12 September 2021
Report: Since 9/11 U.S. Has Spent $21 Trillion On Militarization, Surveillance, & Repression
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May of 21: The Other Kind Guy
(I’m attempting to create my “Identity”)
Anarchist
Poet (prose mostly. A belletrist, if you want to be precious about it.)
Firequester (A gearhead, if you want to be prosaic about it. I’m interested in tools that make life more efficient and free, like water pumps and FLOSS computer programs.)
Vitals
Age: You and I can both guess that the time left to me is shorter than the long strange trip it’s already been. Don’t ask me how old I am. Ask me what I’ve done lately to make my inevitable death into my trusted Advisor.
Race: is an utter fiction. Even Neanderthals could interbreed with homo sapients. Where’s your aryanish or humanish exceptionalism now?
Gender: Maybe not quite as fictional, but pretty close.
You know there’s more.
Lurlinist. Doggerlandian.
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June of 21
Better than average NPR fare, The World with Mark O’Wirman, or more likely Marco Werman. I swelter and burrito and listen.
He markets himself, the show today, by saying Hey:
‘We know environmental stories can be a major depressing drag.
That’s why we’re committed to solutions-based reporting!’
I think I see the problem.
Real solutions-based reporting wouldn’t be about how billionaire Elon is going to save us.
Or what our friends at Texaco are doing about the pressing climate issue of the day.
Real solutions-based reporting would address human greed, and the better-lives-for-our-children problem.
It would probably look something like what Marianne Williamson does, or Russell Brand.
(Note from the future: Well that didn’t age very well … )
Short of diving off the spiritual or existential deep end, you’re just something slightly less aggravating to listen to while auto dining in the 102 degree heat.
I know it makes you a living, Marco.
It’s not active evil, and good on you for that.
But ask yourself.
I will be too.
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June of 21
https://old.reddit.com/r/WayOfTheBern/
On my good guy list you’ll find The Grayzone, Chomsky, Hedges, Greenwald, Status Coup, Rational National, TheAnalysis.com, Consortium News, Jimmy Dore, Richard Wolff, Nader, Briahna Joy Gray, Matt Taibi, Cornel West, Marianne Williamson, WOTB, and maybe, i.e. hopefully, Breaking Points with Krystal and Sagaar. The jury is still out on the last two but I’m hopeful now that they’ve freed themselves from The Hill. There may be a few others worth adding to the list but that’s a good start.
We on the left should never let the current ruckus reduce us to People Magazine status. We need to remain focused on “our” issues. The issue is not the shallow, juvenile sniping by TYT; it’s that TYT is and always will be dead wrong about what’s really happening in Syria. They are dead wrong about Russiagate. They are dead wrong about US empire. That’s where our focus needs to remain.
So let’s weed out the propagandists who are seeking our support. Let’s help their ratings sink to almost nothing. And then let’s start developing a tangible plan to build a network that gives us all a voice on the national stage.
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5 September 21: The Avocado of Anticapitalism
One sanctified gifting I did bring back, unbox, and place in a position of honor was a brand new luscious cast-iron piece of cookware. A pan.
It claimed to be “pre-seasoned” but that was obvious marketing bullshit. To properly season cast iron is, relatively speaking, a long hard row to hoe.
I researched the latest in best practices for the job.
It turns out that you want to season your pretty new pan with an oil that has a very high smoking point, even up to 500 degrees.
Practically, that means avocado oil is the best of the best … okay, so I need some, maybe even a big bottle, to not just season, but to stand in for olive oil sometimes when actually cooking at higher heat.
82% of Avocado Oil is FAKE – I am so HEATED (UC Davis Reveals Truth)
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10 October 2021
Took a day off from the usual suspects and watched most of this channel instead, going back a couple of years.
It was instructive in one major way.
Even I have a nostalgia for the good old days, when you could sit down and watch something on history or culture or geopolitics without it seeming to make reference to a political dimension. Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow, they were just reporting the facts, right?
It was a lie then and it’s a lie now.
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2 December 21
As you may know, I have a lot invested in the idea that the dawn of Civilization is roughly contemporary with the Fall from Grace.
Sketched crudely, the idea is that humans once existed in small groups dependent on hunting and gathering, and that the migratory way of life that necessitates impeded the formation of authoritarian structures like kings and priests and vastly unequal allocations of resources.
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That’s all of theoretical value that was left half-written and unposted from ’21.