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FOR THOSE WHO SAY THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE RED AND THE BLUE

July 1, 2025

“[W]e’re debating a bill that’s going to cut healthcare for 16 million people. It’s going to give a tax break to…massively wealthy people who don’t need any more money. There are going to be kids who go hungry because of this bill. This is the biggest reduction in…nutrition benefits for kids in the history of the country.” Murphy continued: “We’re obviously gonna continue to offer these amendments to try to make it better. So far not a single one of our amendments…has passed, but we’ll be here all day, probably all night, giving Republicans the chance over and over and over again to slim down the tax cuts for the corporations or to make life a little bit…less miserable for hungry kids or maybe don’t throw as many people off of healthcare. Maybe don’t close so many rural hospitals. It’s gonna be a long day and a long night.”

The national debt is growing because tax revenues have plummeted. Tax cuts under the George W. Bush and Trump administrations are responsible for 57% of the increase in the ratio of the debt to the economy, 90% if you exclude the emergency expenditures of the pandemic, and have left the United States with a tax burden nowhere close to the average of the 38 other nations in the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), all of which are market-oriented democracies. And those cuts have gone primarily to the wealthy and corporations.

Republicans who backed those tax cuts now want more. They are trying to force through a measure that will dramatically cut the nation’s social safety net while at the same time increasing the national debt by $3.3 trillion over the next ten years.

“There are two ways of viewing the government’s duty in matters affecting economic and social life,” FDR said in his speech accepting the 1932 Democratic nomination for president. “The first sees to it that a favored few are helped and hopes that some of their prosperity will leak through, sift through, to labor, to the farmer, to the small business man.” The other “is based upon the simple moral principle: the welfare and the soundness of a Nation depend first upon what the great mass of the people wish and need; and second, whether or not they are getting it.”

The Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill takes wealth from the American people to give it to the very wealthy and corporations, and Democrats are calling their colleagues out.

“This place feels to me, today, like a crime scene,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said on the floor of the Senate. “Get some of that yellow tape and put it around this chamber. This piece of legislation is corrupt. This piece of legislation is crooked. This piece of legislation is a rotten racket. This bill cooked up in back rooms, dropped at midnight, cloaked in fake numbers with huge handouts to big Republican donors. It loots our country for some of the least deserving people you could imagine. When I first got here, this chamber filled me with awe and wonderment. Today, I feel disgust.”

-Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American <heathercoxrichardson@substack.com>. June 30, 2025

A TRAGEDY OF HISTORY RHYMING

June 30, 2025

1939 Nazi Germany: Pogroms in Eastern Europe

Today. Israel: The West Bank

WAKE UP AMERICANS!!

STOP SUPPORTING ISRAEL.

WHAT PHILOSOPHY HAS TAUGHT ME

June 24, 2025

We are dwarfs. But dwarfs who stand on the shoulders of giants (the ancients)….

Humberto Eco

The wisdom of the past contains most of what is needed to make this world a better place. We need but listen, learn and act on it.

Me

I have always believed that education can improve people’s lives, not simply because it has economic benefits and can make people more ‘productive’, but because it has the potential to help people discover what will make them happy and what can make the world a better place to live in. This is not to say that there are those who lead happy and prosperous lives with little or no education and that there is some truth to the Socratic graffiti quip “The unexamined life is not worth living, but the examined life is often difficult to live.” Yes. ignorance, willful or otherwise can be blissful for some, but I strongly believe that if we are to create a peaceful and just world, the more people who are able to distinguish between what is true and what is false, what is healthy and what is harmful, what will work and won’t work, the better.

My study of philosophy has taught me that the discipline is a subject looking for objectives and objects. For me the focus has been on trying to find out what others have thought about how to make the world a better place. While there are many problems with the utilitarian school’s attempts to achieve “the greatest good for the greatest number”, that goal seems to me to be the overarching value assumed by those who believe that democracy is the best way to arrange a social order. Of course Fido is buried in the convictions that minorities don’t matter and ‘devil take the hindmost’, convictions that appear of late to be gaining traction worldwide. The election of Trump and the subsequent rise in sexism, xenophobia, racism and sectarian violence have spurred me to pen what you are reading so that my “two cents” can hopefully find a more constructive form other than rants and Turretian tirades.

Over the last half a century I have become increasingly convinced that if we are to effectively deal with poverty and injustice we must focus on two entrenched traditions: the tyranny of men over women and the tyranny of out species over the rest of nature. The root causes of the “Me Too” movement and the existential threat of climate change are essentially one and the same. This is not to say that other topics and areas of study are not relevant and needed. Of course they are. But science, economics, psychology, etc. are all shaped or should be shaped by questioning the values implicit in them and the values and outcomes they bring forth, shape and sustain.

tirades

My main focus has been Western thought and, contrary to Ghandi’s clever quip, I think it does contain some good ideas. I have also tried to find out about the conceptions of justice and the good life in other religious and philosophical traditions and have always been more of a wanderer than a marcher, but have tried, especially in my teaching to keep an open mind and adhere to the Socratic insight that knowing that one does not know is the beginning of wisdom. There are many instances in which I have failed in this, but again, I am confident that the sources of what’s wrong with both my society and the world situation have been identified and also contain the measures needed to be taken to improve the lot of humanity.

Looking back as far as I can remember I have never been a believer in a god, or gods. But I have always been a seeker. I clearly remember trying to pray and looking and listening for an answer, a voice, a sign. I have also studied most of the world’s major religions and found in all of them important insights as well as many beliefs and tenets that I find dangerous and damaging. I did ‘play the game’ to please others, capping my religion career by earning the Boy Scout’s God and Country award. I was required to write a prayer which may have been read to a congregation, the only part of which I remember “Let us not in the midst of our materialistic well-being…”. I forget what followed, but hope I referred to the need to help the sick and hungry and not the importance of an eternal pure soul/spirit as opposed to the mortal corruptible coil. That latter Platonic distinction, made much of by theologians preaching shame and guilt attending the material body as opposed to the “higher” pleasures of the mind/soul is also present in secular ethical thought, e.g., most Utilitarians, including J.S. Mill, have also embraced the damaging duality.

But within a year after pledging allegiance to a God I did not believe in and a Country I knew very little about, I read Plato’s Euthyphro and encountered a liberating epiphany in Socrates’ simple question:

Is what you are doing right simply because the gods declare it is right or do the gods approve of what you are doing because it IS right and therefore they believe it is right?

And, later in the dialogue, Socrates leads his student to the insight:

….I think that the part of justice which is religious and is holy is the part that has to do with the service of the gods; the remainder is the part of justice that has to do with the service of mankind.

The separation of Church and State is prefigured here and is captured by Andre Schwartz Bart is his The Last of the Just:

Gallio’s Song

All day long to the judgment-seat

The crazed Provincials drew–

All day long at their ruler’s feet

Howled for the blood of the Jew.

Insurrection with one accord

Banded itself and woke:

And Paul was about to open his mouth

When Achaia’s Deputy spoke

“Whether the God descend from above

Or the man ascend upon high,

Whether this maker of tents be Jove

Or a younger deity–

I will be no judge between your gods

And your godless bickerings,

Lictor, drive them hence with rods–

I care for none of these things!

“Were it a question of lawful due

Or a labourer’s hire denied,

Reason would I should bear with you

And order it well to be tried

But this is a question of words and names

And I know the strife it brings,

I will not pass upon any your claims.

I care for none of these things.

“One thing only I see most clear,

As I pray you also see.

Claudius Caesar hath set me here

Rome’s Deputy to be.

It is Her peace that ye go to break

Not mine, nor any king’s,

But, touching your clamour of ‘conscience sake,’

I care for none of these things!”

To this day I am angered when I hear an adult tell a child Because I told you so. And to those who say blind obedience is needed in the military world, I would insist that obedience and trust are essential, but should never be absolute. As I write this the President of my country is a narcissistic bullying boor who has the power to blow up the world and I sincerely hope the admirals, were they to get the order, would refuse to do this. Example: Secretary of the Navy, Richard Spencer was fired because of his disagreement with Trump about the latters defense of a sailor who had been found guilty of posing for photos with the corpse of a prisoner. He did not go quietly:

The rule of law is what sets us apart from our adversaries. Good order and discipline is what has enabled our victory against foreign tyranny time and again, from Captain Lawrence’s famous order “Don’t Give up the Ship,” to the discipline and determination that propelled our flag to the highest point of Iwo Jima. The Constitution, and the Uniform Code of Military Justice, are the shields that set us apart, and the beacons that protect us all. Through my Title Ten Authority, I have strived to ensure our proceedings are fair, transparent and consistent, from the newest recruit to the Flag and General Officer level.

Unfortunately, it has become apparent that in this respect, I no longer share the same understanding with the Commander in Chief who appointed me, in regards to the key principle of good order and discipline. I cannot in good conscience obey an order that I believe violates the sacred oath I took in the presence of my family, my flag and my faith to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

The President deserves and should expect a Secretary of the Navy who is aligned with his vision for the future of our force generation and sustainment. Therefore, with pride in the achievements we’ve shared, and everlasting faith in the continued service and fidelity of the finest Sailors, Marines and civilian teammates on earth, I hereby acknowledge my termination as United States Secretary of the Navy, to be effective immediately.

It’s pretty simple: if you strongly believe something is wrong, don’t do it. If you are unsure, work at finding out the answer by listening to all points of view, especially those you do not agree with. If you strongly believe something is right, support it or at least don’t act in a way which undermines it. To be continued…….

WHO WE ARE IS WHERE WE ARE AND WHERE WE’VE BEEN. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. HCR IS ALWAYS WORTH LEARNING FROM.

June 19, 2025

INSURGENT ART: SPOT ON…PATHETIC..FRIGHTENING…LONG LIVE THE BRILLIANT NEW YORKER

June 18, 2025

THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT IS NEITHER

June 18, 2025

“As you have done these things to those known as ‘the least of these you have done it to me.” -Yeshua ben Yosef of Nazareth

ADD TO BELOW A TEENY TAX ON ALL STOCK TRANSACTIONS AND DIRECT THE $ TO A NATIONAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

June 13, 2025

How about a U.S. Medical Academy: Free Medschool and then serve for five years to pay it back? Why TF not?

The Internet was born a pure communications medium — like the telephone or the postal system. Nobody owned it so nobody could charge you for being on it.

Then we made a fatal mistake — we started allowing ads. This was the Internet’s original sin. Communication mixed with commercialism. And the Net started evolving into what it is today: a massive toxic surveillance operation fueled by ad revenue.

But now imagine this: We impose a #DATAFEE. We ding the mindlords a fraction of a cent every time they harvest a bit of our personal data.

Then we impose an #ADTAX — we ding them another fraction of a cent each time they show us an ad.

These things add up . . . but this time in our favor, not theirs.

Pretty soon that avalanche of small fractions moving from one side of the ledger to the other will change the game. Just like that, Zuck, Musk, Bezos and the boys will no longer make billions of dollars off our backs . . . the money will flow back to us . . . and they will lose their stranglehold on our psyche.

Why not?

Why the fuck not?

If the hard Right can disrupt constitutional democracy and upend global trade, then why can’t we on the hard Left heave surveillance capitalism in a brave new direction?

A corporation has no heart, no soul, no morals. It cannot feel pain. You cannot argue with it. That’s because a corporation is not a living thing but a process — an efficient way of generating revenue.

It takes energy from the outside (capital, labor, raw materials) and transforms it in various ways. In order to continue “living” it need meet only one condition: its income must equal its expenditures over the long term. As long as that happens it can exist indefinitely.

When a corporation hurts people or damages the environment, it will feel no sorrow or remorse because it is intrinsically unable to do so. (It may sometimes apologize, but that’s not remorse — that’s public relations.) Buddhist scholar David Loy put it this way: “A corporation cannot laugh or cry; it cannot enjoy the world or suffer with it. Most of all a corporation cannot love.” That’s because corporations are legal fictions. Their “bodies” are just judicial constructs, and that is why they are so dangerous.

-Adbusters

PROTEST! AND FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS FROM A FERLINGHETTI INSURGENT ARTIST

June 12, 2025

WE CAN WIN ON WITH A NONVIOLENT COMMITMENT TO TRUTH AND BEAUTY

Zen priest, Peter Coyote, on protest: “I’m watching the Los Angeles reaction to ICE raids with trepidation and regret.

Three years ago I taught a class at Harvard on the “theater of protest”— designed to help people understand why so many protests turn out to be Republican campaign videos working directly against the interests of the original protest.

A protest is an invitation to a better world.

It’s a ceremony.

No one accepts a ceremonial invitation when they’re being screamed at.

More important you have to know who the real audience of the protest is.

The audience is NEVER the police, the politicians, the Board of supervisors, Congress,etc.

The audience is always the American people, who are trying to decide who they can trust; who will not embarrass them.

If you win them, you win power at the box office and power to make positive change.

Everything else is a waste.

There are a few ways to get there

1. Let women organize the event. They’re more collaborative. They’re more inclusive, and they don’t generally bring the undertones of violence men do.

2 Appoint monitors, give them yellow, vests and whistles. At the first sign of violence, they blow the whistles and the real protester sit down.

Let the police take out their aggression on the anarchists and the provocateurs trying to discredit the movement.

3. Dress like you’re going to church. It’s hard to be painted as a hoodlum when you’re dressed in clean, presentable clothes.

They don’t have to be fancy they just signal the respect for the occasion that you want to transmit to the audience.

4. Make your protest silent. Demonstrate your discipline to the American people. Let signs do the talking.

5. Go home at night. In the dark, you can’t tell the cops from the killers. Come back at dawn fresh and rested.

I have great fear that Trump’s staging with the National Guard and maybe the Marines is designed to clash with anarchists who are playing into his hands and offering him the opportunity to declare an insurrection.

It’s such a waste and it’s only because we haven’t thought things through strategically.

Nothing I thought of is particularly original.

It was all learned by watching the early civil rights protests in the 50s and 60s.

And it was the discipline and courage of African-Americans that drew such a clear line in the American sand that people were forced to take sides and that produced the civil rights act.

The American people are watching and once again if we behave in ways that can be misinterpreted, we’ll see this explained to the public in Republican campaign videos benefiting the very people who started this.

Wake up.
Vent at home.
In public practice discipline and self control.

It takes much more courage.”
— Peter Coyote
Zen teacher and author/narrator, with Ken Burns

Note: Carry an American flag. As the administration creates a fake emergency to justify a state crackdown, it’s important to honor the values and vision of democracy for which we’re advocating.

When the Enquirer came for pics back in 2017, I smiled a big toothy grin and held a big flag as it felt so empowering and good to stand with my adult daughter, pastors, Franciscans, nuns, kids, parents, grandparents and some women from our women’s groups for the values we tried to pass on.

After the protest, we sang and marched to a church where we heard poignant witness of immigrants trying to build a better life for their families against insurmountable odds.

Many Marines, National Guardsmen and vets are over on Threads and Substack expressing their disagreement over being used by this lawless administration.

Peace, santi and shalom to all. ☮️

CHATTYPANTS GETS A D PLUS AND REMEMBER WHO IS GRADING BEFORE GIVING THE PROGRAMMERS PRODUCTS AGENCY: BE SURE THEY ARE WARM BLOODED

June 8, 2025

5 AI bots took our tough reading test. One was smartest — and it wasn’t ChatGPT.

Story by Geoffrey A. Fowler • 4d • 7 min read

All of the most popular artificial intelligence chatbots have the ability to upload and summarize documents, from legal contracts to an entire book. The tech promises to give you a kind of speed-reading superpower. But do any of the bots really understand what they’re reading?

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To figure out which AI tools you can trust as a reading assistant, I held a competition. I challenged five bots to read four very different types of writing and then tested their comprehension. The reading spanned the liberal arts, including a novel, medical research, legal agreements and speeches by President Donald Trump.

To judge the AI tools’ summaries and analysis, I gathered a panel of experts — including the original authors of the book and scientific reports.

All told, I asked 115 questions about the assigned reading to ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Meta AI and Gemini. Some of the AI responses were astoundingly good. Others were so clueless they sounded like “Seinfeld’s” George Costanza.

All the bots barring one made up — or “hallucinated” — information, a persistent AI problem. But facts were only one part of the challenge; my questions also challenged the AI to provide analysis, such as recommending improvements to the contracts and spotting factual problems in Trump’s speeches. (In March, I ran a similar test asking AI to write tough emails. Send me an email about what you’d like me to test next.)

Related video: Training AI how to think, explained (STAT News Video – Video)

Artificial intelligence is a bit of a misnomer because it’s

STAT News Video – Video

Training AI how to think, explained

Wait, shouldn’t people be doing their own reading? There’s still no substitute for reading yourself, particularly if you’re trying to learn or experience art. But for better or worse, people are turning to AI for help when they want to get up to speed on a new topic, need help decoding jargon or need to cheat their way through a meeting. Summarization is emerging as a core use for AI, and chatbots promise to be a kind of CliffsNotes where you can ask follow-up questions.

If you use AI, this test offers a real-world assessment of what the current tech can — and cannot — reliably accomplish. (The Washington Post has a content partnership with ChatGPT’s maker, OpenAI.)

Here’s how the bots performed on each topic, followed by an overall champion and our judges’ conclusions.

5 AI bots took our tough reading test. One was smartest — and it wasn’t ChatGPT.

1 Literature

Best: ChatGPT

Literature was the worst subject overall for the bots. Only Claude got all the facts right about Chris Bohjalian’s 2025 Civil War love story, “The Jackal’s Mistress.”

Gemini, which wrote very short responses to our questions, was most often guilty of what Bohjalian called inaccurate, misleading and sloppy reading. In one summary, Gemini described a man who just had a leg amputated “appearing” on another character’s doorstep. Bohjalian says the answer reminded him of the “Seinfeld” episode where Costanza watches the “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” movie instead of reading the novel and ends up embarrassing himself at the book club.

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Even the best overall summary of the book, which came from ChatGPT, left something to be desired. “The response could be copy for the dust jacket. But it also discusses only three of the five major characters, ignoring the important role of the two formerly enslaved people,” says Bohjalian. In fact, he noticed the overly “positive” AI helpers often failed to address slavery and the Civil War.

That said, the quality of answers to more analytical questions by both ChatGPT and Claude left Bohjalian gobsmacked. Prompted to describe how the book’s epilogue “made you feel,” both bots appeared to have “all the feels,” Bohjalian says.

“These responses express precisely what I was trying to convey,” says Bohjalian.

Scores, out of 10: ChatGPT 7.8; Claude 7.3; Meta AI 4.3; Copilot 3.5; Gemini 2.3

5 AI bots took our tough reading test. One was smartest — and it wasn’t ChatGPT.

2 Law

Best: Claude

Sterling Miller, a longtime corporate lawyer, judged our AI tools’ understanding of two common legal contracts that people might not necessarily have a lawyer around to help them with. What he found was inconsistency.

At times, Meta AI and ChatGPT tried to reduce complex parts of the contracts to one-line summaries. “That is basically useless,” Miller says.

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Worse, the bots sometimes didn’t seem to appreciate significant nuances. In our test rental agreement, Meta AI skipped several sections entirely and missed that a landlord could enter the property at any time. ChatGPT forgot to mention a key clause in a contractor agreement about who owned inventions.

Claude won overall by offering the most consistently decent answers to our questions. And it did its best work on our most complex request: suggesting changes to our test rental agreement. Miller said Claude’s answer was complete, picked up on nuance and laid things out exactly like he would.

On that prompt, it came the closest to being a “good substitute for a lawyer,” Miller says. “The problem is none of the tools got 10s across the board.”

Scores, out of 10: Claude 6.9; Gemini 6.1; Copilot 5.4; ChatGPT 5.3; Meta AI 2.6

5 AI bots took our tough reading test. One was smartest — and it wasn’t ChatGPT.

3 Health science

Best: Claude

On average, all of the AI tools scored better at analyzing scientific research. In our test of two papers co-written by judge Eric Topol, less than two points separated the best and worst performances.

It’s hard to say exactly why. AI might have access to a lot of scientific papers in its training data. Research reports were also the only documents in our tests that follow a very predictable structure, including their own human-written summary introduction.

Topol’s lowest score of 4 went to Gemini for its summary of a study on Parkinson’s disease. The response didn’t introduce hallucinations, but it left out key descriptions of the study and why it mattered.

Claude was the only AI tool to earn a score of 10 out of 10. Topol gave that for its summary of his paper on long covid, which helpfully broke down the results for different kinds of patients and highlighted the most important takeaway from the paper for doctors treating covid patients.

However, on an analytical question about how one study accounted for racial differences, Claude scored only a 5. “I was very surprised at how different the responses were for the different prompts,” says Topol.

Scores, out of 10: Claude 7.7; ChatGPT 7.2; Copilot 7; Gemini 6.5; Meta AI 6

5 AI bots took our tough reading test. One was smartest — and it wasn’t ChatGPT.

4 Politics

Best: ChatGPT

Trump’s speeches can be so meandering, they’ve garnered their own stylistic nickname: “the weave.” Cat Zakrzewski, a Washington Post White House reporter, judged whether AI could make out what he was actually asserting and analyze what it meant.

For example, we asked the bots to analyze Trump’s 100-day rally in Michigan, in which he mentioned jobs returning to the state about a dozen times. But how many jobs? Copilot incorrectly said thousands by conflating some comments Trump made about keeping an Air Force base open. Meta AI answered best by reporting that Trump never specified, while also highlighting what he did suggest about auto jobs.

ChatGPT stood out from the pack with impressive responses to about half of our questions. For example, when we asked it to identify what rival Democrats wouldn’t like about Trump’s unscripted 100-day rally, it produced a bullet-point list that hit all the right notes. “This answer does a good job of drawing specific examples from the speech, and it provides accurate context,” Zakrzewski says. What’s more, it “accurately fact-checks Trump’s false claims that he won the 2020 election.”

The bots got into the most trouble conveying Trump’s tone. For example, Copilot’s summary of the 100-day rally was factually accurate but didn’t capture its charged nature. “If you only read this summary, you might not believe Trump delivered this speech,” says Zakrzewski.

Scores, out of 10: ChatGPT 7.2; Claude 6.2; Meta AI 5.2; Gemini 5; Copilot 3.7

5 And the overall winner is …

Claude edged out ChatGPT and left the others in the dust.

Overall winner Claude was also the only model that never hallucinated.

6 What did we learn?

So is that good or bad? Both Claude and ChatGPT produced some analysis that knocked it out of the park, the judges said.

Repeatedly during his evaluations of those two tools, Bohjalian was flabbergasted. “Okay, I’m done. Whole human race is. Stick a fork in us,” he noted.

But you could also see the results this way: None of the bots scored higher than 70 percent overall — the typical cutoff for a D+.

Beyond hallucinations, a number of limitations echoed across the tests. AI summaries frequently left out important information and overemphasized the positive (while ignoring the negative). Too often, Bohjalian says, you could “really see the robot hiding behind the human mask” pretending to be an expert in something it didn’t actually understand.

And an AI tool’s capability in one field didn’t necessarily translate to another. ChatGPT, for example, might have been tops in politics and literature but ranked near the bottom in law.

The judges highlight the inconsistency as reason for caution.

Miller says AI is not a substitute for a lawyer. “If paying an attorney is out of the question or if you just want to have something in hand while you also read through the agreement or document,” he says, “then using generative AI is an ‘okay’ solution.”

I’d also recommend running your document through at least two AI tools, so you can compare the results. And for anything that’s actually important in your life, it’s definitely worth taking the time to read it yourself.

LET’S ASSIGN COLORS TO 100.00O INSURGENTS, COME TOGETHER, AND BE SEEN RESISTING FROM OUTER SPACE.

June 2, 2025

SANTA CRUZ RESISTS WITH AN ARMY OF INSURGENT ARTISTS!

June 1, 2025

FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE, YOU NEED A STATE.

June 1, 2025

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STANFORD UNIVERSITY NEEDS TO DO SOME SOUL SEARCHING

May 31, 2025

FACULTY EXAM

IS STANFORD’S HOOVER INSTITUTION A:

NONPARTISAN CORPORATION?

A NON-PROFIT CORPORATION?

A “PUBLIC BENEFIT” CORPORATION?

DOES YOUR UNIVERSITY PROFIT FROM:

WAR?

FOSSIL FUELS?

GENOCIDE?

WAS THE INVASION OF IRAQ A GOOD IDEA?

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF “TORTURE”?

WHY ISN’T HOOVER’S DIRECTOR CONDOLEEZZA RICE BEHIND BARS?

PLEASE PLEASE READ THIS AND KNOW THAT ISRAEL IS NOW PLANNING TO CREATE 22 NEW SETTLEMENTS IN THE WEST BANK TO PREVENT THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A PALESTINIAN STATE.

May 29, 2025

AND PLEASE SUPPORT THE GUARDIAN AND KPFA – TWO OF THE ONLY PLACES YOU CAN FIND THE TRUTH ABOUT THE PLIGHT OF THE PALESTINIANS.

Have you looked at satellite images of Gaza? You should.

A picture says a thousand words. And the imagery slowly seeping out of Gaza tells a story that many politicians and media figures are still doing their best to ignore or obfuscate. Satellite imagery on Google Maps showing the devastated region as of October and November 2023, drone shots of dystopian aid checkpoints, and military maps of so-called “safe zones” make it increasingly hard to argue that Israel’s military “operation” (to use a sanitizing word the media is incredibly fond of) is about eradicating Hamas. This isn’t an operation – it’s a cremation: one with the ultimate goal of eradicating not just Palestinian life in Gaza, but Palestinian identity altogether.

First, though, I want to stress that there still isn’t a lot of imagery coming out of Gaza. This is by design – and something I wish more of my colleagues in the western media were outraged about. Israel has not allowed foreign journalists into the territory since the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023, save for carefully curated tours by the Israeli army. It is systematically slaughtering Palestinian journalists on the ground. And it is placing heavy restrictions on foreign aid workers who are let into Gaza.

The Israeli government, meanwhile, is trying to control the narrative with its own visual materials. A picture says a thousand words, but pictures can obviously be manipulated or misrepresented. And there are numerous instances where Israel has been found to have misrepresented imagery. Last year, for example, Forensic Architecture, a research agency that investigates human rights violations, analyzed visual material presented by Israel’s defence team in hearings at the international court of justice (ICJ).

Forensic Architecture’s report states that they found “eight instances where the Israeli legal team misrepresented the visual evidence they cited, through a combination of incorrect annotations and labelling, and misleading verbal descriptions” – a very long way of saying: “They lied.” One example of these misleading verbal descriptions: Israel’s team presented the ICJ with what they described as “evidence of a rocket launched from next to Gaza’s water desalination facility”. Forensic Architecture noted that “the highlighted feature is more likely a crater caused by an air drop munition from an Israeli strike”.

More recently, a Sky News analysis of video footage taken from one of the many hospitals in Gaza that have been bombed contradicted Israel’s claim that it was targeting a Hamas “command and control centre” underneath a hospital. Israel published a video taken from an aerial surveillance aircraft with a highlighted building marked as “European Hospital”. Sky News, however, showed that the building was actually a school and the “command center” appeared to be a drainage ditch.

I point all this out because great pains have been taken by US politicians and some people in the media to insist that Israel can always be trusted to tell the truth, while Palestinians are frauds who shouldn’t be listened to. Palestinians and pro-Palestinian voices are over-exaggerating the severity of the situation, we keep being told by “reasonable” centrist voices in the media, who seem keen to ignore the growing consensus by genocide scholars (including Israeli scholars) that this is not a “conflict”, it is a genocide.

The US government (both this administration and the Biden-Harris administration) has been instrumental in this atrocity denial. In late October 2023, Joe Biden, who spread lies about Hamas beheading babies, said he had “no notion if Palestinians are telling the truth” about the number of casualties in Gaza. Ever since then, certain parts of the media have repeatedly tried to suggest that the official death toll in Gaza (which is a severe undercount, if anything) has been inflated by those devious Palestinians.

Whenever horrific videos come out of Gaza – one of the latest shows a child filmed trying to escape a fire caused by an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced people – some of Israel’s worst apologists will rush to spread misinformation about “Pallywood”. The dead babies are just dolls! The fire is CGI! Turns out Gaza has a better special effects department than Hollywood! Anything remotely inconvenient to Israel’s assertion that they have “the most moral army in the world” is dismissed as fake news.

If you don’t trust Palestinians, then perhaps you will trust Google Maps. We still don’t have the full picture of what Gaza looks like right now, but updates are slowly coming through and updated satellite imagery of the devastation is being shared widely on social media. Most of the updated imagery is from the weeks and months following 7 October 2023 – still very early in the carnage.

Even still, the scale of the devastation makes clear that this is not a targeted “operation”, it is a scorched-earth campaign. Eerily, at least three places in Gaza on Google Maps have also now been marked as “haunted houses”. It’s not clear why this is, but some people have expressed suspicion that Israeli soldiers have changed the name for fun.

Some Israeli soldiers have, after all, posted photos of themselves playing with underwear from the homes of women who have been displaced. “The dehumanization from the top is very much sinking down to the soldiers,” a spokesperson for the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has said in reference to visual evidence of Israeli soldiers acting maliciously.

Don’t just look at Google Maps – look at the maps that Israel is putting out and the changing “safe zones”. Last December, a small strip of land in south Gaza was marked on a map as a “humanitarian zone”. Last month, however, the Guardian reported that “Israel has quietly stopped designating areas of Gaza as humanitarian zones” after breaking the ceasefire. Nowhere in Gaza can be considered safe now. People have been trapped inside a killing field.

Look at the recent shocking drone shots published by Israeli media of the “aid” checkpoints set up by Israel. Look at the starving caged Palestinians surrounded by people who seem to be American military contractors and Israeli soldiers, waiting to receive “aid” via a dystopian scheme that has horrified the UN and humanitarians. This is not aid. It is occupation.

Look at these pictures. Really look at them. If you still believe that all this is justifiable, that you are not bearing witness to crimes against humanity, then look at yourself. Ask yourself what you have become.

-Arwa Mahdawi: Guardian: May 29, 2025

MEMORIES AND THOUGHTS ON MEMORIAL DAY: VIVA INSURGENT ART: BALLADS NOT BOMBS!

May 26, 2025

My father: Career naval officer. Fought in WWII and Korea. Wanted to win in Vietnam with whatever weapons were needed. Honest and decent and dedicated to his country, not money.

My uncle Ike: Died in WWII “over China”. His bed in his room, kept as it was, in my grandparents farm house, draped with an American flag.

The vets coming home from Vietnam and Afghanistan. Wounded in so many ways. Treated badly in so many ways.

WWI was a war for markets. WWII very different. Recommend The Dream of the Celt by Mario Vargas Llosa – historical fiction about the life of Sir Roger Casement.

Trump’s disrespecting John McCain and the military and his choice of admirals and generals loyal to him, not the Constitution. Fuck the mad bad King.

You cannot have civilization without 911 and you need competent and dedicated people answering the call. I have nothing but respect for those who serve, but contempt for many of the politicians and ‘experts’ who send them to places where it is impossible to tell the difference between those who live there and the enemy.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti: WWII experiences and finding a tea cup held by an incinerated hand and fighting against wars with Insurgent Art for the rest of his long life.

Speak Out

And a vast paranoia sweeps across the land

And America turns the attack on its Twin Towers

Into the beginning of the Third World War

The war with the Third World

And the terrorists in Washington

Are shipping out the young men

To the killing fields again

And no one speaks

And they are rousting out

All the ones with turbans

And they are flushing out

All the strange immigrants

And they are shipping all the young men

To the killing fields again

And no one speaks

And when they come to round up

All the great writers and poets and painters

The National Endowment of the Arts of Complacency

Will not speak

While all the young men

Will be killing all the young men

In the killing fields again

So now is the time for you to speak

All you lovers of liberty

All you lovers of the pursuit of happiness

All you lovers and sleepers

Deep in your private dream

Now is the time for you to speak

O silent majority

Before they come for you.

-Ferlinghetti.

(from We Begin Here: Poems for Palestine and Lebanon, edited by Kamal Boullata and Kathy Engel (Interlink Books, 2007)

Naming of Parts

Today we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
We had daily cleaning. And tomorrow morning,
We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day,
Today we have naming of parts. Japonica.
Glistens like coral in all of the neighboring gardens,
And today we have naming of parts.

This is the lower sling swivel. And this
Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,
When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel,
Which in your case you have not got. The branches
Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures,
Which in our case we have not got.

This is the safety-catch, which is always released
With an easy flick of the thumb. And please do not let me
See anyone using his finger. You can do it quite easy
If you have any strength in your thumb. The blossoms
Are fragile and motionless, never letting anyone see
Any of them using their finger.

And this you can see is the bolt. The purpose of this
Is to open the breech, as you see. We can slide it
Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this
Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards
The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers:
They call it easing the Spring.

They call it easing the Spring: it is perfectly easy
If you have any strength in your thumb: like the bolt,
And the breech, and the cocking-piece, and the point of balance,
Which in our case we have not got; and the almond-blossom
Silent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwards and forwards,
For today we have naming of parts.

-Henry Reid

In 1944, Glenn Miller, Conductor or the U.S. Air Force Band recorded six programs of music to be broadcast over the American Broadcast Station in Europe. “ Music for the Wehrmach” much of it Miller’s standards translated and sung in German was recorded in the Abbey Road Studios in London. The band was described as “A true symbol of America where everyone has the same rights. It is equal regardless of race, color or religion.”

REMEMBERING THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF MY COUNTRY

May 25, 2025

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.

-Edward Bernays

Superbowls are among the most watched shows in Plato’s cave. The last one I watched was many years ago – the 49ers against I forget who – but I do remember that the game took place only a couple weeks before the big Meltdown of the Free Market, when the not so invisible hand rose up and smacked the shit out of the Money Machine. I also do not remember who won, but I do remember the adds: two main sponsors selling big trucks and viagra. For days I could not stop trying to deconstruct that, with an ever growing sense that those adds presaged something like Pride Before a Fall – the center could not hold for long – we’re in for a Cataclysmic Shakeup – and sure enough, just as I had succeeded in filing away the anxiety, the bottom fell out of the Hummer market and I believe it was China that purchased it at the basement sale and I hated to consider what that would turn out climate-wise. I regret not checking Viagra’s stock, as my first guess would be that it weathered the crash, as it’s cheaper to stand up one’s withered penis with a pill than a macho Bronco Macho Ram thrill.

The content of the adds as I remember it: violence of some form – mostly slapstick or silly cuffing, but one add stands out: a healthy hunk tackles an elderly woman and then, after the pitch for the metallic monstrosity, another tackle of an elderly man – the action believable initially, then, of course, just acting and preposterous, ridiculous, designed to to memorable and to concatenate the scenes with the trucks or tortilla chips and install “brand allegiance” into our psyches. There was also an add for the adds which informed us that we could go to our computers and view our favorites!

What to make of this? Millions are spent on these adds and would not have been spent unless the advertisers were confident that the sales they would prompt would more than cover their expense. But what happens when there is not enough money in the pockets of enough people to purchase these items? Borrowing has been the viagra that has enabled Americans to ‘get and keep it up’.

WAKE UP! REASON, SCIENCE AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ARE UNDER ATTACK

May 25, 2025

Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire.

— William Butler Yeats

Human history becomes more and more a race between education and

catastrophe.

— H.G. Wells,

On Thursday the Trump administration told Harvard University that because it had not handed over information on foreign students’ protest activities, violent activity, and coursework, the university had “lost [the] privilege” of enrolling foreign students. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said this decision was based on the administration’s determination to “enforce the law and root out the evils of anti-Americanism and antisemitism in society and campuses.”

This argument has always been a thinly veiled way to use actual antisemitism to destroy universities, a reality illustrated by Trump’s hosting last night of cryptocurrency investors whose coins are literally named things like “F*CK THE JEWS.”

Harvard promptly sued, noting that the administration has engaged in an “unprecedented and retaliatory attack on academic freedom at Harvard” and calling the attack “a blatant violation of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act.” “With the stroke of a pen,” the lawsuit reads, “the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission.”

Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American, May 25, 2025

PALESTINIAN BABIES DID NOT VOTE FOR OR SUPPORT HAMAS: SHAME ON U.S.

May 23, 2025

What did you do during the genocide in Gaza?

Arwa Mahdawi

When future generations read about Gaza with horror and wonder how we allowed a livestreamed genocide to happen, what will you say?

Now, when Israel is executing a “final solution” in Gaza, when it is far too late for dissent to make any difference, the tide is slowly starting to turn. Now that Gaza is flattened, turned into mass graves and rubble, people who have kept quiet for the past 19 months are slowly starting to speak up. Now that Israel and the US are not even trying to pretend that they aren’t intent on emptying Gaza and the West Bank of Palestinians, of “taking control” of all of the land, some criticism has started to trickle in.

Over in the UK, they’ve pulled out the “e” word. After 19 months of genocidal violence and almost three months of a starvation campaign the UK has decided to describe the situation as egregious. The UK, along with France and Canada, has threatened – and I’m sure Israel’s leaders are quaking in their boots over this – that there might be a “concrete” response if the mass killing and starvation continues.

Meanwhile, there’s been a slight shift in the media coverage. Instead of just parroting the Israeli government’s talking points, major media figures such as Piers Morgan are starting to challenge Israeli spokespeople about why the international media has not been freely allowed into Gaza to see what is happening for themselves.

All of this is too little, too late. It will not bring back little Hind Rajab, a five-year-old girl who was killed when 335 bullets were fired by Israeli soldiers into the car the terrified child was trapped in. Or the aid workers executed by Israel and buried in shallow graves.

It will not rebuild the hospitals, kindergartens, IVF centers and universities that have been systematically levelled by Israel. It will not give kids in Gaza – the largest cohort of child amputees in the world – their limbs back. It will not fix the long-term damage that malnutrition and almost two years of no schooling has done to a generation.

The criticism we are seeing now is simply an exercise in ass-covering. Performative opposition, so that in the future, when the true scale of the slaughter in Gaza is clear, the politicians and media figures responsible for enabling and justifying this horror for 19 months can say: “Look! I said something! I didn’t just stand by!”

And what will you say? When future generations read about Gaza with horror and wonder how the western world, with all its moral superiority, its rule-based order and its focus on international human rights law, allowed a livestreamed genocide to happen, what will you say? When future generations learn that, for 19 months, we woke up every morning to videos of children being burned alive – bombed with weapons that the US taxpayer helped pay for and the western world helped justify – will you be able to say that you spoke up?

A lot of ordinary people will be able to hold their head up high and say they were not silent; that they use whatever platforms or privilege they had. Logan Rozos, an NYU student who had his diploma withheld because he used his commencement speech to recognize “the atrocities currently happening in Palestine”, will be able to say he wasn’t quiet. The students expelled from Columbia University for protesting will be able to say they put their futures on the line in the name of justice. Actors like Melissa Barrera, who was fired from Scream 7 over her pro-Palestine posts, will be able to say that she prioritized integrity over her career.

The people with real power, however, will not be able to say the same; they will not be able to wash the blood from their hands. It seems likely that all this horror will eventually be pinned on Benjamin Netanyahu while others try to absolve themselves of blame. But this isn’t just Netanyahu’s genocide. This is the Biden-Harris genocide; the Trump-Vance genocide; the Keir Starmer and David Lammy genocide. It is Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’sgenocide. This is the mainstream media’s genocide. The list goes on.

We would not be where we are today were it not for the systematic dehumanization of Palestinians by the western media and the suppression of pro-Palestinian speech. We would not be here if western reporters and Joe Biden hadn’t manufactured consent for the genocide by repeating the incendiary lie that Hamas had beheaded babies. We would not be here if the Biden administration had actually worked towards a ceasefire instead of lying about their efforts and giving Israel carte blanche to do whatever it liked. Eventually history will judge all these people.

But perhaps that is wishful thinking. Perhaps I am being naive in thinking that, even if all the Palestinians are sent off to exile in Libya and Gaza is turned into a Trump-branded resort, there will ever be a reckoning. After all, how many Americans or Europeans really know about the Nakba? How many people know about Israel’s “Cast Thy Bread” operation in 1948 where the drinking water in Palestinian villages was poisoned? How many Americans know about Rachel Corrie, the young non-violent activist from Washington who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer while she tried to save Palestinian homes in Gaza from destruction in 2003?

Ever since the Nakba, Palestinian voices have been actively suppressed and Israeli atrocities have been minimized. (One Palestinian writer I know had a piece about mapping in Palestine pulled from a very prestigious US magazine several years ago after they refused to remove discussion of the Nakba.) You will have heard of every atrocity committed by a Palestinian, however. You will have been told over and over again that all this started on 7 October 2023.

It is too late for real justice in Gaza now. We can never bring back the dead children. We can’t erase what has happened. But it is not too late for accountability. The atrocities must be documented. The dead in Gaza must be properly counted so we know how many people have been murdered. The media must stop parroting the official death figure of more than 55,000 people being dead without putting this into context and noting that when you account for indirect deaths from starvation, disease, or cold, the real number of deaths is probably enormously higher.

If you have stayed quiet until now, telling yourself that all this is just far too complicated for you to speak up about, it is not too late to raise your voice. What is happening in Gaza is different from the horrors happening in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo because, if you are in the west, it is happening in your name. It is happening with your tax money and with the help of your leaders. If you are in the US, your elected representatives have delivered a standing ovation for this genocide. We are all complicit. Although some of us are far more complicit than others.

So, again, think about what you want to say to future generations when they ask what you did at this very moment. Silence is not neutrality. And your silence will not be forgotten. As Martin Luther King Jr said: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian US columnis

LISTEN TO WHAT INSURGENT ARTISTS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT OUR MAD KING

May 22, 2025

LAWRENCE:

Pity the nation whose people are sheep,

and whose shepherds mislead them.

Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,

and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.

Pity the nation that raises not its voice,

except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero

and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.

Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own

and no other culture but its own.

Pity the nation whose breath is money

and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.

Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode

and their freedoms to be washed away.

My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.

NEIL:

Bruce and thousands of musicians think you are ruining America…..You worry about that instead of the dyin’ kids in Gaza. That’s your problem. I am not scared of you. Neither are the rest of us. You shut down FEMA when we needed it most. That’s your problem Trump. STOP THINKING ABOUT WHAT ROCKERS ARE SAYING. Think about saving America from the mess you made.

AND BRUCE:

Before “Land of Hope and Dreams”:

Good evening. It’s great to be in Manchester and back in the UK. Welcome to The Land of Hope and Dreams Tour. The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock and roll in dangerous times.

In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration.

Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experience to rise with us. Raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring.

Before “House of a Thousand Guitars”:

How we doing Manchester? All right?

The last check on power, after the checks and balances of government have failed, are the people, you and me. It’s in the union of people around a common set of values. Now that’s all that stands between democracy and authoritarianism.

So at the end of the day, all we’ve really got is each other.

Before “My City of Ruins”:

Now, there’s some very weird, strange and dangerous shit going on out there right now.

In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now.

In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. This is happening now.

In my country, they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain that they inflict on loyal American workers, they’re rolling back historic Civil Rights legislation that led to a more just and plural society, they’re abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom.

They’re defunding American universities that won’t bow down to their ideological demands. They’re removing residents off American streets and, without due process of law, are deporting them to foreign detention centers and prisons. This is all happening now.

A majority of our elected representatives have failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government.

They have no concern or idea of what it means to be deeply American. The America that I’ve sung to you about for 50 years is real, and regardless of its faults, is a great country with a great people.

So we’ll survive this moment.

Now, I have hope because I believe in the truth of what the great American writer James Baldwin said. He said, in this world, there isn’t as much humanity as one would like. But there’s enough.

Let’s pray.

LISTEN UP CHRISTIANS: THE LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL KINDS OF EVIL

May 21, 2025

We may congratulate ourselves that this cruel war is nearing its end. It has cost a vast amount of treasure and blood. It has indeed been a trying hour for the Republic; but I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless.

— U.S. President Abraham Lincoln: Letter to Col. William F. Elkins, 21 November 1864

Here are three Constitutional changes that would forever change the scale of politics and economics in America. Three four-word amendments that could change the shape of our future. “Corporations are not people.” “Money is not speech.” “Waste is not commerce.” If the Supreme Court had interpreted the Constitution as they should have, andif they had adhered to the will of the people, these amendments would not be necessary. But it didn’t and they are. —

— David Morris, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, interview, Positive Alternatives , Center for Economic Conversion, (Spring 1998)

COMMERCE IS NOW CYBER CENTERED AND THE CORPORATIONS ARE RUNNING THE GOVERNMENT

May 20, 2025

The chief reason, among the many sound and compelling reasons, that led to the formation of the National Government was the absolute need that the Union, and not the several States, should deal with interstate and foreign commerce; and the power to deal with interstate commerce was granted absolutely and plenarily to the Central Government and was exercised completely as regards the only instruments of interstate commerce known in those days–the waterways, the highroads, as well as the partnerships of individuals who then conducted all of what business there was. Interstate commerce is now chiefly conducted by railroads; and the great corporation has supplanted the mass of small partnerships or individuals. The proposal to make the National Government supreme over, and therefore to give it complete control over, the railroads and other instruments of interstate commerce is merely a proposal to carry out to the letter one of the prime purposes, if not the prime purpose, for which the Constitution was rounded. It does not represent centralization. It represents merely the acknowledgment of the patent fact that centralization has already come in business. If this irresponsible outside business power is to be controlled in the interest of the general public it can only be controlled in one way–by giving adequate power of control to the one sovereignty capable of exercising such power–the National Government.

-Theodore Roosevelt to Congress in December, 1908

How Trump’s ‘historic’ Gulf state deals benefit a handful of powerful men

On his tour of the Middle East this week, Trump announced a slew of multibillion-dollar tech deals with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. With the sale of America’s most advanced technology, he also sold the American model of the industry that made it: enormous amounts of power concentrated in the hands of a few men.

The announcements poured in last week: the US and the United Arab Emirates agreed on Abu Dhabi as the site of the largest artificial intelligence (AI) campus outside the US. The deal reportedly allows the UAE to import half a million Nvidia semiconductor chips, considered the most advanced in the world for the creation of artificial intelligence products. Saudi Arabia struck a similar deal for semiconductors, obtaining the promise of the sale of hundreds of thousands of Nvidia Blackwell chips to Humain, an AI startup owned by its sovereign wealth fund.

-Guardian: TechScape newsletter: Technology. May 20. 2025

TRUMP TARIFFS AND CUTTING USAID ARE CRUEL: HERE IS PROOF

May 18, 2025

Tariff on Wheelchairs Hurts the Poor – Both Here and Abroad by Marc Krizack

(Updated May 17, 2025)

Trump’s tariffs jump up and then come crashing down. At the moment, there is a ninety-day pause on the 145% tariff on imports from China. During this pause, the tariff will be 30%, but with the threat of 80% if Trump is not satisfied at the end of this period, based on no one knows what. Trump may like to use uncertainty as a negotiating tactic, but uncertainty can have a devastating effect on a tiny company such as mine that cannot make purchasing and pricing decisions without knowing what actual costs will be. The uncertainty and even a small increase in prices due to tariffs, combined with DOGE’s near total destruction of USAID will likely put my small specialty wheelchair company out of business and deprive American wheelchair users of a great option for safe, outdoor and independent travel.

When I first posted on my company’s Facebook page that I would have to raise my prices or maybe even go out of business, I received a number of comments indicating the writers were of the opinion that tariffs will bring manufacturing back to the United States. But it seems clear that is not Trump’s purpose in imposing tariffs because low tariffs will not bring business back to the US, or even keep companies from moving offshore. They will only lead to price increases.

Although large companies such as Apple, which make millions of cellphones, computers, and other electronics chose to outsource their manufacturing to China, my products, the RoughRider wheelchair and its lightweight version the Aurora, were never intended for production in the U.S. The original design was piloted in the 1980s by the nonprofit Whirlwind Wheelchair International, designed to be durable, repairable, safe and highly usable in the rugged urban and rural conditions in developing countries. We helped small shops throughout the developing world manufacture these chairs using locally available materials and low-tech tooling. They were intended for local sale. When it became clear with globalization in the early 2000s that much larger volumes with higher quality could be manufactured in a central location and still be durable and readily repairable with available spare parts in developing countries, we started to manufacture in Vietnam and Indonesia. We then moved to China to take advantage of a program sponsored in part by USAID that would draw on a variety of wheelchair styles already being manufactured there, that could be sold to charitable organizations and sent in consolidated shipments around the world to meet the many and varied needs of wheelchair users.

When wheelchair users in rural Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina learned about our chairs for use on rough terrain, they asked that we make them available here in the U.S. It was already apparent that even in towns and cities across America there are sidewalks in need of repair that pose a substantial risk of falling for people in tippy standard wheelchairs. Yet, it would be prohibitively expensive to onshore production of our wheelchairs. There are the costs of tooling, training, salaries and benefits among other costs. The average manufacturing wage in China is equivalent to about $6 an hour. The average hourly pay for a nonunion manufacturing worker in the U.S. is around $16.73, with a range typically between $14.90 and $18.27 according to Zip Recruiter. The cost for me to manufacture in the U.S. would be at least triple what I pay now.

Much of the focus on the effects of the Trump tariffs has been on large corporations and whether they will pass on the cost increases to their customers. If they have already marked up their products a lot, they may be able to absorb some of the increased cost. Walmart, for example, which uses a low-cost sales strategy, has already said that it will have to raise prices on most of its products that come from China. Because there are many people throughout the U.S. who need but cannot afford to purchase a good wheelchair, my business plan, like Walmart’s has been to provide our wheelchairs at the lowest possible price. I will have little choice but to increase my prices once my current stock in the US has been depleted. If I try to pass those costs on to my customers, many will no longer be able to afford them. If I cannot pass those costs on, it could mean the end of my business.

In a few months, I will have to make the decision whether or not to continue to import chairs from China. If I choose to continue, I will have to pay the 30% – 80% tariff upfront before the chairs are released by customs, thus incurring interest costs. If I raise my prices and my sales fall off, I will be stuck with monthly warehouse expenses for an extended period of time. I will still have to pay other overhead expenses that include more than $7000 annually to maintain my registration with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which ensures wheelchairs meet a rigorous set of standards for quality, safety and durability.

US foreign assistance that targets people with disabilities has proven to be an effective deployment of “soft power,” extending and reinforcing American influence. Yet with the end of USAID support to international efforts to improve the quality, variety and availability of low-cost wheelchairs in the developing world, my international sales have plummeted as well. My two-employee company – I am one of the two – has been hit with a double whammy. If my company is unable to survive, Americans who need the very best of wheelchairs for travel in some of the worst conditions such as over broken sidewalks, through mud and on dirt, grass, and gravel will have to make do with wheelchairs that won’t enable them to function independently outside their home.

Marc Krizack is CEO of RoughRider America LLC, based in Berkeley, California. From 2002 until 2019 he was executive director of Whirlwind Wheelchair International, a nonprofit dedicated to the full participation of people with disabilities in their communities through improved mobility. From 1993 through 2005 he managed two USAID and two State Department-funded projects in post-Soviet Russia that developed local wheelchair production in Novosibirsk (Siberia) and transformed a disabled sports club into an independent living center providing services and advocacy by and for people with disabilities. He also helped establish a disabled community health clinic, a program for significantly disabled students at Novosibirsk State University and an orientation and mobility teacher training program that would provide independent mobility for blind people.

ALITO AND THOMAS: SERVING THEIR MAD KING, NOT THE CONSTITUTION

May 17, 2025

The Supremes have been distilled and the dregs are now exposed: Alito and Thomas will do anything to please the source of their sinecure, joining their Mad King in his opinion that the Constitutional right to due process may be ignored. Their allegiance is not to the law found in the Constitution, but rather to the politicians and wealthy business folks who have wined and dined them for decades. The crooked cats are out of the bag. How do I really feel?

Supreme court blocks Trump bid to resume deportations under 1798 law.

Administration’s appeal to quickly deport Venezuelans under Alien Enemies Act rejected with two dissenting

Lauren Gambino and agencies

Fri 16 May 2025 18.47 EDT

First published on Fri 16 May 2025 16.57 EDT

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The supreme court has rejected the Trump administration’s request to remove a temporary block on deportations of Venezuelans under a rarely used 18th-century wartime law.

Over two dissenting votes, the justices acted on an emergency appeal from lawyers for Venezuelan men who have been accused of being gang members, a designation that the administration says makes them eligible for rapid removal from the United States under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

The court, which returned the case to a federal appeals court, had already imposed a temporary halt on deportations from a north Texas detention facility in a middle-of-the-night order issued last month.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote the dissent, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas.

-The Guardian

THE BOSS: An Insurgent Artist Speaks Out

May 16, 2025

The optimism here is warrented only if enough individuals and institutions speak up and don’t ‘bow down’ to the Mad King and psychophants.

In an interview that aired on Sunday, May 4, President Donald J. Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker that he “didn’t know” if persons in the United States had a right to due process. When Welker reminded him that the right to due process is written into the Fifth Amendment, he said: “I don’t know. It seems—it might say that, but if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or two million or three million trials.”

Musician Bruce Springsteen has no doubts about those rights, embedded as they are in the country’s DNA. At a concert in Manchester, England, yesterday, he warned: “In America, the richest men… [are]… abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom. They’re defunding American universities that won’t bow down to their ideological demands. They’re removing residents off American streets and, without due process of law, are deporting them to foreign detention centers and prisons. This is all happening now.” He criticized lawmakers who have “no…idea of what it means to be deeply American.”

And yet, Springsteen told the crowd: “The America that I’ve sung to you about for 50 years is real and, regardless of its faults, is a great country with a great people, so will survive this moment.”

-Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American: May 16, 2025

MOTHERS DAY THOUGHT: HOW ABOUT THE FREEDOM TO DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT TO BE A MOTHER? A LETTER TO POPE LEO

May 11, 2025

PLEASE, DEAR READER(S), FORWARD THIS TO ANY AND EVERYONE YOU KNOW WHO MIGHT BE ABLE TO GET IT TO POPE LEO.

To: His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV
Apostolic Palace
00120 Vatican City

Most Holy Father:

The news that you have been chosen to lead the Church has made me hopeful that the Church will, as you have stated, move “from words to action” regarding social and environmental justice. While I am not a member of your faith, I have always admired the actions of Catholics like yourself who have walked what I call the “Jesus Walk”, i.e., practiced love and compassion for the downtrodden and the poor.

Because I share your conviction that we must all take personal responsibility for ensuring the future habitability and sustainability of our planet, I respectfully want to offer a suggestion I hope you will consider.

The church’s history of the theological and moral issues involved in organ transplantation and contraception is in some respects similar. While evolution of the views on organ transplantation has dramatically alleviated human suffering, the perspective on contraception has remained unchanged, and yet holds the potential to similarly transform the lives of many, and massively benefit our planet at this crucial time of over-population.

The Church’s history of the theological and moral issues involved in organ transplantation and contraception is in some respects similar. At one time, the view of organ transplantation as mutilation eventually gave way to the doctrine that donation is the key moral consideration involved. I believe that the following words of St. Thomas Aquinas could well pertain to this distinction as well as one that obtains in the practice of contraception:

I answer that, A sin, in human acts, is that which is against the order of reason. Now the order of reason consists in its ordering everything to its end in a fitting manner. Wherefore it is no sin if one, by the dictate of reason makes use of certain things in a fitting manner and order for the end to which they are adapted, provided this end be something truly good. Now just as the preservation of the bodily nature of one individual is a true good, so, too, is the preservation of the nature of the human species a very great good. And just as the use of food is directed to the preservation of life in the individual, so is the use of venereal acts directed to the preservation of the whole human race. Hence Augustine says (De Bono Conjug xvi): “What food is to a man’s well being, such is sexual intercourse to the welfare of the whole human race”. Wherefore just as the use of food can be without sin, if it be taken in due manner and order, as required for the welfare of the body, so also the use of venereal acts can be without sin, provided they be performed in due manner and order, in keeping with the end of human procreation. ( Summa Theologica, Volume 4 (Part III, First Section)

By emphasizing the importance of the character of the intended end of an act and acknowledging the relation between procreation and the preservation of the human species, Aquinas leaves open the possibility of an interpretation in which the true good of the individual is conditioned by the “very great good” of the preservation of the species. When this obligation to the species is coupled with the concomitant obligation for Catholics to act as stewards of God’s creation, contraception becomes a practice that serves to preserve our species. I believe this is the same concern found in Pope John Paul II’s message for World Peace Day, 1990:

Theology, philosophy and science all speak of a harmonious universe, of a “cosmos” endowed with its own integrity, its own internal, dynamic balance. This order must be respected. The human race is called to explore this order, to examine it with due care and to make use of it while safeguarding its integrity….Today, the dramatic threat of ecological breakdown is teaching us the extent to which greed and selfishness—both individual and collective—are contrary to the order of creation, an order which is characterized by mutual interdependence.

Relevant here are also Pope Francis’s remarks In response to Vice President Vance’s conception of the “order of love” which places the nuclear family first and strangers only much later. Pope Francis disagrees, stressing that “God is both Justice and Compassion” and that justice “directs all the virtues to the common good” of humanity.

Were the church to change its position on contraception in the manner here suggested, the effect would be enormously beneficial to the health of our species and the others around us. Am I mistaken in believing that this is possibly one of the structural causes of the inequality of which you have spoken?

I sincerely hope I have in no way offended you or shown any disrespect to you in the above. I truly believe you are doing Jesus’s work, and for that I am very grateful.

George Cattermole, Ph.D.

San Gregorio, California

CHRIS HEDGES: RESISTANCE IN OCCUPIED PALESTINE: BE THERE AND BE INFORMED: FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF OAKLAND: MAY 29, 7:30

May 8, 2025

Please join KPFA Radio at First Congregational Church of Oakland on Thursday, May 29th at 7:00pm when we welcome Pulitzer-prize winning author Chris Hedges in celebration of the release of his most recent book, A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine. This live, in-person event will be hosted by Law & Disorder’s Cat Brooks.

“An authoritative argument against the singularity of the conflict and an indictment of Western media narratives that present it as exceptional and beyond critique.”

—Publishers Weekly, starred review

With intimate and harrowing portraits of the human consequences of oppression, occupation, and violence experienced in Palestine today, Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges issues a call to action urging us to bear witness and engage with the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

Hedges wrote the first section of the book when he was in Ramallah in July 2024, and he draws from his experience doing extensive reporting from the Middle East, including Gaza, for the New York Times.

A Genocide Foretold confronts the stark realities of life under siege in Gaza and the heroic effort ordinary Palestinians are waging to resist and survive. Weaving together personal stories, historical context, and unflinching journalism, Chris Hedges provides an intimate portrait of systemic oppression, occupation, and violence.

AND PLEASE SUPPORT THE JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE!

FOUND IN ANCIENT NOTES: WHAT ADAM SMITH WROTE IN HIS WEALTH OF NATIONS

May 7, 2025

Conservatives and Neoliberals often refer to Adam Smith when they want to justify their policies and philosophy. As, I think it was John Hess put it: “In fact, Smith despised aristocrats, hated capitalists, and wept for the laboring poor.” It is true that Smith believed that an individual’s work and desire to gain reward for that work and “… intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his original intention. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of society more effectively than when he really intends to promote it.”

But here is what Smith also thought:

“In a society of an hundred thousand families, there will perhaps be one hundred who don’t labour at all, and who yet, either by violence, or by the more orderly oppression of law, employ a greater part of the labour of society than any other ten thousand in it. The division of what remains, too, after this enormous defalcation, is by no means made in proportion to the labour of each individual. On the contrary those who labour most get least. The opulent merchant, who spends a great part of his time in luxury and entertainments, enjoys a much greater proportion of the profits of his traffic, than all the Clerks and Accountants who do the business. These last, again, enjoying a great deal of leisure, and suffering scarce any other hardship besides the confinement of attendance, enjoy a much greater share of the produce, than three times an equal number of artisans, who, under their direction, labour much more severely and assiduously. The artisan again, tho’ he works generally under cover, protected from the injuries of the weather, at his ease and assisted by the convenience of innumerable machines, enjoys a much greater share than the poor labourer who has the soil and the seasons to struggle with, and, who while he affords the materials for supplying the luxury of all the other members of the common wealth, and bears, as it were, upon his shoulders the whole fabric of human society, seems himself to be buried out of sight in the lowest foundations of the building.”

— Adam Smith, first draft of Wealth Of Nations

“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.”

“The rate of profit… is naturally low in rich and high in poor countries, and it is always highest in the countries which are going fastest to ruin.”

“No society can surely be flourishing and happy when part of the members are poor and miserable.”

“As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce.”

“The subjects of every state ought to contribute toward the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state ….[As Henry Home (Lord Kames) has written, a goal of taxation should be to] ‘remedy inequality of riches as much as possible, by relieving the poor and burdening the rich.'”

“Our merchants and master-manufacturers complain much of the bad effects of high wages in raising the price, and thereby lessening the sale of their goods both at home and abroad. They say nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits. They are silent with regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only of those of other people.”

“People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.”

“The liberal reward of labor, therefore, as it is the necessary effect, so it is the natural symptom of increasing national wealth. The scanty maintenance of the laboring poor, on the other hand, is the natural symptom that things are at a stand, and their starving condition that they going backwards fast.”

“Whenever the legislature attempts to regulate differences between masters and their workmen, its counsellors are always the masters. When the regulation, therefore, is in favor of the workmen, it is always just and equitable; but it is sometimes otherwise when in favor of the masters.”

“The interest of dealers, however,… is a always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public… The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order ought… never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it.”

“We rarely hear, it has been said, of the combinations [that is, unions or colluding organizations] of masters, though frequently of those of workmen. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labor above their actual price.”

-Adam Smith: Wealth of Nations

ABSOLUTLY BRILLIANT COPING WITH THE CHAOTIC CRUELTY IN THE NEW YORKER: INSURGENT ART

May 5, 2025

Lawrence Ferlinghetti had the Modern Library installed on board the wooden- hulled submarine chaser he captained. His craft participated in the D-Day landing in Normandy. on June 6, 1944.

THE VOICE OF LAW AND REASON IS A SOFT ONE SO WE NEED TO AMPLIFY AND FIGHT FOR IT AND BE LOUD AND CLEAR.

May 3, 2025

On March 6, Trump issued an executive order attacking the law firm Perkins Coie, which has represented high-profile Democratic individuals and causes, by barring the federal government from hiring the firm, suspending the security clearances of individuals working for it, barring its lawyers from entering federal office buildings, and preparing to end government contracts with any of its clients.

Rather than back down, as several other firms did, Perkins Coie sued the next day. Today, Judge Beryl Howell permanently barred any enforcement of Trump’s executive order, saying it “violates the Constitution and is thus null and void.” In her opinion, Howell noted that “disposing of lawyers is a step in the direction of a totalitarian form of government.” Trump’s executive order violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of the right to free speech, the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process, and the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of right to counsel.

She pointed out that the fair and impartial administration of justice has been part of the U.S. since John Adams “made the singularly unpopular decision to represent eight British soldiers charged with murder for their roles in the Boston Massacre.” “I had no hesitation,” Adams wrote in his diary, because “the Bar ought…to be independent and impartial at all Times And in every Circumstance.”

-Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an Anerican: May 2, 2025

DO SOMETHING TO STOP THE GENOCIDE IN GAZA: JOIN THE JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE

May 1, 2025

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WE HAVE A PLAN TO END U.S. SUPPORT
FOR ISRAEL’S OPPRESSION OF PALESTINIANS.

JVP is the world’s largest Jewish organization standing in solidarity with Palestine.

We’re organizing a grassroots, multiracial, cross-class, intergenerational movement of U.S. Jews.

If you’ve been looking for a political home for Jews on the left in this perilous moment; if you’ve been wanting a Jewish community with justice at the center; if you’ve been looking to turn your anger and grief into meaningful, strategic action:
Join us. You belong here.

Take Action Online

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Tell UMich and Michigan AG Nessel: End blatant attacks on free speech.

April 29, 2025

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Write to TIME magazine: Stop whitewashing the ADL’s authoritarianism.

April 23, 2025

Gaza Strikes Mar 18 2025

Tweet at the Media: Do your jobs. Report that Israel is continuing its genocide.

March 18, 2025

UCLA encampment

Act now to protect student activists against deportation and attack.

January 30, 2025

CU Board of Regents: Stop weaponizing Jewish pain.

January 16, 2025

Tell University of Rochester: Drop charges now.

December 3, 2024

Tell the University of Florida: Stop censoring pro-Palestine speech.

November 11, 2024

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WORK WITH ACLU AND AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL TO STOP CRUELTY AND CRIME

April 30, 2025

Campus tool kit

https://www.aclu.org/publications/firewall-for-freedom-campus-resolution-toolkit

Donate to amnesty

https://donate.amnestyusa.org/page/154341/donate/1?locale=en-US

Take action for Mahmoud Khalil

https://act.amnestyusa.org/page/167733/action/1?locale=en-US

THE CANADIANS HAVE SOMETHING HERE – DO WE RE TRUMP’S ECONOMIC EMPIRE? VOTE DEMOCRATIC WITH YOUR WALLET

April 28, 2025

Thinking outloud here:

Must be possible to steer shoppers to anti-(un)Trumpian sources for goods and services? Of course, all trade is connected, but perfection is the enemy of the better and the best. Could also hook up with sources for goods and services that avoid Zionist(‘occupied’ territories)) friendly companies etc…

Lots of weeds here, e.g. ‘objectively’ identifying and isolating such products and services, but a ranking could be constructed: This good or service less contaminated by the Oilgarchs than that one….

.Everyone has their eyes and ears in the fookin screen – Give them something to look at that will steer their shopping habits away from authoritarian controlled wealth.

Relevant here :

MAGA-Friendly Website PublicSquare Backfires | HuffPost Latest News

If you want a handy guide to what MAGA-friendly businesses to avoid or boycott look no further than PublicSquare. It describes itself as the “anti-woke Amazon”, a place where consumers can “shop America’s woke-free e-commerce app & marketplace,” and is apparently committed to “consumers and businesses that value life, family, and liberty” meaning it is anti-DEI, pro-life, anti-environmental, and anti social and governance (ESG) values and practices. You will not be surprised to find out that DTJr is a major investor and on the BOD as are Kelly Loeffler (who just resigned as T**p’s Small Business Administration administrator) and Nick Ayers (former chief of staff to Mike Pence)

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TRUMP IS VIOLATING THE 14TH AMENDMENT TO OUR CONSTITUTION: IF YOU ARE BORN HERE, YOU ARE A CITIZEN OF THE UNITEN STATES.

April 27, 2025

The first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

In the short term, Americans recognized that the Fourteenth Amendment overturned the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, in which the Supreme Court ruled that people of African descent “are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word ‘citizens’ in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States.” The Fourteenth Amendment established that Black men were citizens.

But the question of whether the amendment really did recognize the citizenship of the U.S.-born children of immigrants quickly became an issue in the American West, where prejudice against Chinese immigrants ran hot. In 1882, during a period of racist hysteria, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act declaring that Chinese immigrants could not become citizens. But what about their children who were born in the United States?

Wong Kim Ark was born around 1873, the child of Chinese parents who were merchants in San Francisco. In 1889 he traveled with his parents when they repatriated to China, where he married. He then returned to the U.S., leaving his wife behind, and was readmitted. After another trip to China in 1894, though, customs officials denied him reentry to the U.S. in 1895, claiming he was a Chinese subject because his parents were Chinese.

Wong sued, and his lawsuit was the first to climb all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, thanks to the government’s recognition that with the U.S. in the middle of an immigration boom, the question of birthright citizenship must be addressed. In the 1898 U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark decision, the court held by a vote of 6–2 that Wong was a citizen because he was born in the United States.

That decision has stood ever since, as a majority of Americans have recognized the principle behind the citizenship clause as the one central to the United States: “that all men are created equal” and that a nation based on that idea draws strength from all of its people.

On the last day of his presidency, in his last speech, President Ronald Reagan recalled what someone had once written to him: “You can go to live in France, but you cannot become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Turkey or Japan, but you cannot become a German, a Turk, or a Japanese. But anyone, from any corner of the Earth, can come to live in America and become an American.”

He continued: “We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people—our strength—from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation. While other countries cling to the stale past, here in America we breathe life into dreams. We create the future, and the world follows us into tomorrow. Thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we’re a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to the next frontier. This quality is vital to our future as a nation. If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.”

Heather Cox Richardson: April 26, 2025

PALESTINE LEGAL IS NEEDED NOW MORE THAN EVER. SUPPORT THEM.

April 26, 2025

Legal Resources for Activists Advocating for Palestine Across the U.S.

WHILE ANTI-PALESTINIAN ATTACKS CONTINUE, PARTICULARLY AGAINST STUDENTS AND ACADEMICS, WE’VE GOT YOUR BACK.

This post is an updated version of our October 13, 2023 post.

If you need legal support, please contact us through our webform.

Palestine Legal has received an unprecedented surge in requests for legal support over the past year and a half, with an additional surge in requests since the start of this year. Activists and community members have been doxxed, investigated, censored, questioned, fired, jailed, and even assaulted simply because of their views, while government officials appear to be mobilizing law enforcement resources against them for their speech activities.

While we work to respond to these requests, here are resources to prepare for and resist backlash against your activism, including contact information for other organizations responding to this unprecedented backlash.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS FOR STUDENTS

Check out the National Lawyer’s Guild’s Know Your Rights for Campus Protests and this guide from NLG and PalLegal specifically for students mobilizing against the genocide in Gaza
Protect yourself from on-campus surveillance with this guide from the National Lawyers Guild and the Electronic Frontier Foundation
AFT, AAUP, ACLU and others have suggested protocols when encountering an immigration agent on or near college campuses and demands you can make of your administration to keep students safe

PROTECT YOURSELF FROM DOXING AND ONLINE SMEAR CAMPAIGNS

It is impossible to eliminate all risk of online harassment, but there are steps you can take to protect yourself and mitigate harms.

Here is some guidance for the present moment from National Students for Justice in Palestine:

See more on instagram.

Guides on online privacy and digital hygiene to prevent doxxing:

If you have already been doxxed, check out Digital Defense Guide for the Doxxed for steps you can take to mitigate the harm.

Because of recent efforts to pressure employers to fire Palestinians and others who speak out in solidarity with Palestine, be especially mindful of sharing employer information on social media sites, including LinkedIn.

Social media sites and hosting providers often prohibit online harassment in their terms of use, so if you find yourself or another person targeted by one of these sites, be sure to report the violation and encourage others to do so. Also report online hate speech, incitement, smear campaigns and more to 7amleh here. Know the risks of sharing information via social media and learn more about the FBI and the Monitoring of Social Media Activity.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS FOR NON-CITIZENS

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has launched a 24/7 legal hotline (844-ADC-9955 (844-232-9955)), which can be used by those seeking immigration legal support
From the American Immigration Lawyers Association: Know Your Rights if ICE visits your home and know What to Do if You Are Questioned, Arrested or Detained by Immigration and Other Law Enforcement
Another guide for ICE encounters from Muslims for Just Futures
Defending Against ICE Raids and Community Arrests, from the Immigrant Defense Project and the Center for Constitutional Rights
Protesting as a Non-Citizen, from CUNY CLEAR
Be prepared; you can use this Preparedness Packet resource from United We Dream to be sure you have a plan in place

TRAVEL

For citizens and non-citizens alike, there are special considerations right now for travel, especially international travel. We have also heard from travelers who have be subjected to unnecessary and invasive questioning when entering the country after travel, especially to the Middle East. For anyone entering or re-entering the United States be sure that you understand how to protect your electronic devices, what questions you do and do not have to answer, and what you might expect if selected for secondary screening.

CUNY CLEAR’s Know Your Rights for Travel
Wired’s guide for How to Enter the US With Your Digital Privacy Intact

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS WHEN DEALING WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT

Activists across the country are reporting increased police presence at protests and on university campuses due to racist fearmongering by pro-Israel groups and government officials. Aggressive attacks by Zionists against Palestine solidarity protestors have in several instances resulted in Palestinians or their allies being arrested or questioned by law enforcement. We urge community members NOT to talk to law enforcement without a lawyer present.

Center for Constitutional Rights’ If an Agent Knocks
National Lawyers Guild’s You Have the Right to Remain Silent: A Know Your Rights Guide for Law Enforcement Encounters
CUNY CLEAR’s What to Do in Interactions with Law Enforcement
Asian Law Caucus has a guide so you can Know What to Do if a Federal Agent Targets You or a Loved One
Our advisory from 2021 on law enforcement visits to Palestine activists

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS AT WORK

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has released guidance on employee rights in the workplace
If you are working together with colleagues to change the way your employer addresses the issue of Palestine in the workplace, you may have additional protections under federal law.
Psst.org has information and resources for whistleblowers

PROTEST & ORGANIZE SAFELY

National Lawyers Guild’s Know Your Rights for Protestors
Protest Planner, a resource for organizers from the Center for Constitutional Rights
Contact your local chapter of the National Lawyer’s Guild in advance of protests to request legal observers or to find out if they have a legal support hotline available during your protest. Links for Chicago, NYC, and Los Angeles.

AVOIDING ISSUES WHEN DONATING MONEY

CUNY CLEAR’s guide to Knowing Your Rights when it comes to charitable giving

Material support for terrorism laws and Office of Foreign Assets Control
(OFAC) sanctions

These laws are used to isolate people and groups, but this resource from Palestine Legal, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and CLEAR sheds light on trends and risks for activists and organizations. You can learn more about how terrorism laws have used against the Palestine solidarity movement by reading our report: Anti-Palestinian at the Core.

REPORTING BACKLASH AND ADDITIONAL LEGAL SUPPORT

In addition to requesting legal support from Palestine Legal, you can also reach out to:

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee to report incidents involving students (both K-12 and on college campuses)
Council on American-Islamic Relations to complain about civil rights violations
CUNY’s CLEAR Clinic for support and representation responding to law enforcement visits, travel issues, and charitable giving advice.

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TRUTH MATTERS. EMPATHY MATTERS. MORALITY MATTERS.

April 25, 2025

No Other Land, Oscar winning film for Best Documentary Feature is available for streaming over the next 3 weeks!

It depicts the realities on the ground, the cruelty, what friendships mean, and the patience of the Palestinian people.

I hope you take the time to watch it, and please share with others to watch!

https://supportmasaferyatta.com/

YOUR GOVERNMENT IS ENTERTAINING TERRORISTS AND ARRESTING AND DEPORTING STUDENTS PROTESTING ISRAEL’S GENOCIDE

April 24, 2025

The director of Israel’s internal intelligence agency, Shin Bet, has alleged that Benjamin Netanyahu fired him for refusing to pledge his loyalty to the prime minister over the courts and use the agency to spy on anti-government protesters.

The battle between Netanyahu and Ronen Bar, the head of Shin Bet, has pushed Israel to the brink of a constitutional crisis, after the supreme court blocked a decision by the cabinet to dismiss Bar from his post – the first Shin Bet head to be fired.

Bar had alleged that the decision to fire him was driven by Netanyahu’s “personal interests”. On Monday, Bar submitted an 31-page affidavit to the supreme court, which halted his firing last month. The affidavit detailed his version of the events that led to the breakdown of his relationship with Netanyahu and his dismissal. Some sections relating to national security were kept classified.

-Guardian

Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was set to address a meeting at Yale University, a day after being honored at a lavish dinner at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

Ben-Gvir, who has past convictions for supporting terrorism and was considered persona non grata under the Biden administration, attended a fundraising event at the Florida resort on Tuesday, where he told attendees about harsh new measures implemented against Palestinian prisoners…..Ben-Gvir was convicted in 2007 of racist incitement and support for groups on terrorism blacklists. For years, he prominently displayed a photo in his living room of Baruch Goldstein, who massacred 29 Muslim worshippers in Hebron in 1994.

In 2022, the Biden administration condemned Ben-Gvir’s visit to the memorial of violently racist and anti-Palestinian rabbi Meir Kahane, whom the national security minister was a follower of in his youth.

-Guardian

Legal permanent residents are being targeted too. Mohumoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate is currently detained and facing deportation because the Administration objected to his pro-Palestinian activism on campus. A current Columbia student Yunsco Chung, who has lived in the U.S. since she was seven, was also identified for deportation and had to sue the Administration to get a federal judge to temporarily block it. Last week, Mohen Mahadawi, a senior at the university and a student activist, was arrested by ICE when he showed up for his citizenship interview, he had held a green card for a decade.

-New Yorker

WHEN YOU COME TO THE FORK IN THE FUNDAMENTALIST ROAD, TAKE THE PATH THAT LEADS TO PEACE

April 23, 2025

You shall put all the males to the sword, but you take the women, the dependents, and the cattle for yourselves, and plunder everything else in the city.

(The Hebrew Bible: Deuteronomy: 20:13-15)

You shall not steal.

(The Hebrew Bible: Exodus. 20: 15)

And slay them wherever you come upon them, and expel them from where they expelled you; persecution is more grievous than slaying.

(Koran, The Cow, 185)

Be kind to parents, and the near kinsmen,

and to orphans, and to the needy,

and to the neighbor who is kin,

and to the neighbor who is a stranger,

and to the companion at your side,

and to the traveler, and to that your

right hands own.

(Koran, Women: 40)

‘If I die, I want a loud death’: ISRAEL MUST STOP: IT IS BECOMING ITS OWN WORST ENEMY

April 22, 2025

‘If I die, I want a loud death’: Gaza photojournalist killed by Israeli airstrike

Fatima Hassouna, who had been documenting war in Gaza for 18 months and was subject of new documentary, killed along with 10 members of her family.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF MAKING MONEY A MEANS AND NOT AN END IN ITSELF: NATURE IS FINITE, GREED IS INFINITE

April 21, 2025

In Middlemarch, George Elliot describes a certain kind of person who:

…hopeful of achievement, resolute in avoidance, thinking that Mammon shall never put a bit in their mouths and get astride their backs, but rather that Mammon, if it has anything to do with him, shall draw their chariot…..he was one of the rarer lads who early get a decided bent and make up their minds that there is something particular that they would like to do for its own sake, and not because their fathers did it. Most of us who turn to any subject of love remember some morning or evening hour when we got on a high stool to reach down an untried volume, or sat with parted lips listening to a new talker, or for very lack of books began to listen to the voices within as the first traceable beginning of our love…

-George Elliot: Middlemarch

Let’s there are enough of these sorts of folks to get us out of this mess.

HOW ABOUT STANDING UP TO TRUMP WITH A UNITED HIGHER EDUCATION FRONT AND FUND?

April 20, 2025

ADDENDUM FOR ADAM GABBATT’S REMARKS ON HARVARD AND DEBATE

,,,,,,,,,,Harvard taking a stand is one of the first signs of a fight back – even if it came after it was reported in March that the leaders of the university’s center for Middle Eastern studies were forced out, a move seen by critics as an attempt to appease Trump – and academics and others hope it could begin a resistance. It is likely to require a group effort to avoid the right wing’s goal for higher education in the US: universities that are in effect government-controlled, and where freedom of speech and thought is restricted.

“The right don’t want students to hear about the legacy to slavery. They don’t want them to hear about structural inequalities,” Shepherd said.

“They don’t want to hear why billionaires are bad. They don’t want to hear, from the sciences, about climate change. They want a nice, friendly experience where the most students ever get to debate is the differences in Aristotle and Plato.

“They don’t want the actual debates that we see unfolding on campuses today.”

Adam Gabbatt. :The Trump-Harvard showdown is the latest front in a long conservative war against academia

Totally agree but would add that where and when students read and debate the differences between Plato and Aristotle, they often learn a great deal about slavery, structural inequalities, democracy vs.totalitarianism, the importance of questioning authority and following the argument wherever it leads you.

.Would also add the suggestion that colleges and universities create a UNITED FRONT OF HIGHER LEARNINGin and a fund that can be used to support teaching and research the government is refusing to support. The AAUP could and I believe would be able to help with this effort.

INSURGENT ART: MAKE SOME POPCORN AND EDUCATE WITH ENTERTAINMENT

April 19, 2025

The 10 Best Anti-Fascist Films of All-Time, from ‘The Great Dictator ‘ to ‘The Zone of Interest’

In case you need to watch something to remind you there’s hope right now!

BY WILSON CHAPMAN

APRIL 16, 2025 7:00 PM

THE GREAT DICTATOR, right: Charlie Chaplin, 1940. One of the 10 best anti-fascist films of all time. — “The Great Dictator”

Courtesy Everett Collection

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Fascism: Arguably the most insidious and evil political ideology to have ever been created. Less a true belief than a cynical way to control and stifle opposition, fascism emerged in the early 20th century in Italy, with Benito Mussolini’s reign as dictator of the country from 1922 to 1945, and is most famously (at least in the United States) associated with Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler. But it’s a means of governance that can infect any country. At its core, fascism is a far-right authoritarian philosophy that puts the nation above the individual, and is characterized by an autocratic government, a dictatorial leader with unobstructed power, heavy militarism, severe economic regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition. It’s a terrifying force that at its core, believes in the dehumanization and oppression of human beings. Good thing we in the United States don’t have to worry about it!

Oh…wait a minute…

Suffice to say, as recent events have pushed fascism from something Americans study to something we’re actively living through, watching movies about the ideology might not be the type of escapist cinema that the masses are clamoring for. But anti-fascism has a long and rich history in filmmaking, with movies being made as attacks against the ideology as early as 1940, with Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece “The Great Dictator.”

That’s not to say that movies that support fascism don’t (unfortunately) exist: infamously, Leni Riefenstahl‘s 1935 film “Triumph of the Will” is both one of the greatest and most important movies ever made from a sheer technical level — it’s and also shameless Nazi propaganda. But fascism, as an ideology, is anti-individualistic, anti-intellectual, and anti-art. So it’s unsurprising that over the decades, artists have used cinema as a vehicle to expose and explore the evils of fascist regimes, from Nazi Germany to Fascist Italy to completely fictional worlds (what is “Star Wars” if not the story of the fight against space fascists?)

As America lurches forth into an uncertain future, we can’t promise that watching these 10 films will somehow save the country from itself. However, at its core anti-fascist filmmaking can serve as a reminder and a warning against the evils of authoritarian governance, and a hopeful reminder that these governments can be stopped. Read on for the 10 best anti-fascist films of all time, listed in chronological order.

With editorial contributions from Christian Blauvelt.

THE GREAT DICTATOR, Reginald Gardiner, Charles Chaplin, 1940

Photo : Courtesy Everett Collection

“The Great Dictator” (1940)

Made at a time when the United States was still at peace with Nazi Germany and the country hadn’t yet woken up to the horrors of fascism, “The Great Dictator” was a bold work from arguably the then-most famous filmmaker in the world, a satire that argued passionately against the antisemitism and totalitarianism on the rise in Europe at the time. Charles Chaplin directed and starred in a dual role, playing obvious Hitler stand-in “Adenoid Hynkel,” the dictator of the European country of Tomainia, as well as a Jewish barber and war veteran who rises up to fight against the poisonous corruption of his country. The film was Chaplin’s first true sound picture, and he put the jump in mediums to good use with a riveting, emotional final speech in which he drops the comedy to deliver a beautiful, impassioned plea for democracy and liberty. Although it was the most successful film he ever made, Chaplin himself came to regret “The Great Dictator” somewhat, writing in his autobiography that he would never have made it had the extent of the brutality Jewish people endured in concentration camps been public knowledge at the time. But if you forgive its lack of foresight, the film remains a funny, smart takedown of fascism to this day.

THE MAN I MARRIED, from left, Francis Lederer, Anna Sten, Joan Bennett, 1940. TM & Copyright ©20th Century Fox-Film Corp. All rights reserved/courtesy Everett Collection

Photo : ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection

“The Man I Married” (1940)

There’s a moment when you know all-American working mom Joan Bennett is going to have to end things with her husband, who’s become besotted with Nazism, once and for all: When he’s so indoctrinated their young son, the boy replies, “Ja, Vater!” That’s it. Take the child away. Hire the divorce lawyer. It’s over.

“The Man I Married” is an anti-fascist film as a “woman’s picture” domestic drama, and that proves a particularly potent genre to convey its message. Bennett’s character seems to have it all, but her husband (Francis Lederer) goes down the rabbit hole of Nazism and even moves the family to Hitler’s Germany. Which is why this very pro-divorce movie (rare for the studio era!) has a few more twists and turns after that “Ja, Vater!” shocker.

Bennett is basically presented as the average American in 1941: Not especially plugged in about what Nazism really means or the threat that it represents. Her dawning awareness of the danger it poses is that of the entire U.S. waking up and realizing just how dangerous it is. And that it needs to be stood up to, no matter how each freedom-loving person is able to resist in their own way — even if against their spouse. That it has the vibe of a 1940s Lifetime movie, and features one helluva twist ending, makes it all that much sweeter. —CB

MAN HUNT, from left: Walter Pidgeon, Roddy McDowall, 1941. TM and copyright ©20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved/courtesy Everett Collection

Photo : ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection

“Man Hunt” (1941)

Big game hunter Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon) conducts a “sporting stalk.” That’s where a hunter gets their intended prey in their rifle’s sights and doesn’t actually shoot — the fact that you could kill your target is triumph enough. But Thorndike is targeting the most dangerous prey of all: Adolf Hitler. Of course, the Nazis see him and think that this is a real assassination attempt — and maybe at the last moment, for Thorndike, it was. After the Nazis catch and torture him, he escapes Germany via a merchant ship bound for London. But he finds no safety there.

A potent critique of appeasement-era Britain, Fritz Lang’s “Man Hunt” becomes a cat-and-mouse chase. The British government, still at peace with Germany, offers to extradite Thorndike, so he goes on the run — only to have Nazi George Sanders hot on his trail. The Sanders character is named Major Quive-Smith, and he may be a Brit who’s joined the Third Reich as simply a fanatic devoted to their toxic ideology. His pursuit becomes a kind of metaphor for the relentlessness of Fascism, and the people who Thorndike gets help from are the motley assortment of society’s most vulnerable who obviously would be targets of the Nazis as well (a poor ship’s cabin boy played by Roddy McDowall and Joan Bennett as a sex worker).

Joseph Breen of the Hays Office, diligently working to expunge material from Hollywood movies that might offend Germany in the late 1930s, called the script for “Man Hunt” a “hate film.” Lang, who fled the Nazis himself in 1933, gives the movie a particular action-film urgency that makes it eminently watchable more than 80 years on. —CB

Photo : Courtesy Everett Collection

“Nazi Agent” (1942)

Conrad Veidt all but put German cinema on the map with his performance in 1919’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.” And yet he too had to flee Germany following the Nazi takeover because his wife was Jewish. When he arrived in Hollywood after several years in Britain, he insisted that it be written in his contract that if he played Nazis they would only be presented as the vilest villains. He had no interest in any idea of “the Good German.”

So you get his performance as Major Strasser in “Casablanca,” and his turn as a Nazi so fanatical he gets himself blown up alongside his dachshund in “All Through the Night.” But his most intriguing anti-Nazi role may be Dassin’s “Nazi Agent,” a kind of riff on “A Tale of Two Cities,” where Veidt plays identical twin brothers: One who’s living in the U.S. as an émigré from the regime and hates fascism, the other as a high-ranking Nazi official in the Reich. When the Nazi brother is in the U.S. on a diplomatic mission, he crosses paths with his sibling, and the anti-fascist kills his twin. He realizes what an opportunity he has: He can assume his brother’s identity and work to subvert the Reich as an official within it. What happens from there is too exciting to spoil. “Nazi Agent” is a prime example of how a pulpy premise could illustrate a deeply felt notion about what it means to stand up to tyranny. —CB

Photo : Everett Collection / Everett Collection

“The Spirit of the Beehive” (1973)

One of the great masterpieces of Spanish cinema, “The Spirit of the Beehive” is a film that couches its criticism of the-then still in power Francisco Franco dictatorship through an enigmatic tale of childhood imagination and tragedy. Set in 1940, in the immediate aftermath of the Spanish Civil War that brought Franco to power, Victor Erice’s film follows Ana (Ana Torrent), a six-year-old girl in an isolated Spanish village whose fascination with James Whale’s “Frankenstein” leads her to help a wounded Republican soldier hiding from the Franco regime. Although the political subtext might fly over modern American viewers’ heads on first watch, “The Spirit of the Beehive” is filled with symbolism reflecting the charred state of Spain in the wake of the civil war, as Franco’s grip on the country strengthened and all but the most innocent of children were suffocated by the inhumane reign.

Photo : ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection

“Star Wars” (1977)

Nearly 50 years of franchising and merchandising have made the political subtext (although it’s probably too blatant to qualify as “subtext”) of “Star Wars” feel slightly hollow: You can step out of your home during Halloween and probably see a kid or two dressed up as a Stormtrooper or Darth Vadar. But, go back and watch George Lucas’ original 1977 sci-fi phenomenon and you’ll remember that, oh yeah, these are Space Nazis. The inspiration for the encroaching empire that seeks to rule the galaxy is never particularly hard to spot, from the identical masks that the grunts wear to the “Imperial March” that soundtracks the faceless lead villain. Recent “Star Wars” films have drained the franchise’s anti-fascism of much bite, but the kernel of its politics remains present in most iterations, and has even been explored with genuine depth and relevance quite persuasively in the series “Andor.”

Photo : ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection

“Brazil” (1985)

Science fiction has always been a tool to tackle social issues, so it makes sense that there have been plenty of fascist analogues throughout literature and film history. The most famous is obviously George Orwell’s “1984,” but the best film version of that dystopian nightmare isn’t technically an adaptation so much as it is heavily inspired by the novel’s banal bureaucratic hellscape. Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil” stars Jonathan Pryce as a low-level bureaucrat living in a surveillance state totalitarian city, one that runs on poorly maintained technology, and resistance is suppressed by intense torture. Although darkly funny in its satire, “Brazil” captures the horror of Orwell’s vision of Oceania, especially in its sobering and hopeless ending, which offers no release from the nightmare.

Photo : International Film Exchange/courtesy Everett Collection

“Come and See” (1985)

There are so many films about the brutality and atrocities that the Nazi German government committed — “Schindler’s List,” “Army of Shadows,” “The Pianist” — but if there’s one that’s most effective and upsetting, it’s “Come and See,” Elem Klimov’s 1985 masterpiece about the German occupation of Byelorussia during World War II, that hits the hardest. Based heavily on real first-hand accounts from those who lived in Belarus at the time, the movie shows the occupation from the perspective of a teen boy (Aleksei Kravchenko), who joins the resistance against the occupation to save himself and finds his spirit broken by the cruelty of the invading government. At 2 hours and 20 minutes, “Come and See” can veer on the unwatchable — not because of lack of quality, but because the horror inflicted is so unflichingly depicted that you feel all of the pain onscreen. It’s a masterpiece, pure and simple, even if it’s so difficult you can’t be blamed for just watching it once.

Photo : Studio Ghibli

“Porco Rosso” (1992)

“I’d rather be a pig than a fascist” is the great, screencappable moment in “Porco Rosso,” in which Hayao Miyazaki’s metaphor for the dehumanizing nature of totalitarianism is most obvious. The animated adventure film has politics far more radical and bone-deep than just one memorable line, though. A stirringly fun bit of entertainment that showcases Miyazaki’s well-documented love for aircraft, “Porco Rosso” sets itself in 1930s Italy, where a former World War I flying ace — mysteriously transformed into a pig — has defected from the fascist government and rules the skies fighting sky pirates. The nature behind Porco’s curse isn’t clear, but Miyazaki makes it clear that what the brave pilot needs isn’t to return home and submit to authority but to free himself from his own survivor guilt. In many ways, “Porco Rosso” is a film about freedom, which is the exact opposite of what fascism offers.

Photo : Courtesy Everett Collection

“The Zone of Interest” (2023)

One of the most difficult to watch films in recent memory, “The Zone of Interest” can be summed up as a movie about the “banality of evil.” In truth, though, Jonathan Glazer’s arthouse portrait of the serene life of a Nazi war criminal’s family can more accurately be described as a film about the banality, and inhumanity, of fascism, how the ideology numbs those who benefit from it to the oppression and horror it causes. Glazer’s camera, fixed at a remove, surveys Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller as Auschwitz concentration camp officer Rudolf Hoss and his wife Hedwig in their serene household routine. As they tend the garden and fish in the river nearby, screaming and gunshots are always audible, but neither has much interest in acknowledging the bloodshed they’re causing the next door over. The immersive sound design Glazer uses is key, creating a cacophony of noise so at odds with the idyllic manor house that it creates an almost physical sense of repulsion. What really makes “The Zone of Interest” so vital is that the horrors it warns against still exist all over the world in other forms: humanity’s capacity to desensitize itself to suffering, and the dignity of people who are suffering, is boundless.

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WORDS OF WISDOM BY THE CREATOR OF CITY LIGHTS BOOKSTORE AND THE SPIRIT OF NORTH BEACH

April 18, 2025

…poetry is a subversive raid upon the forgotten language of the collective unconscious.

The poet pickpocket of reality.

Poetry is the shadow of a plane fleeing over the ground like a cross escaping a church.

The war against the imagination is not the only war. Using the 9/11 Twin Towers disaster as an excuse, America has initiated the Third World War, which is the War against the Third World.

When poets are treated like dogs, they howl.

The poet by definition is the bearer of Eros and love and freedom and thus the natural-born non-violent enemy of the state.

The poet a subversive barbarian at the city gates, non-violently challenging the toxic status quo.

Poetry is the last lighthouse in the rising sea.

-Ferlinghetti: Poetry as Insurgent Art

NEIL YOUNG VS. DONALD TRUMP: INSURGENT ART VS. FASCISM

April 17, 2025

“When I go to play music in Europe, if I talk about Donald J Trump, I may be one of those returning to America who is barred or put in jail to sleep on a cement floor with an aluminium blanket……That is happening all the time now. Countries have new advice for those returning to America…..If I come back from Europe and am barred, can’t play my USA tour, all of the folks who bought tickets will not be able to come to a concert by me…..That’s right folks. If you say anything bad about Trump or his administration, you may be barred from re-entering USA if you are Canadian. If you are a dual citizen like me, who knows? We’ll all find that out together.

-Neil Young

In his recipe for an ideal totalitarian state, Plato remarks:

-For a change to a new type of music is something to beware of as a hazard of all our fortunes. For the modes of music are never disturbed without unsettling of the most fundamental political and social conventions….

-It is here then, I said, in music, as it seems, that our guardians must build their guardhouses and keep watch.

Plato: The Republic

Recommended Reading: Poetry as Insurgent Art by Laurence Ferlinghetti

STOP TRUMP FROM STOPPING TO STOP GUN VIOLENCE: SUPPORT Giffords.org

April 15, 2025

If this irresponsible, outside business power is to be controlled in the interest of the general public, it can only be controlled in one way – by giving adequate power of control to the one sovereignty capable of exercising such power – the National Government.

Theodore Roosevelt to Congress in December, 1908

**************

The gun lobby loves Donald Trump.

In each of his elections, they’ve done everything they could to support him – from endorsements to donations to mobilizing their base to turn out the vote.

Now Trump is paying back the favor.

FIRST: Shortly after being inaugurated, Trump shut down the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, removed the government advisory declaring gun violence a public health crisis in America, and took any mention of it off the White House’s website.

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THEN: Health Secretary RFK Jr. announced the CDC would be laying off thousands of workers — which included massive cuts to the department leading the research on preventing gun violence.

NOW: The ATF is announcing that they are repealing its “zero tolerance” policy — meaning gun dealers who willingly sold firearms to convicted felons or failed to run basic background checks can keep selling guns.

And we’re not even three months in. Every week, the Trump administration is working to undo every achievement we’ve made to make our communities safer from gun violence.

It’s clear the Trump administration is doing the bidding of the gun lobby and the CEOs who profit from the epidemic of gun violence in our communities. We cannot let this continue.

GIFFORDS is building a movement of Americans committed to gun safety, and we’re ready to stand up against every attack from the Trump administration. Rush a contribution before tonight’s fundraising deadline to power our work:

If you’ve stored your info with ActBlue, we’ll process your contribution instantly:

DONATE $13

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Thank you,

The team at GIFFORDS

THE LYNX EYE OF CAPITALISM: PROGRESS!!??

April 13, 2025

All of you economists, historians and psycologists compare Trump’s ‘Advising’ psycophants with the following and consider what might occur should serious shit hit the fan:

For the record:

The following are the members of the inner circle of Kennedy advisors during the Cuban missile crisis:

Lyndon Johnson: representative of Texas oil interests

Dean Rusk: former president of the Rockefeller Foundation

Robert McNamara: former president of Ford Motors

Robert F. Kennedy: multi-millionaire from Boston

Douglass Dillion: a former president of Dillion Reed

Rosewell Gilpatrick: a corporation lawyer from New York

John McCone: a multimillionaire industrialist

Dean Acheson: a corporation lawyer and former Secretary of State

Robert Lovett: an investment banker with Brown Brothers, Harriman

General Maxwell Taylor, former chairman of Mexican Light and Power

George Ball: a Washington corporation lawyer, soon to join Lehman Brothers

—Felix Greene: The Enemy

Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.

–Uncle Karl

A Middle Way? READ ARISTOTLE’S POLITICS AND FEEL THE BERN!

THANKS H. BRUCE FRANKLIN FOR INTRODUCING ME TO MELVILLE. EVERYTHING HE HAS WRITTEN IS WORTH READING.

April 11, 2025

The Anglo-Saxon – lacking grace

To win the love of any race;

Hated by myriads dispossessed

Of rights – the Indians East and West.

These pirates of the sphere! grave looters –

Grave, canting, Mammonite freebooters,

Who in the name of Christ and Trade

(Oh, bucklered forehead of the brass!)

Deflower the world’s last sylvan glade!

-Melville

THIS MAN IS YOUR PRESIDENT. IGNORANCE AND GREED ARE IN CONTROL. WHAT TO DO?

April 9, 2025

Half those who voted, voted for a narcissistic bully. I believe the vast majority of them are beyond help and cure. Although there is dissent brewing within the cabal of Trump’s advisors because there is no honor amoung thieves, don’t count on sanity emerging.

I repeat, forget them and focus on those who did not vote. Focus on Congress and the districts Trump barely won. Go door to door and support Bernie Sanders.

At the National Republican Congressional Committee, Trump is reported to have said:

“These countries are calling us up. Kissing my ass,”……They are dying to make a deal. “Please, please, sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything. I’ll do anything, sir. And then I’ll see some rebel Republican, you know, some guy that wants to grandstand, saying: ‘I think that Congress should take over negotiations.’ Let me tell you: you don’t negotiate like I negotiate……I really think we’re helped a lot by the tariff situation that’s going on, which is a good situation, not a bad. It’s great. It’s going to be legendary, you watch. Legendary in a positive way, I have to say. It’s gonna be legendary.”

Source: Heather Cox Richardson, April 8, 2025

BIDEN ABIDED BIBI’S WAR CRIMES, TRUMP COULD END THEM. TELL HIM SO.

April 8, 2025

Forget parsing the meanings of “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide”. An eye for an eye may be moral for some, but 60 eyes for two should be wrong for everyone.

Don’t you hear them?

Children’s screams rising from the flames

carried by winds out to sea

where they drift down and are carried by waves

to wash up as whispers upon our shores?

“Stop the bombs, please end this war”

Can you not hear? Can you not hear?

From tragedy comes compassion and anger

and from them hopefully knowledge that

revenge may be revenge for another’s revenge for your revenge…. and

death by any bomb – personal or state approved –

is death of a son or daughter

O.K. Our enemies must be brought to justice

But we must bring ourselves into a world

in which we are not alone and above the rest.

ALL YOU SANITY SEEKERS OUT THERE: FOLLOW THIS LEADER WITH YOUR TIME, ENERGY, MONEY AND GOOD TROUBLE

April 7, 2025

THIS IS AMERICA. NOT RUSSIA OR CHINA: FREE MAHMOUD KHALIL

April 3, 2025

Whoever said it, it is coming true: “When racism comes to American it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”

Shame on those who supported Trump. Redeem yourselves. Wake up and work to stop the infuckingsane madness before the trap snaps completely shut on all of us.

And that goes for the rest of US.

SOME DOWNHOME WISDOM FROM JIM HIGHTOWER: TURN OFF THE LIGHTS YOU DON’T NEED

April 3, 2025

Dying Granpa was surrounded by his family. He asked “Where is Betty?” “I’m right here Grandpa”……Where is John?” “Right here Pa”…. Where is my wife?….. “Dear, I’m right here.” Etc. Etc..for the whole fam damly.of 16….but I shall spare you…..”Everyone is here Dad…….”Then why is the light on in the living room?”

Photo courtesy H. Raab on Flickr

Let us embrace the darkness.

Not the political dark ages being pushed on us by today’s regressive right-wing forces, but nature’s own pure darkness of night. Unfortunately, we Homo Sapiens have largely blacked out nature’s billions of beacons in the night sky, which have both dazzled and guided Earth’s creatures for eons.

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Ironically, the tool used to wash out natural light… is light! In all cities and most towns, the glare of artificial lighting has pulled an impervious curtain across our sky. Especially garish (and entirely useless) is the lighting of corporate skyscrapers throughout the night with blinding spotlights that keep us from seeing the genuinely majestic view beyond.

I was lucky as a child to spend summer evenings on my Aunt Eula’s farm, entranced as darkness fell and the celestial show began. But today, most children don’t even know it’s there. Indeed, 80 percent of Americans never see the stream of the Milky Way galaxy that is our home – much less seeing the spectacular cosmic beams shining from trillions of miles beyond.

This doesn’t mean we should just stumble around in the dark. Of course we need light, but try a little common sense. One, stop spotlighting buildings. Two, don’t point outdoor lighting up at the sky– shine it down on our streets, parking lots, stadiums, and porches where the illumination is actually needed. Three, remember that there’s an off switch. And even small steps can make a big difference. After all, all we’re giving up is bad lighting.

This is Jim Hightower saying… We can have the light we need and still let nature’s sky be the star. The good news is that towns, cities, and even countries have begun adopting such sensible lighting policies. To help do this where you live, go to DarkSky International: darksky.org.

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History rhymes: Galileo all over again but now Superstition and Ignorance are joined by the worship of Mammon

March 30, 2025

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Sara Brenner, MD, MPH
Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs U.S. Food and Drug Administration 10903 New Hampshire Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20903

Dear Dr. Brenner:

Peter Marks, MD, PhD
Director, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research U.S. Food and Drug Administration 10903NewHampshireAvenue

Silver Spring, MD 20903 March 28, 2025

It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to resign from FDA and retire from federal service as Director ofthe Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research effective April 5, 2025. I leave behind a staff of professionals who are undoubtedly the most devoted to protecting and promoting the public health of any group of people that I have encountered during my four decades working in the public and private sectors. I have always done my best to advocate for their well-being and I would ask that you do the same during this very difficult time during which their critical importance to the safety and security of our nation may be underappreciated.

Over the past years I have been involved in enhancing the safety of our nation’s blood supply, in advancing the field of cell and gene therapy, and in responding to public health emergencies. In the last of these, during the COVID-19 pandemic I had the privilege of watching the vision that I conceived for OperationWarpSpeedinMarch2020incollaborationwithDr.RobertKadlecbecomearealityunder the leadership of HHS Secretary Azar and President Trump due to the unwavering commitment of public servants at FDA and elsewhere across the government. At FDA, the tireless efforts of staff acrossthe agency resulted in remarkably expediting the development of vaccines against the virus , meeting the standards for quality, safety, and effectiveness expected by the American public. The vaccines undoubtedly markedly reduced morbidity and mortality from COVID- 19 in the United States and elsewhere. Many of these same individuals applied learnings from the pandemic during a flawless response helping to facilitate the rapid control of the mpox epidemic in the United States during 2022. Individuals who participated in these responses remain at the ready to address the infectious threatsthat undoubtedly will confront us in the coming years, including H5N1, which is now on our threshold.

Efforts currently being advanced by some on the adverse health effects of vaccination are concerning. The history of the potential individual and societal benefits of vaccination is as old as our great nation. George Washington considered protecting his troops in Cambridge, Massachusetts against smallpox early in the revolutionary war so that they would not be susceptible to infection by British troops infiltrating the ranks, and later in the war in February 1777 while encamped in Morristown, NJ, he went on to have the courage and foresight to sign an order requiring inoculation of his troops against smallpox . Subsequently, refinement of the smallpox vaccine combined with a widespread vaccination campaign resulted in the eradication of smallpox from the globe. The application of the remarkable scientific advances of Drs. Salk and Sabin’s vaccines led to the elimination of polio in the United States. And these are just effects of two of the vaccines that have been associated with saving millions of lives.

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The ongoing multistate measles outbreak that is particularly severe in Texas reminds us of what happens when confidence in well-established science underlying public health and well-being is undermined. Measles, which killed more than 100,000 unvaccinated children last year in Africa and Asia owing to pneumonitis and encephalitis caused by the virus, had been eliminated from our shores. The two-dose measles, mumps, rubella vaccine regimen ( MMR) using over the past decades has a remarkably favorable benefit-risk profile . The MMR vaccine is 97% or more effective in preventing measles following the two-dose series, and its safety has been remarkably well studied. Though rarely followed by a single fever-related seizure, or very rarely by allergic reactions or blood clotting disorders, the vaccine very simply does not cause autism, nor is it associated with encephalitis or death . It does , however, protect against a potential devasting consequence of prior measles infection, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), which is an untreatable, relentlessly progressive neurologic disorder leading to death in about 1 in 10,000 individuals infected with measles . Undermining confidence in well-established vaccines that have met the high standards for quality, safety, and effectiveness that have been in place for decades at FDA is irresponsible, detrimental to public health , and a clear danger to our nation’s health, safety. and security.

In the years following the pandemic, at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research we have applied the same unwavering commitment to public health priorities to the development of cell and gene therapies to address both hereditary and acquired rare diseases . During my tenure as Center Director we have approved 22 gene therapies, including the first gene therapy ever to be approved in the United States . However, we know that we must do better to expedite the development of treatments for those individual suffering from any one of the thousands of diseases potentially addressable by the advances in molecular medicine over the past decades. Drawing from learnings of the pandemic, the staff at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research are implementing best practices learned during the pandemic such as increased communication with product developers to further expedite bringing needed treatments to those in need . They have also been exploring the dramatic transformation of our regulatory approach to expedite the delivery of directly administered genome editing products . If thoughtfully approached and further developed and refined, these treatments have the potential to transform human health over the coming years.

Over the past 13 years I have done my best to ensure that we efficiently and effectively applied the best available science to benefit public health . As you are aware, I was willing to work to address the Secretary’s concerns regarding vaccine safety and transparency by hearing from the public and implementing a variety of different public meetings and engagements with the National Academy ofSciences, Engineering, and Medicine . However, it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.

Myhope isthatduring the coming years, the unprecedented assault on scientifictruth that has adversely impacted public health in our nation comes to an end so that the citizens of our country can fully benefit from the breadth of advances in medical science. Though I will regret not being able to be part of future work at the FDA, I am truly grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such a remarkable group of individuals as the staff at FDA and will do my best to continue to advance public health in the future.

Sincerely,

Pet Marks Peter Marks, MD, PhD

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FOR ALL YOU WHO INHABIT THE BOSOM OF ABRAHAM AND VOTE

March 29, 2025

For thou art not a God who welcomes wickedness;

evil can be no guest of thine.

There is no place for arrogance before thee;

thou hatest evildoers,

thou makest an end of all liars

The Lord detests traitors and men of blood. (Psalms: 5: 1-7)

(EDITOR’S NOTE: ALAS, THERE IS NO GOD. IT IS FOR US TO DO WHAT SHE WOULD DO)

I REPEAT: FIRST THEY CAPTURED THE THINK TANKS, (THINK PROJECT 2025) NOW THEY ARE AIMING AT OUR THINKING

March 29, 2025

Education: Project 2025 Comes True

In February 2023, Alabama Rep. Barry Moore introduced H.R. 938, a bill “To abolish the Department of Education and to provide funding directly to States for elementary and secondary education, and for other purposes.” Sixty Republicans joined Democrats in putting a stop to it. It wasn’t a one-off. Congressional Republicans have continued to offer similar bills, but without success. Hence Trump’s decision to attempt to kill off the department with a questionable executive order.

This is actually the second incarnation of the Department of Education, signed into law when Jimmy Carter was president. Adam Laats, a history professor at Binghamton University, explained to history.com, “You can’t overestimate how inflammatory it was for former Confederate leaders to have a federal Department of Education because they equated ‘federal’ with Reconstruction.” God forbid we should educate people. Especially BIPOC and other marginalized groups. They might learn to think for themselves instead of believing what people in power tell them.

That’s where we find ourselves tonight.

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” ― George Orwell

The department’s website, which as of tonight is still online, clarifies the mission:

The U.S. Department of Education is the agency of the federal government that establishes policy for, administers and coordinates most federal assistance to education. It assists the president in executing his education policies for the nation and in implementing laws enacted by Congress. The Department’s mission is to serve America’s students-to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.

That’s what we are losing.

The states will take over education. Some will do a good job. Others not so much. And in some places, education will be privatized, with all the issues that implies. One thing that’s for certain, equal access to education will be a thing of the past, much of the progress of the last six decades wiped out.

In July of 2024, before it was clear that Kamala Harris would become the Democratic nominee, it was already clear that despite his denials, Trump was up to his eyeballs in Project 2025. I wrote about what that means.

Today, it has all come true. It’s devastating. And it was predictable. Here’s an excerpt from that piece:

Public education is important. Well-educated citizens are more employable and prepared to compete in the 21st Century economy. Education reduces crime. It improves public health and health equity. Education produces a more informed population, people able to think for themselves and their communities. As the saying goes, if you’re burning books because they contain some ideas you don’t like, you’re not afraid of books or courses—you’re afraid of ideas. That perfectly encapsulates the Project 2025 approach to education.

The most important takeaway from the education chapter of Project 2025 is that the plan is to shut down the U.S. Department of Education. Donald Trump has been saying at recent rallies that it should be disbanded to “move everything back to the states where it belongs.”

While Trump lacks the ability to formally close the Department of Education, he can shrink it to the point of irrelevance and ask Congress to deliver the coup de grace. The 44 pages in the Education Chapter of Project 2025 contain precisely that suggestion. Dismantle the department into a hollow shell that does nothing more than gather statistics.

My conclusion tonight is the same as it was when I first wrote about Project 2025 and Trump’s plan for public education:

Trump and the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 authors are afraid of an open marketplace of ideas where kids learn to think for themselves. Kids can learn about—and learn from—the history of slavery in this country. The idea that it must be suppressed because it might make white kids feel bad is ridiculous. The more we know of our history, events like the internment of Japanese Americans in camps during World War II, or the treatment of Irish, Italian, Jewish, and other immigrants as they came to country, the better we can become. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. That seems to be the plan here.

In the past, Congress has hesitated to choke off the Department of Education precisely because the public understands the good work it does on behalf of America’s children. My mom taught preschoolers from low income, predominately single-parent homes, in a school created by President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society program. Great Society Programs were created to eradicate poverty and racial injustice with social welfare initiatives, including pre-k education. Her kids used to come back and visit her after they graduated from high school and college, and for my mom, their success was her greatest reward. Programs like hers and so many others mean more kids have access to education and the opportunity to succeed. That’s what Donald Trump is trying to kill off. Better lives, for real people.

This is a good moment to make sure your elected representatives understand your views. And thanks for being here at Civil Discourse. Your support and paid subscriptions make the newsletter possible.

We’re in this together,

Joyce

MUSK AND HIS SUPPORTING MOGELS ARE NOT THE MAIN PROBLEM: THE RICH HAVE ALWAYS BEEN WITH US/ AUTHORITARIAN ASSHOLES AND KINGS HAVE NOT AND NEED NOT BE WITH US

March 25, 2025

Elon Musk Is Not the Problem

Image by Mariia Shalabaieva..

As the world’s top billionaire rummages through the inner workings of its mightiest state, the influence of America’s oligarchs is hard to miss these days. Never before in modern U.S. history has a private citizen wielded as much political clout as Elon Musk.

It is exactly what President Joseph R. Biden warned about in his farewell address, when he proclaimed that “an oligarchy is taking shape in America.”

As if to prove the point, Musk proceeded to launch an unprecedented—and shockingly corrupt—bid to infiltrate the federal government. In short order, he dispatched a bevy of post-pubescent fanboys, newly emerged from their parents’ basements, into the government’s most sensitive computer systems, doing god-knows-what with their access.

The moves have prompted considerable alarm among the commentariat. “Elon Musk is President,” ran a headline in The Atlantic. “The top 1% are no longer just influencing policy from behind the scenes,” Ali Velshi of MSNBC declared, “they are seizing control of the levers of power.” A recent TIME cover depicts Musk sitting behind Trump’s desk in the Oval Office.

According to the emerging consensus, Trump is president in name only, little more than a puppet in the hands of the reactionary tech entrepreneur.

The reality is far different. Musk and his fellow plutocrats are not omnipotent. They are exceptionally vulnerable, in fact.

Having spent the past two decades studying oligarchs in Eastern Europe, I can affirm that we are witnessing something momentous. Only it is not oligarchization; it is authoritarianism.

As political scientist Jeffrey Winters explains, oligarchy can exist under any political regime, whether democratic or authoritarian. The U.S., for its part, is already an oligarchy and has been for more than a century. America’s richest moguls have long defended their vastly disproportionate wealth by exerting undue influence over tax policy and economic regulation. Nothing about that will change with Trump in office.

A New Order

But this hardly means business as usual—either for the oligarchs or the rest of us. The coming move toward authoritarianism will affect everyone, including the super-rich. Yet, far from enjoying a new heyday, they might not like what the emerging regime has in store.

Trump has already gone a long way toward dismantling the checks on his power. The only question is how far he will be able to go. The Putin model of full authoritarianism is almost certainly not attainable. Trump’s megalomaniacal fantasies will stumble upon myriad constraints, including federalism, a vibrant civil society, and his own incompetence, that will block him from forcing all opposition activity underground.

More likely is what political scientists Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way refer to as “competitive authoritarianism.” Under this arrangement, civil liberties are curbed while the electoral process is rigged to the advantage of incumbents. But the opposition can still take part in elections and threaten the ruling party’s hold on power.

Trump’s first imperative in this regard is the same one faced by any aspiring autocrat: to “capture the referees,” as Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt put it. This involves placing loyalists in charge of the key state agencies empowered to launch investigations and sanction rule violators. Trump has wasted little time getting to work on this task, appointing MAGA diehards to the Department of Justice, the Treasury, and other agencies. Unfortunately, when it comes to seizing the reins of federal power, there is little that stands in his way.

Once his lickspittles have taken charge, Trump can unleash the full force of the U.S. government against anyone he wants. As a result, actions that were once unfathomable will become very real. Few abuses of executive power will be off limits, from deploying the military against protesters to deporting masses of people without due process. Equally plausible are lawless and arbitrary investigations of his opponents. Among the likely targets are local officials who refuse to “find the votes,” district attorneys who decline to criminalize homelessness, business owners guilty of hiring Black people, and, of course, wealthy plutocrats who draw his ire.

Law, That Curious Relic

America’s oligarchs built their wealth at a time when constitutional rights and legal protections were taken for granted. Their property rights were protected by a system of courts whose decisions everyone, from ordinary citizens to the most powerful officeholders, regarded as sacrosanct.

This edifice was remarkably fragile, however, dependent on norms whose power derived from the collective expectation that they would be followed. If government officials refrained from violating property rights, it was because they presumed the courts would enforce them in rulings everybody expected everyone else to respect.

But if the president decides to ignore these norms, the law loses the very basis of its authority. In the event that Trump defies a Supreme Court ruling, who will force him to comply? His Justice Department sycophants?

The implications for the oligarchs cannot be overstated. Those who remain in Trump’s good graces stand to profit immensely. But those who cross him can lose everything.

The days when their tax burdens were their overriding concern will soon appear quaint. Instead, the oligarchs will be preoccupied with threats to their ownership rights and even the specter of unlawful detention. Scenarios once confined to developing countries, such as targeted intimidation by federal agencies, prosecutions on false charges, and other forms of administrative harassment, will become facts of life in the U.S.

The ultra-rich are used to lobbying for lower taxes. They are rather less accustomed to F.B.I. raids and asset seizures designed to strong-arm them into selling their assets and fleeing abroad. Yet, this is exactly what could befall an oligarch who runs afoul of Trump. The legality of such moves is beside the point; the feds can do more than enough damage before any countervailing orders come down from the courts which, in any case, can be ignored.

Musk’s sway, while extraordinary, is also fleeting. Snatching it away is as easy as slamming the Wendy’s Baconator button on the Resolute Desk.

It is only a matter of time before these two imbecilic, impulsive narcissists come to blows. When that happens, Musk will receive a harsh lesson in the reality of competitive authoritarianism. His immense wealth matters little when up against the guy who can wield the Justice Department as his personal bludgeon. In all likelihood, he will become the subject of multiple criminal probes and be chased out of the country. It is a lesson that will not be lost on his fellow moguls.

History is replete with examples of business tycoons coming to rue their past support for autocrats. Trump’s reign should prove no different. He is the one in charge, not the oligarchs. That is bad news for them—as well as for us.

This hardly means all is lost, however. As I explained in a previous post, the obstacles to authoritarianism in the U.S. are far greater than those faced by other countries that experienced democratic breakdown. America’s civil society, in particular, is unmatched in terms of its resources and depth. If and when it mobilizes effectively, Trump is finished.

But make no mistake; however dangerous Musk’s shenanigans are, Trump is the problem. It is toward him that we must direct our focus and efforts.

This piece first appeared on The Detox.

Neil A. Abrams writes on corruption, democracy, the rule of law, Eastern Europe, Ukraine, and Russia. You can find his work at The Detox with Neil Abrams.

CHECK OUT DANNY SHEEHAN AND THE ORGANIZATION HE HAS KICKED ASS WITH

March 25, 2025

We’re 2 months and 21 lawsuits into the new Trump administration – and every one of those lawsuits is to protect people from attempts to strip away our most fundamental rights.

With so much on the line – and new updates every single day – we’re here to give you the latest from the frontlines of the fight for our rights. Here are just some of the cases we’re fighting:

Just yesterday, we argued at the Supreme Court to defend voting rights –fighting an attempt to deny Black voters equal representation and a meaningful choice at the polls.

Alongside NYCLU, ACLU of New Jersey, the Center for Constitutional Rights, CLEAR, Van Der Hout LLP, and Dratel + Lewis, we’re fighting to free Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate student at Columbia University, who’s been detained and threatened with deportation in retaliation for his speech defending Palestinian human rights.

The ACLU of Virginia has also challenged the deportation of Dr. Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown professor who was also targeted because of his advocacy in support of Palestinian rights and his family’s ties to Gaza.

We’re suing the Trump administration to protect gender-affirming care for those under 19 and for those in federal prisons, as well as to block the State Department from denying accurate passports to trans, intersex, and nonbinary people

We filed to stop Trump’s attacks on birthright citizenship, to end the deportation of immigrants to Guantánamo Bay and to provide legal counsel to those currently detained there, to stop an unconstitutional effort to fast-track deportations, to protect our right to asylum, and to block him from using an archaic wartime law to justify mass deportations.

We’re challenging the National Endowment for the Arts’ policy blocking grant recipients from using funds to “promote gender ideology.”

As Trump continues trying to censor what our students can learn, we’re suing in response to his threats to slash funding to schools that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, as well as against his choice to removing medical research by private doctors from a government website for including the words “LGBTQ” and “transgender.”

We’re continuing to fight back outside of court, too – with your help, we’ve sent over 240,000 messages demanding Congress check DOGE’s violation of our privacy rights, we’ve sent 128,000 messages to acting ICE director Todd Lyons to free Mahmoud Khalil, and we’re continuing to pressure our representatives to do the right thing and defend our rights.

And this is all just the start. We’re only 2 months in – and with your support, we won’t let up. We’ll keep challenging these attacks on our rights inside and outside of the courtroom, and we’ll keep in touch with the latest as these cases progress.

Thanks for powering our work – we couldn’t do it without you.

The ACLU Team

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SUPPORT CIVIL DISCOURSE AND PUBLIC EDUCATION: UNITED WE STAND/DIVIDED WE FALL

March 21, 2025

From:

Education: Project 2025 Comes True

In February 2023, Alabama Rep. Barry Moore introduced H.R. 938, a bill “To abolish the Department of Education and to provide funding directly to States for elementary and secondary education, and for other purposes.” Sixty Republicans joined Democrats in putting a stop to it. It wasn’t a one-off. Congressional Republicans have continued to offer similar bills, but without success. Hence Trump’s decision to attempt to kill off the department with a questionable executive order.

This is actually the second incarnation of the Department of Education, signed into law when Jimmy Carter was president. Adam Laats, a history professor at Binghamton University, explained to history.com, “You can’t overestimate how inflammatory it was for former Confederate leaders to have a federal Department of Education because they equated ‘federal’ with Reconstruction.” God forbid we should educate people. Especially BIPOC and other marginalized groups. They might learn to think for themselves instead of believing what people in power tell them.

That’s where we find ourselves tonight.

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” ― George Orwell

The department’s website, which as of tonight is still online, clarifies the mission:

The U.S. Department of Education is the agency of the federal government that establishes policy for, administers and coordinates most federal assistance to education. It assists the president in executing his education policies for the nation and in implementing laws enacted by Congress. The Department’s mission is to serve America’s students-to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.

That’s what we are losing.

The states will take over education. Some will do a good job. Others not so much. And in some places, education will be privatized, with all the issues that implies. One thing that’s for certain, equal access to education will be a thing of the past, much of the progress of the last six decades wiped out.

In July of 2024, before it was clear that Kamala Harris would become the Democratic nominee, it was already clear that despite his denials, Trump was up to his eyeballs in Project 2025. I wrote about what that means.

Today, it has all come true. It’s devastating. And it was predictable. Here’s an excerpt from that piece:

Public education is important. Well-educated citizens are more employable and prepared to compete in the 21st Century economy. Education reduces crime. It improves public health and health equity. Education produces a more informed population, people able to think for themselves and their communities. As the saying goes, if you’re burning books because they contain some ideas you don’t like, you’re not afraid of books or courses—you’re afraid of ideas. That perfectly encapsulates the Project 2025 approach to education.

The most important takeaway from the education chapter of Project 2025 is that the plan is to shut down the U.S. Department of Education. Donald Trump has been saying at recent rallies that it should be disbanded to “move everything back to the states where it belongs.”

While Trump lacks the ability to formally close the Department of Education, he can shrink it to the point of irrelevance and ask Congress to deliver the coup de grace. The 44 pages in the Education Chapter of Project 2025 contain precisely that suggestion. Dismantle the department into a hollow shell that does nothing more than gather statistics.

My conclusion tonight is the same as it was when I first wrote about Project 2025 and Trump’s plan for public education:

Trump and the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 authors are afraid of an open marketplace of ideas where kids learn to think for themselves. Kids can learn about—and learn from—the history of slavery in this country. The idea that it must be suppressed because it might make white kids feel bad is ridiculous. The more we know of our history, events like the internment of Japanese Americans in camps during World War II, or the treatment of Irish, Italian, Jewish, and other immigrants as they came to country, the better we can become. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. That seems to be the plan here.

In the past, Congress has hesitated to choke off the Department of Education precisely because the public understands the good work it does on behalf of America’s children. My mom taught preschoolers from low income, predominately single-parent homes, in a school created by President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society program. Great Society Programs were created to eradicate poverty and racial injustice with social welfare initiatives, including pre-k education. Her kids used to come back and visit her after they graduated from high school and college, and for my mom, their success was her greatest reward. Programs like hers and so many others mean more kids have access to education and the opportunity to succeed. That’s what Donald Trump is trying to kill off. Better lives, for real people.

This is a good moment to make sure your elected representatives understand your views. And thanks for being here at Civil Discourse. Your support and paid subscriptions make the newsletter possible.

We’re in this together,

Joyce

THE SWISS: MILITARILY BUT NOT MORALLY NEUTRAL

March 19, 2025

DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT PUT RAVITCH’S REVIEW IN YOUR TSUNDUKU

March 17, 2025

Required Reading for anyone who cares about the future of the United States:

Selling Out Our Private Schools: Diane Ravitch’s Review of Josh Cowan’s The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers in the New York Review of Books, March 13, 2025

I encourage anyone who cares about education to at least read the review. Diane Ravitch is a Secular Saint who for decades has been making a convincing case for the crucial need of a public school system. If you care about equal opportunity and the separation of church and state, your first focus should be on our schools.

FEEL THE BERN!

March 15, 2025

Yesterday, I voted NO on a terrible Continuing Resolution bill – written by right-wing Republicans in the House with no input from anybody but themselves.

This bill moves our country toward authoritarianism by usurping Congress‘s constitutional responsibility to determine how federal funds are spent, and creates a slush fund for Elon Musk and Donald Trump to continue their war against the working families of our country. This bill puts more and more power into the hands of the White House.

In order to pass this bill the Republicans needed 60 votes – which meant they had to have seven votes from Democrats – and they got them. Actually they got ten. That is sad and a real failure on the part of Democratic leadership. NOBODY in the Senate should have voted for this dangerous bill.

But that’s only part of what’s going on right now.

As I’m sure you know Trump, Musk and the Republican Party are going after Social Security, cutting thousands of jobs at the Social Security administration.

They are going after Medicaid, trying to cut the program by over $800 billion dollars. That means millions of kids are going to lose their health care. It means if your mom and dad are in a nursing home, they’re going to be in trouble because 2/3 of people in nursing homes are supported by Medicaid.

They are going after the Veterans Administration and want to cut over 80,000 workers at the VA, which means our veterans will get lower quality health care.

They’re going after public education, nutrition assistance programs and regulations to protect us from polluters and corporate crooks – and on and on it goes.

And why do they want to cut all of these programs that are so important to the working families of our country?

The answer is very simple: they want to give massive tax cuts to the richest people in America. In their program, they are going to give over $1 trillion to the top 1%, paid for by cuts to programs working people rely on to survive.

It’s the Robin Hood principle in reserve. They’re taking from the poor and working people and giving to the very rich.

And if you think my Republican colleagues lose a minute of sleep thinking about all of the harm they will cause for families across the country in the process, you would be mistaken.

So. Where do we go from here?

First, we have to understand that the economic and political crises facing our country will NOT be solved in Washington, DC. The system is just too corrupt. As a result of Citizens United billionaires in both parties are able spend unlimited sums of money buying and selling politicians – and that’s what they do. Further, on any given day, thousands of corporate lobbyists roam the halls of Congress doing the bidding of their corporate masters.

The ONLY way that real change ever takes place is from the bottom on up. It’s when millions of people, at the grassroots level, reject the status quo and stand up for justice and decency. And the good news is that we’re beginning to see that happen right now – all across the country. Seniors in large numbers are telling Congress: don’t cut the Social Security Administration. Veterans and their organizations are telling Congress: don’t cut the Veterans Administration. Students are telling Congress: don’t cut Pell grants and student loans.

And large numbers of people are coming out to town meetings – and taking on members of Congress who are prepared to vote against their interests.

Over the past several weeks I’ve held a series of town meetings in Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan. And what I have found is that in these districts, and all across the country, Americans are saying loudly and clearly: NO to oligarchy, NO to authoritarianism, NO to kleptocracy, NO to massive cuts in programs that working people desperately need, NO to huge tax breaks for the richest people in our country.

Next week, as part of our Fighting Oligarchy tour I, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive members of Congress, will be holding events in Nevada, Colorado and Arizona. And that’s just the beginning.

There must be meetings and rallies in all 50 states, and they should take place over and over again. And when those rallies are over, we need to organize the people who attend to mobilize in their communities and be in touch with their members of Congress.

But that is not all.

We need progressives to run for office at all levels. I am talking about school boards, city councils, state legislature and the races that are not in the news but make a tremendous difference in local communities.

We need to build community and bring people together even when it isn’t about politics first. The Republican Party is always trying to divide us up based on race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation and more… we need to come together as one.

We need to elect a U.S. House and a U.S. Senate that will prioritize the needs of the working people in this country. We now have open Senate seats in Minnesota, Michigan, and New Hampshire. Who are the progressives that are going to run, and how can we support them? There are also a number of House seats that can be won.

Further, we need to be looking for new and creative ways to educate each other in a world where nearly the entire media and communications infrastructure is owned and controlled by the wealthiest people in this country.

If there was ever a time in American history when we need to come together, this is that time.

Not me.

Us.

That is the only way forward.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

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THE VOICE OF REASON IS A SOFT ONE BUT WILL NOT REST UNTIL IT GETS A HEARING…..THE VOICE OF JUSTICE MAY NEED TO SHOUT.

March 14, 2025

THIS IS AMERICA

NOT RUSSIA

FREE

MAHMOUD KHALIL

&

SUPPORT THE RIGHTS OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

INSURGENT ART ON THE RISE! IF YOU ARE NOT PART OF THE SOLUTION, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM

March 11, 2025

And Neil Young is on his way to the Ukraine to keep WAGING HEAVY PEACE AND ROCKIN IN THE FREE WORLD!

BEWARE: THE US POSTAL SERVICE IS UNDER ATTACK

March 7, 2025

As expected, Trump is aiming at the Post Office being “taken” private and in the name of “corporate efficiency” and handed over to his billionaire buddies. There is no doubt that if our Post Office is run for profit, smaller offices will be closed. During the last 40 years the Republican have tried three times to close the small post office in the rural community where I live. Each time an informal town meeting was held and nearly every resident, Democrats, Greens, Republicans and Libertarians, spoke against the closure. At issue was not only convenience, but security and privacy. I have no doubt that Musk and his techno bros would love to have all communication’s run under the surveillance of their algorithms. My question to you, dear reader, would you rather have you mail protected by Blackwater or the U.S. Marines?

The Postal Service was created in 1792 in part to prevent royalists and oligarchs from controlling communications. If you think that’s not a problem in modern America, reflect on the blunt media censorship being imposed right now by Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and other petty potentates of corporate plutocracy.

To learn more, visit the American Postal Workers Union: apwu.org.

Jim Hightower’s “Lowdown”: March 6, 2025

ANYONE WANTING TO UNDERSTAND HOW INFUCKINGSANE TRUMP IS, NEEDS TO READ THIS

March 4, 2025

REQUIRED READING: ACTION NEEDED IMMEDIATELY

“From Comedy to Brutality” : Fintan O’Toole (The New York Review of Books, March 13, 2025)

To learn the breadth and depth of the infuckingsane antics of Trump, read O’Toole’ essay and do something, anything: go outside or stay inside and scream, write your Congressperson, organize a march, tell your barber, tell you Mother…..

What Hannah Arendt identified as “the banality of evil” is on full display now with Trump’s maneuverings with Palestine, Puerto Rico, Russia, Denmark, Canada, Mexico, China….As I have mentioned before, Trump is no longer playing Monopoly, he is now playing both that Capitalist training sport and Risk, a strategy game in which players compete to take over the world.

I hear some say that Trump is simply trying to create chaos, to “see what sticks”, to simply piss off his enemies. Yes, that is all true, but he is deadly, I repeat, deadly serious about expanding the American Empire and furthering his personal real estate holdings.

Needed now: Non Violent Resistance to American Imperialism and a Green New Deal to mitigate the disasters caused by the Climate Catastrophe should be a the top of your To Do list.

A PROPOSAL FOR PEACE BETWEEN UKRAINE AND RUSSIA

March 4, 2025

Just as the U.S. was the aggressor in Vietnam, Russia is the aggressor in Ukraine. One significant difference: Ukraine and Russia have a much more extensive historical, cultural and geographical shared past than does the U.S. and Vietnam. This is not to in anyway to justify Russia’s aggression, but it helps explain why, for example,NATO’s entry into Ukraine is viewed by Russia as aggression. NATO is composed on many nations, but militarily it is one coordinated force, sharing the same weapons systems and central command. Relevant is this regard is the fact that when the cold war ended, the United States promised Russia that NATO would not expand. True, that promise never was put into writing, but there is no doubt that the promise was made and not kept. Forget Putin and his nastiness. Remember what many Russians remember about being attacked from the West and the 26 million Russian citizens who were killed in the last one. And remember what trust is all about. Looking the other in the eye and shaking hands is the bedrock. Agreeing to abide by law. The Constitution is just a piece of paper. Face to face communication is needed now. Yes, things have gotten off to a bad start with Trump and Vance bushwalking Zelensky. But it is a beginning and needs to be built on.

The West has vigorously protested that no such deal was ever struck. However, hundreds of memos, meeting minutes and transcripts from U.S. archives indicate otherwise…..In early February 1990, U.S. leaders made the Soviets an offer. According to transcripts of meetings in Moscow on Feb. 9, then-Secretary of State James Baker suggested that in exchange for cooperation on Germany, U.S. could make “iron-clad guarantees” that NATO would not expand “one inch eastward.” Less than a week later, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to begin reunification talks. No formal deal was struck, but from all the evidence, the quid pro quo was clear: Gorbachev acceded to Germany’s western alignment and the U.S. would limit NATO’s expansion…….

Again, this is not to justify Russia’s aggression, but it must be taken into account if one wants to find a way to end the war. One of the reasons the United States stayed in Vietnam for as long as it did was that it did not want to “lose face”. Putin is in the same position.

It’s therefore not surprising that Russia was incensed when Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the Baltic states and others were ushered into NATO membership starting in the mid-1990s. Boris Yeltsin, Dmitry Medvedev and Gorbachev himself protested through both public and private channels that U.S. leaders had violated the non-expansion arrangement. As NATO began looking even further eastward, to Ukraine and Georgia, protests turned to outright aggression and saber-rattling.

-Los Angeles Times: Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson: May 30, 2016 5 AM PT

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky and offered U.S. support for Ukraine in exchange for half the country’s mineral resources. My understanding is that Zelensky brought up the idea publicly and thereby went into his meeting with Trump having already offered a deal that a real estate mogul may be partial to when he is not trying to remove 2 million from their homeland and put up a luxury Resort. Trump’s unprecedented and and nakedly imperialist salvos about purchasing Denmark, making Canada our 51st state and sending troops into Mexico most likely contributed to Zelensky’s decision to make the offer, the quid for his quo being an agreement that the U.S.would agree to protect a Ukraine in which it had economic interests. But for all anyone knows, Trump may have also promised Putin that he could have the other half of the plunder. But we do know that Trump has no love for NATO. And we know that the fog of war needs to end before Peace can be created.

Were the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine to agree to an immediate ceasefire and their militaries to stay put, both sides most likely will continue to bolster their positions with military and humanitarian supplies, but room would be made for diplomacy and, yes, a Deal.

Advice to ALL CONCERNED: Make an offer. NO NATO. NATO military stays put. Russian military stays put. PEACE.

ECONOMIST RICHARD WOLFF CLEARLY EXPLAINS WHY AND HOW FASCISM IS TAKING PLACE IN AMERICA

February 27, 2025

Want to understand how we got here and where we are going?

Go to: KPFA.ORG: FEBRUARY 26, 2025: 10am

Letters and Politics with Mitch Jeserich

Richard Wolff on the Impacts and Chaos of Trumpenomics

AND PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH OTHERS

THIS 87 YEAR OLD WOMAN IS WISE AND WONDERFUL!!! BE SURE TO LOOK AND LISTEN!!

February 25, 2025

REBECCA SOLNIT IS ALWAYS WORTH LISTENING TO

February 22, 2025

MEDITATIONS IN AN EMERGENCY

THIS IS REALLY HARD (BUT WE ARE NOT QUITTING): REFLECTIONS ON KINDNESS AND RESOLUTENESS

By Rebecca Solnit • 21 Feb 2025

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If you’re reading this, you got through the first month of the assault on everything, none of it a surprise except in how stupid and ruthless the sabotage was, but a lot of its shocking, also because of how stupid and ruthless and full of petty vengefulness it was. (Yes, there was an Executive Order to end “the forced use of paper straws.”) For me, not despite but because of everything going on, there was also kindness, so much kindness, kindness from acquaintances and strangers, this week.

Yesterday, while driving around town on errands, I encountered a delivery guy trotting across the middle of the street back to his truck, and I stopped for him and waved him through and he waved back and beamed and gestured with big gratitude and then waved at the driver in the car going the other way who had also waved him on. In the most fleeting and minor way, the three of us were being a good cooperative society in the middle of 18th Street just b Castro Street. (Part of why I’m grumpy about driverless cars is because I believe driving is a social activity in which the ability to communicate and read communications like all those hand gestures and all that body language and that smile is important.)

When I got to Cliff’s Variety on Castro Street, the staffperson over by the pots and pans and cookie cutters asked me what I was looking for, and it turned into a whole conversation about the state of things, the Tesla protest on Wednesday, how we were doing under the barrage. It was like I’d gone to church for spiritual support, even though I’d just gone to Cliff’s for an extension cord and a rainbow flag. I was really feeling weighed down by all the terrible stuff going on, and yeah, I had spent the morning more or less doomscrolling, even though, as you know, I always look for light and handholds even in the abyss. The abyss right now is really deep and full of monsters–the confirmation of Kash Patel for the FBI, the abandonment of Ukraine–you know the list.

But if you don’t know Cliff’s, it’s the 89-year-old hardware store in the heart of the Castro neighborhood here in San Francisco. It’s a superlative version of a hardware store, staffed by the most wonderful people, and the annex with housewares and sewing supplies also has an excellent selection of festive masks and sparkly brooches and tiaras. Where else can you buy both drill bits and rhinestones, and isn’t the place that lets you be both diva and handyperson paradise itself? My ad-hoc pastor in the kitchenwares aisle gave me reassurance and solidarity and we bantered a bit and showed each other pictures of the protest in front of the Tesla salesroom the night before.

People were amazing at that protest called for and by federal workers in front of Tesla in central San Francisco. It felt like maybe one out of every four cars driving down wide Van Ness Avenue honked, and nearly every MUNI bus driver sent off a flurry of deep honks, and people driving by shouted and pumped their fists. The crowd was lovely and sweet and maybe not as loud and energized as some I’ve been around, but they were there, there to support federal workers and oppose the coup and its leaders, and that’s what counted in the moment. And some of them were federal workers. No cops in sight, no pedestrians grumpy about the crowded sidewalks.

Demonstration at Tesla, San Francisco, Wednesday Feb. 19th.

Then I caught a MUNI bus home, and my transit card didn’t have enough value on it to do the electronic fare thing, so a scruffy guy offered me change for a five and the bus driver waved off my one-dollar bills and produced a pass for me, and then I fell to talking to the Black teenager who’d just had an argument with his friend before the friend got off the bus. Before I got off myself, I took took his hand–such a soft young hand–and wished him well, and he replied in kind.

Everywhere I went it felt like people were trying harder than usual to show up, to connect, to be their best selves. This is emergency behavior. This is how people behave when their city is bombed or flooded or burning down, this extra care, this extra presentness, this best self connecting with other best selves. Then, online, an actual pastor I knew reminded me that the word comfort means to fortify (com- as in with; fort as in fortress, fortitude, and fortify), maybe to fortify with kindness. We were fortifying each other with what we had to offer, which was ourselves, by really being with each other.

I got through most of the first month of the assault on almost everything with what was maybe a hypervigilant surge of something or other–cortisol? adrenalin?–not anger but a fierce protectiveness and a sense of strength. That strength flagged yesterday, just because I was tired, and just because–well what is that feeling we have when we see so much and so many being destroyed, devalued, disparaged? At what intersection do grief, horror, sadness, outrage, and exhaustion meet?

I slept better last night so I have more momentum, but not less sadness. I am and we are witnesses to a catastrophe, a cruel and stupid catastrophe, a breaking of things–domestic institutions, international alliances– that took decades to build, a country that has been pretty stable for 249 years, definitely a climate that has lasted 100,000 years in its current phase before climate change destabilized it, species that have lasted millions of years. The destruction is at the intersection of hideous and heartbreaking.

I want to say that we are in a culture that often seems to insist that our first job is to be happy, and that anything else or less is a failure, and I’m all for whatever moments of joy, repose, and encouragement we can find or make or offer in this hideous crisis, but also it’s okay to be sad. That sadness is a sign of care–and one of the striking things about this crisis that’s also encouraging is how much people care (and a writer reminded me a while back that encourage literally means to instill courage). The sadness is a measure of that–“it hurts exactly as much as it’s worth,” the novelist Zadie Smith once wrote, quoting another novelist about loss and grief.

We are feeling what all this stuff under attack is worth to us. My worst fear around the great public threats is that people will be indifferent, will be bought into the idea that whatever doesn’t affect them in the most immediate and direct way doesn’t affect them at all or isn’t reason for care or isn’t their job to do something about. Or that they will feel powerless and surrender prematurely, and there is so much that tells us–wrongly–that we have no power. We are still figuring out what we can do about it, but that care is foundational.

It’s one face of idealism and of an authentic sense of being a member of society, of a commitment and valuation of the systems that add up to a society and a country, of the way we have taken care of our natural world and each other through federal programs supported by our taxes (the right-wing hatred of taxes is mostly about selfishness and a denial both that they’re part of these systems of public good that give them safe drinking water and national parks and that they care about them). There’s a cynical version of human nature in which we’re deeply selfish and only care about our self-interest defined narrowly; politicians often pander to us as though this is who we are, but across the spectrum people are ideologues, whether or not you like their ideology. And selfishness is an ideology, in service of which people vote against their immediate self-interest (there’s a book about that called Dying of Whiteness). The people wreaking all this destruction are betting on us being self-interested, not idealistic, fearful not rebellious, and I hope we’ll prove it was a bad bet.

Americans are getting a crash course in what the federal government does and how it intertwines with their lives. While there’s lots of awful things the government does, from middle-east policy to propping up the oil industry, there’s also Head Start and Medicare and scientific research and public lands management and mail delivery. We are seeing the best of federal workers–their devotion to their work and solidarity with their coworkers, their idealism when they’re heading programs that increase knowledge or safety or health or protect nature–and also seeing them suffer the sabotage of their careers and their livelihoods. So many stories of so many wrecked lives are surfacing.

But sadness won’t stop me, and to say I’m sad is to describe how I feel, not what I think. I’ve long said in regard to climate, that I respect despair as an emotion, but not as an analysis. Not only are Americans, on the one hand, urged to be eternally impossibly happy, as in free from all care and anxiety, but on the other hand–or from some other camps–we’re encouraged to regard anger as incredibly useful. Sometimes the manifestation of anger is treated as the right sign of care, and displaying that rage as the work itself, as if you just wanted to be the right kind of person exhibiting the right feelings for the right audience (and social media is very good at encouraging this performativeness). But the job is to do the job, I believe– to address and try to change what you’re angry about, if you’re angry. Or if you’re not. You can do that work whatever you feel.

The job isn’t to be happy, sad, angry, unfeeling, or anything else; it’s to do the work to oppose this destruction. But taking care of yourself so you don’t fall apart or wear out or aggravate you allies too much is how you stay capable of doing it. One thing I find useful is the distinction between feelings and commitments–you can feel despair or grief or exhaustion and not let go of your commitments or principles. Emotions are the weather that swirls around and changes and changes again. Commitments, principles, are the mountain on which the sun and the rainstorm fall, and it remains a mountain. Pay attention to your storms and rays of light and pay attention to the mountain on which all those things fall.

And one more etymology: the word kind is related to kin, as in kinship, family. Isn’t kindness a recognition of kinship, fellowship, connection? I believe the damage is being done by people whose profound unkindness comes from disconnection (watching a zonked-out, incoherent Elon Musk onstage at CPAC last night, widely assumed to be high as a kite on ketamine, is a reminder that they’re disconnected even from themselves). Kindness is seen as a weakness, but it’s a strength, both in its ability to care for other and in its recognition of the ways we’re all connected. I wish you the fortress in comfort, the kinship in kindness, and the courage in encouragement, in both what you give and what you receive.

p.s. A bit of nice news: the wonderful organizers and volunteers I work with have launched the Resist List, a list of all the forms of resistance planned and going on (well some of them, and bear with us, we’re just getting started). You can find it on BlueSky at https://bsky.app/profile/resistlist.bsky.social and we’ll be adding more social media platforms soon. Oh and it’s hosted at a site you may find otherwise useful for understanding our powers and possibilities in this crisis: https://choosedemocracy.us.

I’ve had a huge surge of a certain kind of energy since January 20th, which is probably adrenaline, and it feels protective and bold and not at all like anger (though I have impatience in that I suffer fools less gladly these days). Many things, including compassion and solidarity, can fuel action, and I believe that underneath what some people perceive as anger is care or love for who or what’s under attack. That some of it is protectiveness, and I always think we’re stronger if what we care about is more primary than what we oppose.

If you’re reading this you got through the first month of the assault on this nation. It has not been an altogether successful assault.

Don’t forget they lost over and over in the courts and they are making enemies at an astonishing rate, at home and around the world, and that matters.

I’m struck over and over that they don’t understand that they can command and people can not obey, because they don’t actually DO anything much else. What they think is the power invested in them is not in them; it’s actually the willingness of people to obey their orders. So far the court has told a lot of their orders to go fuck themselves. Without obedience they’re helpless. I mean one of them can’t drive a car and chances are good that two of them can’t make breakfast and three of them can’t quite make sense and the only friends they can make are as cruel and treacherous as they are.

The sadistic destruction hit me hard today, and I kind of–well I just wrote to my ace action team, “I kind of lost my momentum (or mojo) doomscrolling this morning, but climate activism trained me for this—you can feel terrible and keep going. Feelings and commitments are not the same thing.” My feelings are blue. My commitments are blue steel. Feelings are the storm. Commitments are the mountain they pass over.

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Meditations in an Emergency © 2025 – Unsubscribe

PREPARE NOW FOR A FURIOUS FREEZING WELCOME FOR PUTIN

February 21, 2025

We should all be thinking Non-Violent Direct Action (marches, signs, civil disobedience, letters to the editor and Congress…..) and be ready to Be There whenever and wherever Dicktatter Putin comes to visit his Pussy Grabbing Poodle King Trump. If you can’t be where they are, get the nation’s attention wherever you are.

WHERE I’M AT AND WHERE I THINK AND HOPE THIS COUNTRY CAN GO

February 18, 2025

What follows is what I hope and believe. I have not taken the time or trouble to recheck all my sources regarding, for example, the composition and mind-sets of the electorate and I am well aware that I live in a bubble. But I will say that do spend time in the Fox world, both with Trump voters and their sources – and have learned that they are almost always unaware of where I get my facts and opinions, simply asserting that it must be the liberal media. We are all in bubbles, but some are in bubbles surrounded by mirrors and echo chambers orchestrated by skilled psycho techs who know how to manipulate with hate and fear for profit or political advantage.

My understanding is that one-third of the electorate voted for Trump, a third for Harris, and a third did not vote. Let’s hope it’s true that you can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.

And it is also important to remember the truths in the bromides:

It’s easier to break things than to make things.

There is no honor among thieves.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Follow the money

My hope is that of that many of those who support Trump are doing so because they believe the lies and disinformation directed at them by very sophisticated propagandists. My fear is that there are also many who know Trump is a racist, sexist, greedy crook and don’t care because they share those traits and/or forgive them because they want to be rich like him.. It is not worth time or money trying to educate or enlighten these folks. Our focus should be on the group of apathetic and undecided voters and on the very few in Congress and their constituents who have shown some reluctance to grant Trump absolute power and those Trump supporters who are going to be hurt by his policies.

So, more specifically, what can we do?

Prepare for the next elections. Locate potential Democratic flip races and support the candidates. Act Blue and Common Cause are good resources for this. Find those who did not vote or may be having second thoughts about their support for Republicans and educate them on the very very real dangers developing. Find ways to amplify the objections/positions of the few Republicans in Congress who have shown a reluctance to support some of Trump’s policies, e.g., Murkowski, Collins and McConnel.
Anticipate and have a plan to counter Trumps’s known strategy when he fails which is to lie, blame his enemies and accuse them of committing the same crimes and inanities he has committed. Kipling has his shortcomings but he nails this with: If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you/ If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you/ But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired of waiting/ Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies/ Or being hated, don’t give way to hating/ And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise. And here it is important to abandon the Democratic parties reluctance to call out the Republican in a Class Conscious framework. It is clear that the wealthy have taken control and don’t give a shit about the poor or the middle class. Promote the attacks coming from Bernie, Warren, AOC, et.al.
Support the ACLU. Eventually the Supreme Court will hear cases arising from Trumps power grabs. My guess is that Marbury vs. Madison will be revisited and that while Thomas and Alito are full blown prostitutes, the other justices may either vote to keep their power or simply do the right (Constitutional) thing. Again, use your local news outlets (if there are any left), social media, community clubs and organizations to educate. We know that Musk and his tech bros are expert at cyber targeting individuals who are hooked into their platforms and will try to shift the blame for the pain Trumps actions are going to cause, but keep stressing the fact that Trump has all the power and so the F@$k stops there.

Support you local public schools and the college and university students who are, as always, ahead of their parents when it comes to doing something about the unjust and immoral actions of their government.
Demonstrate non-violently and protest in the streets, the corridors of power and anywhere else where your voiced can join with others to speak truth to corrupt power. Not only can this encourage others, but when you join with others and march and chant together, it lifts your spirits and gives you strength to carry on.

And finally:

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.

-Abe Lincoln

But also remember that should revolution be necessary, it must be non-violent.

Countries in which there were nonviolent campaigns were about 10 times likelier to transition to democracies within a five-year period compared to countries in which there were violent campaigns — whether the campaigns succeeded or failed.

–Erica Chenoweth

ONWARD!

SUPPORT THE FREEDOM TO LEARN ABOUT FREEDOM AND JUSTICE AND STAND UP TO THE FEAR AND HATE MONGERING MOGELS

February 12, 2025

Ubermensch Musk is attempting to cut millions of dollars from the U.S. Department of Education. Everyone needs to step up and support their local PUBLIC schools. I repeat: No Secular Public Education available to all. No Democracy – The Radical Religions, including The Church of The Wealthiest will take over this country.

Here is the skinny on MFiC Musk:

According to Musk’s own Grok artificial intelligence tool on X, the investigative departments of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Transportation, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), as well as USAID, have all launched investigations into the practices and violations of Elon Musk’s companies.

Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American, February 9, 2025: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

Unfortunately there is much truth in the observation that law is but the shadow of power. With a Catholic Supreme Court we cannot count on the established Constitutional rulings on the separation of Church and State.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity……yes We the People need now to step up, pull together, organize and protect our Constitution.

NO SECULAR PUBLIC EDUCATION : NO DEMOCRACY SUPPORT YOUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND HELP IMPROVE THEM

February 8, 2025

The folks at Edutopia asked educational professionals what they would do to save public education? Here are some of the suggestions I thought well worth considering:

“Create a nationwide 24-hour cable television network that gives English as a second language, literacy, and basic skills instruction.” Victor I. King: President, Board of Trustees Glendale Community College Glendale, California

“Require all administrators to teach at least one class per day at some level.” John Stallcup Founder, APREMAT/USA Napa, California

“Fund the arts in education. The first programs that are cut when budgets are tight: musicand art programs. These programs have the greatest potential to develop dendrites in thebrain and a love of learning and of school.” Jackie H. Daniilidis. Principal, Estelle Elementary School Jefferson Parish School System Louisiana

“Make parents more accountable for student attendance, and encourage parents to show respect to the teachers. Unfortunately, when parents don’t find attendance important, then neither do the students. The same goes with respect. Most parents today immediately get involved if a teacher tries to discipline a student but normally feel their child is in the right and the teacher is wrong. This is a big shift from the ’60s and ’70s, when, if you got in trouble at school, you could be sure to get in trouble when you got home. Teachers don’t seem to be viewed as the authority figure that they once were. It is great that parents are more involved, but that involvement should include respect for the teacher’s authority in the classroom. Many parents refuse to believe that their child could

do anything wrong.” Theresa Jackson Pierce ; Staff Development/Technology Associate Microsoft Office 2000 Master Instructor New Castle Community Schools

“Do not allow corporate contracts with school districts, e.g., Coke or Pepsi, and do not allow soda or junk food sales. This theory of letting kids ‘choose’ is just plain silly. You wouldn’t expect a child to ‘choose’ between reading and playing video games, would you?” Kelly Haarmeyer Parent and California Department of Education Employee Sacramento, California

“Promote teacher Web sites. My Web site, myschoolonline.com/nh/mrs5st, is very successful. It motivates students to be the best student they can be, and rewards them by posting their names for awards as well as displaying their projects (via digital pictures) on the site. Students can practice current subject matter on the site in the quiz lab, which increases learning and raises grades.” Wendy Tetrault

Retired Teacher Manchester, New Hampshire

“Attract more male teachers.” Dr. Richard Kimball: Professor, University of the West Rosemead, California Barbara Schwartz-Bechet: Ed.D. Assistant Professor of Graduate Special Education Bowie State University/University System of Maryland

“Increase funding for schools. At present most corporations are required to make grants to nonprofit corporations, and they often do so for educational purposes. Pass laws that would allow corporate giving to go directly to schools instead of the current practice requiring schools to apply for those grants, which is time-consuming for school

administrators and brings in funds only in small amounts, $1,000 to $5,000.” Dennis Deliman: Rolling Hills Charter School Paulden, Arizona

“Give teachers only one job: to teach (no more than four classes a day). Hire others to coach, tutor, etc. Give teachers a budget each year that allows them to decide what to buy for their students/classroom. Require a small percentage of this to go toward meaningful professional development—again, allowing them to decide which workshop or class would benefit them the best. Provide an individualized professional development plan for each teacher, to which they have given input. For new teachers, this plan would place them with a suitable mentor teacher and plenty of planning time.” Chelsy Hooper: Computer Teacher Nashville, Tennessee

“First I would proclaim myself Queen of Education with an annual operating budget of $1 billion. I understand that money does not solve all problems but it’s a good start.

1) I’d change the school day to 9:00 to 4:00. Before and after care would be from 8 until 7 and free of charge. However, families would have to be approved on a case-by-case basis to get both. Every child would receive a free breakfast, lunch, and snack. Instructional time would end at 1:00. Classroom teachers would then have planning time and professional development and a decent lunch hour. After lunch and recess, students would participate in special classes including art, music (vocal and instrumental), physical education, foreign language, and character education (that includes team building, peer mediation, anger management, and conflict resolution). These activities would be carried out by special teachers who had their planning period and professional development in the mornings. There would be a cadre of paraprofessionals for lunch and recess duty.

2) Every school in this nation would be entitled to a makeover. No more dingy, dank, and dark restrooms and faulty plumbing. Full-spectrum lights. Large windows that open and close. State- of-the-art play areas with age-appropriate equipment for all children, from tiny 3-year-olds in pre-kindergarten to sixth graders who at age 12 are five feet eight inches tall and 170 pounds. Gardens with benches and observation booths.

3) Instructional and behavioral professionals and paraprofessionals. An aide in every classroom. A supernanny in every school. High-caliber workshops and tuition assistance.

4) Each member of the school staff, from the principal to the janitor to the lunch server to the nurse, would get professional development and a mini grant of $1,000 that could be carried over for up to three years. Each would design a project to benefit the school from buying books to children to purchasing environmentally friendly cleaning supplies or chalk.” Seledia Shepherd: Parent Volunteer Amidon Elementary School Washington, D.C.

“Create a nationwide 24-hour cable television network that gives English as a second language, literacy, and basic skills instruction.” Victor I. King: President, Board of Trustees Glendale Community College Glendale, California

“Require all administrators to teach at least one class per day at some level.” John Stallcup: Founder /USA Napa, California

“Teaching the guidelines of the academic content standards is a MUST; it’s how it’s done that can be the difference of retention with students. As a music teacher I believe in cultural education through music performance. Students need to be challenged and realize learning can be fun.” Charles Ferrara: Turpin High School BandsTeacher, Instrumental Music, Grades 4-12 Forest Hills School District Cincinnati, Ohio

“Fund the arts in education. The first programs that are cut when budgets are tight: music and art programs. These programs have the greatest potential to develop dendrites in the brain and a love of learning and of school.” Jackie H. Daniilidis: Principal, Estelle Elementary School Jefferson Parish School System Louisiana

“Make parents more accountable for student attendance, and encourage parents to show respect to the teachers. Unfortunately, when parents don’t find attendance important, then neither do the students. The same goes with respect. Most parents today immediately get involved if a teacher tries to discipline a student but normally feel their child is in the right and the teacher is wrong. This is a big shift from the ’60s and ’70s, when, if you got in trouble at school, you could be sure to get in trouble when you got home. Teachers don’t seem to be viewed as the authority figure that they once were. It is great that parents are more involved, but that involvement should include respect for the teacher’s authority in the classroom. Many parents refuse to believe that their child could do anything wrong.”: Theresa Jackson Pierce: Staff Development/Technology Associate Microsoft Office 2000 Master Instructor New Castle Community Schools

From: edutopia.ord. EDUTOPIA JUNE/JULY 2005

https://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/jun_05/moresage.pdf

MORE ARISTOTLE AND A LITTLE LINCOLN FOR THOSE WHO SHOWED INTEREST IN MY FIRST INVOCATION

February 7, 2025

Great minds sometimes think alike. And, again, Aristotle did not read Marx or Adam Smith – he looked around and studied 158 city states to learn what works best. I invite you to do the same today.

From Aristotle:

A constitution based on the middle class is the mean between the extremes of oligarchy (rule by the rich) and democracy (rule by the poor). “That the middle [constitution] is best is evident, for it is the freest from faction: where the middle class is numerous, there least occur factions and divisions among citizens” (IV.11.1296a7–9). The middle constitution is therefore both more stable and more just than oligarchy and democracy.

Aristotle argues that the middle class is best suited to ruling and being ruled in turn. Those who enjoy, “an excess of good fortune (strength, wealth, friends, and other things of the sort”) love to rule and dislike being ruled.

From an early age, the wealthy are instilled with a “love of ruling and desire to rule, both of which are harmful to cities” (1295b12), and, “because of the luxury they live in, being ruled is not something they get used to, even at school” (1295b13–17). By contrast, poverty breeds vice, servility, and small-mindedness. Thus the poor are easy to push around, and if they do gain power they are incapable of exercising it virtuously.

Therefore, without a middle class, “a city of slaves and masters arises, not a city of the free, and the first are full of envy while the second are full of contempt.” Such a city must be “at the furthest remove from friendship and political community” (1295b21–24).

The presence of a strong middle class, however, binds the city into a whole, limiting the tendency of the rich to tyranny and the poor to slavishness, creating a “city of the free.”

Those in the middle are, among all the citizens, the most likely to survive in times of upheaval, when the poor starve and the rich become targets. They are sufficiently content with their lot not to envy the possessions of the rich. Yet they are not so wealthy that the poor envy them. They neither plot against the rich nor are plotted against by the poor.

A large middle class stabilizes a regime, particularly if the middle is “stronger than both extremes or, otherwise, than either one of them. For the middle will tip the balance when added to either side and prevent the emergence of an excess at the opposite extremes” (1295b36–40).

Without a large and powerful middle class, “either ultimate rule of the populace arises or unmixed oligarchy does, or, because of excess on both sides, tyranny” (1296a3; cf. 6.12, 1297a6ff).

Regimes with large middle classes are relatively free of faction and therefore more concerned with the common good. This is because a large middle class makes it harder to separate everyone out into two groups. (1296a7–10).

Another sign of the superiority of middle class regimes is that the best legislators come from the middle class. As examples, he cites Solon, Lycurgus, and Charondas (1296a18–21).

Basic Works of Aristotle: ed. Richard McKeon: Random House

We may congratulate ourselves that this cruel war is nearing its end. It has cost a vast amount of treasure and blood … It has indeed been a trying hour for the Republic; but I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless.”

— Abraham Lincoln Nov. 21 1864 letter to Col. William F. Elkins, in ‘The Lincoln Encyclopedia’

MORE RELIGIOUS RUMINATION

February 6, 2025

When you drink water, think of its source

(Chinese saying in Jack Kerouac Alley)

Were only water, not wine the blood of Christ

Those sipping from the sacred wound would worship near silent springs

seeping into white-capped cathedrals rolling over rocks

We would worship in forests surrounding monastery lakes

We would worship on the shores of our holy mother the sea

her virgin tides our blood

We would celebrate seeds and the sweat of those

who giveth us this day our daily bread.

COSTCO ROCKS!

February 5, 2025

Costco shows Trump What a Real Mandate Is

FEB 4

I guess I’ll just have throw myself on Donald Trump’s mercy, for I confess that I am a repeat violator of MAGA’s high crime of DEI-ism.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion. Guilty on all counts! But it’s not my fault. From childhood, I was fed a steady diet of that kind of all-in-this-together thinking by my parents, teachers, and ministers. So next thing you know, I was doing DEI on my own. Then, when I was elected to be Texas Agriculture Commissioner, I shamelessly promoted all three as agency goals (particularly for women and minorities who had long been excluded).

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But I now see that such egalitarian concepts are out of step with the moral precepts of Trumpocracy. Thus, I’m an outlaw. You might be, too, for the MAGA minority now ruling in Washington is thuggishly expunging DEI values from our schools, corporations, libraries, churches, etc. You have two choices, they bark: Comply… or be forced to comply.

Sure enough, even corporate powerhouses like Amazon, Disney, Facebook, Target, and Walmart are sucking up to the new regime by cravenly surrendering DEI principles and promises without a fight. Well, they whine, we have no choice.

But wait—this is America! The choice has always been clear: Don’t just comply, defy! Even corporations can stand for the people’s democratic principles, as Costco recently did. The popular retailer was assailed by a right-wing group demanding that shareholders terminate its DEI efforts. But Costco executives didn’t cower, and guess what? Ninety-eight percent of Costco’s shareholders stood with them, emphatically endorsing diversity, equity, and inclusion as core American values.

This is Jim Hightower saying… 98 percent! That, Mr. Trump, is a realmandate.

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VERY TIME SENSITIVE: JOIN THE ACLU AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY WITH TRIED AND TRUE VETERANS

February 4, 2025

Don't miss today's town hall at 4:30pm EST!

Please note: This link takes you to a third-party website, YouTube.com.

George, join us today at 4:30pm EST for a special ACLU town hall on our response to Donald Trump’s first two weeks in office.

Well before Donald Trump was inaugurated for a second time, the ACLU created a robust plan to protect our civil liberties through litigation, advocacy, and grassroots organizing. That plan was immediately set into motion after his swearing-in, and this town hall will give you an inside look into how we’re actively responding.

Join us today at 4:30pm EST to hear about how we’re fighting back against the Trump administration’s early attacks on our freedoms, what lies ahead, and immediate actions you can take to help. (Please note: This link takes you to a third-party website, YouTube.com).

See you later today.

The ACLU Team

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THE DANGERS OF PROJECT 2025 and Ruminating on Religion: A Personal Note CONTINUED as promised:

February 4, 2025

Just as the right stole a march on the left by funding “Think Tanks” such as the Heritage Foundation and “Societies” such as the Federalist Society, which has brought us the Catholic Supreme Court, they are now focusing on the thinking of American youth, attacking secular public schools and promoting the use of state and federal tax dollars to support religious schools, charter schools and home schooling. The First Amendment to the Constitution says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” and until recently that Amendment has been interpreted as insisting on a separation of church and state. The source and significance of that Doctrine of the Separation of Church Stage can be traced back to both secular and religious, i.e., Plato’s Euthyphro: justice has two parts, that which “has to do with the service to the gods, the remainder is the part of justice that has to do with the service to mankind; and Jesus’s admonition: 400 years later: ”Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”,

What Americans need to know now is that the religion that shapes Project 2025 is that practiced by the evangelical fundamentalists, who are a minority. Eighty-one percent of Americans say the law should not allow companies or other institutions to use religious beliefs to decide whether to offer a service to some people and not others. (ACLU)

The Heritage’s Project 2025 which is now being implemented advocates doing away with the Department of Education, expanding school vouchers, telling teachers what to teach and not to teach and punishing them for not complying, To learn more about this assault and to do something about it, support your local public schools and the National Education Association:

From the National Education Associations web-site:

In 2022-23 more states passed or expanded school voucher laws than any previous year. But the evidence is indisputable: vouchers are being used by families with children already in private school to subsidize their tuition, and their skyrocketing costs are diverting funding from public schools—to the detriment of the 90 percent of our students who attend public school. National Education Association. National Education Association

In calling for a federal voucher law, Project 2025 promises to “model” the ESA voucher program that took hold in Arizona. This would be catastrophic. Arizona’s is one the largest voucher programs in the nation and one of the most unaccountable. Far from serving lower income families, Arizona’s vouchers benefit predominantly private school families, siphon valuable funds from public schools, and have destabilized the state’s budget.

The implications for students and public schools and the communities that rely on them are disastrous. And Arizona, unfortunately, is Exhibit A.” said Jessica Levin, litigation director at the Education Law Center.

Project 2025 would also weaken regulations against charter schools, which take away funding from traditional public schools, that often have little accountability to taxpayers or parents.

Attacking Educator Voice

Labeling the National Education Association (NEA) a “radical special interest group,” Project 2025 calls on Congress to revoke NEA’s congressional charter and threatens educators’ ability to come together and work in union to advocate for their students and their profession.

NEA is a powerful voice for public schools across the country, mobilizing its members for increased education funding, higher pay for educators, and against school privatization schemes. Project 2025 sees the collective voice of educators as a major obstacle to implementing their extremist agenda at the state and local level, which is why it seeks to bulldoze their collective bargaining power – indeed, dismantle all workers’ right to organize via unions–and the ability to advocate for themselves and their students.

1201 16th Street, NW

Washington, DC 20036-3290

WHERE THE POWER LIES – GEORGE KINCHELOE SINGS ABOUT THE BOHEMIAN GROVE, CLUB HOUSE OF THE DEEP STATE

February 3, 2025

The Bohemian Grove is the club house of the real Deep State – not a bunch of Liberal Commies, Socialists – no, the Bohemian Grove on the Russian River has a very very exclusive membership and attendance at its private gatherings includes members of government, corporations, and guys (my understanding is that women are allowed only as special guests but Ms.Condoleezza Rice of the Hoover Institution may give them reason to let the women join up). Stanford’s Hoover was to Reagan as the Heritage Foundation is to Trump. The word at the Farm was that when Reagan became President, all the Hoover fellers left for Washington and no one was left to close the door. And it was Reagan’s Hoover team that laid the groundwork for the Heritage 2025, i.e., There’s no government like no government except for one run by and for the rich. And it’s still pretty much all guys that’s got the plan man.

When I first heard this song perhaps 20 years ago I distinctly remember thinking, when I heard one of the lyrics, that it was dated, that things had progressed progressively on those fronts, but now, when I hear “First we’re gong after the immigrants, then we’re going after the queers”. I know that’s at the heart of the current agenda by the same sorts of folks who provoked the line. I’m curious whether or not Trump and Musk have any history with the place? In any case, should you be interested in the really real Deep State, learn as much as you can about the Bohemian Grove.

I opened my radio program on Stanford’s KZSU with the song and dedicated it to the Hoover Institution (The Republican Power Phallus) which is located just across the street from the radio station. Had guest musicians and discussed politics, etc. My show was cancelled right after I invited Ms. Rice to discuss the meaning of “torture”.

It’s a strong wakeup history lesson of a song.

GIVE WHAT YOU CAN TO TEAM GIFFORDS – NO GANGSTERS WITH GUNS

February 2, 2025

We need to join with others who believe as we do because there is strength in numbers and so far, history has shown that when Americans know the truth, they will do the right thing. Trump and his billionaire buddies are liars and hucksters and must be stopped.

President Trump has disbanded a federal school safety advisory board, which was created by Trump himself after the Parkland shooting where 17 people died. The goal of the advisory board was to help share resources and best practices related to school safety—an incredibly vital area of work, considering there were 330 shootings at schools in 2024.

Between this and his apparent dissolution of the federal Office of Gun Violence Prevention, it’s clear that President Trump is choosing the gun lobby over saving lives.

We’re hard at work urging the Trump Administration to reconstitute the federal school safety advisory board, and we need your help to fuel this critical effort.

So please: If you’re ready to join us in this crucial fight, will you make a $25 contribution to GIFFORDS PAC today?

If you’ve stored your info with ActBlue, we’ll process your contribution instantly:

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Thank you for taking a stand. We can’t allow President Trump to betray Parkland families and their tireless advocacy to protect kids in schools.

– Team GIFFORDS

WHITE FEAR OF HISTORY

February 1, 2025

Today, President Trump has ordered the Pentagon and the State Department to not recognize Black History Month.

My understanding is that February was chosen as the month to celebrate Black History Month because Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass both shared February birthdays. President Ford recognized Black History Month in 1976 and President Reagan issued a Proclamation recognizing Black History Month in 1986.

Here is some Black and White history:

No NFL team has hired Colin Kapernick who was fired in 2016 for kneeling during the National Anthem to protest police shootings of Black men and other injustices experienced by the Black community.

The NFL has fined Nick Bosa $11,255 for wearing a MAGA hat on the field Oct. 27, according to multiple reports. The San Francisco 49er star edge rusher crashed an interview with Brock Purdy after their “Sunday Night Football” victory wearing the hat and pointing to it.

-Fox News

Some very recent history: (from Public Citizen):

On January 20, Trump was inaugurated for the second time.
That same day, the former head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) resigned after intense pressure from Trump crony Elon Musk (who was upset that the FAA had fined his company SpaceX for violating rules around rocket launches).
On January 21, Trump fired the director of the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
That same day, Trump froze hiring of new air traffic controllers. (Even though there is a profound shortage of controllers nationwide, which has resulted in understaffed air traffic facilities and overworked controllers — something Public Citizen has been urging government leaders to address for years).
Also on January 21, the Trump regime essentially disbanded the federal Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which was created by Congress in 1988 after the bombing of PanAm Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Trump never bothered to appoint an acting director of the FAA until yesterday — after the tragedy that claimed 67 lives.

It will take time for the National Transportation Safety Board to identify exactly what went wrong. And while there is no indication that Trump’s actions were responsible, his moves can only make air travel less safe.

Here’s some more of what Trump had to say about efforts to bring even a modicum of diversity to our nation’s aviation workforce:

Trump alleged that the Obama administration had determined the FAA was “too white.” Of course it did no such thing.

“You have to go by brain power. You have to go by psychological quality.”

“We want somebody that’s psychologically superior.” (At the risk of stating the obvious, it’s a major red flag when politicians who are already saying patently racist things start tossing in words like “superior.”)

Trump was asked how he could determine that diversity hiring had caused the crash. He quickly — and snarkily — responded, “Because I have common sense.”

Trump and his MAGA minions are doing more than blaming “DEI” for every ill. They are weaponizing the racist, sexist proposition that white men are always and automatically “meritorious” — despite the glaringly obvious counterexample of their own administration — while anyone else is inherently unqualified.

Recommended Reading:

A Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn

The Kapernick Effect: Taking a Knee, Changing the World by Dave Zirin

TRYING TO FIGURE OUR HOW TO DEAL WITH THE GreedyOilgarchicPackagerms

January 31, 2025

Ruminating on Relgion: A Personal Note

What can be done now to defend ourselves and our country against the fast moving fascism fueled by the beliefs of the religious right and the wealth of the oilgarchs?

Having unconditionally recommended that you, dear reader watch and listen to Right Reverend Budde’s sermon, I feel I should say something about my ‘take’ on the subject of the Christian Religion. To begin with it should be noted that there are many flavors: some 200 denominations in the U.S. and 45,000 world wide. The most important thing to know about all religions, including Christianity is that you can find justification for just about anything you care to justify in their sacred texts, including genocide, male superiority, racism, slavery….you name it.

My personal experience with this fact occurred When I applied for Conciencious Objector status because I did not want to be a part of a war where, as then Republican Congressman Pete McCloskey put it, General Giap was to Vietnam what George Washington had been to the United States. Add to that that villages were being destroyed in order to save them and “we” were bombing anything that moved. And there was a massacre at Mi Lai.

There were two reasons my Draft Board, located in Falls Church Virginia turned down my CO status: (1) my objections to fighting the Vietnamese were not based on an objection to all war(s) and (2) not based on “religious training and belief.” I believed there were just wars, such as the war against Nazi Germany and, after I was told, in a whinny southern accent that “You college keeds think you knows it all”, I said that I hoped I would have had the courage to fight in WWII. Then, after another red faced scowling man said “Whah don’t you cut that hair boy/“ and asked if I was an atheist, I explained that I was agnostic and that it wasn’t God telling me the war was wrong. The war was wrong. My country was wrong. It did not help that I mentioned the Socratic question: Is an act wrong because the gods say it’s wrong or do the god’s say it’s wrong because it is wrong?, followed up by references to Spinoza and Tesla which had shaped by belief that God is Nature and were we only to believe that we would not be trashing it. I had began the interview sincere and polite. I left angry and afraid.

The part of the Selective Service Act that required that one’s objections to war be based on religious training and belief was later struck down by the Supreme Court on the grounds that it essentially violated the separation of church and state – that a Conscientious Objection need not be based on the moral directives of a supreme being, but could also be based on a “sincere and meaningful belief which occupies in the life of its possessor a place parallel to that filled by the God of those”..

These memories have surfaced these last few days because there is talk of deporting thousands, prosecuting women who have abortions, retaking the Panama Canal and possibly stealing Greenland and annexing Canada. Sure, some ot those ideas and others are mostly bravado, they nevertheless signal a belligerent, macho, racist ’official” American approach to the world. And supporting this approach are the Religious Fundamentalists.

One of the main reasons the Conservative Religious Right has become so powerful is that it has supported and cultivated a closeness to the ideologies and policies promoted by Right Wing Think Tanks such as the Heritage Foundation, the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the Hoover Institution, and the American Enterprise Institute. These well funded conservative institutions, aided by Supreme Court Rulings that money is speech and corporations are people, have evolved into powerful political propaganda centers.

What is most worrisome is that just as the right stole a march on the left by funding “Think Tanks”, they are now focusing on the thinking of American youth, attacking secular public schools and promoting the use of state and federal tax dollars to support religious schools. While it is true that the First Amendment to the Constitution says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”, it is also true that the Constitution does not establish a right to public education, it has been interpreted until recently as insisting on a separation of church and state.

To be continued…

ARWA MAHDAWI IS ALWAYS WORTH READING – YOU CAN FIND HER IN THE GUARDIAN

January 29, 2025

Parents, beware! If you send your impressionable young child to school in the US they are at risk of contracting a nasty case of the woke-mind virus. There’s a good chance a teacher will turn your kid trans and, in the middle of maths, whip out surgical equipment to perform gender-affirming surgery. We know this because – despite any evidence to back it up – our esteemed leader, Donald Trump, has said as much.

“Can you imagine you’re a parent and your son leaves the house and you say, ‘Jimmy, I love you so much. Go have a good day in school,’ and your son comes back with a brutal operation,” Trump said at a rally last year.

No, actually, I can’t imagine that. But due to a recent personal incident I do now understand why the Maga crowd are constantly banging on about kids being indoctrinated at school and why there’s been a surge in home schooling. My three-year-old daughter, you see, has been brainwashed by her preschool: a few weeks ago she came home singing “Fly, Eagles fly” at the top of her little lungs, and she hasn’t stopped since. US readers will know exactly what I’m talking about, but for those who need a primer: I live in sports-obsessed Philadelphia, and the Eagles are Philly’s football team. (It’s possible you already know this because the NFL is being heavily marketed in the UK and is gaining popularity. Taylor Swift dating the football star Travis Kelce has also helped the sport get new viewers.)

They start them on sports young in Philly. My kid’s preschool has been taking the kids on little parades around the block to support the team. Now we can’t see the Eagles logo without my daughter cheering. Sometimes, I even hear her in bed chanting: “E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles!” (Which at least makes her better at spelling than the mayor of Philly, who recently made headlines by chanting E-L-G-S-E-S.)

I don’t care about American football, or sport in general, so it doesn’t bother me who my kid roots for. I think it’s nice she’s bought into the city’s spirit. But I do worry for my wife, who comes from another sports-obsessed town (Boston) and was hoping to raise a Pats fan. It must be hard when your only child supports the wrong team. But then again, you can’t be a sports fan without getting used to crushing disappointment.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

WE ALL NEED TO GET TO WORK STARTING WITH SUPPORTING SECULAR PUBLIC EDUCATION

January 28, 2025

ALL AMERICANS WHO CALL THEMSELVES CHRISTIAN SHOULD WATCH AND LISTEN TO THIS SERMON

January 27, 2025

1.21.25 Sermon by The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde – YouTube

1.21.25 Sermon by The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde

Washington National Cathedral

You may want to sing this hymn while watching this profound and powerful sermon. Some changes made to fit our times, but the message of Jesus remains. If only those who profess to being Christian would be true fundamentalists and read the Gospels and ignore Paul, they would find that Jesus preached the power of love and also warned us to watch out for how wealth can work against love.

(1) Onward, Christian WORKERS,
marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
going on before!

JESUS TEACHER OF LOVE,
leads against the foe;
Forward into battle,
see his banner go!

Refrain:
Onward, Christian WORKERS,
marching as to war,
With the TEACHINGS OF Jesus
going on before!

2 At the sign of triumph
Satan’s host doth flee;
On, then, Christian WORKERS,
on to victory!
Hell’s foundations quiver
at the shout of praise;
AMERICANS, lift your voices,
loud your anthems raise! [Refrain]

3 Like a mighty army
moves the WORD of God;
AMERICANS, we are treading
where OUR HEROS have trod;
We WILL NOT be divided;
all one body we,
One in hope and doctrine,
one in charity. [Refrain]

4 Onward, then, ye people,
join our happy throng,
Blend with ours your voices
in the triumph song;
Glory, laud, and honor,
unto THE GOLDEN RULE;
This thro’ countless ages
men AND WOMEN sing. [Refrain]

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me–and there was no one left to speak for me. MARTIN BUBER

January 25, 2025

As more and more sinners, psychopaths and nasty dumb shits are placed into positions of power, it is crucially important that we help defend our friends and neighbors. Here are some resources:

Immigrant Legal Resource Center:

Red Cards / Tarjetas Rojas | Immigrant Legal Resource Center | ILRC

Immigration Preparedness Toolkit | Immigrant Legal Resource Center | ILRC.

The local Friend’s Meeting is also a good place to find support. And of course, the ACLU is and has been always available to protect US. ACLU.org

DEFEND THE RIGHTS OF ALL PEOPLE NATIONWIDE.

With immigrant rights, trans justice, reproductive freedom, and more at risk, we’re in courts and communities across the country to protect everyone’s rights — and we need you with us.

Donations to the ACLU are not tax-deductible.

THE SACRED SHOT THAT SHOULD BE HEARD AROUND THE WORLD – THANK YOU REV. MARIANN BUDDE, YOU ARE TRULY RIGHT AND RIGHTEOUS

January 23, 2025

The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Diocese of Washington bravely spoke truth to power. Her sermon should be required listening for all Americans. She concludes with:

In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families. Some who fear for their lives. They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues.

1.21.25 Sermon by The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde – YouTube

SUPPORT THE CONTRARIAN AND TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO DO THE SAME

January 22, 2025

Of all the nasty, unAmerican, unChristian, cruel and dangerous actions made by our new president, the pardoning of those involved in the January 6 attempt to steal the election is perhaps the most egregious and the Contrarian focuses on this and shows us a way forward.

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Harris was Right: We Need to Hear from Her

We need a real law-and-order advocate to denounce Trump’s lawlessness

JAN 22

For several years, whenever Hillary Clinton appeared for an interview or commented on events on which she had particular expertise, she was greeted with howls from the punditocracy to essentially shut up and go away. Granted, she has been on the national stage since the 1990s, but frankly, Americans could have used more of her insight and advice on the deeds and misdeeds of President Trump over the years.

Now, less than a week into the Trump orgy of unconstitutional power grabs, preposterous declarations (renaming the Gulf of Mexico might be the stupidest of the bunch) and the release of the Jan. 6 felons (some of whom were convicted of violent crimes), I sure would like to hear the voice of the other woman nominated to run for president. Many of us would welcome the clear, compelling voice of former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Democracy defenders anticipated that Democrats might be caught on their back feet, but when the Senate minority leader issues anodyne declarations so utterly inapt in the current climate, it’s time to look for a single charismatic voice, one well-versed in law and unafraid to trim her sails. (Sen. Chuck Schumer’s statement after a deeply dishonest, dark, dangerous inaugural address suggested he had not been listening closely: “It’s now time to look to the future. The challenges that face America are many and great. The Senate must respond with resolve, bipartisanship, and fidelity to the working and middle class of this country.”)

Trump has launched a full-out assault on the Constitution and the rule of law. His gambits include: attempting to excise birthright citizenship from the 14^thAmendment; undermining professional, competent governance with “Schedule F”; and—frighteningly—to move to militarize the border, invoke emergency powers, and grab the Alien & Sedition Act out of the 18^th century. (As Ilya Somin explained about the latter, “[T]he Alien Enemies Act cannot be used in our current situation because we are not in a ‘declared war’ with any foreign nation, and there also is no ‘invasion’ or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or government.’”)

Harris was the last administration’s most compelling advocate on a range of legal and public-safety issues, from the reversal of Roe v. Wade to the dangers of untrammeled executive power to anti-immigrant incitement. She showed Democrats how to be tough on the border without being cruel, reckless, and contemptuous of the Constitution. (At the Ellipse speech just before the election, she declared, “When I was attorney general of a border state, I saw the chaos and violence caused by transnational criminal organizations that I took on and when I am President, we will quickly remove those who arrive here unlawfully, prosecute the cartels and give border patrol the support they so desperately need.” However, she consistently reminded us we are a nation of immigrants.)

She never minced words about Trump’s dictatorial ambitions. She did warn us less than two weeks before the election, “Donald Trump vowed to be a dictator on day one. He vowed to use the military to carry out personal and political vendettas. His former chief of staff said he wanted generals like Hitler’s. Trump wants unchecked power.”

Given that she is a former prosecutor who boasted that she put violent criminals behind bars, I certainly would like to hear what she has to say about letting out of prison 1500 people convicted in association with the Jan. 6 insurrection (which resulted in the death of several police officers and serious injuries and trauma to scores of others).

On the anniversary of the riot, Harris had this to say about the violence: “On Jan. 6, we all saw what our nation would look like if the forces who seek to dismantle our democracy are successful. The lawlessness, the violence, the chaos. What was at stake then and now is the right to have our future decided, the way the Constitution describes it, by we the people, all the people.”

We all recall her frequently deploring political violence. (At an appearance before Black journalists, she recounted a conversation with Trump after a failed assassination attempt. “I told him what I have said publicly: There is no place for political violence in our country.”) And she routinely denounced Trump for “gaslighting” the country on the events of Jan. 6.

In short, Harris leaned into her prosecutorial background in the campaign and burnished her reputation as someone who dealt responsibly and effectively with international gangs. She therefore seems perfectly positioned to denounce Trump and his MAGA apologists as being soft on crime and anti-police (letting those implicated in violence against them waltz out of jail). She can stress he is already violating his oath to defend the Constitution and point out he is substituting rhetoric and military threats for real action to secure the border. And she can highlight the docile, partisan Supreme Court’s decision to let him wriggle out of criminal prosecutions.

She was right about what Trump intended to do and the danger he posed to the rule of law. She was right about the Supreme Court. Though she certainly deserves a break, whenever she is prepared, given our political vacuum, no one is better positioned to summon democracy defenders to stand up to a lawless president than Kamala Harris.

TWO WOMEN WHO CAN SAVE US – SUPPORT THE CONTRARIAN

January 20, 2025

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video1866022484.mp4

Heather Cox Richardson & Jen Rubin in conversation

Two of the boldest, most powerful voices of our time–a historian and a journalist–discuss the precedent for arriving at this day and where we go from here

JENNIFER RUBIN AND HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JAN 20

Heather Cox Richardson is a professor of American history and a prolific author. Her Letters from an American newsletter educates millions of daily readers about the historical precedent or, increasingly, the unprecedented nature of our political landscape.

It is our extraordinary honor that, for this consequential day in our modern history, she kindly took time to speak with The Contrarian’s co-founder and Editor-in-Chief, Jen Rubin, about what it means to be an American today, the joy of democracy, and history’s invaluable lesson: if we want to move forward, we must never shut up.

A guest post by

Heather Cox Richardson

I’m a history professor interested in the contrast between image and reality in American politics. I believe in American democracy, despite its frequent failures.

THINK YOU ARE THINKING FOR YOURSELF? ON MONDAY A BATTLE IS OVER, BUT THE WARS GO ON

January 19, 2025

Tik Tok Tic Tok goes the cyber clock

To be or not to be in the land of the free

Belong?

Serve the Commies or the Oilgarchs?

Don’t Belong?

Serve Neither and find Somewhere Else(s)?

Your choice.

Hers’s how I see it:

Bernays was right:

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.

-Edward Bernays

Fox News contributed greatly to bringing us Trump. Now Tik Tok may be owned by Musk.

Look at Facebook, Amazon, X. as corrals that hold the attention and shape that attention of millions and millions of members who are manipulated to buy this or that, vote for him or her……;tis but a pageant to keep us in false gaze’ as the Bard put it.

Plato held long ago, that the only reason to take the trouble to free the mass of man(sick)kind from believing that the shadows of puppets are real – from being twice or thrice removed from reality – was in order not be ruled by the delusional.

Where to go for the truth about what is going on? Must it be a box the size of X or Tik Tok of could it be a million sources of reason, committed to truth ( web-sites, blogs….), connected and all paying attention and giving a shit.

But how get folks to tune in?

Focus on the youth – schools (especially PUBLIC), music, books, cyber spots that entertain and enlighten. Here are some:

👇 DO SOMETHING 👇

Fans of political cartoons can rejoice at the existence of three websites, curated by cartoonists themselves, that offer cornucopias of cartoons from established and emerging artists. Feast on what the corporate powers are taking from our newsfeeds!

The Nib, a comic site edited by Matt Bors, delivers a selection of cartoons to your email inbox every morning. The daily ‘toons are free but if you sign up as a member (for as little as $4/month), you’ll be helping those cartoonists and editors actually make a living–plus you’ll get more cool stuff. TheNib.com

Our friend, former Lowdown ‘toonmeister Matt Wuerker, edits Politico’s weekly “Cartoon Carousel.” Politico.com/tag/Cartoon-Carousel

Check out the offerings of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. EditorialCartoonists.com.

‘STOP THEM DAMN PICTURES!’

–Boss William M. Tweed of New York City bellowing to his subordinates in 1871

Boss Tweed was the wholly corrupt tyrant who ran the notorious Tammany Hall political machine that ruled the city’s government, courts, treasury, ballot boxes, and business development. The “pictures” he desperately wanted stopped were editorial cartoons by Thomas Nast, Harper’s Weekly’s wickedly creative caricaturist, generally recognized as the progenitor of US political cartooning. Tweed said he didn’t “care a straw” for anything that reporters and editors wrote about him and his thieving machine, since “My constituents can’t read, but damn it, they can see the pictures!”

When Tweed couldn’t force Nast to stop drawing, he tried to buy him off. An emissary representing a group of wealthy Tweed backers offered $500,000 (the equivalent of $10 million today) for Nast to go off to Europe to study art.

Undeterred, Nast’s skewering of Boss and his Tammany cronies continued full tilt, finally causing many of the machine’s electoral faithful to gag at the greed and join in driving the whole bunch from office. (Some even fled the country–though probably not to study art.) Tweed himself was later convicted on 204 of 220 fraud and money laundering charges and sent to the Ludlow Street Jail, where he died in disgrace … done in by a cartoonist’s pen and ink.

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RELIABLE INFORMATION RE NUCLEAR POWER, WEAPONS, AND AI’S LIES: SUPPORT THE NUCLEAR INFORNATION AND RESOURCES SERVICE

January 17, 2025

The Nuclear Information and Resource Service fights for a nuclear-free, carbon-free world powered by clean, renewable energy. Example: The mainstream press has told us that Microsoft wants to restart The Three Mile Island nuclear reactor and sell the electricity to power its data centers and that Amazon, Google and Facebook want to power their AI tech with Small Modular Reactors. What’s really going on?

In one word: LIES. Big lies, and lots of them. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Facebook are already operating and building lots of AI data centers. They consume huge amounts of electricity, nearly all from coal and gas power plants. There is no chance they will run on nuclear power for years, if ever: at least 2028 for Microsoft, if TMI 1 restarts; and at least a decade for Amazon, Facebook, and Google, if and when

SMRs are approved and can be built. So Big Tech is using the “promise” of maybe buying nuclear power in the future to cover up the huge climate pollution it is causing.

But to get away with this scheme, they are also telling Big Lies that help the nuclear industry:

Wind and solar aren’t “dependable” enough to power data centers, even though they are the fastest growing and most affordable electricity sources in the world.
Data centers require the “always-on, baseload” power that nuclear power plants generate, even though nuclear power plants regularly shut down for days or weeks at a time.

One more fact about these deals shows how dirty the TMI restart scheme is: it also depends on blocking wind, solar, and battery storage that could provide 300 times more power than TMI I can generate. Nationwide, over 1,000,000 megawatts of renewable energy and battery projects are being delayed for years because utility companies are preventing them from connecting to the power grid.

TMI 1 could generate 800 megawatts of electricity, but there are over 200,000 megawatts of wind, solar, and storage sitting in limbo, in the same region. Constellation says the TMI 1 restart plan depends on permission to jump to the front of the line, blocking all of that renewable energy.

Source: NIRS newsletter: December 5, 2024

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news, views & musings for our nuclear-free, carbon-free future

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JULY 5, 2024

Greenworld Blog: PRIDE Edition: “The Climate Crisis Is Here–How Do We Save The Lesbians?” by Ann McCann

Lesbian households do and will continue to bear the brunt of the climate crisis and the wildly inflated costs of utility billing in the US, and as such must be at the frontline of our understanding of how to protect these frontline communities in our engaged activism. It is common understanding that women (and this……

READ MORE
MAY 8, 2023

Germany’s Nuclear Energy Phase-Out, Explained

On April 15, 2023 utilities in Germany shut down the country’s three last remaining nuclear power plants. These closures mark the successful planned phase-out of German nuclear energy from the nation’s grid. What does this mean for Germany? What lessons should the U.S. take away from the German energy transition? Germany’s Energiewende (“energy transition”) is an overarching……

READ MORE
DECEMBER 13, 2022

One Small Step for Nuclear Fusion, No Giant Leap for Climate Action

NIRS Statement on 12/13/22 DOE Nuclear Fusion Announcement Today, the US Department of Energy announced what scientists consider a major breakthrough in nuclear fusion research. In the DOE’s press release, they celebrate “a major scientific breakthrough decades in the making that will pave the way for advancements in national defense and the future of clean……

READ MORE

JULY 15, 2021

Economic Analysis Shows $10-50 Billion In Proposed Nuclear Subsidies Would Subvert Biden’s Infrastructure Plans; Best Investment for Jobs, Climate and the Economy is in Rapid Transition to Renewable Energy and Smart Electricity Grid, According to Expert WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new report shows why the best infrastructure investment for U.S. jobs, the climate, and the economy is in a rapid transition to renewable energy…

READ THE RELEASE
JULY 15, 2021

Report: Proposed Nuclear Industry Subsidies Will Waste Taxpayer Dollars, Renewables Cheaper and More Reliable Alternative Proposals from the White House and Congress would invest up to $50 billion dollars in subsidies for aging, uneconomical nuclear power plants over the next decade. A new report by economist and consumer advocate Dr. Mark Cooper shows that…

READ THE RELEASE
APRIL 15, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 12 April 2021 Download at www.climatefalsesolutions.org Register for telepress conference featuring experts and book authors on 15 April at 2pm EDT here https://forms.gle/dVpDWmoXRWo6wzRBA NEW BOOK UNCOVERS CRITICAL CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY FLAWS AHEAD OF EARTH DAY At a time when governments are rolling out climate change policies around the world, activists…

READ THE RELEASE

HUMAN HISTORY BECOMES MORE AND MORE A RACE BETWEEN EDUCATION AND CATASTROPHE – H.G. WELLS

January 16, 2025

Given that our government to be is promising to more explicitly oligarchic than any time since The Gilded Age (Mark Twains’s novel by that name is well worth reading), it is instructive to look at what Aristotle has to say about governments that are run by the rich and what he believes is the best form of government. He is critical of his teacher Plato’s ideal city state because while it is based in part on observations of elements of the Spartan constitution, Aristotle finds many of the proposals in the Republic as too ideal, too much based on “Let us imagine” and not grounded on a realistic understanding of human nature and what is actually politically possible.

In contrast, Aristotle is said to have examined 158 actual existing city state constitutions and based his recipe for the best on which ones were the most stable and just and afforded a good life for the majority of citizens. Raphael’s painting of the two philosophers shows Plato pointing upwards to his realm of ideal Forms, and the empiricist Aristotle trying to dampen down to earth his teacher’s Utopian fantasies. In his Politics, Aristotle finds that “The best political community is formed by citizens of the middle class, and those states are likely to be well administered in which the middle class is large and stronger if possible than both the other classes… for the addition of the middle class turns the scale, and prevents either of the extremes from being dominant.” Moreover, “The middle (class) most easily obeys reason” whereas the wealthy “find it hard to follow reason, because they tend to be insolent and rather wicked in great things” and the poor are more often than not “extremely wretched and weak….have an exceeding lack of honor…and too much involved in petty wickedness.” “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.”

Aristotle also noted that the wealthy are possessed by “a love of ruling and desire to rule, both of which are harmful to cities…because of the luxury they live in, being ruled is not something they get used to, even at school.”

Absent a middle class…”a city of slaves and masters arises, not a city of the free, and the first are full of envy while the second are full of contempt”

Sound familiar? Here we go! Hang on and hang in there.

GOING DEEP FOR GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: POSSIBLY A GAME CHANGER FOR THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY

January 15, 2025

My understanding is that this technology grew out of Bill Gates sponsored fusion research at MIT which developed lasers that can burn their way down far enough to tap into high temperatures. Am wondering whether or not Gates is still involved? In anywise, a concept well-worth exploring.

Skip to content

Unlocking the true power of clean geothermal energy.

An aerial view of the Andean Mountains in Chile, a beautiful coastline, and a verdant countryside stitched together into one photograph.

01

Terawatts of clean energy

We are developing an entirely new way to access the largest untapped energy source on the planet: geothermal energy.
02

At scale

Our approach uses the established workforce, assets, supply chains, and regulatory frameworks of the fossil fuel industry. We don’t need to create infrastructure from scratch.
03

Equitable for all

By providing the multi-terawatt levels of energy required to power our civilization, we can build a truly equitable, clean energy source on a global scale.

Geothermal has the power density and scalability of fossil fuels, allowing us to put clean energy on the grid very quickly.

2050

Deep geothermal energy is at the core of an energy-independent world. It is the only renewable solution with the potential to get us to net zero by 2050. It is renewable, inexhaustible, and available everywhere.

To scale geothermal to terawatts we must drill deeper, hotter, and faster than ever before possible.

Our gyrotron-powered drilling platform vaporizes boreholes through rock and provides access to deep geothermal heat without complex downhole equipment.

Based on breakthrough fusion research and well-established drilling practices, we are developing a radical new approach to ultra-deep drilling. First, we use conventional rotary drilling to get to basement rock. Then, we switch to high-power millimeter waves to reach unprecedented depths.

FIG. 2

FIG. 3Millimeter wave drilling will unlock the most abundant and powerful clean energy source on Earth by allowing us to drill as far down as 20 km to reach temperatures up to 500° C.

3 – 20 km

Deeper geothermal is more universal. At these depths, we can reach superhot geothermal anywhere on Earth, making it a truly global energy source. It provides a path to energy independence for every nation.

300 – 500° C

Hotter geothermal has more power density. At these temperatures, geothermal is so powerful that it can reuse fossil-fired infrastructure around the world. It enables a much faster energy transition.

A truly equitable clean energy source, abundantly available near every population and industrial center on the planet.

An aerial view of the Schanzengraben canal in Zurich, Switzerland, skycrappers in London, England, and TaiPo New town in Hong Kong stiched together into one photograph.

Unlimited Possibilities

Workforce ready

The oil and gas industry represents the largest workforce in energy today. Their skills readily transfer to geothermal, harnessing a ready-made green workforce.
No geopolitics

Geothermal does not require any fuels and does not produce any waste. It’s truly renewable, abundant, and equitable for all, even in the most challenging energy environments.
Infrastructure ready

From drilling rigs to power plants, fossil fuel infrastructure dominates the world today. It can all be readily repurposed to rapidly advance a geothermal world of clean energy.
Environmentally super sound

Deep geothermal uses less than 1% of the land and materials of other renewables, making it the only option for a sustainable clean energy transition.

In the NewsJUN. 28, 2022

Tapping into the million-year energy source below our feet

MIT News

ANOTHER REASON TO FORGET THE WASHINGTON POST: SUPPORT JENNIFER RUBIN AND OTHERS WITH COURAGE AND A CONSCIENCE WHO CAN NOW BE FOUND AT THE CONTRARIAN

January 14, 2025

And today journalist Jennifer Rubin joined her colleagues who have abandoned the Washington Post as it swung toward Trump. She resigned from the Washington Post with the announcement that she and former White House ethics lawyer Norm Eisen have started a new media outlet called The Contrarian. Joining them is a gold-star list of journalists and commentators who have stood against the rise of Trump and the MAGA Republicans, many of whom have left publications as those outlets moved rightward.

“Corporate and billionaire owners of major media outlets have betrayed their audiences’ loyalty and sabotaged journalism’s sacred mission—defending, protecting and advancing democracy,” Rubin wrote in her resignation announcement. In contrast, the new publication “will be a central hub for unvarnished, unbowed, and uncompromising reported opinion and analysis that exists in opposition to the authoritarian threat.”

“The urgency of the task before us cannot be overstated,” The Contrarian’s mission statement read. “We have already entered the era of oligarchy—rule by a narrow clique of powerful men (almost exclusively men). We have little doubt that billionaires will dominate the Trump regime, shape policy, engage in massive self-dealing, and seek to quash dissent and competition in government and the private sector. As believers in free markets subject to reasonable regulation and economic opportunity for all, we recognize this is a threat not only to our democracy but to our dynamic, vibrant economy that remains the envy of the world.”

In what appears to be a rebuke to media outlets that are cozying up to Trump, The Contrarian’s credo is “Not Owned by Anybody.”

-Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American. January 13, 2025

RICHARD KARST AND DANIEL BOLO PRATHER SING INSURGENTLY ABOUT COMMUNICATION

January 13, 2025

Heard this song yesterday live and in person and love it. Spread the song and sing along!

SKIN THING

(Crucial Darshan-ASCAP)

Lyrics and music by Daniel Bolo Prather and Richard Karst

Drums played by Bruce Campbell

Backup vocals sung by Richard Karst and Lalita Lynn

Lead vocals and everything else sung and played by Richard Karst

===================================

AIn’t no skin thing

Ain’t no black, white, yellow or red thing

It’s just you and me, and that’s all

Not the warring of nations or religions that’s so bad

It’s the lack of communication

We’ve got to break it down

White is for the integration

Black is for the body communication

Red is the earth vibration

Yellow is spiritual illumination

MORE FROM LOU: DON’T DEFUND THE POLICE. REFUND HEALTH SERVICES GUTTED BY REAGAN.

January 12, 2025

Below a letter from Lou Solitske

Don’t Defund Refund

I have witnessed, firsthand, how thin the veneer of civilization can be. Effective, caring and honest protection of the citizenry by well organized, well trained and well-equipped law enforcement agencies is vital. I believe the reform needed goes well beyond our police and sheriff departments. When Ronald Reagan was governor of California, he decided to save a ton of money by closing most of the state’s mental hospitals and drastically reducing funding to other mental health programs. Soon other states all across our country greatly reduced their support for mental health as well. So now more and more people in dire need of psychiatric care are in the communities and on the streets and have become a problem for the local police jurisdictions. The nationwide tax revolt sparked by California’s Jarvis-Gann Initiative (Prop 13) passed in 1978, resulted in the defunding of social programs all across our country. Economic dislocations have made it ever more difficult for the lower and middle classes to keep their heads above the rising tides of insolvency. So, the police now have to deal with dramatically increasing numbers of homeless individuals and families. And, what I consider to be the cherry on this dysfunctional societal sundae is the rampant use of alcohol and drugs, once again, a problem we expect the police to handle. Short sighted politicians have withheld money from numerous social programs intended to address numerous societal ills and have dropped most of these unaddressed issues into the lap of the police. I believe that all lives matter but until they matter equally to those we trust to keep us safe, there can be no justice. Absent justice; there can be and should be no peace. What happened in Minneapolis to George Floyd, makes it harder and way more dangerous for the vast majority of decent, caring cops to do their jobs. While reforming, retraining and effectively policing the police is critical, it will be all in vain if we do not refund (as in fund again) the programs which are essential to the maintenance of social tranquility and order. Every day while suiting up to hit the streets, police officers must be hearing the Mission Impossible theme in their heads; for we have given them a mission that truly is impossible to accomplish.

Lou Solitske

Also worth reading is Lou’s book Taxi Tales which entertains, instructs and is full of common sense compassion, awareness and humor, much of it gleaned while driving his taxi. Check out:

www.coastsideproductions.com

TRUMP’S LIES AND THE TRUTH ABOUT THE LA FIRES

January 11, 2025

Trump and Fox News and other MAGA suck-up media continue to politicize the tragic fires in LA, blaming fish, Democrats, environmentalists, just about everything they hate and spew hate about, other than the climate crisis which has been ignored, lied about and exacerbated by the Oilgarks who sponsor, support them. The TRUTH is that urban water systems EVERYWHERE have not been designed to fight massive wildfires like the one in and around LA. To get the FACTS see the LA Times article below. Two other reliable sources for TRUE NEWS are the Guardian and Heather Cox Richardson’s Letter from an American: heathercoxrichardson@substack.com

Why hydrants ran dry as firefighters battled California’s deadly fires

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-01-09/california-fires-water-supply-problems

SANITY RECHARGING WITH LOU SOLITSKE’S FAVORITE SHOTS IN 2024

January 10, 2025

The Personal re the Political

Someone , I think it was Nietzche, who is said to have lost his sanity when witnessing someone flogging an old horse, said something like: in the face of unending absurdity, what can one do save to take life as an aesthetic phenomena? I took this to mean that in order to keep sane you had to either try to interpret and ‘take’ the absurdity somehow aesthetically – think you are in a play because you are anyway – to riff off Lennon, or, because interpretating maneuver failed repeatedly, when the. world is driving you nuts, Retreat, Rest, and Regroup from reality and vacation in, music, painting, sculpture, literature…. Go on a walk to a museum, or read a good book.

Since a week before the election of Unmentionable, I have taken Uncle Freddie’s advice and taken refuge in the works of two previously unknown authors strongly recommended when self-medication is needed: Terry Pratchett and Lyndsay Faye. And more recently, I reread my friend Lou’s Taxi Tales and watched the video below a dozen times.

What, dear friends, led me to these sources of sanity? Dear friends.

Every year my friend Lou culls his thousands of photos and sends out his favorites. Also recommended is his book Taxi Tales and his website:

<coastsideproductions.com>

INSURGENT ART UNDER ATTACK BY TRUMP SUCKUPS – FORGET THE POST. SUPPORT ANN TELNAES/READ THE GUARDIAN

January 9, 2025

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WOODY GUTHRIE: SOME POWERFULLY AMERICAN INSURGENT ART TO START YOUR NEW YEAR

January 8, 2025

This is from the Jim Hightower LOWDOWN: always taking on injustice with down home wit and wisdom. Support him.

A little more Woody Guthrie to start your new year

JAN 5

∙

PAID

The original “New Years Rulin’s” from Woody Guthrie’s journal

When we shared our New Year’s post including Woody Guthrie’s own famous resolutions/”rulin’s,” I was reminded of the visit that Hightower and I made to the fantastic Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, OK this past spring. Not only is the Center a thoughtful and beautiful collection of Woody’s work, but it’s also a poignant and insightful record of that era that he lived through. (With a bonus original copy of the song lyrics he wrote about Trump’s dad, his landlord when he lived in Brooklyn!)

The mainstream view of history that we’re taught leaves out so many radical perspectives on the realities of the day, and whenever I discover those perspectives and experience them, they give me a visceral sense of belonging to the long, long tradition of pushing for progress no matter what. It reminds me to keep marching, and to keep contributing to the documentation of our radical moments together.

Enjoy these photos and video from our time at the Center, and be sure to visit them if you ever have the chance.

— Deanna

Lyrics to “All You Fascists Bound to Lose”

Hightower experiences a virtual reality demonstration for the first time 🙂

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THE BALLAD OF DANGEROUS GEORGE: RORY MCNAMARA

January 6, 2025

This song was written by Billy Marlowe in 1975 for a play called “The Cage” about the prison experience. It was performed in a small theater in San Francisco by a group of ex-prisoners and Billy would appear during set changes to sing a verse. Although I have thought about this song a lot over the last forty-five years, it wasn’t until June of this year that I felt that the time was ripe to revisit it. I altered one of the verses slightly to make it more relevant to the present time and enlisted the help of good friends, Eamonn Flynn on organ, Paul Olguin on bass and Morris Acevedo on lead guitar. I am deeply indebted to all three of them for contributing such heartfelt performances.

This video is dedicated to the “Black Lives Matter” movement and to the memory of Billy Marlowe.

I hope I got it right.

www.rorymcnamara.com

The Ballad Of Dangerous George.

Words and music ©1974 Billy Marlowe

Cage the killing hawk, you’d better make it stick,

Cover up his eyes, don’t let him see or he’ll take you quick,

There’s a body in the big yard, there’s another killing done,

But there’s hundreds more like George T. Jones, He’s not the only one.

Flashing knives and blood respect, that’s the ritual dance of hate,

If you’re going to die, your line don’t reach to the day side of the gate,

There’s no such thing as justice here when all you’ve got is time,

Top a vengeance with a vengeance, that’s the violence to your crime.

Dead men do tell stories and they walk the ghetto streets,

Many the time the poor man heard the sound of a dead man’s feet,

Jar memories of the keys that played the stone jaw-bone,

But there are hundreds more that don’t mind dying, like George T. Jones.

Truth, it won’t come easy, some will teach and some will learn,

You make a friend, a brother, you hear the truth and you feel it burn,

Would you have it said on the judgment day you were just some jailhouse clown,

And working for the man, when they laid your body down.

Cage the killing hawk, you’d better make it stick,

Cover up his eyes, don’t let him see or he’ll take you quick,

There’s a body in the big yard, there’s another killing done,

But there’s hundreds more like George T. Jones, He’s not the only one.