The Books of Bokonon

ICE = GESTAPO by u/Hairy-Dog3523 in GlobalNews ICE agents kidnapping babies. This isn’t immigration enforcement, it’s state terror. by u/Winter-Stranger-3709 in GlobalNews

This seems like a pretty good frame of reference for sorting out how at risk you are in the US as long as the Trump regime exists. I am probably more in the "keep your eyes peeled" category for now. Let's just say that when I go through airport security now, I make sure my phone is turned completely off. Otherwise due to my line of work, I am definitely not valued as a citizen. I would prefer not to expatriate at this time simply due to age. But if I had to, I am already preparing. Always good to have a backup plan just in case.

I am going to post the last two videos in the series here. I have been meaning to for some time, but this has been a very busy calendar year for me so far. Timothy Snyder's book, On Tyranny is one I have said time and time again is a must-read. I read it the first time in a single sitting. It's factual, easy to read, and provides a basis for the resistance to an impending fascist regime that will be necessary as we go forward.    All we can do now is learn these lessons and be as courageous as possible. We have a long and difficult road ahead of us.

Still a couple more videos in this series to post. As a quick aside, I urge anyone who reads this to buy or check out a copy of On Tyranny. You'll thank yourself later. We are clearly at a point where any semblance of normality is out the window. I've read elsewhere on how it took Hitler only 53 days to consolidate power. It's reasonable to assume that there are still plenty of people in denial about the dangerous times we live in, and they will be in shock when the bubble inevitably bursts. Keep calm and carry on, as Winston Churchill once said.

I've been meaning to getting back to this video series. This lesson is very valuable:

You can download a WWII-era manual as a free pdf . As with anything written about eight decades ago, some info will undoubtedly be dated, but otherwise it covers enough basics to be worth your while. 

If you remember the original Twilight Zone (it was on as reruns when I was a kid and as a teen), Rod Serling was adept at pointed social commentary using a sci-fi series as his vehicle. Each episode is a morality tale in its own right. This clip is from an episode that is very timely about now: As we stare into the abyss in this sad year of 2025, remember that we have all been warned, and that a number of us (me included) have been trying to warn you for ages. Speaking for myself, I never wanted to live through a repeat of the bad old days of fascism. I'd heard enough stories from survivors while they were still alive. What they went through was painful, and they were the lucky ones. I don't know if there is much time remaining to avert the US sliding into a fascist dictatorship, but I hope that those of us who care will fight like hell to stop it.

It's not clear whether or not we will have a republic, known as the United States of America, for much longer. It's safe to say that Elon Musk, the billionaire overlord, is taking over more and more of the federal government with each passing day. Those government agencies only survive if people defend them. I think a lot of Democratic leaders and pundits, as well as Democratic or Democratic-leaning citizens were shell-shocked by the speed and ferocity with which the second Trump "presidency" (regime is a much more fitting descriptor). It's safe to say the shock has worn off and those who were stunned are now simply pissed off. The video you see is primarily directed at the closure of USAID. At the end, you see a number of Congressional representatives from the House and Senate enter the building housing USAID. It's not the only defense of our republic that I've seen, but it is noteworthy. I tend to be a bit jaded when it comes to actions that are more per...

      Today marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, one of the most notorious of the Nazi concentration camps during WWII. On this international Holocaust Remembrance Day , let's memorialize this atrocity as a harbinger, an omen, a warning, as many of the posts on the Guardian's live blog of this occasion remind us. One million people of Jewish descent were murdered just at Auschwitz alone. Wrap your mind around that statistic, and then remember that behind the number were living breathing human beings whose lives were snuffed out. The survivors have undoubtedly experienced a lifetime of PTSD, but also have been among our most powerful witnesses to the very worst of what humanity is capable. I've had the opportunity to speak with survivors of Auschwitz and other similar camps. Their stories are not pleasant but need to be heard. If you never had a chance to visit with someone who lived through that atrocity, there are other resources that are digitally...

I haven't put up a Jon Stewart video in a few weeks. Perhaps I was not much in the mood. But I am now. This Monday evening, he unpacked a new year with two terrorist attacks that fit nobody's preconceived narrative, and a January 6th that went much differently than the January 6th of 2021. Amazing what happens when the losing candidate handles it with panache, rather than throws a temper tantrum. Jon Stewart laughs, but as we all know, he does so with a certain amount of moral outrage. There was a line from V for Vendetta - I don't remember it exactly - where the character Gordon Dietrich is asked if everything is a joke to him. He answers "only the things that matter." I feel that. Let's watch the video:  

It's been a minute, but I want to get back to this series of videos that accompany Timothy Snyder's book, On Tyranny . This particular lesson strikes me as more common sense than anything else. Keeping in contact with friends and acquaintances from other countries strikes me as a sound idea, for more than a few reasons. One is that our peers often offer a perspective on how our nation is faring that can be quite illuminating, if we are willing to listen. Even better is the realization that our peers elsewhere across the world may have direct experience with authoritarian systems and know the importance of exercising our democratic rights and responsibilities. We can learn by studying other democratic systems and what aided their survival or led to their downfall. I also see the value in having a passport - partially to travel to see the world and experience new people and cultures, but also just in case something goes sideways. Snyder continues to repeat the importance of under...

I think this video is pretty self-explanatory and offers what strikes me as good common sense. Make sure to pay attention.

I've been meaning to get back to this video series. The lesson here is one that was definitely practiced by numerous people in South Korea during what was my morning and then lunchtime and was essentially their overnight hours, when ordinarily most folks would have been asleep. This coup woke people up - literally - and got them outside, taking a stand, and making a difference. We see the same thing happening in the republic of Georgia as its ruling party is becoming ever more subordinate to Russia and ever more authoritarian.  Dr. Snyder is right that there is something to be said for unplugging - turning off the computer, putting away the cellphone, and being physically present, whether at a protest or civic organization meeting or whatever. The people you meet are not ones selected by an algorithm which turns out to be a good thing. He may well be right that the time many of us spent in social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic paved the way for the crisis we faced toward th...

Like many of you in the US, I pretty much woke up to a developing news story that the South Korean President (Yoon) had declared martial law and was apparently in the midst of perpetrating his own autogolpe (a fancy name for a self-coup). I honestly don't know the intricacies of South Korean politics, so I'll leave all that for those who have legitimate expertise, but I get the impression that Yoon, who narrowly defeated an incumbent back in 2022 had become deeply unpopular and had led a scandal-plagued presidency. He also had to deal with a Parliament whose majorities were with the opposition, meaning he really was a lame duck. Thankfully for South Korea, Yoon apparently made a half-assed coup attempt that failed within a matter of hours. The members of the South Korean parliament got together, held a vote, and rejected Yoon's martial law declaration, which did force him to back down. What his future holds is hard to say. At minimum, I expect he will be impeached. I get th...

The title comes from an opening line from Gil Scott-Heron's song B-Movie . Over the course of his spoken word performance, accompanied by a wonderful late-1970s/early 1980s funk groove, Gil Scott-Heron broke it down that there was no way that a guy who got maybe around a quarter of all potential eligible voters, and that it boiled down to half of the eligible American voters didn't vote in the first place, whether due to apathy, dislike for any candidate on the ballot for President that year, or any of a number of structural barriers to voting (persons with disabilities, or who work and have no early voting options, etc). Reagan managed to win over 25% of the eligible voters and the rest who bothered to cast a vote did so for Carter or Anderson in 1980. So the case that Ronald Reagan did not have a mandate for his first term is very defensible.  So why go back into some funk and R&B history? Because we have a bigger problem now, and that bigger problem also does not have a ...

I have been meaning to return to the remaining lessons in Timothy Snyder's book, On Tyranny . If you haven't read this book, make a point of checking it out at your local library or purchase it at a local bookstore. It's a brief book and inexpensive.  This lesson on social denunciation has both positive and negative implications. On the negative side, Dr. Snyder reminds us that when a nation descends into fascism, it is crucial to be aware of how the people in your life change as events change. So this becomes more a matter of survival. Cues in our social environment can tell us a lot about whether or not something is about to go sideways. If your neighbor who has greeted you for years suddenly stops speaking to you, there may be a problem. That's why it's a good idea to have your passport and go-bag ready (Snyder doesn't mention that last bit, but I think we can say it's implied). On a more positive note, making eye contact and small talk can provide much-n...

So Trump's prospective "border czar" is threatening the Denver mayor with arrest over the mayor's resistance to mass deportations . As an expert on authoritarianism (minor in comparison to Altemeyer or Duckitt, but I do have a few peer review publications to show for it) and an amateur history buff, I don't see how this standoff ends well. Trump's fascist tendencies are on full display - this time by one of his henchmen. Either the federal government goes forward with its mass imprisonment of undocumented residents (and anyone who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time) and the Denver mayor goes to jail, or the mass deportation happens and the mayor folds like so many others who were supposed to be our bulwarks of democracy.  The US has devolved to the point that a plurality of its citizens don't seem to be bothered with electing a convicted felon as their president and can't be bothered to care who gets hurt in the process. The US ha...

Here are some more words to live by as we prepare for a second Trump term after barely surviving the first. A lot of what Dr. Snyder says here is just good common sense. The concerns about the lack of local news and investigative reporters is, sadly, on point. Rebuilding local networks of investigative reporters/journalists will be a daunting but necessary task. In the meantime, do your best to be informed and be on the look out for propaganda. Here's the video:

The lesson itself is one I take to heart: "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." I have been working on and off on a post regarding why I reject the post-truth narrative that has become part of our media landscape and discourse during this past decade. Dr. Snyder's lesson dovetails nicely with my own thoughts. Without truth, we have no meaningful way to communicate, to settle disagreements, to challenge misinformation and disinformation (the distinction between these two terms is subtle, but important). I'll still eventually get my post finished and published on this blog, but Dr. Snyder says it better. So let's listen to what he has to say:  

I will continue with a series of posts I started recently. This is one of a series of videos Timothy Snyder created ahead of the release of a revised edition of his book, On Tyranny. Lesson 9 has to do with language. Dr. Snyder has a few things to say about how the algorithms we are exposed to when we are on social media narrow the language we are exposed to, and some ways to move forward in a way that stimulates the sort of critical thought needed to keep democracy afloat.