Week 2 Begins - #broligarchy rising
Only 1,455 days to go...
Have you heard of MacKenzie Scott? As of January 2025, she has donated over $17 billion to various causes since her divorce from Jeff Bezos in 2019. Her donations have gone to some 2,450 nonprofits (with over $700M to Habitat for Humanity and the Boys and Girls Club of America). Personally, I find her stewardship and generosity in line with what affluent people have historically done and should be doing - unlike her ex-husband, who builds spaceships and prostrates himself to #FOTUS.
“Unto whom much is given, much is required.” (Luke 12:48)
I was amused that Elon Musk had expressed “concerns” about MacKenzie Scott’s charitable donations. In a recent social media exchange, he voiced his unease about her philanthropic activities, specifically her massive donations. Musk raised questions about the “potential influence of concentrated wealth on societal norms and public policy.”
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black…
More eyes (including Mark Zuckerberg’s) were on Jeff Bezos current love interest last week at Trump’s inauguration. I had actually somewhat admired Jeff Bezos until he and MacKenzie divorced. My opinion soured and today I truly find him truly distasteful. I am on Team MacKenzie all the way.
I canceled my Washington Post (WPO) subscription years ago. Regrettably, I can’t quite quit the lure of Amazon Prime. A further problem is I love books on tape and for years had been unwilling to give up Audible. It has been a dilemma for me. While I have been subscribing to Libby at my local library and I was able to subscribe to Hoopla, when living in Lake Forest, neither of these services seem to have the books I want to hear, when I want them.
However, I recently discovered Libro.fm and am thrilled because I can support my local independent bookstore (Malaprops) by buying audible books from Libro.fm. Check it out. (FYI, the Lake Forest Book Store and The Book Stall are listed on the Libro.fm site!) I immediately canceled my Audible subscription and switched to Libro.fm.
Hey, it’s a win/win.
I was an early adopter of social media sites, when they came on the scene. I was working as a real estate agent at the time, and the broker encouraged agents to learn social media in order to promote our listings. Curious about how it worked, I was all over the place trying out different sites, setting up blogs, etc.
That was then. Given the disinformation and vitriol that has emerged on many of these sites, I’ve canceled most of my accounts. I’m further concerned about the influence of Trump's #broligarchy and don’t want to financially support these folks. So, I canceled my Twitter (oops, X) account on October 22, 2022. And dear readers, as you know, I canceled Facebook and Instagram accounts on January 20, 2025.
Now, if I can just figure out how to ween myself of Amazon Prime.
In an Associated Press/NORC poll recently released, only 12% of those polled thought the president relying on billionaires for policy advice is a good thing. Even among Republicans, only 20% think it’s a good thing.
Here is the acclaimed Ann Telnaes cartoon which the WPO refused to publish. Read Why I'm quitting the Washington Post. Also, check out the Telnaes Tribute video 
Thought for the day in honor of his birthday….
“No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.”
~Douglas McArthur
What I read every day…
I’ve decided to eliminate a few sites from my posts, specifically, Letters from an American and The Bulwark. You can go directly to their Substack accounts to read what I read every day. I very much encourage you to subscribe to both. The links to their sites are below.
What I’m reading today…
Take Strength from the Helpers
I’m looking for the helpers, the first-responders, the members of the opposition who will not just stand by or turn away while a sociopathic president abuses his power to attack the vulnerable, exalt the violent and trash the Constitution.
In the midst of that earlier era’s Gilded Age, Grover Cleveland worried about the growing gap between rich and poor. The America of 1888, he said, found “the wealth and luxury of our cities mingled with poverty and wretchedness and unremunerative toil.”
Trump's first week: The Real Story
The New York Times describes Trump as leading “a global wave of hard-line conservative populism.” Rubbish. What’s Trump is undertaking has nothing whatever to do with conservatism, which is about conserving institutions and shrinking the size of government. And it has nothing to do with populism, which is about confronting elites. Trump is leading a move to replace democracy with oligarchy.
Can Trump just order new names for Denali and the Gulf of Mexico?
Alaska’s two U.S. senators and prominent state figures have strongly objected to Trump’s renaming attempt. Trump’s plan to revert Denali to Mount McKinley name irks Alaskans.
Trump Stocks E.P.A. With Oil, Gas and Chemical Lobbyists
“It’s alarming to see former industry lobbyists and attorneys who, until recently, were paid by their clients to weaken pollution standards, nominated to high-ranking positions at E.P.A. where they will have the power to undermine regulations meant to protect the public from these same industries.”
Trump Executive Order Shrouds DOGE From Public Scrutiny
Trump formally established his effort to streamline government via executive order Monday… by shifting the existing U.S. Digital Service from the Office of Management and Budget to the Executive Office of the President and reconstituting the agency as the U.S. DOGE Service, which ensured it would not be subject to the Freedom of Information Act… this grants presidents enormous latitude to keep communications and information secret from Congress and the public.
Trump fires at least 12 Inspectors General in late-night purge. The internal government watchdogs were believed to have been dismissed at several major agencies. Trump’s purge of inspectors general, explained
The GOP blamed the L.A. fires on California’s ‘forest management.’ But that’s not the problem
The problem: The landscape around Los Angeles isn’t a forest, and clearing out the native plants could make fires even worse.
Instagram and Facebook Blocked and Hid Abortion Pill Providers’ Posts
Some posts related to obtaining abortion pills were recently hidden on Instagram and Facebook and some accounts were suspended, before being later restored.
My advice for the incoming secretary of defense
“I implore you [Pete Hegseth] to listen to the men and women working for you who have served our nation. Listening is a sign of strength, Mr. Secretary, not weakness. Every bad senior leader I ever encountered in my career, including generals, admirals, and elected officials, all had the same flaw: Insecurity. They talked and opined and issued orders instead of listening.”
Quote of the day:
“The truth is that most Americans—including the Americans who serve in the U.S. military—don’t really care nearly as much as you’d think about the cultural issues that brought you into the Trump administration. You are no longer a pundit or a provocateur: From today, your fellow citizens are trusting you with the lives of their children…The rest of us are trusting you with all our lives. You could well be the last person to speak to the president before he decides to go to war—or considers using nuclear weapons. Partisan attachments will be meaningless at such moments.” ~ Tom Nichols
Book I’m reading today and highly recommend:
Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic by Lindsay M. Chervinsky
One of the most qualified presidents in American history, John Adams had been a legislator, political theorist, diplomat, minister, and vice president--but he had never held an executive position. Instead, the quixotic and stubborn Adams would rely on his ideas about executive power, the Constitution, politics, and the state of the world to navigate the hurdles of the position. He defended the presidency from his own often obstructionist cabinet, protected the nation from foreign attacks, and forged trust and dedication to election integrity and the peaceful transfer of power between parties, even though it cost him his political future.
Worth Watching:
I think it’s different from the Gilded Age. In the Gilded Age, the titans needed to be seen as contributing to society. This group has ignored the ‘oblige’ part of noblesse oblige.”
“I will point out, there are two specific promises Trump did not keep. He didn't end the war in Ukraine on day one, and he didn't lower prices on day one.”
Things I read everyday….
I read Letters from An American everyday, so I am no longer going to reference it in my Substack posts. Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletters are fabulous, so I encourage you to subscribe on your own.
I’m also a big fan of The Bulwark. I started subscribing to it shortly after I discovered it in 2019. The Bulwark was founded to provide analysis and reporting in defense of America’s liberal democracy. That’s it. That’s the mission. I find their podcasts and articles thoughtful and helpful in making sense of what is going on with the US.
