#let's not forget this all also speaks to the government having control over your healthcare and bodily autonomy

[imwritesometimes]

It's becoming just.... blatantly obvious that all this GOP posturing on transgender individuals being about ~protecting women's rights~ is just them trying to save face after they got Roe overturned and that has since backfired massively for them. Like it's so clear they think this is somehow gonna win points with women 'see we really care abt ur rights! We're trying to protect you!' while they still try to pry those rights from our hands not to mention there's no danger cis women face from trans people anyway

[powerstrangerdacre]

Flame

Summary: His spark was gone, and then he found her.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Warning: dunno, none? maybe a bit of angst (if you squint), mentions of Infinity War (nothing major but that movie in itself is a huge warning to me)

Word Count: 3500+

AN: Ello! Here I am again with my shitty-good writing. Can’t seem to write one story without a slither of angst in it. Sowwy ‘bout that. This is my first time writing for our beloved Captain, so criticize away! Tell me what I can do to make my stories better! Thanks for reading and I really hope you enjoy this... uhm... thing.

Steve had always been a bit of a wildcard, even in his younger days when Bucky used to call him a little runt. He would constantly get into trouble and find himself unable to get out of it. Always searching for a way to show the world that even the smallest of guys could make a big difference. No matter if it left him with scars and bruises.

Yes. Steve was a bit of a wildcard, but he was always restless and alive, much like a forest in the middle of summer.

Then, he finally got his chance to prove his worth through what they called the super soldier program, through which he also met agent Peggy Carter.

She was unlike any girl he had ever met, and much like him, wanted to prove her worth to the world. She was just as wild as him, only more calculated and precise in her actions. Peggy was like a spark. She drew him to her naturally, without having to try. Just like he did to her.

Yes. Peggy Carter was a spark. The spark that lit Steve’s world right up.

When he was pulled out of the ice, years later, the first person his eyes landed on was her. She looked gorgeous, like something out of a pin-up, with wavy Y/H/C hair and kind Y/E/C eyes. But what really drew him to her was her smile. It oozed kindness and understanding and warmth.

“Good morning, my name’s Y/N and I was appointed as your nurse. How’re we feeling today Captain Rogers?” she asked.

“I’m… fine…” he answered, the sound of the radio reaching his ears. Something was terribly wrong. Nothing seemed right.

“Where am I?” he asked.

“New York, Captain. This is the VA NY Harbor Healthcare System in Brooklyn,” Y/N answered truthfully, not wanting to lie to the confused soldier.

Steve stood up, shaking his head to get rid of the dizziness that suddenly fogged his brain. He cursed to himself, seeing that it had only made it worse, before he slowly limped his way to the door. Just as he was about to swing the door open, he turned to the girl to thank her. Her ever-present smile fell, leaving room for a concerned expression.

“I’m sorry.” He heard her whisper as he opened the door. She didn’t try to stop him.

Steve’s world came crashing down when he learned that the world had gone on for 70 years, leaving him behind to catch up with it. He found Peggy, but unfortunately that last meeting had left his once ablaze world in ashes and smoke. Peggy wasn’t there to light the fire anymore, which left Steve to try and pick up whatever pieces were left of him by himself.

That time was probably the hardest for him. Trying to accommodate to a new century – to new people – all while dealing with the grief of losing his best girl. That period of time, a hell to Steve, was the second time that Y/N had made her way into his life.

Steve was apprehensive at first, not understanding why she wanted to help him deal with all that pain. His mind was plagued by thoughts about Y/N’s ulterior motives. But he slowly and surely came around. Through small actions and kind smiles, Y/N had won him over and he let her help him. She listened to his worries and anger day after day, taking his pain in stride and not allowing him to wallow in self-pity. She brought him with her wherever she would go: grocery shopping, coffee shops, parks. Anywhere Y/N went, Steve was sure to follow. So much, that the Avengers had started calling him a love-sick puppy. But this wasn’t about that, it was about acclimating him to all of the new things that he had to face.

And Y/N loved it. She loved spending time with the kind and careful captain, only to sometimes see a bit of his mischief coming through. But, there was one place that she never wanted him to see, and that was her workplace.

She worked at the hospital, helping hurt soldiers deal with missing limbs or the pain of a ghost limb. Helping older vets calm down after the nightmares and panic attacks they would experience. She wasn’t as much of a nurse as she was a therapist, but she still sometimes worked in intensive care. Only on the days where really bad cases would arrive though, otherwise she would refuse.

Steve had wished to visit, maybe bring a bit of hope to those less fortunate than him. But Y/N was vehement on his ban in the hospital. So, Steve, being the gentleman he was, didn’t force his way into what he assumed was a more private part of her life.

They got closer as time passed, their relationship turning into something more than friendship, but it felt less than an actual relationship. Mostly because neither of them wanted to ask the other what it was, in fear of losing each-other.

Then, Bucky appeared out of nowhere. A ghost of Steve’s past that caught his attention immediately. It ripped at Steve’s thoughts like a whirlwind, destroying whatever relationship Steve and Y/N had built.

At first she supported him. She agreed with the fact that the Avengers shouldn’t be controlled by the government. She understood the need to help his friend, the one that had been with him since the beginning. That is, until she noticed how hung up on Bucky Steve actually was. He was clinging onto the last piece that connected him to his past, throwing her away without a care.

So, Y/N left him to deal with his own issues, worrying and struggling with keeping her calm during her working hours, only to have him show up at her doorstep the night after everything had gone down.

The knock on her front door grasped her attention immediately, as it was way past the time where it was socially acceptable for someone to show up unannounced at her house. She made her way, warily, to the door, grasping the doorknob and opening it a crack, to be faced with two bleeding super soldiers. She opened the door fully, helping Steve as they both carried Bucky to her dining room, laying him on the large table that would soon serve as an operating table.

“What happened?” she asked as she watched Steve, frowning slightly at the condition the captain was in.

“Bucky… Bucky was the one that killed Tony’s parents. He went berserk on him. Ripped his arm off,” Steve explained, rubbing a hand over his face. This had all escalated far too quickly, to a point he had never wanted to reach. But it was all too late.

Y/N moved around the table, inspecting the writhing soldier. She took a look at his shoulder, wincing slightly. This is why she never worked in the ER. She hated blood.

“I’ll…” she swallowed drily, trying to get rid of the unnerving feeling in her stomach, “I’ll see what I can do,” she whispered.

Judging by her face, Steve knew it was bad. “Can you… fix him up?” he asked.

“I’ll try…” she sighed, “but I need you to leave the room. I’m gonna need all the space I can get.”

Steve nodded, about to move away when Bucky’s hand reached out and grasped his arm in a way that said ‘Don’t leave.’ The captain looked at him with an inquiring gaze, watching as Bucky winced once again.

“I’m dangerous… I might… hurt her.” Bucky’s body finally fell limp, allowing Steve to move.

“Uhm… I’ll be out there if you need me for… anything,” he said, walking out of the dining room and into the living room.

He glanced around, noticing the big chair that laid in front of the lit fireplace. Warmth and light spread out throughout the room from the spot, the sight somehow reminding him of the girl that was just in the other room, treating the friend he had shoved her aside for.

“Peanut? Is that you?” Steve heard the voice of a man call from the chair next to the fireplace. He couldn’t help but feel that it sounded tired and somehow lost.

Steve walked to the side of the chair, finally able to see the white-haired man that sat in it. He seemed beaten down by the years, but his eyes were just as bright and clear as Y/N’s.

“No, Sir. I’m sorry for the intrusion. My name is Steve, I’m one of Y/N’s friends,” Steve explained, his heart lightly shrinking at the word ‘friend’.

The man’s eyes widened. He looked Steve up and down as if not actually believing what he was seeing. “This must be it. I’m a goner if the dead have come to haunt me even during the day.” The man shook his head, leaving Steve to wonder about his babblings.

Just as Steve was about to ask what he meant, the doors slid open and Y/N walked in, a relieved look on her face. Her breathing was erratic, trying to get herself to calm down, only to make it worse.

“I was able to stop the bleeding and fix the muscular tissue of his shoulder, he won’t feel any pain anymore when he wakes up,” she said, finally looking at Steve before her eyes widened as she saw who he was talking to.

“Peanut? You see him too?” her grandfather asked as she slowly moved in to sit down on the floor between the two men.

“Yes gramps, you remember Steve?” she asked, a hopeful look on her face.

“Remember him? The man saved my life! How could I forget him?”

The man’s words took Steve by surprise, but the look of shock on Y/N’s face was what really did it for him. Her eyes were welling with tears, but her warm smile was ever-present.

“Let’s get you to bed, okay gramps?” She stood up, taking the old man’s hand and helping him on his short trip to his room. Steve heard her say goodnight and in less than a second she was back in front of him.

They both sat in silence, the fire crackling and warming the tired couple. The ticking of the old grandfather clock reached Steve’s ears, seemingly deafening in the profound quiet. It finally became too much, urging Steve to speak up.

“He’s a vet?” he asked.

“Yes…” she sighed, rubbing a hand down her face. She had been expecting these kinds of questions, but she was afraid of what the super soldier would think. “World war two,” she explained.

“He knows me?” Steve seemed surprised by how willingly she was speaking of this, having never actually heard her talk much about her family except for the fact that her mother had left a long time ago. It was weird to Steve, how much he felt like he knew the girl, when in actuality he didn’t know much at all.

“He was in the 107th division. You saved him from the Nazis. He fought by your side,” she answered.

Steve couldn’t believe it. He was so sure that all of his comrades had died long ago. Suddenly, all of Y/N’s kindness started making sense. Steve was feeling more disheartened by every moment that passed, believing that she was just paying back her grandfather’s dues.

“His mind is in shambles. He couldn’t remember his own daughter…” she sighed, watching the flames dance in front of her. “It was too much for my mother, seeing her father not recognizing her. That’s when she… left.”

“She left you here? What kind of mother does that?” Steve seemed peeved, in the least, about the sudden turn this conversation had taken. He couldn’t believe someone would willingly leave such a wonderful person behind.

“Well… she was never around much. I think I reminded her of my father, that’s why she couldn’t look at me.” Her head fell on her knees, and Steve could’ve sworn he heard something along the lines of ‘Or I just scared her.’ coming from her lips in a quiet murmur.

“I’m sorry… I…” Steve couldn’t find the words to explain what he felt. There she was, questioning and doubting her worth, and he couldn’t do anything about it.

“It’s okay. I think I wouldn’t have left even if she had asked me to.” Y/N’s head snapped back up, allowing Steve to see that warmth in her eyes once again. Finally he knew what it was – determination. “I had gramps to take care of… I was okay.”

Steve couldn’t believe it. She seemed to have gone through so much, and yet she seemed so determined and strong-willed – like nothing could break her. “That’s very… nice of you,” he said.

She smiled at him, letting out a huff of air she didn’t know she was holding. “It wasn’t nice. I was just returning the favor. He took care of me when I was small, I take care of him now.” Y/N’s eyes fell to the floor, her face suddenly warm at the thought that Steve thought of her as selfless. “But because I stayed, gramps never forgot me. And he certainly never forgot you,” she laughed, “He kept on talking about you all the time. How brave and kind you were. How you didn’t give up on some measly soldiers even when the rest of the world left them for dead,” she said.

Steve looked into her eyes, slowly starting to understand that her warmth was something he most definitely needed. They both slowly leaned in. “And what do you think of me?” he asked.

She swallowed drily, her gaze drifting between his eyes and his lips. “I think he was right. Captain America is a kind and righteous man,” she whispered.

They were inches away. Steve could barely feel her erratic breath fanning down his face. “And what about Steve?” he asked.

“Steve…”

A groan from the other room interrupted the two, making Steve and Y/N jump away from each-other.

His hand found the back of his head, scratching awkwardly at the scruff. “I’m.. I’m honored to have him talk about me in such a way…” His voice was a few octaves higher, making Steve wince at his awkwardness. “Please tell him that.”

Y/N nodded, following as Steve walked out of the room to find his friend sitting on her table.

Steve’s eyes widened when he noticed Bucky’s shoulder, the tissue healed and skin covering the once bloody mess, looking like a normally amputated limb. He knew that Bucky had his own set of healing abilities, but this was too much, even for the super soldier serum.

“How?” Steve couldn’t form the sentence, astonished.

“I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve,” Y/N smirked, “I wasn’t appointed as Captain America’s nurse for nothing.” She winked.

The next morning she woke up to both super soldiers gone. She huffed, shaking her head. Not a single message. No thank you or goodbye. She should’ve known, maybe then she wouldn’t have been as disappointed.

Steve walked around the Wakandan palace, his head down and hair muddy. His mind couldn’t comprehend that they had lost. The Avengers, earth’s mightiest protectors, and they had failed to do the one thing they were supposed to.

He had lost Bucky, and he could deal with that in his own time because he knew. He had seen it with his own eyes. He knew they had to fix all of this somehow, but his mind was focused one something else, or rather someone else.

He couldn’t imagine that she would be okay. He couldn’t imagine that out of every one that got spared, she could be one of them. She wasn’t one of the strongest, even though he knew she had the strongest heart. Or maybe he just didn’t want to get his hopes up.

His vision became blurry, the doors and windows in the grand hall becoming blobs and splotches of brown and white. He should’ve stayed with her. He could’ve protected her. He knew she would’ve allowed him to. And maybe with a bit of persuasion she would’ve even allowed Bucky to stay. But no, he had to be a jackass and let the one person who cared about him when he was down alone. He could almost imagine it, the look on her face when she discovered that he failed her. The horror. The dread.

But no. Y/N wouldn’t be scared. She probably stood by her grandfather’s side with that warm smile on her face and the determination in her eyes. She probably still trusted him even in her last moment. She trusted him to fix it.

Steve shook his head, trying to rid himself of that image as his hands came up and rubbed at his eyes. He had finally reached his room, slamming the door closed behind him and hanging his head on it. Once again, much like the first time he had been taken off the ice, he felt alone. Once again he was mourning the death of his best girl.

“Steve?” he heard her call. “Steve…” Y/N whispered.

He turned around and there she stood. He couldn’t believe it, but she was there. He was almost scared to speak, thinking that if this was some kind of elaborate trick his mind was playing on him, he didn’t want to disturb it.

“God Steve, you’re a mess,” she said, her steps quickly taking her to him. She was still angry that he had left her, but now she thought that might’ve been for the best. Maybe he was needed here, and now she was needed here as well. “Let me fix you up,” she said, grasping his hand in hers.

Steve didn’t move as she tried to tug him to his bed. He simply stared at their intertwined hands, not realizing how this could be happening. “How?” he asked.

“I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.” She smirked, finally pulling him out of his stupor and to the bed.

They were both silent as her eyes roamed his body for any kinds of injuries, her hands following and healing them almost instantly. He watched her work like he had never seen her before, like this was the first and last time he would get to watch her. Like she would disappear as soon as her job was done, just like he had a year prior. He hissed as her hand touched a particularly large gash on his abdomen, before he watched the skin start to repair itself, the blood simply disappearing.

“I’m sorry,” she said, looking up to him with a frown.

Steve shook his head, biting on his lower lip to keep himself from wincing again. “I’m the one that should be sorry,” he whispered, low enough that he thought she wouldn’t have been able to hear it, but obviously that wasn’t the case as her eyes snapped up to look into his.

“Whatever for, Steve?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I just… I shouldn’t have left how I did…” he sighed, “I just… couldn’t bring myself to say goodbye, even though I knew I had to leave or else me and Bucky would both be caught.”

She smiled up at him, but he noticed it wasn’t the same warm smile he was used to. This one was broken and almost tearful. “It’s okay,” she said.

“No, it’s not. You helped me… you helped us. And I could never repay you. I just disappeared without as much as a thank you, not thinking about how it would affect you. I was just thinking of my own sorry ass and the pain I would have to go through if I said goodbye. I’m sorry.” He finished his monologue, finally taking a deep breath.

“It’s okay,” she said once again.

Steve’s eyes widened. Once again she was understanding, helpful, caring, and he was nothing but an asshole to her. He hated himself for it. “No, it’s not. When…. after I saw Bucky die… I could only think about the last time we met. About how I just went away and left you probably wondering why. I just thought about how I would never get to say goodbye if… if you…” Gasps were leaving his lips, tears slowly forming in his eyes once again.

“Why did you think about that?” she asked, moving away from him slightly as she had finished healing him. “Why would you even care about something like that?”

“Because you… because…” His gaze wandered down from her own, to her lips which were nearing his own. Their lips finally met, shortly, softly, a whisper of a promise about what was to come.

“I love you, Steve,” she said and he finally understood. Maybe this had been the plan all along. Maybe this was where he was supposed to be. “We’ll fix this. Don’t you worry.” Sure, Y/N didn’t have Peggy’s spark, but she had something so much better – her warmth.

Yes, Steve thought, we will fix this. Y/N wasn’t a spark waiting for someone to come help her light a fire. She was her very own flame, bright and warm and radiant. “I love you too, darling.”

[crstapor]

Why I am so Cynical

“I say unto you: one must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.”  - Zarathustra

Part 3

Let me stop shouting - sometimes I get carried away. Because it needs be clearly stated that my perspective on the matter at hand is not based solely on 'personal' experience (of course one can never deny the importance such datum possess!) but also 'phenomenological' experience, which is, clearly, a different animal altogether. That this menagerie has informed my thought will surprise no-one who's ever tried it; thinking, I mean. How else, if one is being as honest as possible, can one arrive at any conclusions whatsoever? While the first part of this essay waxed rather subjectively poetic, allow me to offer this third as a sort of empirical respite. Facts, good reader, let me proffer facts to further found my cynicism most severe.

But let me first define the scope these facts will express. The working title for this missive to minds who want to think was 'A Polemic against American Modernity'. Allowing that my interests, here, lie not north to Canada or south of Texas, the parameters of this diatribe should be well understood by all with even meager cartographic skill.  

Superficial perhaps I've structured these facts into three distinct phenomena; the surface, the self, and the symbol. I do so not to make any sweeping ontologic distinctions or assertions, rather, to help me think through them. System-building is not my purpose here - system-analysis is. The facets of modern America culture were well in place before I came along, and, unless I'm completely mistaken, I've done little to add to or enhance any of them. Apart from the clear truth of my having lived with and through them the vast majority of my mortal years. This 'truth', my citizenship and biography, allow me credence to present what follows as 'fact'; though of course it's still just one man's opinion!

Knowledge!

The Surface

Politics. Democracy. American Exceptionalism. Yeah right. So, help me out here, we have a great democracy because we vote for other people to get to vote on who actually becomes leader? Unless of course nine robes get that special privilege - based off of their admitted political preferences naturally! - like back in 2000. How the legislature is just a club for the privileged, connected, and the rich (which is almost redundant). How once 'money' became speech only those with 'money' had speech. The Founders are grave-rolling and Mussolini's having a laugh - fascism much? Let's remember Benito's definition of the term; which is when State and corporate interests converge (more or less). And we find that just about everywhere we look up in DC these days. Apparently we have the 'political will' to help banks, big oil, agribusiness, gun manufacturers, and all the other consolidated purveyors of terror, hate or control (sure, tobacco had to be sacrificed - occasionally you must throw the peasants a bone to keep the lie alive) but can't find the time to help out 'we the people': see continuing cuts to social programs; see the limp-dick governmental response to the housing/mortgage crisis of 2008 - ?; see the student loan pyramid scheme; see a 'minimum' wage that consistently fails to keep up with inflation; see a 'healthcare' plan that mandates private citizens purchase a product from non-governmental, for-profit companies - and taxes them if they don't; see how prohibition (here considered against natural, earth-born narcotics) continues to fuel a for-profit prison system and further erodes race relations; see how the gravest existential threat to the species (climate change, for realz) is perpetually laughed off and ignored; see how we lecture others on human rights while keeping Gitmo open and denying homosexuals equal protection under the law; see how NASA's (quite possibly, from a historical perspective, the greatest achievement of our modern society) budget keeps getting gutted while their priorities are schizophrenically re-ordered with each administration; see how children keep slaughtering children with weapons of war and no one can even attempt to do anything about it; see how voter ID laws are passed like Jim Crow; see how the innate sovereignty of the nation has been torn asunder now that private corporations can be 'to big to fail'; see an ever increasingly militarized police force; see the constitutional absurdity of 'free speech zones'; see democratic campaigns where one guy runs but once elected that guy's nowhere to be found and in his place is a carbon copy of the last guy who held the office ... See how our 'political parties' are two sides of the same coin ... But let's stop here and consider that last point in greater depth, as it is so vital to any understanding of 'democracy' in America ... Republicans, Democrats; Jefferson has been famously remembered, quoted, as saying once our (more properly his) democracy devolved into a two party system it would be a democracy no more. And I've certainly been a witness to that in my life. Sure, America isn't a dictatorship, but it sure as hell isn't the country Jefferson helped forge. And the main reason for that, to my eyes, seems to be the consolidation of power in the hands of politicians with more in common with each other than their constituents. R or D you can bet they're there for Wall Street or the military-information-industrial complex. Anyone else? Good luck with that citizen ... And while they're both complicit in gutting the middle class, let's take a moment to reflect, ethically, on that matter ... You can't blame the snake for its venom, but you can sure as hell blame the snake-oil salesman for shilling his bullshit wares. In case that metaphor wasn't clear enough allow me to decode it for you:

R = snake. D = snake-oil salesman.

Switching gears - though not by much! - let's shift to the state of modern American entertainment. To the uninitiated possibly a trite transition, any who've watched politics lately will surely see the connection. And just as our politics smell rotten, the main complaint with what passes as entertainment these days is how bad it tastes. Yes, it's a question of taste, as it seems most Americans have none. From 'reality TV' (which is surely anything but - though let's not forget Barnum's maxim!), to a pop-music ecosystem that's cannibalized itself to the point of parody, a movie industry that can seemingly fill ten months of releases with one script, the apotheosis of sport, the devolution of literature into a hobby for diarists, the way the performing arts are continually hoarded into smaller and smaller urban green zones, well, it's just hard to swallow most of that without gagging. Or throwing up. Yet a more concerted analysis along these lines is not called for here - we have much too much ground yet to cover.

Speaking of ground and covering it why not mention war? That old playground of glory now some video game where you might win many things; though honor's not among them. The full transition here is yet to occur, but we're definitely in the middle of it. Drones, air strikes, GPS targeting and bombs dropped from orbit (sure, not yet - wait for it!). The complete impersonalization of the other; that total objectification of the enemy (you better believe the pornographers have drone-envy). Let's not equivocate; it's one thing to look someone in the eye and take their life - quite another to push a button sixteen time-zones away and watch an image of indiscriminate carnage. How long will it be before we don't even let a homo sapien sapien push that button? How long before the machines are killing us on their own .?. Nothing to be cynical about here!

And if killing our 'enemies' has/is becoming so much more impersonal healing our 'own' has a fortiori. I'm not even going to start bandying about statistics but it's well known that of the 'first-world', 'post-industrialized' countries we're the only one that still considers healthcare a cash-grab instead of a human-right. And to what wonderful affect! Go ahead and try to ignore all the horror stories of your fellow Americans who lost it all because they couldn't pay their medical bills, or because they did. Pay no attention to record profit margins at insurance companies while the poor forgo all but emergency treatment and the wealth of the middle class is bled out and transferred to HMO executives. Sure, Uncle Tom tried to change all that - by passing a Republican plan even though the Ds had two branches of the federal government! - but when I tried to sign up for 'Obamacare' I still couldn't afford it even though I had $200 in the bank, no assets, and had been unemployed for over two years. If I lived in any other country where English is the primary language I'd be covered without paying a dime. My solution? To use the actual Republican plan - don't get sick!

But that should be easy since we all know of the three pillars of good health (diet, exercise, genetics) eating right is the easiest of all ... Hell. No, sorry, I was about to go all sarcastic and make it seem America knows nothing about sugar overload, HFCS, preservatives, the increasingly and horrifying inability of urbanites to access fresh foods (specifically the poor ones!), pesticides, pink slime, corn or corn or more corn or when will there ever be enough corn already, price gouging on foods that were produced the way they've been produced for centuries (read: organic, grass-fed, free-range), trans-fats, GMO proliferation in our breadbasket without an honest debate on the merits or looking at the science past what some corporation's panel has assured us is true, sodas, the food-gap, throwing away enough food daily to feed the world's hungry cuz it wouldn't make a dime, slaughterhouses like Auschwitz or Dachau ... That Quite Barbarism ... But that would be foolish - America knows all about that ... Why shouldn't it? America invented most of it …

And we invented the largest consumer-driven transportation system the world has ever seen to move all that food around. Sure, China will catch up with us eventually (if not already), but for the better part of three generations the US led the world in road-building and car-buying. Quite apart from the environmental effects this produced there was a profound psychological positive feed-back loop involved as well: one justifying the pre-dominate narrative of our consumer culture. Choice is sacred; you are special and unique and can reflect that through choice; so choose this product or this other one and express your uniqueness through possessing any one of these infinitely similar products; the choice is yours. Perhaps nowhere else in the market was this ‘story’ sold as diligently and aggressively than in the automobile industry. While it is true the US is, spatially speaking, a very large country, it is not true that every adult American needed or needs their own set of wheels to connect it. There are other options, other technologies that could’ve been employed to bring the masses together with more energy efficiency and communal cohesion. I admit it’s no Copernican Revolution, but the thought that Americans are so stubbornly self-interested and quick to discriminate opposed many of their European or native counterparts can not be divorced from the fact we all love to be in the driver’s seat. That commodified ‘freedom’ we are told awaits us on an open road with our very own internal combustion engine humming along in front of our feet; a freedom trains, buses, or carpooling can never provide. Again, notwithstanding the ecological impact of all this, the psychological dimension is impossible to ignore: even if we all owned Tesla’s that were powered by clean fusion charging stations it would still be me, me, me … which is quite naturally a completely uncynical disposition from which to hold a society together …

American’s fascination with their own value and freedom has of course been a dominate theme in the grand narrative of the country for some time; and while cars and roads were the major technological expression of that for much of the twentieth century, we have turned the corner here, in this regard, finding ourselves lost amid tiny little shiny screens that put the whole world inches from our eyes. With the advent of mobile computing the freedom so many seek isn’t conceived any longer by MPG rather MPBS. The new speed of information, and the promise of perpetual access, have enchanted the newer generations in much the same way vehicles did their antecedents. The technology is different while the story remains the same. It is still a self-centered freedom underlying the need, desire, to own the newest, quickest, coolest gadget. A freedom of information surely, yet one closely connected with the freedom cars brought their older relatives; it is as much economic as it is self-satisfying. The internet changed the game, naturally - and hail and well met etc. etc.! - but a claustrophobic observation remains … for a technology that has brought so many people together - and it has - it sure as hell does an awful good job sundering them as well … for you can’t find a public space anymore where a near-majority of your fellow citizens aren’t more interested in their precious little screens than those flesh and blood humans nearby. Perhaps this is just the necessary evolution of the social fabric - perhaps resistance is futile - though a social contract that has more to do with Facebook’s TOS opposed a Bill of Rights just (and forgive me for being so cynical) doesn’t seem like much of a society worth bothering with to this writer. Certainly not one worth the name.

Speaking of the modern technology we all now can’t live without, it seems to me a funny thing happened on the way to Google’s homepage … we now have access to all the information we can consume, on any topic, just a keystroke away, and look what we’re doing with it … I’m not just talking about social media or pornography, I mean the fundamental epistemological conundrum of an allegedly intelligent species that now has post-scarcity style access to information yet we’ve made of the web one colossal echo-chamber where the tribes huddle together in aggrieved resentment or ignorant bliss of the ‘others’ … look at it like this: in a day and age when the work of science (you know, that thing that made all this ((by which I mean ‘Modernity’ and all its toys)) possible) is more evenly, widely, and objectively disseminated than at any other time in history the public’s grasp and understanding of science and its work is at an all-time low. Basic data are disputed; empirical findings are called into question by anyone with a laptop, forget about a degree in the subject: what used to be considered non-issues, resolved subjects, are now argued over as if the Earth might actually be flat … all of which might just be good for a laugh if there weren’t actual existential threats to the species that only science can solve; yet we can’t even begin that discussion because some car salesman googled Glenn Beck and now we have legislatures that don’t think climate change is real; or they say the data doesn’t support an anthropogenic cause even though they never took a serious science course in their life; or that can’t be right because it doesn’t fit into our time-warp economy and a dollar today is obviously more important than our children’s future; or anyway shut-up idiot scientists just because you actually studied something other than law or business doesn’t mean you know any more than me because I have a high speed internet connection and I bookmarked the Drudge Report … how is it, philosophically speaking, tenable that the more information you have the stupider you become? I don’t know, but if you want a good example of the principle in action take a look at America today. Or just Google it …

Of course there is one thread that ties all these elements of ‘the surface’ together and that thread is consumerism as expressed by our current form of capitalism. The ascendancy of the dollar over all else (sorry God!). The desire to possess, acquire, consume. We are material creatures, we humans, and thus must consume to survive; fine: but do we have to do so in the manner we seem set on here and now? No, not at all, even suggesting that our’s is the only system, the only way to satiate the human hunger is absurd on its face as well as betraying an amnesiac’s conception of history. No, there are other paths, yet we have chosen this one, this ‘capitalism’ that mimics the terrors and rigors of the jungle at every turn. In the act of deifying money (more on that later) we have dehumanized ourselves. For the most part we are simple cogs in a vast machine that cares little or nothing for us; and so we care only for ourselves. The inherent egoism of the modern American psyche is spectacular to behold, certainly, in its primal vanity; at the same time giving the lie to any ethical system we still tenuously cling to as reminder of simpler days (sorry Christianity!). So we are, as a culture, no better than spoiled children grasping for another slice of pie. And while that’s certainly comical, it is also tragic, since such a system is not sustainable whatsoever (there is never enough pie). Neither history or science can provide any examples of such a system expanding into perpetuity (literature has given us a few but they are either satire or utopias ((same thing really))), and yet a sincere, concerted discussion on this issue has yet to percolate through the public sphere, or if so, only in the usual places and thus not given the sort of urgency it requires. But to have this conversation we all have to be ready to listen; it is not enough for the cynics and naysayers to keep shouting into the wild or the web: there has to be an audience, a receptive ear. Which brings us to our next section.

The Self

The problems elucidated in ‘The Surface’ are, to a great extent, symptoms of our sense of self, or, as is more often (if paradoxically) the case, our lack of one. While I am specifically referring to the modern American ‘self’, I’m going to be doing so with large brushstrokes; forming great swathes of colored splotches closer in kind to a rorscharch test than a pointilistic canvass. You may not see a reflection here so much as a sense of remembrance, or deja vu. That’s fine. I can’t be alone in thinking our lifespeeds have altered, and it’s just that alteration I want to discuss.

Lifespeed. Right. Let’s define that quickly so we can move on. By lifespeed I mean that facile quality of Being that tethers us to the ‘now’. Perceptually, our lives happen at a specific point in time, and I’ve conceived the word lifespeed to represent this point, as well as our conscious reaction to it. It’s just a word. Other than this meager definition it means nothing; has no other value. Right.

We were talking about choice earlier and there’s a clear connection between the act of choosing and the extant phenomena adjoining it. Just the relationship that lifespeed is meant to express. On its face, choice is neutral. Neither positive or negative, good or bad. The ‘designed’ choice of our consumer-driven society I find abhorrent, though not from some reactionary impulse, but a genuine longing for what it’s replaced. By making choices we define ourselves and I fear many of us are accepting a story that tells us we can only make this or that choice opposed to this that or the other. That we are told certain stories so many times we think we have no choice how they end; or wether to listen to them at all. In this way our lifespeeds have been damaged; like a bonsai pruned too severely.

Perhaps many are content defining themselves through ‘designed’ choice, or who ‘designed’ it anyway? Yes … there will always be sheep and lemmings in human form, and if that’s your angle you have my pity but nothing else. On the other hand, if you genuinely desire a leveling-up on the self-awareness front but have found this difficult to achieve thus far, you must realize two hard truths; the first that it is your business alone, none others - and the second, that it will be incredibly difficult to achieve because our society was not constructed to assist in this goal - quite the contrary! - it was designed to prevent it, at almost every turn. Here we return to the ‘designed’ component of American choice. Since the beginning the tiny tribes watching the throne have conspired to affect a marked class distinction in the land of the ‘free’. From the original agricultural workers of the new world, to the industrial workers who built a modern nation, to the current service sector workers slipping into poverty those with the firmest grip on the levers of power have continually strived to erect massive obstacles between those that labor for a living and those that live off that labor. Nor are these obstacles simply economic or aspirational in nature, no, due their pervasiveness through the generations they have percolated down into the most subterranean reaches of the mass conscious; into the very stories we use to define ourselves. Egads! a polite-hyper-modern-liberal-minded-triangulator might reply, don’t you know everyone has a TV! A refrigerator! Cheapest food ever! Why yes of course, there is an exception to every rule. While, for about thirty years in the middle of the last century, it seemed America was finally delivering on its promise, just look how long it took for us to devolve into another gilded age (the apparent default position of American society). It is foolish to define a thing based off aberrations, opposed its consistencies. In this way we clearly see the US for what it is … the second most successful marketing scheme in human history (naturally one must award Christianity top honors on that mark) … in the same way tobacco used to be good for you, that sodas were harmless, or how fast food is every bit nutritious as home-made, America cries ‘freedom’ when in so many ways the reverse is clearly the case. From ‘power’s’ perspective it’s nihilistically brilliant sure - give the people a semblance of freedom (in our case economic choice) and they’ll extrapolate that into a veritable cosmos of self-authorized-self-actualization - and you bet the monarchists, dictators, or petty politburos are jealous as hell at the level of control the political classes of America have been able to sustain generation after generation. A state of affairs that continues for no other reason than that an over-whelming majority of Americans keep believing the lies. We are forced to ask: why do they?

Let’s speculate wildly! Is it possible there exists some globe-spanning underground tributary of Lethe that constantly replenishes all the aquifers in the land? Or perhaps when we, on average a truly vain people, look into a mirror our historical consciousness is reset to zero? Or maybe we’ve all become so addicted to the stories we repeat about American Exceptionalism even the most destitute are content to sacrifice any chance they might have of another, better life, so as the stories can keep being told .?. the gyre is constricting at every turn, just like water flowing down the drain we’re becoming closer and closer to ourselves and ours; we’re losing a visceral sense of community and common cause through the ‘designed’ choices of a consumerist economy and specifically the newer technologies of self-absorption. So many of us don’t seem able to see past our own reflections, our problems, that even beginning to consider the larger problems facing our country seems as pointless as sending a manned mission to Mars.

The latent greed of the species is given free reign in America and this greed is destroying us. Making us sick. Stunted, withered, cloying little souls blighted with giga-myopia and eterno-amnesia. Greed. Most cultures have oft thought it a base emotion, one needing constant oversight - not the good ’ole US of A! We saw right through that ethical clap-trap - we saw that by harnessing the simmering greed of a people and putting them to work fulfilling that greed great things could happen … just absolutely amazing things … and we have accomplished quite a bit worth being proud over, and we sure have shown all those historical moralists just how wrong they were about the most solipsistic emotion … but this is a strange greed, our American one, one many may not even be aware of, so deep do its roots dive; a conniving greed that wraps in upon itself like a fresh burrito from Chipotle or those roller coasters you remember from Disneyland or Six-Flags … a greed that we have to learn to turn off, ignore, or quit seeing as so basic and benign in all our lives that there’s nothing you can do about it anyway - because it isn’t benign, it reacts to us and the environment as surely as we do it, and lately it’s been acting badly … yes, there are historical elements to this greed, there is also the question of personal responsibility, mutual complicity, systems of control and power as well - so many factors … I guess I’m nostalgic for another type of human being, one not fueled by avarice or beholden to the choices of others … qualities most seem to have lost somewhere on the way to Walmart … a human being that might never have existed except in a dream …

The Symbol

Human beings have long used symbols to represent value. Symbols are convenient, easy, and incredibly mutable. They can be transferred or translated almost infinitely. With a symbol ideas that might take an incredible amount of energy to explain or describe can be conveyed almost instantaneously. Logic and mathematics could likely not exist without them, nor, indeed, any language. And like any good thing, as is so often the case with any wonderfully useful thing, we humans have become dependent on them. Created for ourselves a world where we can not live without them. We are, in many ways, addicted to their utility. On its face there is nothing ethically challenging about this. Language and math are boons to humanity, practically describing our modern conception of ourselves. Symbols are naturally value neutral, like any high-level epistemological building block. And yet, we modern Americans have found ourselves in a tricky spot. We have crafted a society where one symbol is supreme. Where one symbol, and one symbol alone, holds all the power. A symbol that, if you find yourself without it, without access to it, without a stock-pile of it hiding somewhere, essentially makes you a non-entity. No longer part of the culture, the game. For it is certainly true that the only game in modern America is money. That collecting dollars has superseded all other activities; has supplanted any other endeavor as the only one with value. This state of affairs is the genesis of our cultural decline; of the death of the ideals that the Founders (who themselves were already playing the only game) attempted to instill in the New World: will in the end be understood by future historians as the single greatest crime of our time.

I say crime and I mean it. Don’t use the word for shock or awe. Nor do I want to dwell on this particular subject (not being the place for an extended analysis of this issue I will allow such a discussion its own essay, its own space, a place where it can be a bit more academic and dry, not so emotive or cynical) though we do have to mention a few more things before moving on. Crime. Yes. What was this crime? In short order here we go … it used to be the case that money was a symbol that referred to labor, actual work performed by one human that held value for another. So far as that is all money is, there is nothing ethically suspect about it. Then, at some point in the past, a few cunning paradigm-shifters saw an opportunity and changed the rules regarding what money was; they removed the labor as referent of value, replacing it with rare objects (typically gold) that few among any populace would ever see in their lives. Well, since the promise of alchemy was a lie, and the philosopher’s stone was never discovered, at least this money still referred to something real, something that couldn’t just be made up on the spot. Ah ha! the sons of the sneaky paradigm-shifters thought, that would just be the icing on the cake! Let’s remove the rare objects as value referent as well - let’s go all in on a communal mass delusion and see if anyone believes it … let’s just have money valued at whatever we say it’s valued at. Let’s create a massive shell game that only a very few will ever truly know the rules to, though the outcome, the results, will effect everyone … yes … let’s create the only game worth playing, and let’s give every live birth a turn … which leaves us with a system that, no matter how hard you work, no matter how industrious you are, if you don’t know the rules of the game (in modern America we can think of the Federal Reserve, Wall Street bankers, old money, select members of the Treasury Department etc. as the holders of the rule book) you will not win at it. You will play and play and play and keep losing and losing and losing all the while the rule keepers keep winning and winning and winning because for most players in this game the tokens of victory they collect (dollars) are bought at the hard price of actual labor, as if they never heard about how money grew up - no, they slave and slave for pennies without any chance of leveling up in this game and getting to that haughty echelon where money is no longer about work but having money make money off of someone else’s work … this little narrative I just outlined is a crime because there are clear stealers and victims (of course there are exceptions to every rule, but for every Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, there are a hundred and fifty million working at Walmart for a slave-wage). You see, the architects of the monetary symbol’s paradigm shift knew that by removing any referent to an actual act (labor) or object (gold) they were essentially hollowing out the natural relationship between the symbol and the symbolized, and in that empty space they would find their own El Dorado; their own little universe where they called the shots and none other. They essentially re-wrote the rules of symbolism, and clearly in their favor. And while symbols shift meaning all the time, especially in religious or political environments, these shifts are fundamentally harmless as neither religion or political discourse ever directly affects the physical well being of a human being as does their ability to acquire food, or energy, or health care, or shelter (I understand that by including ‘politics’ in this sense I might seem to be advocating a ‘post-history’ perspective; one where capitalistic-liberalism has won over all other political narratives, and while I hope that isn’t so, at the moment, and especially as an American author, one would be hard pressed to argue the point otherwise). To be clear, I’m not suggesting there was some shadowy cabal that gathered and planned out this great hollowing out of the monetary symbol; as is often the case it happened by fits and starts, here and there, as history would have it, propelled by the innate greed of the least amongst us. And yet they have scored a grand victory, these acolytes of avarice. Have pulled the proverbial wool over so many eyes - and in the process redefined a country that promised freedom into a vassal state completely enthralled to an ugly little strip of green denim that truly means nothing at all …

Of course this transformation did not just occur on American soil. But we sure as hell took the ball and ran it home. More than any other modern nation we are more readily defined by the empty symbology of the dollar than any others. This is not just an American problem; but we must be the first to address it …

America’s enslavement to the dollar is the singular cause of all the problems I put forth in ‘The Surface’, and, in many ways, ‘The Self’. We are a nation of suckers, rats, blind idealists, idiot sensualists, blatant thieves and the occasional dreamer … and knowing that, seeing my country in this way does nothing to alleviate my pathological cynicism … but allow me a query - do you still ask me why I am so cynical .?.  

[omfgtrump]

The Tale of Two Viruses: Part 7

This week we saw more evidence that the White House was aware in mid January of a potential devastating coronavirus pandemic. And on January 29th, a memo from Peter Navarro, Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, and the national Defense Production Act policy.

It was entitled: “Aggressive Containment versus No Containment.”

In the memo, Navaro wrote: “Doing nothing (the “No Containment” option) could range from “zero economic costs” to $5.7 trillion depending on the lethality of the virus.”

He also estimated a scenario in which the coronavirus could kill 543,000 Americans.

Of course, The Don claims he never saw the memo.

Navarro’s Feb 23rd memo begins with, “There is an increasing probability of a full-blown COVID-19 pandemic that could infect as many as 100 million Americans, with a loss of life of as many as 1-2 million souls.”

Navarro called for an “immediate supplemental appropriation of at least $3 billion” to support efforts at prevention, treatment, inoculation and diagnostics. He described expected needs for “Personal Protective Equipment” for health care workers and secondary workers in facilities such as elder care and skilled nursing. He estimated that over a four-to-six-month period, “We can expect to need at least a billion face masks, 200,000 Tyvek suits, and 11,000 ventilator circuits, and 25,000 PAPRs (powered air-purifying respirators).”

Guess what happened to Navarro: He was disappeared from the task force and replaced by, “Mr. President, I think I love you more than Jesus” Mike Pence.

The Don persisted in magical thinking, asseting that this would never happen here, because after all, he is The Don, and not only will he not allow bad things to happen, but the virus is no match for him.

So while the virus was taking hold, The Don was still waxing about how the virus was going to just fade in to the sunset. He saw what happened in China and what was happening in Italy and chose to do nothing!

The Don railed at the World Health Organization trying to blame it for his administrations incompetence. He has railed against governors and the news media; I am waiting for him to say that if Obama hadn’t been president none of this would have happened. Actually, if he had heeded the Obama administrations warnings, not discarded the plan they set up for a pandemic crisis-including setting up a special pandemic task force- our country would have managed this crisis more effectively.

The Don did take time to get rid of Glenn A. Fine, who was the acting inspector general for the Defense Department since before Mr. Trump took office and who was set to become the chairman of a new Pandemic Response Accountability Committee to monitor how the government carries out the $2 trillion Coronavirus relief bill. Is there a chance Don that you will be minding the store, siphoning off money, making your friends richer, while people die? Why else get rid of someone whose job it is to make sure the money is distributed appropriately? Does that sound immoral and disgusting? Yes, and you have proven time and time again, that you are quite capable of doing this!

He also had the government purchase 29 million doses of Chloroquine for treating the virus when there is no evidence that it works. In fact, one study in Brazil had to be terminated, as it caused fatal heart attacks in 11 patients. Sweeden also terminated it study and no longer administering the drug to patients as numerous died of heart attacks as well.

When a reporter asked Dr. Fauci to speak about the drug you told the reporter that the question had been answered many times before and cut off the reporter so Fauci couldn’t speak.  Instead there is reporting that says you have been listening to Rudy Guiliani and Laura Ingraham, of Fox News, who have been feeding you with unscientific anecdotal evidence of the drug’s efficacy. (Hey Rudy, welcome back! Aren’t you in jail yet?)

What do you imagine is on Fauci’s mind when he is being silenced by the master of disinformation and lies?

Your patience with Fauci has been running thin; he, as opposed to you, tries to tell the American people the truth. Finally you couldn’t take it anymore and retweeted a former Republican Congressional candidates post: “Time to #Fire Fauci.” Perverse acts of intimidation in your demented reality show “Survivor.”

Hopefully, this schoolyard bullying will have no impact on Fauci’s truth telling as he is interested in saving lives and is truly devastated by what is going on; you, on the other hand, have no empathy and just want to win an election and somehow think getting the economy buzzing back is your pathway, no matter the casualties. If you fire him, maybe he will be liberated and tell the American people how badly you botched this.

We know things are starting to get bad for The Don when you start criticizing the Wall Street Journal. Soon he may even have to go after Lindsey, “I’ll do anything, and I mean anything for you,” Graham. Suddenly, they are starting to say that maybe it isn’t a good idea for you to be spending so much time rambling during the press conference because as far as the public is concerned as the great B.B. King sang: “The Thrill is Gone.”

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

The Wall Street Journal always “forgets” to mention that the ratings for the White House Press Briefings are “through the roof” (Monday Night Football, Bachelor Finale, according to @nytimes  & is only way for me to escape the Fake News & get my views across. WSJ is Fake News!

The bump in your popularity for handling the crisis is retreating. Your lies, denial of facts and reality, insults of journalists and governors and preening about ratings, are starting to lose their luster, even with some of your supporters. Maybe people dying because of your incompetence breaks the hypnotic spell you have over your base? If death doesn’t then…

The Very Stable Genius faces a true existential dilemma: When is the right time to open up the country again and get people back to work with the prospects of a resurgence of the virus looming?

The Don is right in referring to his decision to reopen the country for business as “the most important decision he has ever made in his life.” Sure is Don, but your attention span to think through things and make decisions based on facts and not your “instincts” leaves me panicked. Luckily, governors are in control of their states and can make independent decisions despite you tweeting that you have the ultimate authority.

Recently you referred to the virus as a genius and in your daily version of “Survivor” you, The Very (Evil) Stable Genius, pitted yourself against an evil genius virus. The consequences of that match up is the unnecessary death toll we are facing. You are so over-matched; your utter incompetence and delusions of grandeur have given the evil genius virus more power to destroy.

If you are serious about making the right decision, then why do you keep repeating that we really don’t need to do a lot of testing? And why do you keep saying we have tested more people than any other country when there are 17 countries that have tested a larger percentage of their population? Why are you not coordinating a national response instead of putting the onus on the states? So when all is told, it will be the states and the governors that failed? That’s your re-election strategy?

Everyone is telling you that massive testing is the way to figure out how to bring the economy back, yet you downplay its importance? There is only one explanation: You are trying to hide the numbers of infected from the American people. You don’t want us to know how bigly and huge they are so you can say “look our numbers are so much lower than expected, see what good job I did!”

Don, the Covid-19 virus is eatingThe Very Stable Evil Genius alive. It feeds off your incompetence, which has allowed it to increase its devastation. But thanks to governors, mayors, front line medical workers, and essential workers, we are fighting the good fight and we can see some progress because of our mitigation tactics of staying home.

Now you are pushing to open the country for business on May 1st, despite scientists imploring that it is too soon. It is clear that you don’t have the smarts and patience to stay the course to save lives. If you open the country too soon, more will die and more blood will be on your hands. And that blood is not the kind that can be washed off with soap. The sad part is that your immorality will prevent you from caring. Let’s hope the American people do and get rid of you the way we are all trying to get rid of the virus.

———————— On a more somber note, the greatest percentage of people dying from the virus are brown and black. This is not surprising, but no less devastating. Poverty, poor health care, higher levels of preexisting conditions, as well as the fact that many are working at jobs that have high exposure rates, explain this gruesome reality. In Chicago, more than 70 percent of the deaths related to the Coronavirus were among black residents, though black residents make up only a third of the city’s population. In Michigan, black residents make up just 14 percent of the population, but over 40 percent of the Covid-19 deaths. This is happening all over the country. What the virus has brought to light is the stark reality of inequity in this country. There is no hiding from statistics. America’s long standing institutionalized racism has been brought to bear in the grimmest of ways. In this game of “Survivor,” it has been clear who the greatest losers are. The question is, when we finally get to the other side of this, will there be the political and spiritual will to do something about it. Will there be institutional change allowing access to healthcare for all. Will there be an emphasis on creating real economic opportunities for people of color to address this shameful inequality?

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[scottadamsblog]

President Trump’s First 100 Days

Everyone observing politics seems to agree on two things about a president’s first 100 days in office:

1. 100 days is a meaningless, arbitrary marker for a president’s performance that is likely to be more misleading than useful.

and...

2. Let’s treat it like it is important! Reeeeeeee!

The thing that fascinates me the most about this situation is that the so-called “pro-science” people are giving Trump low grades for his first 100 days.

Allow me to connect some dots.

In science, you don’t have much of an experiment unless you have a control case for comparison. For example, you can’t know if a drug helped with a particular disease unless you study the people who didn’t take the drug at the same time as those who did.

But the pro-science people forget this concept when thinking about politics. Where is the control case for Trump’s first 100 days?

Is it George Washington’s first 100 days?

Is it Jimmy Carter’s first 100 days?

And which prior president came to office in 2017 with identical problems and the most polarized political environment in history?

And just how long is it supposed to take to revise Obamacare? Do we compare it to the time Abe Lincoln repealed and replaced Obamacare? Or how about the time those other presidents repealed and replaced Obamacare in the year 2017? 

I saw an article in Politico that is too dumb to link to, saying it is objectively true that Trump has had a bad first 100 days. This is a perfect example of what I call the “two movies on one screen effect.” I’m almost certain that many Trump supporters would say these facts are objectively true too:

Economic confidence is up.

Trump signed a bunch of executive orders. You might not like them, but that’s more about you, not about his job performance.

China is putting the screws on North Korea (finally)

Trump erased the “puppet of Putin” charge by prudent application of Tomahawk missiles. That’s an accomplishment, even if you don’t like it.

Trump erased the “Trump is Hitler” hallucination that the Clinton side spray-painted onto him during the election. (That’s a big deal.)

Trump got a qualified Supreme Court judge, albeit the hard way.

Healthcare is moving along briskly from the first plan that was terrible to something that is approaching feasible. That’s progress, not failure.

Tax reform will probably be slower than we want, but most observers expect something good to come of it.

International relations look fine. The only awkward relationship is with Putin, and that’s the awkward relationship Trump’s detractors want.

Illegal immigration is way down because of Trump’s persuasion.

Now let’s look at the things President Trump did wrong in his first 100 days:

You can criticize Trump’s actions against women’s reproductive rights, both on the topic of Planned Parenthood funding and his Supreme Court pick. But calling those things failures or successes depends on your political views, not on Trump’s job performance.

I think you could make an objective case against Trump for putting economics above the environment. But you’d have to ignore the fact that a stronger economy almost always puts you in a better position to keep the environment clean. (Trump says that.) You don’t see clean air and water in poor countries. 

President Trump reversed a bunch of campaign statements from impractical positions to more practical ones. Is that failure?

President Trump said a bunch of things that did not pass the fact-checking, surprising literally no one. And as usual, none of it mattered in any way except that it made us focus on whatever topic he wanted us to focus on.

President Trump’s staff and advisors are reportedly doing a lot of in-fighting for influence. But that sounds more like a healthy situation than a Trump-is-dictator situation. It would be worse if there were no differences of opinion in the group.

President Trump has been slow to fill lots of government positions. But has any of that mattered to your life? I haven’t noticed, personally. Was the Secretary of Whatever supposed to come over and mow my lawn?

President Trump did not release his tax returns, so we imagine there are problems there.

President Trump incorrectly claimed that his staff had been “wiretapped.” It turns out that they were only legally surveilled in an indirect way. Which only sounds different to his critics.

Generally speaking, the criticisms of President Trump’s first 100 days (and in general) are based on imaginary stuff:

Imagined problems on his tax returns.

Imagined blackmail by Russia.

Imagined poor performance based on imagining a control case of another imaginary president doing the same job at the same time, but doing it faster.

Imaginary belief that doing things you prefer he not do is similar to not being competent.

Imagined staff problems that are bigger than they are.

Imagined nuclear holocaust that happens because of Trump’s imaginary insanity.

Imagined problems caused by his ignoring of facts that don’t matter.

Imagined future climate calamity. (They could be right, but for now it is imaginary because complex models have a bad track record.)

---

You might enjoy reading my book because it performed better than all the imaginary books I am comparing it to.

I’m also on...

Twitter (includes Periscope): @scottadamssays​

YouTube: At this link.

Instagram: ScottAdams925

Facebook Official Page: fb.me/ScottAdamsOfficial

[armeniaitn]

Hraparak: Current situation in Armenia 'stems from government's crucial mistakes,' says former ...

New Post has been published on https://armenia.in-the.news/society/hraparak-current-situation-in-armenia-stems-from-governments-crucial-mistakes-says-former-22120-19-06-2020/

Hraparak: Current situation in Armenia 'stems from government's crucial mistakes,' says former ...

Hraparak Daily has interviewed Artur Vanetsyan, the former director of the National Security Service (NSS), over the epidemiological situation in Armenia and the domestic political developments.

Below is an excerpt from the interview:

Mr. Vanetsyan, the prime minister asked one question to himself – and the Armenian society – as he announced the daily number of the [coronavirus] infections [665 new cases]: ‘What are we doing wrong?’ What is your opinion on that? What do you think we are doing wrong at the moment?

Given that the problem concerns our people – every family in essence – I will try to answer that question point by point.

1. First, it would be more correct to ask what have we done – rather than we are doing – wrong The situation today stems from a range of gross, at times even crucial mistakes which our government – and [Prime Minister Nikol] Pashinyan personally – have committed. Are we ready to understand him and accept the mistakes that have caused tens of thousands of infection cases, hundreds of deaths and a still unending tragedy?

2. Those mistakes were made at all the stages: (a) the fight against the epidemic was belated, with the prime minister rallying crowds [as part of the campaign for the constitutional referendum]; (b) the declared quarantine came to bear a formal character in the country, falling short to yield the desired outcome; (c) the healthcare sector missed a very important period, failing to properly prepare itself for this volume [of work]; (d) the move to ease the [lockdown] restrictions on May 4 – without serious preparatory activities – is also among the crucial mistakes.

3. Is there any explanation at all as to why the authorities attached importance to the practice of wearing masks only a fortnight later and are now making the kind of calls all day roun? We lost 14 days as a result, coming face to face with an unmanageable spread of the infection.

4. Among the unforgivable mistakes is also the inconsistency between the public preaching made and the personal behavior demonstrated by the governing elite. I don’t mean at all the well-known photo shoot in Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh]; let us not forget that the practice of wearing masks was not until recently mandatory at the cabinet meetings and the National Assembly sessions.

The list of the unforgivable mistakes may go on. They will certainly be a subject of a serious debate and investigation, because it comes at a very high price: the health and life of our citizens.

But we hear the authorities state repeatedly that our society is undisciplined, that they very often fail to wear masks and practice social distancing.

Masks actually remain the only tool enabling the authorities to pursue their struggle. I have great doubts that no proper assessments are beiing made presently regarding the anti-epidemiological situation – given that masks alone are not enough to mitigate it. The moment for using masks as a dominant tool was omitted. It is obvious at the moment that the overwhelming majority of the population are wearing masks; hence it wouldn’t be honest at all to accuse them. So seeing the problem only in masks is not serious at all; it is like turning a blind eye to all the rest of issues.

The main mistakes at the moment are in three domains:

1. The government does not have a strategy to fight this epidemic. All the solutions are spontaneous and adopted on the spur of the moment, depending on the prime minister’s mood. Without a specific strategy, it is not possible to mobilize the resources in the country; it is not possible to have a sequence of steps and present the projected outcome to the people.

2. An obvious problem deals also with management. This government lacks the capacity of an anti-epidemiological management. No epidemic in the world is possible to overcome by speaking only all day long. Our state has all the opportunities to resolve, in just a couple of days, the the existing problems with the beds in hospitals and tests, leaving no person without medical assistance and bringing the situation under control.

3. Armenia needs international assistance, but Pashinyan prioritizes his own interest over our citizens’ life and health. What we need is to frame the volumes and quality of international aid in a literate manner and receive it through all the possible channels.  The small-sized assistance received very occasionally reaches here only through different personal connections and upon the initiative of the countries which themselves offer the assistance, not as a result of our state’s requests.

4. The authorities’ contact with the people appears to be very difficult indeed – given that the population is no longer able to understand which words should be taken seriously and which shouldn’t. The authorities change the tone of their discourse every day, stratifying the people – and targeting them – based on political preferences; they provoke tension among different social groups. In this difficult period for the country, controversial criminal cases are pushed to the foreground to evoke a higher resonance, setting people out against one another with all the consequences stemming therefrom. At the same time, the authorities are concentrating all their propaganda resources on persuading the public that certain ‘dark forces’ are interested to divide the society. Fortunately, though, the majority of people do see the reality. And those propaganda resources are a pressing demand today for a real anti-epidemiological struggle.

5. The National Assembly and the Government push ahead with all the laws and normative legal acts having no direct relationship to the epidemic and its economic consequences; they push ahead with political and criminal persecutions against the political opponents, causing the people to take to the streets to protect their rights or those subjected to political persecutions and creating thereby a great risk in terms of the spread of the virus.

Read original article here.

[thecoroutfitters]

Written by Wild Bill on The Prepper Journal.

Scheduled: U.S. Government Shutdown, Take 2

Date: 16 February 2019

The Players: Our elected representatives, The President and the 116th Congress; +/- 800,000 non-essential government employees; the American taxpayers

The three (3) week respite from the games being played with peoples lives ends on or about Saturday, February 16, 2019.

I searched the Las Vegas Odds Makers to get the betting line on if it will indeed shut down again but they are too busy with Super Bowl this week.

Without getting into the root causes, mainly because I am not qualified to lecture on mental illness, The Prepper Journal will ask from the viewpoint of how one survived Take 1 and what changes should we be making for Take 2.

I will be the first to admit that I am no optimist, none of the players have changed so I am expecting the same result as occurred just prior to Christmas past. I also am going to not include any media spin herein. I expect their to be no action from Congress, for The President to Declare an emergency, the 32nd, and then for a parade of activists judges to delay the work until a Supreme Court ruling, so nine (9) more months of kicking the can down the road. Here is the list of the existing 31 National Emergencies. I provide them for your review without comment.

In Take 1 we recommended the following:

Make cash and alternatives currencies more of a short-term focus in your planning than material stores like additional food, medications and additional ammo

If you work for the government this is especially true for you as YOU are declared “non-essential”, let that sink in as you plan the future direction of your career

We saw no movement or changes in healthcare; the ACA still in a death rattle but hanging on like the villain in a superheros flick that needs to be around for the sequel(s)

We postulated that nothing at all would be done about Border Security.

What Lessons Did we Learn?

there was little to no economic impact to the financial markets, short or longer term, the volatility continued based on an out of touch Fed and an army of nervous investors, but all the large swings swung back

Dedicated employees of many departments stepped up and showed up for work, did their jobs, and we are thankful for their service

Of the military services only the Coast Guard did not get paid because they are now under Homeland Security; the Border Patrol, National Parks Services and Air-traffic controllers did not get paid as well for the same reason and the air-traffic controllers were appearing to wearing thin towards the end

The prediction of doom and gloom and Armageddon from the media were, as always based on false logic and agenda-driven speak and did not come to pass.

So What Do We Do for Take 2

I would suggest we continue to focus on monetary reserves for the foreseeable future, especially if you were directly affected. Some suggestions are save a little extra in any way you can, skip that meal out, fix that appliance rather than replace it, perhaps even pay less against revolving (credit card) debt, always pay more than the minimum, but not a lot more as we watch this drama unfold. I am not a big fan of precious metals but if you are apply the same logic, invest prudently.

Turn off the doom and gloom from the media. They are in the business of generating content, they use Google Analytics to sell their influence share/reach to advertisers to acquire advertising revenue from those same advertisers. They are in the business of generating anxiety.

Travel plans? Business or pleasure? Another long shutdown may actually manifest some disruption to air traffic. And considering they are only getting a three-week break from being off the government dole again, their union may start organized sick-outs sooner. I am not suggesting cancelling travel but I am suggesting at looking into refundable ticketing as opposed to non-refundable as a way to mitigate your exposure. A small change which might eat into those additional savings efforts, know the risk and act accordingly.

Beware of the Tipping Points

The 116th Congress offered not a single compromise in Take 1, unless one considers their offer to negotiate only when the shutdown is over serious. The Executive Branch has now given them three (3) weeks to make good on that offer. Ride out the three (3) weeks and reassess your strategy. I know it isn’t even a complete billing cycle for most obligations but it is within sight.

One of the tipping points is in the scenario above. Zero movement, no compromise. It will be the harbinger of things to come for the next two years and government gridlock will manifest its way into more and more intrusive behaviors.

Another tipping point is partisan legislation that never moves from one House of Congress to the other, calls for infringement on our Bill of Rights and basic freedoms, and endless government hearings.

Preppers should pay attention to this and follow where the envelope is being pushed. Look for credible sources of government plans or actions. Yes, with every source impugned by every other source, this is indeed a challenge in today’s world. At this point I don’t have a good answer. Continue to be prudent in your expenditures and your savings and keep an ear to the ground. Sometimes that light at the other end of the tunnel is an on-coming train.

Follow The Prepper Journal on Facebook!

The post So What Are You Doing to Prepare for February 16th? appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

from The Prepper Journal Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies? #SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

[morbid-silence]

Social issues

When it comes to politics, I find myself the most interested in issues that pertain to the rights of what people “can and can’t do”

This meaning, immigration, gun laws

and yes, abortion.

So when it comes to certain rights, and my being in my early twenties, I hate it when people tell me what I can’t and can do, or what I am allowed to do.

I think people should mind there own business

But I do understand that there are people in charge, e.i. your parents and the government and they are in charge for a reason

But I also think there is a difference between rules and prohibition. One guides you and one completely takes away any freedom you thought you had. Prohibition with no leeway to circumstance or personal freedom can be detrimental. And I think we as Americans, as individuals, all want, and feel we deserve, the right to choose how we do things.

And then my other issue is with blanketed statements

Guns should be illegal.

Abortion should be illegal.

No more immigration.

And while I’m not saying that either side runs on these platforms, that is how it can be perceived by opponents and as a result defenses start to go up.

We need compromise

So for example, abortion

Republicans think that it should be illegal, and I really haven’t seen much give on this issue and I think it’s important because in their minds, abortion is murder

And when you think about it, it is

Women who get abortions are terminating a life inside their bodies. And many think that women don’t have the right to commit such an act

And I get it

Personally I think abortion is horrible and I hope I never would be put in the situation where I would have to consider getting one, but still, I am pro-choice.

And let me tell you why

People believe that abortion is murder because you are taking a life. In black and white terms this is a fact

But like I’ve said before, nothing is black and white.

And the issue that the two sides really need to be concerned with is, what do you consider a life?

Scientist will say that at the time of conception, a life I created and this life has potential to grow into a fully conscience and capable being. So let’s stick with this and base the discussion around this definition.

I agree, a life is created a conception. But I disagree, in that, this life or potential for life has more value than the person that is holding it. And I know, people will say, how do you hold one human being’s value higher than another. But that life inside the women at the moment of conception is not a human being. It has the potential to be, and at a certain point in the pregnancy it will become a human being, but until then, I don’t think it is. And I think that up until the point that it does becomes a human being, abortion is acceptable.

So listen

I’m not a scientist so I can’t say when that life becomes a human being, but I think that if we can establish this point, the lines can be drawn of when an abortion is acceptable and when it is not

So let’s backtrack

I’ve said that upon conception, a life is created, but that life is not a human being. So what is defined as a human being? Theoretically speaking only.

A human being is a person with existence, who has consciousness and cognitive feelings and thoughts.

So until a certain point, a life in a women does not have these characteristics

It is still murder to kill it, sure.

But this “murder” is no greater than the “murder” of an insect or any other animal that human beings choose to “murder”

And while that comparison could seem extreme, it’s not. 

“But how can you compare killing a baby to killing an animal?”

Because it’s not a baby yet. A baby is a human being and as I’ve stated, it’s not a human being until a certain point in development. It has no consciousness, no cognitive feelings. It only has the potential for these things. And what’s worse, is that animals, it has been proven, do have consciousness, but it’s still okay to kill them

Not buying it?

Let’s take it to a very dry cut comparison

Let’s say you’re walking through a park and suddenly step in something. You look down and realize you’re standing on top of 3 duck eggs and they’re crushed. Did you murder those eggs? Yes. Did you kill the potential of life? Yes. Do you feel horrible about? Of course. But is the act that you just committed illegal? No. And while this act is an accident and abortions are a choice, the fact of the matter is, that the value of the life of those duck eggs and the life inside a women are the same. There is only potential.

“Yes but abortions are a choice”

Alright so let’s say you’re in a similar scenario where you have a choice. You can step on the eggs willingly or you’ll lose your job. Step on the eggs or you’ll lose your education. Step on the eggs or your life gets uprooted and completely changed. What decision would you make? And no ones saying it’s not a tough choice that doesn’t takes a lot thinking. But is this thing that could be something worth what you have?

“What a selfish thought”

Yes abortion is selfish, but it’s a decision that only the person standing over the eggs, the person with this life inside, them can make.

Do you get that?

Yes killing a life is horrible, but what value does that life hold, is it greater than that of a fully capable person?

Now this is to say that I think abortion is only “okay” up until a certain point. Now this point can be decided by certified doctors, but for my argument and also personally, I think after the two month mark it’s okay to say that abortion is illegal. Because I think that at this point, the life is more than a potential, it’s becoming a human being or is now a human being.

This is compromise

To put my thoughts in order, I think that abortion should not be illegal. I do, however, think it should have some rules. Abortions should only be allowed in women before the end of the first trimester (doctors can dispute a more distinct time) and after that only in extreme cases should it be allowed e.i. rape or potential health risks for the mother.

Now the push back is that, with this, other things need to be adjusted

Sexual education needs to be reformed and required to a fuller extent in all schools (more importantly, public schools)

A lot of mistaken pregnancies can happen because of ignorance

Conceptions need to be cheaper and way more attainable and even potentially able to be attained under certain healthcare providers

And I’m not talking about condoms.

Birth control such as pills and IUDs are way more effective types of contraception that young women are often too ashamed to or can’t afford to get/use. And it is only these types of contraceptive that allow that women to be in control, because let’s not forget, it is their body and it is the body a baby will ultimately come out of.

And how about insuring that the father of the child is held accountable and made to take responsibility?

And what about adoption or foster care?

In the case the mothers really can not take care of the child, adoption and foster care systems need to be reformed. And this is so big because abortion rates all together would go down if a mother didn’t have to worry about whether their child would go to a safe family or foster home. One that will allow the child to grow with potential and not be devastatingly disadvantaged in the future.

Compromise

And I think that its important to point out, that abortions are going to happen whether they are outlawed or not. If a women needs one, she will find a way to do it. In the past, that meant women were reduced to illegal and unsafe operations, or taking matters into their own hands and potentially risking their own lives. Now with modern medicine, women will more than likely seek out illegal medication that would do the jobs. Which is also unsafe for the fetus and the women. 

So keep that in mind. And also let’s get rid of this idea, that women are going around have unprotected sex willy nilly and are getting abortions just because they can. If women are having unprotected sex its because they are uneducated. And women that do accidentally end up pregnant, its because a condom broke or birth control failed. E.i its not their fault. And maybe if IUDs were more known about and made available, this wouldn’t have happened. Let’s not turn this abortion debate into slut shaming and let’s also not forget it takes two to tangle.

Yeah

So I don’t know about you but think even some of these ideas were taken and really thought about, a middle ground could be found

Just think about it

Morbid silence

[radthursdays]

#RadThursdays Roundup 11/16/2017

A stencil of a child with pigtails, grinning a little, is graffitied on a wall. The text of the stencil reads “RIOTS NOT DIETS”. Source.

Issues

One Hundred Years after the Bolshevik Counterrevolution: A Timeline Charting the Repression of Revolutionary Movements: "A century ago, on November 7, 2017, the Bolshevik seizure of power got underway in revolutionary Russia. Following up our compilation of voices who spoke out against the rise of Soviet totalitarianism, “Restless Specters of the Anarchist Dead,” we present this translation of a text that appeared today in Catalan. It offers a detailed timeline of the Bolshevik crackdown on revolutionary currents in Russia, starting before the so-called October Revolution and running up to the treaty between Stalin and Hitler."

Immaculate Contraption: The family values of Blade Runner 2049‘s replicants: "In the U.S., reproductive heterosexuality remains a dominant cultural ideal. It’s reinforced in advertising and on television, in movies and across the pages of the New York Times style section, where straight single women wonder if their existence outside the couple form is so aberrant it might be considered a kind of queerness. America reveres mothers. It also lets them die from childbirth more than any other developed country. Its pro-life lobby stymies abortion access while the rest of the right slashes maternal healthcare, all while pontificating that birth control should be expensive and women should be virginal or pregnant, no in-betweens. These reproductive oppressions dovetail with broader capitalist exploitations: Bodies are only valuable to the extent that labor can be extracted from them, and what is a reproductive body if not a machine for making more bodies?"

Two hands reach up from a sewer grate, fingers wrapping around the bars of the grate, evoking prison bars. “Wrong Faith” is written on the hands. Source.

Technology

A Year of Tech Solidarity: "'I’m really down on how apathetic people are in the tech industry,' he told Civicist during a phone interview shortly after the event at Civic Hall. 'I mean they’re very concerned on the individual level but it doesn’t translate into any sort of action.' Ceglowski continues to organize Tech Solidarity meetings, slowly building out the network, in the hope that when a crisis finally catapults tech workers into action, his group is ready to mobilize. 'I do feel that our industry and leaders have skated by with a lot of collaboration and a lot of taking advantage of this new context without paying any price for it,' he said. 'That’s disappointing to me and I hope that we as tech workers can hold their feet to the fire better next year than we did this year.'"

Why Sign-Language Gloves Don't Help Deaf People: "College students were gaining accolades and scholarships for technologies based on an element of Deaf culture, while Deaf people themselves are legally and medically underserved. Also, though the gloves are often presented as devices to improve accessibility for the Deaf, it’s the signers, not the hearing people, who must wear the gloves, carry the computers, or modify their rate of signing. 'This is a manifestation of audist beliefs,' the UW letter states, 'the idea that the Deaf person must expend the effort to accommodate to the standards of communication of the hearing person.'"

The Most Hated Poet in Portland: "If a friend showed you his poetry over coffee, for instance, you’d find a polite way to express your dislike, if you share your opinion at all. But online, we speak 'without worrying about consequences to you or the person on the receiving end. This can be fun, liberating, even 'entertaining or smart in some situations.' But it can also become dangerous. […] People can rally community around something they love or something they hate. When community builds around the latter, as it often does, the line between criticism and abuse begins to blur. 'It’s very legitimate not to like someone’s poems because you find them misogynist,' Aboujaoude said. 'The difficulty is how that gets expressed. You can write a very intelligent article pointing out his misogyny — but are people who are attacking him online doing that?'"

A billboard shows an advertisement for the Greatest Hits record of the band The Police. The billboard has been subverted so that, rather than the actual cover art of the album, there’s a depiction of two hands imitating penetrative intercourse above the band name, so that the whole board might read “Fuck The Police”. Source.

Violence

[CW: sexual assault] Abolish the Military: "On Veterans Day, we should honor those killed and injured in past US wars by stopping future ones." Also, let's not forget those who were and still are being killed and injured by the US military.

[CW: officer brutality] Border Theories: Interweaving visual narratives of the Mexico–United States border show the uneasy relation between objects and people. "[…] no one can imagine governments or mindsets or corporations giving the confidence necessary for individuals to commit such violence. (What would it look like to put a power structure on trial, to make a system testify, to force an ideology to swear on the Bible? Absurd, no doubt, but a limit we ought to challenge.) Motives for the guilty are sought of the individual kind: personal vendettas, hate crimes, ignorance, negligence, and so on and so forth. We are made to believe some humans are just naturally born evil, corruptions of humanity, exceptions to some unspecified norm, a backwardness to be transcended. The promise is that certain kinds of humans, who think in certain kinds of ways, who live their lives in certain kinds of ways, will, eventually, in due time, be phased out. But the question never asked is what ways of living and being in the world are we waiting to extinguish?"

A bus stop ad from Brandalism, “an international street art collective that subverts advertising in urban space.” The ad reads: “My Mind Is Not Your Gold Mine” Source.

Activism

100 Women: The scientists championing their indigenous ancestors' discoveries: "Indigenous peoples around the world have understood the stars, tides and local ecosystems for hundreds of years but experts say their insights have often been overlooked. Now some female scientists are striving to highlight their achievements and collect the scientific heritage of their communities before it disappears."

[CW: sexual assault] Anti-Militarism Organizing Resources: "The 'War of Terror' intensifies violence against women of color, third world women, and our communities. Invading armies have never liberated women of color and third world women! Only we can liberate ourselves."

Direct Action Item

From the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund website: “Bail siphons money away from individuals and families struggling to make ends meet and presents those who can’t pay with a cruel choice: plead guilty as charged or go to jail. Every year millions of Americans are incarcerated simply because they can’t post bail, including 45,000 people in New York City alone. By paying bail for [those] who can’t afford it, we are keeping people out of jail, protecting the presumption of innocence, and proving that cash bail is not only unjust, but also unnecessary.” Consider giving to a bail fund. Maybe you can get a match from your employer; you can even donate using your computer’s spare processing power! 

If there’s something you’d like to see in next week’s #RT, please send us a message.

In solidarity!

What is direct action? Direct action means doing things yourself instead of petitioning authorities or relying on external institutions. It means taking matters into your own hands and not waiting to be empowered, because you are already powerful. A “direct action item” is a way to put your beliefs into practice every week.

[clubofinfo]

Expert: Let me preface what I am about to say by stating that I have the utmost esteem for mainstream medicine’s skill in emergency situations — the do or die surgeries, the dispensing of powerful life-saving drugs necessary in that setting are second to none; and its mastery of cosmetic surgery in cases of deformities and the advances made in prosthetics are nothing less than spectacular. These are what make mainstream medicine great. I would also like to add that I am not an expert of any kind. I hold no degrees or certifications, and neither do I represent, belong to, or work for any party, organization or corporation. I speak for myself, a sixty-two year old woman, and from my experiences with, and extensive research of, a topic I find fascinating, intriguing and bothersome — mainstream medicine and how the belief in its infallibility harms us in so many ways. The pompous certainty of mainstream medicine’s powerful proponents — be they multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical companies, medical associations, disease-specific charities, government agencies, Madison Avenue selling the diseases and the pills, TV or magazines, the news media parroting its cash cow’s every claim — combined have most people, hook, line and sinker, believing in the impeccable record of mainstream medicine. No questions asked. Here, I would like to throw out some alarming statistics — ones that can be easily found in a variety of journals from Forbes to JAMA to CounterPunch, etc. The estimated annual mortality rate for adverse drug reactions to “correctly” prescribed drugs is the 5th leading cause of death in the U.S.1 Over the counter (OTC) cold medications are among the top twenty substances causing death in children.2 Used according to direction, NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs) are responsible for more than 20,000 deaths every year.3 There are over 400,000 deaths each year from drug and medical errors and tens of thousands more deaths from unnecessary procedures.4 Add those together and mainstream medicine is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. So, why is it that most people trust, without question, the omnipotence of mainstream medicine in the same way religious zealots believe in their chosen religion or atheists in theirs? When well over 200,000 people die in the U.S. each year from prescription drug use alone — not abuse, but use; when we spend more, per capita than any other nation on earth and yet our health indices and life expectancy are near the bottom of all other developed nations5 why is there no sense of outrage (except for price gouging!) or, at the very least, a sense that something is not right, that something is terribly wrong? Yet, as has happened many times, should a doctor, a scientist, a researcher or a curious layperson question conventional medical creed the herald is quickly battered down with jeers of derision, and swiftly “discredited” and shunned by the medical community. The media then parrots what they are told and soon everyone is asking, “How dare they question science? Haven’t they heard of collateral damage? Every war (and they are constantly reminding us of the war we are fighting against diseases) has collateral damage”. Yet when a few people die from dirty spinach, improper use of some herbal product, or a handful of people (some even vaccinated) catch the measles (and live to tell about it!) panic overruns the media. Does anyone remember or know of the ad campaigns telling us that “nine out of ten doctors smoke Camel cigarettes” or that DDT pesticide spray is “good for you!”? We may laugh now but what about the more recent debacles such as HRT (hormone replacement therapy), Vioxx, swine flu vaccines and GMOs — all of which received the seal of approval from industry scientists, government agencies and all were pushed by Madison Ave. — just like the cigarettes given to my father for heart disease and the DDT sprayed on everything in sight, including children. The number of TV commercials for drugs, medical clinics, hospitals, and doctor-related reality TV shows is mind blowing. It is a constant barrage of “a pill for every ill” and “don’t forget to ask your doctor about it”, while people with vapid eyes move in slow motion through white rooms or a meadow filmed through gauze, while a voice, soft and soothing, tells you of the pill’s benefits and then the same voice, just as soft but at breakneck speed, spews a partial list of possible side effects and a series of unwanted symptoms, some of which sound, and are (such as death) worse than the “disease” itself. And interspersed between the ad for an over-the-counter (OTC) medication that had not long ago been given “by prescription only” and another ad for the new six story billion dollar specialty clinic are yet more commercials inviting us to join in what has become a celebration of you fill in the blank disease. There’s a “walk” or a “run”, even a paddle! for this disease and a different colored “ribbon” for that disease. It is almost as if having a disease has become the new “in” thing — fashionable, admirable, heroic even.  Are we being groomed to embrace our diseases, while at the same time being told to give, give, give to find a “cure”? According to Dr. Robert Sharpe, author of The Cruel Deception, a book about animal testing in medical research,” . . . in our culture treating disease is enormously profitable, preventing it is not.” We have been told we are living longer but the sad fact is that the trend has reversed and now for the first time in decades life expectancy has dropped in the U.S.6 Even more alarming is that, along with adults, the number of children with chronic diseases has risen sharply. Think about it. How many of us make it past seventy (hell, even sixty!) without some major medical catastrophe (or two) requiring surgery and/or special apparatuses to help us do what used to come naturally and/or prescribed no less than three or four drugs? And how many “new” (iatrogenic) diseases do we then acquire from taking those drugs or undergoing those procedures that require even more drugs and/or more procedures? And just what is conventional medicine’s track record for curing disease — any disease — not palliation or suppression or masking (all of which suppress and weaken the immune system) — but curing?  Forty years ago I knew one woman with breast cancer while today I know dozens, all of who underwent tortuous procedures, surgeries and drugging, and yes, some of them died. And why is it that when people die after making use of conventional medicine — surgery, chemotherapy, drugs, etc. — there are no cries of foul against their choice of healthcare? Instead they are hailed as heroes who fought a courageous battle, but when someone dies after trying an alternative medicine the cries against their choice are nothing less than vitriolic, as if no one ever dies using mainstream medicine, when in actuality many thousands die each year from mishaps alone, never mind the many hundreds of thousands who die from the diseases that have remained rampant — heart disease, cancer and diabetes, etc.7 Despite unprecedented technical and scientific advances, mainstream medicine’s only answer to disease is to destroy—with toxic substances, ingested or injected, with life-threatening procedures and with the removal of diseased (and often times healthy) body parts.  Kill germs, fight cancer, destroy cells, kick (name a disease)’s ass, crush, terminate, rub out, blast; never build up, heal, cure. Are we, as a society, even capable of imagining alternatives to mainstream medicine? I once told an MD I knew that a friend’s kidney stone passed with relative ease after drinking a herbal tea prescribed by an Acupuncturist. “If there was something out there that can do that,” he told me, “we would know about it”.  Not with that attitude! When contemplating all that led up to the economic debacle of 2008, I would venture to guess that most people would be leery now (if they weren’t already!) of any advise given by the banking industry and Wall Street concerning, let’s say, home loans. And the same wariness would prevail when listening to the oil or coal industries’ take on environmental issues, or the weapons makers’ spin on whether to go to war or sell arms, or the pesticide- producing conglomerates on the safety of their products. The conflict of interest in each case should be obvious because when one considers that the very ones who profit by limiting the field of allowable research, who selectively choose among research papers to discredit alternative theories or boost their own are the very ones who control the message, it becomes obvious that we are seeing conflict of interest on a massive scale. And, what of the research done by pharmaceutical companies that tell us a certain drug, or procedure, or vaccine is safe and effective? Does it make you comfortable to know that President Obama’s pick for FDA (Food and Drug Administration) Commissioner, Robert Califf, had received research funds from twenty-five drug companies while director of Duke University clinical research department where a major research fraud scandal had erupted under his watch8 or that Julie Gerderding, former head of the CDC (Center for Disease Control) concealed and then destroyed evidence of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism in African-American boys9, and yet congress refuses to subpoena her and the whistleblower from the CDC and the media never mentions it, and that this same Julie Gerderding left the CDC to become the president of Merck’s vaccine division and then executive VP of Merck, the sole manufacturer of the MMR vaccine? These examples are just two of many that are not only about a colossal conflict of interest but also about a dangerous threat to true scientific discovery affecting millions of lives. So, why is it that pharmaceutical companies (which, by the way, have more lobbyists than there are members of congress and the senate combined) and which have a woeful track record when it comes to conflict of interest in medical research, drug research and alternative medicine viability research, are given a pass, a green light, a pat on the back of confidence and, besides, are vehemently defended and vociferously cheered on? What marketing magic do they spin that makes people overlook their complicity in fraudulent research, their over-the-top demonizing of opposing viewpoints, and above all their abhorrent safety record? Why can’t we question the effectiveness, the safety or the necessity of some vaccines without being rudely shouted down?  I wonder if those who shout the, “Shut up! They are safe!” mantra have ever taken the time to study the long history of infectious disease and the history of vaccine use? Do they know there are no long-term studies on the effects of vaccines, or that vaccinated people are not necessarily protected from the diseases they are vaccinated against, or that the pharmaceutical companies and the government agencies refuse to do a vaccinated vs. unvaccinated population study as to their overall health indices, that vaccines, unlike other drugs are not tested against a placebo but against another vaccine, or that childhood infectious diseases had been on a downward trend for many years (measles deaths had declined by almost 100 percent!) well before vaccines were introduced as had many of the other infectious diseases — running their course, improving as our sanitary conditions and treatment of the illness improved?  So, why not let them continue to decline until they naturally disappear? Why introduce crude disease substances and a mixture of lethal chemicals (of which no one knows or bothers to test their long-term effects) into our bodies in an attempt to eradicate diseases that seemed to be doing a fine job of doing just that naturally? Could there be a connection between the plethora of “new” or increasing diseases and the crude drugs (including vaccines) we have been putting into our bodies for decades now? If we stop to think about it does it make sense to inject ourselves with hazardous material we know nothing about to prevent diseases like the measles, mumps and the flu and others that are now so simple to treat? But we are told, ad nauseam, to, “Shut up and just get your shots! All your questions have already been answered!”  However, when you look behind the scenes of medical research and find the pharmaceutical companies paying the bills, writing the reports and working closely with government agencies, research colleges, medical journals and the media to get their message out, it should raise a red flag. What is the great harm brought about by this absolutism of the proponents of mainstream medicine? There are many but two are outstanding. One is that freedom of choice in one’s healthcare decisions can and will be taken away — it has begun already and is picking up momentum. I do not use conventional medicine except in some emergency situations, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t fight for the right of others to choose to use it exclusively if they believe it to be their best or only option. Being comfortable with one’s healthcare choice is, I firmly believe, of utmost importance. Yet if it were up to many people I should not be allowed to choose the kind of healthcare I want for my family and me. And secondly, that same vitriolic certainty and insular thinking is truly harmful to the very essence of scientific inquiry. Great discoveries could be ignored simply because of a refusal to look beyond what we are told is scientifically acceptable today, the realm of inquiry having been limited by the greed of those in power and their manipulation of the masses by way of the fear factor. * To Err is Human: Building a Safer Healthcare System: Institute of Medicine, Committee on Quality of Health Care in America, 2000. * 2009 annual report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers’ National Poison Data System (27th report). * Healing the NSAID Nation, E. Goldman, 2012. * Leah Binder, Stunning News on Preventable Deaths in Hospitals, September 23, 2013; see also: Gary Null, PhD; Carolyn Dean MD, ND; Martin Feldman, MD; Debora Rasio, MD; and Dorothy Smith, PhD. Death by Medicine, Integral Options Cafe, January 12, 2010. * Numbeo. Health Care Index for Country 2016. * Public Health, Life Expectany in the U.S. drops for First Time in Decades, Report Finds, Health News from NPR, December 8, 2016. * The Marshall Protocol Knowledge Base, Autoimmunity Research Foundation. * Martha Rosenberg, Obama’s Latest FDA Nominee: No Hidden Big Pharma Links, They are all in Plain Sight, Counterpunch, November 19, 2015. * Sharyl Attkisson, CDC Scientist:  “We scheduled Meeting to Destroy Vaccine Autism Study Documents“, March 23, 2016. http://clubof.info/