Looking For Hope?

One obvious destination: Simon Rosenberg’s Hopium Chronicles.  (Tuesday’s post: Trump Is In A Far More Vulnerable Place Than It Appears Right Now. He Is Weak, Not Strong And Making Mistakes.) Subscribe!

Another point of hope was suggested in a recent Zoom with Dahlia Lithwick.

Executive summary: Democracy, once lost, can be clawed back, as it was in Poland and Brazil.  Or not, as in Hungary and Russia.

Alarmingly, writes Lithwick, Donald Trump’s Orbán Playbook Is Working Exactly as Intended.  See, also, Trump on the splash page for CPAC Hungary 2025.

It’s so much easier to save democracy before it’s been lost.  We came within a couple of percentage points of doing that November 5th.  If the Trump Administration obeys court rulings, we could be okay.  Damaged in numerous ways, but around to fight another day.  If Trump ignores court rulings, then “we the people” who believe in the rule of law — as so many Republicans used to! — will be tested as Poles, Brazilians, Hungarians, and Russians were.  Will we rise to the challenge?  Will we prevail?

There’s Really Only One Way to Stop This Thing, writes Lithwick in another recent piece.  “Unfortunately, it involves persuading ourselves to care about civics.”

Have you joined Indivisible? Field Team 6? Loaded 5calls.org onto your phone?

Two unrelated, minimally important sources of hope:  OPRT and PRKR.

OPRT reported its return to profitability yesterday and projected 2025 earnings per share in the range of $1.10 – $1.30.  The stock reached $6.75 in after-hours trading.  Who knows whether they’ll meet their projections or what earnings multiple the market will accord them if they do?  But, as suggested here when the stock was $3.19, I’m hoping for a lot more upside.

The only PRKR “news” to report today isn’t news at all; just something I forgot:  In addition to its now much-storied suit against Qualcomm, and its suits against giants MediaTek and RealTek, as recounted Tuesday, it also has patent claims against NXP Semiconductors(NXPI), Texas Instruments (TXN), and LG Electronics.  I’m hoping these lawsuits, too, will eventually pay off for ParkerVision.