Brian D. Buckley

Millions of Americans are concerned (or worse) about the upcoming Trump presidency, but don’t know how they personally can help. What can we, as citizens, do to make sure our country stays safe, sane, tolerant, and free?

The answer is, a lot. After thinking this over for several weeks, I’ve put together a detailed guide. Please check it out. And because I think this is fairly important, I’ve added a permanent link in the website header as well, and I’ve made it a permanent “page” rather than just another blog post.

Now, I’ve given you the link (two links, in fact) and encouraged you to click. Theoretically, my work here is done.

The problem is that I’ve learned, from personal and professional experience, that people are reluctant to click links. If the information is right there in the article, they’ll scroll down and read, but if they have to click a link, readership declines dramatically. It’s some kind of psychological hurdle. I do the same thing myself, when I’m reading.

So how do I entice you to actually click?

Let’s try this:

Now if you’re thinking that I’m exploiting the celebrity of a venerable man for my own petty purposes, well, you’re right. But somehow I don’t think he would mind very much.

Seriously though. Push the button.

So, this is a thing that happened.

CBS is reporting that a mosque in northern California received a threatening letter (see above). And this is not an isolated incident.

Right now I’m not incredibly interested in assigning blame for this. To what degree Trump and/or some of his supporters may be responsible — directly or indirectly — for threats like this, I don’t especially care. Whether it was sent as a serious message or as a prank, I don’t know. It’s even possible that some disgruntled crackpot liberal sent the letter to make Trump look bad — although I should emphasize that there’s no evidence of that.

Regardless. Blame is beside the point.

The point is: If you’re a Muslim, how does this make you feel?

Forget “offended,” forget “politically correct.” We’re talking about roughly 3 million Americans who see stuff like this and have to wonder if they and their husbands and wives and children are safe — and if they’re welcome here.

The one good thing about all this is that most Americans, I think, do believe Muslims are welcome here. To quote that CBS article again:

Faisal Yazadi, who is president of the [Islamic] Center’s board of directors, said there has been an outpouring of support from neighbors and from Police Chief Eddie Garcia, a Catholic bishop and the NAACP, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The support made him feel unfazed, he said.

“Without their support I don’t think I’d be talking to you so strongly now,” he said.

I didn’t know anything about this story when my friends and I sent our own letter, but it makes me glad we did.

And for what it’s worth, it seems I’m not the only one thinking this way.

Stay safe, eat good food. And as a great philosopher once said: Be excellent to each other.

See you Monday!

Okay, admit it. You’re a little bit curious.

Today I’m going to ask the question that Big Citrus doesn’t want you to know about. That question is:

Where did the grapefruit come from?

“From the supermarket,” you say? Fair enough. But let’s dig deeper. Let’s delve into the shadowy, shady — one might almost say seedy — history of the grapefruit.

If you’re like me, you never thought much about this before. If someone had asked, I would’ve guessed that the grapefruit had been around in more or less its current form, pretty much forever (or at least the last million years).

But that’s just a comforting myth. A fairy tale. A vast fruit-wing conspiracy. A Vitamin-C-onspiracy. A convenient facade that —

What? Oh, sorry.

Anyway, here’s the real deal. Sometime in the last 500 years, somewhere in the Caribbean, an orange got crossed with another fruit called a pomelo. “By accident,” the scientists would have you believe. The result of this unholy union (or at least, this secular union) was a thing so terrifying that biologists of the day called it THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT.

(By the way, this is all actually true, more or less.)

But even that shiver-inducing spawn was only the beginning. It had not yet developed into the ruby-red grapefruit that Americans fawn over today. For that, we needed…

RADIATION.

Yes, scientists working in dark (or perhaps well-lit) laboratories in the 1970s deliberately bathed this pale fruit in radiation, hoping to induce MUTATIONS. And their horrifying experiment in playing God was all too successful. The ruby-red grapefruit was born.

(Also all actually true.)

Also grapefruit are safe to eat and none of this was unethical nor has it ever been secret BUT now you know!

And what is known cannot be un-known!!

I mean, unless you forget or something.

In conclusion: I like typing the word GRAPEFRUIT!

My friend Ben has said more than once, and quite correctly, that we (people on the left) need to understand why our fellow Americans voted for Trump. We need to keep that conversation going.

So I was gratified to find this list from the Washington Post. A useful and enlightening read.

Most of the reasons are about a paragraph long, but the one that struck me most was a single sentence from a 66-year-old Pennsylvania man. His reason:

Because the part of America that grows your food, produces your energy and fights your wars believes the country needs a course correction.

I could write a whole blog-post-length rebuttal to each and every one of these 22 reasons, including the one above. (I’ll spare you that.) Most, but not all, make me angry in one way or another. (I’ll spare you that too.) But that’s not the point.

The point is that (1) even if Trump voters were “the enemy,” it would be strategically necessary to understand how they think; and (2) Trump voters are emphatically not the enemy, nor are they all racist, sexist, or Islamophobic.

We’re all Americans, remember? In fact, that’s kind of the point.

I want to fight hard, nonviolently, to defend my country. And I want my country to be a place where neighbors can disagree, and remain neighbors.

I’ve pointed to the American Civil Liberties Union as one of our best champions during the upcoming Trump administration. But who are they, exactly, and why am I throwing all the cash I can spare in their direction?

Time for some Q&A.

What is the ACLU?

They are a nonprofit organization, headquartered in New York, with offices in all 50 states. Website: aclu.org

What do they do?

They fight to protect civil liberties, especially the ones guaranteed by the Bill of Rights: freedom of speech and religion (1st Amendment), freedom from unwarranted search and seizure (4th Amendment), right to due process in court (5th Amendment), and so on.

How do they do that?

Well, they go to court a lot. Their team of lawyers will challenge any law or government action that they believe is unconstitutional. Since its inception, the ACLU has appeared before the Supreme Court more often than anyone except the Department of Justice. And they win more often than they lose.

They also talk to lawmakers, expressing concerns as necessary. And they publish materials to educate the public about the rights of all Americans.

How are they funded?

Entirely by individuals and private groups. They have never, and will never, accept government money — this helps them remain independent, and challenge the government without fear of having their funding removed.

How big are they?

They have about 100 staff attorneys, 2,000 volunteer attorneys, and 500,000 members (i.e., people who donate).

How long have they been around?

Since 1920. So, almost 100 years.

What kinds of things have they done in the past?

• In the Scopes “monkey trial” of 1925, it was the ACLU that recruited biology teacher John T. Scopes to challenge the state ban on teaching evolution in science classrooms.
• After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the ACLU was virtually alone in opposing Japanese internment camps.
• In 1954, the ACLU and the NAACP challenged racial discrimination in schools, leading to the famous Brown v. Board of Education decision that ended “separate but equal.”
• More recently, the ACLU has fought against the Patriot Act, waterboarding, and the NSA warrantless surveillance program.

I’ve heard they’re a liberal organization. Is that true?

Yes and no. It depends what you mean by “liberal.”

Certainly they are nonpartisan — and I mean really nonpartisan, not just technically. They went after the Obama administration many times. Before that, the Bush administration. Before that, the Clinton administration. So they’re serious about holding accountable those in power, no matter who they may be.

They also have a policy of never formally endorsing or opposing any candidate for any office, although certainly they raise a lot more red flags if a candidate has a history of civil rights violations.

The ACLU has fought strongly and consistently for a woman’s right to have an abortion. If that issue is your main barometer for conservative vs. liberal, then certainly they’re liberal on that score.

They also oppose the death penalty, for a variety of reasons. And they’re against torture. Again, those tend to be more liberal stances.

On the other hand, they oppose gerrymandering, which is (or should be) a nonpartisan issue. And they oppose “big government” in the form of domestic mass surveillance, which is a conservative stance (at least by the traditional definition of “conservative”).

So I’d say, rather than picking one label or another, take a look at their stances on the issues — and their history — and decide for yourself.

…So basically, they’re a liberal organization?

Yeah, I’m not gonna lie, they are sorta liberal. But they’re very much an independent group. And as I said, they’ve opposed Democrats as well as Republicans on countless occasions, and will continue to do so.

Are they considered a charity?

No — the main ACLU organization is a nonprofit, but not a charity. They’re a 501(c)(4) “social welfare” organization, which primarily means they’re actively working with/against the government on issues. Donations are not tax-deductible.

There is also the ACLU Foundation, which basically does the same thing except minus the lobbying. Because of this difference, they’re a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and donations to them are tax-deductible.

Are they gearing up to oppose the Trump administration if & when it’s necessary?

Oh hellz yes. In just the first 6 days after Trump was elected, the ACLU got 120,000 donations. (That’s donations, not dollars.) Their first big conference call post-election was delayed by 10 minutes because of the sheer volume of people calling in (I was one of them). The ACLU has already done extensive research on the legality and constitutionality of Trump’s major proposals, and they’re lawyered up and ready to go.

If you love the ACLU so much, why don’t you marry it?

Betsy said no.

But you really think these guys are among our top champions of liberty?

Yes I do.

What was that link again?

aclu.org

Step 1: Find old video games you weren’t playing anymore.

Step 2: Sell them.

Step 3: Donate to the ACLU.

Done!

Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin discover that their beloved homeland, the Shire, has been taken over by a “wicked fool,” who now seems to be in over his head as his “ruffian” allies seize power in his name.

Frodo is stunned at the news, but Merry advises him that “You won’t rescue the Shire…just by being shocked and sad.” They discuss strategy, and Pippin says they should hide for a while.

“No!” said Merry. “It’s no good ‘getting under cover.’ That is just what people have been doing, and just what these ruffians like. They will simply come down on us in force…No, we have got to do something at once.”

“Do what?” said Pippin.

“Raise the Shire!” said Merry. “Now! Wake all our people! They hate all this, you can see: all of them except perhaps one or two rascals, and a few fools that want to be important, but don’t at all understand what is really going on. But Shire-folk have been so comfortable so long they don’t know what to do. They just want a match, though, and they’ll go up in fire.”

Always been one of my favorite chapters.