Your outrage does not matter. Nor your attempts to foster empathy. This is about power. This administration feeds on – relishes – their power to inflict pain.

The very fact they can cause suffering – directly and indirectly – is a source of affirmation for them. Confirmation of their ordained superiority. You can see this in their tiny twisted smiles that say “look what we can do to those we deem weak and unworthy.”

This not about patriotism, policies, parties. If you’re still arguing those issues you’re wasting your time.

So, I am preoccupied with the ways and means of taking power away from people who enjoy inflicting pain on their fellow human beings (and who work to encourage and hire others to do so as well.)

Failing that – as we move forward down this ugly path, I am focused on preparing myself for the individual choices that will have to be made. This moment is a test about power – and beliefs about fellow human beings. What we will stand for and what we will abandon.

How will we fight these oppressors/abusers and by what means?