Random thoughts and fantasies on an eclectic selection of topics, grouped loosely for easier browsing. Some entries could comfortably fit in more than one category.

Browse by category: Politics & Government | Law, Rights & Society | Humor & Oddities | Other Voices & Miscellany

Politics & Government

On September 21, 2026, The New York Times editorial board condemns President Trump’s decision to bar journalists from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House because their reporting displeased him. Similar exclusions during Trump’s first term were overturned by federal courts as arbitrary and unconstitutional. His revival of the policy therefore reflects not only hostility toward the press, the editorial argues, but disregard for established law.

Although an administration need not provide journalists with dedicated White House access, once it creates a press pool, it must administer access fairly rather than reward favorable coverage and punish criticism. A free press is essential because it enables citizens to assess their government, encourages competing viewpoints, and holds public officials accountable.

The exclusions are portrayed as part of a broader campaign to intimidate or control the media through searches, subpoenas, lawsuits, regulatory pressure, and coerced settlements. Whether intended to suppress criticism or distract attention from policy failures, the bans threaten more than the three affected organizations: If successful, they would warn every news outlet that unfavorable reporting could cost it access to the government it is supposed to scrutinize.

William Bryan was a U.S. Navy veteran. In August, 2024, Bryan entered a Florida hospital, needing removal of his spleen. His surgeon, Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky, removed Bryan's liver, instead. To the shock of the operating room staff, even after the excised liver lay on the operating room table, Shaknovsky continued to insist it was the spleen. The liver and the spleen are anatomically different. Mr. Bryan died.

To offer an imperfect but apt analogy, voters put convicted felon Trump into office in the hope that MAGA Trump would remove the nation's metaphorical spleen. Convicted felon Trump, instead, is removing the country's metaphorical liver. The outcome, at this point, is less than certain. Let us hope that USA fares better than navy veteran Bryan.

Unexpurgated posting of convicted felon Trump on his "Truth Social" sewer:

"Our fabulous Rudy Giuliani, a True Warrior, and the Best Mayor in the History of New York City, BY FAR, has been hospitalized, and is in critical condition. What a tragedy that he was treated so badly by the Radical Left Lunatics, Democrats ALL — AND HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING! They cheated on the Elections, fabricated hundreds of stories, did anything possible to destroy our Nation, and now, look at Rudy. So sad! President DONALD J. TRUMP"

Rudy was (and, as of this writing, still is) a writhing asshole who richly deserves all ills that befall him. See Wonkette Post that lays it out better than we ever could.

MAGA: Morons Are Governing America. Virtually the entire United States Government is composed of people who are either morons or liars. We base this sweeping statement upon the fact that the vast majority of government personnel, to obtain or maintain their employment, had to affirm a belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Those who actually believe it was stolen are morons; those who mouth that mantra without believing it are liars.

RadicalLeft.site finds some comfort in the hope that the liars can and will, in their own way, impede the fascist agenda of convicted felon Trump. As for the morons, we hark to the words of Robert A. Heinlein: "Ignorance is curable; stupid is forever."

A study in ironies: On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump told his vice president, Michael Pence, "You can either go down in history as a patriot, or you can go down in history as a pussy." The context of that statement was that, as vice president, the United States Constitution made Pence president of the Senate. That role conferred upon him the duty of reporting the results of the 2020 presidential election. The Electoral College had chosen Joseph Biden. President Trump was attempting to pressure Pence into falsely reporting that Trump had won instead.

Pence refused to succumb to Trump's seditious pressure (and pressure of the unruly mob that Trump had incited). Pence defied Trump's demand and reported, instead, that Biden had prevailed. Had Pence caved to Trump's pressure, he would have gone down in history as a "pussy". It was by defying Trump that Pence secured his place as a patriot. Trump's prediction ("You can either...") was dead-on-balls accurate. The irony is that, for Pence to earn the patriot label, it was necessary that he do the exact opposite of what Trump had demanded. This theme of patriots versus pussies is developed in greater detail by historian Steven Franklin on our page Patriots and Pussies.

One side note bears mention: Had Pence caved, he might have been lauded as a patriot for the duration of MAGA's reign, however long that was. That reign would have eventually ended. Pence then would have belatedly obtained his richly deserved recognition as a "pussy".

In the Heads-I-win, tails-you-lose Department, we turn to the 2024 Trump/Harris presidential race. During her campaign, Harris demonstrated an inability to be her own woman and depart from the policies of soon-to-be ex-president Joseph Biden. We mention this especially with regard to the course the United States had taken in the Middle East. Americans by and large were (and remain) fed up with American support for Israel's genocidal activities vis-à-vis Gaza. RadicalLeft.site has no doubt whatsoever that, had she become president, Harris would have continued or increased that same support. Beyond a misguided allegiance to Biden, Harris would have felt constrained to show that a president with ovaries could match (or exceed) the bellicosity of one with testicles.

Interesting side note: As a result of defying his president, Pence became a patriot. As a result of not defying her president, Harris became a political has-been.

Quote from the April 27, 2026 edition of Time Magazine: "Through it all, Trump has moved markets, shifted alliances, and redrawn the boundaries of acceptable statecraft The cumulative effect has been a new global order, one that is increasingly shared not by systems of institutions, but by the will of a single man."

Time's quote correctly reflects sad reality. RadicalLeft.site struggles to understand how the world could allow such a calamity. Our best analysis is that convicted felon Trump's success comes from a divide and conquer strategy. For years, his critics have been predicting the imminent implosion of the Trump machine. Through it all, the Trump machine advances, moving the world closer and closer to the abyss.

Democracies rarely disappear all at once. More often, they erode gradually, one concession, one rationalization, and one surrendered principle at a time. The question is no longer whether Donald Trump has reshaped the political landscape. Rather, the question is whether there remains sufficient time and sufficient will to reverse the damage before the transformation becomes permanent.

Click for a list of what MAGA cultists actually believe.

If media attention bears any relation to actual public interest (and we suspect that it does), we are in dire straits. Public attention seems to reach no further than the New York Knicks, the World Cup, the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce wedding, and the American semiquincentennial hoopla.

"Hoopla"? Isn't the 250th anniversary of the signing of such a magnificent document cause for celebration? Yes—if only the United States had managed to keep its message alive. That, alas, has not happened. We now live in a country governed by corruption, hypocrisy, and brutal fascistic suppression of reform. The Knicks / World Cup / Swift-Kelce extravaganzas are diversions from the putrid pit into which this nation has descended. Thom Hartmann's July 4, 2026 column describes that pit poignantly.

The murderers of Alex Pretti and Renee Good remain at large, free to continue their marauding. The J-6 rioters are freed and forgiven by the despot whose cause they championed. Trump himself, who sparked the violent attempt to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, assumes ever more power and accumulates ever more wealth. Participation in the federal government is dependent upon affirming the delusion that the 2020 election was stolen. And the Knicks / World Cup / Swift-Kelce extravaganzas continue.

Congress has the power to stop Trump's fascist takeover. It refuses to exercise that power. The Supreme Court has the power to stop Trump's fascist takeover. It refuses to do so. Quite the contrary: it heaps ever more power upon this despotic president.

The sites to which our Selected Columns page links lays out the danger. Yet it all seems a cry in the wilderness. History is filled with unheeded warnings that presaged disaster. Now the disaster is upon us. It can possibly be reversed on Election Day, 2026. Possibly. Basking in the Knicks / World Cup / Swift-Kelce extravaganzas, and those that will incessantly follow, will ensure the perpetuation and acceleration of our descent. The rest is up to us—and to those we can recruit. Be a true patriot.

Lindsay Graham died on July 11, 2026, reportedly from an aortic tear. Donald Trump eulogized Graham, saying he was "one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known." An accolade like that from convicted felon Trump is all one needs to know in order to size up the moral midget that was Lindsey Graham.

Graham was not ignorant. Plain and simple, he (like convicted felon Trump) was an amoral opportunist. He had Trump's number. As Trump struggled during his first presidential campaign, Graham described Trump as a demagogue and a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. When interviewed on CNN in 2015, Graham said, "You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell." Last month, however, Graham said, "Mr. President, you’re not far behind God." (We surmise this miffed Trump, being put in second place.)

The late Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone, would have eulogized Graham in this manner. And Andy Borowitz, founder and producer of The Borowitz Report, mourned the death of Graham thusly:

Borowitz continued:

RadicalLeft.site will not miss Lindsay Graham.

When MAGA accuses the radical left of some anti-social activity, there's a pretty good chance that such accusation constitutes mere projecting; that is, that is what MAGA itself is doing. This is called hypocrisy. Our Hypocrisy 101 page discusses this with respect to violence and terrorism.

Regarding changing name of cabinet agency from "Department of Defense" to "Department of War"

Facilitators of Fascism: Two players, one obvious and one less obvious, deserve disproportionate blame for the cascading disintegration of our democracy.

Convicted felon Trump harangues upon stolen elections and American election fraud when it is actually that repulsive pernnicious humanoid who attempted (and failed) to steal a presidential election.

"MAHA" is the Acronym for the Make America Healthy Again swill that MAGA feeds to its gullible followers. But just how are Republicans' interests served by undermining confidence in proven public health measures? ChatGPT answers that question in the linked dialogue.

It is always a good thing when a bully gets its comeuppance, even when that bully is my own country. When a nation, inncluding the United States, finds it can bully other nations with impunity, it will assume the same attitude towards its citizens.

Convicted felon Trump seeks to economically isolate Iran. You remember Iran, don't you? That is the country Trump illegally and unconstitutionally began bombing without consulting with or seeking approval from Congress. That is the country that Trump said would be on its knees within days. That is the country from which Trump demanded "unconditional surrender".

Trump now calls its announcement of economic isolation of Iran "Economic D-Day". China isn't buying it; China continues to trade with Iran. Iran, for its part, respondes that this is Improv Night, and Uncle Sam has forgotten its lines.

Jesus: Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Cuba, Iran, China, Venezuela, .... Is the United States of America now being run by Natalie Harp?

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Law, Rights & Society

Thalidomide: Could a similar calamity happen today?

A fantasized bar examination question that might be asked to today's aspiring lawyers (with link to one possible answer).

Is the United States becoming authoritarian? How does authoritarianism affect the duty of allegiance to the United States of America? Here is ChatGPT's take on the subject. Bonus extra: In the discussion, ChatGPT expounds on its own neutrality, and the extent to which its knowledge of its user influences its response.

56-page Order links to an Order of Kathleen M. Williams, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida. This Order deserves the widest possible circulation. It is an epic of logic and justice.

Too bad for the world that the judge overseeing Trump's criminal trial in Florida was Aileen Cannon, woefully unqualified Judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Had the assigned judge been one with the competency and integrity of Judge Williams, Donald Trump would presently be serving a sentence in federal prison, rather than being the clownish figurehead on a mission to implement Project 2025.

Professor Alan Gribben died on May 9, 2026 at his home in Montgomery, Ala. He was 84.

Professor Gribben was a Mark Twain scholar. He is most remembered for excising the word "nigger" from Twain novels that he had independently published. The "N" word appeared frequently in novels like Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.

Gribben's rationale was that Twain's writings deserved maximum exposure. Their inclusion of the "N" word, however, caused many schools to omit those writings from their curricula. Excision of the word was the only way to expose Twain's works to generations of students (and others).

Gribben's editorial choice aroused great anger amongst many, causing him to become "an academic outcast". Like the issue of trans women playing on competitive sports teams, the issue of Gribben's revisionism has two irreconcilable sides, both legitimate.

RadicalLeft.site invites visitors' thoughts on this (or any) issue.

Open Borders: Another perspective.

Remember Edward Snowden? He's the American whistleblower who, as a National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence contractor, disclosed classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs. He then fled (with a few stop along the way to Russia, which gave him sanctuarary.

RadicalLeft.site wondered whether that sanctuary status was in jeopardy, given the present friendship between Trump and Putin. Here is ChatGPT's answer.

"Radical Left", "Crazed Anarchists Planting Bombs", Land Mines, and Hypocrisy: Who Are the Real Terrorists?

In Liberian Deportees, we summarize an article printed in the August 31, 2026 New York Times. The article describes the barbarism with which Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") agents are deporting persons. Some of those persons are in the United States totally legally. Some of those persons have obtained court orders barring their deportation.

ICE denies the allegations. The Department of Homeland Security says that detainees receive "comprehensive medical care" from the moment they enter ICE custody, including dental, mental health services and prenatal and postnatal care.

RadicalLeft.site disbelieves ICE's self-serving denials. This is the same department that murders unarmed American citizens. This is the same department that forceably separates children from their parents. This is the same department that we see at airports treating travelers like animals. This is the same department confident that, from our piece of shit president on down, its members will not be held accountable for their lack of humanity and basic decency.

The United States has been horribly transformed in the last several years. Words are inadequate to describe the horror from within that has befallen this country.

Exactly what are MAGA's objections to diversity? Are its objections justified? RadicalLeft.site explores these issues on its Diversity page.

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Humor & Oddities

"My favorite ex-husband." How Jane Fonda was wont to refer to (the late) Ted Turner.

Fun facts. (Nowhere is it decreed that RadicalLeft partisans are limited to "serious" topics.) A Snapple® bottle cap "fact" maintains that if elephants could be compressed to the density of a neutron star, fifty million of them would fit inside an ordinary thimble. RadicalLeft.site attempted to validate this proposition using AI. Claude reports that the actual number is sixty-seven million; ChatGPT reports seventy million; according to Gemini, the number (calculations provided) is two hundred million elephants. Grok gives two hundred forty million elephants, also showing calculations. So between the extremes is a difference of one hundred ninety million elephants. That's an awful lot of ivory. We guess one lesson from all that is don't believe everything you read. Another lesson is how different so-called experts, although all sincere, can give wildly divergent answers on the same set of facts.

Comedian George Carlin once reported on "The Evening News" that doctors treating a ninety-year-old pregnant womam claim that because of her advanced age she will have a grown-up. A New York Times report of equivalent logic on June 9, 2026, says, "President Trump on Tuesday blamed Iran for shooting down a U.S. helicopter gunship over the Strait of Hormuz, adding in a social midia post 'the United States must, of necessity, repond to this attack.' "

"Blamed" is an interesting choice of words. For months, the United States, with no provocation, has been bombing Iran. How "should" Iran behave towards Americn armed aircraft over the Strait? Is Iran (or any country) obliged to suffer months (or even just days or hours) of bombing and somehow have no right to fight back? "Pardon me, ma'am, is my eye bothering your elbow?" In short, just what is our liar-in-chief president convicted felon Trump whining about? One can envision this whiny putz complaining now that Iran is treating the United States very unfairly. "Very unfairly" is one of that putz's favorite expressions.

Our A Study in Ironies paragraph, above, added a link to a discourse by historian Steven Franklin to new page Patriots and Pussies. In preparing that page for upload, radicalLeft.site was uncertain of the correct spelling of the plural of "Pussy", so it consulted ChatGPT. RadicalLeft.site finds the dialogue between it and ChatGPT on that subject rather intriguing. We share that dialogue elsewhere. We take especial note of how, in its last paragraph, ChatGPT describes finding the exchange "enjoyable". Imagine, a computer program expressing enjoyment!

Several years before he died, my late friend Jospeh Olson was moving to a new apartment. In lieu of hiring a moving company, Joe enlisted muscle from his friends, enticing them with promises of pizza for all. Joe himself contributed muscle to the project.

Joe was descending some stairs as one of his friends was climbing up. Joe was carrying an object that was large, but not particularly heavy. Joe remarked, "Boy, this item sure is cumbersome". Friend asked, "Cumbersome? What does that word mean?" Joe explained. Friend responsed, "Gee, Joe, you sure use some big words."

A short while later, the friend was, himself, carrying an item that was large but not especially heavy. As he passed Joe, friend remarked, "This item sure is crumb bun."

Convicted felon Trump's execution of the war against Iran was crumb bun. Indeed, we can validly ascribe "crumb bun" to the entirety of both of his presidencies.

The Third Envelope: An apocryphical update of an old joke.

The Daily Kos has a couple of great cartoons on September 19, 2026. One shows a map of the United states with, prominently displayed, the "Gulf of America". Posted in the map are fourteen signs. The signs say, "Sorry Nato", "Sorry People of Color", "Sorry LGBGQ+ Members", "Sorry CDC Employees", "Sorry Panama", "Sorry Founding Fathers", "Sorry Govt. Workers", "Sorry Immigrants", "Sorry Greenland", "Sorry Mexico", "Sorry Safety Net Recipients", "Sorry Ukraine", "Sorry Canada". Another cartoon shows a "meet Your Republican Congressman Town Hall" meeting. Attendees are hurling eggs at the congressman. The cartoon shows the congressman saying, "Yikes! They're mad enough to throw $8 eggs!"

And speaking of great cartoons, try this one!

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Other Voices & Miscellany

This is too good to not share: Opening paragraph from May 26, 2026 column Morning Shots, by William Kristol in The Bulwark: Trump’s Iran War Was a Failure:

Despite its name, RadicalLeft.net is a right wing site. Here is how it describes itself:

• Exposing leftist nonsense, one article at a time.
  
  
• Conservative, sarcastic, and 100% unapologetic.
  
  
• No safe spaces, no woke BS—just the truth

Ignorance is cureable; stupid is forever. Far be it from us to disparage this unwoke site. It is quite capable of doing that without our help ;-)

Hey, RadicalLeft.net, how about exposing your visitors to something other than your White Supremacist right-wing drivel. RadicalLeft.site links to you. Come what may, it has every intention of keeping that link: RadicalLeft.site opposes censorship. Can you say the same for RadicalLeft.net? How about putting your links where your mouths are? How about your linking to RadicalLeft.site? How about exposing your readers to our woke "leftist nonsense" and letting those readers decide for themselves?

In which we discuss The Ballad of the Green Beret. For best results, read this page immediately after reading The Ghost of Fidel Castro Takes On the United States.

Commentary by historian Steven Franklin:

Regarding the abolition of Black majority Congressional districts, it's all a matter of what we've become accustomed to.

We've accepted the principle that with a combined population of 1,700,000 people, the residents of North and South Dakota are guaranteed four Senators and at least two Representatives.

Yet with its population in excess of 51,000,000, we can't accept the principle that African Americans should be entitled to any Senators or Representatives.

Actor Robert De Niro discusses the suspension of his love affair with the United States.

"The Abyss": In which we explore the end of the world and its significance.

Declaration of Necessity: From Andy Borowitz explanation of why removal of convicted felon Trump from office NOW! is necessary.

Our America of ten years ago is now bearly recognizable. The trifecta of convicted felon Trump, the corrupt Supreme Court, and a compliant Congress is transforming us into a police state. In his July 22, 2026 column, Thom Hartmann lays it all out.

Jeff Tiedrich has a daily (or so) column that he designates Everyone is entitled to my opinion. His columns are very insightful. We've linked to them various times on our Selected Columns page. We do so with ambivalence, however, because those columns are always laced with "F" bombs and other profanities, typically directed at convicted felon Trump. We at RadicalLeft.site are not exactly prudes; and RadicalLeft.site knows that convicted felon Trump has earned those "F" bombs many times over; nonetheless this site does have some sense of decorum. Be that as it may, Tiedrich's columns are sometimes so insightful that RadicalLeft.site swallows its sensitivities and points visitors to his columns, his choices of expression notwithstanding. One such occasion is Tiedrich's July 30, 2026 column. It deals with MAGA's continuing persecution of Anthony Fauci, M.D. It exposes the mendacity and depravity of his persecutors. It is tragic.

Deeper into Depravity: Anti-Science, Anti_Fauci: Sheila Kennedy's Column, August 10, 2026.

Sheila Kennedy, whose columns we invariably find elucidating, provides a 731-word column on August 12, 2026, that attempts to answer, “What motivates people to vote for a demonstrably ignorant, incompetent and mentally-ill man? What compels a person to put on a red hat and identify with a MAGA movement that is waging war on virtually everything America stands for?" RadicalLeft.site volunteers to answer Sheila's questions in five words:

• Stupidity;
  
• Bigotry;
  
• Perceived self-interest;
  
• Schadenfreude.
  

We invite your perspectives.

The United States of American is in debt to the tune of $40 TRILLION dollars. How could this happen? Where happened to that $40 TRILLION? Why can't we afford medicare for all? Why are people starving? Why can't the United States have tuition-free colleges and universities? The answers to these questions are all interconnected. Thom Hartmann spells it out here

"Animals!" "Poisoning the blood!" "Bad genes!" "Families 'infesting' the Nation." This is language preparatory to an American holocaust. Wake up! Wake up! Stop it, while you still can.

Viewers of this Musings column will notice a fair number of links to columns of Sheila Kennedy. Here is another one. In this linked column, Sheila explains who she is, what she believes, and how she got to be who she is. It is long. It is totally worth your time.

AI-Armageddon: Real? or hype? Get your answer here right from the horse's mouth (as it were). Its answer merits your attention.

The Republicans in Congress who refuse to remove this joke of a humanoid that we call president are all either stupid, or on the take, or both. "On the take" can encompass money, or futile thirst for power. Either way, it is disheartening, disgusting. It is so sad to watch this precipitous decline of a nation that had so much potential.

Brook Benton (1931 - 1988) was an American singer and song writer. One of his more popular songs was Shadrack, Meshach, Abednego. In the song, Babalon King Nebudchanezzer throws three children of Israel into the fiery furnace when they refuse to worship the golden idol, "Even made it seven times hotter than it oughta be!" It's a great song, sung by a great artist. That has not stopped me however from sometimes considering the song's words. Was there a recipe book that specified how hot the furnace "oughta be" to burn the infidels? And if so, and the book specified a particular temperature, let us say 1200 degrees Farenheit, did that mean that the furnace tenders made the furnace 1200 + (5 * 1200), i.e. 7200 degrees? Or was "hotter" understood to be based upon the difference between the furnace temperature and outside temperature (assume 59 degrees Farenheit), for )(1200 - 59) + (5 * (1200 - 59)), i.e. only 6905 degrees? Or if the 1200 degree base was calculated from absolute zero, that would be 6 * 1,473 degrees, or 8,838 degrees Kelvin. And would the furnace have melted before that temperature was reached?

Just wondering.