How we started

Formed in 2012, in the dark of the night (3 a.m. or so), we began our mission of protecting our planet and thereby each other with a MS Front Page website and a piddling Facebook presence. For some years now we have worked behind the scenes, contacting congress and the president, sharing articles and information to battle misinformation, and supporting green agencies and environmental protection organizations.

Actions and Successes

In the years since we founded, we have had some significant political successes. For the first six months of 2012 we shared over 400 articles on social media and among standard media comments. Over 700 Tweets, twice as many commentaries on numerous websites, accompanied this vast effort. When October ended, we were confident Barack Obama would be soundly re-elected. After the November elections, we were able to estimate we got Obama at least a thousand votes. Not bad for a part-time organization with a two person staff! Along the way we helped usher in Medical Cannabis in numerous states largely by following the same strategies. We saw some fledgling progress on the environment until Donald Trump swept them aside with juvenile and mindless pen strokes.

Then came the 2020 elections. Again, hundreds of shared articles, and countering tweets or social media posts the second Trump told another lie. You might imagine that alone was a massive task. This time, after four years of fighting this loser and his lies, we managed an average of 3 shared articles per day and twice as many tweets. While we were able to comment on some media sites, many have ceased allowing comments. Twitter became our best outlet and again, after a monumental effort, we were a small part of Biden’s winning efforts.

Since the election in 2020, Donald Trump has perpetually lied about a stolen election and held rally after rally where he has whined and cried virtually nothing but endless lies and hyperbole. How do we know he was lying, a FB poster asked me. Here’s how.

During the past year, beginning not long after his defeat, Trump started lying about fraud. But HE was the only one, until he got his crummy cronies to start echoing it. We watched the republican party slowly adopt this lie as their own. Yet they have yet to legally act upon this so called fraud. In many states, republicans continue to gerrymander their way to power, or steal it directly through legislation which allows state legislatures to literally overturn elections if they are unhappy with the results.

But still, they have brought no legal challenges to any votes in any states. They have relied upon seedy and unqualified clowns to do it for them. Rudy Giuliani, Mayor De Lie. Sydney Powell – some two bit attorney who decided to throw her career away by bringing endless bad faith lawsuits in multiple states, containing fraudulent data and non-existent proof of the fraud she was suing over.

Had there been actual fraud, and this should be obvious to everyone, the republican national committee would have brought their considerable legal firepower into the fray. They did not. Ergo, bet your bottom dollar that there was in fact, no fraud of any significance. Without Russia’s ability to share their endless propaganda on social media the way they managed in 2016, Trump was devoid of his biggest ally. Even so, in 2016 DJT LOST the popular vote by almost 3 million votes.

The Present Climate

Since then, an overworked Joe Biden has been tasked with cleaning up the biggest disaster of a presidency in almost all of American history. When Trump left office the economy was tanking on the back of a virus he simply was too incompetent to handle. Unable to admit he needed scientists to lead us out of this, his meandering search for a solution left over 500,000 dead by the time he left office and millions of sick and suffering. He called it a hoax. He then decided to declare we should let it wash across the whole country. He then basically started a blame game, did nothing but play golf and make foolish speeches about drinking bleach and exposing the lungs to destructive ultraviolet light used to kill unwanted ORGANICS! As if the human body is made of metal!

Obviously the failure to even make a real effort at controlling the Covid-19 pandemic was Trump’s biggest failing, but longer term damage may be done by the right-wing hate and violence he has unleashed. Unable to deal with conflict like an adult, he basically has made it clear to his supporters, just like a fascist leader to his gestapo/SS, that his enemies are their enemies. As such, death threats and violence are becoming more and more commonplace. This is being driven by Fox and especially Tucker Carlson, the incompetent entertainment host who has tired of democracy and thinks our fall into 3rd world fascism is the best we can do.

Meanwhile, in our own country, climate change is wreaking ever more havoc. Our infrastructure is decades out of date, and our national debt is skyrocketing while billionaires fight over who will be the first trillionaire. Guns are everywhere and violence is increasing and republicans have largely only exacerbated these problems. They deny climate change because their big donors do not want to be held accountable. They pass no legislation to help the middle class or poor, but when it comes to taking other peoples’ money and giving it to the rich, who already have vast amounts of other peoples’ money, just so their donors will stick with them. They are perpetually misogynistic and devoid of personal courage or ethical cores.

Perhaps worst of all, rising and worsening racism and blatant army building is occurring right under our noses, as if this time the haters will win and whites will rule again YEAH! Unfortunately for the haters, history is replete with examples of how this never seems to work out. Yet the efforts, far more concerted and widespread than at any point in my (Dave Cleinman’s) life, threaten the very soul of our world.

As such, until we demand better behavior from elected leaders, this type of dishonest hate-mongering will only continue to grow and spread. Some of my posts over the years have drawn ire and even threats from anti-democratic individuals. It can be scary and even debilitating to suffer through this, but it is always a necessary risk. Hatred cannot be countered with silence. Problems cannot be solved with dishonesty as a basis for debate. Societies ripped apart by racism or engineered fascism tend to fail within 15 years or less. As dictators and fascist leaders around the globe collude with each other in an attempt to gain power, one look at these countries (Russia, Turkey, Brazil, Hungary to name a few) demonstrates clearly how fascism is only a boon for the fascist and his “supporters.” For the rest of us, it stifles creativity and mood. It concentrates wealth to the point where whole sectors of society regularly go hungry. It bankrupts economies for this very reason, and tends to leave nations in shambles after a run of incompetent actions and missteps. In a country of almost 340 million, public dialogue is the answer, not the edicts of one individual. Reread the section above referring to Donald Trump and his behavior during the worst pandemic this nation has ever suffered through! He stifled the CDC, then began to invade medical press conferences to ensure nothing was said which went against his will or, more importantly, made him look and sound like the incompetent fool he has always been. The result of these bizarre and juvenile strategies? Half a million dead and rising cases in nearly every state. Medical professionals were subdued for the sake of one president’s ego, and the results are clear! Fascism is NOT a solution to anything. It invariably concentrates power in the hands of incompetent bullies.

Working towards a Brighter Future

So, we’ve come full circle. If my feelings regarding violence, fascism, crony politics and dishonesty are not yet clear, I’ll put it this way. They all are worse than rolling in deep doggy doodoo, and they smell far worse!

Some solutions:

  • Improve Education – full and unadulterated study of facts and researched data. Speculation should be researched. Opinion should be verified and history should be made a better teacher for all. We need not ban books. They contain truths and facts which may make some uncomfortable, and some are crappy and unreadable. Some are skewed to one side of ideology or politics. But they all teach in various ways, either through reality or contrast from it. In this comes learning and truth-finding.
  • Let’s focus on each other and lift each other up. The politics of hatred and enmity are engineered to cause distrust and fear, which makes fascist behavior easier to push. We MUST reject it. Please don’t ever tell me skin color or nationality is a problem. People are pretty much the same worldwide. The “differences” between us are opportunities to learn from each other. Let’s do that.
  • Reject hate! Just say no! This is more important than most people realize. It’s a big world and people are busy. Unless one is willing to dive deep into fact, it’s very easy to be influenced by lies. It’s easy to believe Mexico is sending us their drug dealers and gang members, but in fact Mexico is sending us nobody. Refugees pass through Mexico because it’s 760,000 square miles are the top of Latin America for several hundred miles. These people are fleeing their own countries because they are becoming unlivable either because of climate change, or due to heavy corruption and gang violence. Are some of these individuals possibly dangerous? Sure. But no more than our fellow Americans who are threatening to employ second amendment solutions on people who really are not their enemies. The legacy of USA immigration is remarkable and has consistently been a boon. Those who suggest otherwise are ignorant or hatist.
  • Reject tax breaks for the rich while kids starve or you suffer to provide and build a future. Enough already!
  • Reject those who lie to you, without exception! If you are unsure if you are hearing lies, online tools are available to find the truth. Take some time to separate facts from fiction and be sure! This is the only way to ensure your tendencies are to seek truth. It’s also the best way to find it.
  • Demand both truth and accountability from your elected officials. This can be done in many ways. Phone calls and messages. E-mail is on all gov’t websites. Drop them a line. Take some time to write some letters to the editor of relevant papers. Reply to their posts and tweets with facts and proof. Don’t worry about feelings. Make a petition and send it to the politicians in question. A few dozen signatures on a petition can have a positive effect. Of course employing all of these strategies is a good idea and can be comfortably done in a few minutes a day.
  • Think about the kind of future you would like to see. If it’s white dominance, leave now. There is nothing here for you. I prefer an inclusive and compassionate world where life and happiness mean something and are made priorities! I can’t really hate. I am not capable of it largely, so I have trouble understanding how people fall into that trap. But those who would have anyone hate anyone else are the real and true enemies of people everywhere.
  • Beware of anyone who seeks blind loyalty, This is the banner of the fascist. Power is a game of give and take, otherwise it only manages to take. If it seems as though one side is refusing to do anything, that is obstruction and it is destructive. Yet that is all Moscow Mitch McConnell can do, because he has zero ideas for progress, problem solving, or people. He just wants power, as do so many like him, and he will literally destroy our country to get it. Yes, you may now ask, What’s the point? Indeed.