficking, Donald Trump drew a rather jarring distinction, as CNN reports:

Trump insisted that he could continue to launch strikes against alleged drug traffickers without Congress first passing an official declaration of war. “I’m not going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war,” he said. “I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. Okay? We’re going to kill them, you know, they’re going to be, like, dead.”

It’s clear that Trump’s intention was to rule out any congressional interference with his constitutionally dubious use of military force in a struggle — don’t say war! — with so-called “narco-terrorists.” 

But, the line he drew between “war” and “killing” revealed a more fundamental element of his thinking. There has always been a bit of a contradiction between Trump’s horror toward “forever wars” — not to mention his aspirations as a global peacemaker — and his more general bloodlust. He wants America’s enemies and rivals to have no doubt about his willingness to unleash incredible levels of violence if he deems it necessary. He has dismissed laws of warfare that protect civilians or prohibit the torture of potential informants. He has appointed a “secretary of war” who believes “lethality” must be central to every national-security calculation. And in all sorts of contexts, he’s rejected any restraints on retribution against anyone who crosses him.

What this apparent disconnect between aversion to war and pure enjoyment of violence shows is that Trump remains a faithful disciple of the Jacksonian tradition in American foreign policy. Like Old Hickory, Trump rejects alliances, entanglements, or commitments to deploy military force, but at the same time believes use of maximum violence to eliminate any direct threat to perceived American interests is essential to maintaining the peace and deterring bad actors.

Trump wants a huge military that is so feared that it rarely needs to be used, and he hates the idea of limited “forever” wars that don’t instantly achieve their purposes. That probably includes any armed conflict that would last long enough to require congressional authorization or oversight. 

So Trump has no problems with, and in fact glories in, killing people as the best possible guarantor of an America-friendly world order based on fear rather than messy treaties and rules. Sudden strikes on fishing boats that may or may not be engaged in “narco-terrorism” are right in his wheelhouse. The message to a dangerous world is Don’t tread on me 🐍— or get yourself killed. It’s chilling but entirely in character for the 47th cruel president.

P.S. Maine Writer- Donald Trump, with maga Evangelicals like Speker Mike Johnson claim to be Christian but the Bible is very clear in the Ten Commandments, "Thou Shalt Not Kill".  The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" (Exodus 20:13) is more accurately translated as "Thou shalt not murder," and it prohibits the unjust taking of a human life. The Hebrew word used, ratsach, specifically refers to wrongful homicide.

Donald Trump and maga Republicans must pay attention to successful No Kings demonstrations- Donald Trump is a fascist that must be impeached

The value of the ‘No👑 Kings’ protests.  

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win" is widely attributed to Mahatma Gandhi" (1869-1948).

Opinion published in the Boston Globe by Renée Graham.

No, the marches didn’t eradicate the problems that protesters hope will be addressed. But, in community, our souls found the sustenance to keep pushing forward.

Many more than 7 ➕million people nationwide — in states blue and red, in large cities and small towns — participated in “No👑 Kings” rallies and marches on October 18, 2025,  to defend democracy and decry Donald Trump’s authoritarian rule. It was one of the largest single-day protests in American history.

Even before the last echoes of “No 👑Kings” chants, the “What did it achieve❓” postmortems kicked in. 

It was as if any public gathering of dissent that failed to end with Trump and his entire administration’s spontaneous expulsion from the White House could only be judged as a waste of time. (BUT, that was not the point.....the peaceful protest was to show how Donald Trump is not qualified to be president, he is a racist and a fascist....and Gloge columnist Renée Graham missed this salient message in her ambiguous post-mortem of the successful No 👑Kings peaceful demonstrations.) 

This, from a popular Bluesky user, captures that general sentiment: “Can I ask, what did the No 👑Kings protest actually accomplish❓ I mean, in real terms, what have these protests materially changed❓ ".....(please name this Bluesky user, it is public social media, afterall....)

Bu,t believe these peaceful No👑 Kings protests are a cauldron for political energy, and anger, and provides a grass roots path for meaningful change and disruption of the evil 👿Donld Trump Nazi regime.

“I don’t know what the answer is. A lot of people are energized and renewed by it. I really don’t because this is now the 3rd one of these and nothing seems to be changing at the ground level and they all seem to coincide with a major drain of energy and anger at what is happening.”

Nine months into the most destructive, corrupt, incompetent, lawless, and antidemocratic presidency this nation has ever suffered, people are still desperately looking for an antidote. 

Millions want to halt and reverse what’s happening. But other than wishing and hoping that Democrats show up and show out in next year’s midterm elections, they don’t have a clear sense of what can make a difference right now.

So Americns - Democrats, Independents and Republicans have taken to the streets to be seen, and heard and to find community.

I wasn’t at last weekend’s “No 👑Kings” rally in Boston.

But, in every march I’ve participated in, dating back to antiapartheid protests in college, I’ve met people who’ve said some version of this: “I’ve never done something like this before, but it felt important to be here.” They were doing, at the time, what they could do — make colorful signs, leave their homes, and let the world know where they stood.

Alone, they might often seems small. Among the millions in the dense throngs, they felt their own power, perhaps for the first time.

No, the marches didn’t quickly eradicate the problems that protesters want to see addressed. But in community their souls found the sustenance to keep pushing through and forward.

Fascism overwhelms. It breeds mistrust. It is designed to isolate us because of its bad actors, that know it is easier to conquer individuals than to confront a crowd. 

There’s reassurance in finding that you’re not alone and that, yes, things are as bad as — if not worse than — they seem.

Unlike the big-name law firms, tech billionaires, universities, and corporations that can’t capitulate to Trump fast enough, those who stand and march shoulder to shoulder among family, friends, and strangers are the ones saying “no” to this hideous regime.

That’s the importance of community in a moment that feels like an upside-down world without end, everyday.

But this is also crucial — Trump and his sycophants noticed. In fact, they were complaining days before the first protesters hit the streets. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson denigrated “No 👑Kings” as “Hate America”🤥 ( rallies and compared those exercising their patriotic right to dissent as “pro-Hamas.” There were claims that the protesters were “antifa” (which is not a thing, and the GOP knows it❗), and were being funded by George Soros, one of the few billionaires that Republicans despise because he supports Democrats.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas (Cruz to lose) falsely claimed that MSNBC’s video of massive crowds at “No👑 Kings” was actually footage from 2017, protests. 

Trump dismissed the protests as “a joke” and posted a vile AI-generated video of “No 👑Kings” marchers being doused in what looked like feces dropped from a fighter jet with Trump in the cockpit.

But, Donald Trump should also recognize that the most recent protests drew 2 ➕million more people than the ones in June. That momentum isn’t likely to flag. 

Now, Cruz (aka "Cruz to lose") is begging his party to “take political peril seriously.” In an interview on Bloomberg Television, he said, “There is a lot of energy. There is a lot of anger on the left.  And, of course, as Republicans know, elections are dangerous when one side is mobilized and angry.”😠💥

From the civil rights movement to the fight against AIDS, the impacts of political protests are never instantaneous because the corrupt do not yield power easily. But those in the streets aren’t just fighting for power — they’re fighting for their lives and their rights. Those who find the rallies frivolous should spend their energy strategizing and organizing in ways that they find effective. Protests aren’t one-size-fits-all endeavors.

But what happens in these streets can translate into work that’s not easily seen but can be effective in toppling tyranny and corruption. So, too, will the solidarity many will find and need in communities of like-minded strangers joined together to do whatever it takes to save this nation from its president.

This is an excerpt from Outtakes, a Globe Opinion newsletter from columnist Renée Graham. Sign up to get Outtakes in your inbox each.

SNAP- Supplemental Nutrition first person heartfelt experience from a Maine legislator- Such a worthwhile benefit especially for children

Social media post written by Maine State Representative Michele Meyer, R.N. "We were a low income family of 3,...."

38 years ago, I was a struggling, divorced Mom, attending college full time in pursuit of a nursing degree.

I did my best to stretch a dollar, lived frugally, worked hard, always with my eyes focused on my two very much loved children and on better days to come : a career as a Registered Nurse.

We were a low income family of 3, living well below the federal poverty line. I qualified for what was then known as the Food Stamp Progam, now known as SNAP ( Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). We also visited the tiny food pantry in town.

That’s how I fed my kids. It was hard. But absolutely necessary. I did what I had to for my children.

Today, the Trump Administration informed every state that SNAP benefits will not be issued for November.

Nationwide, approximately 42 million individuals receive SNAP benefits, including 169,812 in Maine.
In total, nearly 12.5 percent of Maine's population receive SNAP benefits, with several counties -- Androscoggin, Aroostook, Piscataquis, Somerset, and Washington -- approaching or surpassing 20 percent of their populations.

Nearly 75% of Maine's SNAP households include at least one working adult, more than half include a person with a disability, 43% include an older adult, and over one-third include children. The average monthly SNAP benefit for a family of four in Maine is $572.

There are families in your community, older folks, disabled people, vets, struggling neighbors, perhaps someone you love who will recieve this news today. Their hearts will sink and they will be frightened. I know.😨😦😦😦😧😰
https://tinyurl.com/TrumpCutsSNAP

Donald Trump and his "Barbie" Karoline Leavitt are guilty of spewing misinformation and propaganda. Republicans must end this Trumpzi madness!

Echo opinion published in the Baytown Sun news in Baytown Texas:

Karoline Leavitt, (aka the Muhammad Saeed Al-Sahhaf
Former Foreign Minister of Iraq wanna'be IOW "Baghdad Bob") and "3-D printer Barbie"- told the American public that the constituents of the Democratic party were Hamas terrorists

illegal aliens and violent criminals, and that was who the party of Franklin Delano Roosevelt catered to. 

Karoline  Leavitt, a graduate of Saint Anselm College in Manchestter New Hamshire, went on to say that the Trump administration and the Republican Party were standing up for law abiding Americans.

Karoline Leavitt is wrong 🤥💥.  (As usual.)

Democrats that I know love our country.We love our Constitution, and are appalled at Donald Trump’s deplorable behavior and his determination to destroy our Rule of Law. 

Evil Donald Trump pardoned the violent January 6th capitol rioters; he released guilty George Santos from prison after he was convicted of many reprehensible crimes.

Ghislaine Maxwell, a sexual predator, was transferred to a minimum-security prison camp following two days of questioning by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, where she can practice yoga.

Trump’s weaponized justice department is not pursuing an investigation into Tom Homan, Trump’s Border Czar, for accepting a bag of 💲50,000 in cash from FBI agents in a sting operation. 

Rather than pursuing justice, Trump is pursuing convictions against the dedicated men and women of our Justice Department who investigated his many highly questionable actions. If he is not charging them with crimes, he is firing them, or they are quitting in protest. The only people that will be left in our Justice Department are those who bow (and kowtow) down to Trump. 

Republicans"kowtow" to Donald Trump #SenatorSusanCollins alert❗

The Republican Party is NOT the party of law and order under the Trump administration. In fact, the Republican Party is now the party that is loyal to a man who makes AI generated videos of himself wearing a crown, flying a plane and dumping excrement on the American people below him who are protesting his deplorable behavior.

#ImpeachTrumpAgain   #SenatorSusanCollinsAlert❗

From Elsa Kleiman, in Baytown Texas

Donald Trump and maga Republicans continue betraying the people who voted for them- farmers and cattle ranchers are undermined

Trump’s Argentina beef deal angers America’s struggling farmers: ‘You’re selling us out’ echo published on CNN

By Samantha Delouya

Donald Trump said this week he “loved” America’s cattle ranchers. But those farmers, who overwhelmingly supported the president in the 2024 election, say they aren’t feeling the love right now.

Trump is facing criticism from many US cattle ranchers after signaling support for increasing low-tariff beef imports from Argentina to ease record beef prices in the United States. The move comes just weeks after US soybean farmers blasted a separate deal with Argentina that they fear will give South American producers a competitive edge in that market.

Argentina currently accounts for just over 2% of US beef imports. Under existing rules, it can ship up to 20,000 metric tons a year at a lower tariff rate, with anything above that subject to a 26.4% tariff, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

A White House official told CNN the administration plans to raise that quota to 80,000 metric tons, effectively quadrupling the amount of Argentinian beef with low tariffs that can enter the United States.

In an interview with Fox (Fake❗)Business, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said: “Currently, Americans consume 12 million metric tons of beef. 10 million, we produce in this country. 2 million, we import. Out of 12 million, [the Argentine quota] would be 20,000 every quarter. This is not a massive influx in the millions of tons I think that some have thought of beef from Argentina.”

But Christian Lovell, an Illinois cattle farmer and the senior director of programs at Farm Action, a nonpartisan farm organization, said: “If Trump goes through with what he outlined, I do believe it’s a betrayal of the American rancher. It’s a feeling that you’re selling us out to a foreign competitor.”
Donald Trump reacted to the backlash from cattle ranchers.

“The Cattle Ranchers, who I love,🤥🙄don’t understand that the only reason they are doing so well, for the first time in decades, is because I put Tariffs on cattle coming into the United States, including a 50% Tariff on Brazil,” Trump wrote on social media.

“It would be nice if they would understand that, but they also have to get their prices down, because the consumer is a very big factor in my thinking, also!” he added.

In a statement, Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a trade association for beef producers, said the organization and its members “cannot stand behind the President while he undercuts the future of family farmers and ranchers by importing Argentinian beef in an attempt to influence prices.”

Why beef prices are at record highs: Beef prices have climbed significantly this year, up nearly 14% in the past year, according to the latest inflation data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in August.

Becca Jablonski, an agricultural economist who teaches at Cornell University’s Johnson School of Business, said the price increase is fueled by multiple factors. A recent, multi-year drought decreased the amount of grazing land for cattle and made feed grain significantly more expensive, resulting in a shortage of cattle, she said.

A selection of beef cuts and sausages is displayed at Deep Cuts Butcher Shop, in Dallas, Texas, on October 21. Tony Gutierrez/AP
In fact, the shortage has also been made worse by an infestation of New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite, just across the border in Mexico, significantly curtailing beef imports from that country.

Jablonski said that historically the livestock sector barely makes money, but is having a rare positive year, which allows farmers to pay down debts they accrued during unprofitable years.

“I think the argument the industry is making is, ‘Let us have one good year,’” she said.

In a statement, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the president is keeping his promises to defend farmers and consumers.

“Donald Trump pledged to protect America’s ranchers and deliver economic relief for everyday Americans. The Administration is accomplishing both by expanding beef imports from Argentina to lower consumer prices in the short term while rolling out a new USDA initiative that will support ranchers and expand cattle herd sizes to keep prices lower in the long term,” Kelly said.

Lovell said many of the farmers he knows are just scraping by.

“It is not uncommon for folks in farming to have a year where they report a loss,” he said. “You cannot look at cattle producers that had one good year and say, ‘Oh my gosh, they are just making out like bandits.’”

Lovell blamed price increases on the large meatpacking corporations that buy product from US ranchers and package it for grocery stores.

An influx of imported beef would hurt US farmers, he said, because the large meat packers are not required to label what country their beef comes from.

Soybean farmers reeling from tariff spat: There are some signs that support for Trump in farm country has begun to fray. He won 93% of rural counties in the 2024 election, the highest share of any Republican presidential candidate this century, according to the Economic Innovation Group, a bipartisan research organization.

But soybean farmers were among the first to feel the pain of Trump’s tit-for-tat tariffs with China. Since May, China has effectively boycotted American soybeans as a response to Trump’s tariffs.

Even before tariffs, the family farming industry in the United States was already hurting. Since 2017, the country has lost more than 17% of its family farms — at least 100,000 operations — according to the USDA.

Tariffs may be exacerbating that pain. Farm bankruptcies rose in the first half of the year to the highest level since 2021, according to US courts data.

John Boyd, a fourth-generation farmer and the founder of The National Black Farmers Association, said he had never had a problem selling his soybeans until recently.

Soybean fields at a farm in Pemberton, New Jersey, on October 14. Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg/Getty Images

“Now nobody’s buying it,” Boyd said. “The largest purchaser of our soybeans was China, and they haven’t placed any orders. Zero.”

“The president thinks his tariffs are the best thing since sliced bread, and it’s putting America’s farmers out of business,” he added.

The administration drew backlash last month after agreeing to provide 💲20 billion in currency support to help stabilize the Argentine peso, 💢❗a move critics have characterized as effectively bailing out Argentina.

A text message, seen by CNN, sent by Secretary Rollins to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, suggested that Argentina then used that financial lifeline to strike a deal with China on soybeans.

“We bailed out Argentina yesterday and in return the Argentine’s (sic) removed their export tariffs on grains, reducing their price to China at a time when we would normally be selling to China,” the message said.

“Here we are losing our farms, and Donald Trump is helping out a foreign country,” Boyd said of the deal.

USDA steps in:  Sources told CNN the White House was planning to extend a multibillion-dollar bailout for farmers. With the government shutdown stretching past its third week, no plan has materialized yet.

Although the USDA has been largely shuttered during the government shutdown, the agency on Wednesday announced a plan it said would “strengthen the American beef industry.”

The plan includes expanding ranchers’ access to federal land for grazing and prioritizing grant applications from military veterans looking to enter the industry, among other measures.

Lovell said that while the plan may be welcome news to many farmers, he felt it didn’t go far enough to protect the industry.

“What US ranchers need is a fair market with the right incentives. We’ve got to encourage rebuilding the cow herd here in the US,” he said. “This seems to be a quick attempt to control the damage.”

CNN’s Kit Maher, Alayna Treene and Bryan Mena contributed reporting.