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Tag: President Donald Trump

How Many Times Will It Take Before We Learn that Soldiers Are Not Peacekeepers?

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national guard

President Donald Trump has sent up to 4,000 National Guardsmen and 800 Marines to Los Angeles to combat and contain what he says is widespread, wanton violence. Remember, this is the man who asked if soldiers could shoot protesters in the leg. Trump is a petty little tyrant who loves to foment violence as he sits behind the safety of his desk in the Oval Office. I am of the opinion that the Toddler King is deliberately trying to stir things up so he can declare martial law. This will allow him to rescind many of the Constitutional protections we have. If this happens, there will be bloodshed in the streets of not only Lost Angeles, but other major cities.

The LA police department is more than capable of handling what have largely been peaceful protests. We must not forget that Trump is opposed to protests. Just today, he warned people that if they protested his big, beautiful birthday parade on June 14, that their opposition would be met with violence.

We must never forget that soldiers are trained to use lethal force to eliminate their enemies. Simply put, they are trained to kill. Soldiers are not peacekeepers. War has never begotten peace. At best, it brings, for a time, a cessation of hostilities. Only peace begets peace.

What troubles me — well, hell, lots of things deeply trouble me these days — is that millions of Americans think it is okay for Trump to illegally use the military to advance his political and personal agenda. Years ago, Polly and I took her parents to Mexico. We took a drive around Juarez, the murder capital of Mexico. As we were driving down the street, three soldiers, armed with assault rifles, came around the corner, scaring the shit out of my mother-in-law. She immediately demanded to be returned to the United States, which I gladly did. Seeing soldiers with assault rifles on Mexican streets is not uncommon. In the United States, however, we don’t often see such things. We live in relative freedom and safety. Trump doesn’t want us to feel free and safe. He wants us to fear whatever “enemy” he has conjured up. Most of all, he wants us to fear him. What concerns me is Trump’s base; you know, the millions of Americans who seemingly are blind or indifferent towards his lawlessness. January 6 showed us what can happen if you stir up a crowd of zealots. Imagine what happens if he does this on a national level? Civil war is possible, even likely, if we do not neuter the MAGA movement and elect leaders who take seriously their pledge to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Another Lie-Filled Press Conference by Forest Management Expert Donald Trump

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forest fire prevention

Donald Trump, the orange-haired toddler king, gave another lie-filled press conference today. In a matter of minutes. Trump told numerous lies, uttered threats, and reminded the American people that he is the stupidest man ever to sit in the Oval Office.

The toddler king mentioned his big military parade scheduled for Saturday, warning protesters that they would be met with state-sanctioned violence if they dared to protest his big, beautiful parade. Of course, Americans have a constitutional right to protest peacefully. Evidently, Trump has never read the U.S. Constitution. Either that, or he doesn’t think the Constitution applies to him; that, as president, he can do whatever he wants to do and no one can stop him.

Trump also took several swipes at California Governor Gavin Newsom. In particular, Trump, posing as a forestry management expert, decided to opine on the fires that plague California:

I’ve been meeting with heads of other countries, and they are forest countries. They call themselves Forest Austria and others, and they say we’re a forest nation. We live in a forest, and they don’t have forest fires, and in one case, he said, you know our trees are much more flammable than California, but we don’t have forest fires because we clean the floor. We sweep the floor of leaves of dead debris of trees that fall because after 18 months the tree is like real, it’s like tinderwood, and it goes up, it virtually exposed, Well, we don’t take the trees out. California is a disaster. What they’ve done in California, they don’t do anything, and if you did, you wouldn’t, you almost would not have forest fires, and you could say, you, in theory, you shouldn’t have any forest fires. And we spend billions and billions of dollars a year because uh, people don’t clean the forests, and we’re going to clean the forest, we’re going to start cleaning them.

Trump has been talking about this nonsense for years. Here’s a man who has never mowed or raked a lawn and has no understanding of biology or forestry, yet he thinks he is in a position to give “expert” advice on how to end forest fires.

donald trump forest fire

Let me conclude this post with a personal story, one that would educate the toddler king IF he knew how to read. Yes, I know he can read, but he doesn’t do much of it, and it is clear, at least to me, that Trump lacks basic comprehension skills. Either that, or he has dementia.

Years ago, I pastored an Evangelical church in southeast Ohio. The church had a tuition-free school for church children. Back then, before I had much environmental awareness, we had a burn barrel we used for burning trash. One day, several of the boys were burning trash. The barrel was full, but they decided to pile some trash on top, light it, and then walk away. Well, some of the burning trash fell out of the barrel, setting the neighbor’s field on fire. Frantically, the boys came running, telling me the field was on fire. By the time I got out there, the neighbor was standing near the burning fire. When I suggested calling the fire department, she replied, “Let it burn.” And so we let it burn. Hours later, the fire petered out, leaving what appeared to be scorched land. However, the next spring, the field was filled with new trees, bushes, grasses, and flowers. The fire cleared away all the undergrowth, allowing for new plants to sprout and grow. Thirty years later, the field is filled with large trees and bushes, all because some foolish schoolboys set it on fire.

Fallen tree leaves and needles are an important part of our ecosystem. They provide nutrients, along with food and shelter for all sorts of animals. Occasionally, due to lightning strikes or human error, these leaves and needles catch on fire. These fires are actually good for forests, as anyone with a fifth-grade science education knows. It’s evident, that President Trump is NOT a good candidate for the game show, “So, You Think You Are Smarter Than a Fifth Grader.”

For more on Trump’s press conference, please watch the following video:

Video Link

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Quote of the Day: In Hitler-like Fashion, Donald Trump is Looking for His Reichstag Fire

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trump as hitler

If you are unfamiliar with the Reichstag Fire:

The Reichstag Fire was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday, 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch council communist, was the culprit; the Nazis attributed the fire to a group of Communist agitators, used it as a pretext to claim that Communists were plotting against the German government, and induced President Paul von Hindenburg to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree suspending civil liberties, and pursue a “ruthless confrontation” with the Communists. This made the fire pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany.

By John Pavlovitz, as posted by Jill Dennison

In the wake of the unthinkable images and footage coming out of California over the weekend, it’s easy to feel insulated from the chaos if we happen to reside somewhere else in the country, as if our geography protects us.

Watching heavily-armed troops spraying civilians with rubber bullets and bombing them with tear gas for rightly protesting I.C.E.’s indiscriminate round-up of people working in local businesses, sitting in traffic, and showing up for their legal immigration appointments, it’s critical that we remember something.

This isn’t about Los Angeles.

It’s not about the bluest of the blue states receiving the wrath of a vindictive president.

It’s not about an outspoken Democrat Governor being intentionally targeted.

This is about the future of our Republic.

Los Angeles is a test by this corrupt Administration of how much illegality the American people will tolerate, how willing we will be to abide authoritarianism, how easily ordinary people will allow an arm of the government to be weaponized against us. It is a barometer of the intestinal fortitude of our citizenry.

Trump is always looking for his Reichstag Fire; his reason to bring the hammer of the Military down upon the nation. Declaring Martial Law has always been his endgame and his strategy as transparent: create an emergency where one did not exist and propose to bring Law and Order to a lawlessness and disorder of which he is the sole author. As California Governor Gavin Newsom correctly declared on his X account: 1) Local law enforcement didn’t need help. 2) Trump sent troops anyway — to manufacture chaos and violence. 3) Trump succeeded. 4) Now things are destabilized, and we need to send in more law enforcement just to clean up Trump’s mess.

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Bruce, Do You Support the Deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia?

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kilmar abrego garcia

Several people have asked me whether I support Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the man deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration? Garcia’s arrest and deportation were deemed illegal, forcing Trump and his merry band of fascists to facilitate the return of Garcia to the United States.

My response is short and to the point: I support the rule of law. If Garcia broke the law, he should be prosecuted. However, it is the Trump administration that broke the law when it detained and deported Garcia without proper court hearings. The Trump administration kidnapped Garcia and shipped him off to a country where he has no legal recourse or standing. This decision by the Trump Administration was punitive and heartless, a denial of laws that have governed our country for much of our history. Of course, this lawbreaking is by design. The goal is to collapse the Federal government, unleashing brute, lawless fascism on the American people.

If the courts decide Garcia is here illegally AND a criminal, then I support whatever outcome the courts decide. Again, we (allegedly) are a nation of laws. We have a border and immigration problem, one that has been festering on and off for decades. The difference now, of course, is that the Trump Racist Collective has turned people of color — legal citizens or not — into enemies of the state.

It is up to the federal courts to decide the disposition of Garcia’s case. It will be interesting to see what the U.S. Supreme Court decides. If the court concludes that Trump and his fellow racists are right and Garcia does not have equal protection under the law — including habeas corpus — his deportation is the least of our problems. Without the rule of law and the consent of the people, our republic ceases to exist.

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Trump Dump: Racist Representive Mary Miller Says Only Christians Should be Permitted to Pray before Congress

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donald trump dump truck

It’s deeply troubling that a Muslim [the man mentioned is actually a Sikh) was allowed to lead prayer in the House of Representatives this morning. This should have never been allowed to happen. American was founded as a Christian nation, and I believe our government should reflect that truth. May God have mercy!

— Representive Mary Miller, as reported by Huffington Post

Sikhs and Muslims practice two separate and distinct religions, and conflating the two based on how someone looks is not only ignorant but also racist. America was founded on the principle of religious freedom. It is disgraceful that someone who has such disdain for our nation’s values can serve in the halls of Congress.

— Statement by The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Trump Dump: Lies, Lies, and More Lies

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donald trump dump truck

Prices are down, income is up, our Border is closed, gasoline is CHEAP, inflation is DEAD — Our Country is BOOMING! Companies are pouring into America like never before!

AMERICA IS HOT! SIX MONTHS AGO IT WAS COLD AS ICE! BORDER IS CLOSED, PRICES ARE DOWN. WAGES ARE UP!

President Donald Trump, as reported by Raw Story

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Trump Dump: Fear the Rainbow Horde

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donald trump dump truck

PRIDE MONTH ALERT: The Rainbow Beast Is Coming For Your Kids!

WARNING: Corporate America and government institutions are launching their annual siege on childhood innocence—and this year’s Pride Month agenda is more aggressive than ever.

KEY EXPOSURES:

Child Targeting: Libraries hosting drag shows for toddlers, schools replacing math with 57+ gender ideologies, and corporations selling Pride-themed cereal/toys to normalize the unthinkable.

Institutional Surrender: Churches flying rainbow flags over communion tables, HR departments enforcing pronoun cults, and Disney/Nickelodeon pushing “Gomorrahn storytelling.”

Pagan Conquest: “It’s ritual child sacrifice—with glitter and hashtags. ‘Give us the children!’”

WHY IT MATTERS:

Schools now prioritize DEI indoctrination over reading, writing, or science.

Libraries have become drag indoctrination centers—try hosting a “Heterosexual Heritage Hour” and watch the mob arrive.

Corporate Ads parade “two bearded men in lipstick adopting kids” as Hallmark-style propaganda.

THE BIG PICTURE:

This isn’t about “tolerance.” It’s a state-corporate-pagan alliance to reprogram society. They’ve swapped biology for “identity constructs,” swapped scripture for Harvey Milk sermons, and swapped parental rights for government-sanctioned grooming.

PARENTS: WAKE UP.

Are you raising your child—or offering them to the rainbow beast?

— Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, as reported by Crooks and Liars

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Trump Dump: President Donald Trump Attacks The Boss — A Pushy, Obnoxious, Untalented Jerk

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donald trump dump truck

This series, titled Trump Dump, features outlandish, untrue quotes from Donald Trump, MAGA supporters, and Right Wing media. If you come across a quote for this series, please send it to me with a link to the news story that contains the relevant quote.

I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States. Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy — Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK, who fervently supported Crooked Joe Biden, a mentally incompetent FOOL, and our WORST EVER President, who came close to destroying our Country. If I wasn’t elected, it would have been GONE by now! Sleepy Joe didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing, but Springsteen is “dumb as a rock,” and couldn’t see what was going on, or could he (which is even worse!)? This dried out “prune” of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just “standard fare.” Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!

— President Donald Trump, as reported by Huff Post

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Bruce’s Ten Hot Takes for June 1, 2025

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hot takes

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth thinks the United States can fight a war with China and win. In my lifetime, the United States has lost numerous wars against lesser enemies. Yet, Hegseth thinks the U.S. can defeat an enemy that is its equal, and in some instances, its superior.

Does it surprise anyone that our predator-in-chief is thinking about pardoning Diddy — another sexual predator and all-round perverse man?

Former President Joe Biden says he can physically whip Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, the authors of the book Original Sin. Sure, Joe, sure. Take a lesson from former President George W. Bush, and fade into the background of life. Get treatment for your cancer and enjoy what days you have left with Jill and your family. Trying to convince the public that what they saw and heard in your debate with Trump is a waste of time. I speak for millions of Americans who thought due to your age and health, that you should only have been a one term president. And then your debate with the Orange King left no questions about whether we were right to ask/demand your resignation.

One Democratic insider recently said that Joe Biden was a better president for working class people than FDR. Really? You want us to believe that Biden in his four years of office accomplished more for working class people than Franklin Delano Roosevelt did during his sixteen year term?

As I predicted, Trump and his co-president Elon Musk had a falling out, and Musk has gone home to play with his toys, having not cut 1-2 trillion dollars from the federal budget as he promised he would do. He did, however, succeed in interjecting chaos into virtually every governmental agency. And he may be gone, but his chaos agents remain throughout the federal government.

It is startling how many conspiracies Trump buys into. Just today he re-messaged a message that claimed Joe Biden died in 2020 and was replaced with a clone. What’s next for a Trump? Believing he won the 2020 election or his dick is a foot long?

The sudden rise of AI and its widespread use by private businesses and public agencies scares the shit out of me. I am reminded of the words of Wendell Berry when he talked about the advancement of technology: “Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should.”

The murderous Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people continues unabated. Scores of innocent civilians — including women, children, and babies — are killed almost every day, yet the United States and its N.A.T.O allies stand idly by as they sell Israel billions of dollars of offensive weaponry, while at the same time hypocritically praying for the “peace of Jerusalem.” As Thomas Merton said (loosely quoted), “War never brings peace. Only peace begets peace. War might bring a cessation of hostilities, but it will not bring peace.”

The United States is the largest arms seller in the world, with almost 50% of world sales to over 100 countries. Yet, many American political leaders say that we are a peaceful nation; that we only wage war when attacked or provoked. Our national C.V. suggests that we are a violent, bloody people who use our military might to advance our agenda — justified or not.

I added up all the odds of this or that killing me or giving me cancer, and I’ve concluded that I died in 1927.

Bonus: MAGA Republicans who currently control the Ohio legislature are trying to make it illegal for Ohio cannabis users to travel to Michigan to buy marijuana. Why do Ohio cannabis users drive to Michigan to buy blunts, gummies, and bulk marijuana, especially when there are dispensaries near their homes? Simple, Ohio’s cannabis products are 50-70% more expensive than Michigan’s.

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Bruce’s Ten Hot Takes for May 27, 2025

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hot takes

Our delusional orange king thinks he can build a coast-to-coast golden dome missile attack prevention system. I’m confident that this will never happen, and if built, will never do what Trump thinks it will. And what about Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico? No protection for them?

I see that Trump continues to pardon people who don’t deserve it. It looks like fraudsters Todd and Julie Chrisley — who are currently in prison for fraud and tax evasion — are Trump’s latest pardons. These pardons reflect Trump’s indifference towards white-collar crime. Trump previously pardoned Paul Walczak, a nursing home executive who took $10 million meant for employee taxes and used it to fund a luxury lifestyle, including buying a $2 million yacht.

Environmental laws are meant to protect us from harm. Trump is rolling back these laws as fast as he can. Conclusion? Trump doesn’t care one bit about the health, safety, and welfare of the American people.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson says Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill will not lead to increased spending. Johnson claims he is an Evangelical Christian. Maybe, but he seems not to have read what the Bible says about lying. Trump’s bill will raise the federal deficit by trillions of dollars.

While I am not inclined to cheer when people die, the death of Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty means we will no longer have to listen to his homophobic rants and moralizing screeds. On that point, good riddance.

House Speaker Mike Johnson says draconian cuts to Medicaid will only affect those who are abusing the system. Another lie told by this fine, outstanding Christian man.

Senator John Fetterman needs to resign and take care of his shaky mental health. He is not fit to do the job.

Another aged Democrat, John Rangel, has died. This is one way to cull Congress of congresspeople who have lost all touch with the American people. The Democrats have an age problem. Sadly, we have to wait until the Grim Reaper helps us make way for new, younger leaders.

What’s with the damn political ads on TV? It’s almost two years until the next election. Here’s how I respond to these ads: mute and fast forward.

If the Trump administration successfully does away with habeas corpus, the collapse of our republic is not far behind. Will the Supreme Court turn back Trump’s vicious assault on the Constitution? We shall see.

Bonus: I have an in-person interview with a Washington Times journalist tomorrow. More details later.

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.