The Aunt Jemima Backstory

With the ongoing protests about the insane level of police violence and racial injustice in the USA, suddenly Aunt Jemima is back in the news. A false meme instantly began pushing a complete BS story about Nancy Green all over social media.  Then I received the same meme in an email.

You can imagine that I, your humble fact-checking and “backstories” writer, just had to make this post.

What’s REALLY In The Mueller Report?

OK, so the Mueller Report is finally completed.  Will we see it?  Will Congress?  Or are we supposed to just take the word of an extreme right-wing political hack expressly placed into office by tRump to protect himself? “Coverup General” Barr “auditioned” for the roll by stating on record that a President could not, by definition, obstruct justice.  Because he IS the law?  What?  Nixon said something similar, and we know how that worked out.

At least 16 members of the tRump campaign have had over 100 contacts with at least one  hostile government who has hacked into our voting machines, electric grid, and voter rolls: Russia.  Mueller’s investigation led to the indictments of 34 people thus far, including eight Americans affiliated with the tRump campaign or administration, and three Russian companies.

And, with the Mercer family’s Cambridge Analytica sharing the most confidential and prized stolen Facebook data and polling information with the Russians — so the Russians could maximize their influence and install tRump — we can suspect that he was placed into our White House as an asset.  Yet, magically, Barr says “no collusion”.

The Matryoshka

I started doing this intense research for my next post, and came across this most excellent blog. You must read this to get a feel for all the Russia ties to tRump.

This American Carnage

This is merely a consolidation of other’s investigative work.  All credit to @Khanoisseur, @20committee, @Funder, @LouiseMensch, @pwnallthethings, the infamous Jester, and James S Henry.

A matryoshka doll ,  also known as a Russian nesting doll, or Russian doll, is a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside another.

Six degrees of separation is the idea that all living things and everything else in the world is six or fewer steps away from each other so that a chain of “a friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It was originally set out by Frigyes Karinthy in 1929 and popularized in an eponymous 1990 play written by John Guare.

When attempting to navigate the web of Donald Trump’s business dealings and relationships with the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, and…

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Conscious Resistance

Thich Nhat Hanh has some good insights into conscious resistance.

“Mindfulness must be engaged  Once we see that something needs to be done, we must take action. Seeing and action go together. Otherwise, what is the point in seeing?”

“Nonviolence is not a set of techniques that you can learn with your intellect,” he goes on to say. “Nonviolent action arises from the compassion, lucidity and understanding you have within.” – Thich Nhat Hanh, At Home in the World

I AM Part of the Resistance (by Thomas J. Gray)

UPDATE: I’ve received notification by Thomas J. Gray that he is the author of this piece.  By the time I had seen it on facebook, it had been added to – so I am updating this post to more accurately reflect the original wording.  I liked much of what had been added, and I understand that in the passion of those first horrible days, many felt similar feelings and simply added their own parts.   This phrase was added:

The survival of our democracy and our way of life demands that we stand and resist. So I will Resist. I AM part of the Resistance, and I AM proud of it.

Here is the original, by Thomas J. Gray:

Why Putin Wanted to Elect Trump

Hidden beneath all the chaos of the first three weeks of the Trump administration — the  questionably legal Executive Orders, the inept wording and rollout of the Muslim ban, the tweet ravings against actors and department stores, the insults against our intelligence community and our allies, the provocation of China, the assault on our environment,  and the laughable outright lies uttered by spokespeople — there continues the quietly rowing scandal of the Trump team’s close ties with Russia.

We can presently recognize several reasons why Putin wanted Trump as US President, but since the Director of the CIA has been replaced with a Trump loyalist, the investigation has probably officially been stopped and silenced.   However, many in the intelligence community do not trust the Trump administration because of their many ties to Russia,  and these agencies are providing the United States media information via internal leaks which may help us save democracy.  

17 different intelligence agencies have confirmed that Russia manipulated our election to place Trump in the White House.  But why?

Our first rule always applies: Follow The Money.

But let’s dig deeper…initially, there appear to be three reasons: Territory, Oil Money & Sanctions, and Influence over & Disruption of the United States.

So for now, lets start by taking a brief look at the backstory of the USSR and it’s empire.

Trump Now Needs An Attack On US Soil

Donald Trump, a man who lost the popular vote by nearly 3 MILLION voters and yet has been installed in the White House, is a very unpopular person, both in the United States and world-wide.  There are huge protests at his radical executive orders,  massive resistance to his fringe far-right ideology, and challenges to his lies and policies in the public and in the courts.  This man is desperate to “win” rather than govern.  And he needs something to help him “win”.

Donald Trump needs a distraction, a way to unite people behind him, and a way to consolidate his power.  Donald Trump and the GOP NEED a terrorist attack on the United States.

Increasingly, more people are echoing the fear that this administration will orchestrate ( or allow) some type of “terrorist attack”.  We all certainly hope one does not happen; innocent people should not pay the ultimate price in an authoritarian regime’s grab for power.   There are known steps usually taken by authoritarian and fascist regimes to maximize their control in  any “event.”  So before such an event happens, we need to communicate these to as many people as we can:

• Be ready for the administration to call for arrest or internment of  certain people.
• Be aware of manipulation. Don’t fall for their political theater and hyper-patriotic rhetoric.
• Do your best to think critically and rationally. They’ll be counting on people to be frightened and angry.
• We’re going to need to stand together in unity.  The administration will try to divide us and turn us against one another.  Don’t let them.  We’ll need to be skeptical, caring, and level headed… and #Resist the power grab that would follow such an attack.

What benefit would this administration get from an attack?

The History Behind the 2016 Coup

Sometimes it’s challenging to decide where to start with a Backstory.  History’s threads weave through a lot of current events.  But the coup of November 2016 has a somewhat clear place to start.  Let’s look at a bit of history for the backstory.

In 1933, wealthy right-wing  corporatists conspired to execute a coup and oust FDR, disliking his New Deal policies of helping the poor, ending child labor – and his decision to stop using the US Military to support oppressive corporations like United Fruit in the third world.

Their goal was to emulate the corporate fascism of Hitler and Mussolini that was happening in Europe at that time, instead of what was shaping up to become a liberal democracy.

General Smedley Butler

They approached Marine General Smedley Butler, the most highly respected Military officer in the US at the time,  for assistance — but they guessed wrong.  He remained loyal and gathered details, then, reported the treasonous conspirators.  The attempted coup, now often called The Wall Street Putsch,  failed.  There were some hearings, but, the House was reluctant to investigate such wealthy pillars of society.  In fact, being wealthy, the plotters were not held to account. (If you do a search for “FDR coup Gen Smedly Butler”online, you’ll find a large amount of information.) For the most factual read,  Here are transcripts of General Butler’s testimony and later interviews giving tons of detail.

Next time, a more subtle plot had to be devised.

Wealthy corporatists  came up with a devious plan, slowly building their control over government over several decades through electing conservative Republicans and “Blue Dog” Democrats.

RIP Democracy – Staying in Love and Finding Our Courage

I haven’t wanted to write this, or even voice it.  The pain and shock is still too raw, and everyone I know is suffering anxiety, stomach troubles, depression, and sleepless nights from the recent “election”.

I don’t want to destroy any shreds of hope that all my friends are clinging to… “We’ll run this person in 2018.”  “We’ll run that person in 2020.”

Really?  You think so?  Really?

Today the only thing I have to to offer is that by remaining rooted in compassion, and refusing to conform to the new regime of cruelty and ignorance, we each can be a force for good.  We may be called upon to help our neighbor being accosted by racists, we may have to help families flee their homes.  We may have to stand up to militarized police, as some of us are doing right now at Standing Rock.  And like our brothers and sisters and Standing Rock, many of us will be injured, arrested, and it’s quite likely that some of us will be killed in the process. Corporate control has already been bad, as we’ve seen police attack meditators during the Occupy protests and praying Water Protectors at Standing Rock.  It’s been bad, but with at least a few voices in government standing for common decency and compassion.

I hope I’m wrong.  I hope there’s something I’ve missed.  But as a student of human nature and a student of history, what I’m seeing is like a slow-motion car wreck.  Because it appears that the last impediment to complete corporate control in the USA will be removed on  Jan 21.

And by reminding ourselves that we can remain a voice for the voiceless, and reminding ourselves that only 25% of eligible voters actually voted for this regime, we can recall that most people in the US are decent, good people.  There may be comfort in knowing that others in repressive regimes have made a difference for the downtrodden.  We can do the same. 

Raising our voices for justice will be required.  Remaining rooted in compassion will be essential.

Essential… because things are going to get intense.

Because I do believe that the dream of a United States is one an equal and just society, where every person has value – that dream is over.

I wish I didn’t believe this.  Today I see no solution that can be accomplished by rules, procedure, or voting in its present gerrymandered, suppressed, form.   And being someone who always looks for solutions and a way to stay positive, this is especially painful for me; I’m profoundly sorry.  And my heart is broken.

For the courageous amongst us, please read on.

A New, Delicate Balance of Activism and Love

Those who are paying attention are aware that the US government will be taken over by true fascism come Jan 21. A pro-torture, pro-war, racist, white nationalist, anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti LGBTQ, anti-civil rights, anti-free speech regime has committed a coup (with the help of far-right elements within the FBI and Russian hackers). According to the NSA, the 2016 elections were hacked and manipulated  — even though the majority of citizens are repulsed by their ideas.  And even though their opponent has, at this writing, about 1.5 MILLION more votes, and counting.

Those in government and the press have accepted the results and are readying us to comply with the new fascism.  But we will not.

We are now being called to walk in a very specific state of consciousness: we who are loving, caring, people cannot allow ourselves to be drawn down into the hate and violence of the tRump regime and  his “brownshirt” supporters. But neither can we just hope that meditation, staying positive, and remaining centered will protect the defenseless.  History shows us that all our beautiful energy cannot always stop monsters.