The Sunday Scoop

A free post :)

Welcome back to the FREE edition of Life Intelligence on Sundays😊

I am back from Turkey, repacking my bags for Malta. It’s between 25 – 45 degrees in Bulgaria and 65 – 75 degrees in Malta. While in Malta, Lulu and I will hop on the ferry and explore Sicily for a few days. It’s incredible how things have changed since I left more than three decades ago.

I remember the time when people were getting shot for trying to run through the border to Greece or Turkey. Bulgarians needed visas everywhere, and neither the communist regime domestically nor the countries they were trying to visit let them travel. Back then, Bulgarians lived behind the Iron Curtain, made no money, and waited in lines all night for a container of yogurt or a pound of sugar. The future looked grim. People felt depressed, especially watching the top 1% of the communist elite living in luxury.  Until, just like that, it was over.

I have my fingers crossed for America. You are watching the likes of Elon Musk, the champion of free speech, usurp the right to be the loudest and spread his preferred message through his platform while suppressing other voices. If you were outraged about the “Twitter Files,” you should be outraged now.

This study out of Australia explains what has been happening at X since July 13, 2024 when Musk decided to endorse Trump and help him win.

If you no longer see your friends, celebrities, and news outlets on Twitter (X), they probably went to Bluesky, including The Guardian, Stephen King, Barbra Streisand, Ben Stiller, George Takei, NPR, PBS, LAist, Berlin Film Festival, and many, many more.

A new terms of service agreement, which took effect on Nov. 15, allows Musk to use tweets, photos, and videos — even from private accounts — to train Grok, the platform’s AI bot. They also stipulate that users’ content may be modified or adapted for other media. User Content could end up in the hands of other companies, organizations, or individuals without notice or compensation. Further, X notes in its new User Agreement that users may be removed for “no reason at our convenience” or if “you create risk or possible legal exposure for us.” People are barred from suing X as a plaintiff or as a member in a class-action lawsuit.

So, it’s not just the election chasing people away. At this time last year, X had 250 million active users. It has 157 million now. I thought you wanted to know…

Americans don’t have the experience of changing political systems on a dime. Europeans do. Bulgarians and all the countries behind the Iron Curtain do. Russia flipped twice with what seemed like a moment’s notice. In 1917, the revolution overthrew the Zar and installed the Lenin/Stalin communist dictatorship instead of the monarchy. Then again, in 1991, the Soviet Union finally rotted out from within and crumbled in a matter of days. By then, most of the “independent” states part of their sphere of influence had already bailed. Bulgaria’s “velvet” revolution happened in 1989, and no one but a handful of people knew it was coming. We all found out on National TV that our “beloved” communist leader of 33 years had “decided to resign,” as it was announced to him during the Party’s Annual Congress. His top lieutenants thanked him for his service as he stood there in disbelief, as did the rest of the country.

It’s always darkest just before dawn, they say.

Don’t despair, Americans.

Probably, the 8 million Democrats who didn’t vote for Kamala Harris will wish they did. Trump won with pretty much the same number of popular votes as he LOST to Joe Biden. Independents usually flip-flop during elections. They are the perpetually unhappy bunch, usually voting for the opposite candidate. So, chances are you’ll see a blue change during the midterm elections. As Republicans wonder how to reinvent themselves post-Trump, you will likely see a Democratic president,  and so it goes… back and forth… red and blue… like a metronome.

Back to back same party presidents happen infrequently. Here’s the whole list if you’re curious:

Democratic - Jackson 1828, ‘32, Van Buren ‘36
Republican - Lincoln 1860, ‘64*, Grant ‘68, ‘72, Hayes ‘76, Garfield ‘80*
Republican - McKinley 1896, 1900*, Roosevelt ’04, Taft ‘08
Republican - Harding 1920*, Coolidge ’24, Hoover ‘28
Democratic - Roosevelt 1932, ‘36, ‘40, ‘44* Truman ‘48
Democratic - Kennedy 1960*, Johnson ‘64
Republican - Reagan 1980, ‘84 , Bush ‘88

*- died in office

It almost seems like if Trump dies in office, the Republicans will have a better chance at the presidency in 2028. LOL😊

Americans distrust political parties that have held power for long periods. So much so that after Roosevelt served 4 terms, they voted in a constitutional amendment to limit each term to 4 years and no more than 2 terms in office, consecutive or not. Since this is an official part of the Constitution, it cannot be changed to favor Trump for another term. If he wants to stay, he’ll need another Constitutional Amendment, which requires two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate to vote to propose it or two-thirds of state legislatures to request a convention to propose amendments. Then, three-fourths of state legislatures or conventions must ratify the amendment. So, relax a little.

Here's my professional advice to all of you. Take your eyes off your screens. Get off social media. Turn off the news. Focus on what you CAN control and avoid manipulation through social media and news. If you do watch the news, triangulate the sources, meaning don’t consume news ONLY from one type of media. If you don’t trust US media, watch media from other countries and independent journalists. Eventually, you’ll start noticing how things get spun to serve particular narratives, and you will know more than you will ever know if you only watch your favorite type of sources.

Also, remember, misery loves company. It sells more than sex does. Media keeps your eyeballs on the screen by scaring you with their version of the boogeyman. Social media algorithms feed your outrage with more things to be outraged about because humans have a negative bias, and fear could be kept constant.

At the end of the day, it’s probably nothing personal. Media and social media need to sell advertising and the more eyeballs they can promise advertisers, the more they get paid. They need your eyeballs to make money and don’t particularly care about the side effects on your mental health and worldview.

If you mind your own business, focus on taking care of yourself, and be a good person to all, following the Golder Rule without exceptions, you won’t slowly cook in the propaganda cauldron. Your particular party operatives want you brainwashed so you can do their bidding. America has never been so deeply divided, and the reason is simple – human susceptibility to manipulation enabled by technology.  

Unplug to escape.

Reconnect with what really matters to you – family, friends, nature, health, education, philanthropy, community, etc. Focus on the things you want to live with because they improve your life and everyone else's – integrity, trustworthiness, accountability, generosity, resilience, fairness, cooperation, kindness, mutual support, etc.

Regardless of what the future brings, no one can take away your power to make the best of it… unless you surrender it yourself. So, don’t.

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