Month: October 2025

No Kings, the Rally Heard ’round the World

by earlthepearl137

Yesterday’s No Kings Rally wasn’t just a protest — it was a reckoning. A mosaic of causes, signs, and voices, all bound together by one unifying thread: We the People have been stirred to action. Not by policy differences. Not by party loyalty. But by the cruelty, the malignant narcissism, and the corrosive influence of Donald Trump.

Fascism began as a Roman metaphor: a bundle of sticks (fasces) symbolizing strength through unity. One stick breaks easily. A bundle resists. Mussolini twisted that into authoritarianism. Hitler weaponized it. And Trump? He tried to make the bundle serve only him — demanding loyalty, punishing dissent, and mocking the vulnerable.

But yesterday, we reclaimed the bundle. Not as a tool of domination, but as a symbol of democratic resistance. Many years ago, Chief Tecumseh taught the same lesson with arrows. The Founders echoed it with E Pluribus Unum. And yesterday, the signs told the story.

The signs and speeches were about:

  • Protecting reproductive freedom
  • Defending LGBTQ+ rights
  • Expanding healthcare access
  • Preserving Social Security and Medicare
  • Combating climate change
  • Supporting veterans and mental health
  • Raising wages and strengthening unions
  • Reforming immigration and criminal justice
  • Fighting voter suppression and gun violence

These weren’t isolated chants. They were verses in a shared anthem: We the People demand better. And we demand it together — because cruelty in power has a way of clarifying what really matters.

And then came the sign that stopped me cold: “They’re eating the Epstein files.”

It wasn’t just funny. It was surgical. A jab at the elite’s appetite for secrecy, distraction, and self-preservation. As the files trickle out, the public appetite for truth grows — and so does the suspicion that someone’s chewing through the evidence.

This wasn’t a rally of factions. It was a rally of fusion. The bundle is back — not in the hands of tyrants, but in the grip of citizens. We’re demanding accountability from Government, and we’re doing it together.

So next time someone asks what the rally was about, tell them this: It was about E Pluribus Unum. It was about We the People. It was about refusing to be ruled by cruel tyrants ever again.

Be there for the next rally.  Courage is contagious.

Peace & Love and all of the above,

Earl

The Department of Vengeance

by earlthepearl137

As America prepares for the No Kings Rally — a celebration of democratic resistance and constitutional humility — it’s worth asking: what kind of kingdom are we resisting?

Recent headlines suggest we’re not just dealing with a president. We’re dealing with a monarch-in-waiting, armed not with a crown, but with a blacklist.

He’s already renamed the Department of Defense the Department of War — now he’s eyeing the Department of Justice for a makeover: the Department of Vengeance.

Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire to punish his political enemies. He’s called himself “your retribution”. He’s floated criminal referrals for Letitia James, who dared to hold him accountable for civil fraud. He’s targeted James Comey and John Bolton, not for crimes, but for defiance. And he’s done it all while testing the waters of public appetite for vengeance — a campaign strategy that doubles as a loyalty test.

This isn’t justice. It’s grievance cosplay.

The so-called Department of Vengeance isn’t a real agency, but it might as well be. Trump’s allies have proposed purges of federal institutions, loyalty oaths for civil servants, and even a new “Department of Government Efficiency” — a euphemism for gutting agencies that don’t kiss the ring.

Let’s be clear: this is not about restoring order.  It’s about rewriting the rules so that dissent becomes disloyalty, and accountability becomes treason.

And yet, the system resists. Grand juries refuse to indict political targets. Judges push back. Juries — those pesky peers — still ask for evidence, not vendettas. The machinery of democracy may be creaky, but it hasn’t collapsed.  Journalists, too, are standing up.  They walked out of the Pentagon after they refused to sign agreements that they would only write approved stories.

So, as we gather for the No Kings Rally, let’s remember: the crown isn’t just a metaphor. It’s a warning. When a leader builds a Department of Vengeance, he’s not just settling scores. He’s auditioning for tyranny.  Trump is a wannabe Fascist, but like John Bolton once said, “To be a fascist, you have to have a philosophy. Trump’s not capable of that. You know, Adolf Hitler wrote a profoundly troubling book called Mein Kampf — My Struggle. Donald Trump couldn’t even read his way all the way through that book, let alone write something like it.”

Nonetheless, Dumb Donnie wants his revenge fantasies. We just want to keep our republic.  Join the rally and help us.

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

Is There Baseball in Heaven?

by earlthepearl137

First we’ll use Spahn, Then we’ll use Sain, Then an off day, Followed by rain. Back will come Spahn, Followed by Sain and followed, we hope, By two days of rain.

That was the Braves’ pitching strategy back in 1948, the year I was born. It was a poetic plan built on two arms and meteorological optimism. It didn’t quite deliver a World Series win, but it gave us one of baseball’s most enduring mantras: trust your aces, pray for rain, and hope the schedule cooperates.

Fast forward to today’s playoffs, and the prayers haven’t stopped — they still go skyward. Every time a slugger hits a home run, he points to the Heavens like he’s communicating with the great batting coach in the sky. The gesture is so common it’s practically part of the batting stance.

And yet…

If God is the Creator of the Universe — galaxies, black holes, cosmic radiation, and the occasional rogue asteroid — is He really tuning in for Game 3 of the ALDS?

The idea that God has a “chosen team” is about as plausible as the Earth being flat. And yet, every October, we get a parade of skyward glances, post-game interviews thanking Jesus for the walk-off double, and fans convinced that their prayers tipped the ump’s call.

So, this playoff season, point to the sky if you must — just know that you may be interrupting a divine Zoom call between God and the Andromeda High Council, where they might be experiencing a severe plumbing problem.

If you’re wondering whether God’s rooting for your team, just check the scoreboard. If you’ve got two starters like Spahn and Sain, and it says “Rain Delay,” that could be your answer.

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

Don’t Believe Me, Just Watch

by earlthepearl137

Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, is most often associated with the quote: “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself.”  Goebbels’ propaganda strategy was repetition, emotional appeal, and the manipulation of public perception.

Jen Psaki recently aired a chilling montage: 36 Sinclair-affiliated newscasters in 36 different cities reciting the same exact script, word for word. It wasn’t a blooper reel—it was a broadcast strategy to “flood the zone” with their message.  “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it.”   Ironically, their message was “We’re concerned about the troubling trend of false news…” Obviously, the irony was lost on them.  What are the odds that 36 different opinion influencers in 36 different cities all had the very same word-for-word opinion about a current problem?  You have better odds of hitting the Powerball Grand Prize. When 36 newscasters in 36 different cities say the same exact thing, it’s not journalism—it’s choreography.

This isn’t just lazy journalism. It’s tactical repetition—a propaganda technique.  Joseph Goebbels believed that if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes truth, not through evidence, but through echo.  The modern Republican messaging follows this blueprint with eerie precision. When a false claim emerges—whether about elections, vaccines, or climate—it’s not debated. It’s deployed. Within hours, the same phrases surface across Fox News, congressional tweets, and local radio. It’s not persuasion. It’s programming.  This isn’t about disagreement. It’s about manufactured consensus. The goal isn’t to win an argument—it’s to flood the zone with noise until truth becomes indistinguishable from fiction.

  • It starts with Centralized Messaging: GOP operatives distribute talking points like marching orders. The purpose is Repetition Over Reason: The same phrases—“weaponized DOJ,” “rigged election,” “woke indoctrination”—are repeated ad nauseam.  Then comes the Emotional Anchoring: Lies are tied to fear, patriotism, or outrage, bypassing logic and triggering tribal loyalty.  The final step is to Flood the Zone. Currently, the Republicans are blaming the government shutdown on Democrats. Not with nuance, not with evidence, but with a synchronized chant: “Democrats are shutting down the government to give billions in healthcare to illegal aliens.” It’s an outrageous lie. A loud, coordinated, cynical lie. But it’s everywhere—on cable news, in press releases, across social media. The goal isn’t persuasion. It’s saturation. “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself.” 

This isn’t new. But the scale, speed, and shamelessness of its practitioners are unprecedented.

When truth becomes optional, democracy becomes ornamental. Plato warned that unchecked rhetoric leads to tyranny. Goebbels promoted it. And today’s Republican echo chamber is actually proving that it works in real time.  They were able to get a twice impeached, convicted rapist and felon elected to the highest office by spreading lies without caring if they were true or not, “They’re eating the dogs!”

We don’t need censorship. We need media literacy, moral clarity, and the courage to call the repetition of lies what it really is: a weapon.

“Don’t believe me, just watch.”

Bigger than Kimmel: Psaki shows what’s really behind the comedian’s suspension

If you don’t want to hear the entire story, fast forward 5 minutes into the video to get to the reveal.

If you’re disappointed that this post was all about Propaganda instead of Bruno Mars, I included the Bruno Mars video to make you feel better.

Mark Ronson – Uptown Funk (Official Video) ft. Bruno Mars

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl