September 2026
It's YOUR fight, too!
24/09/26 07:24
September 24, 2026 (Vol.20 No. 35) - It was predictable. A federal judge reaffirmed the right of a free press to cover the President of the United States early today. Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the President to reinstate CNN’s, MS NOW’s and Politico’s access to the White House. In his order, Judge Kelly wrote the that the President’s abrupt ban last week of these three media outlets was done without “constitutionally adequate due process.”As we have seen this week, the President’s media tizzy-fit backfired. When these three media outlets were banned from the press room, other news organizations - including Fox News - refused to participate in the White House press pool. That denied Donald Trump access to the position he most cherishes, being in front of cameras. Since Judge Kelly’s rule was a temporary restraining order, it will be interesting to see whether the Trump White House wants to push this matter farther. Not only would he be likely to lose on appeal, but the move would be just one more false step that will hurt Republicans in the midterm elections. I’m sure beleaguered Republican candidates wish he would quit while he is “ahead.”
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I know that many Americans are viewing this media-government tussle with some amusement. But this is not someone else’s fight. It is your fight, too. A healthy democracy cannot operate without a free and unfettered press. You have a right to know what the government is doing in your name. That right is enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution. Anything that weakens the First Amendment of some weakens it for all.
We have already seen this Administration treat the Constitution as a doormat. The President has engaged in an unconstitutional war against Iran without Congressional approval. He had made tremendous budgetary commitments for his vanity projects in Washington without congressional approval. He has enriched himself by $2 billion in violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause. Let’s not forget that the bastard engaged in sedition by trying to overthrow the 2020 election by sending a mob to the Capitol on January 6, 2021. God knows what he is planning to overturn what is expected to be a resounding rebuke at the hands of voters this November. He’s already promised $5,000 to every American should the GOP win - an idea that is not only ludicrous and inflationary. It is also illegal. And speaking of illegal, our President - in your name - announced to the United Nations that he is pondering the commission of war crimes by committing genocide in Iran.
And you wouldn't know about any of this without a free press acting as a check and balance against this tyranny.
This is your fight. And you have the ability to let the White House and his synchophantic Republican minions know that you do not approval of this oligarchical approach to governance. Vote blue this November as if your life depends on it. Because it does. That's it for now. Fear the Turtle.
Mini-Mike Takes A Hike
16/09/26 20:49
September 16, 2026 (Vol.20 No. 34) - The next time you see a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives, ask him or her this question: Why don't you like your job? When he or she tells you that they love their job, ask why the House will have been in session only 46 of the 163 days between Memorial Day and Election Day? That's only 17.5 percent of the time. Sure, in a democracy our elected officials need to stay in touch with the voters. But you would think that House members should spend at least a little more time actually legislating and addressing the issues that affect their voters most. Right now, for example, voters are waiting for the House to deal with a panoply of issues including the high cost of living, Trump's undeclared and largely unsuccessful war, the need for safeguards in the development of artificial intelligence, the broken promise of Epstein files transparency, and the recurrence of diseases such as measles that we previously thought of as eradicated. These issues will continue to gather dust until after the midterm election because the Speaker of the House, Mini-Mike Johnson, has sent them home. He says that will give the Republican members time to tell voters what a great job they are doing.Uh huh. But the problem with that logic is that in poll after poll after poll, the people are not buying it. According to an average of all polls, Democrats are leading Republicans by 7.5 percentage points in the generic congressional ballot. That is a significant gap. And I don't believe that all of the lies and innuendos the Republicans can spew forth during the campaign can make up the difference. That being said, that's not the real reason Mini-Mike told his members to take a hike with so much work left to be done. He and his cronies wanted to get the hell out of Dodge before they would have to take some uncomfortable votes. There's the vote to invoke the War Powers Act, thus limiting Trump's ability to continue to wage his unconstitutional war against Iran. Then there's a pending resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Puffed-up Petey Hegseth, the most corrupt and incompetent man to hold that post in the nation's history. And what about those Epstein files? The Congress was almost unanimous in passing a law forcing their release. However, many of those files containing thousands of references to Donald Trump remain sealed. What are they going to do about that? There's also a pending weapons sale to Israel that if a vote were taken today, would probably lose.
No, the real reason spineless Mini-Mike has sent the House home is the avoid forcing his caucus members to take a stand on these "third-rail" issues. These votes would force Republicans to make the difficult decision between doing what is right - which a majority of their voters want - and what the President wants. This isn't the first time Mini-Mike has done this. Remember when he sent the House home for 56 days last year to avoid a vote on the Epstein files? Even though Donald Trump is more of a lame duck than a dead Daffy Duck, Mini-Mike and his minions are still scared of him. So his solution is to send the members home to hide. There is certainly no mistaking the book Mini-Mike is authoring with Profiles in Courage. Mike Johnson is a wimp-ass coward and a shadow of a man. He is a disgrace who claims to be a Christian while worshipping at the feet of the Devil, himself.
While Donald Trump focuses on hot-button issues as his billion-dollar ballroom, adding his name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and naming gulfs and lakes after America, the rest of the nation is suffering. The Trump economy is failing while Donald, himself is flourishing. Meanwhile, congressional Republicans are turning a blind eye to an unprecedented level of presidential corruption. The Founders created the Congress to serve as a check and balance against overreaching presidents. The Speaker of the House is suppose to protect his legislative body's constitutional prerogatives to decide how money is spent and whether to wage wars. But, once again, Mini-Mike is absent without leave. And he has taken the whole House with him. This November, let's send these cowardly Republican syncophants back to their districts where they can forever wallow in their shame while Democrats are back in Washington trying to clean up the mess they created. That's it for now. Fear the Turtle.
A War By Any Other Name...
05/09/26 20:54
September 6, 2026 (Vol.20 No. 33) - The United States has been engaged in an armed conflict for six months at the cost of more than 3,000 Iranian deaths, another 27,000 injuries, plus 18 dead American servicemen and women and hundreds more injured. All of this is at a cost some believe is approaching $100 billion. And yet, this week, the folks at the MAGA Puzzle Palace have tried to convince the American people that we are not at war.First, we heard from Vice President J.D. Vance, who told reporters on Thursday that "I wouldn't call it a war. Right now, there is no active shooting." Of course, that was a lie. Not only have the two sides been shooting at each other in recent days, the shooting has never really stopped since the Trump Administration launched this tragic war of choice in February. Then it was time for Trump, himself, to weigh in by saying this conflict is nothing more than "small potatoes." Last month, Defense Secretary Puffed-Up Petey Hegseth described the conflict as "a"gift to the world." And then during a CNBC interview this week, Commerce Secretary and Jeffrey Epstein play-pal Howard Lutnick stated that U.S. actions against Iran are "really just an economic choke-out" and that "there haven't been American deaths." (He later had to eat those words.)
While it is somewhat satisfying - and truthful - to suggest these verbal gymnastics are the products of arrogant stupidity, there is an even more sinister explanation. The administration doesn't want this "little kerfuffle" called a war because they would then have to comply with the provisions of the War Powers Act. After 60 days, presidents are not allowed to continue military action without the expressed permission of Congress. In fact, the Constitution reserves the power to declare war solely to Congress. You know this. I know this. The President knows this. And even the Congress knows this. But the Congress does not have the cajones to challenge our Dear Precious Leader on this point. In fact, the GOP-controlled Congress has time after time surrendered its prerogatives to President Pinocchio out of a fear of being targeted on the poorly branded Truth Social platform.
However, you and I know the truth: A war by any other name is still a war. And congressional cowardice by any other name is still cowardice. For these reasons alone (among many), there is not a single Republican on the November ballot worthy of your vote. That includes the entire bunch of sycophantic candidates on state and local ballots. They have not proven themselves worthy of your support. Never has doing the right thing been so obvious and satisfying. That's it for now. Fear the Turtle.