Was The Election Rigged Or Do Trump Supporters Just Not Want To Lose?

 

I’ve heard a lot of my Republican friends say they’ll never believe Joe Biden got 81 million votes. I have to admit, it’s hard to imagine 81 million people voted for a demented plagiarist who wants to cut social security.

 But by the same token, I find it inconceivable that 74 voted for Donald Trump. And I don’t mean million. Oh, I know you voted for him because he said things that no one else would, that he called out establishment politicians in a way establishment media never would. And I know elections have devolved into voting against the worst candidate rather than choosing a candidate the whole country can tolerate.

 But it’s time for Trump supporters to contemplate the fact that their candidate WAS the worst candidate, at least in the eyes of the electorate. I mean, you already see some of his negatives, right? I’ve often heard it when you are talking amongst yourselves and I’ve heard it when you defend him by saying things like: “I wish he wouldn’t say some of the crazy things he does, but…”

 Well a lot of people see the crazy things he tweets and don’t see the “but…” They stopped listening after the crazy and didn’t hang around for the alleged good stuff he said.

 But I understand your concern over election integrity and absolutely support the push for free, fair, and open elections. And I’m sure you have been pushing for it for decades too, right? I mean, you’ve been opposing voter purges of people whose names are similar to convicted felons, right? And you’ve been fighting against gerrymandering, right? And you’ve been calling out proprietary software that leaves open the possibility of vote-switching ever since it was introduced during the Bush Administration, right? I mean I can't believe your concern for voting integrity is nothing more than a desire to have your preferred candidate serve a second term. Right?

 So let’s work on this together and get to the bottom of any election rigging that might have occurred, so that the rightful candidate becomes President of the United States of America.

 Just know that once we dig down to the truth, that candidate will be Bernie Sanders. Yeah, you say the Democratic Party stole the election from Donald Trump? That may be true, but they didn’t have the power to rig it against Trump the way they did with Bernie Sanders. The entire establishment of the Democratic Party was out to get Bernie Sanders and they were in complete control of the primaries. The Democrats didn’t have nearly the opportunity to cheat against Trump as they did against Bernie Sanders. They don't control the Supreme court and they don't control any state government in the same way they controlled the primary. They were able to completely do Bernie in and they did him hard. If it were not for the fact that they pulled out all stops against him, he would have become the Democratic Party’s nominee. So if you’re truly concerned about election rigging, let’s re-run the election, only this time with Trump versus Sanders.

 And Bernie Sanders will win, you know. Whatever your political leanings may be, you have to admit everything Bernie stood for is precisely what Americans are clamoring for at the moment. We are, after all, in the midst of a pandemic and an impending depression. When last we had a similar situation, the United States unprecedentedly elected a Democratic Socialist for President for four terms. And Donald Trump is an even more unlikeable version of Herbert Hoover. Even if you think he walks on water, Trump would not beat Sanders. It’s just not his moment.

 So if you want to overturn the election, I’d be willing to have a fair do over. But if you’re not willing to admit Bernie Sanders was at least as cheated as Donald Trump and should have a shot at the presidency, I’m going to dismiss all your bellyaching as nothing more than sour grapes.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

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If Our Country Was On Fire, Who Would Put It Out?

 

It’s like the apartment building I live in is on fire. So I call the fire department as I stand outside watching everything I own burn to the ground. Everybody’s standing, waiting. Finally, a firetruck arrives with a great sound of sirens and everyone is elated because they know something’s going to happen. The truck parks and the firefighters get off and start waving at the people standing in the street. And the people cheer at them because they are their heroes. It’s almost like a parade, where the firefighters strut their stuff to applause and whistles from those who line the street.

 Then one of the firefighters grabs a megaphone and calls out to the crowd: WE’RE HERE TO DO AWAY WITH ARSONISTS!” And the people go wild. And then the firefighter with the megaphone continues to talk about how bad arson is and how bad the people who engage in such tactics are. Like the rest of the crowd, I am initially excited. But after 10 minutes of this I start to wonder if they’re ever going to fight the fire. But very few people around me feel the same way. I see a kid booing them, but he’s flicking matches and I wonder if he’s one of the arsonists and that’s the only reason he doesn’t like them.

I’m as patient as I can possibly be, but eventually I wait for the guy with the megaphone to lower it for a second and I yell out: “What about the fire?”

 The firefighters either don’t hear me or choose to ignore me. So I repeat myself, again and again, until it turns into a chant. I notice others have joined me. The kid with the matches is chanting too, but I don’t stop him. He may have been the one who started the fire, but that’s not my primary concern at the moment. I want to save what I can of my possessions in my apartment. More than that, I’m worried about my neighbors. I see some out on the street who seem to be looking for loved ones. Others aren't dressed properly for the weather. We can deal with Match Kid later. Right now, the immediate problem as I see it is to fight the fire.

 So I continue to lead the chant. “What about the fire? What about the fire?” Because at this point I’m starting to get angry. The whole scene seems absurd. And people might very well be dying inside the burning building. I’m encouraged by those who are chanting along with me, and look over at my fellow apartment dwellers in anticipation of a shared solidarity and frustration.

 I’m shocked to see many of them staring angrily at me, so I ask them why. “Can’t you see they’re here to help us?” says a woman, in her face a look of disgust she genuinely wants to drill into me. “They’re the good guys. You need to give them your loyalty. Or, are you an ARSONIST?” And in her gaze I can see that she truly views me as being every bit as guilty as the person who started the fire.

 “I just want the fire out!” I say, in shocked response. “That’s totally the opposite of what an arsonist would want. I wish the fire had never been started. I am completely and utterly anti-arson. But the question of who started the fire is a stupid one to argue about when our apartment building is on fire. We have to do something.” 

“We’ll why don’t you ask the arsonists to do something about it since you’re being so critical of the firefighters? Don’t you see they are doing all they can? They came with their firetruck and their ladders and their axes.”

 “I want to support the firefighters. But the fact is, they’re not fighting fires. So long as they are not fighting a fire, they are not really firefighters, are they? I mean, they’re not substantially better than an arsonist at this point, because the arsonist is sitting watching the result of his work while the firefighters are simply strutting around saying they are not the problem.”

 “So what do you want?” says another of my neighbors. “Do you expect them to just rush into the fire and get themselves killed?”

 “Well, no. I expect that they are well-trained in fighting fires. I expect them to take all the precautions that their training has instilled in them. But ultimately there are risks inherent in the job they chose as their profession. I mean, there’s more to being a firefighter than not being an arsonist.”

 “So you just want them to commit suicide in order to prove themselves worthy of you?”

 “Of course not. But I do expect them to do their job! I didn’t ask them to become firefighters. They signed on to do it. If that’s what they said they were going to do, if that’s what they said they are determined to do, then they should do it. Otherwise they’re just taking the place of someone else who would actually do what they said they would.”

 Evidently the conversation has garnered enough attention that one of the firefighters feels he needs to respond: “This is not the time to fight the fire,” he says. “First we have to have everyone in position.”

 “Okay," I say. "You’re the firefighter. You’ve been trained for this. You know what you’re doing. Get everyone in position and put the fire out.”

 “You don’t understand,” says a person who introduces herself as a spokesperson for the firefighter’s union. “We have to have the complete support of everyone here. If enough of you speak loudly enough in favor of the firefighters and against the arsonists, we can begin to gain key positions from which we can advance a strategy to defeat the arsonists—”

 “For fuck’s sake, just fight the fire! That’s what we pay you for! That’s your job!”

 “We want to fight the fire. But the arsonists—”

 I hear a woman crying that her child is in the burning building, but nobody else seems to notice. Or care. An elderly man leans heavily on his walker, the cold evening wind sending shivers through him. All around me is misery, and I have no desire to engage in incessant banter while action is needed. I contemplate what I might do for the elderly man, wonder if I’d stand a chance of rushing into the burning building in order to search for those whose lives are in danger. But my thoughts are cut short as a voice comes through the megaphone.

 “Hang tight, everybody,” comes the message. “We are doing everything we can. Don’t listen to those who are trying to cause panic.”

 The man with the walker seems barely able to stand. Next to him a young couple try to keep their children warm.

 The megaphone crackles to life once again. “In the meantime, we have brought marshmallows and sticks for you.”

 An astonishingly large amount of the crowd becomes excited by this announcement. With that, the firefighters begin to dole out supplies for s’mores. One firefighter hands graham crackers to the kid who’s been flicking matches. As she does so, I can’t help think she gives him a knowing wink.

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Of Robber Barons And Muckrakers

 

A hundred years ago and more our country was mostly ruled by those who were then referred to as robber barons. Robber barons were those who sought to acquire as much wealth for themselves as possible regardless of the cost to those who worked to create the wealth. The robber barons were no great geniuses, but they were shrewd enough to know they could more easily accumulate obscene amounts of wealth by controlling the narrative by which ordinary people lived their lives. Therefore they bought up all the news outlets so that the newspapers and magazines only printed news and stories that supported the interests of the robber barons. Those who sought to point out the immense amount of suffering and injustice that existed in a world controlled by these so-called robber barons were called by the robber barons and the editors and journalists they owned “muckrakers”. According to them, the muckrakers would not see all the wonderful things the robber barons had done and chose instead to obsess about what they viewed as the insignificant imperfections of a system that gave incredible wealth to a few while allowing so many who worked so hard to create that wealth to die in poverty.

 The situation we face today is very similar. All of the advances we made in the last hundred years have been gradually erased by the descendants of the robber barons in cooperation with their modern-day equivalents. While for a time the robber barons were forced to pay lip service to the words and ideas of the muckrakers, they still owned the means of disseminating facts and opinions and have been working at whittling away at the influence that muckrakers had. We’re at that point now where the amount of muckraking permitted in the media owned by robber barons is close to zero and trending downwards. Muckrakers getting a paycheck from a corporation are mere anomalies, now, exceptions that prove the rule. Any media outlet owned by robber barons is drowning out dissenting voices in their vociferous support of the agendas of the robber barons.

 But muckrakers aren’t the sort to keep silent just because the information channels owned by the robber barons won’t give them an outlet. No, they are using any means necessary to speak their opinions. They are out there, speaking as bravely as they can the message they feel people need to hear. And the robber barons and their well-paid lackeys are doing their part to make sure their voices are not heard. And when that fails, they are doing what they can to make sure their reputations are tarnished. Because robber barons do not and never have cared about who is destroyed in their march towards dominance and wealth.

 But the muckrakers care more about speaking truth than they do the consequences of speaking the truth. If they felt otherwise, they’d probably have good-paying jobs at MSNBC, FOX, and The Washington Times.

 The muckrakers of our age are worthy of our attention. They are too numerous for any one person to point out, but let me share with you some of the many people I admire for placing themselves in the front line of a battle that needs to be fought. Those I list below are people I feel are truly deserving of the term “muckraker”. There are many more who are deserving of mention, but, like the rest, I believe they are more interested in fighting the good fight than they are in personal glory:

 Caitlin Johnstone: She is my queen. Her every article sparkles with wit, wisdom and bravery. A special mention is needed for her husband, Tim Foley, without whom Caitlin could not work all the miracles she does.

 Jimmy Dore: He is my king, but this a matriarchy. He is funny and fearless. A special mention to his wife, Steph Zamorano, who contributes so much to his work.

 Just a few more who are worthy of your time: Graham Elwood, Ron Placcone, Niko House, Glenn Greenwald, Lee Camp, Kyle Kulinski, Jamarl Thomas, Richard Medhurst, Max Blumenthal, Anya Parempal, Ben Norton, Black Agenda Report, Rania Khalek, Matt Taibi, Katey Halper, Danny Haiphong, Ajamu Baraka, Margaret Kimberly, Aaron Mate. I'm sure once you begin to appreciate the work they do, you will find many more worthy of your attention. 

Seek them out, and once you do make sure you give them the support they need to continue their work. It is important work, necessary work, courageous work.

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A Conversation With The Media About Trump

 

 This is a conversation I’ve been having with the media for the last 40 years. See if it makes sense to you:

 1989

Media: This is Donald Trump, isn’t he great?

Me: What makes him great?

Media: He’s rich! That makes him the embodiment of all that is great about America.

Me: How does being rich make him great?

Media: Being rich means you are smart and hard-working. The fact that you do not already know this and aren’t rich means that you stupid. And lazy.

Me: I’ll tell you what: you get Donald Trump to hold onto the back of a garbage truck and throw garbage all day with me and we’ll see who’s the harder worker. Or we can dig ditches. I’ve got the muscles and callouses to show I work hard. I can’t tell how flabby this Trump guy is under that expensive suit.

Media: You’re just jealous because he’s smart and hardworking and has immense wealth.

Me: I just want to know he’s thrown his share of garbage in life and dug his share of ditches. Does he really owe his wealth to hard work and brains or did he inherit it?

Media: Not only is he smart and hardworking, he’s not afraid to take chances.

Me: That sounds rather reckless on his part. If there’s anything I’ve been taught operating heavy machinery is that you need to minimize risk. I know people who’ve broken legs and had body parts ripped off taking chances on the job. And when you take reckless chances, you risk not only your own wellbeing but the safety of others, as well. Play it safe and you never make a mess so big others need to clean it up for you. Like the time that guy got his push blade stuck in the truck by overpacking it and the rest of us had to dig out the garbage by hand.

Media: Oh dear, Donald Trump has had to declare bankruptcy.

Me: What did I tell you about taking too big of chances and ending up making a mess other people have to clean up?

Media: No, it’s a good thing.

Me: Huh?

Media: That means Donald Trump has a chance to start over so he can show everyone how smart and hardworking he is.

Me: Why does he get a second chance? My friend who lost his arm in the power takeoff of a truck doesn’t get his arm back. My roofer friend who fell off a roof doesn’t get his mobility back. My friend who stuck his hand in a machine trying to save the company a few bucks doesn’t get his fingers back.

Media: That’s because they weren’t smart and hardworking and daring like Donald Trump is. He wasn’t afraid to take chances. Society needs to reward people like him.

Me: Whatever...

 

2004

Media: Are you watching Donald Trump’s new reality show where he has a bunch of workers battle it out to see who will get to be hired by him?

Me: No, why should I?

Media: It’s fun because he makes people grovel and lick his shoes and whoever grovels the least and licks his shoes less convincingly, he tells them they’re fired.

Me: That sound terrible. I’m glad I belong to a union so I don’t have to kiss anybody’s ass like that.

Media: Oh, that’s just the way things need to be if society is going to be productive and America is going to succeed.

Me: I’ve found I’ve always been most productive when I’m able to work with others as equals in order to get a job done. I don’t see how cruelty makes a business run any better.

Media: That’s because you are stupid and lazy. If you were ambitious and intelligent, you would be licking Donald Trump’s shoes in order to succeed, too.

Me: Whatever...

 February, 2016

Media: Look at this!

Me: What am I looking at?

Media: It’s Donald Trump’s empty podium! He’ll be standing here in a few minutes. Isn’t it newsworthy?

Me: Are you out of your minds? You’ve been telling me I’ve been stupid and lazy for decades now, but at least I do my job and I do it well. You show me an empty podium and think you’re doing your job well?

Media: Oh, we’re not here to inform you, we’re here to amuse you. And there is nothing quite as amusing as Donald Trump getting up on a stage and behaving like a buffoon, is there?

Me: I guess part of me is amused—the part of me that hates life. But I’ve been telling you for decades there is nothing of value to be found in this man. Why do you keep making him out to be Dudley Goddamn Do Right?

Media: Because he is entertaining. And when he entertains you, it means more money for us. And the magic of the market dictates that when we make money, EVERYBODY benefits.

Me: Whatever...

 

February 2017

Media: This is something stupid Donald Trump said, taken out of context so it makes him look even more stupid. Isn’t it horrible?

Me: What?

Media: Donald Trump is an evil Nazi traitor to the country.

Me: Isn’t this the man who you’ve been holding up as the role model for our entire country for decades now.

Media: We will not respond to that assertion. Donald Trump is the most evil person who has ever existed.

Me: Look, I’m no fan of Donald Trump. And I definitely don’t think he should be our president, but the people—influenced as they have been by the media for decades—have spoken, and-

Media: Putin has spoken, more like it.

Me: What?

Media: There is only one possible explanation why people voted for Trump—Russian interference.

Me: Oh, dear sweet Jesus. Why can’t you own up to your own guilt in getting him elect—

Media: Vladimir Putin, using memes, Pokemon Go, Porpoises with cameras, and Jill Stein, is working to undermine not only the integrity of our election but the reputation of the media.

Me: Whatever...

 

2028

Media: Did you see Donald Trump give a piece of candy to Michelle Obama and dance with Ellen Degeneres? Isn’t he wonderful?

Me: Whatever…

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Advice To Trump Supporters From One Who Also Lost His Presidential Bid

 

Some of you may recall that I ran a somewhat less than serious campaign to become President Of The United States. I did so on the basis that both candidates sucked and that I—or most anyone—would suck less than the candidates of the two major parties. Hence my campaign slogan, “I Suck Less”.

 While I truly believed it would have been hard to find a worse candidate than Trump or Biden, I WAS aware of a worse scenario than either one of them becoming president, and that was a contested election. A contested election would mean that the serious yet almost comical divide between two segments of society would grow far more serious and far less humorous.

 In elections, as in sports games, there are certain calls that can be argued about and may possibly shape and determine the outcome. But because we all enjoy the sport of football, we overlook the disputed calls because we know nothing is perfect and overall the games are being played out as they should. It would take a gross and obvious pattern of provable bad calls to call into question the outcome of any one game.

 Do I believe our elections are absolutely without flaw? Assuredly not. In fact, the entire system seems so stacked against the people having their say that I no longer place great importance in the act of voting. But to make assertions—assertions not solidly based in observable facts—that the Democrats rigged the election by adding extra votes is both irresponsible and counterproductive. It is irresponsible because it points out alleged cheating by Democrats while ignoring the well-documented fact that Republicans have been gaming elections for decades by purging voter rolls and gerrymandering districts so that the will of voters is not fairly expressed. If you don’t see hypocrisy in that, consider that Trump supporters were screaming to stop the counting in one state while screaming to allow the counting to continue in another. It is counterproductive because nothing good will come of it. America will not be made great again by undermining the very principles and institutions on which it was built in order to support one person, no matter how great you think he is.

 To Trump supporters, I say this: a Biden presidency is the greatest gift you could have been given. Joe Biden has been handed the mess created not only by four years of Trump but eight years of Obama. It is a foregone conclusion that his candidacy will not be pretty. The bill for the debt created under Reagan, Bush, Obama and especially Trump has been pushed to its furthest limits. Our economy is destined to crash regardless of who is in the Oval Office. Do you really want your guy taking the blame for it? Far better that he sit on the sidelines for the next four years and watch it all go wrong, so that he can come back for a second term in 2024. Sure, he won’t be a young man, but he won’t be appreciably older than Biden. Maybe he’ll have a better grip on his faculties than Biden currently does, and even if he doesn’t, we’ve already established that that is no longer a barrier to electability.

 The job of conservatives right now is not to support your candidate but to lead him in the direction he needs to go, which is out of the White House. This won’t be easy, because Donald Trump is not one to admit when he is wrong or that he lost. In fact, I can’t think of a single instance when he’s done so, can you? Nevertheless, you’re going to have to be the adults because our politicians never will. It’s just the times we’re living in.

You might admire Trump’s tenacity in never admitting defeat, but I guarantee you that even his most ardent supporters wouldn’t want to play a board game with him.

 So what you need to do is meet him at the White House and have a big procession with giant flags flying from your pickup trucks and lead him out of the presidency like it’s a parade in his honor. Because when Biden fails utterly at cleaning up the mess Trump had no small part in making, you give Donald Trump the opportunity to swoop back onto the scene and say “See, I told you so.”

 This is your best opportunity, MAGA. Seize it before Trump makes things uglier than they need to be. America is already great, your Trump signs say so. Surely it’s great enough to endure four years of a Democratic President moderated by a Republican Senate and a conservative Supreme Court. Just, for the love of God, don’t blame Russia for your loss.

We Have Too Many Political Parties

 

Just thinking out loud here, but I believe there’s a certain sense in what I have to say:

Perhaps it would be best if we dropped the second party and just went with one-party rule. Let's get rid of the Democrats and let Trump and McConnell have the whole ball of wax.

Hear me out.

For one thing, it would stop all the partisan bickering. Think of how pleasant social media would once again be when half of us are no longer engaged in tearing down the party of the other half. And instead of talking about candidates, which is the subject of small minds, we could be discussing issues, which is the subject of great minds.

Plus, think about what Trump is doing and why he’s doing it: he’s appealing to his base. If we were all his base, he would want to appeal to us all. He wants to be loved, he wants approval, he wants people to admire him. If he did not have a second party that opposed him, he could work to appeal to the wishes of everyone. We'd probably have medicare for all and our troops out of the Middle East by now.

What value do the Democrats add to the process, anyhow? Whenever they have attacked him, really attacked him and not merely fake clapped at him, they have attacked him from the right. Other than that, they're just there so that Trump supporters have someone to blame for the failures of their candidate.

 Democrats have attacked Trump any time he wasn’t sufficiently militarily aggressive towards a nation that wasn’t subservient to the American Empire. They have attacked him for colluding with Russia although a years-long investigation turned up no proof of that assertion. FOUR YEARS we wasted on that canard when we could have been discussing other issues.

And besides, once Trump is elected, we can force him to the left. That's a thing, isn't it? People have  been telling me for years that we just have to elect a bad candidate and then work to force that bad candidate left. Well, if it works for Democratic presidents, it should work for Republicans, too. Right?

 I think the worst thing about having a SECOND party is the illusion it creates that we actually have an OPPOSITION party. The human psyche, when given two options, starts trying to differentiate between them even though no appreciable differences exist. 

Anyone who’s found themselves unable to choose between the various options of French fries at a supermarket has felt this. Anybody who’s gone to a Blockbuster (old person reference here) looking for a funny movie and found themselves presented with a choice of two Adam Sandler movies knows what I’m talking about. There are certain weaknesses in humans that can be used to manipulate us, and the illusion of choice is a biggy.

 Give us two options and we will always feel smarter and more in charge when we choose one. And in politics, give us two options and we will inevitably blame whatever negative outcomes we experience on those who choose differently. Give us two options and we will defend the one we’ve chosen, because we want to be right.

 But give us just one option and all of the sudden we will begin to clearly see the imperfections that exist. Give us one option and we won’t feel responsible for it and so we will feel free to criticize it. We will no longer smugly sit back and think "If they had done it my way, everything would be great right now. Well, I'll just sit back and watch while the country is ruined because of THEIR stupid idea."

 Give us one option and we can once again feel united. Our ruler will no longer be able to divide us but must answer to all of us. We will feel a certain amount of power in that we can have a collective sense of expectation. The balance of power will no longer be about conservatives against liberals but rulers against those who are ruled.

 But here’s the most important part, and tell me if you believe otherwise: it doesn’t matter who is in charge. It ultimately doesn’t matter who has control of the army or the police or the media or the wealth of a country. No group of people can be controlled by a ruler or a government unless they give their consent. If a ruler or a ruling class does not receive the consent of the governed, they have no authority. If they have to use violence, they can rule for a time, but their end will not be pleasant. If their claim to authority can be strengthened by manufacturing consent, they can rule until such a time that even the absolute control of narrative cannot help it maintain its grip on the populace. Narrative can only stray so far from reality before a break occurs.

 If the people are discontented, the rulers will never know peace. The less confusion the people have over who has power, the more the people will be able to concentrate their discontent towards those who claim to be helping them. But divide the blame into two parties and you can endlessly distract the people by having half the population blame the other half.

The single best thing that can happen to the American populace is for them to realize that the ruling class is not divided but in fact united AGAINST them. So let's get rid of one of these two corporate parties--I don't care, take your pick-- so that we can unite against the remaining one. When we are united then, and only then, we will be able to bring about the change we need. Because there is no government or group of people able to rule against the will of the people.

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Paradigms Do Not Die Easily, But Neither Do Dreams

 Near the end of All You Need Is Love, The Beatles added a refrain from an early hit, She Loves You. It sounds like an echo from another decade, another era, but in fact it was only four years between the two songs.

 Although the two songs came from the same band in the same decade, they were coming from different worlds. And though both songs have the word love in their title, the difference in meaning could not be greater. In 1963 they were singing about teenage romance, as was everyone. By 1967, love held a psychedelic mixture of meanings. Love was a force powerful enough to change the world. It would end wars, heal wounds, bridge gaps. Learning to love ourselves would help us achieve self-actualization. You can hear in the lyrics and John Lennon’s voice that he is learning to work through childhood trauma in order to release the grip of anger and cynicism that guided his earlier self. There is an undeniable spiritual aspect to the song, as there was to so many of their songs around that time. In The Beatles, and in England, and around the world, something was being born.

 “Love Is All You Need.” It was an innocent, naïve proclamation, but it was bold as hell. And surely if you had spoken to any of The Beatles, they would have told you that it was not so much all you need but the most important thing you need, the prime mover. The force that can change the world. In unimaginable ways.

 Such a belief led to a movement that put an end to a war and furthered the idea that regardless of race or religion or geographic location we were all connected. We were all brothers and sisters with a shared planet and a shared destiny. And there is nothing naïve or innocent about this realization. It is a fact.

 Psychedelic drugs opened up people’s minds to new ways of thinking and shattered old paradigms. Or perhaps the urge to explore new ways of thinking led people to experiment with psychedelics. Children growing up in a world that for the first time included a television in every home sensed the unreality of the narratives they were being sold. They were looking to transcend a plastic world and reconnect with nature and with each other in real and meaningful ways.

 But almost as soon as the door opened, it began to close. Powerful existing paradigms do not die easily. They may crack, giving glimpses of what lies beyond them, but they do not easily shatter.

 And so the 60’s soon ended. And somewhere, someone asked, “Was it all a dream?” Because truths briefly revealed tend to feel like that when the too solid existing paradigm reasserts it strength.

But dreams have a power of their own. One can never unsee one. A powerful enough dream will have us forever asking ourselves if reality is truly what it seems. A beautiful dream will have us desiring more and being forever discontent with the way things are. The cracks in what we call reality—but is in fact a paradigm—have been exposed and cannot be denied. In fact, they are currently being revealed once more in a far more frightening fashion.

 The 60’s were not a dream. They were in fact quite the opposite: they were the first stirrings of a giant awakening. They were like the fantasies of a child which will lay the foundations for the accomplishments of the adult. They were the initial cracks in a paradigm we were destined to outgrow. 

We are waking up. Some of us unwillingly, but the possibility of staying asleep no longer exists.

Because what has been glimpsed can never be entirely ignored. Though it may be absent from our conscious mind it nevertheless has been at work in our subconscious. Our dreams have not been soothing, but they have been telling us something.

 1967 was the year in which All You Need Is Love was released: It was The Summer Of Love. It was the date of conception for a new paradigm, created in an orgy of love in which an entire generation participated. The gestation time for something so immense is long, but it IS being born. What you are witnessing now are the labor pains.

A new paradigm of love is being born. What was glimpsed in the 60's was a mere glimmer of something far off. It is time to perceive it now with our adult eyes.

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You Are A Vital Link In The Chain

 

I was looking at a picture of an orangutan and a bulldozer yesterday, the kind of picture that makes you turn away because the feeling of helpless rage is too much to bear. A picture of man’s “progress" destroying nature. Once again. Endlessly. 

I was thinking of how many people have to be complicit to allow this event to have taken place: the operator of the bulldozer, the people in the crew that transported it to this location, the foreman who ordered it, the boss who ordered him. The accountant who figured it was a few cents cheaper to tear down a forest than farm sustainably, the people who buy products from businesses willing to extract profit from a dying earth. The politicians who did what they were told by the people who give them money to be elected, and the police and military who use force to make sure profit reigns supreme over planet. Even the guy who took the picture could have tried to stop this from happening.

 Not a one of them was a free person. Not a one of them does not bow to a system that is destroying us all. And yet how many of them believe themselves free? How many loudly proclaim their love for personal freedom when they never dare to use it?

 Because it would only have taken one of the people in the chain of command to say no to stop this picture from having been taken. But the only one with the courage and the lack of rationalizations was an orangutan.

 Just a few people with courage and morals will be enough to stop most of the evil that is taking place in the world today. Because it is obvious there are precious few real leaders. Most of the rest of us simply go along and do what we are told. All it takes is a few of us to simply refuse to obey what we know in our hearts is wrong, what hurts us to our core and lessens us as human beings. All it takes is to listen to the inner voice rather than being obedient to someone or something we despise. All it takes is for a few people to be who they want to be.

 Because this is a war. You have been conscripted into it, whether you like it or not. But you have been conscripted into the wrong side. This is a war against nature and I don’t have to tell you which side you should be on. Your heart knows. Your heart knows.

 Because a war against nature is a war against everything—absolutely everything—that matters.

 And you are oh so much more free than you have been led to believe. They have told you a story—a horribly ugly story—and you believed it. You believed it because you couldn’t believe anyone would lie like that, because you would never think to lie like that.

 You believed a story that said life is terrible and you just have to swallow the terribleness if you’re ever going to eke some small degree of pleasure from life. Accept that the human race is on a march to extinction and is taking the rest of the planet with you, and they will let you make monthly payments on an SUV. Accept the gnawing feeling in your guts and you can escape reality on the weekend by watching Star Wars episodes and thinking how cool it would be to be a Jedi. Accept the rule of the psychopaths and they will leave you alone once in a while.

They tell you there is nothing you can do because you're just one person. They tell you you're all alone and nothing you can do by yourself will ever matter.

 They tell you its just how it is. They tell you there’s no hope in resisting. They forced their beliefs onto you and you have internalized them.

 But it only takes one person to refuse. It only takes one link in the chain to decide it’s not going to be a part of it anymore. It only takes you. You can change things. I believe in you. 

And you are not alone.

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Black Lives Matter And The Christian Message Whites Have Spread But Have Not Yet Learned

 There are tens of millions of whites who are afraid to face blacks in a non-confrontational way. Without the threat of violence, which is what law essentially is. They have no idea of how to relate to a black person except by expecting that person to behave according to their own expectations, which is to say, in a way that makes the white person feel entirely comfortable and in control. They say they are more than willing to get along with black people who act the way they expect them to act, but they never once consider if the person on the other side also has certain expectations that are worthy of being considered. 

They have no idea how to react to black people in the way blacks have always been forced to face whites. In the way all races have been forced to face whites. In the United States, indigenous people and African Americans have always had an extremely unequal relationship with white people, and the threat of violence has always been implicit. Overseas it has been no different. Asia, Africa, Australia, and South America have all been colonized by Europeans and when the people were not exterminated they were subjugated. Always with the threat of violence, backed by laws written by and intended for white people.

 But something sublime and miraculous has come of this. It has given birth to the likes of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. Hell, Jesus was a Middle Easterner who was living in a country occupied by Europeans. And since then, Europeans have spread His message of non-violence and loving one’s enemies all over the world, and many who saw the futility in violence saw the wisdom of Christ’s message. Those who could not match violence with violence learned that the battle for justice could be taken to a higher plane, one in which the use of violence demonstrated not superiority but the truth that violence is a tool of oppression. But while the Europeans spread the message of Christ throughout the world, few of them took the time to learn it themselves. They haven’t had to. It is a lesson not willingly learned. But it is a profound one, and it must be learned. 

It falls upon the European race to learn the lesson by choice and not of necessity. If white people wish to prove their race is in any way special, they can do so by being the first to freely come to grips with a message they’ve been sharing with others for thousands of years now. They can be the first group of people to find alternatives to violence and dominance without being first subjugated. It will not be easy, but they can learn from the examples of countless people of color whose people have been decimated and enslaved and have still found room for love and forgiveness in their hearts. It would perhaps be humbling, but it would be an astonishing accomplishment. This would not be an act of weakness, it would be an act of incredible bravery. 

A first step would be to just say the words so many are longing to hear: Black Lives Matter. Go ahead, do it. It will cost you nothing. You won't have to subscribe to some philosophy or join some group that might use the three words to promote ideas that you don't get behind. It's just three words and you know they are absolutely true. It won't just be comforting to others, it will untie that knot of fear and hate that has been clogging your heart for way too long. It will feel good. And just so you know, your life matters too

Putin's Making Me Not Vote For Biden

 I want to share my story with you as a warning of how easily you can be led astray. Stick to the straight and truth path and never once deviate from it, because this could happen to you.

Like most of you, I was once very excited by the prospect of having Joe Biden as our next president. Sure, I really wanted Kamala Harris or Pete Buttigieg, but I was more than comfortable with good ol' Uncle Joe. More than anything, I JUST WANTED TO GET TRUMP OUT OF OFFICE. IN ALL MY SWEET JESUS LIFE I'VE NEVER WANTED ANYTHING MORE THAN TO GET TRUMP OUT OF OFFICE. I WOULD LITERALLY VOTE FOR A FLAMING BUCKET OF TURDS AS OUR PRESIDENT JUST SO LONG AS THE BUCKET WAS A DEMOCRAT.

So like I said, I was once pretty normal, just like you.

And God knows, I tried to be good. I did what the media and the intelligence agencies told me to do. I stopped listening to some of my favorite journalists, people like Chris Hedges and Greg Palast, because they appeared on RT. I stopped following my favorite comedians, people like Jimmy Dore and Lee Camp, for the same reason. I turned my back on Coleen Rowley, Time Magazine's 2002 person of the year, because she was a regular on Sputnik Radio (God, was she working for the Ruskies back then, too?)

I pretty much stopped listening to or following everyone I respected and trusted because my party and anonymous intelligence agents told me I should. And I did it, I did it gladly, because the last thing I wanted to ever be was a stooge for a foreign government.

I started referring to Borscht as liberty soup. I got rid of all offensively named salad dressings  from my refrigerator. I'm even in the process of changing my last name to Rozoski in order to accent my Polish heritage.

You'd think that would make me safe, wouldn't you? Ah, but the Ruskies are cunning. Hell, anybody that can flip a multi-billion dollar election with $46,000 in Facebook ads must be pretty damn sly.

But I kept the faith from the moment Hillary lost through the time when my preferred candidates (Kamala and Pete) were forced to drop out as well. During the Russiagate scandal when bombshells fell day after day, I strove to keep my mind ideologically pure, saying three Hail Muellers a day that Donald Trump would be removed from office (A Hail Mueller is like a Hail Mary, except they always drop the ball).

Ironically, I think I was done in by the very intelligence agencies and media sources I had trusted to keep me safe. 

You see, I saw some of the pictures the devious Russians had placed in Facebook. Two in particular stand out in my mind. 

The first was an image of Bernie Sander in a speedo. But he did not look like the elderly man he was, saggy and lacking muscles. No, he had large muscles as though he had been working out his entire life. His body was yellow and his red nipples seem to stare at me as though they were the eyes of the devil himself. Those nipple/eyes just stared at me as though they were hypnotizing me. And I could not look away.

The second was a picture of Jesus, our lord God and Caucasian Savior, arm wrestling with Satan. Even though I'm not a religious man, this image burned itself into my soul. I cannot explain it. But then, only those within our intelligence communities know the true power of Russian Juju. 

And slowly doubt crept into my mind. I had been exposed to a Russian disease and did not know it, in the same way you can carry Chinese Covid and be unaware. From then on I began to question about whether Jeffrey Epstein really hung himself while the cameras malfunctioned and the guards were not doing their jobs. From there I started to wonder if President Obama really had the Libyans' best interest in mind when he destroyed their country. I started watching videos where U.S. officials converse about who they should pick to lead another country's government. I even started to wonder if the Democratic Primaries were on the up and up. God help me...I started to doubt.

I'm not proud of myself. But though the shame weighs heavily upon me, I felt that if I shared my story with you it might prevent some other poor soul from falling into the same trap. And I am not alone. According to Kamala Harris, Colin Kaepernick would not have taken a knee if it were not for Russia. Assuredly Kamala would not have attacked Joe Biden on his racist policies if it were not for subliminal messaging from Russian GRUs. And let us not forget those who were subjected to the insidious Pokemon Go Aps.

It's too late for me. I've lost my innocence and nothing will bring it back. But it's not too late for you. Keep your eyes closed. Stay on the straight and narrow path the Atlantic Council has prepared for you. Do what you are told, and a glorious new day awaits for you.

Biden/Harris 2020

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