Thoughts for the Day, March 20, 2025: An onion to Mother Nature. See my Image of the Day

Image of the Day: This picture was taken from my living room this morning. When I went to bed last night there was no snow.

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

What are they afraid of? History is history. It can be ignored but it cannot be changed.

Removing Jackie Robinson’s history record from a Pentagon website doesn’t change the fact that Robinson served in the military prior to breaking the race barrier in baseball. (Note: it has been returned to the website)

Removing accurate descriptions from our classrooms of how slaves were treated by their white masters, does not mean it didn’t happen.

Removing accurate descriptions from our classrooms of how we took land from Native Americans and put them on reservations doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Not teaching in our classrooms that the phrase “all men are created equal” only meant white men, and did not include women or blacks doesn’t mean it isn’t true,

I don’t get it. The above things are facts. Why ignore them? Why try to hide them? They should not be threatening to anyone. They are part of the history of our country. We were not perfect. No country ever was. What are we afraid of? What is the harm in embracing our history and using it to learn from?

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

Speak Up and Speak Out

Anyone who read Project 2025 knows that the Trump/Musk presidency is following the playback outlined in Project 2025. One of the main objectives of Project 2025 was to expand the power of the executive branch.

Here are excerpts from the Forward of Project 2025.

There are many executive tools a courageous conservative President can use to handcuff the bureaucracy, push Congress to return to its constitutional responsibility, restore power over Washington to the American people, bring the Administrative State to heel, and in the process defang and defund the woke culture warriors who have infiltrated every last institution in America. The Conservative Promise lays out how to use many of these tools including: how to fire supposedly “un-fireable” federal bureaucrats; how to shutter wasteful and corrupt bureaus and offices; how to muzzle woke propaganda at every level of government; how to restore the American people’s constitutional authority over the Administrative State; and how to save untold taxpayer dollars in the process.

The next conservative President must possess the courage to relentlessly put the interests of the everyday American over the desires of the ruling elite. Their outrage cannot be prevented; it must simply be ignored. And it can be. The Left derives its power from the institutions they control. But those institutions are only powerful to the extent that constitutional officers surrender their own legitimate authority to them. A President who refuses to do so and uses his or her office to reimpose constitutional authority over federal policymaking can begin to correct decades of corruption and remove thousands of bureaucrats from the positions of public trust they have so long abused.

Nearly two months into his second term, Mr. Trump is consolidating control over the courts, Congress, and American society and culture. His expansive interpretation of presidential power has become the defining characteristic of his second term. It is an aggressive effort across multiple fronts to assert executive authority to reshape the government, drive policy in new directions and root out what he sees as liberal poison.

We’ve never seen a president so comprehensively attempt to arrogate and consolidate so much of the other branches’ power, let alone to do so in the first two months of his presidency,” said Stephen Vladeck, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center. This is my Quote of the Day

Congress, which is controlled by Republicans, has given control of its core duties to Mr. Trump, including spending authority and congressionally chartered agencies he wants eliminated. Any Republican who dares to stand up to the president is threatened with a primary challenge which will be funded by Elon Musk.

Mr. Trump has dismantled built in checks and balances by firing inspectors general while installing loyalist in the Justice Department who are determined to carryout Trump’s promised retribution against anyone who is in Trump’s crosshairs. This includes individuals and private law firms. Universities are in his crosshairs for various reasons, and he has revoked federal grant funding from Columbia and Penn for their defiance of his mandate against DEI policies. Even the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has had a hostile takeover by Trump.

His biggest abuse of power and threat to our democracy occurred in the last week when he ignored two court orders by federal court judges on immigration cases. Trump called for Judge Boasberg to be impeached, arguing on social media that “if a President doesn’t have the right to throw murderers, and other criminals, out of our Country because a Radical Left Lunatic Judge wants to assume the role of President, then our Country is in very big trouble, and destined to fail!”

Since the federal judiciary does not have a law enforcement branch, Trump can easily ignore the judicial rulings he does not like without fear of arrest. Only Congress can impeach and remove a president from office and that is not going to happen with the current Congress.

Each day that Trump is allowed to expand his power, our democracy as we know it is closer to collapse. Each day that Trump is allowed to expand his power, we come closer to a government which is no longer governed by the Constitution and the rule of law.

If you voted for Trump 2.0, the above is what you voted for. You may have thought you were voting for immigration reform, or the strengthening of the economy. Those are the things he talked about on the campaign trail. But those were smoke screens.

He said he didn’t know anything about Project 2025. He later said he didn’t agree with it. He lied. Anyone who voted for Trump and is surprised that he is tearing down our democracy has only themselves to blame. It was all laid out in front of us for all to see. If only more people would have looked.

Speak up and Speak Out.

Please call your members of Congress today. The U.S. Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121. Tell the operator where you’re from and the operator will connect you to your representatives and senators. I tested this out today. It is very simple. They will ask for the congress member you want to contact. They will then switch you to that office

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

March Madness

I saw this in a letter to the editor in the USA Today and couldn’t pass it up.

Have any players ever won a high school state championship, a college championship, an NBA title and an Olympic gold medal? Is that heroic feat even possible? Only three men have accomplished this. Guess what? They are not from Indiana, Kentucky or North Carolina, the three states that seem to historically brag that they have the strongest basketball heritage and legacies. It pains me as a Wolverine and Wildcat to put a Buckeye, Hoosier and Spartan on this pedestal, but they so earned and deserve it.

1. Jerry Lucas: Middletown, Ohio, High School (1956 and 1957), Ohio State University (1960), New York Knicks (1973), Olympic gold (1960)

2. Quinn Buckner: Thornridge, Illinois, High School (1971 and 1972), Indiana University (1976), Boston Celtics (1984), Olympic gold (1976)

3. Earvin "Magic" Johnson: Lansing Everett, Michigan, High School (1977), Michigan State University (1979), Los Angeles Lakers (1980), Olympic gold (1992)

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

Quote of the Day: “We’ve never seen a president so comprehensively attempt to arrogate and consolidate so much of the other branches’ power, let alone to do so in the first two months of his presidency,” said Stephen Vladeck, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center

Orchid of the Day: Detroit Piston star Cade Cunningham for his game-winning three pointer off the backboard with .04 seconds left to beat Miami last night. Cunningham ended up with a triple double for the game.

Onion of the Day: The surprise snowstorm we woke up to this morning that dumped six inches of snow on us overnight.

Lyrics of the Day: You gave them all those old-time stars. Through wars of worlds, invaded by Mars. You made 'em laugh, you made 'em cry.You made us feel like we could fly.

So don't become some background noise. A backdrop for the girls and boys
Who just don't know, or just don't care. And just complain when you're not there

You had your time, you had the power. You've yet to have your finest hour

If you think you know the answer, send me your answer in the comments section of the blog.

Answer to Lyrics of the Day for March 19, 2025: Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd.

Question of the Day: Will Michigan and Michigan State’s men’s and women’s basketball teams advance to the sweet sixteen after this weeks first and second rounds of the NCAA basketball tournaments?