When Billionaire Malicious Narcissists Clash: A Reality-Based Movie That's Threatening America

Godzilla rages through a major city crushing buildings and people like cardboard cutouts...

Aliens sweep through the countrysides with death rays that engulf rural communities across the nation...

A fifty-foot woman destroys everything in her path looking for a cheating boyfriend...

In the real world we now have two world class idiots who are richer than the fabled King Midas competing to destroy the nation and each other in a war that's going to hurt the American public as they flex their power in childish chagrin. 

Between Trump and Musk their going to continue to inflict more damage on the United States infrastructure than Godzilla on his best day. 

If we think things are bad enough having Trump at the helm right now, we also have the world's richest man who is a malicious narcissist (just like our 47th president) who's willing to throw the country under the bus during their foolish feud.

Guess who is going to suffer as the moron's stage their reality show? Unless you're a millionaire/billionaire it's going to be the common man. One way or another.

Because Americans are a captured audience in this reality-based movie no one knows how it's going to end. The only option is a unified resistance nationwide and constant pressure on lawmakers to do the right thing or get booted out of office.

Protests have been blooming since Trump slithered into office thanks to Musk's money. I attended the Hands-Off protest on April 5 and was very encouraged by the turnout across the country and here in Medford, Oregon.

On June 14th my wife and I will attend another protest - No Kings Day - against Trump's military parade that just happens to be on his birthday, Flag Day, and the Army's 250th anniversary. 

He's always dreamed of a fascist parade to demonstrate his power over the military.

Organizers are rejecting Trumps parade to feed his ego. Organized by Indivisible, a progressive activist group partnering with groups like 50501, the anti-Trump nationwide movement dubbed "NO KINGS Nationwide Day of Defiance" will coincide with Trump's bigly parade.

Organizers are decrying what they say are Trump's attempts at displaying authoritarian dominance, particularly during his birthday celebration in a "spectacle meant to look like strength."

As it Stands, if you don't want a nation ruled by a king and want to show what democracy looks like - "people, united, refusing to be ruled" - then go to a No Kings protest on June 14th in an area near you.

Democrats Need a New Awakening

Under the authoritarian regime in America today the worst thing you could be is WOKE. The second is to be an immigrant of color.

As I write there are millions of democrats who need to shake off the WOKE mantle imposed upon them by Trump, and to re-examine their message so they can attract all those voters who crossed the Rubicon and elected a felon and worldclass grifter.

What would constitute a new awakening for Democrats?

Well, let's see.

For starters, the Democratic Party needs to tone down the Abundance message (...just look at all the things we do have) and come down to earth and campaign as economic populists with an abundance message.

For example, it's often progressives who have led the fight against exclusionary zoning. But the abundance movement - its top proponents, the institutions behind them, and the interest groups that are pumping millions into standing them up - have generally presented abundance as in conflict with economic populism. 

If the Democratic Party learned anything in this disastrous last election it was their message fell on deaf ears for the majority of Americans. They failed to convince millions of voters that Democrats were the party of the people anymore.

Let's face it, winning elections is the most important thing we can do to turn this tide of fascism.

Progressive author, Aaron Regunberg recently wrote an article for Alternet titled The Best Path to Defeating Trumpism. 

In it the author argues, "if abundance isn't going to help Democrats defeat MAGA, then the abundance advocates - or at least the ones who care about ending Trumpism - should stop trying to "define the future of the Democratic Party."

"Let's leave that work to the Democrats who are trying to orient our party around a vision that voters actually do find compelling, Regunberg concluded.

As it Stands, one thing the author failed to address, Democrats have yet to find a charismatic leader to bring the new message.

Who Wrote the First Worldwide Novel?

You may be surprised when I tell you who wrote the first worldwide novel.

But before I do, I'll give you a clue. It wasn't Daniel DeFoe's Robinson Crusoe written in 1719. That classic is considered to be the first English novel ever published. Remember we're talking the very first worldwide novel.

The first widely considered novel was written 1,000 years ago and was titled, The Tale of Genji. Its author was Murasaki Shikibu, a woman. The stage for her epic novel was set in 11th Century Japan following the life and romances of Hikaru Genji.

What made her novel special (besides being written by a woman) was it that it was fiction which was considered to be at the lower rung of the scales of the genre hierarchies at the time. 

What we do know about Shikibu is that she was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial Court during the Heian period. 

Both in 11th-century Japan and 15th-century Europe, prose fiction created intimate reading situations. Some of the storyline in these romance novels had some pretty explicit sex in them but were written in such a flowery way the reader wasn't grossed out.

Originally, romance literature was written in Old French, Anglo-Norman and Occitan, later, in English. The Tale of Genji inspired more writers to associate popular stories with serious histories traditionally composed in prose.

It's fair to say Murasaki Shikibu opened Pandora's Box for a new genre of writing. Nearly every country in the world has a translation of her groundbreaking novel. 

It's important to note that the definition of the word "novel" changes on who you talk to, even among the experts. The majority of academics cite The Tale of Genji as the first worldwide novel.

Scholar and East Asian literature and language expert Dennis Washburn argues in his personal translation that classifying The Tale of Genji as a novel means applying a set of Western-specific standards and Shikibu's work tends to transcend genre.

As it Stands, a novel can incorporate other genres and techniques as long as the narrative, and characterization, is uniform and distinct.