“In practice,” wrote Edward Bernays, “if all men had to study for themselves the abstruse economic, political, and ethical data involved in every question, they would find it impossible to come to a conclusion about anything.” In his classic book, Propaganda, Bernays not only acknowledges, but defends a “hidden government” which manipulates the populace using the techniques of mass marketing...
Making notes at the Mesa public library, sitting at one of the rectangle desks. A large, old white guy comes in, and walks towards the tables. He approaches another gentleman on my left, who’s reading a book. “Hotter than hell,” says the large guy. He’s right, even though it’s only a 103 out there. Without saying anything else, he tells the man: “Grab an AR-15, start shooting some people.” I put...
The 2022 midterm elections are here. For the last couple weeks, in the state of Arizona, the Democratic incumbent, Mark Kelly, has been neck-and-neck with his challenger, Blake Masters. Everyone is very excited about Masters becoming “the new senator from Arizona!” Kelly, we know, is the astronaut whose wife, Gabrielle, was shot in the head by a psychotic madman more than a decade ago. But who is...
On the 16th and 17th of September – a Friday and Saturday – Charlie Kirk and his organization, Turning Point USA, hosted an event in Phoenix, which was called “Defeating the Great Reset.” Hey, I thought, that’s what I want to do. I told my publisher about it. He decided to pay my way – and his, which I didn’t know about until the day of. “Car pool?” Sure, why not. The first day started in the...
Just a few short years ago, when one went to a gas station, one could see the happy or at least content faces of people at the pump filling up their tanks. The Trump presidency, for all its drama and guffaws, oversaw steady gas prices that usually stayed between $2.25 and $3.00. During the worst days of the pandemic, gas prices occasionally dropped down to a buck-fifty; when people are not...
We log in and the notifications alight Now we must click to the most ferocious of fights There, on the screen, is the race to be right A quick search on Google and the answer is there Someone else chimes in, no time to be fair Back and forth, citation and study Don’t bother to read them, it’s just not necessary But what data is truest, we must know for sure An expert starts typing, some deep...
What went through the mind of the first primate that realized its body would soon decay and die? Likely, that fear found itself into our very DNA, something horrific but true which must immediately be screamed about at the top of the nearest mountain. Even if lesser-evolved animals share with us the ability to understand their own mortality, could they build upon that epiphany, to then conjure up...
The gravelly female voice comes through the radio with all the steady, dull energy of an emergency broadcast. She needs to inform us of the latest bad news. At the moment, there’s a lot of it. People are flushing massive amounts of non-flushable wipes down their toilets, which is clogging up the pipes and sewers. A couple new celebrities have announced that they’ve tested positive for the virus...
It’s said that acupuncture works for some people. Years ago, the acupuncturist that I had come to know somewhat well had done wonders for my anxiety. I needed to see him again for this head pressure. For some reason, he had to move his office to Highland Park, much closer to LA. It was going to be a mission then. Probably take all day. Temperature outside read something like 97, and it wasn’t...
My family decided to preserve our deceased dog. Along with an urn full of his ashes, we would have one of his paws imprinted on a piece of clay. Shadow would remain in the household, even if only as dust and rock. A few days after the fatal attack, I went back over to the animal hospital to pick up the sepulchral objects. “Thank you,” I said solemnly to the young lady after she handed me the...
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