Segregration

Greetings good citizen, I often throw stones at the media for ignoring social issues but today's 'word' is lifted from this morning's headlines from the NY Times.

Naturally I didn't pick it because segregation is a 'man made problem'. I picked it because it is synonymous with the white/black/brown divide.

When YOU hear/think segregation don't you think color?

It ain't about color, it's about 'rabble'. It's about the real divide in our culture, the split between the rich, the wannabes and the destitute.

Integrated neighborhoods, where the rich and their wannabe's live are clean and considerably 'safer' than their blighted counterparts in the absence of a unifying factor [not all poor communities are cesspools.] Although the ones that aren't are blighted by rabid, predatory police and the brotherhood of the badge's newest recruit, the 'code enforcement officer'.

None will deny that blight is a symptom of economic inequality. The more destitute people gather in a particular area the 'gentry' calls for higher taxes to support a more vigorous/vigilant policing.

Because the true source of segregation is fear of having what they have stolen taken away from them.

It is here we are taught not to criticize (or much worse, QUESTION) success but rather to ridicule failure! Everybody living on the 'wrong side' of the tracks are the victims of their own stupidity [When the truth is they have been cheated out of their fair share.]

Why is there a 'right side of the tracks at all?' You aren't supposed to ask questions like that and you've already been taught the answer...why are some people rich? They're Thieves! The 'answer' is it's God's Will!

Funny how we keep hitting our heads on this money thing and how the wrong people keep perpetuating it.

Every social ill bar none is born of money.

No matter how much money you give to the church they do NOTHING about it...except name things after big contributors...weird huh?

[Did I mention the same people responsible for the fiction known as money also created God?]

Let's drift back to another headline in today's online edition. This is something that stays under radar when the feckless Rethuglicans are running things and when it surfaces on the Rethuglican's watch it is ALWAYS a 'bipartisan' problem...despite the thugs being responsible for 99% of it.

Federal budget deficit is projected to exceed a trillion dollars [forever] moving forward from 2020. Somewhat like the quadrillion dollars lost when the CDO market blew up, this is a chimera/accounting trick. We haven't paid for the original Revolution, nevermind anything after that and we have done nothing but bleed money making endless war since 1914.

Still, some sandbagger somewhere likes to keep stoking this fire (of obvious misdirection) that serves as red meat for those flag waving, military loving, war-mongering simpletons who like to call themselves the Tea Party.

Millions of homeless but not a cent for the destitute, we gotta fight them over there or we're gonna have to fight them over here! [In the meantime none of 'em has a navy nevermind an airforce that could penetrate US airspace...thanks to the largest military BUDGET on the planet!

[Damn good thing none of it has ANY basis in reality...which means there are a ton of 'fake billionaires' out there!]

A fact that will become apparent when the banks are closed and the banksters are exiled for their crimes [along with the faux academics and everyone pretending to work for 'justice'.]

But I digress. I often wonder if it's unhealthy to get the public's hopes up with merely the possibility of life being different than the predatory existence we have all come to know...(a little too intimately? All that fuckin' does exact a toll and if you don't think so just look at the wild eyed shooter as a prime example of an individual that's been 'boned' one time too many!)

Ain't gonna happen by itself. You gotta sit on your dead ass and MEAN IT! [It will start as a strike and end as a fight as we round up the criminals and exterminate them because they know what's coming. My bad for spilling the beans but if you aren't up front it's you that finds the wrong end of a rope.]

Yeah, being 'revolutionary' is a risky proposition all by itself and while I am 'technically' doing nothing wrong that doesn't mean one of their 'wind up toys' won't seek me out for peeing on their master's belief system...

Even god's soldiers don't seek revenge for themselves, it's ever and always about 'the cause'.

Perhaps this is what is unique about what you'll find here. I'm urging you to fight for YOU and your loved one's future and not some pie in the sky ideals where you'll collect your reward is some version of the 'afterlife'.

Like the play criticizes Jesus...too much heaven on their minds!

You should be happy NOW while you can enjoy it!

It all starts with RECOGNIZING what 'segregation' REALLY is!

Thanks for letting me inside YOUR (I hope) head,

Gegner

Expectations

Greetings good citizen, rather than attempt to parse the indefinable it may be more profitable to assess what we think/believe will/should happen.

Walking it backwards a few steps we have already determined that 'mis-communication' is responsible for the bulk of our 'disappointment' along with the admission that often our hearts desire isn't even on the ballot/up for debate in the first place so no matter what happens, we aren't going to 'win'.

However ALL 'doing' is fraught with expectation, actions are taken to achieve results (even if those results are negligible.)

It is at the intersection of expectation and reality that we achieve either success or disappointment. It is also here that we are able to separate the wise from the fools.

Fools expect too much while the wise accept the results and learn from them.

Take Preznint Pussygrabber. The fools expected (because they were told) almost magical transformations if the weak minded one won office but these same fools expected his opponent to come out as a lesbian if she won. [It's what the feeble minded are conditioned to believe is 'the liberal agenda'.]

Naturally, neither happened but we're talking fools here and a majority of the 'voting aged population' is no longer fooled or has unreasonable expectations about the effectiveness of voting for others to make decisions in your name without ever consulting you.

Closer to the mark is the 'child-like' among us are a tiny minority with many of them being addled by dementia. We KNOW the media is lying when they tell us 'Pussygrabber's Base' still supports him...truth of the matter is most of those thinking challenged voters believe Ronnie Reagan is still in the White House and we're (the US) is still locked in a Cold War with the now long defunct Soviets. [But Ronnie's already licked 'em once and he can do it again!]

Seriously good citizen how addled can you get?

So we are left with a 'truth challenged' leadership that controls a bullet-proof lie machine. If those reporters want to see their next paycheck, they'll report what they are told to report and keep their mouths shut. [Blacklists DO exist and the publishing world is now but a tiny fishbowl where everybody knows everybody else and they all co-operate to present the public with a 'singular view' of the world they want us to believe we live in.

Information control was pioneered by the Nazis and it didn't end when their defeat. Thus was Orwell's cautionary tale penned in 1948 and set in 1984.

The technological breakthroughs of the Whiz-bang era DEMAND that both government and the media undergo massive reforms in both scope and transparency.

Thus A Simple Plan. 'True' democracy, governed by the Human Anti-Exploitation Law which prohibits candy coating BS and putting it up for a vote. The press will report the truth and only the truth because nobody will be capable of 'buying' its silence nor will they be restricted by the false premise of 'keeping the peace' and other faux prohibitions against creating a panic...or pretending what they broadcast is 'science' when it's actually drama/entertainment.

Those responsible for a 'grounded, fact based media' will face serious consequences for misleading the public with 'info-tainment'.

There will still be thought provoking 'fantasy' but it will be clearly labeled as such!

Grumble all you like, if you can't convince an adjudicator that you have a legitimate reason for challenging content (beyond not liking it) You might get invited to take a long (one way) stroll in the wilderness without your clothes.

Ignorance is everywhere and nobody wants to invite exile because they didn't know better.

That said, every pain will be taken to insure NOBODY is exiled for holding an OPINION. Freedom truly is a thing of the mind. If you can't be free in your own head, you may as well be dead.

Yeah, there are a zillion ways to scupper freedom and few to insure it.

Thus will 'conflict' never end.

So much for 'expectations'!

Thanks once again for letting me inside your head. [Hey, when was the last time you cleaned this dump?]

Gegner

Inhuman

Greetings good citizen, I watched film clips from WWII on Nat. Geo last night and it only cemented my conviction that 'war is unnatural'.

While World War has become a thing of the past even a limited nuclear conflict will consume all of humanity.

Although the show that preceded it, 'One Strange Rock' revealed that had the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs been ten minutes later it would have struck deep ocean and no extinction [by asteriod] would have taken place.

One of the 'problems' with Monday Morning quarterbacking history is that Fate almost always has an 'alternative' in its hip pocket and a back-up to that up its sleeve.

While we can wonder what caused ancient man to turn his spear on either his rival or his mate, killing comes easily to man...and it's no mystery as to why. Society 'glorifies' its warriors. ['Support our Troops' anyone?]

We still, er, indulge in the death penalty as a legal means of revenge but it is a privilege the State has reserved to itself.

Like the kings before there were States.

[Gotta walk it back and you NEVER do!]

Another hidden (it still exists but it's behind closed doors, waiting to pounce.) carry-over from ancient times is WHY the kings were so 'privileged'.

It was their 'divine right'.

Yup, this is why entire nations had 'official religions' because the Kings were god's representatives on Earth. For being that representative he was granted some of god's privileges.

Walk it back children...can YOU see where this is going? Um, there can only be ONE god...put it together now.

WHY do we go to WAR? To KILL the 'INFIDEL'!

Again, glossed over for your confusion is the primary reason the WORLD rose up against Nazism...it was steeped deeply in Eugenics and based on the idea that the Tuetonics were the 'Master Race'.

It wasn't too great of a mental leap to conclude that if the Aryans won those of us not so blessed would be herded into camps for extermination.

Sound familiar? You can't see it but its still there, the message woven beneath evangelical conservatism.

We are the 'One True Faith' and we shall be rewarded above all others! [cue manical laughter...although there is absolutely NOTHING funny about this. Religous fanatacism is a curse upon our species regardless of WHO perpetuates/promotes it.

[Full Stop good citizen]

What's the question behind this phenomenon? What kind of 'wind up toy' are we/you?

If you've EVER asked the question 'how far is too far' when it comes to 'Go along to get along' let me suggest you START here...

'God's will' got this shit show started and it's looking like those behind 'God's will' are going to end us...'in the name of the (imaginary) Lord.

Um, another 'irksome' thing about divine liturgy is how it's dripping, absolutely soaked in Royal terminology.

Who is Jesus? King of kings and Lord of lords.

WTF?

Where did humanity learn war? Why at God's knee of course! [Your 'reason for being' is to serve the Almighty (King) and what better way to do that than to slay those who reject his beneficence?]

Hello? Is anybody home? Bueller? Anybody? Bueller?

Just something to contemplate today on Orthodox Easter...

Why are our problems intractable? Might have something to do with our twisted belief systems...

The nightmare won't end until you face reality, YOU are being PLAYED.

Thanks once again for letting me inside your head,

Gegner

Cohesion

Greetings good citizen, thanks to our useless Justice System that fails to enforce the laws we are no longer united...and too few of you have a clue what that means.

First it let the nominal owners of industry flee, seeking a more 'pliable' workforce...which wasn't really the workers problem, it was a fiction created by the worthless bankers.

Money is NOT a 'storehouse of value' which leaves us all at the, er, 'whimsy' of those who decide how much each currency is worth on any given day. (a criminal act in itself.)

The bankers cry, "Not my fault you people went off the Gold Standard, now we don't have a reference point!"

Yep, Nixon abandoned the gold standard in 1972. [Why is it everything bad happens on the Rethuglican's watch?] 40 years of prosperity followed their electoral banishment from capitol hill but somehow they're back...and we can only wonder WHO resurrected them? [I'm looking at you JP.]

Well, we are all living with the terrors of a debt driven economy. If you can't afford it AND you aren't creditworthy...oh well.

Since we are no longer 'socially united' [despite being in general agreement on what outcomes we'd like to see] it's how to get there that is causing the divisions.

Nobody, in the meantime, is addressing the real culprit, the more for me crowd.

Speculation has it that the gold standard is what got JFK assassinated and made LBJ abdicate. Because abandoning the Gold standard was one of Tricky Dick's 'legacies'. Not the first thing he did but it was one of the last.

How sad is it that most historians agree Watergate marked the end of our Justice system.

What replaced it is decidedly 'unjust'. [A necessary sacrifice made to 'preserve capitalism' that only works for the few.]

Most of you know 'something' is 'off' but you can't quite figure out what. Things may have landed in the toilet but there's a chance somebody can snatch us out of here before it flushes.

Well, bad news. The plumbers are here to install hands-free flushing units on the toilet!

Not that YOUR hands were ever anywhere near the lever. The only thing keeping this sodden shit-show floating was hope.

We are close to 'what comes next' now that the feckless, rabid capitalist is hitting their heads against the same old brick wall...market saturation.

No markets, no problem.

What's coming is another form of 'right-sizing'. Either you're connected to the 'pipeline' or you're not.

This 'Trade War' numbnuts is creating will be the excuse used to cripple the superfluous economies of the West. [Where the workers have become restive and troublesome, clamoring for more than just endless toil while praying ceaselessly for 'deliverance'.

The riots will be legendary and so will the carnage [if we fail to unite! We have a common enemy and it's right there hiding in plain sight!]

Stupid has no clue but YOU know. It's the guys in the blue uniforms and the ones they work for (politicians) and the ones they work for (the Oligarchs/One Percenters.)]

Puppets on a string, tied together by $

The already badly limping economy won't take much to cripple, in fact (with a shove from above) most will be shocked to see how 'fragile' it really is. [almost zero redundancy means zero back-up and it's been this way for DECADES, since 'Morning in America', thank you for asking!]

I'm a lot of things good citizen, one thing I'm seldom accused of is being 'right'...

I wouldn't doubt me this time. Tick-Tock good citizen, the clock is ticking and there ain't a thing you can do about it except UNITE, purge and re-establish order, [an inclusive one this time.] How pathetic that I have to include not only the less than pale complected but WOMEN too! [WTF!]

Most of what is being pointed at as 'division' is actually frustration over NOTHING being done.

IDEALLY we would remove those from power that have refused to do what their job dictates [and slap 'em in irons until the Exile facility can be prepared.] Not that ANYTHING goes 'ideally', ever.

Yeah, this time it won't be fire or flood, it will be FAMINE [the preferred tool of the truly feckless!]

Think they wouldn't? We're talking about a portion of society that routinely LIVES by the notion of 'F 'EM all and the dumb ones TWICE!'

United we Stand...divided we're scroomed.

Just a friendly reminder regarding where the bear shits from your old pal Gegner.

WOW

Greetings good citizen, I think I've used 'rudderless' as the title for a dozen posts by now but today's paper tells me society is officially clueless. I guess it can always get worse and at the center of it all is the media, which dug this hole with it's own selective point of view.

Vanity is a terrible thing and we all suffer from it (in varying degrees.) Coupled to vanity that is often born of King Kong sized egos is our consistent failure to face reality when it doesn't match our faith based beliefs.

I have repeatedly railed against ignorance so to see our communications networks so befouled with propaganda fills me with dread because there is one thing we can be sure of: This mob isn't capable of thinking! What mob is that? The bubble-gum snappin, god fearin' Trump votin' flag wavin' patriots who don't have a 'ng' to their name...(or their brain for that matter, which only serves to keep their hat rack from caving in.)

[Oh how they love their hats!]

Seems the CEO of Sinclair is incredulous at being singled out. He thinks his stations (and by inference, their practices) are just like everyone else's. It is apparently lost on him that Sinclair wouldn't even exist if not for the right-wing noise machine and it's cadre of One Percent backers.

One of today's editorials asked if the Republican party can recover from the clown posse that has taken over 'The Gipper's' grand revolt.

Just a personal opinion I suppose but since 'Morning in America' party politics are defunct and 'voting' [as it has been practiced] is now widely recognized as being an exercise in mental masturbation because the facts remain that YOU decide NOTHING!

The larger question is can humanity survive in a minimum information environment?

What if there was a 'one note song' [something along the lines of 'All is well, count your blessings and be happy!'] handed down from on high (like it always is) because the cheating feckless really want YOU to BELIEVE your life is as good as its EVER going to get so shut up already!

You wouldn't think it but they really are aware that their 'enjoyment' of peace is totally reliant [primarily on heavily armed henchmen] whose survival hinges on the 'relative happiness' of the population in general.

The hallmark of the Dark Ages was precisely that. 'Reality' was whatever you were told it was and 'dissent' was dealt with SEVERELY. Don't agree with official dogma? More often than not defying what passed for official wisdom [regardless of how foolish] meant death (if a sufficiently high enough Royal was in earshot.)

Guess what 'Fake News' paves the way for? Precisely that kind of 'dogma'...where what you think doesn't matter. If you 'disagree' you keep that to yourself because defiance of approved 'Happy Talk' invites death.

Speak out against deplorable conditions and get branded a troublemaker.

What's worse is they will use that to justify your execution.

Happy-Happy, Joy-Joy is born of the Dark Ages.

Stupid is just how they like' em.

Um, most of you are cool with 'go along to get along' but look at how that has worked out?

You live in a sewer dominated by criminals.

Now imagine a world where if you complain about EITHER, you life is forfeit...

Can't happen? IT DID and it lasted for a THOUSAND YEARS!

The next plague will wipe out Billions and the feckless won't care because that' what they do.

If YOU'RE cool with that just keep sitting on your hands and pretending there is nothing you can do. [Or take a page out of littel vegan girls book and go on a rampage over things that offend you personally.

WTF?

Thanks for paying attention...at least I hope you are.

Gegner

Prison

Greetings good citizen, it seems the POTUS is branching into another aspect of the industry primarily responsible for making him wealthy. Hospitality, but this time on the federal dime! [From today's NY Times]

Inside a Private Prison: Blood, Suicide and Poorly Paid Guards
By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS

A trial in Mississippi provides a rare glimpse into a world where mistreatment of inmates is commonplace, at a time when the Trump administration wants to expand the use of private prisons.

While Hospitals are sometimes called Hotels for the sick, prisons are, er, Accommodations where we keep law breakers.

This is where it gets interesting because at the forefront of this issue is why do we have prisons at all?

Short answer, because we don't want these 'dangerous' people living with us 'decent folk' BUT we don't want to kill them [that would make us no better than they are.]

So we relegate these dangerous types to a place where they can learn 'the error of their ways'.

What do you suppose the principle lesson the modern prison system teaches?

DON'T GET CAUGHT!

But you don't need prison to teach you that. There are tyrants a plenty pretty much everywhere you look under the 'Every man a King' system more commonly known as Capitalism.

Prison is about second chances...and a tidy profit if the OWNER plays their cards right!

Who keeps our burgeoning 'for profit' prisons packed with, er, 'headcount'? Why its the job of the Uniformed Thug! But more importantly, who profits from all of those state subsidized guests? Officers of the court! Almost every one of them is a share-owner in the newly founded 'Prisons Inc', brought to you by 'Morning in America.'

But as we can see, those turned away by the 'brotherhood of the badge' can join the minor league of pistol packing, badge toting bad asses, they can go to work for the prison system...which USED TO BE part of the civil service, just like the big leagues but not anymore. Not since they were privatized.

The typical state 'allots' a whopping $50,000 per prisoner, per year and this is just to house and shelter and monitor their overall health them. Anything else is an 'add on'. Need an aspirin? Now were talking hospital pricing! (not that they are actually going to give you one.)

Before the Conservative Revolution the very idea of profiting from state inflicted misfortune was reprehensible, it was viewed akin to 'double jeopardy' [making the prisoner pay twice for the same crime.]

But the conservative mind ISN'T 'normal'. Being card carrying opportunists they stay true to form and never think anything through!

The opportunist, first and foremost, has zero empathy. They can't even imagine the possibility that it could EVER be them wearing an Orange jumpsuit.

Oh, isn't it a coincidence that we have [since the advent of 'for profit prisons] seen the beginning of mass shooters who would rather kill themselves than be taken alive? [See today's headline for an explanation...wouldn't you?]

Even the psycho in Las Vegas offed himself rather than face prison. Sort of tells ya something, doesn't it?

Just a thought experiment here but what if this share owner thing was allowed to 'trickle down' to the arresting officer?

HOW FUCKING 'SAFE' DO YOU FEEL NOW?

Nothing personal but a fella has to take care of himself, doesn't he?

The uniformed thug doesn't care if you're guilty or not, he needs to keep the cells full so his share price doesn't drop!

[Where are our investigative reporters now?] What do you suppose would be revealed if we tore back the shroud behind this predatory business model masquerading as 'reform'?

With all of the other things we have on our plates isn't this one completely 'off radar'? It starts with the 'presumption of guilt' and it's compounded by the notion that they are getting what they deserve, who cares?

You would if it were you!

Does ANYBODY deserve that? [talk about cruel and unusual!]

While prisons exist to, er, 'punish' lawbreakers for minor offenses, there is no way to undo the damage prisons do and many occupying prison cells did nothing that can justify the time stolen from them. [considering prison is the most expensive form of 'birth control'.]

Can we let mismanagement and malfeasance sneak their ugly heads back in here for a moment?

This is why there will be no 'prisons' under ASP [The hash marks are there because there will be 'guards' posted around the exile compound which could be interpreted as being 'prison-like'.

Lord of the Flies Island will not be guarded [but the shark infested waters will be re-stocked routinely] Voluntary Exile for those not familiar with what Lord of the Flies implies...

It is NOT POSSIBLE to reform humans via incarceration so we have to be honest and wonder what they are REALLY up to? The motive is instantly obvious: prisoners = free labor, which the state 'sells' in sweetheart deals.

Whose a criminal now?

Me? I'm an affirmed member of the 'Don't take me alive' club.

For our species to advance we must stop the predation and bring the miscreants responsible to justice. [Exile and in some cases execute.]

Even if this means exiling the entire justice system and their bosses in government!

When it comes time to pay the piper I'm going to bet I have a lot of company in The Steely Dan fan club.

Most of 'em won't go willingly but that won't stop us from doing what needs to be done.

All non violent offenders will be released immediately and everyone else will have their convictions reviewed, MOST will be granted a '2nd chance'. Those deemed too unstable to release will be exiled.

But before we can restore justice to those who have been deprived of it we must first win justice for ourselves...and that means bringing the criminals to justice.

Thanks for opening your mind and sympathy to those of you who have loved ones languishing behind bars,

Gegner

Trump-e-nomics

Greetings good citizen, while the original term for 'fantasy economics' used to be Reaganomics, his successors have faithfully followed his lead, making each new generation an extension of their own faulty belief system.

The esteemed Mr. Krugman points to the economic carnage created by El Trumpo's predecessors and provides a snapshot of the effects produced by 'government: by, for and of the rich.'

So what is the matter with Trumpland?

For the most part I’m in agreement with Berkeley’s Enrico Moretti, whose 2012 book, “The New Geography of Jobs,” is must reading for anyone trying to understand the state of America. Moretti argues that structural changes in the economy have favored industries that employ highly educated workers — and that these industries do best in locations where there are already a lot of these workers. As a result, these regions are experiencing a virtuous circle of growth: Their knowledge-intensive industries prosper, drawing in even more educated workers, which reinforces their advantage.

And at the same time, regions that started with a poorly educated work force are in a downward spiral, both because they’re stuck with the wrong industries and because they’re experiencing what amounts to a brain drain.

While Mr. K points at 'polarization' do you honestly believe this phenomenon is due to all of the 'smart people' failing to vote? Voter turnout is only going lower as it becomes increasingly obvious the ballot box is FUBAR. Vote all you want, the deck is stacked and the game is rigged.

A puppet is a puppet and as long as the puppets take their marching orders from the same people it doesn't matter who keeps the seat warm.

For democracy to WORK YOU have to be able to vote DIRECTLY on the issue! [ANYTHING ELSE/LESS IS NOT DEMOCRACY!]

As long as the puppet keeps its masters happy, once elected he NEVER has to worry about the electorate ever again! YOU can't hold them accountable and all the puppet-master has to do to keep their prize toady is to keep giving you repellent choices as alternatives to the toad.

You still won't wake up and smell the coffee of stacked deck and rigged game.

Like the Devil's greatest accomplishment, we ignore his second best trick which has been to convince YOU that 'business is business' and 'politics are politics' when the two are one in the same!

Rethuglicans are 'framed' as being 'pro-business' while (the non-existent) Democrats USED TO BE 'framed' as being 'pro-labor'. [now they seem to be content to just be 'anti-rethuglican' (with zero definable characteristics.) [think TV's pathetic 'Not You's']

Might as well vote for a cardboard cut-out.

There are no 'pro-labor' politicians anymore, anywhere across the political spectrum...that's why NOBODY WORKS! [A MUCH LARGER problem than many of you suspect...]

Most of you suspect quite a bit.

The thing to keep in mind here is Trump was 'appointed' for a reason. What should have YOU shaking in your shoes (and peeing your pants) is that reason is connected to the 'surplus population problem'.

The time has come for the feckless to 'right-size'.

Starving us all to death would take too long and cause too much destruction, it's going to have to be something quicker that they can pin on a MADMAN.

Now do you see why we were herded down a chute in the last election?

If we don't revolt PRONTO you (and your's) probably won't survive. [How sad is it that most of you don't see a downside to this outcome?]

The clock is ticking and the Luna is on the move!

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner