While I don’t believe this will be permanent (because fascism is so destructive it erodes its own foundation), I’m not holding my breath for those knees to unbend. It feels like there are two kinds of people- those who felt like they’d had enough by the end of 2015 (if not sooner) and have been internally screaming for 10 years straight, and those who will never have enough and never hold anyone accountable, even as they themselves suffer and die. I literally cannot imagine what it would take to wake people up if the past decade and the past couple months haven’t done it already.
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It’s a mystery to me too. Perhaps a crashed economy and losing a war to Canada.
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I suggest phone sideways for the poem…
Some MAGA types ridicule all this as “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” but they’re wrong. None of us has witnessed this degree of cruelty, this much disregard for the rule of law and the Constitution, this extent of nihilist destruction.
I will continue to give you the best analyses, most helpful advice, and most realistic assurances I can. But please know you are not alone in this nightmare that is now a daily daymare.
The poet Alison Luterman sent me this poem to share with you. (Thank you, Alison.)
At Albany Bulb with Elaine
By Alison LutermanSide by side on a log by the bay.
Sunlight. Unleashed dogs,
prancing through surf, almost exploding
out of their skins with perfect happiness.
Dogs who don’t know about fired park rangers,
or canceled health research, or tariff wars,
or the suicide hotline for veterans getting defunded,
or or or. We’ve listed horror upon horror
to each other for weeks now, and it does no good,
so instead I tell her how I held a two-day old baby
in my arms, inhaling him like a fresh-baked loaf of bread,
then watched as a sneeze erupted through his body
like a tiny volcano. It was the look of pure
astonishment on his face, as if he were Adam
in the garden of Eden making his debut achoo,
as if it were the first sneeze that ever blew,
that got me. She tells me how her dog
once farted so loudly he startled himself
and fell off the bed where he’d been lolling,
and then the two of us start to laugh so hard
we almost fall off our own log. And this
is our resistance for today; remembering
original innocence. And they can’t
take it away from us, though they ban
our very existence, though they slash
our rights to ribbons, we will have
our mirth and our birthright gladness.
Long after every unsold Tesla
has vaporized, and earth has closed over
even the names of these temporary tyrants,
somewhere some women like us
will be sitting side by side, facing the water,
telling human stories and laughing still.
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I love this part… especially the highlighted part…
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As some of you may recall I am now watching the documentary “The World at War” for the third time. I saw it first as a small child on PBS, second in the early 90s on VHS, and now on YouTube.
I have recently come to Chapter 16, Germany 1940 – 1944, which seems very pertinent to the US right now. A downward spiral that you can’t control, so you make what decisions you can.
I recommend seeing the entire thing, but if you cannot, here is a brief summation of points that stood out to me. Highlights, if you can really call them that:
- It starts in the summer of 1940. Germany thought the war was over and they had won. A war economy had not been introduced, because the Nazis didn’t want the people to be unhappy. People were encouraged to live exuberantly.
- 5:05 Women are being encouraged to stay home and have large families. They could earn the “Mother Cross” award.
- 7:00 Two comedians humorously demonstrate why a good German doesn’t listen to foreign news broadcasts. In a modern interview — average Berlin woman describes how listening to foreign broadcasts was commonly done, but had to be done very carefully.
- 8:58 A film explains why doing away with mental incurables is better for them, and for reasons of eugenics. THIS, was considered so outrageous that the German people protested against it, and it was stopped, temporarily.
- 10:08 Description of the cooperative press, printing what the government wanted them to. In a modern interview, a man describes how he was actually happy to be drafted, because it allowed him to leave behind the mental oppression of living in a censored society. Soldiers, he says, don’t read newspapers and have to listen to propaganda.
- 11:03 War declared on the USSR comes as a shock to the German people. No one in Germany was asking for it. It is only the desire of Hitler. As a matter of fact, Nazi Germany had it’s best trading relationship with the Soviet Union. This makes me think of the US’s deliberately sabotaged relationship with Canada.
- 19:15 By 1943, Hitler was isolating himself and ignoring advisors more and more. He surrounded himself with yes-men. A fake world was built around him to keep him happy.
- 29:40 A modern interview with Traudl Junge. She says working for Hitler at that point was like living in a monastery, no contact with the outside world. A general told her that it was like a concentration camp — alll using the same phrases, all thinking the same thoughts, all hearing the same information.
- 31:40 Government control of the arts.
- 34:40 Modern interview with ordinary Berlin woman. Tells how she found herself part of an invisible network of people smuggling Jews around the city. She never found out who it was that brought her into the group.
- 35:42 Modern interview with another ordinary Berlin woman. Tells an anguished story that ends with “…after they left, I realized that Hitler had turned me into a murderer.”
- 39:38 Modern interview with ordinary Berlin woman. She was telling everyone she knew that the Jews were being murdered. People refused to believe her. Her husband told her she had to stop talking about it, telling her “a dictatorship is like a snake. If you put your foot on its tail, it will just bite you and nobody will be helped. You have to strike the head.”
- 42:52 A modern interview with Traudl Junge. Recalls the 20 July bombing. Hitler told her from his hospital bed “You see, fate has saved me for my mission. I am to do what I must do.” This is almost exactly what Trump said.
- 46:05 Actual film from the show trial of the 20 July Plot conspirators conducted by Roland Freisler. The actual broken defendant and the shouting of Freisler is shocking to see.
- It ends in 1944 with teenagers and old men matching off to the east through the Brandenburg Gate.
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We sure aren’t passing that test, are we?
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In a very depressing, “yes, and…” one could draw an almost identical timeline (though a bit more stretched out) regarding the climate crisis.
The way this fits into the thread topic, I think, is that it reminds us of the indefatigable nature of the human spirit. We shall persevere!
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Amen!
(Haven’t done that in a while. It feels pretty damned good!)
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Appropriately enough, I just bought a pair of Doc Marten’s - my first pair! They’re quite comfortable, sturdy, and go well with my skirts. 
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Wow! Welcome to the club!
I bought my first replacement pair last year - the Mary Janes I bought in 1992 or 93 finally wore out.
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I was a convert to Blundstones almost a decade ago, also great boots.
Then I started having foot problems and found Kuru. Their pull-on ankle boots are just what I needed. And @awfulhorrid , they also look great with my skirts!
Edited for tyops
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I like how they describe slippers as “remote work” shoes. 
To be fair I wear “remote shoes” at home for my remote work. I don’t have heel pain, but maybe I should get some Kuru “remote work” shoes?
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The ACLU posted this useful guide for entering the country with a phone or laptop yesterday.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DH83V-CN8zz/?img_index=9&igsh=MTFwaTdvN2d2eXl3ag==
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Here is another episode worth noting. The occupation of Holland/Netherlands in 1940.
Here we see a demonstration of a slow-boil resistance.
Although Germany destructively conquered Holland, they tried to present it as a friendly thing — we consider you to be fellow Germans, if you don’t cause us any problems we won’t cause you any problems. The already-existing Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging in Nederland filled the newly-created power vacuum. And on the whole the population, not seeing anything else to do, accepted the occupation as well as they could.
The resistance movement in Holland slowly developed over the next four years. When the Dutch would stand up to German control, the Germans would then increase the control. This would in turn cause more protests from the Dutch.
By 1944, Holland was fully rebelling, and was being starved-out by the Germans. Would things have been different if there was a direct and immediate resistance? That is hard to say, but it is important to think about.
It should be noted, the first large-scale protest was a general strike organized in 1941 by Communists against persecution of the Jews.
And, as a bonus, here are some strategies for survival that came from BBC Radio Oranje:
- The Dutch were presented with older or obscure songs that had words updated to reflect the occupation. To signal resistance, it was suggested to whistle or hum these melodies in crowds. This was a safe way to let others know they are not alone.
- Likewise, Radio Oranje encouraged listeners to write the graffito “V” for “victory,” or “OZO” for “Oranje zal overwinnen” on walls whenever they considered it safe.
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Lately I’ve been thinking about the different forms our resistance might take. It started because right now, I don’t have the mental, physical, or spiritual energy to be out there at protests, fighting the good fight.
I’ve felt guilt about my lack of action on the front lines, guilt that leads to even less energy and action. No good.
Recently I reframed it in my mind and it’s helped a lot. So I thought it might also help some here if you’re experiencing similar energy-sapping guilt.
In a very simplified way, I can categorize resistance actions into two buckets. First is the fighting against, like the protests I feel so guilty for not attending. But the second, which I personally hadn’t been giving enough value to in terms of my own contributions, is the building of something worth fighting for. Every thing we do that makes our communities stronger, that makes them nicer for us and our neighbors, gives us something to protect. It gives the fighters new energy and refuge.
It looks like this is going to be a long slog, so anything we can find to continue with some sense of hope for a better future is part of the resistance. We need to be kind to ourselves and find those actions that we can sustain, whether that’s fighting or building. Or both. Or it shifts as necessity dictates.
So we build, and we fight to protect. It is all the same goal, and we all have our roles, and they are all necessary and valuable. 
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If Trump uses the Insurrection Act, the ways to constrain him are largely by public pressure, a reluctant military and courts, after gross violations. Political strategist Anat Shenkar-Osorio has defined three strategies for public pressure in these times: refusal, resistance and ridicule.
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