On February 6, four direct descendants of President Theodore Roosevelt wrote to United States senators to ask them to vote against a measure that opens up the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in Minnesota to the Chilean mining giant Antofagasta Plc and its subsidiary Twin Metals Minnesota.
I was in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness twice as a young Explorer Scout. That experience changed my life by allowing me a chance to experience a true wilderness and to get to know all the lifeforms that live there. We humans are not "special." We are just arrogant.
My proposed model amendment in my Memorandum to We the People at UnitedWeAmend.org. would stop this greedy overreach that has gone wild in the last 25 years. Please find time to read and share it. Send it to elected officials and family and friends. The issues addressed therein need a national dialogue. For example:
"All lands owned by the United States and designated as public lands, including National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, and units of the National Park System are hereby totally encumbered such that they are never to be sold and are to be preserved to protect vital ecosystems and wildlife, and provide our posterity with recreation, education, and inspiration, and balance conservation with public enjoyment and scientific study."
Thank you. The problem with a bill signed into law is that it can someday be overwritten by the next Congress. We need an amendment. A Congress cannot overrule an amendment. Only another amendment can do that. The list for an amendment in UnitedWeAmend.org includes: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to; 1, the Equal rights of all individual persons; 2, Government having no power to create or transfer rights of individuals to assemblies thereof or fictitious creatures of statute; 3, define Republican Form of Government to include a separation of powers among a legislative, executive and judicial branches, to create a government of laws, and not of persons; 4, Congress enacting and providing funding for systems of public campaign financing; 5, Candidates having free access to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System; 6, Campaign contributions may only consist of United States Dollars; 7, Campaign contributions restricted to be made only by Citizens who can vote for such candidates on their local ballots; 8, Money is not a protected form of speech under the Constitution; 9, Congress shall limit the sum of such Campaign contributions but no contributions to a candidate or ballot measure may exceed the sum of the Federal minimum hourly wage multiplied by one hundred twenty five; 10, Only the official campaign of candidates can employ persons to promote the campaign; 11, All political expression must include the identification of the individual(s) expressing such opinion; 12, Well-regulated fictitious creatures of statute may be granted a revocable privilege to report political information in the press but with requirements that the identities of persons reported be provided and that equal reporting be provided for all such candidates; 13, All electoral redistricting shall be computer-generated one-time after the census; 14, All district boundaries within the states to be drawn parallel to the lines of the Geographic coordinate system; 15, Establishing Executive Departments; 16, Power of the United States, every State and every insular area within the jurisdiction of the United States to charter fictitious creatures of statute shall be limited to Well-regulated charters of revokable privileges and having no rights and when a charter is revoked for criminal activities or the wrongful death of a person then those persons involved in such wrong doings shall never invest in any businesses again or be involved in the operations thereof; 17 Protection of Public lands; 18, Assure equal health services; 19, Equal education for every American child; 20, Equal voting rights among each State; 21, Establishing a Federal election for Citizens of the United states; 22, Establishing an Executive Powers Council of seven executives to replace the single President; 23, Repealing the Elector system of electing the President and vice-President.
Hi Albert—suggestion: large blocks of unbroken text are really hard to read, especially in this medium. You have good things to say but long, long paragraphs are a deterrent. Thanks.
MLMinET "Hi Albert—suggestion: large blocks of unbroken text are really hard to read, especially in this medium."
Yes, it would have been somewhat better like this:
The problem with a bill signed into law is that it can someday be overwritten by the next Congress. We need an amendment. A Congress cannot overrule an amendment. Only another amendment can do that. The list for an amendment in UnitedWeAmend.org includes: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to;
1, the Equal rights of all individual persons;
2, Government having no power to create or transfer rights of individuals to assemblies thereof or fictitious creatures of statute;
3, define Republican Form of Government to include a separation of powers among a legislative, executive and judicial branches, to create a government of laws, and not of persons;
4, Congress enacting and providing funding for systems of public campaign financing;
5, Candidates having free access to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System;
6, Campaign contributions may only consist of United States Dollars;
7, Campaign contributions restricted to be made only by Citizens who can vote for such candidates on their local ballots;
8, Money is not a protected form of speech under the Constitution;
9, Congress shall limit the sum of such Campaign contributions but no contributions to a candidate or ballot measure may exceed the sum of the Federal minimum hourly wage multiplied by one hundred twenty five;
10, Only the official campaign of candidates can employ persons to promote the campaign;
11, All political expression must include the identification of the individual(s) expressing such opinion;
12, Well-regulated fictitious creatures of statute may be granted a revocable privilege to report political information in the press but with requirements that the identities of persons reported be provided and that equal reporting be provided for all such candidates;
13, All electoral redistricting shall be computer-generated one-time after the census;
14, All district boundaries within the states to be drawn parallel to the lines of the Geographic coordinate system;
15, Establishing Executive Departments;
16, Power of the United States, every State and every insular area within the jurisdiction of the United States to charter fictitious creatures of statute shall be limited to Well-regulated charters of revokable privileges and having no rights and when a charter is revoked for criminal activities or the wrongful death of a person then those persons involved in such wrong doings shall never invest in any businesses again or be involved in the operations thereof;
17 Protection of Public lands;
18, Assure equal health services;
19, Equal education for every American child;
20, Equal voting rights among each State;
21, Establishing a Federal election for Citizens of the United states;
22, Establishing an Executive Powers Council of seven executives to replace the single President;
23, Repealing the Elector system of electing the President and vice-President.
I hope both of you have sent your lists to Hakeem Jeffries so he can have this legislation ready to the hour he gets the gavel. Which I want more than Life itself to happen BEFORE the midterms.
Good God. Look how much room you took in a thread. No. Please read my Memorandum. You will get it why the list is as it is on page 38. You will get it because the prior 37 pages explain what that list is all about.
I'm not sure how 14 would work. All district lines have to be north and south and east and west, no curves? Also, not sure what 20 does, and I don't think Constitution should do 18-23.
I understand. This is the age of "Twitter." Many have been assimilated into a culture of grasping only "Tweets." A Tweet is only 280 characters. That means the thinking ability of many is likewise only 280 characters. That is why I have never respected Twitter. I also suspected the name "Twitter" is code for "Bird."
If a few people here open and read UnitedWeAmend.org they will grasp the reason that list above, which is page 38, is as it is. They will know the meaning and intent of each item listed. I say that because I have found that most people here are very intelligent.
The list above is on page 38 of the Memorandum. The meaning of every item, and the reason for them being there in the list, is explained on the pages before.
When public lands are put aside and "protected" there should be no question they are protected for eternity. Never sold or exploited or drilled or grazed for pennies per acre. Always means forever.
Here are 2 pieces from my book published during the first dump shit 4-years in office. Some things just don't change.
Enjoy it if you can:
Beam Me Up, Scotty: Scott Pruitt's "New Agency for Holistic Standards Through Unobstructed Pollution" (formerly the Environmental Protection Agency)
April 13, 2018
If anyone gets into trouble in the Trump administration, just wait a few days until someone else gets into more trouble! A new disaster always comes waltzing in to take center stage and nudge out the current intolerable mess. Trump hops from one fiasco to another so the firing of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt will not be a matter of concern for long.
Syrian bombing missions take the limelight off excessive personal spending habits of EPA director Scott Pruitt.
The Trump EPA has painfully become a dysfunctional shell of what it was. Science and research have been sidelined and global warming is called a figment of wild imagination. The already minuscule budget has been slashed by 30 percent, making enforcement actions impossible. Superfund enforcement (requiring polluters to clean up their toxic spills) has been reduced to the current interest rate.
The new EPA lost 700 employees. The House Appropriations Committee approved $31 million for Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (VSIP) to buy out contracts of existing staff. Now the polluters are running the show. A mining operation in Alaska's Bristol Bay goes forward after being blocked. One oil leak could destroy the largest sockeye salmon resources in the world. No more banning toxic pesticides, or more requirements for companies to disclose hazardous chemical inventories.
Welcome the return of smog, bigger and more profitable Trump Smog – coal ash, mining waste, benzene and mercury pollution. Get your oxygen tank and face masks out. Invest in air purifiers and carbon filters.
It’s profit at any cost. Fossil fuel is Trump’s renewable energy. Dirty energy industry lobbyists and CEOs are the new guards at the American power and utility gates.
"He's a fantastic person. I just left coal and energy country. They love Pruitt. They feel very strongly about Pruitt, and they love Pruitt,” Trump gloats.
Normally, this kind of accolade is a prelude to being fired. But normalcy doesn't thrive in this Trumpian era. Scott Pruitt resigned for using government funds on himself and his wife.
May God bless his little-soundproof-Chick-Fil-A-wifey-used-Trump-Hotel-mattress-cheap-rent-condo heart.
Environmental Protection Agency
2018
"Hello, EPA, may I help you?"
"This is Shelby Connor from Parrish, Alabama. We've had 260 box car loads of dog gone shit sittin' at our rail yard for months. It stinks.”
"That's a state matter. Did you call the Alabama Department of Environmental Management?"
"What ya'll mean? These trainloads of shit have come down from New York. It's a federal inter-state matter."
"Sir, please be respectful. It's human waste.”
"I don't care what you call it. It's stinkin' up our town. We can't even go to a Little League baseball game ‘cause the boxcars are right across the tracks. How would you like to drive to church on Sunday and take a whiff of it while praying to the Lord?”
"Did Trump send this stench down here because we didn't elect Roy Moore? Let me speak with your director."
“Sir, Mr. Pruitt isn't available. And he no longer reviews environmental issues. Our new mandate from the president is to help companies get rid of waste the cheapest way possible. They probably picked Alabama because your dumping rates are so low. You'll have to call the West Virginia office to file a complaint. They handle waste disposal. Oh wait, that office has been closed down, too."
"I wanna know why New York and New Jersey’s shit is sittin’ in our little town. Git the stuff outta here."
“Shelby, shouting into the phone won't get you anywhere. I'm trying to help. Here, let me give you the Denver office. They have experience handling bio solids. Oops, sorry, that office was recently closed, too. Mr. Connor, we're not going to be around much longer as an agency. The EPA is shutting down. Haven't you heard?"
My late husband and I went to the Atacama Desert, a huge expanse touching on three countries, Chile Peru and Bolivia as I recall. The driest place on earth. We had a guide who was an indigenous person. What a little water there is is such a precious resource. But a copper mine company came in and mining is such a water intense operation. The indigenous people who live there and who have lived there got nothing from the mining and were left with depleted water. Once it’s gone some of that resource never will return, same with the Boundary Waters. Fight for this treasure.
Scary as hell. From UnitedWeAmend.org , "Today’s corporations are far more numerous, powerful and destructive of our economy, lives and Earth than all its predecessors plus organized crime combined and yet it wails like a beast, “Get government off our backs,” and there is an “Attack On American Free Enterprise System.” Yes, there certainly is. The American Revolution, now in its 250th year, is a war challenging the System."
The most mundane reasons! I had traveled in South America fairly extensively during my international law work but I never made it to Chile. After I left I had a gazillion frequent flyer miles and my husband and I decided we should go there because we had never been. But we landed in Santiago, spent a couple days there then went down to the Lakes region which is absolutely gorgeous and volcanic. We then flew to the Atacama, and stayed in a little resort camp in a kind of oasis town. We took a couple of day trips out into the desert, one in particular was for some geysers that only go off as the desert heats up at dawn from very cold at night to very hot during the day. It was a magical place! But we had to travel there very early in the morning and it was like being on the moon, there was no light and it was rough. So it was interesting to go back to the village during the day and see all the flamingos and alpacas and hot springs which we got to take a swim in. I highly recommend the trip.
My Father taught me as a child that the most valuable asset we all have at birth is our ethics. "Once you sell your ethics for any sort of perceived gain, you can never get them back ...never, they are gone forever."
Maintaining ethics throughout ones' life is a very high bar, but certainly not impossible. Ruth Bader Ginsburg comes to mind as a modern example of retained ethics.
The concept of ethics ( much less dignity, compassion, measured thought before speaking, (much less thinking or pronouncing words over 3 syllables)...please feel free to add to this list) is well beyond the capacity of our current President, his hand picked staff or his children)
Have you noticed President Trump looks like and acts like the lead Ferengi in Star Trek, Quark.
Traditionally, the President's job is one of ethics, measured dignity, inspiration, and planning for the future of the free world.
Its unlikely that the child of Fred, the devil, had any ethics at birth, so he has lived without the burden of or knowledge of ethics all his life. Sort of an anti christ or anti president.
Everything he sees or touches is for his personal gain, everything he does is "Trump First".
Let see how Quark does in tomorrow's State of the Union speech with his limited vocabulary, zero ethics, and lots of freedom of speech.
I have NEVER voluntarily watched realtime Trump. I want it all to be a bad nightmare. I want to wake up and that creep is back in NYC, living in golden bad taste.
I plan to watch with horrific fascination: Will part or all of the justices attend...or not? Will he trash them and heap praise on Kavanaugh? Will republican lawmakers jump to their feet applauding at his inane utterances or recoil in disgust? Can't wait for Gov. Spanberger's rebuttal....
Steve, we will not either. Our two Senators here in Oregon are having, if I remember correctly, some kind of virtual town hall. We no longer watch national news for the most part. Death star destroys everything he touches which is why I have given him this nickname. He is this ball of destruction and festering cancer.
Trump is not a nightmare that will go away if you close your eyes and ears. I'm sure it will be a dark tragedy that goes off script and lasts too long.
when America stops paying attention trump wins, we deserve better.
That's why I'll be watching, focused on indications both physical and mental. (My longtime suspicion is his madness is feigned, preparation for an insanity offense should he be overthrown and indicted.)
I noticed that his script the day the Court spanked him over tariffs was written almost as an off script pity party. It was "Wha! Wha! I can do what ever I want! Whaaaaa! Peace Prize. Wha! Ended eight wars! Whaaaa! I can do what ever I want! Whaaaaa!" I expect that is going to be his style on script from here on.
First, I love your Dad. Second, what an insightful post. I understand your view of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG). In a Political Science I took a class called "Judicial Behavior". The science taught us that the opinions of Justices of the Court can often be predicted by looking at the Political Party Platform of the year the President who appointed them to the Court. I understand that such an appointment is for life. I also understand and agree with the reasons for a lifetime appointment; stability in the law. Indeed, if the law changed direction like a pendulum after every election there would be zero respect for the law. With all that in mind, considering the age of RBG, plus all the opinions which defined the law during her time, it seems to me it would have been more ethical for her to have stepped down at least 18 months before the end of Biden's term. For that matter, it would have been better for Biden to have also stepped down allowing Harris a chance to make it "Normal" to Americans that a female can handle the executive office. In UnitedWeAmend.org I address the age issue of the executive branch. I discuss stability of the law also in ending gerrymandering.
I feel life is a struggle from the moment you are born until you die. That struggle is different for everyone, but that is why ethics is different for everyone. It is how difficult survival is that grows the grasp of ethics. Trump is a spoiled rich brat who ran the house of his parents and never had to grow up. He is stuck in the mind of a nasty eight year old needing a severe spanking. He is likely emotionally stunted, or perhaps his genes are lacking even the ability of grasping ethics or empathy.
I haven't read the entirety of it yet Albert, but your amendments were interesting. I wonder if you could put together a summary of the changes, a sort of philosophy of the dramatic change, that is more amenable to public consumption.
You know most people don't read. Your document is close to a legal brief and too rich for most mental digestions.
I agree. I am busy promoting it among Democratic clubs, progressives PACs, etc. If during your read you can list a few sentences that standout to you please share them in the comments section. I can use that help to someday put together what you suggest. My Thanks, Bert
I have a vivid memory of camping on one of Minnesota's many lakes close by the Wilderness or in it (I can't remember which now) as a teenager, watching the embers of a dying campfire, listening to absolute silence after sunset, save for the sound of a single loon.
Lady Emsworth has obviously never heard the beautiful, mesmerizing sound of a loon echo across the mirror-like surface of a northern lake. Her attempt here at humor misses the mark by a mile.
Ah, the calling of loons -- like a mystic summons -- haunting counterpoint to that women-talking-in-some-adjacent-room murmur that seems unique to the clear and troutly waters of the region's rivers. And the summer air so fragrant with sweet fern. Those who've not been there cannot imagine...
Experiences like yours can change a person's values and life path forever. A campfire can serve as a universal metaphor; Native American educator, Paula Underwood, used Central Fire as a dialogue prompt, asking each participant in a circle to say what they brought as fuel. I wish she were alive now to kick butt in DC (her career was in international diplomacy). We the People seem to be in a Crucible of Shifting Priorities.
I know the Minnesota area from travels in my 20s and 30s, and the summers of my boyhood and teens were blessed by intimacy with its kindred environment in northern Lower Michigan, particularly in the Au Sable's South-Branch country -- and most of that before its wildness was destroyed by electrification. Uniquely, that entire region -- even Minneapolis itself -- sometimes breeds white USians whose instinctive oneness with Nature approaches that of traditional First Nations folk. To me -- agnosticism aside -- it is genuinely sacred ground.
Once again, Trump bows only to the wealthy and so do almost ALL of the Republicans in Congress. While families struggle to get by, the Republicans bow to the wealthy adding over $2 trillion to the national debt in 2025.
This is no way to run a country. The boundary waters could ultimately pollute Lake Superior and ultimately kill millions of freshwater fish and the wildlife that depends on them.
WTF. Maine and almost every other state has millions of acres of land and water protected from foreign investment and raping of our environment.
I have actually requested a meeting with the Congressman to discuss run-of-the-river hydroelectric power generation. I am opposed to daming up any waterway completely because of the damaging effects of the huge reservoirs and the blockage of fish migration, but most run-of-the-river or tidal systems have minimal impact to the environment.
I'm not sure if he will agree to meet with me with Congress's busy schedule, working 3 days and then off for 6 weeks.
Ahahh, Loren has put in words what the Boundary Waters are to me and why it draws me back every year for the past 23 years. Quite frankly, getting deep into nature and away from humans progress is very refreshing for body , mind , and soul.
As you put it Loren " agnosticism aside-- it is genuinely sacred ground"
Indeed it is. A devout trout fisher, hunter, seeker of archaeological anomalies, student of local myths, I also know and am comfortable in -- or would be were I not now an aged dying cripple -- the back country of Appalachia and Cascadia, but it is only the wilderness of Northern Michigan and Minnesota that always embraces me in an ineffable kind of homecoming and is truly my unabashedly pagan spiritual motherland. Thank you.
Loren, don't be afraid to use the word, "sacred." Our U.S. culture and language have been polluted with the religiosity of Puritan colonists, often displacing the secular meanings of words.
I prefer Cambridge Dictionary which originates in the source of our language, Great Britain. It acknowledges, but is not influenced by other English-speaking cultures. One given definition of "sacred" is: "considered too important to be changed."
I grew up on the lovely St. Croix river, the boundary between Wisconsin and Minnesota about 15 miles from Saint Paul. If you go down the river about 20 miles, where it joins the Mississippi, you can see the muddy Mississippi and the blue waters of the St. Croix melting to flow toward the Gulf of Mexico. And I worked in St. Paul for years. I spent a lot of time as a kid in the north of Wisconsin and then went fishing in the boundary waters. Except for the black flies it was absolutely wonderful! It’s a treasure.
I was there with a Troop from Kansas about 5 years ago. I vividly remember walking through the parking lot of Northern Tier Adventures - the Boy Scout Post there where we took training and launched our canoes for the week long trip. The parking lot was loaded with of vehicles from at least 40 different states. I couldn't believe how many troops from all over the country were there in the one week a was there. And yet the place was so big that once we got away from the lakes near the outpost, we barely saw any other canoes. Amazing pristine place.
Leslie, I am glad you had that experience twice! When we left the area after having padded over an hundred miles, and camped in a number of locations with much teamwork, I felt so moved by the experience that in some ways, it was hard to come home again. It changed my life, too! Of course, the conveniences of home were especially welcome, but the beauty of true nature was unforgettably touching.
If we're to have any chance at all of protecting the BWCAW, we must stop the SAVE Act and that means demanding that Democratic Senators, every single one of them, commit to filibustering that atrocious legislation. If we're to have any chance of winning either or both houses of Congress, we must stop SAVE.
Yep: I was up there canoeing at 15 years old with a bunch of others. Sixty-two years ago. My oldest son did similar when he was a Boy Scout. You can not overstate the beauty and tranquility of it. Nor the mosquitos. Bring the repellant with plenty of Deet. Black flies can be bad also. We spent a week and a couple of days there.
Jumped off at Moose Lake north of Ely, MN.
The one thing I can say about being a Boy Scout. When I left for the Marine Corps in 68, I knew how to many more things than the others who were in Boot Camp with me and later on during my time in the Corps. Simple things like how to make a fire and using newspaper or paper to insulate you from the cold ground.
You do learn how to get by and the boundary waters were a great place to apply some of the knowledge we gained.
I was in the Boundary waters last summer with four of my grand sons. I have been up there many times that created fond memories for my whole life. The water was higher than normal which made the numerous water falls we encountered quite beautiful. We were on the border between Canada and Minnesota. But climate issues are having a negative affect on the Boundary Waters (BWCA) just like everywhere else. The changes in weather is causing stress on all kinds of flora and fauna. Adding poison to the mix is not an option. Those that have traveled up to the BWCA may or may not remember the number of streams creeks and rivers that flow from the region down to Lake Superior. Lake Superior is down hill from the BWCA.
It should be noted that Lake Superior is home to ten percent of the world's fresh water. There is more water in Lake Superior than all the other Great Lakes put together. It is not just a national treasure, it is indeed a world treasure. One that should never be threatened by poison mining. In the fifties it had been threatened by taconite production. After long hard fought legal battles the threat was thwarted. Since then most Minnesotans admire and love the entire region. It's not just Minnesotans, people from all over world visit this area.
It baffles me that Pete Stauber, whom I think is a red necked ex cop, is a trump supporter all the way wants to threaten this region. He won his election with adds that showed him as a hunter and outdoors man. Most hunters I know appreciate conservation, like people that visit the BWCA. Keeping a good environment for the preservation of the wildlife they hunt or the area they are visiting. But I wasn't surprised when I read that Pete Stauber had sold his soul to business. Typical Republican hippo-crate that business at all costs must move forward. We cannot afford to poison the Boundary Waters much less the irreplaceable Lake Superior!
My late husband and I went to the Atacama Desert, a huge expanse touching on three countries, Chile Peru and Bolivia as I recall. The driest place on earth. We had a guide who was an indigenous person. What a little water there is is such a precious resource. But a copper mine company came in and mining is such a water intense operation. The indigenous people who live there and who have lived there got nothing from the mining and were left with depleted water. Once it’s gone some of that resource never will return, same with the Boundary Waters. Fight for this treasure.
Leslie, you claim: "We humans are not "special." We are just arrogant." Yes, to arrogant add selfish, stupid, self-centered, ignorant. Earlier generations produced weapons that can wipe life off the face of the earth. Our generations may just be stupid enough to use them. I keep thinking that the end could come from a religious war - Islam vs Christianity and Judaism, or vice-versa. Kill the Infidel.
Richard, evangelicals universally believe this religious war is inevitable and have given it a name, Armageddon, which is expected to happen in the Middle East, according to "biblical prophecy." They are actually eager for this war to take place, because it is the war that will "permanently defeat Satan and usher in 'The Millennium,' a thousand years' reign of peace, during which Jesus will sit on a global throne," putting his Christians in charge of everything, obviously. They can't wait to have this global power!
This is a rarely discussed plank in the Christian Nationalist platform. It is suppressed because if more people were aware of it, they'd be frightened away from supporting the CN agenda.
Islam has something similar to the Christian's Armageddon: Al-Malhama Al-Kubra: a "Great Battle" occurring at the end times, a massive, brutal battle between Muslims and non-Muslims. It is predicted to occur before the appearance of the Antichrist and the return of Jesus, which, of course, will never happen. In the end the world will be united under Islam. Both sides now have nuclear weapons.
Robert, females don't have full rights under "Christian," i.e., Christian-in-name-only leadership. When I was in Texas last year, three women bled to death from problem pregnancies because the doctors were afraid to perform the necessary abortions because they could face going to prison if they did.
I get your point, Richard. Some women travel to other states, like CO, to get abortions. I would compare that though, to the elimination of education for women in Afghanistan since the Taliban resumed control. The stoning of women who are sexually abused. I don't think the clergy under Islam are led by women, at least not by far to the extent that they are in Christian religions. You've noticed that muslim women even in the US are forced to wear head coverings. Not their brothers or husbands.
Yes, muslim women would probably rather live in Europe or the US than in Afghanistan. The Middle East is not uniform for them. Several years ago, it was the case that Christians had to pray and assemble in private in Middle Eastern countries; don't know if that has changed. I think that the theme here is that the Western world is generally more open and tolerant than in many other parts of the world. Not perfect, but something to be proud of.
Funny how both The East and The West have similar versions of the same legend. It's almost as if a bunch of old men sat around an ancient fire, making up stories of gods and wars, then headed off in different directions, sharing the same fictions with their children and grandchildren, who migrated further in opposite directions and created religions focused on these made-up gods.
Leslie, I have a friend who served at a canoe base in Minnesota's Boundary Waters area for 10 years or so. Since then, she and anywhere from 8-12 of the people she worked with have had a reunion there every two years (excluding the Covid year). Her passion for that area is reflective of what you just wrote here. Life changing then, and every year they go back.
She writes the Minnesotan legislative body about once a month.
Americans not only go to the wild places, many of our greatest books depend on them.
Ditto for so many of the movies Hollywood has filmed out there, on location.
We've got in Donald not only an unscrupulous criminal, but one with so little -- zero -- humanity in him, so little -- zero -- conscience, we can only up the debt of gratitude we have for Heather's patience and assiduousness in tracking so much of his mean, continuing, vulgarity.
And, critically, ZERO appreciation for nature. Some examples: He ripped out the Rise Garden and replaced it with a marble patio. You never see flowers in photos of the Oval Office anymore. Yes, he plays golf, but he thinks so little of even that built environment that he drives his cart into the putting green. Though he lived only a few blocks away, he reportedly never took his children to Central Park. He believes forests should be raked. He's never had a pet of any sort. Etc.
The way I see it is this. Trump is a rapist. We know that definitively; it is not subject to debate. Our planet is often called Mother Earth or Gaia. We do that because we know it is something to be revered, cared for, loved. But to him it’s just something else to rape. He takes what he wants, wounds at will, gives nothing back, then comes back for more. This is a product of a life of entitlement spent never having to face consequences. Sorry if my description is graphic but it’s the truth. He is evil personified.
Well done, Chris Johnston. Ignorance and greed go hand in hand. The combination of his KKK father, Papa Putin, and Bro Orbán guide him. We and the natural world suffer.
Karen, it would be safer and more efficient to offer him a million dollars to torpedo the legislation. Second best would be a gold-plated, canoe-shaped trophy naming him "The Champion of the Wilderness." I wouldn't be too specific about the location of the wilderness right now, because he's on a rampage against Minnesota.
No time to keep lamenting or critisizing Trump. Act. Contact your DEM congress reps to impeach Bondi and other enablers to start off. We citizens must protect not only Democracy but also our wild lives and beautiful parks.
And Trump puts NO VALUE on scenic wild lands, wild life or honoring the good former Presidents have left us. He only values money and power. What a sad, sad excuse for a human being. Just an empty shell.
Another catastrophic outcome emanating from the crime against humanity committed by the 77 million of our fellow Americans who voted to put a convicted thug in the White House.
Nope. A few million were shut out by Trump's cheating. See the VIGILANTES INC video to see how it was carried out in red states. Contact you senator to vote against the SAVE act which will shut out more legitimate Democratic voters!
Here in a vital Thom Hartmann exclusive is how the thievery is done, including credible statistical evidence showing that the ChristoNazis' purging of Blacks, Hispanics and white progressives from the 2024 voter rolls put Trump in the White House. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-q1lWsnlhg&t=5s (Election discussion starts at 9:09)
They are never going to fight for individual rights. A new crop of dems and independents might, especially if we can keep them on task. I would like to see the republican/maga brand become extinct.
“In December 2024, I was personally involved in an NSA‑authorized forensic audit of the 2024 election. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz won—by a wide margin. Trump lost dramatically. There are multiple layers of complexity to this cover‑up, including transnational organized crime syndicates that extend far beyond the United States and our elections. To that point, I work in the human trafficking sector, which intersects with the stolen election(s) and has ties to Trump and Epstein—not to President Biden, Vice President Harris, or Governor Walz, but to the Democrats and other allied interests responsible for burying the audit.”
— Adam Zarnowski, ex-CIA agent and author of Jörmungandr
Could be. Hard to know. I don’t know how to verify it. The only thing when you get into huge conspiracies, it seems like, human nature being what it is, it would be hard to keep it all quiet. But then, look at the Epstein conspiracies and how long they took to unravel. And we still aren’t at the bottom of it — All those outreaches to various Russian actors have to be hiding something big. Anyway, it won’t help us know now. We need to start from where we are now. We have to protect the midterms. We have to get a big plan of how we are going to clean up this mess when it implodes. We need to get our great communicators out there in the red states and red parts of states. We the people have to be engaged and active.
I will not add that 70 million total. Many were prevented from voting by those who had been elected to serve them. I will, now and forever, hold the "Bernie Bros" who refused to vote for H. Clinton responsible for the debacle we see today regardless of how they voted in '24, but I don't think there were 70M of them.
Unfortunately in the ecogenocide so gloatingly authorized by the Malevolent Majority's 77-million-vote for governance by felonious tyranny, we are at last witnessing in unabashed form the true, incorrigibly criminal face of this nation, the final fulfillment of the long-simmering, politically definitive mysogynistic and racist hatefulness that fuels the Nazism Jeff Sharlet reveals as "the secret fundamentalism at the heart of American power." That's why, if we win this war (as I believe we shall), our only alternative is to build anew rather than attempt the failed republic's restoration.
Start by getting dark money out of politics. Tax the ultra-wealthy. Set term limits. Enforce our laws at all levels, not just on the impoverished. Fact check political speeches. There's a long list.
I agree with this except for hard and fast term limits. A mandatory retirement age perhaps, but there are Senators who have been there for several terms and they are too knowledgeable to push out by some knee jerk rule.
It's not looking that way Ricardo. The 18-29 year olds have gotten f*cked royally by Trump's policies and they know it. Millions of recent high school and college grads can't even find jobs at fast food restaurants. Of course, they could move to TX or FL and pick fruit and vegetables I guess. But, we all know they won't.
The US lost 108,000 manufacturing jobs in 2025 and 68,000 in December alone.
From Google -
n 2025, the U.S. manufacturing sector experienced significant job losses, totaling approximately 108,000 positions. This decline marked a continuation of a troubling trend in manufacturing employment.
President Trump continues to gaslight the stupid christofascists and the other idiots that believe all of the BS being put out by Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and the corporation media.
Have canoed there years ago twice at the (BWC). A gorgeous area and the nights brought the stars as close to you that even as the years have passed still are awe inspiring.
A Cree Indian prophecy or proverb, highlights that humanity will only recognize the futility of valuing money over nature once the ecosystem has been destroyed.
"Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish been caught, and the last stream poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money"
Will be adding this on the calls in the am to those DC representatives.
Thanks, TJ. I have a friend who meets regularly with friends she worked with at the BSA Canoe Base in her late teens and early 20's. She holds that place with sacred reverence for nature.
When your own planet is considered an expendable resource available for the sacking for as long as you can take something without thought of any consequences, none of this is surprising.
ICTT, acknowledging that some may think I'm a one-issue commenter, I can't help noting that evangelicals believe that "God will destroy the earth" after the Millennium (thousand years' reign of peace) when he takes all his believers to heaven. Further, evangelicals believe we are living "in the last days." So if one "knows" the earth will be destroyed in approximately a thousand years, there is little motivation to do anything that would protect and preserve the earth.
Yep. The lengths evangelicals will go to in order to explain these aborted raptures is mind-boggling. I have concluded, and said so, that evangelicalism is a form of psychosis.
What do you call people willing to sell their legacy to satisfy their immediate greed, force others to pay the cost while depriving their own children of an inheritance? What kind of sick, irresponsible 'parent' does such a thing?
I've observed that Republicans don't really think of their children as people. They are props.
"Prop" is a shortened version of "property" used in the theatrical world meaning "decorative object used to enhance the stage set."
Indeed, Republicans treat their children like both owned property and as decorative objects. These props demonstrate that the parents are fertile and are considered valuable by our culture. Children are property that parents can use to live out their unfulfilled ambitions. One looks down at them like a prized possession, not in the eye.
I can't call 47 a "parent". That requires at least noticing that the child is a human being. 47 acknowledges no one who isn't himself. At best he might be considered to be a sperm producer.
You call one of those people Pete Stauber. I will never understand how MN 8th District came to elect such a “sick, irresponsible” man. It’s beyond heartbreaking.
The dangers of this type of mining well beyond the waters and the local area cannot be stressed enough. Sulphuric acid in contact with water can become airborne, causing major human health and environmental degradation. Remember the smoke from the wildfires in Canada last year? Borne by the prevailing winds, the smoke and particulate travelled across the United States as far as Alabama, Florida, and the Gulf Coast. The same could happen, is actually likely. This is a national health issue that is totally avoidable. Voting NO is important for EVERY state in our country.
I remember the days of acid rain falling on the East Coast as it traveled on the winds from midwestern smokestacks. It ruined the drinking wells that were common and forced entire rural and small towns to build out expensive water systems to supply drinking water as one well after another was contaminated. The Clean Air and Clean Water Acts finally forced companies to install scrubbers on their stacks and other methods of pollution control which reduced further damage. But the damage was done and private wells could no longer be trusted.
This administration is hell-bent on eliminating 60 years of work done to reduce damage to the environment. But of course, why would Trump care? He will not have to experience the return of smog-filled skys, acidic drinking water, mass kill-offs of wildlife from polluted rivers… he will leave that legacy for those under 60 and younger.
And when he and his shameless industrialist and tech-bro cronies finish making this planet uninhabitable, no doubt they'll try to sell us seats on some rocket they own to get to a planet they've stolen.
Correction: this criminal Regime, in collaboration with the ever-more-dominant Nazi International, "is hell-bent on elimination" of every humanitarian advancement our species has ever achieved.
(That's why I'm convinced our six or seven millennia of patriarchy -- six or seven thousand years of might-makes-right tyranny -- is breeding a new subhuman subspecies, Homo sapiens inhumanus. The inability of these creatures to empathize – an anti-evolutionary trait made virtuous by their leaders’ fanatical assertions empathy is deadly sin -- results in apocalyptic sociopathy of an unprecedented magnitude. And its ecogenocidal toxicity is further intensified by the replacement of the human love-instinct with a far-more-powerful anti-human hate instinct -- clearly the (intentional) result of patriarchy’s anti-humanitarian conditioning. See https://news.yale.edu/2025/03/06/violent-experiences-alter-genome-ways-persist-generations )
Rio Tinto blasts 46,000-year-old Aboriginal site to expand iron ore mine | Indigenous Australians | The Guardian.
A sacred site in Western Australia that showed 46,000 years of continual occupation and provided a 4,000-year-old genetic link to present-day traditional owners has been destroyed in the expansion of an iron ore mine. The cave in Juukan Gorge in the Hammersley Ranges, about 60km from Mt Tom Price, is one of the oldest in the western Pilbara region and the only inland site in Australia to show signs of continual human occupation through the last Ice Age. It was blasted along with another sacred site.
Ally House (Oregon): I frequently have that problem; I only like that HCR does the yeoman work to bring things to our attention, not that I like the content. Not at all.
I wouldn't say "much" safer, but it is safer to some degree because the issue is that sulphuric acid forms when the oxides come in contact with water. As the name implies, the BWCA and the adjacent Quetico National Forest in Canada are quite wet.
Hopefully this catastrophe will be averted. The fact that it could still happen reinforces the need to improve governmental processes that depend on norms or values which we have seen cannot be enforced. Another process change to enact when the scoundrels are finally banished.
100% Agree. This is yet another example of corruption on many levels in our political process.
The mining oligarch got to Trump likely through renting the house to Jared and Ivanka at a reduced rate. No whiff of graft is too faint to attract Trump.
I am sure it just took a word to remind Trump that this was in Minnesota and, therefore, a perfect way to punish the state and to add a checkmark to his retribution list.
The Project 2025 blueprint argued that federal lands have been “removed from productive use” and urged the administration to maximize oil, gas, coal, and mineral extraction on public lands and waters. An analysis of Project 2025 concludes that it calls for expanding drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, expanding the Willow oil project in Alaska, and promoting mining in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters and other currently protected landscapes. It was right out there in the open before the election.
Citizens United has a part to play. That allowed the quid pro quo to the fossil fuel and mining oligarchs before he was elected. "Give me a billion dollars and..." I am yours. It was on the oligarchs' wish list to gain access to protected federal lands--that was one of the first executive orders Trump signed in 2.0.
It is also allowed for Stauber to be bought. Campaign‑finance data show Stauber regularly receives PAC contributions from mining and extractive‑industry companies. Mining‑sector PAC donors listed for him include firms such as Cleveland‑Cliffs, Coeur Mining, Freeport‑McMoRan, Arch Resources, Alliance Coal, and similar resource companies.
Open Secrets’ overall summary of his fundraising in recent cycles shows strong backing from energy and natural‑resources interests, including mining and related sectors. Only 10% of his campaign funding comes from small contributors. So this is another example of the damage Citizens United is causing by distorting the legislative process.
Using over-reach of Congressional powers in the CRA is a trial balloon to see how far it can be stretched. Project 2025 does not always spell out “use the CRA on Rule X.” But legal and policy reviews of the document describe it as instructing a conservative administration and Congress to use the CRA systematically to void Biden‑era environmental and land‑protection rules that constrain fossil fuel and mineral development. The Project 2025 uses text like “restoring multiple use” and “unleashing” energy and minerals. Both the document itself and subsequent implementation show a clear intent to open more federal lands to mining and drilling and to use the CRA as one of the main tools to dismantle protective rules that stand in the way.
In 2025, Congress used the CRA to disapprove multiple Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management rules, including several resource management plans that restricted development on public lands. They just didn't raise the outcry that the Boundary Waters attack is generating.
CRA was signed by Bill Clinton in 1996 with bipartisan support, but it has mostly been used to overturn Obama-era regulations. It was supposedly meant to be protective by using a fast-track process (safe from filibustering) to get rid of bad regulations quickly, but it requires an Act of Congress to reverse the decision, a much harder process. It is a reminder to Democrats that the filibuster is a fickle beast and there are many ways around it. It is the perfect example for Patricia's comment about having to think harder about unintended consequences when legislation is crafted.
This will be challenged in the courts and run up to SCOTUS to get a favorable precedent set, and remind Gorsuch why he is there after he broke ranks on the tariffs. Barrett is a woman who defied Trump, so she is now an object of contempt, permanently on the retribution list.
It's all about corruption. And the root of corruption is Citizens United. The game plan is Project 2025.
Georgia, Thank you for bringing the “receipts” on Pete Stauber’s campaign funding. I could not fathom how MN District 8 had sunk to such a low point to elect such a traitor. Now I know.
Thank you, also, for introducing me to this invaluable tool - www.opensecrets.org
We would all do well to check it regularly, along with www.fec.gov
Open secrets is an invaluable resource for identifying PACs and some donors. But there is a lot of dark money that does not have identifiable tracks back to the donors.
I’ve used FEC.gov in the past as well to track funding through campaign committees that Congressional leadership uses to support other candidates. In 2024 $1.9 billion was spent from undisclosed sources on the election, or about 20% of the total.
It’s almost as if, when writing any new laws or rewriting old laws, we have to have a committee just delegated to come up with ways you could get around the law, so as to write the law so as to prevent them! But then the founders thought they had done some thing like that, by having a three branch Congress, where the branches are supposed to regulate each other.
Ms. Neyman: the criminal evasiveness you have so aptly described is part of the criminal quintessence of capitalism, the core ethos of which is anything -- ecogenocide included -- for profit. That's why, with the international embrace of fascism guaranteeing capitalism's destruction of the planet will continuing to escalate, the annual revenues of the global advertising business -- the sole purpose of which is to fabricate ever-more-seductive lies and disinformation to ensure the perpetual enlargement of the capitalists' already unfathomable wealth and power -- are expected to top one trillion dollars this year. (Every reference I could find for this story is -- of course -- paywalled; nevertheless, see for example -- https://www.ft.com/content/e9d9befb-d5fd-438e-89d3-47f894c56736 )
The owners of a 1-million-square-foot warehouse in Hutchins, Texas—which is located in Dallas County—have now said they will not sell or lease the property to the Department of Homeland Security, according to reports.
According to reporting from The Washington Post, the warehouse had been considered for conversion into a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center that could house up to 9,500 migrants, which is more than the population of Hutchins.
“We have residents saying, ‘Why even focus on an ICE facility when we don’t even have a good grocery store in here?’ When we talk about how to improve our community and neighborhoods, this is not it,” State Rep. Aicha Davis, D-Dallas said.
#More Perfect Union | @perfectunion | FEB 20 2026
#SPECTRUM NEWS | FEB 22 2026
#Washington, D.C. -- Today, Rep. Crockett released the following statement: "I am relieved that the owner of the Hutchins warehouse has confirmed they will not sell or lease this property to the Department of Homeland Security for use as an ICE detention facility. (2/16/26)
For this administration, everything is a a commodity to be sold, with Trump the self-proclaimed owner, gatekeeper, bouncer and agent. Except he's not any of those things -- we are, with Congress the designated stewards. Its Republican members have abandoned not only all memory of Teddy Roosevelt, but their regulatory duties and responsibilities explicitly laid out in Article I of the Constitution.
Every day we lose more and more of the very concept of what our Declaration of Independence actually tried to stand for back in 1776. By the time we reach our 250th anniversary, most of what we inherited will have been given, sold, stolen or simply gifted to Russia, China, Antofagasta Mining, the few coal companies left in West Virginia and Sinclair Broadcasting.
"Don't it always seem to go, you don't know what you got til it's gone..."
ICTT...Yes ... Joni Mitchell..." They paved paradise... And put up a parking lot" or shoveled out the earth for a mine... Joni Mitchell wrote Big Yellow Taxi" in 1970... How prophetic...
My wife and I spent our honeymoon in the Boundary Waters on a weeklong canoe trip, drinking the lake water. Once an area like this gets polluted by a mine, we can never get it back. This vote woul lose this treasure forever.
Further proof that Harry Truman was right 78 years ago, that "the only 'good Republicans' are pushing up daisies," and why the Republican Party needs to be declared a subversive organization and banned. The GOP has been America's Enemy since about 5 seconds after Lincoln died.
Andrónico Luksic supported Pinochet. Let the old fascist go back to Chile and fuck himself in his face, repeatedly.
I don't think banning opposing political parties is a good idea. If Republicans were banned, would anyone besides Dems be allowed to run? Maybe the Green Party?
Like several other commenters, I spent four summers backpacking and canoeing in the BWCAW during elementary and middle school. It is an incredibly beautiful part of nature that must be preserved at all costs. I firmly oppose opening the area to foreign mining interests and stand with the Roosevelts on this issue. HCR, thank you for devoting today's entire report to this important issue.
Mark Kennedy, you expressed the crucial information so nicely. I believe your way will help me in preparing to call. I feel so strongly that we must save snd protect this area always!
Thank you for your kind words. I have only fond memories of this amazing wilderness, so the idea of its destruction is unimaginable to me. Please feel free to cite my comment.
Thank you, Mark. In returning to civilization I recall crying at the sight of lights and even neon lights in the distance as our bus drove back to our state well after dark. The ruination of land was so hard to see in overly populated areas. That was well over half a century ago.
Without the wilderness we would be lost in a morass of man made mumbo jumbo like dirty clothes tumbling in the fetid soapy water of sudsy washing machines. We need to look to the horizon to the sky and to the untrammeled earth beneath our feet. We need to refresh the sight the sound the promise that wilderness invokes. Or we will go crazy. Give me wildness or give me death. Patrick Cole.
I have only visited Yosemite as a passenger with hubby who rushed through. Same at Grand Canyon. But I have appreciated national parks all my life and donate to 5 supporting organizations. I have deliberately not visited again because no wild space needs my footprint. And I’m old. But I hope my efforts allow my grands a chance for a glimpse.
Everyone should realize this is not an isolated incident, the Trump admin is also trying to increase logging of old growth timber in the PNW, increase grazing on BLM land, and suspend almost 30 pieces of landmark environmental legislation to build their border wall through Big Bend National Park, and this is only the tip of the ICEberg.
I was in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness twice as a young Explorer Scout. That experience changed my life by allowing me a chance to experience a true wilderness and to get to know all the lifeforms that live there. We humans are not "special." We are just arrogant.
My proposed model amendment in my Memorandum to We the People at UnitedWeAmend.org. would stop this greedy overreach that has gone wild in the last 25 years. Please find time to read and share it. Send it to elected officials and family and friends. The issues addressed therein need a national dialogue. For example:
"All lands owned by the United States and designated as public lands, including National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, and units of the National Park System are hereby totally encumbered such that they are never to be sold and are to be preserved to protect vital ecosystems and wildlife, and provide our posterity with recreation, education, and inspiration, and balance conservation with public enjoyment and scientific study."
Right on Albert - I found a video similar to your point - Send these twenty two issues into 1 bill and send to your congress 🇺🇸 https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVCRP6Cj5D9/?igsh=MW5yMzRycGFuZTZvbw==
Thank you. The problem with a bill signed into law is that it can someday be overwritten by the next Congress. We need an amendment. A Congress cannot overrule an amendment. Only another amendment can do that. The list for an amendment in UnitedWeAmend.org includes: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to; 1, the Equal rights of all individual persons; 2, Government having no power to create or transfer rights of individuals to assemblies thereof or fictitious creatures of statute; 3, define Republican Form of Government to include a separation of powers among a legislative, executive and judicial branches, to create a government of laws, and not of persons; 4, Congress enacting and providing funding for systems of public campaign financing; 5, Candidates having free access to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System; 6, Campaign contributions may only consist of United States Dollars; 7, Campaign contributions restricted to be made only by Citizens who can vote for such candidates on their local ballots; 8, Money is not a protected form of speech under the Constitution; 9, Congress shall limit the sum of such Campaign contributions but no contributions to a candidate or ballot measure may exceed the sum of the Federal minimum hourly wage multiplied by one hundred twenty five; 10, Only the official campaign of candidates can employ persons to promote the campaign; 11, All political expression must include the identification of the individual(s) expressing such opinion; 12, Well-regulated fictitious creatures of statute may be granted a revocable privilege to report political information in the press but with requirements that the identities of persons reported be provided and that equal reporting be provided for all such candidates; 13, All electoral redistricting shall be computer-generated one-time after the census; 14, All district boundaries within the states to be drawn parallel to the lines of the Geographic coordinate system; 15, Establishing Executive Departments; 16, Power of the United States, every State and every insular area within the jurisdiction of the United States to charter fictitious creatures of statute shall be limited to Well-regulated charters of revokable privileges and having no rights and when a charter is revoked for criminal activities or the wrongful death of a person then those persons involved in such wrong doings shall never invest in any businesses again or be involved in the operations thereof; 17 Protection of Public lands; 18, Assure equal health services; 19, Equal education for every American child; 20, Equal voting rights among each State; 21, Establishing a Federal election for Citizens of the United states; 22, Establishing an Executive Powers Council of seven executives to replace the single President; 23, Repealing the Elector system of electing the President and vice-President.
Hi Albert—suggestion: large blocks of unbroken text are really hard to read, especially in this medium. You have good things to say but long, long paragraphs are a deterrent. Thanks.
MLMinET "Hi Albert—suggestion: large blocks of unbroken text are really hard to read, especially in this medium."
Yes, it would have been somewhat better like this:
The problem with a bill signed into law is that it can someday be overwritten by the next Congress. We need an amendment. A Congress cannot overrule an amendment. Only another amendment can do that. The list for an amendment in UnitedWeAmend.org includes: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to;
1, the Equal rights of all individual persons;
2, Government having no power to create or transfer rights of individuals to assemblies thereof or fictitious creatures of statute;
3, define Republican Form of Government to include a separation of powers among a legislative, executive and judicial branches, to create a government of laws, and not of persons;
4, Congress enacting and providing funding for systems of public campaign financing;
5, Candidates having free access to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System;
6, Campaign contributions may only consist of United States Dollars;
7, Campaign contributions restricted to be made only by Citizens who can vote for such candidates on their local ballots;
8, Money is not a protected form of speech under the Constitution;
9, Congress shall limit the sum of such Campaign contributions but no contributions to a candidate or ballot measure may exceed the sum of the Federal minimum hourly wage multiplied by one hundred twenty five;
10, Only the official campaign of candidates can employ persons to promote the campaign;
11, All political expression must include the identification of the individual(s) expressing such opinion;
12, Well-regulated fictitious creatures of statute may be granted a revocable privilege to report political information in the press but with requirements that the identities of persons reported be provided and that equal reporting be provided for all such candidates;
13, All electoral redistricting shall be computer-generated one-time after the census;
14, All district boundaries within the states to be drawn parallel to the lines of the Geographic coordinate system;
15, Establishing Executive Departments;
16, Power of the United States, every State and every insular area within the jurisdiction of the United States to charter fictitious creatures of statute shall be limited to Well-regulated charters of revokable privileges and having no rights and when a charter is revoked for criminal activities or the wrongful death of a person then those persons involved in such wrong doings shall never invest in any businesses again or be involved in the operations thereof;
17 Protection of Public lands;
18, Assure equal health services;
19, Equal education for every American child;
20, Equal voting rights among each State;
21, Establishing a Federal election for Citizens of the United states;
22, Establishing an Executive Powers Council of seven executives to replace the single President;
23, Repealing the Elector system of electing the President and vice-President.
Yes, I came back to scan text after you broke it up, thanks!
Count me in! Where should be form this new country?
Looks like Cuba will be up for grabs.
Beaches, mountains, musicians, artists, 100% literate population just dying for something normal.
We just have to beat the corporate interests with their casinos and unaffordable hotels.
I hope both of you have sent your lists to Hakeem Jeffries so he can have this legislation ready to the hour he gets the gavel. Which I want more than Life itself to happen BEFORE the midterms.
Good God. Look how much room you took in a thread. No. Please read my Memorandum. You will get it why the list is as it is on page 38. You will get it because the prior 37 pages explain what that list is all about.
I'm not sure how 14 would work. All district lines have to be north and south and east and west, no curves? Also, not sure what 20 does, and I don't think Constitution should do 18-23.
What does 21 mean?
I understand. This is the age of "Twitter." Many have been assimilated into a culture of grasping only "Tweets." A Tweet is only 280 characters. That means the thinking ability of many is likewise only 280 characters. That is why I have never respected Twitter. I also suspected the name "Twitter" is code for "Bird."
If a few people here open and read UnitedWeAmend.org they will grasp the reason that list above, which is page 38, is as it is. They will know the meaning and intent of each item listed. I say that because I have found that most people here are very intelligent.
Most people --not those here- do not know that "fictitious creatures of statute" are corporations.
I think that realization is fundamental to eliminating the powers corporations have abrogated unto themselves, to which they have no right.
Bring back the corporate death penalty!
The list above is on page 38 of the Memorandum. The meaning of every item, and the reason for them being there in the list, is explained on the pages before.
When public lands are put aside and "protected" there should be no question they are protected for eternity. Never sold or exploited or drilled or grazed for pennies per acre. Always means forever.
Always means til the destroyers can buy, steal or destroy
Here are 2 pieces from my book published during the first dump shit 4-years in office. Some things just don't change.
Enjoy it if you can:
Beam Me Up, Scotty: Scott Pruitt's "New Agency for Holistic Standards Through Unobstructed Pollution" (formerly the Environmental Protection Agency)
April 13, 2018
If anyone gets into trouble in the Trump administration, just wait a few days until someone else gets into more trouble! A new disaster always comes waltzing in to take center stage and nudge out the current intolerable mess. Trump hops from one fiasco to another so the firing of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt will not be a matter of concern for long.
Syrian bombing missions take the limelight off excessive personal spending habits of EPA director Scott Pruitt.
The Trump EPA has painfully become a dysfunctional shell of what it was. Science and research have been sidelined and global warming is called a figment of wild imagination. The already minuscule budget has been slashed by 30 percent, making enforcement actions impossible. Superfund enforcement (requiring polluters to clean up their toxic spills) has been reduced to the current interest rate.
The new EPA lost 700 employees. The House Appropriations Committee approved $31 million for Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (VSIP) to buy out contracts of existing staff. Now the polluters are running the show. A mining operation in Alaska's Bristol Bay goes forward after being blocked. One oil leak could destroy the largest sockeye salmon resources in the world. No more banning toxic pesticides, or more requirements for companies to disclose hazardous chemical inventories.
Welcome the return of smog, bigger and more profitable Trump Smog – coal ash, mining waste, benzene and mercury pollution. Get your oxygen tank and face masks out. Invest in air purifiers and carbon filters.
It’s profit at any cost. Fossil fuel is Trump’s renewable energy. Dirty energy industry lobbyists and CEOs are the new guards at the American power and utility gates.
"He's a fantastic person. I just left coal and energy country. They love Pruitt. They feel very strongly about Pruitt, and they love Pruitt,” Trump gloats.
Normally, this kind of accolade is a prelude to being fired. But normalcy doesn't thrive in this Trumpian era. Scott Pruitt resigned for using government funds on himself and his wife.
May God bless his little-soundproof-Chick-Fil-A-wifey-used-Trump-Hotel-mattress-cheap-rent-condo heart.
Environmental Protection Agency
2018
"Hello, EPA, may I help you?"
"This is Shelby Connor from Parrish, Alabama. We've had 260 box car loads of dog gone shit sittin' at our rail yard for months. It stinks.”
"That's a state matter. Did you call the Alabama Department of Environmental Management?"
"What ya'll mean? These trainloads of shit have come down from New York. It's a federal inter-state matter."
"Sir, please be respectful. It's human waste.”
"I don't care what you call it. It's stinkin' up our town. We can't even go to a Little League baseball game ‘cause the boxcars are right across the tracks. How would you like to drive to church on Sunday and take a whiff of it while praying to the Lord?”
"Did Trump send this stench down here because we didn't elect Roy Moore? Let me speak with your director."
“Sir, Mr. Pruitt isn't available. And he no longer reviews environmental issues. Our new mandate from the president is to help companies get rid of waste the cheapest way possible. They probably picked Alabama because your dumping rates are so low. You'll have to call the West Virginia office to file a complaint. They handle waste disposal. Oh wait, that office has been closed down, too."
"I wanna know why New York and New Jersey’s shit is sittin’ in our little town. Git the stuff outta here."
“Shelby, shouting into the phone won't get you anywhere. I'm trying to help. Here, let me give you the Denver office. They have experience handling bio solids. Oops, sorry, that office was recently closed, too. Mr. Connor, we're not going to be around much longer as an agency. The EPA is shutting down. Haven't you heard?"
My late husband and I went to the Atacama Desert, a huge expanse touching on three countries, Chile Peru and Bolivia as I recall. The driest place on earth. We had a guide who was an indigenous person. What a little water there is is such a precious resource. But a copper mine company came in and mining is such a water intense operation. The indigenous people who live there and who have lived there got nothing from the mining and were left with depleted water. Once it’s gone some of that resource never will return, same with the Boundary Waters. Fight for this treasure.
Scary as hell. From UnitedWeAmend.org , "Today’s corporations are far more numerous, powerful and destructive of our economy, lives and Earth than all its predecessors plus organized crime combined and yet it wails like a beast, “Get government off our backs,” and there is an “Attack On American Free Enterprise System.” Yes, there certainly is. The American Revolution, now in its 250th year, is a war challenging the System."
I’m curious what attracted you to that place?
The most mundane reasons! I had traveled in South America fairly extensively during my international law work but I never made it to Chile. After I left I had a gazillion frequent flyer miles and my husband and I decided we should go there because we had never been. But we landed in Santiago, spent a couple days there then went down to the Lakes region which is absolutely gorgeous and volcanic. We then flew to the Atacama, and stayed in a little resort camp in a kind of oasis town. We took a couple of day trips out into the desert, one in particular was for some geysers that only go off as the desert heats up at dawn from very cold at night to very hot during the day. It was a magical place! But we had to travel there very early in the morning and it was like being on the moon, there was no light and it was rough. So it was interesting to go back to the village during the day and see all the flamingos and alpacas and hot springs which we got to take a swim in. I highly recommend the trip.
Thank you for liking that, even though I went back to change “expense” to “expanse” it didn’t stick!
It did. When you change something it takes a reloading of the page to take.
Yes, it sticks online but sometimes when you get a message that someone liked or replied it appears in the message in the original text.
My Father taught me as a child that the most valuable asset we all have at birth is our ethics. "Once you sell your ethics for any sort of perceived gain, you can never get them back ...never, they are gone forever."
Maintaining ethics throughout ones' life is a very high bar, but certainly not impossible. Ruth Bader Ginsburg comes to mind as a modern example of retained ethics.
The concept of ethics ( much less dignity, compassion, measured thought before speaking, (much less thinking or pronouncing words over 3 syllables)...please feel free to add to this list) is well beyond the capacity of our current President, his hand picked staff or his children)
Have you noticed President Trump looks like and acts like the lead Ferengi in Star Trek, Quark.
Traditionally, the President's job is one of ethics, measured dignity, inspiration, and planning for the future of the free world.
Its unlikely that the child of Fred, the devil, had any ethics at birth, so he has lived without the burden of or knowledge of ethics all his life. Sort of an anti christ or anti president.
Everything he sees or touches is for his personal gain, everything he does is "Trump First".
Let see how Quark does in tomorrow's State of the Union speech with his limited vocabulary, zero ethics, and lots of freedom of speech.
I'll pass and watch the People's State of the Union instead.
The low lights will, I'm sure, be in the news. There's no sense in subjecting yourself to abuse to excess, Ellen.
I have NEVER voluntarily watched realtime Trump. I want it all to be a bad nightmare. I want to wake up and that creep is back in NYC, living in golden bad taste.
The best to hope for is death. Blessed Release.
The Three Stooges can be streamed on Peacock TV, Hulu, and Samsung TV Plus.
Please report back what you learned. I will not give the Felon an audience.
I plan to watch with horrific fascination: Will part or all of the justices attend...or not? Will he trash them and heap praise on Kavanaugh? Will republican lawmakers jump to their feet applauding at his inane utterances or recoil in disgust? Can't wait for Gov. Spanberger's rebuttal....
I look forward to your analysis - I prefer root canal work.
Steve, we will not either. Our two Senators here in Oregon are having, if I remember correctly, some kind of virtual town hall. We no longer watch national news for the most part. Death star destroys everything he touches which is why I have given him this nickname. He is this ball of destruction and festering cancer.
My wife and I are in Massachusetts - we have much in common
Trump is not a nightmare that will go away if you close your eyes and ears. I'm sure it will be a dark tragedy that goes off script and lasts too long.
when America stops paying attention trump wins, we deserve better.
That's why I'll be watching, focused on indications both physical and mental. (My longtime suspicion is his madness is feigned, preparation for an insanity offense should he be overthrown and indicted.)
I noticed that his script the day the Court spanked him over tariffs was written almost as an off script pity party. It was "Wha! Wha! I can do what ever I want! Whaaaaa! Peace Prize. Wha! Ended eight wars! Whaaaa! I can do what ever I want! Whaaaaa!" I expect that is going to be his style on script from here on.
"Once you sell your ethics for any sort of perceived gain, you can never get them back ...never, they are gone forever."
My father would tell me the same thing but substituted the word 'reputation' for ethics.
The entire trump family is the worst of the worst....
First, I love your Dad. Second, what an insightful post. I understand your view of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG). In a Political Science I took a class called "Judicial Behavior". The science taught us that the opinions of Justices of the Court can often be predicted by looking at the Political Party Platform of the year the President who appointed them to the Court. I understand that such an appointment is for life. I also understand and agree with the reasons for a lifetime appointment; stability in the law. Indeed, if the law changed direction like a pendulum after every election there would be zero respect for the law. With all that in mind, considering the age of RBG, plus all the opinions which defined the law during her time, it seems to me it would have been more ethical for her to have stepped down at least 18 months before the end of Biden's term. For that matter, it would have been better for Biden to have also stepped down allowing Harris a chance to make it "Normal" to Americans that a female can handle the executive office. In UnitedWeAmend.org I address the age issue of the executive branch. I discuss stability of the law also in ending gerrymandering.
I will pass as well
Ethics at birth, Paul?
yes, much like innocence itself. all children have it, and sometimes innocence is taken from them.
I suggest the variation in ethics among cultures pretty much disputes the assertion that they are innate.
I feel life is a struggle from the moment you are born until you die. That struggle is different for everyone, but that is why ethics is different for everyone. It is how difficult survival is that grows the grasp of ethics. Trump is a spoiled rich brat who ran the house of his parents and never had to grow up. He is stuck in the mind of a nasty eight year old needing a severe spanking. He is likely emotionally stunted, or perhaps his genes are lacking even the ability of grasping ethics or empathy.
Oh yes, I did LOL a few times. I also saw that this is like a reality TV, Never Ending
Story that is actually our true reality. It's like an alternate universe kind of "Normal."
I haven't read the entirety of it yet Albert, but your amendments were interesting. I wonder if you could put together a summary of the changes, a sort of philosophy of the dramatic change, that is more amenable to public consumption.
You know most people don't read. Your document is close to a legal brief and too rich for most mental digestions.
I agree. I am busy promoting it among Democratic clubs, progressives PACs, etc. If during your read you can list a few sentences that standout to you please share them in the comments section. I can use that help to someday put together what you suggest. My Thanks, Bert
Albert, thank you for your Memorandum! Now let’s work towards you recommendations for a more perfect union.
I have a vivid memory of camping on one of Minnesota's many lakes close by the Wilderness or in it (I can't remember which now) as a teenager, watching the embers of a dying campfire, listening to absolute silence after sunset, save for the sound of a single loon.
Our church organizes trips here
We consider it sacred land
Call your MOCs
Get the 5 calls App
And call the traitor Susan Collins! Everyone!
She will vote Yes on the save act
"Save for the sound of a single loon."
Did you have trump on the radio?
Trump rarely travels as a single loon. He needs his loony acolytes to join his chorus.
Listening to a loon is therapy.
Hearing tRump is agony.
Uh....no. This was decades before the sound of THAT Baby Huey, whinybitchy voice ever sullied my ears.
Lady Emsworth has obviously never heard the beautiful, mesmerizing sound of a loon echo across the mirror-like surface of a northern lake. Her attempt here at humor misses the mark by a mile.
Ah, the calling of loons -- like a mystic summons -- haunting counterpoint to that women-talking-in-some-adjacent-room murmur that seems unique to the clear and troutly waters of the region's rivers. And the summer air so fragrant with sweet fern. Those who've not been there cannot imagine...
🤭
🤣
Experiences like yours can change a person's values and life path forever. A campfire can serve as a universal metaphor; Native American educator, Paula Underwood, used Central Fire as a dialogue prompt, asking each participant in a circle to say what they brought as fuel. I wish she were alive now to kick butt in DC (her career was in international diplomacy). We the People seem to be in a Crucible of Shifting Priorities.
This wonderful experience happens in Maine with the loons and I presume other wild places too with wildlife...
"In wildness is the preservation of the world"...Henry David Thoreau ( "Walking")
My Scout Troop canoed through the BWCAW last summer. It was an incredible experience.
I know the Minnesota area from travels in my 20s and 30s, and the summers of my boyhood and teens were blessed by intimacy with its kindred environment in northern Lower Michigan, particularly in the Au Sable's South-Branch country -- and most of that before its wildness was destroyed by electrification. Uniquely, that entire region -- even Minneapolis itself -- sometimes breeds white USians whose instinctive oneness with Nature approaches that of traditional First Nations folk. To me -- agnosticism aside -- it is genuinely sacred ground.
Once again, Trump bows only to the wealthy and so do almost ALL of the Republicans in Congress. While families struggle to get by, the Republicans bow to the wealthy adding over $2 trillion to the national debt in 2025.
This is no way to run a country. The boundary waters could ultimately pollute Lake Superior and ultimately kill millions of freshwater fish and the wildlife that depends on them.
https://www.savetheboundarywaters.org/sites/default/files/public/sites/default/files/public/path_of_pollution_from_sulfide-ore_mining_-_final.v3_1.jpg
Trump needs to recoup his losses from 6 bankruptcies somehow. Bribes let him fill his banks accounts faster.
1 Dem/Yea Jared Golden/D-Maine
https://www.congress.gov/votes/house/119-2/38
WTF. Maine and almost every other state has millions of acres of land and water protected from foreign investment and raping of our environment.
I have actually requested a meeting with the Congressman to discuss run-of-the-river hydroelectric power generation. I am opposed to daming up any waterway completely because of the damaging effects of the huge reservoirs and the blockage of fish migration, but most run-of-the-river or tidal systems have minimal impact to the environment.
I'm not sure if he will agree to meet with me with Congress's busy schedule, working 3 days and then off for 6 weeks.
My Congress weasel,David Rouzer, would be too busy working on his stock portfolio to meet constituents.
You go,Gary !!👏
Golden is thoroughly tarnished in any case, but we wish you luck.
“THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO GET RICH, RICHER THAN EVER BEFORE!!!”
djt, From truth social
Ahahh, Loren has put in words what the Boundary Waters are to me and why it draws me back every year for the past 23 years. Quite frankly, getting deep into nature and away from humans progress is very refreshing for body , mind , and soul.
As you put it Loren " agnosticism aside-- it is genuinely sacred ground"
Indeed it is. A devout trout fisher, hunter, seeker of archaeological anomalies, student of local myths, I also know and am comfortable in -- or would be were I not now an aged dying cripple -- the back country of Appalachia and Cascadia, but it is only the wilderness of Northern Michigan and Minnesota that always embraces me in an ineffable kind of homecoming and is truly my unabashedly pagan spiritual motherland. Thank you.
Loren, don't be afraid to use the word, "sacred." Our U.S. culture and language have been polluted with the religiosity of Puritan colonists, often displacing the secular meanings of words.
I prefer Cambridge Dictionary which originates in the source of our language, Great Britain. It acknowledges, but is not influenced by other English-speaking cultures. One given definition of "sacred" is: "considered too important to be changed."
I think that definition fits.
Thanks, Dale. I just got back from my perusal of dictionaries, and came here t write "considered too important to be changed" myself.
Ally, I always consult Cambridge first, and sometimes check other dictionaries to get a "rounder" impression of a word's meaning.
Excellent habit. I try to utilize several sources, thanks to the training from my English teacher Mom.
I grew up on the lovely St. Croix river, the boundary between Wisconsin and Minnesota about 15 miles from Saint Paul. If you go down the river about 20 miles, where it joins the Mississippi, you can see the muddy Mississippi and the blue waters of the St. Croix melting to flow toward the Gulf of Mexico. And I worked in St. Paul for years. I spent a lot of time as a kid in the north of Wisconsin and then went fishing in the boundary waters. Except for the black flies it was absolutely wonderful! It’s a treasure.
Can they go speak on the steps of Congress?
I was there with a Troop from Kansas about 5 years ago. I vividly remember walking through the parking lot of Northern Tier Adventures - the Boy Scout Post there where we took training and launched our canoes for the week long trip. The parking lot was loaded with of vehicles from at least 40 different states. I couldn't believe how many troops from all over the country were there in the one week a was there. And yet the place was so big that once we got away from the lakes near the outpost, we barely saw any other canoes. Amazing pristine place.
Leslie, I am glad you had that experience twice! When we left the area after having padded over an hundred miles, and camped in a number of locations with much teamwork, I felt so moved by the experience that in some ways, it was hard to come home again. It changed my life, too! Of course, the conveniences of home were especially welcome, but the beauty of true nature was unforgettably touching.
If we're to have any chance at all of protecting the BWCAW, we must stop the SAVE Act and that means demanding that Democratic Senators, every single one of them, commit to filibustering that atrocious legislation. If we're to have any chance of winning either or both houses of Congress, we must stop SAVE.
TINA SMITH, you go Senator!
Beautiful memory. Humans are arrogant and suicidal.
Ain't that the truth!?!
Another 3 persons were killed in Airstrikes in the Eastern Pacific circa 2/22/26 bringing the total killed by trump to 148.
Damn.
Yep: I was up there canoeing at 15 years old with a bunch of others. Sixty-two years ago. My oldest son did similar when he was a Boy Scout. You can not overstate the beauty and tranquility of it. Nor the mosquitos. Bring the repellant with plenty of Deet. Black flies can be bad also. We spent a week and a couple of days there.
Jumped off at Moose Lake north of Ely, MN.
The one thing I can say about being a Boy Scout. When I left for the Marine Corps in 68, I knew how to many more things than the others who were in Boot Camp with me and later on during my time in the Corps. Simple things like how to make a fire and using newspaper or paper to insulate you from the cold ground.
You do learn how to get by and the boundary waters were a great place to apply some of the knowledge we gained.
I was in the Boundary waters last summer with four of my grand sons. I have been up there many times that created fond memories for my whole life. The water was higher than normal which made the numerous water falls we encountered quite beautiful. We were on the border between Canada and Minnesota. But climate issues are having a negative affect on the Boundary Waters (BWCA) just like everywhere else. The changes in weather is causing stress on all kinds of flora and fauna. Adding poison to the mix is not an option. Those that have traveled up to the BWCA may or may not remember the number of streams creeks and rivers that flow from the region down to Lake Superior. Lake Superior is down hill from the BWCA.
It should be noted that Lake Superior is home to ten percent of the world's fresh water. There is more water in Lake Superior than all the other Great Lakes put together. It is not just a national treasure, it is indeed a world treasure. One that should never be threatened by poison mining. In the fifties it had been threatened by taconite production. After long hard fought legal battles the threat was thwarted. Since then most Minnesotans admire and love the entire region. It's not just Minnesotans, people from all over world visit this area.
It baffles me that Pete Stauber, whom I think is a red necked ex cop, is a trump supporter all the way wants to threaten this region. He won his election with adds that showed him as a hunter and outdoors man. Most hunters I know appreciate conservation, like people that visit the BWCA. Keeping a good environment for the preservation of the wildlife they hunt or the area they are visiting. But I wasn't surprised when I read that Pete Stauber had sold his soul to business. Typical Republican hippo-crate that business at all costs must move forward. We cannot afford to poison the Boundary Waters much less the irreplaceable Lake Superior!
My late husband and I went to the Atacama Desert, a huge expanse touching on three countries, Chile Peru and Bolivia as I recall. The driest place on earth. We had a guide who was an indigenous person. What a little water there is is such a precious resource. But a copper mine company came in and mining is such a water intense operation. The indigenous people who live there and who have lived there got nothing from the mining and were left with depleted water. Once it’s gone some of that resource never will return, same with the Boundary Waters. Fight for this treasure.
Leslie, you claim: "We humans are not "special." We are just arrogant." Yes, to arrogant add selfish, stupid, self-centered, ignorant. Earlier generations produced weapons that can wipe life off the face of the earth. Our generations may just be stupid enough to use them. I keep thinking that the end could come from a religious war - Islam vs Christianity and Judaism, or vice-versa. Kill the Infidel.
Richard, evangelicals universally believe this religious war is inevitable and have given it a name, Armageddon, which is expected to happen in the Middle East, according to "biblical prophecy." They are actually eager for this war to take place, because it is the war that will "permanently defeat Satan and usher in 'The Millennium,' a thousand years' reign of peace, during which Jesus will sit on a global throne," putting his Christians in charge of everything, obviously. They can't wait to have this global power!
This is a rarely discussed plank in the Christian Nationalist platform. It is suppressed because if more people were aware of it, they'd be frightened away from supporting the CN agenda.
Islam has something similar to the Christian's Armageddon: Al-Malhama Al-Kubra: a "Great Battle" occurring at the end times, a massive, brutal battle between Muslims and non-Muslims. It is predicted to occur before the appearance of the Antichrist and the return of Jesus, which, of course, will never happen. In the end the world will be united under Islam. Both sides now have nuclear weapons.
If we're united under Islam, women will never have full rights, so we might want to avoid that.
Robert, females don't have full rights under "Christian," i.e., Christian-in-name-only leadership. When I was in Texas last year, three women bled to death from problem pregnancies because the doctors were afraid to perform the necessary abortions because they could face going to prison if they did.
I get your point, Richard. Some women travel to other states, like CO, to get abortions. I would compare that though, to the elimination of education for women in Afghanistan since the Taliban resumed control. The stoning of women who are sexually abused. I don't think the clergy under Islam are led by women, at least not by far to the extent that they are in Christian religions. You've noticed that muslim women even in the US are forced to wear head coverings. Not their brothers or husbands.
Actually, that's true only in *some countries* and in *some homes*.
(gently)
And I know of NO religion that guarantees safety and full rights to everyone..
Yes, muslim women would probably rather live in Europe or the US than in Afghanistan. The Middle East is not uniform for them. Several years ago, it was the case that Christians had to pray and assemble in private in Middle Eastern countries; don't know if that has changed. I think that the theme here is that the Western world is generally more open and tolerant than in many other parts of the world. Not perfect, but something to be proud of.
Funny how both The East and The West have similar versions of the same legend. It's almost as if a bunch of old men sat around an ancient fire, making up stories of gods and wars, then headed off in different directions, sharing the same fictions with their children and grandchildren, who migrated further in opposite directions and created religions focused on these made-up gods.
Interesting thought. I wonder if it is redundant to say "made-up gods?" Are gods not, by definition, made up?
well...i know, according to the writings, that some of them fought a LOT...whether or not they've made up by now is hard to tell by this mortal...
Well, yes. But some people – not you – need reminding, this being a public forum and all.
I was, too, with Minnesota Outward Bound when I was 18 years old. Life-changing, indeed.
Leslie, I have a friend who served at a canoe base in Minnesota's Boundary Waters area for 10 years or so. Since then, she and anywhere from 8-12 of the people she worked with have had a reunion there every two years (excluding the Covid year). Her passion for that area is reflective of what you just wrote here. Life changing then, and every year they go back.
She writes the Minnesotan legislative body about once a month.
This says it all.
Arrogant and GREEDY!
Very well said. Thank you.
Americans not only go to the wild places, many of our greatest books depend on them.
Ditto for so many of the movies Hollywood has filmed out there, on location.
We've got in Donald not only an unscrupulous criminal, but one with so little -- zero -- humanity in him, so little -- zero -- conscience, we can only up the debt of gratitude we have for Heather's patience and assiduousness in tracking so much of his mean, continuing, vulgarity.
And, critically, ZERO appreciation for nature. Some examples: He ripped out the Rise Garden and replaced it with a marble patio. You never see flowers in photos of the Oval Office anymore. Yes, he plays golf, but he thinks so little of even that built environment that he drives his cart into the putting green. Though he lived only a few blocks away, he reportedly never took his children to Central Park. He believes forests should be raked. He's never had a pet of any sort. Etc.
"He's never had a pet of any sort."
Well, he does have Lindsey Graham. Not sure if that counts.
Nope, slave more descriptive
Haha, thank you, Eric! I need at least one laugh every morning.
😚
Eric, it definitely counts
😆
The way I see it is this. Trump is a rapist. We know that definitively; it is not subject to debate. Our planet is often called Mother Earth or Gaia. We do that because we know it is something to be revered, cared for, loved. But to him it’s just something else to rape. He takes what he wants, wounds at will, gives nothing back, then comes back for more. This is a product of a life of entitlement spent never having to face consequences. Sorry if my description is graphic but it’s the truth. He is evil personified.
Well done, Chris Johnston. Ignorance and greed go hand in hand. The combination of his KKK father, Papa Putin, and Bro Orbán guide him. We and the natural world suffer.
MisTBlu. No pet would be safe with him. He feed them McDonald’s daily. And he’d be like Noem and shoot them.
How many times has he been to Camp David? And that's not exactly roughing it.
Offer Trump a leading role in a Hollywood film on the BWCA. That’ll do it.
Karen, it would be safer and more efficient to offer him a million dollars to torpedo the legislation. Second best would be a gold-plated, canoe-shaped trophy naming him "The Champion of the Wilderness." I wouldn't be too specific about the location of the wilderness right now, because he's on a rampage against Minnesota.
It would be good to know the status of the proposed "Prove it First" bill in the Minnesota state legislature.
No time to keep lamenting or critisizing Trump. Act. Contact your DEM congress reps to impeach Bondi and other enablers to start off. We citizens must protect not only Democracy but also our wild lives and beautiful parks.
And Trump puts NO VALUE on scenic wild lands, wild life or honoring the good former Presidents have left us. He only values money and power. What a sad, sad excuse for a human being. Just an empty shell.
Another catastrophic outcome emanating from the crime against humanity committed by the 77 million of our fellow Americans who voted to put a convicted thug in the White House.
Add to that another 70 million who were complicit by not voting.
Nope. A few million were shut out by Trump's cheating. See the VIGILANTES INC video to see how it was carried out in red states. Contact you senator to vote against the SAVE act which will shut out more legitimate Democratic voters!
Here in a vital Thom Hartmann exclusive is how the thievery is done, including credible statistical evidence showing that the ChristoNazis' purging of Blacks, Hispanics and white progressives from the 2024 voter rolls put Trump in the White House. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-q1lWsnlhg&t=5s (Election discussion starts at 9:09)
If democrat leadership isn't vested in protecting our right to vote what the hell good are they? Time to throw the bums out.
PICK ON REPUBLICANS.
They are never going to fight for individual rights. A new crop of dems and independents might, especially if we can keep them on task. I would like to see the republican/maga brand become extinct.
And even with all those machinations he only won by 1.5%.
This may/may not be credible.
“In December 2024, I was personally involved in an NSA‑authorized forensic audit of the 2024 election. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz won—by a wide margin. Trump lost dramatically. There are multiple layers of complexity to this cover‑up, including transnational organized crime syndicates that extend far beyond the United States and our elections. To that point, I work in the human trafficking sector, which intersects with the stolen election(s) and has ties to Trump and Epstein—not to President Biden, Vice President Harris, or Governor Walz, but to the Democrats and other allied interests responsible for burying the audit.”
— Adam Zarnowski, ex-CIA agent and author of Jörmungandr
https://thiswillhold.substack.com/p/ex-cia-whistleblower-the-nsa-audited
Needs verification. But if it's accurate....
Could be. Hard to know. I don’t know how to verify it. The only thing when you get into huge conspiracies, it seems like, human nature being what it is, it would be hard to keep it all quiet. But then, look at the Epstein conspiracies and how long they took to unravel. And we still aren’t at the bottom of it — All those outreaches to various Russian actors have to be hiding something big. Anyway, it won’t help us know now. We need to start from where we are now. We have to protect the midterms. We have to get a big plan of how we are going to clean up this mess when it implodes. We need to get our great communicators out there in the red states and red parts of states. We the people have to be engaged and active.
You are so right you are left
Exactly, they are as much to blame
NO WAY. Blame the victims?
I will not add that 70 million total. Many were prevented from voting by those who had been elected to serve them. I will, now and forever, hold the "Bernie Bros" who refused to vote for H. Clinton responsible for the debacle we see today regardless of how they voted in '24, but I don't think there were 70M of them.
Unfortunately in the ecogenocide so gloatingly authorized by the Malevolent Majority's 77-million-vote for governance by felonious tyranny, we are at last witnessing in unabashed form the true, incorrigibly criminal face of this nation, the final fulfillment of the long-simmering, politically definitive mysogynistic and racist hatefulness that fuels the Nazism Jeff Sharlet reveals as "the secret fundamentalism at the heart of American power." That's why, if we win this war (as I believe we shall), our only alternative is to build anew rather than attempt the failed republic's restoration.
Start by getting dark money out of politics. Tax the ultra-wealthy. Set term limits. Enforce our laws at all levels, not just on the impoverished. Fact check political speeches. There's a long list.
I agree with this except for hard and fast term limits. A mandatory retirement age perhaps, but there are Senators who have been there for several terms and they are too knowledgeable to push out by some knee jerk rule.
And that most likely would vote for him again or for any of his partners in crime. Thanks for your comment Rex.
It's not looking that way Ricardo. The 18-29 year olds have gotten f*cked royally by Trump's policies and they know it. Millions of recent high school and college grads can't even find jobs at fast food restaurants. Of course, they could move to TX or FL and pick fruit and vegetables I guess. But, we all know they won't.
The US lost 108,000 manufacturing jobs in 2025 and 68,000 in December alone.
From Google -
n 2025, the U.S. manufacturing sector experienced significant job losses, totaling approximately 108,000 positions. This decline marked a continuation of a troubling trend in manufacturing employment.
President Trump continues to gaslight the stupid christofascists and the other idiots that believe all of the BS being put out by Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and the corporation media.
Hope you are right GJ. From the bottom of my heart 👍
Have canoed there years ago twice at the (BWC). A gorgeous area and the nights brought the stars as close to you that even as the years have passed still are awe inspiring.
A Cree Indian prophecy or proverb, highlights that humanity will only recognize the futility of valuing money over nature once the ecosystem has been destroyed.
"Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish been caught, and the last stream poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money"
Will be adding this on the calls in the am to those DC representatives.
TJ, that is so well said, and yes, it must be added to the calls! Thank you!
Thanks, TJ. I have a friend who meets regularly with friends she worked with at the BSA Canoe Base in her late teens and early 20's. She holds that place with sacred reverence for nature.
Thank you..
When Native Americans are not considered true Americans and are harassed by DHS and ICE , none of this is surprising.
When your own planet is considered an expendable resource available for the sacking for as long as you can take something without thought of any consequences, none of this is surprising.
ICTT, acknowledging that some may think I'm a one-issue commenter, I can't help noting that evangelicals believe that "God will destroy the earth" after the Millennium (thousand years' reign of peace) when he takes all his believers to heaven. Further, evangelicals believe we are living "in the last days." So if one "knows" the earth will be destroyed in approximately a thousand years, there is little motivation to do anything that would protect and preserve the earth.
Never mind that we have “been living in the last days” for centuries.
It makes one think of Lucy and the football.
Yep. The lengths evangelicals will go to in order to explain these aborted raptures is mind-boggling. I have concluded, and said so, that evangelicalism is a form of psychosis.
That’s insane 🤬
Mm hmm. See my reply to Linda.
What do you call people willing to sell their legacy to satisfy their immediate greed, force others to pay the cost while depriving their own children of an inheritance? What kind of sick, irresponsible 'parent' does such a thing?
Republicans.
RepubliKlans. GOPorkers. Greedily Odious Plutocrats. Grotesquely Omnipotent Pedophiles. Et cetera ad nauseam...
Repugnantkins 🤬
I expect the ultra wealthy imagine that no matter how hollowed out the ecosphere may become, with a word, they can get what they came for.
Perhaps they'll enjoy it on their alternative planet or wherever it is they imagine they can get to once this one's been fully trashed.
When they’re on their deathbed they’ll be in for a very big surprise…
Sadly, there was a time when wealthy Americans supported the protection of public lands... when Republicans advocated for clean air and clean water...
Sometimes words have two meanings.
I often wonder how they look their children in the eye.
They don’t.
I've observed that Republicans don't really think of their children as people. They are props.
"Prop" is a shortened version of "property" used in the theatrical world meaning "decorative object used to enhance the stage set."
Indeed, Republicans treat their children like both owned property and as decorative objects. These props demonstrate that the parents are fertile and are considered valuable by our culture. Children are property that parents can use to live out their unfulfilled ambitions. One looks down at them like a prized possession, not in the eye.
Exactly!!!
Our rapist 47, that kind of parent.
I can't call 47 a "parent". That requires at least noticing that the child is a human being. 47 acknowledges no one who isn't himself. At best he might be considered to be a sperm producer.
You call one of those people Pete Stauber. I will never understand how MN 8th District came to elect such a “sick, irresponsible” man. It’s beyond heartbreaking.
The dangers of this type of mining well beyond the waters and the local area cannot be stressed enough. Sulphuric acid in contact with water can become airborne, causing major human health and environmental degradation. Remember the smoke from the wildfires in Canada last year? Borne by the prevailing winds, the smoke and particulate travelled across the United States as far as Alabama, Florida, and the Gulf Coast. The same could happen, is actually likely. This is a national health issue that is totally avoidable. Voting NO is important for EVERY state in our country.
I remember the days of acid rain falling on the East Coast as it traveled on the winds from midwestern smokestacks. It ruined the drinking wells that were common and forced entire rural and small towns to build out expensive water systems to supply drinking water as one well after another was contaminated. The Clean Air and Clean Water Acts finally forced companies to install scrubbers on their stacks and other methods of pollution control which reduced further damage. But the damage was done and private wells could no longer be trusted.
This administration is hell-bent on eliminating 60 years of work done to reduce damage to the environment. But of course, why would Trump care? He will not have to experience the return of smog-filled skys, acidic drinking water, mass kill-offs of wildlife from polluted rivers… he will leave that legacy for those under 60 and younger.
And when he and his shameless industrialist and tech-bro cronies finish making this planet uninhabitable, no doubt they'll try to sell us seats on some rocket they own to get to a planet they've stolen.
..to a planet they believe they "own"... they own nothing that I value
Correction: this criminal Regime, in collaboration with the ever-more-dominant Nazi International, "is hell-bent on elimination" of every humanitarian advancement our species has ever achieved.
(That's why I'm convinced our six or seven millennia of patriarchy -- six or seven thousand years of might-makes-right tyranny -- is breeding a new subhuman subspecies, Homo sapiens inhumanus. The inability of these creatures to empathize – an anti-evolutionary trait made virtuous by their leaders’ fanatical assertions empathy is deadly sin -- results in apocalyptic sociopathy of an unprecedented magnitude. And its ecogenocidal toxicity is further intensified by the replacement of the human love-instinct with a far-more-powerful anti-human hate instinct -- clearly the (intentional) result of patriarchy’s anti-humanitarian conditioning. See https://news.yale.edu/2025/03/06/violent-experiences-alter-genome-ways-persist-generations )
I remember too
Rio Tinto blasts 46,000-year-old Aboriginal site to expand iron ore mine | Indigenous Australians | The Guardian.
A sacred site in Western Australia that showed 46,000 years of continual occupation and provided a 4,000-year-old genetic link to present-day traditional owners has been destroyed in the expansion of an iron ore mine. The cave in Juukan Gorge in the Hammersley Ranges, about 60km from Mt Tom Price, is one of the oldest in the western Pilbara region and the only inland site in Australia to show signs of continual human occupation through the last Ice Age. It was blasted along with another sacred site.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/26/rio-tinto-blasts-46000-year-old-aboriginal-site-to-expand-iron-ore-mine
DISGUSTING!! I cannot and will not "like" this post.
Ally House (Oregon): I frequently have that problem; I only like that HCR does the yeoman work to bring things to our attention, not that I like the content. Not at all.
That works for me almost all the time. Not this time.
😡
Makes you wonder if copper mining in the dry southwest is much safer than it would be in Minnesota.
I wouldn't say "much" safer, but it is safer to some degree because the issue is that sulphuric acid forms when the oxides come in contact with water. As the name implies, the BWCA and the adjacent Quetico National Forest in Canada are quite wet.
Hopefully this catastrophe will be averted. The fact that it could still happen reinforces the need to improve governmental processes that depend on norms or values which we have seen cannot be enforced. Another process change to enact when the scoundrels are finally banished.
100% Agree. This is yet another example of corruption on many levels in our political process.
The mining oligarch got to Trump likely through renting the house to Jared and Ivanka at a reduced rate. No whiff of graft is too faint to attract Trump.
I am sure it just took a word to remind Trump that this was in Minnesota and, therefore, a perfect way to punish the state and to add a checkmark to his retribution list.
The Project 2025 blueprint argued that federal lands have been “removed from productive use” and urged the administration to maximize oil, gas, coal, and mineral extraction on public lands and waters. An analysis of Project 2025 concludes that it calls for expanding drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, expanding the Willow oil project in Alaska, and promoting mining in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters and other currently protected landscapes. It was right out there in the open before the election.
Citizens United has a part to play. That allowed the quid pro quo to the fossil fuel and mining oligarchs before he was elected. "Give me a billion dollars and..." I am yours. It was on the oligarchs' wish list to gain access to protected federal lands--that was one of the first executive orders Trump signed in 2.0.
It is also allowed for Stauber to be bought. Campaign‑finance data show Stauber regularly receives PAC contributions from mining and extractive‑industry companies. Mining‑sector PAC donors listed for him include firms such as Cleveland‑Cliffs, Coeur Mining, Freeport‑McMoRan, Arch Resources, Alliance Coal, and similar resource companies.
Open Secrets’ overall summary of his fundraising in recent cycles shows strong backing from energy and natural‑resources interests, including mining and related sectors. Only 10% of his campaign funding comes from small contributors. So this is another example of the damage Citizens United is causing by distorting the legislative process.
Using over-reach of Congressional powers in the CRA is a trial balloon to see how far it can be stretched. Project 2025 does not always spell out “use the CRA on Rule X.” But legal and policy reviews of the document describe it as instructing a conservative administration and Congress to use the CRA systematically to void Biden‑era environmental and land‑protection rules that constrain fossil fuel and mineral development. The Project 2025 uses text like “restoring multiple use” and “unleashing” energy and minerals. Both the document itself and subsequent implementation show a clear intent to open more federal lands to mining and drilling and to use the CRA as one of the main tools to dismantle protective rules that stand in the way.
In 2025, Congress used the CRA to disapprove multiple Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management rules, including several resource management plans that restricted development on public lands. They just didn't raise the outcry that the Boundary Waters attack is generating.
CRA was signed by Bill Clinton in 1996 with bipartisan support, but it has mostly been used to overturn Obama-era regulations. It was supposedly meant to be protective by using a fast-track process (safe from filibustering) to get rid of bad regulations quickly, but it requires an Act of Congress to reverse the decision, a much harder process. It is a reminder to Democrats that the filibuster is a fickle beast and there are many ways around it. It is the perfect example for Patricia's comment about having to think harder about unintended consequences when legislation is crafted.
This will be challenged in the courts and run up to SCOTUS to get a favorable precedent set, and remind Gorsuch why he is there after he broke ranks on the tariffs. Barrett is a woman who defied Trump, so she is now an object of contempt, permanently on the retribution list.
It's all about corruption. And the root of corruption is Citizens United. The game plan is Project 2025.
Georgia, Thank you for bringing the “receipts” on Pete Stauber’s campaign funding. I could not fathom how MN District 8 had sunk to such a low point to elect such a traitor. Now I know.
Thank you, also, for introducing me to this invaluable tool - www.opensecrets.org
We would all do well to check it regularly, along with www.fec.gov
Open secrets is an invaluable resource for identifying PACs and some donors. But there is a lot of dark money that does not have identifiable tracks back to the donors.
I’ve used FEC.gov in the past as well to track funding through campaign committees that Congressional leadership uses to support other candidates. In 2024 $1.9 billion was spent from undisclosed sources on the election, or about 20% of the total.
Thanks, Georgia.
It’s almost as if, when writing any new laws or rewriting old laws, we have to have a committee just delegated to come up with ways you could get around the law, so as to write the law so as to prevent them! But then the founders thought they had done some thing like that, by having a three branch Congress, where the branches are supposed to regulate each other.
Ms. Neyman: the criminal evasiveness you have so aptly described is part of the criminal quintessence of capitalism, the core ethos of which is anything -- ecogenocide included -- for profit. That's why, with the international embrace of fascism guaranteeing capitalism's destruction of the planet will continuing to escalate, the annual revenues of the global advertising business -- the sole purpose of which is to fabricate ever-more-seductive lies and disinformation to ensure the perpetual enlargement of the capitalists' already unfathomable wealth and power -- are expected to top one trillion dollars this year. (Every reference I could find for this story is -- of course -- paywalled; nevertheless, see for example -- https://www.ft.com/content/e9d9befb-d5fd-438e-89d3-47f894c56736 )
Loren, I am stealing this: "...the criminal quintessence of capitalism..." It rings a pure tone.
If the areas are ruined or even partly damaged, and we know damage can not be contained, how can that be reversed?
It cannot be reversed.
Exactly! That was my meaning in the rhetorical question. I am sick over this disaster or pending disaster.
Would the Minnesota state legislature's "Prove it First" bill stop the mining if passed, or would the Stauber resolution if passed supersede it?
🆘 Activism and protests within county found success in Hutchins, TX to stop DHS from building inhumane ICE Detention Center.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVBqDd6ADIG/?igsh=MTZrcGp0bXM3cGVtYQ==
The owners of a 1-million-square-foot warehouse in Hutchins, Texas—which is located in Dallas County—have now said they will not sell or lease the property to the Department of Homeland Security, according to reports.
According to reporting from The Washington Post, the warehouse had been considered for conversion into a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center that could house up to 9,500 migrants, which is more than the population of Hutchins.
“We have residents saying, ‘Why even focus on an ICE facility when we don’t even have a good grocery store in here?’ When we talk about how to improve our community and neighborhoods, this is not it,” State Rep. Aicha Davis, D-Dallas said.
#More Perfect Union | @perfectunion | FEB 20 2026
#SPECTRUM NEWS | FEB 22 2026
#Washington, D.C. -- Today, Rep. Crockett released the following statement: "I am relieved that the owner of the Hutchins warehouse has confirmed they will not sell or lease this property to the Department of Homeland Security for use as an ICE detention facility. (2/16/26)
This is excellent news.
Are you joking ?
Do you want an ICE detention facility there?
For the descendants of Teddy Roosevelt to collectively feel the need to shout their disgust from the rooftops, is saying something.
For this administration, everything is a a commodity to be sold, with Trump the self-proclaimed owner, gatekeeper, bouncer and agent. Except he's not any of those things -- we are, with Congress the designated stewards. Its Republican members have abandoned not only all memory of Teddy Roosevelt, but their regulatory duties and responsibilities explicitly laid out in Article I of the Constitution.
Every day we lose more and more of the very concept of what our Declaration of Independence actually tried to stand for back in 1776. By the time we reach our 250th anniversary, most of what we inherited will have been given, sold, stolen or simply gifted to Russia, China, Antofagasta Mining, the few coal companies left in West Virginia and Sinclair Broadcasting.
"Don't it always seem to go, you don't know what you got til it's gone..."
ICTT...Yes ... Joni Mitchell..." They paved paradise... And put up a parking lot" or shoveled out the earth for a mine... Joni Mitchell wrote Big Yellow Taxi" in 1970... How prophetic...
And now they’ll have glyphosate in abundance.
Feckless Leader paved over the iconic White House Rose Garden; just for starters, just for jollies; just because he could.
I think a few dollars under the table probably helps. This guy is now far richer than he’s ever been in his entire life.
There was a push last year to have some public lands opened up for sale, but senators and congressmen in the West pushed back, defeated the idea.
My wife and I spent our honeymoon in the Boundary Waters on a weeklong canoe trip, drinking the lake water. Once an area like this gets polluted by a mine, we can never get it back. This vote woul lose this treasure forever.
My daughter is also Rayna, spelled the same way.
Further proof that Harry Truman was right 78 years ago, that "the only 'good Republicans' are pushing up daisies," and why the Republican Party needs to be declared a subversive organization and banned. The GOP has been America's Enemy since about 5 seconds after Lincoln died.
Andrónico Luksic supported Pinochet. Let the old fascist go back to Chile and fuck himself in his face, repeatedly.
I don't think banning opposing political parties is a good idea. If Republicans were banned, would anyone besides Dems be allowed to run? Maybe the Green Party?
Green is not good if the cretin who went to Russia in 2018 is still in charge
Like several other commenters, I spent four summers backpacking and canoeing in the BWCAW during elementary and middle school. It is an incredibly beautiful part of nature that must be preserved at all costs. I firmly oppose opening the area to foreign mining interests and stand with the Roosevelts on this issue. HCR, thank you for devoting today's entire report to this important issue.
Mark Kennedy, you expressed the crucial information so nicely. I believe your way will help me in preparing to call. I feel so strongly that we must save snd protect this area always!
Thank you for your kind words. I have only fond memories of this amazing wilderness, so the idea of its destruction is unimaginable to me. Please feel free to cite my comment.
Thank you, Mark. In returning to civilization I recall crying at the sight of lights and even neon lights in the distance as our bus drove back to our state well after dark. The ruination of land was so hard to see in overly populated areas. That was well over half a century ago.
Without the wilderness we would be lost in a morass of man made mumbo jumbo like dirty clothes tumbling in the fetid soapy water of sudsy washing machines. We need to look to the horizon to the sky and to the untrammeled earth beneath our feet. We need to refresh the sight the sound the promise that wilderness invokes. Or we will go crazy. Give me wildness or give me death. Patrick Cole.
I have only visited Yosemite as a passenger with hubby who rushed through. Same at Grand Canyon. But I have appreciated national parks all my life and donate to 5 supporting organizations. I have deliberately not visited again because no wild space needs my footprint. And I’m old. But I hope my efforts allow my grands a chance for a glimpse.
Everyone should realize this is not an isolated incident, the Trump admin is also trying to increase logging of old growth timber in the PNW, increase grazing on BLM land, and suspend almost 30 pieces of landmark environmental legislation to build their border wall through Big Bend National Park, and this is only the tip of the ICEberg.
I called my senators today. This is beyond huge.