Sharing a state line with the occupied District of Columbia is uncomfortable enough, but (as Governor Wes Moore knows) being in an extra-inning social media duel with the King of Calumny -- who also doubles as US president -- is even tougher.

Plus the state is battling the loss of jobs and income from implementation of Project 25 and resulting paralysis of a great many reforms that Moore campaigned on.

And school has begun, with the battle to reduce absenteeism (aggravated since the Pandemic) and cope with Artificial Intelligence, a tool for both education reform and serious escalations of cheating. It's all News You Can Use, from our state, the Other 49, and the woeful federal government with separation of powers in the authoritarian blender becoming a not-so-smoothie. And our guide to the feds, Megan E from People's Action, is back with a rundown on how an occupied, uniform-riddled Washington DC feels. Read on.

Earlier this summer I wrote a piece entitled, “We are in dangerous, uncharted waters. Goodnight, and good luck." (Available to revisit at www.dannebohm.com.) It addressed the Los Angeles ICE raids and the military deployment in response to the ensuing protests.

I cautioned that the language used by the Trump administration, specifically the use of the words: "insurrection," "invasion," "obstructing," and "abdicated," combined with the overall tone and approach toward the situation, was not coincidental. Rather, it suggested the regime was laying groundwork to justify and declare martial law.

I further surmised that the synchronized legal language and well-orchestrated response to the situation in California suggested the GOP were almost certainly being coached by the very constitutional lawyers who were the architects of Project 2025.

Since then, a similar military takeover has occurred in my backyard – Washington, D.C. Mr. Trump claims this latest show of force is intended to combat homelessness and high crime.

Sparring between Governor Wes Moore and President Trump got friskier this week as Moore made a Sunday TV appearance and Trump threatened to cancel plans to repair the Key Bridge. Just another day at the office. When he's not canceling nearly-completed offshore wind projects (plus our just-starting one off OC) he's OKing guns for the long-suffering National Guard members walking around DC monuments. In the meantime ICE agents are imagining deportable folks on every street corner, showing that AI hallucinates less than they do. The battle over deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia continues -- he was detained during a mandatory ICE check-in in Baltimore, even though accompanied by hundreds of supporters. But that's just Monday morning. The legal process is grinding and Tuesday's news may be altogether different. It's News You Can Use, for the moment and the week. 

Celebrating National Seniors Day: Aging with Dignity and the Fight for Healthcare

By Patty Snee, Healthcare Justice Organizer, Progressive Maryland

(A valentine to all the incredible older adults in our communities across Maryland—you inspire us every day!)

Yesterday, we celebrated National Seniors Day! I’m just catching up because I was busy working on our state and national fight to protect our healthcare in the face of deadly and devastating healthcare cuts in the new federal budget. I hope you had a chance to celebrate. In addition to National Seniors Day, our country, in the past few weeks, has celebrated the 60th Anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid and the 90th Anniversary of Social Security! Monumental milestones! These enduring programs have been providing health and retirement security to millions of older folks for multiple generations. Seniors have contributed to our society all of their lives, and they deserve to age with dignity, respect, and access to the resources they need to thrive.

One of Maryland's intractable problems -- the shortage of affordable housing and the (therefore) increasing rental hikes across the state -- got tackled by Gov. Moore in his keynote speech at the Maryland Association of Counties meeting last week. It'll be a heavy lift for the state government and private sources to provide more "social housing" but that is emphatically what is needed, and our regular readers should not let him or others off the hook. The private sector is not going to pull this load by itself -- it is not actually in its interest.

Maryland (with the help of its judiciary, which Trump has come to hate) is fending off some of the worst of Trump's assault on human freedoms -- but it's a constant battle, also being fought by some other states.

It's all News You Can Use.

As we rouse ourselves this week we find that we are not alone in suffering under escalating power bills -- and that there seems to be a pattern in the ways mega-corporate power companies keep their ratepayers struggling. Their fellow big tech corporations' data centers, however, get kid-gloves treatment by utilities and by the job-hungry states where they might land.

Meanwhile, Maryland's well-intentioned tax break attempting to get every school kid in appropriate clothes and with needed supplies may have a downside. But just a temporary one, like the tax break. More serious would be the permanent loss of the Beltsville Agricultural Research center as a result of another brainless reorganization-for-its-own-sake move by the Trump gang, all chosen to be as brainless (and compliant to the Big Boss) as his own self. Those with a brain are rallying to keep it here.

Meanwhile, another episode of brainlessness, Trump has taken over law enforcement in DC, his latest attempt to distract attention from the Epstein Mystery. Even with Congress on vacation, it's News You Can Use.