Author: Bruce Halen

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.

The weather in San Jose, California today was sunny and comfortably warm through the midday and mid-afternoon. It was my task today to be around home waiting for someone to come who never came.

It’s ok. Because in waiting around home on a beautiful day, I spent a good deal of time outside in the front yard pulling weeds and relocating pebbles back onto their stone path from whence they came.

Pulling weeds and relocating pebbles was the excuse to be outside. It turns out that the reason for being outside was to be with my neighbors.

A young dog without an owner in sight wandered around the yard. I cautiously approached her (her tag said “Nola” which I presumed to be a female name). Once I was awarded her trust, I turned her tag around and found the number for her owner which turned out to be our neighbor from two doors down. It gets better. I was starting to walk Nola back to her home by the collar. Another neighbor, seeing my struggles, brought over a leash for me to use to get Nola home. One good turn deserves another it seems.

I had a chat with Nola’s owner as I returned the wayward pup to her home. We’ve had a couple of those chats lately.

Another friend who owns the house next door but lives in another house was sitting on the sidewalk pulling weeds in her garden. She was having a rough day and being outside on a beautiful day was just what she needed. We had a nice conversation on the benefits of being outside on a beautiful day and then returned to pulling weeds and relocating pebbles.

As we were both finishing up whatever we were going to do, we got to talking about our human purpose . She said her purpose each day is to make someone happy. I agreed and we both accomplished our goal for the day.

Appreciate your neighbors. I know that it’s hard for people that work. Even in retirement it’s often difficult to connect with people that live just steps away. Sometimes the weather gets in the way.

Tomorrow and the next day and the next day after that , make a point to make yourself available by being available for your neighbors. I believe good things will happen if you do.

Lenticular Cloud and Mt. Shasta in Northern California on November 29, 2025 on the way home from Thanksgiving in Williams, Oregon

Happy Holidays to you and yours and to borrow a line from the wonderful play “Over the River and Through the Woods” that we saw last weekend: Tenga Familia!

Bruce

https://youtu.be/8W-lVRQQGtI?si=U6J_hUR9hNFgLz5s

Robert Reich's Five Point Plan for the 2026 Election

To you followers who aren’t baseball fans I offer my sympathies. This is going to be about baseball…again. My heartfelt apologies…sort of.

Note:  The reason I bring up the Astros is that in all of the videos and commentaries that I watched and/or listened to since the end of the series (and I have watched at least 25 of them) didn't broach this subject. Probably because what I propose is nothing more than an undocumented conspiracy theory hatched in the mind of a retired middle school teacher from California.  But, you should still read it because it is at least just a little interesting...

It is a game that I consider the best game ever. The seventh game of this WS was considered by many commentators (and there are lots of them on YouTube) to be the best game in the history of the Best Game. If you had the opportunity to see this year’s World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays you were treated to a lot more than just the color blue.

For much of the series, Toronto looked like the better team. They hit better and pitched better (most of the time) . But, as the last out was recorded in the 11th Inning of the deciding Game 7, it was the Dodgers doing the celebrating as the World Champions of Major League Baseball.

There were so many moments , so many plays that went against the Blue Jays at key moments that it boggles my simple mind. I think it even boggled the mind of more complex and capable minds. They were on the cusp of a WS title multiple times in Games 6 and 7. It was insanely hard to watch as a Dodgers fan. I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it was for a Blue Jays fan to watch those last two games. It’s almost like the Blue Jays were destined to lose.

I have a soft spot in my heart for a good conspiracy theory. This isn’t exactly a conspiracy theory, but it is equally non-quantifiable and non-evidentiary.

The Blue Jays were statistically the better team throughout the seven games of this World Series. So, why did they lose?

Buckle up because it’s about to get weird here. The Blue jays lost because George Springer was on their team. George Springer is a great player. He had a great year. He played through pain to produce several hits in the series and played his heart out.

So why did the Blue Jays lose because of George Springer if he did such a good job? George Springer was a member of the 2017 Houston Astros. The 2017 Astros won the World Series. The 2017 Houston Astros cheated on their way to that World Series title. Watch the PBS Frontline episode on the scandal that is forever a scar on the game of baseball.

Many people who follow the game, including myself, belief that justice was never done for the victims of the Astros cheating. The Dodgers were on the losing end of the World Series in 2017 and were one their the victims.

The Astros got caught in the act. Yet, Astros never received any quantifiable punishment for their actions. The Commissioner of Baseball allowed them to keep their World Series Championship. The Trophy, the rings. All the bling that goes with winning the championship.

I think that justice is now being served on any current or ex-Astro that was a part of that 2017 team. There is absolutely no way to prove that there is an Astros Curse except to keep an eye on the career paths of anyone associated with that team in any capacity. Players, coaches, Manager, General Manager, or Owner. Only time will tell if my theory is valid or not.

But, this series provides some juicy food for thought. I personally will continue to boo the Astros whenever I get a chance. Maybe I’ll go to Sacramento when the Astros are in town just so I can boo them in person once again. In my mind, the organization will always be associated with cheating, with not playing the game the right way, with crossing the line between trying to gain a competitive advantage to outright cheating.

I’m a firm believer in the adage that “the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice.”

Another analogy for my thesis is that of the compass. In the natural world we have the magnetic compass (which our entire planet is). Even in the world of Science, even the seemingly unchangeable is changeable. North can become South every now and then. Then there’s the moral compass. The moral compass is much more changeable than the magnetic compass because it is not based on scientific evidence. It is based on the human beings in charge at the moment.

The 2017 Houston Astros messed up the moral compass of Major League Baseball. Their deeds were reprehensible by almost any measure of morality. Caution: the definition of morality here is from the Stanford Dictionary of Philosophy. Apparently MLB still has not found its moral compass because the Astros never faced any sanctioned consequences for the immoral actions that they used to win baseball games.

It is because the administrative body of MLB never took action against the Astros for their cheating that members of that team and the teams that they play for now or may play for in the future will have to face the judgement of “the moral arc of the Universe bending toward justice.”

_________________________________________

Can anyone please tell me why eight Democrats chose to sacrifice the health care of the entire country in order to take care of their respective voting constituents? I personally find their decision to be an abdication of their duties as United States senators.

_________________________________________

On the Bright Side

Maybe the eight senators were acting in the best interests of the country by forcing the House of Representatives back into session to vote on the Budget. Now that Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) must now be sworn in by House Squeeker Mike Johnson, maybe we can begin the process of getting some answers from the Epstein Files. That kind of has a ring to it. It reminds me of “The X Files.”

https://youtu.be/8W-lVRQQGtI?si=U6J_hUR9hNFgLz5s

Robert Reich's Five Point Plan for the 2026 Election

It’s less than a week since “my” Los Angeles Dodgers won a second consecutive World Series championship by defeating the Toronto Blue Jays in an epic seven game series that provided good entertainment to anyone watching it. That means even any of you don’t consider yourselves fans of the great game of Baseball.

The Dodgers, the team everyone (other than Dodger fans) loves to hate because of their financial status, managed to outlast a Blue Jays team that seemed destined to win. The Jays plucky attitude and ability to put the ball in play had me beginning to question whether “my” team would be able to pull out the win.

In the end, thanks in part to luck, poor base running by the Blue Jays in critical situations, clutch hitting and great defensive plays in games six and seven, the Dodgers emerged with four wins in the seven game series and were once again crowned the best baseball team in the world.

At least the best one that money can buy. I would argue that if players were divided up by nationality as they are in the World Baseball Classic, the title of best team in the world would be subject to question. The Dodgers are owned by the Guggenheim Foundation and are, as described in the linked article “a hedge fund in cleats.”

So, it’s pretty easy to understand why the Dodgers are so unpopular with many fans of other MLB teams, other MLB teams and anyone who believes in everyone starting on a level playing field. When you can buy all the best players, there’s a better than even chance that you are going to win more games than anyone else. That most likely translates into winning the most championships which ensures getting the best players next year because players want to win the World Series and also get paid very well for the opportunity to attain the ballplayers dream of being a world champion.

I’m personally very happy right now. Even though the Dodgers are another example of big money run amuck, they are “my” team.

I’ve been a fan since I was single digits years old. Surrounded by a family of Giant fans, it was a conscious choice to follow the magical voice of the legendary longtime Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully into selecting the Dodgers as my rooting interest in a sport that I grew up playing, listening to and watching.

That won’t change. Even though the Dodgers are no longer the family owned team that I learned to love as a kid, they will always just be the Dodgers to me. Not a hedge fund on cleats, not a bunch of mega rich athletes in it for the money. No, they are Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella, Duke Snyder, Maury Wills, Sandy Koufax, Orel Hershiser, Garvey, Russel, Lopes and Cey. And now I can add the names of Andy Pages, Miguel Rojas, Will Klein to the list of Dodger immortals. In a few years, you won’t remember the names of Pages, Rojas or Klein.

But I will.

Go Dodgers and thanks for a month off from the world every October.

And, in case you’re interested, you can relive the 2025 World Series here.

https://youtu.be/8W-lVRQQGtI?si=U6J_hUR9hNFgLz5s

Robert Reich's Five Point Plan for the 2026 Election

Looking for entertainment for your next birthday party, anniversary or Bar Mitzvah?

Step right up and watch the best magician of all time, he can make the toilet paper disappear from your hand in mid wipe. He can change the weather with one swipe of his sharpie, he can pull aircraft carriers out of his ass and make them appear off the coast of Venezuela.

What else can he do?

He can make voters go puff in the night, he can make guns out of gummy worms, he can make people with brown skin vanish into thin air. Try topping that?

He can wave his magic wand and “puff!” there goes there goes free and fair elections. Watch how he make buildings disappear right in front of your eyes and convince you that they are still there.

Oh, and there’s more! He can make invisible, non-existent money appear in the bank accounts of some people, just not yours. He can take away your health care somehow make the savings appear in his pocket.

He’s a master of disguise. The guy seen hanging out with child abuser Jeffrey Epstein is not really him. The writing on those birthday cards? He can convince you that it’s not his?

You wonder how crimes and criminals can just disappear? The Trump Justice Department is the place. One snap of his fingers and away they go.

Wanna see something really amazing? He can make history disappear. Yes, he can make things that have already happened just vaporize before your eyes.

If you want to see laws disappear, he can rub his nose and his Supreme Court can make it look like they never existed.

Not only can he make money disappear from your wallet, he can make it appear in the accounts of politicians that need a job and vote the Right way. The Supreme Court can also make laws appear out of nowhere. And, they can make a mega Billion dollar corporation look like a living breathing Homo sapien person.

And his best trick of all. He can make truth disappear simply by opening his mouth or typing words into a device.

So, book him now for your next event. Just go to POTUS.

____________________________

Did Donald J. Trump says this:

“In everything we do, my administration will be inspired by a strong pursuit of excellence and unrelenting success.  We will not forget our country, we will not forget our Constitution, and we will not forget our God.”

Click on the POTUS link above to win a prize.

On the Bright Side

From Robert Reich

For more than seven months, Donald Trump has run roughshod over the Constitution and the rule of law. Congress, universities, law firms, and countless other institutions that should know better have rolled over rather than fight back.

But now something is changing. I know the signs. Donald Trump’s grip on power is slipping.

In just the last week:

*Seven universities rejected Trump’s extortion compact, which offered preferential treatment for federal funds in exchange for a pledge to support Trump’s agenda.
*More than a dozen airports rejected Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s illegal propaganda video attacking Democrats for the government shutdown.
*30 news outlets refused to sign Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s media loyalty oath.
*Then, last Saturday, more than 7 million of us poured into the streets for No Kings protests all over the country.

Now we need to ramp up our efforts to resist Trump’s authoritarian takeover, but we need your help. We’ve spent the last several months testing the most effective and persuasive messages, and some of our most recent videos are moving people by as much as sixteen points in scientific A/B tests.

Now we need to get those videos in front of as many people as possible, and that’s why I’m asking you to start a monthly donation to help expand our efforts, educate the public, and stop Trump’s authoritarian power grab.

______________________________

If I want to totally forget baseball all I have to do is listen to the news. If I want to forget about the news all I have to do is shut off my devices and go outside.

https://youtu.be/8W-lVRQQGtI?si=U6J_hUR9hNFgLz5s

Robert Reich's Five Point Plan for the 2026 Election

You gotta love reality. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) appears to have maybe found a piece of it as it relates to immigration. Greene, who owns a construction company, is having an epiphany experience that seems to be based on her own experiences with the the 47 Administration’s scorched earth policy on immigration policy.

Joe Rogan, a highly influential podcaster catering to young men, also seems to have experienced a little bit of the world outside of MAGA. Rogan agrees with Trump on many things, but he has reconsidered his support for 47’s immigration policy.

Democrats have no influence on the MAGA base. But, people on the inside do have an influence, a sizable one. If Rogan’s audience and Greene’s audience get a glimpse of what is happening on Earth One, they can’t help but question what is actually going on to Americans.

The Americans that are being ripped off busses, taken from their residences in the dark of night, the children that are being separated from their parents, are some of the things that are actually happening in the world outside the MAGA InfoSphere.

Data from I.C.E. shows that the Administration is not just arresting criminals. FYI, the most current data is not available due to the government shutdown as noted on the I.C.E. website. A report from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), 71.5% of detainees have no criminal convictions. That’s detainees not arrests. These are people being illegally held by the government.

I’m happy that influential personalities and officials on the political Right are starting to catch a glimpse of the actual real world and respond accordingly. I hope the trend continues.

On the Bright Side

Once again, I highlight Texas State Rep. James Talerico who is running for the U.S. Senate in 2026. He is a Christian in the truest sense. He is a man of God and a man of the people. Take a good look at him and listen to what he has to say. He seems to be a good man and a good human being with good intentions and he used to be a middle school teacher.

If you haven’t already listened to it, listen here to his extensive interview with Joe Rogan and get to know who he is.

If you learn of other young people running for public office that should be highlighted, please send me their names and I’ll give them a shoutout.. Thanks.

And remember…

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.

My initial thoughts were to not publish this post, but I changed my mind and here it is.  BH

I’m feeling like I should be a little more out “in the world” than I have been this year. I have had multiple opportunities to exercise my privilege in the past nine months, but given the state of affairs, I feel like I should be more engaged in the communities where I can make a difference.

Maybe I’m being too hard on myself. I throw myself into my singing groups with intentional wholeheartedness. I donate platelets at Stanford Blood Center. I make signs and attend peaceful protests. Occasionally I write my thoughts in this space.

I stay engaged in current events by reading the San Jose Mercury News and the Washington Post. My wife fills in the blanks with summaries from the New York Times. I listen to NPR and watch public television. I exercise daily, read daily affirmations and, with my wife, donate to causes of our choice that reflect our belief in the goodness of humanity.

My health is good. I hit the occasional good golf shot. I’m trying to be a better Stoic. I’m heavily involved in church activities like the choir, the Environmental Justice Committee and the Tech Team.

It sounds like enough. I probably missed a few things, but I can’t help but think that a 69 year-old retired Science teacher in good health should be doing more than I am doing for my communities. For now I’ll be content on musing about what else I could be doing. In the meantime I’ll just be happy.

I got a little off my intended topic there. But, I guess it needed to be expressed.

________________________

Since we shifted our TV service over to You Tube Tv, I have watched more YouTube videos. Mostly videos about geology, baseball and WW ll.

I know my brain is still healthy because I continue to follow a non-linear need to connect events and news items that don’t appear to have any real connectivity with each other.

For example, The Battle of the Bulge where a German counter-offensive caused the American lines to bend and bulge at the crossroads town of Bastogne, Belgium. German forces were attempting to cut off the allied supply lines by re-taking the Port city of Antwerp.

It almost worked. The key to German success was speed. They needed to break through the American line before reinforcements could relieve the beleaguered soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division. The Americans were running low on food, ammunition, medical supplies and warm clothing.

Two things stopped the German advance. The weather improved so that allied planes could provide air support. The second thing was the arrival of Gen. George S. Patton and his Third Army. Once Patton arrived, the Germans knew that the battle was lost and, for all intents and purposes, so was the war in Europe. Had Patton not arrived in time, the war could have taken a very different turn.

The reason I bring up Patton and the Battle of the Bulge is that it seems eerily similar to the efforts of Russel Vought, The Heritage Foundation and the Republican Party to assault the Democratic line of defense with the forces of anti-democracy.

Like the German forces in WW ll at the Battle of the Bulge, the aforementioned forces are attempting to break through the lines of Democracy before reinforcements arrive to save the day. I don’t see our modern day Patton yet, but I feel like we are the besieged 101st Airborne Division trying to hold the line on Democracy until those reinforcements arrive.

One more WW ll story that I think applies today is the story of the M-18 Hellcat, a tank in it’s own right, but a tank designed to outrun and avoid face-to-face combat. It became know as the tank destroyer. Germany had designed it’s tanks to be heavy and virtually indestructible. The German Panther and Tiger tanks were hard to beat in a head-to-head fight.

Enter the Hellcat. The hellcat was lightly armored yet well armed enough to inflict great damage on the superior German tanks by using their speed and mobility to flank the enemy and get close enough to fire before the German tank commanders could turn their gun turrets around to fire on the Hellcats.

Speed and agility weren’t the only tools of the Hellcat. They were equipped with radios that allowed them to communicate with each other and work in teams to surprise and inflict substantial damage while limiting damage to themselves. When Hellcats were destroyed, they were easier to reproduce and inflict more losses on the enemy than losses of the Hellcats.

The story of the Hellcat also applies today. Clearly the foes of Democracy have much more fire power than the pro Democracy forces. They can’t be fought head-to-head. Our battles to come need to be fought in a hit-and-run fashion. I hope these battles to come are more figurative than literal. But the tactics employed by the U.S. Army in WW ll could come in handy in today’s out-of-balance political standoff.

My hope is that we can listen to each other, but if that doesn’t work then consider the above Plan B.

_______________________________________

The story of the Battle of the Bulge and the Hellcat converge to create an appropriate analogy for this moment. Hostile forces waging all out war against the Democratic institutions that stand their way.

This time our version of General Patton coming to the rescue is actually us. We can relieve our besieged institutions by keeping the pressure on to release the full Epstein Files held by the Justice Department and the FBI. We can be like the Hellcat and keep up a hit-and-run campaign until we bring the big powerful forces back down to our level.

Then, we can start the work of restoring humanity back to the United States of America.

On the Bright Side

There are voices of reason out there. In my last post I introduced Texas State Rep. James Talerico who is running for the U.S. Senate in 2026. He is a Christian in the truest sense. He is a man of God and a man of the people. Take a good look at him and listen to what he has to say. He seems to be a good man and a good human being with good intentions and he used to be a middle school teacher.

If you haven’t already listened to it, listen here to his extensive interview with Joe Rogan and get to know who he is.

And remember…

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 drafted a post a couple of days ago. Usually I trust my streaming brain, but I took a pause on this one because my two analogies were drawn from WW ll and the tone, although not intended, just sounded too militaristic. We need to avoid that tone whenever possible. It’s always possible. So I avoided it.

And then I changed my mind. I’m publishing both of them.

_______________________________________

So instead I opted to wait for the next inspiration which came largely from a guest sermon this past Sunday from a Buddhist minister. The topic was compassionate action.

After Unitarian Universalism, the religious practice that I most closely identify with is Buddhism.

Buddhism is a religion without a creator God or a non-theistic religion. It’s core belie is that suffering exists in the world. The end of the cycle of death and rebirth (reincarnation) is achieving enlightenment or Nirvana. Nirvana is achieved by following the Eightfold Path of the Buddha..

I go to church, the Unitarian Universalist Church in particular, because it allows me to explore my religious beliefs through the examination of a variety of source traditions. So, unlike when I was a kid, I go to church to learn. I’m all ears.

My learning from this service was to have compassion for people who have different beliefs from mine AND to be a person of action.

Now, how to apply this learning to the current state of global affairs and domestic politics in the U.S.A. Any thoughts?

Stoicism has taught me to concern myself with things that I can control. My character, my emotions, my treatment of others. Unitarian Universalism has taught me the importance of listening. Buddhism is teaching me about action.

Where should my action in the world be focused and how can it be leveraged to do greater good? A friend sent me this video and it reinforced in me the idea that small actions can make a big impact.

Never underestimate what posting a yard sign, going to a demonstration, making a small financial contribution, reading or listening to trusted news sources or having conversations can do to bring about positive change in the world. Do what you can do.

It makes a difference.

On the Bright Side

There are voices of reason out there. In my last post I introduced Texas State Rep. James Talerico who is running for the U.S. Senate in 2026. He is a Christian in the truest sense. He is a man of God and a man of the people. Take a good look at him and listen to what he has to say. He seems to be a good man and a good human being with good intentions and he used to be a middle school teacher.

If you haven’t already listened to it, listen here to his extensive interview with Joe Rogan and get to know who he is.

And remember…

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.

Dear Mr. President,

I am confused. You have made several Executive orders that have included promises that you are making to us. Sir, how do you feel you are doing? There’s seems to be a wide range of opinions on how your promises are trickling down to us down here.

Promises that you have made to the American People:

Let's start with The White House, the place you live says that you have accomplished compared to what you promised during your re-election campaign and in the first few months of you second term.  With all due respect, sir, Number 7 is a bold faced lie.

And the gospel according to your Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt says "you are having fun" while accomplishing all of your promises and more.  This is back a couple of months ago.

Here's what a few other folks think about your promises and the progress that has been made on attaining those goals.  PolitiFact, the AP, CNN, AllSides,  your old pal Rachel Maddow over at your favorite network, MSNBC.

Impacts that you have had on the American People
You said that you would bring down prices on goods and services, lower our taxes, "drain the swamp" of corruption, rid America of the scourge of law breaking and violent immigrants, bring peace to the Middle East and Ukraine, bring retribution to your political enemies, make America safer, reduce crime, and make Americans healthier  Did I miss anything? It feels like I must have missed something.  You've been very busy this year.

I admire your success on the golf course. I wish I could be as good as you are. You have truly mastered the game Mr. President. I hit a few good shots every round, but they are overshadowed by a larger number of mediocre shots and a short game that is inconsistent but, I must say, improving.

Congratulations Sir.

Get rid of the gold. It’s a bad look. It reminds your fellow Americans just how big a difference that there is between rich people like you (congratulations on accumulating all that money). You must be very proud. You are so good at making money that you have made it a religious practice among your followers.

You’ve figured out how to turn water into wine or hay into gold. The Crypto Currency thing is brilliant sir. Where there is no wealth, just say there is and “POOF,” there is money right out of thin air. How do you do that Sir? Can we be granted the ability to create something out of nothing? It is a work of pure genius.

I’d like to tell you a little about myself, but you already know all this stuff, at least Peter Thiel does over at Palantir. He knows everything about me, my family, my friends, my not so friends. The whole D.O.G.E. smoke and mirrors trick was awesome. I actually thought that you were intent to have Elon cut spending by raiding federal agencies. What you were oh so cleverly doing was gathering personal data on each of us so that you could get to know us better. I’m very flattered Sir.

I have more to say, but I know that your time is precious and valuable. Golf balls to hit, tweets to compose and send, enemies to hunt down and punish. You are a very busy man.

Mr. President, thanks yoiu for for time and have a great day,

Kindest regards,

Bruce

On the Bright Side

Meet James Talarico. Talarico announced today that he is running for the U.S. Senate from Texas. Even if you’re not into church, I suggest that you watch this 18 minute sermon that he gave at his church as a guest lay minister on the subject of White Nationalism. He has the creds to talk truth to power.