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Feb 6 addendum 2 to Post and Comments of Feb 2

i can't just add this over there as i'd like to.   Going back that way does not allow me to "save" as i write and this might take a while,  i might need to leave to take advantage of any break in the Rain for the evening feed.  So this.   It's awkward, but….

I'd planned to write last night but realized late that id forgotten to charge the laptop.   So while that was happening i went back to NPR All Things Considered and listened again to the segment with Padraig O Tuama.  It had been a Gloriously SUNNY DAY,  one day between the Rain days that came before and the ones now,  beginning to day that will come.   It was a BeautyFull day and he is a Beauty Full human being.   I wanted to go there,  and go to his pod cast.       instead i nodded off,  sitting here at the table and woke at 12:25.    Too late.

so now.  Get it said and see where it leaves me.   

i woke to news that was Beyond the Pale.   Trump and Netanyahu  sitting in the Oval  Office discussing a plan for the United States to come into ownership…ownership…of Gaza to redesign it to become the riviera of the middle east.   Stunned.  as i type this i am still stunned.    and part of this is the proposal that amounts to what seems to be nothing less than ethnic cleansing.  You can read about that yourselves in different places…look for your own truth.    it pushed me over the edge.   There is nothing in me for any effort to "avoid hot topics" with anyone,  anywhere.    rather,  anywhere,  with anyone,  i need to speak my truth.  The thinking that it will be maybe just the next 4 years of chaos…just….    no.   because what of the lives of displaced people during that  4 years time,  the lives of babies born,  young ones coming of age.   How long will it take to relegislate all the harm if indeed there comes to be a chance?   How these 4 years belong to Alyssia in her bloom of womanhood and Emrie,  learning into her world…stealing their years.   

 

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9 responses to “Feb 6 addendum 2 to Post and Comments of Feb 2”

  1. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    4 years and what do we tell our grandchildren of this distorted America when we have spoken of equality and human rights and fairness and extending a global helping hand. My grandchildren are the great grandchildren of immigrants and growing up they asked many questions about my parents, their great grandparents: Why did they come to America? Were they forced to come or did they choose to come? How hard was it for them to leave Spain? Were they liked here and was it easy for them to make friends? Did people help them learn the language and way of life here?
    You are right grace, there is no other way to describe this than by ethnic cleansing. And although Trump seems to be walking some of this back, he is delusional when he says everyone loves this plan…
    Tonight, I listened to Omar Baddar, a Palestinian journalist analyst who was on Democracy Now. He said that “Trump does not see Palestinians as human beings. Here is the transcript:
    https://www.democracynow.org/2025/2/6/omar_baddar_trump_gaza_israel_palestine

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  2. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    love their questions…thanks for telling this…
    and the Democ Now…link…interesting food for thought in both the interviews i want to keep educating self so if i do have opportunity to have an exchange with someone i can
    do it in a useful manner.

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  3. Nancy Avatar
    Nancy

    Grace~ Yes, ethnic cleansing. Period.
    It is so vile and disgusting, my stomach turns each time it is mentioned and watching Netanfuhu fills me with horror and anger…how can he stand there w/ rump, nodding like hey not a bad idea…after the Holocaust? How can more not be yelling from the rooftops about this…
    It makes me ill.

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  4. Catherine Avatar
    Catherine

    It is shocking and sickening. Not unique in the history of humanity. I feel empathy for all ancestors who lived through times like this.

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  5. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    Four years only gives him time to put into place what will affect generations. He is America’s Hitler … my parents immigrated from Germany so I don’t say this lightly. We have every reason to be afraid!!

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  6. Liz A Avatar
    Liz A

    I confess I long wondered how Nazi Germany came to be … how good German people tolerated it, while others promoted it .. and now I see, quite clearly, how it can happen, is happening … how wild lies and propaganda tipped the scales just enough to win the elections (because this isn’t just Trump) … and even now, wild lies and propaganda are likely deluding those whose online feeds tell them we are “winning” against the “others” … building anxiety and fears for safety in order to facilitate undemocratic means for suppressing those on the blacklist … women, people of color, non-“Christians” and those who are LGBTQ
    and here I paused to look up the origins of the term blacklist, finding multiple references to the term dating back to the 17th century, as well as its repeated use in defining 20th century events … so, a term baked into our understanding of what one must do to disenfranchise undesirable “others”
    and what can “we the people” do now? … call and write the same people who enabled Trump’s rise in the first place? as if that will do any good … wait for the next election? knowing Trump said loud and clear “vote in this election and in four years you won’t have to vote any more” … protest in the streets? which just gives fuel to the fire of the lie that the “others” (us) are unsafe … pray?
    hope is the knowledge that change is still possible, but as with the looming climate crisis (which arguably has already arrived), the windows of opportunity for change are rapidly narrowing … while I absolutely believe we cannot give in to despair, I wonder if we will see the resolution of these twin crises in our lifetimes

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  7. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    Yes, Tina, very movingly said. Those of us who have immigrant parents who came to America, seeking a better life for themselves and their families, I feel, have an especially intense visceral reaction to what is going on…

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  8. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    Liz, what a well thought out response, especially as to how we have become Nazi Germany…it is hard not to dwell in he land of despair, in the land of inaction for it is so overwhelming but we take each day as it comes. For me, I try to do something,but even there, what I do is easy, contacting my Senators and congressional reps for they are all Democrats…it takes courage to go to the other side and makes those calls trying to engage but as feisty as I can be at times, I have not as of yet, had the belly to do this…

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  9. Nancy Avatar
    Nancy

    Liz and all…mute or turn on captions…then scan a few comments…this is what tells me how it can happen, that it is happening.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7rGipq8jZI
    I have nothing uplifting to add.

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