phoenixvoice
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Peach Faced Lovebird Parrot on a Saguaro Cactus, Phoenix, Arizona
There is a wild population here. I see them every year when they come and eat the seeds out of my sunflowers.The Solidarity Argument for Forced Mass Vaccination Turned Out to Be False
Excerpt:
This is how I believe the historical revisionists will portray the criminality—the deliberate lies and the baseless discrimination—that has caused millions of people, who would otherwise never have taken these injections, to now suffer serious health problems.Portraying the crimes of states and authorities as accidents at work is welcome because it resonates with how most people would wish the world to be. We do not want to believe that authoritative bodies purposefully commit psychopathic deeds. The thought that our decision-makers would have introduced vaccine passes despite knowing that the injections did not protect against the spread of infection is horrible.
The tendency for wishful thinking that sometimes turns into denial resembles the dynamics in families with abuse problems. The child who speaks out often faces anger and accusations of lying. The other children want to keep the image of their father as the family’s provider of safety and security.
****
I shared the article from oxymoron about the study on the Skagit chorale Covid event with my former choir. I received this private response from an erstwhile friend:
Sending this to the choir can be instructive, but it’s the board and staff that have more decision-making powers on whether and where we are masked at UUCP.. And even though the one person in the choir may not have been the super spreader, all those other folks who soon got sick were contagious too. So masking still seems like a good plan, much as I’d rather not
Brain-dead. (No, no! Please don’t make me think for myself! I want others to do all of the thinking and make all of the decisions when it comes to my personal safety! I want parents and I want to be a child!)Maricopa County voting irregularities
Days before the election I was urged by a new acquaintance to “vote in person,” rather than vote-by-mail. I have been on the permanent early vote list for years. I never get the ballot filled out early enough to drop it in the mail; on voting day I drop off my completed ballot. I find that this way I vote deliberately, think about it, and what needs to be done on voting day is quick enough that life doesn’t distract me from it.
Based on the interaction with local people, I assumed Kari Lake would win. I was suspicious of the “actual” AZ governor race election results. Arizona is more “red” than “blue,” there is a lot of anger directed at the blues, and even dyed-in-the-wool left voters were complaining about Katie Hobbs months ago.
And…wouldn’t you know, Maricopa County screwed up in-person voting, thwarting the efforts of those who were angrily determined to vote red in person. Now the election results make more sense. Of course…mess up the ballot printing so that the tabulators can’t read them, commingle the untabulated ballots with the tabulated ones so that they are never read.
It sounds like Maricopa County may have a full recount in its near future.Bad cattitude- war on everything
I agree with his overall premise, but disagree with some of what he is using to support the premise.Tax is not solely something imposed willy, nilly from above. In the recent election was a proposition for a tiny increase in sales tax for a couple of years to support rural firefighting. The last time I looked, it was passing by a narrow margin. The public school bond and budget overrides in AZ are also always put to popular vote, and nearly always pass. The recent Prop 209, expanding generosity to debtors passed by a huge margin. There is a generosity in the American people, and they do voluntarily submit to many taxes (according to our laws of majority rule) simply because they support what is being done with the tax money. Of course, the preponderance of taxes are created by legislative bodies of individuals who largely get into office due to expensive campaigns, rather than created through direct democracy — and those taxes can be easily interpreted as impositions, having little relevance to the desires of the people.
The idea that by giving someone something that you are preventing them from developing self-sufficiency is false on it’s face. Primarily, this is because there are so many factors at play that while the facts of a situation sometimes correlate to this narrative, very frequently they DON’T correlate to this narrative.
First, our Western culture prizes charity and philanthropy while stigmatizing the receipt of such gifts. This is out of balance, for without receiving, there is no giving. How can giving be noble and receiving be sordid? They are two sides of the same coin. In reality, there are always some in human societies that are not self-sufficient — primarily children, the infirm, and the elderly. There are also always members of society who are healthy and robust. The strong produce more than they need, and due to this there is enough for those who are not self-sufficient to thrive. For many who are not self-sufficient this state is transitory — it is due to youth or temporary illness or injury, disasters, etc. For the elderly and some others, they will never be able to reach or return to self-sufficiency. And then there is a third group — those who could, theoretically, be self-sufficient but prefer to mooch off of others’ labors, those who are lost in addictions or those who simply struggle to fit into society and haven’t found a niche that fits them. Some of the moochers we call criminals, and others we laud and and look up to. Sometimes the laudable fall — like SBF. As for the ones who simply haven’t found a niche that fits — with some thought and care, many of them can return to self-sufficiency and/or productivity.
It is true that by dumping free rice or free used clothing in poor nations that their local economies in food staples and clothing have been decimated. However, there are larger forces at play than “giving gifts is bad for the recipient” or recipient economy. In the US, the clothing manufacturing industry over the last fifty years or so has also been decimated — but not by the donation of free clothing. It has been decimated by the introduction of clothing produced in oversees sweatshops and factories by workers receiving wages that amount to pennies on the US dollar.
It seems to me that economies that used to produce individuals, families, and local communities that were largely self-reliant and self-sufficient (I’m thinking of Charles Hugh Smith’s recent book, Self-Reliance in the 21st Century,), have been perverted by corporate capitalism into cash cows for well-placed individuals and families, designed to create individuals from the masses who are dependent upon “the system” for their survival, (and therefore docilely submit,) rather than cohesive, self-reliant communities.
I and my children have received food stamps and free healthcare for more than a decade. Instead of preventing me from achieving self-sufficiency, this has given us some stability as I navigated through a very difficult 10 years. My income has increased during this time. I am expanding my garden to produce our own food and practice animal husbandry with hens. During the past year I have embarked on a project to put a floor in the attic, creating storage space, ridding it of rats, and repairing the damage from the rats. I decided that I wanted to spend $0 on supplies for the floor. (I’ve purchased some electrical components, as needed, for repairs.) Every quarter there is bulk trash pickup by the city. I peruse these discard piles for boards and distressed furniture that I can deconstruct, cut, and use for the project. I remove and reuse the screws. I am more than halfway done with the project.
Many years ago my wealthy ex-sister-in-law refused my petition for aid for myself and the children, explaining that while they could spare the money, it would damage my ability to be self-sufficient. Without aid, I would have lost our home, and this would have made it very difficult to continue my self-employment activities. I obtained the needed aid elsewhere, and have thrived and improved our situation.
@ oldandtired
This son has *always* had an IEP. He started school at nearly 4 years old due to a “language delay” (common with twins, common for boys in my family.). By 1st grade the IEP was for behavioral issues. Academically he is fine…he has ADHD but I refused medication. I was helping him today to simplify radicals, with integers and variables with exponents under the radical — he understood the first half, needed help with the second half. He understood the steps…he is bright, has usually been at grade level.I believe that this is the 5th suspension this semester.
Expulsion isn’t automatic for missed days, but leads to academic probation, where he can miss all of his credits for a semester and have graduation delayed. Expulsion is a possibility for “threats.” The school personnel on the IEP team could strongly recommend that placement in general Ed is not appropriate for him, sending him to a different school, one with a “behavior program.”
My kids have experienced a lot of “adverse childhood experiences.” I make up for it the best I can by being there for them regularly. I couldn’t avoid the adverse events…the only one I initiated was the divorce, and that was necessary, a bygone conclusion at that point.
For the most part, the local public schools have reasonably educated my kids. There have been ups and downs, for all three. With all of the school shootings, the schools are out on the hunt for students who may be a threat to other students. This creates problems.
One of my sons has had “behavioral issues” that have created problems for him since kindergarten. He has high anxiety and enormous emotions and misses social cues, even though he loves people. Parenting him has been a challenge. This school year has been a challenge because the case manager for his IEP left the school, and the new one seems to not really understand how to work with him. As a result, his IEP was not being followed by the school, and he has been suspended repeatedly rather than being disciplined according to the “behavioral intervention plan” which was referenced by his IEP. I finally figured this out a couple of weeks ago, and we were back on track to get that custom “behavioral intervention plan” — it was referenced by his IEP, but MIA. And now THIS happens.
THIS:
My son has a supervised study hour. Yesterday, he was doodling. He left the papers he was doodling on the table when he left for his next period. The supervising teacher saw the doodles. Apparently one was of a dying stick figure and a running off stick figure. This got turned over to the school psychologist, who felt that it could be seen as “a threat,” and felt obligated to report it as such. Now my son is suspended pending the outcome of “an investigation” by the school social worker into the alleged threat.I asked him what he was drawing. He says that he doodled a mugging.
He likes playing video games such as “Among Us” and variations of that game. “Among Us” is basically the old Werewolf game resurrected as a videogame. (Everyone is secretly assigned a role — one or more are the “werewolves,” others may have certain skills or magical powers. Each “night” the werewolves kill someone else, and the otherw with skills/powers can also heal/kill. The goal is to figure out who the werewolf/werewolves is/are.) I always figured that Among Us was better than graphic, first-person shooter games where everything looks real. Of course, at his father’s house he has access to first-person shooter games and to violent movies, and has had this for years. (The court thought the kids’ father an appropriate parent. I knew better, but no self-respecting Arizona court was going to deviate from the 50/50 rule unless a court-appointed psych person penned a report that said such deviation should exist. As it is, the second court-appointed psych person found problems with their father, but suggested an anger management class. Which suggestion was never mandated by the judge.)Do I think that the drawing was a threat? No. Not because my son has never threatened anyone, but because he has only ever threatened anyone in very specific occasions — such as when he was very upset and himself felt highly threatened. And, those threats were *always* verbal or physical in nature. He has never used drawings to threaten anyone. (Actually, he doesn’t usually draw much — and he is very bad at it — hence, stick figures. Although, years ago when he did draw, he often drew gruesome scenes, so I find the subject matter of his doodle unsurprising. There is a bus full of zombies that he drew up in the back hall.) There is no indication that he was upset — none at all. He was just doodling. Like I wrote, he misses social cues. Other teens would realize that if you draw a gruesome scene, you don’t just leave it out for anyone to see. He didn’t realize that.
Regarding those who identify as LGBTQ 2004 and later…based on what I’m seeing among my kids’ friends, it could be higher still for the subsequent generation. I think that it’s largely a social construct, and not inborn. I don’t think that (at least around here) that this increase is due to overt teaching of the schools — my daughter was introduced to LGBTQ by her peers. I’d rather LGBTQ be introduced as overt curriculum so that I, as a parent, can preview the curriculum and either excuse my child or supplement it at home.
The question is not between having regulation and not having regulation.
Human societies have moral codes — standards of what is proper or inappropriate.
Effective societies manage to teach their young these standards, so that the new generation carries them on.
Every human society has some with “anti-social personality disorder” or its equivalent.
A healthy society keeps its anti-socials largely hemmed in — it does not grant power and prestige to its anti-socials. This minimizes the negative impact of the anti-socials on the rest of the community.
Less healthy societies permit anti-socials to rise in power. This creates a situation where non-anti-socials see the behavior problems of anti-socials as something to emulate. Bullies are enshrined. Exploitation of others is viewed as “normal” and “acceptable.”In 1906, around the time that Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was published, there was some light regulation on the meatpacking industry. The extant regulation was easily corrupted with bribes. There were also few explicit standards for meatpacking. Since food was turning into a mass produced commodity — a relatively new development at the time — standards needed to be developed to maintain the quality and safety of the product. At least two independent groups verified the meatpacking horror in The Jungle — the book publisher, (who didn’t want a backlash from the powerful meat-packing industry if the allegations proved false,) and a trusted envoy from Theodore Roosevelt’s administration. (Roosevelt didn’t trust what the head of the current federal meat regulation reported, and sent eyes that he did trust.)
The response to The Jungle was two-fold:
(1) Standards for food industries were developed
(2) A regulation system to enforce standards.I would suggest that most of us agree that standards are needed. It helps to know that we can count on poultry cooked to 175 to be safe for human consumption. It is nice to know that cooks at a local restaurant are aware of this. Standards can be centralized or decentralized. They can be top-down, bottom-up, or lateral or a combination. They can be enforced, voluntary, or a combination.
But then we have the anti-socials…and our current Western society is not very healthy, we have been allowing anti-socials to rise to the top in our businesses and our governments. We glorify many of their traits in out entertainment and art. This is unwise.
(BTW — anti-socials are not CJ Hopkin’s “deviants.” Societies need deviants. Deviants push boundaries, cause societies to see the problems that they prefer to hide, cause social reflection, and promote growth and development. Upton Sinclair was a deviant. Assange is a deviant. So are those who frequent TAE. Deviants help keep societies from going off the rails. Right now, the anti-socials are quixotically promoting a segment of societies deviants — the unclear gender folks — which is a strange choice….)
When anti-socials rise in societal power, they corrupt our institutions. This results in problems and injustices, such as:
– standards that are designed to keep the anti-socials in power, rather than focusing on food safety and purity
– regulation applied (misapplied, or not applied) in a manner to maintain and consolidate the power of the anti-socialsRegulation reigned in many of the problematic business practices of the anti-socials that were present in 1906. Regulation had been corrupt prior to then, has been since corrupted. What is new about that? However, zero regulation will not fix the problem, because the problems stem from anti-social behavior and the current cult that worships at the feet of powerful anti-socials. We need standards, AND we need healthy-minded individuals who appreciate and value the standards — who comply because it makes sense or who see a different/better way to apply the intent of the standard, (deviants often do this,) and by doing so the details of the standard – or regulations – adjust.
Climate Gender Equity Fund
This is rebranding of “same-old.”
There have always been programs that focused on promoting women as business owners for a variety of reasons — this is just a rebranding and re-phrasing. A rose by any other name….In AZ spouse and I are on the permanent early voter list. I prefer this because when I get the ballot early I (a) don’t have issues come up on voting day preventing me from getting to the polls, and (b) I take the time to research the candidates and propositions. I noticed the “vote centers” — and that we had to travel further to the polls to drop off the early ballots. The ballot printing problems confirm my reasoning. However, as we arrived to drop off our ballots we agreed that in the spirit of combatting the “mules” we would be willing to show ID or match signatures in order to drop off our early ballots.
Kari Lake says that the precinct voting was in churches & schools, and vote centers are not. But, I find that whether the voting is precinct-based or at “vote centers”…the locations are all still churches and schools. (And I am in Maricopa County.)
@ John Day
Yes, read Stranger… and several of the sequels a dozen years back.Ah…and it looks like my day just became busier and I will have to peruse TAE comments later.
Researchers performing mental gymnastics and purportedly unaware of it:
researchers considered conspiracy theories to be beliefs that aren’t supported by any evidence – and which are actually contradicted by the evidence that does exist. These can be anything from believing the Moon landing was staged to thinking that legitimate elections are rigged
-> there IS evidence that the moon landings were staged
-> there IS evidence that “legitimate elections” are rigged (never mind the oxymoron present in that statement(Which means that, according to the study, neither qualify as “conspiracy theories.” Oh, you mean “evidence that really exists” is code for “officially recognized evidence” — because we aren’t supposed to recognize evidence that isn’t part of the narrative.)
There is also evidence to the contrary.
Evidence that is contradictory suggests that the truth is more nuanced than the mainstream narrative allows.
That is supposedly one of the bases for scientific inquiry — to figure out why reality/truth is more complex than our models suggest.WTF? – the precipitous drops in temperature lately are because Raytheon is mucking with major cloud-seeding?? I knew it was a little odd and didn’t jive with my memory of the past 19 Octobers. Usually, I switch to evaporative cooling the first of October and really need it regularly during the day until November. This year, I made the switch on Oct 16 (a little late due to not wanting to use the evap cooler while out of town over fall break,) and in less than a week discovered that I wasn’t even using it during the day because the need wasn’t there. I usually don’t need to watch overnight temperatures until late November (to cover tomatoes, etc., when overnight low is predicted to be under 38 deg F,) but noticed the edges of melon leaves browning, curling, and drying from overnight temps in the 40s. I’m highly aware of this because I need to repair the screen in the window where the evap cooler is, and can’t pull it out until it’s repaired — I thought I’d have a month to get it done. Bizarre.
Dr D:
The worker’s left from the 1930s. I miss that, because although I could see how their ideas weren’t necessarily practical, it came from a good place for good reasons.Many of their ideas have been incorporated into our culture:
– women’s suffrage
– social security
– child labor radically restricted/children should be educated rather than earning wages
– overtime laws/40 hour work week/8 hour work day
– employers held responsible for employee injuries “on the clock” or at the job site/workman’s comp
– “safety net” for the impoverished
– universal access to healthcare (in the US emergency rooms must treat regardless of ability to pay)
– no debtor’s prison
– unemployment insurance
– the concept that food and drugs must state their ingredients
– standards for meat productionYes, the radical utopian ideas of the Left of the 1930s were not realized…(although, the utopian ideas of the Middle Ages *have* been realized, by and large, by Western Civ.) No, the “proletariat” didn’t rise up. Instead, the wealthy made significant concessions to the working class, wealth inequality lessened, and the middle class swelled. The “proletariat” were provided access to the means of having a more comfortable life, but were kept from the levers of power. They were pacified.
The wealthy who made those concessions have all passed on. Their heirs, the elites of today, are not faced with a radical, organized opposition. (When I notice conservatives calling out Democrats as “marxists” and “socialists” and “communists” I find it a nauseating joke: like Nancy (Pelosi) stated several years ago, they are all capitalists. The Democratic leadership doesn’t even know what the trio of terms really mean. “The Squad” may have some familiarity with those terms, but their loyalty is the the Party leadership, not to decades-old, bygone movements.)
No “amnesty.”
Those who were wrong should start by APOLOGIZING.
Those who were merely “following” the crowd need not be condemned, and friendship may be resumed.
But.
I will always remember WHO fell for it, and I will never trust their judgment nor discernment.Dora:
Winter time in Greece?
Am I right in thinking Greece’s daylight savings time (DST) ended yesterday and is now on standard (winter) time, whereas the USA’s DST doesn’t end until next Sunday, the first Sunday in November? That would mean this week Greece is on standard (winter) time and the US is still on DST (summer) time.
LOL
Not the entire US.
DST seems “normal” to those who are accustomed to it, but — as one who has not lived with it for 19 years now in AZ — it really is a strange human anachronism.~~~~
I decided to research what’s on the ballot yesterday. My spouse focused on the candidates and I focused on the propositions. Let’s see. The AZ legislature wants the AZ public to place various restrictions upon the public’s ability to affect AZ law via propositions. Nope, not approving those. Some tidying of existing language in AZ law regarding exemptions from property tax for US vets, widows, widowers (tinkering with this topic was done a couple decades back via proposition, partially undone via courts, and since it requires 3/4 majority for legislature to amend propositions, it gets thrown back to the citizens.) Expansion of protections to debtors — we are cautioned that if this is enacted that lenders won’t want to lend to Arizonans. Hm. I find that highly unlikely. It looks like the huge initiative to “adjust” voting in a way that is desired by the Democratic Party got derailed by legal challenge and didn’t make it on the ballot. Oh, darn — I was looking forward to my no-vote on that one. “Please raise the state sales tax to support rural fire districts”…interestingly, those who live in the rural fire districts are writing cogent letters about how they don’t support this proposition. That is telling. An initiative to increase verification of early ballots — I like combatting the “mule” problem, but the solution proposed has inherent privacy flaws — we need a solution but *this* isn’t it. An initiative combatting “dark money” in elections — sometimes it is telling to simply read who supports/is against an initiative. A proposition to charge “Dreamers” who completed high school in AZ in-state tuition at state colleges/universities — AZ is sometimes compassionate towards undocumented immigrants, because we often count them among our friends and neighbors…but I don’t think this proposition will pass in the current political climate, because the problems at the border, Biden Admin admitting so many indiscriminately, fentanyl issue, etc., cause folks to be hard-hearted towards the undocumented.
We couldn’t find a palatable candidate for AZ governor. Katie Hobbs won’t debate and her ideas look like intentional giveaways to impoverished folks (rescinding sales tax on diapers, OTC medicines, and feminine sanitary products,) rather than information on how she would govern. If she becomes governor there is a minor chance that such measures would be enacted and she would govern in near lockstep with the Democratic Party. AZ does not need/want that. Kari Lake — well, I like her stance on vax mandates. She is a mess on other issues. On homelessness she uses the word “compassion” and then paints *all* homeless as druggies and criminals. I believe that Kari Lake will win…and I want to be able to say that I didn’t vote for her.
If journalists want to learn how to write without bias, all they need to do us dust off 40 year old text books and follow the directions therein for news articles. I was on the high school newspaper in high school and I remember how the text book urged us to write news articles. That was before the existence of “fact checkers.”
I appreciate Clare Daly’s words. It is generally accepted by frequenters of TAE that the specific actors responsible for blowing up the Nord Stream come from the same general group (or were directed by the same group) that are responsible for the censorship, the prolonging of the war in Ukraine, the Covid/vax nonsense, and the technocratic response towards “climate change.” By framing the Nord Stream methane release as a “climate catastrophe” perpetrated by the same folks pushing the technocratic climate response, there is potential for the absurdity to jog folks that support the technocrats out of their stupor of thought. This is beneficial for all of us.
I’ve been reading Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle of late. It took me 3 tries to get into, but after several chapters I found myself eager to return to it while I did the exercise bike each day.
I have a spouse that insists that the past was rosier than now. The more I study the past, the more I see the same sorts of corruptions in the past as now. Sure, the specifics shift around and technology changes, but there is more similarity than difference. I believe that his view is factually incorrect.
It does seem that the socialist-related fights circa 1900 in Chicago and elsewhere in the US created broad cultural changes: child labor was nearly outlawed, the expectation of universal education, the expectation that individuals are not paid for their vote, the expectation (and law) that ingredients be listed on food and drug labels, the requirement that employers shoulder the full burden of injuries occurring at the job-place, that there be a “minimum wage” or “living wage,” that there be some sort of “safety net” to catch those who are discarded in capitalism’s endless game of musical chairs, universal “old-age” and disability pensions, etc. With the 1950s came broad prosperity and a burgeoning middle class. “Socialists” and “socialism” were rooted out and essentially destroyed, but the policy and cultural changes that they brought were widely adopted and became the expectations of the growing middle class.
(There may be endless debates regarding the education of children — those debates were even going on in
Plato’s time — however, I find the current systems in place for children’s education to be much better than for children to receive no formal education and to be working from age 3-5 for pittance wages paid to parents.)Regardless of how they are administered (through public or private or hybrid means) I suspect that most folks would agree that it is desirable that we have an economy where any who are interested in work can find work up to 40 or so hours a week that affords them a reasonable standard of living, that they may obtain healthcare (in whatever form that they prefer,) that children be educated rather than forced to work (with parents directing this education as they see fit,) that employers should bear the costs and financially support those injured on the job, that food and drug labels be transparent so that purchasers know what they put into their bodies, that voting be without coercion nor remunerated, etc. Most of the arguments in these areas stem from how these concepts are applied, or who controls the application. It is not usually culturally acceptable to state that the disabled should be left to starve, that in-the-job injuries are the responsibility of the employee foolish enough to get injured, that children should be expected to work for wages to “earn their keep,” etc., although these ideas have — at times — been a part of the the cultures of some human societies (even in the histories of current societies.)
I find it interesting to explore how it came to be that many of the ideas championed by socialists 120 years ago have become incorporated culturally while (at least in the US) socialism itself became a hated term. Did US culture absorb “the good parts” of socialism, discarding “the bad parts?” That is one way to look at it. There are other ways to frame what occurred. Simultaneously, if we view the past through rose-tinted glasses we may see an idealized past — something like a Thomas Kincaid painting— and believe that we can dismantle the laws that supported the cultural changes that I’ve mentioned without returning to the dregs of life described by Upton Sinclair and Charles Dickens and others. But that Thomas Kincaid painting is no more reality than are Pablo Picasso’s later paintings when he incorporated multiple perspectives into one painting.
We need the Constitution, and we need laws that set out generally agreed upon moral and cultural standards. (Granted: the vast majority of laws do not do this — partly because many bills passed are dealing with necessary mundanities of governing, partly because human government and corruption are close bedfellows.) When the populace is generally following agreed upon moral and cultural standards by choice and desire, then appropriate laws fall lightly upon them. Corrupt laws and inappropriate laws fall heavily on them, and this heaviness will (eventually) cause the populace to insist that the heavy law be changed. Powerful players are endlessly trying to manipulate this system for their own benefit…
Bats
What a delight for a father (I assume) to be showing this to his kids, listening to their chirpy questions, and the father’s answers: “Butterflies? I don’t know if they eat them.”@ John Day
*sigh*
The health insurance system was the first system that I started thinking about and analyzing over 20 years ago. I was too old to be on my parents’ medical insurance and — just out of college — uncomfortable with spending too much money each month on health insurance, while at the same time understanding the concepts of risk and insurance against the risk, as well as feeling young and healthy.
There are benefits to pooled-cost systems such as insurance —> large, rare costs are borne more easily by the group, rather than by the individual, and socializing the costs of preventive care helps reduce the large, rare costs, by framing preventive care as a “benefit” of group membership rather than a cost whose value may or may not pan out to the individual. The problem arises when unscrupulous (immoral) actors realize that the pooled resources can be manipulated for their personal (or small group) aggrandizement and subsequently corrupt the system for personal gain. Yin and yang, I suppose.Humans being what they are, there is no “perfect system” — whether the system is focused on the group, the individual, or a hybrid there are always means for corruption and always a small subset of the population lacking in empathy that will corrupt the system for their own gain. It seems the best we can hope for is transparency in the system, open lines of communication, and a citizenry that is alert enough to what is going on to serve as “watch dogs” over the details. Well, that, and we need a culture that respects ethics and morality and open debates on what “ethics and morality” are or should be — when a culture becomes too jaded, rejecting ethics and morality as “unrealistic,” or “out of touch,” or “old fashioned,” or “impractical,” and/or reject open debate about ethics and morality — this is a sign that corruption is eating away at the pillars of our society’s institutions and difficult days are already here or will be here soon.
From germ’s offering “ Pfizer expects to hike U.S. COVID vaccine price to $110-$130 per dose”
due to weak demand for COVID vaccines, which meant vaccine makers would need to hike prices to meet revenue forecasts for 2023 and beyond.
Um…I only ever took one formal class in economics, and that was the required one in high school. But the last time I checked, weak demand usually leads to a *lowering* — not raising — of the price of a commodity. It seems that Pfizer has basic economics backwards, because they are forecasting their revenue and then setting prices based on achieving that forecast…and this is only possible *because* of the way that the convoluted medical insurance system interacts with the government’s (so-called) public health protocols regarding vaccines.
I especially enjoyed the Dr. John Campbell video when he simply paused, silent, instead of verbally and emotionally railing against PHS. My own mind came up with the rants and raves. He is calm, measured. A protest that is impeccable in its execution.
Kari Lake
But when she is at a rally against mandatory vaccinations and people near the front of the stage are chanting and pulling attention from her, she pouts and speaks petulantly, like a spoiled child. She was incapable of handling the situation gracefully. I witnessed this, last year, in person — I was at the rally. But she and Katie “I don’t debate” Hobbs are the two main clowns up for AZ govenor this year. Ugh.Just sent off an email to the high school district superintendent strongly requesting that Covid vaxes continue to not be mandatory for HS students.
Yesterday was a beautiful day…as I drove to the location of my piano student I enjoyed the blue sky…criss-crossed by persistent chem trails. I recalled as a child lying down on the grass in the yard of my home south of Denver, gazing up at the sky and noticing a tiny airplane, high overhead. I remember the white plume in its wake, and noticed how rapidly it dissipated into nothingness, fading back to clear blue sky. There were no chemtrails in the early ‘80s. I need to remember to point this out to my children, so that they know this, and do not believe that chemtrails are “normal” nor a requisite byproduct of air travel.
A week ago I was contacted by my friend/client at the local retirement community asking whether or not I’d be willing to teach a class there in the spring about how to use Android smartphones. (A group of formally recognized residents arranges “life-long learning classes” for residents with paid teachers.) I said that was fine, however, I would have to teach the class in person — it isn’t a class that I could teach on Zoom. (In 2020, at my urging, I taught classes on how to use Zoom, via Zoom. In 2021, a normal set of classes ensued — but mine all remained on Zoom, because I was unvaccinated. Meanwhile, currently I can come there, unmasked, even attend and participate (perform/sing) in public events, but I am barred from teaching these classes in person due to my unvaxxed status.) Now, apparently, the “Life Long Learning Committee” folks are finally able to see that this situation is ridiculous, and have apparently had themselves a long discussion about it and resolved to take it up with the administration, insisting that I be permitted to teach in person. (Before, when I pointed out to these same people that the policies were unjust and discriminatory I would receive the lame response that, well, people were scared and “so many people have died,” and I was invited to take it up with the administration on my own. I thought it through and did not bother, realizing that one individual person who is being oppressed by a system has little to no power in overcoming the oppression — the individual needs advocates and allies or many peers in solidarity. Well, that and for me, teaching on Zoom is easy — I don’t have to bother transporting myself and my materials 3 miles, lol.)
I am curious what the outcome of their petition will be.
@ AFKTT
My favorite term right now is “WEFfers.” It has the benefit of rolling easily off the tongue, not too many syllables, and directly references the world economic forum.
Zero sum:
Nazism
– a form of socialism featuring racism and expansionism and obedience to a strong leader
I don’t find that definition to be accurate.
(1) other than utilizing the word “socialism” in the name of the Nazi Party, it didn’t adhere to *any* of the then-current or historical trends and philosophies of socialism. (At the time, socialism had split into 2 camps, the socialists and communists. Socialists wanted to reach socialism’s traditional goals through normal governmental processes, while communists favored taking over the government via revolution to achieve traditional goals of socialism — there was a lot of awareness that the French Revolution was seen as the turning point of capitalism in continental Europe, and many thus believed that a major economic restructuring could therefore only be achieved through bloody revolution.) The Nazi Party was not interested in traditional goals of socialism and, in fact, hunted down actual socialists and actual communists (i.e. members of those political parties and movements,) imprisoning and/or executing them.
(2) “Racism,” “expansionism,” and “obedience to a strong leader,” were all symptoms of the new method of government that burst onto the scene in the early decades of the 20th century, namely, totalitarianism. They were all components of Stalin’s USSR as well (although, the USSR’s expansionism was toned down by comparison — it held a vast region already, was invaded multiple times early on in its existence, but, oh, did it ever hold onto those “Eastern Bloc” countries after WWII.)
I suggest that it is important to name a spade a spade: calling Nazism “socialism” muddies the waters with the multiplicity of definitions and ideas that have existed about socialism in the past couple hundred years, and causes people to not clearly comprehend exactly what Nazism *is*. And it is my belief that a wide, general understanding of totalitarianism is very important going forward, as the 21st century is flirting audaciously with variants of 20th century totalitarianism.
Re: Aspnaz
“What business is it of government to force electronics companies to use certain power interfaces?”Whether one believes or not that government *should* be setting standards for industry, the history of the matter is that governments have done so for centuries, probably for millennia.
Industry standards, regardless of the source, do tend to have positive impacts on industry and lead towards efficiency in the long term.Meloni ~ Mussolini
I find it appalling how simple it is for the masses to be deceived by propaganda of all sorts.
Ironically, my 3 kids, now in high school, all educated in public school, have all had social studies units dedicated to genocide within the past 4 years. I believe they have studied this topic more in depth than I had by their age. Genocide does accompany totalitarianism, although genocide may exist without totalitarianism. One would think that there would be some general societal understanding of what totalitarianism IS and what it IS NOT. Alas, that isn’t the case.Totalitarian movements are not necessarily right-wing…although they have all tended to exploit people’s ties to ancestral land as a part of their propaganda campaigns. Totalitarian movements exploit the human tendency to “other” groups of people, using propaganda to scapegoat the “others.” This “othering” will often coincide with racism, but can just as easily be upon other lines, such as education, party affiliation, health, religion, etc. Racism is not fascism/nazism/totalitarianism/Communism.
The collective western establishment calling Meloni a fascist is projection.
What I find concerning about the situation in Italy is the refugee issue. Why? Refugees, or “displaced persons,” were a problem in Europe leading up to WWI, and after WWI the problem was even greater. When displaced persons enter a settled area and there is no room or place for them the situation sets the stage for conflict. That conflict is ripe for exploitation by those with totalitarian aims. (And I doubt Meloni has that — although I really don’t know one way or the other.)@ RIM
Info about Reiner Fuellmich embezzling
https://rumble.com/v1l9xlp-reiner-fuellmich-stole-1.35-million-from-the-corona-committee-viviane-fisch.html
*sigh*Received an email that linked to this today:
Is it safe to get the new Omicron booster?The FDA and the CDC believe in the safety of these bivalent vaccine boosters.
According to a statement by the CDC Director, “The updated COVID-19 boosters are formulated to better protect against the most recently circulating COVID-19 variant. They can help restore protection that has waned since previous vaccination and were designed to provide broader protection against newer variants. This recommendation followed a comprehensive scientific evaluation and robust scientific discussion.”
Peter Marks, MD, PHD, the Director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research indicated, “We have worked closely with the vaccine manufacturers to ensure the development of these updated boosters was done safely and efficiently. The FDA has extensive experience with strain changes for annual influenza vaccines. We are confident in the evidence supporting these authorizations.”
He added, “The public can be assured that a great deal of care has been taken by the FDA to ensure that these bivalent COVID-19 vaccines meet our rigorous safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality standards for emergency use authorization.”
Is it safe?
Yes, according to the well known logical fallacy called “an appeal to authority.”
AKA “just trust us.”(Wait a minute…there ARE NO manufacturing standards for emergency use medications/vaccines.)
When my son has an endoscopy the doctor does not say: “He’ll be fine, just trust me.” There are risks, and the doctor is up front about those risks. I sign a document that acknowledges that I know the risks.
But—bivalent Covid vaccines? The officials say they are carefully studied, so trust them. Don’t think…just trust. Be children.
Grrr…
Stacy Abrams, Evita Duffy
Both of them are doing the exact same thing, on opposite sides of the same issue.
They are using facts to further their own narratives. Neither narrative derives from the facts presented.
Both sides of the abortion debate tend to claim to be a part of a moral crusade, one side is on behalf of women, the other is on the side of unborn fetuses. One side creates the specter of “the man” as the monster, the other creates the specter of “the woman” as the monster.
One side is trying to use the law to make it easier for abortions to happen; the other side is trying to use the law to make it more difficult for abortions to happen.
BOTH SIDES are trying to use the law to influence the decisions of other people.
I wish BOTH SIDES could just knock it off.Facts:
– some pregnancies are unintended
– some women will seek abortions
– we have the medical technology to perform abortions in ways that are unlikely to harm the health of the mother
– greater trends in society, completely unrelated to the abortion law debate, often are the greatest influence on a woman with an unexpected pregnancy and whether or not she seeks to bring the babe to term or terminate the pregnancy.
– no government mandated policy, no law is ever going to be able to adequately address the circumstances of each and every woman who is faced with an unexpected pregnancy.Since fetuses are housed within the body of a woman, it is my view that nature/god has made her the one who is responsible for the well-being of the fetus. If we want to encourage her one way or the other as to how she responds to the pregnancy, we are free to do so, as long as our entreating is free of coercion. If we want to support motherhood, then it behooves us to make it relatively easy to raise a child.
Mostly, I’m just mad that despite precaution someone around me wasn’t doing their part.
(From graphic yesterday.)
That is why the covidiot memes will tear communities apart. People believe that if they follow rituals that they will be protected from harm; when harm comes anyhow they project blame onto others in their community rather than realize that their sacred rituals are useless. In the end, covidiots destroy themselves or convert away from being covidiots because the ideologies are not adequate to deal with reality.Zerosum, yesterday:
We survived without food banksBefore food banks, there were soup kitchens.
In feudalism there was the woods, and other wild areas where sustenance could be foraged.
In the Old Testament it was required that farmers not harvest the edges of the fields. The widows, orphans, and infirm were free to glean for their sustenance.
With all land enclosed, owned, controlled…we have had to create food banks. And what happens? The food that is just past the sell by date, the extra is donated to the food bank which distributes it to the poor and downtrodden, most of whom have to transport themselves to the food bank, and then get home again.Is this really all that different from the gleaning by the impoverished of the Old Testament?
DBS
Therefore, attempts to get more than one gives, (and I mean EVERY and ALL such attempts) will ever and always end in the destruction of the entity who attempts it.I see giving/receiving as a continuum: a yin/yang relationship
There are many natural states where one entity receives more than it gives.
The first one that comes to mind is pregnancy.
The second is parenting.The child may have the opportunity later in life to give back to the parent on par with what was initially given…but not necessarily. Or, the child may “give back” as an adult by raising a child. But not necessarily. Declining to give back that initial investment does not lead to “destruction.” (Unless not having progeny is equated to “destruction” — but there are also very giving people who physically cannot have children and suffer the same fate.)
A parasite takes more than it gives…and can lead to the destruction of the host, which may or may not lead to its own destruction.
The difference between “receiving” and “taking” can be obvious…but also can be subtle, depending upon perspective. (Does a fetus “receive” or “take?” If the woman conceived willingly and deliberately, it can be seen as “receiving.” If conception was coerced, then it can be seen as “taking.” Regardless, the fetus is a neutral party, lacking any volition in the process.)
Elderly and chronically infirm folks also take more than they give.
“To everything there is a purpose
And a time for every thing under the heaven”Human societies function when the young and middle-aged adults work and create more than they need for themselves, so that there is enough for them and for the young, the infirm, and the elderly. It is a moral failing when they do otherwise and leads to systemic breakdown when the problem is widespread.
Regarding commenter Chooch and the vitriolic rails against him and those who stand up for him…
For as long as I remember I typically enjoy speaking with people who I know hold views that differ from my own. Even when I completely disagree, I am enriched by seeking to understand others’ beliefs and what leads them to that conclusion.
I also understand the frustration when I am trying to communicate something complicated to someone, and (unbeknownst to the both of us) some element of the communication is an emotional trigger for one (or both) parties which serves as an obstacle to communication. This happened with my spouse a week ago Tuesday. A part of the concept I was speaking of must have triggered some latent fear he had…I found myself saying, ok, ok, don’t believe what I am suggesting is true then, just think of it as fiction so that I can point you to some of the possibilities that it opens up. And…a couple of weeks before that it was a trigger in me, an inadvertent reminder of a troublesome situation years ago, that suddenly had me on the defensive on irrational grounds.
It happens. Own your own response.
