This thirty-minute interview explores how we are being manipulated into anticipatory compliance contrary to our deeply held values. The GOP fell into line first, and now they are coming for the rest of us.
A National Shame
The school shooting in Madison was the 83rd such incident in 2024, bringing the total killed to 38 and the total wounded to 115.
Angry? You’re more likely to spread misinfo
The News Literacy Project Reports:
Making people feel outraged is an effective way to spread misinformation — and foreign purveyors of disinformation use this tactic regularly, according to a Washington Post analysis of two new studies. The first study, in the journal Science, found that social media users who share content that angers them are less likely to read or verify it before sharing, and content from low-quality sources — including hyperpartisan sites — is more likely to provoke outrage.
A separate report from the nonprofit Issue One found that foreign disinformation in the 2024 election aimed to tap into similar strong emotions, such as anger, fear and mistrust. The report identified 160 false narratives spread by Russia, Iran, and China, and concluded these foreign influence operations used “pink slime” websites that misleadingly imitate genuine news sites, networks of trolls, and generative artificial intelligence technology to spread falsehoods.
The newsletter is aimed at educators and those who work with young people. It suggests ways to engage them by asking questions. Maybe this would be a good way to engage our friends and neighbors — ask questions and listen actively to their answers.
Talk with the young people in your life about content that makes them angry online. What steps could they take to counter misinformation? Why does outrage drive misinformation online? Why would social algorithms prioritize content that provokes strong emotions?
Misinformation Evokes More Outrage
Remain Yourself
In the face of an emerging authoritarian government, Timothy Snyder outlines how each of us should meet the challenges. His main message is don’t anticipate and comply. Retain and live your values. He also suggests that we strengthen and support regional institutions that will nurture and defend our values. Excellent positive advice for us to be resilient and generative, not just resistant. Watch the video.
Now What?
Reset. “Chop wood, carry water” and do the necessary things to be calm and strong in the face of danger.

The Work to Do
I’m appalled. The election results force me to reassess who we are as Americans.
At the same time I know we need to stay engaged and work for good government, mutual well-being, and democracy. We will be sustained by our faith, our community of friends, and old-fashioned grit.
January 6: Not Over, Not Yet
Everybody who’s not emotionally shutdown or inside the cult is anxious. You aren’t paranoid when the threat is a real and present danger to all that you love and respect. The best journalists that I read see it clearly. TPM spells it out.
And, this is the culmination of a much longer historical progression of actions that subvert democracy.

Zombie Economic Myth
I believed, when I was a Republican, that Democrats would ruin the country with their tax and spend mindset. Ronald Reagan, the great communicator, told us that government was the problem. Supply side economics would bring us lower taxes and a thriving economy. The reverse proved to be the case.
Here’s what history says about the myths that still dominate GOP economic orthodoxy.

Political beliefs, reinforced by groupthink, trump reason and critical analysis. Even when objective evidence contradicts those zombie beliefs, they continue to influence the political faithful.
The Grand Old Party is No More
Lincoln at Gettysburg:
“ . . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Robert Reich quotes Donald Trump, who spoke recently at Gettysburg, suggesting that his incoherence is evidence of dementia.
Not only is Trump confused about the significance of Gettysburg, but the political party he leads, which once celebrated the sentiments enshrined in Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, now advances the ideas of tyrants and dictators.
You can’t revere Lincoln or his words if you:
- Emulate and praise dictators.
- Suppress the vote of people who don’t support you
- Openly subvert free and fair elections
- Seek to game the electoral college system to thwart a loss at the polls.
- Deny freedom to those who don’t look like you, worship like you, or love like you
- Deny women the right to make decisions about their bodies, fertility, and childbearing
- Promise that Americans won’t have to vote anymore once you have “fixed it”
- Promote the idea that your preferred religion is superior to all others, and your faith must be the faith of the entire nation
- Foster self-serving lies that deceive and motivate your followers
- Legislate policies that are inequitable
- Politicize the court system
- Advocate change with false fears, hate, and outrageous deceptions
- Tolerate criminality and immorality to protect your leaders
- Participate in a cult of personality for political and personal gain
- Value loyalty to party above what’s best for the people as a whole
The Republican Party and its leader, Donald Trump, do not represent the values of Lincoln, most Americans, or even most people who identify as Republicans.
The election this fall offers an opportunity for redemption. If you have been going along to get along, this could be your last chance to reclaim dignity and integrity and make the Grand Old Party great again.
Laugh!
In “interesting” times, it’s important to keep a sense of humor. I got a chuckle out of John Young’s column below and think you may too.

Did he [DJT] really mean what we think he meant when he said you won’t have to vote again? His apologists say no, but Pete Pete Buttigieg put it well when he said, “I don’t want to have to worry about whether he meant what he said.” None of us should have to worry that our elected leaders might actually do what they flippantly say to please a crowd of their true believers.
We are confronted with a political party that has many of the classic characteristics of a cult and blends them with enforcing conformity by systematic reward and punishment that reminds us of an organized crime family. Its leader is showing signs and symptoms of senility, and many mental health professionals characterize his public behavior as typical of a sociopath.

Yet, for reasons of personal ambition and fear, the refuse to turn away from him.
Ask yourself: Can you think of a single selfless act of compassion or public service attributable to the Republican Nominee? Can you think of anyone less willing to accept the will of the people? It would be laughable if it were fiction.