Category: Editorial

Opinion: Ditch Empathy…Ditch Democracy

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OPINION: Ditch Empathy–Ditch Democracy

OPINION: Ditch Empathy–Ditch Dem0cracy

By Vajra Ma

 

Waggy is Adorable

Have you seen the ads for the new toy that looks and acts “just like a real puppy”​? Waggy is a curly haired AI puppy who tilts its adorable head just like a real dog. Waggy responds to your child’s voice just like a real dog. Sit! It sits. Come! It comes. It cuddles with your child just like a real dog. But it’s not real and according to the ad that’s the selling point. No expensive vet bills, no food to purchase, no long dog walks. No bothersome biological needs whatsoever. No care required.

No Empathy Required

What does such a realistic-seeming virtual puppy teach your child? It teaches them the puppy has no needs, no desires, no life of its own. It exists only to serve the needs and desires of your child.  The only thing that matters is the child, what he feels, what he needs, what he wants. No care or empathy required.

Biological Reality

Waggy weans your child away from biological reality. When biology is canceled, the opportunity to develop empathy for another living being is canceled.  We place our child in a subtle training ground for three things: 1) dissociation from the body 2) the atrophy 0f empathy 3) the development of narcissism. The interaction between the child and the AI dog is narcissistic. It is devoid of any feeling or even thought of the needs of another. Interaction with a virtual being is preferable to interaction with a real being.

Conditioning 

Is this what you want for your child? Is your convenience as a parent worth this programming of your child? Is this the conditioning you want for the next generation?

Toys Matter

Am I being hyperbolic? overstating the situation? I think not. Not when viewed in the context of three things: rapidly progressing AI, the transhumanist agenda and fascism. (Now she’s really getting hyperbolic!) Bear with me… There are plenty of dots to connect between these three things that could easily fill a whole book, but in the scope of this article I can only point briefly to them. Hopefully this will indicate how subtle and insidious the Waggy programming is, why a little toy like this matters.

Ditch Empathy

Elon Musk has stated “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.” Remember him prancing about on the stage with his chainsaw? He wielded the perfect tool to represent the lack of empathy it took to slash through people’s livelihoods in his DOGE purge. Musk justifies such actions as protecting us from “civilizational suicidal empathy.” Should we prefer homicidal empathy?

Peter Thiel

In alignment with Musk, his former PayPal co-founder and kingpin of transhumanism, Peter Thiel, rejects “abstract universalism that treats all individuals as fundamentally equal.” Ditch equality, ditch democracy. Enter fascism. This brings us to the new catch phrase of the Christian Nationalist agenda…

“Toxic Empathy”

Christian author Allie Beth Stuckey, titled her book with this now popular term she coined, Toxic Empathy. In a video interview she tells us how much she likes Steven Miller and his deportations. When the interviewer pushes back about sending deportees to El Salvador (and it’s notoriously brutal CECOT prison) she deflects: (the liberals are) highlighting these stories of supposed cruelty from ICE” and admonishes people to ask “but is this true?” True? Has she seen any of the numerous videos documenting the blatant cruelty?  or does she only watch Fox News which deceives largely through omission? (emphasis added) https://www.tiktok.com/@nytopinion/video/7529126187717692703

Transhumanism

Transhumanism, at best, aims to cybor biology, at worst, to eradicate it all together in favor of uploading one’s consciousness into a computer. Either way, AI Waggy aligns and enables this.

Is that what we want for our children? or will we let ourselves see the connections between the dots?

Do we see how subtle conditioning via a cute AI toy disassociates us from biological reality? How it desensitizes us to the living needs of others? How it eradicates empathy? How it paves the way to dehumanizing others? Hitler had the Jews. We have the immigrants.

Waggy, Inside

If that’s what we want for our children, our country and the future of humanity, by all means bring (supposedly) harmless Waggy into the house. Let virtual interaction groom our children for the non-empathic narcissism and de-humanization that fascism requires. Waggy, in his adorable little robot way, helps us get there.

 

OPINION: Time For The 25th Amendment

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OPINION:

Time For The 25th Amendment

 

OPINION:

Time For The 25th Amendment

By D.S.  Mitchell

Back Then

In my younger years, way back in college, my first year, for a term or two, I was a Psychology/Sociology major. I’ve always been interested in what makes people behave the way they do. I later switched to nursing and it was a lot of the same, trying to figure out what made people tick.  As an RN I worked 1NW OHSU Crisis Psychiatry Unit, Portland, OR,  for many years before retraining for Cardiac ICU about 20 years into my 45 year long nursing career. I ‘ve left that life behind, and I am now retired from nursing and currently writing and editing full time. So, as a writer I’m still interested in what makes people behave the way they do.

36%

Right now Trump has a 37% approval rating in the national polls. I get that 1% of that 37% are billionaires, and are happy as hell, but what about the remaining 36%? Do these Trump supporters really feel good about 15 million people losing health care, hundreds of hospitals and clinics closing across the country, health care premiums going through the roof, the end of science in this country, the end of cancer research, DOGE plowing through all our private information, the destruction of “due process,” the rise of the oligarchs, the federal government shut down, or the firing of 100’s of 1,000’s of government workers?

Be Happy…Until

Well, all I can say to the Trumper crowd, is, be happy….until it’s your grandma’s nursing home closes and she has nowhere to go except home with a family member, or till your dad’s social security check is held up because DOGE decided he was really dead, or my God, your daughter’s new husband who spent a weekend in the sun doing yard work and was now suspiciously dark, and aroused the interest of prowling ICE agents, who arrested him, and sent him someplace-they can’t remember, or refuse to tell the judge.

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OPINION: What About Charlie?

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OPINION: What About Charlie?

OPINION: What About Charlie?

** “Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized SAINT specifically, the official act of public veneration.”

**The White House announced that Charlie Kirk will be posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

By Kelli Mathison

 

Charlie? Charlie? Hmmm….Charlie. Charlie Kirk? Mmmm, Charlie Kirk. Who? I don’t know who this guy was but apparently his death beat out Jesus Christ for the top political murder in history.  On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk, an American right-wing political activist, was shot and killed while making a  speech at the Utah Valley University campus in Orem, Utah.

So-o-o-o this guy, Charlie Kirk, that more than three quarters of the country never heard of, is getting more fevered press than the crucifixion of  Jesus Christ. Certainly more histrionics than we got when then Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi’s 82 year old husband, Paul Pelosi, was attacked in their home and nearly beaten to death with a hammer by a pissed off MAGA guy. Or on Jun 14, 2025 — House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman (D) Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, Mark, were fatally shot in their home by a right wing extremist with little more than a ripple on the political airwaves.

The screaming, red-faced hysteria over Charlie Kirk’s killing is difficult for me to process, much less comprehend. So before writing this little piece for Calamity Politics I decided to do a bit of research. The most obvious question you probably have is, what did I find out about MAGA’s newly canonized martyr when I looked him up online. Charles James Kirk was 31 years old.  He was born and raised in the wealthy Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights. His father Robert Kirk was a recognized local architect who had the distinction of working on Trump Tower. So, Charlie had the benefit of money and great contacts and he used them without hesitation or restraint.

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Worker’s Over Billionaires Protest

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Worker’s Over Billionaires Protest

Worker’s Over Billionaires Protest

“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”                                                                                                                                                  

By David L. Shadrick

This was our fourth protest in a season of protests. As usual Darlene, Vajra, John, and myself parked ourselves on our favorite bench under our favorite shade tree on 6th Street, Grants Pass, Oregon, kitty corner from the county courthouse. The turnout for the Worker’s over Billionaires rally was good, but not great.

I can also report that the opposition turnout, in deep red southern Oregon, was close to microscopic. I counted two rabid Trumpers in the crowd; one flipped me off and the other one, a jogger, stopped in front of my wheelchair and called me a “horrible person” and then accelerated his pace and headed to the safety of 7th street. Other than than those two events things were cool. We got lots of positive comments on our signs, in fact several folks stopped to take a selfie with me.

INDIVISIBLE came through with a new stereo system for our rally. It was cool being able to actually hear the speakers and some great music.  John and Vajra wandered through the crowd checking things out; they told us about a group way up on the other side of the street out of our field of vision that were causing a ruckus. It seems they wanted to protest FOR pedophilia. Holy smokes, I can see why that might cause a fight or two. I suspect they were just a bunch of Trump supporters being A-holes, trying to stir up some shit.

Despite the smaller size of the Labor Day protest in our little town, I will admit that in Grants Pass it was very hot and there were a lot of folks out of town for the last week-end get-away before school started.  With that said, we need to increase the pressure on Trump and his allies. We need to tell ‘ol Donnie Boy we are not going to stand for his masked thugs disappearing people from American streets, putting billionaires on the government dole when poor Americans are having health care and even food benefits snatched away. This isn’t ‘effin Russia, yet.

If these protests are going to have the intended impact they need to be getting bigger and bigger not smaller.  In my mind, turnout is imperative to keeping Trump’s attention. We can’t weaken or tire now; we have another 3 and a 1/2 years of  the Trump despot show. We can’t give in, give up or surrender to this lawless president and his corrupt allies; our freedom is literally at stake.

**Quote by Edmund Burke

Politics, A Dirty Affair

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Politics, a Dirty Affair

Politics, a Dirty Affair

D. S. Mitchell

The Bloggisphere

Writing for Calamity News and Politics gives me a platform to discuss headline events and political policy. It also provides me a place to vent,  fume, and stomp my feet. If somebody doesn’t like the drum I’m beating, they are fully able, and encouraged to move on; to a site that better satisfies their social view of the world.

My Son

“Don’t get so wound up, it’s just politics”, my son recently told me.  Well, whether I’m saying it to my son, or to a potential reader, or to a neighbor, that is the wrong attitude. In the end, politics is policy, and policy effects everything in our lives. The schools, the hospitals, the parks, the highways, the airports, the waterways, international trade, health care, military defense and social justice.  Nearly every part of our daily life is effected in someway by the policies that our elected officials enact in Washington, D.C., or our state capitols. Got it?

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What We Could Have Had

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We Could Have Had The Bright, Beautiful Black Lady

Kamala Harris, fulfillment of the American dream. Vote Blue 2024 Biden/Harris

What We Could Have Had

We Could Have Had The Bright, Beautiful Black Lady

 

By Cate Rees-Hessel

 

Regrets?

I wonder if anyone that voted for “The Donald” is finally tired of the insanity and has regrets. I recall years ago the Dream Date game – you could get a handsome male or the dud; we sure got The dud. A popular game show allows contestants the opportunity to choose curtains number one, two, or three but beware, a booby prize is behind one of those curtains. We got zonked big time, but unlike that game of chance, the deal those who voted for the orange monster was a deal made with the Devil.

We Had Our Chance

We had the golden opportunity to elect the most accomplished, the most beautiful,  the most gracious, and the most compassionate, and highly intelligent attorney-prosecutor to ever seek the presidency, but those who are ruled by racism and sexism chose the weak wizard behind the ugly curtain. Now we’ve been zonked and I don’t know if I can last another 1270 days. Below are some prevailing truths because we regretfully did not elect the smart, beautiful Black lady to run our nation:

  1. When the tariffs prevent you from getting what you need or want, remember, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  2. When I.C.E. takes your loved ones away, remember, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  3. When you can’t afford groceries, remember, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  4. When your wife, sister, or daughter can’t get medical care, remember, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  5. When none of us have health care, remember, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  6. When the Social Security money we all worked for goes to pay Elon Musk’s debts, remember, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  7. When the war in the Ukraine rages on with no hope in sight, remember, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  8. When we are at war with Iran, including the likely terrorist attacks here, remember, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  9. When children have empty plates to fund a want-to-be dictator’s military birthday parade, remember, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  10. Even though he and “The Donald” have parted ways, the unfettered power given to Elon Musk has already strongly contributed to running our nation into the ground and his new political party as dangerous as he is, remember, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  11. When eggs remain at five dollars a carton, remember, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  12. Biden capped inulin at $35.00; Trump dropped the cap so insulin is now unaffordable for seniors, remember, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  13. When school lunches are cancelled and children go hungry, remember, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  14. When shootings continue to rise, remember, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  15. When Medicaid and Medicare are no more, remember, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  16. When veterans benefits are no more, remember, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  17. When the National Guard is sent into a peaceful protest, remember January 6th; and that we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  18. When the Gulf of Mexico is referred to as the Gulf of America, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  19. When only billionaires get tax breaks, remember, we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady…
  20. When you wake up drenched in sweat from a nightmare because you voted for Trump, remember…we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady. We could have had Kamala Harris.

Deranged and Demented

Shame on the racist sexists who voted a mentally deranged narcissist with dementia back into the Oval Office, along with his slimy new sidekick JD Vance; instead we could have had the bright, beautiful Black lady, as our President. Kamala Harris and the delightful, down-to-earth schoolteacher/coach/governor Tim Walz at her side. This was a pair that I proudly voted for.

A Long Wait

I have been waiting for our first female President since Shirley Chisholm, Geraldine Ferraro, and Hilary Clinton. Richard Nixon predicted in 1970 that within the next 50 years we would certainly elect a woman president. Well, according to Nixon we are past the time to elect a woman president of the United States.

Thank You, Joe

Thank you, President Joe Biden for helping us smash the glass ceiling; making Kamala Harris the first woman Vice President of the United States. Please join me in wearing something pearl white in the honor of the early suffragettes who demanded the right of women to vote, and our recent presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Trump’s Tariffs and a Whole Lot More Mess, Part 2

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Trump’s Tariffs and a Whole Lot More Mess, Part 2

Trump’s Tariffs and a Whole Lot More Mess, Part 2

By Cate Rees-Hessel

 

The Donald continues to perpetuate hatred, bigotry, chaos, and stupidity in the Oval Office. I can barely keep up with Trump’s growing list of atrocities, below you will find just a couple of them highlighted. Trust more is coming in part three of this series as we continue to persevere in the wake of the worst president in history. We must resist against Trump’s evil regime of terror:

Acts of Terrorism

  1. Trump’s administration deported adorable 2 year old toddler Maikelys’ parents with no evidence of any criminal activity; this precious child had both a mother and a father but now little Maikely is in the foster care system. We must seek impeachment now…
  2. Trump has attacked Cookie Monster, Big Bird, and, of course, Bert and Ernie – the Trumpsters want to see programs such as Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood and Sesame Street off the air for teaching our children empathy and kind behavior, attacking PBS and NPR who they feel will eliminate objective reporting on the illegal, incredibly stupid, and very cruel things that the Trump administration keeps doing. “The Donald” has signed yet another completely ridiculous “executive order” with no legal basis; this particular order is a claim zeroing out any Federal funding for the Public Broadcasting System and National Public Radio, which we all grew up with and have the utmost respect for. We must seek impeachment now…
  3. Per NBC News via the Free and Fair Democracy PAC, “The Supreme Court has given Donald Trump the go-ahead to ban transgender individuals from serving in the military. Yes, that’s right—the convicted felon who called veterans ‘suckers’ and ‘losers,’ showing nothing but disdain for those who’ve sacrificed life and limb for our country. Let’s ensure that the real heroes—regardless of gender identity—are respected and honored for serving honorably despite being stabbed in the back by the likes of Donald ‘Bone Spurs’ Trump.” We must seek impeachment now…
  4. The orange haired monster wants to reopen Alcatraz as a federal prison, much to the chagrin of many Californians and other Americans. We must seek impeachment now…
  5. A healthy 31 year old North Carolina woman by the name of Elisabeth Weber discovered that her fetus had no heartbeat for weeks. Despite the fact medical diagnosis confirmed a non-beating heart, Elisabeth announced when she did not naturally miscarry medical help was denied to her in accordance with the very strict anti-reproductive freedom laws in place. In an interview with People Magazine, the Greenville resident said she felt she was carrying her a son – she has three daughters. In 2018 her baby boy died of SIDS; her husband Thomas and her wanted this child – they even let their landlord know they would need a larger rental. In late March, only nine weeks pregnant, there was no detectable heartbeat – her fetus three weeks earlier had ceased growing. Mrs. Weber, having been told that she was, “definitely having a miscarriage”, was still turned away to suffer through at home. Bedridden and nauseous, she went back to the ER at almost ten weeks. She asked for a D&C (dilation & curettage) – this procedure removes dead tissue from the uterus. Nearly 6% more infant deaths occur where restrictive abortion bans are in place. Her story, like many others, is frightening and sad. This is not pro-life.  We must seek impeachment now…

Please look for part three of the diabolical Trump series, coming soon…

Let’s Get Off the Couch

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Let’s Get Off the Couch

Let’s Get Off the Couch

By D. S. Mitchell 

 

One to the Solar Plexus

Trump’s 2024 election victory hit me like a Mac truck. I wasn’t just physically devastated; I was psychologically traumatized. All those rallies, all those meetings, all those phone calls, all those yard signs, all those donations; all for nothing. Quite truthfully, that first week after the election I huddled on the couch with my Teddy, a soft blankie, and a fifth of Johnnie Walker within easy reach. What now? I worried.

BS and Bluster

I didn’t have to wait long for my answer. It’s clear, Trump’s solution to high meat and egg prices is to seize Greenland, annex Canada, institute tariffs on our two biggest trading partners Mexico and Canada, send American troops to secure the Panama Canal, from what we are not sure of, and then Trump’s desire to take over Gaza from Israel. With billions in investment capital and an army of bulldozers Trump states he will turn the rubble of Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East”. Of course the displacement of the 2.14 million Palestinians is illegal and Trump himself admits that  U.S. military intervention may be required. Before the uproar over that absurdity quieted down, Trump told Ukrainians that they needed to be ready to guarantee the supply of more rare earth metals in exchange for our continued support in their fight against Putin.

Google On

Until this week, lawmakers, even Democrats, have been telling us to please just relax, Trump won’t be able to do any of these things; it’s just the old guy hyping the unpredictable and outrageous to keep us all off balance and unsure of what to do in response to his reckless disregard for our laws and our institutions. Well, Google took him seriously, and so have the oligarchs in waiting. Google announced it will change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The richest people in the country are lining up to give financial support to the Orange One. Talk about bending the knee and kissing the ring. What I’d say, we have here is bending of the knee and kissing the ass. I don’t think we have time to sit back and wait, they are moving through the government departments with a wrecking ball.

Critical Action

Get up off the couch, drop the Teddy, put the bottle of Johnnie Walker down and start calling your friends and neighbors. It’s up to us to form an effective response to Trump’s lawless approach to government. Let’s get moving, we have a democracy to save.

Trump’s Torturous Tribulations

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Trump’s Torturous Tribulations

Trump’s Torturous Tribulations

By Cate Rees-Hessel w/ D.S.Mitchell

 

Disaster Impending

As we draw closer to the dreaded day of January 20th, Donald Trump’s second inauguration, something I thought I would never hear or say, allow me to point out more insane things he has done prior to his taking office again this month. We absolutely must resist this devastating excuse for a president…

Cold Day in Hell?

But it should be noted first, even his inauguration itself demonstrates his all-consuming self-interest: the ceremony has been moved indoors because the temperature is predicted to be in the low twenties. At least two prior Presidents in the last 60 years or so were inaugurated outside in similar cold, and the last time an inauguration was moved indoors, the temp at noon was 7 above zero. Even more telling is the official statement that the most of the quarter-million tickets sold for the event when it was set for outside won’t be honored for indoor seats, but are now “commemorative”. In other words, worthless – but wait a minute, they were already. All the more reason we absolutely must continue to resist this coming travesty.

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