Dear concerned parents of America: 

Buy books. Lots of them. Read to your kids. Take them to museums and libraries (for as long as we have them). Point to the sky at night and inspire them to wonder. Repeat to them names like Galileo, Einstein, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Newton, Twain, Steinbeck, etc. Introduce them to people of every age and color and encourage them to listen patiently to their stories. Arrange visits to churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, everything. If you weren't good at math, or science or history as a kid, don't hide it from your own children. Use this opportunity to study together. Take absolutely nothing for granted. Because we can't.

Lessons from Gandhi to use Today

Satyagraha - "insistence on truth" or “truth force.” The form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance coined and developed by Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948).

Code of discipline laid down by Gandhi for volunteers in the 1930 protests against the British colonial government

1. Harbor no anger but suffer the anger of the opponent. Refuse to return the assaults of the opponent.
2. Do not submit to any order given in anger, even though severe punishment is threatened for disobeying.
3. Refrain from insults and swearing.
4. Protect opponents from insult or attack, even at the risk of life.
5. Do not resist arrest nor the attachment of property, unless holding property as a trustee.
6. Refuse to surrender any property held in trust at the risk of life.
7. If taken prisoner, behave in an exemplary manner.
8. As a member of a satyagraha unit, obey the orders of the satyagraha leaders, and resign from the unit in the event of serious disagreement.
9. Do not expect guarantees for maintenance of dependents.

Bear witness.

The federal week in review:

1. Trump fires all Ambassadors and Special Envoys, ordering them out by inauguration day.

2. House brings back the Holman rule allowing them to reduce an individual civil service, SES positions, or political appointee's salary to $1, effectively firing them by amendment to any piece of legislation. We now know why they wanted names and positions of people in Energy and State.

3. Senate schedules 6 simultaneous hearings on cabinet nominees and triple-books those hearings with Trump's first press conference in months and an ACA budget vote, effectively preventing any concentrated coverage or protest.

4. House GOP expressly forbids the Congressional Budget Office from reporting or tracking ANY costs related to the repeal of the ACA.

5. Trump continues to throw the intelligence community under the bus to protect Putin, despite the growing mountain of evidence that the Russians deliberately interfered in our election.

6. Trump breaks a central campaign promise to make Mexico pay for the wall by asking Congress (in other words, us, the taxpayers) to pay for it.

7. Trump threatens Toyota over a new plant that was never coming to the US nor will take jobs out of the US.

8. House passes the REINS act, giving them veto power over any rules enacted by any federal agency or department--for example, FDA or EPA bans a drug or pesticide, Congress can overrule based on lobbyists not science. Don't like that endangered species designation, Congress kills it.

We - progressive, liberal, libertarian and conservative - need to all wake up to what is actually happening to our beloved country.

#UnitedWeStand

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His face was cold. His mouth trembled, asking: "Who ­ who won the presidential election yesterday?"
The man behind the desk laughed. "You joking? You know very well. Deutscher, of course! Who else? Not that fool weakling Keith. We got an iron man now, a man with guts!"
.
.
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There was a sound of thunder.

- Ray Bradbury, 'A Sound of Thunder' (1952)

-Trump claims election process rigged if he loses.
-Comics fans claim Rotten Tomatoes illegitimate 'cause of bad reviews for new film.
-The film is called "Suicide Squad."
-Which aptly describes Trumps campaign.

Today in Awesome Korean Mom Hilarity

(My mom is babysitting my son Jack, who is resisting her attempts to clean him up post-lunch)

Mom: What are you doing? You're dirty Chinese, dirty Chinese!

(I give my mom a strange look)

Mom: Oh, in Korea, we call anyone dirty "Chinese."

Me: That sounds racist.

Mom: Yes, we are racist.

In the week that was, June 5 - 12, 2016 . . .

- We were reminded that committing rape doesn't mean the same if you're white, male and privileged. That a judge of similar background will show leniency in light of that person's "potential," and that potential will lead your parents to very publicly dismiss the gravity of your crime and its effects upon the victim (as well as the victim herself).

- That in the world of Chicago theater, despite its attitude of activism and action, its self-proclaimed striving for authenticity and the truth, can be home to 20 years of sexual harassment and abuse committed with impunity by an acclaimed and lauded artist, aided and abetted by silence, complacency and professional intimidation.

- That LGBT persons in America still have much to fear from others, simply for being themselves, simply for existing. That there's still way too many guns in the hands of the wrong people at the wrong times. That there's no political will to stop it. But there's way too much political will to dismiss the facts (like the fact the targets were LGBT) or to exploit the event (to inflame anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, anti-immigrant hysteria).

- That one of our two major political parties continues to be fronted by an ignorant, wealthy, racist demagogue spouting dangerous and inflammatory rhetoric

- That urban violence continues unabated.

- That the middle class continues to shrink.

- That the climate continues to change.

Just trying to get my head around the week that was.