USA: War Games Ahead – The Historical Pattern of Cover-up – ‘Short-selling’ Children? – Intelligentsia Fleeing the Country

Image with two sides showing children playing on the left and chess pieces on the right
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The times have been dark indeed before. Dark in the sense of tragic and dreadful actions ahead. Not because people were unable to differentiate good from bad. Is it really alright to do anything just for money? Kill, destroy, and then occupy and build with what you have to sell?

Earning money this way: When a country is destroyed completely you have a 100% growth rate in a few decades to come.
And one or the other of those recently appointed to ‘leadership’ in the US may reckon they wouldn’t care too much, since they probably won’t live that long anyway…

Just yesterday a court of law ruled that the legal action against Mr. Trump, president-elect, be dropped for the time being. Since it is about the election 2020 and the proven manipulation of results, this could be the end of it because the statute of limitations might be reached by the time Trump leaves office again.

If he does at all…

The increasing postings online of frightened and worrying ‘brains’ (intelligentsia: people who are well-educated and use their knowledge productively) in the USA thinking of actually leaving a country that has been almost the epitome of freedom of thought and opinion for generations, proves dark times, indeed.

So many signs are there to promise that he will try and become another dictator, similar to Putin’s way to power in Russia… We may not be let go this time anymore.

‘We’, because the power balances in place since World War II let anything the USA and their foreign policies start, have a forceful impact on Europe – and indeed the world.

I still believe that we need to take a closer look at what is gong on at the moment, in politics and especially media:
Be careful to see the signs and stop war-mongering. Stop propaganda. It’s completely unnecessary!

Because, no woman, mother, father, child, brother or uncle deserves to be killed just because a few companies will profit by selling weapons and supplies – and the ones in power are too lazy to do their job properly, keep peace, negotiate – and find better ways of work than weapon factories.

 

“Evil is that Evil Does” – A Modern Clarification – The Trump-Musk-Putin Axis

Image of a dark sky and moon in the back and a lightened office with smart people discussing in front
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“Evil” is not some mystic and mysterious force with superpowers that rises somewhere from a fiery underground, staring you in the face with red eyes and breathing stench and fire.

A fine and not yet so modern phrase is: “Evil is that evil does.”

And that is entirely true. Before the advent of enlightenment and the civil society which also introduced the same right for everyone, evil was a term in religious contexts to make people afraid and manipulate them. Ghosts frequently played a role in that kind of thinking as well.

With the rise of a common basic education the term was critically reviewed and by and by found ‘old-fashioned’ and misleading.

But we need to come back to a modernized idea of it to state dangers more clearly:

EVIL is what people do by adhering to destructive values.

The values that worship money, the rich, the powerful, no matter what.

Some sort of currency is needed to make sure you can take care of your daily, basic needs. It wasn’t always money people used to exchange goods. Shells, sometimes even rare and beautiful ones were common in some parts of the world.

But whatever it is people use, when they start worshipping the wrong things and thus values we will get into trouble – such as the US currently are facing with a non-entity as their intended head of state.

How to Know Good?

The most basic two phrases putting it in a nutshell are these:

    • “Avoid pain.” For everyone.
    • “Act in a manner that the principle of your actions could be transformed into common law any time.”

The first is the Buddhist concept.

The second is my translation of Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative, that great philosopher of the 18th century and one of the leading figures of the enlightenment.

To get to the bottom of truths you need to take time to think. At first that could take some practice too.
But don’t worry! Because anything human beings do or create can be understood by other humans – even if it takes a little more time at first!

So in case you were wondering how to know evil from good, these are the yardsticks to use:

“Does it avoid pain?”
“Could the action/behaviour be transformed into general law for all, any time?”

 

Election 2024: A Male Criminal – Or a Female Writer and Lawyer? – It’s NOT a Question!

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The lengths they are going to in the Republican party to find anything they could use against the Democrat Ms Kamala Harris is a good sign:

She is a strong candidate. And it’s good to know that there is one.

She wrote a book once – and it was not a scientific thesis or an article. Once upon a time she did not properly mark a quote or two in place – but a little later in the book.

SO?

The Republican candidate has been convicted on several counts. He was proven guilty.
And he has been known for criminal behaviour and ruthlessness before – reported by solid, reliable newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, both awarded prizes for independent and reliable journalism – by independent organizations, such as the Pulitzer prize committee.

Additionally the Republican candidate still faces 4 separate criminal charges against him.
Look into the Republican candidate’s past – and you will have ample opportunity to find more of the same: Hate, populism, cruelty, selfishness and greed.  The link is one to a documentary by another winner of awards, documentary film maker, Michael Kirk* on PBS.

All of you who have the vote in the USA, think again: Who is the better choice?

Check the values! Look at what the parties stand for. Vote wisely.

For the community and the values that support not just a few, but the majority of people; for diversity, the lookout for others, peace. Democrats.


* Quote on Michael Kirk (s. link above): “The winner of every major award in broadcast journalism, including five Peabody Awards, four duPont-Columbia Awards, two George Polk Awards, 15 Emmy Awards, and 12 Writers Guild of America Awards, Kirk has produced, directed and written more than 100 hours of FRONTLINE — including multiple installments of “The Choice,” the acclaimed election-year series profiling the two major-party presidential candidates.”

Vote Democrats: Elections 2024 as Proof of a Strong Democracy in the US

President Biden and Vice President Harris meeting with Former President Obama (Image Wikimedia Commons)

The two attacks on the actual Republican candidate may be false – fake – a fluke to ensure his presence in media. I am not naming names, these days, if I can help it. Real or staged there’s no room in a real democracy for such acts of violence.

Be that as it may: He has been proven to be a person with no responsibility except towards himself and those with money. The kind of money that comes in cartloads. Bluntly put.

The Republicans stand for all the values that endanger a democracy. Their candidate was actively involved in the attack on the Capitol. They do not favour the support of the unfortunate, support weapons and their lobbies, and in general are in favour of an economy that is regulated by the markets alone.

But history is ample proof, in the US as well as elsewhere, that this does not work. The favouritism with capital will constantly shift the wealth of a society towards the already rich and wealthy – when everybody in truth is involved creating products, goods, marketable output.

Democrats on the other hand favour a wise and socially responsible policy for all concerned. Their advocating a society of equality, diversity and freedom in accordance with human and civil rights is legend.

Check the values!

Vote wisely, the Democratic party, as I stated before, may – just as any human institution – not be perfect; but they strive to do the best for the whole of a society – not just a select few.

And: They made the first African American president Barrack Obama possible!

Stop the Republican Candidate – Vote Democrats!

Screenshot taken from democrats.org at 18-08-2024_15-44-37 CEST — showing Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and followers

The former president D. Trump running for office again and being part of that party misleadingly calling itself “Republicans” is not to be pitied.

I wonder if it wasn’t a ruse even — that attack. But that is actually not really important at this time. He is neither to be trusted nor is he a good man, or ever was.

His past is full of financial irresponsibility, he actually only recently has been found guilty in a court of law of the United States after a proper action before that court.

He has hurt thousands of ‘little’ people during the 1970s that had trusted him and his enterprise, ruining their existence by taking their money and getting out in time himself.

He was best buddy to president Putin in Russia, who even supported his election the first time using illegal, online measures that have been proven.

Link to the Pulitzer Prize committee‘s official site, stating that fact:

“The 2018 Pulitzer Prize Winner in National Reporting — Staffs of The New York Times and The Washington Post”

Seems he is billions of dollars ‘worth’ — but when you look at his deeds (not his words) you will find it proven, too:

He ist not worth your vote.

Why Democrats? Because although being human and thus not flawless — they are the only ones smart and strong enough to prevent the hell of a second presidency of that Republican sorry-excuse-for-a-man.

Vote for peace and equality.

It’s the Bible even, that says it clearly:

“You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?”
(English Standard Version, 2016)

No to Violence! — The Attack on a Former President

Image courtesy Arek Socha on pixabay.com

Whatever somebody may have done or is doing: There is only the court of law and a proper action before it in a working legal system to convict and punish them.

Nothing is an excuse for such an attack as has been made known today. Without knowing any details yet since I have learned to take in news at a measure I still feel that in view of past criticism I owe my readers this clear statement:

There is no excuse for violence.

“Supreme Court”? “Justices”? – Support Democrats in 2024 Elections!

Monday already the ruling was out and amid an uproar of news flashes there’s some comfort…the Washington Post explains
(screenshot taken from here at 05.07.2024, 05:59 h (CEST)):

Screenshot from Washington Post Website

Personally I think it’s not overly surprising when you think of how the majority of the present Supreme Court Justices came into office: They were named and instated during that former president’s time in the White House.

Let’s hope and pray  – and keep going for democracy! – for a better and eventually true-to-their-best-roots society, especially in the US.

Because three dictatorships all across the world is too much even for this planet, namely Russia, China and a would-be president D. Trump in the United States.

Ancient Rome had seen similar situations: A huge empire that grew, benefited the few – and saw Caesars as well as dictators for centuries.

Let God – and NATO – forbid.

Peace — Power Games — Chances — Talks and Negotiations

Image courtesy Erik Karits on Pixabay

There’s no doubt about it, war is always a means to an end…which is tragic and cruel, no doubt about that either.

Yet, war has some striking differences to other kinds of conflict in human life!

It practically never happens over night, without any warnings or talks in advance, usually power and money are involved.
At the same time, in practically any case you may want to look at in recent or ancient history, the fame or the dignity of a country or its leader(s) was a ‘bone of contention’ as well.

The diverse political societies and international organizations show the will to ‘power games’, and also the need for a sort of balance in power.

There’s always a way, if we keep talking and negotiating, in politics — as well as in every day life. The recent problems apparently occurring between Iran and other nuclear power-holding countries could have been avoided, if under the last but one US-government the contracts with Iran hadn’t been cancelled — completely irresponsibly. Where it had taken close on ten years negotiating those in the first place.

One very deciding aspect of eventually successful negotiating is ‘putting yourself into your opponents shoes’. Try imagining what it would be like to be on their side, even if only for a while.

Alas, it seems, every generation has to learn all the lessons of the past all over again. That’s why proper and enlightened education is so crucial for our children! And grandchildren and great-grandchildren, because:
As long as this planet and its peoples are revolving, living, breathing, I refuse to call any generation ‘the last’!

In other words: Where’s life, there’s hope!

So many of the forecasts of also recent as well as ancient history proved to be wrong!

To ‘throw in the towel’ long before anything is desperate or dead, really, is no option.

Let’s keep to it – and remember about the breaks!

Power – ‘Where From’ and Why? – Ways Out of the Vicious Cycle

beautiful-still-life-with-water

Politics make me extremely mad sometimes, and this is my way to express my thoughts:
Men are at the bottom of power being considered a desirable asset, so it seems, more precisely: Patriarchy is. The idea of man being the “crown of creation”, the reigning principle, as it were.

It’s rather painfully obvious that in turn at the bottom of that is the emotion of empowerment, which in turn can be set in relation to sexual experience directly, alas. People sometimes even admit to that in front of cameras: below you find a particularly unusual statement to that effect, ©rbb and arte.tv.

Why? Why would it be a bad thing – feeling powerful?

Because people confuse it with self-confidence!
Self-confidence in turn can have a number of reasons, shortly summarized: it comes from being confident that we exist and behave according to the standards we were taught as children and adolescents.
That’s why people in such societies feel self-confident, when they are powerful (men) or beautiful (women).
But it’s neither power nor beauty that makes us attractive and desirable – it’s self-confidence. First and last.

If we base our self-confidence on new and more stable values than power or beauty we may find this earth turning into a finer place – every day.

Because too many people, and the majority of them men, are led to believe that being ‘successful’ makes you attractive – and being attractive leads (at least in most male fantasies) to more sexual encounters with willing women.
At the bottom the idea of simpletons that a ‘real man’ is defined by his ability to entice women.

There are rather disgusting examples, which I wouldn’t want to mention if I hadn’t to to be quite clear, such as the late Italian politician Berlusconi, the hopefully soon to be sentenced Trump in the US or the dictator of Russia, Putin.

Even the Russian politician Alexei Navalny – may he rest in peace  and his possible if not for-sure murderers be brought to justice – or the Ukrainian president Zelenskyy are no exception alas, apparently if not obviously driven by their adoration for their wives, who both are counted by modern standards among the ‘attractive desirable ones’…

I beg the pardon of all who know them better than I could using official reliable sources, should this appear blunt and unkind, in view of their achievements, too… But I also think that their connections and some actions due to their drive for political success at least deserve looking into.

On the side: No, of course, not every man on this earth is like that, thank heaven – and their smart parents. But too many of those that are in power – or want it badly – are like that, more or less.

All this seems perhaps blunt, but to me it’s to the point at issue, namely war and destruction and suffering and hunger created too often for no real reason – and there’s a lot of evidence in the documentations, reliable newspapers and scientific research in anthropology as well as history and social sciences to make this a very likely point of view.

(The video-clip is a very short extract. Please be aware that I chose it carefully for the abovementioned statement that is contained here. Otherwise you would want to watch the full documentary here.)

The Three Wise Monkeys Revisited – The Art of Focusing

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“See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.” The three wise monkeys are a concept, an idea, that stems from the Japanese culture. They are a proverbial idea of how to deal with bad or evil matters in human life. When you are raised on the idea that one should be truthful, that denial can be bad for you, you may be apt to wonder.

How is such an idea a good thing?

To my mind it’s two very important points to be considered here:

    • Words are powerful, they create images in our minds.
    • It’s not about denial – it’s about focus.

Images in our minds are powerful, as has been since established in scientific research too: They help us keep focus, they can drive our actions that way – and make us feel weak and insecure – or confident and strong.

One technique that also has been advocated for business negotiations and even marketing – is to ‘visualize‘:

Start using what you have learned in terms of ideas and words to actively make up the image of what you are aiming at.

Your next project, a higher level of health  – or understanding, in short, some measure of self-awareness or efficacy different from before.

That’s why the idea of the three wise monkeys can help not only focus – they help us focus on all the things that make us strong, confident and positive about reaching the goal. Which does not necessarily mean wealth or power.

The community at large will benefit from such views:

    • From the idea that you will not listen to rumours which may be even false.
    • From the idea that you will not direct your gaze onto the bad or worse matters, not focus on the bad things.
    • From the idea that you yourself will not help either creating rumours or bad ideas – or spread those images.

Words are powerful, in all ways. That’s why focusing on the good is important.

Not because one would deny problems or difficulties or the downright evil – but because they can help to make it better, again.