"No Kings Day" Protest, Morehead, Kentucky, June 14, 2025

Yesterday, my wife and I attended the "No Kings Day" protest in Morehead, Kentucky, along with somewhere in excess of 200 other people who are all committed to seeing the end of the occupation of the White House by TRAITOR Trump and his Criminal Syndicate which poses as a "cabinet". It was a very successful and fulfilling event. It never stopped raining the entire time we were there. We arrived at almost exactly the scheduled start time of noon and had to leave at about 1:30pm to meet an old friend of mine at Cracker Barrel whom we hadn't seen in about 25 years. I wish we could have stayed longer. I dropped my wife off around the corner from the little city park at the junction of KY 32 and Main Street, and then drove down the street about three blocks to find a safe parking spot at a business which was closed for the day. When I returned to the protest, my wife had been invited under a tent which the organizers had set up, actually one several such tents. We had not thought about making protest signs and took none which is a shame. But the street side of the park was lined shoulder to shoulder and about three rows deep with people who were holding a wide variety of signs some of which were homemade and some which were commercial products. My favorite sign of the day is the one in the picture above. But during the time we stayed, one man who told me he is 80 was sitting down to take a break and agreed to loan my wife his sign which she held while he rested and managed to situate herself in her power wheelchair on the street edge with the sign. There was a lot of traffic for a Saturday in Morehead and most of the cars driving by were blowing their horns in support, waving in agreement, sometimes shouting encouragement to us, and in the spirit of honesty, some few would give us the finger or shout an obscenity. But the majority seemed to be supporting us. I talked to numerous people during the time I was there including a photographer for the local Morehead newspaper. Our conversation was about the difficulty which small town newspapers and radio stations are facing with the movement of most advertising money to the internet. We specifically discussed one of the Morehead stations which some people I know used to own as one in a small chain of small town Eastern Kentucky stations. That station, and all their others, have recently been sold to a Right Wing Radical Repugnican who has actually served prison time for vote buying when he was an elected public official. The Morehead newspaper has actually been sold a couple of times since the inception of the internet as have at least two other papers in Eastern Kentucky. None of those sold seem to have been bought by people with liberal leanings. Yes, it is possible for a newpaper editor, publisher, owner, and staff to promote rational liberal ideas which still providing accurate honest reporting. In fact, one small town newspaper on the Virginia border has, in the last couple of years, won a major award from the Kenucky Press Association for reporting it did on the 2022 floods in several Eastern Kentucky counties, and it is quite liberal in its leaninings. It's a shame in these times that more small town newspapers and radio stations were being bought up by Right Wing Radicals and being turned into megaphones of the Radical Right. I stayed at the protest as long as my other appointment would allow and both of us really enjoyed our time. We both feel a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment for having taken time out of our lives, as we always do, and as you should also be doing, to support the steadily growing public opposition to the TREASON of TRAITOR Trump and his Criminal Syndicate. Always Stand Up, Speak Up, and Speak Out!

I wish I could have personally thanked every one of those American Patriots who stood up in Morehead and every other town and city in the country on No Kings Day. That is impossible. But each of you should know just how proud of you I am and how grateful I am for your courage and commitment to our country and our democracy! Always Stand Up, Speak Up, and Speak Out!

Colonial Governor Berkeley And The Modern Fight To Destroy Public Education

I am in the process of reading a book by Bob Deans entitled "The River Where America Began: A Journey Along The James" which covers the history of the James River in Virginia from about 1600 to 2006.  The book is well written although I had never heard Bob Deans' name mentioned before as an author although he has published at least three books.  Not only is the writing quite good but so is the research which is as good as just about anything I have read in quite some time.  The list of resources is actually about ten pages long which is rare today even in works which are labeled as historical nonfiction.  I will write in more length about the book when I have completely finished it but I found a little section which I cannot resist writing about immediately because of its logical application to American politics.  

On page 142, in a section carrying the subtitle "To Virginia Or Be Hanged" there is a discussion of the life and work of Virginia Colonial Governor William Berkeley who was governor of the colony twice from 1641 to 1652 and from 1660 to 1677.  The author quotes and comments on some of Berkeley's writing which can be applied to American politics today with just as much pertinence as it carried when it was written in the late 17th century. 

"...Berkeley was no democrat, at least not the way future Virginia leaders would define the term.  "I thank God there are no free schools nor printing" in Virginia, Berkelely reported to a royal commission in 1670, explaining that educated people were hard to control and  a free press exposed government to critics.  "God keep us from both."  (Deans p. 142)

Governor Berkeley wrote those words to the king or his subordinates in 1670 and, yet today, those words are just as pertinent to what is happening in America and American politics as anything which can be discussed.   I take note here of Bob Deans' use of the uncapitalized form of the word "democrat" and recognize that his choice to do so is appropriate since, during Berkeley's time, there was no Democratic party in America and the appropriate meaning of the word was simply a believer in or practitioner of democracy. But in today's America large numbers of the Republican party are openly and unrepentingly propounding the same views Berkeley did in his 1760 communication to the royal commission.  Many members of the Republican party attempt to cater to the uneducated segment of the populace and openly work on a daily basis to defund, deconstruct, and destroy the American educational system.  

The Kentucky Supreme Court just a few days ago was forced to overturn a law passed by the Kentucky state legislature, controlled by Republicans, which would have made it legally acceptable for public education funds to be diverted to charter schools and church controlled private schools of all stripes.  That action, if the Supreme Court of Kentucky had allowed it to take effect would have literally allowed all forms of fringe groups and individuals to steal public education funds from public education students and would have made it possible for "schools" teaching all forms of Right Wing Radical and religiously based misinformation while being funded with money paid by all tax payers regardless of their support or lack of support for such fringe beliefs.  We also see daily attempts all across the nation by Right Wing Radical groups, especially Right Wing Radical Repugnican groups to ban books, to restrict the teaching of long proven history, and to violate the Separation of Church and State, a criminal misinterpretation of the US Constitution which was recently perpetrated by the Right Wing Radical majority on the US Supreme Court. Just this week, a meeting of the Clark County Kentucky Public Library Board was hijacked by Right Wing Radicals who were attempting to ban books at the library or to force many, if not all, books with even mild sexual content to be placed in restricted circulation status. To her eternal credit, the librarian, Julie Maruskin, spoke out against book banning but sadly the board did vote to restrict the particular book in question as described in this quote from WKYT-TV 27 in Lexington:

“I do care about restricting books in a public library. I cannot do it. There is no way. It will never be one book,” Maruskian said.  Ultimately the board voted four to one to restrict the book to the adult section for “sexually explicit material.” (WKYT-TV 27. December 21, 2022)

Even more sadly, I am willing to bet that it won't be long before the board, by a similar vote of 4 to 1, will unjustifiably fire Julie Maruskin.  

Just as Governor Berkeley wished he could wipe out public education and the free press in colonial Virginia, these modern day Right Wing Radicals are attempting to do the same.  They must not be allowed to do that and every loyal American is duty bound to fight their attempts to do so.  Their efforts in state and federal legislatures and courts must be actively opposed.  They must be defeated at the voting booth.  Their aberrant laws and executive actions in such attempts must be confronted in both the courts and the media.  They cannot be allowed to win this battle which Governor Berkeley began in 1760.  It is up to the average American to oppose such efforts on a daily basis.  

In a more recent blog post, published on December 27, 2022, I discussed another aspect of Bob Deans' book under the title "An Important View Of The US Constitution" which can be found at this link. 

Reflections On A Dismal Year In America 2017

Roughly eleven months ago, America was preparing for a transition which I foresaw as and which has proven to be one of the most problematic shifts in collective thought this country has ever suffered.  As we were rolling toward January 20, 2017, the last day of the administration of President Barack Obama and the first day of the illegal occupation of the White House by a minion of Vladimir Putin and Russia which was achieved through the Internet manipulation of both the electorate and the electoral process by Russian Hackers working under the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin and in favor of the TRAITOR and International Terrorist Donald Trump.  I said then and I repeat now that the best action that could have been taken in defense of American Democracy would have been if the Joint Chiefs Of Staff had staged a military coup, installed a temporary president and set a new election about a year later which could have been monitored and protected from Russian interference.  

Since January 20, 2017, we have seen a concerted attack on many aspects of American Democracy and American life.  Nearly all our individual branches of government are under attack and facing destruction from the very officials who have been appointed to run them.  The State Department is seeing unprecedented departures from career diplomats without even minimal replacements.  Those diplomats are leaving government service because they understand that the very institution of the State Department is being hamstrung by the TRAITOR and International Terrorist Donald Trump and his appointed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who has ties, if that is possible, which are even closer to Russia than those of his illegally installed employer.  

The Department of Education is being systematically destroyed by  Betsey De Vos, a member of the notorious family which built Amway, one of the worst criminal enterprises in the history of American business.  She is a proponent of religious based charter schools which are a clear cut violation of the separation of church and state.  

The Environmental Protection Agency is now under the destructive management of one of its worst enemies in the history of the agency, Scott Pruitt.  Pruitt's law career prior to his installation as Director of EPA was centered around his long term history of filing law suits to prevent the EPA from doing its legally constituted work of protecting the citizenry and the land from destruction.  Now he is committed to destroying the agency from within.  He is one of worst cases of a Trojan Horse in the history of mankind.  

The TRAITOR and International Terrorist Donald Trump has kept America teetering on the brink of war with North Korea the entire time he has been allowed to illegally occupy the White House.  His inflammatory language toward North Korea and most of the rest of the world has been consistently intended to inflame, enrage, and endanger most of the world.   There has also been a pattern of actions which appear intended to destabilize our closest allies all  over the world.  Very early in the his occupation (I use the word "occupation" in the military sense) of the White House, the TRAITOR and International Terrorist Donald Trump became involved in highly insulting and damaging telephone calls to the Prime Minister of Australia and the President of Mexico.  He also insulted the most powerful woman in the world, German Prime Minister Angela Merkel.  Most recently, this TRAITOR and International Terrorist Trump has stated he intends to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem which has inflamed the entire Arabic world and made the likelihood of war in the Middle East much more likely. To their eternal credit, the members nations of the United Nations voted overwhelmingly to condemn this action.  He has also retweeted posts from the most militant group in England which has enraged the English populace and increased tensions all across Britain. He has also recently managed to force a budget cut of $285million on the UN which endangers peace keeping, food crisis, and health care programs all over the world.  These acts are far too numerous and structured to be minor mistakes.  They are part of a plan and the purpose of the plan is clearly the destabilization of our allies all around the world.  It is my belief that there is a plan originating in Moscow with Vladimir Putin which is being carried out by the TRAITOR and International Terrorist Trump due to his indebtedness to Putin and Russia.

 

There have also been a few bright and positive moments  in the country in the past year.  But they are too few, too far between, and too hampered by the inaction of thousands of elected officials all across America.  The Russia Investigation of former FBI Director Robert Mueller appears to be progressing but is slow.  It has managed to gain indictments against three of the minions of the TRAITOR and International Terrorist Trump and two of those people have plead guilty including Retired General Flynn who is cooperating with the investigation.  But nearly on a daily basis, some person in the Russian Owned Criminal Syndicate of the TRAITOR and International Terrorist Trump is speaking out about the idea that Mueller can actually  be fired by the TRAITOR and International Terrorist Trump.  In the event that Mueller should be fired, congress should immediately begin impeachment proceedings but they have shown no support of that action except for a few outspoken, liberal, and patriotic members.  

Nearly every special election in the country since November 2016 has been won by Democrats including in Virginia, New Jersey, and Oklahoma.  It appears that a trend toward rationality and reason may be taking place in the electorate and that is what is terrifying TRAITOR and International Terrorist Trump and his Russian Owned Criminal Syndicate.  They know that if the Mueller investigation proceeds to its natural conclusion and the electoral trend continues into the off year congressional elections of 2018, they will all be indicted, prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned for all their crimes.  And that is exactly what must happen if American Democracy is to survive the TRAITOR and International Terrorist Trump.   

 

Always Confront Political Ignorance

Yesterday, November 28, 2017, I had an appliance repairman in my home working on my washing machine.  He has been in my house on several occasions over the last few years since it seems that the relatively expensive, high tech, front loading washer we bought a few years ago seems to eat software and other parts regularly.  Until yesterday, he had never broached any political subjects and that might be due to the fact that he and his brother recently took over the business from his former partner and the founder of the business upon his retirement.  But as he was working on the washer, we talked about many random subjects just as we always had before.  But during the the course of the conversation, he made the statement that "the problem with this country is that all the big corporations think there is nothing in the world except the left wing people".  Just as I always do in such cases with anyone, anytime, anywhere, I confronted his error in logic.  I responded "no, the problem with the country is that we have a Russian Owned Criminal Syndicate illegally occupying the White House".  

Freeway Carpets, El Paso, Texas, Photo By Roger D. Hicks

That response obviously was not the answer the man had been expecting but I have to give him credit.  He took it well as I proceeded to go on to inform him that in my opinion TRAITOR Trump is just that and nothing more, a TRAITOR, and that nearly everyone close to him is also a TRAITOR.  I went on to tell him about the long and ever growing list of evidence and documented incidents of illicit contacts between TRAITOR Trump, his Right Wing Radical minions, and various Russian operatives.  We also talked about the recent timeline of events in the Robert Mueller investigation and how the road is being paved to indict, convict, impeach, and imprison not only TRAITOR Trump but the great majority of his flunkies.  I reminded him that Russia and Putin seem to have begun to groom TRAITOR Trump for his current status as a Russian operative sometime in the 1980's with the onset being linked to the original deal to allow a TRAITOR Trump Tower in Moscow.  I have to admit that I failed to inform the repairman of the number of Russian covert operatives who mysteriously died immediately after the 2016 US Presidential Election in what seems to be an attempt to prevent any of the operatives who had contact with TRAITOR Trump from living to potentially defect and testify against the scheme, Vladimir Putin, and TRAITOR Trump.  

Freeway Carpets, El Paso, Texas, Photo By Roger D. Hicks

I also neglected to advise him of a recent article from Bill Moyers on his website in which he interviewed attorney Steve Harper, one of the top court room performers in the world of big time criminal law, about the rapidly moving events related to the Mueller investigation and the potential outcomes of that investigation.  I also informed the repairman of several legitimate sources of news which could help to relieve him of some of naivete and provide him with actual news instead of the fake news he had been receiving from a variety of Right Wing Radical Repugnican sources.  Additionally, I told him about several of the well informed people I know who would also be willing to assist him in relieving him of his factual void.  I told him about four people I had met on my recent southwestern vacation.  Those people included a carpet store owner in El Paso, Texas, who uses his outdoor marketing sign on a daily basis to post messages about the crimes of TRAITOR Trump and the Russian Owned Criminal Syndicate which he directs.  In that group is also a retired associate superintendent of schools in Austin, Texas, and her retired teacher/chef husband who work daily to assist in the effort to have Traitor Trump held responsible for all his crimes, past, present, and future.  Additionally, the group includes a retired engineer with a plethora of international business experience who lives in a gated community in Arizona and runs a business testing golf equipment for manufacturers and once got out of the car of an acquaintance more than thirty miles from his own vehicle because the acquaintance insisted on repeatedly defending TRAITOR Trump.  The last of the people on this list of which I advised the repairman is a retired plumbing contractor in the Baton Rouge area who started telling me of his knowledge of the crimes of TRAITOR Trump literally as soon as I entered his home.  I also informed the repairman of two men I know who between them spent nearly fifty years in the US Army, both with long time high level security clearances, who work daily to inform the world of the crimes of TRAITOR Trump.  The man did state that he would check out some of the honest media sources of which I informed him including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and The Atlantic.  He might do as he said and check the sources.  He might not.  But, based on the information I gave him, he can never again say that he has not been told the truth about the danger in which American Democracy exists today.  

And that is exactly what every American citizen should be doing every time anyone, any time, anywhere attempts to disseminate support for TRAITOR Trump, his lies, his Russian Owned Criminal Syndicate members, or any other aspect of their efforts to destroy American Democracy.  Always stand up, speak up, and speak out when the supporters of TRAITOR Trump attempt to spread the disinformation, fake news, and outright lies about the criminal conspiracy currently under investigation by Robert Mueller and his staff.  

 

Freedom Of Speech--Stand Up, Speak Up, Speak Out!

American Flag Photo By Newsmax.com

Yesterday, July 7, 2017, I received an unexpected phone call from an employee of a large private practice medical practice in Lexington, KY, of which I had been a patient for several years beginning in the early 1990's.  I had become a patient of that practice when a general practitioner I was seeing, greatly respected, and trusted absolutely became a member of that practice.  A few years later, that physician had left that practice and I had gone along with him, following him in at least two practice moves in Central Kentucky because of that trust, respect, and genuine affection for him.  The last time I had seen him, in another practice, about two years ago I felt that he had slipped some in his attention to detail and decided to end my association with him.  When it came time a year of so ago for my annual physical, I had randomly chosen another member of that former practice from which I received the call yesterday and went to see him for my annual physical.  During that physical, we had discussed my potential need for a shingles vaccination and the doctor remarked that "we don't do those here but I can write you a prescription for one and you can get it at a pharmacy.  Barack Obama makes me charge you over $200 for that shot."  The remark was clearly intended to criticize the Affordable Care Act and President Obama.  It also clearly labeled the physician as a Republican party member or sympathizer.  I instantly responded to him that he "still need to be voting Democratic".  He said "we can discuss that some other time" and walked out of the examining room.  To say the least, I was clearly irked by his attempts to criticize both the Affordable Care Act and the best President in recent years in this country.  

President Barack Obama Photo  By White House Archives

When I answered the phone yesterday, the employee stated that it was time for my Medicare Physical and they were calling to schedule it with the physician in question.  I hesitated at first before going on to discuss the issue with the employee.  But after a moment of thought, I told her the story of my previous encounter with the doctor and the fact that his comments had "irked me".  To which she replied "Our Medicare Physicals are performed by one of our nurse practitioners.  Would you like me to schedule you with one of them?"  My response was, "I have three perfectly good nurse practitioners in the county in which I live. I prefer to be seen by an MD. We are facing ongoing treason in this country and I will not support or condone it. I will not spend my money anywhere it is even remotely possible that even one cent of it could go to support a Republican cause."  At that point, she asked me if I would like her to remove me from the patient list of the practice.  After a second of thought, I told her to remove me. Even before the phone call, I had been contemplating the fact that I have not seen a physician in over a year and needed to schedule with someone for an annual physical.  I have no known health problems or prescriptions and had not been under any pressure to find a new doctor any time soon. But I had recently asked a Facebook Friend who works for a nursing college to help me find a politically liberal general practitioner. 

But the two conversations and my ruminations about them have led me to come to some important conclusions.  Firstly, I realized that I should never have hesitated even briefly to voice my opposition to the doctor's defamation of both President Obama and the Affordable Care Act.  I also realized that no one should ever, in these times when TRAITOR Trump, regularly attacks both free speech and a free press, hesitate to voice their freedom of speech, freedom of the press, or any other constitutional freedom. On a daily basis, every citizen in America should be speaking out in defense of the US Constitution and the freedoms it guarantees.  On a daily basis, every citizen in America should be willing to confront TRAITOR Trump, his criminal syndicate which occupies the White House, his TREASON which has placed all of American Democracy in danger, and the Right Wing Radical Repugnicans who tolerate, defend, and support him in his ongoing crime spree against the human race.  I will not, I cannot, I must not stand silently by and watch the destruction of all that is sacred in American politics and government while a gang of Russian Owned TRAITORS work to destroy it.  And neither should you.  Stand up, speak up, speak out to defend the freedoms which all of American history and the US Constitution guarantee you and every other citizen of this country. 

Independence Day 2017

As we celebrate Independence Day 2017, basic constitutional freedoms in America have been under attack on a daily basis since January 20, 2017, by the TRAITOR Donald Trump and his criminal syndicate.  The most recent attack on basic individual freedoms has come in the thinly veiled disguise of a "Voter Fraud Commission" which is seeking access to every available piece of information about the American electorate in a followup to the Russian hacking of the election of 2016 by Vladimir Putin in order to help install TRAITOR Trump in the White House to benefit Russia. Thankfully, at least 25 state election officers are standing up to this effort and refusing to provide the data. Every such state officer should do the same. If you live in a state which has agreed to send this highly confidential information to a "commission" which is actually a thinly veiled workshop to strip minority and liberal voters of their voting rights, you should immediately contact your state level election data management officers to demand that they refuse to provide this information. Kentucky, California, and Virginia led the way in the refusal and their secretaries of state and other public officials have called the effort from the White House exactly what it is, an effort to gain information in order to suppress votes.  West Virginia's secretary of state has given a half-hearted response by saying "we would never provide social security numbers".  No doubt this issue will play itself out in the federal court system at the same time as the ongoing effort to end TRAITOR Trump's illegal occupation of the White House. With the current mix on the US Supreme Court after the addition of Neal Gorsuch, we cannot be certain how the high court will respond.  

But the effort to gain access to voter information nationwide is only one aspect of a wide ranging, nefarious, oppressive, and suppressive plan by the TRAITOR Trump criminal syndicate to destroy all basic constitutional rights.  The effort is also centered on wide ranging, destructive, and nefarious attacks on the freedom of the press, free speech, and other rights which have been a given in America for the past 200 plus years.  During the Women's March on the day after inauguration day, several legitimate journalists who were doing their job by covering protests against TRAITOR Trump were charged with crimes in federal court.  Journalists were also arrested while covering the Dakota Pipeline protests and you can bet your butt that more such arrests of legitimate journalists will continue unless the indictment, arrest, conviction, impeachment and imprisonment of TRAITOR Trump takes place soon.  His aim is to establish a totalitarian regime in absolute violation of the US Constitution and in support of Vladimir Putin and Russia.  The ongoing congressional investigations are deliberately slowed by the Republican Congress in order to allow them time to damage government agencies, constitutional protections, and individual freedoms to a lesser but debilitating degree.  Deep down, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and the Republican party simply want to get TRAITOR Trump to sit down and shut up long enough for them to do major parts of the damages which are sought by the Russian interests which control TRAITOR Trump.  The Republican congress is gambling that they can control TRAITOR Trump long enough to destroy health care, voter freedoms, reproductive rights, and several dozen federal agencies whose purpose is to confront and control business efforts to totally destroy those rights.

TRAITOR Trump's ongoing war against all legitimate media coverage of his crimes is the heart of the war against the free press.  Every citizen in America should speak out this Independence Day in support of the press and their constitutional guarantee of the right to practice honest journalism.  At the G20 Economic Summit on July 7-8, 2017, TRAITOR Trump has plans to meet with Vladimir Putin in a private meeting in which there is little doubt that Putin will deliver further marching orders for the traitor whom he bought with a the stolen US election of 2016.  Call you elected representatives in congress to demand that congress and the US military leadership prevent this meeting from taking place.  The article at this link discusses the active fear among American professional intelligence officers of the incredibly dangerous and destructive possibilities coming out of any meeting between TRAITOR Trump and Vladimir Putin.

On this Independence Day of 2017, American Democracy is in greater danger than it has been since the Civil War.  Stand up, speak up, and speak out in order to defend American Democracy and individual constitutional rights from the treasonous criminal syndicate which is currently occupying the White House as the result of an American Presidential Election which was stolen by Russian hackers. 

1984 by George Orwell--A Textbook For These Times

Orwell, George: 1984 (Delhi, India, Pigeon Books 2009)

Recently, "1984" by George Orwell shot back to the top of the Amazon Bestseller List based on the illegitimate inauguration of the TRAITOR Donald Trump and his occupation of the White House. Please note when I refer to his occupation of the White House I always use the word in the military sense.  Since November 8, 2016, I have been diligently reading all the literature I have time to cover which addresses misfeasance and malfeasance in office, treason, totalitarian governments, the US Constitution and civil rights.  "1984" has been a classic ever since it was released in 1948.  It is a masterpiece of fiction about a futuristic, totalitarian government and was a part of that body of Orwell's work to which he referred when he said: 

"Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written directly, or indirectly, against totalitarianism.  Animal Farm was the first book in which I tried, with full consciousness of what I was doing, to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one artistic whole." George Orwell, "Animal Farm" pp. vii

George Orwell

"1984" is an excellent example of that effort on Orwell's part to fuse both political and artistic purposes.  The book made him famous worldwide and its Orwellian language Newspeak has introduced several words into everyday usage such as "newspeak", "Big Brother", "doublethink", and "thought crime".  The book is taught worldwide in classes on politics, literature, philosophy, and psychology.  There is no more important time that American citizens should be reading "1984" and other works by George Orwell such as "Animal Farm" than today. The book is fiction but it is fiction with a political purpose.  It can be easily read and understood by the person who does not ordinarily read philosophy or political science.  By virtue of reading the works of George Orwell, that type of reader can begin to understand the importance of observing the actions of government and its leaders and also begin to develop skills necessary to resist destructive, disruptive, and totalitarian actions of government.  

The book is set in a fictitious, futuristic 1984 with a totalitarian government which controls literally every function of the lives of its citizens, restructures their reality on a daily basis to fit the needs of the government, and literally wipes those citizens off the face of the earth, without a trace remaining, when they no longer meet the needs or oppose the actions of that government.  The protagonist of the book is an ordinary citizen, Winston Smith, who works in the Ministry of Truth where his job is to rewrite history, both small and large, in order to meet the aims of the government.  Winston finds himself involved in an affair with a young woman much like himself.  Their love affair and joint opposition to the government lead them into the dark world of the government and its actions to control the citizenry.  

The book is now and always has been a harbinger of possible and probable tyrannies to come in the real world.  It is a billboard of truth, writ large and boldly, warning the citizens of the United States of today that such tyranny is possible and is the goal of people who are living today.  The goal of every American citizen should be to prevent such tyranny from ever happening or becoming possible in this country.  We are teetering on the brink of the most destructive times in American history.  A malignant, malicious, and well organized effort, centered in the White House is working on a daily basis to deprive this country of freedom of the press and individual constitutional freedoms.  Media members have been arrested while doing their job of covering multiple news stories which were contrary to the aims of TRAITOR Trump and his minions.  Religious believers are being targeted, arrested, and deported simply because they are not members of a majority religion in this country.  More crimes against the US Constitution will come and they will come soon.  Every citizen of this country should be working to prevent the possibility of such destruction of individual and collective freedoms.  Go out and read books such as "1984" and "Fahrenheit 451".  Study the US Constitution and fight to defend it.  Learn about outspoken defenders of freedom such as Thomas Paine, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and other, more modern patriots who spoke out for freedom and Constitutional Rights.  Join organizations such as The American Civil Liberties Union.  Financially support organizations such as The ACLU, National Public Radio, The Southern Poverty Law Center, and others which fight on a daily basis to protect the rights of ordinary citizens and work to keep the citizenry informed in an honest, ethical fashion. 

This link will take you to a post on this blog about "Animal Farm" another of George Orwell's excellent books about totalitarian governments.

UNCONSTITUTIONAL ATTACKS ON A FREE PRESS

"...the sure way to destroy freedom of speech and the free expression of ideas and views is to attach to that freedom the penalty of abuse and vilification...It is only from a diversity of views freely expressed and strongly advocated that sound policy is distilled. He who contributes to the destruction of this process is either a fool or an enemy of his country." Owen Lattimore in Senate testimony before the McCarthy Committee in 1950.

The quote above was delivered by Owen Lattimore during his testimony before a US Senate committee after he was labeled by the late Senator Joseph McCarthy as the number one communist operative in the federal government at the beginning of McCarthy's Communist Witch Hunt.  Although Lattimore had never been employed in the government, he had, at times, been a consultant since he was recognized as the leading expert on China in the world.  Lattimore was eventually indicted by a federal grand jury and eventually had all his charges dismissed as baseless.  He went on to write what is considered to be the best first person book about the McCarthy disaster, "Ordeal By Slander".  For several years, Lattimore teetered on the edge of having his life and career destroyed by McCarthy as actually happened to many other patriotic and innocent Americans.  Lattimore's quote above fits just as well today for TRAITOR Donald Trump as it originally fit Joseph McCarthy.  

On January 21, 2017, at CIA Headquarters, in a speech which has been negatively reviewed by nearly every writer who has said a word about it, TRAITOR Trump stated "As you know, I have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth." Never has any legitimate occupant of the White House, not even Richard Nixon, taken the bizarre step of declaring a war with the legitimate press of the country.  Let me state for the record that I do not now, nor do I ever expect to, consider the TRAITOR Donald Trump to be a legitimate occupant of the White House, With the assistance and under the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin, he illegally seized an American election.  Now he is engaged in a plan to destroy constitutional freedoms which is based on Adolph Hitler's seizure of total power in Germany.  His "war with the media" is a key part of that plan and is being carried out on a daily basis by both TRAITOR Trump and his criminal minions.  

At least six members of the media were arrested on felony rioting charges during the Women's March On Washington as the first salvo in this felonious effort to restrict constitutional rights to a free press.  All these journalists were doing their job at the time they were arrested. They were covering the biggest news story of the day.  It was a story which had the power to negatively affect public perception of TRAITOR Trump and that is the primary reason for their arrest.  The other reason was to intimidate all other legitimate members of the media and prevent them from doing their job by bringing the truth to the American public on a daily basis.  

At least seven journalists have been arrested during their coverage of the Dakota Pipeline Protest on the Standing Rock Reservation.  Their arrests have also been perpetrated for the same reasons, to prevent their doing their jobs and to further intimidate the other members of the media community nationwide.  Once again, these arrests are part of a structured plan to destroy constitutional freedoms as originally carried out by Adolph Hitler in Germany.  

"When Adolf Hitler took power in 1933, the Nazis controlled less than three percent of Germany’s 4,700 papers.

The elimination of the German multi-party political system not only brought about the demise of hundreds of newspapers produced by outlawed political parties; it also allowed the state to seize the printing plants and equipment of the Communist and Social Democratic Parties, which were often turned over directly to the Nazi Party. In the following months, the Nazis established control or exerted influence over independent press organs." The Holocaust Encyclopedia. Downloaded February 26, 2017, at 4:49pm

I do not necessarily believe that TRAITOR Trump will attempt to literally seize control of all the organs of the media, primarily because very few people are working and assisting TRAITOR Trump who would be capable of competently running a newspaper.  But I do not doubt that he would  be willing to seize organs of the press if he believed the American citizenry would allow it.  He has a well established record of denying access to otherwise public events to members of the media which insist on telling the truth in their reporting.  As early as June 14, 2016, CNN Media reported a list of media organs which had been denied access to TRAITOR Trump's events over the previous year.  Just two days ago, on February 24, 2017, the Washington Post and several other media outlets were denied access to what was billed as an open press conference.  TRAITOR Trump has also announced in the same time frame that he will not attend the White House Correspondents Association Dinner as every legitimate president has for the past thirty or more years. He is obviously unwilling to face interactions with members of the press he has abused and denied access over the past several months. He also does not wish to be questioned about his failure to release his taxes, his inability to assemble an honest and qualified cabinet, and he unconstitutional attacks on Muslims and immigrants.

The US Constitution states that " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." These actions by TRAITOR Trump which attempt to prevent the legitimate media from doing their constitutionally guaranteed job are part of a structured plan to deny, impair, and obstruct all the freedoms listed in the Bill of Rights.  The so-called Muslim Ban, which has been declared unconstitutional by several federal district courts and is highly likely to be considered unconstitutional by the Supreme Court even in its newly reconfigured text which is alleged to now remove Iraq from the list of seven countries in what appears to be an attempt to look less discriminatory.  

George W. Bush, the last Republican to legitimately be elected President, spoke out in an interview on February 27, 2017, in words that addressed TRAITOR Trump's recent actions without naming and directly confronting him as Mr. Bush should have.  

“I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy,” Bush said. “We need an independent media to hold people like me to account.  Power can be very addictive and it can be corrosive and it's important for the media to call to account people who abuse power, whether it be here or elsewhere,” he added. Bush noted that during his presidency, he sought to persuade people like Russian President Vladimir Putin to respect a free press." Washington Post February 27, 2017--Downloaded on March 1, 2017, at 1:52pm.

Former President Bush should be thanked for speaking out which is an uncommon act for former presidents during the early days of a new administration.  But he actually said far less than he should have and failed to directly name TRAITOR Trump.  It is now time for all the former living presidents to jointly and publicly stand up and speak from their collective bully pulpit to address these attacks against civil liberties and freedom of the press coming from the illegitimate administration in the White House.   As Bush said, "Power can be very addictive" and a megalomaniac such as TRAITOR Trump is the worst person on earth to be imbued with power.  He is mentally unstable and unfit to successfully manage even relatively innocuous levels of power.  With the help of Vladimir Putin, he has managed to seize a great deal of power and his misuse of it can only increase over time if he is not confronted and held responsible for his crimes, past, present, and future.  Just as Professor Owen Lattimore said in 1950, "...he is a fool or an enemy of his country".  I would declare that he is both.  

Two Peas In A Pod

Ever since November 8, 2016, I have been steadily and voraciously reading a wide variety of literature on several subjects including the US Constitution, the electoral process, international relations, the US Presidency, and the US Supreme Court.  I have been reading in the areas of political philosophy, history, and biography.  Rarely, if ever, in my reading do I find myself speechless but I did a day or two ago as I began a new book, a biography of one of the most reprehensible figures in American history.  The following excerpt from that book is the opening description of that figure: 

"...(He) was a pirate, and one does not, one cannot, pass valid moral judgments upon pirates.  This is meant in no facetious or superficial sense.  The close similarity between (his) character, mentality, and motives and the basic patterns of piracy is clear.  The distinction which sets the freebooter apart from the violent revolutionary, for example, or from the man who wages a war for some purpose other than plunder, appears in (him), the essence of this distinction being that the pirate is not amenable to moral laws because he recognizes none.  By the very act of becoming a pirate he has forced the moral code, which is binding on other men, to walk the plank.  A man cannot be held morally answerable to laws of which he is not cognizant; hence the pirate, entertaining no scruples whatsoever, is freed of their encumbrance....Whether we are aware of the fact or not, we do not pass moral judgments upon pirates...because intuitively we grasp that their ways and standards of conduct lie outside the confines of conventional morality...Moral conformity is not the pirate's concern. For him, rapine is no more morally reprehensible than is preaching to a parson or lending money at interest to a banker.  We may, if we are strong enough, hold the pirate sternly accountable under statute law; we may even stretch his neck; but morally he will not be answerable to us." Lately Thomas, "When Even Angels Wept" pp 1-2

Without a doubt, many of you are wondering who on earth that description could have been intended to describe.  Some of you might have already rushed to Google to learn the subject of Lately Thomas' biography "When Even Angels Wept".  The book is an excellent biography of the late, greatly despised US Senator Joseph McCarthy.  I am currently reading the book because it is a part of my study and research regimen to learn as much as possible about failures and deliberate miscarriages of justice in government, by government officials, and in defiance of the majority of the governed.  This project is motivated by my deep seated, well founded, and universally justified fear of the damage being perpetrated to American Democracy by the TRAITOR Donald Trump and his well chosen band of criminals.  At the time I began reading Mr. Thomas' book, I had no idea that his description of Senator McCarthy would so aptly describe the TRAITOR Donald Trump.  As I opened the book and began reading the introduction, my mouth literally dropped open as those first two pages, written more than forty years ago, gave a very apt description of the TRAITOR Donald Trump today.  Those paragraphs, with only the minor change of inserting and bracketing the words, "he", "him', or "his" in place of the name of the greatly reviled Joseph McCarthy who caused and led the horrible Communist Witch Hunt of 1954, serve just as well to describe the current, illegitimate occupier of the White House.  

It is interesting that during some shallow research on Lately Thomas and his work I found one review of the book by Louis Berg which takes great offense to Mr. Thomas' decision to state that we cannot hold pirates morally responsible for their actions because pirates do not accept or comply with moral standards.  However, I agree with Mr. Thomas' assessment that we cannot expect to hold pirates morally responsible but we can successfully, "...hold them responsible under statute law".  And I submit that is exactly what the country and the people must do with the TRAITOR Donald Trump.  Just as Mr. Thomas wrote about Joseph McCarthy, the TRAITOR Donald Trump "is not cognizant" of morals or laws.  We are now in the grips of an illegitimate occupation of the White House by a group who either do not understand, do not respect, or willfully disregard the United States Constitution, have no respect for the Bill of Rights or the federal courts, and are willing to abuse the rights of any person or group of persons in the country in order to gain the things they wish to have.  Rapine is not morally reprehensible to the TRAITOR Donald Trump and the gang of criminals he has surrounded himself with after having been illegally installed in the White House by Vladimir Putin and his computer hackers.  

On February 24, 2017, two native born United States citizens, the widow and son of former Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali were unreasonably detained at an airport upon returning to the country because ICE agents did not like the sound of their names even though the son, whose name is Muhammad Ali, Jr., had one of the most famous and well publicized names in the world.  Interestingly, the ICE agents released the widow Ali after she presented a photograph of herself with her late husband which is absolutely no legal proof of any level of innocence if she had actually been a terrorist attempting to enter the country on malicious plans.  We now have federal government agents, at the behest of an illegitimately constituted administration, detaining natural born citizens because they don't like the sound of their names and releasing people they have initially implied might be terrorists based simply on a photograph of their victim with a famous person.  

During the recent Women's March On Washington on January 21, 2017, six legitimate journalists covering the top news story of the day were arrested  and charged with felony rioting in an obvious attempt to intimidate all journalists who might be covering other events held to express the well justified ire of the nation with the TRAITOR Trump.  That effort to intimidate and control the media is continuing at a maddening pace by the TRAITOR Donald Trump and his minions.  Journalists have also been arrested and shot with rubber bullets at Standing Rock in North Dakota.  Those journalists have also been charged with fictitious felonies while covering the top news story of the day.  On January 23, 2017, the White House criminals in charge denied many of the major news organizations in the country admission to a rigged "press conference" by the TRAITOR Trump.   These acts are repressive, unconstitutional restriction of a free press, and a blatant attempt to control the news cycles to prevent accurate and honest reporting of the crimes and incompetence of TRAITOR Trump and his minions.  

The United States Constitution is under a daily attack by the occupiers of the White House.  Individual freedoms, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion are all under attack by a Right Wing Radical criminal and his flunkies.  At this point, we are only a little more than a month past the illegitimate inauguration and I have no doubt far worse is coming.  Indictment, prosecution, conviction, impeachment, and imprisonment are the only acts which can legally put a stop to this terrorism which is being practiced on Pennsylvania Avenue.  At this point, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and the Republican party are unwilling to act because they hope to destroy as much social, environmental, and health care legislation as possible before ever admitting that a criminal and terrorist has been allowed to occupy the White House.  Every citizen should be standing up, speaking up, and speaking out to protect the country, the Constitution, and all our individual and collective rights.  Call your congress members and senators.  Insist that they take action immediately to begin the impeachment, prosecution, and imprisonment process for the TRAITOR Donald Trump.