[Catherine Chandler]

Dear Sphereans,


Unfortunately, and to my great sadness and horror, I believe Rick Mullin is 100% correct in his assessment (posts 8 & 10 above).



I believed, as a proud Canadian citizen for over fifty years, living on my peaceful perch in the "true North strong and free" that I, my children, and my grandchildren would be forever immune from anything more than the usual nastiness at US Customs border crossings (when they routinely ask me why, oh why in the world I prefer to live in Canada; or most recently (2024) What are you doing living up there, girl?).


But not anymore. Hopefully the cancer that is rotting away the United States will not metasticize. Canada is part of the Commonwealth and part of NATO. We will NEVER become the "cherished 51st state."



As Rick points out, things will not only be nasty, they will be exponentially more horrendous than they are at present. It will be civil war, IMHO.


It is all well and good to join resistance-type organizations, but, sadly, it will take brute force to counter brute force. Most Americans are not even aware of some things that are taking place as I type this message. They are too busy listening to Fox or glued to their phones watching TikTok influencers.



I'm sorry not to be more optimistic. But as Michael says, every day there is another (or more than one) outrageous, despicable, illegal act coming out of Washington D.C. Can things "turn around" in 2026? Too late, my friends, too late.


Love and peace from Uruguay (where I just might take up permanent residence),


Cathy

[Julie Steiner]

Those more pessimistic than I — and I am pretty pessimistic! — are probably right that it is too late to make much of a difference.

But they are certainly right if the Americans who are still paying attention don't even try to do more than wring our hands and sigh.

[Jayne Osborn]

Gosh - how would most people rate a global pandemic against what is happening right now?
We got over the former, eventually, albeit with huge losses...
Will we get the same result regarding the latter?

Before COVID-19, the most severe pandemic in recent history was the 1918 influenza virus, often called “the Spanish Flu.” The virus infected roughly 500 million people—one-third of the world's population—and caused 50 million deaths worldwide (double the number of deaths in World War I).

The world also recovered from that - so there's still hope that we'll make it through, ...despite Trump!

Jayne

[Catherine Chandler]

Jayne:


The next pandemic is already in the "brewing" stage. Bird/avian flu. H5N1. RFK Jr. says, just let the virus take its course. Well, the course has already begun, with the virus having mutated to bird-to-cow transmission. So far, the human fatalities were not human-to-human infections. But, given time, H5N1 WILL mutate. Humanity had better be well prepared. The morality rate is 52%.

[Andrew Frisardi]

I feel the sense of doom, too, but it’s also true that the Trumpers want us to feel despairing and hopeless. We have to resist that.

Bernie Sanders and AOC are hitting the nail on the head with their Fighting Oligarchy tour. Bernie is right: it’s all about insane greed—starting with the three techno-billionaires sitting in the front row at the inauguration.

Buying elections is nothing new, but it has never been done in the U.S. on this scale. Musk is shadow president not only because he gave more than a quarter of a billion to Trump’s campaign, but because he intends to buy other wins for Republicans so they can keep power in Congress in 2026.

One place to start fighting back is the supreme court election in Wisconsin, coming soon. Musk is pledging an obscene amount of money for that one, to protect his business interests and profits. Brian Tyler Cohen talks about it with his guest here. And here’s the aptly named website for countering Musk's outrageous power-grabbing in Wisconsin, and by extension to the rest of the country and even in Europe.

[Brian Allgar]

As I've said before, where's the Second Amendment when you really need it?

[Clive Watkins]

For me, whose professional life was spent in the education of young people aged 12 to 18 (and for a time into their twenties), this resonated in a most alarming way.

https://open.substack.com/pub/acgray...utm_medium=ios

Clive

[Max Goodman]

Originally Posted by Julie Steiner

Those more pessimistic than I ... are certainly right if the Americans who are still paying attention don't even try to do more than wring our hands and sigh.

Hear, hear. I admire your energy and focus, Julie. I know I'll want to look back on this time and feel that I did something more than complain.

Originally Posted by Andrew Frisardi

One place to start fighting back is the supreme court election in Wisconsin, coming soon.

Yes. Thanks, Andrew.

*

Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser under President Barack Obama, recently in the New York Times:

You are meant to feel powerless. That is what a strongman wants: to make you feel as if nothing can stop the takeover of your country.

...

Recently, the most promising signs have been seen in the actions of ordinary people protesting at Republican town halls and the enormous crowds that turned out in several states to see Bernie Sanders rail against oligarchy.

...

Nika Kovac ... [who] has led successful movements against authoritarian politics in Europe [says] “you have to build huge coalitions around one particular topic, when they are attacking something that really matters to people.” Looking at the United States, she volunteered health care as a place to start. ... Pushback could [also] come on income inequality, housing, education, Social Security and free speech, to name a few. ... [I ]f you can get a win on one issue, it punctures the sense of invincibility and inevitability that a strongman relies on.

...

The opposite of shame is pride. Let’s be proud of fighting back, of caring about one another, of committing to rebuild what is being destroyed.