Category Archives: Books

A Christmas Message

Published / by Lee Kessler / 3 Comments on A Christmas Message

As I watched massive demonstrations in Hong Kong again today, and contemplated the struggles all over the world for Man to be free, and to enjoy his freedom to choose his own religion, his own career, create his own family, feed his family, and support the government he wants, I am reminded of one very important message today.

Whether you are a Christian celebrating Christmas, a Jew celebrating Hanukkah, a member of a different religion, or not a member of any religion, there is one thing Christmas I believe should remind us all of here in America.

That is our First Amendment with its freedom of religion. My ancestors I know came here because they were repressed in their own land for the free exercise of their spiritual beliefs. Yours may have come for similar reasons. Or for some of you, yours did not even come here of their own free will.

But, we are all here now. And, over time, great freedoms have been won and passed on to us–including our precious freedom of religion. It is not freedom from religion that our Founders envisioned and protected. They wanted posterity to have the freedom to choose any religion, spiritual foundation, or nothing at all. Even atheists are protected oddly enough through that very amendment. It is a classic case of: To have or not to have, to be or not to be. The choice is ours.

And as long as we mutually agree to uphold that freedom, value it, preserve it, and practice it towards our countrymen, I believe the goal of Peace is attainable.

It is the season of Peace. That state of being is desired everywhere. More important to me is not just Peace. Because you can have Peace by surrendering, allowing yourself to be enslaved. The enslaver then stops the fighting because he has subjugated you.

No, for me, it is Peace with Freedom. And that is my prayer for everyone, everywhere today.

Merry Christmas!

What if? A Diabolical Long Game…

Published / by Lee Kessler / 8 Comments on What if? A Diabolical Long Game…

Many of you do not know me, or of me. I am not self-congratulating here, but rather setting the stage briefly for a picture and scenario I am looking at right now. I’m the author of the White King Trilogy–a series of political fiction suspense novels that shocked even Intelligence, Military, and Counterterrorism professionals in their accuracy over time.

In June of 2004, I was alarmed at the divisiveness in the country and set about to see what was causing it. I advanced a theory to myself, utilizing my professional acting background, my knowledge of the human mind and behavior, and my marketing background. I began with a “what if” exercise to identity the underlying motivation, and likely strategies and tactics, that one our worst real life enemies might deploy.

The first novel, “White King and the Doctor” revealed things you are living through right now–only it revealed them almost 15 years ago. The books have been regarded as prophetic. Don’t assume that I do not know what I am talking about.

Fortunately in my fiction, Andy Weir, the Grandmaster chess champion, figures out what this real-life, brilliant enemy is doing–what chess moves he would make in his long game to bring us down from within. Not to spoil the surprise, but Andy’s superior chess strategies and ability to “look” into the arena enabled him and his allies to thwart the worst bad guys in the world today.

So, this brings me to the historic Impeachment last night. That was insane enough, but Speaker Pelosi’s refusal then and today to send the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate for the trial are causing every commentator and politician in America today to be scratching their heads wondering and/or pontificating about why she’s doing it, what she wants, what she fears etc.

The cliched ones center around her knowing the case is absurd, and not wanting to see an acquittal, her looking for an off-ramp from the farce she acquiesced to, her desire to milk the most she can out of it before it dies. Or that she is buying time for some “Mitt Romney” to raise up insurgents in his own party. This is where my antennae went up, where I think the analysis is too shallow, too simple. Someone is diverting our attention. In chess, this analysis is rather myopic. Too short range. Too few moves that don’t lead to checkmate.

Whatever else Speaker Pelosi may or may not be, she is a very smart tactician, and so I did what I did long ago. I looked at this from a different angle, asked myself “what if?” and “saw” a different picture. There is not time for me to write another novel to expose this one. Buckle up friends. I hope I am wrong, but…

What if: Donald Trump has to be gotten rid of at all costs? What if his world view and successful actions threaten a 70 year plan to reshape an entire world order? And what if the timing of a trial right now–though thought to be desirable when Pelosi expected the public and the polls to turn against the President–would actually be the worst thing for that objective? What could the attackers do to make sure he does not get 4 more years.

Assuming the Speaker now knows that the trial will result in an acquittal, and that her party will not get a do-over in the House, and assuming she knows that even if by some miracle they got a conviction and removal, the President still could run again, as he is entitled to a second term.

Removing him in his first term then does not stop the President from running again (if I understand the Constitution), and being elected again. Remember, what if the goal is to stop him from the next four years?

Just spit-balling here. But, what if she and Shumer shift gears and turn all attention to the Senate for the election ahead? What if those two already know that Trump will get another 4 years, one way or the other? To shoot the wad of the Impeachment in the House, which will cost her in all likelihood the control of the House in 2021, leaves only the Senate as the chamber that could stop him in 2021–NOT 2020.

But to stop him, the Senate has to be flipped to Democrat. Then, a stalled Impeachment Trial would be hastily moved forward, and would be tried in a Democrat-controlled Senate. I think we all know how that would turn out.

At that point, the President would have been elected for his second term–and can not try again. If he is removed early in his second term, he can not come back, and the “deplorables” have no chess move to make. Please get this. If he is acquitted in 2020, he gets re-elected. Even if he is found guilty in 2020 and is removed before Nov. 3, 2020, he gets re-elected. He gets 4 more years and they will have failed to stop him–regardless of the verdict.

PAY ATTENTION HERE FOLKS!

But, if he is found guilty in 2021after commencing his second term, he is removed, and he is gone–with no path back to the White House. Simple game then. She can lose the control of the House. They have already done their part in bringing the Impeachment.

She and others get 4 Republicans to lose their seats, while holding the Democrat Senate count. The Senate then goes to 51 Democrats, 49 Republicans instead of 53 Republicans to 47 Democrats right now.

The trial goes ahead, and on strict party lines, the President is convicted and removed–in her mind sparing the country–and the world–4 more years of the President’s reforms.

If all they need is 4 Senators to lose their seats, that is a winnable game. What if Speaker Pelosi sees the long game, sees a series of chess moves, and foresees checkmate? What if none of this is being done “on the fly” being “made up as they go?” Or even if that did happen, what if the strategist that she is has “looked” down the road, and saw an opportunity to do something that a current trial could never accomplish? Removed now, he comes back at some point. Removed in 2021, he is gone.

If you do not see her make a move to send the Articles over to the Senate in a matter of days, then pay close attention my friends. This is one I would rather be wrong about.

“What if?”…I do not have time to write the novel, juicy though it would be. If any of this resonates, you need to get this Blog, and some of my historical Blogs to people in power, and who have the influence. Get it to the White House, to any talk show host who would understand it. All it takes sometimes is for people to “spot” the attack, to see the “tell” in the con, and they instantly figure out a way to thwart it. The problem with playing with a Grandmaster chess champion is that often the checkmate move was made early on–with many ensuing moves by the unsuspecting opponent–and ultimately the opponent suddenly experiences the ambush and hears the awful word, “Checkmate.”

Is she that good? Are her global handlers that good? I don’t know. But WHAT IF?

Happy Thanksgiving, Mr. President

Published / by Lee Kessler / 2 Comments on Happy Thanksgiving, Mr. President

Americans have an innate sense of fair play I think.   We don’t like one-sidedness, hypocrisy, double standards, subterfuge, and ambushes.  And, I believe we know that if one is being attacked every day of the week, all day, on all sides, and about all subjects, something is wrong–with the attacker.   And, it is probably not all wrong with the guy who is being attacked.  When the attack is too extreme, it is a truth in life that the one launching the attack is in fact guilty of what they are accusing.

This datum is used in investigations to ascertain who has truly done what to whom.   The extreme, hysterical accuser has done to you exactly what he is accusing you of doing.   Good way to quickly identify a culprit and their crime, if you ask me.   I saw my late husband, who was a “turn-around guy,” use this often to locate who was bringing a company down from within.

Which brings me to a present situation. Even the vilest amongst us are treated better than the President of the United States.  So, today I felt compelled to write him a thank you note.   For what?  For being willing to do the job at all.  I was one of the “deplorables”–apparently now, according to the always vituperative Media, a “cult follower”–who felt that dramatic change was needed in Washington.   So, I, and 63 million other Americans sent him to Washington to do something for all of the country.

Here is the email I sent to him today.   It’s just a note.   Just a thank you.  His personality, leadership style, and effectiveness have caused a lot of people to surface who otherwise would have remained hidden for even more decades of decay from within.   For that, I think we should all be profoundly grateful.

“Dear Mr. President,  I want to tell you I am thankful for you, for your leadership, and your courage.  Before, when I last communicated, I told you I was sorry you have to go through this.  But you do.  We picked you on some divine instinct that you would be able to bear up.  Lincoln faced something similar.  And, sadly, we are in a civil war today–philosophically and culturally.  Americans know that, and we picked you to stand in the gap, with us at your back.

I am an 8th generation descendant of a poor man recruited by George Washington to fight in the Revolution.  He did–for land and freedom.  And he survived.  Descendants in my family also served in the Civil War, World War II, and the Korean War.  I am now an author of prophetic, political fiction.   I fight for this great nation and its amazing people with words.

Along the way–and because of what I write about–I was honored and humbled to have been inducted into the Dazzling Daughters of the DAR.  Approximately 130 women in our history have been invited into that remarkable group, including Clara Barton, Susan B. Anthony, Eleanor Roosevelt, Laura Bush.   Every woman served our country in some way.  For me, it was through the arts.

So, Mr. President, here is my Thanksgiving message to you.  You are the bravest man I have ever seen. My ancestors, I know, are cheering you on. Don’t take these attacks personally, no matter how personal they seem.   They are aimed at you, but they are intended for us all.   I think you know this.  None of us could have known it would be this bad, when we decided to drain the Swamp.  But, it is.  You can bear up.  We all can.  The United States of America, and its Constitution will stand.

Again, I am profoundly thankful for you.  Happy Thanksgiving!”

 

 

Words Matter–Especially “Conservative”

Published / by Lee Kessler / Leave a Comment

From where I sit, most Americans may miss the real importance of appointments to the Supreme Court, and get caught up instead in political debate.   The culprit which is adding to the confusion, consternation, and hysteria is a simple word:   “Conservative”   And all manner of people on both political sides are using it inappropriately, in my humble opinion, with regard to Justices on the Supreme Court.

More often than not, you hear pundits say, “He is appointing conservative Judges.”  The problem is that in the judicial community, I believe most jurists know what that term means.   But, to the general public and people who are caught up today in the political firestorm engulfing our nation, there is a misunderstanding of the meaning of the word in the judicial context.

In the world of politics, conservative and liberal have distinct meanings relevant to the philosophy of those who call themselves one or the other.   Since we are in a never-ending, politically-charged, 24/7 tsunami of political opinion and positioning in this campaign season, the viewer or reader –on a stimulus-response basis–reacts to the word “conservative” in the political sense.   And they get scared, angry, thrilled, or whatever other emotion comes up, based upon how they feel about political conservatives.

But, I believe in the judicial community, they will use the term “originalist” or “constitutionalist” to refer to justices whose judicial philosophy is that the Constitution is the anchoring document and all evaluations and court decisions should be based upon the original intent of the Constitution and the Founders, as best we can interpret it based upon original writings etc.

Using that term brings the debate where it should be–into whether our laws should be based upon the Constitution, and what the original creators envisioned in order to create a free and lasting form of government, or whether one wants to have the current trends of the society dictate how laws are to be interpreted and/or overturned.   One is an anchor, a foundation upon which to build forward.  One is a changing document, with decisions floating in the current sea.

We could debate that.   Personally, for me, I wouldn’t trust the future of your children or grandchildren to the inhabitants of the swamp today, and the lobbyists who dictate to, and entice, them.   That is way to “situational” an existence for my tastes, and I believe ultimately leads to mob rule and totalitarianism.

But, that is not my point.   The debate should be in the judicial realm, but it is in the hyper-charged political realm because of the sloppy use of the word “conservative.”   People’s reaction to that word can cause the politicizing of the court. or so they fear.   So, they carry their  entrenched political philosophies into the mess, and then wonder how the Judicial Branch has been so compromised.   They assume a justice’s political preference will automatically be how he or she will rule.   And then, they are stunned when their favorite “political” justice rules the opposite.   They feel confused and betrayed.

Words matter.   And I think we all, myself included, should discipline ourselves to stop saying Conservative Justices, and put the word Originalist Justices in its place.   That alone should interrupt the stimulus-response nature of people’s reactions.   It should cause people to pause, look at the term and ask themselves, “what does that term mean?”   What is an Originalist judge?  Do I think that is a good idea?”

It should help preserve the integrity of the Supreme Court, and leave justices free to hold their own political beliefs, and yet be free to adhere to their judicial philosophy–and in most cases not  to make decisions on their feelings or emotions, but on the foundational Constitution and subsequent precedent law.

Just a thought.  And a question or two for you:   Who has a vested interest in conflating politics with justice, and steering us away from the judicial philosophy debate, leaving us mired in our political fears?   Who wants you to doubt the integrity and independence of the third branch of government, rendering it impotent?

I’d love to hear from you.

Propaganda Warfare: Recession, Recession, Recession

Published / by Lee Kessler / 1 Comment on Propaganda Warfare: Recession, Recession, Recession
I begin with an excerpt from a Blog written 1 year ago today.   How prophetic!   So, I encourage you to go to the archives, and read the whole Blog. But for now, we will start here.   Then I will give you an example of the latest propaganda barrage you are being hit with.

A Lie Told Often Enough Becomes the Truth

Published / by Lee Kessler /

One of Hitler’s known strategies was his understanding that a lie told often enough becomes the truth.  He used propaganda to get the German people to believe that the Jews were the source of Germany’s economic ills.   It was a lie, but the constant repetition of the marketing message in his perverse campaign to gain power, eroded, over time, the peoples’ natural reason. Pin that in your notebook.  The strategy of those who destroy is to make certain that reason does not prevail when an issue comes up.   They want a stimulus-response knee-jerk reaction to occur.   They desire to have emotion overwhelming reason.   Because then, and only then, can one  manipulate otherwise good people into an angry mob,  mobilize a group into a lynching,  stampede people  into riots and looting, or inspire people to overthrow a government.

Pavlov studied stimulus-response with dogs, eventually getting them to salivate at just the sound of a bell.   Skinner, that delightful fellow who is reported to have kept his own baby in a glass box for a year, to see how a child responds to no human contact, carried research into stimulus-response in man.   You have to ask yourself why?   For humanitarian purposes?   Hardly.   They were looking for ways to control men, and the behavior of men, through things they could do to their minds.

Their task–mind control and indoctrination techniques in order to overwhelm the natural reason of the individual and make it possible to control him and his actions.   The emotion–either fear or hatred, or both.   It is an enslaving mechanism.  To the Black Propagandist, you are not a soul, with values and morals, which would make you an independent thinker,  You are simply an animal to be controlled. Do not doubt this.  He has complete disdain for you as he feeds you the lies, and watches you do his dirty work thereafter.  Anytime you find yourself suddenly incapable of controlling a fear response or anger response to some news item, and you want to leap to a generality and tidily end all discussion because you “feel” that ALL people are just like the one bad apple you encountered or read about, you have been victimized.   Discernment has been erased, the ability to differentiate has been obscured, and you stand there howling to the moon that “the one equals the whole.”   And you then start repeating the mantra.   And the lie spreads further.

___________________________________

Now for the current example.   Remember always that the Media are merchants of fear and chaos.   They make their money by reporting on things that upset you, and scare you.  We have a tendency to be drawn to blood and gore, to mayhem and forecasts of doom to come.  It’s as if we are compelled to read about, or watch, things that are the opposite of our true good nature.  Regrettably, bad things and bad people are frightening to good people.

With a free press, it is necessary sometimes to report dangerous situations and reveal sinister actions and motives.  I am not arguing with that.  Scary or not, there are sometimes things we need to face.  But what is being reported upon has to be true, not manufactured.  That would be promoting a lie, and a dangerous one at that. This is the stock and trade of the Black Propagandist, and the Totalitarian.   They plant a lie, then assure that it is repeated over and over until it is like a hypnotic implant in your mind.   Your defenses are down.   You are overwhelmed mentally and can no longer seem to examine, reason, or fight with the negative data.   Eventually you are worn down, and even the best of us succumbs to the lie, and embraces it as the truth. Then, worse yet, we repeat it.  And usually we no longer even remember where we got the idea, and we certainly don’t challenge our own conclusions.  But, were they ours, or someone else’s?

Right now, even though factually the United States economy is roaring and the envy of the world, with the lowest stats in unemployment among blacks, Hispanics, women, Asian-Americans in my lifetime, a seed of doubt was implanted.   A Propagandist was lurking, waiting for a piece of true data on which to hang a lie, and then pile on.   Even though whole industries have come back to life and are returning to America, even though we are energy independent for the first time that I can remember, and even though wages are rising and the Middle Class is being rebuilt, even though poverty has declined, and huge numbers are coming off the poverty rolls, the lie stuck.

And the lie is designed to scare you, cause you to lose your optimism about your future, to stop forward motion so you try to hang onto what money you have, to stop your investment if you are an investor, to sell your stocks and slow the market, to postpone business expansion if you are a businessperson, to stop taking vacations or go out to dinner or buy a new outfit.   It is designed to frighten the average citizen, causing them to lose joy, and maybe even lose hope that the economic nightmare of the last decade was over.  It casts doubt on the future.  It gives uncertainty.   It causes anxiety ( and probably sells more drugs.   But that is a topic for another conversation. Read “White King and the Doctor” and “White King Rising” if you doubt this.) It lowers your self-esteem, and the nation’s, and once again makes us feel “helpless” and at the mercy of the “forces that be.”

And despite the fact that our President and his economic team have denied it, despite the fact that the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board has denied it, despite the fact that other finance groups and central banks have denied it, the lie persists.   Gleefully the Media talks about impending disaster– because they get wealthier if there are circumstances that are hurting a people, scaring a people, and confusing a people.   After all, if everything were hunky dory we wouldn’t spend time listening to their doom and gloom and “astute, expert analysis.”

The lie?   That, despite the robust economic indicators everywhere, we are going into a recession in 2020.  What was the truth that the lie was attached to?   Now, bear in mind that I am not a finance person, but I figured out a great deal in the novel, “White King and the Battle of America: the Endgame.”  Apparently two types of yield curves, that normally go in one direction, for a brief time crossed each other.   The one that was supposed to be higher became the lower of the two.  And the one that was supposed to be lower became the higher of the two.   And, in the past, if that happened, economists said it portended a recession.  If I remember that day however, the curves reversed and went back to normal in a very short period of time.

Dozens and dozens of pieces of true economic data were ignored.  The analyses of Wall Street, the Fed,  credentialed economists, and our own common sense–all ignored.  The mantra became that we are “likely” to have a recession.   We are “headed for a recession.”   We are “headed for a fall.”   Headed for a “potentially catastrophic collapse of the stock market in the very near future.”

CNN trumpeted it.   MSNBC trumpeted it.  The infamous New York Times repeated it.  The Washington Post repeated it. Presidential candidates trumpeted it. And I think (I could be wrong) even the Wall Street Journal fell for this.  A lie told often enough becomes the truth.

It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.   You see, we live at the level that we speak. If we think we can, we can.   If we think we can’t, we can’t.   This is fundamental and juvenile.   Most of you learned this when your parents read you “The Little Engine That Could.”   (great book which I read recently to some business colleagues I am mentoring)

And the Black Propagandist knows this.   If he can get you to think what he is implanting, and get you to verbally repeat it, your own words bring the thing to life.

So, we are not going into a Recession–unless you decide we are, and speak it into existence.   Guard your minds people.  And the next time someone tries to convince you of Recession, Recession, Recession, just examine actual true verifiable data.   Let the preponderance of true data overwhelm and drown out the lie attached to the one little negative piece that bore a modicum of truth.

Slippery, isn’t it?   We, as a people, are up against the best propagandists in my lifetime.  We can handle them!   I have faith in the common sense of the great American people–always have, always will!!