Yesterday, a group of maybe forty, mostly older people gathered in a cafe in our small Minnesota town, enjoying a moment of fellowship in the midst of recent madness. They sang together, old songs mostly from the 60s. Today, many of them will attend a town meeting to push back against the deceptive distractions and hostility being promoted by the local GOP. Their act of resistance may not change the world, nor perhaps even the minds of many, but it’s one more step towards the end of the Trump regime.
Every journey starts with the first step, the following steps are sometimes easier due to momentum, and sometimes harder due to obstacles, they are all part of the journey, we learn along the way and become a bit wiser which strengthens us for the task. I would think that those of us here are well along the way, part of our job is to be of encouragement to others, and to set an example for them to follow, just as we have followed in the steps of those who have come before us, like the good Admiral Stockdale who was looked up to by all who knew him. His awards for valor are like a bright shining light showing the way, we sometimes do indeed need pathfinders to help guide us, and are blessed when we have them in moments of darkness, which are inevitable as we move along. I always appreciate encouragement, and find it often reading the Warning, and it’s why I write to offer it to others. 🙏
OK Steve. Here is a list of concrete things people can DO! Of course there is 1.) calling your Reps/Dem leaders. 2.) donate to a candidate 3.) Find your Precinct EVEN IF YOU ARE UNAFFILIATED and get involved!* 4.) Do Phone Banks for your candidate
5.) Get involved with your NAACP 6.) Get involved with a local Indivisible Chapter** 7.) Get involved with a local organization that is helping protect immigrants 8.) Get involved with a local Good Trouble Organization** 9.) **If these organizations don’t exist in your community START ONE! Don’t be intimidated. Start small. Our local Good Trouble started with 15 ladies and now we have over 400! In a town of 7,000 10.) Support independent media on Substack, YouTube, Blue Sky! 11.) MARCH AND PROTEST EVERY DAMN TIME.
*I want to share what I did. When I realized that I needed to do something I got the voter rolls for all Dems and all Unaffiliated! I called EVERY DAMN ONE OF THEM. Key here is I live in the REDDEST part of the reddest county in NC. I GOT 40 people to agree to build on the No Kings energy. We met in January, will meet again in February and organize. I have a logo for us which I can’t post here. We are called the JERKS. We act with Joy Empathy Resistance Kindness and Solidarity. Would love to share the logo—maybe I can do it on my Substack. I will try.
HANG IN THERE!! BUILD AND POPULATE YOUR BIGGER TENT!! Let’s F’ing Go!!
It is also therapeutic to meet people, who live in the same community, who share the same beliefs as you do; especially in a red district, like where I live!
I went to my first local Indivisible meeting last week. Once again, the majority of the people were senior citizens, like me! How the hell do we get these young people engaged? After all they are the ones who will have to live with the results of the trump/Miller regime, with climate change, with a horrible economy, and debt, etc. I was in high school when I became semi-political, the killing of the four college students at Kent State hit me hard. Surely there are young people out there who are just as concerned, as we are, about the future of our/their country; but I see so few at protests, or at the polls. How do we get them engaged?
Next No Kings protest, I think has been scheduled for March 5th, a Thursday? Maybe it is March 7th, a Saturday-that would seem to bring more people. Anyway, thank you, Jane for your activism, and for your ideas for people to participate in! I would add the ACLU, who have been tiredly bringing illegal acts from this administration, to trail-and are winning many of them!
That's me behind Lemon yesterday in LA after he was released from federal court. I'm holding the Hands Off the Media sign. I'm a 71 year old woman and a day 1 monthly donor and member of the Save America Movement. Every week I call members of congress my blue state and other red state reps and senators. I call my governor Newsom, my state attorney AG Bonta and local reps. My house has a political sign in front that I change with new messages every couple of weeks encouraging neighbors and passersby to stand up and fight. I talk to cashiers at my local markets, waiters at my local restaurants and people who deliver packages to my home reminding them to pay attention to what's happening. That's what I do every single day. Do something, anything. It feels good and works.
I talk to people as well Patricia, all the time, I spent 8 hrs at the VA hospital yesterday and told everyone I spoke with how sorry I was about the loss of Alex Pretti, I got some very thoughtful responses, he was one of them after all. I think the more we do that, the more people are going to think, which will lead to a good outcome down the road. 🙏
This ends when we reclaim our role as the authors of our own governance, by ballot or bayonet. The clock is not counting down to collapse it is asking whether this season will be rightly employed.
I want to be more positive, but it is difficult for me to get past the 75 million assholes who voted for this. And I can guarantee that a large numbers of these assholes will be gladly re-electing the Katie Britts, Lindsey Grahams, Markwayne Mullins, Marsha Blackburns, and many other assorted rocket scientists. The brainless keep the brainless in power.
True, John. We are the Resistance and it is our job to Get Out The Vote. Let’s focus on the ~86 million eligible voters who did not cast a ballot in November 2024. I am sure we all know a few people who don’t bother to vote, for one reason or another. We need to reach out to them and change their outlook.
I could not agree more. The election of Trump to the presidency in 2016 forever altered my view of my fellow Americans. Since the day I learned that Trump won, I have endeavored in vain to bridge the gap in my understanding of how anyone with any awareness of the world around them, or with any compassion or empathy could possibly elect such a soulless, hateful, evil sociopath to be their leader. I have also worked tirelessly to not give in to the temptation to view those people as my enemy, or to see them as evil, but rather to understand that they are mostly uneducated, ill informed individuals who lack the ability to think critically or logically. I have to believe that most of them are not evil people. I further have to believe that, like myself, they want to see a better future for humankind, but cannot or do not see the correct path to get there.
Recently I have become aware that an increasing number of people who supported Trump all along, are now beginning to see the light and are realizing that he is not the person who they thought he was, and that gives me some small measure of hope that we may yet turn things around before we sink quite as low as Germany did under Hitler.
Very well said. I have referred to them as assholes because I’m angry with them, but I realize yielding to temperance and understanding is preferable in the long run.
We all have the power of the dollar. I will not shop at Amazon, Whole Foods, Home Depot, and due to the actions and inactions of the NFL I will not be watching the Super Bowl. I have all three of my Congressional reps on board with voting against the funding of DHS, but I have written them weekly for a month. I will continue to do so asking for Pam Bondi to be impeached. It is a numbers game and research shows when a populace has 3.5% of its population is in protest. That is 12 million in the USA, we had 7 million at the No Kings Protest. If each person that went last time dragged along one more we are at 14 million. Everyone matters, no fear, take a stand anyway you can.
Resist. Signage all over my city. First, learn to resist your own temptations to be indifferent. Without a valued 'you' no meaningful actions can be taken, or petty ones be resisted. Write down and clarify Every Value you believe is important, clarify each, test each, put each into some action or non-action that strengthens the following: protect Nature, biotic and physical, protect all the little ones, of any species, protect your self, family, friends, acquaintances, wayfaring strangers, the downtrodden. Resist supporting any facet of the evil that is now besetting us, do not buy or join or subscribe to or endorse or recommend any product, service, trend, idea or meme that does not support your primary values. Do much more with much less, resist over-consumption of anything, become lean, wiry, cautious, self-effacing, humble. Learn to do without. Many of us can reduce our petty consumptions by 50 percent. Starve these beasts. Never in my life have I witnessed a fire being put out with more fire. Evil feeds on the fear of itself. If you wish to become indifferent, be indifferent to evil, starve it of its oxygen. Resist. Count all your blessings, and name them, one by one. Rediscover Love, believe in its power, practice it in every aspect of your life, without fail. There is a middle way, harmony is everywhere. Learn to know it and practice it and enhance it. Starve these beasts. Resist.
I’d like to add one more comment. When you feel defeated, watch what our fellow Americans are doing in Minneapolis. Thousands are showing up in temperatures that are very, very cold. It’s very cold where I live too, so I completely understand what it takes to stand and protest in sub zero weather. These Americans need to be admired and supported. I applaud them and I ask that if they can do what they are doing to stand up for America under less than ideal weather conditions, we all can do it!!! Bravo Minneapolis as well as all of Minnesota. We’re in this together!!💙💛🇺🇸🇺🇸☃️☃️☃️
Big Picture. Trump is a bully who seeks as much power and wealth as he can possibly amass. He is also at risk of being impeached, removed from office, and put in jail for his many illegal actions. He is in a corner. He must not lose control of Congress in the November 2026 elections. If he succeeds in creating sufficient doubt and in controlling election outcomes, it will be the end of free and fair elections in the US for generations to come. We will have lost democracy and have become an authoritarian state. That would significantly increase the odds of a worldwide catastrophic event or events. It would significantly set humanity back on its quest for moral progress. Many, if not most, people in the upper class don’t believe this is possible. They believe in the democracy and free market economy that has worked well for the upper class for the past forty years. They are unable to see the perspective of the non-upper class. America’s democracy and economy are not working for them. They are not sharing in America’s prosperity. They are not and won’t fight for the principles of a social order that has failed them. Until America commits to fixing its economic and political systems to treat all citizens fairly, we will be unable to stop Trump and authoritarianism. Balancing power between “the people” (those we rely on for democracy to work) and the elites (the top 1% of all Americans) is the only way to achieve fairness and stop the slide to authoritarianism. We must honestly begin the evolution to that end now in order to have a meaningful impact by November 2026. It is too important; there is too much at stake to not do all we can. Only our current leaders can stop this. We must provide them with the political mission that all citizens can support: A Successful America that works well for both the elites and the people. Truth and transparency of accurate and meaningful information must be the foundation of any successful society. Citizen oversite is essential for the macro and fundamental changes required. A citizen volunteer, independent Informed Citizens Commission, with professional management, is the only way to balance the interests of those currently in power and the people. We will only be able to stop Trump before November 2026 if our currently elected officials have sufficient political cover to do so. We will only be able to garner that support from the people if they believe in a future that will benefit them as well as the upper class. A future where politicians represent their interests in balance with the elites. A future where they share in the economic prosperity of America. A future where the American dream is real for them. It is impossible to see how this fix can happen, but it was also impossible to see us getting here. We are at a turning point. We hold the near term future of humanity in our hands. We must focus on the horizon, not the difficulty of task. Please show your support for an independent Informed Citizens Commission at www.informedcitizens.com
I think it is a really good sign when Republicans speak out openly and strongly in defiance of Trump's bullying and threats. Thom Tillis is one GOP senator who has had enough of MAGA and Trump and willing to state so in no uncertain terms. The sad thing is, he has decicided to retire from the Senate; I wish he would have run in the GOP primaries against whomever Trump selected to run against him:
“A sycophant is more than just a ‘yes-man.’ It refers to someone who acts excessively servile toward someone important in order to gain an advantage. They aren’t just being nice, they are using excessive flattery, often insincerely, to get what they want, whether that’s a promotion, social status or favor.
“Some characteristics: The motive is self-interest. They aren’t praising you because they like you; they’re doing it because you have something they want. The behavior is over the top fawning, or constant agreement (including when you’re wrong).
“Common Synonyms: toady, flunky, bootlicker. Some parallels for movie buffs:
“Grima Wormtongue (the Stephen Miller of Lord of the Rings) is an advisor to King Theoden. He uses whispers and false flattery to control the King’s decisions, all while secretly serving Saruman. He is a classic example of a sycophant who uses his position to poison a leader’s standing for his own benefit.
“Dolores Umbridge (the Kristi Noem of Harry Potter) is an example of a bureaucratic sycophant. She is terrifyingly sweet while she is around those she considers her superiors and she sucks up to authority to gain the power she needs to bully those ‘beneath’ her.” – Sen. Thom Tillis.
While your words are inspiring and I am certainly not afraid, I fear that this is what America wants to be. I have lost most of my friends and hardly anyone living around me gives a shit about what is happening and many act as Vichey Americans, just watching which way the wind blows
I, too, have made my choice. It is with my wife, my children and grandchildren, my friends, my fellow citizens. As with you, Steve, it is with America. Thank you for today's commentary.
Yesterday, a group of maybe forty, mostly older people gathered in a cafe in our small Minnesota town, enjoying a moment of fellowship in the midst of recent madness. They sang together, old songs mostly from the 60s. Today, many of them will attend a town meeting to push back against the deceptive distractions and hostility being promoted by the local GOP. Their act of resistance may not change the world, nor perhaps even the minds of many, but it’s one more step towards the end of the Trump regime.
Marvelous!
Every journey starts with the first step, the following steps are sometimes easier due to momentum, and sometimes harder due to obstacles, they are all part of the journey, we learn along the way and become a bit wiser which strengthens us for the task. I would think that those of us here are well along the way, part of our job is to be of encouragement to others, and to set an example for them to follow, just as we have followed in the steps of those who have come before us, like the good Admiral Stockdale who was looked up to by all who knew him. His awards for valor are like a bright shining light showing the way, we sometimes do indeed need pathfinders to help guide us, and are blessed when we have them in moments of darkness, which are inevitable as we move along. I always appreciate encouragement, and find it often reading the Warning, and it’s why I write to offer it to others. 🙏
OK Steve. Here is a list of concrete things people can DO! Of course there is 1.) calling your Reps/Dem leaders. 2.) donate to a candidate 3.) Find your Precinct EVEN IF YOU ARE UNAFFILIATED and get involved!* 4.) Do Phone Banks for your candidate
5.) Get involved with your NAACP 6.) Get involved with a local Indivisible Chapter** 7.) Get involved with a local organization that is helping protect immigrants 8.) Get involved with a local Good Trouble Organization** 9.) **If these organizations don’t exist in your community START ONE! Don’t be intimidated. Start small. Our local Good Trouble started with 15 ladies and now we have over 400! In a town of 7,000 10.) Support independent media on Substack, YouTube, Blue Sky! 11.) MARCH AND PROTEST EVERY DAMN TIME.
*I want to share what I did. When I realized that I needed to do something I got the voter rolls for all Dems and all Unaffiliated! I called EVERY DAMN ONE OF THEM. Key here is I live in the REDDEST part of the reddest county in NC. I GOT 40 people to agree to build on the No Kings energy. We met in January, will meet again in February and organize. I have a logo for us which I can’t post here. We are called the JERKS. We act with Joy Empathy Resistance Kindness and Solidarity. Would love to share the logo—maybe I can do it on my Substack. I will try.
HANG IN THERE!! BUILD AND POPULATE YOUR BIGGER TENT!! Let’s F’ing Go!!
Thank youuuuu!
There are lots of things to do, and those of us who have figured out a few things can share them with people who don't know.
A little of these things involve interacting with others in our communities. That's almost counter-cultural any more.
It is also therapeutic to meet people, who live in the same community, who share the same beliefs as you do; especially in a red district, like where I live!
Agreed, Donna. I'll go further: it's necessary for us to meet & know people who share good values.
I went to my first local Indivisible meeting last week. Once again, the majority of the people were senior citizens, like me! How the hell do we get these young people engaged? After all they are the ones who will have to live with the results of the trump/Miller regime, with climate change, with a horrible economy, and debt, etc. I was in high school when I became semi-political, the killing of the four college students at Kent State hit me hard. Surely there are young people out there who are just as concerned, as we are, about the future of our/their country; but I see so few at protests, or at the polls. How do we get them engaged?
Important question. Wish I knew an answer.
Next No Kings protest, I think has been scheduled for March 5th, a Thursday? Maybe it is March 7th, a Saturday-that would seem to bring more people. Anyway, thank you, Jane for your activism, and for your ideas for people to participate in! I would add the ACLU, who have been tiredly bringing illegal acts from this administration, to trail-and are winning many of them!
The next national No Kings is Saturday, March 28.
Love what you wrote. May I share it with my state Indivisible group?
That's me behind Lemon yesterday in LA after he was released from federal court. I'm holding the Hands Off the Media sign. I'm a 71 year old woman and a day 1 monthly donor and member of the Save America Movement. Every week I call members of congress my blue state and other red state reps and senators. I call my governor Newsom, my state attorney AG Bonta and local reps. My house has a political sign in front that I change with new messages every couple of weeks encouraging neighbors and passersby to stand up and fight. I talk to cashiers at my local markets, waiters at my local restaurants and people who deliver packages to my home reminding them to pay attention to what's happening. That's what I do every single day. Do something, anything. It feels good and works.
I talk to people as well Patricia, all the time, I spent 8 hrs at the VA hospital yesterday and told everyone I spoke with how sorry I was about the loss of Alex Pretti, I got some very thoughtful responses, he was one of them after all. I think the more we do that, the more people are going to think, which will lead to a good outcome down the road. 🙏
This ends when we reclaim our role as the authors of our own governance, by ballot or bayonet. The clock is not counting down to collapse it is asking whether this season will be rightly employed.
Thank you, Steve. I appreciate you so much.
Joining my neighbors in peaceful protest is uplifting for me. I’ve made my choice. 🇺🇸
I want to be more positive, but it is difficult for me to get past the 75 million assholes who voted for this. And I can guarantee that a large numbers of these assholes will be gladly re-electing the Katie Britts, Lindsey Grahams, Markwayne Mullins, Marsha Blackburns, and many other assorted rocket scientists. The brainless keep the brainless in power.
True, John. We are the Resistance and it is our job to Get Out The Vote. Let’s focus on the ~86 million eligible voters who did not cast a ballot in November 2024. I am sure we all know a few people who don’t bother to vote, for one reason or another. We need to reach out to them and change their outlook.
I could not agree more. The election of Trump to the presidency in 2016 forever altered my view of my fellow Americans. Since the day I learned that Trump won, I have endeavored in vain to bridge the gap in my understanding of how anyone with any awareness of the world around them, or with any compassion or empathy could possibly elect such a soulless, hateful, evil sociopath to be their leader. I have also worked tirelessly to not give in to the temptation to view those people as my enemy, or to see them as evil, but rather to understand that they are mostly uneducated, ill informed individuals who lack the ability to think critically or logically. I have to believe that most of them are not evil people. I further have to believe that, like myself, they want to see a better future for humankind, but cannot or do not see the correct path to get there.
Recently I have become aware that an increasing number of people who supported Trump all along, are now beginning to see the light and are realizing that he is not the person who they thought he was, and that gives me some small measure of hope that we may yet turn things around before we sink quite as low as Germany did under Hitler.
Very well said. I have referred to them as assholes because I’m angry with them, but I realize yielding to temperance and understanding is preferable in the long run.
Thank you for another uplifting missive, Steve.
We all have the power of the dollar. I will not shop at Amazon, Whole Foods, Home Depot, and due to the actions and inactions of the NFL I will not be watching the Super Bowl. I have all three of my Congressional reps on board with voting against the funding of DHS, but I have written them weekly for a month. I will continue to do so asking for Pam Bondi to be impeached. It is a numbers game and research shows when a populace has 3.5% of its population is in protest. That is 12 million in the USA, we had 7 million at the No Kings Protest. If each person that went last time dragged along one more we are at 14 million. Everyone matters, no fear, take a stand anyway you can.
Thank you! Thank you Steve & SAM for being the leaders we need. I stand with you with love & solidarity. ♥️💪🏻
Resist. Signage all over my city. First, learn to resist your own temptations to be indifferent. Without a valued 'you' no meaningful actions can be taken, or petty ones be resisted. Write down and clarify Every Value you believe is important, clarify each, test each, put each into some action or non-action that strengthens the following: protect Nature, biotic and physical, protect all the little ones, of any species, protect your self, family, friends, acquaintances, wayfaring strangers, the downtrodden. Resist supporting any facet of the evil that is now besetting us, do not buy or join or subscribe to or endorse or recommend any product, service, trend, idea or meme that does not support your primary values. Do much more with much less, resist over-consumption of anything, become lean, wiry, cautious, self-effacing, humble. Learn to do without. Many of us can reduce our petty consumptions by 50 percent. Starve these beasts. Never in my life have I witnessed a fire being put out with more fire. Evil feeds on the fear of itself. If you wish to become indifferent, be indifferent to evil, starve it of its oxygen. Resist. Count all your blessings, and name them, one by one. Rediscover Love, believe in its power, practice it in every aspect of your life, without fail. There is a middle way, harmony is everywhere. Learn to know it and practice it and enhance it. Starve these beasts. Resist.
I’d like to add one more comment. When you feel defeated, watch what our fellow Americans are doing in Minneapolis. Thousands are showing up in temperatures that are very, very cold. It’s very cold where I live too, so I completely understand what it takes to stand and protest in sub zero weather. These Americans need to be admired and supported. I applaud them and I ask that if they can do what they are doing to stand up for America under less than ideal weather conditions, we all can do it!!! Bravo Minneapolis as well as all of Minnesota. We’re in this together!!💙💛🇺🇸🇺🇸☃️☃️☃️
Big Picture. Trump is a bully who seeks as much power and wealth as he can possibly amass. He is also at risk of being impeached, removed from office, and put in jail for his many illegal actions. He is in a corner. He must not lose control of Congress in the November 2026 elections. If he succeeds in creating sufficient doubt and in controlling election outcomes, it will be the end of free and fair elections in the US for generations to come. We will have lost democracy and have become an authoritarian state. That would significantly increase the odds of a worldwide catastrophic event or events. It would significantly set humanity back on its quest for moral progress. Many, if not most, people in the upper class don’t believe this is possible. They believe in the democracy and free market economy that has worked well for the upper class for the past forty years. They are unable to see the perspective of the non-upper class. America’s democracy and economy are not working for them. They are not sharing in America’s prosperity. They are not and won’t fight for the principles of a social order that has failed them. Until America commits to fixing its economic and political systems to treat all citizens fairly, we will be unable to stop Trump and authoritarianism. Balancing power between “the people” (those we rely on for democracy to work) and the elites (the top 1% of all Americans) is the only way to achieve fairness and stop the slide to authoritarianism. We must honestly begin the evolution to that end now in order to have a meaningful impact by November 2026. It is too important; there is too much at stake to not do all we can. Only our current leaders can stop this. We must provide them with the political mission that all citizens can support: A Successful America that works well for both the elites and the people. Truth and transparency of accurate and meaningful information must be the foundation of any successful society. Citizen oversite is essential for the macro and fundamental changes required. A citizen volunteer, independent Informed Citizens Commission, with professional management, is the only way to balance the interests of those currently in power and the people. We will only be able to stop Trump before November 2026 if our currently elected officials have sufficient political cover to do so. We will only be able to garner that support from the people if they believe in a future that will benefit them as well as the upper class. A future where politicians represent their interests in balance with the elites. A future where they share in the economic prosperity of America. A future where the American dream is real for them. It is impossible to see how this fix can happen, but it was also impossible to see us getting here. We are at a turning point. We hold the near term future of humanity in our hands. We must focus on the horizon, not the difficulty of task. Please show your support for an independent Informed Citizens Commission at www.informedcitizens.com
No Kings!!!!
I think it is a really good sign when Republicans speak out openly and strongly in defiance of Trump's bullying and threats. Thom Tillis is one GOP senator who has had enough of MAGA and Trump and willing to state so in no uncertain terms. The sad thing is, he has decicided to retire from the Senate; I wish he would have run in the GOP primaries against whomever Trump selected to run against him:
“A sycophant is more than just a ‘yes-man.’ It refers to someone who acts excessively servile toward someone important in order to gain an advantage. They aren’t just being nice, they are using excessive flattery, often insincerely, to get what they want, whether that’s a promotion, social status or favor.
“Some characteristics: The motive is self-interest. They aren’t praising you because they like you; they’re doing it because you have something they want. The behavior is over the top fawning, or constant agreement (including when you’re wrong).
“Common Synonyms: toady, flunky, bootlicker. Some parallels for movie buffs:
“Grima Wormtongue (the Stephen Miller of Lord of the Rings) is an advisor to King Theoden. He uses whispers and false flattery to control the King’s decisions, all while secretly serving Saruman. He is a classic example of a sycophant who uses his position to poison a leader’s standing for his own benefit.
“Dolores Umbridge (the Kristi Noem of Harry Potter) is an example of a bureaucratic sycophant. She is terrifyingly sweet while she is around those she considers her superiors and she sucks up to authority to gain the power she needs to bully those ‘beneath’ her.” – Sen. Thom Tillis.
While your words are inspiring and I am certainly not afraid, I fear that this is what America wants to be. I have lost most of my friends and hardly anyone living around me gives a shit about what is happening and many act as Vichey Americans, just watching which way the wind blows
I, too, have made my choice. It is with my wife, my children and grandchildren, my friends, my fellow citizens. As with you, Steve, it is with America. Thank you for today's commentary.