Nordic neighbours release new advice on surviving war

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjr4zwj2lgdo.amp

It was a good read.

Putin and the GOP divided and conquered us.

...who grew up at the tail end of the Cold War. I can't even come to grips with the reality of these far-right Republicans who once were the arch anti-Communists, yet now support foreign and domestic policies that aid and abet our sworn enemies. Sometimes it seems like a nightmare, but no--with the Trump regime, it just goes on and on...

I have spent time in a fascist country and lived in an occupied country as a military kid.
I never thought I would see it come to the US.

It is nightmare and it is just the beginning of the bad dream,
the worst is yet to come.

...so I'll do it once again. Historian/writer Morris Berman has done yeoman's work of helping us understand how we got here. His "America Trilogy" is one of the few documents of American decline that is actually honest about the prognosis: we won't be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat at the last minute. The trilogy is: Twilight of American Culture (1999), Dark Ages America (2006), and Why America Failed (2011).

Two other books apropos to the times are Erich Fromm's Escape From Freedom (1941) and Eric Hoffer's The True Believer (1951). The latter was a favorite of President Eisenhower, who was known to give copies of the book to friends.

https://democraticunderground.com/100219662986#post58

The others are too close to our new dystopian reality for me to read right now.
Maybe later when the dust settles and we know more how bad it is going to be.

However, the Twilight book has some hopeful passages about what can be done on a small scale even if everything else is going to hell...and that's really all most of us can hope for anyway. Berman describes people who do this much-needed work as "secular monks", basically, preserving important knowledge and skills. He coins a term for them: "New Monastic Individuals".

At least for future historians.
To know that the US was once somewhat decent and honorable.

Reason never desists.
Reason always resists.

Because in reason's absence delusion rules and our freedoms cease to exist.

This is that.

We are trying to speak out and tell hard truths that no one really wants to hear right now.

The first goal of resistance is to stay alive.
So first things first.

Suffering to demonstrates that one cares is a fools errand.

Resisting does not require one to be a focal point of attention.

Stay safe and love the ones your with...