This week has been traumatic and exhausting. And while many of us have expressed outrage on social media, nobody has done it as eloquently and movingly as Michael Render (aka Killer Mike). Video below for anyone who hasn’t seen it.

Given the current situation

I am only writing about two things today. I hope you’ll find them relevant and helpful.

1. A movie recommendation that I found incredibly uplifting. It is about birding (and it is completely relevant as you will see).
2. The other is about following the money trail. Yup, I’m going to take you down that conspiracy rabbit hole with me — courtesy of Joe Rogan and Chaziel Sunz.

Scroll down for more.

1. WATCH: Birders – The Central Park Effect (2012)

This may be one of my favorite movies ever!

This wonderful documentary, released in 2012, is especially relevant because it features renowned birder and Audubon board member, Chris Cooper.

Chris Cooper may be on your radar because of a racist incident that happened recently while he was birding in Central Park. He asked a woman to leash her dog and she called the cops on him claiming an African American man was threatening her. He filmed the whole incident and it went viral with over 40MM views. Here is the Audubon Society’s statement.

But here’s Why I absolutely love this movie:

• It’s a beautiful film (totally zen, a spa for the eyes) focusing on bird migrations during all four seasons of the year. It features several prominent characters from the NY birding community – including Chris Cooper, Starr Saphir (the grande dame of NY birding), and Jonathan Franzen, the novelist, who confesses to loving birding because “it looks like the trees are hung with ornaments.”
• One of my favorite parts of the film is when Chris Cooper talks about his “7 joys of birding,” which range from the beauty of the birds, to being in a natural setting, the joy of scientific discovery, the joy of collecting (keeping lists of what you see), and the “Unicorn Effect” (the joy of finally seeing in real life a bird you’ve only seen in books).

And I must thank my friend, Robert Cameron, for alerting me to this gem of a film. During a recent FaceTime, he and I were bemoaning the state of the world and I brought up the Chris Cooper incident. I also wondered out loud if I had ever met Chris on any of my Audubon birding excursions. Robert then nonchalantly told me he and Chris were friends way back in the day when he (Robert) still lived in NYC. And btw had I seen the brilliant birding documentary Chris was in?

No, I had not. But I immediately downloaded it and after watching it can wholeheartedly recommend it.

I know some of my recent movie recommendations have been less than stellar (e.g., Grace Jones and the Biosphere 2 docs left many of you underwhelmed). I get it.

Birders, however, is FANTASTIC. If you are even marginally interested in nature you will love this film and if you’re a birder, you will be in seventh heaven!

2. The money trail? Yes, I’ve officially joined the conspiracy theorist ranks

“Follow the money” has long been the lens through which I try to get to the bottom of things whether in politics, business or culturally.

I became aware of the “money trail” shortly after I arrived in America during the Nixon Watergate scandal. It’s when the phrase was first popularized through the movie “All The President’s Men” (Deep Throat tells Bob Woodward to “follow the money”).

There was no internet back then but we conjectured mightily about where the money trail would lead and the political corruption it would expose.

It’s 2020 and I am once again up to my eyeballs in this stuff

My preoccupation is being fueled by too much exposure to politics, too much time spent sorting fake news from real, too much twitter craziness (I MUST dial that back!), and my recent discovery of Joe Rogan, who is not only amazing on his podcast but has legitimized my fascination with conspiracies!

Here’s what is Currently on my conspiracy radar

• Antifa: the extreme left-wing, anti-fascist political activist movement that landed in the US via Portland Oregon in 2007. It’s now rumored to be behind much of the mayhem associated with the #BLM protests. It’s also been fascinating to discover how much of a blind spot liberals have when it comes to calling out bad actors on the left. It’s simply incomprehensible to them that left-leaning activists or politicians could be underhanded, manipulative, or ill-intentioned.
• Infiltrators/Exploiters/Propaganda: I’m starting to believe that all “movements” are compromised. It’s become increasingly difficult to know who to trust and who is playing us. Which is why I’m so interested in Chaziel Sunz. I just discovered his video (below) which he made in 2017. EVERYTHING he warns us about is happening now. He’s made following the “money trail” his North Star. Although he’s totally stoned in this video, I find his logic in figuring out who the puppet masters are and how they’re manipulating us, very advanced. As one of my most insightful friends, Brandi Moody said, “the system is rigged and he’s just trying to figure out who is rigging it. A trait of a thoughtful stoner! He’d shine with a philosophy education.”

IF ANY OF THIS RINGS TRUE, you must CHECK OUT Joe Rogan Episode #1485

This episode (2 hours 45 minutes) went live on June 3. Joe’s guests, Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, basically share Chaziel Sunz’ perspective. They’re more eloquent in expressing these thoughts, e.g., they call it the “system of the grift.”

HIGHLY RECOMMEND LISTENING. And if you’re short on time, I suggest you start at the one-hour mark.

Here’s some of what they cover that caught my attention:

• Everyone in the media gets their daily talking points from Washington and it’s always to advance the agenda of either the Left or the Right. And if you want a career in the media, you do not dare deviate from the talking points.
• Virtue-signaling is how corporate America is using identity politics to further their aims
• Trust is becoming non-existent – everyone is starting to feel they’re getting spun
• Twitter politics has turned all ideas into 280 character soundbites
• So many conspiracies!! One I’ve been following is how those mysterious pallets of bricks are showing up at US protest sites. Joe Rogan jokes they’re being delivered by Amazon as the final nail in the coffin for brick and mortar retail!

Bottom line

What I fear most is that the fear “THEY” have instilled in us has made us so easily give up our freedoms. The shutdown does not seem to have been as necessary as they led us to believe.

In retrospect, it created this perfect storm. We now see firsthand what happens when 40 million people are unemployed, schools are shut down with no place for young people to go, not even to play sports, businesses are shut and streets are abandoned, people have been cooped up for months, there is a TON OF STRESS and ANGER.

Adding curfews, while helpful, just added fuel to the fire in many other ways.

Good luck to all of us that we survive this weekend in America.

And remember: there are people who are going to be hellbent on making sure there will be NO good news between now and November 3rd!!