Who Will Remember Our Dying Republic, if We Don't Save It?

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Dispatch From a Dead Republic, And Empire

Rome, July 8th

Hey folks, I’m writing to you from Rome. A planned trip to one of my favorite cities, but who the hell knew so much of its glorious and not-as-glorious past would be so germane at this very moment.

There’s an eerie feeling to writing this from over here as I see President mentula magna talk about hating Democrats. And Democrats supposedly hating America.

The childish blather exiting his never-closing cakehole is, of course, the talk of tyrants. And I’m in a place where tyrants took one of the most impressive creations in the history of the world—this republic—and tossed it aside for the simplicity and supposed security of dictatorship.

Sound kinda familiar?

President Trump, it was just announced, is planning an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bout on White House grounds for next 4th of July. That’ll be our teetering republic’s 250th anniversary, should we make it.

And all I can think about upon seeing that nitwit-created news, with the Colosseum looming over me, and that bollocks budget passed by a corrupt-to-the-core cult of limp-d*k, dictator wannabes called The GOP…is “bread and circuses.”

As Rome struggled with its identity—would it continue to be a republic or become a dictatorship?—it was Marcus Tullius Cicero, brilliant Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator and writer who used the now infamous phrase. And for the very reasons it applies to the Trump Show—sponsored by corporate media access-whores—which is in the process of assaulting the very foundations of our republic.

Here’s how Cicero put it:

The evil was not in the bread and circuses, per se, but in the willingness of the people to sell their rights as free men for full bellies and the excitement of the games which would serve to distract them from the other human hungers which bread and circuses can never appease."

What’s amazing is MAGA is ok with just circuses. They don’t even need the bread, as they proved by just cutting food assistance to adults and SNAP-program lunches for kids—yes, kids, like many of the flood victims in Texas. This was part of Trump’s big, stupid, dumb, corrupt and apparently, big, budget bill that felt more like a mass human sacrifice to Moloch.

Whether Trump’s insulting an ally or planning a UFC fight at the White House, it’s the never-ending drama of the biggest culus in the world. A man who puts the dedication into hurting his voters that Kristi Noem puts into ensuring her face can’t move and Ted Cruz does into vacationing while Texas is being crushed by a natural disaster.

As long as they distract the poor and powerless, billionaire Trump BFFs could and can steal everything that isn’t nailed down (and they’ll remove some nails if necessary). Because, if they keep MAGAs entertained and even barely fed, if at all, they’ll stop asking questions as long as they’re told who to hate and who’s to blame.

From gladiators in the arena to the UFC at the White House, this isn’t theory anymore, folks. It’s prophecy.

The ruins here in Rome are reminders—of emperors like Nero who let Rome burn, and Julius Caesar, who transformed a republic into a dictatorship. More recently, Mussolini, the fascist who turned Rome and the rest of Italy into a bright red (MAGA hat) warning sign for the rest of the world.

And now? In America? We’re blowing past those warning signs by people who seem to have turned Fox News into crushed, sniff-able form, and are so rage-addicted, Republicans can let their freak flag flyand party like it’s 476 AD.

What do I mean? Well, back home in good ole U.S., they just authorized $45 billion more for ICE, Trump’s secret police. Forty-five billion—not for food, not for healthcare, not for schools or clean water or helping kids in poverty. No, it’s for armored stormtroopers who won’t show their faces, surveillance and domestic militarization.

It’s corporate-media catnip, my friends, kidnapping humans off our streets, especially if you can get it on camera! Meanwhile, we hand out catchy names and slogans that would amuse toddlers as part of the “circuses” plan.

While switching off between a Marlboro Red and the glazed chocolate donut with the sprinkles, just before scratching some belly-lint, Ma & Pa MAGA can yell “F*k Yeah!” About what else but Alligator Alcatraz—a concentration camp for migrant families in the Everglades!

What a cool name, right!? How entertaining, torturing our fellow human beings! And that name, right? Almost as good as Operation Midnight Hammer, where Trump got to bomb Iran with the kinda success he’s used to fronting with the Trump Taj Mahal or creating Eric.

Now Trump’s talking about active duty Marines helping ICE, which as you may know, violates U.S. law—the Posse Comitatus Act. And there’s a reason that law was put in place. Back to the lessons of Rome again! Julius Caesar took Rome, and then took it into autocracy, by crossing the Rubicon River with troops, entering Rome in defiance of law.

There is a reason you’ve heard and likely used the phrase “crossing the Rubicon” yourself. Because the moment Caesar committed that act of treason, Rome was done for. His treacherous act became a lasting symbol for a point of no return.

Well, folks, we’re getting pretty close to crossing ours.

I don’t say this lightly. But from this amazing city, surrounded by literal ruins, you can feel a future we all dread closing in on America like a lion unleashed on a gazelle.

You can see it coming, if you’re willing to look:

• Breadlines replaced by TikTok brawls.

• SNAP benefits gutted while billionaires get tax cuts and fund right-wing militias.

• A democracy willingly collapsing, because so many couldn’t stop worshipping not an evil man with an amazing ability to act otherwise. No, the most transparently stupid, cruel, gaudy, ignorant, repulsive, child-like clown to ever hold power.

This is how may end. Not with a bang, but with the biggest clown running the biggest of those circuses.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Not if we name it. Not if we fight it. Not if we support media that dares confront it.

Blue Amp is one of those few who will not look away. We’ll keep shouting about the rising fascism, the constitutional betrayals, the gaslighting, the inhumanity. But we need you to help us stay in this fight.

If you’ve ever thought, “I wish I could do more to stop this,” this is your chance.
Support Blue Amp, and keep this republic—ours—from becoming the ruins of future generations by backing The Soundcheck Fund. How? It’s easy, just become a paid subscriber! Help us build the resistance media America will need!

We still have time. But not much as you’d think.

…Yo, Check This Out!

📍 What’s Going On in Texas – The Human Cost Meets the Political Cost

• Deadly flash floods in Central Texas (July 4–7) have claimed over 80 lives, including 28 children from Camp Mystic, a girls’ summer camp near the Guadalupe River.

• The National Weather Service (NWS) did issue alerts—including flash-flood emergencies with several hours' notice. But the warnings underestimated the scale of the rainfall, and many campers and residents never received timely evacuation orders.

• Local officials had long sought sirens and enhanced alert systems, but Kerr County's repeated grant applications (2018–2021) were dismissed, reportedly due to state and federal underfunding.

• The Texas Tribune and other outlets have flagged a 10% staff cut at NOAA/NWS, with critical roles like lead meteorologists left vacant during storm season.

• Former NOAA directors cautioned these reductions degrade forecasting capabilities. Meteorologists warn coordination between federal forecasters and local authorities was significantly weakened.

• Critics contend: The buck stops at the President. Truman had a sign saying exactly that—now Trump’s scaling back of NOAA & FEMA, plus overriding local pleas, means when systems fail and kids die, responsibility lies at the top.

Accountability & What Comes Next

• Donald Trump declared a federal disaster, activated FEMA and Coast Guard, and plans to visit the region—but NWS staffing cuts and under-resourced warning systems remain central to the mounting tragedy.

• His administration implausibly denies that budget cuts hampered preparedness—despite mounting evidence, investigations by Rep. Joaquin Castro, local officials, and former NOAA staff.

• Structural equipment failures—like lack of sirens and patchy CodeRED alerts—underscore how federal choices funnel down to local catastrophes, especially when the President opts for cuts over investment.

• If this tragedy doesn’t compel significant federal reinvestment in NOAA, FEMA, and local emergency infrastructure, the next flood—or fire, or heatwave—won’t just traumatize communities, it’ll end more lives.

We’ll continue to follow how the White House responds—and whether communities, Congress, and media start demanding real consequences for these deadly failures.

🎥 VIDEO ON DEMAND!

Elizabeth Warren - A fighting Dem who gets you must always message, control the narrative, and make Republicans pay—publicly—for their lies and treachery:

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