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Lymph node transplant diary

I’ve been a bit depressed to write too much about politics lately, but I do have some good news, if you don’t mind me sharing.

My wife, award-winning dryer lint artist Heidi Hooper (you may have seen her on ABC’s “To Tell the Truth” with Mel Brooks or on “Access Hollywood” or in Ripley’s Believe it or Not books and museums) had a major cancer operation around the turn of the century which took away much of the use of her right arm. She developed lymphedema which got worse over the years, and for the past 10 years or so was forced to get into a massaging machine for her arm three times a day for an hour each time. If she did not, the arm would expand, she’d be in terrible pain, and have to go to the hospital (and she did, too, from time to time when it didn’t work).

Just take a second and imagine if you had to do that, every single day, no holidays, no weekends, for ten years.

So when her doctor told her about a new procedure where they could transplant lymph nodes from her stomach to her arm and thus, if successful, prevent her from having to spend three hours a day in a machine, she decided to take the chance.

She made a video diary of the experience so that other possible patients would see what it was like.

And here it is.

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This is not normal

Republicans are doing everything they can to try to make this normal — like it’s normal to ignore court rulings and politicize the justice department and call anyone who disagrees with them enemies of the state and spit on the Constitution and use the military against civilians…

I am not sure our democracy will endure now that the white supremacists have taken over. Even if we take over the White House and Congress again, there’s no reason to believe they won’t still have the same disgust for democracy as they are showing now.

Politics used to be liberals vs. conservatives, but now it’s good guys vs. bad guys.

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Can Trump legally do what he is doing?

No.

The President does not have the power to make laws or set tariffs. Executive Actions are not in the Constitution at all, but courts have allowed the President to use them for things under his control, such as with the bureaucracy. (A good example is when Truman gave an Executive Order integrating the military.)

Executive Orders have expanded over the years, but never to the abusive degree that Trump exercises, with orders that have nothing at all to do with his powers but instead are in essence laws that he is decreeing like some emperor.

So can he do this under the Constitution (you know, that document that he admits he doesn’t know anything about and doesn’t think he has to obey)? No. No again.

But none of that matters if no one stops him. Congress could overrule and ignore 90% of his Executive Actions, and the courts could rule them unconstitutional — but unless they act, he’s going to get away with it all.

Fortunately, some courts have ruled that he isn’t a dictator able to unilaterally issue decrees, but so far, not one Republican has decided that their oaths to defend the Constitution are meaningful compared to their loyalty to Trump. They are as unpatriotic as you can be and are the reason we are in this mess.

Election season is coming up in many states. Be sure to vote against every Republican, no matter what the position, because if they’re still a member of that party after all this, they clearly have no problem with Dictator Trump and every Republican elected just helps to strengthen the party’s power.

cartoon by Clay Jones

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Super Genius

Clay Bennett
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The Book of Everyday Resistance

I’ve hardly posted here for a while, because politics has just made me so depressed. (I do still rant on Facebook, though)…

The next four years are going to be difficult. Those of us who did not vote for this President are deeply concerned about the direction in which this country is now headed.

Agent Lori Perkins asked herself, “What can I really do?” and created THE BOOK OF EVERYDAY RESISTANCE — a collection of essays about what we can do to resist, how we resist, and why we resist. It includes my essay “Fighting Back.”

She has made the book available for FREE as a kindle download. (The paperback is priced as low as possible to cover costs.) The book has been #1 on Amazon’s “Constitution” category for weeks now (beating my own Constitution book, of course!)

Get yours here!

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The real divide

Clay Bennett
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It was racism all along!

Hey, all my conservative friends who said it was just about illegal immigrants: I’m anxiously awaiting your condemnation of the Trump administration deporting US citizens, immigrants with green cards and visas, and refugees who have obeyed every immigration requirement.

Hello? Anyone there?

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Elon Musk and his DOGE Pals

Ruben Bolling
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Who needs science?

I see that some Republican legislatures are trying to pass laws that would prevent doctors from giving vaccines.

Next on the agenda: Imprisoning anyone who claims that the earth revolves around sun.

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It is absolutely an “entitlement”

Have you seen this meme? It gets me so frustrated.

Your social security is absolutely an entitlement. We’re entitled to it. That’s why it’s called that!

Republicans keep trying to redefine the word “entitlement” to mean the exact opposite of what it means so they can cut it. They want people to think “entitlement” is a bad word.

Memes like this only help them do that.

Can Congress decide not to make it an entitlement? Of course, but that doesn’t change the meaning of the word.

Right now, Republicans are moving in that direction, having just voted to gut Medicare so they can give huge tax breaks to the billionaires who bribe them with campaign contributions. But we need to embrace the word “entitlement” and rub it in their faces for the very reason stated in this meme, and not run away from the word.