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Stephen Altschuler

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Heavy National Karma

May 14, 2022 by Stephen Altschuler Leave a Comment

I hate to be a prophet of doom, but America has some pretty dark karma to work through–karma that started well before the official start of our country. Since that time we’ve fabricated myths to deny the realities of that karma, myths that are apparent to this day and that have created a polarized country that is, in effect, fighting another civil war. As in 1860 when half the country professed fealty to slavery and half the country was against the further enslavement of human beings, we’re now divided into Trump Republicans and Liberal Democrats.

Whether we proceed to enter a physical war remains to be seen but the two sides are deeply opposed to even talking to one another. The only thing they seem to be in agreement on is opposition to the war in Ukraine, although there are a number of Republican politicians who are against any further military aid to Ukraine and even lean towards supporting Putin. Their number one goal, amidst all the problems we have is apparently to make Joe Biden look bad so he will lose support in ’22 and ’24. Mitch McConnell has been obsessed with this strategy since Barack Obama was president. And with Manchin siding with the GOP on major issues and the Supreme Court taking an ultra conservative tack since Trump’s three appointees were confirmed, the Democrats busy themselves with defending against the baby formula shortage. It’s discouraging to see a democracy swirl down the drain without much attempt to plug the leaks in the tank.

We need an Abe Lincoln with the courage of a lion and not a bunch of whimpering victims of a junior high bully. We need someone with the guts of Lincoln who could beat Trump and his Republicans like a rug on a clothes line.

But that’s not the main reason I’m writing today. I have a theory as to how we got in this mess and how we might begin to extract ourselves before we end up like the Holy Roman Empire, and everybody knows what happened to it. Charles Darwin showed us how animals evolve in reaction to their need to survive and continue their species. (Although even there, many Republicans don’t ascribe to Darwinism and don’t want it taught in our public schools!). Animals make changes over time in response to the changes and threats in their environment-changes that eventually become so ingrained that they solidify in their genetic DNA material generation after generation. Human beings, of course, being mammals, are no different.

The seminal epoch in the history of our country was the advent and continuation for several hundred years of slavery, a time when human beings were treated worse than animals and were actually tallied as three-fifths of a human being in the original Constitution. You all know by now how they were abused, bred, and murdered over those horrible years so I needn’t inventory it all in these pages. Consideration was given to enslave Native Americans, called Indians by the original white setters, but they resisted from the start, drawing inspiration from courageous chiefs and wise elders. Instead, they were banished from their ancestral lands and murdered.

So attention turned to merchants who were selling Africans as slaves. Despite any moral considerations, landowners in the South seized the opportunity to secure free labor and proceeded to become rich men with vast political power as a result. So from 1619 to 1863, human slavery was the law of the land. And from 1870 to 1964, brutal Jim Crow practices and laws, particularly in the South, but also in varying degrees in other parts of the country, essentially enslaved Black Americans further.

What effect did this have genetically on Blacks and Whites in this nation? I submit that hatred and suspicion are largely prevalent in both races to this day, directed towards each other. Due to how they’ve been treated over these centuries, Blacks keep their distance from Whites, live in their own communities, work at jobs friendly to minorities, bank where they can obtain loans without discrimination, and make friends mostly with other Blacks. Whites also live where mostly other Whites live, shop where Whites shop, work in White controlled businesses or corporations, and fraternize mostly with other Whites. Generally if a White sees a Black, particularly a Black man or teen, approaching them on a lonely street in a city, they will more than likely cross the street to avoid the confrontation. A Black person will not cross a street to avoid a White, but will avert their eyes, genetically remembering the consequences for looking at a White directly from millennia of cruel punishment for doing so in the American South.

Behavior is largely conditioned as psychologists have shown. And conditioned behavior usually translates to corresponding genes that get passed from generation to generation. The behavior of white slaveowners has also embedded genetically, manifesting in today’s conservative politicians, in hiring practices, in blocking civil rights legislation, in continued housing discrimination, in educational opportunities, in blocking internal and external infrastructure, in income discrepancies, in police protection, in health care advantages. The list goes on and on.

Laws have been passed to right the wrong, but conservatives constantly push against these laws, and the often conservative courts follow suit. Even our present ultra-conservative leaning Supreme Court has reversed long standing civil rights legislation, along with other established precedents. And GOP-controlled state legislatures have enacted voter suppression laws not unlike the laws that blocked Black voters and politicians just after the Civil War.

This last point is critical given the inbred nature of systemic racism. In order to change the societal genetic landscape, the government and the courts must support laws that right the wrongs of the past. Otherwise nothing will change, and the principles put forth in the Declaration of Independence will be for naught, thus furthering our moral and legal downward slide as a culture and a viable democratic republic where “all men/people are created equal.”

Presently, we are a divided country, racially, politically, and, seemingly, morally. That can only be sustained for so long, as we’ve seen historically. Discord devolves into turmoil. Turmoil devolves into anarchy. Anarchy devolves into dictatorship and fascism. And this kind of fall is a result of years and years of genetic karma–the word karma coming from the Sanskrit word for action–of the kind I’ve described. The Buddhists say the way to change karma is to hold past actions up to the light and make a conscious, enlightened effort to see the error of that action and change direction–with honesty, courage, fortitude, compassion, understanding, and wisdom.

It’s not easy to change the karma of a nation. In a sense, each individual of that nation must also look at their own past actions and make changes on that level. There must be a common goal, a common mission statement, of which the United States has two: the Declaration of Independence and the Golden Rule.

Let’s live by them, shall we!

Filed Under: 2022 election, 2024 election, democracy, Donald Trump, Human nature, mindfulness, President Joe Biden

Scammers, Scams, and the Scammed (like me)!

May 29, 2021 by Stephen Altschuler Leave a Comment

As I’m sure some of you have experienced, I’ve been hit by scammers during the pandemic, which is a form of insult to injury. They are skilled at manipulation and subterfuge. They know how to impersonate, to deceive, to falsify. They know how to get you to believe in what they are saying. They know all the keywords and trigger points and, like good salesmen, all the rebuttals to victim objections. They’ve been trained well to mine as much personal data as possible in a potentially short period of time. And even if they often don’t succeed, they know they’ll eventually find a person who takes the bait and swallows the hook. I was such a person, and I’m here to warn you so you will not be a victim to these predators.

The first example was an email from Amazon stating that an iPhone I’d ordered for almost $1000 was on the way and had been paid for. Only problem was the name of the customer was not mine. I ignored the email but the same one came again the next day, so I figured I’d better pursue this possible expensive error. I should have checked the address of the email, but foolishly didn’t. Instead, I went for the bait, and called the phone number on the email in case of questions or problems with the invoice. That’s when the skilled scammer entered my personal space.

To make a proverbial long story short, he proceeded to bilk me out of personal information that caused me to cancel my debit card, along with automatic payment information according to the new card, an inconvenience I truly could have done without. Even worse, I lost some precious hours of sleep, worrying over the implications of this breech of my personal identity.  All I had to do to prevent this was to check the email source of the original email to find out it wasn’t from Amazon at all but some foreign source.

When I discovered the scam, and called the man with the foreign accent on it, and cursed him, he cursed me back, and I knew instantly that I was right. I hung up, relieved it had not gone beyond a point where it could not be rectified.

And then just a few days ago, another scammer attacked my defenses. This time it was someone who called himself The Crowdsourcing Ninja, promising to assist me in meeting my Kickstarter goal for a project related to my last book, Into the Woods…and Beyond. He claimed to have extensive online social media contacts, and for a $250 fee to work daily for two weeks in putting the word out to those thousands of contacts promoting my project.  Every day, I’d get an email progress report of what he did that day–the same wording each day–with a caveat that it took time for people to get the message and donate to such a project. He guaranteed his work saying that if my goal was not met, he would refund my fee.

Well, my goal was met but only from donors whom I knew and contacted myself. There were none as a result of the Crowdfunding Ninja’s (aka Ryan West) efforts. When I questioned him about this, he admitted that he hadn’t done everything he said he’d done, only spending two days of the two weeks he’d promised contacting people. I asked for a refund, to which he agreed, but have never seen that refund, to date.  I’ve sent three emails about this with no response, and so I am exposing this charlatan to you, my dear readers, and warning you to avoid this “Ninja”.

Of course, I’d be remiss not to mention the most toxic scammer of all: Donald J. Trump (and his enablers), milking as much money as he can from his cult followers who believe his Big Lie that the election was fraudulent and really won by him. He scammed all of us, too, on the pandemic, actions that led to the deaths of over half a million Americans. He will go down as the absolute most notorious political scammer in American history. If you are presently allowing Trump to continue scamming you, please, give it up.

I’m sure some of you have your own stories to tell. I hope the above helps in avoiding future scams through a higher sense of awareness and good, healthy skepticism.

Have a safe and wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

Filed Under: democracy, Donald Trump, Events, Human nature, mindfulness Tagged With: Amazon, Into the Woods...and Beyond, Kickstarter, Memorial Day

BEWARE!

May 25, 2021 by Stephen Altschuler 4 Comments

Based on a Breakable News galloping poll of wild horses in Arizona

BEWARE!

of couples where one or both call the other their best friend. Don’t be shocked if divorce soon follows. Those wild ponies:  always with the jokes!

of homes where cats hang out in the front window all day sleeping. There’s trouble inside. And the kitty is likely depressed and/or angry.

of neighbor dogs who run up to you jumping all over. They are not getting enough love in their home.

of neighbors, and their guests, who look like Proud Boys or Girls. They probably are.

of cars that come right up to your bumper at red lights. They probably have guns on board and are thinking of shooting you, especially if you also have bumper stickers such  say We support Organic Farmers or Bee Kind.

of cute little kids, often boys, whose father allows them to ride fast electric toy trucks in driveways or on pavements. The father is probably a Proud Boy.

of publishers who write offering to publish your book. They won’t say it right off, but it’ll cost you thousands and they are basically vanity presses. 

of people who, six months after the election, are still waving Trump flags. They are mostly likely clinically psychotic.

of big conventional chain food markets. Trumpsters often shop there, as do serial mass killers, and child kidnappers.

of clowns who walk about town in their costumes. Need I say more?

of used car salesmen. More than likely they are woefully behind in their rent, and, so, are likely to be mass serial killers.

of anyone who calls him or herself a Republican or a QAnon supporter, or, as is often the case, both. They likely have kidnapped children in their basement.

of about half the population of America (which half we don’t know). They think the pandemic is a hoax, refuse vaccination, think Trump won the election, and will not hesitate to cough on you as you pass them by, saying they were just joking. I would avoid such so-called people. They are likely serial mass murderers…and have kidnapped children in their basement.

Otherwise, no problem. Enjoy the day. Be happy. And on occasion, get in your car and SCREAM.

Oh, one more…

of authors who always seem to be promoting their last book. Like Into the Woods…and Beyond with a foreword by Thomas Moore.

Filed Under: Donald Trump, Human nature, mindfulness, Uncategorized Tagged With: Proud Boys, QAnon, Republicans

Beware the Ides of January 6th

December 31, 2020 by Stephen Altschuler Leave a Comment

In what should be a ceremony that the press always ignores, the certification of the Electoral College vote on January 6th is morphing into another Trumpian spectacle of Sturm und Drang. It seems some Republican senators, with the support of Trump, will mount a challenge to the Electoral College vote, trying to reverse its outcome in several battleground states that went for Biden, giving him the victory. Trump has exhausted all legal paths to change the outcome. All failures. He still denies Biden won. He is, indeed, in denial, as we mental health counselors say. Big time. Why won’t Trump concede his loss?

Is it that he is afraid that once he is out of power, his wrongdoings will catch up to him and he will wind up in prison? Perhaps. You and I would assume that, but Trump has evaded so many attempts to cripple him through the courts that I think he thinks he is invincible. Just hire enough lawyers who issue enough legal roadblocks and his accusers get tired of the time and money it costs to continue accusing. Even tax evasion, that misstep that finally caught Al Capone, won’t catch him, he surmises. Never has and never will.

So now, he has one more ploy. Actually a series of ploys. First, he has his traitor Representatives and Senators vote to deny certifying the Electoral College tally in certain states. When that fails he has Pence fail to certify the final tally (Pence has no constitutional authority whatsoever to do so). When that fails he instigates his radical, armed supporters, such as various white supremacist groups who he has dogwhistled to “Stand by,” to take to the streets and perform enough acts of violence and chaos to allow him to declare martial law (He has already called for such violent rallies on the 6th!). Police, many of whom are either members or sympathizers of these White Supremacist groups do nothing to restrain the violence, effectively being complicit in a violent takeover of the government. His cult followers also take to the streets screaming and creating havoc. The final ploy in this string of ploys? Trump remains in power, declaring himself President for at least another four years.

Impossible? Improbable, perhaps, but not impossible. Trump is desperate enough to try this. He has nothing really to lose since he’s already lost the prize he thought he had all along: remaining in power. His ego cannot and will not tolerate a loss. You must not be a loser, his father drummed into his skull. Of course all of the above must succeed for the final Trumpian outcome to come true. If it doesn’t work, Trump will leave office but declare himself the victim of a fraudulent election, making himself a martyr, still beloved by his cult followers. This might encourage him to run again in 2024 to continue his onslaught against our government and way of life.

Is there anything you and I can do to stop this insanity? I’m doing what I can do by writing this post. We are past the point of “calling our representatives.” We are past the point of voting or sending in our donations. Our democracy has voted Trump down hard, but our democracy still teeters on the brink of [Read more…] about Beware the Ides of January 6th

Filed Under: democracy, Donald Trump, Events, Human nature, mindfulness

A Trump Coup Attempt?

December 25, 2020 by Stephen Altschuler 2 Comments

Donald Trump seems to have a form of coup on his mind. A coup, though, often involves a military takeover. In the post Cold War world, such coups have occurred in Asia, Africa, and South and Central America. According to Wikipedia, about half have been successful and half unsuccessful. None have occurred in Europe or North America. The U.S. has never experienced a coup.

Yet a coup is mostly plotted by a group that is out of power against at the group that is in power. Trump’s coup would be a first: a coup of a person currently in power against a person duly elected but not yet in power. Trump has tried every legal means even, up to the Supreme Court, to reverse the outcome of the election, without success. His next scheme is to convince Mike Pence to vote against confirmation of the Electoral College tally in Congress and reverse the outcome of the election. But Pence and his advisers have advised Trump that this is [Read more…] about A Trump Coup Attempt?

Filed Under: democracy, Donald Trump, Events, Human nature, mindfulness, Nuclear War Tagged With: Coup, Joe Biden

I awake this morning with a deep anger…

December 23, 2020 by Stephen Altschuler 7 Comments

…toward Donald Trump and these inhumane and immoral pardons he feels justified to impart like a fake monarch surveying his realm. His pardon of four thugs from Blackwater who murdered 14 completely innocent Iraqis, including men, women and children, during the invasion was particularly deplorable. One was in jail for first degree murder and life, the other three were serving 30 year sentences. Trump released them with one swirl of his sloppy signature, slapping the face of an entire nation who still mourns.

Beyond anger, I feel a deep embarrassment at the actions of this immoral so-called human being, Donald Trump. I am embarrassed to be connected with him as an American, embarrassed that I’ve lived here under his rule during these last four years, embarrassed to be connected, even remotely, with those that voted for him and those in Congress who enabled his reign of his attempt to dismantle our democracy. I am embarrassed that some 74 million people voted for this charlatan. I am embarrassed that a significant number of those voters still think he was not legally elected. I am embarrassed that though Trump lost, Republicans gained seats in the House, and held their majority, so far, in the Senate.

A better word still, is distraught. I am distraught that over 315,000 people have died due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and there are still a significant number of Republicans who [Read more…] about I awake this morning with a deep anger…

Filed Under: Animal Rights, democracy, Donald Trump, Human nature, mindfulness

Animal Rights: Let Lab Animals Free

December 22, 2020 by Stephen Altschuler 2 Comments

Let Lab Animals Free

by

Stephen Altschuler

A song written in the 1980s and, in many ways, still applicable today

 

In the primate laboratories

I can tell you many stories

of thousands of baby chimpanzees

who are maimed and mutilated, tortured and castrated

and taken from their mother’s arms.

 

Chorus

They’ve got no voices, they’ve got no names

They make no charges, they lay no blame,

yet their hearts feel suffering just the same.

Let lab animals free, if not you and me, who else will set lab

animals free.

 

In the name of research and science

with tax money and government compliance

with an arrogant, heartless defiance,

Monkeys are maimed and mutilated, tortured and castrated

and taken from their mother’s arms.

 

Primate studies get repeated,

no anesthesia, surgically mis-treated.

Is this blood bath really needed?

As they’re maimed and mutilated, tortured and castrated

and taken from their mother’s arms.

 

Wild monkeys bound with steel and leather,

trapped in the tropics, shipped to northern weather,

screams of anguish, like slaves together.

for they’re maimed and mutilated, tortured and castrated

and taken from their mother’s arms.

 

From today’s Guardian:

In recent years the US government has started to phase out the use of primates in research, with the National Institutes of Health making a landmark decision in 2015 to retire all chimpanzees used in biomedical studies. Critics of the practice argue it is immoral and cruel to subject highly intelligent, social creatures so similar to humans to such conditions.

However, other labs continue to use monkeys in large numbers – a record 74,000 were used in experiments in 2017 – with scientists claiming they are far better than other animals, such as mice, for studying diseases that also afflict humans.

Even when monkeys are retired from research purposes, the task of rehoming them in appropriate sanctuaries still proves haphazard.

“What tragic afterthoughts these lives were,” said Mike Ryan, spokesman for Rise for Animals, the group that obtained the freedom of information documents on the Ames primate deaths. “Nasa has many strengths, but when it comes to animal welfare practices, they’re obsolete.”

Filed Under: Animal Rights, Human nature, mindfulness Tagged With: Animal rights, NASA

Hiking: I hate to hike…I love to…

December 21, 2020 by Stephen Altschuler Leave a Comment

I hate to hike.  I mean, I love to hike, but after

the love of hiking gets me to the trail, I hate to hike.

I mean, I love to hike, but when heart is pounding,

ascending a hill, and legs are heading for hell, and

mind is fixed only on the hill’s top and its subsequent

leveling off and descent, I hate to hike.  I really love

to hike when I’ve been sitting inside for a lifetime of

Monday mornings and the wind has blown away the smog and

I can see the mountains across the bay as clean as

glacial ice.

 

Such conditions herald a hike, and visions of the

way it will be dance in my head like the Sirens that

tempted Ulysses.  The legs begin to sense it first and

then get up, often for the most ridiculous reasons.

Then the arms move, almost uncontrollably, and the head

turns to the outside as a compass needle turns north.

Like an addict, I am hooked, not on the hike itself but

the thought of it.  And like the actions of the addict,

the thought and the event are inseparable.

 

So I go.  It is not even a conscious decision.  I do

not say Should I or Shouldn’t I.  The lure of the hike

is like a beautiful woman beckoning me.  I do not

hesitate but rush headlong into her wanting arms.  She

envelops me with kisses and hugs as we make love till

dawn, and we lie there exhausted, not even knowing each

other’s name.  And as it would be with such a woman, I

consider nothing of the consequences, of the potential

pain of succumbing totally to my sensory desires.

 

I go: to the hills, the mountains, the beach, the

steep, Bay Area public pathways and stairways©©it

doesn’t really matter.  The itch and the urge must be

satisfied.  How good it feels to scratch, but how

irritated if I scratch too hard!

 

Ultimately though, I love to hike and if I could

hike always on an ultimate plane of existance, I would

be in eternal bliss.  But this body aches so at times,

and this mind hates the aching.  Yet what can I do?

These legs will not stop.  These eyes will not close.

This walker’s soul will not rest, although, at

times–upon a time, for a time, in time, because of

time, despite, in nirvana, there being no time–this

body hates to hike and would be done with it if this

mind and spirit didn’t love it so.

Filed Under: Hiking, Human nature, mindfulness

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