Walls, Walls, We Need Walls!!

As you can see everywhere that has walls and/or autocratic isolated nationalistic governments has been spared from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Israel with its wall, North Korea, China, Russia, etc. Or you could do as Venezuela does and not test and/or not allow reporting of tests because that’s known to save lives.

All In How You Spin It

According to Trump supporters the Latin root of the word coronavirus is - Hoax.

Thanks For The Thought

Dog owners in the US carefully bag their dog's poop, tie a knot in the little plastic bag's tops, and then leave them as gifts for the rest of us.

More and more I find neatly tied little bags of shit on the trails, beside the trails, at trailheads (in large numbers), on picnic tables, on posts, even on TOP of trash cans.

And whereas I appreciate the gifting I'm here to say to American dog owners, I'm good on the little bags of shit. 

Self-Loathing

Never do we judge as harshly as when we project. 

Money, Money, Money

All economies are exquisitely sensitive to our modern day existential threats. Witness the near total collapse of the world-wide financial systems with the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Corporatism and social democracies have no mechanism to address long range threats such as pandemics, global warming and/or automation and the loss of jobs, and autocratic governments haven’t the will.

At the root of the problem, money. Money became obsolete the moment it interfered with the advancement of human knowledge – space travel, scientific endeavor, moral enlightenment – we just haven’t figured that out yet. Money guarantees unequal distribution of wealth, deep poverty, unnecessary human suffering. and human conflict. It is an exquisitely fragile system of resource distribution and our modern day global threats expose it’s inherent weaknesses. But take heart. Whether we realize it or not it is on its way out as we automate - it would be better to admit it now and plan aggressively for it  – or billions may die – but make no mistake it’s on its way out unless we set ourselves back to the stone age first.

Imagine a world where automation has expanded to include harvesting raw materials, processing them into refined materials, shaping, constructing and then distributing everything we need to live  – completely by machines. Overseen by artificial intelligence (AI) dedicated to maintaining and improving such a system with the aid of mobile repair and construction units and it is not hard to see how we evolve past money. Every material need provided for, for free, by machines.  Getting there intact is the hard part. 

Now imagine a SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Self-isolate while goods and services continue on without a hitch. Patients cared for in their homes with the latest in medical technology and resource instead of in highly resistant microbe factories that we call hospitals today – cost no longer a factor. Imagine a world devoid of poverty, famine, starvation, and much of the reasons for human conflict. Imagine what the people of this future studying our times will say – 'they spent their entire lives going to a job they hated, so that they could eat. No job, no money, no eating. They focused their entire lives on materialism and killed each other by the millions over resources and riches. Absolute barbarism!

As the world continues to get smaller and more interconnected we have absolutely no choice but to move to a world without money. This is not a utopian fantasy, it is fact. Do it or we perish as a species, of this I have little doubt.

Have a Blessed Day

Jesus was a middle easterner. He looked pretty much like a modern-day terrorist.

God is currently a poor Nicaraguan, sitting on the Mexican border waiting for asylum in the US.  He looks at you as a glutenous, greedy, heartless, sinner.

Now ya'll have a blessed day, hear?

Capitalism - As It Suits Us

I marvel at how quickly dyed in the wool ‘capitalists’ will embrace socialism the moment they are faced with a crisis. Capitalism to justify gluttony and consumerism - calling it ‘freedom’, socialism the moment stuff hits the fan.

I'm all for government bailouts in this pandemic. But just maybe we can be spared the anti-socialist flag waving when the times are good? 

Perhaps our capitalist economy needs reforming so as not to fall apart with every existential threat. Hey, I know - let’s have an economy based on socialist democracy. Oh, wait. 

A fine tradition

'While for decades European medical schools had, for example, required students to have a solid background in chemistry, biology, and other sciences, as late as 1900, it was more difficult to get into a respectable American college than into an American medical school. At least one hundred U.S. medical schools would accept any man—but not woman—willing to pay tuition; at most 20 percent of the schools required even a high school diploma for admission—much less any academic training in science—and only a single medical school required its students to have a college degree. Nor, once students entered, did American schools necessarily make up for any lack of scientific background. Many schools bestowed a medical degree upon students who simply attended lectures and passed examinations; in some, students could fail several courses, never touch a single patient, and still get a medical degree.'   John M Barry

One World

For better or worse its one world. A fragile globe in space we all share. Armies, walls, and nationalism won't work - only worldview and global cooperation can insure our survival now. 

Respect is Earned

Jesus was probably born in Nazareth, the tiny village he grew up in. But no one has any real idea.

The entire Christmas story is made up, as any serious religious historian will tell you - to include where Jesus was born, the date of his birth, the manger, the wise men, and the star of David. There are two Bethlehem's within 150 miles of each other and there is no evidence, at all, that Jesus was ever in either one of them. Jesus was dark skinned, with short to mid-length hair as was the style in his day. He looked like the sort of people Trump tries to prevent from coming to the US not the white long hair whose portrait is to be found hanging in most European and US churches.

The amount of utter nonsense enshrined in the myths of Jesus by modern day Christians is nothing short of breath taking. What’s even more astounding? The average christian today has little to no real knowledge of Jesus or even the new and/or old testaments.

Christians personal religious beliefs are based almost entirely in superficial myths taught to them as children. Indoctrinated and programmed using techniques not dissimilar to Hitler youth programs these Christians grew up asking few if any questions. And despite living in a country where knowledge and the means and time to acquire it abound, most do not bother to properly inform themselves.

And I'm supposed to respect that? Am I supposed to respect their ‘faith’ that they themselves know almost nothing about?