26 Comments
Sep 21, 2022Liked by Thom Hartmann

My mother (1913-2012), a pretty smart lady, used to say that it must be nice to put your brain in park and let other people do the thinking. Unfortunately frightened folks who want “answers” will look for vast conspiracies to explain their problems. And if their leader is appointed by a higher power, then as followers they are automatically the chosen people. The fact that none of this is not logical is beside the point; faith is not based on observable facts.

For example, if “Q” was really a hidden ally dropping “breadcrumb” hints about what is going on, why doesn’t the powerful Secret State just find and kill this person? Or why doesn’t Q go public, putting the evidence out on a thousand channels? Not everything is controlled by “them”. Those who believe in Qanon will, of course, have answers for these questions, not that they are logical. Being one of the elect “in the know” and expecting final victory are what matters.

Ultimately the problem is that desperate people whipped up by a new faith cannot be talked to in any sensible fashion. The YouTube interviews of Jordan Klepper talking to Trump supporters shows this pretty clearly: Facts don’t matter. In fact, experts (and by implication well educated people) are suspect and not to be trusted. What they say is irrelevant or worse as they may be part of the conspiracies claiming that that COVID or climate change are real concerns. Such assertions can make people feel powerless and thus should be ignored. Some followers will come to their senses, but when guns become involved the situation is far more toxic. Trump won’t live forever, but damage he has done and what he has tapped into will keep marching on.

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Sep 21, 2022Liked by Thom Hartmann

When you add the project of Putin and Russian Intelligence to feed the paranoia, it increases Thom's concerns exponentially.

Who is Q? Is "he" a real person, or a cabal of Russian hackers? I suspect the latter!

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Thom,

Your rant parallels my rant for today. About 3 this morning, I was up hoping to see the cougar in the arroyo, drank too much coffee, and started philosophizing (is that a word?)

I realized that We are all extremists by nature. Our lizard brain is caged within our civilized brain, but the lizard is FAST, so it grabs emotions before civilization catches up.

I was pondering the latest impossible conspiracy fantasy from maggot relatives. They raved about how horrible Biden was. I found myself thinking that they were such fools that they don't deserve to breathe our oxygen, when they are actually decent people. Then I listened to Sirius Progress channel and heard outraged rants about how horrible Trump is. It woke me up.

Trump is a mentally slow, illiterate person who literally knows almost nothing about anything but avoiding jail. He's also a superb performer and reads a crowd better than a tent preacher. He's not evil, nor wonderful, for his actions, most of which I doubt he understands, he's just doing what Putin told him to do and Ivanka wrote down while listening in, (perhaps sitting on his lap?).

Yet, my side, and myself at times, think, view, and speak of him as evil incarnate, while maggots gaze wistfully at him with joy and worship.

My point is that anyone with celebrity is exaggerated by their audience. You are an example yourself. When I point people at your books and show, about half reply with (paraphrased) "He's superman" or "He's Lex Luther". Nobody says "I like his shows because he works his tail off to verify everything".

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While Garland's hesitancy to bring charges before the midterms is understandable, I expect to see those charges almost immediately after. If not, then Liz Cheney's remarks are true - he's in a position where he's above the law.

On a side note, have others noticed that when Trump is belittling or condemning someone, his speech delivery changes, to where he mimics Marlon Brando from The Godfather? Rather than a cult leader, I think he sees himself as some kind of all-powerful mob boss.

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The key is for the DOJ to indict and convict Trump, not doing so is evidence to his followers that everything is OK, and they will continue to act out, as will Trump. It is outrageous that Garland has not indicted Trump at this point. The excuse now will be the midterms, the excuse after will be 2024, what is it going to take? It seems they are afraid of something, possbly a civil war? The longer they wait, the worst things are likely to play out.

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Thank you Thom for the providing the “inflation rate” chart link in today’s “Daily Stack.”

To others: next time one of your right-leaning acquaintances complains that Biden is responsible for inflation, you can tell them that there are 101 countries that have the same or higher inflation rate than the U.S. Ask them if Biden is responsible for those countries too.

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One in a hundred people are psychopaths, but how many in a hundred are willing to follow one? I think it is more than we ever thought possible. First they would have to understand what a psychopath IS and then understand how they are manipulated by them. Thom, you, Dr. Lee, and other pros have said a mouthful. It's very hard for people to grasp and accept these facts, but thank goodness you all keep trying.

Dr. Bandy X. Lee is a freakin' hero! In one sense, she has paid a price for telling the truth. Someone should make a movie about that, it's fascinating.

The people that have been trying to educate the rest of us about these subjects are what give me hope. The mystery of our brains and behavior must be solved so we can evolve.

So much crazy, so little time!

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I’m not a leader, but I can certainly assert my connection to divinity:

https://addapinch.com/divinity-recipe/

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The mustard seed falls on fertile ground. A long-held speculation of mine is that the self-selected European early white migrants to North America represented a concentration of authoritarian DNA. It is hardly obscure that religious fanatics were prominent. Misogynist extremists: witch trials and The Scarlet Letter ring a bell? And this strain of inheritance held itself apart from wave after wave of The Other: pure blood unsullied by Irish, Poles, Italians; God forbid coloreds. This is the Last Stand of the Breed, but it's a mental predisposition in the chromosomes. Well. That's my theory.

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Another way to see this is as a move in evolution. Where before despots were successful in their takeovers, as Trump gets crazier his support diminishes. We wouldn't kill Indians now, we don't hold slaves anymore, we wouldn't create internment camps like the ones our Japanese citizens were removed to, and now we are averting the Trump black hole that let's hope is the end of succumbing to dictatorships. Let's also hope that wiser heads will become more pro-active to speed up our evolution, where we get it that we are one humanity before we use our awesome destructive power to create our extinction before our enlightenment.

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#Ahorita! iz di #Espanish 'palabra' U R conveying me thinks, #Thom!

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