The show Stranger
Things was what got me hooked on Netflix. In fact, for the longest
time the Netflix opening music was something I associated with
Stranger Things. If you haven’t seen the show I will give you a
brief synopsis. It is set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana
in the 1980’s. I would describe is as a sci-fi fantasy revolving
around a group of young friends who turn investigators when one of
their own goes missing. They discover that he has been kidnapped by
a monster(they ultimately name Vecna) that lives in another dimension
called the Upside-Down. The Upside-Down is Hawkins only a more
sinister Hawkins, with Vecna and his minions, whom they call
Demogorgons, from their Dungeon and Dragons role playing game,
inhabiting it. They ultimately meet a mysterious girl named Eleven,
whom they call El, who has rather unusual powers. It soon becomes
apparent that she is connected to the Upside-Down and its denizens.
I will leave it at that, since there are too many plot twists to do justice here in this small space. The final season is excellent so far. They will release the season in phases, the next one due this month.
But you may wonder why I mention Stranger Things here, as lately I have been taken up with the horrible events transpiring in the United States. It is because I realized that currently I feel like we have been overrun by monsters, who are controlled by one monster, Donald Trump(Vecna), who are dragging us all into the Upside-Down. It seems to get worse every day with the Supreme Court now rubber-stamping whatever Trump wants, regardless of whether it is really legal or even morally right. Or at least that is the way it seems to me.
I am looking forward to the rest of the final season of Stranger Things. Maybe there will be some ideas on how we can fight our own monsters. Or maybe it will just take my mind off our current horror.
Meanwhile, this song got a lot of play because of the show. I feel like we are all running up that hill.
I wanted to write about this movie, but I happened to see it the same weekend as the No Kings protests. I don’t know if it is still in theaters, but I wanted to post about it anyway. It is based on a true story that occurred during World War II in Germany. It is about a young man, I cannot say boy because he was much more mature than that, who decided to stand up and speak the truth. It is not easy to stand against a government that has no shame or integrity. It is not easy to stand when you run the risk of being eliminated for having the audacity to speak against a selfish, narcissistic, authoritarian leader who does not care about his country’s people and treats them like his serfs.
Here is the trailer:
I think this scene says everything:
No, it is not easy to stand with integrity for values that so many people seem to find disposable. This young man is a lesson to us all. If you can find the movie, I recommend it.
Last Saturday was the No Kings protests. As before, I went to my local protest. Probably the biggest difference from last time was the number of people. This time there were more. Now, I can’t say why, it may have been because last time they attempted to cancel the protests in Minnesota because of the Hortman murders, which happened in the early hours of that day. Or it may be because of something else. Personally, I hope it was because of something else. Given that the number of events was up nationwide I do think there was something else behind the higher turnout.
The crowd was peaceful, with a bit of a festive air. Costumes were common. I saw an eagle, a bear, a couple of chickens, six unicorns and a taco. Yes, a taco. That one was unique and from what I overheard homemade. A number of frog hats were being worn by organizers. They had music and chants. “This is what democracy looks like” was a favorite.
The signs included the normal; “Resist”, “No Kings”, “No Faux King Way”, “Save Democracy”, “Hands Off” (an obvious recycled sign from an earlier protest) etc. But some people came up with some very clever ideas: “Make Nazis Afraid Again”, “Where is Christ in Christian Nationalism? Following Christ means protecting the vulnerable NOT Punishing Them! STOP weaponizing the Christian faith to harm others!” (a crowd favorite judging by the number of photos taken) and “Honk if you’re NOT in the Epstein files” (a personal favorite). I made a new sign, using the traditional “Liberty and Justice for All” on one side (others used that too) and “Tariffs are a Tax on You & Me!”. As before, if I thought a vehicle passing held Trumpers I showed the “Tariff” side, thinking maybe they would actually care about their pocketbook, if not democracy. My unscientific poll of passing vehicles showed a lower rate of occupants giving us the finger or the thumbs down. There were still some who did the roaring engine thing. But over all there was a more positive response. Someone drove by with a Biden head placard, which I really loved. It was like Grandpa Joe was with us. Despite his cognitive decline, a still normal president from the good old days.
Here is a small video of Minnesota protests:
This video is of a more rural area of my state. Trump country. Rural areas will be impacted a great deal from the cuts to Medicaid and the ACA.
On Saturday, October 18, 2025 there will be another No Kings protest nationwide. We are calling all American’s who are concerned with the path Trump has placed our country on to come out and join us.
I have watched with horror as Trump has called out our National Guard and ICE to go to American cities in the guise of cracking down on crime or to deport those he has deemed unwelcome in our country. He has ginned up division and violence to suite his agenda, withholding funds already approved by Congress that help our country function. He has sowed chaos with his haphazard economic and foreign affairs policies.
He is threatening the American people with draconian federal job cuts because the Democrats, finally, stood up and said enough is enough to his cuts to health insurance and Medicaid. Trump has shown time and time again that he does not care about the majority of Americans. He has ignored the law and does exactly as he pleases regardless. The only true thing he has said was that he would be dictator on day one.
So, if you are as concerned about Trump’s behavior, as well as that of the Republicans who are enabling him, please think about coming out on October 18th to show your support for our Constitution and the ideals our country was founded on.
You can search for an event near you on the No Kings website by putting in your zip code, or clicking on one of the dots on the map. Given the number of events, the zip code search may be more useful.
On September 10, 2025 Charlie Kirk was shot and killed. I had no clue who he was. I do not frequent college campuses or listen to right wing media. Those were apparently Charlie’s stomping grounds. On this same day there was another shooting at a school in Colorado. The Kirk shooting seemed to overshadow that. It also seemed to get far more attention than the assassination of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband earlier this year, at least in MAGA world. So I felt I had to do some research and see who Charlie Kirk was.
I listened to a couple “debates” he engaged in with college students as well as a Q and A he and his wife did for a gathering of young conservative women. I also listened to his show centering around the engagement of Taylor Swift. I am not actually a Swiftie per se, but I do like her. My feeling was that his ultimate goal in the debates was not to exchange ideas, for he was very good at interrupting his opponents and not listening, but to convert those he spoke with, or those who were listening, to his way of thinking. He was proselytizing under the guise of debate. His other venues were just other platforms for him to showcase his ideas, which would be why he was doing them.
I found this debate at Cambridge rather interesting. It’s short.
Here is an interview with Tilly, who participated in that debate. It is rather long, but an interesting analysis of the debate and, perhaps, how the left can try to counter some of the conservative right’s ideas.
One of the points I found interesting in the analysis was that when trying to counter the conservative right’s ideas it might be a good idea to try to paint a picture of what those ideas would look like in real life.
I think that what Charlie Kirk was advocating for was a time when women had little or no rights and were treated as little more than chattel by their husbands. Rather like Afghanistan is today. Or perhaps as written in “A Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood. Not a world I would like to live in being a woman. For the most part I think I would have issues with a lot of what Charlie Kirk was supporting.
Since Kirk’s murder the responses have been extreme, either crass glee by his detractors or intense grief by his fans. Again, Trump and his supporters have played the divisive card, vilifying everyone on the left as being the cause of Kirk’s death. I beg to differ, the cause of his death was a young man with a gun. A young man whose motive is really yet to be determined, despite all the speculation, as he isn't talking.
Supposedly Charlie Kirk believed in freedom of speech. If that really was the case he must be horrified at the extreme measures his followers are taking to smother it.
Resistance becomes duty. The title plus the first sentence is a quote that some attribute to Thomas Jefferson. Although there is no evidence that he actually wrote that, he did help write this:
"...when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government..."
We are seeing here the start of that “long train of abuses” and with it we are starting to see that resistance to them. It is our duty as citizens to stand up for our country and her ideals. If we do not, how can we call ourselves American?
Words of advice:
Speaking out:
Showing up In
Tennessee:
Protesting In song:
Oh, those trolls:
It doesn't matter how big or small the contribution to our resistance, it only matters that we do it together. This is our country.
This year I did not do an annual post on the 4th of July, because I just wasn’t feeling the desire to celebrate our day of Independence when it appears we are going backwards to a time before we had representative government.
Our struggles for independence from the rule of a king started with something as simple as a complaint of being taxed without our input. You remember, right? It was called the Boston Tea Party.
A short overview of what lead up to the “Boston Tea Party”:
While you may be familiar with a movement in the recent past called the Tea Party, it was, perhaps, a misnomer. For the Tea Party was a bit of a precursor to MAGA, the group that supports Donald Trump. Or at least they were part of the Republican Party, which has veered so far to the right as to be unrecognizable.
So now that brings us to today, where we have the “Trump Tariffs” and his “Big, Beautiful Bill”. The tariffs are nothing more than a tax on goods that are imported into this country. That tax will be passed on down the food chain until it reaches the end users, which are you and me. This will lead to reciprocal tariffs by our trading partners on the goods we sell them. Both of these taxes will affect us through higher costs of goods we purchase and hurt our companies that sell overseas affecting their markets and our jobs. After Trump’s first term our agriculture markets took some time to recover from his tariffs.
The “Big, Beautiful Bill” is nothing more than a transfer of wealth to the higher income strata of American society. It has made Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy permanent and cut social programs which help lower income Americans survive. This while eliminating thousands of jobs in the public sector which were in place in departments set up to help our government function smoothly. While you may not have seen the ramifications of these Trump and Republican polices, unless you are one of those fired or rounded up and deported, you will eventually. Someone once said that the United States economy is like a battleship, it doesn’t turn on a dime. And, despite what you may have thought, it was doing quite well under Biden, when compared to other countries.
So where does that leave us? I hold out little hope that the true MAGA followers will ever realize what they have done by supporting Trump and his enablers. Even as many lose their jobs and their families sink further into poverty. They have drunk the Kool-Aid of the Trump cult. If those who voted for Trump, voted third party, or simply sat out the election do not come to understand what they are throwing away, then this country is in serious trouble.
So it was hard to celebrate the 4th of July this year. But, I cannot leave this post with such a depressing ending. Because I do see signs out there of that America which stood together in times of trouble, the America we fought for in our revolution, the America that gives hope for our future.
On July 4th there was a catastrophic flood in Texas. A short video:
They call this a historic flood, but I suspect it will become more of the norm in our future. But what we saw, again, was the strength of those who were affected. We saw people helping each other. We saw some of the grit and determination that this country was founded on. I don’t know if the people there were Trump supporters or not, but they stood together as Americans and that is what really made this country great. It is what we need to get back to, helping all of our citizens, not just those who are fortunate to be born to wealthy parents, and have no clue as to what many Americans are going through. My heart goes out to those affected by those Texas floods. Even as I write this it appears that more flooding may be on the way.
I just ran across this video tonight and want to add it to this post, because the point made is important. What do we really want our country to be?
June 14, which is Flag Day and marks the birth of our Army, was a day of tragedy here in Minnesota with the assassination of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. A gunman entered their home in the early morning hours and shot both of them, resulting in their deaths. The attacker had previously entered the home of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife and daughter and shot Hoffman and his wife. At this writing both are expected to survive.
The gunman posed as a police officer, dressing up in tactical gear and driving a vehicle that could be mistaken as a police vehicle at first glance. Here is a brief overview:
The suspect has expressed anti-abortion views in the past and the list of people found in his vehicle included not just Democratic legislators, but abortion rights supporters. A possible motive for his actions. One thing someone pointed out to me and that is interesting, is the time lag between when police found the Hoffmans at 2am and when they encountered the suspect at the Hortman home at around 3:30am. What was he doing for an hour and a half? The distance between the two homes wasn’t very far at all, certainly it would not take that long to travel.
This day was, as you know, the day for the No King’s protests around the country. While I had heard about the shelter in place order for Champlin and Brooklyn Park, I had no idea at the time what was actually transpiring. I did find it a little odd that I heard about it on CNN while having breakfast. Usually fly over country doesn’t really rate national attention. However, it was revealed that the targets of the shooting were state legislators. I had a few errands to run before the protest that I was attending was supposed to start, so I never thought to check my email, and only found out when I arrived a few minutes before the scheduled start of the protest that it had been canceled due to safety concerns. But there were people there and the person who told me about the cancellation said that they were still going. I never considered not going. I had anticipated this protest for too long. As I walked over to the rally point I saw others carrying signs and joining the group. I do not know how many came, or how many chose to stay away, but the crowd seemed to grow as time went by. While I can’t say how many there were, it was a decent size. And, like the other protest I attended, the cars drove by, honking in support or giving us the finger. I didn’t seem to see as many obvious Trumpers in big pick ups as before. There were some clever signs marking the No Kings event and signs for Melissa and Mark. There was, perhaps, a more somber mood than the earlier protest. But the people there, I think, were determined not to let fear rule them. We all seemed to feel that we needed to be there. This was bigger than a single tragedy. And, I suspect, those who died that day would have wanted us to continue on in our fight for our country’s future. From what I have heard there were still many protests around my state, including at the Capitol, where an estimated 25,000 showed up.
Here is one that was actually set to music. I loved the song.
You see, this is our country and we are taking it back.
As of now, the search continues for Melissa and Mark's killer. We will find him.
Update: The suspect in the attacks on our legislators and their spouses, Vance Boelter, was arrested the night of June 15th. Kudos to the great job done by our law enforcement.
It’s still out there. I know, I know, it’s been hard to find, but there have been glimmers of it for some time now. Yes, we saw it in my last post, and we see it in our neighborhoods. Yes, I am talking about a normal America where people actually care about one another and desire to help the less fortunate.
What with the oval office redecorated as a bordello and our Grifter-In-Chief accepting $400 million planes from foreign sources, with the draconian cuts to programs meant to help the sick, disabled, elderly and families just trying to survive being rolled out in order to cut taxes for those who really can afford taxes it’s been a dark few months. So much so that it has been hard to watch the news. But sometimes there comes a flicker of light, of hope, but maybe also of sadness over what could have been.
For anyone who watched the DNC, or who read the social media accounts and watched the YouTube videos, you may remember Gus Walz. He is the son of our governor Tim Walz here in Minnesota. His public display of emotion over his father’s being nominated for Vice President was either accepted as a very nice reaction to what for him was a wonderful thing or ridiculed. It is those who ridiculed his behavior who really should be ashamed. Since that time there has been no follow up, until now.
Gus Walz did an interview, speaking about his situation and what happened at the DNC. He really is an amazing person and should be heard.
I cannot help but feel a great deal of sadness that this family is not in Washington right now. They would have really helped America remain one of the greatest countries that has ever existed instead of a country where people do not desire to travel to.
It was 250 years ago that the American Revolution began. In the intervening years we have struggled to become a united nation. We have fought a civil war and struggled with issues of equality and justice. We have always muddled our way through despite our imperfections, striving to be better.
This snippet of video depicts the beginning of that revolution. While there is a question of Paul Revere’s ride, there is no doubt that this was the start of something massive in scope.
We have a tradition of standing up to kings and dictators. Let us hope that this still remains so. Because America was not meant to be one vindictive little man’s, and his fascist enablers, plaything to tear asunder as they will.
As it is also Easter let me leave you with a lovely song by some very special people.
We have always been a nation of immigrants. They have been the backbone of this country. In fact, one might say they are the people who helped create it.
Yesterday was a day of nationwide protests against many of the policies of the Trump administration. Everyone had their personal issue to advocate for. Many had multiple issues to advocate for. I went to my local protest. I didn’t know what I would find, as my area is Trump country. Well, at least a good half of it is. So as I was driving into my town I started to see cars parked along streets blocks from the rally point. A couple was walking carrying a sign. That was my first clue that there may be more people there than I had anticipated. It didn’t help that I was 15 minutes late. I was having one of those kinds of days. So I started driving around searching for a spot to park. None of the usual suspects had a space for me. But fortunately my local bank, which isn’t open on Saturday, had room in its parking lot. Yes, the spaces were marked for customers only, but as I am a customer I grabbed one.
People were lined up on both sides of our main street carrying signs, with cars honking their support as they drove by. Many cars. Many more than is normal for a Saturday afternoon. I walked down the street trying to find a place to set up shop and display my sign that I had manufactured the night before. It was the first protest sign I had ever made. It held up quite well in the wind, I must say. I had struggled to decide what to say. There was so much I could have said. But I stuck to a more general plea, “Hands Off Our Future” read one side and “Stagflation Affects Everyone” on the other. My intent was to send a message, even if it fell on deaf ears, to the Trumpers that I figured would show up. They don’t seem to care about our democracy, but maybe they would care about their wallets and their children’s future.
There were the usual signs, “Dump Trump”, “Hands off *insert favorite issue here*, but also one apologizing to Canada, one alluding to the fact that while Trump has raised tariffs on many of our allies, he has not put any on Russia. One of my favorites said, “It’s so bad even the introverts are here”. I saw one Ukrainian flag walking around, and went up to that person to thank her for bringing it. She said many people didn’t know what it was. I showed her my shirt, which had the Ukrainian trident symbol on it. There was a Canadian flag and a penguin walking around. The meaning of the penguin didn’t dawn on me until the next day when I was watching a CNN news show talking about the tariffs Trump put on the island occupied only by penguins. Very clever.
I moved around a bit taking pictures to send to friends who couldn’t attend. I eventually migrated to the main rally point and stood behind a couple, holding my sign above their heads. As I mentioned cars would drive by, honking if they supported us, or giving us the finger if they didn’t. There were quite a few of the supporters in cars who had signs of their own plastered to their windows and many waved. I think there were some who just got caught up in the protest without realizing it was there. They were just going somewhere. Those people just ignored us. The couple in front of me left, so I moved forward. There was a feisty little lady to my left who was waving two signs. She must have been in her seventies, maybe a child of the sixties, used to protests. Anyway, there were at least 3 rather large trucks of Trumpers, tricked out with Trump banners or flags that drove up and down, revving their engines and burning rubber, literally. This lady would scream at them as they went by “cowards”! I just flashed my “Stagflation” sign at them. It probably won’t do any good, but when the economy tanks and we slide into stagflation, maybe they will remember my sign.
What I found at the protest were people who are just as concerned as I am about the survival of our democracy and the health of our country’s economy. They worry about the gutting of so many of our critical agencies. You may have noticed that we were nowhere to be found in Myanmar. I read that while we still have some response teams, Trump had eliminated funding for travel.
Protests:
Protests in Chicago:
I just grabbed a couple videos, but these protests were happening across the country. I had a glimpse of America again, and it was a welcome relief from the horrors of the Trump administration.
I am sure you are aware of the protests at Tesla dealerships around the world, as well as the attacks on Tesla vehicles, using various methods.
In this interview Elon Musk appeared to be totally bewildered as to why anyone would attack his Tesla's, calling the act “domestic terrorism”. The interviewer in this video tries to sound so reasonable, even as he spouts the nonsense used in the propaganda being peddled by the far right.
Perhaps you should ask the people who live in the country you are helping Donald Trump destroy in the guise of cutting out “waste and fraud”, Elon.
Unfortunately, there are the owners of a Tesla vehicle who bought them pre-Trump election who are now stuck with their purchase. Not all are wealthy enough, or have the desire, to just walk away from a vehicle they bought for other reasons. The irony of this whole thing being that many Tesla buyers are probably Democratic, and democratic, voters.
Some people are going to great lengths to protect their investment.
It is a sad state that we have fallen into, but perhaps attacking a car or truck, is preferable to attacking other things. You do not marginalize so many people in your thirst for power and wealth and suffer no consequences. When no one in government cares to listen to the people of the country they are responsible for caring for then people will start to act out in ways that you may not like.
Consumer spending makes up approximately 70% of the U.S. economy. There is a challenge for all US consumers, that is to not spend anything at a major corporation on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. This protest is against the anti-DEI measures that Donald Trump has been taking and corporations have been following. But it could apply to anything pertaining to his actions against our economy. While this one day will not have much of on impact on current economic conditions, it will perhaps send a message to those who have the power to halt or modify Donald Trump’s actions in allowing DOGE to remake the US economy into that of a third world nation’s.
Make no mistake the policies of indiscriminate cuts, massive firings, whole scale sweeps removing immigrants, marginalizing people for whatever reason, cutting mandatory government programs, like Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid, reneging on contracts to farmers etc., will eventually have a detrimental impact on our economy. All of this will affect everyone. So even if you are indifferent to the inequality, injustice and down right simple meanness that permeate Donald Trump's actions this will affect you.
So on this one day, perhaps reminding people of what a depression can look like may wake some people up.
In the past I have done posts about people who are struggling against authoritarian regimes of one sort or another. Little did I realize that I would end up doing the same for my own country. But unfortunately that is where we are today.
Since Donald Trump has taken office he has rushed to implement Project 2025, doing his best to overwhelm any opposition that may arise in other areas of our government. The Republicans in Congress have been rolling over for him, approving of his actions, giving little care to providing the checks and balances that were woven into our form of government. It has been left to the judicial branch to stand up against his attempts to consolidate power. So far.
At the moment I am only looking at the domestic fallout from Trump’s actions. This is only a small sample. You may want to read some of the comments that have been left under these videos.
FAFO:
Mass firings:
What do those government workers actually do?
One of those blue dots:
We will not go quietly into that good night. There are still people out there who are Americans.
This weekend Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on both Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on China. Canada was swift in their retaliation. So I thought I would give a refresher course on the possible consequences of tariffs.
Here is a short video on the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of the 1930’s. You will recall this was around the time of the Great Depression.
Recently I have been researching what investments held up during the Great Depression. It might be handy information for the near future. That and a garden.
Today is a day to
honor someone who believed in an America for all Americans. As we
look into our future remembering our past may be a comfort and an
inspiration. As a country we have overcome adversity in the past, we
have had amazing people, like Dr. Martin Luther King, who have
stepped up to the plate to try to move us forward.
