Oh, my. That certainly hits the nail on the head. 🎯
I just reacquainted myself with Bertolt Brecht:
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a playwright in Munich and moved to Berlin in 1924, where he wrote The Threepenny Opera with Elisabeth Hauptmann and Kurt Weill and began a life-long collaboration with the composer Hanns Eisler. Immersed in Marxist thought during this period, Brecht wrote didactic Lehrstücke and became a leading theoretician of epic theatre (which he later preferred to call "dialectical theatre") and the Verfremdungseffekt.
When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Brecht fled his home country, initially to Scandinavia. During World War II he moved to Southern California where he established himself as a screenwriter, while also being surveilled by the FBI. In 1947, he was part of the first group of Hollywood film artists to be subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee for alleged Communist Party affiliations. The day after testifying, he returned to Europe, eventually settling in East Berlin where he co-founded the theatre company Berliner Ensemble with his wife and long-time collaborator, actress Helene Weigel.
From a social worker - I believe people can change. Their hearts and minds can grow. People make mistakes. People can learn to do better. I’ve made many mistakes and I will again. If we just judge and have no compassion then nothing will change. We are in this together.
You are better than me. These ppl knew exactly what they were doing. They just didn't think it would apply to them. Now that they see it applies. That's where the change comes from. Not remorse. Not accountability just fear they could be next.
Same here. As an immigrant... a woman... a member of the LGBTQ community... a neurodivergent... all I ever felt from these people was prejudice and hatred for simply existing. They've had plenty of warnings - THREE elections. And most of them voted in all three. They were ok with people of color getting brutalized. They were ok with the inhumane immigrant deportations (remember those "Mass deportations now!" posters?). They were ok with the Epstein scandal.
And I am not at all certain they weren't ok with these two shootings UNTIL Trump said why would anyone carry a gun unless they are a criminal. So THAT was what set them off? Not all the school shootings. Not the traffic stop executions by the police. No. A white, male, US citizen, legal gun owner got shot - and NOW they care.
My thoughts exactly about the effing asses who voted for him in 2024. They knew exactly who he is and what he wanted to do. And a huge majority of them are crucifixion-jewelry wearing so-called "Christians" who thought "Well, I can duck into Darkness for just a little while....take my well-hidden hate for people who don't look like me and think like me and vote for Satan.....then go to Church on Sundays, praise Jesus and that'll make everything okay." I do not forgive them. I DO hold them accountable.
What you say is indubitably true. However, the support of someone who embodies the characteristics of nearly every cinematic ubervillain and then some, who was already the worst, most corrupt, most inept president in our history and would surely rank highly in the world history of terrible leaders, is beyond understanding. I am happy that at least some of them have finally seen something to stir them out of their intellectual coma. But they are the reason we are in this dilemma in the first fucking place.
Hi Christiana, I am also a social worker - near 40 years of experience working with people who have made the choice to change. I loved your comment! However, I also wanted to add that change like this; much like addressing one's own racism, heteronormativity, classism, ageism, ableism, xenophobia, and sexism takes a profound amount of commitment, self reflection, and compassion for self and others. I'm hoping that this may be the beginning of a long and important series of self explorations and conversations that allow folks to begin looking at the harm they have supported. With you in hope!
Fuck that shit! These MAGA cunts are incapable of true change. Every one of the 77+ million who voted for this. And they fucking DID vote for this, is as guilty of every one of these ICE assassinations as the subhuman pricks who pulled the trigger. Noem, Miller and president tiny dick care as much about anyone else as Noem did about her puppy. Every single subhuman in this administration (which is all of them), every single member of the DJT branch of the tRUMP family (including children, even newborns) along with every tRUMP voter needs to be arrested, charged, tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Make the executions pay-per-view and we can pay off the entire national debt and make healthcare and education free.
Somebody who votes and someone who pulls the trigger and executes a person are not the same. My Aunt Fran is not the same as an ICE agent. She is foolish and selfish but she’s not the same as a killer on the streets. I’m willing to give her a chance to learn and change. A limited chance but I’m not giving up on her.
Neither am I, Kate. Trump supporters saw Trump egging on his MAGAts on that ugly, terrifying January 6th. His supporters were out to kill on his behalf. And they did kill...on his behalf. And he pardoned them.
Trump supporters knew what he is and what he wanted. He could not have been any clearer. "If you oppose me, I want you dead."
So, my position is clear:
If you voted for Trump in 2024, you are an accessory to at least two murders. That you cannot mitigate. Just how many more murders do you want on your conscience? Because we can't hold you responsible here on Earth. But there is a Judgment Day. And I hope God finds you guilty.
Kate, I get the anger - the pain and moral injury that this administration and the people who voted for it. I do. The fact that people could support and protect child sex offenders, racist goon squads, and kidnappers, and sociopathic recruits with guns who are, at this moment, above reproach is terrifying and enraging. You are also correct when you say that many of these folks knew exactly what they were voting for - Christofacist scum bags who want to create a theocratic society dominated by white men at the expense of black, brown, LGBTQIA+ people, women, and children. They represent the most reprehensable and vile of human beings. I smiled at your comment about pay per view executions - the type of pain these people inflict has a way of activating the darkest of responses - which is also a form of resistance! Good for you! However, we have to not drink from the same fountain. Providing hope that some may change, along with the actual work, and attempts to correct the damage they have done, is worthy of support. Being upset because there is concern about loosing one's Second Amendment rights, is some of the whitest shit I've ever seen. Hold onto your humanity and let those who want change demonstrate their growth and willingness to evolve. Some will and some won't.
Empathy and compassion have to come before change. Even a little empathy, which needs to begin with some imagination, would help. I don't believe that Trump has the capacity for imagination. (Except to imagine his own lies.). As for the rest of those who seem in sympathy with the regime: how were you raised? Were you ever the recipient of love?
I've just replayed Maarva's "Worthy of the Stone" funeral speech in "ANDOR" because I remembered one part in particular: "There is a wound at the center of the galaxy. There is a darkness reaching like rust into everything around us. We let it grow, and now it's here. It's here and it's not visiting anymore. It wants to stay." This fight is all too real. The cost of ignorance is too high. It cannot be allowed to stay.
One can’t change taking a life under these circumstances. It was not in defense of oneself or others. This was sanctioned execution because he could. Anyone who behaves like this cannot go back. You want forgiveness? Go to RC confession. Get a free pass to heaven. As for me, this murderer and all who sanction this must be separated from society.
Thank you! I’m Australian and I know that people who have believed in Trump aren’t usually bad people. In Australia, they are those who read Rupert Murdoch’s papers and watch Sky News (the Aussie equivalent to your Fox News.) When you constantly read one particular version of facts, it’s hard to see another side.
Finally they’re starting to question what’s going on. Fingers crossed that momentum builds (preferably without the need for more deaths and heartbreak.) Take care everyone. And thank you so much for this post. I’ll be able to sleep tonight thanks to this. All the best.
Yes, gullibility is certainly a reason for being MAGA, as is personal biases that are easily exploited like racism, misogyny, xenophobia, etc. But to quote my 20-something year old daughter, when we discussed the root causes of being in the cult, she said, "But Dad, you gotta admit, part of it is they are FUCKING IDIOTS."
Dear God - they are only upset because what appears to be a CISHET White Man (a forreal good guy with a holstered gun mindin his damned business and exercising his rights) was murdered for everyone to see - they weren't this mad about Renee Good or Keith Porter or the countless amount of black and brown people murdered before now. This is strictly because Mr Pretti was the type of person they revere. Renee Good was white, but she was a LESBIAN (you forbid) so they were OK with villanizing her - and everyone nodded in agreement. NONE OF THESE DEATHS ARE OK. NONE of them. Screw these MAGA assholes with a cactus
Yes, that’s probably part of it too. But also the videos are so damning and without any kind of defense at all, and most importantly, they realize they could be next.
It's the date of the first documented ICE murder of an innocent US Citizen, Keith Porter, this year (well close, as 2026 was a few minutes away). It was barely reported and absolutely nothing happened.
There was another shooting in the Twin Cities after Ms Good's shooting , but almost zero reporting on that as well. Plus about >25 deaths in their detention centers.
That's my point. It pisses me off that anyone else had to fucking die, but it also pisses me off that it's only NOW that “people” (magats and elected officials, barring a select few) have decided it's too much. None of these people would have had to die if the other deaths would have “mattered” to them as much as Mr Pretti’s.
I believe I heard several reputable people on Substack and elsewhere that said the immigration situation was going to be the "Straw that breaks the camels back." Yep the lack of any human rights and the thuggery surrounding this whole mess is bringing down and exposing the indecency of said people that are supposed to be "rounding up" the "worst of the worst"! Now they are killing innocents taking their weapons from them and shooting them 10 times to make sure that they tell no tales of how abused they were. Why in God's name would they shoot an unarmed man is beyond me. And I don't care how ramped up they are they need to think of human rights and how in the end they may end up arrested in the process. Maybe even sued for abuse!
I will NEVER forgive any MAGA for voting for this pos. That goes double for my MAGA in laws. They damaged our country and it will take years to clean up the mess they have made. That also includes the GOP assholes they vote for down ballot. They had NO PROBLEM SUPPORTING a CHILD RAPIST, because those RAPES were done behind closed doors. They see 2 innocent people get gunned down, and NOW they grow a conscience? All of sudden, they have a PROBLEM with trump. Give it a week, and they'll be sucking his balls again. The cult has a very short memory when it comes to trump and his crimes.
It's only after two white Americans get killed that now everyone is waking up. They were perfectly happy, and gleefully posting, their support for ICE ripping apart families and killing and maiming brown and black people since his first presidency. Now they've seen the light because now white people are being killed? These people don't deserve forgiveness. They are and will always be morally bankrupt racists. They once again are showing that they only care about themselves. Now that the threat is on their doorstep they want forgiveness. Screw that.
While it's nice, if that's the right word, to see drumpf voters pull their heads outta their asses finally, what were they doing when he said, "I am your retribution?" and when his fucking evil minions drafted that thick as a phone book Project 2025? A self administered colonoscopy, apparently.
Spare me any lectures for my comments about where the blame lies, and all these subhuman pricks in the administration and the subhuman Trump voters. Their actions in voting and the actions once this regime took power just showed that they are not decent or human or redeemable. Every single one of them is evil and vile and worse than Hitler in the Nazi regime. I never thought I would say that about Americans given that I am a Jewish person. But this is worse. These people are on a scale of evil that is incomprehensible.
This is what my "Christian" rethug maggot representative posted. This was in the Milwaukee Journal.
"U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, whose competitive district borders Minnesota, said on social media that local officials are enabling an insurrection to distract from the state's Medicaid fraud scandal.
"[Gov. Tim] Walz is a moron who is getting people killed to cover up for the massive fraud he oversaw," Van Orden tweeted Jan. 24."
Another administration lie. Walz and his administration were the ones who have brought 70+ people to court, pled guilty, or been convicted. Compare that to the vast majority of states which have neglected to look into fraud
Funny how Florida and Texass have 10x the number of illegals that MN has, yet no ICE action there. You'd almost think that they were targeting Blue areas. Of course, the number of people carrying guns in TX and FL is quite a bit higher than MN.
"Don't rejoice in his defeat, you men.
For though the world stood up and stopped the bastard,
The bitch that bore him is in heat again."
- Bertolt Brecht
Oh, my. That certainly hits the nail on the head. 🎯
I just reacquainted myself with Bertolt Brecht:
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a playwright in Munich and moved to Berlin in 1924, where he wrote The Threepenny Opera with Elisabeth Hauptmann and Kurt Weill and began a life-long collaboration with the composer Hanns Eisler. Immersed in Marxist thought during this period, Brecht wrote didactic Lehrstücke and became a leading theoretician of epic theatre (which he later preferred to call "dialectical theatre") and the Verfremdungseffekt.
When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Brecht fled his home country, initially to Scandinavia. During World War II he moved to Southern California where he established himself as a screenwriter, while also being surveilled by the FBI. In 1947, he was part of the first group of Hollywood film artists to be subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee for alleged Communist Party affiliations. The day after testifying, he returned to Europe, eventually settling in East Berlin where he co-founded the theatre company Berliner Ensemble with his wife and long-time collaborator, actress Helene Weigel.
More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertolt_Brecht
To use a phrase used by Lev Parnas…Enough is Enough
Oh that bitch had a MAGA litter, already born.
And he knew what he was talking about.
From a social worker - I believe people can change. Their hearts and minds can grow. People make mistakes. People can learn to do better. I’ve made many mistakes and I will again. If we just judge and have no compassion then nothing will change. We are in this together.
You are better than me. These ppl knew exactly what they were doing. They just didn't think it would apply to them. Now that they see it applies. That's where the change comes from. Not remorse. Not accountability just fear they could be next.
Same here. As an immigrant... a woman... a member of the LGBTQ community... a neurodivergent... all I ever felt from these people was prejudice and hatred for simply existing. They've had plenty of warnings - THREE elections. And most of them voted in all three. They were ok with people of color getting brutalized. They were ok with the inhumane immigrant deportations (remember those "Mass deportations now!" posters?). They were ok with the Epstein scandal.
And I am not at all certain they weren't ok with these two shootings UNTIL Trump said why would anyone carry a gun unless they are a criminal. So THAT was what set them off? Not all the school shootings. Not the traffic stop executions by the police. No. A white, male, US citizen, legal gun owner got shot - and NOW they care.
You forgot to mention his sexuality. That always matters
My thoughts exactly about the effing asses who voted for him in 2024. They knew exactly who he is and what he wanted to do. And a huge majority of them are crucifixion-jewelry wearing so-called "Christians" who thought "Well, I can duck into Darkness for just a little while....take my well-hidden hate for people who don't look like me and think like me and vote for Satan.....then go to Church on Sundays, praise Jesus and that'll make everything okay." I do not forgive them. I DO hold them accountable.
What you say is indubitably true. However, the support of someone who embodies the characteristics of nearly every cinematic ubervillain and then some, who was already the worst, most corrupt, most inept president in our history and would surely rank highly in the world history of terrible leaders, is beyond understanding. I am happy that at least some of them have finally seen something to stir them out of their intellectual coma. But they are the reason we are in this dilemma in the first fucking place.
All of this is true. Many people are redeemable. Not all. But many.
Hi Christiana, I am also a social worker - near 40 years of experience working with people who have made the choice to change. I loved your comment! However, I also wanted to add that change like this; much like addressing one's own racism, heteronormativity, classism, ageism, ableism, xenophobia, and sexism takes a profound amount of commitment, self reflection, and compassion for self and others. I'm hoping that this may be the beginning of a long and important series of self explorations and conversations that allow folks to begin looking at the harm they have supported. With you in hope!
When threats to them are gone, will their new-found selves remain?
BINGO!
I want to know too!
for many of them it all depends which side their bread is buttered on
I have hope. I also believe that too many are not reflective.
The question becomes, how does one cultivate empathy in people unpracticed in and unfamiliar with the concept?
With an empathy lesson in which I am a big believer.
Fuck that shit! These MAGA cunts are incapable of true change. Every one of the 77+ million who voted for this. And they fucking DID vote for this, is as guilty of every one of these ICE assassinations as the subhuman pricks who pulled the trigger. Noem, Miller and president tiny dick care as much about anyone else as Noem did about her puppy. Every single subhuman in this administration (which is all of them), every single member of the DJT branch of the tRUMP family (including children, even newborns) along with every tRUMP voter needs to be arrested, charged, tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Make the executions pay-per-view and we can pay off the entire national debt and make healthcare and education free.
Somebody who votes and someone who pulls the trigger and executes a person are not the same. My Aunt Fran is not the same as an ICE agent. She is foolish and selfish but she’s not the same as a killer on the streets. I’m willing to give her a chance to learn and change. A limited chance but I’m not giving up on her.
I’m no longer willing to give these people a second chance or benefit of the doubt.
Neither am I, Kate. Trump supporters saw Trump egging on his MAGAts on that ugly, terrifying January 6th. His supporters were out to kill on his behalf. And they did kill...on his behalf. And he pardoned them.
Trump supporters knew what he is and what he wanted. He could not have been any clearer. "If you oppose me, I want you dead."
So, my position is clear:
If you voted for Trump in 2024, you are an accessory to at least two murders. That you cannot mitigate. Just how many more murders do you want on your conscience? Because we can't hold you responsible here on Earth. But there is a Judgment Day. And I hope God finds you guilty.
Kate, I get the anger - the pain and moral injury that this administration and the people who voted for it. I do. The fact that people could support and protect child sex offenders, racist goon squads, and kidnappers, and sociopathic recruits with guns who are, at this moment, above reproach is terrifying and enraging. You are also correct when you say that many of these folks knew exactly what they were voting for - Christofacist scum bags who want to create a theocratic society dominated by white men at the expense of black, brown, LGBTQIA+ people, women, and children. They represent the most reprehensable and vile of human beings. I smiled at your comment about pay per view executions - the type of pain these people inflict has a way of activating the darkest of responses - which is also a form of resistance! Good for you! However, we have to not drink from the same fountain. Providing hope that some may change, along with the actual work, and attempts to correct the damage they have done, is worthy of support. Being upset because there is concern about loosing one's Second Amendment rights, is some of the whitest shit I've ever seen. Hold onto your humanity and let those who want change demonstrate their growth and willingness to evolve. Some will and some won't.
Could it be ICE drinks and does drugs to bolster that “courage” we see?
There's a difference between a human and a sociopath. A sociopath is not and never will be capable of empathy. tRump is a sociopath.
As Barbara Lee famously said, back in 2001, "Let us not become the evil we deplore."
Empathy and compassion have to come before change. Even a little empathy, which needs to begin with some imagination, would help. I don't believe that Trump has the capacity for imagination. (Except to imagine his own lies.). As for the rest of those who seem in sympathy with the regime: how were you raised? Were you ever the recipient of love?
Love the 'see you at Nuremberg' sign, let it be so for ALL of them!
I've just replayed Maarva's "Worthy of the Stone" funeral speech in "ANDOR" because I remembered one part in particular: "There is a wound at the center of the galaxy. There is a darkness reaching like rust into everything around us. We let it grow, and now it's here. It's here and it's not visiting anymore. It wants to stay." This fight is all too real. The cost of ignorance is too high. It cannot be allowed to stay.
bless you
One can’t change taking a life under these circumstances. It was not in defense of oneself or others. This was sanctioned execution because he could. Anyone who behaves like this cannot go back. You want forgiveness? Go to RC confession. Get a free pass to heaven. As for me, this murderer and all who sanction this must be separated from society.
Lock them up!
Thank you! I’m Australian and I know that people who have believed in Trump aren’t usually bad people. In Australia, they are those who read Rupert Murdoch’s papers and watch Sky News (the Aussie equivalent to your Fox News.) When you constantly read one particular version of facts, it’s hard to see another side.
Finally they’re starting to question what’s going on. Fingers crossed that momentum builds (preferably without the need for more deaths and heartbreak.) Take care everyone. And thank you so much for this post. I’ll be able to sleep tonight thanks to this. All the best.
Yes, gullibility is certainly a reason for being MAGA, as is personal biases that are easily exploited like racism, misogyny, xenophobia, etc. But to quote my 20-something year old daughter, when we discussed the root causes of being in the cult, she said, "But Dad, you gotta admit, part of it is they are FUCKING IDIOTS."
Dear God - they are only upset because what appears to be a CISHET White Man (a forreal good guy with a holstered gun mindin his damned business and exercising his rights) was murdered for everyone to see - they weren't this mad about Renee Good or Keith Porter or the countless amount of black and brown people murdered before now. This is strictly because Mr Pretti was the type of person they revere. Renee Good was white, but she was a LESBIAN (you forbid) so they were OK with villanizing her - and everyone nodded in agreement. NONE OF THESE DEATHS ARE OK. NONE of them. Screw these MAGA assholes with a cactus
Yes, that’s probably part of it too. But also the videos are so damning and without any kind of defense at all, and most importantly, they realize they could be next.
I take your point very seriously. But we also have better videos this time. Not one of those videos supports the administration viewpoint.
The video of Renee Good was clear as day. I won't even get into the videos we've seen before this - I'll keep the conversation on 12/31/25 till now
What does that date to do with the obvious racism involved in the whole situation.
Keith Porter was Black
It's the date of the first documented ICE murder of an innocent US Citizen, Keith Porter, this year (well close, as 2026 was a few minutes away). It was barely reported and absolutely nothing happened.
There was another shooting in the Twin Cities after Ms Good's shooting , but almost zero reporting on that as well. Plus about >25 deaths in their detention centers.
That's my point. It pisses me off that anyone else had to fucking die, but it also pisses me off that it's only NOW that “people” (magats and elected officials, barring a select few) have decided it's too much. None of these people would have had to die if the other deaths would have “mattered” to them as much as Mr Pretti’s.
I believe I heard several reputable people on Substack and elsewhere that said the immigration situation was going to be the "Straw that breaks the camels back." Yep the lack of any human rights and the thuggery surrounding this whole mess is bringing down and exposing the indecency of said people that are supposed to be "rounding up" the "worst of the worst"! Now they are killing innocents taking their weapons from them and shooting them 10 times to make sure that they tell no tales of how abused they were. Why in God's name would they shoot an unarmed man is beyond me. And I don't care how ramped up they are they need to think of human rights and how in the end they may end up arrested in the process. Maybe even sued for abuse!
I will NEVER forgive any MAGA for voting for this pos. That goes double for my MAGA in laws. They damaged our country and it will take years to clean up the mess they have made. That also includes the GOP assholes they vote for down ballot. They had NO PROBLEM SUPPORTING a CHILD RAPIST, because those RAPES were done behind closed doors. They see 2 innocent people get gunned down, and NOW they grow a conscience? All of sudden, they have a PROBLEM with trump. Give it a week, and they'll be sucking his balls again. The cult has a very short memory when it comes to trump and his crimes.
It's only after two white Americans get killed that now everyone is waking up. They were perfectly happy, and gleefully posting, their support for ICE ripping apart families and killing and maiming brown and black people since his first presidency. Now they've seen the light because now white people are being killed? These people don't deserve forgiveness. They are and will always be morally bankrupt racists. They once again are showing that they only care about themselves. Now that the threat is on their doorstep they want forgiveness. Screw that.
Forgiveness is for God. I have none
While it's nice, if that's the right word, to see drumpf voters pull their heads outta their asses finally, what were they doing when he said, "I am your retribution?" and when his fucking evil minions drafted that thick as a phone book Project 2025? A self administered colonoscopy, apparently.
Spare me any lectures for my comments about where the blame lies, and all these subhuman pricks in the administration and the subhuman Trump voters. Their actions in voting and the actions once this regime took power just showed that they are not decent or human or redeemable. Every single one of them is evil and vile and worse than Hitler in the Nazi regime. I never thought I would say that about Americans given that I am a Jewish person. But this is worse. These people are on a scale of evil that is incomprehensible.
I guess better late than never, but I s till question why they voted for him in the first place.
This administration is racing toward the American Nuremberg’s. Mussolini every last one of them.
This is what my "Christian" rethug maggot representative posted. This was in the Milwaukee Journal.
"U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, whose competitive district borders Minnesota, said on social media that local officials are enabling an insurrection to distract from the state's Medicaid fraud scandal.
"[Gov. Tim] Walz is a moron who is getting people killed to cover up for the massive fraud he oversaw," Van Orden tweeted Jan. 24."
He is such a clueless, bootlicking piece of shit. I hope this is the year voters finally boot his ass out.
Another administration lie. Walz and his administration were the ones who have brought 70+ people to court, pled guilty, or been convicted. Compare that to the vast majority of states which have neglected to look into fraud
Funny how Florida and Texass have 10x the number of illegals that MN has, yet no ICE action there. You'd almost think that they were targeting Blue areas. Of course, the number of people carrying guns in TX and FL is quite a bit higher than MN.