After reading Prequel, Rachel Maddow’s most recent book, it’s abundantly clear that a free society—or free relative to other countries at least—is an easy mark for a regime, say, like the one in Germany back in the 1930s and ‘40s.

The playbook Hitler used on us appears to have paved the way for the one Putin is currently using. And Putin has better tools with which to penetrate deep into society and mess with our psyche. It was then and is now all about generating rot from within. Sowing discontent among us, spreading disinformation, picking at and widening the divide between haves and have nots, appealing to an embrace of isolationism, grooming a sense of fear and mistrust when it comes to immigrants, along with an ever-present antisemitism.

Even going so far as to sweet-talking and bribing politicians, our representatives in Congress. There’s been little in terms of bombshell accusations in this regard, but all one has to do is listen to Bannon and Miller and Gaetz and Jordan and Johnson and even MTG and the rest to realize that we’re again dealing with a faction that desires a form of government much different from what the founders intended.

One can see why Maddow wrote the book– to remind us that we’ve been here before, and that the U.S. will always be vulnerable, because of our Constitution and the freedoms it provides. Sadly, there will always be a misfit somewhere who hates us, hates democracy, and who will go to any lengths to take us down- slowly, remotely even, in unnoticeable or at least plausibly deniable ways for as long as possible, focusing on peoples’ ignorance and all that would create friction and manufactured hatred, and people taking sides.

America is indeed an experiment, a rarity on the world stage, one that demands engagement, participation, and buy-in from its citizens. And one that apparently will always invite efforts at destruction.

No, I didn’t forget about Trump. He’s just a stooge, though. A pretender who’s been allowed to hang around for too long.

A panel of experts was going on about the state of the war between Ukraine and Russia. Two of them are, I guess, optimistic about Ukraine being able to hold its own, with help from the U.S. and other countries. The other was Donnie Downer and pretty much saying Ukraine has already lost. The writing is on the wall, he maintains—Russia has 10 times the fire power, five times the population. It’s a battle of attrition. Russia will do to Ukraine what it did to Finland in 1940.

One of the more rosy-sounding panelists said that 2025 will be a better year on the battlefield for Ukraine, taking for granted, sadly, that the fucking war will still be going on in 2025.

Putin sits back, with beady eyes and a face betraying coldness and derision, and the rest of the world just sits, paralyzed to do anything besides wait for the other shoe to drop.

Making war is the one thing we humans excel at. It seems there will always be the next megalomaniac to deal with.

So it’s come to this: a former U.S. President, running for the same office again, against all reason and sanity, is reduced to hawking gold tone sneakers to raise money.

Donald Trump is of course shameless—we already knew that. But he seems to find ways to lower the bar ever further, to subterranean levels.

Sounds like he got a less-than-enthusiastic reception when he introduced his gaudy high tops at Sneaker Con, a real event, in Philly. You can’t make this stuff up.

At least one die-hard supporter has apparently indulged him, forking over $9K for a pair. And millions more are going to vote for the guy, sans the ugly Chuck Taylors.

Alabama declares a frozen embryo a human child. On one hand, it makes sense—the result of the union of human sperm and human egg can’t be anything other than a human embryo, which, if left to normal natural develpment, will result in nothing other than a fully formed human being.

So, what’s the issue? I’m not sure what’s on the other hand. There must be other considerations in play. Like custody, apparently. And liability, of course.

Wow.

The passage of time. How apparent it was as we gathered for a 100^th anniversary celebration at my home congregation.

Chartered by mostly Swedish immigrants, incorporated in 1924, still going, with a history marked by growth and decline, capable pastors and those who were less so. What mostly got my attention was the grey hair, no hair, stooped frames, fuller frames, hunched shoulders, slower gaits, weathered faces.

Recognizable but… older. No surprise, yet somehow still a revelation—that it’s happening to us.

Watched Oppenheimer last night. Stunning and intense. Only complaint is that the musical score sometimes got in the way of the dialogue. It was difficult to get the gist of some conversations.

Complicated guy, to put it simply. Otherworldly brain power, intense situation. It might make one realize that most of us skate through life having done little of significance, or at least nothing that rises to the level of what Oppenheimer and his team accomplished, as they developed a world-altering technology before the Germans did.

I wasn’t aware of much of the detail, including the back-biting by Lewis Strauss- don’t know what kind of license they took with that whole dynamic. The project gave birth to great moral dilemmas, compromises, and it might have one wondering if Oppenheimer ever found peace.

We as citizens of Earth have lived with an uneasy peace ever since, but I don’t blame Oppenheimer for that. He was given a job to do in a highly charged, perilous moment, and he did it. He was a complicated, fallible, thoughtful, heroic figure. But his efforts—and those of his team—have left us walking on egg shells, constantly playing with fire, dependent every day on competent people doing the right things, which includes monitoring our aging nukes, and keeping the bad players from blowing us all to smithereens.

Colbert was quite animated on Thursday night. He offered a summary of the country’s political landscape by turning to the camera and saying, “This is fucked up,” or something to that effect.

He zeroed in on exactly the frustration many feel: many can plainly see that Trump is taking up way too much of the country’s time and energy with the multiple lawsuits and criminal entanglements—and to one degree or another is guilty of charges—but we are fearful that the wheels of justice won’t turn fast enough to keep him from doing more damage than he’s already wrought.

We’re being put through the wringer because a 77-year-old narcissistic windbag can’t behave himself. The frustration over this is liable to boil over every now and then, and reactions are inevitable. It was Colbert’s turn a couple nights ago.

R. I. P., Alexei Navalny. Another silenced voice of courage and reason. Hopefully his words and actions resonate.

Russia, what’s your problem?

Such a dark, unhappy place. At least, that’s the face we often see. Well, other than when Tucker Carlson takes a tour and reports that groceries are cheap and the subways are ornate.

My visits to the doctor, lately more frequent than I’d like, are nonetheless enlightening for various reasons. He spends time with his patients, doesn’t seem to be in a hurry, which is a gift in itself—even if it means you sit and wait your turn.

On occasion, we’re liable to end up chatting about other things, often tangentially related to the reason for the visit. This morning, he talked about the state of medicine in America, and the gist of it is that it’s a rather sorry state. Disconcerting, even. No money, mismanagement, unwieldy mergers and acquistions, disinterested and disconnected ownership, incompetence, greed, a dwindling pool of dedicated people who want to wear the mantle of caregiver in all its varied manifestations, from front desk greeters to scheduling to PCAs to RNs to surgeons and mental health experts, and all the other jobs and specialties that keep a healthcare establishment running and providing its much-needed services.

The doctor mentioned that there used to be a time, a while back, when the endoscopic ultrasound that I have scheduled for the middle of April would have been scheduled for much closer in—maybe even next week. But not anymore. I asked him about solutions, about what needs to happen to turn things around, and he was not at all optimistic that a turnaround—a reimagining, a reboot—is even possible. He made it sound like that train is too far down the track to do anything about.

I suppose I could talk to a different doctor and get a rosier outlook, but I read and listen and look around and know that healthcare in the U.S. is an out-of-control beast.

And it’s not just healthcare that’s teetering on the edge. There seems to be a general “brain drain,” a nagging futility and fatigue leading to a not-so-gradual ebbing of talented, qualified people. Education—teachers—comes to mind. The critical personnel, the critical infrastructure, the glue that we assume holds society together, seems to be letting go.

Blame it on Covid, blame it on burnout, blame it on the state of the world that appears to be ticking closer to midnight. Blame it on a certain softness that comes from indulging ourselves in the distraction du jour, spending time doing whatever the hell one feels like doing in search of some good life that we feel we deserve. If everyone is on that mission, then it’s no surprise we appear to be heading for a cliff.

Finding Your Roots is a really interesting show. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and his team are bulldogs, scouring records, finding connections the guests may have only dreamed of finding. The revelations, the discoveries, the wrestling with slavery often times, the emotions and appreciation the guests often express for what their forebears went through, the surprise connections with other guests through DNA—it all adds up to an engaging hour of television.

I think Dr. Gates could lend an air of intrigue and excitement to just about any person’s story. The research in and of itself travels in so many directions and opens more doors than it closes, with the exception of the Black experience and the sometimes early encounter with what Gates calls the Brick Wall, where the sleuthing hits a dead end.

Slaves were often tallied with a hash mark, no name, maybe an age and gender, which is a recurring theme in the research. Gates and the team find ways to fill in some of the blanks, though, find other threads to pull.

Their efforts are a blessing to these guests, who often express thanks and deep appreciation for having their stories filled out. They’ve been given a whole new way of thinking about their families and themselves. It’s a remarkable journey every week.