DEFEAT FASCISM

 Read Rebuke Resist

Times have been bad before for some people of America.

Consider people of color. They not only survived but came to prevail in so many areas.

Consider the one-third of the names on the Vietnam Wall who were drafted. There's was a tragedy beyond describing, but their fate ended the horror of the draft … for now.

Consider those who did come back from that war but came back scarred and despised with years of their life torn out. Many are now retired from highly successful professions.

Consider the Dust Bowl refugees. They found new lives and moved on.

Consider half the population who once couldn't obtain a credit card on their own or vote but who now sit as judges and corporate president.

Not all have come to well-being.

We still have the homeless.

We still have the immigrant refugees.

And many others.

We seem to be head backwards, but with a caveat.

It's gonna include ya'll this time. Karma is a great grinning bitch when she wants to be.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 Read Rebuke Resist

I promised myself I would remain calm and disconnected. But as I waited for the microwave to heat a cup of coffee this morning, I thought about something.

If they get through with the librarians and come for me, what will I, like Fyodor Dostoevsky once narrated, think about the moments before execution? What time-wasting actions will I regret?

Sadly, today it would be the four years I served in the uniform of my country. The ruling political party said yesterday that it was at best a joke. 

It would have been better had I joined a mob, stormed the U.S. Capitol, killed a police officer, crapped on its floors, and threatened the lawmakers. Those are the present-day heroes of America. Isn't this true? (Ist es nicht wahr? for my MAGA acquaintances.)

Of course, had I done that at the time, I would probably still be in prison and wouldn’t have been included in the travesty of yesterday.

The New Normal is making me nauseated.

DEFEAT FACISM

READ RESIST REBUKE

My mind is flittering today. One little messenger said, "They won't come for you."

Another said, "They will come for you, but it will take time. Think of all the teachers and librarians they'll have to get first."

Then one popped up with, "The German veteran of WWI, Jewish, but with an Iron Cross hanging on his wall, probably felt safe in 1936."

They won't be satisfied until the only people allowed to exist outside the ruling oligarchy are the equivalent of what Orwell labelled "proles."

Clausewitz wrote that friction can detract from and army's effectiveness. One person resisting the Trusk administration may encourage another who may encourage another until a fast web of resistance stands in the way of fascism. I'll not be a prole today.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 The Three Rs to defeat fascism: READ REBUKE RESIST

Today: Read. Delve into the facts of modern times, how 77,303,573 Americans renounce the life of a man, himself an honored and distinguished veteran, because he once offered forgiveness to those who made a heart-wrenching decision to avoid service in a questionable war now laud the man who called those who served and died in the effort “suckers and losers.” Only by understanding the depth of America’s descent into fascism can we fight it.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 The Three Rs to defeat fascism: READ REBUKE RESIST

Rebuke a political movement that doesn’t respect a shipmate like Lt. Commander John McCain, USN, who spent six years of torture and imprisonment on behalf of our country: Donald Trump said this of Senator John McCain's reputation as a war hero: "He's not a war hero, He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured." Recently, 77,303,573 Americans agreed. We have our work before us.

 Today: Resist. Some experts say that, when captured, resist in every way possible. It can wear down the captors and limit their ability to undertake their worst intents. Right now, we should assist those in the best position to resist. Depending on one’s sentiments, there are organizations, from the ACLU to the Southern Poverty Law Center, to Planned Parenthood and beyond that have the resources to lead the resistance movement. Agree with them fully or not, we need them now.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 The Three Rs to defeat fascism: READ REBUKE RESIST

Today: Read. Last time we read the Sermon on the Mount. Next suggestion. Stay in the Gospel of Matthew. This time go to the 25^th Chapter, verses 32 through 46. This spells out exactly what the Galilean thought about righteousness and it is pretty much the opposite of the new rulers of America preach. Stay on the path. You will block the fascists and annoy the hell out of MAGA evangelicals.

DEFEAT FASCISM

The Three Rs to defeat fascism: READ REBUKE RESIST

Today: Resist the influence of the weak. Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the two men who seek to rule America, have little physical strength or power, actually less that many of their sex and age.

Yet they stand on the quarterdeck of a ship called America, one that is heading into the dark waters of fascism. How did two fat and flaccid men accomplish this?

 As Leo Tolstoy once said, “Power is the collective will of the people transferred, by expressed or tacit consent to their chosen rulers.”

Obsession with evil, obliviousness to evil, and obedience to evil, all transfer power. Millions of individual actions fuel the coming catastrophe.

Today I will not feed fascism. Thereby, I will reduce its power by a force of one. Join me?