Jharrin4's Blog

Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. But of course. But die we all shall. For that matter, time being the tyrant that it is, eventually this planet we all call home will succumbto absorption by the sun–in about 7.5 billion years. Hey, so still time to work on ourselves, mind, body and spirit-wise, huh?

Of course I’m being ridiculous about the matter of life and death. Consider, however, how many humans have already lived and perished since homo sapiens evolved from the slime or whatever of long, long loooooooong ago. Researchers estimate that number to be around 117 billion, with several billion of us still hanging around right now. We humans have recycled ourselves somewhere around 7,500 generations worth.

And what a species we are!

We are very intelligent and supremely stupid all at once. We have used our smarts to create many comforts, while simultaneously creating circumstances that render those comforts meaningless. That is, here I sit creating this blog post using computer technology. I have bluetooth earbuds, and a “fitness watch” not far away. But I have no desire to use the watch and the earbuds aren’t all that comfy when stuffed in the holes on each side of my head. But I appreciate how facile a matter it is to use technology for passive pleasures and at other times to see, hear and consider happenings from around the world, in real time in some cases. And right now, in this moment of our human history, what I often see from near and far is death, destruction, oppression, exploitation, greed, pettiness, and other forms of hatefulness that boggle my mind. Certainly, there are many acts of kindness and compassion occurring as well. Sadly, in many cases that goodwill and kindness is generated as a response to self-inflicted horrors against ourselves.

The minds, bodies and spirits of too many of us have not been keenly honed to respect one another. History is essentially an account of the wounded madhouse that is humanity. We seem incapable of working together, sharing and caring for one another, in the big picture. I’m feeling fairly secure right now, but I damn well know there are others out there who want what I have, without knowing I have not much in monetary or material wealth. The petty hood can jack my car, or blindside me with a billy club in order to empty my pockets on the chance doing so provides for a prominent payoff. Yeah, the forces of evil, writ petty or prodigious. A wounded madhouse might seem hyperbolic but why did we need to create police and military forces? Even organized religion causes as much trouble as it does peace, love and understanding. My evidence? History!

The essence of our self-destructiveness can currently be seen–via those modern marvels of technology–in how just one man can dictate death and destruction without provocation. And if that isn’t a potent “Exhibit A” in my case against humanity, then we have “Exhibit B”. That would be many, many, many, many, many other (mostly) men standing around and refusing to do anything about that one man that needs being done. It’s akin to watching an innocent kid getting his ass kicked from pillar to post in the playground by someone five times his size, while others, some individually, let alone collectively, big enough to rescue him from the savagery. And the reason they won’t help, even though all these others standing around watching this sickening sight do not at all like the one doing the ass-kicking, is that the victim hasn’t paid for their protection. He has to keep taking the beating while clearly understanding that he is likely to die on a technicality of non-membership, the qualifications for which are supposedly to keep any bully from doing what this bully is doing to him. Can you follow this analogy?

Oh, that’s right. I’m leaving out the part about the bully having a really powerful weapon that could kill all of the bystanders, never minding that many of the bystanders, especially the biggest of the them all, have the exact same powerful weapon that could kill the bully. But they’re trying to appease the bully as he keeps battering the kid–who has really been fighting back with all he has but is running low on stamina—so that no one will use that really powerful weapon. The bully, who is vastly outnumbered, thus gets a pass. The kid being victimized gets sympathy and moral support. Sorry, kid, don’t take it personal, it’s just business.

Like I asserted earlier, we humans seem not to ever get along very well for very long. Knowing how we tend to succumb to violence as a means of resolving disputes, we have created an Ultimate Weapon. Right now, the threat of using that weapon by one man shields him from being held to account. If that’s the case, then this world has no future right now, not 7.5 billion years from now. By creating such a terrifying weapon some 77 years ago, humankind assured that a moment such as this one would become inevitable. The bully has no clothes! His turf isn’t even under attack. He is a global pariah and even his closest allies intellectually know that to allow his use of that weapon means they will all perish from its power, sooner if not later as well (didn’t this stare down come and go in 1962, albeit with a much different geographical framework?). But regardless, we seek to appease. Like I said humans are both very intelligent and supremely stupid all at once. We are absolutely our own worst enemy.

If this current generation of humanity is to be the last one, then we will simply have gotten what we deserved for creating the endgame scenario that will always be a clear and present danger, one way or another. Letting women and children be sacrificed on a technicality reflects a species that doesn’t deserve preserving. The only thing we have to fear right now is fear itself, as FDR famously said.

So, can we please save that little kid with the big fight in him? His, and our future, is now.

Clearly, Russia’s president has commenced to attack Ukraine, in spite of Ukraine not having given him a shred of credible justification for doing so. His blatant objective of forcefully taking an independent country west of Russia’s borders has garnered condemnation, anger and anxiety, not only for Ukraine and its citizens, but also for the people of other countries worldwide. This development exists, after all, in the broader context of a potential repeat of the triggering antecedents that resulted in two world wars. Could we be on the brink of a third world war? And if so, would it culminate in the use of nuclear weapons? It defies comprehension, but recall that the last world war ended with the deployment of two atomic bombs in 1945, a not so distant past. Ever since, humanity has had to at once acknowledge the potential for nuclear annihilation while simultaneously denying such tactical insanity would ever come to pass. Geo-political cognitive dissonance, one could say.

Now, owing to Russia’s unwarranted invasion of Ukraine, and the prospects of further aggressions against other countries in Eastern Europe, the thousands of nukes created by the terrors of science, owned mostly by Russia and the U.S., require all of humanity’s attention. More than 76 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the notion of those nukes slumbering in silos scattered over several of the world’s nations coming to life, is not an abstraction but a looming nightmare of starkly detailed potential chilling reality.

In the immortal words of Rodney King, Can’t we all just get along? Alas, poor Rodney, but history teaches all of us another stark lesson in cold reality: that it has always taught us nothing. No doubt, this apparent inability to learn from history’s grim lessons in cause and effect is what led James Joyce to invoke “History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.” The current David and Goliath encounter between Ukraine and Russia should not be happening, that’s for damn sure. But yet, there it is.

I personally feel that the West (i.e., the United States) needs to do more than blather about sanctions against Russia. Of course, I’m talking about utilizing our military directly in support of Ukraine. It might be a roll of the nuclear dice, but letting that prospect preclude any truly immediate and meaningful action in confronting Russia’s sickening attack on an innocent nation is morally and militarily wrong. Consider that, unlike Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, which were all needless deployments that essentially benefitted that notorious military-industrial complex, literally confronting Russia would be putting our post-WWII, 780 billion dollar-a-year armed forces budget to a clearly dangerous but quite practical, use once again. To those (and I’m sure it’s a vast majority of people) who would say this isn’t our fight, I’d say then why do we even have such a well financed and sophisticated military machine? It IS our fight, and the fight of all other countries that profess to be on “the right side of history”. Nuclear mutual assured destruction will forevermore be a clear and present danger. But letting Russia use that same threat to be allowed continue killing innocent people without any justification certainly is to tacitly surrender to an evil entity that doesn’t give a shit about “sanctions”. This is a turning point and a tipping point in world history, akin to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. It’s an inevitable offshoot of ever having created the Ultimate Weapon. Confront that fear again. The way I see it, there’s really no choice to be made here. Stop Russia now. Just like in 1962, another history lesson that, unless action is taken, will again have taught us nothing.

CNN clickbait: A lot of voters want alternatives to Biden and Trump in 2024, CNN poll shows. What??!!?! There are polls asking about a hypothetical Biden/Trump ’24 election? First off, I can’t imagine Cadaver Joe even wanting to run again. He’ll be on the dark side of 80 and needs to retire. Along with other fossilized, top-ranking Donkeys who are marinated in corporate conflicts of interest. As for that other guy, the nightmare from Mar-a-Lago, how can he run for President again since he is in maximum security lockup, facing 200 years, no bail, no parole? Oh wait, I keep forgetting, that’s an alternate universe that Rod Serling might be able to chew on. But Serling is dead but the January 6 committee supposedly is represented by living, sentient beings. That committee is still doggedly digging for more evidence of DJT having EVER committed a crime, before, during or after his fascist, hate mongering four years of residency at 1600 Penn.

But of course he’s still a free man. He is the Teflon Don. His Teflon is provided by a sociopathic GOP that seems to be terrified at the thought of turning on him–while the same GOP is in lockstep against any sensible legislation that helps the working class, and that includes complete morons like Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Boebert, two elected office holders that bespeak the overall incompetence of what passes for a national government. That incompetence very much includes the Democratic-APPOINTED Attorney General of the U.S., Merrick Garland. He, along with the January 6 committee that clearly has no bark, no bite and certainly no teeth, provide a Teflon covering for the guy that CNN includes in a poll that exasperatingly pre-supposes a Trump re-election bid. This is the political world here in the U.S must endure. Two parties, both corrupted by corporate donors, with the Democrats having complete control, by a razor thin margin, but control nonetheless, and doing next to nothing that desperately needs being done.

The mid-terms are nine months away. That idiotic CNN poll may become a reality the way things are going. But that nightmare is 3 years away. There are numerous other polls that show how much the electorate wants economic programs that help them, rather than Wall Street, that provides for affordable education, affordable healthcare, climate mitigation, protection of voter rights and other reasonable uses of our very wealthy country’s money. If in the next several months, the Donkeys don’t bring Teflon Don to justice, or unite to overcome the filibuster that stops any needed legislation in its tracks–especially voter suppression–of course the GOP will regain power–and use it, to repress, oppress and depress rational minded people.

Why anyone would vote for a Republican unless he/she was a billionaire, or a blathering bigot, or a science denying magical thinker is beyond me. Not so many billionaires, but those otherwise working class slobs who specialize in voting against their best interests are large in number. But not large enough to win free and fair elections. Which brings this back to the Donkeys. Who seem unable to understand how to read into the polling numbers that reflect real attitudes, opinions and beliefs by tens of millions of people sick of the same old same old. Same as it ever was, to quote the Talking Heads.

Just blowing off steam here. On the bright side, it’s Super Sunday! Wings, dips, chips, pizza, cheese, lots of gooey cheese, all of which cost a lot more than not long ago. That’s not inflation, folks, it’s corporate greed. Record profits = price increases? But don’t worry about it. Just sit back and enjoy the game. The polls show L.A. is favored. If CNN took the poll, however, I’d bet on Cincinnati, for sure.

Mother Earth. Everyone’s orbiting home. All species. The birds, quadrupeds, plants, insects, fish and humankind. From whence did this wonderful place called home come? I mean, all that we see, smell, taste, touch or hear exists because we have a livable atmosphere, perfectly placed in distance from a ball of fire around which we rotate, with much of our planet quite livable.

You may already assume this blog will again bemoan the climate science’s irrefutable evidence that our Earth and it’s livability are in decline. That is true. And if you are a critical thinker, you already are aware of this reality. I have nothing to add to any of it.

However, consider how bad things were, say about 3 billion years ago, as you sit and sip your favorite beverage or chow down your daily dinner. No, seriously, if you think our climate is spiraling downward, this blog is meant to convey nothing new to you, the critical thinker, consumed with concern about such a reality. We are supposedly in a “sixth mass extinction” after all.

Those 3 billion years ago, the planet was essentially one big rock covered in magma oceans, buffeted by comet and asteroid strikes. Continents were formed by convulsive subterranean upheavals, only to be torn apart; mountain ranges appeared, then disappeared; ice caps spread, then receded. Talk about climate chaos!

The next 1.5 billion years included the formation of evermore complex animals. Research has more recently shown that microscopic fossils of bacteria-organisms, single-cell protozoans and algae date as far back as the far end of that first three billion years ofEarth becoming more and more a place for life to evolve and selectively flourish. There is also–according to research documenting a timeline of evolutionary life on Earth–a period of about a billion years when Mother Earth was more static than dynamic, taking a break from doing anything much of importance. Much like our Congress. This period is noted as“the boring billion”.And you thought a pre-pandemic reality had already become a distant, hazy memory, a blurred sense of time standing still.

So, there you go. It could now be worse, I mean, what if Earth never permitted a modern mode of life, like drive-throughs, no instant gratifications and short attention-span theater mindsets. Life in Maslow pyramid basement. Is it even fathomable? We’d also not have: Cable TV and 800 empty calorie channels. No superhero movies littering the cultural landscape. Amazon would not even be a river let alone a soul-crushing corporate behemoth. No avocado toast! No Internet, But then no cyber hackers, crypto currencies, no hackers stealing what we barely have, no hustlers, no wingnut conspiracies spread other than by grunting emphatically with malice in the eyes, no political corruption!, no January 6 Committee, no insurrection to warrant the 1-6 Committee, no Orange Bloated Blob to instigate the insurrection in the first place; there’d be no banana republics banning books and spewing hate and divisiveness. There’d be no George Orwell saying I told you so from the grave; no lapdog media at all, thus no willful ignorance as it spreads Big Lie delusions; no nitwits, halfwits, dimwits to repeat such ignorant attitudes, and its undermining of Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest. Gratefully, there would also be no colossally vapid creatures know as Kasdashians.

So, hey, it could be better by knowing it could be even worse.

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Zeldar from Zardoz, capturing so-called “blogosphere” transmission. Zeldar still unable to process Mountain Sphere’s indigenous life form’s intelligence level. Maximus XL analytic capacitor now digesting and decoding It Could Be Worse “posting” which by mentioning–yet again as with all previous Zeldar observational visitations–a Sixth Mass Extinction triggered by algorhythmic alert. Posting confuses Zeldar and Zardoz Command. Mountain Sphere noted as being now approximately 4.5 billion years in existence, with seeming lack of logical sequencing as to its advancement beyond slime creature phase to organisms referred to as Orange Blob, George Orwell, and Kardashians. Analysis not able to define meaning of posting. Zeldar continues to probe Mountain Sphere in hopes of answers, but A.I. systems again revert to red-line warning as Mountain Sphere gibberish is height of linguistic outputs. Mountain Sphere inhabitants defy logical cause and effects, thus rendering Zeldar’s missions as repeating a virtual short-circuiting of Maximus XL wiring. Zeldar having to repeatedly obtain wiring upgrade following Sphere data input, including jibberish such as “batshit crazy,” SNAFU and FUBAR. Analytic capacitor using all its acceptor atoms, autotransformers, bipolar junction transistors, input impedance circuit resistors, phase-shift oscillators, rectangular waves, and Zener diodes in effort to ascertain intellectual quantification. Zeldar not holding A.I. breath.

Zeldar and Zardoz command both now trapped in A.I version of so-called cognitive dissonance after these many visits to Mountain Sphere. Command calling Zeldar back to base, where blog post will also be analyzed by Zardozian Committee to Confirm Credible Lifeforms of Deep Space. Zeldar assumes Zardoz Committee not “toothless”, as with Sphere’s alleged status. Will report finding at a later date. Blogger may be A.I. asset. Either confirm Sphere’s impending doom, or at least be source of Zadoz Committe reacting with A.I. output laughter.

Hello out there in blogosphere. Late January around the world and I’m sure there must be some idyllic locales where the weather is to die for. However, that expression makes no sense. If something is “to die for” then does that imply one must die to attain whatever that something is? So, let’s say I book a flight for Barbados, with its current temperature of 83, bright blue sunny skies, white sand beaches and eye candy for any gender designation (plus those beachside tiki bars dispensing rum-infused libations topped off with colorful paper umbrellas; the good ones actually can be opened and closed, a bit of visual and physical micro distraction depending on what else besides that rum is coursing through one’s veins). Okay, I get to Barbados but I am D.O.A.? A massive coronary in seat 33A? Or I get off the plane and get picked off by a .32 to the head as collateral damage during a drug deal having descended into gunplay. Or I make it to beachside, jump into the surf, and instantly crash into a stingray whose stinger impales me. Or…

…or none of those horrible things happen to me, but something does happen, but it happens to everyone at Beach Barbados, and everyone in Barbados and everyone else not on any beach at all for a large geographical radius. This “happening” is the the ultimate to die for except no one was wishing for it, let alone wishing for it a la blissful “to die for” mode. What am I referring to? Well, besides getting hammered on rum concoctions, maybe I drop some magic mushrooms, then the fun begins. Fun? Wait, my eardrums and lungs are instantly ruptured. Bad as that might sound, I’m also impaled by countless flying paper umbrellas, now turned into lethal projectiles. along with cabana and tiki bar detritus, maybe even the pulchritudinous lady I had just made eye contact with. Yes, my mushroom ingestion becomes deadly ironic as all of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies are radiated by nuclear fission. Why? How? (two questions I’d likely not have time to ruminate upon). My hypothetical demise aside, the answer would those damned Russians!

Hey, I know we have a deadly pandemic in its third disorienting year, and climate chaos (both of which have been idiotically politicized), and in the U.S. an almost assured collapse of our democracy at the hands of a lunatic, hate-mongering mob of fascists, but getting nuked solves all three of those looming problems. And, while the pandemic is a slow-walk into endless blursville, and climate chaos is an end game years away, (5, 10, 20? 30 tops)) Russia is about to invade Ukraine and that means East vs West again, and that involves about 13,000 nukes total, mostly owned by the U.S and Russia. The Cold War is alive and well, folks. What, it can’t happen? Why? Because it would mean global thermal nuclear annihilation? That’s called Mutual Assured Destruction. And for almost 80 years M.A.D. has kept those nukes in their silos. Keep in mind, however, that the U.S. once dropped atomic bombs on Japan, so it’s not like it has never happened before. Sure, the odds are it won’t happen because of the Ukraine crisis. But. It. Could.

Am I simply being an alarmist? I sure as hell hope so! It’s just that those other three existential threats to a kind, caring and compassionate life on earth, be it here or elsewhere, are happening. And there seems to be a lot of idiocy in the air, cruising the currents of capricious winds, making parents want to defy mask mandates for their very young and vulnerable children, while insurrectionists holding public office are still free over a year later, while climate mitigation legislation is blocked or not even advanced in any serious manner by nations far and wide, and more (like how goddam stupid was it for Buffalo to NOT squib kick to Kanas City with 13 seconds left and a 3 point lead?!). Uh, oh. Sorry. But it was massively stupid. Back to that nuclear annihilation…

Okay. Maybe all will end well (but not for the Buffalo Bills) and all of human kind will finally be able to understand we all bleed red no matter the skin color, and that violence never is the answer. Love is the answer. Peace, love and understanding.

Imagine there’s no heaven/it’s easy if you try/No hell below us/Above us only sky/Imagine there’s no countries/ it isn’t hard to do/nothing to kill or die for//And no religion too…

Ah! Imagine indeed. I’d say that song is an inspiration, but for his effort John Lennon was shot dead in New York City. Go figure. It truly is a mad, mad, mad, M.A.D. world.

Welcome to 2022, boys and girls, lords and ladies, and those who refuse any gender or pronoun appellations. Here we are, just a few days ahead of January 6. Other than more ominous evidence of climate collapse, plus an Omicron Covid surge causing lots of problems, there’s not much to write about. Ahem.

January 6, 2021, however, certainly was no ho-hum early day of a new year, it being the day when an insurrection took place. We were spared having the insurgents’ intent to literally overthrow the government and thus allow their idol, D. J. Trump, to remain President. It was all captured on live feeds via cell phone video and traditional large media broadcasts. In hindsight, according to the analysis of the anarchist’s game plan that day, the attempted coup d’ etat almost worked. Our government was nearly overthrown by fascists. Yeah, not a ho-hum day.

Shocking as that day was, as I sit here on January 3, 2022, possibly even more disturbing is that the new administration and its Justice Department seem rather uninterested in holding either the instigator of that insurrection, nor his fellow Republican members of congress who were ready to sign off on the coup. to criminal account. What? There’s a January 6 committee at work right now investigating the events of that day? Oh, that’s right. However, seeing as it’s virtually a year later and D.J.T nor any of his his elected acolytes who clearly endorsed the “stop the steal” rallying cry have even been indicted, let alone made to stand trial, does not bode well. For the rule of law. Or for what’s left of our so-called democracy. I mean, leading up to the insurrection, how many audio/video captures show clear intent to support the overthrow by aforementioned members of the Republican party? And the loser in the 2020 election was spewing the “Big Lie ” of a stolen election for almost two months before the 6th of January, 2021, arrived. And nearly a year later, the aforementioned Committee just slogs along, while only a few nickel-dime doofus foot soldiers who looted the Capitol building have seen any jail time.

It’s not as though the Committee doesn’t have mounds of smoking gun evidence that still fills the halls of congress with that gun powder stench from 362 days ago. What the fuck are the investigators waiting on? Do they really need any more evidence? And even more disturbing/galling/absurd are reports that many of the culpable congress critters and some of the pedestrian members of the Big Lie mob are ready to run for election in this year’s mid-terms. That’s just ten months away folks! For that matter, the Big Lie ringmaster himself has indicated he wants to run again in 2024. When I keep encountering these reports from the corporate media, next to reports of more evidence being unearthed ( it’s now a mini-mountain of such and growing) I cannot feel very confident about the future of the country. I don’t feel very good about the PRESENT of this country. Should not there have been arrests, charges, trials and convictions of the major players in that disgraceful display of deranged sore losers that day? Like months and months and months ago? It’s not like they simply trespassed and peeked around inside the Capitol building, while appropriating a note pad from the Speaker of the House’s office.

While you or I would likely not have much chance of beating a red light ticket, or a parking violation, without hiring the second coming of Clarence Darrow to fight the case, it seems that a President who loses re-election, then plots a coup to stay in power has little reason to be worried. Just like that ultimately toothless Mueller Report, I have a feeling the January 6 Committee will amount to little consequence. I hope I’m wrong, but as I said, a year later not President Trump, nor GOP Senators or House members Ted Cruz, Cindy- Hyde Smith, Cynthia Lummis, John Kennedy, Roger Marshall, Rick Scott, Tommy Tuberville, Robert Aderholt. Rick Aleen, Jodey Arlington, Brian Baben, Jim Baird, Jim Banks, Cliff Bentz, Jack Bergman, Stephanie Rice, Andy Biggs, Dan Bishop, Lauren Boebert, Mike Bost, Mo Brooks, Ted Budd, Tim Burchett, Michael Burgess, Ken Calvert, Kat Cammack, Jerry Cael, John Carter, Steve Chabot, Madison Cawthorn, Steve Chabot, Ben Cline, Michael Cloud, Andrew Clyde, Tom Cole, Rick Crawford, Warren Davidson, Scott Des Jarlais, Mario Diaz-Balart, Byron Donalds, Jeff Duncan, Neal Dunn, Ron Estes, Pat Fallon, Michelle Fischbach, Scott Fitzgerald, Chuck Fleishmann, Virginia Foxx, C. Scott Franklin, Russ Fulcher, Matt Gaetz, Mike Garcia, Bob Gibbs, Carlos Gimenez, Louie Gohmert, Bob Good, Lance Gooden, Paul Gosar, Sam Graves, Mark Green, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Morgan Griffith, Michal Guest, Jim Hagedorn, Andy Harris, Diana Harshbarger, Vicky Hartzler, Keven Hern, Yevette Herrell, Jody Hice, Clay Higgins, Richard Hudson, Darrel Issa, Ronny Jackson, Chris Jacobs, Mike Johnson, Bill Johnson, Jim Jordan, John Joyce, Fred Keller, Trent Kelly, Davis Kustoff, Doug LaMalfa, Doug Lamborn, Jake LaTurner, Debbie Lesko, Billy Long, Barry Loudermilk, Frank Lucas, Blaine Luetkemyer, Nicole Mmallioyakis, Tracey Mann, Brain Mast, Kevein McCarthy,Lisa McClain, Daniel Meuser, Mary Miller, Carol Miller, Alexander Mooney, Barry Moore, Markwayne Mullin, Greg Murphy, Troy Nehls, Ralph Norman, David Nunes, Jay Obernolte, Burgess Owens, Steven Palazzo, Greg Palmer, Greg Pence, Scott Perry, August Pfluger, Bill Posey, Guy Reschenthaler, Tom Rice, Mike Rogers, John Rose, Marr Rosendale,David Rouzer, John Ruthroford, Steve Scalise, Davis Schweikert, Pete Sessions, Jeff Smith, Lloyd Smuck, Elise Stefanik, W. Gregory Steube, Chris Stewart, Glenn Thompson, Thomas Tiffany, William Timmons, Jefferson Van Drew, Beth Van Duyne, Tim Walberg, Jackie Waloski, Randy Weber, Daniel Webster, Roger Williams, Robert Wittmen, Ron Wright or Len Zelden have been called out in any legal, official manner. Keep in mind the 14th Amendment to the Constitution demands expulsion from congress for the above noted persons’ support to commit treason.

Oh, right. D.J.T and the GOP have been wiping their asses with the Constitution for years now. It remains to be seen if the January 6 Committee will at least be as responsible as the congressional bathroom attendants in cleaning up the stink from those actions.

As smelly as all this is I, for one, am not holding my breath.

Let’s see. We of the species homo sapiens currently have much to worry about. In no particular order, there’s climate chaos, fascism on the rise, a seemingly perpetual pandemic, and the constant threat of nuclear annihilation as the current “usual suspects” that likely concern people of all races, ethnicities, religions and gender. That is, among those paying any attention whatsoever. Hmm. What’s that saying? Ignorance is bliss? That would be, willful ignorance, since our local and global problems are evident and irrefutable in their existence. However, there are many who indulge in believing is seeing rather than the other way around. Which leads to:

What brought about the above noted “suspects” here in very late 2021? Well, we are “what” brought this about. The collective “we” that comprises humanity, having evolved starting about two million years ago. Evolved. From simple to complex. Simple: easily understood. Presenting no difficulty. Complex: consisting of many different and connecting parts. So, contemporary humans are much more complex than once was the case. Does complex suggest being smarter than our distant ancestors? Smart: having or showing a quick-witted intelligence. I suppose the Neanderthals had to use their wits to survive. If they hadn’t survived, one can assume that some other life form would be dominant now, depending on what species mated with what other species and so on. Maybe cave life would still be our habitat. The genetic chain, you know. That, by logical extension, would mean I wouldn’t be around–in a complex enough manner at least–to write this blog because others before me would not have been around to create our current world of technological wonders, like social media, the Marvel comic book movies, Fitbit watches, or self-checkout kiosks at a local supermarket. It would also likely preclude any of the “usual suspects” from ever having come about to fuel modern anxieties. I suppose, though, that non-complex humans would still not be able to get along well, and nature would throw some climate disasters in our faces and drive us back into the cave. Sticks and stone but no nukes. Certainly, non-complex human would be susceptible to disease treated with potions and incantations as prescriptive palliatives.

But we did evolve and have a lot of anxiety about whether we can still move forward as a species. At least those with eyes wide open have that anxiety.

Are we homo sapiens evidence of being smart or stupid, writ large? If we are apparently destroying our planet by the machinery born of our intelligence, that would seem pretty stupid. However, seeing is believing says it is so. Believing is seeing says nothing to see here. That’s unreal, no? Wait. Uh, for some it’s an alternative “reality”. Is that being simple or complex?

Facts, evidence, do not cease to exist by ignoring them. But look around. Things seem to be getting worse, not better. Aren’t there enough “smart” people who can address those clear and present dangers? Who the hell is in charge here? Well, collectively, humankind is in charge but evidently the individuals who command the levers of power don’t think collectively. That is, outside of those nearest to them, be they family, close friends, donors or your basic sycophant. Sure, every country has a supposed leader and comrades granted certain powers by the collective peoples they supposedly serve, unless that power was taken by force. Or by cunning. Bait and switch. Divide and conquer. It’s the history of the world since we started evolving those 2 million years ago. Read the history books. As someone famously said: history doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes.

Climate collapse. Authoritarianism. Deadly viruses. Nuclear apocalypse. Couldn’t this all have been prevented? Are we not smart enough to never have allowed these things to come about? Are we not “wired” to survive our own existence? Is our current condition not madness?

While we are all the same in form and function by nature, clearly some of us are wired such that there’s potential for danger as far as some particular wiring goes. Yeah, we’re all wired the same except we’re all wired differently, right? How else to explain peaceniks and power-mongers through the ages? Generally speaking, a peacenik embraces collaboration. The power-mongering type embraces conflict. And it sure seems that the power-mongers tend to prevail. For every Gandhi, Mandela, Madam Curie or Lincoln or new edition of Dalai Lama there are various incarnations of cretins such as Vlad the Impaler, Rasputin, Stalin, Mao and Hitler. Their faulty wiring precludes being empathic or feeling any guilt about their actions.

Peace, love and understanding is a nifty slogan, but the history of the world would appear to show such a mindset as rarely being the rule rather than the exception. Peacenik, schmesnik. Alas, poor Yorick…

The sociopaths, psychopaths and narcissists are the worst kind of human. Maybe there’s a little of one or the other of those personality types in all of us. As such, we have our truly regrettable moments, made self-aware if only we were to step back and think about how we conduct our lives, writ very small in our very big picture. Worst case scenarios are the misaligned personas who gain that power they so much monger. Writ large quite often. And writ deadly in many cases.

It’s sad to see cooperation, collaboration and a positive collectivism not seeming to be hard-wired in all of humankind. If that were the case would nuclear weapons have ever been needed be made? Would the authoritarians, dictators, totalitarians ever have come about? Would the early evidence of human contributions to climate crisis have been ignored or ever called a hoax? Would a deadly virus identified in late 2019 ever have been so poorly addressed and idiotically politicized as Covid-19?

Yes, boys and girls, kids and kiddies, sirs and mams, we are regrettably at a turning point here in late 2021. Push is coming to shove. Again, if only one chooses to see reality. Can our inner peacenik prevail over these increasing calamities? Surely, of the 7.5 billion humans on this planet, can we assume the power-mongers, the non-critical-thinkers, the dupes, dopes, saps and suckers are but a miniscule minority?

We shall soon see. Are we wired to survive ourselves or not? I’d ask Alexa or Siri, but I’m not sure either are wired properly to assess such a question.

Joe Manchin is a senator from West Virginia, a state of about 1.8 million people. In his last election he received around 290 thousand votes. Compare that number against the 81 million voters who elected a different Joe. Thus, the Joe that is the President has a electoral constituency nearly 280 times that of Manchin. But it’s the Joe with a huge yacht and a Maserati, and who is bought and paid for by Big Energy, who actually dictates socio-economic policy. He has just today stated he will not vote for the Build Back Better legislation–which would be an enormous benefit to many, especially his own state that ranks near the bottom of socio-economic rankings. Is that what the 290K who last voted for him were hoping for? Non-representation? Go figure, but the 81 million who voted for the other Joe voted for, among other things, Medicare for all, affordable education, serious climate action, paid parental leave, voting rights, reproductive rights for women, and raising the minimum wage.

Never mind, though. Joe Coal says no to the vital BBB proposals. And his “no” vote essentially dooms the legislation. He seems constantly concerned about spending and how we can pay for the needed things addressed in BBB. Never mind that the congress again just routinely granted the Pentagon another 780 billion dollars for…uh…well…not sure for what, as we’re not even in Afghanistan any longer. But that kind of scratch seems not to bother Maserati Manchin. Or, to be fair, most other members of congress as well. Again, go figure.

So, while we the people keep waiting for some payback for those 81 million votes that rid us of a piece of racist, homophobic, misogynistic, flim-flamish feces, in hopes of a better USA, it comes down to another piece of political scum who blatantly serves his corporate masters while acting as though he stands for something other than greed. In your face!

Time for that revolt, no? No, not the ballot box kind. That revolt already occurred in 2020. However, because of the corporatist government (that’s “both sides of the isle”, boys and girls) that clearly is blocking common sense legislation, doubtlessly killing people in the process by propping up a for-profit healthcare system, it would seem that other action need be taken. Use your imagination. With blatant voter suppression laws going unchallenged by our corrupted Supreme Court (among other SCOTUS outrages, like backing the Handmaid’s Tale Texas anti-abortion abomination) I’d rule out the vote-em-out option.

Or maybe it’s too late anyway–even for Maserati Manchin and his gazillions of donated dollars from his venal handlers. With a never-ending pandemic, increasing climate chaos and looming authoritarianism/fascism right in front of our faces, it would appear possibly that we have crossed a point of no return. The system is beyond repair, beyond redemption. Joe Manchin is 1/333,839, 503 of our country’s population. Can you see how rotten a system it is?!

For those of you who think the system can be salvaged, the congressional switchboard number is 202-224-3121. No matter what state you’re living in. But regardless do dial up the yachtsman, too, he who worries about how our tax dollars should be spent. Give him an earful. Or rant on his his office secretary who will forward the complaint to some staffer. Who will forward it to an intern. Who may be out to lunch. Be patient. The system will eventually get back to you…