Donald Trump

by

The Trump Scorecard: Americans are Losing

If you are like me, you are having difficulty keeping up with the scorecard of how Trump is showering savage pain on Americans and the world. We are witnessing the dismantling of democracy right before our eyes on a daily basis.

I’ve noted 22 Points in the Trump Scorecard below that itemize what he has done since January 20 when he became president again. Note: The Trump Scorecard is not complete—I would end up penning a thick, heavy book if I tried to cover everything that he has done.

As you read the scorecard, please consider:

History has shown that dictators and autocrats gain power by destroying the inner workings of a country; attacking and restricting legal systems, the news media and human rights; erasing the country’s history; and minimizing the voice of citizens through massive destructive changes to their society, education and politics.

And then the dictator or autocrat claims: “Only I can fix it…” This statement, by the way, was one of Trump’s favorite campaign slogans.

The Scorecard

of What Trump Has Done

Point 1—Get rid of federal employees: Layoffs and firings driven by the Trump-approved Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cut the federal workforce by a total of 275,240 in March. Since Trump entered office in January, his administration has cut 279,445 federal jobs. The impacts on the employees’ families and the needs of Americans were never taken into account.

Point 2—Demolish federal agencies: With Trump’s approval, DOGE has decimated federal agencies. One example is the closure of the USAID Department, which provided critical health services around the world. In another example, the Department of Education has essentially been eliminated, with a mere few of the services transitioned to other federal agencies. The department’s vital student loan operation, a massive program, was transferred to the Department of Labor, which already was short-staffed and overworked.

Point 3—Slash Social Security operations: DOGE is having significant adverse impacts on senior citizens by making drastic changes in the Social Security Administration. Significant numbers of staff members have been fired or laid off, and offices have been closed. Phone service has been decreased, and now sometimes requires hours of being placed on hold before speaking to a live person. Phone service, it should be noted, has been a critical benefit to many senior citizens who do not have access to a computer. Starting April 14, new benefit applicants and changes to direct deposit information can no longer be done using the service’s over-the-phone identification process. Meanwhile, senior citizens who cannot verify their identity using the Social Security online “My Social Security” portal will be required to travel to a Social Security office to do the process in person. On April 9, a new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that six million seniors will have no option other than making a roundtrip trip of 45 miles to 180 miles to the nearest Social Security office. It’s estimated that six million seniors do not drive and another eight million seniors have medical conditions or disabilities that make it difficult to travel away from home.

Point 4—Shut down research and education: DOGE has shut down scientific research grants, health services and humanities programs in our country, and eliminated program funding of public education, library services and services for special-needs students, among many other important programs that directly benefit Americans on a daily basis.

Point 5—Stop measles with witchcraft: At a time when a measles outbreak is underway in our nation, we have a Trump-appointed Secretary of Health & Human Services, Robert F. Kenndy, Jr., who is an avid anti-vaccine advocate and stupidly believes vitamin A is the cureall for measles. This is like a 17th century witch telling you to eat dried fox lungs to cure a cough. Now, in our current times, hospitals have reported that unfortunte patients are now coming in with toxicity problems caused by too much vitamin A consumption in a futile attempt to protect themselves from measles. Without a doubt, RFK, Jr.’s father would be ashamed of him. So would his uncle.

What you can do to stop Trump: Click here for 10 ideas.

Point 6—Medicaid on the way out: Medicaid is a target for dismantling. This will force disabled and in-need Americans to jump through hoops to access healthcare benefits. Don’t be surprised when Medicare and the Affordable Care Act (formerly called Obamacare)  show up on Trump’s list for dismantling.

Point 7—Musk’s federal funding not touched: DOGE is overseen by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who bought his way into his position by donating $260 million to Trump’s presidential campaign. Musk has received billions of federal dollars through contracts for his Space X company and his electric vehicle company, Tesla. None of the Musk contracts have been touched by DOGE. Meanwhile, he recently spent $25 million in an attempt to buy the election of a judge in Wisconsin. Thankfully—and here’s a point in our favor—Wisconsin voters said, “Hell, no, we won’t be bought,” and elected a proper judge who is loyal to the Constitution.

Point 8—Liberation Day, Tariff Day: On Wednesday, April 2, which Trump declared “Liberation Day,” Trump placed tariffs on 60 countries despite the dire warnings of every reputable economist in our country. A tariff war ensued. On April 9, after the U.S. and world stock markets plunged with losses of trillions of dollars, Trump placed the start of some of the Liberation Day tariffs on a 90-day delay—except for China. China immediately responded after Liberation Day by placing a reciprocal 34 percent tariff on American imports and banning a group of American businesses from operating in China. Then Trump responded to China’s response. Now, as of April 9, our tariff on goods from China is now 125 percent; on U.S. goods going into China, that country has placed an 84 percent tariff.

On April 9 Trump backed down on his Liberation Day tariffs by putting the start of the large tariff increases on hold for 90 days but establishing an across-the-board 10 percent tariff for the countries, except China, which still has the 125 percent tariff charged against it. Although he won’t admit this (he never admits he did something wrong), he likely backed down due to the severe, angry outcry over the adverse impacts of the tariffs on the stock market. Nonetheless, the threat of tariffs still hangs over the proverbial heads of the 60 countries. One lasting effect: Why should our allies ever trust America (that is, Trump) again?

Point 9—Tariff = Added Tax for Americans: Despite what Trump claims, tariffs are essentially an added tax placed on foreign-produced goods bought by Americans. Economists predict the tariffs will cost an average American household at least $3,800 a year. The prices of gasoline and food will go up, up, up, as huge amounts of our necessities are imported from Canada, Mexico, China, and other countries. In the meantime, the export of American goods—particularly agricultural products like soybeans, a major American export to China—will decline, decline, decline. The American farming industry will suffer, and, as he did in his first administration during the woes of Covid, Trump will most likely claim he is the savior and use federal money to subsidize farmers. Federal money, of course, comes from American taxpayers. So not only will we pay more at the store and gas stations because of Trump’s tariffs, our money will be used to help farmers who suffer because other countries won’t buy their products because Trump levied tariffs against those countries.

Point 10–$6 trillion lost: As a result of the tariff debacle, the U.S. stock market lost more than $6 trillion combined on April 3 and April 4. Retirement accounts tanked. In addition to what happened in the U.S. stock market, global stock markets plunged terribly fast, too. Compare all of this back to late 2024 when the U.S. stock market repeatedly set record highs.

Point 11–Recession on the way: Highly respected economic experts, leading banks and knowledgeable investors are predicting a recession is in our immediate future due to all the damage that Trump has done. On April 7, some experts said they believed the U.S. was already in a recession. Analysts predict a recession could result in as many as 1.5 million jobs lost in the U.S.

Point 12—No additional tariffs for Trump’s buddy: Trump has gone out of his way to cozy up to Putin and other autocrats and dictators around the world. He placed no new tariffs on Russia, as opposed to the major tariffs he announced for our allies on his so-called “Liberation Day.”

Point 13—Give us your minerals, or else!: In an attempt to force Ukraine to sign over rights to its valuable mineral resources to the U.S., Trump has used the threat of withdrawing American support for Ukraine as a bargaining chip. This has caused European countries to declare the U.S. is no longer a reliable ally.

Point 14—Illegal delivery to Torture Prison: In secret, Trump had 300 immigrants who are allegedly members of a gang arrested, and then he bragged that the men were deported to what is known as the world’s worst prison in El Salvador, a place that is commonly known as the “Torture Prison” because of its terrible treatment of prisoners. The U.S. will pay El Salvador $6 million a year to keep them imprisoned. All of this was done by breaking the law that firmly states each person in America, regardless of their citizenship, has the right to due process in court.

Point 15—Legal to ship off Americans: As it has turned out, one of the men, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is not a gang member and was legally in the U.S., was deported by mistake to the Torture Prison, the Trump administration admitted in a recent court hearing. But the Trump administration claimed it cannot bring him back to the U.S. because he was now in the hands of a foreign country.

If this is now the rule of law in our country, we as a nation have reached the point where the Trump administration can get rid of people due to their skin color, religion or viewpoints by scooping them up and whisking them off to a prison outside of U.S. jurisdiction and then claiming there is no way to get them back—the danger of this scenario, by the way, has been recognized by distinguished federal judges. The judge in the Garcia case,  U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis, ruled more than a week ago that the Trump administration’s actions were “a clear constitutional violation” and Trump’s legal officials are clinging “to the stunning proposition that they can remove any persons—migrant and U.S. citizen alike—to prisons outside the United States” and then claim they have no way to retrieve the person because the U.S. is no longer the “custodian” of the person. The Trump administration won an appeal April 7 by receiving a Supreme Count “pause” in the Garcia case in the Supreme Court and also winning an appeal in front of the Supreme Court on another case where District Judge James Boesberg tried to stop the administration from shuffling the 300 accused gang members off to El Salvador under the administration’s use of the 18th century Alien Enemies Act, a law so old that Thomas Jefferson personally was appalled by it. In her statement dissenting in the Supreme Count 5-to-4 ruling in favor of allowing Trump to deport the gang members, Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated, “The implication of the Government’s position is that not only noncitizens but also United States citizens could be taken off the streets, forced onto planes, and confined to foreign prisons with no opportunity for redress if judicial review is denied unlawfully before removal.”

Point 16—No due process: Other foreigners in the U.S. on a legal status are now being arrested, incarcerated and aimed at deportation even if they are legally in our country. So far, all of this is being done without the due process of the law.

Point 17–Trump’s revenge: Trump is taking revenge on law firms involved in justified prosecutions against him and on media outlets that report the truth of what he is doing. He is also taking revenge on American citizens whom he considers his political enemies. On April 9, he signed an executive order condemning Miles Taylor and Chris Krebs and ordering the Justice Department to investigate them. Taylor is a commentator and author who worked in the federal government during the George W. Bush and first Trump administrations. On live national television, Trump labeled Taylor as a “traitor” and said he’s “guilty of treason” due to writing the book Anonymous. Published in 2023, the book revealed that Homeland Security officials during Trump’s first administration were so concerned about tension with North Korea that “multiple meetings [were held] to prepare for a nuclear attack on American soil.” Meanwhile, Krebs was director of the federal government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. When Trump was attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, he fired Krebs because he (Krebs) declared the general election was the most secure in U.S. history.

Point 18—Rewrite U.S. history: As evidenced by Trump’s destruction of DEI, America is on its way to becoming a nation where only white men are the ones in charge—in other words, back to the days before equal rights. DEI, by the way, stands for “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.” It’s a framework for promoting fair treatment and full participation of all people, especially groups who have historically been subjected to discrimination due to skin color, sexual identity or disability. Due to Trump’s hatred of DEI, our nation’s history is right now being rewritten. The National Park Service, Smithsonian and other institutions are revising their websites and displays to eliminate or significantly downplay slavery and other shameful eras of our history.

Point 19—Kill freedom of speech Trump’s anti-DEI initiative is aimed at destroying the freedom of speech rights of states, communities, and American universities by withholding federal funding to those entities that do not bend the proverbial knee to him. Trump has stopped or threatened to stop billions of dollars of research funding to prestigious universities because they allowed students to exercise their freedom of speech rights to protest last fall over the Israeli invasion of Palestine.

Point 20—Goodbye to elections: The Trump administration has made strong efforts to change election laws to give Trump and his allies power over elections. They also are trying to disgrace judges and smear and dismantle our legal system. There are also efforts in Congress to terminate district courts. Currently, 140 lawsuits have been filed to stop the actions of Trump, Musk and DOGE. Trump and his cronies erroneously claim such lawsuits are illegal, and that the courts have no authority over what the president wants to do.

Point 21—Congress worthless: The Republicans who control the House and Senate have, for all practical purposes, turned over their power to the Trump administration. In short, Congress is now a worthless non-entity.

Point 22—Our national security in danger: It’s strikingly obvious that Trump-appointed leaders of our national security have no idea how to keep our country safe. Just look at the fiasco of Signal-gate, the recent phone conversation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other leading Trump officials about bombing Houthis in Yemen, all of this Top Secret conversation taking place while the editor of the highly respected Atlantic magazine was accidentally put on the phone call. Hegseth and his buddies would be fired in any sane administration, but the Trump administration shrugged it off as no big deal.

And here’s a Bonus Point for Trump:

Point 23—Listening to crazy advice: Trump recently took the crazy advice of Laura Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist visiting him in the Oval Office, and he fired highly respected, well-experienced National Security experts because she claimed they were not loyal to him.

And yet one more Bonus Point that can’t be overlooked:

Point 24—Restrictions on our use of toilet paper? On April 9, Trump signed an executive order to remove limitations on water pressure from shower heads and household appliances. Next, perhaps we see an executive order dictating how much toilet paper an American can use on a daily basis. This is not too farfetched as Trump tries to control the lives of Americans on his way to dictatorship.

Hey, my brilliant ideas for the New Trumpian World Order!
by

Hey, my brilliant ideas for the New Trumpian World Order!

I’m going to dash off an email to my good friend Donald Trump to suggest we relocate all of the Californians who lost their homes in the recent firestorms to his proposed Riviera of the Gaza. They will love it there, right on waterfront property.

First, of course, we have to relocate those two million pesky Palestinians to other countries. But, as Mr. Trump has promised, they will find a “beautiful city” to live in.

It will be easy. After all, we’re in the New Trumpian World Order—yes, thank you, thank you, you’re welcome, I coined this descriptive phrase all by my little ol’ self.

You know, as I ponder the New Trumpian World Order, I have another brilliant idea that, you know, everyone will agree with: Let’s relocate both the Californians and Palestinians to the new Trump Land of Greenland.

Yes, brilliant!

…And, of course, all of the above is ridiculous, but not so bizarrely far from the truth of what is happening.

We are plunging pell-mell—recklessly and jumbled—into the New Trumpian World Order. Unfortunately, many of our friends and neighbors are deaf or have drunk the Trump Kool-Aid (a reworking of the phrase, by the way, that originated in 1978 from 900 followers of Jim Jones drinking poisoned Kool-Aid because he told them to).

Just a tiny sampling of the New Trumpian World Order since inauguration day:

  • U.S. help to people-in-need in foreign lands has abruptly ended. On February 6, almost 10,000 USAID employees were targeted to be laid off, leaving 290 on the job to mop floors and clean the toilets of this worldwide organization.
  • Revenge and firings are underway in the FBI to punish employees who lawfully prosecuted January 6 criminals and sought to hold Trump accountable for his illegal actions.
  • The Department of Education will soon be on the chopping block. Say goodbye to educational grants and assistance. Say hello to more book bans and classrooms where American history is rewritten. Slavery? Our country never did anything like that…
  • Environmental protection efforts are purposely being swept aside so, as Trump croons, his wealthy cronies can “Drill, baby, drill.”
  • Human rights are being set aside. Say adieu to DEI, which means Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, issues that Americans have championed for decades.
  • Freedom of speech through the media is under attack. Expect a flurry of lawsuits against news outlets that tell truth about Trump and his minions. On February 6, Trump demanded that CBS News and 60 Minutes be “immediately terminated.” The reason: He didn’t like the way they edited an interview with Kamala Harris.
  • Religions that are not Christian are now unwelcome. Say Au revoir to the constitutional foundation about the separation of religion and state. Trump announced on February 6 that he is creating a White House religious office to do away with what he calls “anti-Christian” bias in government.
  • If you’re a single mom with a young child and you’re helped along by government programs, or you receive medical or other assistance through Medicaid, expect to wave those benefits goodbye.
  • Meanwhile, the richest man in the history of the world, Elon Musk, now has control over how our country spends money, as well as the ability to control your own personal financial wealth.

The question is, what can we do about it?

  • Most importantly, do not stand back and expect someone else to step forward to do what you should do.
  • Join ranks with groups like Indivisible that are concerned about Trump. Unsure how to find such a group? Click here.
  • Call or write your congressional representatives—but, uh, don’t expect them to pay attention if they are Republicans. But do it anyway so they will know what you’re thinking. Call 202-224-3121 to share your thoughts with Congress. If you aren’t sure who your elected officials are, click here.
  • Write letters to the editor or let your views be known via blogs.
  • Regardless of the extent of your social media presence, get on your Facebook page, Twitter or BlueSky, and speak out.
  • Support lawsuits that are being filed to stop the New Trumpian World Order.
  • Join protests underway on the streets of America. You can expect many of them to pop up across the country.

Importantly, remain aware of what is happening. Do not become desensitized.

Welcome to the New Trumpian World Order.

by

Politics after death: I’m right, you’re wrong, by gawd!

As the Biden presidential inauguration approaches, I’ve been thinking about a gravely ill man who wanted to live long enough to see Trump impeached. It took some Google searching to track down Michael Garland Elliott, who passed away April 6, 2017, at age 75 in Oregon.

Mr. Elliott and the others mentioned in this article were entwined in the pernicious polarization of politics that many of us have fallen into. When you scrape away the bruised peelings, scoop out all the bitter rhetoric and get down to the very garbage at its core today, our country’s politics—at this moment in time—can unfortunately be boiled down to a simple definition: I’m right and, by gawd, you’re wrong. Some folks want to hold true to this sentiment even after they’re ashes or six feet under.

Regardless of whether you’re political inclined or could care less about politicians, Mr. Elliott’s story is intriguing. It’s a bit sad, a bit happy and a bit funny. So are the stories of the other dead whom I mention here.

According to his obituary, Mr. Elliott was once a member of a semi-pro basketball team that played exhibition games where the players dressed as women. During those games, he was called Skaggy Maggie. In everyday life, he was a sharp dresser and a Porsche enthusiast who owned a dozen of the fancy cars over the years.

But nothing touched his heart like golf, a sport he became passionate about. He had a bit of a temper. One time he was so angered by a poor shot that he threw his club into a tree. Eventually, every club in his bag ended up in the tree.

His health declined during the last decade of his life, something he gracefully accepted, and his passion turned to TV news. When he was no longer able to golf, he instead threw things at the TV.

It’s needless to elaborate on his views of Trump. After all, how many dying people have the goal of staying alive until a president is kicked out of office?

By the time of his death, Mr. Elliott’s family was gone. He had friends, however. Among them was his best friend, his ex-wife. She was with him at the end. Hers were the last words he heard, and those words were “Donald Trump has been impeached.”

“Upon hearing that,” his obit stated, “he took his final, gentle breath, his earthly work concluded.” His death occurred prior to Trump’s first impeachment, so the end-of-life message was not the truth, but this compassionate fib can easily be forgiven by the living.

Mr. Elliott, by the way, was the first to be reported but not the only person to pass away only after hearing impeachment news (although fake news) about Trump.

Corliss D. Gilchrist, 91, of Altoonja, Iowa, died May 3, 2017, after he was told the process to impeach Trump had begun. This fake news was told to Mr. Gilchrist so “he could rest in peace,” according to his obituary. He was, noted the obit, a “stoic, hardworking, and simple man who had a joyful outlook on life.”

Lest we think the prospect of Trump’s political demise is a life-extending panacea, there is the case of a Georgia man, Bill Bryant Jr., 87, who died in September 2016, two months before the presidential election. Mr. Bryant was an Army veteran, father of six, a graphic designer, organic farmer, VW bus driver, and all-around character who lived “honorably, with humor and to the fullest.” According to his obituary, Mr. Bryant didn’t want to witness the outcome of the 2016 election and he had also “determined nothing on television was worth watching anymore.”

These three cases are representative of what one can discover on Google about people who want to ensure their political views are heard from the afterlife.

Some obituaries have urged family and friends to vote against one candidate or another, as in the case of a 70-year-old chiropractor in Pittsburgh, Penn., who in his obituary asked loved ones and the public to not vote for Trump. In direct death-throe opposition, there was the 63-year-old New Jersey lady, who wanted—in lieu of flowers—for people to not vote for Trump’s opponent.

From what I can tell from their obituaries, these were all good Americans. They were interested in politics. They wanted others to vote as they did—nothing wrong with that. For the sake of moral obligation, the final views of these souls should be respected—at least to the point of our knowing we are not obligated to agree with their final thoughts or follow their final requests. And with this I stand firm…and I am right and, if you think otherwise, you are wrong, by gawd.

Click here to see the sources for this article.

Why my grandkids will think I’m a snarky, smarmy, big, fat liar

I wrote a letter to my young grandkids after the presidential election. I intend to write more over the next year to let them know what times were like when they were toddlers. I’ll give them the letters when they become adults.

What happens then, when they read the letters? Will they think grandpa was a snarky, smarmy trickster whose pants were on fire?

What you’ll learn in this blog: The good and the bad of what our grandchildren will discover about our times of 2016 when they grow up. Reading time: 3 minutes.

I’m not naïve enough to think they will believe all things in my letters. Let’s face it, they may giggle over how crazy the old man was.

The things he wrote were outlandishly senile crazy! They can’t be true!

Could they?

This can’t be true, Grandpa. In a tweet, the president-elect claimed millions of Americans committed voter fraud. He also claimed he actually won the popular vote. He said this even though no evidence exists. Unfortunately, some Americans believe him, again even without facts. He tweeted this because Hillary Clinton bested him on the popular vote by 2.5 million votes. The president-elect has a history of using outlandish Twitter messages to change the focus when news goes against him. Alas, some Americans believe him.

Art by M. Moeller (Cartoonstock)

Art by M. Moeller (Cartoonstock)

(Note to self: Don’t mention his misogyny, racist statements, philandering, belittlement of Muslims and fear of Mexicans. Such stories, true as they are, may only fertilize thoughts that grandpa was downright wacky.)

Is this another of your whoppers, Grandpa? Meanwhile, Sioux and others took a bold stand in the freezing, snowy wilds of North Dakota. Their goal was to stop an oil pipeline from crossing sacred land. They called the pipeline “The Black Snake.” The name refers to a prophecy where a black snake brings destruction to the people and the earth. The government’s response to the protesters before deciding to halt the pipeline: tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets.

China, are you kidding? Next, almost every scientist in the world views global warming as an imminent threat. Yet, the president-elect claims it’s a hoax made up by China. He promises to dismantle efforts that could head-off a global disaster.

Now you’re just outright fibbing, Grandpa. Wars in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere have displaced 65 million people, the highest number of refugees ever, even the refugee crisis after World War II. The number now is equal to the combined populations of California, New York and Colorado. Many Americans are adamant about keeping all refugees out of our country. This speaks a lot to what our society has become. Many of us turn our backs on those in need.

Well, you really are a big, fat liar, Grandpa. More than a third of all Americans, including grandpa, are obese. This is thanks to fast-food, fructose and sofas too soft to get out of. Nonetheless, Ronald McDonald looks trim.

Oh, shut up! And speaking of clowns…clowns are sneaking around suburbia, terrifying young and old alike. The phenomenon is now called The Great Clown Scare of 2016.

You really are crazy, Grandpa. The big news of today is online fake news. Fake news may have swayed the presidential election. It is still bullying into important national issues. The source: Russians with a devious political agenda and black-hearted computer geeks seeking advertising revenue. Fake news is everywhere; truth seems nowhere. It’s come to this: If Facebook or Twitter claim I’m alive, I check my pulse to make sure.

Oh, come on now, bees? A disastrous die-off of bee colonies is a huge problem. It means fewer bees to pollinate vital crops. Food varieties may be in danger. Agriculture will lose billions of dollars with bees gone.

Well, now, this I can believe, Grandpa. Finally, Hillary Clinton caused the bee die-off, according an online news site. Hmm, perhaps that was a fake news site…?

The good stuff

Lest I seem too negative about today’s world, I included positive news in my letter. A few examples:

Good news for our economy. A December federal report showed the U.S. jobless rate fell to a nine-year low. Another report said the economy expanded by 3.2 percent in the third quarter, the fastest pace in two years.

Good news for our environment. With the goal of boosting mainstream acceptance of electric vehicles, four of the world’s top automakers agreed in late November to invest in fast-charging sites in Europe. The car-makers—Ford, Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler’s Mercedes—decided to do so after seeing the success of the U.S. Tesla, which has major pre-orders for its Model 3 car. Electric cars are far more environmentally friendly than our current gas-guzzlers.

Good news for people. Christie and Alva Jameson already had two children, but they decided room enough existed in their hearts and home for more. So over the last three decades they adopted 35 children, 26 of whom have special needs. Alva died from cancer in 2009. So now Christie is a single mother caring for 11 children who remain at home, all with special needs. “All kids deserve a real home of their own,” Christie said. “In my heart, I knew there was always room for one more.”

Good news for giving thanks. Iconic singer James Taylor sent out a Thanksgiving email that said the key to overcoming setbacks and reversals of fortune is to give thanks. “To whom we give it is a big question but just go ahead on and do it,” Taylor stated. “Gratitude is the way to an improved attitude . . .To have been born in human form and consciousness aboard this unbelievably beneficent planet is an incredible stroke of luck.”

Good news for how to use your wealth. Recent wildfires in the Great Smokey Mountains of Tennessee left people homeless and hopeless. Dolly Parton, who grew up in the Smokey Mountains, decided enough of that. She announced she and her Dollywood companies and foundation will donate $1,000 a month for six months to each family who lost a home in the fire that blazed Gatlinburg. This, she explained, will be “a hand up to those families who have lost everything in the fires.”

Believe in miracles

So, to my grandkids I write such things.

I pray we will all have decided to work together to make the world better by the time they read my letters. In my grandkids’ adult world, the president is trustworthy. Peace exists. No one is a refugee. Global warming is gone. Bees swarm wide and far. And there are more people like Christie and Alva Jameson, James Taylor and Dolly Parton, bless them.

I believe in miracles.

As for what my grandkids will believe about me? Will I be a teller of truth? Or a caterwauler of fantastic fiction?

 

by

Hey, mom, you never said I’d have to fight fake news and fiery dragons to find truth

Americans have become seriously challenged by a new cottage industry that produces weapons made in the U.S. and overseas: Online sites that specialize in fake news.

The sites are thriving. The recent election may or may not have been swayed by fake news. Regardless, we discovered Americans have difficulty in telling real news from fake news.

The dilemma knows no age boundary. An 18-month study by Stanford determined young people—middle school, high school and college students from across varying societal and educational levels—are easily “duped” by information on the internet. The study results, released Nov. 22, gave a grim conclusion: “…we worry that democracy is threatened by the ease at which disinformation about civic issues is allowed to spread and flourish.” {Read the Stanford study.}

What you’ll learn in this blog: How fake news threatens America…How failures of the mainstream news media fostered the creation of fake news sites…Ways to spot fake news…Examples of fake news sites…five tips to help you. (Time it should take you to read this blog: five minutes or less.)

Even President Obama has jumped feet-first into the fray about fake media, this during his recent trip to Europe. While some Americans may have the short-sighted view that fake news sites are merely day-to-day hassles, the president offered a broad perspective of why Americans should be deeply concerned about fake news. “If we are not serious about facts and what’s true and what’s not, if we can’t discriminate between serious arguments and propaganda, then we have problems…We won’t know what to fight for. And we can lose so much of what we’ve gained in terms of the kind of democratic freedoms and market-based economies and prosperities that we’ve come to take for granted.”

Where is the truth? With all the fiery dragons of fake news soaring about, I’m often unsure. All I can tell you is wha

So, then, adults can be duped. And so can the next generation. It doesn’t bode well for America, does it?

Blame it on fast-paced, easy access to information. Blame it on an America too busy to go beyond headlines. Blame it on the education system that produced Americans who fail to take a critical look at things. Blame it on just ol’ fashioned bias, people eagerly willing to believe news that reinforces their personal opinions. Blame it on Facebook. On Twitter. The Internet. You name it. Who can we believe? The New York Times? Breitbart? The president? The president-elect? Mom?

The issue of truth vs. lies has always been a tough nut to crack. You know, the eye of the beholder and all that.

But now, more than any period in our recent history, Americans are bombarded by many shades of truth, innuendos, partial truths, mind games, hyperpartisan (extreme bias in favor of a political party), attempts at satire, and outright lies. At times, it seems as if we’re seeing an evil fire-breathing dragon blowing flames against a castle made of ancient, crinkly, yellowed newspapers. (Yes, do a fact check on my hyperbole. When was the last time any of us saw a fire-breathing dragon? Would you believe in the dragon if you were told by a fake news site that one such beastie exists?)

BuzzFeed News, a reputable Internet company that reports on social news and entertainment, with a focus on digital media, announced Nov. 16 that an analysis it conducted showed that fake election news on Facebook created more engagement among readers than news reported by well-known mainstream media outlets. During the last three critical months of the election, 20 top-performing false election stories from hoax sites and hyperpartisan blogs generated 8,711,000 shares, reactions and comments on Facebook,” Buzzfeed reported. In comparison,  the 20 best-performing election stories from 19 major news websites generated only 7.3 million on Facebook.

In other words, readers looked more often at fake news than news reported by such mainstream media as the Washington Post, New York Times, NBC News, and others. Did those who went to the fake news sites believe what they saw? We don’t know, yet. Did it influence the way they voted? Again, don’t know. And, most importantly, how do we explain all the lying when our young children ask about it? Do we just respond, well, there are fire-breathing dragons that you have to watch out for.

{Click here to read the BuzzFeed analysis.)

According to some online sources, the number of sites that offer fake or partly true news, satire on news, and news reworked into hyperpartisan slants could be in the hundreds. Buzzfeed has reported that more than 100 U.S. politics websites have been created and are run by teenagers in  the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The driving force: Money, the advertising revenue that can be generated by these sites.

{Read the BuzzFeed article about the Macedonia websites.}

A hundred (or even a few hundred sites) may not seem like much in comparison to the billions of pieces of information that make their way every year onto the internet. The use of Facebook is staggering. More than 750 million people are active Facebook users; 50 percent log in on any given day. They spend 700 billion minutes a month on Facebook. The average user has 130 Facebook friends. For Twitter: 695 million peopled are registered account holders; 342 million are active users; 135,000 people sign up every day; and the average number of tweets each day is 58 million.

Mark Twain’s shoes: The lies created by fake news can go a long way in a short time. If you don’t believe me, turn to Mark Twain, who said, “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

What happens is this: A fake news site posts an article on Facebook, with a screaming headline and a story containing false or partly true information. Users who are partial to believing such things share it through Facebook and often Twitter, and, in turn, some of those recipients share it with their own online groups.

{NPR reporter Laura Sydell  aired a Nov. 23 story about a man in a Los Angeles suburb who may earn $10,000 to $30,000 a month running fake news sites. One of his sites was responsible for a fake pre-election story that said a FBI Agent suspected in Hillary Clinton email leaks was found dead in Denver in an apparent murder-suicide. Within 10 days, the story received 1.6 million views. Read Laura Sydell’s story…}

Eventually, other fake sites pick up on the fake news story and may or may not rewrite it into their own twisted views before electronically distributing it. And thus the cycle begins again. Within only a day, or even just a few hours, the fake news is suddenly taking up residency on the electronic real estate of the monitors of possibly millions of readers. And now it has become “real, truthful” news.

It has become so bad, all of these fake news shenanigans, that, if Facebook tells me that I’m alive, I’ll check my pulse just to make sure it’s true.

If Facebook tells me that I’m alive, I’ll check my pulse just to make sure it’s true.

Same with Twitter. Even with its 140-character limitation, Twitter users can easily transmit inaccuracies and lies for personal, business or political gain.

Take, for instance, two Nov. 17 tweets from president-elect Trump. After a conversation with the chairman of Ford, Mr. Trump tweeted the “news” that the car manufacturer will keep its Lincoln manufacturing plant in Kentucky rather than move it to Mexico. Then, Mr. Trump sent the second tweet, and it was interpreted by some readers as the president-elect bragging that he was the person responsible for keeping the plant in Kentucky. As it turned out, though, Ford never had plans to move the plant to Mexico. Nonetheless, Mr. Trump gave himself credit where no credit was due. And he would have gotten away with it if a reporter hadn’t double-checked the president-elect’s supposed “facts.”

{Fact-check the information in Mr. Trump’s Ford tweets}

Mr. Trump isn’t the only politician, CEO or average American to take advantage of Twitter and Facebook for his or her own personal gain. There is plenty of blame to spread around among both political parties, corporate bigwigs and lowwigs, and Mr. and Mrs. and Ms. America.

Media war: During the last two weeks, a Media War of sorts has broken out against fake news sits. The mainstream media has published multiple articles about these fake sites that draw in readers with wild, made-up stories. The fake stories are often accompanied by the carrot of clickbaiting, a term for sensationalist headlines of the type we haven’t seen since the Yellow Journalism Days of William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer in the late 1890s.

{Don’t forget to take the short survey at the end of this blog.}

In the last few days, Facebook, Twitter and Google have started taking steps—merely baby steps so far, in my opinion—toward boxing out fake news sites, largely by preventing the sites from making money through advertising revenue. I suspect the problem won’t easily go away. Some fake sites make a lot money from advertisers, while others have political agendas to promote. Sites are run by tech-savvy people; they will continue to find a way to keep profiting from fake news.

Even more troubling, some sites are run specifically to undermine America’s reliance on the news media—the Fourth Estate—that historically has been a watchdog of government, injustice and social norms. Fake news sites are trying to unweave the fabric of America for their own greed, twisted political agendas and, in some disgusting and filthy cases, just plain ‘ol fun.

Fake news sites are trying to unweave the fabric of America for their own greed, twisted political agendas and, in some disgusting and filthy cases, just plain ‘ol fun. 

There is no doubt in my mind that the slithery rise of fake media largely resulted from failures of the mainstream media over the last decade. Here we can blame the internet that gave rise to an uncontrollable and vicious 24-hour news cycle, which has resulted in a pack mentality where reporters and editors often only take enough time to skim the surface of an issue just so they can beat rivals to the proverbial punch. Newspapers—once the beacons of truth, fairness and independent thinking in America—are going the way of the dodo bird as the media is unable to adjust to the loss of advertising revenue. Less advertising revenue = cutbacks in the editorial staff = less time available for developing thorough and accurate stories. The ailing mainstream media also faces the fact that every person who owns a cell phone and has internet access now has the power to become a news reporter who can easily send news to thousands of people, if not millions.

Meanwhile, an elitism has slipped into many corners of the news industry, causing news scribes to lose contact with us common folk in the Rust Belt, the McDonald’s and greasy spoons of the West, on the farms of the Bread Basket, and in the busy offices and slow-paced retirement homes of the East. Nonetheless, us common folk are doing just fine wielding our electronic communication power to become reporters of our own news events and personal opinions. And, as the heated and angry presidential campaign showed, many people no longer rely on the mainstream media for news or opinion leadership. Instead, they exert their own power in Facebook and Twitter.

Artwork by the New York Magazine to illustrate its article about questionable news sites.

Artwork by the New York Magazine to illustrate its article about questionable news sites.

Naively optimistic? Now, having vented these concerns (I’ve got others about the media but I needn’t dwell on them here), my observation is simple and maybe too naively optimistic. Regardless of all the current challenges, the mainstream media—the national newspapers and TV networks, the local daily newspapers and weekly journals—is still pretty accurate in the complicated task of reporting news, and light years years ahead of journalism in other countries. Right now, there is a lot of tough soul-searching going on at news desks and in editorial board meetings throughout our nation. I have faith that all will work out just fine, hopefully sooner than later.

But for now, fake news sites are reaching farther and farther out every day in an attempt to grasp the golden ring of public opinion. They have no intention of disappearing quietly into the night.

Intimidation: Fake news sites have struck back through the use of intimidation and more lies. Recent examples included online attacks against Merrimack College assistant professor of communications, Melissa Zimdars, who posted a list of questionable news sites on the internet. However, she removed the list Nov. 17 as a safety measure because she, her students and colleagues received threats and harrassments, the Los Angeles Times reported. For example, NaturalNews.com, one of the sites on her list, branded her as a “crybully” who has “a masters degree in Crybully Engineering and a Ph.d. in F###ktardery Studies.”

Hum, well now, name-calling always gets to the truth, right? Jesting aside, I perused sites on Professor Zimdars’ list before it was removed from the internet and I can say they’re ones I’ll steadfastly avoid in the future.

PolitiFact and the related PunditFact use a Truth-o-Meter to rank news information from true, mostly true, half true, and pants of fire (not true).

PolitiFact and the related PunditFact use a Truth-o-Meter to rank news information from true, mostly true, half true, and pants of fire (not true).

Where is the truth? With all the fiery dragons of fake news soaring about, I’m often unsure. All I can tell you is what I do. Yes, yes, I see the great irony. I claim in this blog that you can’t believe many things in the media, yet here I am asking you to believe me. With that thought in mind, feel free to take what I say in the tips below with the proverbial grain of salt. And do what Archie Bunker advised: Look it up! (Suggestion: Make sure you find a site that deals in truth.)

Mark Twain: “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

Mark Twain: “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

Tip 1: Rely on a variety of the mainstream media outlets. You might, of course, think these news outlets are biased and, as candidate Trump kept saying, “rigged,” but they are the best we have in our country: Time, The Atlantic, Forbes, Washington Post, New York Times, Associated Press, and Wall Street Journal, as well as NPR and the ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS nightly news. I also read some reputable sites that at appropriate times lean to the left (more in line with my political leanings): Huffington Post, Slate, The Guardian, The Daily Beast and theSkimm. I also dip into regional outlets like the Los Angeles Times, Denver Post, Kansas City Star and Boston Globe.

All of this takes time, and I’m lucky because, in retirement, I have time. But if you’re short on time like most Americans, just follow one or two of the mainstream media outlets.

The following is a small sampling of fake news sites, along with a summary of one of the stories each published or my comments about the site. You may have seen the stories during the election campaign; some gained huge audiences on the internet, in newspapers and on TV.

  • AmericanPoliticNews.com. Relies on sensationalism, shocking headlines and stories with questionable accuracy.
  • BigAmericanNews.com. Here’s an example of a sensationalist headline for one of its articles: “Indiana restaurant charges ‘gay tax’ to gay customers, cites Religious Freedom Bill as explanation.”
  • Breitbart.com. This is an ult-right, pseudo-news site which is trying to snake its way into the ranks of mainstream media. Breitbart’s former executive chairman is Steve Bannon, Trump’s top campaign advisor and now the president-elect’s chief advisor on strategy. Political pundits have accused Bannon of giving voice to racists, white supremists, sexism, misogynists, and anti-semites.  
  • BurrardStreetJournal.com. Reported that President Obama said he will not leave office if Donald Trump is elected.
  • ConservativeState.com.  Created a false quotation for Hillary Clinton. The quote said, “I would like to see people like Donald Trump run for office; they’re honest and can’t be bought.”
  • EagleRising.com. Published an article that claimed Hillary Clinton used a body-double during the campaign.
  • EndingtheFed.com. Announced a lie that said Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump.
  • Denverguardian.com. This site reported the fake story about the FBI agent’s murder/suicide death in Denver. A Nov. 23 internet search for the site found that it described itself as “Denver’s oldest news source and one of the longest running daily newspapers published in the United States,” a lie. All of the site’s “news” content was removed by Nov. 23. {Read a Nov. 23 article about how the Denver Post debunked the Denver Guardian story.}
  • LiberalAmerica.org. Reported that Trump met with India business partners in violation of a ‘blind trust’ agreement. (Note: There is no law that says the president must put his business in a blind trust.)
  • LibertyWritersNews.com. Blatantly makes up news for shock value.
  • NationalReport.net.  Published an article about Rudy Giuliana blaming Hillary Clinton for the widespead destruction of bee colonies. This site was discussed in Laura Sydell’s NPR story mentioned above. The site was also responsible for a popular fake news story that said food stamps could be used to buy pot in Colorado.
  • ThePoliticalInsider.com. Reported a lie that said Wikileaks confirmed Clinton sold weapons to ISIS.

Tip 2: Double-check information. One of the gravest mistakes you can make is to look at only one source and believe its message is the truth. When I see online news that seems outlandish, I go to the mainstream sources mentioned early in Tip 1 to find out if they reported about the issue.

If they haven’t, chances are the original source is purposely presenting incorrect information. Use your common sense. Do the double-checking especially if the original news makes you angry. Anger is the best way to keep readers returning to a site—and this translates into success and dollars for the bearer of fake news.

In addition, check out information on reputable online fact-checking sites: Fact.Check.org, Snopes.com, PolitiFact and PunditFact.

Tip 3: Avoid news sites with sketchy names. Be careful of websites with odd names and sites that end in “lo” or  “com.co.” These types of sites tend to offer fake, nearly fake or hyperpartisan news. Some might deal in satire, but their information is still inaccurate. Satire has a strange way of suddenly becoming absolute truth for some people.

Tip 4: Be wary of bloggers

There’s catch phrase that I hear people say now and then: “If it’s in print or on the internet, it’s got to be true.” They relate this for the sake of humor, of course. But I’ve found that some people unwisely believe bloggers too readily, often because some bloggers are well-known or their blogs are posted on trusted mainstream media websites. Bloggers typically make the effort to convince you of their points of view—yes, we bloggers are peddlers of opinion. PunditFact is a good place for fact-checking bloggers.

Tip 5: Be very cautious about believing what you see on Facebook and Twitter.

Both have an enormous impact on truth and lies in America and, for that matter, around the world. And each is an easy place to publish false information with little punishment, if any.

Archie Bunker: "Look it up!"

Faced with the tough question of whether a news article is fake or real? Take advice from Archie Bunker: “Look it up!”

Always remember that stepping across the threshold from truth into a lie can have an enormous impact not only on your internal self-esteem but also on how others view your values and integrity.

Let me offer an example: On the Wednesday before the presidential election, Fox news anchor Bret Baier reported an exclusive: FBI sources claimed Hillary Clinton would be indicted over her emails and the Clinton Foundation. This “news” was damaging to the Clinton campaign. Then, two days, Baier publicly apologized for airing the story, which, he admitted, was not true.

Regardless of the widely spread news of Baier’s admission, the original story continued to circulate on Facebook. I saw it posted on the site of a friend. Even though this person and I disagreed on candidates, I always took the person to be a straight shooter.

I assumed the person hadn’t seen Baier’s correction, so I sent along a polite message, with a link to Baier’s apology for the error. I figured the person would want to know and delete the post. I was wrong.

This reply came back to me: “I don’t care if the false news is false. She deserves it.”

Finally, remember what Mark Twain said about a lie traveling so fast and far while truth is putting on its shoes. If you’re tempted to read or share something that you suspect or know is a lie, half-truth or blatant exaggeration, don’t.

Put on your shoes instead.

 

Want more info? Click on the links below: 

This blog’s author, Gary Kimsey, is a former newspaper reporter (Kansas City Star) and former editor at Denver Monthly Magazine, HealthWord and Colorado State magazine. He also worked in public relations for Colorado State University and University of Colorado Health. He is now retired and writing his own works while living part of the year in the Colorado Rockies and the rest of the time in Independence, Mo. 
by

5 easy ways to get over election anxiety, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton

During the days after the ’16 election, I was like many Americans: upset, depressed, fearful, scared about the future, and angry at those stumblebums who voted against my candidate, all 59 million of them.

It didn’t help when I got on Facebook on the morning after the election and saw sugary platitudes about extending an olive branch, posted by friends who just the day before had posted the most vile, nasty messages about my beloved candidate. I hated those two-faced Facebookers.election_art

And then that evening, November 9, there were thousands of angry Americans taking to the streets to protest president-elect Donald Trump. I wanted to join them, to lead them.

I entered a sleepless night of pounding heart, soaring blood pressure and plunging depression from thoughts of fear and dread for the future.

But suddenly, between sheet-tangled gasps for calming air, I had two epiphanies.

First, there are hordes of Trump supporters just as bitter at my candidate as I am at theirs. And their lifestyles have probably been just as adversely impacted as mine.

Secondly, and most importantly, I realized I had to get over it. And so does every American. We’re in for the proverbial long haul, the next four years. Do we really want to feel bitter and angry with other Americans through all of that time? The answer, of course, is no.

So I took to the Internet and gathered in advice from knowledgeable psychiatrists, mental health specialists and others. I boiled down their thoughts to five easy ways to get over election anxiety:

1. As hard as it might seem to do, stay off Facebook and Twitter for a short while, and for a little bit of time limit your viewing of online and TV news about the election. It’s too easy for digital messages to drill into the core of our thoughts and play havoc with our attitudes.

2. Create a positive inner message—a mantra, if you will—to use when your attitude turns bleak. My new inner message: “Things will work out. Be patient. Things will work out.”

3. Purposely reshape your thinking about change. Most of us despise change, but we’re likely to be faced with a lot of change in the coming years. Replace thoughts of doom with: Change can be good, change can be good.

4. Don’t do anything drastic. Criticizing a person for how she or he cast a vote is an easy way to lose friends and gain a sour reputation for yourself. Once harsh words are spoken, it’s impossible to take them back.

5. This last gem came from my wife Patty, a much wiser person than I am: Pray for Mr. Trump and America. I’d like to add, if you have doubts about the existence of a Higher Power, look at prayer as a form of visualization: It can help reshape our attitudes and, I hopefully think, it may have positive impact on the Big Cosmos of America.

These are all good pieces of advice. It’s not to say, however, that you should not stay abreast of politics in the future. You should always be politically aware and work for positive improvements in America.

But, for now, remember, life goes on. Change can be good. Pray. Visualize. Be patient. Things will work out.

—30—