Where we find Sisyphus climbing atop a soapbox…
I try to abide by the old saw, “Opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one…”
And while the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects free speech by prohibiting Congress from making laws that abridge the freedom of speech, the press, and the right to assemble and petition the government, this amendment adopted on December 15, 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, is under siege. For all of us assholes.
There I go, say you, of expressing an opinion. (Just in case you didn’t catch my drift, I’ve identified the “opinion” part in italics).
Here’s the thing. It really isn’t an opinion. It’s an observed truth, just as reading the First Amendment of the U.S. constitution is an observed truth. It’s all premised on an agreed perception of what is true and it is true that speech, the press, and right to assemble is under siege. No italics necessary.
Just like the assholes who take a kernel of truth and completely distort, misconstrue, then misrepresent said kernel of truth to suit their preconceived understanding of the “real world,” let’s take for example the public land sale mandate included in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s budget reconciliation bill. The One Big Beautiful Bill that could draw from over 250 million acres’ worth of roadless forests, wilderness study areas and other public lands, as the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Mike Lee painted the disposal mandate as only affecting “isolated parcels” of “underused” land, “we’re opening underused federal land to expand housing, support local development and get Washington, D.C., out of the way for communities that are just trying to grow.” Italicised. Kernel of truth distorted, misconstrued, and misrepresented. Fact.
For housing and communities that want to grow? Lets take a look…
I can’t italicize the images. They’re a handful of cherry picked pics from my travels to a few of the millions of acres of public lands affected by the bill. The fact is that I enjoyed recreating in those public lands, and you know, lest we forget:
Let’s just be clear, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is set to open up bidding on an enormous swath of outdoor recreation areas, wildlife habitat and other areas in order to meet an arbitrary sales quota—all so the Trump administration can lower taxes on the richest people in the country. This, in addition to drastic cuts to medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and clean energy, the bill includes unprecedented language that would require selling off millions of acres of public lands to drive revenue in order to offset trillions of dollars in proposed tax cuts and address the nation’s $36 trillion debt.
The Deseret News a conservative Utah news publication quotes the Utah Public Lands Alliance president, Loren Campbell, skeptical of the bill’s intent, who said,
“Putting a land-sale package into a budget reconciliation bill that establishes the precedent of paying for giant tax cuts by selling off federal public lands is deeply concerning,” Carroll said. “Look to communities. They’re going to have their favorite mountain bike areas, their favorite open space or their favorite recreation areas sold out from under (them). I think it’s cold comfort to have Sen. Lee say, ‘Oh, it’s only three million acres, right?’”
For one of the clearest explanations of the One Big Beautiful Bill’s impact, I invite you to watch Lisa Dejarden’s piece on the PBS NewsHour from June 27, 2025: Who gains and who loses under Trump’s big budget bill
No italics necessary…
June 28, 2025
Sisyphus and Associates 