I’m reading Istanbul by Nobel Prize winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk.It’s an autobiographical look at the author, Istanbul, and Turkey. (I’m speculating here, because I’m not that far into it.He’s talking about his childhood when the neighborhood was filled with the dilapidated old palaces of the pashas of the Fallen Ottoman Empire,I’m not sure what kids learn about in world history these days, but the magnificence of the Ottoman Empire was left out of the history classes I took.
This is what people in the US might feel in 50 years or more if our current political trajectory continues and the many riches of the US are gutted, and the rest of the world leaves us in the dust.
“When I watch the black and white crowds rushing through the darkening streets of a winter’s evening, I feel a deep sense of fellowship, almost as if the night has cloaked our lives, our streets, our every belonging in a blanket of darkness, as if once we’re safe in our houses, our bedrooms, our beds, we can return to dreams of our long gone riches, our legendary past. And likewise, as I watch dark descend like a poem in the pale light of the streetlamps to engulf these old neighborhoods, it comforts me to know that for the night at least we are safe; the shameful poverty of our city is cloaked from Western eyes.” (p. 35)
“To stand before the magnificent iron gates of a grand yali bereft of its paint, to notice the sturdiness of another yali’s moss-covered walls, to admire the shutters and fine woodwork of a third even more sumptuous yali and to contemplate the judas trees on the hills rising high above it, to pass gardens heavily shaded by evergreens and centuries-old plane trees - even for a child, it was to know that a great civilization had stood here, and, from what they told me, people very much like us had once upon a time led a life extravagantly different from our own - leaving us who followed them feeling the poorer, weaker, and more provincial.” (pp 53-53)
I’m sitting at SeaTac waiting to board our flight to Frankfurt, so that’s it for now.
The year I studied in Göttingen, Germany, we had most of March and April off. Hitchhiking was my main means of travel out of town, though in Yugoslavia I ended up taking trains, busses, and a boat. As you leave Yugoslavia and enter Greece you could go to Istanbul,Turkey (which is now Türkiye by the way) or to Greece. I wanted to do both, but I would have to speed through Greece if I also went to Istanbul. Also, I had five or six names and addresses of people in Greece - the friends and the parents of a Georg, a Greek student I knew in Göttingen.
So I vowed to return to Istanbul another time. It’s now 60 years later and I’m finally going to Istanbul. Though I fully realize the Istanbul I will see now, is not at all the same place I would have seen in 1965.
So I’ve been playing travel agent for the last six months. After booking flights, some initial hotel rooms, loading apps, arranging with our house sitter, trying to figure out which eSIMS to use, doing Turkish on DuoLingo, to list just a few things, we’re almost ready. But I do understand why people take package tours and let someone else do all that work.
I’m a bit hesitant to take long journeys these days. We know about carbon footprints, and I was lucky enough to fall into a life that gave me opportunities when I was younger to see much of the world - mostly I had assignments for an extended period of time (like being a student or a teacher or working/volunteering at an organization.) It’s a great way to get connected into the local community and be more of a traveler than a tourist. You are there long enough to be able to use at least some of the local language.
As I say, I have had opportunities to live in other countries and learn what I could from those experiences. The world has an endless supply of interesting places to visit. Bit I've also learned there is an endless supply of interesting people much closer to home and I can connect with them to do important things without traveling the globe. I hope to enjoy this trip, learn from it, share it with you and others in my life, and then settle back home and discover the richness of the people and geography around Anchorage that I haven't discovered yet. And revisit those I already know.
But I also realize this trip might tempt me to venture out again. We'll see.
We haven't taken any overseas trips for a while and our Outside trips have been to see family and friends. But the impact does weigh on me.
We all have to figure out how to live reasonably moral lives in the 21st Century. It’s not easy in a system that values money above everything. Of course it isn't either or - moral or not. It's probably better to think about it on a continuum from something like evil to something like virtuous.
The basic standard that I think is reasonable for most people is that they give back to the world more than they got. “Got” doesn’t have to mean being born wealthier than most. Having loving parents is also a gift. Having good friends is too. But in a capitalist society money tends to give you a greater ability to do harm or good.
I don’t know how one measures one's moral balance precisely - one needn’t give back in the currency one receives. Being kind to others is one sort of currency. Contributing to the improvement of other people’s lives also works. Passing on wisdom works too, though many people think what they have to say is wiser than it probably is. All we can do is think about the equation of giving back more than we receive and seriously strive for that everyday.
Normalize, means to make something seem normal. It's been used a lot recently to refer to events - like school shootings and outrageous Trump actions - that once would have been seen as totally unusual and demanding serious discussion and action.
4: to allow or encourage (something considered extreme or taboo) to become viewed as normal
The word normalize hasn't been used this way for a long time.
Someone posited the question, "When and where did the new sense of "normalize" begin?" on English.stackexchange.com (not exactly sure what that is, but the heading on the page is "English Language Usage" and it's dated 2020.)
"It will sometimes happen that a word suddenly appears everywhere. In the wake of the 2016 presidential election, two such words are currently in the ether: the verb normalize and its related noun, normalization."
This would suggest that Trump's behavior after being first elected was so unprecedented, broke so many norms and taboos, that people began using these terms.
I think the term itself has been used so much itself, that it reinforces the idea that the once taboo is now normal.
So what's the alternative?
Everyone needs to contribute answers to this. I'd suggest that journalists simply have to continue acting shocked and adding statistics to show how terrible something is. And continue to contrast behaviors to how things were in the past and to how things are in other countries.
"President Trump continues to add to his presidential lying record, leaving all other presidents in the dust. Today he said . . .Nixon resigned because Congressional Republicans told him he would be impeached after the recordings he made in the Oval Office proved that he had lied to the American people*."
*"Barry Goldwater thought that Nixon’s lying “was the crux” of his failure. That deceit was intended to obscure the overwhelming evidence that he had abused power and obstructed justice." (Source: LA Times)
Saying that "defying the courts has become normalized" merely confirms that the behavior is now within the bounds of normal, acceptable behavior.
These behaviors are not 'normal'. They still are taboo, even if the Supreme Court corruptly allows Trump to regularly violate the Constitution.
Object to the word normalize and encourage people who use it
to see that using the word confirms that the behavior is now acceptable, even if that isn't what they meant to do;
to call out the behavior as immoral, illegal, unconstitutional, and castigate those who have the power to stop it, but tolerate it - such as GOP members of Congress and the Supreme Court majority
On my bike ride back from the Muldoon Saturday Market at Chanshtnu Park, I rode through the parking lot of the Totem Theater. I've passed by several times this summer and noticed that while things look dead, once in a while I see someone go in. And two weeks ago they said they were showing Freaky Friday on the marquee.
And today again I saw someone going in.. So biked over to the entrance and the man came out. I asked what was happening and he said he didn't really know. But Totem was pretty much closed down. I asked about the possibilities I've thought about as I've come by here over the summer. The individual theaters could be used for church services, for musical events, theater, speakers, weddings, all sorts of things. Even showing movies.
He said it was a Regal theater - like the Dimond Mall theaters and Tikahtnu. That the company is owned by a corporation in England.
"Regal Cineworld Group (trading as Cineworld) is a British cinema chain and operator. Headquartered in London, England, it is the world's second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,139 screens across 747 sites[3] in 10 countries:[4] Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the United States.[5][6] The group's primary brands are Cineworld Cinemas and Picturehouse in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Cinema City in Eastern and Central Europe, Planet in Israel, and Regal Cinemas in the United States."
There's a long history including being bought by Blackstone private equity company and then later being sold, buying Regal, COVID, bankruptcy, not necessarily in that order.
Regal, by the way, is headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee.
"By 2001, Regal was overextended, and went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It became the namesake for the theater chain in which it would be merged into with the Edwards and United Artists chains.[10][11]
When all three chains went into bankruptcy, investor Philip Anschutz bought substantial investments in all three companies, becoming majority owner.[18] In 2002, Anschutz consolidated his three theatre holdings under a new parent company, Regal Entertainment Group.[19] Regal's Mike Campbell and UA's Kurt Hall were named co-CEOs, with Campbell overseeing the theatre operations from Regal Cinemas' headquarters in Knoxville, and Kurt Hall heading up a new subsidiary, Regal CineMedia, from the UA offices in Centennial, Colorado. The Edwards corporate offices were closed." (from Wikipedia)
The movie theater business has had tough times since Blockbuster came on the scene. Then streaming video added to the problem and bigger and bigger home screens, and of course, COVID.
But what happens to a community like Anchorage when big pieces of real estate are owned by far away - Knoxville and London - corporations? What say do we have? Who do we talk to and why would they even care? It doesn't seem to be for sale, yet. The building and the parking lot are pretty big. But at the moment we're losing population. Who locally would buy it? A developer?
The man I talked to said that the Totem theater was his first job when he was 16 years old. He stayed with the company until he was 19, when they first got bought out. That there were a lot of changes all at once so he decided to leave and try something else.
One day, he said, the general manager, who was also his good friend, called and jokingly asked if he wanted to work at the Totem again, and the he surprised his general manager friend by saying yes. That was when he was 21.
He said he is 26 now and that he literally 'grew up here" in the building and that he's sad to see it go.
"I'll always appreciated the buiding and what it stood for."
Talking to him I was convinced - vibes as much as words - that he's a serious worker, takes the job to heart, and if I had a position, I'd hire him in a minute.
Then I went over to get a picture of the marquee and I see that across the street from the Totem, the Wayland Baptist University, has a For Sale sign up. If you want to buy it, the number is 907 762 5801.
"Texas-based Wayland Baptist University (WBU) is emptying its Alaska classrooms and transitioning to online instruction only. The school’s campus in Anchorage will be sold, its leased location in Wasilla vacated, and classrooms at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Fort Wainwright, and Eielson Air Force Base returned to military service."
How many low cost housing units could be built on the Totem's big parking lot? How many empty buildings like WBU do we have now? I say we should look at these as opportunities to reimagine how they can be used and not just let them rot.
I was riding with a young friend who was biking home from the university for the first time. As we approached the bridges I told her that they were building a new one, but we'd have to turn left and take the old one.
And then we got to that point (from the north) and there was the new bridge, open to be ridden over. The old trail (part of which is being eroded by the creek) was blocked off.
It's not quite finished. The bridge itself is cement, but the ramps up to the bridge are still dirt and gravel.
Here's what the bridge looked like earlier this summer.
Today, from the other side, it looked like this:
All blocked off. From a different angle it appeared there was no longer a bridge there.
This last view is from the south. On the right is where the old bridge was. On the left is the new bridge - a much more substantial looking bridge.
Here's the bridge. It crosses Campbell Creek near 56th and 57th Avenues.
The trail to the bridge is being eroded by the creek. If you're biking, you've come from the Arctic Roadrunner on Old Seward Highway, and gotten to an 'offramp' to 56th Avenue to the right as you ride to the left. There's a spot where the creek is eroding the earth right next to the trail. Then you come to a curve with a bench and get to this point where it says, "Sidewalk Closed."
Well it's been closed a few times this year as heavy equipment has been making a new path to a spot across the bridge and to the right, where a new bridge will take the place of this old bridge.
Below is a view from the cutoff on the north side. The trail to the right is an exit to 56th (and Fairbanks). To the left you can see the old bridge. And straight ahead is the new bridge being put in place this summer. The current trail curves around to the left (about where I'm taking the picture), past the erosion point (see below) and on to Taku Lake and beyond.
Here's the detour map they've put up on the trail when the bridge was closed off. It shows better where exactly this is. The street to the north (above) is International Airport Road. To the south is Dowling. To the right is Old Seward. I added the yellow circle so you could see just where these bridges are.
NB = New Bridge; OB = Old Bridge The red line is the bike trail which follows along the creek. [As I'm proofing this before posting, I see the white line for the new bridge is too long. It just crosses the creek and doesn't go all the way to the trail as you'll see in pictures below.]
This was back on May 27, 2025 when they were clearing brush and just starting this year's work on the bridge. From the south side.
Below is from the south again on June 23, 2025.
And here's the bridge from the south on July 2, 2025. Well, you can see the ramp up to the bridge. The truck is blocking the view of the bridge itself.
Below is the bridge from the north on June 24, 2025
And then the same view on July 2, 2025, with the ramp in place.
Below is where the creek is eroding the trail. They added the sandbags recently.
And this is the old bridge from the south side. Straight ahead is the bench I mentioned, though it's hard to see in the picture.
I've been on this trail once or twice a week since late March/early /April (the snow and ice were gone early this year.)
There are a couple of guys there whose job is to deal with bikes and pedestrians when the bridge is blocked or when vehicles are crossing the trail.
I asked, early on, what happens to the old bridge. I was told it would be scrapped.
So I'm posting this now, just in case anyone can use this old bridge somewhere. Now would be the time to contact the Municipality and inquire about whether you can take the bridge, or buy it, and what it would take to do that. Perhaps trying to move it would damage it. But they moved the London Bridge to Arizona, so I would expect this would be a much easier job.
UPDATE: As of about July 22, 2025 the new bridge is crossable, though not completely finished. The old bridge is gone. See new bridge post here.
Lake Otis Parkway was closed Saturday (May 30) at 42nd Avenue, just south of where it crosses Tudor, one of the busiest intersections in Anchorage. It's scheduled to stay that way for about ten days.
I've watched the changes on 42nd Avenue over the last year or so because it's on one of my regular bike routes.
Basically, there was a row of good sized cottonwood trees along this short dead-end part of 42nd. They were to the south of the big medical building (Lake Otis Medical Plaza at 4100 Lake Otis), which they hid quite well. Last fall, when they cut all the trees down, I looked through my old photos to see if I had a picture of it with the trees. I couldn't find one. Fortunately, Google Street View is a little out of date. The picture to the left below shows the trees. The picture to the right was taken in May this year. It's the same view, but with a slightly different angle. [For anyone wondering, my airdrop magically started working again. I have no idea why. Maybe a software update? In any case, as long as it's working I can easily upload photos from my phone to my laptop.]
A B
This picture (C) was taken last September right after they cut all the trees down. It's looking east, while the views above (A and B) are looking west from Lake Otis. So the brick building on the left below is on the right above and the other building is switched over as well.
C
I took these two pictures from the back (west) driveway into the parking lot of the medical building, the one above (C) looking east and the one below (D) looking west, beyond the driveway. The area where the white truck in the background is, used to be a big wetlands area. They 'mitigated' the wetlands quite a few years ago, when people in the surrounding neighborhoods had flooding issues.
D
Below is 42nd and Lake Otis, which was totally blocked off Saturday. (This is one of those times having a bike lets you avoid these car blockades.)
E
This is a Municipal project to improve streets (pavement is really bad on 42nd east of Lake Otis) as well as pedestrian use and replacing an old water main, which, I guess, is what we're seeing on the west side of Lake Otis. As much as I hated seeing the cutting of the trees, I know that cottonwoods have active roots. So, is the work west of Lake Otis going to eventually include a pipe? Here's a link to the Municipal project website.
I've emailed the folks listed at the site with some questions and I'll add their responses when they come in.
[UPDATE June 2, 2025 7pm]
I got a quick response from Justin Keene, PE, Principal/Civil Engineer, CRW Engineering Group, Inc.
The most interesting part was the ditch with the open waters "is the headwaters of Fish Creek."
Below are my questions (in black) and Justin's responses (in green)
1. Water main - what all does that mean? An existing cast iron water main is being replaced from Lake Otis Parkway to Piper Street along E. 42nd Avenue. I'm assuming this is wastewater, given that on the west side, it is open water. Is that correct? No, they are two separate things. The ditch on the west side of Lake Otis Parkway is the headwaters of Fish Creek. A storm drain pipe outfalls into the ditch and our project replaced the three downstream culverts and regarded the ditch to facilitate a new storm drain outfall. The water main is as described above. Have there been problems or is this routine replacement? The water main has had leaks in the past and needs replacement. How long has the water main been in? The water main was installed in 1967. On the west side, will the waterway remain open or ??? The ditch will remain open.
2. Will the short street on the west side get new pavement? Sidewalks? No new pavement or sidewalks are proposed on E. 42nd Avenue west of Lake Otis Parkway.
3. Will the addition of sidewalks on the east side mean encroaching on people's property? (I assume you have easements.) No, we are installing the sidewalks in the MOA right-of-way.
Do you have any drawings of what the improvements will look like? The final drawings can be downloaded from MOA Purchasing website at this link: Download
The link takes you to a 142 page document with detail drawings of everything they could think of that they will have to do on this project. While I don't understand all the details, these drawings do show you the amount of planning that goes into a job like this.
I've copied one page to give you a sense. I've saved it in high resolution, but you may have to go to the link to actually be able to read it. This is just one drawing for one block. There are additional drawings for each block focusing on the water mains and other features. These are pretty amazing. They've got plans for relocating mailboxes, fire hydrants, street lighting. If I'm interpreting correctly, they have calculated space to allow snow to be plowed without burying the sidewalk. But maybe wishful thinking was interpreting that drawing. And I'm sure there will be unanticipated objects and obstacles.
That wasn't the original title, but as I started writing, it just seemed more apt.
This post is about two videos - one by Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut who lays out the details of the unprecedented level of corruption in the first six weeks of the Trump administration. (Thus the title of this post.)
The second is a woman from Oklahoma venting her anger over the botched Signal chat that put her husband (stationed in the Middle East) in potential danger.
I was struck by the contrast between these two approaches to criticizing the Trump administration - one highly factual and rational, almost like a college lecture. The other focused, but almost unhinged in the level of anger and invective.
I'd argue that we should all be at the level of anger and resistance that woman is at. We shouldn't wait until we are directly impacted. 100,000 people raging like she does would probably pry enough US Senators away from Trump to stop the venal actions that Senator Murphy describes in detail.
We need the facts and details to understand how we're being screwed to raise our level of anger and resistance. And we need her passion and fury to get us to stop pretending life will not be completely disrupted if we don't stop this horror right now.
Murphy Video
There's a lot of content and detail here. You can skip down to the video, or you can first look at my outline of the ways Murphy lists that Trump is corrupting government and enriching himself and his oligarch supporters - from streamlining the art of the bribe to dismantling agencies that have investigations that hurt Trump supporters. Here are some of them, to help you keep track. I've added links if you want to find out more about each.
1. Memecoins - He starts out talking about Trump meme coins that can be used to transfer money, unreported, directly into Trump's account. This is the latest in bribe technology.
What are Meme Coins?
I had to look up meme coins to try to understand what they are. Here's a link to investopedia.com and one to wikipedia to help you understand. The first link even offers ways to invest. The Wikipedia link is more contextual and historical. One thing I learned looking this up is that DOGE - the Department Of Government Efficiency - the rogue mob that Elon Musk is leading, is also the name of one of the more popular memecoins, one that Musk promoted.
2. Pays off Oil/Gas Industry's $1 billion bribe. On day one Trump privileges oil and gas and hurts their competition- wind, solar etc. This article documents the billion dollar ask, but the actual money count doesn't get that high. But the benefits were given.
6. Feb 23- Weaponization of DOJ - Drops case against Musk SpaceX Then drops case against a GOP congressman. Then Operation Whirlwind that targets anyone critical of Musk or DOGE. DOJ turned into entity that drops cases of Trump loyalists and attacks those who criticize Trump.
9. Feb 6 -Pam Bondi - dulls foreign government agent act - No longer registering as foreign government represenatives = now his friends can lobby government while secretly getting paid by foreign governments.
11. Buying $400 million Tesla’s. Biden admin was going to buy $483K, Trump bumps it up to $400 million. This seems to have been scuttled.
This is only a partial list. The rest are in the video.
The Murphy Video
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The second video is just sheer anger at Trump's inept appointees jeopardizing the life of the lady's husband as well as of those of his fellow Middle East stationed military men. [This is supposed to end after about 4 minutes 30 seconds - I added instructions into the code. But it didn't work. I'm not recommending you watch the whole thing.]
The original video I saw, but couldn't find a way to embed, was sharply directed to Sen. Lankford of Oklahoma. She vows to end his career. Very powerful messaging. You can see it at this link to a Bluesky post.
As I said above, we should all be at the level of anger and resistance that woman is at. We shouldn't wait until we are directly impacted. Murphy offers us just a few of the reasons we should be angry as hell. 100,000 people raging like the woman in the video does would probably cause enough GOP Senators and Members of Congress away from Trump to stop the horrors that Senator Murphy describes in detail.
How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 – 1861
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
[Overview: The key here is the video. Find 30 minutes to watch/listen. It puts lots of important things into place. The rest of the post includes thoughts I had about the video and the people described in it. Something about the narrator of the video. But the video is the important thing. It's not just someone's opinion - it's a well documented overview of the role of the billionaire tech bros in the Trump election and administration.]
This video came across my screen this morning. It offers much more depth to the previous post that said a coup was happening. While we all knew that the tech guys were involved - Musk, of course, and that Peter Thiel bought Vance's election to the Senate and the vice presidential nomination, etc. - my impression had been that Project 2025 had been something from the Heritage Foundation - (from the ACLU):
"Project 2025 is a federal policy agenda and blueprint for a radical restructuring of the executive branch authored and published by former Trump administration officials in partnership with The Heritage Foundation, a longstanding conservative think tank that opposes abortion and reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, immigrants’ rights, and racial equity."
The Heritage Foundation has been around a long time and among other things, created a whole conservative law society that groomed right wing attorneys with their ideology and got them onto the Supreme Court.
But this video outlines a different set of influences for Project 2025 - libertarian leaning, billionaire tech bros. And as we watch live - but not like we watched January 6 live - Elon Musk sucking up government data, this video makes much more sense of what's happening and why.
Here's an outline of the video from the YouTube channel:
"chapters
00:00-01:00 Introduction
01:01-04:25 The Dark Agenda of Tech VCs
04:26-07:10 Networks and Patchworks: Reinventing the State
07:11- 09:44 Praxis and Pronomos
09:45 –12:37 Making it a Reality
12:38 –18:03 Vance, Thiel, and Yarvin
18:04 –19:28 Tech and Project 2025
19:29-20:00 Butterfly Revolution Step 1: Campaign on Autocracy
20:01-21:42 Butterfly Revolution Step 2: Purge the Bureaucracy
21:43-23:00 Butterfly Revolution Step 3: Ignore the Courts
23:01-23:50 Butterfly Revolution Step 4: Co-Opt the Congress
23:51-25:06 Butterfly Revolution Step 5: Centralise Police and Powers
25:07-27:54 Butterfly Revolution Step 6: Shut Down Elite Media and Academic Institutions
27:55-28:35 Butterfly Revolution Step 7: Turn Out the People
28:36-29:40 Conclusion"
While this may make things seem worse, I'd argue that these guys had the right set of skills to get rich in the tech age in the US, but their smarts are limited. As Musk has shown with Twitter, there are important interpersonal skills he's lacking. When I read Atlas Shrugged in my late teens, it only took me about 150 pages to realize how repulsive the main characters were. But these guys think they know much more than they do, and want to create a libertarian world where they are free from government interference, where they are the government (and thus free to interfere with others.)
Now, I can understand how a bunch of rich techies with no serious background in the history of government, liberty, democracy, etc. can feel oppressed by government that seems to be (and in many cases probably is) a bit behind the changing technologies, but is trying to apply regulations to the industry and, even worse, tax their earnings. But that's only because they think their tech ability and the fact they got rich makes them smarter than everyone else. Sort of like doctors who think they have expertise in every other field beyond medicine.
So while I expect they're going to do a lot of damage to democracy, the world economy, and the planet* (by not fighting climate change particularly), I also think they're going to have a lot of failures and a lot of disagreements with each other and with the older legal far right architects of the US move to fascism.
But understanding what's happening is the first step to effective corrective steps.
* "doing damage to . . .the planet" - I'd like to clarify that 'damage to the planet' is a human-centric idea. The planet, it seems to me, follows the laws of nature. Does a volcano do damage to the planet? I'd say it changes the planet, but 'damage' is a word that judges the change negative. Climate change will make life more difficult for many plants and animals. Some will probably thrive. As I think about this, probably the only 'objective' use of 'damage the planet' would be to describe its total annihilation at which point pieces of the earth would, I guess, scatter in space, and still exist, but in a different way.
Who is the narrator, Blonde Politics/The Silly Serious?
Finally, I've never seen this YouTube presenter before, I was impressed with the presentation, but I did want to at least minimally vet her before sharing with my readers. So I did look her up. Here's what I found in a quick search. She's Australian Joanna Richards.
"Hey.
I am a writer, actor, and academic.
I love to create art, and feel fortunate to be able to blend my various interests to create meaningful work. Above all else, I love to laugh, and make others laugh! Using art to tackle important and controversial topics, I hope to create work that challenges people without making them feel defensive.
My academic research focuses on the relationship between gender, political authority, and language philosophy. I frequently appear in print and on television to discuss issues relating to gender and representation. Sometimes I am on tv pretending to be someone else!
Please reach out if you want to chat.
Affliations
Institute for Governance Policy Analysis - Doctor of Philosophy (in progress) University of Canberra - Bachelor of Philosophy (First Class Honours) Moscow Art Theatre School - Fine Arts Conservatory (Stanislavski Intensive)
Australian National University - Bachelor of International Relations"
The reach out seems serious. At the bottom of the page it says:
"email: hello@joannarichards.com Currently in: New York City"
Solano, California - one of the cities tech bros are trying to create
On the video, Joanna talks about one the tech bros billionaires goals to build private tech, corporate owned cities. Which made me think of stories I read when I still had a subscription to the LA Times about tech billionaires buying up land in northern California to build such a city. Only the story didn't get into the more sinister underpinnings Joanna mentions. You can read an AP story about this here. They did qualify to put the proposal on the ballot, but later withdrew it. But they're planning to be back in 2026. And as I listened to the video again, Joanna does mention Solano. (about 11:40 in the video).
[Let me add one more note: I'm using Tech Bros as the technical term for white men who get rich through IT and generally think they know more than everyone else and that the rule of law doesn't apply to them. This definition is open for editing.]
1. Happy New Year seems inappropriate as we enter 2025. Yes, enter, like we are going into a different space. Where the traditional rules of engagement are ignored by the incoming president of the united states. The rest of us can no longer depend on the rules to protect us. And by taking the high road and simply following the rules, we will be buried.
We're still in this place where people are going about their lives almost normally, when in 20 days we get a broken human as our new president and he's surrounded by similarly afflicted people. That normality is going to change. Rapidly for some, more slowly for others. The unhoused have been living in that world already. LGBTQ+ and immigrants and people of color have also been feeling it, and it will quickly get worse.
The rest of us have to help protect them, because it's the right thing to do. But for those who need a more personal reason, well, eventually it will be you with a target on your back.
There are times when following the rules can get you killed. Like packing your suitcase and quietly following the directions of the Nazis to get on the train. Times where acts of resistance and sabotage are the morally correct actions. It's time to reread Saul Alinsky.
"In his theory of means and ends, Alinsky puts across a question, which states whether the ends justify the means. According to the theory, the ends entail what individuals want, or goal, while means entail the activities of how to get what they want or to achieve the goal. In his discussion, Alinsky thought that the morality of actions did not require to be judged in itself, but rather be weighed against the morality of inaction. In the chapter on the means and ends, Alinsky stated that the issue of means and ends is usually viewed in a strategic and pragmatic manner by the man of action. In his arguments, he pointed out that the man of action only gets to ask of ends when they can be achieved and of means whether they will work for his plans."
Morally balancing ends and means is not a simple task and many have and will do it poorly. Start with actions whose ends are not major violations to practice before taking more consequential actions. Remember, many of our incoming President's supporters are rabid supporters of their interpretation of the Second Amendment, and they have and intend to use their guns.
Examine your values. List them. Prioritize them. Know which ones are most important. Then use your values to actively guide your actions.
A small but vocal group is driving the current flood of book bans in school and public libraries across the country.
Every resistance group, almost by definition, comes from a very small group that is dedicated to their cause. We don't all have to fight every battle. We each need to focus on one or two issues (while also supporting people fighting other battles as we can). Here's United Against Book Bans tools:
"It's important to counter those voices by uniting in support of the freedom to read in your local community. How can you and your community unite against book bans? We've put together this action toolkit to help you get started.
Are you part of an organization? You can find additional resources to amplify and support the Unite Against Book Bans campaign in the UABB Toolkit PDF.
We took the grandkids to Cirque du Soleil yesterday. (An example of how we are still living what seems like a normal life.) All the performers break the rules of what normal people can do. This woman, wrapped in a long red cloth found ways to seemingly defy gravity. They are able to do these amazing feats by focusing on their skills, building the appropriate body and mind muscles, and then, during their acts, focusing on perfection.
I challenge my readers to keep this image in mind as you focus on keeping our democracy alive.
4. My New Years Resolution
My resolution is to perform at least one act of resistance every day of 2025. I realize 'resistance' seems to be 'against' and I want to also include acts of affirmation, of strengthening democracy, but haven't figured out the right word yet.
This can be as basic as speaking up to racists, misogynists, homophobes. You don't have to save the world each day. Just plugging a hole in the dyke is resistance. in Reading Alinsky's books and other books that give you tools for your spirit and for action. Reading the United Against Book Banning group's Tool Kit to take action and applying them to your most cherished causes is a first step. Go to all the links in this post and read. Those are acts of resistance and building your resources. Find other good resources and prescriptions for action and leave them in the comments.
Garry Kaulitz was a long time University of Alaska Anchorage artist and professor. His works are still alive and available online. Here's the link. Worth a look.
A letter from the Rogers Park Community Council alerts neighbors of a Department of Transportation proposal to put a highway above Chester Creek. There's a meeting at the Senior Center - which would, if I read the map right, be under the viaduct.
This image is from the page labeled 'FILMS'. It keeps going well below this screenshot.
There are always great films as well as some that are not so great. But everyone has different tastes so there will be something for everyone. Films will mostly be at the Bear Tooth and the Museum.
There is also a change in the festival organizers this year. I described that a little bit back in September and you can see that post here.
I'll cover more about individual films soon.
There's a new tab up on top under the orange banner for AIFF2024. That will be an overview of the Festival and an index of my posts about the festival.
This is one of those historic moments when the world will pull back from the bring of disaster or go crashing into a new world of callous destruction. The US AID (Agency for International Development) [poster] from Thailand in the late 1960s isn't too dramatic for the choice we face right now. On the left side it says "Communism," in the middle it says "or" and on the right side it says "Freedom." Our choice now is Authoritarian vs. Democracy.
Despite its many flaws, the US Democracy has been one of the better examples of how humans can work together to build a society based on law and aspirations of peace, of freedom, and of comfort. The reality has favored some more than others - in terms of freedom, justice, and economic and social security. And it has had serious negative impacts on the environment.
But we're at a critical fork in the road. To the right, we crash into the despotic world ruled by Trump and those who pull his strings, like Putin and his meddling into our election as he has meddled in the Brexit vote, Hungary, France, Italy, and, of course, Ukraine. He's a force of evil turning the world toward chaos that he thinks he can better thrive in.
If we go the Trump route, it's not Trump so much I'm worried about. But it's his backers - from Putin, to the Christian Nationalist mob, and the wealthy cabal on the far right who have been plotting for decades and have already successfully captured the Supreme Court.
The left fork would give us the first woman president, who is also part East Indian and part Black. And she's incredibly capable as her career and short campaign has demonstrated.
There should not even be any doubt that Kamala Harris should win this election. That there is reflects serious failures in our system. Failures in the education system that has produced tens of millions of voters who would choose a candidate with hundreds of flaws and misbehaviors any one of which would have destroyed any other presidential candidate.
Failures in our system that have allowed foreign propaganda to be broadcast through outlets like Fox News and all sorts of internet sites to sow seeds of distrust in our system and in the idea of Truth itself.
Failures in our justice system that allow a convicted felon, who is ineligible to vote in most states, to be a candidate for the presidency. Who would be ineligible to join our military to be its Commander in Chief.
Fairlure in our electoral system that disregards the popular vote for an arcane system that focuses all the attention on seven purple states.
A Harris administration will face many serious problems (including the disgruntled cult members), but it would work on them rationally and in good faith. And that a Trump administration would exacerbate.
Often such turning points aren't realized until after they happen - Pearl Harbor, 9/11, the election of FDR, for example.
But we know today. We've known a long time that this election is a choice between two very different futures. One continues to move us toward greater equality, and one hopes, more equal economic prosperity, and continued fights to minimize CO2 emissions and the worst ravages of climate change.
The other unleashes nasty brutish anger and hate on our country and the world.
And even if Harris wins the election decisively, we know the depraved one will fight to overturn the election.
Fortunately, this time round we know his past behaviors and are better prepared. The public is more aware because, except for his cult members, we've seen how he operated after the last election. Our government is better prepared for the same reason. And more importantly, Joe Biden is still president and in control of the military and the national guard and other resources that might be needed.
My logical brain tells me that it will be a Harris victory. Reason says that the world has changed in ways that disfavor Trump.
Since the 2020 election, we've learned so much more about Trump's evil ways.
He was impeached for the second time.
He created a plot to challenge Biden's victory
He instigated the January 6 insurrection of the Capitol
He stole boxes and boxes full of classified documents and stored some of them in a bathroom in Mar-A-Lago. And shared them, well, we don't know for sure with whom.
He's become a convicted felon and rapist.
He has several serious indictments and trials still waiting for him
The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade
His public appearances have shown him to be more and more deranged
He's presided over a Nazi rally in New York City
Many of the 'very fine people' he selected to serve in his administration have publicly warned us what a disastrous president he was.
I can go on and on, but the point is that we know so many more terrible things about him. Even if his cult stays loyal, there have to be other Republicans and Independents who voted for him last time who either won't vote for Trump, and many who will vote for Harris. And young people who now are eligible to vote, but weren't four years ago.
We know that the Dobbs decision has galvanized women, especially in light of the Republican states who have passed draconian anti-abortion laws that are killing women who have had miscarriages and other problems with pregnancy. And we're hearing about many women forced to give birth to their rapists' children.
Conservative states like Kansas and Ohio have put the right to abortions in their constitutions through ballot measures, by-passing their legislatures.
The numbers of early voters shows Democrats returning their ballots more than Republicans, shows women outvoting men, shows young voters voting at higher than past levels. So everything points to a Harris victory.
But nothing is certain until the votes are counted and whatever gimmicks Trump pulls if he loses are blocked.
This is one of those huge moments in history where human destiny hangs in the balance.
[Soon after I arrived in Thailand in 1967 as Peace Corps teacher in rural Thailand, I was taken out one night to a village by an AID employee. A village not unlike the one on the right of the poster. He hung a sheet up across the road and showed movies about the danger of communism. I suspect, in hindsight, I was being tested and I failed dismally - to my credit, I'd like to think. AID (CIA?) never approached me again, to my knowledge. But I did end up with this poster.]
