We used to live in a constitutional Republic. It’s a kind of representative democracy in which the Electoral College stands between the citizens and the final result of elections — like a water filter in a well. It’s supposed to keep the big lumps of dirt out of the system.
It isn’t working. Not the filtration on our well — that’s working fine. Our water is clear, cold and tastes as good as water can. It’s the government that is broken and getting more broken by the minute. Somehow, a huge lump of dirt strolled right past the filters and took the reins of power. We’ve got ourselves our very own despot! Holy shit! How did this happen?
I was not even a little surprised that Trump’s minions refused to obey the order of a Federal judge. Why would he? Why would they? He has declared himself outside and above the law and his followers have said YES! We want MORE!
He has declared the constitution obsolete and invalid. His followers have cried Lock them up! Shoot them down! Ban them! And all we said was “Can he do that?” while he did that. Then, we shook our heads sadly.
By “them,” the minions really mean us. You, me, and anyone else they don’t like. Reporters and writers. People with not white skin and anyone who doesn’t go to the right kind of church. We are the declared enemy. If we write stuff about him and he doesn’t like it, we are in his sights. Uh-oh!
We are in trouble. Proof positive this morning that the forces of the law are not going to protect us. They’ve declared that they’re with him, the one who is above and outside the law. Forget all that constitutional gobbledygook. Number 45 is calling the plays and he wrote his own book in sentences of 140 characters or less.
For all of you who skipped history because it’s irrelevant to “real life,” this is a full chapter out of the Adolf Hitler playbook. This is how it’s done, how a minority bullies the majority into kneeling down to a dictator. He does not need the consent of the majority, only that they be too spineless to stand up to him. A powerful bunch of thugs at the helm and a shipload of weak, indecisive “oppositions” who are bound up in not wanting to “make waves.” All the thugs need do is for their opposites to do nothing long enough to let them get a firm grip on the military and enforcement arms of government. Later should opposition develop a spine, it’s too late. The powers of darkness have taken over the army.
They’ve got the weapons and the power while we have gallant words. Which historically, have yet to bring down an armed dictator.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
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Categories: #American-history, #News, Civil unrest, Government, Law, Legal Matters, Patriotism
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Please keep writing! It’s so reassuring to see how appalled so many Americans are.
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I think we are running about 70% appalled to maybe 20% approval with a lost in space 10%. I think that lost 10% are the happiest people in the country. It is SO awful.
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Keep writing Marilyn. I see scary parallels to Germany in the 1930s too but at least the internet has made it easier to communicate. That man might be able to gag the press but hopefully, unless he decides to “turn off the internet” he can’t shut everyone up.
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I actually think it is impossible to turn off the internet. He could certainly make it more difficult and expensive to access, but it’s not a thing with an on/off switch. I’m trying not to have visions of concentration camps dancing in my head.
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Me too. Sigh.
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At least your government is not led by a madman. That’s got to be some consolation.
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We had an idiot, now we just have a hypocrite.
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That’s probably — for these days — an improvement. A bit pathetic, I grant you, but a slight upgrade from the idiot.
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I dunno, so far I’m hopeful. People are standing up, informing themselves, shaking off the dust of complacency. Of course, I have no idea what the net effect will be — Garry is right. Midterm elections and other things — lawsuits, are good. We just have to keep at it.
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I really want you to be right. Garry is equally puzzled by the lack of reaction — tepid at best — from the press since this is a direct attack on their existence. They really have been too quiet from the beginning of this campaign, throwing softballs at 45, ignoring the obvious implications of Russian hacking. This would not have gone down like this 20 years ago, maybe not even 10. But who’s left to fight? Who ARE these people? WHERE are they?
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It seems to me that I’ve read lots from the press complaining about it — but maybe because I’m not an expert, it just seems like a lot to me. Anyway, do they have to react? I think they just have to keep reporting. BUT…Trump is $$$ so it’s kind of a strange situation for the press, I think. The more horrific he is, the more fantastic the articles etc. I dunno…
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It isn’t a lot. There’s the Times, Chicago Trib, Wash Post and The New Yorker. That’s pretty much it. individual bloggers, many of us without huge audiences. A lot of rants on social media. But where are the networks? Ok, not Fox, but the rest of them? I have said from day one that the quietness of the press was bothering me and no one could say why … it’s like they didn’t know what to do. I suppose that may be the result of years of hiring people who look good holding a mike but aren’t newsies. Maybe they really don’t know what to do.
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CNN attempted to in an interview with that geriatric cheerleader, but she talked over the interview. I think that everyone is aware that Trump’s “team” doesn’t care. I think the job of the press has changed now. And the thermostat to my furnace has quit working so I’m looking at a cold fucking night and $$$ No rest for the wicked.
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It never ends. We both need dental work and Garry seriously need at least one stronger hearing aid. But that’s thousands of dollars and we don’t have it. I’m not expecting a raise from Social Security any time in this life and i just got my 1040 from amazon — I made $14.31 in royalties in 2016. Authoring pays!
Just as a matter of curiosity, exactly what IS the role of the press if not to try and keep people — especially the government — honest?
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Thanks to my aunt’s book group, I’m getting $32 at the end of next month. Waa-HOOO! I have been steadily earning about $15/month through Kindle. The good side of that is the IRS could not care less. The bad side is it isn’t much money.
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Hey, my first year a made a couple of hundred dollars. Like around $200. Now, I usually make around $25, but 2016 wasn’t a good year and a lot of my books on Kindle were given away free as part of Amazon’s “Books Unlimited” thing. On the positive side, it’s nine years after original publication and a few people are actually still reading it.
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I think that’s awesome! 🙂 Plumber’s been and gone.
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Hope you have heat!
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Space heaters and my Icelandic wool sweater. It’s OK. I have learned that there are replacements for my furnace if it turns out it can’t be fixed. It’s all expensive, but… We’ll see — hoping for the best since the alternative is plain stupid. 🙂
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I don’t think the press is spineless, like the opposition or fellow republicans are. But when you criticize anything he says or does, you are branded as the enemy. The press is the liberal opposition- except, of course, for Fox News. The judge who granted an emergency stay on his travel ban “is an Obama appointee”! When there is chaos and confusion at the airports, he tweets “all is going well….” And his supporters turn their backs on reality just as he does.
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No, the press really is NOT responding with vigor — or much of anything — to a direct assault on them. This IS something we know well — and there’s no excuse except fear. Which is not a very good excuse. If they had been on the ball from the start, we might have averted this catastrophe.
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You should not only consider the situation in the USA, in other NATO countries developments are comparable (Turkey, Poland and Hungary). Then we also have the stupid BREXIT, and a British government which seemingly prefers to talk now with autocrats like Erdogan but blaming the European Union for whatever. And what will happen in France this year? It seems as if the 20th century has never happened for some people, these are the socalled alternative facts, unbelievable.
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It’s an ugly world. It’s hard to explain the rise of international stupidity that is assailing us all. But this is really bad here. I think a lot of people are simply paralyzed with events. They really have no idea how this could have happened to us, to anyone. That’s what you get when no one remembers history. You get to relearn the same lesson.
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There IS a real writer out there, after all, and this subject couldn’t have been expressed any better or more clearly. We are definitely in danger and if there is any bit of our democracy left we’ll vote these mothers out of office. The problem is how do we get folks to realize that they can’t sit, on their duffs, and wait in hopes it will go away? We have to MAKE it go away!
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We do anything we can. If I were younger and healthier, I’d get out there and carry a sign, but that’s no a realistic choice at this point, so I write. I hope I reach a few people. I wish our press would man up, strap on a pair and start fighting back. Their passivity is hard to understand.
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Check out the email I sent you and Garr…
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I am waiting for someone somewhere to tell me it is all a bad dream and I will wake up one day to find it has all gone. I am not American. America was always a constant, something you could trust and follow – not perfect, but who is perfect. Now everything is different, no more shoulder to lean on and trust. It is a disaster – tell me is there a way that this horror trip can come to an end.
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I don’t know. I’m waiting for the press and our supposed “opposition party” to stand up and show some spine. It IS a nightmare and I’m living in it.
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It IS scary! No more jokes. One can only hope that people will get involved in the mid-term elections.
I’m glad I’m not out there with a microphone anymore. It’s treacherous. Sharks everywhere!
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Let’s hope we still have mid-term elections.
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