Welcome to the fascist American future, where state-sponsored violence is the only law that matters. Now that the Proud Boys are collecting ICE signing bonuses, they’ve executed yet another American citizen in broad daylight and the MAGA crowd is suddenly opposed to the 2 Amendment. RIP Alex Pretti. Greg Bovino gets himself demoted, but fear not! Tom “bags of cash” Homan is on the case. Ohio’s Stage Right Theatrics thinks that the theater isn’t conservative enough, and I will bet they have some different ideas about how to solve a problem like Maria. Donald Trump makes an ass of himself at Davos because he doesn’t know the difference between Iceland and Greenland. Not that it seems to matter. Airlines experiment with “densified” seating. Old guys don’t like rock & roll. Stephen Miller thinks that Star Trek is too woke. (Has he ever seen Star Trek?) And Melania Trump rakes in nearly $30 million dollars for her 15 minutes of fame.

"I come from a long line of frontiersman and outdoor types." And that’s a line from one of my favorite movies, which would be The Coen Brothers’ Raising Arizona. It is spoken by the protagonist, H.I. McDunnough. But it could just as easily be about my ancestors, or about me. So, when the National Park Service announced late in 2025 that the National Parks Pass for the new year would feature a picture of Donald Trump alongside George Washington – two presidents who have had nothing to do with America’s beloved national parks, and in the former’s case has gutted the NPS budget – those of us who find solace in America’s wild places were pretty vexed about it. Enter artist and conservationist Jenny McCarty, who quickly conjured an artistic way to speak truth to power – by making stickers that feature original art that can be placed over Trump’s glowering face on the likely-illegal new American The Beautiful Parks Pass design. I invited McCarty to join me for a wonderful conversation about our collective love for the natural world, our disdain for fascists, and how art can save us.

You can buy Jenny McCarty’s National Parks Pass stickers – and lots of other wonderful art at:

www.thesageleafstudio.com