Polite Resystance is Acquiescence

The other night The Beloved Spouse™ and I watched Anthropoid, a World War 2 thriller based on the true story of the mission to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich, the main architect behind Nazi Germany’s “Final Solution,” and known as “The Butcher of Prague.” It’s an excellent film on multiple levels and I highly recommend it.

 

It's also thought-provoking, given our current situation. Make no mistake, I am not comparing conditions in the United States in 2025 to what existed in Prague in 1938. What those people lived through is too hideous to contemplate. Even the worst of 47’s plans for immigrants and other chosen groups pale in comparison to the execution 5,000 Czechs in retaliation for Heydrich’s assassination, or the routine taking of hostages to “encourage” the betrayal of Resistance fighters.

 

Watching the film, I tried to put myself in the place of several of the characters, including those who lived in Czechoslovakia all along, and those who got out and parachuted back in to aid in the Resistance; I couldn’t do it. My personal experience makes a true understanding of their courage and self-sacrifice beyond my comprehension.

 

There is one similarity that struck me: the Czechs had no idea how long they’d have to keep this up. Chamberlain had sold them out and they were on their own until the United Kingdom entered the was after the Nazi invasion of Poland a year after Anthropoid takes place. (In fairness, the Brits were training those who parachuted back into Czechoslovakia to support the Resistance.)

 

Our situation is similar, if not as dire. We need to make up our minds to show courage and a willingness to sacrifice if we are to keep 47 and his MAGgots from destroying everything accomplished in this country over the past 100 years. While our conditions are nowhere near as bad as those faced by the European Resistance fighters during the war, we do lack one thing that helped to sustain them once the war was fully joined.

 

No one is coming to save us.

 

The time for polite talk and gatherings has passed. Chants of “Trump must go now!” are meaningless, given the current makeup of Congress. The encouragement of “good trouble” is masturbatory so long as “good trouble” means gathering, chanting, and marching with permits.

 

The upper echelons of the MAGgot movement are laughing at us. Does anyone reading this thing 47 or Vice President Possumfucker or Auschwitz Barbie or AG Barbie HHS Secretary Jack D. Ripper gives half a fuck about any of that?

 

They have to at least be inconvenienced. Gatherings of several hundred people – or more; more is always better -  in front of ICE or DHS or DOJ, or the FBI, or HHS, or Congress who got together without prior permission and have to be forcible removed would be a good start.

 

I’m not talking about violence. Law enforcement comes to clear the area, sit down. Go limp. Do not allow yourself to be escorted out; make them carry you. Whatever might get on the evening news or go viral to inspire the people outside the Beltway to take action of their own.

 

Such an approach worked during the Vietnam War, and what we’re facing here is a far more existential threat to this country than that war was. Yes, people are going to go to jail. Some will be gassed. Some may be beaten or worse. We all have to decide for ourselves what democracy is worth.

 

I’ve made my decision. Now I just need someone to point me, and not in the direction of more of the same.

How much government do we need? More than some like to think.

 

Some may find this post insensitive.

 

Get over it.

 

My heart goes out to the Texans affected by the flooding over the past week. I’m sure it’s a great comfort to them [insert sarcasm font] that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, aka Auschwitz Barbie (no known relation to Klaus) has said she intends to do away with FEMA “as we know it” while FEMA as it exists is working feverishly to resolve the situation on the ground.

 

The problems were exacerbated by DOGE’s cuts to the National Weather Service, and not just the meteorologists. Many staff positions tasked with getting out the word about impending crises were cut, so timely notifications didn’t go out.

 

Texas was no help. The county refused to update the warming system that might have got a lot of the dead out of harm’s way. They said it wasn’t worth $1 million. Given the death toll at this writing is 119, that means the county government didn’t think a human life was worth $8,403.36. That valuation will go down as more bodies are found.

 

While my heart goes out to everyone affected, let’s be honest: many of them brought this on themselves. This is the heart of MAGA country, advocating for lower taxes and smaller government. They’ve voted this way for years, and the 2024 election brought things to a head.

 

Look in the mirror, people. There’s blood on your hands, too. Now what are you prepared to do about it? Double down with the same old same old platitudes about owning the libs and the virtues of a libertarian state? Or will you open your eyes and realize there are a lot of things government does that don’t affect your day-to-day life but are critical when the shit hits the fan.

 

Using DOGE logic  – and, by association 47, as DOGE is his fault – that support personnel are just bureaucrats who sit behind desks sucking at the public teat al day, the Army doesn’t need cooks or quartermasters. The Army’s mission is to fight, right? Cooks and quartermasters don’t fight; why do we need them?

 

Every organization, public AND private, needs people to support those at the tip of the spear or the tip is blunted. Those who cheer the massive, arbitrary, and destructive cuts to the federal government would do well to look in the mirror at the changes that now DO directly affect their lives, ask themselves what role they played, and see what their consciences dictate they should do next.

 

While we’re here, these are questions the Democrats should be pushing. It is NOT too soon after a tragedy to ask these hard questions. It’s not a question of politicizing a tragedy; it’s a matter of facing hard facts

Notes on July 4

 

The July 4 rally and march from Logan Square to the White House to protest 47’s signing of the Big, Beautiful Clusterfuck was a disappointment on several levels. I’ll list a few:

 

·       Too much talk and not enough action. I got tired of waiting for the speeches to end, so I walked to the White House myself. The stated goal was to be there when 47 was scheduled to sign the bill at 4:00; leaving Logan Circle at 3:30 was never going to get it done.

 

·       The chant, “Trump Must Go Now,” is nonsensical. There is no legal mechanism for removing him other than impeachment, and we all know that’s not going to happen with this Congress. I suppose the argument could be made this was to energize the crowd, but this crowd had already decided to skip their normal Fourth of July festivities to come downtown. As the Sundance Kid said to Butch Cassidy, “They’re against the wall! Skip on down.”

 

·       More than one speaker mentioned “peaceful civil disobedience” as one of the options. It’s getting late. When is that going to start? Several ideas come to mind, not the least of which is getting a few hundred people to block entrances to ICE headquarters, DHS headquarters, DOJ headquarters, FBI headquarters, the Capitol, and, on October 6, the Supreme Court. Let’s block some traffic. Surround red state houses. It’s past time to start inconveniencing people on the other side.

 

“Civil disobedience” does not require permits. In fact, the term “civil disobedience” specifically excludes permits, as a permit, by definition, bestows permission and “disobedience” means doing something without permission.

 

The 47 administration has no problem abusing or breaking the law or violating long-standing civil practices and is not going to take us seriously if we insist on coloring inside the lines. They’re laughing at us. It’s past time to show them this shit isn’t funny. That can be done in a non-violent manner, but not if we insist on asking their permission to do i