The New Era Socialist Thought

Socialism studies class division, the causes of class divisions and its effects on the people. A lot of Socialists wish to abolish all class divisions. They have seen that an unequal division of wealth causes economic class divisions, but have mistakenly attacked all class divisions.

Class divisions create hierarchies. Hierarchies are composed of many different types of classes. There are the hierarchies created by the dominant Capitalist economic system composed of rich and poor. There hierarchies in the home born of natural instincts, like parent and child. In school there students, teachers, principals, school board and such, all being part of a hierarchy. Even in social situations there will be subtle hierarchies due to the human factor of dominance and submissiveness. Take note that submissiveness is not a negative trait.

At work, and this is really important, there is a hierarchy. You who work the grind submit to it every day. A lot of you, even though you enjoy doing your skill, feel a little resentment having to submit to this. When you look at your paycheck, you feel a little bit like you may have been ripped off, don’t you. You have been all classified and placed into a notch in the machine. Your value has been calculated to the penny. How much value you create and how much of that value you get back. All of it created by your sweat and blood, created by your labor and thoughtful attention to detail. Your labor-value has been utilized to create wealth. You don’t get to have a say in it either.

There’s the problem with class and hierarchies. People don’t like it being a part of a hierarchy they have no say in. That’s why Socialists keep going on and on about having Democracy in the workplace. They say that the solution to the problem of class is to get rid of class wholesale. This is an error, and one of the causes of the failure of Socialism to take hold and Capitalism to win.

We New Era Socialists have to think of this problem in new era ways. Instead of abandoning class and hierarchies, we should think of them in a different manner. Like in the workplace, there has to be worker input into the processes. They, because their labor created the wealth, should have a say in the division of the wealth. On the boards of directors there should be people from the production floor there to advocate for them. Let there be hierarchies in the workplace, but allow the workers to have a say as to how those hierarchies function and are formed. This is the bringing of Democracy into the workplace.

The bringing of Democracy into the workplace is not the attempt to take from the owners their property. In reality it is merely the addressing of the problem of the unequal division of wealth. Addressing this problem at work would cause a transformation at home. In general, the standard of living would go up for people who are feeling kind of ripped off today when they look at their paycheck. Mostly the people on the bottom of the economic hierarchy would be affected.

One thing that would change is the notion of hierarchies. A natural hierarchy of experience would become the dominant hierarchical system. From the day we are born we look to the members of our species who have more years and experience for guidance and knowledge. It is a perfectly natural thing to do. From times of old we are told “Respect your elders.” and for good reason. Logic and reason would dictate that we should look to our people with more experience so that knowledge might be passed from one generation to the other, and thus we advance.

That regard for knowledge and experience should be present in the workplace. As the workers are allowed to vote for their advocate on the boards of a company, they would pick the person they respect for their knowledge and experience, coupled with a sense of justice and community. This would be a new hierarchy in the workplace which would form new classes of people who are more equal economically.

We have to evolve in our thinking about hierarchies. This is the New Era Socialist way of analyzing the situation. We New Era Socialists can’t be antagonists to Capitalists because that approach will get us nowhere. We have to show them that they are better off incorporating Socialist methods, like with the approach to hierarchies, than not.

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If you New Era Socialists want change there is only one way to peacefully get it under the current power structure. That way is with a massive vote of no confidence in political parties by a mass falling out of We the People from the political parties. We must all register No-Party affiliation in order to reign in political party power, and then thusly reign in their masters, the industry 1%ers.

I beg you. Go register as a non-affiliated voter right away. Watch as the political parties quake in fear as their precious voter base shrivels to nothing. They need you way more than you need them.

The political parties come and go. The Constitution lives on;

When people think in terms of Republican-v-Democrat I see a reflection of how thoroughly we have been indoctrinated.

We have got to break the current power structure, and it will not happen if we go about things as we always have. We have all got to drop out of the parties.

I'm not registered to a stupid partisan club. I am a free thinker. I dictate my own thoughts, then seek out candidates who best match that. I don't allow some ill advised compromise offered by thralls of industry. Namely the political parties.

Maybe if a political party offers some candidate who has policy that matches mine I might vote for them. No political party would be well advised to think they have my vote, or my registration in the bag. They don't own me, or my vote.

I own them, and so do you.

Here is the beginnings of an idea.

New Era Socialism is a political, social and economic ideology that supports economic and social interventions to promote social justice within the framework of a liberal democratic polity and capitalist economy. The protocols and norms used to accomplish this involve a commitment to representative and participatory democracy; measures for income redistribution and regulation of the economy in the general interest; and welfare state provisions. New Era Socialism thus aims to create the conditions for capitalism to lead to greater democratic, egalitarian and solidaristic outcomes.

The natural resources of energy, materials and labor should be nationalized.

Persons, companies and corporations who own mineral rights under the current system should be compensated for the loss of their claim, but only up to the date of the current owner’s death in the case of an individual, and a one time cash payout to companies and corporations.

Resource extraction companies and corporations shall be enabled to submit bids on the extraction and warehousing of the people’s resources. The lowest bidder win the award of extraction,

The currency used by the people should be backed by the value of the People’s Resource Stockpile.

The People’s Resource Stockpile would be managed by a new Department of Resources.

Private industry, government and collectives may draw resources from the People’s Resource Stockpile.

The Department of Resources sets the price of any resource extracted using guidelines set by economic objectives, and policy.

Once a resource has been purchased from the People’s Resource Stockpile, it is no longer the property of the People. Regardless of that, the People shall maintain control of the safe use and disposal of any privately or collectively owned material resource.

Nationalized labor is the way to enact a universal basic income. To enable such a thing it would be required to institute a National Labor Force. Any person may, using only their free will, apply for employment in the National Labor Force. Any business or corporation may apply for labor from the National Labor Force, The National Labor Force shall be in competition with the private labor market.

All persons would be eligible for inclusion in the basic income program, but with conditions. There shall be levels of support which are dictated by the person’s activities in the National Labor Force.

Any person may obtain a minimum basic income by merely applying for it and showing need (set conditions). The basic income would be financed through the sale of materials and energy in the People’s Resource Stockpile. The minimum basic income should provide the proper level of subsistence which would maintain health and vitality in body and mind.

Any person who applies and is put on the list of available labor shall receive a premium above the basic stipend. There should be additions to the basic income to promote participation in the National Labor Force. There should be longevity bonuses and educational bonuses paid in addition to the basic income. There should also be taken into account the level of hazard, and a premium paid for that.

Companies, corporations and government entities who make use of the National Labor Force shall maintain a level of safety, and human factors consideration, in the workplace as dictated by the National Labor Force. Private industry that employs labor from the private labor market shall not undercut the minimum price of labor set by the National Labor Force because labor is a national resource.

Monies collected from the sale of the People’s resources shall grant the greatest benefit to We the People. These monies shall pay the private industry who won the bid to extract, and for cleanup. These monies shall provide for the Basic Universal Income. They shall provide for Universal Healthcare. The money collected from the sales of the people’s resources should be used also for remediation of environmental damages already caused.

All resources of energy and materials where ever they may be found in their natural state must be included in nationalization. Resources within our sphere of influence on and off the Earth must be owned by We the People in fact, and not just in theory.

This isn't simple. I would be disrespecting you if I did not share more. So here you are, for what it is worth.

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New Era Socialist Solutions

I'm sick of half measures and failed dreams. I am a Baby Boomer and a Child of the Apollo era. I grew up on the Florida North coast and witnessed Gemini and Apollo rockets blasting their way into orbit and to the moon. I have memories of all of my family sitting around that primitive B&W TV set in awe as humans set foot on the moon! I remember the words as Neil Armstrong uttered the words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

We had big dreams back then. Everyone thought that by the year 2000 there would be civilization on Mars and bases on the moon. Things didn't turn out that way. Our giant leap for mankind turned out to be a giant leap for proving our technological superiority over the USSR. Once that was done, the ball was dropped. Nixon halted the Apollo program with 2 missions worth of hardware gone to waste. What a disappointment!

July 20, 2019 will mark the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing by Apollo. It has been half a century since this awesome feat. Something the world took part in. Could you try to imagine what our reality would be if we had of never stopped with the momentum we had gained during Apollo? Look at the technological spin-offs that has come from Apollo and the other space missions. Our lives would be profoundly different if we had of continued the effort to take the moon for all humankind.

When President Kennedy said "we do it because it is hard." it was extremely hard. We didn't know how we would pull it off. We had to make everything from scratch. The computers of that era were very primitive compared to today’s models. Our engineers were cutting things so close, when the Eagle landed there was only 9 seconds of fuel remaining. Our knowledge was lacking then, but the situation has changed significantly since the early days of NASA. Now our technological base is pretty solid. We have the means to follow through on the dream created by Apollo.

We not only have the means, but we also have vastly more knowledge about our situation in space and the resources that could be had. What we need now is the national will to get the greatest migration of the human species ever attempted going. It has to be as important, if not more, than the effort to win WWII.

When we get to a point of maturity in this endeavor, a system of processes serving humanity involving off world energy and material resources would have been created. A lot of pressing problems will be solved as we go. In order to solve our problems using the systems we create we’ll have to think of these things in a different manner. Like the idea of a universal income. The realization of a national priority program of off world colonization/expansion (OWE) and industrialization would require a massive amount of labor. Labor who are highly educated would be required. Skills of all kinds would be needed. It would also require the harvesting of off world resources of materials and energy.

During the height of the Apollo there were 400,000 people employed in that program. Some people believe that off world colonization shouldn’t happen until we fix our problems here on Earth. Then in 2008-09 our people bailed out ingrate bankers and Wall Street money manipulators to the tune of $16 trillion. For that kind of money we could have had over 90 Apollo size projects going at the same time and from start to finish! Now you’re talking jobs. Millions and millions of badly needed jobs would certainly be created while building the 21st Century infrastructure. With that kind of tax base going, and coupled with proper taxation of the rich, all of our people could be cared for.

We would have to create something like a National Labor Force (NLF). We could also create a Universal Basic Income (UBI) that would work with the NLF. Any citizen in need would have a right to apply for the UBI and/or the NLF. If a person applies for the UBI they would receive a basic income that would maintain a healthy mind and body. If a person who is in the UBI program, or any other citizen who wishes to, applies for work in the NLF they would receive a higher income than the UBI. Any business may apply to hire labor from the NLF. The NLF would primarily be focused on Off World Expansion. As a person gains time served in the NLF, and in consideration of educational goals met, also considering the element of danger involved with an assignment, the NLF worker would receive premiums in pay as incentive and in recognition of these things. No privately held business would be legally able to undercut wages, conditions of employment or human factors set by the NLF.

Our citizen NLF/OWE pioneers would be the creators of a new civilization. As we go we’ll gain experience and knowledge. The human sphere of influence then will be as different 200 years from now because of it as it was different before the transition to industrialization. Pollution problems from industrial wastes of toxic substances and gasses can be largely eliminated by moving large industrial processes off world. New territories can be opened up for people go and live on Mars and the moon. NLF workers could e incentivized by giving title to a plot of land on Mars, good for the life of the person. After that it should pass to the next intrepid pioneer.

This is something real. We have SpaceX and the SLS. We can get this going in a big way if only people would say, let’s do it. I’m tired of politicians with no vision. I’m tired of politicians with just enough vision not to make any waves, or controversy over good issues. This is a good issue, but for far too long we have let the naysayers prevail. That must come to an end. Take Bernie Sanders for instance. It is good that he promotes rebuilding the earthly infrastructure, but he doesn’t go far enough. It is in disrepair and needing upgrading. After we put millions of people to work on that we’ll come to a point in time when all the rebuilding, repairing and upgrading will be caught up. What happens then? Lay off millions of people?

Why not do this? Put people through a program administered by Job Corps, in cooperation with NASA and other industry like SpaceX, which would have the end goal of producing the skilled labor needed for the OWE. As the Earth infrastructure is brought up to 21st century standards, we can start the push for the OWE, and be well underway when the Earth based infrastructure is caught up. All these people who worked on the Earth based systems can then be diverted to the OWE, if they so choose. This would be the start of an infrastructure program that would be truly without limit, and be boundless in opportunity for new expression of the human presence.

So far I just don’t see many people pushing anything revolutionary like this. There are plenty of good people willing to poke their thoughts out of the box a little, but not near far enough. We need to start thinking completely out of the box if we have any hope of reversing the damages done to our progress and environment.

New Era Socialist Solutions

I'm sick of half measures and failed dreams. I am a Baby Boomer and a Child of the Apollo era. I grew up on the Florida North coast and witnessed Gemini and Apollo rockets blasting their way into orbit and to the moon. I have memories of all of my family sitting around that primitive B&W TV set in awe as humans set foot on the moon! I remember the words as Neil Armstrong uttered the words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

We had big dreams back then. Everyone thought that by the year 2000 there would be civilization on Mars and bases on the moon. Things didn't turn out that way. Our giant leap for mankind turned out to be a giant leap for proving our technological superiority over the USSR. Once that was done, the ball was dropped. Nixon halted the Apollo program with 2 missions worth of hardware gone to waste. What a disappointment!

July 20, 2019 will mark the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing by Apollo. It has been half a century since this awesome feat. Something the world took part in. Could you try to imagine what our reality would be if we had of never stopped with the momentum we had gained during Apollo? Look at the technological spin-offs that has come from Apollo and the other space missions. Our lives would be profoundly different if we had of continued the effort to take the moon for all humankind.

When president Kennedy said "we do it because it is hard.", it was extremely hard. We didn't know how we would pull it off. We had to make everything from scratch.

When President Kennedy said "we do it because it is hard." it was extremely hard. We didn't know how we would pull it off. We had to make everything from scratch. The computers of that era were very primitive compared to today’s models. Our engineers were cutting things so close, when the Eagle landed there was only 9 seconds of fuel remaining. Our knowledge was lacking then, but the situation has changed significantly since the early days of NASA. Now our technological base is pretty solid. We have the means to follow through on the dream created by Apollo.

We not only have the means, but we also have vastly more knowledge about our situation in space and the resources that could be had. What we need now is the national will to get the greatest migration of the human species ever attempted going. It has to be as important, if not more, than the effort to win WWII.

When we get to a point of maturity in this endeavor, a system of processes serving humanity involving off world energy and material resources would have been created. A lot of pressing problems will be solved as we go. In order to solve our problems using the systems we create we’ll have to think of these things in a different manner. Like the idea of a universal income. The realization of a national priority program of off world colonization/expansion (OWE) and industrialization would require a massive amount of labor. Labor who are highly educated would be required. Skills of all kinds would be needed. It would also require the harvesting of off world resources of materials and energy.

During the height of the Apollo there were 400,000 people employed in that program. Some people believe that off world colonization shouldn’t happen until we fix our problems here on Earth. Then in 2008-09 our people bailed out ingrate bankers and Wall Street money manipulators to the tune of $16 trillion. For that kind of money we could have had over 90 Apollo size projects going at the same time and from start to finish! Now you’re talking jobs. Millions and millions of badly needed jobs would certainly be created while building the 21^st Century infrastructure. With that kind of tax base going, and coupled with proper taxation of the rich, all of our people could be cared for.

We would have to create something like a National Labor Force (NLF). We could also create a Universal Basic Income (UBI) that would work with the NLF. Any citizen in need would have a right to apply for the UBI and/or the NLF. If a person applies for the UBI they would receive a basic income that would maintain a healthy mind and body. If a person who is in the UBI program, or any other citizen who wishes to, applies for work in the NLF they would receive a higher income than the UBI. Any business may apply to hire labor from the NLF. The NLF would primarily be focused on Off World Expansion. As a person gains time served in the NLF, and in consideration of educational goals met, also considering the element of danger involved with an assignment, the NLF worker would receive premiums in pay as incentive and in recognition of these things. No privately held business would be legally able to undercut wages, conditions of employment or human factors set by the NLF.


Our citizen NLF/OWE pioneers would be the creators of a new civilization. As we go we’ll gain experience and knowledge. The human sphere of influence then will be as different 200 years from now because of it as it was different before the transition to industrialization. Pollution problems from industrial wastes of toxic substances and gasses can be largely eliminated by moving large industrial processes off world. New territories can be opened up for people go and live on Mars and the moon. NLF workers could e incentivized by giving title to a plot of land on Mars, good for the life of the person. After that it should pass to the next intrepid pioneer.

This is something real. We have SpaceX and the SLS. We can get this going in a big way if only people would say, let’s do it. I’m tired of politicians with no vision. I’m tired of politicians with just enough vision not to make any waves, or controversy over good issues. This is a good issue, but for far too long we have let the naysayers prevail. That must come to an end. Take Bernie Sanders for instance. It is good that he promotes rebuilding the earthly infrastructure, but he doesn’t go far enough.  It is in disrepair and needing upgrading.  After we put millions of people to work on that we’ll come to a point in time when all the rebuilding, repairing and upgrading will be caught up. What happens then? Lay off millions of people?

Why not do this? Put people through a program administered by Job Corps, in cooperation with NASA and other industry like SpaceX, which would have the end goal of producing the skilled labor needed for the OWE. As the Earth infrastructure is brought up to 21^st century standards, we can start the push for the OWE, and be well underway when the Earth based infrastructure is caught up. All these people who worked on the Earth based systems can then be diverted to the OWE, if they so choose. This would be the start of an infrastructure program that would be truly without limit, and be boundless in opportunity for new expression of the human presence.

So far I just don’t see many people pushing anything revolutionary like this. There are plenty of good people willing to poke their thoughts out of the box a little, but not near far enough. We need to start thinking completely out of the box if we have any hope of reversing the damages done to our progress and environment. Who will step up? I would follow a person with such vision for the future.

Wisconsin & Michigan GOP Prove Party's Contempt for Voters

It is lousy, scheming, underhanded tricks like this that further reinforce my belief that the presence of political parties in government has become toxic to the principals of Liberty, Equality and Community.

The political parties are so obsessed with having/keeping power that no means is unsavory enough to be withheld in their pursuit of their selfish ends. The partisans, and without honor, attempt to use the processes of government to usurp the authority of the voting public. Let us consider that if the Republican party in Wisconsin had came out on top during the 2018 midterm elections that they would not be advancing bills that diminish the power of the governor. You can bet that if their dirty trick works other partisans in other states will attempt the same thing. You can be also be assured that if their dirty trick don’t work that they’ll spend a lot of effort coming up with another trick. When they craft another scheme, they’ll employ it.

All of the parties use the functions and processes of government to solidify their hold on power. When the voting public place partisans into public office the partisans will immediately begin to scheme up ways of keeping power, and removing power from the other partisan political bodies. This cycle goes back and forth, each time diminishing the power of We the People. So what to do? The states and parties who control the governments have proven that they can not be trusted with such awesome powers as dictating election law. They have proven by their actions that they will use the machinery of government to take power from you and me if it serves them and their corporate masters.

The thing to do is to remove power from all political parties. To remove power from political parties We the People must register as “No Party”, and do it in mass. We the People must be the ultimate nonpartisans. We the People can give a vote of no confidence in parties by dropping out of them. Abandon them like you would any abusive relationship. Refuse to take the abuse.

We the People should cause all states to have the same elections laws by adopting a System of Uniform Voter & Election Laws (SUVEL). Have all states and territories elections be brought under SUVAL, and increase the authority of the Federal Elections Commission so that they may monitor the states and enforce SUVAL.

One item of extreme importance that should be included in the SUVAL is, all citizens are automatically registered to vote when they reach the age of 18. The political parties would use the government machine to attempt to crush any such change because it would destroy the partisan voter registration system which props up their hold on government. Any attempt to crush an automatic voter registration system being implemented is proof of party contempt for the citizens. It would be further proof of charges made here in previous paragraphs.

If our nation implemented automatic voter registration, all voters would automatically be registered as “No Party” because no government, or person can choose who you associate with. I seriously doubt that once people are automatically registered to vote that they would go the extra step to declare party affiliation so they might vote in a party primary. It would be more likely that the political parties, while they still hold power and before these changes cause their power to diminish much, would clamor for open primaries in all states, and/or attempt to reverse automatic voter registration.

We can not allow the partisan thralls of corporations to withhold power from We the People by the criminal misuse of our governmental systems and processes. We the People must never tolerate political parties, persons, or entities to take our rightful power. The start is, We MUST ALL DROP OUT OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES and be the Ultimate Nonpartisans.

Earth's Tree of Life is Humanities Charge: It Must Survive

They say that there may have been life on Mars early in that planet's history. If that is true we should gain one vital message from that reality. That message being, just because there is life on a planet now doesn't mean that there will be life on the same planet later. Earth is a planet with life on it now.

Some people comfort themselves with thoughts of humans being favored by a creator being. Some people believe that death isn’t an issue because of a promised afterlife. Some people don’t believe in notions of gods and afterlives, but could care less anyway. They say to themselves “I’ll be dead then anyway, so who gives a crap?” Whatever the case, the humans rationalized keeping doing the things they have been always doing. Things that seem to not be working out to well. Things like the mass killing of other species, even unto extinction. The digging into the Earth, the scraping of the surface for materials of all kinds, with utter abandon. The pouring out of substances that are toxic to living creatures into the waters and the air, without restraint. But people comfort themselves.

It is as if we humans all have decided to party down and eat it all. To intoxicate ourselves with over consumption to the point of our collective death. Who cares, right? Live for today and let tomorrow take care of itself. We got plans to deal with the problems. Just today I read of a scheme to spray substances into the air to block out the rays of the sun. Some kind of sulfur compound I believe they said. So we’re saved! We can continue to burn baby, burn. We’ll just cool things down by spraying even more crap into the atmosphere.

Knock, knock, knock! HELLO! Is anyone home? We have no idea if such a scheme to mitigate the damages (heating) to our ecosystem would work. Doing such a thing could cause more damages than they fix.

There is one thing we do know will work. Stop doing what we’ve been doing. Stop doing things like the mass killing of other species, even unto extinction. The digging into the Earth, the scraping of the surface for materials of all kinds, with utter abandon. The pouring out of substances that are toxic to living creatures into the waters and the air, without restraint. Just don’t do that. You want the Earth to end up like Mars?

We need to be doing everything possible to ensure the long term survival of this Earth’s Tree of Life. We, as creatures that are a part of that tree and who have evolved into intellectual beings, are responsible for the survival of the Earth born Tree of Life. Not only that, we have become the means to spread Earth’s life throughout the cosmos. If we do not do that, we will have failed our Tree of Life.

Isn’t that what successful life always tries to do, spread out? Look at life on Earth. We have found life in the deepest caves and tunnels. We have found life of all kinds everywhere. Even humans have spread out to occupy even the most harsh of environments. Just like a colony of cells in a petri dish spreading out to consume all the nutrients and take up all the room, humans have spread out all over the surface of the Earth. They have even made an effort  to spread upwards.

We have to do that spreading out, and the preserving of the petri dish of Earth’s Tree of Life, which is the the planet. If we don’t, the Earth will one day resemble Mars. There may be ruins that last for several eons, but even the most sturdy of human constructs will eventually crumble into dust. Then the human oblivion will be had. The Earth would be merely another nameless planet around a nameless star in the vast infinity of time and space.

There very well may be other planets out there with there own tree of life. There may be intelligent creatures in those other trees of life. They may be creatures that are not ruled by self gratification. They may be intelligent creatures with a single minded purpose, to spread out and to consume. To occupy more space and to spread their own tree of life. You can be most assured, when one tree of life intelligence detects another, there will be consequences. In time one tree of life intelligence detects a threat from another, or detects that the other tree of life may be consumed. We should be doing everything in our power to ensure that the Earth’s Tree of Life is not the consumed. That means spreading out.

We just had a climate assessment issued that didn’t paint a very pretty picture for the future of life on this planet. The response from our gluttonous leaders was extremely anemic. I guess they don’t care if the Earth one day looks like Mars. After all, they will be dead by then enjoying an eternal afterlife, or not.

Robots & Universal Basic Income

I hate this kind of development. Robots shouldn't be allowed to do some human jobs. Like this flippy or the check out line at the store. Give the robots hazardous jobs. They can go flip something in an environment humans can't go. Otherwise flipping burgers is not a good reason to put humans on the street and in poverty.

They said that automation would free humans from drudgery. That is true in a lot of ways, but the freedom from drudgery isn't so sweet when you can't pay your bills, or buy groceries to feed your kids.

Either prohibit robots from doing some jobs, or enact a Universal Basic Income (UBI) to compensate our hard working humans who have been displaced by machines. Place a tax on the Hours of Operation of robotic workers to help pay for the UBI. Nationalize all natural resources of materials and energy to help pay for the UBI.

The Sacred Honor of our Founders Sacrificed to Partisanship

I want other people to be my friend. I just don't want to have to earn friendship by being a phoney. I also don't want to have pretend friendships by nodding the head in agreement to everything said. I realize I'm not going to agree with everyone, and everyone isn't going to agree with me. I accept that I can not be a friend to everyone, but I can still treat them with respect as long as the respect is mutual.

That mutual respect seems to be missing in today's atmosphere of hyper-partisanship. You have to pick a side. There is no middle ground. You either think like me, walk like me, look like me, say the same things as me, or you are the enemy. That is not a very good way for humans to interact. It only leads to conflict.

I will not knowingly be manipulated by a person and call them my friend. That is no friend because they are trying to forcefully extract something from me through the manipulation. No one bothers to attempt to manipulate someone already in compliance. If something is good there is no need for manipulation, only presentation. Present to me a good argument and I'll in good faith, using logic and reason so much as I'm able, consider it. Attempt to manipulate me into compliance and I'll resist it.

I think some people were blinded by the noble goal. They wanted what they wanted at any cost. The ends justified the means. In the process honor and respect where abandoned. People started doing the same thing, employing the same methods, as the people they felt oppressed by. Supporting one person over the other was no longer something done out of agreement with policy to them. The support of the opposing candidate was now a hostile act done to keep someone else down, they thought, or were manipulated into thinking. Policy was not the major factor in a choice, but rather superficial characteristics became the major deciding factor. For some people, if a person supported someone without the superficial characteristics of the person they supported it wasn't out of a respect for policy. It was because they hated the superficial characteristics.

That caused another partisanship. A partisanship not of political origin, but rather of gender and race. Respect for our Constitutional rights to choose were thrown by the wayside as unimportant. Only the goal mattered. If a person wasn't on the right side of partisanship, they became the scapegoat of a failed cause. Two sides could be in agreement on everything, but for some people if the superficial characteristics were absent every agreement between them became the least important thing.

I think this is a giant problem. It is not how an enlightened people should go about business. What ever happened to the disdain of having to "choose between two evils"? Ever since I was old enough to understand speech I have heard people elude to that in disgust. Nowadays you have to choose an evil or else you're looked as the enemy. If you don't choose the same evil as me, then it is all your fault when our evil doesn't win, they say. In reality, it is because of the evil that evil wins.

I'll never support someone because of superficial characteristics. I'll never support a position just to get cozy with someone or a group. I'll not be a part of a cult of personality. I'll never knowingly be manipulated into supporting someone or some thing that I feel is wrong, or not honorable. If I did, I would would lose respect for myself. I would have to jump through mental hoops trying to justify a support of something I really didn't support. How could I expect anyone to respect me if I were to do that? How could I expect anyone to respect me if I don't even respect myself?

I've went through this entire exercise without the mention of any names. I haven't pointed a finger at a single person. I did that on purpose. My goal with writing this is not to blame a person, but to blame an idea. The idea of supporting people because of superficial characteristics, and nothing else matters.

You readers can make of this what you will. For some people, as they read, names will come to mind. Some people will read this and still be offended because of being blinded by the goal.

I'll mention one name now as an example. This is not to say that this writing is about that one person. It just illustrates an extreme example of the partisan manipulation.

Once I was watching on TV a Trump rally. A lady said "If you don't support Trump, I'll punch you in the face." That had nothing to do with respecting the rights our Founders pledged their "Sacred Honor" to obtain. That is the most extreme type of example, but it was there on many levels and among all sides.

Don't End Funding of the International Space Station, Expand It

It is short sighted to end funding of the ISS and counter to the best interests of the people of Earth. It shows how the priorities of our nation's leaders is not in the best interests of the American people, or of the world in general.

Instead of abandoning this orbital station, it should be boosted into geosynchronous orbit and expanded on. It should be improved and additions made for the servicing and refueling of satellites and outbound spacecraft.

The article says that it costs NASA $3 to $4 billion each year, and so far represents a $87 billion investment by the taxpayers. Let us compare costs and benefits. It is costing the American people approximately $8 billion a year in subsidies to the oil industry. We could fund the ISS for 2 years for every 1 year we end oil industry subsidies. Along with that oil subsidies cost comes massive environmental degradation. With proper funding and utilization of the ISS our nation could end the oil industry stranglehold on our civilization. We could expand our jobs base with the expansion of the ISS and new missions opened up through the OWE.

What about tax breaks for billionaires? It has been said it will cost our nation's taxpayers $1.5 trillion to pay for these massive tax breaks. That is enough money to fund our share of the international cost for the next 187.5 years, or enough to expand our total share 17 times. In other words, to add to the ISS expansions 17 times over what we've already put into it.

Of course all of that will require many skilled hands on and off Earth. That directly translates into more jobs for our people. Better jobs that require the best educated population we can produce. We need to have national priority projects of such a magnitude and purpose. The problems solved for the human race are many and time is growing ever shorter. We can not kick this can down the road any longer.

Support the OWE! Tell all of your friends. Get them to understand the extreme importance of the OWE. Make them understand it is a life and death matter. Communicate with your congresspersons. Tell them you demand this paradigm shift in our entire civilization. We OWE it to ourselves, and to them who come after us. We can be looked upon by future people as the ones who saved humanity, or the ones who caused the fall. The choice is ours to make, but we better make it real soon.

Cryptocurrency is Less Than Vapor: Less than Fiat Money

If you're invested in cryptocurrency, you have more tolerance for risk than I. I'm super leery of cryptocurrency like bitcoin at this point. I'm leery of regular fiat currency already because it has no real value, except by decree. Now people are placing the fiat (worthless) currency into vapor.

Remember what I said about government control of the internet and phones to cause people to be unable to communicate during civil strife? What makes your digital currency any more safe than an internet communication platform? If the government can cause people to be unable to communicate electronically, they can most assuredly cause all the cryptocurrency in existence to vanish in a flash.

If that ever happened, there would be a lot of people singing the blues. I think a better investment would be precious metals like gold, platinum and silver. I would advise saving all 1981 and before cents for their copper content too. Each one is worth 2.1 cents as of this writing. The only way anyone can take it, is if someone breaks and steals, or holds you up at gun point. Crypto can be stolen with a hack. It can become nonexistent by government policy. I could see the latter happen too!

There used to be an outfit that made silver coins called "Liberty Dollars". People were using them to buy and sell. They were introduced by private parties in response to the fiat currency. People have always trusted real wealth over promissory notes. Then the US government came along and shut them down. The feds didn't like the competition.

Maybe you should cut and run when it comes to cryptocurrency. Sell high, then invest in all precious metals. Not the kind where someone else is holding it for you either. Real actual wealth you have in your possession.

People need to forget a bit of trickery when it comes to precious metals. People think that the value of precious metals have gone up. That is not really the case. What has really happened is the value of the dollar has gone down. It will continue to go down too. The only value it holds is due to government decree, which is really nothing but a promise.

Edit: I found it. It had been so long since I thought of it I had forgotten the name. Liberty Dollars were the private currency that the feds shut down.

Something's Wrong With the World Today: Inequality

Something is very broken. Something's wrong with the world today. We're living on the edge! Imagine 10,000 years ago a small village of 100 people. One of those villagers get 82% of all the hunter/gatherer finds brought back to the village. The rest of the 99 people get to share 18%. The 1 privileged person also gets to dictate what that 18% consists of.

I doubt that the 99 people in that village of 10,000 years ago would even let that happen. So why is it happening now?

In a report published Monday, Oxfam called for action to tackle the growing gap between the super-rich and the rest of the world. Approximately 82 percent of the money generated last year went to the richest 1 percent of the global population, the report said, while the poorest half saw no increase at all.

Maybe one big difference helping to allow the disparity is the notion of "Out of sight. Out of mind." The 1% don't have to look at, explain, justify, look in the eye or anything to the 99%. That makes the 99% "out of mind" to them. They live in a protected, and organized, bubble. All of the 99%ers are disorganized. The 1%ers try real hard to keep it that way too!

That's why internet service and cell phones get disrupted during civil strife. You've got to keep them separated. There is only one problem with all this for the 1%. History has proven over and again that this kind of inequality can not and will not stand forever. Like in that 10,000 year old village, it would last for about 2 seconds. Then the 99% would just take what they need without regard for the 1%. The French did it with "The Terror". The English did it with the Magna Carta. The Americans did it with the "New Deal". Every time there has been a real inequality that has caused suffering among the people, the people have risen up to end it.

French Revolution - The Terror and Counter-revolution

All of that tells me the massive wealth if the 1% is only held by them because the 99% allow it. The people are allowing this inequality to be. Something is missing or has not yet happened to cause the 99% to finally have had enough of it. The trigger hasn't happened as of yet. There was a trigger that caused the people of the past to overcome their fear of the 1%, and self injury, and raise up to end the inequality because their own poverty and suffering had become unbearable. They could not endure their suffering any longer, so they rose up to end the inequality, even if at the cost of their own lives.

The poverty and suffering of the 1% must be bearable by them at this time in history. There is a future day of reckoning coming though. It is secretly marked on the calendar. Murmurings of its arrival is all around us as the inequality grows. That unmarked day will eventually come as the people disallow the inequality to be maintained. The granaries will be opened one way, or the other. One of those ways of opening is that the 1% wised up and open the granaries themselves. The other way of opening up is "The Terror" being unleashed upon the 1%.

French Revolution - The execution of Louis XVI

That notion of "The Terror" being unleashed onto the 1% is one of the worst things that could happen to humanity. The 1% has very powerful weapons now, and are willing to use them. I'm afraid that "The Terror" would leave civilization in ruins because of the use of these powerful weapons by the 1%. Then the process would start all over again, only to repeat itself. Humanity in whole, the 1% and the 99%, have got to become enlightened by the study of our human past, and heed its warnings. Otherwise humanity will swing from inequality to bloodbath over and over again. Never advancing beyond the animalistic gratification of self, regardless of all.

Presidential Meddling in Space Policy Must End

This is a big problem.

"In December 2017, President Donald Trump signed his first space policy directive that makes the astronauts' return to the moon an official goal of the United States."

The problem is allowing the President to drive space policy. It has caused a lot of wasted money and delays in progress. We need to have a Space Council that is independent of presidential meddling.

Look at some of the worst damage done. Nixon canceled the Apollo program wasting 2 missions worth of hardware. Obama canceled the Constellation Program wasting billions of dollars worth of time and equipment. We simply can not continue to progress at a proper pace with this presidential meddling.

Look at what happened with Kennedy. He made a policy decision that lead to the moon, but then right when we were really picking up steam Nixon canceled it. That was one of the biggest mistakes any president has ever made.

Space policy should be driven by goals that advance the human condition. Experts in the proper fields must be employed in the naming of those goals. Perhaps have a congressional vote on the goals. In the end once the goal is set, and the project funded, meddling should be forbidden by congress or the president. Funding must be permanent and sustained, also forbidding meddling with that funding least the goal is lost and work wasted.

I have contempt for Trump, but I must say I like the idea of a orbital lunar base. There would be advantages gained for the OWE. The OWE should be the ultimate goal, and all other sub-goals be subordinate to that. That's how I was taught to complete a project. One must break the project down into processes and sub-processes. You can even break the sub-processes down further. If you want to reach the goal of project completion, one must follow each process to the end without interruptions.

That's what we have now with presidential meddling, interruptions. Goal busting interruptions.

The 21st Century Gilded Age Rotten to the Core

The #1 problem in this nation is unbridled greed. #2 problem is the religious right. FOX News is merely cashing in on the opportunity created by the right wing radicals to sate their greed.

Bernstein: Fox News hosts are abetting a cover-up

How did those problems arise in the first place? The Capitalistic system we live under fosters the greed by pushing mindless consumerism. They use religion as a tool to help protect their interests. "Christmas in July" anybody? "Christmas holiday rush" anybody? Those things and other things like them are part of the method.

I find it interesting that people are falling in line year after year. People whose ancestors were enslaved partially by using religion as a tool to enslave them. I'm not just talking about the ancestors of African slaves either. I'm talking about pretty much all ethnic groups in America, including so called "white people".

That's why I advocate strongly that we all get in touch with our real cultural heritage, which was not for the majority born in the middle east. Take myself for instance. My ancestors were Celtic Scots. That is the heritage I give homage too. I don't believe in their gods, but I am trying to gain back the heritage stolen from me by the Romans and Christian conversion.

Funny how one can scratch the gilded surface of the society society we live in and find it is all built upon lie after lie. All of the lies an effort to control you and me, in the service of greed and plutocracy.

Ousting Corrupt Politicians for Political Gain is as Wrong Minded as Keeping Them

It bothers me when I hear things like the paragraph I pasted below and "...democrats' search for payoff from lawmaker purge...". Yesterday when watching Al Franken's speech I thought to myself, "The Democratic Party shouldn't only be forcing senators out for some kind of political gain. They should only do it because it is the right thing to do." No party should be trying to clean up their act because they think they'll gain politically. The only reason they should clean up their party is because it would be in the best interests of the people they serve. Otherwise, with statements like the ones I've mentioned, they fall into the danger of the public perception being that if they thought there were no political gain, they wouldn't do it.

CNN: Trump rally first test in Democrats' search for payoff from lawmaker purge

I seen several Democratic lawmakers at first come out with weak statements regarding Franken, only to turn up the volume later. Franken was an effective and strong personality on capitol hill. He was an effective player sitting on committees, like the Russian probe, who asked pointed questions. My thoughts were that his powerful committee seat was one of the reasons Democrats came out weak at first. Again, that would be kind of an unsavory reason to not come out stronger.

I'm getting kind of tired of politicians laying to the side that which is right in the name of political expediency. I expect a higher morality than that from our lawmakers. What else are they turning a blind eye to? What other crimes past and present are our leaders ignoring in an effort to gain the upper hand. It is exactly that kind of thing that got us a self confessed sex offender like #ImmoralTrump in the White House.

If they would do that which is right. If only they would do it even though they thought it may hurt, the rewards would come on their own accord. If not politically, morally, because no one would be able to rightfully point an accusing finger. No one would be able to say, "The Democratic Party has a long way to go before the people can say that it is an uncorrupted political party."

The GOPs damaged party may never be able to recover. There is still hope that the Democratic party may fully regain trust. Ousting their own for lawlessness is a good start, but only if it is done for the right reasons.
________________________________
CNN: "The sweeping away of Sen. Al Franken and Rep. John Conyers this week after claims of inappropriate behavior against them cleared the way for Democrats to argue that their party takes the #MeToo movement seriously, and to charge that the GOP offers a haven to alleged perpetrators."

Gop Tax Scam, Real People & Fake People

I remember when Mitt Romney stood before a crowd of people and claimed that "corporations are people". Citizens United is based on that bogus premise. Teachers, firefighters and others are also people, but yet this #GOPTaxScam has made two kinds of people. One type, who are actual people who do not get the same kind of privileges as the other type of people, who are in reality legal constructs and thus not flesh and blood people. The fictitious people gets to write off pencils and shiping factories to economic rivals, but real people get to write off jack squat.

GOP Tax Scam 2017

I'm starting to get pissed off here. I'm starting to lose it. What are we, on Bizarro World? Has someone invented a time machine and caused some kind of weird "Biff Tannen" timeline of corruption? I'm wondering if the GOP has all gone insane because no sane person could sit with a straight face and believe this is equality.

I'm wondering what kind of jackass comes up with this bogus crap! I wonder if they are even loyal to the United States? What they are doing undermines the stability of our nation in the long run. Why don't we all just move to China right now so we can have a job. The real people have about run out of patience with the plutocrats.

If it isn't alive, with flesh and blood flowing through real veins, it isn't a person. No fake person (corporation) should get special treatment when it comes to taxes. They have gone too damn far. Throw the plutocrats all out of OUR government. They are not worthy of service to the real flesh and blood people.

Trump Breaking Campaign Promise: Trump Supporters Angry

I'm talking directly to Trump supporters. I remember him saying that we have to preserve Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security in a speech. I seen him and heard him say it on TV. That was a campaign promise to all of us citizens. I also heard Paul Ryan, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, say we have to cut entitlements to balance the budget. I didn't just see them on this one video stand there and say that. I seen it before in other video as well. I don't like this one damn bit, and all loyal American Trump supporters shouldn't either. Here is why. Please listen. I'm not trying to be mean or smart assed or anything like that. I just think we all need to sit down together and talk some things out. His is a good place to start. It affects all of us profoundly.

Remember This

You all heard Mr. Trump say that he wants to preserve Social Security and the other things too. I don't know your situation, but you must have believed him, and took his word on it. Maybe you have a lot of money so you have no worries. There are a lot of Trump supporters who don't have tons of money and depend on our nation keeping the promise of Social Security. You pay into it all your life so if something happens to you beyond your control, at least you won't be flat broke and destitute. You just never know. For them who believe in the bible it says the "lord giveth and the lord taketh away". It says too that God makes kings out of paupers and paupers out of kings. It could be you tomorrow or any time run into trouble with your health, like me.

I was an aircraft structures technician and inspector for 35 years. I made lots of money. I worked for the big boys like Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas and many others.I contracted out too. I wasn't in need of anything. If I wanted it, I went and got it. Then one day the unexpected happened. I was diagnosed as having hepatitis C, then neck cancer. I was only 55 years old and BAM, I get the lord taketh away side of the coin. I was unable to work because of the effects of the virus and cancer plus the harsh drugs and radiation therapy. I went from 160 lbs down to 128 before it was over. It totally wrecked my body and I went broke too.

It was a darn good thing I'm a veteran of the US Navy. The Veteran's Hospital saved my life. I would be cold and dead if it weren't for that. I applied for Social Security of course. I had no other choice if I didn't want to live in a homeless shelter. I almost did if it weren't for a friend. All my money was gone by the time I finally got a check. I ended up going in front of an administrative judge. He took one look at me and knew I was in real trouble. He gave me a bench judgement in my favor right off the bat. They don't do that all the time. Most times they have to go think it over for a while, so I lucky I had a judge who could tell when one of our citizens are in trouble.

My country, my fellow Americans had my back. Now Trump says he'll continue to have my back, then goes back on his word to us all? That stinks like hell, and you should know it. We work hard for what we get. We pay into a system all our working days, so we have a right to get our due. We was promised that a long time ago. You may be a young Trump supporter. So you may not be affected by a cut now. One thing's for certain! All of us are going to get really old one day, or we are going to die first. So don't cut your own lifeline against being flat broke.

Trump supporters have grandmothers and fathers and sisters and brothers. How many of you have a mother who depends on that check she earned by paying into the system? We all have to look out for each others back on things like this regardless of if we are a supporter of Trump, or who ever. This is some basic stuff that we have to keep for all of us so we don't end up on the street scratching for crumbs.

I didn't vote for Trump. He's the president now anyway, so I have to deal with it. You who did vote for Trump have to deal with it too. Mr. Trump made a lot of promises on the campaign trail. I don't know about you, but when I hear a politician make a campaign promise I expect him to keep it. That goes double for something like Social Security. What are they trying to do, make it hard on my aunt, or my brother, or myself? I didn't ask to become disabled. I made a hell of a lot more money working in the aerospace industry than collecting this "entitlement". An entitlement I paid for for 35 years.

I remember seeing Trump conventions. People were cheering and all happy. Mr. Trump said this and that making promises to you and me. All of us can't let them on capitol hill break the promise of Social Security to keep us out of abject poverty in a pinch. I hope we all can see eye to eye on this one. This is something that affects all of us deeply.

Body Language Shows Putin Dominates Trump & It Victimizes Women

Yesterday I read an article entitled "Odds Are, Russia Owns Trump". For a long time I have been interested in the study of body language. If I were to judge by this picture I would think that Putin were the dominant figure in the group.

Putin Dominance over Trump

I looked for information on body language to help my understanding. I found this offering:

"Using Body Language to Show Dominance and Submissiveness Part 4"

I thought that keeping the head lower and leaning forward towards a person showed submissiveness. That seems to be a correct assertion. Notice in the photo who has what kind of posture.

I want to offer another observation on submissiveness that as to do with another thing we hear about in the news a lot these days. It is the charges made by a lot of women accusing men of improper sexual advances in the workplace. In this culture we have grown up in "Many females have a tendency to display submissive traits because they are culturally taught to do so from early age." I found that to be an interesting statement and wondered if that animalistic dominance/submissive trait in humans, with a cultural reinforcement of submissiveness in females and dominance in males might be something that promotes this undesirable behaviour in males?

Yesterday I blocked a fellow because of their persistent defense of the notion of something he called "high-T", meaning high testosterone, for some kind of inability of some men to control themselves when in the presence of a female with "provocative" clothing. I tried to convince them several times of the error in their argument to no avail. Now after further consideration in light of the dominance/submissive factor, my belief that his argument is in error is further reinforced. I now think the fellow defending the notion of "high-T" causing an inability to control aggressiveness because of hormones is totally wrong. I think the inability to control aggressiveness by some males may be brought on by the dominance/submissive postures we are taught from an early age coupled with an inability to control urges.

I'm not trying to make some kind of a defense of men who display inappropriate sexual aggressiveness in the workplace or anywhere else. I am also not trying to cast blame on females either. What I am trying to do is understand why the inappropriate sexual aggressiveness occurs at all, and how we as a society might deal with it.

My conclusion is that men with a tendency to show inappropriate sexual aggressiveness must not allow themselves to succumb to that type of primitive behaviour and we have to call them on it from the moment it happens. We all know it is wrong. Furthermore, we as a society must stop treating females in a way which promotes "...a tendency to display submissive traits because they are culturally taught to do so from early age." and women in general should cultivate dominant postures and reinforce them instead. Start teaching females to be more dominant from an early age. Stop stereotyping males and females in childhood by using devices like for example Barbie and G.I. Joe, blue and pink, etc. etc.

We did evolve from the animal barbarism of the beast. Those animalistic traits may have served our species well eons ago, but now we have removed ourselves from the jungle. We humans have been making a claim that we are an enlightened species compaired to our animal relatives. Let's start acting like it.

Trump Weak on North Korea

North Korea has been boosting that the newest missile launch, which went 2800 miles up proves it has a nuclear deterrent that can reach any target in the United States. A deterrent for what? What exactly is it that the DPRK wishes to deter other countries from, invasion? It has been 50+ years of standing toe to toe with them and still no invasion. I have a bad feeling about this.

It has long been the stated goal of North Korea to rid the Korean peninsula of American troops. Why do they want that? I think it would be much easier for the North to invade the South and they would be more emboldened to do it if there were no American presence. Remember, it was the North that invaded the South so many years ago. They did the invasion when the American presence there was small. That history and stated goal of reunification, which they tried with force and failed, cause me to think that is the true reason for their desire for Americans to leave.

So what if the US left the area because we feared a nuclear strike on the US homeland? What happens then? Maybe the DPRK would actually risk invasion to obtain their goal of reunification. They might believe that the US feared their "deterrent" and wouldn't do anything about it. Of course the United States would do something about it. The problem then becomes the time between now and some time in the future in which they invade and we respond. How many ICBMs armed with nuclear warheads would they have amassed between times, 10, 50, 100? This is playing out like a bad scifi movie.

Remember what happened with Germany. They built up massive arms even though they weren't supposed to because of post WWI treaties. They built them up anyway and they used them too. The use of appeasement didn't work to stop them and their territorial aspirations, so what makes anyone think that more "tougher" sanctions are going to work against North Korea? Sanctions haven't worked and more sanctions will not work either.

We have tried and tried with the sanctions, but yet the North Korean ICBM get longer and longer ranges and their nukes get ever more powerful. I don't know the numbers, but I can guarantee that the numbers of missiles they have down the road will be more than they have now.

All the guessing about accuracy, and survivability don't mean a hill of beans if they are wrong. If their guessing is wrong, a lot of people are going to die. The president talked so big about raining down fire upon them. About how they will not allow them to have a nuke that can reach our shores. Okay, now they have them and how does Trump react? More ineffective sanctions. That is a move that will only embolden the DPRK even more. They will think that what they are doing is working. Now Trump has moved from a position of (fake) strength to weakness of the worst kind.

I hate war. I'm a total peace-nik. I am also not a fool. If some person was threatening to kill me with a gun, and I thought they meant it, then they went out and bought a gun, I wouldn't sit around and wait for the bullet to blow my brains out. I would get the police (think sanctions) because we live in a civilized society. If I didn't think the police was going to help me and they kept up the threat, I would have no other choice than to take action on my own. That's something like what we have going on now.

This is a bad situation and it is only getting worse.  I don't think it is good at all, as you probably guessed already. I didn't even spell out all the factors in the equation. Here's another couple of factors. They have allowed their ground forces to become in a state of degradation while they poured scarce resources into developing their nuclear missile program. As evidenced by the poor health of the recent defector (worms, hepatitis), I believe the overall health of their armed forces is also poor. Their Air Force is old and not really a challenge against the South Korean or American Air Forces. Kim Jong Un just like all the people in the DPRK, has been fed a steady diet of propaganda all the way from the time he was born. What the state tells the people is what the people will tell others. As an example, one fellow there said that they have achieved the means to bring the death to America they they don't even realize is coming. Another American being interviewed on PBS said that the DPRK wanted to make a nuclear umbrella to protect them while they work on economic growth. I think that last one is looking at the situation with rose colored glasses.

There are adults in the room alright. Adults whose thinking harkens back to previous eras. Primitive animalistic barbarism rules the day. Just like with Nazi Germany when that same barbarism was allowed to flourish because of appeasement. Everyone was tired of war because of the carnage of WWI, so they would make any deal with the hopes of continued peace. We too are tired of war, and we know what would happen if a nuke were levied against a populated area. I tell you, the only thing that has kept the United States from attacking them already is the close proximity of the South Korean capitol to North Korean artillery on the border. That fear of attack has worked mightily in favor of the DPRK, just like it did the Third Reich.

This is a sore that has been allowed to fester. If we allow things to continue, they will build a lot more of their missiles. They will get to a state of not having to put so much money into development of them when their capability is solid. Then comes the upgrade of their other military that has been neglected. For years they have neglected the ground forces part of their military. Even at parades some of their soldiers were using fake weapons. They have also been neglecting their manufacturing base for consumer goods. I've read reports that all citizens there are expected to follow a military lifestyle even if they are not a soldier now.

I'm sorry guys. I'm not trying to bum you out. I'm just trying to keep my eyes wide open. Once when I was a child of 12 there was a squirrel in the flower garden. It was acting real strange. It wouldn't even try to get away. It went back and forth, making lurching, halting motions. My dad didn't try to capture it. He didn't wait to see if it might get better. He took a club and bashed in its head because he knew it was rabid. It was awful and upsetting, but no one got attacked and infected..

Because of all the weaknesses I mentioned in the previous comment, I think if the United States was going to go to war with them, and I think that is inevitable, they should do it sooner rather than later. One might put up two scales one for time and one for body count. The more time that goes by, the higher the body count. I believe these things I've told you all are the things that the military would consider. Trump is a coward too. He talks big talk, which is dangerous because talk is cheap, but in the end he'll try to kick the can down the road hoping he never has to make a tough decision.

Trump is Master of Doublespeak

Please keep in mind one thing when reading or hearing anything Trump says. He is an expert at "doublespeak". 

Take this recent tweet by Trump regarding the CFPB. Trump said that the agency was "...unable to properly serve the public." He isn't using the word "serve" as in to perform duties or services for people. He is using the word as in to mean serve up for consumption.

Doublespeak Trump

Yeah, I bet the financial institutions have been devastated by the fact that they could no longer feast off an unsuspecting public. Don't forget that the public was devastated by financial institutions in 2008, which prompted Congress to form the CFPB.

Trump minces words all the time. Many, if not all, of his base following are fooled all the time too! Remember when he was on the campaign trail? Trump said "What the hell do you have to lose?" Many people thought he meant one thing, but I have a different interpretation of his words. In my mind he was trying to take inventory of the loot and plunder he might gain for himself and his pals.

Don't think for a moment that anything coming from him has altruistic meaning or purpose. He is manipulating the people and using doublespeak to do it.

#DoublespeakTrump #InsincereTrump #LiarTrump #GreedyTrump

Those Who Failed to Recognize Trump as 'Greater Evil' Made a 'Bad Mistake': Chomsky

I do agree that "Those Who Failed to Recognize Trump as 'Greater Evil' Made a 'Bad Mistake':", but I do not agree that the people who did not vote for Clinton are at fault for the Trump presidency. I respect Chomsky on many levels, but I think he is dead wrong on this one.

If Chomsky wants to point a finger, point it in the right direction. The rise of Trump was a direct result of DNC corruption alienating a large portion of the Democratic base and the mindless support of Trump by racists and right wing radicals, many of whom never voted before, or haven't voted in a long time.

Trump's obtaining the presidency has brought out into full daylight the weaknesses and failings of our Democratic system. His undesirable tenure has enlightened many people to problems with our election system, and brought fully to the fore the problem of foreign meddling in it, namely Russian troll activity and fake news. Had Clinton been elected there would not be the problems we have today with Trump, but it also would have been business as usual. A Clinton win would have emboldened a corrupt DNC and confirmed in their leadership's mind that their corrupt practises bear fruit.

The following is the original article;

 "Those Who Failed to Recognize Trump as 'Greater Evil' Made a 'Bad Mistake': Chomsky"

"I didn't like Clinton at all, but her positions are much better than Trump's on every issue I can think of"

by
Deirdre Fulton, staff writer

Noam Chomsky calls the Republican Party "the most dangerous organization in world history." (Photo: Andrew Rusk/flickr/cc)

Leftist scholar Noam Chomsky has a message for voters who refused to cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton to prevent Donald Trump from winning the White House: You made a "bad mistake."

On both moral and practical levels, Chomsky told Al Jazeera's Medhi Hasan, the choice was clear.

"Do you vote against the greater evil if you don't happen to like the other candidate?" asked Chomsky, who spoke out during the election against Trump's candidacy—and in fact predicted his rise six years ago. "The answer to that is yes."

With an argument similar to the one made by political scientist Adolph Reed prior to the election, Chomsky insists that voters did not have to ignore Clinton's serious shortcomings in order to recognize Trump as the much more serious threat.

"I didn't like Clinton at all, but her positions are much better than Trump's on every issue I can think of," the professor emeritus of linguistics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) told Hasan. Chomsky supported Bernie Sanders during the Democratic presidential primary.

Watch:

Comsky also objected to philosopher Slavoj Zizek's post-election argument that Trump's victory would "shake up" status quo. "Terrible point," Chomsky said of Zizek's take. "It was the same point that people like him said about Hitler in the early 30s."

"He'll 'shake up the system' in bad ways," Chomsky said of the president-elect. "What it means is now the left—if Clinton had won, she had some progressive programs. The left could have been organized, to keeping her feet to the fire. What it will be doing now is trying to protect rights...gains that have been achieved, from being destroyed. That's completely regressive."

Indeed, Chomsky further warned in the aftermath of the election: "The outcome placed total control of the government—executive, Congress, the Supreme Court—in the hands of the Republican Party, which has become the most dangerous organization in world history."

The GOP "is dedicated to racing as rapidly as possible to destruction of organized human life. There is no historical precedent for such a stand."

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Roy Moore Allegations Point to Evidence of Child Bride Culture

I wonder about something. Please don't attack me on this because I'm just trying to understand our culture and what got us here. I am not making any kind of a defense of Mr. Moore.

Is Mr. Moore a pedophyle, or is he one of the last vestiges of an archaic system of child brides in an era of newer and more socially advanced 21st Century values? After all look at where this occurred and how old he is. I would be willing to bet my eye teeth he seen that very same behaviour in adults while he was a child. A lot of southern backwater, and frontwater, churches advocate such a thing. Even my own dear mother was only 16 when she married the 22 year old who was my father, in north Florida.

They were all poor, and grandma and grandpa had 9 kids, 7 of which were girls. They were glad to get them married off.

Look at the culture there. I grew up in the deep south. I remember hearing countless times "If it's old enough to bleed, it's old enough to breed." as justification for pursuing underage girls. There are many there who are not much more advanced socially with regards to child brides than they were 1000 years ago. It seems like a crime to our 21st century sentimentalities, but to a lot of poor people in the deep south it makes for one less mouth to feed and maybe some grandkids to brag about.

I am certainly not giving this Mr. Moore a pass. This is the 21st Century and I expect people to act like it. What I do think is missing from this issue is the bigger picture. Do you think this type of behaviour ended with him? It most certainly did not, and will not unless we take in the bigger picture. First start with the obsolete laws concerning marriage. Laws that I feel encourage the behaviour Mr. Moore engaged in with a 14 year old.

If I had my way, there wouldn't be a state in which any person could get married before the age of 18, and not even if the parents wanted them too.
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Code of Alabama 30-1-4, 5: Minimum age for contracting marriage; Consent of parents and bond required for marriage of certain minors. Marriage under 16 is voidable, not void. Marriage between 16 and 18 without parental consent is not grounds for annulment.
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Mississippi's marriage age statutes are listed in the table below. Minors under minimum age may obtain license with parental consent and approval of court. Minor females age 15 yrs. and older and males 17 yrs. and older but under 21 may obtain license with parental consent and court order.
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However, state marriage age requirement laws apply to minors. Some state age limit laws will allow partners with a child (or expecting a child) to get married and a few states have no statutory age limits. Marriage age requirement laws in Louisiana restrict marriage to those 16 and older with parental consent.