On October 7, 2023, a significant and tragic escalation occurred in the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel. Early in the morning, Hamas launched a large-scale surprise attack on Israeli territory. The attack involved rocket fire and incursions by armed militants into various communities. This assault marked a particularly deadly day in the conflict’s history. It caused many casualties among both Israelis and Palestinians.
In response, Israel declared a state of war and commenced extensive military operations in Gaza. The violence quickly escalated, leading to airstrikes on Gaza and widespread destruction. The international community reacted with alarm, calling for de-escalation and urging both sides to pursue dialogue. The events of that day worsened the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. They also reignited discussions about the long-standing issues at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
As the anniversary approaches, reflections on the events and their aftermath emerge. They highlight the ongoing tensions. These tensions have a profound impact on civilians in the region.
In my book, Sapience: The Moment Is Now, I trace the roots of antisemitism back centuries. These hateful sentiments stretch back to the First Crusades and even further back in time. The night (or rather early morning) of the attack, I had a dream about the Human Cake. It was the second time I had dreamed this dream. It is not a pleasant dream. Rather, it is a shocking, revolting, scary dream, and I could not image why I was dreaming about it again.
In this dream, I see a team of doctors all wearing white coats. They enter a sterile white space where I and others wait. They enter this room through shiny white double doors. Behind these doors is the operating theater where they have been creating their new thing. It is this Thing that they are giving a press conference about. It is clear they are very pleased with their work. I can see their pride on their sly smiles. I can feel their arrogance in the way they push the Thing in a wheelchair for everyone to see.
They spare no gory details on how they created the atrocity sitting in the wheelchair. This Thing used to be a man. Now, it sits as a helpless creature in its wheelchair for it has no legs. Nor can it express any emotions because it no longer has a face. The doctors are proud of these aspects of the creature. They say it is a break through and discuss each step they took to get to this featureless creature.
Everyone in the room sits in stunned silence. There is nothing left of the man except a mound of gory goo. The doctors take turns describing with excitement how they systematically cut off every recognizable feature of the man. They describe with joy how they took these pieces and reattached them to utterly unsuitable places of the body. Places never intended for a severed limb or an eye.
The result is disgusting, stomach-churning, repulsive, beastly, vulgar, and heinous. The doctors did it, but the man volunteered. I couldn’t understand why?! Then, I woke up to the horrible news of what was happening in Israel. I was overwhelmed by the news coming out of Israel. And overhanging this was the shock and horror of my dream that lingered in my mind like an evil specter.
Carl Jung calls such moments as these Moments of Synchronicity. When any human encounters a moment of synchronicity, attention must be paid. This is because often, there is something very important for the individual to know or understand. I knew this was important.
I was working on the final stretch of my book feeling an intense need to get it published by 4/24/24. After October 7, 2023, I stopped writing and editing my book. I could not do a thing in it for the rest of the month. I felt compelled to witness the harrowing stories of survival. And I listened to the tragic stories of death of innocence people at the hands of men filled with hate.
I made a playlist on YouTube called Remember. I saved every story I heard to this list. I was shocked again and again at the savagery described by survivors. The brutality inflicted on babies, children, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, and grandfathers shook me to my core.
After this month of bearing witness, I knew what I had to do with my book. I needed to write about the Human Cake. And I also needed to include the history of the Middle East. This new research and writing sidelined me for at least another month, but I did it.
If you get my book, you will encounter the Human Cake first. He makes his appearance in the book at about page 101. Brothers of the Levant… Before the Fall begins on page 173. Histories of genocides begins around page 320 with the chapter titled: Rise of the Machine.
You need to read all of these sections to gain a full history of current crisis in the Middle East. You also need to read other sections to understand how hate has risen inside of man. He has learned to harness it with machine-like precision. I cover many, many hate groups who have emerged and are growing like a cancer all over the world. In addition, I carefully show how no human being is immune to the infection of hate. These sections are cited for I have researched them intensely. I cite historians, psychologists, and philosophers. Additionally, I reference people who have specialized and written about all this stuff for a very long time.
In this section, I talk about the Human Cake. My character Rain recalls her grandmother’s words about fear and other strong emotions. Her grandmother was a wise woman, and Rain knows she needs wisdom now to survive.
A man who clings to his instinct to kill becomes a person aroused by murder and death. It fascinates him like a candle flame, but to keep the kill candle burning… such a man must kill… constantly. But doing so in a civilized society risks punishment and possibly his own death. And so, such a man fantasizes about murder, mayhem, and massacres inside the confines of his mind. Such a man feeds his fantasies with pictures and images of dead or dying people; kill porn. Such a man glorifies death and idolizes martyrdom. Such a man celebrates the wholesale slaughter of other human beings who he considers to be less than he considers himself to be. It is a false and insincere division made by his foul and increasingly warp light of consciousness that must be constantly fed. He becomes like a drug addict who needs a hit of heroin to feel normal again.
Grandmother said that anything done constantly in the mind soon grows boring to man’s fickle, flickering light of conscious attention, so a man clinging to his kill instinct must up the ante to feed his fading fervor and desire to butcher and decimate other living beings. Such a man may pacify his erotic passion by killing what he considers lesser forms of life. He can also fuel the instinct to kill with anger, regret, and rage. He can work himself up into a berserker frenzy by consuming a steady diet of fury and indignation.
Grandmother said that a man who fantasizes about death and celebrates killing is the devil he fears in others. Such a man cultivates his inner instinct to kill to a fever-pitch, he becomes a tube of intensity, a cannula of desperate excitement, a pipeline of frantic, frenzied, futile fear and rage. His magma tube of hate drops him below the animal realm of living beings, it plunges him below the daemon realm of human beings. He falls into a monster pit, a place where he embodies the wretched vermin that he accuses others of being. His invisible world where all his thinking is done is transformed into Hell’s Kitchen populated by unrecognizable things baked in the heat of hate and scorn.
Such a man uses his laser beam of hate to mutilate his inner man. He disfigures and desecrates his inner self by cutting off his inner man’s fingers and toes, hands and feet, legs, and arms. He pulls out his inner man’s hair and gouges out his eyes. He removes his nose and mouth and face and slops them onto the growing heap of hate he is becoming. Then he turns up the heat of his fear and loathing, baking himself into a human cake made of hostility, disgust, resentment, bitterness, antipathy, and apathy.
Such a dismembered and disfigured inner man can no longer recognize the humanity in himself, and certainly not in others. He becomes a thing of contempt and repugnance, a thing no longer recognizable as human or animal, except for one thing: his thinking and his words. Such a man uses these lingering abilities with deft callousness to beguile and enthrall, to rivet and fascinate, to transfix, super charge, and magnetize the ordinary man and woman… pulling them farther and farther out of the mainstream, tempting them to leave their reservoirs of wisdom with promises of everything but love. Then he destroys their inner equanimity and binds them to him with chains of fear that are firmly fastened to his crumpled wheelchair of cruelty. He must do this for such a man is crippled by his own fear and hate. And so, he needs others to do the terrible things he dreams up, but which he is too cowardly to do himself.
Commanding his army of human zombies from his wheelchair of hate, he must constantly recruit new people to his wretched world of scorn and loathing because he throws his foot soldiers to their deaths again and again. And they must die because they have been commanded to kill the women, kill the children, kill the babies, kill the goats and chickens and dogs and wheat and barley and water… to kill anything resembling life. So, anything resembling life must fight back or be killed and die by the killer human zombies who have been robbed of their souls by the human cakes baked by their own hate.
Just before the Fall, some of the biggest, most hideous, gut-churning, ghastly acts of hate are immortalized as mere numbers: 9/11, 2/24, 10/7. Days of infamy that plunged the highly interconnected world of the dawning 21st Century not only into bloody, gruesome, localized conflicts and war, but mind grenades carefully calibrated to inspire fear and fill the ordinary man and woman with hate for the other around the entire world. It doesn’t matter what side a person is blown to in the blast of gruesome cruelty. These mind grenades are simply meant to shock and to shake the fragile foundations upon which modern people must trust will protect them and keep them safe.
With the ordinary man’s and woman’s trust in humanity shook, it doesn’t take much more for the most hateful human cakes to shatter any common bonds still holding a civilized society together into a million, billion bits. Once shattered, the hate filled human cakes rearrange the shiny, reflective shards of human consciousness like tiny mirrors on a disco ball. The human cakes shine their light of hate on the remnants of the ordinary man’s and woman’s sense of safety and security. -- Excerpt from Sapience: The Moment Is Now
What else can I say about hate of Human Cakes?
I can only show you the drawing I made of this creature… the one I dreamt about on the morning of October 7, 2023 for the second time. The dream I knew I needed to pay attention to… and so I did.
The fractured Earth reflects our reality. On the barren side, the blackened devastation symbolizes rampant urbanization and industrialization. This often comes at the cost of protecting and preserving Earth’s natural world. It reflects the divided reality most modern human beings must sustain and keep perpetuating throughout their entire lives. They must do so to survive in all the cities and towns. Here, they must survive in money-based economies where pollution, overcrowding, and resource depletion are prevalent. This imagery critiques a human-made system that prioritizes short-term gains over long-term sustainability. It evokes a sense of urgency about the path we’re on.
Economic Division
Other themes implied on the devastation side include corporate dominance. It is devastated. All livable land has been used for factories, roads, shopping centers, and cities. These support and perpetuate modern man’s consumer industrial complex.
Billionaires vs Every Living Being on Earth
It side also hints at the influence mega corporations wield in modern politics and society. Our time in man’s history is a time when billionaires use their billions to sway how people think. Greedy multi-billionaires prey on the very people they hire. First, they keep them trapped in low-paying, back-breaking work. Then, they use tried and true mind control techniques on their own employees. They also use these techniques on millions of others trapped in low-wage jobs. The goal is to make them support the idea that they, the super rich, need even more money. They claim this is needed to keep them employed and that all this money will eventually trickle down to them.
Greed vs Life
Greedy billionaires will pour millions of dollars into political campaigns to influence elections. This money goes to support modern marketing campaigns and people that are ripe with mind control techniques. Joost Meerloo’s book, The Rape of the Mind, was published in 1956. His book was discussed in great detail in the Marvelization of Man series published last year here. Joost’s book explores in great detail the mind control used by the Nazis and Japanese during WWII.
Greed: Gateway to the Corruption
Greedy billionaire hand pick politician who are ready to lie, steal, and cheat their way into political office. Once in power, the billionaire backers expect “their” corrupted politicians to do them favors. Such favors basically let them grow unchecked, unregulated, and out of control.
Divided Earth = Divided Mind
In the context of my book, divided Earth is a symbol of power dynamics destroying Earth. It is a world where corporate interests override ecological and social considerations. It is a world where people are disposable tools for the mega rich. It is a world divide between people and their environment, the rich from poor, the powerful from the powerless.
On the thriving side of fractured Earth, the vision of regeneration clings to its polar-opposite half. Here, the green-blue side acts as a beacon of possibility. It symbolizes the regenerative power of nature and the potential for humans to live harmoniously within it. This side serves as an aspirational vision for what our world could become through conscious efforts. It reflects sustainable practices. It embodies respect for biodiversity.
Symbolic Imagery
Let’s dissection the design elements of this T-shirt a little be more deeply.
Front: Fractured Earth
– Black Barren Side: This side starkly shows the consequences of unchecked industrialization and environmental neglect. The cities, factories, and roads are symbolic of the relentless pursuit of profit. It shows the results of an Earth dominated by a consumerist mentality that prioritizes economic growth over ecological sustainability. This imagery serves as a wake-up call, illustrating a future that many fear if current trajectories continue.
– Green-Blue Thriving Side: In contrast, the other side embodies hope, resilience, and the potential for regeneration. The lush landscapes and vibrant ecosystems signify what is possible when humanity lives in harmony with nature. They foster biodiversity and nurture life. This duality starkly contrasts despair with hope, highlighting the urgent need for a collective shift in perspective.
Back: Radiant Unified Earth
– The unified image of Earth bursting with life and color reinforces the idea of synthesis and cooperation. It suggests that a harmonious existence is attainable and emphasizes the beauty of diversity—both in nature and in human thought. This imagery serves as a visual reminder. It remind us that unity, collaboration, and an appreciation for diverse perspectives can lead to a sustainable future.
– The vibrant depiction of Earth on the back signifies the interconnectedness of all life. It is a symbol of the necessity of diversity and interconnection for life to exist. It reminds us that biodiversity is essential not only for ecological health but also for cultural richness and innovation. This reinforces the idea that diverse perspectives can lead to stronger, more adaptive solutions to global challenges.
– The imagery of a unified Earth encourages collective action. It symbolizes that while we may come from different backgrounds, ideas, and experiences. Our shared goals and aspirations can lead to meaningful change. This is particularly relevant in a time when divisions—political, social, and environmental—seem more pronounced than ever. It is a reminder that Unity in Action is more important to humans that ever before.
Textual Elements
Front Text: “Instead of Dividing”
– This phrase challenges the divisive mentality that often characterizes societal interactions today. It urges individuals to move beyond binary thinking. Such thinking only leads to conflict and stagnation. This T-shirt advocates instead for inclusivity and collaboration.
Back Text: “Synthesize”
– The call to synthesize encapsulates the essence of this T-shirt’s message. It encourages people to merge ideas and perspectives, fostering innovation and creative problem-solving. In a world rife with complexities, synthesis becomes an essential skill for navigating challenges. Synthesizing allows us to transcend simplistic, polarizing viewpoints. A unified Earth is the path ahead humans must take to survive.
Thematic Connections
Transformation & Survival
– In my book, the character Yong Xing-li symbolizes the struggle for survival amid collapse. He is seeking a unifying vision for humanity. His fictional moment mirrors our current collective reality. Both call for synthesis—of ideas, efforts, and hearts.
These narratives resonate deeply today. They align with our current global challenges. They remind us that transformative thinking is necessary to overcome obstacles. They highlight the urgency of cooperative efforts to tackle climate change, social inequity, and other pressing issues. They invite everyone to join. And show how synthesize ideas and actions can lead to a more harmonious existence.
The Power of Synthesis
– The exploration of synthesis as a critical human ability is timely. In an age of information overload and rapid change, the ability to blend ideas and cultivate creative solutions is vital. Synthesis can lead to more holistic understandings of complex problems, fostering a culture that values collaboration over competition.
Collective Responsibility
– The notion that self-aware beings must “tame” their consciousness speaks to our collective responsibility. It emphasizes the need for mindfulness in our choices and actions. It urges individuals to consider the broader implications of their decisions on the planet and society.
Global Crisis Is Opportunity
– We are living in a pivotal moment. Our time on Earth is characterized by climate emergencies, social unrest, and widespread disenchantment with traditional systems of governance. This backdrop makes the message about synthesis all the more relevant. The need for innovative thinking and collaborative action is pressing, as the consequences of inaction become increasingly dire.
Cultural Shift
A growing recognition that a global cultural shift towards sustainability and social responsibility is needed now. It is needed to survive as a species on Earth. People are slowly coming to recognize the importance of holistic thinking. But the social control efforts implemented by the super rich hinder greatly real meaningful collective action. We are not synthesizing fast enough collectively to change our fate.
Nevertheless, this is not a reason to stop trying. The more people who move away from the divisive narratives dominating modern discourse, the more likely transformative change will occur. Our current moment is ripe for transformative ideas. This t-shirt is a powerful tool to inspire dialogue. And even without dialogue, its symbolism works inside the minds of people who view it. The unconsciousness of passive viewers will mull over and think about the idea of the Power of Synthesis. It will help to awaken this vital human ability all humans have. An ability we need to use now to chart a collective path ahead for a sustainable future, a survivable future.
Innovative Solutions
– The call to “Synthesize” taps into the urgency of creative problem-solving. It urges individuals to not only think outside the box but to dismantle the box entirely. It blends ideas from various fields, cultures, and disciplines to forge new pathways. This is particularly crucial in tackling complex issues like climate change, where interdisciplinary approaches often yield the most effective solutions.
Mindfulness & Consciousness
– In my book, I explore the notion of taming self-awareness. This T-shirt imparts through symbolism the importance of mindfulness in decision-making. In a world saturated with information and distractions, fostering a thoughtful, reflective approach to our actions is essential. Such mindfulness can lead to more conscious choices that emphasize sustainability and collective well-being.
Conclusion
This t-shirt design serves not just as a piece of clothing but as a catalyst for conversation and reflection. It invites wearers and viewers alike to ponder their role in shaping the future of our planet. By merging art and activism, this T-shirt become a tool in fostering a vital dialogue. It invite conversations about cooperation, creativity, and the potential for a united planet.
Regardless of if you engage in a conversation or not, the T-shirt continues to work. This is because symbols are the language of the mind. The symbology of a thriving Earth filled with people employing the power of synthesist instead of division is a powerful. It is a message that resonates deeply now.
In essence, this T-shirt serves as a canvas that reflects the dual realities of our time. It shows the stark consequences of division and neglect versus the hopeful potential of unity and cooperation. It challenges wearers and viewers to confront the current state of the world. But is also inspires both wearer and viewer to envision and work towards a more harmonious future.
As a piece of wearable art, this T-shirt invites conversation and action. It embodies the transformation of synthesist. The Moment Is Now in not only a call for action. It is a call for the transformation of the human mind. All of us must engage in daily thoughts that lead to positive, cooperative, collective action. To dwell in divisive thinking will only spell our collective doom. Humanity never achieved anything lasting through division. Such thinking only leads to sorrow, despair, and poverty–not only physically but spiritually. Be courageous. Be the change. Be the symbol of transformation. Be the Vision of Hope Earth needs so badly now!
Instead of Dividing… Synthesize Unisex Long Sleeve Shirt; unity shirt, creative world shirt, friend gift, family gift, save humanity shirt
Embrace unity and innovation with our “Instead of Dividing… Synthesize” long sleeve shirt. This statement piece encourages a shift from division to synthesis, highlighting the power of collaboration and integration in tod…
Discover the powerful symbolism behind our unique t-shirt design, featuring a fractured Earth split between a barren, industrialized landscape and a vibrant, thriving ecosystem. This thought-provoking piece reflects our current socio-environmental challenges, urging wearers to embrace the concept of synthesis—combining diverse ideas and perspectives to create innovative solutions for a sustainable future. Inspired by the themes in my book, Sapience: The Moment Is Now, this shirt serves as a catalyst for dialogue, inviting individuals to confront the realities of our time and envision a harmonious world through collective action.
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Transformative T-Shirt Design: Embrace Synthesis for a Sustainable Future: Explore the symbolism of our thought-provoking t-shirt design, featuring a fractured Earth that contrasts industrial devastation with a vibrant, thriving ecosystem. Inspired by Sapience: The Moment Is Now, this shirt encourages dialogue on synthesis and collective action for a sustainable future.
This dress builds on the message I introduced earlier with theUndecided T-shirt. It is part of the Always Forward, Never Back Collection. It delves even deeper into where our decisions, beliefs, and ideas about reality come from. Here, we start to venture deeper into the realm of soul. Here, the importance of making time for Soulful Moments is revealed. It is not only a nice experience. It is an essential one. Here, we learn how to recognize Soulful Wisdom. It is the mental process of sorting good ideas from bad. It involves choosing good action over harmful action.
Hard choices, tough decisions, and near states of constant indecision have become normal ways of being in modern societies. Perhaps at no time in human history have individuals faced sorting through so many endless streams of information. They are bombarded like a circular firing squad of information overload. Competition for an individual’s human attention has never been higher. Today, everybody wants a piece of your time and mind.
We have monetized our time and attention into fractured, rigid categories. These have been segregated by levels depending on how much a person makes. It’s completely arbitrary humanity’s modern systems of economy and commerce. A person gets paid X dollars for doing X activities for X hours. But some people get paid a whole lot more than others. Some times the justification for this is well founded. It includes extensive training. It also includes years of education to become an expert in a field. But there are many cases where one guy or gal makes way too much. This happens regardless of what they are actually doing for X activity.
From this construction of reality, all sorts of complexities, hidden dangers, huge discrepancies and inequalities emerge. The reality most people must survive is one where there is not a fair system of exchange. It has never been fair. After more than 5,000 years of living this way, we think it is the only way to exist. It is not.
This is where the Soulful Wisdom Collection comes into play. The designs and stories of the products in this collection are meant to inspire spirit through color. They also inspire soulful moments through vivid patterns and archetypal images. I draw the ideas for many of my stories and imagery from the work of Carl Jung. He was a psychologist at the turn of the 20th Century. Through his work at the Burghölzli psychiatric hospital, in Zurich, Jung established himself as an influential mind. He developed a friendship with Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis. They conducted a lengthy correspondence paramount to their joint vision of human psychology (Wikipedia).
Jung came to understand the human mind shares a symbolic reservoir of knowledge. This reservoir spans across all times, places, and cultures. He called these living symbolic representations of common experiences all people share archetypes. These living symbols is what all humans use to be conscious and self-aware. Without conscious self-awareness, people would not know that they know something. Action would be purely instinctual… and the consequences of such action would be experienced as an immutable and unforgiving fate.
How a person learns to recognize their inner, mental world and navigate it often determines the quality of their life. Navigating this inner world is crucial. This inner world is nothing less than a living reservoir of archetypes. All choice and actions have consequences. Eastern thought calls this Karma. It is nothing more than the timeless law of cause and effect. For an individual to make wise choices, they must cultivate the interior of their mind. This prevents choices obscured by unconscious biases or implicit prejudices, attitudes, and mindsets. A person must exercise their mind just as one must take care of and exercise the body.
As I create more products for this collection and others, we will explore more of our hidden inner world. This is where magic happens all the time. It’s just learning how to see inside and recognize it. This way you can act wisely on who and what you really are.
If you have not already done so, take a moment to check out the Sapience Shop: The Quip Collection. And for a deeper dive into all of this stuff, consider reading my book. It is presented as an adventure story. Sapience: The Moment Is Now.
Thank you for your time and attention! And have a great day!
Discover the captivating Women’s Skater Dress featuring a striking, colorful design of a powerful dark female spirit guide and a grumpy old grey man. With one path leading to a vibrant rainbow world and the other to a dark, spooky forest, this unique dress blends mystical artistry with fashion. Perfect for making a statement … Continue reading “The Choice Skater Dress: Embrace Colorful Contrast in Style; Spirit Guide skater dress, Colorful pattern dress, Spirit fashion, Soulful wear, Bohemian style”
On this day six years ago, my father had a heart attack. First responders revived him after 15 minutes of CPR, and then he was flown by helicopter to the Mayo Clinic. There he was put into an induced coma and body cooled to help preserve as much brain function as possible. Nobody knew if he would wake up and if he did, how much of him would wake up. But after days of touch and go, dad came back all of him except swallowing and he had developed pneumonia due to CPR, and this was expected and Mayo began aggressive treatment of it because it turns out if you aren’t breaking ribs while doing CPR, you aren’t pumping enough blood to revive the individual.
Remembering Dad
I wrote all about this in the first anniversary of dad’s death, as well as the reasons why he did not make it.
How Narcissistic Abuse Severely Thwarted my Healing Journey
In addition to dad’s death, the CEO of a small nonprofit I was working for fired me for being by dad’s side. Most probably this CEO suffering from Narcissistic Personality Disorder and she would be fired soon enough for this and a number of other things she did or failed to do during her tenure.
Adding insult to injury, my mother-in-law who is most definitely contorted and warped by Narcissistic Personality Disorder was about to launch one of her most hideous and disgusting campaigns to make herself appear as the victim so she could harvest attention and pity from her flying monkeys. This is what narcissists enablers are called by professionals who try to help family members and people abused by Narcissists heal. The fuel for her campaign of Narcissistic madness was her own children and grandchildren.
It would take me 6 years to understand what my mother-in-law was doing and why. But back in 2018 and 2019 I simply found myself in HELL.
I should not be here today. The only thing that helped me hold on during this time of pain and abandonment was the story I had started writing in 2012. I was reading dad the latest parts of the story when he died with me by his side on August 4, 2018.
Even though dad had slipped into a delirium due to the stress of life-saving procedures such as suctioning the mucous from his airways and reinserting a feeding tube he had worked out with the back of his tongue four times the previous day, he told the nurses caring for him that he was so proud of me for writing this book and that my whole life has been preparing me for it.
So in the dark days of the summer of 2019, with the help of a friend, I returned to my story and began editing the beginning to bring it up to the level of writing I had evolved into after six years of writing. My friend was then editing my edited version of book 1.
Then, Something New Began Coming Through
Not too long into this process, something new started coming through. I argued with myself… it was right around this time in 2019… for I knew writing something new would take more time.
The something new won took 6 more years to write! I finally published the book my father believed in so much on April 24, 2024.
Here is an excerpt of some of the something new that was coming through me after father died. This is from Sapience: The Moment Is Now — What Rain knows.
From the Book
"You cannot sell wisdom, nor can you buy it. You must earn it by living fully, living unself-consciously but not unconsciously. Wisdom is a group activity. Wisdom is kind. Wisdom shares its last morsel of food simply because that is what wisdom does. Wisdom knows that everything is connected, and what you do to someone else, you have done to yourself first. Wisdom is a baby crawling and giggling with its newfound mastery of getting around. Wisdom is an old man falling and laughing at his misfortunate mishap, knowing perfectly well everyone falls sometimes and it doesn’t mean a darn thing.
Wisdom knows sometimes you are going to win. Wisdom knows sometimes you are going to lose. Wisdom knows winning and losing doesn’t mean a darn thing because that is part of being alive. Wisdom knows navigating the ups and downs, the wins and losses, are much easier and mean so much more when you share it with the people who care about you and who you care about… this is love... caring and sharing, celebrating and mourning, feasting and fasting together as ever as one.
Wisdom is the joy of sharing life with the ones you love. Wisdom is the bliss of partaking equitably in the ups and downs of life. Wisdom is tolerating in another the things that annoy you most. Tolerance is a blessing, and wisdom knows this. Tolerance and wisdom are essential because life is complicated, too complicated for one insignificant human being to know everything it must to make a good decision.
A wise person knows this. A wise person knows a single individual can never consciously gather enough information to make a wise decision: so, stop trying to fool yourself and others that you can. A wise person understands action must be taken without foreknowledge of the results, but if the action is grounded in mutuality, respect, compassion, dignity, love, and a huge heaping of tolerance… mostly the results will reap good outcomes. And when they don’t, a wise person knows it is important to try again. Failure is simply the process of success.
Tolerance is an anti-gravity force to fear. Tolerance requires a person to broaden their bandwidth of consciousness rather than narrow and restrict it as fear does. Tolerance allows an individual to sit in discomfort, to sit in not knowing, to sit in the darkness of what is not clear yet and to wait for understanding of what is right action.
Timing is everything when it comes to action. Right action done too soon quickly turns into wrong action. Right action done too late will also not produce desired results. Action done outside of its proper time or beyond what is necessary to complete a task is easily twisted and corrupted by thinking that tries to justify it. Such action grows fat with inaccurate, incorrect, false, untrue, and mistaken attributions ladled onto it to get people to act. This sort of propped up action becomes more and more improper and unsuitable for the circumstances.
Such artificial action awakens the most wicked and sinful parts of a person, because acting outside and beyond the bounds of right action requires an angry mind, a brash, conservative, intolerant, mean, merciless, unfriendly, unsympathetic, biased, disapproving, narrow-minded, and prejudiced mind. People acting in this manner are cruel, brutal, savage, bloodthirsty, vicious people driven by narrower and narrower justifications loaded with fantastical and fraudulent fancies.
Wisdom knows this and knows tolerance is the only way to slow down enough to sense and see what is really going on inside and outside of one’s own mind and body. Only by sensing and seeing more of what is actually going on in the present moment can a person produce right action at the right time.
Right action does not inflict harm unto oneself or another without a really good reason why violence is required. Isaac Asimov got it right when his character, Salvor Hardin, says: “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” This is true because it is so easy to lose wisdom when one is racing inside their mind, thought after thought conceived by lies, half-truths, or half-baked ideas and silly beliefs.
A person acting in such a way utilizes the narrowest bandwidth of consciousness possible yet still able to remain conscious. Any narrower, and the person would fall into a dumb, zombie-like stupor. Wisdom knows this. Wisdom knows thinking is a result of the constriction of consciousness due to fear. Wisdom knows thinking trumped up with false facts and fantastical beliefs is going to make a lot of mistakes due to its failure to grasp reality. So, like any good toddler, a person who thinks all the time and falls out of phase with right action will make more and more mistakes and will act in more and more rageful ways trying to cover up and hide all their blunders, miscalculations, gaffes, and ignorance." -- Pages 128-128
Note: the link to Sapience is supposed to be a universal link that will open to the book in whatever browser and language from which you operate; however, it has not seemed to be working, so you can also search by the ASIN: B0D2LM5B6K.
The oracle is an ancient role that a wise woman or wise man played in society. Ancient man understood balance is essential, but finding the right balance can be tricky, especially when confronted with lots of divergent opinions, ideas, gossip, agitprop, spin, hype, propaganda, indoctrination, misinformation and disinformation on top of more spin.
In today’s modern world, life is even more chaotic and nerve wracking. This is why finding peace and quiet to dream is more important than ever before, and thus the inspiration for this plush, comfy comforter and its simple words of inspiration to invite delight into the night.
“I am an Oracle. Didn’t you hear? My wisdom’s like magic… … mystic and clear. I’ll lead you to places… … free from pain, fear, and hate. So, ask me your questions… And dream into being your destiny tonight!”
— by Deborah
Oracle Collection
The oracle collection is a reminder wisdom lies inside of all of us. And it is closer than we think. Wisdom’s light is soft, gentle like the moonlight that makes night a magical time. To hear our inner oracle, we must find outer calm and tranquility, even during the worst of times or the hardest trails life throws to us. This is not easy to do when one is feeling pain, fear, or hate. The oracle helps to soothes away the blocking feelings and traumas, so we can all find our way to our inner pool of peace and tranquility where our wisdom waits to rise like a full prescient moon.
The oracle is part of my book: Sapience: The Moment Is Now. It is an archetype, which is an idea developed by Carl Jung around the turn of the 20th Century to talk about how people use consciousness. Being self-aware and thinking are things we do every day, but rarely do we think about how we do it. Jung proposed there are body parts for the mind just as there are body parts for our bodies. Archetypes are the body parts of the mind. To visualized this, the colorful women-harps. If you look closely, the woman and harp are one entity.
Rainbow Women
I created these lovely rainbow women and harps for a blog I wrote about consciousness and arches of consciousness. I used Genolve via Midjourney to create rainbow arches of consciousness that the AI displayed to me as women and musical instruments playing the chords of consciousness inside of us. This is what the AI imagined, and I really liked it. One of the cues I gave to the AI was arches of consciousness, which is short for archetypes or an idea.
If you are interested in consciousness and archetypes, they are thoroughly explored in my book as well—Sapience: The Moment Is Now (on Amazon).
Merch& Book
These are just a few of the Oracle Collection items available now on Etsy at The Quip Collection
It is the 4th of July 2024! The United States of America has withstood so many moments of greatness, disaster, conflict, trauma, war and peace. Through it all, for 248 years, Americans of all makes and models, Americans great and small, rich or poor, immigrant or native (and most modern Americans are by far immigrants… it is ignorance to argue otherwise) have managed to come together and stand together when the times of required us to act as one body to achieve our destiny.
But this July 4th, Americans stand divided. Americans are more fractured than ever, perhaps more divided than Americans were on April 11, 1861. This is the day before the Civil War began. Evidently, the division that plunged Americans in the the bloody Civil War did not end on April 9, 1865. It rages on today.
Today, we face a stark choice: Biden or Trump. To vote for a third candidate is to shrink from your duty to make a hard choice. It is a cop out. It is playing the game of chicken when America needs you to play the game of defending democracy for the future.
Is the choice easy?
No, of course not. When the stakes are high, when is a choice that matters ever easy?
Biden is old, but he is wise. Trump is old, and he is pig-ignorant.
Biden is frail, but he tells the truth. Trump is vigorous but lies like the Devil.
Biden fumbled the debate, but his is good. Trump fumbled too, and he is evil.
What is evil?
I talk about it in my book available on Amazon titled: Sapience: The Moment Is Now.
Sapience: The Moment Is Now (available on Amazon!)
Evil is Live spelled backwards. When a human being ignores too much of reality, humans are capable of creating conditions that do not support life. In other words, the make a livable world un livable. That is evil, pure and simple.
What is ignorance?
I also talk extensively about this in my book on Amazon. Ignorance is ignoring certain parts of reality so that you can know more about one thing or another. We all must learn to ignore the world in order to know certain parts of the world. This is how we gain knowledge. But too much ignoring leads straight to foolish ignor-ance. This is where we are with the Cult of Trump and MAGA.
So, why MIGA?
If you shorten Making Ignorance Great Again, and you get MIGA. I got this idea while swimming and created it on my iPad. Basically, I took the A in MAGA crack it in half to get the lopsided I (the broken piece of A that is going to fall over because every opposite thing needs its other half to stand strong). I added an orange with a MIGA hat on top in homage to Orange Jesus.
Thank you Liz Cheney for revealing in your book that is what MAGA followers call Trump.
In short, this is what it seems to me what MAGA is bent on doing… making up fiends and foes out of common, ordinary people living in America who happen to have different ideas, lifestyles, color of skin, political or religious beliefs, or anything else they want to make a big fuss about. To do this, the very first thing that must be done is to divide Americans into “us” and “them”. Then, once the division is made, the “us” group gets to go around screaming, shouting, and raging about reality not being how or what they want it to be. It’s so easy to rage.
It’s hard to do the work to really understand the complexities of nature, much less a huge, complicate country like the USA. So, just forget about trying to understand all nuances, complexity, or differences… just cut reality in half, throw away or get rid of the part you don’t like, and plough ahead with half a head and a lopsided mind. In other words, ignore complexity. This is how you get MIGA out of MAGA.
MIGA… Making Ignorance Great Again! See the MIGA Collection now available on my Etsy store: The Quip Collection.
If you are a writer intending to publish independently and seeking help with some of the final details of the publishing process… BEWARE… the sea of the Google is ripe with sharks and cockroaches seeking to take your money and steal you blind. Time to wake up… if you want to keep your hard earned cash in your bank account.
Report A Scam
First things first, scammers are like spam… you find them everywhere and they have a long, long, long shelf life. This is because once the Federal Trade Commission, law enforcement, FBI, or even anti-scammer superheroes like Scammer Payback, Midnight, and Neon shut them down in one place or operating under one name, they pop back up somewhere else using a different name, different spoofed phone numbers, different IPs addresses.
But, just because they are everywhere like cockroaches does not mean we swallow their shitty deeds and take it. We report it. We publicize it. We help each other learn their tactics, their scam operations, their maneuver and we learn how to recognize, evade, and report their scum bag lifestyles. And protect those who are more vulnerable from them.
Here are some places you can report a scam:
Federal Trade Commission (FTC): Visit ReportFraud.ftc.gov to provide information that can help the FTC investigate the scam.
FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3): File a complaint if you've been a victim of spoofing or phishing.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS): Report unsolicited emails that appear to be from the IRS to phishing@irs.gov. If you've lost money due to an IRS-related incident, you can also report it to the Treasury Inspector General Administration (TIGTA).
Local police department: File a police report with the fraud division of your local police department.
Also, check out these places:
fbi.gov -- Spoofing and Phishing -- FBIHow to Report. To report spoofing or phishing attempts—or to report that you've been a victim—file a complaint with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).consumer.ftc.gov What To Do if You Were Scammed | Consumer AdviceThat's a scam. Report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Scammers can be very convincing. They call, email, and send us text messages trying to get our money or sensitive personal information — like our Social Security or account numbers. And they're good at what they do. Here's what to do if you paid someone you think is a scammer or gave them your personal information or access to your computer or phone. If you paid a scammer, your money might be gone already. No matter how you paid, it's always worth asking the company you used to send the money if there's a way to get it back.
irs.gov -- Tax scams -- how to report them | Internal Revenue Service | Feb 6, 2024 — Phishing scams Phishing is a scam typically carried out through unsolicited email and/or websites that pose as legitimate sites and lure unsuspecting victims to provide personal and financial information. Report all unsolicited email claiming to be from the IRS or an IRS-related function to phishing@irs.gov . If you've experienced any monetary losses due to an IRS-related incident, please report it to the Treasury Inspector General Administration (TIGTA) and the Federal Trade Commission.
aura.com -- How To Track Down a Scammer (and What To Do Next) - AuraJul 24, 2023 — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC has an online portal for reporting scams. Visit ReportFraud.ftc.gov to give them more information so that they can conduct an investigation.
thelawdictionary.org -- How To Report A Scammer To The Police - Black's Law Dictionary-- It is generally best to file a police report on a scammer, reach out to your bank, and file a complaint with the appropriate federal agency as soon as possible after you have been scammed. To file a police report for a scam, you will need make a call to or visit the fraud division of your local police department.
You can also try contacting the company you used to send money to see if there’s a way to get it back. For example, if you paid by debit card, you can try using a chargeback to get your money back. I used a credit card. Because I was hell bent on publishing my book faster than the scammers could string me along… my husband and I reported the scam to our credit card company and they reeled back the money the scammers thought they had stolen. Read below their terrible realization as they realized I wriggled off their hook!
If you’ve been scammed, it’s important to act quickly to minimize damage. You should immediately stop all contact with the scammer, including not responding to any emails, messages, or calls.
My Amazon Publishing Scam Story
On April 8, 2024, I ended up on this website while search for Amazon self-publishing instructions and website. This site appears above the real Amazon website and instructions. Having never published a book before, I did not know what I did not know. The chat bot immediately engaged with me before I could scroll down to the very bottom of the website. The chat bot introduced itself as Jennifer Grace. This was 1st contact with the fraud they were about to pull on me.
Scammer Website!
Let’s Pick This Website Apart
The URL below is the Scammer’s Website. Notice how long the URL below is… this is not normal for legit websites to be so long.
Also, look at the logo. It uses Amazon’s color and shape, but it is not the Amazon logo. They just want to get it close enough and hope you ignore the fact that it is a cheap fake as you fall into their scammer net that is pretty and shiny, baited with all the ways they are going to help you be a BEST SELLING author. They are counting on your enthusiasm and dreams to make you ignore the warning flags waving frantically at you as you take the bait and fall hook-line-and sinker into their trap. They will play on every writer’s secret dream to be the next JK Rollings! The scammers will actually use this line on me later.
Bookwriting... really?! Dudes... you are suppose to be helping writers not hurting them.
And that chat box down at the lower right hand corner… WATCH OUT… because they are watching YOU and they know you have stumbled into their web.
A “friendly” girl named Jennifer is going to pop up and start talking to me. She will quickly hand me off their Marketing Supervisor… who is the same girl but with a new name: Abigail… what a pretty name for a spider. She is going to take my money and pass me off to a Scammer Closer... who she tells me is an Amazon Global Publishing Project Managers… I fail to hear her evil laugh as she quickly pushing me off to David… the Closer!
Let’s back up because the scammers gave me a lot of information here that I am going to share with you so you can begin questioning a scam sooner than I did.
Jennifer Grace immediately handed me off to Abigail Noel who is the 2nd contact. Abigail talked fast and was very flattering (very nice and flattering people are buttering you up — this is always a warning sign!!).
She moved me swiftly from chatting over the chat bot to a phone call coming from (877-806-0660) [Beware of numbers beginning with 877… these tend to be scammer numbers!] Once on the phone, Abigail continued her flattery and fast talking. I specifically asked her if they are part of Amazon, and she told me that they are. I said that I did not know Amazon had a sub-division that assisted writers with finishing up their manuscripts. Abigail allowed me to continue in this delusion and this is the moment that the fraud began and everyone I would communicate with thereafter contributed to my mistaken identity that Amazon Global Publishing worked for Amazon. In fact, they were counting on this to hook me for the scam part of the fraud they had just pulled me into.
Believing that I was interacting with a sub-division of Amazon, Abigail gave me a quote for how much it would cost, and then offered me 40% off, creating a limited offer and a sense of needing to make a decision now or lose the benefit.
Following is part of the text they sent me after my initial contact with them, though part of our conversation has been removed, especially when I tell Abigail that I didn’t know Amazon offered publishing services to writers and she assured me that Amazon did. She did not make sure I understood this was Amazon Global Publishing, which has no affiliation with Amazon and is in fact poaching client writers from Amazon proper. I highlight two points in my initial contact with individuals at this fake Amazon where the scam is initiated, then continued.
[amazonpublicationhouse] Re: Chat with Visitor 47486888 [aka… “I just snagged a very Stupid but YUMMY Fish for Dinner boys!”]
Inbox
support@…se.zendesk.com [Very creepy Zen going on here]
Apr 8, 2024, 2:03 PM to me
Chat started: 2024-04-08 05:07 PM UTC [Coordinated Universal Time] This is another trick they employ so you don’t know where the Hell on planet Earth they are working from! And another WARNING SIGN!!!
(05:07:20 PM) *** Jennifer Grace joined the chat *** [The evil worm coming to pull in dinner for the scamming crew]
(05:07:23 PM) Jennifer Grace: Hello there 🙂
(05:07:25 PM) Jennifer Grace: How are you doing today?
**(05:07:30 PM) Jennifer Grace: Are you intending to get your book published on Amazon? [Jennifer says Amazon; not Amazon Global Publishing… the scam begins here]**
(05:08:14 PM) Jennifer Grace: Well, this is not a BOT – Feel free to ask any question 🙂
(05:09:47 PM) Visitor 47486888: Oh — I was looking for self guide to do this myself, but what is the price for a book coming in at 297 pages text, plus about 10 to 15 references. I also have my own art and cover (though do not know how to put the words on the title yet)
(05:10:18 PM) Jennifer Grace: Alright, we can certainly help you with that
(05:10:27 PM) Jennifer Grace: May I have your name please 🙂
(05:10:56 PM) Visitor 47486888: Deborah … though I plan to use a pen name for the book [Ah… I just bit the hook!!! LOL…]
(05:11:09 PM) Jennifer Grace: Nice to have you here, Deborah 🙂
(05:11:23 PM) Jennifer Grace: Let me quickly connect you to Our Senior Book Expert [LOL!!!! Senior Scammer Scum is more accurate]
(05:11:30 PM) Jennifer Grace: who’d be able to guide you properly with the process and pricing as well
(05:11:35 PM) Visitor 47486888 is now known as Deborah … aka, among the scammers all huddled together in their pathetic ugly room in India: “Stupid New Yummy Target”. [YES, scammers have elaborate systems tracking everybody who stumbles onto their paid, promoted pages! You a just a number to them… a stupid fish they are hoping to reel for dinner!]
(05:11:38 PM) Deborah: OK
(05:11:55 PM) Jennifer Grace: Meanwhile, may I have your email and phone number? in case we get disconnected
(05:12:43 PM) Deborah: Sure — email is xxxx@gmail.com phone: xxx-xxx-xxxx (cell) [Never, ever give your personal information to people you don’t know… they will keep calling and email on new spoofing lines until HELL freezes over!!!!!]
(05:12:56 PM) Jennifer Grace: Thanks for the details 🙂
(05:13:02 PM) Jennifer Grace: Connecting you right away!! [Yeah right, girrrl, you are connection to yourself!]
(05:13:15 PM) *** Abigail Noel joined the chat ***
(05:13:22 PM) Abigail Noel: Hello Deborah!
(05:13:27 PM) Abigail Noel: Nice to have you here 🙂
(05:14:03 PM) Abigail Noel: I’ll provide you with the cost details shortly.
**(05:14:08 PM) Deborah: I ended up here accidentally… [Zen Desk puts … here, but there is text missing here… I know I said that I did not know Amazon had this servie and Abigail lead me to believe that Amazon did have it, the real Amazon, not this fake one] …but let’s see what you might be able to help me do and how much** There is NOTHING ZEN about this Creepy Desk!
(05:14:21 PM) Abigail Noel: I see you have a 297 paged book
(05:14:26 PM) Deborah: yes
(05:14:31 PM) Abigail Noel: May i know whats it about as in whats the genre?
(05:15:11 PM) Deborah: I have formatted it per amazon instruction… and the genre is Science Fiction-Fantasy with some historical fiction thrown in [Yeah… I just keep feeding them information to hang myself with…]
(05:15:23 PM) Abigail Noel: Thats amazing! [Buttering up… because I am dinner!!!]
(05:15:44 PM) Deborah: 12 years in the making! It’s time!!
(05:16:09 PM) Abigail Noel: Would it be requiring professional editing? Or would basic proofreading be sufficient?
<<Something was left out here… not such a perfect recording machine this creepy Zen Desk!!>>
(05:17:50 PM) Abigail Noel: Oh wow!
(05:17:52 PM) Deborah: Proofreading is sufficient… I have edited it extensively over a long period of time… I get 100% with Word very basic grammar/spell check… but I’m sure there are still some errors… [Abigail is going to ignore what I just said and proceed to sell me shit.]
(05:18:15 PM) Abigail Noel: We’ll take care of it we have inhouse professionals who can take care of this!
(05:19:04 PM) Abigail Noel: Let’s dive into the process, Deborah, this way you’ll get to know how we work and I’ll provide you with the package as well
(05:19:20 PM) Deborah: One other thing that may not make this possible for you to do… is I really feel it needs to be published on 4/24/24… [This is so fortunate!!!!]
(05:20:05 PM) Abigail Noel: That can definitely be done [YEAH Right!!!!]
(05:20:18 PM) Deborah: Ok — great! [Bad idea girl!!!!!!!]
(05:20:31 PM) Abigail Noel: Once your order is placed, we will proceed by collecting your manuscript and other relevant details including image files. Your dedicated project manager will get in touch with you via email and calls.
(05:20:54 PM) Abigail Noel: As part of Amazon’s Mandatory Guidelines, we will run the proofreading phase on your manuscript, which includes:
[Let’s just get it clear… Amazon does have guidelines, but if you are self-publishing, you are on your own. They don’t even have a Help Desk to call, nor email. They don’t care if you, speck of creative flare that you are, sink in their vast, competitive sea of online shopping… because they don’t NEED you. Once you publish on their platform, you appear at the bottom of Amazon’s Marianas Trench of their online sellers and buyers world. Whether you can find a way to float up a little higher in the vast maze of algorithms and paid ads is totally up to you!!!]
•Ensuring consistency in your writing, word choices, style, and compositional spacing
• Eliminating jargon and repetition
• Revising inappropriate verb tenses
• Checking for subject-verb agreement
• Inserting transitional phrasing
• Evaluating the continuity/flow of your thoughts
• Ensuring support of statements
• Providing correct formatting of citations/references, and footnotes according to industry style guide formatting
• Providing critical assessment and feedback of your manuscript throughout your document’s comments section.
This step identifies any roadblocks such as plagiarism, spelling, and grammatical errors that might cause the book to be flagged by Amazon or removed from its list after publication.
[This is all complete Bullshit… they don’t do shit except think of how to scam more money out of you now!!!]
(05:22:09 PM) Abigail Noel: Your book is already formatted, however to ensure that it aligns with Amazon Standards of 2024 [Hahaha… scammers want you to feel stuck… they want you to feel dependented on them… fortunately, I had already tuned her out because I knew my book didn’t need this shit… I was focused on 4/24/24] we’ll run the formatting phase on it, after your approval, we will start the Book conversion process and set the layout and formatting of the book including marginalization, spacing, fonts, dimensions, index of authorities, etc.
Moving on, an Expert Typesetter enhances the composition of the text for a better readability experience in Digital Format and also to enable the book for Printing.
We will then put together the final publish-ready version of the book in Digital and Paperback formats and share them with you for your review and approval.
(05:22:31 PM) Abigail Noel: After you provide us with your final approval on the publish-ready version of the book in print and digital, our publisher will publish your book on Amazon and Kindle. This entails a unique ISBN and barcode registration for your book and creating unique author and book profiles on Amazon and Kindle, which we’ll ensure are optimized so we can attract your book’s relevant target audience organically.
(05:22:39 PM) Abigail Noel: With me so far, Deborah?
(05:22:41 PM) Deborah: These would be checks that are sent as suggestions, correct? I have a very specific voice and tone that needs to be maintained.
(05:23:22 PM) Abigail Noel: Rest assured, we’ll make sure to preserve the true essence of its originality
(05:24:18 PM) Abigail Noel: Once we have your approval on the final publish ready version, before its publication, we will also search engine optimize your Amazon profile in order to attract an organic audience and make your book rank higher in the recommendation list of people interested in your genre.
Meta data is information about your book (title, genre, author bio, publisher, etc.) that helps retailers and readers categorize and find your book. The stronger your metadata, the easier readers can find your book. our meta data experts will perform a spell check, basic edits, and keyword optimization to give your book its best shot at make the sale. You’ll also receive a proof of your approval.
(05:24:32 PM) Deborah: I’m nervous… but I’m also overwhelmed a bit as this is first book… so if this is affordable, I will serious consider help
(05:24:42 PM) Abigail Noel: Lastly, we set up the exclusive Print on Demand Function for you. Amazon will take care of all your printing and shipping orders.
This is our process, let me know if you have any questions.
(05:25:38 PM) Abigail Noel: I understand and we’re here to be your helping hand Deborah, it can be quiet nerve wreaking but rest assured our packages are budget friendly and we strive to help authors in the best possible way
(05:26:48 PM) Deborah: Yes — I want the digital and print on demand for sure. I also have a resource page for the end… that I am cutting down… this provides links to resources I have used to help me create the texture and background for the characters… as well as be as accurate as possible to historical dates
(05:28:34 PM) Abigail Noel: Thats wonderful! Insightful and detail-oriented, the perfect blend.
(05:29:51 PM) Abigail Noel: If you don’t have any questions, shall I get your package generated?
(05:29:58 PM) Deborah: Trying… for sure… provide contents and offer new ideas
(05:30:46 PM) Deborah: Yes — what does this cost? That could be my biggest hurtle
(05:31:26 PM) Abigail Noel: Alright, Deborah! Kindly hold with me while I get your package generated
-Basic Proofreading (According To Amazon Standards) [RED ALERT!!!!]
-Ensuring the Layout, Formatting, and Typesetting are as per International Publishing Standards
-Finalization of the publish-ready version of the book
-Global Publishing on Amazon
-Unlimited revisions until you are 100% satisfied
-100% ownership rights
– Creation of Author Profile and Book Page on Amazon
– Book Categorization in relevant categories as per the Genre
– Keyword Research and Optimization to improve the Book’s discoverability
– Search engine optimization of Author profile on the publishing platform
– Attract your targeted audience with keywords and categorization
[Total Bullshit… they give your a made up price and put it on sale because all little fishys love to bite on sales!]
(05:33:49 PM) Abigail Noel: How does that sound to you, Deborah?
(05:34:59 PM) Deborah: That sounds really amazing… can you hold on as I need to run this by husband … back in a minute [And it is soon to become a really nasty nightmare, girl… RUN!!!]
(05:35:11 PM) Abigail Noel: Certainly, I’m right here!
(05:37:15 PM) Deborah: Okay… we are on a pretty tight budget… but this is a big thing, I think the book will find her readers, eventually… I am exhausted… so he agrees, let’s do it [Abigail don’t care… she just wants to swallow as much money as you give her and leave you high and dry to die]
(05:38:51 PM) Abigail Noel: That great to hear! Let me ring you up and assist you in getting started
(05:39:40 PM) Deborah: okay — you can call cell xxx-xxx-xxxx or home xxx-xxx-xxxx [OH YEAH… they’re going to be calling both of these non-stop pretty soon once they realize you realized they are SCAMMERS!!!!!!!]
(05:39:49 PM) Abigail Noel: Ringing you right up!
What Zen Desk does not record is that Abigail got my credit card number wrong three times because she kept inputting a wrong number into her system [Stupid scammer!]. On the fourth try, using my husband’s name she finally got it right and the charge of $750 went through.
Without a moments break, she handed me off to David Luiz[Apparently this dude likes scoccer because the only David Luiz who appears in Google searches is the one who plays for Brazil, but I don’t know this yet because I want to believe they are going to help me… what a foolish girl I am!] who was supposed to be my Project Manager (but really, he was primary fraudster and scammer from here on out). David’s main concern was singing me up onto this sketchy system called Basecamp. He was more concerned with this than understanding the scope of my book, work already completed, and areas that I wanted help. [Basecamp is super scary SHIT! If someone wants you to join Basecamp…RUN!!!!!!]
The “Basecamp”!!
Signing into Basecamp didn’t work at first either, and David shunted me off to an IT specialist who finally got me into this system. Following are the Welcome Messages.
Basically, David wanted to get my cover art (which is my original work and something I have not released to anyone as of this time) and my manuscript (an endeavor that took 12 years to write).
The next day, I got a cover design back. This seemed the only thing that they may have been competent in doing; however, by April 19, when I realize this is a scam, I do not use anything they provided. In fact, they never provided a PDF that I could use to load into the Kindle self-publishing system. They only sent pretty mockups, which was decent, not great and not sent as I file that I could use.
It took David until April 11 to answer questions I had sent to him on April 9th. I thought this odd, but figured he was busy. Throughout this whole time, a timeline was never created, and I had no idea who was working on what part of my book, just a mysterious 11 unidentified people who supposedly got every message sent through Basecamp.
I finally get edits on April 12. I am shocked and dismayed that the editor has only gotten to page 40 of 297 pages. Abigail has promised me they would meet my April 24 deadline, though it is clear David is hedging on this.
I look through the edits. Most are stylistic edits (stupid edits). And what concerns me further is there are glaring errors in the edits made that if published would make me look like I didn’t know who I was talking about and lost track of my characters. I point out to the mystery editor in a nice way.
I send it back the next day.
I do not receive any thing until 4/16/24, and this is only a new mockup of my cover after I request a darker color on the back. Again, it is sent to me in a file I cannot use. Just a nice mockup of what my book might look like.
Two more days past before I received the next set of edits draft back. Again, I am shocked and dismayed that this “editor” had only accomplished editing 40 more pages since 4/12/24… this is absolutely dismal progress for a “professional” editor. In my time as an editor, I would have been fired for going this slow. Even more annoying is the editor continues to make the same serious mistakes I thought we had addressed and come to an understanding of from the first draft. But in the next 40 pages, this serious mistake (along with others) continues to be made. I am also in serious doubt that they can make my 4/24/24 deadline.
But Wait… The Scam Gets Worse!!
Then, the fraud-scam grows bigger.
On April 18, 2024, David calls me breathless and tells me that out of 5,000 authors they are working with this month, I have been pick for sponsorship of Extensive Publishing. David tells me I will get two editors, be featured globally on Amazon sites as well as 40 additional non-Amazon sites, and a bunch of other garbage that he makes sound really exiting. He tells me this all cost $12,000, but some mysterious sponsor is going to chip in 70%, so I only need to pay an additional $3,600.
I told David I was on a run and could not possibly pay until returning home.
When I returned home and called, as I promised, David was not available (probably scamming someone else), but Abigail was. David messaged me on Basecamp, but I did not get a Zen Desk readout of his call and promises. The invoice does not list any of the promises David has made to me, nor do I finally notice does it list a physical address. In fact, no communications I have received thus far lists a brick and mortar building though I know David and Abigail are working someplace with other people because when I have talked to them, I hear other people talking in the background.
‘Bout Time Girl!!!!
My suspicions begin to rise. [‘Bout TIME, girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
On April 19, 2024, David interrupts a call with my daughter who is getting ready to fly down for personal reason that are scheduled on Monday. I hang up on my daughter to take his call. He tells me that my manuscript is done, which I immediately find utterly unbelievable considering the super slow progress up until this point.
I have been kind to the editors believing berating them for dumb mistakes will not further the process, but I am not impressed by any of the edits made up until this April 18, 2024. When I open this latest draft, I am dumbfounded. The book is not over 640 pages!!! Edits are barely worthy making and more mistakes. Also, it has been sent as a PDF and David wants me to hand write my comments!!!!!
I am not pleased, but still believe I am working with Amazon.
Then, my daughter flies in and my husband and I pick her up at National. I tell her they story of the past 24 hours, and she tells me: “Mom, you’ve been scammed.”
When we get home, I finally search for amazon global publishing scams (as I should have done on April 8), and I find this article: How Scammers Are Using Amazon and Amazon Trademarks to Rip Writers Off — POSTED BY VICTORIA-STRAUSS FOR WRITER BEWARE® ON JUL 7, 2023
I finally threw away my blinders of enthusiasm and excitement and realized that this very tiny team of “experts” were preying on me to get my money that now totals $4,150 US dollars. Money, I did not have in excess to spare, especially after 5 years (now going on 6 years) of not working after being fired from my job with a religious non-profit for whom I had put in over 86 hours of worked writing proposals for the past year, many of them funded. But, this didn’t matter to the narcissistic CEO who preferred to run the nonprofit using fear of being laid off or fired if the employees did not do what she wanted when she wanted it done. This experienced combine with the trauma of being the person who had to make the decision to remove my father from lifesaving care sent me into a major depression that sent me to a pit of suicidal depression, but that is straying from the story of the scam.
Leaving My Pride on the Floor & Dealing With Reality
Confronted with my husband’s doubt and my daughter’s absolute belief I had been scammed, and finding Victoria Strauss’ article, I admitted to myself and my family I had fallen for a scam, and we called our credit card and report the fraud on April 19, 2024. They immediately begin a charge back process for the 4/8/24 charge of $750, but the $3,500 charge has not yet posted as of 4/19/24. However, by 4/20/24, this charge posted, and we reported the fraud and charge back (refund) process on this amount too.
My family and I are incredibly fortunate that our credit card could get both charges cancelled and refunded to our credit card. However, we now must begin the process of closing this card as the scammers have it and the security codes. The intangible thing that they also have is all of my original work: the manuscript I sent to them on 4/8/24, the cover art that I drew, and all the artwork in the novel, which I also drew.
With the 0.05% chance that they could publish my work before I did and claim it as theirs, I threw all my effort into getting onto Real Amazon’s website and figuring out on my own Real Amazon’s self-publishing process, which really isn’t that hard, even for beginners who have never done this before. I worked on my paperback first and submitted it on 4/22/24. Amazon is very forthright that once you hit submit it can take 72 hours for it to go Live. I was just a tiny bit over the 72 hours and could only hope that my paperback went Live on my birthday as I have been pushing for and working for hard for the past year.
And it went Live on 4/24/24 at 11:38 a.m.! I was so happy. I managed to submit my Kindle formatted manuscript on 4/24/24 and learned that the Kindle process provides more checks that proved very helpful, so next time, I will format and submit Kindle first. My Kindle version went Live on 4/26/24, which is when I submitted my hard cover manuscript and made changes to my paperback from things I had learned doing the Kindle version. As of Monday, my hard cover is Live now too.
Throughout this whole time, my husband and I were helping our daughter get through a rough moment. And as of the moment of my awareness of being scammed, I stopped responded to calls, text, and emails coming from Fake Amazon. How they responded in the wake of realizing I cancelled payment and refused to return or answer calls, texts, or e-mails illuminates they are indeed a scamming fake corporate shell operation.
I do not respond to any posts in Basecamp, calls, or text thereafter. And there are many, which I am going to list for this in itself indicated fraud and scam practices given how many numbers they desperately are trying to contact me one.
Amazon Global Publishing Website Dissected
I never got down to the end of the very long webpage. Yes, this is all one page… you have to scroll, scroll, and scroll to get to that little, tiny disclaimer in the black at the very bottom of this site… in really tiny font. In addition, throughout all my verbal communications with this scamming team, they always just said Amazon. If they were getting serious, they might say Amazon Publishing. I see now, this was all very deliberate. And since successfully publishing my work on Real Amazon, I see how they went to great links to get their graphics to look vaguely like Real Amazon, but different enough that they might be able to get away with it. That is Real Amazon’s problem, not mine.
Scammer Panic
The most interesting part of this story is what happens after we stop the payments and I stop communicating with them. Here is how they responded.
Desperate Effort to Re-engage with Me After I Cut Off All Communication on 4/19/24:
On April 23, I blocked 877-806-0660 (the number we had been communicating through). This is the number Abigail first called me on and the number David, my alleged Project Manager, used thereafter to call me. I would soon realize that this little team of two or three or a whole country, had many other numbers they used to talk with “people” (or should I say victims).
Phone numbers associated with this group:
307-429-0934 Sheridan, WY April 24 4:21 pm (it is David)
307-429-0934 Sheridan, WY April 24 4:45 pm (it is David)
And the Creepy Text Messages:
410-683-5026 Cockeysville, MD April 25 2:23 pm (it is Abigail)
307-429-0934 Sheridan, WY April 25 4:24 pm (it is David)
410-683-5026 Cockeysville, MD April 25 5:50 pm (it is Abigail)
410-683-5026 Cockeysville, MD April 25 5:51 pm (it is Abigail)
877-384-2440 Unknown April 26 11:59 am (it is David)
877-384-2440 Unknown April 26 11:59 am (it is David)
And pathetic voicemail messages:
Leaves Voicemail:‚ÄúHi Debra, this Terry speaking your project How are you doing ? It’s been a long Reach out to you on the kidding and connect Fortunately There are a couple of things that need To discuss If you could you please ring me up whenever you are free or just so let me know so I can give you a call back Looking forward to take care, I hope Your Going with the smooth as well Whenever you available, you can just call me back and we’ll connect How I take care of goodbye‚Ķ
(I’d like to point out David forgot his fake name he was using with me and called himself Terry)
410-683-5026 Cockeysville, MD April 26 3:15 pm (it is Abigail)
410-683-5026 Cockeysville, MD April 26 3:15 pm (it is Abigail)
More Creepy Texts & Voicemails:
410-683-5026 Cockeysville, MD April 29 1:01 pm (it is Abigail)
877-384-2440 Unknown April 29 4:24 pm (it is David)
877-384-2440 Unknown April 29 4:25 pm (it is David)
877-384-2440 Unknown April 29 4:26 pm (it is David)
Leaves Voicemail: ‚ÄúHi Deborah, this is David speaking your project manager. How are you doing? I hope everything is great at you and I’ve been trying to reach out to you all. But unfortunately, getting to connected all there are a couple of things that need to be discussed so On the top of everything you payment has been actually home Refund it to To your card No Finance actually been reaching out to me to get an update but unfortunately I have nothing to say then but I’m looking forward to get connected with you so just give me a call back whenever you’re free so we can‚Ķ‚Äù
(At least, he remembers the correct FAKE name this time)
484-750-6086 Digital Service April 30 1:50 pm (it is suspicious)
410-683-5026 Cockeysville, MD April 30 5:42 pm (it is Abigail)
877-384-2440 Unknown April 30 7:34 pm (either David or new guy Ronald from finance)
877-384-2440 Unknown April 30 7:35 pm (either David or new guy Ronald from finance)
307-241-5560 Wheatland, WY April 30 9:23 pm Ronald from finance
307-241-5560 Wheatland, WY April 30 9:24 pm (it is Ronald who also called my home phone)
307-241-5560 Wheatland, WY April 30 9:23 pm (it is Ronald)
Sent Creepy text (and I bet your booty it’s really David-Terry-Rashi pretending to be Ronald):
I’d like to point out that these later calls do not correspond to the established pattern between David and Abigail that communicated strictly beginning after 12 noon EST time and about 5:00 pm EST. On my last call with David (the one where he scammed me on paying $3,400) I asked him what time zone he is working in. I think I surprised him with this question for he hesitated with a Hmmm… then, said Mountain Time, which is not where Amazon headquarters would be operating from (that would be Pacific Time). The 9 pm calls correspond nicely with someone calling from the Philippines or Indonesia, which is exactly 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard time. So, this Ronald guy would have just arrived and started work at his International Scam Factory. He would have made calls at 9:23 am, 9:24 am, and sent a text at 9:23 am Philippine time using a Spoofing (fake number) to disguise the call as coming from Whealand, WY.
E-mails & Creepy Basecamp Messages Received After I Reported the Fraud to Credit Card:
Creepy Texts and Emails Received After Money Was Pulled Back:
Hell no Abigail… you want me to tell you how to scam someone else better! Bitch!
Copy of Above:
abigail |<abigail@amzglobalpublishing.com>
Mon, Apr 29, 1:07 PM (1 day ago)
to me
Fake, fake, fake, fake
Greetings Deborah,
I hope everything is going well with you.
I recently heard from David about the chargeback situation. I completely understand if you’re hesitant and have been avoiding our calls. However, I would really appreciate it if you could share what prompted you to change your mind. I’m not asking you to reconsider working with us again, but just understanding why you’re avoiding us would mean a lot.
David mentioned that he’s planning to reach out to you to resolve this issue, but he also mentioned today that you’ve been avoiding us. It would mean a great deal to me if you could shed some light on the situation. I recall how enthusiastic you were about working with us before, and how satisfied you seemed with David’s assistance. If you could simply let me know what’s changed, we can finally put this matter to rest.
Best Regards, Abigail Noel
Sr. Publishing & Marketing Consultant
David — April 29 & 30: [HaHa… David!!!]
April 30:
Copy of above email
Urgent: Action Required to Avoid Sponsorship Loss [HaHa… David!!!]
Dear Deborah,
I hope this email finds you well.
I’ve been trying to reach out to you through multiple channels for over a week now, but unfortunately, I haven’t received any response from your end. This concerns me greatly, especially considering the current status of your project.
It’s very unlike you to become unresponsive all of a sudden, especially given the strong bond and professional connection we’ve developed throughout our collaboration. I find this behavior both strange and unprofessional, and I hope we can address any concerns or issues together. [Laughing out loud So hard… David is trying to Shame me back into giving him my money… LOL!!!]
As you may be aware, there was a sudden chargeback raised on your payment in the middle of our project, resulting in a full refund of the amount paid. While there was sponsorship involved in your package, our policy dictates that outstanding dues must be cleared promptly to avoid any adverse consequences.
I want to emphasize the urgency of this situation. If your dues remain unpaid by the end of today, the sponsorship associated with your package will be forfeited, which could significantly impact the progress of your work. I’m sure you can understand that this is not an outcome I wish for.
I have attached the payment details below for your reference.
Click here to make the payment
I sincerely hope you can take a moment to clear the outstanding dues to avoid any disruptions to your project. Please know that I am here to assist you every step of the way, and I remain committed to ensuring the success of your project.
Looking forward to your prompt response.
Best regards, David
[Yeah, duh David, are you finally realizing I am not your tasty little fish you get to eat tonight?!]
Anti-Scammers Super Heros!
I’d like to give a shout out to individuals with skills in the US who are fighting back against these scammers. If you have not heard of them, check out their channels and consider supporting the work they are doing to keep us safe from the scumbags working in huge corporate-like operations mostly based in India, but also Pakistan and the Philipines.
Thank You Scammer Payback!!!
Thank You Midnight!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE3F78iDTsA
Thank You Neon!!!
Moral to the Story
So, the moral of this story, is if your Project Manager speaks with an Indonesian, Pilipino, Indian, Pakistani accent, which mine most certainly did… you are probably not working with a real publishing firm, not even a vanity publisher. You are working with scammers who are going to pull out all the stops to fraud you out of your money. Beware.
I was born in Brazil. My father went there as a Lutheran missionary, my mother bravely went with him barely a week after getting married. I remember riding on my father’s shoulders as we galloped through the jungle with monkeys screeching at us in the trees above. It was glorious! I remember getting stuck in red mud with sheep surrounding us as a shepherd drove them homeward, a sea of baaing, woolly beasts! I remember the steel drums; I loved them, so did my father.
We moved back to the states when I turned three. Then, we moved all over because my father was a traveler who brought kindness and compassion to people who needed it most. We lived in LA to Redway, then headed east to the vast plains of South Dakota. I missed the redwood trees terribly and hunting for Big Foot with my brothers. But mother gave me Little House on the Prairie, and I began to grow deep roots on the Great Plains with my pony Blondie who liked to buck whenever we galloped. We moved again to Minneapolis. How I missed the plains, my pony, and my freedom. I felt my life was over. Then, I grew to love Minneapolis, the lakes, biking, running, swimming, and cross-country skiing in the snow.
I kept moving… living in the Florida Keys, Colorado, Maine, then Virginia. I was going to be a Marine Biologist, but when I discovered how much proposal writing was required, I decided I would spend more time writing than under the sea. So, I moved to Colorado where I took a job at a school for Creative and Gifted Children, and a teacher was what I was going to be. But I needed to finish my degree, so Bar Harbor beckon. This is where I finished my BA in Human Ecology with a focus on education and how to be a teacher.
But I felt I lacked enough life experience to truly be a good teacher, so I set out to gain some real-life experience and moved to DC. It almost swallowed me whole… except that I happen to meet a tremendous woman who helped me swim, Viola Young Horvath. She was one of the first microbiologists in the US. She who took me under her wing and guided me through life in WDC. I never, ever wanted to work in the corporate world. But, somehow, with Viola’s help, that is exactly where I ended up writing stories for corporations and non-profits in the form of proposals, annual reports, funding reports… which is exactly what I didn’t want to do as the younger version of myself. But I was sure getting life experience, way too much at times!
I met my life partner, a volcanologist at the Smithsonian, and began our family. We have one vibrant, beautiful grown-up daughter who is a constant source of inspiration and vitality. That’s about when I started looking for this story. It took me 12 years to find it, then 12 years to write it. From its inception, the timeline of this story began in 2020. And then, reality caught up with the story. Because of this, one of the characters has been woven into current events. For this reason, book 1 of this series may not be suitable for all readers as it deals with contentious concepts and issues happening right now, in 2024.
Paperback Live: April 24, 2024 | Hardcover and Kindle available soon! | Available on Amazon
How do we, the Good People of Earth, stop the needless death and destruction happening to people who are victims of hate and rage, war, greed, victims of famine (manmade and natural), and Climate Change? How can we stop ourselves from slipping irrevocably into a collective fate, a future coming for us sooner than we think is possible, a future very soon, we, the Good People of Earth, can no longer resist, no longer fight, no longer change? How can we, the People of Earth, avert our fate and reach for our destiny?
This is a story about fate vs destiny. Moment is caught in a web of fate being created for her now. Fate is a one-sided thing. Fate is sharp and judgmental. Fate is searing, unforgiving and stinging. Fate does not care if you are old or young, innocent or guilty, happy or sad, rich or poor, powerful or weak. Fate is fueled by fear, rage, and hate. Fate happens when you least expect it to, a lot like death. Fate is our collective fall over the Climate Cliff.
Destiny is a two-sided thing. Destiny is hard, and it is soft. Destiny is grueling and also infinitely effortless. Destiny will make you mad, and it will make you sane. Destiny will make you scream and shout and stomp it all out in hopeless impotence, and it will give you everlasting peace. Destiny requires endurance and inner fortitude. There is nothing easy about destiny. It is a choice that must be seen from both sides and endured with patience, tolerance, and acceptance to what it shows you. Destiny is fueled by awe, wonder, reverence, and honest self-reflection. Destiny is the beginning of wisdom.
What will you choose? Every person is voting. Do we begin our long journey back from perdition, a place we made all by ourselves. Or do we fall, returning to the silence from which we came? The moment is now to choose something different because now is the only place of creation.
How Would A No Labels Presidential Candidate Change the Outcome in 2024?
This blog focus on the idea that the non-profit organization called No Labels plans to put a third party candidate into the 2024 Presidential Campaign. While I agree with Ryan Clancy’s idea of creating more choice for American voters, it is an extremely, short-sighted, ill-conceived, and premature idea to try to do this year.
While 60,000 voters think a third party candidate can win, so far no third party candidate has ever come close to getting a toe hold into the White House. There are so many more MAGA voters inspired by cooky myths, lies, and the very scary Seven Mountain Mandate men, of whom Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert are examples of women leaning heavily into “Let’s Do Medieval Again!“
The Stakes
This year, more than any year in American history, the stakes are higher than most people care to believe or admit or reckon with. Having Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West already running on third party tickets is concerning. So now, we want more choice and add a No Labels ticket too?! Really, this year, when King Kong and his MAGA base is coming to rip down democracy and replace it with the Christian Alt Right Stary-Eyed, Let’s Have Kings Again, The Seven Mountains Mandate men?!
Who are The Seven Montains Mandate men and women? Think Handmaids Tale.
It is not: “Oh the guy I voted for didn’t do the one thing I really wanted him to do, so I’m not voting for him again.”
This is an ignorant, short-sighted, and extremely selfish opinion. Running a country of 331+ million people democratically is not done by waving magic wands and fixing this problem instantly, then this problem, then that problem, and so on and so forth…
Do you live in reality people who give this as a reason for not voting for Joe? MAGA voters are a whole different story. They are a battering ram. They want to destroy democracy and rebuild America as a Totalitarian Christian Nationalist Country. Do you, ordinary voters unhappy with Joe want to live in a Christian Nationalist State run by one of the stupidest men on the planet… the Orange Baby?
Bradley Onishi is a former Christian nationalist who's now a professor of religion and the author of Preparing for War, a critique of the movement and its impact on American democracy.
BRAD ONISHI: I think it has. Christian nationalism is having a moment. It's having a moment in ways that it's requiring those who adhere to its principles and ideologies to respond to it. Folks like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert and others have talked about the ways that Christian nationalism not only informs their understanding of politics, but how they identify explicitly as Christian nationalists. And so we are at a point in American politics where Christian nationalism is something that many people are discussing.
GROSS: Are there many people in Congress who are affiliated with Christian nationalism?
ONISHI: I think it's fair to say that, yes. One of the things that's true about our Congress is that it is disproportionately Christian. Now, there are many different types of Christian people in our Congress from various denominations. However, if we look at the GOP and we look at the tenets of the party's policies and its approach to the upcoming elections, we find core Christian nationalist ideals in that platform. And we find many, many, many members of Congress from the GOP who support those principles. So from outgoing Speaker Kevin McCarthy to current speaker Mike Johnson, all the way to senators and other members of the House, there are many folks who I would describe as Christian nationalists in the United States Congress.
GROSS: What are some of the fundamental principles of Christian nationalism? Like, how would you define Christian nationalism?
ONISHI: I think in very simple terms, Christian nationalism is the idea that Christian people should be privileged in the United States in some way - economically, socially, politically - and that that influence and that privilege is a result of the country being founded by and for Christians. Christian nationalism is not the idea that others can't be here - that if you're a Muslim or an atheist, that you have to leave. It's also not the idea that only Christians can be part of the government. However, for most Christian nationalists, there is a core belief that the story of the United States is one where it has been elected by God to play an exceptional role in human history, and as being chosen by God, it's the duty of Christian people to carry out his will on Earth.
So Christian nationalists take an approach to their Christianity that says it should have an undue influence on our government, on our economics, on our culture, and that it is by dint of our history, the religious faith that is meant to be privileged in our public square. With that said, there are different kinds of Christian nationalists and different ways that people manifest their understanding of the term. But when it comes down to it, if we all sit down as Americans at a table and there are people from different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different faiths, and someone who is a Christian says, just by being at this table, I should have a special place, well, to me, that's Christian nationalism because you're saying that somehow this country is yours in a way that it is not for everyone else. And to me, therein lies the problem.
Go to Fresh Air to listen or read the rest of this interview. It is really, really important!
And this is really creepy:
GROSS: An extreme group of Christian nationalists is the New Apostolic Reformation, and they advocate the Seven Mountain Mandate, which is that Christian nationalists or Christians should lead government, family, religion, business, education, media, arts and entertainment, and that they - all of these sectors should reflect the kingdom of God. And I think I mentioned all seven there. So what does that mean to reflect the kingdom of God in family, religion, business, education, media, arts and entertainment, and the government?
ONISHI: The Seven Mountains mandate is a particular form of understanding human society that says that Christian people are not called to persuade their neighbors to practice the Christian faith, to demonstrate to their fellow Americans that the Christian faith is the faith of love and truth. The Seven Mountains Mandate is, as my colleague Matthew Taylor says, a mandate to colonize the Earth for God. The seven domains as you listed them - arts and leisure and the economy and the government, the family - are seen as mountains of conquest. The goal is not dialogue with neighbors who may be Muslim or atheist or Hindu. The goal is not to simply reflect the character of Christ on earth by way of living a life that upholds his glory and his teachings. The goal is to have absolute authority and power over every facet of human society.
And so we can see here what I take to be a very dangerous approach to practicing Christianity in the public square. It is not one that recognizes democracy or dialogue, pluralism as sacred values. The goal is power. The goal is conquest. And so when one hears about a politician or a leader or anyone in influence, especially as part of our government, who adheres to the Seven Mountains Mandate, that should set alarm bells off immediately.
Democracy Is Not: “Joe’s too old, Joe’s too square, Joe’s too this or that...” This is just as stupid, impatience, ignorant reason to not vote for a known and vetted winner: Joe Biden.
There was a time in the not so distant past when age was considered a plus and must for a ruler. Wisdom takes time to ripen and mature inside of people. And it does not come to everyone who ages… look at the overly large, orange, baby King Kong with his revved up mad as hell MAGA base.
Do you think they are worried about the Orange Giant being too old… his less than 4 years younger than Biden!! Anyone giving this as a reason not to vote for Joe is suffering from ageism and is pretty ignorant about how a government governing 331+ million people really works! It takes a lot of people to make it work… good people who are appointed to their positions in a timely fashion and have the expertise and experience to do their jobs. Trump had the most vacancies in top, critical positions of any former President. Some key positions were never appointed under the Orange Giant.
Democracy Is Not: “I’m mad a Joe for aiding Israel.” Modern nation-states are messy… alliances are messy… the world is messy and hard and cruel… that is why nations make alliances, and when Israel was attacked by HAMAS in one of the bloodiest, most gruesome slaughters of innocent people of this century, of course US comforts and supports Israel. There is so much going on behind the scenes that you and I never hear about. The death of any innocent person is intolerable. And Joe and his cabinet are doing their damn best to push for resolution, ceasefire, peace. But, tell me, anyone threatening not to vote for Joe because he can’t wave his wand and make this bloodshed stop… DO YOU REALLY THINK THE ORANGE GIANT (the man to put in place the Muslim Ban days after taking office)…. DO YOU REALLY THINK he is a better option?! I was mad at Obama for not doing more to stop the slaughter of Syrians being bombed by Russia as they aided their ugly ally Bashar al-Assad.
Take A Minute, Learn Something… Maybe Something New
Do Americans really understand democracy? Do Americans really cherish it? Do American comprehend what is at stake this year?
No Labels Debate
It is a choice. Listen to this debate and listen to Fresh Air if you are truly concerned about making an informed, intelligent choice.
The centrist group No Labels is planning to host a bipartisan nominating convention in 2024. This is leading some people to speculate that they may promote a third-party candidate that better reflects the perspective of middle-of-the-line voters who don’t favor President Biden’s re-election bid or Donald Trump receiving the Republican nomination.
Those who say it will help Trump argue the group doesn’t have enough influence to make lasting tangible change and worry that promoting a third-party unity ticket will give an unpopular candidate like Trump a lower threshold for votes that would’ve gone to Biden.
Those who disagree say voters who are discontented with both major parties but particularly opposed to Trump, might turn out in support of the third-party candidate, indirectly reducing Trump's chances.
With this context, we debate the question: “How Would A No Labels Presidential Candidate Change the Outcome in 2024?"
Rahna Epting argues that the No Labels Party does not have a path to win the presidency. Ryan Clancy argues a No Labels unity presidential ticket has a viable path to win the White House in 2024. Emmy award-winning journalist John Donvan moderates.
Open to Debate:How Would a No Labels Presidential Candidate Change the Outcome in 2024?
Feature Archetypal Animation
Music: Mickey Mouse Operation | Little People — [11] Fisticuffs At Dawn 1:02
