If any of the quiet part had not yet been said out loud, Kristi Noem said it yesterday.
At her press conference in Los Angeles, she announced that the thousands of military personnel sent by the President over the objections of Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass will be STAYiNG there to “liberate the city.”
Be very clear: a representative of the executive branch of the U.S. government just declared itself an occupying force of a city that – I know Los Angeles, so believe me – does not want them and will fiercely defend itself from such absurd and unconstitutional occupation. Los Angeleans – and many Americans – know who the real invaders are here. If Californians want to elect Gavin Newsom their Governor, and if some Californians happen to be Socialists, it’s none of Kristi Noem’s, or Pete Hegseth’s, or Donald Trump’s goddamned business.
Newsom made it clear repeatedly that California had all the law enforcement capacity it needed to handle any protests against the ICE raids. He was not even given the chance to prove that assertion. Trump immediately created the spectacle that would cause problems, doing so in order to justify more military presence in the city. A Class A draft dodger himself, the President now treats the armed forces of the United States like a little boy’s new set of legos.
Over to you, my beloved LA. Please make tomorrow a No Kings Day for the history books. Above all be peaceful. Be prayerful. Kick ass like I know that only you can do.
(Note: I’ve had a case of laryngitis this week or I’d be creating video. I’d like to have a live chat with paid members this afternoon about all the things going on. You’ll receive a notice with details in the next couple of hours. Thanks.)
Translation is a 5-step process of “straight thinking in the abstract” comparing and contrasting what seems to be truth with what you can syllogistically, axiomatically and mathematically (using word equations) prove is the truth. It is not an effort to change, alter or heal anything.
The claims in a Translation may seem outrageous, but they are always (or should always be) based on self-evident syllogistic reasoning. Here is one Translation from this week.
1) Truth is that which is so. That which is not truth is not so. Therefore Truth is all that is. Truth being all is therefore total, therefore whole, therefore complete, therefore perfect. I think therefore I am. Since I am and since truth is all that is, therefore I, being, am Truth. Since i, being, am Truth, therefore I, being, have all the attributes of Truth. Therefore I, being, am total, whole, complete, perfect. Since I am mind (self-evident) and since I (being) am Truth, therefore Truth is Mind. (Two things being equal to a third thing are equal to each other.) Since Truth is Mind, therefore Mind has all the attributes of Truth. Therefore Mind is total, whole, complete, perfect.
2) Faux masculinity is toxic and can destroy everything.
Word-tracking: faux: false, imitation masculinity: male, manly, half the human population, half of an androgynous being with attributes like strength, courage, independence, leadership, dominion, assertiveness as opposed to feminine characteristics like empathy, intuition, nurturing, collaboration, emotional expression. toxic: poison, potion, magic potion destroy: structure, demolish, mole, to pull down, pull apart, undo
3) Truth being all that is, there can be nothing other than truth, therefore Truth is One. Truth being one, cannot be divided into male and female, masculine and feminine. Therefore Truth is androgynous. Therefore Truth has the characteristics of courage, independence, leadership, dominion, assertiveness andempathy, intuition, nurturing, collaboration, and emotional expression. Since Truth is one whole androgynous being, there is no faux or pretend masculinity or pretend anything in Truth. Therefore Truth does not pretend. Since Truth is all that is and since power (potent) is the ability to be, there can be no ability to be (no potion or poison or magic potion) other than Truth, therefore Truth is the only otent, the only power, the only Potentate. Since Truth is whole, complete, perfect, therefore Truth is finished, Truth is done. Truth being done, cannot be undone, destroyed, demolished. And Truth being everything, therefore everything cannot be undone or, said another way, Nothing can be undone.
4) Truth is One Truth is androgynous. Truth has the characteristics of courage, independence, leadership, dominion, assertiveness andempathy, intuition, nurturing, collaboration, and emotional expression. Truth does not pretend. Truth is the only potent, the only power, the only Potentate. Truth is finished, Truth is done. Nothing can be undone.
5) Truth is the only Potentate. He/She dominates all and cooperates with all.
Weekly Invitational Translation Group invites your participation. If you would like to submit a Translation on any subject, feel free to send your weekly Translation to zonta1111@aol.com and we will anonymously post it on the Bathtub Bulletin on Friday.
MeidasTouch Streamed live 3 hours ago California Governor Gavin Newsom holds a major press conference on Trump losing in federal court where the judge blocked Trump’s federalizing the national guards. Vist https://meidasplus.com for more
For 45 years as a law professor, the author has told each of his students, including these 2024 graduates of UC Berkeley Law School, that they have an obligation to care about those affected by their advocacy and their work. Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle
“In fighting to uphold the law, we also must not lose sight that we are fighting for the human beings protected by it,” UC Berkeley Law dean Erwin Chemerinsky says
By Erwin Chemerinsky June 10, 2025 (SFChronicle.com)
For the past five months, myself and others in the legal world have criticized the illegality and unconstitutionality of President Donald Trump’s extreme executive actions.
Last month, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced that Harvard could no longer enroll international students — and that those already attending needed to transfer. There is no doubt that the administration hopes that if it can force Harvard to capitulate, it will send a message to all colleges. Indeed, Noem explicitly posted on X, “Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.”
It is a blatant illegal act of reprisal against Harvard to target its international students.
But, lost in the legalese, I fear we have at times failed to pay sufficient attention to the basic lack of humanity in so many of these actions.
What about those 6,700 international students who are enrolled? Where are they supposed to attend school next year? What does it mean to tell a doctoral student in the midst of laboratory research to transfer?
President Donald Trump’s policies and actions are cruel. We can’t lose sight of that.
The students are simply the collateral damage for the Trump administration’s efforts to make Harvard cower.
We see that same dynamic now playing out on the streets of Los Angeles.
In deporting undocumented individuals, the Trump administration could return them to their home countries, which is the standard procedure. Instead, it has moved hundreds of people to a brutal maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Not one of these individuals has been convicted of any crime to warrant imprisonment. We know that some were taken by mistake. And even if they had been convicted of a crime, why the inhumane conditions of the Terrorism Confinement Centre in El Salvador?
Another group of individuals was deported to a U.S. Naval base in Djibouti, apparently on their way to be held in South Sudan. Apart from violating court orders, there is no apparent reason for this other than to move those deported as far from the United States as possible and to harsh conditions. The cruelty is stunning and unprecedented.
And that’s the point.
As the ongoing events in Los Angeles show, Trump’s aggressive and even cruel use of ICE are designed to provoke an understandably angry reaction. And he is using that as an excuse for an unprecedented nationalization of California national guard troops to send a message that he will not hesitate to use military force to stop demonstrations.
This inhumanity of those at the top of government sends a message to those who carry out its policies.
Stories of awful actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents abound.
Even during the first Trump administration, ICE agents would not go into schools, churches or hospitals. But that policy has been revoked, and now parents are afraid to send their children to school, people are afraid to worship and many will not seek needed medical care, even when they have communicable diseases that can infect others.
The lack of humanity is reflected in the Trump budget bill passed by the House of Representatives. It is estimated that 11 million people will lose their health insurance coverage if it is enacted. People will suffer and die due to the lack of access to medical care. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that over 3 million people — and it says that may be a low estimate — will lose food assistance because of cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the largest food assistance program.
How many children will go to bed hungry and be malnourished because of this cut? The elimination of the U.S. Agency for International Development and its assistance will lead to countless deaths in foreign countries due to a lack of food and medicine.
There is a heartlessness at the core of so many of the Trump administration’s actions.
For the past 45 years as a law professor, I have concluded each semester by telling my students that it is not enough to contemplate and to argue effectively. As lawyers, they have an obligation to care — to care about those affected by their advocacy and their work.
But where is the caring by those who are now running the federal government?
Myself and others have extensively written about the assault on the rule of law. It’s also our duty to speak about the war on compassion. We have talked about democracies that have become authoritarian, but we haven’t talked enough about societies where the government cares so little for humanity and the horrors that have resulted.
At a time when our society is deeply divided over policy, can’t we still share a commitment that children be treated humanely? Can’t we all agree that no one should needlessly suffer? Can’t we all condemn unnecessarily cruel Trump administration policies?
In fighting to uphold the law, we also must not lose sight that we are fighting for the human beings who are protected by it.
Erwin Chemerinsky is the dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at the UC Berkeley School of Law.
In a culture predicated on the perpetual pursuit of happiness, as if it were a fugitive on the loose, it can be hard to discern what having happiness actually feels like, how it actually lives in us. Willa Cather came consummately close in her definition of happiness as the feeling of being “dissolved into something complete and great” — a definition consonant with Iris Murdoch’s lovely notion of unselfing. And yet happiness is equally a matter of how we inhabit the self — how we make ourselves at home in our own singular lives, in the dwelling-places of our own experience.
I thought of happiness, how it is woven Out of the silence in the empty house each day And how it is not sudden and it is not given But is creation itself like the growth of a tree. No one has seen it happen, but inside the bark Another circle is growing in the expanding ring. No one has heard the root go deeper in the dark, But the tree is lifted by this inward work And its plumes shine, and its leaves are glittering.
So happiness is woven out of the peace of hours And strikes its roots deep in the house alone: The old chest in the corner, cool waxed floors, White curtains softly and continually blown As the free air moves quietly about the room; A shelf of books, a table, and the white-washed wall — These are the dear familiar gods of home, And here the work of faith can best be done, The growing tree is green and musical.
For what is happiness but growth in peace, The timeless sense of time when furniture Has stood a life’s span in a single place, And as the air moves, so the old dreams stir The shining leaves of present happiness? No one has heard thought or listened to a mind, But where people have lived in inwardness The air is charged with blessing and does bless; Windows look out on mountains and the walls are kind.
This Solstice – AstroLab is reborn after more than 10 years’ absence
The Solstice is a time of change, symbolically potent for self-observation. What better time to embark on a journey of self discovery? AstroLab can help with that!
AstroLab has been revised and updated to give you the latest information and techniques to use your own natal chart as an engine of change, through simple and practical self-reflection activities.
Designed for the absolute beginner and those cultivating a “beginner’s mind” in astrology, AstroLab will cover:
the natal chart: what it is and how it can assist you in having more choice and freedom in your life
an overview of the planets, signs and houses of a natal chart: keys to unlocking your potential
techniques on how to do concrete analyses of key parts in your natal chart
Hannah Arendt once said, “If world events weren’t so awful, life would be a joy.” At this moment of awful world events, it seems right to acknowledge the passing of someone who brought such great joy.
Brian Wilson died today, a musical genius whose songs were so joyful they tempted you to underestimate how brilliant they were.
One of my favorites feels like his perfect good-bye song: “God Only Knows.” Millions of us grew up with the Beach Boys. It wasn’t a matter of whether or not you “liked” them. It was a matter of whether or you were living and breathing. They were that much a part of the world we lived in.
Thank you, Brian Wilson. I can’t imagine an afterlife in which you’re not just bathed in bliss right now for a job on earth so exceedingly well done.
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he attends commencement ceremony at West Point Military Academy in West Point, New York, U.S., May 24, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
Since the start of his second term in office, US president Donald Trump has cultivated a political atmosphere that discourages freedom of thought. He also actively villainises and punishes any dissenting opinion. Worryingly, this atmosphere looks like it is spreading across other democracies.
Commentators have described Trump as both narcissistic and authoritarian. Yet, running parallel to these factors, one character trait is glaringly common among Trump supporters: sycophancy.
You just have to examine the pre-election rhetoric of Trump loyalists. One backer, Stephen Miller, declared him “the most stylish president … in our lifetimes”. Miller is now deputy White House chief of staff.
And South Dakota governor Kristi Noem gifted Trump a four-foot Mount Rushmore replica – with Trump’s face added alongside the original four presidents. Noem, who is now secretary of homeland security, epitomises the elevation of loyal sycophants over those with arguably better credentials.
Research has examined the dangers of sycophantic behaviour in the workplace, finding it reduces peer respect and morale, and leads to dissonance and lower productivity.
Other research has shown that someone who chooses to employ these tactics can enjoy improved promotion prospects, rewards such as the first refusal on business trips, easier access to company resources and a higher salary compared to their peers. But studies have also shown sycophants often suffer emotional exhaustion from the dual stresses of manipulation and responsibility.
Ongoing research I (Neil) am doing on workplace sycophancy reveals similar patterns. Interviews, spanning from junior staff to CEOs, show reduced motivation, falling team morale and declining respect for sycophants.
One participant highlighted the effect on teamwork that sycophantic behaviour can have within the workplace.
Sycophancy means raising yourself in somebody’s esteem, at the expense of somebody else, on the ladder. And so… it’s going to impact upon the ability to be part of a team.
Another participant offered a comparison to a different deviant workplace behaviour – intimidation.
I’d say that sycophantic behaviour is coming into the same category as bullying. And it’s hard sometimes, especially with bullying and sycophantic behaviour, you are dealing with a lot of people that are manipulative, and manipulating people are quite charismatic. And when you’re charismatic, you’re more believable because you’re a storyteller.
One solution that emerges from the research is workforce education – teaching employees to recognise and mitigate a culture of ingratiation.
As an employee, many people might find it difficult not to bow to peer pressure. If the senior colleague encourages and rewards those who suck up, how do other colleagues, who do not choose to utilise such tactics, compete?
Dangerous ideas take root
Another factor to consider is the tendency for some workers to “kiss up and kick down”. What this means is that staff who are lower down the hierarchical ladder suffer detrimental treatment from the colleagues who are trying to suck their way up the same ladder.
If workforces were educated on what these tactics looked and felt like, perhaps included in corporate codes of conduct, HR departments and management could identify potential issues and deal with them.
But this is not merely an HR concern. Previous research also shows a link between ingratiation, high turnover rates and poorer performance by the organisation as a whole.
Perhaps the most insidious aspect of sycophancy is the push for conformity when it comes to opinions. If leadership hears nothing but agreement, dangerous ideas can be reinforced. Things like the leader’s own skills or the competence of the organisation as a whole can become wildly exaggerated – with disastrous consequences.
When leaders are surrounded by “yes-men”, they’re deprived of critical input that could challenge assumptions or highlight potential flaws. This can lead to cognitive entrenchment where decision-makers become overconfident and resistant to change. Bad decisions then proceed unchecked, often escalating into systemic failures.
In return, this can lead to groupthink, a phenomenon where a desire for harmony overrides rational evaluation. Environments that suffer from groupthink often ignore red flags, silence whistleblowers and overvalue consensus. All of these things are damaging to an organisation’s ability to remain agile and competitive.
Which brings us back to Trump. In his case this isn’t a corporate crisis. It’s a geopolitical one. At stake is not shareholder value but national security and global stability.
With sycophants backing poor decisions, the risk ranges from damaged diplomacy to outright conflict. If loyalty replaces truth, the cost could be catastrophic. Trump’s regime may ultimately collapse under the weight of its own delusions – but the collateral damage could be profound.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Your definition of home is due for revamping, deepening and expansion. Your sense of where you truly belong is ripe to be adjusted and perhaps even revolutionized. A half-conscious desire you have not previously been ready to fully acknowledge is ready for you to explore. Can you handle these subtly shocking opportunities? Do you have any glimmerings about how to open yourself to the revelations that life would love to offer you about your roots, your foundations and your prime resources? Here are your words of power: source and soul.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Do you have any frustrations about how you express yourself or create close connections? Are there problems in your ability to be heard and appreciated? Do you wish you could be more persuasive and influential? If so, your luck is changing. In the coming months, you will have extraordinary powers to innovate, expand and deepen the ways you communicate. Even if you are already fairly pleased with the flow of information and energy between you and those you care for, surprising upgrades could be in the works. To launch this new phase of fostering links, affinities and collaborations, devise fun experiments that encourage you to reach out and be reached.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I’ve always had the impression that honeybees are restless wanderers, randomly hopping from flower to flower as they gradually accumulate nectar. But I recently discovered that they only meander until they find a single good fount of nourishment, whereupon they sup deeply and make a beeline back to the hive. I am advocating their approach to you in the coming weeks. Engage in exploratory missions, but don’t dawdle, and don’t sip small amounts from many different sites. Instead, be intent on finding a single source that provides the quality and quantity you want, then fulfill your quest and head back to your sanctuary.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Let’s talk about innovation. I suspect it will be your specialty in the coming weeks and months. One form that innovation takes is the generation of a new idea, approach or product. Another kind of innovation comes through updating something that already exists. A third may emerge from finding new relationships between two or more older ways of doing things—creative recombinations that redefine the nature of the blended elements. All these styles of innovation are now ripe for you to employ.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo psychotherapist Carl Jung was halfway through his life of eighty-five years when he experienced the ultimate midlife crisis. Besieged by feelings of failure and psychological disarray, he began to see visions and hear voices in his head. Determined to capitalize on the chaotic but fertile opportunity, he undertook an intense period of self-examination and self-healing. He wrote in journals that were eventually published as “The Red Book: Liber Novus.” He emerged healthy and whole from this trying time, far wiser about his nature and his mission in life. I invite you to initiate your own period of renewal in the coming months, Leo. Consider writing your personal “Red Book: Liber Novus.”
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In the coming weeks, you will have chances to glide deeper than you have previously dared to go into experiences, relationships and opportunities that are meaningful to you. How much bold curiosity will you summon as you penetrate further than ever before into the heart of the gorgeous mysteries? How wild and unpredictable will you be as you explore territory that has been off-limits? Your words of power: *probe, dive down, decipher.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): When traditional Japanese swordsmiths crafted a blade, they wrapped hard outer layers around a softer inner core. This strategy gave their handiwork a sharp cutting edge while also imbuing it with flexibility and a resistance to breakage. I recommend a similar approach for you, Libra. Create balance, yes, but do so through integration rather than compromise. Like the artisans of old, don’t choose between hardness and flexibility, but find ways to incorporate both. Call on your natural sense of harmony to blend opposites that complement each other.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio journalist Martha Gellhorn (1908–1998) was an excellent war correspondent. During her six decades on the job, she reported on many of the world’s major conflicts. But she initially had a problem when trying to get into France to report on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Her application for press credentials was denied, along with all those of other women journalists. Surprise! Through subterfuge and daring, Gellhorn stowed away on a hospital ship and reached France in time to report on the climactic events. I counsel you to also use extraordinary measures to achieve your goals, Scorpio. Innovative circumspection and ethical trickery are allowed. Breaking the rules may be necessary and warranted.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): My spirit guides enjoy reminding me that breakthrough insights and innovations may initially emerge not as complete solutions, but as partial answers to questions that need further exploration. I don’t always like it, but I listen anyway, when they tell me that progress typically comes through incremental steps. The Sagittarian part of my nature wants total victory and comprehensive results NOW. It would rather not wait for the slow, gradual approach to unfold its gifts. So I empathize if you are a bit frustrated by the piecemeal process you are nursing. But I’m here to say that your patience will be well rewarded.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “Sometimes I’ve got to pause and relax my focused striving, because that’s the only way my unconscious mind can work its magic.” My Capricorn friend Alicia says that about her creative process as a novelist. The solution to a knotty challenge may not come from redoubling her efforts but instead from making a strategic retreat into silence and emptiness. I invite you to consider a similar approach, Capricorn. Experiment with the hypothesis that significant breakthroughs will arrive when you aren’t actively seeking them. Trust in the fertile void of not-knowing. Allow life’s meandering serendipity to reveal unexpected benefits.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Are you interested in graduating to the next level of love and intimacy? If so, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to intensify your efforts. Life will be on your side if you dare to get smarter about how to make your relationships work better than they ever have. To inspire your imagination and incite you to venture into the frontiers of togetherness, I offer you a vivacious quote from author Anais Nin. Say it to your favorite soul friend or simply use it as a motivational prayer. Nin wrote, “You are the fever in my blood, the tide that carries me to undiscovered shores. You are my alchemist, transmuting my fears into wild, gold-spun passion. With you, my body is a poem. You are the labyrinth where I lose and find myself, the unwritten book of ecstasies that only you can read.”
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): What deep longing of yours is both fascinating and frustrating? To describe it further: It keeps pushing you to new frontiers yet always eludes complete satisfaction. It teaches you valuable life lessons but sometimes spoofs you and confuses you. Here’s the good news about this deep longing, Pisces: You now have the power to tap into its nourishing fuel in unprecedented ways. It is ready to give you riches it has never before provided. Here’s the “bad” news: You will have to raise your levels of self-knowledge to claim all of its blessings. (And of course, that’s not really bad!)
Homework: What mediocre satisfaction could you give up to make room for a more robust satisfaction? Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com
“Consider the sunlight. If you pursue it, you will never catch it. Run from it and it is always there. From this example, you can understand how it is with the true nature of things.”
Huango Xiyun, (d-850) Chinese Zen Master
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