June 9, 2026 (Vol. 20 No. 21) - It is only human to remember the folks who have treated us badly. Maybe it was that bully who tormented you in high school. Perhaps it is a neighbor or family member. Sometimes it is a current or former co-worker. You and almost everyone within your social circles knows someone or several someones who own a piece of real estate in the space between your ears.

That "piece of real estate" is what we know as a grudge, an unwillingness to forgive those we perceive to have done us wrong. This is not to be confused with what my wife calls "sports grudges," wounds created on the artificial battlefields of athletic contests. (For example, I may never get over the New York Jets beating the Baltimore Colts in 1969's Super Bowl III.) No, grudges are more real, more personal and more emotional. They are scars we carry that through our own actions that we have not allowed to heal. Clearly, the grudges we hold are a form of self-defense against the real hurt we may have experienced. However, in a sense, they are also a form of self-loathing we hold for having placed ourselves into the sad scenario that burns our memories.

At its heart, one's unwillingness to forgive others comes down to an ethical dilemma. When I taught a journalism ethics course at the University of Kansas, I told my students that ethics are our values in action. They are not something we have, but something we do. In a sense, it is an adherence to our basic sense of right and wrong. That's where the dilemma comes into play. Deciding to forgive someone comes down to the competing values of our personal sense of justice versus our self-image of compassion and empathy. It can be hard to walk a mile in someone else's shoes after they used those same shoes to walk over you.

In Christian theology, forgiveness is a moral imperative and the failure to forgive may be described as a venial sin, one that weaken one's relationship to God. "Judge not and you will not be judged; condemn not and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven." (Luke 6:37) If one chooses a more secular perspective, forgiveness removes a personal burden that often weighs more heavily on the abused than the offender. Former South African President Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years as a political prisoner, wrote in his autobiography, "As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison."

We have a sense of what forgiveness is. But there are many things it is not. Forgiving someone for doing something wrong does not mean you are condoning it. Nor does it mean that you are required to forget it or to trust the offender. There may be consequences that the offender may have to pay. But forgiveness allows the offended party to move on and begin a healing process that restores one's emotional control. "It's not an easy journey to get to a place where you forgive people," actor, writer and producer Tyler Perry told a British newspaper in 2010, "But it is such a powerful place because it frees you."

As I write this, I am well aware that I must practice what I preach. I know that will not be an easy task. For example, asking me to forgive the current President of the United States for the damage he has done to the social, economic, political and moral fabric of this nation is a pretty big ask. I suspect that will be easier when he finally - and mercifully - exits the stage. I may fail. But I should try. As I moved into retirement, it has been easier for me to forgive those within my own orbit whom I have come in conflict through the years. But part and parcel to that, I must also be willing to ask for their forgiveness of me. More than that, there are times that we have to forgive ourselves. For me, that's the hardest ask of all.

At the risk of sounding Pollyanna, we could use a lot more forgiveness and a lot less recrimination in our troubled world. We need to return to a time - one that wasn't really that long ago - when the idea of reaching consensus was a noble goal, and not as many today would see it as some sort of capitulation. That healing process begins with forgiveness of others - and ourselves. That's it for now. Fear the Turtle.

June 1, 2026 (Vol. 20 No. 20) - CNN ran an excellent report last weekend about how the Trump administration is trying to undo the incalculable damage it has done to the nation's ability to respond to emergencies, focusing specifically on the disaster that FEMA has become. I highly recommend it. The report speaks to not only the callous disregard for public safety that this administration has shown. It is also emblematic of this administration's total incompetence and corruption.

Because of my background in crisis communications and emergency management, this is not the first time I have taken this administration to task for its public safety failures. Most recently, I wrote about this administration's total disregard for communities in need. Almost a year ago, I excoriated Trump and his cronies for their inept response to flooding in Texas (pictured above). And that rebuke came on the heels of a condemnation in the form of a scathing letter to the editor of the local newspaper complaining about Trump's reckless cuts in both FEMA and the National Weather Service. And these are just a small sampling of my concerns I've expressed in this blog over the years about the government's flagging emergency response capabilities under the Trump regime.

If you have not read the CNN report, it is a doozy. It details that at the end of last year, FEMA was sitting on $15 billion of unspent disaster relief waiting for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's signature. In fact, FEMA's electricity, phones, internet and email services were almost cut off because of unpaid bills. Corey Lewandowski, Noem's adulterous lover and chief-of-staff, blocked so-called blue states from getting much-needed (and rightfully deserved) funding while expediting payments to his cronies and allies. This haphazard funding slowed the response to the aforementioned Texas floods as well as severely restricted communications between FEMA and its state and local partners. As I noted in one of my recent posts, reckless DOGE cuts to the National Weather Service have resulted in communities receiving little or no warning of severe weather such as tornadoes. The CNN report (linked in the first paragraph) is not comfortable reading or viewing, especially when you remember that today is the first day of hurricane season.

Of course, Noem and Lewandowski are gone and have been replaced with a man whose chief qualification was that he was once a plumbing contractor. This kind of creative stafing is not limited to Homeland Security. Just look at the secretaries of Defense and Health & Human Services. And Education. And Treasury. And Vice President. And, of course, the fat, incompetent and incontinent fool in the Oval Office. Trump is more interested in naming things after himself and building his billion-dollar ballroom than he is in bringing down gas prices and ending a war he started without cause. And let us not forget that the Trump crime family is robbing the American people blind through a systematic pattern of blackmailing, grifting and outright theft. And oh, yes, there are strong indications that Trump is a rapist and a pedophile.

America, we are in for a bumpy - maybe I should say bumpier - ride. All indications are that the Republican Party will take a well-earned drubbing in the midterm elections. We also know that Trump and his syncophantic legions will do anything - re: January 6 - to maintain power. We must remain vigilant. Most of all, we must vote. Let 2026, the 250th anniversary of our nation, be the time we successfully shed the shackles of yet another tyrant. That's it for now. Fear the Turtle.

May 13, 2026 (Vol. 20 No. 19) - OK, I admit it. I am thoroughly pissed at CBS. First, they caved into and settled a Trump lawsuit that he had no chance of winning. Then they screwed around with a 60 Minutes segment on the Trump administration's controversial deportation of undocumented - and occasionally documented - immigrants. Then, Bari Weiss turned the CBS Evening News into a "MAGA approved" broadcast. Of course, all of this comes on the heels of last fall's shocking announcement that it was cancelling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, late-night TV's top-rated broadcast. Tomorrow night will be his final broadcast. I noted my displeasure at the time of Colbert's cancellation. Unfortunately, we've also seen other efforts at silencing late-night voices over at ABC. However, to their credit, Disney has recently shown some backbone in the face of threats from the Big Orange Turd. Still, I doubt that will stop him from the Commode Commander's late-night rants on antisocial media.

Back when I was a radio-television major at the University of Maryland - back when the earth was still cooling - I learned that broadcasting had a special place in American law. Operating under the premise that the airwaves belong to the public, the government could license broadcast radio and television stations, requiring that they operate in the public interest. However, with the introduction of new media, mainly the Internet, during the 1980s, the Reagan administration eliminated what was known as The Fairness Doctrine, which led to the explosion of conservative talk radio. It was also a period which saw the growth of a new class of media ownership, corporate types more interested in profits than the public interest. That arrangement worked for a while until Donald Trump chose to weaponize the government's regulatory authority to force less critical (if not more favorable) broadcast content.

For me, this trend harkens back to a Freedom Forum conference I attended in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1997. I wrote about it in February 2025. In that session, Russian journalists said they were nervous about their country's movement away from government-controlled media to that owned by oligarchs. To American ears, that sounded like backwards thinking. It was better to trust regulated corporations than to leave the media in the hands of unregulated (and potentially out-of-control) government. Twenty-nine years later in a Trumpian world where the government is run by oligarchs, it is virtually impossible to differentiate between the two positions. Media conglomerates run by the ultra-rich pay lip service to the concept of "public interest" in much the same manner that Fox News is "fair and balanced."

I cannot state this forcefully enough: Healthy and strong democracies depend upon an informed and enlightened citizenry. I would argue that in the current media environment, there is no such thing. As a result, the global standing of the United States has suffered from this absence. How else could a vulgar, fraudulent, misogynistic, seditious rapist pedophile become President of the United States? Yes, I am pissed at CBS. But I am more pissed at Donald Trump and his legion of sycophants and miscreants who first elected him and still give unwavering support to him despite his systematic destruction of America's greatness. (Yet another broken promise from the man who would be the MAGA King.) Assuming we still have fair elections this fall - and that is much more an open question than ever before - those may be our last chance to save us from ourselves. If we fail, then may God have mercy on our souls. That's it for now. Fear the Turtle.

May 13, 2026 (Vol. 20 No. 18) - After years of constantly disparaging Joe Biden as “Sleepy Joe,” we have more than ample evidence that Donnie Daydream is the one who has been asleep at the wheel. Who can blame him? I doubt he gets very much sleep when he sits on his golden toilet into the wee hours of the morning spewing hate on his poorly named “Truth Social” platform.

Late Monday night/Early Tuesday morning, our commode commander posted 50 mostly hateful lies about his political opponents. Trump’s frenetically false posts included attacks on former President Barack Obama, who he said had planned a “coup” against him and branded Obama as a “traitor.” No wonder Donnie Daydream fell asleep during the next day’s Oval Office event focusing on the nation’s declining birthrate. (Perhaps his day-napping is a defensive mechanism for him to avoid listening to some of the stupid things said by Dr. Oz and RFK, two of the dimmest bulbs in his Klown Kabinet.)

Don’t get me wrong, Trump asleep is preferable to Trump awake. It’s when his eyes (and mouth) are open that he does the most damage. Just this week, his administration:

• lied to the American people about the cost of his war-of-choice against Iran. The administration says it has cost taxpayers $29 billion. But the truth is that it is at least twice that amount.

• lied about the amount of damage the America offensive has done to Iran’s military capabilities. Trump & Company claimed that the Iranians are virtually defenseless as a result of American actions. However, our own intelligence assessments say Iran still has considerable defensive/offensive capabilities.

• continued to lie about the cost of Trump’s vanity ballroom. If you remember, Trump initially said that there would be no cost to the taxpayers. Then the price tag was $200 million. Then $250 million. Then $400 million. Now, congressional Republicans are pushing a $1 billion appropriation for a ballroom that an overwhelming majority of Americans do not want. Trump says it is “under budget.”

• defiled yet another place on the National Historic Registry, the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. Trump literally called in his “pool guy” on a no-bid contract to change the pool’s color from a dark gray – which allows it the “reflect” – to standard swimming pool color. President Liesenhower said this atrocity would only cost $1.3 million. The Washington Post reports that the true cost will be closer to $15 million. I wonder if that cost will include beach cabanas.

• bilked 600,000 members of his own MAGA crowd who placed $100 deposits on golden Trump telephones, only the find out that that phones may never be produced and that the Trump Organization is under no legal obligation to return any money. (The lesson here is read the fine print.)

• slapped American taxpayers in the face. He told reporters that he doesn’t care about the financial strain on them created by his Iranian adventure. (It appears that the only thing that evokes empathy from Donnie Daydream is his ballroom.)

And today is only Wednesday. I shudder to think of the kind of trouble Trumplestiltskin may get into while he is in China. He may deal away Tiawan in exchange for a new Trump property in Beijing. Trump says he has “all of the cards” as he negotiates with China’s Xi. If he’d look closely, Trump will see he’s holding a handful of Jokers.

It is hardly an exaggeration that there’s not a day that goes by that our Dear Leader doesn’t commit an impeachable offense and the sycophantic sheep of the Republican caucus look the other way. That’s why Democratic voters cannot be asleep at the wheel this November. They need to GOTV – Get Out The Vote. Otherwise, American will continue to descend into Donnie Daydream’s nightmare.  That’s it for now. Fear the Turtle.

April 30, 2026 (Vol. 20 No. 17) - There he was yesterday, sitting all smug and cocky in his deliberately undersized suit. Puffed-Up Petey Hegseth, the self-proclaimed "Secretary of War," was gracing Congress with his presence and wisdom for the first time since the Trump Administration launched its unnecessary and unconstitutional war against Iran. While Republican members of the House Armed Service Committee lobbed softball questions to the former Fox TV host, Democrats lobbed hand grenades. In his typical arrogant bastard tone, Hegseth didn't answer their questions. Instead, starting with his opening statement, Puffed-Up Petey hurled insults and invective in a manner none of his predecessors would have imagined.

During his first term, President Donald Jackass Trump claimed he hired "the best people" for his Cabinet. He made no claim his time around - for good reason. As I have often cataloged in this space, Trump has himself a Klown Kabinet, a motley crew of misfits, miscreants and sycophants. None is more emblematic of this descent into chaos than our 45-year-old former National Guardsman turned into a self-proclaimed "war fighter." To be fair, Hegseth earned a Bronze Star while his Minnesota guard unit was deployed to Iraq. For that sir, I honor you for your service. However, once the Princeton-educated conservative left the service, he veered off into Neo-Nazi-like think tanks, eventually landing at that paragon of broadcast journalism, Fox News. Never in the history of this country have we had someone in such a critical position who was so under-qualified - with the exception of Donald Trump, himself. During his confirmation hearings, Hegseth faced allegations of sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement and excessive drinking. He needed Vice President J.D. Vance's - another under-qualified miscreant - to cast the tie-breaking vote to be confirmed by the Senate.

We were treated to classic Puffed-Up Petey in yesterday's hearing. He announced that the widely unpopular war, which has no end in sight, has cost the American taxpayer $25 billion. He was on Capitol Hill to push for the Pentagon's $1.45 trillion budget request. He brushed off the very real concern that Trump's version of "shock and awe" had critically depleted the supply of essential munitions such as air-launched cruise missiles and ground-launched precision strike missiles. At one point, Puffed-Up Petey lied to committee when he said that the Biden administration had spent "hundreds of billions of dollars" in defense of Ukraine. The actual figure is closer to $67 billion. He also defended actions that even first-year law students can identify as war crimes by saying the administration will give Iran "no quarter and no mercy." (That's the kind of language that sounds like it came out of Mein Kampf.) He was dismissive of the impact that Trump administration's war had cost the global economy. Puffed-Up Petey's response was to pose the false question of whether the Democrat Congressmen would prefer Iran have a nuclear weapon. My response: If you, as you claimed, "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program last summer, why was any of this necessary? What was the urgency? Did it have anything with Trump's record low approval ratings and the Epstein files? If so, this was one distraction that royally backfired.

So, what's the status of the war? Both sides have blockaded the Strait of Hormuz. As of this morning, this globally important waterway's traffic has been reduced to just five percent of normal. The two sides are not talking. Instead, they are willing to play "chicken" with each other at the expense of the global economy. Trump says he has "all of the cards." Yet, I am willing to bet that it will be the U.S. that will be the first to blink. As for the enriched uranium Iran has stored away deep inside of the mountain, I seriously doubt they would ever give it up. Would you, considering America's actions of the past two months? The only way the U.S. can secure the uranium is through the introduction of ground troops. Trump doesn't have the backbone to do that and the American people will not stand for it.

In his opening statement yesterday, Puffed-Up Petey said Congressional Democrats and some Republicans pose the greatest threat to peace. To that, I call "bullshit." Iran would not have a nuclear program today if our demented and defecating president had not torn up the nuclear agreement his processor had negotiated. By all independent accounts, the deal President Obama made was working. Now, in the face of American aggression and war crimes, there is not a snowball's chance in hell that Iran will give up its dream of becoming a nuclear power. Trump and Puffed-Up Petey haven't made us safer. If anything, we are now in more danger than ever before. Trump and his Klown Kabinet may talk big and bold, but they are dumbest people in the room. And as comedian Ron White had famously said, "There's just no fixin' stupid." That's it for now. Fear the Turtle.