Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Lyric Video)

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

George Orwell “1984”

Minnesota Anthem

“In Marquez’s experience, truth has been controlled to the point at which it has ceased to be possible to find out what it is. The only truth is that you are being lied to all the time.”

Salman Rushdie LRB 9/16/1982 “Angel Gabriel” article about Gabriel García Márquez

Are You a Cowardly Bully?

 

Uncle Sam is hiring. 

______________________

“When the liberals are in power, we demand liberty from them, because that is their principle; and, when we are in power, we will refuse it to them because that is our principle.”

From Louis Veuillot 19th century French journalist, antisemite and fan of Joseph de Maistre. Veuillot promoted ultramontanism - Papal supremacy. He was being quoted by Adrian Vermeule, 21st century law professor and creator of Common Good Constitutionalism (goal is good rule not liberty),

The John Birch Society

The John Birch Society has been bringing Wack job ideas to America since 1958. 

When I was a kid, the Birchers would pay for billboards that said things like "Get the U.S. out of the United Nations" They were too radical for mainstream Republicans particularly when the John Birch Society's leader Robert Welsh began attacking President Dwight Eisenhower, claiming Ike was a communist agent. The Birchers also believed Fred Rogers and MLK were communists. 

A couple of interested factoids about the JBS. 

Ginni Thomas's family were Birchers. In case you are not aware - Ginni is the wife of bought and paid for Supreme Court judge Clarence Thomas. It should come as no surprise that Clarence's chief benefactor Harlan Crow is an aficionado of Nazi paraphernalia.

The reactionary "Uncle Sam" sign that has been beside I-5 near Napavine Washington for 60 years has included various messages that came from the JBS.

A Short History Lesson

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) attracted anti-fascist fighters from around the world. These international fighters joined pro-Republican International Brigades to fight Spanish Nationalist forces who had the support of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. 

Spoiler alert - Franco and the Nationalists won. Franco ruled Spain until his death in 1975. 

In attempt to clarify terms, it is clear that the current U.S. Republican party, does not support the political theory of Republicanism where citizens hold power and govern themselves, rejecting monarchy and hereditary rule, by electing representatives to act for the common good, emphasizing civic virtue, participation, and the rule of law to protect liberty from corruption.

______________________

L. Brent Bozell Jr. who ghost-wrote Republican Barry Goldwater's "Conscience of a Conservative", was a key Goldwater adviser, and an admirer of Franco who moved his family to Spain in 1965 as a sign of solidarity with Franco's authoritarian regime, in stark contrast to American democratic ideals. This Bozell was a consistent supporter of Joseph McCarthy. One of Bozell's grandsons was convicted of various crimes. during the January 6th, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capital by supporters of Donald Trump.  and in May of 2024 sentenced to 4 years in prison

Fascist anti-democratic movements in the U.S. are at least as old as the anti-New Deal American Firsters of Charles Lindberg and Henry Ford's time. I copied the following from Google Gemini AI -

"Anti-New Deal "America Firsters" were a diverse group in the 1930s-40s, including conservatives, isolationists, and some far-left figures, united by opposition to FDR's expansive federal programs, viewing them as tyrannical, "un-American," or leading towards "good fascism" or European-style militarism, with prominent voices like Charles Lindbergh, Father Coughlin, William Randolph Hearst, and the American Liberty League, often blending critiques of government overreach with anti-Semitic or pro-Nazi sentiments."

People from every country in the world may have a chance in the 21st century to defend representative democracy against the Trump corporate version of crony capitalistic totalitarianism, possibly in Greenland, Canada or the U.S. 

The fact that other countries have a free press and that there is a thriving independent press in the U.S. give me hope.

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Background information regarding the film "The Spanish Earth".

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Labor Anthem "Bread And Roses" at Mayor Mamdani's Inauguration

It's a Profit Deal Scene - The Jerk 1979

Continuing lessons in free-market Capitalism. 

Mark Proksch's testimony at the trial of Tim Heidecker (Shocking)

Quite shocking indeed. 

Particularly at 11:05 where Tim provides his constitutional analysis of the employer employee relationship under American-style crony corporate capitalism. 

Tim gives this originalist™ reading of the constitution - 

"Let me just say for the record that I believe this to be a witness, a character witness, that is not to be believed or trusted because I would put him in charge as my employee and I have the right to do whatever I want with him. I have the constitutional right to strike him if he just disobeys me and right now, he's still under my supervision he still technically works for me."

Note - an originalist™ reads and interprets the constitution in a way that agrees with whatever ideology he or she is possessed by. Originalism is used as a fig leaf by "conservative" Supreme Court Justices to decide in favor of corporations and right-wing reactionary policies.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

by Max Ehrmann ©1927

Female, Male, or Scrap Metal Dealer? What Are You? Take This Quiz and Find Out!

It appears that North Dakota's state legislature has clarified by law that there are three ways to classify people residing in their great state. In upper Dakota the “state” will designate you as - man, woman or scrap metal dealer.

Really? Is that true?

The official title of North Dakota House Bill 1474 (2023 session) is "The definition of female, male, sex, and scrap metal dealer"

If you put the following prompt into Google Gemini, you got the following response.

Q - The definition of female, male, sex, and scrap metal dealer in North Dakota?

A- In North Dakota, specific definitions for "male," "female," "sex," and "scrap metal dealer" were established by House Bill 1474 (HB 1474) in 2023, defining them biologically/reproductively (Female: produces ova; Male: produces sperm; Sex: biological state at birth based on organs/chromosomes) and operationally (Scrap Metal Dealer: anyone buying/selling scrap metal) for state purposes. These definitions are specific to legislation like HB 1474, establishing biological sex at birth for certain contexts, but broader medical understanding recognizes sex as complex.

What is the point?

Distraction.

It's your plutocratic kleptocratic government media complex speaking to you about all the things that don't matter, or are not pertinent to political solutions, to keep you from paying attention to what government is for (the people) while the kleptocrats pick your pockets and line their own,  

_____________________________

If you are able to read the article "The Anti-Trans Playbook" by Paisley Currah in the December 18th issue of "The New York Review of Books" I would recommend it. The article mentions the N.D. bill but goes into much more depth about the hundreds of Republican sponsored bills in red states aimed at scaring the base, demonizing the other, and most of all to get GOP voters riled up about things that don't matter while the things that do - education, health care, housing, nutrition are for those who can afford them.

I'm not too sure about much these days but I do think there may be a point in this person's assertion that, "every single person on the planet is gay." 

One way of judging a government is by how well it takes care of those who are unable to take care of themselves. On that scale the U.S. fails miserably. Another way of looking at government is how well it serves those with money (power). On that scale the U.S. is number 1 or near the top.

So, what to do?

How likely is it that those with money (power) have a change of heart and embrace the idea that a government is judged by how well it takes care of those unable to care for themselves? Very unlikely. I wouldn't give up though - you can't do that. Things change. Maybe for the better. In the meantime, I'd recommend learning all you can. Good books abound.

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The idea that we should try to take care of those unable to care for themselves gets flipped upside down in our prosperity gospel infused culture. Rather than helping those who don't have the mental, physical, psychological or economic wherewithal to help themselves we have elected to take advantage of them for money power. 

We'll sign you up for a pyramid scheme, snake oil supplements, useless car/home "maintenance" insurance, a reverse mortgage, something to cure your baldness or limp dick. More than happy to take your money in the good old US of A. Which in some ways is what makes us great or maybe unique would be more accurate if you take a look at how well the U.S. government provides for basic government services to its people compared to all other economically developed countries. Spoiler alert -- The US is at the bottom contrary to what big media would have you believe. 

I've been thinkin and thankin lately and concluded that what we need is a National Museum of Grift. The museum's slogan will be - "Grift - as American as apple pie". Perhaps Betsy Devos would have time to act as a docent for our new museum and provide her inside story of how Amway kept the American dream alive for some by transferring wealth from the poor and gullible to the rich and immoral. 

Perhaps it boils down to...

The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.

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Grateful for the Time

I feel fortunate to have been able to spend a fair amount of my time over the last decade reading, thinking and learning. I live in a golden age of learning. I can order a book, and have it delivered overnight, listen to podcast(s) or watch professors/experts on YouTube to supplement whatever I'm trying to learn about.

"In paradise everything is permitted except curiosity." - Lev Shestov

I am curious. Therefore, I cannot live in paradise. Socrates was curious so they killed him.

Human attempts at creating paradise fail, sometimes in spectacular and cruel ways. Hell is other people. We have met the enemy, and they is us. 

Mass movements that promise paradise require sacrificing your intellect, morality, and curiosity. 

The ability to read and think for yourself, to form your own ideas about right and wrong - what constitutes a good life. that is paradise for me.

People speak of truth - but I can't handle the truth. The question is what sort of fictions we are willing to tell ourselves and what sort of behaviors we justify using those fictions.

"In order to be happy, one must have freed oneself of prejudices, one must be virtuous, healthy, have tastes and passions, and be susceptible to illusions; for we owe most of our pleasures to illusions, and unhappy is the one who has lost them. Far then, from seeking to make them disappear by the torch of reason, let us try to thicken the varnish that illusion lays on the majority of objects."

--Emilie Du Châtelet, Discourse on Happiness

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A couple of things have been bouncing around in my head lately. Can you know the "truth" and live? A take on the you can't see God and live from Exodus 33:20 

The other thought I've been having is "stupid costs". Meaning that even though some leader(s) have given their followers permission to be stupid it is not without costs. In the case of being stupid about public health, the environment, what is required for a representative government....the costs can be unimaginable. 

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Decade of Fire

On October 5, 1977, after about 9 months in office President Jimmy Carter visited the South Bronx in New York City. The New York Times quotes President Carter as saying,

“It was a very sobering trip for me to see the devastation that has taken place in the South Bronx in the last five years, But I’m encouraged in some ways by the strong effort of tenant groups to rebuild. I’m impressed by the spirit of hope and determination by the people to save what they have. I think they still have to know we care.”

The President before Jimmy Carter - Gerald Ford had refused federal aid to bailout NYC from their budget crisis resulting in a famous newspaper headline - "Ford to City: Drop Dead" An interesting fact you'll learn from the video is the city hired the Rand Corporation to help them find ways to pare the city budget. The eggheads at the think tank recommended getting rid of a bunch of fire departments in poor neighborhoods.

Gerald Ford was the replacement for the disgraced President Richard Nixon who had been forced to resign by Republicans in Congress. Nixon took the advice of a "liberal" Democratic Senator from New York by the name of Daniel Patrick Moynihan and ignored the economic structural inequalities that brown people, particularly those living in cities experienced. These trace back to the 1930's and federal housing policies that "redlined" areas with significant minority population. Redlining meant those areas were not eligible for home loans pr insurance and were designated "hazardous" for investors.

It might be enlightening to realize that the liberal Democratic Senator from New York Moynihan was on the wrong side of working people 50 years ago same as Chuck Shumer is today. It also might be useful to know the Heritage Foundation, the architect of the totalitarian blueprint for the U.S.- Project 2025 is a big fan of Moynihan's denial of structural problems caused by racist federal policies, in our so-called free market economy.

I think this video would be an excellent assignment for any high school or late grade school class or for that matter anyone interested in learning something about how systemic racism occurred and still occurs because of historical decisions that we still live with today.

On a side note, I started looking at fires in NYC in the 70's because I was curious what role slumlords played in paying people to burn buildings in order to collect insurance money. That interest came from a a recent slumlord case in Aurora Colorado. In that case CBZ Management owner Zev Baumgarten (the slumlord) who has a well-documented record of being a slumlord on the BBB in local newspapers and local TV stations said the reason he is a slumlord is not that he's a greedy creep but rather that a Venezuelan gang had taken over his slums making it impossible for him to perform required maintenance and security duties. Our President even went to Denver to spread the lore of the wronged slumlord. The real reason people don't like Zev is not that he's a crook who steals from poor people - but because he's Jewish. As Zev's defense attorney's stated (not under penalty of perjury) -

“During a phone call with Breezy Maynes, the Supervisor of the Aurora Code Enforcement Officers for the City, (Zev) Baumgarten pointedly asked Ms. Maynes to explain why she was being so hard on him,” lawyers for the defendant, Baumgarten, said in a court motion filed Friday. “Ms. Maynes retorted, ‘because you are an Orthodox Jew,’ an alarming and disturbing statement. Other City officials echoed these antisemitic sentiments.”

Right. 

When you've got Murdoch entities like the NY Post spreading this billionaire-friendly propaganda about wronged slumlords and now that billionaire-owned CBS News is using the non-fact checked NY Post as a source, you can fool a lot of the people a lot of the time.

Dare to think for yourself!

 

Heal Yourself Heal the World

 Google Gemini tells me this about the philosopher Eric Hoffer, 

"American philosopher and social critic Eric Hoffer was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on February 23, 1983, by President Ronald Reagan. The award recognized his life of hard work, his significant contributions as the "longshoreman philosopher," and his embodiment of the American spirit of self-reliance and achievement."

The following statement comes from the ceremony where Ronald Reagan awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Eric Hoffer,

"The son of immigrant parents, Eric Hoffer is an example of both the opportunity and the vitality of the American way of life. After overcoming his loss of sight as a child, Eric Hoffer educated himself in our public libraries. As an adult he has relished hard work and believed in its dignity, spending 23 years in jobs ranging from lumberjack to dockworker. As America's longshoreman philosopher, his books on philosophy have become classics. Mr. Hoffer's spirit, self-reliance and great accomplishments remind us all that the United States remains a land where each of us is free to achieve the best that lies within us."

I've been interested in his work for over fifty years. I liked the fact that he was self-educated and a member of the working class. His work that I am most familiar with, having read it maybe 5 times or so, is the book "The True Believer - Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements". It's a short book, about 160 pages, but full of uncommon wisdom.

The part I wanted to share today is from the section on unifying agents for a mass movement. The specific unifying agent in question is hatred. The following is from the book,

"We do not usually look for allies when we love. Indeed, we often look on those who love with us as rivals and trespassers. But we always look for allies when we hate. It is understandable that we should look to others to side with us when we have a just grievance and crave to retaliate against those who wronged us. The puzzling thing is that when our hatred does not spring from a visible grievance and does not seem justified, the desire for allies becomes more pressing. It is chiefly the unreasonable hatreds that drive us to merge with those who hate as we do, and it is this kind of hatred that serves as one of the most effective cementing agents."

"Whence come these unreasonable hatreds, and why there unifying effect? They are an expression of a desperate effort to suppress an awareness of our inadequacy, worthlessness, guilt and other shortcomings of the self. Self-contempt is here transmuted into hatred of others - and there is a most determined and persistent effort to mask this switch. Obviously the most effective way of doing this is to find others, as many as possible, who hate as we do. Here more than anywhere else we need general consent, and much of our proselytizing consists perhaps in infecting others not with our brand of faith but with our particular brand of unreasonable hatred."

"Even in the case of just grievances, our hatred comes less from a wrong done to us than a consciousness of our helplessness, inadequacy and cowardice - in other words from self-contempt."

Hoffer closes out this section with a quote from Pascal's Pensées,

"Self-contempt produces in man the most unjust and criminal passions imaginable, for he conceives a mortal hatred against that truth that blames him and convinces him of his faults."

____________

 

Eric Hoffer's ideas appeal to people who come from many places on the political/socio-economic spectrum. I ran across this Eric Hoffer quote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece from November 2017 explaining why Donald Trump won the 2016 election -

"Scratch an intellectual, and you find a would-be aristocrat who loathes the sight, the sound and the smell of the common folk" 

For some, maybe all, who champion(ed) his ideas I can't help but think of the old Pogo cartoon, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." 

Of course, it's much easier and much more human to want to believe - it's not me - it's them. Carl Schmitt the Nazi philosopher, and his successors today, understood this human trait in their distillation of the political to a war between friend and enemy. The only way to make that distinction is by refusing to see your own human frailties - making yourself something more and your enemy something less...than human.

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The world is. What we make of it is our choice. Asking forgiveness for the harm we have done others and forgiving those who have harmed us seems like it might be a place to start. Most definitely easier said than done - but the most precious and valuable things take the most effort. Treat yourself as you would your own child - a being here in this place at this time - precious, utterly unique and dearly loved. 

Imagine

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Eric Hoffer 1898-1983

The Good Liars - Immigration

Matthew 25:35-40 NIV

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."

"Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

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For those of you, like me, who are not too familiar with the Christian Bible this is from the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. Christ is called king in the New Testament because He is the divine, universal ruler with eternal dominion over all creation, not a worldly ruler. 

The New Testament carries the good news of Christ telling us to love God and one another and supersedes the Old Testament teachings of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. If you are interested in the topic of non-resistance to evil as taught by Gandi, MLK and Jesus; the book "The Kingdom of God is Within You" written by Leo Tolstoy in 1884 is a good resource.

Mr.Tangerine Man

It's All About That Prompt

I've been tinkering around with various AI bots for a while now. I've found that if you already know the answer to a question AI works great. If you are asking questions blindly not so much - your mileage may vary or YMMV as they say in the motorcycle forums, I used to hang out in.

Here's an example.

Use Google AI search feature for these 3 prompts:

1. "Donbas natural resources" 

2. "Donbas natural gas reserves"

3. "Donbas oil and natural gas reserves"

In the first case we are assuming that the bot will include all natural resources. If you happen to be a person who does not know that the Donbas contains significant oil and natural gas reserves, you'll be happy with the Google bot's summary -

"The Donbas region in eastern Ukraine is exceptionally rich in natural resources, particularly coal and other minerals. This wealth has made it a strategically important area, both economically and politically, especially given its role in Ukraine's energy sector and the ongoing conflict with Russia." 

However, if you know there are proven natural gas reserves in the Donbas you use prompt number 2 and get this summary -

"The Donbas region of Ukraine is significant for its natural gas reserves, particularly within the Dnieper-Donetsk Basin, also referred to as the Dnipro-Donetsk basin."

If you know there are proven natural gas and oil reserves, you will use prompt 3 and get this summary -

IThe Donbas region of Ukraine is rich in natural resources, particularly coal, but also holds significant oil and natural gas reserves

I suppose the point is if you are going to use AI, that is at this stage of development, it's best to know more than the machine.

_________________________

AI, or A1 (A one) as the United States Secretary of de-Education Linda Mcmahon calls it, is something. It's hard to say what sort of something AI is at this stage, On the other hand, unlike AI, human nature is old and well defined, so we end up with headlines like "Artificial Intelligence Meets Natural Stupidity"

Some examples -

An MIT study published in August 2025 found that 95% of corporate generative AI pilot programs failed to produce any measurable financial return, with companies seeing little or no increase in revenue or productivity. The laughable response of the AI cheerleaders is that it wasn't AI's fault - the puny humans are at fault for using AI incorrectly. Interestingly one of the profitable uses of AI involves people using AI to create viral AI slop on YouTube, Facebook etc.

AI data centers are power hungry monsters. Meta is constructing a data center in Louisiana that MIT Technology Review describes as follows, "The AI data center also promises to transform the state’s energy future. Stretching in length for more than a mile, it will be Meta’s largest in the world, and it will have an enormous appetite for electricity, requiring two gigawatts for computation alone (the electricity for cooling and other building needs will add to that). When it’s up and running, it will be the equivalent of suddenly adding a decent-size city to the region’s grid—one that never sleeps and needs a steady, uninterrupted flow of electricity."

AI is attractive to people who are unwilling or unable to invest in education. Education gives us people capable of creating new things. China's focus on education means they will continue to outperform the U.S. Students from fundamentalist Christian-based educational systems are not particularly good at sciency things that are so important if we want to live in a post-enlightenment world. If we want to return to the dark ages, I suppose people capable of calligraphy and good penmanship are in demand. 

AI's large language models allow machines to parse and recombine existing knowledge. Sometimes in amazing and surprising ways. The idea that AI could solve humans most pressing problem - climate change, seems ludicrous given humans have become servants of some types of technology. So called free-market capitalistic systems implement technological changes based on profitability rather than any assessment of benefit to humankind.

Since I'm on the topic of human stupidity I have to mention the historical stupidity of crypto currencies mainly bitcoin. What will prevent people from surviving on this planet? If you said DEI, woke, or political correctness please turn off the right-wing media machine that has you hypnotized. Of course, we know the existential threat - the planet is burning up because of over a century of human created greenhouse gas emissions. We developed a culture dependent on fossil fuels, and it was profitable. We traded a livable planet for that profit. No blame here for regular people - they are stuck. We can blame power brokers who tell us lies and pay people to tell us more lies. What's the historically stupid thing about bitcoin you ask?

"In 2024 bitcoin's annual power consumption was about 130 TWh which is more than Norway or Ukraine annual power consumption."

It's hard to imagine anything much stupider than that. 

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1970 - Reina del Cid

Internet Comment Etiquette: "Hey Grok"

PSA

From Non-Things to Things to Perfect Days

"Perfect Days" is a movie about a Tokyo Toilet Cleaner who is able to find peace and joy in his simple enchanted existence. It's a beautiful movie with a beautiful message, Living and being in the world, what Martin Heidegger called Dasein the essence of what makes us human.

The movie has an interesting soundtrack including the song Perfect Day by Lou Reed. At the time I wrote this post there was a copy of the movie on YouTube. 

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The book "Non-Things Upheaval in the Life World" by the philosopher Byung Chui Han explores similar themes of how to re-enchant an increasingly abstract, lonely and unfulfilling technologically mediated life.

This person named Davood Gozli on YouTube explains it better than I can.