Wednesday, April 30, 2025

You can’t make a good deal with a bad person

 This is a saying by Warren Buffet.  He has learned from experience that a bad person simply will not honor the deal. They are dishonorable, and proudly so.

When you make a deal with the devil you don’t get the deal but you do get the devil.

And you might win if you take him to court, or you might not.  But realize that when you get on the bad person’s game board, you are on his home turf.  So, even if you win, it costs you money, and time, and it costs you the emotional and energetic drain of having to deal with such a disgusting person. 

You become soiled by his filth.

I think we are all learning this lesson the hard way by being plunged into the sewer of the Orange Contagion’s “art of the deal/steal”. It is disgusting to have to deal with the bad faith of a bad man.  And it is not just American voters, but all of America’s citizens, and all of the world’s population who are slimed.

It is disgusting.

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

100 day Trump report card

 The MAGA president has had 100 days. 

How is he doing?

  • Approval rating - 41%
  •     Lowest other president at 100 days - Clinton 55%
  • S&P 500 change - -7.8%
  •     Biden               +8.5%
  •     Obama 2013.    +8.4%
  • Immigrant arrests? doubled
  • Impose exorbitant tariffs? Stupidly Yes. 
  • End Russia’s war on Ukraine? No
  • Bring down the price of food? Of course not
  • Pardon J6 insurrectionists? Tragically Yes
  • Get rid of professional Civil Servants? Tragically Yes - 280,000
  • Attack universities’ independence? Tragically Yes
  • Attack scientific research? Tragically Yes
  • Attack independent news outlets? Tragically Yes
  • Attack the military by ejecting professional women, blacks, LGBTs? Tragically Yes
  • Threaten Republican elected officials?  Tragically Yes
  • Threaten the Federal Reserve? Tragically Yes
  • Corruptly extort millions/billions from U.S. industries? Tragically Yes
  • Corruptly extort millions/billions from foreign governments? Tragically Yes
  • Threaten Canada? Tragically Yes
  • Threaten Greenland?  Tragically Yes
  • Threaten Panama? Tragically Yes
IN THE COURTS:
  • Defy court orders? Tragically Yes, appealed in the courts
  • Ban transgender from serving in the military? Tragically he tried, in the courts
  • Invoke Alien Enemies Act for deportation? Tragically he tried, in the courts
  • End Constitutional Birthright Citizenship? Tragically he tried, in the courts
  • Make the Trump tax cuts permanent? Stupidly Working on it
AND
  • Visited a golf course? Nearly every weekend
  • Fall asleep at the Pope’s funeral? Yes, he’s old.

Sunday, April 20, 2025

“Adolescence” and me

 The British TV series “Adolescence” touched something very deep in me, and, I think, shows something very deep in America, and the world.  Rather than reveal anything about the story, I would like to write what it activated in me, and perhaps gives some understanding about America. 

My father was the son of an Italian immigrant who was a coal miner in a small coal mining town in central Illinois. He was a violent, abusive Italian who would get drunk and beat his wife, and I suppose his children, including my father. When my father became old enough he intervened one night against his father and fought him.  His father later died of either an accidental death or suicide, I don’t know which. Long before I was born. 

My father swore he would never lay a hand on his wife when he became a man. And he never hit my mother. Good for him. He was many good things, and he was better than his father. 

But he was a domineering macho Italian man with an explosive temper. And he did “spank” me and my sister. Like the boy in “Adolescence” I was not a hard boy, I was a soft boy, I drew, I read. My father tried to toughen me, but what he did was terrorize me. His father passed his pain on to my father who then passed his own pain on to me. 

And I grew up, and was lucky to seek a spiritual path, and did the spiritual and personal growth worked needed to be a good, non violent man. 

But still today I deal with sudden and inappropriate bursts of anger. A lifelong goal of mine is to be a peaceful, loving man. And I am. But I am disturbed by my sudden feelings of anger. 

So my personal story is told in a metaphorical way in this remarkable TV series, “Adolescence “. No, my story doesn’t involve any murders.  The deep impact to me of this show was a blinding truth - we see the anger and it is real and has an effect, but what is really there is the pain. 

The story also reveals the terrible effect that the social media “manosphere” has on young boys trying to understand how to be a man.  And they are told to be domineering, muscular, hard hearted, scary, cruel. And they don’t know different.  So they try. 

Another terrible thing to see is the deep humiliation and pain of being called, and being, an incel - an involuntarily celibate male, totally emasculated, humiliated, in pain, and angry. I remember that emasculating humiliation because I was an “incel” well into my twenties. I was just too awkward and shy. 

I believe a lot of America’s MAGA political movement is based on men, and women, not knowing how to be a man. They have absorbed the idea of being a domineering, threatening, “muscular” chauvinist is the way to be a real man. They are just older adolescents who have not yet discovered what a man is. 

They are wrong. If they would like a better model they could learn a lot by the life and teachings of Jesus, or Buddha.  Any model of manhood that does not include empathy, compassion, integrity, responsibility, honor is a false model. 

Our country and the world are in a deep spiritual crisis, one that sees cruelty as manliness and sees compassion as weakness. And we are all in a fundamental paradigm shift into a true masculinity, one of a balance of masculine doing and building in harmony with more feminine energies of feeling and caring. It’s a big shift. But I believe it is in process. 

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Let’s get MAD

 Let’s get MAD!  Make America Decent! 

The Orange Contagion and his MAGA worshippers and his billionaire greedshits are people without basic human decency. They actually believe that empathy and compassion are signs of weakness. They celebrate and get pleasure from being cruel, and frightening, and greedy, and … indecent. 

America needs to rise up.  And be decent. 

We have always had terribly misguided people in America. From the slavers in pre Civil War south, to Jim Crow Racists in pre Civil Rights South, to misogynists and racists and xenophobic isolationists and Nazis and … and …  all those who are so terrified of people different than their own little clubs. 

We are decent people. The people who are politically indecent are often personally quite decent people. The tyrants want to convince decent people to be indecent to each other. 

It’s a filthy game they are playing to get us to be less than who we really are. 

Let’s get MAD. Make America Decent. 

Thursday, April 10, 2025

Why evangelicals have been suckered by Trump

Frank Schaefer, reformed Evangelical propagandizer, tells us why Evangelicals will “never turn against” Trump.  Apparently, their primary passion is the return of Christ.  And they see Trump as an unjust king, raised up by God to purify the wicked world of the works of Satan.  They point to biblical references of other asshole kings doing the work of God, I guess.  They see modern, liberal America as in the grips of Satan, and nothing so terrifies evangelicals as women, people of color, gay and transgender people, and acts of compassion and empathy for people unlike themselves.

So, the policies and cruelty of the Orange Contagion mean nothing to them.  They have been trained by their "prophets" that this is all necessary for the return of Christ, with I guess for the apocalypse paving the way.  Well, they are well on their way to creating the apocalypse, sadly for all of us, including them.

I think the “Prophets” and the gazilionaire leaders support him to implement Project 2025 (which gives them enormous power and $$$$$$) - and the faithful just swallow the con. 

By the way, I believe the Second Coming of Christ is supposed to be the emergence of the way of Christ, taught by Jesus, becoming part of the hearts and actions of Christians, and parts of the hearts and actions of all of us.  I think that the life and teachings of Jesus are the point of the life and teachings of Jesus, and his message was "I am the way", meaning, live that life Jesus has shown you and taught you. Become like Christ. He is not some unattainable divinity but rather a way-shower, a divine inspirational model and teacher of the way to be and to live. 

But, too many of today's "Christians" have managed to think that bigotry and cruelty are what Christianity is about. But those are the energies of their religious propagandists. 

So, here we are.... and the biggest con artist in our history says THANKS SUCKERS…send more money. 

Tuesday, April 8, 2025

And now for some really really big big big bombs….

 “ In the largest single deployment of stealth bombers in U.S. history, the Pentagon has sent six B-2 “Spirit” aircraft to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.”

Trump is threatening massive bombings oh Iran. Why?  To distract from the calamitous stock market collapse due to his simpleton stupidity of massive across the board tariffs. And?

Oh yes, because what else is a six year old, mentally ill dumbass to do with the most powerful military, with the most destructive really really big big big  bombs to do except watch them go BOOM… wow, isn’t that cool?

The fate of the world is in the hands of elected Republicans. He must be impeached and convicted and imprisoned. Only they can do it.  

MAGA, please stop hating us long enough to prevent WWIII and the second Great Depression. They are coming. 

Please wake up.  Please stop hating. It’s up to you. He is long gone. 

Monday, April 7, 2025

Tariffs … what next?

 I think this is how massive across the board tariffs work:

Tariffs … rising prices … layoffs … bankruptcies … 
unemployment escalates … recession … more bankruptcies … 
unemployment explodes … depression … 
welcome back to the ‘30’s …

Dumbass. 

We keep warning … and warning … but they voted for him …
And they keep worshipping him … and supporting him …
And trusting him … and obeying him … 

They don’t know the news… they only know Fox and other liars…

Please wake up…

Only Congress can stop this suicidal insanity.  But it is all upon the Republicans in the House and Senate. Democrats will vote yes to a law that only Congress can impose tariffs. Of course. That leaves the fate of the world in Republican hands. They have to stand up to violent MAGA subservience and the rage of the Orange Contagion. They must. This is not about re-elections, it is about avoiding depression and American and world wide economic collapse. 

Republicans, if you exist, just learn, let go, turn on him for goodness sake…

If they can’t muster the spine to impose Congressional authority, all that is left is the 25th amendment … he’s batshit crazy

Saturday, April 5, 2025

Americans are waking up

 Today millions of Americans all across the country marched in protest against the fascism of Trump and his hatchet man, Musk. America is realizing what the crap is happening. America is pissed. America is no longer feeling crushed and resigned to having America stolen from us. 

Fuck the fascists. This is our country. 



Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Contagion

 Many things are contagious.  COVID, Measles, polio etc. - diseases of course are contagious. But there are emotional contagions as well.  Blame, rage, hatred, bigotry, revenge are all contagious.  There were parts of America that were having difficulties and were vulnerable to a charismatic celebrity populist politician who was filled with rage and resentment and hatred and bigotry.  All he had to do was be his dark and contagious self and he drew others who had similar feelings to him. And the contagion grew.  The permission to express rage, revenge, bigotry exploded and turned into a populist uprising and installed the person I call the Orange Contagion into the White House in 2016.


Then he lost the election in 2020.  But a terrible thing happened. His own rage, vengeance, bigotry, hatred grew exponentially and those destructive energies inflamed those in the country that wanted to feel those same things. And he narrowly won the White House again in 2024.

So, now he is president again.  But all he has is his anger and vengeance.  Yippee! say his contaminated followers.  But ... but ... what the heck is he doing?  He is hurting everybody, even his contaminated cult followers.  Was this what they expected?  

There are other contagions that can happen.  Courage, desire for goodness and truth, outrage at the indecency, corruption, incompetence, ignorance, and stupidity of the Orange Contagion, and his acolytes. I see these contagions catching fire.

I believe that America is getting what it needs the most - an awakening.  An awakening of the desire and conviction that America is the land of goodness, truth and beauty. and that we are not the land of Roman emperors Tiberius, Nero, or Caligula. The whole idea of the Founding Fathers was to prevent the rise of Caesars, to overthrow the King Georges.  And here we are with one of the stupidest people in American political history who literally thinks he has been made king.

Humpty Dumpty is about to have a great fall, I believe.  Enough is enough.