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When you look at the millions of dollars the billionaires are giving to Trump for his ‘special projects’ and ‘questionable investment schemes’, their probably bribes.

At least that’s the most plausible explanation. Isn’t it?

What if it’s not….

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This piece isn’t about a personality or a punchline. It’s about the Kennedy Center as a federally owned national memorial and what it represents in American civic life. I walk through why this moment is about public institutions, cultural independence, and the role Congress plays in protecting spaces that belong to all of us.

This is about looking past the surface story and seeing the system underneath it.

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We all complain about Congress being broken. But when it’s our own Representative or Senator, we almost never admit they might be part of the problem. (not my opinion here, that’s what the data tells us)

This piece is about accountability, not for “them,” but for us. For how we choose our leaders, how we excuse them, and how real change starts long before the next presidential race.

No one gets a pass.

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The Constitution gives Congress the power to police itself — including the power to expel its own members. In this piece, I start with Article I, Section 5, Clause 2 and when that authority has been used in American history. Then I pose the question of why it’s not being used now when it should be.

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When the primaries are over, we can circle the wagons. But first we have to make sure we have the right wagons to circle.

“Their hands are tied.”

That’s the line I keep hearing from people defending Congressional Democrats who refuse to fight from the minority.

So I went and read the rules.

In this video, I walk through some specific House and Senate procedures that allow even a single member of Congress to force transparency, slow the process, and put executive power on the public record.

It’s about making power visible, because transparency is often an inoculation against corruption.

If you’ve ever found yourself excusing inaction, this is your invitation to look at what Congress can actually do.

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In 2014 I ran for Congress in Colorado CD4. In 2021 I was redistricted out. In 2031 I’ll probably be redistricted back in. It’s a pattern around here. It’s also why I care about who the congressional representative for that district is.

Trisha Calvarese is a homegrown, working-class, proven Democrat who has done more for the district as a candidate and a staffer for the AFL-CIO than any actual Representative in the past 25 years. She’s helped bring jobs. She’s helped rural hospitals navigate grants to get ambulances. And she’s turning red voters blue.

So I decided to make a video to endorse her in the primary.

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I didn’t rush to comment. I watched the statements. I watched the video. And I kept coming back to the same question.

When does a right stop being a right and start becoming a permission?

This piece is about more than one incident. It’s about whether constitutional rights still mean what we say they mean when power feels threatened, when protests get uncomfortable, and when the people using those rights aren’t convenient.

This is a test. And it’s one we don’t get to fail quietly.

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This video uses a single word as a thread — ICE — and follows it across borders, policies, and people. From Ukraine’s frozen battlefields, to neglected infrastructure in the American South, to the question of due process and constitutional rights at home.It’s not a policy breakdown. It’s a reflection on what happens when politics grows cold.

We need to remind the American people every day between now and Nov 3 that the Republicans are the party of I.C.E.

I don’t know that I qualify as a poet, but I didn’t know how else to title the post.

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Music has always been part of resistance — from the Underground Railroad to the civil rights movement to the digital platforms we use today.

In this entry of Resistance Needs a Plan, I talk about why people in power try to control culture, why music has always been treated as a threat, and why sharing the right songs can help build something larger than any single voice.

This post ends with an open invitation to artists who make music that challenges power or speaks to this moment. If that’s you, leave a comment. I’m opening space for artists on upcoming TikTok and YouTube livestreams.

Once a week, share a protest song. Tag the artist. Let the circle grow.

If the TikTok and YouTube lives are a success, then I’m going to do my first Substack live with two of the artists who play on the lives.

Billy Simons Jr. provided the background music for this video.

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