Fight for Freedom
Be Part of the No Kings / No Tyrants Protest ....
From time to time, I get a comment or email thanking me for writing about our idyllic life in Portugal. In fact, some readers suggest this is all I should write about. To them, let me say, “Get your own Substack. It’s FREE!”1
I Trust You Know
I think the vast majority of my readers are intelligent, well-informed individuals. I also realize some American subscribers either sat out the last election or voted for Donald Trump. I recall an email exchange with one who admitted to knowing that the President was a liar, a thief, a narcissistic sociopath, unlikely to improve the economy, and likely a puppet of Putin.2 However, all of those qualities were acceptable as long as he stopped “illegal immigration”. Congratulations … he has curtailed legal and illegal immigration, as well as tourism. He has enriched himself and his family, may wreck the best economy in the world, installed tariffs on penguins but not on Putin, and weakened our alliances.
The fact that he has untrained ICE agents3 raiding apartment buildings in the middle of the night, throwing naked US citizens (including children) to the ground, and “disappears” some to “hell-hole” countries is just an unintended consequence … an inconvenience.
And since these readers never served their country as either Director of the FBI or Attorney General of New York, they don’t have to fear malicious prosecution. They probably don’t host a late-night talk show either.
However, most still have to buy groceries and as such ….
It Was a Mistake
Some of my readers realize they made a mistake. I spoke with a dear friend in The Villages the other day. She reported that some of the Trump flags that littered her neighborhood for the past year have come down.4 I take this as a sign of hope. I would be more hopeful if those people joined their neighbors on Saturday, 18 October, for the worldwide No Kings/No Tyrants Events.5 I would welcome them!
In Portugal
And if you are fortunate enough to live in Portugal, you can join events in Lisbon and Porto. Here, you won’t have to worry about illegally deployed National Guard troops or masked men harassing you. You won’t have to worry about being shot in the head by a pepper ball as you pray. And if you are in the US, keep a bicycle nearby or just run. Many of these guys, like the President, don’t appear to have passed their fitness test.
Espero ver-te lá!
Nanc
Monday Note: I am updating this post around 10:00. I just finished my morning walk to the beach. I listened to Nicole Wallace’s interview with Martin Sheen. You can listen to The Best People as you drive to work or wash the car. If you are unable or unwilling to participate in this weekend’s protest, I recommend you binge-watch The West Wing.
I also recently received an email from a new Substacker commenting on my more than 6000 Subscribers. He wanted to know what topics he could write about to grow his Subscriber base. The only advice I offered was, “Be consistent, be authentic, and write about the things that interest you.” Of course, this practice will cause your Subscriber numbers to fall from time to time.. Like mine are likely to do this week.
His descripters, not mine … however, I agree and could add a few more. Okay, I will.
Perhaps their $50,000 signing bonuses are to offset their legal fees after they invaded the Capitol on January 6.
Perhaps their gardener or pool cleaner is no longer available to serve them.
If you are a Christian, you might consider showing up as your act of contrition.
Thank you Nancy! Will be marching in Oregon! In your notes (number 5) you say that if someone is a Christian they might want to show up as an act of "contrition". I want to assure you that huge numbers of marchers, protesters ARE Christian- lay and clergy- from the liberal congregations and denominations who have been opposed to Trump and the co-opting of Christianity by the religious right for decades.
Hi Nancy. Thank you! This is the most grave time for Americans in my lifetime. When I was living in the US, I never shut up about it while my friends just wanted to ignore it and hope it would go away. I finally left for my mental health but my children live there. They are at the top of the heap because they are white men, but my son has a partner and I told him to get the hell out of Texas because if she becomes pregnant, she is the property of the state. The crimes and atrocities committed by Trump and his fascists are too numerous to mention, but I want to scream this every day because it proves Americans don’t give a shit about women. HE IS A RAPIST AND A SEXUAL PREDATOR AND MOST PROBABLY A PEDOPHILE!! And women vote for that scum. The other issue I find horrifying is that there are now at least one or more mass shootings every single day in the country and absolutely nothing is done because Americans fetishise guns to the point that killing people no longer matters as long as they can buy as many weapons as they want. I am totally disgusted by the government of that country. NO KINGS AND NO CRIMINALS