(not)Walkabout Thoughts #97e - Creativity / Politics

Still on the strength training. 93 degrees here today. A couple of days not in the 90s or near that previously so a while not with it too warm to do extended walks. 

First, The founding fathers’ purposes were clear. They had no intention to found the country according to Christian doctrines.

For this first part on creativity, Massive Attacks' song, Safe From Harm

On a positive note, I'd like to start with this bit about creativity, and then dive into something political, mostly in a broader sense.

I earned my university degree in psychology concentrating in phenomenology. Near the end, I did a study of creativity. What I found was creatives, create. 

The more knowledge you have of art/creative history the more you have to draw upon.

If you have a skill in art, you can possibly do more.

If you do not, but through desire or brute force you create, then you create out of your experience and environment, and when you find you cannot go further (cannot sing as some great singer or can't sculpt or paint or write as some can), you can take a step into another form or level. When you lack the precision in a discipline, you can turn to "concept", or something else. I have long said when you hit an impasse, look directly behind you, or in an opposite direction. The answer often lies there.

What I came away with in my studies was that we do not have to be born an artist with inherent "genius". Anyone can do it. Anyone can "create". You simply act, produce.

Some can simply do it better, or different in such a way as to be praised or rewarded for it. While many never will be. While some true geniuses or great artists will never find "success" or profit in their works. For many, success or profit is by their own definitions, allowing them their own form of satisfaction or catharsis in their efforts.

It's been said for instance, that the greatest musicians are never reproduced and may be playing on a street you pass through. Or only at home.

So do not be so dismissive of all street "artists". 

Do not think because you have a collection of the "greatest musicians" or composers, you have the very best humanity has to offer.

You have that which has been recognized, capable of being contained and produced for public consumption.

We should have more respect for those we'd never believe to be artists. That can include the seemingly crazy person who creates, perhaps something you do not or can not (or yet) understand. 

Or it can even be, yourself.

Now...

For the rest of the blog, Portishead's album, Dummy.

Have you seen this meme?

While there are historical accounts of psychological warfare and propaganda techniques used by the KGB, the specific claim in the image seems to be more of a popular anecdote rather than a documented experiment. A notable related figure is Yuri Bezmenov, a former KGB agent who defected to the West and spoke about the KGB’s use of psychological tactics to influence public opinion and destabilize societies.

The concept of brainwashing and psychological manipulation has been explored in various contexts, including during the Cold War, where both the KGB and the CIA conducted experiments and operations aimed at influencing and controlling human behavior. However, the extreme claim of complete brainwashing through fear messages alone is not widely supported by concrete evidence.

Really?

There has been research on how continuous exposure to fear messages can alter behaviors. Here are some key findings:

Fear-Based Appeals: A comprehensive review by the American Psychological Association found that fear-based appeals are effective at changing attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. This review analyzed over 50 years of research and concluded that fear appeals are particularly effective when they include recommendations for avoiding the threat and are targeted at specific groups, such as women.

Health Communication: Research published in PLOS ONE examined how shifts in emotional valence during exposure to fear appeals can influence message processing and behavioral intentions. The study found that inducing positive valence shifts in health messages can improve their effectiveness, especially for relevant target groups.

COVID-19 Context: During the COVID-19 pandemic, fear-based messages significantly influenced public behavior. Studies indicated that continuous exposure to fear-inducing media could lead to heightened anxiety and biased conclusions, especially in the absence of reliable information.

General Impact of Fear Arousal: According to the Oxford Research Encyclopedia, fear arousal in messages can motivate attitude and behavior change. This effect is seen not only in health messaging but also in news accounts, social media posts, and interpersonal conversations.

These studies suggest that while fear-based messages can be effective in altering behaviors, their impact can vary based on the context, the audience, and the way the message is framed.

And?

There have been several societal experiments and studies on the impact of continuous exposure to fear messages on behavior. Here are a few notable examples:

Substance Misuse Prevention: Research on scare tactics and fear-based messages in substance misuse prevention has shown mixed results. While some studies indicate that fear-based messages can deter substance use, others suggest that these messages may not be effective and could even increase rates of misuse in some cases.

Political Campaigns: Fear-based messaging is also commonly used in political campaigns to influence voter behavior. Research has shown that fear appeals can be effective in mobilizing voters and shaping public opinion, particularly when they highlight potential threats and offer solutions.

While these examples illustrate how fear-based messaging can be a powerful tool for influencing behavior, its effectiveness can depend on various factors, including the message content, the target audience, and the context in which it is delivered. 

And Russian?

There are indeed examples of Soviet research and experimentation related to psychological manipulation and fear messaging:

Yuri Bezmenov’s Testimony: Yuri Bezmenov, a former KGB agent who defected to the West, described the KGB’s use of psychological warfare and ideological subversion. He explained that a significant portion of the KGB’s efforts was dedicated to demoralizing and destabilizing societies through continuous exposure to fear and misinformation1.

Psychological Warfare: The Soviet Union engaged in psychological warfare during the Cold War, using threats of nuclear destruction and other forms of intimidation to instill fear and influence the behavior of other nations. This strategy aimed to create doubts about the wisdom of aligning with the United States and accepting American military bases2.

The Science of Thought Control

Brainwashing and Propaganda: The concept of brainwashing gained prominence during the Cold War, with both the Soviet Union and the United States conducting experiments and operations to influence and control human behavior. The term “brainwashing” itself became widely known through reports of Communist tactics used on prisoners of war3.

These examples highlight the Soviet Union’s interest in and use of psychological tactics to manipulate and control behavior. 

We have seen over these past few decades the Republican Party ascribing to old Soviet/Russian techniques of social manipulation that is contrary to our democratic constitutional republic.

Which we are.

We've heard a lot from the right about how we're NOT a democracy, but a constitutional republic. Nonsense. That's selective ignorance at its worst.

There are various kinds of republics.

While all democratic constitutional republics are constitutional republics, not all constitutional republics are necessarily democratic. The adjective "democratic" specifies that the republic operates with a strong commitment to democratic principles.

Something Republicans, esp., repugnant MAGA seem to be allergic to in their anti-American desires toward minority rule. Their usage of old Soviet KGB tactics since the 90s I found back then and today disgusting, to use against our own, all for their wont of control, power, and wealth. 

In essence, the United States embodies the principles of a democratic constitutional republic by ensuring that its government is based on democratic participation, operates under a constitutional framework, and maintains a republican form of governance.
MAGA Republicans are essentially seditionists, pushing a crime against the State. 

Though sedition may have the same ultimate effect as treason, it is generally limited to the offense of organizing or encouraging opposition to government in a manner (such as in speech or writing) that falls short of the more dangerous offenses constituting treason.

Well, there it is.

Be well, be brilliant, be productive!

Cheers1 Sláinte!

Walkabout Thoughts #40

My thoughts, Stream of consciousness, rough and ready, while walking off long Covid and listening to podcasts…6/11/23 Sunday

Weather for the day… 65 and haze and very light clouds lots of blue sky

Podcast for the day podcast “The Mary Trump Show“ June 9, 2023 episode, “Donald Trump Indicted - EMERGENCY EPISODE"

The True Crime/Biopic screenplay, "The Teenage Bodyguard", has been misrepresented by those covering the topic and  misperceived by a few directors looking to shoot the film. The true life protagonist who this film is about refuses to have it done in what has been so far, a sensationalist orientation. This film was first proposed, and pitched to a London producer who said not to change the title, and asked if I write it, please send it to me first. That was his selection among my finished screenplays and several pitches I had sent to him to review.

Nineteen days later, I submitted my first draft to him. Sadly, he had simply disappeared  I never heard from him again. In searching for him online I couldn’t find him. I don’t know what happened there. The screenplay has since been rewritten multiple times. Including once with input from known producer, Robert Mitas, who has also produced films with Michael Douglas. Several directors he got interested had showed interest and took phone calls. But their vision didn’t match with the person who lived through this story. Or that of the original London producer's comments who had said it reminded him of the film, "The Place Beyond the Pines". A 2012 film with actors Ryan Gosling and Bradly Cooper, produced for $15 million and directed by Derek Cianfrance. 

That concept stuck and was in my mind when I wrote the screenplay. While others saw it merely as a typical teenage boy who was merely caught up in an usual situation. But this was a singular teenage boy, a  young man really, who is not a typical teenager. For a variety of reasons. From a stressful, broken home, a family that moved every year from Tacoma to Spain, to Philadelphia, then back to Tacoma and around that city through multiple homes, and his living his life skirting around a dismissive and at times abusive stepfather. This was a kid with ADHD, who had a doting older sister, and a loving mother who herself had her own personality issues. A woman who had recognized quickly that this was a kid who had far too much energy and trouble getting to sleep at night as a young child. She had quickly learned that he always needed to be involved in some kind of after-school activities. 

He bounced through various social programs through elementary school until getting into martial arts in fifth grade and fighting tournaments around the Pacific Northwest in Washington state in the 1960s. He joined the USAF auxiliary search and rescue organization, Civil Air Patrol, in junior high where he learned search and rescue, and taught drill and discipline to cadets under his command as a flight commander. From his first after school job in ninth grade, until graduating high school when he moved out at 17 into his own apartment. Then through a drug culture connection he was pushed into meeting a murder witness and waitress at Tacoma’s first topless venue, "The Tiki", run by the local mafia crime family. Pleading with him to stay with her for a week, armed, to keep her safe until she could leave town, he agreed. He agreed for variety of reasons. Boredom among them. He gave it careful thought, considered that he was capable of protecting her and in the end he did successfully accomplish that. "The Teenage Bodyguard", is that story.

Changing topics into the silly Trump world of his seditionist wizards and fools...tweets such as this one in this limply disguised, Mil-speak (military lingo/lexicon) in speaking to unconstitutional private militias, who in their small minds, have abridged themselves through social media to fantasize and fetishize that Civil War is afoot, or that they should invoke it, or that it's already been invoked against them in disallowing Donald Trump, their “r“ POTUS, as in “real“ POTUS, as if he'd been kicked out of office, bizarrely in an undemocratic fashion (thought he lost the 2020 election), all while they’re against democracy, for their autocratic or theocratic desires (only because they lose democratically). These are not stupid people, but are forcing themselves into the "idiotic " column of the great spreadsheet of humanity. Something weaponized by Donald Trump (their, shall we just call it, "foolishness"?), and by large by that kind of talk to the conservative movement, enhanced whenever possible by Russian active measures or anyone who wishes to for the Donald Trump they bizarrely love so much, fetishizing his sedition and insurrection, in order to bring chaos to America and western democracies.

Donald Trump is going down. While his Trumpism, as with any kind of populist mental illness such as this, will continue for sometime, until finally humanity has had enough of it, and through education and awareness, compassion, democracy, and perhaps the time may come when even religions will actually stand up for what they believe in, rather than gluing themselves to this vile populist bullshit. Many will be shown to be the cause of our pain, just plain old assholes who want to play the "tough guy", merely being the war performers they are. This is all really nothing but broken and bruised ego's, givien venue to self-actualize and inflame one another in an ever spiraling loop into insanity, the destruction of governments and the detriment of the human race.

Many of us prefer to call Donald Trump a traitor and in many ways he fits that description. However, that’s setting him up on a pedestal he doesn’t belong on. He’s just a criminal. A mob boss running street thugs. We allowed him to advance into the presidency, where he upgraded his street thugs, beyond lawyers and  accountants, to US Representatives and Senators and Governors and subsuming the GOP charter, which he shat all over onto their political platform, which he ended, tossed completely out, during their already spiraling downward ethics and morals, all of which he reconfigured into his criminal behaviors

America was fostered and grown on a healthy mix of fertilizer. Donald Trump however has spawned his MAGA and criminals in his typical, unhealthy, toxic MAGA mix of feces, blood, sputum, and human bodies.

Trump's valet, or body man, who attended him and who left the White House to stay with him, allegedly, drained the Mar-a-Lago pool, which flooded the server room, which contained security camera footage, which that body man had questioned IT about, for how long it’s retained, because of evidence they didn’t want the FBI to see, regarding their moving boxes of classified docs and anything Trump may have been involved in doing. There’s really only one question. Why would Trump's body man be draining any pool, even if it was Trump's actual home residence, even if it was not a public/private facility that he was living at? More on the body man below... Maintenance does all that. So? It’s interesting how Trump supporters claim actual legal issues are political when this much crap is going on, obviously needing to be investigated and charges brought.

We hear the right trying to scare the left and all of America with a question: can America handle Trump being indicted? Yeah, pretty much. They can. Tuesday 6/13/23, he will actually be fully indicted in court. The question is, can America, can American democracy, can western democracy stand Trump's NOT being indicted, tried and appropriately charged.? What's interesting in this scenario is how the right is using tools they use to frighten... the right... against the left. Who obviously aren’t frightened by such things or they would BE... on the right. The biggest element of conservatism today is as it always has been, only ever more so, in being based in fear, based in trying to prove negatives, based in excepting false positives, and overly utilizing selective ignorance...generally considered to be, stupidity. It’s not gonna work on the left. What’s even more confounding is that this fear evoking is not working on the left and that confounds the hell out of the right because hey, it works just fine on them and they ARE after all...everyone else, in their minds. That IS after all what narcissism does and does as a toxic culture.

People ask, how could someone like Trump have taken over the Republican Party? A Party based on fear and narcissism? How can you ask how a man whose life is steeped in fear and narcissism, could take over a Party dedicated to those primary characteristics, which are some of the worst humanity has to offer? Which religion has weaponized for millennia. Which has worked hand-in-hand with political endeavors by monarchies the world over through all time. Which are still in play today by autocracies, kleptocracies, theocracies and oligarchies, all of which are being attempted to be incorporated right here, right now, in America, today. Let's just not let that happen and hang on for a bit long to the US Constitution and our separation of church and state. The GOP seems to think getting rid of religion eliminates the GOP. OK, I could be good with that. They've demanded being put into that category that begs the question, do they have a place today in America? Oddly yes, but more oddly, they are indicating themselves a big fat, NO. They are if nothing else, a massive collection of contradictions because confusion and chaos have been working quite well for them for some time now.

Consider this. All this obfuscation and distraction that Trump supporters are throwing out about his being indicted for crimes that he  even admits to committing, that is all how actual functional democracy works, and our three branches of government, works. So essentially, these people are arguing against actual democracy and how the US Constitution has set up our government. All because of a populist idol they have. How does that make non-Trump supporters the enemy? Because it doesn’t. It makes these people in very least, our domestic stochastic terrorists, and violent insurrectionists, as we’ve already seen them do.

I stated repeatedly in 2020, begging for somebody to get an international election commission involved to monitor our election. The comeback to that was? No. What would that say about America? Well, we’ve already seen what it said about America in 2016. Had we done that, we would be further down the road back to democracy today. And maybe Trump would’ve been charged a lot sooner.

Donald Trump has written his own eulogy, politically and criminally. All America has to do now is trust that. Believe him. Accept the obvious evidence and let the trial go forward, the judgment to be adjudicated. It’s curious how Trump supporter support so many of his lies, but very few of the very few times he’s actually open and honest about things. Evidence proves his lies are lies. Evidence proves his very few truths are true. His admissions in public of crimes is, "Yes I did this, so what?" Once to the shock of Sean Hannity on camera. So what?! Indictments. That’s so what.

If Hillary were criminal or guilty, she’d have been indicted by the Trump administration, by the Bill Barr DOJ. She wasn’t because they could find no evidence. Trump has been indicted. Not by the Biden admin. Whereas Hillary would have been indicted by the Trump administration... if they could have. Trump is indicted not by the Biden DOJ. Or by the Attorney General Merrick Garland DOJ. And if you know anything about him, he’s not a Bill Barr who would "kow" to presidential pressure. I do believe Garland would quit first. Barr bent to Trump's will. His spoiled little shitheel will. AG Garland can only let Jack Smith continue, as legally he can only tell him to stop and only if he’s doing something wrong. There’s so many firewalls involved here, whereas under Trump he dismantled firewall after firewall. Which Joe Biden put back in place since beginning he re-entering the White House as POTUS46. Definitely points to one thing about Trump supporters. Selective ignorance is indeed stupidity. Supporting a criminal in legal parlance makes you a co-conspirator. If you and three people commit a crime and somebody’s murdered, you’re charged with murder, too. Right?

OK so apparently Trump's body man, who’s been indicted along with Trump, did not drain the swimming pool. He “drained the swimming pool“ by telling the maintenance guy to drain the swimming pool. One would suspect though that he would know how to do it correctly, so as not to flood the building proper. Also, I bet every person who is a minimum wage earner, or has worked at Mar-a-Lago for more than a couple days, quickly notice d what a lowlife Trump is, and how distrustful he is. So if you want to avoid prison time, you might go up to the Secret Service and ask them a few questions before draining that pool when he doesn’t need it. Or having drained the pool, you might now happily turn states evidence against Donald Trump, our first criminal.

One of the things that's so curious about Trump supporters is that everything he’s been claimed to have done, is so very within his wheelhouse. It’s all within his character. Many other things, are things he has done before. He’s the Roy Cohen self proclaimed king of the debt and has for decades. He's bullied contractors, taken people to court when he was 100% wrong. But because of his having way more money and so many attorneys and time, these are things always weighing against the small contractors especially, People would have to give up in court, or go bankrupt, even when they are in the right. And then sometimes they may have to go back into business again with Trump, because that’s how bullies are. And that’s a reoccurring situation he worked people into. Which he has done with personnel around him on his side, all his life. Work people into situations where they have to support you, so that when you fail, you forever will fail upward, leaving new others, who don’t yet know how you think, to believe you succeed on merit. Which regarding Trump, is laughable.

Remember always, Donald, Trump and his, are not saying he did not do these crimes he’s claimed to have done, but that he’s allowed to do those crimes which for any other person in America is indeed a crime. The presidency protects a POTUS from things when you do them in the national interest. None of the things Trump's done like this, had anything to do with anything other than Donald Trump’s personal self aggrandizement and wealth building. Which he will continue doing in anyway possible until someone stops him..

In the beginning of the Trump administration, people rationalized that it was OK, since there was nothing they could do about it, and besides, everyone was shocked that it happened. “But there’s adults in the room with him,” they'd say. Well, he got rid of all those. Now there’s just grifters in the room with him. And now the grifters are fleeing. Which needs to tell you everything. Pay attention to the digression of the Trump administration in The Donald Trump Criminal Endeavors and the violent seditionists and insurrectionists in that room now with him. And those out around in America, "hiding under rocks", waiting to stick their necks out for Trump's call to arms. We better be prepared to cut those necks when they shoot out from under those rocks, reading and willing to support a domestic terrorist, who at one point we had foolishly made POTUS and our first criminal though hopefully, our only "first criminal" ever again.

We need journalists who will interview Trump and his supporters, and when they are asked but avoid answering questions, will simply say, "I’ll await your answer. I’m still awaiting your answer to the question. Sir/ma’am/MAGA moron/stocastic terrorist/insurrectionist/criminal follower of first criminal Donald Trump, I'm still waiting for you to answer the question, which they won't. And every interview when they walk off we can hear that journalist say, "Thank you, we now have to conclude you refused to answer the question because that answer... is quite clear and obvious to all."

At CNN. Don’t get rid rid of people like Chris Licht, get rid rid of people like John Malone the problem is systemic and it comes from the top.

It is sad that it was the Lindbergh baby and could not have been the baby, Donald Trump, instead. America and so many would have had such better lives in his not being there. Much as with the Adolph Hitler baby. The difference therein lay only in a matter of degree.
According to Ari Melber, Donald Trump has been involved in over 4000 lawsuits. When you claim rich people go through that as businessman… Come up with another one like that. Then you can say that.

Speaking of Jeffrey Epstein… When you point to everyone who has a picture of them hanging out with him, you have to understand how many people hang out with wealthy people. But people who are accepted into his close association who are doing serious crimes are only a few who are allowed into an inner circle like that. That doesn't sound like a Bill Gates to me, or a Rob Reiner. But it sure as hell sounds like a Donald Trump.

When you’re a person of color, you see two rules of law in America. When you’re wealthy, especially a wealthy criminal, you see one and wonder why those who see two aren't judged more harshly. Something that leans more especially on wealthy criminal types such as Donald Trump, and oddly enough, those who support him, and at just about any economic level.

You have to ask yourself, if you’re a Donald Trump supporter… Why are you so titillated by cruelty? Because all the rest of us are asking that.

So for those who say Donald Trump won the 2020 election, how do you explain his losing the 2018 election? And the 2022 election? Everything he’s being indicted for follows his personality and his history. You can’t explain it all, rationalize it away, because it’s just who he is. A criminal and a loser. People become criminals because they are losers and want to be winners. And so they hate winners who get there honestly. How does that not clearly explain Donald Trump and what we’ve seen?

White Christian nationalist, white supremacists have chipped away at our democracy for decades we have to start chipping back. But we gotta start by knocking some big chips out first. And Donald Trump right now, is that biggest chip.

I read as many great books of wisdom as I could get my hands on decades ago. My older brother got me started on that in my late teens, to read books by great men, or compendiums of books about great men, or women. Though he said men. And there are indeed far more men in history than women, for obvious reasons. But then he is a chauvinist, too. Although I started doing that long before he told me that. When in fifth grade I started reading Aristotle, having found his book at the library and was fascinated by it. It altered my life. One of the books I read was, Machiavelli's, "The Prince" (instruction guide for new princes and royals). I have not heard that Trump read that book, but he seems to live his life by it. While I took it as a book full of wisdom to protect yourself around power, some take it as a how too guide for how to apply power in as illiberal and cruel a fashion as possible in order to become, power.

We have the numbers. In numbers of decent Americans. Voters and Republicans came together to denounce a school board in Florida about book bans. They succeeded. We have the numbers. We merely need to do what the vocal minority did for Trump. Come together, and then these illiberal and even criminal actions from our domestic enemies simply cannot succeed, if we just opened our eyes and act.

I’ve done this before, but to define that word “act“, to act as you can, and as often as you can, but as you can and are able to. Certain Christian groups did that as a fundamental. To go out and preach their beliefs. We don’t need to do that. We don’t need to preach or lecture. We don’t need to be aggressive. We need to live our lives in liberal democratic ways of decency and compassion, understanding, and wisdom. We need to go for quality over quantity. People like Trump are quantity over quality. He’s gauche. He’s gross. He’s a nouveau riche goofball. His homes are what a poor person thinks a wealthy person should live like. Where for many more educated and acculturated see less is more, those unlike that believe more is more, and evermore is better and they want ever more to allow their "id" to take over allowing their inner child to never mature into adulthood until one day they can become our first criminal president. Don't be that guy. Don't support that guy.

I wondered about this for many years. There is not a 50-50 split or Republicans and Democrats and yet how close are our elections anymore? They repeatedly come down to few votes either way. How? Voter suppression, gerrymandering, and a mostly fucked up electoral college.

How is anti-trans, anti-LGBQ+ not our latest form of eugenics while it’s not really any new form at all. Bigotry is bigotry.

 

Cheers! Sláinte!

Walkabout Thoughts #38

My thoughts, Stream of consciousness, rough and ready, while walking off long Covid and listening to podcasts… June 6, 2023

As I'm editing this Trump has been federally indicated. Finally!

United States of America vs Donald Trump

Weather for the day… 65 degrees and nice!


Navigator poll: 65% of all Americans believe Trump committed a crime 12% from just the most before. The greatest shift came from independence and Republicans. Especially Republicans who do not identify as very conservative.

Trump ran for POTUS45 in 2016 to sell a book and disingenuously with illiberal help from Russian special ops & active measures, he won. He now expects to be running as POTUS47 in 2024 in order to help protect him from the crimes he committed during and after being POTUS45, as well as using it all as a money making machine for international dark money and money in the light of day considering things like LIV, golf, etc., for those who see that. Should he become president again it would behoove them all to treat him well, now.

 NOT this...

We won’t see anything like this were he to become president again and after he’s no longer president. That is, if he doesn’t subvert our democracy and ferret apart an autocratically tyrannically applied autocratic playbook to destroy said democracy, and our country, and then, should he be president for life, Then later potentially who knows? Ivanka. or worse, Jared. or worse. Don Junior, or worse Eric Trump, or possibly nightmarishly worse, Barron Trump?

But this...

Florida's DeSantis', “Where woke goes to die“ translates clearly as “where democracy is nearly dead being pummeled to death.“

Here’s what’s funny about especially MAGA complaining about how Christian values have been removed from our schools and culture. They did that themselves. Years before Trump got on the scene. Conmen and evangelical churches did that. Evangelicalism entering our institutions of government did that in working to tear apart out culture of multinational, multicultural and multi-societal communities supported by our secular government built to support to the Constitution and those multi-theistic (or non-theistic) communities. 

A theocracy doesn’t do that, or allow for that. How does a Christian theocracy support other religions? Does it? We’ve benefited from people coming here, immigrating. being born here, and even taking key roles in our tech and society. How does a theocratic Christian government even support its own disparate branches of Christianity? Christianity which came from Judaism? What of fans of antisemitism among them? How long before they start cutting the fat off Christianity and out of government and country? How long before white, even more toxic forms of Christianity, overwhelm our government and the decent Christian community? How long before that turns into merely white Christian supremacists? How long before eugenics come back into play? How long before we are, “Nazi America“? 

How long before the powerful are merely MAGA, white Christian nationalism, white supremacy, and overwhelm all the rest? They said anti-abortion laws should be decided at the state level and then shifted to make it federal. They incrementally worked over decades to destroy our liberal democracy, which America is after all. Trying to destroy our democracy. They did it through subverting our freedom by calling for freedom, as regulated by big government, but disingenuously demanding small government. This is the new bigotry, the new fascism, new Nazism as clearly detailed in George Orwell's "1984", so many decades back. He didn’t necessarily see this coming. But he saw this as it had come to other countries. He saw this in the potential it allowed for, if we didn’t follow "our better Angels". Speculative fiction gives us warning, and should give us pause, where instead some have taken it as a roadmap to out destruction. Their "enemies". US. America. There is that toxic white Christian nationalist's "acceleration theory" that we need to bring on the end so that Jesus Christ will rise and rule for 1,000 years. Yeah people believe that bullshit.

What is what crap?

In the context of white Christian nationalism, the concept of acceleration theory is sometimes associated with the idea that societal and cultural decay is accelerating, and that it is necessary to hasten or provoke a societal collapse or confrontation in order to create conditions that would allow for the establishment of a desired white Christian nationalist order. This belief is rooted in a pessimistic view of society and a belief in the necessity of radical action to bring about a perceived restoration of power and dominance.

It's important to note that white Christian nationalism and its associated beliefs are considered fringe and extremist views held by a small minority. They are not representative of mainstream Christianity or its teachings, which emphasize love, inclusivity, and respect for all people. But MAGA doesn't care. Hate is more fun apparently.

Remember, if Trump is elected POTUS 47 he'll have only four years left, no fear of being careful for re-election, unless his previous plan is perfected and works next time around, so then he’s in for life. Even if he’s in for four years only, those are unrestrained years where he knows he can’t be elected again, again if he can’t pull off another coup. 

The Donald Trump as POTUS45 will look nothing like the Donald Trump POTUS47. Anyone who supported America against him will be in danger. Anyone, anyone at all, even those who support him now, even those who make him president again. will be dangerous and a risk. They can praise him like their religious leader, for a while, but this never ends well. And it’s incredibly easy to see how this won’t end well, following an autocratic narcissist like Donald Trump. Following a toxic defective ideology based in fascism, hate, greed and toxic capitalism. Best of luck to those who continue to support a criminal again into the presidency. You'd think the first go around would have made it all obvious. But such is the ignorance in populism.

Regardless, the fools who give support to Putin and Russia in their war against Ukraine, and having entered another country illegally, what it comes down to is there’s never ever reason to invade another country. If another country invades you, then there’s a reason to defend yourself. If they won’t stop, that may be a reason to invade them. But to just cold attack another country, there is no excuse and no argument to support that. Any who do support that are criminal, intentionally immoral and unethical in orientation, hateful by design. If not simply patently easy as a people to propagandize.

I am an "isthmus" on the island of Humanity. From time to time one of those who are an "isthmus" will break off and become an island into themself, and therein lay "The Cult of Fascism", of self-hatred turned against the Island of Humanity. A belief that follows the one or the single ideal… brittle, which is strong up to the point of breaking...by Humanity fighting back. Knowledge, experience and history, that is wisdom... applied with great effort, will win against the Grand Stupid. Against the cult of personality.

The same concept in that quote about how they came for this or that person, and yet I did nothing... until they finally came for me… The same theory Republicans are putting in place now in what their illiberal laws are doing. "We’re gonna just do this for now, and it’s harmless." And then suddenly? People are dying.

“Hate“ is a severely overused word. Much like “woke“, severely misused by the right to mean whatever they want it to mean. When you hate, it’s all encompassing and leads to a calling, it leads to ending what you hate. I never hated Donald Trump. I don’t hate anybody or anything. He can make you stupid because fear and stress make you stupid and that is what he/they feed to their mesmerized ones. 

When I started martial arts in fifth grade, I was taught when you get in a fight, and you only fight to defend, when you defend, you do it with a clear and rational mind. There’s no room for hate. There’s no room for anger. There’s only room for scientific calculation. That extends itself into the psycho-social and cultural. War is extremely complex, even on the two person level. The concept of “war” on others, politically speaking, has been dumbed down to where it has itself been weaponized.

I’ve had this blog here since about 2010. You can go back over this blog and see I am who I always have been. You can go back over my entire life and see that. What you see is what you get. Although I recognize people who read things into me may see who I am not. That’s a matter of circumstance and situation and having too little time to share. 

My older brother had his opinions over the decades. He knew a lot more about politics than me going back to the 60s, or 70s. But then he's seven years older than me. He got me thinking. Things he said kept moving around my mind over the years, though military service, through college. After I went and got a couple of degrees. after my Air Force service, University degree in psychology, and then for over ten years trying to get something going (and partying through the 80s), I finally started paying attention in the 90s. I’ve learned a lot through all that. And through all that my main focus had been the Soviet Union, their KGB and espionage tactics. What I learned through books about MI5/6, OSS/CIA, Military Intelligence and books written by retired heads of those institutions. 

I would refuse to say that I have "evolved". As I get new information, I apply it to current knowledge and increase my wisdom. For me "evolution" in that sense, indicates a lack of character, or effort. Those who that is not true for, use the word for political reasons because political discourse is simplified in so many cases. Those who digested simplified info who are simplistic themselves in their understanding remain as such. 

One has to take that kind of info and supplicate it along with other simple info to enhance it and synthesize it, into more a complex understanding. Kind of like unzipping a zipfile...informationwise, but needing to go to other files to complete the target file (info). yeah, it's problematic, even more so if you don't know how to fit the puzzle pieces together. That's how you get some fool with an assault rifle attacking a pizze shop with no basement because there's kidnapped kids in the...basement.

Regarding Nikki Haley‘s ridiculous comment that a third of teen girls have contemplated suicide over trans issues, is obviously utter right wing bullshit. She also said trans communities are pushing their beliefs on others. Right, and gays are "grooming" your kids. It's stupid.

You know what’s wrong with that statement? Others should be learning about those minorities who are being abused, going through a living hell, and find those things out for themselves rather than espousing blame and hate. They should be saying healing not hateful things, supporting those people who are living tough lives. Because that is being humane. Which clearly points out Nikki Haley being disingenuous if not simply massively ill informed. Republicans anti-LGBTQ+ are simply not humane people, or perhaps you can just say they’re not knowledgeable, ignorant for believing foolish information.

When you put that another way, if you’re not ever championing something that challenges your beliefs, you’re probably being bigoted, enjoying having low information. if not wallowing in low empathy. All my life, even as a little kid I supported what I saw was right. I pushed back against what I saw was wrong. It literally got my ass beat in grade school multiple times, even in junior high. Scared? Yeah. Many times, but that’s what courage is, right? Doing what's right no matter how scared you are. 

But if everything you believe is 100% correct and you’re not ever wrong about anything (and I agree, I always want to be right. but I also want to be correct, even more so), no one is always 100% right. Because we’re human. Dare to be wrong if it leans to the side of compassion against the group. When many are harming one, consider if you're on the side of what is right and not just what is Rightwing. Even if we’re a computer or an AI, we can be wrong. Even those at this time in history can “hallucinate“, when they don’t know the answer. Because they’re designed to please. And then they’re the problem. We’re a tribal species. And we will at times do for the group over ourselves, or the one. even when we should know what is right and stand against that group. That's evolution. Standing outside the cohesion to point out the better way.

Kevin McCarthy on the debt ceiling and threatening Biden and Democrats with it? He sees the Democrats desires as "rape". He saw the debt ceiling as a cocked gun. So his statement is something like "if you rape  my "wife" (America), I’ll blow MY brains out. When in reality, his “wife” (which again is America in his tiny brain) she left him a long time ago. And Biden and the Democrats are who she now wants to be with. Which is the majority of Americans. And his shooting himself in the head, that’s him thinking he’s America. Yeah I never made any sense to me either. But it's that illogical.

If Trump were to win the 2024 election that wouldn’t be historical, and it wouldn’t be unique. Maybe in American history in someways. But in the history of Trump, it’s exactly what he’s always done. Surround himself with smarter people, although not what we’re seeing in a long time now. His committing crimes  they’re attached to, forcing them, when he fails once again… to do everything in their power, even if some of them go to prison, or even die off, all forcing him once again into failing upward... again and again and again through his (and our?) entire lifetime.

Also...Mega MAGA trickle down?

Cheers! Sláinte!

Walkabout Thoughts #9

My thoughts, while walking off long Covid and listening to podcasts...a blog designed and meant to be freely associating, on the run, and not perfectly edited:

Today’s podcast is from Rachel Maddow's "Ultra", an excellent 8 part podcast, episode 2. Reasonably the most important podcast in America today, because it details fascism and insurrection in America. And how it turns out, back in the 1940s, that was the last time it was tried. The parallels with Trump's insurrection today, with his MAGA and the Republican Party today, and with Christianity, evoke a painful similarity.

BTW... How to watch Thursday's House Jan. 6 committee public hearing.

My second podcast is with John Heilemann‘s "Hell and High Water" podcast, part 2 with Maggie Haberman. In case you missed part 1, best to listen to it first. It's another good podcast that America needs to hear. Especially the mentioned, George Stephanopoulos interview with Trump from 2016 where he asks Trump about Russia and his comments about Putin over the years. Disturbing, abrasively irritating, more lies and such Trump bullshit. Denying what he had said for years, how he was good friends with Putin, trying to make it seem more than it was, then back peddling, intensively. Trump tried to complain to George after the interview that Russia was mentioned too many (3) times but George got his say in first, in saying that he know what Trump was going to say, that George's people were annoyed with him too, in not pushing it even more than he had. Pretty funny, really.

I’ll be detailing bits and pieces from today’s podcast with Rachel about the first time religion and government power through conservatives generated, initiated, and propped up America’s first insurrection after the Civil War in the 1940s.

Today’s Instagram post

Today’s weather is good, cool, perfect for a hike, or a walkabout.

Finally after a week of air quality so poor was triggering my long CoViD that I had to wear a mask day and night, finally realizing I just needed to move my HEPA air cleaner from just outside my bedroom, into my bedroom and close the door, which going forward will require a space heater. Air quality is good enough today finally, that I can do my 5 mile walk again. Hopefully I’ll be able to achieve that today. So far I’m, out here and walking. And that’s better than what I’ve been able to do this past week because of these damn forest fires (thanks again global warming and our inaction and denials for decades). This is slowing down my being able to finish my book on long CoViD and publishing it, ASAP. Frankly, this was a scary week past. And poor air quality is supposed to return Friday. I don't want to go through this again having my blood pressure and pulse affected, because I'm breathing.

So Putin and his Duma welcome any states in the United States to secede who want to secede to Russia. This is ridiculous. This whole concept of seceding from America has been ridiculous for a very long time. We fought a Civil War over it, they lost, so...STFU.

It’s good to note that the satellite we smashed into an asteroid actually hit the asteroid and moved it off its course. Finally, we have something. Now they want to build a space telescope just for finding those objects. We're long past the time for this.

So before the Trump insurrection, which led to the largest investigation in FBI history, if not for main justice, too, a 1940s insurrection was the FBI’s third largest file, bigger even than Martin Luther King‘s. This is the subject of Ultra, the podcast I'm listening to.

For a couple of decades or so, conservative/Republicans have thought that some of the worst words they could use against their opponents, those who believe in a free democratic America, who are not toxically conservative, thought using words like "cuck" (attacking sexuality), "snowflake" (attacking apparently, masculinity), "fag" (attacking both sexuality and masculinity of heterosexuals, those they deem "normal", but are just the majority), and the actual word that fits them best, while worse than all those words, in a manner of how you view it, is "fascist", or "insurrectionist", "seditionist", "anti-democracy", "anti-American". All the things MAGA are doing, while claiming otherwise.

What’s bad about religion? Why's it so dangerous in a society? Because it sets you up for things like fascism. A belief of faith in having a need for a solid foundation, regardless of facts, and simply ideology. When you get "power" (i.e., Congress people, governors, leaders), and political ideologies that align with fundamentals of religion, especially in American Christianity, as it also is in Iran with Islam in a theocracy, those ideologies begin to invoke and stage the tenets for fascism in that democracy. We sought in America’s 1940's insurrection, paralleled with the Nazi insurrection in Germany, as is now, this current fascist fascination with the Trump MAGA insurrection.

How do you know when to be worried about fascism in your country? First off, read Timothy Snyder‘s book  "On Tyranny". Second, when a political group joins a religious group. or adds religion into their arguments, and then start demonizing some “other“, like immigrants, liberals, BLM, Democrats, etc., there’s your sign. As for the reverse argument that they claim they're being demonized, when you start doing illiberal, harmful, seditionist things, well, your labeling yourself, your demonizing yourself. All that other people are doing is simply reacting and making observations of your ill behaviors. 

Maybe we should allow citizens to have military weapons. Bear with me a moment. At least weapons they’re allowed now. But they have to instead store them on military bases or something similar. They want a gun at home for self protection? Fine, but a shotgun, best home device there is. An AR-15 is a stupid home defense weapon. Then say they’re only allowed to shoot their military weapons, on those bases, at a range there, monitored and protected. That way we’re not “taking their guns“, but we ARE "well regulating" them. Have a national database of the guns, the owners, who uses them and when (Yes, this is scaring the hell out of a certain minority of mostly white people). THEN, if a militia decides to commit an insurrection, we'll know if suddenly a bunch of guns are being taken and tried to steal them off the base. Anyway, something on that order. Because we absolutely should not have military weapons, assault weapons, in the hands of civilians. That was always a stupid idea. As we’ve seen clearly in the facts. It's why we never did that before. Until we did. Realized our mistake, ended it, then ridiculously started it again. Why do any of that? There’s something to be said during an invasion by a foreign country, to be able to call up civilians who have knowledge of and accuracy in their training on weapons. But to allow them as we're seeing today, to keep them at home, sets us up for an insurrection of delusional nutcases lead by a delusional autocrat. ?Well regulated"! That’s the key term. Not to mention the 1886 SCOTUS decision, that militias that are not the national guard, and they are not constitutional. This whole private ownership indicator about the second amendment, is nonsense. We do have to consider that we’re already starting at an uneven keel, with even this kind of a program. Because seditionists do tend to be either active military, veterans of military, National Guard, or police. So how do you well regulate that, in regard to these concerns? How? Well, you DO something! NOT nothing.

Interesting, back in the 1940s when Father Coughlin's Christian Front organization saw his people being arrested, he acted like Peter with Jesus, in the bible, denying he knew them. They weren't HIS Christian Front, though he knew very well they were (Sounds a lot like Donald Trump, doesn't it...). Playing as traitor to his own people, so his own armed, bomb making people could continue his sedition toward their insurrection. Again, from Ultra podcast.

I've mentioned this many times. When I was a kid, I was walking with my grandmother somewhere and I said “I hate…(something).“ She stopped me and said, "We don’t hate." We were raised old Slovak, old country Catholics. But she had self-educated herself and did her best to do, what she told me to always do, “Always try to have people around you, smarter than you, and you’ll always learn from them.“ Anyway, I said to her, thinking I was smart in elementary school, “What if I hate Satan?“ Thinking clearly, that I had gotten her on that one. She said, "No, not even Satan. Look, hate uses energy. We need all the energy we can muster to make it through life. To be good people. To spread the good around the world. So there’s no place for hate." So, I hate no one and calling me "Just a Trump hater" literally has no meaning whatsoever. IF I don't like something, there's a good reason for it.

Conservatives who have been unknowingly following toxic conservatism for decades here in America, need to stop following and believing in the bubble generated by Putin and Trump type propaganda. I’m not saying they’re working together. But there is a similarity in autocracy that aligns up, making within that bubble, it appear as real and good. And it’s not. You don’t have to listen to CNN, or MSNBC. But you do have to get accurate information outside of that bubble. Good luck.

Trump gained traction in the beginning, going back to 2011, because Republican voters wanted someone who would fight. Just as Democrats have long wanted for. And Trump would fight. The problem with that is the same problem with single issue voting. So, you vote for someone who fights… but you completely ignore and will get on board with the content of what he’s fighting against? That’s like second grade level crowd manipulation. And the GOP fell right into it. Along with a lot of independents and some Democrats. And still are, remarkably so. Although there is trending now in moving away from him. But sadly, some of that is trending toward his new wannabes and mini-me types. Those wanting power like Trump, and willing to do anything for it. That in America can be fine, but you stop at the point of trying to break America and end democracy. Otherwise, you're not part of this country, and you make yourself an enemy of this country. 

You know, I would very much prefer to be listening to podcasts on psychology, phenomenology, metaphysics, science… But those are all more long-term pursuits and considerations. When you’re in a room suffocating for lack of oxygen, that has to be your first concern. And we’re in a position where fascism and sedition are looked at longingly by conservatives and we need to eliminate that political "carbon monoxide" and replace it with clean, clear air...politically speaking.

How do you know you’re on the wrong track? When you look at things you’re saying and those you praise are saying, and you can label it as xenophobic, Protectionist, isolationist… Well, there’s your signs.

Conservatives who don’t believe in our elections, who don’t trust… Here’s how I’ve gone through life after someone once pointed this out to me. I was that way too, in my 20s. First of all, don’t worry about looking like a fool because someone tricked you. That’s on them, not you. Trust, but verify. I had trouble making and keeping close friends back then, because I couldn’t trust anyone. Because of my childhood. But once I changed my mind decided to trust everybody, but verify, and to trust myself, things got better. Life got better...and easier. So we trust our elections and if there’s questions we follow due diligence. Which in some of these 2020 elections, we’ve done. Multiple times, to the point of absurdity. But conservatives still refuse to believe it and not want our election system. Thinking that's the quick fix. Fix something NOT broken. Believe the fantasy because...that's more fun. Well? That’s immature. It’s a lack of trust in themselves, and a phobia of being held to look the fool. What that does is make you INTO a fool. Then who do you vote for? Only Fools. So Trump became president and now, they want him to be their dictator. Let's not do that!