Jim, serious question here: What is stopping the NATO countries from making Ukraine a NATO country so that they then have the 'permission' they need evidently to help descimate Russia? If one of the countries in the group were fighting Russia, none of them would be stopped because 'it might' cause WWIII. This is the only way I see this ending. No matter what Putin says -- what we know now -- the bombs will continue despite what he says.
One of the key steps in Russian "active measures" campaigns is to indoctrinate the people of the target nation with hopelessness. You can see their influencers everywhere on Substack, rambling on pointlessly about how various Europeans could not displace fascist regimes blah blah blah. It's advisable to block out negative voices. No place in the world has ever been like the USA. No place has ever had a heavily armed citizenry. Why are we heavily armed? Because the Founders, in their wisdom and foresight, did not want us to be susceptible to takeover by tyrannical Kings, either domestic or foreign. No nation has ever been an affiliation of 50 independent State governments, each with their own democratic leadership, their own laws, and their own state militias. Will the criminal enterprise in the WH be able to take on and defeat 50 States, particularly when they will be allied with each other? No. Will our federal citizen army, who are essentially us, the people, turn on the States? No, they will not. The officer corp hates Trump with a passion. The victory of the people over fascism is inevitable, and the only thing that can cause failure is hopelessness, despair, and God forbid, acceptance. We must live, think, speak, and perform our American reality, and our duty to our nation, every day, despite those who are trying to change it. Refuse to accept, refuse to comply, refuse to change your attitude, your thought, your words, your choices, your happiness, your reality. We are going to take back the Nation, State by State, first Virginia, then Texas and Florida, then all the rest.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry most of the time, but two things are for sure now that I read "Gavin, Europe, & the Inadequacy of Hope": Leaders who came to show solidarity with Zelensky was a well-deserved, powerful punch to the U.S. President's plan to give Putin the okay to keep Ukranian territory, and I need to follow Gavin Newsom on X. I had idea of what good trouble he is getting in.🤗
I agree with you Jim about how these 2 happenings provide some more solid hope. Thanks a lot for this excellent piece. I hadn't seen those Newsom tweets so thanks for sharing those. LOVE what he is doing. I hope and trust that he keeps his foot on the gas. And a big thank you to Europe for their well-coordinated "performance". I use that word because they realize you have to play to Trump with some amount of thespian-ism.
Yeah, hope seems fleeting, but I have to admit I thought South Park has done some serious punching back, and my hope is they are just getting started. Some rise to the moment, others fall flat on their faces.
I'd been hoping to find specific disruptive tactics that are accessible to us Have-Nots. Newsom is a "Have", but very surprisingly, he's risking that to counter the fascist/authoritarian but incompetent-at-governance MAGA. And that gives us Have-Nots a channel we can also flow with.
I've been using Grok to create Super-Gavin images and posting them on Elon's Xitter, basically using an oligarch's tools to ridicule an authoritarian's propaganda. Satisfying.
Resource for more ideas for disruptive tactics: Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky, 1971.
Thanks for this, Jim. It’s exactly right. From the initial horrifying disappointment of Election Day 2016 (aka Ruination Day) and all the disappointments that followed—the Mueller Report, Impeachment 1, January 6, Impeachment 2, Jack Smith, Fani Willis, SCOTUS rulings , Election Day 2025–on and on. It has been a rolling trauma. Now my first response to hope is “I won’t be duped again.” Newsom’s team is providing some much needed humor. My sense of humor keeps me going. Thanks again for your work. Take care.
Newsome's campaign does look fun and engaging. It will likely reinvigorate Democratic voters into believing that 2026 is theirs to lose. I am nobody, especially since I vote in Florida, but I have heard Putin and Trump's own words on our elections. I will not trust another one unless leaders like Newsome, Crockett, Hochul, Pritzker, Harris, and Obama can publicly address legitimate concerns about the LAST election! Spoonamore's Duty to Warn letter in November, and numerous other statisticically-backed studies deserve a response. Without public acknowledgement of legitimate concerns, I regard any talk of future elections part of the cover-up of the last election.
Don't even say the words "I am nobody." Independents and Democrats in states that have been taken over by the MAGA minority are the most important voters in the US right now. It is essential that the majority of people take back the red state governments from the criminal Republican elite and brainwashed MAGA voters. When the rolling disaster that is Trump's economy hits working voters in Florida, you will have the chance. In Texas, Democrats are rapidly standing up their infrastructure, after years of national Democratic party neglect, under a new, young, energetic chairman, to take advantage of the coming economic collapse. We are at war, and it's time we stopped giving in to fatalism and despair, and start the hard work to recover our states, for the people.
I have maybe too much hope. You have not enough. Proof that the universe is seeking balance.
Particularly great newsletter this morning. Gavin has a willing heart. And so do you. Hope isn’t desire. Don’t confuse them. It will be a better week, here’s hoping.
Jim, serious question here: What is stopping the NATO countries from making Ukraine a NATO country so that they then have the 'permission' they need evidently to help descimate Russia? If one of the countries in the group were fighting Russia, none of them would be stopped because 'it might' cause WWIII. This is the only way I see this ending. No matter what Putin says -- what we know now -- the bombs will continue despite what he says.
One of the key steps in Russian "active measures" campaigns is to indoctrinate the people of the target nation with hopelessness. You can see their influencers everywhere on Substack, rambling on pointlessly about how various Europeans could not displace fascist regimes blah blah blah. It's advisable to block out negative voices. No place in the world has ever been like the USA. No place has ever had a heavily armed citizenry. Why are we heavily armed? Because the Founders, in their wisdom and foresight, did not want us to be susceptible to takeover by tyrannical Kings, either domestic or foreign. No nation has ever been an affiliation of 50 independent State governments, each with their own democratic leadership, their own laws, and their own state militias. Will the criminal enterprise in the WH be able to take on and defeat 50 States, particularly when they will be allied with each other? No. Will our federal citizen army, who are essentially us, the people, turn on the States? No, they will not. The officer corp hates Trump with a passion. The victory of the people over fascism is inevitable, and the only thing that can cause failure is hopelessness, despair, and God forbid, acceptance. We must live, think, speak, and perform our American reality, and our duty to our nation, every day, despite those who are trying to change it. Refuse to accept, refuse to comply, refuse to change your attitude, your thought, your words, your choices, your happiness, your reality. We are going to take back the Nation, State by State, first Virginia, then Texas and Florida, then all the rest.
Well said!
I don't know whether to laugh or cry most of the time, but two things are for sure now that I read "Gavin, Europe, & the Inadequacy of Hope": Leaders who came to show solidarity with Zelensky was a well-deserved, powerful punch to the U.S. President's plan to give Putin the okay to keep Ukranian territory, and I need to follow Gavin Newsom on X. I had idea of what good trouble he is getting in.🤗
I agree with you Jim about how these 2 happenings provide some more solid hope. Thanks a lot for this excellent piece. I hadn't seen those Newsom tweets so thanks for sharing those. LOVE what he is doing. I hope and trust that he keeps his foot on the gas. And a big thank you to Europe for their well-coordinated "performance". I use that word because they realize you have to play to Trump with some amount of thespian-ism.
Yeah, hope seems fleeting, but I have to admit I thought South Park has done some serious punching back, and my hope is they are just getting started. Some rise to the moment, others fall flat on their faces.
I'd been hoping to find specific disruptive tactics that are accessible to us Have-Nots. Newsom is a "Have", but very surprisingly, he's risking that to counter the fascist/authoritarian but incompetent-at-governance MAGA. And that gives us Have-Nots a channel we can also flow with.
I've been using Grok to create Super-Gavin images and posting them on Elon's Xitter, basically using an oligarch's tools to ridicule an authoritarian's propaganda. Satisfying.
Resource for more ideas for disruptive tactics: Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky, 1971.
Great, insightful piece. Hope, strength, humor, resolve —all need and all good. Fear begone! Hope—onward!
Great piece today, Jim. It definitely gives me hope when things are lookin’ gloomy. 👍🏼
Thanks for this, Jim. It’s exactly right. From the initial horrifying disappointment of Election Day 2016 (aka Ruination Day) and all the disappointments that followed—the Mueller Report, Impeachment 1, January 6, Impeachment 2, Jack Smith, Fani Willis, SCOTUS rulings , Election Day 2025–on and on. It has been a rolling trauma. Now my first response to hope is “I won’t be duped again.” Newsom’s team is providing some much needed humor. My sense of humor keeps me going. Thanks again for your work. Take care.
Fantastic. Thank you. Shared.
Newsome's campaign does look fun and engaging. It will likely reinvigorate Democratic voters into believing that 2026 is theirs to lose. I am nobody, especially since I vote in Florida, but I have heard Putin and Trump's own words on our elections. I will not trust another one unless leaders like Newsome, Crockett, Hochul, Pritzker, Harris, and Obama can publicly address legitimate concerns about the LAST election! Spoonamore's Duty to Warn letter in November, and numerous other statisticically-backed studies deserve a response. Without public acknowledgement of legitimate concerns, I regard any talk of future elections part of the cover-up of the last election.
Don't even say the words "I am nobody." Independents and Democrats in states that have been taken over by the MAGA minority are the most important voters in the US right now. It is essential that the majority of people take back the red state governments from the criminal Republican elite and brainwashed MAGA voters. When the rolling disaster that is Trump's economy hits working voters in Florida, you will have the chance. In Texas, Democrats are rapidly standing up their infrastructure, after years of national Democratic party neglect, under a new, young, energetic chairman, to take advantage of the coming economic collapse. We are at war, and it's time we stopped giving in to fatalism and despair, and start the hard work to recover our states, for the people.
Some hope better than none. Thank you for sharing your rays
I have maybe too much hope. You have not enough. Proof that the universe is seeking balance.
Particularly great newsletter this morning. Gavin has a willing heart. And so do you. Hope isn’t desire. Don’t confuse them. It will be a better week, here’s hoping.