It's a criminal enterprise: Thoughts for the Day, June 1, 2026

My Amazing Daughter and Niece

On the morning of Wednesday May 20, U of M surgeons from the Transplant Program successfully transferred a kidney from my daughter Katy Krieg to my niece Kacy Biggs.

The surgery was without complications. Katy was home by Thursday May 21 and Kacy by Friday May 22. Both are recovering well at this point. Both are biting at the bit to get over the recovery and get back to living.

The joke of the week was Katy’s surgeon referring to her kidney as the Maserati of kidneys.

It was a wonderful experience for Leah and me as we took over most of Katy’s duties, which primarily consisted of me picking up kids from school, attending softball and baseball games, and family night at school. Leah was instrumental in keeping up with the wash, keeping Katy company, making sure Katy followed doctors’ orders and also attending baseball games and family night.

We were blessed by the organization of a “food train” by Katy’s friend, Lesley Lopez. Friends and neighbors delivered meals every evening as well as breakfast on Saturday. It was a gamechanger for Leah and me.

My sister Nancy is coming in from Columbia, Maryland to help Katy and check in on Kacy. I wished Nancy luck making sure the patients are following doctors’ orders.

***********************************************************************************************************

He is making Nixon look like Mother Teresa

I was absolutely incensed when the lawyers for Trump announced the formation of the 1776 Anti-Weaponization Fund, which was to be used to reward those that Trump and five chosen cronies agreed had been wrongly prosecuted or wronged by the Biden administration. This included the possibility that those convicted of crimes committed on January 6, 2021, would be compensated.

To get a portion of the $1.776 billion fund all they had to do was to submit a request to the five cronies and voila they would be paid. There was no oversight by Congress or anyone outside of Trump and the five cronies. Trump could hand out $1 million dollar rewards for hundreds of his followers for their loyalty. The way the fund was set up, Trump could allocate one million to his 1,500 of his most loyal followers and still have $276 million for himself. No questions asked.

The real kicker came the next day when the Interim Attorney General and Treasury Department concocted a settlement agreement against Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, in which Trump, his family, and the Trump family businesses are immune from IRS audits past, present and future. This agreement is worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Trump and his family because it means Trump and his family can claim any deduction they want, to reduce their annual taxes to zero or less. It also eliminates the audit that was put on hold once Trump was re-elected, in which $100 million was being questioned by the IRS. It is an unbelievable agreement, in which the taxpayers are paying the price.

Trump’s take on the agreement is that he is giving up $10 billion to help those who were wronged by the Biden administration. Trump believes the taxpayers should be thankful for the sacrifice he is making because he is saving taxpayers money.

The audacity of Trump has finally riled some Republicans to the point they are demanding Trump withdrawal the 1776 Anti-Weaponization Fund or they will withhold funding approval for Trump’s favored agenda items.

The fund has also been put on hold by a federal judge. However, we know that Trump will appeal the judge’s ruling until he can take it to SCOTUS where they will likely fall in line with Trump’s desire.

As of today, Trump is considering withdrawing the fund. However, this must be taken with our eyes wide open. Trump is notorious for using a slight of hand to make it look like he is doing everyone a favor, when in fact he does something else to make sure he comes out ahead. Who knows what it will be, but it will be something.

Trump is running a criminal enterprise out of the White House. As the creation of the Anti-Weaponization Fund and the IRS Settlement indicates, Trump is surrounded by lawyers who will do whatever it takes to make Trump richer and keep the gravy train working for those who are loyal to Trump. Honesty and integrity, have no place in Trump’s inner circle. Don Corleone would be jealous.

I can comfortably say that Trump’s second administration is much worse than the Nixon administration. I can comfortably say that in the nearly 17 months since the start of his second term, Trump and his family have accumulated more wealth than all previous presidents combined.

How people can turn a blind eye to Trump’s criminal behavior is beyond me.

********************************************************************************************************

War in Iran

We are now entering week nine in a war that was supposed to be over in four weeks. Unfortunately, there is no end in sight.

Trump supporters continue to support him, using the excuse that we need to make sure that Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon.

I just want to shake them and remind them, that the U.S., Iran and the major world powers had a nuclear agreement in place which Trump withdrew from in 2018 because he thought it was a terrible deal that he would have never agreed to sign. The following is a summary of the agreement.

The Iran nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was signed in July 2015 between Iran, the United States, and five other world powers (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Germany) along with the European Union. Under the agreement, Iran agreed to limit uranium enrichment, reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium, and allow extensive inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in exchange for relief from international economic sanctions The deal aimed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons for 10 to 25 years while allowing it to pursue civilian nuclear energy.

It may not have been perfect, but I felt much safer under the JCPOA than I do now.

The next time a Trumper tells you they support Trump’s war in Iran because we need to make sure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon, please remind them about the JCPOA that Trump withdrew from in his first term.

*************************************************************************************************************

EMU Women’s Golf Team

In the last few years donors at Eastern Michigan University have invested ten million dollars to improve the facilities for the EMU men’s and women’s golf teams. They have also invested millions in NIL to enhance recruitment.

It paid off recently as the EMU Women’s Golf Team made it to the semifinals of the NCAA Division I Championship. The EMU women surprised everyone by qualifying as one of the eight teams to advance to the match play portion of the event. In the quarterfinal round, the EMU women continued to impress as they knocked off the highly ranked Texas Longhorn women before losing in the semi-final round.

No EMU golf team had ever advanced to the NCAA Division I tournament prior to this year’s women’s team. They get an Orchid of the Day

****************************************************************************************************

Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

**********************************************************************************************************

Quote of the Day: “It is the Maserati of kidneys.” The transplant physician described Katy’s kidney to Leah and me following Katy’s and Kacy’s successful transplant surgery.

Orchid of the Day: The entire transplant team at Michigan Medicine. Thank you.

Second Orchid of the Day: Lesley Lopez for organizing the “food train” for Katy and her family while Katy recovers.

Third Orchid of the Day: The EMU Women’s golf team advancing to the semifinals of the NCAA Division I tournament.

Onion of the Day: I normally do not give out an onion on days I give out multiple orchids, but I am making an exception and giving one to the Detroit Tigers. Their record of 6-22 in May is one of the worst monthly records in the history of the MLB

Question of the Day: Why did it take so long for Republicans to finally push back on Trump’s criminal enterprise that he is running out of the White House?

Lyrics of the Day: Helter skelter in a summer swelter
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast
It landed foul on the grass
The players tried for a forward pass
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast

Lyrics of the Day for May 13, 2026. Imagine by John Lennon

Video of the Day: Pink - Me and Bobby McGee There is a lot of Janis in PInk