There is no question that the Trump administration has launched a massive attack on free speech, but I take exception to the last line here, i.e., “It’s pretty obvious what comes next.”
This battle for your mind will either emerge victorious or it will lose. I wouldn’t say the outcome is obvious at all.
I would be surprised to learn that there is a single human being who’s had the opportunity to look back on the Earth from space who had any other reaction than that of American astronaut Edgar Mitchell (at left).
This planet is the home of eight billion people, most of whom are simply trying to live their lives in peace. Is there some reason that we can’t make this happen?
Let’s hope that the majority of Americans are following the drama that is playing itself out in the world today, as citizens in free countries everywhere are sickened to see what the United States has fashioned itself into under Trump’s second term in office.
Following Press Secretary Leavitt’s stunning response to French MEP (Member of the European Parliament) Raphaël Glucksmann’s statement that France should reclaim the Statue of Liberty because the US no longer upholds its original values, Glucksmann doubled down last night.
Dear Americans,
Since the White House press secretary is attacking me today, I wanted to tell you this:
1. Our two people are intimately linked by History, the blood we shed and the passion for freedom we share, a passion symbolized by this Statue that was offered to the United States by France to honor your glorious Revolution.
2. As the press secretary for this shameful Administration said: without your nation, France would have “spoken German.” In my case, it goes further: I would simply not be here if hundreds of thousands of young Americans had not landed on our beaches in Normandy.
3. Our gratitude to these heroes and their sacrifices is therefore eternal.
4. But the America of these heroes fought against tyrants, it did not flatter them. It was the enemy of fascism, not the friend of Putin. It helped the resistance and didn’t attack Zelensky.
5. It celebrated science and didn’t fire researchers for using banned words. It welcomed the persecuted and didn’t target them.
6. This America, faithful to the wonderful words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, your America, is worth so much more than the betrayal of Ukraine and Europe, xenophobia, or obscurantism.
7. We all in Europe love this nation to which we know we owe so much. It will rise again. You will rise again. We are counting on you.
8. And it is precisely because I am petrified by Trump’s betrayal that I said yesterday in a rally that we could symbolically take back the Statue of Liberty if your government despised everything it symbolizes in your eyes, ours, and those of the world. It was a wake up call.
9. No one, of course, will come and steal the Statue of Liberty. The statue is yours. But what it embodies belongs to everyone. And if the free world no longer interests your government, then we will take up the torch, here in Europe.
10. Until we meet again in the fight for freedom and dignity, we will be the continuators of our shared history and the protectors of our treasure: more than a statue of copper and steel, the freedom it symbolizes.
It’s not completely fair to call our problem with plastic pollution “corporate.” Yes, Coke, Pepsi, Nestle, and the others are at least partly responsible, but we mustn’t excuse consumers who refuse to change their behavior.
When I used to hold seminars, I’d insist that drinking water be served from pitchers into glasses, i.e., that there be no plastic bottles.
Want to stay hydrated? How about a reusable container?
Watergate-era journalist Carl Bernstein makes a good observation at left. That was a point in time long before the GOP shot off into a zone of complete criminal insanity.
When we hear boomers remark, “Ah, the 70s. Now that was living,” this is a good example of what they mean. Life, at least in the United States, made sense. Rule of law actually meant something.
Worth your time.
If I were to ask 100 high school kids about what they know about solar PV and about this “breakthrough,” many of them would say, “Look, a photon either hits the array and dislodges an electron, or it passed through and lights up whatever’s on the other side. It can’t do both.”
Now, these folks are targeting investors who lack this basic understanding.
But, in today’s world of stupidity and criminality, anything’s possible.
Perhaps a more fair rewrite to the question at left would be: “Why do the most powerful people in the United States strip resources from the most downtrodden?”
Of course, extreme greed and cruelty isn’t limited to the U.S., though we have most certainly taken it out of the hands of the amateurs.
But why? How? It’s an interesting question. Partial answers include our:
Involvement with slavery that persisted well past the point that the rest of the developed world had abolished it.
Vitriolic reaction to immigrants through the last 150 years., e.g., Asians, Irish, and Italians.
Ongoing white nationalism that has only skyrocketed since the recent dawn of Trumpism.
Present-day decline in educational standards, such that now, only a slim minority of Americans are capable of thinking for themselves.
To the reader who sent me this meme, my answer: It depends on how we define “qualified.”
Every single one of these people is uniquely qualified to do precisely what Trump appointed him/her to do: make the president wealthier and more powerful–without any regard whatsoever as to the devastating impact on the economic or moral health of our nation.
Of course, that means something different in each case:
• Destroying public education, making the electorate less capable of critical thinking with each passing year
• Rejecting science as the core of policymaking, especially in matters of the environment and human health
• Weaponizing the Justice Department against the president’s enemies
• Ending NPR, PBS, and any other news institution that could be critical of Trump and his administration
• Rewarding wealthy donors with tax breaks, paid for, in part, by killing public services that formerly benefitted the common American
• Extending the life of fossil fuels as far as possible into the future by revoking support for renewables
It’s by far the most corrupt regime ever seen in U.S. history, and it’s possible that there is no turning back.
Common Dreams report: “The Trump administration will stop at nothing to rip coverage away from American families, even kids they claim they want to protect.”
One might think that the welfare of America’s children would be of at least some importance politically, and the party that claims to be “pro-life” would have one hell of a hard time kicking little kids off of Medicaid. Yet somehow, this doesn’t seem to register with Republican voters.
Here’s a short 
