We are the ones we've been waiting for. It is time to get out in the streets. I could not agree more with your assessment and while I am glad you were able to discuss this piece on MSNBC, it is rich that Joe & Myka are speaking as if they are brave. I'm sure most of us have not forgotten that they went straight to Maralago to kiss the ring right after the election.
Anand, I am feeling the fear. I felt it yesterday before heading out to the 5051 protest but I couldn’t just stay home and do nothing. I feel it when I call my Republican Congress member to tell him I want Musk’s illegal hijacking of our government and finance systems stopped. I wonder what they’re doing with all the names of people who call. Will I get my federal retirement check next month, Medicare claims paid? But I can’t simply do nothing. Will it come to the point where I don’t feel safe working with my local democratic club? I hope not but I’m going to keep doing it. Am I comfortable doing these small things, no, but I do them thinking of my grandchildren, particularly my granddaughter, who should have the opportunities that her grandmother and mother have had. It’s not easy, I don’t like it but it’s something that I have to do, my assignment as you and Ruth so aptly named it! Thanks for speaking up!
You are NOT alone Anand. I'm only one Voice but there can be results in the multiples IF we don't stop "singing" when the invitation comes to "perform". This is NOT an act it is real and it takes courage. (BTW the root of that word is heart!) Please read the lyrics by Pete Seeger that follow -
One blue sky above us One ocean lapping all our shore One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more And because I love you I'll give it one more try To show my rainbow race
It's too soon to die.
Some folks want to be like an ostrich, Bury their heads in the sand. Some hope that plastic dreams
Can unclench all those greedy hands. Some hope to take the easy way: Poisons, bombs. They think we need 'em. Don't you know you can't kill all the unbelievers? There's no shortcut to freedom.
One blue sky above us One ocean lapping all our shore One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more And because I love you I'll give it one more try To show my rainbow race
It's too soon to die.
Go tell, go tell all the little children. Tell all the mothers and fathers too. Now's our last chance to learn to share What's been given to me and you. One blue sky above us One ocean lapping all our shore One earth so green and round Who could ask for more And because I love you
I'll give it one more try To show my rainbow race It's too soon to die.
100% on all of the above. I am so grateful to have Anand's voice to hold onto.
I do however find it ironic to find him again with Mika and Joe, who have been among the first to go to Mar-A-Lago to kiss the ring. I see others are feeling that, too. Having Joe pass the buck to the common man to get out into the streets and be brave, was the moment I found myself turning away from this conversation. Wtf?
Thank you Anand. There’s such pitiful disingenuousness in Joe going after the retired generals. THEY ARE NOT ELECTED OFFICIALS. they are not the ones charged with being a critical counterforce to authoritarianism. One wonders why congressmen sold their souls to keep jobs in an institution which they’ve rendered meaningless. We have a right to be furious at democrats in congress who winge and backpedal when outrage over the rape of this country is mocked as “pearl-clutching” by the GOP. When European laws rightfully addressing the poison of misinformation is mocked as an affront to free speech and an anachronistic relic of the Cold War era. Yes, THIS IS AN ASSIGNMENT for us all but that in no way should suggest that outrage over the self-castration of elected officials is unjustified. That’s what the rather pathetic Joe and Mika were doing. Bless you for your calm in the face of that collaboration.
Where are the Brave? Gripping point you make. Over the last two nights, we watched “Anthropoid,” the story of two young ordinary Czechs who parachuted into Nazi-occupied Prague in 1942 to carry out the assassination of Reinhard Heydrick, architect of the Holocaust. (Cillian Murphy plays the lead Czech.) On Morning Joe, you reasserted, legitimately so, there is no one coming to save us. And I wondered where the groundswell of parachuting heroes will come from when you rightly concluded “… it’ll have to come from below.” I have to wonder is it possible to save our country without violent counter measures.
Wrt podcast with Sen Chris Murphy this morning, he put down a shadow cabinet. I like the idea. The shadow cabinet I have mind can be established in a week, maybe AOC as shadow president. Sen Murphy did not think we were in extremis yet, which I cringe at because time is not our friend. Missing in the conversation was the vision thing, what a better future would look like. Trump only received 32% of eligible voters, a better future would have 95% turnout and equality built in.
The rule of law did not prevent the first Trump presidency from stacking the Supreme Court with justices aligned with Opus Dei, who promptly overturned women’s abortion rights and took their liberty. And the rule of law did not prevent a second Trump Presidency despite two Trump impeachments and Trump inciting a violent insurrection on the Capitol televised worldwide. It is, therefore, a huge gamble to hope the rule of law or the Democratic party will prevent Trump consolidating power and replacing democracy with autocracy.
Lacking mass mobilization in the streets (scaled up 50501?), or a women’s power movement – women do not have to play along with patriarchy, only women are capable of reproduction, white babies are the Trump administration’s achilles heel, or an imminent existential threat that puts all of mankind in the same boat, an unimpeded Trump will consolidate power into a centralized, dictatorial government with the people completely subservient to the government, which not coincidentally is the definition of totalitarianism. It is past time to revisit “The Origins of Totalitarianism” by Hannah Arendt. The religious right has Trump’s back, and they tell us God has their back, so there you have it, America the beautiful. If fascism overwhelms us, the Statue of Liberty, which is an international symbol of liberty, justice and democracy, ought to be enveloped in a shroud.
Assuming Trump is a cultural Christian, a non-religious or non-practicing individual who values Christian culture or agrees with some Christian tenets, and comparing him with his executive orders, most of which are cultural issues (gender, LGBT+1, DEI, ESG, religion, abortion), one would expect to find some of Trump’s cultural Christian values in those executive orders, but they read more like retribution, more Antichrist than Christ.
(The above is an excerpt from my Substack post on 15Feb25, “Executive Orders, Religious Right, Abortion”)
“You can’t be the land of the free unless you’re the home of the brave.” Amen, Anand! You said it perfectly. American leadership has become spineless! The people need to be the leaders we need. All of us, together. Run for any office where you are, primary the weak, remember and call out the capitulators. It’s time to take names and fight back.
Just watched the video on Morning Joe. First time I've seen him since his betrayal, and it will definitely be the last. Your speaking truth is always refreshing and powerful to watch. But Joe muddies it with his comebacks that feel like psychological discouragement and deflation that reduces the "opponents" emphasis, which ultimately diminishes the points you were stressing, it feels shady a bit grimey. Maybe I'm overstating, but he looks different, and it's actually hard to watch.
I wish I could get out there, but I can still do my part in many different ways!! I have lost family and friends over this awful president, who I don’t consider mine.
Trump Cuts Target Next Generation of Scientists and Public Health Leaders:
A reckless & "very destructive strategy to fire the new talent" at NIH. Gutting the next generation of federal scientists, doctors and public health professionals is another example of gangster government whose leaders view themselves as unconstrained by long established policy, science or law. #Resist
We are the ones we've been waiting for. It is time to get out in the streets. I could not agree more with your assessment and while I am glad you were able to discuss this piece on MSNBC, it is rich that Joe & Myka are speaking as if they are brave. I'm sure most of us have not forgotten that they went straight to Maralago to kiss the ring right after the election.
Anand, I am feeling the fear. I felt it yesterday before heading out to the 5051 protest but I couldn’t just stay home and do nothing. I feel it when I call my Republican Congress member to tell him I want Musk’s illegal hijacking of our government and finance systems stopped. I wonder what they’re doing with all the names of people who call. Will I get my federal retirement check next month, Medicare claims paid? But I can’t simply do nothing. Will it come to the point where I don’t feel safe working with my local democratic club? I hope not but I’m going to keep doing it. Am I comfortable doing these small things, no, but I do them thinking of my grandchildren, particularly my granddaughter, who should have the opportunities that her grandmother and mother have had. It’s not easy, I don’t like it but it’s something that I have to do, my assignment as you and Ruth so aptly named it! Thanks for speaking up!
You are NOT alone Anand. I'm only one Voice but there can be results in the multiples IF we don't stop "singing" when the invitation comes to "perform". This is NOT an act it is real and it takes courage. (BTW the root of that word is heart!) Please read the lyrics by Pete Seeger that follow -
One blue sky above us One ocean lapping all our shore One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more And because I love you I'll give it one more try To show my rainbow race
It's too soon to die.
Some folks want to be like an ostrich, Bury their heads in the sand. Some hope that plastic dreams
Can unclench all those greedy hands. Some hope to take the easy way: Poisons, bombs. They think we need 'em. Don't you know you can't kill all the unbelievers? There's no shortcut to freedom.
One blue sky above us One ocean lapping all our shore One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more And because I love you I'll give it one more try To show my rainbow race
It's too soon to die.
Go tell, go tell all the little children. Tell all the mothers and fathers too. Now's our last chance to learn to share What's been given to me and you. One blue sky above us One ocean lapping all our shore One earth so green and round Who could ask for more And because I love you
I'll give it one more try To show my rainbow race It's too soon to die.
Those capitulating would include Mika Brezinkski and Joe Scarborough. Did she recognize the irony of what she was saying?
Anand, thanks for showing up on Morning Joe. Your voice rings loud and clear.
100% on all of the above. I am so grateful to have Anand's voice to hold onto.
I do however find it ironic to find him again with Mika and Joe, who have been among the first to go to Mar-A-Lago to kiss the ring. I see others are feeling that, too. Having Joe pass the buck to the common man to get out into the streets and be brave, was the moment I found myself turning away from this conversation. Wtf?
Thank you Anand. There’s such pitiful disingenuousness in Joe going after the retired generals. THEY ARE NOT ELECTED OFFICIALS. they are not the ones charged with being a critical counterforce to authoritarianism. One wonders why congressmen sold their souls to keep jobs in an institution which they’ve rendered meaningless. We have a right to be furious at democrats in congress who winge and backpedal when outrage over the rape of this country is mocked as “pearl-clutching” by the GOP. When European laws rightfully addressing the poison of misinformation is mocked as an affront to free speech and an anachronistic relic of the Cold War era. Yes, THIS IS AN ASSIGNMENT for us all but that in no way should suggest that outrage over the self-castration of elected officials is unjustified. That’s what the rather pathetic Joe and Mika were doing. Bless you for your calm in the face of that collaboration.
Anand,
Where are the Brave? Gripping point you make. Over the last two nights, we watched “Anthropoid,” the story of two young ordinary Czechs who parachuted into Nazi-occupied Prague in 1942 to carry out the assassination of Reinhard Heydrick, architect of the Holocaust. (Cillian Murphy plays the lead Czech.) On Morning Joe, you reasserted, legitimately so, there is no one coming to save us. And I wondered where the groundswell of parachuting heroes will come from when you rightly concluded “… it’ll have to come from below.” I have to wonder is it possible to save our country without violent counter measures.
Collaborators like you, Meeka and your smug sidekick Joe who raced to Florida to kiss DT, punching everyone left of center in the gut
Keep it going Anand!
Wrt podcast with Sen Chris Murphy this morning, he put down a shadow cabinet. I like the idea. The shadow cabinet I have mind can be established in a week, maybe AOC as shadow president. Sen Murphy did not think we were in extremis yet, which I cringe at because time is not our friend. Missing in the conversation was the vision thing, what a better future would look like. Trump only received 32% of eligible voters, a better future would have 95% turnout and equality built in.
The rule of law did not prevent the first Trump presidency from stacking the Supreme Court with justices aligned with Opus Dei, who promptly overturned women’s abortion rights and took their liberty. And the rule of law did not prevent a second Trump Presidency despite two Trump impeachments and Trump inciting a violent insurrection on the Capitol televised worldwide. It is, therefore, a huge gamble to hope the rule of law or the Democratic party will prevent Trump consolidating power and replacing democracy with autocracy.
Lacking mass mobilization in the streets (scaled up 50501?), or a women’s power movement – women do not have to play along with patriarchy, only women are capable of reproduction, white babies are the Trump administration’s achilles heel, or an imminent existential threat that puts all of mankind in the same boat, an unimpeded Trump will consolidate power into a centralized, dictatorial government with the people completely subservient to the government, which not coincidentally is the definition of totalitarianism. It is past time to revisit “The Origins of Totalitarianism” by Hannah Arendt. The religious right has Trump’s back, and they tell us God has their back, so there you have it, America the beautiful. If fascism overwhelms us, the Statue of Liberty, which is an international symbol of liberty, justice and democracy, ought to be enveloped in a shroud.
Assuming Trump is a cultural Christian, a non-religious or non-practicing individual who values Christian culture or agrees with some Christian tenets, and comparing him with his executive orders, most of which are cultural issues (gender, LGBT+1, DEI, ESG, religion, abortion), one would expect to find some of Trump’s cultural Christian values in those executive orders, but they read more like retribution, more Antichrist than Christ.
(The above is an excerpt from my Substack post on 15Feb25, “Executive Orders, Religious Right, Abortion”)
“You can’t be the land of the free unless you’re the home of the brave.” Amen, Anand! You said it perfectly. American leadership has become spineless! The people need to be the leaders we need. All of us, together. Run for any office where you are, primary the weak, remember and call out the capitulators. It’s time to take names and fight back.
Just watched the video on Morning Joe. First time I've seen him since his betrayal, and it will definitely be the last. Your speaking truth is always refreshing and powerful to watch. But Joe muddies it with his comebacks that feel like psychological discouragement and deflation that reduces the "opponents" emphasis, which ultimately diminishes the points you were stressing, it feels shady a bit grimey. Maybe I'm overstating, but he looks different, and it's actually hard to watch.
I wish I could get out there, but I can still do my part in many different ways!! I have lost family and friends over this awful president, who I don’t consider mine.
Trump Cuts Target Next Generation of Scientists and Public Health Leaders:
A reckless & "very destructive strategy to fire the new talent" at NIH. Gutting the next generation of federal scientists, doctors and public health professionals is another example of gangster government whose leaders view themselves as unconstrained by long established policy, science or law. #Resist
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/us/politics/fda-cdc-health-department-trump.html?smid=em-share
The Country is stunned and in a state of shock , which explains the paralysis.
People are also afraid, there is such bullying and menacing that people and unable to emerge from their stupor