Darkness At The End Of Summer 2025

Sunday,  August 31st, 2025

My Dear America:

It is the day before Labor Day and it is also two days before what would have been the Forty Seventh Anniversary of My Marriage to Sandy Horne Gallagher.  I suppose that is why I am missing her a little more today than I normally do.  This day and Labor Day were days that always made Sandy more sad and depressed about the end of Summertime and Swimming at our Pool Club.  Whatever it is, I am just missing her a little extra today.  I always get depressed about this time also but I could always count on the fact that Sandy and I could face the challenge of another Fall and Winter together.

Not this year. Sandy Passed Away on June 9th of this year.

I am facing the prospect of living through this year alone and it feels very strange and more than a bit scary.

I am very lucky to have Wonderful Children and Grandchildren and a few very good friends that I can and do depend on.

I tried going to the pool today but that didn't go well.  The water was too damn cold and I didn't stick around very long.  

My friend Mickey texted me today to let me know that he read my letter to the editor of our local newspaper about the Billy Joel Tribute Band concert that I saw recently.

I had actually experienced a pretty good week last week, I thought.  I finished up my Greif Share Group by singing a song I wrote about Sandy and I was pleased to get applause from the group.  I enjoyed that.  I also participated in an open mike where I sang a couple of my favorite Bob Dylan songs and they seemed to go over pretty well.

I also went to visit with My Ex Wife who had a bad fall and is healing in a local hospital.  We had a very interesting, pleasant and friendly conversation.

All things considered I would have to admit that in some ways things are really OK for me right now.  Certainly my wife's passing was a horrendous experience for me but thanks to what I have learned in Greif Share I also realize that although her death was unexpected and shocking to me, she was also not languishing in pain for many months or years waiting to die.  It happened so fast that If she had any pain at all it was certainly over very quickly.

Playing music with my friends online and in my Jam group has really meant a lot to me during this past summer and also through many years before this summer.

So I guess my point is that I am probably doing the best that I can right now 

BUT

I am also living at the present time in America and things are definitely not going well in the United States of America.  Illegal Aliens and even some legitimate American Citizens are being snatched off the streets of major American Cities and being hauled off to what can only rightly be called Concentration Camps.  Although we are not yet aware of any Crematoriums or Death Camps in our country as of yet, an insidious darkness is running rampant in our land with Gestapo like masked strangers bashing in car windows to get to their human prey.

We Americans live in fear of what in the hell Donald Trump and his Band of Fascists have in store for the rest of us as this Long National Nightmare Continues.

One of the positive aspects of today's situation, however, is that Donald Trump's attempt to cover up his 15 year friendship with Jeffrey Epstein as his Running Buddy is coming apart at the seams.  Mostly all of his Q'anon cronies and even some of his previously Balless Congressional Toadies want to see what is in the Epstein files and as the Epstein Connection to Donald Trump is revealed drip by drip we are going to see an increasing disappearance in support for Donald Trump the likes of which we've never seen before.

What we have already seen about Trump and Epstein is disturbing enough but when it comes to Trump/Epstein revelations I don't think we have scratched the surface of this scandal.  It remains to be seen if Republican members of the House Oversight Committee will be willing to stonewall to try to protect Trump but the Committee seems to be at least willing to subpoena information relating to Epstein and his Partner in Crimes, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Certainly what we already know about Epstein's "Sweetheart Deal" , His strange and Terrible Suicide inside a Federal Prison while Trump was President, Ghislaine Maxwell's unusual meeting with Trump's Former Criminal Defense Attorney and Presently Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche and Maxwell's inexplicable move to a Texas Country Club Prison Facility are topics of conversation that are bound to erode Donald Trump's support among reasonable Republicans.  There is also no doubt about the fact that Democrats in Congress are certainly going to want to talk to some of the more than a thousand Epstein Survivors about their experiences.

Whether or not any of this information will matter is really up to Republicans in Congress.  These gutless Republican Stooges seem to have only one idea on their minds and that is protecting Donald Trump.  They don't seem to give a damn about whether Democracy lives or dies.  

It is time for Democrats to step up like many Democrats in Congress and in Governor's offices are doing and sound the alarm as troops are deployed to several Democratic cities supposedly to fight crime.

Unfortunately for Democrats the burning concern about Crime should not be so much about American Cities as it should be on the Crimes being committed by Donald Trump And his Cronies at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher 

       

 

What Needs To Be Done To End The War In Ukraine

Monday, August 18th, 2025

My Dear America:

First of all, I want to say that I am fully supportive of Donald Trump's Efforts to find an end to the war in Ukraine.  He certainly seems to be on a more firm footing these days than he was a short while ago when he was basically accusing Ukraine of starting the war with Russia. Ukraine clearly did not start this war.  Although the realities of history seem to be on shaky ground these days It must be recognized that Ukraine did not want a war with Russia although in the end they had no choice but to fight when Russia stormed across their border with Ukraine in a brazen attempt to destroy Democracy in Ukraine, something that Vladimir Putin had a hard time accepting.  

Although Putin seemed to be under the impression that Ukraine was weak and would fold quickly as a result of Putin's Russian Blitzkrieg he was under the wrong impression.  Although at first President Zelensky of Ukraine tried his best to pretend that the Russian Incursion into Ukraine was not going to happen when warned by Joe Biden and members of the Biden Administration who had cracked the Russian intelligence code.

Once Russia invaded their neighboring country, however, Zelensky, a novice politician who was a comedian and an actor in his previous life turned into a Genuine Superhero Politician who swung into action in order to turn his Relatively Peaceful Democratic Country into a Country that was at war with its neighbor.  Far from being the Quickly Vanquished Victim of Vladimir Putin's Brutal Invasion Zelensky has shown over the past 3 years that Ukrainians have not and never will simply allow themselves to be taken over by Russia.

Unfortunately Russian President Putin has yet to recognize that he has tried to bite off more than he can chew in Ukraine and although he has worn down Ukraine to some extent The Ukrainian people with the inspiration of their leadership and their hastily put together Military Organization have shown the Russians the determination of the Ukrainian population.

On Friday of last week President Trump met with Russian President Putin in Alaska with the stated purpose of trying to broker a Peace deal for Ukraine with the Russian President.  Expectations of success were low for many reasons but the chief reason was that  Ukrainian President Zelensky had not been invited to the Alaskan meeting.  President Trump greeted President Putin in Alaska with the enthusiasm of an Ally.  After the Alaskan Presidential Conference at a hasty Press Conference both leaders tried to put a positive spin on the meeting which in the end did not seem to have shown much in the way of real positive results, with the exception of putting War Criminal Putin back on the World Stage.

Today President Trump met not only with President Zelensky but with several Leaders of European Countries who are all concerned not only with the future of Ukraine but are also concerned with their own countries futures.  Once again Trump did his best To make it sound as though something important was happening.  

But was it.

We can only hope that something worthwhile comes out of these meetings.  What was obvious to anyone watching Trump meeting with Zelensky and his rather impressive backup crew today was that, far from the last time Zelensky met with Trump and was verbally ambushed by Trump and Vice President Vance and thrown out of the White House, Zelensky was the point man of a United Group of European Leaders who were not going to let Trump disparage and embarass Zelensky this time around.  Certainly the impressive Group who met with Trump had learned their lessons about how to handle Trump.  They praised Trump and almost sounded as embarassing as if they were at one of Trump's Fawning Cabinet meetings.  

Trump talked about all of the war's that he had solved in the past few months and of course it would have been nice if someone would have demanded some truth rather than Trump's bullshit but he is who he is and it is a waste of time to be looking for him to change into someone different.

Clearly at this point it is anybody's guess as to where the Ukraine war goes from here.  It would be great if these meetings are going to lead to an end to the war in Ukraine.  It sounds as thought nobody except Vladimir Putin wants it to continue but as Donald Trump talks about "Land swaps" it is important to remember who started the war in the first place.  Donald Trump seems to want to lay the blame on Zelensky I guess because he was not cooperative enough to simply hand over his country to the Russians.  But the truth is that Putin invaded his neighboring country of Ukraine with no legitimate reason for doing so and has punished Ukraine for being brave enough to stand up to the Russians.

What I am sure that all of the Leaders of European countries know and are worried about is that if Vladimir Putin gets away with annexing any part of Ukraine that their countries may be and probably will be next.  We found out in World War II that appeasement does not work.

What should be the case right now is that Genuine Democracies in Europe in NATO should meet immediately and declare that they are admitting Ukraine and are warning Putin to get his troops out of Ukraine.  

Along with this the United Nations should meet immediately and declare that they are demanding that Russia should begin removing their troops from Ukraine and should be out of Ukraine in 30 days.  It is way past time for Democracies to allow Vladimir Putin to take over neighboring countries because he wants to renew the Soviet Union.  

Putin needs to be stopped and stopped now so that the majority of the world can live in peace with their neighbors knowing that they are not in danger of being taken over by their neighboring countries.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher 

Questions Remain Following The Strange And Terrible End Of The Trump -Musk Bromance

Tuesday August 12th  2025

One thing that I think All Americans can agree on is that in the age of Donald Trump Bad News travels Fast and News Cycles don't last long (with the possible exception of stories about the Epstein Files)

I wrote the following story awhile ago.  It seems as though it was years ago but of course it was not.  It was written in that period of time after DOGE ran roughshod over the Federal Government and Elon was falling out of love with Donald Trump and his "Big Beautiful Bill" and preparing to return to his business Empire and get the hell out of the Government Wrecking Business.

Of Course Elon is old news now but we are all suffering through the results of his infatuation with Donald Trump and Elon's disturbing and reckless romp through the Federal Bureaucracy

This is old news.  I admit that but I sincerely think that it is news that should not be forgotten about and put on the back burner while Donald Trump has moved on from Destroying the Federal Government to Rigging Federal Elections.

So even though this is old news I guess we should just be glad that Elon didn't stick around any longer than he did but unfortunately we are still stuck with his Partner in Crime still living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

So  Here we Go:  

My Dear America:

Certainly there is almost no one who couldn't predict the inevitable end of the Strange Relationship between Donald Trump and Elon Musk.  

Last week Trump pushed Elon out of the White House with a phony Key to the White House as if Elon was a Hero rather than a badly dressed Albatross around Trump's neck who had embarrassed both himself and his Former New Best Friend and Ally, Donald Trump.

Clearly Musk tried his best to exit the Trump Administration in a manner that didn't reveal the bad blood that had recently bubbled over as Musk came clean on what he really thought about what Donald Trump had continued to lie and call "The Big Beautiful Bill"

Certainly Trump used Elon Musk to do his dirty work in almost every single American Government Agency in a bold and blatant attempt to Slash Government Employment for the purpose (Detailed in Project 2025) of making room for the Big Ugly Bill in order to pave the way for continued tax relief for Donald Trump's Super Rich American Friends, who are hardly the Americans who are in need of a Tax break.  

In a recent interview on CBS  News Musk revealed that he felt that "The Big Beautiful Bill" could be either "Big" or "Beautiful" but it could not be both.  Musk obviously felt that there was not much about the bill that was beautiful.

Musk, who had suffered great business losses as a result of his taking a  Wrecking Ball to the American Government Structure decided to leave his new best friend probably on a positive note but what has ensued between Donald Trump and Elon Musk has shown very little Positivity.

Although at first Musk seemed to be happy to take his phony key to the White House and leave, this past week sparks have flown between Musk and Trump and at this point the Beautiful Budding Bromance Between Elon Musk and Donald Trump has hit the skids.

Sincerely  Yours

Jerry Gallagher