It feels like the monsters are in charge. The USAID just dropped. People with devices still in their bodies, children in hospitals with the care gone.
Ok, maybe programs can be trimmed, maybe we have lost too much money to poor management. Where is normal human compassion? There is a reasonable and right way to tighten our belts and then there is the Trump way. This is going to be four very long years.
I am not giving up and I am going to resist him as best I can.
Yes. There are inefficiencies, waste and sometimes fraud in every program and agency. I think we would respect a careful review of USAID and others. In fact, instead of firing the Inspector Generals responsible for that...give them instructions to root out the bad stuff and give them the funding and personnel to do it!
I'm not giving up either. My next letter will be action oriented:)
Mahalo /Thank you for your voice of reason and words of wisdom . Knowing there are others out here who are awake and who actually care about people is uplifting . Namaste
This is the first I've heard of the economic blackout on that day but you can bet I will participate. Frankly, I buy very little non consumable items anyway but I will buy nothing but local on that day. Thanks for pointing it out to me.
Actually Bill, what these oligarchs and the president of cruelty really want is to take us further back than 1492 - back to the beginnings of the medieval when a very small handful of light-skinned men had everything that existed at the time, what passed for 'luxurious' keeps, staffed by upper servants whose sole job was to keep those men happy and satisfied. A slightly larger faction of light-skinned brutes to keep all the "lesser beings' in line, not bothering the nobility. The masses of lesser beings who labored continuously during daylight hours to feed, service, and supply the produce to feed the nobility, (musk and trump)
An important post and I would add that European violence against people of the Jewish faith predates the events of 1492. King Edward I of England acted on 18July1290.
My Sephardic wife tells of so many countries that her ancestors moved to and from. And of course, some of those countries changed ownership and all of a sudden the welcome sign was burned. So she did a DNA test. We thought it would be very Spanish (Ladino). But it was very, very Italian. Who knew? We are speculating that they fled Spain for Italy - until some Pope got nasty. Then it was off to Greece/Turkey....wherever they wouldn't get killed and would be allowed to work. Apparently the Ottomans liked the way Jews contributed to the economy and paid taxes. But that collapsed, of course. So off to American and Brooklyn.
Interesting information, Bill. We all carry some Sephardic and/or Ashkenazy ancestral strains. The concept of Spain is puzzling. War lords were out and about raiding each other since the Creation. Parts of Italy were held by folks from the Iberian peninsula since Roman times. A coupe of Roman emperors were from Iberia. Borders are fungible. We are one race— the human race. And we need to be compassionate with each other. We all love, bleed, and die in our common home. 😎
Bill you have described just how I've been feeling. I have not written on my substack for awhile because I'm just having a hard time expressing my feelings in a coherent fashion. Thanks for for putting it out there. Take care.
Smart people talk about various stages of grief. Sometimes, it's time to just feel shitty. And THIS is a horror so difficult to process. I have felt gut punched.
But...the repercussions of Musks Coup have yet to be felt. And I suspect there will be some shock and awe in red states as their families suffer the loss of safety net services.
Mike, have you heard about February 28th? Think it could grow into something?
Thank you for this post. Compassion is alive in this country and I do see it in the many posts and comments on Substack. We will not let it be stomped out. Thank you for for an informative post and just wow. I do not remember hearing this Johnny Cash song. Spot on!
It feels like the monsters are in charge. The USAID just dropped. People with devices still in their bodies, children in hospitals with the care gone.
Ok, maybe programs can be trimmed, maybe we have lost too much money to poor management. Where is normal human compassion? There is a reasonable and right way to tighten our belts and then there is the Trump way. This is going to be four very long years.
I am not giving up and I am going to resist him as best I can.
Yes. There are inefficiencies, waste and sometimes fraud in every program and agency. I think we would respect a careful review of USAID and others. In fact, instead of firing the Inspector Generals responsible for that...give them instructions to root out the bad stuff and give them the funding and personnel to do it!
I'm not giving up either. My next letter will be action oriented:)
Mahalo /Thank you for your voice of reason and words of wisdom . Knowing there are others out here who are awake and who actually care about people is uplifting . Namaste
Yes we are in mourning
Our loss
due to atrocity
Paint It, Black
the Stones
say it with us
I'm torn between As Tears Go By and 19th Nervous Breakdown with Shattered coming quickly up from behind.
Everything is Broken -- Dylan
Ball of Confusion - Temptations
And when you are ready to fight...Chumbawamba....Tubthumping.
"I get knocked down
but I get up again
You're never going to keep me down".....
Good one!
I could not say it better than Dave. Sadly. Well done, Bill. Keep posting. We must remain outraged… And act on it.
What are you doing on February 28th?
This is the first I've heard of the economic blackout on that day but you can bet I will participate. Frankly, I buy very little non consumable items anyway but I will buy nothing but local on that day. Thanks for pointing it out to me.
Sadly well done Bill.
Thank you, Bill, for pointing me to a YouTube video I had not known. One more album I'm going to order.
👏👏👏
Actually Bill, what these oligarchs and the president of cruelty really want is to take us further back than 1492 - back to the beginnings of the medieval when a very small handful of light-skinned men had everything that existed at the time, what passed for 'luxurious' keeps, staffed by upper servants whose sole job was to keep those men happy and satisfied. A slightly larger faction of light-skinned brutes to keep all the "lesser beings' in line, not bothering the nobility. The masses of lesser beings who labored continuously during daylight hours to feed, service, and supply the produce to feed the nobility, (musk and trump)
Thank you, Bill.
An important post and I would add that European violence against people of the Jewish faith predates the events of 1492. King Edward I of England acted on 18July1290.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_Expulsion
Peoples should not pick on others to distract from their own misdeeds.
I believe that Johnny Cash nailed the generic case of man's inhumanity to man.
Thanks for the info. My ancestors were awful.
My Sephardic wife tells of so many countries that her ancestors moved to and from. And of course, some of those countries changed ownership and all of a sudden the welcome sign was burned. So she did a DNA test. We thought it would be very Spanish (Ladino). But it was very, very Italian. Who knew? We are speculating that they fled Spain for Italy - until some Pope got nasty. Then it was off to Greece/Turkey....wherever they wouldn't get killed and would be allowed to work. Apparently the Ottomans liked the way Jews contributed to the economy and paid taxes. But that collapsed, of course. So off to American and Brooklyn.
Interesting information, Bill. We all carry some Sephardic and/or Ashkenazy ancestral strains. The concept of Spain is puzzling. War lords were out and about raiding each other since the Creation. Parts of Italy were held by folks from the Iberian peninsula since Roman times. A coupe of Roman emperors were from Iberia. Borders are fungible. We are one race— the human race. And we need to be compassionate with each other. We all love, bleed, and die in our common home. 😎
Bill you have described just how I've been feeling. I have not written on my substack for awhile because I'm just having a hard time expressing my feelings in a coherent fashion. Thanks for for putting it out there. Take care.
Smart people talk about various stages of grief. Sometimes, it's time to just feel shitty. And THIS is a horror so difficult to process. I have felt gut punched.
But...the repercussions of Musks Coup have yet to be felt. And I suspect there will be some shock and awe in red states as their families suffer the loss of safety net services.
Mike, have you heard about February 28th? Think it could grow into something?
What is happening February 28?
Thank you for this post. Compassion is alive in this country and I do see it in the many posts and comments on Substack. We will not let it be stomped out. Thank you for for an informative post and just wow. I do not remember hearing this Johnny Cash song. Spot on!
Yes, I have been in mourning, too. How have people become so hateful?
It brings me hope when I see that there ARE people who care, who show kindness, who still believe in humankind.
Thank you, Bill.