I have a F/B Friend in Sweden.

[no_hypocrisy]

We met in 1979 (37 years ago) and traveled Scotland together. He speaks English well.

We re-connected on F/B.

We've only exchanged b-day greetings.

Until recently.

Now I know he's really following me -- because of all the political and Trump stuff that I post. He "likes" a multitude of my posts. I realized that he trusts my choice of articles allows him to follow what's going on here, and to allow him to try to explain to his coworkers and friends. I'm a resource.

[Freddie]

1. I have a FB friend in Cornwall, England

A distant cousin I found doing genealogical research. I know he follows my posts so he's now quite aware of the *majority* America opinion on our new "leadership".
Meanwhile he posts a lot of pics of the gorgeous Cornish coast and quaint little towns (he lives in Hayle). Must get there someday.

[The Blue Flower]

2. I have friends and family on both coasts

I've been posting everything I find that I think they should know. They have, in turn, been forwarding them to their networks. It's one thing I feel I can do to foster resistance.

[Fritz Walter]

3. I have family on three continents and friends on four

My family includes a young Muslim man in Indonesia whom I hosted as an exchange student years ago. (Those who host exchange students often develop a bond that can be much stronger than friendship). He had hoped to pursue his post-graduate studies here in the USA. Although his country is not on the ban list, I would fear for his safety if he returned to our shores at this time.

And when I say "friends," I'm not talking about casual FB acquaintances: these are travel companions (they've hosted me when I visit their countries, and I've hosted them when they visited USA) and we share so many likes/dislikes, tastes as well as wondrous experiences.

One friend is a Conservative elected official in Denmark, and her FB posts on 20 January were filled with grief at our loss, and genuine concern about our future. During my most recent visit there, she and I visited the Danish Jewish Museum in Copenhagen, where the Nazi occupation and holocaust are vividly displayed. The Dane's brave resistance and accounts of the thousands of lives saved were awe-inspiring. BTW, Danish Conservatives' policy positions are much more similar to those of our current Democratic Party.

Other friends live in Lithuania, the first former soviet republic to kick the Russians out in the 1990s. My first visit there included stops at numerous churches which had been converted to serve their occupational forces. One was almost destroyed because the Russians decided to use it as a foundry. The good news was that the EU was supporting the restoration of the Lithuanian's 1,000-year-old culture. More recent visits showed great progress made in these endeavors, as well as the stark contrast between soviet and Lithuanian architecture, from city skylines down to single-family-dwellings. My friends' fears about Putin's ambitions to expand his neo-soviet reach are painful to me, especially when the #SCROTUS, (i.e. Drumpf, Putin's bitch, Mangled Apricot Hellbeast, etc.) talks about ceasing support for our NATO allies. If anything were to happen to that country, I would gladly offer to host them as refugees, assuming A). The State Department would allow them to enter; and B). They would decide to abandon their homeland, which is unlikely.

Resistance is NOT futile. Our allies around the world need us to restore our democratic republic!