Hate Didn't Elect Anybody - No Propaganda Did

One of those critters isn't like the other - and like the results of the election - a quick glance isn't going to give you the whole picture.

The internet is flooded with both 'The Democrats Didn't Get it' posts and an equal number of 'Middle Americans voted against their best interest' posts.

That's on top of the 'Rednecks are sexist bigots' posts.

It's true, the plight of Fly Over Americans has been ignored by people who are more interested in 'those poor _____ who have ____'. A big complaint that I've heard since childhood is that the government wastes billions of dollars overseas when there are people here in the USA suffering more.

Headlines about bathroom "issues" are adding insult to injury.

Nobody in Fly Over America gives a damn, just flush the john and wash your hands.

But how about some help for the millions of Americans addicted to opiates? Instead of getting help for the problem, Naloxone or Narcan is being passed out to police, EMTs and anybody who might save a life.

It's a game of 'inject and release' with addicts left to their own devices to get help. Like that's going to happen?

Shame on the GOP, for cherry picking their issues from their own sounding box, but more shame on liberals for ignoring the massive streams of propaganda that run through Fly Over America like a stream of dirty water from a septic tank. They've had blinders on for decades.

When the national stage is overtaken by bathroom issues, while people who are floundering in a economic siege with opiates killing friends and family daily, regular folks are going to be pissed off; especially when Talk Radio and Fox News have been hammering the same message home for decades: "You need to take your country back."

The results is that everybody except Sanders looks like a damn fool.

Propaganda Trumped social issues this election. (Not sorry for the pun this time.)

Propaganda won this time. The non-breathing citizens who used money as their free speech won this election. Even the people who don't understand the problem, can see what happened.

Take this quote from Forsetti's Justice where the writer blames the denizens of Fly Over America for their own problems:

The real problem isn’t east coast elites don’t understand or care about rural America. 

The real problem is rural America doesn’t understand the causes of their own situations and fears and they have shown no interest in finding out.

They don’t want to know why they feel the way they do or why they are struggling because they don’t want to admit it is in large part because of choices they’ve made and horrible things they’ve allowed themselves to believe.

The italics are mine.

Forsetti and #FlyOverAmericans might not know the source of the misinformation, but that doesn't mean that nobody knows. Somebody knows, Roger Ales, the Murdocs, maybe even Putin, if you aren't afraid of taking the problem global. The narrative is a unending, mind-numbing, bludgeoning of the listener that resonates because there's a kernel of truth: Fly Over Americans don't matter to those living large on either coast.

It would be interesting to see a map comparing the places where Fox News is on the local network TV station and the results of the election. The correlation would be eye-popping.

If there is a way to console Clinton, it might be this: "You called it: "a vast Right Wing Conspiracy" and you were right, it exists. But it isn't just you they're after. They are inciting unrest in all middle America. Your best act of public service might be in the private sector after all."

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"Good to see you today"

When Mitch McConnell was asked what he thought of President Elect Trump's Chief of Staff - he merely smiled and said "Good to see you here today." 

Since both he and Ryan had been pushing for the Republican National Committee chairman  Priebus, they told CNN would be the “best fit” for the critical role. Alas, those hopes have been dashed.

"Priebus late Thursday, however, poured cold water on the notion of assuming the highest-ranking position in Trump’s future White House.
“That’s not something that we’re talking about,” he told MSNBC’s  

Chuck Todd. "I know people don’t believe those things when people – but we’re just not talking about those sorts of plans right now.

Trump’s campaign chief Steve Bannon and campaign manager Kellyanne Conway were both mentioned as contenders."

Instead Steve Banner, the er - banner man of the Alt-Right is the primary contender for the job.

One by one the GOP's former superstars, all vehemently anti-Trump, are coming to heel. First it was Christie and Carson, now it's (choke, gasp, smirk) Cruze and  Romney.

Meanwhile, Trump is still doing it 'his way' - dumping his 'protective press corps' for a steak dinner with the family. Note that he didn't dump the Secret Service, just the media that he detests.

What can a cynic take away from the last few days? A few snickers at the ousting of Christie, and eye roll or two for the former enemies who've come to heel like "puppy dogs" now that Trump has a clear path to power.

Meanwhile, people are donating to the ACLU, and Planned Parenthood while they still exist.

You can donate in your own name, or in the name of someone else. Quite a few people are donating in the name of VP elect Pence.

Donate now, the life you save might be your own, of that of a loved one.

The next four years promise to be entertaining - but they may not be pleasant.

Something to Squee About

This is a picture of Trouble the Jack Russell Terrorist and Lucky the Cat to lighten things up.

If a dog and a cat can get along like this, I can get unplugged from Fear TV and keep sorting all the information I've gleaned from news outlets over the last few years.

I'm really concerned about the protests and riots taking place around the country and ticked off about the Alt-Right's acts of domestic terrorism.

So What Really Happened? Gerrymandering

Can we stop blaming Fly Over Americans long enough to look a the maneuverings of the GOP over the last 8 years?

They've taken over the states, gerrymandered the districts and eliminated polling sites in Democratic (i.e. ethnic*) neighborhoods. It was a sneaky way to ensure that THIS election might LOOK like it would go to Clinton and the Dems, (because of the media) but the districts would be weighted towards the Chosen of the GOP. But that was The Plan before the election was (sorry) Trumped.

This is how the GOP rigged the election, instead of being shut out, and they have the Rednecks of Fly Over America to blame for the rise of Trump. Trump rode a bobsled track into office. He knew about the bobsled track, it was all over the news, MSNBC talked about it a lot. Here's a link to Solon that goes back to June of 2016, talking about how this was set up.

Unless citizens get real on the state level, the Democrats may never win another election. The system IS rigged, but it's on the state level, which gives Voting Americans the chance to change it.

But only if they can spare the time to get involved with local politics.

Most of us Fly Over Americans don't have the time. Heads of households are working 2 or even 3 part time jobs just to survive. When a family has two adults working 2 jobs, they might be able to make the time, but if there are 3 or more jobs split between two people...there's no way.

Besides, your local news channel is probably a Fox News TV affiliate. They are going to have plenty of national news to keep the average person in a constant state of outrage, so they aren't going to cover the sneaky stuff the GOP is doing in your back yard.

Too many struggling parents have no idea they have to work on the STATE politics because elections are won State by State, not an open election. Civics classes, like cursive, evolution and science, are no longer mandatory in schools. A voter has no way of knowing how the system is supposed to work if that information is never taught to them.

It does seem like there's a concentrated effort to keep Fly Over Americans ignorance, doesn't it? It doesn't have to be a vast right-winged conspiracy, all it needs is an eroding tax base and schools have no money to teach the classes that kids need. Especially those pesky ethnic kids who might grow up to be President some day.

Cutting taxes for the rich on the state level dries up the money for all kinds of things, from schools to police and fire protection, the roads and bridges. Once Education and those services and jobs are gone, the taxpayers get nervous and leave a few at a time until an area is a hollowed out shell. Nobody wants to live in a city that has too few cops, lousy schools and bad roads, but Fly Over America is wallpapered with places just like that.

All this is related, nothing happens in a vacuum. It's not a Conspiracy, is merely a feedback loop, one that's much older than most people understand. Once the Boomer years were over, and manufacturing started going over seas, these opportunities opened up for people who knew the system. Back in the 1970's, this stuff was taught in state history, civics and social studies classes, but those classes were cut as the 1980's economy crumbled to nothing.

The newspapers were full of economic concerns that most people scoffed at, but that came to pass as union jobs were replaced by McJobs at Walmart. But now, even the newspapers are dying, so truth is getting harder and harder to find.

The GOP has the Worlds Greatest Propaganda Machine in Fox News - so people stay mad at the 'Fox Target of the Month' and don't see what's happening in their own back yards. They are blindsided by reality, betrayed by the news source they've been told to trust.

Crime rates rise as people get more desperate. The fewer police there are, and the more the media focuses on ethnic neighborhoods, the fewer cops there are, the more scared the COPS get, the more likely they are to kill an unarmed taxpayer.

Hard to believe that gerrymandering on a state level can cause so much damage? This is where you can find what your district is named, by zip code. Here's a site where you can see you district mapped out.

Notice the shape. Odd isn't it?

#FlyOverAmericans #KarmaIsaBitchMitch

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*We are using the term Ethnic instead Black or Hispanic because, genetically, we aren't really RACES in genetic terms here in the USA. A person of Hispanic or Latino heritage has lots of European Spanish or Portuguese genes and most Black people in the USA have mixed European genes. Brown, black or white, we're more like cousins than races of the same species.

What Bernie Saunders Says

People all over America are still staggering around, trying to get a sense of the New World Order. (I'm joking!) The real bigots (let's call them the Alt-Right) are accosting people on the street, spreading domestic terror. Bernie's Babies are protesting in the streets, scared out of their minds by 2 years of Fear Trump TV. Washington's Finest, that worthless lot of slackers, are likely hungover as hell, or drinking their breakfast. (They should try AA - it forces one to see your part in the chaos of one's life and gives one a chance to make amends. Those Washington Slackers have a hell of a lot to make amends for.)

And Bernie Saunders is back to work - leveraging his position as the Voice of Reason in the New York Times - and putting things into perspective for his grief-stricken followers.

Bernie never missed a beat. He wrote this New York Times opinion piece:

"If the president-elect is serious about pursuing policies that improve the lives of working families, I’m going to present some very real opportunities for him to earn my support."
"Let’s rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and create millions of well-paying jobs. Let’s raise the minimum wage to a living wage, help students afford to go to college, provide paid family and medical leave and expand Social Security. Let’s reform an economic system that enables billionaires like Mr. Trump not to pay a nickel in federal income taxes. And most important, let’s end the ability of wealthy campaign contributors to buy elections."

He's absolutely right. The thing is, will Fear Trump TV stop inciting riots and start covering the efforts to transition this election, or at they going to keep at it until the Governors call in the National Guard? (Holy Sixties Flashback, Captain America!)

A Fly Over American is a pragmatist, once they've run through the stages of grief anyways.

Here's the thing: No matter where you live, there is an organization DYING to organize for meaningful, local change. They need people and they have a pipeline to the ears of your state government.

Here in Kentucky it's these folks: New Kentucky Project

I got pointed their way, contacted them and started to spread the word to my friends because only when we get our back yards cleaned up can we move forward.

We have two years to the next election, four years to create a grassroots platform for positive change.

Just like Bernie Saunders, we need to dry our eyes, roll up our sleeves and get to work.

#KarmaIsaBitchMitch

Why Did Those Racist Rednecks Do That to Us?

Greetings from Fly Over America - the people who brought you the Trump Presidency.

The media might ask "Why did those racist SOBs do this to us?" but (as usual) they aren't asking the right question. They are already assuming that Fly Over Americans are different; backwards, ignorant racist, sexist and unwashed savages who voted for Trump because they were racist, backwards, etc.

This is the root of the problem: the media-fostered stereotype that creates a feedback loop that continues to make things worse as time goes on.

The truth is Fly Over America is populated by tough-minded survivors who resent being ignored while the (Fox) news shows 'others' being pampered and petted because they are 'unfortunate' for some manufactured reason.

Fly Over America might have a different culture than the toasty Coasties but they are sharper than the media wants to admit. They see the patterns forming in our society the same as the toasty Coasties. But the only time anyone from the East Coast pays any attention to the VAST MAJORITY of Americans is election time.

Otherwise, no one gives a shit about Fly Over America.

Those 'Rednecks' y'all despise so much know that Trumps policies aren't going to change their lives by much, and there's just an off chance things might get a bit better for them. But they (and the rest of Fly Over America) will be forgotten before the acceptance speech hits YouTube.

But they are absolutely postive that Trump is going to shake the Liberal tree so hard it might just fall over.

This article at the Washington Post: A new theory for why Trump voters are so angry — that actually makes sense should be required reading for all Talking Heads.

Here's a quote:

But if you’re wondering about the widening fissure between red and blue America, why politics these days have become so fraught and so emotional, Kathy Cramer is one of the best people to ask. Well before President Obama or the tea party, well before the rise of Trump sent reporters scrambling into the heartland looking for answers, Cramer was hanging out in dairy barns and diners and gas stations, sitting with her tape recorder taking notes. Her research seeks to understand how the people of small towns make sense of politics — why they feel the way they feel, why they vote the way they vote.

 The article just quoted is very interesting, very informative and a likely theory. More likely than 'those stupid, unwashed savages voted because their racist' in fact, because Cramer "went rural" to listen, something the media doesn't usually do. They come in to an area looking for what they expect to find - instead of listening to the people.

I think all too often, we put our energies into figuring out where people stand on particular policies. I think putting energy into trying to understanding they way they view the world and their place in it — that gets us so much further toward understanding how they’re going to vote, or which candidates are going to be appealing to them. - Kathy Cramer

This is a tremendous point.

Pollsters ask stupid questions like "where do you stand on the issue of bathroom usage?" Most people in Fly Over America don't give a damn, as long as you flush the toilet. But the toasty Coasties have CREATED an issue about bathroom usage, and other trivial nonsense that won't get clean water for Flint, or a living wage for struggling Americans in Fly Over territory.

But nobody asks Fly Over Americans what they need to solve their economic problems. No, no, no! It goes against every programmed stereotype! Coastie tourists come to Detroit to make ruin porn, not to solve the Flint water problem. They sneer at the struggling people who were born to the Middle Class and now are scraping the bottom, lucky to get a job at Walmart or the local gas station that won't pay the bills.

The media wants to focus on something that will make Fly Over Americans look like ignorant, unwashed savages. (Because, you know Deliverance and all that.)

So Fly Over America's resentment builds, and builds, and builds.

Cramer: One of the very sad aspects of resentment is that it breeds more of itself. Now you have liberals saying, “There is no justification for these points of view, and why would I ever show respect for these points of view by spending time and listening to them?” 

Middle-age women are dying like flies due to opiates, people are making and smoking Meth and heroin is killing hundreds and would kill thousands if there wasn't an antitoxin but the toasty Coasties shrug it off. "Who cares? One less redneck cluttering our perfect, organic, suburban live style."

Therefore Fly Over America has sent the loudest and most obnoxious message possible to the toasty Coasties. "Somebody needs to shake them damned sonsofbitches up!" And "by God chaos will rule Washington for the next four years."

Frankly, most Americans supported the ideal of a woman in the White House but don't want to see four more years of deadlock. Common sense tells them that Clinton will be less effective than Obama because she's up against the Worst Congress and Senate in history.

Not to mention the fact that Fox News, Roger Ales and Rupert Murdoch successfully assassinated Hilary and never touched a hair on her head.

There is no way to separate the truth from the lies - if one has followed the Clinton Soap Opera since the first season, it appears that (except for the proven fact that Bill is a horndog who should be on a short leash) it's all inconsequential bullshit.

Know what? Fly Over Americans don't care how, where or with whom Bill, Newt, Donald or Anthony get their kicks.

They don't care how they got their money either.

Fly Over Americans know that Politicians are as much Confidence men (and women) as the sleazy used car salesmen down the street or fly-by-night revival tent preacher - it's all snake oil and drinking fake strychnine. Ask any Fly Over American - they say all politicians prostitute themselves and part you from your hard-earned cash without delivering the goods.

Trump was a bomb sent Washington because of his faults, not in spite of them. Sure there might be a few souls who believed his rhetoric, but when one stands in the voting booth, looking down at the cast vote button, the only true power the Fly Over American has, the temptation, built from frustration, resentment and the subtle sneer on the lips of every talking head on TV, is irresistible.

Those sneering SOBs in Washington deserve this man to be President, whisper the darkest recesses of the soul. None of them are going to help me or my people. They only care about themselves.

That's why they did it, in a nutshell. You can't gut the majority of a nation and expect them to line up like sheep for another round of the same, not when there's an alternative that will spread the pain to the ones who hur them the most: the SOBs in Washington who wouldn't help a Nation of taxpayers because the President happened to be black.

Fly Over America is looking forward to the clash of wills between Trump, McConnell and Ryan.

#KarmaIsaBitchMitch

Karma is a Bitch

I'm wondering what Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are having for breakfast?

Whiskey? Valium? Xanex?

Crow?

Oh yes! Big heaping plates of crow!

Buckets and buckets of crow, covered in Paranoia Gravy.

Yes, the Congress and Senate that did less in 8 years, that has the lowest approval rating EVER has a new boss. One who is more infamous for running his mouth than for suffering in silence.

This President won't need Key & Peele to emote for him. He has an East Coast Hit Squad already tracking down his enemies one by one to get even with each and every one of them.

Even Stephen Colbert acknowledges there is trouble afoot.

I live in "Fly Over America" so named because when the majority of manufacturing left the United States, it hollowed out the middle of America and left rotting husks behind. "Everybody who wanted to be somebody" moved to the East or West coast.

The frozen-out Middle America has been battling to rebuild for decades, ignored by the toasty Coasties, the only manufacturing: basement Meth labs. That fact, with Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ales pounding Middle America with propaganda for decades, unleashed a revolution.

So many people faced the choices in the voting booth with disgust and dismay. Who to send to Washington - the woman who would only be dismissed and reviled by likes of McConnell and Ryan - two men even more sexist than racist?

Or the one man who would make both Congress and the Senate kiss his 'feet' and bark like the sonsofbitches they really are?

#KarmaIsaBitchMitch

So my friends let's stop squabbling with each other, grab some popcorn and watch the show. Washington is getting it's just deserts.

Let's face the facts:

1) Nobody in Washington is going to help Middle America rebuild our economy. They are too busy fighting each other and collecting payola from special interests.

2) Clinton would have been treated even WORSE by Congress and the Senate, because she's a woman. (America might have done her a favor by turning her loose to be a private citizen.)

3) Trump has a list of enemies a mile long, Omarosa said revenge is going to be his top priority, so nothing in Middle America is going to change for a very long time, if ever, see point # 1.

4) The Constitution set up a series of checks and balances that can keep a President from doing much of anything. We've had 8 years of that already, it works pretty good.

Relax - move on. It's going to be okay.

The people who are going to be hurt the worst by this election are already in Washington.

Get some popcorn, watch who is scrambling to kiss the 'feet' of the new President and laugh.

It's a whole new circus my friends.

Onward

Now that the election is over - we can all draw a breath and get back to work.

I'm more than 40k words into the fourth book of 'Horsewomen of the Zombie Apocalypse' and am about to turn the final book of the first cycle into a paperback.

I have work to do on the farm, winter is coming.

The Emissary: Journey on Amazon US

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The Emissary: Journey - iTunes

The Emissary: Journey - Nook US