America is- 23 in education.37 in healthcare.34 in raising family index.No high-speed train.Highest number of homeless people.Highest number of incarcerated people.78% of people live paycheck to paycheck.Stock market is not economy of Americans! Where 90% of money belongs to top 10% of the population, it’s a wallet for the rich.
Oligarchy not democracy
2020, Greater China topped the list with a billionaire population of 799.
1 In corona-related deaths#1 In obesity#1 In gun-related deaths
They’re going to sell off the USPS, the ONLY department mentioned in the Constitution, to private enterprise.
Trump is straight up lying: Ocasio-Cortez graduated cum laude from Boston University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in both international relations and economics. In high school she came in second in the microbiology category of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair with a research project on the effect of antioxidants on the lifespan of the nematode . In a show of appreciation for her efforts, the MIT Lincoln Laboratory named a small asteroid after her: 23238 Ocasio-Cortez.
And they gave AOC one minute at the DNC.
Every day I am more and more disturbed by the confusion and disinformation degrading the credibility of any of those things we have always trusted. It is extremely serious- and Trump is the main villain.
Voting rights…that’s not our thing. A Trump spokesperson said it. Nobody cares? Really? Neoliberalism is dead set against democracy; a population that has been made into wage slaves will eventually reject the propaganda used to brainwash them into voting against a living wage, social security, financial industry regulation etc., and then their racket is exposed. Very soon it will be a question of either voting all these corporate owned politicians out or rolling out the guillotines.
Well…my garage door opener is talking to me again. When it malfunctions I have come to believe God is telling me I am doing something wrong. It has become a kind of oracle to me. When there is some decision pending or drama going on I let the garage door decide. Crazy, right? Not really. Very human. Today it worked perfectly and that meant my inclination to let go of some emotional baggage instead of heading out the door with it is how to proceed. I feel better. And…I have a couple days off.
My neighbor is flying one of those blue green orange stripe not-a-U.S. flag and it is disturbing. I don’t like it. But if I was to go and tell him “that is not the U.S. flag” he would get very upset. America is in trouble. Same if I went and told the people across the street their motorcycles with no mufflers are absolutely loud and unacceptable. Their outlaw-motorcycle-gang-I-am-merica attitude would not tolerate that and I would have an even more serious problem than those damn things sitting there “warming up” at all hours. Same as if I told my neighbor in the opposite backyard their truly gigantic and always angry attack dog barks at me and mine over the fence whenever we show ourselves- and I actually have a handgun in a kitchen cabinet in case that monster jumps the fence. They would doubtless tell me attack breeds are misunderstood and theirs is not really mean, just a good watchdog. Right. My community is mostly conservative in this military midwest town and 400 horsepower pickup trucks and Trump stickers are common. Most of my coworkers own AR-15s or Kalashnikovs or some flavor of military weaponry.
Everything that is wrong with America. But they mostly think climate change is a hoax and the rich are on their side- and they are everything “right” about America. They certainly are “on the right” and likely believe everything said on the Fox News white power hour.
My comment from YouTube: “Doctors, lawyers, scientists, and engineers are the four “legs” of civilization and are the intelligent and hard working upper percentage of the IQ range. Most of us, the “average people” (no shame in admitting you are not a rocket scientist), are simply not capable of performing at their level. If academia had not been corrupted into the scam it is then the smartest and most driven among us would have credentials that we trust and this would be the qualifier for public office. That said, they are imperfect human beings exactly like the rest of us. Many of them are real creeps (and highly visible), while some of them are great people while the rest are some of both. In a democracy, the trick is the average citizen like me being able to think critically and pick the best representative. See how that is supposed to work? The mortal enemy of America right now is propaganda and straight up lies being almost all the citizenry have to work with.”
Crazier and crazier news every day. Looks like the Post Office might finally be the end of America. Very possible though most Americans have other stuff on their minds. That is the problem with a spoiled self-centered population- they eventually get what they deserve. On the bright side Kamala Harris is the VP pick. If Joe resigns due to health problems we will have a black woman as president.
It may seem…wrong…to go from the pandemic to another world but the future is waiting for us make it happen. The reasons for America’s failure to control the virus is obvious to most of us. Most of us will elect a new president on that issue alone. There is going to be life after this is over…except for those who die of course.
20:20 “-we created a system a hundred years ago that said no one company can control society-” (actually, a hundred and thirty years ago)
From wiki: “In the 1880s, hundreds of small short-line railroads were being bought up and consolidated into giant systems. (Separate laws and policies emerged regarding railroads and financial concerns such as banks and insurance companies.) People for strong antitrust laws argued that, in order for the American economy to be successful, it would require free competition and the opportunity for individual Americans to build their own businesses. As Senator John Sherman put it, “If we will not endure a king as a political power we should not endure a king over the production, transportation, and sale of any of the necessaries of life.” Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act almost unanimously in 1890, and it remains the core of antitrust policy. The Act prohibits agreements in restraint of trade and abuse of monopoly power.”
Railroads really enabled the modern era to begin in the early 1800’s. Think about it…before railroads the only way to move large amounts of material or people any distance was by water or by horse-powered wagon. That was it- since the beginning of civilization ten thousand years ago this had not changed. Most people never traveled more than ten or twenty miles from where they were born and almost everything used by people was locally manufactured. If you did not live by a river or on the coast you were a long long way from anywhere or any-thing. Because railroads enabled vastly increased industrialization and commerce the wealth associated with this was astronomical.
Greater concentrations of private wealth than ever seen in history…ever.
The railroad companies were the first to stop competing against each other and began cooperating in mergers and this immediately resulted in these large companies blatantly raising prices as high as the market would bear. This made for super-rich shareholders and the general population essentially paying every penny they had for basic necessities. Like selling bottles of water for 10 dollars each after a hurricane except all the time. The citizens went to their representatives and the government began throwing executives of these companies in jail and breaking up the corporations. This is basically admitting super-rich individuals are a threat to the nation and regulating the amount of wealth they can have. Really.
But some corporations were seen as “good” in their effects and if they presented themselves as doing a service to the public they were allowed to continue as super-large companies. The main reason this was allowed, under strict government regulations, were good business practices that created a high standard of living for workers. From wiki:
“Welfare capitalism is capitalism that includes social welfare policies.[1] Welfare capitalism is also the practice of businesses providing welfare services to their employees. Welfare capitalism in this second sense, or industrial paternalism, was centered on industries that employed skilled labor and peaked in the mid-20th century.
Today, welfare capitalism is most often associated with the models of capitalism found in Central Mainland and Northern Europe, such as the Nordic model, social market economy and Rhine capitalism. In some cases welfare capitalism exists within a mixed economy, but welfare states can and do exist independently of policies common to mixed economies such as state interventionism and extensive regulation.[2] ”
Any distinctions between “welfare capitalism” and “embedded liberalism” (The New Deal) are about what side of the aisle the economists and politicians discussing them are on. An example of this word salad is found in this forward to a book on the subject:
“The current globalization debate has revived interest in the viability of welfare
states in competitive market economies. Comparing Welfare Capitalism challenges
the popular theory of a downward convergence. It argues that there are at least
two varieties of capitalism: Anglo-American free market economies, and Rhenish
(Germanic or Japanese) coordinated economies; each variation in production
systems is embedded in a national welfare regime.”
A new term for me to think about: the “coordinated economy.”
In 2020 we have these billionaire founders with a controlling interest and their shareholders who are also lesser billionaires running Super Corporations presenting themselves as providing necessary services to the public. They are inferring they should not be penalized or broken up when they in effect “regulate themselves” in pursuit of greater profits. They of course want to present all of this in the most confusing manner possible so they can keep getting richer and richer. It is…corruption. Plain and simple.
Neoliberals do not, in any way, consider regulating themselves richer as corrupt or immoral. That is their ideology. They have invested mountains of money over the last half a century in propaganda to convince the working class the rich are “the good guys”; the wealth creators who raise everybody up with what trickles down. Those of us living paycheck to paycheck who understand history have a different opinion; we are the ones paying ten dollars for a bottle of water. Let me copy and paste what I wrote a couple paragraphs up again: “The citizens went to their representatives and the government began throwing executives of these companies in jail and breaking up the corporations. This is basically admitting super-rich individuals are a threat to the nation and regulating the amount of wealth they can have. Really.”
I am voting for anything that sounds like “A New Deal.”
I somehow missed another day in the election countdown. Oh well.
“He’s gonna double and triple your taxes- because he’s following The Radical Left Agenda- take away your guns…no religion, no anything, hurt the bible, hurt God, He’s against God. He’s against God, he’s against guns, he’s against energy- our kind of energy.” Donald J. Trump
(double and triple your taxes) Not much chance of that happening anytime soon; give a progressively driven congress and senate some time though. The tax rate on the top earners was 91 percent and that was really what made America great.
(take away your guns) The second amendment is about a “A well regulated Militia.”
In the 1700’s avoiding conscription was one of the reasons people came to America. To avoid having to maintain a large standing Army it was desirable for civilians in the colonies to have their own single shot muskets as this was the single common principal weapon used by all nations. No AR-15’s that could kill a hundred people a minute in 1776. The argument can be made that limiting weapons ownership would open the door to a large standing army and so it can be argued the right of the people to preclude Hessians and mercenaries and conscription with Militias was not to be infringed.
pre·clude
/prəˈklo͞od/
verb
prevent from happening; make impossible.
Oxford English Dictionary: Militia– “a military force that is raised from the civil population to supplement a regular army in an emergency.”
a military force that engages in rebel or terrorist activities in opposition to a regular army.
all able-bodied civilians eligible by law for military service.”
Women are eligible to enlist in all occupational fields, with the exception of serving in the Navy Seals or on submarines.
The National Guard and Reserve components are actually the Militia and they have local armories where weapons are stored.
(no religion) Separation of Church and State
“The phrase “separation of church and state” is derived from a letter written by President Thomas Jefferson in 1802 to Baptists from Danbury, Connecticut, and published in a Massachusetts newspaper soon thereafter.”
“The phrase was also mentioned in an eloquent letter written by President John Tyler on July 10, 1843.[100] During the 1960 presidential campaign the potential influence of the Catholic Church on John F. Kennedy’s presidency was raised. If elected, it would be the first time that a Catholic would occupy the highest office in the United States. John F. Kennedy, in his Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association on 12 September 1960, addressed the question directly, saying,
I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute – where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote – where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference – and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or the people who might elect him. I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish – where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source – where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials – and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all. […] I do not speak for my church on public matters – and the church does not speak for me. Whatever issue may come before me as President – on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject – I will make my decision in accordance with these views, in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise. But if the time should ever come – and I do not concede any conflict to be even remotely possible – when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office; and I hope any conscientious public servant would do the same.
Joe Biden is a devout Catholic. Donald Trump is not known for living the Christian life.
As for Joe being against “our kind of energy” that is Trump self-identifying as a climate change denier. The republicans have fought tooth and nail against any action to mitigate climate change because they have been paid to do that by the fossil fuel industry. Greed, corruption, and Anti-science. Not even mentioning the virus. That is a whole other story.
Trump is said to be working directly against what is good for America. And several of my coworkers now scare me because they are so deep into this cult they continue to talk openly about violence in connection with a “rigged election.” 86 days to go.
A problem in America, one inextricably linked with the corruption of the NRA, is the “assault weapon.” This is a non-specific term sometimes used to describe a firearm having some characteristics of an assault-type military weapon. The assault rifle concept was developed by the Nazis (who else?) for use on the Russian front. It essentially gave the infantryman the option to use aimed semi-automatic fire out to several hundred yards or fire bursts of fully automatic fire like a light machine gun. This would allow a standard service weapon to replace heavier rifles and submachine guns and to a certain extent replace light machine guns. 77 years after it was invented the assault rifle is now the standard service weapon of all armies.
The AR-15, at under 8 pounds loaded, plus carrying six 30 round magazines in pouches and weighing an extra 6 pounds, adds up to a total weight about that of a heavy bag of groceries. A person who is a fair shot (they don’t kick much and are easy to shoot) who has practiced reloading can theoretically kill over 200 people in less than 5 minutes. Mass shooter Anders Breivik is an example of what these weapons allow any disturbed individual to do:
Within a few hours of the explosion he travelled to Utøya island, the site of a camp for Worker’s Youth League, posing as a police officer in order to take the ferry to the island, and then fired intermittently for more than one hour, killing 69[77][78][79] with one murder victim as young as 14 years old.[80][81][82]
When the second amendment was written the standard military weapon was the muzzle loading musket with a rate of fire of about 3 shots per minute. So, theoretically, Breivik could have wandered around that island shooting 3 shots per minute and killed 60 people in only 20 minutes. But that is not reality and neither is the worn-out argument that armed Americans will prevent tyranny by rising up against the government if necessary. Which is what many NRA members claim is the correct interpretation of the second amendment- and why they hold to the insane idea that the unrestricted sale of military grade weapons should never be infringed upon.
Might as well allow anyone to buy hand grenades.
The related hot button issue in America is handguns. I once asked a former special forces guy what was the best handgun and he told me they are “mostly useless in combat and mainly used for executing prisoners.” Not useful for going to war against the government. The most infamous handgun is the Deringer used to assassinate Lincoln. It was, like the musket, also a muzzle-loaded single shot that took about a minute to load and a person in the early 1800’s, very concerned with protecting themselves from dangerous adversaries, might carry two of these little guns in their coat pockets- and were actually called “coat pistols” and sold in pairs.
For over a decade before Lincoln was assassinated Colt revolvers were available and the terrorist equivalents of those years carried four or five revolvers, giving them a couple dozen shots to rob banks and trains with. This was fairly accurately portrayed in the movie, “The Outlaw Josey Wales”, except the pair of that very large type of revolver the central character used were not typically carried on the person and were kept in holsters on the saddle.
Image: Amazon.com
Today the modern 9 millimeter semi-automatic pistol has a magazine capacity of around 15 shots but smaller caliber weapons with higher capacities of up to 20 shots are becoming popular. Handguns are harder to shoot than assault rifles but at close range inside buildings, and with some practice, are also effective at killing dozens of people as the Virginia Tech shooter of 2007 proved when he killed 32 people. Why several thousand every year die of gunshot wounds in the United States is obvious; modern handguns are easy to conceal and carry, have up to half the number of shots an assault rifle does, and can be reloaded just as fast- about one and a half seconds.
Exactly how to lower the death rate with gun control laws that still allow people to defend themselves is the question. It is not an impossible challenge. Not rocket science, not like putting a man on the Moon. Even allowing a segment of the population to possess military grade weapons as some kind of police reserve militia is not that hard. What is hard is overcoming those using the second amendment as a political lever to further their agendas. With a diet of action movies conditioning males to prepare for the apocalypse it is easy for conservatives to inspire fear and get people to vote for them so as to prevent “the radical left” from coming and taking their AR-15’s away- and ending their Rambo fantasies.
One example of a possible solution is the Colt Single Action Army revolver of 1873. It is featured in all classic western movies. 6 shots. Slow to reload. The short barrel model is easy enough to carry concealed. If some maniac wants to kill a couple dozen people it would be much harder to accomplish this when having to go through a free background check, psychological evaluation, and safety certification. Free means nobody will have to worry about getting priced out of their second amendment right. The Colt SAA does not greatly facilitate shooting dozens of people in a short period of time. Neither does a bolt action hunting rifle that holds three or four shots. See how that works?
We limit the number of shells a shotgun can legally hold to 3 when hunting birds. Might make sense to limit the number of rounds to double that for concealed carry and the Colt design makes it almost impossible to instantly reload. The whole cylinder can theoretically be taken out and a new loaded one inserted but there are ways to modify the design to prevent that. Really.
Ice on the Moon 