42 Comments

I'm constantly reminding myself of things I can do that might have a good effect.

We have a lot of democracy to defend. If we stand down and just tend to our gardens, we risk losing *everything* including our self-respect.

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Absolutely right.

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AND our gardens.

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I am not particularly religious, but I do find Phillip Gulley to be both inspiring and droll, in his Quakerness:

https://open.substack.com/pub/philipgulley/p/dos-and-donts-in-times-of-change-855?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7ygy0

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Thank you MaryPat for pointing out this thoughtful and talented author. Look for the mortar you can carry is a very appropriate idea.

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You are so welcome, Gigi. Also soothing and helpful are his stories based in a town called "Harmony," places we would like to create again.

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Thank you for sharing this.

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Think-and-do pieces whenever possible, Tom, please. I want to fight the good fight and do stuff to undermine whatever anti-American actions these agents of chaos take. I am still leaving handwritten messages every place I go. I call and send emails to MI congressmen. I boycott businesses like Home Depot who I know donated to the GOP and tell them why (Have fallen in love with one of the two small wooden floored hardware stores in town.). And I'm up for any mission that will gravel the gears of 2025 until sanity is restored to a nation that has lost its everlovin' mind, including counter protesting when the neonazis gather to dis democracy.

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Oh, I love small local hardware stores! Not sure if any of ours are MAGAty though...

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Yes, ideas, suggestions, recommendations will be welcomed with open ears and willing hands.

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I'm trying to stay off the emotional roller coaster. Not doing too well but having dinner with like minded friends tonight. Wine is definitely on the menu. I look forward to your new direction!

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Think pieces welcome, hope my brain is still capable

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Whew and merci tres beaucoup et gracias ! I’m close to being alllll trumped out. I was during his first season. This one is just too much . Don’t ask how but I’ve managed to keep him at arms length. Clearly my upbringing with addicts of varied booze, pain killers and secrets .. has given me a leg up !! Im not immune or perfect. Just refuse to be infected with Trump. Maybe he will disappear into a wandering mist.

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Wouldn't that be nice.

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A buff of Grey smoke is my hope. No ashes. No martyr.

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I am with you Tom. Our first term with this ignoramus meant a fire hose of outrage 24/7. Somehow we have to figure out how not to get soaking wet so we can keep our minds and bodies working for what is needed to defeat his people and his "plans" and build communities and democracy.

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I have always been an optimist. I have been mocked for continually looking on the bright side of things. That gate was slammed shut on Nov 6th and it's getting further and further in the rear-view mirror.

Not sure how I will respond, but let's have at it.

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Yes. Bring it on Tom.

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Happy Thanksgiving, Tom. Most grateful for you.

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Yes, ditto Rita!

Grateful for your work and time, TC! One point of resistance is to be grateful for the community of folks who will be with us on the rough road ahead! We do not travel alone!

Thankful for all here!

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Same here, Carol.

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If only, if only, we to the left of MAGA could start acknowledging that unelected wealth is running roughshod over the three branches of government laid out in the Constitution! And let's stop calling anyone who points this out "Far Left."

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There is so much to talk about, to think about.I have been overwhelmed.I did everything I think I could do here to get the Harris/Walz ticket to succeed.I post carded,joined several progressive groups,posted and posted and posted again to Substack and other places, called my reps almost daily and yet it was a fail.I am still reeling.I will always be on the side of the betterment of humanity and Earth.Where are others in my place going?

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Okay, I'm down for serious, but may I have one last burst of fury? I found JoJo cathartic. I decided to edit this comment to add a "language" warning even though part of me thought "on here? really?" but don't click if the f word offends, because she outdoes Eddy Murphy in this one. I imagine her walls have dents.

Here she is letting it all out for us all. Even the music at the end which isn't any one of my preferred types is fun (but use the link in the comments because the words are a bit easier to make out): https://jojofromjerz.substack.com/p/calling-it-like-i-see-it/comments?utm_source=substack%2Csubstack&publication_id=1198484&post_id=152200355&utm_medium=email%2Cemail&isFreemail=true&comments=true&utm_campaign=email-half-magic-comments&action=post-comment

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“The Trumpscum”. They seem to show up in the more effective Substacks. I wonder sometimes if RICBOT INC has a budget for subscriptions doled out to these mentally challenged diatribe assemblers?

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All the major sites that have Trumpscum problems are the ones who allow free subsribers, or anyone, to comment. I've never seen the situation at Substacks that limit commenting to paid subscribers.

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Hmmm? I was under the impression that free subscribers could read comments but not comment themselves. That would explain some of the riffraff at LFAA

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It's up to the individual Substack owner. HCR has a commitment to "open discussion."

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I’m hoping for a new UFO story at Thanksgiving dinner. Alien abduction maybe? Say…

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a really nice, telling and timely quote found me about an hour ago.....perfect! (of course it's going to take more than this suggests, but I love it nevertheless)

"They have guns, we have poetry, therefore we win." Howard Zinn

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The left has always said that - as they lose or get taken over by the people who are worse than the ones they oppose.

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You’re right, of course, but history tells us that this is how it always goes….the slow, almost tidal, whipsaw between the forces of Light and dark. But I choose to ultimately have a deeper, more longterm faith in the poetry than the guns or whatever nasty stuff the darkness throws at us. And so it goes. The tide is pretty darn low right now, and still going out. Could this auger a tsunami?????

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"Think pieces" will help us get out of reactive mode, I hope, and get us ahead of the curve. It's a little like planning for catastrophes BEFORE they happen with plans x,y and z.

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I'm going to remind those people who are gloating right now that when Trump's "Seen-on-TV" cabinet dismantles Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare and every other program, they'll be affected as well. Bannon brags about Maggots and 50 years. Once the dominoes start falling, it won't last 50 days.

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