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.

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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It’s Only Day One, and He’s Screwing the Very People Who Supported Him

It’s Only Day One, and He’s Screwing the Very People Who Supported Him

I told you so

Photo by taylor on Unsplash

Here we are on day two of the Trump oligarchy, which is actually the first full day since his anointing. He didn’t wait for today to start his reign of terror, though. Yesterday, he began firing off executive orders like he was ordering Big Macs at McDonalds.

For all his followers who are on Medicare and Medicaid and have difficulty affording their prescription drugs, you must be thrilled. When Biden lowered the cost of insulin and other prescription drugs for people on Medicare and Medicaid, you were excited, but you didn’t give Biden credit for helping you. No, instead, you believed Trump’s lies promising you better healthcare. Yesterday, Trump rescinded Biden’s order. You now have lost your prescription drug savings so Trump could put more money in the pockets of his big pharma buddies.

Now that your prescription drug costs will remain high, you must be careful not to get sick. Don’t worry; Trump withdrew the US from the World Health Organization, so if there is another pandemic, you’re on your own, left only with bleach and heartworm medication. It must be comforting to hear Trump say he knows so much about health issues!

Yesterday, Trump also withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Agreement to protect his wealthy cronies in the oil industry. I’m sure this doesn’t mean anything to you MAGA supporters, who think the weather and the climate are the same thing. Maybe you’ll discover the difference when your home is blown away in a hurricane or left in ashes after a wildfire. But climate change is a hoax.

Thank God all of you Trump followers are straight, white Christians. Yesterday, he rolled back policies protecting gay and transgender rights and supporting equality and diversity. If your son or daughter loses their job or faces discrimination over their gender or sexual identity, you can proudly tell them you voted for that.

I doubt that any of you MAGA people have relatives who are children granted US citizenship through birthright citizenship because Trump is trying to eliminate that right. However, it will be next to impossible because it is a Constitutional Amendment. So forget about turning in your neighborhood children because they look Mexican.

These are just a few of Trump's executive orders issued on his first day as President. Wait until he places a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada! I’m sure you won’t have any problems paying 25% extra for your cars, fruits and vegetables, and beer. After all, your fearless leader said you weren’t better off with Biden.

This is only the beginning of Trump’s reign of terror, and there will be many, many more to come. Since he and wealthy white supremacist Christian nationalists have more in store to return the country to the days when the robber barons ruled and minorities existed in the shadows. For now, I will refrain from saying I told you so. I am sure you will get everything you deserve.

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