Brilliant! You’ve managed to make it so clear what our mission should be. Anyone who reads this will see it, as clearly as I do, who and what we’re up against. But there’s a caveat, we the outraged, the motivated, the relatively few who stand actively in opposition and dissent aren’t enough in numbers for any action to be effective. You’ve laid out what must be done and we need an organized and well led plan for the opposition organizations like Indivisible, NoKings and others. They have been engaged effectively organizing and communicating but there’s not much much cross pollination. I am hoping Substack will help with that. In any case, I will bring this treatise to the groups I belong to. Thanks for this well thought out description of what our way forward should be.
Michael, thank you. Your comment is more than just a validation; it is a high-level strategic brief in its own right.
You've moved past the "what" and straight to the critical question of "how." Your diagnosis is perfect: our greatest challenge is the atomization of our forces. "Not much cross pollination" is the core problem that keeps the opposition scattered and ineffective.
[And that isn't an accident. The Great Distraction 🎮 is designed to keep us in separate, competing organizations, even when we share a common enemy. It's how they maintain control. Your insight cuts right through that fog. 🩸]
This is an incredibly well researched, intelligent and comprehensive article. I'm very impressed but also dismayed. The one question that surfaced for me at the end of yesterday, No Kings Day, is of the millions and millions of people who marched in protest - the solidarity was so heartwarming and encouraging - will it move the needle at all?
If you're looking for something that helps turn that sense of urgency into consistent action, I highly recommend checking out 60-Second Productivity. It’s a free weekly newsletter that delivers one powerful, practical tip to help you stay focused and effective—without the overwhelm. Just one minute a week to turn motivation into momentum. Subscribe here: https://60secondproductivity.substack.com/
Mostly Siri’s paid participants! Trump is our elected President of the United States of America! Too many swamp creatures want our country turned into a S—-t hole!
You have a strange concept of winning. Even if you drank the Kool Aid and voted for the dotard Trump, you mean nothing to him or his corrupt machine. The words lemming and pawn come to mind. I hope you see the light through the orange fog.
This was so spot on! If this doesn’t resonate with the people who voted for trump; if they don’t feel betrayed, then we will just have to wait for another kool-aid drinking party. I guess that would be their ultimate show of allegiance to the a$$ of America!
Shatter the mirror... seeing them also means seeing them in us. We are them, thats the other illusion here. We have full responsibility, typing on this phone, for upholding the same system that we are against. Then what?
Hannah, this is one of the most profound comments I've ever received.
You are 100% right.
"Seeing them also means seeing them in us" is the ultimate truth. That's the Master Salvager's Mandate—the understanding that we all carry a piece of the "Rust" 🦠 and our first duty is to deconstruct it in ourselves.
You've perfectly diagnosed the prison.
That final, heartbreaking question—"Then what?"—is the only question that matters. It's the cry of everyone trapped in Layer 3: Learned Helplessness (⛓️).
My answer is the Engine Protocol ⚙️.
"Then what?" We stop participating in their national, horizontal "Great Distraction" 🎮 and we start building our own systems, locally. We build the worker co-ops, the local food networks, the community banks.
We don't just "shatter the mirror"; we use the broken shards to build a new world.
Thank you for this. You've hit the very heart of our entire mission.
- AFTER WE’VE SEEN OURSELVES IN THE MIRROR?? We are way way too dependent on them - for our convenience? Habit? Addiction? We each have personal restructuring to do but this is complex - ETHAN- PLEASE GIVE US A FRAMEWORK TO WORK OURSELVES OUT OF THIS DEPENDENCY - WHAT ARE OTHER OPTIONS SO WE CAN ABANDON THEM AND ALL THE OTHERS???
Aye. Too many pissing in the well of public information. Blue platform must include resurrecting and updating the Fairness Doctrine for the age of social media. Institutions and societies evolve and adapt, or die.
To what end? Does this make more money for the corporations? No dispute that such companies make bad decisions at times but to allege widespread directed abuses smacks of the radical left that got us in the peril we face today. I just don’t accept what you allege exists. While I have two “trans” associates, the issue of their existence and and treatment is so far from the radical left’s “major issue” it is absurd. And I don’t think that any parent should be allowed to pursue irreversible bodily changes or chemical injections of a minor child. If the individual adult of at least 18, decides their genetic course in life needs to be altered. Fine and their existence must be respected.
Jim, I think you may have replied to the wrong article. This piece is a deep dive on corporate media consolidation, based on financial records and regulatory filings. Could you point me to the part about transgender issues? I seem to have missed it in my own research.
Your piece talks about the lbgqt community as part of the corporate deconstruction of our society. They are the most prominent part of the community today. The left’s dealings on that issue turned away many voters there by electing the orange goblin. I’m a liberal independent and I’d wager that my 31 years of HR experience both in government and in major industry (100,000+ employees) represents more than you’ll ever experience.
Jim, thank you for sharing that. I want to focus on the most powerful phrase you used, because I believe it's the absolute heart of the matter: "the corporate deconstruction of our society."
You're 100% correct. That is happening. The exhaustion and frustration you're describing are real, and so many of us feel it.
But this is where I believe we're being played.
[The Great Distraction 🎮 is a masterclass in misdirection. They take a real, systemic issue—the corporate takeover of our lives—and they expertly redirect our legitimate anger horizontally at a social group. They need us fighting each other over pronouns and flags so we never look up at the people in boardrooms who are actually deconstructing our society for profit. 🩸]
The same corporations that sell rainbow merchandise in June are the ones funding the politicians who write divisive legislation and crush their own workers' attempts to unionize. My article was an attempt to follow that money—to look past the spectacle and map the actual architecture of the "corporate deconstruction" you mentioned. The real enemy isn't a community; it's the system that profits from making us fight.
With your 31 years of experience in major industry, you've likely seen that system from the inside more clearly than most. I'd be genuinely interested to hear your thoughts on that vertical conflict.
So glad you could lay this out with specific companies names, of which no doubt there are many more, but these make the point well enough! Their intent to distract and placate us while they advantage and monetize how they play and prey upon us…. This is the grift / it’s devious and with intent to grip and wring us out as they operate / commander their psyop. Ethan, what can we do in retaliation ? Anything legal?
Stop buying, strike?- risk getting fired?? What’s next best moves - moving many thing forward at once This is big and daunting to consider how fast we will
Need too have leaders ready, ideas developed, seize the time / opportunity as it surfaces , like the ICE thugs- getting those goons back into any type of ‘camp’ won’t be pleasant or easy.
Earthgirl, your entire comment is a perfect articulation of the emotional and strategic reality of this fight. The anger, the feeling of it being "big and daunting," and the urgent need for a plan—that is the correct and sane response.
You asked the most important question: "What can we do?" Our rebellion's answer is a two-pronged attack:
1. The Air War (Narrative): This is what we're doing now. Deconstructing their psyops, exposing their hypocrisy, and arming our minds to win the psychological war.
2. The Ground War (Local Action): This is the antidote to feeling overwhelmed. We ignore the national spectacle and focus on our own hometowns. We build our own local networks—a Phalanx—by supporting independent "Gear" businesses and identifying the local agents of "The Rust." We build the world we want right under their noses.
Your ideas for action are exactly right, and they are most powerful when applied at that local level. You're right that we need leaders. That's what the War Council is for. It's where we are building that very playbook. I'd be honored if you'd join us.
This is not a Left-Right, Dem-Repub.battle. its called "Corporatism" or Crony Capitalism, where the winners and losers are ore-selected. Those of us in Small Business get it. The large sharks love ti feed on the small fish. Trump is not the cause of this.
In 1983 in Econ 102 there was a discussion on the upcoming political midterms and the economy. I said then and everytime afterward: the parties are fronts for industrial complexes and as long as they flip power between each other the economy will be somewhat stable. The tech bubble of 2000/2001 broke that delicate high-pressure. The oligarchs took that break and built on the deregulation they manipulated into existence during the 1980s. The 'wars' between generations, equality (woman's/ethnicity/skin color, sexuality, religious choice) are all tools of entrenched oligarchs that survived the Depression.
This article strikes home with me. I worked for a large utility as it transitioned from a regulated industry to the new deregulated model. There's a recipe for the worst of both world, a deregulated monopoly serving investors, not the community. We were one of the highest rate utilities in the country and I had the opportunity to ask the COO how we were going to compete. He stated outright, advertising. Then we saw commercials of all the great things, and the hockey games had power plays, all sort of angles. All untrue
Epic information to redirect our focus - keep saying it please- it’s A MACHINE SET TO CONTROL WITH INTENT TO USE UP AND DESTROY PEOPLES LIVES. ITS PURE EVIL - THE ONLY THING TO DO IS ‘SEE IT’ and ‘STAND UP TO IT’… UNRELENTING… LOOK UP PEOPLE- CAUSE WE ARE BEING CRUSHED UNDER THEIR SHINEY SHOES. VOTE BLUE💙💙💙 TO TAKE BACK OUR POWER THEN WORK TO HALT THESE GEARS
Spending on programs endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign and other DEI programs shouldn’t be anything to be proud of. These programs erased women’s rights and other workers rights. The internal HR & governance systems changed were further compromises to community standards.
JP Morgan was also the financial nerve centre enabling the Epstein empire to act freely by turning a blind eye to how he did business.
Yup, I cover that here: https://commonsenserebel.substack.com/p/jpmorgan-chase-the-unindicted-co
I should have known I got it from you ! That was the first article I sent my wealth management brother inCT that he read and was impressed by.
Brilliant! You’ve managed to make it so clear what our mission should be. Anyone who reads this will see it, as clearly as I do, who and what we’re up against. But there’s a caveat, we the outraged, the motivated, the relatively few who stand actively in opposition and dissent aren’t enough in numbers for any action to be effective. You’ve laid out what must be done and we need an organized and well led plan for the opposition organizations like Indivisible, NoKings and others. They have been engaged effectively organizing and communicating but there’s not much much cross pollination. I am hoping Substack will help with that. In any case, I will bring this treatise to the groups I belong to. Thanks for this well thought out description of what our way forward should be.
Michael, thank you. Your comment is more than just a validation; it is a high-level strategic brief in its own right.
You've moved past the "what" and straight to the critical question of "how." Your diagnosis is perfect: our greatest challenge is the atomization of our forces. "Not much cross pollination" is the core problem that keeps the opposition scattered and ineffective.
[And that isn't an accident. The Great Distraction 🎮 is designed to keep us in separate, competing organizations, even when we share a common enemy. It's how they maintain control. Your insight cuts right through that fog. 🩸]
Could I interest you in becoming a Research Consultant? https://substack.com/@aarontarpley/note/c-172277664?r=6q231&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web
This is an incredibly well researched, intelligent and comprehensive article. I'm very impressed but also dismayed. The one question that surfaced for me at the end of yesterday, No Kings Day, is of the millions and millions of people who marched in protest - the solidarity was so heartwarming and encouraging - will it move the needle at all?
If you're looking for something that helps turn that sense of urgency into consistent action, I highly recommend checking out 60-Second Productivity. It’s a free weekly newsletter that delivers one powerful, practical tip to help you stay focused and effective—without the overwhelm. Just one minute a week to turn motivation into momentum. Subscribe here: https://60secondproductivity.substack.com/
If only the no kings protesters knew that the crown they serve is Britian
Mostly Siri’s paid participants! Trump is our elected President of the United States of America! Too many swamp creatures want our country turned into a S—-t hole!
LOL 😂
NOPE 👎🏻
It should be renamed:
Semi Retired Geriatric Hippy SORE LOSER DAY
Because that is exactly what it was
You had four years after TRUMP 45
And you FAILED EPICALLY
Because your “party” HAS NO IDEAS 💡
ZEEEERO 👌🏻0️⃣
ONLY GRIEVANCES 🤬😖😤😡
So you FEEL entitled to march around throwing tantrums everywhere you gather
I’ll say it slowly for the congenitally stupid:
We Had An Election And You LOST
Now sit down and STFU
So the rest of us WINNERS can get on with our lives
TRUMP 45 & 47 🇺🇸❤️👏🏻🇺🇸❤️ MAGA 🇺🇸❤️
You have a strange concept of winning. Even if you drank the Kool Aid and voted for the dotard Trump, you mean nothing to him or his corrupt machine. The words lemming and pawn come to mind. I hope you see the light through the orange fog.
This was so spot on! If this doesn’t resonate with the people who voted for trump; if they don’t feel betrayed, then we will just have to wait for another kool-aid drinking party. I guess that would be their ultimate show of allegiance to the a$$ of America!
Shatter the mirror... seeing them also means seeing them in us. We are them, thats the other illusion here. We have full responsibility, typing on this phone, for upholding the same system that we are against. Then what?
Hannah, this is one of the most profound comments I've ever received.
You are 100% right.
"Seeing them also means seeing them in us" is the ultimate truth. That's the Master Salvager's Mandate—the understanding that we all carry a piece of the "Rust" 🦠 and our first duty is to deconstruct it in ourselves.
You've perfectly diagnosed the prison.
That final, heartbreaking question—"Then what?"—is the only question that matters. It's the cry of everyone trapped in Layer 3: Learned Helplessness (⛓️).
My answer is the Engine Protocol ⚙️.
"Then what?" We stop participating in their national, horizontal "Great Distraction" 🎮 and we start building our own systems, locally. We build the worker co-ops, the local food networks, the community banks.
We don't just "shatter the mirror"; we use the broken shards to build a new world.
Thank you for this. You've hit the very heart of our entire mission.
https://commonsenserebel.substack.com/p/the-engine-protocol
It’s TRUE… HOW TO STOP
- AFTER WE’VE SEEN OURSELVES IN THE MIRROR?? We are way way too dependent on them - for our convenience? Habit? Addiction? We each have personal restructuring to do but this is complex - ETHAN- PLEASE GIVE US A FRAMEWORK TO WORK OURSELVES OUT OF THIS DEPENDENCY - WHAT ARE OTHER OPTIONS SO WE CAN ABANDON THEM AND ALL THE OTHERS???
Aye. Too many pissing in the well of public information. Blue platform must include resurrecting and updating the Fairness Doctrine for the age of social media. Institutions and societies evolve and adapt, or die.
Real talk 🦜
Loads of worthwhile information here. Take time to look at all of it.
💯🔥🎯
To what end? Does this make more money for the corporations? No dispute that such companies make bad decisions at times but to allege widespread directed abuses smacks of the radical left that got us in the peril we face today. I just don’t accept what you allege exists. While I have two “trans” associates, the issue of their existence and and treatment is so far from the radical left’s “major issue” it is absurd. And I don’t think that any parent should be allowed to pursue irreversible bodily changes or chemical injections of a minor child. If the individual adult of at least 18, decides their genetic course in life needs to be altered. Fine and their existence must be respected.
Jim, I think you may have replied to the wrong article. This piece is a deep dive on corporate media consolidation, based on financial records and regulatory filings. Could you point me to the part about transgender issues? I seem to have missed it in my own research.
Your piece talks about the lbgqt community as part of the corporate deconstruction of our society. They are the most prominent part of the community today. The left’s dealings on that issue turned away many voters there by electing the orange goblin. I’m a liberal independent and I’d wager that my 31 years of HR experience both in government and in major industry (100,000+ employees) represents more than you’ll ever experience.
Jim, thank you for sharing that. I want to focus on the most powerful phrase you used, because I believe it's the absolute heart of the matter: "the corporate deconstruction of our society."
You're 100% correct. That is happening. The exhaustion and frustration you're describing are real, and so many of us feel it.
But this is where I believe we're being played.
[The Great Distraction 🎮 is a masterclass in misdirection. They take a real, systemic issue—the corporate takeover of our lives—and they expertly redirect our legitimate anger horizontally at a social group. They need us fighting each other over pronouns and flags so we never look up at the people in boardrooms who are actually deconstructing our society for profit. 🩸]
The same corporations that sell rainbow merchandise in June are the ones funding the politicians who write divisive legislation and crush their own workers' attempts to unionize. My article was an attempt to follow that money—to look past the spectacle and map the actual architecture of the "corporate deconstruction" you mentioned. The real enemy isn't a community; it's the system that profits from making us fight.
With your 31 years of experience in major industry, you've likely seen that system from the inside more clearly than most. I'd be genuinely interested to hear your thoughts on that vertical conflict.
So glad you could lay this out with specific companies names, of which no doubt there are many more, but these make the point well enough! Their intent to distract and placate us while they advantage and monetize how they play and prey upon us…. This is the grift / it’s devious and with intent to grip and wring us out as they operate / commander their psyop. Ethan, what can we do in retaliation ? Anything legal?
Stop buying, strike?- risk getting fired?? What’s next best moves - moving many thing forward at once This is big and daunting to consider how fast we will
Need too have leaders ready, ideas developed, seize the time / opportunity as it surfaces , like the ICE thugs- getting those goons back into any type of ‘camp’ won’t be pleasant or easy.
Earthgirl, your entire comment is a perfect articulation of the emotional and strategic reality of this fight. The anger, the feeling of it being "big and daunting," and the urgent need for a plan—that is the correct and sane response.
You asked the most important question: "What can we do?" Our rebellion's answer is a two-pronged attack:
1. The Air War (Narrative): This is what we're doing now. Deconstructing their psyops, exposing their hypocrisy, and arming our minds to win the psychological war.
2. The Ground War (Local Action): This is the antidote to feeling overwhelmed. We ignore the national spectacle and focus on our own hometowns. We build our own local networks—a Phalanx—by supporting independent "Gear" businesses and identifying the local agents of "The Rust." We build the world we want right under their noses.
Your ideas for action are exactly right, and they are most powerful when applied at that local level. You're right that we need leaders. That's what the War Council is for. It's where we are building that very playbook. I'd be honored if you'd join us.
This is not a Left-Right, Dem-Repub.battle. its called "Corporatism" or Crony Capitalism, where the winners and losers are ore-selected. Those of us in Small Business get it. The large sharks love ti feed on the small fish. Trump is not the cause of this.
Trump is not the cause of this. But he won't save us from it either.
In 1983 in Econ 102 there was a discussion on the upcoming political midterms and the economy. I said then and everytime afterward: the parties are fronts for industrial complexes and as long as they flip power between each other the economy will be somewhat stable. The tech bubble of 2000/2001 broke that delicate high-pressure. The oligarchs took that break and built on the deregulation they manipulated into existence during the 1980s. The 'wars' between generations, equality (woman's/ethnicity/skin color, sexuality, religious choice) are all tools of entrenched oligarchs that survived the Depression.
This article strikes home with me. I worked for a large utility as it transitioned from a regulated industry to the new deregulated model. There's a recipe for the worst of both world, a deregulated monopoly serving investors, not the community. We were one of the highest rate utilities in the country and I had the opportunity to ask the COO how we were going to compete. He stated outright, advertising. Then we saw commercials of all the great things, and the hockey games had power plays, all sort of angles. All untrue
#HoldFast
Epic information to redirect our focus - keep saying it please- it’s A MACHINE SET TO CONTROL WITH INTENT TO USE UP AND DESTROY PEOPLES LIVES. ITS PURE EVIL - THE ONLY THING TO DO IS ‘SEE IT’ and ‘STAND UP TO IT’… UNRELENTING… LOOK UP PEOPLE- CAUSE WE ARE BEING CRUSHED UNDER THEIR SHINEY SHOES. VOTE BLUE💙💙💙 TO TAKE BACK OUR POWER THEN WORK TO HALT THESE GEARS
Spending on programs endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign and other DEI programs shouldn’t be anything to be proud of. These programs erased women’s rights and other workers rights. The internal HR & governance systems changed were further compromises to community standards.