The Thunderbolt 210922 — Where is The “Good Trump”?
Dana Walker
The Thunderbolt
News — Commentary — Calendar of Activist Events — Dumb Jokes
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1) FYI Section:
1A) Sign Up Now for October Sessions: “NUCLEAR WEAPONS NOWADAYS: What You Can Know and Do”
1B) Theories: Where Have All the Activists Gone?
1C) Black Lake Special District Developments
2) Free the Trees Work Party
3) Bonus Tip of the Day
A detailed description of all events is located after the News and Commentary section
To go directly to an event description just type the index entry above into a search box
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Where is The “Good Trump”?
210922
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Another Shi%#ty Story!
Hey, People!
So just as penises kept entering my orbit after publishing the story about the penis museum, now after publishing the story about the malicious fecal distribution being practiced by a local school superintendent in New Jersey, yet more literal feces has hit my radar. (I guess that is preferable to having it hit the fan…)
Anyway, scientists are attempting to house train cows. No bull.
Cow urine is high in nitrogen, which breaks down into nitrate and nitrous oxide. Nitrate pollutes nearby bodies of water and nitrous oxide is a long-lived greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Therefore, a group of scientists set out to teach calves to pee only in one spot, where their urine can be treated and cleaned before it becomes problematic.
Study co-author Lindsay Matthews said that his team only trained cows to use the ‘MooLoo’ for urinating, not defecating, saying urine is a bigger problem — but Matthews also predicted they could use the same techniques to teach calves to go #2 in a specified area as well.
So I guess next we’ll have the MooPooLoo #2?
https://inhabitat.com/potty-trained-cows-a-new-approach-to-reduce-emissions/
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Single Payer Pacifiers
Every year that Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California the legislature sent him a bill for single payer health care — and every year he vetoed it.
Then — as soon as Jerry Brown and the Democrats retook the governor’s mansion — suddenly those bills somehow couldn’t get through the legislature anymore.
Then, Gavin Newsome — your stereotypical two-faced Democrat who says whatever people want to hear and then does whatever his corporate paymasters tell him to do — ran for governor of California based largely upon a promise of single payer healthcare. His enthusiasm for single-payer earned him the enthusiastic endorsement of the California Nurses Association and many millions of California voters.
As soon as he was elected, of course, he said that California would indeed have single payer — someday — but that day was still a long way off…
Then, at a time when Governor Newsome had ordered mask mandates and at a time he had ordered Californians to shelter in place and to leave their homes only when absolutely necessary, and at a time when Governor Newsome had closed down a wide variety of ‘non essential’ businesses including all restaurants — Governor Newsome himself was pictured eating dinner in one of the most expensive restaurants in the United States with a bunch of lobbyists.
Then, to add insult to profound hypocrisy, none them were wearing masks.
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Where is The “Good Trump”?
Politics is a process of people organizing to promote specific policies. Period. Those policies can be based upon ideology, or they can be based upon facts — but they cannot be based upon both.
Do you want to actually bring actual change? Here is the tried true proven foolproof method: You organize, organize, and organize! You build broad coalitions of people focused upon specific goals. If your goal is retaking the wealth that the 0.1% has stolen from those who actually labor and build and grow all of the things over all of those centuries that has actually produced all of the wealth that the actual producers were themselves deprived of — then you build your coalition based upon that goal and you don’t shun someone because they are against gun control or because they are anti-choice — and the fact that you might work with such people on the issue of retaking our wealth even though they might disagree with you on other issues opens up the opportunity for honest debate upon those other issues.
It is possible to agree about promoting wealth redistribution whilst simultaneously disagreeing about gun control.
So — it has been proven over and over and over again that the best way to bring actual change is to mass-organize from the bottom up.
Now consider this: During Barack Obama’s 2009 State of the Union address, a Republican representative with the completely forgettable name of Joe Wilson interrupted the president’s speech and cried out, “You lie!”
In addition to being incredibly rude and offensive — and not even true to begin with, as this was a rare instance wherein Obama happened to be telling the truth — this was a major breach of protocol and Mr. Wilson was roundly condemned, mostly by the left, but also by a large number of Republicans.
However — over the next few days Representative Wilson’s campaign coffers saw a multi-million dollar influx of donations, almost all of them from small individual donors.
And this — along with Internet technology— led to the rise of the Small Individual Donor as a major funding source.
Then consider this: From the very beginning of the 2016 election the American electorate was making one thing perfectly clear: Business as usual was no longer an option.
So here is a quiz I suspect most of you will fail: Who was the largest recipient of small-donor campaign contributions during the last election? The obvious answer is Bernie Sanders since Bernie Sanders literally pioneered the strategy of depending exclusively upon small individual donations and then totally kicking some major ass. Or perhaps it was Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who used small individual donations to unseat a long-time thoroughly entrenched and utterly corrupt Democrat in order to win her House seat?
Both also got there by saying ‘outrageous’ things. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez got there in spite of — or because of — the fact that she is an open Socialist. While Bernie doesn’t favour my own proposal of simply eliminating the privilege of the 0.1%, redistributing their loot amongst everyone else — as well as ordering mandatory therapy sessions — Bernie does advocate taxing the crap out of the 0.1% in order to pay for social programs. And unlike some other ‘progressive’ Democrats I could name (such as Elizabeth Warren, for instance) Bernie Sanders has been consistently railing about this very issue for his entire political career.
Therefore, in spite of her bottomless pits of corporate money, the only reason Hillary Clinton was able to overcome Bernie’s momentum in 2016 was by cheating.
And that was how the Democrats ended up forcing Hillary Clinton down everyone’s throats even though she represented the very face of corrupt insider politics at the very moment when the number one message being conveyed by the American voter was that they were so done with corrupt insider politics.
The Republicans didn’t make that mistake. Donald Trump came out of nowhere and in his very first ever political campaign he won the presidency of the United States. No matter what you think of the dude — and I think about as little of him as is possible to think of nearly anyone — that was an amazing accomplishment.
And he did that largely by breaking nearly every rule on the books.
There were a large number of ducks that had to be lined up for Donald Trump to win that election — like I’ve said before, I can think of at least a dozen things that had any single one of those dozen things not been so then Trump would almost certainly have lost that election — and one of those dozen things is the fact that the largest recipient of small individual donations during the last election — and by a pretty wide margin at that — was frigging Donald Trump.
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My takeaway on all this is that the best way to win both tons of small individual donations and subsequently start winning elections — and thus obtain a bully pulpit for challenging the status quo — is to seriously and outrageously get into the face of the existing power structure, say outrageous things, and break all the rules — and this appears to be true for both the left and the right.
And when it comes to all that, we have a big advantage in that reality has a left-leaning bias. While many of Trump’s allegations actually did have some kernels of truth buried in them (one of the reasons that they were so effective) he nonetheless twisted and inverted those truths so out of shape — often inverting them to mean the complete opposite of what they actually meant — that they might as well have well been lies.
On the other hand, a lot of the other things that he said were simply outright lies.
The left, on the other hand, can say totally outrageous things that fly directly into the face of the accepted narrative — only we can actually say things that are actually true!
So where is our left-wing version of Donald Trump who can say totally outrageous things to win over the hearts and minds of Jane and Joe Public?
For instance: What if a candidate with a national audience started pointing out the fact that corporate CEO’s routinely get away with mass murder?
And the thing is that — unlike the Rump — when our ‘Good Trump’ says something like that he will be able to prove his or her allegations! Of the endless scores of examples there are to choose from, I would go with the GM ignition switch scandal, which was quite literally a conspiracy to commit mass murder for profit — yet most of the murderers didn’t even lose their jobs, much less get prosecuted for anything, and in fact the CEO received a seven figure bonus for having so adroitly dealt with Obama’s Justice Department. A token fine was levied against the shareholders, who had absolutely nothing to do with the murder conspiracy other than inadvertently hiring the murderers.
We need a national political figure to start putting that fact front and center and to start questioning how that was possible for those things to happen and how to prevent such things from ever happening again.
Our government constantly lies to us about everything, including existential things. It was a lie that took us into Vietnam. It was a lie that took us into Iraq. For 20 years we had all the top US military brass repeatedly assuring us that Afghanistan was “making significant progress” and that the Afghan military was “becoming a top-notch fighting force” even though leaked documents recently revealed that they knew full well Afghanistan was total cluster F%#K from the very beginning.
We need a national political figure to start putting those facts front and center and to start questioning how that was possible for those things to happen and how to prevent such things from ever happening again.
What would happen if a national political figure started pointing out the thoroughly established and easily verifiable fact that the CIA is the biggest drug trafficking organization on the planet? What would be the effect were a ‘Good Trump’ to start seriously questioning the thoroughly scandalous and totally opaque black hole that represents the Pentagon budget?
We need a national political figure to start putting those facts front and center and to start questioning how that was possible for those things to happen and how to prevent such things from ever happening again.
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Where is our ‘Good Trump’?
Or is that an oxymoron?
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Anyway — it’s time to get to work…
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The Olympia Action Alert
Week of September 22nd thru September 28th, 2021
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1) FYI Section:
1A) Sign Up Now for October Sessions: “NUCLEAR WEAPONS NOWADAYS: What You Can Know and Do”
I got this message from Glen:
We invite you to SIGN UP NOW for this highly informative and inspiring 4-session course in October.
It is FREE and online. It includes solid information, links to resources, and discussions.
People who have taken this course have learned a lot and felt empowered to work to abolish nuclear weapons.
Now we are offering it again in OCTOBER.
You may choose either TUESDAYS (5-7 pm Pacific Time) or SATURDAYS (10 am to 12 noon Pacific Time).
To take the 4-session course in OCTOBER 2021, choose either:
· Tuesdays: Pacific
Time 5:00 (sharp) to 7:00 pm October 5,
12, 19, and 26.
(If you’re in another time zone, please adjust for your local time.)
· Saturdays: Pacific
Time 10:00 a.m. (sharp) to 12:00 noon October
9, 16, 23, and 30.
(If you’re in another time zone, please adjust for your local time.)
à Send Joanne Dufour an e-mail to jdu...@gmail.com with this subject line:
OCANW course on Nuclear Weapons.
Or you may phone Joanne at (206) 550-1841.
Please provide your name, email address, home mailing address, and phone number.
Specify whether you want TUESDAYS or SATURDAYS.
She will e-mail you the Zoom video link so you can join our course.
Also, we will e-mail each participant a number of readings and videos that flesh out the topics of each of the four class sessions. These are not mandatory (like school assignments were), but we do encourage participants to read at least some of the readings and watch at least some of the videos, because they do provide important information and insights.
We hope you will join us!
For more information about the course or about nuclear
weapons,
contact Glen Anderson (360) 491-9093 glenan...@integra.net
and
see the “Nuclear Weapons” part of Glen’s blog, www.parallaxperspectives.org
The direct link there is http://parallaxperspectives.org/category/nuclear-weapons
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1B) Theories: Where Have All the Activists Gone?
I got this message from TS:
Reading the latest thunderbolt and wanted to comment on your wondering where all the activists went.
First a little on my community organizing background.
It started in the 1980s when I became a leader in the Tacoma Light Brigade
under my married name Podzaline, which fought and won the campaign to stop the
Washington Public Power Supply, known as WPPS, from building twenty five
nuclear power plants at rate payer expense in Washington state.
The Tacoma and Seattle Light Brigade evolved into Washington Fair Share, a
direct action organizing model based on Saul Alinskys organizing style. I
became a trained Community Organizer through the Midwest Academy headquartered
in Chicago. Washington Fair Share was instrumental in getting Right To
Know legislation passed and in getting COLA for Social Security recipients.
I’ve worked on other community issues too such as the effort to build a mass burn garbage incinerator in Pierce County.
I think my background allows me to address the activism issue in Olympia, which from my observation has always been practically non-existent. Olympia has a large active protest community that will hit the streets in a heartbeat to protest injustices etc. However and unfortunately that’s the extent of their activism, they have no structure to actually do something concrete, something that makes a difference in people’s lives, they protest then go back home feeling like they’ve accomplished something. They aren’t in it for the long, arduous labor intensive haul, which requires a structured organization, an office, staff, and grants to continue the campaign.
I think a lot of people confuse activism with protesting, standing at Percival Landing every week is protesting, not activism, and it does have its place in the on going battles for peace and justice. The 2012 Public Power campaign was activism, those people worked long and hard, they had strategy and tactics they used to achieve their goal, and even though their efforts failed, they were true activists.
So as I see it, Olympia doesn’t really lack activists, they lack an organization that they can plug into and work to actually win on issues. I’ve been trying to get such an organization started but it’s been very difficult since so many people don’t understand the basic tenets of Direct Action Community organizing, which requires viewing opponents as targets, not enemies. In organizing we stress leaving your opponents a way out with grace because today’s target may be tomorrow’s ally. In Olympia I’ve witnessed to much of the ‘if you aren’t with us, your against us’ mentality, which is counter productive in achieving wins on vital issues.
Thanks Dana,
Yours in solitary,
TS
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I would like to add that those folks at Percival Landing every week also do a lot of organizing as well.
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And I got this message from JD:
Dana it's dead because the Woke took over the left & destroyed it.
Sounds like you can't even see it. I can't believe how
vicious people in Oly have become. Interesting that all institutions on the
left have become Woke & internally destroyed, exactly like MII, just before
vaccine passports are introduced, mandatory apps that track your every move. I
hope you're following what's happening in Australia. I can't believe the left
has become pro-government power, pro-crackdown, pro-authoritarian. It's
stunning to watch. The activists on the left are now busy playing Antifa,
attacking conservatives who are
protesting a massive intrusion into your basic civil rights & competing to
see who's the most oppressed.
How about including a letter from Candy Mercer in your next edition? I encourage you to interview her. She's very progressive but just got labeled by the writer in the Daily Kos as far right. Incredible complete distortion of the basic facts.
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There’s probably more truth there than anyone is really comfortable with, especially since last week at the Transit Center some ANTIFA-associated protester metaphorically shot ANTIFA in the foot by literally shooting a Loud Boy in the foot.
Hey, People: You don’t win public support either by screaming profanities into people’s faces or by engaging in gun battles at the Transit Center.
I will comment that while referring to the Loud Boys as “Conservatives who are protesting a massive intrusion into your basic civil rights” may be technically true as far as it goes, that’s a classic example of burying the lead as the Loud Boys are also protesting a lot of other things that are far less clear cut as well.
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1C) Black Lake Special District Developments
I got this message through Phyllis:
Esther and I attended the County Commissioners Meeting today and gave a 4 min. talk, and turned in the petitions. The next step is that the commissioners will schedule a hearing and a determination regarding the Black Lake Special District will be made at that time. The more people that attend the hearing the better chance we have of winning this fight. When a date is set for the hearing we will let you know.
Cheers, Suzanne & Esther
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2) Free the Trees Work Party
Saturday September 25th
Two 2 Hour Sessions – 10 am to 12 pm & 1 pm to 3 pm @ North End of the West Bay Woods, a Few Blocks South of Woodard Ave NW
I got this message from Daniel:
Free the Trees Work Party
When: Saturday September 25th.
Where: North end of the West Bay Woods, a few blocks south of Woodard Ave NW.
Join OlyEcosystems in freeing the trees in the north end of West Bay Woods! We'll be cutting ivy off of the trees and (if it has rained by then) pulling ivy up from the ground.
Due to COVID concerns, we will have two 2 hour sessions - 10am-12pm & 1pm-3pm - with 20 ppl max in each session. Folks from the same household can work together, but otherwise we will be social distancing. Please email Sarah Hamman (sa...@olyecosystems.org) if you are interested in joining with your time preference (10am or 1pm) and she will get you registered!
The work site is just west of the northern trailhead on West Bay Drive into West Bay Woods. If you are driving, please park on Rogers St. by Hays Ave NW and walk to the WBW entrance at Hays Ave. If you are walking or biking, you're welcome to meet down at the northern trailhead on West Bay Drive. We'll have folks stationed at both locations.
Please bring your own water and gloves. We will have some individually wrapped snacks, tools and some clean gloves available for those that need them. See you in the woods!
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OlyEcosystems is a 501(c)(3) with a mission to protect, preserve and restore the diverse ecosystems of Olympia Washington that include freshwater, shoreline, tidal waters, and upland forests that are home to the Pacific Great Blue Heron, cutthroat trout, salmon, and companion species. Completely volunteer run, 100% of donations support the work to steward this mission.
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To learn more, visit |
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3) Bonus Tip of the Day:
Keep an eye out for the Good Trump.
Peace.
Dana
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