My Monkey Mind

Loves to Play

I have a monkey mind. It loves to swing through the dense rain forest of my 82-years of memories. It swings from one context to another. High good times. Low hard times. It grabs at loose-hanging odd pieces of facts and opinion lodged within the 2 majors and 8 minors awarded to it by accredited universities along its journey from then to now. When it gets bored or tired, my monkey mind settles down and sifts through accumulated travel treasures. It rubs the loose pieces against each other in a moment of rest and inquiry. What piece is not like the others?

That funny piece is the one begging for further consideration. Is it different from every other? Or, just a jigsaw puzzle piece needing a little rotation to find its proper place in a larger picture?

Credit. WordPress.com

The 15 Mar 25 Signal chat fiasco made public on 24 Mar 25 put me off my game for a couple of days. Substack reads backed up like a bad pipe blockage. When I finally undertook the task of scanning the work of these worthy thought leaders, several comments gave me pause. They were echoes of my earlier thinking on various topics.

Here are three examples.

1. Unserious people. During the Election 2024 campaign, Kamala branded Trump as an unserious person. She stated this character flaw made him a lousy choice for the 47^th president of the barely United States of America. Legacy news and social media platform voices have labeled the persons participating in that series of Signalgate chats as unserious. Kamala’s charge did not change the public opinion of the Teflon Don. The same attack on the nine high-ranking national security executives invited by Michael Waltz to sit the Houthi Principals Committee small group is very unlikely to affect the employment status of the any person with visibility or use of the Signal communication option. In case you have been in a coma for the last two weeks, these are the unserious people involved in the security breach:

· National Security Advisor Michael Waltz

· Vice President JD Vance

· Secretary of State Marco Rubio

· Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth

· CIA Director John Ratcliffe

· Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard

· United States Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent

· Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller

· White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles

· United States Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff.^[21][34]

I thank all gods great and small in charge of human and intergalactic affairs that persons affiliated with or in positions of power within Trump 2.0 are not “serious” people. It boggles the mind and corrodes the soul to contemplate the damage these semi-conscious and uniformly unqualified actors could do if more dedicated and focused.

2. Truth vs Fact. In 2016, to spin a poor debate performance by Trump, Kellyanne Conway introduced into common parlance the notion of “Alternative Facts.” I was aghast at the claim on its face and fearful of the implications of its acceptance as legitimate thought.

Google AI shares my concern.

· What is a fact?

A fact is a statement that can be proven true or false through objective evidence.

· Can a fact be false?

No, a fact, by definition, must be true. If something is presented as a fact but turns out to be false, it's not a fact, but rather a misrepresentation or an error.

· Example:

The statement "2 + 2 = 5" is a claim, but it is factually incorrect. It is not a fact because it is false.

· Misinformation vs. Misrepresentation:

If someone intentionally presents a false statement as a fact, that is a misrepresentation or a lie. If someone unintentionally presents a false statement as a fact, that is an error.

Trump had no trouble proclaiming his alternative facts to be truths. His misrepresentations and outright lies have made public dialog about him and his administration Orwellian in syntax. A search for such Trump 2.0 reasonings as can be determined or deduced lead to Alice’s adventures in Wonderland for best reference.

On 27 Mar 25, Russell C. Smith (The New Now Substack) reposted an article he wrote on 26 July 24. The piece is entitled “The Near Future.” It is a lyrical call to resist the madness of a world in thrall to a self-serving, avaricious wannabe tyrant.

“If truth has no inherent meaning anymore, might as well lock the door to day-to-day reality and throw away the key.” Russell is not giving up the key. And neither am I.

When a philosophy professor would like detailed class consideration of whether a tree falling in the forest makes a sound if no human ear is in the vicinity—I drop the course. And go sit in the sunshine to assure myself that the bird whose song I hear as it wings its way to a falling tree will bear all the witness needed to the fact of the act.

Credit. “Buy the Way….” (Insights on Integrated Marketing Communication)

Put another way--When a tree falls in the forest, does truth have two sides?

I say—"No.” Grade that answer as you will, ya pointy-headed intellectual.

3. Sovereign Wealth Funding

· Indonesia. On 27 Mar 25 the Financial Times reported that President Prabowo Subianto “launched the Danantara fund in February, bringing the country’s state-owned enterprises under one roof in a massive overhaul.” Danantara is Indonesia’s new sovereign wealth fund (SWF). It is expected to manage state assets worth $900 billion.

· Russia. That piece of information made me recall reports that Putin has been clawing back ownership of some of the hugely profitable commercial fiefdoms granted to various oligarchs when Russia was canabalizing itself in the 1990s. Putin’s probable purpose is to boost the size and power of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund (created on 30 Jan 08 with current holdings worth $10 billion). That bankroll is not very impressive on its face as a co-investment partner for the Russian economy. However, as with all things Russian or Chinese, the facts may differ from reporting. Natural resources used by the economy of Russia account for 95.7% of national wealth. There are large deposits of fuel and energy resources: oil, natural gas, coal, and uranium ore.

· The Barely United States. On 09/11/24, Rep. Morgan McGarvey introduced H.R.9543 into the 118^th congress. The bill proposes to explore the creation of a Sovereign Wealth Fund for this country. On 03 Feb 25, the Teflon Don affixed his bold signature to an executive order giving four loyalists 90 days to create a SWF for his use as an investment device. For a wider discussion of the nature and implication of this fantastic con, please consider reading https://susanobrien.substack.com/p/oh-goody.

It is worth noting that more than 20 states—including Alaska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming—have SWFs, some of which date back to the 19th century.

And Then the Penny Dropped

I have been among those baffled at what power the Mad King held that was sufficient to cause the stampede to Mar-a-Lago we witnessed since Joe Biden lost the presidential debate in Election 2024. I wrote about Trump’s magical thinking on 12 Feb 25. I was concerned about its effect on the health, safety, and welfare of We the People. I made the rookie mistake of overlooking those complicit in the creation and operation of a national slush fund.

Credit. X

The proposed SWF could be a vehicle for graft and corruption of epic proportions. We know the proposed beneficiaries by their individual pledges of allegiance to a tyrant rather than the laws and values of our country.

Anthem

May promises to be interesting this year. The April showers will bring flowers. The loyalists will unveil our Sovereign Wealth Fund—the investment device underwritten by currencies of a dubious nature and ownership of natural assets seized from other nations (Ukraine, Greenland, Canada).

Resistance 2.0 is beginning to show some muscle. Walmart and Tesla have lost brand value. Empty chair town hall meetings are gaining popularity. The American Bar Association is advocating for the rule of law. Down ballot activists are getting needed funding to identify and elect new faces to state legislatures. John Cornyn is concerned he may not have a smooth glide path to re-election. Jasmine Crockett is a new, attractive, effective mouth of the south.

Let us take advantage of opportunity provided by the Signal Chat Snafu to deny, delay, disarm, dismantle, and destroy the implementation of Project 2025.

Midnight in America may never come. Our resistance may reset the hands of the Doomsday Clock to a happier position.

Let us pull up our socks and step into the breach now, every Power of One person dissatisfied with the results and consequences of Election 2024. Let us put into play our persons and our purses to demand:

1. A return to positions of principle those persons, institutions, and organizations betraying a public trust in their integrity when bending a knee, kissing the ring, funding the personal wealth, or furthering the ambitions of Donald John Trump.

2. The bringing of criminal charges against Musk and articles of impeachment against Trump.

3. Referendum and recall of congressional representatives not faithful to their oath of office and/or responsive to the concerns and wishes of their constituents.

4. Creation of a Shadow Cabinet charged with daily briefings of administrative assaults upon the rule of law, the health, safety, and welfare of We the People, and simple decency.

Go, team, go.