rebel

This Is Where The Bus Stops


POST 1150

Busses are community things. They aren’t personal transportation like a car. They are everyday exercises in sharing. Trains and commercial airplanes are that way, too. None of them takes us to the door step of where we want to go, but they’re pretty good at getting us within shouting distance. And because we each kick in a few bucks when we ride instead of having to pay the full price of transportation, busses are quite inexpensive for each individual. Cities cover some costs to set up and maintain the system – after all, someone has to buy the busses – and our taxes are where that money comes from.

For the purists of the “Gotta Blame and Hate Coalition,” the “We Got It Right and You’re Wrong” chest thumpers, we have to admit that these busses, the whole city system, really, is just as you accuse: socialism. By definition it’s all of us pitching into the commons for the common good, to do collectively what we cannot do individually.

It’s the same for public libraries, police and fire departments, medical research institutions, agencies that ensure that our food is safe, our armed forces that keep the foreign bad guys away – you get the idea. We just have to reach down deep and find the courage to admit that (gasp!) sometimes we cooperate with one another. O’ the daring to admit that there’s a place here for socialism and in those places there’s pretty good stuff for all of us! And take heart: it’s still okay to wave the red, white and blue, even with the evil of socialism all about.

Back to the busses

Some think that the bus system should be overhauled, maybe scrapped entirely. It sucks up peoples’ tax dollars, they say, and it really doesn’t get us where we want to go. It drops us off and requires us to walk the rest of the way, sometimes through rain or cold or blizzards of snow or blistering heat. No matter the weather, we are left on our own to trudge along, schlepping our schlepables, no matter their bulk or weight and no matter the distance we have to walk.

Some people want the bus to take them all the way to the doorstep of their destination. They want the convenience, comfort and safety of private transportation and they want it for the price of a bus token.

“Failing to take you where you want to go is a waste, a fraud on the public and it abuses the riders,” say the phony fiscal flying monkeys. “That,” they say, “is why we want to shut it down.”

Should they do their system annihilation, the rest of us will be instantly shipwrecked, of course, but those waste, fraud and abuse (“WF&A”) fighters will thump their chests in the ecstasy of their purity of cutting government costs, regardless of the harm they do to We the People. Some un-elected, unqualified, unhinged apartheid billionaire will jump up and down like a 3-year-old pretending to be a bunny rabbit and will likely get a Presidential Medal of Freedom delivered to him by the orange co-conspirator in steep mental decline.

The destroyers don’t offer a notion of what today’s bus riders are supposed to do to get to work or school or shopping when the fighters against WF&A get their way. The fighters don’t care because they get around in chauffeured limousines and are never limited to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch.

But that’s not how public transportation works because it can’t do that. So we have a solution. It’s called the bus stop. It’s a designated place where people go to get on a bus or to get off their bus. That is where the bus stops. Not at anyone’s house or where they work or shop. The bus stops are for all of us and we all know where the bus stops. We plan accordingly.

It’s pretty much that way for all of what government does. We do stuff collectively – for the commons – and that way the research gets done so that kids get vaccines and aren’t paralyzed from polio or killed by measles. Our military protects us from foreign bad guys, fire fighters show up to save your house, highways and city streets are built and maintained. Actually, our systems work pretty well.

The fighters of WF&A have wailed their accusations but their wailings are vacant and stupid because they haven’t identified any (as in: no) evidence of WF&A anywhere. They’ve shown no reason for wholesale butchering of our systems. No WF&A has been offered as evidence for the horrid abuse of our civil servants.

It’s okay to check for waste, fraud and abuse of the system. But overall, we like the system pretty well because it serves us well, doing what we want it to do. Look out your window and you’ll be able to see the little shelter where people board and depart their bus. That is where the bus stops. The system works.

So, We the People have a message for you WF&A guys, including the juvenile delinquent flying monkeys. Until you can find some evidence, some Earth 1 reason to change it,

GET THE F**K OFF OUR BUS!

In fact, we’re going to tell you that quite publicly over and over.

Demonstrations against the fascist thieves are scheduled for Presidents Day, tomorrow, Feb 17. That’s a really good day for millions of We The People across the country to take a stand.

Click here to find an action near you. If you don’t find something nearby, make one – there’s information for doing that at the same site. There’s a good chance a bus or a train can get you there.

REBEL!

A Bleak Anniversary

We just passed the 7th anniversary of the mass shooting murders at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. The murdered seniors would be 25 now. The massacre occurred on Valentine’s Day, 2018. Just days before this grotesque anniversary this year President Trump shut down the Office of Gun Violence Prevention.

Read Jim Acosta’s post, A Father’s Love for his Son Takes the Stage.

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

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Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Who Will Lead?


POST 1147

Who’s Behind This Debacle

It isn’t just Führer Dummkopf that’s the problem. It’s his 25 million rabid dupe-dopes who love to kill anything in their way.

the willfully and proudly ignorant

the homicidally angry and hateful

the ones who get their sense of power from hatred and harming others

the sleep walking MAGA lemmings and sheep

the spineless hypocrites

the happily propagandized

the testosterone manipulated puff-ups

the reality deniers

the vacuously self-deluded

the “I Love Cruelty” mob

the lazy couch crouchers

the couldn’t-be-bothered-to-think crowd

the “Who cares about you?” narcissists

the “true patriots” who hate Americans

the descendants of immigrants who hate immigrants, whether documented or not

the believers in a mythical “Great Again” that never was

.  .  .  because they brought us this ongoing Trump destruction of our democracy, the abandonment of the rule of law, the upcoming raid on our treasury, the vicious attacks on We the People, this Republican assault on their obviously-not-sacred-to-them oath to the Constitution of We the People.

Click me

What we’re left with is figuring out how to turn them from the St. MAGA gospel of hatred to something more in line with what Jesus would direct, although they obviously didn’t get the message from Sunday school. Clearly, they never read what the Founders had to say about Christianity as a national religion.

Historical note: They said, “Nuh-uh.” You can look it up in the Federalist Papers or in the First Amendment.

Reconciliation with these people seems nearly unachievable and there is no Mandela on the horizon. But perhaps we can reach the 50 million casual Trump voters to partner to restore our country to its 250-year order. We’re way late getting started and we’re going to need the right leader to battle and beat this existential threat.

Job Qualifications & My Nominee

We need a leader with the brilliance of mind to provide us with clarity for the actions we can and must take. We need a leader with the passion to inspire us to the full measure of our patriotism. We need a leader who is wise and compassionate, who will walk with us and who knows right from wrong,

I’ve been watching and listening for that leader. I see many good people, but most have a hole in their personal résumé, They are smart, but dry and without charisma. Or they have the passion, but not the brilliance needed.

Click me – but read Note #5 below first

This is about leading an army of patriotic Americans in opposition to the would-be fascist totalitarians. This is about giving voice and direction to We The People and doing so with no intention of personal gain. This is about who will stand and declare, “THAT WAY!” Who qualifies for that job?

My nominee is Barack Obama. He’s brilliant, charismatic, clear, inspiring and has no aspirations for political advantage for himself. He has experience as a community organizer and as the leader of our nation and he has the cred to call out the self-serving, the pompous, the liars and the hood-winkers. And he stands for hope and change – he wrote a book about it. Plus, it will be absolutely delicious to watch Trump crumble under truth delivered by the victim of his scum bag birther lies.

Maybe you have a fine nominee. Great, tell us. Let’s pick one and draft him/her. The time to start was yesterday.

  • REBEL!

Follow Up to Dec. 22 POST 1132, Our Problem

In that piece I ripped Democrats for being AWOL in the midst of our existential battle and I stand by that description. One thing that post did not cover is the critical analysis of what should have been done to win hearts, minds and votes and what must be done next time we have a chance to put banana peels under the shoes of the fascist traitors. Fortunately, Ira Leavit offers us some help in his recent post, Blue Voters Need Something to Believe In – Something Big.

Voters care exclusively for what they decide for themselves is important to them. That’s a lesson that Democrats desperately need to learn and Ira gives us an idea of what that might look like. Have a read.

Next, be sure to read Thom Hartmann’s piece If Obama Had Sent a Mob to Kill a Cop, Republicans Would Never Let You Forget It – The GOP would be screaming “Cop Killer” every single day — so why aren’t Democrats holding Trump to the same standard? It’s a brilliant and clear outline of how to win hearts, minds and votes.

Sarcasm Corner

So glad that Führer Trump is gutting the FBI. Those people are a poison to our national blood for having pursued accountability for homicidal criminals, catching der Führer’s “fine people” and sending them to prison. Besides, we don’t need the FBI to pursue law breakers or terrorists or those plotting massive deaths of Americans anymore now that we have a new sheriff in town. He’ll stop ISIS with one hand tied behind his massive ass.

At last someone is eliminating USAID. We don’t care if millions of babies overseas die because, hey, they aren’t Americans. Let ’em drop. Same for people with malnutrition, malaria  or HIV. We shouldn’t have to feed them or provide life saving drugs. Let the Chinese pay the bill.

And those DEI hires at the FAA – cut ’em loose and give those air traffic controller jobs to White Christian men who made it through the 7th grade.

I’m so glad that unqualified, unelected, unhinged Elon Musk has access to and control of all government payments and has your Social Security number, too. Now all government can be shut down and eliminated and Trump will be in sole control of what’s left. It’s the greatest national security breach in U.S. history – you’ve never seen anything like this before. Take a back seat, Edward Snowden, to the Trump/Musk fascist victory! Just hoping we’ll get our Social Security checks from whatever privatized company Trump/Musk gives the agency and its money to. And we can only hope that people who are not fabulously rich can get health care somewhere, somehow. What could possibly go wrong?

And they’re about to eliminate the Department of Education. That’s good, because ignorant citizens are easier to manipulate.

There’s super labor saving now, too, because there’s no longer a need to think long term. We Americans like things simple, no matter how complex they actually are. Now RFK will bring us horrendous diseases, Bondi will bring us prosecutions of the innocent and will allow Trumpy felons to skate free. Patel will allow and encourage violent crimes by crippling our national law enforcement agency. Hegseth will threaten our friends with our military and ignore atrocities done by our not-friends. Rubio will sway whichever way the wind blows. It’s all good.

Boy, this is going really well.

For The Pardoned and Commuted Sentence Felons

My wish is for you to call or write to those you threatened with retribution and death. Apologize to them and beg for forgiveness as an act of contrition. It will be your first step back toward the world of democracy, decency and the worthiness of being called a fellow citizen. Plus, maybe you can start on the road from being just a performative Christian to becoming an actual Christian. You know, like Jesus said you should be.

Until then you’re just a criminal thug.

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Un-American – Extra Urgent!


POST 1146

You know about the tsunami of Trump’s attacks on our government and our Constitution. His is a multi-pronged assault designed to destroy everything we care about, to “tear it all down.”

Vague policy explanations of the reasons to oppose and abhor this danger are insufficient to convey the urgency. This needs to be expressed in “This is how it affects you” terms. Heather Cox Richardson has crafted that for you  in an easy to understand, if painful to read, explanation.

So, this post is essentially hers. Read her essay. Take your time and feel the enormous drive to fascism that is advancing and taking everything away from us. You’ll see that Trump and his billionaire suck-ups are working to make this country into a monster, the likes of which we have fought against in hot wars and in a decades long cold war. This cadre of self-serving oligarchs is creating exactly what your values say are evil and un-American.

Project 2025 is the playbook Trump denied knowing about but he is following it to the letter. You can read a full, Mein Kampf-worthy version here. If instead you want a translation into truthful English of this manifesto for the destruction of our country, the ACLU has that for you.

This war on America is complex and difficult to stop. There are many brave people already fighting it, but there is no assurance that truth, justice and the American way will prevail.

Our standing on the sidelines watching others carry the fight is a losing strategy. Waiting for disaster to befall us before doing our part is nothing less than conceding defeat in advance.

Go read Richardson’s piece right now. Then get in the fight.

REBEL!

  • _______________________________
  • We’ll need a great leader for this. Coming Wednesday: Who Will Lead?

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Stand a Post – 2


POST 1141

Preface to This Guest Essay – It Could Be Entitled, “Stand a Post-2.”

On December 22 I published Our Problem, a flaming declaration of the obvious and dangerous truth, that most Democrats have shown themselves to be toothless tigers and are completely unready to battle the horrors that face us. Lifelong pal Frank Levy had something to say about that and he posted an insightful comment. You need to see it, so it’s here as a Guest Essay.

Frank has been an activist forever. He was a Freedom Rider in the 1960s when registering Black people to vote in the deep south was a death defying act. He does more than give lip service to doing what is right and good. He tells us that it’s time to get up off our butts and take action. He tells us that we cannot count on Democratic elected officials to fight this war to preserve our rights, the Constitution and our democracy. He’s right.

For context, review my post first and then come back to read Frank’s wise words.

Jack – You are right. The Dems are MIA. They are not going to save us. They are not even going to lead us. So, what? They have been MIA for a long, long time. The only thing that will save us and our on-life-support democracy is what has always saved us – WE THE PEOPLE!

With no disrespect, my longtime friend, you are suffering from a serious case of useless pundit syndrome. We all know what the problem is. We know it all too well. There is no shortage of media pundits (all of whom incorrectly predicted the election), scholars, and the like explaining ad nauseam what went and is wrong. There is no shortage of useless verbiage telling us how bad things will be. We know all of that.

What we need are people willing to offer some solutions, a defensive or even offensive strategy or tactical plan so We The People can survive the coming catastrophe and maybe even restore liberal democracy to America sometime in the future.

So with no lack of arrogance I am offering my own save yourself and democracy to-do list:

  1. Never miss an opportunity to inform elected officials – Republican and Democrat, local and national – about your position on every issue. Write them, Call them. Make them hear you!
  2. Get together with like minded people to form a local resilience and resistance force. Meet regularly. Make plans to do meaningful acts of resistance. There really is strength in numbers. This is our John Lewis moment!
  3. Make a plan to protect your job, your savings, your retirement funds, your healthcare plan, your health, your home.
  4. If you live in a red state, make plans to create an underground railroad, to help women needing an abortion or healthcare get what they need.
  5. Create or work with a local food bank so when food prices skyrocket and there are food shortages people in need can get affordable food.
  6. Raise your own livestock (cattle, pigs, chickens, turkeys) or find a farmer to raise it for you – there will be food shortages. Be prepared.
  7. Again, if your live in a red state create an underground railroad to help LGBTQIA+ individuals get to states where it is safe to live, be married, and get gender affirming health care.
  8. Find new, reliable, courageous news sources. The media for the most part has surrendered to MAGA and Trump’s threats.
  9. Stop trying to make nice with MAGA people. They do not share your values. They will not agree to the same set of facts. Without agreement of those two things there is nothing to talk about.
  10. Buy a copy of Timothy Snyder’s book, “On Tyranny – Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century.” Read it. It is your new Bible. Do not leave home without it.
  11. If you think you will need to leave this country to go somewhere safe – get or renew your passport now.
  12. Decide whether or not you have the means and are willing to provide sanctuary for those immigrants Trump and his evil henchmen want to deport or incarcerate.
  13. Join a group like Indivisible. They have great information and resources to help us in this fight. (www.Indivisible.org)
  14. Contact me one on one. I will be happy to share what I know, and what my friends and I in Alabama are doing. ([email protected])

I am sure there are other things we can and should be doing in this terrifying time, but this is a start. This is what my friends and I are doing now.

_____________________________________________________

Okay, maybe you won’t be raising your own livestock. At the very least you need to see Frank’s comment as making the point that your circumstances are likely to become extremely bad. With what you see and hear every day you shouldn’t require clarification of this.

  1. You see the billionaire tech-toadies buying their way into power and the monied supplicant suck-ups (oh, wait: that’s redundant) bending a knee instead of standing in integrity.
  2. You see the cabinet appointments chosen not for their qualifications or their excellence, but for their loyalty to Trump so that they protect our Felon-in Chief.
  3. You see the guardrails coming down, so you know our democracy is in trouble.

Frank mentioned Indivisible.org. There are other ways to stand that post, including The Union, MoveOn.org, Country First, Focus4Democracy, The States Project, Indivisible Illinois and more. Go stand a post with at least one of those organizations working to protect our democracy.

We are in for a long, achingly hard battle, so put your ideas for action in the Comments section below to help us all.

REBEL!

.  .  .  against the billionaire tyranny.

From The Union

Tomorrow is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day. You know the stories of how right wing haters tried to stop the creation of a day of remembrance for this (gasp!) Black man, this non-violent icon of peaceful change for the betterment of all. Tomorrow is also the inauguration of a man dedicated to hatred, selfishness and repression. The contrast would be comical if it weren’t so damaging.

The folks at The Union have some ideas about how you can help peaceful change come about.

Register Voters: Help your community by assisting people in registering to vote or becoming election workers. (If you’re interested in learning how to get involved with voter registration in your area, please reach out to The Union for more information.)

Volunteer at a local food bank: Help provide meals for people in need.

Community Cleanups: Lead efforts to clean up parks, streets, or public spaces, promoting community pride and solidarity.

Reach out to a friend or relative to see how they’re doing and encourage them to get involved in local volunteer opportunities or pro-democracy initiatives.

Sign up for a volunteer event at our Action Center! Key races are happening this year in Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Virginia. Get involved and mark your calendar today!

As The Union wrote in its recent post,

“Thank you for your dedication to justice, community, and democracy.”

TikTok

You would compromise our national security so that you can post and view inane videos for free? Really? Or so that you can make a few bucks on that platform, as though that’s the only place you can make a buck? Seriously?!

Seriously!?!!
.

We can be bought – we sell out – so cheaply. But you don’t have to do that. Reach down and grab your ass. That is what’s at stake.

Fun – Yes, Really

Click me

Did you make it this far in this long post? Good for you, because here’s a gift courtesy of Dan Rather at Steady. Fleetwood Mack tells us “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow.” It’s a message of hope – “It’ll be here better than before” – and we surely need hope right now, because tomorrow – as in: Monday – won’t be better than today. But we are going to make our tomorrows better than before – if we work at it. Let’s go.

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Stand a Post – 1


POST 1140

President Biden’s Farewell

“Oligarchs.”

President Biden said, “Oligarchs.”

Biden has spent 50 years protecting and defending this bold experiment, this idea of the rule of law, of rule by the people. Now he calls to us with a warning about what is so plain to see, that our country is well down the path to abandoning our democracy and turning it over to a group of ultra-wealthy oligarch wannabees and to a power hungry cruel despot wannabe.

At the edge of his last days in public office, Biden appealed to us, saying,

“I still believe in the idea for which this nation stands, a nation where the strength of our institutions and the character of our people matter and must endure. Now it’s your turn to stand guard. May you all be the keeper of the flame. May you keep the faith. I love America. You love it, too.”
.

Watch his address. Listen to his warning. The dreadful dangers are real. They are an existential threat to our country and they have the potential of being an existential threat to each and every one of us. As he said, “Now it’s your turn to stand guard.”

So, I offer to you this metaphor from the barricades, absent any hyperbole:

It’s time for you and I and all of us to
grab a rhetorical activist weapon and stand a post.
.

Thank you for stepping up to serve.

REBEL!

.  .  .  against the billionaire tyranny.

Imagine

Biden’s accomplishments for the American people are largely ignored now and his favorability ratings are quite poor. But imagine how things will look to our children and grandchildren 30 years from now.

Roy is a carpenter building houses for the last of our homeless. He’s done well by doing good, so he grabs a beer in the kitchen and drops into a chair. He doesn’t know why, but he begins to think in a way he had not before, largely because he had been quite busy doing the basic blocking and tackling of everyday life. But on this day, for reasons he cannot explain, he gets to thinking about what has happened. He turns to his wife.

“You know, this really has been great most of the time. I have a good job that pays a good wage. We live well, much better, in fact, than our parents did. And this all started because of the programs Joe Biden put in place all those years ago, including his support of unions.

“We got internet service way out here because of Biden’s program. We have good healthcare and our country is safe, in part because we’re making those little chips here instead of buying them from China. That bridge over the river finally got rebuilt and we can afford to send both of our kids to college without leaving them with a pile of debt. Plus your mom’s still alive because she didn’t get Covid. That’s because Biden put together the system that delivered a vaccine to her arm and that protected her.

“I didn’t think much of Biden when he was president, so I’m surprised to say that now he’s looking like he was a really good one.”

That self-reflection only happens if we stop the people who want to bring down our country, this while sitting on their piles of money that they took from us.

So, I offer to you this metaphor from the barricades, absent any hyperbole:

It’s time for you and I and all of us to
grab a rhetorical, activist weapon and stand a post.
.

Thank you for stepping up to serve.

REBEL!

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

What It Looks Like


POST 1129

Rebels in Damascus celebrate the downfall of Bashar al-Assad. Click me

We begin with a quotation from Anne Applebaum, writing in The Atlantic about the conditions that precipitated the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

“There is nothing worse than hopelessness, nothing more soul-destroying than pessimism, grief, and despair.”

We shed no tears for this brutal dictator and murderer, but don’t imagine that because this is not Syria, but is the democracy that is the United States of America, that we are somehow immune. We are just as vulnerable to the cruelty and brutality that arrive on the same train as lofty nationalist, chest-pounding rhetoric, exactly as happened in Syria, Russia, Germany, Italy and many more countries. Indeed, the soul crushing hopelessness always starts with the arrival of that jingo train.

Steve Schmidt describes what’s coming to us as the new administration rams its train of destruction into America.

” .  .  . the furies will be let loose by wicked and arrogant people who think they have been picked by the hand of god to lead their people into a storm of their own making.”

That is what has been promised to millions of ears that insisted upon remaining deaf to the real danger. That is what we’ll get unless we put the brakes to the locomotive of our political and cultural destruction.

That is the reason we must rebel, but most of us don’t know what that can look like or how to go about it. Several action opportunities can be found at the end of some of my recent posts (here and here), and now there is a wonderful overview available to you from a source from which you would not expect to find the action items for the rebelling we need right now.

President Barack Obama delivered his remarks at the 2024 Obama Foundation Democracy Forum a few days ago. This is a must read for clarity, context and specifics about what we must do.

Don’t look for an angry diatribe about the horrid, anti-Constitutional fascist poison sprayed maniacally from the inbound train of the incoming administration. Although that’s an accurate descriptor of what is facing us, look instead for what needs to be done to save our democracy, actions for both the short term (2026 and 2028) and for the long term.

We are at an inflection point only hinted at since the Civil War and it is going to take us generations – the long term – to make the changes necessary for us to have a country that includes all of us – like the Pledge of Allegiance, “with liberty and justice for all.” But the thing about the long term is that it’s made up of tens of thousands of short term actions.

The rebelling we need to do doesn’t include demonizing those with whom we’re sure we have nothing in common. Indeed, a slight scratch beneath the surface of most of us will most certainly reveal things about which we agree – like the thing that moves strangers to help tornado and hurricane victims without first checking their political, racial or religious credentials. That’s where we must focus.

Your assignment today is to read President Obama’s remarks. It’s a long piece, but even in this age that trains us to have a short attention span, I believe you’re up to the challenge. Read it, then sit back and think about how his message applies to you.

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
  5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

The Campaign Cash Suck Game


POST 1125

NOTE:

Read to the end for critical time sensitive information.

The Final Money Grubber Tallies

Instead of rejecting them immediately when I began to receive large numbers of emails soliciting donations to the Biden campaign in April, 2023, I began to collect them. Then I collected the emails sent from other candidates, too, all as a game to see what this would become. Here’s the impressive tally. This list doesn’t include the great many candidates who grabbed for my wallet only a few dozen times each..

Sherrod Brown – 225

Collin Allred – 277

AOC – 379

Adam Schiff – 442

Biden/Harris – The winner by far with 1,752. I’m still receiving solicitations from them, now for the Harris Fight Fund, specifically for $50.

The total was 3,753 grabs for my wallet. That is a lot of money grubbing.

This is part of the system created by John “stare decisis” Roberts and his pillaging posse. They overturned centuries of law and common sense in declaring that corporations have all the same rights that you have, especially the right to jam billions of dollars into our politics and political campaigns to contort them into something that serves only the rich.

The story of the Citizens United decision that disempowered all of we non-super rich citizens who are actual flesh and blood, sentient beings, is dirty, annoying, fundamentally undemocratic, un-American and a fraud. But there it stands, allowing so much money from the big bucks boys and girls to pollute our politics that constant solicitations for small contributions is necessary just for an opposing candidate to be in the game.

A Partial List of Ploys Used to Suck Cash From You

Here’s a double baker’s dozen of crass manipulation:

  1. I don’t take money from corporate lobbyists, so you should send me money.
  2. We’re reaching out because we’re approaching our next big fundraising deadline of 2024, and we need to make sure we hit our goal. Wait: I should care about their goal?
  3. We need to keep our ads on the air.
  4. Is there anything I can say to convince you to chip in $25?
  5. Is there ANYTHING (caps original) we can say to convince you to donate before midnight tonight?
  6. I’m fighting a rich MAGA extremist, so you should send me money.
  7. If you’ve been waiting for the right time to step off the sidelines and help us reach as many voters as possible, this is it. (You cheapskate!)
  8. It’s now or never. (Fear and doom unless you send money now.)
  9. I’m only down a point, so contribute now. (That’s why I should send cash?)
  10. The other guy has so many millions of dollars, so I need more of your money.
  11. I need you to chip in $.
  12. We’re falling short on donations and time is running out.
  13. We’re short of our goal and our fundraising deadline is almost here.
  14. You don’t want to wake up the morning after the election, seeing an outcome that was avoidable and wishing you had done more. (O’ the pressure!)
  15. I have nowhere else to turn. (O’ the desperate neediness we’re supposed to salve with our dollars!)
  16. Please rush a contribution because I need it.
  17. We need all hands on deck.
  18. Right now, we’re 71% to our goal, but we’re running out of time to close the gap.
  19. There’s only one way to win this race – together. That means, “I run and you pay for it.
  20. Our records show you haven’t pitched in yet. Can you donate before it’s too late? (Guilt and fear all at once!)
  21. We’re worried. Donations were starting to slow down, and it looked like we would fall short of our critical pre-election fundraising goal. (I guess you and I are supposed to care about their goals.)
  22. Imagine the Oval Office in January. It could be Donald Trump sitting at the Resolute Desk, stewing over his enemies list. (Apparently, I’ll be solely responsible for the unthinkable.)
  23. What will it take to get you to make your first contribution? (Guilt! Mom would be so proud!)
  24. We can’t do this without you. (“Don’t let us down.”)
  25. Everything goes to shit unless you send money right now. There were lots of variations on this theme.

Adam Schiff and Jon Tester sent the best emails – intelligent, compassionate and, oddly, they both seemed to be actual human beings. Sherrod Brown’s appeals were “We’re in this together” and about the dignity of work. These are all about what is important to We The People. Sadly, they were in a small minority and Tester and Brown lost.

90% of the solicitations were festooned with first person pronouns – theirs, not yours. We need; we’re worried; we’re falling short, and so many more ways to focus on what the candidate and/or campaign staff wants/needs. There was very little focus on what We The People want and need. Bear with me just a second as I scream, “I don’t give a damn what YOU, the candidate or campaign staff, need.” And it’s worse than that.

For years most communication I’ve received from the DNC has been like that – focused on what the DNC wants or needs. Check that: ALL of it. It is devoid of any professed care for we ordinary people and what’s important to us. I’ve written to them several times about this and offered to help, but never received so much as an acknowledgement that they were contacted, nor has their messaging improved. And oddly, with their entire emphasis on themselves, they think I should support them. Would you give yourself to a relationship that is never about you?

Craft an email to the DNC. Tell them you’re sick of hearing about what’s important to them and what they want. Tell them that if they want your vote and what’s in your wallet that they better start focusing on you. Here’s a link to reach them online.

REBEL Update

Last Sunday I promised you actions you can take to rebel against the coming fascist, Trumpocalypse. Here’s something from Simon Rosenberg and his Hopium Chronicles:

[C]all [your] Senators and Representative to let them know your dissatisfaction with the rapist, fraudster, traitor and 34 times felon’s picks of Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth and Robert Kennedy; and to inform them of your expectation that they will leave it all out there on the playing field to block these profoundly dangerous nominations whether they have a vote on them or not.

Contact the White House and ask President Biden to order the FBI to begin background checks into Trump’s nominees immediately.

This is extremely time sensitive stuff. Do it today.
.
  • Wishing you a fine Thanksgiving and hoping that in this age of threatening hopelessness you can remember the things you’re grateful for. There are family, friends, the gift of love, the beauty of the seasons and you still have the power to

  • REBEL NOW!

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
  5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Rebel: To Resist or Defy


POST 1124

I often listen to Jon Meacham’s marvelous podcast, Reflections of History, which I was doing recently while walking the dog. He presented the speech given by then-Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy on St. Patrick’s Day in 1954. Kennedy’s words have relevance today, so here is a small portion of Meacham’s presentation.

Kennedy said,

“Here is a challenge to the United States, whom we salute tonight as the torchbearer of liberty. Let us inscribe on the inner wall of the Iron Curtain for all to read, oppressor and oppressed, the words of the Irish martyrs. Let those partisans of freedom behind the Iron Curtain, who see little hope for their generation and little more for the next, hear these words spoken by Sir Roger Casement to the jury which had convicted him of high treason for his part in the Organization of the Irish in 1914.

“’If it be treason,’ said Sir Roger, ‘to fight against such an unnatural fate as this, then I am proud to be a rebel and shall cling to my rebellion with the last drop of my blood. If there be no right of rebellion against the state of things that no savage tribe would endure without resistance, then I am sure that it is better for men to fight and die without right than to live in such a state of right, as this.’”

There is no longer an Iron Curtain and we no longer face a Cold War, but we face an enemy perhaps more dangerous now than the communists were then and the fascists were before them. It is now the threat from Americans who wish to and are striving with all their might to take down our democracy, to burn our Constitution and replace it all with fascism, with dictatorship, subjugation and the elimination of our freedom.

Their tools are much the same as those used by the communists and the fascists to fool people and cow them into mindless obedience. They use lies, absurd propaganda, intimidation, bullying, appeals to our basest instincts, pitting us against one another, contorting the law for selfish gain of power and money and making everyone afraid all the time. That is the threat we face today from our home grown enemies of democracy and freedom. The threat will grow more dire with each passing day, unless . . .

. . .  unless we heed the words of Sir Roger “to fight against such an unnatural fate as this . . .” and “be proud to be a rebel.”

In these times of profound discouragement, dismay and confusion over the way forward, withdrawal from the fight is actually ongoing support for defeat. Rather, it is time like never before for us to rebel against the darkness as instructed by Sir Roger, because that duty falls to us today. There is no one else.

Succumbing to fear ensures that fear will never leave us. Courage is taking action in the face of fear. Sir Roger knew that and we know that, too. This is a time for courage.

I go through periods wondering what I’m doing in a country where half the people vote for their own downfall. Is this country so bamboozled by anger, hatred and fear that there is nothing left that is redeemable?

Then the dawn comes and I realize that I’m no quitter, that I won’t allow the barbarians to destroy what we hold dear. There is a whole civilization that has been buried behind lies, hatred and bigotry, all so that the angry ones can flick their middle fingers, scream into the night and turn over our country to the self-aggrandizing thieves.

Well, they can’t have it. I won’t stand for it. I will not allow them to bully me.

Dick Altschuler, 1943

One year my dad and I were at the Oshkosh airshow standing near a B-24. Perhaps he escorted that very bomber into harms way over Germany on one of his 69 missions in his P-47. I looked at a waist gunner’s window on that bomber. His only protection was a thin sheet of aluminum easily pierced by enemy bullets. Still, that gunner went into battle and did what had to be done. My dad did the same, as did 16 million other Greatest Generation Americans. 416,800 of them never came home. You can find them in huge cemeteries like those in Normandy and on Iwo Jima, all graves facing home.

Those people faced the greatest brutality the world had ever known. They did that to keep the promise of America for you and me. I’ll be damned if I’ll let the grifters and the liars, the cheats and the willfully ignorant take it away. I’ll be damned if I’ll let the haters and the selfish ones sully the memory and slander the courage of our brave ones. It’s our duty to stand and fight where we can.

This is going to take a long time and it’s going to hurt more often than it will feel good. But this is the contest – the fight of our lives. When we fail, we’ll have to get up and fight once again. We’ll have to keep getting up as many times as it takes to cure our country of this awful disease.

As Shakespeare wrote, King Henry V, holding his sword high, said to his troops at the terrible battle of Harfleur “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. . .” And so we march into the breach as many times as it will take to secure the promise that is America. It’s just behind the wall that the barbarians made out of fear, anger and hatred.

We can do no less to honor our brave ones.  We can do no less to “Secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”

Listen: You’ll hear your children and grandchildren and the grandchildren after them calling you. They’re counting  on you.

From Terry Real in his wonderful post:

Facing this alone may well feel overwhelming. But we are not alone. There are millions of us. The greatest political resource left standing is the beating hearts of one another.

Join with others in this fight. Our hearts beat together and we stand strong together.

Once more, dear friends. Once more,

Rebel!

.

Coming soon: Specific actions you can take. Example:

Block unqualified or criminal or just idiotic Cabinet appointments.

______________________________________________________

Many thanks to SC for pointing me to the Terry Real piece.

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
  5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

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