Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
Ballot
_X__ President
___ King
I vote for President. A president as called for in the United States Constitution, a document that has guided governmental affairs in America for 236 years and counting. It has withstood all manner of challenges and attempts to temper it’s effectiveness.
That includes the current blatant and heinous Coup attempt by the Authoritarians on the political Right. If you look at things superficially, it looks like Democracy is screwed. If you look under the hood (so to speak), we can get out of this mess.
It will take you and me. Think about it. There are 813 Billionaires in the United States. The total population of the United States as of July 2024 was north of 340 million people. I think we have them out numbered. They may have us out leveraged in terms of power and influence, but if we decide that we don’t like the way they are doing things, democracy or not, we should be able to get our way one way or the other.
The “one way” that I hope for is through the election process. Courageous people in positions of influence and power are working like crazy to hold the line until we get another chance to speak up electorally in 2026. Our job in the meantime is to support them in what they do by taking action at our local levels to keep humanity and democratic thought alive and kicking while we kick the Trump behemoth monster in the shins to make it uncomfortable and make our feelings heard…or at least felt a little bit.
Do not, Do not, DO NOT obey in advance out of fear. Most of us at this level are out of the crosshairs of these Fascists and their White Supremacist, Seven Mountain Mandate, Christian extremist deliverers of hate and intimidation. Most of us can go about resisting these tools of hatred because we just aren’t big enough for them to worry about.
These Fascists know that they are in the minority even though they try to appear bigger than they are. They compensate for their lack of numbers by puffery in the media and through fear and intimidation. They are basically acting in a very cowardly manner for a group that prides itself on how much fear and hate it can spread and how big and tough they are.
They function under the guise of a progressive political movement. They meet part of the definition of a progressive political movement. But they fail to meet the second part of the definition of the word progressive. That is they are not working for reforms to benefit the average citizen, us working men and women. They are falsely claiming to be progressives in order to convince working people like you and me that they are looking out for our interests.
In the tradition of authoritarians, they have thrown up smoke, mirrors and tons of disinformation to convince Americans that they stand for something that they are not. They represent the 800+ Billionaires, not the 340,000,000+ of us who are not Billionaires.
Progressives are interested in establishing a more transparent and accountable government which would work to improve U.S. society. The Progressive movement in the U.S.A. came about in the early 20th Century in response to the widespread societal disruption caused by the Industrial Revolution. The Progressive movement is about making life better for people, not worse.
If we are to have more Presidents’ Days, we need to hold the line on Democracy now.
Gird your loins and let’s keep going! They will continue spewing their campaign of “shock and awe” to try and demoralize us and cause maximum chaos. Stay strong. We’ll get through this.
A very wise Buddhist friend taught me to say these words to myself when I'm starting to get very angry at someone's actions or words:
"May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be happy. "May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be healthy and strong. "May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be at ease. "May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be at peace.
I have no control over what they do, but I do have control of my own personal character, how I respond to what other people do and how I treat other people.
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
I was driving home in the midst of a California atmospheric river drenching. As I was making a left turn on my way home from a morning workout, an SUV blew through a Yield sign to my right and cut in front of me with not a lot of space to spare.
There are times when that would have sent me into a profanity laden tirade. But, on this day, something was different. The car (and it’s driver) turned off very shortly thereafter and I was on with my day.
It could have been a lot different. It could have escalated into a life changing fit of ugliness. But, instead, as Brigid Delaney suggested in “Reasons Not to Worry,” nip anger in the bud before it makes an everyday event into a rage induced tragedy.
Delaney suggests going through the control test. Ask yourself in real time and in the moment “have I been harmed? ” Stoic Marcus Aurelius on controlling your reaction: “Get rid of this, make a decision to quit thinking of things as insulting, and your anger immediately disappears.”
I thought that I’d like to practice this thinking to affect how I respond to politicians saying things that I resolutely disagree with. So far, today has been a light day on listening to pre-recorded or third party political speech.
There actually was one opportunity to test my new found Stoic tool in a real life setting involving political speech. It involved one of this administration’s high appointees to the Justice Department in a case that involved a quid pro quo arrangement with New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Stoic practice “cultivates resilience.” Learn to adapt your body and brain to uncomfortable and unpleasant situations. Prepare yourself in advance of situations that might make you feel angry. Prepare for them. Exercise, breath, focus on the fabulous. These situations will often make themselves known to you whether you like it or not.
Anger warps rationality. It inserts emotion into situations where emotion gets in the way of clear thinking. Marcus Aurelius said, “The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.” Seneca said, “The greatest cure for anger is to wait, so that the initial passion it engenders may die down, and the fog that shrouds the mind may subside, or be less thick.
If you physically feel yourself getting angry, acknowledge it and consciously slow down and deepen your breaths. Getting oxygen to the brain helps you to slow things down and maybe prevent you from doing, saying or thinking something that you may later regret.
A very wise Buddhist friend taught me to say these words to myself when I'm starting to get very angry at someone's actions or words:
"May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be happy. "May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be healthy and strong. "May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be at ease. "May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be at peace.
I find this practice very difficult. Even if my mind balks at silently repeating these words to myself, I pause to remember that words and actions pass through us. They are not us. Remove the words and actions and we are pretty much all the same. Separate the act from the actor or, if you like, separate the sin from the sinner.
When I am most upset and angry and if I don’t catch myself before I respond to my anger, I find that the practice of reciting these words and inserting the name of the person that I am feeling anger towards allows me to forgive myself and move on.
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
Amidst all the DEI demonizing nonsense coming from the White House, remember that this is Black History Month in the United States. It is a time to celebrate what that DEI acronym stands for. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.”
That diversity, equality and inclusivity is represented in the idealistic poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus. The poem is inscribed on a plaque inside the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. It is the greeting and welcome of newcomers to their new home, one that most immigrants wouldn’t be able to read even if they found the pedestal on which the words are inscribed.
"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Emma Lazarus 1849-1887
Nor would immigrants always receive the real intentioned actions called for in its words.
Native Americans driven from their ancestral lands and cheated by treaty after unkept treaty by the U.S. government. Chinese American immigrants brought in to build the transcontinental railroad only to be told that they weren’t welcome to stay by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Latin Americans brought here to do the back-breaking, low paying work of harvesting food from our farms only to be denied the rights of citizenship, descent housing, healthcare and education.
African Americans forcibly brought here against their will as slaves and after time after time over the last 400 years treated, to put it kindly, disrespectfully.
Our beloved country has not served it’s immigrants well. Over time, if immigrants had pale European-like skin tones, they would be assimilated into mainstream American culture as they learned how to speak the Engish language, receive a decent education and find their way into the so called Middle Class of the American economic and social pecking order.
If your skin was not pale European in color, the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) ruling class made sure that your American experience did not reflect the ideolized life that Lazarus memorialized in her words.
My country. our country has shat on it’s immigrants. And that includes our Native Americans who aren’t even immigrants yet have been treated as those who have come here without the privilege of whiteness.
I am not spitting on my country. I love my country. I will always love my country even when it is sick and ailing. The promise of our country is immortalized and clearly stated in the Constitution, not in the words of The Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025.”
Our country is great because of The Constitution and our collective and unified (yes unified) aspirations to actualize the words in it. Anything other than these aspirations are not American by virtue of the fact that they are not based on the laws that epitomize what our founders had in mind for the United States of America when they wrote the Constitution at the end of the 18th Century,
Black History Month is an opportunity to be reminded that we as Americans have not yet attained the greatness that is in us. Americans will not be fooled into believing that we have had greatness and lost it. We can’t possibly be made great again because we have not been great before, in some areas we have been really good, in others, like our treatment of immigrants, woefully bad.
I challenge you to remember the contributions of African Americans each day this month. And in so doing letting Washington know that we know what greatness is. It is not them.
A very wise Buddhist friend taught me to say these words to myself when I'm starting to get very angry at someone's actions or words:
"May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be happy. "May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be healthy and strong. "May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be at ease. "May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be at peace.
I find this exercise difficult. I also find that in saying these words to myself that I am calmed and reminded to separate the person from the action coming through them. God help me practice these words with the far right members of the Supreme Court!
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
I’ll start today with an answer to the what can I do question that we are all asking. I found this ACLU piece a good use of an hour. Click on the link to watch it and get some tips on what you can do about the actions of the traitor-in-chief.
And here are answers to that question from former Labor Secretary Robert Reich (from his Substack):
Friends,
In light of Trump II’s first 18 days of mayhem — including his and Musk’s coup against our system of government — many are asking: “What can I do now?” Here’s a revised and expanded list, in rough order of importance.
1. Protect vulnerable members of your communities who are undocumented or whose parents are undocumented.
This is an urgent moral call to action. As Trump’s ICE begins roundups and deportations, many good people and their families are endangered and understandably frightened.
One of Trump’s executive orders allows ICE to arrest undocumented immigrants at or near schools, places of worship, health care sites, shelters, and relief centers — thereby deterring families from sending their kids to school or getting help they need, and threatening the health and well-being of entire communities.
Urge your governor and state legislature, and your mayor or city manager, to block ICE. Get your local and state lawmakers to seek federal court injunctions. Check in with their offices to see what they are doing to protect vulnerable families in your community. Join others in voluntary efforts to keep ICE away from hospitals, schools, and shelters.
Meanwhile, you should order these red cards from Immigrant Legal Resources Center and make them available in and around your community: Red Cards / Tarjetas Rojas | Immigrant Legal Resource Center | ILRC. You might also find these of use: Immigration Preparedness Toolkit | Immigrant Legal Resource Center | ILRC.
2. Protect LGBTQ+ members of your community.
Trump is trying to make life far more difficult for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other people through executive orders, changes in laws, alterations in civil rights laws, or changes in how such laws are enforced.
His election and his rhetoric might also unleash hatefulness by bigoted people in your community.
Work with others in being vigilant against prejudice and bigotry, wherever it might break out. When you see or hear it, call it out. Join with others to stop it. If you trust your local city officials, get them involved. If you trust your local police, alert them as well.
3. Help protect public officials whom Trump and his administration are targeting for vengeance.
Some may be low-level officials, such as election workers. If they do not have the means to defend themselves legally, you might help them or consider a GoFundMe campaign. If you hear of anyone who seeks to harm them, immediately alert local law-enforcement officials.
Other endangered people are Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents who worked on the January 6 and Mar-a-Lago classified papers cases. You can help protect them by making sure you know what Trump’s Justice Department is trying to do to them (here’s one good source), and spreading the word. Urge your senators and House members (assuming they’re with you on this) to intervene on their behalf, hold hearings, and spread the alarm.
4. Contact your Democratic senators and urge them to block all Trump nominations.
This week, several Senate Democrats helped confirm Trump’s energy secretary. Bad move.
There’s simply no excuse for Senate Democrats to confirm any of Trump’s nominees for any agency while Trump’s power grab continues. These nominees have repeatedly stated their loyalty to Trump and his agenda — it’s the No. 1 thing he looks for in a Cabinet official.
Democrats should place “blanket holds” on all Trump’s nominees until his power grab is ended. [The phone number of the Capitol switchboard operator is (202) 224-3121.]
5. Urge your Democratic senators to continuously demand quorum calls and object to unanimous consent, to deny Senate Republicans the ability to enact Trump initiatives.
The Senate may not conduct official business unless a majority of senators (51 if all seats are filled) are present. This is called a quorum, and it’s the foundation of Senate procedure. If a quorum isn’t present, the Senate grinds to a halt.
Senate Democrats should use their power in the minority to call for a quorum and constantly demand quorum calls on any and all Trump initiatives.
Blocking unanimous consent forces roll-call votes, debates, and delays on even the most basic motions, and it will consume hours (or days) of floor time. It would also kill Trump’s fast-track confirmations.
Many of Trump’s judicial nominees sailed through last time because Democrats didn’t force votes on each one. This must end. No more rubber-stamping. [Again, the phone number of the Capitol switchboard operator is (202) 224-3121.]
6. Urge Democratic House members to vote against all Republican initiatives.
Republicans maintain control over the House by the smallest margin in almost a century. If Elise Stefanik is confirmed as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, as expected, Republicans’ House majority will drop from 218 to 217 (compared to 215 Democrats).
This tiny margin gives Democrats enormous power, if they stick together. Make sure your Democratic representatives know you’re counting on them to do so.
Another thing you can do: Push governors to delay special elections to fill seats of representatives Trump has picked for his regime. For example, lawmakers in New York are readying a bill to give Gov. Kathy Hochul until the summer to fill Stefanik’s seat.
7. Write to your senators and members of Congress about the constitutional crisis we are in, urging them to stop all confirmation votes, stop hearings, and reclaim their appropriations authority.
Senator or Congressman (or Congresswoman) [XXX]
Re: Constitutional Crisis
Dear Senator or Congressman (or Congresswoman) [XXX]:
We are in a constitutional crisis. The president has usurped Congress’s authority, including freezing the use of appropriated funds. It is time to act now.
Stop all confirmations. Put holds on every Trump nominee. No more hearings or confirmation votes.
Get back your appropriations authority, whether through litigation or investigations. Allowing Musk’s DOGE access to all payments information enables them to decide who gets money Congress appropriated and designated.
Sincerely,
xxx
8. Contact your state’s attorney general and urge them to file complaints, injunctions, and restraining orders against Elon Musk and his tech goons for committing identify theft, violating the Privacy Act, and riding roughshod over Congress’s spending power in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.
You can find your state attorney general here.
9. Join with others in your community to take on other initiatives in your locale and state.
Local and state governments retain significant power. Join groups that are moving your city or state forward, in contrast to regressive moves at the federal level. Lobby, instigate, organize, and fundraise for progressive legislators. Support progressive leaders. You can find your nearest Indivisible group here.
10. Organize or participate in boycotts of companies that are enabling the Trump regime, starting with Elon Musk’s X and Tesla and any companies that advertise on X or Fox News.
Never underestimate the effectiveness of consumer boycotts. Corporations invest heavily in their brand names and the goodwill associated with them. Loud, boisterous, attention-getting boycotts can harm brand names and reduce the prices of corporations’ shares of stock.
11. To the extent you are able, fund groups that are litigating against Trump.
Much of the action over the next months and years will be in the federal courts. The groups initiating legislation that I know and trust include the American Civil Liberties Union, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, Public Citizen, Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Defense Fund, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Common Cause.
You can track the federal cases against the Trump regime here.
12. Spread the truth.
Get news through reliable sources, and spread it. If you hear anyone spreading lies and Trump propaganda, including local media, contradict them with facts and their sources.
Here are some of the sources I currently rely on for the truth: Democracy Now, Business Insider, The New Yorker, The American Prospect, The Atlantic,Americans for Tax Fairness, Economic Policy Institute, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, The Guardian, ProPublica, Labor Notes, The Lever, Popular Information, Heather Cox Richardson, and, of course, this Substack.
13. Urge friends, relatives, and acquaintances to avoid Trump propaganda outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, X, and, increasingly, Facebook and Instagram.
They are filled with hateful bigotry and toxic and dangerous lies. For some people, these propaganda sources can also be addictive; help the people you know wean themselves off them.
14. Encourage worker action.
Most labor unions are on the right side — seeking to build worker power and resist repression. You can support them by joining picket lines and boycotts and encouraging employees to organize in places you patronize.
Encourage union pension funds to divest stock in Tesla and SpaceX. Tesla shares have been held by funds such as the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the New York State Common Retirement Fund, which serve public employees and some unionized workers. As of June 2024, CalPERS owned nearly 9.2 million Tesla shares, valued at over $2 billion.
Private-sector union pension funds, such as those managed by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters or the United Auto Workers (UAW) Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, may have Tesla stock through index funds or direct investments.
15. Take care of yourself and your loved ones.
Please do not become so obsessed by what Trump and Musk are doing that you neglect your own well-being. It’s important that you take time for yourself, read a good book or watch an absorbing TV series. See friends. Find something to laugh at every day. Get enough exercise.
And hold your loved ones tight.
We will get through this, and we will prevail. But it will require confidence, courage, and tenacity. We need to stay healthy for this fight. We need to be fortified by those we care about. And we need to be there for those we love.
16. Finally, and not the least, keep the faith.
Do not give up on America. Do not fall into the traps of cynicism and defeatism. Remember, Trump won the popular vote by only 1.5 points. By any historical measure, this was a squeaker. In the House, the Republicans’ lead is the smallest in almost a century. In the Senate, Republicans lost half of 2024’s competitive races, including in four states Trump won.
America has deep problems, to be sure. Which is why we can’t give up on it — or give up the fights for social justice, equal political rights, equal opportunity, democracy, and the rule of law.
The forces of Trumpian repression and neofascism would like nothing better than for us to give up. Then they’d win it all. We cannot allow them to.
We will never give up.
Robert Reich Substack
I am acting on Reich’s item #1. have had training in how to respond to and report ICE activity in my home area. I’m not sure how much ICE activity that there will be within 20 minutes of my quiet suburban neighborhood, but I’ve been trained and have signed up to be a part of th rapid response network for Santa Clara County. I have an understanding now of what immigrants are facing and how to help in my own small way.
Now, you might be asking what do have to be so Stoic about? I say “might be asking” because maybe you’ve been on a remote island in the South Pacific with no access to news sources of any kind and have a Rip Van Winkle excuse for not knowing what the latest American president is doing to purposely (fuck) up his own country and hand it over to Fascists, right wing billionaires and religious zealots bent on turning the United States into the world Canadian Margaret Atwood imagined in her 1985 book “a Handmaid’s Tale.” There is also a film based on the book. You can see the Trailer here. There was a time when this story was wacked out fiction. Not so much right now.
I’m not stoic by nature, but current events have pushed into exploring stoicism and beginning to apply it to myself. If I were to continue on my non-stoic path, I think that I would go stark-raving , luney tunes mad!
How did we get to this point? I’m not even going to begin to try to answer that question. The big question in the moment is how do we respond to the coup that is happening in the United States right now? We don’t have the luxury of time or waiting for someone else to do something. That someone is us. You and me.
For whatever reason more Americans voted for these governmental morons is not something I can control (I’m practicing Stoicism here) so I’m letting that go.
What I can do is be a resource to immigrant families facing illegal and immoral detention and deportation, What I can do is to encourage you to spread the word about disinformation and maybe even apply your creativity in how to get real information, real facts to the people who aren’t getting it.
I see the best way to get around the disinformation is through direct action like that taken by Russian musician and Pacifist Sasha Skocilenko who put anti war messages over price tags in a St. Petersburg supermarket to protest Russias’s invasion of Ukraine. Her courageous and vitally important resistance to Vladimir Putin’s illegal and immoral war on Ukraine netted her a seven year prison sentence. Sasha’s resistance and courage are a model for us all.
The Episcopal archbishop of Washington spoke truth to power (the president) during the Innauguration Prayer Service. Listen to Maryann Budde’s sermon ata the link adjacent.
I view that the key to getting our country back is get information into the heads of people who are not getting factual information, who are being purposefully mis-informed or dis-informed or not informed at all about what the current president is doing right now. This is going to require creativity, moxy and courage like that demonstrated by Skochilenko and Budde.
In the meantime, breath deeply and practice love wherever you are.
A very wise Buddhist friend taught me to say these words to myself when I'm starting to get very angry at someone's actions or words:
"May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be happy. "May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be healthy and strong. "May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be at ease. "May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be at peace.
Sometimes I blowup and then remember to use this mantra, but more and more I’m finding that I use it when I want to merely calm myself. I find it difficult at times, but when I apply it, it works.
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
Somewhere in a recent post, I talked briefly about how a little book called “Reasons Not to Worry: How to be Stoic in Chaotic Times” by Australian Brigid Delaney was helping me to respond better to the self inflicted societal disinformation/white supremacy/right wing religious/billionaire driven campaign of chaos that we are being forced to endure and respond to in 2025.
It seems like we’re being fire-hosed with every conceivable form of hate that anyone in their wildest nightmares could possible come up with. Yet, here we are. How is one to absorb the force of the deluge of the unthinkable while trying to sniff out each hateful item and address them in a rational, lawful and sane way.
Of course, there isn’t any one person or organization that can turn off this spewing of horrendous hurtful hate. It requires a whole village, more like a whole country to get that hydrant of hate turned off and the hose reattached to the hydrant of love.
I’m about 2/3 of the way through Delaney’s book. What makes this book really useful is that it applies Stoic principles that are well over 2,000 years old to the crazy making COVID-19 Pandemic which Delaney lived through down under.
I will be reading and re-reading this book. My relationship with Stoicism is all of about three months old yet it has begun transforming me and honing my skills to absorb the blows of the outrageous and hateful and get passed it…for the most part.
Stoicism goes back to Greek and Roman times. People who called themselves Stoics developed an approach for looking life directly in the face and dealing with what it was. Not what you wanted it to be, but for what it was.
Stoics developed a basic test to put the daily events of life through. It became known as “the Control Test.” What it boils down to is something like this. There are three things that you can control. The rest is outside of your control and you should avoid spending precious time thinking or worrying about them because there is nothing that you can do about them.
According to Delaney’s interpretation of Stoicism, the three things that comprise the Control Test filter are:
1. Our Character. Character is comprised of the four virtues: courage, self-control, wisdom and justice.
2. Our Reactions (in some cases our actions, but not the outcomes of our actions)
3. How we treat others.
As I continue through this book and attempt to run life events through this control test, I find it to be sort of having a mantra-like calming an clarifying effect on me. As Delaney relates real life applications of the control test, this Stoic technique becomes more and more real and useful.
My world view has changed considerably in the past five years. Those of you that have followed my writings over that time can testify to the changes that I have gone through. This Stoicism has been a game changer for me. It is helping me to cut through the crap and spend more and more of my time on the things that I control. My character, my reactions and my response to others.
I suggest that you explore Stoicism. In my short experience with it, guys like Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius (who, if I remember right, applied his Stoic practice during the time of the Emperor Nero. If you think we’ve got it rough now, you might want to research what life was like under Nero).
Anyway, I’ll get out of your way. See if this helps!
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
Former President Joe Biden on the life of former President Jimmy Carter:
"That's the definition of a good life," Biden said. "It was the life Jimmy Carter lived for 100 years, a good life of purpose, meaning and a character driven by destiny and filled with the power of faith, hope and love."
President Carter’s Vice President Walter Mondale on their administration:
"We told the truth, we obeyed the law and we kept the peace."
Jimmy Carter was a white Southern Baptist Christian for his entire life. He was by all accounts and by the life that he lived, a man who followed the teachings of his God through Jesus Christ. I’m not going to get all religious on you, but it is important to note that the current Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, is also a white Southern Baptist.
By their association with the same Southern Baptist Church, you’d figure that they shared similar views on their faith and approach to life. Carter lived his faith while in the White House. Carter did not force his faith tradition on the American people. He took his oath to the Constitution of the United States seriously.
Mike Johnson, although not openly affiliated with the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) which I introduced you to in my last post, appears to be guided by this movement that is bent on what is know as “The Seven Mountain Mandate.” Those “mountains” being: government, education, media, family, religion, arts and entertainment, and business. There are links with more information on NAR in my last post.
This is a far cry from the separation of church and state called for by none other than our own Constitution in the very First Amendment to the founding document. It protects the separation of church and state from establishing a state religion. This is know as the Establishment Clause.
As I understand it, all public officials are required to swear an oath to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Failure to do so is a breach of their oath and can result in removal from office, confinement or fine. Individuals who violate their oath can also be impeached for not upholding the oath that they swore to in front of friend, family and other government officials.
Mike Johnson should be removed from his office as Speaker of the House for a failure to live up to the his oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
Mike Johnson is not alone in his failure to uphold his oath of allegiance to the Constitution.
The world that President Carter and Vice President Mondale lived in is the same world we live in today. The difference being not that the world is different. What is different is that a religious movement based on the principle of White Supremacy has hijacked white Christianity.
Pastor Daniel Hill in his 2020 book “White Lies” identifies White Supremacy as a parasite within the white Christian church. The purpose of his book is “to expose and resist the racial systems that divide us.”
President Carter did as Walter Mondale stated in his posthumous eulogy to the former president. “We told the truth, we obeyed the law and we kept the peace.”
We should expect the same from all democratically elected presidents in the United States. We owe it to each other to make that happen. Rise, Resist and Unite.
One more thought. This president obviously learned a few things from his first term debacle. But there is one important lesson that he just as obviously hasn’t yet learned. You can’t rule a democracy by decree.
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, like the Episcopal Deacon of Washington, Mary ann Budde, speaks truth to power. Read his views on economics.
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
Maybe I’m just old fashioned, or just old, but but when did misogyny, boorishness, lying, greed, selfishness, hatefulness, meanness, harassment of public servants, sexual harassment, misrepresentation of Christian values, white nationalism, hate speech, disinformation, climate change denial among many other despicable lack of character traits become ok, become a part of the mainstream American social and political landscape? I have a hint of why this is happening, but that discussion is for another post.
The list of the characterless behaviors and attitudes that now controls one of the two major American political parties goes on, unfortunately for all of us, way longer. The very people who claim to be Christian and live by Christian values have flipped Christianity on it’s ear. The current iteration of Christianity not only tolerates, it promotes the above list
Where were the so called Christians when a real Christian, Jimmy Carter, was president? He exemplified the life of Jesus Christ and lived his values. This current group of theopolitical evangelical “back to the future” thinkers are difficult to listen to and even more difficult to understand.
The speaker of the House of Representatives is for placing conditions on disaster aid to California
My wife and I stopped by our local Barnes and Noble looking for any gems we could find on the cheap before the store closes permanently tomorrow. We only picked up five books. By our self imposed household rule, that means that five books will have to relocate to someone else’s library or a local “Little Library.”
I picked out “All in the Family” by Donald’s brother Fred C Trump lll, “Zen and the Beat Way” by Allan Watts and a little book that I opened in the Religion section titled “White Lies” by Pastor Daniel Hill.
Pastor Hill’s 2020 book is about the linkage between White Christianity and White Nationalism. I’ve only read the Preface and the first couple pages of Chapter 1, but I have found another book to put in my bed stand queue. Hill starts by defining the charactertistics of a parasite.
He then equates White Nationalism as a parasite inside the White Christian Church. The book is directed at Christians and is a guide on how to regain the Christ in Christianity. That’s as far into the religion as I’m going to get pretty much because that is all I know from the little that I have read in the book so far.
The latest Atlantic Magazine has a story about the New Apostolic Reformation movement. If can get your hands on a copy of the February 2025 issue, I recommend that you read the article. Right Wing religion is hijacking the United States along with the current president and they must be outed and stopped.
They appear to be taking the role of Trump’s Nazi-like Brown Shirt thugs and goons. Brown Shirts did Hitler’s dirty work of intimidation and destruction as Hitler was taking power of the German government in the 1930’s.
This politically based right wing religious movement must be outed and stopped!
As I write this, I am hearing news of the pardons of the January 6 Insurrectionists. We are in full on opposition mode now. There is no longer any doubt what is going on in this country.
Stay informed, stay engaged, speak up and take good care of yourself.
Much more to come.
On the bright side, Right Reverend Maryann Budde the Episcopal Bishop of Washington D.C., spoke truth to power at the Inaugural Prayer Service. Click on her name for a link to the transcript of her sermon and a recording of the service.
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
I wrote and delivered the following words at our first church service of the year on January 5, 2025. I have broached this title before, but here it is fleshed out a bit more and I have included Mel Washington and Wyatt Durrett performing the song of the same title.
Hi, my name is Bruce Halen. My pronouns are he/him. I am a Caucasian male of average height and average weight with short silvery brown hair and a bit of an attitude.
Love is the doctrine of this church. Love will guide us. Make Love Visible. Did I miss any other references to Love with connections to FUCSJ? (Wait briefly for answers).
This place has been about love since the first day I walked up the steps and through the front door into this building. The word is love.
For me, there are two directions that you can go in this life. You can go in the directions of hate or you can go in the direction of love. As a child, I was required by my parents, neighbors and teachers to go in the direction of love. As an adult, I have chosen to continue in the direction of love.
For over 20 years, the vehicle that I have travelled on is 160 N. Third Street, San Jose, CA.
Love is hard, love is kind, love is cold, love is warm, love is compassionate, love is cruel, love is fair, love is unfair. Love is music, Love is war, Love is peace. The definition of love is never ending, constant, current and historical.
I can’t say that I understand all of what love is or all of what hate is. But, I do believe that love wins.
2024 was a pretty good year for me. Good health, plenty of travel and lots of things to write about. Then came the election and I lumped all of 2024 in with the election results. The election results sucked so, by association all of 2024 sucked. Was anyone else disappointed by the election results? I sulked until Thanksgiving before taking my own advice on how to deal with disappointment. Do something about it. Get involved. Be around people. Start writing again.
So, I got back to writing my Blog. I immersed myself in the music I was performing for the holidays. I got into the Christmas spirit of giving, sang carols and songs of the season. I listened intently to podcasts, read the paper copy of the San Jose Mercury News and got the worldview of the New York Times through my wife Meredy who gets the most credit for making me to at least appear to be literate.
I credit not one, but two epiphany-like experiences over the past five years for helping me negotiate COVID and the Trump era and to feel unabashedly hopeful about the future.
The first one came after reading Timothy Snyder’s booklet “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the 20th Century.” The epiphany or learning, was that we were living the middle of the 20th Century all over again. The light bulb went on. My lens on the state of things seemed able to cut through all the seemingly unrelated craziness going on, to see it for what it was and express my feelings about it. We were in the midst of a potential tyrant in the making. That was big, really big.
Epiphany #2 began when our interim minister Rev. XK (Xolani Kacela) inspired me to write down my most current goals and objectives for my life. It was a good exercise. The listing of goals and objectives was a good idea. For me, though, it stalled out when I got to the subject of Good and Evil. I wrote as if Good and Evil were as real as baseball and apple pie. But, on further study of religious and philosophical texts and the promptings of a Buddhist friend, I came to a new realization. Good and Evil are titles that are assigned to people. People are not good or evil. Rather, like children, good and evil move through us but are not from us. The real dichotomy was Hate and Love.
The world got a whole lot easier for me to process when this lens got added to my world view glasses.
Throw in a little reading about the ancient teachings of Stoicism and what it can teach about worry and I am feeling pretty (within reason) good about things.
Love is everywhere in this church. In the songs we sing, the Affirmation that we read to each other every Sunday, in our mission statement “Make Love Visible.” Love is everywhere around here. And that is why I keep coming back here.
So, back to “Love Wins.” Several months ago, the marvelous musicians of our own Guitars Aloud needed substitute vocals for a song they were performing for a service here. The title of the song?
Love Wins.
The song inspired me to have a banner made with that message on it. And it gave my life a theme and a theme song.
It fuels my optimism for the coming year, and for the years to come. That optimism is born from those two personal epiphanies and, of course, this church community.
And, in case you missed the Guitars Aloud performance of this song, here it is as performed by Mel Washington and Wyatt Durrett.
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
With the holidays behind us and time to lick my political wounds, it’s once again time to engage. After my root canal on January 2, I intend to get back on the bandwagon of life which includes expanding my involvement with Braver Angels and looking into local engagement through organizations like Indivisible or potentially other organizations where I’d be working shoulder to shoulder with my peers toward common goals of peace, prosperity, hopefulness and, most importantly, Love.
It’s time to gird our collective loins against the hate-filled incoming administration and to not cower out of a sense of fear, confusion or doubt. Be prepared for the onslaught of wrong headed, chaos inducing fear mongering that will reach a fever pitch in the month of January.
My plan to address what I think is coming is by adapting some tips that I have learned from Brigid Delaney’s book Reasons Not to Worry: How to be Stoic in Chaotic Times. I’m about a third of the way through the book, but the core premise of the book is to contain your thoughts to things that you have control over. According to Delaney, those things are:
Your own personal character
Your thoughts, feelings and reactions to outside events
How you treat others
I’m a newbie to Stoicism and there are lots of nuances to the three items listed above. But, since I started reading it in November, I have applied those three ideas into both pre-decision and post-decision self assessments of how to handle a given situation or consider what I should have done in a given situation.
I apply it on the road in driving situations quite regularly and am working to apply it to things I read, hear and view as well. As I get deeper into this book and Stoicism, my hope is that I will worry less, think more and love better.
Jumping back into life will require me to add these Stoic tools to help dismantle the barriers put up to separate me from democratic thought and institutions. Maybe you’ll find them useful as well.
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
I view it as sort of a mission of mine to be a part of the larger beacon of light to help myself and you through these dark times. As I say that, I believe that a good deal of the darkness that brings us down is fraudulent. It is fake and manufactured to frighten us into believing that things are much worse than they are.
Is this a difficult time in human history? Of course. Monumental changes in societal norms, global interconnectedness and wealth discrepancies have set in motion a global right wing Nazi-style resurgence rooted in doubt, fear and hate.
The people behind this resurgence in hate, including those proposed to be in the next presidential administration in the United States, are trying to make us feel helpless. Let’s be clear, we are not helpless. Far from it. We have the power. Believe it, because we do.
Not the monetary power of Elon Musk, Harlon Crow, Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerburg etc. ad nauseum. Not the political power or media power that they have purchased to disinform millions of Americans into accepting the flip side of reality. A higher power, a greater power accessible to all of us. A power that when collectively applied will solve any problem, heal any wound.
A power capable of toppling the rich and powerful. I see and hear it in the people around me. Also in the information that I choose to consume. I see it in the Stoicism that girds my loins to change the things I can change and not worry as much about the things that are beyond my control.
What gives me the most hope this holiday/Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanza season is that on a day when pure hate showed it’s ugly head when a car plowed through people attending a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, I attended a Christmas concert by the San Francisco based choral group Chanticleer which was an experience of pure love.
Feed your soul with the love. Hate will happen, but you are not allowed to let it consume you.
My greatest hope for humanity is that we can bottle up some of the good spirit that bubbles out through this season and give a healthy dose to everyone. I guess that this bottle is each of us. Do what you need to do to pry yourself out from the fear and loathing and use yourself as a vessel of love to spread love. This Solstice time of year is the darkest time of the year. It has its place. Use it to refresh and nourish yourself as we look forward to the increasing light of Spring.
Have a joyous week and best wishes for the new year.
