I remember America before Kamala Harris became President.
I remember both the hope and dread we all felt in 2024, before we knew who would win the presidential election.
In 2024, we knew that America was at an inflection point, one that could lead to three possible outcomes:
The end of our 248 year experiment in democracy and the beginning of an era of dystopian autocracy; or
Preservation of democracy but with continued governmental dysfunction and gridlock; or
A new era of American progress and prosperity.
We knew that electing Harris was absolutely necessary, but not sufficient. Alone it wasn’t enough to really change America. Sure, it was enough to keep the treasonous, criminal, psychopath, felon, racist, grifter, rapist out of office. It was enough to stop the dystopian nightmare of Project 2025. It was enough to save our democracy and prevent the United States from becoming Russia 2.0.Continue Reading >>
It was back in 2024, before the US withdrew from NATO, the fall of Ukraine, and all the dominoes began to tip over in Putin’s campaign of European conquest.
It was before the economic crash, before all the civil unrest, before the internment camps, before the self-pardons, before the “official act” of suspending the 2028 presidential elections.
It was before Milley was arrested and jailed. And Obama. And Schiff. And Harris. And Cheney. And Hillary. And Cox Richardson.
Life was much calmer then, but it was still a stressful time. Some of us, at least, still had hope.Continue Reading >>
A bible and gun rest atop the United States Constitution and American flag. Guns, bibles and the American flag are often used emblematically, and for intimidation, by those who believe that participation in American democracy only belongs to those who embrace America as a country of white male Christian privilege.
Archie Bunker, the anachronistical central character of the 1971 sitcom All in the Family, liked to talk about “Real Americans” and fancied himself one of them. To Archie, and those who he satirically represented, being a Real American centered around embracing the concept of white male Christian privilege.
The entire MAGA movement in 2016 to “Make America Great Again” was of course centered on the idea of resurrecting an America that echoed Archie Bunker’s sense of privilege, while simultaneously destroying the boundaries between the (fundamentalist Christian) church and State.Continue Reading >>
Congressional Representative Eric Swalwell posted a note on Twitter yesterday that echoed some of the same sentiments we’ve shared on The Domino Principle before:
The fight for the future isn’t between liberal vs conservative. It’s between truth vs lies.
It isn’t between Democrat vs Republican. It’s between democracy vs autocracy.
I’m still traveling in Texas and visiting family there this week. A conservative family member introduced me to new acquaintances a few days ago as someone who is extremely liberal, and that resulted in my doing a double take, because it isn’t necessarily accurate and it misses the point.Continue Reading >>
Inscribed “John Harvard • Founder • 1638”, the statue of John Harvard is located in Harvard University’s Harvard Yard. It is often known at the “Statue of the Three Lies” because 1) it is not a likeness of John Harvard; 2) John Harvard was not the actual founder of the university that now bears his surname; and 3) the university was founded in 1636.
I travelled from California to Texas to visit family for Father’s Day this past Thursday, and missed viewing the third public session of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol while I was in flight. No worries, once I landed, a few minutes of review of my Twitter notifications quickly gave me the key points of what I had missed, and then I watched a replay of the full session on my laptop that evening.
So I was quickly up to date on the new horrors publicly disclosed about past (and alas, future) attempts to overthrow the government of the United States. Call me silly if you like, but for some strange reason, this is a topic I feel it is important to stay informed about.Continue Reading >>
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair” — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
This is such an incredible time to be be alive, in ways that are both passionately exhilarating and extraordinarily tragic.
We’ve watched horrific images from Europe of good people who have done nothing wrong suffer incredible carnage and atrocities at the hands of a monstrous madman, all because they dared to live in freedom and pursue a better life for themselves and their families.Continue Reading >>
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s plea to the Russian people in video remarks posted early on Feb. 24: “Many things are always lacking in war. But what is in abundance is pain, dirt, and death.”
A new Instagram acquaintance of mine from Saint Petersburg, Russia decided to publish this little gem to her story today:
I felt it merited a serious response. Not just for her, but for all the good people of Russia.
Firstly, we understand that in many ways, most of the people of Russia are also a victim of the deranged madman who is running Russia and invading Ukraine.
We know that unless you are one of his rich oligarch partners in his Russian crime syndicate, he couldn’t care less if you live or die. He couldn’t care less if you starve.Continue Reading >>
“There’s still more work ahead. But I’ve said many times: As tough as this pandemic has been, we will get through it. We will rebuild our economy, reclaim our lives, and get back to normal. We’ll laugh again. We’ll know joy again. And we’ll smile again — you know, and now see one another’s smile, look at the smiles on other people’s faces. Better days are ahead, I promise you.”
–Joseph R. Biden Jr., May 13, 2021.
It was a lovely Thanksgiving from my small corner of the world on the Central California coast. As I had a chance to reflect upon the past year, I felt a curious mixture of gratitude, optimism and trepidation.Continue Reading >>
The author, celebrating his freedom to pursue extraordinary adventures, at Cenote Suytun, Valladolid, Yucatán, Mexico on June 29, 2021.
Last week I began my first trip away from my home in California, post-COVID-19 pandemic. It has really been exhilarating to enjoy the feelings of freedom and independence that have accompanied my travels, knowing that for the first time in more than 15 months I can trek around the world without the risk of either getting ill from COVID or of jeopardizing the lives of others by inadvertently acquiring and spreading the virus.
I recognize how lucky I am. None of the 600,000+ people who died from COVID in America were free to get on an airplane, as I did. Like George Floyd, those who number among America’s COVID casualties no longer have the freedom to even breathe.Continue Reading >>
Broken eagle found by Congressman Andy Kim while cleaning the Capitol after the insurrection. a reminder of the enormous work ahead to heal. Healing won’t start without accountability. See: https://twitter.com/AndyKimNJ/status/1358131086203756546?s=20
The political pundits continue to broadly proclaim that there is little chance that Donald John Trump will be convicted in the currently ongoing impeachment trial, despite overwhelming and damning evidence that illustrates his guilt in fomenting insurrection against the government of the United States of America — as clear an impeachable and convictable offense as one could imagine. Today I’ll take a look at why the pundits could be wrong and why there is at least a reasonable chance that Trump will in fact be convicted.Continue Reading >>
Strategies for taking command of our lives through seeing "deep repercussions" in world events and realizing how chain reactions can produce future outcomes.
