My summer has gone to the dogs and I hope yours does too

I have a friend who likes to tease me that I sometimes exploit my dog Duke for content. For this I plead guilty. So here you go.

Hanging with Duke, Ringo and Stevie

Here are Duke and his new best friends Ringo and Stevie. He’s hanging out with them for a week while I take some time off and try to get away from my phone. So forgive me if I’m a bit detached from all of you for a few days. But I’m a firm believer that rebellions are not only built on Hope. They sometimes require a little rest here and there.

Don’t worry, my gears will still be turning as I plot new ventures for the weeks ahead. I will likely have some interesting things to share with all of you later this summer. My team and I are already beginning to plan for our next town hall to ensure we are still providing venues for you to make your voices heard.

Having said that, I’ve got a few things on my mind that I’ll be going over while I’m away. These are ideas I hope to explore with all of you as something of a people’s agenda that could help this country get on the right track. In case you missed it, I participated in a panel discussion earlier this week at the Center for American Progress with former Alabama democratic Senator Doug Jones. During our conversation, I mentioned the need for a new delivery system for information in the U.S. By that, I mean the news of course. It seems to me that the predominantly corporate media structure for ownership of news outlets has gone off the rails and is in dire need of repair. There are some ideas that are worth considering to address this defect in our society. And I’ll be expanding on this in the coming days. In the meantime, here’s a clip of part of our discussion. As I stated, I believe Trump poses a threat to America. You won’t hear this much in corporate media. But it’s true. And thank goodness we have an independent media structure that still allows the truth to be spoken in America.

my thoughts on Trump and No Kings

If you’d like to watch the full hour-long discussion, here it is: Acosta at CAP

There are more pressing (though not much more urgent) matters to tackle. In my mind, people of all political backgrounds who care about Democracy and the American way of life must stand against Trump’s politics of cruelty - which continues to gnaw away at our nation’s soul. The images of masked, plain-clothes ICE and other federal agents pulling mothers away from their children and tackling Democratic politicians are now burned on our brains. Imagine that happening to Lindsey Graham and tell me this isn’t an outrage. As I have stated on my podcast in recent weeks, Trump and his team have unleashed a thuggish brand of police state tactics on Latinos in America, both documented and undocumented, with a skull-cracking zeal that would make Putin blush. Both out on the campaign trail and in office, Trump repeatedly lied to the public that the goal of the mass deportations was to target criminals and gang members. The reality is more like widespread, government-sanctioned racial profiling. The targets of these operations have the unstated but obvious goal of making America less Latino. People in this country who still cherish the idea of America as a nation of immigrants and a sanctuary for the asylum seeker must continue to not only call out this racist policy, but offer solutions for how to solve the immigration issue. Democrats, in my view, should refuse to cooperate on upcoming Trump priorities such as his “Big Beautiful Bill” until the ICE raids, and people like Stephen Miller and Tom Homan are reined in.

While I’m digging my toes into the sand (not saying where), I’ll also be doing some writing as I am fine-tuning a book I’ve been working on for the last year. More details on that to come. But suffice to say some of the themes I’ve been touching on since joining the independent media revolution will be at the heart of that work.

Finally, I just want to say what an honor and a pleasure these last five months have been sharing my life with all of you. As I sometimes say on my podcast, your questions and comments are often better than the ones I had in mind for my guests. It’s this collaborative process with you, the viewer, listener and reader that has enriched my life in ways I never imagined. And for that I’m grateful.

Talk to you soon. Thinking of you and Duke…

And remember. Don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to fear. Hold on the truth and hope.

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