In an earlier blog-post, A Cure is Here, I wrote with much hope and gratitude about Dr. Jim Allison’s breakthrough discoveries and treatment for cancerous tumors by freeing our body’s T-cells to attack and kill cancer cells. For this accomplishment Dr. Allison was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Now those same T-cells and Helper T-cells are known to target the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Regrettably and remarkably there is a large portion of the American population who refuse to acknowledge the benefits and progressive advancements in medical science. In many cases over all the sciences such as Earth science, geology, astronomy, oceanography, meteorology or climatology, geophysics, and the list goes on and on with their flawed reasons simply don’t trust (or understand?) humanity’s sciences. This portion of the U.S. population would much rather delusionally exist in the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Ancient History of mythology, legends, fairy-tales, and ancient Abrahamic traditions of religion and prayer while trying to follow a highly erroneous Greek Septuagint, or Holy Bible. These faith-followers would and do discount or discard humanity’s accomplished sciences. Why? What scares religious followers so much when it comes to proven scientific truths and facts and sciences and their equitable and endless examination of the life’s truths and facts?
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During the world pandemic of COVID-19 there surfaced a group of people (anti-vaxxers) who refused to get any vaccination or booster to combat the highly contagious COVID virus. They blindly believed the incomplete or completely bogus misinformation campaign over social media and then U.S. President Trump that one does not require the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine to increase one’s odds of survival against COVID. In fact, the U.S. President even went so far as to claim that injecting Clorox bleach or disinfectant would eliminate the virus. Yes, I kid you not! 😧
Now for the actual scientific facts regarding the Pfizer and Moderna vaccinations and follow-up boosters from real medical scientists and epidemiologists.
Vaccine Safety:
No increased all-cause mortality risk: Multiple studies, including a massive four-year French study of 28 million adults, found that vaccinated individuals were no more likely to die from any cause than unvaccinated individuals. In fact, vaccinated people had a lower overall mortality rate.
Specific adverse events are very rare: Rare cases of serious adverse events like myocarditis (heart inflammation) and anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction) have been observed, but most patients recover, and an increased risk of death from these conditions due to the vaccine has not been established in large studies.
Comparison to COVID-19 Risk: The risk of death from the COVID-19 virus is vastly higher than any risk associated with the vaccine.
Studies show that people who received the COVID-19 vaccine were 74% less likely to die from severe COVID-19 compared to those who were unvaccinated.
One life was estimated to be averted for every 5,400 vaccine doses administered globally between December 2020 and October 2024.
In one Utah study, COVID-19 was the cause of death in 27.2% of unvaccinated deaths in 2021, compared to only 4.2% of deaths among the vaccinated population in the same year.
The mortality rate of deaths following the COVID-19 vaccinations was extremely minimal and rare, near non-existent among 8.2 million of the national population. The conclusion reached by the National Library of Medicine was “The benefits of COVID-19 vaccines far outweigh the potential risks in older frail populations, and our findings do not support actions to exclude older adults from being vaccinated.” And one must remember that there are far more other risks in daily life that claim lives, e.g. vehicular accidents, medical preconditions such as heart disease or cancer, combat in war zones, Alzheimer’s Disease, or diabetes or many other causes of death not related to COVID-19 infection. Fact. Truth. And yet…
Mandy Brown above was a Jesus-faith-based Children’s Hospital Dallas nurse who rapidly suffered and died from the COVID-19 virus after being diagnosed with it a 3-4 days earlier. She and her spouse and family did not believe in the very real effectiveness of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccinations. This is also the case with many other viruses and diseases, all of which protect us from permanent impairment, disabilities, or death.
For Mandy Brown, out of her fear and religious “convictions,” died as a result of her “faith.” As a consequence by her ignorance the widowed husband and her family would not publicly admit their unfounded fears and why theologically Brown chose an anti-vaccination stance. But for the Browns the truth soon came out. She and her family attended an evangelical-fundamentalist church in east Texas that believed much more in prayer than medical science and survival. It begs the question, doesn’t God or Yahweh or Allah provide His dominion of medical advancement in epidemiology and medicine? After all, didn’t their Creator create their brains of intelligence to utilize medical sciences and vaccinations?
Measles rash shown on a young boy’s arm, 2025
After reaching a 30-year high in cases last year, measles is soaring again in 2026. In 2025, 2,267 measles cases were reported nationwide, the highest annual count in more than three decades. By February 19, 2026, already 982 confirmed measles cases were reported according to the CDC. Many of these confirmed cases this year stem from outbreaks in 2025. Why is a virus such as measles, that was once contained or near unheard of 20-25 years ago, returning with such high numbers and outbreaks?
Measles is a highly contagious virus, worse than COVID-19. UCLA Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA along with Dr. Sanchi Malhotra, M.D., medical director of pediatric infection prevention for UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital and a professor in the division of pediatric infectious diseases, all report:
Like COVID-19, measles spreads through airborne particles. But measles is six times more contagious, she says. One person infected with measles can infect up to 18 others in an unvaccinated population. With COVID-19, that rate was one to three. Furthermore, when someone with measles leaves a room, the room remains infectious for two hours as airborne particles continue to circulate.
The best way to prevent measles is through vaccination. Before the measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, an estimated 3 to 4 million people in the U.S. were infected each year, 48,000 were hospitalized annually and 400 to 500 people died, according to the CDC. Two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine are 97% effective at preventing infection, it says.
“The measles vaccine is incredibly safe and effective,” Dr. Malhotra says.
And yet, medical science in virology and epidemiology had proven back in the late 1950’s and 1963 when the vaccine was widely available to infants and toddlers, that the measles vaccine was 97% effective at preventing infection—the 3% had further health and immunity complications making the infection worse and the measle vaccine less effective.
Knowing this proven virology and epidemiology research and the very effective, successful measles vaccine, why are their increasing spikes in measles cases and deaths of American children? Answer:anti-vaxxers, disinformation by anti-vaxx groups, most of them religious-based, i.e. Christian fundamentalists and energized evangelicals, and their unfounded distrust in proven science. For more factual information go to this PublicHealth.org website:
A final summation. Everything on Earth and every day here is to some degree a legitimate unknown risk. Life is messy. Mistakes are made. Many, many things about this existence is imperfect, sometimes grossly imperfect. And we can’t know what we genuinely do not know. We rarely know what the near future holds for each of us, much less the distant future, right?
Neuroscientist Dr. David Eagleman in the PBS documentary, The Brain
However, we can recognize and comprehend a day, a week or two in advance what will likely occur, or may not occur, in our immediate and extended social circles based on our learned accumulated experiences, our education levels (or lack thereof) both broad and specialized, and our environments or interactions with life on a macro level and micro level. This field is known as Agnotology. I wrote a 4-part blog-series on this field of study, “Games of Unknowledging,” or ignorance and excessive doubt. It is an enthralling field of science! If you have time I do recommend the series to better understand the depth, the intent of what I write here.
What is made clear from this scientific field is that our brains, perceptions, interpretations, extrapolations, interpolations, where we were born, where we were raised and by whom, and our belief system (religious or otherwise) are all quite biased. And they are biased like tunnel-vision or horse-blinders that we sometimes/often can’t realize it or acknowledge it. The good news is that we can reset this default mode so as not to be so ignorant and doubting, afraid of life that is in some/many ways paralyzes us mentally, emotionally, or physically.
Neuroscientist Dr. David Eagleman did a remarkable PBS documentary on this subject called “The Brain with David Eagleman” that examines and explores our most newest discoveries on how our brains grow and function from infant, to adolescence, to adult, and finally into our geriatric years. This PBS documentary I highly recommend watching as well.
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” — Stephen Hawking
Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always
Having left off at #1— Former Illinois Governor (D) Rod Blagojevich in the previous blog-post, I will pickup at the next section now. Thank you all for your patience and understanding with my deceased mother who suffered from Early Alzheimer’s Disease and her daily care during those last weeks. Meanwhile, her affairs have limited my free-time to blog, but are now receding as my wife and I return to a more normal life together. Without further adieu I pick up where I left off in October 2025…
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Just how pervasive is corrupt money in our 21st-century U.S. politics? It is much worse than you might imagine. Let’s take a close look at Ohio’s political corruption between 2017–2020.
U.S. Federal Marshals cuffed up conservative politician Matt Borges, the former chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, soon after being arrested for the largest corruption scandal in Ohio’s history. A day earlier a U.S. District Judge dealt out to Ohio House Speaker, Larry Householder, a 20-year sentence for organizing the scheme known as the FirstEnergy Corp. and Ohio utilities scandal or HB-6 scandal. Using FirstEnergy Corp. they funneled $38-million into dark money groups, i.e. anonymous, secret Super PAC’s, that funded Republican election campaigns and legislation. In other words, bribes. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Singer who prosecuted the racketeering conspiracy further said, “It’s interesting that some people are piling on (Householder) after the fact,” he said. “So many knew what was happening in real time and did nothing about it. Not only did they do nothing about it, they helped facilitate it.”
FirstEnergy public corruption trial begins, Jan. 27, 2026 — Chuck Jones, left, and Michael Dowling, right. (Photos by WEWS.)
It is worthy to note that this one scandal in Ohio’s Congress and the dark money corporations funding legislatures while company CEOs, CFOs, etc., take kickbacks from “favorable” state laws, is a nationwide problem reaching an epidemic far worse than it was in the Gilded Age of the 1800’s.
Neil Clark was an Ohio political lobbyist and a mule, for lack of a better word, a broker for hyper-wealthy donors, corporations, and executives, and their state legislative counter-parts. Clark was more than willing to commit illegal bribes, payoffs, buy legislation, or give kickbacks if it meant “everyone” wins and everyone gets filthy rich (see above image of Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling). But Clark was facing charges of major federal crimes and briberies investigated by the FBI. Days later Clark was found dead by suicide March 15, 2021, by the Collier County Sheriff’s department wearing a “DeWine for Governor” t-shirt.
Ohio Governor, Mike DeWine, was never indicted of illegal activity in the scandal, however, he was heavily associated with FirstEnergy’s scandal through shady relationships and secret backroom deals. The Ohio Capitol Journal writes about DeWine’s political-corporate relationships as “Big Money, Big Favors” in an April 2024 article found here. He and Neil Clark met frequently during election campaigns and specific legislative bills. Clark apparently had lost control and saw no way out (see image below).
Why does someone take their own life? To escape punishment and shame? What did Neil Clark leave behind after his suicide? Well, as a matter of fact Clark’s memoir, “What Do I Know? I’m Just A Lobbyist,” sheds light on Ohio corruption and the events leading to his suicide. Consider another similar situation with no way out that ended the same for another rich, powerful man. It’s the question equally valid being asked today, Why did the two guards on duty fall asleep that night and did not check on Jeffrey Epstein at regular intervals? Why did Jeffrey Epstein kill himself in jail and why were the two surveillance cameras in his cell the night of August 9th, 2019, malfunctioning? Lots of “coincidences” and similarities between Clark and Epstein falling perfectly in line on one single night.
Neil Clark’s crime or suicide scene and body in a remote lawn near Naples, Florida.
In his memoirs Neil Clark writes that he had a slew of ugly nicknames like “Prince of Darkness” and “Prick” to name just two. Is it a coincidence that Clark was proud of his deep Sicilian background? He goes on to write:
“I was willing to push the envelope, bend the rules, play unfair and make sure anyone who got in my way received disproportionate punishment.”
— Neil Clark, Conservative Ohio Lobbyist Memoirs
The FBI had many phone taps and body wires/mics recording Clark and his lobbying tactics that he arrogantly, brazenly boasted about freely in wealthy Columbus, Ohio restaurant meetings with government clients or potential slush-fund clients:
“Every politician’s got to have somebody that is the “hitman.” Everybody’s got to have that person that will go out there and do the dirty shit.”
— Neil Clark, Conservative Ohio Lobbyist Memoirs
Neil Clark was swept up into unlimited money-waves where he could no longer recognize what was Constitutional (right) and what was Un-Constitutional (wrong and very illegal) nor how egregiously he was breaking the laws. But like a gambling addict, he didn’t care. Clark power-brokered Super PACs that soon made the highly controversial Pro-choice or Anti-abortion acts in Ohio by unprecedented, small wealthy minority groups—i.e. abortions were now illegal in Ohio even if the mother’s life was at serious risk of death—get passed into law. As a result, the untempered colossal amounts of slush money bought off those Ohio legislators ushering in the state laws whether the majority of Ohioans wanted them or not. How did this happen against the Ohio majority that didn’t want abortions banned?
Simple. It was the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United vs. FEC landmark decision to allow mega-wealthy American corporations to spend unlimited amounts of political money in anonymous donations to special interest campaigns and government officials, most often through a power-broker like Neil Clark. That SCOTUS decision January 21, 2010, threw open the flood-gates for rampant, massive, unfettered, indirect government and corporate corruption schemes and they did not care about The People’s democracy, voice, or votes. Worse still SCOTUS suggested to Americans that these limitless amounts of money donations would be transparent for public viewing. Unfortunately for the ordinary American voter, that did not happen. Enter stage Right the IRC 501(c)(4) organizations.
Unlike 501(c)(3)’s, 501(c)(4)’s have no limits on how much money is donated for “social welfare organizations and the organization’s purposes” of massive political money bags and “must be intended to benefit a community or the public at large, not a private group.” Yet again, this did not happen. It happened only for very small interest groups and mega-wealthy individuals, all of whom in the minority of public opinion. Worse still is that these millions and billions of donated dollars are totally anonymous, or dark. Untraceable for the most part. And this secrecy is deliberately intentional, to cover up corrupt motives and/or ideologies and their backroom activities. Neil Clark was so swept up into the power-funding that when he was being caught red-handed, it cost him his mental health and life.
Ohio lobbyist Juan Cespedes, image by The Columbus Dispatch
Juan Cespedes, a Columbus-area lobbyist like Neil Clark, was part of the HB-6 bribery scandal with Borges, Householder, Jeffrey Longstreth, another corrupt Ohio lobbyist, and Neil Clark. They all used dark money briberies and “anonymous” donations to build up Householder’s political power in Ohio’s Congress while also enriching their own private lives. National Public Radio (NPR) reported in July 2021:
Following revelations that alleged House Bill 6 passed using bribery and other illegal means, lawmakers worked to repeal two major pieces of the legislation. A separate bill removed the more than $1 billion financial bailout.
In June of [2021], the Ohio House expelled Householder from the state legislature.
Jeffrey Longstreth was the other power-broker in the Ohio FirstEnergy Corp. and HB-6 scandal. Along with Cespedes they pleaded guilty to participating in a racketeering conspiracy involving more than $60-million paid to again, a 501(c)(4) entity (that Citizens United and SCOTUS allowed) to pass and uphold a billion-dollar nuclear plant bailout. Indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2020 they were all charged with confiscated documents alleging Larry Householder, of Glenford, Ohio, Matthew Borges, of Bexley, Ohio, Neil Clark, of Columbus, Jeffrey Longstreth and Juan Cespesdes of whom conspired to violate the racketeering statute through honest services wire fraud, receipt of millions of dollars in bribes and money laundering. The 501(c)(4) entity Generation Now was also charged. According to the U.S. Attorneys Office of the Southern District of Ohio’s website:
“The defendants [Cespedes and Longstreth] then also allegedly worked to corruptly ensure that HB 6 went into effect by defeating a ballot initiative to overturn the legislation. The Enterprise received nearly $61 million into Generation Now from an energy company and its affiliates during the relevant period.
In his plea, Longstreth admits to organizing Generation Now for Householder, knowing the entity would be used to receive bribe money to further Householder’s bid for Speaker of the House. Longstreth managed Generation Now bank accounts and engaged in financial transactions designed to conceal that the energy company was a source of funding to Generation Now.”
Jeff Longstreth, then the campaign manager for Ohioans for Health Care Reform, in an appearance on “The State of Ohio” in July 2011.
Cespedes and Longstreth both made plea deals to avoid prison in return for cooperation with prosecutors and federal government investigators.
Tragically for 20th and 21st-century U.S. state and federal lobbyists, the politics and government puppets controlled or bought by mega-wealthy corporations and their executives, no thanks to Citizens United, and the rampant immorality, dark money, and depraved ethics… doesn’t stop in Ohio. This cancer, if you will, has reached even the highest court in the land: the U.S. Supreme Court bench.
#3 – Clarence Thomas and Brett Cavanaugh
It is an often employed legal-political defense tactic by attorneys and their wealthy, powerful male clients caught in, or accused of degrees of sexual misconduct, to assault, or to raping a woman. The tactic? It is to humiliate, to marginalize, to demean, or to verbally assault the character of a female victim or victims. The current Jeffrey Epstein files, Epstein and Maxwell’s illicit illegal sex-trafficking and pedophile crime-ring, and the cover-up and/or divert facts and events that allow very powerful men (such as President Trump) to repeatedly escape prison sentences and convictions. Blame the victim and rip up the (absent? indifferent? mentally-ill?) parents because big-money buys unaccountability and avoids real justice, especially for the victim(s), family, and close friends. There are two prime examples of this defense tactic: Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh.
Associate Justices Clarence Thomas (left) and Brett Kavanaugh (right) of the U.S. Supreme Court
The date is October 6, 1991 and soon after conservative lawyer Clarence Thomas’ nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court by then President George H.W. Bush – (R), debate proceedings were to take a sordid, ugly turn.
Anita Hill, of Oklahoma and a graduate of Oklahoma State University (Bachelor’s Science) and Yale University (Doctorate of Law) and later admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 1980, Hill had a successful law career to look forward to and the opportunities to go far in the U.S. Justice courts. She had everything ahead of her and as a result had no ulterior motives to risk that bright future. None at all. Why do that?
But Hill was subpoenaed by Congress to testify publicly in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing regarding her FBI interview about sexual harassment done to her by Clarence Thomas, also of Yale University, and her supervisor at the Department of Education and the EEOC.
Hill endured over 8-hours of grueling questions by an all white-male judiciary committee, some of which were ridiculous and not relevant to the accusations at hand on Clarence Thomas’ misconduct. The October 1991 Thomas scandal turned out not to be about the details of his behavior, but the real scandal was all the evidence that America did not get to hear and witness. Why not? The Senate judiciary committee—again all white males—worked to change and to redirect the conversation away from the character and background of Clarence Thomas, a potential justice in our land’s highest court. Instead, the committee made it about the victim. The hearing devolved into a he-said-she-said spat or squabble. Americans watching didn’t know what was true and what was fabricated. And keep in mind, Senator Joe Biden (D) was the chairman of that hearing.
For the sake of argument, if it were only one woman bringing the accusations against Clarence Thomas, then perhaps it was a bad misunderstanding, a squabble between coworkers. That is the oversimplified view that can overlook human errors, as is often done with powerful men and the American public soon loses interest and forgives and forgets any wrong-doing. After all, Americans have a long, long history of romancing our famous or infamous bad boys and/or girls, almost a weird love-hate affair for deviant bad boys and girls like Bonny and Clyde, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, or Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid to name three duos. But that was not the case with Clarence Thomas.
When at least two other women (and perhaps more) corroborate and support Anita Hill’s testimony of Clarence Thomas, that is different than one woman; very different. And after the televised treatment of Anita Hill by the Senate Judiciary Committee to the nation, any other corroborating women with similar stories of Thomas’ sexual misconduct at work in 1991 would understandably think twice and fear for their public image and careers. Furthermore, it begs the question again, Why would Anita Hill risk all in doing this alone publicly and also damaging her reputation in the field of law as a successful lawyer? What did she have to gain other than her conscience, that felt it her duty to the American people to testify about Clarence Thomas’ integrity, character, and inappropriate sexism against women in the workplace?
Notably the other women were Angela Wright, Sukari Hardnett, Rose Jourdain, and Moira Smith, perhaps others who were too afraid to risk all from a pro-misogynist Senate Judiciary Committee in front of the world. This alleged behavior of Thomas indicates or suggests a trend of sexual misconduct that goes unreported, and maybe unpunished, repeatedly, but also not examined or investigated by authorities. If anything, this clearly shows very questionable patterns in Thomas’ views or beliefs about women, particularly a certain type of woman (not all women) that tempt or drive Clarence Thomas to inappropriate, unprofessional words, innuendos, and actions in secret without possible witnesses. Otherwise, Clarence Thomas wouldn’t have multiple women in his past accusing him of rude, vile, sexual misconduct in the workplace. If he were beyond reproach, there would be no women coming forward risking their public image, careers, and dignity in front of the nation.
What has America learned from the Anita Hill vs. Clarence Thomas hearings? As Cornell University grad, Harvard Law School grad, and University of Wisconsin Law School, Kimberlé W. Crenshaw states, “Very little,” and we certainly haven’t progressed enough in stopping the abuse of women and holding abusers accountable as she writes in her report on Civil Rights and Discriminations against women entitled, “We Still Have Not Learned from Anita Hill’s Testimony.”
Why haven’t we learned something? Continue reading.
Brett Kavanaugh was nominated to the Supreme Court bench on July 9, 2018, by then first-term President Donald Trump. Almost as if the American people were reliving the interrogation and spectacle that was the 1991 Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearings from Anita Hill vs. Clarence Thomas, once again another associate justice nominee seemed to have a checkered past with women, Brett Kavanaugh.
The question once again, as it was 27-years ago with Clarence Thomas, was about Cavanaugh’s past behavior, ‘is there more than one woman accusing Cavanaugh of sexual assault or misconduct unbecoming of a Supreme Court justice?‘ And once again there was more than just one woman; there was at least three other women, perhaps more.
Christine Blasey Ford stated to the Senate Judiciary Committee during Kavanaugh’s nomination hearings in September 2018 that a very drunk Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her in the summer of 1982, along with Brett’s friend Mark Judge watching, at a party in Bethesda, Maryland, and had “corralled” her in a closed bedroom at the house pinning her on the bed, groped her, and tried to remove her clothes. But both Kavanaugh and Judge were too drunk to rape her and she escaped. It is interesting to note that Judge, today a journalist and author, suffered from alcoholism growing up in the D.C. suburbs, recovered from alcohol abuse and later wrote about that rehab and recovery in his book, Wasted: Tales of a GenX Drunk. The Washington Post did a 7-minute fact-checking video that determined Brett Kavanaugh’s veracity about the questions the Senate Judiciary Committee asked him under oath and his rebuttals of Ford’s testimony with regard to the other three accusers named. The video fact-check paints a very bad picture of Kavanaugh’s ability to be a real justice on the U.S. Supreme Court bench. Watch below…
Ironically, or not, on September 29, 2018, other individuals who spoke to the FBI who knew Brett Kavanaugh at Yale University and Mark Judge in his teens and young adult years, detailed claims of violent drunken behavior by Kavanaugh at Georgetown Preparatory School and in college, and that he lied about the full extent of his heavy drinking at the Senate hearings. This was reported by Charles Ludington, a Yale classmate, to the FBI. For some unknown reason the Judiciary Committee never had Ludington testify or pursue the investigation of his claim.
The details of the other women accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault or witnessing the drunken assaults by Kavanaugh were soon muddled up, redirected to defending Kavanaugh, and shut out by the Judiciary Committee members. They are well documented and easy to research today. The FBI investigations into the allegations against Kavanaugh were ignored or blocked by White House Counsel and never given the go-ahead authority “to unilaterally investigate the 4,500 tips it received without first receiving further approval from the White House Counsel” and the President. Five years later after Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the bench, “the FBI confirmed that it didn’t investigate many of those tips. When it actually followed up on some relating to Kavanaugh, the White House curtailed the scope of the investigations and let them fizzle out and fade into history.”
Retired Justice Anthony M. Kennedy administers the Judicial Oath to Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh in the Justices’ Conference Room, Supreme Court Building. Mrs. Ashley Kavanaugh holds the Bible – image: Fred Schilling / Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States
In my mind, whether or not these allegations against Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh—from multiple women ready to talk to authorities at the FBI about these two men’s behavior toward them and other untold numbers of women—isn’t so much the the real issue. What it does represent is a still pervasive abuse or harassment culture on women in this nation by wealthy, powerful men and likewise their male and female accomplices, partners, or protectors in their “Good Ole Boys Club” circles. Felony crimes or not, many rich, powerful men get away with it time and time again because of said American patriarchal culture. Furthermore, it is actually more telling, more damning of the men and those perverted patterns they are still insulated from that are the crushing realities in this country. Women in the U.S. are still vulnerable and unprotected by our law-enforcement, justice system and investigators from (male dominated) local areas to the (male dominated) top federal or corporate sectors by these free-range sexual male predators. Trends tell a story, patterns and track-records tell a more whole story, and where there is smoke or multiple smoke plumes over time, there is almost always fire and more fires.
This abuse has to be stopped. It has to be punished appropriately with thorough investigation, due process, and the current “Boys Club mentality” in this country must be exposed for what it is and how they get away with it over and over with repeated cover-ups and victim shaming by their power, authority, and money. Is that what America stands for, discriminating justice for some, and less so for others?
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Has America increasingly become a safe-haven for wealthy, powerful white men and their unspoken backroom “Good Ole Boys Club” shelters? If so, then we are no better than those evil, undemocratic, lawless, drug-cartel countries of authoritarian rule and male domination at the expense of the unprotected and victims of misogyny, or racism, or religious persecutions by men who take and do whatever they want.
By the way, is this honestly the United States of America today?:
“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.“
Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always
Now that my life, and Sandy’s too, are beginning to return to some semblance of normal, dust settling, adaptations employed, and everything that are after-effects of a death, I thought I’d post this short update regarding the completion of Part 2: Of Me, By Me, and For Me. No, I have not forgotten about this post, I have a bit of time to return to it now. I’ve just had to deal with, manage, and put out multiple fires since my mother’s passing November 3rd, 2025, my sister’s evil antics toward me and Mom between October 2024 and Mom’s death, Sandy’s fall and fracture of her hip followed by her long rehab, the torturous delays that the holidays caused in our legal paperwork and very slow progress, and finally sorting out Mom’s life insurance benefits—one to her estate (probate?), another to her beneficiary, me and all that legal paperwork—and still trying to manage, juggle Sandy’s business and legal transitions from Chattanooga, TN, to Kerrville, TX, which includes her driver’s license change, health insurance transition, her name change, etc., etc. It has been quite exhausting and are all the reasons why I’ve been absent of late on WordPress. Woof, breathe Dwain.
You know, if there is one thing I’ve learned in my life, it is the fact of just how enormously expensive it is to live in the USA, and just as expensive (if not more) to die in the USA. There are always unexpected turns and twists when a loved one or immediate family member passes. Period. Always. It seems unavoidable, and yet my Mom had her Last Will & Testament done in 1995, a Durable Power of Attorney (me), Medical Power of Attorney (me again), and other legal financial matters already documented and executed/applied. Imagine what it would’ve been like for me if she hadn’t done any of those things beforehand!
That said, I did want to mention a few things about the unspeakable things going on in our country and Minneapolis, Minnesota, and that will likely continue given this administration’s track record and M.O. of never backing down, never admitting mistakes and bad policy, and their sheer inhumane and indecent behavior by our Commander-in-Chief (initials DJT) and his cult sycophants and ass-kissers such as Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, and everyone else brainwashed by Trump-Gestapo ideology against perceived opponents (enemies?). Retributions and punishment seems to be the only recourse DJT has against those who disagree with him and all his childish whims he invents!
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” — Lord Acton, letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton
A Whole Lotta Flaky Flip-Flopping & Diverting
After the murders of protestors Renée Nicole Good, January 7, 2026, and protestor Alex Jeffrey Pretti, January 24, 2026, both in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents fatally shot multiple times Good and Pretti respectively (that’s overkill to the hilt) , as both were demonstrating no lethal or imminent threat to those agents, president Donald J. Trump and his appointed directors Kristi Noem and Gregory Bovino as well as Homeland Security Advisor (HSA), Stephen Miller and many other Trump-MAGA federal cult followers and MAGA media personalities prematurely described the murders against two legal U.S. citizens as ‘necessary and warranted.’ Yet, the reality was that the entire nation watched cell phone videos from multiple viewpoints of both incidents and seeing everything completely unequivocally different and contradictory to the Trump Administration’s back-peddling rhetoric and blatant lies to Americans. It quickly became one of the most despicable, disgraceful showing of Trump’s second term to-date. And over the following days Trump and his ass-kissing sycophants made it much worse on themselves by continually lying and diverting from the facts of both incidents.
In one interview with reporters Trump called Alex Pretti “stupid” for bringing a gun to a protest. This was from Jan. 27, 2026 outside the White House:
Yes, actually stupid on his part. But the President went even further by incriminating himself and being a bonified hypocrite as well as insulted gun-rights activists and Second Amendment rights he supposedly supports. And worse still he contradicted himself regarding what (his)protestors (or insurrectionists) did January 6, 2021, at the Capitol building:
According to Reuters and all the exhaustive video evidence of the Jan. 6th attack on Capitol Police Officers, Congress members and their assistants, incited by President Dumb-Rump and his radical MAGA supporters, many guns and weapons were present by the insurrectionists (protestors). By the way, the federal government under dictator Trump have removed many of the below links of the evidence supporting this article:
WEAPONS PRESENT
Firearms, tasers and knives were some of the types of weapons used and carried on or around Capitol grounds by rioters, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Columbia, which published the status of prosecutions, related to the Capitol attack as of Jan. 3, 2025 on its website.
For example, police found a loaded handgun on Christopher Alberts, who was dressed in body armor and carried a gas mask, Reuters reported.
A corresponding indictment for Alberts on the “Capitol Breach Cases,” page of the USAO-DC website states that he had carried a semi-automatic handgun on Capitol grounds.
Reuters also reported that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had suspended an agent, Mark Ibrahim, who was off duty but carrying his service weapon outside the Capitol during the attack, according to his lawyer.
A criminal complaint, for Ibrahim includes as evidence a photograph that allegedly shows him near the steps of the Senate and displaying his DEA firearm and badge (page 11).
A search for the word “firearms” on the Capitol Breach Cases page with the list of defendants returns five results, including for Alberts and Ibrahim, while the word “weapon” returns 79 results (one case could include multiple defendants).
Rioters also used “makeshift weapons” including destroyed office furniture, fencing and stolen riot shields, according to the USAO-DC page on the status of prosecutions related to the attack.
One such indictment alleged that two defendants, Isaac Westbury and Aaron James, used and carried a law enforcement shield during the attack. Another indictment, for defendant Shane Jenkins alleged he used multiple weapons, including a tomahawk axe, a flag pole, a desk drawer and “stick-like objects” during the Capitol attack.
During the 2022 congressional hearings on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to Trump’s chief of staff at the time, Mark Meadows, also contradicted the claim that rioters were not armed.
Hutchinson testified that both Meadows and Trump knew about people who had attended Trump’s rally at the Ellipse and later marched to the Capitol armed with AR-15 rifles, handguns, brass knuckles and batons, Reuters reported.
Furthermore, it is indeed a crime to destroy or damage federal property according to the U.S. Department of Justice, Article Code 18, paragraph 1666, Section 1361 which essentially reads:
[Protection of] “any property” of the United States or an agency or department thereof, or any property being manufactured or constructed for the United States or an agency or department thereof, from willful depredation or attempted depredation. “Depredation” has been characterized as the act of plundering, robbing, pillaging or laying waste. United States v. Jenkins, 554 F.2d 783, 786 (6th Cir. 1977); cf. Deal v. United States, 274 U.S. 277, 283 (1927) (“depredation” defined in context of postal statute). This section prohibits actual physical damage or destruction of both real and personal property.”
By the way, this federal law absolutely includes the U.S. Capitol building and its property, not to mention the lives of the Capitol Police protecting it! I mean, DUH people!
President Trump called the violent events that day by his cult supporters as “A Day of Love” and “wonderful people.” Why has he never condemned those “protestors,” as they are always called by MAGA, stupid for bringing a gun/weapon to the protest? Why? And why did he pardon and release all of them? Why?
There is no other way that day’s events reads or interprets, period. It is a hypocritical double-standard Trump-MAGA cultist. Period. No debate.
And the diverting that Trump, MAGA, and all his federally appointed directors have always done: attack the actual victims, attack their character, attack their families, and attack their perceived political viewpoints whether it is justified or not… is indecent and wreaks of Mafia-style tactics and rhetoric. On the contrary, most of us law-abiding sane, reasonable American citizens know we are by far and away a much greater nation with diverse viewpoints, diverse opinions and arguments, and diverse cultures and populations for the simple fact that our Core Founding Fathers said so: All men (and women and children) are equal, have rights and liberties, especially if they are born here.
It is easy to conclude from these last several days in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that 1) either Trump and his ass-kissing sycophants do not know the difference between Whack-a-Mole, diverting justified criticism by incessantly moving the goal-posts in a ridiculous jig/dance, and using hypocritical double-standards… and their own anal rectums—because the Baby Orange Orangutan (Trump) has pushed their heads so far up their colons—that they are incapable of recognizing facts and reality, or 2) they are so audacious in appearing “right” that they intentionally ignore the obvious facts and rewrite a contradictory new narrative as quickly as possible. Or perhaps it is both #1 and #2. I will call it the way I see it and not mince any words…
Bottom-line, Trump and all his administration are a repugnant sack of feces; they are pathological liars. They are destroying this country both domestically and around the globe with our allies.
Nevertheless America, if the writing on the wall isn’t in bright enough neon-lights for you sane, reasonable, decent Americans right now and in the coming months and remaining years of President Trump’s second term debacle, then I seriously doubt anything else imbecilic and un-American, un-democratic Trump and his MAGA cult followers do will ever dissuade you from your sheer insanity and childish gullibility. If the latter is the case, then all of you belong in an asylum with real lunatics.
Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always – Don’t Be Stupid Like Trump!
These last few years of my life have taken a heavy toll on my mental and physical health. I find myself being forced on a daily basis to recognize, embrace, and be semi-proud(?) of my geriatric condition(s) and vast wisdom which supposedly comes with the elderly years. I am not so sure. There are times and situations that are profoundly humbling and a tad-bit, shall I say, messy? Hence, I’ve been reassessing my point in life right now and have come to the conclusion that… well, I am indeed “old.” I am more frail, more forgetful, more slow, more aware (and certainly respectful) of my bodily functions—my ‘organs’ sometimes have an agenda of their own that doesn’t always agree with mine—and more so when out in public realizing that many people around me are much younger than I.
I Know I’m “Old” When…
…You hear your favorite songs on an elevator. Or when you begin heading to bed around 8:00 or 8:30pm and wake about 4:30 to 5:30am. Geezz.
…Almost everything on or in your body hurts, and what doesn’t hurt stopped working years ago, like your libido and what it used to be (in happy harmony with) and engorge.
…The birthday candles cost more than your cake and were delivered by cargo containers on naval freight ships.
…In the morning you mimic an upside down turtle while trying to get out of bed.
Can I get a push someone?
…On the toilet you pull four rib muscles just turning or maneuvering to wipe yourself. Then you are unable to pull your britches back up. And speaking of the loo/bathroom…
…You can sneeze, cough, pee, and fart all at the same time! WTH? Which by the way, leads to more frequent wearing of “adult diapers.” Exciting, huh?
And then perhaps the most smacking moment that really hits you in the geriatric gut…
…There is nothing else “to learn the hard way” except how to not be lost when you forget where you were going and why.
Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always – Then Forget It
Why do ICE agents have the need to hide, to cover, to mask, to not be forthcoming in their identity? If one has the absolute moral conviction in their abiding to, the vows by, and for the U.S. Constitution and how its citizens have rights to demonstrate peaceably their grievances against the (Trump) government in all branches (Renee Nicole Good was NOT a threat to any federal agent)… then WHY on Earth would you feel the need to hide your identity? It is a very legitimate question! It is also very telling.
It is not a stretch to argue that IF you think/feel the need to HIDE your facial and personal identity, then it is equally assumed that YOU (the persons hiding their true identity) are involved in, associated with, and/or committing illegal acts… or are an accessory to unconstitutional behaviors and acts. If you are doing nothing wrong and all you do is uphold and abide by the U.S. Constitution for legal residents of the United States, then there is no reason whatsoever to hide your identity. Right?
And yet this is precisely what most all ICE agents do under the authorization of Trump and Trump’s loyalists. Period.
There is something rotten, very evil going on from the White House that is violating all kinds of illegal behavior and actions in this Union of States in (no surprise whatsoever) every city or state that is “Blue” or not aligned with extremist Red Trump authoritarianism. Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Stalin, Kim Jong Un, and a long list of dictators in history that enacted the exact same ‘marshal law’ to wipe out and remove (permanently) their political opposition. This is precisely what Trump and MAGA Repubs are following to a tee in this country.
Wake up American voters, citizens, and true patriots of democracy. Your entire country and federal government have been removed from the core principles our Founding Fathers designed and ratified for this country. This is NOT by any means a legitimate republic democracy of the people, by the people, or for the people. It is slipping away, fast.
Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always – Remove MAGA
I have zero expectation that anything I ever say will end someone’s belief in their God. Not my goal or purpose. That alone belongs to the individual. ~ Zoe
'Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it' - Terry Pratchett
The Professor's Convatorium 