It doesn’t matter that we warned people that this would happen - we’re in it now.
It feels like watching a train wreck in slow motion…and we’re stuck on the tracks. Now we have peter Navarro yesterday on CNBC saying Canadians have to stop killing Americans. You know what he’s doing, of course - he’s laying down justification for Trump to militarily attack Canada - it seems that lies are no longer enough for this horrible man. It should be patently obvious to anyone with even one brain cell that Canadians are not currently killing Americans. And yet…
We didn’t sign up for any of this - not for days of unending anxiety, not for fear for ourselves and our cross-border friends & neighbours, not for the breathtaking speed and cruelty that’s tanking the economy. We didn’t sign up for the endless lies nor the Constitution-defying idiocy coming from the Oval Office, nor for the Retribution Tour. And yet here we are.
Telling people to practise self-care during these times, though well-meaning is, well... How do we practise self-care with a lunatic in charge, when any moment things could get exponentially worse than they are now, if that’s even possible? If anyone has any tips I’d be happy to hear them.
Take a hike in Nature, breathe in what the trees give us - good oxygen. Spend the day there. Want to go further? Pop a Cannabis gummy. Further? Mushrooms (Note: if you have never imbibed plant medicine before, make sure to receive guidance from a shaman or guide. Go low and slow.)
What? Canadians have to stop killing Americans? WHAT? I didn't hear about this - but, really? Trump and his cabal - and there are sadly SO many of them - are truly taking this to the next level. The blatant lies, the many distortion would make Goebbels proud indeed - it worked back in 1930s Germany, it is working now - fueled by social media platforms and a total lack of education and critical thinking. (I know Trump doesn't read, but I do believe somebody read "Mein Kampf" to him at some point.)
I see the arrest of Mr. Khalil as simply a test case - a "foreigner" they can vilify. He will be made an example of and soon enough anyone voicing a dissenting opinion will be rounded up under the guise of some bogus charges fabricated by the FBI, CIA, MAGA cop, etc. who will all fabricate whatever Trump wants them to so as to please their Dear Leader. I get a sick feeling that if "We the People" and whatever politicians still have a conscience do not act with a greater sense of urgency, this will not in fact get turned around. Europe has seen what's happening, and I hear from my friends there that their shock is only surpassed by their disgust of what America has become.
The sad thing is that while many didn't sign up for this nightmare, many others wholeheartedly did - and were only too happy to vote for a buffoon who promised cruelty and to take away the rights of "the others" . It's only now that some of this cruelty is touching them personally that they have decided to show some indignation --- truth be told, I have no sympathy whatsoever for those folks. But my heart does go out to the many that will suffer, and perhaps even die, because of this diabolical regime.
Exactly we are indeed heart broken and trying to stay positive finding ways to stop the madness. Many of us just want to wake up without a stomach ache and with the chaos weighing on our minds. Witnessing the destruction of our nation and so many hurting definitely brings no pleasure.
I truly would like not to be worrying about this runaway train, that someone found the brakes and put a slowdown at worst on it or at best it is stopped.
I am appreciative to Canada for their deciding NOT to put a tariff on electricity which comes to my state. That would have been so pricey I don't want to contemplate it. They thought of US, citizens, before Trump. I am grateful.
We are grieving, and we are fearful, and we are angry. And as anyone who's observed the phenomenon of anger deeply over time, we need to recognize that anger is very often a shield against our more tender feelings of sorrow and vulnerability. As in, "I'm not weak, I'm furious!" Seen through that lens, anger can be seen as a form of energy we can mobilize to act intelligently on our own behalf, once we've acknowledged the whys and wherefores of our underlying feelings. I think those on the Right, being human, suffer from this anger-as-a-form-of-denial mechanism, too. So we need to call on our understanding as well as our compassion, to mingle them with our righteous indignation, to embrace each other as much as its possible. We are all in this together, the hoodwinked and those who could see what was coming.
Beneath anger is hurt according to my understanding, and I am hurt. I am sad. I don't like to see what is happening to our country, and I have become very angry. Unfortunately, anger alone is not going to fix this situation. Anger must serve as the fuel for action. What action must be taken? I don't know; I do believe resistance is an action, but resistance, unless it is monumental, will be quashed. Witness the college student (foreign, but here legally) for protesting the war in Gaza. He was upset about what was happening to the Palestinian people. He wanted to see the war stopped and humanitarian aid rushed in (okay, putting my words in his mouth). Frankly, he was exercising free speech. I think I am/was as angry at Israel's actions as those of Hamas. I understand intellectually the plight of the Israeli people. They are surrounded by hate, and their right to existence has been challenged for decades. The Palestinian people deserve respect and the right to exist as well, yet the 2-state solution has not been seriously considered. Too much hurt, too much anger, and too little action to resolve the hurt. It won't come by rockets, tanks, and rifles.
I have found comfort in John's words and in the responses. I am coming to the realization that we are part of something much larger than ourselves. We are deeply connected and all being deeply effected by the world around us. We are seeing our nation torn apart and the loss of our country's standing in the world. But, can we see this as a way to move forward in new ways?
And this is the spirit in which to reach out: clear-eyed sorrow with an invitation to change course so that we may all be rowing in the direction that keeps us from shattering the boat on the rocks. Mocking brings pushback. This important essay shows the path away from disaster: together.
We didn't want to be right stated perfectly what I have been unable to put into my own words. Most of my family is there on the right, and I would never say I told you so, although I tried so hard to talk and reason with many of them before they voted. I do love and care for them and don't want their lives destroyed anymore than I want mine or anyone's. So this is not a time to say I told you so and to lose relationships when that is what is needed in our world today. We need each other more than ever and perhaps if we don't rub it in so much what a huge mistake they made perhaps they would wake up to the love and understanding being provided and let go of their stubborn need to be right! I don't know really, everyone is different and for myself I can only offer love and compassion as they come to their senses.
It's a monumental task for many folks to come to grips with having been wrong. Whether it's about something insignificant or something important, they just hate to be wrong. It's personal. Being wrong questions how they view themselves.
If they admit they're wrong, they believe others will see them as weak, having a lack of judgment, or being taken for a fool.
This may be one of the largest hurdles we face in coming together with anyone who regrets their support of trump.
We are all grieving now and we are all scared now. We did preach it before it happened and most of us left of center knew that it would be bad, but I do not think most of us realized just how bad and how fast Trump and his unelected, unconfirmed wrecking ball would dismantle vital government services and how much the right wants to hurt the least amongst us so that it can give more to the wealthiest. Bernie Sanders has said Greed is an addiction and I think he is correct. We need treatment for the billionaires (tax increases) not tax cuts! The graduated income tax came into existence to make life more equable . The reality is that faith communities cannot make up in food aid etc. what this administration is cutting. Back before these programs existed there were faith communities hard at work to alleviate distress. I think of Jane Addams for example. But she and her community could only do so much. Hence the development of the government programs. The fact remains that the majority of Americans today are not part of a faith community, which means fewer resources to help the hungry, the homeless, the sick available in faith communities. I fear we are entering a period reminiscent of the times Charles Dickens wrote about in "Hard Times" and "Oliver Twist". I pray not, but if this is not stopped, I fear it will be so. We must continue to resist. Nag your congress people, make you voice heard!
I wish the people you're addressing would read this. How do you reach them? I share, but am not sure that helps. Thanks for your beautifully written piece.
John, your writings resonate with me. Many times when I am reading your essays, I think, "That guy is reading my mind, but restating my thoughts so eloquently." I have recently been given the option of submitting a guest column to our county newspaper. What differentiates this guest column is that the writer is allowed more words than the typical letter to the editor for the opinion page (750, rather than 250). I want to quote you, but not sure you would want me to do that, considering I might need to cut some words to make it "fit" the word allotment criteria. I will copy and paste this comment and submit it to you on your Facebook site via Messenger. I imagine you stay very busy, but I sure would appreciate an answer to my dilemma.
It doesn’t matter that we warned people that this would happen - we’re in it now.
It feels like watching a train wreck in slow motion…and we’re stuck on the tracks. Now we have peter Navarro yesterday on CNBC saying Canadians have to stop killing Americans. You know what he’s doing, of course - he’s laying down justification for Trump to militarily attack Canada - it seems that lies are no longer enough for this horrible man. It should be patently obvious to anyone with even one brain cell that Canadians are not currently killing Americans. And yet…
We didn’t sign up for any of this - not for days of unending anxiety, not for fear for ourselves and our cross-border friends & neighbours, not for the breathtaking speed and cruelty that’s tanking the economy. We didn’t sign up for the endless lies nor the Constitution-defying idiocy coming from the Oval Office, nor for the Retribution Tour. And yet here we are.
Telling people to practise self-care during these times, though well-meaning is, well... How do we practise self-care with a lunatic in charge, when any moment things could get exponentially worse than they are now, if that’s even possible? If anyone has any tips I’d be happy to hear them.
Take a hike in Nature, breathe in what the trees give us - good oxygen. Spend the day there. Want to go further? Pop a Cannabis gummy. Further? Mushrooms (Note: if you have never imbibed plant medicine before, make sure to receive guidance from a shaman or guide. Go low and slow.)
You are correct about being in nature
What? Canadians have to stop killing Americans? WHAT? I didn't hear about this - but, really? Trump and his cabal - and there are sadly SO many of them - are truly taking this to the next level. The blatant lies, the many distortion would make Goebbels proud indeed - it worked back in 1930s Germany, it is working now - fueled by social media platforms and a total lack of education and critical thinking. (I know Trump doesn't read, but I do believe somebody read "Mein Kampf" to him at some point.)
I see the arrest of Mr. Khalil as simply a test case - a "foreigner" they can vilify. He will be made an example of and soon enough anyone voicing a dissenting opinion will be rounded up under the guise of some bogus charges fabricated by the FBI, CIA, MAGA cop, etc. who will all fabricate whatever Trump wants them to so as to please their Dear Leader. I get a sick feeling that if "We the People" and whatever politicians still have a conscience do not act with a greater sense of urgency, this will not in fact get turned around. Europe has seen what's happening, and I hear from my friends there that their shock is only surpassed by their disgust of what America has become.
The sad thing is that while many didn't sign up for this nightmare, many others wholeheartedly did - and were only too happy to vote for a buffoon who promised cruelty and to take away the rights of "the others" . It's only now that some of this cruelty is touching them personally that they have decided to show some indignation --- truth be told, I have no sympathy whatsoever for those folks. But my heart does go out to the many that will suffer, and perhaps even die, because of this diabolical regime.
Exactly we are indeed heart broken and trying to stay positive finding ways to stop the madness. Many of us just want to wake up without a stomach ache and with the chaos weighing on our minds. Witnessing the destruction of our nation and so many hurting definitely brings no pleasure.
I truly would like not to be worrying about this runaway train, that someone found the brakes and put a slowdown at worst on it or at best it is stopped.
I am appreciative to Canada for their deciding NOT to put a tariff on electricity which comes to my state. That would have been so pricey I don't want to contemplate it. They thought of US, citizens, before Trump. I am grateful.
We are grieving, and we are fearful, and we are angry. And as anyone who's observed the phenomenon of anger deeply over time, we need to recognize that anger is very often a shield against our more tender feelings of sorrow and vulnerability. As in, "I'm not weak, I'm furious!" Seen through that lens, anger can be seen as a form of energy we can mobilize to act intelligently on our own behalf, once we've acknowledged the whys and wherefores of our underlying feelings. I think those on the Right, being human, suffer from this anger-as-a-form-of-denial mechanism, too. So we need to call on our understanding as well as our compassion, to mingle them with our righteous indignation, to embrace each other as much as its possible. We are all in this together, the hoodwinked and those who could see what was coming.
Beneath anger is hurt according to my understanding, and I am hurt. I am sad. I don't like to see what is happening to our country, and I have become very angry. Unfortunately, anger alone is not going to fix this situation. Anger must serve as the fuel for action. What action must be taken? I don't know; I do believe resistance is an action, but resistance, unless it is monumental, will be quashed. Witness the college student (foreign, but here legally) for protesting the war in Gaza. He was upset about what was happening to the Palestinian people. He wanted to see the war stopped and humanitarian aid rushed in (okay, putting my words in his mouth). Frankly, he was exercising free speech. I think I am/was as angry at Israel's actions as those of Hamas. I understand intellectually the plight of the Israeli people. They are surrounded by hate, and their right to existence has been challenged for decades. The Palestinian people deserve respect and the right to exist as well, yet the 2-state solution has not been seriously considered. Too much hurt, too much anger, and too little action to resolve the hurt. It won't come by rockets, tanks, and rifles.
Thank you. We truly are all in this together.
I have found comfort in John's words and in the responses. I am coming to the realization that we are part of something much larger than ourselves. We are deeply connected and all being deeply effected by the world around us. We are seeing our nation torn apart and the loss of our country's standing in the world. But, can we see this as a way to move forward in new ways?
I have a maga friend, yes, still. He keeps poking at me, asking why I would wish failure on this man. I sent him this today.
And this is the spirit in which to reach out: clear-eyed sorrow with an invitation to change course so that we may all be rowing in the direction that keeps us from shattering the boat on the rocks. Mocking brings pushback. This important essay shows the path away from disaster: together.
They won't listen. They can't. Propaganda works.
We didn't want to be right stated perfectly what I have been unable to put into my own words. Most of my family is there on the right, and I would never say I told you so, although I tried so hard to talk and reason with many of them before they voted. I do love and care for them and don't want their lives destroyed anymore than I want mine or anyone's. So this is not a time to say I told you so and to lose relationships when that is what is needed in our world today. We need each other more than ever and perhaps if we don't rub it in so much what a huge mistake they made perhaps they would wake up to the love and understanding being provided and let go of their stubborn need to be right! I don't know really, everyone is different and for myself I can only offer love and compassion as they come to their senses.
It's a monumental task for many folks to come to grips with having been wrong. Whether it's about something insignificant or something important, they just hate to be wrong. It's personal. Being wrong questions how they view themselves.
If they admit they're wrong, they believe others will see them as weak, having a lack of judgment, or being taken for a fool.
This may be one of the largest hurdles we face in coming together with anyone who regrets their support of trump.
We are all grieving now and we are all scared now. We did preach it before it happened and most of us left of center knew that it would be bad, but I do not think most of us realized just how bad and how fast Trump and his unelected, unconfirmed wrecking ball would dismantle vital government services and how much the right wants to hurt the least amongst us so that it can give more to the wealthiest. Bernie Sanders has said Greed is an addiction and I think he is correct. We need treatment for the billionaires (tax increases) not tax cuts! The graduated income tax came into existence to make life more equable . The reality is that faith communities cannot make up in food aid etc. what this administration is cutting. Back before these programs existed there were faith communities hard at work to alleviate distress. I think of Jane Addams for example. But she and her community could only do so much. Hence the development of the government programs. The fact remains that the majority of Americans today are not part of a faith community, which means fewer resources to help the hungry, the homeless, the sick available in faith communities. I fear we are entering a period reminiscent of the times Charles Dickens wrote about in "Hard Times" and "Oliver Twist". I pray not, but if this is not stopped, I fear it will be so. We must continue to resist. Nag your congress people, make you voice heard!
Have you seen this? https://bsky.app/profile/petersagal.bsky.social/post/3lk535abv5k2x
Heartbreaking and not wrong. There are likely thousands, if not tens of thousands just like him.
And you created a Manufactured Rapture not because you followed Jesus’s teachings . But because you refused to follow Jesus’s teachings!
I wish the people you're addressing would read this. How do you reach them? I share, but am not sure that helps. Thanks for your beautifully written piece.
John, your writings resonate with me. Many times when I am reading your essays, I think, "That guy is reading my mind, but restating my thoughts so eloquently." I have recently been given the option of submitting a guest column to our county newspaper. What differentiates this guest column is that the writer is allowed more words than the typical letter to the editor for the opinion page (750, rather than 250). I want to quote you, but not sure you would want me to do that, considering I might need to cut some words to make it "fit" the word allotment criteria. I will copy and paste this comment and submit it to you on your Facebook site via Messenger. I imagine you stay very busy, but I sure would appreciate an answer to my dilemma.