Kirkus Reviews, the Meta-Crisis, Trump, and More REDUX

NOTE:  This essay was first published about six months ago.  With Trump's re-election, it's even more crucial now.

 Kirkus has been around for decades, is number 2*** in the USA for quality book reviews, and is known for being tough on authors.  They have reviewed my second book, 

CHOICES & CHANGE ON THE PATH TO A SUSTAINABLE EXISTENCE -

BEST CHOICES FOR NAVIGATING THROUGH A MONUMENTAL CRISIS.

It's a pretty good review, fair and insightful.  

[***Publisher's Weekly is number 1, but their waiting list is way too long.]

"A straightforward and useful guide to better living.

Haley offers a short handbook for more ecologically sensible living..."  

~ Kirkus Reviews

The full review can be found here:

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/scott-c-haley/choices-change-on-the-path-to-a-sustainable-existe/

My three books can be found here:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0BVJMMWLG/about

At the link, click on "All Books" (above my name, near the top of the page).

Please hear me:  I don't care one whit about the piddly revenues received from book sales.  If I could afford it, I'd pay for any purchases myself; but I live very modestly (by Western World standards), and can't do that.  What I do care about are these two things:  1) the crucial concepts in the books (and elsewhere) have been rigorously researched by expert scientists in their respective fields (not by me, I'm just the messenger), and need to be spread far and wide if humans are to survive & thrive; and 2) gaslighters and serial liars like Trump are poo-pooing those concepts, and too many people seem to be believing the lies.  That must change quickly.

The Meta-Crisis we're in is real, and the threat is existential - the very existence of human civilization is under grave threat.  The key to navigating through the Crisis is SOCIO-ECO-EDUCATION, and then peacefully pressuring the Powers-That-Be to take significant mitigating action.  Without such, I fear for the quality of life my grandchildren and all younger generations will have to endure.  Help out:  become an informal educator whenever and however possible.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Here's precisely why & how the American Empire is ending, and Trump has a very minor role

 Jeffrey Sachs is a respected international economist, a notable Professor, and an experienced consultant to governments in the arena of international negotiations.  In this relatively short and recent interview, he gives a no-holds-barred view of why and how the unipolar world is changing to a multipolar one.  The days of the Government of the USA being the Big Kahuna are coming to an end.  In most respects, such is not a bad thing.  On the international stage, our Fed Gov't over decades has become arrogant and bullying, and that has been in play long before Trump.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swVjCFqL6-s

Trump became somewhat popular largely because of his TV Reality Show.  Here's the only thing you need to remember about that show:  it was scripted FICTION.  In the real world, DJT primarily was a failure in business.  If you don't believe it, look closely into his various businesses from the 1980's to the present.  You'll find numerous bankruptcies, the shafting of contractors, the shafting of employees, court cases against him, fines, etc.  He once claimed he got his start with "a small loan of a million dollars" from his father.  

David Cay Johnston, the investigative journalist and Pulitzer Prize winning author, has written a number of best-selling books about economics, Big Business, and Trump.  In one of the Trump books, he states that Fred Trump "loaned" Donald a total of sixty million dollars over the years.  So much for DJT's "small loan".

It wouldn't surprise me at all if, when Trump says he'll "make America great again", he  imagines a hundred-year (or maybe a thousand-year:) State-Corporate Complex with his descendants at the helm.  Based on his history of the last forty years, though, what's highly likely to occur is this:  he will self-destruct.  In the next two to four years, his management and policies will destroy the popularity he has now with the 28% (of all American adults) who elected him.  Example:  watch what happens when he implements his much-touted Tariff increases.  [See this 12-minute clip, previously posted on this blog:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvJ4XS9_h_0&list=WL&index=69 ]

BOTTOM LINE:  Trump will not be able to stop what Prof. Sachs says is coming to the world extremely soon.  DJT's so-called strongman image is a complete charade.  Most of his supporters soon will see he's nothing more than a serial liar who is somewhat clever.

Watch the Jeffrey Sachs interview (the first link in this essay).  It's quite an eye-opener.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

27.8% of ALL Adult Americans Voted Trump into Office in 2024 = not much of a mandate

 While his victory was impressive, let's put Trump's win into GENUINE perspective, as follows.

1.  In 2023, there were 262,083,034 ADULT Americans in the USA.  That number includes all voters plus all those who don't vote.

2.  In the election, 72,895,705 people voted for Trump.

3.  Conclusion:  it took only 27.8% of ALL adult Americans to elect our President.  [Historically, it usually took only a tad over 25% to win the Presidency.]

The "mandate" being touted by the Trumpican Party is a mandate from about 28% of American adults.  Even if we consider only those who voted in the election, Trump secured only a fraction over 50% of the vote.  It was barely a majority.

Everyone should keep ALL these numbers in mind when thinking about what some are calling "the greatest victory in the history of American elections".  Such characterization is a real stretch, eh?

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Not only my opinion.  Happy Trails

Mea Culpa, and Brief Notes on What the Trumpican Party Victory Reveals

First, as evidenced by the previous Post on this blog, I misjudged the thinking of the majority of the people here in my beloved Land.  I've always known WHY that majority is fed up with The Establishment and its Plutocracy.  On the socio-economic scale, the lower 80% of people here have been shafted for decades.  My mistake was in thinking:  by now surely ALL people would see clearly that Trump is a) not the one to save them; and b), he's a con-man who actually is in favor of the ruling Plutocracy.  I was wrong; they don't see it.

Here are just a few of the things the Trumpican Party victory reveals (in no particular order) ---

1.  Apparently, too many of us have been dumbed-down to the point where we no longer are capable of critical thinking.  In general, I blame our education system for that.  Mainstream Media also are at fault.  Have you noticed, for example, for many years young folks have been encouraged to skip a university education in favor of a vocational/trade school.  Such schools certainly serve a valuable function; however, their limitations need to be considered.  Generally, they don't provide a well-rounded education.  Yes, it's true you don't need a university education to get a good job; but such a higher education provides most students with a lot more than a job.  It broadens your worldview, and gives you skills in understanding what's important in life.  It does more, but I need to keep this essay relatively short.

2.  There also seems to be a serious problem with too many universities.  It appears to me that too many of them are more concerned with not offending some group or another rather than exploring ways to develop open minds and critical thinking.

3.  The mainstream, corporate faction of the Democratic Party is not paying enough attention to Main Street.  Worse, they are marginalizing the Progressives in their Party, the ones who are tuned-in to Main Street.

4.  The mainstream Dems who now rule their Party need to stop enabling Netanyahu's genocidal wars.  They should do so not only for obvious ethical/moral reasons, but also because they won't get Arab-American votes until they do.  [That's about 1.5 million votes. ]

5.  Trump realized a long time ago that if you repeat a lie enough times, then people will come to believe it.  He repeatedly lies/lied about immigrants, the economy, Democrats, any Republicans who oppose him, election integrity, crime stats, covid, the Media, etc., and all those lies have served him well.

6.  The Upper Crust of the Dem Party has failed miserably at showing people the urgency of addressing the existential threat of ecological overshoot, and the fact that Trump policies will increase the threat & the urgency by orders of magnitude.  Educational institutions, the Mainstream Media and others also have failed in that regard.  Perhaps they all have failed because they don't fully understand the Crisis, or they still may believe we humans have until 2050 to address the problem.  In any case, within ten years politics will not be uppermost in anyone's mind; but trying to find a degree of physical, mental, and economic comfort will be.

7.  Most people apparently are as in the dark about eco-overshoot's existential threat as is Trump and the Plutocracy.  Otherwise, they never would have voted an ecological ignoramus into office.  They would have known that such an action would be tantamount to eco-suicide.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

IF Americans have any common sense left after enduring decades of continual neoliberalism, then the 2024 election...

will play out like this--- 

1.  Due largely to young voters, women, people of color, Independents (41% of adult Americans are Purple, not Red or Blue), and the wisdom of many senior citizens, Harris will win the race.  Why?  Following are only some of the reasons.

2.  A majority of people are now wary of Trump's blatant lies, never-ending personal attacks on those who oppose him, total lack of statesmanship, ignorance of economic principles, espousal of violence, and his general negative and toxic demeanor.

3.  A majority of voters realize it's utter nonsense to blame a President or Vice President for overall INFLATION.  They know that the policies of the Fed Reserve Honchos affect the inflation rate more than any one person.  Interest rates are not determined by the President or VP.  The amount of "helicopter money" (basically created out of thin air by the Fed) dropped on all of us is not determined by the Pres. or VP.  Voters also know the Fed Reserve does not kowtow to the Oval Office.  [Remember how Trump once (while he was Pres.) denigrated the Fed Chairman for his actions?]

4.  A majority is aware of the rock-solid data showing that immigrants here have a LOWER rate of violent crime than those of us born and raised here.  Thus, Trump's constant claim of rampant criminality by immigrants is just another of his many delusions.

5.  A majority of people now see that Trump, if elected, will be consumed by revenge against his "demonic enemies" (his words), and such would not contribute to working toward unifying the country.  People are sick & tired of his divisiveness.

6.  Bottom Line:  IF (& it's a BIG IF) there's any common sense left in this country, then Trump will be defeated.  HOWEVER, here's one way he could steal the election (he calls it his "little secret")---

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/11/1/donald_trump_mike_johnson_little_secret

7.  End Note---  Trump has been telling Evangelicals that God saved him from assassination so he could be President (thus, it's God's Will).  Most of them appear to believe the same.  I'm a fairly open-minded guy, but I can't buy any of that.  It's narcissistic, manipulative hogwash.

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Not only my opinion.  Happy Trails

Trumpican (or perhaps, Trumpzi) Party completely replaces the once honorable Republican Party of long ago

 https://www.democracynow.org/2024/10/29/a_night_at_the_garden_marshall

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/10/29/jean_guerrero_trump_rally_nyc_msg

History repeats itself:  the 1939 Madison Square Garden political rally and the 2024 MAGA rally at the same location.  At both times, the hatemongers promoted their racism, xenophobia, and ignorance to an audience seemingly in general agreement.

Trump or Vance probably will claim that the MAGA rally shows massive support for their candidacy.  As pointed out in one of the clips above, here's the truth:  the number of people attending the Trump rally compose only two-tenths of one percent of the greater NYC population.  Two-tenths of ONE percent.

A short time ago, Trump falsely claimed that "...200 million people [in the USA] support me".  Such a claim is pure, unadulterated nonsense.  It's a blatant lie.  In 2016, he lost the popular vote by about three million; he became President only because of the antiquated Electoral College votes.  In 2020, he lost the popular vote by about seven million votes.  He also lost in the Electoral College.  Plus, it's completely plausible that in both elections some/many people voted for him only because they liked his opponent less.

In 2024, 244 million people will be eligible to vote in our national election.  Common sense tells me no one person has 200 million of those people as supporters.  In 2020, a record 66.6% of potential voters turned out and actually cast a vote.  Usually in this country, only a tad more than 50% of voters participate by voting.  All the above suggests many citizens are fed up with the sorry state of American politics.  Nevertheless, it's likely that this year's election will result in up to 70% of eligible voters participating.  One reason why is below.

Between 2020 and 2024, the Trumpican Party upper crust (not, in general, Main Street Trump supporters) has demonstrated even more of a shift to hatemongering, xenophobia, racism, divisiveness, misogynism, and fascism/authoritarianism.  The majority of our citizens abhor such a shift.  Many previously nonvoters likely will decide to join in and vote it down.  [If it isn't voted down, then USA politics is in a sorrier state than what I once thought.]

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The High Tech danger you know little-to-nothing about, & Trump is a pawn in the whole scenario

https://steadystate.org/is-the-election-a-civilizational-turning-point-why-musk-is-really-backing-trump/?blm_aid=122634

How much do you know about Transhumanism?  The concept has been in existence for years and years.  With recent advances in A.I., it has started to advance in leaps and bounds.  Backed by a few physicists, several billionaires and others, Transhumanism is now on the brink of starting to change civilization forever.  For the most part, those changes will be horrendous for Main Street and Heaven-on-Earth for the Elites.

Politicians such as Trump and Vance are pawns in this existential game, and I doubt they even know it.  I imagine their supporters on Main Street are even less aware of what's going on.  By the way, this is NOT a "conspiracy theory".  It has been right out in the open for years.  YouTube has lots of pieces about it.  I think it has been ignored by most of us because it's so bizarre...seemingly impossible in our minds.  Guess what?  It's no longer impossible.

SUGGESTION:  read the article at the link above.  Then read it again.  Then do whatever you can (as long as it's legal) to wake up your political representatives to the need for A.I. legislation ASAP.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well