By the Dawn's Early Gaslight

“And since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.” -President George Washington, First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789

The Democratic Party’s radical far-left wing does not believe in the laws and sovereignty of the United States, simply because they do not believe in its founding principles or even continued existence. They are hellbent on nothing less than destroying this nation for their anarcho-globalist ambitions, intending to fundamentally transform it by the unwitting consent of the ignorant. Their festering duplicity is a growing threat to our constitutional republic if allowed to continue unabated into the mainstream among those who may harbor similar beliefs and ideas. Given that Democrats are the descendant party of tories and secessionists who also sought our country’s demise - particularly in its infancy when kings were lauded rather than protested - this is hardly surprising and obvious to anyone remotely paying attention. Even so, there has to be accountability, if not a reckoning, for acts that increasingly border on sedition if not outright treason against the United States.

Every new day brings more revelations of Democrats’ nefarious activities to bring about this plan. Fraud schemes, rigged voting, paid agitators - these are only a handful of the latest to be revealed. Yet, they maintain the facade by way of delusional projection that their actions are meant to save our democracy against those who are the true villains - namely anyone opposed to them and standing in the way. All the while, they sustain this by advocating for and representing illegal aliens over the interests of legal citizens whose American birthright has been paid in full through relentless progress and bloodied sacrifice. In doing so, violent rhetoric has translated into violent action time and again by their lunatic followers who have been lied to and manipulated into believing the worst about political foes. They have chosen to embrace this path of fanaticism and extremism to fulfill an agenda more aligned with America’s enemies than with our common interests.

Democrats present themselves as upholding American ideals while simultaneously holding those virtues in contempt for a more global outlook that conflicts with them. That they continue to double-down on the narrative and pursue this defeatist agenda is truly disturbing, as they downplay the consequences by assailing opponents as the real culprits. A majority of their supporters are simply either blind to or unconcerned about this situation, undoubtedly because they are single issue voters with no critical understanding of the overall ramifications and no platform from other parties - namely Republicans - that offers an alternative path for their warped mindset. What is most concerning, though, are those adherents who are absolutely onboard as true believers with the direction that Democrats have chosen not only for the party but also the country. While leadership may be composed of fools, it is even more foolish to unquestionably follow them into the abyss.

As the United States commemorates 250 years, we absolutely have to maintain, if not increase, our vigilance and guard against those not celebrating its continued existence and the principles for which it stands. Same as in 1776, and again in 1861, internal destabilization efforts are mounting that evermore pose a threat as any external ones. In their dereliction and malfeasance aligning with these forces, Democrats once more find themselves on the wrong side of history in their quest to erase it in order to portray themselves as the saviors of the republic. Citizens - native and naturalized - properly educated in American civics and history that prepares them to appreciate and uphold our founding principles and values is at the core of the latest birthright citizenship discussion. This is sorely lacking due to a failing education system, in combination with a broken immigration one, that has prioritized agenda over curriculum that does not include teaching these critical thinking skills.

We, as a nation, have been on such a precipice before, yet modern challenges have arisen that seek to chip away and erode the safeguards. Heeding Thomas Paine’s words in The American Crisis (1777), “[t]hose who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must...undergo the fatigue of supporting it,” another generation is summoned to bear this burden in the longstanding struggle to ensure the survival of future ones.

©2026 Steve Sagarra

To Utter With Care, For Good or Ill

There comes a moment when constantly having to pick yourself up - fighting any urge to simply quit the effort - becomes exhaustive to the point of futility that makes it no longer worthwhile. Assuredly while this can apply to individuals practically on a routine basis, numerous civilizations as a whole have faced this existential crossroads during their existence throughout recorded history - with the United States no exception. From the Revolutionary War (1775-83) to the Civil War (1861-65), demoralizing losses, strategic miscalculations and outright treachery nearly extinguished the American experiment. Both conflicts bookended rapid and unprecedented coast-to-coast expansion across the continent, lending itself to the idea of a manifested destiny that nevertheless was not guaranteed to succeed.

Like clockwork, Americans yet again face the possibility of our imminent demise from innumerable manufactured, narrative-driven crises - that is, according to the perpetually online social media crowd. While everyone in the real world continues on with their daily lives unaware, these keyboard warriors of the digital space rage nonstop into the abyss to the equally dissociated virtual mob. Of course, it does not help matters when the subjects of their nonsensical tirades continually give them disruptive fodder to maintain this neverending grievance cycle. Unquestionably, and consequently, certain fearmongering individuals and their base indisputably benefit from this situation, especially by manipulating corporate mainstream media to portray their opinions as representing those of the majority.

Differences in ideology aside, this widening imbalance of perception is a truly dangerous and growing threat to democracy. "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes," is a quote often attributed to Mark Twain. This is a germane irony, since it is a false attribution with an unknown origin. Due to the proliferation of various online networking platforms, misinformation can be disseminated instantly around the entire globe nowadays before truth can even find its socks. Proper discourse is near impossible when it wreaks of vacuous hypocrisy alone, yet made even worse tainted by compulsive dishonesty. One has the choice to either shut out the noise by shutting off the distractions or drown in its overflowing minutiae of baseless absurdities.

For obvious reasons, dialogue between opposing sides can, and often will, be contentious given human nature, but it also must be constructive for unified advancement and understanding. Yet, faithful discussion cannot happen when the conversation devolves into absolutist, and most often unhinged, vitriol offering zero room for compromise in disagreements. Impulsive outrage has displaced composed rationalism, creating an environment of unrelenting hostility - feigned or otherwise - whenever anyone feels even slightly aggrieved by a differing worldview. In this acrimonious and divisive climate, we, the people, can either give up or persevere; we must chose the latter, at any cost, to honor sacrifices made by previous generations in ensuring our survival as an indivisible nation moving forward.

©2026 Steve Sagarra

Overcoming Inspite of All Objections

“Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.” -Milton Friedman

Corruption, fraud and waste in the federal government is being exposed at a massive scale on a daily basis. Anger has been misdirected at the individuals auditing and uncovering these nefarious activities rather than at the ones responsible for them. Truly disheartening is the pervasive cult of bureaucracy that has been revealed by the oversight endeavor, priorities askew for those clinging to it in supposed defense of “our democracy.” Further, they are petulantly upset that federal employees must justify their continued employment in this overbloated bureaucracy. What they actually defend, though, is continuation of grift and plunder that has defrauded American taxpayers to the benefit of elitist shysters - far more severe with greater consequence than actions taken by the British crown that sparked a revolution centuries ago. It is mindnumbingly absurd, if not exhausting, that attempts to downsize and limit government is lamented as dictatorial by those who advocate for maintaining expansive bureaucratic tyranny.

To sabotage the undertaking, Democrats and a fractured legacy media have deployed their standard tactic: projection. Anything ruinous that would have continued to occur if they still held majority control - along with everything caused by them that did happen during that tenure - is now cast upon Republicans as a dire warning. From ending the Department of Education to reviewing Social Security, all allegedly will be decimated if efforts are successful at remaking a federal government more efficient and streamlined. Education will decline? It already has been for years due to federal bureaucracy. Social Security will become insolvent? It already has been for years due to federal bureaucracy. This is an across-the-board pattern that they continually refuse to acknowledge, for obvious reason. Nevertheless, Democrats’ sky-is-falling mindset when not in power is twisted, if not tiresome, wherever efforts to undue their catastrophic failures are implemented - efforts which the majority of Americans voted for back in November.

Every former president has wielded executive authority, but it is deemed unconstitutional only when objectionable ones use it. Yet, many now ignorantly lecturing about supposed fascism had no such qualms concerning tyrannical actions the federal government and unelected bureaucrats implemented five years ago during the global scamdemic. Even more, these same hypocrites advocate censorship whenever they encounter anything disagreeable to their viewpoint; accordingly, anyone opposed and attempting to counter suppression efforts is, unironically, labeled a fascist. Admittedly, a tyrant dismantling the apparatus of control and power would be an unprecedented anomaly. Add to this mix the routine surge in way-too-online constitutional, history, international affairs and military “experts” and “scholars” posting incoherently on social media. Fearmongering and warmongering always have gone hand-in-hand to stir emotions among the masses, and liberals who constantly decry disinformation nonetheless openly and consistently spread it to create hysteria.

In the game of poker, a person can win if they play their cards right holding none of them. Currently, Democrats hold an extremely weak hand yet are bluffing a stronger position within a dwindling minority. Republicans must call their bluff by continuing to successfully fulfill campaign promises, resisting innate conservative inclinations to subsist on laurels and backslide to mundanely administrate governance as is the characteristically warranted tendency. Contrary in some right-wing circles favoring less audacity, conservative principles do not necessitate a predisposition to constantly maintain a defensively timid posture against more activist liberal ones. To quote President Theodore Roosevelt, “aggressive fighting for the right is the greatest sport in the world.”

©2025 Steve Sagarra

By Providence and Resolute Courage

“Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.” -William F. Buckley

With the re-election of President Donald Trump to a second, non-consecutive presidential term, Democrats have demonstrated an increased disconnect from the reality of the situation. Only a few weeks removed from the inauguration of President Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance - whose ascent to that office should be celebrated in its own right instead of slandered - it already has reached a fever pitch. The reality is that American voters resoundingly balked at continuing the extremist liberal agenda of the Biden administration under Kamala Harris - no doubt yet another potential extension of former President Barack Obama's administration - and which currently is in the process of being dismantled. The disconnect is a failure not only to accept this circumstance but also to comprehend why this is happening. Democrats seem to have the misguided delusion that the Trump administration - in tandem with a full Republican majority in Congress and a right-leaning Supreme Court - would keep intact and maintain the former's calamitous and destructive leftist policies, rather than swing the pendulum back under a conservative agenda for which it has been duly elected into office to implement.

Democrats as a political party have to reconcile that their ideology and worldview has been stymied by an electorate that rejected it. For the soul of the nation to heal from the wounds inflicted by those disastrous policies, it is beyond time for them to take their medicine. Sensitive to the devastation and loss caused by the latest California wildfires, they nonetheless are a prime example of leftist policies literally going up in smoke. While the situation is indeed man-made, it easily could have been avoided decades ago with proper standards of forest management and water collection that radical environmentalists and their monied politicos lobbied against. Like the nation as a whole, Californians hopefully will realize that it is the failure of their elected officials to enact those necessary climate-related policies - rather than defaulting to the usual boogeyman “climate change” hoax - and cast them out of office. Calls by Democrats to be included in the conversation about pertinent issues, many of their own making, is enlightening if not hypocritical; having had years to address these matters, they suddenly feign interest to undoubtedly hinder the effort.

Most people dislike having their worldview challenged, and politicians especially fear losing influence and power, so anyone attempting to is dismissed as either unhinged or unqualified. Of course, it is extremely difficult to even penetrate let alone expunge the brainwash after years of manipulation and propaganda. This is acutely evident as concerns Trump’s cabinet nominees, who have faced an onslaught of melodramatic hyperventilating from the bureaucratic swamp and underlying deep state that is terrified of full exposure and accountability. The reeking hypocrisy alone is insufferable. Moreover, Democrats clearly learned nothing from their election losses and even less its significance given their self-moralizing behavior and lack of introspection. This is highlighted by their recent leadership selections, the newest crop of laughable officeholders nauseatingly recycling and poised to double down on issues and policies that previously alienated voters and failed at the ballot box. More things change the more they stay the same - or, at least, that is how Washington operated before lawfare and assassination attempts. Now, Trump is determined to reverse the chaos propagated by the Biden administration.

Author and humorist E. B. White once wrote, “Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half the time.” (The New Yorker, July 3, 1944) In that vein, Republicans have to continue the momentum and govern on campaign promises made during the election - a notion that oftentimes has evaded them once in the leadership role. Conservative by nature, they must stay on offense rather than default to their usual entrenched defensive posture to buttress the unrelenting efforts by out-of-touch Democrats to wrest back control. Fortunately, the unburdening already has commenced away from the continued decline that could have been under even more catastrophic leftist policies and toward the prosperity that can be over the ensuing years. Time is ripe not to squander this generational opportunity to harness and usher in a renewed American exceptionalism as a beacon of hope that will benefit the cause not only of the United States but also all mankind.

©2025 Steve Sagarra

'Tis (Not) Season For Grinchy Humbugs

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.

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.

Like countless others of a certain age, I grew up watching Bob Barker and The Price Is Right - 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.

Merry Christmas and, hopefully, a Happy New Year. To, and especially for, all mankind.

©2023 Steve Sagarra

Truth Lost in Divisive Acrimony

“Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.” -Friedrich Nietzsche

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.

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.

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.

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.

©2023 Steve Sagarra

Atom, and the Eve of Destruction [A #TBT Post]

Heading to your local theater to watch Christopher Nolan's latest epic movie, Oppenheimer? 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.]

    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 Jornada del Muerto Valley designated Trinity Site, the successful test was the culmination of years of scientific research.
    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.
    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.
    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.
    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.”
    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, Bhagavad Gita:  “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”)
    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 Enola Gay, 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.
    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.

References:

Frank, David.  Downfall:  The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire.  Penguin Publishing, 2001.

Los Alamos National Laboratory History Homepage.  “Project Y.” n.d. <http://www.lanl.gov/history/atomicbomb/index.shtml> (6 June 2007)

McKain, Mark, ed. Making and Using the Atomic Bomb.  San Diego:  Greenhaven Press, 2003.

Rhodes, Richard.  The Making of the Atomic Bomb.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.

Takaki, Ronald T. Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb.  Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1995.

©2023 Steve Sagarra

For Old Times' Sake

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.

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.

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.

A lesson for humanity in general, but I leave that to you to learn accordingly.

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 Années folles (“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.

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.

©2022 Steve Sagarra

Hollaback Twirl

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.

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.

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.

©2022 Steve Sagarra

Random Thoughts: The Sequel, Perspectives Too

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.

Fun celebrity names to say: Benedict Cumberbatch; Imogen Poots; Engelbert Humperdinck; Zooey Deschanel; Randolph Mantooth.

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.

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.

Dogfight football might be Hollywood make believe in Top Gun: Maverick, 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.

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?)

Ventriloquists are simply talking out loud to themselves by other means. Audiences must suspend that understanding.

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.

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.

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.

©2022 Steve Sagarra

Rock 'n' Rollerball A Go-Go

In honor of the late James Caan, I recently rewatched the 1970s cult classic Rollerball. 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.

 

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.

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?

©2022 Steve Sagarra

Rashômon 2: Election Bogeyman

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.

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.

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:

1)  U.S. Civil War
2)  Abraham Lincoln assassination
3)  Pearl Harbor attack
4)  September 11th attack
5)  John F. Kennedy assassination
6)  Martin Luther King Jr. assassination
7)  The Great Depression
8)  War of 1812
9)  James Garfield assassination
10) William McKinley assassination

“A lie told often enough becomes the truth” and “repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth” 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.

©2022 Steve Sagarra

A Tolerable Measure of Inconvenient Free Expression

“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.”
-Alexander Hamilton

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.

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.

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.

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.

This is only my opinion, though - you very well, and rightfully so, may have a different one.

©2022 Steve Sagarra

Sorry Charlie, Tricks Are For Squids

“Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness.”
-Thomas Paine

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 party stand for, 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.

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.

In an era of arbitrary pronouns to assign desired non-biological genders, segregation 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, “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.”

Recently watching Netflix’s Munich: The Edge of War, 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 undemanding questions 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.

An overarching theme in Alan Moore’s influential graphic comic series, Watchmen, 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. 

©2022 Steve Sagarra

Bonded in Bond

Before delving into other matters, let us get one item out of the way. In anticipation of No Time to Die 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, Casino Royale, 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:

Dr No
From Russia with Love
Goldfinger
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
The Spy Who Loved Me
For Your Eyes Only
The Living Daylights
GoldenEye
Casino Royale
No Time to Die

Now, you might be wondering about a few missing from this list or, perhaps, even some included on it. You probably keep staring at On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and, undoubtedly, The Living Daylights, 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 A View to a Kill is, OHMSS 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 TLD meriting a spot.

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 GoldenEye 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 Die Another Die.

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. Moonraker and the aforementioned AVTAK, with mixed results.

Which brings us to Brosnan’s third film, The World Is Not Enough. 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.

Again, this is not an exclusive opinion all my own.

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.

All which leads us back to the aptly titled, No Time to Die. 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.

©2021 Steve Sagarra

Great Seeger's Ghost

Not exactly Pete Seeger, but this is my pandemic protest ditty...

Fully vaxxed, now ready to relax,

Tyrant maskers keeping us taxed,

Living our lives over the Zoom,

Quarantine rooms, finely groomed,

No virus, feeling like a highness,

Operating same as the mindless,

Vaccination means life in reverse,

Deceit, hype, compliance perversed,

China not served, UN without nerve,

Only fifteen days to flatten the curve!

©2021 Steve Sagarra

As the Days of Our World Turn

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

©2021 Steve Sagarra

Trickle-Down Absolutism for Communal Benefit

“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.”

-Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements

“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 “trust the science” 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 collective peer pressure, rather than being about personal responsibility and individual choice.

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 segregate 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 Philadelphia-esque remake indulge the notion, with a main character instead portrayed as an unvaccinated “deplorable” in such a reimagining?

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, “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.” In the beginning, temporary measures 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.

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.”

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.

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 authoritarian hypocrites 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.

©2021 Steve Sagarra

After Dismantling Before Collapse

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.

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.

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.

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.

For as Simon & Garfunkel vocalized, “silence like a cancer grows.”

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.

©2021 Steve Sagarra

One Republic, Two Republic, Red Republic, Blue Republic

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

©2021 Steve Sagarra