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Freedom from the webs of lies.

Article Published At:
Rutland Herald and Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus
Date of Publication:
December 24th, 2021

Since you are reading this over Christmas, it is fitting that I wrap up this year with the Truth that sets you Free in honor of the indigenous teacher Jesus. He asked that we align directly with the living Earth, the Creation and the Creator and act on her behalf, not human self-interest and greed.

Yet, for several years, we have seen the glaring conflict between the Truth that sets you free, and the webs of lies that trap people, so they can be exploited or even killed. The biggest topics have been the accelerating climate crisis and the struggle over dealing with Covid.

The climate crisis has accelerated as new patterns of extremes have been seen everywhere. Scientists patiently document the details. The world's eight most extreme wildfire weather years have occurred in the last decade, according to a new study that suggests extreme fire weather is being driven by a decrease in atmospheric humidity coupled with rising temperatures. There have been record temperatures over 100oF inside the Arctic Circle. Across the Atlantic, 500 fossil fuel lobbyists once again stopped the COP26 meeting from taking deep action in Glasgow against the fossil fuels. But now the Earth itself is targeting the fossil fuel industry, something that is so far beyond the brainless Trumpian webs of lies that it has a certain dark humor.

Recently documents exposed how, when Covid arrived, Trump silenced scientists and hid facts from the public to pretend the disease was trivial. By now 800,000 Americans have died, perhaps half of them as a result of this tragic webs of lies. Back in February 2020, Dr. Nancy Messonier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases warned that the coming spread of COVID-19 in the United States might lead to severe disruption to everyday life. This did not meet Trump’s approval, since it affected his self-image. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were forbidden from holding briefings, and the White House took over coronavirus messaging. The next day, Trump went on to tell the nation that “we have a total of 15 people” with COVID-19, and they are “all getting better.”

The CDC was then blocked from giving any public briefings for over three months, at a critical time when the disease was spreading, and knowledge of mask efficacy would have helped. The COVID-19 skeptic Scott Atlas was appointed as a “special advisor” to the coronavirus task force. Atlas immediately moved to drastically reduce guidelines for COVID-19 testing. This move to reduce the level of testing across the nation, was made specifically to generate a false impression of the number of new cases. HHS political appointee Paul Alexander demanded that CDC stop publishing scientific reports he believed were damaging to Trump. CDC officials were then ordered to delete Alexander’s emails to cover up this attempt to quash vital public data. Trump appointed Robert Redfield (the vocal “blame China” proponent) as CDC director. Forbidding the CDC from releasing their new recommendation to wear face coverings as well as new evidence that the virus represented a threat to children was tragic. It led to the false idea for months that the CDC was somehow against masks

The frustrated CDC team tried to circumvent Trump’s coronavirus task force to get guidelines on safe working conditions out to hard-hit meatpackers. They got caught, and the language in the CDC guidelines was “softened” by Redfield, in order to align with Trump’s demands that people stay on the job. Over 250 meatpackers died and 59,000 tested positive.

Earlier this year I discussed Trump’s admiration of fascism that led him to adopt Adolf Hitler’s concept of the Big Lie as a strategy to destroy democracy. He is still trying in 2021, as the oblivious neo-fascist Republican right, trapped in Trump’s web of lies on elections, Covid, vaccines and the ongoing climate crisis have no idea where to turn. These lies by Republicans about the science of vaccines and masks are now killing three times as many Republicans as Democrats from Covid. We live in the strange bizarre world where lies can trap millions in a virtual world, where advertisers can happily make huge profits, oblivious to the politics.

Step outside, listen and surrender deeply to the Creation on Christmas Day. Can you hear the Truth of the words of Jesus echoing down through the millennia, and become Free to save the Creation from the misuse of human power and greed? Please listen deeply so that our own children and grandchildren can also be free to live. Violent tornadoes in December are a clear warning of the deepening climate crisis. We do not have to accept the destruction of the Earth by nutty politicians and the greed of the Fossil fuel Empire, desperate to make every last trillion dollars of profit as they destroy much of life on Earth.

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