I was planning on writing a different piece about how the media misleads us on breaking news to make it sound as dramatic as possible, so I’d dug into a few stories that were making news, like the cuts in the Park Service, Telehealth, and other things.
Hollowwood is just a Venus Fly Trap. It seduces with the sweetest of honey and once in, it devours your very essence of who you once were.
Complete devotion is essential. I know, I’ve worked in the industry as has daughter for years and it is the most demanding of your entire being, expects adoration and to think yourself “lucky” that you’re there at all as you’re expendable. Other than that, it’s fun, if you wanna sell your soul. Actually, it’s a collective of very artistic, talented hard working people, not the ones in front of the camera speaking lines from someone else’s mind, though some exceptions must be made. No, it’s the hard working devotees behind the camera and the scenes who make the wheels turn, they are the real strength. It’s the producers who crack the whip - hard.
Please include the abhorrent Star Trek reboots where the beloved canon was changed and wokeified. Broke my heart and sent me out of the theaters forever.
Now I’m on edge, dreading the woke reboot of Harry Potter. May it never happen.
A couple of things I'd like to add, as I have been suspicious about some of the news stories, too. First, if you look at donations made by civil service employees up to 2020 which is the most recent information on record, you will find that the civil service is filled with Democrats. Mostly Democrats. So, all these angry Trump supporters getting fired??? Highly unlikely. For the next thing, these town halls where people are upset? Those are not Trump voters. They never say they are in mainstream media, but they heavily imply. I am sure no one is surprised, but I thought I'd point out that they are trying to spin up a lie in the hopes of getting people in the streets so they can fundraise. The Democrats are very, very desperate for people to protest and riot, but they can't just write a check for astroturfed chaos right now. The money spigot has been turned off and everyone is digging into their finances.
I've noticed that even the relatively moderately liberal Dems are now steadily drumming about how unpopular Musk is, and that he should be unpopular because he acts like he is the real president, or dictator. That the Dems can say such things with a sraight face is astounding!
They also trying to feed the fire of a narrative that Trump is now unpopular. To the extent either of these narratives has a grain of truth, it is because the Dem media are hammering on them. It's discouraging to see how easy it still is for the MSM to manipulate their followers.
I was referring to some of the authors I have been reading on Substack sites, such as Liberal Patriot. I don’t run into any moderate Dems in my personal life, although some of the people I know think of themselves that way.
The problem with ALL center leaning Dems running for office is that no matter how much they sound sensible on the campaign trail, once they get into office they will all vote in lockstep with the crazy Dems. So transing kids and drag queen story hour, etc. There’s not a single Dem politician that can be trusted.
Now as for the Ruy Texeira’s of the world, I think he is one of the few Dems trying to bring sanity to his party, but he’s advocating for a Dem party that no longer exists. The crazy Dems ARE THE party. Dems treat him like MAGA treats neocons and RINOs. Unseriously at best, and as pure enemies at worst.
I agree with everything you said. It does appear, however, that the level of conformity in the Dem Party is arising from the active need of Party members to conform to any system that makes them feel right and correct, virtuous and up-to-date. It is possible that they will at some point switch their lockstep conformity to a different ideology.
New poll released just this morning has Trump more popular than not, the actions DOGE is taking more popular than not. The one thing that is under water is a majority of voters don't want DOGE to have access to personal information.
Personally, DOGE having access to my information doesn’t really concern me, the IRS has had that info forever. Besides, between my personal accounts with Starlink & Paypal, Musk could track me down if he so chose.
I think the takeaway from this scenario is the fact that Dems were able to create this “boogeyman” so as to portray DOGE in a bad light.
The LAST thing swamp creatures want is outside scrutiny digging into their books & announcing what they’ve been up to with taxpayer money.
This style of whataboutism is ridiculous at this point. Do you expect that the GOP should assume the form of Mike Pence and just lay there like moralistic lumps, supposedly taking the high ground, and never try to fight back or manipulate public opinion? Should they very politely allow their political opponents to brainwash the American people without putting forth their own case, out of worry that some dingleberry on a Substack comment might take issue with that? The double standards are wearing pretty thin.
Because the media in general is partisan, terrible and very negative. I am getting sick of people thinking just one side is terrible and how great their ideology is. Its an overall issue and making it just an ideology battle is just shittalking at this point.
It’s so easy to spot all the fake stories that don’t ring true.
A positive development has been all the stories about the crazed shrieking resistance from government employees. The more the hard working, tax paying general public sees these stories, the more they hate government employees. If this keeps up this year, the public approval for the President to get rid of 90% of government workers will be sky high.
Another story that is not yet being discussed, but one that I see developing, is going to be the increased hate for elected officials. The stink on lazy non-working federal employees is going to rub off on politicians who allowed all of this to happen on their watch but did absolutely nothing.
Yes, it is easy to spot fake news. What is hard is to deal with stories that never get covered. You can't evaluate a story that isn't there. So you have to prowl the alt.media to see what is brewing out there. They have their own biases about what to cover but the usually run counter to the corporate media. Foreign media provides a different slice of reality.
Agreed that it’s work. And right side media is not very good even if it’s a little better than lefty media. But the quest to find thoughtful, original thinkers is well worth. Scott Adams would be an example of an original thinker.
While there are a few interesting foreign media sources, like the Unherd YouTube channel, the problem with almost all foreign media is they don’t understand American Exceptionalism, American individualism, and the Constitution. It’s ingrained in us and shapes us, but because it’s not ingrained in foreigners they start with a deficit of ideas and thoughts when they try to understand us. This can be seen in the EU and UK crowd being baffled by the need for free speech. What is a bedrock for us is a problem for them.
Think of the difference between legal immigrant parents and their children who are 1st generation Americans. The parents probably came here because they love American freedom and ideals, but the children will take their parent’s love of America to a whole different level because of being raised here within the American experience.
You are probably right. I just have a feeling that this is a “ignore that man behind the curtain” moment for the country. The citizens are seeing how the government is actually run for the first time and feeling like suckers for dutifully paying their taxes, only to see that the entire government is a shell game for insiders. So maybe things will happen going forward that are not business as usual.
The problem has always been the disconnect between the specific person and the result. Good ol' Congresscritter Throckmorton gets my vote -- even though HIS first vote will be for Ms Pelosi for speaker -- with many more votes like it to follow. Even worse at the local level where, to be fair, there might be no viable option.
Then there’s Gerrymandering. Both state and federal districts are contorted. My congressman badmouths R’s even though a lot of his constituents are Republicans.
Thank you for publishing this, Sasha as I believe that there's quite a bit of "resisters" out there that are trying to gaslight people into questioning/retreating from where we need to go as a country.
It’s becoming more clear by the day that the Left have one goal, and one goal only: undermine Trump, divide us by sowing distrust, destroy our efforts to rescue this country, and then—of course—swoop in to retake the power.
As I watch their strategy I see ever more clearly how they are working to divide and destroy. They conceal their motives behind an appearance of concern for the poor (AOC, Bernie Sanders), compassion for the oppressed, and—get this!—wanting to “protect democracy.” All the while they lie, destroy, and attack what is actually good and true.
This week I am daily reading out loud Psalm 94 as both a prayer and a clarification of what we are currently witnessing. Daily we must keep our eyes wide open and remember our goal in this battle.
Have courage. Stand firm. We are fighting for the good, the true, and the beautiful.
Exactly DG, thank you. We finally have the right people in place, but the work has just begun. We must continue praying...praying to God Almighty for success. We must continue 'working', sacrificing. We MUST NEVER forget how close these heathen idolators came to literally stealing our country and our culture from us, in the most vulgar ways. Be EVER vigilant and TEACH the next generation.
Yes. One more observation: these people screaming against Trump never—I mean never—want to discuss issues or research the facts. They don’t care about truth. We must not get caught in their snares.
Yep. We Trump supporters and true conservatives need to be ready to accept the BOLD STROKES and accompanying criticism that will come in this process of taking our country back. The left REALLY needs to be put out of business, and that will look like WAR at times.
We know for a fact that the leftwing media sources are losing viewership. We know the majority of people don’t believe a word the Adam Schiffs and Chuck Schumers are saying.
It occurs to me that what people most fear is losing their own voice. Losing their credibility. The Leftwing politicians and media have certainly lost theirs (except in their own echo chambers).
I wonder if it’s time we let these individuals who keep on screaming fire know that they have lost their credibility with us. We are not going to give them the time of day any longer. It’s clear they aren’t concerned about the truth.
(This is a lecture to myself, after spending WAY too much time last week arguing online with the screamers via Facebook posts. This week I’ve decided to go outside and work on my compost pile instead—a far better use of my time.) 😅
Do you think there are more of us than them? I fear there isn’t. They are activists and throw tantrums that can be frightening. I saw a video of people telling migrants not to comply with police/ice. I live in Illinois and the people keep voting to make our state a criminal magnet. I don’t want to move…but Pritzker is scary.
Based on the ejection results in November, yes. But based on the decibels of noise they generate, they do sound way more numerous and threatening. (Also, our side are much more polite, sane, and civil.)
I think we’re right now on a steep learning curve in recognizing their methods, their goals, and the ways they hook us with their schemes.
That’s why this forum—Sasha’s posts—is a genuine help to us. This is where we can come to check in with fellow warriors, learn from one another (I learn so much reading everybody’s posts here), and renew our courage.
Pritzger is like a cobra—looking huge and scary, but lots of show. From other news sources I’m seeing that there are angry Chicagoans rising up to protest. Praying you all will find an away to break the Left’s hold on power there.
That’s a good prayer. I heard about those protests too. But then hear about counter protests. I used to find a private FB group a good place to express opinions but the leftists and pure conservatives have infiltrated it. So what was a great support group isn’t.
I have to share this. A close friend of mine, a liberal, recently took a new position running a USDA office l, supporting farmers. He manages 15 direct reports. He tells me they know nothing. He also tells me he could do the entire job, he could get everything done that needs to get done without a single employee. Yet he has 15 employees he doesn’t need. And they are untouchable.
And just think, his boss, probably a liberal also because 90% of Fed/state/local government employees are Democrats, also claims that their staff who manage USDA offices knows nothing band can be easily replaced. The rot is from the bottom and up dozens of layers. And public school teachers are on average the model for incompetent government employee (witness the 80% failure rate for blacks at grade level proficiency tests).
A great teacher is worth their weight in rubies. The problem is that no one attempts to identify the great or even good ones. And half are below average.
Lol. I would argue 80% or more pf public school teachers and administrators have not provided students, especially poor students, a quality education in over 30 years. My basis is the grade level proficiency test failures in that timeframe. (Eg 80% of blacks failing grade level math and reading proficiency tests and declining trend). But sure, half are below some undefined average and half are above it.
Yes, Brandy. And despite being unable to bath grade school proficiency tests, they will graduate high school and college at the tax payer’s expense. Then they will be given a DEI fed/state/local gobberment job to continue collecting. And if that fails, they’ll go on welfare, food stamps, SNAP and EBIT.
It's completely insane to me that we have adults walking around telling other adults to listen to the "experts." What experts? Many of them didn't pass high school competency tests, aren't doing any better in college, and are being given degrees! Completely insane.
Here in IL, we have a massive pension problem. Teachers believe they can just keep raising taxes to support their exorbitant demands.
If teachers were smart, they would make sure students graduated fully equipped to be productive members of society. Who do teachers think will pay the pensions?
Instead, teachers make endless excuses for why they can’t possibly be expected to teach kids to read. Meanwhile, by their failure they are producing their own rivals for the public trough. Not very smart.
And do nothing. Except maybe work a side hustle (at most) while taking and pocketing our tax dollars. A disgrace. I feel like a sucker paying my taxes.
Yep. The media misleads and the NPS sucks. What people don't understand is the NPS is primarily a law enforcement agency and that has been so since their establishment. Conservation is an afterthought and done poorly at that. National Parks have airports, luxury hotels, and horse and mule operations. They do a poor job of fire suppression and the USFS and BLM make fun of them for that. They are completely crazy if there is a bear within 50 miles. This is from a long-time camper on the public lands and I avoid NPS if at all possible and camp on USFS or BLM land. Woke has only made it worse.
Of course it was a fake tweet!! They are the masters of disinformation! So angry I fell for it. Ugh. But reminds me again why Trump had to win. And reminds me again why I always read your posts, Sasha. Thank you :)
It was like that in education too, but I told them to go fuck their pronouns...
There s a thing here though. These woke degenerates - a lot of them are unbalanced, literal mental cases - and most all of them are worthless. So the more of this degenerate dross that accumulates the less that gets done.
You could can half of the admin in education and nothing would suffer. Many things would in fact improve. They are just sand in the gears.
I bet that is the case at Interior too. It just goes with woke.
Not sure if this is outside your bailiwick or if you've seen it before, but a Substack post by an academic that speaks to the woke-ish rot therein:
"We Tried to Warn You
Preliminary List of Articles that Attempted to Warn Academics and Other Scientists that their Politicization of Scholarship, Teaching, Funding, Hiring and Promotions Was a Slow-Moving Train Wreck":
This whole thing is ridiculous! Just a bunch of crazy leftists running around with their hair on fire as usual. Imagine hanging a giant flag upside down over El Capitan! These are people out of their minds!
None of the readers here will be surprised to learn that legacy media is grossly distorting the real situation.
I have a handful of 'friends' who can be counted on to parrot the current talking points coming from the increasingly desperate DC blob, and the "destruction" of the national parks has been one they are milking big time. It never ceases to amaze me how so many people can simply ignore anything that does not support their twisted worldview and focus completely on one thread that may or may not be true as the definitive proof that they have been correct all along.
Well, at least it makes more sense politically than defending the ‘right’ of men dressed in women’s clothing to beat the crap out of women in sports competitions.
*Note: please stick with me on this response, the last paragraph relates to the letter sighted in Sasha's essay.
The origins of DEI/Wokeness go way back to 1960's. It was called 'political correctness' back then. I saw the birthing of it all when I was a Vista volunteer (domestic Peace Corp, War on Poverty fed program). For a year, '69-70, I lived and worked on the Yakima Indian Rez in Washington State. I was paid $75/mo. plus room and board, and it was the most personally rewarding experience of my life. The political correctness of that era was mostly started by socialist, academic types, do-gooders that were more interested in building and Administering their own personal empires than solving the social problems of the day. Those 'community organizer' types sat in offices and cared little about going out in the 'field' where we were working with folks, but they loved telling us how to do our jobs.
I went on from there to work for the U.S. Forest Service from June 1970 to Sept 1971. I was a seasonal worker, campground and picnic grounds maintenance, $2.40/hr. on the Angeles National Forest, Calif., and the Roosevelt Nat'l Forest in Colorado. It was a fantastic job. I could write volumes about the countless days I spent up in those beautiful and rugged mountains. I fully intended to pursue a career in Natural Resoures Management, after, uh, serving on active duty with the U.S. Navy from Sept. 1971 to June 1973.
By June '73 I had been accepted to the Forestry program at Western State College, Gunnison, Colorado. Before getting off active duty I called the District Ranger I had worked under out in Colorado. I told him I was now a Vietnam combat action vet, with multiple years "fed preference" points for rehiring and I was anxious to work seasonally on the forest again in Colorado as I worked on getting my Forestry degree at Western State. He, my old District Ranger boss, promptly told me, and this is a quote, "Jim, a lot has changed on the Forests since you've been on active duty these past two years. Your name is not Rodriquez, and you aren't female, and you (white boy) aren't going
to be re-hired, despite your experience and veteran preferance points status. I suggest you seek a
different line of work !!! Period. End of conversation.
Needless to say I was in shock, but only for a few days. I came to the realization that I would never be happy anyway if I had to work in that kind of negative, politicalIy correct environment. I did just
what I was advised to do, and within a few years I was busy raising a family and tending to my own private, independent business. No resentment, no regrets, just good memories of working on the Rez, and up in those glorious mountains, and making it home alive from War on a good ship with a great Captain and crew.
Fyi - the U.S. Forest Service was the last fed agency to be self sustaining up until some time in the 1950's when it was finally no longer taking in as much income in Natural Resources lease fees and such than the expenses of its annual budget.
Funny that one of my memories of going to Yellowstone with my grandparents in 1971 was the black family who was camping right next door who were telling us where to catch fish there and some good hiking trails. I was 9 at the time, so I don't remember much, but I do remember that family and the good time we had right next door.
I grew up in white family on an Air Force Base, on base housing and our next door neighbors were black, as was my best friend was from that family. Kids of many races all mixed together in that neighborhood and we were literally living out MLK Jr.’s dream there, in mid to late 1970’s. Lango, if you’re out there, 6 and 7 year old me loved every minute playing spot light at night and curb ball in the day with you. That and riding our bikes together to the swamp to catch garter snakes, and picking plums and gorging ourselves.
I also grew up in the 70's. My father worked for IBM and we had people from many nations and races in our home frequently because my mother often had dinners and parties and dad's work friends and their families came for holidays birthdays or even just bbqs. It was never a curiosity, they were just people. Our neighborhood and our school was the same. I miss the 70's
Same for me in the 70s in southern California. A melting pot in itself, I had friends of all races/ethnicities, and no one cared. Back when color-blindness was considered a good thing. I miss those days.
Without a doubt one of the best kept secrets of the US Forest Service is how little they know about forests. Pathetic is a good start. They would rather a forest rot and go to ruin that allow human intervention. If one travels and works in the country of FInland in the forest products sector one learns quickly that even the so called best practices here are a joke. They think in 200 year time lines, with clear cutting, selective cutting, regeneration both natural and artificial and the list goes on and on. They practice brain surgery and here we do amputations. However if one tries to reason and demonstrate “other methods” with the USFS they are quickly put in their place. Oh well, so many employees and so little time for DOGE to do its work.
Okay I can go with that! If you have ever been out in a tract of land that a Finnish forestry company is harvesting, you go with brain surgery, and if you watch the harvesting mess here you go with amputations. But your point is well taken, and probably more analogous to the USFS than anything else!
Getting rid of most federal employees can be accurately seen as getting rid of an unelected shadow government.
So let’s cut deeply and relentlessly.
If at some point years from now a degradation in government service becomes noticeable, then we will know that we have cut enough. But I really don’t think we will ever reach a point where we notice poor government service due to low staffing.
Legit!! It’s so bad, exactly how is it possible to make it worse????? 30 min per interaction at the post office is what we all expect… it can’t get worse
What an eye-opening letter. Excellent job, both of you.
The more you know.
What the letter says-without-saying:
The tweet was either fake or deeply dishonest.
I volunteered w the NPS.
Very woke.
Accountability for doing your work sparse.
They need a Doge
Hollywood needs a DOGE. I should write that piece.
Many of our states need Doge. California comes to mind.
And New York
PRNJ! PRNJ!
Let's not forget Massachusetts
And Illinois
Yes please do! That would be great from your keen insider eye
Hollyweird needs a gigantic pack of rabid starving hyenas driven by a troop of fire wielding white supremacist Sasquatches who eat the prisoners...
And you have my permission to make a screenplay out of that, but I get some royalty... It would be the most original thing produced in 40 years...
I would just love to hear the top execs have to answer two questions:
1. Who are you making these movies for?
2. Are you still in the entertainment business to make profits?
They wouldn't even have to list 5 things like Elon/Doge asked. Just answer those two questions.
The first studio that decides activism is out the window and entertainment is back in, will win. It's actually that simple.
Yes, please! Skewer those scoundrels.
Oh yes! Maybe I’d go see a movie again.
Hollowwood is just a Venus Fly Trap. It seduces with the sweetest of honey and once in, it devours your very essence of who you once were.
Complete devotion is essential. I know, I’ve worked in the industry as has daughter for years and it is the most demanding of your entire being, expects adoration and to think yourself “lucky” that you’re there at all as you’re expendable. Other than that, it’s fun, if you wanna sell your soul. Actually, it’s a collective of very artistic, talented hard working people, not the ones in front of the camera speaking lines from someone else’s mind, though some exceptions must be made. No, it’s the hard working devotees behind the camera and the scenes who make the wheels turn, they are the real strength. It’s the producers who crack the whip - hard.
Please yes!
Please include the abhorrent Star Trek reboots where the beloved canon was changed and wokeified. Broke my heart and sent me out of the theaters forever.
Now I’m on edge, dreading the woke reboot of Harry Potter. May it never happen.
Given the trend in domestic box office revenue, I think the typical consumer is the DOGE for Hollywood.
A couple of things I'd like to add, as I have been suspicious about some of the news stories, too. First, if you look at donations made by civil service employees up to 2020 which is the most recent information on record, you will find that the civil service is filled with Democrats. Mostly Democrats. So, all these angry Trump supporters getting fired??? Highly unlikely. For the next thing, these town halls where people are upset? Those are not Trump voters. They never say they are in mainstream media, but they heavily imply. I am sure no one is surprised, but I thought I'd point out that they are trying to spin up a lie in the hopes of getting people in the streets so they can fundraise. The Democrats are very, very desperate for people to protest and riot, but they can't just write a check for astroturfed chaos right now. The money spigot has been turned off and everyone is digging into their finances.
I've noticed that even the relatively moderately liberal Dems are now steadily drumming about how unpopular Musk is, and that he should be unpopular because he acts like he is the real president, or dictator. That the Dems can say such things with a sraight face is astounding!
They also trying to feed the fire of a narrative that Trump is now unpopular. To the extent either of these narratives has a grain of truth, it is because the Dem media are hammering on them. It's discouraging to see how easy it still is for the MSM to manipulate their followers.
Moderately liberal dems? That species has got to becoming as rare as hens teeth....
I was referring to some of the authors I have been reading on Substack sites, such as Liberal Patriot. I don’t run into any moderate Dems in my personal life, although some of the people I know think of themselves that way.
That is a good site though I can detect a gap between Ruy Texiera and some of his guest writers.
The problem with ALL center leaning Dems running for office is that no matter how much they sound sensible on the campaign trail, once they get into office they will all vote in lockstep with the crazy Dems. So transing kids and drag queen story hour, etc. There’s not a single Dem politician that can be trusted.
Now as for the Ruy Texeira’s of the world, I think he is one of the few Dems trying to bring sanity to his party, but he’s advocating for a Dem party that no longer exists. The crazy Dems ARE THE party. Dems treat him like MAGA treats neocons and RINOs. Unseriously at best, and as pure enemies at worst.
I agree with everything you said. It does appear, however, that the level of conformity in the Dem Party is arising from the active need of Party members to conform to any system that makes them feel right and correct, virtuous and up-to-date. It is possible that they will at some point switch their lockstep conformity to a different ideology.
oxymoron = moderately liberal dems
Is there a museum exhibit somewhere that we can see what they look like?
New poll released just this morning has Trump more popular than not, the actions DOGE is taking more popular than not. The one thing that is under water is a majority of voters don't want DOGE to have access to personal information.
Personally, DOGE having access to my information doesn’t really concern me, the IRS has had that info forever. Besides, between my personal accounts with Starlink & Paypal, Musk could track me down if he so chose.
I think the takeaway from this scenario is the fact that Dems were able to create this “boogeyman” so as to portray DOGE in a bad light.
The LAST thing swamp creatures want is outside scrutiny digging into their books & announcing what they’ve been up to with taxpayer money.
GOP manipulates just as badly
This style of whataboutism is ridiculous at this point. Do you expect that the GOP should assume the form of Mike Pence and just lay there like moralistic lumps, supposedly taking the high ground, and never try to fight back or manipulate public opinion? Should they very politely allow their political opponents to brainwash the American people without putting forth their own case, out of worry that some dingleberry on a Substack comment might take issue with that? The double standards are wearing pretty thin.
Boy howdy. Well said.
Because the media in general is partisan, terrible and very negative. I am getting sick of people thinking just one side is terrible and how great their ideology is. Its an overall issue and making it just an ideology battle is just shittalking at this point.
It’s so easy to spot all the fake stories that don’t ring true.
A positive development has been all the stories about the crazed shrieking resistance from government employees. The more the hard working, tax paying general public sees these stories, the more they hate government employees. If this keeps up this year, the public approval for the President to get rid of 90% of government workers will be sky high.
Another story that is not yet being discussed, but one that I see developing, is going to be the increased hate for elected officials. The stink on lazy non-working federal employees is going to rub off on politicians who allowed all of this to happen on their watch but did absolutely nothing.
Yes, it is easy to spot fake news. What is hard is to deal with stories that never get covered. You can't evaluate a story that isn't there. So you have to prowl the alt.media to see what is brewing out there. They have their own biases about what to cover but the usually run counter to the corporate media. Foreign media provides a different slice of reality.
Agreed that it’s work. And right side media is not very good even if it’s a little better than lefty media. But the quest to find thoughtful, original thinkers is well worth. Scott Adams would be an example of an original thinker.
While there are a few interesting foreign media sources, like the Unherd YouTube channel, the problem with almost all foreign media is they don’t understand American Exceptionalism, American individualism, and the Constitution. It’s ingrained in us and shapes us, but because it’s not ingrained in foreigners they start with a deficit of ideas and thoughts when they try to understand us. This can be seen in the EU and UK crowd being baffled by the need for free speech. What is a bedrock for us is a problem for them.
Think of the difference between legal immigrant parents and their children who are 1st generation Americans. The parents probably came here because they love American freedom and ideals, but the children will take their parent’s love of America to a whole different level because of being raised here within the American experience.
I use foreign media mostly for foreign issues. Agree that they don't really get who we are domestically.
"A positive development has been all the stories about the crazed shrieking resistance from government employees."
"Another story that is not yet being discussed, but one that I see developing, is going to be the increased hate for elected officials. "
They are their own worst enemy but too disordered to know it. Their four years of publicized nirvana has come to an end.
Looking forward to newsom's "podcast". RIP Air America
Only cautiously optimistic about that one. Sorry. I'll bet the Usual Suspects get re-electd.
You are probably right. I just have a feeling that this is a “ignore that man behind the curtain” moment for the country. The citizens are seeing how the government is actually run for the first time and feeling like suckers for dutifully paying their taxes, only to see that the entire government is a shell game for insiders. So maybe things will happen going forward that are not business as usual.
The problem has always been the disconnect between the specific person and the result. Good ol' Congresscritter Throckmorton gets my vote -- even though HIS first vote will be for Ms Pelosi for speaker -- with many more votes like it to follow. Even worse at the local level where, to be fair, there might be no viable option.
Then there’s Gerrymandering. Both state and federal districts are contorted. My congressman badmouths R’s even though a lot of his constituents are Republicans.
The lizard that keeps giving. With no answer in sight.
Very true. At least for the deep blue states.
Deep red states don't Gerrymander???????
Brandy… one small correction… you say “digging into their finances “, when it is really our purloined finances that they are digging in to.
Yes! I'll take that correction.
That’s a very salient point that they can’t pay for their protesters. “Sorry Antifa and BLM, can’t write a check right now.”
Thank you for publishing this, Sasha as I believe that there's quite a bit of "resisters" out there that are trying to gaslight people into questioning/retreating from where we need to go as a country.
It’s becoming more clear by the day that the Left have one goal, and one goal only: undermine Trump, divide us by sowing distrust, destroy our efforts to rescue this country, and then—of course—swoop in to retake the power.
As I watch their strategy I see ever more clearly how they are working to divide and destroy. They conceal their motives behind an appearance of concern for the poor (AOC, Bernie Sanders), compassion for the oppressed, and—get this!—wanting to “protect democracy.” All the while they lie, destroy, and attack what is actually good and true.
This week I am daily reading out loud Psalm 94 as both a prayer and a clarification of what we are currently witnessing. Daily we must keep our eyes wide open and remember our goal in this battle.
Have courage. Stand firm. We are fighting for the good, the true, and the beautiful.
Exactly DG, thank you. We finally have the right people in place, but the work has just begun. We must continue praying...praying to God Almighty for success. We must continue 'working', sacrificing. We MUST NEVER forget how close these heathen idolators came to literally stealing our country and our culture from us, in the most vulgar ways. Be EVER vigilant and TEACH the next generation.
Yes. One more observation: these people screaming against Trump never—I mean never—want to discuss issues or research the facts. They don’t care about truth. We must not get caught in their snares.
They are really after us. Trump is just in the way.
https://indianexpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/trump-meme-759.jpg
This is a real quote.
Yep. We Trump supporters and true conservatives need to be ready to accept the BOLD STROKES and accompanying criticism that will come in this process of taking our country back. The left REALLY needs to be put out of business, and that will look like WAR at times.
We know for a fact that the leftwing media sources are losing viewership. We know the majority of people don’t believe a word the Adam Schiffs and Chuck Schumers are saying.
It occurs to me that what people most fear is losing their own voice. Losing their credibility. The Leftwing politicians and media have certainly lost theirs (except in their own echo chambers).
I wonder if it’s time we let these individuals who keep on screaming fire know that they have lost their credibility with us. We are not going to give them the time of day any longer. It’s clear they aren’t concerned about the truth.
(This is a lecture to myself, after spending WAY too much time last week arguing online with the screamers via Facebook posts. This week I’ve decided to go outside and work on my compost pile instead—a far better use of my time.) 😅
Do you think there are more of us than them? I fear there isn’t. They are activists and throw tantrums that can be frightening. I saw a video of people telling migrants not to comply with police/ice. I live in Illinois and the people keep voting to make our state a criminal magnet. I don’t want to move…but Pritzker is scary.
Based on the ejection results in November, yes. But based on the decibels of noise they generate, they do sound way more numerous and threatening. (Also, our side are much more polite, sane, and civil.)
I think we’re right now on a steep learning curve in recognizing their methods, their goals, and the ways they hook us with their schemes.
That’s why this forum—Sasha’s posts—is a genuine help to us. This is where we can come to check in with fellow warriors, learn from one another (I learn so much reading everybody’s posts here), and renew our courage.
Pritzger is like a cobra—looking huge and scary, but lots of show. From other news sources I’m seeing that there are angry Chicagoans rising up to protest. Praying you all will find an away to break the Left’s hold on power there.
That’s a good prayer. I heard about those protests too. But then hear about counter protests. I used to find a private FB group a good place to express opinions but the leftists and pure conservatives have infiltrated it. So what was a great support group isn’t.
Same here. Literally, right now, I have to force myself to check my Facebook notifications. The environment there is becoming toxic.
I have to share this. A close friend of mine, a liberal, recently took a new position running a USDA office l, supporting farmers. He manages 15 direct reports. He tells me they know nothing. He also tells me he could do the entire job, he could get everything done that needs to get done without a single employee. Yet he has 15 employees he doesn’t need. And they are untouchable.
And just think, his boss, probably a liberal also because 90% of Fed/state/local government employees are Democrats, also claims that their staff who manage USDA offices knows nothing band can be easily replaced. The rot is from the bottom and up dozens of layers. And public school teachers are on average the model for incompetent government employee (witness the 80% failure rate for blacks at grade level proficiency tests).
A great teacher is worth their weight in rubies. The problem is that no one attempts to identify the great or even good ones. And half are below average.
Lol. I would argue 80% or more pf public school teachers and administrators have not provided students, especially poor students, a quality education in over 30 years. My basis is the grade level proficiency test failures in that timeframe. (Eg 80% of blacks failing grade level math and reading proficiency tests and declining trend). But sure, half are below some undefined average and half are above it.
Kids are reading on a 3rd grade level in 8th grade!
Yes, Brandy. And despite being unable to bath grade school proficiency tests, they will graduate high school and college at the tax payer’s expense. Then they will be given a DEI fed/state/local gobberment job to continue collecting. And if that fails, they’ll go on welfare, food stamps, SNAP and EBIT.
It's completely insane to me that we have adults walking around telling other adults to listen to the "experts." What experts? Many of them didn't pass high school competency tests, aren't doing any better in college, and are being given degrees! Completely insane.
Here in IL, we have a massive pension problem. Teachers believe they can just keep raising taxes to support their exorbitant demands.
If teachers were smart, they would make sure students graduated fully equipped to be productive members of society. Who do teachers think will pay the pensions?
Instead, teachers make endless excuses for why they can’t possibly be expected to teach kids to read. Meanwhile, by their failure they are producing their own rivals for the public trough. Not very smart.
And do nothing. Except maybe work a side hustle (at most) while taking and pocketing our tax dollars. A disgrace. I feel like a sucker paying my taxes.
Yep. The media misleads and the NPS sucks. What people don't understand is the NPS is primarily a law enforcement agency and that has been so since their establishment. Conservation is an afterthought and done poorly at that. National Parks have airports, luxury hotels, and horse and mule operations. They do a poor job of fire suppression and the USFS and BLM make fun of them for that. They are completely crazy if there is a bear within 50 miles. This is from a long-time camper on the public lands and I avoid NPS if at all possible and camp on USFS or BLM land. Woke has only made it worse.
State parks are much more mellow.
Better than the NPS but their origin is NPS and still have many attributes. USFS is better and BLM better yet.
It depends on the state.
It’s come to light that according to google maps, we now have “state parks” in Canada as well.
Yeah, forest service and BLM lands are the best.. Fewer rules/less people.
Of course it was a fake tweet!! They are the masters of disinformation! So angry I fell for it. Ugh. But reminds me again why Trump had to win. And reminds me again why I always read your posts, Sasha. Thank you :)
It was like that in education too, but I told them to go fuck their pronouns...
There s a thing here though. These woke degenerates - a lot of them are unbalanced, literal mental cases - and most all of them are worthless. So the more of this degenerate dross that accumulates the less that gets done.
You could can half of the admin in education and nothing would suffer. Many things would in fact improve. They are just sand in the gears.
I bet that is the case at Interior too. It just goes with woke.
Not sure if this is outside your bailiwick or if you've seen it before, but a Substack post by an academic that speaks to the woke-ish rot therein:
"We Tried to Warn You
Preliminary List of Articles that Attempted to Warn Academics and Other Scientists that their Politicization of Scholarship, Teaching, Funding, Hiring and Promotions Was a Slow-Moving Train Wreck":
https://unsafescience.substack.com/p/we-tried-to-warn-you
Cassandras are many -- I've been one myself. It's painful; "I told ya so" is a most unsatisfactory denouement.
This whole thing is ridiculous! Just a bunch of crazy leftists running around with their hair on fire as usual. Imagine hanging a giant flag upside down over El Capitan! These are people out of their minds!
None of the readers here will be surprised to learn that legacy media is grossly distorting the real situation.
I have a handful of 'friends' who can be counted on to parrot the current talking points coming from the increasingly desperate DC blob, and the "destruction" of the national parks has been one they are milking big time. It never ceases to amaze me how so many people can simply ignore anything that does not support their twisted worldview and focus completely on one thread that may or may not be true as the definitive proof that they have been correct all along.
So sick of these idiots.
I wonder if this is the hill (in the national park) they're willing to die on. ;)
Well, at least it makes more sense politically than defending the ‘right’ of men dressed in women’s clothing to beat the crap out of women in sports competitions.
*Note: please stick with me on this response, the last paragraph relates to the letter sighted in Sasha's essay.
The origins of DEI/Wokeness go way back to 1960's. It was called 'political correctness' back then. I saw the birthing of it all when I was a Vista volunteer (domestic Peace Corp, War on Poverty fed program). For a year, '69-70, I lived and worked on the Yakima Indian Rez in Washington State. I was paid $75/mo. plus room and board, and it was the most personally rewarding experience of my life. The political correctness of that era was mostly started by socialist, academic types, do-gooders that were more interested in building and Administering their own personal empires than solving the social problems of the day. Those 'community organizer' types sat in offices and cared little about going out in the 'field' where we were working with folks, but they loved telling us how to do our jobs.
I went on from there to work for the U.S. Forest Service from June 1970 to Sept 1971. I was a seasonal worker, campground and picnic grounds maintenance, $2.40/hr. on the Angeles National Forest, Calif., and the Roosevelt Nat'l Forest in Colorado. It was a fantastic job. I could write volumes about the countless days I spent up in those beautiful and rugged mountains. I fully intended to pursue a career in Natural Resoures Management, after, uh, serving on active duty with the U.S. Navy from Sept. 1971 to June 1973.
By June '73 I had been accepted to the Forestry program at Western State College, Gunnison, Colorado. Before getting off active duty I called the District Ranger I had worked under out in Colorado. I told him I was now a Vietnam combat action vet, with multiple years "fed preference" points for rehiring and I was anxious to work seasonally on the forest again in Colorado as I worked on getting my Forestry degree at Western State. He, my old District Ranger boss, promptly told me, and this is a quote, "Jim, a lot has changed on the Forests since you've been on active duty these past two years. Your name is not Rodriquez, and you aren't female, and you (white boy) aren't going
to be re-hired, despite your experience and veteran preferance points status. I suggest you seek a
different line of work !!! Period. End of conversation.
Needless to say I was in shock, but only for a few days. I came to the realization that I would never be happy anyway if I had to work in that kind of negative, politicalIy correct environment. I did just
what I was advised to do, and within a few years I was busy raising a family and tending to my own private, independent business. No resentment, no regrets, just good memories of working on the Rez, and up in those glorious mountains, and making it home alive from War on a good ship with a great Captain and crew.
Fyi - the U.S. Forest Service was the last fed agency to be self sustaining up until some time in the 1950's when it was finally no longer taking in as much income in Natural Resources lease fees and such than the expenses of its annual budget.
Funny that one of my memories of going to Yellowstone with my grandparents in 1971 was the black family who was camping right next door who were telling us where to catch fish there and some good hiking trails. I was 9 at the time, so I don't remember much, but I do remember that family and the good time we had right next door.
I grew up in white family on an Air Force Base, on base housing and our next door neighbors were black, as was my best friend was from that family. Kids of many races all mixed together in that neighborhood and we were literally living out MLK Jr.’s dream there, in mid to late 1970’s. Lango, if you’re out there, 6 and 7 year old me loved every minute playing spot light at night and curb ball in the day with you. That and riding our bikes together to the swamp to catch garter snakes, and picking plums and gorging ourselves.
I also grew up in the 70's. My father worked for IBM and we had people from many nations and races in our home frequently because my mother often had dinners and parties and dad's work friends and their families came for holidays birthdays or even just bbqs. It was never a curiosity, they were just people. Our neighborhood and our school was the same. I miss the 70's
Same for me in the 70s in southern California. A melting pot in itself, I had friends of all races/ethnicities, and no one cared. Back when color-blindness was considered a good thing. I miss those days.
Thank you for sharing this — very informative and enlightening.
Without a doubt one of the best kept secrets of the US Forest Service is how little they know about forests. Pathetic is a good start. They would rather a forest rot and go to ruin that allow human intervention. If one travels and works in the country of FInland in the forest products sector one learns quickly that even the so called best practices here are a joke. They think in 200 year time lines, with clear cutting, selective cutting, regeneration both natural and artificial and the list goes on and on. They practice brain surgery and here we do amputations. However if one tries to reason and demonstrate “other methods” with the USFS they are quickly put in their place. Oh well, so many employees and so little time for DOGE to do its work.
Amputations? More like Band-aids on gangrene.
That is the Park Service. The Forest Service tries to do as you say but is hampered by environmental activists and NIMBYs.
Okay I can go with that! If you have ever been out in a tract of land that a Finnish forestry company is harvesting, you go with brain surgery, and if you watch the harvesting mess here you go with amputations. But your point is well taken, and probably more analogous to the USFS than anything else!
Getting rid of most federal employees can be accurately seen as getting rid of an unelected shadow government.
So let’s cut deeply and relentlessly.
If at some point years from now a degradation in government service becomes noticeable, then we will know that we have cut enough. But I really don’t think we will ever reach a point where we notice poor government service due to low staffing.
I don't really know if it CAN be degraded. Judging on several interactions as of late.
Legit!! It’s so bad, exactly how is it possible to make it worse????? 30 min per interaction at the post office is what we all expect… it can’t get worse