To be honest, even using that title made me queasy, but on January 20 it will indeed be part of American history and our reality. I believe you have done nothing to earn it and have only increasingly demonstrated a dangerous and un-American set of principles, values and intentions.
I am not a gambler, but I imagine I am feeling what someone in one of your failed casinos felt when rolling the dice or watching the roulette wheel spin — uncertainty, fear, bracing for loss because in your gut you believe the house always wins.
Cathy Renna — File photo
Since the election you and your surrogates have continued to demonstrate that a vote for you was not dissimilar to a hate crime. My relatives on my father’s side in Italy were stunned and fearful when the results came in. “Should have learned from our mistake electing Berlusconi,” they joked. But there is another Italian leader you are much more similar to, and we should heed the history lesson of their past. My father grew up in Italy when Mussolini was in power. As we know, he ruled the country constitutionally as Prime Minister from 1922 to 1925, then dropped all pretense of democracy and set up a legal dictatorship. Now, I wouldn’t compare you to Hitler. Yet. So if the shoe fits, it would be a Dolce and Gabbana. Because when people talk about a potential constitutional crisis, this is what I believe they are alluding to.
But this is something you will never achieve. Because I believe in the core values of America and our constitution and we, as a nation, would never let this happen. Like Congressman John Lewis, the civil rights hero and icon you dismissively berated when he called your presidency illegitimate, we will march. We will resist. We will stand up and say no, not in our America.
My daughter is about the same age as Barron. What kind of world will she grow up in? Will it be one that considers her “less than” your child? Not if I can help it.
In his second inaugural speech, Barack Obama said, “We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths, that all of us are created equal, is the star that guides us still, just as it guided our forbearers to Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall.” I am not alone in being guided by that star that our great President of the last eight years alluded to, a star that will get us through this next period of American history like no other, one that will test us but also one we will face undaunted.
The opinions expressed in these letters are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organizations and this magazine, its staff and contributors.
U.S. House and Senate Democrats have reintroduced their respective versions of the Equality Act, a landmark civil rights bill prohibiting discrimination against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The act, which passed the House of Representatives in previous years under Democratic-led leadership, would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to enshrine protections for LGBTQ people.
But it has never been able to gain the 60 votes needed to start debate on the bill or overcome a potential filibuster in the Senate.
It stands little chance of currently passing either chamber as long as Republicans control Congress.
The U.S. Air Force is rescinding a ban on including preferred pronouns in email signatures and other communications. The military branch announced the change in a news release.
The reversal was signed by Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Gwendolyn DeFilippi.
The earlier directive, signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was issued on January 31 to comply with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump stating that the United States government will only recognize two sexes -- male and female -- as legitimate.
Less than three months before he is scheduled to turn himself in to federal authorities to serve a 7-year prison term, George Santos is now begging Trump for a pardon.
The 36-year-old Republican's plea backtracks on previous statements he made claiming he would not seek clemency from Trump.
However, it is not surprising, given the former New York congressman's previous admissions to fabricating significant details of his life story after he was first elected.
It was those inconsistencies that triggered further questions about his campaign spending and fundraising activities -- leading to both a congressional ethics investigation, a damning report from the House Ethics Committee accusing him of financial and ethical wrongdoing, his expulsion from Congress at the hands of his colleagues, and ultimately, criminal charges brought by the Department of Justice.
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