Greenwald Speaks the Truth

I don’t like Julian Assange. Sometime ago I became estranged from two friends for saying that, so let me be clear. He makes my skin crawl. Every time I see his anemic face staring out of a dark room, through a dingy window, I want to spray Raid on my T.V. screen. Call it my Witch’s gut.  Call it a woman’s intuition. Hell, you can even call me stupid –someone did once in the 3^rd grade.  I didn’t give a damn then, and I’ll care a lot less now.  I can’t stand the sight of the man.

Having said all of this, Glenn Greenwald, a real honest to the Goddess journalist, writing for “The Intercept” argues that whether you like him or not Assange does not deserve to be misquoted, misrepresented and in general trashed by a publication pushing a political agenda; particularly, when that publication, in this case the Guardian, smugly prides itself on being part of the movement to expose fake news.  Political agendas are always to be considered suspect, and post election agendas are especially irksome because they are often empty of purpose other than blame. Since November 8^th the blame game has been on, and the MSM has fed it red meat by the pound for fun and profit.

With growing waves of nausea I hear the Clinton people blaming anyone they can for her loss in November.  On Monday it is Bernie, on Tuesday it is the Russians/Assange, on Wednesday it is Bernie, on Thursday it is protest voters/diet coke, fast food and high cholesterol, on Friday and through the weekend they are back to Bernie again.  In my not uninformed or uneducated opinion, if the bulk of the blame is to be laid anywhere outside of the campaign it would be with the MSM, FBI and DNC.  I realize that our intelligence people are convinced the Russians interfered in some way with our elections, and while I am not willing to discredit them out of hand, like Fox Mulder I am usually unwilling to take what my government tells me to the band and start writing checks. But let all of that go.

The article that has Greenwald in a flap was written by someone he feels was a pro-Clinton journalist, one Ben Jacobs, with the approval of his editorial board; thus, making the “Guardian” culpable in his journalistic recklessness. I have read Jacobs, and concur he was pro-Clinton as was his rag.  Much of the media was pro-Clinton. The fact that from print journalism to network and cable T.V. the MSM can’t resist peddling their opinions as factual news is bad enough.  In the following article Greenwald demonstrates that Jacobs out and out misrepresented statements made by Assange in an interview with an Italian journalist. This is totally unacceptable; it does not serve the American people, the Republic or the truth. I don’t like Assange, but I like this crap a hell of a lot less.

The Guardian’s Summary of Julian Assange’s Interview Went Viral and Was Completely False

As the New Year Approaches

With the New Year approaching I am asking myself what I want to do as 2017 marches on.  I want to exercise more, lose weight, eat better – who doesn’t?  I want to open my mind and make sure that I am not living in the echo chamber that I accuse others of living in.  There are decent, reasonable and clear thinking Conservatives. There are loony Liberals who knee jerk their way through life and add little to the discussion or the movement.

Having said all of that let me say that I am a Liberal – pure and simple.  I am in fact a Democratic Socialist.  I am not responsible for people who don’t know the difference between Vladimir Lenin and George Bernard Shaw.  I am unwilling to take responsibility for people who can’t or won’t understand the evolution of Socialist thought from pure Marxism to the Fabian Movement to the Socialist Workers/Labor Party and on to the modern day Democratic Socialist as represented by the philosophy of Senator Bernie Sanders.

I am not responsible nor will I apologize; and I will never change. Rooted in the values of Democratic Socialism is my core value system which can be summed up simply as a devout belief in social and economic justice.  Nonetheless, I believe that a closed mind is a dead mind; and a dead mind is useless.  Accordingly, I strive to remember the words of Malcolm X, “I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”

While I will strive in 2017 to open my mind and learn from those I don’t agree with, I intend to resist with all my talent and energy what I perceive to be America’s first Authoritarian/Fascist Administration.  I have sat in the box and been called out for my opinions by both sides – Right and Left.  I can give as good I get, and nothing infuriates me beyond reason save the self righteous who vilify and demonize me or anyone else in the name of their Lord.  Firstly, they presume that he is my Lord.  He is not.  Secondly, they surmise that because I don’t follow their faith that I have no faith. That is untrue. Finally, they seem to labor under the delusion that their snorting and stomping will either shut me up or force me into compliance. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It has been my observation that these trolls of God wearing their bigotry like armor and wielding their hate like a sword are the frontline of Trump’s army.  They are not, however, to be identified with the entirety of his followers; many millions of which saw the world mushroom into hostile territory as it was watered by Republican greed and fed Democratic Neo-Liberal bullshit and globalism, leaving them in the dirt. 

When the Trump bubble explodes in their face - sooner rather than later I suspect - it will be time to approach them with respect and understanding in the spirit of solidarity.  The material point is that the mushroom nurtured by the Republicans and Democrats will turn deadly poison in Trump’s hands. It will take a movement of the people, for and by the people, to create an antidote to save ourselves, our children and our planet.

If we are going to figure out how to fix the mess we have made, we will have to fix it together.  It is just that simple.  I don’t often quote the Bible.  It isn’t my book, if you take my meaning.  Still, I have read it.  Many Pagans do.  One passage from “Proverbs” seems relevant: When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

Let us seek wisdom as 2017 marches on.

Happy Solstice by Barbara Carvallo

It is the night of Solstice, and I am cooking.  Italian sauce for dinner with dear friends tomorrow; Papa's favorite cookies backed and an orange, walnut, cranberry Bundt cake in the oven; just finished freezing homemade green chili for a winter meal as Dvorak's cello concerto in B minor, op 104 drifts through the soft light of my warm and welcoming kitchen. A faded sunset of pale gold and pearly white is settling into the west, bringing on the longest night of the year and heralding a period of rest and meditation for Pagan gardeners.

My roses are dormant. They sleep now, dreaming of summer light and soft rain. Tulips, daffodils, iris and crocus will stir at the Quickening, beginning to stretch their greenery at the Maiden Goddess' command.

The Great Crone Hecate is eminent now. Singing lovingly to the old year as it moves inevitably toward its death. She will watch all winter, helping life begin and end. Her magic is sacred, Her power incorruptible and absolute. This is Her time, and a time of comfort, stillness and tranquility for those of us who know Her.

I wish you all of this and more. Happy Solstice my sisters.

The Con is On

Before we head into 2017 and the burlesque of Trump's inauguration, let us take stock. There is no reason for anyone to reiterate the idea that, "He is not my president." Trump won't be anyone's president. He is a self aggrandizing sociopath; a two-for-a-nickle grifter; a confidence man's confidence man who - along with the the league of scoundrels he proposes to place in his cabinet - will turn the United States of America into his personal hedge fund.

They will do the only thing they have ever done, make money. I have said before and will say again, when money is all you want, money is all you get. Money has been all America has wanted for a very long time. We now have, arguably, the richest man who has ever stepped foot in the Oval Office. He is proposing to appoint the richest crew of cabinet secretaries ever to disgrace America. Yes, we have money. We don't have intellect, integrity, erudition, education, experience, wisdom or even a president; but by the Living Goddess we have money. Everybody happy now?

Thus as we go forward into 2017 with little to hope for and less to admire, behold the Trump Doctrine. Peddle a little Pro-life and a little Second Amendment while bending the faithful over a table and calling it love of country.

Speaking Out on Twitter

A banner day for the stupid among us. The most idiotic nominee for president in the history of the Republic has just been given the blessing of the Electoral College. Arguably the goddamned thing shouldn't even exist. Still, here we sit with this buffoon who won an election - if that is what you want to call it - where nearly 45% of us didn't bother to vote, an estimated 30% voted down ballot only and his opponent won the popular vote by almost 3,000,000. You do the math.

To paraphrase the great writers at National Lampoon, "We are flukes of the Universe. We may have lost our right to be here, and whether we can hear it or not, the Universe is laughing behind our backs."

Speaking Out on Twitter

VIRUS ALERT !!!!

Breaking News. "Donald Trump arrested" Please if you see two police officers arresting Donald Trump on your computer screen, Do not click to read the news. It is a Virus . Someone has done that and it has infected their computer. Please send to all in your contact list . Pass This On

When in Doubt, Garden.

The flower is reality, politics a cruel hoax.  Blessed Be. 

On the Darkside

The article that follows, is a brilliant intellectual, spiritual and psychic assessment of exactly what is happening in this country now.  We have entered the darkness.  I have said before, and will say again, Trump is Karma.  There are powerful forces at work behind, in and around this fool. 

For those committed to the reverence and worship of the Sacred Feminine the article speaks of Kali – the Dark Mother of the Hindu tradition. In my tradition She is the Crone and third aspect of the Great Triple Goddess.  When I reached my Croning, I was called by the Crone Hecate – Queen of the Witches and Goddess of the Dark Side of the Moon.  She wields the Dark with power, authority and healing.  That is the point of the article – healing in and through the course of the nightmare we have wrought. 

I am a Witch.  I have no fear of the dark.  I and others like me see in the dark.  We are seeing now at the edge of the eclipse.  I make no claim to special power.  It is simply that I am old, wise and as honest as I can be. The latter is a Cardinal Virtue, as the Catholics say, in my faith.  I am honest with myself, with the world and with you dear reader. 

As I said very truthfully to a good friend of mine earlier today, in the human body there are genetic markers which must be activated for some of us to have certain illness that others won’t have because the markers aren’t present.  I believe there are analogous markers, if you will, in our intellectual, moral and spiritual makeup.  Trump hit them all – fear, resentment and hate.  On these he built his movement. While doing so he sold his public a bill of goods.  Because he is a conman of the first order, he is now engaged in the oldest con of all – bait and switch.  Anyone paying attention to the sleaze he is attempting to put in his cabinet knows the switch is on.   Thus, the darkness deepens.

For those who prefer let us speak in Jungian terms.  Trump has taken this nation deep into its collective unconscious, burrowing into our Shadow.  Oh don’t get me wrong, he is a tool without much more wit than a screwdriver or a hammer.  He has no idea what he is doing beyond his own self interest as he pulls the worst elements of our nature out and parades them around dressed up in patriotism and populist angst.  Jung knew the truth and he told it; there is power in the Shadow for anyone willing to face their demons – the worst elements of their nature – and take that power back.  This is the magic of healing. 

Witches know that magic is a matter of a fierce will, a focused intent and faith – above all faith.  So, whether your faith is in my Goddess, Christ, Brahma, Buddha, Allah, any Deity that I haven’t mentioned or yourself and the Universe, let us stand together.  Let us do some magic. 

LATEST DIALOGUES Kali Takes America: I’m with Her ~ Vera De Chalambert

Speaking Out on Twitter

There is a name for Tom Price - Trump's pick for Secretary of HHS - and it ain't Mr. Secretary. This pasty-faced slug has been peddling influence and sucking off K Street's tit for a decade plus on behalf of Georgia's 6th District and the wealthy in the healthcare industry (insurance companies, hospitals and doctors). He serves the latter primarily. Yeah, there is a name for Price. It starts with a "w", ends with an "e" and sounds like door.

Tom Price

Holidays

For me the Christmas Holiday comes on in dark patches of sky and soul.  Many who don’t follow the Christian religion, particularly as publicly practiced by media/politicians/vocal celebrities today, are bewildered as to what it is all about other than excess and resentment for those who aren’t part of the faith.  Resentment overlaid with a chilling ignorance and indifference extended to those of us whose seasonal celebrations predate Christmas by centuries, even millennia, and whose traditions have been appropriated without so much as a by-your-leave. 

The Roman holiday of Saturnalia – December 17^th-25^th – appears to have been chosen as the time of Christmas in an effort to persuade Roman Pagans to join in the Christian’s observance.  The ancient celebration itself was a time of chaos dominated by the nomination of a “Lord of Misrule” who at the end of the carnival-like ritual and in the best tradition of antiquity was scapegoated and sacrificed to scare off various and assorted bogymen associated with the so-called forces of darkness. Since the festival seemed to have very little to do with the theory of Christmas, early authorities settled on December 25^th only for the purpose of commemorating the birth of Jesus.

More closely aligned with my tradition are Yule and the Winter Solstice. The former was originally part of the Norse Tradition beginning before the Solstice and running past New Years Day.  The latter is celebrated on December 21^st or 22^nd.  Winter Solstice has been recognized in some form since the beginning of time our traditions teach us.  It is the longest night of the year and is reckoned to herald the re-birth of the Sun.  The world sits at the edge of Winter, as Goddess rests Her regenerative power to prepare for the Quickening at Imbolc (February 1^st) and the awakening of the Earth. The Sun grows in intensity to nourish the planet’s blooming in the Spring and Summer months.  Thus, providing us with the harvest that will carry us through the next Winter as the Wheel of the Year turns.

On Solstice night many burn three candles upon a log, known as the Yule Log.  I was trained to use a green, a red and a white candle, representing the three aspects of Goddess – Maiden, Mother and Crone.  The Log is often decorated with holly, mistletoe and pine branches hung with brightly colored bulbs and strung with lights or streamers made with popcorn.  We burn Bayberry and Pine incense and candles, make cookies and cider.  Finally, the Log maybe burned.  It symbolizes the rebirth of the Sun by the grace of Goddess and is sacred in our eyes. 

All of our rituals are Earth based.  At Yule we thank Goddess for the Earth – the only gift we need.  I am honored to be a servant of the Earth, a gardener.  This is the work I do on behalf of my Goddess.  It is the finest gift I have to give and I will give it freely because that is a moral mandate of my faith.  This is the meaning of Solstice and Yule, indeed of Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lammas, Mabon and Samhain as well.  Blessed Be.

The Laugh is on Us

What follows is an article by the "Atlantic."  Like most of the articles by this particular publication it is well written and well reasoned.  I am posting it for your consideration and speculation.

The thrust of the piece is that America is not nor has it ever been a democratic state.  If one defines democracy as rule by the people, the 51% that is, then the Bill of Rights itself is an undemocratic instrument.  Does it not protect unpopular speech from censorship by the government that presumes to represent the people and unfamiliar religions from discrimination by the majority - the 51%, that Jefferson believed need to be watched?  The Supreme Court, with no accountability to the people and a kind of absolute power more reminiscent of a ruling aristocracy, is an undemocratic institution. 

The Founding Fathers devised the Electoral College in the firm belief that the people, the majority, the 51% were not to be trusted to elect their president. The writers and signers of the Constitution believed that the tendency of the 51% might be to elect people with “talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity”; in other words the people would have a tendency to sweep dangerous demagogues into office and the Electors were there to prevent that catastrophe.

Question: Come December 19th when the Electors vote - hardly the independent minded people the Founders imagined, more like party sycophants - will we be witnessing the greatest irony in the history of the modern world; or a cosmic joke, the punch line to which we are not yet privy? You decide.

The Electoral College Was Meant to Stop Men Like Trump From Being President

A Dark Tale

It is the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2016 and the shock of having elected the most dangerous, ridiculous and moronic man in history to the highest office in the land is beginning to wear off.  Now we must deal with the dark tale he is producing around his cabinet and assorted hangers-on.  So far in a horrible parity of Snow White he has managed to put forward Sleepy, Ben Carson a proposed pick for HUD Secretary; Goofy, Jeff Sessions for Attorney General; Dopy, Reince Priebus for White House Chief of Staff; and Grumpy, Steven Bannon for Chief Strategist – whatever the fuck that means.

Sleeping together endlessly in a frozen inertia are a media silenced by extortion – held for ransom, limited access to the most powerful man in the world – and sniveling about the diversity of Trump’s cabinet rather than expounding the perilous inexperience of same; along with a public lulled to sleep by apathy and the idiotic belief that if they do nothing or the wrong thing long enough someone better then they – that is to say lacking in all human frailties – will step out of the wilderness to lead them. The Evil Queen – a bastardized version of patriarchal power – sits confident in the knowledge that at least the status quo of hierarchical authority, a facile and tatter beauty, has been maintained in the greed and avarice that sustains class, race and gender privilege.

This is where we are as the end of the year speeds toward us with the sickening knowledge that soon a monster, a con man, a sociopathic narcissist will take possession of the greatest office and bully pulpit in the known universe.  Accordingly, on Thursday some gave thanks for this sorry state of affairs, I suppose.  Some gave thanks for the people who will stand against Trump and his malignant band of dwarfs; people like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and other veterans heading to Standing Rock in December to support our First Nation.  Some gave thanks for Social Networking and the Independent Press for as long as they exist until Trump sets net neutrality alight along with Free Speech, the Department of Education, Religious Freedom and so much more to create the greatest conflagration of human and civil rights in the history of our Republic.  Some just slept unable to be awakened by anyone’s kiss – or kick.  They slept peacefully, carelessly and obliviously under the spell of tryptophan with no interest other than afternoon football and a slice of pumpkin pie. 

These are the people we must worry about, I am afraid.  These people who have through profound resignation unquestioningly accepted the bitter fruits of the system and are now in a permanent brain-death sleep.

The Intercept

Let me say to begin with and without equivocation, don't let the political establishment, of either  party, or the shills in the mainstream media convince you that alternative journalism is the same thing as false journalism.  For the most part ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN and certainly Fox are propaganda machines not news sources.  They embarrassed themselves mightily during the election.  First, by promoting a man who is now determined to shut them out; secondly, by being smugly wrong about everything; finally, by refusing to own the nightmare their arrogance and blatant stupidity has helped to engender.  With the exception of a handful of people – Maddow, Melber, Hayes, O’Donnell and the Williams boys, Brian and Pete, to name a few of the best – journalism died with Cronkite.   

Having said all of this, anyone who isn’t familiar with the premise of the following article by “The Intercept” might be shocked to know that there is no Santa Claus. I have said before and will say again, Mike Pence is a greater menace then Trump.  The latter is a carnival barker, a buffoon, a cheap stage prop who will stumble about making rambling speeches, showing off his wife and engaging in warped performance art, while men like Pence, Bannon and General Mike Flynn do their best or worst. 

For his part, Pence is a religious fanatic, a zealot of the “My God is the only God” variety.  He practices Christianity with an emphasis on Old Testament values like vengeance, bloodletting and bigotry.  Pagans will be at real risk in his America, as will anyone who doesn’t conform to his constipated moral and world views. 

So, add Pagans, Atheists, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, of course Muslims and many others to the swelling ranks of people for whom the Bill of Rights will be rewritten with the proviso – Need Not Apply.  As our LGBT brothers and sisters may feel the need to step back into the closet, and our undocumented brothers and sisters the need to step deeper into the shadows; women may need to brace themselves for the back alley where people with unclean hands and dirty instruments do surgery that was once safe, and Pagans may need to take off our jewelry while stepping into basements and windowless rooms to perform ritual.

These are the wages of apathy, of forgetting that freedom isn’t free and democracy requires thought, education and work.  For all of those who put party over principle, forgot who they were supposed to be working for or who weren’t paying attention during the election season, welcome to our nightmare, man; welcome to our Gestalt.  How do you like it?

MIKE PENCE WILL BE THE MOST POWERFUL CHRISTIAN SUPREMACIST IN U.S. HISTORY

Talking Back on Twitter

Past the law books and the courts, the lawyers and the judges, the humps we elect to legislate between vacations and influence peddling, there is a kind of justice that none of us can escape. It is the universal balancing of the scales known as KARMA.

We can try to laugh it off, blow it off, buy it off, but like the fella said, "No dice, chump." We are stuck with what we earn.

Talking Back on Twitter

Behold Our Karma

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity ... Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  

What else can I say?  What else is there to say? Sanders supporters can say, I told you so.  I am a Sanders supporter, it goes without saying; but so the fuck what? Never Hillary people can say, we won. To which I say, prove it - now and as time goes by.

We have witnessed the beginning of the end of the two party system, brought about by the arrogance and native carelessness of the political elites.  We are witnessing the fatal embarrassment, and hopefully the demise, of a mainstream media, bloated with money and stagnate of thought.  None to soon, I might add, it all seems to be blowing apart, shaking and crumbling.

In the Tarot deck there is a card called, "The Tower." It represents the war between truth and lies. The tower, the structures we count on, shake and crumble under the weight of our refusal to let go of the latter at the expense of the former. There is a darkness about this card, much like the darkness that is slipping over this country.

To those who voted I say, better luck next time. To those who didn't vote I say, fuck you and may you come to regret that lost vote as bitterly as possible. However, as the religious zealots thank their smug God of vengeance and cruelty, and the bed-wetters who can't adjust to a changing world look to their strong man for the courage they lack, let me say, behold our Karma. It is a whirlwind of our own making, coming upon us with the chill of shock and disbelief. Let us watch and listen, study and learn so that when we pass through it - if we pass through it - we will have stronger brick and mortar with which to build a new tower.

Good Luck America

I am writing at this time to say that I am terrified. It looks like we have a chance of electing the first American Fascist. There are those who prefer this monster to a woman. There are those who consider a pending rape case, albeit civil, and a pending civil Rico case against Trump preferable to the unproven and in some cases fictional charges against his opponents. There are those who considered a vote for a candidate who couldn't possibly win to be more honorable then a vote to protect themselves from a man like Trump. I hope we can all live with what we have done. I have no doubt that we will deserve whatever we get.

V O T E !!!!

If you haven't voted, do so. If you don't, please do your countrymen and women the service of keeping your mouth shut. The next few years, no matter who wins, promise to be difficult enough without people who have invested nothing demanding anything.

From the boys with muskets in three-cornered hats, to the suffragettes in white, to the men and women fighting today against voter suppression, the franchise is the most valuable thing you own. It is more valuable then your stock portfolio, more valuable then your car, more valuable then your home or life insurance. The vote is the bread and meat of this democracy. We can't cry about what our politicians destroying democracy if we are starving it to death.

Vote for yourself, vote for your kids, vote for your grand kids, vote because you can, but VOTE!

All the flowers pictured here are spring flowers. Some joy at the end of a dark season.