Are you interested in being truthful, Part II

(5.6-Minute read)

Rules

            Here’s the first rule of Truth Club.  Try and tell the truth.  It’s important. 

            I have seen memes where President Biden is accused of fucking something up in 2020.  People will comment that Biden wasn’t President in 2020 and yet the meme gets shared and passed on as the truth.  I see posts where the successes of the Trump Administration are touted with statistics that leave out 2020.  Whether people like it or not that year counts for Trump.  Equally, what Biden inherited in 2021 counts for him. 

            The chart available at the top of this page is from Ad Fontes Media.  Just scroll down to the bottom of their home page, right click on the chart, copy and paste to your desktop.  Anything above the green line is excellent for accurate reporting.  If you want to check out a news source, go to Media Bias Fact Check and enter in the name of the source that you want to check out.

Really all you have to do is follow the regular old news outlets like, AP, ABC, BBC, CBS, CNN (Yes), NBC, NPR, Reuters, The Hill, etc.  Keep in mind that bias and accuracy are two different things.  I am biased and also strive for accuracy in my opinions.  Obviously, people will disagree with that statement. 

MAGA Heads refer to legitimate news sources or anything that they don’t like as fake news.  They much prefer made up news that conforms to their world view. 

Regardless of the bizarrity.

Disinformation

            The amount of disinformation being willfully spread throughout social media is truly incredible.  It’s being done all day every day.  We are awash in outrageous lies.  The truly sad part is that knowing the difference between what is fact and what is fiction is going to get even worse.  A lot worse thanks to the power of computers, software, aps and so-called Artificial Intelligence (AI).  Individuals will lack the necessary resources to check things out for themselves so trusted sources will be crucial.

I have written about this topic before. 

Are you interested in being truthful, Part 1.  (In case you don’t know, you can click on the word “truthful.”  It’s a link to what I wrote.  It’s a 14-minute read.  At the end there’s a list of fact checking sites that anyone can use to check stuff out.

Here are a couple other writings of mine on the subject:

Social media weaponized.

            Facebook litter.

            None of this stuff is rocket science.  Good advice for anything is don’t jump to conclusions.  If you don’t want to bother checking out to see if something that is particularly inflammatory is true then you shouldn’t post it, unless being inflammatory is the goal.  (All too often it’s the only goal.)

            MAGA Republicans are fighting to preserve the spread of disinformation.  You read that correctly.  They are suing universities and think tanks to protect their first amendment right to lie to people.[1]  They have elections to win and they use disinformation to groom their base of supporters.  The truth through fact checking gets in their way.

It’s a matter of priorities.

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[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/19/technology/gop-disinformation-researchers-2024-election.html

 

Going Down.

 

 (2.8-minute read.)

 OMG!  The Department of Justice has been weaponized against criminals!  When will the madness end?  

Disclaimer:  This post has nothing to do with the sexual impropriety of political figures.  People are presumed innocent unless they start openly admitting to committing the crime or crimes that they are accused of.  Otherwise, they have to be proved guilty in a court of law. 

Paydirt!

            Remember the old days when people mined or panned for gold?  Nowadays, it is delivered to some people in little gold bars!  Imagine that! Imagine people bringing you envelopes stuffed with money!  What a country!

            Democrat Senator Bob Menedez and has wife Nadine, aka Nadine Arslanian Menendez, have been indicted for accepting bribes, extortion and fraud.[1]  A search warrant was executed on his home and bank.  They found $480,000 in cash and a $150,000 in gold bars.  It was thoughtful of the Menendezes to leave the bribe money in the envelopes they came in so that law enforcement could find fingerprints and DNA from the donors.  Or perhaps it was just stupidity.  Hey, it isn’t like they buried stuff in their backyard.  (Unless the feds haven’t looked there yet.  I may have spoken too soon.)  A Mercedes and “no show” job for Nadine was also a part of the briberying.  The FBI found $70,000 in her safety deposit box. 

            The Menendezes have both expressed outrage and denied being guilty of anything.  The 3 bribers were also indicted.  Oops!  Alleged bribers until one of them flips.  That’s very popular these days.  I know that’s kind of an exaggeration because flipping has always been popular among those looking for reduced sentences.  The early birds get the lighter sentences AND just as important if not more so better press coverage.  Always helpful when it comes time to look for work again. 

We just have a jar of change in our house.

Rogues gallery

            There are 3 branches of our federal government.  The legislative branch.  The judicial branch.  The executive branch.  When I started doing a little research on this post, I found lots of lists dealing with people from these 3 branches of government that committed crimes.  There are LOTs of people listed for the various administrations going clear back to 1776.[2] 

            Who is winning when it comes to committing crimes?  Democrats or Republicans?  It looks to be pretty close to a draw.[3]  They are pretty evenly matched.  Now, I am only talking about federal crimes.  Federal Politicians have been convicted of committing state crimes as well. 

            Crimes committed during any administration can be misleading.  There will be lots of crimes listed under the Biden Administration because of the January 6 coup attempt by Trump.  The charges in Georgia will be listed as state crimes and not figured in the tally of federal crimes.  That’s okay.

There’s enough crime to go around.

Habba! Habba! Habba!

            One of Trump’s third string attorneys, Alina Habba has already claimed this is fake news to distract attention from Hunter Biden’s gun charge.[4]  She might be onto something there because Senator Bob Menendez has got him some young arm candy for a wife.  She’s a … healthy… woman for sure and dresses for success. 

Nadine Menendez had a home in foreclosure and needed help digging her way out.  She served as the middle person conduit to get sensitive information obtained by Senator Menendez to the Egyptian government. 

Putting America first!

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[1] https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-senator-bob-menendez-charged-135524697.html

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_federal_politicians_convicted_of_crimes

[3] https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/23/politics/bob-menendez-democrat-republican-what-matters/index.html

[4] https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/alina-habba-newsmax-robert-menendez/2023/09/22/id/1135602/

Move along.

 

(5.6-minute read.)

Epiphany[1]

            Have you ever had an epiphany?  Not in the religious sense but rather a sudden realization about something.  It seems like at even my ripe old age I’ve had several of those recently.  Deconstruction of my faith is just one example.  I read the words “move along” in a post, had an epiphany related to deconstruction and that I have been looking the other way for far too long.  Silence can be golden.  It can also be used to avoid difficult conversations or situations.

            Something is happening here.  What it is ain't exactly clear.

But I’m getting there.

The wreck was real.

            Ever been in an accident?

            When I was a teenager, I was in a bad wreck.  It was my fault.  I had 2 passengers in the car with me.  I accidentally ran a stop sign.  Just didn’t see it.  Broadsided a car.  The older gentleman driving it went to the hospital to be checked out.  His car was totaled.  He ended up being okay.  Just shook up, as we all were.  The memory of the accident is still with me. 

            Time was altered.  As I was going through the accident it was like I could see everything that was happening but in slow motion, unable to move fast enough to change what was happening.  It was like I could see everything at once.  The stop sign.  The other car going through the intersection.  The older gentleman driving it.  The houses in the neighborhood.  My foot on its way to the brake pedal but in slow motion.  Looking at my two friends next to me.  In that split second, I knew that I was going to hit his car and it was going to be bad. 

Everything was over in a couple of seconds.

It seemed like minutes.

Train wrecks

            Train wrecks are as horrible as they are mesmerizing.  There’s a channel on You Tube called “The Best Train Wrecks.”  In part I think that people are fascinated with train wrecks because trains are so massive and powerful.  They are hard to stop.  A train can take a couple of miles to stop after hitting a vehicle on the tracks.  The conductor can know what’s going to happen yet be powerless to do anything other than blow the horn. 

            I could appreciate watching the train wreck more if I wasn’t on the train.  That’s what society currently feels like as we approach the 2024 elections. 

We’re all on the train.

Panic in the streets!

            I have realized that for a long time in my life I have been looking the other way and been dishonest with myself.  I have the same questions about the Christian faith now that I had as a child.

            We had a Crosley radio that I loved when I was a child.  If we were very careful and atmospheric conditions were just right, with very careful tuning we could pull in broadcasts from all over the country and sometimes the world.  I was listening to a religious station from who knows where and the pastor scared the bejeezus out of me talking about the world coming to an end.  Even though I was just a kid I had goals that I wanted to accomplish so I ran to my dad with my concerns.  Dad said, “Ignore that crap!  They’ve been saying that stuff since I was a kid.”

Fear mongering.

I am a prophet.

            Here’s where I am so far. 

The end may or may not be near but it has nothing to do with Jesus and everything to do with humans.  There will be NO rapture.  There is evil.  There is NO devil.  Evil stands alone, it doesn’t need a Capital D in front of it.  The earth isn’t flat.  There is no science fiction dome holding back water and making the sky.  There is no “mark of the beast”.  If you do get bitten by a dog go seek medical attention for God’s sake.  Don’t play with rattlesnakes.  If they bite you, you’ll die.  The choice between good or evil is ours.  God is not a micromanager of everyone.  Jesus is NOT coming back.  Christian nationalism is evil. 

I want to spread the New Word.  Send me money so I can build a world headquarters to spread my message.  Get in on the ground floor of the First Church of Jesus without Jesus.  We’ll believe that it isn’t part of god’s plan to kill babies through miscarriages or slaughter people in the name of god.  We’ll believe that vaccines work and science is real.  We’ll tell our believers that it isn’t right to go around threatening and endangering people.  We’ll say things like everyone is welcome and mean it!    

Tell everyone you know.

Honestly

            I have been dishonest with myself.  I had the same faith questions as a teenager and when pastors would provide answers, I would act like I believed them and then moved on.  The Christian faith relies heavily upon fear mongering to fill pews and bring in the money.  If that message isn’t working—scare the shit out of people.  That’s where the real money is.  Well, for the mega pastors of the mega churches where people can go to check the attendance box and be told that their Christian hate and intolerance is a good thing as smaller churches are starved for funds.[2]  The wealth of Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland and a half dozen other wealthy evangelists could fund thousands of churches and pastors.[3] 

The majority of good decent pastors in the country are NOT wealthy and will never be wealthy.  I knew a good number of pastors over the years that had to work a “real” job to support their families and pastor on the weekends.  They want to provide for their families.

            There are pastors that are outspoken about what is taking place in America right up until they cross the wrong people and their congregations turn against them.  They are looking for work in a market that wants mediocrity and subservience to political power.

            What gets to me lately in the real world.  Not the Facebook world.  That isn’t the real world.  It’s meme world.  It’s disinformation world.  It’s grift world.  I see all these friends and people that I love going down outrageous rabbit holes.  It just makes me sad.  And there’s absolutely nothing that I can do about it.  But I don’t have to be just sad.  I don’t have to witness the wreck or be a part of the train wreck.  I just have to get past the years of patriarchal indoctrination and biblical myths in order to regain my spiritual connection with God. 

I’m moving on.

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[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epiphany

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_megachurches_in_the_United_States

[3] https://www.therichest.com/rich-powerful/these-are-the-richest-pastors-in-america/