339 Comments

"The future is bigger than our imaginations. It’s unimaginable, and then it comes anyway. To meet it we need to keep going, to walk past what we can imagine. We need to be unstoppable. And here’s what it takes: you don’t stop walking to congratulate yourself; you don’t stop walking to wallow in despair; you don’t stop because your own life got too comfortable or too rough; you don’t stop because you won; you don’t stop because you lost. There’s more to win, more to lose, others who need you.

"You don’t stop walking because there is no way forward. Of course there is no way. You walk the path into being, you make the way, and if you do it well, others can follow the route. You look backward to grasp the long history you’re moving forward from, the paths others have made, the road you came in on. You look forward to possibility. That’s what we mean by hope, and you look past it into the impossible and that doesn’t stop you either. But mostly you just walk, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot. That’s what makes you unstoppable."

- Rebecca Solnit

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This is profound for me. I’m putting it in a document and printing it to be placed on a bulletin board that I’m using to keep sane. Thank you for sharing this.

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My new larger bulletin board came yesterday- knew I needed a larger one for sanity and to remind myself of the beauty and fragility of life and this world.

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The header to this remarkable writing by Rebecca Solnit: The Only Way Out is Through. I repeat this phrase in my head and it sometimes allows me to see those stars our VP told us would always be there.

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Enjoy your holiday, Joyce, and hope you find your broccolini (or a suitable substitute). In dark times I’m reminded of a motto ascribed to the Army Corps of Engineers during WWII: “The difficult I will do now. The impossible will take a little while.” Thank you for embodying that spirit and encouraging others to do the same!

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Same!

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My thoughts exactly! I need to read this often.

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Printed!

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Rebecca Solnit (The Guardian) is such a treasure, truth teller, and inspires us to keep up the fight.

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Eric, Thank you for posting Solnit’s gorgeous text, While I lack the acumen to summon her deeply affecting exposition, I would note whatever resilience I’ve been able to muster since the election rests solely with connecting with fellow Indivisibles who are laser-focused on the fight at the local, county, state, and federal levels to preserve the institutions that were created to ensure democracy somehow still would prevail. To learn more visit indivisible.org

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Indeed! Bravo! I am in NC and we have a fight here in NC as the NC GOP tries to strip powers away from our newly elected Democratic Gov etc. I joined ACLU, Indivisible and Every State Blue plus Toastmasters so I can practice speaking before groups. I will not go quietly in the night. I have my “we ride at dawn” hat and cape on! But the Dismissal brought me to my knees yesterday.

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I'm in NYC where many of my fellow New Yorkers did not vote as expected. Disappointment is an understatement. Yet hearing about what's going on in NC is certainly discouraging. But I must say that I truly

respect you for the plans you are making and steps within to face the power grabs in process. You are my hero right now, and I admit I need one. I hope you'll share your journey with us.

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Thanks Trudy for your encouragement. So needed. I am in my 60s very active but I am an introvert. I don’t want to raise my voice my I feel I have no choice. My Mother marched so I could have choices she is now almost 90 and still fierce. I do it for her and many others. Constance Baker Motley’s son spoke to a group of us a few years ago and I am reading a bio about her activism to help push me onward “Civil Rights Queen- Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality” by Tomiko Brown- Nagin and “Courage to Dissent” same author. I subscribe to your Substack Trudy so we can stay connected.

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Pam, In my view, the dismissal yesterday entails both harms and benefits. As for the benefits, the early dismissal allowed Jack Smith to dismiss without prejudice and, more importantly, nearly guarantees the public will see Smith’s report. Admittedly, the section on the Documents Case will be substantially redacted because the case against two of Trump’s aids has not been dismissed. Still, in my view, the benefits of seeing the report outweigh leaving it to Trump’s DOJ to dismiss the case and our seeing nothing. Accordingly, my advice, given the challenges in your state, is to let the dismissal go and reclaim that admirable determination you had summoned prior to yesterday.

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Keep up your solid schedule for support of your Democratic Gov!

Your life and your state is a leading light in these very difficult times!

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Good reminder!

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Thanks Carol. I post such comments because I believe, quoting from Indivisible, that “together, we have the power to fight back—and win.”

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Rebecca's essay posted by Eric conjures up for me the book Pathfinders by the late, great Gail Sheehy. ✊✌🖖

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founding

Wow! That brought me back and reminded me of Passages by Gail Sheehy! I read that so many years ago… Not sure if life was simpler then. Hmmm.Thanks, Steve 🥹

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The book passages really affected me -- it encouraged me to go to law school in my 40s, which I did and which I loved -- I practiced for 20 years after that. I'm going to look for that book again - thank you for the reminder!

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Wow. Me too.

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Reminds me of a Churchill quote: "When you're going through hell, keep going!"

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Thank you for reminding us of Solnit's ode to persistence as a core tenet of intentional life.

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Unbelievable.... tears here.... what a Thanksgiving gift... thank you

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Thank you. Early morning reminder today that will be my background music throughout the day.

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I agree with your comments but you had me at "fresh-squeezed orange juice ice cubes for use in Thanksgiving morning Mimosas". Ignore Trump et al for a few days, enjoy Thanksgiving and all it entails.

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Yes Joyce, please take the rest of the week off. We need our star player well rested for the marathon ahead. You deserve the respite.

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I keep looking at Trump as if I were 50 in the future and writing a screen play about the most foul-mouth disgusting piece of shit ever to have come onto the political stage.

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How about “You Can’t Shine A Turd” as a working title for your production!

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Professor Toni Morrison - and Jeffrey Wright as recently as just last night - would say this is the time for that

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Joyce, take a deep breath. IMHO, there is no one on the planet who deserves those ice cubes. If someone made for one for me, I wouldn't know what to think.

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I don't even drink and those sound good.

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I would think they would be delicious in sparkling water!

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founding

Or a glass of Grey Goose on the rocks… A really really big glass of Grey Goose on the rocks! 🧊🍸

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There's a thought.

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When I saw this news today I felt sorry for all of us and the rule of law. but, mostly, I felt for Jack Smith all those who have worked tirelessly on these cases.

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No worries about Jack Smith as will be demonstrated shortly.

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Trump threats of recrimination. As a preemptive matter, Biden can issue tens of thousands of pardons -- to people like us.

He just pardoned two turkeys.....

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My thought as well.

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founding

Professor, I respectfully suggest that you underestimate the depth of the depravity of the Trump administration-to-be — after all, imagine what a group it will be if it consists of an evil homunculus like Miller or a pedophile like Gaetz (yes, yes, he withdrew, but he was nominted). I recommend to you and all the Peter Fritzsche book, HITLER’S FIRST 100 HUNDRED DAYS. In Germany in 1933 Hitler took power and those good people of Germany were soon to learn that the not-so-good people were going precisely what they said they were going to do. And if you think Trump is not our own version of Hitler, I suggest you think again. My point is this: these foul things will not stop of their own volition. They will do whatever they can until they are stopped, one way or the other. There is no limit to their pernicious grasping for power and more power, and it matters not to them whether they destroy hundreds or thousands or hundreds of thousands of people….

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I believe Joyce totally understands this.

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Precisely. He is an untethered psychopath with congress in his control.

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MSM movedTulsi Gabbard's nomination to 'challenged'. This underestimates Michael Isikoff's Spy Talk expose about 4 days ago detailing Gabbard's Agit-Prop visit to Syria in 2017.

R-OKLA Senator JAMES LANKFORD & Senate Select Committee member promises a full hearing on Gabbard's Pro Assad U.S. group's funding of her trip & actions then in 2017 & now.

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That’s good news about Langford. Not a smokescreen?

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Requires a judgment call of the 56 year old from Oklahoman that graduated from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1994. IMO ... No.

Lankford with a "k".

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I agree.

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I grew up down the street from Peter Fritsche, he and his brother and sisters and I all went to the same school. I have a German mom and both of his parents are German.

I agree that we need to at least try to imagine what Trump's administration will be like if the policies written into Project 2025 come to be and prepare for that. A lot relies on Congress and the voters have given him the Congress that he can control. He also has the court that supports what he is doing.

I have written suggestions for making a plan for self preservation in my Substack.

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Not "if" the policies come to be, but rather "when." We have learned nothing if not recognizing that the worst of what tRump and MAGAts say they will do, they will do. And SCOTUS has paved their way.

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Many are coming to be in Red States, but not everything planned may happen, so for each one, there is an "if" about it. How much can what they intend to do be thwarted by any one of many players in each situation?

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Yes, I fear Trump’s depravity. But even more, I fear the depravity of the Brown Shirts, whom Trump has emboldened.

Trump did not prosecute his followers at Charlottesville or on J6. He will turn a blind eye to the mayhem that the Proud Boys and others will unleash. Perhaps then those evangelicals who voted for Trump will recognize the mistake they’ve made. “Father, forgive them, for they did not know what they were doing.”

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This is why they should not be allowed to waltz into power.

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Yes. "Stopped, one way or another." I do not care how.

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This is what keeps me awake at night. I’m like the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other in my thinking and hoping right now.

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Joyce, have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am thankful for you and the work you’re doing to help save our democracy. Salut!

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The orange cubes are divine. The best use of the color orange in a long time.

Not much we can do about what Jack Smith was forced to do. The proof of the pudding is whether AG Garland (thank God he didn't make it to the Supreme Court) will have the cajones to do the right thing and let the country know what they are dealing with. People, let's say those who don't have the brains God gave a goose, are beginning to have second thoughts about having voted for the Felon. You know, their sentences start with, "I didn't know...."or "I didn't realize...." as if elections had Mulligans and a vote could be done over. Now they know. Let's hope Garland makes the decision to increase their knowledge.

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I agree with your assessment about Garland not being on SC. He and President Biden did not have urgency to prosecuting the traitors for four years -- skeptical they would step into Lincoln's shoes now. Lincoln arrested conspirators without evidence, but the irony is the HARD WORK has been done by the prosecutors and the J6 Committee. What in God's name is Biden afraid of?

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8hEdited

The job of deciding to prosecute Trump belonged to Merrick Garland, not President Biden. Presidents are not supposed to tell the DOJ what to do. I'm not sure why you're blaming President Biden for not advocating the prosecution of former president Trump.

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Well Traitor is going to turn that on its head, isn't he?

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Like it or not, the President is not supposed to use the Justice Department to go after perceived enemies, a la Richard Nixon. But I think Democrats chose the wrong guy.

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God Bless us all.

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No, god help us all

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Thank you! I needed this today! My faith in our justice system is badly shaken to say the least.

It appears that if you have money, good attorneys, and political influence, then you can still outsmart the system.

Running for the presidency of the United States ought not be a 'get out of jail free' card.

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"It appears that if you have money, good attorneys, and political influence, then you can still outsmart the system."

====

I don't want to burst any bubbles, but the criminal justice system going back to 16th century England has always favored those with money and influence. If you didn't have influence, you could find yourself being the subject of a bill of attainder in the House of Lords. If you have money, you can post bail and hire really good defense counsel; without money, you're sitting in the county jail (you get credit towards any jail sentence for the time you're in jail pending trial) and you're represented by a public defender.

Trump's trials are at the extreme end of that spectrum. The only difference between Trump's cases and those of simply rich people is that the pernicious effect of money and political influence was made plain to see. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously stated that “sunlight was the best disinfectant." It might be a long time before the criminal justice system is even slightly cleansed of the effect of money and influence.

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Those are all valid points. Thank you!

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Your attorneys do not even have to be very good. His aren’t.

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Defense counsel only have to be good enough to win an acquittal or a dismissal. The client usually isn't concerned with the intellectual soundness of the evidentiary objection the attorney just made. And as life played out in the Ft. Pierce Division of the Southern District of Florida, having the case heard by a judge who puts a block of lead on the scales of justice increases the likelihood the client will be happy with the end result.

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“Good attorneys..” No. They are complicit.

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You are a big inspiration to me every day to stay in the fight for democracy.

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Thank you Joyce. I’m not giving up either !Have a wonderful holiday. 🧡

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This is one of 5 Thanksgivings until the next phase. Don't postpone your life, look for opportunities to help locally, and be there for your family and community. Thankful for Joyce and other thoughtful substackers with their concerned followers doing what they can. Thank you all!

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🎯

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With all the awfulness’s of the moment, I smiled at Joyce Vance pointing out that Trump and Bondi are trapped in a way. They said they’d hold Smith responsible, but if they do, he can defend himself by revealing all the evidence Trump and his lawyers have so carefully tried to hide. That makes me smile. It’s not enough, but I do like it.

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Exactly!

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This is not over. Enjoy the holiday.

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Yes it is. The dismissals prove he can do whatever he wants.

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Not correct Sabrina. See, NEAL KATYAL's & Andrew Weissmann's legal analysis on Lawrence's Last Word earlier tonight. Smart dismissal "WITHOUT prejudice".

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This is the message we need to hear - over and over again, as we continue to shake our heads and wonder how much worse it can get - as we find ways to muster our strength and move forward in productive ways. Happy Thanksgiving!

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We really need to think this year what we are all grateful for this year! I believe I need to start my journal again to keep up an optimistic and positive outlook!

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The evidence must come to light for all the world to see. Sunshine, as it is said, is an excellent disinfectant.

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This will affect no result. Norms are no longer viable against these nazis.

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True, and the J6 Committee evidence was all the light President Biden needed to arrest the Tres Diablos, but he did not do it. What is he afraid of?

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There were 2 arrests of J6 Perps today. One who attacked a policeman, one with a metal pole with a Wreck Flag on it. Brings the total to around 590.

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And Traitor intends to pardon them all. He's said it. Believe him.

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Are those in the J6 wing of DC’s jail expected to be pardoned in time to attend the Inauguration as honored guests? They, in a New York Mag article, seem to think so.

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They are not in the "choir" to my knowledge ... yet. The current DOJ retains a webpage "DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA -- CAPITAL BREACH CASES" with detailed evidence, crime photos, case numbers, pleadings, sentencing facts ... I'll check it out later, but, I need some sleep before folks from the Northwest arrive later today.

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Biden better not pardon Trump!!

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Not going to happen.

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It totally sucks. Not turning away but forging ahead because honestly, where else do we go? ONWARD! Hope you find the perfect broccolini, Joyce. At least you will have delicious mimosas.

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Has anyone given any consideration to the fact that the OLC "policy" about inability to indict a sitting president was written by the Department of Justice that was completely servile to the first great presidential criminal, Richard Nixon - and the second one was written by Reagan's DOJ?

They are both self-serving bullshit written to protect the criminals the authors mistakenly thought were honorable men.

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True Tom but, you don't want a Wreck's DOJ to dismiss WITH prejudice.

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