On this day our thoughts turn to peace and the uncertain future. Are we ready? Will we, like fhis girl, stand up when the time comes?

Epidemic of police killings; middle class, dead or dying; poors being run out from under the freeways, people prohibited from feeding them.

Untold numbers living in their cars. Our military killing civilians in other countries in epic numbers. Nuclear war now a possibility once more. Organizing potential of the Internet becoming limited.

Naomi Klein warned us back when Trump was elected to to expect the disaster/vulture capitalists to stream in. She was right.

With the passage of the #TaxScam and the steady dismantling of Federal regulatory protections we can expect a continuing cascade of attacks. Not just from the Trumpists, but from their little butt buddies Establishment Dems as well.

What can we do? Sit around and beach that there is no peace movement? We can do better than that, can't we.

Sure, TPTB own the police, have the military hardware, should we try to stop them. Israelis are being hired to train our police how to deal with us.

The focus of this training is on riot suppression, counterinsurgency, and counterterrorism — all of which are essentially irrelevant or should be irrelevant to the vast majority of police departments.https://t.co/6MnI3Effo6

— Damanda C_Palestine ❄ (@amanda_damanda) December 15, 2017

So guess we just give up, sit back an take it, document all the fail?

Are we, the 99%, to become the next Palestinians? Yeminis?

If you live in #Yemen, you must now avoid :
- schools,
- market places,
- weddings,
- funerals,
- hospitals,
- roads,
- you own home (the list goes on)

TOO DANGEROUS. You risk to be hit by a #US / #Saudi airstrike. pic.twitter.com/fRyIIVIogs

— Get up Stand up (@RiseUp75) December 18, 2017

Not your perfect Christmas Essay perhaps, but as I woke up wishing for peace on earth, in thinking this morning of the apocrypal stories of Jesus throwing the money lenders out of the temple, Ghandi and the non violent movement, MLK jr. and others, just made me wonder..

Are we ready? How can we get more ready? Because they ARE coming for us.

What will we do when they kick granny out of the nursing home if Medicaid is taken away?

What will we do when our child or relative dies because of lack of health care?

What will we do ask working conditions deteriorate even more, water supply is screwed, food supply is ruined, job loss due to automation make conditions horrible for even more people?

What will we do when suicide by opoid becomes the main way out for even thousands more people?

What will we do to stem the tide of violence to people, wildlife, and planet under the guise of the war on terror and America First?

Plenty of people are taking action, just not getting coverage in corporate media. Imagine that.

Today I will highlight the women's org Code Pink, has been demonstrating examples of organizing and action around the world. Veteran's of Peace, World Beyond War, Democratic Socialists, and others have as well. W

Israeli military court just ruled that #AhedTamimi's detention will be continued at least another four days. The 16-year-old Palestinian activist who protected her home from soldiers will spend #Christmas day and beyond in jail. #NoWayToTreatAChild pic.twitter.com/3GT215O2yo

— CODEPINK (@codepink) December 25, 2017

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This holiday season, we hope you'll consider supporting our mission to fight for peace, human rights and more. 2017 was quite a year and with your support we'll be able to continue fighting for peace and human rights in 2018! #RiseLoveResist https://t.co/x33SjIFsEW pic.twitter.com/OAVCNgU8Xl

— CODEPINK (@codepink) December 25, 2017

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Thank you, @lorde! https://t.co/nRw17TJHb7

— CODEPINK (@codepink) December 24, 2017

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It's time to #DivestFromWar! Not sure what that means or how to get started? Check out our webinar! https://t.co/IfucdR4ixQ https://t.co/jVW5gdxNHK https://t.co/3ory3RHi2W

— CODEPINK (@codepink) December 24, 2017

I know many here have been discussing and planning and sharing about next steps.

Naomi Klein fortold actions like the #TaxScam. i first learned of Naomi Klein and her shock doctrine book from the Evening Blues back when it was still at TOP.

She has been hired to report on Trump the duopoly's actions by The Intercept.

She has written another book that has interesting ideas for future action.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jun/22/no-is-not-enough-naomi-kle...

The most consequential part of Klein’s analysis stems from personal experience. The social movements were gaining traction when 9/11 happened. “The era of the so-called War on Terror pretty much wiped our movement off the map in North America and Europe,” she writes. Intimidated (or seduced) by the rhetoric of the “clash of civilisations” and the harsh new security environment, many participants withdrew their support. “Antiglobalisation is so yesterday,” ran a headline in Canada’s National Post, a few days after the attacks. The shock of 9/11 was exploited by various actors to inaugurate a “security bubble”, in which police and security powers were extended and vast resources were diverted from other uses to fight the war on terror. In The Shock Doctrine (2007), Klein argued that there is a playbook for exploiting shock events such as 9/11 and the Iraq war. As she puts it in No Is Not Enough: “Wait for a crisis (or even, in some instances, as in Chile or Russia, help foment one), declare a moment of what is sometimes called ‘extraordinary politics’, suspend some or all democratic norms – and then ram the corporate wish list through as quickly as possible.”

This wish list may include the seizure of land and resources, increased military spending, privatisation of public goods and economic deregulation. The “shock doctrine” doesn’t require the machinery of conspiracy to function. It is a collection of political techniques and impulses, the dark underside of the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter’s idea of “creative destruction” and the Silicon Valley injunction to “move fast and break things”. The result is “the decimation of the public sphere and the public interest”, and the tendency to move wealth rapidly upwards into the hands of a tiny minority.

And this is exactly what the Republicans just did, moved historically fast, with too little opposition from Democrats. Heh. Sanders and Warren produced a video calling for millions to rise up in opposition. Thousands did, but....

What's next?

Klein's suggestions:

If you spend your days glued to your phone and have 30 political tabs open on your browser, much of the material in No Is Not Enough will be familiar. The book’s chief value lies in synthesis. Klein’s particular background and expertise allow her to pull together the disparate threads of what it would be misleading to call “Trumpism”, if only because of the unwarranted suggestion of system and control. How you view her political proposals will depend on your politics, particularly on the value one ascribes to what used to be called “the extraparliamentary left”. She insists, rightly in my view, that there is a need to promote a positive alternative social vision, and that ostensibly “utopian” aims and proposals are a way to avoid being caught in a politics that is merely reactive or timidly reformist. Partly, I think, because she believes (again, I’d argue correctly) that a lightly greenwashed version of the status quo will never save us from the catastrophic consequences of climate change, Klein skims over the terrain of legislative politics. She has little practical advice for people engaged in the sort of dull, incremental political action – lobbying, attempting to influence legislation – that is aimed at turning the oil tanker that is the US Congress. Nor does she advocate particular aims or tactics for organisers. The book ends with a document called The Leap Manifesto, drawn up by Canadian activists in 2015, a “platform without a party”, which is a powerful statement of alternative principles that feels as though it needs a thread to connect it to today’s largely defensive struggles.

In case you have not seen the Leap Manifesto...

The Leap Manifesto - "Caring for the Earth and One Another"https://t.co/rdVfk4rEpe

— Boulder DSA .tumblr.com (@BoulderDSA) November 18, 2017

A critique of her work is offered here. Both are quite useful imo.

Canada’s Leap Manifesto is not enough.#Auspol #qldpol#StopAdani #ClimateChange@SabraLane @LaTrioli

Meanwhile Australia sleeps through the #ClimateCrisis #MediaFail#TheDrum #insiders #QandA

A big wake up is coming. https://t.co/FoN8AMeJkj

— John Pratt (@Jackthelad1947) November 30, 2017

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In sum, I am thankful to see examples of courageous action like those of #AhedTamimi,the Palestinian teenager featured above.

I look forward to joining with others here and around the world in creating a better way.