tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87569949298740092372024-03-14T00:46:48.265-05:00Sassafras GazetteThat's my two cents...keep the change!Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.comBlogger289125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-31078620393991137512023-12-29T12:00:00.018-06:002023-12-29T13:30:01.123-06:00'Tis (Not) Season For Grinchy Humbugs<div><span style="font-family: arial;">Several years ago, I decided to no longer own an automobile as it seemed ridiculous to pay for and maintain something only sporadically used. As such, I mainly walk or ride the bus, occasionally renting a vehicle or using a ride-sharing service when necessary. Of course, this assuredly will change and I will rejoin the great American car culture in the near future. Riding the bus, I have observed that typically everyone keeps to themselves and desires to be left alone - a sentiment I fully embrace and understand - with their faces buried either in their phone, tablet or other gadget. To my point - and this equally pertains to social media as well - although we are all connected in our modern lives, are we really communicating with each other? It is not baseless to believe that this undoubtedly is a contributing factor to society's current ills, to say the least.<br /><br />Oftentimes, my general aversion of people and overall disdain for humanity is misconstrued as an outright, if not perchance irrational, loathing of both. However, it is quite to the contrary - for the most part. This attitude stems mainly from the study of history and the harrowing atrocities of which individuals and groups alike have been capable of throughout it - and that their contemporary equivalents continue to perpetuate, frustrating any potential wasted by such actions. Having landed on the Moon in 1969, there measurably should be a permanent colony on it by now - if not beyond on the outer reaches of our solar system - to further explore the fundamentals of existence. Instead, humanity continues to devise ways to annihilate itself from existence on this singular body we zealously remind ourselves as our only home.<br /><br />Like countless others of a certain age, I grew up watching Bob Barker and <i><a href="https://priceisright.com/">The Price Is Right</a></i> - especially on those glorious mornings home “sick” from school. During that one hour of the day, you cheer on and root for strangers to win. This is partly the reason I still tune in: the hope that it inspires. Hope not only for individual contestants but for humanity as a whole to succeed. Mr. Barker's genial and considerate demeanor exuded a lot of this optimistic sentiment, passionate in his encouragement toward everyone appearing on the game show; Drew Carey, of course, continues the custom in his own animated and kind way. Imagine if that message would extend past that hour, though, and engulf the world, desperately in need of it, beyond a television screen? One can dream, as many have before.<br /><br />Merry Christmas and, hopefully, a Happy New Year. To, and especially for, all mankind.<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>©2023 Steve Sagarra</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-66468552880847999262023-08-11T12:00:00.008-05:002023-08-11T12:00:00.139-05:00Truth Lost in Divisive Acrimony<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.</i>” -Friedrich Nietzsche</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Society has become a discordant cult of petulant grievance mongers. Deviancy is normalized and sanctioned, while normalcy is considered deviant. Lawful citizens are relegated and superseded for illegal immigrants, unrepentant criminal offenders prioritized over helpless victims. Compliance to this status quo is unconditionally mandatory, any dissent perceived as specious heresy by an aggrieved class that perpetuates the endless cycle through lies and manipulation. The situation is maddening to the point of insanity in a progressively self-inflicted, if not deliberate, cultural suicide.<br /><br />Those in power, even the most benevolently intended, always have ruled by feeding off anxiety and fear - especially those who tout doing so in order to preserve and save a way of life. Whether either from benign or catastrophic forces, circumstances often will present the scenario ripe for exploitation by duplicitous individuals and groups to whom it can, and will, opportunely benefit. All of these efforts supposedly are meant not only to rescue civilization from itself, but most especially from ourselves. This faction are the alarmist mongers, whose main purpose is to incite and exhort the aforementioned grievance mongers and other blocs.<br /><br />A culpable mainstream media that is not objective in its reporting serves only to exasperate the problem. Self-serving “journalists,” i.e. propaganda mongers, conspicuously regurgitate narratives that supposedly corroborate questionable news stories rather than investigate them to their impartial conclusion. These are the new mythmakers. Ancient civilizations created mythologies to describe and understand the world in which they were born; maybe those myths were true, maybe they were only stories told with no basis. Either way, they created the necessary effect in their own time: power over and control of the masses coerced to believe in them by those who interpreted and relayed their meaning.<br /><br />One might predict, if not hope, there exists a sensible majority of voters who have grown weary of this frustrating state of affairs. The question being is this in itself simply based on contending grievances, fears or propaganda? Or is it legitimately a disquieting actuality brought about by the combined three? As T.S. Eliot noted, though, “humankind cannot bear very much reality.” While curiosity may well be fatal to inquisitive felines, apathy regarding the grander scheme behind both domestic and world events nevertheless is, and will be, equally destructive. As such, humanity must restore truthfulness in spite of its more acrimonious inclinations.<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>©2023 Steve Sagarra</i></span><br /></div>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-10192231198376834212023-07-18T09:00:00.008-05:002023-07-18T09:00:00.141-05:00Atom, and the Eve of Destruction [A #TBT Post]<div><span style="font-family: arial;">Heading to your local theater to watch Christopher Nolan's latest epic movie, <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15398776/">Oppenheimer</a></i>? For your consideration, I present a quick refresher - or perhaps brand new information if you are unfamiliar with the subject - on the basic historical context of the upcoming film. [Note: Originally written by me for a now-defunct startup reference website in 2007, and titled, "Making the Atomic Bomb: Alamogordo and the Road to Nuclear Armament." All grammatical and typographical errors have been left intact as originally written and formatted.]<br /><br /> On July 16, 1945, the United States detonated the first atomic bomb near Alamogordo, New Mexico, at the Alamogordo Test Range. In an area of the <i>Jornada del Muerto</i> Valley designated Trinity Site, the successful test was the culmination of years of scientific research.<br /> Throughout the 1930s, politicians and scientists, spurred by new discoveries in atomic theory, debated the theoretical plausibility of an atomic bomb. By 1939, American and British scientists began investigating the creation of such a weapon, particularly in light of Germany’s alleged ambitions to develop a bomb of their own. That same year, physicists Leo Szilárd and Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging the United States to build the weapon before Germany. Working with several expatriate European scientists, the U.S. government prioritized its development.<br /> However, efforts did not move forward until 1942, when transferred under the authority of the U.S. Army as the Manhattan Project. The top military leader in charge, General Leslie R. Groves, oversaw all major aspects of the project at the three main facilities in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Hanford, Washington, which manufactured the atomic materials, and Los Alamos, New Mexico, which served as the technical laboratory. Groves selected theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer for scientific director of the project, noting his scientific intellect, tactful manner, and previous work on several aspects of the bombs development prior to his appointment.<br /> Working out of the top-secret Los Alamos, Oppenheimer and his scientific teams focused on the design and material needed to create a nuclear chain reaction. In conjunction with such notables as Szilárd, who formulated the reaction concept in 1933, Enrico Fermi, and Niels Bohr, numerous scientists from around the country dedicated themselves to the project. They explored several concepts, with little practicality in their application. Confident a uranium-based bomb would work, two fission designs were proposed: one utilizing enriched uranium and the other its newly discovered derivative plutonium.<br /> For the more complicated plutonium device, physicist Seth Neddermeyer, working off earlier proposals from others, posited the use of an “implosion technique”: a ball of plutonium at the weapon’s core imploded to a supercritical state by conventional high explosives, setting off the desired chain reaction. Oppenheimer, seeing merit in the idea, shifted focus to its development. By July 1945, a team that included chemist George Kistiakowsky, mathematician John von Neumann, and physicists Robert Christy and Edward Teller, readied a device, nicknamed “the Gadget.”<br /> Due to uncertainties in its capabilities, Groves and Oppenheimer agreed it necessary to test the Gadgets’ military usability. Under a veil of secrecy and morning thunderstorms, the plutonium-based bomb was detonated at Trinity on July 16 at 5:29 a.m. local time. The result was an explosion equivalent to 19 kilotons of TNT, creating a crater 10 feet deep and over 1,000 feet wide. By all accounts, it illuminated the surrounding landscape brighter than daylight for a few brief seconds. The mushroom cloud caused by the explosion extended nearly eight miles into the sky, while the resulting shockwave traveled as far as 100 miles. Noting the accomplishment, Oppenheimer stated simply, “It worked.” (He would later recall reflecting privately on a passage in the Hindu scripture, <i>Bhagavad Gita</i>: “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”)<br /> President Harry S. Truman quickly authorized the use of the new weapon against Japan, whom the United States had been at war with for the past three and a half years. Truman’s top advisors, fearing major casualties in a proposed invasion of mainland Japan, concluded such action to be the best solution in ending hostilities between the two nations with minimal Allied losses. On August 6, a U.S. Army Air Force B-29 bomber, the <i>Enola Gay</i>, dropped the first of two bombs – the uranium-based “Little Boy” – on Hiroshima, Japan. Japan’s refusal to comply with surrender terms resulted in a second – similar in composition as the Trinity test bomb and codenamed “Fat Man” – being dropped on Nagasaki three days later. Due to the devastation caused, Japan formally surrendered to the Allies on August 15, 1945, ending World War II.<br /> Reactions to the bombings were immediate and mixed. While proponents celebrated the triumphal victory, critics questioned their necessity against an ostensibly defeated enemy. Some regarded them as unmitigated revenge for Pearl Harbor, while others saw them as a propaganda tool against the Russians. Whichever interpretation of the bombings one chooses, the Trinity test prior to them had irrevocably signaled an uncertain new era. Unbeknownst at the time, it became a means for ending one war and a symbol of a yet-undefined one — “the Cold War” — with the Soviet Union.<br /><br />References:<br /><br />Frank, David. <i>Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire</i>. Penguin Publishing, 2001.<br /><br />Los Alamos National Laboratory History Homepage. “Project Y.” n.d. <http://www.lanl.gov/history/atomicbomb/index.shtml> (6 June 2007)<br /><br />McKain, Mark, ed. <i>Making and Using the Atomic Bomb</i>. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003.<br /><br />Rhodes, Richard. <i>The Making of the Atomic Bomb</i>. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.<br /><br />Takaki, Ronald T. Hiroshima: <i>Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb</i>. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1995.<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>©2023 Steve Sagarra</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-51665607829192845652022-12-31T18:00:00.016-06:002022-12-31T18:00:00.193-06:00For Old Times' Sake<p><span style="font-family: arial;">After recently attending my latest high school reunion - like many events last few years, delayed and rescheduled due to the pandemic - two important lessons were realized. One, there is plenty yet to learn about your dearest, closest friends you may have known for decades. Two, we can haunt and torment ourselves for years with lamentable experiences and corrosive sentiments from our past that no one cares to recall or even remembers. Leaving behind the chaos and uncertainty that has consumed the world felt nice as we reminisced and reconnected. Seemed like cherished olden days that night without having missed a beat, if only for a moment.<br /><br />What is particular, yet certainly not solely unique, to my graduating class is the diversity and camaraderie among us that has existed since at least junior high school if not beyond. That youthful period is when the majority of our extended friendships, and loves, ignited that still persist and thrive today. This is not to say that we exist in a vacuum without internal stratification. While each of us might have our specific groups, there always has been a consistent and harmonious intermingling, as personally experienced and observed, beyond those confines without prejudice of demographic or status.<br /><br />Considering the multiverse idea, there are infinite possibilities for the unfolding of events and our lives. Theoretically, it also means you might not exist in at least one of them - a curiously fascinating idea, no matter how fortunate or unfortunate. We may take our ‘presence’ for granted with social media that has given us an unprecedented opportunity to engage with others without being physically present - as the world discovered and adapted to during the pandemic. Yet, like anything in life, there are limits to this modern social interaction that give a higher valuation to personal, face-to-face engagement.<br /><br />A lesson for humanity in general, but I leave that to you to learn accordingly.<br /><br />In 1922, the world was experiencing the early throes of the Jazz Age/Roaring Twenties that developed out of the devastating ashes of “the war to end all wars.” Given the decade’s cultural and social dynamism, the French called the period <i>Années folles</i> (“Crazy Years”) - a fitting, if not apropos, moniker that so far could be applied to the 2020s as well for its comparable shifts and upheavals of the status quo. Perhaps 100 years from now, another generation will reflect on not only their own time but also look back on this one. Wondering what it was all about, possibly seeking inspiration and guidance from its context in relation to their own circumstance.<br /><br />What legacy is left to them, and the future that it will usher, is already decided even if it is yet to be written. As the calendar again turns from another year to the next, let us give them one to commemorate rather than one to deplore.<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">©2022 Steve Sagarra</span></i></p>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-34635186039968764742022-10-21T09:00:00.043-05:002022-10-21T09:00:00.193-05:00Hollaback Twirl<p><span style="font-family: arial;">For a recent movie/television writer position with a leading entertainment website, I was asked to briefly write about my favorite movie franchise. The following was my response, as well as submitting several previous blog posts as additional relevant writing samples.<br /><br />To quote Brodie Bruce in Mallrats, "wow, that is a good question. Difficult, though; what does one gauge his response on?" A comic book showdown of Avengers vs Justice League? A scifi battle of Star Trek vs Star Wars? A well-tailored and lethally equipped James Bond vs all of them? Swinging in to take the top spot is Batman, specifically Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy. While Tim Burton's 1989 film starring Michael Keaton succeeds in bringing to life the altruistic yet cavalier playboy Bruce Wayne and his gritty world's greatest detective alter ego for the first time, it cannot escape the campiness that defined the character for decades. Especially in the ensuing sequels, and, unfortunately, in hindsight. Nolan's version starring Christian Bale embraces the former while avoiding the latter - particularly in the definitive second film The Dark Knight, which quite possibly is one of the all-time finest movies ever produced - that elevates the cinematic superhero to new heights. Where it begins in the first movie, the Nolanverse rises to the occasion in the third and final act to create an enduring legacy.<br /><br />Believe that to be a decent and efficient answer; yet, I never heard from them about the writer job. While applicants and new hires might be ghosting in today's job market, it is an all-too-common, widespread issue with potential employers as well.<br /><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>©2022 Steve Sagarra</i></span></p>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-12449707567790952722022-08-31T18:00:00.002-05:002022-08-31T18:00:00.184-05:00Random Thoughts: The Sequel, Perspectives Too<p><span style="font-family: arial;">Belief in such things as hope and fate are for the young. To stay young is to still believe in them, despite inclinations to the contrary.<br /><br />Fun celebrity names to say: Benedict Cumberbatch; Imogen Poots; Engelbert Humperdinck; Zooey Deschanel; Randolph Mantooth.<br /><br />The year is 2022. Everyone knows by now, or at least they should, that websites use cookies (unfortunately, not the freshly warm, delicious kind). Please quit asking us to accept them, and default either to none or only necessary ones, if you must, for conditions of proper website operation.<br /><br />We are living in an era of unprecedented access to knowledge and information at the literal blink of an eye - the downside being an equal amount of distracting inaccuracies and outright falsities. Perhaps future generations actually will comprehend, and not be misled by, all that is seen in that blink.<br /><br />Dogfight football might be Hollywood make believe in <i>Top Gun: Maverick</i>, but it actually makes sense for real-world application. Illustrating the simultaneous offensive and defensive aspects of aerial combat, one always must be aware of both when engaging enemy forces - otherwise, your body will quite probably bounce a check.<br /><br />When does transubstantiation occur between “chips and salsa” and nachos? Is it the initial act of spreading chips about all at once, or does change only happen upon pouring ingredients over them rather than dipping? (Could this also possibly explain the phenomena of seeing Jesus on chips?)<br /><br />Ventriloquists are simply talking out loud to themselves by other means. Audiences must suspend that understanding.<br /><br />One never has any indication of the accumulation of “junk” and other miscellany over the years until packing it up for a move. Yet, it is difficult to part with any due to its significance no matter how minor - each item a reminder, time capsule, etc.<br /><br />Veterans - especially disabled and homeless - always should take precedence over illegal immigrants; the former defended the country, while the latter invade it. Throughout history, an imbalance in this equation has never ended well for any sovereign nation-state leading to its collapse.<br /><br />Know what you believe, and believe what you know. Yet, true awareness is not knowing what you do not believe, and not believing what you do not know.<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">©2022 Steve Sagarra</span></i></p>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-58845289715282540592022-08-17T17:00:00.023-05:002022-08-18T02:32:41.118-05:00Rock 'n' Rollerball A Go-Go<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>In honor of the late James Caan, I recently rewatched the 1970s cult classic <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073631/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><i>Rollerball</i></span></a>. Largely panned upon its initial release, it nonetheless offers an intriguing and evocative story with themes never realized when first viewed way back in my youth. Multinational corporate state vs. individuality - no one is above the former, under the auspices of the titular game, and anyone attempting to upend that status quo must be eliminated. Elitists manipulate the mass populace by presenting and supporting a false utopia, using distractions in the form of violent entertainment to reinforce that illusion for their own gain. Controlled, centralized knowledge that has been altered and skewed in favor of the corporate agenda, and routinely inaccessible to the masses - particularly to those individuals who might cause trouble.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QFSCzTCNW1M" title="YouTube video player" width="480"></iframe> <br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>Does any of this sound vaguely familiar? While the fictional story may take place in an alternate “futuristic” 2018, it easily could be placed in our current present-day 2020s. Who truly runs the world, and, as such, society as a whole? Corporations like Apple, Google, Microsoft, to name a few, whose services are used on a regular basis. Who has manipulated and distracted the masses these past few years, especially during the pandemic? Elitists - from business leaders in board rooms to politicos in halls of government - in their delusional utopian bubbles, far away from the daily realities of average citizens. Who has attempted to control and withhold valuable knowledge from the masses? Social justice activists like historical revisionists, media censors and anyone else involved in the ongoing cancel culture onslaught.<br /><br />Millions of people throughout the world have lost everything and suffered greatly because of these circumstances. A vicious cycle that has and will continue if nothing is done to further thwart it. Are you awake yet? Or, are you still waiting, in vain hope, for someone else like Jonathan E. to agitate and challenge this real-life Huxley/Orwellian nightmare?<br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><i>©2022 Steve Sagarra</i></span></span></p>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-17384527890436980962022-06-17T12:00:00.003-05:002022-06-17T12:00:00.187-05:00Rashômon 2: Election Bogeyman<p><span style="font-family: arial;">Despite the melodramatic grandstanding and hyperventilating rhetoric from Democrats and other leftists, the so-called January 6th “insurrection” barely merits any mention other than to highlight the political charade and lunacy represented by the subsequent witch hunt. The partisan-led Congressional inquest to “restore our values” and “save our democracy” is nothing more than a distraction; characterized as a judicious review of events and participants, the wasteful investigation is the fleeting gasp of a political party assuredly facing electorate backlash not only this year but two years hence. Rational voters in “flyover country” understand this and, as typical, have more pressing concerns than what politicos attempting to cling to power deem priority in the D.C. swamp. Yet, if a claim, especially an accusatory one, is sufficiently repeated and supported by any convincing assertion, with even only a minority of people believing, then it morphs into a kind of self-fulfilling truth - whether or not based on any substantive certainty or validity.<br /><br />That is what Democrats are counting on, a tactic they continually use when it serves their narrative - from proper pronouns to gun control, and everything in between.<br /><br />At present, the Biden administration and its disastrous record on every issue and policy - from the economy to international relations - increasingly represents a more legitimate threat to our constitutional republic than anything concerning its predecessor. With this in mind, I offer a list of events - while not exhaustive or limited - that indisputably represent some of the “darkest days” in American history:<br /><br />1) U.S. Civil War<br />2) Abraham Lincoln assassination<br />3) Pearl Harbor attack<br />4) September 11th attack<br />5) John F. Kennedy assassination<br />6) Martin Luther King Jr. assassination<br />7) The Great Depression<br />8) War of 1812<br />9) James Garfield assassination<br />10) William McKinley assassination<br /><br />“<i>A lie told often enough becomes the truth</i>” and “<i>repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth</i>” are two maxims attributed, respectively, to Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin and Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Ironically, there is no concrete evidence that either actually ever expressed these exact sentiments - although both undoubtedly would agree and take credit in the scope of their own fanatical ideologies. Read into that however you wish concerning the events and participants of January 6th, as well as for the hypocritical purveyors of supposed moral indignation and righteousness charged with investigating it. In the D.C. swamp, the truth often gets drowned out by the lies in order to preserve an agenda - a feature, not a glitch.<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>©2022 Steve Sagarra</i></span></p>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-52977659936717237772022-05-13T17:00:00.001-05:002022-05-13T17:00:00.213-05:00A Tolerable Measure of Inconvenient Free Expression<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>When men exercise their reason coolly and freely on a variety of distinct questions, they inevitably fall into different opinions on some of them. When they are governed by a common passion, their opinions, if they are to be called, will be the same</i>.”</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">-Alexander Hamilton</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Anyone else tired of having to have an opinion about everyone and everything under the sun? An especially contradictory proposition for a (former) opinion columnist, it nonetheless is ridiculous if not exhausting - frankly, even more so during the last few years. Simply attempting to stay informed among the ever-changing landscape of the news cycle, let alone forming and then expressing one's opinion concerning it, can be enough of a multiverse of madness at times. Seemingly no topic is off limits or goes unscathed in this post-rationality era of perpetual hyperventilation and outrage.<br /><br />Naturally, engagement and discourse are central elements to actively participating in modern society. Such activity only serves to cultivate and advance civilization, with any abandonment of it equally decimating and a hindrance to progress. Of course, one will more than likely opine anyway even when consciously attempting to avoid doing so. Human nature dictates casting our personal beliefs and thoughts into the void, listening either for the echo chamber of acceptance or the deafening chorus of repudiation. Therein lies the current problem with the system, and the consequential devolution of this dynamic - engagement has become enragement, while discourse has become disregard.<br /><br />Furthermore, censorship and silencing are rampant given the ease with which to do so through the medium of social media. No longer must one produce a counter pamphlet tacked up in the town square or shout down another in the salon. Instead, an online complaint at the click of a button - whether buoyed by any worthy gravitas - with self-anointed arbitrators of “truth” dictates what is allowed in these modern digital squares and salons. Even the most foresighted dystopian prognosticators could not have predicted such a circumstance, nor the propagandists who could only dream of having such means at their disposal.<br /><br />At the heart of the issue, trustworthiness is key. Without trust, legitimate engagement and discourse by those on opposite sides is futile; no matter how fervent the debate, bipartisanship is hollow if it is not based in honest understanding. Likewise, suppressive tactics allow for only a singular truth, rather than a melded composite agreed upon by such bipartisanship. Believing that all voices should be heard, no matter your own particular viewpoint, is recognized as a necessary component to a healthy and prosperous society. Those who believe otherwise see this as a hindrance to their clearly underhanded agenda, which undoubtedly cannot endure scrutiny.<br /><br />This is only my opinion, though - you very well, and rightfully so, may have a different one.<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">©2022 Steve Sagarra</span></i><br /></div>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-87581727404757464832022-01-28T09:00:00.008-06:002022-01-28T09:13:45.482-06:00Sorry Charlie, Tricks Are For Squids<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness</i>.”<br />-Thomas Paine<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Democrats wish for everyone to forget their past sins including, but certainly not limited to, slavery, lynchings and, especially, their own longstanding history of disenfranchisement. Yet, they also demand that all of us collectively pay the consequences for their guilt, through such means as obfuscation and projection rather than self-flagellation. Question that really needs to be asked - what exactly does your <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-are-republicans-for-gop-biden-press-conference-scruton-volunteer-charity-welfare-administrative-state-11643145502"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">party stand for</span></a>, President Joe Biden? Denigration, inflation, misinformation, stagnation, victimization, to name a few. With poll numbers lower than any president in recent memory in only their first year in office, it almost seems disrespectful and insulting, even if pertinent, to compare the Biden administration to the last one-term Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. Almost.<br /><br />Another idea Democrats stand for is fundamental transformation to “save our democracy.” Couched in such language, it subtly reveals their entire misunderstanding of our established system of government for one they want to truly implement. As repeatedly must be reminded, the United States is a constitutional republic and not a democracy. For this reason, they have zero qualms concerning their incessant quest to dismantle certain safeguards (Electoral College, filibuster) aimed at maintaining the former over simple majority, e.g. “mob,” rule that a democracy invites and feared by the Founders. When the French Revolution erupted not long after American independence, those fears were validated by the actions of France’s revolutionary leaders once in power.<br /><br />In an era of arbitrary pronouns to assign desired non-biological genders, <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/woke-segregation-and-the-ghost-of-jim-crow"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">segregation</span></a> deemed appropriate supposedly to educate about racism and enhance diversity, and burger and chicken joints selling plant-based “burgers” and “chicken,” it is little wonder that the twisting of language is at the forefront to propagandize and mainstream controversial ideas. This has warped the very fabric of society to the point that a majority of individuals have no clue that they are being fooled and sent hurdling into catastrophic folly. In no other instance can this be better illuminated than during the global pandemic, definitions of “immunity” and “vaccinated” changing daily as power over the world’s population broadens and wanes. As George Carlin eloquently stated, echoing Orwell, “<i>government wants to control information and control language because that’s the way you control thought, and basically that’s the game they’re in</i>.”<br /><br />Recently watching Netflix’s <a href="https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/munich-the-edge-of-war/"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><i>Munich: The Edge of War</i></span></a>, the movie unexpectedly, and startlingly, brought current events into prescient focus. A doddering, aloof leader engaging in high-level diplomacy and negotiations with a determined, charismatic one in the attempt to stop the latter’s aggression and avert war - the former naively believing they have the wits to match. One could be forgiven for failing to distinguish between the dealings of Neville Chamberlain and Adolph Hitler with those of Joseph Biden and Vladimir Putin (or any other world leader, for that matter). As has been the situation for decades, inexhaustible threats from hostile adversaries continue to loom throughout the globe. Yet, the gravest danger lies with an American president unable to coherently recite from prepared notes to <a href="https://spectator.org/bidens-press-conference-a-profile-in-complacency/"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">undemanding questions</span></a> from a prearranged cadre of reporters, while simultaneously failing to adhere to their sworn Constitutional duties with policies not only undermining national sovereignty but also endangering allies.<br /><br />An overarching theme in Alan Moore’s influential graphic comic series, <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/watchmen/4050-3622/"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><i>Watchmen</i></span></a>, is the forewarning to anyone who willingly sacrifices personal responsibility by placing their faith in those entrusted to guard - whether by consensus or self-anointment - the world's fate. To some characters, establishing themselves as god-like saviors, the ends justify the means to rescue humanity from itself; for others, even in the context of an increasingly secular and nihilistic worldview, compromising morals to attain such goals is objectionable if not contradictory. In the end, those who proclaim themselves to be acting for the “greater good,” no matter the unforeseen consequences of their actions, not only must be held accountable but also never allowed to hold such a position again. Failing to do so is nothing less than complicity.<i> </i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>©2022 Steve Sagarra</i><br /></span></p>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-15359702592305470792021-11-17T07:00:00.040-06:002021-11-17T07:00:00.202-06:00Bonded in Bond<div><span style="font-family: arial;">Before delving into other matters, let us get one item out of the way. In anticipation of <i>No Time to Die</i> finally being released into theaters after an overextended delay, I recently engrossed myself in a James Bond marathon from Sean Connery to Pierce Brosnan. Concluding with Daniel Craig’s masterpiece, <i>Casino Royale</i>, little time was left to binge the remainder of his entries before heading off to the theater. Although having seen all of them numerous times before, it nonetheless was an exhausting task watching twenty-one movies over several weeks; without spoilers, it nicely prepared me for the latest installment with those evocative and indelible scenes and plots fresh in my mind. As such, more so in chronological order than personal preference, here are my current top ten 007 films:<br /><br /><i>Dr No<br />From Russia with Love<br />Goldfinger<br />On Her Majesty’s Secret Service<br />The Spy Who Loved Me<br />For Your Eyes Only<br />The Living Daylights<br />GoldenEye<br />Casino Royale<br />No Time to Die</i><br /><br />Now, you might be wondering about a few missing from this list or, perhaps, even some included on it. You probably keep staring at <i>On Her Majesty’s Secret Service</i> and, undoubtedly, <i>The Living Daylights</i>, perplexed by their inclusion. In regards to the former, I honestly was not a fan of it in my youth; George Lazenby was not, and still is not, Connery. Yet, I have joined the chorus in recent years of those who appreciate and believe it deserves a place among the pantheon, along with Lazenby’s laudable performance, for one simple reason: its presence is felt, both overtly and subtly, throughout the rest of the franchise that follows. As forgettable as <i>A View to a Kill</i> is, <i>OHMSS</i> is anything but forgotten by its successors. As for the latter, Timothy Dalton’s Bond simply was, at the time until Craig, the closest to Ian Fleming’s vision, thus <i>TLD</i> meriting a spot.<br /><br />When Brosnan took over the role, he instantly shot to the top as a favorite. Nevertheless, the majority of his entries are a hot mess...which is not an exclusive opinion all my own. Although <i>GoldenEye</i> makes the cut, it suffers from the same issue as the subsequent movies: every villain and/or henchman increasingly more parody than plausible. Where Famke Janssen would be sufficient distraction in a good way, Xenia Onatopp is exhaustingly over the top in a bad way; megalomaniac Elliot Carver, enthusiastically portrayed by Jonathan Pryce, elicits nothing less than consternation over his middling “diabolical” plan…to control the narrative and increase his media group’s influence/ratings by igniting a war?! Actually, this preposterous scheme appears improbably prescient given the current state of the news industry combined with concerns over social media, thus the proverbial life imitating art. Other than to reference it, let us not concern ourselves with everything awful in <i>Die Another Die</i>.<br /><br />While the all-too-brief Dalton era was intended to be more grounded than the preceding ones, this comes across as an attempt to maintain that level while simultaneously recalling the absurdities of the Roger Moore era, e.g. <i>Moonraker</i> and the aforementioned <i>AVTAK</i>, with mixed results.<br /><br />Which brings us to Brosnan’s third film, <i>The World Is Not Enough</i>. This is a good, if not great, movie...except for one, albeit tiny, blemish that, in my opinion, ruins it more than anything in its predecessors. Unfortunately, neither the villain nor henchman is to blame in this instance; instead, it is Dr. Christmas Jones. Not Denise Richards’ portrayal, per se, but rather her character’s name. Perhaps if she had been introduced as “Chris Jones,” not only would Richards possibly come across more believable as a nuclear (hot supermodel) scientist but, as I can still recollect when seeing it the first time, one would not be detracted from the rest of the movie wondering about why that is her name and the assuredly terrible quip to come.<br /><br />Again, this is not an exclusive opinion all my own.<br /><br />Further, Jones even informs Bond upon their first meeting that she has heard all the jokes, implying that she not only dislikes them but also her full name. In that case, why use it if both obviously bother her? Simply to set up Bond’s dreadful closing punchline, which could have been framed in dialogue much differently, and possibly agreeably better received, if we find out her full name only at the end. Between that and Dr. Molly Warmflash (seriously?!), it is so groan-producing ridiculous that it triggers eye-rolling cringe rather than the typical adolescent response induced by the gloriously named Holly Goodhead or, especially, Pussy Galore.<br /><br />All which leads us back to the aptly titled, <i>No Time to Die</i>. A film that, again without giving away any spoilers, embraces and homages the franchise's past, both recent and in its origins, while serving as an excellent conclusion to the Craig era that hints at the future. What Dalton almost had achieved if given better storylines and more time, Daniel Craig accomplished (this side of Connery) in his own time as Bond. James Bond.<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">©2021 Steve Sagarra</span></i><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-2656969540794197702021-10-06T12:00:00.020-05:002021-10-06T12:00:00.173-05:00Great Seeger's Ghost<div><span style="font-family: arial;">Not exactly Pete Seeger, but this is my pandemic protest ditty...</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Fully vaxxed, now ready to relax,</span></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Tyrant maskers keeping us taxed,</span></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Living our lives over the Zoom,</span></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Quarantine rooms, finely groomed,</span></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;">No virus, feeling like a highness,</span></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Operating same as the mindless,</span></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Vaccination means life in reverse,</span></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Deceit, hype, compliance perversed,</span></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;">China not served, UN without nerve,</span></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Only fifteen days to flatten the curve!</span></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>©2021 Steve Sagarra</i></span></div>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-51009813197823213062021-08-23T12:00:00.010-05:002021-08-23T12:00:00.198-05:00As the Days of Our World Turn<div><span style="font-family: arial;">Independent astronomers are the first to detect the anomaly: the Sun, billions of years before its estimated time, is in the early stage of erupting into a supernova. A catastrophic incident that not only will hasten changes in attitude but, more importantly, the need to guarantee survival. Hereafter, ritualistic ceremonies are held monthly to commemorate life rather than the inevitable extinguishing of it; these are not funerals meant to exhibit somber farewell. Instead, people gather together with reserved pomp in celebrating the honored guests - everyone aware that they shall participate in a similar exulted sendoff in due course.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Interplanetary travel still in its infancy, engineers and scientists around the globe attempt to rapidly advance development. Nevertheless, there is nowhere to escape to absolute safety in the interim. With no means to reverse the imminent destruction, not only of Earth but the entire solar system, humanity seems doomed by natural causes beyond its control. Yet, elements of the population will attempt to survive, for a time, underground close to the planet's heated core before Earth becomes uninhabitable and loses all surface life. Meanwhile, those fortunate to embark at last into the outer reaches of space before the cataclysm ultimately will colonize another planet or solar system before it is too late for them as well.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">In the meantime, world leaders concoct an alien invasion story to maintain a surreal level of hope and minimize any ensuing global panic. Under this guise, it is implemented with the assumption that people need an external agent that believably either can be challenged or scapegoated. Thus, as circumstantial evidence suggests confirmation of alien life, its intentions appear, at the very least, apathetic toward, if not outright hostile to, other living organisms. Conceivably, our very own interstellar probes undoubtedly, and with all probability, acted as bread crumbs for the aliens, utilized to backtrack to the originating solar system.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">As has been theorized many times before, with no actionable conclusions, what could this planet’s inhabitants do if aliens did arrive to exploit resources beyond our reach? Absolutely nothing - without proper defenses and spacecraft, we shall watch helplessly as our life-sustaining star is gradually demolished by these visitors.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Except, as previously noted, there is a singular issue: it is a lie to conceal the truth. No extraterrestrial aliens are mining the Sun, which instead has gone supernova and will, in due time, wipe out Earth and the entire solar system. Faced with this situation, world leaders feel they are left with no option other than to obfuscate and mislead, rather than properly inform the global population in order for them to make their own choices reconciling the possible end of life on this planet. Fortunately, our species has been given a slim chance not afforded the dinosaurs to save itself from its own impending extinction.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">This, of course, is a fictional scenario, and yet we are witnessing a comparable scheme continue to play out globally concerning several crises. All one has to do is substitute “aliens” and “supernovas” for any myriad of current issues and related terminology - most notably the ongoing pandemic, with its vacillating confusions and deceptions. Eventually, all of us must pay the price for our existence, with our deeds and sins weighed in accordance. Shall we all die together under the weight of these lies and manipulations? Or, shall we strive to live on in order to hold to account those who regularly perpetrate them and repeatedly betray humanity?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>©2021 Steve Sagarra</i></span></div>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-20131775638174465532021-08-13T09:00:00.066-05:002021-08-13T15:21:58.955-05:00Trickle-Down Absolutism for Communal Benefit<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>An effective mass movement cultivates the idea of sin. It depicts the autonomous self not only as barren and helpless but also as vile. To confess and repent is to slough off one’s individual distinctness and separateness, and salvation is found by losing oneself in the holy oneness of the congregation.</i>”</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">-Eric Hoffer, <i>The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">“Unvaccinated are not welcome” rapidly, and alarmingly, is becoming the new “[insert demographic group] need not apply” - both sentiments contradictory and objectionable to modern sensibilities. If fully vaccinated, why do you care about the status of those who have chosen not be? You either believe that vaccines protect you, and thus “<a href="https://babylonbee.com/news/face-masks-found-to-be-ineffective-at-protecting-you-from-looking-like-a-giant-dummy-who-doesnt-know-how-vaccines-work"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">trust the science</span></a>” backing them, or you do not. Yet, walk into any place of business without wearing a mask and watch people fill with anxiety and indignation - an odd phenomena that does not happen with other, more lethal seasonal diseases like influenza and pneumonia. This amounts to nothing less than <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/aug/3/the-two-americas-collectivists-vs-individualists/"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">collective peer pressure</span></a>, rather than being about personal responsibility and individual choice.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Discrimination in any form is ugly, but to single out those who are hesitant about these “emergency” vaccines - mind you, all still unapproved by certifying entities like the FDA - is truly awful. With little to no understanding of any long-term effects, they nevertheless are being used to brand and <a href="https://www.theamericanconservative.com/state-of-the-union/vaccine-passports-a-new-segregation/"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">segregate</span></a> those unwilling to participate as guinea pigs in this mass societal case study. We have witnessed this form of discrimination before, most notably with the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. Could a <i>Philadelphia</i>-esque remake indulge the notion, with a main character instead portrayed as an unvaccinated “deplorable” in such a reimagining?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Over the course of the current global pandemic, the fluctuating and nonsensical extremism of political “leaders,” scientific “experts,” and general population of sheepish “activists” has progressively worsened. Deep into year two of “15 days to flatten the curve,” there is no fathomable end in sight of that misguided and deceitful proposition. Again quoting Hoffer, “<i>Crude absurdities, trivial nonsense and sublime truths are equally potent in readying people for self-sacrifice if they are accepted as the sole, eternal truth. It is obvious, therefore, that in order to be effective a doctrine must not be understood, but has rather to be believed in.</i>” In the beginning, <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/08/the-covid-19-externality-no-longer-exists/"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">temporary measures</span></a> implemented made sense, and with majority consensus, to urgently confront the imminent threat of an unknown pathogen. Now, though, it has taken on the appearance of controlling and suppressing anyone who dissents from the extended agenda and narrative of the aforementioned conglomerate.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Speaking of control and mass studies, mask wearing is the visible yet subtle testimony to how average citizens and a society in general, both past and present, can be duped by the convictions of and fidelity to those in positions of authority. For these crazed adherents, they will not remove their masks until their sacrosanct masters tell them otherwise - and will attempt to intimidate and shun anyone who deviates from and opposes that absurd dogma. From childhood diseases to seasonal ones, we rely upon and trust vaccines to protect us from illness without any extra outerwear for protection. Yet, despite the hypocritical rhetoric to do our part and get vaccinated so that life can return to normal, why is the opposite - to doubt the efficacy of that modern-day safeguard - ostensibly the current standard? In that case, health officials should instead dole out placebos with lollipops and unicorns alongside their irresolute propaganda that continues to cause hesitation to “get the jab.”</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Rather than creating a unified front, this state of affairs has devolved into one of friction and suspicion at every level. President Joe Biden and the duplicitous lackeys in his administration have been at the forefront of this circumstance, but, admittedly, they are not the sole culprits. China - a forthright bastion of righteousness and mutuality in its efforts to enslave minorities, silence citizens and overwhelm sovereign neighbors - still has not faced any significant punishment or sanction from the international community for its primary role in this worldwide upheaval, as Chinese leaders simultaneously attempt to place blame elsewhere and continue their push toward global domination with impunity. Meanwhile, China’s international co-conspirators - the United Nations and the W.H.O. - continue to evade and lay cover for its actions both in causing the pandemic and thwarting any serious investigation into an origin that points increasingly toward lab creation than any natural occurrence.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Tyranny, unfortunately, oftentimes does not announce itself with thunderous applause, preferring to seep in by incremental degrees and latent persuasion of the willing, and oblivious, populace. Right now, the issue, more or less innocuously, is about masks and vaccines, but it serves as the foreboding antecedent that potentially leads to further infringement and nullification of shared liberties and inalienable rights. This has happened before, and it can happen again; denial and deflection of that history by proselytizing sycophants is nothing less than foolhardy ignorance. Continued obedience to these <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-restrictions-illegal-immigrants-border-11628176632"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">authoritarian hypocrites</span></a> will be the eventual, but hopefully not inevitable, collapse of civilization they pretend to want to save. To stand against corrupt, unelected autocrats and loathsome, petty tyrants is the true communal benefit in the long-term.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>©2021 Steve Sagarra</i></span></div>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-27297487384670273362021-07-06T12:00:00.001-05:002021-07-06T12:00:00.195-05:00After Dismantling Before Collapse<div><span style="font-family: arial;">Currently, traditional and venerated mores are mocked and ridiculed while the bizarre and fringe are normalized and mainstreamed. In this vein, questionable attitudes and behaviors garner unflinching applause by society for fear of discrimination, thus allowing them to fester and run amok instead of receiving proper treatment from trained mental health professionals. Likewise, the majority of amateur and professional sports leagues are failing to understand, and live up to, the concept of their existence. Although hockey continues to be a tolerable refuge, current leadership, particularly in baseball and football, seems hellbent to implement changes disguised as innovation and “woke” policies diminishing any entertainment value.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Honestly, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and, especially, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) very well could be the latest hope for saving our constitutional republic from the radical left’s destructive agenda that enables these conditions. With no other Democrats caring or willing to stand up to Speaker Nancy Pelosi or “the Squad” in the House of Representatives, Manchin and Sinema stand out as Senate mavericks in the spirit of the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Seems many, if not most, Americans do not even understand the concept of either a constitutional republic or federalism; sadly, this clearly includes the current administration. Blame our poor civic education in this country, replaced by diametrically-opposed ideological indoctrination curricula disguised as it.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">In conjunction with this circumstance, an entire generation is being programmed for blind obedience as brainwashed and paranoid automatons unable to critically think or forthrightly act. All of it perpetrated by the cultist inheritors of the vainglorious self-esteem movement and the equally abysmal common core that afforded neither natural valuation or intrinsic congruity. When I once thought about pursuing a teaching career, the groundwork for this situation was in its nascence and certain prerequisites just then being implemented. Today, I could not imagine attempting to teach in such a chaotic and absurd environment, especially as a history teacher confronted by current events and cancel culture that subverts any modicum of education.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Is it any wonder, then, that people continue to believe, and be manipulated by, disinformation and outright lies spread concerning multiple current “crises” - and even more so about matters that should be labeled as such but are not - over the past year? They live in fear - exactly as desired by autocrats and martinets attempting to maintain provisional, and waning, control and power - rather than acknowledging the truth. The truth that they have been deceived and fleeced over that same period of time by these so-called “leaders” and “experts” claiming, without question or challenge, that the sky is falling. When the moment is reached, there is a necessity, if not an obligation, to no longer acquiesce to such charlatans.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">For as Simon & Garfunkel vocalized, “silence like a cancer grows.”</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">To remain silent is no longer beneficial, nor obligatory, for the reticent plurality. Undeniably, it is beyond time to take back this world from those attempting to usurp it by deceit and graft.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>©2021 Steve Sagarra</i></span></div>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-11673141419728632982021-03-05T12:00:00.002-06:002021-03-05T12:00:04.848-06:00One Republic, Two Republic, Red Republic, Blue Republic<p><span style="font-family: arial;">For all the latest blather regarding “civil war” and “insurrection,” President Joe Biden’s administration and its leftist enablers certainly are not doing anything to quell those growing concerns. In fact, it is only further intensifying and fomenting them with blatant attacks upon and disregard for the Constitution and liberties guaranteed every American citizen. In particular, free speech enumerated in the First Amendment and gun rights protected by the Second Amendment - the latter incontrovertibly securing the former. Yet, we are only in the early stages of Biden’s supposedly “unifying” presidency.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Despite rhetoric to the contrary, the United States indeed is a house divided along extreme ideological and polarizing lines. Perhaps, irreparably given the damage caused by hostile partisanship and tone-deaf politicization over the past several years. For leftists, the only way to heal these fractures, in their warped mindset, is to comply and heel to their authoritarian demands. Otherwise, one faces the prospect of cancellation, your personal life, career, etc, destroyed for no other reason than not acquiescing to and embracing the liberal mob and their radical agenda and policies with which you disagree.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Leftists currently are attempting a Soviet-style censor and purge of media outlets they accuse - without actual evidence or facts to support the allegation - of spreading disinformation and lies. In other words, conservative and other right-leaning news organizations that do not conform to and report leftist falsities espoused as the only prevailing truth. Any dissent from this perspective is not allowed in their delusional and hypocritical worldview, and will be met with exacting persecution. Maintaining “lines of communication” is vital in any conflict; propagandizing the narrative is as important in order to control the masses.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Speaking of control, Democrats, and liberals in general, have a longstanding inability to understand “shall not be infringed” when it comes to gun rights. Despite counterarguments, the Second Amendment does not cause gun violence; in fact, most statistics indicate a reduction in violent crimes due to legally armed citizens. Gun control measures are continually aimed more often than not at law-abiding gun owners and would make them criminals, while failing to address the circumstances that caused the violence. Naturally, the party of slavery and Jim Crow does not want anyone to have the means to defend themselves as inscribed in the Constitution.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">What has been the response from conservatives and right-wingers? For starters, to paraphrase, some people did something at the thingy, you know, the thing with the government people weeks before Biden’s inauguration…but what difference did it make? Certainly, you heard about it in the predominate 24/7 news cycle. Never mind that it was a roguish mob intent on…what exactly? Overturning an election? Stirring up (un)civil war, pushing forward an (un)armed insurrection? Or, did a majority simply wish to have their voices, and concerns, peacefully heard, while a minority acted idiotically and in an ill-advised manner?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Well, who really knows, but rest assured that zealous Democrats undoubtedly will persist in pursuing yet another exhausting, wasteful investigation into the matter. Simultaneously, they fail to feign even the slightest interest in election integrity concerns and investigating conspicuous irregularities that precipitated the situation in the first place.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">A proverbial line has been drawn in the sand between left and right ideologies. This is a perilous fight, but the banner still waves over the republic. For now. The task is to keep and maintain its principles and values against those committed to and intent upon tearing them down. Those who believe themselves our saviors, rather than instigators of their own folly. For if they prevail, it will be nothing less than the very dogmatic cultism and authoritarianism from which they have deluded themselves to believe we, the people, need saving.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">©2021 Steve Sagarra</span></i></p>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-60837609007815560722021-01-20T09:00:00.001-06:002021-01-20T09:00:06.061-06:00Nevermore When the Levee Breaks<div><span style="font-family: arial;">Leftists, aided by their radical Democratic enablers, seek to institute, normalize and reward numerous bizarre, disturbing and fringe attitudes, behaviors and customs that are ruinous to society. Meanwhile, they simultaneously attempt to control, marginalize and purge ordinary, rational and universal ones. These people should be admitted to an insane asylum not Congress...but, to borrow from Mark Twain, I repeat myself. Yet, why should we be surprised? After all, <i>The Jerry Springer Show</i> et al have been playing out in real life for years, allowed to fester unabated until terminal malignancy has rotted our core.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Using traditional indicators and factors for setting economic policy? Who needs such key markers, when gender, ethnicity...the climate change boondoggle...exist to utilize and take precedence! Get woke, fool! Radical Democrats, emboldened by their leftists conspirators, are as economically illiterate as a certain New York Times columnist/”economist” - who shall remain nameless, but who has been and always shall be an idiot despite what Nobel believes - when it comes to the economy. Then, there is the foreign policy that practically treats the United States not as a sovereign nation, but rather as the gullible host of foreign nationals hostile to the nation.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">With all of this in mind, calls for unity ring hollow when actions and statements do nothing but further divide and escalate political unrest. Dictating one-sided and insincere terms that do the opposite are not the path to unifying, bipartisan cooperation. Yet, it is the fault of the electorate (yep..that's you, ya filthy animals!) for consistently electing politicians who persist in doing nothing other than maintain the constant back-and-forth status quo. They would rather consolidate and hold onto their narcissistic power than work together to solve issues beneficial for everyone.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Honestly, there would be nothing better than for Joe Biden, a once shrewd politician, to have orchestrated one of the great long cons in history. For months, he has come across as absent-minded and frail, raising concerns about his durability to endure the presidency. Could it all be an act? Suppose he recognized the threat the extreme leftist elements represent, yet realized the importance of their support? He presents the charade of a shell of a man, capable of winning but most likely unable to serve out his full-term as president. Then, upon his inauguration, he becomes miraculously coherent, thus blocking their radical agenda.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">One can dream.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Then again, life is but a dream. An exceptional American dream. A dream that can only be destroyed by those who do not, and never will, believe in it. Many have tried to tear it down; all have failed. So, again to borrow, are you feeling lucky? If so, then call down that thunder and see what happens; guarantee, you will not like the outcome from that perspective. Shall we, the people, perish from this earth together forever, continuing to live in fear of that inevitable outcome no matter what, or shall we build a permanent, prosperous future for all?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The choice is yours.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>©2021 Steve Sagarra</i></span></div>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-28504004385397779802021-01-11T12:00:00.023-06:002021-01-11T12:00:01.753-06:00Last American Shrug<div><span style="font-family: arial;">Rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol, inciting chaos and violence in supposed defense of democracy, only managed to hand Democrats yet another political, if not moral, victory. What they will fail to realize and understand is that they played right into the leftists’ playbook. Democrats and leftists now will lay claim to and advance the idea that they are saviors of the republic, holding back the right-wing mob from destroying it; even more, they will have a mandate to implement an agenda that erodes our Constitutional rights thanks to that circumstance. All at the behest of elitists, casting themselves as our betters, who want us fighting each other so they can further usurp power and exert more control over everyone and everything.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Some will point to, and possibly even prove, that leftists rogues infiltrated and goaded the crowd into rioting. This would not be a new tactic concerning benign protests that erupted into something far worse, as witnessed over the course of last year's rioting throughout the country. It does not matter. Americans, as well as a global audience, watched on national and international media outlets as a supposed peaceful rally of alleged supporters of President Donald Trump indisputably turned into chaos and violence in the nation's capital. Despite attempts to portray the rioters as patriots, this is more <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/germany/reichstag-fire"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Reichstag fire</span></a> than <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/battles-of-lexington-and-concord"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Lexington and Concord</span></a>.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">This begs the question of how, and why, the Capitol could be breached, especially on a day everyone knew for weeks undoubtedly would be contentious if not volatile. Reports and photos indicate certain local and federal agencies performed their duties admirably and in accordance with protocol to protect civilians and government officials alike from the mob. Yet, why, on this particularly important day of elector vote counting, was the Capitol not locked down tighter than many states during the height of the pandemic? Governors from surrounding states eventually did mobilize their National Guard units, but only after the escalation of events.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Despite the obvious extreme divisions that currently exist, even before Donald Trump ascended to the presidency, the belief is that the United States needed this moment in order to once again move forward truly as a united country. There must also exist the belief, and hope, that out of the ashes it will rise stronger, even if it may take time and considerable effort to reconcile and come together as a whole nation. This is not the first time facing such a dire precipice, and, certainly, it will not be the last. Where all of this leads is left either to those who care to work together to keep a republic, or to those wishing to continue on this extremist path and descend further into the madness.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">By providence, may the latter never be allowed to prevail.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>©2021 Steve Sagarra</i></span></div>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-19656721174133971662020-10-19T09:00:00.023-05:002020-10-19T17:02:04.597-05:00Brave New Windblown World<p><span style="font-family: arial;">To say that the United States faces an existential crisis (crises?) not experienced since the <a href="https://acwm.org/"><span style="color: blue;">American Civil War</span></a> (1861-65) is not hyperbole. American history is being erased and rewritten on a daily schedule, by those who care more about tearing down its purported affront rather than understand its recognized importance. I use the word schedule because this occurrence, undoubtedly, is timed with the longstanding <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2020/09/19/why-arent-we-allowed-to-talk-about-george-soross-plan-to-remake-america/"><span style="color: blue;">agenda</span></a> by certain, well-funded <a href="https://americanmind.org/features/ending-the-blm-revolution/the-antifa-blm-industrial-complex/"><span style="color: blue;">extremist groups</span></a> to ultimately dismantle, if not fully overthrow, the ideals and values for which the country stands. Correspondingly, there are those who willfully continue to deny that this is even happening. When confronted by the evidence, it is categorized and dismissed as conspiracy, hoax, or propaganda; anyone disseminating it is labeled insensitive, privileged, and/or racist. As much as one may wish to be surprised by this circumstance, the <a href="https://sassafrasgazette.blogspot.com/2014/09/historical-perspective-between.html"><span style="color: blue;">dire warnings</span></a> have been <a href="https://sassafrasgazette.blogspot.com/2010/03/the-following-history-has-been-modified.html"><span style="color: blue;">present</span></a>, yet ignored, for decades.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In 1820, the U.S. was embroiled in the admission of new states, Maine (1820) and Missouri (1821), that centered on the balance of power between free and slave states. This debate resulted in the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/abolitionist-movement/missouri-compromise"><span style="color: blue;">Missouri Compromise</span></a>, which, for the time, allayed what eventually would boil over decades later into the aforementioned civil war. Also that year, President James Monroe, in a practically uncontested presidential election, was re-elected to a second term. In 1920, the U.S. Department of Justice, at the direction of Attorney General <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/red-scare/palmer-raids"><span style="color: blue;">A. Mitchell Palmer</span></a>, continued rounding up anarchists, communists, and other radicals (known colloquially as the “<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/red-scare#section_1"><span style="color: blue;">First Red Scare</span></a>”), mainly in reaction to the Russian Revolution that fueled fears of domestic infiltration and unrest. Additionally, race riots engulfed multiple cities throughout the country, as tensions heightened due to numerous socioeconomic factors in the post-WWI era. Prohibition also went into effect and Warren G. Harding was elected president in the U.S., while world powers continued efforts to conclude WWI by adopting the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/treaty-of-versailles-1"><span style="color: blue;">Treaty of Versailles</span></a> and battling the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic"><span style="color: blue;">Spanish flu pandemic</span></a>. Although not a comprehensive list of events in those years, history may not repeat but, as Mark Twain suggests, it sure does seem to rhyme.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">For this 2020 election year, Ronald Reagan vs. Walter Mondale in the <a href="https://www.270towin.com/1984_Election/interactive_map"><span style="color: blue;">1984 presidential election</span></a> undeniably might be even more relevant to current events. Mondale, a former senator who had served as vice-president under President Jimmy Carter only four years earlier, and his running mate Geraldine Ferraro, a U.S representative from New York, were heralded and forecast by media and politicos to sweep out the incumbents Reagan and his vice-president, George H.W. Bush. Instead, the opposite happened, with the Mondale/Ferraro ticket winning only the former's home state, Minnesota, and astronomically losing both the electoral and popular vote; four years later, Bush would be voted into the presidency, thus cementing the legacy of “<a href="https://www.ushistory.org/us/59.asp"><span style="color: blue;">Reaganism</span></a>.” If that scenario sounds remotely familiar, Trump/Pence vs. Biden/Harris quite possibly could see history repeat.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Humanity has been on the brink of chaos and descent before, looking over this similar precipice many times. There is a reckoning that must hold to account the circumstance, but there also must be change; what has happened before can, and ultimately will, happen again without either one. We may indeed look back on 2020, quite literally in hindsight, as a watershed year not only for the world, but especially for the United States. Let us hope, and assuredly plead, that it will not be for misguided and ill-fated reasons.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">©2020 Steve Sagarra</span></i></p>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-48798902254586706072020-05-15T15:00:00.000-05:002020-05-15T15:15:34.747-05:00A Stir of Something Wicked<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“<i>Civilization is a race between education and catastrophe</i>.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-H. G. Wells</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />For the past few months, the world has teetered over the proverbial slippery-slope on several levels due to the SARS-CoV-2 (“Covid-19”) outbreak. Through no fault of their own, individuals, local communities, and vast populations have experienced consequential socio-economic disruptions and devastating hardships from which they may never recover. While overall numbers are lower compared to seasonal viruses like influenza, the loss of human life nevertheless has been astronomical in a relatively short time period; the exact toll continues to clarify with increased available testing. All due to communist <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/feature/made-china-coronavirus-chaos-could-have-been-avoided-130422"><span style="color: blue;">China’s failures</span></a> to properly contain and report on the coronavirus unleashed from their country before it erupted unchecked into a <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-exploit-control-of-pharmaceutical-exports-by-brahma-chellaney-2020-03"><span style="color: blue;">global pandemic</span></a> - possibly, as history suggests, part and parcel of a <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/04/02/for-the-chinese-political-warfare-is-war-by-other-means/"><span style="color: blue;">calculated agenda</span></a>.<br /><br />In reaction, the debate centered around that deemed essential and non-essential in order to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/moving-the-shutdown-goal-posts-11587078025"><span style="color: blue;">“flatten the curve.”</span></a> Who decides who and what are essential? As it turns out, governments at all levels made that decision for everyone. Yet, what is essential for one person might not be considered essential for the majority, and vice versa. Not unexpected, this circumstance presented a handful of polarized, albeit mostly restrained, situations throughout several countries, including the United States, as citizens rebelled against mandated lockdown and safety procedures considered as infringing on <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/may/6/us-constitution-shredded-by-dangerous-elected-offi/"><span style="color: blue;">freedoms and rights</span></a>. Nevertheless, officials worldwide decided, and the general populace begrudgingly yet obligingly acquiesced, that the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few, or the one.<br /><br />Another “who” - the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) - decided what information, and <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/taiwan-releases-december-email-showing-unheeded-warning-to-who-about-coronavirus"><span style="color: blue;">from whom</span></a>, was deemed essential to counter the ensuing pandemic. Logically, one might think weighing the most reliable information available to them would be followed by a proper course of action. Instead, they callously sided with China’s questionable assurances and statements, towing communist propaganda in its wake, while simultaneously ignoring Taiwan’s prescient and <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2a70a02a-644a-11ea-a6cd-df28cc3c6a68"><span style="color: blue;">dire warnings</span></a>. An international organization meant, in idealistic if not naive theory, to be above such collusion and politicization, the world continues to suffer for that biased decision. Arbitrarily, the W.H.O., no less acting on behalf of China whether intentional or not, decided the needs of the few, or the one, outweighed the needs of the many.<br /><br />Amazingly, the global shutdown of daily life and adoption to this new, hopefully temporary, normal has not devolved into an apocalyptic hellscape as some predicted, and for which others possibly prayed. This has seen both <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8125107/Venices-canals-cleanest-theyve-living-memory.html"><span style="color: blue;">positive</span></a> and <a href="https://patriotpost.us/opinion/70007-coronavirus-authoritarianism-is-getting-out-of-hand-2020-04-17"><span style="color: blue;">negative</span></a> effects, highlighting frontline heroes while exposing bureaucratic villains. Intriguing, the <a href="https://patriotpost.us/articles/69765-covid-19-is-casus-belli-with-status-quo-at-un-2020-04-07"><span style="color: blue;">United Nations</span></a> (U.N.) has been relatively absent and more inert than usual during this chaotic time. Of course, the U.N., like its proxy agency W.H.O., equally is guilty of disseminating and parroting misinformation attributable to Chinese pundits and state-run media. Perhaps, the international body simply is too busy to verify before trusting the source, focused more on expanding its #uselessnations status admonishing countries (e.g. Israel, United States) that dare to act upon their independent, sovereign rights counter to U.N. agenda.<br /><br />None of which downplays or excuses the <a href="https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/trump-is-right-china-fault-coronavirus/"><span style="color: blue;">true culprit</span></a>: China. Not the Chinese culture or people in any general critique, although <a href="https://www.jpost.com/International/Report-Wet-markets-in-China-still-operating-despite-coronavirus-outbreak-622917"><span style="color: blue;">certain aspects</span></a> of the former could, and conceivably should, be ended by the latter to ease future concerns. Rather, the communist Chinese government is to blame and bears sole responsibility for the pandemic. There must be a thorough investigation and accounting of their actions, followed by equally judicious punishment both economically and politically. Even more, there can be no return to the pre-pandemic conditions that allowed it to happen if humanity wishes to live any longer and further prosper in the aftermath. Those who would betray that ideal must be stopped now before they once more can throw the world into chaos and, time and again, onto the precipice of our ultimate self-destruction.<br /><br />So say we all.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">©2020 Steve Sagarra</span></i></div>
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Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-59305377111134069892020-03-23T09:00:00.000-05:002020-03-23T09:00:00.475-05:00Audacious Perseverance in Mercurial Times<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Throughout history, we have witnessed extraordinary individuals, many living ordinary lives, saving humanity from its continual hubris and shortsighted mess. Cemeteries and mausoleums, unfortunately, are permanently dedicated to them. Yet, I find cemeteries and mausoleums unnatural, as they both represent a barrier against nature. In either instance, the deceased is preserved and shielded against those processes which routinely occur in nature, thus mitigating any restoration to it in any natural way. This is one reason I wish to be cremated, returned to the ash and dirt from which humanity originated.<br /><br />Naturally, our existence is arbitrary at best and insignificant at worse. There are uncontrollable, not to mention unknown, forces not only on this planet but also throughout the universe that could annihilate us in an instant. It would be naive not to believe that process already is at work, in some way, even perhaps either by our own actions or a higher entity beyond appeasement. What do we do with our finite time? We contend for, quarrel over, and give sanction to the even more arbitrary and insignificant.<br /><br />Currently, humanity faces one of its greatest threats in the form of disease. In a rare and unprecedented move, the entire world, for the most part, has come together in solidarity out of necessity to expeditiously defeat this unseen enemy. Not since the Second World War has such global consensus taken hold to put aside selfish aspirations for the greater cause of the whole. Although petty squabbles - and the apparent need to score political points - have not subsided in spite of this circumstance, they are more in the periphery than anything of lasting substance. Of course, personal setbacks, economic hardships, political ramifications, etc, must be considered, but these are best left to contemplate and address after due diligence.<br /><br />There are consequences in doing anything, but even more so in doing nothing. Perhaps, it is time humanity permanently casts away vice in favor of virtue. More importantly, it is long overdue for humanity to start acting humane - toward its fellow inhabitants of this world, and, especially, in respecting nature’s creations in general. After all, we are at the mercy of indefinite impermanence, and judgment could come right soon without notice if so chosen. Do something extraordinary in life, even if it may seem ordinary now or in the hereafter.<i> </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>©2020 Steve Sagarra</i></span></div>
Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-89909955466974194332019-09-06T18:00:00.000-05:002019-09-06T18:00:01.230-05:00Carrying On, My Wayward Son<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I am standing on a street corner, the Sun shining in blue skies, waiting for the walk sign. From behind me I hear, "Sir, the signals aren't working." Turning, I put a face to this ethereal warning. She is an older woman, a slight waddle to her cadence. Thanking her, I mention that the signal down the road also seemed to not work. Having stood through a cycle without the proper signal, it had necessitated crossing during a lull in traffic.<br /><br />A friendly conversation ensues - our respective Irish heritages, growing up in St. Louis, whether aliens exist (yes!), religion and spirituality. In the course of this rapidly condensed discussion, I notice out of the corner of my eye that the walk signal, in fact, does work; I pay it no attention, allowing another cycle to pass to continue speaking with this woman. Retired, she lives on a frustratingly modest government pension after twenty years of service. An exhaustive complaint, but one that delivers a hearty, albeit exasperated, laugh.<br /><br />At this moment, I had been feeling distraught, if not slightly apathetic, about my own career prospects - whether continuing as a writer or otherwise - and financial circumstances because of it. Over the course of several years, this has been a perpetual struggle and nothing unique; every writer has their relentless doubts, their discouraging failures. What is astounding is the sense of purpose renewed, rather than dismayed, by this random encounter. As Monty Python would counter, I am not one typically to look on the bright side of life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Watching after her as she blissfully continued on her way down the street, a waddle once again in her cadence, I could only smile. I recalled the numerous conversations I had with my late mom during my years working as an opinion columnist, discussing a multitude of topics in order to clarify and orient my ideas and thoughts. Was this one of those moments? From one Irish woman to another, I can only speculate perhaps.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">©2019 Steve Sagarra</span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-81254225190663993742019-06-21T12:00:00.000-05:002019-06-21T12:00:06.673-05:00Of Milestones and Miracles<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Several milestone anniversaries either already have or will occur this year. Among them are the 100th anniversary of <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/prohibition"><span style="color: blue;">Prohibition</span></a> going into effect throughout the United States with the ratification of the 18th Amendment - in this writer's heady opinion, favorably corrected with its nullification by the 21st Amendment in 1933. After that failed experiment comes triumph with the 75th anniversary of "<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day"><span style="color: blue;">Operation Overlord</span></a>" that initiated the Battle of Normandy - generally regarded as the Normandy landings or “D-Day,” separately codenamed “<a href="https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/photography/wwii/wwii-europe/operation-overlord/invasion-normandy.html"><span style="color: blue;">Operation Neptune</span></a>” - and heralded the downfall of Nazi Germany during the Second World War. Lastly, one of the pinnacles of human achievement is celebrated with the 50th anniversary of the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/space-exploration/moon-landing-1969"><span style="color: blue;">Apollo 11</span></a> Moon landing - the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2019/03/08/apollo-11-documentary-depicts-flag-planting-after-first-man-outrage/3062590002/"><span style="color: blue;">American flag </span></a>eternally <a href="https://www.military.com/off-duty/2019/05/16/apollo-11-flag-planted.html"><span style="color: blue;">planted</span></a> in its surface by the first humans ever to walk on it.<br /><br />Coinciding with the latter, there is a lesser milestone of local St. Louis concern. Beginning the 1969-70 hockey season, the <a href="https://www.nhl.com/blues"><span style="color: blue;">St. Louis Blues</span></a> again campaigned to reach the Stanley Cup final for a third time in just their third year of existence. Achieving that goal, the Blues would face the Boston Bruins - lamentably, with the exact same outcome as their previous two attempts against the Montreal Canadiens. Swept in four games, the Blues would not reach the final again until the most recent season - to again face the Bruins, their last opponent in it. This time around, there would be no quick sweep for either team.<br /><br />In a <a href="https://sassafrasgazette.blogspot.com/2015/04/stanley-cup-or-bust.html"><span style="color: blue;">previous post</span></a> several years ago, I predicted another Blues team would contend for the Stanley Cup. Unfortunately, it did not come to fruition, but certainly worth the wait to witness the current roster do it with their astounding and exhilarating quest toward that end result.<span style="color: blue;"></span> What truly makes this <a href="https://www.nhl.com/blues/news/st-louis-blues-boston-bruins-game-7-recap/c-307776644"><span style="color: blue;">championship</span></a> special is not simply what the team did on the ice to accomplish it, but what they do away from the rink in the community. With their willing accessibility, the connection between players and fans is unmistakable and encouraging.<br /><br />Nowhere was this on display more than during the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolschram/2019/06/17/st-louis-blues-and-their-fans-celebrate-as-one-at-stanley-cup-parade/#52da5a03ee79"><span style="color: blue;">parade and rally</span></a> following their victory over Boston. Typically, parades and rallies are meant to honor the team. Blues players, however, took the opportunity to acknowledge and pay respect to the city and its fans for keeping faith and supporting them not only this season but since the team's inception. Among the alumni ranks, including Bobby Plager, Bernie Federko, and, yes, a highly “enthusiastic” <a href="https://deadspin.com/brett-hull-drunkenly-encourages-st-louis-crowd-to-star-1835548141"><span style="color: blue;">Brett Hull</span></a>, this was not simply a team victory to be celebrated but one for all who bleed blue to be showcased.<br /><br />Many question when we will return to the Moon. I ask, how soon do the St. Louis Blues win another Stanley Cup, now that their first has been forever engraved? Given the character and fortitude of this team, it is not such a moonshot to consider expectations of immediate future glory. Long live the Bluenote, Jon Hamm’s scarf collection, and the legend that is the Golden Brett…for indeed, <a href="https://fox2now.com/2019/06/15/we-went-blues-brett-hull-floats-new-slogan-for-the-stanley-cup-rally/"><span style="color: blue;">we went Blues</span></a>!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>©2019 Steve Sagarra</i></span></div>
Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-39767103229335750342019-06-16T09:00:00.000-05:002019-06-16T09:00:01.487-05:00Acquainted Strangers on Digital Playgrounds<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When I was in junior high school, I received a phone call every few weeks in the evening from an unknown female classmate - before standardized caller ID, and when people answered the telephone without hesitation. I recall my parents being suspicious, especially my typically overprotective dad who disliked me talking to her but, obviously, not concerned enough to stop it. I, on the other hand, relished the challenge of identifying her; in the spirit of my detective heroes Batman and Sherlock Holmes, I would discover the nature of the peculiar correspondence! With this in mind, I let her do most of the talking and never offered much in response other than required - easily, a natural trait. When I did inquire of her, I made certain to be subtle in my pointed commentary, disguised as idle chitchat, to elicit significant information to identity my mysterious paramour.<br /><br />Oddly, she would refer to me as “Sam,” because, as she informed, I reminded her of someone else by that name. Although not religiously devout, it brought to mind the biblical story of Samson and Delilah. A man determined in his will but susceptible to vices, a woman intriguing yet deceptive in her wily manner. At the time, it seemed very much corresponding, if not perhaps a beneficial lesson for later in life.<br /><br />Through subsequent communication and my extracurricular covert investigation at school, I eventually deduced my benevolent admirer’s identity. Nevertheless, I did not immediately reveal this knowledge to her or disclose it to anyone else. On yet another evening when she called, we conversed as usual for several minutes; at an appropriate point in our exchange, I sprung my trap! Addressing her by name, she was stunned but not surprised.<br /><br />All these years later, our friendship remains intact as she truly only sought mutual companionship. Someone who wanted, maybe even needed, to converse with me, and someone to whom I enjoyably obliged despite my parents’ reservations. In the current activist environment addressing gender norms and heralding societal change, the scenario probably would be considered toxic. While I appreciate the sentiment, the simplicity of that bygone era seems far away. Despite social media and the intertwined connections it has ushered, Elvis is wrong - the world could use more, not less, substantive conversation beyond our fleetingly superficial, and oftentimes virulent, interactions on the digital playground.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>©2019 Steve Sagarra</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span>Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756994929874009237.post-44325969333465893112019-03-04T12:00:00.000-06:002019-03-04T12:00:00.467-06:00Let Nature Flow in Peace<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“<i>In wildness is the preservation of the world</i>.”</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-Henry David Thoreau</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Want to reverse purported “climate change”? Fantastic! Let me tell you how to begin the process...STOP KILLING APEX PREDATORS!!! Whether sharks in the ocean or wolves on the land, apex predators regulate the natural order and minimize destruction to the environment that can occur with their absence. This is known from the evidence, most especially in areas, like <a href="https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/wolf-reintroduction-changes-ecosystem"><span style="color: blue;">Yellowstone National Park</span></a>, where wolves have been reintroduced. Decades of destruction almost immediately reversed by their mere presence. Why? No longer are their prey - deer, elk, etc - able to lay waste to the environment unchecked.<br /><br />Why bring species back from the brink of extinction, only to once again allow the hunting and trapping that practically wiped them out? It is unreasonable, and it is without logic. Sustainable environmental policies only work if policy sustains the environment; remove any crucial component(s), and the system, naturally, will break down. Of course, there always is something more to it. Environmental policy constantly is handicapped by <a href="https://durangoherald.com/articles/263130"><span style="color: blue;">other interests</span></a>, namely those of landowners and cattle ranchers seeking to curb the alleged, and exaggerated, threat from these predators.<br /><br />Hunting for sustenance, and even as a cultural ritual, is understandable and makes sense to a certain extent, notwithstanding modern standards and conditions that prudently require neither. Ghoulish trophy hunting offers no such expediency, satisfying only a morbid curiosity that is more deranged gratification than sporting recreation. Similarly, government-sanctioned culling - under the dubious auspices of “<a href="https://missoulian.com/opinion/columnists/yellowstone-wolves-should-be-off-limits-to-hunting-trapping/article_0b192765-955a-5ef9-b73f-536efeb3cad4.html"><span style="color: blue;">wildlife management</span></a>” - serves only as reminder of an intrinsic, and misguided, predominance that arrogantly places the human species above all others. Yet, it is the exceptional being that maintains life worthy of protection rather than deem it arbitrary by sanctimonious degrees.<br /><br />Humanity is the usurper of its own place within the framework of nature. When it comes down to the survival of species, our time is up. A favorable option are the ones that can save the planet, rather than those who further its demise through unwarranted hubris and willful ignorance. Unless, of course, it is more about money and political clout rather than actually reversing <a href="https://townhall.com/columnists/davidlegates/2019/03/01/its-not-about-the-climateit-never-was-n2542428"><span style="color: blue;">climate change</span></a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>©2019 Steve Sagarra</i></span></div>
Steve Sagarrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03838891215471180224noreply@blogger.com0