The "Deep State" Is A Myth

Following are selected links to information debunking the lie from conservatives that the "Deep State" within the US government is the major problem to eradicate:

Wikipedia on the "Deep State"

NPR on the "Deep State

Just Security on the "Deep State"

The Democratic Party And Economic Inequality

Robert Reich, Bill Clinton's Secretary of Labor, is one of the most prolific communicators of the truth about the source of economic inequality in the USA. Click on the links below for a 2-part in-depth expose of such, and how the Democratic Party has not been aggressive enough in challenging the lies of Republicans regarding who is responsible for it:

America's Four Stories (Part 1)

America's Four Stories (Part 2)

A summary:

"The Democrats’ weakest story has been the Rot at the Top. Democrats have been reluctant to condemn economic elites who have grown richer than ever and who have used their affluence to corrupt the political system.

"This should not be surprising. Since the 1980s, Democrats have been drinking at the same funding troughs as Republicans — big corporations, Wall Street, and wealthy individuals. And as the Supreme Court opened the spigots of big money into politics, those troughs have become far larger, for both parties."

- - -

"Bernie Sanders told this story about the real Rot at the Top, but other leading Democrats have been reluctant to tell it.

"The Democrats’ failure to tell this story has enabled Republican cultural populism to fill the void, offering Americans who were growing distrustful of the system an explanation for what had gone wrong and a set of villains to blame — immigrants, '“coastal elites,' 'woke'ism, the 'deep state,' transgendered people, 'communists,' 'socialists,' the 'Left,' Critical Race Theory, 'cat ladies,' and other bogeymen.

"But none of these is the real explanation. The real explanation, the real Rot at the Top, has been a new record concentration of wealth and power at the top — enough to corrupt our system of self-government."

Authoritarianism: Two Podcast Episodes To Help In Better Understanding

"Authoritarianism and autocracies take many forms. So how do you know it when you see it? Our guide to the erosion of choice, rights, truth and power is Anne Applebaum, author of several books including, most recently, Autocracy, Inc."

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-is-authoritarianism/id1195657423?i=1000679860773

"We’re in strange times. In the U.S., we’re finding ourselves in a situation in which the possibility of genuine democratic retrenchment and some version of presidential authoritarian dictatorship is a real possibility. There’s a lot to consider as the liberal democracy we’ve become accustomed to could erode right before our eyes in the near future. Steve Levitsky is a professor of government at Harvard and serves as the director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. Levitsky is also a New York Times bestselling author of numerous books including, “How Democracies Die” and “Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point,” which he co-authored with Daniel Ziblatt. He joins WITHpod to discuss entering into a new era, the uncertainty of this moment, the process by which a democracy might backslide into something that's less democratic and resisting the erosion."

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-democratic-backsliding-happens-with-steve-levitsky/id1382983397?i=1000679858361 

Eisenhower Was Right

"President Dwight David Eisenhower, perhaps the last real Republican, had a 90 percent tax rate for the super-rich during his administration.

"Eisenhower explained it this way: The super-rich could avoid the high taxes by investing their money in things that make America stronger. If they wanted to avoid high taxes, he said they could invest in business expansions and higher employee wages. They could give a million or two to tax-exempt non-profits that feed, house, and clothe poor people of America, among other things.

"They did some of that, but the Eisenhower years generated enough taxes to launch and complete the labyrinth of interstate highways, the largest road project America had ever seen and is needed again."

Eisenhower Proved That Higher Tax Rates Could Work

It's Not A New Story

The USA just experienced a brutal "assassination" of the CEO of a major healthcare insurance corporation and there is no lack of conflicting responses to such. Much of the comments from social media are making jokes, fueled by legitimate anger over corporate greed in this area of our economy. While I abhor such responses, I understand what is fueling it. 

Click on this link for an article by my favorite American historian, which places this event in the context of other events in US history that were also motivated by corporate greed.

An Expose of Elon Musk

"No one better illustrates the sinister consequences of great wealth turned into unaccountable power than Elon Musk.

"Musk, the richest person in the world, is not only claiming presidential authority to fire federal workers, but he’s posting the identities of those whose jobs he wants to eliminate — with the clear intention that his followers harass and threaten them so they quit.

"Musk is utterly unaccountable. He has never been elected to anything, but he spent $120 million helping Trump become the president-elect and is now acting as if he’s Trump’s co-president, calling himself Trump’s 'First Buddy.'

"After buying Twitter for $44 billion, Musk turned it into a cesspool of disinformation and conspiracy theories and manipulated its algorithm to give himself 205 million followers, to whom he is now distributing treacherous lies.

"In recent days, Musk boosted posts on his website singling out the names and job titles of four federal employees working in climate policy and regulation who have done nothing other than hold titles Musk dislikes. All four targets are women."

Click on the link below for more:

Musk’s dangerous bullying

A Look At The US's Historical Battle Regarding Liberalism

"When Movement Conservatives convinced followers to redefine 'liberal' as an epithet rather than a reflection of the nation’s quest to defend the rights of individuals—which was quite deliberate—they undermined the central principle of the United States of America. In its place, they resurrected the ideology of the world the American Founders rejected, a world in which an impoverished majority suffers under the rule of a powerful few."

Click here for a perspective from my favorite American historian, Heather Cox Richardson.

Beware The Billionaires

"This is an ideology gaining in popularity amongst tech billionaires that the world is inevitably heading toward a collapse, and that instead of trying to prevent that collapse, we should rip off the band-aid as fast as possible to get to the better world on the other side. While there’s a cold logic to it, it’s a dangerous philosophy that ignores the incalculable human suffering that such a collapse would create."

Click on the link below for more about this real sub-terranean movement that is visible through Elon Musk and most of Trump's support:

Why Some Billionaires Are Actively Trying To Destroy The World

A Summary Of Trump's Disasterous Financial Plan

"The economy was a key issue for American voters. Trump has promised to make incomes 'soar' and make the cost of living 'come tumbling down.' But economists — like Financial Times global business columnist Rana Foroohar — aren't convinced. Foroohar says that Trump's plans for deregulation, tax cuts, and tariffs will likely bring an economic downturn. She joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the practicalities of the Trump agenda."

Click on the link below for what is ahead for the USA and the planet if Trump is true to his word:

What Will Trump's Economic Plan Mean For America's Wallets?

What Trump’s Win Says About American Society

"To make sense of the election, we must first understand the discontent that gave Donald Trump the victory. This is the theory of Harvard professor and political philosopher Michael Sandel. He joins the show to discuss the polarization that fueled Trump's campaign, and the failure of the Democrats to present themselves as the party of change."

Click this link for an interview with a philosopher/professor with an encompassing view of the overarching problem in US society today that has been simmering and growing for many decades.

What If Nazism Had Won? It Has In The USA

"If Adolf Hitler had won World War II, Europe would have been drastically reshaped under Nazi rule, with devastating consequences for its people and cultures. Hitler’s vision, outlined in Mein Kampf and Nazi ideology, called for a hierarchical society dominated by the so-called 'Aryan master race.' Countries across Europe would have been reorganized into puppet states or directly incorporated into a vast German empire, while the Slavic populations of Eastern Europe faced enslavement or extermination to make room for German settlers. 

"The Holocaust, which claimed the lives of six million Jews, could have expanded even further under a Nazi victory. With no Allied forces to stop them, the Nazis might have fully implemented their plans for the genocide of other groups they deemed "undesirable," such as the Roma people, political dissidents, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people with disabilities. The cultural and intellectual diversity of Europe would have been irreparably destroyed, as the Nazi regime sought to homogenize society under its oppressive rule. 

"Economically, Europe would have become a continent of exploitation, with German industry thriving at the expense of enslaved labor and plundered resources from occupied territories. Countries like France, Poland, and the Netherlands would have been forced into servitude, with their economies subjugated to fuel the ambitions of the Third Reich. Resistance movements and uprisings might have continued, but they would likely have been brutally crushed, leaving little hope for freedom under the Nazi regime. 

"In the long term, a Nazi-dominated Europe would have isolated itself from the rest of the world, fostering a climate of fear, oppression, and cultural stagnation. The United States, the Soviet Union, and other nations outside of Europe might have become counterbalances to Nazi power, but the cost of such a world would have been unimaginable. Europe, as we know it today—a place of unity, diversity, and shared values—would have been replaced by a dark and oppressive dystopia under Nazi control."

Click on the link below for a half-hour video presenting a "What If" that is a reality in the USA with MAGA winning:

What Would Europe Be Like If Adolf Hitler Had Won World War II?

Even In The Best Of Times, The Poor Have Always Been Neglected

"A Golden Age is a period of 'peace, prosperity, and happiness.' Early Greek and Roman poets used the phrase to describe how people lived in an almost idealized time and place. It is a point in history where art, science, and philosophy thrive, and where economic growth is unparalleled. But not everyone gets to enjoy that prosperity..."

Throughout known history, humanity has always ignored the needs of the poor. Memo to MAGA: the USA has never been great. Click on the link below for a history lesson on this fact:

What It Was Like To Be Poor Throughout History

The Truth About Gender-Affirming Care

"A recent article published in the Associated Press debunks a map circulating online claiming to show where it’s possible for toddlers to receive gender-affirming surgeries. It was clearly found to be completely false. Surgery under the age of 18 is very rare and is decided on a case by case basis. No toddler is receiving surgeries, nor any form of gender-affirming medical care for that matter.

"The map in question actually belongs to transgender rights advocate, Erin Reed, and depicts the states that have the 'worst active anti-trans laws' in red and the 'safest states' with protections for transgender people in blue. Right-wing extremists took the map to start a disinformation campaign about safer states for transgender young people.

"The fact check makes clear that gender-affirming surgeries are NOT performed on children, and that, 'In all cases, gender-affirming surgeries are only performed after multiple discussions with both mental health providers and physicians (including endocrinologists and/or surgeons), to determine if surgery is the appropriate course of action.'”

Click on the link below for the full article:

AP Debunks Extremist Claims About Gender-Affirming Care

Are You Blaming The Democrats? NO, Blame The Attack By Disinformation, And - - -

"Mehdi Hasan torched MAGA talking points and defended the Biden administration's economic record before offering a chilling warning of the future."

Click on this link for a defense of the Harris election efforts and a refutation of those who are not looking at the big picture: MAGA used disinformation from US and foreign sources to snow the majority of voters. Just how sad is that? The cure is critical/science-based thinking, beginning at an early age:

The REAL Leaders Of MAGA: Be Aware

"In this bonus, documentary-style episode of Outrage Overload, we explore the unsettling world of 'techno-libertarianism' and the powerful tech figures who are championing it. We sit down with David Troy, a tech entrepreneur and researcher, to discuss the visions of Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and others who advocate for dismantling traditional institutions in favor of a decentralized, digital future.What are the potential consequences of replacing governments with self-sovereign digital systems? How do these ideas mirror historical movements that sought to overthrow the state? Are these tech moguls’ intentions truly utopian, or do they have more self-serving goals?

"Join us as we examine the complex intersection of technology, politics, and power, and the potential risks these ideologies pose to our democracy and society as a whole."

Click on the link below for a podcast exposing the real power behind Trump and MAGA in general:

Tech Bro Apocalypse Dreams

To Fight Health Disinformation, Focus On Low Expertise

"Disinformation is false information spread intentionally, and it is particularly harmful for public health. We conducted three preregistered experiments (N = 1,568) investigating how to discredit dubious health sources and disinformation attributed to them. Experiments 1 and 2 used cancer information and recruited representative U.S. samples. Participants read a vignette about a seemingly reputable source and rated their credibility. Participants were randomly assigned to a control condition or interventions that (a) corrected the source’s disinformation, (b) highlighted the source’s low expertise, or (c) corrected disinformation and highlighted low expertise (Experiment 2). Next, participants rated their belief in the source’s disinformation claims and rerated their credibility. We found that highlighting low expertise was equivalent to (or more effective than) other interventions for reducing belief in disinformation. Highlighting low expertise was also more effective than correcting disinformation for reducing source credibility, although combining it with correcting disinformation outperformed low expertise alone (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 extended this paradigm to vaccine information in vaccinated and unvaccinated subgroups. A conflict-of-interest intervention and 1-week retention interval were also added. Highlighting low expertise was the most effective intervention in both vaccinated and unvaccinated participants for reducing belief in disinformation and source credibility. It was also the only condition where belief change was sustained over 1 week, but only in the vaccinated subgroup. In sum, *highlighting a source’s lack of expertise is a promising option for fact-checkers and health practitioners to reduce belief in disinformation and perceived credibility."

https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2025-19881-005.html

*The US Republican Party is a major source of disinformation on MANY topics. (https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/11/trump-disinformation-immigrants-storm-00183378)

Why The Political Split Based On A College Degree?

" - - - Over the past few decades, American society has experienced seismic changes. One of the trends we have seen is a rightward shift towards the Republican Party among voters without a four-year college degree and a pro-democratic center-left shift of voters who have a four-year college degree. There’s a lot to unpack about what has animated these changes. Matt Grossmann is the director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research and a professor of political science at Michigan State University. Dave Hopkins is a political scientist at Boston College. Grossmann and Hopkins are the co-authors of “Polarized by Degrees: How the Diploma Divide and the Culture War Transformed American Politics.” They join WITHpod to discuss the origin of these trends, the effects on both major parties, and more."

Click on the link below for a podcast delving into a phenomenon that effectively lost the election for Kamala Harris:

Polarized by Degrees

Project 2025: A Comic Book Summary

Click here for a good consolidation of every major policy statement in Project 2025, the Republican/MAGA/Trump plan to destroy the US Constitution.

How Kavanaugh Got On The Supreme Court Corruptly

"Rhode Island Senator and Supreme Court watchdog Sheldon Whitehouse recently dropped a bombshell investigation detailing the levels of corruption involved in Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation process and how Donald Trump and his inner circle were at the roots of it all. Chris Williamson breaks it down on Rebel HQ"

Click on the link below for the details of the above, and just how corrupt the Supreme Court is:

WATCH Corrupt Supreme Court Justice's Dirty Secrets Come to Light

Fascism 101

"Beginning in 1943, the War Department published a series of pamphlets for U.S. Army personnel in the European theater of World War II. Titled Army Talks, the series was designed 'to help [the personnel] become better-informed men and women and therefore better soldiers.'

"On March 24, 1945, the topic for the week was 'FASCISM!'”

Click on this link, from my favorite historian specializing in the USA, to learn how the military educated the troops in Europe about what they were fighting during World War II. This is EXACTLY what is needed now to inform the entire electorate that the USA is in imminent danger of fascism again, this time WITHIN THE USA in the form of Donald Trump and the Republican Party!