Go home, JD Vance. By my definitiion you are not a real American

 In 2025, JD Vance attempted to make the case that the real Americans were those born before the Civil War, in the most absurd claim that real Americans, as he defined them, were descendants of such settlers. It was one of the most racist and white nationalist concepts one could imagine, but it also was evidence to me that MAGA's core contained many like him. The nation was founded on an idea that people could govern themselves and that "all men were created equal" with the inalienable right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.  It was not founded solely by white immigrants from England, and even my ancestral immigrants from Yorkshire settling in the colonies had already married a few Germans before the American Revolution, as recent DNA and past research into ancestors by family members and my own at the Library of Congress indicated.  So let us define who is a real American, Vance, and with my own (absurd ) definition, I proclaim I am a real American, and you are not. In fact, Vance, go home.

My (Absurd) Definition of who is a real American: If you cannot trace your ancestry to before 1776, you are not a real American. Only real Americans are those who are members of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) , who take pride in the fact that they were already in the colonies before 1776.  There was a time in my eastern Oklahoma childhood in the Jim Crow 1950's when such ancestry counted in defining social status, and, yes, I even had a small scholarship from the local DAR chapter for college tuition. So take that, Vance. By my definition, just finding your roots in Civil War Appalachia does not count. Go home, Vance. You are not a real American as I (arbitrarily) define it.

https://thereconstructionera.com/j-d-vance-on-the-civil-war-and-citizenship/

My list of grievances against Trump in 2026 eerily resemble those lists in the Declaration of Independence from the KIng in 1776

 July 4 this year is not for me a celebration with joy and pride, but trepidation that we are on the verge of restoring the kind of tyranny we revolted against in 1776.  In 1776, the reasons for the Declaration were laid out in a list of grievances against the King in that historic document.  Many of those reasons are similar to the deeds and actions of President Trump, who has amassed  such power and wealth even our founders could never have envisioned.  I wrote the following exactly one year ago: I could have written it today.    

July 4, 2025

My Declaration of Independence from King Trump and a List of Grievances.

As we celebrate the Declaration of Independence from a king in 1776, we also decry the re-establishment of one who thinks and acts like one in 2025. In the Declaration of Independence of 1776, a list of grievances against the King (a bill of particulars) was presented as the reasons for declaring independence.

Here are mine (in no particular order of importance.

• He claims his executive orders are the law of the land and acts accordingly.
• He accumulates vast wealth from enterprises that include customers who are foreigners..
• He uses "his" active army to repress protestors and put fear into the hearts of those who would show their anger toward his policies
• He forces by threat and fear his parliament to pass legislation that does not reflect the will of each member's own constituents
• He sets up prisons to contain those who have no chance to protest and builds concentration camps which deprive persons of their rights or send them to foreign, harsh prisons, without any evidence that they committed crimes other than having documents of status violations.
• His masked, unmarked, street-clothed federal agents snatch those off the street to arrest targets or those who look like they are from south of our border without warrants, sometimes using excessive force...
• He threatens to delist media that do not toe his line and calls all media that criticize him liars
• He threatens to remove federal funding from education that does not reflect his ideology or the ideology of his core supporters in his political party, while his legislative initiatives are approved by around 30% of those polled who know what is in it, the contents about which he lies on the favored media outlets he owns or approves.
• He abuses his power by using "his" Department of Justice to investigate opponents without any probable cause as a tool to threaten opponents to his reign or make examples of them to frighten others into silence.
• He reverses the rights of minorities, religious or love preferences, and non-whites by removing all references to diversity, equity, and inclusion in any federal documents he controls... reinstating the ability of the federal government to discriminate against them again. He wants to imprison those he plans to expel from this country without the right of habeas corpus.
• He adopts all policies of white Christian nationalists written in a document as a blueprint for the takeover of the federal government and institutes them by installing their authors in key positions
• He refuses to confirm whether he would honor treaties or come to the defense of allies who are attacked and have signed such a treaty...NATO
• He ignores court orders of any court lower than the Supreme Court if he does not like the ruling..
• He tries to sell off public lands, institutes tariffs, deprives the poor of health care and nutrition programs to compensate for the loss of income to the treasury due to tax favors and reductions granted to the very rich. 
• He pardons criminals who were found guilty by jury trial or had already confessed to crimes because they were his supporters, contributors, or friends of his. In so doing, he encourages those to commit crimes on his behalf in the future, believing they, too, would be pardoned..

Declaration of Independence: A Transcription | National Archives

If the Trump regime attempts to interfere the nidterms, the State AG's will be ready for the fight

 Nicolle Wallace's interview the week before the 4th with Jack Smith, the prosecutor in the Jan. 6 insurrection, warned about the November 2026 elections and feared interference by Trump's feds. The only institutions still able to prosecute and deal with this are the 50 state attorneys general and prosecuting under state statutes. https://www.yahoo.com/.../jack-smith-says-very-concerned...

Heads up, everyone. Lucky for Colorado, Phil Weiser is still Attorney General and Jena Griswold is the Secretary of /state and chief election official for the state. They have successfully defied Trump's feds in the matter of Tina Peters by using state statutes to prosecute. That kept the feds at bay (until Gov. Polis caved on the terms of her sentence and now fired the parole board members who defied him.) Weiser is the Democratic candidate for Governor per the primary, and Griswold is likewise the winning Democrat in the primary, seeking to replace Weiser as AG. Both have got invaluable experience in matters like this, thanks to the Peters case.. I have no doubt that the FBI and ICE will try to confiscate and control the election results and the ballots on Trump's orders and behalf. Expect fireworks if they try. All AG's but the Trump loyalists in the other states are geared up for the fight for democracy, too.

In wake of success of democraic socialist candidates, the right goes bonkers:..communists.. they shout. rev;i7/5/2026

 Calling democratic socialists "communists' echoes the 1950s Red Scare. Will it work in 2026? It might with those of a certain age, but also there are those who may also remember McCarthyism went down in flames as the BS was exposed.  However, there is a note of caution: within the Democratic Socialist banner, there are those who may deserve to be feared and should be marginalized. 

As MAGA tries to digest the recent wins of democratic socialists (of the Bernie Sanders type, ye gads) in a limited number of blue urban legislative districts, including Denver, they are going bonkers and screeching that they are all communists... exhibiting both their ignorance of any differences within the movement itself and accepting the reality on the ground that many see their standard of living declining. There is a lack of awareness that Trump is taking them in a fascist-like direction as well.

The current success of the democratic socialist candidates is based on the failure of both major political parties to address the growing gap between the very rich and the rest of us and a realization by many that their standard of living is declining. The word "affordability" of groceries, home ownership, and energy identified the symptoms, if not the cause.  

This "celebration" of the 250th anniversary of our democracy on July 4 is dampened by an awareness of many that the greatest danger to the kind of democracy we have known for those 250 years is Donald Trump and his loyal band of followers. Never before have we had a government that is planning to use our intelligence and FBI services to interfere in our domestic elections. It is an opportunity to educate voters about democracy and what the real threat to its existence is in 2026: fascism

Be aware that there are elements in the democratic socialist movement that indeed support the communist model and ideology. Not all are of the Bernie Sanders or even the FDR type. FDR's greatest contribution was permitting some socialist ideas to be enacted, but also kept capitalism as the foundational economic system. I count myself in the FDR tradition. The Atlantic recently raised a red flag: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/07/dsa-communist-socialist-democrats/

The only antidote to communism or fascism is democracy, which is the ultimate enemy of dictatorships, the kind of governing methods shared by both communists and fascists.The Democratic Party's antidote is to propose a realistic, believable platform to make life more affordable. So far they have been consumed by attacks on Trump and his cohorts. They must position themselves as the ones who can best address the affordability issue: this may involve adopting some of the positive solutions to the affordability issue proposed by the democratic socialists, while reaffirming a well-regulated capitalism as the basic economic system of America.

In jeopardy is Democracy, which Trump has set about dismantling step by step by circumventing or defying the rule of law and replacing it with rule by him. He is doing it with a power-bloated executive branch, assembled with a concerted effort in one year with the help of his 6-3 Supreme Court, suppression of potentially unfriendly voters and media, use of fear and revenge to discipline anyone not 100% loyal to him, whipping Congress into yes nodders, and partial control over the Supreme Court. All of this is coupled with his alliance with oligarchs and white nationalist racism. and condoning violence by ICE and Jan.6ers,.. These are classic characteristics of fascism.

A note about Colorado: A mixed result due to a variety of factors. An attempt to condemn democratic socialists as being antisemitic was not an issue, since those winning Democratic primaries included Jews, including Phil Weiser for governor, replacing another Jewish governor, outgoing Jared Polis. Those who won, like Jena Griswold, current Secretary of State, trounced her three opponents for Attorney General(in Grand County, over 53% and statewide over 46% of the total) and Weiser(Attorney General) ,, had shown energy, skill, and determination and won in protecting voter integrity from Trump's attempt to take state control over the process, including the Tina Peters case. Rep. Jason Crow (D -CO) said it best on MSNOW the day after the election: Colorado wanted a street fighter against Trump and defeated multi-term Congressman Diana DeGette and Sen.Michael Bennet, who lost the primary for Governor, had not shown sufficient shrillness, energy, or alarm over the Trump attack on democracy. In Hickenlooper, always a personally popular figure and incumbent, always sort of a steady, benign Mr. Smith-goes-to-DC incumbent Senator, handily won his primary of the vote against a more leftist opponent. That deviates from a "street fighter" pattern.

Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros, who ousted Diana DeGette, a liberal multi-term incumbent, surged at the last moment as she threaded the anti-semitic issue by professing strong support and protection of her "Jewish brothers and sisters, while also condemning the Israeli government regarding Gaza and future funding. Her religious affiliation is unknown, likely with Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity like others with Ethiopian roots. Kiros immigrated as a child and grew up in Denver.

The large Denver demographics of young voters, not at all bothered by the term "socialism", hurt by high housing costs and student loans, and disgusted with incumbents who don't care about their pain enough, were a major factor in Kiros' win. I will be following her closely through the general election. She is an extremely talented political presence. Like many cities, Denver is its own unique self, not necessarily like the rest of the state. https://coloradonewsline.com/2026/07/02/how-melat-kiros-stunned-colorado-politics/

The endorsement of Kiros by Bernie Sanders (a Democratic socialist) was a major factor in her win in Denver. Sanders carries much weight in the city and nearby area. While not a candidate in 2024, endorsing Biden instead, he and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez held an enormous "Fighting Oligarchy" rally at Civic Center Park in March 2025, drawing an estimated 30,000 to 34,000 attendees