DARK MONEY, LIGHT REASONING

When contributions become bribes

If you are under forty years of age, you probably don’t know about the concept of “equal time” for radio and television. It was a rule codified by the Communications Act of 1934, and it required broadcasters to allow candidates to purchase airtime at the same rate as their “most favored advertiser,” meaning at the lowest possible rate. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rightfully was concerned that broadcast stations could easily manipulate the outcome of elections by presenting just one candidate’s point of view while excluding those of all other candidates.

I’m a former broadcaster and I remember times of having a candidate talking and joking on the air with the morning crew for twenty minutes. Afterward, I had to send a letter to all the other candidates offering them the same time. Of course, games were sometimes played. If the “snake handler Nazi” candidate demanded equal time, the station gave him twenty minutes on Sunday at 4AM.

The equal time rule should not be confused with the now-defunct FCC fairness doctrine, which was introduced in 1949. It required the holders of broadcast licenses to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was honest, equitable, and balanced. The FCC eliminated the policy in 1987.

This brings us to Citizens United v. FEC (Federal Election Commission), a 2010 Supreme Court case whose ruling asserted that corporations are people and removed reasonable campaign contribution limits. This allowed corporations and unions to use dark money in attempts to influence election results by advertising for or against one or more candidates. Wow, how did we get here?

Neither you nor I have the time to get into the details of this outrageous decision, but the highest court in the land said in no uncertain terms, that they 1. Don’t believe that disclosing who gives a candidate money helps democracy and 2. Corporations have the same first amendment rights as individual people. Okay, I get it, money talks and nobody walks, but why can’t we know exactly who is talking?

Corruption is as old as language because once a person could communicate with another they could give in order to get. The essence of quid pro quo was around long before the Latin words, quid, pro and quo were invented. The phrase means something for something, and after a person has been given something, especially something of great value, that individual typically will deliver something in return. Politicians are like kids set loose in a candy store and told their parents won’t be back for an hour. They know that eating too much candy is wrong, but hey, no one is there to stop them.

Our campaign financing system is broken and the only way to fix it will be getting these less than honest grifters out of the candy shop. Even the more moderate and semi-honest politicians in both parties complain about how much time they waste making phone calls to donors and Super PACs. They already get paid handsome salaries for doing their jobs, so why should they be allowed to fund raise on our dime? The annual compensation for most Senators, Representatives and Delegates is $174,000, and they get more when in leadership roles. They also have great healthcare insurance and average pensions of $74,028. Why do they beg for money? Because they need as much as possible to buy more advertising than their challengers. Simply put, that corporation, you know, that “person,” will pay whatever is necessary to put their candidate’s message on the air UNEDITED and UNCENSORED. They can say whatever they want.

A television or radio station doesn’t have to take political advertising but should they sell one political ad they must take commercials from other politicians until they are sold out. Candidates rush to buy their advertising schedules early to insure they get on the air. A few years ago, I was researching political advertising for a major firm and one candidate bought so late there were only a few spots available. They lost.

The term “dark money” is unique to the United States. Our unreasonable laws allow “nonprofit organizations” to raise funds for the purpose of influencing elections without requiring disclosure of their donors. These monies are dark, sinister and secret by their very nature. In fact, they are NOT dark; they are invisible.

Those political con men and women who talk about how they want politics and government to be transparent are full of shit. Two congresspeople, Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene and Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, have raised between $1.4 and $1.5 million in donations by teaming up to hold rallies in states they don’t even represent. By the way, it’s a two-way street. Representative Liz Cheney has reported to the FEC a $2.4 million bankroll, which is major moola for Wyoming. You see, the wind blows both ways and the dollars fly to anyone with a presence and controversial tail wind.

Call it what you will, but that money, regardless of its origin, is a damn bribe. If I give you money, you must profess my beliefs. For example, a candidate or congressperson can raise oodles of cash by stating belief in the BIG LIE. It doesn’t matter if deep-down inside they don’t believe what they are shoveling, the more shit they sling the more money they get.

SOLUTION? End Citizens United and pass a law requiring the disclosure of all political contributors or donators. Any “non-profit” that buys a political ad, must have a website detailing all monetary donations and sources. Also, anyone running for, elected to, or filing to be on the ballot for any federal office must disclose the last three years of their tax returns. None of this is unreasonable but should it all happen you’d quickly see many corrupt sons of bitches running out the door.

Transparency is better than darkness. As the Washington Post says, “Democracy dies in darkness.” True, that.

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WHICH PILL WILL YOU TAKE?

The Lessons of Fantasy and Inner Conflict

For today’s post, I kindly ask that you suspend reality and think not only outside the box but beyond this world and the next. Place yourself far away in another galaxy, where reality is less discernible and evident. I was recently draw back to the movie The Matrix when it was mentioned in the book Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. I dusted off the DVD and watched it again.

So far, The Matrix is a trilogy, but The Matrix 4 is slated for release on December 22^nd of this year. The richest and most well-designed scene is in the first movie of the series, which nicely lays out the premise. Laurence Fishburne plays the role of Morpheus, who wears strange sunglasses without temples that are affixed to his nose by only the bridge. An incredibly young Keanu Reeves plays the part of Neo, a brilliant hacker and computer programmer.

In the scene, Morpheus tries to explain the Matrix to Neo, using terms and poetry that might lead you to believe he’s talking about a divinity or God spirit. He warns Neo that, “It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.” Neo wants to understand the Matrix and believes Morpheus has the answer he desires. It’s the classic tale of a young man seeking universal truth.

The ever-curious Neo asks, “What truth?” and Morpheus explains, “…you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, kept inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind.” The older Morpheus explains that the truth, and thus the Matrix itself, is something he cannot talk about, others must see it for themselves. With that, he opens his hands and shows Neo two pills — in his right hand a red pill and in the left a blue one.

Now one could start there with an analogy of red representing right-leaning or conservative viewpoints and blue signifying left leaning or liberal thinking, but that would be too easy. As we learn, nothing about the Matrix is easy.

Morpheus lays out the conundrum by saying, “This is your last chance. After this, there is no going back. You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed, and you believe whatever you want to believe.” I have always thought that this choice thing was a setup, a trick, because it didn’t matter which pill Neo took. He would always be in search of the truth because that is the way he is wired.

Morpheus then explains the other choice, “You take the red pill, and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. Remember that all I am offering is the truth. Nothing more.” This is where is gets good. Neo takes the red pill, of course, because he believes the “Wonderland” of truth theory where there is no reality and he’s trusting someone else’s binary choice, not his own.

I will go no further into the plot here. If I’ve piqued your interest, then go watch the film. However, be aware of the complex set of plotlines that can spring forth from a mind wanting to be manipulated. “When you take the blue pill and the story ends,” could mean the pill makes you feel secure knowing that there was an election, the bad guy lost and you are ready to go on with your life. You believe this because you’ve attached a thick layer of fact molecules to the various scenarios of life. You know the basement of that pizza place in Washington, D.C. wasn’t where babies were sacrificed for their blood to feed Democrat operatives. In fact, there is no basement in the Comet pizza establishment.

What about those who have taken the red pill? Well, they are seduced into various “rabbit holes” where they are forced to adopt, believe and fixate on whatever their handlers dish out. As they digest the large red conspiracy pill, brainwashers like Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity narrate their reality. These guys are not modern-day Morpheus-like leaders, they are agents of hate, lizard-like liars and armed conspiracy anarchists.

In the film, agents are the guardians within the computer-generated world of the Matrix, protecting it from anyone or anything that could reveal it as a false reality or threaten it in any other way. But be careful. Those taking the red pill are depicted as the heroes. Are you lost yet? Well, don’t get confused. People who say they are seeking the truth after taking the red pill can be traitors, like the character Cypher, played by Joe Pantoliano. They are picking the truth they want to believe, not the real truth.

Once someone goes down a rabbit hole, like Marjorie Taylor-Greene and Paul Gosar have done, they have totally given up cerebral control. They are compelled by a sinister need to shock, disrupt and interpret truth for those they believe will follow them down into the next rabbit hole. Whether it’s Jewish space lasers or Joe Biden sending “brown shirts” into Missouri to encourage “human experiment” vaccines, they are off their rockers. Paul Gosar has said, “If the Pope wants to devote his life to fighting climate change, then he can do so in his personal time. But to promote questionable science as Catholic dogma is ridiculous.” First, I am sure the Holy Father doesn’t punch a timeclock at the Vatican. Next, Mr. Gosar lives in a district that had the highest temperatures in the history of recordkeeping. He’s not going to burn in hell, his trousers are already aflame in his very own backyard.

Which pill will you take? Will you trust a certain news source because they hold the pill? Do you really believe they would do anything to lower their ratings, such as telling the truth? Fox News deals not in truth. They are part of a Wonderland created by exploiters and con artist wanting to get your viewership and money. Donald Trump is like Agent Smith, The Matrix head agent out to capture and destroy those who disagree with his premise or opinion. Here’s a question, how would Donald Trump even know if the election was rigged? Seriously, he doesn’t know anything other than the shit he makes up or things members of the armed conspiracy anarchists tell him. He didn’t look at the ballots. He didn’t see bamboo in the ballots. He didn’t go to Comet Pizza and ask to see the basement. He wouldn’t know a fact if it blew into his bellybutton.

I took the blue pill a long time ago. I go to sleep at night, then wake up every morning believing in the facts as presented by truth-tellers. I never bought into Stephen Colbert’s “Truthiness,” instead thinking that black and white outlined facts and gray areas were designed for mood management and psychological stability. When Morpheus says the truth is something he cannot talk about, one must see it for themselves, he is right. The people who have been sucked into the deep dark rabbit holes are not helping America. We need to be deeply concerned they are in positions of power, and we must work to change that now. Even Paul Gosar’s siblings have said he should be removed from Congress and called him a traitor to this country. I am sure a more strongly worded reaction is forthcoming.

Take the blue pill, my friends, and stop wasting your time on trying to see things that aren’t real.

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CONGRESSIONAL LA CAGE AUX FOLLES

Marjorie Taylor Greene & Ilhan Omar

I have remarked many times that people say stupid things, including myself. It’s true. I’ve been known to make some really off the wall declarations that I now truly regret. Today, however, we’ll focus on how difficult it is to remain in the center and not overreact to insipid comments made by people who get paid $174,000 every year to represent us in Congress.

I have difficulty believing or even listening to things that both Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ilhan Omar say each time they open their pie holes. In the past, I committed to digital print all the outrageous and dangerous utterances of Taylor Greene, the junior representative of the 14^th district of Georgia. Ms. Omar serves the Minnesota’s 5th congressional district and has been in office since 2019. She presents herself as a member of the Democratic – Farmer – Labor party (DFL) of her state. Let’s see why these districts voted for these two new members of Congress.

Ms. Greene won her district by 74.6% and Ms. Omar won hers by 63.4% when elected for her second term in Congress. These representatives are extremely popular in their districts, both of which are as polarized as the candidates they’ve elected.

Omar’s district in Minnesota turned Democratic in the early 1960s and has never changed. Its main political party is the DFL, outside the traditional two-party concept we see in most of America. The ethnic makeup of the 5^th is 63% White, 17% Black, 9% Hispanic, 6% Asian, 4% Native American. In Minnesota’s 5^th, 14% were born elsewhere — 26% were born in Asia and 34% Africa. So, Representative Ilham Omar is of Islamic faith, like her constituency. Even though non-citizens cannot vote, their influence in her community is great.

Taylor Greene’s 14^th district of Georgia has a foreign-born population of only 6.83% and 95.4% of that part of the state are American citizens. Whites make up 65.4% of the district, Hispanics 16.1% and African Americans 10.5%. The area is 56.58% blue-collar and 43.42% white-collar. One statistic best illustrates the loyalty of Georgians in the 14^th district; 79% of their 2020 votes went to Donald Trump.

Yesterday, more than a dozen House Democrats publicly criticized Ilhan Omar accusing her of giving “cover” to terrorists and suggesting her remarks about Hamas and the Taliban reflect a “deep-seated prejudice.” Omar equated the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban in a tweet about “atrocities” she claims all four have committed. Okay, where do we start here? First, we truly need a new rule. Congresspeople should be allowed to use Twitter or Facebook only to post press releases from their offices. That way, each post would be an official document rather than an off-the-cuff comment. It will prevent wrong messages being sent because staff members would have to review each post for clarity and correctness. Why are we, the taxpayers, footing the bill for these staffs who aren’t doing their jobs?

In my opinion, neither of these women are adept at the English language. Think of Sarah Palin. She believed many of her statements made major contributions to the spoken word and culture of America, but careful examination of her words reveal they’re all bullshit. I don’t care about their party affiliations, both Greene and Omar are an embarrassment to America, and they shouldn’t be in Congress.

Why should Ms. Omar or Ms. Greene get to determine anything about basic American freedoms? They are narrowminded people interested only in minority viewpoints rather than all the people in their districts, let alone the whole country. I know each has only one vote, but when their public pronouncements produce violence against minorities or other citizens, we have an obligation to stop their shouts of “Fire! Fire!” in a theater with no flames.

Marjorie, the election wasn’t stolen. There are no Jewish space lasers causing fires in California and most of that other chicken shit you scrape off yours shoes and slap on Twitter are lies. Ilhan, nothing good happens when you rachet up distrust and attack the Jews. Funny how the two people we are talking about today have this thing about Jewish people. Don’t you think it all comes off a bit, may I say it, Anti-Semitic?

These two women engage their mouths before their brains. Yes, they talk the talk and walk the walk for their homies, but many of the rest of us wish they would just eat a heaping plate of SHUT THE FUCK UP.

There, I’ve said it. They don’t need to be canceled, they just need to slow down and ask the question, “Is what I am about to post true, and will it be helpful for all of America?” The “Oh, I was just being sarcastic” excuse that Trump constantly used doesn’t cut it. He’s gone and it’s time for a return to truth, or at least stop making up things that distract from the important tasks at hand. Omar and Greene do not have effective communication skills. Neither has done anything to prove they are worthy of the chairs they sit in. Time to find better people.

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Republican Greene New Deal Sucks

So far, I have managed to avoid writing about the junior representative from Georgia’s 14th congressional district, Marjorie Taylor Greene. As they say on the playground, however, she started it. Her first Democratic opponent in her run for Congress dropped out for family reasons. The next candidate was underfunded and not viable. The Peach State is highly conservative and Republican so it would have been an uphill battle for anyone, but what was left can best be described as roadkill.

There is no I.Q. test administered to those who run for office, whether it be for dog catcher or president. There’s also the interesting fact that some candidates have been declared dead before an election, but still won. In my estimation, a dead representative for Georgia’s 14^th would have been more productive.

The 47-year-old Greene is an ideolog who has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Georgia. She graduated from South Forsyth High School in Cumming, Georgia, a town that until 35 years ago had a law that prohibited African Americans from staying within its borders overnight.

According to Atlanta’s ABC affiliate WSB-TV, Marjorie Taylor Greene filed homestead exemptions on two homes, which is a violation of state law. She claimed it was a “paperwork mistake” and it’s since been cleared up, but she continues to stain her reputation in real time every day by just opening her mouth.

The list of positions she’s taken on almost every issue is eye opening, and she enjoys pulling stunts to get attention. Greene was early to assert that Donald Trump was elected in a landslide and the 2020 election was stolen from him. She also filed articles of impeachment against Joe Biden the day after his inauguration alleging abuse of power. Now she is misleading America once again.

She compared US mask and vaccine mandates to the rights taken away from Jewish people when they were put on trains, sent to concentration camps and executed by Germany during the Holocaust. While her antics were blown off the front page by a mass shooting in San Jose, California, her words finally warranted a response from Republican leaders, although they waited five days before condemning her remarks.

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said this, “Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling. The Holocaust is the greatest atrocity committed in history. The fact that this needs to be stated today is deeply troubling.” Okay, but he then went on to accuse the Democrats of anti-Semitism. Why? Nine people lost their lives in San Jose, Kevin’s home state, yet he took a cheap shot at the other party. Mr. McCarthy shows himself to be a lowlife by his awkward attempt to semi-reprimand a member of his caucus. Kevin has the power to throw Greene out of the caucus, which could lead to her expulsion from the House of Representatives.

Expulsion is the most serious form of disciplinary action that can be taken against a Member of Congress. The United States Constitution (Article I, Section 5, Clause 2) provides that “Each House [of Congress] may determine the Rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.” On the other hand, censure, a less severe form of disciplinary action, is an official sanction of a member but does not remove them from office. Ms. Greene could be headed to one of those two destinations if she doesn’t clean up her act.

Just as Kevin McCarthy and his gang of political thugs removed Liz Cheney from her leadership roles because her viewpoints were said to be “disruptive” to the caucus, only a fool wouldn’t see that Taylor Greene’s harmful and misinformed opinions are distracting the country from what the Republicans want to accomplish. We aren’t quite sure what those goals are because the party still doesn’t have a written platform. Their only discernable goal is pleasing the big orange guy.

Marjorie Taylor Greene doesn’t have the gravitas or profundity to navigate the aisles of Congress. Hell, I’ll wager that she would mess up a trip to the 7-11 to buy a six-pack of beer. She openly speaks her mind, but there’s nothing in that organ that produces any intelligent discourse. She would sound articulate if she was a homeless person smoking a cigarette standing in front of that 7-11, but as the representative of one of the more important states in our country she’s nothing less than a buffoon of epic proportion.

I just finished reading a new translation of a book titled, “Night,” a 1960 work by Elie Wiesel. This true story is based on his and his father’s Holocaust experiences in the Nazi German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944-45. Sadly, his father didn’t make it. If only Ms. Greene would take the time to read this short, 120-page book, perhaps she would experience the visceral pain and intellectual slap of Wiesel’s experiences. Being asked to wear a fucking mask to protect yourself and others from a deadly virus is nothing like being starved to death in a prison camp and watching your family being thrown alive into a crematorium.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is not fit to be a citizen of this great country, let alone a representative in Congress. She was elected to that office, but most experts agree that if the election was held today, with any decent human being running against her, she would lose. She should be recalled by the electorate, but unfortunately too many of them believe her lies and carry with them the embedded racism and anti-Semitic viewpoints that her remarks stimulate and validate.

She doesn’t realize that her comments are lessening the importance of the tragedy of Nazi death camps. She can’t comprehend that her lack of empathy and disregard of the real pain suffered by a generation of Americans aids and abets prejudges. An African American says, “Black Lives Matter,” and Marjorie Taylor Greene would thoughtlessly answer, “All lives Matter.” Well then, why does she walk on the unmarked graves of Jews? This Republican Greene New Deal sucks!

ANGLO-SAXON VALUES & UNITY

From Mild Racism to Tea Party to Insanity

If you had told me this story a few years ago I would have thought you were quoting the Onion comedy site. Sadly, this is not a dated comedy routine or a satirical gem from Andy Borowitz. It’s the latest black hole some radical Republicans are trying to push their comrades into for certain political death.

Here’s the story. Far-right Republicans in the House of Representatives, including Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene and Arizona’s Paul Gosar, were seeking to set up an “America First Caucus” that would push a nativist agenda to respect “Anglo-Saxon political traditions.” This was first reported by Punchbowl News, and the Republican group warned that “mass immigration” threatened “the long-term existential future of America as a unique country with a unique culture and a unique identity.” Okay, but was this ever a real thing? They did admit they were going to charge dues!

Was the caucus a real plan? Does anyone whose family came from Europe, Asia or even Russia believe this? Those questions were soon asked, and the media did a great job taking down a conspiracy before it even hatched. This is what we learned before the weekend was over.

According to a Washington Post article, “On Saturday, Greene (R-Ga.) described the document as ‘a staff level draft proposal from an outside group’ and claimed she had not read it. She blasted the media for ‘taking something out of context,’ but did not specify to which policies in the document she objected. However, Greene did not deny plans to start an ‘America First Caucus’ and ended a lengthy Twitter thread by saying she supported former president Donald Trump’s America First agenda.” Wait, if they are so sure of their own beliefs and prejudges why did they need an outside firm to tell them what they believe? Better yet, why would Marjorie Taylor Greene not take the time to read a proposal she supported?

I’ve never believed that Ms. Greene has the gravitas or depth to process complex information. She seems unable to grasp facts or debunk a conspiracy theory, but she does have a platform. 229,827 people voted for her and put her in office, but that number might be quite different today. The voters of District 14 in Georgia will have to ask themselves at the next election what has she done for them? I don’t think being on TV helps her constituents. I contend that the more she’s on TV the worse it is for her.

So, what are Anglo-Saxon values? Anglo-Saxons, a “cultural group,” inhabited England in the fifth century. They were immigrants from northern Germany and southern Scandinavia long before those places were countries. According to Bede, a monk from Northumbria back then, they were from some of the most powerful and warlike tribes in Germany. Bede names three of these tribes: the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. If you believe in all that DNA stuff you might wonder if these were the same people who gave us World Wars I and II. Not really. It’s not the Arian race crap that Adolf was slinging, but pretty much the same hook American white supremacists have hung their dogma on for years.

Someone got the document and leaked it, fearful there was a chance that other members would support Greene and Gosar and adopt the platform. SLATE reported, “There won’t be an America First Caucus after all. At least for now. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene accused the media of making a big deal about something that wasn’t even a reality yet and aides said she wasn’t starting any new group…. She also accused the media of focusing on race and using it to divide the American people with hate through identity politics.” Nick Dyer, Greene’s spokesperson said earlier in the weekend that the caucus would be launched soon. Okay, real, or not?

There are no lasting values we can attribute to the Anglo-Saxon peoples, after all they assimilated into a vast group of humans who came to the British Isles early on. The Anglo-Saxon people, culture and language developed over time, but the authors of this crazy revisionist view ignore what happened in Britain after the Norman invasion.

The conquest by the Norman elite captured much of the Anglo-Saxons’ land and revised their values. The Normans restructured the Church (made it Catholic), brought new architecture (castles and Romanesque cathedrals) and feudalism became much more widespread. The most long-lasting change was the English language absorbing thousands of words from French, Latin and even German. The melting pot of Britain was a precursor to what happened in America, and the assimilation made the people stronger, not weaker.

I doubt that white supremacists, neo-Nazis and those high verbal folks in the America First Movement have any idea what the term “Anglo-Saxon values” truly means. They throw out the idea that being a European is far superior to being a person of color, but have they been to Europe lately? It’s not so white and not so Anglo these days. Dorothy! Kansas City might be whiter than Miami, but that doesn’t make it more American. The far right equates Anglo with Caucasian but were they to travel back in time they wouldn’t even be able to communicate with an Anglo or a Saxon. They would be the alien.

The phrase “Anglo-Saxon values” is a trumped-up tag line that fell out of the bag of tricks that the losers and conspiracy nuts carry around. It’s also a quick sucker punch to the Dems. If Greene and other assholes of her ilk took the time to do the research (google it, jerkoffs), they would find the Anglo-Saxon earthly virtues were bravery, loyalty, generosity, and friendship. Being made to look stupid isn’t brave, it’s just fucking futile. Yes, they are loyal to their cause, but then so were the young members of the brown shirt brigade in 1939 Germany. Generosity is not an attribute of the far right. I don’t see them out raising money to help get the homeless vaccinated. As for “friendship,” the other day I got yelled at for having a Biden sticker on my car. Funny, she never mentioned “friendship” as she flipped me the bird.

Using the term “Christian values” would have been riskier, but more people might have swallowed it. Ask an Italian about Anglo-Saxon values, or perhaps any of the millions of Hispanics or Latinas who are legacy Americans what they think of that expression. Better yet, ask a Native American about Anglo-Saxon values. All they wanted to do was live in peace, but the Anglo-Saxons brought them bullets and diseases. Those religious Anglo zealots poured salt into the wounds by taking away the native peoples’ gods and spirits. You see, these aren’t values at all but rather legalized genocide and self-serving brainwashing. Have a nice day, Marjorie. Anglo-Saxon my ass! I demand your 23&Me DNA spit test.

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THEORIES ON CONSPIRACIES

Classic Approach to Truth When Facts Are Missing

There is nothing wrong with being curious, but before getting to the truth of a matter several levels of information must be explored. The first is general knowledge, the well-known surface information. Next comes what I call the mushy part of the truth sandwich. These are the little details, typically captured in our long-term memories then glued together to form a more detailed understanding. Finally, we apply healthy doses of examination and research to drill down to a molecular level where the atomic details of an event can be clearly seen. This brings us to the truth of the matter.

Lacking specific details and knowledge we often employ a process called interpolation to fill in the blanks. One example is motion-compensation frame interpolation (MCFI) in video editing to make animation more fluid or to increase or decrease motion. When frames are missing, software inserts faux frames to “guesstimate” what happened between each of the available frames. A great example of this is footage from the security camera at the Pentagon that captured the airplane crash there on 9-11. The jet was moving at a fast rate of speed and the camera was capturing only intermittent images resulting in a herky-jerky video that had precious little detail.

When newly minted QAnon House Representative of Georgia Marjorie Taylor Greene said that there was no proof that a plane hit the Pentagon, she should have said, “I didn’t see a plane hit the Pentagon.” To say a plane didn’t do the damage would require examination of the crash site at a molecular level to determine no pieces of a plane were there. Forensic crash experts know a plane was involved, but a blurry video has led to the birth of a conspiracy theory. We can’t see the coronavirus with our naked eyes, so some can and do believe it’s a hoax. To be clear, investigators did find a large section of the landing gear and the flight recorder in the building after the crash.

It’s human nature to use an initial burst of information to formulate a concept of the matter. As explained above, this typically leads to a very incomplete picture, but millions of rabid and engaged Twitter followers can easily morph bullshit into truth. Here an example from my own life that might shed some more light on this dark concept of theories. My brother used to live in Vero Beach, Florida and he worked out at a gym there. When pictures were released of the men who flew the planes into the World Trade Buildings, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, he immediately recognized several of the hijackers as men he regularly saw at his gym. He remembered saying to himself, “Why are those skinny Italian guys trying to get into shape?” I always thought the hijackers studied aviation and lived on the east coast of Florida. Just yesterday, I learned that is incorrect.

Commercial pilot wannabees are often drawn to Florida, where we have at least 250 flight training schools. Mohamed Atta was the mastermind behind the September 11^thterrorist attacks in 2001. It was Atta who flew the first plane into the World Trade building. Atta entered the United States on June 3, 2000, and he and a cohort enrolled at flight school in Venice, Florida. Wow, I didn’t know that, and I live there!

The Venice Municipal Airport is a small operation. Once used in World War II for the Air Force, it’s now a local facility for non-commercial planes — mostly the kind of single and twin-engine types that weekend pilots fly for fun. Now it’s true that some of the 9-11 hijackers did train in Palm County on the east side of state, but I didn’t realize my sleepy town had anything to do with that tragic day.

Most of us now accept there was an attempt to overturn the results of a fair and accurate United States presidential election. Many have dubbed what Trump tried to pull off as “the big lie.” Where did that phrase originate? Well, you can find the answer on the internet. The term was coined by Adolf Hitler and used in his 1925 book Mein Kampf. He used it to describe the use of a lie so “colossal” that no one would believe that someone “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” Do you see how that fits into the hardcore followers of Trump believing the election was stolen and thus the slogan “Stop the Steal?” It’s almost like Trump evaluated the potential of his lies by using the “Adolph Test.” If it was too outrageous to be believed, then Trump would launch the lie.

Drilling down to the molecular level, Trump lost the election by seven million votes. The election was not stolen. The plain truth is that many of the states where Trump lost the Electoral College votes usually vote Republican. It might be unfair to link Donald Trump’s big lie with the Hitler’s big lie that Germany lost World War I because of the Jews but think about it. Donald Trump’s big lie killed people.

The big lie that Covid-19 was not a crisis and would simply go away killed Americans. It was a lie, Trump knew it was a lie, but he said it anyway. He said the election was stolen from him and he won it by a “landslide.” Totally unbelievable, yet tens of thousands of his supporters came to Washington, attacked the Capitol and people died as a result. It wasn’t quite Hitler’s Operation Hummingbird, when the Nazi secret police killed as many as a thousand of Hitler’s political rivals, but it’s right out of that playbook.

Trump lost the election because everyone has been seriously affected by the global pandemic and most who voted against him believed that Joe Biden, the guy who was “hiding in his basement” and was always wearing a mask, would do a better job. Both Hitler and Trump failed to understand that some people will give you undying faith based on a lie, but they don’t want to die.

The lies, fantasies and conspiracy theories of QAnon and the Trump base, are too unbelievable to believe. Did the CIA and FBI fail us on 9-11? Yes, but that doesn’t mean that the attack was planned by the US government. Are Democrats going to do more to help people of color and build a stronger middle class? Yes, but that doesn’t mean they eat babies. The more I think, the more details of Trump’s life I remember. Many nights while lying in bed with his first wife, Donald John Trump read Adolf Hitler’s speeches. We know this because his ex told us. Why would Ivana Marie Trump, an eastern European by birth, lie to us about that?

One might speculate that Ivana and Trump’s current wife, Melania, also from eastern Europe, are spies planted to corral him, control his mind and direct him in a long-term plan of serving the Russia oligarchs. On the other hand, maybe those speeches by the Führer penetrated his brain and he wanted to be like his hero. Come on now, it’s just a theory based on extraordinarily little evidence, but, hey, it’s a classic component of effective storytelling — the more fantastic and quotable, the better.

A theory too unbelievable to be true will be repeated more often than something that gets the response, “I knew that.” When I am presented with additional facts, I am open to understanding a different truth, but after all the election lawsuits and in-depth investigation I lean to the “big lie” being exactly that. I do wonder about Rudy Giuliani. He was there for 9-11, so is he part of that conspiracy as well? He was an early arrival at the crime scene. Irony here, readers, pure irony.

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MOVING FORWARD IS TOUGH

The Era of American Grievance and Lies

Imagine an 11^th grade high school class comprised of devout Evangelists, Islamists and Hasidic Jewish kids. Now, think of their teacher arranging a debate in which the students have to defend the firm religious beliefs of their debate opponents. Boy, I’d love to be a fly on the wall for that one! It would be quite a challenge for the kids.

We know that Congress is full of contrarians. One camp is filled with those who oppose or reject popular opinion while folks in the other have an unusually strong sense of self and are vocal about their differing opinions. Florida Representative Matt Gaetz fits into that category. Ohio’s Jim Jordan can be labeled as a defender by some, but to others he’s a vindictive source of torment. When the tactics of blocking, arguing and criticizing get in the way of discussion and compromise, nothing productive follows.

I have a theory about Donald Trump and those people who want to be like him. Every shove raises an opposite force of equal proportion. All too frequently, I find myself screaming at the TV “That’s not true!” when hearing something like “All democrats hate America!” The true meaning of one who says that is “I hate anyone who disagrees with me.” When COVID-19 hit, most Republicans simply blamed China and offered precious little in the way of solutions. It’s the typical tactic of a contrarian. Usually, a ton of ad hominem surfaces while arguing such a point and speakers attack the character of those opposing them instead of dealing with the facts.

I tend to merely wave my hand at the older bigots in Congress and dismiss their perverted views and attitudes as the result of just being there too long. Ted Cruz, who is a small-minded person parading as an intellectual, introduced TERM LIMITS, but made sure they would not affect those who, like himself, are “grandfathered” in Congress. It’s like the “reform” we sometimes hear from successful immigrants, “Hey, I’m in now so close the door and don’t admit any others like me.” By the way, Ted Cruz’ father came to America from Cuba.

The daily discord in Congress is disturbing in many ways. Their lofty talk about compromise and unity is meaningless; they don’t care about those ideals at all. They would rather win the argument, massage their base and ask for more money from their voters, concepts far removed from keeping America great, or at least safe. The best recent example is the way Republicans decried the terrible Capitol Hill riots but, once the smoke cleared, were incapable of punishing the members who supported Trump’s incitement. It’s like they weren’t there. These same folks feel that convicting Trump by an impeachment trial in the Senate would be outrageous.

Minority House Leader Kevin McCarthy cannot bring discipline to new House member Marjorie Taylor Greene for her anti-Semitic, racist, xenophobic, and hurtful rhetoric. Even though McCarthy personally condemns such words and thoughts, Trump is still the puppet master of his political actions. McCarthy believes he can dodge the pressure by letting the Democrats vote Greene off committees. Wait and see how that won’t work. McCarthy will ultimately become the target of the malcontents, malicious traitors and cancerous contrarians of Congress.

Politicians have learned how to lie and take dark money to get elected. They have a naïve notion they don’t have to give the devil his due after he’s delivered the dinero. Such fools! Taking the money destines one to eventual ball playing on a burning field in hell.

We have always elected a certain number of whacked lunatics to Congress. We’ve had KKK grand wizards and outwardly racists fools like Steve King of Iowa. He was voted out after his neighbors learned his ways. I must believe that Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert have embarrassed their constituents and will be replaced in 2022, but right now they need to be controlled. I just read a story about Ms. Boebert claiming 38,000 miles on her House expense report. Wow, stealing gas from the government; shouldn’t she be fired right now?

It’s easy to see that we are living in weird times. The fact that I was backing Liz Cheney 100% on her fight to keep power in the House of Representatives is proof. Now before you possibly start thinking things couldn’t be stranger, consider last night’s story from Reuters, “Newly unsealed court documents and other records show that Merck & Co and U.S. regulators knew about reports of suicidal behavior in men taking the company’s anti-baldness treatment Propecia when they decided not to warn consumers of those potential risks in a 2011 update of the popular drug’s label.” Donald Trump uses this treatment every day. Could the 45^th President be suffering from a drug induced depression that has turned him into a monster? Hey, I am just reporting the news here. Yes, it comes with a large dose of opinions and fearful conjectures but at least you don’t have to pay for it.

As I have said before, getting rid of one goofball just causes another to pop up. You can play whack-a-mole all day but, like a rat’s tooth, break one off and another will grow in its place. These politicians raise money on being “persecuted” and maligned by the other side, but like any good martyr they desperately seek love. I guess the love that Matt Gaetz never got from his own father, was replaced by the “love” Donald Trump fed him. He’s so beholden to Trump that he wanted to resign from the House to become Trump’s lawyer during his Senate impeachment trial. Matt took an oath to protect the Constitutions of Florida and the US but has done much harm to both. This attorney is now risking his membership in the Bar Association. Disbarment would end his career as a lawyer, but not as a liar.

It’s going to take years for us confused voters to uncover the real criminals here. I do have some hope, given that hardly anyone in my generation has anything kind to say about Richard Nixon. The sycophants and losers hanging onto Donald John Trump’s shirttail should wake up and smell the covfefe. They are so stupid that they don’t even realize they are complicit in crimes against America. Like I said, it’s going to take a long time and moving forward in conflict is never an easy process.

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GUTLESS GOOFBALLS IN THE GOP

The Choice Between Cheney & Greene

The madness surrounding the newly elected representative from the 14^th Congressional district of Georgia is a great example of how the Peach State has not only amazing power on the Hill but also a huge ability to stay in the news. Currently, hubbub is swirling around Roman Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. She’s from the small town of Rome, Georgia with a population of 36,000.

So, we have this brand-new Congressperson, who has claimed that tragic school shootings were stunts to make conservatives look bad, now assigned to the Education Committee of the House of Representatives. Excuse me, but this is goofy. At another time in our history, Greene’s videos, comments and posts would have kept her from getting elected to Congress in the first place but remember that her Democratic opponent dropped out of the race and the replacement candidate was hardly known.

But now, what to do about her? While the Democrats and reasonable Republicans want her to be punished in some way, there is also a group of about a dozen Republicans who want Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney to resign because she voted to impeach Donald Trump. So, we see tough working conditions in the body that governs working conditions. It’s funny how the US Congress often ignores its own rules. It was only a few years ago that they enacted stronger measures for handling sexual harassment in their chambers.

While millions of people are on unemployment insurance and hundreds of thousands of families are dealing with death from COVID, our congressional knuckleheads are dragging their feet about providing relief. The remains of a Capitol Hill Police officer are lying in state in the rotunda while these political losers want to argue about the mythical benefit of a “targeted” relief package. There is no way Congress can discern those who are unemployed. Even the Treasury Department doesn’t have that data; it’s secret, like Donald Trump’s tax returns. Quit quibbling and send out the money!

We have a vaccine that could end America’s COVID crisis, but its rollout is crippled by lack of supply and scattered distribution. It’s clear we need a national strategy, but don’t hold your breath because the people we sent to Washington won’t support a strong planner. They feel a need to mess with every niggling detail and their lack of focus prevents progress.

Here are my thoughts. First, let’s throw Marjorie Taylor Greene out of Congress and ask the Republican Governor in Georgia to send a more worthy representative to fill the seat. It’s a legal step and should be taken. Next, anyone who attacks Liz Cheney or demands she resign from Congress should lose all their committee positions. If Congress cannot uphold its own rules and policies, then they have no right to complain that Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is unconstitutional. The insane statements of Congressional members undercut citizens’ confidence in the body.

I know my position would raise concerns about the leaders in Congress undoing the vote of the people, but it’s done all the time. Florida voted to allow ex-cons to vote, yet the state’s Governor and Legislature created a law that prevented thousands of them from voting applying what amounted to a poll tax by using their debt against their right to vote. The 2018 amendment, which was approved by nearly 65% of Florida voters, ended the state’s permanent disenfranchisement of felons, but the politicians circumvented the peoples’ will by taking vote away from 1.4 million felons. Many of those were low level, non-violence drug law offenders.

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is a spineless human being who is not concerned with the voters. He’s focused on how Donald Trump will view him. What a weak leader! McCarthy cares less about what Marjorie Taylor Greene said about executing members of Congress and more about an ever-eroding base of voters who might storm the Capitol again. Trump and his mob have Kevin by the balls.

I am a Democrat who proudly defends Liz Cheney. She voted her conscience in an honest belief that Donald Trump incited the riot and presents a true threat to the long-term course of the Republican party. Sure, some accuse her of trying to up her brand and enhance her chance for more power, but that’s too simplistic. Liz’ Father Dick Cheney doesn’t like Trump and sees him as a short-term exploitation artist. Dick is not dumb; he knows how Washington and the world work. Liz is her own woman, but such a true replica of her father that he should be proud. Wait, did I just write that? Wow, out of body experience!

I suggest that when a crime is committed or a rule broken, we follow the guidelines of proper punishment and stick to them. If one promotes insurrection and a riot then takes place, the promotion becomes insurrection in and of itself. The penalty for insurrection is ten years. Maybe we should give the fat, orange guy five years and call it a day. We’ve got better things to do.

If we are truly a law-and-order country, we must stop applying rules differently across various classes of people. If we believe all men and women are truly created equal, then we must apply our laws equally. We need to stop wasting our time talking about stupid people and move forward. Creating divide does not achieve unity.

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CANCEL CULTURE IN AMERICA

Jargon, Slogan, War Chant or Necessary Evil

As a student of history, I can take any example, examine it from multiple angles and discover it has happened before. If we can learn from our current moments in time, we might become wiser and better able to prevent bad things we see coming our way before they can cause harm.

Let’s consider the Teapot Dome bribery scandal involving one of President Warren G. Harding’s cabinet members, Albert Bacon Fall, who was Secretary of the Interior from 1921 to 1923. This goofball had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming and two locations in California to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. Why did he do that? Well, he took bribes from the oil companies. Fall was charged, convicted and became the first presidential cabinet member to go to prison. Albert Bacon Fall literally took the fall because no oil executives were convicted.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “When the affair became known, Congress directed President Harding to withdraw the leases; the Supreme Court declared the leases fraudulent and ruled illegal Harding’s transfer of authority to Fall. Although the president himself was not implicated in the transactions, the revelations of his associates’ misconduct took a severe toll on his health. Disillusioned and exhausted, he died before the full extent of the wrongdoing had been determined.” So, Congress canceled the deals but someone in a higher office canceled President Harding’s life.

Not all Cancel Culture targets create their own demise. America has the glare of news coverage, rumblings on social media and various bullies pounding their pulpits to cancel people. But what exactly does cancel mean in this context? When people behave badly they can become ostracized by others they don’t even know. The powerful cold-shoulder of cancelation can get a person fired from their job, disbarred from law practice or even arrested for a crime they may or may not have committed.

Shunning, disowning or moving an individual to isolation is not a new concept. Many tribes used this method as a strong but less violent way of punishing those who broke community rules. When it was revealed that Minnesota Senator Al Franken had taken sexual liberties with coworkers during his former life as an entertainer, he was spurned and slammed by many. This happened in the thick of the Me-too movement and it wasn’t long before the Cancel Culture urged Mr. Franken to resign. He left Congress and was replace by a female. Knowing what we know now, would he still be canceled today?

There are many people I would like to cancel but can’t because my voice is not that powerful and my leverage is even less so. Besides that, I simply don’t have the time or motivation to frame a campaign or hype a hashtag. I have absolutely no use for Florida Representative Matt Gaetz and would surely support canceling him, but then what? We would probably end up with someone like Georgia’s Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. She denies that a plane hit the Pentagon on 9-11, supports the idea that the Parkland school shooting was a “false flag” operation meant to usher in tighter gun laws and believes that the California wildfires were ignited by a Jewish space laser program.

The dumbing down of America has brought us some real doozies. First there was Sarah Palin of Alaska, then along came Donald Trump and now we have the quirky QAnon people preaching their platform. Instead of wasting time talking about the Republican party divide, let’s find a way to stop these lunatics from advancing lies that have major, destructive consequences. It’s time to cancel your subscription to the far-stupid media.

Gabriel Sterling is an official in the Georgia Secretary of State’s office and one Republican whom I really respect. He forcefully came out against election fraud claims and stated that big lie had incited intimidation, harassment and death threats. Mr. Sterling got specific and spoke directly to Donald Trump, “It has to stop. Mr. President, you have not condemned these actions or this language. Senators, you’ve not condemned this language or these actions. This has to stop. We need you to step up and if you’re going to take a position of leadership, show some!” During his speech in the Georgia capital, he added, “Someone’s going to get hurt, someone’s going to get shot, someone’s going to get killed! It’s not right.”

The lie of the stolen election drove thousands of people to charge the Capitol, proving that Mr. Sterling was right. People were hurt and killed in that tragic melee. If ever there was a reason to cancel Donald Trump and all the sycophants kissing his fat ass, there it is. Folks were warned but they did nothing.

The term Cancel Culture is a slick slogan that easily rolls off the tongue, but let’s not forget that the word “culture” has a far greater meaning. Culture embodies the customs, arts, social institutions, intellectual achievements and other manifestations of human activity by a nation‘s people or other type of social group. The Trump tribe is a culture of lies and misinformation. It’s hardly an intellectual achievement and certainly more worthy of cancellation than a low rated TV show.

Most people perpetrate the lie after they’ve been caught up in a crime, but when the lie is itself the crime peace and redemption can never be reached unless the liar admits the untruth. There were lies aplenty in the Trump tribe. People were told COVID is not that bad and there’s no need to wear a mask. The 2020 stolen election fraud caused an insurrection at the Capitol Building. These were the “facts“ of the far-dumb fiction followers that caused lives to be lost .

I’m not proposing we cancel Trump by erasing all that has been written or said about the man. Some believe he was the best president we have ever had. That reminds me of the 1958 Edsel automobile. The Ford Motor Company invested $250 million developing the Edsel, believing it would be the best car ever. The Edsel was a total failure, just like Trump.

So, here’s where we stand after four years of Donald John Trump. The Republican are not happy, the Democrats are mad and impatient, the Progressives want more socialism, and the far dumb folks want to take back “their country” with flags, guns and more lies. There’s no telling what QAnon might do if they gain significant power, probably public executions. Then there’s that orange Trump guy worried about Cancel Culture when he should be focused on staying out of jail. If you don’t convict, you are complicit.

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