There is an article over at Salon regarding how the republicans could steal the 2020 election. Their argument (I agree with it) is that it’d be pretty easy to do and, since the republicans are now the party of “in for a dime, in for a dollar” it’s a fool’s game to expect them to play fair.
You may recall the chisels I made for lathe-working. The long carbide scraper implies bowl-turning is on my agenda, so you’re possibly wondering “where are the bowls?”
When the politics swirls and the lies are falling thick and deep, I hide in my make-work projects and wait for things to blow over.
From The Way of Chuang-Tzu, translated/assembled by Thomas Merton.
On my “todo” shelf I have a depressing pile of propaganda and bad science that I’ve been building up for almost 2 years, now. Since I started blogging here, anyhow. I felt it was important to look at some of the fundamental sources of certain ideas, to better understand them.
In Orwell’s 1984, the citizens live with omnipresent telescreens that push propaganda and act as a monitoring camera and microphone. The screens hung on walls; today we carry them in our pockets and pay for the privilege of doing so.
I had a depressing realization the other day: Bernie Sanders is not a threat to the system.
One of the nice things about being approaching 60, having done and been a bunch of different things, is I have a pretty solid view of my capabilities. So I don’t feel bad when I see someone who is light years better than me at a thing, since I know that what I’m seeing is someone who made different choices in their path, and it’s alright that I didn’t compete with them.
[Warning: medical models and vintage tools]
It is, sort of. The thing is that it’s a “flu” nobody has resistance to. Usually the flu comes through every year and a few people die – more than have died, so far, of the coronavirus. The difference is emotional – it’s the difference between squirting blood from an arterial wound, and having a bloody nose. We’ve all had bloody noses and we know how to handle them and mostly, we’ll be OK.
[Warning: Rant]
You cannot blame a virus for being what it is. Viruses (and bacteria) are too small and simple to have enough free will to take any responsibility for their actions.