phoenixvoice

 
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  • in reply to: Debt Rattle August 17 2024 #166655
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    I’ve never been all that fond of Trump, however…
    Sometimes it is the need of the people and the exigencies of the situation that creates the leader, as much as the inner integrity of the individual.

    I hope that Trump surrounds himself with a better team for a second term as President. With the right team and a desire to do right for the American people, he could accomplish many good things in a second presidential term

    in reply to: Debt Rattle August 17 2024 #166654
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Price Gouging

    In the video, the students have been clearly propagandized to have a viewpoint that is in opposition the viewpoint often expressed by news and, more recently, Kamala Harris. Real life is more nuanced.

    The generator situation — what the man did, driving in generators to sell at double retail — was moral. The man deserved to be compensated for his costs and time. (To skirt laws about price gouging he could have sold them “at cost” with a delivery charge.) If a store possessing generators in the location of the hurricane doubled their prices — and not due to increased costs, but just because people would buy them at the higher price, the morality becomes more murky. “Price gouging” generally — not in the face of an emergency — is more likely to occur in a monopoly/oligopoly situation, and often involves government regulation. For example, the Boston Tea Party because tea was an important commodity and the British Crown had granted a monopoly to the East India Company and placed a high tax on tea. Also, prescription drugs and the patent system leads to Big Pharma to price gouging.

    The debate is mischaracterized when it is seen as black and white, “to price gouge or not to price gouge.” The students are being led to a black and white view that is different from the black and white view of the current MSM. Try educating students to THINK, not to parrot.

    enemy infantry is made up of NATO special forces from the United States, Britain, France, and Poland alongside the NeoNazis of Ukraine

    We’ve really got to get these loonies out of office, disempowering the cabal behind them, before Putin loses his cool.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle August 17 2024 #166653
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Price Gouging

    In the video, the students have been clearly propagandized to have a viewpoint that is in opposition the viewpoint often expressed by news and, more recently, Kamala Harris. Real life is more nuanced.

    The generator situation — what the man did, driving in generators to sell at double retail — was moral. The man deserved to be compensated for his costs and time. (To skirt laws about price gouging he could have sold them “at cost” with a delivery charge.) If a store possessing generators in the location of the hurricane doubled their prices — and not due to increased costs, but just because people would buy them at the higher price, the morality becomes more murky. “Price gouging” generally — not in the face of an emergency — is more likely to occur in a monopoly/oligopoly situation, and often involves government regulation. For example, the Boston Tea Party because tea was an important commodity and the British Crown had granted a monopoly to the East India Company and placed a high tax on tea. Also, prescription drugs and the patent system leads to Big Pharma to price gouging.

    The debate is mischaracterized when it is seen as black and white, “to price gouge or not to price gouge.” The students are being led to a black and white view that is different from the black and white view of the current MSM. Try educating students to THINK, not to parrot.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle August 15 2024 #166457
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    @ JB-JB

    It may be that my clients trust me more easily because I am a woman, and not a man. But I don’t think that is it.
    Over the last 15 years I’ve received several phone calls from clients in one stage or another of a scam — usually pretty early on (I am called, rather than the number on the screen.). For some, the fact that I am paid makes it more likely that they call me. For others, it makes it less likely — not wanting to incur the cost — I am called because my fee for a quick phone call is much less than the headache of a scam. With family, the hesitation may just come from “not wanting to create an inconvenience” and “saving face.” Elderly, non-dementia types might spot a door-to-door scam easily, but fall for an online scam because their internal “scam filters” were developed for a different era.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle August 15 2024 #166451
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    @ jb-hb

    Thank you for the thoughts about avoiding online scammers. My dear 91-year-old friend and client was very nearly scammed a couple of weeks ago, so this is on my mind. It was, of course, the “microsoft” scam, website screaming at her, etc. She was on the phone with them for an hour before they went after her banking information — then she hung up the phone and called me. When I accessed her computer I saw that someone else was remoted in and was in the process of copying the username and password for her bank account out of a passwords file. I had decided not to charge her for computer help any longer, in light of all of the help that she has given me and my kids over the years…but I have found that then she doesn’t feel as free to call me when I don’t charge her. So she and I have decided that I will charge her again (but at the same rate…she doesn’t need to know that I raised my rates for all but 3 of my clients.) It is better that she pay me for helping her with her technology than running the risk of being scammed, although I was happy to help her without remuneration.

    I thought about the protections that you were suggesting, and it occurs to me that there may be some much simpler ways to accomplish nearly the same thing. Are you familiar with OpenDNS? It is a DNS filtering service that has been around for a long time — I was first made aware of it about 16 years ago. It looks like the service is still free for home use. A router can be configured to use it. Another option would be a Firewalla box — although the one that I have is sometimes buggy. (It also may simply be that I haven’t made the time to figure out what was up with it, lol. Firewallas also make use of OpenDNS.)

    I would hesitate greatly to move an elderly client from Windows to any version of GUI Linux — the elderly often struggle greatly with change. Case in point: My friend recently purchased a laptop, and since the Microsoft Office software packaging was lost in the move to the retirement community a few years back, her daughter and I decided to use a seat her daughter’s multi-license Ms Office on the laptop. During this debacle with fake “microsoft” support scammers, the scammer activated the new version of Microsoft Outlook. My friend has used Outlook for probably about 25 years or more, but she is accustomed to how it looks on her PC, using software from 2010, configured to appear roughly the same as it was 25 years ago. The “new” Outlook was bewildering. I toggled Outlook back to the original, and Microsoft wanted to know the reason why…I explained that the owner was a 91-year-old woman who was not interested in changes in how the software looked!

    in reply to: Debt Rattle August 14 2024 #166362
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    So…

    There are some that say that the elites of the world are controlled by Jewry, and they tend to condemn all those of Jewish descent as bad.

    And, I was looking at some items that Dr. John Day had put up a few days ago, which delves into secret societies, luciferianism, ritual child abuse, MKUltra, etc.

    Honestly, what is accused of those purported to be at the heart of both of these is pretty similar. The details might diverge, but the idea of some sort of totalitarian government where the plebes like their servitude runs through both of them. I do find it ironic that the Nazis are a part of the second set, and were intent to murder Jews.

    So, which is it? Are we ruled by satanists? Are we ruled by powerful Jews? Are both branches in cahoots with each other? Are they two sides of the same coin? Are they diametrically opposed to each other, and we, (“the plebes,”) simply caught up in the maelstrom of their great battles? I don’t want to have anything to do with any of it. It’s a bunch of nonsense masquerading as cosmic reality. If I buy into the “I hate Jews” trope am I actually furthering the cause of the satanists? If I buy into the pizzagate stuff am I supporting the Zionist project? I don’t have any answers, and I doubt that I have any special knowledge. At the end of the day, I want to live my life with my family and good friends, providing services to my clients, being delighted at the antics of our pets, growing food in my yard, and gradually adjusting my home to better serve our needs. So, I don’t want to “own nothing” — if Western Civ means that I must own property in order to live this way, then I am contented with the costs and responsibilities of property ownership and all that entails. I find it infuriating that there are secret groups trying to manipulate human civilization to their own ends, leaving broken human lives in their wake. I don’t know how accurate the accounts of nefariousness are of those at the top of Jewry and the satanists…however, I have enough experience in the world to understand that there is definitely more going on than meets the eye.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle August 11 2024 #166103
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    @ formerly t-bear

    *sigh*
    There *are* people who are born with unclear/ambiguous gender.
    I’m reading a little between the lines, but it has been clearly stated that both xy “female” boxers are “not trans” and yet have xy chromosomes. While I have no details, there I suspect that these individuals may have xy but have been born with undescended testicles and no penis, and were deemed “female” at birth. However, since birth, the hormones associated with the Y chromosome have asserted themselves sufficiently that these individuals have clear advantages over women with xx chromosomes.

    As far as the xy “female” boxers, it may be that they are disadvantaged when compared to an average xy clearly male boxer. I don’t know. However, considering the inherent danger of injury to xx female boxers, I believe that it is clear that xy “female” boxers should not be competing with xx female boxers. Let the xy’s duke it out together. I am also okay with all of the unclear, mixed, “non-binary,” folks competing together…but, quite frankly, there aren’t so many of them, and there may not be much of an audience for that.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle August 4 2024 #165511
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Based on what’s being said and not-said about the XY-chromosome “female” boxers at the Olympics, I’m guessing that what we’re dealing with are XY-chromosome individuals who lack the full complement of male physical features. To whit: these individuals were likely seen as female at birth, when only salient physical features are counted. I hope that it causes some important general cogitation about *why* female sports categories exist. Women were not historically called “the weaker sex” simply because men wanted to feel good about themselves. No, it is because human females develop as less physically powerful than human males. Period. (I am reminded of this every time I fail at some physical effort and my spouse says, “Here let me try it.” Almost always I acquiesce and his strength suffices where mine did not. Sometimes I decline his offer, and try it a different way, because I need to see if I can find a way to make it work on my own. — or because I fear that he will break it. And, sometimes, because he is so accustomed to applying brute force that he does so without thinking it through first, he puts in his effort, the item does break, and then he has to repair or replace it.). Perhaps we can return to a sane place, where instead of trying to erase the differences between men and women we can appreciate them and enjoy them. Men and women are different — but we don’t need rigid cultural rules about gender roles, we can let individuals work out the details of their lives. However, in sports, we need to narrowly define women.

    And…I found out that the gendered changing/restrooms at the city pool are officially non-gendered despite their traditional signage. To me, it sounds like a cop-out. I suspect that this policy will remain until a woman or child is assaulted, naively assuming that there was safety and privacy on the side with female signage, and then the city will return to its senses.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle August 2 2024 #165390
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Meta wants my birthdate. To protect the children, so they say. So, show me content suitable for children — I don’t care. I use a VR headset for one, singular purpose — an exercise program. I pay for the program. I have no need, nor desire, to be exposed to any content via VR except for that exercise program. I ignore everything on the headset except for that program. If I desire to view any content deemed unsuitable for children below the age of 13, then I will give my birthdate. What is so difficult about this?

    Oh, right, I understand. Meta wants to advertise to me…on a system that *I* have paid for, accessing content that *I* have paid for. This is quixotic.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle August 2 2024 #165387
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    the false climate change agenda and the overall lie that has been drilled into the human brain — it seems to be irreversible. The “smartest” people believe in it.

    I used to believe it. I don’t any longer — because I exposed myself to additional data that made it clear that the CO2-leads-to-warming hypothesis was too simple to explain all of the data. Belief can change — but it requires being open to new information and exposure to data that disproves current belief. Totalitarian structures train people to be close-minded and they attempt to control people’s access to contradictory information.

    I have pointed out the chemtrails to my children, explained to them that they are not natural, that they are put there by planes, and we don’t know exactly what is in them or why they are there.

    There is a sizable part of the population that never believed in the CO2 hoax. I think that the tide is turning on that one.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 29 2024 #165077
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    @ Oxymoron

    You have a knack for putting words together!
    The gardening references create an interesting juxtaposition of ideas.
    And the song graphically represents the angst so many feel against the WEFfers and their ilk.
    Although, for me, the level of violence in the song is off-putting…it isn’t something that I would listen to with regularity.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 29 2024 #165073
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    In my experience, Christianity is often obsessed with finding examples of “wickedness” in the world and trumpeting about it to parishioners. It is used as a means of proving the need for the existence of Christian churches to the believers. And when the world’s wickedness directly attacks Christianity or Christian stories and symbols, Christian ministers often go into overdrive, decrying this as an attack upon Christianity, admonishing parishioners to condemn the wickedness.

    I am conflicted by Christianity these days. I recognize that my own moral compass is strongly rooted in my religious upbringing, while at the same time I reject the traditional dogma. The Left has gone crazy, coming completely unmoored from Enlightenment roots, the Right remembers much of the Enlightenment — but then I see people standing and cheering when DJ Trump suggests year-long prison terms for anyone who burns the flag. (I don’t like the idea of people desecrating the flag, however, it isn’t appropriate to prosecute anyone for it.). We need rule of law and blind justice, not prison terms for anyone from the other tribe that behaves in ways that we don’t like.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 27 2024 #164922
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Beethoven vid
    I find it curious how the need for a visual representation of the music leads to an image of a piano roll rather than traditional music notation…when, in actuality, music notation visually provides more information, is portable between instruments, and is designed for humans, rather than being a machine language. A piano roll is more akin to a computer’s software.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 26 2024 #164833
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    People want to see dogs going bonkers for the dog park? That one is mild. I should get my kids to take a video of our 11 mo Aus. Shepherd/border collie pup…he gets so excited that he has to be restrained by attaching a leash to the back seat’s car seat latch system and he lets off constant ear-shattering shrieks for the last mile. We’ve been trying to figure out how to calm him, because the shrieks are painful to hear. I just swapped the regular leash for a chain because he had chewed 2/3 of the way through, and was in danger of it snapping and then allowing him to jump out the window into traffic or distracting the driver. (The open window distracts him for part of the ride.)

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 24 2024 #164681
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    WEF grid outage

    Fun.
    I will be able to demonstrate to the kids that all of those “roughing it” camping trips were great opportunities to learn how to live without endless electricity from the grid, and how to improvise with what is on hand. LOL.

    On the other hand…it would be really nice if it was put off until at least September when the overnight lows dip nicely below the 90s in Phoenix…..

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 24 2024 #164679
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Whether or not the woman is eligible for unemployment compensation is something for her, Home Depot, and the state government to wrangle out.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 24 2024 #164678
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    However, even if the veteran’s intent was to get her fired, he didn’t violate the law, because the law should be judging actions, not guessing at thoughts. (Laws on attempted murder notwithstanding.)

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 24 2024 #164677
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Dr D, “right wing cancel squads”

    It really depends on whether or not the disgruntled veteran’s intention was for the woman to be fired. The woman should be free to express her negative opinion of Trump online. The veteran is free to express his dismay to her publicly. And…quite frankly, Home Depot is free to fire her for creating a scene in their store. There are laws against harassing the woman, should the verbal criticism rise to that level. A more sympathetic, “woke,” institution is free to hire her. (I can recommend applying for jobs with Unitarian Universalist congregations.). With the right to free speech comes the responsibility of shouldering the (lawful) reactions to said speech by others (reactions that don’t rise to the level of harassment.)

    If the veteran’s intent was for her to lose her job, to “cancel” her, then that intent is devoid of morality. If his intent was simply to (lawfully) share his reaction…that is life.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 24 2024 #164675
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Dr D
    If I am remembering correctly from HS biology, sharks are very primitive “fish” with primitive gills. They have cartilage instead of bones. Their gills do not “wave” like usual fish, and sharks must perpetually stay in motion to keep water flowing in their gill holes, otherwise, they suffocate.
    (Hopefully, I am remembering this correctly and not making a fool of myself, *sigh*.)

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 22 2024 #164527
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Socialized medicine

    When one of my sons at age 2 pulled a drawer onto himself and got a cut above his eye on a Sunday my family had no health insurance. I called around to urgent cares to find the best price. $200 to stitch his face.

    About a year later my other son fell from a bike and broke his femur. An ambulance took him from the local hospital to the children’s hospital. We had no insurance. The children’s hospital pressured us to make a $200 down payment on his care. I put it on a credit card. He required a spica cast, placed under general anesthesia. I was so stressed…I had no idea how we would ever pay for it all, but my son had to have his leg set correctly. Arizona’s Medicaid system swooped in and covered it. We even ended up getting refunded the $200 down payment.

    I don’t know what the answer is. Socialized medicine, as I have been acquainted with it in Arizona, (I.e. Medicaid) has been a godsend. It is highly imperfect. But it is better than the stress of trying to get by without it. Perhaps I would feel differently had I lived the adult life that I anticipated as a girl, solidly on the upper side of the middle class, able to purchase insurance, able to save for unexpected expenses. However, one has to be smart about it, not just blindly following the advice that any professional happens to give. Just because Medicaid will pay for something and an expert is willing to prescribe it does not mean that it is actually beneficial. (I refused psychiatric meds for one of my sons “behavioral issues” at least four times.)

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 22 2024 #164485
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    I have great respect for Whitney Webb and the research that she has done. At the same time, I notice that many truth-seekers, such as Webb, such as those who comment here, are seeking for leaders with complete moral purity, according to morality as they individually see it. (We often agree about the broad strokes of morality, but often disagree on some fine points.) These purity tests cause us to reject almost every potential leader that comes up. (And I suspect that the enemies of humanity understand this and delight in propagating the flaws of those who stand against them in order to divide the populace from them.)

    If we instead look at current events on broad, historical terms — such as with the perspective of The Fourth Turning, (I really should read that book, and not simply rely on what others have said of it,) or by seeing history as mass movements flowing through human populations, it is easier to see that the tenor of a mass movement is at least as important as the leaders of the mass movement. None of our leaders are going to be completely morally pure, nor to align perfectly with the moral standards that any one of us feel are the most important ones for right now. Where does that leave us? Because mass movements do drive broad historical changes. There is a lot of history documented about the waves of change that were spurred by the Gutenberg press, which eventually led to the Renaissance and the Reformation. My high school history class didn’t discuss The City of London, but apparently that was being formed around that time period as well. Technology has changed rapidly and the effects are still rippling through society. The Elites are doing what they have always done — well-documented for the last 500 years, sketchier before then, but human nature has not changed, so I suspect it is just more of the same — consolidating their power and influence to themselves and their progeny. Perhaps the best role to play is not simply that of a malcontent, refusing to support any leader that doesn’t pass the moral purity test, but rather joining the fray and instead helping to shape and maintain a moral structure as the movement grows. There are dangerous, active phases in mass movements where morality is abrogated and innocents are oppressed — we need moral guardians to steer the masses through these messes. We want movements like the American Revolution, where the war ended and a nation was built. We don’t want a Communist revolution with Stalin or Mao at the forefront.

    As an aside:
    I don’t know what to make of J.D. Vance. I, like Brett Weinstein, would have been delighted if RFK Jr had folded into Trump’s campaign…but I also understand that RFK Jr.’s own perspectives and ego couldn’t permit that. (Although I am not fond of RFK Jr.’s Israel views, like Trump he is a public figure that I have been cognizant of for over 3 decades, and I have some confidence in my impression of who he is — which is a difficult thing in this day and age of pop-up politicians in an environment of near total propaganda.)

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 21 2024 #164375
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    So…Thomas Crooks is a CIA wannabe, and now he has no family ties, no past, etc. — his former identity is dead, perfect spy. Which means that, barring some fancy plastic surgery, his face is going to eventually show up somewhere.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 19 2024 #164180
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Uterus transplant…
    …because pregnancy and immunosuppressive drugs to prevent organ rejection are **so** compatible. https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/biological-sciences-articles/2021/january/new-clues-on-why-pregnancy

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 19 2024 #164177
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Kaspersky
    Dammit…I was just looking into that antivirus solution for a client who has a Windows XP system and a Windows 7 system, it looks like they have compatible software…I suppose I’ll keep looking. So annoying.

    In this vein, I have a medical office client that is again seeking to move from their in-house server EHR software to cloud-based software. From a business perspective, this is a logical move — it may save them money, and some elements of the practice may be simplified. However, my “spidey-sense,” honed by years of finding my own way through alt-media tells me that we may have rocky technology days ahead…will the internet continue to be “always available?” How frequent will data breaches become? Will cloud servers always be operating — or will they go down? There may come a time when there is a move back to on-premises servers, a need to reassert local control.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 19 2024 #164170
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Netflix
    If you want to watch a great show on Netflix, try Lost in Space. It is 3 short seasons, it is full of family values. It is multicultural, but in a realistic way — kind of how it was when I was a teen in California, and there were simply a lot of people with different ethnic looks and backgrounds, but none of the nonsense where close relatives are of such different ethnicities as to be genetically impossible. This was the first show that got my teen kids to start watching shows together with me.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 13 2024 #163465
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    our cognitive infrastructure

    It reminds me of some conversations with my ex during the last few years of the marriage. He had a habit of declaring to me what my own thoughts and feelings were. He was always completely wrong, but I found arguing with him to be a useless and unproductive exercise.

    We must not allow the first amendment to be altered.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 12 2024 #163390
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    PCR – still 69% of Americans have no regrets being jabbed. So, what we have is a population, 69% of which is too stupid to be functional in a one person one vote Democracy. These fools can outvote the 33%

    There is a problem with the math here.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 11 2024 #163285
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Hens dancing
    I think perhaps that they are on a trampoline that someone is moving to a steady beat.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 10 2024 #163224
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Liberals and therapists

    I would guess that many Christians seek out clergy, rather than therapists. Clergy advice can help in many of life’s quandaries…but not all. And, for those where clergy/doctrinal advice does not work well, the seeker may be more likely to abandon religion generally. Also, there are Christian-oriented places with therapists, and I wonder if this tendency is also true among the therapists who work there?

    One interesting corollary: Elizabeth Smart. I was living in the Salt Lake area when she was abducted and when she returned to her family. I ran across her book last year and read it out of curiosity. After her return, she never went to a therapist. Instead, she folded back into the embrace of her family and Mormon culture and picked her life back up. I mused on that, and supposed that her Mormon upbringing adequately explained what had happened — essentially, an evil couple had abducted her, she was tried, (like Job), through no fault of her own, she relied upon God, connections with deceased ancestors (angels?), and her own grit, and was eventually delivered from her oppressors. She lived the hero’s journey. What did she need a therapist for?

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 10 2024 #163222
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Biden should resign the presidency or the 25th amendment should be followed. Unfortunately, that leaves Kamala Harris as president…which is a sad thing, as I would prefer that the first female US President be a noble, capable woman, that young women could aspire to emulate. Harris does not fit the bill. Bummer.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 10 2024 #163218
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    The New Republic cover, Trump

    In The True Believer, Eric Hoffer suggests that all mass movements have similar beginning traits and that they progress to a “messy phase” and that they can go in directions that morality suggests are ultimately positive or negative. Due to this, it may be difficult to know at the dawn of a movement whether it will ultimately be mostly good or mostly bad.

    The mass movement coalescing around Trump could go either way — it could be a new dawn for the US Constitution, a nationalistic movement that helps the nation find its footing as the empire fades. Or, it could be a nasty repression that lashes out at those currently in power and represses the minorities that have been out of the closet in the past few decades. Either way, it is not very likely that Trump could “become another Hitler/Stalin,” etc. He is, quite frankly, too old. Although Trump’s personality is a sun when contrasted with Biden’s “dwarf star” persona, Trump is less vibrant than he was 8 years ago. If the nationalistic movement doesn’t fizzle after the election, other leaders will start to gain prominence.

    Hannah Arendt was studying totalitarianism specifically, rather than mass movements generally. Based on what we witnessed during Covid, the mass movement that is being stoked by the globalists already has clear hallmarks of totalitarianism as explored by Arendt.

    I’m sure that from the globalists’ point of view, the Covid time was a mass movement that they could steer, while the nationalistic Trump movement is out of their control. Therefore, the Trump movement is “bad” and “like Hitler,” while they view their own movement as benign, beneficial and “progressive.”

    in reply to: Debt Rattle July 9 2024 #163139
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    @ DBS
    Human learning

    I think that, very often, systems/products are designed deliberately to hide the control mechanisms so that humans — who *are* very good at learning, especially the young ones — don’t inadvertently run across them.

    Very often, the older folks that I work with in my business express the belief that the young folks (40s and younger) can do wonders with smartphones and computers…and they *can* easily install apps and use them…but they often do not know:
    – how to manually configure a network adapter, a router, an email client, etc.
    – how to code a website..or anything else for that matter
    – how to use Boolean search terms in a web search (have never heard of the term “Boolean”)
    – to type in a full web address rather than a keyword search
    – the file system structure outside of the user profile “libraries” and an attached thumb drive.
    – how to use command prompt, the Windows Registry, group policy/local policy, local user accounts (rather than a Microsoft account,) terminal, Remote Desktop, VNC, SSH, etc. (I am not an expert in all of these things, but I know what they can do, and I look up what I don’t know. Most young folks don’t realize that these things EXIST.)
    – that smartphones can be “rooted” or “jail-broken” and apps side-loaded

    …but they are familiar with installing BlueStacks and simulating an Android environment on a Windows PC to play a phone game on a PC!

    Young people have been distracted into believing that computers, tablets, smartphones are merely toys, and that everything “under the hood” is akin to rocket science, too hard to understand, or that have inculcated anxiety about breaking it.

    We could have been teaching young people how to master these systems/devices. Instead, they have been hoodwinked into being enslaved by them.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle June 29 2024 #162418
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    I’ve been vacationing this week, and much of the long drive yesterday and today has been filled with reading The True Believer, by Eric Hoffer (1951.). My spouse saw it referenced by Sailer in his recent interview with Tucker Carlson, and he ordered it so that I could read it (and share the best parts and the concepts with him, lol.). I recommend it. So very often many have asked the question, why is it that I could see through the Covid mess readily, or relatively quickly, when so many others were hoodwinked? Hoffer has some cogent ideas about why this is, written 70 years prior to Covid craziness.

    The ready imitativeness of a unified following is both an advantage and a peril to a mass movement. The faithful are easily led and molded, but they are also particularly susceptible to foreign influences…. The preaching of all mass movements bristles with admonitions against copying foreign models and “doing after all their abominations.” The imitation of outsiders is branded as treason and apostasy…. Every device is used to cut off the faithful from intercourse with unbelievers.” (P. 103-4)

    And that is an apt explanation for the broad invention of and obsession with dis-, mis-, and malinformation and opposition to free speech. Free speech is critical to liberty and to the unmasking of mass movements.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle June 29 2024 #162403
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Aspnaz:
    You actually believe that Biden is in control of his career?

    I suspect that the reason why those propping up Biden believed that they could continue *is* because of the level of success they have enjoyed thus far. Biden was not up to the task of being president 5 years ago, and yet they succeeded well enough that he was slipped into the presidential slot. The media is their echo chamber, and as long as the media continued to fall in line, as it had done for 5 years regarding JB, they believed that the charade could continue. It was all hubris.

    I’m going to enjoy watching this play out…it is nice to see the curtain pulled back and “the Great OZ” revealed as a humbug.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle June 28 2024 #162310
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Oroboros
    Trump can be talked in and out of anything by the people he picks to surround him.

    *sigh*. Exactly. And a penchant for flourishes when firing does not prevent this problem.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle June 22 2024 #161786
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    I think that it is nice that aspnaz is here. Otherwise, it is easy to become complacent. There are always going to be humans with ideas that I believe are wrong-headed. The real challenge is how to have a reasonably harmonious society with “liberty and justice for all” — even those that I disagree with vehemently. Even my ex husband who has tried to destroy everything positive in my life, on multiple occasions. Life would be boring without some challenges along the way.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle June 22 2024 #161785
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    You need to go back to the 1950s, to Norman Rockwell’s America.

    Right…to the era of McCarthyism.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle June 22 2024 #161783
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    UK wants to obligate teen service…

    I have three teens. They have grown up with the understanding that they are obligated to complete high school, and then their life choices are up to them. Dropping new, post secondary obligations upon them suddenly is not likely to inspire much more than rebellion.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle June 22 2024 #161782
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    The Supreme Court reveals bias by not adjudicating a case faster than most other cases?
    Give me a break!
    Courts and hospitals are the two slowest institutions that I have ever dealt with. They both have the ability to move fast when there is a true crisis, but the rest of the time they move at a snail’s pace.
    Just because wokedom believes that preventing Trump from becoming president is a crisis situation doesn’t mean that the rest of the country — including Supreme Court justices — agrees. In fact, one of the purposes of the Supreme Court is to be able to “put the breaks” on runaway social memes that may sweep swathes of society.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle June 20 2024 #161607
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    JB-HB

    Technically, Karl Marx did not say that in socialism the government was to own the means of production, he said that the workers were to own the means of production. He also didn’t advocate for government control, in general, he said that for the revolution that he predicted that government would play a role. It was the Communist Party that decided to interpret “the workers” as “the government” or, more specifically, “the Communist Party” which usurped the role as the workers’ “trustee.” We all know how well *that* has worked out. (Hannah Arendt documented it well, calling it out as “totalitarian.”)

    Sole proprietorships give one owner control over the business, and can work well. In a partnership, two or more owners run a business, and this can work well. Employees come on board, and now we have a two-tiered system under the sole proprietor or partnership, where one tier is isolated away from control over the business. An argument can be made that, initially, current business owners do not know whether or not a new employee will stay long or will be a good fit, and justifiably do not want to share power with a stranger. And, in some businesses, tiered models may be appropriate and simply work best. However, people like having control over their lives and often take greater pride when they own or share in ownership of something. At a certain point one has to ask: is the business structured so that ownership and control is in the hands of relatively few, rather than many because that is, ultimately, the best way to run that business? Or is it the best way for a small number to extract as much profit as possible from the business and into their own hands? This starts driving down to how do we empower individuals who are cooperating together so that they have freedom but still enjoy benefits of cooperation. Also, can we structure organizations (countries, cities, businesses, etc.,) in ways that promote individual autonomy and liberty while maintaining cohesive, strong organizations?

    These are the questions that I look at when I examine the writings of Karl Marx. They are cogent questions and still relate to today, even though Marx was wrong about there being an impending proletariat revolution as he described.

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