YOU OWE IVANKA TRUMP THIRTEEN DOLLARS A YEAR

You and every single man, woman, and child in the USA.

The population of the USA is 318 million.
Not all citizens pay taxes.

 

The Trump's tax break is equal to $12.57 from every single person in this country. Every single one of us has to pay $12.57

For the Koch's each of us has to pay $135.22

And the Walton's? We pay $166.66 each.

For just these three families that is $314.45. Each.

Now, realistically, about 240 million people pay federal income taxes. Taxpayers, that is $416 more per year. Each. A full time worker making $10 an hour would lose over a week of pay. FOR JUST THREE OBSCENELY WEALTHY FAMILIES.

Of course, a $10 an hour worker ($20,800 per year) won't lose as much as someone that makes $60,000 a year, or $100,000 a year.  It will be the middle classes that lose the most.

And those illegal immigrants that never file for their income tax returns won't be here, either.  And wages might go down- to remain competitive and get those Ivanka Trump manufacturing jobs we will have to be competitive with that whopping $62 for a 60 hour work week she pays in China.

How is this okay with you #maga #Trump people?  Is this what you signed up for?

WAKE UP USA, PART 2: MAYBE TRUMP DIDN'T ORDER THE BOMB, BUT EITHER WAY, GET READY FOR WW3

EDIT: Trump didn't order the MOAB.  As I said, the previously hidden underbelly of the Trump regime coup d'etat is emerging.  The Pentagon is free to do what it does best: make war.  Again, are you ready for WW3?  https://www.yahoo.com/news/officials-no-trumps-approval-massive-bomb-152907219--politics.html

Nothing is "normal" right now, and therefore We The People have to really consider all the angles:

My first instinct when Trump bombed Syria was that he had decided to not re-pay the Russian mob and/or back out of his alliance with Putin. If the former scenario is correct, then Trump is so determined not to pay his debts that he will become President and start wars to escape the leg-breakers. Putin probably is the head of the Russian mob, so the latter scenario is likely correct, too.

Trump doesn't need the Russians anymore.  Trump is aligning with China. And China and Russia don't appear to be very cozy. I really haven't looked into this enough, but it feels right and fits what I already know. Yes, the oil deal with Rofsnet is important, but it is much more urgent to the Russians than the US.

Bombing Syria and getting nasty with Russia could also be a giant distraction. This seems to be the most widely held theory right now.  Trump probably has assurances that the collusion will be contained to his campaign staff. Even if his entire staff ends up in prison for treason, they won't be able to touch him.  (Plus the "prayer-wall" of GOP staffers like McConnell and Ryan surrounding Trump. And the faction of the coup d'etat we keep forgetting about: the DoD contractors, and mercenaries like Erik Prince. More on that in a second.)

http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/04/13/7-allies-just-came-forward-trump-russia-smoking-gun-evidence/   (Note that Australia is on the list.  Australia is part of 5 Eyes, which means they were watching the Russians. The U.K. is also a 5 Eyes country.  Intelligence either of these countries formally introduces will have to originate with surveillance of the Russians. 5 Eyes- USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand - have an agreement to share intelligence and not spy on each other.  Estonia and Germany, etc, could introduce intelligence that originated with the US or with Russia.)
   
I think my initial instinct was right.  Trump is breaking up with the Russians.  He's gonna show 'em who is boss, and then (try to) make nice again. In the process Trump will hand Syria to the Russians, so they will probably kiss and make up. And a little war is good for all Trump's kleptocrat friends globally, including Putin and himself.  Trump is already raking in the dough from his dictatorship, so why not make a little more with a war?

And if Syria worked so well to distract, to threaten, and to make Trump seem "presidential", how much better Afghanistan and the "Mother of all bombs"?

And Afghanistan has rare earth metals. (And poppies, yes.  Drugs have always been the real money behind all wars.)  Isis and Osama bin Laden are a pretext for dominating this country: 
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-war-is-worth-waging-afghanistan-s-vast-reserves-of-minerals-and-natural-gas/19769

Here's the thing though, about Afghanistan and the bomb, I don't think Trump gave the okay. Part of the brilliant strategy behind the successful Trump coup d'etat/dictatorship is that the revolution happened (is happening still) and it is almost invisible.  See, the revolution isn't the Left. It isn't ragtag hippie freaks. It is the rabid ICE agents, the 'roid rage racist cops, the white nationalists and the churches that want their own police force. And  truly sociopathic killers that found a home in the military, or DoD contractors' private security forces, or mercenary groups like Erik Prince's Blackwater.   

The war mongers have figured out that they can launch whatever missile they want, tell Trump, and he will ramble on about what he was having for dessert, and name drop the world leader he was with at Mar Lago.  (And Sean Spicer can be counted on to create another diversion at the press conference.)

And while there is no accountability to the public in the Trump regime, there wasn't much accountability before Trump came to power.  Because Ferguson happened and then nothing happened...except the cops got more military equipment, and grants, and a whole lot of court fees.   

When I say "nothing happened" I don't mean from the point of view of We The People.  (Ferguson mattered a lot.)  I mean to people like Darren Wilson.  In fact, Wilson was rewarded! To the current revolution/ coup d'etat/ dictatorship, Ferguson was a sign their would be few repercussion and that real change would be a decade or more away.

McCulloch put on his kangaroo court, and the DOJ came and audited and made suggestions.  But there wasn't any real threat to the Darren Wilson's of the world.  (Two days ago we have two cops beating up a guy for "being black while jaywalking".) To these murderous racist sociopaths, Wilson's outcome was a permission slip to take it further. 

And then this racist, pussy grabbing, grifter born with a gold spoon in his mouth comes along. Trump lied and broke every rule in the book, and yet he was elected! And after 12 expensive, ridiculous weeks he is still running the WH!

And the Tea Baggers, alt-Right, Conservative Evangelicals-  as long as Trump keeps passing their stone age laws and legislation- they are going to keep his clown show running.  It's effective and distracting.  Even if they aren't personally abusing their positions of power- or shooting unarmed black men, or handcuffing five year old children- they are part of the "USA white might is right" revolution.  They are part of the coup d'etat.

Because even though the revolutionaries are minority, with numbers smaller than the LGBT community, or African Americans, they figured out that they have all the guns and they have all the money.  And the system is so corrupt and overloaded it is comatose.  And the "good" people in power don't have much leverage, and aren't willing to play dirty. 

So a few things about World War 3.  There is no precedent in human history for the times we live in- the population, and in countries like our, the dependence on electricity, technology, and our separation from natural resources.

First of all, there were 1 billion people on the planet during WW1.  In world war two the population was a little over 2 billion.  In 1968 the world population was half of what it is now.  A world war with 7 billion people on the planet, even if it doesn't go nuclear, is going to create a domino effect of serious disasters. The good news is we will all have jobs as gravediggers, or more likely, in crematoriums.

Now let's consider that in developed countries we are dependent on electricity and technology for almost everything we actually need to survive.  Grocery stores only have a 3 day supply of food on any given day.  Most of our food is trucked from long distances, and requires refrigeration.  We can't go to the Mississippi with buckets to get water.  We can't call each other or go on the internet if we don't have electricity or if the servers go down for any reason.

And then there is the nature of the war we will be fighting.  Soldiers are incidental to a time when drones and missiles can be used to devastate entire urban areas, even whole states and regions.  It won't matter how many guns you have, the people pushing the buttons will be so far removed from you it won't matter.  There will be no POW's, no acts of mercy.  (I think of the Terminator movies, where the machines were programmed to continue the war so far into the future there were no living humans controlling the machines.)


It is worth it to prepare for the World War 3 scenario.  Do what you can. Begin stocking up on provisions (canned food, water, batteries, back up generator, candles) and setting up local communication networks that don't need electricity or internet or cell phones (ham radios, local meet-up places like libraries and churches, neighborhood networks). Try to keep your gas tank full.

We need to do more than march and make phone calls and attend meetings to stop this.  The coup and its army aren't taking us seriously.  They want a violent response.  From us, from other countries.  Trump's regime can't survive without violence and war. And I don't think violence will work.

We The People need to go on a mass general strike and shut down at least 40% of this countries day to day economic business. Collectively.  To remind all the people in power that AREN'T in the Trump regime that We The People are the lifeblood of this country.  You can't arrest people that are gathered in homes and churches and community centers calling their representatives.  

Yes, some people will lose their jobs and there will still be problems.  But if we can't band together and take real risks to stop this Orange Nightmare, we face a much worse problem, and soon. 

So keep calling, keep organizing, keep fighting.  (And right now, it almost doesn't matter what you fight for or against, only that keep bugging our so-called leaders.) But maybe stock up too, and prepare for world war 3.  Because it might already be to late.

Also see: http://pag2stl.blogspot.com/2016/12/usa-please-wake-up.html

NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE FEBRUARY 17 2017

Friday, February 17th, do not go to work. Do not go to school.  Avoid buying anything. 

http://f17strike.com/

http://www.attn.com/stories/14749/why-organizers-are-calling-general-strike

1. No Ban, No Wall. The Muslim ban is immoral, the wall is expensive and ineffectual. We will build bridges, not walls.
2. Healthcare For All. Healthcare is a human right. Do not repeal the ACA. Improve it or enact Medicare for All.
3. No Pipelines. Rescind approval for DAPL and Keystone XL and adopt meaningful policies to protect our environment. It's the only one we've got.
4. End the Global Gag Rule. We cannot put the medical care of millions of women around the globe at risk.
5. Disclose and Divest. Show us your taxes. Sell your company. Ethics rules exist for a reason and presidents should focus on the country, not their company.

If you aren't going to march or gather, or picket, or hand out leaflets, or attend a meeting or conference, at least call your elected officials about the strike's main goals, or what your most important issues are, and make some calls to local officials about things in your community.  

But please, remove yourself from "business as usual."

Economic boycotts only work on one side of the equation: We The People as consumers.

But we are also the workers, the creators of everything and every service, and the creators of profit, and of government salaries and spending.

If you are willing to fight to death to keep your guns, or protest in the streets for social justice, then please, join a general strike that will restore the balance of power to the people.

Violence is not going to work.  We have to halt the wheels of production.  Of service.  Every single union needs to strike on February 17th.  Organized labor is under direct attack. Other than voting, organized labor is the only real power we have.

Those in power need to remember that that all of those billions of dollars of taxes and profits can be broken down into pennies.  It is true that individually we represent an insignificant portion of the vast sums of money the government and CEO's and owners get from us, but united we become unmanageable.

65 million (using Hillary Clinton's popular vote as dollars) is six hundred five billion pennies.  It's a metaphor, but it is a good example of what I mean about our power combined.  When you have to deal with pennies instead of dollars, buying something is a much slower process.

The Resistance to Trump is significant, but it is not working quickly enough. We have not been able to effectively remove a white supremacist as head of the NSC.  Steve Bannon is writing Executive Orders that Trump is autographing.  Bannon appointed himself.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/opinion/president-bannon.html?_r=0

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/02/report-bannon-had-to-be-reminded-he-wasnt-the-president.html

Steve Bannon and all other Trump Cabinet members and his appointees are not fit for office.  This is unacceptable.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/trump-cabinet-tracker/510527/

We need to make this country "ungovernable" in order to take control of our government.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/make_america_ungovernable_20170205

Resistance is not revolution.  It is not systemic change.  We not only need to resist Trump, we need real change.  Fighting this Republican agenda to return to the previous status quo means that we are not advancing to real social and economic justice.

But first we need to flex our muscles.  We need a united show of strength.  Then we can divide up into factions for real change.

Strike. February 17th.

IT'S TIME TO GO ON THE OFFENSE

Thank you UnPresidented Trump, you illegitimate, Russian tool.

You have awakened the Sleeping Giant.

Maybe Bernie Sanders would have awoken us to a bright new day, but your darkness has mobilized people against you.  Not since the American Revolution have people been so "up in arms."

But it is a different kind of "arms" this time.  It's the arms that cradle the world, "l'origine du monde"- it's the arms of women.

The mainstream media locally and nationally mostly ignored the millions of women around the world that marched, and the 20,000 that marched in downtown St. Louis, but we always knew the revolution would not be televised.

In the State of Missouri we need at least 600,000 people to be registered voters and call their elected officials as much as possible.  There are 4.2 million registered voters as of 2012, the most recent numbers available.
https://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/registeredvoters/2012

We need to work to get 2.2 million liberal- or even better, progressive- voters.  But mostly we need to call our elected officials.  And sign petitions. And call.  And write letters.  And call.  And call and write the media.  And call.  And stay informed. And call.

The revolution will not be televised. But it will be phoned in. We live in a time where our cell phones are more powerful than guns.

Yes, there will need to be protests, strikes and boycotts.  But mostly there needs to be constant calls with DEMANDS from We The People.

It is time to go on the offense.  This is really not the time to try to understand the Trump supporters or argue with them.  It is not time to try to educate the willfully ignorant and oblivious. 

There is an old fable about being in a burning house.  Everyone is asleep.  You are awake.  You do not try to rouse the heaviest sleepers first, or go person by person.  You make as much noise as you can and the light sleepers will awaken, and help awaken the others.

The "lightest sleepers" are the people that are paid by tax money and voted into office, followed by appointed officials and government agencies.

There is also little point in arguing amongst ourselves.  A lot of women that marched on Saturday won't do much else. A few phone calls, some donations.  Some will go to reproductive choice marches and meetings, but not economic, racial or social justice events.

Some people in that burning house are going to be hysterical and run out the door.  Some are going to waste their time trying to wake up the heavy sleepers and the drugged- instead of waking up others to help carry out the sleepers that cannot be roused. 

Find your kindred, focus on your issues and take them directly to elected officials and public servants.  If you keep using your voice to call and make demands, and sharing information, you are the revolution.

And there HAS to be a revolution right now, because the Trump regime and the GOP are trying to burn down the house. 

To win, we can't keep fighting them on their ground.  We run the risk of making them stronger by focusing our energy on resisting their agenda.

We need to take over the agenda!

Go on the OFFENSE when calling:

STOP talking about the ACA/Obamacare and START demanding Universal Health Care!

Reproductive Rights for all women and FREE birth control!

Right To Work is Wrong! DEMAND $15 an hour minimum wage, unions, worker's rights- including breaks, fair unemployment benefits, and tax abatements and incentives for small, locally owned businesses.

NO registry based on religion. (Wearing a safety pin is also revolutionary.) *

More money to public schools, especially in low income neighborhoods! Free college and trade school tuition!

Automatic voter registration!

Abolish the Electoral College!

 No more pipelines! Invest in public transportation and become less petroleum dependent!

St. Louis needs Downwinder Status.  Our water is being poisoned by the radioactive landfills at Westlake and Bridgeton.   Republic Services has had since 1947 to properly dispose of the uranium! Senators McCaskill and Blunt only need to create a Senate delegation to get Downwinder Status and the millions of dollars allocated to deal with Manhattan Project uranium!
http://pag2stl.blogspot.com/2017/01/st-louis-your-water-is-radioactive.html

St. Louis also needs to deal with the homeless, police reform, racial and social justice.  

If these aren't your issues- then call about what is!
Call. Every. Damn. Day.
#whyImarch


* I often think that what we really need is a registry based on white supremacy. If these racists don't want to "mingle" with the rest of us, we should know who they are.  We have the right to make sure that they never receive medical care from another race or a "race mixer" like me.  Perhaps we should make literature for them using only Roman numerals, instead of Arabic?  Make sure that no money from non-white racists or race mixers is spent at their businesses? Perhaps white supremacists need to be segregated? Can we give them their own neighborhood and just let them burn crosses in their own front yards?  I am only half joking.

One of my favorite photos from the marches https://www.instagram.com/p/BPkkMf4gtfi/

USA PLEASE WAKE UP

EDIT: Also see Part Two http://pag2stl.blogspot.com/2017/04/wake-up-usa-part-2-maybe-trump-didnt.html

Dear USA,

Contemplate for a moment, USA, your current set of circumstances against the global backdrop:

The USA has 17 trillion debt.

The Chinese own 1.5 trillion of that.  They are the largest "shareholder" of our debt.  Moreover, they have the planet's lion share of lathanides- metals your cell phone, car, and computer need.  Supplies of lathanides, or rare earth metals, are decreasing.  China does not export them, which requires that many computers and electronics - including department of defense systems-- be manufactured in China.
 https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/rare-earth-metals-upgrade-recycle-ethical-china

Trump says he is not worried about any diplomatic disadvantages or trade embargoes with China.  And he proved that with his Tawain chat.

Whether Trump is too ignorant of diplomatic and economic agreements between the US and China, or he is actually willfully trying to destroy these agreements for his own benefit, it doesn't matter.  It will be We The People that pay the price. (And I cannot help but mention as a sidenote, that a man who takes offense at SNL lampoons, or what photograph the news media uses, should be able to understand that unnecessarily and capriciously provoking foreign countries that we are indebted to, is bound to slight egos and create conflicts.)  

Yes, the Obama administration did approve an arms sale to Tawian about a year ago.  Obama had been President for 7 years when he did this, and he followed protocol. And China did register a complaint.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-taiwan-arms-idUSKBN0TZ2C520151217
The White House said there was no change in the longstanding U.S. "one China" policy. Past U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan have attracted strong condemnation in China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province.
The White House said the authorization followed previous sales notifications by the administration totaling more than $12 billion under the Taiwan Relations Act.
"Our longstanding policy on arms sales to Taiwan has been consistent across six different U.S. administrations," a National Security Council spokesman, Myles Caggins, said. "We remain committed to our one-China policy," he added.
Although Washington does not recognize Taiwan as a separate state from China, it is committed under the Taiwan Relations Act to ensuring Taipei can maintain a credible defense.

Trump is probably just looking to line his pockets.  The only motivation that both his supporters and detractors agree on.  Trump is a "successful" businessman, meaning whoever he has to screw over, including the country that elected him President, he only cares about more money and more fame.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/07/politics/bob-dole-donald-trump-taiwan-lobbying/

The Saudi's own about 116 billion of our debt, but the US is tied to them in another was. We pay for OPEC oil with petrodollars. Petrodollars are like a department store credit card- they can only spend them with us, moreover, they can only spend them on OUR SPENDING.

Will it effect our economy if the Arab oil cartels stop shopping at our company store? YES.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-05-30/the-untold-story-behind-saudi-arabia-s-41-year-u-s-debt-secret
The basic framework was strikingly simple. The U.S. would buy oil from Saudi Arabia and provide the kingdom military aid and equipment. In return, the Saudis would plow billions of their petrodollar revenue back into Treasuries and finance America’s spending.

http://www.wallstreetdaily.com/2016/05/30/u-s-saudi-arabia-petrodollar/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2016/04/22/u-s-hostage-to-china-and-saudi-arabia-but-only-one-seems-to-matter/ 

OPEC is talking about lowering production to increase prices. 
 http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/30/why-saudi-arabia-surprised-the-skeptics-with-an-opec-deal.html

Russia has agreed to halt production, too... Maybe. (They have made soft agreements.)
http://in.rbth.com/economics/business/2016/12/05/evidence-of-growing-russian-influence-on-opec-deal_653717

Russia is the second largest oil producer in the world.  The Saudi's and Russia have been courting an alliance.  http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/06/russias-putin-and-saudi-prince-talks-could-be-big-deal-for-oil-market.html 

Russia and Iran have done a lot to avoid economic sanctions from the West by non-dollar trading.  This has weakened the petrodollar.   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alastair-crooke/petrodollar-us-saudi-policy_b_6245914.html

Trump claims that his Energy strategy relies on the Saudis and Russia, but I can definitely see where factions in Russia might be interested in getting the Saudi's out of the USA oil picture.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenrwald/2016/11/22/trump-energy-strategy-hinges-on-opec-and-russia/#177921f35569

From the end of World War 2 until the present, the Saudi's (the only country in the world with the name of the royal family in the name of the country- remember it used to be simply "Arabia"?) have been untouchable by the USA.  With the decline in power of the Saudi-loyal Bush family, we can now sue them for September 11, 2001. I doubt any Saudi takes that lightly. 

And no Islamic country is going to take Trump's Muslim registry without umbrage, no matter how many hotels he builds in Arab countries.

Any USA-Russian alliance is going to affect Syria. Any change in USA- Saudi relations will affect Syria. I am more worried about the people of Syria than any government's interests.  If I thought that any changes Trump's presidency would be good for the Syrian people, I might not be so worried.  But I guarantee no one is looking out for the Syrian people.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-23849587 

Yes, Putin is still paying lip service to "the USA, the only superpower in the world."
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-forum-putin-usa-idUSKCN0Z31G4 

But if Trump is using the Russians as much as they appear to be using him? Or if Trump really is just a clown, being used like a tool for Putin's agenda? Obama's administration has been very careful not to let the face off between the USA and Russia in Syria get too out of hand.  It wouldn't take much for full on confrontation, again, at the expense of the Syrian people. 

If it is true that Russia was involved in any way with our election, we as a country need to ask why?  There may not be one answer.  Governments, like companies, and schools, or any organization or agency, are really just a group of people that work for that government or company.  From the bottom to the top.  And within any group of people there are always factions.

Please read this opinion piece which really connects the dots:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/11/opinions/troubling-relationship-russia-america-treisman/index.html

And please call the White House and demand a full investigation, including a judicial order for Trump's tax returns to be examined for evidence of financial collusion with the Russian government.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/09/us/obama-russia-election-hack.html?_r=0

And Homeland Security needs to be investigated, whether they are working in concert with the Russians or not:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/homeland-security-tied-attempted-hack-214720934.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=fb

If Trump breaks a NATO alliance, or compromises a long standing trade agreement, or simply uses his election to further his own career, it is WE THE PEOPLE that will face the consequences- Republican and Democrat, Left and Right, Fascist and Anarchist alike.
And thanks to Obama (who other than being a black man married to a black woman is really another neoliberal "wolf in sheep's clothing" like Bill Clinton) Trump is going to inherit some stunning powers:
https://theintercept.com/2016/11/11/commander-in-chief-donald-trump-will-have-terrifying-powers-thanks-obama/
When it comes to sustained bombing campaigns, Trump may not have to justify his actions much at all. Obama dramatically reduced the number of ground soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he has continued to bomb seven countries, with virtually no Congressional acknowledgement or debate.
Obama has continued the Presidential tradition of going to war without Congress, sometimes in almost absurd ways. In 2011, for example, the White House needed to argue that it could continue bombing Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in Libya without Congressional authorization. So the top lawyer in the State Department sent a memo to Congress arguing that a bombing campaign did not amount to wartime “hostilities,” mainly because the enemy could not fire back.

...

And perhaps most alarming is that Trump will inherit a Justice Department that has waged an unprecedented war on press freedom. Rather than shut down the Bush-era office that prosecuted leaks to the press, Obama made it his own, and has prosecuted more than twice as many people under the Espionage Act for leaking information to the press than all of his predecessors combined. His actions met with no resistance from Democrats.
In 2013, Obama’s Justice Department seized the phone records from three Associated Press bureaus to uncover the source for a story. Obama also waged a seven-year legal campaign against New York Times Reporter James Risen, threatening him with prison if he did not reveal his source for a story about a botched CIA operation. The prosecutors dropped the request at the last minute.

Please read the whole article.  The rest of it is just as terrifying as these two snippets.

I think Wikileaks was played by the Russians, and I think the DDoS attack just prior to the election was the Russians, not Wikileaks supporters.  Testing our easy to invade system.  (This was done through your "smart toaster."  Through the "internet of things.")
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/22/business/internet-problems-attack.html

A distributed denial-of-service attack, or DDoS, occurs when hackers flood the servers that run a target’s site with internet traffic until it stumbles or collapses under the load. Such attacks are common, but there is evidence that they are becoming more powerful, more sophisticated and increasingly aimed at core internet infrastructure providers.

Going after companies like Dyn can cause far more damage than aiming at a single website.

Dyn is one of many outfits that host the Domain Name System, or DNS, which functions as a switchboard for the internet. The DNS translates user-friendly web addresses like fbi.gov into numerical addresses that allow computers to speak to one another. Without the DNS servers operated by internet service providers, the internet could not operate.

In this case, the attack was aimed at the Dyn infrastructure that supports internet connections. While the attack did not affect the websites themselves, it blocked or slowed users trying to gain access to those sites.

It doesn't matter if my theory is right or not.  The whole world got a good look at how vulnerable we are cyber-wise. Our country has mistaken technology for strength.  I invite you to consider what life would be like here if there were widespread internet outages and/or utility disruptions.  We are dependent on the internet and computer technology and electricity.  We are dependent on trucked in food (the 1,000 mile salad).  Most of our wealth exists in the form of electronic payments and computerized banking systems.  We would suffer if DDoS attacks were widespread and continuous.

Whether The Orange One With Tiny Hands is in on it or not, his election could be the key to the collapse of our country. Even if the Electoral College does the right thing and votes for Clinton, it may be too late.  The world is filled with wobbly dominoes.  Enough hot air and the collapse will begin.

Trump is a coup d'etat waiting to happen.

It is surreal to me that GW Bush's Ethics Lawyer and I agree that Trump is a disaster (the least ethical administration prior to the monstrosity Trump is breeding).  The unity against Trump is astonishing:
http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-noam-chomsky-junot-diaz-and-more-than-1480457912-htmlstory.html

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/08/us/politics/national-security-letter-trump.html?_r=1

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/the-wrap/article/Donald-Trump-Makes-History-With-Zero-Major-9887263.php

 In fact, the one bright spot is that all these corrupt factions are now facing their own "Karmageddon."  Just like the powers that Obama has left for his successor to inherit, all of these corrupt alliances were the architects for an outside coup d'etat.  I am certain that they are all aware of this, and that is why there is so much protest about Trump coming from these factions.  The Republican party and the conservatives created this monster, and he is going to destroy them first.

We The People can use that in our favour to dump Trump.  (And later we can dismantle their corrupt systems too.  But for now "the enemy of my enemy is my ally.")

I am not leading up to a Hollywood Movie, conspiracy theory, "denouement."  Real life is messy.  Sometimes contradictory. I am trying to point out how precarious the world situation is right now, and how globally connected we are.  If the Russians are trying to destabilize the USA, and shift the global financial power base, all they need to do is sit back and wait for Trump to enter office.

Domestically, the white supremacists will create such chaos with their "Racial Holy War" (slated to begin on Inauguration Day) we will be so busy we won't notice until it is too late.  With leftists dissidents under lock and key, the general populace will be easy pickings for civil war and/or invasion, and/or financial hi-jacking.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/11/donald-trumps-white-nationalist-bannon-sessions-alt-right 

Someone like me (a political activist for 35 years)  expects to be on watch lists.  But between the NSA and Homeland Security and Five Eyes**, we could be a nation with a unclothed emperor and naked populace. Easy prey for a rising superpower like Russia.

Oh but our big huge military right? 57 cents of every dollar income tax goes to military spending- although that doesn't include Veteran's Benefits.  No, that pays for things like the development of the Epi-Pen and those billion dollar prototype fighter jets.

It also pays for the services of companies like Blackwater and Serco, and Booz Allen Hamilton (Snowdon's employer). Blackwater and Booz Allen Hamilton are, I think, technically American companies.  (Serco is UK based.  It began as part of RCA Victor.) But Five Eyes (USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) shares intelligence.  There is no reason for these contractors to remain loyal to our country if we collapse.  They would not lose their ability to monitor our citizens, or interfere- in our defense or to our detriment.

(And I advise you, reader, if you haven't already- to look into Serco beyond the sabotaging of the Affordable Care Act here in St. Louis. Not only did the sabotage ACA enrollment, and get caught red-handed, they also profited from it.  Even after the sabotage was discovered they were awarded a second fee to continue sabotaging enrollment.  Yes, taxpayer, you paid for that. If Serco decided to strong arm the world, they could.  They have their fingers in every pie, in every part of the world.  Not just espionage- but education, transportation of all kinds- they control a lot airports and air traffic, and school buses, medical, commodities, etc.)

Oh, but our stock market?  Our big wealthy Wall Street? Stocks soared after the Orange Oompa Loompa was elected, right? The stock market doesn't have jackshit to do with the economy.  That's rich people betting on future corporate profits. It doesn't matter what language the corporations speak, or what country they call home. The stock market is like the lottery- a really expensive and exclusive lottery.  If everyone that played it won there would be no jackpot. 

(And there are plenty that see the Orange One as the "final straw" that will cause the collapse of the global market:
 http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/22/david-stockman-doubles-down-on-his-sell-everything-call.html)

One should never doubt a powerful, rich person when they say things like "I'm going to deport all the immigrants."  Or "I"m going to institute a registry based on religion." History has proven that given the chance they will.  That is why Trump must be stopped.  We need to take that seriously.

In fact, Trump is already abusing his new power and fame to threaten people's lives and whip up the brownshirts.  And eventually no one, including his supporters, will be safe from this.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/12/08/who-will-stand-donald-trump/s0xv1MGzIyLcXBA6AYi3GK/story.html
Consider the experience of Chuck Jones, the head of the local union responsible for the workers at the Carrier plant in Indiana, who accurately went on TV and said Trump was misleading Americans about the number of jobs he saved. Trump savaged him on Twitter. He accused Jones of doing a “terrible job” representing workers and said that if his local union was “any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana.” Once you get past the surreal nature of an alleged billionaire who lives in an apartment that looks like it was designed by Saddam Hussein’s interior decorator bashing working-class Americans who work in a factory in Indiana, this is pretty scary stuff. Here’s the president-elect of the United States attacking a private citizen who criticized him. Jones is now getting death threats from outraged Trump supporters.

We need to resist him NOW.  Much, much more than we are already doing.  I am less inclined towards demonstrations in the streets and civil disobedience than I am towards widespread demands via phone calls, letters and emails, and visits to congressional leaders.  Economic boycotts and "no business as usual" days (weekdays that everyone stays home and makes calls and holds meetings, etc.) are more effective than the opportunity for Trump supporters to attack us and the police to arrest us.

It is vital that we learn to protect our own private lives while risking them for our children's and country's future.  We can do this by making the wheels of government come to a halt until we get answers and investigations.  We need to voluntarily disrupt our mundane lives in order to prevent the more serious disruptions lurking in the future.

We need to take over this government and run our officials.  That we cannot get election recounts without a candidate paying millions of dollars is ridiculous! We need to defend our election system and our voting rights! (And shame on you, Democrats, for not taking the lead).
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-recount-idUSKBN13Y22B

Faithless Electors are the strongest possibility to keeping Trump out of office, until they vote on December 19th.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/30/faithless-electors-electoral-college-donald-trump

A Republican Electoral Collegian in Texas is calling for a revolt. It may not be Clinton, but Kasich, that they vote for.  At this point, Kasich would be a hundred times better than Trump.
https://www.democracynow.org/2016/12/8/meet_the_republican_elector_who_is

We need to demolish the electoral college altogether, regardless of what happens.

We need to demand the Department of Justice investigate Donald Trump's business dealings, and the election fraud that happened in swing states.

And we need to re-instate Glass Steagall, get a nationwide $15 an hour minimum wage, Universal Health care, and more jobs. We need the rich to start paying their share of taxes, and for corporations to pay their taxes, and to limit CEO salaries and bonuses.  We need sales tax charged for stock exchange transactions and to close the carried interest loophole. If we have those things A LOT of problems in this country will disappear.

We also need to defend Standing Rock and to develop public transportation and become less oil dependent.  Our planet is in very fragile shape.  We are just a few years away from drinkable water running out, and we have fewer than 60 harvests left before arable land is gone.

All of the things I say about life in developed countries getting disrupted by revolutions and war and nuclear bombs is also true for natural disaster.  "Poor" countries like Mexico and Pakistan will survive, we will not.

(If you are one of those misguided souls that thinks the answer is some sort of violent "people's revolution"- whether white supremacist or Leninist or whatever- seriously, wake the fuck up.  I don't care how many weapons the 2nd Amendment people and doomsday-preppers have, you can't win against the mercenary Department of Defense corporate contractors.  This isn't Mao-ist China or Castro's Cuba.  Read again that stuff I pointed out about utilities and water and trucked in food.  Consider Satellite Defense Imaging and drones.)

Donald Trump is not Hitler.  He's more a George W. Bush without any political grooming.  Donald Trump is a spoiled, hedonistic, little rich boy, playing a game with our government and the world.  The consequences of his actions mean nothing to him, whether he's a patsy, in bed with Putin, or just a lazy rich psychopath on a global ego trip. But Donald Trump is a perfect mask for a lot of little Hitlers. And even if we prevent him from entering office it might be too late.

I sincerely hope that whatever political persuasion you are, that you will consider what I am saying seriously and act.  If we do not start running our government and demanding accountability and responsible actions now, we are facing a very real possibility of national and even global disaster.

Other suggested actions:
Wear a safety pin, to denote that you do not support a registry based on religion, or the attack of people that are not white or Christian or American or straight.

Stop paying income taxes or increase your deductions to 9.  If enough of us do this it will impact the government coffers.

Register as a Republican and take over the party with your decidely un-Republican demands.

Get a "doomsday" network in place: where to meet if phones and servers crash, people to check on and people that check on you; stock up on food, water, batteries, and other supplies.  Buy a generator and a HAM radio.

Keep a full tank of gas and supplies in your car, if you have one.

If you have the money to buy property in Bismark, North Dakota, do so.  Move there if you can.  In my opinion this is a likely site for an attack by Russian sponsored white supremacists.  Being an outsider in an RV at Standing Rock reservation will not be helpful to the water protectors or stopping the DAPL.

Work on making your own community a safe haven for all people.  Make sure your community has the resources and a back up plan in case of uprisings, attacks or natural disasters. 

If you are a white American, you can also join a mosque or reach out to other communities, and get to know people that might be vulnerable or at risk.

Talk to people about what is going on and encourage them to take action and make preparations. However, I would avoid confrontations with the Trump supporters.  Even those that are either willfully ignorant or star-struck (in other words, the supporters that really aren't a danger).  Many Trump supporters are already regretting their support, and most of the rest will soon follow suit.  Trying to argue or persuade them might just make them more rigid.

Focus on people that are uncertain about him, but not aware enough to take action, or don't think it is going to effect them.  

If all of us do more, none of us will have to sacrifice too much.  By acting now we can change direction and create a better future.  But the time is NOW.

PAG2STL

**About Five Eyes:  If Trump and Russia are teamed up, the access they have to English speaking countries. Many right wing people are okay with this as long as we are the top dog.  As long as all those Blackwater and Booz Hamilton contractors are answering to us... but what happens when they answer to a new master?

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/an-exclusive-club-the-five-countries-that-dont-spy-on-each-other/

https://www.justsecurity.org/13158/major-united-nations-report-rebukes-eyes-attempts-weaken-digital-privacy-rights/

And just a reminder, Blackwater's founder Erik Prince is Betsy DeVos' brother.  Betsey DeVos is Trump's pick for Education Secretary.

APRIL FOOL DONALD DRUMPF

There were some big anti-Drumpf rallies this weekend.  I admire the spirit, but as I have already written, I don't know that demonstrations are going to do much to stop him, and may just stoke the fires of his supporters.

And even if everyone turns out to vote in the Autumn We The People still have the major problem that the popular vote does not actually elect the President.  We MUST get rid of the Electoral College, among many other things that need to change in our electoral process.

An Anonymous Sec has launched an Op against Drumpf, and while I don't know how effective the hacking part will be, I do think an April Fools' Day "Assault" on the phone lines and websites of Drumpf's campaign would be effective.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/optrump-anonymous-releases-donald-trumps-social-security-number-ahead-1-april-attack-1550197

If everyone that was against Drumpf made just one phone call on April 1st and asked at least one pointed (but polite) question of his campaign, I think it would significantly stress his resources.  (Mine is "what era specifically is Trump referring to when he says 'make America great again'?")

DONALD DRUMPF'S PRIMARY VICTORY

The primaries scared the sh*t out of me.  For one thing, KMOV's tally in MO showed twice as many Republican voters than Democratic voters for the first 68% reporting.  Eventually the numbers evened out (mostly) and there were a lot of rumours that many Dems voted for Cruz or any other candidate than Drumpf.

Just a reminder, the popular vote does NOT elect the President.  The primaries are really more important. http://www.factcheck.org/2008/03/presidents-winning-without-popular-vote/

In Illinois, twice the number of Dem's turned out at the polls, and even though Hillary got Illinois, I was fine with a large voter turnout.  Larger than expected. But Drumpf still won the Republican primary in Illinois.

To stop Drumpf, I want to again suggest targeting his offices, not his speaking engagements.  It does seem that protests emboldened his supporters and those on the fence to cast a vote for him.  This guy thrives on being vilified and on public attention.

Please make them work for this attention.  Call the Campaign headquarters. Tel: 646-736-1779
Try one of these
http://www.tingmo.com/business/how-to-contact-donald-trump-with-letters-and-emails.php

Ask a lot questions:
When Trump (don't say Drumpf LOL!) says he is going to make America great again, exactly what era is he referring to?  Bring up all the problems that era faced. Make them tell you specifics- the kind of things his followers don't ask.  How will his policies produce jobs?  When is Trump going to move all of his manufacturing back to the US? (Note, this linke is from FORBES!) http://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2015/08/17/trump-the-hypocrite-investing-overseas-fine-for-him/#4ea8390c936b
What does he think of the new SCOTUS appointee?  Who is his choice?  (Trust me they don't have an answer for this.)

Literally wear them out.  Make his drones do some research, I guarantee you a few will abandon him if enough people ask the right questions. 

You can also organize a large group to sign up for tickets and DON'T go http://www.donaldjtrump.com/schedule/

Again, it won't be on the news- the media won't be notified about this humiliation, but expecting 2000 or 10000 people that don't show up will affect the campaign and the people working on it.

Instead of protesting during the event, protest the night or day before and skip the confrontation with his drones.  And you will be able to better reach people that are apathetic or on the fence.

Of course, with any of his supporters, asking them the same questions, i.e. "what era are you referring to when you say 'make America great again'?"  These people were never happy. Call them on their fantasy.  Quote the Forbes article, ask them how they can support him as a true American patriot when he does the same things Ford does?

But I personally do not think demonstrations against him, clashing with his supporters, or infiltrating his rallies, does much good.  In the end it seems to only create revenue for the police and keeps Drumpf in the headlines.

And if he becomes the Republican candidate, and is then elected into office, no amount of protest is going to matter. Our efforts against him our better spent on getting more people to vote, and educating people so that they understand why they should vote against him.   

THOUGHTS ON RACISM, FERGUSON, AND TRUMP SUPPORTERS AFTER READING SLAVE GENEALOGY BY DAVID H. STREETS

(EDIT: Please note, this post rambles and is kind of incoherent.  I suddenly realized I had an opinion about slavery that I had never noticed before.  It touches on a number of different aspects of things I have thought about a lot before, but never from the view of "what if a lot more people owned only a few slaves, instead of a small percentage owning a large number of slaves".  So I apologize, if I am not presenting completely clear thoughts.  I posted this mostly in hopes that someone would post a link to any books to read that address this. Or was this myth so embedded in my head that I need to go back and re-read some things?  Without the plantation myth I also realized that I hadn't fully seen all the roots of these people who think the Emancipation Proclamation was a bad thing.  26% of Donald Drumpf supporters, said one meme statistic that I saw on facebook.  I don't know how accurate that is, but I believe it possible.  And I believe a lot of it is handed down from former slave owning families, generation to generation.)

The Saint Louis library has 6 copies of this book, most of them are in the Stacks at Central, but Baden and Cabanne have copies on the shelves.

I just happened to see it while I was wandering around Baden, the kind of book I would check out anyhow, but it turned out to be enlightening in terms of the "Drumpf" phenomenon, and the Ferguson/BLM trolls.

In the introduction, straight away, a major myth about slavery in the United States is dispelled. Only half of the slaves in the south lived on plantations, and the slave population on plantations was on average 20.  Larger plantations with 50 or more slaves were roughly 20% of slave-owning populace.

The image of the plantation slave, surrounded by large numbers of fellow slaves, one among many, with each other and against their wealthy, white owners, creates a much different image of slavery than the statistics presented in this book.

The author examines census reports from Wayne County, Kentucky, and the statistics show that most slaves lived in close quarters with the white families that owned them. For women slaves, especially, this must have been a nightmare, and Stockholm's Syndrome to escape the misery of reality's truth was probably frequent, if not permanent. It seems that most slave women in the census bore mulatto children.  Raped by the Master at midnight, up before dawn to serve him breakfast.  And how would the owner's wife not know?

American Horror Story's Marie Delphine LaLaurie might have been more gruesome, but I expect African women suffered the worse abuse from the Mistress.

I haven't read enough Henry Gates, Jr., or Zora Neale Hurston, and certainly not with this understanding, to know if the "plantation myth" has been dispelled in academic circles.  (I haven't yet read the Ta-Nehisi Coates Reparations book yet, but I am glad now I read Streets' book first.) But in popular myth- even for someone like me, a "white ally" or "white aware"- there is an image of most slaves living separately from the white owners, with the Master having to enter the slave quarters to sire more workers and satisfy whatever sexual predilections he might have- and I imagine there was a lot of sadism and pedophilia that is not documented.

And the myth of field hands being jealous of house slaves. Would it have been a relief to be sold to large plantation, and not be sole focus of the Master's rape and the Mistress's revenge?  Not have to be in the house at night?

I wonder if the plantation mythos remains popular because in addition to making it seem as if only a relatively small percentage of white southerners owned slaves (something I used to believe before looking at this book) this myth also substantiates all the historical claims that white people lived in constant fear of a slave revolt.

With this new understanding, I think it is more likely that most slave owners lived in fear of their morning porridge being laced with morning glory seeds.  And because of this threat in close quarters, racism had to be heavily institutionalized.  Too many white slave owners lived with slaves that used the butcher's knife and machete all day. (I know that's what I would have been thinking about every time I chopped potatoes.)

Slave patrols and policing and mobs were the instruments of plantation owners with their 20 or more slaves.  The early version of the riot squad. But the inability of a person with black skin to find a friend in any part of Southern society was to ensure that no slave ever get the idea that they were going to be able to get away from the Master by killing him.  That was the more effective protection for the small, poorer, family with just a few slaves.

Another thought was that while very poor whites would always see slaves as both competition for work, and also the people he could look down upon and feel superior about their place under the boot of class society- almost the very bottom of society, but still not an African slave- a labouring slave-owning man could lease out his and his slaves' time, also putting the white man with no slaves at a loss.

This revelation gave me some thoughts on re-examining the Great Scramble's effects on the end of slavery in the U.S.  All the European nations were in a rush to enslave the African continent when slavery in this country was ending. In my opinion, (again, I don't know if this academic, I don't see it covered in general studies and encyclopedias) no European nation and the US could not repatriate African slaves en masse for fear of the armies that could potentially be raised.

(And let's not forget that Haiti had to pay the French back for loss of income after the revolution.  That's right.  Haiti finally managed to do that - IN 1950! So Josephine Baker and Bricktop and Bohemian 1920's Paris aside, the French government is still just another oppressor, class, racist nation.)

And I also would like to re-examine the famine Irish (and the Scots-Irish from the Clearances) that came in the late 1800's in large numbers.  Still today racism against black people is notorious among their descendants.  There was a lot of stress between the Irish already here and the waves of immigrants that came here- up to the 1950's.

As freed slaves and their children moved into the cities, the Irish sharecroppers- the Murphy's and Kennedy's and McDonnell's -that had starved in their own country and been spit on by other Irish in this country could scapegoat the slaves, many of whom shared their last names.

The Klansman of today has his poor, white, slave owning ancestors (not necessarily his own blood relatives) to thank for the all the mixed African and European DNA in our society.  Not a handful of wealthy plantation owners and white overseers, but his own historical self.  The plantation myth serves today's white supremacist for this reason, too. 

The supporters of Donald Drumpf that are the real inheritors of the legacy of widespread, non-plantation slavery.  Many families have secrets.  But the poor family with the slave-owning ancestor has probably passed on stories that were only told in secret to other family members.

Among a lot of middle class (or middle class cultured) white people, race is not discussed in polite society.  White people that do talk about race, especially when they talk about African Americans, mark themselves right away.  This is something that I have never been able to describe satisfactorily.

It is something so inherent in white American culture, that I think a Ph.D. level thesis paper would be required.  It is not even recognizable to a lot of white people, because it so instinctive. On both sides.

The white families that historically or personally mourned the loss of their family slaves view white people that are less racist- even cultural sensitivity in professional or work environments- as the outsiders or enemies.

I've had numerous conversations with white people about this, and everyone can identify this experience only after it has happened, and after the other person reveals themselves. For example, during Obama's election year, during Ferguson, the widespread openness in white society, talking about race, and finding out that all along, that friend on social media, or the women that you lunch with at work, have just not been talking about race openly because they had already identified you as an outsider.

But when it came out in the open, me and my friends saw them for racists. And they had been hiding it, ducking all the conversations about race.  Because they recognised me, and people like me, right away.

What I am talking about is something that happens that even I don't always see, and I am looking for it.  In fact, I am looking for it so that I can do the same thing!  The careful smile, the quick change of subject, the extra niceness that was not motivated by any genuine liking but by the desire to keep me away from the important difference between us that will create issues when it comes out.  Keep it out of the workplace relationship, or the neighbourhood relationship, etc.  They feel like they have to protect themselves.  If their great-great grandaddy didn't own slaves, they wish that he had.

To them the world is not racist enough.   I see them as being aligned with institutionalized racism, with the structure and power of racism- but they do not.    Donald Drumpf supporters and white supremacists and capitalists that rely on institutionalized racism to line their pockets with profits from cheap labour or justify an invasion or fill an army are becoming the minority.  Drumpf is promising to bring back a time they never lived in- not in the 1980's or the 1950's, but the 1850's.

These people had the same complaints in the 1950's and the 1980's.  Phyllis Schlafley spoke at the Donald Drumpf rally last week.  She's still saying the same thing she said 40 years ago when I left St. Louis for Los Angeles. As I might have written in another post- there is no America that any of these people lived through that they considered great. When these Drumpf supporters say "Make America Great Again" I thought they were talking about the Reagan years and they were just totally forgetting that they were this unhappy and complaining about everything back then, too.  But just more openly.  They still controlled the culture.

Now I think they are talking about back in the days when they would have been allowed to own slaves.  (I'm curious enough that if I had the time and money to do some sort of genealogical research on Drumpf supporters I would.  But I bet there are plenty that just inherited the legacy by osmosis of living in our society.  Manifest Destiny, the Monroe Doctrine, the Taney Code, all of these contributed with private family stories and histories.)

I am so thankful that Ferguson and Black Lives Matter have put race and racism out in the open in our society.  As a nation, we need to be having these conversations.  We need for people to be open about what they really think.

But even that is an affront to the Drumpf supporter.  Because they feel oppressed that they have had to keep silent distance from people like me. They want the antebellum south.

Again, "equality feels like oppression to the oppressor, and special treatment to the oppressed."


I would love to hear any comments or thoughts or feedback on any of this.  Or any suggestions of other good books to read.  About 20 years ago I read a number of Civil War books.  They included Gone With The Wind and Uncle Tom's Cabin.  I really hated GWTW, but I didn't like Uncle Tom's Cabin much.  Both were the portraits of plantation life, although now I want to look at UTC again and see if my ignorance about individuals owning just a few slaves were the majority caused me to overlook it. (I don't remember much of it.)

This also changes how I look at individual slave narratives and biographies, too.  In this case, though, I feel certain that once I start to review them, I will see that evidence was there, but I wasn't looking for it. A subconscious assumption of some other explanation- perhaps that slaves that were owned by poor families and lived lives more isolated from other slaves might have more opportunities to escape, tell their stories, etc.

I was always rejecting justifications and explanations for slavery and racism, but I never knew enough to reject the "plantations with 50 or more slaves" were the majority.

My fiction writer's mind wonders now if there isn't some sort of former slave-owning "Marrano"-type secret societies, hidden among us?   (Marrranos are Jews in Portugal and Spain that converted to Catholicism during the Inquistion but secretly continued private rituals among the families for hundreds of years.  They married among other Marrano families and even had their own dialect.  Some families that came out of the closet after World War 2 did not even realize that their secret tradition was founded in Judaism, and not witchcraft or pagan practices. (EDIT I shouldn't have to add this, but just in case, let me be clear I am not comparing the Marrano's need for secrecy with people who want to own slaves like grandaddy did, just that the Marranos had a secret society that rivals the theories about Illuminati secret societies, and the Marranos are well documented.)

One final loose thought, I wonder now, too, about the Caribbean and Mexico, Central, and South America, and the slavery situation there?  Is the plantation majority true in other countries?

These are all things I hope to investigate, and that I think are relevant today, in order to understand how to eradicate racism all together.