If we chase useful immigrants away, Our country will wake to a “bigly” day. Fields will lie fallow, factories go still— Fewer hands to build or handle the grill. Restaurants will close and kitchens go dark With no hustling workforce or ethnic spark. The streets will turn silent, no bustling rush; Cities will turn into a stifling hush. Homes will stay dirty and the lawns uncut— No painters, cleaners, builders, who knows what. The crops will wither and the trucks won’t roll, As the economy takes a great toll. And who will care for our young children’s needs? Who will there be to tend the farmers’ seeds? Hospitals will be thinned, with few nurses there; With caregivers gone, there’s a lot to fear.
So please reflect on the nation’s welfare— What will we do when migrants aren’t here?
O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light What so gladly I sell to billionaires’ top bidding Whose grand schemes and big dreams through Patriotic fight O’er the podcasts we aired, were righteously streaming? And your Savior’s great flare, fireworks bursting in air Give proof through the night that the Deal’s in gear; O say does my Czar-spangled banner now wave O’er the home of the “weak” or the land of my Faved?
Czar-Strangled Banner
O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light What so blithely we sold to a tycoon’s top bidding Whose big whines and wet dreams through the garrulous fight O’er the podcasts we heard, were so pompously streaming? And the Trumper’s stern glare, his farts bursting in air Gave proof through the night that our country’s not here; O say does our “star-spangled banner” yet wave O’er the home of the free or the Realm of the Knave?
Fighting an authoritarian regime is complex, potentially hazardous, and long-term work, but history has shown that no regime is invincible. Pushing back requires a multi-faceted approach of personal, collective, and political actions against charismatic leadership, populist appeals, nationalism, and authoritarian tactics. Successful resistance includes a combination of nonviolent activism, strategic political engagement, grassroots mobilization, and international solidarity. The goal should be not only to resist the immediate rise of fascism but also to build long-term structures that can safeguard democracy, human rights, and social justice.
Despite electoral losses, the majority of Americans hold democratic and progressive values. Honest, individual conversations can reveal shared values across political divides. Immigrants embody the American ideal by striving to make the country fulfill its promises. We must stay engaged and offer support to those affected by right-wing policies.
Suggestions:
Understand the Risks and Stay Safe
Avoid Isolation: During the rise of authoritarianism, it’s easy to feel powerless. However, isolating oneself or retreating into apathy can give the regime the upper hand. Solidarity with others in the community can be a source of strength and resilience.
Promote Solidarity and Community Resilience
Consider Security: Anti-authoritarian activism can be dangerous in certain contexts, especially as the authorities may use surveillance, intimidation, or violence against opposition. Use secure communication methods, protect personal privacy, and be aware of the risks associated with organizing in an authoritarian environment.
Create Safe Spaces: Building solidarity networks that protect vulnerable communities—ethnic minorities, immigrants, LGBTQ+— people is important. Safe houses, mutual aid networks, and legal defense funds can make a significant difference.
Teach and Spread Awareness: Distributing information, holding public forums, and educating communities on the signs of authoritarianism, the importance of democracy, and historical lessons can build resilience.
Digital Resistance: It’s crucial to understand how to use social media for activism, fact-checking, and mobilization while countering authoritarian propaganda.
Engage in Nonviolent Resistance
Peaceful Protests: When done on a large scale, organizing and participating in mass protests can disrupt business as usual and signal widespread dissatisfaction.
Civil Disobedience: Nonviolent acts of defiance, such as sit-ins or boycotts, can create pressure while maintaining moral high ground. Such actions show the regime’s inability to control dissent.
Labor Strikes: Strikes by essential workers—such as transportation, education, or healthcare—can cause significant disruptions to daily life and the economy.
Vocabulary: Use strong words. Say “unpatriotic,” “stupid,” “corrupt,” “betrayal,” “disgraceful,” “will harm millions of Americans,”; “morally wrong” if you see it that way, “against my conscience” or similar phrases, and explain why.
Build and Strengthen Independent Institutions
Support independent media: Supporting local news, investigative journalism, or social media helps ensure a free flow of information.
Protect the Judiciary: Efforts to defend an impartial, independent judiciary can act as a counterbalance to the regime’s authority.
Support civil society organizations: NGOs and grassroots organizations that focus on human rights, democracy, and justice are crucial. These groups often provide critical services, offer alternative narratives, and organize resistance efforts.
Mobilize Political Resistance
Electoral Engagement: Running candidates for local and national office who can offer an alternative to authoritarian policies, even in the face of voter suppression or intimidation, can help slow down or roll back authoritarian actions. It’s important to engage voters in areas with a higher likelihood of success.
Coalition Building: Resist ideological silos. Building broad coalitions of liberals, progressives, centrists, and moderates can help create a united front, even if there are disagreements on specific policies.
Campaigning for Free and Fair Elections: Advocating for free and fair elections, voting rights protections, and fighting voter suppression is critical. This includes challenging gerrymandering, ensuring electoral integrity, and opposing any effort to restrict voting access.
Legal and Constitutional Challenges
Challenge Unconstitutional Actions: File lawsuits or challenge unjust laws in court. Public interest lawyers, activist legal groups, and even pro bono efforts and funding can play a vital role.
Resist the Rule of Law’s Breakdown: It is important to highlight and expose any illegal actions or abuses of power through legal avenues.
Engage in International Solidarity
Appeal to the International Community: Appealing to international organizations such as the United Nations, the European Union, and human rights organizations can put diplomatic pressure on an authoritarian regime.
Leverage Sanctions and Boycotts: Economic pressure from foreign countries and multinational organizations, such as sanctions or trade restrictions, can be an effective tool for resistance.
Diaspora Networks: Diaspora communities can help coordinate resistance efforts from outside the country.
Prepare for Civil Conflict and Maintain Moral Integrity
Nonviolent Civil War: If resistance escalates and a regime becomes openly violent, nonviolent resistance remains more effective than armed conflict in many cases. Historical examples like Gandhi in India or King in the U.S. show the potential of moral power. However, nonviolent struggle often requires significant coordination, resilience, and community-building.
Maintaining Ethical Resistance: It’s important to uphold the principles of democracy and human rights even in the face of extreme violence or repression. Engaging in tactics that mirror the oppressive tactics of the regime—such as torture or terrorism—can morally delegitimize a resistance movement.
Cultivate Hope and Resilience
Narrative of Resistance: Resisting fascism requires not only strategy but also hope. Focusing on the possibility of a better, more just future is extremely crucial in maintaining morale and inspiring continued efforts.
Celebrate Small Wins: Even when facing a large and oppressive regime, celebrating small victories—whether it’s a local protest, a legal victory, or the success of an independent journalist—can serve as a reminder that resistance is effective and that change is possible.
You can’t be an AmeriKan unless you’ve learned to purse your lips, to avert your eyes, to snub your nose at someone else.
It’s in the presentation of the flag, woven in the stripes, each one a ladder rung to a place above other’s heads, the ones beneath left for those still grasping, stretching, yearning to reach the top.
You can’t be an AmeriKan unless you’ve felt the Weight of Privilege heavy on your shoulders— the burden of entitlement to always stand higher, no matter the consequence.
It’s in the license granted by the premise: “Work hard, you’ll make it; but first, keep your boot on their necks.”
So look down on those who don’t have. It’s Your Right to Lord their skin, their words, their means, their dreams. But remember keep your distance, don’t ever get too close.
You can’t be an AmeriKan unless you have others to shame, to jeer at to the stars, while their claims are forgotten, lost in the rabble of an underclass, fated never to rise.
Being an AmeriKan is the “climb,” the view from the top, the fitted crown— and the thrill of stepping on another’s back to “prove” you’ve made it.
After leaving office, many members of the Trump administration and staff have written books, conducted interviews, and even testified about the crimes and misdemeanors they witnessed in the White House. Some have also spoken about how they batted down Trump’s election lies—but they never went public with all the threats he posed during their tenure when it could have made a difference. The country needed courageous whistleblowers, but never got them.
Suggestion:
Prospective government office holders and staff members should be required to memorize their oath of office, and once in office periodically be tested to see if they still remember it and asked whether they are still upholding that oath.
This video speaks volumes on the serious political consequences of the cowardice of RepubilCON leaders and how they have abandoned their oath to defend the constitution and remained instead in their positions (!coarse language):
Many of us are concerned with the emergence and growth of the Donald Cult and its trickle-down idiocy. Ever more frequently, we have come to wonder how to handle this subject when engaging in a conversation with a stranger, a friend, or even a relative.
Suggestion:
Start with the normal greetings (how are you doing, I missed talking with you, etc.). Move onto typical subjects of commonality such hobbies, hiking, cooking, and so on to help build a conversational bridge.
If the conversation turns to the Donald or Donald-like activity/view, instead of challenging interlocutors directly, ask how they first heard or got into contact with Trump and/or with that activity/view. Listening carefully, let them expound. This way you get to understand the origin and development of their notions. Then start unpacking it and respectfully respond with your own understanding and your own data and personal examples of how you would react to such ideas.
Even as foreign terror has reduced dramatically in the US, that from White Nationalists, so-called militias, and those so aligned has increased to at least about 2/3 of all incidents. And members of the US military and law enforcement represent a disproportionate degree of participation in far too many of these violent events.
Suggestion:
There is no doubt that the majority of those in the Army, other branches of the American military and law enforcement are devoted to our Constitution and nation and are without extremist ideologies. But to ignore or, as does the GOP, simply deny that (mostly) white extremist radicalization exists and continues to expand in our military and law enforcement is a grave error.
Lindsay Graham succinctly explained the Greedy Oligarchs Party’s capitulation: “You know what I liked about Trump? Everybody was afraid of him, including me.”
The ONLY Good Solution:
To address the threat spawned by this cowardice and the related trickle-down idiocy: VOTE Democrat!
The MAGAT, many of his cult, and their corporate and political supporters, who willfully reject facts and what is right to do, are morally asleep. To be “Woke” indicates intellectual honesty, being alert to the injustices in life, and is a badge of honor.
If by a “Liberal” they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people―their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties―someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal”, then I’m proud to say I’m a “Liberal.”
Where have all our freedoms gone? Long time passing Where have all our freedoms gone? Long time ago? Where have all our freedoms gone? The Boss has snatched them every one Oh, when will we ever learn? Oh, when will we ever learn? Where have all liberties gone? Where have all the guardrails gone? Long time passing Where have all the guardrails gone? Long time ago? Where have all the guardrails gone? They’ve taken our rights every one Oh, when will we ever learn? Oh, when will we ever learn? Where have all privacy gone? Long time passing Where have all human rights gone? Long time ago? Where will our hopes and dreams go? They may not ever show Oh, when will we ever learn? Oh, when will we ever learn?
Bigheaded leaders, bloated with their pride, Say they know best, hubris surging inside. Xerxes sunk at Salamis Blinded by self-centered, self-righteous ways, They lead the country to its darkest days. Alcibiades seduced by Sicily Their egos are inflated, minds closed tight, Refusing to receive reasoned insight. Hannibal zapped at Zama They march forward, with ignorance as shield, Blithe to disaster presumption may yield. Crassus crushed at Carrhae Their regiments trapped as they reach for fame With bombast ending in nothing but shame. Cornwallis yanked at Yorktown Wars they do wage and economies crash, Based on their words so pretentious and brash. Napoleon walloped at Waterloo But in the end, their downfall does draw near, As victims and foes no longer have fear. Hitler stomped at Stalingrad These cocky chieftains, delusions defied, Met defeat when resistance turned the tide. Putin kicked at Kiev… May their downfall serve as lesson to all Only vigilance will folly forestall.
Thus, arrogance does not a good plan make, Nor bluster when a nation is at stake.
Ever stick your head in a cutout To make it look that you’re strong?
A strategist had a winning formula: Attack Your Opponent’s Strength. This could be even more effective if your adversary’s main asset is nothing more than a con.
Many may desire an authoritarian, someone who will force the “elites” who mock them to listen, rouse fear and bring respect, and command the tide to retreat.
He claims he’s not a typical politician, but a “don’t mess with me” superhero, true preserver of the good old times. He would be an authentic strongman, your defender, always on your side.
Of course, he’s anything but that. He projects an image of success when in fact he’s a fake and shill, a bully and, like many bullies, a coward when facing real strongmen and the truth.
So retorts shouldn’t be wonky or preachy; they have to Go Straight for the Gut. Play up his lies and gaffs over and over. Don’t lie or nuance, but make use of facts in the starkest terms to Make The Contrast.
WHEN in the Course of MAGA Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of Heaven, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to Repudiation.
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that only some White Men are created equal, that these are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among these White Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Corporations, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the MAGAs to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Patriots are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these States; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of the Deep State is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.
Despite our determined efforts to stonewall his legislation and executive action, He
1. Passed the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package to increase investment in the national network of bridges and roads, airports, public transport and national broadband internet, as well as waterways and energy systems.
2. Helped get more than 500 million life-saving COVID-19 vaccinations in the arms of Americans through the American Rescue Plan.
3. Stopped a 30-year streak of federal inaction on gun violence by signing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that created enhanced background checks, closed the “boyfriend” loophole and provided funds for youth mental health.
4. Made a $369 billion investment in climate change, the largest in American history, through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
5. Ended the longest war in American history by pulling the troops out of Afghanistan.
6. Provided $10,000 to $20,000 in college debt relief to Americans with loans who make under $125,000 a year.
7. Cut child poverty in half through the American Rescue Plan.
8. Capped prescription drug prices at $2,000 per year for seniors on Medicare through the Inflation Reduction Act.
9. Passed the COVID-19 relief deal that provided payments of up to $1,400 to many struggling U.S. citizens while supporting renters and increasing unemployment benefits.
11. Imposed a 15% minimum corporate tax on some of the largest corporations in the country, ensuring that they pay their fair share, as part of the historic Inflation Reduction Act.
12. Recommitted America to the global fight against climate change by rejoining the Paris Agreement.
13. Strengthened the NATO alliance in support of Ukraine after the Russian invasion by endorsing the inclusion of world military powers Sweden and Finland.
14. Authorized the assassination of the Al Qaeda terrorist Ayman al-Zawahiri, who became head of the organization after the death of Osama bin Laden.
15. Gave Medicare the power to negotiate prescription drug prices through the Inflation Reduction Act while also reducing government health spending.
16. Held Vladimir Putin accountable for his invasion of Ukraine by imposing stiff economic sanctions.
17. Boosted the budget of the Internal Revenue Service by nearly $80 billion to reduce tax evasion and increase revenue.
18. Created more jobs in one year (6.6 million) than any other president in U.S. history.
19. Reduced healthcare premiums under the Affordable Care Act by $800 a year as part of the American Rescue Plan.
20. Signed the PACT Act to address service members’ exposure to burn pits and other toxins.
21. Signed the CHIPS and Science Act to strengthen American manufacturing and innovation.
22. Reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act through 2027.
23. Halted all federal executions after the previous administration reinstated them after a 17-year freeze.
24. Tackled inflation and junk fees and lowered costs including gas.
25. Brought together Republicans and Democrats to pass the first meaningful gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years.
26. Excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our States, the merciless Antifas, whose known Rule of Resistance, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes, Christian Religions and Conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.
Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to our Blue Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the RED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these States, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these RED States are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the Biden Regime, and that all political Connection between them and the Deep State, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
Signed by Order and in Behalf of the Deplorables, DONALD DRUMPF, Orange Führer.
bird in a gilded cage wolf in sheep’s clothing dog-eat-dog world busy as a bee gets his ducks in a row like shooting fish in a barrel the world is his oyster elephant in the room lion’s share fat cat
a little bird told me let sleeping dogs lie it’s only puppy love all hat no cattle chickens come home to roost I’ll be a monkey’s uncle cock and bull story
open a can of worms wild goose chase whack-a-mole “kangaroo” court mad as a hornet cat with nine lives a leopard cannot change its spots
There are Jews in the world, there are Lib’rals There are Homos and Marxists, and then There are those that follow BLM, but I’ve never been one of them I’m a true Deplorable And have been since before I could breathe And the one thing they say about US rednecks is: We’ll kick Democrats in the teeth We don’t believe the globe’s got hotter We don’t have to have a great brain We don’t have to have any empathy, you’re A real MAGA when you show no shame Because Every lie is sacred Every lie is great If a lie is wasted Don gets quite irate Let the pundits cry foul On the Lamestream news Don shall make them pay for Each hoax that they defuse Every lie is wanted Every lie is good Every lie is needed In your neighborhood Experts, scholars, savants Spew their facts ev’rywhere But Don loves those who treat his Falsehoods with rev’rance Every lie is sacred Every lie is great If a lie is wasted Don gets quite irate Every lie is sacred Every lie is good Every lie is needed In your neighborhood! Every lie is useful Every lie is fine Don fools everybody Me! And you! And us! Let the elites tell truths O’er mountain, hill, and plain Don shall strike them down for Each lie that lands in vain Every lie is sacred Every lie is good Every lie is needed In your neighborhood Every lie is sacred Every lie is great If a lie is wasted Don gets quite irate
Lies spew: years of anger followed by torrids of sneers and leers blasting out – the blizzard advances its inevitable embrace wider and wider, deeper and deeper piling up, a cluttered cluster of snowflakes and grifters – hater-faced MAGAs marching and jeering row upon row in crazed, fawning solidarity. The Don whirls and howls – his dark shadow hulking out over the world.
You woke up this morning, gave yourself a hug Mama says you are her precious little bug She said, “You’re one in a million, you’re born to really shine And you were born under the right sign with the true faith in your mind”
You woke up this morning to a stalwart song Your papa always told you what’s RIGHT, what’s wrong And you’re feeling good, baby, you believe you’re feeling fine Born wearing a white skin and privilege in your spine
Well, you woke up this morn, the world’s turned upside down Thing’s ain’t been the same since the Libs walked into town But you’re one of the listless, you’re just the redneck kind Born on the track’s “right” side with a hate that makes you blind
When you woke up this morning everything you had was gone By half past ten your head was going ding-dong Ringing like a bell from your head down to your toes Like a voice telling you there is something you oppose
Before you were flying but today you’re so low Ain’t it times like these that make you wonder if you’ll ever know The meaning of things as they appear to the others Queers, women, Muslims, the Jews and coloreds
Don’t you wish all remained the same, wish you needn’t think Beyond the next paycheck and the next little drink But, you can’t just get make your Eden go on ‘Cos when you woke up this morning everything you loved was gone
When you woke up this morning, when you woke up this morning When you woke up this morning, mama said you’re her favorite one When you woke up this morning, when you woke up this morning When you woke up this morning, you got yourself a gun
Here’s the story of the listless vessels Who’ve been livin’ in a whitewashed fantasy. All want to guard their status, stay the masters, Keeping others in chains.
(And the story of a venal party Who’ve been suckin’ up to corporate CEOs All of them have dreams of gold, like their masters, And keep the poor in chains.)
Here’s the story, of a man named Donny, Who was busy with big dreams of his own, He wanted everyone to like him, Yet he felt all alone.
Till the one day when those losers heard this fellow And they knew it was much more than a hunch, That this group would somehow form a family. That’s the way they all became the MAGA Bunch. The Traitor Bunch.
That’s the way they all became the MAGA Bunch. The Traitor Bunch.
There was a counselor who advised his client during a court appearance. After a while the client turned around, ashen and trembling, and said, counselor, just now while at the arraignment I sensed someone watching me in the room; and when I turned, I noticed that it was Jack Smith who was looking at me and giving me a menacing stare. Now, you promised me that I’d be safe from Smith now that we’ve lucked out by drawing Aileen Cannon’s court. The counselor gave him his assurance, followed with a pat on the back. Then the counselor returned to the courtroom, and he saw Smith standing in the aisle. He came up to Smith and said, “Why did you make a menacing stare to my client when you saw him this morning?” “That was not a menacing stare,” Smith said, “It was only a look of surprise. I was astonished to see him seeming so contented here in Cannon’s court, because I have another appointment with him in DC.” [Sadly I could only dream]
‘TWAS fortune brought me to my “shithole” state, Taught my socialist soul to contemplate That Don’s a con, that he’s no Savior, too, A conviction I maintain and hold true. You see my Soros tribe with scornful eye, Say, “Antifa’s a diabolic lie.” But heed, MAGAs, this pinko, marked as Cain, Will never consent to a traitor’s reign.
Orange now boasts of secrets in hand And shows off our Iran attack plan. But once the Don meets Smith, He will just plea the fifth; And the traitor may escape the can.
“I most definitely decline to respond to your question based on my Fifth Amendment constitutional protections with all due respect”
On halting Congress’s joint session On raising a privilege question On parleying with Hawley, Cruz, or Lee On consulting the Federalist Society On colluding with state legislators On concocting “alternate electors” On conspiring with turncoats like RoJo On caballing at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago On blocking votes from being certified On calling the violence “justified” On compensating election schemes On seizing Domain voting machines On stashing funds for “Stop the Steal” On pursuing a pardon deal On giving my age or home’s location On stirring a coup against the nation On plotting with Oath Keepers and Proud Boys On conniving other seditious ploys
I, most loyal MAGA, must thus entreat Once on the J6 committee’s hot seat!
Why do we keep on keeping on In the face of such disaster when health policy is no good for no reason when everything supposed to be right is wrong when the CDC says something and the FDA says something and somebody remarking on public confidence says something and the public won’t wear the masks?
What keeps frontline workers working into the night and keeps them going in the morning living on coffee and waiting for things to end cleaning counters and wiping vegetables as if some answer lay in a disinfectant and despite those among us who irrationally and without a doubt are leaving their trust in Tucker Carlson and hydroxychloroquine?
Why don’t we say just screw it And stop trying again and again to march into the President’s pressroom with half an idea about the Wuhan virus hoping he’ll have the other half and hoping what he says will happen when his stable genius gets lit by something never tried and he states will work this time?
Could it be it, that we do all this over and over just for those times when a revelation may rise among us like something ever re-birthing a new life, another hope something not immediately visible but leading us to a real solution and the salvation of the human race?
His is a song everyone may want to hear, a song irresistible that lures the deplorables to leap onboard in droves. Though the toll is ever-mounting, it’s a song nobody challenges because anyone who has heard it has died or refuses to remember. Shall I tell you his secret, and if I do, would you pay me my fee so I can gain notoriety and win a Pulitzer Prize?
Pundits struggle to find the right analogy to describe our political dilemma. One might be a well-known nursery rhyme. Humpty Dumpty. No, I am not referring to the current fragile, thin-skinned occupant of the White House, though it would be easy to see Donald Trump as the anthropomorphic, egg-shaped character of children’s books. Humpty Dumpty for me is the United States.
The history of the United States, from well before its establishment, has been a balancing act of controversy and even conflict over government, rights, economy, and culture. The nation was founded in large part on the removal and decimation of first inhabitants and the capture and enslavement of Africans. Capitalism, a system premised on balancing self-interest and greed, was blended in this country with mainly protestant religious views, and strong sense of white superiority.
Just like Humpty, our country is a sitting precariously on a wall. But our wall is not a support wall, but a divider between darkness and light. The growth of partisanship and particularly the public ascent of the radical right augur an inevitable crisis. Up-coming election may answer on which side we fall.
It was 4:50 PM. The five clustered in the kitchen of their Lincoln Avenue rental. Two sat at the table, two were standing, and one perched himself on the counter. They were all facing the phone attached by the rear door. You would need an ax to cut the anticipation. Tick, tick, tick, time beat on almost suspended as if dragging an invisible weight. They were waiting for The Call.
They were expecting a ring from his mom. Everyone knew her to be very predictable and were familiar with her set-your-atomic-clock-to punctuality. He had often told the others that his mother got off work at 4:00 PM, having set the end of her shift early to avoid the evening traffic. She would hitch a ride from a colleague and arrive home nearly every day by 4:45 PM. She would then enter the house through the driveway side door and proceed by 5:00 PM to front of the house to check the daily mail…
That year on Memorial Day weekend, he had traveled with his girlfriend so she could meet his parents. The visit went way better than he had expected, especially since it was the first time he had brought home a brown-skinned girlfriend. Over the last few years, he had had several discussions, some very heated, with his mother over race and racial relations. She distrusted and often maligned people of other races and ethnic groups, even people of subgroups closely related to her own. She tolerated her on dating people from other ethnic groups, but really wanted him to meet one from their own ethnic group.
He had expected a cool, even chilly encounter; but, to the contrary, things seemed to go well. It certainly helped that his friend was fluent in English. His mother was all smiles, open, and very kind during the whole visit. My father was his bon-vivant self. This reception also allayed the apprehension his friend had expressed before leaving the university town for his home.
By the end of their first year in grad school in June, he had cajoled his girlfriend to join him with his best friend David and David’s newly minted wife, Diane, as housemates. (BTW, he and Diane were once more than friends) They would rent an old three-bedroom house on Lincoln Avenue about four blocks north of campus. The four would be joined by John, an older undergrad, who had been a student in David’s first-year French class. His girlfriend asked him when he proposed the rental plan, “We wouldn’t be sleeping in the same room, right?” He had replied, “No, of course not;” and so, she agreed to the arrangement.
His girlfriend moved into the first-floor bedroom; upstairs David and Diane would have one room and John the other. Meanwhile, he would sleep in a south-facing room that had once served as an attached greenhouse. After moving into the house, he and his girlfriend would trade off rooms in order to perform their lovers’ duties; but they, as he had promised, would not sleep over together through night in either bedroom. (They did, however, sleep over night together when they surreptitiously visited his hometown in late June)
At first, the conditions in his room were comfortable, even in the summer months of June, July, and August, because a neighbor’s tree had grown full and high enough to partially shade the room. However, that year September brought an unusual seasonal chill to the night, and the greenhouse room of course had a considerable amount of number of glass panes. It was getting cool, and quite cold by morning. The heat in the house had been turned on during several nights of chill, but the air flow from the closest duct barely whiffed through his open room door. He tried multiple blankets and tolerated the cold for several days; but all the glass, no insulation. It was darn cold, freezing.
He decided to make a unilateral decision – move over to her room. That night he picked up his pillow and marched out of his room through the living room and opened her door. “Sorry, it’s too cold over there.”
This changed the equation. His girlfriend at first seemed miffed but was generous in allowing him to stay. The increased time for intimacy fostered further exploration and discussion about their relationship. He had from the first time that they met known that he would like her to be the one. It would require, he thought, for her to come to the same realization. In this circumstance, he began to see her even more as the One. So, one late afternoon while they were lounging on the bed, he just blurted it out, “Do you want to get married.” She said simply, “Yes.”
He could have telephoned his mother to make the announcement, but a call home was a long-distance charge and too expensive if the conversation was long. Given his mother’s disposition and predictable negative reaction, he decided that a simple phone would not do. He wanted to inform her of his decision and explain how much he loved his future wife and at the same time express his love for his mother in the hope that in the end she would understand. He would mail the handwritten letter early Monday morning. It would arrive at his parent’s home by Wednesday afternoon.
They were all sitting and standing on the edge, their hearts racing as they anxiously waited for the phone to ring. They had been waiting for what felt like an eternity, staring at the silent phone with a mix of anticipation and anxiety.
As the wall clock ticked toward Five, his girlfriend glanced nervously at the time piece, her hands fidgeting uncontrollably in her lap. David tapped his foot impatiently against the bottom cabinet, his eyes darting back and forth between the clock and the phone. Diane chewed on her bottom lip, her eyes fixed on the phone as if dreading the ring. John stood there in complete bewilderment as what to expect. He alone knew what could happen.
With each passing second, the tension in the room grew thicker, the silence becoming almost unbearable. Finally, as the countdown reached its last few seconds, they all held their breath, their hearts pounding in unison.
And then, as the clock struck zero, the phone suddenly sprang to life, its shrill ring echoing through the room. David, Diane, and John all jumped up, their eyes wide with anticipation, as he advanced to grab the phone. And no one took notice in the excitement that John’s elbow had suddenly knocked a metal mug from off the counter. It crashed with a bang. That was not the center of attention.
“Hello, mom.” Of course, he knew it was her.
“How could you do this to me?” his mother through the line.
“Do what, Mom?” A big gulp.
“Want to marry HER! I knew it, I knew it when you brought her here.”
“Mom, mom, hold on. Well, no, Mom. I only just proposed. I love her.” Searing silence exuded from the other end. “I hope, I hope you understand. I really do love her.” He didn’t think she was listening.
“This is terrible. How could you?” A longer moment of silence then, “Why couldn’t you marry a Chinese?”
“Chinese?” That was a response he had not anticipated.
“I love you, Mom. Please understand.”
“I will NOT come.”
His mother then hung up.
It took a few moments for him to gather himself after the call. In a way he half expected his mother’s ire. He reflected that his mother’s odd suggestion did have a twisted logical since he was enrolled in grad school to study Chinese literature, and Chinese people are more light-skinned than his girlfriend. In proposing Chinese, she was saying marry anyone else but her.
His housemates remained respectfully mum waiting for his reaction. He addressed his girlfriend first to quell her understandable concern.
“Don’t worry love, it doesn’t matter. She’ll come around. She will.”
John chimed in with encouragement. “Yeah, it will work out.”
David and Diane chimed in a hearty, “Yeah, they will. Congratulations!”
He knew better, at least for some time to come…
Once the others had cleared the kitchen, he telephoned his mother’s younger sister whom he considered his favorite aunt. He thought Aunt Jeanne could calm his mother down and get her to reconsider. But his aunt was a big disappointment. She told him, “No way. You shouldn’t have done this. You’ll hurt your mom.” Well so much for a “loving” aunt.
That was that. He and his now fiancée would go on with setting up the wedding, aided by their friends.
His mother obstinately stuck to her word and did not attend the wedding. His father and sister did attend, along with one of his cousins and many of their friends and colleagues. His future mother-in-law even traveled 11,000 miles for the occasion. They all had a splendid time.
For three full years his mother did not see him, mail him, or even talk to him over the phone.
It was a relief, actually. He had at last become an adult.
(1975-1976)
Epilogue
Three years after the wedding, his mother-in-law returned for a visit. The couple traveled to the big city to pick her up at O’Hare International Airport. They got a motel room near the airport which also happened to be close to his parents’ home.
He dialed his father, “Dad, we’ve arrived in town and were at the Days Inn in Niles. We’ve picked up my mother-in-law who has just flown in.”
His father replied, “Oh? Well, okay, Hold on for a minute.” Then silence on the line. It was a fairly long silence, and he couldn’t make out what was going on. His father returned, “Okay, we’ll order some Chinese food and bring it over to you. What room are you in.”
“27.”
“We’ll” his father said. Now that was something different.
A half hour later a knock came at the door. Chinese take-out. The ice had broken.
Ut dictum est Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi Parvus pendetur fur, magnus abire videtur Vulpes pilum mutat, non mores Hinc fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt Damnant quod non intellegunt Sed adversus solem ne loquitor Astra inclinant, sed non obligant Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis Cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare De omnibus dubitandum et nunquam obliviscar Qui totum vult totum perdit Nemo est supra legem Sic semper tyrannis Actum est tandem carmen, plaudite Nunc est bibendum Vale
Tyrant
It is said that What is permitted to Jove is not permitted to an ox, and The petty thief is hanged, while the ringleader gets off, while the fox changes his fur, but not his habits. Hence men often believe what they want to, And some people condemn what they do not understand. But do not speak of what is obviously incorrect. The stars incline us, they do not bind us. Times are changing, and we change in them. Anyone can err, but only the fool persists in his flaws. Doubt everything, and never forget. Whoever wants all, loses all. Nobody is above the law. This always is the fate tyrants. The poem is finally done, applaud! Now is the time to drink! Farewell
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