Welcome to a discussion about the upcoming 5th Revolution in the US, which I’ve titled the “Revenge Revolution.” For more about the Revenge Revolution and the author, Entry #1.  Periodically I write a “sense check” to assess whether a revolution in the US is possible or whether the entire exercise is based on a statistical aberration — i.e., a roughly 50-year cycle between major upheavals in the US. Entry #430 was the most recent “sense check.”

BEGIN ENTRY #462. I continue to be gob smacked by the number of supposed conspiracies promoted by seemingly educated people. It seems the more outlandish the scope of the conspiracy, the more credible some people consider the conspiracy.

Conspiracies have been around for years in the US and other countries.  One major difference now is the use of social media, which: (I) allows the conspiracy to be shared quickly among many people; (ii) has few checks re control of content and/or credibility of the claim.  Social media seems to have encouraged more conspiracies and even more outlandish claims.

Another factor is the dramatic decline in readership of credible, print media.  The decline has taken away the “sanity-check” guardrails for many former readers.  I shake my head at how many people I know who no longer get any news from print media, instead relying on cable or the internet.  These same people express concern about such issues as the dangers of using public Wi-Fi but seem to have few reservations about gathering “news” from questionable sources.

The topic of conspiracies has personal interest to me.  In the early 2000’s, there was a movie made, excuse me, an alleged documentary, titled “Who Killed the Electric Car?” During research for the movie, I was contacted by the producer. In addition to offering insight about the efforts of GM and other companies to develop and introduced a modern-generation electric car, I offered names and contact information of others in the industry who might be considered for interviews.

When I was filmed – in LA on the top floor of a building at intersection of Sunset Blvd and the 405 – it seemed apparent the producer had decided on a conspiracy theme and structured questions accordingly.  Apparently, my answers didn’t fit the conspiracy theory, because only a couple of short clips of my interview made the final edit. 

When I am asked if there was a conspiracy to kill the electric car, or when someone claims there was a conspiracy, my usual response is a bit of laughter and then an explanation. I like to remind people claiming a conspiracy is that those of us involved with the EV programs from different companies were either not smart enough or too naïve to have a conspiracy.   All the people from GM, Ford, Honda, Toyota and some electric utilities were trying to develop and introduced one thing – a competitive electric car to meet the California zero emission vehicle mandate. 

To conspiracy theorists such facts don’t matter. There had to be a conspiracy.  Tell me, just “Who Killed the Electric Car?”  (Interested in learning the real reason GM killed the EV1?)

Conspiracy theorists seem to forget that for a conspiracy to work only a few people can be involved.  And one thing we all know is people love to tell “secrets” to friends.  If more than a handful of people are involved, then the conspiracy soon becomes public information and infinitely more difficult to execute. 

Aside from the electric car, some conspiracies friends/colleagues have been touting of late include:

(I) 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center (always popular in early September) involved far more people than the public has been led to believe.  Depending on who’s promoting the conspiracy, the group involved was  broad-based, including key members from several countries.  In addition, the plan to destroy the Trade Center towers was in the works for at least a decade prior to the attack.  

According to some, the Towers were not only struck by planes but damaged by a nuclear blast underneath the towers and a nearby building. 

As proof the conspiracy theorists show pictures of the Trade Towers with commercial aircraft in the sky behind the towers.  Guys, stop and think just for a second.  One of the major flight paths to/from LaGuardia is not far from the Trade Towers.  Besides, adding planes to the background makes a picture of buildings more interesting.

More “proof” of the long-planned conspiracy is a picture from the late 1990’s of a high-profile individual whose watch has the hour hand at nine (9) and the minute-hand at 11.  Now, how could you not be convinced?  Hard to imagine but just suppose someone doctored the picture using Photoshop.  More proof is a poster for a ferry-ride around Manhattan.  Cost is “$9” and to the right of the $9 is a rendering of the skyline with the Trade Towers.  Now, how can you not believe?

More proof – the floors of the towers could not collapse in pancake fashion.  Because the pancake pattern is not possible, there had to be another “something,” usually not identified. The “proof” disappears after one talks to an architect about how the individual floors in the towers were attached to the exterior walls rather than to central posts.  When the joints holding the upper floors were weakened by the plane crashing and then the fire, the floors could collapse.  The weight of a single floor falling on another would exceed the strength of the joints on the lower floor and the floors would then collapse in pancake fashion.  Never mind logic, I know there was a broad-based conspiracy.    

(2) Covid and other vaccines are being promoted by the pharmaceutical industry, Bill Gates, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and who knows who else as a way to control the populace. You might not know this but there are RFID chips in the vaccines.  (Liquid chips, I guess.)  At some point the liquid RFID chip would be activated and signals sent that would turn those vaccinated into killers of other people, thereby reducing the number of people on earth.  Why take such action I don’t know.  Gates is 66 and Fauci past 80, so how will they benefit?  Conspiracy theorists often fail to cite a logical benefit.  

(3) The number of deaths from Covid was greatly exaggerated because doctors and hospitals made more money from Covid-caused deaths than other deaths.  At least this conspiracy provided some logic.  However, when I state that putting the cause aside, significantly more people died during 2020 and 2021 than would be expected (~3 standard deviations greater than the norm), I have yet to get a response.  Guess a lot of extra people just wanted to die early.

(4) Global warming is a hoax being promoted by governments as part of the broader plan to control the population.  The hoax is really impressive.  For example, those icebergs are melting not from the earth’s warming but because (my sarcastic logig follows) the socialist Democrats have placed blow torches under icebergs and glaciers to make them melt.  Why? The socialists Democrats are just jealous of all the Republicans who own seashore property.  The deniers of global warming have myriad reasons why it’s a hoax but never provide any scientific data.

(5) Evidence at Mar-a-Lago that inventoried Trump’s illegal retention of secret documents, and other classified material was planted by the FBI…and the list goes on and on.

The acceptance of the conspiracy theories and the refusal to accept the results of Biden’s election by a wide swath of Republicans does not bode well for the democracy and reinforces the likelihood of a 5^th US revolution.  What can be done to mitigate the negative effects of these conspiracy theories?  Stay tuned for ideas.  END ENTRY #462

Other Topics. Interested in more info about climate change, what’s required to electrify a fleet of cars/trucks, what it was like to work day-to-day with Lee Iacocca and an array of other topics? Visit another page of this website, https://usrevolution5.com/jrd-thought-comments/

Welcome to a discussion about the upcoming 5th Revolution in the US, which I’ve titled the “Revenge Revolution.” For more about the Revenge Revolution and the author, Entry #1.  Periodically I write a “sense check” to assess whether a revolution in the US is possible or whether the entire exercise is based on a statistical aberration — i.e., a roughly 50-year cycle between major upheavals in the US. Entry #430 was the most recent “sense check.”

BEGIN ENTRY #460. This entry might seem like a variation of recent entries. Just hear me out. The issue is too important to discuss just once or twice. I think, without fear of exaggeration, that our democracy rests on addressing this issue satisfactorily.

Since starting the blog in late 2013, the purpose has been to discuss issues that might contribute to/diminish the likelihood of a 5^th US revolution.  Blog topics have ranged from those of personal interest – the impact of macro and micro-economics, e.g. – to cultural issues – the impact of religion on attitudes toward government, e.g. 

During the last nine years, what has been most surprising to me is how a large segment of the population has become swayed to believe in and enthusiastically support ideas that are completely bogus, and often 180° from reality.  One would like to believe that more education would help people avoid this seeming brainwashing. However, apparently not the case.

A substantial portion of those “believers,” – let’s assume 50% to minimize the error – is relatively well educated, including some with advanced degrees. Why are supposedly more knowledgeable people falling into the liars den?  Why are people who supposedly have more understanding of the process of critical thinking continuing to believe claims that are so outlandishly false that they would punish their children for saying something similarly false?

Who are these people? Do they have a certain profile?  Yes, most are white, descendants of western Europeans, and overwhelmingly Christian, especially fundamentalist, and virtually all Republicans.

The world according to Garp – growing ascension of radical protestants – is one where “My religion is the only answer. Government must be based on my religion. All education needs to be based on my religion. If you are not a believer in my religion, you must be punished.“

The religious right seems to support any candidate for political office who promotes their religion. The candidate can be corrupt, living in a way counter to the basic tenets of their religion, and even can be promoting that democracy be abolished. All those traits are OK as long as “my religious beliefs are forced on the population.“

 Based on demonstrated behavior, most Republicans in 2022 would seem to support even Charlie Manson for president, as long as Charlie promised to continue to change laws and pack the courts to ensure that fundamentalist Christian beliefs are implemented.

One might argue that the example of supporting Charlie Manson is too extreme. However, if you think too extreme, I ask you to consider why Republicans enthusiastically support Trump, who has a long history of lying and corruption, over the FBI, the whitest and most conservative agency in the federal government.  In addition, every director of the FBI under every administration, Republican and Democratic, has been a well-established Republican.  (Read the last sentence again.)

Why do Republicans enthusiastically support Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lindsay Graham, Mark Meadows, Ron DeSantis and a host of known liars and then chastise Liz Cheney for having the temerity to uphold her oath to Constitution?  Support the US Constitution rather than Trump?  How dare she!

Republicans have repeatedly demonstrated they would rather flush logic down the toilet and continue to support the religious cult. When cults conquer logic, the only solution to restore logic, and the solution is never pretty, is to squash the cult. END ENTRY #460.

Other Topics. Interested in more info about climate change, what’s required to electrify a fleet of cars/trucks, what it was like to work day-to-day with Lee Iacocca and an array of other topics? Visit another page of this website, https://usrevolution5.com/jrd-thought-comments/

Welcome to a discussion about the upcoming 5th Revolution in the US, which I’ve titled the “Revenge Revolution.” For more about the Revenge Revolution and the author, Entry #1.  Periodically I write a “sense check” to assess whether a revolution in the US is possible or whether the entire exercise is based on a statistical aberration — i.e., a roughly 50-year cycle between major upheavals in the US. Entry #430 was the most recent “sense check.”

BEGIN ENTRY #459: Let’s see, this past week the FBI raided Trump’s club/residence in Florida, Mar-a-Lago, and recovered at least 11 boxes of material that were illegally transferred from government property. Earlier in 2022, Trump returned to the government 15 boxes of material that had been illegally transferred from the White House. The return of the material occurred only after an injunction forcing Trump to do. One of Trump’s lawyers signed a letter indicating the 15 boxes represented all information that needed to be returned. Oops.

Some of the boxes, how many to be determined, contained files marked “Confidential,” “Top-Secret” and “TS-SCI,” which indicates files are only to be viewed in a preestablished security location.

Without any evidence, Trump claimed all the information held at Mar-a-Lago had been “declassified.“ As a result, he had a right to possess. Some Trump staffers and supporters claimed Trump had a standing order to “automatically declassify any documents that left the White House.“ 

I hate to inform Trump and supporters but there is a procedure for declassifying documents.  Part of that procedure includes “restamping” each page of the document as “Declassified” and providing other documentation.  In typical Trump fashion, no support was provided for the claim that all documents were declassified.

In parallel, Trump and supporters blamed Attorney General Garland and the FBI, which is headed by a Trump appointee, of either continuing the long-standing “witch hunt” against Trump or setting up the raid to keep Trump from running for office again. In either case, the AG, DOJ and FBI are all corrupt and according to some Trump supporters, should be tried for treason.

Other Trump supporters, Jim Jordon (R-OH) being one, asked, “What’s the big deal about Trump having the documents? All the documents were declassified.“ Jimmy you’re such a hypocrite and a liar to boot.

The radical right began to spout that anyone connected with the raid – the judge who signed the order, the FBI agents who conducted the search, and AG Garland, who personally signed off on the raid – should be assassinated.

Where were Republican members of the US House and Senate once the raid became known? Spineless, of course, save Liz Cheney and a couple of others. The so-called leaders of the country were afraid of the great wizard of Mar-a-Lago.  Some spineless Republicans were concerned that efforts to prosecute Trump for any one of several crimes connected with material would just aggravate his followers and upset little Donnie.

Unless I’ve been asleep for the last 50 years, appeasing Trump won’t change behavior. He’s always been a liar, a jerk and thought he was above the law.  Being elected president exaggerated the behavior, especially disregard for the law. Among his many inane comments are, “Where is my Roy Cohn,“ and “Why aren’t my generals more like Hitler‘s?“ 

Sill Republicans in the House and Senate continue to bow to the great con man. Republicans, I hate to tell you, Trump is a real estate developer.  Trump doesn’t care one iota about you or the Republican Party. The Donald focuses only on two things: (i) stoking his ego; (ii) making more money. Every interaction is viewed by Trump as a transaction that can stoke his ego and make more money.

Republicans, you have been and continue to be mere chattel in a series of transactions. Like chattel, you will be discarded when no longer needed for the transaction.

I’ve heard people say, you can’t expect others to change if you insult them. That might be true. However, anyone who still believes what Trump says and believes he is being unfairly targeted by DOJ and the FBI, or whatever this week’s claim is, deserves to be insulted.

If you still support Trump, you are either brainwashed and/or incredibly stupid. Go look in the mirror and ask yourself, if a close relative or close friend behaved the same way as Trump, would I continue to support that person? And forget the save the sinner comment. Trump has been and will continue to be scum who has no regard for other people, for the law or for any tenets of most religions. END #459

Other Topics. Interested in more info about climate change, what’s required to electrify a fleet of cars/trucks, what it was like to work day-to-day with Lee Iacocca and an array of other topics? Visit another page of this website, https://usrevolution5.com/jrd-thought-comments/