NJYANAP

 And are always about letting one another get off scot free unless they're if a different political persuasion. For instance, you think you and those alongside you don't deserve hard punishment even though you traumatized, injured, and killed people and invaded a federal building and elected representatives because you were fighting for a 'noble' and urgent cause, but you want people of color punished for lesser crimes even though they believe their cause is just as noble and urgent. It has always been that way. White people have always characterized black people as violent or criminals but excuse themselves for the propensity for not just violence but for subjugation entire races, cultures, and countries and committing crimes against humanity worldwide. They are the school shooters, the serial killers, the bombers of public spaces,the harmers of masses of innocent people just to make a statement. That's as white as white can be. Anything white people do is okay, an...

 Because truly it is madness. It's Mass insanity. And the only reason people think what you think is true which, which is that Trump didn't just win but one by landslide, the only reason you think that is because you've been spending too much time with people who are telling you the same thing telling one another the same things repeatedly drilling it into one another's heads, and that gives you all the impression that what you were thinking that thought is more widespread than it actually is. I don't know if you've heard about what's going on out here but there are people who have been searching in vain for election corruption or whatever you want to call it, and they're just not finding it. And there are people out here who are voice pieces who are politicians who are telling people even Republicans are telling you people to please stop the ridiculousness. There are people out here who are trying to characterize what you did on the 6th as just a bunch ...

You're making the war against two things, others in the same boat as you or worse, and things that you've imagined. And both those things keep your attention off what really is against you. Greedy exploiters are against US. And they create a spirit that works against all of humanity. They convince us there's not plenty enough for us all to live well, because if we knew that truth we would act to avoid hoarding and would focus on humanitarian efforts to get everyone what they need, and encouraging everyone's gifts and contributions which cover a spectrum that makes us beautiful. Truth is, you're not irate about the things you should be, and you're beyond irate about things that ultimately will prove to be folly and fantasy.

 Not gonna lie, the respite is a welcomed one for me, and I'm sure I'm not alone. I welcome the calm and the going about his work quietly making about policy rather than self. I welcome the absence of constant antagonism, lying, distortion, bragadociousness and the infantile brand of credit taking and blame avoidance. I welcome respite from practically everything Trump brought to the post. 

More confrontational, profane, unhinged, rude, and entitled acting than ever, and are proud of and defensive of their awful behavior. Why? Is this supposed to be part of that America being "great?" Is that your greatness? It never was before, so why is it framed as going back to a period of greatness? We were only great when we wereaming life better for a majority of citizens. We're definitely not doing that now. Many of our grandparents would be shocked and appalled by the behavior and by what we've undone in such a brief period of time.

 We wake up ready to find something wrong, something to pick at or poke, something to disagree with. And we can't wait to post it somewhere, opine, present our stance, hoping our words will get air. Seeking viralty, or seeking confrontation. Every. damn. day we do this.

 Probably the best first step in healing and achieving peace is for us to stop regarding one another as blocs or stereotypes and responding accordingly. We create so much enmity and problems for ourselves when we blame someone or hold them responsible for the sins of another. And I'm talking about anyone. Almost all of us do it, and it's wrong, it's so so damaging. Because when you do that to someone, they begin to smolder. The unfairness if it causes them to regard you in the same manner and paint people with a broad stroke who happen to look like you or have something identifiable in common with you.

 There's something that I think you may be missing here. When you talk about these people who ride you so much people who you describe as being woke or activists like black lives matter, all you're really talking about if people who are passionate to a degree where there who was that word single-minded very single-minded and focus on an issue to the point where they're not really rational. They may be actually taking their pent up intense anchor out on people who shouldn't be targets because they have just lost themselves. They do things with abandon and recklessly. But what I think you don't understand is that that's exactly what you have done and then. You are the other side of that coin. Just like you these are people are fighting what they believe is an existential threat. You're convinced you and a certain way of life is under attack and you can easily be convinced of a certain enemy. That's what makes fear dangerous, that you can be easily mamipula...

 I think it would be a really good idea if when things happen let's say things happen in the news it's some kind of event and it gets reported and immediately everybody starts weighing in on it. What if we didn't weigh in on everything as if it was our responsibility or duty to do so? What if every time we heard something the first thing that we did was stop listen gather all the necessary information and pertinent facts and then ask ourselves is this my concern. And we should ask ourselves is it necessary is my input warranted is my input wanted did the person who this actually concerned ask for or need my assistance or my support? And if the answer is no then why can't we just say nothing because say nothing can actually be more productive than saying something. And another thing I think that we need to get out of our heads this notion that we have some kind of a duty to inform or make other people aware things. Because so often we don't even know what we're t...

 Makes it such that it's very easy to stay in a negative and reactive state of mind. As soon as you see something, your fingers start flying and typically what comes out is not processed or considered, which means it often doesn't reflect your best or highest self, and you've got everyone doing that. It's a freeforall. It's a daily regimen of negativity, really. And it's sooo easy to get pulled back into even when you realize this and pull back. The solution is to be very conscientious about feeding your brain a different kind of daily diet, a diet of positive thoughts. It's the only way at this point. Talk here about the 40% of American adults who would rather give up a car, TV, or their pet than social media. That's crazy, and it really reflects our addiction to responding in the way we do to one another. We don't want to kick this habit. That doesn't bode well for our near future as a country or a people. I actually think what you and I are do...

 I don't think you understand that responding badly to cancel culture is the same as participating in can cancel culture. They're the same thing. Both are overreactions and prickliness. They're a readiness to be angry and retaliatory. You're into supporting organized religion now, aren't you? Well, let's consider the scripture that says, "In your anger, do not sin." That covers a whooole lot of territory in terms of behavior toward one another. And not just behavior, but perspective and regard for one another's concerns, pain, and humanity. Here again is where campaigns for our minds comes in. There are people who benefit from this type of discord. You play right into their hands when you're not circumpsect or in a place of conciliation, mindfulness and readiness to cooperate and be part of healing. Admit it, you are more about being angry and want to continue to be angry. But what do you expect that will gain? I'm telling you it will get y...

 The best way is to get a country to defeat itself internally. To drive the citizenry completely mad and make them lose all sense of humanity, community, self, and reason. That's happening in our country. The best way to conquer a country is through destabilization, and you destabilize a country by sowing seeds of hatred suspicion and distrust. If you can make people distrustful of their fellow man and all their major institutions, you'll win. Every time. Make a country destroy itself from within, and these days you can accomplish that from the comfort of home with a laptop. No need for expensive weaponry.

 I don't know what it's called, but it's definitely a form of madness if you get to a place where you don't believe anything that you see is real even though you can see it if you believe that everything is fake you will accept and other explanation for what it actually is. If you persist in a belief despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, it's madness. Delirium? That combined with paranoia taken to a unreasonable level is mental illness.

 I'm more concerned about rather than the physical prison you have yourself in the mental prison that you have willingly put yourself in and keep yourself in. If you are going to give that much of yourself up and that obsession that prison you damn well better know if it's even real. I find the irony distressing, knowing that you've lost your freedom in a fake fight for liberty. You waged a non-existent war. The actual war is for control of your mind, which in giving up you have allowed control of your actions, which allowed people who don't give two shits about you to ruin your business, your marriage, and everyone you've worked decades to build. THAT'S what is real. That life you built, and you threw it away, for what? What's better now? What was better while Trump ruled? What was great about that demagoguery, and why was it okay or not recognized by you for what it really was? Why is tyranny okay if the tyrant is yours? It's not okay. No matter which ...

 Listening to radio war of roses. Woman not cheating, just tired of Trump infatuation, wanting to get unplugged, wanting the degree of loyalty and devotion her man was giving Trump instead. Why would you willingly give that much of yourself to a freaking politician who in truth has given you zero in return? Seriously, in what way was your life made better during his administration?

 What does it even mean, and are those who say they want it sure that those they support support agendas that will actually make us great? The elite and crafty of the GOP manipulate and weaponize poor and naive Republicans by making them be more suspicious of those at their station rather than those who are actually taking from them. It's the same with the Dems, their elite use, manipulate, and weaponize minorities for personal gain. Elite white Dems have no more real concern for minorities than their GOP counterparts, but they know how to play them and get their votes. Think Hillary in that black church.

 It's gone from skepticism to absolute madness. There's a very big difference between being a 'critical thinker' who 'questions everything' and being someone who suspects everything and thinks the alternative narrative is always the reality.

 Who is she? Do you know? Is she even real? Why is her account nothing but provocative memes that throw everything into question and always have distortions and intimations of something seedy?

 Bev, I remember very well what kicked off my understanding of how things work with Soros & Co. It was back when we were in those Bernie organizing groups. Remember? Actually, I think you were the one who sent me to the link to the first one. Maybe it was somebody else? Phil E, maybe? Because neither you or I was really into posting political stuff online or being activist before that aside from voting. And they were suddenly were putting up signs, going to rallies, phone banking. Exciting times, for sure. It was all positive then, just feeling like you were doing your part for the people of this country and fighting the corporatocracy. We had no clue back then. We thought we actually had a chance of seeing justice done. Had no idea our own party was working against us. You were a D back then, weren't you? At first, I mean. I know you're I now but I seem to recall you changed during the Demexit wave in the summer? You know I was a D through and through. Had to be in my hous...

Joe, I am so, so sorry about the lost of your precious mother. When Laura told me, I could hardly believe it. Your mom was someone I viewed as near superhuman when we were classmates. It seemed like she was there volunteering for everything. I never understood how she was able to do so much for everyone else's kids having four kids herself. No, I wasn't aware that she was so deeply involved in politics and the civic activities you mentioned, but it's definitely what I would have expected of her based on the few but memorable interactions we had. Her life was a blessing to this world, and I know she felt you were a blessing to hers. You were! We aren't defined by a brief period in our lives, Joe, at least not to those who love us, especially not to our mothers. They watch us go though all kinds of seasons and love us through every one of them even though they might not always approve or understand. You know by now I tend to see things from a spiritual perspective. I have...

 Hey, Bev Laura told me she filled you in on all that's happened these last weeks. That's why I've been out of touch, nothing to do with what you wrote last. I haven't been able to find myself, let alone find words to put together or motivation to try. This'll be short. I guess you know Mom had COVID. It was fast, less than two weeks she went from feeling just a little fatigued and slight cough to on a machine for oxygenation. Then they said she needed a lung transplant. There was never much chance of getting that at her age. To say it broke us all would be an understatement. Dad is lost. She wasn't just his eyes, she was his anchor. He's with Liz now, and she's overwhelmed. That's my oldest sister. You never met her I don't think. She was already at Ledward when we were at Bridges. She's overwhelmed and pissed, and mostly at me. She's the only one who'll say it, but most of them are probably thinking it. I should have been there. Not...

 We have to acknowledge and really examine the undeniable fact that there is a small group of people on both conservative and liberal who want us to remain divided for their purposes and they work very hard at doing this and we can see it in the way that the Democrats used Trump to divide and hoping that that will help them succeed and we can see now the way that for example of conservative media is working very hard to divide us. It seems to me that the challenge for our challenges to remember who we are that we are one.the rest of us is undoing that divided and trying to find a way to come together instead of letting ourselves be manipulated in that way and being made into the worst versions of ourselves. The challenge is for us to become the best version of ourselves rather than letting the US become whatever the least commond denominator is. The challenge for us is to teach each other to remember who and what we really are. To know that we are one and to get to that one that is...

 ... for the sake of the political aspirations of a man who would never in a million years do the same for you or his supporters or his country? Does it really make sense for regular working people who pay their taxes and work hard to throw money into the coffers of a billionaire who pays little to no taxes? We're talking about a man who obviously has no loyalties to anyone but himself. He's repeatedly thrown his closest, most loyal allies under the bus. So, why would he look out for you? The Trump organization is NOT going to be paying your bail, Joe. And it's certainly not going to make up the business profits you're losing now.

 Wherein people are having great difficulty assessing situations in and determining what's true, what's false, what's being overblown, what's urgent, what no longer matters, what's no longer working...etc., etc.  We don't know what's going on. The problem is that absent that kind of surety, people are grasping, making things up, believing things that are unsupported or unreasonable just because their psyche requires SOMETHING, anything. It's a mental health crisis.

 because I don't want to sound overly dramatic, but watching your descent and being horrified at what it led to was the impetus for me taking a break from social media. Then, once I was away from it, things came more and more into focus. My addiction was broken. All I could see when I flipped through all those pics snapped during that insurrection was a people trapped in delusion so deep that not even facts in their faces could break the spell, and it's one of the scariest things I've ever witnessed because such vast Numbers have fallen under it. It's a mass delusion, and once it reaches a critical mass, it appears to those under it that it simply has to be true and real. It's one of those 'all these people can't be wrong' kinds of mindsets. But all those people could definitely be wrong. And ARE wrong this time. The prickliness and fickleness is a huge clue. Like the way you guys turned on Pence, who's been nothing but loyal for Trump's entire t...

 Now that we're out of it, maybe we can closely and more correctly see what's been created by it, and if it's a good thing. Maybe it is if it's so bad, so tarnishd and broken we have to make ourselves anew.

 What you're talking about here is fear porn and the sick addiction to it people have developed. I think I know what I'm talking about here. I bought into it for a while, a long while, actually. The way it goes is this: There's a shadow government bent on not only taking away our freedoms, brainwashing us, and turning us all into mindless, servile drones to serve a tiny elite, but to kill off vast numbers of us in order to preserve limited resources for themselves. Every, single thing that's put forth from someone predetermined as 'other' gets framed as one more inch down a slippery slope into totalitarianism in the eyes of people who wouldn't know the real signs of totalitarianism if they jumped up and waved red flags in front of their faces. Because it happened nearly every day during Trump's administration, and they not only didn't bat an eye, they looked for ways to make these things seem other than what they clearly were. The scariest part is th...

 While fully embracing what seems like a challenge to become the worst version of ourselves we can be? Trump ushered in an era in which not only is offensiveness and hurtfulness considered okay again, it's practically celebrated as "freedom of speech.' Make to mistake, it is NOT freedom of expression that people are giving life to, they're giving life to what they absolutely know is ugly and egotistical and congratulating one another for doing so, then decrying cancel culture as an infringement of basic rights. The worst part of all this is that there are seriously mentally unstable people out there being encouraged and enabled along with those whose worst infraction is saying something offensive. There are people who take it as license to do violence.  Donald Trump was not always as awful as what he's become. I remember. But he had a shtick for TV. He didn't want to be prez, so he became a caricature and ratcheted up the crazy rhetoric. But people loved it ins...

 When you really want to believe something, the skimpiest of evidence is sufficient and no one who's providing you with it needs vetting. O the other hand, if you don't want to believe something, no amount of hard evidence is sufficient, in fact, it's not worth examining at all.

 And for what? For someone who never cared about you, never had a plan, and is not suffering except ego. Still rich. When will be learn rich and powerful in politics always walk away scot free and we let them use us to do it. We make excuses for them just because they're using our 'side' and pretending to cater to us with empty, rabble-rousing rhetoric words  You seriously think trump's going to pay your legal bills??? He won't even pay his own. He shafts even people who've fallen on their swords for him. It's absolute madness to think he cares about anyone but himself.

 You need to know

 Patriotic + what it really is, was, how it's been exploited to justify You've ceased to be a truth seeker. What you are now is a validation seeker. Very different things. Truth seekers don't really have need of labels, alliances, or associations. They actually eschew them, understanding that being able to stand and alive and apart while examining issues is the only way to maintain objectivity. Objectivity is an absolute requirement for truth seeking. The questions you're asking me right now are really pointed and loaded ones. I think that if I answer them directly and and all honesty it's going to come across as judgment which I'm really trying to avoid.  that has no preset agenda. Egocentrism flag as opposed to righteousness ingimsttion is when you varrty a belief not because it's true but because it fits the narrative you've adopted, and you want to stubbornly stay where you are. Spiritual vs religion secular hanlism Part wrong part right

 Rage, like peace, seeks to maintain itself and therefore seeks fuel, food. You have begun to feed your spirit bad fruit. Malice, hatred, suspicion, chaos, loudness, yelling, violence, weapon wielding, verbal assaults, picking, ⛏️ Ng, picking at a thing, seeking more to make you angrier. You can just as easily seek peace, calm, love, acceptance, good news. And that can become just as addictive. It's where we all must and eventually will go. This upheaval is birthing pains. I had to turn off to become a lighter carrier because it's very easy to get sucked back in. 

 Is that somehow you have gone over a tipping point. You have gotten to a place where you can no longer recognize hypocrisy, which is the very things that's wrong with a bipartisan system. You have become so partisan in your thinking you don't recognize it in yourself. You have become the very thing you rail against. Groupthink, that's you. An enabler and supporter of totalitarianism, that's you. A non-critical thinker, that's you. A coup supporter, that's you. A vote suppressor, that's you. A justifier of wanton, reckless violence, that's you. Tal about "dark money" that's you and yours, but you won't acknowledge it. You label things with terms and rhetoric you'd never place on your own even though it's the same thing. A truth teller, that is NOT you.

 Hi, Joe Wondering if you're aware of the claim going around now that the Capitol breach on the 6th was merely a warmup, a test of the security in place, or a distraction by Trump supporters to lower everyone else's guard for the REAL coup and installation of Trump on what used to be inauguration day. I'm not sure I have all the details or characterizations correct. I heard it from a friend in passing, and I probably won't look into it more because just the part I heard made my head hurt. Help me, Joe. Help me understand this delusion that's gripped so many people on the right. Do you believe there's going to be such a coup? I'm 100% certain no such thing is going to take place, and I'm having a really hard time grasping why anyone would think it's going to happen, especially after years of repeated claims that this or that takedown was imminent. I know I posted about it mockingly several times, but can you blame me? I lost count of how many times QA...