Tag Archives: America

The exhausting inertia of our time

09 Wednesday Jul 2025

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“…Do not diminish those who are raising alarm bells by scolding them that they are hurting the cause—do not believe that if only they dialed it back, then the troubling behavior they are describing will somehow go away. History shows that the opposite is true…” – Eric Larson – 10 Lessons from a Dark Past [David Pepper]

“…All we really have in the end is massive resistance. That is where we are heading–acquiescence or resistance. You and I will all need to make our choices about whether we will stand up against oppression in ways that a lot of our ancestors did not stand up…” – Erik Loomis

“…in the face of the impulse to normalize, it is essential to maintain one’s capacity for shock. This will lead people to call you unreasonable and hysterical, and to accuse you of overreacting. It is no fun to be the only hysterical person in the room. Prepare yourself…”

“…Don’t make compromises. [….] In an autocracy, politics as the art of the possible is in fact utterly amoral…” – Masha Gessen – Autocracy: Rules for Survival

“…Write down what you value; what standards you hold for yourself and for others. Write about your dreams for the future and your hopes for your children. Write about the struggle of your ancestors and how the hardship they overcame shaped the person you are today.

Write your biography, write down your memories. Because if you do not do it now, you may forget.

Write a list of things you would never do. Because it is possible that in the next year, you will do them.

Write a list of things you would never believe. Because it is possible that in the next year, you will either believe them or be forced to say you believe them…” – Sarah Kendzior – We’re heading into dark times. This is how to be your own light in the Age of Trump

Our time:

San Francisco, yesterday.

Michael Bersin ‪@michaelbersin.bsky.social‬

“….People can’t get to [xxxxxxxx] work and be a normal person, that’s what I’m upset about…” – San Francisco man, upset about ICE protest/confrontation blocking traffic.

We’re doomed.

If you’ve ever wondered what you would have done had you lived in Germany in the 1930s, you’re doing it now.

July 9, 2025 at 7:01 AM

“RESIST” (2024)
Posterboard. Permanent marker. 22 x 28.

Again, doing nothing

28 Tuesday Mar 2023

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Thoughts and prayers? Prayers and thoughts? Good enough, apparently.

Yesterday:

Erin Hahn @erinhahn_author
Please stop acting like arming teachers is the answer. You don’t even trust us to pick out books for your children.
1:17 PM · Mar 27, 2023

A response:

Not to mention that anyone who has ever worked in a school knows FOR SURE that the teachers who would happily volunteer are that last people we’d want to have a gun in the school.

Yesterday:

David Hogg @davidhogg111
Senator Blackburn took $1.25 million from the NRA.
[….]
12:53 PM · Mar 27, 2023

Responses:

I’m sending her a check today.

America is a gun.

Where does it say that he like to see kids die??

Yesterday:

Mark Alford @markalfordkc
Out to lunch… and ice cream. Sad.
[….]
7:37 PM · Mar 27, 2023

Some responses:

Did I miss your statement about today’s tragedy in Nashville and what your plan is to stop school shootings?

Mark has done exactly zero things to help Americans, zero

What’s your plan to prevent more school shootings then?

What have you done to stop the murder of our children?

Is it getting a little warm in here, or is it just me?

[….] from the party of “thoughts and prayers” that’s pretty rich.

What are you doing for American children Mark?

So, Mark, please elaborate – what are your proposals to end senseless gun violence?
I’ll wait for your response.

You are really solving problems out there chief

You’re just gonna have to forgive me for not buyin’ your bullshit feigned outrage.

Do you have any solutions, congressman, or are you just flapping your gums?

You’re nuts. This wasn’t a press conference about the shooting. This was initially for a women’s small business function.

Yes you and you’re partisan bullshit is sad.

You were a hack on the news & preyed upon rural folks for votes. Gfy. Everyone in KC knows you’re a mook & an embarrassment.

Go on puppet, rattle off some more dumb shit.

What do you plan to do to make it better Mark? Alwsys wondered what plans you have to help or you just another Twitter dipshit?

Two weeks ago:

[image cropped]

Rep. Eric Burlison @RepEricBurlison
BREAKING: I’m excited to announce Fresh Freedom, a podcast cohosted by myself, @RepBrecheen, @RepEliCrane, @RepLuna, & @RepOgles.

Join 5 freshmen representatives as we give you a behind the scenes look inside the People’s House!

Links to Fresh Freedom available below.
5:03 PM · Mar 13, 2023

Andy Ogles (r) represents the 5th Congressional District in Tennessee.

What will they all talk about next?

Yesterday:

Rep. Andy Ogles @RepOgles
UPDATE: In light of the tragic losses at Covenant School today, this telephone town hall is being postponed until April 11th. More details to follow.

For now, please join me in continuing to pray for all those involved and impacted by this senseless violence.
5:08 PM · Mar 27, 2023

Some of the responses:

Cooooooowwwwwwwwaaaaarrrrrrrddddddddd

It’s time for you to take responsibility for your actions and rethink your choices.

This would’ve been the perfect day to hear from your constituents. Ogly.

Wouldn’t today be one of those days you’d WANT to hear your constituents? [….]

be a grown up and talk to your constituents.

Save your thoughts and prayers. Do something about the guns.

I’m assuming you’re not interested in what we have to say.

That Christmas card photo you took to own the Libs was pretty hilarious wasn’t it?

You’re part of the problem. You. Personally. Are part of the reason this happened.

You glorify guns on your Christmas card. Please visit with the victims’ families tonight and explain why you do so – why you celebrate a Christian holiday with weapons meant for murder.

Are you afraid about what people are going to say to you?

Topics for your next town hall – 1) Lying about educational credentials, 2) Where did the $25K go supposedly for a burial garden, 3) Why did you cosplay with weapons on a Christmas card?

Coward.

Will prayers bring back the dead? Or will they just make you feel better about doing nothing that actually helps anybody?

Understandable postponement. But it won’t get any better for you on April 11th.
[….]

Prayers are meaningless.
But I bet you’re happy you found this year’s Christmas card.

Here we are

02 Thursday Sep 2021

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Lindsey Simmons (D) [2020 file photo].

Yesterday:

Lindsey Simmons @LynzforCongress
I launched my campaign for Congress in 2019.

I was harassed. My home was vandalized, multiple times. I received violent threats. My car was followed by active Klan, with my 2 year old in the car.

We fought a righteous fight out here.

And the Dems in DC don’t give a damn. Thread
8:57 PM · Sep 1, 2021

The thread:

Lindsey Simmons @LynzforCongress
Replying to @LynzforCongress
Volunteers and activists from Columbia to Cass County, between Moberly and Marshfield and Lamar to Lebanon—these people endured the same + worse.

On their own property, close to their homes, people had signs burned to the ground, stolen, or shot up by passers-by.
8:57 PM · Sep 1, 2021

Lindsey Simmons @LynzforCongress
Replying to @LynzforCongress
I called it terrorism as it happened. Because that’s what it is.

Violence + intimidation against civilians for a political purpose.

January 6th wasn’t a shock to us out here. It was a larger finale to a season’s long episode of aggression.
8:57 PM · Sep 1, 2021

Lindsey Simmons @LynzforCongress
Replying to @LynzforCongress
When you stand up in a deeply red district in a deeply red state, you do it because lives depend on it.

You do it because democracy depends on it.

You do it because the future you want for your kids + grandkids depends on it.
8:57 PM · Sep 1, 2021

Lindsey Simmons @LynzforCongress
Replying to @LynzforCongress
That future included:

new voting rights act
ending gerrymandering
euniversal healthcare
codified Roe v Wade
anti-lynching laws
ending qualified immunity
equal rights amendment
prosecution of the crimes we watched unfold before our eyes the previous 4 years
8:57 PM · Sep 1, 2021

Lindsey Simmons @LynzforCongress
Replying to @LynzforCongress
And Democrats in Washington, DC who have a seat at the table—they’re playing a dangerous game.

They’re betting our entire country’s future on this notion that if they don’t rock the boat too much, things will calm down, and they can get re-elected and do more@next time.
8:57 PM · Sep 1, 2021

Lindsey Simmons @LynzforCongress
Replying to @LynzforCongress
This is a damn fairytale.

We are in the eye of a storm.

And what we do now dictates whether democracy survives after 2024.

You cannot make bets with the underlying assumption being that you will win another election.
8:57 PM · Sep 1, 2021

Lindsey Simmons @LynzforCongress
Replying to @LynzforCongress
The autocrats aren’t trying to win. They aren’t trying to beat you.

They are actively dismantling democracy such that the American people willingly hand it over.

We won the White House.
We won the House of Representatives.
We won the Senate.

Let’s act like it.
8:57 PM · Sep 1, 2021

Lindsey Simmons @LynzforCongress
Replying to @LynzforCongress
The days of gentlemanly handshakes and agreeing to disagree are long-gone.

Nine months ago sitting Members of Congress invited terrorists to murder the Vice President and their colleagues.

They have stolen seats on the Supreme Court.
8:57 PM · Sep 1, 2021

Lindsey Simmons @LynzforCongress
Replying to @LynzforCongress
These are not people who care about decency or precedent or the law.

They care about control.

And we need to care more about doing the hard things instead of looking bad on cable news.
8:57 PM · Sep 1, 2021

Lindsey Simmons @LynzforCongress
Replying to @LynzforCongress
This week you have Members of a Congress threatening telecom companies if they comply with subpoenas—that’s obstruction of justice.

You have Texas subjugating women.

You have multiple states hellbent on limiting our right to vote.

You have California facing a recall.
8:57 PM · Sep 1, 2021

Lindsey Simmons @LynzforCongress
Replying to @LynzforCongress
School board meetings are full of parents denouncing science and history.

Politicians are using that chaos to defund public education.

Our nation is in crisis and we’re pretending our hands are tied.

We lack not options for moving forward, but the courage to do so.
8:57 PM · Sep 1, 2021

Lindsey Simmons @LynzforCongress
Replying to @LynzforCongress
There is no doubt in my mind that our nation is in safer hands with President Biden.

But there’s also no doubt in my mind that if the “political consultants” had the backbone + experience of pro-democracy fighters in red states we’d be a lot more prepared to survive this storm.
8:57 PM · Sep 1, 2021

Here we are.

Previously:

Susan Collins (r) weighs in (September 1, 2021)

Always there (September 1, 2021)

VI of one…

11 Saturday May 2019

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America in the 21st Century:

John Dick @jdcivicscience
Ladies and Gentlemen: The saddest and funniest testament to American bigotry we’ve ever seen in our data.
[….]
1:54 PM – 11 May 2019

Some of the comments:

IXXX% IN FAVOR
LIV% OPPOSE
XV% NO OPINION

Actually, XXIX in favor, LVI oppose.

Is that like having a poll to allow dihydrogen monoxide (aka water) in schools…#keepitreal

I look forward to seeing long division with Roman Numerals! #Idiocracy #GOP

It’s about time we create good old American numerals before there are tariffs on Arab goods.

I C% agree with this, well maybe just XCIX%

Maybe we should call them Freedom Numerals

Poor kids will never know what Super Bowl it is.

We have a winner.

Brawndo! It’s got what plants crave!

Freedom Fries!

Welcome to America

05 Wednesday Nov 2014

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Ben Casselman @bencasselman

So voters want a higher minimum wage, legal pot, abortion access and GOP representation. Ok then. 8:10 PM – 4 Nov 2014

Update:

Hunter ‏@HunterDK

Voters hate Congress more than any other time in history, vow to elect ppl who will make it worse. A bit strange, at least. 10:58 PM – 4 Nov 2014

Cognitive dissonance, it’s not just for breakfast anymore.