Tuesday, June 30, 2020
McGrath versus Prideful Grim Reaper
Amy McGrath Defeats Charles Booker and Will Face McConnell The Grim (Cheating) Reaper in Kentucky: Ms. McGrath, who raised over $40 million, won the Democratic primary by narrowly holding off a candidate who had harnessed energy from the protests over racial injustice.
"In choosing Ms. McGrath, however, Kentucky Democrats are hewing to a careful course, putting forth a well-funded political moderate with military credentials in a red [read, regressive] state."
Imagine NYC spread across 328 million
Coronavirus Live Updates: As Officials Fight Vaccine Skepticism, Fauci Warns U.S. Could Hit 100,000 Daily Cases: Top U.S. health officials testified to Congress about the virus. New York added California and seven other states to its quarantine list. The European Union is set to reopen its borders but plans to bar travelers from the U.S., Brazil and Russia.
[There are 8 million people in the "naked city". Unfortunately, the USA's 328 million includes rebellious partisan idiots who screech "freedom" and refuse to wear masks. Obdurate idiocy could translate into "freedom to perish" in an overburdened, inadequately-funded "healthcare" system.]
Monday, June 29, 2020
Natural Selection Unmasked?
"Give me liberty, or give me death!" ~ Patrick Henry.
C*N*servatives value their rebellious "liberties" more than life? Fine. It's their choice to flirt with natural consequences, including death. The average functional IQ of Americans might, as a result, rise.
However, willfully sickening, perhaps killing, innocents (non-C*N*servatives) is unconscionable.
However, willfully sickening, perhaps killing, innocents (non-C*N*servatives) is unconscionable.
Saturday, June 27, 2020
WOKE Dystopia
"Perma-offended woke twats" = the holier-than-thou hypocrites of anti-social media.
2016 Jonathan Haidt on Social Just-Us Wankers and the New Pro-Victim Morality > .
2019 Jonathan Haidt: 3 Terrible Ideas Weakening Gen Z, Damaging Universities and Democracies > .
"Stunning Fragility" & Vindictive Political Correctness
2016 Jonathan Haidt on Social Just-Us Wankers and the New Pro-Victim Morality > .
2019 Jonathan Haidt: 3 Terrible Ideas Weakening Gen Z, Damaging Universities and Democracies > .
Where DUH = dangerous, counterfactual idea:
DUH 1: What doesn't kill you, makes you weaker. [religionism ~ you cannot cope/find meaning/achieve moral rectitude without devotion to Jebus/Gawd.]
DUH 2: Always trust your feelings. [religionism ~ ignore the evidence, belief, particularly fervent belief, guarantees salvation]
DUH 3: Life is a battle between good people and evil people. [religionism, period = mistakes, personal bad behavior are attributable to possession by Satan.]
Friday, June 26, 2020
"We Are The Future!" crow the young
Technically accurate, but not necessarily a reassuring thought ...
"Li Zhensheng, a photographer who at great personal risk documented the dark side of Mao Zedong’s [youth against elders] Cultural Revolution, producing powerful black-and-white images that remain a rare visual testament to the brutality of that tumultuous period, many of them not developed or seen for years, has died. He was 79."
But his excitement quickly gave way to anxiety. What began as a political campaign aimed at consolidating power soon engulfed the entire country, unleashing decade-long turmoil that upended Chinese society. Factions of radical youths known as “Red Guards” roamed the country battling one another and perceived “class enemies.”
Countless historical sites and relics were destroyed in the name of stamping out China’s “feudal” and “bourgeois” culture. Mr. Li began to have doubts after witnessing Red Guards in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang ransacking churches and temples, burning scriptures and criticizing monks."
“No other political movement in China’s recent history lasted as long, was as widespread in its impact, and as deep in its trauma as the Cultural Revolution,” Mr. Li said in a 2018 interview with The Times."
Still, he took a step closer to the goal in 2018, when the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press published the first Chinese-language edition of “Red-Color News Soldier.” Though it was distributed mainly in Hong Kong and Taiwan, some copies found their way to mainland China through unofficial channels.
“Some people have criticized me, saying I am washing the country’s dirty laundry in public,” Mr. Li said in 2018. “But Germany has reckoned with its Nazi past [though rebellious authoritarian thugs have staged a Ne0-Nazi resurgence], America still talks about its history of slavery [though the partisanship of authoritarian thugs has increased in backlash to reactive protests], why can’t we Chinese talk about our own history?”" [Why? In twisted Confucianism [state-mechanisms before society], authoritarian repressive-instincts currently dominate governmental policy.]
"Li Zhensheng, a photographer who at great personal risk documented the dark side of Mao Zedong’s [youth against elders] Cultural Revolution, producing powerful black-and-white images that remain a rare visual testament to the brutality of that tumultuous period, many of them not developed or seen for years, has died. He was 79."
...
"“I was excited like everyone else,” he recalled in a 2003 interview with The New York Times. “The happiness was real. We felt lucky to be living the moment.”But his excitement quickly gave way to anxiety. What began as a political campaign aimed at consolidating power soon engulfed the entire country, unleashing decade-long turmoil that upended Chinese society. Factions of radical youths known as “Red Guards” roamed the country battling one another and perceived “class enemies.”
...
"By the end of the Cultural Revolution, in 1976, tens of millions of people had been persecuted and up to 1.5 million had died according to some estimates. Many were driven to suicide.“No other political movement in China’s recent history lasted as long, was as widespread in its impact, and as deep in its trauma as the Cultural Revolution,” Mr. Li said in a 2018 interview with The Times."
...
"Mr. Li’s lifelong wish was to make his fellow Chinese remember the Cultural Revolution. That mission became more difficult in recent years as the Chinese authorities reversed efforts to reckon with modern history, resulting in what some have called a nationwide collective amnesia.Still, he took a step closer to the goal in 2018, when the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press published the first Chinese-language edition of “Red-Color News Soldier.” Though it was distributed mainly in Hong Kong and Taiwan, some copies found their way to mainland China through unofficial channels.
“Some people have criticized me, saying I am washing the country’s dirty laundry in public,” Mr. Li said in 2018. “But Germany has reckoned with its Nazi past [though rebellious authoritarian thugs have staged a Ne0-Nazi resurgence], America still talks about its history of slavery [though the partisanship of authoritarian thugs has increased in backlash to reactive protests], why can’t we Chinese talk about our own history?”" [Why? In twisted Confucianism [state-mechanisms before society], authoritarian repressive-instincts currently dominate governmental policy.]
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Too thick to realize that the dead don't vote?
The question refers, of course, to Idiot-in-Chief, who is planning ego-boosting rallies despite the risk of spreading SARS-CoV-2 among those deluded enough to support him ... and, even worse, among those who would neither attend one of his me-me-me rallies or vote for the worst UNpresident in US history.
A Plague of Willful Ignorance: [Ignoramus-in-Chief] has empowered America’s anti-rational streak.
"The moral of this story is that America’s uniquely poor response to the coronavirus isn’t just the result of [beyond] bad leadership at the top — although tens of thousands of lives would have been saved if we had a president who would deal with problems instead of trying to wish them away.
We’re also doing badly because [as Asimov said] there’s a longstanding anti-science, anti-expertise streak in American culture — the same streak that makes us uniquely unwilling to accept the reality of evolution or acknowledge the threat of climate change.
We aren’t a nation of know-nothings; many, probably most Americans are willing to listen to experts and act responsibly. But there’s a belligerent faction within our society that refuses to acknowledge inconvenient or uncomfortable facts, preferring to believe that experts are somehow conspiring against them.
DUHnocchio hasn’t just failed to rise to the policy challenge posed by COVID-19. He has, with his words and actions — notably his refusal to wear a mask — encouraged and empowered America’s anti-rational streak. [Because only those devoid of rationality would vote for him.]
And this rejection of expertise, science and responsibility in general is killing us." [Stupidity is dangerous, alas.]
We’re also doing badly because [as Asimov said] there’s a longstanding anti-science, anti-expertise streak in American culture — the same streak that makes us uniquely unwilling to accept the reality of evolution or acknowledge the threat of climate change.
We aren’t a nation of know-nothings; many, probably most Americans are willing to listen to experts and act responsibly. But there’s a belligerent faction within our society that refuses to acknowledge inconvenient or uncomfortable facts, preferring to believe that experts are somehow conspiring against them.
DUHnocchio hasn’t just failed to rise to the policy challenge posed by COVID-19. He has, with his words and actions — notably his refusal to wear a mask — encouraged and empowered America’s anti-rational streak. [Because only those devoid of rationality would vote for him.]
And this rejection of expertise, science and responsibility in general is killing us." [Stupidity is dangerous, alas.]
Saturday, June 20, 2020
C*N*servatives scared of a teenager
It is my impression that C*N*servatives are scared of anyone who is not a committed (or should-be-committed) bully ...
Scared of a teenager? BBC has disabled comments, yet (thus far) 857 wrong-wing trolls have downthumbed the video (versus 498 likes). I doubt that most of the wrong-uns actually watched the video, but they would undoubtedly object to a) her support of those seeking justice, and b) her dedication to schooling.
Presumably because the BBC aims for balanced reporting, unbalanced bots/shills/trolls typically deluge the comment section with illiterate vitriol and uneducated inanities. I expect that the mere mention of an activist, who is more eloquent in English as a second language than they are in English as first, suffices to trigger the resentful wrong-wing snowflakes.
What has Greta Thunberg been doing in lockdown? - BBC N > .
Scared of a teenager? BBC has disabled comments, yet (thus far) 857 wrong-wing trolls have downthumbed the video (versus 498 likes). I doubt that most of the wrong-uns actually watched the video, but they would undoubtedly object to a) her support of those seeking justice, and b) her dedication to schooling.
Presumably because the BBC aims for balanced reporting, unbalanced bots/shills/trolls typically deluge the comment section with illiterate vitriol and uneducated inanities. I expect that the mere mention of an activist, who is more eloquent in English as a second language than they are in English as first, suffices to trigger the resentful wrong-wing snowflakes.
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Avoid DUHsuckers like they have the plague!
Tulsa Officials Plead for [Narcissist-in-Chief] to Cancel Rally as Virus Spikes in Oklahoma:
UNpresident [Ignoramus-in-Chief] will hold his first campaign rally in months on Saturday in Oklahoma, where infections are rising, and officials there are pleading with him to cancel or hold it outdoors.
UNpresident [Ignoramus-in-Chief] will hold his first campaign rally in months on Saturday in Oklahoma, where infections are rising, and officials there are pleading with him to cancel or hold it outdoors.
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Dangerous Ego & Bluster
What the Pandemic Reveals About the [toxic-masculinity] Male Ego: Why are the rates of coronavirus deaths far lower in many female-led countries?
"There has been solid research that it makes a difference to have more women on boards and in grass-roots positions, but evidence that they make better presidents or prime ministers has been lacking — until Covid-19 came along.
---
[Jacinda] Ardern’s success is the latest data point in a widely noticed trend: Countries led by women seem to be particularly successful in fighting the coronavirus.
Germany, led by Angela Merkel, has had a far lower death rate than Britain, France, Italy or Spain. Finland, where Prime minister Sanna Marin, 34, governs with a coalition of four female-led parties, has had fewer than 10 percent as many deaths as nearby Sweden. And Tsai Ing-wen, the president of Taiwan, has presided over one of the most successful efforts in the world at containing the virus, using testing, contact tracing and isolation measures to control infections without a full national lockdown.
---It’s not that the leaders who best managed the virus were all women. But those who bungled the response were all men, and mostly a particular type: authoritarian, vainglorious and blustering. Think of Boris Johnson in Britain, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran, [Puta (smug rather than blustering) in Russia], and [dimwitted Bully-in-Chief] in the United States.
Virtually every country that has experienced coronavirus mortality at a rate of more than 150 per million inhabitants is male-led.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that some of the best-run places have been run by women: New Zealand, Germany, Taiwan,” mused Susan Rice, who was national security adviser under President Barack Obama. “And where we’ve seen things go most badly wrong — the U.S., Brazil, Russia, the U.K. — it’s a lot of male ego and bluster.”
"There has been solid research that it makes a difference to have more women on boards and in grass-roots positions, but evidence that they make better presidents or prime ministers has been lacking — until Covid-19 came along.
---
[Jacinda] Ardern’s success is the latest data point in a widely noticed trend: Countries led by women seem to be particularly successful in fighting the coronavirus.
Germany, led by Angela Merkel, has had a far lower death rate than Britain, France, Italy or Spain. Finland, where Prime minister Sanna Marin, 34, governs with a coalition of four female-led parties, has had fewer than 10 percent as many deaths as nearby Sweden. And Tsai Ing-wen, the president of Taiwan, has presided over one of the most successful efforts in the world at containing the virus, using testing, contact tracing and isolation measures to control infections without a full national lockdown.
---It’s not that the leaders who best managed the virus were all women. But those who bungled the response were all men, and mostly a particular type: authoritarian, vainglorious and blustering. Think of Boris Johnson in Britain, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran, [Puta (smug rather than blustering) in Russia], and [dimwitted Bully-in-Chief] in the United States.
Virtually every country that has experienced coronavirus mortality at a rate of more than 150 per million inhabitants is male-led.
...
"Those leaders who handled the virus best were those who humbly consulted public health experts and acted quickly, and many were women; in contrast, male authoritarians who botched the response were suspicious of experts and too full of themselves."
...
"It’s also possible that this isn’t about female leaders but about the kind of country that chooses a woman to lead it. [In essence, other than the greed-driven and religionist-control-obsessed, DUH's remaining supporters tend to be poorly-educated, nationalistic, resentful, belligerent old whiter-than-white men and their equally FAUX-informed wives.]
Companies with more female executives on average perform better than those with fewer women, but analysts think that the reason isn’t just the brilliance of women leaders. Rather, companies that are culturally open to having senior women are also more willing to embrace other innovations, and it may be this innovative spirit that leads to higher profitability. Likewise, countries willing to elect female prime ministers may be those more inclined to listen to epidemiologists.
"It’s also possible that this isn’t about female leaders but about the kind of country that chooses a woman to lead it. [In essence, other than the greed-driven and religionist-control-obsessed, DUH's remaining supporters tend to be poorly-educated, nationalistic, resentful, belligerent old whiter-than-white men and their equally FAUX-informed wives.]
Companies with more female executives on average perform better than those with fewer women, but analysts think that the reason isn’t just the brilliance of women leaders. Rather, companies that are culturally open to having senior women are also more willing to embrace other innovations, and it may be this innovative spirit that leads to higher profitability. Likewise, countries willing to elect female prime ministers may be those more inclined to listen to epidemiologists.
...
“Women lead often in a very different style from men,” said Margot Wallstrom, a former Swedish foreign minister, citing examples from Norway, Germany and New Zealand of women with low-key, inclusive and evidence-based leadership.
...
One trap for female politicians is that brashness can be effective for male candidates, but researchers find that male and female voters alike are turned off by women who seem self-promotional. That forces women in politics to master the art of communicating effectively in a low-key way — just what’s needed in a pandemic.
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
America Fails the Marshmallow Test
America Fails the Marshmallow Test: [the defiantly-selfish] lack the will to beat COVID-19.
"The marshmallow test is a famous psychological experiment that tests children’s willingness to delay gratification. Children are offered a marshmallow, but told that they can have a second marshmallow if they’re willing to wait 15 minutes before eating the first one. Claims that children with the willpower to hold out do much better in life haven’t held up well, but the experiment is still a useful metaphor for many choices in life, both by individuals and by larger groups.
One way to think about the COVID-19 pandemic is that it poses a kind of marshmallow test for society."
It doesn’t help that RepuGNicansare [have been brainwashed to be] ideologically [and selfishly] opposed to government safety-net programs, which are what make the economic consequences of social distancing tolerable; as I explain in my recent column, they seem determined to let crucial emergency relief expire far too soon. Nor does it help that even low-cost measures to limit the spread of COVID-19, above all wearing face masks (which mainly protect other people), have been caught up in our culture wars.
America in 2020, it seems, is too disunited, with too many people in the grip of [selfish] ideology and [combative] partisanship, to deal effectively with a pandemic. We have the knowledge, we have the resources, but [spoilt my-opinion-counts-more-than facts pueriles [sic]] don’t have the will."
"The marshmallow test is a famous psychological experiment that tests children’s willingness to delay gratification. Children are offered a marshmallow, but told that they can have a second marshmallow if they’re willing to wait 15 minutes before eating the first one. Claims that children with the willpower to hold out do much better in life haven’t held up well, but the experiment is still a useful metaphor for many choices in life, both by individuals and by larger groups.
One way to think about the COVID-19 pandemic is that it poses a kind of marshmallow test for society."
...
"In many parts of the country — including our most populous states, California, Texas, and Florida — the disease is still spreading. Overall, new cases are plateauing and may be starting to rise. Yet state governments are moving to reopen anyway."
...
"America’s impatience, its unwillingness to do what it takes to deal with a threat that can’t be beaten with threats of violence, runs much deeper than one man.It doesn’t help that RepuGNicans
America in 2020, it seems, is too disunited, with too many people in the grip of [selfish] ideology and [combative] partisanship, to deal effectively with a pandemic. We have the knowledge, we have the resources, but [spoilt my-opinion-counts-more-than facts pueriles [sic]] don’t have the will."
Tuesday, June 9, 2020
Saturday, June 6, 2020
Unjustified elderly abuse -- part of job description?
New anger in United States over video of police violence - BBC > .
Why Police Are Rarely Prosecuted: Qualified Immunity & Police Unions - TLDR > .
2 Buffalo Police Officers Charged in Shoving of 75-Year-Old Demonstrator: More than 100 [us-vs-citizens mentality] police officers, firefighters and other supporters crowded outside the courthouse in Buffalo to protest the [videographed and justified] assault charges filed against the officers.
Buffalo police riot squad quit to back officers who shoved man ...
Why Police Are Rarely Prosecuted: Qualified Immunity & Police Unions - TLDR > .
2 Buffalo Police Officers Charged in Shoving of 75-Year-Old Demonstrator: More than 100 [us-vs-citizens mentality] police officers, firefighters and other supporters crowded outside the courthouse in Buffalo to protest the [videographed and justified] assault charges filed against the officers.
Buffalo police riot squad quit to back officers who shoved man ...
An entire tactical unit of a US police department has quit [the squad, not the police force] after two officers accused of brutality were placed on unpaid leave, reports local media.
In a video that went viral on Thursday, officers in the city of Buffalo, New York, were seen shoving an elderly man to the ground. The 75-year-old was seriously injured, and taken to hospital.
All 57 officers in the riot squad have now reportedly resigned in protest at their two colleagues' suspension. According to the Buffalo News, the members have stepped down from the Emergency Response Team, but not the police department itself. [Reducing their personal risk at a time of need, but ensuring that they continue to draw a paycheck. Huge sacrifice, that!]
[Unfortunately, considering the prevalence of criminal malcontents, authoritarian thugs provide a necessary service to society. Those who support unjustified violence and sociopathic indifference, though? Mass resignations at this time-of-need might be a golden opportunity to rid the force of thug-supporting thugs.]
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52945190 .
Speaking of 'just following' a malevolent thug's 'orders' [apologies for thumbnail] ...
"Mad as hell", but not necessarily violent
"But first, get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!’"
[Criminal wanna-be-looters and violent malcontents are piggy-backing on justified peaceful protest.]
However, to my mind, America's problems are much deeper than endemic racism and yet-another tragic race-inspired murder by thugs-in-blue.
The problems extend deep into:
- American greed and political corruption (embodied in stupid, divisive Agent Orange, installed in undeserved office despite losing the popular vote).
- Unfettered access to guns, particularly semi-automatic mass-murder devices.
- The CONservative-weighted American "justice" system, and
- The unjustified hubris of white CONservative Americans, who self-importantly imagine that being an uneducated, anti-government, anti-science, Buy Bull waving, hypocritical-religionist-privilege-demanding, bigoted, racist, xenophobic, white American malcontent somehow confers superiority simply because they happened to be born in the worst society in the developed (read, 'rich, militarily powerful') world.
In America, "Justice System" is truly an oxymoron when cops continue to evade justice by wailing "I was scared for my life (even though my victim was unarmed)!" The victims of police paranoia include a white Australian woman, but more often are targeted because of melanin or an unacceptably "alien" accent.
Thursday, June 4, 2020
The disgusting, divisive depths of DUHnocchio's depravity
James Mattis Denounces [UNpresident Thug-in-Chief], Describes him as a Threat to the Constitution: In an extraordinary condemnation, the former defense secretary backs protesters and says the UNpresident is trying to turn Americans against one another.
He goes on to contrast the American ethos of unity with Nazi ideology. “Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that ‘The Nazi slogan for destroying us … was “Divide and Conquer.” Our American answer is “In Union there is Strength.”’ We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/james-mattis-denounces-trump-protests-militarization/612640/ .
"“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” Mattis writes. “The words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.” [Unfortunately, many police officers enact the prejudices of insidious far-wrong RepuGNicans who have infiltrated politics, law, and business in the US.] He goes on, “We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.”
...
Divider-in-Chief "is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us,” Mattis writes. “We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate [malign] effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”He goes on to contrast the American ethos of unity with Nazi ideology. “Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that ‘The Nazi slogan for destroying us … was “Divide and Conquer.” Our American answer is “In Union there is Strength.”’ We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.”
...
“When I joined the military, some 50 years ago,” he writes, “I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.”https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/james-mattis-denounces-trump-protests-militarization/612640/ .
------
[Unsurprisingly, Mattis understates the disgusting depths of DUHnocchio's depravity.]
-------
History Will Judge the Complicit: Why haveRepublican RepuGNican leaders abandoned their principles in support of an immoral and dangerous UNpresident?
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/07/trumps-collaborators/612250/ .
[My bet? A combination of short-and-curlies fear, greed, power-hunger, and plain old malevolent attitudes.]
-------
History Will Judge the Complicit: Why have
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/07/trumps-collaborators/612250/ .
[My bet? A combination of short-and-curlies fear, greed, power-hunger, and plain old malevolent attitudes.]
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