Thank you for this alert. I am calling and writing to our representatives regularly at this time and will be including messages about  supporting our veterans. I was appalledd as I have been so often recently, by the treatment President Zalensky received from the man in the Oval Office whose behavior reminds me of a cross between Mussolini and Al Capone. Having many veterans in my family's history - from ancestors who fought to free us from a British monarchy in the American Revolutionary War to my Father and uncles in WWII and grandfather in the Border Wars and WWI. Although they are all gone now, I believe they would be horrified to see what is happening to our democracy. The total disregard of this administration for our Constitution and laws of this land is atrocious. Your reference to a soldier's saying, " I got your six" came to mind when I watched this man in our White House demean a brave,  war-torn, distressed soldier and representative of Ukraine, a small, essential democratic nation bounding a huge country that is once again the foe of democracy, Russia. President Zelensky, fighting a David and Goliath war originally supported by our Country was berated by our TV host/ President who "just wants to make a deal." Earlier in the interview President Zelensky had shown our "leader of the free world" horrible pictures of the people that have been tortured by the Russians who are not honoring the Geneva Conventios in the treatment of prisoners nor acts of war against civilians. He also mentioned that Putin has stolen 20, 000 Ukrainian children and he was sparing Trump the pain of looking at pictures of what they've done to their Ukrainian children. And this arrogant, overly comfortable, overly rich stuffed cockroach, had the nerve to change the subject to talk about how grateful this man should be! President Zelensky very patiently gave a history of what's happened to their country and the oaths that dictator Putin had broken in the past. He was interrupted by another clown, JD Vance, sitting snug and smug in his safe, plush, chair sucking up our tax dollars while taking apart the dignity and security of our country. I also noticed that this humiliating spectacle of deserting and upbraiding a leader of a democracy, our ally, was very public, but the conversation between dictator Putin, (an enemy to everything we hold dear in the United States) and our president -who acts extralegally and is working his way to the title of dictator, tyrant, king, or emperor I'm not sure which he will crown himself with- his conversations have been held privately, over the phone, without any public witnesses, and without the inclusion of the president of Ukraine! It was a horrendous spectacle! I cannot imagine how someone who has suffered the horrors of war fighting for our Country and our Constitution could endure watching this. He is dismantling what we have loved most and held most dear about our country, our Constitution and our freedoms. If it were not really happening, the things he has done would be almost funny, like calling the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of America! It seems like something that would be fodder for a Saturday Night Live sketch.

I will continue to write and call our Representatives but I believe we had better do more if we would like to save what's left of our country. Below are links to the entire, shameful interchange if you can stomach it and also a link to his "accomplishments" of last week. 

Full interview of President Zalensky and Trump

19 Things Trump did last week

 

Thank you for this informative article, Marco. As you pointed out, we have not had enough restraints on banking as it is and I shiver to think what will happen to people with a return to a “price gouging” credit industry and the victims it will create. 

 

It looks like greed will have no boundaries and we are about to experience something that makes the ” revolving door” look like a public service. We have a monstrous “fox (or two) in the henhouse.” Evidently, Musk would like to and may use his appointment to do away with the “Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (Bead) Program and replace it with his Star Link satellites, a subsidiary of his SpaceX.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/nov/30/elon-musk-government-efficiency-self-enrichment 

 

I do not understand how some everyday folks do not know the meaning of “in the public interest.” Those of us who live paycheck to paycheck are that “public.” And we need financial protection. Regulation is protection. Regulation is not a dirty word. Regulation is a good thing; it is order and balance. Unregulated is wild, unbalanced, and dangerous.

Thank you for bringing up this neighbour friendly topic, one that can be resolved at a community level.

Although this will be hard news for those who love to use these easy on the back tools. Of course what is one ‘s hard earned peaceful Saturday is to another a prized day to wage weekend garden “wars.” It appears to me that some folks enjoy donning the protective gear and wielding those noisy instruments like they were some space age weapon. However, you make several important points about how unhealthy the discharge of the particulate matter is. 

You have some very good suggestions about ways we could compromise to reduce the ill effects of leaf blowers. Education is better than legislation whenever possible, so your article is a good beginning in that direction. Maybe we could start a polite discussion about this at our neighbourhood associations and share both concerns and some doable solutions. 

Thank you for this helpful, informative article, Dick. When I was young, I protested the war in Vietnam. I was frequently told that those boys were dying for my right to speak and protest. I knew that my uncles fight in WWII for the same reason and we thought that is why we were called the “free world.” Who will protect our freedoms now that we have a white male going into the office declaring he will be a dictator, hating women and people of colour, and most critically, following the dictators handbook by targeting a specific group first, i.e. immigrants?

I believe I am correct in saying that those of us communicating on this page do not want a dictator in the White House. What are some ideas to prevent successfull  dictator actions? Here we are in a runner up to Hitler’s Germany. We even have a governor with his private army- https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2023/11/16/dangers-desantiss-militiaI. I do not know how many privatised prisons we have in our country ready, waiting, and willing to house citizens who will try to exercise their Constitutional rights to oppose injustice and voice grievances…. What are we going to do?

Thank you, John. 8 look forward to discussions of solutions at another time.

Thank you, John Servais, and the commentators that have contributed their responses to this article. Each of you has made strong and valid points about the disastrous election of a “want to be dictator” in the United Sates of America.

For people of our generation, this is a most shocking and unexpected occurrence, almost beyond our imaginings. We were raised on years of education about our constitution and our democracy. The post-war generation always spoke of Democracy, with a capital “D.” It was used as the fuel for every hot and cold war we lived through. Having given their lives to end autocratic rulers like Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito in World War II, and with the knowledge of the Nuremberg Trials fresh in their minds, people really believed and supported our democratic institution. We were so full of these ideas that when the well indoctrinated, civically minded Boomers became adults, they actually tried to make sure that we “walked the talk.” All of the movements that you and I were part of were seeking to live up to the ideas stated in the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution, i.e.:

“...We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” 

And:

“to form a “...perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty…”

As we worked to refine and expand the concepts from these amazing founding documents, and as the years rolled by, those who aimed to control all, to maximize their profits over people, used every tool at their disposal to undermine these movements. Probably the biggest tool used (in addition to turning news into entertainment mostly owned by moguls - and now we have to add the use and ownership of social media too -look at Musk- if you can stand to), was Citizens United which insured that money rules, not people. Add to this the nearly-well-kept secret of organizations like ALEC (the innocuous sounding American Legislative Exchange Council), and the average citizens have been fleeced like sheep. 

How could a generation or two raised in the intentionally dispersed education system of homeschooling and private, myth perpetuating schools possibly know what they were doing when they supported a person given a “get out of jail free” card from one cornerstone of our supposed “checks and balances” system design, the Supreme Court? Young people who hate history (I have heard this often), know nothing about our Constitution, nothing about what has created and sustained dictatorships throughout history, who have never heard of the “Dark Ages,” who never fact check anything- how could they know what they are doing?

So now we are here, in the beginning of the worst possible predicament we could be in. I have often wondered what I would have done if I had lived in Germany when Hitler rose to power, and I would prefer to have it remain a speculation; however, it is real for us now.

“The poor will probably suffer the most …” Do not be complacent. An injustice for one is an injustice for all.” And the abuse of power will come for you next.

We must be smart and work to get this democracy back on track. We want to live with, by, and for just laws. I know we cannot ever co-operate with evil. Noncooperation is a good start. I am researching how others have ended dictatorships without violence to see if we can get some ideas to work with. This is one resource I found from “How to Get Rid of a Dictator” from Gene Sharpe, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, Part Two