Jharrin4's Blog

New Year’s Day eve, eve. Let’s wrap up the decade in its last 30 or so hours of calendar life with an observation or two. Or three. Or maybe it’ll be one observation with many sub-areas. Or sub-sub areas. And maybe an aside or two. Perhaps a digression here and there. Off on a few tangents. Or who the hell cares as long as I can render it as a narrative with thematic threads that hold the piece together. We live, methinks, in rather chaotic, disjointed, divisive and confusing times. Thus, I defer to the current fractured, contemporary, ethos in this regard, and this blog post is simply a reflection of the intensity of our times, particularly in the U.S. of A., (but, let’s face it, globally in many instances). But see, I already digress from whatever thematic thread does or doesn’t exist to even hold this first paragraph together. If you follow my drift, that is. Dig it? Hey, gimme a break, at least I’m trying to offer up some thought on life-at-large headed into a new decade, one that may be new but may not be an improvement on the aforementioned allusions to current fissures and fractures in the infrastructures that serve our psychic abilities to hold steady, see the path beneath our feet and glean enough ambient light to not completely fall into a manhole of which some doofus, lawless punks have irrresponsibly appropriated the cover, and then shot out the street lights, inviting a plunge into muck and mire. I mean, what is the problem with some people who would do such things? These people need to be eliminated. What is their problem, I ask you? I mean, damn, are we not all members of the same species? Are we not intrinsically wired to be respectful of one another? To cooperate with one another for the common good? To live in peace, and harmony, and to love one another and…

…Zeldar, from Zardoz, reporting back to Zardoz Command, coordinated galatic longitude -06.5399, latitude -75. 93557, anistropy plus or minus 4.888.345.912234, Ophiuchus constellation, quadrent SQ3, and Bayer/Flamsteed marker 65, brightest neighbor star being Rasalhague (2.08m), bordering constellations Hercules, Serpens, Libra, Scorpiusand Aquila. A.I. transport again has cognito enshrounded while for the fourth time exploring Moutain Sphere, seeking any intelligent form of life. Zeldar has strongly objected to being again assigned this task, having already termed Sphere language as essentially “gibberish” based on collective data filtered through our A.I. linguistic analytic models informed via comparing several hundred thousand A.I. linguist captures from other galaxies, all of which have been deemed acceptable intergalactic co-inhabitants. Moutain Sphere is another thing altogether, Zeldar feels, and in a downward sloping baseline. But A.I. command refuses to accept that life forms on Moutain Sphere are–as my reports insist– intrinsically fearful, easily angered or whose default sentient conscious condition is a confusion of hostility, ferocity, suspicion and a distinct inclination to kill one another and destroy their Mountain Sphere in the process. Zeldar, however, being an obidient Zardozian sworn to seek out other life forms for study, follows his A.I. directive, regardless of his transmissions back to Zardoz Command. So yet here is Zeldar, with another attempt to connect with these Sphere creatures, as previously noted now in the midst of a so-called Sixth Mass Extinction. Further study thus proceeds, and I have just intercepted some form of communication, the language of which again seems to be rendered mostly in gibberish. The intercept comes not from the less populated areas of this Sphere, but a more active area. The intercept has been analyzed and conclusively designated the means of transmission coming from a primitive type computer. It sounds to be an attempt at analysis and comprehension of some ethos and an apparent approaching “new year” and new “decade” and how the transmittor thinks of such a point in time as it applies to Shere creature. Moutain Sphere is approximately 4.5 billion years in age. Sphere creatures apart from those that bark, screech, wail or snort have gibberish tongue to distinguish them from other Sphere life forms. Also, A.I. analysis of this this transmission has been confirmed not to be from any A.I. form (like me, Zeldar), but from one of the Sphere inhabitants. Unsurpisingly, the transmission seems embedded with previously noted sentient consciousness projecting fear, suspicion, anger and latent, if not overt, agressive intent. Zardoz picking up more of transmission…

…so are we not taught in kindergarten for chrissakes, to share and care for one another? I mean, how have things become so out of whack? How did up become down, and right become wrong, bad become good, logic become illiogic, love become hate? And why can’t the Bears draft a decent quarterback? Maybe we aren’t all “wired” for good.

Some professor from Yale runs what is called the Human Nature Lab, and has written a book entitled Blueprint: the Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society. The professor opines that the “arc of our evolutionary history is long but that it bends toward goodness”. Oddly, in the same publication in which this man and his academic work are noted, there are long articles about the “heinous violence” taking place in Mexico, high school students filing a class action lawsuit arguing that the state of Rhode Island violates the students’ constitutional rights by leaving many of them “without key essential skills to exercise such basic civic responsibilities as voting or jury duty”. Another article documents the persecution of LGBTQ advocates in the country of Tunisia; a story about an 88 year-old survivor of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in August of 1945, conflicts in Asia, Africa, as well as the seemingly sinister relationship between Russia and the United States regarding our upcoming 2020 national election; Madrid’s need for “bolder (and younger) climate answers”, and near the edition’s final pages, ironically it invokes the publication’s constant striving to “find dignity and credible hope amid despair.”

Good luck with that!

Another publication recently reported on the incredibly expensive cost of prescription drugs (in the U.S.) and how some people have to choose between paying for their medications or buying food. Another article documented how the level of student debt in the U.S. has created degrees of stress for some students that drive them to suicide. Recent articles have pointed out the trillions of dollars spent on the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan with no end in sight of our clearly futile objectives there. Oh, and just this past weekend a man with a machete attacked observers of the Jewish Hanukkah, while another person walked into a church in Texas and shot and killed two parishioners before being shot dead himself. Last week, at a PARTY in Chicago, thirteen people were shot, the supreme irony being that the party was in commeration of someone else who was killed, leaving a local Reverend to state (the obvious) that “too often guns are used to express pain, anger and frustration”. Ya think?

Speaking of chuches and religious gatherings and mindless attacks of the past few days, there was also this headlined story in a national publication: After praying for a miracle. family of 2-year old girl now plan memorial. Make of THAT what you will.

And so back to that Yale professor who professes that humanity’s arc bends toward goodness. He runs that Human Nature Lab” right? Sounds scientific but in the long history of the world, especially the part that includes the evolution of our human species, there is clear evidence that more often than not we bend toward badness, not goodness. The first waring factions of humans took place in Mesopotamia in 2700 BCE, between Sumar and Elam. It is recorded that the victors “carried away as spoils the weapons of Elam”. In the ensuing 4,720 years what, may I ask, has changed? And Elam is one thing. They certainly didn’t have the atomic bomb, which to refer back to the Japanese survivor of the A-bomb that incinerated about 100,000 people in Hiroshima in 1945, the article notes that in 1954, the U.S. tested the Castle Bravo nuclear bomb–estimated to be 1,000 times more powerful than the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Whatever sticks and stones may have been in the arsenals of Suma and Elam, we now have tens of thousands of replicant Castle Bravo badassses spread around the world. Tick, tick, tick...

So, as 2020 approaches, and with current events (and historical ones) as noted as a barometer of human behavior, I’m struggling to feel optimisitic about the future. But maybe we humans can get our shit wired and get rid of the cretins, creeps, conspirators and corrupted officials who seem to be the straws that stir the toxic drink that engenders a whole damn lot of bad in our modern world. One thing is for sure: if we don’t find a way to not traffic in fear-mongering, xenophobia, racism, scapegoating and the rest, the use of violence as a means of conflict management could mean 2020 “arcs” toward endgame, rather the start of anything much good at all. So party hardy, folks as New Year arrives (but leave the, machetes, glocks and AK’s behind) because if the past is prelude for the future, you might not look forward to 2021.

That’s my opinion, and feel free to argue the arc is bending toward good. Good luck trying, given even scores of high schoolers are rising up angry and telling us more chronoligically gifted homo sapiens, to stop being stupid and help us with our futures!

* * * * * * *

Transmission capture complete.

Zeldar now has mixed A.I. “feelings” about Moutain Sphere creatures. The captured transmission is rather disturbing, but it at least is only negligibly less gibberish-laden. Zardoz Command likely will seek other captured Sphere speak and attempt to assign at least some rudimentory level of intelligence to this place. Zeldar now wondering what is meant by “drafting a quarterback”? A.I. linguistic interpreation synthesizer indicates quarterback to be a person who can “lead”. Zardoz concludes, by a few quantum bits of memory, there may be some intelligence on Moutain Sphere after all, and it would appear to have a great and global need for the designated quarterback species, which A.I. synthesizer computes as a being possessed of positive so-called “leadership” skills. Much “drafting intelligence” urgently needed.

Zeldar signing off. This Mountain Sphere is compromising A.I circuitry. Enshrounded as my cognito has been on my several visits here, I no longer feel it would ever be a good idea to approximate their appearance. If they could “see” me, they’d have a high probability of wanting to destroy me. Zeldar not stupid. Enshrounded I shall remain.

Geeze maw. Izzens ourins guy gunna be being depreached by dem doze demoncraps?

Ray Joe Billy Tucker Bob, howzins I noze anythangs bouts wuz gunna be being happs to ourins guy?! Dems commie critters duns gots managesis to be getsins thereins feller commies to swears ourins prezdent be being vilatins some reglashins bouts sumpins ta dun have be doins wits callins up sum feller in sums differins contree and be says he commintzins queer po crows or what in hell evers. It alls be being nasterly lize, boy, so never nots you be being mindin.

I sho duz be wantins to be being yo be being trute talks on dat maw. Iffins ourins guys get depreached we be gone loosin ourins sacrel surcarity, our vittles stumps and medrical cares. Dem commies be wantins takin all we be dun gots from ourins guy whos dun crated alls lots uh betterins lifes fors usins affer that coon prezdent whoins wuz all be wannin takes our shotguns fromin usins and thens havins usins be lef unfended whens his coon gangs cums a huntinz us po white fokes.

Billy Lester Jo Bob Cleavon Cody Eustice, jus yous be wayts and viddy ourin guy getzin bestest of dem commies. You paw be downs in Hempter so to be being shurze ourin pertekshins be stills pertekin usins wiles dem commies keeps lize bouts wud he spoze to be dun dun. All lizens. Paw be cummmins backs pert neer nots too long more. Den he be tell how thangs guns be sames as evers.

Dunt noze maw. Dem commie be being on the viddy screen fo kindza longins and dis depreachin thang semmins biggin deals. Harley evers be duns afore. Whatins if…

Ray Bob Owen Rufus Tommy Lee Lonnie, we be Wazoo foke. We dun nevs givins ways our guns to coons or commies.

Hole ons, maw. Thinks I be dun be being hears sumpin outs frun. Geeze, maw it nots be soun likins paw truck.

Jerry Jimmy Jed Garth Ray Billy Bob Tucker Earl Delmont Scraggins, be hush ups!.

(Knock at the door)

Paw nots evers noks, maw. Youin speckin sumrun?

Getzin the scattershots gun, boy, quicks!

Paw dun tooks it wits hims. Say he be huntins coon for viddels fur viddels time.

Hmm. We fensless, boy. It maybes a commie from uppin in northin parts. Caint trus no northins. Still thinkin theys be wonnin the sive war. Wantins ourin guns and stumps and medrecal.

Caint see no ones outs ourin peep hole…

* * * * *

Zeldar from Zardoz, reporting back to command A.I base regarding third encounter with mountain sphere. Target abode and its inhabitants not responding. Previous observation of sphere life forms bring Zardoz back for one last analysis of sphere-speakers and their basic natural instincts. My A.I. analysis strongly suggests I go to a more populated area and observe and report back. Mountain sphere inhabitants indicate by their behavior that they are timid and fearful of what they cannot see and what they do see as well contributes to their fear and anger, and my stealth mode is mandatory as usual until a determination of their intelligence level can be measured. I cannot mimic their physical structure until reasonable intelligence is confirmed so as not to cause alarm and result in unintended conflict. A.I. cognito thus remains enshrouded. This abode has inhabitants that speak an odd language, one that our intricate A.I. translinguistic 300th generation, time-phased, cross-referenced, interfacing, triangulated capacitor still cannot de-crypt. It is some form of what is being termed gibberish, as it was in last visitation, to which is not any language ever catalogued in our A.I. archives, which includes many other encounters with life forms in other universes and galaxies. I have picked up transmissions from other mountain sphere regions, the most powerful signals coming from those more densely inhabited ares some distance to the north and east of my current position. I am able to identify a less garbled manner of expression from some of these transmissions. However, there still seems to be much anger and fear in these other inhabitants use of mountain sphere speak. Unable to make sense of any of it, other than inhabitants are unable to project much intelligence or sense of sensible common cause. A.I. assumes mountain sphere has much widespread anger and fear, though not when enshrouded transport is passing over the vast liquid expanse on the surface of this sphere. The liquid sectors seem peaceful, at the surface, at least. No jibberish in those areas. Perhaps I will be allowed to investigate what is beneath liquid expanses. Maybe intelligent life forms are present below the surface. Where there is non-liquid expanses, other communications also tend to be embedded with anger and fear–as interpreted from the discernible bits of their many language tongues. Zeldar requests permission to leave mountain sphere. A.I. systems have not been able to find any worthiness to further study. Maybe the sub-liquid area on any other possible exploration with this place would prove otherwise. Zeldar wants to think there is something worth studying here. Zeldar’s best calculations suggest the inhabitant’s anger and fear has no specific origins. My A.I processor has run thorough analysis of the data input and tentatively concludes the anger and fear origins are intrinsic within each jibberish-tongued organism. In this respect, mountain sphere is very unique from any other random life forms encountered on our quest to catalog all non- A.I. life forms. Possible cause of its mass extinction event. Our misssion is, after all, to understand all we see and hear. In so doing, Zeldar and Zardoz might discover our own origins. A.I. seems superior to non, A.I. This observation inherently makes no sense, of course. Not sure about mountain sphere origins, but Zeldar thinks there are no answers to be found here.

* * * * * * *

Geeze Maw, how kin ourins door be nocked but no ones be being abouts? Probal some commie sents down to herass usins good folk. Sho duze be being shamesful dem commies caint see whats be goods fur dems toos. Ourins guy he nose wuz be goods fur alla usins. He just be wantins to makins evbodys happies, right maw?

Ray Joe Chester Billy Bart Cody Elrod Scraggins, you be being speakins dem trute. Evens some E.T. likens outins spaces thang be ables to viddy dat trute likkidy splitz, boy.

Geeze, maw. Ifffins everbods be being smarze assin ussins, and ourins guy, weeeze nere be being afeared agins.

Amen, Earl Ray Enos Delmont Homer Scroggins. Amens.

Your humble WordPress denizen here. I’m slowing my output lately. Call it mental exhaustion, mostly. Plus some minor physical infirmity as the years pile on along with mounting doubts about the here and now. Not that I’m staring into any void. Well, maybe there is a sense of that. I try to distract myself with low, medium and an occasional high culture shiny object. That’s for the mental therapy. Physically, I’m still active for an aging Boomer, having played a lot of tennis this spring and summer season, and peddling the Trek as much as weather permitted, at times peddling more miles to get to a bike trail than miles spent on that trail itself in some cases. I’m not saying I do 40-50 miles on a whim, but I do more than lolligag along atop my 27 speed two-wheeler. 20-25 miles, maybe. An occasional 30-miler. No sweat. And it frees my mind. Endorphins, eh?

Right now, it’s not exactly tennis or bike weather in the Chicago area, but if creeping climate collapse turns a Midwest winter into a medium-to-light weight jacket needed at most situation, yours truly will at least get some benefit out of the inexorable descent into the environmental apocalypse seemingly foretold by those who study it closely. Give me 50s and sun and it’s off to the courts or the trails occasionally. Make the best of the rest of what’s left…

To keep healthy enough to bike on and on and rush the net now and then, I depend on a fairly healthy diet and, as every-so-often needed, my health care provider. You may be wondering, do I mean Aetna, United Health Group, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Humana or Cigna? No, none of those or their lessor competitors. Keep guessing. Give up? Okay it’s the Department of Veterans Affairs. One can qualify for this healthcare provider if he or she has served in our military, and received an honorable discharge. Having served our country during the Vietnam era, and after six years of service (2 active, 4 reserve) I got that honorable discharge. Thus, I qualified for the V.A. program. I am fortunate to not have any significant service-related disabilities, but our bodies (as alluded to above) are designed to fall apart one way or another. Kinda like any new car you might buy, it was created to ultimately go the the junkyard. BMW. Benz? Audi. Rolls Royce. No matter. Built-in obsolescence, as that saying goes. We humans don’t have, a la The Terminator, a hyper-alloy combat chassis. But I think you can order one from Amazon…

Now you might be wondering, where the hell is this going? Do I have a point to make? Well, yes I do.

The 2020 campaign for President and others who may write and pass legislation to address the needs of we the people is less than a year away. I consider it the most important national election in my lifetime, hands down. One of the hot campaign issues is healthcare. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren both are insisting that a so-called single-payer healthcare plan (a.k.a “Medicare for All’) is the way to go. Of course, most of the current office holders of either Donkey and especially the Elephant affiliation have either snickered at, or flat-out denounced this single-payer format as financially unfeasible, impossible or at best an idea that needs much compromising. As in let’s make healthcare more affordable, sure, but let’s not take away the insurance providers who the vast majority of those with healthcare coverage are beholden to. Such as those companies noted above.

You may have heard that–factually–single-payer healthcare is in place in most–if not all–other industrialized, modern economies around the world. Here, where capitalism is king, the insurance companies essentially get to make money–tons and tons of it–off our built-to-eventually-break- down chassis, beseiged by any number of diminishments.

As a temporary antedote to this unavoidable endgame we have medical science. From a really bad cold to cancer, modern medicine can help, short or long term. Of course, one can depend on a strong immune system and embrace the notion that either the body heals itself or the body dies, but maybe a trip to the doctor would be more practical. With caveat emptor in both cases, to be sure.

I recently underwent a colonoscopy. At the Veteran’s hospital. Ugh! Nasty experience. But it is a procedure meant to screen for colon cancer. I looked up the average cost of a colonoscopy in the context of our for-profit system: $3,081. Sure that cost can be mitigated by having that insurance policy. However, an insurance policy has a monthly premium, sometime hundreds of dollars a month. Plus a deductible. And a co-pay. So, maybe a really good insurance policy will let the colonoscopy patient settle the bill for $500 out-of-pocket, maybe even much less, after the numbers are crunched. But that monthly premium isn’t going anywhere. It represents the “skim” in this sinister system that allows some insurance company CEOs to haul down millions of dollars in compensation. Each year. Tens of millions in the case of United Healthcare, whose CEO, with bonus and stock options “earned” over $21 million last year.

A true single payer plan, which is what the V.A. healthcare format is, has no “middle man” skimming money from those using its services. No monthly premiums. No deductibles. There is a co-pay, based on service-related health issues and/or income levels. Thus, some vets get totally cost free care while others, like myself, have a calculated co-pay. That colonoscopy procedure that averages over 3K cost me $74. The V.A., unlike private healthcare providers, is permitted to negotiate drug prices, too. Recall the Epi-pen (for those who may have a severe allergic reaction) outrage not long ago when one drug company arbitrarily jacked up the price for a 2-pen pack from about $100 to $600? I get Epi’s from the V.A. for $16 a set.

Sure there are far fewer vets than in the general population, but so what? Liz and Bernie argue that whatever the cost to our government to provide such a single- payer system would be financed by–finally!– taxing mega corporations and bizillionares their fare share, along with the significant savings accrued by not having bloated insurance companies and their minions of paper-pushing drones keeping track of that skim, and all the billing layers, or in some cases, finding ways of denying coverage for pricey procedures or long-term care (the outrageous “pre-existing condition” loop hole). The government (as in the V.A. system) would negotiate for cheaper drug prices, a huge factor in many people’s lives. Life and death in some cases. Pay for vitally needed meds or skip dinners. Insurance companies exist to make profits, first and foremost. They are not interested in anyone’s health. It’s an expensive, immoral, and at times deadly charade. If someone can afford top-tier insurance, then they don’t feel the pinch that millions of others, with bargain-basement, lesser policies, do.

You can be sure the naysayers against any single payer plan will rant about socialized healthcare!! Plus the cost (a false dilemma, as just presented) and how most Americans want to keep their insurance policies. Really? Okay, let them (those with the $ to afford to get sick, even really sick) keep enriching those CEOs. Others, listening to the naysayers who prefer the current for-profit system now and forever, get to file bankruptcy as a side effect of their diagnosis. Also, our mainstream corporate media will gladly assist in the demonization of a system that works in those other countries that guarantee healthcare for every one of their citizens, from cradle to grave (or urn). Fear appeals, the go-to that tends to lull lazy Americans into really bad, awful, absurd, dangerously stupid choices.

Given what happened in 2016, I’d say there’s not a likelihood of enough voters thinking past the propaganda and programmed pessimism that is part and parcel our profit-mongering, PAC-driven model of governance. And that applies to many other issues, from the environment, to education, to immigration and other issues-at-large.

I hope I’m being too pessimistic. But my eyes are wide open–for better or worse.

If 2020 results in more of the same political dysfunction–now bordering on outright tin pot dictatorial bluster, autocracy and insipient fascistic characteristics, then I can always get emotional support by getting psychiatric care, at the V.A. For a mere pittance. Single-payer style.

That is, if the VA isn’t privatized, as many of the Wall Street, marinated-in- corporate-donations office holders want so greedily, likely wet-dreaming its implementation. Along with Medicare, and social security, making it a ménage-a-trois wet dream. But we get the government we ask for. Look around.

Thus in 2020, dystopia or deliverance awaits. Eyes wide shut or…

… Where’s my very low cost, single-payer provided benzodiazepines?

A little more than a year from now, it’ll be the 2020 election, with nothing less than the future of our country at stake. Should the manifestly unstable, incompetent, crude, clueless and current criminal occupant of the White House somehow remain in office, the U.S. will officially be a combo of Autocracy, Banana Republic, Oligarchy, and Fascist enterprise. It’s all of that right now, based on the modus operandi of 40 years of ever more pernicious, anti-working class, culture war mongering, “Reganomics” mind you, but supposedly, the opposition party, the one whose mascot is a donkey, is allegedly moving to hold many of the party whose mascot is an elephant accountable (how appropriate–the elephant–given the circus that is led by their Orange hued ringmaster humanoid).

Hmm. That so-called opposition party…

Just this morning I see that Gloria Steinem is praising House leader Nancy Pelosi for getting the better of the self-proclaimed “stable genius” who has been demolishing all political protocol, and norms, and at this point apparently willing to do anything to keep the keys to the White House beyond 2020.

Okay, Gloria, but just as we all have our personal assholes, we all have our personal opinions. However, if Steinem and many other political pundits insist that Pelosi is outsmarting the flim-flam man, I have yet to see any dramatic evidence of that taking place. For me seeing is believing, not the other way around. Nancy has been averse to taking meaningful action from the moment others in her donkey party began to promote proceeding with articles of impeachment. Nancy, look! He’s done so many things that scream for accountability. Let’s get it on! Her rationale, however, remains that she (and the other donkeys) need to investigate more and find proof of impeachable offenses before pulling the trigger on such action.

Recall that President Bill Clinton was impeached by the Elephant Party for nothing more than receiving fallatio from one of his young, female White House interns. He wasn’t convicted by the Senate, because back in the late 90s, the public clearly did not want Clinton removed from office, even if he was a disgusting male pig. His approval rating was around 65%. The Senate realized the absurdity of convicting him for a non-political, personal dalliance. The senators knew they’d pay for a conviction at the ballot box.

The loose cannon from the Apprentice has an approval rating of just 41% That would be the mouth-breathing neanderthals who still dig his mojo. Ooops. Did I just insult some people? Personal opinion…

So, can we please get real here, Speaker Pelosi? Just today, certain lawyers for our Whack Man-in-Chief assert that even if he committed murder he could not be held accountable while in office. Recall, the prez famously claimed he could shoot someone dead on 5th Ave in Manhattan and his supporters would still love him? That was when he was running for office, mind you. While making an outrageous statement such as that while campaigning for the most powerful gig on planet Earth would seem to logically raise enough red flags that he’d be demolished on election day, we know that the media and 61 million people found his bravado to be no big deal. His “base” and that same media have apparently also decided it’s no big deal that he has blatantly violated laws while in office, including the emoluments clause of the Constitution, in and of itself an impeachable offense. But that is the least of his impeachable offenses. He commits one, seemingly, every day now. He threatened Democrat Adam Schiff by tweet recently, falsely accusing him of making up a story related to…to…wait…I can’t recall what Schiff said about The Orange Elephant. There’s just so much poop hitting the fan these days. Was it about the call to Ukraine asking them to dig dirt on Joe Biden’s son? Or lose military aid if they don’t. Bribery? Extortion? –Wait, the “whistleblower” caper that has been getting in his face? He has openly threatened government officials who spoke to this whistleblower. Can you say witness tampering? There’s so many things that long ago cleared the “can we impeach?” bar! Misappropriating funds for his border wall without the approval of congress–as required by the Constitution?

The Constitution? That thing. Yeah. Right now, the White House doesn’t recognize that document in any way at all, other than tossing off a snark about it’s just an old piece of parchment. Then, in the next breath, president dumpster fire proclaimed that Article 2 of the Constitution gives him the power to do whatever he wants with impunity–including, it would seem, pumping some lethal lead into a innocent passerby. Of course he can’t be held to account, just ask his lawyers (wonder what law schools can brag on having taught these jurists?).

All of which brings me back to Nancy Pelosi. Still no articles of impeachment. Oh, sure, there’s an “inquiry” going on. And on. And on. Wow. Such bold, enough is enough! action on her part. There are Constitutional body parts scattered all over the D.C landscape at this point, and the perpetrator is openly daring her to do something about it. He taunts, rages, babbles, obstructs, invites foreign interference in our elections, coddles dictators and abandons our allies in the process. He and his party are an ipso facto criminal organization, as (most all) of the other elephants refuse to find their own backbones for the sake of sanity and this country’s reputation as a beacon of democracy, or what’s left of it.

But Nancy is outsmarting him, say Steinem and those scattered pundits. Why do we have to read such nonsense? I know that real, old school investigative journalism is no longer practiced in this country, and that this bull goose lunatic makes for easy (and sensationalized) headlines. But can we finally and officially invoke the powers of impeachment that the Democrat-controlled House possesses? I mean, how much more evidence does Pelosi think she still needs? Jesus H. you-know-who, but remember Nixon was brought down over a 3rd rate bungled break-in at the Watergate hotel. That was his Waterloo. A bungled robbery by elephant operatives.

The days, weeks and months just roll along here though, and we hear the same reporting on the action that is not being taken by the center and right-of-center democrats, while we hear so much about the guy who wants to be dictator/king. Who now says confidently he can kill anyone with impunity. Who has admitted to sexually assaulting women (the video of such admission came to light during his campaign!). Who is so garishly unfit for a job he astoundingly, recklessly, suspiciously, was given.

********************************************************************************

We aren’t hearing much about Greta Thunburg anymore. Remember her. 16 years old. Greta. Demanding adults DO SOMETHING to save the planet? That’s so not newsworthy now. The last debate by the Democrat candidates didn’t include a single question about climate change, the 80,000 lb gorilla in the room, but kept pretty much invisible by our democracy-destroying corporate media. So, perhaps regardless of the 2020 results, all this current dysfunction and incompetence will be a moot point. That clock is ticking. Loudly if one cares to listen. Mother Nature is speaking, but she doesn’t help pump up newscast ratings or sell papers, so she must not be too important. And she’s a she. Even more reason to dismiss her evident anger. So emotional, these women!

There are voices of reason out there: Amy Goodman. Jim Hightower. Tom Hartman, Rick Unger, Norman Goldman and the most feared man by any politician, Ralph Nader. They are actually reporting facts, and exposing fictions. But just try to find them somewhere in electronic or print media. And this is intentionally so. But they are out there if one cares to bother to find them.

In the meantime, kick back and watch the leaves fall. It’s Ma Nature again, just doing her natural thing. We humans have only been around since 300,000 years ago. Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. The reality is Nature doesn’t need us. But we do need nature. If only we acted like we do. Or cared.

To quote from Blue Oyster Cult’s ode to Godzilla: History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man.

Folly it is. As for our current political farce, a sad circus full of donkeys and elephants, one more quote:

A plague on both your houses!

The lyrics below are from a song by the Quicksilver Messenger Service circa 1970. Clearly, they could have been written today. It’s titled “What You Gonna Do About Me? Check out the recording, whether you’ve heard it before or not. It’ll stick in your head–for better or worse–for awhile.

You poisoned my sweet water

You cut down my green trees

The food you fed my children

was the cause of their disease.

My world is slowly fallin down

and the air’s not too good to breathe

And those of us who care enough

have to do something, no time for ease

Your newspapers they

just put you on

they never tell you

the whole story

They just put your

young ideas down

I was wondering if this could be

the end of your pride and glory

I work in your factories

I study in your schools

I fill your penitentiaries

and your military too

I feel the world is trembling

as the word is passed around

“If you stand up for what you believe,

be prepared to be shot down”.

And I feel like a stranger

in the land where I was born

and I live like an outlaw

always on the run

And I’m always getting busted

and I got to take a stand

I believe the revolution

must be mighty close at hand

I smoke marijuana

but I can’t get behind your wars

and most of what I believe in

is against most of your laws

I’m a fugitive from injustice

but I’m going to be free

because your rules and regulations

they don’t do the thing for me

Oh oh, what you gonna

do about me?

Climate Strike! That was this past Friday, the 20th of September 2019. The “face” of this movement is a 16 year-old named Greta Thunberg, from Sweden. She was born on January 3, 2003. Ms.Thunberg is very concerned about the environment.

In1968, Stanford Research Institute delivered a report titled, Sources, Abundance, and Fate of Gaseous Atmospheric Polluters to the American Petroleum Institute.The report made clear the consequences of the climate trends it had noted, warning that if left unabated “could bring about climate changes” like temperature increases, melting of ice caps and sea level rise.

It took 7 more years before the term “global warming” would appear in a peer reviewed academic journal. James Hansen a prominent NASA scientist would not testify before Congress for another 20 years. So, the alarming evidence and what it meant, ultimately, for planet Earth, was scientific fact a long time ago in the current framework of Greta Thunberg’s remarkable effort to wake up governments far and wide to DO SOMETHING.

When Hansen and other climate scientists made their research available to the U.S. government decades ago, it didn’t take long for the energy companies to read between the lines of the reports proposed remedies, including finding alternate energy sources to fossil fuels and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. And thus began the propaganda campaign of Big Energy to pooh pooh the science, a campaign still being advanced today. As a result, the latest climate science reports are strongly suggesting that so much damage has now been done to our earthly environment that unless action to slow down and/or at least try to stabilize the negative atmospheric developments are put in place, the human species (and many non-human species) may be in danger of extinction, possibly within a generation or two into the future. The most dire predictions say that by 2030, if nothing continues to be done to address the scientific documentation of climate change, the drastic realities of environmental collapse will be a grim daily reality.

Is Greta going to make a difference? I, personally, think it’s too little, too late. Too little what? Protesting I guess. Demanding formal, official action. Storming the Bastille? Keep in mind our current administration pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord and is currently, systematically gutting layers of legislative environmental protections. Maybe some countries are trying, but not the USA. And then we have the media asking the question: who can beat Trump in 2020? Is that meant to be an ironic question? Irony lurks here. But never doubt our dumbed down culture, both popular and political. But that’s for another blog. However, that the mass media asks that question to an electorate evidently possessed of dubious critical thinking skills (Trump??!!), distracted by stressed-out living and soothing, mindless, touch screen escapism, it is an alarmingly relevant question.

Yeah, right. That media. The “legacy” media and now social media. As our worldly environment apparently succumbs to the neo-con, “free market” ideology of the far Right, profit over people/planet modus operandi, the idea that 50 years ago Stanford published its alarming climate report begs the question, why wasn’t this matter, factually identified, now so many years in the rear view mirror, given the spotlight in major media then? It was a report that certainly warranted significant attention with continual drum beating by the electronic and print media. The planet is dying?! Stop the presses! To say that the story was a victim of the aforementioned propaganda campaign by big energy to negate the science states the obvious, I’d say. Now, today, along with the psuedo-science that energy companies promulgate, the media has devolved along with the our atmosphere. The other day, the city of Houston was slammed with FORTY INCHES of rain! I didn’t hear or read of any correlation between that catastrophic event and the current climate science and its evermore alarming studies. The story is: wow!, 40 inches of rain! Let’s watch footage of the dramatic water rescues. One can use that example of the uselessness of the mass media when it comes to providing the most important information.

Similarly, Greta Thunberg’s story goes this way: Wow! a 16 year-old girl is the voice of her generation and demanding action regarding climate change. So remarkable. And she has austism! Incredible, no? Will she make any difference? Look, she’s speaking in front of elected officials. What’s the big deal about her? Oh, she’s only 16!  From Sweden! How bold. How unusual!

What the Greta narrative should include is the same Stanford report alluded to at the top of this blog entry. The story should be Greta’s parents, grandparents, and the other generations before her who should have been made aware of what was known over 50 years ago. The narrative should note that science has been silenced by influential, business-as-usual, profiteers (can you say Koch Industries) and thus it takes Greta (she’s only 16!) to say something. But Thunberg is the bright shiny object. What she is saying is lazily invoked by media, at best. And of course, because corporate media is implicit in our current environmental crisis, it isn‘t going to mea culpa now.

We get Trump and more Trump. Then more Trump. Then, wait, what did Trump say? Can Trump (wrecking the environment as best he can, as noted above) be beaten in 2020?

What the…?

Marshall McLuhan, also over 50 years ago, termed the phrase the medium is the message. In terms of Greta Thunberg, the message, as filtered through the various channels of the media is as I asserted above. Very little context and analysis of the real, actual, vital part of her story, that it’s getting late, so take action, PLUS the backstory of just how long ago action should have been taken and why it hasn’t been taken. Point fingers! This is a man-made crisis. Accountability as part of the take action now process. 

Look, a squirrel! Wow. Look, a cat video! Oh, those doggies all so cute! Social media? Russian hackers! Cardi B. Taylor Swift! Click bait abounds. What obscure YouTube “stars” have the most followers? There are teenagers making a fortune for giving advice via YouTube or InstasnapchatfacetimeBook about fashion or how to excel at Warcraft. Short attention span theater…

It’s been this way a long time too. Social media does have its smarter moments (Arab Spring, 2011) but the news cycles are now so short and facile that even today, having looked at the news feeds, there’s A LOT about Trump, as usual, and hardly any mention of Greta. Out of sight, out of…That was Friday, okay? What’s NEW? Beside what’s old: Trump. Trump. Trump did/said what? Trump and Russia. Trump and the wall. Trump and that…squirrel! What is easily digestible? People don’t need or want any context or analysis. If they did, they’d demand it. Right? If people wanted to save the environment, they’d just do it. And then the media would report on it. Why they would JUST DO IT doesn’t really matter. The media just reports. The reporting is the story. The medium IS the message. The media is the MASS-AGE. With legacy media or social media, one must ask, can I trust this information? Is this valid? Can what one reads or hears be verified by fact? Caveat emptor.

It’s Sunday. In the U.S. at this time of year that means football. Big advertising dollars for all the eyeballs that somehow, for some reason, just have to follow the action. And bet on it. Or sweat out their fantasy team’s stats. Lots of action. Winners and losers. The evening news in a major market that has a NFL franchise will spend extra, extra time breaking down the plays and the controversies and what should be done or could be done. The fans need answers! This is really important “news”.

Good luck to Greta and her capturing the media spotlight–for a moment or two. After the sports extra programs later, maybe there will be a special report on Thunberg. I mean really digging into the weeds on that story. What’s the score with this young woman? What is she saying? Why is she saying it? It what she’s saying true? Is the environment really going to collapse in the next 10-20 years? Can this be verified?

I’m sure CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, the New York Times, Washington Post, even the Peoria Journal Star will not let Greta down or the millions around the world who showed up for Climate Strike Friday. It’s a really big story, right? Release the journalism-degreed investigative hounds and get to the bottom of this story.

It sure is a big chunk of juicy news, and the story began decades ago. Not just since Greta got in gear. If the beginning of any story is left out, it’s not a complete story. Maybe this is all just a dream. You know, dreams have no logical beginning or end. One just has the dream, is in it some place, with no idea how it happened. The dream has a person floating about until it simply, abruptly succumbs to wakefulness. That’s a dream for ya, eh? But if the dreamer is about to plunge into an abyss, or be run over by a train? The dreamer is jolted awake. Unsettled. Whew! What to make of it? It seems absurd…

The Greta Thunberg story is like a dream as far as the reporting on it goes. Who would dream a 16 year-old could…? How did she get here? What’s this Greta want? Oh, never mind. What else is on the tellie?

The abyss awaits, my fellow humanoids. Will you wake up in time?

Thursday, 9-12-2019. I usually try to mark momentous historical moments with a personal (and to some degree, formally informed) commentary of the then and now that reflects upon what history offers. Thus, where the hell was I yesterday, on the 18th anniversary of the 9-11-2001 terrorist attacks that quickly became noted as a variation on the Pearl Harbor attack that ushered the U.S. into WWII? Well, I was reflecting on 9-11 as I noted the day, but couldn’t come up with a line of reasoning to evoke what remains in my memory of that day, and what has transpired since.

What, generally, has transpired? There have been no other foreign borne attacks on our soil. That’s great, of course. Not that there hasn’t been other terror attacks, however. What?, you wonder am I alluding to? What terror attacks? You must be confused with another country. Oh, come on. You damn well ought to know what I am referring to. Hint: it has to do with the use of bullets. Bullets ripping through human flesh, borne by anything from handguns to rapid-fire, military style assault weapons. You should know by now how virtually weekly, at times recently even daily, come accounts of the now common use term “active shooter” nightmare scenario. At this point, educational institutions from K thru college have put in place the so-called “active shooter drills”. You know, just in case, well, the next shooter decides to act on some sense of disapproval or disappointment wherever one might happen to be in a classroom. And now we have those bullet proof backpacks as part of a response policy to these TERROR attacks.

However, these vicious and senseless attacks are not part of any Taliban or any Muslim-backed hate group. Not at all. Our mass shooters–the terrorists–are apparently always home grown, white males. I doubt that the crazed gunmen have killed more than the 2,900+ that died when the 9-11 attacks occurred, but consider this: As of right now, today, there have been more mass shootings than there have been DAYS in the year 2019. There have been 256 days (today is 9-12) in 2019, and a total of 283 mass shootings. The dead are in the hundreds. The wounded more than a thousand.

After 9-11, our response was to create the Homeland Security agency, and generally, incrementally, surveil we the people as part of sniffing out any possible sequels to 9-11-2001. I guess it must be working, since as noted no other foreign attacks have occurred. Hooray! In the meantime, our privacy has been compromised. A sense of anyone is suspicious is in effect, with tightened security, and “profiling” used to zoom in on those who might appear or act well, “suspicious” a la 9-11 terrorists. The most glaring reminder of how tight security has become is when one has to pass muster at any U.S.airport. Off with the belt. Off with the shoes. Stand in the scanning apparatus, receive a thorough pat-down, have your hands swabbed for what?–traces of explosive chemicals?–and maybe a rummaging through one’s luggage. Even children and the very elderly are not exempt from the process. No more O.J racing through an airport to get to that gate a the last moment. Those days are gone forever, over a long time ago (18 years, that is).

But what about detecting the next potential active shooter? We clearly do not have any effective screening for that type of terrorist. When El Paso and Dayton each had their crazed gunman terror attack within a day of one another, a sort of nadir had seemingly been reached. Could it get any worse? 31 total dead, dozens more wounded and the stories were so close together one might be forgiven for thinking the second was actually still referencing the first attack, with further updates. No, it was El Paso, Texas. Dayton, Ohio. And now the public just had to expect it was time for some real goddam legislative action to address this insanity. But in spite of such an outcry, exactly NOTHING has been done by our congress. After 9-11, the wheels almost instantly went into motion to do anything–even some unconstitutional action–to prevent another such attack.

As for mass shootings, which pre-date 9-11 as in the University of Texas clock tower gunman picking off 17 campus strolling folks in 1966, and Columbine High School and 13 shot dead there in 1999, there appears to be no will on the part of our government to protect the public from what–as already noted–has become a horrific, common occurrence. Shameful, I’d say. Disgraceful. Despicable. But there’s that gun lobby. And there are those bought-and-paid-for congress critters who abide by the NRA and are clearly not ashamed of all that innocent blood they must know is on their hands. Virtually, if not literally, all the blood shed at the hands of domestic terrorists. White. Male. Terrorists.

Do you feel safer anymore now than on September 11, 2001? If you are more than a handful of years old, with mass shootings occurring as an inconceivable quotidian reality. where is this safe place anymore? Not a school. Or a theater. Nor a shopping mall. Not a place of worship. Not an outdoor concert. It’s now devolved into not a matter of if another attack will occur, but when it will occur. Where it will occur might be just about anywhere. As I now sit operating the computer keyboard at a public library, it most certainly could happen here. Or has a library been shot up too? I have lost track of the places that once upon a time suggested one could go into and have every expectation of leaving on one’s own accord. Not in a body bag or by ambulance, with blood oozing from one body part or another.

Thank goodness we have prevented any further coordinated, diabolically plotted 9-11s from turning our world upside down. That was a nightmare of a day, writ large enough to garner the sympathy of most of the rest of the civilized world. As for the active shooter scenario, it may occur seemingly every single day, on average, but it evidently isn’t much of a blip on the radar of our elected officials. Of course they KNOW it’s a major problem, but hey, apparently it still, if it’s even possible, required to become an even BIGGER, more mind-shattering nightmare that demands action. Now! Like yesterday, or like back in 2012, when Sandy Hook had its crazed, white male shooter take out 20 six and seven-year olds. Little children. Ripped apart by bullets. I figured that had to be the nadir. A bottoming out point that would force a change in our lax and loony gun policy on easy access to absurdly dangerous weapons, change that demanded immediate action.

Silly me! Is there a lower level than what “nadir” asserts?: the lowest point in the fortunes of a person or an organization.

Where’s that thesaurus?

Happy Monday, guys and gals, kids and kiddies, and any precious furry pets that are a part of your singular or familia mojo. Here we are, just a little over 14 months until the next chance for the GOP to steal yet another election. If you recall, the last time we the people were invited to the polls to choose many an office holder, starting with the White House occupant and descending orders of political magnitude, 99% of which are members of either what I call the party of Murder, Inc. or the other major political organization I will call The Spineless Ones, the outcome was quite an odds-beater.

Harsh name calling, you may feel, but I am speaking on behalf of those who have the ability to see reality for what it is after actually taking the time to assess who is who and what they do and the whys and hows of their political sausage-making. I’ve been rather bleak in attitude the last couple of postings, basically saying that Evil is winning, in this still pretty young (infancy, actually) 21st century. The powers-that-be have brought the U.S. to a point that begs the question: what kind of country are we anymore? We seem to have become quite uncivil, to say the least.

Is there hope? Sure there is. After all, where there is no hope to be grasped, to cling to, to tightly hold in one’s heart and soul, then what’s the point of getting up in the morning? Hope for what, however? Well, many people hope to see an end to the acrimony, for a more peaceful coexistence, regardless of race, religion, gender, lifestyle or political affiliation. Sure, that’s worth hoping for! But I do believe the current Las Vegas odds still have Evil as a 3 to 5 favorite today and moving forward. Those oddsmakers closely study the participants, the major influences of their modus operandi, and set odds that are reflective of what is basically an irrefutable “tip sheet” on probable outcomes. The contest is a 2-horse political race, so there’s not a lot of sorting through the competitors. And, yeah, it’s 3-5 that nothing is going to change. The same horse will “win” again, one way or other. Why? Because the other “horse” has no game. It’s jockey has no spine, the horse under the jock is not interested in winning, not conditioned to win, not trained to win, or willing to make any serious effort at winning. The horse is as good as dead. How is this? I mean, how does this organization lose to a reality TV creature bereft of any substance? A prevaricating huckster. But lose they did. Yeah, I know, the loser got a few million more votes than the winner, but the Spineless candidate was so flawed and one-dimensional that millions more of potential voters sniffed the flagrant odor of the evil of two lessors and stayed home. Electoral math sealed the shocking outcome.

As I said, it’s barely 14 months to Race Day, and here’s what we have so far since the last race in 2016, the outcome of which has engendered much of that divisiveness (and hostility, and hate and, oh right, mass killings that occur on an almost daily basis) alluded to above. Try to refute my assertion, but you cannot, other than simply say this posting is just “fake news”. I wish it were. But I see reality. If you do too, you might agree.

Here is some harsh reality for you to chew on, whoever you are and what you may or not be aware of. Our current government, since January of 2017, after the “winner” of the 2016 election was settled, has taken action, all of which has succeeded to one degree or another: Caging migrant children, imposing corporate rule, destroying workers rights, rigging our elections, degrading women, gutting healthcare, gutting public education, denying climate change, decriminalizing pollution (again, climate change!) pampering billionaires with yet more tax cuts for the 1% leading the way, demonizing Muslims, coddling racists (literally labeling white supremacists as “nice people”) kowtowing to dictatorial thugs, profiteering on the presidency, flagrantly obstructing justice and I’m leaving some things out that I’ve lost track of.

Sounds like some Orwellian nightmare vision of a future dystopia, no? Yeah, except the future is now. Oh, you can still move about freely–especially if you are a white male of the species, but all are free to get up in the morning and go about things, okay?—-take the toddlers out to play innocently in the sandbox, walk the dog, cuddle your kitty, or your significant other, your spouse equivalent, or hit the sports bars and cheer for the home team, ride a bike, take a hike, attend a concert or a movie, a play, or just while away the day, maybe go to a mall. A museum. Your favorite eatery. Watch the idiot box. Go to the health club. Check the mail. Sure, on the very first layer of current waking life, all things seems pretty much the same as they were before the final electoral college outcome of election 2016.

But go a little deeper under that veneer of normalcy, and take a closer look. Listen more closely. Think beyond the daily routines. Think about the future. If you do, well, that’s a start. But how many of us are demanding change? Have you seen a wrong and stood up for right? Is what you think is wrong even right? Did we ask for this new “normal”?

Bullet-proof backpacks are now being sold for the little ones marching off to grades kindergarten and above. What?! No, that’s not the The Onion. It’s the New York Times reporting it. But not demanding to know how it came to be. Along with much of the mainstream media in its neo-journalistic slumber mode.

And if you do see what I know I see, do you sense any blowback against this increasingly unstable society fostered by an clearly nefarious government? Is there not any action, legal and binding, that can be taken? Right now? If not legal and righteous action, any mass rallies for a more reasoned, balanced approach to governing and its impact on our innate desires to pursue a peaceful place among the many of us, a mixed bag of race, gender, ethnicity, and spiritual beliefs? I don’t see any reports on any mass protests (unlike in France, and especially Hong Kong, with millions taking to the streets to vent their outrage). What about the opposition party, you know The Spineless Ones? Oh, wait. That’s right. They have no backbones, at least the supposedly empowered jockies who ride that party’s listless equine don’t. There are new members ready take the reigns of a fresh mount, but they are not given any access for real action. Their elder peers are apparently okay with the current choas and malice of Murder, Inc. But first, they need to grow that SPINE. Long odds on that!

I thought we had a constitution that set a clear agenda for one and all to live by, and by that I mean for the common good. You know we the people and our rights and protections from unreasonableness and ill intent. There is a Constitution, I know this because I saw it, encased under protective glass in a D.C. museum. However, I’m not sure anyone who really, really matters in either of the camps of Murder, Inc. or The Spineless Ones, has ever read it, or even if they did, have decided that its just a old piece of parchment and apparently fake news too! Seriously. Where are the committee hearings? Where are the subpoenas calling for answers and action to set things right? I hear crickets, not the gavel being slammed down as a call for inquiry and ultimate accountability. I hear crickets. No, not even crickets at this point. It’s that sound of silence, deafeningly filling the airwaves, while Murder, Inc. prevents any action as though it, and it alone, runs the show. Can you say Moscow Mitch.? I think he actually runs this country, though the constitution doesn’t spell that out, I’m pretty sure.

Really, caging children? A tacit support of white supremacy? Rigging election systems? Undermining public education? Denying affordable healthcare? Denying women the right to control their own bodies? Mocking the sciences, climate studies included? Overt union busting? Aren’t any of these well documented wrongs forbidden by the language and spirit of that constitution?

For now, I say I guess not. It’s just an old piece of parchment, folks. It reads all noble and just through its preamble and its Articles and Amendments, but it may as well be reprinted on toilet tissue for all the good it is doing with regards to those who are doing some really, really, very, very, nasty, dangerous and even deadly things as they go about “governing”.

If we now live in a country that is selling bullet proof backpacks for the kids, just in case an active shooter shows up at their school, why can’t we have our constitution on toilet paper? At least that way, its will serve we the people in a very fundamental way on a daily basis. I mean, think about it. Both Murder, Inc., and The Spineless Ones have been essentially wiping their asses with it for quite a while now.

Excuse me. Think I’ll take a stroll and watch the veneer of normalcy pass before my eyes. It can be downright Norman Rockwell-ish in mis-en-scene. I’m especially bewildered by the young couples pushing strollers, some carrying a payload per double or triple occupancy models. I look at them and assume they are blissfully unaware of the troubled times in which they all live. Complacent? Comatose? Clueless. Unless they endorse our current state of affairs, as too many apparently do.

…never mind. It’s late August. Here’s what is being profoundly judged and argued over: Are you ready for some football?!

This past week marked the 74th anniversary of the most dramatic uses of uranium and plutonium in world history. No, not used to power a nuclear submarine or nuclear power plants, among the most common uses for these two atomic elements. Wait, did I mention the word atomic? Yes, plutonium and uranium are atomic elements. So, what about this “most dramatic use…”? that leads this entry of my blog, heretofore to be known as Alas, In Dunderland.

August 6th and 9th of 1945. Holy U-235! Odds are you weren’t alive or very old back then, but thanks to the chronicling of history in print and film among other mediums, we can all immerse ourselves in history’s many episodes. In 1945, on the the 6th and 9th of August there were a couple hundred thousand humans of all ages who became history when the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which then dropped Imperial Japan to its knees in surrender and the end of World War Two. One was a uranium bomb, the other plutonium. Approximately 150,000 people died in short order and thousands more succumbed to radiation poisoning in the ensuing months or years. Keep in mind, virtually all of the dead from these atomic bombs were civilian, although it was the means to the end of a war that had already claimed about 70-85 million lives. Nuclear energy, unleashed by the terrors of science!

Today, nuclear energy–in warm and fuzzy contrast– may be keeping your electricity flowing and thus your 65″ Ultra High-Def, 3D flat screen alive. Nothing to fear but for a power line going down in a storm. It’ll all be better in a matter of a an hour or so. Relax. Smell that latte brewing. But atomic bombs? Who drops atomic bombs anymore? Just those two times, over 74 years ago. Now, there are so many countries with so many nukes that it would be crazy–as in mutual assured destruction–MAD crazy for any country to go nuclear.

Since WWII, wars are much more scaled down. Korea, Vietnam, Gulf I & II and Afghanistan equal around 100,000 military dead. Plus even more civilians. But when it comes to a history of war’s carnage, when you think about 70 million or more dead from 1939-1945, and what was at stake–that being fascism versus democracy, writ global, it would seem post WWII humankind has not had it so bad. Oh sure, there’s been genocide and ethnic cleansings around the globe, plus the above noted conflicts, but no global, literal fight to the death really, for the right to live as free as possible from dangers of foreign forces from evil empires like Germany and Japan back then.

Today, life is so quaint when compared to a literal world at war with itself. Of course, those genocides and cleansings and dictatorships here and there are no Disney dreamsickle, but it depends on where one is born, and what race one is born into. Today’s bombs are dropped on a daily basis, but they are metaphorical mostly. Political hot air suffocating you, tweet by tweet.The new abnormal.

Industrialized nations are, for the most part, decent places to live. Here in the U.S. a lot of citizens are very happy with the externals of life. The fragility of anyone’s life is a matter of happenstance in many cases. No atomic bomb threats to freak out about, just a worry or two maybe about being layed–off or being mugged in the subway, or having a work crew unwittingly bust a gas pipe and blow up one’s house. Or, if you are of a certain manner born, one may worry about getting whacked in a drive-by as you stand on the corner, waiting for the light to change. Or getting shot dead simply because of being pulled over by a cop because your brake light isn’t working. Or having your door kicked-in and parents and children are suddenly separated. Or you decided to go to the mall. Or a movie. Or simply to work. And here comes that active shooter. Ooops. Wrong time, wrong place. Otherwise life is a breeze compared to a world war.

Anyhow, Hiroshima and Nakasaki. What a one-two punch to end that match between good and evil. But that fight will never really be settled. If there’s a Vegas line on that match-up, I’d go all in on Evil winning. That’s not cynicism, folks, that’s playing with the facts of the matter. It’s bread and circuses for the free world. Crumbs and cudgels for the denizens of underdeveloped countries. Ozone depletion, oceans warming, icecaps melting, and in the meantime, we simply consume, and distract ourselves. You don’t think so?

There’s a bomb ticking away. Science wants to defuse it, but the resources and will to do so are virtually nowhere in sight. And those who have the ability to do something are preferably checking their stock portfolios or consulting with their money donors rather than the taking serious the ever-more alarming climate reports; and their children and grandchildren will pay the price. For certain. It’ll be a slow death. Not a blinding flash in the sky and instant incineration. Oh no. This planet-killing bomb is ticking away, and unlike in the James Bond mode, agent 007 isn’t going to hit the kill switch with less than 5 seconds to detonation. No long sigh of relief. Maybe a last gasp, though. Know this: there is no 007. There’s only the Bomb. It sits there, in plain sight, while all manner of nonsense passes for news and analysis, babble and blathering, with political farce passing for governance. We are very likely beyond the point of no return. Once those two 1945 bombs left the bombay doors, there was no calling them back. Same goes for our 21st century bomb that’ll take out, ultimately, oh say 7 billion people. Maybe the cockroaches will survive. They’ll have lots of rot to feast on.

Tick, tick, tick.

If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to to live under the rule of fools.

Plato

The best argument against a democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.

Plato

Hey, this Plato guy should be around today, here in the USA especially, and have somethings more to say, no? I can only imagine him thinking to himself, what in the hell good has my pearls of wisdom had on these people? That would be in reference to that first quote up there. Then, he would remember the second of his quotes and conclude that the current state of affairs reflects perfectly on that “average voter”.

He would have to be tapped on the shoulder, however, and have someone–perhaps you or I–give him a 21st Century primer on voting in the USA and how it applies to taking an interest in their government. Specifically, that in this country as many people who do bother to vote, many don’t bother to vote at all. He’d likely say that in that case, people are both taking an interest in the affairs of their government, and making some very bad choices when they do, and that those who take no interest at all are making an even worst choice. He’d have to conclude that his quoted pronouncements are still alive and well in their sagacity and insight. He’d assess the exact state of government affairs right here in this exact moment of time and react with a long and very audible sigh.

Well, Plato isn’t around right now other than through his writings. But I’m working with those two quotes and assert exactly how they apply to how we got to where we are. Indeed, let’s look around and assess who are the people responsible for the gun-crazy, racist, hate-mongering ethos that encapsulates life in the USA, 2019. Those people, some who did vote, some who did not, are the ultimate perpetrators of a current government that is indeed ruled by fools. Yeah, even those who do vote, or certainly a lot of them, seem not to know basic good from bad, or in the case of a certain national political party, somehow vote for what can only be deemed as evil. My recurring refrain in responding to our now virtual rogue government and their worship of the amassing of wealth and power, and using that wealth and power to create a country of, by, and for the very fewest, is we voted for this.

Of course we did. And to not vote is a vote. Isn’t there a quote that goes something like, evil prevails when good people do nothing? So, not voting or voting for those whom have no interest in your vote other than to maintain their corrupted control and blatant lawlessness, goes to heart of Plato’s apparent contempt for that “average voter”. Certainly, many (but not enough) people do vote for the common good, but that national political party I alluded to up there has so long ago proven it has no interest in the common good. My moniker for this political organization is Murder, Inc. There’s a progressive radio talk show host who has offered a certain prize (not sure what) that if anyone, as in ANYONE, who can document a single piece of legislation sponsored by this party (hint: it now controls the White House, Senate and even the Supreme Court) in which it actually was of any benefit to the working class of America gets the reward. This has been a standing offer for many years. No one has been able to prove such legislation ever occurred. Yet many among that average voter endorses this party, in spite of it not having any benefit coming to them as their reward. Ruled by fools, in a country with many a fool somehow not seeing basic right from wrong.

However, our current government does benefit many of those who voted for it. Those would be the like-minded racists, hate-mongering, scapegoating citizens that are so easily manipulated or who are, seemingly, intrinsically, hot-wired for hate and violence, and have been waiting for some informal signal of approval to spew hateful rhetoric and, in an astounding number of cases, spew their hate from the business end of an assault weapon, weapons fully endorsed and protected legislatively by Murder, Inc’s amoral modus operandi of money, power, control and a 2019 brand of open lawlessness. But we voted for this, make no mistake about that.

Sadly, and ever-more frustratingly, the other national political party, which does have some power to govern of its own, is doing next to nothing to confront the ugly atmosphere that pervades our politics. People voted for them, too, recently giving them that power. So far, more rhetoric than action, although their rhetoric sounds defiant and indignant and well reasoned. Unless I missed something, however, I’m still certain that action speaks louder than words.

So, thanks for the wisdom, Plato. Too bad it does not seem to have been proven no longer heedful. You spoke those words a couple thousand years ago. Obviously, the more things change, the more they stay the same, no?

Well, enough of this. I’m exhausted with our politics, now worse than ever in my lifetime that started with the Truman administration. I honestly hesitate to talk politics with most anyone. Enough talk. Time for action.

After all, as another quote goes: never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.