Last night, our parish decided to add a prayer to the list of prayers we say at every mass. This prayer was for us to give us wisdom to choose the candidate that would best bring about the kingdom of God. They added a bit about choosing the candidates that would serve the needs of the people and not look to be served.

I was struck by two things there. First, none of the candidates were mentioned by name. No parties were mentioned as the preferred party. That was obviously left up to us. Secondly, I know some candidates immediately came to mind and that is particularly true when the idea of serving vs. being served was mentioned. I also know that everyone else in the congregation had the same amount of certainty, but their certainty might be different than mine.

This brings us to the real topic of the day. What do we do on November 6th? Obviously, we can assume that the results will not be known immediately because right wing activists won’t allow the results to be clear by that point. I hate to sound like a partisan hack, but the right is the only group claiming the elections are rigged and fighting the results.

We are scared. We are frightened. We want to figure out how to defend ourselves. Some of us will likely flee to another country. Some will buy a firearm or some other tool to defend their home in the worst of cases. Others may attempt to move off the grid to protect their family.

We do this because we are scared. We are scared because of the rampant disinformation that we see about everything. I’ve gone over that too. If you constantly are bombarded with bullshit it is hard not to get activated by it. One of two things is bound to happen. Either you start to believe it or you know it is wrong and hearing it repeated makes you more and more angry.

When I go through confirmation classes I usually read something called “The Missing Piece” by Shel Silverstein. Essentially, the idea is that each of us is broken in some way. We aren’t quite whole. However, that brokenness comes with advantages in the story. You are able to stop and smell the roses or talk to a bug. When you are complete you can’t do those things.

Yet, the moral to the story is that this brokenness only gets healed when we find the missing piece. That missing piece is other people. The hardest lesson to learn and the most important lesson to learn is that there are truly very few bad people in this world. Most of them are just not a fit for us in that moment. Being unfit for us doesn’t make them bad. It just means they are a better fit for someone else.

Good leaders understand this basic principle. We are flawed when we separate ourselves and isolate ourselves. We are perfect when we work together. The tragedy of the last decade is that we have allowed someone to divide us and isolate us. We each carry some responsibility for putting ourselves in this predicament and we each carry some responsibility to get ourselves out of this hole.

It starts by hopefully moving on from this period on November 6th. As I sit here, I don’t know what the end result will be. Either we will start putting the pieces back together or we will find our missing pieces somewhere else. This current America cannot stand. It will not stand. We will be different on November 6th. Whether it is for the best or not remains to be seen.

Author’s Note: My break was short-lived. Thanks to everyone for their positive thoughts and understanding. I’ve decided this is much too important to stay on the sidelines for too long.

What I’ve noticed in the course of my lifetime is a sharp rise in political violence. The funny thing is that violence has been used as a cudgel to propose undemocratic remedies to solve a problem one side is more responsible for than the other. It is a classical move by autocratic regimes. You get people to fear something by doing it yourself and then turn around and say that you have the solution.

I could cite any number of sources but this one tells the story pretty cleary. Inside there is a figure that runs from 2000 to 2019. Inside the figure you will notice that they track violence from environmentalists, religious fanatics, far left, far right, and single issue actors. As late as 2019, far right actors accounted for more than 50 single attacks in the United States. Since the age of Trump, only right wing and single issue actors account for any significant increase. Far left actors accounted for far fewer than ten attacks. Religious actors saw a spike in 2016 over ten, but have since dropped. Environmentalists saw a big spike at the turn of the century but have since dropped to nearly zero.

I immediately did some research and found this site that completely refutes that left wing violence is a major thing. It broke down political violence into left wing, right wing, and Islamic. It broke down violence along other lines as well, so it is a very informative read. For our purposes it broke down ideological violence with 59 percent being right wing violence, 23 percent left wing violence, and between 17 and 18 percent being Islamic.

When people are threatened they immediately go into fight or flight. It’s a natural visceral reaction. Some might call it the lizard brain, but in any respects the rational side of our brains shut down and we immediately become like a cornered animal. If we believe we are constantly in danger and we are told that the other side is doing it then we are naturally going to think we need to defend ourselves.

Add in a little homophobia, xenophobia, and racism and it becomes a dangerous cocktail ready to explode. People are being bombarded with messaging that there is an invasion coming from the southern border where people are coming for your jobs, money, and they are bringing dangerous drugs designed to hook and kill your children and grandchildren.

What we see is a cognitive disconnect. All reports are that people believe crime is on the rise when it is actually the exact opposite. Former president Trump has even coined a phrase that he calls “migrant crime.” The facts don’t support him there. Yet, we see for any number of people that facts don’t seem to matter.

So, when the right is sold an overwhelming dose of fear and we know they are more likely to react violently you will understand why many of us on the left are scared. We are being sold as the enemy and there is ever-increasing rhetoric that tells people that we must eliminate the enemy through any means necessary.

There are countless examples of people believing they were safe up until the moment they weren’t. Political violence is on the upswing and it isn’t us committing the violence. The fact that many seem to think so is terrifying. The signs and evidence is out there for everyone to see. I can only hope and pray that a majority of us come to our senses and come to our senses fast.

These days usually creep up on all of us and that is no less true for days where we disagree on the meaning. Last year, a bunch of MAGAs decided to invade the capitol in hopes of derailing the certification of the 2020 election. These are the facts and yet a number of people still want to dispute them. Millions of people are trapped in what we might call an information silo.

If you have lived in Texas for any length of time you have seen a silo. My mother’s hometown had those outside the city limits. Of course, we could scarcely call her hometown a city. There were only about 5000 residents. In this case, the silos were responsible for holding and sifting through rice. Unless you really know what you’re doing, you should never go inside a silo. The impending result could be disastrous.

It’s in this backdrop that we address the news that the House January 6th committee wants to hear from Sean Hannity. The Fox “News” night time host apparently was involved in text messaging with Mark Meadows prior to, during, and after the events of January 6th. We already know he’s involved. The question is how much more involved was he than what we already know through the text messaging.

Since 2007, 80 people have died in silos around the country. Usually they are teenage boys that should know better but don’t. The process is downright frightening. When you are inside you can suddenly be engulfed with whatever the silo is sifting through. It’s quick and deadly. You can’t just be pulled out. It usually requires heavy machinery and in some cases they can’t get to you in time.

The term “information silo” is particularly apt in this case. Sources like Fox News and talk radio have been broadcasting for over 30 years. If you get inundated with enough bile, it is impossible to simply extricate yourself or someone you know from that life. We can trace these information silos back to the eradication of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987.

Hannity has become the newest symbol for this, but he might not even be the most guilty party. However, the notion of a media member participating in an insurrection is downright frightening. Yet, the relationship between Fox and their hosts is fascinating to say the least. Hannity is represented, but he isn’t represented by any attorneys working for Fox. He is being represented by one of Donald Trump’s former attorneys. It brings to mind that whole notion about two masters and what not.

So, Fox both promotes Hannity (along with Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham) and then distances themselves from him at the same time. They do the same with the others as well (particularly Carlson). It’s almost as if they know how dangerous the silo has become. When the monster becomes self-aware we have broken through the fourth wall. When you consider just the amount of malarkey that Fox spews it is easy to see how 25 percent of the public can think the events of last January 6th were just another day in paradise. Watch enough Fox News and you can find yourself trapped in an alternative reality. It really is just like a silo.

Okay, I stumbled on this one on the news today. For those that don’t want to go beyond the paywall can see the same story here and in other locations I’m sure. It was featured on the news here locally and thankfully for you and I, some intrepid journalists snuck into the legal proceedings and made a recording. Following is the transcript from the original court battle.

Plaintiff: Your honor, that them doctor over there is refusing to give my gramps the dewormer medication for his Covid.

Judge: Is this true (gestures to defendant)?

Defendant: Yes, your honor. That treatment has not been vetted by experts and we decided after consulting with our experts that another treatment…(interrupted by plaintiff).

Plaintiff: Your honor, my cousin Rufus works at the “Stop N Shop” over there in Cleveland. He sent me a video on the YouTubes how that “I” stuff cures the Covids. The video proves it and everything.

Judge: Do you have this video handy?

Plaintiff: Let me look on my Facebook……yup, I got it.

Defendant: You cannot be serious.

Judge: (after watching video) As serious as a heart attack. I’m convinced. Give him the dewormer.

Defendant: And you got your medical degree from (trails off)? 

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We protect the identity of our sources, so they will remain anonymous for now. Of course, some might question the exact verbiage above and that’s fine, but the judge did order the hospital to give him the medication he requested. Of course, given that the state doesn’t want to allow women and doctors to make decisions for their own health, I guess the jurisprudence works out. Still, I think someone should check the judge for brain activity. Whoever that is, it better not be a doctor. Apparently they aren’t qualified to make medical decisions now.

Note:  COVID-19 vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective and protect recipients from contracting the virus or greatly reducing symptoms if they did.  Serious reactions to the vaccines are very low.  The risk of serious illness or death from the virus far outweighs the risk of serious negative reactions to the vaccine.  The vaccine is our only hope for coming out of the endless waves of infection as the virus mutates.

Yesterday, Kay Ivey, conservative Republican governor of Alabama, finally said it:

There’s not much that Ivey says that I agree with, but I do agree 100% with this.  She along with many other governors, public health officials and the millions of responsible vaccinated people are fed up with the idiocy and irresponsibility of other millions of Americans’ not doing their part to stop the pandemic that has killed 600,000 Americans and infected millions.

I’m certainly fed up and believe it’s long past time to start shaming people who cling to bullshit conspiracy theories, religious dogma, and just plain old garden variety stupidity in resisting receiving the vaccine which is safe, effective, easily obtainable and FREE.  For fuck’s sake, folks, we’re now well into the fourth wave of infection and death and almost ALL of those falling ill and dying are unvaccinated.  What else do you need to convince you to get the vaccine?

We all know who to blame for politicizing science, vilifying scientists, and fomenting all of the divisiveness and fear.  It ranges from right wing talking heads, governors, local and state representatives, national representatives, and religious nuts, ending up at the feet of Trump.  The anti-vaccine hysteria will always be with us, especially with liars like Joseph Mercola, an Osteopath and the largest individual purveyor of vaccine lies to sell his “natural” cures.  He is number one in the “Disinformation Dozen”, the 12 most prolific spreaders of lies about COVID-19 and the vaccines.  Their misinformation is cynical, immoral, and is getting people killed.  The fact that they are profiting from it is inexcusable.

It’s time for normal, responsible Americans to start calling out and shaming those who peddle or support the spread of bullshit and who refuse to be vaccinated.  We need to stop the soft-peddling of “vaccine hesitancy” because that hesitancy is based on lies, distortions, and outright falsehood and it’s simply got to stop.  If you know someone you do business with is anti-vax, stop doing business with them and tell them why.  I recently did that with my dentist when I discovered he’s anti-vax.  If you have a family member who refuses, tell them you won’t see them until they get vaccinated.  If nothing else has worked, maybe this will.  If not, you don’t need to be exposed to that kind of stupidity.   I know it’s hard, but it’s time.  We’re not coming out of this until we get to herd immunity, and worse, the virus will continue to mutate into more contagious and possible deadly strains as it propagates.

Societies who don’t look after one another die.  Our society is in danger of suffering years of infection, economic strife and death driven by anti-vaxxers who callously inflict their stupidity on everyone else.