PA News Update

My cousin works the polls in PA. She has been for decades. She just messaged me, and said that it has been the highest voter turnout she has ever seen thus far. Out of hundreds and hundreds of voters, she said only five were wearing maga hats.

Water Poll (Oh!)

The lines in the grocery store were longer than usual. My usual attempt at humor -- asking "Is this the express line? I don't want to be here after the expiration date passes on my groceries" went either unnoticed or not appreciated. I was listening to two guys ahead of me talking about the levels of toxins in the water supplies of their town. Then the brother of a good friend, in the next line over, asked me if I had voted yet? I said that I had. This resulted in a shift in conversation between the two guys ahead of me, both really old men, though not quite as old as me. Both were saying how much they despised the sociopathic felon.

On a side note: my last OP, titled "They Are Scared," included a post by someone or another who hinterd my contributions to this site are somehow limited by DU's TOS. That posts are very different from those he reads on other sites, including those of a republican nature. I'm not concerned with "other" Democratic sites he may read, much less the republican ones. I say exactly what I think. Below please find another example of republican fear that Democrats are going to knock the stuffing out them, and not just at the top of the ticket:


https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/01/texas-justice-department-election-monitors/

They Are Scared

"Fear is ugly because it makes you irrational. Fear makes you jump to conclusions. Fear makes you reactionary." -- David Heinemeier Hansson

"Men feared witches and burnt women." -- Louis D. Brandeis


In the closing week of this presidential contest, I have had the opportunity to communicate with old friends and relatives -- including with a couple that are sadly in the maga cult. Among the Democrats, there is primarily confidence, though there is a bit of anxiety and frustration. But both of the sociopathic felon's followers display the classic and very unattractive features associated with fear.

People who are not afraid do not try to set fires in ballot boxes.
https://www.newsweek.com/map-shows-locations-where-ballot-boxes-have-been-set-fire-1976975

People who are not afraid do not carry weapons in an attempt to intimidate voters.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=19629572

Sociopathic convicted felons who are not afraid don't file their projections in court.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219630148


I got a letter from the County Board of Elections today. It read, in part, that they received my mail-in ballot, and "upon receipt, for both envelopes, the mailing envelope and the mailin , there appears to be some tampering where the enveloped were sealed. Both envelopes seem to have been opened and then taped to reseal them.

I live in a majority republican county. Independents are the next largest group, followed by Democrats. So I'm pleased that those CBE are honest, and sent me another ballot. And it is already in the mail.

I spoke with a lot of relatives and friends today. They go from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, and lots of places in between. All are Democrats, and have ben politically active for many, many years. One aunt was Rep. Matt McHugh's top aide back in the day (1975 through 1993). Districts are different today, but I am happy that it appears like Josh Riley will beat Rep. Marc Molinaro in their rematch in the 19th.

Media 2.5

“If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” -- Malcolm X

The Washington Post: Part 9

Yesterday, after coordinating with my cousin to work in the county seat and two villages to get out the vote, I was tired. This old bag of bones can't put in as many hours a day as I could, say, a mere 40 years ago. So I was wishing I was young and strong enough to do more.

Suddenly, and without warning, the dog started barking with wild abdomen, as she always does the very few times a vehicle pulls up my long driveway. She is convinced that anyone and everyone who stops is here to play with her. But it was a young lady, I would guess college-aged, with some campaign stuff in her left hand.

She was going around encouraging Democrats to get out the vote. She said that this was the third county in rural, upstate New York that she has been working in today. We agreed that it is essential that we win in November.

I thanked her for her work, and said that we will win because of her effort.

My Hometown

"Every Bombed Village is my Hometown."
by James Baldwin


"And every dead child is my child.
Every grieving mother is my mother.
Every crying father is my father.
Every home turned to rubble
is the home I grew up in.
Every brother carrying the remains
of his brother across borders
is my brother.
Every sister waiting for a sister
who will never come home
is my sister.

Every one of these people are ours,
just like we are theirs.
We belong to them
and they belong to us."


In the past 24 hours, I have listened to an extended family member who is furious with his siblings' greed as they settle their parents' estate; wonderful friends despairing the thought of the felon "winning" the election; a psychologist that used to be a co-worker nauseated by maga christian nationalists who have managed to mange the teachings of Jesus; and read comments by some people I once knew, on facebook, resulting in the first verse of Zimmerman's "Slow Train" to play in my mind; and I just got off the phone after taking a Public Policy poll.

While I am 100% confident that VP Harris will win the upcoming election -- despite organized efforts by republicans to steal it in several states -- I do have concerns about the post-election environment. For winning the election alone will not, and simply can not, resolve the diseases of anxiety, fear, hatred, and violence that will still saturate our society in 2025.

In the past 24 hours, I have been thinking a lot about this. Those ideas were in large part expressed in the above work of the late James Baldwin, which appeared like magic on facebook this morning. I was introduced to Baldwin's writings long ago, while I was in junior high school, by my English teacher. Half a century later, I encountered her at a neighbor's picnic. She approached me and said that while she couldn't remember my name, I had impressed her as the only 8th grader who "got" Baldwin. So when my Good Friend Lisa posted this on facebook, I said I needed to borrow it.

Until the day that many more Good People grasp exactly what Baldwin was saying, our society cannot reach Higher Ground.

H2O Man

The McColi

Positive Vibrations

"When one gazes upon the psychopath, there is less there than meets the eye."
J. Reid Meloy; 2001


Dr. Reid Meloy was the top student of Dr. Robert Hare, who created the Psychopathy Checklist in the 1970s. Meloy served as the prosecution's expert withness in numerous high-profile cases such as Richard Allen Davis's for murdering Polly Klass. I was thinking of some of his writings the other day, when I wrote my last OP.

(That OP was only read by three people, two where begging didn't work, so I had to promise to pay them. The checks are bouncing through the mail now. However, likely only college students are studying Meloy's study on the number of sociopaths drawn to become ministers. I'd think it is about the same with politics. When a sociopath is worshipped like the felon, by a large number of his suporters, it poses a severe threat to society.)

Now let us gaze upon the sociopathic felon currently running for president. There is less to him than meets the mind's eye. Of course, there is the nonsense, intended only to distract. Things like his serving the Arnold Whopper w/tiny mushroom at McDonalds. Other than that, to attract voters, he is limited to lies to induce fears and hatreds.

While he does that dance, his campaign -- both foreign and domestic -- will step up in their attempts to create doubt among those who support the Harris/ Walz ticket. Doubt. That's all they've got. Don't fall for that shit. Because without a doubt, we will win. So if you either see or feel a shadow of a doubt creeping about, listen to this song as needed:

Projection & Cults

" I mean, what is racism? Racism is a projection of our own fears onto another person. What is sexism? It's our own vulnerability about our potency and masculinity projected as our need to subjugate another person, right? Fascism, the same thing: People are trying to untidy our state, so I legislate as a way of controlling my environment." -- Gary Ross


I think the above quote serves as a good description of why so many previously sane people have joined the maga cult. The key word, in my opinion, is "projection." Let's do a quick review of the ways in which "projection" is understood in the field of psychology, shall we?

It was Freud who first used the term in 1895, to describe a defensive method for avoiding having to confront one's own shame. Jung would then apply it as a way to deal with fear. In many cases, people are prone to projecting archetypal concepts upon the unknown. This is an effort to create a more organized, predictable world -- at least in their minds.

In more recent years, projection is understood to have benefits, not limited to being a purely defensive mechanism. Students of Joseph Campbell on mythology and religion have learned this. Campbell told a story that I will attempt to tie in later here ..... he was approached by a smiling, long-haired young fellow, who told him that he was Jesus. The story had to do with a talk on schizophrenia. From this, I will say that it is important to recognize that an individual's personality characteristics how they are prone to project. (Also, from the era of the setting, I've long wondered if the youth might have been a college student who was taking LSD.)

When we consider a person's personality characteristics, an important feature is their "locus of control." This has to do with one's confidence that they can exert control over many or most life circumstances. Obviously, no one can control everything, as evidenced by hurricanes to other people's illness or death, or to a relationship with a partner/spouse. But one can control to how they respond to life's events.

Those with an external locus are convinced they have little ability to influence or control events in their lives. They are sure they are victims of circumstance in most every area of their daily life. Thus, rather than responding to life, they are limited to reacting in an Eeyore fashion. We need not concentrate on them here today.

The other extreme is known as narcissistic personality disorder. This is a feature found in, for example, the sociopathic felon on the republican ticket. We know he thinks he can will things into being. Thus, he thought he could steal the 2020 election. Fortunately, Jack Smith is working to convince him otherwise.

Most people have a locus of control somewhere in the center. Mature adults tend to know both what they are capable of, as well as their limitations. However, when their life circumstances change in ways beyond their control, over a period of years or decades, their locus often shifts. And often that is a negative.

Let's consider a sub-group in American society. Any one will do. Let's go with white men, who have had racist and sexist beliefs. Believe it or not, they do exist. A number of things cause anxiety for them, including the price of groceries and gasoline. Suddenly, not only are they angry that they see a gay couple on television, or an increase in non-white people living in their once white-as-a-klansman's-sheet community ..... but the Democratic Party is running a black woman for president.

The best example of negative projection is that they identify the sociopathic felon as their super hero. He represents all they want to do and be. In their minds, he is their "perfected self." Thus, this summer, when a reporter questioned some white christian nationalist, they said they liked the felon more than Jesus, who they called "weak."

When we look at followers of various religious faiths, we find the same type of projection. Thus, we find as many versions of Jesus -- not the historical figure, a rabbi who taught guidelines for individual spiritual growth (or, for college freshmen, not the one who didn't exist) -- but the one found in the gospels and stained-glass windows. The one who laid down strict rules, but forgives your every sin. He, too, is a person's projection of their "perfected self."

I hope this provides some insight on why so many people join cults. And on why it is so important that we crush the largest and most dangerous cult in America today.

Poll/ Survey

Hello:

Today I would like to take what some might call a poll, and others a survey. As always when I attempt to do so, there is no "right" or "wrong" answer.

1: do you trust the polling being reported on the Harris vs felon contest?

2: Have you been called to answer questions about who you plan to vote for in the upcoming elections (including Senate, House, and/or local elections?

3: If so, were you called on a land line or cell phone?

4: Approximately how many people do you know that have been called to take a poll?

5: Have you voted yet?

Thank you to any/all that respond.
H2O Man