Letters from an American

August 31, 2026
Military leaders are warning Defense Secretary Hegseth that continuing large scale operations in Iran is unsustainable and dangerous, Trump’s insistence on having the option to launch major attacks has forced more than 50,000 troops to be kept on alert for months,  The chief of Naval Operations has warned that the Navy cannot sustain its current level of support for the Iran war, The Pentagon has pushed back, and Hegseth has fired several admirals and generals who he deems insufficiently loyal,, After a reported exchange of fire in Iran, Trump claimed on social media that Iran is failing, though the image he posted doesn’t reflect reality, Hegseth is attempting to silence journalists. The staffers he fired at Stars and Stripes are suing Hegseth, and the Defense Department, calling the firings a violation of the First Amendment, Hegseth is also hiring right-wing social media influencers using taxpayer money, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll submitted his resignation on Monday, after struggling with Hegseth for months over the firing of senior Army officers and the direction of the military.
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August 30, 2026
In America's founding myth about George Washington and the cherry tree, the message was that truth telling is important in a leader, Trump’s administration was supposed to notify US District Court Judge Reyes before taking down trees on the grounds of the East Potomac Golf Links, a historic publicly owned course, But more than 60 trees have been removed and the administration has not abided by her ruling, They claim the trees had to be removed for maintenance purposes, Trump is hailing an oil deal with Venezuela, although there is little information about it, It appears to involve the family of Alejandro Betancourt López, who has been accused of corruption and investigated for money laundering, The deal is built on a legal environment that does not exist, The deal is also built on US aggression, the kidnapping of President Maduro, the installation of Maduro’s vice president instead of the opposition candidate, As journalist David Rothkopf pointedly explained, we do not know where the money is going, and whether it will end up being a “mafia-style shakedown scheme” benefitting anti democratic forces in Venezuela and the US, and the president’s friends, and possibly the president’s family, and himself.
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August 29, 2026
Republican lawmakers are attempting to restrict the ability of naturalized and dual citizens to run for office, At least five Republican members of Congress want to prohibit them from holding federal judgeships, Cabinet posts, and ambassadorships as well, Americans have struggled over questions of equality and immigration for more than a century, Anti-immigrant sentiment on the East Coast over Irish immigrants and on the West Coast over Chinese immigrants led to limits to their rights and created a caste system, Abraham Lincoln understood that giving up the principle of equality is an excuse for enslaving people and that we cannot make exceptions to the Declaration of Independence, Americans added the 14th Amendment to the Constitution to ensure that these exceptions could not be made, The Constitution's requirements for officeholders are the only allowable qualifications, neither states nor the federal government can add additional qualifications, The idea of discriminating against naturalized citizens is, in the words of law professor Pamela Karlan, "ugly, stupid, and unconstitutional."
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August 28, 2026
On August 28, 1963, Reverend Dr Martin Luther King spoke at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, His speech was about race, but also about economics, John Lewis also spoke, calling for peaceful demonstrations and the vote, In 1964, voters gave Democrats a strong majority in Congress and, with President Lyndon B. Johnson, were able to pass 84 new laws putting Johnson’s Great Society in Place, The laws cemented civil rights, created jobs, provided aid for job training and education, created Medicare and Medicaid, protected consumers and the environment, and provided support for the arts and the humanities, With the election of Richard Nixon the race to tear apart this commitment by appealing to racism was on, And in 2026 the Trump administration is abandoning Temporary Protected Status for Haitians who came to the US because it was too dangerous for them at home, Meanwhile vast sums are being contributed to keeping Republicans in office as they funnel money upward and dismantle the government, Republican candidates are calling for ICE and retired police to be deployed to intimidate voters in the midterms.
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August 27, 2026
RFK appears to have lied about the purpose of his Samoa trip, Information on his testimony and conduct could lead to hearings, and could prove embarrassing to the Trump administration, The war on Iran has created a financial crisis that is affecting the Navy, There is speculation that the shortages are a deliberate and political decision, The administration’s latest move, to cancel an offshore wind project, is funneling a fortune to a donor to Trump’s inaugural committee, The deal and others like it are corrupt and illegal, The Trump family’s crypto ventures are funded by foreign governments and others seeking favor, Trump’s crypto schemes are leaving investors under water, Trump’s approval ratings continue to fall, Trump is trying to make the midterm elections all about him, Perhaps to bully Canada, Trump is directing Interior Secretary Burgum to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in official documents. 
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