LOST & FOUND
Democracy Needs You
Cedar Waxwing, image by Lucas Golden, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. [1]
They look almost asleep. Their inert little bodies rest on the flagstones. I had watched them all morning in their aerial pirouettes. Their direction looked random as the large flock came and went, seemingly aimless. But this pair soon met solid reality, crashing against the side of our house, drunk on the nandina and yaupon berries. Hold that thought…
In my youth, when the dictator was fending off diverse groups of rebels, we would huddle to listen to short-wave radio. To be caught doing so would be deleterious to those around the radio. We were seeking the truth— news from outside the island. What is going on in the mountains? Are people flocking to join the rebels? Is the dictator weakening as the bodies of his opponents litter the streets?
The rebel groups eventually succeeded. Soon, though, the short-wave radios were banned by the rebels who gained power— the most ruthless of the groups. The island population was once again driven into silent resistance with access to outside sources pronouncedly scarce.
In the above-described scenario of struggles for the most reliable information, there was still a beacon of light. The Voice of America would broadcast in bands accessible to the islanders. The lifeline countering the totalitarian state’s propaganda was available. Last Friday, the POTUS regime, in totalitarian fashion, pulled the plug on that important resource. For decades, totalitarian governments sought to block its radio transmissions. It took a loyal supporter of the Putin regime to bring it about.
The American voters who naively or intentionally supported the GOP during the 2024 presidential election are like the drunk cedar waxwings that crashed against my house. And if we fail to stop the fascists, we will all be dead waxwings.
Resist as strongly and as frequently as you are able, or suffer the consequences. This is no time for hesitation— step by step, as promised, the GOP fascists are implementing their Project 2025 plan to silence the news media and replace it with propaganda favorable to an authoritarian state under the POTUS regime. The Voice of America is one of the latest victims, along with the U S Department of Education. Note also that journalists who ask questions that make the regime uncomfortable are banned from the White House.
An uninformed public benefits a tyrant.
Resist today. Resist tomorrow. Resist as you are able. Democracy needs you for its survival.
Manuel, I am about to repost your powerful letter to my list of subscribers. And recommend that they subscribe to your Substack.
We are "bird people". A significant line litem on our personal budget is bird food. We kept the bluebirds all winter with mealworms. Now they are having their babies in the houses we erected. And...the bright blue male is flying at our windows - defending his area, protecting his family.
That's what VOA was for. To help protect us. To "hold the door" as the forces of evil tried to spread their wings. There is only ONE explanation for the shuttering of such a news service. Treason.
Who have $Trusk helped in the first two months of holding power? American billionaires and Russian gangsters. Who have they hurt? Most average Americans and our allies. Treason.
This is no puzzle. This is blatant. This is obvious. $Trusk = betrayal of their nation for personal gain. Both are sociopathic hoarders of wealth. One has global ambitions. The other (like Bibi) wants to stay out of prison.
Excellent letter, sir. Let's keep asking "Who have they helped?" And on April 5th we'll be marching and shouting in the streets and parks "Hands Off!" Thousands of locations. Millions of angry citizens. We will be heard.
All the more reason for the rest of us to ask those uncomfortable questions. This article should make some of the regime's supporters uncomfortable too, and we must continue to hope.