Marc Elias is one of many American lawyers engaged in litigating the lawless actions of the trump regime. He began an independent newsletter a number of years ago when he saw the mainstream media supporting the lies of the regime. Today’s piece is definitely worth reading – my title is his title. Today’s piece is based on Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s push back against the Soviet authoritarian lies:

When violence bursts onto the peaceful human condition, its face is flush with self-assurance. It displays on its banner and proclaims: “I am Violence! Make way, step aside, I will crush you!” But violence ages swiftly. A few years pass — and it is no longer sure of itself. To prop itself up, to appear decent, it will without fail call forth its ally —Lies. For violence has nothing to cover itself with but lies, and lies can only persist through violence. [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn]

Elias continues:

“But as Solzhenitsyn predicted, the violence we are witnessing every day in Minneapolis and elsewhere has proven deeply unpopular. It is indecent, arbitrary and cruel. Its tactics violate our rights as Americans to protest our government. Its purpose violates our moral conscience as human beings.

As a result, that violence has quickly required the support of lies to perpetuate itself.

Donald Trump is an infamous liar. He has lied his way through business, law and politics. The movement he built is based on lies — lies about the economy, immigration and crime. But its most important lie — the Big Lie — is about democracy itself.

Trump abhors democracy because it allows ordinary Americans to reject his lies. Even worse for Trump, it allows us to reject him.

When voters did exactly that in 2020, he responded with more lies — lies in court, lies in the media, and lies to his supporters. On Jan. 6, 2021, those lies turned into violence.”

Elias ends his piece with:

“his (Solzhenitsyn) prescription for resisting authoritarianism remains sound. We must combat lies in every way we can. It is not enough to condemn the violence and protest it; we must also condemn the lying and resist it.

Regardless of the risk or the sense of futility, we must commit ourselves to bearing witness to the truth and proclaiming it to anyone who will listen:

• Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.
• Renée Good was shot in the face while trying to turn her car and leave.
• Alex Pretti was beaten by six federal agents and then shot and killed.
• The federal government is violating the constitutional rights of its citizens.
• Trump and the DOJ are violating federal law by refusing to release the Epstein files.
• Trump and the GOP are preparing to subvert the 2026 election.

Solzhenitsyn lived the next two decades in exile until the lies of the Soviet Union led to its collapse. His campaign against the lies in his country proved prophetic. He taught us that authoritarianism prevails not because people stop believing the truth, but because they stop saying it aloud. If we wish to remain free, we must refuse that silence.”

These are the facts that the trump regime wants to bury.

These are the facts that matter in the US. But we, in Canada, must also be on the watch for the lies – for our government leaders, on both sides of the aisle, are prone to lying to us, too; not so loudly, not so ferociously, perhaps not so frequently, but there are lies – or, if not lies, conflicting decisions that undercut the values on which we try to base our civil society. We need to be alert for the lies and evasions, ready to call out our government and our parliamentary opposition when they obfuscate or outright lie.

The truth matters here as well as in the US. We, too, must refuse silence.

I think I count 9 flowers on my Amaryllis today – both stalks are almost in full bloom. Each stalk has 6 flower buds, I don’t think I will see all six on both stalks open at the same time, but it sure is close today!