Temperature holding at 90C. We cannot spend every minute obsessing but we must prepare ourselves to act.

Two pieces for today, both from writers who have in depth knowledge and have been both sounding alarms and realistic about our situation.

Peter Olandt writes that “There are no rules based paths that will get us out”. As I have been saying (see The Response, below) we are no longer operating under the Constitution and only a mass uprising can rein in the government.

Thom Hartmann has for many years been reporting on the Republican antigovernment and antidemocracy movement that we can trace back to at least Richard Nixon. He writes that “Trump is starting to lose big, from courtrooms, to the press increasingly calling him out, to millions of Americans showing up in the streets every few weeks. As anybody who’s ever lived or worked in an autocratic state (I have) can tell you, a strongman or wannabe dictator is most dangerous when he’s on his back foot.”

Hartmann describes how Trump has gutted nearly all of the organizations that protect us from terrorist attacks, while at the same time preparing to enable the police and military to act:

“The Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Attorney General, shall determine how military and national security assets, training, non-lethal capabilities, and personnel can most effectively be utilized to prevent crime.” If our freedom depends on Pete Hegseth and Pam Bondi, that is not a good situation.

We will need to mobilize very large numbers of people to demonstrate in DC at the first signs of repression. I am hopeful that June 14 will bring out large numbers and help us to build momentum.