Fear and Loathing in the USA

Americans just voted for self-destruction

First, warm greetings to my new readers. There has been an explosion of growth here since the election, no doubt because so many of us are searching for answers. When I started this work 3 ½ years ago, it was to focus on climate change. That evolved to write about equally troubling overshoot as well. I chose these topics because they are the ultimate determiners of our future on this besieged planet — our dreams — and whether we can maintain and improve on every fragile human right we have ever achieved. I have rarely touched politics other than how they connect to these issues. I prefer not to, but with this election the landscape has changed and the future of my work is in question, my own safety in writing the truth.

“Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.”
― Napoleon Bonaparte

The health of the Earth is not political. The first presidential election I participated in was 1976 when I voted for Carter, the only morally grounded and ethical president I have lived under. He inherited the fallout of Watergate, the disillusioned American people, an energy crisis and eventually the Iranian hostage crisis that resulted in a botched rescue attempt, diminishing his chances for reelection. Worse, behind the scenes, Reagan’s people, specifically William Casey of CIA notoriety worked to delay the release of the 52 hostages to sabotage Carter, unforgivably prolonging their suffering. The hostages freed upon Reagan’s election was no coincidence, and the Reagan years ushered in the beginning of the corporate feeding frenzy known as neoliberal economics, first fomented in South America in the 1970s and virulently spread across the world, privatizing industry, creating massive inflation, and pillaging natural resources. I wrote about this in The Economy We Need to Save Ourselves where I touch on Chicago School economics and its first violent implementation in Chile, where 3,200 people were disappeared, executed or tortured, 80,000 imprisoned, and 200,000 forced to flee from political persecution.

“The only security of all is in a free press.”
― Thomas Jefferson

This is now the potential situation we face here as psychopaths are elevated to the most powerful positions in government. I highly recommend Naomi Klein’s brilliant book, The Shock Doctrine (slow to load PDF here until the burgeoning police state removes it) to fully understand what has happened in America economically to drive us to this point. Ever present underlying racism and distrust, our so-called culture wars, have been unleashed, exploited and driven by economic injustice and the rise of billionaire oligarchs. It’s a game, and you and I are losing, as are those who voted for Trump. Oh, and if you don’t think we have a police state, consider the excitement of the prison industry since Trump’s victory. Prison stocks are up. Yes, we trade prison stocks in the land of the free and the home of predatory capitalism.

“The first thing dictators do is finish free press, to establish censorship. There is no doubt that a free press is the first enemy of dictatorship.”
―Fidel Castro

I have often told my readers my words could become dangerous to me, and now they are. Speaking truth to power is always dangerous. I have been using my modest life savings to do this work, such is my conviction of how devastating the path we’re on is. Please support me financially if you can. I am not begging, I am giving something of value as our mainstream media fails to deliver the truth or gravity of our situation. This isn’t how I pictured spending the later years of my life, but I feel a responsibility because I can do this work. Somehow, all I have read and observed in my life expert on nothing, but well-informed on much by the brilliance of other people has given me a picture I urgently wish to communicate. Whether I continue or not depends on you. I don’t care to risk my life in vain.

“Free speech exercised both individually and through a free press, is a necessity in any country where people are themselves free.”
―Theodore Roosevelt

Our society is ill to its core, as evidenced by the ever rising rates of mass shootings in this country. The illness is manifested in our body tissues laden with chemicals and plastic, as well as our increasingly insane behavior. I thought surely the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012 would bring sanity to our gun policies, where 26 people died, 20 being children between six and seven years old. How wrong I was.

“If I had to choose between government and a free press, I would choose a free press.”
―Thomas Jefferson

The election has resulted in the worst possible outcome. Before I am accused of being a liberal, I will fire back. I have criticized the Biden administration numerous times over the years on climate policy that falls far short and the US role as being the primary weapon supplier to the world and war criminal Netanyahu and his cohorts. We are seeing the police state first hand in suppression of college protests, I wrote about that in “Order Must Prevail,” Biden’s own words, Cop City in Atlanta which I touched on in The Real Eco Terrorists, and insidious laws in red states to peacefully assemble and protest, turning misdemeanors into felonies. Liberal, conservative, whatever, it’s all death and the Democrats have also been complicit in the rise of oligarchy that is destroying our world and our future. As I have pointed out numerous times what we have in reality is class warfare, an eternal game and the terms “liberal” and “conservative” are used to keep us fighting each other against our common interests that most fundamentally start with preserving an inhabitable planet.

“It is a seldom proffered argument as to the advantages of a free press that it has a major function in keeping the government itself informed as to what the government is doing.”
―Walter Cronkite

The culture wars, the scapegoating of black and brown people and the LGBQT+ community is a game to keep us from organizing against the true enemies, the billionaire oligarchy that is now poised to run the government. A billionaire puts as much carbon into the atmosphere in 90 minutes as the average person in a lifetime. A bloodless coup has just been carried out, do you see?

“The crisis of modern democracy is a profound one. Free elections, a free press and an independent judiciary mean little when the free market has reduced them to commodities available on sale to the highest bidder.”
―Arundhati Roy

Margaret Atwood had it right in A Handmaid’s Tale. Christian fundamentalists have no interest in morality, decency, or life. Women are dying for doctors fearful of being prosecuted unable to provide necessary medical care. A zygote is not a baby, hypocrites, try some science. They favor us walking in public among armed citizens who often have mental health problems. They don’t give a damn about right and wrong, they simply want power at any cost, including your life, the life of your wife, your daughter — any woman you know who is as capable and intelligent as any man. We all have to stand up at this moment to protect those we love. We have elected a convicted felon and rapist. Unbelievable.

“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without
being lost.”
―Thomas Jefferson

There is something worse than death in life, and that is living under tyranny.

I am tracking with horror Trump’s cabinet picks, and am well aware of the mandates encompassed in Project 2025, an excellent breakdown can be found here that will further destroy the Earth and our social fabric. We are moving towards an even more divided country. Trump has promised retribution on his enemies, “radical left lunatics,” and “people from within,” including use of the National Guard and military to eradicate them.

On October 13, he was interviewed on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures."

“I think the bigger problem are the people from within,” he told interviewer Maria Bartiromo.

“We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics... And it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by [the] National Guard or really necessary by the military, because they can't let that happen.”

These statements happen at the very end of the interview for those that wish to watch.

“As a conservative who believes in limited government, I believe the only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press. A free press ensures the flow of information to the public, and let me say, during a time when the role of government in our lives and in our enterprises seems to grow every day — both at home and abroad — ensuring the vitality of a free and independent press is more important than ever.”
―Mike Pence

Make no mistake, this administration will result in hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of excess deaths over the course of the next four years (and don’t count on Trump or Vance leaving office should Trump die) at the end of the term. Trump has stated, "In four years, you don't have to vote again. We'll have it fixed so good, you're not gonna have to vote."

“The essence of the free press is the reliable, reasonable and moral nature of freedom.”
―Karl Marx

Deaths will soar as the Affordable Care Act is dismantled, healthcare costs continue to go up, floods, fires, and wet bulb temperatures, explained here, but even more dangerous than thought, explained here, take lives, and the EPA, FDA and CDC are dismantled and put in the hands of oligarchs like Musk who is mandated to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, equivalent to the combined budgets of the Pentagon and the Departments of Education and Homeland Security.

“For me, the most serious problem is how America became so vulnerable to the assertion of blatant falsehoods that drive policy and are not corrected by the so-called immune system of democracy, a free press and a free democratic discourse.”
―Al Gore

Patriotism itself is subject to being twisted. The enemy, should my work be noticed, will label me as subversive. Every time I write, the danger increases. Every new subscription, every share, every success increases the personal threat to my well-being. My warnings, my hard work, are the definition of patriotism, because true patriotism requires calling out injustice. That said, I am not an old school patriot. I am a patriot of the planet and preserving life and beauty on it. Old-fashioned patriotism needs to die. We can no longer afford to see the world with borders. I speak for the ocean and the air. I speak for the beauty, mystery and spirit of the Earth. I speak for all the beauty and biodiversity we are losing. I speak for our best potential and finding our connection to the planet again. I speak for Homo sapiens having a future. I speak for everyone, whoever they voted for, even the trolls that may threaten my life for expressing these thoughts. However, at this point I need genuine support.

“A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad.”
―Albert Camus

When I was learning to read, the first books I remember were a series of biographies of early American patriots. The one I remember vividly is that of Nathan Hale, the American school teacher turned spy, who when caught by the British and about to be hung famously said, “I only regret, that I have but one life to lose for my country.” All of our lives are on the line now. My last moment won’t be spent on the couch watching Netflix. Life isn’t about something marketed to us called happiness, it’s about living with purpose and meaning. If you see the truth in my words, if you recognize the many dangers we face, put your money where my mouth is, please. This is brave, well-researched work. It’s going to become dangerous. The response I get here may be determining. Our time and my money are running out. This long hard effort is at a crossroad.

“It is the press, above all, which wages a positively fanatical and slanderous struggle, tearing down everything which can be regarded as a support of national independence, cultural elevation, and the economic independence of the nation.”
― Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

Regardless, I love all my readers and hope we have the resolve and courage to overcome the threats that face us. We have so much potential. We cannot succumb to fear and loathing.