It's Been Awhile, But I'm Still Here

 

Mount Denali May 2025

It's been quite a while since I posted on this blog, but don't worry, I'm still here. I took the vacation of a lifetime in May, when I took a cruise and land tour of Alaska with my husband. It was magnificent, but a little tiring. It was well worth it. When I returned home, I had to make a few decisions about my writing. 

Before I left on vacation, I was just getting started putting in more effort on my Substack newsletter, and pondering my future writing on Medium, trying to decide what I wanted to do with my YouTube Channel, as well as how much effort I should put into this blog. Well, I've finally made up my mind what to do.

My original purpose in starting to write online was to earn a little extra money, and that hasn't changed much. My main focus is not making a lot of money, but enough to pay the expenses involved in writing, such as Internet fees, electricity, and grammar software, when I can afford it. Even if I can't make any money, I'll keep writing, but maybe not that enthusiastically,  ha ha. 

Writing on Medium, up until last January, spoiled me with earnings well over a hundred dollars a month. Then, drastically, it all changed. Medium wasn't distributing my work and most other writers' work, so people could read them. Then, Medium decided to pay about 1 cent per read for each article read.  This dramatically reduced almost everyone's earnings to a mere pittance. Writers left the platform in droves. A few weeks ago, I decided that I'm not going to publish every day or more, when no one can see my work, in hopes of earning a few cents. I am still on the platform, but no longer a paying member or contributor.

I have been spending more time writing my Substack newsletter. I offer my subscribers the choice of a free or a paid subscription. The paid subscription does not include any special benefits, other than the ability to show their support. I also accept one-time donations. I feel that what I have to offer in my newsletter articles is more important than earning a lot of money.

I also recently started a YouTube channel, where I can share some of my Substack videos or anything else I want to say. I never thought I could be able to do this, but once I started, I enjoyed it. I know I will never make any money, as you have to have at least 1000 subscribers to your channel to be able to monetize it. I currently have 33😂.

As I had previously said, I spend the majority of my time writing on my Substack newsletter. I predominantly write about politics and social issues, with a liberal leaning. I don't offer any "breaking news" or "investigative reporting", but what I do offer are my thoughts and opinions on what is happening to our country, from a gay, retired senior citizen - an average American like you. I feel it is important for people like me to get the word out, so we can save our democracy. Making big bucks from the newsletter is less important.

Finally, I am getting to this blog. Like I have said, I haven't spent much time on here, and I apologize to those few followers I have for not being more productive. I have decided that since politics is my main focus on Substack, I will use Steve Sovie's World, for everything else I want to share. Occasionally, I will share some material from Substack and my YouTube channel. If you notice, the title of this blog is Steve Sovie's World, while both my Substack newsletter and YouTube channel are titled Stepehen Sovie's World. My Substack link is Stephen Sovie's World. My YouTube channel is Stephen Sovie's World.

I hope you can visit each of my sites and subscribe if you like what I have to say. And if you are feeling generous and can afford to, please consider making a one-time donation or becoming a paid subscriber on my Substack newsletter.

I apologize for any mistakes you may have found in this post.  I used to use Grammarly Pro as an editing software, but I can't see paying the high price they are asking for. Hey, I'm on a fixed income!

Thank you for reading.

Why I Have Cancelled My Medium Membership and Concentrate on Substack

 

Photo by daniar ainun on Unsplash

 

 With the drastic decline of Medium, which began in November 2024, I found that my visibility on Medium was almost non-existent. Six months ago, I decided to start publishing my newsletter on Substack and occasionally sharing the same articles on Medium.
 

As readers of my newsletter know, I mainly write about politics and social issues, which are extremely important to me. As our democracy is now in serious danger of being destroyed by a fascist wannabe dictator, I feel an urgency to inform people that we may soon lose our rights and freedoms.
 

My Medium statistics revealed that my posts were receiving very few views and even fewer reads. I was earning only a few cents per article. In early May, I cancelled my Medium Partnership Program membership, realizing it was a waste of time and money. But to my surprise, Medium charged me my membership fee in June, even though I had cancelled it. I decided to give Medium one last chance and remain on the platform to see if my stats improved.
 

During the first two weeks of June, I published four articles, which I had also posted on Substack. For the articles I posted on Medium, I had a total of 50 views, while on Substack, I had 1583 views. I earned 36 cents for my articles on Medium. My posts on my Substack newsletter are free, so I naturally did not earn any money; however, I did receive one paid subscription, for which I am thankful.
 

For the first two weeks of June, on Medium, I got 60 new email subscribers and 14 new followers. Interestingly enough, all of the new Subscribers and all but 2 new followers were from India. Apparently, people from India are not interested in American politics, and I can’t say I blame them.
 

There are a couple of people I subscribe to on Medium who write about politics and publish a couple of times a day. I have noticed that their articles were not widely distributed, and the ones I read appeared to have had no interaction. This would mean they also would not have made any money from their articles. I honestly don’t know why they continue to publish on Medium if no one reads or even sees their work.
 

From my observations, those articles that seem to get the most attention are technology articles, and those articles geared to new writers on Medium wishing to make money by writing online. I feel that either Medium readers are not interested in the possibility that America is becoming an authoritarian state, or Medium chooses not to allow people to see such articles. Regardless, I feel that continuing to publish on Medium is a waste of money and a waste of my time.
 

I feel a little sad that I may be abandoning the few people left on Medium, whom I have followed and supported in the past, but hopefully, I will see them here on Substack. I may not earn much money on Substack, but at least here I am not invisible.

 

Hi, I’m Cato. Please help support my dad’s work by giving him a donation.

Please help support my work.

Why I write what I do.

Does the weather make you sick?

We Have a Eunuch in the Oval Office

President Musk has officially castrated Donald Trump

Photo from X

I am sure you have all seen this photo or similar ones on X, Bluesky, or Facebook. It tells us all we need to know about who the “real” president is running our country.

I have never seen a photo of the sitting President in the Oval Office where he is not the focus of attention and respect. Even as corrupt as he was, Richard Nixon maintained an air of respect and dignity with all eyes focused on him.

There has never been an occasion where a private citizen, no matter how influential, was the main focus of an event in the Oval Office. But just look at Donald Trump! He slovenly sits in his chair, cowering in fear and disgust of a 4-year-old, Musk’s son X! As seen in the caption in the photo and reported by numerous news outlets, Musk’s little brat told Trump, “You are not president; you need to go away.” It is also reported that little X told Trump to “shut his fucking mouth.” Here is a clip on Instagram that sums it up.

If little X Musk did utter these words to Trump, they were not his own. Children that age only repeat what they have heard others say or what has been said to them. In this case, I am sure he is mimicking his father’s words.

The fact that Musk called the press conference and not Trump indicates who is running the show. Musk further denigrated the integrity of the Oval Office by wearing a MAGA hat and tee shirt, while Trump was dressed in his signature oversized blue suit and mile-long red tie. I cannot recall seeing a photo taken in the Oval Office where people were not properly attired.

In this and similar photos of the event, Trump appears defeated and subjugated, old and worn down. He is no longer in charge. Musk purchased the presidency for Trump, but Trump only enjoys the title. Trump owes half a billion dollars in fines to New York State and millions to E. Jean Carrol for defamation. He doesn’t have the money. Musk will guarantee the money for Trump in exchange for Trump ceding the presidency, the government, and the US Treasury to him. Republicans in Congress have rubberstamped the agreement.

On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump took the Oath of Office but gave his balls to Elon Musk. We now have a Eunuch-in-Chief pretending to be President.

Please check out my YouTube Channel, Stephen Sovie’s World

I’m moving to Substack. Please subscribe to Stephen Sovie’s World newsletter by clicking on the link.

This Isn’t the First Time Bishop Budde Showed Her Christianity

Do you remember Matthew Shepard?

Photo Courtesy of Washington National Cathedral

During the Inaugural Prayer service at Washington’s National Cathedral, Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde looked Donald Trump directly in the eye and asked him “ to have mercy” on people who are scared. She particularly mentioned the LGBTQ community, transgendered children, and immigrants. The transcript of her sermon can be found here.

Trump was stunned and fired back an angry, childish response to her, as he does every time someone says something he doesn’t like. Naturally, Trump-world exploded, attacking the Bishop with derogatory names and, in some cases, even death threats. Republicans referred to her as “a so-called bishop” of a “so-called church” in their typical hypocritical Christian fashion.

Bishop Budde has become somewhat of a hero for having the courage to stand up to the malevolent Trump, something that very few males in Congress or any other “religious leader dared to do. But this isn’t the first time Bishop Budde has stood up against hate and shown what a real Christian is all about.

Do you remember Matthew Sheppard, the teenager who was beaten, tortured, and left to die on a barbed wire fence near Laramie, Wyoming, in October of 1998? He died as a result of the attack. He was murdered because he was gay. You can read Matthew’s story in The Guardian.

After Matthew’s death, he was never given a final resting place, as his family feared it would face desecration by hate groups. Ten years after his death, Bishop Budde granted Matthew’s parent’s request to have his ashes interred at Washington’s National Cathedral, where he now lies in peace, finally.

Bishop Budde is truly an American and Christian hero whose faith and love for humanity should be exemplified. If you have ever asked, “What would Jesus do”? Your answer would be, as Bishop Budde has done.

I’m moving to Substack. Please join me in Stephen Sovie’s World newsletter by clicking on the link.

I Fear It May Already Be Too Late to Save Our Democracy

Our descent into hell has commenced

Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash

Like many Americans, I was shocked when Trump won the election, But what shocked me even more was the reaction of the Democrats. There were no lawsuits, no investigations, and no questions asked. They waived the white flag, rolled over, and gave up.

Since then, there have been some issues regarding the election that have called into question the validity of the election. During the campaign, people remember Trump telling his supporters he did not need their votes. Did he know something we didn’t? Two days ago, Trump made this odd statement about Musk, “He knows those computers better than anybody all those computers those vote counting computers”. Trump was thanking Musk for his help in winning Pennsylvania. The video may be viewed here.

I’m not saying the election was rigged, but I am wondering what would happen if it was. What would happen if there was sound, irrefutable truth that Musk tampered with the voting machines to change the votes in favor of Trump? And what would happen if there was indisputable evidence that this was done at the direction of Trump and his campaign staff? What if it could be proven that Trump was never shot in that supposed assassination attempt where the alleged shooter was killed and that Trump orchestrated the entire incident?

Sure, everyone would say impeach him. That wouldn’t work. The Republicans in the Senate blocked an impeachment in his first term. This time, his MAGA Republicans control both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

So, how about the Department of Justice and the judicial system investigating, charging, and indicting him? That won’t work because Trump will have his hand-picked Attorney General, who has pledged loyalty to him, block any such actions. The last refuge of hope would be the Supreme Court. But we are in this position today because SCOTUS allowed a person who planned an insurrection to run for office and then granted him almost complete immunity.

If, by some miracle, Trump was impeached and removed from office, we will still be left with an autocratic style of government. Every single person in the line of accession to the presidency has been hand-picked for their loyalty to Trump. The entire Trump regime, the Supreme Court, and numerous Congressional Republicans would have to be impeached, removed from office, and imprisoned. It will never happen.

We will never get to a point where, if there were abundant damaging evidence against Trump and Musk, the public would never know. Fox News, the official propaganda arm of the Trump syndicate, would never allow anything negative about Trump to be reported. The major cable and network news organizations are under the control of wealthy Trump supporters, and they would never jeopardize their relationship with Trump.

The Constitution has no provision for dealing with an entirely corrupt and treasonous government. Our Founding Fathers never in their wildest imaginations could have envisioned such a dangerous and disastrous situation.

I do not hold out much hope that Trump or anyone in his Reich will allow another fair presidential election. Otherwise, we are doomed. I hope I am wrong.

I’m moving to Substack. Please join me in Stephen Sovie’s World newsletter by clicking the link.