From inherited Holocaust trauma to ICE raids and Nazi-echoing slogans, America’s warning sirens are screaming again; and this time the uniforms say “homeland security.”
True, but pay special notice to your statement "as Trump’s grip on power weakens".
Trump is following the classic cycle of dictators, which includes shows of force against the people. Foreign wars. Corruption and oppression... The cycle repeats, with each cycle becoming worse... Until the people revolt. The weaker the Dictator is, the harder they oppress and steal and go 'bigger'.
Trump is a bully and bullies are cowards. Bullies are frightened of the day when their victims realize the bully was ruling with fear, not power.
ICE 'surged' in Minneapolis because Trump could no longer commandeer the national Guard, and because only with a surge with ICE, deliberately staffed with jerks and Racists, could he hope to oppress a city. Problem they ran into was of their own making. When they decided to protect the murderer of Renee Good, they activated the public. They had gone too far. The mass mobilization of the people in the city shows who has the real power.
Yes, ICE has very big guns and COULD open fire with mass murder, but the reality is, that would justify the mobilization of the National Guard, and I am certain many states would gladly loan more troops and police if asked. With mass murder as a new policy, even Republicans in Congress might have to react. So, while the big guns are scary, it is a bluff they dare not follow through on. Not in this nation. Not as Trump grows weaker. Not with our ability to communicate despite the (too often) complicity of Main Stream Media, owned by the super rich.
If only you had a magic wand to make that happen now. It will get worse before it gets better. Collapsing dictators tend to increase their mania and cruelty before collapsing
That is what I have been saying since the beginning of this term. I totally agree with you. I can pray that even our worst citizens (in ICE) and our most cowardly politicians (Republicans in congress) and most corrupt (Conservatives in SCOTUS) will find a line they can not cross. It happened for most of Trump's cabinet in his first term.
But the people are our final line of defense, and in Minneapolis at least they are doing their job. Showing us how it's done.
My great uncle did not survive D-Day, a POW camp, and 65 years of nightmares only to have *all* of his descendants wholeheartedly embrace fascism when it came. I haven't spoken with most of my TX relatives in a few years, they were MAGAts in the 80s, when I was born. They didn't just decide to be garbage 10 years ago, they were in the closet. I moved to the opposite side of the country and haven't been back...
I've never backed down from a bully, and I'm not gonna start now; I'vs seen some things, I'm not afraid of a barely literate (DHS words) guy in a mask. And the guys who have been stepping in front of vehicles so they can use their pew pew since 2013, noted in an official report... And, oddly enough, everyone they've fired on has "tried to run them over." We know Jonathan Ross murdered Renee because there's video; how many immigrants have lost their lives in similar circumstances? Dick Perry was more concerned with shining his boots to care, and Abbott is a sadist, it was his idea to stretch razor wire under the surface of the Rio Grande so people would either get sepsis or drown. My Spanish got a lot better in 2015, and in the 4 decades I was a Texan, I met *one* guy who was affiliated, and he was born in the US, a friend of mine dated him for a bit. No one who may or may not have had "legal status," was ever unkind to me. I'm pale, but my Spanish speaking family treated me a lot better than my relatives. I ain't sitting this one out.
You support Nazis and Fascism, though as liberalism paves the way for it. Liberalism and Fascism go hand in hand.
Getting rid of Trump and voting in democrats won’t solve anything. Furthermore. If a Democrat were in office, you liberals would be supporting every atrocity here and abroad as you happily support imperialism and fascism when a Democrat is the one selling it to you. Well disciplined leftists don't support the democratic party, Reformist/Trotskyist individuals and organizations, the US military and empire, NATO, No Kings, Mamdani, Bernie, AOC, mRNA's the TQIA+, etc. The fact of the matter is that getting rid of Trump and voting in democrats won't solve the problem. That of capitalism. The US was a terrible country long before Trump, nor was the United States a democracy before him, either. This is the harsh reality of it all, which is that the United States can be considered the following: an oligarchy, a corporatocracy, an inverted totalitarianism system, a gerontocracy, a kakistocracy, a kleptocracy, and/or a techno feudalist society. But It is not a democracy, nor is it a republic. Moreover, in a 2014 Princeton Study, it showed that public opinion has a “near-zero” impact on U.S. law. Furthermore, it's important to note that the constitution isn't designed to serve the people as a whole. 📕 Book Recommendation: We the Elites: Why the US Constitution Serves the Few by Robert Ovetz. The thing is, liberalism, which you support goes hand in hand with Fascism which you claim to oppose, but you don't. You Democrat supporters are poorly informed and propagandized on many a topic. Unlike you liberals, I have factual and educational material. Moreover, because you haven't developed the skill of critical media literacy, you always seem to assume that those who are reporting factual and educational material are they themselves lying because you simply don't know any better. Only focusing on the terrible things the Republican Party is doing and ignoring what the Democrats do makes you not all that different than the Trump cult. Refer to the information I've collected on my website via my profile regarding the evils of capitalism. Start with the Dialectical Materialism page. While you're there, educate yourself on other topics as well. Oh, and stop assuming and calling everyone a Trump supporter who disagrees with and knows more than you. It's incredibly childish.
In terms of the United States. We must never salute and show respect towards the American flag. The United States was founded on genocide and built with slavery, with the United States empire responsible for countless deaths. The American flag is soaked in blood. The only time to smile when in the presence of the flag is when it's on fire or being torn to shreds. When it comes to holidays like Independence Day, Memorial Day and Veterans Day, that they are not worth celebrating as they are about brainwashing people that the United States is a great country and reinforcing that lie for those who already believe it. These holidays, I would argue, are primarily about selling and reinforcing the lie that service to the United States military industrial complex somehow made the country and that of the world a better place. After you take the time to learn about the history of the United States and its actions, you'll hopefully come to the same conclusion that I have, which is that there is NOTHING honorable about choosing to be a pawn for the military industrial complex in service to the bourgeoisie, or capitalists if you prefer. The fact of the matter is that the United States bullies and terrorizes the rest of the world as it refuses to take care of its own citizens, because of this I can't help but look at the United States' flag in disgust. The ONLY time when it was acceptable to support the troops and that of the military was during WW2. That's it. But even then, the United States didn't win the war. The Soviet Union did. The United States just swooped in at the last minute to do some minor cleanup and took all the credit. Almost immediately after the dust settled, the bourgeoisie wasted no time in stabbing the Soviet Union in the back by spreading anti-communist propaganda to get the public to fear and hate everything that gave power and any resemblance of freedom and prosperity to the proletariat. Now, if you know someone who has "served" and was injured or killed. Don't get mad at me for speaking truth to power. Direct your anger towards the United States government for sending them off to die in a pointless war, conflict, or military operation that the United States instigated. Let me be absolutely clear. Although I disagree with Veterans and military personnel, in general, for their choice to be a willing pawn for the military industrial complex who I feel are undeserving of an honor, that does not mean I hate them. Unless they were participants in war crimes and are proud of slaughtering people, whether directly or indirectly, that's a different story. People who are proud of killing others who wish they could do it over and over again, those are sick and twisted individuals. That caveat aside, I believe everyone deserves to have their needs met with a government that actually cares about the well-being of people both here and abroad. In conclusion, the underlying reason for all these wars and conflicts is that the United States needs oil to back up the petro dollar. Without the dollars influence and buying power, the United States loses most, if not all, of its hegemony and economic stranglehold over others. So, basically, the problem is that of capitalism. With that said, though, by no means does that mean other countries are innocent in their foreign affairs, but the United States is by far the worst. It's not even a contest.
■ Military Empires: A Visual Guide to Foreign Bases
The thing is that I’ve put in the time to develop my critical media literacy and in turn have escaped the peasant mindset. You on the other hand haven't. Currently. You're more comfortable with various lies you've been told and would rather believe in those then to have your understanding of the world shattered. I suggest that instead of making assumptions and whatnot that you put in the time as I have to learn about different things from trustworthy sources, as well as listen to those like myself who have done a majority of the leg work for you by essentially providing you a cheat sheet of information so that you don't have to look things up as much. (Link in profile)
Why are you assuming that all of the anti-trump people are supporters of the Democrats? As an observer they look to me to be a complete waste of space. But hopefully they can at least be used as a tool against the more overt forces of repression epitomised by MAGA...The fault would like in thinking that the fight was over once Trump is gone; remember, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
As is stated elsewhere here, you make no friends by abusing your audience.
You haven't said or contributed anything of substance where as I have a ton of factual and educational material on my side. I respect those who are willing to learn and have trustworthy information to share in return.
Despite whatever truth you have thought and written about, we have no choice but to swing the pendulum back in the other direction right now. There are no small initiatives that will stop this fascist. And we CAN prevent any left wing forces from continuing on to an extreme posture, but of course, its always hard and rarely complete. So there's no true path up or down that we can count on proceeding. We just have to accept the realities we face now and hope to continue to spiral slowly upward. I belive civilization has had a positive effect on the brute force of nature. I'm still not thrilled about a lot of things it has wrought, but here we are.
The other direction? The other direction is still not on the left, the real left, I mean.
If a Democrat were in office, you liberals would be supporting every atrocity here and abroad as you happily support imperialism and fascism when a Democrat is the one selling it to you. You liberals are ignorant and propagandized hypocrites.
Well disciplined leftists don't support the democratic party, Reformist/Trotskyist individuals and organizations, the US military and empire, NATO, No Kings, Mamdani, Bernie, AOC, mRNA's, the TQIA+, etc. That said, getting rid of Trump and voting in democrats won't solve the problem. The US was a terrible country long before Trump, nor was the United States a democracy before him, either. The United States can be considered the following: an oligarchy, a corporatocracy, an inverted totalitarianism system, a gerontocracy, a kakistocracy, a kleptocracy, and/or a techno feudalist society. But It is not a democracy, nor is it a republic. Moreover, in a 2014 Princeton Study, it showed that public opinion has a “near-zero” impact on U.S. law. Furthermore, it's important to note that the constitution isn't designed to serve the people as a whole.
Youtube??? Are you effing kidding? Your whole, lennnnghty comment is an absolute joke and will convince no-one with an actual analytical brain which you claim to have but clearly lack.
Your criticism is dumb. Youtube can be an educational resource if you know where to look. Furthermore, the information I've collected isn't limited to Youtube. If you can't or won't bother consuming some short Youtube videos / discussions then you're in no position to be talking about politics in any way, shape, or form as you're choosing to remain ignorant while regurgitating bourgeois propaganda.
Incorrect. You definitely didn't consume any of the information provided in my posts nor some of what I've collected. Your response lacks any resemblance of an intelligent argument. You're nothing but a coward who is terrified of consuming any information that proves you wrong.
This generalization, again, is completely conclusory. I don't need an argument, you have not produced any evidence of your claims besides conclusory garbage. You're here posting and trying to assert a thesis: its your burden to prove your claims. Instead you just switch to ad hominem attacks. Lol. Good luck with yourself.
You're not intelligent. You're poorly educated and propagandized on many a topic. You don't know anything of factual substance about geopolitics and history. Supporters of capitalism have no understanding of how much it has corrupted and is the underlying problem to every problem we face, they also have a poor understanding of geopolitics and history other than the twisted and perverse bourgeois retelling of it. Refer to the information I've collected on my website via my profile regarding the evils of capitalism. Start with the Dialectical Materialism page. While you're there, educate yourself on other topics as well. The thing is that I’ve put in the time to develop my critical media literacy and in turn have escaped the peasant mindset. You on the other hand haven't. Currently. You're more comfortable with various lies you've been told and would rather believe in those then to have your understanding of the world shattered. I suggest that instead of making assumptions and whatnot that you put in the time as I have to learn about different things from trustworthy sources, as well as listen to those like myself who have done a majority of the leg work for you by essentially providing you a cheat sheet of information so that you don't have to look things up as much. (Link in profile)
Perhaps I did not read every line, not to mention every link, but it looks like you are saying there is no solution. Here is a hint. A brief description of the problem (Capitalism I believe is what you briefly mentioned) while avoiding telling people what they believe might get better results.
Accusing your audience of being stupid, clueless, unable to think, blindly accepting lies ... rarely motivates people to listen carefully.
If you do not give people reason to hope after the first few paragraphs (preferably sooner) most will lose interest. Few people want to wander into the wastelands, depressed, without hope, certain that they are right and righteous, but without any direction, without any goal. There is an audience for such, and you are certainly confident. You may get some people to believe as you do. But then, where will you be?
Capitalism has many faults, which is why we have developed what I refer to as 'Managed Capitalism', but even so, combined with a government which is easily corruptible, it has flaws that will eventually lead to a collapse of the system.
My proposal is to first let Trump motivate the people. Despite every effort we make, I feel confident he will achieve that motivation, to swing the pendulum radically away from what he has done. He has only had one year this time, and another should get us closer, but Trump will do even more before 2028. By then it is feasible we will have a strong enough mandate to make major changes that we might be able to fix some of the fundamental problems, without radically changing how people live their lives.
Lots of work is needed to prepare for victory, not just to 'win' but so we don't waste the opportunity through lack of preparation.
Ignorant and propagandized supporters of capitalism have no understanding of how much it has corrupted and is the underlying problem to every problem we face, they also have a poor understanding of geopolitics and history other than the twisted and perverse bourgeois retelling of it. If I didn't mention it already. Refer to the information I've collected on my website via my profile regarding the evils of capitalism. Start with the Dialectical Materialism page. While you're there, educate yourself on other topics as well.
Yes, Most people do not read Philosophers for fun, because philosophers are the most difficult to understand and their writings the most opaque. I will go further and agree that most people do not understand anything other than their own interactions with economics. They usually do NOT understand how the economy they experience interact with society and governmental systems or how the economy of one nation interacts effectively with all of them. People often feel that metal, such as gold has an intrinsic value and should be the foundation of the economy. Others may venture forth and figure that a completely managed economy, such as was under the Soviet union, is an ideal system, even though it fell apart...
The part you do not seem to address is how to encourage others to actually read your writings on this topic. For one thing, people prefer to have hope. Give them at least the shape of a solution. For instance, how would you propose we change the economic system we have? Do you have a better alternative? How would you manage the transition from this one to that one? How would you motivate people to accept and then demand your solution, perhaps with an eye towards anticipating when a critical event should occur providing the opportunity to motivate people to a transition.
Unfortunately all I can seem to get from you is that Capitalism is BAD, with a capital EVIL. I agree there are certainly problems with Capitalism, but it also has strengths, or else it would not be as common as it is. Most regions have found ways to 'modify' Capitalism to make it at least reasonably function (usually, for most people...). Telling people you are going to take away their entire economy is not going to make them feel safe and secure.
The concept of money, which was developed around the same time as Capitalism, is very useful as a rule, for any economy which stretches beyond the village. Capitalism is extremely adaptable, but it can also be managed. A key problem is when the 'managers' of Capitalism are corrupted by the money, because Capitalism is extremely adaptable and will find ways to influence the management, reduce payments (to employees, contractors, customers...), raise prices... to increase their profits. But when you have a situation you need solved, Capitalism is the strongest tool there is to find that solution, if properly motivated and constrained.
So, eliminating Capitalism completely is risky (note both Russia and China have embraced aspects of it), and must be managed carefully so as to not create a worse problem than 'managed' capitalism. Proper study of alternatives (and sorry, what Marx pushed was half baked at best) and plans for how to test it out, transition with safeguards and a system to manage it to ensure it works and adapt it as needed, would be much more helpful than telling people to 'stop being stupid'.
That's a half decent response but you're simply giving capitalism a pass while making claims nothing else can be done or should be done, that communism is basically evil. When it’s not.
Communism is not evil, but central planning is not as adaptable as capitalism, and is still itself subject to corruption. Any effective system has to have an adaptive aspect, something to handle the 'exceptions'. In any economic system, especially with evolving technology change is inevitable.
One problem with most economic systems is that there are always those who seek to 'game the system' and who view the world as a zero sum game, so they either use the rigged game in their favor or they cheat, in order to hoard the wealth.
The choice does not have to be between Laissez-Faire Capitalism and pure Marxist Communism, nor even our current managed capitalism... There is another way to create a functioning economy. The real challenge becomes how to transition from the current system to one that works better.
I suggest what should come first is a major project to design a new economic system, with computers likely an element of the system and a different set of goals than the pure acquisition of wealth. Simulate the heck out of it, do a test run in a smaller region, plot out the transition process and then sell the heck out of it. But before you can even do THAT, you would need to GET MONEY OUT OF POLITICS.
I propose the key goals to be to encourage adaptability and a smaller range of wealth - currently we have most people with little, some with modest or 'nice' and a few with most everything. Let us aim for a range of modest to nice and maybe a few with 'a lot'. Enough to give motivation to those who need it, but as any hoarder will tell you, there is never enough to satisfy the craving. So put a limit on it. Provide other pathways to fame and respect. Positions of influence will still exist.
What we currently have are people on different sides of the fence, shouting at each other, assigning labels with generalizations, often very emotional such as "evil", and never sitting down for a reasoned appraisal of the entire problem set and an openness to create new tools, new ideas. A lot of those emotions were pushed by people with a lot of wealth who panic at the idea of losing even some of their hoard of wealth. They frantically push fear and hate of any alternative, usually using the labels "Communism" and "Socialism" with maybe "Fascism" thrown in just to evoke more fear and confusion.
Then there are others who have experienced pain in the current system and want to throw it all out and start over with the most convenient alternative at hand, such as the writings of a philosopher in the late 1800's. Then we have people who rant about the Gold standard and those who think the answer to everything is Capitalism without any restrictions on it.
Here is the reality. A fair and functional, reasonably stable adaptable economic system that works for large economies, preferably the world, is going to be inherently complex, so any simplistic answer will either outright fail, or quickly become a patchwork of kludges and work arounds, which is what we currently have, and still be fundamentally flawed.
While I have some ideas of how to get to a good solution, it would mostly be the process of a development project that deliberately ignores all the emotional labels and prejudging that the entire topic has promoted so far.
Bold of you to assume I wasn't having conversations with my Grammy about Gorbachev and the Berlin wall when it was torn down, that I didn't smell something ripe in history class, that I didn't major in Poli Sci with ONE less credit for my double major before I switched to Literature and Philosophy because I had more credits, that I didn't read the Patriot Act before most members of Congress, that I haven't continued to educate myself by consulting source documents instead of believing the garbage I'm fed (you're a regular parrot, though), or that you told me anything I didn't already know. I'm AuDHD, I don't trust my own mother; I fact check her all the time, research is kind of my job. You made an ass out of yourself.
You're a pompous ass, there is not a chance in hell I'm bringing any traffic to your site; I'd rather call a MAGA relative for the first time in 2+ years and listen to their drunken rabble rousing. I'm well aware of the facts, but your opinion is bullshit and your attitude is much like that of an orange toddler with dementia who can't help but commitments of war while he's sundowning. If you'd come here in good faith, without telling people you do not know what they do and do not know and believe, I might've taken a little time to check it out. Now? Nah.
Yes, this country has it's flaws, but are you starting at the local level to find like-minded people to discuss both problems AND possible solutions with, or are you screaming into an internet echo chamber via your blog? One is productive, the other is wasting energy, because if you ride in everywhere else on that high horse, good luck finding anyone willing to read it.
You don't know anything of substance about Communism. Supporters of capitalism have no understanding of how much it has corrupted and is the underlying problem to every problem we face, you also have a poor understanding of geopolitics and history other than the twisted and perverse bourgeois retelling of it.
Calling someone like me who is a real leftist that of a right-winger only proves that you're poorly educated and propagandized on many a topic.
By the way. I dont benefit in any way from sharing the website I made, I can't.
If a Democrat were in office, you liberals would be supporting every atrocity here and abroad as you happily support imperialism and fascism when a Democrat is the one selling it to you. You liberals are ignorant and propagandized hypocrites.
I'm sitting here crying. I am not literally the child of Holocaust survivors — my great grandparents escaped the shtetl in what's now Belarus ahead of the Russian army back in 1870-something. (In 1941, the children and grandchildren of their friends who didn't leave were rounded up by the Nazis, herded into a ditch outside town and slaughtered, the same thing that happened at Babi Yar in Kiev where I once lay in the grass weeping.) But my whole life was impacted because of my classmates in grade school and high school who were the children of Holocaust survivors. It was unknown to us then because you didn't talk about it in the 1950s and 60s but I learned about it at subsequent class reunions. Toni's parents were so shut down she never knew where they were in the camps but she knew she was born in Germany. She was so damaged as a child by her family pathology that she ruined my life from 6th grade through high school. We talked decades later; she grew up and changed into a valuable person. Bonnie's parents were in Auschwitz; she was born in Poland. These were bobby sox-wearing, teased-hair, American Bandstand-watching teenagers, Beatles-loving 60s teenagers — with a dark dark past.
At the last reunion Toni told a couple of us that her father said that back in Germany in the 1930s, they didn't take Hitler's talk seriously because, he said, "We may be Jewish but we are Germans too."
Then she threatened to unfriend a classmate who, she discovered, supported Trump (luckily rare in our circle).
The problem is most CAN'T leave, and that as true during WW II as well when many countries, including the U.S., refused to take people who tried to leave.
I didn’t realize countries wouldn’t take people. I’ve talked to my brother about leaving but he won’t go anyplace. And countries probably wouldn’t want us now!
My heart breaks every time I hear someone screaming as well as seeing how horrible they are being treated by ICE. It must stop. These people are not violent, they have green cards or some are waiting on their immigration dates in court. This must stop. The US was built from immigrants since the very start. With the exception of the indigenous people. Even the indigenous people are being removed to consentration camps. VOTE BLUE 🔵🇺🇸 to help save America.
Who, as a nation, we were and remain (male dominated, white-privilege, WASPS): Black slavery/Jim Crow/KKK/socio-economic exclusion; the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882); historical maltreatment of Latinx people; CA Alien Land Bill (1913) denying land rights to Japanese people; internment of Japanese Americans (1942); the retributive Lincoln-approved murders by hanging of 38 Dakota men in MN (1862); the Trail of Tears displacements/relocations of 60,000 indigenous people and others (1830-1850); Islamophobia (historical/); anti-Semitism (historical/ongoing – typified by FDR’s refusal to allow the German refugee ship St. Louis to dock in FL: 254/937 passengers died in the Holocaust; for almost 150 years until the 19th Amendment (1920) women were denied suffrage; general xenophobia against Italian, Irish, and German immigrants; territorial conquests under Polk, including TX, CA, NV, UT, most of AZ, NM; parts of CO, WY, KS, OK, MT, OR, WA (1845-1848); ouster of its monarchy and annexation of HI and the Spanish-American War including annexation of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines (1898/McKinley); U.S. invasions of Korea (1950-1953), Vietnam (primarily 1964-1975); and Venezuela (2026). Next? Colombia, Cuba, Panama, Greenland, Mexico, Canada? It is no historical surprise that we are here, humankind be damned.
This isn't creeping in, this is marching lock step Nazi style with masked jackbooted thugs called ICE instead of SS. There is no difference and they are HERE NOW
How much longer and how much more will it take for the Senate, House, SCOTUS and Military to start doing their jobs!!! This evil regime and all connected to it needs to be prosecuted NOW!!
But so many of them ARE doing their job: they are contributing to the total destruction of our democratic republic. That's their assignment from P 2025 and the oligarchy I guess. :(
It's not "the" senate and congress it's the REPUBLICANS in the senate and house. Please stop depicting all members of our elected officials as being worthless or, worse, complicit. The war powers resolution act was defeated by two REPUBLICAN senators, hawley and young(?) and vance who cast the majority vote. So just stop with the "they're all evil and choosing to do nothing". You do know they're the minority party, right, which severely limits their power? What do you suggest they do?
"Supreme" court? They have a 6/3 majority! Military? Supposedly sixty-five percent of the military voted for and still supports trump. ABC, CBS and possibly NBC, all once vaunted press, are now state propaganda rags as are many printed/online news media. We've lost the government, we've lost the military, we've lost the courts, we've lost the justice department who now works for trump. So again what do you suggest the minority party do to end this dangerous regime?
Why did so many people vote him in 2015? Why did people not do even superficial research, learning that he stiffed his contractors, that he lied when convenient, that he had no financial sense at all, bankrupting his own casino? Why did the DNC basically take Bernie Sanders and the other candidates out of the race? Why did Harris not demand recounts in questionable areas in 2020? smdh
Why did so many people wait until it;s almost too damn late to change it? :( smdh
If you are trying to scare me with these posts it is working. I am scared of what is happening in our country. And I am not one that scares easily after spending a career in law enforcement and the fire service.
Thank you. I really feel for you. Being a child of holocaust survivors would have made your imprisonment and solitary confinement all the more painful!
I am also a child of holocaust survivors, though my parents fled to Shanghai where I was born in a Jewish ghetto during the Japanese occupation. They lost much of their family in Austria and a three year old child in Shanghai. I, too grew up with their trauma and have worked hard to live today with open eyes, while not pretending the trauma is there.
I recall being good friends with an older couple who had both survived Auschwitz. When I visited the husband, a brilliant man, in a retirement home he was still quite lucid and present. But all of a sudden he stared and said, "They're coming back. They're coming back."
You are a gift and your writing during this difficult time is so important. Please take care of you emotional and physical health. We need you.
I had a friend who was the only child of Auschwitz survivors. When her father died a few years ago, I learned from his but that he was one of the original Schindler Jews. Her mother used to say, "Madeline, do I survive Auschwitz so you don't clean your room? Do survive Auschwitz so you date a Catholic boy?" Her father just looked at us, oh, these American kids, what do they know... I can still see his soft look. Madeline became a therapist. Many people in the neighborhood were survivors, the shopkeepers, friend's parents. No one talked about it. Cherry Hill,NJ, 1953-1971.
Thank you for your sharing, Michael...the horrors are unimaginable and we need people like you to yank us back into reality...this vigilante administration all need to be rounded up, thrown in detention, and made to pay restitution (money and otherwise) to our country for all of the damage they have done and continue to do. Thank goodness we still have decent judges who can halfway do their jobs, but I'm afraid SCOTUS will continue to undermine them. We must keep up the good fight and hope to God that our "former" allies will stand up for the good people of the USA.
It's amazing how Trump lies about stuff and so many believe him. Even when it come to the economy people are hurting but they will still say he's done great. Which is bs big time.
Believe trump and not your grocery receipt! I went shopping over the weekend. Three bags of groceries which contained a two pound package of frozen breakfast sausage as the only meat, $122.00. The romaine lettuce price jumped 25% in a month. Carrots jumped, tomatoes jumped, deodorant. Toilet paper jumped around a dollar as well. The only items I bought that were closer to the lower prices were those on sale. Had I shopped today those items would be priced at the inflated price.
We are literally living in "1984". It's astounding how observant and how prescient Orwell was. And how well he knew the human psyche.
They aired Diary of Anne Frank last night. Word for word exactly what is happening here now is what a neighbor described to the Frank family. THAT was disturbing. Exactly!!! And this was in black and white too so you know it wasn’t AI. I read the book in grade school. I’ve seen Schindlers list. I know what happened. I still am struggling with the fear that it could happen here as it did there with gas chambers? The PTSD is real as I’m a survivor of child abuse and SA.
The US is accelerating towards tyranny as Trump’s grip on power weakens he’ll resort to increasingly extreme measures.
True, but pay special notice to your statement "as Trump’s grip on power weakens".
Trump is following the classic cycle of dictators, which includes shows of force against the people. Foreign wars. Corruption and oppression... The cycle repeats, with each cycle becoming worse... Until the people revolt. The weaker the Dictator is, the harder they oppress and steal and go 'bigger'.
Trump is a bully and bullies are cowards. Bullies are frightened of the day when their victims realize the bully was ruling with fear, not power.
ICE 'surged' in Minneapolis because Trump could no longer commandeer the national Guard, and because only with a surge with ICE, deliberately staffed with jerks and Racists, could he hope to oppress a city. Problem they ran into was of their own making. When they decided to protect the murderer of Renee Good, they activated the public. They had gone too far. The mass mobilization of the people in the city shows who has the real power.
Yes, ICE has very big guns and COULD open fire with mass murder, but the reality is, that would justify the mobilization of the National Guard, and I am certain many states would gladly loan more troops and police if asked. With mass murder as a new policy, even Republicans in Congress might have to react. So, while the big guns are scary, it is a bluff they dare not follow through on. Not in this nation. Not as Trump grows weaker. Not with our ability to communicate despite the (too often) complicity of Main Stream Media, owned by the super rich.
If only you had a magic wand to make that happen now. It will get worse before it gets better. Collapsing dictators tend to increase their mania and cruelty before collapsing
That is what I have been saying since the beginning of this term. I totally agree with you. I can pray that even our worst citizens (in ICE) and our most cowardly politicians (Republicans in congress) and most corrupt (Conservatives in SCOTUS) will find a line they can not cross. It happened for most of Trump's cabinet in his first term.
But the people are our final line of defense, and in Minneapolis at least they are doing their job. Showing us how it's done.
My great uncle did not survive D-Day, a POW camp, and 65 years of nightmares only to have *all* of his descendants wholeheartedly embrace fascism when it came. I haven't spoken with most of my TX relatives in a few years, they were MAGAts in the 80s, when I was born. They didn't just decide to be garbage 10 years ago, they were in the closet. I moved to the opposite side of the country and haven't been back...
I've never backed down from a bully, and I'm not gonna start now; I'vs seen some things, I'm not afraid of a barely literate (DHS words) guy in a mask. And the guys who have been stepping in front of vehicles so they can use their pew pew since 2013, noted in an official report... And, oddly enough, everyone they've fired on has "tried to run them over." We know Jonathan Ross murdered Renee because there's video; how many immigrants have lost their lives in similar circumstances? Dick Perry was more concerned with shining his boots to care, and Abbott is a sadist, it was his idea to stretch razor wire under the surface of the Rio Grande so people would either get sepsis or drown. My Spanish got a lot better in 2015, and in the 4 decades I was a Texan, I met *one* guy who was affiliated, and he was born in the US, a friend of mine dated him for a bit. No one who may or may not have had "legal status," was ever unkind to me. I'm pale, but my Spanish speaking family treated me a lot better than my relatives. I ain't sitting this one out.
Excellent!
Even run dr;7: throw d 4.pr
Your meaning is too arcane for me to decipher.
You support Nazis and Fascism, though as liberalism paves the way for it. Liberalism and Fascism go hand in hand.
Getting rid of Trump and voting in democrats won’t solve anything. Furthermore. If a Democrat were in office, you liberals would be supporting every atrocity here and abroad as you happily support imperialism and fascism when a Democrat is the one selling it to you. Well disciplined leftists don't support the democratic party, Reformist/Trotskyist individuals and organizations, the US military and empire, NATO, No Kings, Mamdani, Bernie, AOC, mRNA's the TQIA+, etc. The fact of the matter is that getting rid of Trump and voting in democrats won't solve the problem. That of capitalism. The US was a terrible country long before Trump, nor was the United States a democracy before him, either. This is the harsh reality of it all, which is that the United States can be considered the following: an oligarchy, a corporatocracy, an inverted totalitarianism system, a gerontocracy, a kakistocracy, a kleptocracy, and/or a techno feudalist society. But It is not a democracy, nor is it a republic. Moreover, in a 2014 Princeton Study, it showed that public opinion has a “near-zero” impact on U.S. law. Furthermore, it's important to note that the constitution isn't designed to serve the people as a whole. 📕 Book Recommendation: We the Elites: Why the US Constitution Serves the Few by Robert Ovetz. The thing is, liberalism, which you support goes hand in hand with Fascism which you claim to oppose, but you don't. You Democrat supporters are poorly informed and propagandized on many a topic. Unlike you liberals, I have factual and educational material. Moreover, because you haven't developed the skill of critical media literacy, you always seem to assume that those who are reporting factual and educational material are they themselves lying because you simply don't know any better. Only focusing on the terrible things the Republican Party is doing and ignoring what the Democrats do makes you not all that different than the Trump cult. Refer to the information I've collected on my website via my profile regarding the evils of capitalism. Start with the Dialectical Materialism page. While you're there, educate yourself on other topics as well. Oh, and stop assuming and calling everyone a Trump supporter who disagrees with and knows more than you. It's incredibly childish.
■ Liberalism and Fascism
https://youtu.be/6ceSi2hLQ7g
■ Critique of the Western Left
https://youtube.com/shorts/k_aCwWTGgXQ
■ Battling the Fake Left
https://www.youtube.com/live/_O8UFkoPhz8
■ A Dark Money Group Is Secretly Funding High-Profile Democratic Influencers
https://www.wired.com/story/dark-money-group-secret-funding-democrat-influencers/
■ No Kings Protests and The Democratic Party
https://youtu.be/hUa2Lr6em3Q
■ A March About Nothing
https://youtu.be/WDISVEdlLJs
■ Why The 'No Kings' Protests Didn't Matter
https://realleecamp.substack.com/p/why-the-no-kings-protests-didnt-matter?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
■ Zohran Mamdani and Democratic Socialism
https://youtu.be/wyIxCAZ4vlY
■ The Folly of Greens and Social Democrats
https://youtu.be/BRkUl-ZaU1g
■ Marxism Vs. Liberalism
https://youtu.be/lc3_z9Vhihw
■ Marxism and the Bourgeois Left
https://classconsciousnessproject.blog/2025/11/05/marxism-leninism-is-not-part-of-the-left/
In terms of the United States. We must never salute and show respect towards the American flag. The United States was founded on genocide and built with slavery, with the United States empire responsible for countless deaths. The American flag is soaked in blood. The only time to smile when in the presence of the flag is when it's on fire or being torn to shreds. When it comes to holidays like Independence Day, Memorial Day and Veterans Day, that they are not worth celebrating as they are about brainwashing people that the United States is a great country and reinforcing that lie for those who already believe it. These holidays, I would argue, are primarily about selling and reinforcing the lie that service to the United States military industrial complex somehow made the country and that of the world a better place. After you take the time to learn about the history of the United States and its actions, you'll hopefully come to the same conclusion that I have, which is that there is NOTHING honorable about choosing to be a pawn for the military industrial complex in service to the bourgeoisie, or capitalists if you prefer. The fact of the matter is that the United States bullies and terrorizes the rest of the world as it refuses to take care of its own citizens, because of this I can't help but look at the United States' flag in disgust. The ONLY time when it was acceptable to support the troops and that of the military was during WW2. That's it. But even then, the United States didn't win the war. The Soviet Union did. The United States just swooped in at the last minute to do some minor cleanup and took all the credit. Almost immediately after the dust settled, the bourgeoisie wasted no time in stabbing the Soviet Union in the back by spreading anti-communist propaganda to get the public to fear and hate everything that gave power and any resemblance of freedom and prosperity to the proletariat. Now, if you know someone who has "served" and was injured or killed. Don't get mad at me for speaking truth to power. Direct your anger towards the United States government for sending them off to die in a pointless war, conflict, or military operation that the United States instigated. Let me be absolutely clear. Although I disagree with Veterans and military personnel, in general, for their choice to be a willing pawn for the military industrial complex who I feel are undeserving of an honor, that does not mean I hate them. Unless they were participants in war crimes and are proud of slaughtering people, whether directly or indirectly, that's a different story. People who are proud of killing others who wish they could do it over and over again, those are sick and twisted individuals. That caveat aside, I believe everyone deserves to have their needs met with a government that actually cares about the well-being of people both here and abroad. In conclusion, the underlying reason for all these wars and conflicts is that the United States needs oil to back up the petro dollar. Without the dollars influence and buying power, the United States loses most, if not all, of its hegemony and economic stranglehold over others. So, basically, the problem is that of capitalism. With that said, though, by no means does that mean other countries are innocent in their foreign affairs, but the United States is by far the worst. It's not even a contest.
■ Military Empires: A Visual Guide to Foreign Bases
https://worldbeyondwar.org/military-empires/
■ Companies associated with the military industrial complex
https://www.militaryindustrialcomplex.com/companies.php
■ The Myth of Western Civilization Exposed
https://youtu.be/OtJcXrpVZsA
■ Mapping US Imperialism https://www.globalresearch.ca/mapping-us-imperialism/5782752
■ US Spreads Misery across the globe
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2023/01/02/u-s-spreads-misery-across-the-globe-by-imposing-sanctions-on-a-third-of-humanity/
■ US sanctions kill 500k+ a year
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X%2825%2900189-5/fulltext
■ An estimation on the Death Toll of Capitalism
https://youtu.be/rIB4e8AfPcM
The thing is that I’ve put in the time to develop my critical media literacy and in turn have escaped the peasant mindset. You on the other hand haven't. Currently. You're more comfortable with various lies you've been told and would rather believe in those then to have your understanding of the world shattered. I suggest that instead of making assumptions and whatnot that you put in the time as I have to learn about different things from trustworthy sources, as well as listen to those like myself who have done a majority of the leg work for you by essentially providing you a cheat sheet of information so that you don't have to look things up as much. (Link in profile)
Why are you assuming that all of the anti-trump people are supporters of the Democrats? As an observer they look to me to be a complete waste of space. But hopefully they can at least be used as a tool against the more overt forces of repression epitomised by MAGA...The fault would like in thinking that the fight was over once Trump is gone; remember, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
As is stated elsewhere here, you make no friends by abusing your audience.
You're not diligent and you're not informed.
US citizens do NOT have protected and guaranteed freedoms.
At what point did I say they did? Argument, not abuse, please.
You haven't said or contributed anything of substance where as I have a ton of factual and educational material on my side. I respect those who are willing to learn and have trustworthy information to share in return.
Despite whatever truth you have thought and written about, we have no choice but to swing the pendulum back in the other direction right now. There are no small initiatives that will stop this fascist. And we CAN prevent any left wing forces from continuing on to an extreme posture, but of course, its always hard and rarely complete. So there's no true path up or down that we can count on proceeding. We just have to accept the realities we face now and hope to continue to spiral slowly upward. I belive civilization has had a positive effect on the brute force of nature. I'm still not thrilled about a lot of things it has wrought, but here we are.
The other direction? The other direction is still not on the left, the real left, I mean.
If a Democrat were in office, you liberals would be supporting every atrocity here and abroad as you happily support imperialism and fascism when a Democrat is the one selling it to you. You liberals are ignorant and propagandized hypocrites.
Well disciplined leftists don't support the democratic party, Reformist/Trotskyist individuals and organizations, the US military and empire, NATO, No Kings, Mamdani, Bernie, AOC, mRNA's, the TQIA+, etc. That said, getting rid of Trump and voting in democrats won't solve the problem. The US was a terrible country long before Trump, nor was the United States a democracy before him, either. The United States can be considered the following: an oligarchy, a corporatocracy, an inverted totalitarianism system, a gerontocracy, a kakistocracy, a kleptocracy, and/or a techno feudalist society. But It is not a democracy, nor is it a republic. Moreover, in a 2014 Princeton Study, it showed that public opinion has a “near-zero” impact on U.S. law. Furthermore, it's important to note that the constitution isn't designed to serve the people as a whole.
Youtube??? Are you effing kidding? Your whole, lennnnghty comment is an absolute joke and will convince no-one with an actual analytical brain which you claim to have but clearly lack.
Your criticism is dumb. Youtube can be an educational resource if you know where to look. Furthermore, the information I've collected isn't limited to Youtube. If you can't or won't bother consuming some short Youtube videos / discussions then you're in no position to be talking about politics in any way, shape, or form as you're choosing to remain ignorant while regurgitating bourgeois propaganda.
Even the links are full of conclusory garbage.
Incorrect. You definitely didn't consume any of the information provided in my posts nor some of what I've collected. Your response lacks any resemblance of an intelligent argument. You're nothing but a coward who is terrified of consuming any information that proves you wrong.
This generalization, again, is completely conclusory. I don't need an argument, you have not produced any evidence of your claims besides conclusory garbage. You're here posting and trying to assert a thesis: its your burden to prove your claims. Instead you just switch to ad hominem attacks. Lol. Good luck with yourself.
You're not intelligent. You're poorly educated and propagandized on many a topic. You don't know anything of factual substance about geopolitics and history. Supporters of capitalism have no understanding of how much it has corrupted and is the underlying problem to every problem we face, they also have a poor understanding of geopolitics and history other than the twisted and perverse bourgeois retelling of it. Refer to the information I've collected on my website via my profile regarding the evils of capitalism. Start with the Dialectical Materialism page. While you're there, educate yourself on other topics as well. The thing is that I’ve put in the time to develop my critical media literacy and in turn have escaped the peasant mindset. You on the other hand haven't. Currently. You're more comfortable with various lies you've been told and would rather believe in those then to have your understanding of the world shattered. I suggest that instead of making assumptions and whatnot that you put in the time as I have to learn about different things from trustworthy sources, as well as listen to those like myself who have done a majority of the leg work for you by essentially providing you a cheat sheet of information so that you don't have to look things up as much. (Link in profile)
Perhaps I did not read every line, not to mention every link, but it looks like you are saying there is no solution. Here is a hint. A brief description of the problem (Capitalism I believe is what you briefly mentioned) while avoiding telling people what they believe might get better results.
Accusing your audience of being stupid, clueless, unable to think, blindly accepting lies ... rarely motivates people to listen carefully.
If you do not give people reason to hope after the first few paragraphs (preferably sooner) most will lose interest. Few people want to wander into the wastelands, depressed, without hope, certain that they are right and righteous, but without any direction, without any goal. There is an audience for such, and you are certainly confident. You may get some people to believe as you do. But then, where will you be?
Capitalism has many faults, which is why we have developed what I refer to as 'Managed Capitalism', but even so, combined with a government which is easily corruptible, it has flaws that will eventually lead to a collapse of the system.
My proposal is to first let Trump motivate the people. Despite every effort we make, I feel confident he will achieve that motivation, to swing the pendulum radically away from what he has done. He has only had one year this time, and another should get us closer, but Trump will do even more before 2028. By then it is feasible we will have a strong enough mandate to make major changes that we might be able to fix some of the fundamental problems, without radically changing how people live their lives.
Lots of work is needed to prepare for victory, not just to 'win' but so we don't waste the opportunity through lack of preparation.
Ignorant and propagandized supporters of capitalism have no understanding of how much it has corrupted and is the underlying problem to every problem we face, they also have a poor understanding of geopolitics and history other than the twisted and perverse bourgeois retelling of it. If I didn't mention it already. Refer to the information I've collected on my website via my profile regarding the evils of capitalism. Start with the Dialectical Materialism page. While you're there, educate yourself on other topics as well.
Yes, Most people do not read Philosophers for fun, because philosophers are the most difficult to understand and their writings the most opaque. I will go further and agree that most people do not understand anything other than their own interactions with economics. They usually do NOT understand how the economy they experience interact with society and governmental systems or how the economy of one nation interacts effectively with all of them. People often feel that metal, such as gold has an intrinsic value and should be the foundation of the economy. Others may venture forth and figure that a completely managed economy, such as was under the Soviet union, is an ideal system, even though it fell apart...
The part you do not seem to address is how to encourage others to actually read your writings on this topic. For one thing, people prefer to have hope. Give them at least the shape of a solution. For instance, how would you propose we change the economic system we have? Do you have a better alternative? How would you manage the transition from this one to that one? How would you motivate people to accept and then demand your solution, perhaps with an eye towards anticipating when a critical event should occur providing the opportunity to motivate people to a transition.
Unfortunately all I can seem to get from you is that Capitalism is BAD, with a capital EVIL. I agree there are certainly problems with Capitalism, but it also has strengths, or else it would not be as common as it is. Most regions have found ways to 'modify' Capitalism to make it at least reasonably function (usually, for most people...). Telling people you are going to take away their entire economy is not going to make them feel safe and secure.
The concept of money, which was developed around the same time as Capitalism, is very useful as a rule, for any economy which stretches beyond the village. Capitalism is extremely adaptable, but it can also be managed. A key problem is when the 'managers' of Capitalism are corrupted by the money, because Capitalism is extremely adaptable and will find ways to influence the management, reduce payments (to employees, contractors, customers...), raise prices... to increase their profits. But when you have a situation you need solved, Capitalism is the strongest tool there is to find that solution, if properly motivated and constrained.
So, eliminating Capitalism completely is risky (note both Russia and China have embraced aspects of it), and must be managed carefully so as to not create a worse problem than 'managed' capitalism. Proper study of alternatives (and sorry, what Marx pushed was half baked at best) and plans for how to test it out, transition with safeguards and a system to manage it to ensure it works and adapt it as needed, would be much more helpful than telling people to 'stop being stupid'.
That's a half decent response but you're simply giving capitalism a pass while making claims nothing else can be done or should be done, that communism is basically evil. When it’s not.
Communism is not evil, but central planning is not as adaptable as capitalism, and is still itself subject to corruption. Any effective system has to have an adaptive aspect, something to handle the 'exceptions'. In any economic system, especially with evolving technology change is inevitable.
One problem with most economic systems is that there are always those who seek to 'game the system' and who view the world as a zero sum game, so they either use the rigged game in their favor or they cheat, in order to hoard the wealth.
The choice does not have to be between Laissez-Faire Capitalism and pure Marxist Communism, nor even our current managed capitalism... There is another way to create a functioning economy. The real challenge becomes how to transition from the current system to one that works better.
I suggest what should come first is a major project to design a new economic system, with computers likely an element of the system and a different set of goals than the pure acquisition of wealth. Simulate the heck out of it, do a test run in a smaller region, plot out the transition process and then sell the heck out of it. But before you can even do THAT, you would need to GET MONEY OUT OF POLITICS.
I propose the key goals to be to encourage adaptability and a smaller range of wealth - currently we have most people with little, some with modest or 'nice' and a few with most everything. Let us aim for a range of modest to nice and maybe a few with 'a lot'. Enough to give motivation to those who need it, but as any hoarder will tell you, there is never enough to satisfy the craving. So put a limit on it. Provide other pathways to fame and respect. Positions of influence will still exist.
What we currently have are people on different sides of the fence, shouting at each other, assigning labels with generalizations, often very emotional such as "evil", and never sitting down for a reasoned appraisal of the entire problem set and an openness to create new tools, new ideas. A lot of those emotions were pushed by people with a lot of wealth who panic at the idea of losing even some of their hoard of wealth. They frantically push fear and hate of any alternative, usually using the labels "Communism" and "Socialism" with maybe "Fascism" thrown in just to evoke more fear and confusion.
Then there are others who have experienced pain in the current system and want to throw it all out and start over with the most convenient alternative at hand, such as the writings of a philosopher in the late 1800's. Then we have people who rant about the Gold standard and those who think the answer to everything is Capitalism without any restrictions on it.
Here is the reality. A fair and functional, reasonably stable adaptable economic system that works for large economies, preferably the world, is going to be inherently complex, so any simplistic answer will either outright fail, or quickly become a patchwork of kludges and work arounds, which is what we currently have, and still be fundamentally flawed.
While I have some ideas of how to get to a good solution, it would mostly be the process of a development project that deliberately ignores all the emotional labels and prejudging that the entire topic has promoted so far.
Bold of you to assume I wasn't having conversations with my Grammy about Gorbachev and the Berlin wall when it was torn down, that I didn't smell something ripe in history class, that I didn't major in Poli Sci with ONE less credit for my double major before I switched to Literature and Philosophy because I had more credits, that I didn't read the Patriot Act before most members of Congress, that I haven't continued to educate myself by consulting source documents instead of believing the garbage I'm fed (you're a regular parrot, though), or that you told me anything I didn't already know. I'm AuDHD, I don't trust my own mother; I fact check her all the time, research is kind of my job. You made an ass out of yourself.
You're a pompous ass, there is not a chance in hell I'm bringing any traffic to your site; I'd rather call a MAGA relative for the first time in 2+ years and listen to their drunken rabble rousing. I'm well aware of the facts, but your opinion is bullshit and your attitude is much like that of an orange toddler with dementia who can't help but commitments of war while he's sundowning. If you'd come here in good faith, without telling people you do not know what they do and do not know and believe, I might've taken a little time to check it out. Now? Nah.
Yes, this country has it's flaws, but are you starting at the local level to find like-minded people to discuss both problems AND possible solutions with, or are you screaming into an internet echo chamber via your blog? One is productive, the other is wasting energy, because if you ride in everywhere else on that high horse, good luck finding anyone willing to read it.
You don't know anything of substance about Communism. Supporters of capitalism have no understanding of how much it has corrupted and is the underlying problem to every problem we face, you also have a poor understanding of geopolitics and history other than the twisted and perverse bourgeois retelling of it.
Calling someone like me who is a real leftist that of a right-winger only proves that you're poorly educated and propagandized on many a topic.
By the way. I dont benefit in any way from sharing the website I made, I can't.
If a Democrat were in office, you liberals would be supporting every atrocity here and abroad as you happily support imperialism and fascism when a Democrat is the one selling it to you. You liberals are ignorant and propagandized hypocrites.
There you go again, making assumptions that do nothing to advance your cause. To quote The Clash, "Go straight to hell, boy."
This shatters my heart and makes me 😭
I'm sitting here crying. I am not literally the child of Holocaust survivors — my great grandparents escaped the shtetl in what's now Belarus ahead of the Russian army back in 1870-something. (In 1941, the children and grandchildren of their friends who didn't leave were rounded up by the Nazis, herded into a ditch outside town and slaughtered, the same thing that happened at Babi Yar in Kiev where I once lay in the grass weeping.) But my whole life was impacted because of my classmates in grade school and high school who were the children of Holocaust survivors. It was unknown to us then because you didn't talk about it in the 1950s and 60s but I learned about it at subsequent class reunions. Toni's parents were so shut down she never knew where they were in the camps but she knew she was born in Germany. She was so damaged as a child by her family pathology that she ruined my life from 6th grade through high school. We talked decades later; she grew up and changed into a valuable person. Bonnie's parents were in Auschwitz; she was born in Poland. These were bobby sox-wearing, teased-hair, American Bandstand-watching teenagers, Beatles-loving 60s teenagers — with a dark dark past.
At the last reunion Toni told a couple of us that her father said that back in Germany in the 1930s, they didn't take Hitler's talk seriously because, he said, "We may be Jewish but we are Germans too."
Then she threatened to unfriend a classmate who, she discovered, supported Trump (luckily rare in our circle).
This type of denial is going on here in Trump’s America. People won’t leave in time.
The problem is most CAN'T leave, and that as true during WW II as well when many countries, including the U.S., refused to take people who tried to leave.
I didn’t realize countries wouldn’t take people. I’ve talked to my brother about leaving but he won’t go anyplace. And countries probably wouldn’t want us now!
The U.S. turned down fleeing Jews during WW II.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/us-government-turned-away-thousands-jewish-refugees-fearing-they-were-nazi-spies-180957324/
You support Nazis and Fascism, though as liberalism paves the way for it. Liberalism and Fascism go hand in hand.
ICE HAS TO GO. TRUMP HAS TO BE REMOVED NOW. CONGRESS STOP FUCKING AROUND REMOVE TRUMP NOW.
AND HIS MINIONS!!!!
My heart breaks every time I hear someone screaming as well as seeing how horrible they are being treated by ICE. It must stop. These people are not violent, they have green cards or some are waiting on their immigration dates in court. This must stop. The US was built from immigrants since the very start. With the exception of the indigenous people. Even the indigenous people are being removed to consentration camps. VOTE BLUE 🔵🇺🇸 to help save America.
1942, America, Japanese born American citizens. EO 9066. We have traveled this road before
Yes. I'm so very sorry. And it seems our country's elected haven't learned a damn thing from our history. :(
Who, as a nation, we were and remain (male dominated, white-privilege, WASPS): Black slavery/Jim Crow/KKK/socio-economic exclusion; the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882); historical maltreatment of Latinx people; CA Alien Land Bill (1913) denying land rights to Japanese people; internment of Japanese Americans (1942); the retributive Lincoln-approved murders by hanging of 38 Dakota men in MN (1862); the Trail of Tears displacements/relocations of 60,000 indigenous people and others (1830-1850); Islamophobia (historical/); anti-Semitism (historical/ongoing – typified by FDR’s refusal to allow the German refugee ship St. Louis to dock in FL: 254/937 passengers died in the Holocaust; for almost 150 years until the 19th Amendment (1920) women were denied suffrage; general xenophobia against Italian, Irish, and German immigrants; territorial conquests under Polk, including TX, CA, NV, UT, most of AZ, NM; parts of CO, WY, KS, OK, MT, OR, WA (1845-1848); ouster of its monarchy and annexation of HI and the Spanish-American War including annexation of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines (1898/McKinley); U.S. invasions of Korea (1950-1953), Vietnam (primarily 1964-1975); and Venezuela (2026). Next? Colombia, Cuba, Panama, Greenland, Mexico, Canada? It is no historical surprise that we are here, humankind be damned.
L’Chaim, Michael! You’re a Mitzvah to us all….❤️✡️
Really?! Cohen is back with trump! Fox News says they found Cohen s post on Substack. He states he was coerced into testifying against trump???
Mea culpa???
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/michael-cohen-says-ny-prosecutors-pressured-coerced-him-anti-trump-testimony
Zev Shalev has a good summary of why Michael Cohen can't be trusted: https://substack.com/inbox/post/184928523
So well written. I’m with you 100%. It hasn’t arrived where I am . YET… I’m also PISSED OFF.
This isn't creeping in, this is marching lock step Nazi style with masked jackbooted thugs called ICE instead of SS. There is no difference and they are HERE NOW
You support Nazis and Fascism, though as liberalism paves the way for it. Liberalism and Fascism go hand in hand.
How much longer and how much more will it take for the Senate, House, SCOTUS and Military to start doing their jobs!!! This evil regime and all connected to it needs to be prosecuted NOW!!
Michael, well written. Succinct and to the point.
But so many of them ARE doing their job: they are contributing to the total destruction of our democratic republic. That's their assignment from P 2025 and the oligarchy I guess. :(
It's not "the" senate and congress it's the REPUBLICANS in the senate and house. Please stop depicting all members of our elected officials as being worthless or, worse, complicit. The war powers resolution act was defeated by two REPUBLICAN senators, hawley and young(?) and vance who cast the majority vote. So just stop with the "they're all evil and choosing to do nothing". You do know they're the minority party, right, which severely limits their power? What do you suggest they do?
"Supreme" court? They have a 6/3 majority! Military? Supposedly sixty-five percent of the military voted for and still supports trump. ABC, CBS and possibly NBC, all once vaunted press, are now state propaganda rags as are many printed/online news media. We've lost the government, we've lost the military, we've lost the courts, we've lost the justice department who now works for trump. So again what do you suggest the minority party do to end this dangerous regime?
Why did so many people ignore the warnings in 2024?
Hopefully 2026 will be different!
Because, Dr. David, they would have had to have voted for the Black lady. And that they could not do. Which makes my blood boil to this day.
Why did so many people vote him in 2015? Why did people not do even superficial research, learning that he stiffed his contractors, that he lied when convenient, that he had no financial sense at all, bankrupting his own casino? Why did the DNC basically take Bernie Sanders and the other candidates out of the race? Why did Harris not demand recounts in questionable areas in 2020? smdh
Why did so many people wait until it;s almost too damn late to change it? :( smdh
If you are trying to scare me with these posts it is working. I am scared of what is happening in our country. And I am not one that scares easily after spending a career in law enforcement and the fire service.
Thank you. I really feel for you. Being a child of holocaust survivors would have made your imprisonment and solitary confinement all the more painful!
I am also a child of holocaust survivors, though my parents fled to Shanghai where I was born in a Jewish ghetto during the Japanese occupation. They lost much of their family in Austria and a three year old child in Shanghai. I, too grew up with their trauma and have worked hard to live today with open eyes, while not pretending the trauma is there.
I recall being good friends with an older couple who had both survived Auschwitz. When I visited the husband, a brilliant man, in a retirement home he was still quite lucid and present. But all of a sudden he stared and said, "They're coming back. They're coming back."
You are a gift and your writing during this difficult time is so important. Please take care of you emotional and physical health. We need you.
With love,
Padma Felice Wick
I had a friend who was the only child of Auschwitz survivors. When her father died a few years ago, I learned from his but that he was one of the original Schindler Jews. Her mother used to say, "Madeline, do I survive Auschwitz so you don't clean your room? Do survive Auschwitz so you date a Catholic boy?" Her father just looked at us, oh, these American kids, what do they know... I can still see his soft look. Madeline became a therapist. Many people in the neighborhood were survivors, the shopkeepers, friend's parents. No one talked about it. Cherry Hill,NJ, 1953-1971.
Thank you for your sharing, Michael...the horrors are unimaginable and we need people like you to yank us back into reality...this vigilante administration all need to be rounded up, thrown in detention, and made to pay restitution (money and otherwise) to our country for all of the damage they have done and continue to do. Thank goodness we still have decent judges who can halfway do their jobs, but I'm afraid SCOTUS will continue to undermine them. We must keep up the good fight and hope to God that our "former" allies will stand up for the good people of the USA.
You support Nazis and Fascism, though as liberalism paves the way for it. Liberalism and Fascism go hand in hand.
It's amazing how Trump lies about stuff and so many believe him. Even when it come to the economy people are hurting but they will still say he's done great. Which is bs big time.
Believe trump and not your grocery receipt! I went shopping over the weekend. Three bags of groceries which contained a two pound package of frozen breakfast sausage as the only meat, $122.00. The romaine lettuce price jumped 25% in a month. Carrots jumped, tomatoes jumped, deodorant. Toilet paper jumped around a dollar as well. The only items I bought that were closer to the lower prices were those on sale. Had I shopped today those items would be priced at the inflated price.
We are literally living in "1984". It's astounding how observant and how prescient Orwell was. And how well he knew the human psyche.
We need thousands to sign up at your local government office to get deputized by your sheriff, police chief, mayor, governor to be
badged,
unarmed officer assistants to public safety
front line of peacekeeping when violent agitators and terrorist agents are present
Doing live video recording
reporting to emergency command center
calling in police and state troopers
They aired Diary of Anne Frank last night. Word for word exactly what is happening here now is what a neighbor described to the Frank family. THAT was disturbing. Exactly!!! And this was in black and white too so you know it wasn’t AI. I read the book in grade school. I’ve seen Schindlers list. I know what happened. I still am struggling with the fear that it could happen here as it did there with gas chambers? The PTSD is real as I’m a survivor of child abuse and SA.
Read it, especially because it’s being banned in so many schools.
Michael, I always read your posts before I read any others. Thank you.