Sagan Flashback

Carl Sagan nailed it back in 1995.

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— NightDiver13 (@nightdiver13.bsky.social) November 18, 2024 at 9:46 AM

One Thing You Can Do Right Now to Save the Republic

The Election Story in One Visual

When George Clooney, Michael Moore, and the New York Times decided last summer that Biden was too old to be President, it never occurred to them, apparently, that U.S. voters might prove themselves less ageist than they are racist and/or sexist, whether explicitly or implicitly. A major oversight, we now know.  

Spend a few minutes studying the visual aid below (click it to enlarge).  Let its message sink in. 

Does this chart suggest a reason that the Trump fascists want the nation's youth narrowly programmed in K-16 Christian nationalist schools, rather than in schools that encourage cultural and economic mixing and that allow for diversity of thought and expression? 

Could it be that schools DO matter?

Election of the Living Dead

I hope you don’t waste your time like I did this morning reading the liberal media's analysis/commentary on what was unleashed last evening on our country—and the world. From my reading, it is clear that the media sympathetic to the Blue team are quickly forming up the circular firing squad and taking aim, even while ignoring the necrophilic zombie hoard that is battering down the nation's institutional doors. 

Here's an example from a Reuters piece that poses as straight news story:

. . . Harris’ campaign ultimately failed to overcome deep-seated voter concerns about inflation and immigration – twin issues that opinion polls showed favored Trump. Her loss underscores a profound shift in American politics over the past decade as blue-collar voters have turned increasingly Republican – a trend Trump appears to have accelerated. 

Harris also struggled to counter another Trump-era trend: a torrent of misinformation unprecedented in modern U.S. elections. An avalanche of misrepresentations and falsehoods about her record was spread by the former president and amplified on right-wing websites and media, including conspiracy theories on issues ranging from migrant crime to voter fraud.

So even before all the votes are counted, the media establishment is racing to tell us that last nite's terrifying electoral result can be blamed on the female candidate for not countering or overcoming the various excuses that America's prevailing white "christian" caste of misogynist, racist men (and women) have disingenuously trotted out for pollsters over the past months to conceal the real reasons they voted to re-elect a racist, misogynist felon whose multiple sexual assaults, criminal convictions and indictments, egregious lies, unadorned stupidity, and narcissistic bullying was much less important to them than, say, the price of eggs.

And while we're blaming Kamala Harris for Americans' shameless capitulation to their darkest natures, let's blame her, too, for not single-handedly countering the Billionaire Boys' Club propaganda machine (foreign and domestic) that spread the magnificent lies spewed endlessly by Trump and his sycophants. 

Surely, Musk's X, Zuckerberg's Facebook/Instagram, or Murdoch's Fox "News" share no responsibility for "countering" what Kamala Harris should have countered alone.

__________________________

Fortunately, for me, I found something in my Inbox this morning that's a little more soothing.  It is written by a woman (Rebecca Solnit) and posted by a good man (Anand Giridharadas) that provides some much needed salve for my grieving soul. I hope it does yours, too.

You, Too, Can Cancel Your WaPo Subscription

This morning I was still shaking with a little bit of rage (even after 4 days) for the Washington Post's failure to endorse Kamala Harris in the most important presidential election ever.  When the nice Philippino woman who takes Bezos's cancellation calls (over 200,000 as of October 28) asked me why, I told her that when one billionaire made a decision that overruled the entire professional journalistic staff of WaPo, it was finally clear that the credibility of paper had reached Absolute Zero.  

Who could ever read anything in the Post, whether news, commentary, or cartoon, without wondering if Bezos's fascist hand had not first initialed it?

Letter to My Grandsons About the Election

Dear Grandsons,

We have just a few days until the presidential election, and this might be the most important in almost 250 years of American history. Here's why I say that—and please follow the links that I include to the various sources for what I say here.

We have two major candidates with two very different views of our country's past, present, and future, as well as very different positions on the issues.  One tells us how screwed up we are as a country, and how weak we are, and how our country is broken, dysfunctional.  He says our country is a "crime-ridden mess," even though crime continues to drop in most American cities. In 2023, violent crime was at a 50-year low.  

Trump's been telling us for 10 years to fear immigrants as criminals, murderers, and rapists, even though the facts tell us that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than American citizens.  To make them scary, different and, therefore, less equal than the rest of us, he falsely claims that immigrants are eating our dogs and cats and even the geese in the park.  

He says that our economy is in shambles and on the brink of collapse, even though the stock markets continue to set records almost every day, and even though unemployment is the lowest in over 50 years, workers' wages are up, and American business is booming.  Yes, prices are still too high, but inflation is way down compared to where it's been.

By the way, twenty-three Nobel-winning economists agree that Harris's economic plan will be much better for Americans than Trump's.  

Trump even tells us that our system of government is rotten (it isn't), that our elections are rigged (they're not), and that anyone who opposes him politically is a dangerous "radical left lunatic" who should be subject to military control. That would include your grandfather and your mother, as well.

The truth is our constitutional system of government and our elections are the envy of the world, even though many world leaders fear that another Trump presidency could ruin all that and bring disaster to stability in Europe.

In order to trigger the most basic fear among men, whether the fear is acknowledged or not, he tells a stupendous lie about boys who go to school in the morning and come home as girls in the afternoon after their sex change operation in, where, the school nurse's office?

“Can you imagine you’re a parent and your son leaves the house and you say, ‘Jimmy, I love you so much, go have a good day in school,’ and your son comes back with a brutal operation? Can you even imagine this? What the hell is wrong with our country?” Trump said Saturday [September 7] at a campaign rally in Wisconsin, a vital swing state. 

So what will fix all of the vast imaginary mess and all the American weaknesses that infest Donald Trump's imagination? What will it take?  

Well, according to Trump, you certainly would not choose the other candidate who is, after all, a woman and, therefore, weak.  Hey, she doesn't even have penis. Trump constantly insults Kamala Harris as “dumb, weak, and crazy.” He calls her a “radical left lunatic," and we know how Trump believes these people are to be controlled. 

And because of her commitment to obeying the law, even the law regarding treatment of transgender federal prisoners, a law that Trump obeyed, too, when he was President, the Trump campaign has spent tens of million$ on ads during football games in an attempt to trigger every man’s seedlings of castration anxiety and to convince men, young and old, alike, that Kamala Harris is a looming threat to their manhood. Watch out, boys, she's out to cut it off!!!

They think you're that stupid.

In case anyone missed his point, he praises Arnold Palmer during public rallies, no less, as "all-man" because of the alleged size of his penis. Get it? For Trump, penis size defines masculinity, and any threat to it is a threat to your identity.  So listen up, dudes, run to your polling place, cast your vote for Trump, and save your penis before it's too late.

For Trump men, you must certainly, then, choose a strong man who will honor and protect your manhood above all, and the manhood of your children if you have them, a man one who wants very much to be, not only a strong man, but also a “strongman.” 

Now the dictionary defines “strongman” as "a political leader who controls by force; dictator.” Another dictionary defines a strongman as "a politician or leader who uses violence or threats."

For some who lack a sense of security, there may be comfort in being on the side of the “strongman,” as long as the strongman stays in power, of course.  Because the “strongman," or dictator, uses the force of the police and the military to carry out his agenda and stay in power, the dictator’s followers can know they will be protected from arrest as long as they follow the dictates of the dictator. See North Korea or Russia, for instance, where murderous dictators, Kim and Putin, stage elections where they or their hand-picked  candidates receive from 90 to 99 percent of the vote, and where hundreds of thousands march like robots and salute the "dear Leader.”

This week Donald Trump’s former Chief of Staff and four-star general, John Kelly, shared with the world that Trump clearly fits the definition of a “fascist.”  A fascist supports an "autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition.”

Dozens of other former officials appointed by Trump have come forward, too, to say that Trump is unfit to serve. I hope you read some of what they have to say.

Your decision, guys, to register to vote in this election makes me smile, for your actions tell me that you care about participating in the greatest democratic experiment in the history of the world. Because you are voting, you and millions of other young and older people, alike, will determine what life in our country will be like for years to come.  

Your voice is your vote. I hope that when you go vote in just a few days from now that you will choose to make sure that your voice will continue to be heard in the next presidential election.  Otherwise, it might not. 

 

"Trump is a Danger to the Republic" - Mental Health Professionals Are So...

Today's Message and All the Way to the Election

 

Stevie Nicks - The Lighthouse (Official Music Video)

Trump's Bullying Continues to Control The Washington Post

America's only former president and wanna-be dictator has been berating and threatening the media for years, and even today, just days before the most important election in American history, his bullying continues, and it continues to pay off for him.  

I offer Exhibit 1 from today's Washington Post online edition.  Here's the lead story, page 1:

Now let me ask you, regardless of your political persuasion: Is there any news to this story, the single one that WaPo's Editorial Board decided is the most important in the entire world, not just the U.S., but the entire globe? Hasn't the aged and senile speed freak and former President been attacking the media for correcting his endless Niagara of lies for the past decade at least?? 

Of course he has. And that is exactly why he gets front page, above the fold, and with a presidential-looking photo as well.  Just goes to show: the squeaky psychopathic bully gets the grease.

In contrast, where is WaPo's big story about Kamala Harris today? Well, you have to scroll down, past other news stories, beyond the opinion pieces, past the banner ads, past "More Top Reads," past "Better Living," and finally this, a story that actually is about a proposed policy by the leading presidential candidate:

Would Harris get better placement for a real story if she berated the media, threatened the First Amendment, belittled and besmirched reporters, and made a mockery of common sense and the truth?  No doubt she would, if the recent history of the New York Times and the Washington Post can serve as a guide.