Posts Tagged ‘THE PENTAGON’
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on September 16, 2026 at 12:26 am
On January 20, 2026, in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called for greater cooperation among the world’s middle-sized nations.
The reason: To protect themselves from great powers using tariffs to extort control over them.
An example of this: Ottawa and Beijing now have a limited tariff agreement that swaps reduced Chinese duties on Canadian canola seeds for lower Canadian tariffs on a capped volume of Chinese electric vehicles.
On January 26, Canada announced a plan to significantly expand trade with non‑U.S. countries, strengthen internal Canadian trade, and increase domestic investment by up to one trillion dollars over the next five years.
Canadian provinces and territories
On February 20, 2026, the United States Supreme Court ruled against emergency tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
This had been the basis—and excuse—for Trump’s slapping tariffs on more than 180 countries.
Ignoring the Supreme Court ruling Trump imposed a short term 10% global tariff.
On July 1, after a virtual meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts, Greer announced that the U.S. would not extend the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
Its goals had been to boost economic growth, reduce trade barriers, and secure preferential market access across North America.
On July 17, in a Truth Social post, Trump threatened to put new tariffs on Canada after hundreds of wildfires left much of the northern U.S. covered by smoke.
He could have offered to send American firefighters and firefighting equipment to Canada. But acting in a humane way has never been a part of Trump’s character.
On July 20, Trump alleged that Canada discriminated against American companies supplying alcohol, dairy and cars. He signed three proclamations under the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, imposing 50% tariffs on Canadian dairy, alcohol, cars and other products.
On August 22, Trump’s 50% tariffs took effect on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods—dairy products, alcoholic beverages, cement and hockey equipment.
Trade negotiations had collapsed shortly before a midnight deadline the previous night.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that “last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms” had caused the collapse.
Mark Carney
“….The general attitude….is that the core Canadian industries either would be subsidiaries effectively of the United States industries or would put in place terms where those industries would be, gradually wound down in Canada and we’re not going to of course….accept those terms.”
And he warned that Canada would match the tariffs “dollar for dollar” starting on September 8.
After Canada suspended trade talks on August 21, Trump signed an executive order “changing” the name of Lake Ontario, which borders New York and Canada’s Ontario province, to Lake America.
Google and Apple, cravenly seeking to win Trump’s favor, immediately displayed maps offering the Trumpian version of geography.
“When the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough and start being serious about having those discussions, we can have those discussions,” said Carney at a press conference.
There is no American precedent for such extortionate behavior—but there is a German one. That of Nazi Germany from t938 to 1939 under Adolf Hitler—first against Austria, then Czechoslovakia, and finally Poland.
It was his aggression against Poland that ignited World War II.
But Trump can be beaten—if his enemies are willing to go all the way.
Democratic nations like Canada and Mexico dare not attack the United States militarily. America’s military is so powerful the country is threatened only by China and Russia.
But they can target with ruthless tariffs those Red states whose Fascistic voting blocs fanatically support Trump—and the House and Senate members who support him.
They can:
- Deprive Red state populations of the fruits, vegetables, meats, cars, computers, oil, gas—and especially beer and alcohol—they take for granted.
- Refuse to stock goods from Red states in their stores.
- Appeal to the patriotism of Canadians and Mexicans to maintain the boycott despite the suffering this will impose on their own countries.
Canada, in particular, has a deadly weapon it can unleash at any time:
Provincial authorities and grid operators (such as Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator) can reduce or halt power flowing through cross-border transmission lines to states like New York, Michigan and Minnesota.
The U.S. imports electricity from Canada because it is cheaper than generating more supply domestically. Losing Canadian electricity would force affected states to rely on rapacious energy companies, driving up electricity costs for consumers.
This, in turn, would trigger voters’ anger against Trump-supporting Republican candidates for the House and Senate.
Americans are used to seeking simple, painless solutions to major problems. Thus, in 2024, Trump won 77 million votes by promising to drastically reduce the price of eggs.
Instead, he gave voters an unprovoked and endless war on Iran. This has created a worldwide spiral in oil prices—and fueled inflation in the United States and other nations.
As prices soar for food, energy and housing, Trump focuses on vanity projects like a 90,000 square-foot White House ballroom and a towering “Victory Arch” overlooking Arlington Cemetery.
When Red states are forced to suffer staggering losses for months on end, they will elect anti-Fascist Senators and Representatives to nullify the evils of Trump’s administration.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Politics, Social commentary on September 15, 2026 at 12:10 am
For all his slim grasp of history, Donald Trump knows that presidents and kings (of which he thinks himself the latter) are remembered for the wars they’ve won.
Easily won wars, of course, are the best. And, for Trump, Canada—no match for the United States militarily—seems a sure bet.
On December 2, 2024 Trump, recently re-elected as President of the United States, threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the United States from Canada and Mexico unless they stopped the flow of drugs and illegal aliens.
Canadian flag
“Less than one percent of migrants coming into the United States irregularly come from Canada and 0.2 percent of the fentanyl coming into the United States comes from Canada,” then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Parliament.
During 2023-2024, American customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border.
Heroin syringe
Unmentioned—if not deliberately ignored by Trump: Canada plays a substantial role as a U.S. trading partner. About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports as well.
Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon eagerly desires. About 77% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S.
Trudeau pleaded with Trump not to impose the tariff because because it would “kill” Canada’s economy.
Trump responded: “So your country can’t survive unless it’s ripping off the US to the tune of $100 billion?”
His comments referred to the American trade deficit with Canada.
The U.S. had a $75 billion trade deficit with Canada in 2023 but a third of what Canada sells into the U.S. is energy exports and prices have been high.
Trudeau left the meeting without reassurance that Trump would not impose a 25% tariff on products from Canada.
Trump’s trade conflict with Canada began immediately upon his return to office in 2025, driven by disputes over border security, immigration and tariffs.
On January 20, 2025, his first day back in office, Trump announced plans for a 25% tariff on all Canadian imports, citing illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
Donald Trump
In early February, 2025, Trump signed an executive order imposing a 25% blanket tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods (and 10% on energy) starting February 4, invoking a national emergency.
Then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed immediate retaliatory tariffs
In mid-February, Trump agreed to a 30-day pause to cool tensions and signed a separate plan for 25% tariffs on global steel and aluminum.
On March 4, 2025, Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canadian goods took effect (with energy capped at 10%). Canada fired back with massive retaliatory counter-tariffs.
American automakers, fearing their sales to Canada would be jeopardized, pressured Trump to delay auto tariffs. Trump agreed to do so, and temporarily paused levies on goods complying with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
But on March 5, 2025, Trump slapped 25% tariffs on Canada. Six days later, Trump announced that he would impose an additional 25% tariff on all Canadian steel and aluminum imports effective March 12.
Just as Adolf Hitler’s continuing aggression toward England promoted Winston Churchill’s appointment as its Prime Minister, Trump’s continuing aggression toward Canada did the same for Mark Carney.
Adolf Hitler
Carney, a member of the Liberal Party, was elected as Canada’s Prime Minister-elect on March 9. He owed his victory to Trump’s insults toward Canada and threats to make it the 51st state of the United States.
He described the tariff conflict the “greatest crisis of our lifetimes.” And he vowed to defend Canada from American aggression.
On March 12, Trump slammed Canada with 25% duties on steel and aluminum. This, in turn, led Canada to impose further rounds of retaliatory levies on American manufactured goods.
On October 14, Trump issued an executive order that imposed a 10% tariff on softwood lumber and 25% on certain wooden furniture and cabinets from Canada, with scheduled increases.
But by September, Canada’s trade balance returned to surplus as exports recovered, particularly to markets outside the United States, while the impact of U.S. tariffs eased in some sectors.
American lumber and cabinet tariffs escalated further on January 1, 2026: A 50% tariff on specific kitchen vanities and cabinets—affecting Canadian exporters without exemptions.
On January 20, 2026, in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Carney urged greater cooperation among the world’s middle-sized nations to protect themselves from great powers using tariffs to extort control.
On January 24, Trump, responding to a faulty report, threatened to impose tariffs of up to 100% on all Canadian goods in response to a planned trade agreement between Canada and China.
The arrangement between Ottawa and Beijing is a limited, issue-specific tariff agreement that swaps reduced Chinese duties on Canadian canola seeds for lower Canadian tariffs on a capped volume of Chinese electric vehicles.
It is not a comprehensive Canada-China free trade agreement covering most goods and services, as Trump believed.
On January 26, Canada announced a plan to significantly expand trade with non‑U.S. countries, strengthen internal Canadian trade, and increase domestic investment by up to one trillion dollars over the next five years.
Thus, through threats, insults and extortionate tariffs, Trump has singularly ended a friendly U.S.-Canada relationship that had lasted more than 200 years.
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In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Law, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 14, 2026 at 12:11 am
The history book on the shelf
Is always repeating itself.
–“Waterloo,” by Abba
To understand what is happening in the United States today, it’s necessary to realize this:
- Its decent, democracy-cherishing citizens find themselves in the same position as decent, democracy-cherishing citizens of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.
- And just as Germany’s government became a ruthless dictatorship, so has that of the United States.
- And just as ordinary, peace-loving Germans hoped for a powerful, democratic outsider to remove the menace of Adolf Hitler, so do ordinary, peace-loving Americans hope the same will happen to Donald Trump.
Adolf Hitler
From 1939 to 1945, those democracy-cherishing outsiders consisted of Canada, England and the United States. (The Soviet Union reluctantly joined this alliance only after it became yet another victim of Adolf Hitler’s aggression.)
In the case of the United States, that solution can only be achieved economically—by pressuring Right-wing Republican members of Congress in Red states to end their support for Trump’s dictatorial agenda.
And the only democratic countries with the power to do this are Mexico and Canada, America’s foremost trading partners.
The 2024 elections gave Republicans not only the White House but control of the House and Senate.
Donald Trump
Republicans don’t care that Trump has trashed the institutions that Americans have cherished for more than 200 years. Institutions like an independent judiciary, a free press, and an incorruptible Justice Department.
He has viciously attacked all of these—and Republicans have either said nothing or rushed to his defense.
What Republicans truly fear about Donald Trump is that if they dare to hold him accountable for his lifetime of criminality, his Fascistic base will turn on them—and turn them out of Congress.
If they are conflicted—whether to continue supporting Trump or desert him—the reason is the same: How can I hold onto my power and all the privileges that go with it?
Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, President of Mexico
Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada
Lea-Kim, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Republicans—with Trump as their Fuhrer—are utilizing the same my-way-or-else “negotiating” strategy as Nazi Germany’s Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler.
And Democrats—out of cowardice and/or ignorance of history—are, as usual, refusing to publicly make this comparison.
Thus, America’s rescue from Trump can only come from outside the United States.
Donald Trump has proven his affinity for dictators and dictatorships—lavishing praise on Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un.
There are two reasons for this—and his hostile behavior toward democratic leaders:
- Trump admires dictators, desires to become one himself, and is now stocking essential federal agencies—such as the Pentagon, FBI and Department of Homeland Security—with his political hacks to make this a reality.
- He knows that compared to the dictatorships of Russia and China, democracies such as those of Canada, Mexico and Ukraine are comparatively weak militarily.
At a November 30, 2024 dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s estate in Palm Beach, Florida, he told then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Canada could become the 51st state of the United States.
Canada’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who attended the dinner, insisted that Trump was joking.
But on December 2, Trump threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the United States from Canada and Mexico unless they stopped the flow of drugs and illegal aliens.
And on December 3, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform an AI-generated image of himself standing on a mountain with a Canadian flag beside him. Its caption: “Oh Canada!”
Trudeau had requested the Mar-a-Lago meeting to convince Trump that the northern border is completely different from the southern one with Mexico.
Canadian flag
“Less than one percent of migrants coming into the United States irregularly come from Canada and 0.2 percent of the fentanyl coming into the United States comes from Canada,” Trudeau said in Parliament.
During 2023-2024, American customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border.
Most of the fentanyl reaching the U.S. is made by Mexican drug cartels using precursor chemicals smuggled from Asia.
As with Adolf Hitler, attempting to reason with Trump will prove fruitless. He respects only superior force.
But he has blinked when confronted with serious opposition.
Thus, on February 1, 2025, he threatened to hit Mexico and Canada with 25% tariffs, accusing them of injecting huge amounts of fentanyl and huge numbers of illegal aliens into the United States. This allowed him to look tough to his legions of uneducated, Fascistic voters.
But then Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney threatened to retaliate with their own 25% tariffs on American goods.
And the financially conservative Wall Street Journal-–whose target audience includes business leaders, investors, and affluent consumers—called Trump’s threat “the dumbest trade war in history.”
Suddenly, Trump found a way to declare victory, claiming that Mexico and Canada would vastly increase border security to stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal aliens.
And dropping his threat of a trade war.
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In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 4, 2026 at 12:10 am
The “negotiating” methods of German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler serve as a useful guide to what domestic and world leaders can expect from trying to reach an agreement with President Donald Trump.
In September, 1938, seven months after seizing Austria, Hitler gave another exhibition of his “negotiating” methods.
This time, the target of his aggression was Czechoslovakia. Once again, he opened “negotiations” with a lie: The Czechoslovak government was trying to exterminate 3.5 million Germans living in the “Sudetenland.”
Then he threatened war: Germany would protect its citizens and halt such “oppression.”
For British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, the thought of another European war erupting less than 20 years after the end of World War I was simply unthinkable.
He quickly sent Hitler a telegram, offering to help resolve the crisis: “I could come to you by air and am ready to leave tomorrow. Please inform me of earliest time you can receive me, and tell me the place of the meeting. I should be grateful for a very early reply.”
[Mistake #1: Showing his willingness to placate a brutal dictator. Such men see any concessions as weakness—leading to only greater demands. Trump, like Hitler, relishes attacking those weaker than himself.]
The two European leaders met in Berchtesgaden, Germany, on September 15, 1938.
Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler
Hitler denied that he had threatened war: “Force? Who speaks of force?“
Then, suddenly, he accused the Czechs of having mobilized their army in May. They had mobilized—in response to the mobilization of the German army.
“I shall not put up with this any longer,” shouted Hitler. “I shall settle this question in one way or another. I shall take matters in my own hands!”
Suddenly, Chamberlain seemed alarmed: “If I understood you right, you are determined to proceed against Czechoslovakia in any case. In the circumstances, it is best for me to return at once. Anything else now seems pointless.”
Hitler, taken aback, softened his tone and said they should consider the Sudetenland according to the principle of self-determination.
Chamberlain agreed to the cession of the Sudetenland. Three days later, French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier did the same. No Czechoslovak representative was invited to these discussions.
[Mistake #2: Instead of conceding to Hitler, which emboldened the dictator, Chamberlain should have pressed his advantage. When Hitler faced an opponent he couldn’t bribe or cow—such as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill or Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin—he raged and sulked.
[When Trump faces an opponent he can’t buy or intimidate—such as Special Counsel Jack Smith or Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei—he does the same.]
Chamberlain met Hitler again in Godesberg, Germany, on September 22 to confirm the agreements. But Hitler aimed to use the crisis as a pretext for war.
He now demanded not only the annexation of the Sudetenland but the immediate military occupation of the territories. This would give the Czechoslovak army no time to adapt their defense measures to the new borders.
To achieve a solution, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini suggested a conference of the major powers in Munich.
On September 29, Hitler, Daladier and Chamberlain met and agreed to Mussolini’s proposal. They signed the Munich Agreement, which accepted the immediate occupation of the Sudetenland.
The Czechoslovak government had not been a party to the talks. Nevertheless, it promised to abide by the agreement on September 30.
It actually had no choice. It faced the threat of an immediate German invasion after being deserted by its pledged allies: Britain, France and the Soviet Union.
[Mistake #3: Selling out an ally and making a concession to an insatiable dictator—and believing that Hitler could be trusted to keep his word.
[Just as Chamberlain sold out Czechoslovakia, Trump plans on selling out Ukraine to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. He’s blamed Ukraine for starting the 2022 war—even though Russia invaded Ukraine.
He’s long wanted a Trump Tower in Moscow. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky can’t give him that. Putin can.]
Chamberlain returned to England a hero. Holding aloft a copy of the worthless agreement he had signed with Hitler, he told cheering crowds in London: “I believe it is peace for our time.”
Neville Chamberlain
Hitler—still planning more conquests—knew better. In March, 1939, the German army occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia.
Chamberlain would soon be seen as a naive weakling—even before bombs started falling on London.
Believing himself invincible, Hitler turned his attention—and demands—to Poland.
Adolf Hitler and his generals
Believing himself invincible, Trump now threatens violence against Canada, Greenland and Cuba.
Hitler ordered the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. To his surprise, France and England honored their pledges to support Poland—triggering World War II. Six years and 50-56 million deaths followed.
On February 28, 2026, Trump—in concert with Israel–attacked Iran without warning. To his surprise, the Iranians closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20-30% of the world’s oil total daily oil supply passes. This has triggered a global oil crisis and severely tightened international energy supplies.
Hitler couldn’t “turn off” the war he had started. He could only lash out as his enemies multiplied.
The same has proven true for Trump.
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In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 3, 2026 at 12:10 am
To understand the “negotiating” style of Donald Trump, it’s essential to study that of Adolf Hitler.
Both men, dictatorial by nature, did/do not believe in compromise. Their idea of “compromise” was/is: “You do what I want—or I’ll destroy you.”
In Hitler’s case, his mania for absolute control began with the Nazi party and eventually extended to Germany. Then it reached to Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, Denmark, France, Greece, Yugoslavia and Russia. At least 50 million men, women and children perished in the wars he unleashed from 1939 to 1945.
Adolf Hitler
Similarly, Trump’s mania for control started with building a real estate empire. Then it encompassed his “reality TV” show, The Apprentice—and finally politics.
He began dominating the Republican party by winning a series of Presidential primaries—and then the White House. Then came asserting control over the Justice Department and the judiciary—up to the Supreme Court.
Re-elected in 2024, he now seeks to dominate Americans, has asserted but failed to control Iran, attacks Mexico and Canada with trade wars, and threatened Greenland and Panama with invasion.
Much can be learned about Trump’s “negotiating” methods—and what it takes to counter them—by studying those of Germany’s Fuhrer.
Robert Payne, author of the bestselling biography, The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler (1973), described Hitler’s “negotiating” style thus:
“Although Hitler prized his own talents as a negotiator, a man always capable of striking a good bargain, he was totally lacking in finesse.
Donald Trump
“He was incapable of bargaining. He was like a man who goes up to a fruit peddler and threatens to blow his brains out if he does not sell his applies at the lowest possible price.”
What Payne writes about Hitler applies equally well to Trump.
Hitler revealed his “bargaining style” in 1938, when he invited Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg to his mountaintop retreat in Obersalzberg, Germany.
Hitler, an Austrian by birth, intended to annex his native land to Germany. Schuschnigg was aware of this, but felt secure in accepting the invitation. He had been assured that the question of Austrian sovereignty would not arise.
The meeting occurred on February 12, 1938.
Shuschnigg opened the discussion with a friendly compliment. Walking over to a large window, he admired the breathtaking view of the mountains.
HITLER: We haven’t come here to talk about the lovely view or the weather!
Austria has anyway never done anything which was of help to the German Reich….I am resolutely determined to make an end to all this business. The German Reich is a great power. Nobody can and nobody will interfere if it restores order on its frontiers.
[Like Hitler, Trump relies on insults and anger to put his victims on the defense.]
Kurt von Schuschnigg
SCHUSCHNIGG: We simply have to go on living alongside one another, the little state next to the big one. We have no other choice.
And that is why I ask you to tell me what your concrete complaints are. We will do all in our power to sort things out and establish a friendly relationship, as far as it is possible to do so.
HITLER: That’s what you say, Herr Schuschnigg. And I am telling you that I intend to clear up the whole of the so-called Austrian question—one way or another. Do you think I don’t know that you are fortifying Austria’s border with the Reich?
SCHUSCHNIGG: There can be no suggestion at all of that—
HITLER: Ridiculous explosive chambers are being built under bridges and roads—
This was a lie, and Hitler knew it was a lie. But it gave him an excuse to threaten to destroy Austria.
[For Trump, winning—not truth—is all that matters. During his first term as President, he told a documented 30,573 lies.]
HITLER: I have only to give one command and all this comic stuff on the border will be blown to pieces overnight. You don’t seriously think you could hold me up, even for half an hour, do you?
The S.A. [Hitler’s private army of Stormtroopers] and the [Condor] lLegion [which had bombed much of Spain into rubble during the Spanish Civil War] would come in after the troops and nobody—not even I—could stop them from wreaking vengeance.
Schnuschigg made a cardinal mistake in dealing with Hitler: He showed fear. And this was precisely what the Nazi dictator looked for in an opponent.
[Like Hitler, Trump relies on fear: “Real power is—I don’t even want to use the word—fear,” he said in March 2016 when still only a candidate for President.]
Contrary to popular belief, Hitler did not constantly rage at everyone. He used rage as a weapon, knowing that most people feel intimidated by it.
In the case of Schuschnigg, Hitler opened with insults and threats at the outset of their discussion. Then there was a period of calm, to convince the Austrian chancellor the worst was over.
Finally, he once again attacked—this time with so much fury that Schuschnigg was terrified into submission.
With one stroke of a pen, Austria became a vassal-state to Nazi Germany.
[Like Hitler, Trump threatens only those he feels are weak—thus his threats to use military force against Canada, Greenland and Panama.]
9/11 ATTACKS, ABC NEWS, ABORTION, ADOLF HITLER, AL QAEDA, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, ANDREW CUOMO, ANTHONY FAUCI, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BLOOMBERG, BOB WOODWARD, BUZZFEED, CARL BERNSTEIN, CBS NEWS, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC), CHICAGO, CHINA, CIA, CLOROX BLEACH, CNN, CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19, COVID-19 TEST KITS, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DAVID BROOKS, DEBORAH BIRX, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, DONALD RUMSFELD, DONALD TRUMP, DRUDGE REPORT, FACEBOOK, FBI, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA), FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FLORIDA, FORBES, FOX NEWS, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, GRETCHEN WHITMER, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, JARED KUSHNER, JAY INSLEE, KOREAN WAR, KRISTI NOEM, KRISTIN URQUIZA, LARRY HOGAN, LOS ANGELES, MARK ANTHONY URQUIZA, MARK SHIELDS, MARYLAND, MASSACHUSSETS, MEDIA MATTERS, MICHIGAN, MICK MULVANEY, MIKE PENCE, MOLOCH, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, N95 MASKS, NAVY SEALS, NBC NEWS, NEW YORK, NEW YORK CITY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, OSAMA BIN LADEN, PAULA REID, PBS NEWSHOUR, PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE), PHOENIX RALLY, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RICHARD NIXON, ROBERT MUELLER, RUDOLPH GIULIANI, SALON, SCHOOLS, SEAN HANNITY, SEAN HANNITY SHOW, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOUTH DAKOTA, STEVEN PRESSFIELD, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE PENTAGON, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TULSA OAKAHOMA RALLY, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, UV LIGHT, VEIL: THE SECRET WARS OF THE CIA (BOOK), VIETNAM WAR, WALTER SHAUB, WASHINGTON, WASHINGTON D.C., WASHINGTON MONTHLY, WASHINGTON WEEK IN REVIEW, WATERGATE, WILLIAM J. CASEY, WONKETTE, WORLD TRADE CENTER, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Military, Politics, Social commentary on August 19, 2026 at 12:05 am
Why did President Donald Trump demand that children return to school in the midst of a deadly plague?
On July 10, 2020, Paula Reid, White House correspondent for CBS News, provided the answer on the PBS program, Washington Week.
According to Reid:
“Well, up until now the administration has really deferred to local leaders to determine when they want to reopen their communities based on the situation on the ground. But then you saw this week, when it comes to schools, the president issuing this broad mandate that all schools must open in the fall or else potentially he will cut funding, when in fact we know most schools are locally funded, and he’s also made other threats.
Paula Reid
“He’s made it clear that he is putting pressure on governors, and the question is, why is he taking this approach to schools specifically when he’s deferred to states on so many other aspects of this pandemic?
“And just speaking with White House advisers, I’m told the president knows that in order to get parents back to work you need to get kids back to class, and for the president a lot of this is about hoping that that would give an economic boost to the U.S. ahead of his reelection in November.“
For which he could then claim credit.
And Reid warned: “But one of the most significant things out of the administration this week is the fact that Dr.[Deborah] Birx [Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force] said that we really don’t have that much data on COVID in children because the under-10 set is really the least tested.”
On April 17, Trump, via Twitter, ordered his supporters to violate stay-at-home orders of Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia.
Masses of protesters—most of them unmasked, many carrying guns, wearing Trump MAGA caps and brandishing Confederate flags—descended on the capitols of those states. They claimed to be defending constitutional freedoms to refuse to wear masks or maintain “social distance” from others.
Thus, Trump risked the lives of thousands of his followers to “reopen the country” and save his endangered Presidency.
Just as the ancient Canaanites sacrificed their children to the god Moloch, so does Trump expect his followers—and opponents—to risk their children’s lives for him.
A child sacrifice to Moloch
And the sacrifices were already coming.
On August 10, CBS News reported:
“Nearly 100,000 children tested positive for the Coronavirus in the last two weeks of July, a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics finds. Just over 97,000 children tested positive for the Coronavirus from July 16 to July 30, according to the association.”
And on September 10, Forbes magazine reported: “At least six educators in five states have died after contracting the coronavirus since schools began reopening in early August.”
One of the harshest—and most poignant—attacks on Donald Trump came on August 17, 2020. It was delivered at the Democratic National Convention by Kristin Urquiza—the daughter of one of Trump’s 2016 supporters.
That supporter, Mark Anthony Urquiza, had died—from COVID-19.
Kristin Urquiza
In early June, he contracted the disease, shortly after Arizona lifted its stay-at-home order. He visited a karaoke bar with friends—and died after five days on a ventilator, alone.
“My dad, Mark Anthony Urquiza, should be here today, but he isn’t,” Kristin said during a televised segment. “He had faith in Donald Trump.
“He voted for him, listened to him, believed him and his mouthpieces when they said that Coronavirus was under control and going to disappear; that it was OK to end social distancing rules before it was safe; and that if you had no underlying health conditions, you’d probably be fine.
“My dad was a healthy 65-year-old. His only preexisting condition was trusting Donald Trump, and for that he paid with his life.”
* * * * * * * * * *
Donald Trump is not the only one responsible for the deaths of 400,000 American men, women and children. His lies could not have wiped out their lives without the active collaboration of his 63 million Fascistic supporters and thousands of government officials at local, state and federal levels.
Syndicated political columnist Mark Shields predicted that, despite Trump’s admissions that he lied about the dangers of COVID-19, “in the next poll next week, he will still have the solid support of 41, 42, 43% of the people.”
After World War II, millions of Germans who had enthusiastically carried out the orders of their Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, blamed him for every atrocity inflicted by Nazi Germany. According to them:
- He—alone—had invaded Poland, Norway, Denmark, France, Greece, Russia and Italy.
- He—alone—had terrorized England with the Blitz.
- He—alone—had tortured and murdered six million Jews.
Their plaintive refrain went:
- “We only followed orders.”
- “We didn’t do it—others did.”
- “We didn’t even know it was being done.”
Hitler cheated the victors by shooting himself. But that didn’t prevent the Allies from serving as much justice as possible on his surviving henchmen at Nuremberg.
In 2020, Americans demanded a new President but got an Attorney General–Merrick Garland—who refused to prosecute those responsible for this wholesale COVID-19 slaughter.
The survivors of those victims, like Kristin Urquiza, deserve—and demand—no less.
9/11 ATTACKS, ABC NEWS, ABORTION, ADOLF HITLER, AL QAEDA, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, ANDREW CUOMO, ANTHONY FAUCI, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BLOOMBERG, BOB WOODWARD, BUZZFEED, CARL BERNSTEIN, CBS NEWS, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC), CHICAGO, CHINA, CIA, CLOROX BLEACH, CNN, CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19, COVID-19 TEST KITS, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DAVID BROOKS, DEBORAH BIRX, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, DONALD RUMSFELD, DONALD TRUMP, DRUDGE REPORT, FACEBOOK, FBI, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA), FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FLORIDA, FORBES, FOX NEWS, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, GRETCHEN WHITMER, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, JARED KUSHNER, JAY INSLEE, KOREAN WAR, KRISTI NOEM, KRISTIN URQUIZA, LARRY HOGAN, LOS ANGELES, MARK ANTHONY URQUIZA, MARK SHIELDS, MARYLAND, MASSACHUSSETS, MEDIA MATTERS, MICHIGAN, MICK MULVANEY, MIKE PENCE, MOLOCH, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, N95 MASKS, NAVY SEALS, NBC NEWS, NEW YORK, NEW YORK CITY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, OSAMA BIN LADEN, PAULA REID, PBS NEWSHOUR, PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE), PHOENIX RALLY, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RICHARD NIXON, ROBERT MUELLER, RUDOLPH GIULIANI, SALON, SCHOOLS, SEAN HANNITY, SEAN HANNITY SHOW, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOUTH DAKOTA, STEVEN PRESSFIELD, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE PENTAGON, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TULSA OAKAHOMA RALLY, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, UV LIGHT, VEIL: THE SECRET WARS OF THE CIA (BOOK), VIETNAM WAR, WALTER SHAUB, WASHINGTON, WASHINGTON D.C., WASHINGTON MONTHLY, WASHINGTON WEEK IN REVIEW, WATERGATE, WILLIAM J. CASEY, WONKETTE, WORLD TRADE CENTER, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Military, Politics, Social commentary on August 18, 2026 at 12:05 am
Once states across the country began “reopening,” President Donald Trump scheduled his first 2020 re-election rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
DEFYING SCIENCE
It was held on June 20 inside the BOK Center. Scientists had learned that Coronavirus is more likely to be transmitted indoors than outdoors, when masses of people are packed together, and when people are loudly talking—or, worse, shouting. This is especially true when people don’t wear masks.
Masks were available for those who wanted them, but Trump made it clear that his supporters shouldn’t wear masks, as a sign of support for him. Thus, his egomania literally put the lives of his most devoted followers at risk.
Photos of the rally showed men and women densely packed together, with none of them wearing masks.
The Trump campaign boasted that 100,000 people would turn up. To its embarrassment, fewer than 6,200 did. Even worse: At least eight event staff members, including two who were at the rally, later tested positive for COVID-19.
A Trump rally
The Tulsa event was followed by another indoor rally in Phoenix on June 23. “Students for Trump” featured a packed crowd, with almost no one wearing masks.
Then, to celebrate Independence Day, Trump scheduled yet another rally at Mount Rushmore, in Keystone, South Dakota, on July 3.
Although health experts expressed fears about a large gathering during the Coronavirus pandemic, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem said people would “not be social distancing” during the celebration:
“In South Dakota, we’ve told people to focus on personal responsibility….Those who want to come and join us, we’ll be giving out free face masks, if they choose to wear one. But we won’t be social distancing.”
“JUST LIVE WITH IT”
According to a July 3 story by NBC News: “Eager to move forward and reopen the economy amid a recession and a looming presidential election, the White House is now pushing acceptance. ‘The virus is with us, but we need to live with it,’ is how one official said the administration plans to message on the pandemic.”
Administration officials would promote a new study they said showed promising results on therapeutics. They will also emphasize high survival rates, particularly for Americans who are within certain age groups and don’t have underlying conditions.
And on June 30, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified before the U.S. Senate: “We are now having 40-plus thousand new cases a day. I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around.”
Fauci warned that the infection surge across the South and West “puts the entire country at risk.” Much of that increase was being fueled by young adults testing positive for COVID-19.
The United States had become the country worst-affected by Coronavirus—with more than 6.88 million Americans diagnosed cases and at least 200,000 deaths.
CHILD SACRIFICES
But Trump wanted children to return to school—and not through virtual classes at home.
And he wasn’t asking parents to send their children back to school after summer. He was ordering them to.
On July 8, he tweeted that he might withhold federal funding from schools that did not resume in-person classes that fall.
“In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS. The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families. May cut off funding if not open!”
Donald Trump
Most school funding in America comes from states and municipalities, not the federal government. Nonetheless, the White House began exploring ways to use the next Coronavirus relief bill to tie the slice of school funding that does come from Washington to the pace of different schools’ reopenings.
And moments after making that threat, Trump said the guidelines of his own Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) for safely reopening schools were too expensive and impractical:
“I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!”
Among those guidelines:
- Schools should have markings on sidewalks and walls, that mark off six feet, and signs reminding students of protective measures.
- Masks should be worn by students and faculty, “as feasible,” and especially when keeping a distance isn’t possible.
- Sharing equipment, games and supplies should be avoided. If that’s not possible, they should be cleaned after each use.
- Playgrounds, cafeterias and dining halls should be shut. Students eat in their classrooms.
- Rooms should be well-ventilated.
- Schools should allow sick staff members to “stay home when they are sick, have been exposed, or caring for someone who is sick,” without being punished for staying home.
Coronavirus
Many Americans have asked: “How can President Trump demand that children return to school in the midst of a deadly plague? Especially when we don’t have adequate testing facilities—and, most importantly, a reliable vaccine?”
There was an answer—and it was brutally ugly.
9/11 ATTACKS, ABC NEWS, ABORTION, ADOLF HITLER, AL QAEDA, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, ANDREW CUOMO, ANTHONY FAUCI, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BLOOMBERG, BOB WOODWARD, BUZZFEED, CARL BERNSTEIN, CBS NEWS, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC), CHICAGO, CHINA, CIA, CLOROX BLEACH, CNN, CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19, COVID-19 TEST KITS, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DAVID BROOKS, DEBORAH BIRX, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, DONALD RUMSFELD, DONALD TRUMP, DRUDGE REPORT, FACEBOOK, FBI, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA), FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FLORIDA, FORBES, FOX NEWS, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, GRETCHEN WHITMER, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, JARED KUSHNER, JAY INSLEE, KOREAN WAR, KRISTI NOEM, KRISTIN URQUIZA, LARRY HOGAN, LOS ANGELES, MARK ANTHONY URQUIZA, MARK SHIELDS, MARYLAND, MASSACHUSSETS, MEDIA MATTERS, MICHIGAN, MICK MULVANEY, MIKE PENCE, MOLOCH, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, N95 MASKS, NAVY SEALS, NBC NEWS, NEW YORK, NEW YORK CITY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, OSAMA BIN LADEN, PAULA REID, PBS NEWSHOUR, PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE), PHOENIX RALLY, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RICHARD NIXON, ROBERT MUELLER, RUDOLPH GIULIANI, SALON, SCHOOLS, SEAN HANNITY, SEAN HANNITY SHOW, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOUTH DAKOTA, STEVEN PRESSFIELD, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE PENTAGON, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TULSA OAKAHOMA RALLY, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, UV LIGHT, VEIL: THE SECRET WARS OF THE CIA (BOOK), VIETNAM WAR, WALTER SHAUB, WASHINGTON, WASHINGTON D.C., WASHINGTON MONTHLY, WASHINGTON WEEK IN REVIEW, WATERGATE, WILLIAM J. CASEY, WONKETTE, WORLD TRADE CENTER, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Military, Politics, Social commentary on August 17, 2026 at 12:10 am
On April 23, 2020, President Donald Trump offered his own suggestions for how COVID-19 might be prevented or cured:
“So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous—whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light—and I think you said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that too. It sounds interesting.
“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute! And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. So, that, you’re going to have to use medical doctors with. But it sounds interesting to me.”
THE DANGERS OF TRUMP’S QUACKERY
Medical experts found Trump’s off-the-cuff remarks no laughing matter. Several doctors warned the public against injecting disinfectant or using UV light.
“It is incomprehensible to me that a moron like this holds the highest office in the land and that there exist people stupid enough to think this is OK,” said Walter Shaub, the former director of the Office of Government Ethics. “I can’t believe that in 2020 I have to caution anyone listening to the president that injecting disinfectant could kill you.”
Faced with public ridicule, Trump canceled a White House press briefing for the first time since Easter weekend.
Instead, on April 25, he issued this tweet: “What is the purpose of having White House News Conferences when the Lamestream Media asks nothing but hostile questions, & then refuses to report the truth or facts accurately.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has urged Americans to wear masks and keep at least six feet from their fellows. And most of the nation’s governors have issued stay-at-home orders that ban large gatherings—including visits to parks and beaches.
CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia
TRUMP’S DEFIANCE OF SCIENCE–AND LAW
Yet President Trump has openly encouraged defiance of those orders.
On April 17, he issued a series of tweets to his supporters, encouraging them to defy the law:
“LIBERATE MINNESOTA!”
“LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”
“LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!”
All these states had Democratic governors. Their residents were being urged to stay indoors, wear masks when they ventured outside and keep a six-feet distance between themselves and others.
These states had been targeted for Right-wing protests—featuring large numbers of men and women standing close together, with most of them not wearing masks. They claimed their “freedoms” are being infringed upon.
On April 17, Trump launched his latest effort to deal with Coronavirus:
He issued a series of tweets to his supporters, encouraging them to defy the stay-at-home laws of Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia.
Trump saw the stay-at-home orders as a two-fold threat to himself:
- He couldn’t return to his hate-filled rallies until these were lifted; and
- The stock market wouldn’t start soaring again so long as the country was “locked down.”
Without his Nuremberg-style rallies and a roaring stock market, Trump faced the danger of being a one-term President.
Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia all had Democratic governors. They had urged their residents to stay indoors, wear masks when they ventured outside, and keep a six-feet distance between themselves and others.
As a result, those governors—especially Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer—were being targeted for abuse and even death threats. And their states were facing disruptive protests by large numbers of Right-wingers standing close together, with few of them wearing masks. The protesters claimed their rights were being infringed upon.
Since the Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973, the Right has demanded that even women who are pregnant due to rape or incest carry the fetus to term. Yet now that Right-wingers were being asked to wear masks in public—to protect themselves and others from a deadly plague—they had suddenly discovered the mantra: “It’s my body!”
Writer Steven Pressfield summed up the immorality of these protests: “Why are we asked to wear surgical or face masks in public, to practice social distancing and to observe self-quarantining? Because these practices are not for the individual alone but for the protection of the whole [community].”
Washington Governor Jay Inslee tweeted: “The president’s statements this morning encourage illegal and dangerous acts. He is putting millions of people in danger of contracting COVID-19.
“His unhinged rantings and calls for people to ‘liberate’ states could also lead to violence. We’ve seen it before.”
Once states across the country began “reopening,” Trump scheduled his first 2020 re-election rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
It was held on June 20 at the BOK Center.
Scientists had learned that Coronavirus is more likely to be transmitted indoors than outdoors, when masses of people are packed together, and when people are loudly talking—or, worse, shouting. This is especially true when they’re not wearing masks.
9/11 ATTACKS, ABC NEWS, ABORTION, ADOLF HITLER, AL QAEDA, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, ANDREW CUOMO, ANTHONY FAUCI, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BLOOMBERG, BOB WOODWARD, BUZZFEED, CARL BERNSTEIN, CBS NEWS, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC), CHICAGO, CHINA, CIA, CLOROX BLEACH, CNN, CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19, COVID-19 TEST KITS, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DAVID BROOKS, DEBORAH BIRX, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, DONALD RUMSFELD, DONALD TRUMP, DRUDGE REPORT, FACEBOOK, FBI, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA), FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FLORIDA, FORBES, FOX NEWS, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, GRETCHEN WHITMER, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, JARED KUSHNER, JAY INSLEE, KOREAN WAR, KRISTI NOEM, KRISTIN URQUIZA, LARRY HOGAN, LOS ANGELES, MARK ANTHONY URQUIZA, MARK SHIELDS, MARYLAND, MASSACHUSSETS, MEDIA MATTERS, MICHIGAN, MICK MULVANEY, MIKE PENCE, MOLOCH, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, N95 MASKS, NAVY SEALS, NBC NEWS, NEW YORK, NEW YORK CITY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, OSAMA BIN LADEN, PAULA REID, PBS NEWSHOUR, PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE), PHOENIX RALLY, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RICHARD NIXON, ROBERT MUELLER, RUDOLPH GIULIANI, SALON, SCHOOLS, SEAN HANNITY, SEAN HANNITY SHOW, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOUTH DAKOTA, STEVEN PRESSFIELD, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE PENTAGON, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TULSA OAKAHOMA RALLY, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, UV LIGHT, VEIL: THE SECRET WARS OF THE CIA (BOOK), VIETNAM WAR, WALTER SHAUB, WASHINGTON, WASHINGTON D.C., WASHINGTON MONTHLY, WASHINGTON WEEK IN REVIEW, WATERGATE, WILLIAM J. CASEY, WONKETTE, WORLD TRADE CENTER, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Military, Politics, Social commentary on August 14, 2026 at 12:37 am
In 2020, the Federal Government seized vitally-needed medical supplies in at least seven states. FEMA didn’t publicly reporting the thefts, despite the outlay of millions of dollars of taxpayer money. Nor did the Trump administration explain how it decides which supplies to seize and where to reroute them.
TRUMP HAS SEIZED STATES’ MEDICAL SUPPLIES
The Federal Government didn’t inform states whose supplies it seized if they would receive the materials they ordered and paid for. That fueled concerns about whether the Trump administration was fairly distributing scarce medical supplies.
“We can’t get any answers,” said a California hospital official who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation from the White House.
Trump said it was the states’ responsibility to obtain critically-needed medical supplies. But when they weren’t outbid by the Federal Government, hospital systems and states found their shipments of medical supplies seized with no explanation.
Where did those supplies go?
To China?
To Trump’s private warehouses?
To Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, for sale on the black market?
No one still knows.
A March 2 Washington Monthly story concluded ominously: “What if the White House simply gives all the masks and ventilators to red states and counties, leaving blue ones to struggle? What mechanisms of accountability are left?
“U.S. democracy wasn’t set up to deal with a president openly behaving like a James Bond villain while being protected by a political party behaving more like a mafia than a civic institution.”
PROPAGANDA AS “NEWS”
After Easter weekend, President Donald Trump began holding daily press briefings at the White House.
Their official purpose: To update the country on the administration’s ongoing response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Their real purpose: To serve as a substitute for Trump’s hate-filled political rallies, which have been likened to those staged by Germany’s Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, at Nuremberg.
These had been temporarily cancelled due to demands for social distancing to stem the rising tide of the COVID-19 pandemic. That had been Trump’s primary reason for seeking to end social distancing.
The White House tried hard to stage-manage these appearances. For example, on April 14, Trump interrupted the question-and-answer session by cutting to a White House-produced video to try to shame the media for critical coverage of his response to the crisis.
White House press conference
On April 26, The New York Times ran a story entitled: “Self-praise, hubris and self-pity: Examining 260,000 words about the Coronavirus from President Trump.” Summing up the image that Trump has tried to present of himself to the world, the Times concluded:
“The self-regard, the credit-taking, the audacious rewriting of recent history to cast himself as the hero of the pandemic rather than the president who was slow to respond: Such have been the defining features of Trump’s use of the bully pulpit during the coronavirus outbreak….
“By far the most recurring utterances from Trump in the [White House] briefings are self-congratulations, roughly 600 of them, which are often predicated on exaggerations and falsehoods….
“Trump’s attempts to display empathy or appeal to national unity (about 160 instances) amount to only a quarter of the number of times he complimented himself or a top member of his team.”
QUACKERY AS “MEDICINE”
On April 23, Donald Trump ventured into the equivalent of a PR minefield—and stepped on a mine of his own making.
After musing on new government research into how the virus reacts to different temperatures, climates and surfaces, Trump said: “So I asked Bill [William N. Bryan, acting Under Secretary for Science and Technology at the Department of Homeland Security] a question….
“So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous—whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light—and I think you said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that too. It sounds interesting.
“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute! And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. So, that, you’re going to have to use medical doctors with. But it sounds interesting to me.”
Trump was clearly seeking agreement with his latest medical theory. But Dr. Deborah Birx, the Coronavirus Task Force response coordinator, remained silent.
The Internet—and medical experts—did not.
On Twitter—the social media platform Trump routinely used to attack everyone he hated—his suggestion that injecting disinfectants could treat Coronavirus drew scorn and ridicule.
One tweet showed Trump as a doctor hovering over a patient and saying: “Once I’ve pumped you full of disinfectant, I’ll zap you with this UV torch until you’re cured.”
Another meme featured Trump as Marie Antoinette saying: “Let them eat Clorox.”
Medical experts found Trump’s off-the-cuff remarks no laughing matter. Several doctors warned the public against injecting disinfectant or using UV light.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary, Uncategorized on August 13, 2026 at 12:10 am
Like Nazi Germany’s Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, President Donald Trump liked to pit individuals and organizations against each other. Hitler, for example, would assign several agencies to tackle the same problem: “That way, the stronger one gets the job done,” he told his architect, Albert Speer.
Adolf Hitler
PITTING CITIES AND STATES AGAINST EACH OTHER
This created needless duplication of efforts and wasted resources. But it ensured that Trump—like Hitler—remained the final voice of authority, since so many others were competing for his favor and direction.
This did not, however, work out well for the 50 states that make up the United States of America.
During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt intervened powerfully to ensure that all Americans received the help they needed.
Trump made it clear that each state was responsible for securing its needed supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for its doctors and nurses aiding Coronavirus patients. This resulted in a dog-eat-dog atmosphere of cutthroat competition and scarcity, with Americans not only fighting the virus but each other.
Donald Trump
USING A PLAGUE TO DESTROY AMERICANS
Even worse: Trump and Republicans used a deadly plague as a weapon against those Americans they hate.
On March 26, during an interview on Fox News, Trump blamed the failures of his administration’s response to Coronavirus on Democratic state governors like Andrew Cuomo (NY), Jay Inslee (WA), and Gretchen Whitmer (MI).
On March 27, during his press briefing, Trump said he told Vice President Mike Pence—who’s officially in charge of the White House’s response effort—to not call Inslee and Whitmer because they weren’t “appreciative” enough of his efforts.
Trump said this even as hospitals in each of their states were being overwhelmed with Coronavirus patients:
“I tell him—I mean I’m a different type of person—I say, ‘Mike, don’t call the governor in Washington, you’re wasting your time with him. Don’t call the woman in Michigan. If they don’t treat you right, I don’t call.”
At his March 27 press briefing, Trump echoed French King Louis X1V’s infamous remark—“I am the State”: “When they’re [governors] not appreciative to me, they’re not appreciative to the Army Corps, they’re not appreciative to FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency]. It’s not right.”
On that same day, Trump attacked Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Right-wing Fox News’ “Sean Hannity Show”: “I don’t know if she knows what’s going on, but all she does is sit there and blame the Federal Government.”
On March 27, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer told a local radio station: “What I’ve gotten back is that vendors with whom we’ve procured contracts—they’re being told not to send stuff to Michigan. It’s really concerning. I reached out to the White House last night and asked for a phone call with the president, ironically at the time this stuff was going on.”
Gretchen Whitmer
A March 29 story in the Washington Monthly shed light on what lay behind Whitmer’s inability to secure desperately-needed ventilators from her longtime vendors. Its headline ran: “What If Trump Decides to Save Republicans But Not Democrats?”
A sub-headline read: “He’s providing vital resources to red states and ignoring blue states.”
Florida—a Trump-supporting state—submitted a request to FEMA on March 11 for 430,000 surgical masks, 180,000 N95 respirators, 82,000 face shields and 238,000 gloves—and received a shipment with everything three days later.
On Fox News, Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, bluntly told governors: “Take the blame when you have to. When you play with your boss, sometimes it’s better when you don’t win the golf game. He’s the boss, he’s got all the resources.”
Translation: Suck up to the capo’s ego if you want to survive.
The mentality of the Black Hand had come to the Oval Office.
The Black Hand
TRUMP SEIZES STATES’ MEDICAL SUPPLIES
Trump wasn’t simply refusing to provide states with vitally-needed medical supplies—he was illegally seizing those supplies that states have ordered.
An April 20 Forbes story offered frightening insight into the tyrannical reach of the Trump administration. Entitled, “Maryland Gov. Hogan Takes Extraordinary Steps to Keep Feds From Confiscating COVID Tests,” the story unfolded like a spy thriller.
Governor Larry Hogan had heard reports that the federal government had confiscated crucial medical supplies from other states—like Massachusetts.
After obtaining 500,000 test kits from South Korea, Hogan ordered them flown into Baltimore–Washington International Airport rather than the larger Dulles International Airport in Virginia. From there they were escorted under guard to a secret location and constantly protected by the National Guard.
As they were sent out for distribution across the state, the tests remained under protection by the National Guard and state police.
The precautions were absolutely necessary. Hospitals in Florida and California reported that FEMA had seized their supplies without explanation.
Massachusetts ordered three million masks that were confiscated by the Federal Government at the Port of New York. This forced the state to ask New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft to use his team plane to fly in one million N95 masks from China.
N95 mask
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FAILING AT IRAN, NOW HE WANTS CANADA: PART THREE (END)
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on September 16, 2026 at 12:26 amOn January 20, 2026, in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called for greater cooperation among the world’s middle-sized nations.
The reason: To protect themselves from great powers using tariffs to extort control over them.
An example of this: Ottawa and Beijing now have a limited tariff agreement that swaps reduced Chinese duties on Canadian canola seeds for lower Canadian tariffs on a capped volume of Chinese electric vehicles.
On January 26, Canada announced a plan to significantly expand trade with non‑U.S. countries, strengthen internal Canadian trade, and increase domestic investment by up to one trillion dollars over the next five years.
Canadian provinces and territories
On February 20, 2026, the United States Supreme Court ruled against emergency tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
This had been the basis—and excuse—for Trump’s slapping tariffs on more than 180 countries.
Ignoring the Supreme Court ruling Trump imposed a short term 10% global tariff.
On July 1, after a virtual meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts, Greer announced that the U.S. would not extend the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
Its goals had been to boost economic growth, reduce trade barriers, and secure preferential market access across North America.
On July 17, in a Truth Social post, Trump threatened to put new tariffs on Canada after hundreds of wildfires left much of the northern U.S. covered by smoke.
He could have offered to send American firefighters and firefighting equipment to Canada. But acting in a humane way has never been a part of Trump’s character.
On July 20, Trump alleged that Canada discriminated against American companies supplying alcohol, dairy and cars. He signed three proclamations under the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, imposing 50% tariffs on Canadian dairy, alcohol, cars and other products.
On August 22, Trump’s 50% tariffs took effect on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods—dairy products, alcoholic beverages, cement and hockey equipment.
Trade negotiations had collapsed shortly before a midnight deadline the previous night.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that “last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms” had caused the collapse.
Mark Carney
“….The general attitude….is that the core Canadian industries either would be subsidiaries effectively of the United States industries or would put in place terms where those industries would be, gradually wound down in Canada and we’re not going to of course….accept those terms.”
And he warned that Canada would match the tariffs “dollar for dollar” starting on September 8.
After Canada suspended trade talks on August 21, Trump signed an executive order “changing” the name of Lake Ontario, which borders New York and Canada’s Ontario province, to Lake America.
Google and Apple, cravenly seeking to win Trump’s favor, immediately displayed maps offering the Trumpian version of geography.
“When the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough and start being serious about having those discussions, we can have those discussions,” said Carney at a press conference.
There is no American precedent for such extortionate behavior—but there is a German one. That of Nazi Germany from t938 to 1939 under Adolf Hitler—first against Austria, then Czechoslovakia, and finally Poland.
It was his aggression against Poland that ignited World War II.
But Trump can be beaten—if his enemies are willing to go all the way.
Democratic nations like Canada and Mexico dare not attack the United States militarily. America’s military is so powerful the country is threatened only by China and Russia.
But they can target with ruthless tariffs those Red states whose Fascistic voting blocs fanatically support Trump—and the House and Senate members who support him.
They can:
Canada, in particular, has a deadly weapon it can unleash at any time:
Provincial authorities and grid operators (such as Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator) can reduce or halt power flowing through cross-border transmission lines to states like New York, Michigan and Minnesota.
The U.S. imports electricity from Canada because it is cheaper than generating more supply domestically. Losing Canadian electricity would force affected states to rely on rapacious energy companies, driving up electricity costs for consumers.
This, in turn, would trigger voters’ anger against Trump-supporting Republican candidates for the House and Senate.
Americans are used to seeking simple, painless solutions to major problems. Thus, in 2024, Trump won 77 million votes by promising to drastically reduce the price of eggs.
Instead, he gave voters an unprovoked and endless war on Iran. This has created a worldwide spiral in oil prices—and fueled inflation in the United States and other nations.
As prices soar for food, energy and housing, Trump focuses on vanity projects like a 90,000 square-foot White House ballroom and a towering “Victory Arch” overlooking Arlington Cemetery.
When Red states are forced to suffer staggering losses for months on end, they will elect anti-Fascist Senators and Representatives to nullify the evils of Trump’s administration.
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