You should read the things he says about Usha–and his rented dog.

I saw on the news today that the first boat from the other day had turned around when it was struck.

Glad to hear you and yours are safe.

I have a friend in the area who had to leave at 3 AM once flood waters got inside and then climbed a tree to survive.

It works right up until the end. The most extreme & overt example of this (which anyone can watch on YouTube) is the Ba'ath Party purge in 1979.

SH understood that the shared culpability was the vehicle to both effectively clear house and move forward into a new era.

Group dynamics are powerful.

*every decent person

Nor is it a good sign for us, either.

We used to only read about those Kafkaesque "adventures" happening in banana republics and far away places under despotic rule... or at least I did growing up.

And now it's here.

Shocking but not surprising.

It's time to get out of mainland China if you're a U.S. citizen.

I thought he read these out loud to someone (dictation) who basically typed it out word-for-word in a Microsoft Word document and then showed it to him... or at least that's what I recall seeing in a documentary from last year.

3. When people he knew like his neighbors transformed and acted like strangers; and 4. When the roads closed and he realized that it was too late to leave (and that he shouldn't have ignored reality for so long).

In short, systems fail slowly and people remain in denial.

Not exactly what you requested but this is on the run up to hunkering down: prephole.com/surviving-a-...

Basically, he says there were key moments: 1. When everyone thought it would blow over; 2. When the power went out and there was no sign of the government, they knew they were on their own;

Imagine the number of people who are still captive that we don't know about...

Anyway, I try to focus on what I have control over & I don't have any control over the current heading of the country that I love, which is particularly painful in its own way.

But part of life is learning to let go.

And I hope that I'm wrong.

Lastly, dial 988 before attempting self-harm.

RIP

Many people died to make the U.S. what it's been since 1776, i.e., who we're honoring on Memorial Day.

Will some of those sacrifices have been in vain? Only time will tell.

But I'm not sure that the U.S. will last another 250 years at this rate.

Oligarchy, autocracy, and kleptocracy are all apt.

Today, I serendipitously met a therapist (LCSW) & we spoke for about 30 to 40 minutes.

People are hurting across the country, especially in marginalized communities.

You never really know what people are going through–unless you're a therapist.

And there is more incoming pain–for all of us.

I will say this: when people believe they have nothing to lose it's a dangerous time, especially for governments.

Monumental transitions themselves are inherently dangerous because no one knows what's coming next and people are deeply afraid of the unknown.

We are rapidly approaching that point.

Just as suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem, the U.S. is permanently harming itself during a time of grand and dynamic changes–with more stark transitions ahead.

This moment won't last forever and the mistake is thinking that doing what worked in the past is going to work now.