Esoteric Meandering Shouting Into the Void

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/13/us-scientists-confirm-major-breakthrough-in-nuclear-fusion

What is our energy future? We are working hard for a zero-carbon future in hopes of continuing our tenuous foot hold on this tiny blue dot in the cosmos.

The oligarchs of big oil and coal have convinced many that there is no bridge from fossil fuels to renewable sources like solar and wind. Their argument is that our need for energy is so vast that only by continuing to burn fossil fuels, which is a finite resource, our existence will not continue on the trajectory that mankind is on. Hundreds of Millions of dollars are spent lobbying governments to keep the world turning using resources that push ton of carbon into our atmosphere. Here in the U.S. we even subsidize the industries that are contributing to global climate change. These corporations have even admitted to the fact that they knew that sustained burning of fossil fuels would change the atmosphere and cause an increase of global temperatures and loss of sea ice. Yet we continue to burn gas and coal to power our homes and drive our automobiles.

The push for electric vehicles has increased and technology has followed suit. There are still those who scoff at electric cars, but they are of the same mindset that rejected the horseless carriage and insisted that television would never be a thing.

Electric cars are a good start, but the question remains what about everything else that requires energy? Solar has been on the rise for homes and businesses and solar batteries have increased solar usefulness and longevity although it is still an expensive option for most. The government has rolled out programs to help solarize homes and that has been a great benefit that many homeowners have exploited. Sadly, there aren’t many multifamily complexes, apartment homes, that have integrated renewable energy into their business model. That has to be something that city planners in the future have to push for when authorizing new construction in their cities.

It is true that currently solar and wind cannot fulfill the energy needs of our every growing population but there is nuclear energy that has greatly improved over the past 50 years. The days of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island appear to be catastrophes of the past and new nuclear plants are cleaner and far more efficient. Around a quarter of the EU’s energy is nuclear and more than half of that is produced in France. In total there are 103 reactors operating in 13 of the 27 member states. In 2019, these provided about 50 per cent of low-carbon electricity. The amount of energy provided by nuclear is projected to nearly double between 2020 and 2050. To achieve this, new capacity additions reach 30 GW per year in the early 2030s. The amount of energy consumption that is in the form of electricity increases from about 20% today to about 50% by 2050.

If we can bridge the gap with nuclear energy until scientists can develop and stabilize fusion technology which has the potential to provide cheep bountiful energy in the near future, we may just continue to survive on this little blue dot in the cosmos.   

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spacex-starship-launch-explosion-video/

That has to be the absolute best way to spin “Our rocket blew up”. Somehow Elon Musk having his Space X launch yesterday fail spectacularly has turned the subsequent explosion minutes after Launch into a success. Just the way Space X characterized the explosion of it rocket has to make the media persons high school English teacher proud.

This launch failure seems to typify Musk’s track record as of late… $44 billion purchase of Twitter that has now lost nearly half its value and upstart social media platforms gaining more followers every day. Then one of the biggest pokes in the eye for the Twitter faithful, legacy blue checks being summarily taken away and replaced by only those willing to pay the billionaires ransom of $8 or $11 a month for the privilege of putting their content on his platform which he is already monetizing. Good job Elon you just turned what used to be a status symbol into a scarlet letter.

As fun as it is to poke fun at the man who was once the richest man on earth there a lot of other professional rake steppers in the headlines.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-committee-hearing-b2323819.html

Representative MTG was summarily slapped down during a hearing this week for calling Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a liar. This outburst caused her to be silenced for the rest of the hearing. Greene and her misinformation brigade want to spin the record amounts of fentanyl and high terrorism risk arrests at the border as an impeachable offence.

This is from ABC News.

The seizures include 50.6 million pills laced with the ultra-deadly synthetic opioid and 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder, the DEA said.

“These seizures – enough deadly doses of fentanyl to kill every American – reflect the DEA’s unwavering commitment to protect Americans and save lives, by tenaciously pursuing those responsible for the trafficking of fentanyl across the United States,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement Friday.

Somehow this is a terrible thing.

The Biden Administration with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, in 2 years, have stopped more drugs and more dangerous persons at the southern boarder than Trump magic wall did in 4 but that is a negative marks as far as the GOP and Fox are concerned.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/21/i-dont-think-he-cares-about-people-desantis-struggles-with-former-hill-colleagues-00093281

Ron DeSantis is one of the leading GOP voices that continues to step on his own dick, signing an afterhours 6-week abortion ban. Then not so quietly threatening to maybe build a state prison close to Disney World. This guy everyone thought was going to be the ayre apparent to the latest Republican dumpster fire is absolutely show the world who he is. Even the ravenous GOP aren’t looking for a book banning, homophobe at least not outwardly.

So, I would have to say the GOP is having a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly and I couldn’t be happier about it.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

Five takeaways from the Fox News-Dominion settlement

The Dominion -v- Fox settlement is a huge letdown. Financially it is a big win for Dominion but for Murdock and Fox the $787.5 million settlement will do nothing to curb their misinformation campaign. Hopefully the next lawsuit by Smartmatic, which is actually a stronger case, will produce more than just a monetary slap on the wrist for Fox (so called) News.

The prime time talking heads and the owner of the company need to be trotted in front of a jury and deposed for the world to see them for the hypocrites that they are. This settlement will only let them slip right back into the same old habits as before. I am sure that the judgement from the judge that Fox and its spokespeople were in fact lying to their audience will never be utter on Fox so their loyal minion will never know the truth.

Just like the monster they created DJT, Fox will spin the settlement as liberal bias and the settlement wasn’t because of wrongdoing but the right thing for the company because they weren’t going to get a fair trial. That is exactly the condescending tone Tucker will pose his inevitable ‘question/misrepresentation)’, “We all know that the liberals have loaded the courts… and we all know that the election was rigged… Those are the facts we know, Fox had to settle that way you can still hear the truth.”

Dominion should have demanded along with the monetary settlement that a disclaimer be shown at the bottom of the screen during all Fox prime time broadcasts the states (The programs you are currently watching are opinion and the ‘facts’ stated have not been checked or verified as being truthful.” I don’t know if that would change much because I can’t verify how many Fox viewers can read and since I don’t have that information, I won’t state any numbers.

Murdock is reportedly worth $12.5 billion. The Dominion settlement is less than 10% of his personal wealth not to include the assets of the Fox (News) network. This minor monetary inconvenience won’t do a damn thing and honestly, I could care less about the financial obligation I want the Fox viewers to hear out of the mouths of the talking heads they listen to that they flat out lied to them. This little hiccup will only embolden the radical right and their toadies to start and renewed holy war against the ‘Woke’ because they will spin the entire thing as unjust, that the liberals have slanted everything so now the real fight has to begin.

Those of us that don’t want to see this Republic fall need to be ready to stand up and continue to speak the truth because I know that (right) red hat mafia is only going to use this as a battle cry.  

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

Fiscal conservatism is a political position (primarily in the United States of America) that calls for lower levels of public spending, lower taxes and lower government debt. Fiscal conservatism may also support limited periods of higher taxes in order to lower the public debt. It can include any or all levels of government, federal, state and local. Fiscal conservatism is typically justified in terms of economic efficiency (it assumes the private sector is more efficient than the public sector), and in moral terms with high spending, budget deficits, and high debt seen as indicators of corruption. In opposition to corruption fiscal conservatism develops classic themes of republicanism that emerged in the era of the American Revolution. Fiscal conservatism rejects the Keynesian policy of deficit spending.

Fiscal Conservatism was rhetorically promoted during the presidency of Ronald Reagan (1981-1989). During his tenure, Reagan pushed through economic policies which became known as Reaganomics. Rooted in a belief in supply-side economics, Reagan cut income taxes, raised social security taxes,(actually taxed social security for the first time) deregulated the economy, and propounded a tight monetary policy to stop inflation. Reagan favored reducing the size and scope of government because he considered it to be conducive to inefficiency and corruption; he especially attacked welfare. He proposed greatly increased defense spending (which he got), reduction in income taxes (which he got), and reductions in domestic spending (which he did not get). The result was a large increase in the national debt, economic prosperity, and rapid growth. Reagan also achieved a compromise on Social Security that reduced long-term federal spending.

However, by the end of Reagan’s second term the national debt held by the public rose from 26% of Gross Domestic Product in 1980 to 41% in 1989, the highest level since 1963. By 1988, the debt totaled $2.6 trillion. The country owed more to foreigners than it was owed, and the United States moved from being the world’s largest international creditor to the world’s largest debtor nation as investors around the world rushed to send their money to the U.S.^[8] Under Democrat Bill Clinton the federal government ran a budget surplus and the debt went down. The George W. Bush policy was to return the surplus to taxpayers by lowering federal income taxes, even as spending increased, especially for the Iraq war. Democrats attacked the Bush policy as a violation of fiscal conservatism.

Today’s Republicans are continuing to achieve recording spending the same move that Reagan succeeded in doing in his second term. Not only does the current GOP like to spend like drunken sailors when they hold the wheels of power, they always cry debt when they lose the reigns. And now true to form the Republican House is threatening to blow up the full faith and credit of the United States by refusing to raise the debt ceiling, which they have done without question when a Republican is in the White House, unless Biden cuts his own throat and defunds the very programs that have saved us from Dumb Donald’s 4 years.

How can the “fiscal conservatives” be so bad with money? Honestly because they don’t care and refuse to learn the lessons from history.

On January 8, 1835, President Andrew Jackson achieves his goal of entirely paying off the United States’ national debt. It was the only time in U.S. history that the national debt stood at zero, and it precipitated one of the worst financial crises in American history.

The elimination of the national debt was both a personal issue for Jackson and the culmination of a political project as old as the nation itself. Since the time of the Revolution, American politicians had argued over the wisdom of the nation carrying debt. After independence, the federal government agreed to take on individual states’ war debts as part of the unification of the former colonies. Federalists, those who favored a stronger central government, established a national bank and argued that debt could be a useful way of fueling the new country’s economy. Their opponents, most notably Thomas Jefferson, felt that these policies favored Northeastern elites at the expense of rural Americans and saw the debt as a source of national shame.

Jackson, a populist whose Democratic Party grew out of Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party, had a personal aversion to debt stemming from a land deal that had gone sour for him in his days as a speculator. Campaigning for re-election in 1832, Jackson vetoed the re-charter of the national bank and called the debt “a moral failing” and “black magic.” Jackson vetoed a number of spending bills throughout his tenure, putting an end to projects that would have expanded nationwide infrastructure. He further paid down the debt by selling off vast amounts of government land in the West and was able to settle the debt entirely in 1835.

Jackson’s triumph contained the seeds of the economy’s undoing. The selling-off of federal lands had led to a real estate bubble, and the destruction of the national bank led to reckless spending and borrowing. Combined with other elements of Jackson’s fiscal policy as well as downturns in foreign economies, these problems led to the Panic of 1837. A bank run and the subsequent depression tanked the U.S. economy and forced the federal government to begin borrowing again.

Using Keynesian deficient spending the U.S. is able to sell saving bond that are secured by the government and has made the dollar the standard in world currency. The current GOP has no intention of reducing the debt to zero as Jackson did. Their only goal is to cut any spending that will help the common citizen. Grover Norquist famously said, “My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” That is the autocratic policies of today’s GOP that way the corporations can assume control and the rich will get richer and the rest will live in abject poverty. No longer will the United States be a shining city on the hill, we will just be another corporate autocracy. That is not the America I served in, or the one I want to leave to the next generations.   

Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

The news comment has been that as long as pathic 45 is in the news it is good for his  opposition and bad for his party. So maybe we should use his name as often as possible and make sure that all his laundry is on the line for all to see.

It really should be mentioned that in order to get where he is he has had to do a lot of not so nice things. We have seen people like him in the past go missing like union bosses and drug lords to name a couple. Will his be the same fate? It is hard to tell but it would not come as a big shock if it did.

The outcome of the 2024 election is a question, hopefully it will be an outcome that provides stability and reason to our government. With that said, do we have a way of ridding our congressional ranks of the obvious 4F category people that have been slipped in by massive maneuvering by the GOP. Perhaps we will see some movement on that side of the wall that brings them back to government with a purpose not dictatorship with greed as their driving force.

The current GOP has been likened to the death of the party of Lincoln, and in order for it to again function and govern the Phoenix must rise from the ashes. All of the powers that seem to have a stranglehold on the GOP need to be either realigned or eliminated and new supporters brought in. 

We have people that believe we cannot have a functional government without having God in the driver’s seat. Well all you need to do to prove that as a bad concept is look at the countries that have a religious leadership. They are poorly run, backward in attitude, keep over half of the population in virtual slavery and kill all those that disagree with the way they are doing things. We may need to be influenced by religion but we do not need to be ruled by religion. The books written to give power to a deity are works of men that had personal agendas that were self serving and one sided. The only reasonable way to run a nation is with consensus of all that reside within it. 

Laws and order need to encompass everyone regardless of ethnic difference, gender or anything else that seems to be a reason for separation not unification. Different makes for interest and learning should be a life long project not read this book and now you know all you need to know and if someone strays from the teaching in this book they are evil and need to be put to death.

At a certain point in life each of us should carefully consider what will our actions do for those that follow. As parents most want to leave a better situation for their children than what they inherited when their parents passed. I am not sure of when that point is, but if you no longer are going to pick up the check for the party then maybe you should not be holding the party.

If this life is all we have then consider that there is no reason for you to screw it up for the next generation. If this life is just a current stop over and an opportunity to learn and develop and move on to the next phase then you might want to consider what you are learning and will you need to be a better person in the next chapter or is being a bastard the best you can hope for.   

The people that make the most noise about follow the teachings of a Deity are the first to 

violate any semblance of order or devotion as they seek to get as much as possible from all that enter their realm of influence. The leaders of great religious organizations seem to be doing so much to elevate their own teaching and agenda’s and once they are comfortable in limelight they start to extend their influence and that usually brings them down. The downfall occurs when they attempt to enter areas that are controlled by people with very different views on power and influence.

The House is again making completely no sense as they are going to stop woke programs or influence in the Pentagon. Most of these rather uninformed or misinformed idiots don’t know what it is they are attempting to stop. The majority are most likely not of the 1% that have served this nation in uniform and they are proud of it just like Trump bragging about his contribution to the Vietnam War was not catching an STD from the hookers in Time Square. Isn’t that special, that goes out to all you bible toting bigots. If a member of your house was involved in the world’s oldest profession you would not have a thing to do with them, but someone who brags about his involvement you’ll vote for, must be your version of turn the other cheek, face or back side.

Banning books and burning books ordered by a governor of a state. This is an elected official that is accountable to the citizens of the state, the citizens are not responsible to him. If what he is doing call for a referendum vote and gets him out of office. The idea that history will repeat itself is not new and it appears to be true. 

The Pilgrims came here to escape religious persecution, and then set up societies that were devoid of choice of religion and they ended up with a mess. So today we have multiple religions attempting to run various parts of the world and the heavier the influence the poorer the conditions of the nation they are in. Religion may be a cure for some things that are wrong but it is like a cancer for other things. Currently if you are diagnosed with cancer the medical profession put  you on chemo and radiation treatments to kill the cancer. So they kill that cancer and give you leukemia now you have a lack of white blood cells and can not fight off a common cold.

Perhaps if a bit of common sense was used so that rather than kill one cancer giving a more robust variety a chance to invade, the cancer is brought to a manageable level and it can fight the more robust intruder and your system doesn’t have to work so hard to keep you alive. The method of total kill in a disease is like total control by religion, it makes no sense and it hinders advancement and very possibly cure. Denial that an event took place, think slavery or the holocaust, or that some people prefer to find happiness in the arms of someone of the same gender will not make these things go away, more likely it will get people to address those issues and make a bigger public scene than if they were accepted and respected.

Creating an environment that has neighbors spying on neighbors and no one trusting anyone is not good for your neighborhood, your community, your state or for the nation that encourages such tactics. As soon as something becomes illegal there will be someone that says they are going to see if they can get away with it, and for how long. Regardless of anyone’s personal view on any subject or practice we would all do well to consider if we really need to concern ourselves with it. If you do not want to drive faster than the speed limit, no one can force you to do that. If you do not want to go in a bar or pool hall, a strip club, a movie theater, a sushi bar, or a church no one can force you to go, and at the same time you need not stop anyone else from going were they choose unless they are a minor or not able to care for themselves.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

Loki’s speech to the Germans, “Kneel before me. I said… KNEEL! Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It’s the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life’s joy in a mad scramble for power. For identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.”

I feel like the current autocratic wing of the Republican party honest has taken this line from the Avengers movie to heart. As a party they have zero inclination to Lead that is not in their nature their determination is to Rule. Ruling gives no quarter to dissent or debate, it only requires subjugation of the masses.

A ruler is detached from the people and the process and focused on the outcome. As long as results are produced, they don’t care how or how much the people suffered or sacrificed.

Sadly, even this is to far for the current Republicans because they don’t even pretend to have a result-oriented agenda their current mission. It appears is to turn the reigns of power over to corporations and the moneyed interests as long as they hold the power there is no concern of anything else.

The leader is focused on the people, process, and the outcome. But they are most focused on the people. They know that life is precious, and each person is a life, and they engage them so that their work is interesting or to alleviate their suffering to the extent that s/he can. They also understand that by shifting the process around, it can change a mundane task to a more emotionally satisfying task, and they look for opportunities to do that.

The Democratic party seems to be more interested in leading but that requires a level of cooperation that in our two-party system does not exist.

Our current President, Joe Biden, consistently reaches out to the opposition in hopes of some level of bi-partisan collaboration. His Democratic predecessor President Obama tried the same things with similar results.

Trump in the 4 years he occupied the office did little to nothing that would constitute what anyone could consider legislating. His apparent mission was to Rule while enriching himself for the position and continually keep his name in the headlines.

It’s astounding the level of accomplishments that the current occupant of the White House has achieved while not constantly having his name in the new lexicon. Apparently, that’s what a Leader does, works for the people he serves without incessantly seeking attention.

The similarities of how Loki craved the throne to rule and Trumps time in office are uncanny. Loki usurped the throne through trickery just as Trump held the seat of power via deceit and underhanded dealings. Undoubtedly if Donald would have achieved a second term he would have attempted to destroy the constitutional Presidential term limits and make himself President for life just as Xi Jinping has done in China and Putin has done in Russia.

We dodged a bullet in 2020 but I don’t think we are out of the woods yet. Even if Donald does not attain the Office of the Presidency again that are worse despots out there that are far smarter. The authoritarian Governor of Florida has designs on becoming President and he know how to pull the levers that Trump couldn’t find.

The right wants to call the democrats ANTFA, Anti-Fascist. I really don’t have a problem with that I don’t want to see fascism I this country or anywhere. From my understanding of history that is exactly what the Greatest Generation fought for, Hitler was a Fascist, Mussolini was a Fascist, Trump and DeSantis want to be Fascists, but they are currently disguising themselves as legitimately elected officials.

Review your history people that how it gets started.  ☹

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

Conservative Circuit Judges seem to think that have been bestowed the authority to overturn rulings on a national level. I took civics in High School and College and don’t recall that a circuit court or state court judge had the power to overrule a national regulation.

Remember back in August of 2022 when a Florida circuit court judge unilaterally lifted the mask mandate on domestic flights nationwide? Yeah, that happened over the CDCs recommendation one lone judge decided that COVID 19 was no longer a problem. With all her years of medical and epidemiology training that made her a lawyer then a judge she alone decided that it was all clear.

Now there is a Judge in Texas, yes fucking Texas, that has decided that a medication that has been in use for 17 years that has been deemed less harmful that Tylenol by the FDA should not be allowed because it is an early abortifacient. That’s right another judge with countless hours as a medical provider and years of study with medicinal efficacy.

I never knew that a law degree came with so much medical training… hold on someone just told me that Lawyers and Judges don’t have any medical training. Doing my own reading I found that neither of these self-righteous Jurist even have an MPH (Masters in Public Health) but some how they have been ordained by God to make health decisions for 332 million people. That’s a great gig if you can get it.

I am still dumbfounded that Judges have deemed themselves the authority, ideological, moral, and medical no matter their individual training in any of these fields of study. Since when did we stop listening to science and peer reviewed studies and trust the opinion of a single person? I know dumb question… King Donny anointed a moron minority the purview to cast their belief on all others.

Since that seems to be that is way it is going, I have my judgment about mifepristone the first drug in a 2-drug regimen to stop an early pregnancy. Judges and Red State Governors, you have zero medical or pharmaceutical training, so keep your noses out of the health concerns unless you are reducing medical cost or passing laws that will improve the lives of those you feel you have a right to rule. If you want to ban a drug that can cause pregnancy and is less safe than mifepristone ban Viagra. It is a proven fact that every unwanted pregnancy, yes everyone one of them, as a direct result of a hard penis. So, by my calculations less hard penises, less pregnancies, less need for abortions.

The other maddening thing that I have to get off my chest is that the drug mifepristone and misoprostol which are used to end early pregnancy are also used to help expel failed fetuses in miscarriages. BTW misoprostol hasn’t been banned yet but just wait. Women have the right to their own bodies, but the ridiculous right would rather put every women’s health in danger for their ideological purity BS. Let put every male legislator and jurist to the test and have their side piece come to them and tell them they are pregnant with their child. I can bet that abortion is the first thing that pops into their minds.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

I have talked a lot about the current calamities in our present dystopian hell scape, but I don’t want to talk about that today… back to the meandering stream of consciousness nonsense that is my brain.

As a social superstition the number 13 is a bad omen, but does anyone really know why? Many high-rise buildings omit the 13th floor instead going from 12 to 14. Everyone is trepidatious when it is Friday the 13^th, there are even series of Horror Movies with a day and date as the title. The specific fear of Friday the 13th, known as paraskevidekatriaphobia, there is a new word you can add to crap you didn’t need to know.

Everyone, well almost everyone, knows the plight of the famous Knights Templar. If you don’t here is the tale of their demise and the infamous number 13.

 Founded around 1118 as a monastic military order devoted to the protection of pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land following the Christian capture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade, the Knights Templar quickly became one of the richest and most influential groups of the Middle Ages, thanks to lavish donations from the crowned heads of Europe, eager to curry favor with the fierce Knights. By the turn of the 14th century, the Templars had established a system of castles, churches and banks throughout Western Europe. And it was this astonishing wealth that would lead to their downfall.

 For the Templars, that end began in the early morning hours of Friday, October 13, 1307.

A month earlier, secret documents had been sent by couriers throughout France. The papers included lurid details and whispers of black magic and scandalous sexual rituals. They were sent by King Philip IV of France, an avaricious monarch who in the preceding years had launched attacks on the Lombards (a powerful banking group) and France’s Jews (who he had expelled so he could confiscate their property for his depleted coffers).

In the days and weeks that followed that fateful Friday, more than 600 Templars were arrested, including Grand Master Jacques DeMolay, and the Order’s treasurer. But while some of the highest-ranking members were caught up in Philip’s net, so too were hundreds of non-warriors; middle-aged men who managed the day-to-day banking and farming activities that kept the organization humming. The men were charged with a wide array of offenses including heresy, devil worship and spitting on the cross, homosexuality, fraud and financial corruption.

This is only one harrowing reference to unlucky 13.

Mathematicians and scientists point to preeminence of the number 12, often considered a “perfect” number, in the ancient world. The ancient Sumerians developed numeral system based on the use of 12 that is still used for measuring time today. Most calendars have 12 months; a single day is comprised of two 12-hour half days, etc. Following so closely on the heels of a “perfect” number, some argue that 13 was sure to be found lacking and unusual. 

This fear of the unknown would seem to play into two other popular theories for the number’s unlucky connotation, both of which revolve around the appearance of a 13th guest at two ancient events: In the Bible, Judas Iscariot, the 13th guest to arrive at the Last Supper, is the person who betrays Jesus. Meanwhile ancient Norse lore holds that evil and turmoil were first introduced in the world by the appearance of the treacherous and mischievous god Loki at a dinner party in Valhalla. He was the 13th guest, upsetting the balance of the 12 gods already in attendance.

It also seems as if fears surrounding the number 13 are a primarily Western construct. Some cultures, including the Ancient Egyptians, actually considered the number lucky.

So since today is the 13^th even though not a Friday go out and enjoy the day or hide in your irrational belief that 13^th is somehow an unlucky number.

(Thank you, history channel for many of the references in this post.)  

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

In1563, the Council of Trent launched the ‘Fig Leaf Campaign’ to camouflage the penises and public hair visible in art across Italy. The cover-up choice was a ‘Fig Leaf’.

Until the 1400s, Romans were traditionally inspired by Greek art. The ancient marble sculptures were chiseled with a nude body and that represented honor and virtue. The naked idols symbolized purity.

But in the 1500s, the acts of art censorship began when the Counter-Reformation took over the Vatican and started portraying nudity as immodest and obscene.

The Roman Catholic Church initiated the censorship campaign with Michel Angelo’s David. Powerful clergymen wanted to clothe the nude David.

It is the 21^st century and somehow, we have reverted back to the puritanic virtue of the 16^th century. As a society we flow back and forth with this insane love and hatred of the human body. Attorney General Ashcroft had the bare breast of bronze statues in the capitol complex covered because they offended is puritan prudish principles. Headlines read, “No longer will the attorney general be photographed in front of two partially nude statues in the Great Hall of the Department of Headline As a consequence, the department of justice spent $8,000 on blue drapes that hide the two giant, aluminum art deco statues.

Now a Principle in Florida (of course Florida) has been fired for allowing the image of Michel Angelo’s David to be used in an art class. Deemed by the holier than thou parents as pornographic. These are most likely the same parents that go to church that displays a cross with a half nude image of a man being tortured via crucifixion. Some would call that voyeuristic, ghoulish and pornographic and not something that should be displayed in the public venue.

There is more graphic nudity in movies and online that children see every day, but the image of male genitals is just a bridge to far for some. I might agree if the statue of David had an erect penis, but it doesn’t. That fact that the statue and images of it have been seen by millions and for centuries and has been taught in art classes for nearly as long is also a head scratcher.

 Art educators should be deeply concerned over efforts at any kind of suppression of works of art. Freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution. This freedom of expression includes both verbal expression—speech and writing; and non-verbal expression, which includes the “language” of the various arts.

Free communication is essential to the preservation of a free society and a creative culture. Now, as always in our history, artworks—literature, theatre, painting, sculpture, music, and dance are among our most effective instruments of freedom. They are powerful means for making available ideas, feelings, social growth, the envisioning of new possibilities for humankind, solutions to problems, and the improvement of human life.

I believe the whole point is that suppression of ideas and of artistic expression leads to conformity, the limiting of diversity of expression to a narrow range of “acceptable” forms, and the stifling of freedom. We don’t want a generation that thinks for themselves, we don’t teach critical thinking, our primary educators are trained to teach only what is being tested. It would be tragic if we had a new generation of thinkers and leaders.

So the 21^st century Fig Leaf campaign has begun and we will all be lesser for it.

Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

The indictment of pathetic 45 is a sad situation for the nation. The fact that the nation was so sick as to elect such a pathetic person to any office is sad but all the way to the top, unbelievable. Then to claim that the DA in this case has far left political leanings is yet another attempt to spin this as being about the trouble with the laws and the court and not about the law breaking and guilt of the person being arranged.

Once more the effort to make others responsible for the problems that have come to roost on his doorstep is in full swing. The court nor the DA did not falsify pathetic 45’s company records to cover hush money payments or to get around paying taxes. Pathetic 45 had his lackeys do that for him and will of course, claim ignorance and innocence of any wrongdoing.

His problems are the same in the upcoming situation with the federal charges that are going to be put to him. He will again claim that he did not know or have anything to do with the removal or hiding of classified records. He has, however, stated that when Nixon was forced from office that the documents he had were returned to the fed after they paid 14 million for papers he had removed and they wanted back. So Donald took paperwork hoping that they would buy back what belongs to them and he could put more money in his pocket.

The continued attack on the judge and his family as well as the DA and his family should not be put aside without response. I have no idea what the minimum or maximum response could be but if I were the judge I would go for maximum, gag order, jail till trial, no contact with media, no visitation, no information coming to him or leaving his cell and if possible a national blackout of his name. The more problems I got out of his loyal followers the more problems they and he would encounter. His call for all that disagree with him is either lock them up or death, so practice what he preaches and see how the jackals like being the targets.

Is that last paragraph too over the top, well when those loyal to his line of bs seem to think that intimidation of officials, officials families, and witnesses is acceptable then it is time to put the law back in the hands of the state not the self appointed vigilantes. Let them see what the world looks like when all that they hold dear is no longer protected. Lock up the front line and make sure that the family and businesses that have supported these individuals feel the pain of having crap thrown at them, in other words play by their rules, no rule at all.

We are not a nation that goes after people just because of a difference of opinion. Why are we being reduced to having to tolerate violence on our streets because one man’s ego is damaged and he can not admit to having lost or that he might be responsible for wrongdoing? Protest if you must, but many cities require a permit to conduct such activities, get the permit. Do not destroy other people’s property in the process of making your point, do not interfere with traffic in the process, and do not bring weapons or anything that can be used as a weapon. Speak your peace and then go home. Anything short of doing it that way will get you arrested and jailed. 

The calling names, reducing people to animal status, or claiming they are mentally impaired are all tactics to make it easier to show disrespect and to bring violence to those persons so identified. Many have suffered such attacks and the violence that has been brought to some segments of society are truly unbelievable testaments to man’s inhumanity to man. We do not need this kind of thing in our streets and we should be ashamed of supporting this type of behavior anywhere on the planet. 

So this is a request of all that support pathetic 45 to do so by some other means than violence. Give him your money if you wish, but you have not purchased anything but very flawed goods.

The efforts to blame others for our shortcomings seems to be the norm in today’s society, no one wants to stand for what they have done. Even the ones that attended the J6 party stand in court and claim, “I wouldn’t have done it but ————-” you figure out the rest. It is all bs and everyone knows it. The same tactic your 4 year old tries to use to keep himself out of trouble is the crap these people are using to try and get out of suffering the consequences for their actions on J6. Five people died that day and many more were injured and yet even when shown a photo of self hitting a police officer with a pipe the guilty give excuses, just like pathic 45 in why he lost the election and why he may end up in jail, it is someone else’s fault.