More Science, Less Engineering

I've always said that neuroscience will likely figure out consciousness/generalized intelligence before the AI engineers do. There is something fundamental to letting facts and data lead you rather than working from a conclusion or goal and trying to fill in the gaps with brute force or intuition. That said, if history is any indication, I'm sure it will be tech engineers who profit on any discoveries first...because 👉 greed/capitalism.

Whether or not history unfolds this way, it's a lesson we should consider; that we spend far too much time trying to create "products" (i.e. Business/Engineering) without sound conceptual models or understanding of the repercussions (i.e. Science). Using technology before truly understanding it, has been the cause of just about all modern material problems.

This is not a call to ludditism, but a warning that we are not intelligently creating/managing human civilization. At this point in time, our "system" is thrashing out of control, and we are just desperately clinging to its ankles. We must be wise, we must slow society down, build understanding, take care of our people, and take care of our environment.

Economic Gamification

Capitalists constantly say they believe that capitalism generates so much "innovation" or something similar. It is true in one sense, capitalism is the gamification of economics. Elements of it are used for incentivization, elements of it are used to keep a symbolic score, etc. The problem with all this is it is no longer economics at this point...we are not "economizing" anything, that is we are not conserving resources or making their distribution and utilization more efficient. We have enhanced the "game" aspect and lost all the "economic" aspects of our "system." I hate to tell you if you don't already know, but capitalism is a really crappy economic "system."

Sure, we should take note of what elements we might be able to salvage regarding incentivization, tracking of transactions, transactional group collaboration, etc. BUT we definitely need to realize that the system we have now is a really bad game...a game that has dire consequences for the environment and all the players. We need to build a new economic system, FIRST on principles of actual economic sustainability and efficiency. Then, if we are still bored and require a layer of amusement, add some game layer separate and largely inconsequential to our overall environmental sustainability and human flourishing.

Mood Altering Plastic

I've recently been hearing more about the chemicals in plastics that that affect everything from cancer chance to mood. It makes me wonder, if we ever realize our folly about how we are living and our relationship to our evolutionary development, and get over our fossil-fuel addiction (hopefully forcing a heavy reduction in our use of plastics)...we may wake up one day and realize that some of our neurotic behavior was environmentally induced. What if half of what we think are psychological or personality problems are externally caused...I mean even if we know that someones hormones or neurotransmitters are off balance...we don't always know what caused those to get off balance. I'm really not trying to sound "hippy-ish" but as we reconsider how we treat our environment, we may also want to seriously rethink what conditions our bodies are historically/naturally adapted to and restructure society and our behaviors accordingly.

Artificial Scarcity Of Vaccines

You are going to get a lot of reasons why there isn't enough vaccine in the coming months. Yes, I get it, rolling out billions of doses of vaccines is a logistical nightmare, but when we want to roll out troops or steal resources, we got boots on the ground in seconds. Maybe it's the cost you say...the cost of these vaccines is NOTHING compared to the damage COVID-19 is doing to the world, even from just a short-sighted financial view. It must be a supply thing, you say...but when we want to manufacture single use plastic or even sophisticated (yet planned obsolescent) electronics, we find ways to make PLANET POLLUTING amounts of stuff. No, the reason we will likely be in perpetual need of vaccines is Intellectual Property. While we rejoice for the medical science that can design a vaccine, we also bathe in our ignorance and apathy about inequality and the sharing of knowledge...we still haven't matured enough as a species to recognize that information should be free, open, and shared. We haven't learned, as a species, that we'd gain more by nurturing, uplifting, educating our population than by neglecting it. We haven't learned that we are ALL more healthy when the least among us is healthy.

So let us burn this lesson into our brain now while it's in our face, Intellectual Property is anathema...the concept of owning ideas has always been a grave mistake and it is no less abhorrent now.

Parking Lot Dinners

COVID-19 has been making us rethink how we gather together and how we use our public spaces. I've already noticed how restaurants have moved onto patios, people eat in their cars in parking lots, and parks are getting new appreciation. Meanwhile, our community spaces have been shrinking, being gated off, more policed...we've become an anti-social society. Then there is the problem that religious buildings have monopolized community spaces with zoning and tax privilege. It is not an acceptable trade that if we want community or meeting spaces...we must expose our children to indoctrination and delusion. THIS is a great time to plan/create new community spaces/parks, killing two birds with one stone; we can create public, outdoor spaces that allow us to distance while being together...and in non-pandemic times, create community spaces where we can have discussions without having social media algorithms shoving outrage-inducing messages in our faces. We'll have places we can meet real people, no bots, and have real conversations, and learn to socialize in healthy and productive ways; all that on neutral, public territory.

Religion, The Destroyer Of Minds

In every segment of history where there is an instance of mass delusion and all the crazies come out...the medium is religion. The Dark Ages, The Crusades, The Witch Burnings, Islamic Terrorism...and now QAnon and all the nutcases claiming "the radical left are Satan worshiper, pedophiles" and all that nonsense. Every time I'm inclined to think maybe religion MIGHT have some good points...its bad points show themselves to be OVERWHELMINGLY harmful and eclipse any good that could possibly come out of religion in our modern world.

To be clear though, I'm not just picking religion because it's old and the stories are crazy (which they are)...but I want to highlight the one piece of religion that TRULY makes it horrible...and that is the fact that it teaches people "what to think" and not "how to think" or in other words it teaches people to learn "from authority." The Bible doesn't say "stealing is not ideal because it's unsustainable in the long run, it hurts the person you are stealing from, it robs society of trust, and it isn't an efficient way to distribute resources"...no, what religion says is "THOU SHALL NOT STEAL." It teaches people that facts and ways to behave come from sources of authority (a bible, a priest, a FOX anchorman, an orange-haired maniac in the Presidency, etc), and not from actually using your brain, weighing evidence, aligning oneself to reality, and having an informed and reasoned stance on issues.

We MUST get over religion. I'm sorry...rational people have been trying to peel off the band-aid slowly and painlessly for centuries...but it's time people. We can't keep pretending it's benign. I'm not authoritarian, so obviously I'm not suggesting we ban anything, but we have to be CLEAR that it is: 1) Untrue, 2) Teaches people unhealthy practices, 3) Has no place in decision-making, formal or informal.

Critical Mass Of Congress

Voting for the best politicians on your ballot is necessary but not sufficient. We need two-thirds of the House and Senate so we can amend the Constitution. No matter how great a single candidate, no real change can be made if they are the lone voice; it doesn't even matter if they become President. We need to take the entire process back for the people, and when we do we gotta exorcise all the corrupt laws and policies. 

Just to name a handful: abolish Electoral College, create publicly funded elections, abolish gerrymandering, implement ranked-choice voting, abolish all non-public money in politics, create harsh penalties for institutional economic crime, re-separate powers and strengthen checks and balances, clarify that corporations are not people and money is not speech, create strict penalties for environmental destruction, clarify the limitations of powers we've learned from recent Presidential/Congressional/Judicial actions, etc.

The Big Assumption About Voter Turnout

There is a big assumption that if we can get people to vote, it will ALSO force them to think about the issues and candidates in a critical way; this election has proven that completely false. We had a record-breaking number of voters, 24/7 media sensationalist coverage of this President (albeit Mainstream Media is complete crap), and people by the tens of millions still made horrible, nonsensical choices. What this means is we need to focus on building CRITICAL THINKING and AWARENESS. If you can't tell if Trump is a savior, or if corona virus is a real threat, etc. you definitely don't have the observation and/or decision-making skills to vote properly. I'm not saying you have to know everything or be perfect...but you need the basic observation skills to ATTEMPT to know what is real, and to be able to reason the best educated guess you can...and we are far from even that. We have to get a grip on combating ignorance and delusion in our public, and teach them the skills they need to make good choices. I don't know if this is something that needs to happen in schools, or in media, or in community spaces, but it NEEDS to happen.

Takeaways From This Election

1) People don't vote based on a comprehensive analysis of Policy, as they should, but on nonsense tribal/religious/culture-war/ego trash reasons.
2) It's always been lore that if more people vote, democrats win...but not always true, this country is full of conservatives (at least on a state by state, potentially gerrymandered, basis).
3) Again, the Electoral College is an abomination.
4) Our voting systems are garbage.

Propaganda Fully Funded And Staffed

While all our favorite shows and movies might be cancelled or delayed by the pandemic, the propaganda machine rolls on. Premieres of all your favorite "compliance grooming" shows will still be rolling out during this pandemic, they love that they now enjoy more of a captive audience.

NCIS: Los Angeles
NCIS: New Orleans
NCIS
Chicago Fire
Chicago Med
Chicago P.D.
S.W.A.T.
Law & Order: SVU

True Patriotism

True patriots think deeply about what our country needs and how to solve its problems. This black vs white, blue vs red, men vs women...nonsense, will never result in progress for our country. When you're ready to stare reality in the eye (accept and comprehend the EVIDENCE), throw your egos to the ground (be able to admit when you're wrong or that you don't know), resolve to make deep and irreversible changes to our culture and institutions...then you can join the true battle for our nation.

Museums

Just saw on Last Week Tonight that 33% of museums may permanently close due to the pandemic. If you have the means, PLEASE support them. We can't let future generations lose these precious sources of inspiration and knowledge.

Media Silence Without Trump

The media is so wrapped up in mindless drama around Trump, as soon as he got sick the media had no idea what to do with itself. Guess what though...we are in no shortage of things to talk about, our Climate Destabilization, the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Depression 2.0 and the failures of Capitalism, the inadequacies of our Education System, the corruption in our Political systems, our primitive voting system, and the utter disaster that is our current value system.

The Media is a failure. Without an informed public, our civilization cannot progress properly. Mired in profit motive, sensationalist mania, and government propaganda, the Media has become a tool for evil when it is a much needed tool for awareness and inspiration.

The Problem With Social Media

Everyone seems to get that social media is having bad outcomes but I don't think people are understanding why. To be blunt: "Perverse Incentives" and "Traffic Prioritization"

That is, it gives people incentives to post things other than friendly updates or pro-social communication...and two, it does not expose those ideas linearly and fairly...it exposes some ideas to people more and hides other ideas.

What you get when you apply those things is an ANTI-social media platform...a propaganda machine. If you want to "save" social media, we must remove all the perverse incentives; no more marketing, no more "likes," no more "views"...all that nonsense...and we must remove the prioritization of posts; posts should appear as a straight timeline, in order, all showing up...and no algorithm should be pushing who you "friend" and what posts get shown. No arbiters of truth, no curation, no censorship...just sensible rules against threats, inciting violence, etc.

Nightmare: Redwood Genocide

I had a terrifying nightmare last night. It goes something like this: My father and I were sitting on a hill enjoying the view of a majestic Sequoia Forest when a red miasma filled the sky, and we were swept into a deep sleep. We awakened to find a surprising and horrifying NOTHINGNESS...all the trees has been cut down. A note hung by the road read "Forest Management." Where giant, ancient, fellow travelers of LIFE once proudly stood...stumps...but so massive they looked more like wooden house decks... monuments to meaningless death, whose rings reveal an eons long story of ups and downs but whose final line seemed to sigh..."foolish humans."

Nightmares are nightmares, but what is terrifying about this one is I know it's not impossible. We live in a world where a good percentage of the people hold nothing sacred, value only their fragile, entitled egos...are not willing to walk one millimetre -let alone a mile- in another persons shoes...who would sell the future of any one of our grandchildren if it made them a nickel. Immune to facts, immune to shame, and thirsty for destruction. I am reminded of the famous pop quote:

"Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead."

Well, the Terminator is real...but it's not a rogue AI made of metal...it's a group of humans with poor understanding of the world, damaged psychologies, and who will take out all their fears, frustration, and hate out on us if we allow them to run the show.

Gaming & Media Addiction

Having grown up in the golden age of video games and open Internet, I know a thing or two about electronic addiction. However, I have to think that our current situation is oddly positioned to create the next generation of addicted kids. School is gone, virus/fires/hurricanes/chemical spills...and every other disaster has forced children indoors and parents are desperate for their independence...in comes media/video games. Hours of "respite" for parents, and "entertainment" for the kids. As if our kids weren't engulfed in electronic culture enough, now what little access/incentive there was to be outdoors is quickly shrinking.

If you are a parent right now, it's probably overwhelmingly tempting to throw your kid in front of a console or netflix...don't do it. Engage them, spur their curiosity...some game time is fine but don't let the primary influence on your children be the instant-gratification gaming and streaming corporations. If you do find the need to throw them into media/games...be SURE to teach them about "Media Literacy" and "Harmful Narratives"...they may be in a formative time in their lives, be sure they will be the "captains of their own ship."

The Resource Curse Of Venezuela

Just learned Venezuela, in addition to the largest oil reserves, have the largest diamond and gold reserves too...I'm sure that has nothing to do with our desire to spread "democracy" there.

Corporations Are Watching You Sleep

The Corporations/ultra-wealthy got their bailout during this pandemic, they've seen record wealth gain, they've had environmental restrictions lifted, they've milked the public on critical goods and services...and now the largest monopoly, Amazon, is hiring a former NSA head to crush labor-organizing in their company. Yes, our politicians made a startling comment; yes, our friends/family/colleagues are dying; yes, there is outrageous racism by police...but behind all those things is the reason nothing changes...our decision-making system has been captured by corporate interest. That really is the PRIME EVIL at this point. We've been successfully divided, and now we've lost sight of who our enemy really is...not left, right, black, white, muslim, christian...the real enemy is an abusive system.  An abusive system that arises when laws are only created to please lobbyists, when corporations are considered people and become the largest recipients of "social" or "relief" programs...when resources are dedicated to prevent corporate suffering, not human suffering...when we start believe that the ecosystem consists of "markets" and not life or nature...when humans become "customers" and "capital."

We are asleep, and the corporations/ultra-wealthy are watching. They see us not fighting back, but each other...they see us ignore policy...they see us ignore power...they see us elect "representatives" for nonsense positions on the "culture war" and ignore all the systemic root causes of our misery and destruction. Look, if we let our self-interest DROWN the bandwidth, and we forget the LARGE issues, like Environment, like Democratic Mechanisms, like Labor ...our other issues won't matter. I get it, your lived experiences are screaming to solve that thing that affects you personally... guns/bathrooms/reproductive rights/police reform/immigration/etc.... and those things ARE important, but we need to PRIORITIZE solving our EXISTENTIAL threats and fixing the Governing Mechanisms of our civilization.

Things can be done Concurrently but PRIORITY should be:
- End Corruption & Financial Capture of Government (nothing can change until we reclaim power)
- Environment (we are ALL dead if we keep destroying the planet)
- Human Health & Basic Necessities As A Right
- Everything else

Guess What... Corona Virus Doesn't Evaporate

Despite the perception given by the idiots that run our government and our media...Corona Virus is not gone...or even appreciably better. In my area, at this moment, we have twice as many new infections per day in early September, as there was in early June. Was the Corona Virus gone in June...absolutely not. You can not will this virus away...it will only get better with rational, medical-evidence-based, action. The conversation should not be about re-opening restaurants, not about schools opening...you can't just wait a few weeks and expect things to go away...stop pretending that ignoring the problem is a solution, it's completely moronic.

Hyper-Socialization Of Society

I think a lot of people just assume that the more "social" society is, the better people will get along. I think there is a fine balance, and we've far overshot our limits of "sociability." We are in this age where all the jobs are becoming "service sector" and our religion of Capitalism makes us worship at the fountain of "consumerism" as a way of life. This creates a situation where all our introverts can't find ample amounts of peaceful solitude. In prior times there were plenty of jobs that allowed us to do hard work but without the constant "servicing" of "customers" and home-lives that had privacy and autonomy...not ultra-concentrated urban life.

Add on top of that forever-present smart devices, dopamine monopolizing social media, and instant gratification marketing... and we have a society pressed to the brink of homicidal rage to not have to constantly deal with/worry about other people.

Why do wealthy elites not care which President we have...why do the wealthy elite politicians feel no pressure to create any legislation or even bother to placate their constituents...because they have their solace. They can retreat to ice-cream filled castles, or luxury golf-courses, or just escape into their cabins in the woods...without a worry of livelihoods, obligations, or emergencies...they control the resources and they have the rest of the population to service THEM.

Aside from our leadership problem, however, we need to restructure society so that we DO cater to different personalities, different "ideal" working conditions, and different living conditions. I think we're finding that it's oversimplified to believe that any job is fine for anyone, and that any living condition is fine for anyone. While things like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs rings somewhat true to me, I don't think you can strip people down to ONLY the lower rings of need, and have functional citizens.

So bringing this back around to Socialization, we can't keep believing "one size fits all." Humans aren't homogeneous, and our societal structure assumes they are. Polling reveals a lot of this, huge percentages of people prefer one thing, and other huge percentages prefer the opposite...there is no middle ground. This puts a big question before us...in a time of ever-increasing interdependence...can we design a society that can allow vastly divergent ways of living and thinking...and make them work together in a functioning System. That is probably one of the big questions of our time.

Magical Thinking

Since Q-Anon is in the news a lot lately...one might be curious where this kind of thinking comes from. However, this kind of thinking is not new...it's a twist on typical religious thinking. When people live in turbulent times, can't understand why things are happening, and have a strong need to find certainty...ideas like this pop up. Vague, ethereal, ideas that you can project all of your fears or hopes into and make all the connections yourself, without the need for evidence. It brings a feeling of certainty and order where there is none...it brings a feeling that you know why things happen, when you don't. Hopefully this can serve as a real world case-study for why we need to stop Magical Thinking in general.

Lashing Out

In June -of this year- 11% of people in the United States seriously contemplated suicide. 40% struggle with mental health and/or drug abuse. We are a broken country. Why are politics so radical? Why is there so much hate? ...because "damaged people, damage people." We have not given the attention and resources we should have to support actual people...to nurture curiosity and mental health...to keep them healthy and energetic...to inspire and give them hope...we have succumbed to the religion of self-interest, short-term gain, and sociopathy...and this is the result. Why do people latch onto crazy conspiracies and tribal hate...because they don't know why they're living...they haven't been shown the greater values that they should aspire to...they haven't been given any opportunities to make them feel as though they've progressed. Viruses are detrimental, Economic Depressions are detrimental...but a population who doesn't feel like anyone cares about them, and who don't care about anyone else...is TERMINAL. If we are not completely in this situation, we are dangerously close...and must try with all our might to course correct.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6932a1.htm

Yes We Can

"Let's Make America Great Again" – Ronald Reagan
"It's Morning Again in America" – Ronald Reagan
"Read My Lips, No New Taxes" – George H. W. Bush
"For People, for a Change" – Bill Clinton
"It's Time to Change America" – Bill Clinton
"Putting People First" – Bill Clinton
"It's the economy, stupid" – Bill Clinton
"Stand by the President" – George H. W. Bush
"A Proud Tradition" – George H. W. Bush
"America First" – Pat Buchanan
"Building a bridge to the twenty-first century" – Bill Clinton
"Leadership for the New Millennium" – Al Gore
"Prosperity and Progress" – Al Gore
"A Safer World and a More Hopeful America" – George W. Bush
"Let America Be America Again" – John Kerry
"Yes We Can" – Barack Obama
"We are the ones we've been waiting for" – Barack Obama
"Change We Can Believe In" – Barack Obama
"Hope and Change" - Barack Obama
"Country First" – John McCain
"Forward" – Barack Obama
"Restore Our Future" – Mitt Romney
"Restore America Now" – Ron Paul
"Make America Great Again!" – Donald Trump (Reagan Redo)
"I'm With Her" – Hillary Clinton
"Stronger Together" – Hillary Clinton
"A Future To Believe In" – Bernie Sanders
"Not me. Us." – Bernie Sanders
”Build back better”  – Joe Biden

The Platitudes flow eternal...progress never comes. We keep letting these cowards and charlatans give us false promises and deceitful narratives. They aren't even creative or original...we are so dumb we fall for it anyway. If they can capture you with cheap catch-phrases, we're doomed...it's too easy. We must improve our Critical Thinking skills...we must improve our knowledge of our reality and of history. If we don't/can't rise above propaganda and cheap psychological tricks...we are enslaved until the day we go extinct. Listen up, nobody is coming to save you...improve yourself, organize yourselves, and improve society, now.

Capitalism Is Social-Darwinism

I hate that people call Capitalism an "economic system," to "economize" means to make more efficient, to avoid waste, and to conserve... it does the opposite. Also, what makes people think that "free markets" means anything other than "every man for himself"...that's an anti-system and proven not to be a good way to run any large population. Basically, Capitalism is a distorted form of Social-Darwinism (not to be confused with Natural Selection, an ACTUAL scientific theory proposed by Charles Darwin). Social-Darwinism, and hence Capitalism, is an incorrectly understood and applied, distortion, of what science tells us about evolution. It hides behind the legitimacy of science (which it does not earn), and also hides behind the mysterious religiosity of "the invisible hand"...a psychological tool that allows them to claim that it is so complex, they need not try to figure it out.

In reality we have the tools and historical records to assess our resource usage, distribution, carefully weigh that against our ethical concerns/values, and address the complexity that comes with an interconnected and interdependent planetary species. I'm tired of this lazy religion we call Capitalism, and it needs to be greatly reformed at the least, and ground-up rethought at best.

One Party To Rule Them All

The DNC has made clear the new strategy for Democrats and Republicans...and that is become the new Republican Party under the name of "Democrats." The want to solidify political thought and policy into conservative, neo-liberal, "end of history" stagnation. They want to solidify liberal religiosity. They want to continue Imperialist aggression. They want to continue McCarthyism. The DNC Convention is just a multi-day "ring kissing" session for Biden and jingoism parade.

As the divergence continues between the people who hold power and the will of the people...I don't know how they intend to keep this strategy up...but I hope they get crushed soon and the public grows some backbone to challenge them. We are wasting precious time and resources figuring out that we need to wipe these politicians out and get some normal people in, with the best interest of our nation in mind.

The First Ballerina, Scorpio, Hamster Owning, Texan, Transgender Native American

The Democratic use of Identity Politics is disgusting. Kamala Harris is being touted as breaking the glass ceiling as a woman, black, and asian... in reality she is just an authoritarian, corporate centrist. Even if you wanted to spin that this is a "watershed" moment, you can't...she was not voted in by the American people...she was appointed by a white man for cynical electoral reasons. In this time of UNPRECEDENTED CRISIS... we're still running candidates on these vapid, superficial qualities and personality traits. I'm not even sure this Biden ticket is as good as Hillary Clinton's...and that was a horrible ticket. The Establishment never provides substance...only spits in the eyes of the people...is unbearable. The Left's base is accepting a lot of punishment because they recognize how dangerous Trump is...but there is a limit to human dignity...and if you pass it, people will go Scorched Earth. The Democrats have also been cynically using Identity to co-opt the energy of the Left...we've seen Sunrise Movement/Democratic Socialists eat their own due to false sexual allegations, Black Lives Matter constantly derailed from TRUE Policy Reform to symbolic gestures of Kente Cloth and kneeling... Nina Turner correctly assessed this situation...feeding us Trump/Pence is like eating a bowl of shit, and feeding us Biden/Harris is like eating a half a bowl of shit.

Substantive change is losing, the Earth is losing, Humanity is losing; we're being sucked into a giant Bread & Circus machine. Wake up people, the Establishment is literally killing you, impoverishing you, dividing you, distracting you, and brainwashing you. Break away from Identity, break away from Tribes, break away from rhetoric and symbolism. Form a real, logically consistent, evidence supported, ethically sound ideology...and follow it with Principle.

The Doomsday Clock Ticks On

Having listened to several interviews with people close to Biden...I'm scared how McCarthyist they seem to be. Despite Chomsky and many others so scared about a Trump nuclear war (and there is reason to be concerned with such an ignorant person in charge)...but I'm not convinced Biden is much more safe. His foresight on corruption, racial justice, crime, the Iraq War, global trade...has been abysmal...he's been wrong on just about everything he's touched. While we might have gotten a glimpse of his foreign policy with his time with Obama...I'm very concerned that he has hawkish tendencies and along with this anti-leftist/Red Scare bent in his circle...he may be a bull in a china shop on foreign policy.

The Movement Away From Reality

I hate to put it in political terms because delusion seems to exist across the political spectrum...science denial is rampant...but it is just easy to see the phenomena when you realize that the Democrats have the policy positions of Republicans of yesteryear...and the Republicans literally have Nazis marching for their policy positions on the regular. Many historians call it "shift to the Right" but really it's just a shift away from accurately seeing reality.

When we fight fascism...the fascists cry fascism...it's bizarre. When we try to fight economic insanity...the cult of neo-liberalism cries that unsustainable, hyper-self-interested, infinite growth paradigms are the only viable systems. When we try to get peace...the neo-cons scarily shout that war is peace and peace is war. When we peacefully protest, the "brown shirts" meet us with violence...then call us violent. The answer to gun violence is more guns... The answer to ignorance is more censorship... The answer to poverty is more austerity for the poor and more welfare for the rich... We have gone insane and have lost sight of all reality. We must go back to first principles...logic, reason, evidence based beliefs, intellectual honesty, learning to determine motivations...and generally questioning everything. We should all be lifelong students...always learning, always becoming more ethical, always striving to be less biased, always growing our understanding of the universe and our nature.

The Great Siphoning

The private FED and the fractional reserve ponzi scheme have always been mechanisms to siphon money from the public back into the pockets of the wealthy power elites...but with the hyper government corporate payouts, in conjunction with the mass crushing of small businesses due to COVID-19...we are seeing a siphoning of wealth that could very well tip us into Feudalism 2.0. For the first time, even some in the Wall St. cult are questioning more tax cuts for themselves because they see economic collapse and pitchforks in their future.

Deep Learning Amnesia

I just listened to the TED interview with Yann LeCun, and as he explained how Deep Learning works...it became apparent we are throwing away the most important data we are generating. He says we write small programs, feed them into neural networks, which then spit out some probabilities...BUT, all the patterns and simulations that were generated are essentially thrown out...it becomes a black box. In other words, he isn't researching AI, he is generating a black box oracle. All the critical insights into WHY answers are generated, the interconnected UTILITY of those answers, and the EFFICIENCY at which those answers were generated are discarded...what!? Those would seem to be the most important parts. We need to be able to "distill" some algorithmic wisdom from these "neural networks." No surprise he works for Facebook, a company that doesn't give two sh*ts about improving the quality of society, but instead extracting all the value from it. Sad to learn we are not growing the field of AI, we are creating data abusing machines.

They Know And They Are Fighting You

I used to think that my opponents just didn't know better...while I still think ignorance is a huge issue, as far as POWER goes, they are not honest actors. The perfect example is the fight for black lives...you peacefully kneel, you are disrespectful...you take to the streets, you are a lawless thug...they are not honest actors...they don't care how you disagree, how reasonable you are, they are fighting you and there is no reasoning with them. This is why we can't only "start conversations"...not only "protest"...not "write letters to our congressmen"...and instead ORGANIZE FOR POWER, vote, put people with our values in decision-making positions, build our resources, change the fundamental mechanisms of society so that the public has a working democracy (ranked choice voting, open source electronic voting, getting rid of money in politics, banning gerrymandering, etc). Stop shouting into the void on social media, stop whining to politicians who don't care about you in the least, stop virtue signalling proclamations and platitudes...we must take back all segments of the government, from local to federal...we must build more democratic businesses, unions, and co-ops...we must FORCE change, not beg for it.

Some organizations that are starting this movement are: Our Revolution, Brand New Congress, Justice Democrats, etc. It need not be these specific organizations, but please get organized somehow, vote EVERY TIME, get people registered, get people informed, stop letting these politicians and mainstream media corporations set the narrative...and if you have the means, please get involved directly in your community.

The Hard Work Of Our Dear Leader

What is the most powerful person in the world doing about the Pandemic? or the economic Depression? or Climate Destabilization?

https://www.trumpgolfcount.com/displayoutings

Priorities

Today I turned the "assistant" on for my phone to see if there were some useful features I could use...and it gave me a list of trending "queries"...top of the list was:

"where is the nearest food shelter?"

...what kind of dystopian nightmare do we live in? People have "super-computers in their pockets" and they have to use them to find food and shelter!? What are we doing people...have we lost all sense of what is important? Society needs a priority reboot; a complete examination of what we want and how we're trying to accomplish those goals.

American Self-Genocide

I was listening to "health officials" on the news today...and they are now saying Corona may just be like seasonal flu now. What kind of irresponsible talk is that? Why not seasonal Tuberculosis, or Bubonic Plague...what other things are we going to just let spread uncontrollably because everyone with any power is corrupt, stupid, and lazy. Politicians, Media, and the Public...is everyone willing to just fold to this bullshit? Fuck you, if you all want to die, go off yourself, this CAN'T be public policy.

Another 4th Of Burning Toxic Chemicals

I would have thought that maybe the cleaner air we've seen due to isolating from Corona virus would give us pause to reflect on how we're treating our planet...nope. This 4th we continued our unsustainable tradition of burning noxious chemicals so that we can see pretty colors and recreate the explosion-ridden war scenario of the revolution...heaven knows why. We already have (questionably) necessary processes that create air pollution, like micro-rubber particles from car tires (a huge health risk for people who live near major streets), do we need to create additional, unnecessary pollution? Look, I'm all for remembering our history, or setting aside days for celebration and/or reflection...but can't we update it? Can we not find a better way than 300+ million people setting toxic chemicals on fire, on the same day every year?

Stay In The Basement Joe

Nobody who is sane likes Joe Biden, but everyone on the Left is feeling the pain to hold their nose, vote neo-liberal, and not let Trump destroy what little rule of law remains. That said...Joe is creating alliances with every Neo-con he can find...the Lincoln Project is doing ads for him and GOP PACs are raising money for him. Meanwhile, he is getting tons of military talking heads to speak for him, and about him. He is giving nods to regime change in Venezuela...the guy is begging the Left not to vote for him. Please stop Joe.

FFS, stay in the basement and stop giving us reasons to question our nose-holding. I think I can do it if you just STFU and stop signalling that you will hand the government over to neo-cons the moment you are in power. If you keep signalling it, I'm going to have to assume it's not just a campaigning gaffe...at which time the onus will be upon me to prevent it.

Responsibility Austerity

We've long known that our politicians are captured by corporate interests and we are regularly subjected to economic austerity:
The first thing that was done for this pandemic was complete socialization of our banking and finance system (for corporations)...trillions of dollars given to corporations...public money was poured into private pharmaceutical and medical research companies...and what do we have to show for it? No testing, no tracing, still a huge shortage of protective equipment for our medical workers (no supply chain action), companies telling us they will charge us a fortune for treatments/vaccines (if they even create one)...even though public money was used and fast-tracking of testing was given to them.

But now the government won't even do common sense things like address a pandemic. The newest push is for them to put all responsibility on mask wearing. Let me be clear, masks are very effective and I'm for people wearing them, voluntarily or mandated for the duration of this pandemic. However, this signals the complete acceptance that our leaders are doing nothing...and we are going to let them do nothing. I'm not just talking about Trump either...we've known from the start we can't trust his leadership...but what about governors, mayors, senators...where are the meetings between all of them to get nationwide testing, tracing, and quarantining coordinated and implemented...nothing.

We've allowed the economic elite to impose economic austerity on us, and now we are allowing the political elite to impose responsibility austerity on us.

Hope Is Learned

Not only should we be mindful of OUR own political choices, but we should be mindful of how our tactics affect the next generation of like-minded people. Look at Trump's poor example...even though he was a complete failure (even by his own metrics), he energized racist right-wing fervor and indoctrinated a whole new generation into the cult of tribal delusion...infused with the hope of white nationalist uprising, glorified military conquest, theocratic culture, and trickle-down fantasy. Similarly, when the neo-liberals decided that they would reserve all their vitriol for crushing the next generation of "Progressives" so they could retain their corporate power...they destroyed the ability for the next generation to have hope; to believe the System could produce anything but the status quo. Thus, you see it in many policies of the "young left"...they are afraid to plan STRUCTURALLY, they rely too heavily on exhaustive protest, they want to scrape for patchwork in pockets that only affect the identities they have...their predecessors have created a generation of cynics, that will make too many concessions out of fear, who will be reluctant to participate in elections, and who will soon join the Right in "victim culture," learning to ignore/avoid power but incessantly complain that they have none.

Pragmatism is one thing, but you must always be mindful of your example too. The poisonous philosophy of "short-term gain" and "individualism" has destroyed every facet of society, and we must stop allowing it to destroy the future of our children.

Let's Play "Will The Grid Crash?"

Seeing as we're coming up on Summer weather...and everyone is trapped in their homes...it begs the question of whether the grid will be able to handle the massive amounts of A/C that will be used. I know in my area it's assured that blackouts are coming. All the problems we didn't address: healthcare, infinite growth economics, Climate Destabilizing...all coming home to roost. Sooo, what are your bets?

Radiolab And Free Speech

Radiolab recently did an update to an episode they made about Social Media and censorship...and they fell on the wrong side AGAIN. If entities like Facebook are going to determine what posts are seen and not seen, which pictures are okay and not okay, they are a PUBLISHER and should be subject to all the laws and liability that Publishers are. If they are going to claim they are only a "platform" and that "users" are in control...then don't elevate posts, don't hide posts, don't take money and distribute some posts more than others, don't censor images, ideas, or anything else...leave it exactly as posted, in the order it was posted, and allow it to distribute naturally.

I can't believe Radiolab has had time to think about this, are so famous they presumably have access to plenty of academics and ethicists...and yet have REAFFIRMED their belief in gross and completely arbitrary censorship. They are great storytellers, but terrible thinkers.

Life Expectancy And Progress

It is commonly believed that we've drastically improved life-expectancy...well, that is partially true. We are often told life expectancy used to be 40...and now it's 80...WOW GERM THEORY...right? The anecdotal data that tells us that life expectancy for certain areas/times were 30-40...weren't exactly true. Many times they were highly transitional periods like the Industrial Revolution, where a combination of slave-like working conditions, poisonous pollution, and high density/low hygiene practices were the norm...or Medieval periods where plague and inequality destroyed longevity. If we look at history holistically, we find plenty of healthy communities (even ancient ones) where life expectancy was very close to modern, post-industrial societies.

That said, Germ Theory is true, working/living conditions do matter...we have been able to stretch life expectancy to close to maximum...until now. We are forgetting the past; we are treating COVID-19 as if it doesn't exist; we are treating pollution and climate change as if they don't exist...and we WILL return to low life expectancy if we recreate the conditions that we've seen in the past where we accepted death and didn't proactively try to prevent it. We CANNOT keep delusionally pretending that uncomfortable things don't exist...we must accept reality, we must confront our challenges with courage and intelligence, we can't let 40 become the new 80 again.

"The System" and Climate Change Still Exists

COVID-19 is the equivalent to everyone being ultra-responsible, carbon footprint reducing, riding-your-bike-to-work heroes... did all our environmental concerns go away? We got a couple clearer-air-days...but NO. Now I don't want to discourage people from being their best, most responsible selves, but it also shows that many of our problems are deeper and STRUCTURAL. The dirty power plants didn't stop for COVID-19...the 1-use plastics didn't stop being produced (in fact they may even have ramped up production with all the shipping and deliveries)... and somehow the media still found time to quote every nonsense thing Trump said, while ignoring that we should be using this "isolating" period to reflect on how we live, what outcomes our System produces, and solving actual problems. The biggest revelation this period has shown to me...Personal Responsibility is NOT the answer. You cannot solve COVID-19 with it, you cannot solve Police Brutality with it, and you can't solve Climate Destabilization with it...we need Structural Change, we need to put Sound Policies in place...and we need to ENABLE that by putting people with Wisdom, Knowledge, and Principled Ethics in places of decision making power. We must get away from this idea that the world is merely a collection of individuals, whose actions only affect themselves, and whose individual moralities create the morality of the System...no, a System must be DESIGNED to be Just, designed to be efficient, designed to reduce suffering, designed to increase Understanding, designed to mitigate conflict, and designed to create Healthy Humans.

If I Close My Eyes, The Problem Disappears!

Oh, we can open up the economy now? Because we've done comprehensive testing, tracing, statistical monitoring, and we're systematically opening district by district with cautious regression fallback quarantining policies?

No? Oh, we've just decided that we've prayed a lot, isolation is inconvenient, the stock market is up, and the virus has gotten bored of spreading...got it.

AMERICANS ARE MORONS.

Protest Thoughts

The focus of this event cannot be black anger, or white guilt...it MUST be POLICY. Everyone can emote together, alone, or not at all...none of it matters if it doesn't translate into Structural Change.

I think Obama governed horribly and I have little love for him generally, but I agree with his message on this topic:
“We have to mobilize to raise awareness, and we have to organize and cast our ballots to make sure that we elect candidates who will ACT on reform.”

“If, going forward, we can channel our justifiable anger into peaceful, sustained, and effective ACTION, then this moment can be a real turning point in our nation’s long journey to live up to our highest ideals.”

Important Side Note: The pandemic has not ended...please take it more seriously. It's not a matter of what's more important, civil rights vs fighting pandemic...they are both important, but one doesn't go away because we choose to emphasize the other. The virus doesn't care how righteous your cause...it is as Dawkins says:

"The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”

"Teaching Moments"

Every time society is about to meltdown, a millionaire news host will go on and tell us "this is a pivotal and 'teaching' moment." Most of the time the "lesson" they tell us is horse shit, platitude salad...but aside from that...no, these can't be our teaching moments. EVERY conversation is a teaching moment...if you only learn important lessons each time the world is on fire (even assuming you perfectly absorb the wisdom of these moments) ...1) you are ignorant; 2) civilization is well on its way to extinction.

Everyone keeps playing this game of "magical thinking"...where we fantasize that some "teaching" event will come along, all the people who have no reasoning skills at all will magically "wake up," and we'll all start to make sound decisions. Guess what, that is nonsense and we will never become an enlightened civilization without doing the work. We need to communicate more often and better, eradicate corruption, improve our understanding, improve the mechanisms of society, improve our education system, improve our checks and balances...and none of it will come through osmosis or magical miasma.

You want a "teaching moment"? I got a lesson for you, START TODAY, stop wishing, organize, pool resources, communicate with the people immediately around you that you can reach, learn from history, and CONTINUALLY improve yourself.

The "Karen" Meme

I know for many these memes SEEM like they might be some form of Identity Politics or just another Internet comedy skit...but I think it signifies a BREAKTHROUGH in American Culture. Along with the videos of cops murdering blacks, and women breaking their silence about sexual violence...we, as a society, are learning to recognize Privilege. The "Karen" meme is special though...because it not only recognizes differences in Privilege, but also recognizes the deep problems with being self-interested. There is nothing more core to the problems with our culture than this selfishness...it drives our political tribalism, it drives our blindness to the deep flaws in our economic system, it allows us to ignore Climate Destabilization, it drives our anti-science movements...what these things have in common is they require the ability to ignore Reality and the Structural Construct of society and instead view everything through the distorted lens of "does it personally affect me, and what beliefs are convenient for me?" This is not a sane World View, it is a sign that we have become too complacent; we need meteoric changes in our Values and a much wider breadth of Understanding.

I hope a variety of "Karen" meme spin-offs are created to point out the other archetypal selfish personalities. The Internet has created echo chambers that teach us these bad habits...we must claw it back to teach each other HEALTHY and ACCURATE lessons. If we can laugh/cry AND LEARN with viral memes...there may yet be hope for us.

Corona Thoughts

We are now many months into this pandemic...and STILL COVID-19 is not being handled even half-way rationally, from a scientific standpoint...this means 2? 3? X? waves of outbreaks to come? This might very well be a year -or more- long crisis, not including the long-term damage to the health of our population and our economy. The Executive branch is doing NOTHING, and Congress is busy giving all our tax money to billionaires (hey a**holes, the problem is the virus, not the stock market!!!). Dumb Americans who say "I've talked to my family and we've decided we're going to live as if COVID-19 doesn't exist and 'come what may'"...are complete idiots and don't understand "public health" or have any consideration of how their actions might impact others. Unfortunately, moronic decisions don't only affect morons. I've long known that gross ignorance was going to hurt us, but the last few years have revealed just how amazingly stupid Americans are and it has completely demoralized me.

General thoughts on society:
I wouldn't mind spending all my time reasoning with people (if it were simply a matter of exposure and communicating ideas), but when people don't even have basic reasoning skills to come to common sense conclusions...this is a GENERATIONAL problem with education and culture...and our problems need IMMEDIATE action. Is it "all we can do" to outline a road-map for future generations and take baby first steps towards progress? How did we fall off the "shoulders of giants"? How was it that a majority of our nation emerged from a cave...tribal, religious, incurious, unable to reason, and scientifically illiterate?

2020 Presidential Race

The 2020 Presidential race has two oligarchic, old, white, men, with mental decline...so it's going to come down to one thing..."who can be perceived as more competent." That's it. Since they are both, in fact, incompetent...that might mean simply hiding from public appearances/comments. Sad, but that's the truth.

Climate Change Is Solvable

"Destroying your feeling that something can be done about Climate Change, is as effective a path to inaction as outright denial; and the polluting interests understand that. They welcome dispiriting polemics that portray this problem as Unsolvable."

- Michael Mann

The Fallacy Of Herd Immunity

It is estimated that between 5-20% of people could have developed a degree of immunity so far. Think of all the deaths and disruption that that small amount of infection has caused. It is estimated that between 70-90% of people require immunity to develop "herd immunity." Normally, that would be reached with vaccinations...but if you are talking about COVID-19, where no vaccine exists, you are saying that virtually everyone needs to actually be infected with the disease. That is an insane, suicide plan for a country to adopt. Herd Immunity is not a plan to fight a pandemic, it is a plan to protect a small minority of people who are immuno-compromised or allergic to a vaccine...please stop using this term as if it is actually a strategy to do anything but kill a lot of people.

Learn To Translate

During this pandemic, words/phrases are thrown around like "essential workers"...what they really mean by that is "we need slaves to continue to make the machine turn...who gives two f*cks if you die"...that's pretty much what "get the economy going again" means as well.

Big lesson here, you need to start training yourself to hear what politicians/people are ACTUALLY saying...not the literal words...but learning to parse the implications and intentions of everything. You can't understand reality until you do. The idea that we can tell people to their face "I don't care about your life and I'm going to sacrifice you to my 401K" (but with slightly obfuscated language)...is a testimony to the immense ignorance and callousness of our time.

Where Bernie Supporters Should Turn Their Focus

President of the U.S. is a powerful position, but it's far from the whole game. There are PLENTY of powerful positions yet to be claimed in Congress, Governorships, etc. One election in particular that is really important is Shahid Buttar vs Nancy Pelosi...we MUST vote Shahid in. Pelosi has sabotaged the Left movement, on behalf of corporate power, for too long. Congress writes the laws, and the Courts interpret those laws; if we don't have sane, objective, and scientifically literate people in those positions, our system will never be fixed.

https://shahidforchange.us/about-shahid-buttar-pelosis-leading-2020-challenger/

Wisdom From Isolation

"You spent your whole life believing you had no control, that you were a follower. Take whatever it gives you, and lead."

-Delores (Westworld)

Will People Like Amy Introspect?

Amy Klobuchar stood on the debate stage and said Single Payer Healthcare was pie in the sky...she was ready to, nay eager to, allow 68,000 people to die each year from lack of health care. She didn't care that 500,000 go backrupt each year due to medical expenses. Now, her husband is in the hospital with the Corona virus...and while I do not wish these things on anyone, I do wonder if she can now see how important healthcare is...I wonder if she takes two seconds to reflect on what she has done with her power in the government. Will anyone in power ever stop to reflect on the things they do, or don't do, that have such a huge impact on the people they are supposed to represent? Do they realize they are squandering the power they have been given, and that THEY are the reason we are woefully unprepared, have such a corrupt system, and have seen no progress in our institutions.

Pay Attention: Corona Will Enlighten You

As Corona spreads, it will expose our "Welfare for the Wealthy" system as we nail bite over the Stock Markets...meanwhile Airlines and other Corporations will get subsidized and supported, while regular citizens are left to die in the streets. As Corona spreads, you will see our failure of a "health care" system, as price gouging continues and large portions of our society have no access to heath care at all. As Corona spreads, you'll see our self-interested government "manage their reputations" rather than SOLVING the problem, as their pundits cry "big government" and de-fund necessary institutions like the Center For Disease Control (CDC). All the while, the very reasonable SOLUTIONS to all these problems will be labeled "radical socialist agendas" by pundits and media networks, and any attempts to get candidates into office who will solve these problems will be met with "Red Baiting" and those candidates deemed "unelectable."

America Is Sleepwalking To Our Demise

I can't believe people are voting for Biden in the primary. He will make NONE of the needed changes to avoid ruin and/or extinction, he has a horrible record, and he is so senile he can't even get a full sentence out. Even if he beats Trump...which seems unlikely...what will we have? More of the same, our steady sleepwalk off a cliff.

DCs Version Of Feminism

I was watching Supergirl...and they gave her tight pants as a sign of progress? Why is it that wearing a skirt is considered anti-progress but painting your face like a clown is fine. So showing the legs is shameful but applying massive amounts of colored, synthetic chemicals to your face is somehow liberating? We must stop accepting these ancient conceptions about what is okay and what is not. We must use rationality and volition to decide what is reasonable and not let someone impose their preferences and dislikes upon us.

Democratic Unity Is Propaganda

There is no such thing as Centrist and Progressive unity. NO candidate can bridge that gap, they are fundamentally opposing views and any talk otherwise is only provided to confuse you. If you embrace one view, you are opposed to the other, period. So let's all stop pretending we don't know this, and stop letting the Establishment use this excuse to bully uninformed voters to pick a Centrist. We keep letting our enemies control the narrative, and we need to stop pretending they are acting in good faith. The new generations must be taught, not only to use logic and evidence, but to discern between deceitful and honest actors. This needs to be taught in school from an early age...we can no longer afford to have a gullible citizenry.

The Perfect Recipe For Non-Progress

Progress happens for two reasons, wisdom and/or struggle. Unfortunately wisdom is in short supply (usually requiring a rare mixture of education, experience, and empathy), and those who are struggling are often uninformed and easily manipulated by a dishonest media controlled by the well-served. Therefore we are left with a very small base for those who pursue progress. We live in an insane System where progress depends on the Wise begging the Comfortable and the Ignorant for permission to create change and being denied at every turn. The System must fundamentally change if we are to survive, let alone progress.

Corona Beer

Buy a case in protest of stupid Americans who can't tell the difference between a pandemic and a beer brand.

Billionaire Palpatine - Don't Do It

Since billionaires are in the media at the moment, it's important to understand what's happening and how to think about it. The core concept behind our acceptance of billionaires is INCENTIVE. People THINK our incentive structure makes people try harder, it doesn't, it often discourages them and rewards manic, power-hungry sociopaths...that sounds like hyperbole but it's not, to acquire wealth on that level requires the exploitation of legions of other humans and the annexation of the rewards from their productivity.

Chicken study summary:
Put all the "successful/highest yield" hens together, they destroy each other and society.
They appear "successful" by subjugating and oppressing the other hens.
Overall yields go up with all cooperative hens, and this is PRACTICED in that industry.

For context, this video was made in the defense of "group selection," which I am not advocating, but its demonstration of the flawed logic in our "incentive structure" is what I'm focusing on.

https://youtu.be/oxxQuK6UHzY?t=2053

2020-02-19 Debate

Don't want to spend too much time on this, but just one thought, Warren destroyed the other Centrists. She is not my candidate but she showed competence, zeal, and good communication skills. Good show Liz, destroy the filth that is the Corporate Democratic Establishment.

The Biggest Danger To New Voters

To sum it up, Platitudes and Misleading Rhetoric. Politicians have learned to say things that sound nice but are so shallow so as to mean nothing in terms of policy, or actions which seem to have an obvious outcome but we know in reality will have a completely different outcome, but they disingenuously use anyway because the false narrative is politically convenient.

Schools need to start teaching people to learn to deal with deceit. Logic and evidence are fine when we agree to rationally discuss and be intellectually honest...but those are not forgone conclusions in this age. We live in a world of deceit, and beneath that, a real battle of ideas...some great and some horrible, we must be able to navigate this whole space as a society and as individuals.

Neo-Liberal Unity

The Establishment Democrats scream "unity" but have plotted and schemed in every way possible to prevent the people from choosing their preferred candidate. If they try to be heavy-handed in the convention... not only will they likely cause another 4 years of Trump, but they will likely see a "dem-exit" like never before. The mainstream media casually talks about Democratic "elders" (i.e. Superdelegates) putting their finger on the scales to make sure the elite have their candidate. This is undemocratic and just plain infuriating. Americans have a lot of failings, this perhaps among them, but you cannot underestimate their willingness to burn it all down to have their way. The Republicans have shown their disdain for precedent, and if not allowed to evolve...every party's constituents will become an angry mob. I hate to be cliche but JFK said it best:

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

The Corporate Media Have Picked Their Candidates

The Corporate Class has decided who you are "allowed" to vote for:
MSNBC = Amy Klobuchar
CNN = Pete Buttigieg
Fox = Donald Trump

Now get out there and vote for someone else.

WTF Iowa

Just a quick tip... if coin tosses are part of your electoral process, you're doing democracy wrong.

History Is Made: Someone In Power Did The Obvious Right Thing

Romney voted against his party, in tears, to Impeach Trump. He then said, it is the hardest thing to vote against my party... No Romney, no it's not hard to do what's OBVIOUSLY correct. The fact that these morons and liars think it's a historic triumph to vote against your party, making an easy and obviously correct decision...is so very sad. How are these people put in such positions of power? Do you want a cookie for not murdering your neighbor with a butcher's knife, maybe you should make an impassioned speech about how you didn't and how much of a hero you are for your restraint. We live in a cartoon reality and I'm getting tired of waiting for everyone else to realize we need to get our pitchforks out.

The Joke That Is Legal Precedent

The "legal scholars" that argue that Impeaching Trump would create a bad legal precedent are deluded. Precedent means NOTHING in the age of Trump...does anyone really believe that if you acquit Trump, the Republicans would NOT try to Impeach a Democratic president for spurious reasons? If so, you are a dupe. They argue whichever position is beneficial with no sense of hypocrisy or shame. I'm not a Schiff fan but what he said about "Truth Matters"...was correct, if we don't base things on Truth...precedent means nothing. Unilateral Disarmament of truth-tellers is only going to allow the liars to win, we need to play tit-for-tat sometimes, we must punish wrong, we must serve justice, and this fake civility of "taking the high road" leads to failure. When everyone is playing by the rules, then yes, we can return to setting good "precedent"...but until then we need to hold corrupt people accountable.

The Weaponization Of Self-Hate

I've been listening to work by Yasha Levine on the weaponization of immigrants against their native nations. Once he pointed it out, I realize I've seen it so many times but I just thought it was coincidence...and now I realize it's a conscious and proactive strategy. I mean I've known about "self-hate" for a long time, but I've always thought about it as an unfortunate personal problem...but now that he's pointed out various examples, I realize their conclusions are not random...they all seem to end up pushing the narratives of the elite class.

From the "End Of History" narrative, to Hispanic women voting for Trump, to every one of Sam Harris's friends... People who have been abused in other countries are weaponized to advance U.S. empire narratives. We definitely need to start realizing that this is happening and stop letting one wrong, justify the perpetuation of other wrongs. We need to identify ROOT causes and make Structural changes.

Check his work out at:
https://yasha.substack.com

The Death Of Star Trek

With the release of Star Trek Picard, it's official...Star Trek is dead. They've lost all the spirit of the series...the hope of a better future, the philosophical and ethical questioning, the desire to improve the audience who watches it. They've given up that spirit for cheap and cheesy space-fantasy-drama. Everything inspiring in media has become escape and delusion. Not a vision of a beautiful future, but a dark reflection of our dying civilization.

Some may think I'm being overly critical but you can't create a beautiful society if you can't even envision it. If all we ever dream of are dystopian futures, that's what we'll get...replicas of the current failed paradigm but with better technology. The guardians of the status quo will win because they've bought all the media our youth watch. We see it in the "Comic-book hero universes," notions of service and sacrifice, replaced with ego and "might makes right." Star Wars, which was always a bit pseudo-religious, but at least centered on the principles of balance and perpetuity...now is just pure fantasy, cosmetic fan-service. Now this disaster, a series that has inspired generations of scientists and people who reach for a sustainable and healthy future...now reduced to another piece of Hollywood drama intellectual property.

Corporate Disobedience

Activists like to talk about "Civil Disobedience" and "shutting it down." Censorship on social media, divestment from financial institutions...we have ample opportunities to stop participating in activities that harm us and the planet...but we can't even muster that. How many people say "I know Facebook censors stuff...but omg I how will I get pictures from my family"...what chance is there at mass civil disobedience when people today can't even be slightly inconvenienced and do some slight Corporate Disobedience? We aren't serious, and we're getting the world we allow.

CNN & Warren

Warren has trouble in the polls, and days before a debate...CNN goes all in on the childish notion that Bernie Sanders is a misogynist, with Warren playing coy. Then, as expected, on the debate stage they throw this garbage at Sanders as a question. After the debate, Warren, knowing she is mic'd, goes up to Sanders and begins accusing him of lying...

I've never seen a plot so deviously orchestrated. I never thought Elizabeth Warren would weaponize identity politics, and stoop so low so as to pollute her "woman card" with this nonsense. She is a smart and eloquent woman, it's so disappointing that when pressure was applied this was her tactic...it didn't help her and it says something dark about what she is capable of. Some may ask, why I'm being so hard on HER...because of the facts on the ground. Anyone who has followed the both of them knows Bernie asked HER to run in 2016 and was perfectly willing to take a back seat to her candidacy, so he obviously believes in women. Similarly, when he lost to Hilary Clinton in the 2016 primaries...he relentlessly supported her...he went to 60ish rallies for her and spoke 30ish times for her on the campaign trail. He has unambiguously supported women candidates up and down the ticket. His voting record for women's rights is near perfect across decades, this accusation is just not believable.

Now, let's get to the facts of the matter, is it possible Sanders said some combination of words that approximate "it is impossible for a woman to win the presidency in X situation"...maybe, but Warren knows he is not a misogynist and she knows that she is insinuating that he is with this public statement...especially with the Media's absolutely spurious account of how he ran his 2016 campaign and their obsession with calling his supporters "Bernie Bros."

In summary, I'm disappointed in Warren and I'm FURIOUS with CNN...they are continuously dishonest, completely shameless, and an absolute embarrassment to the field of journalism.

"Left" and "Right" means NOTHING

Pulosi is scheduling the Impeachment exactly during the first several, and very crucial, Primary periods to screw the senators running...Bernie and Warren (i.e. they will be obligated to be in a trial during prime campaigning period). When she drops it during this period, you will know what her intentions are. The Neo-liberals will fight Progressives harder than Republicans, and when they absolutely find out they can't win...they will pretend we're all family. Know thine enemies. You can't rely on "D" or "R" as the extent of your critical thought...we need a new, brilliant, uncorrupted Congress, that will implement METHODOLOGICAL changes to prevent Money-Interests, Partisanship and corruption. We need sweeping, STRUCTURAL changes, especially to our economic and war policies.

The War On Assyria

Is it just me or do the countries the U.S. wants war with (known as the WesClark-Seven)...outline the area that made up the ancient civilization of Assyria? This isn't the only area on Earth with oil...and considering the U.S. has its own considerable reserves...and the fact that if used, climate change will destroy us...I have to think there might be other reasons for wanting to destroy these countries. Another possibility is the bigotry towards Muslims...but again, these aren't the only places where Muslims live and U.S. is allied with even more extremist Muslims in many cases (*cough* Saudi Arabia), so I find it hard to believe this is the reason. My final conspiracy contemplation is that they want to erase all former grand civilizations and cultures...so they can preach their "End of History/One Sole Superpower" nonsense narrative. Given the large and horrendous surfacing of White Nationalism in recent times, and their neurotic impulse to have "culture wars"...it just might be possible that these insane people could want war for such a petty reason.

War Between Iran And U.S.

If a war is started...it's completely pointless and idiotic. There is NO reason to go to war other than ego. The media just keeps goading both sides to escalate...mindlessness. War is a senseless, wasteful, and negative-sum activity. Just don't do it.

Defining Yourself By Your Oppression

    Some feminists are making the same mistakes many atheists make...they are trying to break free from some oppressive force by defining themselves as merely opponents of it. Being free of religion doesn't consist of merely being anti-religion, being free of religion is being able to treat it as the delusion it is. You empower something if you merely oppose it, you must EXPOSE it.

    On that same note, feminism today often takes the form of constant proclamation of independence from men and having women do "masculine" things to prove their "strength"...but you'll know when it's truly internalized when they are INDIFFERENT to men.