2024 Archives

Why Republicans Fear Critical Thinking, Science, and Equality. "Those who control the present, control the past; and those who control the past control the future." —George Orwell, 1984 From outlawing the polio vaccine to ignoring the scientific consensus on gender dysphoria to refusing to wear masks in hospitals to trying to strip evolution and science from our schools, stupid has become fashionable in today's GOP. When Republican politicians want to score points, they criticize their opponents as having had "elite" educations; the GOP's war against Ivy League colleges was particularly evident during the student protests of Israel's slaughter in Gaza. Congressional Republican inquisitors voices' dripped with scorn and contempt as they grilled university presidents. It wasn't always this way.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — This is what happens when five corrupt Republicans on the Supreme Court put our government up for sale to the highest bidder — Far-right activist Christopher Rufo — the guy who put DEI and CRT in the bullseye of Republicans and rightwing media — now wants to take on Harvard. — Will a jury ever convict Luigi Mangioni? — Weiner went to prison but Gaetz won’t? — The CDC reports the first severe bird flu case in the US involves a virus that has mutated in a way that makes it more effective at infecting human lung tissue. — My Australian friend tells me that there’s a huge housing shortage here in Oz “because conservative governments have let housing become an investment vehicle to make money” instead of an essential resource needed by humans that should be protected by government. — Hunter in a Farmers World: ADHD: The Butterfly Chaser and the Seed Planter — Wisdom School: Master the Art of Talking Less and Saying More — Knights Templar: How Powerful a Force is Thought?

How algorithms distill fear and rage into society's deadliest addiction, destroying society and political systems in the process… A fascinating article in The New York Times this week by Kurt Gray, professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, gives us the beginnings of an understanding of how and why social media is so destructive to society. Gray points out that most people assume humans have historically been predators, the metaphorical big cats of the jungle. In fact, Gray says, we've historically been prey, the victims of predators: "This picture of fearfulness is consistent with our understanding of human psychology. We're hard-wired to detect threats quickly and to stay fixated on places where threats once appeared, even after they have vanished. We fear that 'child predators' will abduct our kids even when they are safer than ever. "Modern humans, ensconced in towns and cities, are now mostly safe from animal predators, but we are still easily frightened. Whether we're scrolling social media or voting for a presidential candidate, we all still carry the legacy of our ancestors, who worried about big cats lurking in the darkness." Thus, if you could invent a drug that would cause people to be fearful — and thus stimulate the rage that comes from fear — you could have incredible control over a population if you could simply tell them where and against whom to direct that fear-induced rage.

During these short, dark days let's remember this ancient Christmas knowledge that illumination always follows darkness & that with love and compassion we will re-light our nations & lives... Today is Christmas Eve, a connection to some of the most ancient of all known northern European shamanic traditions. Like people living in the north for millennia, we continue to embrace them with regional, national, and religious tweaks. It occurs during the week of the shortest day and longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere, when ancient holy men and women lit "yule logs" to push back the darkness and implore the gods or nature to bring back the light of summer.