Resist and persist

 

The January 6, 2021 Insurrection was live on TV, on all channels.

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Today:

"The deepest wound is knowing that they know, and that it doesn’t matter.

January 6th was a coordinated attempt to kidnap members of Congress, overturn a free and fair election by its people, and install a president whose criminality is simply unprecedented and whose involvement was complete.
It was a threat to our sovereignty.
It was a rejection of our Constitution.
It was antithetical to the teachings of Jesus.
It was an historic act of treason.
It was a vicious attack on democracy.
It was a partisan act of domestic terrorism.
It was a violent insurrection.

All Americans know this.

All of them.

Only decent ones care."

​-John Pavlovich

His whole article may be found HERE

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Months of investigations by Select House Committee about the January 6 Insurrection, resulting in a public report, including many of the testimonies.

Jan 20, 2025 President Trump pardoned 1500 who had been legally tried and convicted of the Jan. 6 Insurrection.

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Hang onto your own sense of reality.

Don't miss John Pavlovich's post "The Insurrection Didn't Fail, it Just Took 5 years"

Another excellent article was just published (Jan 6) by NPR "This is Not A Peaceful Protest"

"In response to NPR’s questions about Trump’s pardons, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, "President Trump exercised his constitutional authority to issue pardons to individuals who were abused by the Biden justice system and aggressively over prosecuted for political purposes."

NPR also included a link to their database of all charges and substantiating videos as historic information in the face of the pardons. 

Part of the Women's March of 2020 in Black Mountain NC

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Today's goddess:

ca 5500-4500 BC, Criș-Körös culture. Found in Méhtelek, Hungary.

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Catch-and-release, that's like running down pedestrians in your car and then, when they get up and limp away, saying -- Off you go! That's fine. I just wanted to see if I could hit you. -Ellen DeGeneres, comedian, television host, and actress (b. 26 Jan 1958)

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My vase which shows some protesters, and the sign "Persist." More than resistance, we must persist in what is right.

Today we are dealing with a new illegal war on Venezuela. Who knows what tomorrow will bring from the autocratic orange one.

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Celebrate This! 

Tennessee launched the first registry in the US to track repeat domestic violence offenders.

California is officially drought free and reservoirs are at 120% of average levels.

The Central Hillsborough Healthy Start program, which serves a cluster of Florida ZIP codes with roughly 177,000 residents, reduced preterm births by 30%.​

A rare jaguar sighting in Arizona is giving conservationists hope for the species’ recovery.​

Assisted fertilization is helping revive and restore disappearing coral reefs in the Dominican Republic.

Nineteen U.S. states raised their minimum wage on January 1, with most of them reaching $15 per hour or higher. Another 49 cities and counties are also raising their minimum wage at the start of the new year.

Trump announced that he would abandon for now his efforts to deploy the National Guard in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, OR.

Paul Weiss’ ex-pro bono chief Steve Banks, who left after the firm’s deal with Trump, will lead the New York City Law Department for Mayor Mamdani, putting a longtime liberal advocate in the city government’s top legal position.

After six months in detention, a Connecticut teenager returned home to a standing ovation from community members. Local activists were a HUGE part of this win—as were Kevin’s schoolmates, local officials, several Connecticut lawmakers and a host of leaders from various faiths. AMAZING!

A group of Buddhist monks have been walking from Ft. Worth, TX to Washington DC “for peace.” Their journey is inspiring millions. If you’re not following them on social media please consider doing so!

The Kennedy Center is ending the year with a new round of artists saying they are canceling scheduled performances after Trump's name was added to the facility. Stephen Schwartz, the composer of “Wicked,” also announced that he would no longer host a gala there.

Thanks to conservation efforts and government funding, Coho salmon are making a comeback in Northern California.

A Georgia judge tossed racketeering charges against dozens of defendants accused of a yearslong conspiracy to halt the construction of a police and firefighter training facility that critics call “Cop City.”

Renewable energy produced a record amount of electricity in Great Britain in 2025

Just days before a year-end foreclosure deadline, the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, NY has paid off its mortgage following a wide fundraising campaign that rescued the beloved landmark.

Scientists have discovered two new subtypes of multiple sclerosis with the aid of artificial intelligence, paving the way for personalised treatments and better outcomes for patients.

Pope Leo XIV immediately ousted a traditionalist priest after his anti-gay slur was caught on a hot mic.

Less than two hours after his inauguration ceremony, Zohran Mamdani signed three executive orders designed to put pressure on landlords and fast-track housing development.

In Colorado, immigration activist Jeanette Vizguerra was released after spending nine months in detention while her years-long deportation case continues.

Tesla is officially no longer the leader in global EV sales! They have fallen to the second place spot as their sales continue to fall over Elon Musk’s politics.

NY Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation requiring social media platforms with infinite scroll, auto-play and algorithmic feeds to display warnings to young users.

Thanks to decades of investment in recycling, landfill bans, and efficient waste processing, less than 1% of Swedish household waste now ends up in landfills. Instead, waste generates about 1% of the country’s electricity and 25% of its district heating to homes. ¹

Zohran Mamdani is officially the Mayor of New York City! His inauguration was a joyous occasion, attended by tens of thousands of New Yorkers, as well as AOC, Bernie Sanders, and Mandy Patinkin, among others.

Ratings for the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors sunk to their lowest numbers ever—worse even than during Covid— as Trump hosted the once-prestigious event from the illegally renamed Washington, D.C. performing arts center.

Democrat Renee Hardman won a state Senate seat in Iowa, denying Republicans the opportunity to reclaim their supermajority. It was the final election of 2025, bringing our total record of wins and overperformances in key elections to 228 out of 256 in 2025 — a rate of nearly 90%.

A newly announced sanctuary in Texas will help protect the whooping crane, one of the rarest birds in North America.

A study shows that, over the past year, a slew of new expanded tax credits in Colorado helped cut child poverty there by 40.5%.

Thanks Jess Craven for your newsletter Chop Wood Carry Water.

Volo Foundation climate articles

 The Soaring Cost of Climate Change

A report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) highlights the increasing economic losses from weather, climate, and water-related extremes, which have risen from $184 billion in the 70s to nearly $1.5 trillion in the last decade. However, the actual losses are likely much higher, with an estimated 63% going unreported.

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Earth has it's hottest year on record

The past 12 months have been the hottest ever recorded, according to an analysis released Thursday from the nonprofit organization Climate Central. 

The researchers analyzed global average temperatures from November 2022 through October and found they were about 1.32 degrees Celsius — or 2.4 degrees Fahrenheit — above preindustrial averages. 

“This is the hottest temperature our planet has experienced in something like 125,000 years,” Andrew Pershing, the organization’s vice president for science, said at a news conference. 

Many scientists, including Pershing, expect next year to set new records as the influence of El Niño makes a stronger impact. 

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‘Loss and Damage’ Deal Struck To Help Countries Worst Hit by Climate Crisis

Countries have reached an agreement to establish a "loss and damage" fund to assist the world's most vulnerable communities affected by climate breakdown. The fund, which will be initially administered by the World Bank and funded by both large developing and developed countries, aims to provide grant-based financing for reconstruction, rehabilitation, and relocation after extreme weather events or slow-onset climate impacts

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HEALTH

New Delhi To Restrict Use of Vehicles To Curb Air Pollution

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SOLUTIONS

‘Sponge Cities’: An Absorbing Idea in the Face of Climate Change

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PROGRAMS

Sachamama - Huella Zero

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OTHER NEWS

Arctic Ocean Soundscapes Reveal Changes in Mammal Populations in Response to Climate Change

All these links were from this source: The Volo Foundation newsletter 

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Another very important topic...How we wasted the Pandemic by John Pavlovitz 

Here's the conclusion but I recommend reading the entire article...

Extremism has caused tribalism to become the norm.

And that’s a bit of the frustration now: we can’t figure out how to change what we’ve become, because so much of it is beyond our control or seems to be. So, what can people of faith, morality, and conscience do? How can we change something that feels so impossibly permanent?

What we can do, is to fight this schism in the close and small spaces of our individual stories and in the communities that we do have the ability to alter, in the circles of influence where our voices carry.

We can each remember the two weapons we always have in the fight against tribalism: proximity and agency. We have availability and we have who we show up as in those opportunities.

May we do all we can to make sure we haven’t wasted the losses and the lessons of this disaster.

For Lauri Carleton

 Oh My Gooness!

John Pavlovitz has nailed it...see his blog "The Murder of Lauri Carleton and The Killing Words of Anti-LGBTQ Conservatives" (title is the link.)

He says:

"The 66-year old wife and mother of nine children was murdered outside her Southern California clothing store by a man who tore town her flag and shot her to death when she protested. As senseless and shocking as the assassination of Lauri Carleton is, it is not a surprise. It is the rotten, putrid fruit of MAGA America and all it stands for and aspires to.

Violence targeting the LGBTQ community and those who support them is not a random aberration, it is the logical progression."

As a friend and supporter of LGBTQ+ people, I can hardly believe this...but yet, it's makes a stupid kind of sense from congregations/crowds of radical Christians to another crazed man with an automatic weapon. It is sobering to me, friends!

I work to exhibit many displays supporting LGBTQ+ rights in our area, where we have a Pride March in Asheville. I am frightened by this.

Pavlovitz goes on to say:

"Lauri Carleton is the victim of two vicious hate crimes: of the person pulling the trigger and of those who made doing so for that person so easy.

There is no mystery here to be solved, no complex code to uncover, no hidden shooter motive we need to follow down endless rabbit trails to discern.
This is simple cause-and-affect.

It is the grotesque monster Republicans have made because they have lacked creative ideas or noble impulses or any desire to lead responsible for the common good.

By continually chasing the sensational, by relentlessly ratcheting up their rhetoric, by dragging their base to an ever-deepening bottom, and by using LGBTQ people as faceless, nameless political chips—they are nurturing the kind of wasteful violence that visited Lauri Carleton."

This sounds so much like the beginning events of Jan 6, 2021.

The last of his post follows:

"The dangerous words of the Conservative movement are getting people killed.

It’s time for allies of the LGBTQ community to explicitly speak words that love and bring life and declare what we will not abide here.

We often like to say hate has no home here

We need to move this from aspiration to incarnation.

To hell with this hatred."

What John Pavlovitz said...

Here's the link  but I'm also going to  post the entire blog from him...an evangelical preacher, who certainly didn't used to see things the same way I do until recent political events changed his mind.

Trump Didn’t Break America, He Revealed Our Brokenness

SEPTEMBER 10, 2022 / JOHN PAVLOVITZ

America is broken.

I’m not sure that’s up for debate at this point.

But let’s be clear about something: Donald Trump didn’t break it.

He didn’t create anything.

Not the unmasked racism so proudly parading itself down crowded main streets, in school board meetings, and on neighborhood message boards;
not the antagonistic, gun-loving bravado still opposing sensible safeguards designed to protect our most vulnerable;
not the white-washed nationalistic fervor screaming its start-spangled supremacy into the ether; not the strident, anti-Science, conspiratorial arrogance refusing to take any measures to preserve life from an insidious virus, not the homophobic, misogynist religion being weaponized against women and the LGBTQ in church pulpits and supreme court rulings.

He is not the genesis of these things, or of hate crimes, book bannings, mass shootings, vaccine opposition, or violent insurrections.

Donald Trump did not invent any of these present national cancers.

What he did, was normalize them.

He removed the social stigma of bigotry by wielding it openly and with a kind of perverse joy.
He continually appealed to the lowest and the worst of humanity until it all became commonplace.
He railed against the educated and the qualified until ignorance became a badge of honor.
He gave people license to celebrate the profound ugliness they’d once concealed for the sake of decorum.
He showed gracious hospitality to the darkness residing in the recesses of human hearts.
Then, he simply let people reveal themselves—and they have.

Since the initial days of his 2016 presidential campaign, this solitary, morally-bankrupt serial grifter has become a kind of moral x-ray machine for hundreds of millions of us: exposing a deeply-embedded cruelty in our families, church members, friends, and neighbors that we never imagined existed.

As those we live alongside and loved have embraced this monstrous man and his predatory movement, we have been forced to reckon with it all:
how close and prevalent the hatred around us is,
how little progress we’ve actually made as a nation,
how little we really knew people we’ve shared staff meetings, church pews, and Thanksgiving tables with,
how many of our relationships were simply misinformed mythologies or marriages of convenience.

And since so many placed their very identity with him from the beginning, for years now they have applauded every bit of moral filth he’s generated, defended each reckless and dangerous act, doubled-down on every abuse of office and every betrayal of country, ratified high crimes against the very nation they claim to want to save.

They have chosen him over former political heroes, historically-revered journalists, once-beloved members of his own party, over any dissenting voice of reason or goodness—and in doing so, they have exposed their own hearts.

I suppose we should be grateful.

Had Donald Trump never been allowed to ascend to the highest levels of the political system and not been so transparent in his contempt for decency, we might never have found ourselves here at this pivot point in our history: not merely a nation politically but a people fractured relationally.

And that’s really the story here: not only a Republican Party and Evangelical Church that have fallen prostrate before this barren, empty husk of a man, disgracing both their oath and calling—but the mothers, uncles, sons, and best friends who have revealed something that we simply could not fathom being true before he appeared.

And no matter what transpires in coming elections or how the courts rule or what legal ramifications come or what legislative alterations take place, we are going to be left with this mess:
the social media separations,
the wordless disconnections,
the silent ghostings,
the expletive-laden terminations.

Even after he is gone, we who remain are going to exist in an America that is grievously broken, perhaps permanently so.

And as terrible as that reality is to contend with, it is still better than living in the numbed sedation of ignorance and denial that came before him; a veneer of politeness belying a terrible truth.

That truth is out now. We know who we are. We have no illusions. We have all declared our allegiances and chosen our hills.

Every facade has been torn down, every phony trapping of religiosity or patriotism stripped away. Now, there is only the sickening, unvarnished truth of who we are as a nation, and staring at it in the raking daylight is the only chance we have to confront and repair it.

In his craven lust for power, his absence of morality or character, his complete disregard for human life, his stratospheric narcissism, his full rejection of the law—Donald Trump has not broken America but revealed our brokenness.

He doesn’t deserve our thanks, but we are indebted to him just the same.

Now, we have to decide how we mend ourselves.

Was this published already?

I was grateful for the rain in early Dec., but it sent us all inside at Fresh, a "Wood Fired Pizza and various other good meals" place for lunch on Saturday before Solstice. This lunch was actually a week after the one at Ole's.

Bette looks good, and so does my finger!!

Cathy and I en-mask after we'd finished our meals...and in holiday red/green colors! Judy said she doesn't take photos. I respected her wishes.

I had a delightful Shrimp Scampi with angel hair pasta...nice chunks of bread and 5 huge shrimps. I wonder why the tails were left on for shrimp served in a sauce...but I cut off their tails. They were soooo good! I had no shrimp left over, but plenty of angel hair!! And half the salad too.

I stopped by CVS and while waiting in line, this jolly old elf with a lantern stood by my side. I wondered who would buy him.

Today's quote:

The deepest wound is knowing that they know, and that it doesn’t matter.

January 6th was a coordinated attempt to kidnap members of Congress, overturn a free and fair election by its people, and install a president whose criminality is simply unprecedented and whose involvement was complete.
It was a threat to our sovereignty.
It was a rejection of our Constitution.
It was antithetical to the teachings of Jesus.
It was an historic act of treason.
It was a vicious attack on democracy.
It was a partisan act of domestic terrorism.
It was a violent insurrection.

All Americans know this.

All of them.

Only decent ones care.

​-John Pavlovich

His whole article may be found HERE

A new orchid and 20 lessons on Tyranny

 

At the local grocery store the other day, this different (to me) orchid said hi, take me home...or at least the feeling came upon me that I would like to take it home!

Most of the buds had already opened.

I had one bud to watch, and before 2 days had gone by...

This simple beauty had opened all it's flowers for New Year's Day. It's somewhat like the one I showed the other day. But that one has little freckles, while this one doesn't. Apparently my warm apartment pleases these tropical plants. Being on the second floor means my living room never gets terribly cold. 

Here's a wonderful salad I had for lunch a few days ago...some feta cheese is sprinkled in with tomatoes and avocado and lettuce, with a low-fat ranch dressing.

Today's quote: From Open Culture daily newsletter HERE.  Note: This post originally appeared on our site in January 2017.

Timothy Snyder, Housum Professor of History at Yale University.  Read Snyder’s lessons from his Facebook post below and consider ordering his latest book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century:

1. Do not obey in advance. Much of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then start to do it without being asked. You’ve already done this, haven’t you? Stop. Anticipatory obedience teaches authorities what is possible and accelerates unfreedom.

2. Defend an institution. Follow the courts or the media, or a court or a newspaper. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you are making them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions don’t protect themselves. They go down like dominoes unless each is defended from the beginning.

3. Recall professional ethics. When the leaders of state set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become much more important. It is hard to break a rule-of-law state without lawyers, and it is hard to have show trials without judges.

4. When listening to politicians, distinguish certain words. Look out for the expansive use of “terrorism” and “extremism.” Be alive to the fatal notions of “exception” and “emergency.” Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary.

5. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that all authoritarians at all times either await or plan such events in order to consolidate power. Think of the Reichstag fire. The sudden disaster that requires the end of the balance of power, the end of opposition parties, and so on, is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. Don’t fall for it.

6. Be kind to our language. Avoid pronouncing the phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. (Don’t use the internet before bed. Charge your gadgets away from your bedroom, and read.) What to read? Perhaps “The Power of the Powerless” by Václav Havel, 1984 by George Orwell, The Captive Mind by Czesław Milosz, The Rebel by Albert Camus, The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt, or Nothing is True and Everything is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev.

7. Stand out. Someone has to. It is easy, in words and deeds, to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without that unease, there is no freedom. And the moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow.

8. Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.

9. Investigate. Figure things out for yourself. Spend more time with long articles. Subsidize investigative journalism by subscribing to print media. Realize that some of what is on your screen is there to harm you. Learn about sites that investigate foreign propaganda pushes.

10. Practice corporeal politics. Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them.

11. Make eye contact and small talk. This is not just polite. It is a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down unnecessary social barriers, and come to understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life.

12. Take responsibility for the face of the world. Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not look away and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.

13. Hinder the one-party state. The parties that took over states were once something else. They exploited a historical moment to make political life impossible for their rivals. Vote in local and state elections while you can.

14. Give regularly to good causes, if you can. Pick a charity and set up autopay. Then you will know that you have made a free choice that is supporting civil society helping others doing something good.

15. Establish a private life. Nastier rulers will use what they know about you to push you around. Scrub your computer of malware. Remember that email is skywriting. Consider using alternative forms of the internet, or simply using it less. Have personal exchanges in person. For the same reason, resolve any legal trouble. Authoritarianism works as a blackmail state, looking for the hook on which to hang you. Try not to have too many hooks.

16. Learn from others in other countries. Keep up your friendships abroad, or make new friends abroad. The present difficulties here are an element of a general trend. And no country is going to find a solution by itself. Make sure you and your family have passports.

17. Watch out for the paramilitaries. When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching around with torches and pictures of a Leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-Leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the game is over.

18. Be reflective if you must be armed. If you carry a weapon in public service, God bless you and keep you. But know that evils of the past involved policemen and soldiers finding themselves, one day, doing irregular things. Be ready to say no. (If you do not know what this means, contact the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and ask about training in professional ethics.)

19. Be as courageous as you can. If none of us is prepared to die for freedom, then all of us will die in unfreedom.

20. Be a patriot. The incoming president (in 2017, Trump) is not. Set a good example of what America means for the generations to come. They will need it.

via Kottke

Oh, and I have to add (late Sunday) a quote from John Pavlovitz.

"This was a nothing revolution: an empty display of cheap anger formed in staggering privilege, made of fake oppression, inflamed by a massive lie—and directed toward a man who fully embodies them: one who has had everything in this life handed to him and is perpetually outraged when cannot have more.

"As the stories of these wannabe revolutionaries are being revealed, we are seeing the truth: that these were not the poor, rural whites the media has been telling us were the heart of this trashcan despot’s rabid base who Blue voters need to understand.

"They were people wealthy enough to travel across the country on a whim after a year of economic disaster: people with businesses and government jobs and private planes and huge sponsored social media platforms. These were not the downtrodden and misrepresented and vulnerable of our nation finally rising up to fight the powers that be: they are the powers that be who can’t recognize that by attacking the system they were assaulting themselves. 

"...It was a marvel to see the absolute most privileged humans walking the planet still manage to convince themselves that they’re oppressed—to be culpable for a murderous act of terrorism and to somehow be even more defiant after it.

"History will record and quantify the events of January 6th, but it will tell a very different story than the one playing in the heads of the perpetrators and of their disgraced, emotionally bankrupt white messiah.

"It will pass the judgement without prejudice:

"This was an empty insurrection.
It was a hollow treason.
It was a meaningless rebellion.
It was a deadly, costly nothing revolution."