I think about that frequently. We are at a crossroads, for sure. It may well be that Joe Biden is the last president of what my generation sees as the "modern presidency," while younger folks will live to see him in the context of the distant past. The threat the felon and his ilk pose is much greater now than it was in 2016 when he took office.

He understands this very well.

I don't know if the citizens have the intestinal fortitude to make change.

A non violent protest
1. Everyone stays home.
2. Do not buy, what you do not need.
3. Call your member of Congress once a week to complain.
4. If need be General Strike, do not pay bills.

We are at risk for serious injury or death from this administration, and trump fought with his last administration about shooting peaceful protestors.

This solves the problem.

I am a student of Gandhi and King. I believe in public, non-violent protests. Years ago, I had a board broken over my head during such a protest. I keep the broken piece still.

I also think that in doing so, in the context of the next four years, in something that Malcolm X said. If you are serious, you must accept the possibility of going to the ER, to jail, or to the cemetery. If you don't, staying home is the best option.

The 1960's Civil Rights actions in the south, this is a President who said he could shoot a person dead and get away with it...

He's killed our Democracy in less than a decade.

His administration will be made up of the lowest of the low. They have nothing to lose, so they will do whatever keeps them in his sphere.

Protests in the streets give bad actors the ability to co-op our message into looting and burning.

At home producing nothing costs billionaires a lot of money. I'm not talking about a covid lockdown, I'm talking about not allowing the oligarchs our labor, but our communities our time.

it is the best option for you. And I agree that bad actors seek to create trouble.

Non-violent protests have a long history, and are not limited to the Civil Rights era. For example, not that many years ago, when a state senator refused to meet with environmentalists on the issue of fracking, I engaged in a hunger strike that got a lot of media attention. I spoke to an audience of over 1,200 at the state capital, which resulted in the guy meeting with me.

The felon has said numerous stupid things that rank with the "I could shoot...." nonsense. He has also said more serious things, such as hoping police would shoot protesters in the legs. History shows that there are times when peaceful protesters get shot, including above the waist. One could think of "Bloody Sunday" in Ireland, or the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in India. There are brutal examples without shootings, such as "Bloody Sunday" at the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma.

I disagree with your saying the felon has "killed Democracy." He has not. But he would like to, as would many of his supporters. At most, at this time, he has damaged it. To prevent him from doing more serious damage, we have to deal with reality, and this includes recognizing that we are helpless victims -- no matter how hard our opposition attempts to convince us of that lie.

Again, to protect and promote democracy, some will go to the ER, some to jail, and some to the cemetery. There are those who are not intimidated by that, and others who are. It is those who are not who can save this country.

your work, sincerely.

I might see you at a protest.

the idea of strategic boycotts.

But I've been doing this for decades. Just no big purchases if I don't have to.

Nobody can or will do it for us. We must create ways to always be in the way for the next four years.

We will be there too. I'M JUST TIRED OF THE WAY PEACEFUL PROTESTS are portrayed, and used to attack us even more. BLM were rightwing actors starting fires. They were caught and charged in different areas.

Yet, like the insurrectionists, it's just brushed aside.

You aren't from Ohio are you?

My recent WUS (wake-up stroke) around Nov 9 has left me more or less without a care and unable to make coffee but I keep on with SMH syndrome. I have to re-learn a lot and hope to not get wiped out ahead of time by my bad balance because I want to continue to see my grandson grow and thrive.

I had one of those. I keep trying to do things. It’s a struggle but keep going on.

We are witnessing the true end of the American experiment. A new dark age is again descending, this time based not just on perverted science, but also on the price of eggs and an Infinitesimal number of biological males competing against biological females in sports. That, plus the timeless blights of racism, sexism, and white male supremacy. Can we descend further into the darkness? Watch us!!

If we want Democracy we have to make it happen
If we wait around for someone to save us we will lose it

The big question is what strategy shall we pursue because traditional measures have been an abject failure.

Lesson 16: Learn from other peers in other countries.

Lesson 20: Be as courageous as you can.

I've always admired her and now that has skyrocketed. No, she will not attend the inauguration of a nazi.

Probably 10K, TBH.

I need the money, and I would mostly be scoffing.

I might puke my way through it.

and gave them to family and friends. That was years ago. Great patriot, Timothy Snyder.

that's a great thing to do.


Well, it seems like a lot of the political leaders did not read it, 1st lesson Do not obey in advance.

this is going to be our biggest test. I do not want to be the most "hated country"

This regime will have many enemies.

If we are not allowed our elections, it might be time to escalate.

There about 1000 billionaires, not all bad, but there are about 320,000,000 together we have more money and more power than them.

he's such a piece of shit and he's surrounding himself with complete bootlickers

we never have to wonder again how decent folk in German felt, watching people cheer for Hitler

For my country.

The parties have found that proclaiming doom and gloom helps raise money, and that has an impact on the people most tied to the party. But also as the public has become more "correctly" politically aligned (there are no longer Republicans more liberal than Democrats and vice versa), there's increased incentive to view anyone from the other party as the enemy and when we see people as enemies, we often start to take everything as a moral offense.


If slavery couldn't end the country, Trump isn't going to do it. We will have elections as usual, Trump will either leave office on January 20th, 2029 or sooner if all that unhealthy living catches up to him.

TRUMP TRIED TO OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT

HELLO

Last edited Thu Jan 16, 2025, 09:20 PM - Edit history (1)

It's Republicans that are using "woke" or "DEI" as racial or gender slur.
It's Republicans that want to force a raped little girl to have her rapist's baby.

It's Republicans that want to force women to die in a hospital parking lot for a treatable health condition.

It's Republicans that want to leave millions without access to healthcare.

It's Republicans that want to invade Greenland or one of our other allies

It's Republicans that want to end gay marriage and treat LGBTQ people like they are criminals

It's Republicans that elected a convicted felon and rapist to be president

It's Republicans that want to treat oligarchs like they are royalty and want the rest of us to starve

So fuck Republicans. All of them. No exceptions.

Who f the government and the economy and then a dem has to clean it up.

Amazed at the number of people here caught up in some kind of Y2k hyperbole End of Democracy Doom-Porn. It's going to be a much more boring life goes on scenerio.

There is a core understanding in this post - that this has a been in play since the Southern Strategy was first implemented.

Add in the outrage from the dominant culture at a Black American Man being the President - and their extreme backlash . . .

A Compromised Traitor
Compromised Senators
Backroom money deals


The dystopia is now.

of power and the government will be run by selfish, hateful filled men and women.
The nation of Jimmy Carter is now the nation of TFG but as the great Steven King wrote in the Shawshank Redemption:
“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

Where there is life there is hope and the nation of Donald Trump is also the nation of Chef Andres, dedicated teachers tackling challenging situations, community organizers tackling social issues, environmental activists, first responders, military service members serving in combat zones, scientists making crucial medical breakthroughs, and individuals performing significant acts of selfless service or humanitarian efforts. All is not lost and we must live for that hope.

What I see happening today is that democracies around the world have gradually become autocratic. It seems to be a global trend. Sometimes the citizens of a given country have chosen to give up their democracy. I never thought that would happen to the United States.

The wave of the future seems to be the end of democracy on a global basis.

Autocratic leaders are coordinating with one another to cause more and more democracies to fall.

Once democracies are lost, the rulers then consolidate their power.

In the final analysis, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with hope.

It seems like it has to do with inevitability.

In 1940, it certainly looked like fascism would rule the west and the east. Inevitable? In world of billions of people, acting in the world of human affairs very little seems to me to be inevitable.

We will never have another election again.

We are not done. We may be dazed and confused, but we are not done. Not by a lonnnnnnng shot.

It just seems listening to the confirmation hearings, the reactions of repukes over the Los Angeles fires and blaming the Governor for something out of his control a natural disaster is scary. Texas had massive fires and no one blamed Abbott. It seeks the IOKIYAR will be the new norm.

That enough good people have the courage to do what needs to be done.

The base of the party - Black Women - including myself. . . we are in self/family - preservation mode. We have the inherited trauma of our grandmas, greats, and great greats to guide us to safety.

I'm really hoping other groups will stand up, step out of the line, and go balls to the walls. It's too dangerous for us and our families.

We have Congresswoman Crockett - but she needs for example - Democratic Party men who are white, asian, latino, to have her back. Behave exactly as the Magat Party men do. I don't care what is done - I'll have their backs. But folks need to at minimum get loud.

to destroy our Democracy.

TAPS


Our brave soldiers didn’t deserve their country to die like this.

💔

avoids prison and attains more wealth.

He was only running to avoid prison.

He likes to pretend that he's a dictator as a sort of cosplay. But he'll be gone.

I expect our democracy to suffer some, but not to end.

Voters fucked around and we all will find out. Americans failed on merit and will now reap the consequences.

Before the election I had the nauseating feeling that the choice on offer was between decline and disaster. Americans had to recognize the reality and make the responsible ADULT decision. They were not up to the task.

We already had a de facto oligarchy that had veto power over law by exercising the senate's 60-vote filibuster roadblock. Laws that weren't liked were subject to reinterpretation or outright dismissal by the captive supreme court. State legislative majorities and redistricting maps were locked in by gerrymandered districts. "Moderate" Republicans were rendered obsolete by the Citizens United-enabled ability of billionaires to primary the uncooperative. Fat purses enabled oligarchs to dominate media ownership and use their control to alternately censor or frame the terms of public discussion.

Electing Kamala would have ameliorated the worst abuses, not ended them. Electing Musk/Trump tears off the bandage. How much more decline is in store? We are about to find out.

I was just as discouraged then.

This is bigger. But we are not done. Freedom is never done. The planet will become uninhabitable before humans stop pursuing freedom.

Weren't Russia Lovers.

It just might turn out to be the case.

Did we survive Nixon and Reagan?

Reagan in particular, he destroyed the middle class, enriched the wealthy at the expense of working Americans, and empowered the Christo-fascist right.

With every Republican administration we lose more of America; Trump is no different.

He was tremendously gifted as a salesman. But have been the actor in him. Good Grief could he read a script! SOOOOOO convincing! Made you want it - whatever it happened to be that he was pitching. He made it sound SOOOOOOO good. He made you yearn for it and give over your every waking moment to wanting it. Whatever it was that he was selling at any given moment. And you couldn’t wait to vote for it - whatever it was, even if it was gonna be bad for you and it wouldn’t make you rich like he said it would.

Good GRIEF but he was gifted in that. He could sell ANYTHING that he could wrap up in beautiful red-white-&-blue and make you want it. People fell for it - some of ‘em with a rapture over the sparkly “shining city on a hill” and “it’s morning in America” stuff that he was selling. I have to concede that it all sure sounded good. But it was all in the “too good to be true” department. In the cheap-copy bargain-bin aisle where the magic only existed in the store and very seldom ever actually went home with you to improve your life or circumstances.

Reagan was a snake. Like the proverbial one that talked Eve into taking a bite out of that gorgeous shiny tasty-looking apple. The apple that was pure fakery that led you straight out of Eden and locked the door behind you so that the reality you then faced was NOTHING like what the snake was selling. He was the Republican wet dream that was going to turn the world upside down the way they wanted to make you think it was - that sounded soooooooooooo good and sucked you right down into Hell.

Last edited Thu Jan 16, 2025, 10:56 AM - Edit history (1)

Rome’s Transition from Republic to Empire
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/romes-transition-republic-empire/]

Link to tweet

Lifetime being 20 to 30 years. So yes, Biden is the last true American president.

Democracy is gone, it just now needs to be made official and he will turn us into Russia, taking everything from us and giving it all to himself and his fucking right wing oligarch friends.

lost our way.

Incoming presidents do not generally want to be seen as rewarding the hyper-wealthy with special political perks. Team Trump apparently doesn’t much care.
https://bsky.app/profile/joehick58.bsky.social/post/3lfsoyd6bzc2c

Link to tweet

settling in Spain. I don't know exactly how they did it, but they do have means to live elsewhere, and I'm totally jealous. I'm not sure how bad it will get here, but I am sure to get along safely we are all going to be Christian and I suspect freedom of speech will be curtailed (not certain how fast, but I see that coming as it does in most dictatorships).

I suspect this election was not totally on the up and up, and fair elections may be completely gone in this country for all intents and purposes.

Big business will act to protect itself and it's cash flows. Try to align yourself with those interests and find your niche. Not sure what that means at this point. Equity - value, money, assets ... great uncertainty. The currency is all but finished. Expect devaluation or new currency within a few years. Congratulations, your 401K is now converted to 2.78 crypto.

The civil war will have to be fought again. This time, when and if we win, we should not allow the cons to re-enter the union. Drive them into the south and leave them to themselves. Allow those that wish to move north do so and leave the rest to fend for themselves. They’ll manage or not. No aid. That’s what they want, independence from democracy. Let them have it. Don’t allow them to negotiate with foreign nations though. This could be set up as a confederation, it would not be easy, it would be hard, but it might solve a few big problems. This type of world would be better than being wholly fascist.

We know that's in store for this nation and the rest of the world

As long as you're a billionaire.

Otherwise, to quote Alan Grayson, "die quickly."

Link to tweet

…but am fully aware we may have some fighting to do in the near future. Is this the last throws of past hegemony, or is it a new authoritarian future?

shoulder to shoulder brothers and sisters

becomes president.