Elon Musk: As Bad As You Thought, And More

"The Pentagon and the United States Senate just dropped a Friday bombshell on Elon Musk that he can’t afford to ignore!"

Click on this link for an exposé of the Muskrat:

Is This The Reason We Are Losing Civil Rights And A Growing Economy Under Trump/MAGA?

In recent decades, there has been a steady decrease in the number of US residents who are religious, while civil rights and the economy have been expanding during the same time:

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/09/13/how-u-s-religious-composition-has-changed-in-recent-decades/

However, since the advent of the Presidency of Donald Trump and his MAGA, the trend appears to have stopped:

"The number of Americans who identify as Christian has declined steadily for years, but that drop shows signs of slowing, according to a new survey Wednesday from the Pew Research Center.

"The Religious Landscape Study finds 62% of U.S. adults call themselves Christians. While a significant dip from 2007, when 78% of Americans identified as Christian, Pew found the Christian share of the population has remained relatively stable since 2019." (link)

- - - - - - - - -

I BELIEVE THIS IS MORE THAN A CORRELATION.

I BELIEVE THERE IS SOME CAUSATION HERE BECAUSE RELIGION DAMPENS CRITICAL THINKING.

Drastic Times Require Drastic Countermeasures

My opinion, change my mind.

May Day: A Reminder That "We, The People" Must Hold Our US Government To Account

"May Day has two meanings, both of which are directly applicable to today. It commemorates the solidarity of the labor movement (139 years ago today, workers gathered in the streets of Chicago to demand an eight-hour day).

“'Mayday!' is also a distress signal used by pilots to indicate imminent danger or a life-threatening emergency (derived from the French phrase 'm’aider,' meaning 'help me').

"That about sums it up: Our solidarity is necessary to overcome the imminent dangers we now face, all from Donald J. Trump.

"I doubt we can wait until the midterm elections to contain him. Unless we stop the damage he’s doing to both our democracy and our economy before then, much of it will be irreversible. It’s not even clear what sort of election we’ll be able to have 18 months from now." (link)

Fareed Zakaria Continues To Focus On What Is Important

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qk4FBS73Ts

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4VfaYi_vJY&t=1s

DOGE Attacks Federal Workers: The Truth About Them

"Sen. Joni Ernst, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and other politicians have continued to make incorrect statements about the federal workforce. Their statements have eroded their own credibility and are just an attempt at tarnishing the reputations of civil servants to make it easier to fire them and contract out their jobs to for-profit corporations.

"We believe that facts matter, and AFGE will continue to debunk these misconceptions as they come in."

Click on the link below for a debunking of the false claims about Federal Workers:

AFGE Continues to Debunk Misconceptions About Federal Workers

Is It Too Much To Compare Trump With Hitler?

One cannot go on the internet without seeing posts comparing Trump to Hitler. Hell, I do it:

Is it wrong? I don't think so. Larry David seems to agree with me over Bill Maher. However, Michael Smerconish agrees with Bill Maher. I admit, my stance is powerful and binary. Here is supporting evidence for my position:

"Nazis don't always look like bad guys in funny helmets. The Nazis and other bigots in khaki slacks and bright polo shirts who marched in Charlottesville chanted racist and anti-Semitic slogans I'd rather not repeat on a Saturday — or at all. But it's discouraging to feel that you have to explain, more than 70 years after Nazi Germany was defeated, why Nazis are still the menace that embody evil.

"The 20th century saw a lot of state-sanctioned mass murder: Stalin, Mao, Mengistu and Pol Pot, Armenia, Bosnia, Cambodia, Rwanda, Ethiopia's Red Terror, the Great Purge, the Cultural Revolution, and more. In America, there were lynchings and the cruelty of official segregation, which followed the end of slavery, and the massacre of so many Native Americans." (link)

In sum, here are several links supporting me on this question: 

• https://www.theglobalist.com/united-states-donald-trump-germany-adolf-hitler-dictatorship-propaganda-politics/

• https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/22/al-gore-compares-trump-administration-to-third-reich-hitler-00302348

• https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/undergrad-honors/62/

• https://chicago.suntimes.com/letters-to-the-editor/2025/02/25/pritzker-trump-comparison-nazi-hitler-academic-commentary

• https://theharvardpoliticalreview.com/trump-rhetoric-hitler/#google_vignette

• https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/10/trump-authoritarian-rhetoric-hitler-mussolini/680296/

• https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/russian-foreign-minister-compares-trumps-america-first-to-nazi-propaganda/

• https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-trumps-rhetoric-compares-to-historic-fascist-language

Exposing Conservative "Family Values"

 

The USA Is Following An Ancient & Harmful Governing Pattern

"Witnessing a social, criminal, political, psychological, and a faith phenomenon in the United States has only been seen in glimpses in other contexts, and not to the extent now. To understand what is going on and to hopefully devise remedies will require examining the primary causes and the interactions.

"From the beginnings of civilization in the Fertile Crescent, the Indus River valley, and China politics, rule has been intertwined with faith, religious traditions. The leader, ruler, the monarch was considered divine and could do no wrong, at least to the faithful followers. All negative stories, facts were considered fake or propaganda. Being a priest meant you had the leader's ear, thereby influencing the direction of society and the nation. It was also a good position for increasing your wealth by selling the people and the leaders' promises that are, in fact, baseless. This has taken the form of charismatic preachers grifting so much that they build their own super churches, colleges, and homes. The faith also could and has had a significant impact on loyalty to the monarch, driving it ever higher.

"Being part of a court held immense power and possibilities, so long as you did what the leader asked or ordered you to do. Such a position also had the leader's ear, with the possibility of influencing state policies and increasing your own wealth. So being part of a cabinet, a Soviet, a portion of the executive staff, meant that you could have your own fiefdom to exploit. Any position below that was a minor nobleman or a capo who had their own soldiers. Yes, government and organized crime are similar in structure, with goals of maintaining territory, gaining territory, power, and wealth. It has only been in the recent 200 years that the development of democracy has started to change. However, the old ways always have a way of returning.

"All dictators and their courts have degrees of narcissism. Trump has been classified as a malignant narcissist with sociopathy, which presents us with a unique, extremely dangerous situation that is potentially mortal to the country and its citizens! Was Hitler narcissistic? The answer is most probably yes, as all dictators and monarchs are. A known con man, liar, and cheat is Trump. His experience in fighting in the courts gave him the experience and knowledge of how to manipulate our justice system! Is or was our government and judicial system up to putting up guardrails? Part of his sickness is thinking like a godfather and being able to threaten others, particularly Republican politicians, without saying it directly. This forces the GOP to bend to his worst instincts. Note that his experience as a con man makes him charming and convincing to his audience/supporters. This is by knowing their grievances, fears, and anger, thereby co-opting them to control them. The help of the regime's propaganda media, Fox News, has captured a viewership. Trump's mental illness is very focused on two things: wealth and power, but keeping his followers convinced that he is fighting for them! He doesn’t care about anybody else, no matter how close; those around him, including his own family, are expendable.

"This sets up an environment and needs to resist, peacefully if possible, but it may have to be taken to the next level, VIOLENCE! Don’t get me wrong, to assume that I recommend violence via internal war is what I want. But as the ruling class feels more threatened, the more likely they will resort to violence themselves at any cost. So history and psychology tell us to be ready. Then you ask why the Russian 1917 revolution didn’t lead to such massive wars. They remembered that the peasants saw the czar and his nobles as the ruthless ruling class stealing from them. They saw the Bolsheviks working and protecting them, promising land reform, equality, etc. Sometimes it takes generations to reform or end dictatorships. If Trump and MAGA win, how long will it take for America to end the dictatorship?

Stephen Stripe (from his post on Facebook, 4/21/2025)

How Authoritarianism Takes Hold

"How does authoritarianism take hold? What warning signs do we often miss? In this episode, we speak with Bruce Neuburger, author of Postcards to Hitler: A German Jew’s Defiance in a Time of Terror, about the rise of political extremism—then and now. Neuburger shares his grandfather’s incredible story of resistance under Nazi rule and explores the modern parallels we can’t afford to ignore.

🔹 How authoritarian regimes normalize oppression
🔹 The role of propaganda in shaping public perception
🔹 Lessons from Nazi Germany and today’s political landscape
🔹 What individuals can do to push back against creeping authoritarianism"

Click here for the podcast.

Voter Suppression in 2024

In Vigilantes Inc.: America’s New Vote Suppression Hitmen, investigative reporter Greg Palast hunts down the MAGA vigilantes who came for your vote in 2024. Click here for a free streaming of the documentary.

"Mickey Mouse Is Smarter That Trump"

Click on the link below for a detailed examination of the idiocy of Trump's trade and economic policies and DOGE. If this doesn't scare the Hell out of you, you are not educable:

Jeffrey Sachs Goes Off, Roasts Donald Trump’s Trade Talk

Why Facts Don't Work To Change Minds

I would be at the front of the line supporting facts as a counter to falsehood. However, there is growing evidence that confronting someone who is in error with facts as a first-line approach to them fails royally. 

Click on the link below for a science-based approach to how to initially interact with individuals who are mistaken by accepting harmful ideas:

Using harm as a universal moral outrage to better communicate 

Immigration Myths Debunked

Click here for an extensive debunking of essentially all of the negative myths and stereotypes involving immigration to the USA:

• 1. Immigrants commit more crimes than native citizens.
• 2. Immigrants raise the crime rates where they settle.
• 3. Undocumented immigrants freeload all kinds of social services.
• 4. Undocumented immigrants pay no taxes.
• 5. Immigrant laborers drive wages down, harming native citizens.
• 6. There is an unprecedented invasion at the southern border, constituting a national emergency.
• 7. Immigrants bring fentanyl into the US from Mexico.
• 8. Immigrants take good jobs from native citizens.
• 9. It's easy to get citizenship legally, there's no reason they can't do that.
• 10. The US has long had an open border policy which has been economically disastrous.

The USA Is At The Tipping Point

"The Trump regime is on the cusp of a showdown with the Supreme Court. Depending on what the Court does and how the regime responds, it could openly become a dictatorship in two ways."

Click here to continue.

Bill Maher: Gullible Or Groveling

Bill Maher has the skill to sell nonsense to the gullible. He plays the "Centrist" card open-faced and ignores reality, as all such media personalities do. Reality/truth is not close to being represented by the center of the US political conversation.

Click here to learn what he had to say about his meeting with Donald Trump a few days ago.

The Person Who Knows It All Knows Nothing

The saying "the person who knows it all knows nothing" highlights a paradox: someone who believes they know everything is likely unaware of their limitations and the vastness of unknown knowledge. It suggests that true wisdom lies in acknowledging the limits of one's knowledge and remaining open to learning. This idea is often associated with Socrates' famous statement, "I know that I know nothing".

-AI Overview

Click on the link below for the best expose (in his own words!) about the present POTUS you will ever see:

Wall Street Just WENT OFF ON TRUMP With Alarming Warnings!

Civil Servants: The Under-Appreciated Heros Of Government

"Michael Lewis, acclaimed author of The Big Short, Moneyball, and The Fifth Risk joins Lovett to discuss his most recent book, Who is Government? Lewis and his coauthors profile the civil servants whose thankless and unglamorous work prevents mines from collapsing, castaways from drowning, and rare diseases from killing people. He and Jon talk about why it’s so important to break down the 'bureaucrat' stereotype right now, why Lewis is convinced Elon Musk has no idea how to run DOGE, and what leads the people he writes about to stand up to Trump or succumb to their personal ambition."

Click on the link below for an enlightening podcast regarding the truth about the role of government in society:

Bravery in Politics 

Groveling To Trump Only Encourages More Subservience

Friends,

Here’s a slightly stylized version of the conversation now occurring between Trump and:

(1) the presidents and prime ministers of countries on which Trump has slapped tariffs,

(2) CEOs of corporations wanting exemptions from the tariffs,

(3) university presidents wanting to avoid losing federal funding,

(4) senior partners at law firms seeking to avoid a punitive Trump executive order,

(5) CEOs of media corporations seeking to avoid or settle a Trump lawsuit against them and curry favor, and

(6) chairs of the nation’s largest museums, hospitals, libraries, and other nonprofits afraid of losing their tax-exempt status.

- - -

The Oval Office

They (anxiously): Mr. President, sir, thank you for a few moments of your time.

He (impatiently): Cut to the chase: What will you give me?

They: We’re eager to make amends, sir, and give you whatever you want, sir.

He: Start with a public apology.

They: Yes, of course. We should never have done what we were doing. We’ll say so, publicly.

He: And thank me, publicly.

They: Yes, of course. You’re a great president who deserves all of our thanks.

He: The greatest president.

They: The greatest president!

He: What else?

They (groveling): We’ll contribute to a fund of your choosing. $40 million.

He: $100 million.

They: Of course, Mr. President, sir.

He: That’s it?

They (bowing): We also promise never, ever to criticize you, Mr. President, sir. We’ll stop everyone else from criticizing you, too.

He: Good. What else?

They (after kissing his hand): Your family can build a hotel on our property! Several hotels! You’ll get 50 percent of whatever it earns.

He: Fifty?

They (after kissing his shoes): No! Eighty! Ninety! We’ll give you television rights! Book deals! Book deals for your wife! We’ll invest in your Bitcoin!

He: Maybe …

They: Our people will be your serfs!

He (perking up): Serfs?

They: Slaves! And their children will be slaves to your children!

Assistant: Mr. President, sir, you’ve got another meeting.

He (to the grovelers): Let me think about it.

They (as they’re being led out): We’ll throw in a diamond brooch! A Rolex watch! A Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail!

He (to the grovelers): Come back with a better offer.

They (backing out and bowing): Thank you, Mr. President, sir! Thank you! Thank you!

(Assistant closes the door behind them.)

- - -

This dialogue is only a bit exaggerated. There are few things Trump enjoys more than his own dominance over — and the abject subservience of — others.

But with every such deal, Trump’s perceived power grows. With every groveler, he demands more groveling. Every supplicant ensures more supplicants — among presidents and prime ministers, CEOs, university presidents, senior partners at law firms, and CEOs of media corporations.

Those who grovel are harming the world. They are traitors to America.

We fought a Revolutionary War almost 250 years ago to avoid just this.

- - - - - - - - - -

Robert Reich 

He can't see the full picture regarding his actions.
He doesn't understand that most political goals require tweezers and not a hammer.

An Existential Science Crisis For The USA (And The Planet)

"This week, in response to President Trump’s ongoing cuts to scientific research and staffing at federal agencies, nearly 2,000 of the country’s leading scientists signed a letter urging the administration to 'cease its wholesale assault on U.S. science.'

“'We see real danger in this moment,' the letter, which was signed by a number of Nobel Prize winners, stated. 'We hold diverse political beliefs, but we are united as researchers in wanting to protect independent scientific inquiry. We are sending this SOS to sound a clear warning: the nation’s scientific enterprise is being decimated.'

"Last week, the journal Nature published a poll it conducted of more than 1,600 U.S. scientists: 'Are you a US researcher who is considering leaving the country following the disruptions to science prompted by the Trump administration?' the poll asked the group. In response, 75.3% of those polled said yes, while 24.7% said no."

Click here for the full article.