In these hard days of naked brutality, it’s easy to feel like we’re sprinting just to stay upright. The pace of authoritarianism isn’t just fast; it’s dizzying. It wants us to stumble. To lose our grounding. To get used to the smoke, the noise, the constant edge of dread. But here’s a quiet truth: it’s a sign of your humanity that it feels awful. It means the sickness hasn’t set in. That your body, your spirit, your gut knows this isn’t normal. That we’re still capable of discerning dignity from decay. That our hearts haven’t adapted to the chaos—and that’s worth holding onto.… Read full email…

[View Email in Browser] ChooseDemocracy.us, In these hard days of naked brutality, it’s easy to feel like we’re sprinting just to stay upright. The pace of authoritarianism isn’t just fast; it’s dizzying. It wants us to stumble. To lose our grounding. To get used to the smoke, the noise, the constant edge of dread. But here’s a quiet truth: it’s a sign of your humanity that it feels awful. It means the sickness hasn’t set in. That your body, your spirit, your gut knows this isn’t normal. That we’re still capable of discerning dignity from decay. That our hearts haven’t… Read full email…

We’re on a knife’s edge moment — caught between promise and peril, precarity and possibility. In case you missed it: Donald Trump has deployed 700 marines alongside up to 4,100 National Guard troops to Los Angeles. This comes in direct defiance of local voices and elected leaders who made it clear they do not want this ICE-led crackdown. Protests erupted as people tried to shield their communities and loved ones. ICE escalated quickly—using tear gas and stun grenades. No one requested the National Guard. The violence began with ICE ripping families apart. Trump wants to escalate it with the military and national… Read full email…

We’re on a knife’s edge moment — caught between promise and peril, precarity and possibility. In case you missed it: Donald Trump has deployed up to 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles. This comes in direct defiance of local voices and elected leaders who made it clear they do not want this ICE-led crackdown. Protests erupted as people tried to shield their communities and loved ones. ICE escalated quickly—using tear gas and stun grenades. No one requested the National Guard. The violence began with ICE. It escalated with ICE. And any reporting that suggests otherwise is distorting the truth. California Governor… Read full email…

I’ve been searching for a metaphor to grasp the meaning of Elon Musk’s departure from DOGE. The closest I can come to is when a friend in an abusive relationship makes a significant break from their partner, like moving out, but hasn’t completely ended the relationship. As a friend, you know all is not well. The threat of violence remains. The relationship is still toxic and dangerous. Still, you applaud the move. You don’t feed your friend’s aching feeling of disempowerment and loss — you feed the courage, the agency, and the strength to keep going. So it’s in that… Read full email…

It may be impossible to mentally survive the onslaught of these times if you track every piece of news. The actions under the Trump/Musk regime are a barrage: rolling back civil rights, watching government run by idiots, every institution weaponized, and dystopian spectacle passed off as governance. The sheer velocity can numb the senses, tempting us to shut down, to turn off the feed, to retreat. But you also cannot be good to the world — or yourself — if you keep your head down and pay attention to nothing. Withdrawal is understandable, even necessary at times—but permanent disengagement only cedes ground… Read full email…

Many of us are angsting these days about the mounting repression coming from the White House. In my community, many are worried about rumors of possible executive orders targeting climate and other nonprofit groups. The concern is well-founded. As Bloomberg reports, these executive orders — expected on Tuesday, Earth Day — would try to strip some groups of their tax exempt status, similar to the threats the president has made to Harvard. I’m now thinking about the many teachers, students, nonprofit staff, lawyers, university staff and faculty and beyond who are worried, concerned and uncertain about what is coming. The… Read full email…