AMEN to this. I am sick to death of the folks walking around with their fingers in their ears because they “don’t want to be upset”. THIS IS YOUR COUNTRY. Fuck your feelings. Get mad. Get loud. Or accept that the dictatorship we are rapidly heading towards was brought about in no small part by your own cowardice.
Don’t listen to them! We need your voice and moral clarity, loud and clear. That’s the reason I follow you. You’re an inspiration. Thank you for doing what you do.
Mike, stay the course - in conjunction with Timothy Snyder. As for Biden. I find it inexplicable how he could have given a rousing, well received 2024 State of the Union address just six months before his seemingly cognitive collapse. It doesn’t make sense. I know he had spinal pain and neuropathy. Pain medication?
John, thanks for the advice, but I’ve been focused on this risk since the evolution of the Tea Party - well before these concerns became legitimate. My novels 2013, January 2016 were prescient - and warned rising intolerance and extremism could lead to an American Spring.
I re-read what you wrote in Whispers and the Wire. What you write is insightful into the issue of integrity. Assuredly, integrity confers "truth." Importantly, the concept of integrity is core to the health of any living entity.
Integrity, at an individual level, is love; at a societal level, it conveys community; and at a global level, it equates with peace.
You are a great spokesperson for Integrity and what it connotes. And you, like Martin Luther King, ask us not to remain silent about things that matter. Our humanity lies within our ability to see, hear, and feel what others feel. I know through your writing that within your core, love burns brightly. And as Scott Peck put it, "love is as love does." Love does not sit passively when emergent occasions arise. In Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, written in 1624, John Donne had it right.
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
“Mike,” they say, “you're alienating people who might still be persuaded. There are moderates in the Republican caucus. There are institutionalists who still care about the Constitution. If you push too hard, if you go public, if you name names, you'll scare them off.”
I understand that many in our country feel uneasy about confrontation. But it is through honest confrontation that has at its core the caring, and concern about the sanctity of life. Of course, this means human life and the life of our Planet and other living species.
"Our lives begin to end the day that we become silent about things that matter."
-Martin Luther King
We, the voting citizens of the US, have let a devil into our house. Fascism is in the main hallway, and the real dilemma is how do you 86 the evil that will invade every room in your house, and ultimately evict you or destroy you.
I think, Mike, that your writing is spot on, but also know that when "cancer' has spread this far, it is beyond the stage where ongoing tiptoeing by the mainstream media and the public can alter its course. Unless the House initiates impeachment proceedings against Trump and others in his Administration who have violated the Constitution (impeachable offenses), we should not be naive that an electoral process in 2026 (midterms) or 2028 (President) will be the voice of the people. It will be ironic, but not surprising, that another example of projection will prove true- the elections will be rigged.
What is clear right now is that the GOP in the House and Senate has sold their souls to avarice and power. They threw legacy, unity, and vision out the window. They don't give a hoot about their children or your children.
Trying to convince the MAGA mind is no different than my conversations with Russian colleagues who say they are well-informed but are brainwashed. The MAGA mind has bought into the Russian (Putin) narrative. What we have in the US is the perfect storm for Fascism.
I am coining a new word. We are faced with a "shituation."
Of the following only ONE can be true: 1. someone is historically uneducated and does not know what happened in 1933 Germany (and other places where dictators took over) 2. that same person has not understood what is happening today or is still in denial.
I am totally amazed that what we are seeing before our very eyes isn’t causing most everyone to scream out loud, to have bright banners in their cars and yards complaining about the blatant corruption and incompetence of this administration. I find my own strength and courage from listening to you and others speaking on this format. Keep it coming!!!!
Damn, that is well said! Don’t look away or I will plagiarize the hell out of it and call it a compliment. Oh, wait! Maybe I will avoid the legal peril and simply restack it. 😉 Thanks for your moral clarity and courage.
I share your feelings (and receive the same criticism) so I am extremely grateful for your clear and incisive voice. There’s legislation in the works that could drop the curtain on our democracy very soon: if passed, courts would be unable to hold in contempt the people who defy their orders (like Trump), and another law would make it would be impossible to regulate AI companies. Why aren’t people in general seeing the danger and acting? It’s astounding.
Either we are going to work for democracy or not. At this point, people need to make up their minds or get out the way.
AMEN to this. I am sick to death of the folks walking around with their fingers in their ears because they “don’t want to be upset”. THIS IS YOUR COUNTRY. Fuck your feelings. Get mad. Get loud. Or accept that the dictatorship we are rapidly heading towards was brought about in no small part by your own cowardice.
Don’t listen to them! We need your voice and moral clarity, loud and clear. That’s the reason I follow you. You’re an inspiration. Thank you for doing what you do.
Mike, stay the course - in conjunction with Timothy Snyder. As for Biden. I find it inexplicable how he could have given a rousing, well received 2024 State of the Union address just six months before his seemingly cognitive collapse. It doesn’t make sense. I know he had spinal pain and neuropathy. Pain medication?
Biden is a distraction like that which Mike warns us against. Focus on the real threat, which is creeping fascist totalitarianism.
John, thanks for the advice, but I’ve been focused on this risk since the evolution of the Tea Party - well before these concerns became legitimate. My novels 2013, January 2016 were prescient - and warned rising intolerance and extremism could lead to an American Spring.
I’m convinced he has Parkinson’s. The shuffling gait, slack mouth, cognitive impairment are classic symptoms.
Mike, I feel another comment is urgently needed.
I re-read what you wrote in Whispers and the Wire. What you write is insightful into the issue of integrity. Assuredly, integrity confers "truth." Importantly, the concept of integrity is core to the health of any living entity.
Integrity, at an individual level, is love; at a societal level, it conveys community; and at a global level, it equates with peace.
You are a great spokesperson for Integrity and what it connotes. And you, like Martin Luther King, ask us not to remain silent about things that matter. Our humanity lies within our ability to see, hear, and feel what others feel. I know through your writing that within your core, love burns brightly. And as Scott Peck put it, "love is as love does." Love does not sit passively when emergent occasions arise. In Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, written in 1624, John Donne had it right.
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
“Mike,” they say, “you're alienating people who might still be persuaded. There are moderates in the Republican caucus. There are institutionalists who still care about the Constitution. If you push too hard, if you go public, if you name names, you'll scare them off.”
I understand that many in our country feel uneasy about confrontation. But it is through honest confrontation that has at its core the caring, and concern about the sanctity of life. Of course, this means human life and the life of our Planet and other living species.
"Our lives begin to end the day that we become silent about things that matter."
-Martin Luther King
We, the voting citizens of the US, have let a devil into our house. Fascism is in the main hallway, and the real dilemma is how do you 86 the evil that will invade every room in your house, and ultimately evict you or destroy you.
I think, Mike, that your writing is spot on, but also know that when "cancer' has spread this far, it is beyond the stage where ongoing tiptoeing by the mainstream media and the public can alter its course. Unless the House initiates impeachment proceedings against Trump and others in his Administration who have violated the Constitution (impeachable offenses), we should not be naive that an electoral process in 2026 (midterms) or 2028 (President) will be the voice of the people. It will be ironic, but not surprising, that another example of projection will prove true- the elections will be rigged.
What is clear right now is that the GOP in the House and Senate has sold their souls to avarice and power. They threw legacy, unity, and vision out the window. They don't give a hoot about their children or your children.
Trying to convince the MAGA mind is no different than my conversations with Russian colleagues who say they are well-informed but are brainwashed. The MAGA mind has bought into the Russian (Putin) narrative. What we have in the US is the perfect storm for Fascism.
I am coining a new word. We are faced with a "shituation."
Your tone is perfect. Your writing is a huge support. Keep going.
Of the following only ONE can be true: 1. someone is historically uneducated and does not know what happened in 1933 Germany (and other places where dictators took over) 2. that same person has not understood what is happening today or is still in denial.
I am totally amazed that what we are seeing before our very eyes isn’t causing most everyone to scream out loud, to have bright banners in their cars and yards complaining about the blatant corruption and incompetence of this administration. I find my own strength and courage from listening to you and others speaking on this format. Keep it coming!!!!
Damn, that is well said! Don’t look away or I will plagiarize the hell out of it and call it a compliment. Oh, wait! Maybe I will avoid the legal peril and simply restack it. 😉 Thanks for your moral clarity and courage.
Every leader worth a half cent in this time needs to speak with moral clarity, always. The mealy mouthed and feckless should stand down.
Agreed.
I am appalled at the sounds of silence and complicity from the other branches of government. If you have influence use it!
Arendt was way before her time. The Human condition is a must read book, gonna crack open my copy soon 😎
100% agree Mike. Reminds me of this poem:
"Sometimes a Man"
Sometimes a man stands up during supper
and walks outdoors, and keeps on walking,
because of a church that stands somewhere in the East.
And his children say blessings on him as if he were dead.
And another man, who remains inside his own house,
stays there, inside the dishes and in the glasses,
so that his children have to go far out into the world
toward that same church, which he forgot.
Rainer Maria Rilke
I share your feelings (and receive the same criticism) so I am extremely grateful for your clear and incisive voice. There’s legislation in the works that could drop the curtain on our democracy very soon: if passed, courts would be unable to hold in contempt the people who defy their orders (like Trump), and another law would make it would be impossible to regulate AI companies. Why aren’t people in general seeing the danger and acting? It’s astounding.