Appreciate the focus on rural people of privilege. I also live rurally and wonder who would support all this and who looks at my skin and wishes me deported. I am Mexican American and work with cancer patients so I hope to be an example of what brown people are doing to help all people regardless of skin color or politics. I hope this all brings reform to immigration so Americans realize who picks their produce and who runs their hotels and restaurant cleaning crews.
I know this sounds condescending but it is the truth: The first guy I hired (and I have hired many workers) when I started my construction business in Chicago was a young man (18) named Humberto De La Rosa. I never had a more industrious and engaged, as well as skilled worker. He stayed with me just long enough to learn the trade and then went off and started his own successful business. Number one 'hire' in my book.
I’m not sure how that’s condescending. I have two subcontractors with very similar stories. They do excellent work because they were well trained and have pride in their work. Isn’t that, after all, the American dream. Learn the business then start your own. I’m not sure if you’re using your first hire as a subcontractor but you’re missing out if you’re not.
I wish I could have used him but he wanted to serve his Hispanic community on the west side of the city and my work centered mostly in the newly gentrified neighborhoods in the near north side of the city. This was back in the 70's. Those early days of 'rehab' in Chicago were the best. At one time I employed Scotsmen, and Irishmen (all from the UK) and Hispanic men. We had a blast every day.
You remind me of the man who delivers our newspaper. He is Haitian. He works seven days a week, and I'm sure he has another job, maybe two. When he sees us as he comes with the paper, he always pulls over, he is always smiling; once, as I was crossing a street two blocks away, a car swung around and I realized it was him--he had recognized me and made sure I got the paper. Mr. L'Image is what this nation needs--any country would be lucky to have him. He is worth ten or twenty Donald Trumps or his dust-licking pimps.
The fact you’re a human being should matter, not the color of your skin. I’m sorry for all the sane Americans caught up in this bs, it’s disgusting and has to be stressful as hell. Hopefully karma’s a bitch for ALL of them.
Now is our moment—take action against this harmful government. They are:
• Covering up a pedophile ring.
• Ignoring court orders.
• Spreading corruption.
The poor, the needy, and children are being abused—by our government. Healthcare, already a broken system, was canceled for 13 million. Take to the streets!
We must protest outright crooks and the pedophiles. They will start shooting us. Untrained ICE agents will shoot us. Protest until we go down or we oust these tyrants.
I made 54 protest signs to aid protest groups. I will make many more to share. You will see something different in these signs! Help yourself to this second batch, and share them as far as you can.
Jess, your post is the sand that I’ll be tossing in the gears of the fascists by restacking it. I believe every grain of sand is meaningful to the resistance.
Jess, we had a win last week. GOP lackeys in Virginia tried to fire a local university president for doing his job. George Mason University, motto “Diversity is our Strength.” We showed up in numbers. Dr Washington kept his job and got a raise.
I hope you are aware of emerging evidence that Harris did in fact win. ElectionTruthAlliance.org, TheCommonCoaltion.com, the Substack named This Will Hold. Apparently an NSA whistleblower alleges they did a forensic audit shortly after the election which showed clear manipulation (which each of these sites also notes) and is willing to testify under oath.
Don't go down this rathole. Despite what a whistle blower may claim to know, the 2024 results were too consistent across the board and too in line with exit polling to suggest a vast operation to steal the election. Vice President Harris lost and conceded, appropriately. Now we fight on.
Don't be at all sure of this. They told us they were rigging it. They then told us they rigged it. The data is at best questionable. We should at least have demanded paper recounts in a few places. They sure as hell do. You fight fire with fire with these criminals.
I've read it too, Joe Harrington, and though the explanations were a bit technical for me, he's actually not just talking about the last election. It goes back to 2000.
There was also an Emmy-nominated HBO documentary in 2006 about the voting machines in the 2000 and 2004 elections called "Hacking Democracy" much easier to follow - and very worth a watch.
We have to win OVERWHELMINGLY. No matter the gerrymandering, you get people who didn’t bother to vote TO VOTE. Here’s an example I like to use. In July 2025, Fox News averaged 2.4 million viewers during prime time. The population of the United States is 340 million. Not even 1% of the population is watching Fox News. Of those 340 million, approximately 258 million people are eligible to vote. Only 65% of those people voted. We need to go after those 35%. The Democrats were extremely complicit in losing the 2024 election (mirroring 2016). We have work to do my friends.
If they gerrymander like they’re threatening we won’t win. If they still have the tabulation software installed we won’t win. We must fight NOW to ensure that people are not thrown off voter rolls as Greg Palast has documented and that the machines used last year are not used again.
I disagree. I believe the election was stolen, rigged, as both Trump and Elon have stated which can be seen clearly in videos. A sociopathic narcissist cannot help but boost how they deceived you. Just can't. The truth is that fight would distract us from the fight against authoritative rule that is in right in front of us. But let's not whitewash the fraud and criminal theft of our election.
Waste of time we do not have. Do the work to get voters out (register + educate) stop gerrymandering- show up at town-city council meetings, be there, …organize leadership connections resistance..plan for response to all illegal actions,
I respectfully disagree. there is a case currently in 'discovery' in NY state, as directed by a Judge. data specialists have found irregularities. the facts may come out over time. it is worth being vigilant. Our best hope is to be able to shore up security for future elections.
Fine, by all means, monitor election security. But there are always "irregularities" in just about everything that happens. But it undermines credibility to claim that some irregularities constitute a credible basis for asserting a far-reaching conspiracy that would necessarily require scores of people to participate secretly.
Gerrymandering and lying to voters were a greater problem, Gross gerrymandering is again occurring at an even greater level, Gerrymandering should be illegal and so should lying in political ads,
I don't know what to think. I would have thought that the Congress allowing a president to accept an airplane from another country would be complete fiction. I would have thought that a Supreme Court ruling giving legality to any official act by a president would be beyond fiction -- would be fantasy, or satire.
While I agree with you and also believe that the Harris campaign was trained and very able to catch anomalies before conceding, the election was close.
The 2 that I read about that seemed to be worth excavating were 1) the appreciably higher number of mail in ballots that were rejected were Democrats and 2) There was an update to the Uninterrupted Power Supplies used for many elections immediately prior to the election. Uninterrupted Power Supplies communicate with the Operating System and an unplanned, last minute, update should be verfied extensively.
I still suspect the election was valid and the Democrats lost because Democrats did not show up to vote, but I would like to know the above issues have been checked. I think Peter Thiel had some ownership in the Uninterrupted Power Supply company.
It’s not just the NSA whistleblower. They have proof of votes, not tallied and statistical evidence that a judge has ruled significant enough to reject a motion to dismiss by the elections board. I did send them a few bucks and encourage lots of people to subscribe to their Substack. If the case gets any further along, they’re going to see resistance from powers greater than the elections board.
But the evidence is very clear; Musk's tactics of paying out millions to encourage registering to vote did have an impact. The R's were very cleaver. They were able to find many disengaged voters and got them to vote. The D's did not, although they knocked on as many doors. Amerika is very confused right now and still has not hit "rock bottom" (to take a phrase from my AA experience). When it does hit bottom there will be chaos bc no one will see it coming until it is way too late. There will be no "12 step program" to relieve the agony and right the ship.
I would suggest reading the evidence amassed by the folks at ElectionTruth Alliance. Voting patterns looked normal for early voting and mail ballots but when it came to in person voting the patterns were anything but normal and they proved it.
There also was a December deadline for certification of the election. If a forensic audit showed tampering shortly after the election, any whistleblower should have spoken up at the time.
Very convincing (to this properly skeptical scientist) evidence of result-changing electronic manipulation in the swing states was publicized in the weeks after the election. It was almost certainly driven by Elon Musk. It was rejected without reservation by the Democratic Party officialdom.
Until they are willing to take it seriously, that information will not have legs. How does one change that?
Jess, I live in CO and you are one of my most important inspirationists. I know that's not an official word but it fits. Yesterday I had a conversation with a tech who was administering a medical test. After a few comments to determine we were both of the same political persuasion, she told me that a neighbor had been detained in March. This neighbor was at the immigration office following her long path to citizenship, abiding by all the rules as she had for the past three years. She is 84 yrs old, the last member of a Haitian family to be brought here legally. Four months later she is still in detention and the family was told she will remain there indefinitely. The US gov won't release her and the Haitian gov won't accept her deportation because she is too old. There must be hundreds if not thousands of elders stuck in this same situation. Do you know of any organization that is providing any practical relief to those in detention?
I love your work, and I share it widely. Don't ever give up. I'm a New Jerseyan, but was a longtime resident of rural Indiana. To my fellow Easterners: don't stereotype or oversimplify rural life and culture.
I live in a state where Anglos are actually in the minority or close to it. New Mexico is made up mostly of Hispanics and Natives and Anglos. I have Hispanic neighbors whose families have been here longer than my ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War. I get my health care through a Pueblo Clinic that is open to the Pueblo's neighbors. One of my kids is Hispanic, another is transgender. Two of my grandkids are married to Hispanics and have Hispanic kids. Another grandkid is Lesbian with a Korean partner and, through the miracle of IVF has a half Korean daughter. I worry about the world they are living in and their safety. Your columns give me hope and perspective. Thank you.
Jess Piper. Keep up your good work. One of the starkest of immoral acts of this regime is the Gestapo tactics of ICE and the mass deportation. It never had to be like this. Next in line is the immoral conduct of our President, with the emerging reminders of the whole Epstein debacle. The close association with Epstein almost makes the Jean Carrol incident make sense. Trump is who he is, and it shows. A convicted sexual predator, and maybe of young girls with his buddy of 15 rears. I wonder what you think of the idea of a Democratic Convention to rally Democrats, to create and promote a platform all can support, and treating the midterms as THE watershed moment. The most important Thing that Dems can do. Democrats need to regain their swagger, to be the moral leader, to rejuvenate and be the proud Democratic Party that is on the right side of history, that is the big tent, that is all that Trump and his néw cult like Party are not. Do not be shy Democrats. You are “in the right” this time. Stand up. Be the leader. A Convention, bolstered by the local efforts such as yours, the No Kings, the million Rising and more, all given a common vision and platform to vote FOR - that huge tent that is the Democratic Party. We cannot lose in 2026. It is a Waterloo moment, all or nothing opportunity. Moreover it is a mandate. Winning is everything if Democracy is to survive. You and all the other great Substackers can come together at a common forum to speak with a common voice and vision and launch the unified purpose of winning over the two houses. What do you think?
Curiosity driven. I counted the approximate numbers of men and women in the picture. From what I could discern my estimate was 35 women and 13 men. Why is this important? I was already aware that there is quite a divide between sexes in thought, opinion, and action in this country’s politics. Participation counts. Thanks to all the rational caring women out there attempting to save democracy. Thanks Jess for The View from Rural Missouri.
When are you going to be in Hannibal or Quincy again, I would love to hear you speak. Things have definitely gotten more dire and serious as we watch our federal government is being turned over to Fox News hosts, traitors, and the inept,
& no one will stop this travesty. It’s up to the people to save our country, we can’t depend on the federal government anymore.
Now I need to read Chernow on Twain. I read Chernow's bio of Hamilton, and it was excellent and fascinating. Meanwhile: I live in a small town in N. CA, which is peaceful and full of liberals. We moved here last year, but I only realized the town's nickname is Peacetown. I still worry about my next door neighbors, though! On one side, Latino, on the other ... I'm really not sure, because they don't have English. They might be Latino too. I worry. Thanks for your excellent columns, Jess!
Bootlickers...yeah I like that, been referring to them as sycophants and toadies. Nice to have a new label. There are so many things happening now that I never saw coming, and so blatantly unmistakable if you're paying attention. The ICE thug-movement using fear-inducing tactics to intimidate brown skin folks is so vile and distasteful, you have to wonder what's next. The huge increase in funding from $40B to $135B suggests to me a domestic application. Anyone who doesn't think a billionaire cabal has the ability to affect election outcomes are terribly niave, in my opinion.
Appreciate the focus on rural people of privilege. I also live rurally and wonder who would support all this and who looks at my skin and wishes me deported. I am Mexican American and work with cancer patients so I hope to be an example of what brown people are doing to help all people regardless of skin color or politics. I hope this all brings reform to immigration so Americans realize who picks their produce and who runs their hotels and restaurant cleaning crews.
Thank you for your courage and work!
I know this sounds condescending but it is the truth: The first guy I hired (and I have hired many workers) when I started my construction business in Chicago was a young man (18) named Humberto De La Rosa. I never had a more industrious and engaged, as well as skilled worker. He stayed with me just long enough to learn the trade and then went off and started his own successful business. Number one 'hire' in my book.
I’m not sure how that’s condescending. I have two subcontractors with very similar stories. They do excellent work because they were well trained and have pride in their work. Isn’t that, after all, the American dream. Learn the business then start your own. I’m not sure if you’re using your first hire as a subcontractor but you’re missing out if you’re not.
I wish I could have used him but he wanted to serve his Hispanic community on the west side of the city and my work centered mostly in the newly gentrified neighborhoods in the near north side of the city. This was back in the 70's. Those early days of 'rehab' in Chicago were the best. At one time I employed Scotsmen, and Irishmen (all from the UK) and Hispanic men. We had a blast every day.
I have lost count of all the Humbertos I have known and worked with. This is so cold blooded and infuriating.
You remind me of the man who delivers our newspaper. He is Haitian. He works seven days a week, and I'm sure he has another job, maybe two. When he sees us as he comes with the paper, he always pulls over, he is always smiling; once, as I was crossing a street two blocks away, a car swung around and I realized it was him--he had recognized me and made sure I got the paper. Mr. L'Image is what this nation needs--any country would be lucky to have him. He is worth ten or twenty Donald Trumps or his dust-licking pimps.
Thank you…for your statement, which is thought-provoking, but also for the work that you do. As a cancer survivor, I appreciate you. 🩷
The fact you’re a human being should matter, not the color of your skin. I’m sorry for all the sane Americans caught up in this bs, it’s disgusting and has to be stressful as hell. Hopefully karma’s a bitch for ALL of them.
Stupid people lash out. That’s all they know how to do. It’s both pathetic and immoral. We are all human. ❤️
Now is our moment—take action against this harmful government. They are:
• Covering up a pedophile ring.
• Ignoring court orders.
• Spreading corruption.
The poor, the needy, and children are being abused—by our government. Healthcare, already a broken system, was canceled for 13 million. Take to the streets!
We must protest outright crooks and the pedophiles. They will start shooting us. Untrained ICE agents will shoot us. Protest until we go down or we oust these tyrants.
I made 54 protest signs to aid protest groups. I will make many more to share. You will see something different in these signs! Help yourself to this second batch, and share them as far as you can.
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/more-free-protest-signs?r=3m1bs
And when they start shooting, you will do what, wave a protest sign? I’d suggest having your sign in one hand and a 12-gauge in the other.
Jess : I would suggest that the appropriate term is not ICE, but it is ICEStapo.
Great term!
😂👍
Jess, your post is the sand that I’ll be tossing in the gears of the fascists by restacking it. I believe every grain of sand is meaningful to the resistance.
Jess, we had a win last week. GOP lackeys in Virginia tried to fire a local university president for doing his job. George Mason University, motto “Diversity is our Strength.” We showed up in numbers. Dr Washington kept his job and got a raise.
Yessssss
That's great news!
I hope you are aware of emerging evidence that Harris did in fact win. ElectionTruthAlliance.org, TheCommonCoaltion.com, the Substack named This Will Hold. Apparently an NSA whistleblower alleges they did a forensic audit shortly after the election which showed clear manipulation (which each of these sites also notes) and is willing to testify under oath.
I’ve been reading everything I’ve come across on the topic.
Don't go down this rathole. Despite what a whistle blower may claim to know, the 2024 results were too consistent across the board and too in line with exit polling to suggest a vast operation to steal the election. Vice President Harris lost and conceded, appropriately. Now we fight on.
Don't be at all sure of this. They told us they were rigging it. They then told us they rigged it. The data is at best questionable. We should at least have demanded paper recounts in a few places. They sure as hell do. You fight fire with fire with these criminals.
I've read it too, Joe Harrington, and though the explanations were a bit technical for me, he's actually not just talking about the last election. It goes back to 2000.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-169607570
There was also an Emmy-nominated HBO documentary in 2006 about the voting machines in the 2000 and 2004 elections called "Hacking Democracy" much easier to follow - and very worth a watch.
We have to win OVERWHELMINGLY. No matter the gerrymandering, you get people who didn’t bother to vote TO VOTE. Here’s an example I like to use. In July 2025, Fox News averaged 2.4 million viewers during prime time. The population of the United States is 340 million. Not even 1% of the population is watching Fox News. Of those 340 million, approximately 258 million people are eligible to vote. Only 65% of those people voted. We need to go after those 35%. The Democrats were extremely complicit in losing the 2024 election (mirroring 2016). We have work to do my friends.
If they gerrymander like they’re threatening we won’t win. If they still have the tabulation software installed we won’t win. We must fight NOW to ensure that people are not thrown off voter rolls as Greg Palast has documented and that the machines used last year are not used again.
I disagree. I believe the election was stolen, rigged, as both Trump and Elon have stated which can be seen clearly in videos. A sociopathic narcissist cannot help but boost how they deceived you. Just can't. The truth is that fight would distract us from the fight against authoritative rule that is in right in front of us. But let's not whitewash the fraud and criminal theft of our election.
I don't regard Elon Musk as a credible source on anything, especially Donald Trump, now that the two are at each other's throats.
Yes, then I regard this as reason to not believe that Trump won the election.
They already made up
Waste of time we do not have. Do the work to get voters out (register + educate) stop gerrymandering- show up at town-city council meetings, be there, …organize leadership connections resistance..plan for response to all illegal actions,
I respectfully disagree. there is a case currently in 'discovery' in NY state, as directed by a Judge. data specialists have found irregularities. the facts may come out over time. it is worth being vigilant. Our best hope is to be able to shore up security for future elections.
Fine, by all means, monitor election security. But there are always "irregularities" in just about everything that happens. But it undermines credibility to claim that some irregularities constitute a credible basis for asserting a far-reaching conspiracy that would necessarily require scores of people to participate secretly.
The Gop has been Cheating since 2000
Gerrymandering and lying to voters were a greater problem, Gross gerrymandering is again occurring at an even greater level, Gerrymandering should be illegal and so should lying in political ads,
I don't know what to think. I would have thought that the Congress allowing a president to accept an airplane from another country would be complete fiction. I would have thought that a Supreme Court ruling giving legality to any official act by a president would be beyond fiction -- would be fantasy, or satire.
While I agree with you and also believe that the Harris campaign was trained and very able to catch anomalies before conceding, the election was close.
The 2 that I read about that seemed to be worth excavating were 1) the appreciably higher number of mail in ballots that were rejected were Democrats and 2) There was an update to the Uninterrupted Power Supplies used for many elections immediately prior to the election. Uninterrupted Power Supplies communicate with the Operating System and an unplanned, last minute, update should be verfied extensively.
I still suspect the election was valid and the Democrats lost because Democrats did not show up to vote, but I would like to know the above issues have been checked. I think Peter Thiel had some ownership in the Uninterrupted Power Supply company.
It’s not just the NSA whistleblower. They have proof of votes, not tallied and statistical evidence that a judge has ruled significant enough to reject a motion to dismiss by the elections board. I did send them a few bucks and encourage lots of people to subscribe to their Substack. If the case gets any further along, they’re going to see resistance from powers greater than the elections board.
But the evidence is very clear; Musk's tactics of paying out millions to encourage registering to vote did have an impact. The R's were very cleaver. They were able to find many disengaged voters and got them to vote. The D's did not, although they knocked on as many doors. Amerika is very confused right now and still has not hit "rock bottom" (to take a phrase from my AA experience). When it does hit bottom there will be chaos bc no one will see it coming until it is way too late. There will be no "12 step program" to relieve the agony and right the ship.
I would suggest reading the evidence amassed by the folks at ElectionTruth Alliance. Voting patterns looked normal for early voting and mail ballots but when it came to in person voting the patterns were anything but normal and they proved it.
There also was a December deadline for certification of the election. If a forensic audit showed tampering shortly after the election, any whistleblower should have spoken up at the time.
Very convincing (to this properly skeptical scientist) evidence of result-changing electronic manipulation in the swing states was publicized in the weeks after the election. It was almost certainly driven by Elon Musk. It was rejected without reservation by the Democratic Party officialdom.
Until they are willing to take it seriously, that information will not have legs. How does one change that?
Jess, I live in CO and you are one of my most important inspirationists. I know that's not an official word but it fits. Yesterday I had a conversation with a tech who was administering a medical test. After a few comments to determine we were both of the same political persuasion, she told me that a neighbor had been detained in March. This neighbor was at the immigration office following her long path to citizenship, abiding by all the rules as she had for the past three years. She is 84 yrs old, the last member of a Haitian family to be brought here legally. Four months later she is still in detention and the family was told she will remain there indefinitely. The US gov won't release her and the Haitian gov won't accept her deportation because she is too old. There must be hundreds if not thousands of elders stuck in this same situation. Do you know of any organization that is providing any practical relief to those in detention?
Oh god! Let me ask around
Thank you, Jess.
ACLU springs to mind
Keep going, each end every one. We are building our numbers.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead
I love your work, and I share it widely. Don't ever give up. I'm a New Jerseyan, but was a longtime resident of rural Indiana. To my fellow Easterners: don't stereotype or oversimplify rural life and culture.
Thank you for your inspiring and uplifting posts.
I live in a state where Anglos are actually in the minority or close to it. New Mexico is made up mostly of Hispanics and Natives and Anglos. I have Hispanic neighbors whose families have been here longer than my ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War. I get my health care through a Pueblo Clinic that is open to the Pueblo's neighbors. One of my kids is Hispanic, another is transgender. Two of my grandkids are married to Hispanics and have Hispanic kids. Another grandkid is Lesbian with a Korean partner and, through the miracle of IVF has a half Korean daughter. I worry about the world they are living in and their safety. Your columns give me hope and perspective. Thank you.
Sounds like a beautiful family to me 💙
Jess Piper. Keep up your good work. One of the starkest of immoral acts of this regime is the Gestapo tactics of ICE and the mass deportation. It never had to be like this. Next in line is the immoral conduct of our President, with the emerging reminders of the whole Epstein debacle. The close association with Epstein almost makes the Jean Carrol incident make sense. Trump is who he is, and it shows. A convicted sexual predator, and maybe of young girls with his buddy of 15 rears. I wonder what you think of the idea of a Democratic Convention to rally Democrats, to create and promote a platform all can support, and treating the midterms as THE watershed moment. The most important Thing that Dems can do. Democrats need to regain their swagger, to be the moral leader, to rejuvenate and be the proud Democratic Party that is on the right side of history, that is the big tent, that is all that Trump and his néw cult like Party are not. Do not be shy Democrats. You are “in the right” this time. Stand up. Be the leader. A Convention, bolstered by the local efforts such as yours, the No Kings, the million Rising and more, all given a common vision and platform to vote FOR - that huge tent that is the Democratic Party. We cannot lose in 2026. It is a Waterloo moment, all or nothing opportunity. Moreover it is a mandate. Winning is everything if Democracy is to survive. You and all the other great Substackers can come together at a common forum to speak with a common voice and vision and launch the unified purpose of winning over the two houses. What do you think?
I agree. We cannot lose in ‘26
Curiosity driven. I counted the approximate numbers of men and women in the picture. From what I could discern my estimate was 35 women and 13 men. Why is this important? I was already aware that there is quite a divide between sexes in thought, opinion, and action in this country’s politics. Participation counts. Thanks to all the rational caring women out there attempting to save democracy. Thanks Jess for The View from Rural Missouri.
The ratio at most of these events is around 75%-80% women. It’s about the same for my social media.
Strangely enough, it's about the same for most church congregations. . .
When are you going to be in Hannibal or Quincy again, I would love to hear you speak. Things have definitely gotten more dire and serious as we watch our federal government is being turned over to Fox News hosts, traitors, and the inept,
& no one will stop this travesty. It’s up to the people to save our country, we can’t depend on the federal government anymore.
Now I need to read Chernow on Twain. I read Chernow's bio of Hamilton, and it was excellent and fascinating. Meanwhile: I live in a small town in N. CA, which is peaceful and full of liberals. We moved here last year, but I only realized the town's nickname is Peacetown. I still worry about my next door neighbors, though! On one side, Latino, on the other ... I'm really not sure, because they don't have English. They might be Latino too. I worry. Thanks for your excellent columns, Jess!
Bootlickers...yeah I like that, been referring to them as sycophants and toadies. Nice to have a new label. There are so many things happening now that I never saw coming, and so blatantly unmistakable if you're paying attention. The ICE thug-movement using fear-inducing tactics to intimidate brown skin folks is so vile and distasteful, you have to wonder what's next. The huge increase in funding from $40B to $135B suggests to me a domestic application. Anyone who doesn't think a billionaire cabal has the ability to affect election outcomes are terribly niave, in my opinion.