#// well it was 2008 and social media is intrusive and people will take everything at face value and turn a character's meaningful

[m0e-ru]

it sucks that p4's final antagonist had to be a woman. it sucks that p4's final antagonist had to be trans. it sucks that p4's final antagonist had to have an ambiguous gender identity. it sucks that p4's final antagonist had to be inhuman. it sucks.

[the1975attheirverybest]

the point about throwaway terms is very fucking valid like i am fucking sick of seeing stuff about intrusive thoughts when it is just impulsive like intrusive thoughts are like "what if i poured boiling water on my cat" (not a literal example but that kind of thing) and they fucking suck and you feel horrific not just being silly and goofy

but i think the thing about gen z not being able to define itself it interesting as well because with social media there is no one thing you sit down as a generation and watch or take part in. there isnt really a top of the pops or a similar culturally defining piece of media other than say tiktok. but its also very easy to look at tiktok and see it as the face of gen z when i find most of the time it represents a small demographic of rich americans as opposed to the majority of gen z. like as a British person social media is very clearly dominated by americans

i also think there is something to be said about criticising gen z for being critical of older generations but consuming the media when we as a generation have been constantly harped on for being shit, have dealt with social media and being conscious of every political happening all at once from the age of 12, the housing crisis, brexit, the shortcomings of the education system, covid, and i could probably go on but all before even leaving school? and yet we are the generation that gets the piss taken out of us? like yes we fucking suck but also like come on. im not trying to say look at us we have it so hard because we didnt deal with world war two or the cold war or the 2008 financial crisis or 9/11 but we were also like 14 and witness to war nearly being started because of twitter and laying in bed at 15 watching black people being violently murdered and 16 trying to sleep after being told on the internet that if we dont post about everything happening ever you are a bad person, but our problem is not being able to define ourselves culturally? or trying to find an alternative to the present by looking back to the past that has been glorified by previous generations? like i dont think i can explain how mentally damaging waking up to find out that a bill allowing oil drilling in the arctic which will destroy the earth has been passed but still having to get up, go to school and pretend that fucking a levels matter before having any sort of life achievements is

sorry if this comes off as preachy but im just a little tired of older generations being seeming incapable of empathy sometimes - 🐸

No, you’re right! I mean, it’s very easy for us older folks who have done most of our growing up already to look back and say “they should be doing X or y” when….if that were true then we wouldn’t have “failed” before y’all even came along, haha. I think when we criticize gen z, there are two types of criticism:

1) where it’s just old people being afraid of change. Like, espcially socio-politically. It’s clear that the systems we have no HAVE FAILED CATASTROPHICALLY otherwise there wouldn’t be a recession, so much fascism etc. and it’s time for something radically different and older people don’t get the urgency of that as much as younger people do. Which is a cheap kind of criticism. Like, if you won’t support the kids then get the fuck out of their way. Cuz they’re gonna change the future with or without you. You’re just making it slower/harder for them.

2) criticism that recognizes some gen z movements as overcompensation or over correction of something that we ourselves have tried to fix before. It’s no huge secret that every generation develops its beliefs, aesthetic preferences, political ideals, etc in response to what came before it. Not just gen z. We millennials did it, too. And so did gen X and boomers…I think all the way back to at least the Reagan administration, here in the US anyways, things have been…on the downhill HAHA. and each generation tries to do something about. Then the next one comes along and is like “alright they tried X and failed, what if we try Y?” And sometimes we recognize the younger generations mistakes cuz we have made them, too and we just wanna be like “bro, no, no. Trust me. That’s not gonna work. You’ll see it when you’re older and you’re looking back at the generation after you too.” Those criticisms, I think, are fair. And might even help future kids if they listen.

But, at least for me, and I won’t speak for my entire generation or for those before me, my criticism doesn’t mean I don’t empathize. One of my fav Notes tracks is “People” purely because of the “stop fucking with the kids.” Young people have always been the face of change. They are usually the demographic that votes one party in and the other out. Conservatives always win only when they oppress the youth and appeal to the fear of old people. They’re on the edge of fashion, art, pop culture. So, I know better than to be dismissive of young people! Never! It’s just, sometimes I see the mistakes happening and I’m like “ohhh noooo stop before it’s too late” haha.

[robertreich]

The Truth About the U.S. Border-Industrial Complex

The story you’ve heard about immigration, from politicians and the mainstream media alike, isn’t close to the full picture. Here’s the truth about how we got here and what we must do to fix it.

A desperate combination of factors are driving migrants and asylum seekers to our southern border, from Central America in particular: deep economic inequality, corruption, and high rates of poverty — all worsened by COVID-19.

Many are also fleeing violence and instability, much of it tied to historic U.S. support for brutal authoritarian regimes, right-wing paramilitary groups, and corporate interests in Latin America. 

Some long-term consequences of this U.S. involvement have been the rise of violent transnational gangs and drug cartels, as well as the internal displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. 

And thanks to lax U.S. gun laws and export rules, a flood of firearms that regularly flows south makes this violence even worse.

In other words, the United States is very much part of the root of this problem. 

Meanwhile, climate change-fueled natural disasters like droughts and hurricanes have led to widespread food insecurity in Central America, forcing thousands to migrate or risk starvation. 

Some politicians want you to believe the way to address this humanitarian tragedy is to double down on border security and build walls to deter people from coming. 

They’re wrong.

Several administrations have tried this approach. It’s failed every time. A recent study found that  increased prosecutions and incarceration did not deter migration, but instead clogged courts, shifted resources from more serious cases and stripped people of due process.  

The expansion of this militarized border apparatus and the increased criminalization of crossings has forced immigrants and asylum seekers to take riskier routes where they face extortion, assault, and even death.

The true beneficiaries have been the corporations who profited from the militarization of the border. 

Between 2008 and 2020, the federal government doled out an astounding $55 billion in contracts to this border-industrial complex. Billions have been spent on everything from Predator drones to intrusive biometric security systems. Immigration enforcement budgets have more than doubled in the last 13 years, and since 1980, have increased by more than 6,000%.

Let’s be clear: What’s really out of control at the border is our spending on the border-industrial complex, which has done nothing but increase human suffering without dealing with the root causes of migration.

So what can we do?

Begin by acknowledging the role U.S. policies have played, and build a positive, sustained relationship with our Mexican and Central American neighbors to reduce economic inequality, uplift the marginalized, and uphold democratic ideals.

Donald Trump’s abrupt and arbitrary cancelling of crucial aid to the Northern Triangle nations of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador is the opposite of what we should be doing.

We must also ensure that aid doesn’t benefit transnational corporations and local oligarchs. Our goals must instead be aligned with the calls of local labor unions, environmental defenders, and agricultural movements to improve conditions so people are not forced to migrate in the first place.

And we should seek to reverse the militarization of borders in Central America, and instead help build a system that respects the human rights of migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees.

Here at home, this means shifting away from the wasteful and violent militarization of our own borders, and ending the corporate profiteering it enables. 

We need more asylum specialists, social workers, lawyers, and doctors at the border — not soldiers and walls.

And we must never again allow the inhumane and ineffective policies that resulted in the separation and detention of families and their children. 

We must embrace the values we claim as our own, and never again allow a presidential administration to arbitrarily shrink the number of refugees accepted into the U.S. each year to almost none. 

Congress should expand legal avenues of immigration, along with a roadmap to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already here — a policy with broad public support.

It’s not enough to roll back the cruel and xenophobic policies of our past. Most of us now living in America are the descendants of refugees, asylum-seekers, and immigrants. This new generation should be treated in ways that are consistent with our most cherished ideals. Now is the time to act.

[imnotafraidofhospitals]

actually, could you provide me with evidence that russian interference was a key factor in trump’s 2016 win? not evidence that foreign influence exists altogether, but that it was impactful. thanks!

So to begin this response, @cepn, I am addressing both of your asks here, so I am posting them both here so they can be used as reference in this post. Now that that has been addressed, you are a fucking idiot. Like you don’t know anything about American politics? Okay, cool, that is no big deal. But to claim that I hate foreigners and am paranoid because you lack the basic understanding of the biggest American scandal in history is just fucking stupid. Google is free, educate yourself. 

With that being said though, I know a lot of people do not know about this thoroughly so I will explain just how Russia Interfered in the 2016 American Presidential Election via the use of bot farms and disinformation campaigns to sow discord among the American public in order to assist Donald Trump in becoming the next President of the United States of America; and more importantly, how the Trump Campaign worked with Russia to help secure their victory.

Hillary Clinton and Vladimir Putin

First let’s consider why Russia would want Donald Trump as President. To do that we have to do a brief history of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. 

Putin was the head of the KGB (The KGB was the spying arm of the Soviet Union and their “secret police” that “protected” the Soviet Union from threats overseas and within) when Russia was part of the Soviet Union. It was this role that assisted him in becoming president of Russia from 2000 to 2008, then he was Prime Minister of Russia from 2008 to 2012. Then Putin announced that he would be then running for President again, which he proceeded to win. After the election it became clear that there was massive voter fraud to ensure Putin’s victory. 

After the fraud was well known there were massive protests and riots throughout Russia in response to the blatant corruption. Putin responded to the angry people by jailing them by the masses. This went unaddressed until in a 2012 address to the United Nations; where, then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton brought attention to the Russian Fraudulent Election and the illegal jailing and silencing of the Russian protesters. Putin personally blames Hillary Clinton for these protests because, “She set the tone for certain actors inside the country; she gave the signal...  They heard this signal and, with the support of the U.S. State Department, started actively doing their work” according to Putin himself. 

Normally this would not matter, but this is the missing context of just part of leads up to the 2016 election. This shows the beginning of Putin’s disdain for Hillary Clinton.

The pain in Putin’s side, named Hillary Clinton, only continued to grow. There is a common saying that Russia’s money is Putin’s money as he is known to be the ruling figure that is the Russian oligarchy/government. Russia’s main export is oil and their primary source of income. There is a bulk of Russian oil that is inaccessible due to being under frozen tundra. However, with global climate change these oil fields are suddenly becoming more accessible to the Russian government for drilling. Putin, taking advantage of this opportunity, set up an oil drilling deal with Exxon-Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson in 2012. This deal was put on hold in 2014 when President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton worked with EU and NATO to place economic sanctions on Russia after their annexation of Crimea (Crimea-portion of Ukraine that was invaded and is still currently occupied by Russian military). 

With Hillary Clinton running for President as the Democratic Nominee in 2016, Russia was in danger of these sanctions staying for an additional four years and ruining the Russian economy even further crippling Putin’s power. 

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Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin

Now we move into addressing the man himself--Donald Trump. 

We all know Donald Trump as the President of the United States. However, previously he was the host of the TV show “Celebrity Apprentice” and the President/CEO of the “Miss Universe” beauty pageant. 

Strangely enough, this story begins at the 2013 Miss Universe Moscow Pageant. Here, Trump was seeking an audience with Vladimir Putin to secure a business deal allowing him to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. 

Putin makes a plan to meet with Donald Trump but never actually follows through. At this time, this is the first instance of Trump Business members meeting and planning with Putin’s right-hand men. The Trump Tower deal gets worked through by Trump’s lawyers until the 2016 election, they maintained business dealings even when Trump was the Republican Nominee. Various reports of this three day visit exist but it is suspected that this is when the “pp tape” was taped and when the Russian Government got it (the “pp tape” is an alleged video tape featuring Donald Trump being peed on by Russian strippers, it is part of a series of tapes and information gathered on Donald Trump by the Russian Government) prior to his 2016 election. 

The next notable moment in this story is June 16th, 2015 when Donald Trump announces he is running for president on the Republican ticket and later on when he wins the Primary and is now running against Hillary Clinton in the general election to be the 45th President of the United States. 

To Putin, the election was simple: A man who admired himself and Russia, or a woman who wanted to see him pay for his crimes. 

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The Election and It’s Bots

In 2014, the Internet Research Agency, a Russian agency that engaged in “active measures” social media campaign to interfere in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, began doing operative research in the United States with spies within the US boarders (Muller Report pg 16). 

Those spies, Anna Bogacheva and Aleksandra Krylova, acted as tourists within the United States in June 2014 collecting information and photographs of the US to be used on fake accounts on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and Instagram; known as bots or trolls (Mueller Report, pg 48). While there there is additional evidence and explanation of this in the Mueller Report it was also verified by Tumblr.com in screenshots of an email below:

**Please note that a section of the email was cut out as it only continued the list of Russian bots that were on Tumblr. 

While the IRA focused on these measures, another branch of the Russian Government, the GRU was also active in campaigning to interfere with the 2016 US Presidential Election (Muller Report, pg 16). The GRU focuses on cyber intrusions or “hacking” in their efforts to interfere in the election (Mueller Report, pg 16). 

The IRA established a series of Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram accounts. They focused on gaining a strong following on these accounts in order to build an audience for their messages. The IRA then worked to heighten the political atmosphere by using these bot and troll farms to create political discourse (Mueller Report, pg 67). These measures were everything from creating fake posts claiming Hillary Clinton mishandled information, was responsible for Benghazi, and was supporting and working to ensure she won via voter fraud (Mueller Report, pg 67). These are ideas that Donald Trump also pushed during the election and afterwords. 

These accounts pushed incorrect information while coordinating right-wing and left-wing events by one another to increase political discord among the American public. The Trump Campaign interacted with these accounts and retweeted and spread this misinformation. Donald Trump himself only ever interacted with an IRA controlled account once, liking a tweet that stated he was the best person that could be president, but other members on his team, including his son Donald Trump Jr, retweeted and shared this information (Mueller Report, pg 70). It is expected that the IRA-controlled Facebook accounts were interacted with by a total of 1.4 million users worldwide (Mueller Report, pg 37). These interactions include sharing their posts, liking their posts, and commenting on their posts as well as everything in between. 

Through this entire time the IRA and the GRU are acting independently of one another. The GRU hacked the RNC and the DNC information databases of each state and stole millions of documents hoarding much information about political candidates--both Republican and Democrat (Mueller Report, pg 100).

Through this entire time the GRU focused on attacking state’s election boards and the DNC/RNC specifically (Muller Report, pg 97). Hillary Clinton has a private server in her home because her husband is former president Bill Clinton and every previous president has a private secure server in their home for confidential government work. Hillary Clinton used this private server while she was secretary of state because of her unique position as a former First Lady and Secretary of State. On July 28th, 2016 Donald Trump called for Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s email saying, “Russia, if you are listening I hope you can find those 30,000 emails. You will be highly rewarded by our press” (Mueller Report, pg 97). Before this public statement, Russian GRU agents had never specifically targeted Hillary Clinton’s private email server; however, after this public call Russian GRU agents targeted Hillary Clinton’s email server five hours later for the first time (Mueller Report, pg 97). The information from these emails was then leaked in various ways (including wikileaks) and was servery damaging to the Clinton Campaign. 

Through the use of both the IRA and GRU the Russian Government was able to sway the media by publishing and twisting information gained through GRU hacks to the DNC and State Election Boards. While the IRA created an enormous media influence to sway people to not vote, vote for trump, or to vote third party. 

Jill Stein It is important to note that Green Party Nominee Jill Stein, like Donald Trump, received the benefit of the IRA media supporting her. Helping her gain votes in key swing states that would help divide the democratic vote. She even paid for a recount in the swing swing state Wisconsin and attempted to have recounts in Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Those were all states that Trump won by slim margins. Jill Stein, after the recount lost votes.

Finally, it is important to note that the Mueller Investigation collected actual information and directions given to IRA agents from the Russian Government. 

“By February 2016, internal IRA documents referred to support the Trump Campaign and opposition to candidate Clinton. For example [redacted] directions to the IRA operators [redacted]. ‘Main idea: Use any opportunity to criticize Hillary [Clinton] and the rest (except Sanders and Trump - we like them).” 

-The Mueller Report, page 52

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The Trump Campaign and Russian Cooperation

Rex Tillerson

Rex Tillerson was the CEO of Exxon-Mobil as stated in the subsection “Hillary Clinton and Vladimir Putin” and he was also a recipient of the highest honor that can be appointed to a non-citizen of Russia personally, by Vladimir Putin called the Declaration of Friendship in 2013. He worked with Putin to secure a 500 billion dollar oil deal for drilling in the northern tundra of Russia. The deal, which would have made both parties a lot of money, was placed on hold by the sanctions placed on Russia in 2014. Rex Tillerson was an advisor to the Trump Campaign and then was confirmed as Secretary of State where he worked to lift the sanctions on Russia. When the Mueller Investigation was completed Tillerson pushed to not replace sanctions on Russia as it would prevent the two countries from working together. 

Micheal Flynn Micheal Flynn originally worked under the Obama Administration Director of Intelligence Agency. He was fired by the Obama Administration for suspicious activity and using Russian software that he was aware was data-mining the DIA. Upon being fired he flew to Russia and started working for the Russian Government speaking at conventions with Jill Stein in Russia. Then he flew back to America and worked as Trump’s security advisor until he was eventually arrested as being an undocumented Turkish agent working to assist Russian spies, interference, and data mining in the U.S. Government. He was going to go to prison for his crimes but since then Attorney General Bill Barr said that the case was dismissed after Micheal Flynn confessed to these crimes, twice. 

Roger Stone

Roger Stone is the key contact with two twitter accounts @Guccifer2.0, a GRU and IRA ran account that leaked hacked DNC material and information, and the Wiki-Leaks official account. Where he was kept up to date on when emails from the Clinton campaign were doing to be released. Roger Stone received estimated turnout data collected from Russia using their IRA and GRU resources. Stone was responsible for keeping Donald Trump up to date on the information release and was the connecting part between Russian Government and Donald Trump. He then worked as the Trump Campaign to organize their ads, press releases, and general campaign strategy on the Russian/Wiki-Leaks (Mueller Report).

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Where We Are Today, July 17th 2020

“We know from before, and I guarantee you I know now because now I get daily briefings again, the Russians are still engaged in trying to legitimize our elector process. Fact.”                                     

                                                -Joe Biden on Russian Hacking of our Election

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--Sources--

Oil in Tundra

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/03/new-arctic-thawing-rapidly-circle-work-oil/

Hillary Addressing Russian Corruption

https://time.com/4422723/putin-russia-hillary-clinton/

Exxonmoil Works with Russian Oil Company to Drill in Artic

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-exxon-rosneft-idUSBRE83H0UE20120418

Book About the Trump-Moscow Deal

https://www.amazon.com/Russian-Roulette-Inside-America-Election/dp/1538728753

Trump Tweet “Putin Best Friend”

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/347191326112112640?lang=en

Mueller Report PDF

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/18/708850903/read-the-full-mueller-report-with-redactions

RNC Hacked 

https://www.wired.com/2017/01/russia-hacked-older-republican-emails-fbi-director-says/

Trump Calls for Hillary’s Email to be Hacked by Russia

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article92126207.html/video-embed

Russian Hackers Worked to Assist Jill Stein

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/russians-launched-pro-jill-stein-social-media-blitz-help-trump-n951166

Jill Stein Recount

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/30/13764566/jill-stein-presidential-recount-explained

Rex Tillerson Information

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-usa-putin-tillerson/putin-rues-awarding-u-s-top-diplomat-tillerson-russian-state-honor-idUSKCN1BI122

https://apnews.com/ba5a55b4956846b5af90962c290679ac/trumps-choice-top-diplomat-no-fan-sanctions

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/337796-tillerson-to-congress-dont-pass-sanctions-that-prevent-dialogue-with

Micheal Flynn Information

https://www.courthousenews.com/obama-advised-trump-not-hire-michael-flynn/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/appeals-court-orders-judge-to-dismiss-criminal-case-against-michael-flynn/2020/06/24/7f2caba4-b0c1-11ea-8758-bfd1d045525a_story.html

[lovehaswonangelnumbers]

New Post has been published on https://lovehaswonangelnumbers.org/saturn-pluto-controlled-collapse-or-police-state-or-civil-war-or-regeneration/

Saturn/Pluto: Controlled collapse? Or Police State? Or Civil War? Or REGENERATION

Saturn/Pluto: Controlled collapse? Or Police State? Or Civil War? Or REGENERATION

By Ann Kreilkamp

I sit here wondering whether we’re headed into a controlled collapse (this seems to be Trump’s preference) or an even more massive, intrusive, and controlling federal government — or both. The big question for now: Is the second necessary in order to achieve the first?And if both, which comes first?

Because the other obvious alternative is, of course, collapse, chaos, pure and simple, and prolonged, and with it, civil war. To be avoided.

Of course my preference is the fourth, lesser known alternative: regeneration, likely following a controlled collapse, and I will add, through permaculture practiced everywhere, horizontally networked, rural, suburban and urban, cooperatively, by individuals, families, neighbors, small connected groups, all linked locally and exchanging energy with small, locally owned businesses, and all of us learning from and growing with Nature herself.

All these future alternatives loom as powerful reverberations from mid-January’s once-every-35 year Saturn/Pluto conjunction, this one in Saturn’s ruling sign Capricorn, ratchet through the interstices of human civilization.

The last time we had a run on the stock market and near-collapse of the fiat money system was in early 2008, just as Pluto had entered Capricorn. Pluto doesn’t leave Capricorn for Aquarius until 2025. Still plenty of time for Pluto to further demolish and/or radically reorganize long-standing, top-down, hierarchical Capricornian structures.

Meanwhile, Saturn enters radical, innovative, group-minded, airy Aquarius on March 23, for a test run through late June 2020. Let us welcome three months of experimentation with new Saturnine forms for the Plutonian life force to flow through. I’ll get back to that, but first:

Bottom Line: What this virus psy-op scare has done is force humanity to disgorge all the F.E.A.R. (False Evidence Appearing Real) that has been building/seething/germinating/rotting in the collective unconscious since the birth of this nation in 1776!

It’s purgation time, folks, and hopefully we will at some point be able to look back and recognize this astonishing trauma, when whatever we took for granted suddenly blinks out — as our prolonged collective healingprocess, during which we as a species released enough pent-up fear to let go and allow in LOVE, the only other real emotion.

(Anger, remember, is but denied, projected fear.)

Fear contracts, controls. Love expands, allows. Fear perceives scarcity, distrustful. Love knows abundance, trusts in the benevolence of the universe. The choice between fear and love is truly ours, each of us individually, and it must be made moment by moment, with every breath. When enough of us are intentionally and consciously letting go of fear to allow in love, the frequency field of Love, which both fills and fuels the universe, can build, stabilize, flourish, pump its naturally healing energy throughout our sad, addled, restless, medicated, exhausted society.

How the U.S. especially works with the Saturn/Pluto conjunction is key. Because ours is the world’s largest economy, and our current president, Donald J. Trump, is the one other national leaders look to to provide the model for destroying long-planned globalism and returning to nationalism, where every country “makes itself great again.”

(That would be a good start. And let’s go further: decentralize down to first, our sovereign selves, and then to our sovereign localities, horizontally networked into sovereign bioregions, circling the world through our small permaculture farms.)

Over the next five years Pluto is returning to its natal place, at 27° Capricorn in the U.S. chart, for the very first time, after 248 years.The first return of any planet to its natal place in the lifetime of, in this case, a nation, is a period of time when that planet’s meaning finally becomes evident. And what is the meaning of Pluto? Pluto equals Power. The primal power of the life force which can be used creatively ((as “power from within”) abused (as “power over another”) and/or refused (cf. the toxic internal energy build-up of those who feel victimized rather than celebrate their sovereign selves.)

Pluto can be used to control through force or to encourage and empower. Which shall it be? Clearly, our nation has been on a war-mongering rampagesince its inception, however disguised as “good” and “heroic” — and our military industrial complex dominates our own economy while plundering, occupying and enslaving much of the rest of the world. The U.S. has historically acted like a testosterone-driven teenager; other nations, especially those older and wiser than ours, know that you don’t use Pluto that way without its power blowing back at you. In short, during this first Pluto return the U.S. government will either learn from its past, clean out the corruption and dismantle much of its fattened bureaucracy or, likely, die off, in order for this land and its peoples to begin again.

But meanwhile, we can be glad that, thanks to Pluto, the nasty fear-based gunk that has been stored in the collective unconscious has finally surfaced. And, as I mentioned in another post, we can be glad that the very successful media operation to spread fear and panic has finally united the entire world! Too bad it took fear of a virus to do it. Not even “climate change” was enough to galvanize the public into changing behavior. Heck, end of the world in ten years? No worries! Party on! But make that fear one directed towards our own bodies, and does so now, right now, in the present moment, when so many bodies have been either ignored or turned into machines at the gym; right now, when so many bodies have been stuffed  with junk food, fast food, processed food, sugary and alcoholic drinks and legal (pharmaceutical) and other drugs (not to mention chem trailed air, fluoridated water, denatured or chemicalized soil used for growing GMO “food”)) for decades, well then, no wonder the Fear builds, takes over the mind.

Scene at one grocery store yesterday: besides no toilet paper, all the frozen pizzas gone. All the meat, gone. Canned goods, gone. But the produce section? Especially the organic produce section? No problem, fully stocked.

Meanwhile, we in Green Acres Villageare preparing for planting as usual, carefully placing seeds in soil blocks and glad there are “no more than ten people” grouped to live here in these three houses. I wonder: will they enforce a “lock-down” to the extent that we aren’t even supposed to venture outside? Not even into our own yards? If so, how can we plant our seedlings?

Every person on this planet where the “corona virus” has infected the collective mind has been affected in some way. For me, it’s economic concerns: Our Air B&B is currently down, given that IU is down as well as all restaurants and bars and cultural events and most of our paying guests come here because of our proximity to the university and all that it offers. And it’s concern about whether enough rents will come in next month to pay all the expenses, given that some podmates in the gig economy have been thrown out of work. For housemate Dan, it’s realizing he can’t get his car back from the high school class where they were going to fix it, since they suddenly and unexpectedly closed down for the entire semester! For Charisse, it’s switching from delivering people where they want to go to delivering take-out for them. For Andreas, one of the lucky ones who is on contract for his work, it’s trying very hard not to worry about the scary virus. On and on.

I do notice that those of us who, as elders, have lived through other extremely strong events (like JFK assasination and 911) are more likely to be able to weather this latest unfolding Plutonian collective trauma that appears to be easily unraveling whatever fragile cultural/political/economic structures remained.

Today, notice that Mars is within two degrees of Jupiter, making everything that happens bigger, more sweeping. Jupiter itself is now at 22°, only two degrees from Pluto. So the three planets are in a tight four-degree conjunction. Boom!

Meanwhile, Capricorn Moon creeps up to cross the stellium, moving at a rate of one degree every two hours, TODAY and TONIGHT..

In his presser today and yesterday, Trump assumed that this virus scare will begin to fade in two weeks, IF we all cooperate in keeping our social distance and staying home. Astrologically, it looks like his timing is about right. And it looks like this virus scare scam is actually uniting Americans, and not just through F.E.A.R.: we are all changing our behavior for at least these two weeks, no matter how polarized our silly external “identities” or internal “perspectives.” Bingo!

What’s next? Well, let’s just fast-forward to December 21, when Jupiter finally enters Aquarius and Saturn follows, close behind, to meet up at 0° Aquarius on December 21, Winter Solstice, 2020! Can you believe the timing? Astonishing.

And fascinating, to note that this date will also be the three year delta for Trump’s first EO, the one that threw down the gauntlet on the horrific hidden corruption of human trafficking that has been secretly poisoning society.

And that, folks, that time when Saturn and Jupiter meet up with each other in their own Great Conjunction (every 20 years) now in Aquarius, is when the experimentation with brand new and more equitable ways of doing everything, of learning how to cooperate as equals, will really begin, and grow, and later be joined by Pluto in 2025 to deepen and penetrate into the newly fertilized soil of a regenerated humanity.

This all assumes, however, that the current apocalyptic thinking has subsided enough to be able to think creatively again. Something us old peace warrior apocalyptic thinkers have been doing for many years: we’ve known that the world could not continue to grow technologically and economically by consume infinite resources on a finite planet. Knowing the “collapse” was coming, we’ve been creating little lotus pads, like our little Green Acres Village;our little experiments in “community from the ground up” have been sprouting from the detritus of the old spoiled civilization; we are now the wayshowers for what will become a larger movement, to live in a loving, more cooperative manner that acknowledges and integrates the shadow wherever it is found, rather than burying it so that it surfaces again and again as F.E.A.R. — of our own inner lives, of our own bodies, of each other, of the Earth.

P.S. Check out Martin Geddes latest newsletter. Sent to my inbox today. Love it.

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Allen West: Socialism Is Philosophy of Control Freaks CNSNews ^ | May 20, 2019 | Allen West

“Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy.” —Perth, Scotland, 28 May 1948, in Churchill, Europe Unite: Speeches 1947 & 1948 (London: Cassell, 1950), 347.

“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.” —House of Commons, 22 October 1945.

Above are two respective quotes of Sir Winston Churchill regarding that collectivist economic model of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels we call socialism. Just last week, Fox Business news focused their discussions and held a townhall meeting about capitalism and socialism.

I would have preferred their using the term free market or free enterprise, but hey, it’s all semantics. However, the progressive, socialist left has done a brilliant job denigrating the term capitalism. 

What they are directing their angst against is crony capitalism, the use of government policies to favor certain special interests in respective industries. It is not very often we hear individuals explaining how it was President Jimmy Carter’s 1977 Community Reinvestment Act that set the conditions for the 2008 mortgage related financial crisis. What we do hear all too often is that the big banks were bailed out. I will be the first to say that using taxpayer resources to bail out a private sector organization is a violation of free market economics. However, we must also agree that the government leveraging its power, will, and might to create false “rights” is an equally bad policy.

So, last week as I listened to the proponents of socialism and read that our younger generations seem to prefer this economic system, I pondered: how best do we describe socialism? And during my Sunday morning five mile run, it hit me, socialism is the philosophy of the control freaks.

Think about it. Everything about the socialist rhetoric is about controlling some aspect of your life. It is about disavowing you as an individual and making you part of a collective will. If there is anything abjectly anti-American, it is socialism, being that our constitutional republic focuses on the individual’s sovereignty – not the intrusive nature of the institution of government. Yet, the latter is exactly what these progressive socialists are offering, but boy howdy, does it sound good.

Consider this, just last week: NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio became the 23rd Democratic Party candidate for president. In his announcement video he stated , “There’s plenty of money in this world, there’s plenty of money in this country, it’s just in the wrong hands.” Wrong hands? One must ask, who is Mayor DeBlasio to make such a disconcerting statement? Simple, he is representative of the socialist control freaks who believe that, based upon their ideological agenda, they have the right to control our wealth, our resources. That is the first tenet of a socialist economic model – wealth redistribution. It was French economist, Frederic Bastiat, who in his essay “The Law” referred to DeBlasio’s insidious idea as “legal plunder.” It is government sanctioned theft which is based on the leftist greed and misplaced sense of philanthropy.

We are constantly bombarded with the notion that healthcare is a right. Why of course it is to a socialist, because it is all about controlling your body, your ability to make decisions about the most personal issue, your healthcare. Free healthcare, “Medicare for all,” sounds so very enticing, but it in the end, “We the People” are ceding over our personal decision, our freedom, to the institution of government to control and decide how care is distributed. I guess there are those who do not believe such. 

Then again, take the UKs National Healthcare System (NHS). This socialized medical system works so well that Mick Jagger decided, because he can afford to, to have his heart surgery done in NYC – smart man. The delays in providing timely healthcare in England are well known. And here in America, we have this Obamacare created bureaucracy called the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), unelected bureaucrats, not responsible to our Congress, who make healthcare pricing decisions. In other words, who gets what procedure and who does not, as well as reimbursement rates for medical professionals. Yea, they get to control healthcare in America.

They decide the meaning of life, who gets to live. The current debate about killing unborn, and born, babies reflect that notion. As well, they control who, and when you die.

The leftist socialists in America want to control what you eat and drink. Uh, y’all know about the soda taxes right? And it is always masked behind that oh so emotional notion of caring for you. Nope, it is all about controlling your life and lifestyle because, well, you are too ignorant, too dumb to do so yourself. Remember, the socialists must tell you what to eat and drink because that will reduce healthcare expenditures. Hmm, imagine if I were king for a day and mandated by edict that all Americans had to wake up and run 3 miles a day … or else? Oh yea, that basically happened under the Obama administration – buy health insurance, or be taxed. That folks is what control freaks in our government do. It is called behavior modification by way of taxation – an individual mandate.

The left wants to control what you drive too. You know, after all, we are causing the man-made climate change. I do not want an electric vehicle. I like my Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, my Toyota Tacoma, and my Victory Cross Country 8-Ball motorcycle. Heck, the socialists in America, as in California, are even telling us, controlling, what type of house folks can have. And we all know that our little version of Evita Peron, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, wants any building not in compliance with her ideals to be refitted. I am still trying to figure out that train to Hawaii, since she will be controlling our means of transportation also.

Let’s be honest here: why do our young people embrace the philosophy of control freaks? I thought that young people did not want to be told what to do. There is a very distinct difference from classical liberals, constitutional conservatives, and these progressive socialists. Classical liberals believe in individual rights, freedoms, liberties, you know those words from our Declaration of Independence.

This new American socialism is rooted in ideological rights – a right to own a home, healthcare, murder unborn babies, climate change, same-sex marriage, the right to other people’s resources. The socialist control freaks do not embrace our constitutional rights. As a matter of fact, they see the right to keep and bear arms, our Second Amendment right, as an obstacle – see Venezuela.

I will close with this quote, attributed to Vladimir Lenin, “the goal of socialism is communism.” Socialism is an economic model that leads to a societal model that does one thing, controls the populace and turns its citizens into subjects.

What type of person would want that? Only the control freaks.

Allen West is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army. Mr. West is a Senior Fellow at the Media Research Center to support its mission to expose and neutralize liberal media bias. Mr. West also writes daily commentary on his personal website theoldschoolpatriot.com.

TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Philosophy; Politics/Elections

KEYWORDS: Allenwest; american socialism; control freaks; socialism; socialized medicine

____________________________

OPINION:  A well outline analysis by Allen West and something that 90% of American do believe. 

And you are 100% correct.

[oldguardaudio]

Rush Limbaugh -> Media Misreads Booing in Baltimore

Rush Limbaugh Combat the Drive-By Media at HoaxandChange.com

No Tax Breaks for the NFL – Unsportsmanship Conduct at HoaxAndChange.com

Oct 2, 2017

  RUSH: The NFL circumstance. What happened in Baltimore yesterday is not just what happened in Baltimore is what is fascinating, but the way the media — it’s classic how they don’t understand the average, ordinary American. It’s classic! And we’ll get to it eventually. I’m gonna tell you what happened. Well, the players kneeled, and then they stood for the anthem, and the PA announcer had some — the fans booed the PA announcer and the media doesn’t understand why.

They think the fans of Baltimore are reprobates for what they did. They haven’t the slightest idea why the fans booed the PA announcer. The media thinks the fans were booing prayer, and that’s not what was happening. These are the same people that still to this day cannot understand why 10 people, much less 60 million, voted for Donald Trump. It’s classic.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

Now, to the National Football League and particularly in Baltimore. Yesterday was rivalry day for the Steelers and the Ravens. It may be the best rivalry in the NFL at this moment in time. It has lost some of its fervor because the Ravens suck. They’ve had a lot of injuries. I said that trying to be funny. They don’t suck. They’re not the team that they have been the past couple years. The Steelers may not be, either; time will tell. It was still intense, however, and the pregame featured both teams — I think both teams kneeling, some of the Ravens did, and then rising and standing for the national anthem, and yet the fans in the stadium booed!

And the sports media is beside itself. They don’t understand. They think they know why and they think it was horrible. Now, I want to play for you the fans booing. This does not contain — I don’t believe it’s only — maybe it does. They booed the PA announcer. That much the media understands, but they totally misunderstand why. So let’s listen. It’s 14 seconds here. Let’s see what this actually is.

(playing of audio — booing)

RUSH: There’s no PA in there, right?

PA ANNOUNCER: Thank you. (boing)

RUSH: (laughing) The PA announcer in Baltimore asked the crowd to pray for kindness, unity, equality, and justice. And that’s when the crowd booed. And the sports Drive-Bys don’t have any idea why. They think it is reprehensible. One sports Drive-By said the crowd booed players bowing their heads in prayer. No, they weren’t booing the players. They might have been booing the players if the players were kneeling at any point. They might have been booing the players if the players linked arms instead of hand over heart.

It reached peak hilarity Sunday in Baltimore when the PA announcer asked the crowd to pray for kindness, unity, equality and justice in America. The Ravens dropped to one knee and bowed their heads in prayer, and the audience started booing. This was before the anthem. Before they got to playing the anthem. And the sports Drive-Bys are beside themselves thinking, “Oh, my God, this is horrible, this is horrible. Fans are just so in a frenzy here, they don’t even know why they’re booing. But, boy, when you boo prayer, whoa, that’s it.”

Now, how many of you think, based on what I’ve just told you, what you’ve heard, that the fans were booing prayer? You think so, Mr. Snerdley? Okay, I don’t have anybody on the other side of the glass who thinks the fans were booing prayer. Remember, now, this is Baltimore. All I mean by that is Baltimore is not known for its right-wing conservative Republicanism. So if they weren’t booing prayer, what were the fans booing?

Folks, I happen to think that if you’re at the football game and you’re expecting some kind of controversy over the anthem and the flag and players kneeling or not, linking arms, showing respect for the flag or not. And when it’s time to play the anthem, when you expect the PA announcer to say, “Please rise as we honor America, and here’s so-and-so singing our national anthem,” and instead what you hear is a bunch of left-wing tripe, “Let us pray for kindness, unity, equality, and justice,”

I mean, that is pure left-wing social justice warrior language. And I am convinced that that’s what the fans were reacting to. They resent that intrusion into the game. But the sports Drive-Bys — this proves my point that the media makes the mistake of thinking that everybody thinks like they do, that every intelligent person, that every reasonable person, that every educated person, that everybody who knows what’s what thinks like they do. And so the PA announcer asking for people to pray for kindness and unity and quality and justice in America — now, unity is a red flag anyway.

Unity has become a left-wing term just like diversity has, and it doesn’t mean what they mean. Unity means you agree with them or else. Unity does not mean we are all unified in one patriotic belief. Unity means that you will agree with the left. You will agree with the social justice warrior types, and you will love it or else. Equality, they might as well throw in sustainability in there.

Now, it’s also possible that the fans were booing because there were some players kneeling. I don’t know if there were or not. I didn’t watch. The Steelers said they were gonna stand, but I don’t know if they all kneeled before the anthem was played. But I think fans that are upset at all of this recognize that language as divisive language. It’s not the language of unity. “Let’s all pray for kindness, unity, equality.” That’s, in essence, a criticism. That’s how the left criticizes the country. There is no unity and there is no equality and there is no justice, and that’s why all this stuff is happening, and people resent it. I don’t think I’m wrong about this.

Now, there is a related story. Ravens linebacker C. J. Mosley was not surprised when the hometown fans booed at M&T Bank Stadium. He said he wasn’t surprised while the Ravens took a knee Sunday before the national anthem, but the actions of the crowd he said did show him something. Quote, “Even though it was supposed to be a silent prayer, it was mainly boos. But it goes to show that it has nothing to do with the anthem. We stood up for the anthem because we respect the flag and respect the veterans and everything that got misconstrued with us taking a knee last week.”

Now, Mr. Mosley, I know that you are an intelligent man, but you have to understand the fans are not as dumb as you think. The fans know what these kneelings and the lack of respect is. It is to support Colin Kaepernick, and Colin was very clear about why he was not going to stand and salute the flag and do the anthem, because he doesn’t think this country treats minorities fairly and equally. It was an anti-America position that he took. The players now trying to say that this is not about the flag, it’s not about the anthem. It most certainly is. Kaepernick made it about that, and the fans are very much aware of this.

And one other bit of news that I want to repeat. Of all people, John King, somebody at CNN, announced on his Sunday show on CNN yesterday that he knows that the owners and the league know that they are losing viewers and attendance is down because of these protests. The league publicly will not admit that. The league has tried to say, well, it was the election and the Trump campaign. Then they tried to say it was Hurricane Irma and they’ve tried to say it was Christmas shopping and it was climate change and it was anything other than that.

They still haven’t admitted why. And attendance was down, ratings were down this past weekend, too. According to preliminary numbers, it was down again. Now, the thing to watch. We’ve already had some sponsors pull out, but they’re regional. The next thing to watch is to see if any of the highfalutin national sponsors of NFL telecasts or of the NFL enterprise, the NFL Network, the NFL website, if they begin, if one pull out or if two pull out, and people are looking at it because they’ve heard rumblings, ’cause this is far more serious than people in the middle of it want to acknowledge. The owners, however, according to John King at CNN — and I think this is true only because I think it’s true. Not because CNN’s credibility, fake news all over the place.

But this I think is right. I think they know. And even though they know, they are siding with the players. They’re making a calculation. Do not doubt me when I tell you they’re scared over the choice that they have to make. But they are choosing to be seen siding with the players. How many NFL owners endorsed Barack Obama in 2008? There were a few. Why do you think that is?

If your locker room is 75% African-American, and you publicly are holding fundraisers for, who was it, Romney, or if you are donating to Romney — but if you’re out there supporting Obama, isn’t it gonna make you that much more popular in your own locker room if you’re the owner? I’m just asking it. I’m throwing it out there as a think piece.

But, I mean, it makes sense to me that that would happen. In this case they’re siding with the players because they’re judging that if some fans tune out and don’t show up, that’s temporary, but if the players all unify and don’t show up on a Sunday, then there’s no product, and then there’s nothing to sell, and then there’s no TV money, and then there’s trouble. And I know that’s the decision they’re making. But they know.

Now, note what none of them think is an option. These people are all employees. This is workplace. And apparently — I could be wrong about this. I may not be fully informed, but apparently there isn’t — well, that I know of — there isn’t an owner or an organization which will tell his players, “You’re standing. For the sake of this team, for the sake of this league, for the sake of our business enterprise here, you are standing. And if you’ve got a problem we’ll deal with it some other way.” I’ve had bosses tell me what I can and can’t do all the years of my life, except the last 29 ’cause I haven’t had one.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Okay. So the Ravens PA announcer asked for the audience to pray for justice, peace, equality, and unity. How many fans remember that this league pretty much kicked Tim Tebow out of it because he prayed in public? Remember that? Tim Tebow would take a knee after a touchdown or after a good play or something and remember how the league got nervous, TV announcers got nervous at this public display of worship? And now look. Now look. We’re asking the fans to pray for not God, no, pray for justice, peace, equality, unity. Why don’t you throw climate change in there? Cover every base.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: The left outside linebacker the Baltimore Ravens, number 55, Terrell Suggs — his nickname is T-Sizzle — and he said after the game yesterday, “We don’t want anybody to lose the narrative of why we are doing it. We don’t want people to think that we’re disrespecting the flag or the military or anything like that.” Mr. Suggs, that’s exactly what Colin Kaepernick said he was doing, and it is unity with Colin Kaepernick that is driving the actions of the players who are taking a knee or linking arms or not standing for the national anthem.

If you’re not disrespecting the flag or the military or anything like that, what are you doing? Why are you doing it? And this is what I say constitutes everybody backtracking now. I mean, it started out full bore, unity, solidarity with Kaepernick. And then it didn’t go the way the left thought it was gonna go. The left thinks everybody thinks like they do, which means everybody supports the players. Everybody thinks America’s racist. Everybody thinks the cops kill people indiscriminately. Everybody thinks the cops are racists. Everybody thinks “hands up, don’t shoot” happened.

No, most people don’t think any of that and resent having it jammed down their throats when they don’t want any of this kind of politicization of the game they love. So now backtracking, saying, “We don’t want people to think we’re disrespecting the flag or the military.” Why do it, then? With whom are you in solidarity if it isn’t Kaepernick? What are you doing? ‘Cause Mr. Suggs — Terrell Suggs, by the way, is a great player. And he’s an intimidating guy. He’s had two Achilles injuries, and he’s come back from ’em.

But all this is doing is hurting the National Football League, which is the objective of the people who support this. I’m not saying the players are trying to hurt the league. They may. Hell, I don’t know. I don’t know what they know and don’t, but I’m telling you, this is hurting the NFL, and that’s the objective. The objective is not to change the cops. The objective is not to raise consciousness. It’s to hurt the NFL.

The left sees the NFL as a problem. It stands in opposition to what the left wants this country to be and known for. The NFL contains all these things that on college campuses are trying to be weeded out. Masculinity, white privilege, in terms of the ownership, patriotism, rugged individualism, men being men. All of these things that the left is trying to scrub and erase as identifying factors for the United States. And whether the players know it or not, they’re unwittingly helping this along.

Yahoo Sports. Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports, don’t ever confuse them with people like Ronald Reagan or me. Exclusive poll, Yahoo Finance poll, suggests the NFL has an enduring problem on its hands, not a temporary, but enduring. They interviewed 9,000 people at Yahoo Sports. They found that nearly 62% of 9,056 people told them they plan to watch less pro football in response to the anthem controversy.

In addition to 62% saying they’re gonna watch less, 36% said they’re gonna spend less. They’re gonna buy less NFL merchandise. Thirty-two percent have chosen not to attend a game that they otherwise would have gone to. So those people show up disguised as empty seats. Do you think that it’s wrong for players to kneel during the anthem? Seventy-seven percent, “yes.” And yet the left and the sports Drive-Bys and others think the country agrees with the players. If the anthem controversy caused NFL owners and players lasting financial harm, 10% say it would bum them out, 30% say they wouldn’t care, 48% said they would be pleased, if the anthem controversy caused the owners and players lasting financial harm.

Guys, this isn’t tracking in your direction. And your substitute here of kneeling while linking and then standing in time for the entire anthem, it isn’t the solution. All the people in the sports Drive-Bys and some of the player management, the ownership, “Oh, we got a great idea. We can do both.” You can, but it isn’t gonna work.

Here is Henry in Portland, Maine. Henry, glad you called. Thank you for waiting. Hi.

CALLER: Oh, thank you. A couple of quick points. You know, the reason why the Baltimore fans booed is because first the players disrespected the flag and the country. Now they’re disrespecting God because they’re using God as a tool, and that’s the only thing that they’re using it for because I don’t think they really care. And then the other thing is that now high school players and little lad football players were taking knees to protest a couple weeks ago. So now if they take a knee to pray I’m sure the left is gonna be totally happy for football players to pray. And so what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Let’s see what happens with that. How many football players on the high school level are gonna be suspended for praying but they’re just following —

RUSH: Hey, it’s a good point because you can’t pray at many high school commencements now, remember? That’s not new. That goes way, way back. Can’t pray, ’cause not everybody is religious, and you can’t force your religion on people by having commencement prayers. You can’t do a moment of silence at commencement, graduation, this kind of thing. You can’t do it because not everybody there is religious. We know that was it Cahokia, Illinois, a bunch of eighth grade football players have begun emulating the NFL and have been kneeling during the anthem.

You know the one Steelers player, Alejandro Villanueva, he was the only one seen standing for the anthem a couple of weeks ago in Chicago, two Sundays ago. He’s continually sought out by the media since that happened, and he’s made nervous by it. He’s an Army Special Forces soldier, and those guys have a lot of things drilled out of them. They’re not supposed to be standout. They’re not supposed to stand above and beyond everybody else. They’re supposed to blend in. It’s part and parcel of the training.

He’s very nervous being a focal point here. And I don’t know to whom he said that. But I found these quotes — I think these are fascinating quotes. Listen to what he said. “I think in life, you’re not prepared for a lot of things. I don’t think you’re prepared to have a kid. I don’t think you’re prepared to get married. I don’t you’re prepared to start one day in the NFL. I think it’s one of those things you have to take in stride and do your best, stick to your family values, stick to the things that you’ve learned throughout your life and try to make the best possible decision.

“I’m not a hero. I didn’t do anything in the military that was outstanding. If you were to compare me to my peers, I was average at best. This was a very unfortunate chain of events, and I just tried my best.”

This was his explanation as to why he ended up being the only guy seen standing for the anthem in Chicago. But what about this: “I think in life you’re not prepared for a lot of things. Not prepared to have a kid, not prepared to get married. And you’re not prepared to actually start one day, the starting lineup in the NFL. But when it happens, you use the best you have to make the right decisions.”

And I think that’s so on the money. There’s some things you can’t prepare for. There isn’t a manual on a lot of things in life. You just have to do it and you learn by doing it. And that’s where your foundational base guides you, your morality, your virtue, your sense of right and wrong, your conscience. You know what your conscience is. Everybody has one. It’s just that in many people it’s been allowed to be covered up, covered over and ignored.

But your conscience is the little voice in your head that always tells you whether what you’re doing’s right or wrong. Everybody has one. I say everybody. I mean, sure, there are probably some sick individuals with an exception who don’t. But it could be said — I think George Washington in a way said it, that conscience, your conscience is where your discipline is. And, you know, most people are gonna have many failings in that area.

But Villanueva is saying since there’s no real way to prep for so many monumental things that happen to you as a human being, you just have to do your best at the time, make the best possible decision.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I got a note from Paul Shanklin, white comedian Paul Shanklin who does the parodies and comedy bits that we do here on the program. He said, “What’s wrong with that thing in Baltimore was that everybody thinks we’ve already got that stuff. The idea of having to pray for these things, it’s insulting. We have peace, we have justice. It’s the left-wing diatribe that the country is flawed and we have to accept the premise that the country is flawed and then pray for it.”

That’s a great point. I mean, one of the dividing lines on the left is, this is an imperfect country and it’s deeply flawed because we say so. And if you don’t agree with them, then you’re part of the problem, and there are a lot of us very proud of the county who don’t believe we’re deeply flawed, but we’re not perfect, either.

But just the left-wing agenda and the assumption that what they say is and therefore we must deal with it, that’s what is offensive. And I have no doubt that that was part of reason for the booing that was happening in Baltimore. That was before the anthem even started.

Rush Limbaugh -> Media Misreads Booing in Baltimore Rush Limbaugh -> Media Misreads Booing in Baltimore Oct 2, 2017 RUSH: The NFL circumstance. What happened in Baltimore yesterday is not just what happened in Baltimore is what is fascinating, but the way the media — it’s classic how they don’t understand the average, ordinary American.

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An Interview with President Obama’s White House Photographer Pete Souza

For the past eight years, former Chief White House photographer, Pete Souza, has provided the world with an inside glimpse into life as the President of the United States. Through his lens, Souza has taken us into closed-door meetings in the Situation Room and around the world on Air Force One. He has also shown us former President Barack Obama’s more tender side doing ordinary things as a father, husband, and friend as Souza visually captured history.

Souza’s photography career began many years before working at newspapers in the Midwest, then as a freelance photographer for magazines before becoming President Reagan’s White House photographer. His last position before becoming President Obama’s Chief White House photographer was assistant professor of photojournalism at Ohio State University. With a tireless work ethic, intuitive spirit, talent, and a dash of luck, Souza has recently completed the photography assignment of a lifetime. His dedication to the job can be seen by how much time he spent on it. In eight years, Souza only took three, one-week vacations.

Here, Souza discusses how he landed the coveted position as Chief White House photographer for President Obama, the skills and sacrifice required to be a White House photographer, and how the job has evolved in the age of social media.

Pete Souza on duty at the White House.

How did you get your big break as White House photographer for Barack Obama? What was your approach?  

My connection to Barack Obama began in November 2004 when he had just been elected to the United States Senate. I was working as the national/international photographer for the Chicago Tribune based out of Washington, D.C., and a reporter and I pitched a story idea to do an extensive series looking at Obama’s first year. The Chicago Tribune was on board, so I immediately reached out to Obama’s staff to see if we could have access to accomplish this. Most politicians are initially cautious when a photographer wants to follow them around, so I was lucky that Obama was open to the project. By this point, I was already an established photographer, and had been the White House photographer for President Reagan, but I don’t think Obama knew this. It was very important for me to establish his trust.

From the beginning, I made sure to take pictures without being intrusive and didn’t use flash. Over time, we got to know each other a bit. He saw how I worked, and came to realize that my primary goal was to document his journey. When the series ran in the Tribune, it was well received, but it’s only a matter of time before coverage becomes overkill. So, independently, I continued photographing Obama, and accompanied his family on a trip to Africa in August 2006. During this trip, I got to know Obama and his family better, and when I returned, the Tribune published images from this trip. It didn’t take long for me to realize how great of a photo subject Obama was—you could tell he was going to be a force on a national stage based on how people reacted to him.

Early 2007, it became clear that Obama was going to announce his presidential run, so the Tribune re-assigned me to cover him. However, as I saw newspapers across the country begin to fold, I accepted a position at Ohio State University’s School of Visual Communication as an assistant professor of photojournalism. Things seemingly came to an abrupt stop, but throughout 2008, I would meet up with Obama if he was in the area, or I would fly to cover him on the campaign trail as a freelancer. When it became evident that Obama was going to be a presidential nominee, I asked the Tribune for copyright permission to publish a photo book with images I’d captured over the years. They graciously agreed, and just before the 2008 Democratic National Convention, I published The Rise of Barack Obama. I gifted Obama a copy of the book, and this gave him further insight into my work and how I captured him as a person.

Then, early January 2009, I received a call from press secretary Robert Gibbs saying, “Hey, we want you to be President Obama’s Chief White House photographer.” My response was that in order to do this job right, I’d need access to everything. When Gibbs assured me that President Obama understood what I was doing, I accepted the job on the spot.

My approach was to sneak into rooms I wasn’t supposed to be in and act like I belonged.

How do you get people to see President Obama as presidential and as a human being?

Even though I photographed him extensively over the years, it’s completely different photographing him as president. It takes time getting used to the fact that every presidential meeting and social encounter will be captured. However, President Obama is comfortable in his own skin, and I give myself credit for easing into the process. I tried to anticipate when he needed space, and after about three to six months, we figured out our dance.

President Barack Obama steps on a scale that trip director Marvin Nicholson is weighing himself on, during a hold in the volleyball locker room at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, Aug. 9, 2010.

The primary role of a White House photographer is to document a president’s history. Therefore, it was important for me to capture the private and public sides of President Obama, which often weave into each other. For example, I’d capture him interacting with his daughters when they stopped by the Oval Office or fist bumping the janitor as he walked to a meeting in the Old Executive Building. He’s still the President of the United States in these moments, but you see him more as a regular person when he does these things.

The primary role of a White House photographer is to document a president’s history. Therefore, it was important for me to capture the private and public sides of Obama, which often weave into each other.

How do you come to a point where you develop a friendship with President Obama and family, and it becomes natural for a camera to always be present?

You don’t have to be best friends with the president you photograph, but you must have a strong, personal rapport. How could you not become friends in some capacity when you spend so much time together? For President Obama, our relationship dates back to 2005, which has given him and his family time to know me and how I work. In fact, it got to a point where they all expected me to be there on Christmas morning as they opened gifts. For the public, it further helped them see him in a different light while adding to the presidential visual archive. On average, I shot anywhere from 500 to 2,000 pictures a day depending on what was happening.

You photographed President Reagan before President Obama—what was the biggest difference in the job between Reagan, in the pre-Internet, selfie, smartphone era—and Obama’s era? Did you need to learn any new skills?

The core aspect of what I did for both administrations was the same—visually document the president’s history. However, social media, and Instagram in particular, became a way for me to display pictures with the public immediately. Instagram didn’t exist until 2011, and this dramatically changed the role of a White House photographer in so many ways. I’d argue that it changed things for the better because it benefits the public to get an inside look at a presidency right now. Some of the pictures that I took during the Reagan Administration weren’t shared with the public for 10 to 30 years!

One day, our White House digital team came to me and said, “We want you to start sharing your photos on Instagram.” While I had opened an account in 2012, I was still trying to understand how it worked before posting. My friend and sports photographer Brad Mangin was very active on Instagram and seeing how he used it convinced me to begin sharing my White House work. My first posts were from my iPhone, and were “just the facts” captions. Then, I started adding a first person perspective, and the response was eye-opening. Anytime there was a special back-story that needed to be told, I’d include it. Occasionally, I’d post pictures from my DSLR camera, and photographers would inquire about technical aspects, like what my shutter speed was or what kind of lens was I using. It was nice to respond to photographers’ questions, and in other instances, my Instagram followers have corrected me when I make a typo or error. It’s been interesting to see how Instagram is evolving, and I continue to learn from watching as well as interacting with my followers.

Souza documents the White House on an important day in American history.

Overall, people appreciated seeing real, un-staged shots of what former President Obama was like in real-time versus waiting until the future to look back on how he was.

Instagram didn’t exist until 2011, and this dramatically changed the role of a White House photographer in so many ways. I’d argue that it changed things for the better.

You see amazing stuff in the course of a day. How do you drive home in the evening, turn off, and connect with your family and friends?

Honestly, this was the hardest part of the job, because you are literally on call 365 days a year. Your family and personal life are adversely affected, but I knew what I signed up for when I accepted the position. Someone once said, “Working in the White House is like trying to take a sip of water from a fire hose that never shuts off.” On occasion, I’d make it to the gym before work, and my drive home was always a time for reflection. 

How do you maintain the stamina to get shots when you’re navigating time zones, high-pressure conversations, security issues, large crowds, and lights?

It’s really difficult, both physically and mentally. When we had overseas trips, we usually left a few hours before bedtime, so it was hard to sleep because of your natural body clock, but also because it’s uncomfortable sleeping on a plane. As soon as we’d arrive in a country, we’d jump right into a 15-hour day. And, foreign countries tend to have more restrictions because if it’s the G-20 Summit and you’re dealing with 19 other heads of state, security is higher.

My approach was to sneak into rooms I wasn’t supposed to be in and act like I belonged. I wasn’t successful every time, but it became a game to me. Funny enough, in the last few years, I had an easier time getting into rooms because the gatekeepers followed my Instagram handle, and understood the importance of what I was doing!

Souza walks with President Obama.

Can you describe capturing the final farewell photo of Obama leaving on his helicopter?

When I’ve looked at previous pictures of a president leaving on helicopter, you usually see the U.S. Capitol outside, so that’s the shot I had in my mind. I also figured we’d be so high up in the air that we wouldn’t be able to see the White House. However, we didn’t end up circling the Capitol, so the picture I took has the White House in the background. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this shot before, so it was really special.

From a technical aspect, the light value inside the helicopter contrasted greatly with the light value outside, so I used Adobe Camera Raw to adjust the color density. It was helpful to be able to make color corrections on my raw file before opening up the image in Photoshop.

What advice would you have for aspiring photographers who want to be a White House photographer?

While you must have talent, there’s a lot of luck involved, too. Politics is about who you know. You can be the best photographer in the world, but if an up-and-coming senator is already connected to a competent photographer they like, chances are they’ll chose them if they decide to run for president.

My path began through newspapers, but everyone needs to find their own path to attain a certain end result. There is no one path in photography or photojournalism. And, your final goal should never be to only be a White House photographer because the odds are slim. There are dozens of photographers in the country who are more skilled than me, but I believe I was the right person for the job because of the way I worked with President Obama, my previous White House experience, and I knew how the job should be done.