Somewhat Alarming

Recently I read that two scholars who have written about authoritarianism are leaving the US and moving to Canada--Timothy Snyder and Jason Stanley. I think this sends a message--or should send a message --to American society. 

In other words, they are reading the tea leaves, and the tea contains arsenic.

To think that we are only two months into President Trump's second term, and this is happening. At least, though, there is some real pushback. The few Republicans holding town hall meetings are getting sliced and diced because of Trump and Musk's actions.

Maybe it's not too late.

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Some Nice Phrases

I just felt like posting snippets of writing (mainly phrases) that I found euphonic:

--"to advertise the reader's own urbanity and sophistication" (Ed Simon)

--"denizens of this remote hamlet" (Ed Simon)

--"skin-crawlingly uncomfortable" (Ed Simon)

--"considering the cutthroat capriciousness"  (Ed Simon)

--"a culture-wide attention deficit disorder" (Derek King)

--"and shakes her from self-absorption" (Derek King)

--"someone who delights in the demolition of norms and normalcy" (Ben Tarnoff)

--"ruthless enough to inflict the remedy" (Ben Tarnoff)

--"But beneath the buffoonery is something deadly serious." (Ben Tarnoff)

--"the mendacity and moral depravity" (Ben Tarnoff)

--"An empire in decline is a dangerous animal." (Ben Tarnoff)

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President Trump

Well, it appears the president is causing more debacles and causing them with even more rapidity than usual. He appears even to be nudging up to a constitutional crisis. By seemingly defying a court order, he is pushing into new territory.

It will be interesting, and scary, to see how far he will go before many of his supporters realize they have been snookered by one of the greatest salesman ever.

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On Freewriting, Again

I think I have used freewriting about two times in the past week and I found it helpful. It did seem to loosen my activity of writing and I felt a sense of accomplishment when it was over. Even though little from the freewriting is typically used.

I will use it again today in writing an op-ed I'm trying to get published. I think it will help.

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Freewriting

I've been considering using the technique of freewriting to help me get started on some opinion pieces. Freewriting is where you write for a period of time, say, five or ten minutes, and you don't stop to think, to correct a misspelling, or to change anything you've written.

I have used it in the past and I've found it somewhat helpful in loosening my mind up so I am more free to write down things that don't readily come to mind.

I think it will help me.

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