Tag: democrats

 

For the USA in our traditionally binary political construct third party candidates don’t usually have much traction, and RIGHT NOW, they can be disrupting.

 

Too late for Third-Party Candidates.

I’ll be the first one to tell you that the USA does actually need a third-party option, because the binary system we have is indeed flawed.  But that does not mean that RIGHT NOW is the optimal time for a third option, because it is not – and that is heartbreaking.  Then again, the political climate and lack of understanding of this process by the majority of the collective is what put us in this situation we are currently experiencing.

So, what is the problem?  The problem is that a third-party candidate won’t win, period.  But they could very well destroy the campaign of any left or right party candidates – depending on where these third-party candidates seem to pander towards on the political spectrum.  Yes, third party candidates can come from a high mixture of political leanings.  For example, a right-leaning person peppered with some left-leaning attributes, or vice versa – and anything in between.

But the fact is that RIGHT NOW in 2024 a third-party candidate, even if the candidate himself or herself is not aware of this – they can literally destroy our democracy.  Does it sound hyperbolic?  I wish it was.  In this case a third-party candidate would resonate with some of the more undecided, or least savvy group of the voting block – and even with some who just go third party “because they don’t like” either left or right option.

But guess where those third-party votes would go?  They go nowhere, except to decrease the number of votes from either left or right party candidate.  Yes, I repeat it on purpose.  Why?  Because at this point in our history YOU as a voter really need to understand what the GOP and Democrat candidate platforms are really about, and what are they actually advocating for.  I am not going to tell you how you should vote – I am telling you that your real options in 2024 for the USA are the ones from the larger parties.  And no, I don’t like it either.

 

This Point in American History.

Probably you have heard by now about some of the controversy surrounding third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK) and his brain-eating worm.  That, surprisingly, is the least problematic part of his entire platform.  He has a lot of fringe views that are too extreme even for some of the most extreme voters from either side.  Yet, they resonate with some of those who are missing context on what it’s been proposed by RFK.  For example, his championing of anti-vaccination.

But let’s for a moment go back in history, when Kayne West threw his hat for the US Presidency in 2020 – he lost obviously.  But it was likely meant to persuade a lot of democrat voters to leave the party and follow him – even if Kanye never really realized that he was just another element on the presidential campaign strategies from his opposition.  In fact, to disrupt the larger opposition candidate.  For this we have to understand that political campaigns from the candidate and their opposition are very complex, and depending on how shrewd they are, their tactics can be mind-blowing indeed – for better or worse.

I’ll finish today’s article by saying this.  In the USA we have two choices for the 2024 election.  One choice is facing criminal charges – right now, and losing his case on the merits – and might get prison time.  And has 90+ other criminal charges, his previous cabinet disavowed him at various degrees, and a large number of his circle were found guilty of crimes.  The other option is the incumbent President and he has none of the baggage the other candidate is contending with.  It should be an obvious choice, but apparently that level of understanding still seems varsity-level for many voters.

Although Incumbent President Biden is not perfect (in reality nobody is perfect), the improvement in America is actually palpable, and many of the popular things right-wing leaders are taking credit for at all levels of government, are the exact same they voted against!  Don’t take my word for it, the voting record is open for anybody who wishes to review it.  Here, so you don’t have to google it (unless you want to).  This is for the US House of Representatives and this is for the Senate.  Find out if your favorite politician is lying to your face.

Spoiler alert, many are lying to your face – and insulting your intelligence.  By adding some third-party candidates who have a snowball chance in hell of wining allows these toxic elected leaders who are destroying your life to remain unchallenged – because mathematically they are erasing the competition by enabling these distracting candidates to syphon votes away from their opposition.  How?  Well, for starters you can see if a third candidate is being propped by a party as a” better choice” for their opposition.  Yes, it can be THAT obvious.

I’ll be writing more about this topic, and how this adds to the larger topic of Authoritarian Propaganda – because we are all stuck with it.  Even if you want to look away it does not matter, because this reality will engulf you too.  Meanwhile I invite you to read my book Authoritarianism & Propaganda the Puppet Master Tools, or my many articles, so you can see how history is repeating – and what YOU can do about it.  HLC

 

Authoritarian chapters in world history are repeating, and the red flags have been waving for a while now.  However, it seems that many continue to dismiss them.

 

Authoritarian red flags are abundant.

Authoritarians tend to look as though they “suddenly” rose to power.  That’s not the case, they simply followed the path of least resistance to people’s biases.  This actually can take a long time in some instances, but it is based on normalizing the insanity of their rhetoric.  Soon enough, those who were not paying attention will realize they were asleep at the wheel.

I can ask right now many westerners, and that includes many Americans a simple question.  Who is the current, and duly elected president of the United States of America?  And a very high percentage of the population I’ve cited will give you the wrong answer.  By the way, it is President Joe R. Biden – and he has been the US President since he won the election in 2020.

Authoritarian and adversarial regimes will want you to think that is not the case.  Or that he was not duly elected.  In fact, it is part of their official narrative.  As a rule of thumb, if you think that something might be against the USA, then listen to the state-sponsored propaganda from an adversarial regime.  If it matches the words coming out of the mouth of your favorite talking head, that should perk your ears up.

Authoritarians, “authoritarians-wanna” be, and their useful foolish acolytes are fairly easy to spot – surprise!  They will have any if not all of these attributes I’m about to mention, either as a person or as a collective.  Of course, an authoritarian is only as powerful as their followers, so if their acolytes subscribe to that behavior, then it becomes a multiplier – although it is a lot more fragile than they realize.

This is a non-all-inclusive list, but should get you started:

·       They are petulant, which will display their obvious narcissism.

·       They are wimps.  They will have a thin skin for criticism, and will retaliate ten if not million-fold for any little bit of criticism.

·       They will gaslight their own supporters, they will ask you not to believe your lying eyes or ears – and let alone do your own research.

·       They will “unify” their acolytes, but they will be very divisive with everybody else.  Even former acolytes who fell out of favor will be severely punished – even if through words or any other form of humiliation.

·       They are NEVER wrong – in their minds, and will do any types of mental gymnastics to justify their rationale.  Which usually lacks substance or merits.

·       They will have no shortage of legal trials or other history of somebody who has been F-in-the-A by them, literally and figuratively.  They will always claim innocence.

·       They will ask for immunity to do whatever they want, because they intend to do what they want without any limits or accountability.

·       They will insult their opposition, give them sophomoric nicknames, and generally surround themselves with people who are just as shallow as they are.

·       They will surround themselves by “yes men and women” – because they cannot take criticism, and this by the way is unsustainable, because then all these spineless people become a rubber stamp to their narcissism.

·       They will objectify men and women, and especially attractive people will be paraded more as trophies and a commodity, rather than a person.

·       They will dehumanize others outside their circle, and even their own insiders will be punished if for some reason they are outside the circle of obedience.

 

 

Are you placing yourself on the wrong side of history?

I can go on with my list, but hopefully that will help the mind-wheels to start turning.  In my book Authoritarianism & Propaganda the Puppet Master Tools I expand on this topic.  If you have fallen victim to this trend, don’t beat yourself up – for too long.  But do something about it.  This is what you can do:

Stop giving an authoritarian your undivided attention and loyalty, because you don’t mean jack-s-t to them already, and the very second you become inconvenient to them you’ll be fittingly disposed.  In fact, you’ve probably have seen many on their orbit who had a high position being disposed of, very unceremoniously, and often in a cruel manner to be “made an example” for others.

When somebody asks for unlimited loyalty, that is a red flag – because that means they will ask you do some stuff you will probably regret later.  If you don’t take heed and still keep doing whatever that you are doing to support the authoritarian despite the fact your life just got f-ked – well, they love that, because that means you’re exactly the kind of dumb muscle they need to keep their narcissistic existence from collapsing.

The catch is that authoritarianism is not sustainable.  Not one authoritarian in history has thrived forever, their circle of trust became a circle of obedience, and little by little it shrank to the point they were all against each other.  Yes, the same team who was first “against the rest of the world” – becomes a dog-eat-dog bunch.  How to defeat and prevent this from taking over your life is by paying attention to the red flags I mentioned.  HLC

 

The puppet master is the shadowy figure or entity that is actually controlling the entire debacle, even if this control is designed to be utter chaos.

 

The face tends to remain anonymous.

On my book Authoritarianism & Propaganda the Puppet Master Tools, I help you discover this Puppet Master.  And spoiler alert, it might be a bunch of puppet masters behind the scenes competing for power.  The catch is that most people will never really get to know who it is actually pulling the strings.  It is designed to be that way.

Every authoritarian in history has one thing in common, they are all insecure.  They disguise themselves as strong leaders.  If they are men, they will actually be wimps, and winers, and thin skinned pedantic loud creatures who far from being a “man version” – are really very insecure children trapped in a larger often loud-mouthed body.  These are perfect vehicles for the puppet masters to enact their agenda.  Why?

Let’s use for example a grown man who is a victim of toxic masculinity.  Anyone who thinks that being the loudest and foul-mouthed person is a sign of masculinity already lacks awareness to function as a person who enacts critical thinking and intellectual honesty.  In other words, it is very easy to portrait themselves as an aggressive asshole, or a fantastical macho-version.  In reality, it actually takes self-control to be able to maintain temperance.  You can call that maturity.  But maturity its inconvenient to a puppet master.

Authoritarians tend to lack that level of maturity – even if they are very calculating, and they gravitate towards others who follow suit.  Which it is an oxymoron, because they think they are in charge, yet they are perfectly okay to even pay money for someday to insult them – making them think that it is what makes a tough person.  Trust me, if your life is indeed complex and challenging, you don’t need to pay somebody to artificially induce more drama in your life.  If you do, then your life is already too shallow and meaningless.

That’s what the Puppet Master seeks.

The puppet master needs people who are shallow enough to be pretentious, loud, aggressive, obedient, and likely violent – but too dumb to realize they are actually puppets for somebody else.  The funny thing is that their ego will make it impossible for them to realize they are being manipulated.  And that it is also by design.

Whenever you see any movement in history where men and some women who were convinced that they were in charge under the clout of a dear leader, they will also be prompted to obediently follow directives that are incredibly disgusting and often criminal in nature.  However, since it was enacted “against another” group, they felt vindicated to perpetrate these crimes without thinking much about it, or the victims.

The problem is that we are seeing a rise on these toxic personalities who are actually very vulnerable, but in their minds, they think they are the strongest and most alpha type of vindicators, following a quest that it is bigger than themselves.  They are right it is bigger than themselves, because they are being manipulated.  And guess what?  They are disposable when they become inconvenient.

It is easy to fall for this trap, because sometimes these victims will act as though they have it all figure it out – and even persuade others to follow the same “lessons.”  But once you dig a bit – and I mean it won’t take long because they tend to be very shallow – you’ll realize that all the spewed bravado it is more of a mechanism of defense, because no matter how “good they are” – they never like themselves, because they are not being themselves, they are just being the version they think was acceptable.  The result is that they are always chasing that higher high.

What does that mean?  It means that if a person is shallow, it does not matter what they achieve it will never be enough.  Because they have never actually become the person they are meant to be, the puppet master’s mission is to prevent them from figuring out WHO they were actually meant to be, and keep them obedient to an agenda that it is not even on their best interest.  But perpetually convince them it very much is.  HLC

 

Insider threats can be witting or unwitting.  But they both aid the adversary into achieving their goals.  Today this is happening more often than people think.

 

Expanding on this topic.

On my previous article I mentioned that there is at least one elected leader who is repeating adversarial state-sponsored talking points verbatim.  Sadly, that person is not the only one, and adversarial talking points are being parroted by too many people who have a significant level of placement and access in higher offices.  And of course, this is music to the ears of those people leading nations who want to get rid of the United States of America as a premier world power.

What some people fail to realize is that they might have convinced themselves that they are actually working, or even sacrificing for their best interests, and the interests of their community.  However, in reality they are being manipulated in ways they cannot begin to comprehend.  And yes, it is designed to be cryptic enough for them to be confused.  That’s also why this level of mass manipulation tends to be so effective.

We all have biases; some are more controllable than others.  And based on the environmental circumstances, some of these biases might become invisible even to ourselves as we normalize certain traits – kind of like hiding in plain sight.  This can be subtle enough that it goes unnoticed for years, sometimes it will be a bit starker, and an epiphany might follow.

For example, group mentality in their environment could prevent people from breaking their bias shackles.  Instead, the desire to find the truth will be replaced with willful ignorance.  Of course, the correct answer would be to warrant pragmatic analysis.

Make no mistake, the world is a lot more complex and intricate than what you and I (or any of us for that matter) are combined.  And there are entities and people who are banking on the fact most people will feel so overwhelmed by even thinking about it that they will simply look away and let willful and blissful ignorance take the reins of their lives.  That too its designed to be that way.  There is no easier battle to win than the one the opponent forfeits.

But that is only one layer to the equation.  The adversarial forces realized that it is easier to defeat their perceived foe if they are divided.  And paradoxically, this division happens by “uniting” a core segment of those who will ultimately become divisive against everyone outside this “circle of trust.”  The “circle of trust” will become a “circle of obedience,” and any outsider will automatically be viewed as a dissident, and from there things only accelerate exponentially.

It all starts with a Bias.

Biases are highly exploitable, and we tend to look at “other people’s biases” – and point them out – but we tend to be very lousy at seeing those very same biases affecting us when the mirror is presented in front of us.  Why?  Well, because it can be traumatic, it forces a person to see the reality of what they don’t want, or are not “quite ready” to confront yet.

This of course is wonderful for the propagandists who want to move your perception of what is acceptable or unacceptable.  An insider threat can be witting, knowingly doing something bad.  But often it is easier to persuade a person to do something stupid if they are convinced that they are vindicated to do whatever it is that they are persuaded to do.  Even if this action is against others, or even their best interests.

People hate being pointed out that there is wrong, and that “egocentric” level of stubbornness can be extremely valuable to those who are manipulating us.  A narcissist is paradoxically a person with very low self-esteem.  And they can easily be manipulated if a bias – usually their own vanity gets stroked the right way.  A certain compliment, a certain flattering “observation” – or whatever behavior or observation that can otherwise serve as a mechanism of defense for their ego should they be put on the spot.  Those are incredibly powerful catalysts to move rhetoric into action.

How can this be achieved?  It depends on the person, but if a person has an exploitable bias, then their proclivity to follow a charlatan’s lead will not be a bridge too far.  In other words, if a person is already preempted to believe any sort of unfalsifiable narratives, doctrines, or even allegories – then by providing a fraction of plausibility for a more “defined” narrative it will be a lot easier to be accepted at face value.  Even if the definition of this narrative is conjecture at best.

Pair that with the collective understanding or belief system from everybody else involved, and this will be a very easy transaction for any entity who wants to exploit the bias a person exhibits.  The bias itself is almost irrelevant, it is more important for them to assess your willingness to accept something divorced from reality at face value.  That’s how this insider threat manipulation starts.  HLC

 

There is much to be said about group mentality whenever people feel they are part of a movement bigger than themselves.  Yet it can evoke pride, or manipulation.

Is a rally a good or a bad thing?

Short answer, it depends on who is running this rally.  For the purpose of this article, we are focusing on political rallies.  This is nothing new, and we’ve seen people going out spending their time and often also their hard-earned money to support and view their candidate of choice.

Some people are extremely devoted, some are more pragmatic.  You can usually see who is who by the level of merchandise and regalia they will carry.  In the United States of America that support-through merch is most definitely prevalent on right-wing circles.  That does not mean that left-leaning folks will also drape themselves in left-wing regalia; but for America at this point in history it is just nowhere near as the right wing-folks.

And this regalia is important for many different reasons.  And, no, simply supporting a candidate by getting a bunch of merch is not the only metric that can be extrapolated from it.  The biggest less-conspicuous one is the level of bias a person has regarding their perceived candidate – and whomever they seem to oppose.  For example, is the supporter of a candidate also draped in vulgar or derogatory regalia that is actively depicting the candidate’s opposition?  From an outsider looking in, how much information can we infer from this regalia-draped person?  Let’s find out.

First the obvious, we can infer they “like” whomever is the candidate, but also, they are so enamored with this person that they are willing to become an insult billboard against another human being.  From a purely monetary perspective, it can also show that the person either has disposable income to wear such a disparaging regalia, or if they don’t have disposable income, and still chose to purchase such garments – also shows they are not likely to make savvy money management decisions.

This is great news for manipulators paying attention, because it shows people who make these financial decisions could likely “go a little further” if need be – if they are convinced enough this “investment is on their best interest.”  And that rhetoric to action might be very easily attainable.

Afterall, who else is going to buy that type of merchandise?  Obviously, it is not targeted to the opposition.  Yet for those attending that rally, this level of vulgar display could very well be something that “makes them feel popular” or “accepted” by some of those who find that level of vulgar rhetoric part of this group mentality – as though “something is calling it as it see it” – wow, they even had it in a t-shirt or hoodie form, who would have known?  The people who are monetizing your biases, that’s who.

 

Why am I focusing on merch?

If it is was not obvious, because it is a reliable way to see if people put their money where their mouth is.  Especially for a right-wing rally, you see people camping out hours if not the night prior their candidate of choice pops out – that’s especially true for Trump rallies.

The “uniforms” are disguised as political regalia, the time and effort to show up.  I can include to this expense tally the time off work, the babysitting costs, the entry, and parking fees (even if the event is “free” -somebody is paying for it, the shared bathrooms, the possibility to come across some very weird people among the more moderate crowd – that metric can be easily and visually understood just by some quick math on how much they spent on regalia.

Let’s say for example, there is a couple going to the rally; they got their MAGA hats, shirts, hoodie, flags, signs, and maybe a couple of other trinkets.  How much does it all cost this household?  The hats seem to range anywhere from a few bucks to more than $40, let’s average for a cool $25, the shirts average $20, the hoodies average $35, the flags average $30, and trinket kits average $20.  That’s $130 per person or $260 for this household.  That does not count the time and expense to be there.

And no, I am not talking about admission fees.  For what I’ve gathered, apparently admission is free, unless you want to purchase perks such as been a lot closer to Trump.  In either case, remember that taking a day off from work is already an expense – even if not an obvious one.  But if people want to support their candidate, that’s their choice.

However, not everybody finds this level of support the optimal way to help somebody.  Although left-leaning rallies do happen, it is very unlikely to see the same folks who attend as many rallies as possible from town to town to support the candidate, even if it is very far away from their actual home address.  In the USA, most left-leaning people will show their support either through voting, or if you’re lucky by sending some donations.  Different approaches to support their candidates.  One is more effective, which one do you think that is?

Well, if it was not obvious, the one that does not require a rally.  Because they don’t need to hear it in a group mentality what they understand as their candidate’s policy.  If they understand it, they go “ok, got it, I’ll vote on date such and such” – and they have been doing so.  That $260 figure instead of buying shirts and merch, is instead freed up to donate it to their cause – if they wish to.  Regardless of a rally, if people want to vote, they will go out and vote.

On that note, that is another debacle in its own right.  If you’re an American citizen, don’t be deceived by the fact that some people who don’t subscribe to your political leanings don’t support their candidates in a way they find more effective.  Some people love to be in a crowd with others chanting something that excites them.  Others made up their minds about whether they support a candidate, and will support without purchasing the additional regalia or rally attendance.  HLC

Today in America 03MAR2024 – Half Life Crisis www.halflifecrisis.com

 

There is so much occurring simultaneously in the national discourse that the truth tends to be muddied up.  Today I bring clarity to these many issues.

This article will be broken down into a few parts in order to segment some of the craziness.  It is going to be a bumpy ride, and although it will be a long article, this is the very top of the tip of the iceberg.  An open mind is advisable to read these passages, because it will shed some light on information that tends to be redacted in some news outlets and from the voices of many pundits & other influencers.

The good news is that I am truly independent, therefore I have no political motivation.  I am, however, very much against misinformation, because that affects us all – regardless of which side of the political spectrum we lean towards.  Enjoy the ride!

 

Trump is not “that” rich.

In case this is the first time you see it, Trump had to admit via his attorneys that he does not have the amount of cash he used brag to the entire world he had.  For many of us, realizing that Trump was nowhere as rich as he claimed to be it is not surprising.  It might however finally dissuade a lot of his loyal followers in the MAGA base to finally leave him.  The reason is because many MAGA followers just tolerated his antics because they thought he was a multi billionaire.

In case you were not aware, Trump recently lost two separate civil cases and was ordered to pay several million dollars in compensation.  Most of his supporters still think it is a “witch hunt” perpetrated by President Biden.  Of course that isn’t the case, and these problematic cases of sexual assault and fraud he was found liable in two separate courts, occurred well before the Biden Presidency or the Trump Presidency [for that matter] even started.  Here is a quick synopsis of these two cases.

Both of these cases were handled by his attorney Alina Habba, who has been touted by her peers [meaning other attorneys] as highly incompetent.  Whatever the case, she is to my knowledge the only attorney who has cost her client almost half a billion dollars.

 

Trump’s Civil Fraud Case.

Trump was fund liable from swindling many investors through the span of several years.  Trump was directed to pay $355 million in penalties plus interests.  But the total figure starts at $454 million because it also includes people in Trumps orbit, to include his two elder sons.  The interest for the payments Trump owes each passing day he does not pay is $87,502 – and by the way the verdict took place on February 16, 2024.  So, this figure just keeps climbing more and more.

This case of course found out that he was lying about his wealth and that he overinflated his assets to get loans, and undervalued them when it was time to pay taxes.  The fact is that if he is unable to have this interest rate from rapidly accruing, that on its own is enough to ascertain that he simply does not have the cash to pay, or even to appeal the case.  Trump said he was going to appeal, but he needs to post the money upfront to guarantee he will pay if he loses again.  Which will likely be the case.

The fact is that neither banks, nor attorneys are lining up to support Trump.  Trump also asked to pay only just north of $100 million [or a fraction of what it is required] to appeal.  That was denied to him as it would have been denied to anybody in a similar situation.  Trump went onto making some unusual fund-raising events, which included selling some hideous $400 golden shoes and a $100 cologne that by the way sold-out, but won’t be making it to their customers hands until the Summer.

Another thing that sprouted, even if by proxy, was at least one Go-fund me campaign, and people were contributing to pay the legal fees of this billionaire.  There seems also to be some course of action of utilizing GOP campaign funds for his legal troubles.  But my understanding is that would be highly illegal. Which by the way, there is another case under that premise – this time for paying hush money to a porn star.

Bottomline, Trump said via his attorneys that if he pays the entire amount [even as a bond], which is close to half a billion dollars penalty, he would have to start selling some of his real state.  So, let’s put that in perspective.  Trump was ordered to pay that amount because he was found that he defrauded a bunch of people.  You know, as in taking their money, and now he does not have the money.  In other words, it was spent – not properly invested to grow.  This realization might finally be what turns off some of his base who considered him a financial genius.

 

Trump sexual abuse case.

On May 9, 2003 Trump was found liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll in 1996.  Trump was directed to pay $5 million.  But this case is a lot more nuisance than Trump simply being found liable for sexual assault, which under the New York statutes it is just different language that in fact found Trump liable of raping Carroll.  Yes, they found and were able to provide proof that Trump is a rapist.

What some people might not realize about this case is that the statute of limitations has already expired, and although Carroll was unable to go against Trump back in the 90’s – remember, these were very different times.  We have come a long way to being able to speak truth to power.  For some of us who were alive in the 90’s I can assure you that the world has moved forward by leaps and bounds, yet there are many who want to return back to the most short-sighted blunders in those years.

However, as the story re-surfaced, Trump started bad mouthing Carroll and made some very defamatory remarks against her.  The case went to court, Trump kept making some very low brow and insulting remarks in true Trump fashion style against Carroll – many of these remarks from very prominent platforms.  You know, double down and triple down.  So, the case ended up going to court for defamation.  This of course backfired on Trump, because not only he was stuck with a $5 million award payable to Carrol, but he also got all his sexual abuse past come to light.  It did not end there.

As expected, Trump was not happy at all with this, therefore he double down, and disparaged Carroll again.  And this once again backfired.  Remember, the case was already settled that Trump raped Carroll.  Adding to the miscalculation, Trumps attorney, Alina Habba managed to make things a lot worse for Trump, turning this $5 million original award into a whopping $83.3 million award, as Carroll won her case for defamation again.  It is very likely that Trump was the master mind directing Habba to say whatever is it that she said in the trial.  Of course, that was not a good strategy.

One thing is clear, Trump has not paid a dime yet for either one of these millionaire awards against him.  Which makes you think, if he really was a billionaire, paying off and then appealing could be a lot easier than accruing all this additional debt in interests, not to mention all the negative media attention that it puts on his supposed fortune.  For now, only some of his most fervent MAGA supporters are still onboard and will pay their hard-earned money to help a billionaire pay his legal obligations.  Food for thought.

Credit the link below to the Associated Press (AP) who is tracking Trump’s many criminal and civil cases.  They have a huge team of journalists who can do that in real time; it is only me writing for the Half Life Crisis site at this time.

Tracking the criminal and civil cases against Donald Trump (apnews.com)

Hunter Biden handed GOP House Representatives their own butts.

In a different part of our bizarre political discourse, the GOP have been hell-bent in an unsuccessful effort to impeach President Biden.  Bottomline, they have zero evidence.  If the evidence to impeach Biden existed it would have been plastered all over the planet, and there would be non-stop coverage of it.  That has not happened, nor will it, because what the GOP members are alluding towards simply does not exist.

In an effort to find some compromising links to Joe Biden, the GOP has been very adamant on pursuing dead-end leads related to the President’s son, Hunter Biden.  For context, Hunter Biden is a recovering addict, and in the past, he had done some shenanigans, and has gotten in some trouble before.  However, he has always made a conscientious effort to keep his father out of the spotlight, because he understands how important this is to his father’s public service.

For context Hunter Biden was still a young boy when Biden was elected to his first term in Congress.  Fast forward, there have been a lot of allegations trying to tie Hunter Biden to his father.  One of those sources was a former FBI informant who also was recently arrested because he was working with Russian intelligence in a concerted effort to interfere in US politics.  And yes, that was the GOP’s star witness.

For some time, the GOP have been trying to corner Hunter Biden in many insidious ways.  Even having sexually explicit images of him shown in the House Floor by Georgia Representative Majorie Taylor Greene.  Yes, that happened!  She showed what could be best described as revenge porn showing nude photos of Hunter Biden engaging in sexual intercourse during an official hearing.

And to add insult to injury, the GOP controlled House of representatives wanted to have Hunter Biden testify in a closed-door session – even though they had made this matter public to the entire country as the story of the century.  Well, this was originally rejected, and Biden even showed up to Congress when they were deliberating about holding him in contempt of Congress – yet the GOP rejected the option of Hunger to testify in front of the whole country right there and there.  You know, calling their bluff.

Fast forward to last week, and Hunter Biden did show up to a closed-door session, and handed the House GOP butts to them.  The transcript is pretty long, but it is worth reading.  The GOP Representatives tried to spin it as though it was a win, but for anybody with a 4th grade reading comprehension, you would be able to identify what the reality of the situation is all about.  And the fact that it was political theater came full circle.

All this waste of taxpayer money and congressional man hours was nothing but a gigantic waste of time many of us realized years ago.  There is no actual evidence to impeach Biden.

I recommend reading the entire transcript on the link below.  It’s pretty long, but it is worth it.  It might make you mad, or laugh in a tragically hilarious manner.

Hunter Biden Full Transcript House of Representatives closed door session. www.halflifecrisis.com

 

Reproductive rights are being threatened in the country.

You’ve probably been familiar with the overturn of Roe vs Wade by the Supreme Court that occurred in 2022.  This is of course one of Trump’s supposedly proudest moments.  And yes, this was possible because the three Supreme Court Justices confirmed under Trump were very much in favor of overturning Roe vs Wade – even though they denied during their confirmation hearings to be inclined to do exactly that.

Just like many of us realized that they were going after Roe vs Wade making abortions illegal and a lot more restrictive depending on each state – the situation was not likely going to end there.  How do we know?  Because the indicators of moving a certain “theocratical” political agenda has been plastered on the wall all along.

There is a certain group of “Christian Nationalists” – which is not the same as Christians from all stripes.  In other words, not every Christian is a Christian Nationalist.  Many Christians actually disavow Christian Nationalists as extremists who happen to use Christianity as a platform to push a political agenda.  And Christian Nationalists are not shy about expressing that they want THEIR version of Christianity to be the rule of the land.  In other words, a theocracy based on their particular interpretation.  And yes, many of them are elected leaders.

For better or worse, this is actually a very unpopular stance – and in each and every one of the last several local, state, and national elections, the so called “pro-life” candidates have been defeated or severely underperformed at the ballot.  Why is that?  Because “Pro-Choice” does not equal “Pro-abortion.”  In other words, the majority of Americans understand the difference, and how each case is unique.  Further, they understand that the life and safety of the mother could be at severe risk with certain pregnancy complications.

And of course, most people are not onboard with forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy to full term, if the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest.  Especially considering that some young women get raped while they are still children themselves.  For example, should a 13-year-old be forced to carry to term the child of her rapist?  When Roe vs Wade was overturned, it now makes it illegal for this 13-year-old not be forced to carry a rapist child to term.  Think about that for a second – what if that 13-year-old young lady was YOUR child?

The fact is that what we are observing is authoritarian rhetoric disguised as morality under theocratic rules.  This situation is running rampant in America, and it has been largely normalized.  Why?  Because there are Christians all over the place, even though many fail to realize that their denomination is one of a few thousands in the world.  Yes, there are several Christian denominations, and they don’t agree in a lot of their doctrines – hence they have their own denomination.

Although many Christian denominations agree on certain points, there is a lot more than they disagree with.  Want an example?  Sure, how similar are the doctrines between the Jehovah Witnesses and the Latter-Day Saints?  How similar or different are the rituals between Catholics and Pentecostals?  How about the guys who handle dangerous snakes during service, or those who worship in the nude?

Yes, those are all just a few examples of devoted Christians.  Would you go to the nude service or the venomous snake-handling service?  So, under that logic, then you might not be ok if “a particular” denomination of Christianity becomes the theocratic rule of the land.  That is why there is separation of church and state I the USA.  Also, why churches get a tax exemption as long as they stay off the political discourse.  Although we all know that many churches are not only violating that law, but they are also very cavalier about pushing politics from the pulpit.

Some states have a higher concentration of politically charged religious following.  One of these places is Alabama, where recently, In-Vitro Fertilization or IVF is under attack, because they’re considering the cells in a petri dish being already a person.  Yes, this IVF has JUST become an issue – just a few days ago.  And it is taking traction on other states – mostly red states.  And if you think this is not expanding think again.

And by the way, there are many Christians who used IVF in order to become parents.  Now, this IVF procedure is in jeopardy because some people interpret their scriptures differently, and want to force everybody to interpret them in the same manner.  And yes, it is affecting also law-abiding Christians and non-Christians.

If you are a Christian – especially, if you’re a Christian, you might want to realize that there is a particular denomination which wants to take over the way YOU worship.  Yes, I am serious.  This is happening.  If you want to call them false prophets, or swindlers or opportunists, that’s YOUR choice.  And keep in mind that there is a segment of people who use religion as a way to prevent you from having ANY choice in the near turn.

For example, did you know that there is a bill being proposed in Virginia right now that is endorsed mostly by state-GOP legislators who want to make it a lot harder to get contraception over the counter?  So, think about this for a moment, there are people hell bent in not only limiting your options should a person get an unwanted pregnancy, but they are also making it harder to not get pregnant in the first place!

In other words, they are somehow working towards legislating about sexual intercourse between consenting adults.  I wish I was being hyperbolic, but just like Roe vs Wade and other indicators of theocracy working to replace our democratic system, this very much seems to be in the horizon.  Of course, that most people might not want to see it as such, because when we talk about religion it tends to hit a nerve on a great segment of the population… because they think it is singling THEM out.

Well, that is not the case, the reality is that a few are trying to impose their version of religion onto all of us while using the very same religious protections to hide their agenda, which is to ultimately negate religious freedom to the rest of the country.

There is a lot more to explore on this topic, and I plan on writing a full article and perhaps other additional content on this, because it will become a lot more significant sooner than later.  And if you think there are not people in high positions pushing for this to become the norm, think again.

 

The Supreme Court is perceived as MAGA-biased.

Lately the United States Supreme Court has been perceived as biased by a very large segment of Americans.  The reality is that there is an evident power dynamic difference.  If you have been paying attention, you’ll know that the great majority of the justices are very conservative.  And as I mentioned, three of them were recently confirmed during Trump’s term.

This is a good time to bring current Minority Senate Leader, Mitch McConnell who was the de-facto catalyst to pack the court with highly conservative, and MAGA friendly justices.  And McConnel is also the person responsible for denying President Obama from adding his nominated Justice to the Supreme Court, because that was during Obama’s last year in office.  Yet, McConnel pushed a conservative judge in the last year of Trump’s office.

For any of us paying attention, we realized this tactic from the start.  He was going to pack the courts, not just the supreme court but a lot of other courts in the country – to get a higher level of political advantage with like-minded people.  Some might say that is an unfair assertion, yet the proof to this assessment has come through via many cases that have gravitated towards conservative goals.  IVF is one such case.  There are plenty more, but not many of those cases make it to the national headlines.

But the scrutiny of the conservative Justices has also gathered more momentum after their decision to hear the case for Trump’s eligibility to be in the Colorado ballot.  This of course will put a delay on a resolution for other cases that are related to why the State of Colorado supreme court found that Trump’s election interference and role for the January 6 insurrection makes him ineligible to run for office.

And if you think for a few seconds about this concern to have Trump back in office, it makes perfect sense.  Trump has 91 criminal charges spanning several court cases, has been very vocal about some very divisive rhetoric, he was found to be a fraud and a rapist – and that is just a fraction of the many red flags anybody who is paying attention sees about Trump.  Hence, most Americans voted against him in 2020.  The difference is that he has alienated a lot of his base from that time.  And a lot of his supporters have not been afforded the full story either… so they might jump ship once the truth also reaches their eyes and ears.

Well, unsurprisingly the Justices who were appointed by Trump and other conservative justices are very much onboard with seeing Trump to run for another term, despite the myriad of criminal and civil cases against him.  And this is not me – as the author of this article – trying to put the integrity of the US Supreme Court in question – as far as how objective they are when it comes to political discourse.  This is the common consensus from many people reporting on this topic.

But what I will say is that the rulings and the precedent for each case do raise a lot of questions.  And one of the fears most people have is that there is a clear bias towards one segment of the population and a disenfranchisement of another – an even larger segment of the same population.  The proof is that the most “conservative” doctrines have not been popular at the ballot.  It is especially noteworthy that the MAGA segment of the Republican party is dwindling.  Even though, many remaining MAGAs are still very vocal.

I linked this article to tell you more about the particular case regarding Trump’s eligibility to hold office. Credit to the New York Times.  Even if you don’t agree with them, fact check them with media sources from all political sides – you’ll see the pattern soon enough.

Supreme Court Poised to Rule on Monday on Trump’s Eligibility to Hold Office – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Conflicts continue to ramp up, and they are likely related.

And with the political discourse, we also have to realize that we have a very real linkage to the larger geopolitical stance of the United States on the world stage.  What we have to remember is that what happens in the USA resonates with the rest of the world with ripple effects that are mind-bending to some, and very clearly evident to others who can see the links to these events from a different vantage point.

What does that mean?  It means that even the situations who seen tangentially related at best, or totally unrelated are very much part of the same construct.  They are just not as evident when seeing it from a particular vantage point.  And that would not be a person’s fault, they are just not afforded that vantage point to see the big picture.

For an illustrative example let’s say you’re in a valley, and you are at the bottom of the valley inside a forest.  You might not be able to see the mountains around you, or even what is just a few yards from your vantage point.  But if you climb the mountain, you’ll have a much larger view of the valley and where everting seems to be located.  From there, you will be able to further explore with ease each area because you will have a better idea of how the terrain is laid out.

In geopolitics it is very much the same.  For people who are in their own echo chambers, or political bubbles – they will not be able to see how the events are laid out and how they relate to one another.  The way you can ascend this illustrative mountain is by understanding context.  This context raises your awareness of what is going on, and from there you can see the road leading to each event.  Keep in mind that each stage is going to have an inherited level of complexity, and it is meant to discourage people from keeping on climbing.

When I wrote my book AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools, I provided some tools on how to see this context in ways that will help you climb to a better vantage point.  The geopolitical realm is complex, and it is also very contentious.  And the end result of many adversarial nations is to negate the USA from remaining the premiere nation in the world – and give an open avenue for adversarial regimes to take the USA’s place.  This has been happening for a while, and they will succeed unless we realize what its going on under our own noses.

I’ve said it before and it is worth repeating.  There are insider threats integrated within the confines of the United States of America, and in many countries that are allied or partnered with the USA.  Insider threats come in two big categories:

1. Witting Insider Threats:

These are people who are performing actions and supporting adversarial narratives and carrying out their desires willingly.  In other words, they are very cognizant that what they are doing goes against the USA and its influence in the world.  Even if they disguise themselves as patriotic.

2. Unwitting insider Threat

These are people who are too stupid to realize they are doing everything the witting insider threat is also doing, but they are just not aware they are complicit.  This latter one is a lot more dangerous than the first one, because they are easily manipulated.

And it is worth repeating that there are a lot of people in Capitol Hill and in other prominent platforms who are repeating and parroting those adversarial talking points verbatim!  I will be dedicating specific content to identifying how this works and how to defend against it.  Remember that these insider threats tend to be wolves in sheep’s clothing.  They will seem patriotic and even probably drape themselves in the regalia that screams USA – but they are repeating the points from their adversaries.

An easy way to see if that is the case is by looking at state-sponsored propaganda and news from an adversarial nation.  How do you know it might be an adversarial nation?  Well, if it is solely run by the state, then that means that the freedom of press is non-existent, and all narratives must concur with the government or be silenced.  So that is already a good pointer, because the USA has freedom of speech [at least for now], and you’re able to speak your mind without the government coming to violently retaliate against you and everything you’ve ever loved.

We still have this freedom we are very much taking for granted and there are a lot of nations who have recently lost it.  They didn’t pay attention to the same indicators I am mentioning, and it was likely there was somebody just like me trying to raise awareness, and he or she ended up screaming into a void.  I’m trying to change that trend, and fortunately there are many who see what I am seeing – we are just not communicating together effectively.  That is what I want to change through my writing.  HLC

When Americans are divided and fight one another, who wins?  It is not America for sure, but rather a lot of regimes who want to set a divergent world standard.

 

Are we running towards a new American Civil War?

If you have been familiar with the pages of world history – to include American history, then you would not be surprised to realize that indicators leading to a civil war tend to be very consistent.  I cannot begin to explain how disturbing and dangerous this situation is at this very moment (as I type these words) for American history – and by extension the world.

There is a lot to say and praise about American exceptionalism.  Agree or disagree, like it or not, the United States of America is still the most influential country in the world.  Why is that?  The answer is complex, but it can be summarized in the fact that we are a conglomeration of every culture and heritage spanning the entire world.  There are American citizens who were literally born, or have ancestry linked to every corner on this planet.

Our diversity is our strength as a Nation.  Of course, being an influential nation that sets the standard for equal treatment to all people is inconvenient to a large slew of regimes.  In fact, it is a lot more insidious than that, but we’ll talk more about it in in a little bit – let’s put this thought in context first.  When you have a lot of diversity, it is a lot harder for “group-thinking” and “bubble mentality” to blind people from reality.  In other words, the dialog (or sometimes disagreements) will pose a different point of view – and spark a larger [actual] conversation.  That does not imply that an agreement might be reached, but it will show empirical evidence that there is more than one way of thinking.  That is inconvenient to regimes who require unilateral obedience.

In a civil war there are many factors that play crucial roles in the process leading to conflict.  I call them factors because they are multipliers.  Unrest does not tend to start suddenly, it tends to brew for a long time, and once there is enough dehumanization from one another, the new perceived foe becomes a target, while also forgetting their own humanity.  It is this group thinking that keeps adding to this “us against them” mentality.  Once the communication breakdown is inevitable, then being reasonable becomes a moot point.  The anger and visceral response take full control of each individual person, and it just goes downhill from there.

This is happening in America right now.  And I cannot begin to tell you how painful it is to realize it.  And what makes it even more dangerous – is that there are plenty of people who are blissfully unaware of this danger, and likely won’t realize it until it is too late.  That is unless we can wake up people and diffuse this whole catastrophe from occurring in the first place.  But even if this gets diffused, the less informed segment of the population would remain unaware or even annoyed about “what was the fuzz all about,” or “what people were talking about.”  Sometimes being lucky is not a blessing, it can be a curse of apathy and ignorance.

The lack of dialog in the political discourse, the current cult of personalities for particular people in office is a very disturbing trend many people ignore.  However, for a segment of the population, what was one a solemn institution – regardless of whether you disagree about policy – has become a circus where there is a non-insignificant number of “elected officials” who are constantly spewing divisive points which also happen to be propaganda points from other regimes, specifically designed to divide Americans.  This is a problem, because we are instigated and therefore getting attacked from the inside out.

The difference between the catalyst for this potential new American Civil War and the last is that those who are been enticed to start fighting are not even aware of what they are fighting for.  For the American Civil war in the 1800s it was fought because many people were perfectly ok with slavery.  Many states severed themselves from the United States in order for these “states’ rights” to have people keep other human beings as property.  The mere thought of condoning owning other human beings as property is despicable, and it was a terrible part in world-history, to include American history.  We can’t change the past, but we [collectively] can certainly be responsible for our futures.

And hence, that is what the crux of the matter gets muddied up.  There are countless people who are perfectly fine with trying to destroy other people’s lives – Americans killing other Americans.  Some have not even realized it yet.  But the divisive rhetoric is making it more and more incendiary with every passing day.  I’ve been seeing this situation deteriorate more and more in real time.  And while some are speaking up about it, the solution seems ever so elusive.  Talking with no viable action can perpetuate a problem.  And no, the action I’m speaking about does not imply getting violent against the dissenting group.

 

 

What are the actions needed to diffuse a civil war?

Let’s start with some context.  Civil wars have something in common.  Somebody wants to keep or raise to power.  They achieve this by dividing people under the specific regime, and have them kill each other to keep only loyalists alive so they can pander towards the dear leader for as long as it is convenient to this dear leader.

Did that happen during the American Civil war?  Yes, it did.  There were many poor Southerners who were convinced that anybody with a darker skin tone was inferior to them, and should remain subservient to those with a non-dark complexion.  However, there were very rich plantation owners and other people who actually owned human beings – not every southerner was a slave owner.  In fact, the great majority didn’t.  But those who did own slaves derived their incredible wealth out of the literal exploitation of human beings, who were originally captured overseas and sold as property in the United States.

Slavery, unfortunately, was not only relegated to the South, there were many people in other states who were perfectly ok about owning slaves too.  The American Civil War started because when slavery was to be abolished, many states – who happened to be in the South, wanted to keep human beings as property, then created the Confederacy and severed themselves from the United States.  Which is technically treason, and brought four years of bitter fighting among Americans.  The Union defeated the Confederacy, but this division among Americans has never really healed up.

Link to Buy the book “WOKE & PROUD The Charlatans’ Inconvenience” by J. Marcelo Baqueroalvarez

The reason is because many of them have been lied to, and even though most non-wealthy Southerners fought, they were lied too as well.  I’m not sure they would have been super wired up to fight if they would have been told the truth – which would be akin to the following: “hey you’re fighting and likely dying for these very rich people who want to keep slaves to get richer, and by the way are not fighting themselves in the front lines against the USA, they will mostly be giving orders to you – but YOU, will be doing the fighting and likely dying, while their wealth is being protected by YOU.”

Some southerners did figure that out in the middle of the battle, and the Confederacy had a lot of attrition and desertion.  They realized that the rich folks wanted to have the poor-white folks fighting on behalf of keeping their wealth.  For example, owning slaves was also expensive.  Therefore, there was no shortage of white people who made a meager living doing manual labor.  And because slaves were giving housing and food – however squalid the conditions, the non-wealthy southerners probably perceived that the slaves had it “easy” – which is of course cognitive dissidence.

Considering this, several scholars have come to the agreement that only ~1% of southerners actually owned slaves.  And it was THIS 1% who set America on a bloody four-years’ war – which they ended up losing anyway.  How where they able to make the 99% additional group of people to fight to the death for this 1% of super rich folks’ economic interests?  Sadly, lies and racism.  They convince them that folks with dark skin were inferior.  By dehumanizing a group, and dehumanizing those who accurately considered people with darker skin human beings.  And of course, feed a narrative that the union was being aggressive.  Hence, still many southerners call the civil war, a “war of northern aggression” – despite the fact that most of the Confederate soldiers were fighting against their own best interests.

In any battle mobilizing people on lies, there has to be a foe.  This foe has to be formidable – yet inferior (in any way they can consider it as such – even the despicable ways).  Once it becomes an “us against them” issue – it is very easy to fall in the trap of cognitive dissidence.  People tend to galvanize against what they consider a common threat.  And those who want to manipulate people vulnerable to exploitable biases are very much aware that those obedient fools are disposable, but that they would break their backs or fight and gladly die for a cause that was manufactured.  However, those fighting and dying are very much convinced it was for a worthwhile cause.  That is why it is so dangerous.

We’ve seen this happen in other countries.  For example, suicide bombers, they are lied about heavenly rewards and other perks. This narrative is indoctrinated for a long time… it is not like they tell today to join a group and tomorrow they will be asked to be a martyr.  The ones in the higher echelons never do the suicide-bombing themselves, bizarre, huh?  However, these martyrs are very much enamored with the idea that they are doing something bigger than themselves – despite the fact they are just disposable fools who are convinced that ending their lives and the lives of others is an honorable cause.  Well, when it comes to civil war rhetoric, although a bit different in semantics, has very similar mechanics – and produces similar results.

What are those mechanics?  Let me summarize them this way:

1. Find a foe, whatever or whoever it might be.

2. Disparage this foe until they become dehumanized (if people)

3. Ramp up violent ways to eliminate said foe, and convince that eliminating this foe (even through violence) is not only the right thing to do – but it is an honorable cause.

4. Send the most disposable fool to the front line to do the hard work (even if it is a suicide mission), by promising them some sort of reward for them or anybody they leave behind.  It is not like they can come from the afterlife if the reward never indeed happens.

5. Repeat the process until there are no more disposable fools to send to do errands for them.  Which might happen sooner or later – that is why authoritarian regimes tend to end at some point.  Or are big in indoctrinating new generations, so they can be those next disposable fools.

This process, as despicable as it sounds – it is all too real, and it happens around the world.  It has certainly occurred in America.  There are larger geopolitical intricacies.  Why? Because although the American Civil War in the 1800’s was very much domestic in the sense that some rich American folks wanted to get richer.  This new [potential] Civil War is a lot more complex.  This time is about entities outside our borders who want to destroy the USA from the inside out.  And they have been achieving this with spectacular results.

Even people with good intentions are falling victims of this sick game.  And yes, it is designed to be that way.  Therefore, for any reader who has a realization they have been lied to, don’t worry – DO something about it!  DOING means stop perpetuating the falsehoods of those who lied to you, and use this new found knowledge to tell the [actual] truth to others who were also lied to.  Just remember that you might find pushback – just like you were pushing back before the epiphany.  Again, this was designed to be that way.

It is very easy for lies to gain traction because they are designed to be easily digestible – and have just enough “accurate” information in order to pass a shallow fact-checking level of scrutiny.  But of course, this is not going to last if a higher level of scrutiny is ensued to seek the truth.  A lot of people who are not inside the bubble when this information is being pushed onto unsuspected victims won’t fall for this trick.  However, for those inside this bubble, the actual reality of being bamboozled will seem counterintuitive.  As I keep saying it, it is designed to be that way.  And it has been working for a long time.

Case in point.  Social media – especially Tweeter (X) in the last several months.  At some point there was some fact checking or at least some sort of deterrent from cyberbullying, hate speech, and other types of harassment to users.  Nowadays, it is a lot harder to report to a person than to endure the extremely offensive and divisive things many anonymous keyboard warriors spew all over the platform.  We see something similar in other platforms, but they tend to be regulated in a different manner, not only by the actual people running the platform, but by the users themselves.

A good example of accountability as described is Threads, the vibe is a lot better than Tweeter, according to the consensus of most Threads users.  I happen to agree with the Thread users.  But of course, even social media sites are being used as a polarization of who is subscribing to what world view.  Particularly, people on Tweeter (X) tend to be a lot more aggressive.  And that includes people from either side of the political spectrum, and religion.

Surprisingly (and heartbreaking enough), I’ve also seen many people who claim (claim being the key word) to be atheists who also happen to be extreme right-wing, LGBT, Ultra MAGAs, but also tend to spew all kinds of hate speech against LGBT, and repeat ultra-conservative talking points.  Of course, anybody who has been familiar with and studying sociological factors would also find it surprising as I did, because that is very much out of character for those groups.  And of course, unsurprisingly, most of these accounts spewing divisive rhetoric have avatars that are not an actual person – and there are no links to any actual social presence.  In other words, they are cowards hiding anonymous accounts, giving them the opportunity to harass others while hiding in the obscurity of the internet.  I’ll be writing additional articles about that, and I have talked about that in my blog as well.

I’ve challenged many of those, with this very line.  I point to them that it is cowardice to attack people online.  And further, they would not be doing the same thing if this was face to face with them showing their real name and identity.  They claim that those who they harass would go after them -claiming the other [users] to be somebody like the gestapo during Hitler’s times.  Which is interesting because these anonymous accounts cowards are doing the same level of harassment, only in a virtual scenario – yet in their sophomoric minds they feel justified; it seems they are lost in the irony.

Trying to reason with many of these minds who are clearly compromised can not only be challenging but incredibly frustrating.  I have to admit that although it can be tragically amusing and entertaining, it is also exceedingly sad.  And by sad, I mean it is sad to see how deep propaganda has made it almost impossible for them to see how deluded their arguments really are.  And of course, there is a non-zero chance that many of these trolls are perhaps high as a kite when they are spewing nonsense in social media.

But the most important point I want to put across with this article is that good people (not just in the USA but around the world) fortunately are the majority.  I keep seeing more and more people talking about a potential civil war in the United States – although I’ve been talking about these indicators for a lot longer than they have.  But the point remains, what are we going to do to stop this from happening?  The simple – yet complex answer is: EDUCATION!  And by that I don’t’ mean schools – I mean turning propaganda on its head.  The same tools being utilized to divide us can be reversed engineered.

I will be writing a series of articles in the coming weeks about this particular topic, because it is complex.  Meanwhile, I have been talking about that in any platform I can get a hold of.  For example, in the Festival of Story Tellers, I spoke about propaganda and how to defeat it.  You can view that video at the following link

Link to Video About Turning Propaganda on Its Head.

But the fact is that I may be idealistic all I want – but I cannot do this alone.  I’ll keep doing my part to spread awareness and provide solutions through my writing – and any other platform I can find.  I just hope that my message won’t resonate when it is too late.  HLC

 

Read our TODAY IN AMERICA articles at www.halflifecrisis.com

Link to Buy the book “AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools” by J. Marcelo Baqueroalvarez

 

 

The Muller report was a litmus test on how cognitive dissidence can be exploited for political purposes.  Many people are still confused about its importance.

 

The confusion perdures to this day.

The Muller Report is names after the Department of Justice (DOJ) Special Counsel Robert Muller, who was a prominent career law enforcement professional at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States of America.  He was appointed to conduct a thorough investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.

Among the targets of the investigation, was included the recently elected U.S. President Donald J. Trump.  The reason was because there were credible allegations that his campaign had close unduly communications with the Russian Federation, and that his campaign conspired together with Russian operatives to get an advantage against Trump’s presidential opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  Russia stated on record they favored Trump over Clinton as President of the United States.

Before I move on, please find below the link to the entire Muller Report, as released to the public.  Please keep in mind that some of the released Muller Report [enclosed] to the public have been redacted for reasons of National Security.

Mueller Report (link via CNN)

IMPORTANT NOTE: It is worth mentioning that when citing Russia in this report, and on this article, it is not referring to the entire country of Russia – nor it is a so called “Rusophobic” attack. But unfortunately, the people involved in this report were from Russia. Any country involved in a similar fashion would have been cited on a consistent basis if they were under the scope of the investigation Mueller conducted. It is worth noting also that most Russian people (like most people around the world) are actually super nice, and they might or might not have a say, knowledge, or condone what happens outside their immediate purview.

You are welcome to read the entire report now (all 400+ pages), or after you finish this article.  We will be touching upon some of the important takeaways from the report.  The report itself is written in legal jargon, hence for some people it might seem counterintuitive to understand what Muller is actually trying to say.  That’s the nature of the beast, legal writing is very different than normal everyday vernacular.

For this article I will be using down-to Earth vernacular to ensure it is better understood.  And I said, “better understood” – because in legal terms words and context have a much encompassing terminology.  That is why it takes years of going to law school and passing a bar exam to navigate the vernacular.  To put in context the bar exam alone takes about 12 hours and it is extremely grueling.  Some of us (who are not attorneys, but) due to the nature of our jobs just so happen to be acquainted with that language to “read it” – but not to “write it” – if that makes sense.  E.g. You might be able to distinguish the difference between a high-quality and low-quality steak when you eat it, it is a whole different ballgame cooking it.

If you do end up reading the full report (which I recommend), it is best if you read it in little chunks, and with an open mind.  The report is obviously very well written, but for those unfamiliar with the lingo, it will be interpreted like “scripture” (as in a bible or religious text) – and create a misperception that it is subject to some interpretations – especially if a person has a particular bias.  However, biases are not the case when writing the report – Mueller himself was a Republican.  But it is possible that some people might find ambiguity.  Remember, this report was not meant to be read by the people, but rather by legal experts.

This in no way is demeaning to the general public, it is just part of the area of expertise needed for that particular specialty.  Just like a bartender might have some specific language they use for some of their mixology, or just like us Sailors have a very specific vernacular when we talk about Navy stuff, or just how mathematicians communicate with complex formulas.  Somebody outside those specialties might find it confusing if seeing it from the outside in.

Same thing with the Muller Report.  It has a specific language, crafted by experts in that field.  Fortunately, just like any cryptic language out there, there is a key to understanding in everyday terms what the intent and purpose for that report means to the general audience.  There is a reason why I put this in context.  You will see what I mean by that as you continue reading this article.

The Muller Report is inheritably complex, because it addressed a very complex issue.  Further, it was unprecedented because it was the first time a sitting U.S. President was involved in the middle of this type of controversy.  And of course, the environmental factors (not as in weather) in the country, particularly on political divisiveness – was making an already incendiary issue all the more volatile.  There were a lot of entities who had a lot to lose based on the findings of this report.  And those who had a lot to lose were both inside and outside the United States of America.

What does this mean?  The Muller Report was never just about Trump, it was a lot bigger than that.  It was about the possibility that third nation was interfering with the American Electoral process, and potentially getting away with it.  Trump was largely anecdotal, but had to play also a center role for the investigation because he just so happened to be the President of these United States.

 

Understanding the Report’s Context.

The Mueller report was not about finding “Collusion” – why?  Because Collusion is not a crime.  It was about finding conspiracy to undermine an American Electoral Process.  However, as Trump became extremely combative, and largely [on the Right-Wing of politics], attacks against Muller started to percolate, the scope of the investigation had no choice but to add instances of obstruction of justice to the mix.  Cause and Effect.

What does that mean?  Let me illustrate with an example.  Let say person “X” is accused of beating up his spouse.  An investigation into domestic abuse will start taking place.  So, let’s say that while this domestic abuse investigation is going on, person “X’ decides to antagonize and threaten the police officers with violence, and incites others to antagonize and threaten these police officers – as they are conducting the domestic abuse investigation.   What do you think is going to happen?  If you assessed that an additional charge will be added to the domestic abuse charge, then you will be correct.

Further, antagonizing the police and threatening with violence while they are investigating domestic abuse – is not helping person “X” case, is it?  Use the same analogy, but just change the charges and names, and that is what happened during the Muller Report.  The fact that Trump and is acolytes were attacking, disparaging, and denigrating the character of Robert Muller, made it very evident that Muller likely found a lead Trump and his acolytes found very problematic (against them).

Robert Muller himself got death threats, much like many other Trump dissenters had endured in the last several years.  Especially those with a platform.  But the death threats normally come from a Trump acolyte, or somebody who feel vindicated to do so in their [Trump’s] base.  I should emphasize that issuing death threats onto anybody is a crime.  And yes, it is a crime no matter if you do that face-to-face, by email, by social media, or any other method of communication.

And bear this in mind because of the wide context of the report.  Remember, the report is a snap-shot in time, but the significance of this report is a timeless tool about glaring vulnerabilities in the very fabric of American society.  And yes, the exploitation of divisive vulnerabilities is designed to be like that – divisive and confusing.  That is why I said that in the beginning it became a litmus test regarding our political stability.

 

Finding Trump guilty in the Muller Report

The official name for the Muller Report is “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election” – this report encompasses two volumes, and spans for 448 pages.  In other words, the scope of the investigation was to find the facts about Russian Interference, which is not necessarily the same as an investigation about Trump, although Trump was certainly a significant factor in the entire situation – because Russia was favoring Trump over Clinton.

For us to understand the significance of this report, we have to understand that using semantics to fight the merits of the issue is not a compelling argument.  It is a lot more abstract than that, because we are dealing with a strategic-level adversary levering personnel near to the sitting President of the United States, in order to push their [foreign country’s] agenda.  This report is not about finding collusion, it is about connecting conspiracy behind the mechanics for which the favoring for Trump turned into action favorable to Trump.

Hope this is making sense so far, because it is about to get more abstract.  It is designed to be that way.  The adversary is not going to put this complex issue in a black & white, Fifth-Grade level of understanding – instead, this topic is an all-stars varsity multi-level strategy being played upon the US via its own political intricacies.  Again, it is designed to be highly complex, and that is why the actual merits of the case will seem counterintuitive to a great swath of the population.  Again, this report was not meant to be read by the general public, it was meant to be read by the top Attorney in the Country – The Attorney General.

And this is an important distinction.  Because Muller and his team had to be impartial in their investigation.  Hence, Muller (who was in charge of the investigation) was not going to declare “Guilty” or “Innocent” – among other intricacies we’ll talk about – that was not his role.  His role was to find facts, write about them, and pass to the Attorney General to (for a lack of a better word) decipher what was presented to him on this report, and for him to make a recommendation as the top law enforcement person in the Federal Government at the time.

And at this particular juncture is where politics started to get from ugly to very dangerous.  For as long as we can remember in the American discourse, the partisan political climate has become more and more polarized.  It was not designed to be that way – it was meant to give a voice from different points of view; but through the years demagogs and other special interest powers have created a wider division among politicians.  All this division is extremely convenient to regimes leading nations who have poised themselves as adversaries against America.

Some politicians (hopefully unwittingly) tend to play and parrot propagandistic points that are specifically designed to polarize America more and more.  The reason for the division is incidental at best, but certainly politics is a very visceral vehicle that gets people enticed to perform actions that can very well go against their own best interests.  They just don’t realize it does, because it is designed to make those victims feel like vindicated heroes, whilst making them believe they are the smartest people in the room.  Sadly, that is a very prolific manipulation tool.

The damage created to discredit the Muller Report is causing negative effects even today!  And that report was released in 2019.  For that reason, it is worth understanding what the political climate was back during those days.  And the short answer is, that the ENTIRE U.S. Government, all three branches at the time were Republican.  The Executive power (President), The Legislative power (Congress with the House & the Senate), and the Judicial power with a conservative majority.

If you were a Democrat, you had no chance to push any legislation at that time.  That of course changed in the very next midterm election when the House Flipped to the Democrats, and the Republicans lost the majority.  But by the time this report came over, it was all Republican Controlled.  This was very important for many political reasons, and of course gave a very high advantage to Trump as far as how the narrative would be controlled to the rest of the Republican political base.

Sadly, that means that if Trump was found guilty of any wrong doing, there was a snow ball chance in hell of a probability the GOP (Republicans) would even hint on giving Trump any level of accountability, let alone prosecute him, recommend impeachment – or any punitive action whatsoever for that matter.  Why?  Because that would be political suicide, that is why.

Politics are strategic by nature, and sadly this strategy tends to leave constituents out of the equation.  A shrewd politician would be able to plan several steps ahead and bamboozle a base of voters to believe a false narrative with little to no scrutiny.  Yes, it is designed to be that way.  A happy constituent tends to be one who feels their political leader is reading their minds, and doing their will – as faithful representatives of their democratic process in Capitol Hill.  You could argue, THAT is EXACTLY why they were elected in the first place to do, right?

So, what does any of this have anything to do with the Muller Report?  A lot actually, that is why I say it is abstract, and might even see tangential.  Again, it is designed to be that way.  When we look at the Muller Report there is not one page which reads “guilty” except to demonstrate that somebody pleaded as such to previous proceedings – for example, George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to investigators.  Papadopoulos was very close in Trump’s orbit – once he became inconvenient, Trump disavowed him.

Other big names in Trump’s orbit included Gates, Manafort, and Cohen.  The later was also known as “Trump’s Fixer” and better known for the case involving porn-star actress Stormy Daniels – when she engaged in what was described as a hilariously short and unpleasant, though consensual sex encounter with Trump – when his wife Melania was staying home with their still infant son Baron.  And I just want to add this part about the [if you can even call it] affair (which is factual by the way – however hilariously short). Because it adds to Trump’s character, and adds to why the overarching scope of his investigation is so important.  Lack of character is vulnerable to exploitation – and having the President of the United States of America having an exploitable vulnerability is very dangerous for the country.

Another big player is Michael Flynn, who also pleaded guilty for lying to the FBI about talks he head with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.  Note that in every mention of “guilty” was for already a person in Trumps orbit who have already been convicted.  It is important to pay attention to the fact that these individuals were very close to Trump – that is problematic.  Who wins if the President of the United States of America has people who have pleaded guilty to some very problematic allegations?  Regimes who are adversarial to America, that is who wins when this happens.

Letting Trump get away without prosecution, despite the findings of the Muller Report is what has prompted a lot of the cognitive dissidence that has endured to this day.  And this is really the crux of the matter.  Cognitive dissidence occurs when we let our biases control the narrative despite the facts.  There is always a lot more to the empirical facts behind the superficial context of a situation.  Some of the facts can certainly be obscured by misinformation, and lack of understanding of the full context.

In other words, when we are presented with a situation out of context, and we don’t have enough datapoints to ascertain the validity of those facts, then our assertion to those facts will be flawed.  Hence the correct answer will feel counterintuitive, despite the facts being against their core argument.  Again, it is designed to be that way.  And a lot of people have fallen into that trap.  It is not really their fault; a trap is designed to capture those unsuspecting souls.  Much like a con artist tends to be charming and engaging.  The difference is that with propaganda this is executed at a much larger scale and level of complexity.

 

Was Trump found Guilty?

Yes, he was found guilty of conspiracy of getting aid from a foreign government to help him with the election, and of obstructing justice and making all kinds of public acts of intimidation that among other things included death threats to Muller himself.  The key word is “found” – that is not the same as “declared” guilty.  Doing so gets into a semantic game that fosters cognitive dissidence.

This is how they differ.  Finding instances of guilt does not necessarily mean that a person is going to be held accountable.  For example, if you’re driving 20+ MPH over the speed limit, but there are no COPs around to pull you over, and issue you a citation for reckless driving – then you’re not getting accountability.  You (should) know that what you did is highly illegal and can put you in a pumpkin suit, and there are several witnesses to your misdemeanor.  Mainly every other car that you zoomed by – but they don’t have the authority to pull you over and give you a citation.  But it is very obvious to all witnesses that you were breaking the law.

Somebody being declared guilty, that means that somebody who has the jurisdictional power to give you accountability is acting upon those findings.  Following in the example, if a cop does pull you over and issues you a citation – the cop can start the accountability process, but not finish it.  It would be up to a judge (in traffic court) to give the verdict on the infraction.  Some judges might be lenient and let the speeder go with a warning, others might impose a heavy fine, others might send the driver straight to jail.  I’ve seen cases like this all the time – it largely depends on how repentant the person placed in front of the judge is.

So, let’s bring this into context.  Mueller (as the example being the cop on the above example) was gathering the information and writing the ticket.  But it was going to be up to the attorney General (as the judge in the previous example) whom was required to make the determination about if the president was found guilty or not.  The Attorney General at the time was Bill Bahr, and he gave the press a very misleading version of what Mueller described in the findings.  The point being that Bahr likely wanted to try to make this problem disappear.  Particularly because of the heavy political baggage it carried.  Finding Trump guilty would make the Republican party implode.

How so?  Well, the obvious thing is that if Trump was found guilty, then a lot of legal actions – none of which were convenient, nor had a precedent, would inevitably snowball out of control.  There was a lot of appetitive for the entire report to be released.  The GOP fought tooth and nail against it, but eventually it came out.  But it took a long time.  During that time there were countless attacks against Mueller himself, and many more death threats not only to him, but to other people who were in favor of releasing this document.  So, the fact that you can read it (even on this site) was a gigantic undertaking that was being prevented by the highest levels of government at that time.

There was an important caveat.  Because Trump was a sitting President – regardless if he was indeed guilty – he was NOT to be prosecuted.  Those were the guidelines at the time, because it was meant to protect against people from attacking a President as a political eruption… with the pretense that the President was indeed an innocent person.  Well, this is not very much the case in the Muller Report.  Although he does not call Trump with the words “guilty” he did say that he was not exculpated from wrongdoing.  And I said before, he was to present the facts, not to issue a guilty or innocent plea.  But rather point if there was culpability.  There was gargantuan evidence of guilt.

Using a “big word” such as not “exculpated” probably muddied the water – even though it is an accurate term.  “Exculpated” means “acquitted” – Trump was not acquitted, if we put it in non-thesaurus terms.  Muller went on to say that if Trump was not a sitting President he would have indeed been prosecuted.  So, what does that mean?  It meant that as long as Trump was President, then he was able to run that suspended guilt until he left office.  But once he was gone, then accountability would follow.  What would Trump’s next logical move be then?

Obviously, it was in Trump’s best interest to stay in power as long as possible!  For one, because the statute of limitations would run out on this – and besides he did so much other crazy s—t after this event that the Muller Report will seem like small potatoes in comparison.  But that does not mean it is any less significant, because this started a snowball effect for a lack of accountability to any sitting President.

Let’s talk about this snowball effect, this is a non-exhaustible list.

1. It forced the GOP to truly play ball and become Trump acolytes by choosing party over anything else Trump was able to get away with.  Doing otherwise would be political suicide.

2. It empowered other adversarial nations to flood the USA with propaganda.  The same type of divisive propaganda that has continued ever since – because it proved to be effective.

3. Fostered cognitive dissidence.  It is convenient for other nations when we are divided, and if there is a communication breakdown.  This first step was a proof of concept for adversarial nations as far as how people get lost in semantics rather than understanding the overall context.

4. The enemy is hidden in plain sight – who is the biggest enemy?  Our own biases are being manipulated by our own misperceptions.  It is designed to look black & white – but in reality, it is a very dynamic gradient.  Hence, even people with good intentions will not see the true depth of the issue – it is designed to be that way – much like an illusionist only shows you what they want you to see, but the mechanics of the trick are out of sight to the general audience.

5. If Trump was able to get away with this, then he was going to continue pushing boundaries until he would get push back.  He sure did, and hence he got impeached twice – and he is currently facing 90+ criminal cases, and a myriad of civil cases.  Accountability started after he left the office – and the investigation into the merits for these cases already started the process before he left the presidency.

6. A lot of people got turned off by Trump, but also a whole bunch of them got ignited their new found passion for Trump.  The Republican partly itself is very fragmented.  Some of Trump’s more vocal supporters are Republicans themselves; though the hate and attacks from MAGA Republicans are often directed to more “obvious” challengers – which are the Democrats.

7. Trump started a very dangerous precedent that made people around the world distrust the United States of America.  Who do you think wins when America gets isolated from NATO or other partner nations?  It is not the USA; it is the countries who want to get the USA to lose its primacy in the world.  By getting away from interfering with our political candidates’ process, this helps other countries who do not like America to perceive that the US candidates are for Sale.

8. Propaganda Points from other countries flooded the political discourse, and created an enormous social engineering campaign to find out which minds are more exploitable and obedient to Anti-American talking points, disguised as ultra-patriotic.  Yes, it sounds like an oxymoron – that is why I say it seems counterintuitive to many.  I wrote an entire book about it [AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools], because it is affecting us all.

Authoritarianism & Propaganda: The Puppet Master Tools by J. Marcelo Baqueroalvarez | BookBaby Bookshop

9. The entire world was watching the proceedings about the Muller Report, and caused a worldwide mistrust in the American legislative process.  If the USA is not considered a reliable intrinsic arbiter of justice, then the rest of the world will start seeking for a “better alternative” to follow.  There is no shortage of adversarial nations who want to set that standard.  And if the USA is not holding their leaders accountable, then that becomes the norm for the rest of the world.  Like it or not, the USA can either set the standard for equal accountability under the law, or yield that option to any other nation who wants to impose their political agendas onto the rest of the planet.

10.    Interpreting the Muller Report on “semantics” rather than substance is a very fertile ground for Information Operations campaigns by adversarial nations.  In other words, they get to realize how naïve particular segments of the population are based on their lack of reading comprehension – and turn them into obedient parroting assets.  More importantly, by providing these out of context talking points, they will feel vindicated as though they have “won” a battle of wits with somebody else – when in reality they have not been afforded the entire context.  Plenty of people who are cynical about complex issues, but get hung up on semantics, are very much off-the mark on the actual substance of the matter.  And yes, that is extremely convenient and exploitable by adversarial nations.

 

Moving Forward, and Deprograming Compromised Minds.

It might sound idealistic, but there is a way to straighten up this slew of propagandistic campaigns pouring over the USA.  I use the Muller Report as an example, but there are hundreds if not thousands additional examples linked to Trump alone.  But he is not the only one who enjoys a cult following, many of his acolytes also benefit from that clout.  And even those who say that they don’t support him could very well be misled by thinking that “giving him a perceived fair” shot is a valid argument – when in reality, Trump was indeed guilty – hence, giving a “perceived fair shot” after he already has tilted the system on this favor is in fact a win for America’s adversaries.

What do I mean by that?  Lately, as I became an author, I had to start learning the intricacies of the social media world.  Not that I am super stoke about that, and I only hang out on the different platforms whenever I have some downtime.  Which is not that much time actually.  At this point in time, I am either checking my social media accounts while I am taking mini breaks during actual stuff I need to do in the computer – of if I so happen to be in a waiting room – as I have to sit and stay put prior to a scheduled appointment.

But no, debating people on Twitter (X) in 280 characters or less, or in Threads in 500 characters or less is not the only thing I have to do with my day.  Especially if the cognitive dissidence from somebody drowning in a glass of water that they poured themselves off proves it is too much of a waste of time for me to spend my scarce time dealing with them.  I’ve met all kinds of people, from super nice human beings, to well-intentioned confused people, to incredibly nasty individuals.  During the less desirable interactions, I am afforded the opportunity to use it as a metric on how this cognitive dissidence has taken a foothold in the propagandistic realm.

Generally speaking, some people who seem to fall into a certain category (being left or right), tend to trail a very particular pattern of biases.  All of which are very exploitable, and they have been exploited in spectacular fashion (even if they think they are winning an argument – thus prompting them to perpetuate that behavior).  To figure out if they have been deceived, sometimes it is as simple as doing a quick check by looking at their feed, their vernacular, their answers to other tweets, the memes they post, their level of misguided arrogance, etc.

It is similar but more complex when we validate and assess how some people (to include those I mentioned) have easily been manipulated by adversarial nations Information Operation campaigns, and other methods of exploiting their biases.  These are synonyms for propaganda.

And if you think only Trump supporters fall for this, think again.  Even those who are against Trump can be vulnerable to unwittingly support those who want to see Trump back in office.  And yes, it will seem counterintuitive to them as well.  I mentioned earlier in the article that this level of propaganda is at a high varsity level.  Most people sadly will read tweets, or read important talking points at a very elementary level.  Then it is very easy to hide gargantuan amounts of misinformation on a semi-superficial level of veracity.  Again, it is designed to look legitimate.  Especially to target those who superficially think they have it all figured it out.  There is plenty of room to add visceral responses in whatever falls through the cracks.

But for us who have been afforded a different vantage point, and have dedicated our lives to understanding these intricacies – the falsehoods stand up like a sore thumb.  Once you see it, you cannot unsee it.  It does not make us “better than anybody” – what it does, however, gives us a level of awareness that is otherwise hidden in plain sight.  Again, that is why I wrote an entire book about authoritarian propaganda [AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools}.  And, it is also the reason why I keep writing these long-form articles.  Riding just ahead is extremely important, and many people are oblivious to that fact.

Authoritarianism & Propaganda: The Puppet Master Tools by J. Marcelo Baqueroalvarez | BookBaby Bookshop

The political discourse is full of misinformation, and when something important comes to light, it quickly loses the spotlight to another event – suddenly this previously important event becomes forgotten, and the facts for the argument become misconstrued.  In other words, it is easy to help a person you don’t like win, just by misconstruing the facts -even if in your mind you think you’re attacking this person, or “just letting the system” run its course – without really understanding if the system perhaps has been compromised.

I keep saying it, and will keep repeating it.  It is designed to be that way.  It can be frustrating at times when I talk to some people in Twitter, or other social media outlets and they are clearly confused about something, but in their minds, they think they are spot on, or that they had a sick burn on me or whomever they are debating.

Let me make this entirely clear.  First, I have a lot better things to do that debate somebody who clearly has not made their homework; and to build on that statement – they are just not ready to make the argument because their understanding has plot holes large enough to fly jumbo jets through it.  But in their mind, they might think they have it all figured it out.  Again, propaganda is designed to be that way.  There is always a lot more than what meets the eye, and a semantic battle is often non-compelling to the actual merits of a situation.

The Muller report found Trump guilty, but won’t not say guilty.  It found what it needed to find, which was conspiracy from a foreign country to interfere with our elections, and obstruction to investigate said obstruction.  That begs the question.  Why did Russia (in this case) wanted Trump to win over Clinton?

Think about it for a moment, and this will [hopefully] give you the “ah ha” realization about why the Muller report is so important.  Why did Russia favored Trump over Clinton to the point they would interfere with our election process?

The answer is obvious, but it is complex.  The obvious part is because Clinton would have been inconvenient to Russia.  That’s the obvious part (yes, I said it twice).  The complex part is the thousands of reasons for why this was the case.  And no, it is not just because Clinton was better prepared (like her or dislike her) than Trump for president between both candidates.  Learning the intricacies of government is not something that you can do in a short amount of time.  To put it in context, even our turnover whenever we have one military member taking the EXACT job we are performing, despite the fact they arrive highly trained for whenever they come from one unit to the other is a very thoroughly complex process.

The less obvious part is Trump’s character, and the character of people in his orbit – and how this can erode the trust of our institutions and the divisiveness that was going to create in the USA for years to come.  In that sense, it was a huge win for them (America’s adversaries).  Not only did democrats and republicans further polarized, it also destroyed in the internal political parties inside their own ranks – and further radicalized people (from either side) who think they are the only ones holding the truth – so long it is dissenting with the other side.

By enabling Trump to essentially get away with a bunch of problematic issues as they were found in the Muller Report (and his many controversies), makes it extremely convenient for America’s adversaries to push all kinds of other divisive rhetoric – and find a fertile ground to keep dividing us.  And yes, they are doing that even as we speak.  You’ll be surprised how many “patriots” and other unwitting acolytes repost a lot of propaganda points that are against their own interests – and most definitely against the interests of the United States of America.

Fast forward to 2024, and some people still think that the Muller Report found Trump innocent.  It didn’t, many people in his orbit went to prison because of it.  Trump would have joined them in a pumpkin suit IF he was NOT a Sitting President.  That is why, of course, it is worth mentioning why Trump will continue seeking the Presidency.  Because if he is not a sitting president, he is liable to prosecution.

Just pay attention to some of his rhetoric [especially the days circa when this article was written] asking for unabashed immunity for potential crimes.  Such as when his lawyer was asked if hypothetically Trump should be prosecuted if he directed Seal Team #6 to assassinate a political opponent – and he asserted that he would be ok, unless both he gets impeached and convicted by Congress… But keep in mind that even if that ever happens, then the political opponent is already dead in this case.

This is what the Muller Report found, that Trump has proclivity to do some certainly illegal actions – and use the limitations in the legal system to get away with it.  And the startling thing is that the partisanship in the system has enabled him to get away with all of this.  The Muller Report is only the dress rehearsal for a lot more than followed.  And it is worth reminding that the entire US Government was Republican led at that time, so there was no way they would hold Trump accountable or impeach him, because for the GOP, that would be a win to the Democrats – when in reality it would be a win for America, because it would hold every person equal under the law, regardless of party loyalty.  That course of action was convenient to adversarial nations too.

How can we solve this situation?  It starts with each and every one of us.  I cannot change your mind, I can only give you the facts, and spark that curiosity needed to continue researching the exceedingly deep levels of context affecting this situation.  I’m doing my part by writing from an objective perspective.  If it was a left-wing candidate doing the same stuff I would be writing about, and condemning them too.  Each person owns their own life, but their actions can positively or adversely affect collective lives if they cling to propagandistic blind spots that cloud their judgement.  HLC

 

Three years ago, today Capitol Hill was assaulted by thousands of MAGA supporters.  Because of that I started my series “Today in America.”  Let’s talk about it.

Three years later, the “big lie” continues.

I remember it like it was yesterday.  The horrific images of a mob assaulting Capitol Hill, fighting Capitol Police, smashing the windows, the gallows along people chanting “hang Mike Pence” – who was Trump’s Vice President at the time. These images were broadcasted live on TV around the world, as they were also live streamed by many insurrectionists themselves.

As the events were unfolding, I was writing my first “Today in America” article as a chronicle of what I was witnessing in real time.  I invite you to read the article at the following link if you haven’t seen it yet – before you continue with the current article.  If you decide to read it later, that is fine also – but by reading it, it will give you more context as I update about what has been going on in these last three years in connection to that dark day in American History.

https://www.halflifecrisis.com/2021/01/today-in-america-06-jan-2021/

As I was reading back my words from that day – my sentiment has not changed at all.  I was just as disappointed that day as I am today.  In fact, perhaps I am even more disappointed today because there is a copious number of voters who: a) have no idea about what happened that day, and b) they know what happened, and think it is very much justified.

And that either one of those is not good news at all for our country.  But it is very convenient to other regimes who do not want America to remain the number one nation on the world-stage.

The denial of the 2020 presidential election is commonly referred by the “Big Lie” – and that is likely the way it will be designated as in future history books.  The 2020 election was not “stolen” and it was not “rigged” as Trump and his supporters would assert.  And they have tried it in numerous ways to set forth that narrative.  In every legal case the claims about the 2020 election from being stolen, and legitimizing Trump as the winner has failed.  That includes cases were Trump-appointed judges around the country ruled against him.

Did Trump get the most votes of any sitting US President ever?  Yes, he did.  But there were millions more voters who voted him out of office.  And that includes copious amounts of Republican voters.  Despite all the legal cases, lawsuits, investigations, recounts, etc.  Trump was never able to proof election fraud to be the cause for his defeat.  However, there have been thousands of cases combined against him and his followers in connection to try to change the outcome of the 2020 election.

At some point, no matter how fervently we like a person (like Trump fans), the numbers are simply not on their favor.  And think about this for a moment.  Many MAGA Republicans (please note that not all MAGA are fully convinced of this lie, and not all Republicans are MAGA) were perfectly ok about not contesting electoral fraud on elections they won.  But they were very much calling foul for elections and they were defeated.  Conversely, all blue-contenders who were defeated in that election conceded.  Keep this in mind as we continue this dialog.

The critical question we should arrive to is: “Who has the most to lose if Trump was not to be elected?”  The country “survived” and even thrived under the Biden administration – regardless of whether you like the guy or not.  It has even been good for business.  It is not perfect – there is plenty left to do.  But I for one am very happy not having to wake up to a twitter storm.  And yes “mean tweets” against targeted private citizens is not acceptable coming from the highest office on the planet.

So, the question remains.  Who had the most to lose if Trump lost the 2020 election?  Well, that is actually an easy answer.  Trump himself.  And he knew it.  There were plenty of legal cases pending against him before he was to leave office.  Many of those cases were not prosecuted while he was a sitting president (such as the findings on the Mueller report) because that was a guideline set forth by the federal government.  By the way, he was found guilty under the Mueller report – he was not convicted because of the guideline I mentioned, and the at-the-time Republican controlled House and Senate saved Trump from being kicked out of office.

After the House of Representatives flipped in favor of the Democrats, Trump was impeached – twice for two additional high crimes and misdemeanors; and saved by the at-the-time Republican controlled Senate – twice!

 

No stranger to controversy.

For many people who had been paying attention objectively, the Trump Presidency was bizarre at best, and extremely polemic at worst.  And by polemic, I mean that there was never a day were a career-ending scandal did not dominate the headlines.  It became so common place that people got oversaturated with negative information about Trump.  Trump and his acolytes also used this as a catalyst to excite his base – the higher the polemic, the more he would double or triple down.  This perceived “martyrdom” is a very powerful tool to exploit certain biases.

But objectively, if Biden or anybody else for that matter would have done 1/1,000,000th of what Trump was getting away with – the entire right-wing media ecosystem that favors Trump would have called Biden (or any other dissenter) out on that.  But for the court of public opinion, redacting particular stories is simply the status quo nowadays.  Many people don’t tune in to watch something that disagrees with their world-view.  The loyal eyeballs are more interested in getting more of what they come to accept as true – regardless of if it is factual or not.

And this is why it is important to understand the MAGA mentality at this point in history.  Trump is NOT who is leading the MAGA movement, contrary to what many would think.  There are a lot of other interested parties who are using Trump as the figure head who will spout all kinds of things that excites the base.  THAT base, THAT is what they are after.  The MAGA Republicans are divided in two main segments.  And from those there are a lot more subtleties.  But that would take me days to go through.  So, this is a good starting point.  Let’s explore:

 

JAN 6 2021 gallows capitol hill

 

Types of MAGA Republicans:

If you have read my articles for a while, then you have likely seen that I am not a fan of treating anybody with disrespect.  That includes MAGA Republicans.  I’ve met a bunch of them, and they do have their heart in the right place.  We can disagree on policy, but we can generally agree on what is good for the country.  Others are just very unsavory people, and have more of a “debate me bro” attitude than actually trying to find a solution that is good for the country.

What they have in common is that for some reason they find Trump appealing.  With that context let’s delve into what we are seeing here.  This is my own analysis, and I illustrate it in a manner that is intended to make better sense to the reader.

MAGA Type 1 – Honest to goodness Patriotic good people who actually want the best for the country.

We all have biases.  It is part of being human.  However, if those biases are exploited, then somebody can take advantage of our otherwise good intentions.  If that ever happens to you, don’t feel bad – it is designed to be that way.  And those perpetrators are very good at what they do.  And what they do is turn good values into a narrative that is actually self-destructive.

Before I continue, let me emphasize that this variety of MAGA is less likely to remain loyal to Trump.  Why?  Because at some point they realize that some of the narratives sent their way are not as accurate as they were led to believe.  In other words, they feel betrayed and their devotion turns on its head and suddenly they become very vocal dissenters from Trump.  What causes them to turn against Trump?  Depends on the person.  But the common denominator is that they will be as vocal against MAGA as they were vocal in support of MAGA once they decided they are out of that club.

Being MAGA does not mean that a person is unintelligent, but they do have a proclivity to choose one side a lot more fervently.  For example, very unlikely you will see a person being draped head to toe with Biden merch.  Sure, you might see a few, but never at the scale and scope as you see MAGA regalia all over the place.  And that MAGA merch tends to be expensive.

I have to emphasize that many ex-MAGA started their journey out of that movement once they stopped listening to what Trump or his acolytes were saying – and pragmatically started “challenging” what the non-MAGAS (including other Republicans) were advising.  Which as simply “hey, there is a lot of official information posted in the public domain, read it and find out what they are saying.”

Many who (albeit reluctantly) actually read through the paperwork realized the obvious.  A lot of important details were [perhaps] conveniently left off on any of their outlets or choices.  Being TV, pundits, influencers, podcasters, whatever.  And as they attempted to refute that information objectively, they realized that there was so much more data that was contradicting a lot of the narratives fed to them for years.

This is not an easy process for anybody to accept.  Actually, it can be very traumatic.  That is why whenever a person “hits a nerve” on during a conversation with a MAGA republican, they tend to more from the defensive into the offensive very quickly.  Often using name calling, condescending epithets (such as cupcake, honey, sweetie, etc.), and suddenly shift towards a non sequitur to state “what about this or the other” – often unrelated to the topic at hand – and coincidentally, a repetition of a buzz phrase that they were fed before as an argument point.

However, when those arguments cannot be held to scrutiny, this will be very traumatic to them.  It is meant and designed to be that way when the information was implanted on their minds in the first place.  People hate to be told they are wrong, and will immediately gravitate towards their echo-chamber to regain that “sanity check” they desperately need as part of a confirmation bias, they might not see it as such, but that is exactly what is happening.  “Somebody said something I agree with, I’ll use this as a narrative counterpoint” – I’ve seen it thousands of times.

I’m not intending to change their minds, but when the conversations happen in a public forum such as social media – other people do pay attention to the narrative, and they can see by proxy how valid or flawed an argument really is.  Most people will just look, but rather not comment, or even react with a heart, or like or whatever.  But the crux of the argument resonates with them.  Even if it takes a while for the argument to settle in their minds.  Especially if this argument is now rocking their world.  People need time to process.

This segment of MAGA has and will likely flip against Trump if they are afforded the opportunity to make decisions based on the merits, and not just limited to the strategically cherrypicked talking points deemed convenient by those in the second group as described below.

MAGA Type 2 – Opportunistic people who are actively pushing a nefarious agenda that is actually eroding the country from the inside out.

Some of those who belong to this group do so wittingly, others unwittingly.  I would argue that the second group is more dangerous, because they have convinced themselves that any dissenting option should be discarded outright, regardless of factual merits.  These become the perfect vehicle to become the muscle and loyal soldiers to run with a narrative.  What they have not realized (yet) is that this devotion is indeed disposable.

The witting group definitely know that what they are doing or advocating for can be clearly divorced from the truth and in many cases illegal.  There is a reason why Trump has 90+ criminal charges against him.  And no, it is not because of the mean tweets.  Although that type of sophomoric behavior is also well below the prestige of the Office of the Presidency of the United Sates of America.

Surprisingly or unsurprisingly to some, Trump himself is likely not part of the higher echelons of his own MAGA movement.  Some people would say that is nonsensical – but as I mentioned before, Trump is the figure head – but strategy is not his strong suit, but he is surrounded by people who can directly or indirectly take a full advantage of his clout.  Despite what anybody might have perceived in the MAGA universe, Trump is not a one-man show.  There is a gigantic team who help him drive the MAGA narrative.  Trump himself is disposable.

What Trump was able to forge is a movement that is way bigger than him.  For better or worse, it has not been without controversy.  Why do you think that is?  Well, if all the indictments, the impeachments, and the many controversies tell you something – it is obvious that he is not going to play by the rules (to include the rule of law).  And that is [sadly] very enticing for a big segment of his base.

People on this group might end up being disloyal to Trump at some point – but they will be very loyal to the ideology behind MAGA.  Trump himself has set that standard.  He had disavowed hundreds of supporters whenever they became inconvenient.  We have seen that on live television, on his “mean tweets” and many other platforms – such as the rallies.

Do you think he is able to orchestrate all those events by himself?  Obviously not, he has teams to put that together.  So, there is a vested interest in getting MAGA as a strong brand.  There is plenty of money to be made for each and every one of those appearances.  And the crazy amounts of merch are only a small fraction of everything else.

Just do yourself a favor.  Google “MAGA Merch” and see how much all that cost.  Then do a “Biden Merch” – and you will see plenty of MAGA merch being disparaging to Biden.  Who do you think buys all that stuff?  Obviously, a Biden supporter is not going to spend the 40 bucks on a sweatshirt that is depicting him in a disparaging manner.  Also, by the way – a lot of that merch is actually made overseas.  Even though some might have a “Made in USA” label.

I’ve never attended his rallies, but from people who attended – I’ve been told they are not free.  And can range somewhere around $50 to $4,000 depending on what access you can afford to get.  Add these costs, and it gets to be pretty penny to support him.  If you attended a Trump rally, can you confirm this?

Perhaps some people think, how is it all relevant to January 6, 2021?  Well, it is very much related because what I’ve described is the context that helped bring rhetoric into action.  And despite what many would say to the contrary, January 6, 2021 was the date that marked an extremely violent insurrection.  Some would call it a “guided tour” – and I realize it is very hard to listen to that type of narrative without wanting to understand how much misinformation and spin was needed in order to help them reach that [extremely erroneous] conclusion.

 

Bringing it full circle to January 6, 2021.

As much as it pains me to say this, January 6, 2021 was a day of insurrection against the United States of America.  And it pains me, because it did get worse after that, despite all the accountability that was embarked via law enforcement and other legal resources to bring those who desecrated Capitol, and committed acts of violence to justice.

Over 730 people pleaded guilty, with about 170 convicted, and two acquitted (the latter only by a judge, but not by jury trial) in connection with the January 6 insurrection.  That alone negates the “guided tour” narrative some have floated around.  Trump himself is facing criminal charges due to his involvement in January 6, and of course is the reason why he got impeached for the second time – just days before he was supposed to leave office.  Ever since, a lot of his allies have turned their backs on him.  Afterall, for the first time ever in our lifetimes, we did not have a peaceful transfer of power in America.

But Trump did not act alone, he had huge teams working towards this particular goal – months in advance.  For anybody paying attention, during his rallies, tweets, and other events, Trump would assert that the 2020 election was going to be rigged.  Of course, there was no proof of that, but he did say that he would only accept the results if he was declared the winner.

Then it makes perfect sense why before the assault to Capitol he hosted the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington DC.  What do you think a name like that would prompt into attendees who travelled from all corners of the United States to see him speak?

Trump finally addressed the crowd at noon, but before that time his loyal supporters were listening to a bunch of speakers who were revving their discontent – and validating “the importance” that brought them to the capital that day – after traveling from all corners of the United States – largely at their own expense.  Yet there were some Trump campaign donors, and even Alex Jones pledged $50,000 to the cause.  But it is obvious that 50 grand is not near enough to make a dent on the gigantic amount of resources January 6 took collectively.

Some quick math considerations: -Lodging in D.C. (generally three figures a night) -Transportation to DC either driving or getting there (flights, caravan, whatever).  Parking is not free most everywhere in D.C. -Transportation Inside D.C. from wherever their hotel or lodging was arranged -All the Trump regalia they draped themselves with (flags, shirts, hats, hoodies, etc.) -Meals -Time Off from work (vacation time / sick days / etc.) -Childcare (back home) for whomever that is commuting from out of area.  And even if they brought their kids – they still need a place to stay while they attended the event.

I can go on, but hope this makes the point.  So, even thinking about the logistical nightmare that would be for loyal Trump MAGA supporters – imagine what it would be if those storming the capitol were “posing as MAGA” as some conspiracy theorist seem to assert.  I can tell you that it is hard enough for Democrats to go out and vote, unless they feel it is very-very important to do so.  They would not go out of their way to invest all that time in effort just to discredit Trump.

You can see more about the timeline of events for January 6, 2021 at the following link.  Credit to NPR for that report.

A timeline of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack — including when and how Trump responded : NPR

 

But again, bringing this full circle.  Democrats and many other Republicans simply did not want to give Trump another chance to sit in the Oval Office.  The country was not better off when he was President – it might have seen like it was from the outside in like it was good, but working for the U.S. Government when he was in Office, I can tell you that we had to do a lot of damage control every time he would go on a Twitter rampage. Although the current administration has plenty of room for improvement, at least I am not worried about what the next scandal will be.

And about scandals – there were so many under Trump, that even before we got a chance to process one, the next two were already making headlines.  I’ve mentioned it before, and it is worth repeating.  This creates a media oversaturation that hides in plain sight important indicators to a larger issue.  Some of us who like to pay attention to that, then can identify when these “hidden issues” percolate and appear.  That is one reason why I am not surprised about the geopolitical events that occur.  That includes our domestic policy.

Fast forward three years, and Trump has won absolutely zero cases regarding his narrative of the election been stolen.  60+ cases spearheaded by Rudy Guiliani as his former lawyer.  Guiliani not only lost every case – he had to file for bankruptcy due to a lost case for defamation.  And to add insult to injury Trump never paid Guiliani for all his legal services on Trump’s behalf.  Also, his legal team flipped on Trump, and will be witnesses against him in criminal court in the next few months.

Fox News had to pay a 787 million dollars settlement for reporting that the election was stolen, and blaming Dominion for this alleged irregularity.  Whenever Fox News had to prove in court that what they were reporting was factual.  They could not, because it was not true.  Other far right news outlets were also required to fact-check themselves on air in order to avoid the lawsuit.  Why did they concede to Dominion if they (these far-right news outlets) had actual proof?

The answer is obvious, there was no proof that the election was stolen.  It has been recounted a bunch of times, and researched to exhaustion.  The only thing proven was that this was in fact the most secure election thus far.  And that would actually give credit to Trump, because was technically under his watch.  Therefore, talking about the election been rigged is actually a hit on his own record, because that would mean he did not do his due diligence to have a secure election.  In other words, he is searching for a lose-lose solution.  But fortunately, the facts are what they are.  This was a fair election – and Biden defeated Trump.

It is worth repeating what I said three years ago.  Republicans are perfectly fine showing up to rallies and buying tons of merch.  Democrats generally do not do that type of stuff.  They will show support by reading what’s available and showing up to vote in any convenient way available to them.  Sometimes it’s in person – but during the pandemic the mail-in-ballot option was a lot more attractive to them.  Hence, they voted in troves by mail.  Trump could have taken advantage of mail-in-ballots, but he preferred to ask his followers to go out and vote in person.  And that is exactly what they did.

They showed up to the polls in person – at least the ones who were not either dead or sick with COVID during election day.  The Biden campaign probably already realized that advertising on any right-wing outlet – especially those MAGA consume was just going to be a waste of money.  So instead, they advertised in outlets that would target democrats and undecided voters.  It worked, the popular vote for Biden superseded Trump’s tally by more than seven million votes.

However, these optics make it counterintuitive for a lot of right-wing voters to ascertain that Biden had a following.  Because obviously he did not appear on their television screens.  Why should he?  Was he going to be able to change any MAGA Republican Minds to vote for him in 2020?  There was a better chance for a cargo ship to navigate on top of a bunch body-builder squirrels marching in unison on a residential street than for a Trump voter to vote for Biden.  Hence, Biden chose places where he would be better received.  It is a commonsensical strategy when you think about it.

Trump has never won the popular vote, but was able to win the Electoral College in 2016.  Democrats learned their lesson, because they were losing seats in the previous elections.  And many could [rightfully] argue those were self-inflicted wounds.  In either case MAGA Republicans endorsed by Trump did not perform very well in the polls in subsequent elections.  That is of course a harsh reality many MAGA Republicans would prefer was not true.  Sure, that is normal, nobody likes to be defeated.  And as I said earlier, some of them really thought the country was going to be destroyed – yet, here we are – there have been some records of how well it has been going – although there is plenty of room for improvement.

For many people in the United States of America, sadly today is not a very significant date for them.  For some of us who are paying attention to what is going on (sometimes on their behalf), we’ve realized already what many who got turned off by Trump eventually realized.  The difference is that we did not have to either go behind bars, or lose a lot of time and money to become aware of it.

 

Food for thought, and cult of personality advisory.

This applies to Trump followers, but it could very well apply to any person to whom we develop a cult of personality.  Trump can be charming and even funny to some.  He might sound like he is “authentic” and even caring about others.  But is he though?  The same can be said about any person with whom you had a relationship of any kind that enjoyed your attention and devotion.

There is no shortage of people who have disavowed Trump, and I’m not talking about “Liberals” or “Progressives” or “Never-Trumpers” – I’m talking about hard-core MAGA Republicans.  If you are a MAGA Republican reading my words right now, YOU might not be feeling that way towards Trump right NOW (and maybe even resent me for the time being).  But it could very well be sooner or later that you will change your mind about him.  Why?

Let’s do a quick parallel example to illustrate.  Remember a time whenever you were hanging out with a person who had a lot of baggage and your loved ones were warning you against hanging out with this person?  What happen in the end if this person was indeed full of crazy baggage?  Hopefully you realized what your loved ones warned you about time and time again.  Yet, if you are a living-breathing human being, there is a non-zero chance you blew off all your loved ones and decided to hang out with this person who was clearly not good for you.  It could have taken days, months, even years sometimes.  But eventually, you got to see for yourself what everyone warned you about.

At some point, the indicators are just too many to ignore.  No matter how much you truly adore and admire a person – the facts are what they are regardless of their love and devotion to them.  For an extreme example, if your child goes and murders somebody in cold blood – you might still love your child, but you will have to come to terms with the fact that your child did something that cannot be condoned, no matter how much you want to justify it.

To a much larger extent, because blood has been shed by people who want to protect Trump’s rhetoric – yes, there are people with proclivity to violence who are just waiting for marching orders.  That should be very disturbing to any person.  The only group who wins if we descend into a civil war are adversarial regimes who want to defeat America.

Sure, that there is a lot of emotional baggage every time indictments, lawsuits, impeachment inquiries, criticism, and so much more is being directed at Trump.  But that is not YOUR baggage, that is Trump’s baggage.  Bluntly put, it is cause and effect.  The difference is that it is put in black and white, and he is getting a level of accountability that did not occur in the entire time of his Presidency.  Fast forward to today, and there is a huge number of people who understand the dangers of putting him back in the office.  And I am not talking about Democrats saying this – this is coming from Republicans.

There is no shortage of Republicans who have a lot of following all over social media disavowing Trump, and encouraging others to do exactly that.  In fact, there are some who are even rooting for Biden on this election, because they feel that is the best course of action at this point in our history, and for our country.  You’re welcome to agree or disagree with them about this.  But the question should be “why are they going through such lengths?” If [on first impression] handing the steering wheel to the Democrats is not “on their best interest.”

Well, this is the truth, party loyalty is not everything.  The best interests of the country are nonpartisan.  Sadly, there is a very real threat of a non-insignificant number of MAGA Republicans who have a proclivity for violence.  Most of the countries prefer not to give power to those few people who could do great amounts of damage to the rest of the country should they get unlimited power.

January 6, 2024 is a wakeup call that has been snoozed for three years.  It is a call for people to understand what is truly affecting our political discourse, and if whomever is enjoying our loyalty, devotion and affection is the right fit for ALL Americans.  Some might think that only “certain” Americans are to be in a privileged position – then that is not America – America is a land of equal opportunity and accountability for everybody based on their merits and their character.

I will finish by saying that the rhetoric of a 2024 stolen election by the Democrats is already floating around in the national discourse – mainly promulgated by Trump himself.  Much like he did for 2020.  That is propaganda, it is not true.  The voters will decide in the end if Trump is given a second chance.  That is if he can pass the Supreme Court case that is reviewing the Colorado decision to get him off the ballot.  The case is going to be heard in the near future.  And yes, Trump was removed from the Ballots in those states because of the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

I don’t want to think too hard on what the future will hold, but what I can tell you is that nothing that is happening has surprised me.  I have my suspicion of what the US Supreme Court will rule – We’ll see if I am still right.  My hunch is that it will be voted by party lines letting Trump stay in the ballot, thanks to the Conservative SCOTUS majority.  If that is not the case, I would be very surprised.  But if he is disqualified, I can only begin to imagine how divisive the next several months will be.  HLC

Get your copy of “AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools”

 

America’s polarization is accelerating, the early drumming of a potential civil war is being played – and I don’t like it.  This is what we can do about it!

Politics are still irrelevant – yes really…

It has been a while since the last time I got a chance to write a “Today in America” article – my favorite series on this blog-site.  But that has not stopped my predictions from becoming true.  What I find most disturbing of all right now is that the early drumming marching set-up for a potential Civil War – these indicators are ongoing.  Is that parabolic?  I wish it was, but the reality is a lot more complex and dynamic.

Politics are not as relevant as some people might think, because this visceral response is not about actual policy or doctrine.  Those attributes are incidental at best.  They only serve as a way to pick a “team” to “root for” or to “feel” part of.  Never mind that the actual platform policies have been already conflicting with their own narratives for years.  It is important to highlight that not everybody feeling compelled to “fight” this civil war is actually a “bad person” – many are just confused.  Especially some who are aggressors who think they are in fact defenders.

And in this confusion, they can feel vindication for their nefarious actions – THAT is why I find this situation most disturbing in these early states of the potentially-looming horrific divide. I’ve written before – several times, that for example, it is futile to label so called “MAGA” Republicans in any derogatory epithet and expect that is enough to reach a solution.  Communication breakdown is a key component of division.  It is intended to be that way.  In simpler words it’s a trap. I interact with people who have become victims of propaganda pretty much every day.

Many of them are honest-to-goodness good people, or at the very least their heart is in the right place.  However, their decisions are factored with faulty data.  Then the correct answer to them becomes counterintuitive, and arguing with them tends to becomes frustrating or even futile.  Especially if they realized they are wrong.  Some of them then just really want to piss you off.  For others it actually becomes a traumatic event.  Facts, and rationally be damned at that point.

But it is this lack of rationality that is so enticing to those demagogs who want to push a divisive narrative into an action.  Whatever this action might be, so long it is self-serving.  If does not matter if you are for or against it. It only matters if the conversation breaks down to the point that we stop listening to each other, and forgo any actual substance in the argument’s merit.  Especially if we happen to agree on key points.  Again, this is by design, and I’ve been talking about it for years, and I am quite frankly starting to get desperate, because we’re quickly approaching the point of no return.

What IS happening to America?

The latest incendiary issue to affect us all spans from the verdict ruled by the Supreme Court in the State of Colorado.  On December, 19 2023 – the Colorado Supreme Court voted to remove Donald J. Trump from the primary ballot.  Sure, there are a bunch of other things going on, but this is a catalyst for a lot more than what meets the eye.

Read the full 2013-page document here.
23SA300 Supreme Court Colorado Removing Trump Full Document

 

The grounds for the removal were put in effect because of a provision on the 14th Amendment of the United Sates Constitution that prohibits a person involved in an insurrection to run for office.  This a provision that dates back to the times after the Civil War.  In essence politicians who were pro-Confederacy were (and former Confederate themselves) sent to Congress by those same states who wanted to separate themselves from America.

Unsurprisingly, they were not very cordial to anybody who was not pro-Confederacy – yes even after the American Civil War. Fast forward to December 2023, love or hate Trump is not the issue here.  Nobody, and I mean NOBODY would have been able to run for office with his legal rap in a realistic Presidential-race.  In fact, with all his 90+ criminal charges and other civil charges he would most likely not been able to apply for even a low-level government job anywhere.  Not as a civilian, not as a military… he would have not been accepted.  I know that for a fact, because I am quite familiar with the process, having been working with the government for over 20 years.

And of course, it was recently broadcasted that more criminal charges might be added in connection with election interference.  This time in the State of Michigan.  So even if this pattern of misbehavior was a coincidence, at some point we have to face the reality that the probably for coincidences have long been exhausted.  It behooves to see the facts very pragmatically – especially for MAGA supporters.  Because if he is actually guilty, they are defending the indefensible.  And it also becomes their legacy.  Not unlike knowing that you’ve gotten swindled by somebody and giving them your sustained undeterred devotion.

To put this in context, every U.S. Government worker – being civilian or military must have at a minimum impeccable trustworthiness, loyalty, and character.  If any of those are impacted negatively in any way, then the person would not be selected for that job, and other candidates who do meet that minimal threshold would be considered for that (or any position) available. Hence it is only logical that for the most exulted office in the land, this minimum threshold should not be an exception.  In fact, a lot more is needed of the incumbent or aspirant for that job.  Sure, that Trump is innocent until proven guilty, but likewise when there are open cases (especially criminal cases) people applying for a government job do not get hired until it gets sorted out.  Why should a candidate be different?  Because he’s popular?  There are other candidates who could represent the ticket who do not have the same list of charges.

Let’s do a quick case study example.  Let’s say that a person who is seeking a job in a junior position which requires a security clearance has gotten into some legal trouble.  The case is still pending.  For example, let us say that the job deals with the maintenance of a particular weapons system.  The person might or might not be innocent of the charges, but how do we know for sure? So, the question is: Should this person be hired regardless?  Spoiler alert, the answer is NO.

And that is exactly what does happen in government – and it has for years.  Even contractors have a lot of limitations based on placement and access.  That being the case, what should we expect for the highest office on the land, the office with the greatest placement and access of all?  The answer is obvious. And we would have to be very naïve to think that accruing 90+ criminal charges, being twice impeached, and a plethora of other civil cases (which he has not won, or is losing) it is actually a very hard list of trouble to amass for any person.

Are ALL those charges frivolous?  Are they?  Are the prosecutors going to risk their career risking a mistrial?  Also, worth mentioning, why are most of Trump’s lawyers and co-defendants jumping ship and testifying against him?  At some point, the “benefit of the doubt” becomes more dubious than simple apathy for this man. However, his base will happily listen and believe anything that comes out of his mouth, and his acolytes.  However, they will disavow and even go on the offensive against those very acolytes, should they start speaking out of turn against Trump.

Some of those acolytes were themselves on the offensive of others beforehand – until it was their turn to be under the Trump train wheels.  For many of us, we are not surprised to see this happening.  Being Trump or anybody else, the actions are more important than who is enacting them.  If Biden was doing the same things, I would be writing about him too. But I digress.  However, there is no shortage of GOP members, to include presidential-hopefuls who are galvanizing in favor of Trump. I was actually surprised that many of them would actually take themselves off the ballot in Colorado to support him.  And that of course might have been naïve of me to think that they had some principles on the actual merits.

The promoter for that was Presidential Hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy.  He essentially dared the other candidates to do so.  I let Ramaswamy know every now and the of them via twitter my opinion when he pops on my feed and his words are dangerous to national security– not that I will ever get a response.  But I want to do my part, even if he does not understand why.  I always ask him to have his staff contact me for him to understand the unintended consequences for his often-misguided policies.   In either case I was hoping deep inside that the GOP hopefuls would take the hint that this is not a battle they want to fight.  Maybe a tactical advantage -because of Trump’s base, but the pages of history will state the truth – they are right now advocating for supporting a person who has been guilty of several crimes, insurrection in particular – and punishing their own campaigns in the process.

I was specially disappointed at Chris Christie who tends to be a very vocal dissenter of Trump – nowadays.  He has of course been humiliated by Trump before multiple times, and despite this Christie was also one of his most fervent supporters.  I don’t know if he realizes that cameras do record what he was saying.  But his flip flopping and excuses for his actions might be bought by a few people, but most people don’t trust him.  Hence the polls show it on the numbers for support among the GOP themselves.  The blue side would be goose eggs.

But I realize that to an extent that is irrelevant.  Just now I’ve been speaking with somebody on social media who is very much convinced of narratives that have been fed to him for years – and parrots propaganda points with a lot of confidence.  Even though his arguments have the water integrity of a hair net.  Facts be damned.  But the problem is a lot deeper than what we are seeing now, this propagandistic narrative has been building up for years, and it is accelerating.  And it needs to stop.  The only way to do so is by educating people who are perhaps blissfully unaware of all this chaos happening around them – to wake up!

 

The drumming of a Neo-American Civil War needs to be stopped.

Yes, it might seem like my articles turn into a shameless plug for my books, but I wrote them because of what is happening right now.  Everybody is “talking” about the symptoms of authoritarianism and some of the rhetoric, but missing the point by a factor of galactic proportions.  This goes for mainstream media, pundits, and a bunch of other – perhaps well intentioned locutors.  They are falling into the trap too.  My books, just like my writing pertaining to these articles, are not a vanity affair.  I am very disturbed by the events in the world, and I will use my platform, however (relatively) small at this time to do my part.

AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools – get it here

We have to understand that propaganda is designed to be subtle in execution – even if the reactions it incites are very much on the nose.  I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but I is not.  You see, a propagandist plants some seeds, and these ideas are churning on people’s minds.  They become repeated from different angles, validated by other people repeating them, and suddenly they become normalized.  It does not matter if you are in the favoring or dissenting side of the [chosen] issue.  That is not important as much as how willing are you to be divisive against “the others.”

If you are on the side that is divisive – but on rooting for the home team, good news!  They got you – or you will become a token figure to be made an illustrious example to the larger audience.  A picture-perfect speaker.

If you’re rooting for the visitors’ team, stand by. They will either discredit you or try to quiet you down any way possible.  This is what I realize more and more is happening to the rest of the world who has an important message to share.  It won’t be surprising for you to see that some of the people with the most short-sighted and off-the-wall ideas are getting a lot of attention – AND followers!  And so are those who are distracting people from the real situation that is affecting their very lives.  Meanwhile, trying to get your foot through the door to speak your voice will feel like screaming into a void.  I know I’ve felt that way more often than I wish, though things are turning the tide – but perhaps not fast enough, given the urgency of the situation.

I’ve been pondering on that instance – though I am grateful that we have reached readers in 79+ countries, and there is a grass-roots audience who is receptive to the message we are conveying.  But there are millions out there who will prefer to be disengaged, but who will affect all our lives, like it or not.  I’ll continue doing my part to help the “algorithms” (which is the larger audience) find my content and spread my message.

I do get offers from many people who claim to be able to do so, but they haven’t read a word I’ve written.  I prefer not to give them my business if they haven’t taken that crucial first step.

But in the meantime, this “junior clout” makes it very difficult to get across to others who need to hear this message.  Because of the inheriting emergency for this topic.  For that reason, I’ve decided not to be subtle at all, and I am going to be engaging with people who have large platforms until they get sick of me.  Or finally re-engage.  I am not rude, but I am going to be appearing more and more on their feeds until those who review the” engagement” finally get the epiphany I’m trying to transmit.

The truth is that I cannot keep waiting until maybe one day those with a larger platform figure out who I am and what I was trying to say.  I do this project (Half Life Crisis) on my own (my daughter is my team mate, but she is only 12) while trying to retire from Active Duty Navy – so this is incumbent on me to put this together in the most effective manner.  That is why I keep asking for help to spread my message.  This is no different, but the reason why I say that is because I see a neo-American Civil War approaching, and by the time I finally reach some clout it might be a moot point.

Nothing that has happened in the last several years has surprised me, and so far, I’ve been spot on in every prediction.  The only way to stop it is if people understand what is REALLY at stake and how to reverse these bad trends.  It is disturbing to me that most people I speak to have no idea about the insurrection on January 6, 2021.  Some are even in denial that for the first time in our lifetimes the former and current Presidents of the United States were not present together for the peaceful transfer of power.

Those controversial moments are wonderful news for other nations who are suppressing their people under authoritarian regimes.  “If it happens in the United States, then it is very easy to let it happen in any other country around the world.”  This new trend should be a very disturbing situation to anybody.  It most definitely is very disturbing to me.  That is why I keep writing about it.

I realize that the tenor of my article is a bit darker.  I don’t wish it to be that way.  But the fact is that we have to adapt to the environment, and the environment is dangerously chaotic.  There have been a lot of instances where violence and dehumanizing rhetoric continues to normalize.  In fact, some people even seem to welcome it.  When people such as Trump call their opposition “vermin” or “poisoning the blood” of our country.  Those were words used by Hitler himself.

When Trump says point blank that he would be a dictator “only on day one” – that should not be tongue in cheek.  Most disturbing is the fact that his base actually cheers and applauds, yet they don’t realize that this divisive rhetoric is eerily similar to what others have communicated before some of the worst chapters in our history.

The solution is ensuring that people go out and vote understanding what they are really voting for.  Understand the policies, and understand the urgency of the situation.  There is a much larger world than the United States alone.  And some of those authoritarians have already galvanized their power over there.  It is going to happen here sooner than we know – but we still have time to work together.

If you haven’t yet, please read and share my books with everyone you know, so we can continue this important conversation.  Time is running out, and anything else we try to do will become a moot point.  I’m doing my part, the best I can – but I am only one man.  Thank you for being part of this solution!  HLC