Last Word

Republican “Ballot Box Treason” vs. Voter “Turnout Pandemic”

July 15th, 2020

“Democracy failed in Europe in the 1920s, ‘30s, and ‘40s, and it is failing not only in much of Europe but in many parts of the world today. It is that history and experience that reveals to us the dark range of our possible futures.A nationalist will say ‘it can’t happen here,’ which is the first step toward disaster. A patriot says that it could happen here, but that we will stop it.”- Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny

“…the substitution of rhetoric for thought, always a…

Freedom’s Just Another Word for Everything to Lose

July 7th, 2020

"…evil appears as good in the minds of those whom god leads to destruction." - Sophocles, Antigone

“It is a mistake…as events since September 11 (2001) have shown—to suppose that a government can promote and participate in a global economy and at the same time act exclusively in its own interest by abrogating its international treaties and standing apart from international cooperation on moral issues.” - Wendell Berry, In the Presence of Fear, #XVI

“It is from numberless diverse…

Crossing the Color Line for Bubba Wallace and George Floyd

June 29th, 2020

“We have forgotten history for one reason and, if we are not careful, we will neglect it for another…When exactly was the ‘again’ in (President Trump’s) slogan ‘Make America Great Again?’Hint:It is the same ‘again’ that we find in ‘Never again.’” – Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny

“In the waning weeks of 1932, facing no external security threat and no challenge from within, with no conceivable justification except to prove the inevitability of his rule, Stalin chose…

Updating the American and French Revolutions, without Guillotines or Guns

June 22nd, 2020

#15 of On Tyranny: Contribute to Good Causes – “Be active in organizations, political or not, that express your own view of life.Pick a charity or two and set up autopay. Then you will have made a free choice that supports civil society and helps others to do good.” - Timothy Snyder

“Wanting to be wanted; needing to be needed…”-Rosabella, in Frank Loesser’s Most Happy Fella

“The (French) National Convention (Parliament) declares slavery abolished in all the colonies.In…

Retrieving the Truth From Bill Barr’s “Memory Holes”

June 16th, 2020

“It is impossible to carry out democratic elections, try cases at court, design and enforce laws, or indeed manage any of the other quiet business of government when agencies beyond the state also have access to violence. For just this reason, people and parties who wish to undermine democracy and the rule of law create and fund violent organizations that involve themselves in politics.” - Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny, #6 “...we make a great mistake if we imagine that the Soviet…

A Pandemic of Prejudice Confounds White Privilege

June 9th, 2020

#13 of On Tyranny: Practice Corporeal Politics – “Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them.” - Timothy Snyder

“By embracing the politics of inevitability, we raised a generation without history...One thing is certain: If young people do not begin to make history, politicians of eternity (self-absorbed...longing for past…

Underlying Conditions of Presidents Andrew Johnson’s and Donald Trump’s Racism

June 2nd, 2020

#4 of On Tyranny: Take Responsibility for the Face of the World - “The symbols of today enable the reality of tomorrow. Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not look away, and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.” - Timothy Snyder

“(Abraham Lincoln) would have proven the best friend the South could have had, and saved much of the wrangling and bitterness of feeling brought out by reconstruction under a President…

Truth will set you free, or Love in the time of Corona

May 31st, 2020

by Marie Hoff

We greet each other very carefully,
Like porcupines getting ready to make love.
Arms in big virtual, barrel hugs,
Lots of embarrassed joking and choking
Hoping we don’t look as foolish as we feel.

Hope rises and falls, and rises again
Like the panting of a small injured bird,
testing Ms. Dickinson’s thesis, that it
Never stops singing, no matter what.

Funny things happen: suddenly millions of people
Need millions of rolls of toilet paper: is this an
epidemic of diarrhea or…

Fighting Fire with Water (A Blue Wave)

May 26th, 2020

#14 of On Tyranny: Establish a private life. – “Nastier rulers will use what they know about you to push you around. Scrub your computer of malware on a regular basis. Remember that email is skywriting. Consider using alternative forms of the internet, or simply using it less. Have personal exchanges in person. For the same reason, resolve any legal trouble. Tyrants seek the hook on which to hang you. Try not to have hooks.” – Timothy Snyder

“The only weapon of self defence I…

Combatting the Taliban, the Nazi, in Ourselves

May 26th, 2020

#6 of On Tyranny: Be wary of paramilitaries – “When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching with torches and pictures of a leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the end has come.” – Timothy Snyder

“Men who rape, kill, torture, and mutilate because they don’t like how another person looks or behaves, what he or she believes, or for whom he or…