Resist.
I am Spartacus
16 Saturday Aug 2025
Tag Archives: autocracy
È l’aratro che traccia il solco, ma è la spada che lo difende *
29 Tuesday Apr 2025
Posted in Uncategorized
Bad combover. Check. Too long red tie. Check. Orange spray tan. Check. Tiny hands. Check. Cluelessness. Check…
Yesterday:
STRENGTHENING AND UNLEASHING AMERICA’S LAW ENFORCEMENT TO PURSUE CRIMINALS AND PROTECT INNOCENT CITIZENS
Executive Orders
April 28, 2025By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose and Policy. Safe communities rely on the backbone and heroism of a tough and well-equipped police force. My Administration is steadfastly committed to empowering State and local law enforcement to firmly police dangerous criminal behavior and protect innocent citizens.
When local leaders demonize law enforcement and impose legal and political handcuffs that make aggressively enforcing the law impossible, crime thrives and innocent citizens and small business owners suffer. My Administration will therefore: establish best practices at the State and local level for cities to unleash high-impact local police forces; protect and defend law enforcement officers wrongly accused and abused by State or local officials; and surge resources to officers in need. My Administration will work to ensure that law enforcement officers across America focus on ending crime, not pursuing harmful, illegal race- and sex-based “equity” policies.
The result will be a law-abiding society in which tenacious law enforcement officers protect the innocent, violations of law are not tolerated, and American communities are safely enjoyed by all their citizens again.[….]
Sec. 4. Using National Security Assets for Law and Order. (a) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the heads of agencies as appropriate, shall increase the provision of excess military and national security assets in local jurisdictions to assist State and local law enforcement.
(b) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Attorney General, shall determine how military and national security assets, training, non-lethal capabilities, and personnel can most effectively be utilized to prevent crime.[….]
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 28, 2025.
Yeah, sure.
Hey, Donald Trump (r), sincerely:
* “It is the plow that traces the furrow, but it is the sword that defends it.” – Italian Fascist slogan
The new year
31 Tuesday Dec 2024
Posted in Uncategorized
Tragedy, then quickly, to Farce
04 Wednesday Dec 2024
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
autocracy, Billy Long, clown, Donald Trump, fascists, IRS, missouri, right wingnut
Billy Long (r) [2022 file photo].
News item:
Donald Trump picks Missouri’s Billy Long to lead the IRS
By: Jason Hancock – December 4, 2024 5:24 pmFormer Missouri Congressman Billy Long was tapped on Wednesday evening by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Internal Revenue Service.
Trump called Long — who served six terms representing a Southwest Missouri district — a “consummate people person,” adding “taxpayers and the wonderful employees of the IRS will love having Billy at the helm.”
The current IRS commissioner’s term doesn’t expire until 2027.
[….]
Bad combover. Check. Too long red tie. Check. Orange spray tan. Check. Tiny hands. Check. Cluelessness. Check…
Congressman Billy Long, CTBA @auctnr1
I will not be issuing a blanket pardon, but I will be issuing a blanket thank you because I can’t keep up with all of you as fast as my phone is blowing up. Thank you. Let’s get to work! [….]
5:17 PM · Dec 4, 2024
Elect a clown, expect a circus.
Practical Resistance: at the flagpole
04 Wednesday Dec 2024
Posted in Resist
Tags
“RESIST” (2024)
Posterboard. Permanent marker. 22 x 28.
Today, around noon, I stood silently for about an hour and a half in front of the flagpole (with a bronze First Amendment plaque at the base) on the quad on our campus. I held protest signs.
Many passersby do their best to ignore me. My being there must make them feel uncomfortable. You’re welcome. Others will nod, greet me, or tell me they like my pink knit cap.
Some appear to want to engage. They don’t. I’m 6’4″ and weigh in over two hundred fifty pounds. Maybe that makes them hesitate.
The RESIST sign is hard to miss. It can be read from quite a distance away. Good Germans said in the past, believable or not, “We didn’t know.” I’m here now, trying to show people that they should know, they need to know. At the very least I want the image of that sign, with an old white guy standing in silence, holding it, seared into their memories for forty or fifty years from now. And in their nightmares. Because they do know, and they’re doing nothing, and they’ll probably continue to do nothing.
One of today’s conversations, from someone with a bit more brass:
Question: What are you resisting?
Response: Six weeks from now. You’re gonna have a choice.
Question: What’s that choice?
Response: You can either speak out, be silent, flee, or collaborate.
Question: With what?
Response: What’s gonna happen in six weeks?
Question: Uh, the inauguration, is that what you’re talking about?
Response: Yeah, and they told us what they’re gonna do. So, if you’re good with that you get to make choices. If you’re not good with that, you have choices to make.
Question: What did they tell us? What are they gonna do?
Response: Have you ever thought about the logistics of deporting twenty million people?
Question: I don’t know.
Response: Yeah, see, maybe do a little reading, get curious about it.
Question: I don’t know, I just don’t like to get political.
Response: Huh. Yeah.
Question: Have a good day.
Response: You, too.
“…I just don’t like to get political.”
“They’ll try to bury us.”
(2024)
Posterboard. Permanent marker. 22 x 28.
4th in a series of 2024 protest signs.
#resist
Previously:
The resistance (December 18, 2016)
Sanewashing on the road to normalcy (November 8, 2024)
Practical Dissent: Protest Signs (November 17, 2024)
Practical Dissent: Just Do It (November 19, 2024)
Practical Dissent: it’s the weather, and a lot more (November 21, 2024)
Practical Dissent: planting seeds (November 26, 2024)
Practical Dissent: One (November 27, 2024)
Practical Dissent: testing, testing… (November 28, 2024)
“…Do not be taken in by small signs of normality…” (December 1, 2024)
“…Do not be taken in by small signs of normality…”
01 Sunday Dec 2024
Posted in social media
“Rule #2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality. [….] …history has seen many catastrophes, and most of them unfolded over time. That time included periods of relative calm. [….]”
– Autocracy: Rules for Survival – Masha Gessen – November 10, 2016.
Last month, from a re-posted review of Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts:
10 Lessons from a Dark Past
[….]David Pepper
Nov 19, 2024[….]
1) Do not allow increasingly vile and inhumane—and violent—rhetoric and ideas to become normalized. Call them out (for example—thank you to those who immediately marched in response to the neo-Nazi march in Columbus! Do that every time.
2)Do not allow everyday acts of violence to become normalized;
3) Do not dismiss the most bizarre, ostentatious and odd happenings as too outlandish and irrelevant to be taken seriously;
4) Do not dismiss those engaged in vile and disturbing rhetoric as mere clowns or buffoons who could never carry out the things they are so clearly indicating they will do (their forebears were dismissed in just that way in the 1930s); these are people who are now in the fold of power; they can and will do exactly as they say if given the means and space to do it;
5) 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;
6) Stand loudly against any proposals and approaches to consolidate power and eliminate checks and balances that upend long-accepted principles of justice and effective, fair government;
7) For those in the same party as those who just took over, or business leaders or journalists or others, who decide to go along with the program, either out of fear or greed or assuming you can ultimately control those leaders; or betting that you will fare better by muting criticisms as opposed to airing them loudly and clearly…know that did NOT work. History is painfully clear about that. In fact, you are often the first targets of retribution.
8) The biggest mistakes made by both foreign governments and domestic politicians was NOT taking the most dire threats seriously. Not imagining that worse could happen. Not unifying to stand against every step. Over and over, contemporaries (including those with power) assumed the worst had already happened. It hadn’t. And their passivity was a green light—inviting only more.
9) When people who used to be within the inner circle warn the rest of us how bad it is, and how bad it may become, amplify them as best you can; welcome their voices even if there are differences.
10) Similarly, continue to call upon those with influence in the party in power to stop going along with it. And…if/when any Republican Senators and others DO stand up to Trump’s actions, thank them. Lift them. We need them to keep doing so, so we better encourage that good behavior before and after it happens. There will be few, but every dissenting voice matters.
[….]
#resist
“RESIST” (2024)
Posterboard. Permanent marker. 22 x 28.
Previously:
The resistance (December 18, 2016)
Sanewashing on the road to normalcy (November 8, 2024)
Practical Dissent: Protest Signs (November 17, 2024)
Practical Dissent: Just Do It (November 19, 2024)
Practical Dissent: it’s the weather, and a lot more (November 21, 2024)
Practical Dissent: planting seeds (November 26, 2024)
Practical Dissent: One (November 27, 2024)
Practical Dissent: testing, testing… (November 28, 2024)
Practical Dissent: testing, testing…
28 Thursday Nov 2024
Tags
#resist, autocracy, dissent, Donald Trump, Faraday bag, Fascism
Faraday bag.
Doesn’t everybody test their protest march/demonstration preparations on a national holiday? Just asking.
“Rule #2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality. [….] …history has seen many catastrophes, and most of them unfolded over time. That time included periods of relative calm. [….]”
– Autocracy: Rules for Survival – Masha Gessen – November 10, 2016.
We had a discussion at a meeting [last week]. Several of us contributed information from our previous experiences attending peaceful public protests. A few basic safety rules and what you may encounter:
1. Wear practical shoes. Ones you can run in. You might have to stand in place for a long time, too. Filp-flops and heels don’t cut it.
2. Wear comfortable/practical clothing. Wear long pants. Dress for the weather. Wear a practical hat (like a Tilley hat).
3. Go with a friend/friends. Share your phone numbers. Let someone who isn’t attending know that you’ll be at that demonstration.
4. Review principles of-non-violence before attending a demonstration.
5. Park upwind from the demonstration, several blocks, or further away. You may not be able to rely on the GPS on your phone, so familiarize yourself with the lay of the land beforehand.
6. Do not take a bulky bag. Some people take small fanny packs. Take your phone, your ID, cash, and your car keys. A bandana could prove to be useful. A bottle of water, too. That’s it.
The exceptions are protest medics – they wear red crosses – (yes, they exist) and news media/documentarians – usually wearing outlet media credentials. They usually wear backpacks appropriate for their gear.
DO NOT take anything to a demonstration that you’re not willing to let go of forever. Like your children. Seriously, in these times infants and school age children should not be at a demonstration. Period. Independent teenagers, sure, maybe, depending on their maturity. You know your kid(s) best, it’s your call.
7. Pay attention to demonstration marshals – if there are marshals at a demonstration they wear armbands. They are there for your safety – they do go through safety and de-escalation training. Stay off the street – in most jurisdictions this will get you arrested.
8. Don’t expect access to a restroom. Plan accordingly.
9. If you’re planning on attending protests in the near future (there will be plenty of opportunities), consider purchasing a small Faraday bag suitable for your phone so it can’t be tracked.
10. Make a protest sign. Posterboard, usually 22 x 28. 4 to 6 inch block lettering, solid color fill. Permanent ink only, water soluble ink smears and leaves evidence on your hands and clothes. Stick letters are unreadable at any distance. Anything longer than a short sentence is unreadable. Nobody can or wants to read a dissertation on 22 x 28 posterboard.
If things go south, drop your sign and leave. If you’re wearing a protest t-shirt, zip up or button up your outer coat. “I was minding my own business, just watching.”
11. If it looks bad, leave. Trust your instincts. If it doesn’t feel right, leave.
12. If you’re speaking at a rally, keep it short. Then shorten it even more.
13. If you’re marching, participate in the chants.
If the police are present, start a chant, “Higher pay for our police.”
14. Memorize these phrases:
A) “Am I under arrest?”
B) “Am I free to go?”
C) “Officer, there’s a crowd looting the Kroger’s over on the next block!”Say nothing else.
15. Stay away from the Anarchists (yes, they exist). They are there to cause trouble. They will try to incite confrontation. They are assholes.
16. If shit gets real and you can’t get out of there, find the Antifa, if they’re present, they will put their bodies on the line to protect others.
[17.] “…don’t engage with counterprotestors.”
[18.] “…DO NOT bring any weapons, open carry or concealed, to a street protest/demonstration.”
[19.] 99.9% of all peaceful demonstrations stay that way. Expect and hope for the best, plan for the worst.
#resist
Previously:
Sanewashing on the road to normalcy (November 8, 2024)
Practical Dissent: Protest Signs (November 17, 2024)
Practical Dissent: Just Do It (November 19, 2024)
Practical Dissent: it’s the weather, and a lot more (November 21, 2024)
Practical Dissent: planting seeds (November 26, 2024)
Practical Dissent: One (November 27, 2024)
Practical Dissent: One
27 Wednesday Nov 2024
Posted in Resist
Tags
“One is above the law.”
(2024)
Posterboard. Permanent marker. 22 x 28.
5th in a series of 2024 protest signs.
It’s their world, the rest of us get to live in it. For now.
Previously:
Sanewashing on the road to normalcy (November 8, 2024)
Practical Dissent: Protest Signs (November 17, 2024)
Practical Dissent: Just Do It (November 19, 2024)
Practical Dissent: it’s the weather, and a lot more (November 21, 2024)
Practical Dissent: planting seeds (November 26, 2024)
Practical Dissent: planting seeds
26 Tuesday Nov 2024
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
“They’ll try to bury us.”
(2024)
Posterboard. Permanent marker. 22 x 28.
4th in a series of 2024 protest signs.
The text, in present tense.
The original texts in Greek, then Spanish: They tried to bury us. The didn’t know we were seeds.
Previously:
Sanewashing on the road to normalcy (November 8, 2024)
Practical Dissent: Protest Signs (November 17, 2024)
Practical Dissent: Just Do It (November 19, 2024)
Practical Dissent: it’s the weather, and a lot more (November 21, 2024)
Practical Dissent: it’s the weather, and a lot more
21 Thursday Nov 2024
Posted in Resist
Yesterday and today, at around noon, I stood silently in front of the flagpole (with a bronze First Amendment plaque at the base) on the quad on our campus. I held the second in a series of 2024 protest signs.
It was cold and windy. So I wore my pink knit cap.
“RESIST” (2024)
Posterboard. Permanent marker. 22 x 28.
On Wednesday a somewhat older long-haired and bearded incel walked by, noticed my sign and yelled, “Resist what?” He approached and I answered, “In two months you’re going to have to make a choice…” He interrupted, “Oh, you mean Trump.” He then walked off yelling something I couldn’t hear because of the wind. I asked a young women standing nearby who witnessed the exchange, “Did you hear what he said?” She shook her head, then said, “I like your hat. And I agree with you.” There were also more positive reactions and conversations with others. There was the distraction of an itinerant preacher, in front of the student union, chastising students for their alleged moral failings.
From my vantage at the flagpole I can see the reactions of passersby in the distance. I can easily observe those who hesitate and then change direction to approach me.
Today the Governor of Missouri was on campus for a photo-op. I didn’t see him. It was cold and windy.
A student approached me at the flagpole and extended his right hand. We shook hands, smiled at each other, and didn’t say a word. He then continued on his way.
Later, I had a lengthy conversation with a student who had served in the Marines for four years. We were on the same wavelength.
Previously:
Sanewashing on the road to normalcy (November 8, 2024)
Practical Dissent: Protest Signs (November 17, 2024)
Practical Dissent: Just Do It (November 19, 2024)