"JUST WHEN YOU THINK LIFE CANNOT GET ANY WORSE, IT DOES..."

By Gary Stamper

Saturday, March 12, 7:00 AM

Just when you think your 401-k can't go any lower, it does... Just when you think you've got your health issues under control, and you have an accident or a  crisis and because there isn't enough staff and they just they can't get to you... no,we don't know how long...and just when you think things can't get any crazier, along comes a psychopathic nut job that wants to start a nuclear war.... and that's just what's happening today!

The time many of us have been warning you about (me since about 2007, many others for a much longer time) are here, and they are only beginning, and here I am, still trying to convince you... Or maybe worse, maybe you're just lazy or simply don't care!  

The latest IPPC report from the  AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis indicates that if we were to start today, the predicted 2250 year results are already baked-in, dooming over 350 billion people, The suffering will be catastrophic.You can read that report here.

BRIEF UKRAINE HIGHLIGHTS

Even though the continuing invasion of Ukraine is, without a doubt, the biggest story out there, rather than load up my Facebook page with individual war stories, that most of you don't read, I've decided to put together a "digest' of sorts of articles I think are most relevant on my blog and then post it on FB. Like it or not, Putin's vile actions have the potential to literally affect every person on the planet.

But make no mistake. Even though this war is primarily about three things: Putin's ego, his desire to see Russia restored to its former glory as a world SuperPower, and the real mistakes of western (primarily U.S.) foreign policy by the last four administrations. We need to take a long look at the shadow policies of our own corrupt empire.

MOTHER JONES: Is It Amnesia or Hypocrisy That Fuels the GOP’s Crazy Response to Putin?
Hint: It's both. In recent days, as Putin has threatened a conflagration, top conservatives and GOP officials have practically pinned “I’m-with-Vlad buttons” onto their lapels.

AXIOS:  Ukrainian troops were holding off a massive assault from Russia's military in Kyiv
Streetfighting erupted in Kharkiv after President Vladimir Putin's forces entered Ukraine’s second-largest city on the fourth day of the unprovoked invasion.

Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a statement praising Ukrainian resistance Sunday, "Where are all those who promised to capture Kiev in 2 hours? Where are they at? I can't see them. ... The darkness will retreat. The dawn is near."

BBC NEWS: Ukraine invasion: Russian planes face near-total airspace ban to west
More EU countries are expected to announce bans on Russian airlines in their airspace on Sunday. In the United States, Delta Air Lines said it would suspend a flight booking agreement with Russia's Aeroflot.

GBN: Vladimir Putin orders Russian nuclear deterrent forces on alert amid tensions with the West over Ukraine invasion  
Speaking at a meeting with his top officials, Mr. Putin asserted that leading Nato powers had made “aggressive statements” along with the West imposing hard-hitting financial sanctions against Russia, including the president himself. The Nuclear Option.

FORTUNE:  War in Ukraine could displace more than 1 million people into nearby European countries
With 350 million Ukraine refuges already on the move, Europe is bracing for what could be an exodus of more than a million refugees. 

YAHOO NEWS:  Western sanctions push Russia and China even closer together 
Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine will increase Russia's already significant economic reliance on China, but a growing Russian dependence on China could cause friction between the two countries down the line.

 YAHOO NEWS:  As Russia invaded the Ukraine, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies plunged.
The conflict raised questions about bitcoin's role — as a haven, a tool for the unbanked, and an authority-free zone.

LIVE Updates

QAnon Conspiracy Theorists Plotting to Take Over U.S. Elections

posted by Gary Stamper, CPC, MSIP, DPSP

BUSTED. This is the biggest fight we've been in, yet!

For months, election experts have been warning about Donald Trump's efforts to install proponents of his "Big Lie" to oversee elections in key battleground states.¹

Now we've learned that several of these candidates have direct connections to QAnon, the dangerous pro-Trump conspiracy theory movement, and that these QAnon candidates have joined forces to "control the election system."²

These are not just a handful of fringe also-rans with no chance of winning. In fact, a total of 21 candidates who deny that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election are running for various secretary of state offices around the country.³ Meanwhile, Trump's political action committees have raised a stunning $122 million that he can use to help them win.⁴

If any of these candidates are successful, they would be in position to help execute Trump's plot to rig the elections in 2024 and install him in the White House for a second term.

That's why MoveOn is doing something we've never done in our 23-year history: We're launching a multimillion-dollar effort to defeat Trump-backed QAnon candidates for secretary of state across the country and defend our free and fair elections.

Will you donate $5 to help stop the Trump-backed conspiracy theorists from taking over our elections?

So far, at least six of the 21 "Big Lie" candidates running for secretary of state offices around the country have been linked to QAnon.⁵

These candidates include a former Nevada state legislator who publicly bragged at a QAnon convention that he and others were directly recruited to run by QAnon proponents.⁶

Another QAnon-linked candidate is January 6 insurrectionist and Arizona state legislator Mark Finchem, who has appeared on a QAnon web show and claimed that elected officials are "involved in a pedophile network in the distribution of children," a key tenet of the QAnon delusion.^7,8 Finchem has raised $660,000 for the race so far, which is more than the two leading Democrats combined.⁹

Meanwhile, QAnon message boards are lighting up with activity to help these candidates win.

If you think that fringe white supremacist extremists like this could never get elected, think again. Many of them have already been elected to state offices, and there are already at least two known QAnon believers in Congress—Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert.

Especially after January 6, we cannot underestimate the threat posed by radical right-wing extremists. That's precisely why MoveOn is going big in secretary of state races across the country to defeat these pro-Trump conspiracy theory candidates. Will you donate $5?

Yes, I'll chip in to stop QAnon from taking over our elections.

Our democracy is on a knife's edge, and secretaries of state who will count every vote and ensure free and fair elections may be the only thing standing between democracy and authoritarianism.

That's why—for the first time in our 23-year history—MoveOn is dedicating millions of dollars to help elect secretaries of state who will put our democracy first and stand up to QAnon.

Please, if you are able, join us by chipping in $5—or whatever you can—to take down the QAnon plot to put Trump loyalists in charge of overseeing elections.

Thanks for all you do.

–Chris, Corinne, Justin, David, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Campaigning to Oversee Elections, While Denying the Last One," The New York Times, January 30, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/160255?t=5&akid=317542%2E1319737%2EWkiMR8

2. "Trump-Backed QAnon Candidates Launch Group to 'Control the Election System,'" Vice, October 27, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/160920?t=7&akid=317542%2E1319737%2EWkiMR8

3. "Campaigning to Oversee Elections, While Denying the Last One," The New York Times, January 30, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/160255?t=9&akid=317542%2E1319737%2EWkiMR8

4. "Trump began 2022 with a war chest of $122 million," The Washington Post, January 31, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/160263?t=11&akid=317542%2E1319737%2EWkiMR8

5. "Multiple people seeking to run state elections are connected to QAnon," Media Matters, August 16, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/160923?t=13&akid=317542%2E1319737%2EWkiMR8

6. Tweet by Alex Kaplan, October 25, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/160924?t=15&akid=317542%2E1319737%2EWkiMR8

7. Tweet by Alex Kaplan, May 10, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/160925?t=17&akid=317542%2E1319737%2EWkiMR8

8. "These locally elected officials posted or openly supported QAnon conspiracy theories. Here's what happened after they took office," CNN, June 3, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/160926?t=19&akid=317542%2E1319737%2EWkiMR8

9. "Trump followers zero in on secretary of state campaigns," Politico, January 24, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/160256?t=21&akid=317542%2E1319737%2EWkiMR8

Want to support MoveOn's work? Donald Trump and his allies are methodically enacting a plan to place some of Trump's most ardent supporters in key election offices that oversee vote counting, have the power to certify—or decertify—election results, and declare election winners and losers. We've launched a powerful, multimillion-dollar campaign to stop Trump. But we need your help to power our effort.

Will you chip in to power our campaign to defeat Trump and the GOP in 2022?

Click here to chip in $5, or whatever you can afford.

---

PAID FOR BY MOVEON . ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

ON DEATH & DYING - and MEET JEM BENDELL

 Where Do We Go From Here?

Today I'm going to jump right in and talk about climate change's proverbial Elephant in the Room, death and dying.

Why is that the elephant in the room? Because for the most part, even though good science and facts are telling us it's possible that humanity might well go extinct in a decade or two, no one wants to talk about it and I get it. 

Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones. In my early twenties, I had a near-death experience. I was driving home with my band to Vallejo, California, late one night in our van after playing a club gig in San Jose and we had a flat tire just shy of the Gilman exit in Berkeley. We pulled over onto the wide gravel shoulder of the then 4-lane freeway, and the five of us got out to find that we needed to change the right front tire.

Great team that we were, we all set about to get it done. One of us, I think it was Tom, grabbed the tire and handed it off to John (I think), and I grabbed the lug wrench and jack and crawled belly-down under the front bumper in front of the wheel to set the jack under the frame.

That's when I heard someone yell, "he's going to hit us!" The next part was initially vague but I remember being aware that I was tumbling out of control in what seemed like a slow-motion movie. No pain, just what I came to realize years later was pure witness state, and for the few split-seconds it must have taken, I was just an observer with no attachment to what was happening. I remember that part like it was yesterday.

I must have passed out because the next thing I remembered was waking up laying face down on the freeway. I looked up and saw cars skidding and swerving around me and I passed out again, and remember objectively thinking, "I'm dying."

I woke again, still on the freeway, and there were paramedics around me doing whatever it is paramedics thankfully do. From that point on they asked me questions, shined a flashlight in my eyes, loaded me onto a gurney/stretcher and into an ambulance to the emergency room at the hospital. When I asked about my band-mates, I was told that they were fine.

It wasn't until the next morning that I learned about the extent of my injuries. I was remarkably lucky. Apparently, I had been dragged face down in the gravel, had 2 wheels pass mostly over me, and was thrown about twenty feet onto the freeway surface.  I had suffered only superficial face damage with lots of scabbing, some bruised and cracked ribs, and the doctors' removed a gravel stone from my neck that barely missed a carotid artery.

We were hit by a drunk driver at about 50mph who thought we were the off-ramp... He suffered a steering horn ring through his chest, but survived.

We were lucky. No one died, and I got to go home that day. Randy, our guitarist, who tried to get out the way was caught by one of the vehicles and had a shattered hip that took months (years?) and several surgeries to recover from. Tom, our keyboard player, was standing in the back of the van having just passed the spare to another band member when the car hit us and he luckily only had a broken jaw and some other minor injuries. I don't remember anyone else being hurt badly.

The point is, that for a moment, I thought I was dead or dying. The experience completely altered how I view dying and death. Through the years I've come to realize that death is not to be feared. It's the other bookend to birth, that hopefully includes living a life well-lived, something far too few people have the opportunity to do. I am privileged to have had that opportunity. My "near-death experience" was part of what led me into meditation and Zen Buddhism teachings about death and dying.

Most of us aren't "lucky" enough to go through something like that. Until now, that is. Even if we do somehow manage to escape extinction, science is now telling us that we've passed the tipping points that indicate things are going to get bad... very bad, with millions - perhaps billions - dying.

So what is it about dying, especially in the U.S., that's so hard for so many of us to even acknowledge, much less, face head-on? Why aren't we talking about this?

We live in politically-correct times where it's taboo to engage in negative thinking, and what could be more negative in western culture than death? "The Secret" is a 2006 self-help book by Rhonda Byrne, based on the earlier film of the same name. It is based on the belief of the Law of Attraction, "the magical feel-good thinking that unintentionally says we control our own reality that allows us to disassociate from the pain that's already going on in the world. This perspective is nothing more than an ego-centric worldview that says as long as I'm not suffering, the world is okay. What this response is actually saying is that it's someone else's problem (reality), not theirs, and is the worst kind of spiritual by-passing and up-and-out mentality that infects so many of us." I wrote about that here in 2011.

"I'm not afraid of death; I just don't want to be there when it happens." —Woody Allen.

 

We cannot "manage" death. No amount of denial or spiritual bypassing can change that. It comes to us all and as what is really the true "secret," and we can only change how we respond to whatever comes. When discussing the very real possibility of Near-Term Extinction (NTE), it's crucial that we explore all of the implications of what's happening all around us, including the psychological and spiritual implications without watering them down with New-Age bullshit. 

In Professor Jem Bendall's IFLAS Occasional paper 2, "Deep Adaptation: A Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy" from 2017" he lays out a brief list of those implications, including non-linear changes that include "run-away climate change." Some of those changes are:

• undisputable global ambient temperature rise 
• a warming Arctic including a dramatic loss in sea ice
• sea level rising due to warming and the melting of land-based ice, and the consequent acidification degrading the marine food web
• storm, drought and flood frequency and strength impacting food sources and resulting in famines
• raging out-of-control fires across the planet
• rising methane and CO2 levels
• reported impacts today are at the very worst end of predictions being made in the early 1990s
• Environmental scientists are now describing our current era as the sixth mass extinction event in the history of planet Earth
• the evidence before us suggests that we are set for disruptive and uncontrollable levels of climate change, bringing starvation, destruction, migration, disease, systems and social breakdown, and war in our lifetimes.
  
  

Bendell has chosen to interpret this information as indicating inevitable collapse, probable catastrophe, and possible extinction. "There is a growing community of people who conclude we face inevitable human extinction and treat that view as a prerequisite for meaningful discussions about the implications for our lives right now," Bendell writes.

He further writes:

"...It is not my intention in this paper to map out more specific implications of a deep adaptation agenda. Indeed, it is impossible to do so and to attempt it would assume we are in a situation for calculated attempts at [crisis] management when what we face is a complex predicament beyond our control. Rather, I hope the deep adaptation agenda of resilience, relinquishment, and restoration can be a useful framework for community dialogue in the face of climate change. Resilience asks us 'how do we keep what we really want to keep?' Relinquishment asks us 'what do we need to let go of in order to not make matters worse?' Restoration asks us 'what can we bring back to help us with the coming difficulties and tragedies?' ”

I agree with Bendell that "Near-Term Extinction" is not set in stone, but avoiding it will be JOB #1 for everyone, including governments, institutions, corporations and small businesses alike, cities, towns, and communities... everyone, and I sadly do not see the will for that to happen as we continue to make things worse through continued fossil fuel extraction and usage and continuing to strive for growth, when we need to be planning for de-growth, and like supple bamboo, bending with the inevitable rather than breaking.

In the meantime - preferably right away - read Bendell's paper in its entirety by visiting his website here.

Last, I leave you with these thoughts, no matter how you feel about the above, because everyone should know how to die well.

"A thoughtful person should await death…not with indifference, not with impatience, not with disdain, but viewing it as one of the things that is required by nature. It is not death men should fear, but rather we should fear never beginning to live.” ― Marcus Aurelius 

 

“I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.” ― Mark Twain

Conversations That Matter in a Disconnected World

We've Got To Start Talking With Each Other
Rather Than AT Each other

This edition of my blog is focused on some of the postings I've made on Facebook over the last week or so and the conversations that have shown up as a result of those postings. I'm going to set up my intentions around this in a few paragraphs and then we'll get to the conversations.

I've been trying to engage people in conversations as opposed to fighting it out in arguments. Arguments - and facts - don't work because of the radical divisions and polarization in the US. Many are not fact-based claims that are being bandied about, nor are they about logic. They're about emotions that arise out of fear, and facts - or logic - simply will not change minds. 

It's almost as if there's a second virus going around and now it's also spreading into Canada with the "Freedom Convoy"  that includes some Canadians calling for a US-like insurrection and the overthrow of the Canadian Government, and getting rid of all covid-related health rules and mandates. They must be really happy with us.

Some of the Panamanian and Bocas Del Toro FB group pages I belong to down here that don't have clear posting rules about behavior are getting downright nasty with name-calling and arguments, so much so that I rarely visit them anymore. 

I've become so frustrated at the tenor of conversations on FB that I'm attempting to set up the conditions - at least on my pages - where we can talk about these divisive subjects and still maintain respectful dialogue with each other even as we hold each other accountable. But when conversations become disrespectful, I have absolutely no qualms about blocking someone, and have, many times. Life's too short.

This - today's - blog is also about the opportunity to announce my intentions to expand on and perhaps go a little deeper into the posts I curate because they interest me and I want to connect more with people who are also interested in what I post.

Also, I'm only letting you know there are interesting articles and conversations you might like but it wouldn't make sense for me to repost the conversations here. You'll actually have to go to my FB page to do that at https://www.facebook.com/garystamper/

The first FB posting I want to touch upon is the most serious and has the biggest ramifications for humanity. January 26th, 10:06pm, a podcast called "The great Simplification," with two liminal thinkers, Nate Hagen and Daniel Schmachtenberger, and a conversation between them called "Bend Not Break Part 1: Energy Blindness." If you want to have a discussion of what a lack of energy surplus means to modern civilization in the remaining limited time we have, please listen to the podcast. I think it's still possible that we'll be able to save a much smaller population if we are able to pull off the changes needed if we can get governments to do that... Buena Suerte.

Hint: The first "energy surplus' came about during prehistoric times when humans" learned how to make fire and better tools, the second game with the development of agriculture around 10-12,000 years ago depending on where you were at and cities followed soon after that. The most recent energy surplus came about as we discovered and learned to use Ancient Sunlight - fossil fuels - about 150 years ago and we pretty much burned through the easily accessible oil in that short time. What happens to our modern civilization when we run out of "surplus energy?" 

It would take one person over 11 years of labor to replace a single barrel of oil (equivalent to 1700 kwh), while a top athlete would make it in about 6 years. How does that work with earth's population due to hit 8 billion people sometime next year? What does that mean for your children and your grandchildren?

__________________________________________________________________________________


...and fittingly, that means that the era of free money is coming to an end as well as another depleting source of "energy surplus," which relies on the abundance that was ancient sunlight. My FB post on the 27th, "Markets have fallen because the era of free money is coming to an end," talks about just one of many tipping points converging on us at the same time and the impact thereof.

In other interesting topics this past week, there was a pretty good discussion about a "Crypto Collapse Erasing More Than $1 Trillion in Wealth" and the problems it's creating (see how everything is connected?), and also on the 26th, and a wonderful post and discussion on the 25th called "My Gentle, Intelligent Brother Is Now A Conspiracy Theorist And His Beliefs Are Shocking," offering a path forward with friends and family with whom we don't share worldviews in these difficult times. Also on the 26th (a great news day!) is "This Silicon Valley city just voted to institute first-in-the-nation gun ownership requirements."  Among other things, the measure would require gun owners to obtain liability insurance that would cover damage caused by their weapon. Not surprisingly, a guns rights group has threatened to sue.

In the last post from the 26th, "The Most Generous Billionaire" proves that money isn't inherently evil, it's what you do - or don't do - with it that makes a difference and reminds us that hoarding isn't healthy on so many levels. 

Now more than ever, it's time to get small - bend - now while you're not forced into the breaking part of "bend or break," or as I've said for a decade, Collapse Now Before the Rush.

With Love,

Gary

What's Gary Up To? A New Project Breathes Life

Ever wonder what I'm doing with all my "spare time" in Panama?

This is the project I'm working on now. It's still in progress and will undoubtedly change. The work of putting it all together into a coherent online store at Fine Art America (FAA) that features my art as "product" only began on Wednesday of this past week as the site went "live" and without any marketing yet. 

The actual art has been a lifetime in the making and so far, most of what you see below is very recent, some only a few days old. The vast majority of my remaining personal art that I brought to Panama will need to be removed from the professional framing, reproduced, and reassembled - a daunting and expensive task on an isolated Caribbean island with no frame shop and even few art supplies!

You may have seen some of my recent FB posts where I've been searching for a way to reproduce my art at the level of quality required to enable artists to participate with the "Art On Demand" process they offer. I've spent 6 months trying to make that happen and have only figured out part of what I need.

I'll be writing more about this as I progress. I hope you'll join me on this journey of meaning, purpose, and discovery.

Here's the email I received this morning from Fine Art America I want to share with you.

Gary

 

Wall Art|Home Decor|Lifestyle|Apparel|Tech

 

WEEKLY UPDATE FOR

self-portrait

Gary Stamper

Each week on Fine Art America, there are thousands of members and visitors who actively participate in our vibrant online community.

As one of our members, you're receiving this weekly update to keep you informed of what's new on the site and to help you monitor all online activities that pertain to you and your artwork!

New Comments on Your Artwork

The following images received comments from other members during the past week.   Click on any image to view the comments in their entirety.

 

great work!

 

Gustavo Terreni

 

 

congrats, great work!

 

Gustavo Terreni

 

Recent Visitors to Your Artwork

Here are your most popular images for this week sorted by how many visitors viewed each image.   Visit my Gallery Page at  https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/gary-stamper

 

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Visit my Gallery Page at  https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/gary-stamper

 

,

 

DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT!

The joy of needing to use the facilities in Panama

by Gary Stamper, CPC. MSIP, DSPS

I learned very early to carry toilet paper with me whenever I left my apartment for more than a couple of hours. This is one of those "cultural things" nobody tells you about when you're researching living in a foreign country and I never thought to ask. No harm, lesson learned.

Having been in Bocas Del Toro 2 weeks shy of a year, I now know where there are available restrooms all over town. The okay ones are in some bars and restaurants, and the better ones are in some of the hotels. Forget stores and markets. Non-existent except for the largest store in town which is home to the first "public" restroom I found in town and where I learned about carrying my own toilet paper. Forget about washing your hands, there are no soap or paper towels there, either. Fortunately, there is hand sanitizer at the entrance.

Thanks to having to travel to Panama City from Bocas to complete my Permanent Panamanian Residency, I recently had the "pleasure" of making two 20-hour round trip bus rides across much of my new country of residence. 10 hours going, 10 hours back, and the buses were always full. Fortunately, these are modern-day "megabuses" with bathrooms... with a catch.

The bus conductor (driver) compartment area is cordoned off and locked to the passengers while the bus is moving and each bus has a "concierge" who occasionally comes back to announce stops or to unlock the bathroom for passenger use when requested, admonishing each user that there is no defecating allowed on the bus, only urinating. So buses, apparently at the whim of the driver, may make 1-2 food and restroom stops during the 10-hour journey. The only other stops the bus makes are for other passengers getting on and off the bus.

Now, these stops are in remote small towns, and the restrooms and the restrooms rarely show any evidence of being cleaned, toilet paper, paper towels, soap. and often have sinks with no running water. You're really on your own, here, and when you're done, you can order food, if you'd like. But I saw no evidence of any restaurants having separate washrooms for employees and the latex surgical gloves that many wore were of small comfort to me. 

One of the worst restrooms was owned by the bus company. While it did have toilet paper and a working sink, it did lack two things: hand towels and a light bulb. I had to use my phone flashlight to light my way.

So why did I use the bus? Why wouldn't I just fly to Panama City and back? At the time there was only one flight a day departing to Panama City and one flight a day arriving from Panama City. That would have meant flying in one day, taking care of my business the next day, and flying back out the following day. Cost? About $140 each way, three days shot and two nights in a Panama City hotel. With the bus, I could sleep most of the way, arrive, take care of my business, and be back for the night bus to Bocas, and sleep my way back. Cost? About $28 each way period.

Also, I spent two weeks in Panama City when I first arrived in Panama getting my initial residency legal work done, and I didn't really like the city. Panama City is very expensive and a mixture of elites and abject poverty. Panama City has been working on becoming the Shanghai of Latin America, and it's well on its way as it is the largest city in Latin America and a global financial hub.

That's fine, but it's not why I came to Panama.

I came for the Caribbean beaches of Bocas del Toro, the laid-back Jamaican vibe, and the people - ex-pats and native Panamanians - and the bus experience gave me valuable insight into Panama and I would never get that on a flight to and from Panama City.

For me, it's all about the experience.