Tag: news

Posted in Political

Update: Corroborating News–Extortion: Foreign and Domestic

Posted on by simplebender

9/25: Disney/ABC/Nexstar choose profit over principle. By silencing a comedian, they protected the impending merger of Nexstar and Tenga, which requires FCC approval. They are bending to the FCC’s threats to withhold merger approval and review of their broadcast license.

Extortion: Foreign and Domestic

No one can control you if you don’t owe them anything. But more importantly, just because someone owes you doesn’t give you the right to try to control them. This control and unwanted influence is nothing more than extortion. We have seen extortion repeated numerous times in recent weeks and expect to see more. We watch as federal funds are restricted for personal vendettas and agendas. We have seen financial aid used as a tool to coerce and meddle in the policies of other nations, as a superpower attempts to influence a different sovereign’s internal affairs. The idea that if the government gives or grants you aid, you are obligated to do their bidding or succumb to their ideas of moral direction is itself immoral. The tariffs aren’t about trade imbalances. They are examples of abusive dominant position and extortion.

The ability to invoke fear and illicit reactions can be through hard or soft power. Hard power is the use of military or economic coercion, while soft power is the use of cultural or ideological influence. As a superpower and stalworth of freedom of choice and independence, we should stand on higher ground. We should help guide and support rather than threaten financial and social ruin if our direction isn’t followed. We should never judge another sovereign with our isolated provincial views without understanding their cultural underpinnings and environmental conditions. Our greatest strength does not come from fists or extortion but from example. We are a country of plenty, and our moral teachings and practices have been to share. To be witnessed as an example, not demanding compliance or sitting in judgment. The importance of standing on higher ground and maintaining our integrity cannot be overstated. We have just as many faults as those who we are attempting to extort, bully, and bend to our will and ways. The pedestal we once placed ourselves upon is crumbling by the weight of our ego, bigotry, and hypocrisy. Some believe they have found their political messiah, and some have found the courage to cowardly hide behind masks so their identity might not be known, but they cannot conceal their intent.

Greatness is demonstrated in many ways, and extortion isn’t one of them. The consequences of extortion are severe. It leads to distrust, resentment, and, ultimately, isolation. Just know that when you push someone too far, they will eventually turn against you regardless of what they owe you. They will join the others you’ve extorted and bullied. You will stand alone in isolation as your once friends collude and align with your old enemies for your destruction. Your greatness diminished and tarnished as you become the pariah rather than the advisor and steady ally.

We have lived through dark times before, and there will be more. We will get through them by understanding that we exist within a global community, and we don’t control it. The power of the purse has a double edge, and we certainly would object to those we owe telling us what to do. Don’t confuse wealth with worth; we witness the wealthy and powerful transform into worthless bullies, not great leaders. The gravity of these consequences should make us all pause and reflect on the path we are treading. 

#NeverFearTheDream simplebender.com @simplebender.bsky.social

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Posted in Political

Deconstructing Democracy by Design

Posted on by simplebender

A ‘what-if’ thought experiment….or is it….

When federal agencies are defunded, are the states prepared to bear the burden? What if they falter, fail, and unravel under the weight? What if the unraveling of local governance isn’t a consequence of poor planning—but a feature of executive design?

Imagine a government waving the banner of “smaller federalism—drain the swamp,” slashing national programs in the name of efficiency and state empowerment. Medicaid becomes a block grant. Public housing and food subsidies are cut. Regulation and environmental oversight rolls back. Disaster relief is “restructured.” Methodically, the burden shifts to state and county governments, which are already stretched thin. Local taxes rise, services crumble, and local bureaucracies balloon in a vain attempt to compensate.

One town staffs its clinics. The next can’t keep its water clean. Some mandate gun control, others abortions, and others endorse sex work and gambling to increase state revenue. Air quality fluctuates by zip code. One region welcomes immigrants, the next sponsors agents for deportation. Resulting in dysfunctionality, geographical injustice, and discontinuity. The news media is mistrusted and declared ‘enemies of the State’. City, County, and State governments begin to crumble and fail under the weight of their new obligations.

Resentment festers—as inconsistency breeds inequity and confusion. Citizens demand relief, but help doesn’t come from local government, only more indecisive directives. Citizen uncertainty, polarization, and outrage against the policy void yield unrest. Not everywhere—but in enough places to make the headlines—just enough to be used as an excuse.

We’re already seeing a preview. Federal troops were deployed to California—not for disaster relief, but to enforce immigration policy, overriding the state’s will. FEMA faces cuts while climate disasters rise. Communities are left broken, ripe for corruption and manipulation.

And as the ground shifts, so do the guardrails. The Department of Justice leans in, and the Court tilts the scales. Recent rulings—many of which were urged by the Executive—have expanded presidential power by disregarding or reinterpreting laws passed by Congress and previous court decisions. Scholars once warned of an “imperial presidency.” It’s no longer theory—it’s precedent. The President need not wait for Congress. The office can act—or undo—with little more than a pen and a thin legal pretext.

And so, the same hand that dropped the burden returns—not as a partner, but as a “protector.” Protests are reframed as threats. Dissent becomes disorder. Disorder becomes insurrection.

Elections are postponed “for public safety.” Ballots are secured behind walls and counted by select administrators. Local authority is preempted. Emergency declarations morph into permanent policy.

Federal power consolidates—not with a coup, but with a shrug, and tacit approval, marked by deafening silence.

This isn’t prophecy—but it’s no longer just a thought experiment. It is no longer just possible it is verging on probable. It’s unfolding. If federal power can be withdrawn at will and restored at gunpoint—backed by a court with no limits—what does democracy even mean?

If this is the road ahead, it’s not the failure of states we should fear most. It’s the success of the plan—and our failure to notice.

Posted in Current Events

Uniquely American: Civil Discord and Disobedience

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Ideas can wound more deeply than fists—their scars often outlast bruises. But dissent isn’t treason; it’s the American expectation. The audacity to voice a contrarian view without fear of punishment was once a defining feature of our national character. That freedom, that courage, is slipping.

A fundamental right is to stand, speak, write, or peacefully protest what you believe is wrong. It’s a moral responsibility at the core of our civic being. It is how we started. As Americans, it is who we are.

Yes, this right has been repeatedly abused and suppressed: during the Civil Rights Movement, LGBTQ advocacy, and Black Lives Matter protests. These weren’t our proudest moments—they were our failures. And yet, we are better than those moments. And we are better because of them. Just as we should be better than today’s attempts to silence pro-Palestinian and pro-Ukrainian voices, or to weaponize immigration enforcement.

Yes, public safety matters. And yes, misinformation can be dangerous, especially when weaponized at scale. But the line between protection and suppression is perilously thin. When fear becomes a rationale for silencing protest, we drift toward authoritarianism under the guise of security.

But let me be honest. I write this as someone of privilege—a white male in the dominant race and gender. I’ve never feared for my safety when expressing my views. I’ve never had to calculate the cost of speaking out to simply be heard. That insulation is not universal. And acknowledging that it is the least I can do.

The truly brave are those who speak anyway, knowing the risks. Minorities are demanding the rights that this country claims to guarantee. Immigrants who were escaping violence and chasing a future are thrust back into violence. And yet, their domestic complicit employers are not subject to the heavy hand of the law. The Pro-Palestinian voices speaking into the silence of global indifference as their homeland, their homeland of generations, is taken and broken, and their families are indiscriminately killed and starved. And even those supporting Ukraine as it fiercely defends its children and its homeland from slaughter by an invading army.

They are the ones carrying this nation’s conscience forward. They take the blows, not for fame or ideology, but for survival and dignity. The road to a better America is paved by those who get off the couch and speak out through civil dialogue, discord, and yes, disobedience.

This country grows not by force, but by engagement. We will be stronger when those in power trade masks and riot gear for open conversation—and when fabricated, non-existent, dystopian, national “emergencies” are no longer used to justify suppression. When we are afraid to speak out, the words of others fill the void, becoming all that is heard. When those of us who can speak don’t, we become complicit in the decay. The slide is ours to stop; or ours to be held accountable.

NeverFearTheDream simplebender.com @simplebender.bsky.social Stand For Truth

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Posted in Political

The Intoxicating Mirage of American Greatness

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We are no better than Don Quixote as he chased the demons he saw in windmills as we become drunk on the hysteria and mirage of American greatness. While he blamed magicians for his confusion and failure, we blame minorities and immigrants. We are no different; only our delusion is different.

Neither the Constitution nor the Preamble ever professes any illusion of aspiring to greatness. The Founding Fathers’ writings in the Federalist Papers are silent on any desire for national greatness. These men, willing to risk everything openly professed a desire for an independent nation. A nation recognized and respected as an equal by all the world’s other nations. They weren’t so egotistical to wave the vain flag of greatness or superiority.

Yet today, we insanely strive to regain something we never had, were, or will be. We are drunk on our delusions and egos. Being ‘great’ is a fixation of one’s ego. It isn’t real. It is your fantasized view of yourself. Something which, when unachieved or perceived to be lost, we blame everyone, anyone, but ourselves. Like Don Quixote blaming mystics and magicians, we lash out at everyone but ourselves. Ironically, we blame them for something that never was and can never be.

We are a country with many admirable traits and traditions and rich in resources and intellect. We are like almost every other country in the world. We all have our national pride, but our national ego is more of a liability than an asset. When working internationally, the first and biggest hurdle to overcome is not being the ‘arrogant, ugly American’ as we are known worldwide.

How do you determine ‘greatness?’ Is our historic and persistent racism a measure of greatness? As a country of immigrants, whose foundational economy was built on the backs of slaves, should our measure of greatness be the number of immigrant families we disjoined and caged or how we showed compassion? Is our historic and persistent racism a criterion of greatness? Is the denigration of minorities and the perpetuation of our domestic caste system our yardstick? Is the benchmark the number of citizens in the wealthiest Causation country suffering in poverty? Is it the number of books and ideas we can ban or sequester? Is the measure the need for a nanny state because we don’t trust half of the population to make their own decisions on healthcare? Or maybe it is our growing affinity to authoritarians and dictators rather than democracies? Democracy isn’t dead but authoritarianism a growing plague. Democracy conquered communism and now seems focused on conquering itself. A country boasting about greatness should have addressed and resolved these inequities decades ago. However, what we have shown incredible greatness in is our ability to deflect, ignore, and our propensity to find a scapegoat for our failures.

While we are a blessed nation, no country is great at everything. They all have strengths, weaknesses, and blind spots. The pragmatic salient question might be, ‘Should America strive to be average or average at all things?’ If we are average, we acknowledge there are those better than us in some things, and we are better in others. By being average at all things, we surrender those areas in which we can be superior.

Our desire and aspiration to be Great should not cloud the realization that we are just one among many in this world. Our founders knew this, and they promoted internationalism, not isolation, to gain acceptance and influence. They didn’t strive for dominance but for mutually beneficial relationships. In our drunken, intoxicated state of euphoria, touting our Greatness, let’s hope we ultimately don’t drive ourselves to Mediocrity.

Maybe our Greatness is our ability to cast an eye over our shoulder to see how far we’ve come, accept where we are, and then turn to look forward and have a vision of where we should be. Sober love of country over drunken delusions. NeverFearTheDream……simplebender.com

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This was first published in the Bend Bulletin 11/20/24

Posted in Communication

Bravado In Anonimity

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Why are we so much braver, louder, and opinionated when we are anonymous? When no one knows who we are we yell, and scream protected by the fog of obscurity. Is the bravado of anonymity a sign of general cowardice? History has many examples showing those who cover their faces with masks and hoods are more aggressive. Anonymity is used as a shield and a foil. A shield to protect those brave enough to risk blowing the whistle on corruption, poor safety, and other malicious acts otherwise wanting to be kept secret. A foil as a weapon to perpetuate misinformation, rumors, and lies to injure someone’s life or reputation. We are in a technology-driven world, able to easily conceal our true identity. In fact, today we don’t have to use hoods and masks, while still some choose to. Today, we can assume many identities on many platforms to further expand our efforts to discredit and perpetuate conspiracy theories.

Not so long ago, individuals took immense pride in expressing their thoughts and opinions openly, willingly attaching their names to their words and actions. People valued the recognition and accountability that came with sharing their ideas publicly. There was a sense of personal responsibility and integrity in communication. Unfortunately, those days seem to have faded into the past, replaced by a culture of hiding, concealing, and distancing from one’s statements.

In our current digital landscape, we face significant challenges in identifying and confirming the sources of information. The ease with which individuals can hide behind pseudonyms or fabricated identities has made it increasingly difficult to trace the origins of statements, claims, or accusations. This shift has profound implications for the quality and reliability of public discourse.

If we aspire to have a culture of accountability, it is imperative we support individuals willing to stand firmly behind their words. This means creating and supporting an environment where people are not only comfortable but proud to associate their identities with their expressions. We can create a more transparent, responsible, and trustworthy communication landscape by re-enforcing this connection between individuals and their statements. Personal accountability is essential for rebuilding trust in our interactions and information exchanges, both online and offline.

Protocols can be put in place to truncate the use of anonymity as a false shield and sharp foil. Social media outlets can require a publicly accessible, verifiable name associated with each account. There can be a limit on the number of times any tweet and/or post of any article can be blindly or mindlessly forwarded. Algorithms can be written to require human interaction to verify accounts and terminate those that cannot be verified. Imagine the impact on bot propagation if ten percent of every social media account was randomly verified every day. If social media companies can write and employ algorithms to target content, contacts, and advertising, they can create this algorithm. The local newspapers could refuse to publish and reject electronic comments by contributors using unique usernames and not their real names. Most papers require Guest Column and Letter to the Editor contributors to give their full name and verifiable contact information before publication. The same could be required for all. This isn’t censorship, this is requiring everyone to dissolve themselves.

For those who have anonymously sent snarky physical letters and online comments, your fake bravado is acknowledged. While I appreciate your concern for my well-being, I would more welcome an opportunity to have a civil dialogue. We don’t have to agree to be respectful and listen to each other. So, who am I? Like every contributing author, I am your neighbor willing to express a thought or opinion, sign my name, and stand by my words.

#NeverFearTheDream  simplebender.com

This was first published in the Bend Bulletin 9/11/24 Patriot’s Day