phoenixvoice
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phoenixvoice
ParticipantCO2/heat relationship
I was always aware of this. To me, the real question was: what happens globally if the CO2 goes up in a big way, but not following warming, rather from a different, (man-made,) source? No one knows the answer. Not knowing is uncomfortable.
Perhaps, the earth greens more, as plants have more abundant access to CO2. If that is the case, then it is a positive by-product in my book. The bigger concerns regarding fossil fuels have been various pollutions and toxicities that they contain or that occur in bringing them to the surface, as well as depletion over time and how our culture responds to that depletion.
phoenixvoice
Participant@ oxy
Uncouth, yes, but spot-on.phoenixvoice
Participantphoenixvoice
ParticipantIf water has this memory, as described, then…
…there may be some real substance to homeopathy
…I wonder about drinking rainwater?
…how does one “structure” water? Play classical music for it before drinking? For how long?
Very interesting idea.phoenixvoice
ParticipantEurovision 2024…
Um…I have a degree in music & theatre, and have loved musical stage performance since I was very young. Sometimes I perform. I am not a prude. I’m not Christian, although I have respect for most Christian tenets, and abide by them and model them to my children — I am not immediately horrified by Wiccan and devil/demon imagery, although it can rapidly descend into territory that I consider problematic.This Eurovision thing is disgusting. Do people actually enjoy it? Or is it just like the emperor’s new clothes?
Can we have a folk music revival already? It would be nice to get back to people simply getting up in front of others with acoustic instruments (amplification is fine, but not the type that fries ears and tingles arm hair,) and singing songs.
phoenixvoice
ParticipantThat’s it…dropping the little technical things…that contribute to a rounder comprehension of the subject.
This is what I have seen generally over the last 20 years in the tech industry. In the 90s, in order to use a computer on the internet one had to have basic understanding of what a modem is and does (connect to a phone line, dial a number, negotiate connection with a server, and translate telephone signals as digital data), what a web browser is and its constituent important parts (address bar, web address, back button, reload button, bookmarks, http vs. https,) and how to navigate a basic file system graphically using Windows Explorer or Apple Finder. Now, none of these are formally taught, and the software is often written to obfuscate these functions. As a result, users often perperually feel like they are floundering in a shifting sea, just going wherever the current takes them…and they believe that this is “normal” and expected. I have found myself tutoring recent college graduates of PA or nurse practitioner school on basic computer functions — people who used laptops to graduate from college.
phoenixvoice
ParticipantAspnaz
I think they are really referring to how this stuff is made.I think that you must be right. Spouse purchased an oil extractor. So far we’ve tried it on walnuts, and I may try it on the sunflower seeds once the flowers are spent — it would seem odd that home-extracted sunflower oil would be problematic.
phoenixvoice
ParticipantBiden economic advisor Jared Bernstein
I don’t think that the problem is stupidity. It is more like perfidy. I think that the man fundamentally understands how ridiculous the reality of the Fed is, how the US money begins as debt, rather than with sovereign money printing. He truly believes that current reality is a fundamentally flawed situation, but his job depends upon him defending the status quo.phoenixvoice
ParticipantI’ve had a very busy week, haven’t had a chance to really suss out the college protesters thing….but I think that
Were all the paid college “protestors” these past weeks that aren’t going to college for the purpose of passing this bill?????
hits the nail on the head, and is just one more nail in democracy’s coffin.
phoenixvoice
ParticipantCows
Did you hear the digital autocorrect of the singer’s pitch? Weird.phoenixvoice
Participant@ The Markster
Thank you for pointing out the music & dance achievements of Europeans so that I don’t have to. Much of the great black music has come into existence because of the fusion of European musical styles and disciplines with African traditions brought by slaves to the US. Without the influence of both traditions we would not have jazz, soul, rock’n’roll, R&B, etc.
Case in point: most people are familiar with the musical form of a round. (I.e., the way Row, row, row your boat is often sung.). The African version of a round is heterodox: everyone in a group sings the same song, in multiple keys, multiple speeds, starting and stopping at will. For the ear trained in Western music, this has an interesting effect, and can be appreciated. However, compare and contrast this with a contrapuntal fugue by J.S. Bach for organ.
Music is an art form where there are always those at the fringes pushing for “new sounds” and/or for rediscovering or reinventing old musical ideas. Since “new” is always distinct in some way from “old,” and Western Music is usually the “old” that is being referenced, “new” music is underpinned by its references to Western Music and does not exist without it.
phoenixvoice
ParticipantI never took a class on statistics — I took calculus in high school and subsequently majored in music, lol. So, when Ed Dowd talked about the life insurance actuary deaths for ages 25-44 being “10 standard deviations above the norm” I had absolutely no frame of reference to use to understand what he was saying. I simply thought, well, that sounds like a great deal, and he seems very worked up about it. Today, I was helping one of my sons to learn a topic for his high school math class. It was explaining how “standard deviations” work. Wait a minute, I thought. And looked up what Ed Dowd had said (my son was growing very irritated, as I was not focusing on the lesson at hand.) TEN standard deviations above the norm. Oh, hell — now I understand what he was talking about! That is outrageous! It should be at the top of every news outlet.
Instead it is buried.
There is still some use for public education. 🙂
phoenixvoice
ParticipantSo here is an interesting thought for comment:
My political leanings are toward classical liberalism, but I respect conservatism, as I was raised in a conservative home, and I see the value in it. There is variety of political leanings in the TAE commentariat, which is refreshing.
My family is still very conservative. We look at the world around us and we agree on many, many things. Except one big issue: the conflict in Gaza. They express beliefs repeatedly that serve to justify Israel destroying Gaza and Palestinians generally by stating that the Palestinians historically did not want a two state solution, that the Palestinians want to slaughter all Israelis, and therefore it is justifiable that Israel protect itself. I can only get them to go as far as admitting that there must be many innocent Palestinians that are being killed (but then they start talking about Hamas using the innocent Palestinians as “human shields.”)
I can tell that here, commenting at TAE, are some conservative-minded folks that do not support Israel. (Often, IMO, this is taken too far, with rhetoric condemning all Jews, which I find as mind-numbing as the Israeli rhetoric condemning Palestinians as “animals.”) I am curious about the conservative thought process that decouples support for Israel from the conservative mindset. I would like to plant seeds in the minds of my conservative family that will help them to realize that Zionists are not their friends, but rather weasels that will betray them, and that the framing they have accepted about the conflict in Gaza is deeply flawed. Ideas, anyone? (I wonder if that is exactly what Tucker Carlson was trying to do when he interviewed a Palestinian Christian leader in Israel, questioning the unswerving loyalty that so many American Christians have for Israel.)
phoenixvoice
ParticipantFYI: The noose is tightening for those who use cash
This may be the last year that I get a fat tax refund thanks to the refundable portion of the child tax credit and the EITC. I’ve been needing to declare bankruptcy for a few years now, due to debts stemming from a family court costs that I was obliged to shoulder, and so I am essentially “unbanked.” My tax refund comes in the form of a check. It is too large to cash at a grocery store, too large to cash at Walmart. Tax refunds cannot be direct deposited into an account that doesn’t include the name of the person on the refund. Since the 2008 crash, banks must deposit checks into an account prior to dispensing the cash. My (common law) spouse’s credit union’s policies do not allow it to be endorsed it over to him. The US Government no longer has accounts at Bank of America held in such a way that they will cash government checks. For the past two years, I have gone with my father to his current bank, Wells Fargo, shown my ID, and endorsed my check to him. A week later my father pulled out all of the check funds in cash and gave them to me. Two days ago we went to do this again. No go. The bank manager explained to us that she does not know what was done in the past and does not know the reason why, but they do not accept endorsed deposits of government checks. WTF? I am now looking for the most economical check cashing place, so that I lose the least amount of this check, and my dad is checking with his broker. In the envelope with the check was a little flyer from the government, encouraging me to get a bank account….. Soft coercion. I weary of this.
phoenixvoice
ParticipantI find the Kunstler piece included today to be in poor taste. Perhaps it is because the caricature is of college students when my own children are so close to that age. It frustrates me that my own children would be lumped in. One son, who has struggled mightily with the rules and demands of school, has purple and blue fading out of his hair, but has nearly finished graduation requirements. I now acknowledge that his challenges probably fit under mild “autism,” and they are probably the result of vaccine injury. My other son will be in college in four months, and I am observing the hoops that he has to jump through just to avoid living on campus. Someone designed this system to funnel all of the young college entrants into on-campus housing, where indoctrination is easier to accomplish. From my daughter I have insight into the minds of the caricatured collegiate women, from two years younger. Her friends have been indoctrinated by their own parents from infancy to believe that it is a mortal sin to utter the “n-slur” or “r-slur.” They believe that if Trump becomes president again that he will dismantle the three branches of government. They are vaxxed to the max. The sins of the parents will be visited upon the children. Sure, the college kids are adults and responsible for their actions, and yet, they lack the life experience to even begin to understand that they have been molded to be someone else’s tools. Now they go to college and instead of expanding their minds, the more blinders are placed upon them. Scorn doesn’t seem appropriate for them — I feel scorn for the collegiate administrators and professors.
Scorn—pity—sympathy—empathy—unity. To overcome the problems arrayed before us, unity is our best bet. Unity often cannot be achieved…but perhaps we can take a step away from scorn and start feeling pity?
phoenixvoice
ParticipantYes, but respect is something you EARN, not something you’re born with
I see it a little differently. There is a basic level of respect that is granted to someone without knowing them, simply because the person is a living being. For example, when I pass someone I don’t know on the street, and we nod to one another, acknowledging the other person. Then there is the respect that is earned over time. We may hold some individuals in very high regard due to the individual earning (more) respect over time. And then there are the people that I hold little to no respect for because the person has lost my respect due to their own misbehavior (such as my ex, or my paternal step-grandmother who at the big family Christmas party long ago gave me the same useless gift that was received by thirteen year old girls because at age 26, graduated from college, I was unmarried and, I suppose, therefore not an adult in her eyes.)
There are people who, through prejudice, disrespect those whom they do not personally know or of whom they have no information. This is common, and is the basis for the cries against “discrimination.” Ironically, those who loudly protest discrimination of one flavor are often hypocrites.
phoenixvoice
ParticipantSOME people work and it’s stolen. SOME people receive and do nothing
But isn’t that the way it is with ALL economic systems? The difference is primarily who works, who steals, who receives, and who does nothing. And, often, it is a matter of perspective how the labels are applied within any given system.
phoenixvoice
ParticipantCome to think of it, according to the signs that have popped up at hospitals and urgent cares and the like since Covid, failure to respond to a health care worker’s instructions or not following their requests can be considered “aggressive behavior” under the law. This is not heading to a good place.
phoenixvoice
ParticipantKris Mays
I weary of “officials” summarizing facts for me. There is always an agenda…it is always a form of soft coercion. So, she says that those indicted conspired to not allow Arizonan votes to count in the 2020 presidential election…and that is doublespeak for…what exactly? Would I summarize the facts viewed by the grand jury in that fashion?Another example:
Daughter has been experiencing abdominal pain from an enlarged spleen, a side effect of mono. It was becoming pretty painful yesterday, so at night we went to the ER to have it checked out. For reasons that I’m not going to currently guess at, the hospital no longer bothers to supply forms at the outset, when I could read them at my leisure while I am waiting for hours, before I am uncomfortably dozing off in a chair. No, instead the forms appear after four hours, after my daughter has been examined by the doctor. I am given an iPad with the form loaded onto it, and expected to sign with my finger. I hate writing with my finger, and the no-battery stylus in my purse does not write on iPads. For the second, the hospital person tells me that the form “is so doctors can talk with one another.” I remembered that, wait, I need to READ this stuff first (I was a little groggy at 1 am,) and saw that the form authorizes my daughter’s health information to be put into an online health exchange. I have to formally decline this once a year at her primary care physician. “No,” I replied, “it’s not. It’s to put my daughter’s data into an online health exchange.” The hospital person said, “But…” ( I don’t recall the specifics.) I interjected: “No — I’ve had three notices in the past 6 months about my data being breached online. No data online is safe.” So, instead there was document #3, which looked like the standard stuff about billing insurance. I signed that. Come to think of it, I didn’t read much of it…it was probably the standard stuff. I forgot to ask for copies. A few minutes later the nurse came in the room with physical papers. The first was a simple form to sign (with a pen! A pen that glided and wrote well!). It had a single sentence: I have read the discharge instructions and have had my questions answered. She asked me to sign and then explained that after the signature she would review the papers with me. I objected and pointed out that I couldn’t sign that I had read documents and had my questions answered before I actually saw the documents. She seemed irritated with me, took back the stack of papers, and reviewed them. I signed afterwards. I had no questions.I suspect that one large contributing factor to these practices are the software EULAs that we began clicking “I agree” to back in the 90s. I weary of this. Paperwork isn’t fun, but abbreviating the part where the signee actually reads the document before signing is the wrong part to cut short. (A realistic solution is to keep documents short and devoid of complex legalese.). I long for the day when the courts begin to systematically void these documents because of deceptive practices on the part of the companies pressing for quick signatures.
Waiting for signatures until the signee is exhausted and almost ready to leave is a strategy to obtain signatures without the signee having adequately reviewed the document. What is being hidden?
phoenixvoice
ParticipantStudent testing
Something to be aware of — most testing nowadays is on computer. There is a real disadvantage to scoring math tests on computer. Multiple choice math tests tend to be too easy. Short answer would tend to be the ideal solution, but the programs being used are not using AI, and they tend to be too literal. Added a dollar sign? Mark it wrong. A comma after the thousand place? Mark it wrong. Put in a decimal when a fraction was expected? Mark it wrong. Students are endlessly trying to second-guess the intentions of the person who crafted the test, and test crafters do not consistently specify the required format for the answer. These are simple issues that a real human would easily spot.Also, a gripe about the internet:
There is a plethora of “fluff” information. Want to know the “official” medical information about mono? Easy to find at hundreds of websites, often with identical language. Want specifics about the experience various people with mono? Nothing — or, so far down the list of results as to be non-existent. Want to know how much clearance is needed around the hole when joining round duct to flat duct? The results are all about how to connect round duct to flat duct with ZERO information about how much clearance is needed. It is more efficient to find someone with relevant experience and ask that person rather than search it up online.phoenixvoice
ParticipantCatnip
I decided to grow catnip – I’ve got lemon balm growing as a perennial, why not catnip. I started it from seed and put it out in a pot once it was large enough. My cats commenced endlessly knocking the pot over. Finally, I put it in the ground to save it from pot-knocking. Then, my two cats and a neighbor cat proceeded smothering the small catnip plant until it was nearly dead and full of cat fur. Finally, I put a wire basket on top of it, secured in place by a few sticks. Now the little plant is thriving. Once it grows through the wire basket, the cats may begin rolling all over it again.Newsflash! There are only two sexes. Yes, there are a few rare souls who, for quirks of genetics and biology, are not clearly one sex nor the other, but are some sort of uncommon mixture of the two. This does not mean that there are more than two sexes…it just means that sometimes the two are not clearly delineated. Gender roles and traditions are human constructs that humans place on top of biology. A man can wear high heels (why not? — France’s Sun King did, too,) a dress, fake boobs, and fishnet stockings…but this does not change his biological sex. Nor does surgery nor hormone therapy. I became the breadwinner for my children, in addition to the nurturer, in 2012 — this did not turn me male, nor did it diminish my femininity in any way.
phoenixvoice
Participant@ Dr. John Day – thx for the tips!
phoenixvoice
Participant@ Dr. John Day
Daughter was just diagnosed with mononucleosis…any insight into supplements, etc., to help support her immune system? (At least now we know what is going on.)phoenixvoice
Participant@ oxymoron
I hear you about the kangaroo video, (it looked staged, to me.). My home was invaded by roof rats to longer than I care to admit. I was very frustrated the day that spouse told me he had been sitting on the pot and seen a rat creep out from under the tub in our bathroom, and how CUTE it looked. They may be cute. They may have hands. They may even live, but NOT in my house, and stay away from my orange tree!
I was ready to whoop for joy when I finally rooted out the last one. I had a re-infestation for a couple months this past winter, but now that I know how to get them out and keep them out, the house is rat-free once again. They leave their excrement and urine everywhere and never stop chewing — I’ve been repairing wiring damage in my attic. But, hey, if TSHTF, I can help others catch their roof rats and then supply them to one of my cats, as he enjoys eating them. It’s healthier than cat kibble.
phoenixvoice
Participant@ WES
Thank you for the words about your daughter. I read them to my son.@ John Day, true, my son will miss out on meeting some people…but some people need “baby steps,” and this son does. He was bullied in elementary school and subsequently decided the avoid his peers and have friends who are are adults. It is going to be interesting to see what he does, once his peers *are* the adults. All in good time.
@ JB-hb
Yesterday: I’m waiting to see even a female Jordan Peterson or Carl Benjamin.There are fundamental differences, as much as the Woke want to erase them. Most “quality” people have committed relationships and children. Most “quality” women are highly invested in the process of child-rearing. I wanted to be for my children the kind of mother that mine was (is = she is still alive, but I have not been a minor child in a very long time.). I had to be more — I also had to be the breadwinner. As I look over the past 18 years, I realize that I physically could never have worked a full-time job and been a great mom to my kids. I will have minor children for only 20 years. My youngest sister just had #6 when her eldest was 15…for her, child-rearing will span 34 years. Quality women tend to have children and tend to be quality mothers — this means that they have much less time to devote to “greatness” than is available to the broader public. So, they are very far and few between.
Hannah Arendt had no children. Vandana Shiva is an interesting woman. Brene Brown has made contributions. I wonder what Tulsi Gabbard may yet contribute publicly.
phoenixvoice
ParticipantOuroboros: Complexity terminates itself eventually
Yes, I’ve noticed that. One of my sons is slated to attend ASU next year. ASU’s website is so convoluted that navigating it is like navigating a labyrinth, and every turn looks just like the last. Twice now he has resorted to their live chat option…when the live chat person says “let me google that,” I can’t help but roll my eyes. The system is so complicated that those paid to be guides barely know what is going on!
Ah…and ASU is so immersed in current culture that it is annoying. I have observed this son carefully over the past five years, seeking to understand what post-secondary trajectory will serve him best, given his attitudes, interests, abilities, and the available scholarships. Given that he is a “homebody,” not very social, and prefers to sleep at home, he expressed no desire to move out and live on campus. So I looked into the option of commuting on the train. We visited ASU last year, traveling there on the train, rather than me driving, so that he would see what that is like. ASU strongly recommends that all freshmen live on campus, and in their online promotional literature for incoming freshmen gives no information for those who choose otherwise. Yesterday he second-guessed himself, wanting to consider living on campus.
This is the effect of subtle programming, of propaganda, of soft-coercion. ASU does not know my son, does not love my son, does not know our finances. ASU is doing what is best for ASU. (Since living on campus in a shared room costs at least 4 times more than it costs my son to live here, with his own room, I suspect that ASU is going to have to live with my son commuting.)
phoenixvoice
ParticipantI have been digesting the information from The Great Taking the past few days.
Yesterday, my spouse received an updated credit card agreement for the credit card he has with the credit union where his accounts are at. I use this card for convenience when making online purchases or if I make a purchase that is more than the cash I happen to have in my wallet at the moment.
The following is not for his CU, but the verbiage is identical, especially the box at the top.
https://www.cfcu.org/files/cfcu18/1/file/Disclosures/Credit-Card-Agreement-and-Disclosure.pdf
SECURITY INTEREST
You grant the Credit Union a security interest under the Uniform Commercial Code and under any common law rights the Credit Union may have in any goods You purchase.
If You give the Credit Union a specific pledge of shares by signing a separate pledge of shares, Your pledged shares will secure Your Account. You may not withdraw amounts that have been specifically pledged to secure Your Account until the Credit Union agrees to release all or part of the pledged amount.
You grant Us a security interest in all individual and joint share and/or deposit accounts You have with Us now and in the future to secure Your credit card Account. Shares and deposits in an IRA or any other account that would lose special tax treatment under state or federal law if given as security are not subject to the security interest You have given in Your shares and deposits. You may withdraw these other shares unless You are in default. When You are in default, You authorize Us to apply the balance in these accounts to any amounts due. For example, if You have an unpaid credit card balance, You agree We may use funds in Your account(s) to pay any or all of the unpaid balance.
Unless otherwise prohibited by federal and/or state law, collateral securing other loans You have with the Credit Union may also secure this loan, except that a dwelling will never be considered as security for this Account, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any other Agreement.I have seen cc agreements at a CU where account balances could cover credit card balances in default. And, of course, there are “secured credit cards” for folks with poor credit, where an amount is held by the financial institution. But I have NEVER seen a credit card where the issuer was granted a “security interest” in the items purchased with the card. The verbiage, citing the “uniform commercial code” reminds me of terms from The Great Taking.
Ironically, my spouse currently has a credit score of 815. Today, he is planning a trip to the CU to close the credit card account.
phoenixvoice
ParticipantNPR’s CEO Katherine Maher on the truth:
I think, perhaps, that she is confusing “The Truth” with “personal values.” Personal values are often called “personal truths,” because they are regarded as “truth” by individuals, and they are foundational for how individuals build their narratives of the world.
One of the beauties of the human knowledge that is called science is that it is predicated upon experiments that are REPRODUCIBLE. This is key, because reproducibility means that, in theory, I don’t have to take someone’s word for it, I can test it for myself. Therefore, science is a method at reaching “universal truth.”
Many have noted that the ethical/moral underpinnings of the large human religions share many of the same principles or tenets. I remember a famous book with the title All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten , which touches on many of these same concepts. We can infer that these are representational of some other “universal truths” about humans and their interactions.
Personal values guide people, and can lead them to have strikingly different opinions. Since we are a herd-based population, we need to have some methods to get along to some degree. One way to do this is to have glorious discussions based upon our personal values to find common ground — and often common ground is found when we discover “universal truth.”
Ms. Maher seems to be suggesting that we skip the “glorious discussion” part and cut straight to the compromise part. While I don’t deny that there are times when that may be necessary, it is through finding universal truths that we forge lasting compromises and lasting societies where all or most agree and will support without coercion.
phoenixvoice
ParticipantMelanoma/skin cancer
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3906570/
I don’t know what is causing skin cancer to increase, but it is increasing. (Maybe the sun is going through some sort of high-power phase, for all I know. Or, it could be diet related.). Based on the warty stuff on my 8 year old dog that I suspect to be skin cancer, I doubt the increase can be all attributed to sunscreen use, as I’ve never put sunscreen on him. Sun exposure definitely causes the skin to dry and age more rapidly. And, people living longer lives generally could lead to more skin cancer diagnosis, as it seems to be more prevalent in older populations. It is fun to see an “expert” not go along with generally accepted dogma….
phoenixvoice
ParticipantIn a far-reaching new essay in The New Atlantis, the environmental researcher Ted Nordhaus makes a damning and authoritative case that while the basic science of CO2 and climate is solid, it has been abused by the activist class in service of a wildly irresponsible and unscientific climate catastrophism.
It makes sense to have some caution about dramatically changing the environment. We *don’t* know what the effects will be. It makes sense to study the issue and try to come to understand it and adjust our economies and societies to mitigate the damage. Of course, it is human nature to throw refuse “away,” and ignore it until it becomes a problem.
However, we humans have a bigger problem: some humans are obsessed with power and seek to subvert and control the rest of us. We can’t deal with our tendencies to be poor stewards of the environment when the power-obsessed have too much control.phoenixvoice
ParticipantA Great Awakening is taking place all around the world as people wake up and realise what has been done to them.
Some of us never fell asleep in the first place….phoenixvoice
ParticipantLockheed Martin Wins $17BN Interceptor Contract To Protect US Homeland
I remember how, over 20 years ago, in the aftermath of 9/11, I was “weirded out” by the term “homeland” being used in conjunction with the US. It gave me chills and reminded me of the German “fatherland.” I was correct.phoenixvoice
Participant60% of trans identifying boys have mothers with a borderline, narcissistic, antisocial, or histrionic personality disorder. Traits include lack of empathy & remorse, exploitation of others, attention seeking behavior, shallow emotions, superficial charm, selfish goals & behavior. https://t.co/DENQSQdsCi
— The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial) April 15, 2024
The topic of this tweet is an eye-roll, and isn’t the reason why I posted it.
Instead, look at how much the boy resembles his mother — even the glasses, lips, and makeup. It is as if he is trying to look exactly like his mom…or maybe the mother is trying to get her son to be just like her? Uncanny. I wonder if the mother had her hair like her son’s when she was a teen?phoenixvoice
ParticipantWith the Israel/Palestine problem it can be helpful to do a thought experiment where all religion is ignored, (we’re all human, after all,) and, instead simply look at who lives where, money, power, politics, and control. It is obvious that those who have come to Israel since the 1940s have been systematically oppressing the people who had lived there for generations. On both sides there is rhetoric about exterminating the other side — this sort of thing happens in these sorts of situations. However, one side has more power, and that side is also experiencing greater success in carrying out said extermination. In human families and communities some leaders understand that “healthy” leadership involves seeking to understand the strengths and needs of those who are led, involves caring for those who are led, and seeking the well-being of those who are led. Other leaders have been schooled in “unhealthy,” authoritarian leadership forms, where those who are led are to follow, and those who lead are to push their will onto those who follow. (Of course, there are variations and hybrids of this.) With healthy leadership, those who are led are edified and generally not oppressed. With Israel/Palestine, neither side is perfect, but it is glaringly obvious that one side is dying by the thousands while a majority (not all, of course,) of the other side is gloating.
Truly, the Jews are short-sighted. They had been oppressed in Europe for hundreds of years. Due to the Holocaust, they became darlings of the west, and an “international treasure.” This was predicated upon collective guilt — guilt that some Europeans had colluded to murder them. What happpens when a large subset of the Jews reveal themselves as blood-thirsty egoists who think that God told them that they are better than the rest of humanity? Revealing themselves as guilty of the same evil that was perpetrated on them by the Nazis? It is likely to negate the collective guilt from the Holocaust and dredge up the general anti-Semitism that preceded it. This is foolishness on the part of the Jews — instead of building bridges with the national community of Arabs around them, instead of forging peaceful coexistence with their brothers who had never left the Holy Land, they relied upon the power of the US and her allies to sustain Israel. For the political and economic leaders of The West, support of Israel has been tied to oil, but for the populations of The West, support of Israel has been predicated upon principle, upon religion and guilt. What happens when the reasons of principle, religion, and guilt are swept away, and all that is left is political and economic stratagem?
phoenixvoice
Participant“eerily accurate prediction from 1965 on how to destroy the fabric of society.”
Paul Harvey turned 18 in 1936.
His early life was in the middle of the “the fourth turning.” By 1965, he had seen the 4th and first phases pass, and the 2nd phase was ongoing. Was he prescient? Or was he simply speaking of what he had observed and heard the adults talking about in his childhood?phoenixvoice
ParticipantZerosum
I’m with you on that one — reducing the needed energy.
And reducing the resources required.
Spouse was talking about all of the cheaply manufactured solar landscape lights sold yesterday. The plastic breaks and disintegrates. Before the solar panels stop working the mechanism falls apart. Think of all the lithium and cobalt in the batteries put into cheap and poorly designed devices…it is a complete waste of resources and energy. Our large televisions are designed to be impossible to repair and when minor things go wrong, the entire unit is junked.
I don’t think that heavy governmental regulations are the answer, but some “smart” regulation coupled with citizen/consumer movements could make a huge difference. For example, “right to repair” laws can make it illegal to design products to break when repair is attempted. There can be incentives from government and/or independent groups to design products that can easily have the resources harvested by recycling programs at their end-of-life and large manufacturers can be obligated to responsibly manage their products post-consumer waste. However, the most important component is regular people who are disgusted with “planned obsolescence,” demanding higher quality, longer lasting products, upgrades to current products instead of whole scale replacement, interest in learning to repair, and valuing used stuff rather than automatically preferring brand-new goods.phoenixvoice
ParticipantThis Fani recording shows how ridiculous she is. I can understand making the recording — and simply not checking on Maryland law first. I am aware that recording laws vary from state to state. But that an attorney would release the recording publicly without checking on the Maryland law first? She deserves citizenship in Idiocracy. Throw the book at her.
phoenixvoice
ParticipantA stray cat mother gives her kitten, hoping she gets adopted
I love cats — fascinating creatures. They see something in we humans; we see something in them.phoenixvoice
Participant(Side note: I’d much rather my federal taxes be used to cancel student loan debt than send military aid to Israel!)
phoenixvoice
ParticipantBiden is now moving as fast as he can to forgive $144 billion more in student loans.
Again, traditional templates are often out of place. Yes, wholesale forgiveness of debt isn’t exactly fair to those who paid off student loans through their own hard work, and it is somewhat inexplicable when the government is in debt and getting further indebted every day. (Most likely explanation: it is a bone thrown to the “stupid” Democrat base.) However, the student loan program for at least 40+ years has been driving up the cost of higher education until college has become a form of indentured servitude. Nearly 20 years ago the bankruptcy code was changed to exclude student loans. Most people would agree that older generations have a moral obligation to educate younger generations and it has been generally understood for more than 50 years that higher education is the key to financial stability. Lifting the burden of student loan payments from off of the backs of younger adults is a way to inject money into the economy, as they then will be more likely to purchase homes and new vehicles, go on vacations, and (ironically) start families.
Rejecting a government policy merely because one detests the person or administration enacting the policy just makes navigating this mess more difficult. I don’t know whether or not wholesale forgiveness of student loans is the answer (a hatchet when a scalpel would be better?) but the civic conversation needs to be had about student loans, higher education, and the astronomic costs involved.
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