Any internal objections are unsaid (by government officials) or punished (among the citizenry).
The Trump-centric news is irritating, but we must have it. We know from experience that we cannot trust our representatives in Washington to act unless they receive massive citizen input. Until the news media exposed them, many Democratic senators were voting to approve Trump's nominations of unqualified people to federal posts, using rationales such as "The president deserves to have the people he wants heading government departments." No, the American people deserve to have qualified people running the government. Loyalty to the president should not be the only qualification needed. But many Democratic senators needed to hear it from the folks back home, and the folks back home were not aware until the news media reported it. No matter how irritating it is, we need to learn about Trump's actions and words.
And, while we're at it, never forget that it was the John Roberts' Court that enabled the spending of vast dark monies on elections thus forever skewing outcomes to the politicians most likely to support oligarchy over democracy, to support the grievances of a powerful megalomaniac over the needs of people of color, of people who need SNAP benefits, of women who need their own private healthcare. But I digress...
Early retirement would please me. Especially if joined by Thomas. And especially if Grassley and the Federalist Society didn't control the new candidates.
I’d settle for early retirement but not at the public’s expense. To be less than hard line at this stage of the war feels close to a betrayal of the cause for fighting the war.
I don’t admit to it, but I’m pretty sure I know who has a natural share of humanity on the other side, and who does not.
As Hamlet says to Polonius, “Give every man his deserts and who would ‘scape whipping.” Treat others as reflects on you, not on them. In peacetime I go with Hamlet. Of course, it didn’t do him a lot of good to make concessions to his doubts.
A friend and I were talking this morning about conservatives/Machiavellians who see a need for discipline and uniformity, versus liberals who live by the rule “do no harm.” Both are valid ways of maintaining social order and securing the good life, presumably. The first makes no concession to doubt. The latter’s decisions all hinge on doubt.
But like Dante’s Hell-bound, I wouldn’t tell you this if I thought it would ever leak out. LOL
". . . Russia just keeps chugging on, seemingly with no internal objections," you say, Swbv.
One of the dates Timothy Snyder mentions in his text here is May 24. Happens to be the birthday (1940) of Joseph Brodsky, Nobel lit winning great Russian poet and American essayist.
One of Joseph's claims to fame was his early adulthood subjection to Russian (then, Soviet) persecution for his writing. Imprisonment and a penal colony. World reaction.
What you refer to as "internal objections," or "no internal objections," Swbv, invites attention to how, for years, the authoritarian governments there have harassed, arrested, imprisoned, and killed most all of the best Russian artists and intellectuals. Mao did this in his "cultural revolution" (30 million dead). Hitler did it 25 years before that.
So let's take a note from this to see how the U.S. has in recently times simply followed the tyrants' playbooks. First casualty in the U.S.: the schools. Killing the humanities, instituting the tyrannic idiocies of testing instead.
But these attacks -- all centrally orchestrated following the 1971 Powell memo -- combine with the rise of dark money, and the easy profits to all the corporate CEOs and finance captains who invested in the mass offshoring of American working-class jobs to communist China, Mexico, Pakistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and all other parts of the third world ruled by despots, dictators, and fellow murderers.
Timothy Snyder himself wrote about this campaign, or its intellectual underpinnings, maybe best in "The Road to Unfreedom."
There is a story from WW2 which if true would bear on the current situation. It goes like this: Early in the Battle of Britain the Luftwaffe set about bombing the British aircraft factories to oblivion, and rhey were succeeding. Churchill gambled, ordering the RAF to bomb Berlin. Hitler responded as hoped and feared by ordering the Luftwaffe to take revenge on British cities. British civilians suffered terribly but their aircraft industry quickly recovered and took control of the skies over Britain.
Putin may be trying this strategem. His problem, which he is apparently incapable of recognizing, is that his adversary is not like either Hitler or himself.
Thank you Timothy. Well needed encouragement. Our Altadena neighborhood and entire town was destroyed in a wildfire a year and a half ago. It looked like a war zone. Felt like a war zone with 20 people dead. Big money causes death and destruction. Let us never forget.
I’m sorry. Lost my town and home in Paradise (2018) due to PG&E’s failure to inspect and update their equipment and lines. Still feeling the pain. Blessings to you.
My heart is full, reading this story. My late husband‘s mother was from Ukraine. So I carry on trying to do what I can to help. I have given in the past and with these useful links, I will continue to do what I can. Slava Ukraini.
My husband and I are so moved by Ukraine and the resilient spirit of the Ukrainian people. My husband consulted on dairies there in 2016. It was memorable for him. We beleive they will prevail, and in the process gather the needed global support while strengthening other democracies, leaders and people in the process. US the exception. We are donating to Ukraine's freedom and protecting Ukrainian lives, and bringing Russia to its defeat. Slava Ukraini.
Professor Shore and Professor Snyder. You have so many admirers, among them my granddaughter, a student at University of Toronto. Thank you for everything you both do.
Two criminals when it comes to this brutal war: Putin and The Bloated Yam. The bravery of the Ukrainians is astounding just as the brutality exhibited by Putin and The Bloated Yam is truly devastating -- may they both rot in Hell.
After I finished reading "The Ukrainian Night" I wanted to write a letter to Prof. Shore telling her how much I enjoyed it, but the right words didn't come to me, so I gave up. It affected me deeply. I was disappointed when I reached the end. I kept thinking that there had to be more, but alas, there wasn't.
I have said it before and I'll say it again. There are no people in the world that I admire more than Ukrainians. I hope one day to visit a peaceful Ukraine where I will apologize for the disgraceful behavior of our country.
Thank you also for the link to Seneca's "On the shortness of life"! A surprise treasure-trove hidden in your essay. I would not like to have missed his description of the wasted life of a man who spends his time re-arranging his gilt bronzes, watching wrestling, and carefully combing individual hairs over his bald head.
It is beyond me why Russia just keeps chugging on, seemingly with no internal objections. And not a lot of international push-back that I read about.
I am afraid the unending Trump centric cycles of scandal drive all things Ukraine from the pages of US news consumers.
That may not be inadvertent.
Any internal objections are unsaid (by government officials) or punished (among the citizenry).
The Trump-centric news is irritating, but we must have it. We know from experience that we cannot trust our representatives in Washington to act unless they receive massive citizen input. Until the news media exposed them, many Democratic senators were voting to approve Trump's nominations of unqualified people to federal posts, using rationales such as "The president deserves to have the people he wants heading government departments." No, the American people deserve to have qualified people running the government. Loyalty to the president should not be the only qualification needed. But many Democratic senators needed to hear it from the folks back home, and the folks back home were not aware until the news media reported it. No matter how irritating it is, we need to learn about Trump's actions and words.
And, while we're at it, never forget that it was the John Roberts' Court that enabled the spending of vast dark monies on elections thus forever skewing outcomes to the politicians most likely to support oligarchy over democracy, to support the grievances of a powerful megalomaniac over the needs of people of color, of people who need SNAP benefits, of women who need their own private healthcare. But I digress...
We must bring Roberts to justice.
Early retirement would please me. Especially if joined by Thomas. And especially if Grassley and the Federalist Society didn't control the new candidates.
I’d settle for early retirement but not at the public’s expense. To be less than hard line at this stage of the war feels close to a betrayal of the cause for fighting the war.
I don’t admit to it, but I’m pretty sure I know who has a natural share of humanity on the other side, and who does not.
As Hamlet says to Polonius, “Give every man his deserts and who would ‘scape whipping.” Treat others as reflects on you, not on them. In peacetime I go with Hamlet. Of course, it didn’t do him a lot of good to make concessions to his doubts.
A friend and I were talking this morning about conservatives/Machiavellians who see a need for discipline and uniformity, versus liberals who live by the rule “do no harm.” Both are valid ways of maintaining social order and securing the good life, presumably. The first makes no concession to doubt. The latter’s decisions all hinge on doubt.
But like Dante’s Hell-bound, I wouldn’t tell you this if I thought it would ever leak out. LOL
Whoever’s there!!!
". . . Russia just keeps chugging on, seemingly with no internal objections," you say, Swbv.
One of the dates Timothy Snyder mentions in his text here is May 24. Happens to be the birthday (1940) of Joseph Brodsky, Nobel lit winning great Russian poet and American essayist.
One of Joseph's claims to fame was his early adulthood subjection to Russian (then, Soviet) persecution for his writing. Imprisonment and a penal colony. World reaction.
What you refer to as "internal objections," or "no internal objections," Swbv, invites attention to how, for years, the authoritarian governments there have harassed, arrested, imprisoned, and killed most all of the best Russian artists and intellectuals. Mao did this in his "cultural revolution" (30 million dead). Hitler did it 25 years before that.
So let's take a note from this to see how the U.S. has in recently times simply followed the tyrants' playbooks. First casualty in the U.S.: the schools. Killing the humanities, instituting the tyrannic idiocies of testing instead.
But these attacks -- all centrally orchestrated following the 1971 Powell memo -- combine with the rise of dark money, and the easy profits to all the corporate CEOs and finance captains who invested in the mass offshoring of American working-class jobs to communist China, Mexico, Pakistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and all other parts of the third world ruled by despots, dictators, and fellow murderers.
Timothy Snyder himself wrote about this campaign, or its intellectual underpinnings, maybe best in "The Road to Unfreedom."
We're submerged in it now.
There is a story from WW2 which if true would bear on the current situation. It goes like this: Early in the Battle of Britain the Luftwaffe set about bombing the British aircraft factories to oblivion, and rhey were succeeding. Churchill gambled, ordering the RAF to bomb Berlin. Hitler responded as hoped and feared by ordering the Luftwaffe to take revenge on British cities. British civilians suffered terribly but their aircraft industry quickly recovered and took control of the skies over Britain.
Putin may be trying this strategem. His problem, which he is apparently incapable of recognizing, is that his adversary is not like either Hitler or himself.
How brave of Marci! Over the years, I have gathered that such adventures might not be exactly where she thrives. So much more kudos to her.
Reading is resistance, revitalization, and a reason to never give in to what might feel total like helplessness. Thank you, Professor Snyder.
Thank you Timothy. Well needed encouragement. Our Altadena neighborhood and entire town was destroyed in a wildfire a year and a half ago. It looked like a war zone. Felt like a war zone with 20 people dead. Big money causes death and destruction. Let us never forget.
SLAVA UKRAINI !!!!!
I’m sorry. Lost my town and home in Paradise (2018) due to PG&E’s failure to inspect and update their equipment and lines. Still feeling the pain. Blessings to you.
My heart is full, reading this story. My late husband‘s mother was from Ukraine. So I carry on trying to do what I can to help. I have given in the past and with these useful links, I will continue to do what I can. Slava Ukraini.
My husband and I are so moved by Ukraine and the resilient spirit of the Ukrainian people. My husband consulted on dairies there in 2016. It was memorable for him. We beleive they will prevail, and in the process gather the needed global support while strengthening other democracies, leaders and people in the process. US the exception. We are donating to Ukraine's freedom and protecting Ukrainian lives, and bringing Russia to its defeat. Slava Ukraini.
Professor Shore and Professor Snyder. You have so many admirers, among them my granddaughter, a student at University of Toronto. Thank you for everything you both do.
We are holding our Friend Marci as a safe heroine 🤲💞
Two criminals when it comes to this brutal war: Putin and The Bloated Yam. The bravery of the Ukrainians is astounding just as the brutality exhibited by Putin and The Bloated Yam is truly devastating -- may they both rot in Hell.
I do support the effort to assure Ukraine is a free and safe country. Every month.
Donated! Thanks for the reminder! Individual citizens can uphold American values even if the president won't do it.
After I finished reading "The Ukrainian Night" I wanted to write a letter to Prof. Shore telling her how much I enjoyed it, but the right words didn't come to me, so I gave up. It affected me deeply. I was disappointed when I reached the end. I kept thinking that there had to be more, but alas, there wasn't.
Bless Marci and her dedication.
I have said it before and I'll say it again. There are no people in the world that I admire more than Ukrainians. I hope one day to visit a peaceful Ukraine where I will apologize for the disgraceful behavior of our country.
A book festival in spite of…humbling and inspiring ❤️💔🇺🇦
Thank you, Professors Shore and Snyder, for spreading so much love and warmth, and for prodding us to keep giving. Цілую
Thank you also for the link to Seneca's "On the shortness of life"! A surprise treasure-trove hidden in your essay. I would not like to have missed his description of the wasted life of a man who spends his time re-arranging his gilt bronzes, watching wrestling, and carefully combing individual hairs over his bald head.