Dark Shadows
Where truth is intentionally hidden in the shadows cast by massive piles of hoarded billionaire wealth.
In the United States:
- Why is the education system being decimated?
- Why is news and media being consolidated?
- Why is voting and civic engagement discouraged?
Answer: Because any meaningful democracy requires an educated, informed and engaged society.
The last thing billionaires want is voters who are educated, informed, and engaged. Such voters understand that the total wealth of a society is not infinite.
Educated and informed voters might think of wealth as a pie. Politics is the system that determines how the pie is cut and how the slices are allocated. In the current broken GOP-controlled system, a handful of billionaires and the politicians they buy take most of the pie while we fight over a few crumbs and apple pieces left in the tin. And as they take more pie, it becomes easier to control the politics and misdirect “We the People”.
This has not been done overnight. It has not been accomplished in a single election. This is a multi-generational war. It’s been over 50 years since the Powell Memo, which established the GOP framework to weaken and destroy the foundation and guardrails of the American Experiment to concentrate wealth and power into the hands of a few.
How?
Attack Education
- This is why the GOP continues their attack on public education and higher education.
Erode public education -underpaid teachers, overcrowded classrooms, and a focus on testing, not critical thinking.
Support and advocate for private schools, frame it as “school choice”, deplete public school funding, provide “vouchers” for private and charter schools, -to continue to attack and erode the public education system.
Politicize textbooks, ban books, criticize teaching actual history as “not patriotic enough” and/or hurtful to descendants of slave owners.
Make higher education unaffordable to most students and create a student loan industry to shift money from students and families to the billionaire class.
Shift any concept of academic freedom and pursuit of knowledge to an indoctrination into obedient, unquestioning, flag-waving hyper-consumers.
Consolidate Media
By controlling the distribution of news through broadcast, print, and social media, billionaires drive the narrative. The result? Propaganda masquerading as news. Phrases like “clean coal” (an outright lie), “oil spill” instead of environmental catastrophe, “climate skepticism” instead of peer-reviewed science, and describing “trickle-down” as an accepted form of economics instead of the fraudulent criminal scheme it represents. Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky characterize this as “Manufacturing Consent”. By narrowing the range of news and information, the important institution of the Fourth Estate is gravely weakened, leading to an uninformed/less-informed society.
And now the GOP is on the verge of destroying public media, notably PBS, and NPR.
Suppress Voter and Civic Engagement
- Voter suppression, gerrymandering, electoral college, toxic political campaigns, causing despair and self-disenfranchisement. Stop teaching civics in school.
Free and fair voting is a hallmark in any attempt at democracy. The array of attacks on voting and civic engagement in the United States is well-funded, well-organized, and presently embraced by all three branches of the Federal government. The election denial by Trump, and many of the GOP throughout Congress, State, and Local government, is an overwhelming attack on democracy. The Supremely Corrupted Court eviscerating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 kicked the door open for widespread voter suppression throughout critically important States like Florida, Texas, and Georgia.
- https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/voter-suppression
- https://fordhamdemocracyproject.com/2023/05/18/silencing-voters/
- https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/appeals-court-strips-voters-ability-file-voting-rights-act-lawsuits-7
- https://afj.org/article/supreme-court-ready-to-gut-last-vestige-of-voting-rights-act/
The last thing billionaires want…
…are people and elected officials questioning why we have billionaires. They want obedient, patriotic, unquestioning hyper-consumers.
Don’t worry about facts, evidence, and science -just pray!
Don’t question why there are no longer any warning systems for extreme weather events. Questions are for losers.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/gov-greg-abbott-rants-football-172804255.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/us/texas-floods-kerr-county.html
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/01/trump-cuts-noaa-spam-emails
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/13/us/politics/kristi-noem-trump-texas-floods-fema.html
Don’t question why the investigation of Epstein…
…which apparently includes lists of his child raping friends hasn’t been released -to do so is just weak and stupid according to one list participant.
We’re just talking about raping and assaulting girls. And besides, the criminal-elect has been given the “greenlight” for “official acts” by the Supreme Court.
- https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/16/donald-trump-dismisses-inquiry-into-jeffrey-epstein-as-boring
- https://www.al.com/politics/2025/07/trump-lashes-out-at-team-maga-over-pam-bondi-epstein-files-written-by-obama-crooked-hillary.html
Don’t question Billionaire-driven, GOP-led “Trickle-down” Economics.
While it’s known as an economic theory pushed by Reagan, Bush, and Trump on behalf of their billionaire donors, let’s consider what “trickle-down” really means.
By slashing taxes for the wealthiest taxpayers and corporations, you free up money. Theoretically, the money is then used to invest in growing the economy, -creating more “Wealth Pie” for everyone. More “Wealth Pie” means more on your plate.
HAHAHAHAHAHA!
What actually happens is the funds are used for corporate stock buybacks, investor dividends, executive pay, and exacerbating wealth inequality.
Here’s a quick test to see if you are paying attention:
When you concentrate wealth into the hands of the few do you:
A) Strengthen democracy because the few will be so happy they will invite us on one of their yachts (or even a big expensive wedding!).
B) Weaken democracy because “the few, sometimes called the 1%” will buy more political favors, stack the judicial system to rule for profit over people, buy newspapers and television stations to disseminate propaganda.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tax-cuts-rich-50-years-no-trickle-down/
https://rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/the-trickle-down-tax-code-failed/
https://www.faireconomy.org/trickle_down_economics_four_reasons
https://www.lse.ac.uk/research/research-for-the-world/economics/tax-cuts-for-the-wealthy-only-benefit-the-rich-debunking-trickle-down-economics
Don’t try to correlate higher prices and inflation…
…with Trump “Tariffism.”
Yes, I previously wrote about the moronic stupidity of Trump tariffs: https://bomdia.substack.com/p/tariffs-expect-less-pay-more
Imposing a tariff means the consumer of the product pays the tariff because the product distributor will increase the cost of the product. This will soon be very easy to understand when that thing you were buying on Amazon, Temu (or preferably Costco or a locally-owned store) suddenly costs $10 instead of $5. And for some products, it has already begun. Don’t take my word for it, there’s a story from that communist/Marxist/Stalinist publication “Workers Unite!” below.
Oops. I meant Forbes.
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/07/15/inflation-rose-more-than-expected-last-month-as-trumps-tariff-deadline-nears/
- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c36x29l7e69o
- https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/15/us-inflation-june-trump-tariffs
Other places that are comfortable in the cool shadows.
Fast food, immigrants, and hidden taxes (externalities).
A Happy Meal is not a happy meal
Hidden in the shadows of wealth and deregulation are the horrific realities of factory farming, —where animals are often confined in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions, subjected to slaughter or painful procedures without anesthesia, and denied any semblance of a natural life.
We put a smile on the box, package or shrinkwrap and call it a “Happy Meal”, a “Whopper” (which can also be a big lie -in this case, closer to reality) “In & Out”, or “Chick-fil-a” (food for homophobics).
It’s really all animal flesh, not necessarily nutritionally good for you, environmentally terrible, and despite all of the antibiotics used in factory farming, -sometimes carrying disease. And this is before we consider the ethics and morality.
This marketing sleight of hand targets children and families, using colorful packaging, smiling mascots, and free toys to associate fast food with joy, innocence, and comfort. It is life in a voluntary shadow.
I often think it’s ironic that the industry sue various plant-based product makers over the use of the terms “Burger”, “Chicken”, or “Sausage”. The harsh reality is that calling a “Double Double with Cheese” anything other than dead animal flesh on a bun is just as arbitrary, -perhaps more so.
Aside from so-called “Happy Meals” there is a story about every product we consider for purchase, from it’s parts, to assembly, to shipping and distribution logistics, to warehouses, and finally in a pretty package on a store shelf. Most of the time we just think of the finished good. Everything else, -relegated to the shadows.
Immigration and Refugees in the United States
A recent article by the always amazing Professor , details some important history about immigration and refugees in the United States.
It’s important to note that most of the immigrants and refugees the Trump Administration continues to assail are coming from Mexico, Central America, and South America (although the elimination of Temporary Protective Status or TPS is now sending people who helped US military forces in places like Afghanistan back to face torture and death).
Why do so many people, at great personal risk, attempt to seek work and refuge in the United States, even now under a criminally corrupt regime?
U.S. Foreign Policy embraced brutal regimes and dictators in Central and South America to secure U.S. business interests and favorable trade policies. In Guatemala, after participating in the overthrow of a democratically elected President, the CIA supported military dictators, leading to civil war and over 200,000 deaths, mostly of innocent indigenous people. Our intervention led to generations of military violence and entrenched poverty.
- https://www.dwherstories.com/timeline/u-s-intervention-in-guatemala
In El Salvador, Reagan supported right-wing regimes and death squads, leading to the slaughter of teachers, lawyers, doctors, artists, and intellectuals. Many of the military personnel and death squads were trained at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia.
- https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/el-mozote-massacre-in-el-salvador/
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1244436.Witness_to_War
- http://www.charlieliteky.org/in-memoriam.html
- https://soaw.org/home
In Nicaragua, POS President Reagan illegally directed funds for the paramilitary Contras fighting against the government despite a Congressional ban on doing so. The conflict between the Sandinista government and U.S.-funded right-wing led to tens of thousands of deaths, suffering, and decimated the Nicaraguan economy.
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2Nd9Z8bps6pjw8y3Xh3nldm/reagan-and-the-iran-contra-scandal
In Honduras, we provided support for death squads such as “Battalion 316” and worked to preserve extreme wealth concentration and inequality.
- https://cja.org/what-we-do/litigation/reyes-v-lopez-grijalba/
In Chile, U.S. War Criminal Henry Kissinger and the CIA helped orchestrate a coup to overthrow democratically elected Salvador Allende (who was assassinated -many suggest Kissinger’s hand in the murder) to install Augusto Pinochet. We embraced Pinochet and overlooked his State-sponsored torture, disappearances, and killings because he was totally cool with so-called “free-market” economics mythology.
- https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2020-11-06/allende-inauguration-50th-anniversary
- https://www.npr.org/2023/09/10/1193755188/chile-coup-50-years-pinochet-kissinger-human-rights-allende
In Mexico, we provided long-term support for a regime that exacerbated poverty, suppressed dissent, rigged elections, and controlled the media.
- https://www.brookings.edu/articles/mexico-takes-another-step-toward-its-authoritarian-past/
- https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-mexico-relations
Do you see the pattern here?
U.S. Foreign Policy has long-favored brutal right-wing dictatorships, military juntas, repression, killings, State-Sponsored Kidnapping (think “Foreign ICE”), torture, and entrenched poverty, because it is easier to exploit the natural resources of an entire nation by paying off a handful of powerful and corrupt dictators then to allow a messy democracy to get in your way.
So there is a long and egregious history that will not be taught at Betsy DeVos Elementary School for Future Patriots in Florida or Texas. We exploited and decimated economies south of our border. The concept of building a wall and making Mexico pay for it is as stupid as the current criminal-elect.
Now, always innovating, the GOP has a new plan. Through Project 2025 and Trump, Vance, Thune, and Mike “Lil” Johnson, they are working to turn the United States into a dystopian post-apocalyptic landscape. They are exacerbating already extreme wealth inequality, erasing Women’s, LGBTQ+, civil and human rights, piling more debt on top of crushing national debt, destroying our national parks (drilling, mining, clear-cutting forests), eliminating vaccinations and public health, banning books, destabilizing trade, accelerating catastrophic climate change (more flooding and wildfires!), and destroying any thought of a future democracy.
In a few years under the criminally corrupt Trump regime, no border wall will be needed to prevent people from entering the United States.
Canada and Mexico may want to start budgeting and constructing a border wall to keep a wave of willfully ignorant gun-toting measles-carrying anti-vaxxers from getting into Canada or Mexico.
Hidden Taxes: Externalities
I’ve written about externalities before. (https://bomdia.substack.com/p/the-three-cs-of-the-apocalypse)
Externalities are simply a way to shift the costs that should be paid for (internalized) by a corporation or business to you and me. It increases corporate profits, bonuses, and dividends to investors while eliminating protections for you and me. How many of you learned about “externalities” in school? Probably not many. And there are reasons why we don’t talk about Fight Club or externalities.
We talk more about Fight Club.
If the concept of externalities were taught, you might not grow up to be an obedient hyper-consuming patriot or a criminally corrupt criminal elect.
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