Walkabout Thoughts #56

My thoughts, Stream of consciousness, rough and ready, while walking off long Covid and listening to podcasts… July 17, 2023, Monday

Weather for the day… 67° starting out, 72° when I got home

Podcast Deja News by Rachel Maddow, final episode of the season: Episode 6: “Hello America, this is Addis Ababa.” This episode is relating our defense of Ukraine, through to something that happened many many years ago in 1935 when blacks signed up to defend an African country, Ethiopia who were a member of the League of Nations, precursor to the UN, when there were only two black governed nation states in Africa. This was Mussolini, the Italian fascist, not the current fascist Putin in Russia. Mussolini thought if other countries are taking land in Africa, why shouldn't we? So instead of our decision to support Ukraine against Russia today, in 1935 America decided not to for Ethiopia against Italy. This is that story. Mussolini conjectured, they take over another country in a continent where other nations have colonized them. Why was that wrong? Because the era of colonization was over, dumb ass.

An anthropologist once said, "The human race is designed to raise up certain individuals and then take them down. While they were raised up in being something new, different, maybe better (hopefully), at some point they become an irritation to the overall organism and must be eliminated. Thus in example, Jesus was raised up and then eliminated. Where is that happening today and with whom? And are they that useful to humanity or just a small minority who have wrested power to abuse the entire nation (organism) as we see when authoritarianism takes countries over? To be sure at times a majority gets into it, supporting it.

I have published two of my screenplays as books, but for only a short time. I ordered my own copies, and when I receive them, I’m going to turn them off. I'll leave them there until these are produced as films and then, turn them back on again. “The Teenage Bodyguard", is a biopic and true crime story that’s been winning awards. I worked with producer, Robert Mitas (who was a producer on films with Michael Douglas) as consultant and producer to rewrite it is a shorter screenplay. 

But this is the longer original, a very well researched screenplay that got his attention. The second screenplay book I published is my horror and kind of comedy, “Gray and Lover, The Hearth Tales Incident". I entered a screenplay festival, where a side benefit was getting your screen place published as a book. I thought what the heck? But I also thought that if you  are really serious about having a screenplay produced, publish the screenplay as a book after the films is released, or at least after its purchase toward production (maybe not then).

Speaking of other works, my antiwar documentary filmic poem, "Pvt. Ravel's Bolero" is available exclusive on ThrilzTV. It has 18 short film awards internationally including, Best War Documentary, Best Experimental Film, Best Director, and others. In my previous blog you can see my previous poster for the film.

It sure seems like we usually know a war is coming, before it starts. So why don’t we do things ahead of time. as if the war has started? I also never understood, we have NATO and we have the UN, and while there are countries not part of NATO, why do we let that stop us from refusing war, ever again? Or at least do everything we can before one starts to cut it off. Yeah, yeah, I get all the contraindications, but while we're still at a point in our infancy, in our adolescence that we continue to allow wars, aggression against other countries? Come on! Sometimes after long paying your dues, you simply have to accept that you are a professional...or you ARE mature enough to do what is right and correct.

Aggressors, either Mussolini, or Hitler, or Putin, do not learn lessons. Donald Trump did NOT (never will), as one Republican Congresswoman Susan Collins had said ("Trump has learned ‘a pretty big lesson’ from impeachment"), learn a lesson from his bad actions. Nope. ain't gonna happen. What these dictatorial autocrats learn from failure is how to succeed further, the next time. What you do with these people, as we saw in World War II with these imperialistic aggressors, is you physically stop them, disallowing them their desires. We have still not done that with Putin, or helped Russia out of their delusions. Putin has fed them propaganda and dezinformatsiya for over 20 years. They have generationally been inculcated through the Soviet union since 1917, and before that as a country of serfs under a czar. Putin should have been reacted to long before the Ukrainian invasions. He should’ve been stopped before the 2014 invasion. Not just western democracies and America seem crippled when it comes to being proactive. One can offer climate change as evidence. I offer Ukraine here as evidence. At some point one has to learn you do not put up with bullies or you actualize them and propagate their existences.

In 2014, when "little green men" we’re running around, supporting Ukrainian Russian separatists, when still no one knew who they were, that was when we should (all) have supported Ukraine. 100% in all ways possible. Because Russian would not have taken Crimea and we would not now be involved in the Ukrainian war because of this delusional, Russian dictator once again. When will we learn that? Never? Apparently. Well, we're doing (a little) better, now.

I also think we need to sign on to the agreement about cluster (bombs) munitions. We need to sign on about land mines (thanks again, Trump). We need to get the world into a knee jerk reaction against international aggression at some point and, granted this may be a little premature, though I hope not, because earth really needs to stop allowing war.

The bombing of Japan that ended the war in the Pacific was a horrific event that did with Oppenheimer thought it would do. What he pushed for. It horrified humanity. Perhaps what we need now is for Russian nationals themselves to set off a nuke. A college kid can create an atomic bomb, they just need some fuel. Once they find specifically were Putin is at the moment and trying to minimize "collateral damage" as the military prefers to say, that might just wake the Russians the fuck up. But if anyone other than Russians do that, it just simple not serve the purpose to turn Russia around in their current despicable course.

Why do we allow people like Putin or Donald Trump even to breathe the same air as decent people? This is not a conundrum, by the way.

As Rachel says in the podcast, "Dictators force you to consider your own interest against others." In the hope that yours will win out, to support theirs in the end, and the beginning. In this far too narcissistic world anymore (See, MAGA), an entire political party apparently devoted to narcissism, and the needs of the one each one over that of the group or the group over that of all citizens.

Putin has shown himself to be a callous anachronism...someone who displays a lack of empathy or sensitivity in a context where such behavior has become (by him...or them) no longer appropriate or acceptable. And the same is true of Donald Trump, and those who support either of them.

I agree NATO shouldn’t be going to war against Russia because of Ukraine. The United Nations Armed Forces should be. Which doesn't exist in that form. And if it did, might prove problematic. But does end  justify the means?

According to Donald Trump, his January 6 insurrection was an FBI false flag operation. But if we put him in jail, his supporters will do it again. That’s what we’re up against? One has to be unavailingly stupid to buy that line of bullshit. Well...MAGA.

Putin: the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century was the fall of the Soviet Union. Excuse me, while I guffaw. Donald Trump: his not being reelected is the greatest catastrophe in the entire 21st-century. Which we just started. Double guffaw. Moronic comics.

If Donald Trump‘s allegedly mushroom shaped penis were to "eat" all of his ego for a solid year until it was found to be engorged, like him, it would vastly larger than his character could ever attain. The man has no character, from a time when "character" was considered a comment on good character and not the existence of merely ANY character at all. Some "character" is not to be acceptable, or locked up, or wiped from existence for the benefit of Humankind. Remember when we were, "kind"?

After Trump's so far now, mere six court trials get going, I’ll need to be sure to get a photo of him now and from a year ago to compare to his photo from a year from hence. Because I would think his decrepitude will be easily observed in advancing exponentially.

The only metaphor I could think of just now for Trump's ludicrously adoring fans would be if he were seeb as their "cake", where instead of icing, it's just an inch of fat with no sugar, and maybe a little rancid, and they lap it up, loving it. And of course he and they, "want their cake and eat it, too."

Those especially in Congress or Governors of states, or Attorney General’s of states, who still disingenuously cannot clearly see how Donald Trump is criminal and how what he did was criminal, truly should be removed from office. So much of what these people do is not direct logic and they have to be able to draw conclusions and synthesize information, to apply it elsewhere. Tim Scott, saying he doesn’t hold Donald Trump accountable because Trump didn’t personally come and try to kill him on January 6, is probably the most disingenuous thing I’ve ever heard him say. Remove him from office. And he therefore has no right to run for POTUS.

I love Pad Thai. My son told me he read somewhere that Thai people don’t usually eat Pad Thai. That saddened me. On the other hand, there is a lot of other Thai food that’s much tastier. There’s Chinese food too, which I love that you can’t find in China because while it’s Chinese food based or China fusion or something. Chinese people in China wouldn't recognize it. I just don’t much care for Pad Thai with a solid wafer of egg in it. I only started seeing that in the past few years. Chicken, cut up in it is fine. I think when I started eating it, it was with pork, probably, but I’ve come to really like the chicken version. Even the tofu version can be good.

The number of Republicans who believe what Donald Trump did during his January 6 insurrection was criminal is under 10%. These are definitely low information people. Let me explain that. Information is real, it’s factual. They are however on the other hand, rather high DISinformation people. They're not stupid, but they are selective ignorant (on purpose).

What the hell is doing a shibboleth? That from Jon Lovett on the "Pod Save America" podcast: "Shibboleth is a single sign-on log-in system for computer networks and the Internet." Nope, not that. "a word or saying used by adherents of a party, sect, or belief and usually regarded by others as empty of real meaning." Maybe? What did AI said: "The phrase "doing a shibboleth" typically refers to using a particular word, expression, or custom as a test or a way to identify insiders from outsiders within a group or community." Ah, that must be why he keeps using it. "The term originates from an ancient Hebrew word, "shibboleth," which means "ear of corn" or "stream." In the Book of Judges in the Bible (Judges 12:5-6), it is described as a password used to distinguish between two groups of people who were at war."

I switched over to "Pod Save America" when Rachel’s double length, hour long, excellent podcast ended. And everyone should listen to Rachel‘s podcast of her season finale of Deja News ASAP.

Cheers! Sláinte!

Walkabout Thoughts #46

My thoughts, Stream of consciousness, rough and ready, while walking off long Covid and listening to podcasts…June 30, 2023 Friday


Regarding affirmative action in the SCOTUS, shot me down this week, here’s the deal about that…one University where there were 9% Blacks have been cut down to 4%, in a country that has 13% Blacks who are living and paying taxes in America. Whenever we have a situation where there’s too few voters and taxpayers ethnocentrically in a group, in a workforce, an educational system, in the military, or prisons, workers, or inmates, and the percentage is way out of whack? That’s when it needs to be addressed. And that’s what we’ve been saying. In the case of Blacks, way too many are inmates. Way too few are in institutions of education. I could get what conservative members of SCOTUS are saying, if they see affirmative action laws as unconstitutional, even if I may disagree with them. But when you look at a group and see the disparity and the injustice that should be corrected, how do you do that? Are you proactive or do you react to that, that you’re just fine with it? And so we have had affirmative action laws, hoping to correct that. But not correct it 100%. Which AGAIN evokes the question… "What the fuck are whites complaining about?" Is it that they were that week and ineffective themselves, but today they have to beg forevermore for cushions to their existence? That while Blacks and Minorities should “pull them selves up by the boot straps“ because that’s those American's quote? But they don’t wanna do that for themselves? Because when They have to do it, it’s somehow reverse racism? I grew up, middle, maybe upper lower class, and through hard work and multiple jobs my stepfather worked us into lower middle and at some point (after I moved out) middle-middle class, although they were always in debt. There was no question when they died that they'd leave any money for their kids. 

I graduated high school at 17, immediately got a job and moved the hell out. I was going nowhere in life. And so I joined the Air Force at 20. I'd given it a few years to try to do better but just saw no prospects. Between that belief and a curious nature, and ability to absorb information easily in some ways, with difficulty in others because of ADHD, I struggled all my life to get out of debt myself. In positioning myself, luckily I found some opportunities, and never turned down opportunities out of fear. Plenty of times I was fearful of taking on a newer and harder position. But I kept my mother's dad in mind, our grandfather who always excepted challenges when half the time he didn’t know what he was doing, until he started doing it, or teaching it, but kept that to himself. He forced himself to succeed, and with that model in mind, I got through life bouncing around with plenty of knocks and bruises. Eventually with a small retirement, that should’ve been much larger. But at least I had one, at least I have something.

Some colleges, after hearing about SCOTUS knocking down affirmative action laws, say they will continue trying to do what’s right, regardless. Until OUR federal judiciary and SCOTUS, toxically and conservatively stacked and weighted with conservatives, at some point finally says it’s unconstitutional, remember always what they did with abortion. They won a little and they took a lot. They just wanted to pass it back to the states they said, and then they tried to pass federal laws against it to take it away from the states and nationalize an illegal ban. These are not trustworthy people. It’s not my orientation but their actions that prove this time and time again. Conservatism leans into religion, and so you can trust religion being pro-deity and anti-human in passing more absolutist laws.

How is Black SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas not what other Blacks used to refer to as a “Uncle Tom“? An apologist for white privilege. So I asked the AI:

"The term "Uncle Tom" originated from Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel titled "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which was published in 1852. The novel depicted the life of a slave named Tom, who was portrayed as a submissive and loyal servant to his white master. Over time, the term "Uncle Tom" has evolved into a derogatory term used to criticize African Americans who are perceived as being overly subservient to white people or betraying the interests of their own community.

"The term "Uncle Tom" is often used as an insult to demean African Americans who are seen as acquiescing to racism or supporting policies or actions that are detrimental to their own racial or ethnic group. It suggests a lack of racial consciousness or a willingness to conform to white societal expectations at the expense of one's own identity and community.

"It's important to note that the term is considered derogatory and offensive, as it perpetuates harmful stereotypes and oversimplifies complex issues related to race and identity. It is generally discouraged to use such terms, as they can contribute to negative racial tensions and misunderstandings."

OK, so maybe calling Justice Thomas, "Uncle Tom" is offensive. Then explain what the fuck he is doing?

However I have little respect for anyone who thinks like Thomas. "I put in the sweat labor to get to where I got to, everyone else had better appreciate that and do the same!" Not realizing that equating what he went through was the same for others, regardless how he grew up. To NOT stand up for your own, for those like you (regardless of race), so also giving due consideration for any of the poor, immigrants or, Native Americans who we took these lands FROM, or many Mexicans who were in a similar situation, though perhaps not quite so murderously abusive). 

With such considerations, I must here offer this from, "The Beat with Ari Melber", podcast on a special episode:
"BONUS: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Affirmative Action Dissent Read by Actress Alfre Woodard". "Award-winning actress Alfre Woodard reads Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s entire 29-page dissent to the affirmative action ruling." Why? Because of SCOTUS poor standing of late in their excessively conservative extremist rulings. The Republican Party and its supporters have gone off the deep end, grabbing things they've long wanted, regardless the consequences. Because it's easier to take and apologize later and retain some, than do what is right and receive little of what you want. No matter who unethical, immoral or toxic it is to the nation overall.

Is it time to rid the world of internal combustion engine leaf blowers and grass trimmers, yet? For that of battery powered ones? I read this thing decades ago, while it apparently doesn’t have scientific legitimacy, it does makes sense. That is that as civilization evolves, it becomes more advanced to the point that it becomes quieter. Maybe darker? Thus earth once shouted massive amounts of signals off planet and our cities and machines are noisy. But as we get more electric cars and such, we become quieter as we make advances. It also makes sense we would utilize lighting more adeptly so we'd direct smaller amounts of lights (at night) with more efficiency in various ways. But you get it concept.

How do we know that the Bible or the Quran aren't some of the largest “telephone game“ examples in the history of humanity? That being in writing things down after telling them by word of mouth for a long time, and then by translating them so that through time and history, we've been altering them? And we’ve seen how that subvert and/or Re-orients from the original message.

So, according to SCOTUS... racial Gerrymandering exists, but that’s where it ends? WTF?

One wonders if we sent back in time, well-educated individuals, from both sides of the ticket today, to when the US Constitution was being written, how would that alter it? Because I suspect they would tighten it up and better address certain issues that the Right is now trying to make superfluous. What I'm saying is, if we went back in time to tell the Founding Fathers what the hell we're doing with their US Constitution, they'd make some re-writes. And now how today's nutcase Right wingnuts would.

I like Pablo Pascal, the actor. He signed on to the writer's strike. I liked him in "The Mandalorian". I liked him in, "The Last of Us". I heard him in an interview recently where he said he had a lot to be thankful for in having been in "Narcos" on Netflix. So I watched that this past week. It was him and his blond haired, white partner with Pablo being a Spanish speaker in Colombia where they were DEA agents. I understand he didn’t think he would be in the show very long but he lasted two seasons and then they gave him the third season, losing his partner. Interesting they never mentioned what happened to that guy. But when I saw the third season, it was obvious to my why he did so well after that. It wasn’t so much the first two seasons, but they got him to the third and final season. I really liked it. Then they came out with "Narcos Mexico". Which I just started though he’s not in it. I remember when sinsemilla cannabis hit the streets in the late 70s as the seedless version of weed. In the 70s we were so sick of having to clean out the seeds, as Cheech and Chong had so famously said, "No stems no seeds that you can see, Acapulco gold is fine... ass weed!" But I didn’t know about how that all came into being. At first we thought it was brilliant. The weed was cleaned up. Everyone had a shoe box lid or something just slid under their couch usually with their weed in it and some stems and seeds off the the side. Maybe an expired credit card or something for the sifting. Holding the lid at an angle, using the card to drag the weed up and catch it repeatedly to allow the seeds to run to the bottom. Anyway, you got what you paid for with sinsemilla, not a bunch of bulk and seed nonsense you didn’t use. When one day we we’re sitting around getting stoned and  I looked at my friends, and I said, "Hey, this is seedless." They smiled, just puffing away and said, "Yeah, I know, cool...right?" "Yeah cool… but now we can’t grow our own." And everybody looked at each other surprised and went, "Oh shit that’s right." Until someone said, "Yeah, but we're not growing it anyway, right?" "Yeah, but now we can't, even if we wanted to." And suddenly, everyone wanted to. But it was brilliant marketing in that they didn’t have to ship the stems and seeds, which kept us from growing our own, but also made the packs smaller and they could profit more and ship more. The kilo is more dense, which was an all-around win-win for everybody. Except for anyone who wanted to grow their own. At that point, we started to try and find some seeds and no one had any. And if they did, they were valuable. When they had been everywhere at one point. It was a marketing awakening, in the illegal weed market. So Narcos Mexico. Pretty entertaining. An interesting show though so far I’m only a few episodes into it

But speaking of that, I watched the latest episode of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" last night. It was a court trial, which usually I like, but not in a sci-fi show so much. But by the end of it, I liked it a lot. Actually, that was last weeks episode. And it was good by the end. Last night's episode was a time travel episode where they went back in time on earth. And again you might be like, "Hey, this isn’t space cowpoke fun romping around the universe stuff!" But by the end they tied it together, and you had to sort of smile and go, "Nice job."

The last episode of "Silo" hit for the season on an Apple+. Really like that show and it had a good cliffhanger season ending that left me with my mouth open, going, "Oh shit, hadn't seen that coming!"

Another one on that streamer is "The Crowded Room". Having a degree in psychology and always being interested in pathologies kind of like shows like that.

Another on Paramount plus is Joe about it Bureau of land management ranger. Like the character so much I haven’t read novels that it’s just a fun and at times difficult show to watch. He takes a lot of brutality in his job but keeps on pushing. And his family’s interesting his lawyer, wife, and two girls.

I also watched Mayans because I was a Sons of Anarchy fan. But there’s something missing from this series that "Sons" had. Maybe it’s 'cause I’m a white boy and not Mexican, Latino, Latinx or whatever, but I’m kind of looking forward to the end of the series. Hey, I still watch it. Though it's not meant to be some kind of sequel to "Sons", and well, it's not. Something isn't clicking for me with it.

Alaska Daily (now cancelled), how about a New York world famous journalist transplant to a tiny newspaper that’s on the edge, in Alaska. The first and only review I read of it when it premiered was not good and they shot the showdown. Screw them. I liked it. I'm sad it's cancelled (I just found out in looking for a link for this). But I think there’s elements for the show the reviewer entirely missed. We need more shows like this. Losing our small newspapers has been crippling America. Native Americans, First Nations...they're getting more attention, but still not enough. A Free Press is a necessary part of our democracy. Our toxic capitalism has worked hard to conglomerate, kill off smaller papers and allowed to monopolize, hampering a Free Press ever more so. Autocrats are doing it around the world. Our democracy and our haters of democracy on the right, especially autocrats like Trump and his MAGA infection, are using the boundaries of democracy to cripple our Free Press. 24 hour new cycles haven’t helped because then they have to always report something new even if it's nothing or worse, which is anathema to what should be loss leader news reporting. Short news cycles and shorter short term memories, news for profit rather as a loss leader for a company, or a network has been signing news death warrant now for years.

How in the hell can we have a fair and balance SCOTUS if it’s too heavily unbalanced one way or the other and why aren’t there laws to assure that NEVER happen? Obviously so that it CAN happen. And that’s got to change. I’m not asking for liberals to have a hand up. I’m asking for the entire country to have a fair and even hand up. Mitch McConnell and the GOP conservatively stacking our federal courts, as well as OUR SCOTUS, in illiberally disallowing Merrick Garland a seat on that court… If that’s not anti-American, what the hell is? Well, more "corporate thought" at work.

For those complaining that the Trump economy was better than Biden so far… First off Biden isn’t done and has he said what they have done and it is helping, it is working and it will continue to get better, such as reasonable projections all say. Let’s point out the disaster Obama took over and now he has a history of a better economy, so far better than Biden or Trump. But Biden still has time in his office before you can judge him. Especially if he gets a second term...if America has any self-esteem left whatsoever. Biden will, as opposed to say Trump getting a second term, which takes the consideration of any self-esteem whatsoever for America off the table if that happens, as he will have gone full on autocrat, giving him purchase to completely destroy our economy and our democracy. If you can’t see that, that’s a degree of ignorance so vast one don’t even know how to address it. Trump doesn't WANT to destroy our economy, just our democracy, but if he profits only by destroying our economy? It's toast.

A new Navigator poll shows that 75% of Americans are against tax cuts for the rich including Republicans. So WTF America? I remember saying when I got out of my university years in 1984 that priorities in America are fucked up. Well, thanks to conservatives they’re fucked up to a fantastical degree far beyond anything I had considered back then. And I have some pretty good "out there" fiction. Just check out, "In Memory, Yet Crystal Clear" (ebook free through July 2023). When I would have said all this now is just bad science fiction or really really poor speculative fiction writing and by a lazy writer.

This isn’t a difficult intellectual puzzle. We have to take money from somebody to run this government. I know my brother says we can run without taxes. I said explain to me how that works  but he couldn’t. But then he’s a conservative who supported Trump, so… But the point is, do we take those taxes more from people who don’t have the money or from those who do have so much money, they don’t know what to do with it? How is that an intellectual conundrum? I mean it's just common sense. The people with more pay more but also at a higher ratio. First of all nobody should have above a certain amount of money. No individual should have as much money as a country. No corporation should have more money than the largest country. Multinational corporations are dangerous. Just watch Rollerball. The original better one with James Caan. The problem as with so many other things in our society today is due to toxicity...in our conservatism and economy, leaning into autocracy, of those with autocratic desires, where common sense has been devalued, diluted and weaponized, all this against ourselves.

Inflation is down 11 months in a row, gas and groceries are down… But Biden they say is a doddering, old fool? And Trump isn’t? At the least, at very least Biden isn’t a criminal like Trump. Even if you believe Biden is, or that there actually is a "Biden crime family", which is stupid, which is fucking stupid, when you can see there is obviously is a Trump crime family, which is not mere denigration or ad hominems, which is why Trump keeps getting indicted ("criminal")… We just need to stop this juvenile fakery and get down to work.

Oh, another streamer show “From”, I like that one a lot because it’s really messed up.

I really like Kaley Cuoco, the actor from, "The Big Bang", who was in "The Flight Attendant". Another screwed up, show that I liked a lot. It was in fun and part is my older sister was a senior flight attendant all of her life. It was fun to tease her about, "Hey, did that happened to you?" No.

Oh, just saw the first few episodes of this season 3 of, "The Witcher" (last season for Henry Cavill as Geralt, replaced in upcoming seasons 4/5 by Liam Hemsworth). They just dropped on Netflix season three. Nice to see it back. I heard it’s the same actor as in "Superman and Lois" and for some reason I like that and watch it too (Emmanuelle Chriqui surely having nothing to do with it). But remind me of the Clark Kent, superman thing, where are the actors don’t look anything alike in each role. (I know, I know, see below further down).

This week I also watched Lamborghini with Frank Grillo as the elder character of the title name, and Gabriel Byrne, whom I have always liked his work. Since I first saw Ridley Scott's first film "The Duelists" with Harvey Keitel, opposing Keith Carradine through their lives, and the Napoleonic wars. Great underrated film.

Oh, and by the way, "Bidenomics" has given us the lowest unemployment rate for Blacks and Hispanics. So Hispanics really need to review this rush to the Republican Party who really doesn’t give a shit about anybody except their own leaders, donors and superPACs, lobbyists.

I se Hyperwrite as of recently and a company called Reword just pinged me with some spam. It looks interesting. But I need to make sure it’s hooked up to this blog. I don’t think it is. If I could make this stream of consciousness blog look a little more... well written without spending a lot of time on it, because I’ve got other things to do, I think we all agree... that would be awesome.

Sometimes I put things in these notes during walkabouts that are just for me to see so that when I get home and read them, I delete them from the blog and go do them. But sometimes I leave them in... like the one just above.

As I’ve spoken about in the previous two blogs, when exercising you can hit a point where you want to quit. Today that was at about mile 4 and a quarter. Usually I don’t start sweating till like the last mile or so. It’s hot today so it was by the end of the 2nd mile. But around mile 4 I started feeling I was overdoing it. So I stopped in a shady place. I looked down into a gully, or gulch, or whatever you wanna call it, that runs off downhill to the next main street below. I realized, I’ll have been in this house about five years now and in the first week, years ago, I would’ve already gone down into this thing out of curiosity. Just to search around to see what was there. I've always been like that. Going up in the mountains by myself to go hiking alone. Exploring local, wooded areas people tend to not go into. But with this time and age, it’s just not worth my effort. Or I just don’t have the motivation anymore, or my body isn’t so in shape (thanks so much Long Covid) so as to not give a thought about overdoing it in time or effort. Yeah getting old is not for the old, but it sure as hell isn’t for the young.

Damn talking about ADHD… I just posted on Twitter and social media today about it, because my son, who also has it, sent me a 20 minute comedy clip of a guy talking about his wife having ADHD. It’s pretty funny and more so if you have it. He’s exaggerating, but it’s pretty entertaining. And the reason I say this now is because above, I was gonna say something about getting to mile four, and wanting to quit today. And the reason for mentioning that, which I got distracted from… was that I had stopped to cool off And then saw something on my phone from someone who DM'd me about being a product ambassador or something. Which distracted me so I started walking again and then realized I feel fine now. So I’m now starting mile five and again I feel fine. My point is, was... that when you hit that point where you think you can’t do anymore, rest, then take your time to slowly move forward, get back up to speed and you may well find that you’re just fine.

I agree with the Biden administration consideration on if all Biden makes is a single term. They should get two. They have a strong story to tell that needs to be told to counter the bullshit from the right. This ain’t your grandfathers voodoo economics of trickle down nonsense by toxically capitalistic right wing nut cases who led us to first to the Tea Party, and then Donald Trump's MAGA and an insurrection. How you can see him being "worth his salt" is beyond all rational thought.

At what point do we make Nazism, neo or otherwise, illegal in this country? It will hopefully eventually die off, this core of the MAGA Trump personality cult, our current autocratic infection which needs to be curbed and made somewhat, somehow, illegal? Yes, yes 1st Amendment, yes, Freedom of Speech, and so on, but when it’s weaponized against our US Constitution itself, maybe it's time to act.

Want an easy element to indicate to you who not to vote for? Someone who is thin skinned like Ron DeSantis, like Donald Trump. Those are not leaders. Those are not men who can run a country. Run it into the ground, yes, sure... to be sure. But, let's not do that.


Cheers! Sláinte!

Walkabout Thoughts #42

My thoughts, Stream of consciousness, rough and ready, while walking off long Covid and listening to podcasts…from day of Thursday, June 15, 2023. 

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July! I'll be talking about my screenplay, "The Teenage Bodyguard" and wishing ALL a happy Fourth!

Weather for the day… 52 and overcast and 62 when I finished my 5 mile walk.

Podcast for the day...first up, "The Intercepted", then, Pod Save The World


So it appears the Russians did blow up the Ukrainian dam. And they’re shooting people trying to escape the disaster. Strikes me that if I were Ukrainian, I would plot to blow up a Russian dam and make it look like the Russians blew up their own damn dam. As a false flag operation. But all this tragedy needs to start up within the Russian borders and seem to be done by the Russian government. 

Make it happen? Somebody just stop this stupid war?

For people, wondering if and what Russia would do to escalate things if they’re not winning… Which they’re... not winning… Blowing up a dam and harming their own people along with Ukrainians seems a pretty good indicator of the war crimes they are willing to commit. So it’s not just tactical nuclear weapons to worry about. What do you do when you have a nation state acting out so badly? It seems there’s got to be more we can do and then part of that would be getting those who are aiding and abetting in Russia, in anyway whatsoever possible, to change their minds and wake them up to realize there’s more to life than simply profiting for your own country. Or of your own bank account as it seems to be.

Sadly, on that, America really needs to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. We’ve made some bad decisions in the past decade because, you know... "America first! Baby!" Obviously, we need to protect America in the, "put your oxygen mask on first, in order to help others on an airplane", when under duress. We also have to see a parallel in our humanity as also being important.

Generally speaking, the American soldier and citizen is important to our government. Because we have high self-esteem, I suppose. But in Russia, the Russian soldier and citizen are pawns and mere cannon fodder for, if not the government, certainly for Vladimir Putin. Who with his past, if you haven’t heard, in being born around the time of the siege of Stalingrad, he should know better. He should have some compassion for his own people, instead of just an ideology and consideration for the greatness of mother Russia and "Papa Vlad".

Robert F Kennedy, Jr’s contention that America is responsible for Russia invading Ukraine is ludicrous. Putin did this. This is on Putin, and his personality disorder. It’s on the books. He read history books during Covid when he was in lockdown, by himself. He's going against his own childhood experiences. This is why ideology and religion along with absolute power in a leader, are so very, very dangerous.

One could argue that binary thinking, especially if closed off with a lack of real historical context and world issues is responsible for much of this immature libertarian, anti-woke, anti-government nonsense. People think this "push button" culture concept of a revolution in their romantic notion of "instant change", is how you fix things. First off, things aren’t as broken as they think, in the ways they think. Second, things are broken in ways they don’t think they are. Prime example is that they’re part of what’s broken. God, I’ve said this to the point that I’m sick of saying it… Children, CHILDREN break things to fix them. Adults do the hard work, take the effort to fix what there is. To proactively enhance things and better things over time BEFORE they break. But what we’ve seen with the Republican Party is they do everything they can to break things. Then turn around and point the finger away from themselves and say you did this and this is how we fix it… By destroying it completely and building from scratch. That is the mindset steeped in the present with no concept of history or awareness of how that relates to now with no concept of how that relates to our future. It is a weaponizing disregard and selective ignorance, which is the epitome of sheer stupidity and narcissism. Which makes it clear how Trump is such a darling of those types.

I just saw a sign saying "class of 2023 Bremerton". It's been 50 years since I graduated in 1973 from high school. In many ways I feel like the same person, just wiser with a lot more life scars. It occurred to me if we could just go back in time and inject some of our knowledge into our younger selves, maybe at different stages in a little bit at a time, maybe at five, just a little bit. Then, like every five years. How far humanity could advance? How much better everyone’s lives could be. Not about foresight in a window into what's coming. But some of that which you learned from those things that happened in order to make better choices and to enjoy life more. To perhaps have more of life to enjoy.

Pod Save the World episode is talking about countries in the heart of Africa after years of drought. One country where there’s two warlords fighting it out who could use some UN peacekeeper types. Which are disallowed because of the chaos and violence still going on. One wonders if actual soldiers went in from many countries and overwhelmed that country and killed anyone who is fighting until there’s just those who want peace left. Ludicrous? I’m sure. But at what point in our history, if we did that consistently, would humanity have eventually given up their violent ways?

North Korean hackers in the past few years have stolen $3 billion in cryptocurrency and are using it to fund their nuclear program. It started in 2018. Apparently NK has workers around the world who will apply to cryptocurrency companies to work on their software and then apply back doors left open to be used from elsewhere at some point in the future. Companies are scrambling to counter that effort. Apparently NK has shifted from espionage to theft. I suspect this might be a good argument for using a hardware wallet for the bulk of your crypto investments. NK's the next step forward in this? AI.

A couple of weeks ago my adult son asked if my calling for capital punishment for Donald Trump for his crimes, which isn’t on the table, if that’s showing a pattern. Am I headed that way more than before, in saying that perhaps too loosely about people? Which, if you know me, is ridiculous and he should know better. But he’s just being careful and pointing it out because he wondered about it. And that’s good, better to speak than be quiet on these things. So thanks. But the only other time I remember calling for that in the past was Pres. George W. Bush with his Iraq war. I think that was war crimes. I think he had people set him up with plausible deniability. According to things I read from people who knew of those things, Bush did a “force" on our Intel community in order to get enough information to be able to go to war in Iraq. Something which he had long wanted to do, finishing up what his father had begun over the Iraq/Kuwait issue. What he long hoped to do. Perhaps planned to do long before he became president. Yes, "Sadman Insane", was a bad guy. But he was right in saying "if you remove me...chaos". And that’s what happened. Yes, he had to go. No, war was not the best way. But a week or so after 9/11 hit, I remember telling people that I’m worried. Because America has been hurt, on American soil. That’s never happened before, except when we did it to ourselves in the Civil War. We'll have to lash out, we'll have to punch somebody in the face. My concern at the time was that it was going to end up being someone inappropriate. We rightly immediately entered Afghanistan to go after bin Laden, who had attacked us. But just before we got him we were pulled back and allowed him to enter Pakistan. Functionally speaking, that’s what happened. And then we attacked Iraq! Queue the Iraq War.

Why am I so against Donald Trump, his MAGA crowd of sycophants and worshipers, QAnon, and conspiracy theories? My conspiracy theory awareness goes back to 1973 after I graduated high school. I read a book by the general who ran the Vietnam War. Interesting book, until he just dove straight into conspiracy bullshit. It was a shock. But rather than going down conspiracy rabbit holes that he was preaching, I did what I usually do. I delved right into studying conspiracy theories themselves. If everyone in America had done that? Donald Trump would’ve never become president. At that time, when I was 17, I was very oriented towards going into espionage work. I ended up in the Air Force, and eventually joined their version of the FBI, the OSI, The Office of Special Investigations. Then rather than go to Berlin, I left the service. I was going to be stationed and had asked to be stationed in Berlin, because it was the most dangerous place in the world, of OSI Officers. But you could learn the most about espionage tradecraft there, I was told by the OSI CO who interviewed me. I would’ve replaced the agent who had been blown up getting into his car one day...by the KGB. I would’ve undoubtedly ended up coming in contact with Vladimir Putin, a mediocre KGB agent at that time. I would not have been mediocre. But instead, I got out of the service and ended up at a University. Then another. But I spent two decades studying the Soviet Union and their KGB in their expert efforts in ESPIONAGE and OBSTRUCTION JUSTICE. As well as UK’s intelligence services starting around 1900 through World War II when they were teaching America about espionage through among other things, the "ABC Group", of America, Britain and Canada. Look it up. I read about our OSS and its evolution into the CIA. So it turned out that I’d been studying KGB tactics and disinformation for decades before Newt Gingrich picked up on it and started following their playbook of disinformation. Which led into the autocratic playbook and Donald Trump becoming president and eventually, today’s Republican spawned mess. So that a third of America has been overtly propagandized and delusioned into sheer an utter nonsense. I mean, how else did Donald Trump ever become elected POTUS?

Why do I listen to "Pod Save the World" podcast? Things like what they said in this episode today. The two of them are talking, remember that G7, (or was it a G8) meeting they had to fly to and were getting drunk one night with a bunch of Brits. They had a meeting the next morning they had to fly to and it turns out it wasn’t that G7, but it was a later G8 or something… But then they realized they were partying with a bunch of British MI5 or MI6 officers. Then the next day they had to sit in a meeting with Medvedev and Sergey Lavrov and others, and they were hung over too! At one point one of them looked over at Lavrov and said there he was sitting in "his shame and hangover, and I realized... he looks just like I do, the Russians must’ve been up late drinking too!" That stuff is gold!

Dear America, we have ways of changing our government and voting and protesting, and we have a free and fair, or “Free Press“ anyway. Even as much as Donald Trump wants to kill all that for his own selfish autocratic political fetishes and desires. Or an armed insurrection when necessary. But no, let's not. Not when you’ve been lied to, disinformed and propagandized for the desires of our enemies, via a Republican Party that’s lost its fucking mind by way of a populist, narcissistic cult, leader, and mob boss. We all want things to change instantly. But here’s an actual truth, and not one from Trump's disinformation “truth social faux social media platform". When you change things too quickly, even if you get exactly what you want, since everything is intertwined to everything else in government, and in our population and in our international relations... The reason government moves like a "lumbering giant" is for good reason. Move too fast, you can break the "babies neck". The issue is we that move too slow for some who see it as never moving. Because they’ve been pumped so full of rage they think nothing ever changes. And then when things change, for the betterment and evolution of our citizens and government, and so our country at large... but when you've been raised and propagandized to be freaked out about other citizens being different than you, be they having gender differences, or cultural ones as immigrants, you’re allowing yourself to be set up to be the "ugly American", within our borders. Look it up. "Ugly American", the model GOP citizen, certainly the model MAGA citizen. Embarrassing to America, internationally.

On Saudi Arabia in all that mess. Here’s the thing about so many countries like that. It’s so much the government. Our governments are different than our citizens, MAGA not withstanding, perhaps. I heard a Saudi woman talking a couple nights ago and she had a good point. She said, "We want to be in the world! But what's stopping us is our government and our leadership in our form of government. Shouldn't we want women’s women’s rights? Things are changing with this leader who everyone calls a murderer. And valid point. But what about the citizens?" Isn’t that the issue with so many other countries? The only exception maybe is North Korea as they are so brainwashed after generations that, that is a real problem. Russia too. So severely (though not as severe as NK) propagandized. But they’re waking up, just too slowly. We want countries to come out to the world to be world citizens. As Nixon did with China in the 70s. Which worked. Those who say bringing democracy to China failed in that effort? They have no consideration of how much it worked, yes somewhat in that, but also in other ways. He mostly took them off the platform Russia's on still today, still locked in their (Putin's) Cold War mentality. So if we had times have to forgive abuses for the evolution of a country to become a world citizen, maybe that’s what we need to do? I’m not referring to Russian here at all. When you disrespect another country's borders, you’re NOT being a world citizen. You’re being a bad actor, a war criminal. But these are indeed things to think about. International relations is extremely complicated. So much so that people far smarter than you are I, even have trouble thinking about it and working it out. Even with their groups of experts and professionals, and extremely well educated and knowledgeable professionals who’ve done the work for decades. And the best of plans will always go wrong and then you work them, massage them into fruition and production. As they say, "the plan is 100% perfect until it’s executed. So we need a little compassion and understanding and...wherewithal (the painful part). Our government and government workers are not perfect, but just people. Most of them are doing their very best and are very good at their job, or they wouldn’t be there. The problem is navigating, as it is with companies, international departments, and international rules and regs. Petty kingdoms within some of those departments. Progress being contingent upon such fools within those departments. As we’ve also seen with seditionist types who, when their favored despot raises his head, they will lean in his direction. This is a failure of our American priorities, and our education.

Interesting how the same day that Donald Trump gave a talk a while back, when Boris Johnson was UK PM, Trump used the term "Kangaroo Court" about somebody who was bugging him, and then later that same day, Boris used the same exact term. Not like he was mimicking Trump. But quite a coincidence, yes?

Here’s the thing about mottos. A good idea can be turned into a nightmare. "E Pluribus Unum" was Americas motto and in my book, still is. Changing it because of the fear of communism decades ago in the 1950s to "in God, we trust", was not only foolhardy, it was insipidly stupid. It’s also proving to be abusive and being weaponizing, in recent years and before. "Out of many, one"... "E Pluribus Unum"… That long worked well for us and we seriously need to get back to it. Because religion, especially Christianity, especially American evangelical Christianity, has been weaponized against the US Constitution and our United States of America and citizens. It’s opened the autocratic bigot door for so much fucking abuse, we really can’t even count it. Women are losing their rights. They don’t have autonomy over their body in some states anymore. Which is a ramp that will only allow more to come. Divisive conservatives stack our courts. Deliberately gerrymandered and suppressed votes from specific minorities in order to swing elections and to implement illiberal and abusively idiotic laws. They’ve changed the meaning of things like "patriotism" and "freedom". They apparently hate and are working to destroy our democracy for wont of autocracy and theocracy. And that’s not America. It’s just not American. And no one should want it to be.

Did you know that not just Donald Trump wants to be POTUS again, but Boris Johnson in the UK wants to be PM again? ARE adults that stupid?

What we are seeing both in the UK and in America with conservatives with this delusional nonsense of supporting obvious criminals, here, specifically in the form of Donald Trump. I started warning about this when I graduated university back in 1984. I started in talking to people about the dangers of “corporate thought“. It’s a closed minded concept of winning at all possible costs. "Full speed ahead damn the torpedoes!" Shareholders in the company, over concerns of the employees, or citizens, or the environment. It's why we've seen so much damages done by corporations worldwide. Pairing that with the travesty we’ve received into our institutions, bring evangelism into it which evolved out of the south Christian community and has led to many leadership with too many charlatans and grifters who built and led Mega Churches. Some of them going to prison. Those are powerful things to combine. And it’s exactly what we’re seeing when we watch people support people like Boris Johnson, or Donald Trump, or Erdogan in Turkey. One has to wonder how and why would people support such clowns. Well, there’s your answer. 

It’s a toxic social disease. And it got in through ways that were not obvious. When I first stumbled across this in my university days, I started to see this thing forming in my mind. The more I looked around the world, the more I thought about it and worried that it might evolve from where things were back in the early 80s. And evolve it has, beyond my worst nightmares. Until now it’s nearly torn this country apart. It could do so again, or finish the job next time if we don’t do something about it. The biggest thing we can do is to become aware. That’s all people like BLM wanted when they talked about being “woke“. Just know our/your history, know your/our place in the world. Experience compassion and work toward the best of the whole group and not just your specific and for some, greedy desires. Sometimes we have to suffer for others. It’s part of being in a family, the human family, or in a country, part of a species. Yes you have to survive, but when you’re surviving and doing better, when you’re living a life and other’s are hurt and, I’m not talking communism, or socialism here... because that’s where the "toxic" conservative mind goes immediately. out of a desire to "win" the argument, the debate, in order to continue their greed and lack of empathy. It's "Corporate Thought". It's shallow thinking. It's low information. It's dumb.All  I’m just talking about doing here is our fair share, our part to pay our fair share. Yes, most of us are. But many aren't and fight hard not to. The GOP is there to protect and enhance their lack of paying their fair share. They define that fair share as far less than is reasonable and disingenuously define that in ways of "Corporate Thought". And we can’t even get Republicans to make those who have more money than we can EVEN conceive of to give their decent and fair share to our country and the people who laid the foundation for them to be that wealthy. It is disgusting. It is anti-human and it is "Corporate Thought" at its worst, and strongest. We can do better. If not always, at least to a fair and reasonable degree.

That being said...

Cheers! Sláinte!

A Defectively Conservative Status Quo

If you think you're a "Conservative" you then have to ask yourself, are you for conserving resources, or the status quo? Because they are not one in the same. And resources doesn't just mean water, the environment, etc.

Def of Conservative: 1. "Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change."

First of all, tending to oppose change is nuts. But ignoring that for now....

In a way it really doesn't matter which you are for because to do either effectively typically requires not only being a progressive, (or some use the more derogatory term, liberal) but also evoking change. To spout a couple of pleasing platitudes, "the one thing after all that never changes is change itself". One could say that "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results."

If in order to maintain things as they are in an ever-changing environment, like the world we live in, if it requires you to do the same thing over and over again, you yourself would then evoke change and thus cut yourself off from your own desires as to what you believe you stand for. Confusing? Counter intuitive? Maybe. That's in part what confuses most conservative mindsets.

It also leaves the rest of us as we are now, wondering just what in the Hell it is you are trying to do. Because you are saying one thing and doing something else. Yes, it looks like you are doing the same as always, but it's not bringing about the same change. Look at the current state of the GOP. They're useless at this point and have been for some time now. Longer than you would think, actually. There may be some outside influences. Russian come to mind. Greed and capitalism also.

This is the primary reason there is such a problem with Conservatives, today. What they are trying to be and to do are counter-intuitive and typically they have trouble thinking in that way. Because it's hard and it's complicated, two things diametrically opposed to what they want their world to be.

We have got to be more than we are being. To think better, more, more out of the box, more...creatively. More, progressively. For some dullards? Yes, more liberally. But more intelligently, also.

What have YOU done each day, in a creative or artistic way? I'm not talking about a poem, or painting a picture. I'm talking about your job, your day, your rut, if you will.

IF we all paid attention to acting more creative, more artistic, incorporating that into our lives, actions and thoughts, I suspect this would be a far better world for us all. It would bring more creative solutions to our lives. More, functional solutions.

You don't even have to actually DO anything creative.

Just start building those muscles to be and think in creative, and artistic ways of thinking.

This corporate form of thought we have allowed ourselves to be lulled into for so very long now, at times beaten down into, before any of us were even alive, has dulled us as thinking beings and as a nation.

A conservative knee jerk reaction would be to question not using "tried and true" methodologies. There is some truth in that. But to use them intelligently, even creatively. To apply them again, when they have already failed, especially to claim they haven't failed, when they have, is lunacy.

Think!

Some new technologies have even aided us in this. They have seen this, the crippling effects of corporations on people and have tried to be creative in their endeavors.

Things like "Don't be evil" a motto used within Google's corporate code of conduct.

But we need more and today with there being no money for anyone, unless you're rich (where's all that money?), where people need two, three or more jobs just to make do? We need creativity, we need even artistic solutions.

Not art or creativity for it's own sake to use up more money for "pretty", but for productive forward momentum, for real-world solutions and not just the same old fast, cheap, profit, profit, profit thinking...corporate thinking, which also includes showering CEO types with millions, or billions that should really be going elsewhere.

Don't think conservatively. Don't think like a corporation, like a brain dead capitalist dedicated only to profit and not humanity. Wisdom is knowledge and experience, not just what has been done, and so we need to think no more.

Be creative. Be productive. But do it not just for your boss, your corporation, your job, rather for yourselves (not just, yourSELF), for your group, OUR country, and humanity at large. And yes, even for those who do not look or sound or act like you.

Yes, even for your "enemies" and for conservatives, because in our actions here and now, in thinking in new ways, they may one day become our friends.

One can only hope.

Creative thinking

A word of caution: There are many ways to use creative thinking. Find the ones that best fit the structure of your brain/mind structure. But test to be sure it's the most effective it can be. Do not fall into the logic traps and dead ends we see so much in society today.

Sanity in TV Shows

I love progressive shows like The West Wing (which may come back!). It makes you wonder why conservatives shows aren't popular. Or all that useful other than for conservative to feel all touchy feely kind of theistic goodness. Fine. But we live in a harsh world where we need to be feeling bad when we should, not feeling good and ignoring reality.

Being conservatives doesn't push us boldly prepared into the future. It walks us slowly sometimes backward, tentatively into a perceived frightening future instead. It's interesting to note what conservatives and liberals like to watch on TV. From the article:

Carlson said there wasn't much of an overlap when it came to liberal and conservative television preferences. There were only three shows that liberals and conservatives both seemed to enjoy equally: "Dancing with the Stars," "Star Trek: Discovery," and "The Orville."

Carlson pointed out that these shows "don't necessarily have a political flavor," and suggested that probably had a lot to do with why liberals and conservatives both enjoyed them.

"Dancing and space — these are the things that unite our country," Carlson said.

Pure Genius (originally, Bunker Hill) was another show proposing change in a new and positive way. Of course it didn't last long,

We need shows that no matter how ridiculous they seem to some, at least try to tell us, to show us, how we can do things better. Proposing change in positive directions, technologies we don't yet know about, considerations of a future not devoid of happiness that gives us hope. Even if only for an hour or a half hour at a time.

We need shows that rail against a broken status quo, delve into possibility, suggest new realities. This isn't about any one show, just about a type of show in general who offer us hope, and possibilities.

That being said, a new show, New Amsterdam is in just that vein and I look forward to it. Give us more. Its preview this week was perfect in that way, pleasantly cathartic. No matter how ridiculous it may be it raises one's hope.

Until... reality once again seeps too quickly back in as one to think again of our current world, our broken Congress, Supreme Court and presidency. As ongoing efforts from within and without continue to further cripple our government, our broken political parties, and ourselves.

Our new reality is the world at large staring back in shock at us with frightened curiosity for where our lost and supposed protectors will take us next in their dismantling our governmental protections,  befriending our enemies against us, all merely for their own profit, power and self benefit, all while trying to convince us it is all for our protection. But we're really not that stupid. Yes, some see disaster and conspiracy at every turn, but it has to be based in reality and information. Trust. Real Truth.

And now we have Murphy Brown back. A once top popular comedy from the 90s steeped in politics and reality, they are back at a time when we most need a severe and constant dose of reality, and some decent sense of humor. Maybe they will fail, but I hope not. Because we could really use some biting satire, some not always so gentle humor to help us plough through the day, much like Stephen Colbert does for me now on a nightly basis. Perhaps they should consult with Colbert or Jon Stewart?

Our broken status quo is only getting worse as confused and lost supporters of this feigned American conservative regime continues to dissemble and damage all they can before we take them out to the back forty and lose them there...hopefully forever.

After this week with the Judge Kavanaugh disastrous hearing (for Republicans) we could use a break. But Pres. Trump seldom lets up, trying to exhaust us so we will simply stop paying attention and let him do anything he wants.

Luckily, the US government legal system is not forgetting about Pres Trump,

And neither it would seem (finally) are progressive TV shows.

New White House Petition - GPO to Account for Financial Losses Due to Donald Trump's Mistakes

On April 4, 2018 a new petition was created on Petitions.WhiteHouse.gov.

First off, this isn't about the petition itself. But go, sign it. Tell your friends, get them to sigh this.
So if its not about the petition, why sign it? Because, it's about making noise. Calling Trump to account for his juvenile, unpresidential, and damaging actions.

If we got enough people to sign this petition, it would get into the news and that alone could affect some change. Sometimes the smallest of things, affect the biggest of changes. Trump is the type where you have to think outside the box he has boxed us into with our own good nature and decency.

That is how a conman works. We need to outplay him at his own, immature games.

The request was for the Government to account for all the mistakes that President Donald Trump makes and to monthly publicly account for that in numbers.

America cannot have a POTUS who makes that many mistakes and many are costly real people real money. He is costly America real money.

So Go. Sign the petition if you feel so inclined and at least you will know you asked something directly of the White House and Congress to do SOMETHING to curtail Donald Trump's ridiculous and ongoing statements.

It is NOT just embarrassing, it is hurting people. It is hurting us all. He needs to learn to keep his mouth shut until he is 100% sure of what he is saying.

THAT, is being presidential.

GAO to publicly account for how much pres. trump's incorrect tweets and comments cost the government each month.

Pres. Trump simply and obviously makes too many comments that are easily verified to be incorrect. We need to counter that with a reasonable and monthly GAO accounting of what it costs OUR country. This will give Congress a foundation and thereby recourse from which to curb and\or counter Mr. Trump's voluminously misspoken and disinformed statements and diatribes.


#POTUS #realDonaldTrump #GOP #Democrat #Congress #VPOTUS 

America, Who Are You?

Before I get into it and because of that this will be a shorter than normal blog this week, I'd like to share a couple of personal things with you if you don't mind. And thank you beforehand.

First off, the latest addition to a horror anthology I'm going to be in, the Dark Chapter Press A-Z [Horror] Anthology, is out! It is the letter "L" for Love Letters, by Roma Gray. With each letter's release I'm yet another step closer to my own letter, "X"! My story will be X The Unknown about a Seattle FBI agent at day's end that takes a drastically disturbing turn. I had originally written, as some of you may know, Xibalba Unleashed, a story based on Mayan mythology. But I went over the word limit (long story, but if you're curious you can read my blog on this anthology and what happened regarding this and why). And so, it's to your benefit (if you'd like to see it that way) as you can read it long before my letter actually comes up (these stories come out every two weeks or so).

"Love letters is a fond token of remembrance, a treasured means of communication between loved ones, a primitive form of sentiment that has outlived the intrusion of modern technology. Love letters are cherished; they contain intimate secrets and private thoughts, but they can also reveal a darker side to the human emotion, a very real evil that is more than just words on a page." #ebooks #horror

Secondly, I have released a new non-fiction ebook. For now it's only on Smashwords. I call it SpiritQuest Weekend 1991.I recently found a few pages of a journal that I had kept over a weekend in 1991 as I was headed into a divorce. In reading it recently I found it interesting, as I had forgotten some of what I wrote about. As did my brother who also read it and suggested I publish it.

He thought people might find it interesting, entertaining, even useful in relation to their own lives as you get a bit of insight into my own thoughts back then. I also added a bit of history before it for context and even more afterward for the curious. It's a bit raw and brutally honest as I was going through a painful time. If you check it out I hope you find it useful and interesting enough to find it a worthy distraction. Some weird stuff happened around that time and I'm kind of glad I lived through it. #journal

Okay, back to today and this week's blog:

It occurred to me... were I a conservative NutCase like, say were I an Alex Jones, say Trump was a Democrat...I'd be screaming voraciously about how Las Vegas was a scam and Trump was just staging that attack because of Russia, to distract, to save myself.

And hey, I don't know, I'd be screaming something else really bad too most likely and at the top of my lungs. And other conservatives would be propping it all up. No matter who stupid what I was saying was.

But I'm not. He's not. It wasn't. Yes, there is more to it we don't know. But it wasn't some stupid conspiracy. It was whatever it was.

Bad people do exist. After all, I've seen, we've all seen, Trump on TV.

Good people who go bad also exist. Maybe that's what happened in Las Vegas.

Then again I've heard reports about some disturbing things. Like the shooter was using professional techniques, as if someone trained him. Then again, he was rather sloppy about some things, as if not a professional. Which he wasn't. He may have simply watched some YouTube videos. The reasons behind his actions are still unknown.

Then again, we have those who we know clearly what their intentions are and yet we suffer them day in and day out to run this country.

We are all organic beings.

Sometimes, we just go wrong and do bad things.

Then again some of us are very consistently bad while people give us way too much leeway in the bad actions we actually and sometimes obviously do.

Las Vegas was sad, very sad.

It's good to see people are waking the hell up and agreeing something can and should be done. Finally. It only took the biggest mass murder in US history. And after some Republicans got shot on a baseball field on their home turf. But will anything happen? It never has in the past. Not yet.

It also only took someone like Harvey Weinstein to be outed, finally for being a really horrible human being who needs psychological help. Someone who needed help for years. In his throwing things at people in board room meetings. In punching his own brother in the nose. In being a consistent bully, a misogynist, a serial sex offender. Not unlike our president.

The "Me Too" movement started maybe ten years ago. Not recently. Bad people, sex offenders, abuse has been around forever. It's high time we do something about it, to at least to stand up against it. To speak out, and keep speaking.

But we also need to stop talking and do something. SOME thing. We need to stop talking about sex offenders in power, and do something. SOME thing. We need to stop talking about mass shooters, about assault rifles, about weapons of war on our streets and do something. SOME thing.

We are after all what we do. Who are we? Who are you?


#POTUS

Trust in Politics

I want to address two issues here right now. Keith Olbermann and trust.

Keith and his show on Youtube, The Resistance with Keith Olbermann, are awesome. He gives me a catharsis, satiates my need for reality and over reaction at times. But he is a resource. I use him for information that I can look into. When I validate his reasonable reactions to something, then I go on with it. If I find him a bit over the top, or just too far out there, I don't pursue that. But I share his videos for others to see and listen to. It's up to them to do their own vetting of information. If I have time I point out what I can, either that isn't punched up enough by Keith, or when he stretches a point to the end of its elasticity.

Rachel Maddow and her The Rachel Maddow Show (TRMS), whom I also love to watch and cannot any longer as I don't get MSNBC on my cable package, is a more restrained version of Keith. She makes it very obvious when she is stretching a partisan point. I'm so used to her I feel like a light goes off in my head when she does that. She doesn't exactly wink and nod at the camera when she is going over the top, but almost.

The other thing I like about Rachel is that she gives you historical context in things, so you can make up your own mind. She doesn't just feed you pablum like conservative media does, who just expects you to believe them and not verify what they say. Liberals verify them, which is why they are always discounting them in public. If only conservatives would do that properly (not in a liberal fashion, but a rational one), we'd all have so much less of this polarization effect.

Conservatives, from what I've seen from them, don't get that. They seem to swallow the load hook, line and sinker from conservative pundits and punks. I say that about them because in lying to the public, in warping the truth like that, they become an evil entity. And by association, so do conservatives who willingly or unwillingly allow themselves to be a part of that.

Trust. I hear a lot about trust, mostly from conservatives. "I don't trust Obama." "I don't trust the US Government." "I don't trust Democrats." Even when there is no reason not to. It's kind of childish.

And a false equivalency. To say liberals simply don't trust conservatives isn't the same. It's not the same because regardless of conservative diatribe, liberals do not lie as much. It's a proven fact. But liberal media, by objective media, by international media. Not so much by conservative media.

I don't so much look at things in relation to "trust". It's a simplified form of political thinking. It's again, childish. It's a conservative thing.

Conservatives don't "trust" because they are ignorant. Liberals don't trust mostly because conservative contentions are so often incorrect or out right lies.

You listen, to everything. That's harder for liberals because of literally so much nonsense from conservatives who consistently discount proven facts, accepted lines of thought. It's embarrassing. If not by them, from all others.

You listen, you verify, then you act.

Conservatives seem to not listen very often, if it doesn't get through their conservative filters, they don't tend to verify unless it's only through their own media, and then they act, but on so frequently what is false information.

And it is damaging to themselves, America, and frankly, Mother Earth.

It is also warping reality for others, and therefore, it is evil. If you are spreading that false information as fact, then you too are evil.

Don't be, evil. We have enough like that already.

Calling for New American Party Mascots

I wonder sometimes if our political party's mascots have any relevance whatsoever to today's world. They are established, traditional, and let's face it, weird.
"In a cartoon that appeared in Harper's Weekly in 1874, Nast drew a donkey clothed in lion's skin, scaring away all the animals at the zoo. One of those animals, the elephant, was labeled “The Republican Vote.” That's all it took for the elephant to become associated with the Republican Party."

“The Third Term Panic: An ass, having put on the Lion’s skin, roamed about in the forest, and amused himself by frightening all the foolish Animals he met with in his wanderings.” Thomas Nast for Harpers, 1874.
I think we can all agree, the Democrat and Republican mascots have outlived their usefulness. While they may have at one time been effective, when the parties switched their political paths in the late 1800s, the mascots should really have switched with them.
"So, sometime between the 1860s and 1936, the (Democratic) party of small government became the party of big government, and the (Republican) party of big government became rhetorically committed to curbing federal power." Natalie Wolchover - LiveScience.com 9/24/2012

The party of Lincoln, is no longer Lincoln's party. He simply wouldn't recognize it now.
So when Republicans say that, call them out. They're lying, or possibly more reasonably they're simply ignorant. The true mainstay of their party platform, Ignorance.
I'm proposing here however that we just kill them off. The mascots. We could have a big Republican sponsored game hunt. They should love that idea. Right?
My replacement suggestions are a slide for Republicans and a ladder for Democrats. Democrats are always trying to raise us up above the muck and Republicans are always trying to slip us back down into it, unless you have the money to save yourself. Which let's be honest, most of us don't have.
Republicans want things to be easy, not grey but black and white, good vs evil, as children view the world. They view things as simple when usually they are complex. Even if it kills people. Then they point the finger at their opponents, typically Democrats, liberals, progressives... or science.

When they do try to think in complex terms they tend to go in useless directions, spinning up obfuscations, improperly weighted situations, getting nowhere but wasting vast amounts of energy in looking like they are doing something, when they are just spinning their wheels and wasting as well, huge sums of OUR tax dollars with no apparent end in sight or purpose.

Other than self aggrandizement or extending their typically silly if not utterly destructive agendas. Ideologies based in make believe. Make believe frequently based in religion. Religion typically of a Judeo\Christian form. More of the three main defective revealed harsh desert religions from the Middle East.

Democrats however seem always to be trying to progress up to better things. While also sometimes using a slide for a short time...WHEN it just might be useful and helpful, overall it's hard and usually harder for them to do so.

And yet they keep on climbing, keep on trying, though usually too quietly.

While Republicans if they ever even try a ladder, only seem to make it up a step or two and then start in on any distraction they can think of. They don't want to do much, just appear to be doing much. Like a morbidly obese person trying to be distracted from doing exercise. Or in the case of extremist conservatives, to distract from any real thinking or analysis, or from doing any actual work and this is imperative...that they could be held accountable for.

So I give you our new modern political mascots: The Republican Slide and Democratic Ladder!

Now you just have to ask yourself. Which side of the platform do you want to be on?

Purpose of Government is Our Decision

It occurs to me that part of the political issue today between liberals and conservatives, or however people wish to categorize themselves, is that there is a fundemental undercurrent of misunderstanding about the purpose of government in the first place.

Bootie Cosgrove-Mather in an article titled The Purpose Of Government for CBS said:

"Call me old-fashioned, but I still hold with the ancient Greeks who said government has only one purpose, to improve the lives of citizens."

USHistory.org's article The  Purposes of Government says:

"Why do governments exist? One major reason is that they create rules. But what rules are necessary or desirable?"

Originally governments were started to protect the people. Once that is established and effective, government's purpose expands as a natural course of evolution. After having solidified its ability to protect it turns internal, taking on the actions of making the citizenry work more fluidly, enhancing and further protecting the citizens. Making the citizens more productive and enhancing the quality of their lives as a natural and necessary evolution of the purpose of government.

At some point part of the purpose of government is to maintain and protect, the government itself. Then comes a need for balance between the citizens and the government being protected. For the government to protect itself under the mistaken belief that it is more important than the citizens because IT appears to be the citizens, is a confused point of view that has led to entities such as the Soviet Union with it's leadership abuses, Communist China, North Korea, and so on.

It is not unlike the need in a company or corporation, for balance between security and business. Perfect security denies all business. Perfect business eliminates security. Too much of one destroys the other, just as too little of one can destroy the other. 

It is a balance. Just as our Founding Fathers understood and so built into the United States of America, appropriate checks and balances. In protecting the people from the government and the government branches from one another the society as a whole is protected from and within itself. 

When the initial elements of protecting the citizens and the government have been accomplished, and the basic elements involved in enhancing citizen's productivity and quality of life are in place, it is only natural that the government, as strong as it  should be by this point, would continue to strive to find more and better ways to enhancement society. Without getting in the way of the citizens needs and desires and to continue to find new ways to be more productive for the citizens in its attempt always to be considering enhancements to its purpose as time marches on.

That means that government needs to protect the citizens, the individual units from large collectives such as citizen groups and businesses and corporations. It means that rather than allowing itself to be propped up by big money, it recognizes that and takes steps to fix itself, continuing to protect its citizenry.

From time to time any entity needs to reflect, to reevaluate its original purpose, to review if that is truly what it is still doing. By that concept, people should not be working more hours for less, but less hours for more. They should be paying less for more and better healthcare.

If at some point the care by the government reaches the pinnacle of no one needing to work, because they have finally been freed up to do what they wish, it is not for others who think work is the only way to live, to judge and apply their beliefs onto others. If and when the government should be able to support that.

If the government is on that path and at some point it changes direction, someone needs to look to see why that is happening, who or what caused it, and how to get back on track. 

When people have reached a point that they no longer have to work, or even more so, no longer have to work in jobs they find despicable, it doesn't mean people will no longer need to work but that our orientation as a nation has morphed into allowing people to find what they enjoy doing and pursue that. Be it in the arts, sciences, labor force, or what have you.

My personal belief is that work enhances people's lives. If one is doing the right work for who they are.

Not however the kind of work many of us are currently being forced to do now a days. Not the stress and numbers of hours required per week for a family to be able to support themselves. Not the need of some families who have to have two jobs, three, four or five jobs when there was once a time when only one person needed to have a job to support their family. When they didn't have to work unreasonable days each week if not all, and too many hours per day.

We should not be working more than eight hours a day, more than five days a week and yet, many of us are. We have been hearing how we are slackers, lazy if we don't work twelve hour days five, days a week.

Yet we should be striving hard toward working less days and hours per week. We should be striving toward four day work weeks, six hour days. We should be working half days at full pay so two people could do the work of what one person is doing now. Those are directions, goals, we should be considering, working toward.

People may scoff at that contention. But they scoff because of how things are, not because of how things could be. The reason things cannot be that way now is because of how big money has brainwashed us all to think it's not possible. All while corporations and the very wealthy syphon off all the money so there is so very little left for the masses. 

We have to decide first, just what do we want the purpose of our government to be?

Then we can make that happen.