 In case you're not jittery enough about the upcoming U.S. Presidential election, I have a movie for you that will leave you shaken and stirred. "War Game" is an edge-of-your-seat documentary,  ...made two years ago but just recently released by the non-profit veterans' support organization Vet Voice, that poses the questions: What might happen if after the 2024 election there's another January 6, but this time the insurrectionists are better prepared, better organized, better armed, more AI and social media savvy? What if the D.C. National Guard has been infiltrated by members of a right-wing militant organization who, instead of defending the Capitol against the invaders, come to their aid? What if National Guard units across the country that have become infested with militant extremists join in attacks on State capitols in tandem with the attack on the U.S. Capitol? What if a rogue Army general calls on members of the American military to overthrow the outcome of the legitimate election and put into office the candidate who lost but claims to have won? And most important, what would the President of the United States do about it? Would they succeed in stopping the overthrow of our democracy and restoring the peaceful transition of power? Or might there be a coup, with our country thrown into civil war? A war game being a military exercise that simulates a combat situation in preparation for an actual war, this movie documents a war game put together by Vet Voice CEO and Marine Corps veteran Janessa Goldbeck,  ...as a practice exercise for the next potential, and potentially more formidable, January 6 attack. Taking the challenge of playing the rolls of the President and his advisors was a group of non-partisan law makers, members of law enforcement and the military. Montana Governor Steve Bullock took on the part of the incumbent and narrowly re-elected President of the United States;  ...former North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp acted as his chief advisor;  ...former Alabama Senator Doug Jones played the role of Attorney General;  ...Retired General Wesley Clark was commander of the Joint Chiefs of Staff;  ...and retired Major General Linda Singh acted as the head of the National Guard Bureau.  On the other side were the team of insurgents, a group of right-wing extremists who called themselves the Order of Columbus and were loyal to the presidential candidate who lost the election. Their attack was plotted out by two head operatives (who looked every scary bit their parts) played by Army Iraq combat veteran Kris Goldsmith,  ...and Marine Corps Afghanistan veteran Chris Jones,  ...both of whom study white supremacism in the military and extremist disinformation movements. Among the game consultants were conservative commentator Bill Kristol and Alexander Vindeman, the Army lieutenant colonel who testified in Donald Trump's first impeachment trial and whose military career was subsequently savaged by Trump and his allies. The rules of of the game were that the "President" and his team, who would be working unscripted, would have six hours to put down the insurgency, which was being led - and fed - by the two head operatives. If the President's team succeeded democracy would be saved. If they failed democracy would be lost to the insurgents. The action took place in a space made up to look like a situation room,  ...where the "President" and his staff cogitated, debated, deliberated over and ultimately decided what actions should - and shouldn't - be taken to get control of the worsening crisis, as they struggled to sift through the all the information coming in and distinguish the legitimate news from the disinformation and fake images being disseminated on social media by the insurrectionists. Though the exercise actually went on for six hours with a digital wall clock ticking away the time down to the second, the action was edited into a tense, fast-paced hour and a half film. There's no arguing that "War Game" is frightening to watch. And yet it's also likely to leave you - as it left me - feeling hopeful for the survival and preservation of our democracy. I only hope our country's leaders watch it. You can watch it on Amazon Prime. 
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 I feel sorry for Erika Lee. Then I don't. Then I do. I mostly do. Erika Lee is the unwise and unfortunate Facebook user from Springfield, Ohio who posted a bit of idle gossip she'd heard from a neighbor who heard it from her daughter who heard it from a friend that Haitians had been seen carving up the neighbor's daughter's friend's butchered cat to eat it while it hung from a tree branch. Ms. Lee also shared that she'd been told that Haitians were likewise butchering and eating dogs and the ducks and geese in the park. That outlandish and totally made-up nonsense, which should have been laughed off then blown off as the stuff of urban legends - in this case one with a racist, anti-immigrant twist - was instead posted by Ms. Lee on a Springfield community Facebook page.  The post was discovered by individuals who roam the metaverse mining for just such gems of potential propaganda, and it went viral on right-wing social media sites until it was snatched up by JD Vance, who has spewed its fear-mongering poison far and wide,  ...and by Donald Trump, who has repeated, preached, stoked, and doubled down on the lie about the Haitians of Springfield killing and eating the town's animals.  The result has been, as most of the sentient world by now knows, that life in the small town Springfield, Ohio has been upended, thrown into a turmoil of fear and confusion marked by bomb threats, school and business closings, the arrival of anti-immigrant hate groups marching in the town,   ...threats to and harassment of Haitians now living in fear of their neighbors, fear for their children, fear of going out in public. So great is the racially-charged community unrest and fear that some businesses have hired security guards and the Governor of Ohio has sent highway patrol troopers to Springfield to guard the schools. And the match that set off this powder keg was struck by Erika Lee when she posted that one thoughtless post. Which she now bitterly regrets, and for which she feels great guilt. “I was not raised with hate,” she tearfully told The New York Times. “My whole family is biracial. I never wanted to cause problems for anyone.” Which makes one wonder: If Erika Lee's whole family is biracial, shouldn't she, of all people, have known what problems such an accusation as she made would cause for the people of color against whom she made it? “It just exploded into something I didn’t mean to happen,” she said to NBC News. "I didn't think it would ever get past Springfield." Which begs the question: What exactly did Erika Lee mean to happen from that post? Mayhaps just a little local excitement, a little neighborly outrage over the city's Haitian population? Was there not even a touch of malicious mischief in her heart when she posted those words? Maybe just a little? Possibly at this point not even Erika Lee can say what was in her mind and heart when she pressed the little "send" icon that would detonate a firestorm in her city and in her life. On the other hand, at least Erika Lee now feels sincere contrition for the conflagration she inadvertently caused, unlike those who are truly to blame for the harm to Springfield brought on by that dumb Facebook post that will live, at least for a little while longer, in infamy. Erika Lee has lived and learned. The true culprits have not and likely never will.     Books by Patti Liszkay available on Amazon: "Equal And Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888 "Tropical Depression" https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY
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"Tropical Depression"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY 
"Equal And Opposite Reactions"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa or from The Book Loft of German Village, Columbus, Ohio 
Or check it out at the Columbus Metropolitan Library
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October 2024
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