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Mark Green: Don’t Let Trump Hijack July 4. How to Resist.

By dianeravitch
December 18, 2025 //
2

Mark Green is a progressive activist in New York City. He was the city’s Consumer Affairs commissioner, then New York City’s first Public Advocate. He is a lawyer and author.

He writes on his Substack blog,

Trump taking over 250th celebrations of July 4, 1776 is less urgent than going to war with Venezuela over oil or deporting law-abiding immigrants without due process..but it’s maddening and obscene to allow such a Tory to lecture us Patriots about The Story of America.
Fyi, this Substack explains why and how to slow down his narcissistic nationalism.

Celebrating Trump on July 4, 2026

Mark Green wrote on his Substack blog:

“It was the most consequential Revolution in history…When you control how people discuss the past, you control how they see the present and imagine the future.” – Ken Burns

It’s bad enough that a raging egomaniac wants to paste his name on physical public assets: a Peace Institute, Washington Arch, “Trump Baby Bonds,” coinage, the Commanders football stadium, the Kennedy Center, and a new White House ballroom larger than the White House itself. But it would be historically obscene for a temporary Oval Office occupant, far closer in philosophy to the Tories than the Patriots, to rewrite the very idea of 1776.

Donald Trump’s irresistible urge to imitate Ozymandias and Caesar should be opposed, mocked, and someday reversed. But until the jury of voters issue their 2026 and 2028 verdicts, that resistance should at least mean rejecting his attempts to view the Semiquincentennial (the 250th anniversary) through the lens of narcissistic nationalism. Instead, we should adhere to the radical principles of the Declaration, Constitution, and Bill of Rights: freedom, rule of law, separation of powers, free speech, and consent of the governed.

In his effort to renounce loyalty to royalty, Jefferson laid out eighteen “facts” in his July 4th Bill of Particulars involving trade, taxes, armies, and courts that justified rebellion against England. Below are eighteen parallel reasons to rebel against Trump’s contemporary power-grab and his attempt to redefine the Story of America for generations to come.

A BILL OF PARTICULARS, July 4th, 2026

1. Sedition
January 6, 2021. Trump inspired the worst insurrection since 1861 and later pardoned hundreds of convicted rioters, including Proud Boys and others who assaulted 139 police officers, leading to five deaths. He called it a “day of love.”

2. The Department of Retribution
He publicly ordered the DOJ to indict political enemies, leading to humiliating dismissals targeting James Comey and Letitia James (“she’s very guilty of something”). This inverts equal justice by targeting people first and searching for crimes second. Reuters has tallied at least 470 names on what could be considered his vendetta list. The words “retribution” and “vendetta” do not appear in Article 2.

3. “Faithfully execute the laws”
Trump interpreted “execute” in his oath literally, engaging in unlawful conduct over 170 times in ten months, according to federal and state courts, while dismantling agency Inspectors General. Replacing the rule-of-law with the law-of-rule led numerous judges from both parties to condemn DOJ deception and hundreds of experienced lawyers to resign.

4. The First Felon President
He was found guilty of 34 felonies by a New York City judge and jury for falsifying business records and campaign finance fraud, avoiding prosecution in four other criminal cases largely due to reelection.

5. Pardon Abuse
He transformed a constitutional prerogative into a near fourth branch of government, issuing pardons to donors, corporate executives, white-collar criminals, crypto partners, and drug traffickers based not on mercy but on blandly and unspecifically repeating ‘“people have told me they were treated very unfairly. When granting clemency to twelve Members, including the clownish George Santos, he actually admitted all were “loyal Republicans.”

6. Usurpation of Congress
Acting as both president and de facto speaker, Trump routinely violates the separation of powers by, for example, governing through executive orders and ignoring Congress’s Article I power to tax. Justice Jackson condemned the “stench” of rulings based not on what’s precedent but who’s president.

7. Foreign Affairs for “America Alone”
While history shows the U.S. succeeds with allies, Trump embraces dictators and threatens to abandon NATO. Nor did he impress Western leaders by predicting Europe’s “civilizational erasure” and dispatching two realtors to negotiate about the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts with strongmen Putin and Netanyahu.

8. Speech Not Free
Calling the press “enemies of the people” and belittling journalists who ask tough questions reveals his belief that everyone’s-entitled-to…his opinion. MAGA-style McCarthyism seeks to shake down law firms, universities, news networks, and even individual targets —SNL, Jimmy Kimmel— using the immense power of federal spending and law enforcement.

9. Emolumental Self-Enrichment
Despite attacking Hunter Biden, Trump turned the presidency into a personal ATM. Family ventures in crypto, memecoins, and branded properties increased their net worth by an estimated $3.5 billion in 2025, according to The New Yorker.

10. Economic Inequality
Wealth disparity now rivals the Gilded Age due to policy choices, not natural law. Shifting trillions from the middle class to the ultra-rich reflects the priorities of Reagan-Trump-Norquist economics, as documented by Piketty, Stiglitz, and Reich.

11. Spurring Violence
He governs through menace, encouraging assaults on protesters, failing to condemn mass shootings, and using dehumanizing language repeated by actual mass murderers in, for example, the Pittsburgh synagogue and Buffalo supermarket slayings. Even the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s murder was a Trump supporter who repeated that Biden stole the 2020 election. FBI data shows roughly 80 percent of political murders originate from the Far-Right.

12. Commander-in-Chief Abuse
Renaming the Department of Defense the “Department of War” was a tell. Trump invoked fabricated emergencies to deploy troops domestically, treating soldiers as personal enforcers and flirting with war crimes to look like, in Hegseth’s favorite words, “warriors” who favor “lethality not legality.”

13. Racism
From “shithole countries” to mass deportations without due process, his rhetoric and policies reflect collective guilt and ethnic scapegoating. If “racism” is considered too strong a word to describe Trump telling all citizens of Somali descent “to go back to your country” and J.D. Vance supporting those who object to non-English speaking neighbors, what’s a better word?

14. Repeated Sexual Misconduct
He actively covering up his close ties to Jeffrey Epstein, was accused by dozens of women of sexual abuse, and was found by a civil jury to have raped E. Jean Carroll, resulting in an $80 million judgment.

15. Chronic Indecency
Trump openly declares hatred for opponents, refers to them as “scum” and “traitors,” and celebrates their humiliation. After the White House posted a cartoon of a Trump-labeled plane dropping tons of excrement on protesters, renowned Conservative columnist George Will labeled Trumpism a “moral slum.”

16. Opposing the Franchise
He supports restricting mail ballots, discarding valid votes, and eliminating the Voting Rights Act, last reauthorized unanimously in 2006 and signed into law by W43..

17. Incorrigible Lying
While past presidents lied episodically, Trump normalized deception, producing over 34,000 falsehoods in his first term alone, including claims about a stolen 2020 election. This volume sabotages an informed democracy and ought to persuade voters and judges not to give him the traditional benefit-of-the-doubt of earlier presidents that, as columnist David French put it, “others have earned.”

18. Soft on Fascism
Trumpism checks nearly every box of fascism: extreme nationalism, one-man rule, plutocracy, xenophobia, suppression of dissent, lawlessness, and normalized violence. Complaints about the label rang hollow when he told General John F. Kelly that Hitler “did some good things.”

CONCLUSION: Yes to July 4th. But not HIS July 4th.

Individually, many of these abuses justify impeachment or invocation of the 25th Amendment. A compliant Congress and devoted MAGA base make accountability impossible…for now.

Progressive patriots can still resist symbolically by rejecting co-opted celebrations and embracing Enlightenment values of reason, science, and law. Alternatives include:

• Local and state celebrations—which utilize community groups and schools—can explicitly counter historical revisionism. As founding father Benjamin Rush said, “the Revolution never truly ends.” Democracy requires renewal, not Originalism weaponized by power.

• A national coalition, such as “No Kings Days,” should organize a July 4, 2026, alternative with mass participation and prominent public speakers.

• Blunt editorials from major media that dramatically begin on their front pages should reframe Real Patriotism and rise to the unique threat of an American Despot.

Let’s just-say-no.

— 

Mark Green

@markgreennywreckingamerica

Categories Character, Trump

How Jeffrey Epstein Became Wealthy: The New York Times Investigates

By dianeravitch
December 17, 2025 //
8

This is a link to a gift article.

Several reporters at The New York Times worked together for months unraveling the secrets of Jeffrey Epstein’s financial success. How did he go from being a high school math teacher to a multimillionaire? His greatest trick, it appears, was cultivating and leveraging friendships among people who were wealthy and powerful. Name-dropping was a tactic. So were lying and boasting, as he rose in elite circles, cultivating contacts, references, women, and friends.

Categories Character, Cheating, Corruption, Ethics, Evil, Fraud, Hoax, Lies, Scandals

Lisa Gonzalez: Generations of War and Bigotry

By dianeravitch
November 25, 2025 //
29

I discovered Lisa Gonzalez’s blog on Substack recently. It is called “Eleanor’s Squad.” I read this post, which originally appeared on November 11, Memorial Day, as a tribute to members of her family and other people of Hispanic origin who served our country with their heart and soul.

The big surprise in reading her post was learning that about 20% of our population is Hispanic. Most have citizenship, some don’t. ICE is arresting people because they have brown skin. Many are citizens and must suffer days of detention before they are released. Very likely, some are unjustly deported. No way that Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem will deport 20%. Not to mention the many other Americans who do not have white skins,

Gonzalez writes:

“For those that will fight for it… freedom has a flavor the protected shall never know.”
— Tim Craft, U.S. Marine Corps

I was born on the Fourth of July — fireworks overhead, and a tornado tearing through the edges of town. Maybe that’s why I carry the American spirit of both celebration and storm. And although I was born on the day this nation celebrates its freedom, my uncles and my cousin taught me what the word freedom really costs.

Four men—two Army soldiers, two Marines—each the sons or grandsons of a Puerto Rican foundry worker who came home every night with grease on his hands and pride in his posture. My grandfather never finished high school, but he was proud of his country and raised sons who served—earning medals, scars, and degrees without anyone handing them a thing. They served in Vietnam, in Germany, in Bosnia, in Iraq. They carried radios, rifles, and the weight of a flag that didn’t always claim them back.

One of them was shot up in the jungles of Vietnam and learned he had a newborn niece—me—from a telegram delivered as he was being flown to a hospital. He still carries the shrapnel, and the leukemia that came later from Agent Orange. The medals came too, but no medal will ever heal what he saw. They are proof that he bled when his country asked him to.

And yet, every one of them could be stopped for being brown or speaking Spanish and asked to prove their citizenship. That’s what it means to be a veteran of both war and bigotry: to have risked your life for a nation that still questions whether you belong in it.

And while their loyalty has never been in question on the battlefield, it’s still doubted in the streets and at the ballot box. That’s not only insulting—it’s mathematically absurd.

For the first time in American history, one in five people living in the United States identify as Latino. According to a 2024 study by the University of California, Los Angeles and California Lutheran University, our population has passed 68 million—two million more than just a year before. Latino labor now includes more than thirty-five million workers, growing more than seven times faster than the non-Latino labor force.

Together, our labor produces a $4.1 trillion GDP—large enough to rank as the world’s fifth-largest economy, larger than India’s. And yet, men like my uncles—who bled for this country—can still be told to “show their papers.”

What kind of nation demands proof from the very people who sustain it? What kind of nation questions the citizenship of those who keep it alive? What kind of patriotism forgets the hands that built the bridges fought its wars, and believed in its promise long after it stopped believing in them?

Economist Matthew Fienup, executive director of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at California Lutheran University, put it plainly: “Time and time again, we find that hard work, self-sufficiency, optimism, and perseverance are the characteristics that underlie the strength and resilience of U.S. Latinos.”

Because resilience is in our DNA.

What we have can’t be taught.

My family didn’t inherit America; they helped make it. And now the numbers finally tell the stories they always knew—and Stephen Miller wants you to forget: that Latino service, labor, and love of country are not exceptions—they are the backbone of the republic.

For at least three decades, the U.S. Census published the most popular surnames in America. The last list, released in 2010, showed us the truth they’re trying to bury:
Garcia. Rodriguez. Martinez. Hernandez. Lopez. Gonzalez.

Thirty percent of the nation’s top twenty surnames trace back to families who crossed oceans, borders, and language lines to build this country. And that’s just from 2010—because, for some reason, they decided not to publish the most popular surnames from 2020. That’s how truth gets contained so the lies are easier to spread (see author’s note).

And that last surname—Gonzalez—is ours.
It’s the name sewn onto uniforms and stitched into birth certificates; the name called out on roll calls and whispered in hospital rooms. It’s the name that’s been saluted, misspelled, profiled, and still carried with pride.

They’ve never needed to prove their loyalty. They’ve already lived the truth of a Marine’s words I once saw hanging on my uncle’s wall: “For those that will fight for it…freedom has a flavor the protected shall never know.”

That’s what my family understands—what so many Latino families understand—that freedom isn’t a speech; it’s a promise you keep even when the country doesn’t keep it for you.

They’ve paid for that promise in ways the record books don’t list. As boys, they learned what doors were for—sometimes to open, sometimes to close. White families smiled until the invitations reached their daughters; then the air shifted, polite and poisonous. They learned early that courtesy was armor, and excellence the stealthy weapon that left those who tried to thwart their progress in the dust.

Decades later, after wars and degrees and decorations, they have worked twice as hard to be called qualified. Men who have led troops into fire get reduced to talking points while those who cosplay as soldiers that never saw battle call themselves patriots and wrap themselves in excuses instead of service. They call veterans like my uncles DEI hires, as if discipline, intellect, and courage were diversity quotas. Their ignorance speaks volumes about who’s truly afraid of real merit.

And yet my family will keep showing up, still believing in a country that too often forgets them. Their endurance is not compliance; it’s faith in the possibility that the nation will one day live up to the flag they salute.

The uncle who came home from Vietnam carrying shrapnel and a telegram that said he had a niece was eventually blessed with a beautiful granddaughter—two firecrackers born decades apart who share the same birthday—they all share granddaughters joined by the same Spanish name, carrying the same pride and promise of what this country was meant to be.

They are proof that our story doesn’t end with propaganda, lies, or hatred. The promise lives on in the next generation—in children who instinctively understand that freedom and fairness mean the same thing. Now they carry our family name into classrooms and playgrounds where they will learn what it means to be both proud and careful. They may not know the weight of the history yet, but they feel its rhythm—the music of stubborn belonging that refuses to be silenced.

On Veterans Day, we hang flags and post photos, but the real observance happens in the quiet—in the lives still shaped by service and by the contradictions it exposes. It lives in the way my uncles still stand a little straighter when they hear the anthem, even as the country they defended still asks them to prove they belong. It lives in the children and grandchildren who bear their names and inherit both the pride and the vigilance that freedom demands.

Freedom isn’t fireworks; it’s endurance—the decision to keep showing up, to keep believing, to keep building the country that was promised. So on this Veterans Day, I honor them all: the men and women who valiantly served and fought the wars abroad, the children and grandchildren who carry their names forward, and the families who love this nation enough to tell the truth.
Freedom’s flavor runs in our blood now—salt, sweat, and faith—and with every July Fourth candle we blow out, we’re still making good on the promise they fought to defend.

Author’s Note

On November 11, 2025, while finalizing this piece, I personally watched two official U.S. Census Bureau pages vanish in real time—the main genealogy index for the 2010 “Frequently Occurring Surnames” report and its linked sub-page, as well as those for 2000, and 1990. One moment they were live; but after refreshing, they both returned a 404 error. As of this writing, the surname dataset no longer appears in the Census archive, and the 2020 update has never been released.

Before the links went dark, I saved the files and screenshots that show what those pages contained: the 2010 table listing Garcia, Rodriguez, Martinez, Hernandez, Lopez, and Gonzalez among America’s twenty most common surnames—each more than 90 percent Hispanic in origin.

Below is my downloaded copy of that list, saved before the disappearance. Here is the link that used to list them:

Original URL (now 404): https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html

Some truths deserve a backup—and screenshots.

Categories Character, Courage, Democracy, Freedom, Immigration

How Did Zohran Mamdani Charm Trump?

By dianeravitch
November 22, 2025 //
18

Watching the press conference that followed NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s meeting with Trump felt like stepping into an alternate universe.

Before they met, Mamdani called Trump names and promised to “Trumpproof” the city. Trump called Mamdani a “radical lunatic,” “a communist,” and lots of ethnic and religious slurs. He also threatened to cut off federal aid to the city.

But after they met, Mamdani was beaming and Trump was gushing with praise for the vibrant young Mayor-elect. He even gave Mamdani that special smile that he usually reserves for Putin.

As a resident of NYC, I’m very happy with the outcome but puzzled. I haven’t met Mamdani but he clearly has magic powers.

Dean Obeidallah, who is Muslim, explains what happened on his blog:

For those shocked by how smitten Donald Trump was with Zohran Mamdani during their Oval Office meeting on Friday, it’s simply because you don’t know about the special powers, we, Muslims have. One of them is the ability to mesmerize people. Now, we only use this super Muslim power in special moments. We just can’t go around captivating people all day because we would have too many people chasing us around like smitten puppy dogs.

How does this spell get cast? Some online have speculated that Zohran called Trump “Habibi.” I can neither confirm nor deny that the word “Habibi” –or “Habibiti” for a woman—is part of how we do this.

But the trance I saw Trump in means Zohran likely dropped a special potion of Middle Eastern spices into Trump’s Diet Coke or McDonald’s cheeseburger. While I’m sworn to secrecy on the full list of ingredients, it likely involves sumac, cumin, cardamom with a hint of Trump’s favorite Doritos nacho cheese flavor. How powerful is it? Just look at the photo below. We all want someone to look at us with that type of affection!

Now with the kidding aside-or could it there really be a Muslim superpower?! I get why people would be stunned by what transpired. Trump had slammed Zohran days before the meeting as a “communist.” And during the mayoral campaign, Trump had attacked Zohran on everything from his looks —“TERRIBLE”—to his voice—“grating”—and even threatened to look into stripping him of citizenship and arresting him.

And Zohran in return had repeatedly trashed Trump calling him everything from “corrupt” to a “fascist” to a “despot.” He even mocked Trump during his victory speech a few weeks ago taking a shot at him being nearly 80 years old with the comment “I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.”

That was all gone yesterday—at least from Trump’s point of view. There was Trump pushing back on reporters that are from pro-Trump media outlets saying at one point, “I’ll stick up for you.” Trump added later he would live in New York under Mayor Mamdani and even said he was “confident that he [Zohran] can do a very good job”.

Now if you watch the clips– such as the one below– as Trump is defending Zohran and looking at him with puppy dog eyes, Zohran is simply being Zohran. He’s professional, poised and like always focused on his message of affordability for New Yorkers.

Trump ❤️ Mamdani

People can debate why Trump was glowing. I’ve met Zohran and chatted with him here in NYC over the past few years. He’s exceedingly smart—plus he does his homework on issues, etc. That means Zohran knew exactly what to say to Trump to elicit this response—and executed it perfectly.

In addition, Trump is at his lowest point in the polls in the second term. Trump is especially underwater on the economy with a Fox News poll this week finding that 76 percent now rate the U.S. economy negatively under Trump.

Trump needs to be near a winner—and that is what Zohran is. But while this meeting was both entertaining and inspiring, the best part was what happened immediately after it ended. And that was the outrage from the anti-Muslim bigots who to put it bluntly: Lost their sh*t.

For starters, there was GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik who is running for New York governor in 2026. Her campaign has been focused on smearing Zohran and all Muslims. She’s like a female George Wallace but instead of demonizing Blacks–she is hating on Muslims. 

Her main line of attack is to call Zohran a “jihadist.” Well in the Oval Office meeting, Trump was asked if he agreed that Zohran was a jihadist? In response Trump said no, adding, “I just met with a man who’s a very rational person.”

In response, Stefanik became hysterical because this undermines her campaign based on hate. She quickly vented her anger online repeating Zohran is a jihadist. Her freak out was a joy to behold.

Then there were bigots like Laura Loomer—who increasingly looks a cautionary tale for Botox abuse. After Zohran won, she posted a series of anti-Muslim comments such as calling Zohran a “jihadi” and writing “Mamdani will encourage Muslims to commit political assassinations to acquire power and silence critics.”

Yesterday, she was outraged with the Zohran-Trump love fest. She went on a long Twitter rantslamming the meeting and that Republicans need to oppose his agenda or lose. But deep down with Loomer it’s always about anti-Muslim hate.

Others like WABC radio’s Sid Rosenberg—who inadvertently helped Zohran win with his anti-Muslim comments that Andrew Cuomo joined in during the campaign—loves Trump. But he was fully triggered by this meeting. He told the NY Times “to watch them shake hands and smile” made him want to lose his lunch.

Of course there were countless other MAGA loving, Muslim hating scumbags on social media who went ballistic over the meeting. They live to be outraged.

Only time will tell if this meeting helps the people of New York City, Trump’s sagging approval numbers, etc. But one thing we knew it did already was piss off the anti-Muslim haters. If enjoying that is wrong, I don’t want to be right!

Categories Bias, Character, New York City, Trump

Karen Attiah on the Murder of Kashoggi and Trump’s Embrace of His Murderer

By dianeravitch
November 20, 2025 //
4

Karen Attiah was the editor at The Washington Post for Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi. She recently left the Post, objecting to its obeisance to Trump.

Trump’s warm welcome for Saudi Arabia’s leader, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, outraged her, as it outraged everyone who remembered what happened to Khashoggi.

Khashoggi was a journalist, author, and dissident in Saudi Arabia. He fled Saudi Arabia in September 2017 and settled in the U.S. He was hired by Karen Attiah to write an opinion column for The Washington Post. On October 2, 2018, Khashoggi went to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, to get a marriage license. Fifteen Saudi security personnel were waiting for him. They strangled him, and a surgeon in their group dismembered his body. It was never recovered. The CIA later determined that he was killed by direct order of Crown Prince MBS.

Since 2018, MBS has been in disrepute in the West. A few days ago, MBS was an honored guest at the White House. Trump spread a red carpet, praised him lavishly, and commended his record on human rights. He was almost as obsequious to MBS as he is to Putin.

A Warm Welcome for an Assassin

When a reporter asked about Khashoggi, Trump angrily said that the victim was “controversial” and “some people didn’t like him,” and reporters should not ask such disrespectful questions.

Trump cannot plead ignorance about what happened. He was President in 2018, when Khashoggi was murdered.

If you are on BlueSky, you might want to read Karen Attiah’s reaction to Trump’s defense of MBS.

In one of her comments, she wrote:

I will never forget having to edit Jamal’s final, posthumous piece for the Washington Post, after he was murdered.

He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :

A note from Karen Attiah, Global Opinions editor

I received this column from Jamal Khashoggi’s translator and assistant the day after Jamal was reported missing in Istanbul. The Post held off publishing it because we hoped Jamal would come back to us so that he and I could edit it together. Now I have to accept: That is not going to happen. This is the last piece of his I will edit for The Post. This column perfectly captures his commitment and passion for freedom in the Arab world. A freedom he apparently gave his life for. I will be forever grateful he chose The Post as his final journalistic home one year ago and gave us the chance to work together. 

I was recently online looking at the 2018 “Freedom in the World” report published by Freedom House and came to a grave realization. There is only one country in the Arab world that has been classified as “free.”

That nation is Tunisia. Jordan, Morocco and Kuwait come second, with a classification of “partly free.” The rest of the countries in the Arab world are classified as “not free.”

As a result, Arabs living in these countries are either uninformed or misinformed. They are unable to adequately address, much less publicly discuss, matters that affect the region and their day-to-day lives. A state-run narrative dominates the public psyche, and while many do not believe it, a large majority of the population falls victim to this false narrative. Sadly, this situation is unlikely to change.

The Arab world was ripe with hope during the spring of 2011. Journalists, academics and the general population were brimming with expectations of a bright and free Arab society within their respective countries. They expected to be emancipated from the hegemony of their governments and the consistent interventions and censorship of information. These expectations were quickly shattered; these societies either fell back to the old status quo or faced even harsher conditions than before.

My dear friend, the prominent Saudi writer Saleh al-Shehi, wrote one of the most famous columns ever published in the Saudi press. He unfortunately is now serving an unwarranted five-year prison sentence for supposed comments contrary to the Saudi establishment. The Egyptian government’s seizure of the entire print run of a newspaper, al-Masry al Youm, did not enrage or provoke a reaction from colleagues. These actions no longer carry the consequence of a backlash from the international community. Instead, these actions may trigger condemnation quickly followed by silence.

As a result, Arab governments have been given free rein to continue silencing the media at an increasing rate. There was a time when journalists believed the Internet would liberate information from the censorship and control associated with print media. But these governments, whose very existence relies on the control of information, have aggressively blocked the Internet. They have also arrested local reporters and pressured advertisers to harm the revenue of specific publications.

There are a few oases that continue to embody the spirit of the Arab Spring. Qatar’s government continues to support international news coverage, in contrast to its neighbors’ efforts to uphold the control of information to support the “old Arab order.” Even in Tunisia and Kuwait, where the press is considered at least “partly free,” the media focuses on domestic issues but not issues faced by the greater Arab world. They are hesitant to provide a platform for journalists from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Yemen. Even Lebanon, the Arab world’s crown jewel when it comes to press freedom, has fallen victim to the polarization and influence of pro-Iran Hezbollah.

Who attended the White House dinner for Mohammed bin Salman November 19, 2025

The Arab world is facing its own version of an Iron Curtain, imposed not by external actors but through domestic forces vying for power. During the Cold War, Radio Free Europe, which grew over the years into a critical institution, played an important role in fostering and sustaining the hope of freedom. Arabs need something similar. In 1967, the New York Times and The Post took joint ownership of the International Herald Tribune newspaper, which went on to become a platform for voices from around the world.

My publication, The Post, has taken the initiative to translate many of my pieces and publish them in Arabic. For that, I am grateful. Arabs need to read in their own language so they can understand and discuss the various aspects and complications of democracy in the United States and the West. If an Egyptian reads an article exposing the actual cost of a construction project in Washington, then he or she would be able to better understand the implications of similar projects in his or her community.

The Arab world needs a modern version of the old transnational media so citizens can be informed about global events. More important, we need to provide a platform for Arab voices. We suffer from poverty, mismanagement and poor education. Through the creation of an independent international forum, isolated from the influence of nationalist governments spreading hate through propaganda, ordinary people in the Arab world would be able to address the structural problems their societies face.

Categories Character, Corruption, Cruelty, Ethics, Evil, Injustice, Trump

Trump’s Decadent “Great Gatsby” Party at Mar-a-Lago While Poor People Go Hungry

By dianeravitch
November 14, 2025 //
23

If there was ever a symbol of decadence, greed, and heartlessness in 2025, it must be the “Great Gatsby” party that Trump provided for his uber-rich friends at Mar-a-Lago in the midst of the government shutdown.

At the same time, 42 million Americans were wondering if their food stamps (SNAP) would be available for the month. The Trump Department of Justice was in court arguing that the administration had no obligation to fully fund SNAP, and the decision was not in the hands of the courts anyway. So, no, as far as Trump was concerned, let the losers go hungry.

The party was indeed decadent, as the food and drink were abundant. Caviar, champagne, truffles, stone claw crabs. No expensive delicacy left behind.

Even more decadent–considering that this is the home of the President–were the skimpily clad showgirls who waved boa feathers to show off their bodies.

If the goal was to display the vast disparity in wealth and income that plagues our society, Trump succeeded.

I’ve gathered a few videos and commentaries. See what you missed.

This is Jon Stewart with commentary on the party and video of the festivities. I especially liked the barely clad young woman in a giant champagne glass. His Mar-a-Lago spiel starts at 5:00.

Here is Amy Goodman of “Democracy Now” on the big party and what it signifies.

There were more than 200 paid performers, mostly showgirls in provocative outfits. The girls in pink sequins displayed their partially/nude butts.

You too can go to the party with no commentary, because the footage is on C-SPAN.

Ka Vang, a columnist for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, roasted Trump and his buddies.

It pays to be a billlionaire if you are a friend of Trump!

Categories Billionaires, Character, Corruption, Cruelty, Evil, Inequality, Trump

Obama Surprises Veterans’ Honor Flight by Welcoming Them to D.C.

By dianeravitch
November 12, 2025 //
6

Former President Barack Obama met the annual honor flight of veterans on Veterans Day. This is a flight full of veterans, all-expenses paid, to visit D.C. and tour memorials to their service.

The veterans on the flight were stunned to see President Obama and hear him on the PA system. He thanked each veteran with a handshake as they left the plane.

The expressions on their faces are priceless.

President Obama didn’t do it for money or to win votes. He wanted to say thank you for your service.

Categories Character, Ethics, Love, Obama

Mary Trump: Her Uncle on Veterans Day

By dianeravitch
November 12, 2025 //
19

Mary Trump is the daughter of Donald Trump’s older brother Fred Trump Jr. Mary is a trained psychologist. If you haven’t read her first book about Donald and his dysfunctional family, you should. It’s called: Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.

To mark Veterans Day, she wrote about her uncle on her blog.

To date, Donald has murdered over 79 people using the US military as a weapon in a way that is extralegal, unconstitutional, and a contravention of global law. Nobody seems to care. He’s also abusing the presidential pardon power, another thing we desperately need to reform in this country. One person he pardoned was involved in Donald’s insurrection on January 6th, 2021, and has since been revealed to be a pedophile. He pardoned or commuted the sentences of every single person involved on January 6th, even the most violent among them. Some of those people were supposed to serve jail sentences as long as 18 years, but because they were committing horrific acts of violence on his behalf, that was just fine with him. Recently, he pardoned people like Rudolph Giuliani, Jeff Eastman, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, and others who were involved in the fake elector scheme to overturn the valid results of the 2020 election, the free and fair election that Joe Biden won by almost 8 million votes.

We know that Ghislaine Maxwell was Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator in the crimes of rape and sex trafficking of girls and young women. She has been transferred to a minimum-security prison, where she is reportedly receiving preferential treatment. Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years of prison, and Donald will likely pardon her as well. Now, we are facing the very strong possibility that Donald will pardon her as well.

Why would somebody who cares about the rule of law or cares about justice pardon such people? Why would anybody want to be associated with such people? It looks like pretty much every single person Donald has pardoned, give or take, is some kind of criminal who has shown no remorse for his or her crimes. What does that mean? What does that tell us about him? Anybody willing to pardon Maxwell or any sex trafficker, any sexual abuser of women, men, or children, anybody willing to pardon someone who participated in the violent overturning of the American government is somebody who is just as bad, if not worse than they are. Instead of using his power to protect the American people from criminals like that, he sides with the criminals, unleashing them onto us.

Who is the last person on the planet who should be commemorating Veterans Day? Yes, that’s right– a five-time draft Dodger, coward, and traitor to America–Donald Trump. He marked today’s Veterans’ Day with an appearance at Arlington National Cemetery, one of the many things lately that makes my blood boil–the fact that scum has the right to step foot on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. Everything about the event was, as we should expect at this point, devoid of the respect and gratitude our veterans deserve. 

Donald also went on about changing the name of the holiday at the ceremony.

I was recently at an event, and I saw France was celebrating Victory Day, but we didn’t, and I saw France was celebrating another victory day for World War II and other countries were celebrating. They were all celebrated, we’re the ones who won the wars. And I said, from now on, we’re going to say Victory Day for World War I and World War II, and we could do for plenty of other wars, but we’ll start with those two. Maybe someday somebody else will add a couple more because we won a lot of good ones.

Today is not about any wars we won. It is about the sacrifices of our veterans, those who gave some or those who gave all to protect the American people. It is also about the American ideals of democracy and freedom. It’s not about victory. It is about honor and sacrifice, two things about which Donald Trump knows absolutely nothing. Next, in an essentially bizarre and meaningless rant, he bragged about firing people.

And the other thing is, we fired thousands of people who didn’t take care of our great veterans. They were sadists, they were sick people, they were thieves, they were everything you want to name. And we got rid of over 9,000 of them. And then when Biden came in, he hired them back, many of them, but we got rid of them, and I think we got rid of them permanently. We replaced them with people who love our veterans, not people who are sick people.

Every accusation is an admission. It is unspeakable that that man is allowed anywhere near a ceremony commemorating our veterans. There was another moment that captured Donald’s audacity–when he lectured troops about making the ultimate sacrifice, or at least he tried to do that. Here is what he said. 

We ask only this, that if we die, we must die. And we as men would die without complaining, without pleading, and safe in the feeling that we have done our best for what we believed was right. We must do what is right. Colonel Wolverton died for us so bravely in battle today; we remember.

Donald has no right to speak about the sacrifices our veterans have made. He has no right to characterize the sacrifices that our veterans have made and continue to make. A man who doesn’t understand what the military does, what it should be used for, who has put this country in unspeakable danger because of his vast shortcomings. This draft dodger has called veterans suckers and losers. On a personal note, my dad was a second lieutenant in the National Guard, and he was treated like a sucker and a loser. 

Thousands of veterans across the country spent the day protesting Donald’s use of the military to enforce his cruel, illegal, and unconstitutional immigration policies. Fox 32 Chicago spoke to US Army veteran Arti Walker Peddakotla in the lead-up to the protest, and here’s what she had to say.

Given the fact that ICE is occupying our communities in some communities, we have military and National Guard members occupying our communities that veterans really needed to stand together with working-class people and speak out against this administration.

Vets say rallies are planned for here in Chicago, as well as cities across the country, to stand against not only the use of the military and immigration actions, but also the tactics of ICE agents and border patrol on immigrants and citizens alike.

As veterans, we sign up to really protect everyone, and no one is being protected by this administration’s tactics. No one is being made safer. In fact, our communities are being made more unsafe by what ICE is doing and what the military is doing on our streets.

Air Force veteran Judson Wager rallied with over 500 other veterans in Washington, DC. He told independent military outlet Stars and Stripes that, quote, 

We’re in the middle of an authoritarian takeover of our government.” Even as I’m honoring my fellow veterans, I’m also sounding the alarm for all Americans. Our democracy is in peril, and it will take all of us to protect it.

Donald is continuing to alienate our country’s closest allies. CNN reports that the United Kingdom has partially halted intelligence sharing with the us. They did this after finding that the Trump regime’s lethal strikes on suspected drug trafficking violate international law. CNN’s national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand shared additional details on this development.

Previously, the UK had been happy to help the United States locate and interdict vessels that were transiting the Caribbean that appeared to be trafficking drugs. But the key difference, of course, is that it was helping the Coast Guard intercept those vessels, arrest those on board, seize the drugs, and allow these individuals to have some semblance of due process. But now the US, of course, has started striking these boats unilaterally with military force, killing everyone on board. The total now for a number of people killed is around 76, and we’re told that the UK is deeply uncomfortable with that, and they believe that it is pretty blatantly illegal. Now, it is unclear exactly how long this intelligent sharing suspension is going to last, but we’re told that it has been going on for well over a month now, essentially since the US began its bombing campaign. And it really underscores the continued questions surrounding the legality of this US military campaign, which, of course, the US government, the Trump administration, has insisted is part of an armed conflict that is waging against cartel members and criminal organizations. But much of the international community, as well as legal experts inside the US, do not see it that way.

Let’s get back to our veterans. Yesterday, a flight filled with veterans and their families landed in Washington, DC, and was greeted by an unexpected guest. Please remember all our veterans, those still with us and those who aren’t.

Veteran: This honor flight is to honor all the veterans of World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam. It’s all free for them, but we show them all their monuments and explain what their monuments are about. We just try to treat them with dignity that some of them didn’t get when they came home from the war.

President Obama: Hello, everybody. As we approach Veterans Day, I wanted to stop by and just say thank you for your extraordinary service to you, your family. The sacrifices that all of you made to protect our country is something that will always be honored, and we are very grateful. And we also happen to welcome you with a 70-degree day in DC, which doesn’t always happen around here.

Veteran: That’s the first time I’ve seen a president, former or current, greet an honor flight, and that is absolutely amazing. A commander-in-chief, a leader who’s going to show up and tell you that your service was worth something. I think that’s the important part. So I think it was a great thing to have.

Veteran: The last time I got to see a president it was Gerald Ford.

Thank you, Barack Obama, for demonstrating what a real leader looks like.

Categories Accountability, Character, Cruelty, Democracy, Ethics, Fraud, Trump

Watch PBS’s “The Rise of RFK Jr.” Learn Who He Is.

By dianeravitch
November 9, 2025 //
2

Last night I watched a PBS Frontline documentary: The Rise of RFK Jr.

This documentary is fascinating. It shows young Bobby’s idyllic childhood at the family’s sprawling, luxurious compound in Virginia. He grew up in a world of joy, fun, and privilege.

You can see how deeply he was scarred by the murder of his father, with whom he was very close. This was an experience no child should endure.

He is sent away to a boarding school, where he is soon kicked out. Then another, then Harvard, which was a given, in light of his name. At Harvard, he becomes addicted to drugs and a drug dealer. Pot, cocaine, heroin.

He goes to law school, flunks the bar exam, but eventually passes. He marries an eligible young woman, has children, divorces her. Still a drug addict. Meets a beautiful Catholic girl, marries her, has four children. He begins to find his niche as an environmental lawyer. Life is looking up. But he’s a sex addict and he keeps a record of his conquests–at least 37. His wife finds the record and hangs herself.

He believes he is destined for greatness. He is a Kennedy so he keeps looking for the vehicle that will catapult him to fame. He discovers angry mothers who are looking for the cause of their children’s autism. He latches on to the issue and becomes their champion. He also becomes a prominent anti-Vaxxer and conspiracy theorist.

He briefly runs for president in 2024 but soon realizes that his prospects are nil. Trump offers a big job if he joins his campaign. Bobby accepts his offer, to the dismay of his family.

Bobby speaks to large, adoring crowds. He loves it.

Trump appoints him to lead the government’s public health agency–Health and Human Services. His family is appalled. They know he is unqualified. They know he has no respect for science. He promises the Senate committee that he won’t stop vaccines, despite his long history as a critic of them. He wins approval.

He begins to fire prominent scientists and thousands of experienced employees. He throws the agency into turmoil.

So here we are.

Categories Accountability, Character, Cruelty, Ethics, Extremism, Fraud, Health, Safety, Science, Shame, Trump

SCOTUS Pauses Order to Fully Fund SNAP

By dianeravitch
November 7, 2025 //
31

Reuters reported that the U.S. Supreme Court put a hold on a lower court’s order to fully fund the SNAP program, which provides food for low-income people. About one of every eight Americans will go hungry because of the Court’s order. The lower federal district court in Rhode Island ordered the administration to fully fund SNAP. An appeals court declined to overrule the Rhode Island order. The administration was willing to offer about half of the funds needed.

But Chief Justice John Roberts concluded there was no rush to feed hungry people. I bet he went home to a dinner of steak, potatoes, green beans, and salad, accompanied by a splendid Cabernet.

The New York Times, however, said it was Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson who halted the lower court order. She too had a grand meal tonight while 42 million Americans go hungry. Let’s see: filet of sole and salad with a bottle of Chardonnay.

The New York Times reported:

Food stamps: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson late Friday temporarily halted a lower court order that would have required the Trump administration to fund food stamps in full, fueling new uncertainty around the anti-hunger program’s immediate fate. The justice did not rule on the legality of the White House’s actions. Instead, she imposed a pause meant to give an appeals court more time to weigh the legal arguments raised by the government, as it seeks to withhold funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the shutdown. Some states had already said that they were preparing to send out full food stamp benefits. 

Reuters reported:

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to withhold for now about $4 billion needed to fully fund a food aid program for 42 million low-income Americans this month amid the federal government shutdown.

The court’s action, known as an administrative stay, gives a lower court additional time to consider the administration’s formal request to only partially fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps, for November. Chief Justice John Roberts, who issued the stay, set it to expire in two days.

The administration had filed an emergency request hours earlier asking the justices to put on hold a Rhode Island-based judge’s order that gave the administration until Friday to fully fund the program, which costs $8.5 billion to $9 billion per month.

Categories Character, Cruelty, Ethics, Evil, Health, Injustice, Trump
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