What’s Obvious to Natives

1/4/2021

You think Trump can lie his ass off?

RT is a Russian state owned and operated enterprise which conducts operations in the US and other Western countries. It produces and infuses a mix of propaganda, National Inquirer stories and rattlesnake venom into the Western media-stream for consumption by the credulous – of which there have been a growing number ever since we stopped teaching civics to junior high students.

Originally known as Russia Today, the operation was rebranded “RT” a couple of years before it became acceptable to traipse around Trump Tower wearing Chinese polypropylene gimme-caps stenciled with recycled Reagan campaign slogans. Putin’s internet house-organ has enjoyed an enormous surge in growth and popularity during the Trump era. (e.g.)

RT’s remit is perhaps no more sinister (but certainly no less) than its counterparts like the US Information Service and the State Department. Think of RT as MSNBC (or FOX) operating in the DRPK but with a constrained budget, limited access to talent, and a management composed of CIA operatives.

The following was submitted to RT’s website using the ‘share your comments’ button.

Me? I always have comments.

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Gentlemen and Ladies:

I get the idea about how if you’re able to turn the US into as big of a dumpster fire as Russia that it will facilitate your efforts to continue holding up Mother Russia to your own MAGA class as The Best Dumpster Fire Over All The Rest of The Dumpster Fires. I’ll also admit that it’s not the worst strategy; but let’s face it, that sort of thing didn’t get you guys to the moon first, did it?

Unfortunately, you’re laboring under more than a few misapprehensions about the American character. I’m going to describe the most central one to you. Hacking our computer systems is child’s play when it comes to hacking a MAGA.

Look, the MAGAs are pretty stupid – we all know that – but if you think you’re going to Radio Free Europe them into doing predictably stupid shit you’re in for a rude surprise. Very rude. I’m talking Trotsky spotting that ice axe moments before it sunk into his head. 

You can’t trick people in rural Alabama into doing what you want them to do, every time.  They are as unpredictable as drunk Cossacks. More. To be sure, this time they were with you. But next time, who knows? Figuring these things can be subtle and subtlety is not exactly engrained in the Russian spirit, now is it? My friends, had the hillbillies in South Carolina still been drinking moonshine instead of speed balling oxy and meth – Trump may very well have died on the vine. Did you chess masters consider that when you were putting this whole thing together?

You certainly didn’t give it much thought after you won I imagine. But victory in America is fleeting, gold-precious, and though it occasionally goes to the lucky, usually it goes to the smart. And we have a saying here in the U.S.A. that goes like this:

You were lucky this time.

Fellas, the Manchurian Candidate was a movie script, OK? It’s not going to work more than once. There are too many variables. You boychiks are good at arithmetic, right? Model it out. 

What I’m doing here is warning you that if it feels like you’ve got Billy Bob and Martha Rae figured out, you don’t. If MAGAS could be figured out, we’d have already done it and started making them do what we wanted them to do.

Face it, you lucked out. This is not chess, boys. And you can’t stake your political goals on a bunch of fucking idiots.

Ask Donald Trump.

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2020 Has Demonstrated One Thing

2020 Has Demonstrated One Thing

By Ron Munden — 01/04/2021

COVID-19 has demonstrated one thing — the United States cannot win a war against an adversary — be it a nation or a virus.

This country’s response Covid has been a complete failure.  We have more cases and deaths even though other countries have bigger populations and less resources.

We can say that this is because of poor leadership by President Trump.  While Trump contributed to the failure, he is not the big reason for the failure.

We have met the enemy and it is us — the American people. 

Thank God – World War II was fought by America’s greatest generation.  If my generations and the following generations had been responsible for winning WWII, we would be speaking German today.

COVID demonstrated that today the American people can’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag. 

While the US military is still the best military in the world, that is less than 10% of the country’s population.  Health care workers have done their job  but that is less than 20% of the population.  The rest of us, the majority of the country, have demonstrated we are unfit for duty.

Our COVID failure points out our county’s critical weaknesses:

Lack of Leadership – Trump said he was a war-time president but he did not manage the COVID problem like you would manage a war.  The old saying goes: Lead, follow or get out of the way.  Trump just layed down across the road and went to sleep.

While this was a problem.  A much bigger problem is the attitude of the American people.

To win a war you must be united.  During WWII Americans were united.  Our parents demonstrated character and discipline. There was a spirit of shared sacrifice.  

Today the United States is at war with itself.  Both political parties put party above country. Both parties would rather fight to the death against each other party rather than do something good for the country.

Today rural America is in a war with metropolitan America. 

The hatred of Americans for Americans has never been more intense since the Civil War.

Sadly the pandemic has shown the United States is a nation in decline.  The US is on a trajectory to take it from the World Superpower to the newest banana republic. 

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Roots Music Report chart of Best Acoustic Blues Albums of 2020!

Roots Music Report chart of Best Acoustic Blues Albums of 2020!

Congratulation Steve Howel, Dan Sumner, Jason Weinheimer, David Dodson 

From Steve Howell

Hey! Just got some great news! “Long Ago” #15 and “History Rhymes” #66 made the Roots Music Report chart of Best Acoustic Blues Albums of 2020! This is based on radio airplay reporting. Dan Sumner, Jason Weinheimer, David Dodson, and I are very grateful to all of the DJ’s who played our records this year. More to come once things turn around pandemic-wise.

It Was A Very Strange Year

It Was A Very Strange Year

By Ron Munden — 01/01/2021

Normally during the last week of each year I post “Year In Review” articles on the website.  This year I did not do that because in some ways 2020 did not happen.  To be more precise the last 3-months of 2020 did not happen.

2020 did start off like years always do.  In January and February I shot events on my normal shoot list.  In late February we left for Florida as we have done for the last 5 years.  When I returned in mid-March the world had changed.

By the time I returned to Marshall, all of the events I normally shoot in the Spring had been cancelled.  Cancellations continue through the rest of the year.  My photography year was over.  Normally I shoot between 30,000 and 40,000 images a year.  This year the number was less than 5,000.

In the past I tried to write an article every week or two.  I don’t recall writing any articles in 2020.  I am sure that some of you are now thinking — well at least one good thing happened in 2020.

It was a very bad year for EastTexasExposed.  In a regular year at least 60 percent of the content for the site is driven by event photography.  That went to zero.  I quit writing about the city when they move to virtual meetings.  One thing have we learned for sure is content drives readership.

In early March the site had 3000 to 5000 unique visitors per day.  By September the number had dropped to 500 to 1000 visitors.  While the numbers have improved some in the fourth quarter, the number of visits is still below 2000 visits each day.

So EastTexasExposed.com has a hole to dig out of in 2021.

We have used our time over the last few months to enhance the site:

  • During the last quarter of 2020 we completely rewrote the “php” code for EastTexasExposed.  The code was over 5-year old and badly in need of attention.
  • We have worked to change the graphic mix of the site from 100 percent photos to a mix of photos and videos.  Since surveys show that more people now prefer video, we will continue to increase the video percentage.
  • We have integrated the website with social media including facebook, instagram, youtube, twitter and a WordPress blog.  We feel this will increase our  potential audience.
  • Finally, Dr. Jim Harris allows us to publish his COVID-19 Update daily.  This is a valuable document that should be read by all of us.

In summary, like most people and organizations, 2020 was not a good year for EastTexasExposed.  We recognized that things don’t change overnight.  There is very little difference between December 31, 2020 and January  1, 2021.  All the problems we faced yesterday are in large part still there today.  But there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.  Six to nine months from now we will reach the “new norm.”

Happy New Years 2021!

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Stray thoughts as we start a new year

Stray thoughts as we start a new year

By George Smith — 01/01/2021

Stray thoughts as we start a new year:

— Yo! 2021. What took you so long? 

— At 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1, for the first time ever, everything was truly hindsight 2020.

— Buckle your seatbelts. 2021 won’t be 2020 but then, no other year has been either. One thing is sure: “Different” has been a way of life for almost a year. Everybody is ready, I believe, for a different “different” than the “different” experienced last year.

— if you are a member of the Republican Party, after January 20, you have a decision to make: Are you going to be a traditional “Republican” or join whatever party Trump will form? Either way, your influence in national politics will be severely curtailed.  

If you stay a loyal member of the GOP, you must figure out how to expand your base in order to be relevant; if you are a die-hard MAGAist, you are a cohort of racists, neo-Nazis, crazed evangelists and QAnon conspiracists.

— Remember: There is a difference between a socialist and a democratic socialist. America is a democratic socialist republic. It is. Seriously. Look it up. Go on! Google it!

— If you are tired of old rich men and women like McConnell, Schumer, Pelosi, Collins, Gohmert, et al, gumming up the works of the federal government…we are on the same page.

— Ditto if you believe it is wrong for one person to have the power to prevent a bill, any bill, from coming to a vote so our elected officials have to record a vote.

— Ditto again if you believe that politicians who lie, lie about lying and refuse to own up and label themselves a liar should not only be summarily dismissed from the public position they hold but also should be publicly flogged with a graphite fly rod.

May 2021 be the Year of the Do Right Revolutions, a movement where folks pledge to “do right” in their personal and professional lives.

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