Let me add the 400,000 Americans who are documented deaths due to Trump's egomaniac and blanket stupidity in domains of knowing for which he is a stranger (e.g., COVID-19 as one of many).
I am fully in agreement with the hopes that the founding fathers had for this country. They did not start off well, bringing the First Peoples to their knees, and slaughtering human life just as they slaughtered the buffalo. They and those that followed, similarly have done relatively little to alter the bigotry and racism that we have seen between those accepted into the "fraternity" versus those newly arriving on site (e.g., Irish, Italians, Jews, Asian, Latinos, and now those of Islamic faith or those from African nations). Maybe these "truths" are self-evident, but they are not self-fulfilling without the mindfulness and the sympathies of others.
It is my contention that consumerism pushed out virtue. That what we could buy displaced how we raised a family. That aspiring to live like the rich and famous, glorified by media, let us forget how critical the education of our children must be. It is not simply a Wordsworthian critique about getting and spending and failing to see the beauty of nature, it is more the failing to see the interconnectivity of all aspects of life- both biotic and abiotic. Love thy neighbor as thou love the Earth. We have the opport unity to see unity, but we have lost our human unity (humanity).
I love and honor the words "We, the People." As a grade school student, I felt the love of past historical legends like Lincoln: with malice toward none, with charity for all. But in my 83 years, I have not felt remotely that we have had anyone in high office that comes close to his "affection" for all. I do sense this in Raphael Warnock (Senator from Georgia) but I doubt the significant component of racism in the American electorate would vote for him (please, I hope to be wrong). When I heard Abigail Spanberger's accept speech, I felt that she too could realize greatness if her rhetoric was translated to deeds.
Now, as a master diagnostician of human disease, I feel or sense in my diagnostic skills that this nation will not endure another three year of Trumpism. There is a need of revolution to rid the country and the world of this lunatic. I cringe seeing him with Zelensky and find it inexplicable why there is no humongous outcry from every freedom-loving person and country about what has happened in Ukraine. Are we this fucking stupid not to remember the Budapest Memorandum of 1994?
The Budapest Memorandum (1994) was a security agreement where the US, UK, and Russia pledged to respect Ukraine's independence, sovereignty, and existing borders in exchange for Ukraine giving up its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal. Key promises included refraining from threats or use of force, avoiding economic coercion, and consulting if Ukraine faced aggression. While the US and UK offered "security assurances," these were political, not military, commitments, meaning they wouldn't send troops but would seek UN action.
WTF happened? Do we, like sponge-brain Trump, have syphilitic brains-so porous that our remembrance is that short-lived? Do those in NATO (forgetting the US) not remember Hitler's Anschluss or his invasion of the Sudetenland, or how he had a peace treaty with the USSR before he invaded Russia.
There is a lot of myth about the land of the free and the home of the brave. We have been and are even more, an imperialistic country. So much of our national debt is related to our military arsenal that I do believe, "as you live by the sword, so shall you die by it." We have invested our revenues poorly.
Mike points out social security and Medicare. Of the latter, I will tell you that ours is a truly fucked up non-healthcare system. It is a business bilking billions or trillions from the American taxpayer. Drugs here are 3-10x more expensive than in Europe. Service here had diminished to being a "sick" joke. I have had MD visits for my complex healthcare that have involved a 30-minute consultation that failed to include a decent history or physical exam. If presented to my medical school class in 1963, the students would have torn it apart. The EHR (electronic health record) is a means to billing for large hospital corporations. A one night stay in an ER led to a bill for $50,000. Doctors are gaming Medicare, and patients are gaming Medicaid. We have in our country Welfarism as a real "occupation." Is the care worse elsewhere? Yes, but we are not much above that "worse" threshold. A recent patient from Mumbai had a better evaluation with impressive testing than most patients I have seen from the US.
Mike points out "cross-sectoral coordination." I would simplify this in saying that a nation that allows profit to replacement principle, is destined to self-destruct. This is not just a "Party" thing, it is the lack of ethic that pervades almost all of American life. We work to get. We do not work to live.
Mike aptly points out the value of deed, not spiel. We saw what Musk was all about- spiel. DOGE had nothing to do with government efficiency but more to the DOGE (Destroy Our Great Experiment), first thousands of government employees, probably to leave more money for Trump and others in his "family" to steal. The American people should rely on an old adage, and not the bullshit that spews out of the mouths of Fox News commentators, past and present.
"The proof of the pudding is in the eating." — William Camden, Remaines Concerning Britain, (1605). In a more philosophic language: "Love is as love does."
As for the Epstein files, this entire matter stinks to holy hell. It's not a Trump thing only. We had Democrat administrations-- what the fuck did they do about following up on the original complaint from 1996? As far as I am concerned, I did not see any greatness in the recent Democrat Presidents we have had, not in Clinton, Obama and certainly not in the effete Joe Biden. Where are the demonstrations of LUV (Legacy, Unity, Vision)? Tell me one thing that stands out in your memory that tells of the greatness of the presidents we have had for the last 30 years?
I will not comment on what should be done regarding business; it is beyond my realm of knowing. I do know that we need Integrity demanded of those who seek office. That integrity is not simply honesty but it is in bringing together parts into a whole, seeing the interactions of all aspects of human, non-human and abiotic entities and being creative (as in the Creation).
We are so fucking fortunate to live on this incredible globe, Earth. There is so much beauty, not just in its nature, but in the nature of all aspects of life. And we are blowing it. We have pettified (created word) the meaning of living, of loving, of happiness. We have reversed our priorities and turned a silk purse into a sow's ear-- or we are certainly headed in that direction.
Everyone I have met in the tens of thousands of miles I have traveled wants the same thing. So why is their this huge disconnect with those that govern us? Simple. We have been a bunch of lazy slobs when it comes to who we elect to run our households. We remain children focused on "me, me" and have yet to assume a tikkun olam level, i.e. we are stewards of this world and all within it. We are the responsible agents for the moral, spiritual and material health of society. We perfect and repair the world.
If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, what am I?
If not now, when? — Rabbi Hillel - (30 BC-9AD)
I had to stop halfway through Mike's editorial. It is indeed a Manifesto and perhaps should be written as such in a booklet for mass distribution. It is good stuff.
I love this manifesto and will share it with family and friends. Also Mike, I often listen to your writings using the “play” option on the Substack app while I’m driving to or from work. But the voice is AI and it often gets words and the inflection wrong. It would be great if you’d record your essays as well and post them. You would be able to reach a larger audience that way, and I think many more people would benefit from hearing what you have to say.
In the spirit of naming mechanisms to at least neutralize if not outright eradicate them, let’s make sure we name white supremacist patriarchy. If we don’t address that “granddaddy” of all extraction mechanisms, we aren’t getting to the absolute root of the oligarchs’ additional operational mechanisms.
For what it's worth, what Donald Trump - as the titular head of the oligarchy - is doing to America is regime change. The fowls have come home to roost. And you can see similar effects across the globe in the so-called "West".
I read a lot, and also write about the current state of affairs. But this is is more than a manifesto--it is truly an architectural vision, complete with blueprint. Your voice needs to reach the floor of Congress, be hammered home every day, amplified by allies. This deserves an audience of millions, not thousands. You should run for office. Because you speak to a big coalition, non-partisan even, you'd win, and could make a huge difference. Go for the biggest stage you can find.
"Alliance restoration. Rebuild democratic partnerships with Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK, France, and Germany. Reject treating allies as enemies while cozying to autocrats."
It's too late for that.
What we know now is that America is MAGA--not because MAGA will always be in charge, but because MAGA has proven that they can put someone in charge who will rip up every agreement made by the non-MAGA faction.
So all planning by would-be international partners has to assume that MAGA will upend the American side of said plans. All international partners have to assume that America has inherited one more thing from 1775: the spirit of betrayal and treason the consequences of which were only avoided by making it too costly to enforce them. All international partners have to assume that Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt are not and were never America; we must assume that Jefferson Davis and Donald Trump are America.
And that leads inexorably to one inevitable conclusion, that we must say that “we will never fucking trust you again.”
Yes. But "commissars"? "Commisar" = "Communist." Communists are no more socialists than "National Socialist" Nazis are, or than "Christian nationalists" are Christian. The worst of people call themselves "Christian" or "socialist" because wolves like to wear sheep's robes. Yet, to really be a Christian is to be a socialist, as the Christians were in the first centuries. Same to be a Buddhist. It's a question of character, of looking out for the welfare of all; not the design of the game board, but the character of the player. Nor is socialism the opposite of capitalism. We can have a democratic-socialist-capitalist society, if we've but the vision, the heart and the will.
Let me add the 400,000 Americans who are documented deaths due to Trump's egomaniac and blanket stupidity in domains of knowing for which he is a stranger (e.g., COVID-19 as one of many).
I am fully in agreement with the hopes that the founding fathers had for this country. They did not start off well, bringing the First Peoples to their knees, and slaughtering human life just as they slaughtered the buffalo. They and those that followed, similarly have done relatively little to alter the bigotry and racism that we have seen between those accepted into the "fraternity" versus those newly arriving on site (e.g., Irish, Italians, Jews, Asian, Latinos, and now those of Islamic faith or those from African nations). Maybe these "truths" are self-evident, but they are not self-fulfilling without the mindfulness and the sympathies of others.
It is my contention that consumerism pushed out virtue. That what we could buy displaced how we raised a family. That aspiring to live like the rich and famous, glorified by media, let us forget how critical the education of our children must be. It is not simply a Wordsworthian critique about getting and spending and failing to see the beauty of nature, it is more the failing to see the interconnectivity of all aspects of life- both biotic and abiotic. Love thy neighbor as thou love the Earth. We have the opport unity to see unity, but we have lost our human unity (humanity).
I love and honor the words "We, the People." As a grade school student, I felt the love of past historical legends like Lincoln: with malice toward none, with charity for all. But in my 83 years, I have not felt remotely that we have had anyone in high office that comes close to his "affection" for all. I do sense this in Raphael Warnock (Senator from Georgia) but I doubt the significant component of racism in the American electorate would vote for him (please, I hope to be wrong). When I heard Abigail Spanberger's accept speech, I felt that she too could realize greatness if her rhetoric was translated to deeds.
Now, as a master diagnostician of human disease, I feel or sense in my diagnostic skills that this nation will not endure another three year of Trumpism. There is a need of revolution to rid the country and the world of this lunatic. I cringe seeing him with Zelensky and find it inexplicable why there is no humongous outcry from every freedom-loving person and country about what has happened in Ukraine. Are we this fucking stupid not to remember the Budapest Memorandum of 1994?
The Budapest Memorandum (1994) was a security agreement where the US, UK, and Russia pledged to respect Ukraine's independence, sovereignty, and existing borders in exchange for Ukraine giving up its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal. Key promises included refraining from threats or use of force, avoiding economic coercion, and consulting if Ukraine faced aggression. While the US and UK offered "security assurances," these were political, not military, commitments, meaning they wouldn't send troops but would seek UN action.
WTF happened? Do we, like sponge-brain Trump, have syphilitic brains-so porous that our remembrance is that short-lived? Do those in NATO (forgetting the US) not remember Hitler's Anschluss or his invasion of the Sudetenland, or how he had a peace treaty with the USSR before he invaded Russia.
There is a lot of myth about the land of the free and the home of the brave. We have been and are even more, an imperialistic country. So much of our national debt is related to our military arsenal that I do believe, "as you live by the sword, so shall you die by it." We have invested our revenues poorly.
Mike points out social security and Medicare. Of the latter, I will tell you that ours is a truly fucked up non-healthcare system. It is a business bilking billions or trillions from the American taxpayer. Drugs here are 3-10x more expensive than in Europe. Service here had diminished to being a "sick" joke. I have had MD visits for my complex healthcare that have involved a 30-minute consultation that failed to include a decent history or physical exam. If presented to my medical school class in 1963, the students would have torn it apart. The EHR (electronic health record) is a means to billing for large hospital corporations. A one night stay in an ER led to a bill for $50,000. Doctors are gaming Medicare, and patients are gaming Medicaid. We have in our country Welfarism as a real "occupation." Is the care worse elsewhere? Yes, but we are not much above that "worse" threshold. A recent patient from Mumbai had a better evaluation with impressive testing than most patients I have seen from the US.
Mike points out "cross-sectoral coordination." I would simplify this in saying that a nation that allows profit to replacement principle, is destined to self-destruct. This is not just a "Party" thing, it is the lack of ethic that pervades almost all of American life. We work to get. We do not work to live.
Mike aptly points out the value of deed, not spiel. We saw what Musk was all about- spiel. DOGE had nothing to do with government efficiency but more to the DOGE (Destroy Our Great Experiment), first thousands of government employees, probably to leave more money for Trump and others in his "family" to steal. The American people should rely on an old adage, and not the bullshit that spews out of the mouths of Fox News commentators, past and present.
"The proof of the pudding is in the eating." — William Camden, Remaines Concerning Britain, (1605). In a more philosophic language: "Love is as love does."
As for the Epstein files, this entire matter stinks to holy hell. It's not a Trump thing only. We had Democrat administrations-- what the fuck did they do about following up on the original complaint from 1996? As far as I am concerned, I did not see any greatness in the recent Democrat Presidents we have had, not in Clinton, Obama and certainly not in the effete Joe Biden. Where are the demonstrations of LUV (Legacy, Unity, Vision)? Tell me one thing that stands out in your memory that tells of the greatness of the presidents we have had for the last 30 years?
I will not comment on what should be done regarding business; it is beyond my realm of knowing. I do know that we need Integrity demanded of those who seek office. That integrity is not simply honesty but it is in bringing together parts into a whole, seeing the interactions of all aspects of human, non-human and abiotic entities and being creative (as in the Creation).
We are so fucking fortunate to live on this incredible globe, Earth. There is so much beauty, not just in its nature, but in the nature of all aspects of life. And we are blowing it. We have pettified (created word) the meaning of living, of loving, of happiness. We have reversed our priorities and turned a silk purse into a sow's ear-- or we are certainly headed in that direction.
Everyone I have met in the tens of thousands of miles I have traveled wants the same thing. So why is their this huge disconnect with those that govern us? Simple. We have been a bunch of lazy slobs when it comes to who we elect to run our households. We remain children focused on "me, me" and have yet to assume a tikkun olam level, i.e. we are stewards of this world and all within it. We are the responsible agents for the moral, spiritual and material health of society. We perfect and repair the world.
If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, what am I?
If not now, when? — Rabbi Hillel - (30 BC-9AD)
I had to stop halfway through Mike's editorial. It is indeed a Manifesto and perhaps should be written as such in a booklet for mass distribution. It is good stuff.
I love this manifesto and will share it with family and friends. Also Mike, I often listen to your writings using the “play” option on the Substack app while I’m driving to or from work. But the voice is AI and it often gets words and the inflection wrong. It would be great if you’d record your essays as well and post them. You would be able to reach a larger audience that way, and I think many more people would benefit from hearing what you have to say.
In the spirit of naming mechanisms to at least neutralize if not outright eradicate them, let’s make sure we name white supremacist patriarchy. If we don’t address that “granddaddy” of all extraction mechanisms, we aren’t getting to the absolute root of the oligarchs’ additional operational mechanisms.
For what it's worth, what Donald Trump - as the titular head of the oligarchy - is doing to America is regime change. The fowls have come home to roost. And you can see similar effects across the globe in the so-called "West".
I read a lot, and also write about the current state of affairs. But this is is more than a manifesto--it is truly an architectural vision, complete with blueprint. Your voice needs to reach the floor of Congress, be hammered home every day, amplified by allies. This deserves an audience of millions, not thousands. You should run for office. Because you speak to a big coalition, non-partisan even, you'd win, and could make a huge difference. Go for the biggest stage you can find.
"Alliance restoration. Rebuild democratic partnerships with Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK, France, and Germany. Reject treating allies as enemies while cozying to autocrats."
It's too late for that.
What we know now is that America is MAGA--not because MAGA will always be in charge, but because MAGA has proven that they can put someone in charge who will rip up every agreement made by the non-MAGA faction.
So all planning by would-be international partners has to assume that MAGA will upend the American side of said plans. All international partners have to assume that America has inherited one more thing from 1775: the spirit of betrayal and treason the consequences of which were only avoided by making it too costly to enforce them. All international partners have to assume that Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt are not and were never America; we must assume that Jefferson Davis and Donald Trump are America.
And that leads inexorably to one inevitable conclusion, that we must say that “we will never fucking trust you again.”
https://www.readtheline.ca/p/matt-gurney-we-will-never-fucking
We don't want to be America's enemies. But we have to assume that America sees us as enemies, no matter how much it might say it wants us as allies.
"That’s what we do in this shining city on the hill."
You are a shining city on a hill--and right now, we're watching you fuck up again, and again, and again.
https://bsky.app/profile/rahaeli.bsky.social/post/3loqsfhswjk2r
Yes. But "commissars"? "Commisar" = "Communist." Communists are no more socialists than "National Socialist" Nazis are, or than "Christian nationalists" are Christian. The worst of people call themselves "Christian" or "socialist" because wolves like to wear sheep's robes. Yet, to really be a Christian is to be a socialist, as the Christians were in the first centuries. Same to be a Buddhist. It's a question of character, of looking out for the welfare of all; not the design of the game board, but the character of the player. Nor is socialism the opposite of capitalism. We can have a democratic-socialist-capitalist society, if we've but the vision, the heart and the will.
Thank you for this from the bottom of my heart ❤️