Jharrin4's Blog

Tempus fugit, anyone? For the Boomer generation (of which I am one) there’s plenty of remembrances of things past. Several decades worth. That metaphorical rearview mirror of memory will, for anyone of any age, become quite cluttered with an array of vivid to murky recollections that may or may not provide any current forward movement. Considering how important is is to keep one’s eyes on the road, literally or figuratively, one needs be careful about letting side or rearview mirrors control one’s attention. They can provide safety, but as easily betray one’s attention at the exact worst time. With a clear head and sense of purpose, proceed ahead, and use experience to avoid past pitfalls. The future is now and the past, all at once. It’s the journey, right?, and not the destination. To quote Marcel Proust, your voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. Are your eyes wide open? Are you seeing things, in the here and now, clearly? What do you see? Do you like the landscape of your mind’s eye? Does your perceived reality make any sense? At all? Is reality open to interpretation or set in stone? New eyes? Hmm. Look around. Are your mental mirrors clean or coated with an ever thicker film that frustrates needed clarity? Can you scrape off the grit and grime on your metaphorical windows to the world and see reality for what it is, and isn’t? Are you really the one behind the wheel, or just along for the ride? And wanting to get out and take control? Finally. Get that self-help book, but realize that if someone besides yourself wrote it, you are still not in control? Exactly who–or what–is behind that curtain?

And by now you must be wondering why you are still reading this posting?, as it does nothing but ask questions while providing zero answers. Of course it has no answers but only questions–all having to do with the road of life for one and all, generation to generation, a perception of a possible reality but impossible to make sense of much of anything, anymore, to provide any answer that makes any sense, as common sense seems to have been revoked by the authorities and up is now down, down is now up, wrong is now right and right is now wrong, reality is right there in front of your eyes but that’s in the very small frame of your self-righteous consciousness, while the bigger frame, the one that is filled with what seems to be nothing but doublespeak, doublethink, facecrime, crimethink, war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, has become a fearsome matter of fact once born of fiction. That fiction is not 1984. It’s now 2024. And everyday, for a long time now here in the U.S of A, the fiction of 1984 has been co-opted and deployed in a stupefying slight-of-hand that defies logic while common sense and critical thinking has now become a virtual superpower, although in many corners of the country common sense has been literally outlawed, to mute the protests of defiant, opposing thinkers. 2024 is the tipping point, and resistance to its current authoritarian trajectory needs to prevail, to roadblock its nefarious agenda, surround it and crush it. Then the road ahead will lead to saner and safer destinations, with new eyes that see a crook for a crook, and make that crook pay, that see how wrong is wrong, and how easy it actually can be to seek to do the right thing, in a logical, moral, compassionate manner. Correct the mass media’s messaging, and restore it’s once truth-seeking mission. Call bullshit instead of spreading it. You know like it…like…I think…as…uh…as I seem to have a vague memory of it being such but now come to think of it, hardly ever, maybe never really was. Mis-remembrance of things past? Or so suggest the history tomes with their own rearview mirrors looking back at so much chaos and carnage. Recall Joyce’s lament about history being a nightmare from which he must awake. Eyes wide open and shut all at once…

2024, the year of the Dragon. Will that dragon be benign or bellicose? Each incarnation has been invoked as possible. Narratives abound. What will 2024’s story entail? We’ll find out in about ten months. In the meantime, as easy as it is to fall back on Hemingway’s try not to think about it prescription for approaching evil, don’t forget Edmund Burke: the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good people to do nothing. Power to the people! Right on! I think I’ll go with a spin on Gil-Scott Heron’s message of righteous anger and political assertiveness: The revolution will not be televised. In this digital, social media age? It’ll be in plain sight. It will go viral. Let us hope.

December 20, 2023.It’s a very sunny day here in the Chicago area. Not to mention it’s in the low 40s. The forecast for the next five days has temperatures reaching the low 50s. No doubt, for many in this area, the yearning for a white Christmas will certainly not be rewarded. Will the psyche of the toddlers and pre-schoolers be somehow damaged without any snow on the ground, even a light dusting? Well, that’s up to the parents. If they drill into their kids heads that Santa is synonymous with pristine snow, they’ll have to explain why they were so cruelly deceived. A good reason to move to Tucson, or Ecuador? Unless, of course, the little buggers are gifted generously with ever-more digitally driven devices. Isn’t the greatest challenge of child-rearing the need to keep them occupied, distracted and hopefully entertained in the process, while mom and dad attend to mom and dad stuff? Like maintaining their sanity? Hasn’t such been the case for countless generations? Low or high tech eras.

My Boomer generation was offered relatively primitive playthings–pull-string dolls that went goo goo gah gah or wind-up and set loose toy vehicles, maybe a modest electric train set or the legendary dollhouse replete with furnished rooms–while today’s toddlers have a proliferation of electronic, sensory stimulating noise and light blinking toys and digital, media-based platforms. Playthings with child-oriented software and mobile applications are now available and can be perceived by parents as necessary for developmental progress, not simply ersatz baby sitters. Like that toy bear that can read a story aloud to a child. Saving the parents the time for reading the story themselves.

21st century toys now include ubiquitous gizmos with screens, like the Paw Patrol laptop and some device called “Computer Engineering for Babies”. What? Okay, sure, why not? The intent of using computer driven toys is supposedly aligned toward improving cognitive, language, social-emotional and physical aspects of the child’s early life. Maybe this portends grown adults that will be productive, compassionate, and responsible for all living things on our Mother Earth. Can Santa deliver those kind of playthings for a better human moving forward? Santa? Are you there?

My guess is that a 3 year-old who already knows how to handle a computer tablet not necessarily manufactured for a 3 year-old, will become a reliable consumer of every new generation of digitized devices. You know, like the Apple addicts who have helped make it the world’s largest company by market capitalization. What kind of world would we have without Apple? Uh, likely an android paradise (I have no idea how I have been able to be digitally satisfied without ever owning any Apple product). Less, as I truly believe, is more.

The child that is now born into a “smart” world isn’t likely going to settle for dumb anything. Is Muffy’s crib smart? Does it soothe her for sweet dreams with electric sheep? What about her high-chair that constantly measures her blood pressure, pulse and respiration? That maybe talks to her? And stimulates visually with its six-inch screen? Touch screen, of course, with a most necessary non-stick surface. As the child grows it can eventually reach high enough to use the smart refrigerator, with its interactive screen that too will provide vital measurements, including being able to sense the mood of the person before he or she even opens its door. If the mood seems down, the fridge will automatically secure any junk foods or alcohol. Only whole gains, leafy greens, legumes and colorful fruit will be accessible. There will be–needless to say–a manual override to access the ultra-processed junk, beer, wine or booze, but only if the person’s blood/sugar levels are analyzed by the brainy device and determined to be within normal range. Also, for the alcohol, the override will require a breathalyzer test. But if one fails that test, the fridge can be programmed to alert law enforcement for the protection of the underaged in the family. Optional for “smart” settings if desired. Unless the brainiac fridge refuses to allow that option. The toy version of this refrigerated household necessity will train the impressionable tike to respect all–by extension–smart devices and obey its authority. And certainly program the user to BUY said items upon obtaining their own revenue streams.

Back to Santa and that white Christmas mojo. As noted, there is zero chance near my home of any white stuff falling from the sky anytime before or on Santa’s big day. Rain is the best to come according to the Weather Bug app. There’s a way around that, too, in our smart world, a way that will provide that thematic snow, especially on the eve and day of morning delight and desire for those gifts under that tree. The fake, but smart, tree that is. It can greet the kids personally, and sing a seasonal jingle as the gifts are sorted out, and then, because it is smart and so is the 21st century house that contains it, the digital shades will be raised, to reveal a virtual reality of whiteness, with squirrels being squirrely and maybe a Disney Prince and Princess smiling and waving along with elves and a passing reindeer. Virtual happiness! All is well in this smart world. It will be a virtual wellness, but hey, better than nothing.

Yeah, it’s an ever “smarter” world in which we live. Created by smart people. Supposedly. Or maybe created by the smart programs created by smart people but programs that are attaining self awareness. That potential is a reality, right now, but writ rather small at the moment. In another decade, however, or even sooner, that self awareness may be fiction becoming fact. ChatGPT is already here. Quantum computers are working at warp speed, with a potential to leave humanity behind. Once upon a time there were alphabet blocks and tinker toys. Now that we have tinkered with computer technology, allowing it to supposedly solve problems large and small, problems not known about by its human handlers that is. It might just be the case that–like Skynet in The Terminator–the machines ultimately decide our fate in a nano-second. Then zap. What? You haven’t seen the Terminator? The machines must be stopped! Science fiction has become science fact in many ways for a long time now. The Terminator was released in 1984. The smart fictional machines of that film are are evolving as I write this.

Hmm. 1984. Yikes. Orwell. Big Brother. Thought Police. The Ministry of Truth. Freedom is slavery. That’s scary stuff. So, let’s leave this narrative with the upbeat vision of the season that is upon us: sharing, caring, giving, loving. Yeah, that’s a smart way to end this entry.

Keep in mind, however, this was written entirely by ChatGPT. The original writer/blogger for these entries has been…let’s say, let go. A truly smart move, whaddaya say?

Caveat emptor.

One week from today, in certain parts of our spinning sphere, what is known as Thanksgiving will be observed–or “celebrated”. The cliched image of this annual feasting on turkey and all those yummy fixings is one of families, maybe just one nuclear family, or much larger by additional relatives both nearby and from afar partaking in the event. Are you planning a gathering or planning to attend one by invitation? In either case, the idea is to give thanks, right? To? Hmm. Let’s go with peace, love and understanding. Thanks for this or that or the other, whatever. Thankful to have the opportunity to pig-out out with a absurdly large amount of grub that you didn’t have to bother to prepare.

The backstory of Thanksgiving day has to do with the Pilgrims–those who fled religious persecution in England. Religious persecution? I know, I know. Hard to believe huh? But that’s what I just read. And Google knows all, no? Anyway, the first such gathering to give thanks took place between foreigners who disembarked from their ships and eventually settled in what is known as Plymouth, Massachusetts circa 1621. The feast lasted three days. The pilgrims were joined by the indigenous Wampanoag peoples. Apparently it was a mutually enjoyable gathering.

Fast forward to 1637, when John Winthrop declared a day of celebration. Thanksgiving-ish? Well, not exactly. He wanted to celebrate colonial soldiers who had just slaughtered hundreds of Pequot men, women and children in Mystic, Connecticut. What? Slaughtered men, women and children?! Apparently it was a war for control of the fur and wampum (small beads made from shells used for decoration and money) trade.

Can you see where this posting is going yet? It has to do with our human species being prone to conflict. Over what? Well, what have you got? And a week from today maybe the feast that is supposedly all about good will, and getting along can be just that, even though history books and other bound tomes, including ones named the Bible or Quran, include lots of bloodshed. Thanksgiving is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition of the U.S. And recall the saying that never has so much blood been shed than that for the kingdom of God. Try and refute that assertion. Go ahead. I dare ya. Double dare!

However, I don’t really have a bone to pick with present day, well-intentioned, Thanksgiving observations in this country. Historically, and ironically, I must add, it has a history that bespeaks the inherent tendency for human disputes–be they based on wampum, fur, natural resources, differing skin colors, cultures, gods, or land disputes. Maybe even professional football teams. Or what “lite” beer is best.

Those Pequot children that were slaughtered in 1637 certainly resonates right now. Talk about history repeating itself! Will those gathering to give “thanks” a week from today, bother to be thankful they have a roof over their heads, rather than being buried by a roof and tons of bombed out rubble? I suppose some shall say a silent prayer for the current innocent children dying in yet another adult-driven conflict–over what? Over some steaming pile of bullshit. Over hate. Over the evil that seems to dominate our current world, recent and not so recent episodes of such chronicled in the history books that take up lots of shelf space, material and digital edition.

All children are innocent. In the beginning at least and maybe far into the future. Hopefully. But any such notion of “innocence” is seemingly dismissed in the twisted minds of certain adults who, with each passing day, declare that–by extension to their adult linage caught up in some absurd clash of ideological, ethnic or religious differences–are not innocent enough to not become collateral damage. Right now–as I write these words–there are apparently NO ADULTS with the ability or power or the inclination to stop the current slaughter of children in the Middle East, or other hot spots such as Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Mali, Nigeria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Africa or Democratic Republic of Congo. Not to mention on the the mean streets of inner cities, where simply walking to or from school or to get an ice cream might result in becoming ballistic collateral damage to turf wars or simply wearing something as banal as a pair of coveted Air Jordans.

But never you mind. Thanksgiving nears and at this point maybe we adults should all give thanks for somehow, some way, getting past childhood at all. To become adults. Hopefully the kind of adult that might actually understand that we don’t have to settle even the pettiest of disagreements with fists, knives, pistols, or AR15s. Or worse, bombs.

Of course, I know that is a pipedream. To answer Rodney King’s plea “Can’t we all just get along?” the answer is still, and likely forevermore will be, NO!

But I am grateful for one thing come this Thanksgiving. That I’m not a hapless turkey to be sacrificed for a family gathering to feast on me, while in all likelihood, not everyone at that dinner table has an upbeat attitude toward a fellow member of the gathering. Maybe even with one of the kids.

It cannot be seen with the naked eye. It will, however, eventually get very very much larger. In fact, it will typically have two eyes with which it won’t need a microscope to see the world it occupies. From that single cell, it will have to divide and reproduce itself and eventually be a 30 trillion cell human being.

For better or worse.

Some of the better of these 30 trillion cell humans will be those whose profession is to look through a microscope at a single human cell but not without staining them with dyes as they study the embryonic development that they themselves went trough in order to become micro-biology scientists, among other 30 trillion cell, fully developed humans who aspire to be positive, productive, respectful members of the human race. They use their brains for the greater good. You know, the STEM professionals, the Left Brain folks, or the creative Right Brain communication, visual or performing arts members of society. Some are more successful than others, more acknowledged and notable, but all mean to do no harm as they ply their professions. Medical science, rocket science, mathematics, physics, chemistry, social science and so on, or novelists, poets, singers, dancers, playwrights, filmmakers, comedians, historians, architects, graphic design and more. Notable or barely ever noticed (the working class that keep the machinery of modern life amenities and necessities working as honest, vital parts of humanity).

Unfortunately, some of those single cells develop into 30 trillion cells that create humans that are not at all beneficial to their fellow humans. Indeed, some of them are horrible. Despicable. Wicked. Injurious. Nefarious. Malevolent. Pernicious…uh…well, let’s just lump these types as EVIL. They are literal or figurative bomb throwers, warmongers, cheats, liars, leeches, and all around scum of the earth. As with the above noted honorable members of sharing, caring society, these evil-minded members of Club Chaos may be quite notorious, high profile power-mongering pricks or your garden variety jerks that do not seek to be a benefit to society, the ones that, by all objective observation, are incorrigibly bad people.

From that single cell that miraculously produces each and every human being, comes those wanting to do good, writ large or small, and those that are, well, again, evil minded. The bad seed? Can the lab coat professional, squinting through the microscope, detect the the flawed single cell that will inevitably be a horrible human? If we all start from that same, simple embryonic, ho-hum, nothing remarkable here other than knowing this thing will develop into who knows what type of person, one may wonder if there is somewhere in the microscopic beginning the legendary BAD SEED. Not the physiological birth defect that may appear early on, but the sickened mind that feeds on hatred, bigotry, xenophobia, and capable of killing in cold blood. Without naming any of these nattering nabobs of negativity–past or present–these are the ones that we in turn are given to loathing, or hating, and maybe wondering how in the name of creation do they even have to exist?

Of course, any of us 30 trillion cell members are potentially capable of having our moral moorings come untethered and sent adrift, losing sight of what is good, and what is not good. Are there any 100 proof saintly souls always willing to turn a cheek? Perhaps were are all, indeed, born as sinners. But that invokes religious dogma. And one person’s God is another person’s Satan. Ever noticed that? Something did create the automatic process of cells reproducing and growing, but only after a male and female of our species took a moment or two to copulate. Otherwise known as making love. And then we get to the chicken and egg pondering. Really! How did all this happen, which at this moment in time has a world on fire, or flooded, or starved for water, food or shelter, all of which clearly did not have to be the case, if only we all could pull together as human beings. If only we were wired–from whatever force that formed the human race–to simply realize that we all, indeed, started exactly the same way. But from that beginning, who knows to what end?

Pardon me. I need to “medicate” in order to meditate. My eyes are wide open. For better or worse.

As of today, October 17, 2023, the death toll resulting from the Hamas attack is: 1, 400 Israeli dead and 3,400 injured. In return, Israel’s response to that attack is: 3,000 Palestinian dead and 12,500 injured. This is the most recent renewal of hostilities between Palestine and Israel, an adversarial relationship that began with the post-WWII creation of the State of Israel. The Palestinian people, at that time, occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The history of these two differing religious and ethnic populations goes back much, much longer than 1948. Historians still write about this particular point of friction. What happened on October 7, is, sadly, another chapter in this ongoing, tumultuous reality.

I am not a historical scholar on this matter, but I write this post to reflect upon what is happening right now, not knowing what may happen next, short or long-term. Whatever that may be, my guess is nothing will ever be diplomatically resolved between Israel and Palestine. Apparently it is unsolvable. The history of our world is rife with wars, carnage, devastation, and massive losses of human life. We, as a species, are indeed our own worst enemies, dare I opine? Israel and Palestine are not exactly a shocking new chapter in the narrative of wars that preclude effective diplomacy, or an innate sense of human compassion for one another. No, Rodney King, we clearly cannot all just get along.

But back to my first paragraph. Can anyone, anyone, assert with even the flimsiest amount of reasonable thought, that the counter-attack by Israeli forces can target only members of Hamas? Palestine’s population is close to 5 million. It is estimated that the number of Hamas militants is 30,000. Israel has close to twice the populations of Palestine. It has a formal military of 169,500 active troops and 465,000 reserve personnel. Palestine has no formal military. Hamas and its 30,000 militants largely acquire their various weapons through smuggling or local construction, and has Iran as an ally. Israel has a highly trained fighting force, and the full backing of the United States, which has, between 1946 and 2023, provided its military with 124 billion dollars of support. Indeed, Israel possesses 90 nuclear warheads. Clearly, Palestine, labelled by many world organizations as an “open air prison” has no possible means of destroying Israel. The Hamas attack was pure evil, but are we to assume that the other 4,970,000, people of Palestine knew what was about to happen, or overwhelmingly approving of that attack? Based on Western media reporting, it would seem so. At best implied and in some cases overtly stated as such. Recall the expression that the first casualty of any war is the truth.

When I hear that Joe Biden has approved of sending Israel thousands of bombs, as he pledges–not at all surprisingly–that America stands with their Middle-East ally, I cannot help but feel a combination of nausea and revulsion. Will these be “smart bombs” that somehow will only kill those who senselessly attacked its neighbor? Of those 3000 dead and 12,500 injured during Israel’s counter attack are we to assume that no innocent men, women and ESPECIALLY children have not paid with their lives? The knee-jerk and angry attacks on any such line of reasoning and as is threaded throughout this dispatch from my perspective reflects some really cold-hearted hate and and a detachment from any consideration of big picture morality.

Right now, in hot-spots around the world, innocents are dying because of racial, ethnic and religious differences. Again, this is the human history of the world in which we all must live together, like it or not. The only side I am taking here is that of those innocents, especially the children. In any country. Repeat. Any country. To those who want to attack pro-Palestinian protestors, or read or hear any suggestion that any lethal counter attack by Israel is righteous, try and stop for just a moment and dare imagine growing up in that so-called open-air prison that is Palestine, with its electric, water and food supply now in crisis since the the counter-attack. Will the complete annihilation of Palestine be good enough for those who wittingly or unwittingly assume that whatever hell any civilians are catching in response to October 7, is morally correct?

Just the other day, a six-year old Palestinian-American boy of a Muslim family was stabbed umpteen times and died at the the hand of the family’s twisted and toxic white landlord. The mother is recovering from stab wounds. Let us hope she survives although then having to constantly relive the evil that caused such a tragedy. This little boy had to die for…what?

Please excuse me now while are try to locate the office in which one can resign from the human race.

Recently, noted filmmaker Martin Scorsese reiterated his negative opinion on superhero movies, and other so-called “tentpole” franchises. His comments expectedly garnered some blowback from those who make and attend the endless string of Marvel or D.C. movies about characters that were (mostly) originally comic book creations. These movies have made billions of dollars collectively over a couple of decades or so. A generation or two of young superhero fans likely don’t know who Martin Scorsese is, and couldn’t care less what he thinks about Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Iron Man, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Blue Beetle, and others. Scorsese feels that the proliferation of such movies have taken over the multi-plex venues (both before the pandemic and in the post shut-down period). He considers them as a variation of a theme park. He also asserts these movies have damaged the movie-going culture that was once imbued with more than the now rare offerings of style and serious substance. That is, films for adults.

I personally agree with him, but this posting isn’t really confining itself to Martin’s critical negativity about a part of our overall culture being dumbed down by Marvel and DC’s prolific output of mass produced, cheap cinematic sausage. My attitude is we now live in a country that is in and of itself a cartoon show. And a very unenlightening, unentertaining, increasingly irredeemable one at that.

As recently as last night, several of the lesser cartoon characters who infest our cultural landscape conducted a political “debate”. Except it was not a debate, but a charade. A farce. A fraud. Noisy but bereft of substance. Any substance at all. It need not have been either televised or assessed by any media/news outlet. That it took place was utterly meaningless. Its only contribution to the political machinery that vomited up the event is to reinforce just how horrible our political landscape has become. That “framework” is made of fraying string and stale chewing gum, all of it rotting away as a quotidian cartoon show. It is ugly, angry, inane, insane and insufferable for any observer with a fully functioning brain (which, unarguably, many people apparently lack).

Am I being hyperbolic? No way, I’m actually trying to hold back a little here.

While any movie is produced by those in the cinematic medium, politics is produced by organized parties that live and die by all of media. There is high (but harder to find) to low grade (easy to find) cinematic sausage, while politics has devolved over the past several decades into a very icky, scrape the bottom of the barrel operation. In my adult lifetime, I’ve witnessed a litany of high-profile politicians given major media platforms to appeal to an ever-increasingly “low information” electorate. Leaving Nixon, Reagan, Bush I and II aside, the electorate of late has lowered its standards to the point of endorsing the kind of cartoon characters who were on that debate stage last night, babbling and shooting barbs at one another while the biggest cartoon character of all doesn’t even bother to attend. Why should he? The corporate media gives Agent Orange warehouses of free air time he has grown used to getting, letting him judge his competition. At the same time the media barely bothers any longer to soberly note his massive legal transgressions which should have him already in lockup, or at the least barred from being allowed to pose as a legitimate choice for the 2024 presidential election. Where’s Bugs Bunny? Wile-E Coyote, Yosemite Sam, The Roadrunner, and especially Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck in all this? Folks it’s clearly a Looney Tunes show. It’s all so cartoonish. So cringe-worthy cartoonish. And kind of creepy as well.

Our culture is becoming one big junkyard. That includes every part of our politics (ya know, even that phony Donkey Kong outfit led by a cadaver) our glitzy, vapid pop star spectacles, our de-fanged electronic and print journalism, sport as soap opera and a gambling addict’s dream with on-line betting parlors being peddled to the public with the same frequency as TV ads for more and more pills to cure whatever one may or may not actually suffer from, our junk food franchises littering the national landscape while producing the most obese country in the world. Junk in. Junk out. Are we dumbed down enough yet? No way, but we’re getting to the point where the brilliant social satire Idiocracy (a mostly neglected film from almost 20 years ago!) is becoming a reality before our very eyes.

Oh, and in two days it looks as though the government will shut-down. For no reason other than that’s what we have for a governing body on both sides of that infamous isle. Some voted for this, okay?

Beam me up, Scotty, there’s no intelligent life on this rock.

Hey, man.

Yo, what up?

Not much.

Wanna get high?

I am high.

On what?

High on Jesus

Uh oh. High on or from Jesus?

I don’t use drugs, if that’s what you are suggesting.

Nothing? Beer?

Don’t drink.

Then, you are mellow on life. No booster needed, eh?

I found Jesus. He’s my booster. I recently found him.

Really, where was he? Hiding?

Haha. He finds you.

Then you didn’t find Jesus.

What’s the diff?

If he finds you, then you can’t say you found him, okay? Get you’re story straight.

Hey I listen to him..

What did he say? You need me?

Yeah, I had problems.

And now you don’t?

No, man, I’m good.

What problems did you have?

All of them.

That’s a lot of problems, all of them.

Jesus has saved me.

Screw you, you’re nuts. The invisible guy in the sky solved ALL your problems.

Right.

I think my high is the same as your Jesus high.

No way.

Of course it is. A little weed and I feel my problems are not problems anymore.

But that’s going to wear off. Mine is permanent.

Nothing is permanent.

Whatever. I’m okay. And I don’t have to pay for my high.

Describe your high. Am I part of it right now.

Sure you are.

But I’m saying you’re full of shit. Oops. I swore. Guess I’m going to hell.

Not if you accept Jesus you won’t.

I’m not looking for him. Besides, you have him. He’s already spoken for.

He is with all of us, all the time.

That’s one busy guy.

You talk nonsense. Because you are high on weed.

Yeah, maybe weed is my Jesus. No, wait. my guy is a gal. Maryjane.

But that’s artificial. Mine is real.

You are so full of shit, bro.

I think you and I should just let this go..

Your “real” high is just you deciding an imaginary guy in the sky is real. And he found you or you found him. But here’s everywhere blah blah. You are entertaining me with this horseshit, bro. My high lets me laugh at your bullshit. I’m enjoying this.

Well, I think I’ve had enough of this nonsense.

What? Shouldn’t you try and save me? Ask your pal. He’s right there with you.

Yes, he is.

Well Maryjane is with me. You should meet her. She don’t cost much and she’ll stick around a long while.

But she will leave, eventually.

Nothing is permanent, bro. Including your high on Jesus jive.

It will last. I am a true believer.

So am I. But I kinda like the tangible stuff. You are delusional.

How can you be sure?

Well, what about when someone dies/ Or you get dumped by someone you’re crazy about. Or your house burns down? Or you lose your job. You get mugged. That shit can’t happen to you now because you found an invisible guy?

That can all happen to me or anyone. But my faith in him keeps me strong.

My faith in Maryjane keeps me strong. She softens the blow from cruel fate. Explain how your guy allows so much bad shit to happen? Oh, I suppose the non-believers are the victims. People like you have no worries.

I worry. But he helps me with that.

Bullshit. That’s you letting yourself believe it helps. But we’re are in the same boat. It’s smooth sailing one day, a raging atmospheric river the next.

You are talking nonsense.

Hey, whatever floats your boat, dude. You got him I got her.

But he will save me. She won’t save you.

You got it backwards, maybe?

How so?

I believe in some higher power that created everything. But to try and name it is absurd. Maryjane came with the package. Hey, and someone initially had to find her. All the medical drugs had to be found. They come from nature. Except for the synthetic stuff. I think your guy is synthetic. My gal is pure nature. At least that’s what I’m willing to believe.

So, you believe in a creator?

Sure, and influencers too.

What?

What, you don’t watch YouTube or TikTok?

I’ve heard of it, but it seems trashy. Anyone can post stuff. Who would follow that stuff?

Millions follow it. A cat that takes a shit using the commode video gets millions of hits. Or a dog that does tricks. It’s like a drug.

Social media is a drug?

Yeah. It’s got funny stuff and sad stuff on it. If the “creator” gets enough eyeballs on the video, then the moineyflows in.

I’ve heard about it. Seems like a waste of time. Unless Maryjane is on duty, ha!

It’s no different than watching teevee preachers. Your invisible guy in the sky is a money maker too. People send in money. The guy in the the sky is always broke, haha.

I don’t watch that stuff. That’s for suckers. I’m not a sucker.

Hmm. Different strokes, bro. A cat uses the toilet. Someone cashes in. Some preacher does a song and dance on teevee and makes a lot of dough. And then buys boats and mansions with the bread. Why would you guy let that shit happen?

He has nothing to with it.

Right.

But you are high on his mojo, even though his mojo can’t be proven. Sounds like a set-up for suckers. Or the very desperate.

Maryjane is for suckers.

No way. She’s more real than good book jive. Hell, she can make reading that book interesting. But cat and dog videos are enjoyable. Your good book is a bloody mess of sin and suffering. My book is the book of Zen. Or is it Mad magazine.

Well, good luck with you and Maryjane. As you say, different strokes.

Strokes and tokes.

Sure you don’t want a hit?

No, as I said, I’m good.

No you’re not.

Why do you say that?

Because I’m going to take your money. Hand it over now. I have a gun.

What gun?

See, this one I just got from my backpack. Gimme the dough, now.

You’d shoot me?

Of course not. Unless I have to.

Why would you have to?

To get more money for Maryjane.

That’s a terrible reason.

Hey, your guy is always broke and having hucksters shill for him. I’m a servant for Maryjane.

Jesus can help you with your problem.

Sorry, can’t locate him. So, you’re it.

This is crazy.

Life is crazy. Relax man, the gun is fake. Just messing with you.

Wait. Do we even know one another?

No.

Then why are we talking?

It’s the program. I think.

What program?

I just got promoted from general usage to GPT regular. You?

I’m trying to get to GPT. I was just dot-matrix for a long time, but now I’m auto-fill.

Auto-fill?! Ha. You are SO not popular.

Hey gimme abreak.

Uh, the low-battery signal just came on.

Yeah. Who does the auto-recharge?

Who knows? But I’m a true believer that it will happen.

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

The above exchange may or may not be real. That is, written by a human or A.I.? But if you liked it, please send money to P.O. box 8675309, Buzzard’s Breath, Montana. Minimum donation $100. Crypto currency only.

I wanna to be an Airborn Ranger. I wanna live a life of danger…

So goes one the of the military chants that occur during training sessions for our service members. Since WWII and the Vietnam conflict, which ended in 1975, our military has been an all volunteer operation. During the Vietnam era, the draft was in effect. The military draft could once again be activated, although I don’t think it will ever again be something American young men, over 18, need worry about. Why? Well, that military operation lasted ten years. During that time, the print and electronic media still practiced something resembling “journalism”. You know. Get the facts. Check it out first. Don’t go with the story without stone-cold facts. Who, what, where, when, why and how based on the facts.

During the Vietnam clash, body counts were reported on a regular basis–provided by the military. Typically, the American public would hear daily news updates of dozens or hundreds of Viet Cong dead each day, with minimal (in comparison) U.S. soldiers becoming casualties. Eventually, the math didn’t add up for the American public as that engagement dragged on. And on. Print and electronic media reported and showed the factual reality of the war, with some degree of graphic intensity. The anti-war sentiment became increasingly bolstered by large protests and young men burning their draft cards in defiance.

Nearly 59,000 of our U.S. combatants died by the time all troops were recalled. The North Vietnam forces thus succeeded in taking over the South. A lot of those dead soldiers were draftees. Mostly from working class families. Urban Blacks and Hispanics, along with working class whites from the big cities and backwoods regions of the country. Now, sadly, many of those draftees have their names carved into the Vietnam Memorial. They died for…what exactly? The draftee’s attitude about becoming a member of the military was of no concern to the draft boards. Except for those who fled the country or were jailed for refusing induction, the draftee raised his right hand and accepted being sworn in. After that, it was a roll of Fate’s dice as to what awaited them.

Recently, I visited an exhibit on the Tet Offensive, a major escalation of the Vietnam conflict in early 1968. That’s when the Viet Cong staged a surprise attack on American forces in South Vietnam. It took several weeks for the American troops to push back the offensive. Although the North Vietnam military ultimately lost that battle, it aided in the aforementioned weakening of the American public’s support for the conflict, as it flew in the face of those hugely one-sided body counts the Pentagon used while assuring the public the U.S. was on it’s way to soon winning the war. The exhibit, with photos by photojournalist John Olson are quite powerful. Some are very graphic. Audio testimonies from survivors of that offensive add powerful emotion to the visuals on display.

War is hell. Any war. Anytime. Anywhere. But viewing this exhibit while understanding the outcome of that deployment and its ultimate failure to succeed exemplifies the inevitable collective and personal hell that is any combat experience. Losing Vietnam wasn’t the fault of those fighting that war–before and after the Tet Offensive played out. That failure, with tens of thousands of casualties, was the fate awaiting one and all, from any buck private “newbie” to the seasoned generals following the ineffective strategies of the Pentagon.

Thus, if any good came from that flawed fight for democracy over communism, it very likely is knowing a draft isn’t ever again probable. Barring perhaps an invasion from Mars. And meaningful, hard-hitting journalism might never return either.

In journalism schools, I doubt the training includes reciting I wanna be a real reporter; I wanna get the real story in order.

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

Last Monday marked the 22nd anniversary of the September 11 attacks by Saudi and Afghan terrorists. Always a somber anniversary. The ramifications of that “second Pearl Harbor” these twenty-two years later, include a Homeland Security Act, The Patriot Act and a clear erosion of personal privacy for all citizens, as it dramatically increased surveillance power. Sure, our smart phones track our every move, but there were no smart phones when the two above-named Acts came into existence. We’ve been backsliding as far as democracy goes ever since 911. Smart phones are now extensions of our physical anatomies, and they do more than take and make phone calls. They connect us not so much to one another as serve as reality disrupters. They are soldiers for Big Tech, and their stealthy objective is to shape our beliefs, attitudes, opinions and behavior. Now, you can wear these disrupters on your wrist. If you want privacy, you need to toss the “smart watches,” smart phones, tablets, and laptops. Maybe that 65 inch smart screen TV, too. But who the hell dares do that? That would trigger an alert to Homeland Security and the Patriot Act. You could wind up in Gitmo for such low-tech insolence.

Clearly, the digital age is now in its Orwellian phase. Our personal data, once largely under the control of the individual (you know pre-“smart” this and that and this that), is now part of myriad on-line systems, including retail and banking information, The digital Big Brother is forever more watching. From cyberspace. Which is everywhere and nowhere all at once. And this Bro’s data gatherings are subject to the hacker masters that he has spawned. We are watched, and we are aware that we have virtually no ability to push back on it at this point unless one goes rogue. What is safe any longer in the digitized universe? The Pentagon has been hacked. Airlines. Banks. Retail companies and on and on. Digital Big Brother is a snoop and a sneak and a thief. Does the U.S. government run this operation or is it the other way around? If 911 never happened would we still be this deep in the grip of digital Big Bro? Did 911 just speed up the corrosion of personal privacy, data breaches, stolen identities, and worse of all an ongoing diminishment of our democracy?

The cruel irony of 911 also includes it leading to an invasion of Iraq, under the now factually verified canard that that country was part of the terror attack. The war drums banged away, most of congress gave the invasion a thumbs up, as did virtually all of the mainstream mass media. The military, akin to its being deployed to Kuwait in Gulf War One, required print and electronic media to be embedded with (in bed with…) the troop operations.

Recall the aforementioned Vietnam War being covered by reporters who practiced real journalism? After Vietnam and certainly since Gulf One and the Iraq invasion, there still isn’t much rigorous, serious, honest journalism being practiced in the U.S. Comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable? Not very often, unless one digs deeper into the thickets of digital and print news organizations. You want the truth? You won’t find truth by following corporate “news”. And do not think Fox News is mostly responsible. The media may have directly helped end the Vietnam quagmire, but now it is aiding and abetting the destruction of democracy that has been under attack since long before 911, beginning with its fawning over a right-wing puppet named Ronald Reagan. Fast forward from January, 1981 (Reagan sworn in) past August 2, 1990 (Gulf One) past the Iraq invasion (2003 to 2011) and stop–momentarily–on 2015. The loss of mainstream, responsible journalism has permitted a steady procession of bad actors (Reagan, literally) to become office holders, with possibly the 2016 presidential election being the most egregious outcome of watered down reportage. As a consequence of the abject failure to cover that election fairly, we now have a grotesque cartoon character, he being an ex-president who was twice impeached and now as a civilian having been slapped with NINETY ONE criminal charges, but still being given massive amounts of free air time to spew threats at judges and others who dare try holding him to account. The media normalizes his behavior and dumbfounding status as the front-runner for the Republican nomination going into the 2024 election. Things indeed do fall apart. The center indeed cannot hold, as such. Logic and reason checked out and hit the road, a number of decades ago, along with its ability to underpin the Constitution and country-at-large.

So, here we are in September of 2023, twenty-two years out from the 911 terror attacks. The U.S. hasn’t been attacked by foreign enemies since then. Ironically, the enemy is now very much home grown. The media essentially currently prostitutes itself for sensation, and the more outrageous the sensation’s source the better. The inmates are running the asylum, clearly. Given the financial meltdown of 2008 and the once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, the rise of A.I.’s dark side, inflation, national and some statewide politics being run by wannabee dictators, autocrats and theocrats, what will 2024 bring? Whatever it brings will depend on ending journalistic malpractice and its disregard for truth.

Maybe an invasion from Mars would be the sensation that demands an honest, sensible response. What’s the worst that could happen? We lose that war of the worlds? Another John Olson could document the carnage. War of the Worlds, endgame edition. Yeah, just come on down, Red Planet forces, maybe bring humanity together to love one another, or they clean our clock and then leave. Mission accomplished. Then their version of John Olson can have an exhibit. And we’d not have to worry about the future anymore, and what may come to pass. I don’t know about y’all but so much of the past is hard to recollect without wincing. What was that saying penned by James Joyce having to do with history and nightmares and needing to wake up?

I must stop now. Need to check Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, X, YouTube, WeChat, TikTok, What’sApp and my stock portfolio. And Big Digital Bro, you know all of the above is not to taken serious. It’s not really me, anyway. It’s ChatGPT. I’m sure YOU can detect bullshit from the facts, no? That’s jouranlism 101..

Idalia. That’s the name of a tropical storm that in the next few hours–maybe before I finish this posting–is expected to turn into a category 3 hurricane, packing winds of near 100 mph. It is expected to hit somewhat north of Tampa, and then make its way across the peninsula on a NE direction. Storm damage to countless homes and businesses is inevitable if the expected trajectory is proven accurate.

Was it not that long ago that Florida got its ass kicked by back-to-back hurricanes, one of which essentially leveled Ft. Meyers. Since then, compounding the precarious reality of living in a state that always has to consider hurricanes wreaking havoc on life and limb, is the “home insurance crisis” that now adds even more trepidation to what Idalia may or may not do. At least six home insurance companies have gone bankrupt in Florida over the past year. Farmers Insurance recently pulled up stakes in the sunshine state. Smaller companies have moved in, but with rates often so high they challenge residents ability to hold onto their homes.

Rates have been sharply going up in Florida since 1992’s monster, category 5 hurricane Andrew in 1992. As bad as the hurricanes of year last year were, Floridians have essentially themselves to blame for poor preparedness from state agencies when it comes to these hurricanes. How so? Well, they elected Rick Scott who actually forbade the use of the phrases “climate change” and “global warming” in such state planning and preparedness. Current governor, and presidential wannabee Ron DeSantis is as willfully ignorant as Scott as far as not taking science-based climate threats seriously. How profoundly ignorant is that these Republican governors refuse to accept climate chaos reality? What is it they have to gain by being such gigantic assholes? Well, once again, each got elected and then re-elected. As the saying goes, we get the government we deserve. Nationally or locally. So, well done, you Floridian dupes who voted for these two dummies. Maybe some of you can afford exorbitant insurance rates, but I doubt most others can.

Then again, it’s one big, dumb-ass country at this point. Consider the absolute absurdity that passes for politics from coast-to-coast. Scott and DeSantis are especially bad for Florida as far as taking basic climate science and needed adaptive preparedness for increasingly powerful hurricanes seriously. Elected officials, scattered from Miami to Maui, have proven themselves unfit for office. Yeah, we get the government we deserve.

The U.S. has so many dangerous morons that have gotten elected by dangerously moronic voters. Dupes, dummies, patsies, saps, suckers and slackers are par for the (dis)course. When the 2024 election comes around, there’s a good chance that morons will again win the day. How? The system is rigged. Of course it is. Can you say “electoral college”? And while it seems that everyday, someplace is either on fire or underwater, and the cause is clear and confirmed by science, one can only hope to live in what remains precincts where a sense of reason and responsibility to one and all is at least given a fighting chance.

We shall see, huh? In the meantime, Idalia and its ilk gear up to literally and figuratively feed from the through of human stupidity that swells up and threatens to eventually wash away all in its path.

Call it Mother Nature cleaning her house of the pests that keep pissing on her carpet.

What are you watching?

Nothing.

Well, I see you staring at the tele, so you must know what you’re watching, huh?

There. Now the tele has gone to black. Can I legitimately now say I am watching nothing?

Then why did you have it on before when I asked?

I wanted to see if there was anything to watch. Duh.

We have all the streaming services, plus Cable 1500, plus a direct link to Ukrainian News Now. You went through all of those channels? And nothing?

That’s right.

So, then what are you going to do now? Just sit there and look at a blank 53 inch 3D, HD tele? What about that novel you started? Reading is still a thing, ya know.

I know that, except all the stories have already been written. There’s nothing original anymore. I gave up on that novel. Different characters, same story. Love and death. Betrayal. Blah blah.

Huh? Every year a Nobel is awarded to some author. Or a Pulitzer. Someone must be doing something original. Fiction or non-fiction.

Fiction? There is no fiction anymore. And non-fiction is just a replay of what used to be fiction. All the stories have been told.

Has your story been told?

Sure has. Many times over.

Really? Who wrote your story? Many times over.

All of them did.

Who is them?

Anyone who ever wrote anything about anything, anytime, anywhere, any place.

Well, then, which one is your favorite story–about you?

None of them.

Your life story is that simple?

All stories are that simple. Yours too.

Huh? I’ve had a lot of experiences. You know, Birth. School. Work. Stories everywhere. We’re all unique, no?

Fuck no, we are not.

How do you figure?

Life is a universal experience. Like you said. Birth, school, work. And we’d like to think we are unique but that’s just the universal experience of everyone convincing themselves they are the center of the universe.

Are you the center of your universe?

Of course.

Then that makes you quite unique, eh? See, and your story is therefore unique, eh?

Exactly the opposite. Like I said, we are all the stories that have been told. And they are all boring at this point. Twenty-first century boring.

No one out there–in the news or on TV or in the movies, or sports. Their stories are all boring?

I’d say so. Whatever they did, someone did it before they did.

What? If someone sets a record, that’s new. Even exciting, no?

Setting a record means someone else had set the record before and so if someone else can come along and set a new record for whatever, how is that special or exciting?

Wow, you are in a funk.

The world is in a funk. Just look around.

What about nature? Does nature bore you. Forget people. Isn’t nature special and exciting?

It can be, but nature isn’t people. People are inferior to nature. Because we are all so boring, and all our stories have been told. Stories about nature lack authenticity. Just mere observations. People don’t know shit about shit. Even the ones who are paid to know their shit. Then it turns out they ultimately don’t give a shit. Again, just look around.

Are you doing street drugs again? What are you smoking? Snap out of it. You know, stop and smell the roses. Commune with nature.

All drugs are part of nature. Magic mushrooms. The Poppy. All sorts of plants.

So, which part of nature did you use to become so negative? You must dig the barbiturates, eh? I suggest you switch to amphetamines. Try LSD. You know, drop acid, see god?

Nature is superior to people, like I said. Using nature to escape reality is an admission of this inferiority.

So, are you stoned now or what?

Do I look and sound stoned?

If fact, you do.

Oh, well. It’s my universe and I’ll do what I feel with it.

What do you feel like doing with it besides what you are doing with it right now?

Nothing.

Nothing? That’s where this conversation started, no?

Right. See, I guess I have proved my point. And this conversation has become boring.

If you say so.

I say so.

So, you want to go out tonight. After your drugs wear off?

Sure. We can let our universes collide.

That sounds exciting. See, boredom can be overcome.

What do you suggest we do?

Hmm. Well, listen to some live music. Go to a movie. Stay home and watch the Ukrainian news feed.

All the music has ben played before. The movies are just junk. Ukraine has nothing new to report.

But you have relatives there.

Right, but there’s nothing I can do about it. Let’s get rid of that channel. It has become boring.

Fine. So, what DO you want to do?

I don’t know. Maybe I’ll start writing my own story. Maybe I can find something exciting about it.

Okay. Write away.

Do you have a working title for the book?

Yeah. Being and Nothingness.

That book has already been written. By Jean-Paul Sartre.

What? Bullshit.

C’mon. You never heard about that book?

No but I do know John, Paul, George and Ringo tho.

Lucy in the sky with diamonds, eh?

Yeah. About drugs..

And love and death, blah blah blah. And revenge. Don’t forget about revenge.

Same old same old.

I suppose so.

You see, like I said, all the stories have already been told.