We have to stop gleefully gaming out how this pandemic will wipe out "Trumps base," "conservative old people," and "all of the red states." Really. Just stop it. NOW.
When we focus on these scenarios, we make their realizations more possible. And I can think of innumerable ways that one governor's decision to lift social distancing measures will jeapordize the health of millions of people who aren't "brain-dead Fox watching idiots" and who don't live in the governor's jurisdiction. And so what if someone is a MAGA head? They don't deserve to die because of their political persuasion. In a dysfunctional two-party democracy where it's considered worthwhile to debate the merits of Friends versus Seinfeld, don't get all self-righteous when 40% of the population becomes in thrall to a made-for-TV president (talk to me when you throw out your own television).
It doesn't matter if we're light workers. You probably had a greater hand in the making of the current political landscape than you're willing to acknowledge. So every time you fantasize about millions of "brain-dead Fox-watching idiots" going to their graves, you're increasing the odds that this contagion will continue to wreak havoc on a national basis and that you or a family member will be the next one wheezing for breath, regardless of whether you live in a blue state/county/city. Think about that.
I saw a Brutus/Caesar situation (figuratively) with Pence and T. I think he publicly disagrees/contradicts T. I saw Pence wearing a laurel crown one arm upraised holding something (a torch?) the other arm extended thumb pointing down. I think he may make a move on T’s power and has the ability to decide his political fate. He has been biding his time.
No idea if this would really happen, but it was strange and not something that I would consciously consider probable.
This has been on my mind a lot lately. I can see a few scenarios. Possibly far fetched. But our world today demonstrates that strange things can indeed happen.
Pence enacts the 25th amendment for the health of our country.
Pence and T get the virus, then Pelosi becomes interum pres.
Pence enacts 25th, then gets the virus, then Pelosi become interum pres.
Again, far fetched, but I am wondering how this could play out...
No matter what, I just hope and pray that sanity will reign sooner rather than later!
I just realized (Trump & Pence) -- T&P = TP = Toilet paper! lol ?
Thanks for the laugh, love it!
@mas1581 Don't count on it. I live in Texas which is still very much a red state but may become a little less so in the future. The stores where I live have shortened their operating hours. Many have closed down blood pressure machines and scales. Some have imposed strict limits on how many people can be in the stores at a given time. Many gyms and some vitamin stores have closed their doors. Many shopping malls have closed their indoor restaurants. Many schools in Texas are closed. Many banks have closed their indoor lobbies and will only do drive-thru transactions.
In spite of Trump they are very much doing the social distancing thing. I think the people near the Mexican border who are likely to support Democrats are the ones who are most likely to get hit with coronavirus. I don't think your wish of having the disease only strike Republicans or Trump supporters will happen.
@baba For a couple of weeks now I've been feeling like trump miscalculated by delegating so much of the response to Pence. Not that Pence has saved the country or anything, and I personally dislike him, but when you see them both on TV together, during the insane afternoon briefings, Pence looks presidential and reasonable when compared to trump. Will something come of it? Dunno, but every time I've seen the briefings (mostly with the sound turned off) I've thought to myself, well isn't this interesting.
Well according to Gallup, 60% of people think Trump is doing a good job dealing with the virus.
His approval is now 49%, the highest he's ever had.
He went up in points with both Democrats and Independents.
Bizarro universe, and unfortunately, we live in it.
People are rightly annoyed by the prospect of reopening businesses in the middle of a pandemic. Only NAZIs ever do economic arithmetic with people’s lives. Don’t be surprised by the obviousness of it. We’ve been living under Nazi rule for years now. We even have concentration camps. Trump ran with the American Nazi Party slogans and ideas. He didn’t restart it himself, “Pro-Life” means Biopower. It is just basic fascism, and it is fully compatible with genocide, here and abroad. Just two sides of the same coin. Forced birth is hardly an improvement. Government controlling the population’s bodies for economic purposes is a basic aspect of fascism. Fascism is not freedom. It is not Liberal Democracy. It is not American. If people tend toward wanting MAGA hat wearing people to suffer for bringing the American Nazi Party into power, then they are feeling the correct response to fascism gutting Liberal Democracy. Love and light, but we need our country set right, too.
Thank you for speaking out.
While I find it hard to connect to T's humanity, as he is a fitting archetypal host for the worst of our country (profiteering, racism, sexism, etc.), it is so important that we respect the humanity of his followers. I get that it isn't easy, and some of them are doing horrible things. If we can sit with the disdain we hold for them we may see that underneath that is grief over lost opportunity for connection. Given that so many of his followers are plugged into media outlets that mislead them to distrust facts and reality as "fake news" that connection may be difficult to impossible right now. But these time will pass, and we need to find a way to be in community with one another.
The proposal is genocide. Are we supposed to respect Trump’s followers support of mass murder? Good people just being virtuous on the internet and doing nothing to stop the absolute defeat of their way of life? Not standing up for the few shredded remaining remnants of Liberal Democracy now is exactly like Spring Break kids partying on the beach during this pandemic. This is not acceptable. No pink cloud stuff here. Take a stand.
I find that orange bonehead and his gropies repulsive, but I feel that cheering and gloating the virus to come down like a firestorm of vengence is unwarranted. Mainly because innocent people, who want nothing to do with this stupid political musical chair, will be caught up in the crossfire of this disaster helplessly.
Honestly, we should be putting our energies towards helping the victims, the disadvantage and anyone who is deemed an outcast in America society.
@baba I totally agree with this assessment! I remember in one of Jeanne’s predictions that something would happen that would make the “ double vision” that have Americans so divided, would bring OUR VISION INTO CLEAR FOCUS. I have wondered repeatedly why Orange hasn’t pulled the trigger to get our manufacturers going on needed products for our healthcare. In the back of my mind, I thought that these Governors,that are Democrats, would be made stronger in his eyes if he complied. I’m sure this is true. He is digging his own grave. Governor Cuomo looks LIKE A BOSS AND WE LOVE IT! Americans can do anything if they have the facts! Ever since the Aids virus came into our reality in the 1970’s, scientists have known one thing. These animals that have lived in the rainforests for centuries have a built in immunity to these novel viruses. Once they loose their habitats, we are exposed. So, we can assume that the Climate Crisis to this current exposure is due to the same thing.... our lack of understanding of the ONENESS that WE ARE. MAYBE WE CAN GET BACK TO THE SACRED. MY HEART CERTAINTY HOPES SO. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR THOUGHTS, DREAMS, VISIONS. THIS IS MY FIRST POST. You all are so awesome. Much love.
I find the T supporters sad. It's sad for me to see folks actually feel the way they do who support T. They support someone who is actually working against their best interests. They are many times racist and ignorant and they believe what T is saying, similar to worshiping a God. What makes me even sadder is what T is currently proposing will be very destructive for us ALL.
By getting up in front of the American people now and saying we should "reopen America", even though the virus is getting more widespread is like leading lambs to slaughter. They follow his cues and believe him. I heard on the radio today that someone in Kentucky had a "coronavirus party"! Many years ago people used to have "chicken pox parties". Moms would send their kid over to their friend's house so they could get the chicken pox and get it over with. That's what someone in Kentucky did!
I can't help it that I do have anger. It's pretty much directed at T and his enablers in Washington. I will continue to send everyone in Washington and in our country and the entire world light tonight during the meditation. We will fight this on many fronts. We should encourage our politicians and pundits to call for T's resignation, while we here can keep sending Light. I view this as my way of helping us all.
?️
So, Easter then.
It's not going to stick. He's done this a million times, his own personal kick the can. He picks a date and says, "I would like it if...", knowing full well that it won't happen. Then, at least he gets the credit and can blame others. That is all he does, obfuscate and irritate.
I pray that no American decides to go rogue. I also pray for Trump's removal. All these R's getting the virus is not a coincedence. It is, I believe a message, in that anyone of us is vulnerable. Maybe without their votes something can get passed, and past Mitch McC.
I am envisioining a time drawing near where Pence has worked with Nancy Pelosi to take the reins. Someone here said Schiff migt step in, but I think that might have been the Impeachment already.
@suspira44 Everything is so fluid right now, I don't think we can rely on polls. Daily changes. People are desperate for leadership and they see him as our leader.
Hi guys,
To be honest I don't know what to think anymore. I am so angry at the incompetence and greed displayed by the administration and the Republican party I don't know what to do with myself. For the president of the US to stand at a podium and say that the power to invoke manufacturing to start making more lifesaving medical equipment is a great bargaining tool is as cold and demonic as they come! He is the most petty immature human I have ever observed, and trust me I have observed a lot! I hope when this is all over he is touted as the mass murderer he is.
Meanwhile I am staying at home and doing my taxes. Amazon is making a lot of money off of me and my kindle. Stay safe and healthy my friends. It will bethe light workers who help heal this country not the politicians.
Here is leadership for you. Here's Bill McKibben comparing how the president handled the virus versus South Korea:
"We know that the first cases of the coronavirus in South Korea and the United States emerged on January 20th and January 21st, respectively. The Koreans responded immediately, rolling out a widespread testing regimen; it was disruptive, but that nation “flattened the curve” and is now looking at the pandemic in the rear-view mirror. In this country, we delayed; the President didn’t want “the numbers” growing, and was convinced that it would somehow “go away” by itself, maybe when the weather warmed. So we wasted many weeks, during which time the virus gathered momentum. Now we face an incredibly costly (and far more disruptive) effort to keep it from taking down our entire society."
McKibben is the founder of 350.org, author of five books on climate change and a reliable reporter.
I went to the Circle of Light meditation last night for the first time. Profound and beautiful. Towards end, I had a vision. Not used to these but I thought I’d post.
Initially I saw Trump and his group of advisors towards the left of my visual field cast in a reddish orange glow. That changed to a burning flame. Towards the center a clean cut man with white hair was at a lectern taking charge of the situation. There was a woman to his left sitting down. The flame continued burning and Trump was gone.
I had an interesting vision today during my meditation. It is both light and dark and I don’t know exactly what to make of it:
I see the WH. The gates and fences around it are surrounded by skeletons encased in black. I feel they may be the angry souls of those who feel that they were deceived by the president and his people and died as a result. They are trying to get onto the grounds - shaking the fences and gates - but I don’t know what happens if they do. Behind the hordes of skeletons, there is an empty space. Behind the empty space, I see people holding hands in a giant circle of light. I think these are the light workers.
Stay home (if possible) and stay safe!
We have to stop gleefully gaming out how this pandemic will wipe out "Trumps base," "conservative old people," and "all of the red states." Really. Just stop it. NOW.
When we focus on these scenarios, we make their realizations more possible. And I can think of innumerable ways that one governor's decision to lift social distancing measures will jeapordize the health of millions of people who aren't "brain-dead Fox watching idiots" and who don't live in the governor's jurisdiction.
..So every time you fantasize about millions of "brain-dead Fox-watching idiots" going to their graves, you're increasing the odds that this contagion will continue to wreak havoc on a national basis and that you or a family member will be the next one wheezing for breath, regardless of whether you live in a blue state/county/city. Think about that.
We must stop wishing for the virus to spread to the Trump base for a lot of reasons, even beyond the moral reasons. Talk about cutting off your nose despite your face. It got here from China so don't think for a minute that red state explosion won't travel right back to your state after you thought it was over. No we do not want this virus to infect anyone. Every host it consumes enables it to multiply quintrillions more.
As @coyote said, we also have to stop the hate especially against groups of people. Discriminatory hate against groups will be removed from this forum when it is posted as soon as we spot it.
But people should NOT stop sharing their anger. This is a subtle distinction. Anger works like a poison so if you feel it, then do post it, but with an intention to shine light into it -- to heal it, not to propagate it.
Perhaps people here can try to help us when we are filled with anger, rather than fuel it further.
As for anger at Trump supporters, here's my take: I know that no-one here would sit and gloat while a Trump supporter gasps for breath alone in a hospital room where there are no ventilators for him because their leader refused to take action early on to flatten the curve. These people posting here would be the first ones to send healing.
When you take away the fact that they love Trump and spout his lies, the Trump supporters I know are good people who would give the shirts off their backs to someone in need. Their fervor for him and his ugly rhetoric is not really focused on individuals, but abstractions. They don't know the people they hate. They are just hating something. If you knew their life stories, perhaps you could see what they are really hating. It's not what they think. And it's not what you think.
We suffer from hate too.
Like the virus, hate infects us all and it is poison, as Buddha said. It is a poison that afflicts the hater. Understand what anger is -- it is a defense gesture. Buddha called it "aversion." We are pushing something away from us when we are angry. And they are doing that too.
So when we start wishing that people we don't know suffer because we feel they're responsible for our suffering, we must pause and ask, "What is it we really want to push away from us?"
For me, my hatred is a wish to push the voices of derision that I heard from my older siblings as a child. Those voices have stayed with me my whole life. Yet my older siblings, who love me, were themselves children suffering from their own grief that their mother, our mother, could not love them fully because of her even greater childhood grief. And my mother's parents' struggles were even worse.
The harm and the hatred is nobody's fault. And it's everybody's fault. And we can change it inside each of us.
Let's try to break it down, that anger, that vitriole. Let's talk about it. The last thing I want is for you to feel shame about your anger and for you to bottle it up inside. Instead, tell us what you feel and try to stop and break it down, trace it back to where that hatred, that pushing away you are doing, is sourced. See if you can stop the abstraction, the vague hate towards people you do not know and do not understand. And if you can take it further, can you go deeper in understanding someone who belongs to that pro-Trump group. But let's do stop posting unmitigated, unrestrained hate towards general groups.
If you feel loathing at the thought of even trying to understand a Trump supporter, then you need more self care, more self understanding. So leave them and try to focus on giving yourself something. Because hate is a poison that hurts the hater.
@baba Thank you for your vision. It fits another vision I had many years ago but yours is more clear and telling, of people fenced off from the White House and crowding around those fences in pain. It also fits my more recent vision (October 9, 2019) of Trump and his family trying to escape the country. And my 12/28/18 vision of not being able to see Trump for a few months in the middle of 2020, followed by him deciding not to take office in 2021. He can blame the Chinese for the pandemic and many will believe him, but the South Koreans got their first case the same time the U.S. got its first case and they flattened the curve and now the virus is behind them. Trump can't survive this debacle.