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?
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?
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==
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:
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.
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.
Here is an interesting episode. It’s about the fall of Berlin, and when is that not interesting?
Everything in this episode is worth revisiting. For example, there are more interviews with Traudl Junge, recalling some moments that would go on to be dramatized in the movie “Downfall.” We also hear Major Anna Nikulina recalling how she raised the Soviet flag over the Reichstag.
But the reason I’m putting this here is because of a story told by an ordinary woman from Berlin. It starts at 25:50. She says —
I remember the April 20th, 1945. It was the birthday of Adolph Hitler, and in the radio there was a speech of Joseph Goebbels. And he said the Berlin will remain German and Vienna will be German again. And my mother said “God thanks! We will win the war!” And I said “Mother, you are wrong and Goebbels is wrong, it’s terrible but I am quite sure the war is over and we will lose the war.” And my mother said “Do you think in this hour Goebbels will tell us a lie?”
April 20th is the day Soviet artillery was firing on Berlin itself. Think of this as you are waiting for MAGA people to wake up.
I think you are correct. At a certain point, they are so far down the rabbit hole that they cannot be recovered. This is why they must not just be defeated, but discredited and disgraced and displaced from normal society. They cannot be deprogrammed or reintegrated. And we need to realize that “bipartisanship” is dead.
I honestly believe that the true start of our current situation was the end of the Civil War, because of exactly what you just said.
The United States won the war, but that’s it. Worse than doing nothing, the U.S. actually let every traitor go free, and even let them go back to reclaim their homes and properties which were built on the backs of slave labor. They were allowed to go back to their jobs as if nothing had happened. Not only were the instigators and orchestrators not tried in a court of law (let alone a martial court…except for one person, the commandant of Andersonville Prison for POWs) they actually let every traitor continue to vote and even run for office.
That was Lincoln’s big mistake, and we’re still paying for it.
Let the record show that I had not read Heather Cox Richardson’s daily “Letters from an American” yet when I wrote the above!
Guess it’s true: great minds think alike!
It’s almost like that mistake set us up for letting a convicted felon run again for president. And letting him win!
I was pretty convinced last year that his having to very publicly sit through and lose a trial would mean he could never win the presidency again, but here we are. The bottom has simply disappeared.
Dang, I can’t even be an astronomy fan any more! It sucks!
Ha, good one.
Her motion also called for a “visa route to allow highly skilled Americans who wish to flee the Trump presidency to come to the UK”.
Speaking to the PA news agency about her motion, the Edinburgh West MP said: “I think if there are people in America who are unhappy with a lot of the things [Trump] is talking about domestically – the LGBT community for example, a lot of minorities – they have skills, we could welcome them here.
“And I think we would be a much more welcoming society for an awful lot of people who are finding America, at the minute, difficult.”
While visas are already available for US citizens, she said the Government should encourage Americans to take up a skilled visa route.
Easy to suppose that the level of skill required to get such a visa might be egregiously high, and it’s easy to be concerned about the direction the UK is heading, but worth mentioning.
If you have graduated from an ‘elite’ university (there’s a specific list) in the last 5 years, you can apply for a High Potential Individual visa which allows you to stay in the U.K. for up to 2.5 years and can look for a job once you get there (so, you don’t have to have the job first).
I presume that if anything comes of this motion it will get at least a touch more accessible than that.