Impeachement

 My name is Jason Watson. I’m an active-duty Major in the United States Air Force. However, who I am is immaterial. In the grand scheme of things, I’m just a nobody. What matters far more than who I am is what I have to say and the price I’m willing to pay to say it.

“I, Jason Paul Watson, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

I first swore this oath over 20 years ago upon entering basic cadet training at the United States Air Force Academy in late June of 2005. I’ve repeated it many times since then.

The oath of office means everything to me. It is foundational to our system of government in the United States. The oath ensures that officials of our government owe allegiance not to any individual or political party, but to our Constitution and the democratic republic it represents.

Our Constitution binds us all together as Americans.

Like countless veterans before me and military members serving now, I have devoted my life to serving our democratic republic, always doing my best to honor my oath and protect America against foreign threats.

But the greatest threat to our democratic republic is not a foreign one. It is us.

We the people—not just the left, not just the right, not just the center. All of us together define who we are as Americans.

And, like it or not, we have all played a part, myself included, in getting ourselves into this mess. The burden of that culpability is much heavier for some than others, undeniably. And for those with the lion’s share of guilt—such as those currently running the executive branch of the federal government—the bill must come due. But all of us have a share.

For the past 18 months, we the people have allowed the highest levels of the executive branch of the federal government to violate our Constitution and their oath to it with impunity.

When the President of the United States orders military action against foreign countries absent an emergency scenario where American interests are under imminent, dire threat—as was done with Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran—that is an unconstitutional usurpation of Congress’s authority and a violation of the War Powers Clause.

These violations resulted in the deaths of 13 service members and injuries to hundreds more.

For this, the President and Vice President must be impeached, convicted, and removed.

When the President of the United States grants an unelected mega-donor sweeping authority to shut down large swaths of our federal government, along with unrestricted access to our government databases, that is an unconstitutional circumvention of Congress’s advice-and-consent authority under the Appointments Clause and Congress’s power of the purse under the Appropriations Clause.

These violations exposed every American’s sensitive personal data to leaks and exploitation, illegally terminated tens of thousands of federal civil servants, crippled support for Americans needing medical care and disaster preparedness, and—most tragically—resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of the world’s most impoverished people through the inhumane, abrupt cessation of U.S. aid.

For this, the President and Vice President must be impeached, convicted, and removed.

When the President of the United States directs the Department of Homeland Security to deny hundreds of people due process before illegally detaining them and sending them to a foreign prison notorious for human rights abuses, that is a violation of our Fifth and Eighth Amendment rights.

Most people sent to CECOT never committed any violent crimes in their lives, but are being defamed as violent criminals as a pretext for the torture they suffered in El Salvador, paid for with U.S. taxpayer dollars.

For this, the President and Vice President must be impeached, convicted, and removed.

When the President of the United States sponsors violence against the American people engaged in their constitutional right to peacefully assemble and protest, that is a violation of our First Amendment rights.

Pastors praying for DHS agents were violently attacked without provocation. A legal observer lost an eye after being struck by a so-called non-lethal round fired by an ICE agent. A woman attempting to follow chaotic and contradictory DHS instructions was fatally shot. A subdued man who posed no threat was fatally shot after having his firearm removed, while statements by high-ranking cabinet members also violated our Second Amendment rights.

For this, the President and Vice President must be impeached, convicted, and removed.

There are innumerable more impeachable offenses that I could cover: denying congressional oversight of immigrant detention centers that look increasingly like CECOT; suing media organizations, colleges, and law firms for billions of dollars while abusing executive branch agencies to extort settlements; allowing a mega-donor to advertise products on the White House lawn; trading pardons for donations; levying illegal tariffs; weaponizing the Department of Justice against political adversaries while ignoring crimes committed by supporters and enablers; and attempting to reverse birthright citizenship through executive order.

For all of these high crimes and misdemeanors, the President and Vice President must be impeached, convicted, and removed.

The constitutional impeachment process is our best pathway to restore fidelity to our Constitution.

This is why I am here standing in solidarity with Representative Green.

I am not here because I am a Democrat or because I share his policy positions. I’m not a Democrat and know next to nothing about his policies. I am here with him because Representative Green is the only member of Congress who has demonstrated the courage and conviction to invoke Rule IX and force a vote on articles of impeachment.

If Congress followed his example, we could remove the entire Trump administration.

But Congress remains unconvinced of the urgency and necessity of honoring its oath.

So we must persuade them with our unrelenting, uncompromising civil resistance.

I am calling on average Americans everywhere to peacefully exercise your First Amendment rights every day until this administration is removed and our democratic republic is restored.

I believe in America.

I believe in us.

If just a nobody like me can take a stand for our Constitution and our democratic republic, then you can too.

I hope you will join me in the defense of our republic.

Thank you.

Watson was arrested for making this speech. 

His attorney said his client has not been criminally charged but was under investigation for several violations of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice. Major Watson is currently at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington and is not allowed to leave the base, his lawyer said.

 

 

Trump's Lying Claim of Communism

The problem for Trump is that the new stars of the Democratic Party whom Trump wants to defile have nothing whatsoever to do with communism. They barely have anything to do with socialism. 

New York’s Zohran Mamdani, AOC, Seattle’s Katie Wilson, Colorado’s Melat Kiros, and dozens of others — including many who have won recent primaries — are popular because they’re taking on corporate America, attacking political corruption by big money, and dealing with the real problems of ordinary Americans. 

Labels are becoming irrelevant, anyway. In an Axios-Generation Lab poll of young Americans, 67 percent say they have a positive or neutral association with the word “socialism” compared with 40 percent who are positive or neutral toward “capitalism.” A new national survey from the Cato Institute finds Zoomers more supportive of socialism (53 percent) than capitalism (45 percent). 

I can understand Gen Z’s growing disillusionment with capitalism. They can’t afford a home of their own. They struggle to afford health insurance. The job market is horrendous. They can’t afford to start a family. In many ways, capitalism — or whatever you want to call our current system — has failed them. And they’re the future of America.

Trump has run out of cards to play in the midterm elections, which is why he’s now talking about the “communist menace.”

He can’t talk about the economy, because prices continue to rise faster than wages, which means most Americans are getting poorer. He can’t talk about foreign policy, because his war in Iran has been a debacle, his tariffs are an utter failure, and he obviously hasn’t settled the war in Ukraine on “Day 1.” He can’t talk about immigration, because his raids and mass deportations have become so unpopular. 

So, facing the midterm elections, what’s left? 

He’s resorting to the oldest of right-wing tropes — accusing Democrats (especially a rising generation of new, young, vigorous Democratic politicians) of being commies.

Trump's Caravan Destroyed the Reflective Pool ; not vandals

 

President Donald Trump's motorcade drove directly across the drained floor of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on May 7, 2026. He made the unannounced visit to inspect a newly painted, bright "American flag blue" coating applied during a $16 million renovation project. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Defend the Constitution

 

Trump/MAGA Budget Cuts to Education

Unless we act now, critical programs that support our students could shut down.  The Trump administration is proposing to further politicize federal funding decisions by giving political appointees authority over decisions about which schools, colleges, and community organizations receive federal funding.  That means funding decisions will be made by political appointees with an agenda—not based on empirical data, student needs, program quality, and professional expertise. Decisions about research funding will be driven by politics rather than peer review and merit.  Here’s what you can do:  Write a public comment and urge the Office of Management and Budget to withdraw its proposal and to preserve a fair, transparent, and student-centered grant system.

Write a Public Comment  ➤

Any program supporting:  Women and girls,   Immigrant families,   LGBTQIA+ students,   Racial equity, Students with disabilities, or A fuller account of U.S. history...  ...could lose its funding under this administration if this proposal is finalized.   This would apply not just to federal K-12 and college and university programs, but to all discretionary funding received by those institutions and by nonprofits that serve our communities and receive federal grants.   To add insult to injury, it will also have a chilling effect on schools, districts, and colleges as they try to balance what they believe is best for students, with which programs could be targeted for being contrary to the current administration’s values.   We have already seen many institutions drop critically needed programs and instruction in response to similar threats to federal funding.  Before the rule takes effect, the administration must solicit and respond to comments from the public—that's you.  Please share how federal funding supports your students, school, campus, or community and why stable funding matters. You have until July 13 to act.  We give you a sample to adapt, but the more personalized your public comment is, the better.  Educators need stability so they can focus on teaching and supporting students, NOT navigating politically motivated requirements.   And, students deserve stable access to the programs and services that help them learn and thrive.  Federal funding should serve students, not politics.  In solidarity,  The NEA EdAction Team

Note: A new project of Teachers and Educators Defending democracy is in the works.  Information will be posted here when ready.  Without an educated populace, the common good cannot even be discerned. This is fundamental. When education is viewed as a private investment yielding private returns, there’s no reason why anyone other than the “investor” should pay for it. But when understood as a public good underlying our democracy, all of us have a responsibility to ensure that it is of high quality and available to all. Our central obligation as citizens is to preserve, fortify, and protect our democratic form of government — not inundate it with big money and buy off politicians. We must defend the right to vote and ensure that more citizens are heard, not fewer.

 

Trump /Maga Viewpoints

 I came across this Public Service Announcement produced by the U.S. government in 1945. It seems apt today, on the eve of the nation’s 250th anniversary, when bigotry and hate are being stoked by a neofascist president. Please take a look:

Actually, it was Robert Reich who came across this video.  On his substack.

This is a clip from the original, which runs 23 minutes. It was called “Don’t Be a Sucker.”

Change in direction of California Education

 State superintendent will no longer manage California schools under deal Newsom cuts with Legislature

 

Ed Source 

 

https://edsource.org/2026/california-education-governance-reform-3/761057

Trump Corruption Grows and Grows

 

Paul Krugman.  Corruption Grows and Grows.

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/a-verdict-on-the-slaughter

  

Support Free Speech on Campus

 

Anti Monopoly Bill in California

 

Anti-Monopoly Bill Hits Make-or-Break Moment in California A bill to update the antitrust laws in the nation’s most populous state faces a critical legislative hearing this week. At a time when California is among the states being relied upon as a substitute for proper antitrust enforcement, which is moribund at the federal level thanks to Trump administration corruption, advocates say the state must have a full suite of tools to succeed. The bill, known as the Compete Act (AB 1776), will get heard in the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. It would fix a defect in the state’s antitrust law, the Cartwright Act: namely, that it does not cover single-firm conduct. Currently, the law can only be applied to coordinated conduct by multiple firms to monopolize an industry. But the new language affirms that “it is unlawful for one or more persons” to “unreasonably restrain trade” or “monopolize or monopsonize, attempt to monopolize or monopsonize, maintain a monopoly or monopsony, or combine or conspire with another person to monopolize or monopsonize any part of trade or commerce.” Given that the quintessential monopoly is a single firm, it’s a logical update. Restrictions on single-firm conduct would allow individual would-be monopolists to be sued under state law. That would include Silicon Valley–based tech firms like Google, Apple, and Meta, all of which have faced monopolization cases at the federal level; Google has been found guilty of monopolization twice. Real estate firms like algorithmic price coordinator RealPage, grocers with local footprints like Kroger and Albertsons (which tried to merge in 2024), home insurance companies colluding to deny fire coverage in the state, and Hollywood studios that could be scrutinized over tying together distribution and production would be at greater risk from a souped-up Cartwright Act. Continue reading this story

Immigrant Heritage

 

As Immigrant Heritage Month comes to a close, I find myself reflecting on the people, stories, and sacrifices that have shaped our communities—and my own life.    My grandmother immigrated to San Antonio, Texas, as a young girl, carrying with her the same hopes that have inspired generations of immigrants: the opportunity to have a better life. Her courage, resilience, and determination helped create opportunities for future generations, including me and my twin brother. Her story is a reminder that behind every conversation about immigration are people, families, dreams, and contributions that help strengthen our communities and our country.  That lesson continues to guide me today.    It also helps explain why the Latino Community Foundation’s commitment to immigrant communities is so deeply personal.

Many members of our team carry immigration stories within our families and communities. We know firsthand the sacrifices that families make, the challenges they overcome, and the strength they bring to every corner of American life. Those experiences shape how we practice philanthropy. They shape how we advocate. And they shape how we lead.    Our commitment begins with love—love for our families, our neighbors, and the communities that have invested so much in this country.    That love has always informed our work, but it also demands action.    Since late 2024 and the latest wave of attacks against immigrant communities—including family separations, inhumane deportation practices, changes to work authorizations, and the weaponization of personal data—the Latino Community Foundation has invested $2.1M in immigrant rights, legal services, community protection efforts, and organizations serving immigrant families.    Earlier this year, we launched the Community Protection Fund, directly investing $600,000 to support organizations that are defending civil and constitutional rights, protecting families, building local response networks, and helping communities navigate an increasingly hostile environment.    We created this fund because it was authentic to who we are.    Because when communities we love are under attack, standing with them is not a strategic decision, but a moral one.    Our support extends beyond rapid response. Through our Power Accelerator programs, we are investing in the leadership, capacity, and long-term sustainability of immigrant-serving and immigrant-led organizations that are building both economic and civic power across Latino communities. These leaders are advancing opportunity, protecting rights, strengthening local institutions, and creating pathways for families to thrive.

Our commitment is also reflected in our policy agenda. In California and across the country, we advocate for policies that protect the rights and dignity of immigrant individuals and families, expand economic opportunity, strengthen democratic participation, and ensure Latinos are fairly represented in the decisions that shape our future.    This work is grounded in a simple truth: immigrants are not only part of America’s story—they are essential to its future.    As June comes to an end, our celebration of immigrant communities does not.  We remain committed to investing in their safety, their leadership, and their success. We remain committed to a future where every person is treated with dignity and humanity. And we remain committed to building a flourishing future where the power of immigrant communities is unleashed so our entire country can thrive.

DSA And Electoral Politics

 

The Socialist Future Is Being Written in New York Branko Marcetic June 24, 2026 Jacobin Tuesday's socialist sweep in New York was built on the organizing power of the Democratic Socialists of America, which has now established itself as the leading political power in the city.