In 2020, during the lonely, chaotic depths of Covid, so many friends lost to the psyop that is still running on social media, Elizabeth I did what I we always do when the world goes sideways — we meditated.
Here on DreamShieldPlanetaryMeditations.com, I was deep into my Meditations on Trump series, trying to decode the karmic madness of America’s orange wrecking ball. Then something cracked open.
A vision. A fever dream. A feral alternate reality where satire, sci-fi, and spiritual justice collided in glorious chaos.
Too vivid to ignore. Too funny. Too true.
For two years, I tried to contain it here — until it outgrew the meditation rug. On May 21, 2022, on the amazing new site built by Elizabeth, we launched TrumpsFeverDream.com, and the beast took flight.
What started as a metaphysical impulse became a 19-chapter, two-year creative odyssey. And in 2023, when I began writing the fictional premise that Trump would cheat and win the 2024 election, I thought I was being wildly imaginative.
Then Trump pulled off wins in seven swing states in real life.
And I looked at Elizabeth and said, “Holy shit. A hack, like I predicted? ” As usual she got me grounded with some yoga. Afterward, like a man possessed, I kept writing and writing and writing. Hoping against hope that my prediction Biden would — as I wrote fictionally, lock Trump up and pass the baton to Kamala — come true.
All this tuning into a Trump of another universe, though fictional, an orange dude far too much like our own, a fiendish cad who became overconfident and rejected Musk — his fatal mistake in our tale — was taking a toll on my beautiful relationship Elizabeth and our film and tech businesses. I pleaded for the time. And lucky for fans, she agreed on one condition. She would narrate the story to share the fever dream with me even it made also her a target for potential haters. Her bravery and love inspired me in ways I can’t describe. And we both hope there’s enough of a sense of humor and wonder out there for this story to find a publisher, maybe for a TV series, but even if it’s just been the blog we’re happy and proud of our work together.
As she narrated every chapter I cranked out, on grueling schedule of one new chapter per week, launching J6 until June 14th King’s Day, Elizabeth kept pushing me to channel my fury into purpose. Together we co-created an end to the Trump fever dream, at least at least in this fictional alternate reality. And on we pushed as fascism, tariff wars, ICE raids and threats WW3 rose and fell on waves of palpable fear, on we shaped the Mar-a-Lago Prison arc, set between the hacked election and the 2025 inauguration.
And what a final act it became.
The story introduces Trump’s caretakers in Mar-a-Lago Prison, where the stress being Biden’s captive has caused a rapid onset of dementia. Robert Tulsa, Trump’s Black bodyman with secrets and a quiet dignity. He turns over the evidence that solves Trump’s murder. Then there’s Special Agent Rogers, stoic, injured, loyal to the Constitution, and maybe just a bit heartbroken underneath it all. Last, Maria the Mexican maid/spy destined to save America…but not herself.
Let’s not forget our alternate universe Ron DeSantis, driven to madness by not being chosen as VP in Trump’s humiliating reality TV-style “Veep-a-Thon.” His bitterness festers into a sinister plot to become VP and invoke the 25th Amendment — not out of duty, but revenge for Trump humiliating him on reality TV. This Ron becomes Shakespearean in the worst Florida-man way.
And through all of it: An alternate reality Kamala Harris rises.
Not a cameo. Not a meme. But a president — calm, fierce, centered, powerful. The Kamala I wrote and Elizabeth voices is the kind of leader we wanted to believe in. And we’re damn proud of how good and strong a president she became in this universe.
Then there’s Arnold Schwarzenegger, who in this world is a man’s man we can still root for. He’s integrity with abs. And me, well, minus the abs. He’s flawed, stubborn, super annoying at times, but tries to do the right thing — a not-so-subtle stand-in for yours truly. Masculinity with heart. Strength in service of good.
This wasn’t just parody. This was exorcism. A soul-level purge of a shared American nightmare. And proof of the power meditation to create amazing stories.
And yes — I did the unthinkable. I ended both Trump’s and Biden’s stories.
Universe 48B25 — stands for.
48, for Trump declared the 48th president-elect not the 47th as in our reality.
B, for Biden’s final grace in stepping aside for Kamala as he should have in our own realioty.
25, for the year the fever finally breaks.
In this dreamed of reality, the left and right finally reunite. Not in unity, but in shared grief. Fascism falls. Truth rises. And maybe… humanity finds its footing again.
It’s the wildest, weirdest, most audacious Trump satire on Earth — bigger than Colbert, Meyers, Kimmel, and Fallon by the power of ten. “Not kidding around here” to quote Biden. Because TFD doesn’t just mock — it heals. And the popularity of SOUTH PARK shows there is willing and ready audience.
There’s a new brand of so-called Christianity in America, one that bears no resemblance to the teachings of Christ. It thrives on cruelty, power, and greed—wrapped in the language of faith but devoid of its core: love. I call it Godless Christianity.
Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and their enablers have weaponized religion, twisting it into a blunt instrument for their culture war. They exploit Christianity not as a faith of compassion but as a tool for division and control. The result?
Mothers are dying because GOP lawmakers, emboldened by Trump’s anti-choice crusade, have stripped women of proper abortion and natal care.
70 million people are going hungry because Musk-Trump-style governance prioritizes tax cuts for billionaires over U.S. foreign aid.
The elderly and disabled are at risk as Medicaid and Social Security—lifelines for millions—are gutted under GOP economic policies.
Allies are pushed away while authoritarians are embraced, shattering the global stability that true Christian ideals of peace and cooperation would seek to uphold.
Truth itself is under attack as lies become political strategy, propaganda replaces journalism, and our institutions cower in the face of rising fascism.
This is not Christianity. This is power-hungry nationalism draped in a cheap, tattered religious cloak.
A Christianity Without Christ
Even if you’re not religious, you might have grown up, like me, admiring the radical kindness at the heart of Christ’s teachings. Feed the hungry. Heal the sick. Love thy neighbor. Welcome the stranger. But Musk, Trump, and their movement have discarded these values in favor of a new golden calf: unchecked wealth and cruelty-as-strength.
How did we get here?
Christianity was hijacked. When Trump’s MAGA preachers declared him “God’s chosen one,” they didn’t mean he embodied Christ’s love and humility. They meant he embodied raw, unapologetic power—a false idol in an Armani suit. And Elon Musk, who openly mocks the idea of compassion, has built a techno-libertarian dystopia where empathy is a weakness, and the only virtue is self-interest.
The Nazi Playbook—Revived
This is not a new trick. Hitler also hid behind the cross. He weaponized Christianity to justify atrocities, declaring himself the defender of “true” German faith while turning it into a tool of state power. His version of religion wasn’t about love or moral integrity—it was a smokescreen for hate, violence, and absolute control.
And Musk? Look at the receipts. He gave a Sieg Heil salute at Trump’s inauguration. That wasn’t an accident. That was a signal. A nod to a playbook we’ve seen before—one where religion is stripped of its morality and transformed into a political cudgel for fascism.
But this strategy can only work if we let it.
Stop Bending the Knee to Fascism
We’ve seen too many institutions—the GOP, the media, and major corporations—cave to the rise of fascism in America. They bend the knee for profit, out of fear, or in some misguided belief that they can “ride the storm out.”
The GOP has surrendered to authoritarianism, swapping policy for personality cultism.
The media amplifies fascist propaganda, treating it as just another “perspective” rather than exposing it as the existential threat it is.
Corporations fund the very people dismantling democracy, selling out their own future for short-term gain.
This is cowardice. It is complicity. And it must stop.
Returning to True God-Based Ideals
Whether we follow Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, or simply a moral code rooted in human decency, we have to reclaim the true values of faith.
Love over hate. Not the false “love” that hides behind political dog whistles, but the love that actually cares for people’s lives.
Compassion over cruelty. If a policy causes suffering, it’s not of God, no matter what a corrupt politician says.
Generosity over greed. The billionaires hoarding wealth and cutting aid are the Pharisees of our time. Call them out.
Humility over arrogance. No leader is above morality. No political movement is beyond question.
Truth over lies. A lie repeated a thousand times is still a lie. Stop letting fascists define reality.
Boycott all religious leaders putting politics on the pulpit.
America needs a spiritual renaissance, but not one built on fear and exclusion. It needs a return to the core ethical principles that unite people of all faiths (and even the faithless) in a shared commitment to justice, kindness, and truth.
If we let Musk and Trump redefine what it means to be Christian, then Christianity itself dies—replaced by something hollow, something heartless, something Godless.
And that, my friends, is a reality worth fighting against.
Reality is breaking MAGA. You can see it in the wild-eyed desperation of New Age Trump-Musk disciples, clinging to conspiracy theories like life rafts in a storm of their own making because they hate vaccines. Forget the democracy debate for a second—two parties pretending to hate each other while serving the same oligarchs was never real democracy anyway. But what we did have was a stable illusion, a functioning fantasy where elections were at least entertaining and life didn’t change much regardless of who won.
Then Trump came along. The first lifelong criminal to take the Oval Office. A man whose entire existence has been a pyramid scheme, a fraud, a grift. And Musk? A billionaire leech who saw an opening to feed off the chaos and took it. Together, they’ve broken something fundamental in people—the ability to see reality without flinching.
And now, the coping mechanisms are getting insane.
On SMM Elizabeth my wife Elizabeth — who runs our website CoolestTechEver.com that caters to the New Age community we met while filming Dr. Patrick Flanagan — has been seeing New Age individual s who used to preach enlightenment—cracking under the weight of their own bad choices. Instead of admitting they fell for the Russian Trump scam, they’re spinning wild tales about spirit guides getting hijacked and “faker” entities leading them astray. Because, of course, it couldn’t be that they themselves made a terrible choice. No, it has to be dark forces at work! Interdimensional trickery! The spiritual equivalent of “the dog ate my homework.”
Meanwhile, Musk plays both sides like a casino dealer. One hand, he’s pretending to be the tech visionary free speech warrior. The other, he’s cozying up to dictators, silencing dissent, and building a playground for neo-fascists. And somehow, somehow, the same people who once claimed to “question authority” and “see through illusions” are now eating up his every lie.
And Trump? Bottomless corruption. Let’s just list the latest hits:
Abandoning Ally Ukraine
Stealing GAZA frpm Palestinians for Trump resorts
Threatening to invade Canada (Canada? Really? What, did Trudeau hurt his feelings?)
Claiming he’ll pull the U.S. out of the EU (which we were never a member of, but hey, details are for losers)
Promoting his own meme coin
Collecting bribes via lawsuits
Offering the Ultimate Grift: the $5 Million Gold Card
Ah yes, the Gold Card, Trump’s latest scam—a glorified frequent felon membership that gets you absolutely nothing except bragging rights in a dying cult. Five million dollars to pretend you’re in the inner circle of a man who wouldn’t cross the street to spit on you if you were on fire.
It’s all one giant, soul-sucking con, and the mental toll is real. People who voted for this madness, who bought into the Musk-Trump mythology, are now losing their damn minds trying to justify it. The truth is too much: that they voted for genocide in Gaza so Musk’s cronies can turn it into a hotel strip. That they voted for rapists to have more rights than their victims. That they backed a mob boss who sees them as nothing more than marks.
But here’s the thing about living in denial: it’s exhausting. The lies compound. The mental contortions twist tighter. And at some point, reality comes crashing down.
And that’s where hope still exists.
If you voted for Trump, you can still take the off-ramp. Do it now. Admit you were hearing what you wanted to hear, that you wanted to believe in the tough-guy act, the outsider narrative, the “America First” lie. Admit you’ve been a fool—but that you’ve seen the error of your ways.
You’ll be amazed at how welcome you’ll be back on the side of sanity.
And if we unite? If enough of us wake up and stand together?
We can stop Trump. But it will take more than votes. It will take the biggest protests and acts of civil disobedience this country has ever seen. The kind of resistance that shakes the ground beneath the feet of tyrants.
Because if we don’t, the collapse we’re witnessing will only get worse. And no amount of meditations or positive thinking is going to save us. We all make mistakes. If Trump was yours get over it and get over it. You made a mistake. I regret falling for Reagan’s lies almost daily. We all make mistake. Right now we need to get over Trump and unite to fight a literal Musk led Nazi coup! Get off your phone or PC and march… while you still can.
Shameless plug: Move Over Marvel: Dark Brandon Has Entered the Multiverse! After reading this post please visit TrumpsFeverDream.com where we are posting my coming audio-book.
This week after a fatal crash of a military Blackhawk and a passenger jet newly #47 Donald Trump blamed, with zero evidence, D.E.I. hiring practices as the cause of the deaths over the Potomac. Statements he echoed in his outlandish claims that D.E.I. hires responsible for the many lives and homes lost in the LA fires.
Trump racism is deep and troubling. Acting president Musk, famed now not for his wealth but his arrogance in making an unmistakable Nazi salute and his mouthpiece Trump are seeking to replace America highly competent D.E.I government workforce with white loyalists. And it’s already costing lives.
The concept of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in hiring is often painted by its critics as a threat to workplace competence, suggesting that companies prioritize diversity over qualifications. This narrative is not only false—it’s dangerous. It stems from a defense mechanism within white privilege, which assumes entitlement to positions of power as a birthright. But let’s bust this myth and explore why DEI, far from promoting incompetence, actually makes organizations more effective and resilient.
1. The Myth of “Merit” and White Privilege
White privilege often hides behind the myth of meritocracy—the belief that success is based purely on individual talent, effort, and achievement. The problem with this myth is that it ignores the fact that many opportunities have been historically reserved for white men, often passed down through familial and social networks. When someone is handed a position without truly earning it, it breeds complacency, laziness, and the assumption that they don’t have to work as hard as others.
Take RFK Jr.’s recent blunder as an example. His privileged upbringing and the connections that elevated him to positions of influence meant he didn’t feel the need to vet or thoroughly analyze his recommendations. This lack of diligence cost him credibility. White privilege, when unexamined, can lead to a toxic complacency where individuals assume success is their right, not something they have to work to maintain.
2. DEI Demands More From Candidates
DEI hiring practices don’t lower the bar—they raise it. Why? Because under DEI frameworks, hiring managers must look beyond surface-level qualifications and privilege-based recommendations. They evaluate candidates holistically, focusing on proven skills, adaptability, and experiences that many entitled hires lack.
Historically marginalized candidates often have to work twice as hard to reach the same level of success as their privileged counterparts. This “double effort” means that many DEI hires bring a unique level of determination, innovation, and resilience to the table. In contrast, someone who has coasted on privilege may lack these qualities because they’ve never been tested or challenged.
Consider this: An immigrant who worked their way through college while holding down two jobs brings real-world problem-solving skills to any workplace. A Black woman who’s navigated systemic racism to rise through corporate ranks likely possesses leadership and negotiation skills that can’t be taught in an MBA program. These aren’t tokens of diversity—they’re marks of excellence.
3. Diverse Teams = Better Decision-Making and Innovation
Research consistently shows that diverse teams outperform homogeneous ones in innovation, creativity, and overall performance. A 2018 Boston Consulting Group study found that companies with diverse leadership teams generate 19% higher revenue from innovation compared to those without diversity. Why? Because different perspectives lead to better solutions.
When a team consists only of people with similar backgrounds and experiences, they’re prone to groupthink—a phenomenon where everyone agrees too quickly and critical analysis is overlooked. RFK Jr.’s mistake in promoting poorly vetted ideas could be attributed to surrounding himself with like-minded individuals who didn’t challenge him. In contrast, diverse teams encourage debate, creative tension, and the consideration of multiple viewpoints, which leads to better outcomes.
4. DEI Prevents the Entitlement Trap
Entitled white hires often get trapped in the false belief that they don’t need to grow or improve. After all, if they’ve been handed success so far, why would they suddenly need to work harder? But DEI hires are often battle-tested. They’ve overcome obstacles, adapted to changing environments, and developed emotional intelligence—skills that are critical in today’s rapidly evolving work landscape.
The entitlement trap is particularly dangerous in leadership roles. Leaders who haven’t had to earn their positions through competence and hard work often make decisions based on arrogance or outdated assumptions. This is how companies fail. But leaders from DEI backgrounds tend to be more empathetic, better listeners, and more adept at navigating complex situations.
5. The “DEI Means Lower Standards” Lie Is a Smokescreen
Let’s be honest: The idea that DEI hires are less competent is a lie perpetuated by those who fear losing their unearned advantage. It’s a defense mechanism—a way for those who’ve coasted on privilege to justify their own mediocrity. When companies prioritize DEI, they’re not lowering standards—they’re recognizing that the old “standards” were often exclusionary and designed to favor a narrow group of people.
This is why DEI is so threatening to the privileged. It exposes the fact that many “merit-based” hires weren’t based on merit at all—they were based on privilege, nepotism, and bias. DEI challenges this by forcing companies to take a hard look at what competence really means.
6. Competence Is About Adaptability, Not Entitlement
In today’s world, competence isn’t just about technical skills or a degree from a prestigious university. It’s about adaptability, emotional intelligence, cultural awareness, and the ability to work in diverse teams. DEI hires excel in these areas because they’ve had to navigate obstacles that entitled hires haven’t.
White privilege, on the other hand, can create a false sense of security. When you’re used to being handed things, you’re less likely to develop the grit and adaptability needed to succeed in a competitive environment. This is why companies that rely too heavily on privilege-based hiring often stagnate, while those that embrace DEI thrive.
Conclusion: DEI Is Not About Charity—It’s About Excellence
DEI hiring isn’t about giving people a handout; it’s about recognizing excellence in all its forms. It’s about acknowledging that competence isn’t confined to one race, gender, or socioeconomic background. The idea that DEI hires are incompetent is a lie rooted in fear—fear that the world is changing and that privilege is no longer enough.
And you know what? That fear is justified. The world is changing, and those who rely on entitlement instead of effort will be left behind. DEI isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s the smart thing to do. The future belongs to those who earn it, not those who are handed it.
One last thing. Writing this story helped me realize Trump propensity to lie arise directly from his need to cover for the fact he is white privileged nepo baby. And his ego can’t handle the truth he is an aged incompetent racist misogynist.
Shameless plug: Move Over Marvel: Dark Brandon Has Entered the Multiverse! Visit TrumpsFeverDream.com where we are posting my coming audio book.
Since the utter defeat of Kamala thanks to a surprising vote by young men in the face of the harm they knew it will do to the women of this country I’ve been meditating on Trump again. Not the man but what he represents. Trump, and people behind him, have demonstrated once again and uncanny ability to exploit anger to generate votes. In this case an ancient anger between the sexes and man’s longstanding dominion over women. Trump’s campaign promise “I’m going to be dictator day one” has been labeled as fascism by concerned Democrats and media. But is that an accurate assessment and what exactly is fascism?
The term “fascism” was first coined by Benito Mussolini during World War I. It symbolized his ideology of unity and strength through brute force—a concept that reached its zenith with the 1922 March on Rome, where Mussolini’s Blackshirts coerced King Victor Emmanuel III into appointing him as Prime Minister. In that moment, the world regressed to a primitive philosophy best described as Might-Makes-Right-Males—the macho archetype that relies on physical dominance and aggression, often devoid of intellectual depth or moral integrity.
This ethos celebrates strength for strength’s sake, often manifesting in abusive behaviors, particularly toward women. Historically, Might-Makes-Right-Males have used their power not just to dominate nations but also to enforce submission in personal and societal relationships. The macho mentality thrives on control, fostering a world where abuse and suppression of women are seen as acceptable methods of asserting dominance.
Take Mussolini, for example. His regime not only glorified militaristic masculinity but also institutionalized the macho subjugation of women, reducing them to tools of the state for procreation and household labor. This systematic abuse of women was a natural extension of Might-Makes-Right-Males’ dangerous worldview: if physical strength and cruelty justify rule, they also justify any form of oppression, including violence against women.
While this Trump doesn’t perfectly fit the Mussolini mold —when corned by Jake Tapper Kamala Harris broke precedent and called him a fascist on CNN in the debate that wasn’t. Even though he lacks the physicality or ideological discipline—Trump embodies the toxic macho archetype in his personal conduct and policies. His history of demeaning women, both publicly and privately, reveals the deeply rooted dangers of Might-Makes-Right-Males. We could say Trump is the modern echo of this toxic masculine Mussolini mentality with his choice fellow sexual abusers for his shock and awe cabinet choices.
Consider his infamous 2016 “Grab ’em by the pussy” the media helped him minimize to”locker room talk” and pattern of mocking or belittling women who stand up to him. His recent threats,drunk on the power of his win, like telling Canada’s Prime Minister he could make Canada the 51st state, expose a hollow version of macho posturing—a flimsy attempt to project power. Trump is not a leader of strength; he’s a man whose bluster conceals deep insecurity, shaped by his abusive domineering father Fred Trump who taught him by painful example that cruelty is strength. Trump completed his macho man training in breaking the will of his minions under the pernicious Roy Cohen.
The macho mindset, when left unchecked, doesn’t just harm women—it destabilizes society. By enforcing submission through fear and abuse, Might-Makes-Right-Males create a culture of silence and suffering, stripping away the empathy and collaboration needed for communities to thrive. This is why the anger Trump tapped into and infected the minds of so many young men, even Latinos essentially voting for deported of their kin, is so dangerous. Trump’s dominance exhibited in the nefarious Project 2025 relies on the suppression of “the other”, especially women, whose potential is vital to a balanced and just world.
But history offers hope. Societies led by Might-Makes-Right-Males have often crumbled under their own brutality. From the collapse of fascist regimes to the growing rejection of toxic macho ideals, humanity has shown its capacity to evolve beyond these harmful archetypes.
Today, women and forward-thinking men are leading the charge against this outdated worldview. They are proving that true strength lies not in domination, but in understanding; not in silencing others, but in empowering them. The qualities of a true gentleman—empathy, respect, and wisdom—are the antidote to the macho, Might-Makes-Right mentality that has caused so much harm.
It’s time to abandon the macho fantasies of the past. The world doesn’t need more Mussolinis or Trumps—it needs leaders who recognize that power is not about abuse, but about service. A society built on mutual respect and equality is one where everyone, not just the strong, can thrive.
WHAT CAN WE DO TO REDUCE TOXIC MASCULINITY
Toxic masculinity and Might-Makes-Right-Males aren’t just philosophical challenges—they’re deeply rooted behaviors that manifest in homes, schools, workplaces, and governments. To tackle them effectively, we need solutions that channel energy constructively, address root causes, and create cultural shifts. Here’s a game plan I created with some help from ChatGPT:
1. Harness Testosterone Through Sportsmanship
Look all the way back to the Greeks and the ancient Olympics where men competed in sport versus battle. Testosterone isn’t the problem; it’s how we channel it. Sports can be a powerful tool to teach teamwork, discipline, and mutual respect. Instead of glorifying “winning at all costs,” we must prioritize good sportsmanship.
Coaches as Role Models: Train coaches to emphasize respect and collaboration over raw aggression. Teach players to value fair play and uplift teammates and opponents alike.
Recognize Gentle Strength: Create awards for players who demonstrate empathy on the field—helping an injured opponent, staying calm under pressure, or mediating conflicts.
Mixed-Gender Sports: Encourage boys to play on mixed-gender teams early on, fostering respect for women as equal competitors and collaborators.
2. Turn “Macho” into Mentorship
Macho doesn’t have to mean toxic. Channel that energy into mentorship programs where older men guide younger generations toward constructive goals.
Big Brother Programs: Pair boys with male role models who demonstrate positive masculinity—men who build, nurture, and lead without dominating.
– **Fatherhood Academies**: Offer community classes on parenting to help dads teach their sons that strength includes vulnerability and kindness.
3. Teach Emotional Agility in Schools
Boys are often taught to suppress emotions other than anger, creating a powder keg of frustration. Let’s rewire that.
Gym Class with a Twist: Combine physical activities with lessons on emotional intelligence. For instance, after a game, have students reflect on how competition made them feel—pride, frustration, joy—and discuss healthy ways to process those emotions.
Conflict Resolution Training: Teach boys practical techniques for de-escalating conflicts, such as active listening and finding common ground.
4. Challenge the Alpha Myth in Pop Culture
Media often glorifies the alpha male as the loudest, toughest, most domineering figure in the room. Let’s flip the script.
Highlight Quiet Heroes: Celebrate movies, TV shows, and books featuring men who lead with wisdom, empathy, and innovation. Think Atticus Finch, not Rambo.
Gamify the Good Guy: Create video games where collaboration and compassion—not brute force—lead to victory. Imagine a game where saving the world requires teamwork and diplomacy.
5. Celebrate Strength in Service
True power is lifting others up, not pushing them down. Let’s make that our cultural narrative.
Volunteer Challenges: Organize community events where men compete to make the biggest positive impact—building homes, mentoring youth, cleaning neighborhoods.
National Gentleman Awards: Establish annual awards honoring men who’ve demonstrated exceptional kindness, generosity, or bravery in service to their communities.
6. Rethink the Role of Testosterone in Business
Workplaces can be breeding grounds for Might-Makes-Right attitudes. Shift the culture to reward emotional intelligence and collaboration.
Testosterone-Positive Training: Instead of suppressing competitive energy, channel it into creative problem-solving exercises where teamwork, not individual dominance, leads to success.
Leadership Redefined: Showcase stories of successful leaders who succeeded by fostering inclusive, innovative environments.
7. Empower Women as Equals
Might-Makes-Right-Males thrive when women are marginalized. By leveling the playing field, we challenge their dominance.
Teach Boys to Respect Women: Early education should include lessons on consent, equality, and the value of women’s perspectives.
Normalize Female Leaders: Promote women in leadership roles across industries, showing young men that strength comes in many forms.
8. Reclaim Rituals of Manhood
Many cultures have rites of passage that help boys transition into responsible men. Modern societies often lack these guiding ceremonies.
Modern Rites of Passage: Create programs where boys take on challenges that emphasize character, not domination. For example, helping an elderly neighbor, mentoring a younger student, or organizing a team project.
Bonding Camps: Offer father-son or mentor-mentee camps focusing on shared activities like hiking, problem-solving, and storytelling to build a sense of mutual respect and responsibility.
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9. **Encourage Creative Outlets
Aggression is often misdirected energy. Let’s help boys and men channel it productively.
Art as Strength: Programs in music, dance, and visual arts can teach boys how to express emotions in healthy, constructive ways.
Competitive Creativity: Host events where participants compete in innovation challenges, showcasing strength through brainpower and imagination.
10. Stop Rewarding Troublemakers – Kyle Rittenhouse was murderer not a hero
Finally, we need to stop elevating Might-Makes-Right-Males in positions of power. Troublemakers who thrive on chaos—whether in politics, business, or media—must face accountability.
Media Responsibility: Boycott shows, hosts, and outlets that glorify aggression and cruelty.
Vote for Compassionate Leaders: Elect leaders who value service over swagger, empathy over ego.
By blending sportsmanship, mentorship, emotional agility, and creative outlets, we can rewrite the narrative for men and boys. The macho, Might-Makes-Right mentality doesn’t have to define the future. Instead, we can create a culture where strength is measured not by dominance, but by how much good one can do for others.
I could never have written this story without my wife and partner Elizabeth England lifting up the rug on the racist misogynist culture that dominates American culture. She and I will be doing a podcast based on this post soon.
And please visit our non-partisan page PolticalCoolDown where we are offering 10 free meditations to help put 2024 behind us seek to reunite for the greater good.
Seven years ago the world lost one of it greatest actors and comedians of our time when Robin Williams chose to take his own life. The devastating news came without any sort of clear warning signals. A public outcry of grief and mourning erupted across the world that had not seen since the shocking death of Princess Diana.
Last week my wife and I had coffee with Robin, as my writer’s brain evisions, happening for seven years now.
Hey Groovy Gals and Guys,
Holy shit. This would all be funny if it were not so damn tragic, folks. People are literally dying because politicians, my brother and sisters in the media and regular people on social media are fabricating stories. All in a feeble effort to make them seem more important than they actually are with more clicks and eyes. In the end this toxic BS is simply to sell everything from donations to snake oil cure to tennis shoes to precious metals to crypt o-currencies.
Worst part is it done by appealing to the worst in human nature; a crusty old white man who lives in fear in our noggins. It’s gross gross negligence to plant fear in people’s hearts on a money-making scale never seen or felt before.
Now, I am sure many of you who were fans of my movies did not like every damn thing I acted in. You only watched the ones you liked, right? GOODWILL HUNTING over MAN OF THE YEAR (MOTY) let’s say. MOTY being one of my films that should have worked that didn’t. In fact, if you judged my career based on MOTY you mot not be here.
Treat all the Tuckers, Johnsons, Bezoses, Hannitys the same way. You are the master of your own story-verese. You pick and choose your reality. Take a pinch of reality from the blue and a spritz from the red. Stay balanced in a unbalanced AF world.
Time to stop listening the BS artists. Truth is love. Be smart. Get vaccinated.
Love, Robin
King of the Star Fish Nation
Robin’s kidding about the king thing But I do still see my vision of Robin — just a part of my beautiful imagination — is reincarnated as a starfish. The starfish nation is a a neural network for the planet Robin has explained to me.
It’s with great pleasure I present a post from a woman I am honored to call my wife and partner in all things. As a 14-year veteran of U.S. Army’s military intelligence and special operations, Elizabeth speaks out about the Russian and GOP psyop we are fighting with an authority seldom found on the web. She served during Operations Urgent Fury, the invasion of Panama, Just Cause, Uphold Democracy, Desert Storm and Desert Shield. Elizabeth also served three years as a Chaplain’s assistant to the National Guard during the war in Afghanistan, the War On Terror and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
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Third from left Sargent Elizabeth England
Lies of the Christian Patriarchy – By Elizabeth England
When I hear all lives matter in response to Black Lives matter it’s like telling me all houses matter and refusing to help my black friend put out his house on fire, because he’s not white. Black lives have been attacked since wicked Christian men kidnapped their African ancestors from their homes, sailed them a thousand miles away in chains, and sold them to wicked Christian slave owners. The racists say this is a white Christian nation. Their Bible provides guidance on how to treat slaves and does not condemn slavery as an abomination.
For centuries, white Christians have forced their religion on subjugated populations, ensuring they are under the thumbs of the powerful Christian God with slavery intact and the Bible revered by the enslaved. Imagine when famous Christian explorers like Columbus showed up to the indigenous peoples and forced acceptance of Christianity on pain of death. Or when the Catholic church used their religious schools on reservations to select human subjects for barbaric medical research. Jesus didn’t speak out against slavery. When you ask a racist white Christian what would Jesus do, well, it doesn’t include ending institutionalized ways to suppress and enslave others through legal and economic systems. They truly believe it’s their ‘right’ to suppress and enslave others and the bible gives it the seal of approval.
That’s embedded in the system so subtlety. And if, like the ‘born-again’ Christians say, you confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you really don’t have to worry about sin because Jesus died on the cross to remove the ‘wages of sin,’ or death, promising you everlasting forgiveness and life in heaven. Not here but after you die. Always wondered about why you have to die to experience heaven? So ‘if’ slavery is a sin, and if you’re ‘born again,’ you still have the free pass to heaven even if you are a predator upon other human beings.
The church has become the protector of child molesters and other monumentally wicked leaders across the world. It makes me cringe when I hear my white friends say, ‘But me, I’m not racist and don’t all lives matter?’ The wicked precepts that have shaped our culture are invisible to most whites. And now with the Trump cult they have their hero who supports racism and sexism, or the ‘status quo.’ But the not so subtle system of cultural and economic enslavement isn’t there only for African Americans and immigrants.
Most women recall when they figured out, probably as a child, that their lives would be different than boys in so many dangerous, minimizing and challenging ways. Can you imagine—mothers have been having ‘the talk’ with their daughters for thousands of years? And mothers have looked the other way for thousands of years ‘to save lives.’ The alternative of demanding change would come with too high a price: her life. Females must be careful because they are often targets of discrimination and violence. Every woman knows she will be challenged personally with (the same primitive consciousness as racism that sees their) discrimination of women as the right of a man and in some cases this will be brutal. And don’t get me started on how our culture treats children, homeless, mentally ill and the vulnerable. So you’re going to fight for this system, the American way, that divides up the vulnerable?
The layers of discrimination begin:white supremacist, in this shit show, you have to hold on tight to you’re only advantage: being white in a racist country. Being poor, female and white is ‘better’ than being black. Huh? And if you’re a white male, you’ve got a golden ticket. If you’re a black or brown woman, well, my heart cries for the discrimination you must survive. And then we get to children…who lose all around in this system. No wonder our streets are filled with young people who’ve figured out they really don’t want this legacy.
So let’s get real. Do you think your rights are safe in this system? No one’s rights will be safe until we protect and care for everyone. But you’ll ask, how do we pay for that? Don’t ask me that when a couple of dozen people hoard more wealth than the other 330 million of us and we keep bailing big business out from their self-destructive and predatory practices, keep giving them the advantage of our tax laws while they do things that hurt our people, hurt the country. Maybe you’ll tell me the stock market shows the economy is great. Great for who? The banks, big pharma, stockbrokerages and insurance companies? Really? Economic layers of discrimination are embedded at every level to keep everyone in line. Our system even targets vulnerable populations. Our founders were slaveowners. Yup, the bible–racist and sexist and pro-slavery. And the nation’s founders–racist, sexist and wealthy through the labors of slaves. That’s the mindset of colonialism that we live in and that some of our politicians are clinging to.
When I served in the military I didn’t get all this. I was so idealistic and patriotic and I joined because I wanted to ‘walk my talk’ for democracy and the ‘’American dream.’ The richness and darkness of that experience served to awaken me to racism and sexism and corporate greed. After a decade and a half in the military it was obvious we were the blood and muscle behind so much greed, suppression and senseless violence on foreign soil, on women and children, all accepted ascollateral damage of our ‘pro-democracy policy.’ A big lie to cover the theft of natural resources and cultural treasures of non-white peoples. Trump is a symptom of our country’s worst nature, an abomination to the ideals that led me to love the country and take my oath to the Constitution: to defend it against enemies foreign and domestic. By his actions I see Trump as a threat to the Constitution. He’s certainly a threat to American military service members with his affinity to despots like Putin, Xi, Kim Jong-Il, Prince Mohammad bin Salman, Erdogan…
I pray to see our country working toward perfecting the union aspired to in the Constitution and rising above the inhumanity of its founders, many of whom, like Franklin and (sort of) Washington were troubled by slavery and its conflict with the un-Christian ideals of the Constitution. Thank goodness the founders stepped beyond their religious dogma and gave us universally righteous philosophies in the Constitution securing it as one of greatest documents ever written. My soul is crying for patriots and citizens to abolish racism, sexism, suppression, discrimination and economic enslavement of the people. I’m praying we are inspired in America to hold to our Constitution to create the change we need for a golden age.
Understand, there is a battle for our minds on social media. The Russian intelligence masters are experts at the ‘long game,’ and they are elated at the hyperspeed of their success in America using our fabulous creation of social media against us to speed their long-range goal of destabilizing our country. They are using psychological operations (psyops) to change the leadership of our country with weapons-grade propaganda. And they know who to target using Facebook data. Look it up. It’s a BIG part of foreign intelligence operations now. And greedy, unethical businesses (like Zuckerberg’s, Trump’s and Bezos’), politicians like McConnell, and greedy corporate lobbyists will piggy back on the manufactured chaos for their own benefit. It’s hard not to be a pawn, isn’t it?
My hope in writing this is to help others discern the psychological operations, a long-standing and secretive military specialty. Open-minded, suspicious, fearful, born-again Christian, spiritual, yoga fan, raw/organic foodies, non-GMOers, anti-vaxers, ET and disclosure, flat earthers, the list goes on of the interest groups and people targeted by psyop propaganda using social media ads. Q is a psyop that targets me and many of my friends. Trump is a useful asset to Russian intelligence, whether it’s purposeful or ignorant, controlled through money or sex or maybe just his admiration of despotism. Here’s a classic psyop method: flood the public with conflicting info to create confusion about the truth and repeat useful lies until they are accepted as truth. Sound familiar? That’s Trumps daily job. Say something outrageous, trot out your staff to deny or defend it, then deny again, claim it was a joke or some other smokescreen to ensure people will fight about what’s true and who to believe.
I urge you to take control of the battle for your mind. Remove the blinders to racism, sexism and the psyops trying to convince you they aren’t real. Trump is the hero of white, Christian racists who value poverty, racism and sexism to maintain the status quo and their power. They take more profits than they’d need for a hundred lifetimes and leave the rest of us without even our fair share of the fruits of our labors.
The pandemic is real. Racism is real. Sexism is real. It’s time to get real and take back your mind and our country. We are blessed to have inspiring and heroic examples of fearlessness from young women in our time. The world needs the balance of strong people, especially empowered women, to bring collaboration, compassion and care to communities and nations. Let’s see all women and children raised up and cared for as precious. Let’s see children treasured and nurtured into great people. Let’s stand up for our black American brothers and sisters, end their torture and say because Black Lives Matter in our America. Let’s stand up for our first people, end their torture and say Native Lives Matter in our America. Let’s stand up for our LGBTQ brothers and sisters and say LGBTQ Lives Matter in America. Let us be judged by the content of our character, not our appearance, sex, or preferences. Let it be.
Last night Elizabeth and I fell into bed exhausted from a day of preparing for what seems to be an inevitable shut down on our food supplies. Heck, normal life in general is shutting down in light of what was upgraded to a global pandemic by the World Health Organization this week.
Seeking to calm my nerves after our President’s Rose Garden press conference failed to, just can’t trust a man who lies for sport, I meditated to fall asleep. The last thing I expected was a spiritual message from my subconscious as to a possible meaning of life here on good old planet Earth.
I breathed deeply and rhythmically, grateful to be virus free. Quick as it came up, I banished a worry about a little tickle in my nose. Soon I was rewarded with a vision of the entire multiverse as a vast globule of, get this,… soup.
Here, on earth I saw it was humanity’s job to collectively generate a bitter ingredient, one made of a dash of mass hysteria and a pinch of sorrow over our the loss of enjoying each other’s daily society. Once our bitter contribution was made to the cosmic soup it was served up to a being so gigantic I could not make out anything but the gaping mouth of a spinning black hole.
Activated to full wakefulness by this cool but strange vision, I slipped from bed and raided the fridge, seeking to nosh on supplies we’d bought that day to tide us over from a food shortage. Call it controlled panic eating.
I made a snack of white mushrooms with the stem sockets filled with mustard and contemplated my vision of the cosmic soup we are all a part of making to create this reality which we both love and hate.
“Was this a vision of the meaning of life?” I wondered for a few munches. “Nah. Seems more like an elaborate cosmic rationalization,” I grumbled to myself, washing the mushrooms down with a Mexican bottle of Coke made with cane sugar. Way better than American corn syrup Coke, but not exactly a healthy dietary habit.
I flashed back earlier shopping of the day when Elizabeth stopped me from grabbing a pack of salami, “Ken, just because we’re stocking up to beat the Coronavirus outbreak does not mean you should abandon your healthy eating habits!”I chuckled about that and agreed Elizabeth was right, grateful I was noshing on mushrooms and not fatty salami.
Content this was enough deep thought and stress eating for one scary day on planet Earth for a man in his sixties, feeling vulnerable after March 2018 heart failure. I slipped back into bed with my love Elizabeth and snuggled up to her warm body. Soon I drifted off to sleep, grateful to have at least one human being to share this strange and bitter time in our world with.
Elizabeth and I wish you and yours perfect health in this crisis. Please check out our cool wellness products we use ourselves at CoolestTechEver.com products page.
Sorry I’ve been off the blog beat since 12.9.19. Sadly, I’ve been grieving the loss of my dear friend, client and film subject the incomparable inventor/scientist Dr. Patrick Flanagan.
Losing Pat is like losing a brother for me. Blessedly, I’ve had visits from his amazing spirit I will write of soon here that have helped me cope. You see, my issue is that within the past decade I have had too many losses; I’ve lost my best friend in LA Bradley Quick, a father, a stepfather, a sweet pal from my days in Malibu, a dear but troubled brother and a beloved uncle. And now Pat. Sigh.
So I hope you’ll excuse me that I’ve been lost from blogging to you dear reader for a time. I’ve been losing myself following the Impeachment, hoping to see some glimmer of justice for this bully that has stolen America’s soul.
My visualization of Trump doing a Nixon that has not happened on this timeline.
But watching the farce that is the Senate Impeachment Trial has not helped quell my pain as America has lost its series of check and balances. Indeed, the farce trial has only been useful in making it crystal clear how far our Republican Party has fallen from grace.
As an independent I’ve voted Republican as often as I’ve voted Democratic. In fact, the Republican Party is the only party I have ever registered to be part of back in my real estate mogul days of late 20th Century. I used to appreciate the GOP’s ideal of smaller government and therefore lower taxes which they once stood proudly for with an evangelical flair.
And while the Donald did not get the impeachment pardon yesterday he wanted in time for bragging rights at the Super Bowl tomorrow, he did get the Republicans to unite to protect him in agreeing not to call new witnesses or offer evidence. These creepy politicians’ nerve in destroying America’s systems of checks and balances despite polls showing that 75% of Americans want a fair trail is beyond astounding and one of the saddest times of my long life.
OHOM TO THE RESCUE
Last night I licked my psychic wounds watching the amazing musical WEST SIDE STORY last night. Half way through my movie as a meditation night by the flicker of the fireplace, my guide Ohom whispers in my mind:
“Time to let go, Ken. Donald John Trump has served his spiritual purpose of drawing out America’s deep flaws and is now superfluous.”
“But we haven’t had the final vote, Ohom,” I complain, feeling guilty for getting so wrapped up in a political show that I know is run by the oligarchs and corporate banksters who truly own our government.
Ohom (which stands for (Open Heart Open Mind) says tells me, “The American the people must WILL the birth of the new and better world into full reality. How you do this begins in your own bright hearts not Donald Trump’s dark heart. As leaders of the free world the American people must:
1. Let go of all racist behaviors and have love for all. This means full restitution for the Native Americans and African Americans. A restoration of your country as the land of opportunity for all genders, races and creeds will then be achievable.
2. Americans must speak and seek truth and integrity in all things. Lies and cheating have no place in a world of peace.
3. Your billionaires and the 1% must pay their fair share. Only then can you as a people let go of greed and make an end to the lie of poverty.
4. You must end your meddling in the affairs of other sovereign lands like we ETs do with other worlds such as yours. You have evolved to the point where war is obsolete and you must turn our talents and energy to peaceful endeavors.
5. Last, and most importantly, before you travel to other worlds you must learn to take good care of this beautiful world and all life upon it. You must all make an effort to leave a smaller footprint, recycle and implement solar and wind power. Only then can you make this world the paradise you’ve all dreamed of.”
Ohom’s sage advice washes over me like a cleansing slave to the pain of the fake Impeachment trial. I close my eyes and picture the rope of negative energy that ties me to Trump pulling at my hands. The tug of terror to this idiotic old man with his fingertips on the nuclear arsenal is strong.
“Leave Trump behind. Ken. You have important work to do reaching the North Pole in 2020 to complete the work you did in 2012 in Antarctica. Let go.” Ohom’s voice echoes in my mind.
I feel the rightness of Ohom’s words and finally let go of the energy ropes leading to DC and Trump. Ones I’ve been clinging to since his election. The relief of disconnecting from Trump and the DC energy is instantaneous.
“Let’s anchor this letting go of the old, Ken.”
Ohom leads me to the puja my wife Elizabeth has made in the center of our house. Graciously, My consciousness stands aside as Ohom, my higher self located in another dimension, steps forward into my body and I become the observer.
Using my body, Ohom picks up the small globe of his ice world of Nektar. A world where technology has involved into a blissful new life form that resides in the 13th dimension in the Orion star system and places it on the floor in front of the puja. The replica of the planet Nektar quickly begins to feed energy to the earth’s core.
High above the pristine skies of Sedona, the rings of the DreamShield, one circling the earth north and south, the other east to west, are frozen in place. More energy is needed to reactivate them! Ohom calls upon the ancient energies of 5 million years ago when Sedona Arizona was part of Antarctica. Nearby, Thunder Mountain rumbles to life, shimmering with white light in the January darkness. A jagged band of white energy races from Thunder Mountain to the Nektar globe in the center of our home.
An artillery shell shaped of blue light morphs from the globe of Nektar. More of the sacred sites in the Sedona area stir to life, Cathedral Rock, Airport Mesa, Bell Rock. Soon Sedona is a humming maze of jagged white lines of energy that dive through model of Nektar to the earth’s core.
The artillery shaped shell blasts the roof clean off our house and hurtles into space exploding upon the frozen DreamShield in blaze of blue light. With mighty groan of on metal on metal, sounding like the horn of Gabriel, the rings of the DreamShield I first witnessed in 2010 begin to turn. Slow at first the spinning speeds up geometrically to reform the powerful planetary DreamShield. It is only then I realize I have truly let go of all outcome in the Trump impeachment.
Ohom says, “The old world has ended and a new era has begun. Realize in this moment that each human being possess unique time space coordinates. And now I must return to my space time. I leave you and Ken to close our visit out via this blog. Please share”
Ok, I added the please share thing. Wow, this blog evolved over weeks of painful incubation. Hope you liked reading it as much I liked writing it.
It’s a good sign it came to full vision powered by the sad senate vote that has outraged many of we who truly love America, not just for what it was but will become.
Wrapping up, I hope you can too let go of Trump too. Look instead for leadership to people like Greta Thurnberg. She certainly has truly emerged a voice for a generation that does not have the luxury of time to waste that we Booomers did. Forgive we OK Boomers. We were lied to by the corporations seeking to evade blame for their destruction of our world. In any case we do not have time to waste on hand wringing about Trump or his lost Tea Party Republicans. Hoping Bernie makes it all the way in 2020!
I first learned the potent force of positive thinking — a skill set that paid my college tuition and as an adult allowed to me to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for everything from building skyscrapers to making movies — quite by accident back in 1971.
Here’s some 70s music to enjoy while you read this personal tale that will eventually wind it’s way to my thoughts on how our current president is breaking the laws of positive thinking laid out by Norman Vincent Peale in his groundbreaking book THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING.
It’s the fall of 1971. As the autumn leaves sparkle in the sunset I am worrying how I am going to make tuition for the second semester. Back in high school I only got average grades except for English and Art, and barely squeaked by in anything math related. So Art college is all I can get accepted into. Layton School of Art & Design to be precise. Conveniently, Layton is only about a mile’s walk from the new home my parents bought in ’69 on the banks of the Milwaukee River.
But after almost flunking out in my freshman year, in part because working night jobs to make tuition leaves me no time to study, this year’s grades and finances are looking no better. I am a nervous wreck, because if don’t stay in college it’s straight to Vietnam for my sorry ass, stuck with a lousy #15 draft lottery number.
Born 17 months after me, my kid brother Fred lucks out and pulls a draft # 265 in the lottery. He promptly drops out of college and starts apprenticing in the trades as a welder, our dad’s lucrative job. But for draft #15 me, it’s a matter of survival I keep my butt in college. A lot of us Boomers have Uncle Sam’s terrible war with Vietnam to thank for being the first in their families to graduate college.
One Tuesday night, fed up with cleaning bed pans at a local nursing home on the graveyard shift — the latest in a succession of lousy night jobs like bottle inspector at a Pepsi plant, pizza chef, window display artist, and more I’ve chosen to forget — I’m pouting in my parent’s beat up recliner that faces the Milwaukee river.
I’m still cooling off from a bad phone argument with my girlfriend from South Milwaukee. She’s away attending the University of Wisconsin Madison to learn to be a physical therapist. Her help correcting spelling and grammar on my term papers is raising my grades, but it’s a helluva lot to ask of her when she has her own schoolwork. I don’t blame my straight A student lover for listening to her mother that maybe she should dump me. Our relationship, like everything these Nixonian days, hangs by a thread.
Desperate to make tuition or it’s off to ‘Nam, I decide to ask Mom ,who is sitting mesmerized by a cartoon black bear paddling a canoe in a Hamm’s Beer commercial, where Dad might be. She shrugs and says in a hoarse whisper. “Off on another of his damned benders.”
Anxiously, flipping through the Help Wanted ads in the Milwaukee Journal I spot a winner: “PART-TIME WEEKEND DISPLAY WORK, EARN UP TO $1500 A MONTH. I hop from the easy chair, revealing a cigarette burn my Dad left behind after passing out in the middle of his third six pack, and dash for the phone. I dial, my fingers so shaky I’m barely able to spin my family’s dirty yellow rotary wall phone. Dad’s a mechanic plus a welder and his grime coats everything in the house in a thin black film.
A man with a buttery voice answers my desperate call. I blurt out my experience doing window display work at Des Forges Book Store on Wisconsin Avenue. The soothingly confident voice on the grimy phone tells me, “Come on in for an interview Thursday night, Ken.”
I holler for joy startling Mom. When I explain my thrill about the interview she says dryly, “Kenneth,” as she always does when lecturing me, “There’s no part-time job on earth that pays $1500 a month to do display work. It’s a scam, hon. Don’t go.”
I not so politely remind my Mom, “Well, I am over 18 now and I’ll decide what jobs to check out. That is unless you and Dad want to help me make tuition.” Desperation makes me sound whiny. Chastened, Mom returns to watching BEWITCHED in silence.
It seems like forever until Thursday night. As the big interview approaches all I can think of is, “Mom’s right. How the hell can I earn $1500 a month just doing part-time display work on weekends? I’m an idiot.”
My Drill Sargent Dad
The day before the interview my, lovable half the time and hateful the other half, father returns to home base. Thankfully he’s backed off beating mom on his frequent reinsertions into our lives. He’s stopped taking his self-hatred on out on Mom ever since I tossed his drunk abusive ass down the basement stairs a few months ago. I’m both ashamed and amazed I’m still alive after getting away with that angry stunt. A shrink will later explain my father was happy he forced me to sink to his level and confirm his claims I am a bad son.
Dad pops a Pabst Blue Ribbon and chortles, “Your ma tells me about this dumb ass interview you’ve set yourself up for. Ha. This how you think you’re going to make tuition? Get real. You’re on your own, Kenny boy, and I hope you flunk out. Maybe the Army can make man of you.” I storm out of the elegant north shore house that my blue-collar house poor family is over their heads owning.
His stinging words echoing in my head, I listen to my dad, except in the reverse. His disdain for the job is a huge endorsement for me. A challenge. I shout to the stars, “Fuck you, old man!”
Damn, I’m such a punk to think a man in his 40s is old.
Thursday comes at last. The glass entrance door emblazoned with gold letter reads: RAINBOW GREAT LAKES DIVISION. I am stoked. This feels like it’s the real deal, even though when I turn a corner I am taken down a set of grungy narrow stairs to the basement.
I open a flimsy hollow-core door labeled reception. My heart sinks to my shoes at the sight of a dozen other young people jammed into the dingy room built for 6 people max. I take a seat next to a kid my age and whisper, “Any idea what this job’s about?”
He shrugs and whispers back, “Fuck if I know.”
I wisecrack, “$1500 a month on weekends? Hey, maybe they’re looking for male strippers.” I get nervous laughs from the gang of applicants, but I wonder in my fevered brain, “Am I willing to turn male stripper to stay out of Vietnam?”
Before I can answer, “Hell yes!” a roguishly handsome blonde haired man, not much older than we anxious job candidates, spins into the room. Dressed in a cheap looking plaid suit, the toothy dude wisecracks, “Any of you gents wanna to learn how you can make $1500 a month or even more working part-time follow me.” He herds our bewildered clan into a crummy classroom adorned in fake wood paneling, and I grow ever more anxious.
The man in the plaid polyester suit vigorously writes his name on the chalkboard, like a teacher on crack:
Tom Deere
Now Tom asks for our first names and rapidly jots them all on the chalkboard one at a time with intense stares that seem to be some kind of memorization thing. When my turn comes I’m tempted to give a fake name but decide, “What the heck do I have to lose?” and answer, “Ken.”
Tom tells us with broad smile that never leaves his mustached puss, which does not make him look older, “Hi. I’m Tom Deere, Branch manager for Glendale’s Wisconsin Rainbow office. I’m 24 and I make seventy grand a year. More on that later. For now there’s some questionnaires for you guys to fill out before we get rollin’.”
After hearing the fantastic five figure income Tom makes, we’re all ears.
As Tom hands out questionnaires he coyly adds, “Don’t answer the last question until I give the OK.”
The questions are super easy to answer, written at 6th grade level, but give no indication whatsoever of what the hell this job is. I eye the door ready to bolt, thinking, “This dork makes 70K a year? Right. For once Dad and Mom are right. I’m outta here.”
Seeming to read my mind Tom pats me on the shoulder and says, “Relax. You’re gonna love this, Ken.” The shock Tom remembers my first name feels kinda magical and his warm hand on my shoulder quells some of my anxiety. I settle into the cheap folding chair.
A gruff Italian guy in a dried-blood-colored leather jacket slinks into the room through a half opened door. Now my overactive imagination starts to concoct a Mafia story of us all being candidates for stripper hit men when Tom speaks up, “Everybody meet Antony. — Tony, tell the guys how much you cleared working part time for Rainbow this month.”
Tony’s grimace shows he’s not loving the idea of sharing. “Tony?” says Tom, asserting some will Tony’s way.
Tony bows his head a little. After a brief internal struggle, he finally fesses up in a barely audible mutter, “Almost two K.”
“Thanks, Tony. You know, guys, Antony was a Milwaukee public bus driver before he started raking in the dough. Wanna hear how he did it and how you can make big bucks too?”
Tom cups a hand to his ear and about half of us all quickly say, “Yeah.”
Tom shouts, “Can’t hear you!”
Now we all shout back, “YEAH!” in unison. The group energy changes. We’re all in the palm of Tom’s hands. Soft hands I can see have never seen hard labor. I look at the fresh scar from a serious wound on my left index finger, a lifelong souvenir of my bottle inspecting night job at the Pepsi plant.
Tom pulls a little machine out of a box. It’s about the size of beauty parlor’s hair dryer bonnet with a chrome dome. An air slot is mounted over a brass colored base. It all sits atop clear plexiglass basin filled with water. The damed thing looks like an astronaut from a B sci-fi movie.
Tom flicks the switch and a gentle breeze flows from the noisy gizmo, stirring the stagnant basement air. Pollution is a huge issue in 1971. Tom demonstrates this air cleaner is dubbed the Rainbow because it filters out particulates through water. I’m sold.
Tom draws a line down the center of the chalkboard. He labels one column SALARY and the other COMMISSION. On the salary side Tom writes “$500 a month”. On the other Tom takes his time to diagram how by selling 30 $399 Rainbow air cleaners a month we can make $1500 a month in commissions.
He casually adds, “It’s easy to sell Rainbows because we do all the hard work of making the appointments. You simply visit potential customers and display what this beauty can do. The Rainbow has been around since the 1930s. Stellar reputation. Gents, I promise you it sells itself.”
I wonder, “How the hell has a company I’ve never heard ’til now been selling air cleaners since the 1930s; way before air pollution was a thing?”
Then Tom adds pine scent to the water. I have a pitiful sense of smell, so the fragrance of this forest scent is magic. A memory of a happy family visit to Whispering Pines State Park, when I was two and Mom and Dad were still in love, warms my heart. My worries vanish in the piney fresh smelling air.
“Ok,” Tom instructs we eager applicants, “Time to fill out the last question. Write S if you wanna work for Rainbow on a monthly salary of $500. Or write C top have the chance to make 3 times that much on commission. Ah, but wait! Hold your pens. Almost forgot to show you why the Rainbow is even more of a synch to display.”
Tom takes the grill off the Rainbow, whips a hose out of the box, and proceeds to vacuum the cheap carpet. “That’s right. The Rainbow not only cleans your air… drum roll please… it cleans the carpet.” Tom displays away, and now I finally get this ain’t window display work! I almost say “Fuck!” out loud but manage to hold it all in with a giggle internally at my dense take on the help wanted ad for “display work” that brought me here.
“Now fill out the last question, S for salary, C for commission. Tony will grab your questionnaires on the way out the door. Night and thanks for coming, gents,” says Tom bowing out the door, not giving us a chance to ask questions.
My Bic pen hovers over the questionnaire. I’m pretty shy and I think, “Better $500 a month than nothing on commission.”
I am about to write S when Tony pipes up, “Guys, I ain’t never sold nothin’ before. But if a freakin’ bus-driver-dego-whop like me can sell 40 of these Rainbows a month and knock down a legit 2 K you can too. My advice? Check C for commission.”
Feeling a little nauseous, I check C. First to make the big decision I head for Tony at the door. As I hand him the questionnaire I ask, “When will I know if I got the job?”
“Mr. Deere will hit you up quick if you’re in. If you don’t hear nothin’ in the next 48 hours, well, you’re toast,” says Tony with a mischievous grin.
When I get home Mom barely notices me slip in. She’s glued to BONANZA on her new color TV.
Recently, after a terrible fight, one that ended up with a visit from the cops, cops who always let Dad off easy even after my Mom is left black and blue — a thing still going on today in domestic abuse cases all too often — I ask her, my voice ash, “Ma, why don’t you divorce Dad? He’s going to kill you or me if this shit goes on much longer.”
Her terse answer, “Can’t afford to leave your father. He’s a good provider.”
Mom spots me pouring a milk at the fridge and asks, “How’d the interview go, Kenny?”
The dirty yellow wall phone rings before I can answer her. I’ve just gotten home so I don’t expect it to be Tom Deere on the line when I say, “Hello?”
“Ken?”
“Mr. Deere?”
“Tom please. Ha. You make me feel like I’m fifty. Congrats! You got the job.”
I cover the receiver and holler for joy, “I got the job, Mom!”
“What kind of job?” says Mom dryly.
“Selling home air cleaners,” I quickly tell Mom, leaving out the vacuum cleaner part of the Rainbow out.
“Sales? You get a salary?” Mom asks, her mouth full of potato chips.
In an instant the risk I am taking sinks in. It’s sell or off to ‘Nam and good chance I’ll die or be fucked up like the students I meet coming back the States after a tour of duty. The poor vets remind me of zombies. I shake off my fear and get back to Tom on the phone, dodging Mom’s fateful question, “What’s next?”
“Come in Saturday 9AM for training.”
The training is surprisingly good. My shriveled self esteem begins to blossom. I’m clumsy at first but soon I’m stunned to discover that I’m a natural born salesman. Thanks to my mother’s well-off side of the family buying machines as I train, in a matter of weeks I am the #1 part time Rainbow salesmen in Glendale. A title I never give up. It’s my first win-win experience of my life as my many aunts and uncles all love their Rainbows. I learn the lesson to offer customers advice on the best products and let stuff from vacs to skyscrapers sell themselves.
Even my hard case father is begrudgingly proud of the fact I’m learning to be a good provider like him. Tuition becomes a breeze and I even have enough money left over to, I shit you not, own a classic Lincoln Continental on campus.
Sculpture I Design and Fred Sheetz Welded – Our One and Only Collaboration
My kid brother Fred seems to down on my selling to earn my way through college. A jealousy takes seed in his mind that contributes to killing him one day as he drowns his rage of never making big money in drugging and drinking. Fred never copes well with my entrepreneurial successes compared to his playing it safe as a master welder on salary plus overtime. Also, he never sought therapy to heal from Dad’s epic physical and mental abuse like I did. Hell, I had a fleet of therapist help me rise from the ashes when my $162 million skyscraper project ruined me and my marriage.
My offer to set my little brother Fred up in business, him welding sculptures I’d design fell on deaf ears. Sad. He was so talented. I really regret not pushing my Gemini brother to do that. He simply was not prepared for the Obama years when America’s jobs left for China. Being laid off finished him off.
Back to 1971. My girlfriend hates my Lincoln’s big sidewalls, but she loves our expensive dates. She will become my wife over the objections over her mother. And one day my ex-wife to her mother’s delight.
So weird my wife to be’s mom hated me one for not being a doctor, like she said it right to my shocked face. A constant thorn in my side, even my becoming Chicago’s #1 commercial real estate broker according to the Chicago Times 15 years later and making her baby rich, never earns my mother-in-law-from-hell’s respect.
Me and client Oprah on the Opening of Her $28 million Harpo Studio
As part of my Rainbow sales training I am given some wonderful books to read by Mr. Deere. All of which add to my successes in life, including the building of Oprah’s Harpo Studios and developing a $162 million dollar skyscraper. Sadly, I lost touch with Tom after I graduated college and no longer wanted to sell Rainbows. He took it kinda hard I left to be an interior architect. But the most amazing of these books is Norman Vincent Peale’s THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING.
By the way, later as I become the number one part-time sales person on the Great Lakes region for Rainbow, I learn from Tom the only question he ever checks is C. If an applicant is willing to work on commission. Applications checked S for salary are placed in the circular file.
TRUMP’S ABUSE OF THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING
Now, I don’t know if Trump’s father was even half as abusive as my messed up drill sergeant dad, but it’s well known Trump’s father Fred was a hard-case father. So much so I think Fred Trump may have shattered Donald’s self worth. In fact, as junior shrink after so much therapy, I theorize the Don’s daddy issues made him the crazed narcissist we all either love or hate today.
As for me, it will be my “accidental” introduction to the power of positive thinking that serves to rescue me from the bone crushing barrage of mental negativity that my father subjected me to from birth. I remember reading these words at age 19 of Peale’s and feeling it a godsend, a life raft that saved me from a life depression and anxiety like my brother’s:
“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” ― Norman Vincent Peale
Note that I italicized humble but reasonable. Assuming Trump read the same book, a bit of stretch given his dislike for reading, and like me he learned how to rebuild his self worth from an abusive father through the power of positive thinking, it’s obvious Trump has either forgotten or intentionally ignored that self-belief has to be humble and reasonable.
Now, this might not sound like big deal, but without the restraints of being humble and reasonable in one’s confidence, positive thinking has a dark side. Indeed, without tempering, someone with the gift of charisma can literally become a confidence gamer or a con man, as Trump has.
My friends, there’s a simple reason conning people is illegal: It works all to well. So don’t be hard on a loved one or pal who has been taken in by Trump’s abuse of the power of positive thinking. You see, humans are conditioned by millions of years to trust our tribal leaders.
Especially, leaders who act with great confidence, as to having the greater welfare of the tribe at heart. Trump, unfortunately, is far from humble. To me he comes off as a compulsive liar. It’s sickness. I worked for one who shall remain anonymous as he’s as vindictive as Trump. “Buh-lieve me,” as Trump likes to say. Yep. These kind of mind fuckers lie for sport.
How disgustingly different the modern world that rewards lying leaders with wealth and fame is from the caveman days when the tribe stoned or hung bad leaders. Leaders today who are truthful are as rare as the 1 million endangered species Trump could give a shit about.
Lest you think Trump’s our first unethical leader, well, please read some history. To my heightened sensitivity as an abuse survivor, Obama, the drone president, the oil president, the surveillance president, was not much a more truthful a leader than the Cheet-oh Jesus as he being called, Trump. Nope. Pretty boy Barrack was just way smoother at his political con game. Still is. Though he has nothing on Bill Clinton for being a charming liar. Reagan? Don’t get me started. What a mess we’ve been in for decades.
Folks, and I am sure you know, Super liars are in charge of our world and it must change. Humanity can no longer function this way. We, the stable clan of geniuses who have created so many endangered species are now on our own endangered list. So thank your lucky stars the clumsy buffoonery of Trump has ruined lying for all future leaders. That’s where I see some hope.
The Amazon is on fire. The vast majority of scientists and his fellow G7 leaders are telling Trump that the environment is in crisis. But “the chosen one” prefers to proclaim that it’s all a Chinese hoax. He tells his followers to support fossil fuels, avoid solar power, avoid “cancer causing” wind power. He joyfully invites his loyal followers, a loyalty he does not deserve as he’s sticking it to most of them, to think positive as he proclaims global warming is liberal lie. “No biggie, so keep on gas guzzling, everyone!”
Trump’s irresponsible lack of humble leadership is a horror show on a scale never witnessed before in human history. And sadly it comes at a time when we can least afford it. The clock is running out fast on humanity’s ability to shirk off its responsibility to Gaia.
Take it from a man who worked his way through college selling Rainbows to stay out of a war he did not believe in, versus the one in DC who gamed the system with a fake story about bone spurs: We need a total reset in 2020 with young people taking the reigns from the old who cannot fully grasp that our very existence is at stake. Sorry Joe and Bernie/
I first learned the potent force of positive thinking — a skill set that paid my college tuition and as an adult allowed to me to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for everything from building skyscrapers to making movies — quite by accident back in 1971.
Tom pulls a little machine out of a box. It’s about the size of beauty parlor’s hair dryer bonnet with a chrome dome. An air slot is mounted over a brass colored base. It all sits atop clear plexiglass basin filled with water. The damed thing looks like an astronaut from a B sci-fi movie.
Media, Meditations & Musings 