Are Most Adult Americans Totally Bamboozled by Propaganda?

Most of the time, it seems so to me.  For the life of me, I cannot figure out why most of my fellow citizens appear to either believe, or alternatively, to not object to the following falsehoods.

1.  Our Presidents can issue pretty much any Executive Orders that they so desire.  [Any 12th-grader reading Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution easily could determine that only two such Orders are permitted:  the Pres can order his/her Department Heads (or any one of them) to submit a Report on anything having to do with their individual Departments; and, the Pres can order a Pardon for a convicted criminal...except in the case of Impeachment.  That's it...those are the only two Exec Orders permitted by the Supreme Law of the Land.  Presidents usually justify others by citing some general duty of theirs to protect or defend the United States.  Any such duty cannot legally contravene other parts of the Constitution.  Well, maybe it can in Alice's Wonderland or some other la-la, loony tunes Land...but to allow such actions permits the Executive Branch to make Laws... and that's a function expressly reserved to the Congress.  With that power, a President essentially is a Feudal King.]

2.  Our Presidents legally can have our military cross an international border, bomb that country, and kill people without Congress declaring war.  [This has been going on since the end of WW II.  Politicians usually justify it in one of two ways:  by claiming the action is not war; or, by citing some LAW passed by Congress that allows the Pres to choose when & where to engage in war.  In the first case, I refer you to the Korean Conflict (the official name) in the 1950's, the Vietnam Conflict (the official name) in the 1960's and 1970's, and the Counter-Terrorism activities of Bush-Obama.  In the second case, I refer you to the War Powers Act.  Those justifications are blatantly wrong because in the first case, if you bomb a country & kill people, it's ridiculous to claim you're not at war; in the second case, no Law trumps the Constitution.  That's why it's called the SUPREME Law of the Land.]

3.  The gravest, most dangerous threat to the USA is that of Islam.  [You have a bigger chance of being killed by lightning than by the comparatively few criminals who are so-called jihadists.]  Because of that "threat", we must willingly sacrifice certain Rights in order to be "safe".  [These beliefs by seemingly many Americans are at once ridiculous, tragic, and comical.  Can't anyone reason anymore?  Can't anyone recognize manipulative Propaganda anymore?  Can't anyone see how the Powers-That-Be are eliminating our Right to be Free with this BS?]

4.  Our Economy is "recovering".  Unemployment is now at "4.9%"...[or some other equally & wildly inaccurate low number.]  The Stock Market is rebounding and soon will be in great shape again.  Manufacturing is on the mend.  [Those claims are beyond the pale...completely asinine.  The Powers-That-Be are so used to most Americans accepting their outright lies that such lies have become larger and more numerous in recent years.  See several of my past posts for an alternative view... or see almost any non-corporate media source for something much, much closer to the truth.]

5.  Donald Trump, or Ted Cruz, or Hillary Clinton, or Bernie Sanders, or any of the other current candidates will make good on their promises... and really make a difference in our lives.  [Please.  Not without Congress they won't... unless they do it illegally by Exec Order.  Furthermore, keep in mind that the President represents the State (as in Statism), not the People.  We the People supposedly are represented by the Congress, not the Executive Branch... although, with all the Crony Capitalism and corruption in the Gov't, even the concept of Congress representing us is highly questionable.  The only way out of this political mess is by means of peaceful outside pressure.  No one inside the Rotten System ever will be able to change much of anything...not anymore.  The fact is, we live in a criminal Fascist State... criminal at the highest levels.  The Supreme Law of the Land is violated by Gov't Elites on an almost daily basis.  Don't ever think that one has to be a Judge or Attorney-at-Law in order to comprehend the Constitution.  That document is long-winded in parts, but it's very plainly written and fairly easy to understand.  Most politicians ignore most of it.  Where's the outrage over that?]

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

May All Fanatic Tribalism Evaporate

Below is my response (modified just a bit) to a Forwarded email received from a dear friend.  That email contained a link to a YouTube clip of a speech by a Swiss Member of Parliament.  In that speech, the young man was exhorting his colleagues to "stand up" against the invasion of Europe by Islamists.  One could infer from the email that the same should apply to those of us in the USA.  The theme was almost entirely immigration, not terrorism.  My response is about the USA.
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Europeans & Americans need to understand a simple fact of demographics.  This speaker hit the nail on the head when he described our cultures as "child-poor".  It's a matter of BIRTH-RATE.  I don't worry too much about the coming majority of either Middle-Easterners of the Islam persuasion OR of Spanish-speaking Catholic Americans because that is inevitable.  The ones already here legally will be a majority of our population in a few to several generations simply because they reproduce a gazillion times faster than Anglo-Saxons (in general).  There is no "solution" to that.  They will rule because of democracy and demography.

The Right Wing here, in particular, screeches on & on about immigration, Islam, Mexicans (even though most illegals now come from Central American countries, not Mexico), etc.  What they apparently don't realize is that the ones here legally already have assured the outcome of the demographic process---they will be the majority of the population in the not-so-distant future...legally.  I figure it's not much use to get all upset about something that no one can do a damned thing about.  Our descendants will be the new minority...that's inevitable.  American culture will change even more than it already has.  Nothing can be done about that...at least, nothing civil, ethical, legal, or moral.  Anything else is unthinkable and indefensible.  [Deporting 11 million people, building a border wall, etc. will not stop the coming change.  That change will come from the people already here legally.]

The good news is that throughout our history minorities almost always have managed to hang onto their cultures...even though each one is no longer (or never was) dominant in the country.  It's not the end of the world, but America will never be the same as what we knew.

Trump & people like him are pandering to Americans' fear, but this is not a question of illegal immigration or the Barbary Pirate Horde.  It's a matter of the birth-rates of those already here legally.  NOTHING can be done about that.  Our descendants will have to adapt...or move to New Zealand.  [They don't allow too many to emigrate from wherever to their land.]  

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We humans like to think that nowadays we're very advanced, intelligent, and sophisticated.  Too often the truth is that we're still stuck in Tribalism, and sometimes, fanatic Tribalism.  Too often each "tribe" is utterly convinced that only it is completely in the "Right"; only it is justified in its actions.  That doesn't say much for us as a species.  "When will we ever learn?", eh, Pete?

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Saudi Arabia, Extremism, and Jihadis

It would do we Americans well to be aware of a few facts regarding Saudi Arabia, especially given that they supposedly are our ally.

1.  In the last couple months, there were 113 beheadings in "The Kingdom".  They were executions of criminals.  Some of the crimes involved were:  blasphemy (!), sorcery (!), and sedition.  Saudi Arabia still subscribes to a form of Persian Gulf style execution that was common in the 1600s.  By the way, these beheadings usually are public.  That's our ally in action.  Disgusting.

2.  Many private sources in Saudi Arabia fund ISIS.  Are they being rooted out by the Gov't there?

3.  "The Kingdom" sponsors Wahhabism, an extreme, almost cultist Sect of Islam, as a State religion.

4.  The Jihadis of today were created by repressive regimes (and their jails and torture practices) such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Syria...dating back to at least the 1970s.

5.  "The Kingdom" is a dictatorship.
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Also of interest is the fact that we import twice as much crude oil from Canada as we do from Saudi Arabia.  Canada sits on huge reserves, so that amount likely will increase.  We also import large amounts of crude from Mexico, Venezuela, and Nigeria.  All that begs for an answer to the question:  just how necessary to us is a country (or more accurately, their gov't) that beheads people in public?  This is, after all, the year 2014...not 1614.  What they do today is somewhat akin to if the Spanish executed people today by burning them at the stake.  To the Gov't of "The Kingdom":  a mild suggestion--- at least jump forward to the 19th century.  To the Gov't of the USA:  perhaps it would be helpful if you re-evaluated just who it is that you choose as an ally.  Birds of a feather... and all that.

Be Well