Small city in Macedonia churned out pro-Trump propaganda during his campaign.

Posted on February 4, 2017 by luckyotter

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Credit: BBC News

I stumbled on this story and was just gobsmacked. Donald Trump seems to have some mysterious and bizarre connections with both Russia and Eastern Europe, but nothing surprises me anymore about this corrupt president and his administration. The fact that this story comes from the BBC gives it credibility, in my book. They don’t churn out “fake news.” I’m surprised this story didn’t get more traction and I’m only hearing about it now.

Macedonia is a small landlocked country in southeast Europe. It split off from the former Yugoslavia and established its independence in 1991, so it’s a fairly new country with a struggling economy. Macedonia is one of the poorest European countries, but in the past few years its economy has been improving. Still, there are young people seeking to get rich quick in a place that seems to offer them few opportunities. Why not write fake news stories and disseminate them on right-wing websites to earn a fortune? Most of these “fake news” stories have been traced to Veles, a small city in that country. Most of the articles are written by kids looking to make a buck.

I wonder if someone in the Trump administration–or even Trump himself–might have paid off these Macedonian kids to write pro-Trump “news” stories? Who knows? I wouldn’t put anything past him. Here is the BBC article.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38168281?post_id=10212631627813467_10212631633893619#_=_

Why people get upset when you challenge their beliefs.

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Peace Train (Cat Stevens – Yusuf Islam)

Posted on February 4, 2017 by luckyotter

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“Peace Train” was a huge 1972 hit by singer songwriter Cat Stevens (now Yusuf Islam). He is actually Greek/Swedish and was raised in England and attended Catholic schools. Cat Stevens was one of the first “adult” musicians I loved when I was still in grade school, and “Peace Train” was one of my favorite songs from 1972.

I think there couldn’t be a better time to post this almost forgotten song, with the horrible things going on in our country (and the world) right now. Cat Stevens converted to Islam in 1977 and now devotes himself to philanthropic and educational causes and promoting peace. So much for Islam being a violent religion. That’s a stereotype due to a few fundamentalist extremists within Islam. There are loony fringes of all religions. Christianity is not immune and includes its own kind of terrorists driven by hatred and fear, and they’re right here in America.

Here is what he said immediately following the September 11, 2001 attacks:

I wish to express my heartfelt horror at the indiscriminate terrorist attacks committed against innocent people of the United States yesterday. While it is still not clear who carried out the attack, it must be stated that no right-thinking follower of Islam could possibly condone such an action. The Qur’an equates the murder of one innocent person with the murder of the whole of humanity. We pray for the families of all those who lost their lives in this unthinkable act of violence as well as all those injured; I hope to reflect the feelings of all Muslims and people around the world whose sympathies go out to the victims of this sorrowful moment.

He wrote this about his religion:

In Islam there is something called the principle of common good. What that means is that whenever one is confronted by something that is not mentioned in the scriptures, one must observe what benefit it can bring. Does it serve the common good, does it protect the spirit, and does it serve God? If the scholars see that it is something positive, they may well approve of what I’m doing.

Cat also continues to make music but it’s an avocation now, something he does because he loves making music. He has added Islamic music to his repertoire.

Let’s ride on the peace train!

Happy Groundhog Day!

Posted on February 2, 2017 by luckyotter

In celebration of Groundhog Day, here are some of that comedy’s best scenes. Enjoy!

When and How do Victims Develop Narcissistic Patterns of Behaviour

Posted on February 1, 2017 by luckyotter

I found another very informative video from Richard Grannon. Here he talks about the ways C-PTSD, NPD, and BPD inter-relate and can even resemble each other, and why victims of narcissistic abuse can adopt narcissistic traits or even full-blown NPD.

This is definitely a confusing field and sometimes it’s hard to tell the real victims from the real narcissists. There are a few things here I didn’t know. Maybe the only people immune from developing narcissism are people who were never traumatized by a narcissist or a borderline — which means you might have to live in a bubble..

Lessons from the Titanic.

Posted on January 29, 2017 by luckyotter

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It was an “unsinkable ship,” crowed its hubristic builders. But the Titanic wasn’t unsinkable, and there were far too few lifeboats to save everyone it carried, so many of its passengers perished in the ice cold waters of the northern Atlantic during the early morning hours of April 15, 1912.

The sinking of the Titanic was a horrible disaster, but was a small one compared to the impending disaster we are seeing unfold before us in America right now.

The “unsinkable ship” is sinking.

We in the U.S. have become complacent, believing our leaders who told us that terrorism could never happen in America and we would always be a free nation, safe from dictatorial leaders. And, at least since the end of WW2, this has been the case.

But now we are seeing where our complacency has taken us. The checks and balances we used to take for granted that would not allow a sociopath like Donald Trump to rise to power have been systematically gutted and now we are facing the unthinkable.

Why did we assume it could never happen to us? Just because nothing like this has happened in its 241 year history, doesn’t mean it can’t now. This country isn’t even half the age that the Roman Empire was when it fell.

We think we are special but we’re not. We’re not the first nation something like this has happened to. It’s happened in Russia, Germany, China, Eastern Europe, and many other nations. The danger is that we are so big and powerful in comparison to, say, 1942 Germany, or even the Soviet Union before communism fell, that what has happened can and probably will have worldwide consequences. The fallout may reach far beyond its borders.

We are not special and this isn’t the first time in history, or even in recent history, that something like this has happened. We never learn from history though, not from its big lessons, like WW2 Germany, or its small ones, like the sinking of the Titanic.

It’s worse than you thought. PLEASE SHARE!

Posted on January 29, 2017 by luckyotter

PLEASE SHARE!
Sharing with permission. From an Environmental Protection Agency staffer.
“So I work at the EPA and yeah it’s as bad as you are hearing: The entire agency is under lockdown, the website, facebook, twitter, you name it is static and can’t be updated. All reports, findings, permits and studies are frozen and not to be released. No presentations or meetings with outside groups are to be scheduled.
Any Press contacting us are to be directed to the Press Office which is also silenced and will give no response.
All grants and contracts are frozen from the contractors working on Superfund sites to grad school students working on their thesis.
We are still doing our work, writing reports, doing cancer modeling for pesticides hoping that this is temporary and we will be able to serve the public soon. But many of us are worried about an ideologically-fueled purging and if you use any federal data I advise you gather what you can now.
We have been told the website is being reworked to reflect the new administration’s policy.
Feel free to copy and paste, you all pay for the government and you should know what’s going on. I am posting this as a fellow citizen and not in any sort of official capacity.”

Now is the time to take a stand.

Posted on January 29, 2017 by luckyotter

The lyrics to this classic rock song by The Byrds are the words of Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 set to music.

3 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

²A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

³A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

⁴A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

⁵A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

⁶A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

⁷A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

⁸A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

*****

This was intended as an anti-war song during the Vietnam years, but now is not the time for Americans to expect peace. The sixties seem like a vastly happier and simpler time during these dark days. So do the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Hell, even the first decade of the 2000s seem like a simpler time in comparison to now.

I have no idea what is going to happen, or if we can come out of this in one piece as a nation, but hiding our heads in the sand not the answer. We have been apathetic and complacent for way too long and it’s come to this. Our freedom and the Constitution itself is at stake, not to mention the safety of civilization and the planet. We must take a stand because hiding from it isn’t going to make it go away. Putting an end to the reign of this control freak demagogue and his minions is our patriotic duty. Nine days in and he’s done untold damage already. The protests taking place in all the large airports and the court ruling that the Muslim detainees be freed give me hope. Maybe there are still a few checks and balances to keep this monster at bay.

I think a mental health evaluation (with results made publicly available) should be a requirement for all incoming presidents. I cannot believe the things that come out of his mouth. The man is clearly a malignant narcissist who cares only about his ego and nothing more.