Imagine how hard he’s working to make this go away. What’s he got up his sleeve in the way of diversion tactics? What does he have left in his bag of tricks that will throw the press and everyone else off the Epstein scent?

It seems it’s only going to be an escalation of some sort—more ICE agents and more troops in more blue cities, more oppressive or wildly short-sighted moves that startle the pundits and have them falling over each other trying to voice their shock and concern.

Maybe he’ll issue an EO renaming the District of Columbia “Trumpton.”

Israel-Hamas appears intractable, but I guess he’s pretty focused on winning himself a Nobel Peace Prize. So maybe we can look forward to news about a half-assed Ukraine deal. That might set him up for a trip to Stockholm.   

We should be beyond weary of people who spend their days devising ways to dominate, ways to shut down free expression and dissent, ways to ensure their own continued lofty status and comfort and influence.

For example, why does Russia need more land? It’s the largest contiguous land mass under one flag in the world. It covers 11 time zones, stretches from its border with Finland and Ukraine, among others, all the way to the Bering Strait, near Alaska. Why this infernal need for more territory? Is it simply about conquest and land acquisition, or some antiquated mission statement?

We can try to understand Putin’s motivations, but having that, should it make what he’s doing any more palatable or proper, or right? We can’t possibly fathom the suffering he and those around him have wrought, and all in the name of… what?!

All we can still manage is that we must fight fire with fire. That’s the best we can come up with. Always a layer of suspicion and mistrust, and wildly, shamefully misallocated funds spent on war, or the fear of it.

Meanwhile, people the world over go without, and never have the chance to move beyond struggle and mere existence, to really live.

So, some—not all?—of the Epstein files will be released to Capitol Hill on Friday. This must mean they’ve had time to scour the pages and remove any hint of Donald Trump’s involvement.

Bondi and the rest must feel comfortable releasing these to a press corps hungry for some delicious tidbits. I wonder how much of each page will be legible.

People are making choices– ICE agents hiding behind their masks and probably making good money, law enforcement, people in the military, members of Congress all kowtowing to traitorous demands. They can always rationalize that they’re just following orders, or saving their careers, or acting on behalf of their constituents. But in the current moment, this all seems a convenient ignorance, a selfish and inaccurate assesessment of the situation and challenges forced upon us by Donald Trump and the puppeteers pulling his strings.

What we saw in LA, what we’re seeing in Washington, DC seems irresponsible, cowardly, and unforgivable.

We’re getting a first-hand look at how fascists and authoritarians work, how they get a foothold and eventually access to the seat of power: they create alternate realities and scapegoats, they lie, they make empty promises, and offer only unattractive and seemingly untenable choices. They force us to make decisions most of us dread ever having to make. They force us to consider our stores of courage, or lack thereof.

Betrayal is the word du jour. There’s enough to go around.

I dropped my car off at a local repair shop this morning– time for the yearly inspection– then opted for walking home. I got some steps in, and was reminded of how noisy everyday life can be.

It was around 8am, so the hustle and bustle of a new day was unfolding. Lots of construction vehicles, several flatbeds loaded with modular housing making their way through town, the occasional car or motorcycle that needed a muffler or maybe intentionally modified to be inconsiderately loud. I didn’t check the decibel level along the way, but I’m betting it was at hearing loss levels at several points.

No other commentary, really, just making an observation about how rote things can get, how unremarkable things may seem from inside a well-insulated vehicle with the windows up. Walking the route one normally drives offers a different perspective, for several reasons– one being that it prompts one to consider hearing protection, though something short of noise cancelling.

Is the Trumpian universe ever going to catch on? Will there ever be a moment of clarity so unmistakable that they can’t avoid seeing the obvious? One might reasonably think that this would have happened by now.

Or are they already there but just can’t bring themselves to admit it yet?

Their guy is a snake, a fake, a propped-up gas bag whose only “superpower” is an ability to summon anger and file law suits. He’s a thin-skinned thug who apparently reveres and wants to emulate people like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un.

How can there be such disparity in how we view this guy? He can’t really be both savior and pariah. Is there that much distance between us, that we can be seeing some of the same character traits without arriving at the same conclusions?

He’s a mess, and the people who rooted for his election– who facilitated it– are all part of the same ruse, the same ill-advised, hateful, treasonous scheme. We can’t let them bring us down.