This reminds me that I think the perfect go-to response we should all use, so that it becomes a recognizable resistance movement, is simply to repeat over and over again “shame…shame…shame…shame…” whenever in the presence of anyone complicit in this Administration.
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The retirement announcement by Justice Kennedy got me wondering who the Republicans will nominate to be his replacement.
And then I started thinking about he larger themes from “Judgement at Nuremberg.”
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damn those Quakers!
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I’ve been wondering about that. Roy Moore? Steven Miller? Mike Huckabee? Doesn’t have to be a judge, or even a lawyer IIRC? Pardon Martin Shkreli and stick us with him?
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It’s too bad Robert Bork is no longer with us. This could have been his year.
All I know is you can say goodbye to legal abortions and your right to vote.
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Michelle Malkin? Almost. Not really qualified.
John Yoo. Law professor. Fascist stooge. Perfect!
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kennedy was a replacement for bork…
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You can’t work your way up to the top of a political machine if you’re not a “nice guy.” People are always surprised that politicians they don’t like are affable in person. It’s a basic requirement of the job.
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This needs a repost, I see:
"Don’t Quit."
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When life is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
{…}
…Stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit.
It’s when things seem worst that you must NOT quit.
- Author Unknown.
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Seriously, we’ll be exhausted if we’re running the entire time, although it’s not like the race isn’t going on whether we stop for a breather or not! Pass the baton whenever you need it, grab a breath, then get ready to grab the baton on the next lap around the track. Which will be in, oh, ten minutes?
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Reader view works there. Still, the current default Patheos layout hurts, I don’t understand why they switched to it.
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just ran across this twitter thread, too, which seems to tie right in with what you said.
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That’s absolutely on point; worth typing out and resharing:
There are several risks to being overloaded with disturbing/negative content:
️ Complacency - becoming so used to the deluge that it all starts to seem normal.
Dont ignore current events:
TAKE ACTION. Volunteer for a food pantry, canvass for a political candidate, donate to a NGO, visit a sick friend. Seriously. Service of some kind in your community lets you be part of SOLUTIONS. You will see RESULTS when otherwise you’d feel helpless.
Conversely, for those who may take tip #1 to the extreme–know that you alone can’t save the world. Accept your limits. You aren’t a 7/11. You can’t always be “open.” At the end of every day when I reached my limit, I silently told myself, “I’ve done what I can today.”
RESEARCH BEFORE PANICKING. Easier said than done, but everything will seem like crisis/earth-ending if you don’t know what has/hasn’t happened before. If it has happened before, it’s can be hugely comforting to know how it was resolved and/or what might happen next
GET UP & MOVE. Put the phone away, turn off the TV, log out of Twitter. Go for a walk, sit outside, get some coffee, call a friend. CIA is full of ppl walking the building with a colleague/friend. There’s a reason. Our brains & bodies need breaks from stressful content.
SET RULES. Because of my work at CIA, I had a rule–I only read fiction at home. I had enough reality at work. In the civilian world, I set blocks of time each day where I turn everything off–no news or social media. Let yourself recharge so you can keep fighting later.
AVOID DARK HOLES. (I’m sure there’s a joke to be made about that.) It’s easy to get sucked into the swirl of bad news. You watch a gruesome YouTube video and the next one is all queued up to play right after it. Focus on one issue at a time. Deal w/ it before moving on.
YOU NEED FUN. When there is suffering, war, despair, etc. around you, it’s easy to feel guilty when you have fun, feel happy, have a good meal with friends. You NEED these things. You will be better able to do good in the world if you let yourself have these things.
TALK TO SOMEONE. Often, we curl inward socially when overwhelmed w/ negative content. It’s a means of protection. One of the great things at CIA was that everyone else knew what you were going through. Whether it’s therapy or talking to your person, talking helps.
“None of this is easy. I got burned out a lot in my career & many days recently, I’ve felt overloaded by the barrage. I’m sure you have too. But you and I can’t check out. We can’t give up & we need to stay engaged, but we can’t do that if we get overloaded. Keep going.”
Real talk; when you’re going through Hell, don’t fucking stop; keep going.
(You know shit is beyond weird when I’m the one playing the role of ‘cheerleader’ and ‘diehard optimist.’)
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so, I don’t know where I might have first heard this…
but Henry J Cadbury accepted the 1947 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee recognizing humanitarian work (particularly with refugees) that they had done during the two world wars.
Given that Trump and his ilk spend a lot of time and effort questioning the basis of the law of refugees, I wonder if it might be counterproductive to cast aspersions on the society of friends and pacifism in general.
(I’ve left a rhetorical record that makes it quite difficult to pretend to be a pacifist, so please don’t ask me to try.)
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Even in deep red rural Louisiana, big turn (couple hundred) out this morning.
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