Making Ignorance Great Again!

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.

And, Happy 4th of July!

When Do We Get To Use Violence?

And Other Things to Remember about January 6, 2021

First Archetypal Animation | Trying to Work It Out 

Trying to Work It Out | Music: 40 Thieves – The Work Of A Craftsman | The Noam Chomsky Music Project | An Incredible Moment

In the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, my brother-in-law was heard telling his son, “I can’t wait for the shooting and killing to begin.”

I don’t share this to expose what a despicable man he is (although after spending 2.5 weeks with him after attending a memorial service for my sister-in-law who lost her battle to breast cancer, he showed me just how repugnant, wretched, beastly, and hate-filled he has become as a sorry excuse for a man. I am video blogging about the good, the bad, and the ugly in my Big Sky Series).

Rather I share this sad sentiment to shine light on the reality that the 309,000 people living in the US who do not believe in the Big Lie and do not believe violence is justified to overturn an election whose results they don’t like probably know someone who does.

The Conversation reports:

The University of Chicago Project on Security and Threats have been tracking insurrectionist sentiments in U.S. adults, most recently in surveys in June. We have found that 47 million American adultsnearly 1 in 5agree with the statement that “the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president.” Of those, 21 million also agree that “use of force is justified to restore Donald J. Trump to the presidency.”

Why should we be paying attention to this when there are so many other Big Problems such as Climate Change, poverty, and disease that need our time and attention. Because the ramifications of the United States of American falling prey to autocratic, authoritarian, dictatorial rule are huge. And as a democracy, we have never been nearer to such an outcome since the Civil War.

Here is what Timothy Snyder, Yale history professor, predicts would happen if a Trump 2024 coup that is carefully being architected right now through our legal systems and then shored up with new legislation restricting voting rights and further bolstered by installing more compliant men and women at state and local levels who are willing to do as the Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger refused to do when Trumped asked him to “find” enough votes to overturn his loss in Georgia.


Yale history professor Timothy Snyder predicts the horrific aftermath of a Trump coup in 2024

If Trump runs in 2024, he will lose the popular vote. If corrupt GOP state legislators install Trump as President, the United States will quickly and catastrophically cease to exist. That's what Yale history professor Timothy Snyder says in the latest issue of his "Thinking About" newsletter.

“In a situation where he is installed as president after losing an election, Mr. Trump would vainly try to control what will quickly cease to be the United States. His allies who wish to destroy the state will be the only winners.  The precise scenario of the collapse of the United States is impossible to predict, but some of the following is likely to happen, and quickly. 

Tens of millions of people protest. Paramilitaries on both sides emerge. Violence leads to fake and real stories of deaths, and to revenge.  Police and armed forces will know neither whom they should obey nor whom they should arrest.  With traditional authority broken, those wearing uniforms and bearing arms will become partisans, take sides, and start shooting one another.  Governors will look for exit strategies for their states.  Americans will rush to parts of the disintegrating country they find safer, in a process that looks increasingly like ethnic cleansing. The stock market and then the economy will crash. The dollar will cease to be the world currency.” 

MARK FRAUENFELDER  | BoingBoing | 8:38 AM THU JAN 6, 2022
Snyder is the author of the short book, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. Read Mark Frauenfelder's full article for highlights from this book. It sounds frightening like Margret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale!

It would perhaps be easier if the 47 million people who believe the election was stolen, and especially the 21 million who are ready to take violent action to right their misperceived wrong, lived in a single state like Texas, and then let that state secede from the union like the South wanted to do during the Civil War. But that is not our shared reality. We are interwoven and connected to the 47 million American adults who believe the election was stolen from Trump and cross paths with the 21 million adults who are willing to use violence to get their way.

They are our brothers (or brother-in-laws), sisters, uncles, aunts, parents, children, and friends. So what do we do?

We stay informed. We find was to stay sane as my Big Sky Series is video blogging about. We endure the uncertainty and the extreme discomfort, anxiety, and fear that goes with it. And despite it all, we find ways to restore our sense of faith in people that at our centers, we are capable of heroic acts of kindness, goodness, and unselfishness as demonstrated just yesterday when Los Angeles police officers risked their lives to pull a pilot from his crashed plane seconds before a commuter train crashed into it.


What follows is a curation of some of the reporting on Jan 6 one year later and what has been learned as well as what remains a threat. It is by no means a comprehensive list. For example, I have made a conscious decision not to highlight “news” sources touting the Big Lie even as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) pulls the oldest trick days after marking this sad day in American history. It is a standard go to trick in the authoritarian’s playbook, which is pretend the other side is doing exactly what you are doing.

The Hill reports:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) office knocked Democrats over “the left’s Big Lie” — which it pegged as the belief that “there is some evil anti-voting conspiracy sweeping America” — as Democrats look to push for federal voting rights legislation.

A memo from the minority leader’s office on Sunday predicts that Democrats will “try to use fake hysteria to break the Senate and silence millions of Americans’ voices so they can take over elections and ram through their radical agenda,” likely referring to calls by many Democrats to abolish the filibuster in the Senate to pass voting rights reforms.

I have roughly laid out the information below by news sources, begining with a compelling interview with Evan Osonos about the building of a Right-Wing media empire just in time for the 2024 election.


FreshAir Reporting

Second Archetypal Animation | Purveyors of Rage

Building of a Right-Wing Media Empire to Cancel Cancel Culture

Purveyors of Rage Culture | Music: Madvillain – The Illest Villains – Madvillainy

And How Dan Bongino is Building a Right-Wing Media Infrastructure in time for 2024

January 6, 2022; 1:40 PM ETHeard on  Fresh Air

Fresh Air Interview with EVAN OSNOS who wrote about Dan Bongino in the New Yorker about how he is building a right-wing media empire just in time for the 2024 election--how to cancel cancel culture.

A Several Things That Grabbed My Attention:

When Evan Osnos asked Bongino for an interview, Bongino refused stating, “Why should I want to talk to the enemy.”

Bongino calls face masks mouth diapers and face burkas. While Bongino is vaccinated himself, he tells his followers to remain unvaccinated. When asked about this, he doesn’t see the connection to his vaccination status and continued health versus his followers deaths because they listened to him, remained unvaccinated, caught COVID, and died.

His fellow secret service agents said, “It’s like there are 2 Bonginos; the one who was a secret service agent and the one he is now.” He plays into the suspicion conservatives have that government is not working for us–the common man and woman in America with conservative values.

Bongino made the link between war and the battlefield with politics and differences between parties. He has been very successful in marrying the idea that violence and politics go together. He wrapped himself very tightly around Donald Trump that helped his growing business rise exponentially. He is better at tapping into rage than Alex Jones and others doing the same. Rush died. FoxNews and Matt Drudge are grappling with intense competition on the right for the spotlight.

He has a lot of gun related advertisers and survivalist businesses as well as Omaha steaks and sleep products. Guns and survivalist thinking are phenomena confined to the right. He promotes the idea that elections are rigged and are not to be trusted. He grew up during the time of the NRA dominance and embraces the idea and term the NRA promoted about having a combat mindset.

It is important to understand why we are at the moment we are now, which is arguably worst than one year ago.


Wildland: The Making of American Fury

Book by Evan Osnos

Images from top to bottom:


“A sprawling, fascinating journey through the dawning decades of the 21st century . . . through acute observation, extensive interviewing and dogged research, Osnos weaves an intricate tapestry that gradually reveals how Americans experienced the last two decades.”

Lizabeth Cohen, The Washington Post

“One of the books of the year . . . Wildland by The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos draws the backstory to America’s rage through deep reporting and ‘thousands of hours of conversations’ in three places he lived before D.C.”

Axios

“Osnos offers the most personal and the most powerful description yet of a country ‘so far out of balance that it [has] lost its center of gravity’ . . . My hope is that everyone who reads this great book will be enraged enough to redouble their efforts to undo the damage the greedy have wrought, and to take back America for its decent citizens, once and for all.”

Charles Kaiser, The Guardian

“Visionary in scope, compassionate in procedure, Wildland brilliantly transmutes our national chaos into absorbing narrative order. Evan Osnos has penned a definitive portrait of what we have allowed ourselves to become: a nation reaping the harvest that long negligence has sown.” 

―Ayad Akhtar, author of Homeland Elegies


Day of Rage

6 month NYT Visual Investigation

This is a six-month Times investigation that has synchronized and mapped out thousands of videos and police radio communications from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, providing the most complete picture to date of what happened — and why.
Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol | NYT Visual Investigations
6,344,823 views, Jul 1, 2021

This is a 40-minute documentary about January 6, 2021. It was produced by The New York Time’s Visual Investigations team that synchronized and mapped thousands of videos of the U.S. Capitol riot to provide the most complete picture to date of what happened on Jan. 6 — and why. It was a massive effort that occurred over six months and involved resources from across the Times newsroom. The Visual Investigation team went to court to unseal police body camera footage, scoured law enforcement radio communications and interviewed witnesses.

Haley Willis, The New York Times

Peril

Book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa

Sources for images from top to bottom:

  • Peril Hardcover – September 21, 2021 | Amazon
  • Democrat Party cartoons and comics | Cartoonstock
  • 7 Basic Characteristics Every Democracy Needs | The Advertiser Mirror, March 2, 2021 | (1) Civil liability, (2) Democratic values, (3) Guarantee of rights and common welfare, (4) Decentralized democracy, (5) Political participation, (6) Constitutional principle, (7) Democratic models
  • ‘American democracy will continue to be tested’: Peril author Robert Costa on Trump, the big lie and 2024 | Interview by David Smith in Washington | A Trump 2024 sign seen at a vendor’s table during an anti-vaccine, anti-mask mandate rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, last month. Photograph: Paul Weaver/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock | The Guardian, Sep 26, 2021
  • Arkansas school apologizes for political news summaries in yearbook | By Joseph Wilkinson, May 25, 2021 | Daily News | “The yearbook from Lincoln Junior High in Bentonville, in the state’s northwest corner, falsely but confidently read, “President Trump WAS NOT impeached” under a photo of the former president, according to photos obtained by local CBS affiliate KFSM.”
  • Chaos in Washington as Trump supporters storm Capitol | Tuesday, Jan 11, 2022 | Israel Hayom — This is where we stand | US President Trump tweets: These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots.
  • The Dan Bongino Show | iHeart | He’s a former Secret Service Agent, former NYPD officer, and New York Times best-selling author. Join Dan Bongino each weekday as he tackles the hottest political issues, debunking both liberal and Republican establishment rhetoric. [Note: He is a former Secret Service Agent and NYPD officer…he is not so much debunking Republican establishment rhetoric as wrapping it and building a new authoritarian narrative to pave the way for Trump’s glorious return.]
  • Is Steve Bannon the Second Most Powerful Man in the World? | The Great Manipulator | By David Von Drehle | Feb. 2, 2017 | Cover of Time
  • Top Fox hosts lobbied Trump to act on Jan. 6, texts show | By David Bauder, December 15, 2021 | AP | “The revelation that Fox News Channel personalities sent text messages to the White House during the Jan. 6 insurrection is another example of how the network’s stars sought to influence then-President Donald Trump instead of simply reporting or commenting on him. Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Brian Kilmeade all texted advice to Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, as a mob of pro-Donald Trump loyalists stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, vice chair of the congressional committee probing the riot.”
  • Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa review — the secret plan to keep Trump in power | The veteran journalist Bob Woodward reveals just how close America was to a coup this year. Review by Justin Webb | The Time UK

Peril is a book by American journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa about the last days of Donald Trump’s presidency, as well as the presidential transition and early presidency of Joe Biden. The book was published on September 21, 2021, by Simon & Schuster.

 Wikipedia

“The book details how Mr. Trump’s presidency essentially collapsed in his final months in office, particularly after his election loss and the start of his campaign to deny the results.” — Michael S. Schmidt, The New York Times

“The clear theme of Peril is not a rehash or account of what transpired over the past year or so. It is a waving red flag designed to warn the electorate and chattering class that this story is far from over.”—Mediaite


Marketplace Tech Reporting

The tech legacy of tracking the Jan. 6 insurrectionists

Marketplace Tech Description: One year after the assault on the Capitol, more police departments have deployed artificial intelligence programs for surveillance.
Image from The tech legacy of tracking the Jan. 6 insurrectionistsKIMBERLY ADAMS AND DANIEL SHIN

Excerpt:

In the weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, law enforcement agencies and internet sleuths identified hundreds of people who stormed the U.S. Capitol. Many were later arrested or faced consequences at their jobs or in their communities.
Authorities used a variety of technologies to speed up that process, which was needed because there were millions of images, videos, messages, social media posts and bits of location data to parse.
Anjana Susarla is professor of responsible artificial intelligence and information systems at Michigan State University and has been studying the role that tech, especially image recognition, is playing in the ongoing search for suspects. The following is an edited transcript of our conversation.

Amanpour and Company Reporting

Trump’s Next Coup Has Already Begun

“Trump’s Next Coup Has Already Begun,” Reports Barton Gellman of The Atlantic | Amanpour and Company 166,157 views, Dec 10, 2021
Overview: Barton Gellman was among the journalists who predicted in 2020 that President Trump would not admit defeat if he lost the presidential election. Now, in a cover story for The Atlantic, Gellman says the former president is in an even better position to seize power. He speaks with Hari Sreenivasan about why he believes democracy will be on trial in the 2024 presidential election. Originally aired on December 10, 2021.

PBS NewsHour & WAMU Reporting

January 6 Was A Shot Across the Bow | It is a Harbinger

Jan. 6 attack was a ‘warning shot’ and likely a ‘harbinger,’ experts say. Here’s why
9,706 views, Jan 6, 2022
To read the full transcript of this report, see Jan. 6 attack was a ‘warning shot’ and likely a ‘harbinger,’ experts say. Here’s why

The Possible End Of American Democracy As We Know It

December 9, 2021, 3:52 PM ET

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Barton Gellman says the Republican party is increasingly unwilling to accept defeat and, in fact, is "prepared to win by sacrificing the essential elements of democracy." His new Atlantic article is 'Trump's Next Coup Has Already Begun.'

Third Archetypal Animation | As The End of Democracy Draws Near

As The End of Democracy Draws Near | Music: American Democracy: The Endgame of the Human Race by Noam Chomsky (Available on Spotify)
[Also see a Dec. 30, 2021 Interview with Noam Chomsky on Rising Fascism in U.S., Class Warfare & the Climate Emergency | Noam Chomsky warns the Republican Party is “marching” the world to destruction by ignoring the climate emergency while embracing proto-fascism at home. Chomsky talks about the January 6 insurrection, how neoliberalism is a form of class warfare and how President Biden’s climate plans fall short of what is needed.

The voices of those who experienced the Jan. 6 Capitol attack firsthand | January 06, 2022 | By Naomi Starobin and Gabe Bullard, WAMU

The Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol affected many people — residents, elected officials and their staff, journalists, and the police who were called in to protect them.
WAMU's Naomi Starobin and Gabe Bullard put together this montage of the voices of some of these people who talked about the events of that day and how it impacted them.

America Interrupted

This is the full episode of the PBS NewsHour for Jan. 7, 2022. At minute 23:30, Judy introduced a podcast she and three amazing women reporters witnessed and reported on live while the insurrection unfolded. Lisa Desjardins was inside the Capitol as the rioters invaded and had to hide. She tells about her experience inside the Capitol that day. Amna Nawaz was previously a war correspondent and has parachuted into dangerous places to report on them. She was outside of the Capitol as the rioters invaded and interviewed them in real time. She said the force and energy was just as violent and vitriolic as any of the places she reported during her days as a foreign correspondent reporting on wars. Yamiche Alcindor was at the White House as the day unfolded reporting on what Trump was not doing as the carnage at the Capitol unfolded.


The Jan. 6 insurrection, 1 year later | PBS NewsHour presents
7,241 views, Premiered 4 hours ago
Description: Congress is still investigating the people and organizations linked to the Jan. 6 attack — the most violent assault on the U.S. Capitol since the British attack during the war of 1812. The PBS NewsHour looked back at what happened that day, the lasting impacts on those who survived, where the investigations stand, and the broader effects on American politics, culture and democracy itself.

Fourth Archetypal Animation | Carnage at the Capitol

Carnage at the Capitol | Music: Noam Chomsky — Propaganda & Control of the Public Mind | A Real War

The Conversation Reporting

21 million Americans say Biden is ‘illegitimate’ and Trump should be restored by violence, survey finds

The Conversation

September 23, 2021 | 8.29am EDT

For months, my colleagues and I at the University of Chicago Project on Security and Threats have been tracking insurrectionist sentiments in U.S. adults, most recently in surveys in June. We have found that 47 million American adults – nearly 1 in 5 – agree with the statement that “the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president.” Of those, 21 million also agree that “use of force is justified to restore Donald J. Trump to the presidency.”

The Guardian Reporting

Trump’s ‘cult-like control’ of Republican party grows stronger since insurrection

The Guardian | David Smith in Washington@smithinamerica, Wed 5 Jan 2022 02.00 EST

Fifth Archetypal Animation | “I Just Want to Occupy Your Mind”

“I Just Want to Occupy Your Mind” | Music: Noam Chomsky — Propaganda & Control of the Public Mind | Controlling the Public Mind
"In the year since the insurrection that reverberated around the world, Trump’s stranglehold on Republicans has seemingly become stronger, not weaker. Graham was soon back on the golf course with him; McCarthy was soon kissing the ring at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Many leaders of the party have set about changing the narrative of the insurrection to portray it as a heroic last stand – a new “lost cause”.

(…)

"Trump was the first president in American history to inspire an attempted coup. After a rally where the defeated incumbent urged supporters to fight like hell”, the angry mob laid siege to the US Capitol to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory."
"Five people died, scores of police were beaten and bloodied and there was about $1.5m in damage in the first major attack on the Capitol since the war of 1812. More than 700 people have been charged in one of the biggest criminal investigations in American history."

(…)

"Today the loudest voices in the Republican party belong to the extremists. For them, Trump’s “big lie” that the election was stolen from him due to voter fraud, rendering Biden an illegitimate president, goes hand in hand with the lie that the insurrection was a morally justified crusade, an righteous endeavor to save democracy, not destroy it."
"Trump himself perpetuates this through a regular barrage of interviews, rallies and emailed statements since he was barred from Twitter. Notably he has sought to lionize Ashli Babbitt, who was shot dead during the riot, as a martyr."
"Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican congresswoman, has cast rioters currently held in detention in a similar light. In November she visit a Washington jail’s so-called “patriot wing” and complained the inmates were enduring “inhumane” conditions because of their political beliefs."
"Other pro-Trump Republicans in the House echo these messages – one referred to the Capitol attack as a “normal tourist visit” – or do little to contradict them. Some Republican senators are evidently more uncomfortable with the web of deceit and urge the party to look forward to the next election. But again only a small minority are willing to take Trump on directly."

WBUR Here & Now Reporting

Dark day on the calendar of American history’: Historian explains how Jan. 6 will be remembered

Even in the early moments of the insurrection, Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley suggested former President Donald Trump would need to take some responsibility for goading on his supporters.
One year later, he joins Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd to reflect on Jan. 6 and how history will view that day.
This segment aired on January 6, 2022.

It is kind of like a NeoCivil War still going on today. It really is all hands on deck to save democracy and the right to vote today.

Douglas Brinkley

Vermont Democrat reflects on fleeing the Capitol on Jan. 6 riot, one year later

WBUR | January 06, 2022

"Rep. Peter Welch (VT-D) joins Here & Now's Scott Tong to reflect on trying to flee angry rioters in the Capitol building on this day last year, and what the legacy of that insurrection is today."
"Capitol police told us to get on the floor and put on our gas masks. Then, I heard a shot from the floor below us.  There was an immense sense of peril."

Sixth Archetypal Animation | No Way Out!

No Way Out! | Music: Noam Chomsky — Propaganda & Control of the Public Mind | Conscious Manipulation
Plays clip of Danny Rodriguez accused of tasing Officer Fanone who breaks down crying saying he couldn't believe how stupid he was he thought he was going to be a hero.
New FBI Video Shows Interrogation Of Jan. 6 Defendant Accused Of Tasing Officer
240,380 views, Nov 30, 2021

Extremism and accountability: how the aftermath of Jan. 6 impacts future plots

WBUR | January 06, 2022 by Amanda Beland & Tiziana Dearing

It started with 'The Big Lie." Many argue that led directly to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th last year.
Over the last twelve months, hundreds have been arrested and charged in connection with the insurrection, including nearly a dozen from New England and six from Massachusetts.
But that's just a fraction of those who breached the Capitol that day. And as investigations - both by law enforcement and Congress continue - it has become clear that there was coordination, planning, at least by and for some of the participants, behind that breach.
We talk more about accountability, and what the future may hold for extremism locally and nationally with Joan Donovan, Research Director at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy and Andrew Lelling, former US Attorney for Massachusetts under the Trump Administration. Lelling coordinated with the U.S. Attorney's office in the District of Columbia on prosecutions.

POLITICO Reporting

The legacy of the Jan. 6 committee … and what’s still left to do

POLITICO By RYAN LIZZAKYLE CHENEY and KRYSTAL CAMPOS

The legacy of the Jan. 6 committee … and what’s still left to do
1,200 views, Premiered Jan 6, 2022
Description: One year after the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, the House select committee’s investigation into what happened that day is far from over. Much of the committee’s work has been behind closed doors, but the bipartisan group of lawmakers plan to enter a more public phase in 2022. This week, Kyle Cheney joins Ryan Lizza to answer a big question: What has the Jan. 6 committee accomplished so far?

The 2021 Lie of the Year: Lies about the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and its significance

POLITICO Visual Reporting Team | Possible Up for An Academy Award

ANNOUNCING: PolitiFact’s 2021 Lie of the Year
7,615 views, Premiered Dec 15, 2021

More Amanpour and Company Reporting

Seventh Archetypal Animation | Blessed Be The Fruit

Blessed Be The Fruit | Music: Tjenerindens Fortaelling (The Handmaid’s Tale) Symposium Prologue (2195AD) [Offred and the Handmaids]

Margaret Atwood Sounds the Alarm on Authoritarianism | Amanpour and Company
58,856 views, Dec 29, 2021
Description of Interview: President Biden has promised to face down authoritarianism and defend democracy – something Margaret Atwood sees as surprisingly fragile. The author is renowned around the world for her dystopian novels, including "The Handmaid’s Tale." In her latest project she takes a turn, with a focus on utopian ideals and how we might do better. It’s all part of a new online learning experience on Disco called "Practical Utopias: An Exploration of the Possible." Originally aired on December 7, 2021.

“Did you ever imagine when you wrote the Handmaids Tale that this amount of reality would shape up decades later.”

Amanpour and Company
Amanpour and Company
Is Trump Laying the Groundwork for a Coup in 2024? Bill Moyers Weighs In | Amanpour and Company
79,722 views, Jan 5, 2022
Description of Interview: Clashing ideologies about the meaning of democracy in America are no less harrowing than the events of January 6. Journalist Bill Moyers, a 30-time Emmy Award winner, shares his views and concerns in the new PBS documentary "Preserving Democracy," airing tomorrow. Moyers speaks with Hari Sreenivasan alongside historian Kathleen Belew – who also appears in the film – about the insurrection and the danger of a recurrence. Originally aired on January 5, 2022.
Ronan Farrow: Who Were the Rioters on Jan. 6th? | Amanpour and Company
1,327,162 views, Feb 10, 2021
Description of Interview: In the Trump impeachment trial, a key element of the prosecution's case is a dramatic video taken at the Capitol during the insurrection. Who were the actual faces in the crowd? Ronan Farrow has profiled three different rioters to learn more about their backgrounds. All three have been arrested and now face criminal charges. One made threats on Farrow's life. Michel Martin speaks with the reporter about his investigation. Originally aired on February 10, 2021.
Jason Stanley Warns: “America Is Now in Fascism’s Legal Phase” | Amanpour and Company
76,730 views, Jan 6, 2022
Description of Interview: Yale philosophy professor Jason Stanley sees January 6, 2021 as part of a history of fascist impulses in American politics. This is the focus of his book "How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them." His latest article in The Guardian is titled “America is now in fascism’s legal phase.” Stanley speaks with Michel Martin about what he calls an “extremely critical moment” for democracy around the world. Originally aired on January 6, 2021.
A New Study Shows Us the Single Biggest Motivation for the Jan. 6 Rioters | Amanpour and Company
881,468 views, May 6, 2021
Description of Interview: A new study on the January 6 Capitol insurrection finds that of the nearly 400 rioters arrested or charged, 93% are white and 86% are male. Michel Martin speaks to the study’s principal investigator, Professor Robert Pape, to discuss these findings and some surprising revelations about the attackers and their motives. Originally aired on May 6, 2021.
Jason Stanley: Did This 2 Min. Video Help Incite the Jan. 6 Rioters? | Amanpour and Company
1,111,612 views, Feb 12, 2021
Description of Interview: As former president Donald Trump's second impeachment trial enters its third day, the question remains whether his words or actions incited the January 6 assault on the Capitol. But little attention has been paid to a video that was shown that same day, at the January 6 "March to Save America" rally in Washington, D.C. Jason Stanley, a scholar of fascist propaganda, claims that this short video -- shown immediately after Rudy Giuliani left the stage, prior to the attack on the Capitol -- was full of themes and tactics that threaten liberal democracy. Stanley breaks the video down with Hari Sreenivasan and elaborates on its role in the violence that took place on that infamous day. Originally aired on February 11, 2021.

“Red Flags Everywhere:” Why Did the FBI Dismiss Jan. 6 Warnings? | Amanpour and Company
110,875 views, Nov 10, 2021
Description of Interview: "Presidents are not kings, and the plaintiff is not president." These were the words of a U.S. Federal judge rejecting former President Donald Trump's request to withhold records about the January 6th insurrection. The ruling will give a bipartisan house committee access to hundreds of pages of documents from the Trump White House. The committee also has issued 10 new subpoenas to former Trump officials. The Washington Post has conducted its own extensive investigation called "The Attack: Before, During and After." It included more than 75 journalists and interviews with over 230 people. Here is Michel Martin speaking with Post reporters Amy Gardner and Aaron Davis about the cascade of warnings received before January 6th. Originally aired on November 10, 2021.

CNN Reporting

What it will take to save American democracy | Opinion by Fareed Zakaria | January 10, 2022

Fareed Zakaria | January 10, 2022
"We often hear that, unlike in fledgling democracies, America's institutions are strong. But, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man." If people abuse them, attack them, disregard them, they will slowly collapse."

Also, keep an eye out for Fareed Zakaria’s latest special on CNN: The Fight to Save American Democracy. It provides a deep dive into the rise of totalitarian, authoritative, and fascist regimes that follow surprisingly similar recognizable patterns to grab power and control thereby crushing previously democratic societies like Hitler did in 1930’s Germany. The parallels are terrifying. This special will be available at the link above on Jan 16, 2022.

Fareed Zakaria fears American democracy could be in peril
293,953 views, Dec 1, 2019
Fareed: Democracy is decaying worldwide
130,539 views, Feb 25, 2018
Fareed Zakaria: This is how Republicans keep their power
716,275 views, Sep 27, 2020
Is democracy safe for the world? — with Fareed Zakaria (1998) | THINK TANK
2,718 views, Dec 13, 2020
Fareed Zakaria: Is this the Worst of Times? | The Agenda
50,996 views, Jun 15, 2021
The Future of American Democracy
1,221 views, Jan 20, 2021


New York Time’s The Daily Reporting

The Daily | NYT

Jan. 6, Part 1: “The Herd Mentality’

Inside an F.B.I. interview with one of the Capitol rioters.

Eighth Archetypal Animation | Herd Mentality

Herd Mentality — Hey Guys — Just Follow the Herd | Music: Music: Noam Chomsky — Propaganda & Control of the Public Mind | Delusion

Jan. 6, Part 2: Liz Cheney’s Battle Against the ‘Big Lie’

A conversation with the Republican House member about the Capitol riots and the state, and future, of the Republican Party.

The Politics Hour with Kojo Nnamdi Reporting

The Politics Hour: January 7, 2022

Description: Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-Md., 8th District) talks about the year since the Jan. 6 insurrection, which he writes about in his new book, Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy. Virginia Delegate Marcus Simon (D-53rd District) previews the legislative session, and the strategy for Democrats in a Republican-controlled House.

Power of Denialism

Denialism Is A Dangerous Virus | The Daily Show

January 6th: Did It Even Happen?! (Spoiler: Yes) feat. Chris Hayes & Jordan Klepper | The Daily Show | 587,715 views, Jan 3, 2022

“Don’t Look Up!”

DON’T LOOK UP | Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence | Official Trailer | Netflix
14,080,063 views, Nov 16, 2021
Description: Based on real events that haven’t happened - yet. Don’t Look Up in select theaters December 10 and on Netflix December 24. DON’T LOOK UP tells the story of two low-level astronomers who must go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching comet that will destroy planet Earth. Written and Directed by Adam McKay.

This awesome movie with an all star cast (better watch out conspiracy theory believers (that’s you QAnon, Deep staters, False flagers operations, “Stolen election” conspiracy theory, Illuminati believers, etc.) totally captures humans ability to ignore and deny reality and facts in pursuit of selfish, egotistical, self-obsessed, money-grubbing, miserly, opportunistic, self-absorbed interests. Did I miss an adjective here?


Where Do We Go From Here?

Paul Solman explores Political polarization prompts efforts to bridge the gap through shared experiences
4,427 views, Jan 10, 2022

This was such a hopeful and inspiring segment in the face of so much depressing realization of the forces at work in this moment and the terrible odds the U.S. has it to make it as a democratic nation beyond 2024.

Description: PBS NewsHour spent much of last week trying to examine what still divides our country and the deep polarization that preceded the Jan. 6 riots. Now, Paul Solman looks at multiple efforts to bridge those major political and cultural fissures in the U.S., beginning with smaller steps forward.

Is There Room for Redemption in Our Cancel Culture? | Amanpour and Company
3,914 views, Jan 7, 2022
Description of Interview: Loretta J. Ross is a visiting professor at Smith College whose teaching focuses on white supremacy in the age of Trump. Ross speaks with Michel Martin about January 6 as a possible opportunity for reflection and healing. Originally aired on January 6, 2022

I wanted to link you, my readers who have made it this far down, to Christiane Amanpour’s January 7, 2022 episode, but it is only available to view on your local PBS station. In this episode Christiane with Doris Kearns Goodwin and Timothy Snyder; Loretta J. Ross speaks with Michel Martin on whether January 6 provides an opportunity for reflection and healing.

Here is the link to Christiane’s interview with Doris Kearns Goodwin and Timothy Snyder that really hits it out of the park as far as what are the take away lessons from Jan. 6, 2022 and things to pay close attention to in the years leading up to the next US Presidential Election in 2024. Will this fragile democracy make it? Listen and learn for you are part of the answer.

I was also looking for Christiane’s interview with the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu who died in the early days of this dawning year. Christiane’s Jan 7, 2022 episode was a recollection of interviews she had done that spoke to the actions and ramifications of the events of Jan 6, 2021. I have not found a link to her interview, but I found this one on the Dalai Lama’s Finding Joy and Happiness station on YouTube. It speaks to the same spirit that Christiane had recognized and was illuminating with her interview with Desmond Tutu.

Finding Joy and Happiness | 207,835 views, Jul 1, 2021
Description: His Holiness the Dalai Lama reunites online with Archbishop Desmond Tutu from his residence in Dharamsala, HP, India on June 24, 2021, on the occasion of the release of their new movie "Mission: Joy - Finding Happiness in Troubled Times". For more info please see https://missionjoy.org/

We have so much to learn from these two Holy men who stand outside of the self-destructive forces of modern Western Civilization that seems hell bent on standing in a circle and annihilating the world in a mutual massacre of scapegoats. It doesn’t matter what side you stand on when the massacre of scapegoats begins the world is at the beginning of the end for the human race for we have evolved technologies too powerful for our primitive, puny minds to handle with the compassion, understanding, and care necessary to use them anymore.


What is our collective fate? I have no idea, but I am certain each and every person is casting their votes in the ever unfolding moment. We do it in their hearts and minds. We do it in the thoughts we think. We do it even more loudly in the actions we take.

As the old saying goes, “Actions speak louder than words.”

Recently, as I have been struggling to understand and survive my husband’s toxic family structure long poisoned by his mother’s narcissistic personality disorder, I ran across this truth in a video by clinical psychologist Dr. Ramani who is a leading expert on Narcissistic Abuse, Psychopathy, and Sociopathy. She counsel her patients who are mainly the victims of narcissists, psychopaths, and sociopaths that their words and what they say they will do is always in direction opposition to what they do. It is the very same issue that all of us must heed now in our struggle to save our democracy and this is because our current most dominant system of consciousness, Western Civilization, rewards people who are narcissists, psychopaths, and sociopaths.

We have the power to create a more perfect union, but this creative process is on-going and must be lived with as much consciousness of ourselves and our own inner, hidden motives as possible. Without that, without conscious growth as an individual, we are doomed to live out our fate, which is our own unconsciousness projected out onto others.

Sources for schema above include (beginning from bottom to top, except when repeated from same source):


Remember that you are a beautiful conscious being! Let your light shine today. When you are fully connected to who you are deep down at the center of your being, your actions will align with life and you will be a creative force for change rather than a destructive force.

The choice is always yours.


The Breakdown of Archetypal Animations

Feature Animation

Hate = Fate

See Human | Heaven | Hell for sources of images and music.


First Archetypal Animation | Trying to Work It Out 

Image Source: Donald Trump’s Latest Reality Show: The 2020 Election | Trump has been gearing up for the next presidential election since he took office. | By John Feffer for The Nation, March 10, 2020

Image Source:
Soldier/submachine gun by WikiImages | Pixabay | Deutsch  •  Member since Dec. 13, 2011
Dead man by soumen82hazra on Pixabay |
English  •  Member since April 24, 2020
Gild Walking with Teddy Bear by reyerbaby on Pixabay | lisa runnels  •  Age 59  •  magee/united states  •  Member since Jan. 13, 2012

Image Source: Four officers who responded to U.S. Capitol attack have died by suicide by Jan Wolfe for Reuters, August 2, 2021

Image Source: 7 Basic Characteristics Every Democracy Needs | The Advertiser Mirror, March 2, 2021 | (1) Civil liability, (2) Democratic values, (3) Guarantee of rights and common welfare, (4) Decentralized democracy, (5) Political participation, (6) Constitutional principle, (7) Democratic models

Image Source: US Capitol riots: Police officer’s death intensifies Capitol siege questions | Jan 8, 2021
“Trump supporters near US Capitol where they stormed the historic building, breaking windows and clashing with police. They also erected a noose in the Capitol grounds. Photo / Getty”

Image PixabayApocalyptic War Danger | hucky | Other images by Hucky

Image PixabayDisaster Apocalypse Apocalyptic tomasvl


Music40 Thieves – The Work Of A Craftsman | The Noam Chomsky Music Project | An Incredible Moment

40 Thieves – The Work Of A Craftsman | The Noam Chomsky Music Project
25 views, Dec 3, 2021

Second Archetypal Animation | Purveyors of Rage Culture 

Images from Pixabay:
Red monster by GregMontani
Greg Montani  •  Age 46  •  Bayern  •  Member since May 11, 2015
Green Scream by DaModernDaVinci
Shaun  •  Perth/Australia  •  Member since Dec. 15, 2018  •  #947
Man Eating Hand by Sammy-Sander
Sam Williams  •  Italy  •  Member since Nov. 8, 2018

Music: Madvillain – The Illest Villains – Madvillainy

Madvillain – The Illest Villains – Madvillainy (Full Album)
1,361,909 views, Jul 1, 2014

Third Archetypal Animation | As The End of Democracy Draws Near

Pixabay Images:
Sinking Statue of Liberty by PhotoMIX-Company
Photo Mix  •  Europe  •  Member since Oct. 21, 2015

Chaos in Washington as Trump supporters storm Capitol | Tuesday, Jan 11, 2022 | Israel Hayom — This is where we stand | US President Trump tweets: These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots.

Image from: Bipartisan commission to investigate January 6 attack on U.S. Capitol by Megan Coleman, May 14, 2021 | CNYCentral

Image: Is Steve Bannon the Second Most Powerful Man in the World? | The Great Manipulator | By David Von Drehle | Feb. 2, 2017 | Cover of Time

Image: Peril Hardcover – September 21, 2021 | Amazon

MusicAmerican Democracy: The Endgame of the Human Race by Noam Chomsky (Available on Spotify)


Fourth Archetypal Animation | Carnage at the Capitol

Images from Pixabay:
Watching the World Fall Apart by Alexas_Fotos
Here and now, unfortunately, ends my journey on Pixabay  •  but it continues on Pexels.com/under the same name  •  Member since Jan. 6, 2015

Chaos in Washington as Trump supporters storm Capitol | Tuesday, Jan 11, 2022 | Israel Hayom

Image from: Bipartisan commission to investigate January 6 attack on U.S. Capitol by Megan Coleman, May 14, 2021 | CNYCentral

Image from:Q Shaman’ Deeply ‘Wounded’ And Disappointed That Trump Didn’t Pardon Him by Tommy Beer for Forbes, May 4, 20211

Music: Noam Chomsky — Propaganda & Control of the Public Mind | A Real War

Noam Chomsky Propaganda And Control Of The Public Mind Full Lecture
162,371 views, Jan 12, 2012

Fifth Archetypal Animation | “I Just Want to Occupy Your Mind”

Pixabay Image: Mysterious, Fiction, Vampire, Wizard by Sammy-Sander |Sam Williams  •  Italy  •  Member since Nov. 8, 2018

Image source: Top Fox hosts lobbied Trump to act on Jan. 6, texts show | By David Bauder, December 15, 2021 | AP 

Image source: Is Steve Bannon the Second Most Powerful Man in the World? | The Great Manipulator | By David Von Drehle | Feb. 2, 2017 | Cover of Time

Image source: The Dan Bongino Show | iHeart 

Music: Noam Chomsky — Propaganda & Control of the Public Mind | Controlling the Public Mind (See above)


Sixth Archetypal Animation | No Way Out!

Pixabay Images: Statue, Human, Move, Run by Filmbetrachter | Deutsch  •  Member since Jan. 28, 2017
Fallen exit sign | TBF

Music: Noam Chomsky — Propaganda & Control of the Public Mind | Conscious Manipulation (see above)


Seventh Archetypal Animation | Blessed Be The Fruit

Image from: The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 Episode Release Guide by Louisa Mellor for Den of Geek

Image from: How ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’s Twisted Theology by Mary McCampbell for Relevant

Image from: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Season 4 Arrives On Hulu On April 28; See Details Here by Arundhati Vivek for RepublicWorld

Music: Tjenerindens Fortaelling (The Handmaid’s Tale) Symposium Prologue (2195AD) [Offred and the Handmaids]


Eighth Archetypal Animation | Herd Mentality

Images: TBA

Music: Music: Noam Chomsky — Propaganda & Control of the Public Mind | Delusion (See above)