RFK JR. - ONE SYMBOL OF UTTER IGNORANCE AND CRUELTY

 

by Ruth A. Sheets

I didn’t know until recently that Dolly Parton had donated significant money to Vanderbilt University toward development and testing of a vaccine for COVID 19.  I wasn’t surprised because it fit with her  philanthropic practices, but it was special that she had offered her gift to my alma mater.  I believe her support helped a lot of people to be willing to get the vaccine, particularly in Parton's neck of the woods, where people can be skeptical of medicine, and not without cause. 

It's too bad so many ignoramuses, people who should know better,  think it's clever or holy or something, to undermine the use of vaccines.  Thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people died because those folks in power lied about masks, hand-washing, being in groups, and of course, vaccines DURING THE covid 19 PANDEMIC.  

Humans have known of vaccines for around 230 years and inoculation (which is related) for far longer than that.  Despite that knowledge, we have a bunch of rich white men in positions of some authority who know nothing of vaccines, but lie about them, which puts people's lives at risk. Clearly their memories are poor enough that they don't remember what those diseases were like. The discomfort and itching of measles and chicken pox, and the agony of mumps are definitely in my memory and I never want anyone to have to go through that. A professor of mine had polio as a kid and at age 58 some of the symptoms were coming back to the point that she often needed to use a wheelchair. Who wants that?

I guess the rich guys who are blurting out the lies and disinformation think they are invulnerable to diseases because, well, they're mostly rich white men, and probably have all been vaccinated for the really bad diseases when they were kids, while telling others not to bother having their kids vaccinated.  The ignorance, hypocrisy,  and cruelty of these folks is beyond comprehension!

What are they doing, trying to create a world of preventable diseases?  Maybe they think it will permit them to control people more effectively, a common goal of such men. Why are we permitting them, in their government roles, to send their lies out so others will suffer? We the People need to curb this insanity!  One way is to heavily promote vaccination everywhere we go and explain why it is critical that as many people as possible are vaccinated, following a tried and trusted schedule.

Then, there’s Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in the way, A GUY WITH A FAMOUS NAME, who has no business being in charge of anything; he can't even manage himself.  He gets to make pronouncements from his position as Secretary of Health and Human Services, about vaccines, something he knows little to nothing about.  He read some stuff online and listens to the folks more ignorant about vaccines than he is for their take.  That is not a recipe for health.  Of course, they lie that vaccines cause autism and other conditions, as though autism is a horror to be stopped at all costs.  OK, there is no evidence that autism is caused by vaccines.  The guy who claimed that it was, found himself having his medical license revoked for making up the study he cited.  He lied, but many scared parents believed him.   

Donald Trump and his sycophantic white house toddler pool are not good judges of people; they only recognize those they can use, RFK,Jr. was and is useful to them, but why? 

Donald Trump is not smart enough to understand the value of vaccines; he just sees disinforming folks about vaccines as another way to sow chaos, his favorite activity next to insulting and blaming folks, but that’s another blog.  

Trump assumes he will be just fine, with or without vaccines, what’s the difference, after all, he is king, right?  When trump got COVID, he was given the newest drugs and treated immediately because he was president.  Most people didn't have access too those treatments and many died. Trump has no clue about that because he was and still is wrapped up in his pathetic personal world due to his dementia and lack of empathy for anyone.

RFK,Jr. and the rest of the ignoramuses in Trump’s regime definitely are useful to Trump. Their lies and chaos have been responsible for over a million deaths!  Lying about vaccines is part of their death count.  The far larger counts include:  destroying US AID which exposed millions of poor people around the world to a range of deadly diseases and removed vaccines and treatments from them; left millions with polluted water; stopped the desperately-needed food deliveries that eased starvation; participated with Israel by providing weapons used to kill close to 100,000 people in Gaza, Lebanon, and the West Bank, started a war with Iran where so far, thousands have been killed. 

As if that were not enough, immigrants of color have been rounded up and sent to concentration camp prisons (as Jewish, Roma, gay, and other people were by the Nazis before and during WWII).  Conditions in ICE concentration camp prisons are deadly (as intended).  Innocent hard-working immigrants who have been important members of our communities are, in addition to the concentration camps,  deported into dangerous situations from which they had fled, or into “third countries” where they have been imprisoned and threatened with deporting to the countries they originally fled.  Some have already died in this process, and diseases have sprung up among those who are imprisoned.

RFK,Jr., ignoramus that he is, symbolizes the utter depravity of the Trumpian regime.  I am disgusted that the regime proudly proclaims and wants to force on others their brand of Christianity while they do and espouse acts of appalling non-Christlike cruelty.  Yes, Hypocrisy is strong with these Trumplandians! 

Right now, voting is one thing We the People can do, every American citizen over age 18, to stop this hoard of EVIL.  Another is to get vaccinated for flu, COVID, and other preventable diseases.  There are signs that the Trumpian cult is stirring, maybe able to see that their Baby Donnie is no longer functioning and is probably not the person they vowed their loyalty to.  We’ll see if they are willing to remove the scales from their eyes for the sake of their children and others by having them properly vaccinated.  Could happen!  

COURAGE IS EVERYWHERE IF WE PAY ATTENTION

 

By Ruth A. Sheets

We do not effectively honor those who are courageous, but we cover the cowards with incredible fanfare.  We give attention nearly every day to those breaking the law and sometimes the consequences.  Trump's cowardly, illegal actions make the news, but somehow, can't publicly be called illegal, unconstitutional, or well, cowardly. 

We give a day here and there to honor courage as with the nation’s 9/11 commemorations earlier this month.  The media, though, just had to present Trump's lies about himself being at Ground Zero that day.  Because he couldn’t speak at the New York City commemoration, Trump spoke at the Pentagon’s where he rambled on with nothing of value to contribute to the event.  He just had to be front and center anyway.  That is not courage!

We are learning some lessons during Trumplandia II that we do need to act on/respond to. 

First:  there are many heroes in our nation, people willing to stand up for what is right, for our Constitution, for our people.  We should appreciate them and celebrate them more often.

Second:  Some people who faced with a disaster, will jump in to save others with no thought or expectation of honors, acknowledgement, even survival.  At the very least, those heroes should be honored for their courage, but not presented as though such heroic actions are so rare that they are hardly ever seen.

Third:  Many people have opportunities to be courageous, but choose not to be, because their current position is lucrative for themselves and taking a courageous position might interfere with that.  Others act anyway; that’s courage!

Fourth:  Heros and cowards both are examples for others.  It behooves us as a nation to promote the heroes as valuable neighbors, then lessen the influence of the cowards who can’t act for the good of anyone beyond themselves, the cowardice only mentioned in passing.  Each day, every newscast, radio, TV, and online, should present at least one positive/courageous action of someone or group in the community, doing something that has helped others, made the community better, stood up for people’s rights.

Fifth:  Being a judge with integrity in the age of Trump is difficult.  Having one's decisions mocked, constantly appealed, and threatened is stressful, and for no reason other than that a bunch of Trumpian lawyers have been hired by someone, probably the American people, to help make their Donald Trump a king and those cowardly lawyers wealthier and more powerful.  Those judges’ courage is amazing!

Sixth:  despite what many think, courage is not just for men in the military and sports.  Anyone can be courageous, even in small ways.  Nonviolent courage in standing against those who would do harm to others, take away people’s rights, and protest wrong actions of those in leadership is especially powerful. 

We really can do better.  We can work together, stand together today, to slow the cowardly actions of too many who capitulate to Trump's whining threats to harm anyone who does not bow to him and kiss whatever he offers to their smooch-prepared lips.  Here's to courage like that of Judge Talwani and the many others who have said "no" to an old man with dementia whose god complex has caused harm to far too many people here and abroad.

We all have within us the seeds of courage.  We the People must water those seeds and provide them with a nourishing soil in which to grow.  Significant coverage of our heroic people today and in our past can increase the chances for those precious seeds of courage to germinate in all of us, but particularly in our young people.  We need this courage now at least as much as at any time in our past, so let’s promote and nourish it and direct it toward peace, caring, love, and service.

THE AMERICAN GOD-KING

By Ruth A. Sheets

A commenter on Heather Cox Richardson’s Substack thread, Joel, talked about his many family connections between Canada and the US.  It is amazing and I am guessing he is not alone with such a tale.  The following is my response to his comment.  

Stories like your family's are the reason the US and Canada have been such strong friends, allies, and trade partners for so long.  Unfortunately, somehow some people of this nation were bamboozled into believing an ignorant toddler-man should be president of this nation and do it twice. 

Donald Trump, possibly enhanced by his dementia,  has a god complex and thinks whatever he wants he should get, and immediately!  Unfortunately, there are many who will respond and try to serve his wants, even if illegal.  They think what their god-king wants he should get. 

• If Trump doesn't like the path of a hurricane, get a Sharpie and change it on the map. 
• If he doesn't like the reflecting pool, destroy it and lie about who did it. 
• If he wants Greenland, just say it belongs to the United States. 
• If he wants Canada as the 51st state, just say it is and, well, it is. 
• If there are boats in waters off of South and Central America, assume they are carrying drugs and blow them out of the water, killing everyone on board. 
• If he wants foreign oil to be Trumpian oil, just send in a force to kill a bunch of people and kidnap the country's president and his wife. 
• If he wants to prove his manhood, attack Iran with his buddy BB Netanyahu and bomb a girl's school and whatever else his military minions can manage to bomb. 
• If he wants to change the names of major waters, just order it and he gets, Lake America and the Gulf of America and major map services, Google and Apple go right along with it.  Oh yes, he is working on getting New Mexico to become New America (Mexico and America must have a place next to each other in his brain, so he needs Mexico on every map to be “America.”.    
• If he wants ignoramuses to fill his cabinet and other posts, just threaten Republican members of the Senate and they will approve them  for him no matter what that does to the American people or to our nation. 
• IF he wants to pretend he didn't conduct an insurrection against this nation, give pardons to those who attacked the Capitol, injured over a hundred police officers, and threatened to kill the vice president and members of Congress if they could be found, he can, and call it “a love fest.” 
• If he wants to prove that he is totally in charge of the entire government, set a bunch of adolescent boys led by an adolescent man, Elon Musk, loose on our departments and agencies and let them as "DOGE" steal private information, fire people at will, leave people around the world DEFENSELESS against the diseases and hunger that are part of their lives, and call it anti-waste and fraud.
• If he wants to cause havoc, set tariffs against all the countries of the world to let them know who is god while lying  to the American people that those countries will pay the tariffs. 
• IF he is scared that his party might lose an election, just rig it in every way his minions can think of:  the SAVE Act which requires documents at the polling place that many Americans don't have and can't afford; make an illegal executive order that tells the Post Office that they should not allow to be mailed any ballots that states haven't given them Americans' private information for; get the Supreme Court to allow racial gerrymandering while claiming it isn't racial at all; tell the Supreme Roberts 6 to allow as much money into elections as anyone wants to "donate, particularly the richest oligarchs like Musk."
• If he decides his  racist misogynistic pig assistant, Steve Miller wants to deport immigrants of color   in large numbers, he can enhance a completely unnecessary intimidation tactical group, ICE and send them into communities to terrorize immigrants who have lived peacefully in this nation for decades and put them in concentration camp prisons or deport them to wherever they can be dumped off, even in countries where they are at risk or know nothing and don't speak the language, and do it on the taxpayer’s money, no problem. 

The question is, what are we Americans going to do about this god-king and his worshippers?  We have to decide pretty soon because the election is just around the corner, and he has every intention to rig the election, and told his worshippers so at his Trump-you-a-luza convention last week, even having them swear allegiance to himself.  All this sounds a lot like “treason” to me!

 

MAXIMUM INCOMPETENCE

By Ruth A. Sheets

In case we wanted to know what a few whiny bratty toddler-men could do to this nation if they got power, we got it!  I am thinking Trump and Hegseth see the war they started together as a video game war, where they say what they want to happen and it is supposed to happen.  They are both clinically narcissistic and either sociopathic or psychopathic, it is unclear which, because they show symptoms of both.

They fear women, people of color, LGBTQ persons, and anyone who doesn't agree with their utter stupidity.  They can't stand it that anyone thinks someone is smarter, more popular (at least well-known), getting more attention, or more attractive than they are.  Both have an enemies list rife with the names of heroes, innovators, journalists (mostly women), immigrants of color, Democrats, and actually, most of the rest of us too.  How anyone can see this as acceptable is beyond comprehension.  Yet, Republican Senators and some Democrats voted for every single fool that Trump and his nuts nominated for every government position the Senate must approve.  This is sabotage of our government. 

Democrats must get the word out in every speech at least briefly, describing the fools approved by their opponents and the harm that nominee has caused the American people.  There are lots to choose from.  The Senators all knew better and approved them anyway! 

Why would anyone vote for that?  They will if they are MAGAs who want desperately to believe whatever Donald Trump says.  He is their hero for reasons they can’t even verbalize; they just know he is.  Trump’s sycophantic gathering, Trumplandia works hard every day to keep those MAGA believers on board and as ignorant as possible of the truth.

The masters of Trumplandia hope the MAGA believers:

• will still repeat the nonsense that Trump was a good businessman; 
• Will believe the economic situation they are in now was Biden’s or Obama’s fault when it is purely Trump’s; 
• will keep working to figure out how the Iran war fiasco could be someone’s fault other than Trump’s and Hegseth’s; no luck so far, but they are trying; 
• will blame immigrants of color for most crimes and will ignore the fact that immigrants commit far fewer crimes than American citizens – racism rules;
• Will be on board with whatever ICE and Department of Homeland Security’s Markwayne Mullins can come up with to make life hell for innocent men, women, and children in the name of “making America safe again;.
• Will Display adoring fascination with the ability of Trump and his buddies to get away with outrageous lies and cheats , even when no lies should be necessary;

The Trumpian leadership (the cadre of Trump’s handlers):

• holds Republicans hostage to the supposed will of an old man who has no clue and treats the “president’s cabinet” like a bunch of toddlers who are learning how to lie and clap on cue;
• pretends Donald Trump is extremely healthy even though everyone can see his mental and physical decline:  Trump needs gilded signs around the white house and people whose job it is to see that Trump doesn’t get lost;
• treats the media and journalism as their private domain where they can get just the right kind of white boys and girls to say what they are told even if everyone involved in that media knows it is a lie;
• will act in ways that are clearly illegal or unconstitutional or both assuming they can get away with whatever they do, whomever they cheat, and they usually do;
• will court the autocrats around the world expecting them to help keep Trump and his incompetents in power.

Democrats need to look no further than the above to show voters what this nation is experiencing.  It will be hard because Trumplandia owns most of the well-known media and has learned that carefully worded little threats and insults can get those media to ignore events or interpret them in “just the right way.”

This Trumplandia crew is highly incompetent which is really a blessing because if they had more skill or gave a damn beyond the money and power they have been able to accumulate, we would be far worse off now than we actually are.  That doesn’t mean we should leave the ballfield to Trumplandia; it just means we have reason not to lose hope!

WAKE UP DEMOCRATS

 

By Ruth A. Sheets

I have noticed the Democratic Party’s current candidates are willing to acknowledge their Democratic opponents even if they lose to them in the primaries.  That is critical!  A lot of negativity has been coming from Republicans who think they can widen divisions among Democrats.  They want to make breaks between some of the Dems in leadership and the younger, but also, more progressive candidates.  The line is that those leaders are too scared of those coming along with new, powerful ideas. 

It seems though, money for some leaders is a major factor rather than an honest disparity among messages.  Minority Leaders Jeffries and Schumer filled a gap in the party after remarkable leaders stepped down.  The Party now needs something new, people who will lead into the challenges of stopping Trumplandia’s encroachment on our rights and most other aspects of our lives, even if the huge corporate money isn’t there for them. 

We need Democratic leaders to stand up with candidates who don't necessarily connect with the old Democratic agenda.  Maybe everyone can learn something from the newcomers and progressives, as well as support them in their campaigns, not undermine them, call names, and generally take on the Republican role.  Republican oligarchic money is doing a great job of undermining Democrats so Democrats don’t have to participate in it. 

We need a Democratic platform that all candidates can connect with and then add to as appropriate.  Here are a few planks for the platform I like:: 

• universal healthcare that everyone pays into and can use as needed;
• strong well-supported public schools, including Head Start;
• affordable housing for all;
• corporate, foreign,  and PAC money out of elections and every penny of every donation accounted for as to who donated it and how much;
• immigration reform which encourages a streamlined path to citizenship for DACA young people and anyone living in this country for 8 years or longer who has no criminal record and wants citizenship;
• abolish ICE and its cruel unjust, racist deportations (without American citizen family members, often to places where the deported folks don’t know the language and find themselves in war zones), and end concentration camp prisons (where innocent immigrants of color are held in appalling conditions, suffer and even die because the “guards’” and prison corporations’ cruelty has been unchecked);
• Absolutely no wars without strong congressional approval (at least 60 votes in the Senate and 250 in the House).  Acting alone by a president and cabinet is grounds for impeachment for the whole bunch at once;
• strong efforts to halt global warming with an extreme emphasis on renewable energy and  environmental restoration, including subsidies for EVs, solar panels, and other energy savers;
• bodily autonomy for all;
• severe limitations on executive privilege:  no firing government employees without just, non political cause; penalties for executive branch overreach as in destroying public properties without congressional permission and for good reason; no presidential gifts from foreign or domestic sources, nominees for all government positions with experience in the area of their nomination;
• judicial reform with justices having say, an 18 year term limit, a strong code of ethics at all judicial levels with consequences if broken, and increasing the number of justices on the Supreme Court with specific qualifications and approvals for nomination to all courts;
• protection for our public lands, national parks, and monuments;
• end tariffs and work to reestablish good relations with our allies and potential allies;
• restore aid programs around the world with support for effective medical research projects. 

These are a start.  I believe all Democrats can go along with them.  Each candidate should emphasize those that connect best for their town, district, or state and add to them.  Of course candidates must point out how the current administration has chosen cruelty and chooses to ignore our Constitution, rather than working for the American people, using specific examples, but emphasis should be on the above issues. 

Democrats must go on the offense rather than always trying to defend themselves from the lies and cuts of their Republican opponents.  These ideas could get Democratic candidates more attention and win us more victories.  Putting Democratic and Independent candidates in office at all levels who actually want something better for this nation can bring us closer toward establishing a "more perfect union."   

A VISIT TO TRUMPLANDIA

 

By Ruth A. Sheets

August 31, 2026

OMG!  Is there nothing Trump won't lie about. I must admit I am not sure how much of what Trump "tweets" is actually written and sent by Trump.  Now that I know about Natalie Harp, being referred to as Trump’s binky, with her fast fingers on the laptop and portable printer, I am guessing he does very little on his own now, possibly for quite some time.  I get it that Natalie has mastered Trump’s lying, and can put it out here just like her Baby Donnie.  

It is obvious to those who pay attention, Trump is losing his ability to understand much of what is going on.  The things he blurts out in press meetings and when he is on the phone to FoxFraud hosts often make little sense (OK, the things Trump says to FoxFraud have rarely made much sense, leaving the hosts to “fix” them through their Trump translators.).  It becomes more clear each day that Trump is heavily medicated.  When the drugs are working, Trump can rant albeit confusedly for more than an hour.  When they are not, he can hardly stay awake and his voice is barely audible, even with the microphones.  He appears less and less often in public these days, definitely a good thing.

Trump is now nearly totally absorbed with himself and whatever comes into his damaged brain at any moment.  The dementia is increasing despite it rarely being mentioned in our media.  I guess pretending soothes some Americans, but anyone who has lived with someone experiencing dementia knows the truth. 

We have a war going on, 6 months now, started by that old man with dementia who knows little of war and nothing of Iran, its leadership, its people.  He has no empathy or sympathy for our military personnel stuck in the Strait of Hormuz.  He makes up stories about the war as though he is either watching it in a movie in his head or playing the war as a video game, also in his head. 

Trump's picks for candidates for the upcoming election are not winning near 100% of the time anymore, possibly because more people are sick of this old man dictating to them what they should think and feel, who should represent them, and that they should be just fine with this war, gas prices, lack of affordability in general while the rich get richer.  The attacks on heroic Americans like Anthony Fauci and Jack Smith, and the destruction of valuable American properties and monuments are not popular.  Watching immigrant men, women, and children of color dragged off the streets, out of their homes and from in front of schools, churches, and the offices where they are reporting as required to check on their current status is getting to people, even some of Trumplandia’s citizens.  Maybe Trump’s actions and those of other Trumplicans are reaching some of the MAGAs and waking them up to a world they have been pretending isn’t real for over a decade. 

Alas, another Trumpian rule is in the works.  It will, of course, do harm to the American people as usual!  This time, it's about cutting funding for and otherwise interfering with Head Start, a program that has helped millions of our children since its inception.  It has been successful, so of course, Trumplandia has decided to cut it.  Helping disadvantaged children succeed just isn’t what the oligarchs and their minions want; they want a poorly educated servant class.

I have observed, there is honestly not one thing Trumplandia has done or proposed that is a positive for this nation in Trump’s nearly 6 years in office.  He is so desperate to prove he is better than the Democratic presidents (OK all the presidents) who came before him, he spends his time trying to reverse their accomplishments rather than accomplishing something of value on his own, which due to a lack of ideas, he/they simply can’t manage.   

Trumplandia now includes Trump, his white house toddler pool, Trump’s oligarchic buddies who have the money, Republicans in Congress and the Johnny Roberts6 on the Supreme Court.  They all support Trump’s desperate need to create monuments to himself.  That makes them lawbreakers as they ignore the laws against doing anything to our monuments or the white house without congressional approval.  Congressional Trumplicans haven’t gotten around to giving permission yet.  When they do, they will be complicit and can be held accountable by the American people who actually hold those monuments as nearly sacred.

Trump doesn't really need an arch or the Kennedy Center; all he needs is a book or a computer file of his “best” Executive Orders, pardons,  and bills ordered to be passed by Republicans in Congress.  It should also include blueprints of the proposed monuments to Trump and proposed changes to the Kennedy Center and the white house, of course.  These should  suffice to keep the Donald occupied for hours at a time with personal guides to walk him through the material as often as possible.  This fits the task of keeping Trump distracted while the rest of the Klan work to undermine our nation in his name.

We need everyone to be aware that any of Trump's ideas for this nation are poison, just as the one for Head Start is.  It will be hard to get the word out since Trumplandia owns so much of our media and has threatened most of what they don’t own.  There have been points in history when our media has been compromised and people managed to figure out how to get around that.  We can do it too.  One way may be to regularly take people on a visit to Trumplandia, letting us all know just what Trump and the white house toddler pool of sycophants are up to and who is targeted for their venom today.  There are Substack threads that do that, but it isn’t enough!  We need an all-out information barrage to let people know what is really going on!

We must find ways to bridge the gaps between Americans, the divisions mostly deepened by Trumplandia.  Why should anyone either believe or act on anything that comes from Trumplandia’s bunch of child-men and a few child-women?  We need to do smart work arounds to try to limit their power and push harder together for a better nation, not just for Democrats and the other Trumpian targeted groups, but for everyone. 

Maybe, we can try to help people we know get off the drug of FoxFraud and the other Trumpian media.  This will be some of the hardest work we do, but we are America and can do this!  As much as possible, it must be done TOGETHER in community if we are to succeed! 

TAXES AND THE VERY RICH

By Ruth A. Sheets

August 26, 2026

The word that came into my mind when years ago I read about Republican negative responses to paying their fair share of taxes, since Reagan days was "GREED"!  It seems that once one gets more money than he needs, he MUST keep accumulating just to think himself successful.  One house isn't enough, he must have more.  When he has no interest in sailing, he must still have a yacht.  He never has sufficient funds, and thinks his brilliance deserves a ton of children by acceptable women so he can produce a super race (Musk).  If he doesn't think his corporations have gotten to where he thinks they should be, he will bribe or threaten the Department of the Interior to let him take over and drill, mine, log, or otherwise steal our public lands.  He leaves messes for the rest of us to clean up, while his profits rise. 

It never ends, and taxes just get in the way.  It doesn't matter that the white male oligarch and his corporations use the roads, the air space, the utilities, and all the other services of a nation, he just doesn't see that he should have to pay more than a pittance for the peons. And, you know, those peons just demand too much, so we had better cut out the waste (the peons). 

That is still not enough, so those super rich white boys need a paramilitary force that can intimidate everyone into doing whatever those rich white guys want in their rich-boy paranoia targeting:  immigrants, protesters, women, medical folks who provide services to the peons, journalists, and anyone who gets in the way.  The oligarchs need distractions to cover their “bad” behavior, so threaten and lie about trans women, people on the Mall in DC who touch the Reflecting Pool (they must have vandalized it), and an assortment of groups they believe they can use to pacify their MAGA base.  Let’s be clear, it is the oligarchs’ MAGA base!  

Through ownership of our media platforms, those whiny rich white child-men lie, gaslight, misinform, and most of all, disinform everyone that somehow the people are ignorant and need to be ordered about by somewhat attractive men and women whose only talent seems to be that they can read what they are given to read, ask the questions they are told to ask.  The people don't need rights, they don't need to vote, they do need to pay taxes though.  Everyone who doesn't look like Whitelandia is evil or a criminal, depending on the race or gender.  History and science are what those ignorant rich white child-men say they are. 

As one would expect, those super rich guys and their “partners” are nearly all Republicans because that party is easiest to manipulate and keep in line with money and threats.  Republicans under the thumb of the super rich buy candidates and rig elections, while claiming the rigging is all on the part of the Democrats/Communists/left-wing terrorists (all the same thing as far as MAGA is led to believe). They order their purchased legislators to lower taxes for the oligarchs whenever they can get away with it. 

Republicans prodded by the oligarchy heavily promote the myth of wealth which lets ordinary people think they will be rich one day too.   Therefore, they should support those tax cuts for the very rich to make them even richer, because they will be them some day.  There is next to no chance of that, but the myth lives!  It serves those childish rich folks to have a bunch of those wealthy-wannabee peons waiting on them. 

We the People need to stop this insanity!  The question is, HOW?  You might guess I would have some ideas; I do.  Here are a few of them.

• Show less respect for the guys I think of as users.  They use everyone to get what they want and somehow are called “brilliant” for doing it; they’re not, they’re users or in other words, “the takers.”  Among them are Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, Theil, Vought, and the owners and CEOs of the other huge media and tech corporations.  They, however, see themselves as “the givers.”

If we are to put those oligarchs in their place, we have to act.

• We need to be aware of where the worst of them operate from, then boycott their operations as much as possible.  We make that boycott public so everyone will know who is being targeted this week/month/year.
• We must laugh at their antics as though they are little spoiled bratty children trying to rule the playground.  We must find ways to avoid revering them.
• Point out loudly, whenever possible, when the truth of their shenanigans has been revealed, that they need to feel shame for what they have done and/or are doing and stop it!  Maybe some strategically-placed signs or billboards would work.
• Journalists should dig more deeply into the activities of the whiny white boy oligarchs.  When the truth is known about their encroachment on people’s rights, or stealing of our public lands, or abuse of people in their prisons comes out, make it more than a one-day news item.  Then say things like, “we give them tax breaks and look what they do to us.”
• Get Congress to clean up the tax law, close rich white boy loopholes, and significantly raise the taxes on everyone whose income is say $10 million and above in a progressive manner as in the past.  Begin with Social Security which should be calculated on all income.  Even tax income that which comes from trading stocks and interest, EVERYTHING.  Maybe, if they have to pay a lot more in taxes, they might be willing to be more careful how they do business. Nah, but we will have more money for critical programs!
• Install a one-time say 5% wealth tax, call it something clever like dignity tax on all income over $2 billion, to be renewed in the future as needed to work down our debt and reestablish the programs Americans need.

These are a few suggestions for dealing with the insanity of people in power.  Whether in politics or business, they think the rest of us are either dust on their shoes or obstacles they need to kick out of the way.  We should not be willing to accept either role.  We need to  work together to end their bullying, then push or vote them out of power.  We have been victims of wealth abuse for a long time.  It’s time now to have enough courage to stand up and say “I’m not going to take it anymore,” and mean it!