282 Comments

This morning I got one of the greatest Christmas presents I could have wished for--the news that Alexey Navalny has been found alive and apparently at least reasonably well. In Siberia, of course, but where there's life, there's hope? I had been afraid that this was going to turn into a case of disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again. He's the kind of leader Russia needs.

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It is said to be the toughest prison in Russia/Siberia. He is a hero - living or dead. I wish for him

a miracle.

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A miracle or a Ukrainian seal team to go in and get him the hell out of there.

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Wouldn't that be wonderful?

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I do wonder whether he is being kept warm enough in that cold, cold place.

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Probably not. I gather they were doing all possible to make his life miserable even before sending him there.

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I know. Let's hope for the best for him. I wish he had never left Germany after he recovered from the poisoning.

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You and I and the rest of us know that THAT is of course Putin's sadistic agenda.

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Me, too! He's alive!! What joy!!!

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Puts him closer to Finland…….

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Now THERE is a thought.. wonder if there are any behind the lines folks on that idea

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Alexei Navalny has been a hero in my heart since I learned about him years ago. My recent fantasy: How about suggesting that Elon Musk shift and find a way to turn into an anti Putin mission? He's failing miserably, and here's a way he could shift public opinion.

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I agree! My first present, which I shared as such on Facebook.

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That is wonderful news!! Made my day.

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Mine too! I wasn't too sure about posting here, since Joyce is mainly focused on events in or concerning the U.S., but I was so happy I just had to tell somebody. Glad I did, obviously I am not alone in my admiration for this heroic gentleman.

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Thank you for sharing this news. I have been so worried about him. And, of course, we still worry, but at least he _is_ alive.

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I had not seen that good news, so thank you for sharing it. One of many blessings to celebrate today.

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It is great that he is alive and reasonably well. He is courageous and has uncovered untold corruption in the upper echelons of the Russian government. However, Navalny is not a saint either. He is quite nationalistic, and has racist and anti lgbtq views. I don’t know what kind of a president he would be (probably not a western style democratic one).

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Yes he is.

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Voting rights are a legacy of freedom. Don't let anyone silence your voices, vote in every election, democracy is not free it needs and deserves your best effort to keep us free. Merry Christmas to all

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Right on Patrick! I started working on Abner Mikva’s campaign as my Congressman when I was 14 years old inspired by my parents to get involved. He won by few votes. In 1978 when I first voted for him, he won by 12 votes. The Daley machine hated him and eventually got him out through redistricting. Later he became Judge Mikva

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Obama said he won by one or two votes in districts....

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I remember voting for Mikva when he first ran. And when he moved to Evanston I got my friends to vote for him. He said he won by only a few votes in each precinct. I also worked for Yates.

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OMG. I have not heard his name for years. In the Sid Yates campaign we called him "Mr. McVeigh."

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lol! You must have lived near me!

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The best piece I have read so far to contextualize voting is this one from 2016 by Rebecca Solnit. She distinguishes between voting and building a movement and says that voting is a chess move, not a valentine.

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/the-2000-election-unleashed-disaster-on-the-world-we-cant-let-that-happen-again-in-2016/

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Gary, Thank you for posting Solnit’s Nation piece and amplifying the remark “Voting is a chess move, not a valentine,” my go-to reference when speaking with those planning not to vote and also those planning to vote for third party candidates. The other Solnit line I frequently reference is “Sometimes the lesser of two evils is a lot less evil.” I’ve been heartened by the persuasive impact of both statements.

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YES❤️

“… think of voting as a chess move, not a valentine.”

An ernest vote for Biden is strategic❤️.

A vote for “I am your retribution,” is a black valentine for hate🖤.

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Her analysis is spot on, a primer in voting for everyone

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Yes ! Vote in EVERY election, including and especially primaries. Let’s knock 🤡💩🎃 out of the race early.

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YES. “🤡💩🎃” rings even better than TFG.

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Patrick, print this out, distribute far and wide, write it on sidewalks, the walls of everyplace, on posters.

This sounds like a proper anthem.

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Like they say, the cruelty is the point.

That ignorant old boomer looser will be forgotten by everyone two minutes after he makes America great again permanently with his departure. The same for all the other Lifetime Losers of MAGAt World. When he looks at you, all his inadequacies that led to his lifetime looserness stare back at him and he can only rage like this in frustration, showing the world what a loser he is, has been, and always will be.

You, Joyce Vance, on the other hand, will be remembered in the history books.

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That's what I'm afraid of: that Trump will be forgotten. We USians are real good at forgetting. No, correct that: We liberal and progressive types are real good at forgetting. The "South shall rise again" crowd never forgets. Neither does the anti-choice crowd.

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Thank you Joyce for a year of incredible clarity and insight. 2024 is going to be a rough one, but like you said, we are in it together and as long as you keep posting pictures of knitting, chickens, dog, and cat we should be able to weather any storm.

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It's the menagerie and the awesome chicken house with dogs and cats around that also helps keep me sane even though some days, my sanity is questionable.

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If I may suggest… e.g. I’m looking into getting a chicken like Pumpkin, and a hairdryer.

Also, this bumpersticker:

🇺🇸VOTE DEMOCRAT 11/5/24🇺🇸

IT MAY BE YOUR LAST CHANCE

and don’t say I didn’t warn you.

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The bumpersticker is great and true. I apologize but fascist fear is what led us to remove political bumperstickers. There were four neighbors who put up ribbons for Ukraine ours remains up.

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Fascist fear… on the roads. Yikes. You have a practical point there. Yet another reason to work toward days without fascism. Restore full exercise of free speech.

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Happy Holidays to you and all your loved ones. And thank you for all you do for us. Yours is one of the few sane voices in the current maelstrom

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founding

If you don’t vote, think about who IS voting. The cult will determine the outcome by virtue of your lack of participating. Please vote.

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It is quite simple:

If you don't vote, you ARE voting for Trump and Project 2025.

If you vote for a third party candidate, you ARE voting for Trump and a dictatorship.

If you don't vote a straight ticket of Democrats you are abandoning democracy and women's rights. You would be declaring that you don't care if the planet becomes uninhabitable for billions of people and other organisms.

We are having our own Kristalnacht in fits and starts right now. We have been warned. The new Nazis must be crushed at the polls.

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For subscribers who would like know about Kristallnacht, the following is a brief outline:

' ...the night of November 9–10, 1938, when German Nazis attacked Jewish persons and property. The name Kristallnacht refers ironically to the litter of broken glass left in the streets after these pogroms. The violence continued during the day of November 10, and in some places acts of violence continued for several more days.'

'The pretext for the pogroms was the shooting in Paris on November 7 of the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by a Polish-Jewish student, Herschel Grynszpan. News of Rath’s death on November 9 reached Adolf Hitler in Munich, Germany, where he was celebrating the anniversary of the abortive 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. There, Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, after conferring with Hitler, harangued a gathering of old storm troopers, urging violent reprisals staged to appear as “spontaneous demonstrations.” Telephone orders from Munich triggered pogroms throughout Germany, which then included Austria.'

'Just before midnight on November 9, Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller sent a telegram to all police units informing them that “in shortest order, actions against Jews and especially their synagogues will take place in all of Germany. These are not to be interfered with.” Rather, the police were to arrest the victims. Fire companies stood by synagogues in flames with explicit instructions to let the buildings burn. They were to intervene only if a fire threatened adjacent “Aryan” properties.'

'In two days and nights, more than 1,000 synagogues were burned or otherwise damaged. Rioters ransacked and looted about 7,500 Jewish businesses, killed at least 91 Jews, and vandalized Jewish hospitals, homes, schools, and cemeteries. The attackers were often neighbours. Some 30,000 Jewish males aged 16 to 60 were arrested. To accommodate so many new prisoners, the concentration camps at Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen were expanded.'

'After the pogrom ended, it was given an oddly poetic name: Kristallnacht—meaning “crystal night” or “night of broken glass.” This name symbolized the final shattering of Jewish existence in Germany. After Kristallnacht, the Nazi regime made Jewish survival in Germany impossible.' (Briitannica)

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Thank you for reminding all of us.

We cannot allow ourselves to forget.

Ever.

It can happen here.

Only by remembering the history of the horrors humans have inflicted upon other humans can we prevent such extermination from happening again.

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Thank you for reading it, doc. Kristallnacht is often used as a 'code' word, and many people may not literally know what happened that night, why it took place and about the lives of Jews in Germany thereafter.

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Fern, are Trumpers using Kristallnacht as a 'code' word?

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Valere, I don't know if 'Trumpers'/MAGAs have mentioned Kristallnacht. Subscriber, Bill Alstrom, wrote that we were having our own shades of it here in the US. I don't know how many subscribers are familiar with the history of Kristallnacht and what it stands for, so I spelled out what happened in Germany that night and to the Jews in Germany afterward.

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Thank you Fern. I knew about Kristallnacht, but not with the kind of detail you supplied. And I will check out Bill Alstrom's post. Trump is fascist, as are his MAGA supporters. I appreciate your making us ultra-aware:))

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Fern:

Thank you for the more precise story of Kristallnacht.

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Thank you Fern for this reminder. This is why we need to be vigilant - together.

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Can’t we say “Merry Christmas Lock him up!” any more?

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You win John! I'm stealing this!

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No we can’t.

But you can say Lock him up & Season’s Greetings!

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Merry Christmas Joyce. Please look into Substack's refusal to comment on outright Nazi substack. You might not want to continue with this version of your gathering of mind. All best always. You are a gift.

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Do you think Joyce and all the other excellent liberal, progressive, and/or feminist, etc., writers on Substack should abandon the platform because it won't comment on a Nazi Substack? Do you really want to give the Nazis that much power?

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Thank you Susanna. Joyce likely knows of this issue because Robert Rei's has been writing about it. He wrote to the Substack founders - and sent a copy of his letter to all Substack members. Joyce would have received Robert's letter. You can read it his substack at: Robert J. Rei

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I think he sent it out before my Substack went live. I'm catching up now. Thanks for the lead.

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Hi Susanna, Robert published re Nazis on December 14 and 15. He enclosed a letter he had written to Substack founders with 247 signatures from Substack publishers. Here is the link to that letter: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-IFF6pyxKkgG3CWuyNmZVE8L1EL6Khxo3QPAqrHOTaw/edit#

I scanned the list and did not see Joyce's name: but I'm assuming she has been overwhelmingly busy. I will write to Robert and ask if he has contacted her directly. Substack is by subscription, not advertiser - such as Twitter/X. So if the Nazi far right element is operating in violation of Substack rules, it should be an easy boot. A fair number of the 247 signors on Robert's letter are likely considering leaving substack. That could be significant - and really significant if someone like Joyce moved with her 200,000 plus followers. Robert would likely welcome your support/signature on his letter or a future letter. He does not charge for his substack as he is interested in reaching folks. The substack is: Robert J. Reis

All the best,

Valere

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Hi Susanna, I just learned by chance, not through Robert, that TCinLA (who here as well on Joyce’s sub stack), wrote the original article re Nazis on Substack for the Atlantic and then posted it on this website.

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I've got Robert Rei's site bookmarked. I also want to see what the Nazis are pitching. I'm guessing that what's going to persuade Substack to take this seriously is the most popular Substackers threatening to leave. (Last I looked, Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American" had well over a million subscribers, of whom I'm one.)

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I think it's important that she know in order to make her own choice. Don't you?

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Don't you just "love" how "they" glom onto a good thing and desecrate it with rage, lies and threats of violence? Such small minded but dangerous people.!

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If you or anyone know how to get links to Joyce to would help her decide that would be great. Xo

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Mimi, Substack has a responder's page. Not right now, but let's look to see what we can do.

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Hope, Robert Rei has addressed this issue with all substack members; thus, Joyce would have received his letter. He wrote as well to the Substack founders. I will contact him to make sure he has dialogued with Joyce - and you can read his letters to all on his substack: Robert J. Rei

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Many thanks, Valere.

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It is not our page or decision.

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Happy day! I am celebrating Christmas with a new grandson and my vote will be to preserve our democracy for him. Peace all

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Yesterday and today, as many subscribers are people, too, minds were on Holiday preparations, family visits and keeping politics in the closet or forever getting into to the 'us v. them harangue', which circles endlessly in our minds. My mind was in the same place as Joyce's. My vision of the US right now is not too pretty. My comment on yesterday's LFAA forum is the same today on Civil Discourse.

What is your picture of the USA today? What comes to mind first of all?

Voting, one of our most important rights as citizens -- the right to vote will be ours to exercise as citizens in 2024.

'The 2024 United States presidential election will be the 60th quadrennial presidential election, scheduled for Tuesday, November 5, 2024.[1] Voters will elect a president and vice president for a term of four years. Incumbent President Joe Biden, a member of the Democratic Party, is running for re-election.[2] His predecessor Donald Trump, a member of the Republican Party, is running for re-election to a second, nonconsecutive term.[3] If Trump wins, he would become the second president to achieve this feat, after Grover Cleveland. If both Biden and Trump are nominated by their respective parties, it would mark the first presidential rematch since 1956. A number of primary election challengers have also declared their candidacies for the nomination of both major parties. The winner of this election is scheduled to be inaugurated on January 20, 2025. It will occur at the same time as elections to the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House; several states will also be holding gubernatorial and state legislative elections.' (Wikipedia)

Those are the simple facts, without any color! 2024 is a crucial year for 'We the people ...' and for our country.

GETTING OUT THE VOTE HAS TO BE OUR 1st PRIOTY AS CITIZENS OF THE USA.

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Trump wants to be a dictator, not just a king. Sorry!

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I don’t really give a hoo-haa about what that criminal “wants or feels”.

Vote!!!! Vote democrats in, they got legislation passed for WE the people when we had house & senate.

Also Vote Against Republican Fascists and also their Silent Republican spineless

co-conspirators with their silence & winks-n-nods to their FAT OLD Florida Fascist!

VOTE - and Not for a 3rd party candidate-

Jill Stein gave us DJT the first time! Only after the election did people see her in Moscow sitting with Putin & Mike Flynn.

NO 3rd Party Poopers.

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Merry Christmas Joyce & thank you for your wisdom (and animals 😁)

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Hudson Rowan's "I voted!" Sticker does it for me.

Thank you, Hudson, I will vote.

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Thank you...even we Goy appreciate a good Chinese restaurant on Xmas!!! 😎

I'm often completely baffled at the NON EXCUSES people have for not voting.

And i suspect there are many who just lie about it. Sad, really sad!

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Oooo!

Here's a thought: let's collect all the ridiculous 'reasons' someone might offer for not voting.

Like: " I had to get my nails done. It was an emergency."

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Wishing you the happiest of holidays and looking forward to continuing to spread the word on what’s at stake this upcoming year. I know what my New Year’s wish will be and I will work hard to make it a reality. You are an inspiration!

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