No Kings, No Autocrats

Today is a key day in the development of a national resistance movement. Trump has been in office for nine months and his actions have spawned the “No Kings” demonstrations nationwide.

Trump’s minions are branding them “Hate America” protests in a hapless attempt to undermine their significance.

But these demonstrations represent our best opportunity to save our democracy. We aren’t going to wake up one day to an announcement that we are living in an autocracy.

Rather, it is a gradual process of drip, drip, drip as we lose our rights to stand up, speak out and join together to say we have had it with this monster.

No Kings! No Autocrats!

“This is how elected autocrats subvert democracy—packing and “weaponizing” the courts and other neutral agencies, buying off the media and the private sector (or bullying them into silence), and rewriting the rules of politics to tilt the playing field against opponents. The tragic paradox of the electoral route to authoritarianism is that democracy’s assassins use the very institutions of democracy—gradually, subtly, and even legally—to kill it.”
― Steven Levitsky, How Democracies Die

HEADLINES:

• No Kings: what to know about the anti-Trump protests attracting millions — More than 2,500 US rallies are planned in all 50 states as protesters call for limits on presidential power (Guardian)

• From Maine to the Marianas, Americans Will Cry: “No Kings!” (Nation)

• ‘No Kings’ organizers project a massive turnout for this weekend’s protests (NPR)

• “I’m not a king,” Trump says ahead of nationwide No Kings protests (Axios)

• With a phone call, Putin appears to change Trump’s mind on Ukraine. Again. (WP)

• Trump, Zelenskyy meet at White House to discuss Russia-Ukraine war (ABC)

• While hosting Zelensky, Trump shifts his tone on long-range missiles (WP)

• Trump commutes sentence of former US Rep. George Santos in federal fraud case (AP)

• How CIA deployment gives Trump no ‘limitations’ on Venezuela action (BBC)

• U.S. Navy warship holding survivors from strike on Caribbean vessel, sources say (Reuters)

• Trump administration asks Supreme Court to let it deploy troops in Illinois (WP)

• CBS News ends over 60-year presence at Pentagon after declining to sign new press requirements (CBS)

• John Bolton pleads not guilty to charges of mishandling classified information (Guardian)

• ICE is quietly building a massive surveillance network (WP)

• Donald Trump’s Deep-State Wrecking Ball (New Yorker)

• Groundbreaking New Way of Measuring Blood Pressure Could Save Thousands of Lives (SciTechDaily)

• YouTube Just Ate TV. It’s Only Getting Started (Hollywood Reporter)

• Prince Andrew to relinquish titles after revelations on Epstein, alleged Chinese espionage (WP)

• AI-powered features begin creeping deeper into the bedrock of Windows 11 (ArsTechnica)

• Sex is a big market for the AI industry. ChatGPT won’t be the first to try to profit from it (AP)

• The Blurred Truths of Sora (Wired)

• Pete Hegseth Walks Fully Nude Around Newly Press-Free Pentagon (Onion)

 

Friday Mix

HEADLINES:

• Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton indicted (CNN)

• We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days. (ProPublica)

• The Last Days of the Pentagon Press Corps (Atlantic)

• The Pentagon reporters have left the building (The Hill)

• Appeals court won’t let Trump deploy National Guard in Illinois for now (WP)

• Trump says he will meet Putin in Hungary for Ukraine talks after ‘very productive’ phone call (BBC)

• Head of the U.S. Military’s Southern Command Is Stepping Down, Officials Say (NYT)

• Trump approves CIA operations in Venezuela (Al Jazeera)

• ‘There was no rebellion’: Trump’s war on U.S. cities is hitting a legal buzzsaw (WP)

• Country Singer Goes Viral Criticizing Christians ‘Who Laugh When Families Are Torn Apart’ (HuffPost)

• ‘Gen Z’ protesters lead global wave of generational discontent (AP)

• Report: 83% Of Americans Just Want To Put On Sunglasses And Say ‘Let’s Do This’ (Onion)

Thursday Mix

EADLINES:

• Why Is the Pentagon Afraid of the Press? (Atlantic)

• Supreme Court leans toward further weakening landmark Voting Rights Act (NBC)

• ICE Is Cracking Down on Chicago. Some Chicagoans Are Fighting Back. (NYT)

• Judge blocks Trump from firing federal workers during government shutdown for now (CNBC)

• Trump Administration Authorizes Covert C.I.A. Action in Venezuela (NYT)

• Inside the Trump Administration’s Assault on Higher Education (New Yorker)

• A Statement from NPR on the Pentagon’s Press Policy (NPR)

• At least 30 news organizations declined to sign a new Pentagon access policy for journalists, warning of the potential for less comprehensive coverage of the world’s most powerful military. (Reuters)

• A journalist investigated a soccer star’s death and ended up charged with terrorism (WP)

• Trump Considers Overhaul of Refugee System That Would Favor White People (NYT)

• ‘The cavalry is coming’: Indivisible predicts massive ‘No Kings’ turnout (NBC)

• Trump Targets Democratic Districts by Halting Billions During Shutdown (NYT)

• Don’t Blame the Democrats for Trump’s Revenge Tour (Atlantic)

• Where do babies come from? Robert F Kennedy Jr doesn’t seem to know (Guardian)

• No amount of alcohol is safe, at least for dementia risk, study finds (WP)

• US revokes visas for 6 foreigners over Charlie Kirk-related speech (AP)

• Winning with misinformation: New research identifies link between endorsing easily disproven claims and prioritizing symbolic strength (Conversation)

• Record leap in CO2 fuels fears of accelerating global heating (Guardian)

• ChatGPT will soon allow erotica for verified adults, says OpenAI boss (BBC)

• How Sam Altman Played Hollywood (Hollywood Reporter)

• Study Finds Voices Should Sound Normal Through Walkie-Talkies By Now (Onion)

 

Fox Stands Up

I’m no fan of Fox News. 

It bears responsibility to a large degree for the rise of Trump and a large portion of his cabinet has been drawn from the ranks of former Fox hosts, including perhaps the worst secretary of defense in history, Pete Hegseth.

And it is Hegseth’s new policy barring Pentagon correspondents from doing their jobs reporting inside military headquarters that has caused an uproar among those defending the First Amendment.

Almost universally, media organizations have condemned Hegeth’s policy, and that includes Fox News.

So credit where credit is due. For once, Fox has done the right thing for the right reason.

Without an effective press aggressively covering the Trump administration’s reach for authoritarian power, our democracy is doomed.

Perhaps, even the decision-makers at Fox now recognize this is the case.

HEADLINES:

• News organizations, including Hegseth’s former employer Fox, reject new Pentagon reporting rules (AP)

• Hegseth’s legal fixer at the center of Pentagon’s new media restrictions (WP)

• Why I’m handing in my Pentagon press pass (NPR)

• News outlets broadly reject Pentagon rules before deadline for signing (WP)

• The Beacon of Democracy Goes Dark (Atlantic)

• Mental health, substance abuse staffers fired amid government shutdown (ABC)

• ICE’s use of full-body restraints during deportations raises concerns over inhumane treatment (AP)

• Marjorie Taylor Greene, tearing into her own party, says GOP men in Congress are ‘weak’ (WP)

• America Needs a Mass Movement—Now (Atlantic)

• Supreme Court reopens debate on key part of Voting Rights Act (WP)

• Trump’s gamble on Argentina looms over IMF-World Bank summit (Politico)

• Six killed after US strikes another boat off coast of Venezuela (CNN)

• Israel limits aid and keeps Rafah crossing closed in dispute over hostage remains (Guardian)

• Madagascar army says it has taken control after President Rajoelina impeached (France24)

• Jimmy Kimmel’s Rare Praise Of Donald Trump Ends With A Biting Twist (HuffPost)

• He supported the U.S. war in Afghanistan. Now he may be deported to the Taliban. (WP)

• Can America recover from Trump? Here’s what new data says. (Vox)

• Kathy Mattea Inducted Into Grand Ole Opry As Suzy Bogguss Invited To Join The Family (MusicRow)

• Google Meet launches an AI-powered makeup feature (TechCrunch)

• Financial Advisors Recommend Throwing Away Unopened Bills (Onion)

 

American Diary

There is a relatively obscure book I like to reread at times like these called Berlin Diary by William L. Shirer, who is much better known for The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

He published Diary in 1941 just as the cataclysm known as World War II was getting under way, and two decades before his other, larger work became a best-seller.

The reason I originally was attracted to earlier book, and still am, is that as an American journalist stationed in Europe, Shirer was able to capture the intrigue of a moment when everyone knew they were on the verge of something immense but none among them could possibly know the scale of what was about to happen, how bad it might get, or how it would all turn out in the end.

It is in these moments that we can hope for the best and prepare for the worst but we can’t know. The relationships with family and friends that we cultivate, solidify or reignite at these times have the potential to help sustain us through the difficult weeks, months and yeas to come.

The movie Casablanca provides those same kinds of insights into the emotional intensity of such moments to the screen, and not surprisingly in retrospect, it was released at roughly the same time as Berlin Diary.

Now it feels as if we may be at another one of those tipping points of history. Hopefully, this one will be less cataclysmic than global war, but the parallels between Trump and Hitler’s rise are too great to ignore. Trump is reshaping our lives and relationships as if we are collectively frozen in time watching a massive train wreck occur in slow motion.

It may prove to be at some future point that we were powerless to prevent it — that like Shirer and Edward R. Murrow we are merely eyewitnesses to the history unfolding before us. Alternatively, it may be that by speaking out, standing up, and reaching out that we can as yet still avert the disaster that would be the collapse of our democracy.

But whatever may be about to happen — or more hopefully, not happen — we’ll still all have each other, and now is a good time to acknowledge that those connections matter.

HEADLINES:

• What the Founders Would Say Now (Atlantic)

• Living Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners are freed as part of Gaza ceasefire (AP)

• U.S. measles cases continue to climb, with outbreaks across the country (NPR)

• China accuses US of ‘double standards’ over tariff threat (BBC)

• Chinese Exports Surge, Giving Xi Stronger Hand in Trade Fight (Bloomberg)

• Media companies thought late night TV was irrelevant. Kimmel proved them wrong (NPR)

• The Indictment of Letitia James and the Collapse of Impartial Justice (New Yorker)

• Trust in the Supreme Court has eroded — its integrity must be restored (The Hill)

• A handful of US Senate Republicans are wrestling with the impending expiration of health insurance subsidies that are the primary sticking point in the government shutdown standoff that entered its 13th day. (Reuters)

• Historic wave of retirements is putting huge strains on the government (WP)

• The planet has entered a ‘new reality’ as it hits its first climate tipping point, landmark report finds (CNN)

• Border Clash Between Afghanistan and Pakistan Threatens a Wider Conflict (NYT)

• A New Algorithm Makes It Faster to Find the Shortest Paths (Wired)

• An AI became a crypto millionaire. Now it’s fighting to become a person (BBC)

• Ghoul Americans Celebrate Demonic Heritage Month (Onion)

 

Acts of Resistance

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. 

                                                                                                                   -- Edmond Burke

***

Good morning. It’s a new week and life in Trump's America continues to become more complicated in troubling ways.

But we still have, for now, our treasured freedom of speech. So for readers of this newsletter, I have a number of suggestions for ways to resist Trump’s grab for authoritarian power.

These are small acts, but they add up to a plan going forward.

• Join or support the “No Kings” protests next Saturday, the 18th.

• “Like” country singer Zach Bryan’s song, “Bad News”

• In California, vote “yes’ on Prop 50.

• Contact your Congressional representatives in the House or the Senate.

• Wear anti-Trump or anti-ICE items of clothing.

• Display anti-Trump or anti-ICE signs.

  Watch Jimmy Kimmel’s shows.

• Write op-eds or Letters to the Editor.

• Support the Human Rights Data Analysis Group.

• Support the Journal of the Plague Years.

• Support your favorite media outlet, especially local organizations and the Local NEWS Network.

• Forward this newsletter to a friend.

This is not meant to be a comprehensive list — it’s just a smattering of scattershot ideas based on essays I’ve published recently.Those of you who are more-activist-oriented probably can do better. Feel free to add other ideas in the Comment section at the bottom of this newsletter.

And find your best way to join the Resistance.

Sunday Mix

HEADLINES:

• Mass layoffs begin as government shutdown stretches into second week (CBS)

• CDC cuts hit staff dealing with measles, Ebola and disease forecasting (WP)

• ‘Portland is Portlanding’: ICE protests shift tone as court weighs Trump’s troop deployment (Oregonian)

• Chicago TV journalist pushed to ground and arrested during Ice raid, later released (Guardian)

• Marc Benioff Says Trump Should Send Guard Troops to San Francisco (NYT)

• Trump announces 130% tariffs on China. The global trade war just came roaring back (CNN)

• Billionaire MacKenzie Scott doubles down on DEI with $42 million donation (Fortune)

• Scientists make incredible breakthrough that could change future of construction: ‘A significant advancement’ (TechCrunch)

• MIT rejects Trump administration deal for priority federal funding (WP)

• Joe Biden undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer treatment (ABC)

• Country music star facing MAGA ‘go woke, go broke’ threat got a mega-deal this year (PennLive)

• Sailing into Dictatorship (Journal of the Plague Years)

• Ghost of Gamergate (Slate)

• Why Hamas gambled on giving up Gaza hostages (Reuters)

• North Korea displays new long-range missile at a military parade celebrating Kim Jong Un (NBC)

• The Race to Stop AI’s Threats to Democracy (Reveal)

• AI videos of dead celebrities are horrifying many of their families (WP)

• Americans Demand Their Voices Be Heard And Also Some Kind Of Dessert You Get After Breakfast (Onion)

VIDEO:

Zach Bryan - Bad News 2 (Full Unreleased Song) | Anti-ICE Anthem | By Byte Jugglers