Sunday Morning Thoughts – January 26, 2025

Enough is enough!

Yeah, this has to be another rant. How can it not be? Plus, I was sick and unable to do ANYthing all week. I’m grumpy AF.

So…

Yes, that was a Nazi Salute and there was NOTHING accidental about it. If you still think it was, you quite frankly deserve everything that’s about to happen. Seriously, the time for games is up. You pull that shit in Germany; you go to jail. Simple as that.

This is not funny. Very far from it. We all know it. Yet somehow US media are tiptoeing around the issue. This is not the time. This is the time to take a VERY clear position on this. And to be clear – there is only one acceptable stand to take. Here’s the NY Times headline – just as an example.

Elon Musk Ignites Online Speculation Over the Meaning of a Hand Gesture

Speaking at a celebratory rally in Washington, Mr. Musk twice extended his arm out with his palm facing down, drawing comparisons to the Nazi salute.

Sorry, this is not good enough. There is no debate. There is no speculation. Have you been paying attention? Anybody making that gesture does not belong on a public stage. He was immediately removed from a German museum where his name was mentioned as a pioneer of sorts. Tesla is losing high profile business customers across Europe.

There is no wiggle room here. There just isn’t. None whatsoever.

I’ve been to Auschwitz and Birkenau. I was there in January 2018. Right at the beginning of the year. I have a friend who lives 15 minutes away. She drove me there. She didn’t want to enter Auschwitz but we later walked around Birkenau together.

I feel like I was ready for Auschwitz. I’d seen it in films and knew what to expect and my body reacted in a few places even where there weren’t plaques. Horrific things happening all over the place. Some areas I skipped (the one where they had the firing squad for instance) and others I moved through quickly.

This is what we’d learned about in school. This is what the survivor who came to our middle school was talking about. This is what I saw in the movies. It was horrible, but I was expecting it to be.

What I was not ready for was Birkenau. I just wasn’t. That area is so vast. I was unprepared. Plus, there were the stories of the local people that my friend told me about. And how what was really going on was hidden at first. Just horrific stuff.

But hey sure, let’s do a Nazi Salute just for fun. I might need to get my psychologist’s training done so I can call a sociopath a sociopath and a psychopath a psychopath. And that salute is not the only reason to bring this up. Tomorrow marks the 80^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz so now is exactly the right time to speak up.

We’re done playing games. We’ve had enough. I’ve never seen members of the EU Parliament tell a foreign leader to "f*** off”. Yes, he was told that this kind of language was not acceptable, but it needed to be said.

I do need to mention that this politician is a member of the right-wing Patriots for Europe group. Doesn’t change the fact that I agree with this sentiment 100%, but it does give a bit of perspective.

He was not the only one. Of course, I don’t regularly follow what’s happening in the European Parliament as Switzerland is not a member, but I like the new energy of “if you’re playing by the rules, we’ll talk – if not, go away”.

There was also somebody else who said that the EU stands for everything the new US leadership doesn’t and that we’re not going to let them try and ruin the EU. Can’t remember who said that but he sure meant it. He might have been Irish.

I don’t know if it’s just me and I do stay away from the news as much as possible, but to me it seems like the mood in Europe has shifted – we’re done playing.

Swearing might not be the way to go but standing up to a bully is. Reminding them what they stand for is a good thing. Doing it publicly – even better. As bishop Mariann Budde said, “You have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.”

She reminded everyone what those Christian values actually are. You know, if any of them actually gave a flying fcuk or had values. And for somebody who ran on “Christian values” to then ask her to apologies for saying this – make it make sense.

Also, can somebody please explain to me how the Bible teaches American History? I’m very intrigued by this. Let me quote some random person on the internet: “You know what’s not in the Bible? White people.”

And we’re now also confused on whether Native Americans should have American citizenship. Make that one make sense.

Mariann Budde showed us how to do it. Not just in what she said but also in her refusal to apologize. Some people out there need to grow some serious balls. Or they could just do their jobs. Like the Pope who decided to appoint a Trump critic to be archbishop of Washington D.C. Well played Papa.

Fear is what they were running on. Fear is how they won. So, where is that “home of the brave”? Time to step up kids! I know a lot of you are out there fighting the good fight. Keep going. There are more of you. They just don’t want you to believe there are.

Fear is how they got people voting for them. Their fear might be misguided but it’s real. Remember those echo chambers? Remember how we were all hoping for a Democrat win? Remember how we all did not realize that with how things were going (reproductive rights, racism and such), there was no way America would be voting for a woman - let alone a non-white woman. The signs were there, almost hitting us in the face.

It works the same for potential voters. They are in a bubble. They are only fed propaganda. They believe it. They vote the way they think will benefit their families. They are scared for their family’s safety. And they will be very surprised by what’s to come. Fear wins elections. We’ve seen it in Switzerland many times.

Do you think your president knows that the US has no official language? Do you think he knows that it also doesn’t have a state religion? Do you think he realizes that removing the Constitution from the government website (it might be back, I haven’t checked), does not make it any less binding?

You know like the basics?

I’m worried for the LGBTQ+ community. People who don’t understand basic biology are dangerous at the best of times. People who have zero compassion on top of that and are in a position of power are deadly. I haven’t figured out how I can help properly yet. But it’s a good thing I don’t have to travel to a country where I essential don’t exist.

This is my personal take. I don’t speak for Europe (how could I, there are like 40+ different countries). I just notice things and it feels like there was a noticeable shift in attitude from “he’s nuts, but dangerous” to a determined “he’s not gonna mess with us”. I mean threatening to invade a sovereign country because they won’t give you Greenland. Yeah, we’re totally gonna let that happen …

There are still people who are being too nice. I think the time for niceties is over. We have to respect the will of a majority of Americans and accept that #47 is the new president. What we don’t have to do is play along. I hope this “f*** off” attitude continues.

But hey! It’s sunny outside and Take on Me just came on the radio. I would usually dance around the apartment to that, but I’m recovering from being off sick all last week. I still have a pretty bad cough.

I wasn’t able to do anything all week. I really was too weak. Seeing all this trauma being inflicted on people didn’t really help. A 5-year anniversary that happened to fall on this week, didn’t help either. There’s trauma we can’t avoid and then there is what’s currently going on.

Trauma sucks. The helplessness sucks even more. People just standing by doing nothing was the worst part of mine. Everybody knew and nobody did anything. I’m encouraged by teachers stepping up for their students. Teachers are heroes anyway, but US teachers right now even more so. Not a group of people you want to mess with.

Switzerland is a country of immigrants. It wouldn’t work without them and it would most definitely not work without the foreign workers crossing the border every single day to work in Switzerland. We do have voices calling for immigrants to leave and a bunch of them are doing it. They are returning to the Balkan countries they fled during the war. They have lived here for 30+ years but now they are returning home.

Now it’s the “wrong” people returning home – of course it is.

I’m gonna attempt my first walk in 10 days. I might even walk down the three flights of stairs. Then I will do something creative to get my positivity back. I also need to keep working on my logo. Still need to pick the final six colors. I mean I know what the approximate colors but I need to lock down that #number so it’s consistent.

I think that’s the plan for the rest of the day. And soon I’ll be able to share my logo with you guys. I also need to start building my website. That could happen on Wednesday. I mean it’s all in my head, I just need to start putting it out there.

Then there’s business cards and QR Codes. Lucky, I already have a second phone number. I just need to change the provider. And that can go up there. Business LinkedIn account will be next after that. Just putting my todo list on here - yet again. Hoping to stay healthy so I can actually get it done this time around.

And I’ve decided that I’ll be freelancing for a bit at first. So there might be the odd application sent out.

Can’t wait to get the creative juices flowing. I might add a different picture to this after my walk, but here’s one from Jan 25, 2023. Seemed fitting.

Happy Sunday everybody. Take good care of yourselves and your own mental health. Remember that agency is important. Do something if you can – anything will help. Hugs all around.