Not the Way to Respond to Stupid, or Bad Ideas

Understandable though the emotional reaction to Trump's brand might be, this is not the way to successfully confront it. The people he is appealing to are being duped, whether they realize it or not. Putting a fist into their faces might seem satisfying in the short term, but in the long term it only makes Trump stronger. It does this because it serves to reinforce the fears of those susceptible to the authoritarian mind set that the horrible forces of chaos are at their door steps; a perception that only strengthens their desire for a strong man to put down dissent. And if we go down that road we only make a civil war more probable.

We really need to think carefully on how we work to display our opposition to stupid, and bad ideas. The real point here needs to be two fold: 1. Show the uninformed fearful among us that we are not the forces of chaos, but a movement of the heart and the mind. 2. At every turn possible, by our restraint, and our quiet passion, make Trump's appeals to fear manifest, and then come up with better ideas to address those fears. And in the latter is it critical to show that what these folks fear the most is exactly what "Big Money," and those who hide behind it, stay in power with. If we can't find a way to do that without violence than we have already lost the struggle.

Trump Rally in Chicago Postponed After Clashes

by ALI VITALI and PHIL HELSEL

See Also:

GOP Rivals Accuse Donald Trump of Encouraging Violence at Rallies

by BENJY SARLIN

Only One Of Many Things Americans Are in Denial of

Perhaps the better question to be asked here, however, is whether economists and political leaders are also in their own, more profound, kind of denial. They're supposed to know after all. Or at least have clue as to the full repercussions of what making human skill a noncompetitive commodity will do to the ongoing viability of Capitalism. That these same, so called experts, seem to be quite content to proceed despite the implications ought to be troubling to all of us.

The fact of the matter is this: Regardless of how many new jobs may be created with each new technology we create, the number will be no where near enough to support a thriving middle class. How can this be otherwise when the working populations across the world are sure to increase at the same time that competitive pressures to reduce production costs will also increase. And make no mistake. It is the thriving middle class of a society that purchases the largest share of goods generally within any nation.

Ask yourselves this: What can they be thinking? Ever more productive capability with ever more efficient machines to do the work and fewer and fewer people able to purchase any of it? How can that possibly make sense? And this is considering only one aspect of the total absurdity that electrified Capitalism has become.

Even if there were a continuing supply of purchasers who could afford to consume the ever greater ability to produce, would we really want to live in that world? A world reduced to the many chambers of hell that would be required to fuel, lubricate, and maintain existence as pointless consumptive production? I for one sure as hell hope not.

Robots Will Take Jobs, But Not Our Own, Americans Say

by SAFIA SAMEE ALI

See Also:

Human Go Champion 'Speechless' After 2nd Loss to Machine

by ASSOCIATED PRESS

This is But One Place Where a Terrible Cascade Event Might Start

Yet another must read for all of you out there. Here, in stunning detail, is why the delayed true costs inherent in a cost based form of economy are so terrifying in terms of the vulnerabilities we now face as a nation. And this is the case not only because this is a poster child for what pollution can do to a once pristine coastal area, or even because the destruction of this one facility would tip a frightening sequence of other event dominos in our economy, but that this is but only one type of trigger point, at one location in the nation.

Think on this as you continue eating too much junk food, and pay too much attention to the "Reality TV" we have that's supposed to pass as our involvement in the issues and options of our government.

HOUSTON’S PERFECT STORM is coming — and it’s not a matter of if but when.

The city has dodged it for decades, but the likelihood it will happen in any given year is nothing to scoff at; it’s much higher than your chance of dying in a car crash or in a firearm assault, and 2,400 times as high as your chance of being struck by lightning.

Such a storm would devastate the Houston Ship Channel, shuttering one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

‘We’re Sitting Ducks’March 10, 2016

Houston, home to millions of people and one of the largest shipping lanes in the world, is unprepared for the hurricane that could bring ecological and economic disaster.Photos by Edmund D. Fountain, special to ProPublica

Who Needs Brown Shirts and Jackboots?

Not when you have ordinary anal orifices willing to do your dirty work for you.

Notice, though, that when the black person is attacked it is not the attacker that the uniformed security people jump on. I guess they're afraid that poor attacker might get his knuckles scuffed up a bit more if the protester should decide to get back up and go protest some more. Wouldn't want that to happen now would we. Might need that anal orifice at the next rally.

Trump protester 

sucker-punched at 

North Carolina rally, 

videos show

By Justin Wm. Moyer and Jenny Starrs March 10 at 8:11 AM 

What It Is and What It Should Be Are What this Guy is Getting Confused On

What all of us have been distracted into being confused on in fact. And why not.

So much of what we swim through via the InfoSphere these days is precisely meant to be entertaining distraction. Even the jobs that occupy most of us now are meant mostly to be cost effective distraction; making, or maintaining, vast bits of whatever so as to be able to continue consuming the final assemblies of what ultimately provides others with the only, really meaningful, output: Net Gain. All the while keeping us ever so fearful of losing even that small place on the collective treadmill to nowhere.

The oxymoron of "Reality TV" is just one of the many contradictions in terms that keep an electrified, commercial/commodity form of social organization going. He may not be totally mesmerized by it yet, but his children (assuming he has any) will soon be.

MAR 9 2016, 11:33 AM ET

Arab Billionaire Who Dumped Trump: U.S. Election Isn't Reality TV

by F. BRINLEY BRUTON

See Also:

Study Confirms Half of 

What We Eat Is Junk

by MAGGIE FOX

Nearly 60 percent of what Americans eat is junk — ultra-processed foods loaded with sugar, salt, fat and all the other stuff we are not supposed to snack on, a new study finds.

The data pretty clearly explain why two-thirds of Americans are obese or overweight, and why rates of diabetes and heart disease are soaring, the team of Brazilian and U.S. researchers said.

Why Would Any Sane Person Want Such Jobs

This question is a cliche now, related to another cliche observation: "Nobody who wants the job should be allowed to have it."

Admiral Halsey had a quote that has always stuck with me: "There are no extraordinary men... just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are forced to deal with"

When you think about that in the terms of politics; especially in today's world of money fueled campaigning, spin doctors, and staying on message, where the message is hardly ever anything specific as to what that person will actually do once elected, you have to wonder about the mind sets of those who would willingly submit to it all.

Some of them, I suppose, start out with a real sense of wanting to implement a specific package of policy proposals; initiatives that they feel will make a difference, but how much of that can ever hope to stay at all plausible given all of the compromises that must be voiced to win over one fact cat or another; recognizing that, even in the world of Big Money there are major factions working at cross purposes to each other. And also realizing that saying too much too soon only allows your opponent ammunition with which to criticize you with (because, as already stated, no matter what you want to do it's likely to not be what one or more interest groups wants.

 After so many years of this process getting more and more refined to the staging of "resonant" themes, as opposed to actually seeking office to do a concrete set of actions, one could be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that it has a lot more to do with ego, and ego gratification, especially as it relates to lofty notions of a "place in history." And when you then look to the kinds of people who are now the usual suspects for contention, cycle after cycle, it becomes even more clear that the process itself is geared to filter up mostly egotistical chameleons; quick change artists ready to blend into whatever resonant imagery necessary to get elected.

Maybe what we should have in place is a system where nobody can actually run for anything. A system where everyone votes for whoever they think would do a good job, and if that person got enough votes (whatever "enough" might be worked out to be), they would be drafted on the spot (getting penalized if they refused). And the minute anybody said anything about wanting people to vote for them, they would be immediately excluded.

As already indicated, the details of such a thing would not be easy to work out. Perhaps it's just wishful thinking more than anything else. One thing is for sure though. As it stands now all we get are extraordinary clowns, and/or egotistical seekers of a place in history, not matter what the body count may be needed to get there. Surely, with so many creative people in this country, we ought to be able to figure out a better way. The bar has been set pretty low as to what it would take to be better after all.

First Read: Where Have All the Popular Candidates Gone?

by CHUCK TODD, MARK MURRAY and CARRIE DANN

This is Not Good News

A post I did awhile back commented on the Chinese intending to double down on the increase of robots in all aspects of production. The thrust of the post what that this was, in effect, a Chinese effort to skip having a significant percentage of the population being a "middle" class as we did; largely, one might argue not only because Henry Ford started the idea of living wage, but also because collective bargaining (purchased with great sacrifice by large numbers of very desperate working people) gave labor a lever large enough to keep a seat at the tables of power.

Now that skill sets can be nothing more than clever algorithms in computer memories that lever has shrunk considerably; a fact made obvious as collective bargaining hasn't found a way to bridge borders, or technological change. As such our middle class has suffered accordingly. And even after decades of trying supply side economics, which clearly does nothing to allow for more people to actually afford more things, a great deal of the "Supply" side dynamic is still part of our economic policy. Is it any wonder, then, that the sad statistics of wealth and income distribution show such lopsided accumulations?

And now the world's most populous country is proposing to follow in our footsteps. This can only be thought of as disastrous madness following on maddening disaster. If there were ever a time that this nation needed to lead by example it is now. And in more ways than simply changing from "Supply Side" to "Demand Side" economics.

The bottom line here is that Billions upon Billions of people need to be shown a better way to obtain a rightfully significant gain in material well being, and they are not just of one nationality. Who else in this insane world could muster the audacity, as well as move past burdensome history, as well as we have shown the capability for? Who else has been nearly so willing to reinvent itself when it was needed than we have been, with the added capacity to put creativity, as well as the will to achieve, where it really needs to be?

The only thing we've been lacking of late is a truly comprehensive shared vision; a vision that integrates the practical with the spiritual, and a deeper connection to the complex web of life. Just remember: Americans with a shared vision are a force of nature, and if we can understand ourselves within our connection to nature we can be a positive force of change for both.

China’s Communist Party Is Looking for Answers in Reaganomics

• Rana Foroohar @RanaForoohar
 

March 8, 2016