Me too lynnventura, unshakable dread and worry all week. And YES, I'm deeply concerned that Trump, his crime family and his dirty goons will somehow beat the system, which is already in a weakened state. The R's are all singing their fake unity song and making strong protectionist moves around Trump. As previously noted by others in this discussion, when push comes to shove even the sane ones get in line with him. Also, Trump, the self-proclaimed p-grabber and neo-confederate, seems to thrive no matter what. His fans don't care, and that's the scariest thing of all.
I'm sorry to hear about it KB. As Jeanne has so wisely written, let's try to focus on things we can do to take care of ourselves, like meditating and holding good thoughts, and caring about each other. I'm grateful we have this forum where we can reach out, commiserate and support each other.
A while back I set up a class for December 18th on how to stay even keel, even thrive, in the midst of the chaos.
Proceeds go to defray expenses of the website.
Thanks Jeanne! I just registered.
Yay!
lynnventura - I was despondent for a long time after the election. Since then, I've been doing all I can to volunteer with resistance efforts. I was feeling a bit better over the summer, but since January have recurring nightmares... those have not changed. What has changed is that over the last few weeks I have gone from feeling worry and anger, to a sadder state of existing. I'm sure it's depression, BUT it's a kind of background sadness, like I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop all the time. It's also a kind of accepting sadness, like it's too late to change anything in my own personal journey to escape what lies ahead. I won't bore everyone here with my same old same old, suffice to say that I tend to see the glass as entirely empty, not even half empty. I do hope I am wrong, really, but I can't shake the sense that it's going to be the worst of all possible timelines that ends up being the one we're in.
I'd like to speak to the dread, despondency, and fear we currently struggle with. Bear with me--I have to share some groundwork to nail my point.
An article in Vox describes the means by which the GOP can ignore and override the results of Mueller's inquiry--even if collusion with Russia is directly, and indisputably proven. We're already sensing this potential timeline, and it is truly sick-making.
This is the mechanism that makes overriding the truth possible, from Vox:
"The US is undergoing an epistemic breach
"Epistemology is the branch of philosophy having to do with how we know things and what it means for something to be true or false, accurate or inaccurate. (Episteme, or ἐπιστήμη, is ancient Greek for knowledge/science/understanding.)
"The US is experiencing a deep epistemic breach, a split not just in what we value or want, but in who we trust, how we come to know things, and what we believe we know — what we believe exists, is true, has happened and is happening.
"The primary source of this breach, to make a long story short, is the US conservative movement’s rejection of the mainstream institutions devoted to gathering and disseminating knowledge (journalism, science, the academy) — the ones society has appointed as referees in matters of factual dispute." (emphasis mine)
The far right rejects the very idea of objective truth and institutions that serve it; "there is only Us and Them, only a zero-sum contest for resources."
Simply put, the GOP destroys the truth for gain. Our US epistemic split between truth and lies didn't happen by accident. It was created to serve the powerful.
Mercer, Murdoch & the Kochs use the media to spread lies and distort the truth as cover for their blatant money and power grabs. They rile up the 'base' to put pressure on GOP politicians (who are terrified of their base). Then the bought and paid for GOP gives the Murdochs, Kochs and Mercers what they want.
Fox news commentators are aware that they spread untruths in service to this political tribalism.
This epistemic split--lying for tribal gain--is a political form of gaslighting.
From Psychology Today: "Gaslighting is a tactic in which a person or entity, in order to gain more power, makes a victim question their reality. It works much better than you may think. Anyone is susceptible to gaslighting, and it is a common technique of abusers, dictators, narcissists, and cult leaders."
From Wikipedia: "Gaslighting is a form of manipulation that seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group, hoping to make them question their own memory, perception, and sanity. Using persistent denial, misdirection, contradiction, and lying, it attempts to destabilize the target and delegitimize the target's belief."
If you've ever dealt with a bully, narcissist or abuser in denial about their abuse, you've been gaslighted. It's my belief many of us have lived through gaslighting, and developed psychic ability in order to stabilize ourselves by accessing hidden truths.
At last, to the point!
Our US epistemic rupture is a *HUGE* case of gaslighting by authoritarian would-be dictators, aimed against the populace, with the intent to get them to believe untruths to the benefit of the powerful.
We feel sick, likely because we've all been here before, gaslighted by some narcissist, bully, or other abuser. I know I have. I got through it by anchoring to the larger reality, using objective truth to guide me.
This time, however, the abusers tamper with reality on a national scale. We're surrounded by their lies. It's hard to find where objective reality has traction. And we're sensing a timeline where Mueller's presentation of the reality of Russian Collusion will be gaslighted away by media and politicians serving the power-hungry.
Who wouldn't feel heartsick sensing that level of abuse? But our feeling pain and disorientation **is what the abuser wants.**
What helps me most is understanding GOP denial of the facts as intentional abuse for gain.
Step back from it, uncover the rules of play, and objectivize the situation. Emotionally detach from this national level abuse--and look for ways to resist.
-R1-
Runestone you have spoken truth. All of it.
Nothing in the outcome the Muller investigation will surprise me. I do not expect any honest or ethical reaction from the GOP Congress. The GOP Congress is not a real Congress. They are a charade. Their election to office was a charade. They are bankrolled and take their orders from psychopaths. Psychopathy runs through the leaders - Trump and Putin too. These are people who lie passionately and straight faced without blinking their eyes.
What are we to do? R1 said it perfectly. What helps me most is understanding GOP denial of the facts as intentional abuse for gain. Step back from it, uncover the rules of play, and objectivize the situation. Emotionally detach from this national level abuse--and look for ways to resist.
I want to add: Keep the faith. If you despair, call in help to bring you back to your wise centered Self. You can post your feelings here, although try to let us know you are asking for help to bring you back to center.
Never stop saying your truth. Truth is light for the soul. A time will come when you will look back on this abuse and be glad that you stood up and called it for what it was.
I am grateful to those who have devoted their lives to speaking the truth. Everyday when I check out news stories, I read the Washington Post's motto: "Democracy dies in darkness." I am grateful to those journalists for refusing to see this as normal. I am grateful to the Mayor of San Juan, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Rachel Maddow, and all of those with the courage to stand up to the mobsters and bullies who run this country now.
I hope we can keep the real news organizations in business. You may notice that I never ever link to Fox when they do a story that shows that one of our predictions came true. I will search for the story elsewhere. I'm also, sadly, wary of PBS, now that David Koch is a big contributor.
Runestone, your use of the concept of objectification hit home for me. Paulo Freire, a Brazillian, wrote that the ability to objectify reality is fundamental to educating poor and disenfranchised people. Central to his work is the idea that impoverished people survive by not questioning reality, and if you don't question reality, you can not meaningfully engage with printed texts, which answer questions. When you think about the rhyme about Jack and Jill running up the hill to fetch a pail of water, Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after, you can't make sense of any of it if you don't ask who, what, when, where, and how. Oppressed people don't question their reality or attempt to make sense of it in an objective way, because oppressors hurt them when they do. Freire based his thinking on concepts from revolutionary theology. Only by creating safe learning environments for inquiry do people move toward literacy and to question the nature of their oppression.
Before the Tea Party and the anti-climate change drumbeat, the Moral Majority, fundamentalist religious movements, and Newt Gingrich and friends, among many others, worked hard to create the foundation for communities and educational systems that do not actively engage people in inquiry. It's no wonder authoritarian institutions are opposed to science; it's inquiry based; it involves making hypotheses and testing them and so on. Rural areas and the urban core do not support inquiry based education. I totally agree that the answer to the depressive state of affairs in our country is objectification and teaching others to do so, too. This site delights me in going outside the box to predict and then test the validity of the predictions based on what really happens. It offers a dialectic between the holy and the profane through the gift of abstract imaging. I'm not a psychic, but that's what I imagine it to be about. It's a fundamentally literate endeavor.
Thank you, RunestoneOne, for your excellent *objective* perspective on things. For the last year I have done my best to focus on local resistance efforts, including visiting immigration detainees and lobbying in my state capitol (especially proud that I was able to encourage passage of the California Values Act). I've even been able to liaison between 2 orgs to help transgendered detainees' human rights to be protected. It's hard but satisfying. Yet and still, I can't shake the background sadness, and it's getting stronger to where it's starting to interfere with my desire to do the important resistance work, and I'm feeling ground down and also less grounded. That being said, today I had an interesting day, and I will head over to the positive posts thread and post about it there (no spoilers!).
This twitter thread by Seth Abramson (high level criminal prosecutor) details why the Mueller investigation will go on for a long time (thus making impeachment something not likely soon.) https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/932474004593696770
It also details the many moving parts in the Mueller investigation, as well as the challenges in getting usable info. Likely there may be civil suits for conspirators via State of New York before actual impeachment.
Due to the sequential nature of twitter, it's best to read from bottom up, starting with "1/ The President and his Congressional and administration allies recently initiated a national campaign to convince America the Russia probe is nearly done," which appears about 2/3 of the way down the thread. Read 1 - 35 plus ps, pps & comments.
This goes a long way toward explaining why group prognostications show no swift and immediate end to our national trauma.
-R1-
Wow, Runestone, thank you for posting the Abramson thread. I read the whole thing. Wonderful. Fascinating. I hope Muller can keep from being fired.
Last summer I did several detailed scans of Muller and so much of what I got fits what Abramson says. Mainly what I got that fits is that it's a very complicated investigation and it will take two years. Also that there's much Muller knows and believes but he can only prove a fraction of it. Also that Ivanka is a target too -- probably emoluments clause violations. And more.
Funny how well the Abramson material and your predictions dovetail, Jeanne! <heh, heh!> Look at all the stuff you get to bold as accurate on the predictions page!
As for Mueller, my sense of it is that the investigation has some structures that will close like the jaws of a trap if Mueller gets fired. And I think Trump's lawyers know he is vulnerable to obstruction charges if he fires Mueller.
Something else I'm sniffing around is your September prediction of thousands dead in a storm. Puerto Rico happened, and the official death toll is not being released. They claim 51, but there were over 900 post-hurricane cremations not folded into the official toll, as Medical Examiners were unable to access and determine cause of death.
Add to that the fact that 19% of Puerto Ricans have developed asthma due to mold overgrowth, diabetics and hypertensives can't get their meds, and waterborne diseases like leptospirosis are spreading from filthy conditions--and you have a recipe for deaths in the thousands.
The initial kill-rate may have been 'low,' but the eventual toll will be much higher. Sadly, you may yet be able to chalk that prediction up as accurate.
-R1-
Runestone, I read that they compared the number dead compared to the same number last year and calculated an excess in Puerto Rico of about 450 deaths. However those deaths may still be coming since as you said there's the mold and continued bad water and filthy conditions. I think the thousands fatality prediction was off however. It didn't feel right at the time. However, the magnitude of the storm and it's devastating impact was right.
A VERY big shoe has dropped in the Russia investigation. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts. The real juicy part is that networks are reporting that Flynn is going to testify that he was directed to make contact with the Russians by Trump himself. Trump can't help but feel cornered, since he appears to be, and I just hope that he doesn't totally spin out of control.
Hi Jessi, Thanks for posting and WELCOME!
Hi!
I am new here, and I am curious about Mueller. I don't feel like Trump will be impeached or resign because of GOP supports (as everyone here predicted). I was wondering how Robert Mueller feels about the republican/political system? What is his personal character/ethics and standpoint for this whole shabang? I have read a book about the FBI during his tenure as director, and everyone (including his personal quotes) made me feel he is a lawful, judicial, and honest person who lives with integrity. Does this whole Trump fiasco piss him off, considering he is probably a republican, and he may not get his way? Is he doing anything to protect his legacy for his (maybe, last) major case?
Thank you!
Hi Helloworld, Welcome to our community. I was asking myself your exact question just yesterday. I saw a photo of Muller in a news story and he looked a little worn out. In one way, Muller knew well what he was getting into. I felt las summer when I did a long reading on him that he was telling the prosecutors he recruited that this case was the most important in the history of this country.
You asked how he sees his own Republican Party. He sees the new rank and file GOP politicians as a new weak breed of puppets. There's a line in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness that describes how I sense Muller sees them:
I’ve seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire; but, by all the stars! these were strong, lusty, red-eyed devils, that swayed and drove men—men, I tell you. But as I stood on this hillside, I foresaw that in the blinding sunshine of that land I would become acquainted with a flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil of a rapacious and pitiless folly. How insidious he could be, too.
In short, Muller sees them as followers and enablers, like the lowest echelons of a crime family, with little inner compass, backbone or character.
He is astonished in one way at how low the party has gone, but he is familiar with criminal behavior, including white collar crime. He sees Manafort as a king-pin white collar criminal, a man who knew perfectly well what laws he was breaking, and used standard money laundering techniques to avoid prosecution.
He sees Donald Jr. as a fool who had to be reminded (probably by Manafort) that what they were doing was "a little bit illegal" and should be kept quiet. But Don Jr never understood the seriousness of their crimes. Muller realized Don Jr and Jared, and even Trump, consider tax evasion, as well as cover ups and obstruction of justice, as standard business practices. He also believes they were unfamiliar with the concept of treason because they don't think about their country, just their money. He saw Don Jr as someone who'd go around saying that technically we have to be careful about these Russia meetings, but no one will figure it out since the Trump business deals a lot with Russians anyway. So who would suspect? Muller felt Don Jr. would be one of the easiest to catch because he's so clueless. But Trump would be another matter.
He sees Jared as more knowingly committing crimes, but one who considers himself above the laws, a big money mentality who thinks that if you are ever going to make big money, you have to break some laws.
He sees Trump as a crime boss. He sees Putin as the godfather, Trump's godfather.
He knew it was going to be tough going up against the political establishment but I feel he, like everyone, underestimated how low the GOP is going.
Now he realizes that some of it may go the way of the O.J. Simpson trial. He could provide the evidence of the President's guilt, and still politics would supersede the law, even treason.
He believes that he will leave a legacy of truth. There will be books published afterwards that tell the whole truth, so eventually the public, historians, and law schools will study this as the case of all time.
THANK YOU SO MUCH JEANNE! YOU ARE SUCH A TRUE INSPIRATION OF MINE BECAUSE OF ALL THE GOOD YOU PUT INTO OUR WORLD! I KNOW I AM "FAN GIRLING", BUT YOU ARE SO INCREDIBLE BECAUSE OF YOUR GOODNESS!
I have no psychic experience whatsoever, but my gut feeling is exactly how you described it. This will turn into an OJ 2.0 trial. I can't believe that politics has ended up this way.
Thank you so much for all that you do Jeanne! You are a strong ray of light during these tough times. Hope everything is good from your end.
THANK YOU!
Helloworld, Thank you for giving me the impetus to look at this issue. I sense so many inner workings of the GOP as I go about my day. I can hear their political consultants spinning, advising, telling them what to say. It's swirling in my head. So it is good to get it out on paper once in a while.