Yesterday the 34 count Felon and Adjudicated Sexual Offender was reinstalled as the head of our government much to the shaggin and disappointment of many. In his address he stated that we are starting the Golden Era, “Unlike anything ever seen…” After that he signed executive orders receding the cap of pharmaceutical drugs for seniors and Medicare’s ability to negotiate drug prices and the $35.00 insulin cap, put in process to once again pull the United States out of the Paris Climate agreement and pardoned all the J6 individuals who assaulted police offices while trying to overturn an election. The law-and-order party just released criminals, some of whom confessed, that injured policed officers.
But let’s talk about the golden era that he wants to usher in with a little view of history…
The Gilded Age that started in the 1870s, was a period of economic growth as the United States jumped to the lead in industrialization ahead of Britain. The nation was rapidly expanding its economy into new areas, especially heavy industry like factories, railroads, and coal mining. Three societal problems facing America during the Gilded Age were political corruption, racial tensions, and economic inequality. Political corruption: The Gilded Age was marked by widespread political corruption, with politicians catering to business interests and participating in graft and bribery.
Well at least it starting out like last time… what could go wrong?
While there were some positives… Significant economic growth, technological advancements, and the rise of new industries. Those positives made men like Andrew Carnage, J.P. Morgan, John Rockefeller wealthy beyond belief but there was a cost. Those costs included exploitation of workers, dangerous working conditions, low wages, widespread poverty, political corruption, and the growing gap between the rich and poor. The ‘Gilded Age’ is also known as the age of the robber barons and that is the era Donald wants to bring back. A time when the rich get filthy rich and everyone else suffers… we already have Billionaires, which is obscene, but they want to be Trillionaires. This current round of aristocrats I don’t foresee making a sudden move to philanthropy like Rockefeller and Carnage did in the early 20th century. To date there isn’t a Hospital, Library, Museum, or any public project named after, Musk, Zuckerburg, Bezos, or Trump. Which hard to believe as much as Trump likes to put his name on things, I am sure there will be plenty of monuments to dear leader but they will have zero benefit other than ego aggrandizement.
The Korean War is nicknamed “the Forgotten War,” but the War of 1812 — fought between the United States and Great Britain just a few decades after America won its independence — certainly rivals it in terms of its lack of place in the collective national memory. Maybe it’s because the war took place two centuries ago; maybe it’s the placement between two major American wars that largely overshadow it (the Revolutionary War and Civil War). Maybe it’s the relatively nondescript name. Whatever the reason, asking the average American for details about the War of 1812 is likely to be met with a shrug. Let’s make some sense of this obscure yet formative conflict.
What Caused the War?
The roots of the War of 1812 were in the Napoleonic Wars between Great Britain and France. The neutral U.S. ended up as a shipping supplier to both warring nations, an economically advantageous position that saw the total U.S. exports increase from $66.5 million in 1803 to $102.2 million by 1807. But later that year, both France and Great Britain enacted trade embargoes in an effort to strain each other’s economies. Since the U.S. was such a shipping hub for both nations, it was included in these embargoes, despite being neutral in the Napoleonic Wars.
The United States responded by placing its own embargo on foreign trade, in an attempt to apply pressure on France and Great Britain to honor its neutrality. The embargo was ineffective, as it weakened the American economy much more than it impacted the European countries. In just one year, U.S. exports fell to $22 million. Attempting to stem the tide in the final months of his presidency, Thomas Jefferson repealed the embargo and replaced it with the Non-Intercourse Act, which allowed trade with all foreign nations except France and Great Britain. The United States was essentially in a trade war.
Meanwhile, Great Britain was suffering from numbers shortages in its navy, and took to stopping American merchant ships in order to check for deserters. Britain also engaged in a practice known as impressment, a bizarre combination of military draft and kidnapping. Impressment was particularly infuriating to the United States, as British ships would capture American merchant ships and force its sailors to join the Royal Navy. U.S. President James Madison made it a core issue stateside and pushed for war, regardless of the fact that by this point in time, the British had already agreed to end the practice.
There was yet another factor in the start of the war, one that largely defined the 19th century for the United States: expansion. Despite its relative manpower shortages, Great Britain’s military strength was largely at sea, so the logical strategy to expand the United States was to invade British-occupied land to the northeast and southeast of the U.S. border at the time. To add further motivation, President Madison accused the British of promoting hostility toward the United States from Indigenous peoples in those territories. With all of these factors converging, Congress declared war against Great Britain on June 17, 1812.
The War of 1812 Lasted More Than One Year
Battles comprising the War of 1812 stretched into 1815, so if the war had a more literal moniker, it would be the War of 1812-15. Though the conflict is not as famous as other American wars, many battles from the war became U.S. military lore. The sight of cannonballs fired at the USS Constitution ricocheting off the ship’s hull during its battle with the HMS Guerriereon August 19, 1812, earned the ship its famous nickname “Old Ironsides.” The June 1, 1813, loss of the USS Chesapeake to the HMS Shannonincluded Captain James Lawrence’s memorable battle cry, “Don’t give up the ship!” And Naval Commander Oliver Hazard Perry’s report of the September 10, 1813, victory at the Battle of Lake Erie contained the classic line, “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.”
The United States Tried to Invade Canada
In 1812, the United States Navy had only 16 ships, while the Royal Navy had somewhere around 500, an insurmountable advantage. To remedy this, the U.S. moved forward with its strategy to capture British land in Canada, and use that land to negotiate maritime conflicts. Thomas Jefferson called a successful invasion of Canada “a mere matter of marching” in an August 1812 letter. That confidence was misplaced, as a three-pronged invasion in 1812 failed at all three points, ending in surrender at Detroit and Queenston Heights, and retreat from the Canadian border with New York. Another attempt on Lake Erie the next year was more successful (the battle with Oliver Hazard Perry’s famous quote) and led to victory in Upper Canada. But the following year, Great Britain’s victory over France enabled it to shift military resources to North America. Canada was not taken.
The British Burned Down the White House and Capitol Building
On August 20, 1814, the British sent a convoy of soldiers to the town of Benedict, Maryland, 50 miles outside Washington, D.C. Out on reconnaissance, Secretary of State James Monroe observed the troops’ advancement northward and concluded that they were intending to invade the nation’s capital. Monroe sent a message to President Madison, warning, “The enemy are in full march for Washington. Have the materials prepared to destroy the bridges. You had better remove the records.”
Two bridges across the Anacostia River were destroyed in order to force a single rallying point at Bladensburg, 5 miles from Washington, but the British had already advanced too quickly. Though there was strength in numbers to defend the capital, the American troops were poorly organized, deployed too late, or in improper positions. The Battle of Bladensburg ended up a rout, and the British advanced on Washington. Once there, British Major-General Robert Ross ordered his troops to “complete the destruction of the public buildings.” That destruction included “the capitol, including the Senate-house and House of Representation, the Arsenal, the Dock-yard, Treasury, War-office, President’s Palace, Ropewalk, and the great bridge across the Potomac.” The estimated damage totaled around $1 million, and it took nearly four years to rebuild the city. In one of the few points of common knowledge about the War of 1812, it was the only time the United States capital was ever captured.
The War Gave Us “The Star-Spangled Banner”
After the British left Washington, they boarded their ships and sailed up Chesapeake Bay in an advance to Baltimore. They expected a similarly quick battle as at Bladensburg, but Baltimore had been fortifying its coast for more than a year, with Fort McHenry guarding the city at the south of the harbor entrance. On September 13, 1814, 16 Royal Navy ships approached the fort and began a bombardment that lasted 25 hours. Watching in detainment on a British ship during the attack was Francis Scott Key, an American attorney. On the morning of September 14, 1814, he saw that the American flag remained flying at Fort McHenry, indicating that the fort stood, and he was inspired to write the poem “Defence of Fort M’Henry.”The poem was later set to music as “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the national anthem of the United States.
The End of the War of 1812
After three years of back-and-forth battles and overall inconclusive results that threatened to render the conflict a war of attrition, the U.S. and Great Britain looked for peace. The two countries signed the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, marking the end of the war. The terms of the treaty were status quo ante bellum, literally “the state before war.” Any conquered territory was to be returned, and prewar borders restored. In a strange quirk that could only happen in an era of slower communication, one more major battle was fought two weeks after the signing of the treaty: the Battle of New Orleans. Though it was considered a rousing victory for the United States, it didn’t matter due to the treaty and its terms. The War of 1812 was essentially a tie.
German-born physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was so influential, his very name has become synonymous with genius. While working as a patent clerk in 1905 at the age of 26, Einstein submitted four papers to the German journal Annalen der Physik that changed humanity’s perception of time, gravity, and light. Today, historians mark the year as Einstein’s annus mirabilis, or “miracle year” — and he was just getting started.
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Much of Einstein’s work is famously dense. Few people other than physicistsneed to fully comprehend the mind-bending ideas behind the general theory of relativity and Einstein’s other theories, but these discoveries form the bedrock of technologies the rest of us enjoy every day. Here are five ways Einstein’s ideas changed the world, and continue to provide a roadmap for humanity’s future.
GPS Would Be Impossible Without the General Theory of Relativity
Some 10,900 nautical miles above our heads, 31 satellites orbit Earth as part of the Global Positioning System (GPS) — but if it wasn’t for Einstein, those satellites would be little more than space junk. The very foundation of GPS is accurate timekeeping, as satellites need to keep time to correctly log the distance from a ground-based receiver (such as your smartphone). GPS satellites are so precise, the atomic clocks on board are accurate to within three-billionths of a second, a feat impossible without Einstein’s special and general theories of relativity. The special theory of relativity states that time flows differently depending on velocity. Because satellites travel at 8,700 miles per hour, they “lose” 7 microseconds per day compared to Earth-based receivers. Additionally, Einstein’s general theory of relativity — an idea published in 1915 that basically elaborates on his previous theory by throwing gravity in the mix — similarly states that distance from a source of mass, in this case the Earth, also affects the flow of time. This means that technically speaking, your head ages slightly faster than your feet because your feet are closer to the Earth (on time scales that are ultimately negligible). Today, GPS takes into account this “time dilation,” so satellites always know where you are when you open Google Maps.
The Explanation of Photoelectric Effect Helped Make Modern Solar Power Possible
It probably comes as no surprise that Einstein won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1921, but what many people don’t realize is that the award wasn’t honoring the wunderkind’s groundbreaking general theory of relativity, but rather his revolutionary yet often overlooked explanation of the photoelectric effect. The initial discovery of the photoelectric effect came in 1887 from German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (yes, that Hertz), who noticed that when ultraviolet light hit a metal plate, it created sparks. What was puzzling was that different metals required different frequencies to produce the same effect. Then, in 1905, 26-year-old Einstein solved this conundrum by introducing a new conception of light, which he published in his first paper submitted to Annalen der Physik. He argued that light wasn’t just a wave, as some scientists suggested, but also a stream of particles, later known to science as “photons.” Einstein posited that these photons contained a fixed amount of energy depending on their frequency, and his theory — though derided for years — successfully explained the photoelectric phenomenon. Though solar cells predated Einstein’s discovery by dozens of years, it wasn’t until Einstein’s theory that scientists understood why they worked, which helped make solar panels even more efficient.
Lasers Were Developed Thanks to Einstein’s Quantum Theory of Radiation
Lasers (an acronym for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”) scan your groceries at the supermarket, make self-driving cars possible, and form the backbone of optical communication. And yes, we can thank Einstein for this one, too. In 1917, Einstein published a paper detailing his quantum theory of radiation. The theory basically states that atoms can be stimulated to change energy levels when hit with a specific frequency. If that excited atom is hit with another photon of the same frequency, it’ll produce two coherent photons (traveling in the same direction) while the atom’s electron returns to its ground state. This means you can artificially create a sudden burst of coherent light as atoms discharge in a chain reaction, otherwise known as “stimulated emission of radiation” (the “ser” in “laser”). It wasn’t until after World War II that scientists found a use for Einstein’s discovery; the laser was developed by using mirrors to create light amplification.
Photo credit: MPI/ Archive Photos via Getty Images
The E=MC2 Equation Formed the Scientific Basis for the Nuclear Bomb
The final discovery of Einstein’s “miracle year” was the concept that light and energy are equivalent, and that their relationship can be explained with the elegantly simple equation E=MC2, meaning energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. Describing mass as essentially super-dense energy, Einstein’s equation shows how even small amounts of mass at atomic levels can produce a tremendous amount of energy when multiplied by the speed of light squared — and you probably see where this is going.
This process explains how a neutron fired from a uranium atom splits it into smaller atoms while releasing a tremendous amount of energy. It’s known as nuclear fission, and when the process is controlled, it provides low-emission nuclear energy. When released in an uncontrolled state, it can be used to produce an atomic bomb. Einstein himself never worked on the Manhattan Project, the secret government program to make the first nuclear bomb, but he rubber-stamped the idea in a 1939 letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt that argued for the U.S. to make the bomb before Nazi Germany. Einstein later regarded that letter as the “one great mistake in my life.”
The E=MC2 Equation Could Point to the Future of Energy
As previously described, nuclear fission works by breaking apart an element such as a heavy uranium-235 atom into two smaller atoms (krypton and barium). However, something interesting also occurs: If two light nuclei (i.e., hydrogen) can overcome electrostatic repulsion, theyfuse together to form a heavy helium-4 atom — sort of like fission but in reverse. Similarly, following the E=MC2 equation, this process produces a tremendous amount of energy and heat. This is known as nuclear fusion, and it’s the atomic science that is the energy-producing engine of stars.
On paper, nuclear fusion could provide the answer to humanity’s expanding energy needs. There’s no enriched material involved; nuclear proliferation with fusion reactors isn’t a worry; a meltdown is scientifically impossible; there’s no radioactive material produced as a byproduct; it’s completely carbon-free; and fusing atoms together releases 4 million times more energy than the chemical process of burning coal. There’s just one catch: Building a fusion reactor is immensely complicated. That’s never stopped people before, though. An international coalition of scientists and agencies is hard at work creating the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, which is set to go online in 2025.
This is a repost from when I first started this page but it is more relevant than ever the Leader that this current iteration of his party are not what he stood for the Trumpublicans are determined to divide further a fractured nation.
I am astounded that the Republican Party continues to call themselves the Party of Lincoln. Yes, he was technically the first of the Republican Party but prior to Lincoln this was the Whig party more a federalist party the competing party was the Democratic Republican Party that had North and South contingents, both of which had their own ideas about slavery and its expansion. Lincoln’s VP in 1864 was Andrew Johnson who was a Tennessee Democratic Republican who had stayed silent during the being of the Civil War and in my opinion the current Republican party more represents.
There are many obvious contradictions in the current Republican and the man they espouse to be steadfastly following.
Lincoln wanted to maintain the Union and went to war to do just that.
Current Republicans seem to want to dissolve the Union.
Lincoln proclaimed in his Gettysburg Address that line from the Constitution “that All Men are Created Equal” and by all accounts he meant it.
Can’t say that for the current party membership.
Voting down equal voting rights
Gerrymandering districts so that people of color are underrepresented.
Lincoln instituted the first Federal income tax and the original IRS to fund the Civil War with a progressive tax.
Current House of Representatives under slim Republican majority first bill to the floor was to abolish the IRS and institute a 30% federal sales tax.
Am I the only one that thinks that is regressive and would destroy our economy?
Trump wants to get rid of the IRS and institute tariffs on all imported goods
basically a tax on consumers that will bring zero dollars into the Treasury
I am sure that very few republicans today knew that the income tax was “their guys” doing. Well, I have news for you it was.
The current Republican Party still spouts the sentiments that Ronald Reagan stated while he was sitting in the White House, “ What is the biggest lie spoken (We am here from the government and here to help.)” Their new motto may as well be, “Government is broken, elect ME and I will prove it.”
I don’t know why some run for public office that have zero faith that the institution works and have no intention on fixing what they say is broken. The only rationale I can come up with is celebrity and power and that isn’t no reason to seek public office.
So I say lets stop calling this batch of Republicrats Lincolns Party and call them what they are the Destruction or Dismantlement Party (Trumpublicans). They are not America First as they proclaim they are in it for themselves and the moneyed interests that fill their coffers.
Authors Note: Sometimes I astonish myself. Before I wrote my last substack about Washington’s Crossing called Kneel. Pray. Win. I had written another one just in case things went South. That moment has come. The United States has voted for a dictatorship … and decisively. The Supreme Court will be lost for most of the century. Women will lose most of their reproductive rights and lives. And white people happily voted to impose tyranny over all other races and creeds. So what can you do that doesn’t involve the good Bourbon?
Let’s face it: America has fundamentally changed from what it was founded to be. It is now an autocracy ruled by the white tribe. Here is what I wrote a few weeks ago for that break-glass moment. Read it and Weep. Then get busy. We have work to do.
Imagine that it is Christmas morning in 1776. You are with George Washington’s army. Midway through the crossing, the Marblehead sailors who are rowing hear something. Before they can say a word, cannons sound all along the New Jersey side of the river. Washington’s daring move is defeated before the boats touch dry land. Imagine British cannon fire raining down on them as surprise British troops had moved from Princeton in the night, and the Hessians were waiting to the south and raking them with gunfire. Now, picture the American experiment slowly drifting as a drowned failure under the ice of the Delaware River … and George Washington’s corpse is being paraded by German mercenaries.
My dear readers, if you are reading this, then the worst has happened. Donald Trump has been elected the 47th President of the United States.
You are likely filled with two feelings. Some will be the same as you felt in 2016. You feel shame and grief. But now add a complete collapse of understanding of how the Trump train hit you into the mix. Your wits are torn asunder. Your heart aches and is in deep throbbing pain. You likely feel as if a close loved one has died, and you will be correct.
Like Washington, we risked a bold and daring campaign and since you are reading this, we have failed. Benjamin Franklin’s words now ring true. We were a Republic if we could’ve kept it. We did not and it died today, so Welcome to America, the Tyranny!
The End of 248 Years of Experimenting
What is now dying is the American experiment itself. And as our Russian enemies learned long ago (and passed on to their right-wing extremist toadies) was that the fastest way to kill Democracy was to use Democracy as the very knife to slit its throat. We do not have a president; we now have a King with all the powers George III had at the time of the American Revolution.
In the Star Wars movie Revenge of the Sith, Queen Amidala summed it up neatly when she said, “So this is how Liberty Dies, to thunderous applause.” Our problem is there is no Jedi order full of mystical space wizards to save us. We did this to ourselves by popular demand.
A Trump presidency means the United States is about to get the government his sycophants voted for. You likely feel adrift as a voter of progress, goodwill, and true of heart. We are on a boat alone in a vast ocean filled with terrible storms. But as all mariners know, there is a way for a sinking ship to save its crew and, in some instances, get back aboard and salvage it. But you can’t do it when crying, even if it’s a crying shame.
I feared for America these last few weeks; I believed we would win, but I kept a reserve of 5% caution that this could end in tragedy. (Author’s note: My prediction was 100% correct, and Trump won in a landslide.)
You are most likely feeling fear, trepidation, anxiety, and a burning pain in the middle of your gut that says things are going to get nasty. You are correct in those emotions as well. So, I will give you till the end of this article to feel all of those things and then get with the program.
At the end, I want you to have a deep, sobbing cry. Then I want you to stand up, get a hot beverage, and commit yourself to not surrendering all that you presently feel hold in your heart.
Trust me, I’m a widower, and your psychological well-being demands it. Your family will look to you, and your friends will want to lean on you for the stalwartness you need to develop pronto.
You must Hold Fast! That’s a nautical term to ‘grip the rope more tightly, or disaster will strike a worse blow than the first.’ Hold Fast. To what you know is right and true, and that is not MAGA. So no matter what they send at you, Hold Fast.
But Malcolm, why not just give in?
It is easy to surrender in a storm, to pass under the waves, and slowly die inside. It is easier not to engage, go into isolation, or try comprehending the crisis that befell us. I understand it.
You may want to do what I do when the politics are at their worst. I turn on MTV and watch the vapid video show Ridiculousness, or I dial up Midsomer Murders or Poirot and bingefor hours to cleanse my mind. But while I watch, I am also writing and formulating new ideas to help me with the predicament. I am constantly crafting new plans, whether for my house repairs, Christmas decorations, or memorial garden. Strategizing and adopting major projects is the highest form of grief management. Obsessively getting your affairs in order is something those of us who have lost immediate loved ones well understand.
However, one cannot – nay, must not surrender to the sweet, cold admission that it is hard to fight. It is hard to stand against outrages, insults, and arrogance. But those are your only choices on this day of days. You can surrender to an America that is dictatorial and fascistic and will grind into the day-to-day affairs of your life without any input from you, your friends, or your family. You can let other people dictate what your life will be. That’s why it’s called a dictatorship. Information will now be sent to you in any form of “truth” they want you to see.
Or you can commit to taking some time off between now and inauguration day and prepare yourself for the upcoming political battle. It will not be waged with weapons of war, as many on the extreme right-wing lustfully imagine. In this struggle, you must become the ultimate ally of the true promise of the Constitution of the United States. And, like the oath, we swear in the Armed Forces that we will uphold, protect, and defend that sacred document. The time has come for you to do the same.
I don’t want you to do it in the cheesy Q-Anon, Mike Flynn way of standing in front of a video camera and taking a fake oath for TikTok. I want you to take the moment that hurts you the most, which will likely be high noon on January 20, 2025, and hold it in your heart. Swear to yourself that you will not let this abomination abide without your voice of opposition. Be it in op-ed commentary, Twitter responses, or calling into local radio shows, Facebook, whatever – Swear to make your voice heard because suppressing your voice is next up after suppressing your vote. In fact, they want you to suppress yourself.
Take in the words carved into the Thomas Jefferson memorial as a touchstone, “for I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” That’s it. That’s your mission statement. Better memorize it because every form of tyranny over the mind of man is about to be imposed on you.
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Remember Rockwell Too
Interestingly, the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, is one of my favorite places in the world. My greatest pleasure is walking into the hall of the Four Freedoms. It has Rockwell’s four iconic paintings facing each other, including the Thanksgiving dinner table themed Freedom from Want. Next is the chilling Freedom from Fear, with the father and mother tucking their sons into bed while reading a newspaper about men dying in the European war. Next is the beautiful Freedom of Worship with its multinational, multi-ethnic hands in prayer. However, the one that touches me the most is freedom of speech. I gasp every time I see it. You must embrace its meaning. You must stand up, even when afraid, and say what you mean and feel. Right now, you feel a miasma of grief and pain. But learn to stand up and say what you mean. Tell everyone what you think is right, honorable, and true … before it is illegal.
Tomorrow, you may feel anger and a desire for change. OK, Stand up and say it. Soon, you may have to choose if you will protest if and when America lurches into a complete dictatorship and/or civil war. But once you have stood up and said you intend to speak up, remember these immortal words at the end of the Declaration of Independence: “We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
You, the reader, must understand the stakes of what speaking up means if the nation is to be saved. You must become the most loyal and ardent defender of the founding principles at the risk of your life and fortune. If you cannot risk it for that foundational biscuit, then your voice will just become one of many that will be ignored -like drowning oarsmen in the alternate universe’s Delaware, where prideful British troops drink mulled wine and piss on your body. Nobody wants that.
Right now, your MAGA neighbors v will likely view you as a foreign enemy to be intimidated, detained, or destroyed.
Be sure that the next four years will be a time of turmoil, economic hardship, and possibly civil unrest. Before you can follow instructions on navigating through it, you must first organize. Get your lifeboats back together, tie your fortunes to each other, and move with a purpose in opposition to the storm threatening to scuttle your hopes, dreams, and families.
Today is the day to let go of the mourning and make the American Experiment work again.
Have a good cry. Spin on your heel, get a coffee, and Lets Fucking Go.
Thanks for reading Special Intelligence! This post is public so feel free to share it … Widely – like NOW!
Esoteric Meandering Shouting Into the Void 
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