Wha???? How do you know this? How could you know this? China is a closed society led by a closeted dictator and its very own class of plutocratic oligarchs, as far as we can tell.
They're no US replacement. Just another autocratic state that Trump is friendly towards. Rumors say Trump is prepared to "look the other way" as China invades Taiwan. China also explicitly backs Russia, not Ukraine in the war between the two.
What Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Elon Musk have signaled – unmistakably and ever so darkly – through their chosen errand boy, JD Vance, is that evil can indeed triumph and that they're in it to win.
I hold no office. I live on my veteran’s disability compensation; hence, I have very little to donate. I’m disabled so cannot take part in physical protests; I would be a liability to those around me. I call, email and write my three Congressional reps but all three are trump lapdogs so my contribution goes straight into the round file. So far, nothing I do matters one iota.
However, I did not serve my country so I could watch it be destroyed and then aligned with despots. What can I do to help stop the deliberate, gleeful destruction of America?
Kasumi, as a citizen and a descendant of generations of enlisted military and officers, including quite a few colonels and generals, I salute your service. As the sister of another disabled veteran, who died of conditions exacerbated by serving in Vietnam, I know a lot about the courage it takes to go on in the face of disability, and the cost it exacts from the families of our veterans. If I could shake your hand, I would. I can't, but take this to heart: YOU ARE NOT A NOBODY. All those contacts with your Congressional reps might end up in the proverbial wastebasket, but they are scanned and counted. The comments and other posts you make are read and serve to encourage other resistors. And, IMHO, if you were to sit in a wheelchair while protesting in the square or the street, surrounded by others of like mind, you would serve as a symbol of what is best in us all: the courage to stand your ground and fight for what is right. If you ask, you'll get a ride AND a cadre of helpers to stand around you. YOU ARE NOT A NOBODY AND YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
I appreciate your reply. I know I am not a nobody within the realm of my own life and with the things I can do that affect those around me. With regard to the rapidly changing government of this country I do not matter and haven’t for a long time. None of us do. If we did, our calls, protests, etc would cause real change. They used to. But after trump showed politicians that not caring means getting to do whatever you want, they no longer pay attention to their constituents. I’m not at all saying to stop protesting - just be aware why it doesn’t bring about change right now. Sometimes, the effort will only matter to us and that is still worth it.
I’m not interested in serving as a symbol who can easily become a target and then a victim. I’ve already been in that situation. Afterwards, no one sought me out to congratulate me on my sacrifice or to say that my being targeted gave them hope and encouragement. We do have to use common sense even when fighting against fascism. I prefer to be alive so I can continue to fight rather than a more disabled veteran or dead statistic who will matter just long enough for the mess to be cleaned up. That’s facing reality, not being cynical.
Great point! Part of the plan is to make the opposition feel alone and isolated where despair can grow.
Europe is going to fight Russia in Ukraine. Russia is almost depleted of officers and their best equipment. Europe has the means, men, resources, and NATO battle plans to force Russia out of Ukraine.
The fastest way to defeat Russians in Ukraine is to make it really painful in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Most of the Russian soldiers deaths are not from these two Russian cities or communities. Those dying are from the minority communities deep within Russia, so more deaths in Ukraine and Russian soldiers don’t really change things in Moscow from St. Petersburg.
What’s needed is a Sherman‘s March to the sea, extend the Kursk offensive and threaten Moscow in St. Petersburg by attacking the military Infrastructure around these two cities as well as power plants, water, food supply, and trade simultaneously attacking behind the lines deep in Russian supply lines.
It won’t take long to put millions of Saint Petersburg and Moscow Heights into the streets protesting the war protesting Putin.
Kasumii: I share your feeling. As a man born in the late 1940s, during the 1950s the analogous saying was, "You can't fight city hall."
First, you have to protect and preserve yourself.
Feel no guilt. Feed your soul, feed your intellect, feed your love of self, your love of family, your love of neighbor.
You have served your country; you are strong despite handicap. You EARN respect from your neighbor.
Showing love and understanding of yourself, your family, your neighbor is the beginning.
Why?
Because the core of the Musk/Vance/Tramp Co-Presidency is the degradation of the person.
First, with chilling Stalinist rhetoric, the Orange-Tramp has labeled the Press, "The Enemy of the People".
That is directly talk in the spirit of Joseph Stalin, himself.
During campaign events, CNN, MSNBC, CBS . . . personnel were placed in a little roped-off square, subject to verbal abuse from the Speaker's Rostrum and harassment from the enflamed crowd.
Vance repeated the blood libel, that from Mediaeval Europe had erupted in pogroms. In the Middle Ages it rang, "Jews steal your kids and eat the little girls and boys in blood rituals." In last summer's version, it was, "Haitians steal pets and in blood-Voodoo-rituals eat the kittens and puppies." The Ohio Governor, the Springfield, OH Mayor (both Republicans) begged Vance to stop inciting violence with this inflammatory rhetoric. Vance's response: To double down.
As Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat (NYU) points out, Vance in Munich just had a thirty-minute meeting in his hotel room with Alice Weidel, a leader in the AfD (Alternative for Germany), whose leaders include neo-Nazis.
That party is so tainted by neo-Nazism that even right-wing extremists and nationalist such as Victor Orban, Georgia Meloni and Marine Le Pen -- who link with right-wing extremist Parties in the EU Parliament -- all these nationalist leaders distance themselves from AfD.
Not so Vance. Vance met with Alice Weidel in his hotel room for 30 minutes in Munich!
Vance must consider neo-Nazism to be a central part of his agenda, not only to meet so long with Alice Weidel, but to urge Germany to tear down the "firewall" the Democracy has built against the neo-Nazis.
Against these forces, you inevitably will feel your own efforts feeble in opposition.
You don't have the armed fist of State, as do these neo-Fascists.
You don't have a counterpunch to the Mad-Magazine or "The Onion" madness uttered every day by Co-President Orange-Tramp magnified by the megaphone of the Press and Media.
You are right about the futility of writing a Congressman. I have much experience with these from during the administration of George W. Bush and his round-them-up and torture programs.
You already are in touch through media with Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat.
You probably are in contact through media with Professors Heather Cox Richardson and Joyce Vance (we are in this together).
That is already a beginning.
When you are loving and decent with people around you and show understanding, you begin resistance of the dehumanizing forces of neo-Fascism.
Maybe pick out one cause.
Mine is cruelty towards immigrants.
First, a bit of the litany of the saints: We must secure our border; we must fight against human trafficking; we must fight against drug-trafficking.
But that is not the emphasis of Co-President Tramp.
I will applaud any deportation of a human or drug trafficker. World without End, Amen.
But Orange Tramp and his neo-fascist team yank little kids from their loving moms and protective dads and creates conflicting databases so mom and dad cannot trace their kids and the kids are interned and sometimes have suffered sexual violence.
There are organizations, many of them, that fight this root evil.
One is LULAC -- the League of United Latin American Citizens, a Civil Rights organization founded in 1929.
LULAC works together with the ACLU, the NAACP, and the Criminal Defense Fund of the NAACP.
Sherrilyn Ifill is the Executive of the NAACP's Criminal Defense Fund
Support of donations -- you don't have to give a lot -- is resistance.
If you have talent to give to these organizations, that is a part of resistance.
My experience is to pick one issue essential to human dignity and human and civil rights and devote your effort to that with established organizations.
Collectively you can make a difference.
As Professor Joyce Vance reminds us, "We are in this together!"
Good advice. It does help to narrow down your fight to 1-2 issues. It’s entirely understandable to want to fight it all, all the time but that is a fast track to being exhausted and demoralized. I did the same. I picked 2 issues and I do what I can to stand up for them.
You are correct about small donations. I contacted a few organizations to ask if they considered a 9.00 donation worth their while and they all sent me lovely responses with a resounding “Yes!” I had thought just 9.00 would get eaten up by the credit card fees and admin work but no. Each organization said every penny helps. Instead of trying to pick two groups to send a 30.00 donation to I added 3.00 to that total, divided them up and can now support seven groups. Every penny counts - for them and for us to know that we are still able to contribute and help with their work.
@kasumii - as Jesse Jackson implored - "I am SOMEBODY!" and as the Civil Rights demonstrators declared - "I am a Man" - the psychological warfare is to get us to bow down to unethical authority that clearly lacks social intelligence but has a lot of money. I think we can start building, and start resisting, with every step. Here's my half-in-jest wholly in earnest latest post - for our psycho-spiritual-cultural struggle
Bless you, Ruth. My heart feels like its holding a big cry that's stuck just now. The Developmentally Disabled community has a saying, Nothing about us without us. Trump has the audacity to attempt to leave Ukrainians out of negotiations to end the war. He and his techbros deny the fundamental phenomena of existing as aptly identified and taught in Zen Buddhism: Interdependence and Impermanence. They're the extreme 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' crew complete with disdain and contempt for being finite, they seek to extend human life indefinitely. Noodles the corporate canine helps to buoy me, https://www.youtube.com/@Noodlesthepooch. i'd be pleased to learn what others are doing to stay emotionally afloat. No less than one belly laugh daily is my prescription.
Risa, I deleted my previous comment because it was even too depressing for me, too long and on my kindle it is impossible to edit. So I'll just tell you the happy part.
Your link to Noods stopped me in my tracks. Not only do I love her, but have followed her on Instagram from before she had a human sister and her own "office". So brilliant, creative and hysterical. Every time I type " Kind regards" to someone in an email, I hear Noodles "you're dead to me" and chuckle.. I even bought my own Noodles the pooch stuffed animal (It took months to get to me) with the glasses, laptop, "Kind Regards" cup, and a few other cute things by my desk. You can put her ears/hair up in a ponytail like the vids and keep her glasses askew on her face. They deserve every dime they make off of her. It's genius level. creativity. I love the snark! Plus, she's so smart and beautifully cared for. I wish every animal could have the life and love that Noods has.
After I spend the day going through the overwhelming emails from my substacks and comment reading and doom scrolling, I go on Instagram and watch dog reels. Noodles, StantheHawtDawg from London who is a wire-haired dachsund who has human eyes, and Pug Loulou and her sister Pug Mosey from the Netherlands who are so precious and darling. Then whatever other dogs the algorithms feed me. They make me happy and laugh. Otherwise I would have one foot out the window. So happy to find another Noods fan!
so happy, Robin, that someone else here enjoys and is helped by Noods - i only recently discovered her and think she's channeling Jack Benny. i love her meetings with HR! did you watch Pluto during the pandemic? she helped me a lot as did Andrew Cotter's Olive and Mabel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFVHaus_pjI then there's https://www.youtube.com/@_layla_the_boxer Layla and her sister Luna are a couple of troublemakers who have wrangled their human sister into their mischievous ways such as ordering pizza and canceling their vet appts on their mom's phone - i'm going to look up StantheHawtDawg, Pug Loulou and her sister
I actually think of her as human. Noods meetings with HR are hysterical. The ones with her driving. The names she has for her co-workers and her crush Wesley. I think one day "she" was in the store and buying candy for the co-workers and adding mints to the basket for co-worker Pete who has bad breath. And of course the bottle of booze she keeps in her desk drawer.
I love you Risa for the other links. No, never heard of Pluto. Olive & Mabel are adorable and so is Layla and her sister. People are so clever!!! Oh, Lunathecockapoo also. She does math 😂 Thank you for making me feel better. ❤
so happy when i make someone happy. yes yes all of the above: the ones with her driving, her co-workers names, her crush on Wesley. what i love about Layla and Luna is that their mom makes them active agents and captures their communicative affect!
It's an amazing talent these people have with their dogs...err...furbabies! Not only the staged videos, but when they really capture them in the moment. I don't have a dog so I live vicariously through those that do. Xo
There are protests at state capitols in most/all(?) states Monday, February 17. Indivisible reminds us that significant showings early are essential because organizers will only call for the truly massive street actions when we prove we will show up in force.
Passive resistance expert Erica Chenoweth has also done research on the large and consistent turnout necessary to overturn an authoritarian regime. Punchline: LOTS of us.
I hope fellow admirers of Ruth Ben-Ghiat will find a nearby protest and bring friends.
I might say sorry America, bye bye, pains me to write this . Be sure to thank your Republican voters nearly half of our voting population, the representatives who took an oath they didn’t honor, the Supreme Court for enabling, Fox News , One American News, NewsMax, and all those who didn’t vote. Sad.
I think we need to erase the cliche, "This isn't new." Mump is predictable. 1. He appears to hate people unless they can give him money, power, or kisses (but no handshakes - he hates that). It's totally anticipated. The speed of the violence and coverups helps, too.
My spouse came down with an announcement. She is on FB and read a massively read thread about why the violent-brutal dictators wants Gaza. Actually, I did a search and it's everywhere. This is safe (I shortened the link name on tiny url.com which I've been using for almost 20 years0. https://tinyurl.com/59t6c344
Man, I need to go out and buy about 100 lbs of sand. I can still create a sandbox. Then I could bury me in it (not just my head).
I am planning to join the zooms this week. Somehow, Ruth, your courage in standing up for the truth is strengthening my spine in and of itself. Your insights provide me with talking points so much more clear and convincing than any I might otherwise have come up with. Thank you.
Yes, he wanted a fascist regime when he ran for POTUS in 2015. He wanted a position as large as his grandiose ego, and would stop at nothing to get it. His Machiavellianism drives him.
What trump is doing is absolutely sickening. I visited Crimea (Sevastopol) in 2008, immediately after a visit to Sochi, Russia, which is supposed to be a resort town. Sochi was depressing. Sevastopol, in huge contrast, was a very pleasant place. I did not know until fairly recently that the Crimean population is primarily Russian in their ethnicity. To me that says a lot about the value and validity of Ukraine as an independent country. I hope and pray that Ukraine will be able to come out of this awful war OK, that someone will help them.
The diabolical nature of what Trump, Putin and Musk have in mind is made clear today in a New York Times article by Paul Sonne with an understated title: "Putin Has Long Wanted More Power in Europe. Trump Could Grant It." (The word "Could" can safely be replaced by "Will"; anything for Vlad, right?)
The article concludes this way:
Mr. Trump will now influence, possibly without European leaders present, how the biggest conflict on the continent since World War II gets resolved, with implications that could go beyond Ukraine itself to affect the broader security balance in Europe.
Those leaders, who see insurgent right-wing populist movements as a threat to the European Union and freedom on the continent, are worried, particularly given the apparent alignment of Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin against them.
“This is the moment in which we are at our most vulnerable,” Ms. [Nathalie] Tocci [director of the Institute for International Affairs in Rome] said.
“If ultimately what you are trying to do is destroy this project,” she added, referring to the E.U., “this is the moment to do it.”
I think that's exactly right, and it couldn't be more obvious. The 'world order' is changing very very rapidly, and I'd bet a great many in the US simply don't see what's coming. Not to be hyperbolic but, it's not that much of a stretch to think that Trumps 'boogeyman' is going to be 'The Libs'.
Thank you, Professor, for explaining what is actually happening before our eyes. We are living through a brutal coup, brutal financially to the millions who counted on our government, and brutal in terms of the damage. It seems to me that this is worse than anything we have imagined. Thank God for your help and wise guidance. I would be more afraid if not for you.
Ruth, here are two recommended readings apropos your comments this morning:
'Autocracy, Inc.' by Anne Applebaum, published in 2024, an excellent description of the international consortium or autocrats, among whom we're now a major player.
'The Power of the Powerless' by Vaclav Havel, published in 1978, an excellent look at how to live the truth even under autocratic rule. A newer edition features an excellent introduction by Yale's Timothy Snyder, author of 'On Tyranny,' and 'On Freedom,' among many others.
The video coverage accompanying this 14 February 2025 CBS News story is terrifying; it's like footage from a dystopian futuristic science fiction film. It's a real life example of what a weaponized Department of Justice, the awesome power of the state run amok, can look like. There but for the grace of ? go we.
"Starting in 2022, President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador declared a state of exception, which empowered police and the military to arrest people on suspicion of gang affiliation, without any evidence of committing crimes. The state of exception has led to the imprisonment of more than 80,000 people, making El Salvador the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world, at 2%. But the crackdown has earned Bukele an approval rating of more than 90%.
Many inmates are serving sentences that are centuries long, while others still have not been convicted. But the prison's director affirms no prisoner there will ever step outside."
Let’s hope China steps in quickly as arbiter as they want fair negotiations and a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.
Wha???? How do you know this? How could you know this? China is a closed society led by a closeted dictator and its very own class of plutocratic oligarchs, as far as we can tell.
Wait what?
They're no US replacement. Just another autocratic state that Trump is friendly towards. Rumors say Trump is prepared to "look the other way" as China invades Taiwan. China also explicitly backs Russia, not Ukraine in the war between the two.
What Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Elon Musk have signaled – unmistakably and ever so darkly – through their chosen errand boy, JD Vance, is that evil can indeed triumph and that they're in it to win.
Yes, and they are only the tip of the iceberg. You might want to read Heather Cox Richardson's take on how our history illustrates this.
What can we nobodies do about this?
I hold no office. I live on my veteran’s disability compensation; hence, I have very little to donate. I’m disabled so cannot take part in physical protests; I would be a liability to those around me. I call, email and write my three Congressional reps but all three are trump lapdogs so my contribution goes straight into the round file. So far, nothing I do matters one iota.
However, I did not serve my country so I could watch it be destroyed and then aligned with despots. What can I do to help stop the deliberate, gleeful destruction of America?
Kasumi, as a citizen and a descendant of generations of enlisted military and officers, including quite a few colonels and generals, I salute your service. As the sister of another disabled veteran, who died of conditions exacerbated by serving in Vietnam, I know a lot about the courage it takes to go on in the face of disability, and the cost it exacts from the families of our veterans. If I could shake your hand, I would. I can't, but take this to heart: YOU ARE NOT A NOBODY. All those contacts with your Congressional reps might end up in the proverbial wastebasket, but they are scanned and counted. The comments and other posts you make are read and serve to encourage other resistors. And, IMHO, if you were to sit in a wheelchair while protesting in the square or the street, surrounded by others of like mind, you would serve as a symbol of what is best in us all: the courage to stand your ground and fight for what is right. If you ask, you'll get a ride AND a cadre of helpers to stand around you. YOU ARE NOT A NOBODY AND YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
I appreciate your reply. I know I am not a nobody within the realm of my own life and with the things I can do that affect those around me. With regard to the rapidly changing government of this country I do not matter and haven’t for a long time. None of us do. If we did, our calls, protests, etc would cause real change. They used to. But after trump showed politicians that not caring means getting to do whatever you want, they no longer pay attention to their constituents. I’m not at all saying to stop protesting - just be aware why it doesn’t bring about change right now. Sometimes, the effort will only matter to us and that is still worth it.
I’m not interested in serving as a symbol who can easily become a target and then a victim. I’ve already been in that situation. Afterwards, no one sought me out to congratulate me on my sacrifice or to say that my being targeted gave them hope and encouragement. We do have to use common sense even when fighting against fascism. I prefer to be alive so I can continue to fight rather than a more disabled veteran or dead statistic who will matter just long enough for the mess to be cleaned up. That’s facing reality, not being cynical.
We are going to win this fight. Keep posting. Encourage others. Keep the faith. Now, return to the beginning of this my reply and reread it.
I'm a Vietnam War widow
Kasumi and also disabled. I
understand exactly what
you're saying. Just keep
doing whatever you can,
that's enough.
Great point! Part of the plan is to make the opposition feel alone and isolated where despair can grow.
Europe is going to fight Russia in Ukraine. Russia is almost depleted of officers and their best equipment. Europe has the means, men, resources, and NATO battle plans to force Russia out of Ukraine.
The fastest way to defeat Russians in Ukraine is to make it really painful in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Most of the Russian soldiers deaths are not from these two Russian cities or communities. Those dying are from the minority communities deep within Russia, so more deaths in Ukraine and Russian soldiers don’t really change things in Moscow from St. Petersburg.
What’s needed is a Sherman‘s March to the sea, extend the Kursk offensive and threaten Moscow in St. Petersburg by attacking the military Infrastructure around these two cities as well as power plants, water, food supply, and trade simultaneously attacking behind the lines deep in Russian supply lines.
It won’t take long to put millions of Saint Petersburg and Moscow Heights into the streets protesting the war protesting Putin.
Kasumii: I share your feeling. As a man born in the late 1940s, during the 1950s the analogous saying was, "You can't fight city hall."
First, you have to protect and preserve yourself.
Feel no guilt. Feed your soul, feed your intellect, feed your love of self, your love of family, your love of neighbor.
You have served your country; you are strong despite handicap. You EARN respect from your neighbor.
Showing love and understanding of yourself, your family, your neighbor is the beginning.
Why?
Because the core of the Musk/Vance/Tramp Co-Presidency is the degradation of the person.
First, with chilling Stalinist rhetoric, the Orange-Tramp has labeled the Press, "The Enemy of the People".
That is directly talk in the spirit of Joseph Stalin, himself.
During campaign events, CNN, MSNBC, CBS . . . personnel were placed in a little roped-off square, subject to verbal abuse from the Speaker's Rostrum and harassment from the enflamed crowd.
Vance repeated the blood libel, that from Mediaeval Europe had erupted in pogroms. In the Middle Ages it rang, "Jews steal your kids and eat the little girls and boys in blood rituals." In last summer's version, it was, "Haitians steal pets and in blood-Voodoo-rituals eat the kittens and puppies." The Ohio Governor, the Springfield, OH Mayor (both Republicans) begged Vance to stop inciting violence with this inflammatory rhetoric. Vance's response: To double down.
As Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat (NYU) points out, Vance in Munich just had a thirty-minute meeting in his hotel room with Alice Weidel, a leader in the AfD (Alternative for Germany), whose leaders include neo-Nazis.
That party is so tainted by neo-Nazism that even right-wing extremists and nationalist such as Victor Orban, Georgia Meloni and Marine Le Pen -- who link with right-wing extremist Parties in the EU Parliament -- all these nationalist leaders distance themselves from AfD.
Not so Vance. Vance met with Alice Weidel in his hotel room for 30 minutes in Munich!
Vance must consider neo-Nazism to be a central part of his agenda, not only to meet so long with Alice Weidel, but to urge Germany to tear down the "firewall" the Democracy has built against the neo-Nazis.
Against these forces, you inevitably will feel your own efforts feeble in opposition.
You don't have the armed fist of State, as do these neo-Fascists.
You don't have a counterpunch to the Mad-Magazine or "The Onion" madness uttered every day by Co-President Orange-Tramp magnified by the megaphone of the Press and Media.
You are right about the futility of writing a Congressman. I have much experience with these from during the administration of George W. Bush and his round-them-up and torture programs.
You already are in touch through media with Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat.
You probably are in contact through media with Professors Heather Cox Richardson and Joyce Vance (we are in this together).
That is already a beginning.
When you are loving and decent with people around you and show understanding, you begin resistance of the dehumanizing forces of neo-Fascism.
Maybe pick out one cause.
Mine is cruelty towards immigrants.
First, a bit of the litany of the saints: We must secure our border; we must fight against human trafficking; we must fight against drug-trafficking.
But that is not the emphasis of Co-President Tramp.
I will applaud any deportation of a human or drug trafficker. World without End, Amen.
But Orange Tramp and his neo-fascist team yank little kids from their loving moms and protective dads and creates conflicting databases so mom and dad cannot trace their kids and the kids are interned and sometimes have suffered sexual violence.
There are organizations, many of them, that fight this root evil.
One is LULAC -- the League of United Latin American Citizens, a Civil Rights organization founded in 1929.
LULAC works together with the ACLU, the NAACP, and the Criminal Defense Fund of the NAACP.
Sherrilyn Ifill is the Executive of the NAACP's Criminal Defense Fund
Support of donations -- you don't have to give a lot -- is resistance.
If you have talent to give to these organizations, that is a part of resistance.
My experience is to pick one issue essential to human dignity and human and civil rights and devote your effort to that with established organizations.
Collectively you can make a difference.
As Professor Joyce Vance reminds us, "We are in this together!"
Good advice. It does help to narrow down your fight to 1-2 issues. It’s entirely understandable to want to fight it all, all the time but that is a fast track to being exhausted and demoralized. I did the same. I picked 2 issues and I do what I can to stand up for them.
You are correct about small donations. I contacted a few organizations to ask if they considered a 9.00 donation worth their while and they all sent me lovely responses with a resounding “Yes!” I had thought just 9.00 would get eaten up by the credit card fees and admin work but no. Each organization said every penny helps. Instead of trying to pick two groups to send a 30.00 donation to I added 3.00 to that total, divided them up and can now support seven groups. Every penny counts - for them and for us to know that we are still able to contribute and help with their work.
Kasumii: In the 1950s the films included the "Monster from the Black Lagoon," "Godzilla" (with Raymond Burr!), and, not least, "The Blob."
I find Orange-Tramp to be like these.
We are in a society reacting to these monsters.
I am really happy you wrote your comment and we have come to know each other.
We each are little. But there are millions of us.
What encourages me is there is already massive litigation.
Litigation will result in quick injunctions and slow, slow, deliberative appeals.
Tick, tock, tick, tock . . . The litigation can run out the clock of the Tramp Administration.
You ARE doing your part.
You ARE.
Thank YOU so very much!
Many thanks to you as well.
@kasumii - as Jesse Jackson implored - "I am SOMEBODY!" and as the Civil Rights demonstrators declared - "I am a Man" - the psychological warfare is to get us to bow down to unethical authority that clearly lacks social intelligence but has a lot of money. I think we can start building, and start resisting, with every step. Here's my half-in-jest wholly in earnest latest post - for our psycho-spiritual-cultural struggle
MOSF 20.4: A Modest Proposal: The Universal Church of DEI (Latin for God; and with CHOLE, because I’m South Asian!) https://eastwindezine.com/mosf-20-4-a-modest-proposal-the-universal-church-of-dei-latin-for-god-and-with-chole-because-im-south-asian/
Bless you, Ruth. My heart feels like its holding a big cry that's stuck just now. The Developmentally Disabled community has a saying, Nothing about us without us. Trump has the audacity to attempt to leave Ukrainians out of negotiations to end the war. He and his techbros deny the fundamental phenomena of existing as aptly identified and taught in Zen Buddhism: Interdependence and Impermanence. They're the extreme 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' crew complete with disdain and contempt for being finite, they seek to extend human life indefinitely. Noodles the corporate canine helps to buoy me, https://www.youtube.com/@Noodlesthepooch. i'd be pleased to learn what others are doing to stay emotionally afloat. No less than one belly laugh daily is my prescription.
Laugh on. We shall overcome.
Try the Borowitz Report Substack. You can count on him for good laughs.
Risa, I deleted my previous comment because it was even too depressing for me, too long and on my kindle it is impossible to edit. So I'll just tell you the happy part.
Your link to Noods stopped me in my tracks. Not only do I love her, but have followed her on Instagram from before she had a human sister and her own "office". So brilliant, creative and hysterical. Every time I type " Kind regards" to someone in an email, I hear Noodles "you're dead to me" and chuckle.. I even bought my own Noodles the pooch stuffed animal (It took months to get to me) with the glasses, laptop, "Kind Regards" cup, and a few other cute things by my desk. You can put her ears/hair up in a ponytail like the vids and keep her glasses askew on her face. They deserve every dime they make off of her. It's genius level. creativity. I love the snark! Plus, she's so smart and beautifully cared for. I wish every animal could have the life and love that Noods has.
After I spend the day going through the overwhelming emails from my substacks and comment reading and doom scrolling, I go on Instagram and watch dog reels. Noodles, StantheHawtDawg from London who is a wire-haired dachsund who has human eyes, and Pug Loulou and her sister Pug Mosey from the Netherlands who are so precious and darling. Then whatever other dogs the algorithms feed me. They make me happy and laugh. Otherwise I would have one foot out the window. So happy to find another Noods fan!
so happy, Robin, that someone else here enjoys and is helped by Noods - i only recently discovered her and think she's channeling Jack Benny. i love her meetings with HR! did you watch Pluto during the pandemic? she helped me a lot as did Andrew Cotter's Olive and Mabel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFVHaus_pjI then there's https://www.youtube.com/@_layla_the_boxer Layla and her sister Luna are a couple of troublemakers who have wrangled their human sister into their mischievous ways such as ordering pizza and canceling their vet appts on their mom's phone - i'm going to look up StantheHawtDawg, Pug Loulou and her sister
I actually think of her as human. Noods meetings with HR are hysterical. The ones with her driving. The names she has for her co-workers and her crush Wesley. I think one day "she" was in the store and buying candy for the co-workers and adding mints to the basket for co-worker Pete who has bad breath. And of course the bottle of booze she keeps in her desk drawer.
I love you Risa for the other links. No, never heard of Pluto. Olive & Mabel are adorable and so is Layla and her sister. People are so clever!!! Oh, Lunathecockapoo also. She does math 😂 Thank you for making me feel better. ❤
so happy when i make someone happy. yes yes all of the above: the ones with her driving, her co-workers names, her crush on Wesley. what i love about Layla and Luna is that their mom makes them active agents and captures their communicative affect!
It's an amazing talent these people have with their dogs...err...furbabies! Not only the staged videos, but when they really capture them in the moment. I don't have a dog so I live vicariously through those that do. Xo
There are protests at state capitols in most/all(?) states Monday, February 17. Indivisible reminds us that significant showings early are essential because organizers will only call for the truly massive street actions when we prove we will show up in force.
Passive resistance expert Erica Chenoweth has also done research on the large and consistent turnout necessary to overturn an authoritarian regime. Punchline: LOTS of us.
I hope fellow admirers of Ruth Ben-Ghiat will find a nearby protest and bring friends.
I might say sorry America, bye bye, pains me to write this . Be sure to thank your Republican voters nearly half of our voting population, the representatives who took an oath they didn’t honor, the Supreme Court for enabling, Fox News , One American News, NewsMax, and all those who didn’t vote. Sad.
I will not bend my knee. SLAVA Ukraine
I think we need to erase the cliche, "This isn't new." Mump is predictable. 1. He appears to hate people unless they can give him money, power, or kisses (but no handshakes - he hates that). It's totally anticipated. The speed of the violence and coverups helps, too.
My spouse came down with an announcement. She is on FB and read a massively read thread about why the violent-brutal dictators wants Gaza. Actually, I did a search and it's everywhere. This is safe (I shortened the link name on tiny url.com which I've been using for almost 20 years0. https://tinyurl.com/59t6c344
Man, I need to go out and buy about 100 lbs of sand. I can still create a sandbox. Then I could bury me in it (not just my head).
I am planning to join the zooms this week. Somehow, Ruth, your courage in standing up for the truth is strengthening my spine in and of itself. Your insights provide me with talking points so much more clear and convincing than any I might otherwise have come up with. Thank you.
I feel the same.
thank you Ruth Ben-Ghiat as always for your truthful information because we need your support
This has been Trump’s plan all along, being a staunch supporter of Putin!
Yes, he wanted a fascist regime when he ran for POTUS in 2015. He wanted a position as large as his grandiose ego, and would stop at nothing to get it. His Machiavellianism drives him.
What trump is doing is absolutely sickening. I visited Crimea (Sevastopol) in 2008, immediately after a visit to Sochi, Russia, which is supposed to be a resort town. Sochi was depressing. Sevastopol, in huge contrast, was a very pleasant place. I did not know until fairly recently that the Crimean population is primarily Russian in their ethnicity. To me that says a lot about the value and validity of Ukraine as an independent country. I hope and pray that Ukraine will be able to come out of this awful war OK, that someone will help them.
The diabolical nature of what Trump, Putin and Musk have in mind is made clear today in a New York Times article by Paul Sonne with an understated title: "Putin Has Long Wanted More Power in Europe. Trump Could Grant It." (The word "Could" can safely be replaced by "Will"; anything for Vlad, right?)
The article concludes this way:
Mr. Trump will now influence, possibly without European leaders present, how the biggest conflict on the continent since World War II gets resolved, with implications that could go beyond Ukraine itself to affect the broader security balance in Europe.
Those leaders, who see insurgent right-wing populist movements as a threat to the European Union and freedom on the continent, are worried, particularly given the apparent alignment of Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin against them.
“This is the moment in which we are at our most vulnerable,” Ms. [Nathalie] Tocci [director of the Institute for International Affairs in Rome] said.
“If ultimately what you are trying to do is destroy this project,” she added, referring to the E.U., “this is the moment to do it.”
***
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/16/world/europe/vance-europe-putin-russia.html
I think that's exactly right, and it couldn't be more obvious. The 'world order' is changing very very rapidly, and I'd bet a great many in the US simply don't see what's coming. Not to be hyperbolic but, it's not that much of a stretch to think that Trumps 'boogeyman' is going to be 'The Libs'.
Thank you, Professor, for explaining what is actually happening before our eyes. We are living through a brutal coup, brutal financially to the millions who counted on our government, and brutal in terms of the damage. It seems to me that this is worse than anything we have imagined. Thank God for your help and wise guidance. I would be more afraid if not for you.
Ruth, here are two recommended readings apropos your comments this morning:
'Autocracy, Inc.' by Anne Applebaum, published in 2024, an excellent description of the international consortium or autocrats, among whom we're now a major player.
'The Power of the Powerless' by Vaclav Havel, published in 1978, an excellent look at how to live the truth even under autocratic rule. A newer edition features an excellent introduction by Yale's Timothy Snyder, author of 'On Tyranny,' and 'On Freedom,' among many others.
The video coverage accompanying this 14 February 2025 CBS News story is terrifying; it's like footage from a dystopian futuristic science fiction film. It's a real life example of what a weaponized Department of Justice, the awesome power of the state run amok, can look like. There but for the grace of ? go we.
"Starting in 2022, President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador declared a state of exception, which empowered police and the military to arrest people on suspicion of gang affiliation, without any evidence of committing crimes. The state of exception has led to the imprisonment of more than 80,000 people, making El Salvador the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world, at 2%. But the crackdown has earned Bukele an approval rating of more than 90%.
Many inmates are serving sentences that are centuries long, while others still have not been convicted. But the prison's director affirms no prisoner there will ever step outside."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/inside-el-salvador-notorious-cecot-mega-prison/ .