How the Richest Earthian Humans got Richer and the Poorest got Poorer after 1980

By Richard John Stapleton

I was dismayed and depressed when the USian movie star president, Ronald Reagan, lowered the top federal income tax rate on USian incomes down to 28 percent in the 1980’s; but nobody I knew around here seemed to care.

What I thought would happen did happen: morbid inequality.

I also worried about the incipient income inequality caused by lowering the tax rates of the rich being exacerbated by the computer revolution.

It seemed obvious to me that copyrights on computer software, giving lucky Earthian humans like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg monopoly rights on software packages demanded by millions of Earthian humans would also lead to income inequality.

It costs almost nothing to copy, paste, and sell more copyrighted copies of demanded computer code to almost unlimited numbers of Earthian human consumers using personal entertainment and communication devices, and to corporate profit-making organizations in all countries operating agricultural, financial, insurance, health care, mining, manufacturing and distribution systems who use copyrighted software to cut their costs of production by employing simulated and real robots in menu talking systems, management information storage systems, and in manual labor systems rather than use expensive Earthian human robots.

Rather than say to hungry Earthian humans demanding bread “Let them eat cake” as Marie Antoinette did during the French revolution, the Earthian billionaire elite since 1980 has said the equivalent of “Let them eat information” as the Earthian computer revolution happened, and their net worth grew exponentially larger, automatically, with little work on their part, thanks to computer software and income tax cuts, among other things, as the poorest Earthian humans got poorer.

So far hordes of hungry Earthian humans have not brandished their pitchforks, or guillotines.

BACKSTORY

“The Gilded Age Then, the Gilded Age Now,” by Sam Pizzigati, COUNTERPUNCH, March 11, 2024, https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/03/11/the-gilded-age-then-the-gilded-age-now/?fbclid=IwAR1Btb3frOzTjszaLMSDUInVYPMMTyRObkcudwhKAU_2RDrFR4pPA2rG2OE.

How it Happened

Everything that happens is an inevitable accident; it was not planned using free will, but it was caused by inexorably-progressing cause-effect chains. It behooves Earthian humans to tie loose ends together in comprehensive whole pictures trying to let Earthian humans know what is really going on around Earth, regardless of the problems, given the robot-like programmed beliefs and behaviors of most Earthian humans, ensconced in their worm hole tunnels of existence, shut off from relevant outside information inputs, caused by concatenations of inexorably progressing infinitely-regressive cause-effect chains all around Spaceship Earth.

TOWARD THE CO-CONSTRUCTION OF SUSTAINABLE EARTHIAN PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS, INC. (EPDS)

Establishing democracy chapters around Spaceship Earth as described and recommended in As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases might develop consensual answers regarding existential matters from the bottom up that might help save Spaceship Earth. These ideas would filter up to randomly-selected humans who would count the consensual answers to make necessary changes. Consensual tactics, strategies, and policies would then be developed around Earth for dealing with the computerized Spaceship Earth management system, operated and controlled using artificial intelligence programming and supercomputers.

Randomly-selected groups of Earthian humans of high intelligence with impeccable moral and ethical character and credentials would control codes for changing the Earthian Magnum Computer System programming to implement bottom-up recommendations of millions of members in discussions in democracy chapters around Spaceship Earth. Each member of the group in charge of the codes for the magnum computer system would serve limited terms. These members would not vote or decide what to do. They would see to it that the computer system implemented the consensual answers of millions of Earthian humans from all walks of life, as determined by honest, free, fair, and frank democratic GAME-free discussions in democracy chapters all around Spaceship Earth, as explained and shown in As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases. The overall objective would be to manage the system in such a way as to maximize the lifetime satisfactions of all Earthian humans, as well as all other species of life aboard Spaceship Earth, while insuring the indefinite functioning of all Spaceship Earth ecosystems.

Necessary moral and ethical requirements and constraints could be programmed in the Magnum Management System that Earthian humans at the top would be obliged to obey. If changes should be made in the moral and ethical codes in the overall program they would be sent back to the Earthian democracy chapters for discussion and then tabulated and analyzed before algorithms programmed in the system would create changes in the magnum operating system.  

This computerized management system would require a strict system of security controls like the current codes of nations possessing nuclear weapons, hopefully providing security several magnitudes more secure than current nuclear codes, to make sure a madman could not get in control of any aspect of the system

A management system such as this would significantly improve previous systems used around Spaceship Earth that have historically empowered fickle, egotistical, greedy, power mad, grandiose, poorly educated, not-very-bright individual Earthian humans to make existential decisions affecting the OKness of thousands, millions, and billions of humans around Earth, that have been used over and over again for millennia, resulting in incredible losses and suffering at various moments of history caused by the unfair and indiscriminate inexorable tunneling out of bad, ok, or good luck for hundreds, thousands, millions, or billions of Earthian humans around Spaceship Earth, resulting from the cosmic evolution commencing with a big bang some fourteen billion years ago. Humans thus far in Earthian human history have not been caused to develop knowledge and decisions that prevents them from empowering greedy, selfish, power mad, narcissistic, not very bright leaders in their largest management systems over and over again.

A tough lesson for Earthian humans to accept propositioned in Effective Learning Publications books is that everything that happens in human states of affairs is either predetermined or accidental and therefore individuals are not to blame or praise for what happens in human states of affairs. This is easier to swallow after accepting that believing and acting otherwise will support and perpetuate the I’m OK—You’re Not OK life position that has bedeviled, sabotaged, and undermined Earthian humans since time immemorial, causing wars and other disasters.

The best way significant numbers of Earthian humans can be caused to be significantly changed psychologically and socially by others is through democratic face to face discussions in honest serious and rigorous dialectical, dialogical, analogical arguing about facts using reasoning of all kinds, dealing with Earthian human existential states of affairs over a relatively long period of time. Yet, this rarely happens.

What is considered natural, unnatural; normal, abnormal; right, wrong; ethical, unethical; righteous, sinful; worthy, unworthy; or sane or insane by a particular Earthian human is caused by information lodged in her/his brain caused to be lodged there by the concatenation of infinite cause-effect chains causing her/him to exist and slowly inch through the Earthian worm hole of existence inexorably tunneled out for her or him by her/his specific unbroken infinitely-regressing cause-effect chains inexorably-progressing throughout his/her infinitesimally short cosmic life, regardless of how bad, ok, or good that luck or fate might be as judged by any Earthian human; and all Earthian humans must keep on inching forward in their worm holes as best they can dealing with inevitable problems and opportunities caused to exist at stages in their unique tunnels, as they are knocked around like balls in a pin-ball machine, as events inevitably and/or accidentally happen externally and in their subconscious and conscious minds, however bad, ok, or good their inherited luck might have absolutely been, which cannot be proved, however easy it might be to relatively estimate.

Changing the life scripts of Earthian humans for the better requires changing the course of unique tunnels of existence in which individual humans accidentally and inevitably live, a tall order indeed. Some biological constructivists would consider this notion a pipe dream, while considering the whole process a meaningless drift in the infinity of time and space.

What is God? Whatever it was that caused the universe to exist.

For more information on the use of Transactional Analysis  to create better discussion groups and democratic processes read Born to Learn:  A Transactional Analysis of Human Learning

For more information on how to co-construct better organizations and economic systems using transactional analysis read Business Voyages:  Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Discovering and Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds

Read  “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc,”  for some management science ideas on how Earthian humans might eventually co-construct an economic system that is viable and satisfying for everyone aboard Spaceship Earth, making it possible for all Earthian humans to develop an I’m OK—You’re OK life position. 

Read As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases.

This novel shows how to conduct a new kind of seminar invented and coordinated by Rout Logger, the protagonist, that might reduce the probability of Earthian human extinction if widely implemented that requires participants in a seminar to speak up when randomly selected by a Truther rooster positioned in the center of a randomly-selected group of forty humans sitting in a circle.

The Truther rooster resembles a spinning weather vane. The rooster is programmed to bob its head up and down and crow after being twirled by a randomly-selected seminar participant, as it spins round and round winding down, letting group members know it’s time to wake up and get to work, before it’s too late. When the Truther rooster stops spinning whoever is at the end of a line of imaginary fire extending from the rooster’s beak to her or him sitting in the circle is automatically selected as the Leader of the Moment for the group.

The Leader of the Moment then leads the group into a democratic discussion of what s/he considers the most serious existential problem around Spaceship Earth.  Forty participants from all walks of life were paid $5000 monthly for participating in weekend seminars conducted in central city hotels in various cities randomly selected around the US. If randomly selected as the Leader of the Moment the participant would define what s/he thought was the most important problem facing Spaceship Earth, present alternatives, and make a recommendation for change. What s/he said was discussed by members of the group on a free-flow first come-first serve basis. It was against the law of the seminar to interrupt speakers or raise hands to get permission to speak. Discussions lasted until they ran out of steam. The results of the discussions were published to wealthy donors who financed the process.

Rout Logger was convinced most Earthian humans would not volunteer to participate in this sort of seminar to merely help save Spaceship Earth from GWCC (Global Warming and Climate Change) and/or MNWP (Militarization and Nuclear Weapons Proliferation) using their Nurturing Parent, Adult, and Free Child Ego States, given the reality that their life time and energy was already programmed and consumed with various forms of withdrawal, rituals, pastimes, psychological games, activities, and intimacy in their unique tunnels of reality, as they acted out their inherited life scripts; so they were paid $5000 per month to participate in a game-free, Adult-Adult democratic seminar that would require them to honestly discuss existential problems with forty other participants from disparate walks of life, if they were randomly selected by the spinning Truther Rooster as the Leader of the Moment.

Achieving Earthian human sustainability entails such things as Earthian humans peacefully reducing through natural attrition (natural deaths exceeding births) the human population aboard Spaceship Earth, never doing work that machines can do better, and delegating the day-to-day management of systems for scheduling, producing, and distributing the necessities of life to artificial intelligence programs and supercomputers, assuming sufficient quantities of non-human clean energy can be discovered and developed using mind grants.

This general algorithmic matrix algebra form can help bring this state of affairs about,

Max CjXj, s.t. AijXj ≤, =, or ≥ Bi,

explained in “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.”

This mathematical formulation could help develop power in economics loosely analogous to the power of E=mc2 in physics. This formulation, Max CjXj, subject to, AijXj ≤, =, or ≥ Bi, is a general form of the linear programming model, which has been around for many years in management science, operations research, and linear algebra courses.

Max CjXj, s.t. AijXj ≤, =, or ≥ Bi symbolizes knowledge that gives the Earthian human species about as much potential power to perpetuate itself as Albert Einstein’s formulation E=mc2 symbolizes knowledge that gives the Earthian human species the power to exterminate itself.

Riding aboard an airliner about to land at night traveling at four hundred miles an hour at thirty-five thousand feet with clouds, rain, wind, and lightning below, what would you rather have figuring out the path, speed, and angle of descent of the aircraft for touch-down, the plane’s auto-pilot, radar, and computer system or the pilot and co-pilot, seeing nothing out their windows below but clouds and lightning?

The main reason why delegating the scheduling, production, and distribution of the necessities of life to AI programs and magnum computers would be a good idea is that magnum computers and algorithmic AI programs do not get greedy and power hungry or play psychological GAMES. Thus far in Earthian human history most leaders and rulers atop large organizations such as nations have become corrupt one way or another playing psychological GAMES, acting out selfish greedy ego trips, hogging all the power, money, strokes, stimulation, and recognition they could get their hands on for themselves and their cronies, leaving the hindmost to their underlings. Whatever their limitations and possible threats, algorithmic computer programs and super computers are not egotistical, greedy, and power-hungry.

Thanks to Buckminster Fuller for providing the above airplane-landing metaphor in his book Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, first published in 1969, and for planting seeds for other ideas in the essay “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.,” published in the Effective Learning Report, such as computers being the best hope for mankind and humans not doing work machines can do better, being paid to think instead with what Fuller called mind grants. Fuller said unemployment all around Spaceship Earth could be eliminated overnight with mind grants. He was the inventor of the appellations Earthian and Spaceship Earth.   

Many Earthian humans like to win BALANCE SHEET psychological GAMES, to feel superior and lord it over others, regardless if Spaceship Earth is going to hell in a handbasket around them because of global warming and climate change (GWCC) and militarization and nuclear weapons proliferation (MNWP), regardless of how much they have failed in other areas of their lives, and regardless of how heinous were crimes and misdemeanors they may have gotten away with in the process of amassing their riches, since they were saved, as it were, by taking in and controlling more almighty monetary units than other lesser mortals.

If you want to learn more about transactional analysis, such as Ego States, Scripts, and psychological GAMES, read Born to Learn: A Transactional Analysis of Human Learning.

Most Earthian humans know what it is to be egotistical, but they have little understanding of how specific human egotistical manifestations, such as Parent, Adult, and Child ego states, can be used to control and manipulate human behavior for nefarious ends.

Most likely it would take several generations using learning processes such as the process described above including millions of Earthian humans all around Earth to change Earthian human behavior enough to cause the evolution of an Earthian management system such as described above that would be able to produce loving and cooperative Earthian humans and Earthian peace and sustainability, gradually rendering obsolete the greedy and selfish slash and burn competitive systems that have been caused to exist around Spaceship Earth.

For short run policies and strategies for dealing with USian economic and political problems see the platform of the FreeFairProgressParty .

A GAME-FREE CASE METHOD I’M OK—YOU’RE OK DEMOCRATIC TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS THAT MIGHT PRODUCE DEMOCRATIC DISCUSSIONS, LEARNING, AND POLICY FORMULATION AROUND EARTH

Richard John Stapleton, PhD, CTA would spin the spinner of his Classroom De-GAMER™ in his classes to randomly select a student at the beginning of each class session to lead a discussion of the case assigned for the day, a case taken from a planned or operating business prepared by case writers at Georgia Southern, Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Alabama.

This process insured that everyone would be relatively GAME-free transacting in class discussions. They all agreed to a learning contract at the outset of the course that they would read assigned cases and would be graded on the quantity and quality of ideas sold in the class market. Anyone caught obviously unprepared by the spinning De-GAMER would lose a whole letter grade from the course grade. No one could feel or think that s/he was being persecuted or rescued if selected to start the class discussion of the day by the Classroom De-GAMER™. The psychological GAME roles of Persecutor, Rescuer, and Victim were largely banished from the course learning process.

Stapleton sat in the same circle in the same kind of chair as students, and the De-Gaming rules also applied to him. If the Classroom De-GAMER™ landed on him he had to lay out the case just like any other student and discuss what was the problem, what were the alternatives, and what he recommended.

Grades were based eighty percent on class participation in dialectical discussions about what to do about problems and opportunities found in cases; the rest of the final grade was based on two case write-ups. One write-up was about what the student observed, researched, analyzed, and wrote about an existing business in the local environment or a business plan the student created. The other write-up was an analysis of a case researched and written by professors about a business assigned as the final exam. Cases used in his courses contained processes, problems, opportunities, and data occurring in all functional areas of business such as entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, operations management, control, management information systems, and business policy and strategy.

He has published refereed journal articles and books explaining how his democratic GAME-free Adult-Adult I’m OK—You’re OK case method system works, by banishing Persecutors, Rescuers, and Victims playing psychological GAMES from the teaching and learning process, first documented in an article titled “The Classroom De-GAMER” he published in 1978 in the Transactional Analysis Journal. He has published seven books and over one hundred articles in various media containing cases, research data, and essays on teaching and learning and management policies and practices.

Stapleton learned and trained using transactional analysis with Martin Groder, MD; Graham Barnes, PhD; Vann Joines, PhD; and many others at the Southeast Institute at Chapel Hill, North Carolina (1975-1978).

He was a Harvard Case Method teacher who never went to Harvard, having learned how the case method works teaching with Bernard Bienvenu, DBA and Rexford Hauser, DBA (Harvard Business School doctorates) at the University of Louisiana– Lafayette in 1969-70.

He has a BS in economics (1962), an MBA in organizational behavior (1966), and a PhD in management science (1969) from Texas Tech University, and an organizational and educational certification in transactional analysis (CTA) from the International Transactional Analysis Association (1978).

He taught his own case method track at the undergraduate level in the management department of the business school at Georgia Southern University offering four or five different elective case method courses each academic year (1970-2005), in which he led, coordinated, and graded about twenty-five or so students each year who took all or most of those case method courses in their junior and senior years, of about two hundred students who signed up for all his courses each year. He used a democratic circle or amphitheater classroom layout in all his classes. He also taught most semesters two sections of a capstone integrative business policy course he added to the business school curriculum in 1970 that was required for all undergraduate business majors that could be elected by any student in any major.  He was the only professor in the business school to use the case method in any course.

His students agreed to a course learning contract that stipulated they would read the facts of the case before class and would lose a whole letter grade from the course final grade if the De-GAMER randomly caught them obviously not having read the case before class, if they had not slipped a note under his office door before class telling him they had not read the case, which they could do twice during the course without penalty.

About ten percent of his students made A’s and about five percent made D’s. Most made C’s, which is about right, since C = Average. There were few F’s in his courses. The main criterion for course grades was the quantity and quality of ideas sold by students in case method discussions. He used peer ratings to give students feedback showing what their fellow students thought about the quantity and quality of their ideas sold in class, having made it clear the final decision about final grades was his. He did not believe in Lake Wobegon grading.

No student was ever forced to take one of his courses to graduate, and the most hardened Game-players in the school did not sign up for his courses after he issued his Edict of 1972 in which he clearly spelled out in his syllabi the penalty for getting caught unprepared. His Classroom De-GAMER™ was roundly discussed by students in bull sessions across campus every year and was labeled various things, such as The Wheel of Fate and The Death Wheel. Most students near the end of his career simply called it The Spinner.

He appreciated Georgia Southern honoring his academic freedom by allowing him control of his teaching methods, classroom layouts, grading procedures, and course books, cases, and materials, some of which he researched, wrote, and published. He was promoted to full professor at age thirty-six.

He solicited anonymous longitudinal research data using questionnaires in 1992 showing his case method students during 1972-1982 reported higher yearly incomes in 1992 than students electing the same courses in 1972-1982 taught by professors using the authoritarian lecture method and the militaristic row and column classroom layout, who graded students based on memorizing or calculating  “right answers” for tests, indicating learners learning in Adult—Adult I’m OK—You’re OK GAME-free democratic learning processes graded subjectively became more successful in the real world of business than learners lectured to and graded using so-called objective multiple-choice tests.  

Only former students who had worked in the real world ten or more years after graduating from the Georgia Southern business school were included in the study. The data are shown, analyzed, and discussed in full in “Evidence the Case Method Works” in his book Business Voyages: Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Discovering and Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds, 2008, pg. 475). The data were also used in several refereed articles.

The ancient Greeks used a similar random-selection democratic process in the Third Century BCE to select leaders of political discussions, learning, and policy formulation in their halls of government. Such a process is called sortition.

For more information on related classroom management ethical issues see Stapleton, R.J. and Murkison, G. “Optimizing the fairness of student evaluations: A study of correlations between instructor excellence, study production, learning production, and expected grades,” in the Journal of Management Education, 2001, 25(3), 269-292.

Stapleton had one of the lowest student grade point averages among professors in the business school and was one of the lowest-ranked professors as an instructor on computerized campus-wide student evaluations that weighted only instructor excellence scores up to 2000; but he was one of the highest-ranked professors in a computerized student evaluation he designed that generated data also showing and weighting study production, learning production, and expected grades scores for each professor, published in “Optimizing the Fairness of Student Evaluations.”

After this research was published, Georgia Southern in 2001 added study production, learning production, and expected grades questions to the student evaluation form used campus-wide.

“Optimizing the Fairness of Student Evaluations” has by now (March 2, 2024) been cited as a reference in 90 refereed journal articles concerned about the ethics of student evaluations in several academic disciplines, including 15 new citations since April 2021, proving the article is still being read and used by educators.

As the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein propositioned in his book Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, “The case is all there is.”

If so, everything else said about Earthian human states of affairs is a rendition of what was or might be.

For more on Stapleton’s cultural, educational, and professional experiences see “RJS Academic Vita,”

Feel free to share this article any way you see fit.

THE EARTHIAN — 43

THE EARTHIAN, Number Forty-Three, February 25, 2024, Effective Learning Publications, 32 East Main Street, Statesboro, Georgia, USA, Richard John Stapleton, Writer, Editor & Publisher, Copyright 2024, All Rights Reserved

Ask more what your country can do for all Earthians to reduce the probability of catastrophes caused by global warming and climate change (GWCC) and militarization and nuclear weapons proliferation (MNWP), the two major existential threats confronting humans and all Earthian species of fauna and flora.

Everything that happens is an inevitable accident; it was not planned using free will, but it was caused by inexorably-progressing cause-effect chains. It behooves Earthian humans to tie loose ends together in comprehensive whole pictures trying to let Earthian humans know what is really going on around Earth, regardless of the problems, given the robot-like programmed beliefs and behaviors of most Earthian humans, ensconced in their worm hole tunnels of existence, shut off from relevant outside information inputs, caused by concatenations of inexorably progressing infinitely-regressive cause-effect chains all around Spaceship Earth. — Richard John Stapleton

“I must quit marrying men who feel inferior to me. Somewhere, there must be a man who could be my husband and not feel inferior. I need a superior inferior man.” — Heddy Lamarr, Hollywood actress who invented wireless communication. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d….

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” — Buckminster Fuller, who said in his book Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth that Earthian humans are “abysmally ignorant and omni-befuddled.” https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d….

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESKTOP COMPUTER KEYBOARD

It’s been over two months since the last issue of The Earthian was published. The asymmetric Hamas/Gaza-Zionist/Israel killing field has been the most horrible event around Spaceship Earth. It grinds on seemingly with no solutions in sight, with about the same rhetoric about what to do in the short run, with some discussion of whether a two or a one state solution would be best in the long run. As pointed out below it seems to me a one state solution is best. But for right now, there is only one viable solution: a ceasefire. Likewise, the Ukraine War also continues to grind on. I have no suggestions for how to bring it to a halt, but I will say I think the leadership of all the parties to the war—the US, NATO, Ukraine, and Russia—is the root cause of the fiasco. How to get better Earthian human leadership is another matter, a horrendously complex problem, involving the internal political processes of all the countries. How the United States will sort out its troubling internal political and legal problems is probably foremost in the minds of most USians. Will it be Biden or Trump as president after November 24, 2024? Will the US be able to work out democratic solutions, or will it sink into a fascist authoritarian anti-intellectual dictatorship? Meanwhile Planet Earth continues to heat up and more polar ice melts, causing more destructive and costly extreme weather events all around Earth irrespective of religious, economic, and political ideologies and boundaries.

Everything that happens is an inevitable accident. Nothing planned it using free will, but it was caused by infinite cause-effect chains. — RJS.

CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE

1 — RECENT EXISTENTIAL ARTICLES, IDEAS, AND COMMENTS BY HUMANS ABOARD SPACESHIP EARTH

2 — OPINION OF A HYPOTHETICAL EXONEXUS OBSERVER FROM A PLANET BEYOND THE EARTHIAN SOLAR SYSTEM

3 — TOWARD THE CO-CONSTRUCTION OF SUSTAINABLE EARTHIAN PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS, INC. (SEPDC)

4 — A GAME-FREE I’M OK—YOU’RE OK DEMOCRATIC CASE METHOD TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS THAT COULD PRODUCE DEMOCRATIC DISCUSSIONS, LEARNING, AND POLICY FORMULATION AROUND EARTH

AN EARTHIAN ELDER SPEAKS

“So, I guess what I’m saying is that, as we can establish that the earth is a sphere, and thus finite, then growth in your population and artifacts must have limits. And, your lack of a social-economic system to recognize those limits is leading us all to diaster.” — KOKO

See and read more about KOKO, the gorilla who knew over 1,000 words.

1 — RECENT EXISTENTIAL ARTICLES, IDEAS, AND COMMENTS BY HUMANS ABOARD SPACESHIP EARTH

February 29, 2024

Here’s a major elephant in the room most USians do not want to talk about. — RJS

“Joe Biden wants you to believe that spending money on weapons is good for the economy. That tired old myth — regularly repeated by the political leaders of both parties — could help create an even more militarized economy that could threaten our peace and prosperity for decades to come. Any short-term gains from pumping in more arms spending will be more than offset by the long-term damage caused by crowding out new industries and innovations, while vacuuming up funds needed to address other urgent national priorities.” — by William Hartung

“War is Bad for You…and the Economy,” by William Hartung, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/02/28/war-is-bad-for-you-and-the-economy/?fbclid=IwAR1dJMKxyHl23bxDgYrVFev_zbUzitdkKf-Yg7m-enTG0weF206MPiqS_C0.

February 29

“Putin is responsible for Alex Navalny’s death. Again, this is true but irrelevant to the subject at hand. Whether or not Russian agents had anything to do with Navalny’s poisoning in 2020, the regime did try him on trumped up charges and did imprison him in a colony on the Arctic Circle, where he died at the age of 47. This was a tragedy but not a great surprise. With the brief exception of the Gorbachev regime (1985-1991), Russian rulers from the czars onward have often persecuted domestic dissenters, and Putin’s government is no exception. But this does not constitute a threat to Europe unless one is a neo-con ideologue trying to construct a neo-Cold War struggle between “democratic” and “authoritarian” blocs.” — Richard E. Rubenstein

“More Anti-Russian Hysteria From the New York Times,” by Richard E. Rubenstein, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/02/29/more-anti-russian-hysteria-from-the-new-york-times/?fbclid=IwAR1oS1qSajmobS5eiM3Z_Kvsouwcz7JkDT2NH5ZxBAcb-pmT1LzGaav3w84.

February 29, 2024

“In the minds of many, the US state of Vermont is an idyllic place of trees, mountains, ski resorts, craft beer and people with lots of money. In all honesty, Vermont does have its share of all these things. However, like any other place in the world’s capitalist economy, they come at a price. Until recently, that price was mostly hidden from the bulk of Vermont’s residents and even more of its visitors. However, the combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and the drastic reordering of that capitalist economy that followed has revealed the ugly underside of Vermont’s picture-book reality. Like most of the rest of the world, the unhoused live on the streets of the state’s small cities, panhandling, living out their lives’ dramas and wondering where they can sleep out of the cold. An epidemic of drug addiction uglier than any I have ever seen makes its presence known in those streets, in the property crime statistics and in the numbers of overdoses reported by various public health officials and police. Given the visual evidence, I can’t help but wonder how many more addicts hide behind their rural and suburban homes.

“As is all too often the case across our nation, Vermont’s governor is joining the chorus of those calling for more people to be put in prison because the media and various conservative groups are exaggerating the crime situation in Vermont. The question is how many liberal legislators will go along with the governor’s alarmist and reactionary rhetoric. Already, how to respond to the rise in illegal activity in the state’s largest city, Burlington, is becoming a major election issue in the contest between the candidates.” — Ron Jacobs

“Unchained Capitalism: A Demonic Theology,” by Ron Jacobs, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/02/29/unchained-capitalism-a-demonic-theology/.

February 23, 2024

A Ray of Light

I have watched and listened to this video for the second time all the way through, and I do not think it’s bullshit, and I have read much of Jeremy Griffin’s 595-page well-thought, well-reasoned, well-researched, well-crafted, well-documented, well-presented book, entitled Freedom. Griffin provides the best summary answers i have seen and heard explaining how Earthian human states of affairs got as “upset” (Griffin’s word) as they are and what must be done to make corrections. This video is not a book sales pitch. His book Freedom really is free. You can download it to your desktop free at www.humancondition.com. Jeremy Griffin is an Australian biologist, inventor, entrepreneur, researcher, author, and speaker who has done some serious thinking about human behavior. He presents his case with his authentic Australian accent speaking and writing in a straightforward manner devoid of manipulation, hyperbole, and drama, backed by a well-funded and well-organized ethical worldwide movement. This video is well worth a watch and listen and the free book is well worth a read. I guarantee you have never seen a book like Freedom. — RJS

“The Breakthrough Biological Explanation of the Human Condition,” by Jeremy Griffin,, a video interview, WORLD TRANSFORMATION MOVEMENT, https://www.humancondition.com/?fbclid=IwAR1LMWMVfLVXd7QXbyScoojIpJ4WjJyrz001duKz1UdqcuckDhdzt1rfDtA.

February 25

Jeremy Griffin is the first international thinker I remember explicitly pointing out that a solution to the current Earthian human “upset” (Griffin’s word) cannot be solved overnight by a magic bullet like socialism or fascism. He says it will probably take several generations to change the current brainwashing of Earthian humans to create a new way of life lived by loving and cooperative Earthian humans instead of the current way of life lived by selfish, aggressive, competitive Earthian humans. — RJS

“The Human Condition and Fix the World,” by Jeremy Griffin, a video of endorsements, https://www.facebook.com/worldtransformationmovement/videos/6100488106723694.

February 25

“If Gaza falls, all Palestinians in the rest of Palestine will become the new target for Israeli violence, ethnic cleansing and, if necessary, genocide.

“Reducing all these issues to that of finding creative political solutions that would merely sell false hope to the Palestinian people is not only ignorant, or devious, but also a diversion from the real issue: Israel’s Zionist ideology.

“Zionism, like all racist colonial ideologies, operates with a zero-sum approach to their relationship with the natives of colonized land: dominance through ethnic cleansing and genocide.

“For ‘long-term peace’ to take place, Zionism must end.” — Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is “These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity Press, Atlanta). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim University (IZU). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net

“’Two-State Solution’ as a Distraction: The Problem is Zionism,” by Ramzy Baroud, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/02/23/two-state-solution-as-a-distraction-the-problem-is-zionism/?fbclid=IwAR2ErtiDWTuktaDOS9_TISbhAzfD3u-LJQyvsep-RWDz9_onYTm6yw9-v7U.

February 24

Yuk

“The Fastest Warming on Earth,” by Robert Hunziker, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/02/23/the-fastest-warming-on-earth/?fbclid=IwAR2SoBKuBD4wtVn0E9iP7YdLZAJFL0877lx4UIGJyNLDmMADU5wJ2dFhzmI.

February 23

How many USians just want to watch the US burn to the ground? — RJS

“The researchers came up with a term to describe the motivation behind these all-purpose conspiracy mongers. They called it the “need for chaos,” which they defined as “a mindset to gain status” by destroying the established order. In their study, nearly a third of respondents demonstrated a need for chaos, Petersen said. And for about 5 percent of voters, old-fashioned party allegiances to the Democratic Party or the Republican Party melted away and were replaced by a desire to see the entire political elite destroyed—even without a plan to build something better in the ashes.

“’These [need-for-chaos] individuals are not idealists seeking to tear down the established order so that they can build a better society for everyone,’ the authors wrote in their conclusion. ‘Rather, they indiscriminately share hostile political rumors as a way to unleash chaos and mobilize individuals against the established order that fails to accord them the respect that they feel they personally deserve.’ To sum up their worldview, Petersen quoted a famous line from the film The Dark Knight: ‘Some men just want to watch the world burn’.” — Derek Thompson, The Atlantic

“The Americans Who Need Chaos,” by Derek Thompson, THE ATLANTIC, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/the-americans-who-need-chaos/ar-BB1iLqx6?ocid=socialshare&fbclid=IwAR3sTDzY9J90QrPNFbvoOKQctAC8jhlFkg9TYmYpfX37DVfIXmHcuw934HU.

February 23

Barbarity and Insanity — RJS

“’We Didn’t Get All The Way There On Jan 6’: Trump Booster Pledges to End Democracy in CPAC Rant as Bannon Cheers On,” by Jennifer Bowers Bahney, MEDIAITE, https://www.mediaite.com/trump/welcome-to-the-end-of-democracy-trump-booster-jack-posobiec-vows-to-finish-what-began-on-jan-6-as-steve-bannon-cheers-on/?fbclid=IwAR1erMWgHDd_H9SbZHIA92UeryI72iJKHoKlPPVyvdP8CuJkY0Btv7c-AW0.

February 23

Parasitical all right — RJS

“Unheeded Urban Warnings,” by Gray Brechin, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/02/22/unheeded-urban-warnings/?fbclid=IwAR0OBBJz91Tj1daAD_sJLprG10qKSSYFkNVRxloWdCQ4TkUjSHia04nn7cI.

February 23

Another excellent summary article by the indefatigable Paul Street tying together loose ends to let Earthian humans know what is really going on, as if that makes much difference, given the robot-like programmed beliefs and behaviors of most Earthian humans, ensconced in their worm hole tunnels of existence caused by infinite concatenations of cause-effect chains all around Earth, shut off from relevant outside information inputs. — RJS

“500,000 Dead and Maimed in Ukraine, Enough Already,” by Paul Street, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/02/22/500000-dead-and-maimed-in-ukraine/?fbclid=IwAR3CXUdjAtI1e1YK1o7xv4bLfQcUyMCcRSp4ggKWix3q3lPdmFQKHEhDlxc.

February 21

Why a two-state solution cannot work

I posted on my Facebook page about this several weeks ago. It seems obvious to me that a two-state solution cannot work. How could it? How could you possibly fairly divide what Israel has conquered and stolen since 1948 into two plots of ground that would satisfy both ethnic groups? This would entail millions of Jews moving back into what would be called Israel from what would be called Palestine. No, only a one state solution stands a snowball’s chance in hell of creating a fair and sustainable solution. It would entail changing the name of the whole plot of ground to something that would be acceptable to both Zionists and Palestinians, writing a new constitution fair to both ethnic groups who could live wherever they wanted in the whole plot of ground, and Jews giving back to individual Palestinians land and houses Zionists stole since 1948. This solution might not stand a snowball’s chance in hell either, but at least it might melt slower than the two state absurdity. — RJS

“CRITICAL CONDITIONS

“Instead of pushing for a two-state outcome that has almost no prospect of materializing, Washington should recognize the current reality and use its influence to enforce adherence to international laws and norms by all parties. The United States has long avoided holding Israel to those standards; the Biden administration has gone further, shielding Israel from the United States’ own laws. (In January, an investigation by The Guardian found that since 2020, the U.S. State Department had used “special mechanisms” to continue providing weapons to Israel despite a U.S. law prohibiting assistance to foreign military units involved in gross human rights violations.) That needs to change. Simply by upholding the rules-based liberal international order, Washington could do much to mitigate the darkest injustices of the present situation. Such an approach would not be about Washington dictating what the Israelis and the Palestinians should do. Rather, it is about ending the anomalous practice of using significant U.S. resources to empower behavior that the U.S. finds objectionable and that even conflicts with U.S. interests.” — Foreign Affairs, read more in the article below

“The Two-State Mirage,” by Marc Lynch and Shibley Tehami, FOREIGN AFFAIRS, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/two-state-mirage-gaza-palestinians-lynch?utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR3gTD6FYZlwPLsuOqG1_F-8bKzNxEalIVJftNdsPYXuS54B45RCjV4KE3M.

February 13

Not only an army general but a USian president — RJS

“Ulysses S. Grant: Speech at the Annual Reunion of the Society of the Army of Tennessee at Des Moines, Iowa, 29 September 1875″, by Mike Marion, https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10229678728819934&set=a.3225424401929.

February 13

“Sapolsky says that we have no choice in how to react and respond to a situation. According to him, there is no such thing as free will, Sapolsky argues that “Put all the scientific results together from all the relevant scientific disciplines, and there’s no room for free will.”

“The lack of free will, he says, means that people are not accountable for their good or bad behaviors, a perspective that has attracted some skepticism.

“’If we ‘freely’ choose to do something but there was never a possibility of choosing something else, we’re not free. And if we’re not free, Sapolsky says, there is no more reason to castigate a killer than to punish a broken machine. Killers should receive medical and psychological treatment to address the larger issues that caused the problem,” Stanford magazine states about Sapolsky’s concept of the absence of free will in humans.” —Marjorie Hecht

“Prepared Learning: What Are Humans Hard-Wired for at Birth,” by Marjorie Hecht, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/02/12/prepared-learning-what-are-humans-hard-wired-for-at-birth/?fbclid=IwAR1CJAjdt3jmZc0OuYuAE5k4mqs8zu637C3CHLC_DAPQhlhqViRuNz_vQcY.

February 13

Perspectives on economics and politics

About 25 percent of USian eligible voters are Republican Trumpites; about 25 percent of USian eligible voters are traditional Biden Democrats; about 40 percent of USian eligible voters are Independents; about 10 percent of eligible USian voters are left-leaning Democrats and Moderate Republicans.

If a USian presidential candidate such as Cornel West, RFK Jr, Gavin Newsome, Gretchen Whitcomb, Elizabeth Warren, or Jill Stein could receive 60 percent of the votes of eligible Independents, left-learning Democrats, and moderate Republicans she or he could win the USian presidential race of 2024, without stealing votes from traditional Biden Democrats.

Forces of change are more likely to foster a more peaceful and sustainable Spaceship Earth than forces of conformity. One can build a case in the real world of economics and politics there is no such thing as right or wrong, that there is merely functioning, OK, Not-OK, or Not at all.

If only the US had a rank-order system of voting USians would have truer democracy; but, alas, if only a frog had wings….

Unfortunately fascist forces in the US through time have done their best to eliminate democratic processes via petty rules in the US to gain unfair advantages for themselves in competitive endeavors, working for their own selfish interests rather than for the interests of all citizens, sub-optimizing, damaging the whole by debilitating a part. — RJS

read more…

“West is Best,” by Richard John Stapleton, EFFECTIVE LEARNING REPORT, https://blog.effectivelearning.net/west-is-best/?fbclid=IwAR2mirkX02eDvFScsGmROlOG6rnBwZ6gEjAKy9GImmITzQVTC6YjnPAQtj8.

August 24, 2023

According to biological constructivists, Earthian humans are closed systems that will not or cannot change unless forced to change by force majeure events. They will conserve as long as possible their original sources of biological, psychological, social, religious, cultural, economic, and political satisfactions. As psychiatrists and clinical psychologists know, Earthian humans cannot change their early psychological programming in the short run even if they want to.

Randomly-selecting leaders of the moment in democratic Adult-Adult Game-free I’m OK—You’re OK discussion processes is a way of creating pseudo-free will, a way of causing concatenations of Earthian human cause-effect chains that would not have happened in naturally-evolving states of nature.

What Spaceship Earth needs now are bottom-up Game-free Adult-Adult I’m OK—You’re OK democratic discussion processes that can significantly empower all Earthian humans.

“Earthian Empowerment Systems,” by Richard John Stapleton, EFFECTIVE LEARNING REPORT,

2 — OPINION OF A HYPOTHETICAL EXONEXUS OBSERVER FROM A PLANET BEYOND THE EARTHIAN SOLAR SYSTEM

Earthian humans are enthralled, manipulated, and in various degrees controlled by their leaders in some two hundred countries aboard Spaceship Earth. Leaders became leaders because of being caused to be leaders by concatenations of unbroken cause-effect chains resulting after our universe started evolving some thirteen billion years ago in the infinity of time and space.

Leaders are generally products of the same sorts of differentiated configurations of cause-effect chains as differentiated followers and members in differentiated countries. All Earthian humans are doing what they were caused to do in their daily lives starting at birth.

Earth as a planet was formed about 4.5 billion years ago and has undergone innumerable transformations in the meantime. Humanoid creatures have been aboard Spaceship Earth for some two million years, and they too have undergone numerous evolutionary changes, as have other Earthian species.

Unfortunately, Earthian humans have now reached a precarious and dangerous stage in their evolution as biological creatures. After slowly evolving more and more accurate, complex, and powerful understandings, technologies, and ways of life for two million years on Earth, during the last two hundred years Earthian humans evolved new technological devices at exponential rates that enabled them to increase the overly-fecund Earthian human population of Earth so much that they now threaten not only to destroy their own existence as a species aboard Spaceship Earth but also the existence of most other species alive on Earth.

Keeping eight or so billion Earthian humans alive on Earth has required so many goods and services to be produced to satisfy human biological and psychological needs and wants and so much carbon-based fuel to be burned to produce the goods that the climate of Spaceship Earth has been altered by carbon dioxide and methane gas released into the Earthian atmosphere in large-enough quantities to cause extra heat to be trapped on Earth causing the mean Earthian temperature to increase at a yearly rate that threatens to destroy Earthian human life as it now exists, within centuries, if not decades.

Unfortunately, Earthian humans have also developed technological knowledge that has enabled them to produce over 10,000 nuclear weapons that could destroy human life if dropped and detonated around Earth, as they have the capability to do.

3 — TOWARD THE CO-CONSTRUCTION OF SUSTAINABLE EARTHIAN PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS, INC. (EPDC)

Establishing democracy chapters around Spaceship Earth as described and recommended in As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases might develop consensual answers regarding existential matters from the bottom up that might help save Spaceship Earth. These ideas would filter up to randomly-selected humans who would count the consensual answers to make necessary changes. Consensual tactics, strategies, and policies would then be developed around Earth for dealing with the computerized Spaceship Earth management system, operated and controlled using artificial intelligence programming and supercomputers.

Randomly-selected groups of Earthian humans of high intelligence with impeccable moral and ethical character and credentials would control codes for changing the Earthian Magnum Computer System programming to implement bottom-up recommendations of millions of members in discussions in democracy chapters around Spaceship Earth. Each member of the group in charge of the codes for the magnum computer system would serve limited terms. These members would not vote or decide what to do. They would see to it that the computer system implemented the consensual answers of millions of Earthian humans from all walks of life, as determined by honest, free, fair, and frank democratic GAME-free discussions in democracy chapters all around Spaceship Earth, as explained and shown in As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases. The overall objective would be to manage the system in such a way as to maximize the lifetime satisfactions of all Earthian humans, as well as all other species of life aboard Spaceship Earth, while insuring the indefinite functioning of all Spaceship Earth ecosystems.

Necessary moral and ethical requirements and constraints could be programmed in the Magnum Management System that Earthian humans at the top would be obliged to obey. If changes should be made in the moral and ethical codes in the overall program they would be sent back to the Earthian democracy chapters for discussion and then tabulated and analyzed before algorithms programmed in the system would create changes in the magnum operating system.  

This computerized management system would require a strict system of security controls like the current codes of nations possessing nuclear weapons, hopefully providing security several magnitudes more secure than current nuclear codes, to make sure a madman could not get in control of any aspect of the system

A management system such as this would significantly improve previous systems used around Spaceship Earth that have historically empowered fickle, egotistical, greedy, power mad, grandiose, poorly educated, not-very-bright individual Earthian humans to make existential decisions affecting the OKness of thousands, millions, and billions of humans around Earth, that have been used over and over again for millennia, resulting in incredible losses and suffering at various moments of history caused by the unfair and indiscriminate inexorable tunneling out of bad, ok, or good luck for hundreds, thousands, millions, or billons of Earthian humans around Spaceship Earth, resulting from the cosmic evolution commencing with a big bang some fourteen billion years ago. Humans thus far in Earthian human history have not been caused to develop knowledge and decisions that prevents them from empowering greedy, selfish, power mad, narcissistic, not very bright leaders in their largest management systems over and over again.

A tough lesson for Earthian humans to accept propositioned in Effective Learning Publications books is that everything that happens in human states of affairs is either predetermined or accidental and therefore individuals are not to blame or praise for what happens in human states of affairs. This is easier to swallow after accepting that believing and acting otherwise will support and perpetuate the I’m OK—You’re Not OK life position that has bedeviled, sabotaged, and undermined Earthian humans since time immemorial, causing wars and other disasters.

The best way significant numbers of Earthian humans can be caused to be significantly changed psychologically and socially by others is through democratic face to face discussions in honest serious and rigorous dialectical, dialogical, analogical arguing about facts using reasoning of all kinds, dealing with Earthian human existential states of affairs over a relatively long period of time. Yet, this rarely happens.

What is considered natural, unnatural; normal, abnormal; right, wrong; ethical, unethical; righteous, sinful; worthy, unworthy; or sane or insane by a particular Earthian human is caused by information lodged in her/his brain caused to be lodged there by the concatenation of infinite cause-effect chains causing her/him to exist and slowly inch through the Earthian worm hole of existence inexorably tunneled out for her or him by her/his specific unbroken infinitely-regressing cause-effect chains inexorably-progressing throughout his/her infinitesimally short cosmic life, regardless of how bad, ok, or good that luck or fate might be as judged by any Earthian human; and all Earthian humans must keep on inching forward in their worm holes as best they can dealing with inevitable problems and opportunities caused to exist at stages in their unique tunnels, as they are knocked around like balls in a pin-ball machine, as events inevitably and/or accidentally happen externally and in their subconscious and conscious minds, however bad, ok, or good their inherited luck might have absolutely been, which cannot be proved, however easy it might be to relatively estimate.

Changing the life scripts of Earthian humans for the better requires changing the course of unique tunnels of existence in which individual humans accidentally and inevitably live, a tall order indeed. Some biological constructivists would consider this notion a pipedream, while considering the whole process a meaningless drift in the infinity of time and space.

What is God? Whatever it was that caused the universe to exist.

For more information on the use of Transactional Analysis  to create better discussion groups and democratic processes read Born to Learn:  A Transactional Analysis of Human Learning

For more information on how to co-construct better organizations and economic systems using transactional analysis read Business Voyages:  Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Discovering and Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds

Read  “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc,”  for some management science ideas on how Earthian humans might eventually co-construct an economic system that is viable and satisfying for everyone aboard Spaceship Earth, making it possible for all Earthian humans to develop an I’m OK—You’re OK life position. 

Read As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases.

This novel shows how to conduct a new kind of seminar invented and coordinated by Rout Logger, the protagonist, that might reduce the probability of Earthian human extinction if widely implemented that requires participants in a seminar to speak up when randomly selected by a Truther rooster positioned in the center of a randomly-selected group of forty humans sitting in a circle.

The Truther rooster resembles a spinning weather vane. The rooster is programmed to bob its head up and down and crow after being twirled by a randomly-selected seminar participant, as it spins round and round winding down, letting group members know it’s time to wake up and get to work, before it’s too late. When the Truther rooster stops spinning whoever is at the end of a line of imaginary fire extending from the rooster’s beak to her or him sitting in the circle is automatically selected as the Leader of the Moment for the group.

The Leader of the Moment then leads the group into a democratic discussion of what s/he considers the most serious existential problem around Spaceship Earth.  Forty participants from all walks of life were paid $5000 monthly for participating in weekend seminars conducted in central city hotels in various cities randomly selected around the US. If randomly selected as the Leader of the Moment the participant would define what s/he thought was the most important problem facing Spaceship Earth, present alternatives, and make a recommendation for change. What s/he said was discussed by members of the group on a free-flow first come-first serve basis. It was against the law of the seminar to interrupt speakers or raise hands to get permission to speak. Discussions lasted until they ran out of steam. The results of the discussions were published to wealthy donors who financed the process.

Rout Logger was convinced most Earthian humans would not volunteer to participate in this sort of seminar to merely help save Spaceship Earth from GWCC and/or MNWP using their Nurturing Parent, Adult, and Free Child Ego States, given the reality that their life time and energy was already programmed and consumed with various forms of withdrawal, rituals, pastimes, psychological games, activities, and intimacy in their unique tunnels of reality, as they acted out their inherited life scripts; so they were paid $5000 per month to participate in a game-free, Adult-Adult democratic seminar that would require them to honestly discuss existential problems with forty other participants from disparate walks of life, if they were randomly selected by the spinning Truther Rooster as the Leader of the Moment.

Achieving Earthian human sustainability entails such things as Earthian humans peacefully reducing through natural attrition (natural deaths exceeding births) the human population aboard Spaceship Earth, never doing work that machines can do better, and delegating the day-to-day management of systems for scheduling, producing, and distributing the necessities of life to artificial intelligence programs and supercomputers, assuming sufficient quantities of non-human clean energy can be discovered and developed using mind grants.

This general algorithmic matrix algebra form can help bring this state of affairs about,

Max CjXj, s.t. AijXj ≤, =, or ≥ Bi,

explained in “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.” .

This mathematical formulation could help develop power in economics loosely analogous to the power of E=mc2 in physics. This formulation, Max CjXj, subject to, AijXj ≤, =, or ≥ Bi, is a general form of the linear programming model, which has been around for many years in management science, operations research, and linear algebra courses.

Max CjXj, s.t. AijXj ≤, =, or ≥ Bi symbolizes knowledge that gives the Earthian human species about as much potential power to perpetuate itself as Albert Einstein’s formulation E=mc2 symbolizes knowledge that gives the Earthian human species the power to exterminate itself.

Riding aboard an airliner about to land at night traveling at four hundred miles an hour at thirty-five thousand feet with clouds, rain, wind, and lightning below, what would you rather have figuring out the path, speed, and angle of descent of the aircraft for touch-down, the plane’s auto-pilot, radar, and computer system or the pilot and co-pilot, seeing nothing out their windows below but clouds and lightning?

The main reason why delegating the scheduling, production, and distribution of the necessities of life to AI programs and magnum computers would be a good idea is that magnum computers and algorithmic AI programs do not get greedy and power hungry or play psychological GAMES. Thus far in Earthian human history most leaders and rulers atop large organizations such as nations have become corrupt one way or another playing psychological GAMES, acting out selfish greedy ego trips, hogging all the power, money, strokes, stimulation, and recognition they could get their hands on for themselves and their cronies, leaving the hindmost to their underlings. Whatever their limitations and possible threats, algorithmic computer programs and super computers are not egotistical, greedy, and power-hungry.

Thanks to Buckminster Fuller for providing the above airplane-landing metaphor in his book Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, first published in 1969, and for planting seeds for other ideas in the essay “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.,” published in the Effective Learning Report, such as computers being the best hope for mankind and humans not doing work machines can do better, being paid to think instead with what Fuller called mind grants. Fuller said unemployment all around Spaceship Earth could be eliminated overnight with mind grants. He was the inventor of the appellations Earthian and Spaceship Earth.   

Many Earthian humans like to win BALANCE SHEET psychological GAMES, to feel superior and lord it over others, regardless if Spaceship Earth is going to hell in a handbasket around them because of global warming and climate change (GWCC) and militarization and nuclear weapons proliferation (MNWP), regardless of how much they have failed in other areas of their lives, and regardless of how heinous were crimes and misdemeanors they may have gotten away with in the process of amassing their riches, since they were saved, as it were, by taking in and controlling more almighty monetary units than other lesser mortals.

If you want to learn more about transactional analysis, such as Ego States, Scripts, and psychological GAMES, read Born to Learn: A Transactional Analysis of Human Learning.

Most Earthian humans know what it is to be egotistical, but they have little understanding of how specific human egotistical manifestations, such as Parent, Adult, and Child ego states, can be used to control and manipulate human behavior for nefarious ends.

For short run policies and strategies for dealing with USian economic and political problems read free the platform of the FreeFairProgressParty .

4 — A GAME-FREE CASE METHOD I’M OK—YOU’RE OK DEMOCRATIC TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS THAT COULD PRODUCE DEMOCRATIC DISCUSSIONS, LEARNING, AND POLICY FORMULATION AROUND EARTH

Richard John Stapleton, PhD, CTA would spin the spinner of his Classroom De-GAMER™ in his classes to randomly select a student at the beginning of each class session to lead a discussion of the case assigned for the day, a case taken from a planned or operating business prepared by case writers at Georgia Southern, Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Alabama.

This process insured that everyone would be relatively GAME-free transacting in class discussions. They all agreed to a learning contract at the outset of the course that they would read assigned cases and would be graded on the quantity and quality of ideas sold in the class market. Anyone caught obviously unprepared by the spinning De-GAMER would lose a whole letter grade from the course grade. No one could feel or think that s/he was being persecuted or rescued if selected to start the class discussion of the day by the Classroom De-GAMER™. The psychological GAME roles of Persecutor, Rescuer, and Victim were largely banished from the course learning process.

Stapleton sat in the same circle in the same kind of chair as students, and the De-Gaming rules also applied to him. If the Classroom De-GAMER™ landed on him he had to lay out the case just like any other student and discuss what was the problem, what were the alternatives, and what he recommended.

Grades were based eighty percent on class participation in dialectical discussions about what to do about problems and opportunities found in cases; the rest of the final grade was based on two case write-ups. One write-up was about what the student observed, researched, analyzed, and wrote about an existing business in the local environment or a business plan the student created. The other write-up was an analysis of a case researched and written by professors about a business assigned as the final exam. Cases used in his courses contained processes, problems, opportunities, and data occurring in all functional areas of business such as entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, operations management, control, management information systems, and business policy and strategy.

He has published refereed journal articles and books explaining how his democratic GAME-free Adult-Adult I’m OK—You’re OK case method system works, by banishing Persecutors, Rescuers, and Victims playing psychological GAMES from the teaching and learning process, first documented in an article titled “The Classroom De-GAMER” he published in 1978 in the Transactional Analysis Journal. He has published seven books and over one hundred articles in various media containing cases, research data, and essays on teaching and learning and management policies and practices.

Stapleton learned and trained using transactional analysis with Martin Groder, MD; Graham Barnes, PhD; Vann Joines, PhD; and many others at the Southeast Institute at Chapel Hill, North Carolina (1975-1978).

He was a Harvard Case Method teacher who never went to Harvard, having learned how the case method works teaching with Bernard Bienvenu, DBA and Rexford Hauser, DBA (Harvard Business School doctorates) at the University of Louisiana– Lafayette in 1969-70.

He has a BS in economics (1962), an MBA in organizational behavior (1966), and a PhD in management science (1969) from Texas Tech University, and an organizational and educational certification in transactional analysis (CTA) from the International Transactional Analysis Association (1978).

He taught his own case method track at the undergraduate level in the management department of the business school at Georgia Southern University offering four or five different elective case method courses each academic year (1970-2005), in which he led, coordinated, and graded about twenty-five or so students each year who took all or most of those case method courses in their junior and senior years, of about two hundred students who signed up for all his courses each year. He used a democratic circle or amphitheater classroom layout in all his classes. He also taught most semesters two sections of a capstone integrative business policy course he added to the business school curriculum in 1970 that was required for all undergraduate business majors that could be elected by any student in any major.  He was the only professor in the business school to use the case method in any course.

His students agreed to a course learning contract that stipulated they would read the facts of the case before class and would lose a whole letter grade from the course final grade if the De-GAMER randomly caught them obviously not having read the case before class, if they had not slipped a note under his office door before class telling him they had not read the case, which they could do twice during the course without penalty.

About ten percent of his students made A’s and about five percent made D’s. Most made C’s, which is about right, since C = Average. There were few F’s in his courses. The main criterion for course grades was the quantity and quality of ideas sold by students in case method discussions. He used peer ratings to give students feedback showing what their fellow students thought about the quantity and quality of their ideas sold in class, having made it clear the final decision about final grades was his. He did not believe in Lake Wobegon grading.

No student was ever forced to take one of his courses to graduate, and the most hardened Game-players in the school did not sign up for his courses after he issued his Edict of 1972 in which he clearly spelled out in his syllabi the penalty for getting caught unprepared. His Classroom De-GAMER™ was roundly discussed by students in bull sessions across campus every year and was labeled various things, such as The Wheel of Fate and The Death Wheel. Most students near the end of his career simply called it The Spinner.

He appreciated Georgia Southern honoring his academic freedom by allowing him control of his teaching methods, classroom layouts, grading procedures, and course books, cases, and materials, some of which he researched, wrote, and published. He was promoted to full professor at age thirty-six.

He solicited anonymous longitudinal research data using questionnaires in 1992 showing his case method students during 1972-1982 reported higher yearly incomes in 1992 than students electing the same courses in 1972-1982 taught by professors using the authoritarian lecture method and the militaristic row and column classroom layout, who graded students based on memorizing or calculating  “right answers” for tests, indicating learners learning in Adult—Adult I’m OK—You’re OK GAME-free democratic learning processes graded subjectively became more successful in the real world of business than learners lectured to and graded using so-called objective multiple-choice tests.  

Only former students who had worked in the real world ten or more years after graduating from the Georgia Southern business school were included in the study. The data are shown, analyzed, and discussed in full in “Evidence the Case Method Works” in his book Business Voyages: Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Discovering and Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds, 2008, pg. 475). The data were also used in several refereed articles.

The ancient Greeks used a similar random-selection democratic process in the Third Century BCE to select leaders of political discussions, learning, and policy formulation in their halls of government. Such a process is called sortition.

For more information on related classroom management ethical issues see Stapleton, R.J. and Murkison, G. “Optimizing the fairness of student evaluations: A study of correlations between instructor excellence, study production, learning production, and expected grades,” in the Journal of Management Education, 2001, 25(3), 269-292.

Stapleton had one of the lowest student grade point averages among professors in the business school and was one of the lowest-ranked professors as an instructor on computerized campus-wide student evaluations that weighted only instructor excellence scores up to 2000; but he was one of the highest-ranked professors in a computerized student evaluation he designed that generated data also showing and weighting study production, learning production, and expected grades scores for each professor, published in “Optimizing the Fairness of Student Evaluations.”

After this research was published, Georgia Southern in 2001 added study production, learning production, and expected grades questions to the student evaluation form used campus-wide.

“Optimizing the Fairness of Student Evaluations” has by now (March 2, 2024) been cited as a reference in 90 refereed journal articles concerned about the ethics of student evaluations in several academic disciplines, including 15 new citations since April 2021, proving the article is still being read and used by educators.

As the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein propositioned in his book Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, “The case is all there is.”

If so, everything else said about Earthian human states of affairs is a rendition of what was or might be.

For more on Stapleton’s cultural, educational, and professional experiences see “RJS Academic Vita,”

Feel free to share this journal any way you see fit.

Lift Me Up, My Legs, So I Might Walk Somewhere in a Straight Line

By Richard John Stapleton

The title of this article came to me as I was pondering some recent experiences. I thought it had an allegorical ring to it, so I posted it standing alone as a comment on my Facebook page. But after giving it more thought I decided it was absurd standing alone so I trashed it. But waking up today I decided it did make a little sense so I re-posted it with the following attached.

At age 83 I have been having arthritic-like pain with my bones and joints, especially in my left knee. I had knee problems playing football in high school. Had to wear braces on both knees on the football field my senior year in high school.

A friend who had undergone some physical therapy for knee problems told me recently about a technique for standing up she had learned in her process of treatment. I have been using it for a few weeks and by golly it worked. The pain in my left knee has about gone away. All you have to do to strengthen your knees when you get up and out of a chair is put your knees together, clasp your hands together, hold your arms out and up, and stand up straight.

To maximize the benefits of the process you also need to do this when you sit down in the first place. It’s not easy but it strengthens muscles and ligaments above and below your knees, in my case lowering and lifting about 180 pounds of weight (210 pounds total weight minus approximately 30 pounds in my legs doing the lifting) maybe half the times I stand up or sit down in the house (it would look a little strange doing this out in public but it could be done there).

As to the walking in a straight line phrase in the above utterance, since my left leg, the leg with the worst knee, is 5/8 of an inch longer than the right one, I have always had a tendency to walk in curved lines. Because of muscle and ligament realignment caused by my new way of lowering and lifting myself in and up and out of chairs it’s now easier to walk in a straight line.

On the other hand, the above utterance is not as absurd for all Earthian humans as it might seem, being somewhat metaphorical, since it generally behooves everyone to walk in a straight line achieving goals and getting things done, not getting distracted by irrelevancies causing you to walk around in circles, getting nowhere.

And one thing most older people need to do to maximize their chances of living as long as they might is to lift themselves up and out of chairs and walk anywhere, not only to slow the degeneration of their muscles, ligaments, and joints, but improve their blood circulation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard John Stapleton, PhD, CTA would spin the spinner of his Classroom De-GAMER™ in his classes to randomly select a student at the beginning of each class session to lead a democratic discussion of the case assigned for the day, a case taken from a planned or operating business prepared by case writers at Georgia Southern, Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Alabama.

Stapleton sat in the same circle in the same kind of chair as students, and the De-Gaming rules also applied to him. If the Classroom De-GAMER™ landed on him he had to lay out the case just like any other student and discuss what was the problem, what were the alternatives, and what he recommended.

Grades were based eighty percent on class participation in dialectical discussions about what to do about problems and opportunities found in cases; the rest of the final grade was based on two case write-ups. One write-up was about what the student observed, researched, analyzed, and wrote about an existing business in the local environment or a business plan the student created. The other write-up was an analysis of a case researched and written by professors about a business assigned as the final exam. Cases used in his courses contained processes, problems, opportunities, and data occurring in all functional areas of business such as entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, operations management, control, management information systems, and business policy and strategy.

He has published refereed journal articles and books explaining how his democratic GAME-free Adult-Adult I’m OK—You’re OK case method system works, by banishing Persecutors, Rescuers, and Victims playing psychological GAMES from the teaching and learning process, first documented in an article titled “The Classroom De-GAMER” he published in 1978 in the Transactional Analysis Journal. He has published seven books and over one hundred articles in various media containing cases, research data, and essays on teaching and learning and management policies and practices.

Stapleton learned and trained using transactional analysis with Martin Groder, MD; Graham Barnes, PhD; Vann Joines, PhD; and many others at the Southeast Institute at Chapel Hill, North Carolina (1975-1978).

He was a Harvard Case Method teacher who never went to Harvard, having learned how the case method works teaching with Bernard Bienvenu, DBA and Rexford Hauser, DBA (Harvard Business School doctorates) at the University of Louisiana– Lafayette in 1969-70.

He has a BS in economics (1962), an MBA in organizational behavior (1966), and a PhD in management science (1969) from Texas Tech University, and an organizational and educational certification in transactional analysis (CTA) from the International Transactional Analysis Association (1978).

He taught his own case method track at the undergraduate level in the management department of the business school at Georgia Southern University offering four or five different elective case method courses each academic year (1970-2005), in which he led, coordinated, and graded about twenty-five or so students each year who took all or most of those case method courses in their junior and senior years, of about two hundred students who signed up for all his courses each year. He used a democratic circle or amphitheater classroom layout in all his classes. He also taught most semesters two sections of a capstone integrative business policy course he added to the business school curriculum in 1970 that was required for all undergraduate business majors that could be elected by any student in any major.  He was the only professor in the business school to use the case method in any course.

His students agreed to a course learning contract that stipulated they would read the facts of the case before class and would lose a whole letter grade from the course final grade if the De-GAMER randomly caught them obviously not having read the case before class, if they had not slipped a note under his office door before class telling him they had not read the case, which they could do twice during the course without penalty.

About ten percent of his students made A’s and about five percent made D’s. Most made C’s, which is about right, since C = Average. There were few F’s in his courses. The main criterion for course grades was the quantity and quality of ideas sold by students in case method discussions. He used peer ratings to give students feedback showing what their fellow students thought about the quantity and quality of their ideas sold in class, having made it clear the final decision about final grades was his. He did not believe in Lake Wobegon grading.

No student was ever forced to take one of his courses to graduate, and the most hardened Game-players in the school did not sign up for his courses after he issued his Edict of 1972 in which he clearly spelled out in his syllabi the penalty for getting caught unprepared. His Classroom De-GAMER™ was roundly discussed by students in bull sessions across campus every year and was labeled various things, such as The Wheel of Fate and The Death Wheel. Most students near the end of his career simply called it The Spinner.

He appreciated Georgia Southern honoring his academic freedom by allowing him control of his teaching methods, classroom layouts, grading procedures, and course books, cases, and materials, some of which he researched, wrote, and published. He was promoted to full professor at age thirty-six.

He solicited anonymous longitudinal research data using questionnaires in 1992 showing his case method students during 1972-1982 reported higher yearly incomes in 1992 than students electing the same courses in 1972-1982 taught by professors using the authoritarian lecture method and the militaristic row and column classroom layout, who graded students based on memorizing or calculating  “right answers” for tests, indicating learners learning in Adult—Adult I’m OK—You’re OK GAME-free democratic learning processes graded subjectively became more successful in the real world of business than learners lectured to and graded using so-called objective multiple-choice tests.  

Only former students who had worked in the real world ten or more years after graduating from the Georgia Southern business school were included in the study. The data are shown, analyzed, and discussed in full in “Evidence the Case Method Works” in his book Business Voyages: Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Discovering and Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds, 2008, pg. 475). The data were also used in several refereed articles.

The ancient Greeks used a similar random-selection democratic process in the Third Century BCE to select leaders of political discussions, learning, and policy formulation in their halls of government. Such a process is called sortition.

For more information on related classroom management ethical issues see Stapleton, R.J. and Murkison, G. “Optimizing the fairness of student evaluations: A study of correlations between instructor excellence, study production, learning production, and expected grades,” in the Journal of Management Education, 2001, 25(3), 269-292.

Stapleton had one of the lowest student grade point averages among professors in the business school and was one of the lowest-ranked professors as an instructor on computerized campus-wide student evaluations that weighted only instructor excellence scores up to 2000; but he was one of the highest-ranked professors in a computerized student evaluation he designed that generated data also showing and weighting study production, learning production, and expected grades scores for each professor, published in “Optimizing the Fairness of Student Evaluations.”

After this research was published, Georgia Southern in 2001 added study production, learning production, and expected grades questions to the student evaluation form used campus-wide.

“Optimizing the Fairness of Student Evaluations” has by now (December 14, 2024) been cited as a reference in 90 refereed journal articles concerned about the ethics of student evaluations in several academic disciplines, including 16 new citations since April 2021, proving the article is still being read and used.

As the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein propositioned in his book Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, “The case is all there is.”

If so, everything else said about Earthian human states of affairs is a rendition of what was or might be.

For more on Stapleton’s cultural, educational, and professional experiences see “RJS Academic Vita,”

Feel free to share this article any way you see fit.

Who are the Legitimate Heirs of the Land of Israel-Palestine?

By William John Cox

If the State of Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people is justified by the Holy Bible, their story begins with the migration of the family of Abraham from Ur (Iraq) and his obeisance to King Melchizedek, the “Priest of the God Most High,” at Jerusalem. According to Genesis (18:19), Abraham and “his children and his household after him” were commanded by GOD to “keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice.” As the covenant of Abraham to peacefully share Israel-Palestine is organic to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, who are the legitimate heirs of the land?

There is little archeological confirmation of the expansive realms of Kings David and Solomon described in the Bible; however, there are extensive ruins of the contemporary northern Kingdom of Israel. Following the conquest of this biblically “sinful” kingdom by the Assyrians around 720 BCE, the northern “ten tribes of Israel” were not “lost,” but their leaders and chariot warriors were deported to northern Iraq. Ninety percent of the population remained, with some migrating to the area of Jerusalem, where their separate religious books were combined.

Although the southern Kingdom of Judah never extended much beyond the city-state of Jerusalem, its walls and temple were destroyed in 586 BCE by the Babylonians, who removed its leadership. During their exile, a scholarly sect of rabbis (masters of the law) began to teach an “Oral” Torah. When the Persians (Iranians) conquered Babylon (Iraq) in 539 BCE, King Cyrus freed the Judahite captives, allowed them to return to Jerusalem, and helped them to rebuild their temple.

During the following centuries, the descendants of Israel in the north and Judah in the south continued to populate the land throughout its conquest in 329 BCE by Alexander the Great, and its subsequent rule by the Greeks. The religious leaders of the priestly Sadducees supported Hellenization, and later, the Pharisaic rabbis collaborated with the Romans, who defeated the briefly independent, indigenous Hasmonaean Kingdom in 63 BCE and
subjugated the inhabitants of the province the Romans labelled Syria Palaestina.

The poor people of the land continued to follow the ancient Abrahamic religion, and increasingly they were led by the Essenes (Osim, or “Doers of the Law”) who documented the Way of Righteousness and whose library at Qumran included the Dead Sea Scrolls. They established an alternative priesthood and provided the priestly “Sons of Light” leadership of the Zealots who rebelled against Roman domination.

With the Roman defeat of the Zealot revolution in 74 CE and the destruction of Jerusalem, the youth of the land were transported into slavery. The Sadducees and Levite priesthood disappeared from history; however, the rabbis of the sect of Pharisees continued to cooperate with the Romans and relocated their academy to a coastal village. Expanding their Oral Torah, the Pharisees evolved into rabbinic Judaism, with their descendants in the Diaspora becoming the Jews of today.

The people who remained in the land continued to endure the rule of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires until the Muslim conquest in the seventh century, when most were converted to the Abrahamic religion of Islam. Generally, as “People of the Book,” the status of Rabbinic Judaism improved within the Islamic Empire, while the Jews in Europe suffered
discrimination under the Holy Roman Empire and other Christian governments that falsely accused them of murdering Jesus Christ.

Following the deadliest of the Jewish persecutions–the Nazi genocide of European Jewry known as The Holocaust–the survivors and members of the Zionist movement revolted against England’s Mandate for Palestine and established the State of Israel in 1948 as a homeland for the Jewish people. The victors violently expelled hundreds of thousands of the resident Palestinian descendants of ancient Israelites and Judahites from the land.

At the same time, a legal “right of return” and automatic Israeli citizenship was provided to all Rabbinic Jews, worldwide, including the Sephardic Jews from areas once occupied by the Islamic Empire and the Ashkenazi Jews from Europe.

Modern genetic testing establishes that Israeli Jews and Palestinian men descended from the same parental ancestors who resided in the land 2,000 years ago. Ostensibly, Orthodox Judaism (and the state) only recognizes matrilineal descent; however, 8 percent of the mitochondrial DNA maternal lineages of Ashkenazi Jews are traced to mothers of European descent.

Today, the only realistic difference between the two groups of Abrahamic descendants residing in the land is their relative military power to violently achieve and maintain religious, political, and social dominance–all in defiance of the original commandment to peacefully coexist with righteousness and justice.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

William John Cox is an America public-interest lawyer who represented an Auschwitz Survivor and prosecuted “The Holocaust Case” in 1981 against the radical organizations that denied the Nazi genocide, contracted for the publication of the suppressed Dead Sea Scrolls in 1991 on behalf of a still-secret client, and authored The Way of Righteousness: A Revealing History and Reconciliation of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. For more on William John Cox go here.

THE EARTHIAN — 42

The Forty-Second Issue of a Management Systems Journal Concerned About Existential Earthian Human States of Affairs, December 1, 2023, Effective Learning Publications, 32 East Main Street, Statesboro, Georgia, USA, Richard John Stapleton, Editor & Publisher, Copyright 2023, All Rights Reserved

ASK MORE WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR ALL EARTHIANS—TO REDUCE THE PROBABILITY OF EXTINCTIONS—CAUSED BY GLOBAL WARMING AND CLIMATE CHANGE (GWCC) AND/OR MILITARIZATION AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROLIFERATION (MNWP)

CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE

1 — PERSPECTIVE OF A HYPOTHETICAL EXONEXUS OBSERVER FROM A PLANET BEYOND THE EARTHIAN SOLAR SYSTEM

2 — RECENT EXISTENTIAL ARTICLES, IDEAS, AND COMMENTS

3 — TOWARD THE CO-CONSTRUCTION OF EARTHIAN PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS, INC. (EPDS)

4 — A GAME-FREE CASE METHOD TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS THAT WOULD PRODUCE DEMOCRATIC DISCUSSIONS, LEARNING, AND POLICY FORMULATION AROUND EARTH

AN EARTHIAN ELDER SPEAKS

“So, I guess what I’m saying is that, as we can establish that the earth is a sphere, and thus finite, then growth in your population and artifacts must have limits. And, your lack of a social-economic system to recognize those limits is leading us all to diaster.”

See and read more about KOKO, the gorilla who knew over 1,000 words.

1 — OPINION OF A HYPOTHETICAL EXONEXUS OBSERVER FROM A PLANET BEYOND THE EARTHIAN SOLAR SYSTEM

Earthian humans are enthralled, manipulated, and in various degrees controlled by their leaders in some two hundred countries aboard Spaceship Earth. Leaders became leaders because of being caused to be leaders by concatenations of unbroken cause-effect chains resulting after our universe started evolving some thirteen billion years ago in the infinity of time and space.

Leaders are generally products of the same sorts of differentiated configurations of cause-effect chains as differentiated followers and members in differentiated countries. All Earthian humans are doing what they were caused to do in their daily lives starting at birth.

Earth as a planet was formed about 4.5 billion years ago and has undergone innumerable transformations in the meantime. Humanoid creatures have been aboard Spaceship Earth for some two million years, and they too have undergone numerous evolutionary changes, as have other Earthian species.

Unfortunately, Earthian humans have now reached a precarious and dangerous stage in their evolution as biological creatures. After slowly evolving more and more accurate, complex, and powerful understandings, technologies, and ways of life for two million years on Earth, during the last two hundred years Earthian humans evolved new technological devices at exponential rates that enabled them to increase the overly-fecund human population of Earth so much that they now threaten not only to destroy their own existence as a species aboard Spaceship Earth but also the existence of most other species alive on Earth.

Keeping eight or so billion humans alive on Earth has required so many goods and services to be produced to satisfy human biological and psychological needs and wants and so much carbon-based fuel to be burned to produce the goods that the climate of Spaceship Earth has been altered by carbon dioxide gas released into the Earthian atmosphere in large-enough quantities to cause extra heat to be trapped on Earth causing the mean Earthian temperature to increase at a yearly rate that threatens to destroy Earthian human life as it now exists, within centuries, if not decades.

Unfortunately, Earthian humans have also developed technological knowledge that has enabled them to produce over 10,000 nuclear weapons that could destroy human life if dropped and detonated around Earth, as they have the capability to do.

2 — RECENT EARTHIAN EXISTENTIAL ARTICLES, IDEAS, AND COMMENTS    

October 19, 2012

ON WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS

“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.

“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” — Holy Bible, New International Version

Seems prophetic alright, but it also normalizes war, and hopelessness, except for the “saved”. Saved from what, the eternal fires of a vengeful god? What greater torture could there be than that, created by a supposedly loving god. It’s bad enough to be bombed and tortured in wars by deranged not very bright sadistic Earthian humans, but getting punished and tortured eternally by a god for not keeping a “faith” is off the charts for cruelty and callousness. — RJS

November 21

“WERE THE BIBLICAL PROPHETS ANTI-SEMITIC,” BY MICHAEL HUDSON, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG.

Michael Hudson, the greatest economic historian alive, ties it all together in this article, the most relevant and illuminating article I have read in a good while. It’s a should-read for all Earthian humans. Seems to me there was not an old man up there in the sky with a long white beard wearing a long white robe on a white puffy cloud with a walking stick in his hand telling Jewish prophets what to do about economic policy: It was some highly intelligent Earthian humans called prophets considering rationality itself (truth, justice, mercy, love, etc.) God. — RJS

July 29

“THE CENTER CANNOT HOLD,” BY PAUL STREET, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG

Grieve this doesn’t happen. –– RJS

October 19

ISRAEL IS COMMITTING AN EPIC WAR CRIME WITH US BACK AND US ARMS, BY DAVE LINDORFF, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG

Say it aint so Joe — RJS

October 14

“THE WAR IS NOT MEANT TO BE WON,” BY ADMINISTRATOR, THE BURNING PLATFORM

This article is too cynical perhaps but it contains more than a grain of truth.

Here is what a renowned USian diplomat and historian had to say about the problem:— RJS

“Were the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military-industrial establishment would have to go on, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented. Anything else would be an unacceptable shock to the American economy.” George F. Kennan (1904-2005), quote published in Foreword to ‘The Pathology of Power’” by Norman Cousins (Norton, 1987), from At a Century’s Ending: Reflections 1982-1995 (Norton, 1997, ISBN 0-393-31609-2), Part II: Cold War in Full Bloom, p. 118. Read more at https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_F._Kennan

October 14

FREE PALESTINE, BY AMEL MENJOUR, FACEBOOK

Why not just create a new name for the place, like the United States of Western Asia, or some such, perhaps something like the United State of Judah, Palestine, Israel, and Edum, giving all inhabitants equal rights of citizenship, with no mention of religion in a new constitution, save perhaps one sentence stating the United State of Judah, Israel, Palestine, and Edum shall pass no laws respecting the efficacy or irrelevance of religion, like the United States of America did in its constitution, the bravest and best thing the USian founders did. — RJS

October 36

DOES ISRAEL HAVE A RIGHT TO EXIST?, (W/MIKO PELED), YOUTUBE.COM

Here is the best video I have watched and listened to on the problem in Israel/Palestine. Well worth a look and listen.— RJS

October 25

“THE GREEN IS THE ARAB WORLD. THAT TINY SPECK IS ISRAEL,” BY ELISHEVA NEUMAN, FACEBOOK

The land of Israel has been populated by the Jewish people since 2000 BC. Here’s the timeline, in case you didn’t realize that it is their homeland.

1900 BC: Abraham chosen by God as the Father of the Jewish Nation.

1900 BC: Isaac, Abraham’s son, rules over Israel.

1850 BC: Jacob, son of Issac, rules over Israel.

1400 BC: Moses leads the people out of Egypt and back to Israel.

1010 BC: King David unites the 12 tribes into one nation.

970 BC: King Solomon, son of David, builds the first temple structure in Jerusalem

930 BC: Israel is divided into two kingdoms, the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah.

800s BC: The rise of the prophets, God’s messengers.

722 BC: Kingdom of Israel is conquered by Assyrians.

605 BC: Kingdom Judah is conquered by the Babylonians.

586 BC: Solomon’s Temple is destroyed by the Babylonians.

539 BC: Persians conquer the Babylonians and take control of Israel.

538 BC: The Jews return to Israel from exile.

520 BC: The Temple is rebuilt.

450 BC: Reforms made by Ezra and Nehemiah.

433 BC: Malachi is the end of the prophetic age.

432 BC: The last group of Jews return from exile.

333 BC: The Greeks conquer the Persian empire.

323 BC: The Egyptian and Syrian empire take over Israel.

167 BC: Hasmonean’s recapture Israel, and the Jews are ruled independently.

70 BC: Romans conquer Israel.

20 BC: King Herod builds the “second” temple

6 BC: Yeshua is born in Bethlehem

70 AD: Romans destroy the temple

After that, the people were captives to the Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, and Crusaders. Through all of these events, the Jewish people continued to live in Israel. There were more or less of them, depending on the centuries, but there was never a time when the Jews didn’t live in the land. They stayed, they built their communities, they raised their families, practiced their faith and they suffered at the hands of many outside rulers, but they always kept their faith. It is what sustains them, even now.

In 1948, the UN established the State of Israel, the nation of Jews. Don’t listen to the Palestinian lies that they are entitled to the land. It simply is not true. God will also provide a way for his chosen people to live in Israel, as He has for thousands of years. Pray for the people of Israel. — copied by Elisheva Neuman

Very sad. Map makes the stark reality of the problem clear. Why would anyone have wanted in 1948 to put a state like Israel in this situation in the first place? Included in the comments below is an excellent utube video containing a refreshing answer. Well worth a look and listen. — RJS

Shows ya competent Arabs are — SB

In my fantasy novel, the dragons and witches promised that land to me! — MR

I’m an Atheist so I’m not buying any of that right to ownership crap. Israel can have their land. However, the Palestinian people also deserve to have their land with their own government and not continue to live in an apartheid state. And yes, Hamas should be destroyed. — PB

Can you show in scripture where Israel is mentioned and where exactly on that map is Palestine? — DS

As you know, Richard, this is a myth-filled fake history, until it gets to 1948, and even there he falsifies the one solidly accurate sentence with fundamentalist prophecy. — PG

The land of Israel, is a greater land mass now, than during the time it had two states (Israel and Judea). There were many of other groups residing in Palestine. Elisheva Neuman, Do you live in Israel? If not would you like it if someone tried to expel you from your home? — CS

I see a lot of Zionist live out of Israel. So how do they justify their rights to ownership in a foreign land? When you consider that you may then have sympathetic understanding of the Palestinians plight. We need to dismantle borders. — CS

Israel including the USA makes a difference – GC

The Bible is made up bullshit. — TS

The Zionists and Hebrews have been manipulating the Bible in their favor. Israel is the barren fig tree, the modern Pharisees. Israel is so racist, that they killed Jesus because He wasn’t from David’s house. — MR

The only problem is, it’s presenting mythology as fact and then using that to justify genocide…otherwise yeah sure, spot on. — JS

Why do you think that these people of today are the same as two thousand years ago? And why don’t you understand that when Jesus came the covenant changed? — JK

Get rid of religion and treat everyone as an equal

It’s not hard

Both think they are superior to the other because of religion — MJ

Though I sympathize with the people of Israel this argument is faulty for if man gave back the land to its ancestral beginnings then dismantle America, England Europe and so many other countries. Why would Israel be the only country restored to its ancestral lands. The only argument I can see is why not let them both learn to share a small slither of earth and have other countries stay out of the affairs the region. Stop the racism and apartheid. Both nations need leaders that want to get along and live in peace versus destroy one another and get the world out of your nation. They are both being used by other nations for their own political financial agenda that doesn’t seem to benefit either group who live in the region. Overly simplistic answers to a complicated problem or is our only solution when we don’t like one another is to destroy the other. If so then man still lives in caves and progress is just a dressing. We are not ready for the stars because we can’t solve our oldest problems. — HP

The god stuff is Made up nonsense. The land is land. It’s not holy and it’s not worth losing one life over — MS

We are all inhabitants, temporarily placed here to know ourselves and learn how to get along with each other… all places are good for all of us… humankind has been on this earth for millennia. there is a real purpose for our temporary life on this Earth…which we still need to understand so we move forward, instead of keep coming back to make the same mistakes. — AA

A bunch of Eastern European Slavs and Western Jews who had never set foot on this Unholy Land, nor their ancestors for over 2,000 years, are suddenly, by Biblical fiat, entitled to displace its residents and apartheid these untermensch, this life unworthy of life, into Warsaw-like ghettos to be treated like animals? — CJ

Doesn’t that prove Jews can live in peace with Arab Muslims, and it’s the Zionists who are the problem? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIX368TtOJs… — TD

Exactly! It’s really just geopolitical. — SC

Palestinians are Semitic peoples — AO

Maybe this video will help set the matter straight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8M0mYzD8ZY — RJS

The territory of Palestine is one of the most strategically located parts of the planet, flanking the Suez Canal which is vital to the world economy. Having a Western style nation in control of it is advantageous to US Imperialism. — DK

DK, wise fellow. — EC

DK, good point. Sad but true — RJS

November 14

THE TWO-STATE SOLUTION FOR PALESTINE HAS LONG BEEN A “JOKE” EVEN IN UNITED NATIONS CIRCLES,” BY PETER BOLTON, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG

Here is my take on the situation.

All the US needs now is another costly war in Western Asia. Europeans, Zionists, and USians have made a hell of a mess of the situation in Palestine for over seventy-five years, having done seven or so times as much damage to Palestinians as Palestinians have done unto them. Zionists and their supporters have projected onto the Palestinians what they have done unto the Palestinians: destroying their existence as a state, stealing more and more Palestinian land and property, having by now reduced Palestinian territory to two small apartheid slivers of its original size before 1948, concentration camps for surviving Palestinians, having hypocritically used the Jewish religion and the German Jewish holocaust as an excuse for their colonial-settler crimes. End this barbaric merciless cruelty and callousness. Cease firing and bombing now! Both sides! Change the name of the state now called Israel to something acceptable to all inhabitants within its borders. Write a new constitution providing equal rights for all inhabitants, including a sentence in the new constitution stating the state shall pass no laws respecting the efficacy or irrelevance of religion, one of the things USians did right in their constitution. This would cure the overall problem in Israel/Palestine, if anything would, as screwed-up as Earthian human states of affairs are now in general. — RJS

November 13

BIDEN VISITS HITLER’S BUNKER, SENDS FOR A DECORATOR: ISRAEL AND UKRAINE EDITION, BY ROB URIE, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG

Say it aint so Joe

November 2

NO LONGER A DEMOCRAT, BY L. MICHAEL HAGER, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG

Say it aint so Joe

November 2. 

IS THERE SUCH A THING AS A “JUST WAR”?, BY ALFRED DE ZAYAS, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG

More on war than most Earthian humans want to know — RJS

“What we know of history is mostly a form of literature akin to politicized fiction. Histories are written to legitimize the authority of the powerful, to justify the result of the wars and apportion blame as necessary for the desired political narrative. The ideal of history-writing proposed by the 19th-century German historian Leopold von Ranke, according to whom a historian should “simply” write history “wie es eigentlich gewesen” – how it actually happened – is not that simple, and has never been achieved.” — Alfred de Zayas

November 17

THE REPUBLI-FASCIST SPECTER LOOMS, BY PAUL STREET, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG

“Those Who Call Us Fascists Will Have Their Sad, Miserable Existence Crushed!” — DJT

Well, I guess I am crushed because I have said quite a few times lately I think Trump is a fascist. I am not so sure about his base. I think most of them just don’t know what they are doing. I think what is happening now in the US is similar to what has happened over and over in Earthian human history: a have-less class of people accumulate enough hatred for a have-more class that they become willing to commit crimes under an irrational dictator to take what they think they deserve from the targeted have-more class using violent physical force. In the case of the US now the have-more class is a relatively well-educated group that has more economic security and prestige than the have-less class. Seems to me the same sort of thing happened in situations that empowered Franco, Hitler, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot, Pinochet, Hutu Power and other Earthian dictatorships that caused millions of deaths and massive suffering. Whether the have-less class and their leaders call themselves fascists, communists, socialists, democratic socialists, christians, magas, nationalists, or anything else is irrelevant. Rationality is irrelevant in these situations. The only thing that counts in the end with the have-lesses in these situations is their exaggerated hatred of the scapegoated have-mores that gives them permission to do anything they can to take what they think they deserve by violent brute force. Seems to me this process is now going on to some degree in several Earthian countries. Nobody knows what’s going to happen. — RJS

He is so scary! — S McW

November 27

THE LIFE AND PUBLIC ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY BY THE CIA, BY EDWARD CURTIN, OFF-GUARDIAN.ORG

You can build a case this assassination started the downward spiral of the US into what it has become today, an economy and society dependent on its military expenditures for its economic functioning. On the other hand, you can build a case this process got started during WWII when it became obvious military spending can get a country out of a great depression, causing the USian deep state to decide to perpetuate a war-machine system after winning WWII, the excuse at the time being it had to be done to fight communism. Well, after defeating Russian communism in the cold war in 1989, the military economy was perpetuated using Bush II’s War on Terror after 9/11. Both the Ukrainian and the Israeli/Palestine Wars have done a good job keeping a new cold war and cash flows flowing for the USian military-industrial-intelligence-banking-media economy.

Of course, there is no proof that the CIA was responsible for the JFK assassination. How could such a thing ever be proved to all Earthian humans? Nothing can be proved to all Earthian humans given the way their beliefs are caused to exist in all their learning processes and systems.

Up to now the USian military has not supported Trump in his efforts to turn the US into a full-fledged military dictatorship, thanks to General Milley’s handling of Trump during Trump’s January 6, 2021 insurrection attempt. But if Trump should be elected again in 2024 it’s possible a new insurrection attempt could work if Trump increases his power more and more by hiring and appointing more and more obsequious bootlicking USians to high offices who would follow his orders to destroy USian democracy in another insurrection. — RJS

October 14

“THE WAR IS NOT MEANT TO BE WON…,”  BY TYLER DURDEN, ZEROHEDGE.COM

This article is too cynical perhaps but it contains more than a grain of truth.

Here is what a renowned USian diplomat and historian had to say about the general problem: — RJS

“Were the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military-industrial establishment would have to go on, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented. Anything else would be an unacceptable shock to the American economy.” George F. Kennan (1904-2005), quote published in Foreword to ‘The Pathology of Power’” by Norman Cousins (Norton, 1987), from At a Century’s Ending: Reflections 1982-1995 (Norton, 1997, ISBN 0-393-31609-2), Part II: –Cold War in Full Bloom, p. 118. Read more at https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_F._Kennan

August 21

MY YEAR TEACHING ON USAF NATO BASES, BY RICHARD JOHN STAPLETON, EFFECTIVE LEARNING REPORT

I took Army ROTC for one year at Hardin-Simmons University, a Baptist college with about 1,700 students, at Abilene, Texas in 1958-59 as a freshman on a basketball scholarship. ROTC was required for two years for all males at Hardin-Simmons. I basically detested it, thinking marching, saluting, presenting arms, shining brass, etc. was the dumbest thing I ever did. I got out of the second year of required ROTC after finding out I could never be commissioned as an officer in the military because of a spinal fusion back surgery I had when I was a sophomore in high school. All I had to do was show a medical doctor in Abilene the ten-inch scar running up my back and have him sign a form affirming he had seen it. I was called up for the USian draft in 1962 and was required to take a standard Army physical at Amarillo, Texas. As I stood in line naked with other potential draftees during the physical a medical doctor took one look at the scar and told me, “I’m sorry but you are permanently disqualified from military service.”

I thus never had to worry about getting drafted and sent to Vietnam to get my ass shot off, as a lot of not-yet-drafted young males in the States used to say back in those days. I would have volunteered to help defend the US in a war from a serious enemy threatening to invade the US. I am not sure there have been any since the War of 1812. — RJS

September 27

WHAT WOULD REAL “NATIONAL DEFENSE” LOOK LIKE? BY WILLIAM ASTORE, COUNTERUNCH.ORG

Interesting article, but I agree with the writers of the constitution that the commander in chief should be a civilian. We need politicians with these values to build a military to support them.

I’ve often wondered if professionalizing the military by eliminating the draft was a mistake. — PEZ

September 15

I WATCHED A DEMOCRACY DIE. I DON’T WANT TO DO IT AGAIN, BY ARIEL DORFMAN, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG

Say it cant happen here Joe

November 16

WAR IS A RACKET, BY NOT ME US, FACEBOOK

I served in all commissioned ranks from a second lieutenant to a major general. And during that time, I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street, and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer. — Smedley Butler, Two Time Medal of Honor Recipient

November 27

SEEMS TO ME MOST USIANS ARE LIKE SITTING DUCKS FACED WITH A POSSIBLE TRUMPIST DISASTER IN 2024, BY RICHARD JOHN STAPLETON, FACEBOOK

Bidenism is old and outdated. Seems to me what is needed is younger new blood in a Dem, Independent, Green ticket comprising a combination of Newsome, West, RJK Jr., Harris, or Warren, to reduce the probability of the Trumpist threat to USian democracy. — RJS

You gotta be kidding!!! — VBC

I’m no expert on these matters but it seems like a good idea to me. All USians are entitled to express their opinions about these matters as of now. — RJS

Rick you are so right. Many have given the ultimate price to give us the freedom of speech and opinion. —VBC

Biden is nothing more than Trump in blue drag. — ML

November 8

EARTHIAN EMPOWERMENT SYSTEMS, BY RICHARD JOHN STAPLETON, EFFECTIVE LEARNNG REPORT

There may be hundreds of dead planets in our Universe that were once inhabited by human-like creatures that lived, learned, and evolved on their planets in learning processes resembling the learning processes of Earthian humans, who through eons on their planets learned how to develop lethal weapons like Earthian nuclear bombs and complex industrial processes requiring burning fossil fuel who became extinct because of what they were caused to learn and develop through natural evolutionary cause-effect chains.

The same sort of thing could happen to Earthian humans if they do not quickly in cosmic time learn how to satisfy their biological, psychological, social, economic, and political needs in significantly improved social, psychological, economic, political, and military systems that do not require or entail the burning of carbon-based fuel or the decision-making of ordinary and sometimes demented Earthian humans in fascist organizations.

Up to now, overthrowing existing economic, social, and political orders with new economic, social, and political orders in violent revolutions or wars has not been not a good idea. Existing dysfunctional orders were torn down or disintegrated and were replaced by new dysfunctional orders. — RJS

November 22

REAL WINNERS ARE RARE FROM 80 ON, MOSTLY HAS-BEENS WITH GOOD LEGACIES OR LOTS OF MONEY, BY RICHARD JOHN STAPLETON, FACEBOOK

I’m recently 40…any advice? — JM

Assign the best probabilities you can to the possibilities confronting you and choose the best one. Unfortunately, there is no way to avoid risk. — RJS

Somewhat agree but many people would feel like a winner making it to 80 even as a has-been or having a lot of money. The rest definitely did not win and most have difficult lives. I think the key is for one to be thankful for what they have or had and be very tough to grow old. Hope you are doing well Dr. Stapleton. — AO

Thanks, Andy. Well said. I’m doing ok I guess. A wellness nurse asked me recently doing a Medicare checkup, “How much pain do you feel on a scale of 0-10?” I told her probably about a 2.  So far no life-threatening maladies. I’m probably one of the lucky ones. Cheers. —  RJS

3 — TOWARD THE CO-CONSTRUCTION OF EARTHIAN PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS, INC. (EPDS)

Establishing democracy chapters around Spaceship Earth as described and recommended in As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases might develop consensual answers regarding existential matters from the bottom up that might help save Spaceship Earth. These ideas would filter up to randomly-selected humans who would count the consensual answers to make necessary changes. Consensual tactics, strategies, and policies would then be developed around Earth for dealing with the computerized Spaceship Earth management system, operated and controlled using artificial intelligence programming and supercomputers.

Randomly-selected groups of Earthian humans of high intelligence with impeccable moral and ethical character and credentials would control codes for changing the Earthian Magnum Computer System programming to implement bottom-up recommendations of millions of members in discussions in democracy chapters around Spaceship Earth. Each member of the group in charge of the codes for the magnum computer system would serve limited terms. These members would not vote or decide what to do. They would see to it that the computer system implemented the consensual answers of millions of Earthian humans from all walks of life, as determined by honest, free, fair, and frank democratic GAME-free discussions in democracy chapters all around Spaceship Earth, as explained and shown in As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases. The overall objective would be to manage the system in such a way as to maximize the lifetime satisfactions of all Earthian humans, as well as all other species of life aboard Spaceship Earth, while insuring the indefinite functioning of all Spaceship Earth ecosystems.

Necessary moral and ethical requirements and constraints could be programmed in the Magnum Management System that Earthian humans at the top would be obliged to obey. If changes should be made in the moral and ethical codes in the overall program they would be sent back to the Earthian democracy chapters for discussion and then tabulated and analyzed before algorithms programmed in the system would create changes in the magnum operating system.  

This computerized management system would require a strict system of security controls like the current codes of nations possessing nuclear weapons, hopefully providing security several magnitudes more secure than current nuclear codes, to make sure a madman could not get in control of any aspect of the system

A management system such as this would significantly improve previous management systems used around Spaceship Earth that have frequently empowered egotistical, greedy, power mad, grandiose, poorly educated, not-very-bright Earthian humans to make existential decisions affecting the OKness of thousands, millions, or billions of humans around Earth, that have been used over and over again for millennia, that caused incredible losses and suffering at various moments of Earthian history, that were basically caused by indiscriminate unbroken cause-effect chains inexorably tunneling out through time bad, ok, or good luck for Earthian humans around Spaceship Earth, starting with the evolution of our universe some fourteen billion years ago.

A tough lesson for Earthian humans to accept propositioned in Effective Learning Publications books is that everything that happens in human states of affairs is either predetermined or accidental and therefore individuals are not to blame or praise for what happens in human states of affairs. This is easier to swallow after accepting that believing and acting otherwise will support and perpetuate the I’m OK—You’re Not OK life position that has bedeviled, sabotaged, and undermined Earthian humans since time immemorial, causing wars and other disasters.

It follows that significant changes must be made in the way Earthian humans feel, think, and behave if the probability of human extinction is to be reduced..

Probably the best way significant numbers of Earthian humans can be caused to be significantly changed psychologically and socially by others is through democratic face to face discussions in honest serious and rigorous dialectical, dialogical arguing about facts using reasoning of all kinds, inductive, deductive, analogical, or whatever, dealing with Earthian human existential states of affairs over a relatively long period of time.

What is considered natural, unnatural; normal, abnormal; right, wrong; ethical, unethical; righteous, sinful; worthy, unworthy; or sane or insane by a particular Earthian human is caused by information lodged in her/his brain caused to be lodged there by the concatenation of infinite cause-effect chains causing her/him to exist and slowly inch through the Earthian worm hole of existence inexorably tunneled out for her or him by her/his specific unbroken infinitely-regressing cause-effect chains inexorably-progressing throughout his/her infinitesimally short cosmic life, regardless of how bad, ok, or good that luck or fate might be as judged by any Earthian human; and all Earthian humans must keep on inching forward in their worm holes as best they can dealing with inevitable problems and opportunities caused to exist at stages in their unique tunnels, as they are knocked around like balls in a pin-ball machine, as events inevitably and/or accidentally happen externally and in their subconscious and conscious minds, however bad, ok, or good their inherited luck might have absolutely been, which cannot be proved, however easy it might be to relatively estimate.

Changing the life scripts of Earthian humans for the better requires changing the course of unique tunnels of existence in which individual humans accidentally and inevitably live, a tall order indeed. Some biological constructivists would consider this notion a pipedream, while considering the whole process of Earthian human evolution a meaningless drift in the infinity of time and space.

What is God? Whatever it was that caused the universe to exist.

For more information on the use of Transactional Analysis to create better discussion groups and democratic processes read Born to Learn:  A Transactional Analysis of Human Learning

For more information on how to co-construct better organizations and economic systems using transactional analysis read Business Voyages:  Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Discovering and Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds

Read  “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc,” for some management science ideas on how Earthian humans might eventually co-construct an economic system that is viable and satisfying for everyone aboard Spaceship Earth, making it possible for all Earthian humans to develop an I’m OK—You’re OK life position. 

Read As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases.

This novel shows how to conduct a new kind of seminar invented and coordinated by Rout Logger, the protagonist, that might reduce the probability of Earthian human extinction if widely implemented that requires participants in a seminar to speak up when randomly selected by a Truther rooster positioned in the center of a randomly-selected group of forty humans sitting in a circle.

The Truther rooster resembles a spinning weather vane. The rooster is programmed to bob its head up and down and crow after being twirled by a randomly-selected seminar participant, as it spins round and round winding down, letting group members know it’s time to wake up and get to work, before it’s too late. When the Truther rooster stops spinning whoever is at the end of a line of imaginary fire extending from the rooster’s beak to her or him sitting in the circle is automatically selected as the Leader of the Moment for the group.

The Leader of the Moment then leads the group into a democratic discussion of what s/he considers the most serious existential problem around Spaceship Earth.  Forty participants from all walks of life were paid $5000 monthly for participating in weekend seminars conducted in central city hotels in various cities randomly selected around the US. If randomly selected as the Leader of the Moment the participant would define what s/he thought was the most important problem facing Spaceship Earth, present alternatives, and make a recommendation for change. What s/he said was discussed by members of the group on a free-flow first come-first serve basis. It was against the law of the seminar to interrupt speakers or raise hands to get permission to speak. Discussions lasted until they ran out of steam. The results of the discussions were published to wealthy donors who financed the process.

Rout Logger was convinced most Earthian humans would not volunteer to participate in this sort of seminar to merely help save Spaceship Earth from GWCC and/or MNWP using their Nurturing Parent, Adult, and Free Child Ego States, given the reality that their life time and energy was already programmed and consumed with various forms of withdrawal, rituals, pastimes, psychological games, activities, and intimacy in their unique tunnels of reality, as they acted out their inherited life scripts; so they were paid $5000 per month to participate in a game-free, Adult-Adult democratic seminar that would require them to honestly discuss existential problems with forty other participants from disparate walks of life, if they were randomly selected by the spinning Truther Rooster as the Leader of the Moment.

Achieving Earthian human sustainability entails such things as Earthian humans peacefully reducing through natural attrition (natural deaths exceeding births) the human population aboard Spaceship Earth, never doing work that machines can do better, and delegating the day-to-day management of systems for scheduling, producing, and distributing the necessities of life to artificial intelligence programs and supercomputers, assuming sufficient quantities of non-human clean energy can be discovered and developed using mind grants.

This general algorithmic matrix algebra form can help bring this state of affairs about,

Max CjXj, s.t. AijXj ≤, =, or ≥ Bi,

explained in “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.” .

This mathematical formulation could help develop power in economics loosely analogous to the power of E=mc2 in physics. This formulation, Max CjXj, subject to, AijXj ≤, =, or ≥ Bi, is a general form of the linear programming model, which has been around for many years in management science, operations research, and linear algebra courses.

Max CjXj, s.t. AijXj ≤, =, or ≥ Bi symbolizes knowledge that gives the Earthian human species about as much potential power to perpetuate itself as Albert Einstein’s formulation E=mc2 symbolizes knowledge that gives the Earthian human species the power to exterminate itself.

Riding aboard an airliner about to land at night traveling at four hundred miles an hour at thirty-five thousand feet with clouds, rain, wind, and lightning below, what would you rather have figuring out the path, speed, and angle of descent of the aircraft for touch-down, the plane’s auto-pilot, radar, and computer system or the pilot and co-pilot, seeing nothing out their windows below but clouds and lightning?

The main reason why delegating the scheduling, production, and distribution of the necessities of life to AI programs and magnum computers would be a good idea is that magnum computers and algorithmic AI programs do not get greedy and power hungry or play psychological GAMES. Thus far in Earthian human history most leaders and rulers atop large organizations such as nations have become corrupt one way or another playing psychological GAMES, acting out selfish greedy ego trips, hogging all the power, money, strokes, stimulation, and recognition they could get their hands on for themselves and their cronies, leaving the hindmost to their underlings. Whatever their limitations and possible threats, algorithmic computer programs and super computers are not egotistical, greedy, and power-hungry.

Thanks to Buckminster Fuller for providing the above airplane-landing metaphor in his book Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, first published in 1969, and for planting seeds for other ideas in the essay “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.,” published in the Effective Learning Report, such as computers being the best hope for mankind and humans not doing work machines can do better, being paid to think instead with what Fuller called mind grants. Fuller said unemployment all around Spaceship Earth could be eliminated overnight with mind grants. He was the inventor of the appellations Earthian and Spaceship Earth.   

Many Earthian humans like to win BALANCE SHEET psychological GAMES, to feel superior and lord it over others, regardless if Spaceship Earth is going to hell in a handbasket around them because of global warming and climate change (GWCC) and militarization and nuclear weapons proliferation (MNWP), regardless of how much they have failed in other areas of their lives, and regardless of how heinous were crimes and misdemeanors they may have gotten away with in the process of amassing their riches, since they were saved, as it were, by taking in and controlling more almighty monetary units than other lesser mortals.

If you want to learn more about transactional analysis, such as Ego States, Scripts, and psychological GAMES, read Born to Learn: A Transactional Analysis of Human Learning.

Most Earthian humans know what it is to be egotistical, but they have little understanding of how specific human egotistical manifestations, such as Parent, Adult, and Child ego states, can be used to control and manipulate human behavior for nefarious ends.

For short run policies and strategies for dealing with USian economic and political problems read free the platform of the FreeFairProgressParty .

4 — A GAME-FREE CASE METHOD TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS THAT WOULD PRODUCE DEMOCRATIC DISCUSSIONS, LEARNING, AND POLICY FORMULATION AROUND EARTH

Richard John Stapleton, PhD, CTA would spin the spinner of his Classroom De-GAMER™ in his classes to randomly select a student at the beginning of each class session to lead a discussion of the case assigned for the day, a case taken from a planned or operating business prepared by case writers at Georgia Southern, Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Alabama.

This process insured that everyone would be relatively GAME-free transacting in class discussions. They all agreed to a learning contract at the outset of the course that they would read assigned cases and would be graded on the quantity and quality of ideas sold in the class market. Anyone caught obviously unprepared by the spinning De-GAMER would lose a whole letter grade from the course grade. No one could feel or think that s/he was being persecuted or rescued if selected to start the class discussion of the day by the Classroom De-GAMER™. The psychological GAME roles of Persecutor, Rescuer, and Victim were largely banished from the course learning process.

Be it noted that Stapleton sat in the same circle in the same kind of chair as students, and the De-Gaming rules also applied to him. If the Classroom De-GAMER™ landed on him he had to lay out the case just like any other student and discuss what was the problem, what were the alternatives, and what he recommended.

Grades were based eighty percent on class participation in dialectical discussions about what to do about problems and opportunities found in cases; the rest of the final grade was based on two case write-ups. One write-up was about what the student observed, researched, analyzed, and wrote about an existing business in the local environment or a business plan the student created. The other write-up was an analysis of a case researched and written by professors about a business assigned as the final exam. Cases used in his courses contained processes, problems, opportunities, and data occurring in all functional areas of business such as entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, operations management, control, management information systems, and business policy and strategy.

He has published refereed journal articles and books explaining how his democratic GAME-free Adult-Adult I’m OK—You’re OK case method system works, by banishing Persecutors, Rescuers, and Victims playing psychological GAMES from the teaching and learning process, first documented in an article titled “The Classroom De-GAMER” he published in 1978 in the Transactional Analysis Journal. He has published seven books and over one hundred articles in various media containing cases, research data, and essays on teaching and learning and management policies and practices.

Stapleton learned and trained using transactional analysis with Martin Groder, MD; Graham Barnes, PhD; Vann Joines, PhD; and many others at the Southeast Institute at Chapel Hill, North Carolina (1975-1978).

He was a Harvard Case Method teacher who never went to Harvard, having learned how the case method works teaching with Bernard Bienvenu, DBA and Rexford Hauser, DBA (Harvard Business School doctorates) at the University of Louisiana– Lafayette in 1969-70.

He has a BS in economics (1962), an MBA in organizational behavior (1966), and a PhD in management science (1969) from Texas Tech University, and an organizational and educational certification in transactional analysis (CTA) from the International Transactional Analysis Association (1978).

He taught his own case method track at the undergraduate level in the management department of the business school at Georgia Southern University offering four or five different elective case method courses each academic year (1970-2005), in which he led, coordinated, and graded about twenty-five or so students each year who took all or most of those case method courses in their junior and senior years, of about two hundred students who signed up for all his courses each year. He used a democratic circle or amphitheater classroom layout in all his classes. He also taught most semesters two sections of a capstone integrative business policy course he added to the business school curriculum in 1970 that was required for all undergraduate business majors that could be elected by any student in any major.  He was the only professor in the business school to use the case method in any course.

His students agreed to a course learning contract that stipulated they would read the facts of the case before class and would lose a whole letter grade from the course final grade if the De-GAMER randomly caught them obviously not having read the case before class, if they had not slipped a note under his office door before class telling him they had not read the case, which they could do twice during the course without penalty.

About ten percent of his students made A’s and about five percent made D’s. Most made C’s, which is about right, since C = Average. There were few F’s in his courses. The main criterion for course grades was the quantity and quality of ideas sold by students in case method discussions. He used peer ratings to give students feedback showing what their fellow students thought about the quantity and quality of their ideas sold in class, having made it clear the final decision about final grades was his. He did not believe in Lake Wobegon grading.

No student was ever forced to take one of his courses to graduate, and the most hardened Game-players in the school did not sign up for his courses after he issued his Edict of 1972 in which he clearly spelled out in his syllabi the penalty for getting caught unprepared. His Classroom De-GAMER™ was roundly discussed by students in bull sessions across campus every year and was labeled various things, such as The Wheel of Fate and The Death Wheel. Most students near the end of his career simply called it The Spinner.

He appreciated Georgia Southern honoring his academic freedom by allowing him control of his teaching methods, classroom layouts, grading procedures, and course books, cases, and materials, some of which he researched, wrote, and published. He was promoted to full professor at age thirty-six.

He solicited anonymous longitudinal research data using questionnaires in 1992 showing his case method students during 1972-1982 reported higher yearly incomes in 1992 than students electing the same courses in 1972-1982 taught by professors using the authoritarian lecture method and the militaristic row and column classroom layout, who graded students based on memorizing or calculating  “right answers” for tests, indicating learners learning in Adult—Adult I’m OK—You’re OK GAME-free democratic learning processes graded subjectively became more successful in the real world of business than learners lectured to and graded using so-called objective multiple-choice tests.  

Only former students who had worked in the real world ten or more years after graduating from the Georgia Southern business school were included in the study. The data are shown, analyzed, and discussed in full in “Evidence the Case Method Works” in his book Business Voyages: Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Discovering and Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds, 2008, pg. 475). The data were also used in several refereed articles.

The ancient Greeks used a similar random-selection democratic process in the Third Century BCE to select leaders of political discussions, learning, and policy formulation in their halls of government. Such a process is called sortition.

For more information on related classroom management ethical issues see Stapleton, R.J. and Murkison, G. “Optimizing the fairness of student evaluations: A study of correlations between instructor excellence, study production, learning production, and expected grades,” in the Journal of Management Education, 2001, 25(3), 269-292.

Stapleton had one of the lowest student grade point averages among professors in the business school and was one of the lowest-ranked professors as an instructor on computerized campus-wide student evaluations that weighted only instructor excellence scores up to 2000; but he was one of the highest-ranked professors in a computerized student evaluation he designed that generated data also showing and weighting study production, learning production, and expected grades scores for each professor, published in “Optimizing the Fairness of Student Evaluations.”

After this research was published, Georgia Southern in 2001 added study production, learning production, and expected grades questions to the student evaluation form used campus-wide.

“Optimizing the Fairness of Student Evaluations” has by now (November 24, 2023) been cited as a reference in 89 refereed journal articles concerned about the ethics of student evaluations in several academic disciplines, including 21 new citations since April 2021.

As the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein propositioned in his book Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, “The case is all there is.”

If so, everything else said about Earthian human states of affairs is a rendition of what was or might be.

For more on Stapleton’s cultural, educational, and professional experiences see “RJS Academic Vita,”

Feel free to share this article any way you see fit.

 

 

THE EARTHIAN  —  29         

THE EARTHIAN, Number Twenty-Nine, April 18, 2022, Effective Learning Publications https://blog.effectivelearning.net/ , 32 East Main Street, Statesboro, Georgia, USA, specializing in Adult education.

THE EARTHIAN is an approximately monthly digest of articles written by free-thinking truth-seeking critical-thinking creative-thinking truth-accepting hard-hitting independent writers in linked Internet journals containing facts, perspectives, theories, models, analyses, and recommendations concerned about psychological, moral, ethical, philosophical, social, economic, political, military, religious, and ecological states of affairs affecting the existential well-being of all species of fauna and flora around Spaceship Earth, especially the human species.

“ASK LESS WHAT YOUR NATION CAN DO FOR YOU—ASK MORE WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR SPACESHIP EARTH”

Individuals Are Not to Praise or Blame for How Earthian Economic, Social, and Political States of Affairs Evolve

ONE  SCENARIO

By ROUT LOGGER

A participant in a seminar like the one I conducted in Richard John Stapleton’s novel As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases, asked a participant last weekend how the new Earthian management system Spaceship Earth, Inc. recommended in the Rooster novel could possibly be implemented. I did not know at the time how it could be done. I still do not know of course, but I have at least imagined a system that might have the slightest chance of working.

Building on the idea published in the novel that thousands if not billions of democracy chapters should be established around Spaceship Earth in which ordinary Earthian humans would be randomly-selected to lead democratic discussions about Earthian existential problems to develop consensual answers about what should be done, Earthian humans having somehow figured out a way to abolish the abominable system always used around Spaceship Earth that entailed allowing empowered fascist nationalistic leaders to make such decisions, such as Putin deciding to invade and bomb Ukraine and Bush II of the US deciding to bomb and invade Iraq, regardless of where their marching orders actually came from, I imagined the following system.

Should Spaceship Earth, Inc. democracy chapters be established all around Earth, the chapters could develop consensual answers regarding existential matters from the bottom up that would filter up to randomly-selected humans who would summarize the consensual answers and implement consensual tactics, strategies, and policies developed around Earth for dealing with the whole computerized Spaceship Earth system, that would be operated and controlled using artificial intelligence programming in magnum computer systems. Randomly-selected groups of dozens of Earthian humans of high intelligence with impeccable moral and ethical credentials would control codes for changing the Earthian Magnum Computer System programming. Each member of these groups, who would serve limited terms, would have one vote for every change in all Earthian management system tactics, strategies, policies, and procedures that were programmed and instantiated to maximize the economic, political, psychological, and social OKness of all Earthian humans, based on a computerized count of the number of times a particular idea for change from around Earth was recommended by thousands or millions of Spaceship Earth democracy chapters.

The system would require a strict system of security controls like the current nuclear codes of the US, hopefully providing security several magnitudes more secure than current USian nuclear codes, to make sure a madman could not get in control of any aspect of the Magnum Spaceship Earth Operations System.

Seems to me a management system such as this would be significantly better than previous systems used around Spaceship Earth that have empowered fickle, egotistical, greedy, power mad, insane, grandiose, not-very-bright Earthian humans to make existential decisions affecting the OKness of thousands, millions, and billions of humans.

A tough lesson for Earthian humans to accept propositioned in Effective Learning Publications books is that everything that happens in human states of affairs is either predetermined or accidental and therefore individuals are not to blame or praise for what happens in human states of affairs. This is easier to swallow after accepting that believing and acting otherwise will support and perpetuate the I’m OK—You’re Not OK life position that has bedeviled, sabotaged, and undermined Earthian humans since time immemorial, making losers out of most of them. This is another reason why large group consensual answers such as those described above are vastly superior.

For more information on the use of Transactional Analysis  https://www.itaaworld.org/  to create better discussion groups and democratic processes read Born to Learn:  A Transactional Analysis of Human Learning.  https://www.amazon.com/Born-Learn-Transactional-Analysis-Learning/dp/0692584331 

For more information on how to co-construct better organizations and economic systems using transactional analysis read Business Voyages:  Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Discovering and Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds    https://www.amazon.com/Business-Voyages-Schemata-Discovering-Co-Constructing/dp/1413480810

Read “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc,”  https://blog.effectivelearning.net/the-evolution-of-spaceship-earth-inc/   for some management science ideas on how Earthian humans might eventually co-construct an economic system that is viable and satisfying for everyone aboard Spaceship Earth, making it possible for all Earthian humans to develop an I’m OK—You’re OK life position. 

Read As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases. This recently-published novel features a new kind of seminar invented and coordinated by Rout Logger that might reduce the probability of Earthian human extinction that requires participants in a seminar to speak out and up when randomly selected by a Truther rooster positioned in the center of a randomly-selected group of forty humans sitting in a circle. The Truther rooster resembles a spinning weather vane. The rooster is programmed to bob its head up and down and raucously crow after being twirled by a randomly-selected seminar participant, as it spins round and round winding down, letting group members know it’s time to wake up and get to work, before it’s too late. When the Truther rooster stops spinning whoever is at the end of a line of imaginary fire extending from the rooster’s head to her or him sitting in the circle is automatically selected as the Leader of the Moment for the group, proving pure democracy can happen. The Leader of the Moment must then lead the group into a democratic discussion of what s/he considers the most serious existential problem around Spaceship Earth.

According to Effective Learning Publications books, achieving Earthian human sustainability entails such things as Earthian humans peacefully reducing through natural attrition (natural deaths exceeding births) the human population aboard Spaceship Earth, never doing work that machines can do better, and delegating the day-to-day management of systems for scheduling, producing, and distributing the necessities of life to artificial intelligence programs and supercomputers, assuming sufficient quantities of non-human clean energy can be discovered and developed using mind grants.

This is possible managing Spaceship Earth using the general algorithmic matrix algebra form

Max CjXj, s.t. AijXj ≤, =, or ≥ Bi

explained in “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.” at   https://blog.effectivelearning.net/the-evolution-of-spaceship-earth-inc/  .

Riding aboard an airliner about to land at night traveling at four hundred miles an hour at thirty-five thousand feet with clouds, rain, wind, and lightning below, what would you rather have determining the path, speed, and angle of descent of the aircraft for touch-down, the plane’s auto-pilot, radar, and computer system or the pilot and co-pilot, seeing nothing out their windows below but clouds and lightning?

The main reason why delegating the scheduling, production, and distribution of the necessities of life to AI programs and magnum computers would be a good idea is that magnum computers and algorithmic AI programs do not get greedy and power hungry or play psychological Games. Thus far in Earthian human history most leaders and rulers atop large organizations such as nations have become corrupt one way or another playing psychological Games, acting out selfish greedy ego trips, hogging all the power, money, strokes, stimulation, and recognition they could get their hands on for themselves and their cronies, leaving the hindmost to their underlings. Whatever their limitations and possible threats, algorithmic computer programs and super computers are not egotistical, greedy, and power-hungry.

Thanks to Buckminster Fuller for providing the above airplane-landing metaphor in his book Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, first published in 1969, and for planting seeds for other ideas in the essay “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.,” published in the Effective Learning Report, such as computers being the best hope for mankind and humans not doing work machines can do better, being paid to think instead with what Fuller called mind grants. Fuller said unemployment all around Spaceship Earth could be eliminated overnight with mind grants. Buckminster Fuller was the inventor of the appellations Earthian and Spaceship Earth.   

If you have ideas on how to democratically discuss in Game-free ways economic and political problems and opportunities in something like the Ogeechee Economic Forum https://blog.effectivelearning.net/ogeechee-economic-forum/ scroll up to and click on the RESPONSES tab at the top of this blog page and speak out about them in writing.

If you feel you’ve gained value from THE EARTHIAN, go to the Internet or any walk-in bookstore around Spaceship Earth and purchase one or more of the above books. As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases is the latest and probably most engaging Effective Learning Publications book. Rout Logger is the protagonist of the novel story. It’s available now as an ebook at Barnes and Noble for $4.99 at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/as-the-rooster-crows-earthian-okness-increases-richard-john-stapleton/1140476381?fbclid=IwAR3iCgbUb4GxgKUAkGOJNBQlbEQmAkKMMQ6DVcc3B085PbntX_VWVi3G-Pg.

RECOMMENDED LINKED ARTICLES RECENTLY PUBLISHED IN INTERNET MEDIA BY RELEVANT HARD-HITTING TRUTH-SEEKING TRUTH-ACCEPTING WRITERS DEALING WITH EARTHIAN HUMAN EXISTENTIAL STATES OF AFFAIRS

APRIL 18, 2022

The following article includes the most detailed comprehensive interview I have read about what caused the Ukraine showdown and what’s at stake. The interviewee is former Swiss intelligence officer and NATO advisor Jacques Buad. According to Baud the main originating cause of the invasion was the US and NATO pushing farther East in Europe to control and depower Russia, adding new countries on Russia’s border to the NATO alliance, while enticing Ukraine to also join NATO. According to Baud, Ukraine has been heavily influenced by right wing extremist fanatical Nazi-like elements in recent years, who control about two percent of the Ukrainian parliament, but ninety percent of mercenaries hired by Ukraine to attack and de-Russify Russian-speaking Ukrainians in eastern Ukraine.  According to Baud the immediate triggers for the Russian invasion of Ukraine were Ukraine attacking Russian-speaking Ukrainians in Eastern Ukraine, Ukraine preparing to invade and retake Crimea, and Ukraine refusing to sign the Minsk agreement stating they would remain neutral in the USian/NATO-Russian conflict by not joining NATO. Read the article for yourself. It’s a good article and there is more to it than what I mention here.

As I have said before I do not think any of the parties in this showdown have fully clean hands, including the US, and there are no fully good good-guys enmeshed in this disaster, including Zelensky. According to Baud, Zelensky ran for office promising to bring peace and unify Ukraine, but he caved to right-wing fanatics after he got in office. Baud says Zelensky has been told by the extreme right-wing Nazi-like AZOZ faction he will be killed if he signs a peace agreement with Russia that upholds the Minsk agreement, thereby maintaining Ukrainian neutrality in the overall showdown between the US/NATO alliance and Russia.

Who knows what sort of nefarious vile and venal secret agreements and machinations the Ukrainian peace process entails among stakeholders with skin in this showdown, which is another third-degree psychological Game of “I’m Only Trying to Help You,” with all liars, thieves, fanatics, murderers, and Persecutors playing the Game claiming to be heroic patriotic Rescuers in mass media pandering to their serf-like followers, resulting in another Earthian disaster for millions of innocent human Victims, which could get a lot worse, including morphing into WWIII and shooting off and dropping nuclear bombs anywhere around Spaceship Earth, a mother of all reigns of ignorance, stupidity, and terror.

If only all nations around Spaceship Earth would just obey the golden rule—do unto other nations as you would have them do unto you—war—what Mark Twain called the “atrocity of all atrocities”—would be eradicated from the face of the Earth.

But, alas, since nations have never trusted all nations they have only selectively applied the golden rule with some nations for short periods of time in alliances, giving fascist national dictators an opportunity to do all sorts of vile and venal things internationally, since enforceable international laws banning such things have never existed—so fascist dictators can undermine, sanction, invade, bomb, whatever—playing the most ubiquitous human psychological Game on Earth with a clear conscience, a Game played by almost everyone to some extent, when push comes to shove in all sorts of showdowns in all sorts of groups and organizations, including families, “You Made Me Do It.”

“NATO INSIDER ON UKRAINE: US, EU sacrificing Ukraine to ‘weaken Russia’: fmr, NATO adviser ,” by Aaron Mate, THE GRAYZONE, https://thegrayzone.com/2022/04/15/us-eu-sacrificing-ukraine-to-weaken-russia-fmr-nato-adviser/?fbclid=IwAR1MuqrQ1zMaoNv1SAJ5N914_EksuVZo2dpMXALPp2Cqj76UT4WF5yQ1TR0.

April 18

Here’s another incisive article by Courtenay Barnett cutting to the chase regarding the nitty-gritty of some Ukraine issues. Barnett is an appreciated repeat contributor to the Effective Learning Report.

“Relevant International Economic Considerations in the Ukraine Showdown,” by Courtenay Barnett, EFFECTIVE LEARNING REPORT, https://blog.effectivelearning.net/relevant-international-economic-considerations-in-the-ukraine-showdown/.

April 16

It’s hard to focus on global warming and climate change (GWCC) when it’s much more exciting and patriotic to focus on the Ukraine showdown and militarization and nuclear weapons proliferation (MNWP), both being ecological cancers that could metastasize, eventually causing the extinction of Earthian humans.

“Our Long Memories,” by Scott Parkin, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/04/15/our-long-memories/?fbclid=IwAR1KHcTIeFKl8hXgK_dHtoFEIPn_DihrhczPl3NOFmoBPRn_1RZ1Pg34TVQ.

April 16

Say it aint so Joe

“Housing Affordability Declines Nearly 23 Percent in Less Than a Year,” MISHTALK, https://mishtalk.com/economics/housing-affordability-declines-nearly-23-percent-in-less-than-a-year?fbclid=IwAR0nR5O5gG4fC0uqH0Nzc3ZSyHeHeP8_g_99SFX5RqkdpL0EXI83CVxMObw.

April 15

Here’s an interesting read by Pepe Escobar

“Exclusive: Russia’s Sergey Glazyew introduces the new global financial system,” by Pepe Escobar, THE CRADLE, https://thecradle.co/Article/interviews/9135?fbclid=IwAR28c8ATjV0E5bZOWa9zwgK5wIRCkOk2QZQJGi0MlAKbcGViybrTqza2kWI.

April 15

Could not agree more

“Stop the Geopolitical War Now,” by Richard Falk, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/04/15/stop-the-geopolitical-war-now/?fbclid=IwAR3Q75xfTIlmNTCd6llpIZxp8eesYaPW3PQFRPc3H0rD_6wZQMbtMyYOFS8.  

April 15

Say it aint so Joe

“Ukraine and Yemen Wars Highlight US’s Role as Biggest Arms Dealer in the World,” by Mike Ludwig, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/ukraine-and-yemen-wars-highlight-uss-role-as-biggest-arms-dealer-in-the-world/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR2Hnk4u_g36QeYL0oSadjEPi1NT3u3c4MB9OkRzJFGQsnqjaq1QpXdBPNI.

April 15

Did not know about this

“Momentum builds behind a way to lower the cost of college: A degree in three years,” by John Marcus, THE HECHINGER REPORT, https://hechingerreport.org/momentum-builds-behind-a-way-to-lower-the-cost-of-college-a-degree-in-three-years/?fbclid=IwAR1MuqrQ1zMaoNv1SAJ5N914_EksuVZo2dpMXALPp2Cqj76UT4WF5yQ1TR0.

April 15

Say it aint so Joe

“In North Korea, penthouses are mainly for the unfortunate few,” Reuters, ASIAONE, https://www.asiaone.com/asia/north-korea-penthouses-are-mainly-unfortunate-few?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social-media&utm_campaign=addtoany&fbclid=IwAR2rL1F6aOlc8G0lqKY65x-GZpDNR68OpR8Iq4dzkfiEhpOlM4AUfmtM8hA/.

April 15

The tongue might be mightier than the sward if you control enough media coverage.

“Billionaires eye parallel media universe,” by Dan Pimack and Sara Fischer, ASIOS, https://www.axios.com/elon-musk-twitter-billionaires-free-speech-social-media-c74547a6-e51d-48fa-b2bd-3d7458f2adb4.html?fbclid=IwAR1klQjQ_6x0ieWmfv_-vBYmnigwuABZ4ta4v1pe_3VyK1ZcgNyM1OPCPMA.

April 15

A blatant violation of human rights

“’We’re suing,’ says ACLU as Kentucky GOP enacts draconian abortion ban,” by Jake Johnson, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/35319?fbclid=IwAR28cirbkMjBut7XXawZN8bN3LN63wdBcQ7rPNBsj1ZXK5aFX-p7J8ywPLo.

April 15

Is this possibly the single most serious existential threat facing Earthian humans?

“Thawing Permafrost is Roiling the Arctic Landscape,” by Mark J. Lara, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/04/14/thawing-permafrost-is-roiling-the-arctic-landscape/?fbclid=IwAR3MWVZk8qA_DRq9A1JI-BSJ-mESu4gBg6h3yP2mgt8_ci0EPJpBox3pPXY.

April 15

What Winston Churchill said about democracy, “Democracy is the worst possible form of government, until you consider the alternatives,” might also be said about capitalism, but maybe not. Here’s what Richard Wolff has to say about the matter.

“The Role of Capitalism in the War in Ukraine,” by Richard D. Wolff, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/04/14/the-role-of-capitalism-in-the-war-in-ukraine/?fbclid=IwAR1U4L-RPwOfzPmPBCo9Sn5g6ILzpnToYVN6guM07t0HWAHarExp7RJAeXM.

April 15

A cogent article

“’F*ck You Money’,” by Jack Raines, YOUNG MONEY, https://www.youngmoney.co/p/fck-money?fbclid=IwAR2aBnd54ZCxYidb4EIej7RUt8ppy22SvdcSzJyoD7gJUv2GJO-us2zt6NA.

April 15

Here’s a “conservative” article I generally agree with.

“’We the People’ Are the New, Permanent Underclass in America,” by John & Nisha Whitehead, THE RUTHERFORD INSTITUTE, https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/we_the_people_are_the_new_permanent_underclass_in_america.

April 13

Sounds good to me

“Ancient Dreams: ‘I Am A Citizen Of the World’,” by Michael Welton, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/04/13/ancient-dreams-i-am-a-citizen-of-the-world/?fbclid=IwAR3LxKtHxYISliK55s30kEIl63FVYVcr90nXORQOHfRN-9YZ4JdNTumINGk.

April 11

Obeying fascists and fighting wars is much more exciting and satisfying than worrying about global warming and climate change.

“Scientists Hit the Streets,” by Robert Hunziker, COUNTRERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/04/11/scientists-hit-the-streets/?fbclid=IwAR0o9xKPw2TBlW7bcay37Wh2IqmCF5ukajkL0Dlb1JDfcGLwt5hsHnv_j-M.

April 11

Fascism is once again growing and marching around Spaceship Earth, as in the 1920s and 1930s.

“The Rise of Digi-Fascism,” by Thomas Klikauer and Meg Young, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/04/11/the-rise-of-digi-fascism/?fbclid=IwAR10xyYa9mDKYMLe_1hAL7Qrpxg-WbjDuSeKrV3WUP8kLCXpfwIkR4ZOcug.

April 11

Loyal Victim cult members are being fleeced by Rescuer Trump playing the psychological Game I’M Only Trying to Help You, which is the only payoff they will get from Trump when the Game finally ends. Surely they know by now in their Adult ego states that Trump has no knowledge, skills, abilities, plans, or policies that will help them socially and economically. Satisfactions they might gain from playing Games with Trump will be purely psychological. For more information backing this assertion read my recently released book As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases, now available as an ebook for $4.99 at barnes & noble and $3.99 at amazon.com. Trump is not the only federal politician, repug or dem, playing I’m Only Trying to Help You with voters. You would be hard pressed to find a federal dem or repug politician who has visibly increased the economic and social OKness of middle, lower, and working class USian civilians in the last sixty years.

“Trump is Raking in Millions of Dollars With Fascist Fundraising Emails,” by Mike Ludwig, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/trump-is-raking-in-millions-of-dollars-with-fascist-fundraising-emails/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR09x97TYhTUXCwqyDPsD7zy2DW-eRHqJy3pGeW5evcl_MD3AMdz0h05KCg.

April 10

Say it aint so Joe

“Sit back and watch Europe commit suicide,” by Pepe Escobar, THE CRADLE, https://thecradle.co/Article/columns/8853?fbclid=IwAR1jtDrWgW77kWlWkPQPqNR75i9GgmU7mVCLS_cIl041hAptSkiWbiWqgL8.

April 9

Somethin’ to think about

“The Costs and Benefits of Tribalism—A Roundtable,” by Chris Ferguson, Cory Clark, Bo Winegard, and Allen Buchanan, QUILLETTE, https://quillette.com/2022/04/09/the-costs-and-benefits-of-tribalism/?fbclid=IwAR09x97TYhTUXCwqyDPsD7zy2DW-eRHqJy3pGeW5evcl_MD3AMdz0h05KCg.

April 8

Here’s some more comprehensive economic and political analysis of disparate data bases by Michael Hudson.

“The Dollar Devours the Euro,” by Michael Hudson, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/04/08/the-dollar-devours-the-euro/?fbclid=IwAR134JxBjEZfRljCSN1MphKEJOvowY5mOA9KkVL4K-a3ekmN4OyJvVViwSU.

April 8

This article contains information unknown to me before I read it, but overall it generally confirms what I had been thinking about the situation.

“The Military Situation in the Ukraine,” by Jacques Baud, THE POSTIL MAGAZINE, https://www.thepostil.com/the-military-situation-in-the-ukraine/?fbclid=IwAR0H09negvAOD4fCPcw86eneukIcIWUb-dWo8zO_rwIXG2lhFwLLcOE37IU.

April 5

Interesting

“A New History of World War II,” by David Immerwahr, THE ATLANTIC, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/world-war-ii-empire-colonialism/629371/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share&fbclid=IwAR1lmWvPg2clTpWEsa4O206veooyloGLtEkywNVqPcSngC1cYYU7axjRBiw.

April 4

This novel is about a fictional management professor and consultant Dr. Rout Logger who secured funding from wealthy donors for an on-going discussion process that was conducted in central city hotels in randomly-selected cities of the US on the first Saturday of the month starting in October 2019.

Forty participants were randomly-selected from pools of USian citizens based on demographic criteria designed to maximize diversity among the group members, including members living in and identified with widely divergent psychological, social, economic, political, religious, educational, and philosophical states of affairs.

The major purpose of the process was to increase the OKness of the group members by forcing them to engage in rational Adult ego state democratic discussions of serious problems facing all Earthian humans. The group members were paid five thousand dollars per Saturday session in which they participated. The meetings entailed morning and afternoon sessions of three hours. Each session was started by a roulette-like spinner, a copper rooster, called the Truther rooster, that would spin and crow when twirled. Whomever was sitting at the end of an imaginary straight line of fire extending from the rooster’s beak to the circle of forty participants would be randomly selected as the Leader of the Moment, proving true democracy can happen. Each Leader of the Moment was required to answer three existential questions: What do you think is the most serious problem right now? what do you think the alternatives are for dealing with the problem? and what do you recommend for dealing with the problem?

The story includes dialogues between Rout Logger and the group members and between group members dealing with the issues the randomly selected members brought up answering the existential questions and dealing with psychological and social problems group members had adjusting to the group process.

The process lasted six months, to March 2020. Rout told the group members at the outset that the process might be continued for a year or more. Instead, it was terminated after the March meeting because of Covid-19.

Rout was convinced the process did increase the OKness of the group members in six months. How much would be impossible to prove but he was convinced their OKness level went up, as he defined OKness. His donors were also convinced OKness increased based on data and information Rout furnished them. Rout used some transactional analysis lingo and jargon in the process but he also explained how it could be understood by all members. The story ended with Rout and his donors working on a new computer-based Game-free democratic discussion system based on zoom technology that could be rolled out around Spaceship Earth.

AS THE ROOSTER CROWS EARTHIAN OKNESS INCREASES, by Richard John Stapleton, EFFECTIVE LEARNING PUBLICATIONS, https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/as-the-rooster-crows-earthian-okness-increases-richard-john-stapleton/1140476381?fbclid=IwAR3iCgbUb4GxgKUAkGOJNBQlbEQmAkKMMQ6DVcc3B085PbntX_VWVi3G-Pg.

April 3

I agree with the Pope about this, but I think more fortunate countries should do more to help fellow Earthians condemned to live in unfortunate countries deal with the conditions in their countries that are causing the need for migration, such as inadequate resources and overpopulation, doing things like what the USian Peace Corps did or does, started by John F. Kennedy in the 1960s, which is rarely mentioned anymore.

“Pope blasts Russia’s ‘infantile’ war,” by Michael Winfield, THE HILL, https://thehill.com/news/wire/3257104-pope-blasts-russias-infantile-war/?fbclid=IwAR1hnNRrxoTve6gYItaKVoVAaHJDIEOstzouPAhjoPOD-f1UId-Kwv1f5ok.

Please forward, share, post, print, or otherwise circulate The Earthian anyway you see fit.

ABOUT THE EDITOR 

Here’s Richard John Stapleton, PhD, CTA in his office at Georgia Southern University the year he retired in 2005, the senior professor of the university that year. The photo was shot by Lori Grice, a former student, founder of Lori Grice Photography.

The object under his left hand is a Classroom De- Gamer™ he invented in 1978.

He would spin the spinner of the De-Gamer in his classes to randomly select a student at the beginning of each class session to lead a discussion of the case assigned for that day, a case taken from a real business prepared by professional casewriters at Georgia Southern, Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Alabama. Grades were based eighty percent on class participation; the rest of the final grade was based on two case write-ups. One write-up was about what the student observed, researched, analyzed, and wrote about an existing business in the local environment or a business plan the student created. The other write- up was an analysis of a professionally written case about a real business assigned as the final exam. Cases used in his courses were taken from all functional areas of business, such as entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, operations management, control, management information systems, and business policy and strategy.

He learned how the case method works teaching with Bernard Bienvenu, DBA and Rexford Hauser, DBA (Harvard Business School doctorates) at what is now known as the University of Louisiana– Lafayette in 1969-70.

He has published refereed journal articles and books explaining how his democratic Game-free Adult-Adult I’m OK—You’re OK case method system works, by banishing Persecutors, Rescuers, and Victims playing psychological Games from the teaching and learning process, first documented in an article titled “The Classroom De-Gamer” he published in 1978 in the Transactional Analysis Journal.

He studied TA with Martin Groder, MD; Graham Barnes, PhD; Vann Joines, PhD; and many others at the Southeast Institute at Chapel Hill, North Carolina (1975-1978).

He has degrees in economics, organizational behavior, and management science from Texas Tech University (1962-1969), and an organizational and educational certification in transactional analysis from the International Transactional Analysis Association (1978).

He had his own case method track at the undergraduate level in the business school at Georgia Southern University taught by him alone in the management department, four or five different elective case method courses offered each academic year (1970-2005), in which he led, coordinated, and graded twenty-five or so students each year who took all or most of those case method courses in their junior and senior years, of about two hundred students who signed up for all of his courses each year, using a democratic circle or amphitheater classroom layout. He also taught most semesters two sections of a capstone integrative business policy course he added to the business school curriculum in 1970 that was required for all undergraduate business majors that could be elected by any student in any major, in which he used the case method. He was the only professor in the business school to use the case method in any course.

His students agreed to a course learning contract that stipulated they would read the facts of the case before class and would lose a whole letter grade from the course final grade if the De-Gamer randomly caught them obviously not having read the case before class, if they had not slipped a note under his office door before class telling him they had not read the case, which they could do twice during the course without penalty.

About ten percent of his students made A’s and about five percent made D’s. Most made C’s, which is about right, since C = Average. There were almost no F’s in his courses. The main criterion for course grades was the quantity and quality of ideas sold by students in case method discussions. He used peer ratings to give students feedback showing what their fellow students thought about the quantity and quality of their ideas sold in class, having made it clear the final decision about final grades was his. He did not believe in Lake Wobegon grading.

No student was ever forced to take one of his courses to graduate, and the most hardened Game- players in the school did not sign up for his courses after he issued his Edict of 1972 in which he clearly spelled out in his syllabi the penalty for getting caught unprepared. His Classroom De-Gamer™ was roundly discussed by students in bull sessions across campus every year and was labeled various things, such as The Wheel of Fate and The Death Wheel. Most students near the end of his career called it The Spinner. He appreciated the fact Georgia Southern honored his academic freedom as a tenured professor, allowing him control of his teaching methods, classroom layouts, grading procedures, and course books, cases, and materials.

He conducted primary survey research in 1992 that discovered longitudinal data (published in “Evidence the Case Method Works” in Business Voyages: Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Discovering and Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds, 2008, pg. 475) that showed his case method students during 1972-1982 reported higher yearly incomes in 1992 than students electing the same courses in 1972-1982 taught by professors using the authoritarian lecture method and the row and column classroom layout, who graded students based on how well they memorized “right answers” for so-called objective multiple-choice tests, indicating learners learning in Adult—Adult I’m OK—You’re OK Game-free learning processes graded subjectively became more successful in the real world of business than learners lectured to in Parent—Child I’m OK— You’re Not-OK un-De-Gamed learning processes. Only former students who had worked in the real world ten or more years after graduating from the Georgia Southern business school were included in the study.

For more information on these classroom management ethical issues see Stapleton, R.J. and Murkison, G. (2001), “Optimizing the fairness of student evaluations: A study of correlations between instructor excellence, study production, learning production, and expected grades,” the Journal of Management Education, 25(3), 269-292. Stapleton had one of the lowest student grade point averages among professors in the business school and was one of the lowest-ranked professors as an instructor on computerized campus-wide student evaluations weighting only instructor excellence scores up to about 2000; but he was one of the highest-ranked professors in a computerized student evaluation he designed that generated data also showing and weighting study production, learning production, and expected grades scores for each professor, published in “Optimizing the Fairness of Student Evaluations.”

To read the Optimizing Fairness article in full, go to https://blog.effectivelearning.net/fair-teacher- evaluations/ . After this research was published, Georgia Southern in 2001 added study production, learning production, and expected grades questions to the student evaluation form used campus-wide.

“Optimizing the Fairness of Student Evaluations” has by now (March 28, 2022)) been cited as a reference in 84 refereed journal articles concerned about student evaluations in several academic disciplines, including nine new citations since April 2021, proving the article is still being read and cited by serious academics twenty-one years after publication.

As the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein propositioned, “The case is all there is.”

If so, everything else said about Earthian human states of affairs is a rendition of what was or might be.

For more on Stapleton’s cultural, educational, and professional experiences go to https://blog.effectivelearning.net/.  

 

RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS IN THE UKRAINE SHOWDOWN

By COURTENAY BARNETT

A few thoughts recently came to mind and I share here. 

I make my point by reference to the US, Iran, Venezuela and Russia. I start with the US and follow a common thread linking oil and gas to sanctions and the consequences arising therefrom. 

The US is in the privileged position of having the world’s reserve currency and being in control of the financial architecture of the world and therein controlling the SWIFT system. 

So, first to Iran. In 1953 the US CIA assisted by British oil interests overthrew the democratically elected leader of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh, in a coup. The Shah of Iran was installed to America’s advantage. The coup occurred because the US and UK were disapproving of the nationalisation of Iranian oil. The Shah proved unpopular and in 1979 there was a new form of government established  in Iran which exists to this day. Following the Iranian revolution sanctions were imposed on Iran which was barred from the SWIFT system. The effect of the sanctions was that Iran could not trade its oil freely on the world market and thus the general impact was to lessen the aggregate of available global oil and negatively impact the price and sales of Iranian oil.  

Next, Venezuela. The election of Hugo Chavez brought change in Venezuela by way of the nationalisation of Venezuela’s oil. The death of Chavez saw Nicholas Maduro being elected. The US response was to reject Maduro’s legitimacy and despite a UN vote of two thirds of the General Assembly acknowledging Maduro’s legitimacy the US still wanted its choice of Juan Guido to be appointed as Venezuelan President. Again, consequences arose of the US imposing sanctions on Venezuela and Venezuela was barred from the SWIFT system. The effect of the sanctions was that Venezuela could not trade its oil freely on the world market and thus the general impact was to lessen the aggregate of available global oil and negatively impact the price and sales of Venezuelan oil. 

And finally, Russia. Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year. The US response was the imposition of sanctions against Russia. Russia was barred from the SWIFT system. The effect of the sanctions was that Russia could not trade its oil freely on the world market and thus the general impact was to lessen the aggregate of available global oil and negatively impact the price and sales of Russian oil. 

The repetitive similarity is clear in each instance. My point is not about the political rights or wrong of the sanctions but rather leads to the global inflationary consequence of the imposition of such sanctions in the oil market. As a short diversion, I reference Joe Biden’s pronouncement to the people of the United States that the current rates of inflation being experienced in America is due to ‘Putin’s war’ in Ukraine. Additionally, Biden has been urging the European countries to impose sanctions against Russian oil and gas. In both instances he is wrong. The volume of Russian oil bought by the US from Russia amounts to about 3%. So, the impact of sanctions has precious little impact on the sum total of American imported oil and by extension on domestic oil prices in America. By contrast, some European countries are dependent on Russian oil and gas to as high as 40%. The request by Biden, in such a situation then amounts to an invitation for such countries to commit literal ‘economic suicide’. In all of this, again by contrast, I find it particularly interesting that the US does not hesitate to continue normal and quite significant oil purchases from Saudi Arabia while simultaneously making substantial arms sales which the Saudis have been using against Yemeni civilians. But so be it – do as I say – not as I do. 

In the wider scheme of things it seems to me that the available oil and gas which the countries of Iran, Venezuela, Iran and Russia combined, command, constitutes a substantial portion of global oil supplies. Thus, if the aggregate of that oil and gas supply were released and made available on the world market, the consequence, I assume, would be to reduce the cost of energy, which would be a desirable result for the US and the rest of the world. Surely, if Europe, and especially Germany, were thinking in clear and enlightened economic terms then Nordstream 11 and quite affordable Russian oil and gas would be a rational decision for Germany and the rest of Europe to make. So, last but not least,the appeal by the US to moral conduct, principles and pure values seems to me to be laughable, if one but reflects on the number of illegal wars the US has launched – not least in Iraq and bombed Libya to smithereens while still being illegally in Syria and continuing active oil trading with Saudi Arabia. Why, I ask myself, would any rational European leader want to harm the welfare of their own people? Come winter, is it Putin to pay the price – or – will the suffering be felt to greater degree by the mass of the European population? Do the sanctions not actually negatively impact the innocent civilian populations within the sanctioned countries? 

I raise these few points all to say that despite what the mainstream media may preach ( may I say selectively preach and likewise selectively focus on) – there is another reality worthy of consideration when the world’s population at large has to contend with the practical question – how am I to live and survive?  

______________________________________

Courtenay Barnett is a graduate of London University. His areas of study were economics, political science and international law. He has been a practising lawyer for almost fully forty years, has been arrested for defending his views, and has argued public interest and human rights cases. 

THE EARTHIAN  —  28        

THE EARTHIAN, Number Twenty-Eight, March 28, 2022, Effective Learning Publications https://blog.effectivelearning.net/ , 32 East Main Street, Statesboro, Georgia, USA, specializing in Adult education.

THE EARTHIAN is an approximately monthly digest of articles written by free-thinking truth-seeking critical-thinking creative-thinking truth-accepting hard-hitting independent writers in linked Internet journals containing facts, perspectives, theories, models, analyses, and recommendations concerned about psychological, moral, ethical, philosophical, social, economic, political, military, religious, and ecological states of affairs affecting the existential well-being of all species of fauna and flora around Spaceship Earth, especially the human species.

“ASK LESS WHAT YOUR NATION CAN DO FOR YOU—ASK MORE WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR SPACESHIP EARTH”

Individuals Are Not to Praise or Blame for How Earthian Economic, Social, and Political States of Affairs Evolve

NO MORE WAR!

By ROUT LOGGER

I had a dream today, not a dream like Martin Luther King had, but a real dream, asleep in my chair before five o’clock pm, in which there was a vote on who is right in Ukraine, the US or Russia. Over and over the votes were tallied, and over and over it came in that the US won by one vote. My wife came home and she asked me what I had been doing. I told her I had been asleep and had this weird dream. Still discombobulated by the dream, I told her it’s insane this has happened. Here we and Russia were friends in WWII and here we are fighting them after all these years. We, Reagan at least, told Russia in so many words if they would give up Communism in 1989 we would be their friends. Instead of that we have forced them into a bad situation. Yes, Putin had to have been crazy to have done what he did invading Ukraine as he did. But it’s time the US and NATO gave up their paranoid power Game in eastern Europe. This juvenile crap in Ukraine should be stopped now!

Now that the milk has been spilled in Ukraine there is no telling how things are going to turn out from here on. About the best thing ordinary Earthian humans can hope for is that the Ukrainian and Russian govts will soon reach some sort of agreement and bring this abominable war to an abrupt halt. Even if this happened however how could Putin ever compensate for thousands of people killed, cities destroyed, and millions of refugees displaced by his costly spiteful retribution to the US and NATO for expanding in eastern Europe? Provocative as this was, nothing the US or NATO did to Russia after WWII leading up to the Ukraine invasion caused anywhere near as much physical damage, human suffering, and death as what Putin has caused in Ukraine.

Bush II of the US did the same sort of thing Putin did in Ukraine in Iraq in 2003 with fewer good reasons than Putin had in Ukraine, but that’s another story.   

The problem now is that the Ukrainian invasion could escalate into World War III. About all ordinary Earthian humans can do now is grieve.

Ordinary Earthian humans all around Spaceship Earth, regardless of the evolution and duration of this war, are chronically threatened by Two Modern Horsemen of the Apocalypse, global warming and climate change (GWCC) and militarization and nuclear weapons proliferation (MNWP). In theory the probability of imminent Earthian human extinction caused by MNWP is easier to eradicate than the extinction probability of GWCC.

MNWP can theoretically be eliminated overnight by all aggressive imperialistic and possibly-genocidal nations now existing around Spaceship Earth declaring peace against one another, waging peace instead of war, and destroying all their nuclear weapons. Relatively few Earthian humans percentage-wise would be affected by edicts necessary to make this happen, primarily those humans making their livings working for militaries as soldiers, pilots, sailors, etc. and military contractors working for and supplying militaries.

On the other hand, eradicating the probability of human extinction caused by GWCC will require lifestyle changes for almost all Earthian humans living aboard Spaceship Earth, and those lifestyle changes will require structural sub-conscious psychological changes in the ways all Earthian humans feel, think, believe, know, and behave.   

Bringing about changes to combat both GWCC and MNWP will entail upsetting the apple carts and vested interests of millions of organizations and billions of individual humans, and most humans are loathe to give up their personal perks and vested interests, however much they harm the whole system. One of the most difficult-to-make and most necessary changes to eradicate the probability of human extinction is changing the competitive dog-eat-dog economic system historically used internationally by I’m OK—You’re Not OK nationalistic governments.

A tough lesson for Earthian humans to accept propositioned in Effective Learning Publications books is that everything that happens in human states of affairs is either predetermined or accidental and therefore individuals are not to blame or praise for what happens in human states of affairs. This is easier to swallow after accepting that believing and acting otherwise will support and perpetuate the I’m OK—You’re Not OK life position that has bedeviled, sabotaged, and undermined Earthian humans since time immemorial, making losers out of most of them.

For more information on the use of Transactional Analysis  https://www.itaaworld.org/  to create better discussion groups and democratic processes read Born to Learn:  A Transactional Analysis of Human Learning.  https://www.amazon.com/Born-Learn-Transactional-Analysis-Learning/dp/0692584331 

For more information on how to co-construct better organizations and economic systems using transactional analysis read Business Voyages:  Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Discovering and Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds    https://www.amazon.com/Business-Voyages-Schemata-Discovering-Co-Constructing/dp/1413480810

Read “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc,”  https://blog.effectivelearning.net/the-evolution-of-spaceship-earth-inc/   for some management science ideas on how Earthian humans might eventually co-construct an economic system that is viable and satisfying for everyone aboard Spaceship Earth, making it possible for all Earthian humans to develop an I’m OK—You’re OK life position. 

Read As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases. This recently-published novel features a new kind of seminar coordinated by Rout Logger that might reduce the probability of Earthian human extinction that requires participants in a seminar to speak out and up when randomly selected by a Truther rooster positioned in the center of a randomly-selected group of forty humans sitting in a circle. The Truther rooster resembles a spinning weather vane. The rooster is programmed to bob its head up and down and raucously crow after being twirled by a randomly-selected seminar participant, as it spins round and round winding down, letting group members know it’s time to wake up and get to work, before it’s too late. When the Truther rooster stops spinning whoever is at the end of a line of imaginary fire extending from the rooster’s head to her or him sitting in the circle is automatically selected as the Leader of the Moment for the group, proving pure democracy can happen. The Leader of the Moment must then lead the group into a democratic discussion of what s/he considers the most serious existential problem around Spaceship Earth.

According to Effective Learning Publications books, achieving Earthian human sustainability entails such things as Earthian humans peacefully reducing through natural attrition (natural deaths exceeding births) the human population aboard Spaceship Earth, never doing work that machines can do better, and delegating the day-to-day management of systems for scheduling, producing, and distributing the necessities of life to artificial intelligence programs and supercomputers, assuming sufficient quantities of non-human clean energy can be discovered and developed using mind grants.

This is possible managing Spaceship Earth using the general algorithmic matrix algebra form

Max CjXj, s.t. AijXj ≤, =, or ≥ Bi

explained in “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.” at   https://blog.effectivelearning.net/the-evolution-of-spaceship-earth-inc/  .

Riding aboard an airliner about to land at night traveling at four hundred miles an hour at thirty-five thousand feet with clouds, rain, wind, and lightning below, what would you rather have determining the path, speed, and angle of descent of the aircraft for touch-down, the plane’s auto-pilot, radar, and computer system or the pilot and co-pilot, seeing nothing out their windows below but clouds and lightning?

The main reason why delegating the scheduling, production, and distribution of the necessities of life to AI programs and magnum computers might be a good idea is that magnum computers and algorithmic AI programs do not get greedy and power hungry or play psychological Games. Thus far in Earthian human history most leaders and rulers atop large organizations such as nations have become corrupt one way or another playing psychological Games, acting out selfish greedy ego trips, hogging all the power, money, strokes, stimulation, and recognition they could get their hands on for themselves and their cronies, leaving the hindmost to their underlings. Whatever their limitations and possible threats, algorithmic computer programs and super computers are not egotistical, greedy, and power-hungry.

Thanks to Buckminster Fuller for providing the above airplane-landing metaphor in his book Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, first published in 1969, and for planting seeds for other ideas in the essay “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.,” published in the Effective Learning Report, such as computers being the best hope for mankind and humans not doing work machines can do better, being paid to think instead with what Fuller called mind grants. Fuller said unemployment all around Spaceship Earth could be eliminated overnight with mind grants. Buckminster Fuller was the inventor of the appellations Earthian and Spaceship Earth.   

If you have ideas on how to democratically discuss in Game-free ways economic and political problems and opportunities in something like the Ogeechee Economic Forum https://blog.effectivelearning.net/ogeechee-economic-forum/ scroll up to and click on the RESPONSES tab at the top of this blog page and speak out about them in writing.

If you feel you’ve gained value from THE EARTHIAN, go to the Internet or any walk-in bookstore around Spaceship Earth and purchase one or more of the above books. As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases is the latest and probably most engaging Effective Learning Publications book. Rout Logger is the protagonist of the novel story. It’s available now as an ebook at Barnes and Noble for $4.99 at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/as-the-rooster-crows-earthian-okness-increases-richard-john-stapleton/1140476381?fbclid=IwAR3iCgbUb4GxgKUAkGOJNBQlbEQmAkKMMQ6DVcc3B085PbntX_VWVi3G-Pg.

RECOMMENDED LINKED ARTICLES RECENTLY PUBLISHED IN INTERNET MEDIA BY RELEVANT HARD-HITTING TRUTH-SEEKING TRUTH-ACCEPTING WRITERS DEALING WITH EARTHIAN HUMAN EXISTENTIAL STATES OF AFFAIRS

MARCH 26, 2022

Here’s another fearless article by Michael Hudson, the most comprehensive economist I have read. Seems to me it would have been better for the US after WWII to have fairly competed in global markets like any other market participant under free enterprise capitalism, paying the same supply and demand prices for goods and services globally as everyone else; but, no, it seems the USian deep state and military-industrial-intelligence-banking complex did not want to fairly compete globally: they wanted to unfairly compete using force to grab and take what they needed at lower prices than would have evolved under laissez-faire competitive free market capitalism. So they created an imperial empire to invade and bomb countries, occupy countries with military bases, replace and undermine governments, sanction governments and civilians, and manipulate and rig markets to take the lion’s share of whatever the US needed globally at the lowest price by hook or crook,thereby creating enemies around Spaceship Earth, while devastating countries defined as enemies. This USian imperial empire strategy may have technically worked for seventy or more years after WWII, causing many USian civilians to become richer than they otherwise would have, however immoral this strategy might have been, but the glory days for this empire are ending, just like they did for all previous Earthian imperial empires. Seems to me all Earthian humans should now outlaw the imperial empire strategy around Spaceship Earth.

“The American Empire self-destructs. But nobody thought it would happen this fast,” by Michael Hudson, THE SAKER, http://thesaker.is/america-shoots-its-own-dollar-empire-in-economic-attack-on-russia/.

March 26

Doomsday anyone?

“Immune to War Fever, Some Countries Stay Neutral to Russia”, by Eve Ottenberg, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/25/immune-to-war-fever-some-countries-stay-neutral-to-russia/?fbclid=IwAR3Nl2iXkz0tsTvRiSB828NJJ2UaTyVodu7K_y4xj0WQmdLC-FTNEhTcf9A.

March 26

Say it ain’t so Joe

“Roaming Charges: Both Ends Burning,” by Jeffrey St. Clair, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/25/roaming-charges-both-ends-burning/?fbclid=IwAR2srVHBrWlusWQ9MD2GZzvaOa9MDZcOYpvGE2GL9pNPOxL-AQVm_UjOq2o.

March 26

Seems to me the only hope for Earthian humans is for all Spaceship Earth nations to cease this demented international competition, carnage, and plunder asap and cooperate with each other to combat global warming and climate change. Otherwise, all Earthian humans will sooner than later be toast. As usual Michael Hudson, the greatest economist alive, spells out what is going on in this article.

“The Blowback from Sanctions on Russia,” by Michael Hudson, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/25/the-blowback-from-sanctions-on-russia/?fbclid=IwAR3q97LlIbEXjEmf9UUqSNy2a9_2Ncv8TjKSmN815rTWS-EPVZiXcuLRBK8.

March 26

Russia has once again become hell on earth for its own people, however hellish Ukraine is now after the Russian invasion, thanks to Trump’s buddy Putin. Let’s grieve Trump or someone of his ilk does not ever become a USian dictator like Putin did in Russia. As discounted politically as ordinary USians are they are less discounted than ordinary Russians under the yoke of Putin and his fellow oligarchs, as this article points out. On the other hand, ordinary USians are losing their freedom to choose abortions and vote in the US at a rapid rate as repugs increase their power in right wing authoritarian states. If this repug fascist trend continues indefinitely…

“Imperialism and the Struggle Against It Begins at Home,” by Stanley L. Cohen, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/25/imperialism-and-the-struggle-against-it-begins-at-home/?fbclid=IwAR0-vrapZ_RU1BSPPIq36hKMkp6Lz0vpHvKoiNR6Fk7J-3eLXgMf1M8PyAg.

March 25

I am afraid Ferguson is right that Biden and the USian deep state want to keep the war going to further humiliate and weaken Russia, doing more of what they have been doing to them since Reagan told Gorbachev to take down the Berlin Wall in 1989.

“Putin Misunderstands History. So, Unfortunately, Does the US,” by Niall Ferguson, BLOOMBERG OPINION, https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-03-22/niall-ferguson-putin-and-biden-misunderstand-history-in-ukraine-war?fbclid=IwAR0Cp8dPF-loNTErb_wljSc8-kOpBToV0Q3YKsmm6g0VNkF6jFR0tZGx2BI.

March 25

Wonder why

“Disillusioned With Dems and GOP, Independents Now Largest Voter Group in the US,” by Josephine Lee, TROUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/disillusioned-with-dems-and-gop-independents-now-largest-voter-group-in-the-us/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR1wa9QW-BT0Nj6TGwkitEuvl2i2mZysZx8SFj64ke8YXzUAfb2Ykhs7qqU.

March 23

This article does not include the legal stealing caused by the USian elite and large corporations paying politicians to lower their taxes

 “Commercial Defrauding of Uncle Sam—Biggest Booming Business, by Ralph Nader, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/23/commercial-defrauding-of-uncle-sam-biggest-booming-business/?fbclid=IwAR3te4ARxnlphUsXvza9hRcTxOwodRQAXOK-wHbb4azeigInr5IcJ0EgCt4.

March 23

Say it ain’t so Joe

“Major media in the U.S. become cheerleaders for war in Ukraine,” by John Wojcik, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/35177?fbclid=IwAR3Z_GsoXnqfE0FyBoiFcD4bcMtW5FLeODeXbrhwM1F_2KVy5jDU-kYQIRY.

March 22

Sounds about right to me

“It’s All Oligarchs All the Way Down,” by Chuck Churchill, COUNTERPUNCH, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/35177?fbclid=IwAR3Z_GsoXnqfE0FyBoiFcD4bcMtW5FLeODeXbrhwM1F_2KVy5jDU-kYQIRY.

March 22

Unethical and immoral protecting of vested interests by a large organization

“Why is Russia’s church backing Putin’s war ?,” by Scott Kenworthy, THE JERUSALEM POST, https://www.jpost.com/christianworld/article-701967?fbclid=IwAR1RNp7PSSMKcMutgj5j1D4eC_TPLi2dCxOd9wZ9aus8Ybs2bdsEvPIw5W4.

March 22

A good summary by Spaceship Earth’s most articulate newsperson

“Gravitas Plus: Did NATO push Ukraine into war?,” YouTube, https://www.jpost.com/christianworld/article-701967?fbclid=IwAR1RNp7PSSMKcMutgj5j1D4eC_TPLi2dCxOd9wZ9aus8Ybs2bdsEvPIw5W4.

March 21

More than a grain of truth here

“We Need an Economy Without Bosses and Managers, Participatory Economics is How,” by C.J. Polychroniou, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/we-need-an-economy-without-bosses-and-managers-participatory-economics-is-how/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR1Nx0lmvzZnxSX44KB_GcUPg7q433JD9b4sMc2l-N3gEOMcGbDJCPv-foM.

March 21

Say it ain’t so Joe

“Severe Drought & ‘Dust Bowl Conditions’ Threaten Disastrous Winter Wheat Harvest In The US,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/weather/severe-drought-dust-bowl-conditions-threaten-disastrous-winter-wheat-harvest-us?fbclid=IwAR1Nx0lmvzZnxSX44KB_GcUPg7q433JD9b4sMc2l-N3gEOMcGbDJCPv-foM.

March 21

This novel is about a fictional management professor and consultant Dr. Rout Logger who secured funding from wealthy donors for an on-going discussion process that was conducted in central city hotels in randomly-selected cities of the US on the first Saturday of the month starting in October 2019.

Forty participants were randomly-selected from pools of USian citizens based on demographic criteria designed to maximize diversity among the group members, including members living in and identified with widely divergent psychological, social, economic, political, religious, educational, and philosophical states of affairs.

The major purpose of the process was to increase the OKness of the group members by causing them to engage in rational Adult ego state democratic discussions of serious problems facing all Earthian humans. The group members were paid five thousand dollars per Saturday session in which they participated. The meetings entailed morning and afternoon sessions of three hours. Each session was started by a roulette-like spinner, a copper rooster, called the Truther rooster, that would spin and crow when twirled. Whomever was sitting at the end of an imaginary straight line of fire extending from the rooster’s beak to the circle of forty participants would be randomly selected as the Leader of the Moment, proving true democracy can happen. Each Leader of the Moment was required to answer three existential questions: What do you think is the most serious problem right now? what do you think the alternatives are for dealing with the problem? and what do you recommend for dealing with the problem?

The story includes dialogues between Rout Logger and the group members and between group members dealing with the issues the randomly selected members brought up answering the existential questions and dealing with psychological and social problems group members had adjusting to the group process.

The process lasted six months, to March 2020. Rout told the group members at the outset that the process might be continued for a year or more. Instead, it was terminated after the March meeting because of Covid-19.

Rout was convinced the process did increase the OKness of the group members in six months. How much would be impossible to prove but he was convinced their OKness level went up, as he defined OKness. His donors were also convinced OKness increased based on transcripts and video Rout furnished them. Rout used some transactional analysis lingo and jargon in the process but he also explained how it could be understood by all members. The story ended with Rout and his donors working on a new computer-based Game-free democratic discussion system based on zoom technology that could be rolled out around Spaceship Earth, hopefully to help save Earthian humans from imminent extinction.

“As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases,” by Richard John Stapleton, BARNES & NOBLE, https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/as-the-rooster-crows-earthian-okness-increases-richard-john-stapleton/1140476381?fbclid=IwAR3e1tHCB1Ia719fEye372lCg2HcwaCxQcMLzxO6Ld6Y-WEgQYp08xUZTz0.

March 20

Repugs like this one, and most repugs and dems in Washington for that matter, should go jump in the lake

“Republicans Supporting a No-Fly Zone Are Putting Us at Risk of Nuclear War,” by William Rivers Pitt, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/republicans-supporting-a-no-fly-zone-are-putting-us-at-risk-of-nuclear-war/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR0ugi_sbKI0ZmEn_VlkNl4QvfOCljouFBWilCs1hRUIZqhLu3W72zLMj_Q.

March 20

Enlightening

“Mapped: All The World’s Military Personnel,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/mapped-all-worlds-military-personnel?fbclid=IwAR1luIhIn37nQDQxEElPRLNRTf4_CgyZWc38XU38upa8IHbM_IGSRzMU5ZU.

March 20

Say it ain’t so Joe

“Waltzing to Armageddon,” by Chris Hedfges, CONSORTIUM NEWS, https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/15/chris-hedges-waltzing-to-armageddon/?fbclid=IwAR08gbipE9eAJRvjOgmMxRjEkTmVag4sMgctOFW-1Z6E9E-H9oiUbZ6JKrY.

March 18

Enslaving women in forced motherhood, that’s what it is. Why? Especially considering enslaved motherhood causes the Earthian human population bomb to explode even more every year, causing the need for more and more resource depletion and the burning of more and more fossil fuel, thereby increasing the probability of the imminent extinction of the entire human species.

“’Worse than Texas’: Extreme anti-choice bills advance in multiple states,” by Brett Wilkins, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/35150?fbclid=IwAR1R1tip67H5L0XNozrFi4czZUIPc4K5VEw4cKHuq7Xq7DcZroPUdSC6_Ng.

March 18

Yes, Brother Ben, history is repeating itself again, except this time the consequences may be much worse. Never before have all ordinary Earthian humans been subjected to a probability of imminent extinction caused by the greed and power needs of nationalistic leaders as high as it is now.

“War, Generations, and Historical Memory,” by David Schultz, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/18/war-generations-and-historical-memory/?fbclid=IwAR3n5Zs01LPNknZx8zH-jIkWKzc2eX94UYxxzKMfK3xCGL_bCiREXwXaPe0.

March 18

Seems right as rain

“Arming Scientists and Society for the Climate Crisis,” by W. T. Whitney, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/18/arming-scientists-and-society-for-the-climate-crisis-2/?fbclid=IwAR1prxLkvCXWv1cFZlPP4NCDg0JwljXSHACm0yEAnaf6XEStmD1oFDeRoGs.

March 18

A bunch of wrongs do not make a right, and we ordinary Earthian humans are in a hell of a mess

“Let Us Not Talk Falsely Now: Reflections on War, Peace, and Ukraine,” by Paul Street, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/18/let-us-not-talk-falsely-now-reflections-on-war-peace-and-ukraine/?fbclid=IwAR2BvdYyXBW9sAd8a3piUpFvE3vCbwgbCj2w7vfaz1lo8JBfbbesfLnGIIs.

March 18

Say it ain’t so Joe

“Starving a People, Committing a Genocide: Biden’s Sanctions on Afghanistan,” by Eve Ottenberg, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/18/starving-a-people-committing-a-genocide-bidens-sanctions-on-afghanistan/?fbclid=IwAR0qTjo734u415cmZwYIFWLcLFawocyBgCkOSMV3QcbFFMgpVfIEsk-WOK8.

March 16

Here is a real update today, 10:24 ET, eight minutes ago. let us grieve this goes through and the madness stops ASAP

“Stocks Spiking on Report Ukraine-Russia Drawing UP ‘Neutrality Plan To end The War’,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/russia-sparks-ceasefire-hope-after-kremlin-says-neutral-ukraine-army-could-be-compromise?fbclid=IwAR1ioq-SXNboWelMMa2k0AXbRKC-ox_nXI7IyCRGhhs_0ze09sRC8ACeq8s.

March 16

Interesting perspective from a right of center Princeton history professor

“The Weakness of the Despot,” by David Remnick, THE NEW YORKER, https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/stephen-kotkin-putin-russia-ukraine-stalin?utm_source=pocket-newtab&fbclid=IwAR3e1tHCB1Ia719fEye372lCg2HcwaCxQcMLzxO6Ld6Y-WEgQYp08xUZTz0.

March 16

Who wants to think about methane and global warming when waging war is much more exciting?

“Methane Acceleration Sets Record,” by Robert Hunziker, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/15/methane-acceleration-sets-record/?fbclid=IwAR1lxILPN4zxAnUXyj9pjWwWdXZ3b4AshKR9RzMOix0r8A1BnshhH2EJHJA.

March 15

Sad and scary hyperbolic inflammatory lunacy, worse than Rescuer Trump inciting his Victim cult members to violence in an insurrection against the USian govt at the USian capitol building January 6, 2021 playing NIGYSOB, Now I’ve got you, you SOB. Here is Rescuer Trump now inciting his not-OK Victim cult members to violence against Persecutor socialists throughout the US playing NIGYSOB. If you do not know what psychological Games are just add the words transactional analysis to psychological Games, making them transactional analysis psychological Games and ask Google what they are. Payoffs from winning NIGYSOB Games include satisfying feelings resulting from venting pent-up anger and temporary feelings of one-up superiority and patriotism caused by putting Game Victims in a one-down position, producing temporary increases in psychological OKness for the Victim/Persecutor so-called winners, but leaving their social, economic, and political OKness levels as not-OK as ever in reality. Trump’s cult members are suckers, to say the least, being played by a master NIGYSOB player, Trump. Yes, make America great again indeed. What did Trump do for his non-rich ordinary supporters in four years as president, socially, economically, or politically? Nothing, that’s what. They may have temporarily felt psychologically better after winning the 2016 NIGYSOB presidential election, but their economic, social, and political OKness levels are no higher now than they were in 2016, probably lower, and certainly their current not-OK economic, social, and political OKness levels were not caused by Biden in one year as president.

“Trump Commands Followers to ‘Lay Down Their Lives,’ to Stop Critical Race Theory,” by Chris Walker, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/trump-commands-followers-to-lay-down-their-lives-to-stop-critical-race-theory/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR2ESJ7IXtChzCkXHi8k4UHpzwz7BsR5CCfTo97qCSJvmvS_pk5hZ4kBiMU.

March 14

Yuk. The best rendition I have seen on what is really going on in Russia

“Inside Putin’s circle—the real Russian elite,” by Anatol Lieven, FINANCIAL TIMES, https://www.ft.com/content/503fb110-f91e-4bed-b6dc-0d09582dd007?fbclid=IwAR3hlmVIwG58A0jzKjwwF8jOqYfvoplqJUxJDlqNyUPf4qSFjVy6tGclqr0.

March 13

“The instinct to return home, and the planning, saving and grappling with under insurance that requires, is unfolding amid the backdrop of the western United States’ worst drought in 1,200 years and what’s morphed into a year-long fire season. Winter wildfires by the names of Emerald and Airport have scorched thousands of acres in California; led to the destruction of over 100 structures in Kansas; and amid this writing, prompted the evacuation of 1,100 houses in the Florida Panhandle — at a time of year when those with intimate knowledge of the cycles of burning and regeneration once relied on wetter and cooler conditions to keep blazes at bay.”

“Western US’s Worst Drought in 1,200 Years Brings Year-Long Fire Season,” by Leanna First-Arai, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/western-uss-worst-drought-in-1200-years-brings-year-long-fire-season/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR2-Kz5f9aGo_dl4_r9A0M9Cq-LRLMdzOAHAQRbyVWP5Td0_Z9ZX0p-gs2I.

March 13

THE EARTHIAN, specializing in Adult education, is an approximately monthly digest of articles written by free-thinking truth-seeking critical-thinking creative-thinking truth-accepting hard-hitting independent writers linked in Internet journals containing facts, perspectives, theories, models, analyses, and recommendations concerned about psychological, moral, ethical, philosophical, social, economic, political, military, religious, and ecological states of affairs affecting the existential well-being of all species of fauna and flora around Spaceship Earth, especially the human species.

“The Earthian—27,” by Richard John Stapleton, Editor, EFFECTIVE LEARNING REPORT, https://blog.effectivelearning.net/the-earthian-27/?fbclid=IwAR1NOqN4eagSmi0bUuEzva06q5ODGQSBGB-w0gD7vAiCzwg7k8YhirNxY1Y.

March 13

This article seems well documented

“How U.S. has empowered and armed neo-Nazis in Ukraine,” by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas JS Davies, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/35091?fbclid=IwAR2-Kz5f9aGo_dl4_r9A0M9Cq-LRLMdzOAHAQRbyVWP5Td0_Z9ZX0p-gs2I.

March 13

Well said Brother West

“Cornel West Sees a Spiritual Decay in the Culture,” by Vinson Cunningham, THE NEW YORKER, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/cornel-west-sees-a-spiritual-decay-in-the-culture?fbclid=IwAR0CWuWFEov36Gs34-02r5Kj9c3kfb8jttXwznoxopzGbnfnoyEJdDgQ120.

March 12

Seems right on

“The Only Non-Totalitarian Solution to Resource Scarcity: Decentralized Degrowth,” by Charles Hugh Smith, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/only-non-totalitarian-solution-resource-scarcity-decentralized-degrowth?fbclid=IwAR2GwCUbn1PaZplX44v2zsMpcBNtejRXnEqqPyz-OjbHimHZqGu9ag80NV4.

March 9

Another great article by Paul Street, one of the bravest truth-telling writers alive. Contains the first mention I have seen of the schizophrenic spectacle of mainstream tv news media broadcasting attractive talking heads solemnly detailing and showing gory events and scenes of mass murder and misery among civilians still in Ukraine and refugees getting the hell out, and then abruptly switching to the commercials of their advertisers touting exciting episodes in the lives of beautiful, successful, happy ordinary USian humans, living blissful, satisfying, and fulfilling lives in the US, caused by ordinary USian humans buying the advertised products and services.

“Stop This Imperialistic War,” by Paul Street, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/09/stop-this-imperialist-war/?fbclid=IwAR13z4TSLKPgPlbCLGZdNKjfIxo332Bl6Fir4t1Ea47_EUNwZWUCCvamlAw.

March 9

Excellent article. Contains suggestions like those in my “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.,” article.

“Climate Mitigation Isn’t Just a Matter of Ethics; It’s Life and Death,” by C.J. Polychroniou, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/climate-mitigation-isnt-just-a-matter-of-ethics-its-life-and-death/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR2-Kz5f9aGo_dl4_r9A0M9Cq-LRLMdzOAHAQRbyVWP5Td0_Z9ZX0p-gs2I.

March 8

Another comprehensive article by Michael Hudson, the greatest economist alive, telling it like it is around Spaceship Earth. A must-read article for all thinking Earthian humans

“The American Empire Self-Destructs, But Nobody Thought That It Would Happen This Fast,” by Michael Hudson, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/08/the-american-empire-self-destructs-but-nobody-thought-that-it-would-happen-this-fast/?fbclid=IwAR0lHzkNazwBgNbqCC5EUk9NgD2Jj5bY4TG7K42U7_-OpRSnPOm7ydT9Z94.

March 8

Seems nobody knows how to teach yet

“American Children Losing Motivation and Creativity, Teachers Say,” by Jackson Elliott, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/political/american-children-losing-motivation-and-creativity-teachers-say?fbclid=IwAR1rRFRcPcyXa9kEQSH7fdgx0kvDt7rA94j9j3XLfitR7cOr_WW_KAahsKs.

March 7

Sad

“Supreme Court Says Torture at CIA Black Site Is a ‘State Secret’,” by Martha Cohn, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/supreme-court-says-torture-at-cia-black-site-is-a-state-secret/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR0CWuWFEov36Gs34-02r5Kj9c3kfb8jttXwznoxopzGbnfnoyEJdDgQ120.

March 7

Might come to this

“Will ‘Victory Gardens’ Make Comeback As Global Food Crisis Worsens?,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/will-victory-gardens-make-comeback-global-food-crisis-worsens?fbclid=IwAR1oArarX_ApD_EShSIjIzhIfNvSAiOqBJSpW6zMUuPnZx77KjaFnDUzRQI.

March 5

I watched and heard the whole thing on tv when it happened, January 6, 2021. It seemed clear to me Trump was inciting an insurrection, but maybe my eyes and ears were lying to me

“January 6 Committee to Start Public, Likely Televised, Hearings Next Month,” by Chris Walker, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/january-6-committee-to-start-public-likely-televised-hearings-next-month/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR3ecGa7M40enhwc8Fw5yHk0_1LOpw_zZWlbPlKZboQWcDTgmN-wGVNOGxo.

March 5

Enlightening article. Never knew this. Thanks to Paul Ziegler for sharing the article

“What Our Founding Fathers Said About Political Parties,” by Bill King, https://billkingblog.com/what-our-founding-fathers-said-about-political-parties/?fbclid=IwAR1Nl4qA4gC3_BP058Lo0K9uxUuAwL9wNY4DfX1giU2AfgW3nnJ2-gX1llk.

March 5

And right now here in southeast Georgia spring has sprung again. the trees are leafing out, the grass is getting green, flowers are blooming, the sky is blue, white clouds look like giant cotton balls, the birds are back, singing…

“Patti Smith on Dreams, Loss, Love, and Mending the Broken Realities of Life,” by Maria Popova, POCKET, https://getpocket.com/explore/item/year-of-the-monkey-patti-smith-on-dreams-loss-love-and-mending-the-broken-realities-of-life?utm_source=fbsynd&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR2-Kz5f9aGo_dl4_r9A0M9Cq-LRLMdzOAHAQRbyVWP5Td0_Z9ZX0p-gs2I.

March 4

Yes, Stop the madness now. Wage peace not war

“The War-Profiteering Gangsters Will Kill Us All Unless We Unite Against Them,” by Roger Waters, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/04/the-war-profiteering-gangsters-will-kill-us-all-unless-we-unite-against-them/?fbclid=IwAR2eEarK00XvAO9KShuwCdSBQzPPRKsHsnIk-_f0khW2nsZvfrEGM1zO9Ac.

March 4

Richard Rubenstein the author comprehends the system causing war in Ukraine and he tells it like it is in this Counterpunch article discussing relevant focal points not generally recognized and explained in mass media articles, many of which incite and inflame fear and hatred among poorly informed Earthian humans, to attract readers and advertising revenues, focusing more on form than substance. As usual good and evil in the imperial world system are relative, not absolute. Stop the madness now, before it’s too late to avert catastrophe. Escalate the cease-fire and peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. Declare peace! Wage peace, not war!

“The Ukrainian Conflict and the Imperial World System,” by Richard Rubenstein, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/04/the-ukrainian-conflict-and-the-imperial-world-system/?fbclid=IwAR2UWiCim64SfcreSwNIAVrc0L0-JgydIreayOLf1fyJa490THA9N9FBLeo.

March 3

No doubt this egged it on. Why did the US and NATO do it? Was it to build up business for military industrial complexes and keep politicians in power? Were the Europeans ever once seriously threatened by Russia after WWII? Did the US and NATO have any reason for expanding eastward other than to keep on occupying Europe?

“The Ukraine War Follows Decades of Warnings That NATO Expansion Would Provoke Russia,” by Ronald Suny, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/03/235816/?fbclid=IwAR0BF3d5qK98SXU_ZCPYiuVJcb_sco_JGoFmPBq6Zri9YEBa17yqZcLH1eI.

Beware the Ides of March

“What are the Ides of March?

“If you’ve heard of the Ides of March, you probably know you’re supposed to beware them. Why? In ancient Rome, the Ides of March were equivalent to our March 15. In the Roman calendar, this date corresponded to several religious observances. The Romans considered the Ides of March a deadline for settling debts. But – in our modern world – if you’ve heard of the Ides of March, it’s probably thanks to William Shakespeare. In his play Julius Caesar, a soothsayer attracts Caesar’s attention and tells him….” Read the rest of the story here: https://earthsky.org/human-world/beware-the-ides-of-march/.

March 1

A sad day. A major not-ok fascist move has been made on the Spaceship Earth I’m OK—You’re Not OK chessboard.

Pathetic. A complete disaster. SHTF once again. It’s yet another fascist-caused unnecessary war.

Some say Putin is now the richest Earthian human. He was nothing but a KBG agent after Communism collapsed in Russia in 1991. He is now a Russian fascist dictator running Russia like he own’s it. He’s Trump’s role model for what Trump had in mind for himself in the US, Trump having failed to realize his fascist dreams after the last USian presidential election; but he’s still trying, extorting money from his cult followers for another run as president, having not given up on his dream of becoming the first USian dictator, like Hitler, Putin, Kim, et. al. around Spaceship Earth. Putin and his cronies in Russia stole most of the assets of the Soviet Union after it collapsed in 1991, supposedly owned by the Russian people under Communism. Now in 2022 Putin and his cronies have ordinary Russians enslaved again as peasants in their Russian fascist oligarchy, with ordinary Russians being not much better off than serfs were under Russian czars before the Russian Communist revolution led by Lenin in 1917 got rid of hereditary Russian czars. Hopefully Putin’s invasion of Ukraine will not evolve into something much worse militarily than his invading and trying to conquer Ukraine to prove how superior and heroic he and his Russian followers are, playing a possibly-suicidal and possibly-genocidal psychological Game, NIGYSOB, NOW I’VE GOT YOU, YOU SOB.

Putin’s a power-mad drama stroke addict, just like his buddy Trump in the US, just like all fascist dictators have been and are around Spaceship Earth since time immemorial.

On the other hand, Putin is probably a better chess player than Trump, and the chess game in this case at checkmate might entail Russia and China controlling Spaceship Earth in a new We’re OK—You’re Not OK alliance, using the same OK position and script against the US and NATO that the US and NATO used against them.

How to get rid of this international I’m OK—You’re Not OK chess game played over and over by egotistical greedy power-hungry fascist dictators is probably the most serious problem ordinary Earthian humans face trying to stay alive around Spaceship Earth.  

“Zelenskiy Says Ukraine Has Suffered ‘Serious Losses’ After Russian Air Strikes Pound Dozens of Targets,” by RFE/RL, RADIO FREE EUROPE/ RADIO LIBERTY, https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-ukraine-military-operation/31719680.html?fbclid=IwAR23eRgRIqOEoe88-eGh3XE5L_RVA8tM0PZyq18N6u867T_1K4CPeHiy5k0.

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ABOUT THE EDITOR 

Here’s Richard John Stapleton, PhD, CTA in his office at Georgia Southern University the year he retired in 2005, the senior professor of the university that year. The photo was shot by Lori Grice, a former student, founder of Lori Grice Photography.

The object under his left hand is a Classroom De- Gamer™ he invented in 1978.

He would spin the spinner of the De-Gamer in his classes to randomly select a student at the beginning of each class session to lead a discussion of the case assigned for that day, a case taken from a real business prepared by professional casewriters at Georgia Southern, Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Alabama. Grades were based eighty percent on class participation; the rest of the final grade was based on two case write-ups. One write-up was about what the student observed, researched, analyzed, and wrote about an existing business in the local environment or a business plan the student created. The other write- up was an analysis of a professionally written case about a real business assigned as the final exam. Cases used in his courses were taken from all functional areas of business, such as entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, operations management, control, management information systems, and business policy and strategy.

He learned how the case method works teaching with Bernard Bienvenu, DBA and Rexford Hauser, DBA (Harvard Business School doctorates) at what is now known as the University of Louisiana– Lafayette in 1969-70.

He has published refereed journal articles and books explaining how his democratic Game-free Adult-Adult I’m OK—You’re OK case method system works, by banishing Persecutors, Rescuers, and Victims playing psychological Games from the teaching and learning process, first documented in an article titled “The Classroom De-Gamer” he published in 1978 in the Transactional Analysis Journal.

He studied TA with Martin Groder, MD; Graham Barnes, PhD; Vann Joines, PhD; and many others at the Southeast Institute at Chapel Hill, North Carolina (1975-1978).

He has degrees in economics, organizational behavior, and management science from Texas Tech University (1962-1969), and an organizational and educational certification in transactional analysis from the International Transactional Analysis Association (1978).

He had his own case method track at the undergraduate level in the business school at Georgia Southern University taught by him alone in the management department, four or five different elective case method courses offered each academic year (1970-2005), in which he led, coordinated, and graded twenty-five or so students each year who took all or most of those case method courses in their junior and senior years, of about two hundred students who signed up for all of his courses each year, using a democratic circle or amphitheater classroom layout. He also taught most semesters two sections of a capstone integrative business policy course he added to the business school curriculum in 1970 that was required for all undergraduate business majors that could be elected by any student in any major, in which he used the case method. He was the only professor in the business school to use the case method in any course.

His students agreed to a course learning contract that stipulated they would read the facts of the case before class and would lose a whole letter grade from the course final grade if the De-Gamer randomly caught them obviously not having read the case before class, if they had not slipped a note under his office door before class telling him they had not read the case, which they could do twice during the course without penalty.

About ten percent of his students made A’s and about five percent made D’s. Most made C’s, which is about right, since C = Average. There were almost no F’s in his courses. The main criterion for course grades was the quantity and quality of ideas sold by students in case method discussions. He used peer ratings to give students feedback showing what their fellow students thought about the quantity and quality of their ideas sold in class, having made it clear the final decision about final grades was his. He did not believe in Lake Wobegon grading.

No student was ever forced to take one of his courses to graduate, and the most hardened Game- players in the school did not sign up for his courses after he issued his Edict of 1972 in which he clearly spelled out in his syllabi the penalty for getting caught unprepared. His Classroom De-Gamer™ was roundly discussed by students in bull sessions across campus every year and was labeled various things, such as The Wheel of Fate and The Death Wheel. Most students near the end of his career called it The Spinner. He appreciated the fact Georgia Southern honored his academic freedom as a tenured professor, allowing him control of his teaching methods, classroom layouts, grading procedures, and course books, cases, and materials.

He conducted primary survey research in 1992 that discovered longitudinal data (published in “Evidence the Case Method Works” in Business Voyages: Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Discovering and Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds, 2008, pg. 475) that showed his case method students during 1972-1982 reported higher yearly incomes in 1992 than students electing the same courses in 1972-1982 taught by professors using the authoritarian lecture method and the row and column classroom layout, who graded students based on how well they memorized “right answers” for so-called objective multiple-choice tests, indicating learners learning in Adult—Adult I’m OK—You’re OK Game-free learning processes graded subjectively became more successful in the real world of business than learners lectured to in Parent—Child I’m OK— You’re Not-OK un-De-Gamed learning processes. Only former students who had worked in the real world ten or more years after graduating from the Georgia Southern business school were included in the study.

For more information on these classroom management ethical issues see Stapleton, R.J. and Murkison, G. (2001), “Optimizing the fairness of student evaluations: A study of correlations between instructor excellence, study production, learning production, and expected grades,” the Journal of Management Education, 25(3), 269-292. Stapleton had one of the lowest student grade point averages among professors in the business school and was one of the lowest-ranked professors as an instructor on computerized campus-wide student evaluations weighting only instructor excellence scores up to about 2000; but he was one of the highest-ranked professors in a computerized student evaluation he designed that generated data also showing and weighting study production, learning production, and expected grades scores for each professor, published in “Optimizing the Fairness of Student Evaluations.”

To read the Optimizing Fairness article in full, go to https://blog.effectivelearning.net/fair-teacher- evaluations/ . After this research was published, Georgia Southern in 2001 added study production, learning production, and expected grades questions to the student evaluation form used campus-wide.

“Optimizing the Fairness of Student Evaluations” has by now (March 28, 2022)) been cited as a reference in 84 refereed journal articles concerned about student evaluations in several academic disciplines, including nine new citations since April 2021, proving the article is still being read and cited by serious academics twenty-one years after publication.

As the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein propositioned, “The case is all there is.”

If so, everything else said about Earthian human states of affairs is a rendition of what was or might be.

For more on Stapleton’s cultural, educational, and professional experiences go to https://blog.effectivelearning.net/.   

 

THE EARTHIAN  —  27              

THE EARTHIAN, Number Twenty-Seven, February 13, 2022, Effective Learning Publications https://blog.effectivelearning.net/ , 32 East Main Street, Statesboro, Georgia, USA

THE EARTHIAN is an approximately monthly digest of articles written by free-thinking truth-seeking critical-thinking creative-thinking truth-accepting hard-hitting independent writers in linked Internet journals containing facts, perspectives, theories, models, analyses, and recommendations concerned about psychological, moral, ethical, philosophical, social, economic, political, military, religious, and ecological states of affairs affecting the existential well-being of all species of fauna and flora around Spaceship Earth, including the human species.

“ASK LESS WHAT YOUR NATION CAN DO FOR YOU—ASK MORE WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR SPACESHIP EARTH”

Individuals Are Not to Praise or Blame for How Earthian Economic, Social, and Political States of Affairs Evolve

SPEAKING OUT, UP, OR NOT AT ALL

By ROUT LOGGER

Whoever woulda thunk how much of a problem free speech is. Kids are told by a lot of parents to keep their mouths’ shut and pay attention, along with saying children are to be seen and not heard. And most Earthian humans would probably agree with the USian comedian W.C. Fields who said, “Tis far better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt.” Jesus said Earthian humans should not “hide your light under a bushel basket,” while he also said Earthian humans should not “cast your pearls before swine,” while only casting them to those “who have eyes to see and ears to hear.” One often hears humans say others should “keep their opinions to themselves.” The USian government, as well as most Earthian governments, would say “you had better keep your mouth shut about any of our classified secrets you might have learned, or we will put you in prison forever.” It’s common for some people to be morally and ethically bound to secrecy about what they have learned about the affairs of their customers and clients. Lawyers and bankers come to mind. Also doctors in some cases. Lying by omission about the truth is often considered not only moral and ethical but legally mandatory.

According to the USian constitution citizens are entitled to free speech. But how free is it? And does it apply to everyone in all circumstances? Unequivocally no.

One of the biggest problems around Spaceship Earth today is that billions of Earthian humans are required to be or act ignorant of the truth of ordinary obvious states of affairs, grinning and bearing it, ostensibly living in bliss. There are so many lies and dirty deeds and tricks that have been committed by politicians and governments in the past that supposedly have to be covered up for “national security” and other reasons that in some cases only relatively trivial matters can be seen, heard, read about, learned, and freely discussed in the here and now in the public square. The JFK assassination cover-up comes to mind. Earthian humans are often mandated by governments to lie by omission. More often Earthian humans are constrained from talking freely about certain states of affairs by community customs and mores.

If you don’t believe this, read about what happened to Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and Julian Assange because of truthfully telling the truth about states of affairs. Thousands of political victims through time in various nations telling the truth met similar fates.

One of the first things fascist dictators do when they get in power is imprison, torture, and disappear writers and other truth-tellers who tell truths they do not want told or heard. Serious learning, education, and truth that would enable their underlings to know what is really going on are anathema to what they have in mind. What counts most with fascists is cronies and underlings believing propaganda and doing what they are told. This has also been true to various degrees in different kinds of learning situations around Spaceship Earth. The best way to ensure a high grade-point average in some schools is to believe or pretend to believe everything teachers say and obey without question everything teachers tell students to do, following instructions to the letter, not by telling the truth as you see it in any kind of open, free, fair discussion. This has also happened in some non-school learning situations, whether the teacher happens to be a parent, military drill sergeant, priest, preacher, business manager, or anyone having authority over supposedly-inferior underlings.  

Consequently, it’s not easy to figure out whether you should speak out, up, or not at all. One can build a case that most humans will do what they have been genetically, psychologically, and socially programmed to do in early childhood. Earthian humans programmed to use primarily critical parent and adapted child ego states are programmed by default to comply and get along in groups and organizations, doing what they are told without question. Humans programmed to use primarily adult and free child ego states have higher probabilities of running into trouble getting along in groups and organizations. Those programmed to use primarily rebel child ego states are guaranteed to have problems getting along in groups and organizations.

Speaking out indiscriminately entails risk of loss of various kinds in most cases. Speaking up to power is especially risky. But not saying anything at all is irresponsible and cowardly. What are you anyway, a man or a mouse? 

A tough lesson for Earthian humans to accept propositioned in Effective Learning books is that everything that happens in human states of affairs is either predetermined or accidental and therefore no one is to blame or praise for what happens in human states of affairs. This is easier to swallow after accepting that believing and acting otherwise will support and perpetuate the I’m OK—You’re Not OK life position that has bedeviled Earthian humans in groups and organizations since time immemorial, making it highly unlikely humans can eradicate the probability of imminent Earthian human extinction caused by global warming and climate change and militarization and nuclear weapons proliferation.

For more information on the use of Transactional Analysis  https://www.itaaworld.org/  to create better discussion groups and democratic processes read Born to Learn:  A Transactional Analysis of Human Learning.  https://www.amazon.com/Born-Learn-Transactional-Analysis-Learning/dp/0692584331 

For more information on how to co-construct better organizations and economic systems using transactional analysis read Business Voyages:  Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Discovering and Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds    https://www.amazon.com/Business-Voyages-Schemata-Discovering-Co-Constructing/dp/1413480810

Read “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc,”  https://blog.effectivelearning.net/the-evolution-of-spaceship-earth-inc/   for some management science ideas on how Earthian humans might eventually co-construct an economic system that is viable and satisfying for everyone aboard Spaceship Earth, making it possible for all Earthian humans to develop an I’m OK—You’re OK life position. 

Read As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases, at https://www.google.com/search?channel=nus5&client=firefox-b-1-d&q=as+the+rooster+crows+earthian+okness+increases+++++++richard+john+stapleton  . This recently-published novel demonstrates a new kind of seminar lead by Rout Logger that might help eradicate the probability of imminent Earthian human extinction that requires participants in the seminar to speak out and up when randomly selected by a colorful copper Truther rooster positioned in the center of a randomly-selected group of forty humans sitting in a circle. The Truther rooster resembles a spinning weather vane sitting atop a house. The rooster is programmed to bob its head up and down and raucously crow in the seminar room after being twirled by a randomly-selected seminar participant, as it spins round and round winding down, letting group members know it’s time to wake up and get to work, before it’s too late. When the Truther rooster stops spinning whoever is at the end of a line of imaginary fire extending from the rooster’s head to her or him sitting in the circle is automatically selected as the Leader of the Moment for the group, proving pure democracy can happen. The Leader of the Moment must then lead the group into a discussion of what s/he considers the most serious problem around Spaceship Earth.

According to Effective Learning books achieving Earthian human sustainability entails such things as Earthian humans peacefully reducing through natural attrition the human population aboard Spaceship Earth, never doing work that machines can do better, and delegating the day-to-day management of systems for scheduling, producing, and distributing the necessities of life to artificial intelligence programs and supercomputers.

This is possible using the general algorithmic matrix algebra form

Max CjXj, s.t. AijXj ≤, =, or ≥ Bi

explained in “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.” at   https://blog.effectivelearning.net/the-evolution-of-spaceship-earth-inc/  .

Riding aboard an airliner getting ready to land at night traveling at four hundred miles an hour thirty-five thousand feet up in the air with heavy thick clouds, rain, wind, and lightning below, what would you rather have setting the direction, speed, and angle of descent of the aircraft for touch-down, the plane’s auto-pilot, radar, and computer system or the pilot and co-pilot, seeing nothing out their plane windows below but clouds and lightning?

The main reason why turning over the scheduling, production, and distribution of the necessities of life to AI programs and magnum computers is a good idea is that magnum computers and algorithmic AI programs do not get greedy and power hungry or play psychological Games. Thus far in Earthian human history almost all leaders and rulers atop large organizations such as nations have become corrupt one way or another playing psychological Games, acting out selfish greedy ego trips, hogging all the power, money, strokes, stimulation, and recognition they could get their hands on for themselves and their cronies, leaving the hindmost to their underlings to fight over. Whatever their limitations and possible threats, algorithmic computer programs and super computers are not egotistical, greedy, and power-hungry.

Thanks to Buckminster Fuller for providing the above airplane-landing metaphor in his book Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, first published in 1969, and for planting seeds for other ideas in the essay “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.,” published in the Effective Learning Report, such as computers being the best hope for mankind and humans not doing work machines can do better, being paid to think instead with what Fuller called mind grants. Fuller said unemployment all around Spaceship Earth could be eliminated overnight with mind grants. Buckminster Fuller was the inventor of the appellations Earthian and Spaceship Earth.   

If you have ideas on how to democratically discuss in Game-free ways economic and political problems and opportunities in something like the Ogeechee Economic Forum https://blog.effectivelearning.net/ogeechee-economic-forum/ go to the RESPONSES prompt at the top of this page or to https://blog.effectivelearning.net/responses/ and speak out about them in writing.

If you feel you’ve gained value from THE EARTHIAN, go to the Internet or any brick and mortar bookstore and purchase one or more of the above books. As the Rooster Crows Earthian OKness Increases is the most interesting one. Rout Logger is the protagonist of the novel story. It’s available now at amazon.com as an ebook for $3.99. https://www.amazon.com/Kindle-eBooks-Richard-Stapleton-Store/s?rh=n%3A154606011%2Cp_27%3ARichard+Stapleton

RECOMMENDED LINKED ARTICLES RECENTLY PUBLISHED IN INTERNET MEDIA BY RELEVANT WRITERS DEALING WITH EARTHIAN EXISTENTIAL ISSUES

February 13, 2022

Well said. It has not happened yet, but it might

“Hell and Earth,” by Charlie Chapman, https://www.facebook.com/richard.stapleton.397.   

February 11

Here’s a must-read article by Michael Hudson, the greatest economist alive

“America’s Real Adversaries are Its European and Other Allies,” by Michael Hudson, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/11/americas-real-adversaries-are-its-european-and-other-allies/?fbclid=IwAR1_n-L4HZ8tIsf3Y1og7RrtPn-m0DRquha56SkwKcCXJUe7NpOvaGrka-c.

February 11, 2022

Let’s grieve this war is not replicated in the US. Ominous agitating causative conditions in Spain before the Spanish Civil War and conditions now in the US are isomorphically analogous.

“Spanish Civil War, (1936–39), military revolt against the Republican government of Spain, supported by conservative elements within the country. When an initial military coup failed to win control of the entire country, a bloody civil war ensued, fought with great ferocity on both sides. The Nationalists, as the rebels were called, received aid from Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The Republicans received aid from the Soviet Union as well as from the International Brigades, composed of volunteers from Europe and the United States.

“The war was an outcome of a polarization of Spanish life and politics that had developed over previous decades. On one side, the Nationalist, were most Roman Catholics, important elements of the military, most landowners, and many businessmen. On the other side, the Republican, were urban workers, most agricultural labourers, and many of the educated middle class. Politically, their differences often found extre…”

“Spanish Civil War: Definition, Causes, Summary and Facts,” Britannica. Com, https://www.britannica.com/event/Spanish-Civil-War.

February 11

Amazing Cubans have been able to function as well as they have since Kennedy signed this document. The US govt says it believes in free international trade for everyone…until a successful govt close to the US decides to believe in socialism or communism rather than capitalism. On the other hand, if the socialist/communist country is far away, such as China, it’s ok, a good trading partner. It’s too bad about what the US did to North Korea and Vietnam fighting socialism or communism for nothing. The USian big enemy after WWII—the communist Soviet Union, having collapsed in 1990 after fighting the US in the cold war arms race—now operating as the new fascist Russia under Putin—is now engaged in a public relations war playing Games with the US in Ukraine, showing both countries need to keep pouring a high percentage of their tax and funny money revenues into their military-industrial complexes, rather than spend it on their civilian infrastructure.

“The Legacy of Lester Mallory: Brief Statement Against the U.S. Economic War Against Cuba,” by Isacc Christiansen, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/10/the-legacy-of-lester-mallory-brief-statement-against-the-u-s-economic-war-against-cuba/?fbclid=IwAR3Q95JTd7gxdovW0ry6k_zDohdlSWzYblR2vLT66OvVpTW-DGITdcIqPNM.

February 11

Never saw a cause-effect chain like this before

“It took two months for a teen to get this clip – all in one take,” Nifty, https://www.facebook.com/buzzfeednifty/.

February 11

You might say this fellow is not happy with the way the USian economy is working.

“The ‘Crapification’ of the U.S. Economy is Now Complete,” by Charles Hugh Smith, OF TWO MINDS.COM, https://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-crapification-of-us-economy-is-now.html?fbclid=IwAR1Jb5U8jn1Fwt8LCWIk3pCPl7E7tb3KpRkHoYuHcDwf6nsVlVUFb8_fX4w.

February 10

Assuming The Economist magazine knows what it’s talking about the US aint doin’ so hot as a democracy. Think the Repug and Dem parties, Trump, Mcconnell, Sinema, and Manchin might have somethin’ to do with it?

“These Are the World’s Most — and least — Democratic Places, by Alex Millson, BLOOMBERG NEWS, https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/these-are-the-world-s-most-and-least-democratic-countries.

February 9

When corporations invest millions and billions in lobbyists and give money to politicians to cause the government to increase their after-tax profits by decreasing their before-tax tax rates and change the rules of economic life in their favor ordinary USian citizens have a problem

“How Empires Die,” by Charles Hugh Smith, OF TWO MINDS.COM, https://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2022/02/how-empires-die.html?fbclid=IwAR0AzPfrF_YdYH2km5FcRUM4rDAm4GybhmiWNcJKV8IAD5JwhCJAk7oRGhI.

February 9

Of course most ordinary USians do not want war with Russia in Ukraine. The only beneficiaries would be the USian military industrial complexhttp://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/34867

“Memo to Congress: Diplomacy for Ukraine is spelled M-i-n-s-k,” by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J S Davies, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/34867?fbclid=IwAR15fQRNuOyYgVn6iy2w50QhpPaDWW-h4rpaAOP0XquoKQ5i0fb18BWNhR0.

February 9

A white dove?

“Israel, an Apartheid Nation? Of Course!,” by Melvin Goodman, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/09/israel-an-apartheid-nation-of-course/?fbclid=IwAR0zLutotQPSTVL02EvlOKAWhE-OnFPbqACvnAT1Fym-y28QbKGnlaniLdM.

February 9

Interesting details about the propaganda campaign in Ukraine

“Erdogan in Kiev, Putin in Beijing: can neo-Ottomanism fit into Greater Eurasia?, “ by Pepe Escobar, THE CRADLE, https://thecradle.co/Article/columns/6612?fbclid=IwAR1aNkye5_PgfJ5VUpZ9IEHfipA9s2SkT3Re8sUF_UTgOrWdXPLjJ0NLNYc.

Febrary 8

Sounds about right to me

“US continues to foment war hysteria in Ukraine crisis,” by John Wojcik, INTERPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/34856?fbclid=IwAR2XBoK8DNK4wEjPiPbr2Ii5w4lAGJ4kWfkugMKJK6OQWZrwq_7a3JO0LdM.

February 8

About time

“Drug Decriminalization is Working in Oregon. Other States Should Follow,” by Jared Rodriguez, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/drug-decriminalization-is-working-in-oregon-other-states-should-follow/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR25ndCV_fU1ElfJZPU6TFvO-S_XlTtGdv890npafwlKK6c7rmRLOA_xZQY.

February 8

No telling how much damage this did to the welfare of the Cuban people. The US govt says it believes in free international trade for everyone…until a govt believes in socialism or communism rather than capitalism

“The blockade against Cuba turns 60,” by Rosa Miriam Elizaide, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/34844?fbclid=IwAR0zLutotQPSTVL02EvlOKAWhE-OnFPbqACvnAT1Fym-y28QbKGnlaniLdM.

February 7

Good point, but a bit overboard on the notion that toxic and leadership are oxymoronic. There has always been toxic leadership around Spaceship Earth, probably more toxic leadership than nurturing leadership

“Toxic ‘Leadership’: The Other Pandemic That Afflicts Us,” by Gregory D. Foster, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/07/toxic-leadership-the-other-pandemic-that-afflicts-us/?fbclid=IwAR2zQbilP3bNvx_BjxIbVNrPIsmVz_QkmwmmdovVkxhZPvJ_iNkqN4NTzpE.

February 7

I used to think the word sanction meant to give someone or something permission and support for doing something. Very definitely not so now according to the USian govt. Sanction is one of its most Orwellian oxymoronic euphemisms for doing people serious harm.

“US Sanctions on Afghanistan May Kill More That 20 Years of War,” by Mstk Eridntoy, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/07/us-sanctions-on-afghanistan-may-kill-more-than-20-years-of-war/?fbclid=IwAR3hWx67o_AneBVGYHj_BGC12mpE5GN5aW1aLwcTgr_jtkbtmFLPS9X0-vo.

February 7

Sad

“Hard times: 7 in 10 Americans say they’re living paycheck to paycheck now,” by Chris Melore, STUDYFINDS, https://www.studyfinds.org/living-paycheck-to-paycheck/?fbclid=IwAR1YeuYtlVz2G_MawY4C1RkcFFyIXMyqfu7Na-YnaBPTdAgHChlxvb0On4U.

February 7

Hell yes it would be mad

“Biden’s Brinkmanship,” by David Rovics, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/07/bidens-brinksmanship/?fbclid=IwAR06HYO2k8qZEYyoKWnJXb5hJbX7-31gSVPS9j6bdOtqyida_WV-A74CI_Y.

February 6

Say it aint so Joe

“Trump’s Political Depravity Sank to a New Level This Past Week,” by Sasha Abramsky, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/trumps-political-depravity-sank-to-a-new-level-this-past-week/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR3nLy4GG9qeC3B50nePHPd5-pi7fHDn8Fw4EO0u_hMLcfoSjG6Qc3sndyQ.

February 6

Why many young men and their wives went west

“Would you take free land in rural America?,” by Mark Dent, THEHUSTLE, https://thehustle.co/would-you-take-free-land-in-rural-america/?utm_source=pocket-newtab&fbclid=IwAR3iveF2TmbbAcQdgu9F04IaLgrF6qyJVqNoQtXw3ovdgOgPmefpET4G3pQ.

February 5

Another fearless article by Paul Street, maybe the bravest truth-telling writer alive, mincing no words, pulling no punches

“The ‘American Experiment’ is a Savage Nightmare,” by Paul Street, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/04/the-american-experiment-is-a-savage-nightmare/?fbclid=IwAR2jh0Do0voubqZGX9CX1LWHPsyvJJuORUfvGuA4pTmYXcQTaZgRJxrRo-8.

February 4

Fully agree with Chomsky. This is mainly psychological Game-playing to keep politicians and militaries in power

“Chomsky: US Approach to Ukraine and Russia Has ‘Left the Domain of Rational Discourse’,” by C.J. Polychroniou, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/us-approach-to-ukraine-and-russia-has-left-the-domain-of-rational-discourse/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR1SB7QUOyDqR86lWWNIMNa-01pTxlZokKJQ2ZYWSbxKMyeMgG-lCHXq-5U.

February 4

Has this legislator in Iowa gone nuts or is he avant garde in Usian culture?

“Iowa Republican Authors Bill Demanding Cameras in Every Classroom in States,
by Chris Walker, TRUTHOUT,
https://truthout.org/articles/iowa-republican-authors-bill-demanding-cameras-in-every-classroom-in-state/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR1MtJ5S0U8V41kXnwF8VxKU5Pm975ZfcwXqlAHJBag4kM9Coi483K4Zujk.

February 4

Say it aint so Joe

“How Bad is Crime in L.A.?” by Peter Kiefer, LAMAG.COM NEWSLETTERS, https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/how-bad-is-crime-in-l-a/?fbclid=IwAR1D_ugbHpoJkKbelqv6NkM4jQHLbClukSmm1lIdl6PTkA-3lmRs6Rdaw4E.

February 4

Yuk

“Clueless Newsome Shocked at California’s ‘Third World’ Conditions,” REASON.COM, https://reason.com/2022/02/04/clueless-newsom-shocked-at-californias-third-world-conditions/?fbclid=IwAR2Ux38tp_Lj5isqtN730lzUJYgtz-a46wPGbAli7Kym0QdAnoDLP6Sxhx8.

February 3

Here’s another reason why trust on Earth is such a rare commodity

“Snowden slams ongoing impunity for NSA’s domestic spying,” by Jessica Corbett, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/34813?fbclid=IwAR1traJJ5aNwUE3cxYU07c0kbmAJTzEEierAmkftQsVDVullOntHdYgQTnI.

February 3

In order to trust someone or something you have to believe they or it are not out to do you harm, and you have to believe they are competent and secure enough to do what they say they will do

“What and Whom to Believe (or How to Cope with Disillusionment),” by Alfred De Zayas, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/03/what-and-whom-to-believe-or-how-to-cope-with-disillusionment/?fbclid=IwAR3cntrfTH9Bg2CSwpadaeovtSJq7Az0qm5xfoSFjPYGQ1J-IJo0UD4ZA-8.

Februrary 3

Hear Hear

“A Menacing Wind: a Glimpse of Climate Chaos,” by Evaggelos Vallianatos, COUNTERPUNJCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/03/a-menacing-wind-a-glimpse-of-climate-chaos/?fbclid=IwAR3Hw9MaYNltA88m4UQNpUrERjfBEFaBKVCRKovfRAHt8JCNNhhqpossCEo.

February 3

Another cogent article by truth-seeking truth-accepting writers, Kevin Martin and Brad Wolf

“A No-Nukes Strategy or a No-Win Reality,” by Kevin Martin and Brad Wolf, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/03/a-no-nukes-strategy-or-a-no-win-reality/?fbclid=IwAR0feIQNjzAWYY9mRCzc9IOiyI6u5Epn6QRDoiwGcv-IlpYg-y4r7BLZk4M.

February 3

Here’s Paul Street again trying to make sense of USian voters and politicians

“Sleepy Woke Joe, Coal Mine Manchin, the Holy Charter, and the Color and Gender of Faces in High Places,” COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/03/sleepy-woke-joe-coal-mine-manchin-the-holy-charter-and-the-color-and-gender-of-faces-in-high-places/?fbclid=IwAR38DWE0eTfqoxs9yAwzy1DzeLTzSqXOglB_7F64EnXadQ4t_CmDoIVrA4I.

February 3

Super OK

“Sadio Mane, a Senegalese soccer star, earns approximately $10.2 million annually. He gave the world a rude awakening after some fans were flabbergasted when they saw him carrying a cracked iPhone 11…” and he gave most of his ten million to charity, posted by Tom McGuire, https://www.facebook.com/tom.mcguire.790.

February 2

Why would the US want to whip up cold war hysteria?

“U.S. takes stage at United Nations to whip up Cold War hysteria,” by John Wojcik and C.J. Atkins, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/34802?fbclid=IwAR0od7Giop0wBWTthNvbOtz4XB17ORF5cov1sXQkrh-i36CwNrLMCdw6P8s.

February 2

Whoopee, another charismo to make the victims feel a little better

“Historical Pact Coalition Heads for Elections in Violence-Ridden Columbia,” by W. T. Whitney, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/02/historical-pact-coalition-heads-for-elections-in-violence-ridden-colombia/?fbclid=IwAR1xQz6_vsqLvJFrqzv4WjIH3zgIkYrKalqCc542nmI0EZFSZnvM06Px4bg.

February 2

Who is the US to change its mind?

“Rabobank: Russia is Prepared to Declare Economic War On The West, Inflicting ‘Huge Economic Pain’,” by Michael Every, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/rabobank-russia-prepared-declare-economic-war-west-inflicting-huge-economic-pain?fbclid=IwAR33aticVos_MLURK2Ja8oNmPLBFxJ0Imr35zapz6RwsPozq2g8Sv7qHM0I.

February 2

Like kids playing with matches

“In the Line of Eternal Fire: Ukraine’s Nuclear Reactors,” by Linda Pentz Gunter, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/02/in-the-line-of-eternal-fire-ukraines-nuclear-reactors/?fbclid=IwAR1eskd0MKA94sVXqYrhOfu7WiCrHlxh6fNJutfRT3FLLpsOtzzBsfAkoH8.

February 2

Round and round she goes where she stops nobody knows

“National debt surpasses $30 trillion for the first time,” by Matt Egan, CNN, https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/national-debt-surpasses-30-trillion-for-the-first-time/ar-AATnlcL?fbclid=IwAR2_GsN1ugcDDWrdQohRi5_q7sQol4mq2t3ZjINZ-xwa1wR153tNAEC_GzI.

February 1    

Amazing story

“He Spent 25 Years Infiltrating Nazis, the Klan, and Biker Gangs,” by Paul Solotaroff, ROLLINGSTONE, https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/fbi-infiltrator-nazis-kkk-biker-gangs-1280830/?fbclid=IwAR3ATp3X904SZi-BjyMsUUV_prNfukAQy-mtLrut18ABlBCyLttr6CspeXM.

January 31

“One hundred seconds to midnight. That’s the latest setting of the Doomsday Clock, unveiled yesterday morning (January 20, 2022) by the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

“That matches the setting in 2020 and 2021, making all three years the closest the Clock has been to midnight in its 75-year history. ‘The world is no safer than it was last year at this time,’ said Rachel Bronson, the president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. ‘The Doomsday Clock continues to hover dangerously, reminding us how much work is needed to ensure a safer and healthier planet’.

“As for why the world is supposedly lingering on the edge of Armageddon, take your pick. Covid-19 has amply demonstrated just how unprepared the world was to handle a major new infectious virus, and both increasing global interconnectedness and the spread of new biological engineering tools mean that the threat from both natural and human-made pathogens will only grow. Even with increasing efforts to reduce carbon emissions, climate change is worsening year after year. New technologies like artificial intelligence, autonomous weapons, even advanced cyberhacking present harder-to-gauge but still very real dangers.”

“What the Doomsday Clock is really counting down to,” by Bryan Walsh, VOX.COM, https://www.vox.com/22893594/doomsday-clock-nuclear-war-climate-change-risk?fbclid=IwAR0XXysM5sWwfSrp88dw5h9gh3LV28Pjz25HMRhz_Y3E4uWFTJhaCYN3748.

January 31

Don’t get me wrong. I would never advocate or willingly support full-blown communism; but this article deserves to be read for the simple reason it rationally argues that full-blown competitive dog-eat-dog capitalism among nations and individual humans has got to significantly change if the Earthian human species is to have a decent chance of surviving global warming and climate change. Cooperation, not competition, is what the world needs now.

“A Communist Intervention: Reflections on Crisis, Revolution, and Personal Responsibility,” by Paul Street, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/28/a-communist-intervention-reflections-on-crisis-revolution-and-personal-responsibility/?fbclid=IwAR2Mb6s6cqz2kz-_cSeJP7jYMb2Q02SZQMzLyJt-sEZOdJ0dcuFZg-zPpbI.

January 31

Good question

“Will I be forced to register as a Russian agent?,” by Bev Conover, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/34779?fbclid=IwAR0jjPDw96vVYZLwBLMygTZ-QEYd7xdAFw86fdMXFfpVLWaWSrAe0odVnUM.

January 29

Who has suffered most in wars?

“Tales of invasions past: The facts about Russia’s ‘annexation’ of Crimea,” by Kate Clark, INTREPID REPORT,  http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/34767?fbclid=IwAR0JzdPMlD3eOZD-W6U1GePgRkgMB6DSEWYeJ8QPGjzW3HxMW2-HimBxOK8

January 29

Another case showing how money talks and the powerful win

“Corporations are Funding Police Repression,” by Kelly Hayes, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/audio/corporations-are-funding-police-repression/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR2g63nF78oTvcPfoTtkVMv6_G6EljFCiIrZiomcQzZenDPe4cog_2YljJY.

January 29

A bit paranoid perhaps, but the article contains some rational points

“Authoritarian Madness: The Slippery Slope from Lockdowns to Concentration Camps,” by John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead, THE RUTHERFPORD INSTITUTE, https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/authoritarian_madness_the_slippery_slope_from_lockdowns_to_concentration_camps.

January 28

This insane behavior is psychological Game-playing of the worst kind—Victims who cause themselves to temporarily feel better about themselves by Persecuting targeted Game Victims, primarily playing NIGYSOB (Now I’ve Got You, You SOB), wherein the only possible payoff is the jubilation of venting anger and temporarily feeling superior to Game targets. Most of these Game players, including Trump, are low-OKness Loser Survivors who have been poorly scripted throughout their lives by various inevitable economic, social, political, and psychological forces. The only thing they can win playing this Game is psychologically feeling superior and possibly more secure. Their actual social, economic, and political life positions will not change one iota no matter how superior or heroic they might feel after winning NIGYSOB Games.

“The Politics of Ethicide in an Age of Counter-Revolution,” by Henry Giroux, COUNRTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/28/rethinking-necropolitics-in-the-age-of-insurrections/?fbclid=IwAR2nc9O2MDHyI1lF9cRLEo_tKUXQKJHnjFtpoOejCqAydlGRosVanq0ZyVo.

January 28

Pathetic and disgusting historical state of affairs

“Fascism’s ‘Legal Phase’ Has Begun. Threats of White Vigilante Violence Are Real,” by William Horne, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/fascisms-legal-phase-has-begun-threats-of-white-vigilante-violence-are-real/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR3CLAkVY-xU9drJ21clOEXQP3U03Cvm_UZpkRQS4zTMWohPwNWpi3nafA4.

January 28

This is real economic news not psychological Game propaganda

“Two Shortages That Threaten To Absolutely Eviscerate The Global Economy in 2022,” by Michael Snyder, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/two-shortages-threaten-absolutely-eviscerate-global-economy-2022?fbclid=IwAR2CfAYrwUK7huLy8sqptjba60BuoFD9ATML2on0mACOUPhOkRJhhm3pFws.

January 27

Want to learn more about what’s going on around Spaceship Earth? here’s a good place to start

“The State of the World (and a Few Predictions),” by David Rovics, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/27/the-state-of-the-world-and-a-few-predictions/?fbclid=IwAR0vSkJXgBhd46gHxmxIEuosJb43ekeaIyMRQ_h-uf5sR6QTPJRSsXBJy24.

January 27

How long can they keep it up?

“Debt Up $2 Trillion in 1 Year of Biden,” by Terence P. Jeffrey, CNSNEWS, https://cnsnews.com/commentary/terence-p-jeffrey/debt-2-trillion-1-year-biden?fbclid=IwAR2myXwYKTBq3mQ_gNRFNsgNGilcOxNXc_GSgVW7KtBn2q8ekK6eM8mxGGo.

January 27

What’s good for the goose is not good for the gander

“Who is invading whom? U.S. forces already in Eastern Europe,” by John Wojcik, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/34756?fbclid=IwAR22wclYcgV6bNVNWl5OpqVmtXF1knI6EOUdY8iuNISHK-uPg2Gh4wpGelU.

January 27

Sounds right on to me

“Ukraine as Game Board,” by Ron Jocobs, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/26/ukraine-as-game-board/?fbclid=IwAR2nc9O2MDHyI1lF9cRLEo_tKUXQKJHnjFtpoOejCqAydlGRosVanq0ZyVo.

January 27

Yuk

“Report: Billionaires Spend 40 Times More on Political Campaigns Than in 2010 Thanks to ‘Citizens United’,” by Sharon Zhang, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/since-citizens-united-billionaires-are-spending-nearly-1b-more-on-elections/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR3zIvoMDAQ-VWhueV9SzkejoNvJmbj3GA1Ajs9wA2op3eiXVTmAyV4UPc8.

January 26

Amen

“’Is Pelosi insane?’ Dems rebuked over $500 million in military aid to Ukraine,” by Jake Johnson, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/34742?fbclid=IwAR3Il9KKudNAd7wv9HqcdeT_ZnCNR0mgRDHvK_cJRGYLEBqFfFYh0dfWldA.

January 25

Political Games are psychological; phosphate is real. You gottta have it to grow lots of crops

“Morocco drives a war in Western Sahara for its phosphates,” by Vijay Prashad, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/34726?fbclid=IwAR1QfEZzjGHRkY0S4cA-fecbOowI9q8n5p2U1MSahxx3wL2fejD8qywgALY.

January 25

Political Games are much the same in egotistical nations

“Boris Johnson’s Populism May be Muted, But it is Still Accelerating Britain’s Decline,” by Patrick Cockburn, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/25/boris-johnsons-populism-may-be-muted-but-it-is-still-accelerating-britains-decline/?fbclid=IwAR0G_joagOn86cCIZqPkQIAV7m8_vqk-woqJF5qYc0T5zzxk_EQdQexV9ds.

January 25

Let us grieve for Willis. She is under tremendous extra-judicial political pressure from Trumpian cult members

“Fulton County Judges Approve Special Grand Jury for Probe Into Trump Election Tampering,” by Chris Walker, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/judges-approve-special-grand-jury-for-probe-into-trump-election-tampering/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR1mtZyfB1Go9NNANzqYYvG76sSG3uePWZPzPVvw3H9dfUp8ag2Vx16YT8c.

January 25

Sadistic Games of the highest order

“Julian Assange Can Now Seek Appeal Against US Extradition to Top UK Court,” by Marjorie Cohn, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/julian-assange-can-now-seek-appeal-against-us-extradition-to-top-uk-court/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR1_ZqvRXvT1PGdKoWnySW62OTDQpxAzN2U-3MtqDfZcxa0Ie8kyFGGSE1s.

January 25

Ever see a picture of Cuba’s new replacement for Castro? Serious Game-playing is underway

“Putin discusses ‘strategic partnership’ with Cuban leader amid fears of military threat,” by Nora Gomez Torres, STARS AND STRIPES, https://www.stripes.com/theaters/americas/2022-01-24/putin-cuba-strategic-partnership-4402280.html?fbclid=IwAR2BmdO0DBlGOkj1YrNs5GvyyjmpGzt_WgE_1AsbCCiskjf84OGEPbwyN3M#.YfBh6GXsSCc.facebook.

January 25

And so it goes. The US is now 25 on the list.

“Denmark, New Zealand and Finland top list of least corrupt nations,” by Rachael Malone, DAILYMAIL, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10438219/Anti-corruption-fight-stalled-COVID-not-helping.html?ito=facebook_share_article-bottom&fbclid=IwAR3QXgRGCNFGXlR6M6x6ZIngY-E9Bsw9Qz1oDf1h2RW9FJjpgNAVPGWDDbc.

January 25

Sad

“One Year in Biden’s Nuclear Policies Look a Lot Like Trump’s,” by Jon Letman, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/one-year-in-bidens-nuclear-policies-look-a-lot-like-trumps/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR2j4EgfgvDNX4OjBLklLqvuyOPcFr1cW-LLD2ECF4za9UBiI9S6aQtJeZs.

January 25

Say it aint so Joe

“Biden is Considering Deploying Thousands of Troops to Eastern Europe,” by Jake Johnson, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/biden-is-considering-deploying-thousands-of-troops-to-eastern-europe/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR0lHIQ8SAAIsjeRd3ghea7uzH-reD1L5gPdRsHCBkC1XXL3xdMMcDep0uI.

January 25

Say it aint so Joe

“The US Bombed A Vital Dam in Syria, Lied About it, & Called Anyone Who Reported the Truth ‘Crazy’,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-bombed-key-dam-syria-lied-about-it-called-anyone-who-reported-truth-crazy?fbclid=IwAR2siCxWtkPCppZC7VDMyigpFUpUBRtcjLwHXtGyTJ85ZTvHWNP_UJZbZLI.

January 24

How this woman got so smart I do not know, but she seems way up there

“The surprise ending,” by Caitlin Johnstone, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/34698?fbclid=IwAR0kI32z4i9HBkGHp4w_5qo52wx8WcmsKkO6YimHjkg2-rUiizrhN7b24Qw.

January 24

Here’s another article by Caitlin Johnstone giving her perspective on the situation with Russia/Ukraine. Be sure to read the tweets from politicians at the bottom of the piece. I have not been a believer of the notion that USian mass media are seriously brainwashing USian citizens to get what they want, but regarding the Russia/Ukraine situation I am beginning to wonder. I confess to liking most of what I have seen and heard on MSNBC about the Trump fiasco and other matters, but I have lost respect for most MSNBC talking heads for their positions on the Russia/Ukraine problem. MSNBC is the only USian tv or print mass media outlet I have exposed myself to several days of the week for any period of time in twenty or more years, so who am I to know how extensive the brainwashing efforts of the entire USian mass media system have been. As I understand it the real problem with Russia/Ukraine is that most of the population of eastern Ukraine is Russian speaking and wants to be annexed by Russia. If so, let it happen, and let all Earthian humans get on with life. The western part of Ukraine and the dominant part of Ukraine politically is relatively fascist and NATO-European-oriented, and has been relatively corrupt compared to most Earthian governments. Why should we ordinary USians give a rip if Russia annexes the Russian part of Ukraine that wants to be annexed by Russia? We have nothing to gain or lose in this game. Who in the US would gain from a war with Russia? The USian military-industrial-intelligence-banking complex, of course, by such a war creating even more business for defense/offense corporations in the US manufacturing and providing war devices, materials, and services and making it seem 800 or so USian military bases and thousands of military personnel scattered around Spaceship Earth are worth their cost in real money forked over by USian taxpayers and funny-money creators at the USian federal reserve system who use the funny money to buy USian federal govt treasury bonds so the USian fed govt can meet its payroll for its civilian and military employees, hoping this will also prop up the USian civilian domestic economy, while satisfying the greed of rich USians who have given significant money to USian politicians to lower their federal taxes. It took WWII after all to finally end the USian great depression of the 1930’s under capitalism. Who wants to go back to that? And who benefited most after all the carnage, dust, suffering, and misery of WWII had settled? The original USian rich.

“Lunatic Pundit Says It’s ‘All But Certain’ We’re On The Cusp Of A Massive War With Russia,” by Caitlin Johnstone, CAITLINJOHNSTONE.COM, https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/01/22/lunatic-pundit-says-its-all-but-certain-were-on-the-cusp-of-a-massive-war-with-russia/?fbclid=IwAR2BmdO0DBlGOkj1YrNs5GvyyjmpGzt_WgE_1AsbCCiskjf84OGEPbwyN3M.

January 24

Just doesn’t get any doomier than this

“Consider The Possibility That This Is Already The Dystopia You Fear,” by Caitlin Johnstone, CAITLINJOHNSTONE.COM, https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/01/21/consider-the-possibility-that-this-is-already-the-dystopia-you-fear/?fbclid=IwAR3wBCV67vqAuvklxqfrLJefZewixV0pvJ7RMQgmYWP4lCfkV7-MZQKvzXk.

January 24

Interesting

“Live Like the Ancient Cynics,” by Arthur C. Brooks, THE ATLANTIC, https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/01/cynicism-modern-ancient-true-meaning/621314/?utm_source=pocket-newtab&fbclid=IwAR1ANbTQd7ayaFEMaU7unMRmX40GttSFVGGoRIvWOvpGU7TXIZF2MQ6KxSw.

January 24

Yuk

“Nuclear Waste Risks Can be ‘Minimized’ and Other Myths,” by Linda Pentz Gunter, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/24/nuclear-waste-risks-can-be-minimized-and-other-myths/?fbclid=IwAR2q6oaoVAWVLzHWQ7DhoCopq2tgH1NqpxsL-TC03kwsriarHaUINOR5uCU.

January 24

A digest of the Trump years

“A LIST OF ALL ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN THE EFFECTIVE LEARNING REPORT SINCE SEPTEMBER 2016, by Richard John Stapleton, EFFECTIVE LEARNING REPORT, https://blog.effectivelearning.net/a-list-of-all-articles-published-in-the-effective-learning-report/?fbclid=IwAR0wTyjGfTvGADtWPh_McRTrXdl0N599WJf4qEf5A0dURuGdnTaAEiFj4XY.

January 22

Say it aint so Joe

“At the Bottom of the Empire: Homelessness, housing injustice, and Jesse Jackson’s Call to ‘Eradicate Poverty’,” by David Masciotra, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/21/at-the-bottom-of-the-empire-homelessness-housing-injustice-and-jesse-jacksons-call-to-eradicate-poverty/?fbclid=IwAR2-cKYrb5aAECbWkcEFZyomCknuBJm7DO8gZNRJK-YjBb0JE3DGJQcHAoM.

January 22

Say it aint so Joe

“This Happened Here: The Fascist Trump Presidency as Living American History,” by Paul Street, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/21/this-happened-here-the-fascist-trump-presidency-as-living-american-history/?fbclid=IwAR3qwoUhOkXA8slaJQDauiYLKlJyEPKPgbXrRugnWs-NzFdzIZ5alghmucQ.

January 21

Another great article by Eve Ottenberg

“An Abyss of Human Wickedness, You Can’t Get Much Worse Than Threatening Nuclear War,” by Eve Ottenberg, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/21/an-abyss-of-human-wickedness-you-cant-get-much-worse-than-threatening-nuclear-war/?fbclid=IwAR1Zyvr7uh4K9FsubbeSc0n-h6m22zh-W3T-PtmjnfYn-lYde3lAtG01KiA.

January 21

Interesting

“Fatal Vision: Joel Coen’s ‘Macbeth’,” by Marilyn Simon, QUILLETTE, https://quillette.com/2022/01/19/fatal-vision-a-review-of-joel-coens-macbeth/?fbclid=IwAR3IwpM3Xa10rwFMBaMo2Diqdo5MqNPNHxyF1BxBonrAFo4o2EVUSad5flE.

January 12

Say it aint so Joe

“They don’t want us looking up,” by Thom Hartmann, INTREPID REPORT, https://quillette.com/2022/01/19/fatal-vision-a-review-of-joel-coens-macbeth/?fbclid=IwAR3IwpM3Xa10rwFMBaMo2Diqdo5MqNPNHxyF1BxBonrAFo4o2EVUSad5flE.

January 12

Interesting

“What’s not to like about Ike,” by Howard Lisnoff, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/12/whats-not-to-like-about-ike/?fbclid=IwAR3LVD6C11FDoY4eiTGFQZrSVYcwPb-xihq9HyFeSEfDe7S6a4qhPra0vT4.

January 12

So it seems

“The United States: A Push toward moral decline, political extremism, political divisions and violence?” by Dr. Rodrique Tremblay, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/34611?fbclid=IwAR0t-q2B9cDxF_DPXVm-88ayjP77cWQ9obq5naSwKN681N5FOejVXeWkVOI.

January 11

Just won’t go away

“Fukushima Takes a Turn for the Worse,” by Robert Hunziker, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/10/fukushima-takes-a-turn-for-the-worse/?fbclid=IwAR2-cKYrb5aAECbWkcEFZyomCknuBJm7DO8gZNRJK-YjBb0JE3DGJQcHAoM.

January 9

How would I know

“When to Build Sea Walls,” by Robert Hunziker, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/07/when-to-build-sea-walls/?fbclid=IwAR0h2xuRPlCPjVw_f-ifb9GU_PZzlin4P4hp-cwukhVRwBxSbjg4mtsA0NU.

January 9

Hard to believe

“Self-driving race cars zip into history at CES,” by Julie Jammot, TECHXPLORE, https://techxplore.com/news/2022-01-self-driving-cars-history-ces.html?fbclid=IwAR2nJHMEQbnm19BdxLp4cSzNnhDAagmmxqt1CZaRc8DdKFHF3v-p_TEFg3M.

January 7

Interesting article. Fascism is alive and well in the US, and it looks like it’s winning. I saw it coming in the Nixon days but I never imagined it would come to what we have today. I feared Trump would try to take over the country in a coup if he lost the election in 2020 but I never imagined he would try to do what he has done. If the USian military had sided in with him a coup could have been a fait accompli overnight and Trump would be USian dictator for life like his buddies around Spaceship Earth, Putin, Kim, et. al., and the USian government and way of life would have become totally corrupted with greed and cronyism.

“1/6, 9/11 and Glenn Greenwald,” by Nick Pemberton, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/07/1-6-9-11-and-glenn-greenwald/?fbclid=IwAR28B4zCDl1hyVvFi67M7mWPfwlPIXXEOToqBUG5ljZ1ov7JYrp-ipl1owE.

January 7

It seems USian democracy is under attack by a large lawless street gang led by Trump

“Trump is Winning the New Nightmare Years,” by Paul Street, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/07/trump-is-winning-the-new-nightmare-years/?fbclid=IwAR3cJVvqlDUbUDQypkTHwJgf2WPCF7bCg-bSpwTOOgYgD3SS6yOJqLidhHU.

January 7

Another hard-hitting article by Eve Ottenberg

“Covid Colonizes the Future,” by Eve Ottenberg, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/07/covid-colonizes-the-future/?fbclid=IwAR3-LidyGK3ns54JIkR0E3M4OM0qs_HeEwhfO6L1tXjoGYfmbZ26lHH5eYY.

January 6

The Way to Fascism

Is the root cause of the USian anger racket menace white men who are afraid they are being “replaced” by women and people of color, a USian Taliban led by USian warlords out to plunder what they can, attempting to enrich and empower themselves, at the expense of others, lawless liars, robbers and thieves of the worst kind, committing a crime of the highest order, the mocking, desecration, and destruction of a democracy, producing nothing of value for decent law-abiding citizens, inexorably stumbling down a nihilistic suicidal and/or genocidal slope to catastrophe?

“Much of Gellman’s analysis (quoted below) comes from a dialogue he has with Richard Patterson, a retired captain in the New York Fire Department. Patterson speaks for a large segment of the Republican electorate who believe that Trump really won the 2020 election. More so, he speaks for the growing number of deeply dissatisfied white people, but especially men, who believe in what is known as the “Great Replacement,” that white men’s place in society is being “replaced” by women and a growing number of people of color, especially African Americans.

“Gellman also draws on the work of Robert Pape, director of the University of Chicago Project on Security and Threats (CPOST), who, with his team, provided invaluable profiles of the participants of the January 6th Capitol attack, the new “storm troopers.” The CPOST team developed their profiles based on court documents, public records and news reports.

“Gellman reenforces this insight, noting: “Slicing the data another way: Respondents who believed in the Great Replacement theory, regardless of their views on anything else, were nearly four times as likely as those who did not to support the violent removal of the president.” Drawing upon Pape’s polling data, Gellman points out that “just over 8 percent agreed that Biden was illegitimate and that violence was justified to restore Trump to the White House. That corresponds to 21 million American adults. Pape called them ‘committed insurrectionists.’”

“A Warning: Will the 2024 Election End U.S. Democracy?,” by David Rosen, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/06/a-warning-will-the-2024-election-end-u-s-democracy/?fbclid=IwAR3x3JmownF0zsvizKY8QMTUvJsEPNFo2cZkIVsUdZBRNv754xx4ldOscCM.

January 5

Another vivid truthful article by Paul Street

“Four Analogies,” by Paul Street, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/05/four-analogies/?fbclid=IwAR05J54PcRQHWAPOo74jev6Ze_Mdeyh3d1Poj_yyJSuriaGVO6Exz8F-HQc.

January 5

Hoorah, for a truthful judge

“Taibbi: Meet Jed Rakoff, The Judge Who Exposed The ‘Rigged Game’,” by Matt Taibbi, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/political/taibbi-meet-jed-rakoff-judge-who-exposed-rigged-game?fbclid=IwAR1LXZfyfWRA4Pu9pOenF4jgSU8mYIim07PVs0kiBsS542AGu_Mogff0VEg.

January 5

Most people have not yet figured it out or accepted it. Greed and growth are not good, and better processes are needed

“Nuclear Power Doesn’t Belong in the Green New Deal,” by Linda Pentz Gunter, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/nuclear-power-doesnt-belong-in-the-green-new-deal/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR39nR2kCMGr0W_hxTfEqtwefGVp7TZ_yjo9-Hr9Q3C3qpxCW-k1rvSs-fc.

January 5

Say it aint so joe

“The National Conference of State Legislatures estimates that 700,000 of the nation’s 4.2 million homeless youth are unaccompanied by a parent or guardian: 1 in 10 young adults between 18 and 25, and one in 30 aged 13 to 17. More than a quarter (27 percent) identify as queer, with LGBTQIA+ youth of color experiencing higher rates of homelessness than other populations.”

“700,000 US TEENS NAVIGATE SCJHOOL WITHOUT FAMILY SUPPORT OR PERMANENT HOUSING,” by Eleanor J. Baeder, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/700000-us-teens-navigate-school-without-family-support-or-permanent-housing/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR3x3JmownF0zsvizKY8QMTUvJsEPNFo2cZkIVsUdZBRNv754xx4ldOscCM.

January 5

This is psychological Game-playing on a massive scale, Rescuers and Persecutors pretending to save Victims on a Drama Triangle

“Community Bonds and Mutual Aid Sustain Anti-Fascists Targeted by the State.” by Shane Burley, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/community-bonds-and-mutual-aid-sustain-anti-fascists-targeted-by-the-state/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR3jUUR4kxsMe2nZaRT0eHHxicf4nGPf_R5cfYMcfMpBuPSXnJwtqTB9Pcg.

January 5

Say it aint so Joe

“World Powers Including Russia & China Pledge ‘Nuclear War Must Never Be Faught,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/political/world-powers-including-russia-china-pledge-nuclear-war-must-never-be-fought?fbclid=IwAR3rAIhkqLld32WL_RXJRKwEDcdswtSU5phGgaw2AQLtCfXl5r1UDSwcN2w.

January 4

“At first instance Assange’s lawyers argued that he would be subjected to inhumane treatment in the US prison to which he would be confined if he were to be tried in the US and sentenced. The Magistrate accepted the argument and the extradition was refused. The US Government appealed to the UK Court of Appeal. The appellate court overturned the first instance ruling and accepted the US Government’s assurances that he could serve his sentence in Australia and that he would not be sent to the high security prison in the US where he would be placed in solitary confinement for 23 hours per day.

“The legal issues are interesting on at least three levels….”

“Julian Assange’s Enduring Legal SAGA,” by Courtenay Barnett, EFFECTIVE LEARNING PUBLICATIONS, https://blog.effectivelearning.net/julian-assanges-enduring-legal-saga/?fbclid=IwAR2vBdlh-qijkRvXiRXkyNY-bOvdlN7t6tCXwf44Elc2OmBvkxJgEewU6aY.

January 4

Here is by far the best video on international relations I ever saw and listened to, featuring an interview with Lawrence Wilkerson, a former chief of staff in the USian state department, who is straight as an arrow hitting the nail right on the head over and over, forwarded to me by Courtenay Barnett, a featured writer who publishes in the Effective Learning Report. if you want to know what’s really going on internationally, you should watch and listen to this video interview.

“Why is Biden Pushing Putin on Ukraine?, by Larry Wilkerson, YOUTUBE.COM, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfs2yaOr2Ao.

January 4

Mind-boggling

“Pentagon Fails Audit (Again!),” by Dave Lindorff, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/12/31/pentagon-fails-audit-again/?fbclid=IwAR1QTZvDqFAGupiN2qhfM9Y4Lajk7du5B4uKilGTXuNWwwhPCg_dxd6rtt8.

January 3

Article is more right than wrong

“Brazil, Amazon, World: Sociopathy vs. Democracy,” by Jean Willys and Jule Wark, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/12/31/brazil-amazon-world-sociopathy-vs-democracy/?fbclid=IwAR1359vJuWrzOhZIgsaHbZwPP_lyQ1XTqgETBXdWwDn2NZwhdsdMfm6U9fM.

January 3

More brilliant courageous writing by Eve Ottenberg

“How CIA Plots Undermined African De-Colonization.” By Eve Ottenberg, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/12/31/how-cia-plots-undermined-african-decolonization/?fbclid=IwAR2cBjs70wPMqifO4vLQHtdKAj9m4TnOMTOtyRKwjEhv03SF6blI7sxdeys.

January 3

Well said

“Happy New Year! A Reflection on 20 Years at Truthout,” by William Rivers Pitt, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/a-moment-to-reflect-after-20-years-with-truthout-pitt-new-years-draft/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR0KF7lvQpVnm2TGAyh9q07-Qhi0lm9oLLRJS3rHZJhyUD0YbbkhDJgt6js.

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ABOUT THE EDITOR 

Here’s Richard John Stapleton, PhD, CTA in his office at Georgia Southern University the year he retired in 2005, the senior professor of the university that year. The photo was shot by Lori Grice, a former student, founder of Lori Grice Photography.

The object under his left hand is a Classroom De- Gamer™ he invented in 1978.

He would spin the spinner of the De-Gamer in his classes to randomly select a student at the beginning of each class session to lead a discussion of the case assigned for that day, a case taken from a real business prepared by professional casewriters at Georgia Southern, Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Alabama. Grades were based eighty percent on class participation; the rest of the final grade was based on two case write-ups. One write-up was about what the student observed, researched, analyzed, and wrote about an existing business in the local environment or a business plan the student created. The other write- up was an analysis of a professionally written case about a real business assigned as the final exam. Cases used in his courses were taken from all functional areas of business, such as entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, operations management, control, management information systems, and business policy and strategy.

He learned how the case method works teaching with Bernard Bienvenu, DBA and Rexford Hauser, DBA (Harvard Business School doctorates) at what is now known as the University of Louisiana– Lafayette in 1969-70.

He has published refereed journal articles and books explaining how his democratic Game-free Adult-Adult I’m OK—You’re OK case method system works, by banishing Persecutors, Rescuers, and Victims playing psychological Games from the teaching and learning process, first documented in an article titled “The Classroom De-Gamer” he published in 1978 in the Transactional Analysis Journal.

He studied TA with Martin Groder, MD; Graham Barnes, PhD; Vann Joines, PhD; and many others at the Southeast Institute at Chapel Hill, North Carolina (1975-1978).

He has degrees in economics, organizational behavior, and management science from Texas Tech University (1962-1969), and an organizational and educational certification in transactional analysis from the International Transactional Analysis Association (1978).

He had his own case method track at the undergraduate level in the business school at Georgia Southern University taught by him alone in the management department, four or five different elective case method courses offered each academic year (1970-2005), in which he led, coordinated, and graded twenty-five or so students each year who took all or most of those case method courses in their junior and senior years, of about two hundred students who signed up for all of his courses each year, using a democratic circle or amphitheater classroom layout. He also taught most semesters two sections of a capstone integrative business policy course he added to the business school curriculum in 1970 that was required for all undergraduate business majors that could be elected by any student in any major, in which he used the case method. He was the only professor in the business school to use the case method in any course.

His students agreed to a course learning contract that stipulated they would read the facts of the case before class and would lose a whole letter grade from the course final grade if the De-Gamer randomly caught them obviously not having read the case before class, if they had not slipped a note under his office door before class telling him they had not read the case, which they could do twice during the course without penalty.

About ten percent of his students made A’s and about five percent made D’s. Most made C’s, which is about right, since C = Average. There were almost no F’s in his courses. The main criterion for course grades was the quantity and quality of ideas sold by students in case method discussions. He used peer ratings to give students feedback showing what their fellow students thought about the quantity and quality of their ideas sold in class, having made it clear the final decision about final grades was his. He did not believe in Lake Wobegon grading.

No student was ever forced to take one of his courses to graduate, and the most hardened Game- players in the school did not sign up for his courses after he issued his Edict of 1972 in which he clearly spelled out in his syllabi the penalty for getting caught unprepared. His Classroom De-Gamer™ was roundly discussed by students in bull sessions across campus every year and was labeled various things, such as The Wheel of Fate and The Death Wheel. Most students near the end of his career called it The Spinner. He appreciated the fact Georgia Southern honored his academic freedom as a tenured professor, allowing him control of his teaching methods, classroom layouts, grading procedures, and course books, cases, and materials.

He conducted primary survey research in 1992 that discovered longitudinal data (published in “Evidence the Case Method Works” in Business Voyages: Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Discovering and Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds, 2008, pg. 475) that showed his case method students during 1972-1982 reported higher yearly incomes in 1992 than students electing the same courses in 1972-1982 taught by professors using the authoritarian lecture method and the row and column classroom layout, who graded students based on how well they memorized “right answers” for so-called objective multiple-choice tests, indicating learners learning in Adult—Adult I’m OK—You’re OK Game-free learning processes graded subjectively became more successful in the real world of business than learners lectured to in Parent—Child I’m OK— You’re Not-OK un-De-Gamed learning processes. Only former students who had worked in the real world ten or more years after graduating from the Georgia Southern business school were included in the study.

For more information on these classroom management ethical issues see Stapleton, R.J. and Murkison, G. (2001), “Optimizing the fairness of student evaluations: A study of correlations between instructor excellence, study production, learning production, and expected grades,” the Journal of Management Education, 25(3), 269-292. Stapleton had one of the lowest student grade point averages among professors in the business school and was one of the lowest-ranked professors as an instructor on computerized campus-wide student evaluations weighting only instructor excellence scores up to about 2000; but he was one of the highest-ranked professors in a computerized student evaluation he designed that generated data also showing and weighting study production, learning production, and expected grades scores for each professor, published in “Optimizing the Fairness of Student Evaluations.”

To read the Optimizing Fairness article in full, go to http://www.sagepub.com/holt/articles/Stapleton.pdf After this research was published, Georgia Southern in 2001 added study production, learning production, and expected grades questions to the student evaluation form used campus-wide.

“Optimizing the Fairness of Student Evaluations” has by now (February 13, 2022) been cited as a reference in 83 refereed journal articles concerned about student evaluations in several academic disciplines, including eight new citations since April 2021, proving the article is still being read and cited by serious academics twenty-two years after publication.

As the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein propositioned, “The case is all there is.”

If so, everything else said about Earthian human states of affairs is a rendition of what was or might be.

For more on Stapleton’s cultural, educational, and professional experiences go to https://blog.effectivelearning.net/ and click on the various prompts at the top of the page.  

 

JULIAN ASSANGE’S ENDURING LEGAL SAGA

By COURTENAY BARNETT

When I was a young lawyer in the Chambers of a leading Jamaican lawyer, I was given a research assignment. The matter concerned extradition law. A Jamaican police officer had migrated in the 1970s to the US and there joined and distinguished himself in the military. The then Prime Minister of  Jamaica, Mr. Edward Seaga, came to power in 1980 and thereafter made application through the Jamaican Government for an US extradition back to Jamaica to have the man stand trial. On the US defence side was Leonard Bodine ( i.e. the lawyer who had defended Paul Robeson). So, he was well represented. The research was completed and the salient point was that an extradition will not be ordered if the primary reason for seeking the extradition is ‘political’. Thus,  the senior Jamaican lawyer travelled to the court in Virginia to provide the Jamaican law and arguments in opposition to the extradition. The team was successful, for indeed the extradition had a political motive and the US Judge, for that reason,  refused the Jamaican Government’s application. That central legal principle remains constant – so to the extradition application in the UK for Julian Assange’s extradition to the US. 

Assange is the founder of Wikileaks who had obtained large amounts of US Government secrets and other confidential information and he published same on the internet for the world to read. The US Government was most displeased and thus sought Assange’s extradition.  

At first instance Assange’s lawyers argued that he would be subjected to inhumane treatment in the US prison to which he would be confined if he were to be tried in the US and sentenced. The Magistrate accepted the argument and the extradition was refused. The US Government appealed  to the UK Court of Appeal. The appellate court overturned the first instance ruling and accepted the US Government’s assurances that he could serve his sentence in Australia and that he would not be sent to the high security prison in the US where he would be placed in solitary confinement for 23 hours per day. 

The legal issues are interesting on at least three levels.  

1.       The publications by Wikileaks are highly embarrassing to the US Government. Not least was a video of American military personnel in a helicopter flying over a street in Iraq while randomly shooting and killing Iraqi civilians while joking as if engaged in a video game. Here is the video. 

https://collateralmurder.wikileaks.org/

In that regard, the video is factual and well within the confines of needed disclosure in the public and global journalistic interest. The military persons involved were never charged for the offence of murder nor was any other charge ever laid. Piecing this particular disclosure together with several other disclosures it is perfectly logical to submit in court that the US Government’s application is in essence a ‘political’ one for reason of the embarrassment felt by the US Government. 

2.       The second argument would go towards whether or not there was a breach of the US Espionage Act 1917. The short answer is – yes there was. But, the argument does not stop there. There is precedent on this point in the case of the New York Times publication of the Pentagon Papers. That was the confidential Government papers detailing many unknown facts about  the prosecution of the Vietnam War by the US Government. In other words, the New York Times sought to publish the truth. The US Government then obtained an injunction prohibiting publication. The New York Times challenged the injunction on the basis of infringement of  First Amendment rights ( i.e. freedom of expression). The Court ruled that while there was a conflict between the provisions of the Espionage Act and the First Amendment, the Constitutional right under the First Amendment took precedence over the Act and it was in the public interest for the public to be informed. The Pentagon Papers were published. Thus, there is precedent for what Assange has done. He has contravened the Espionage Act while at the same time, it can be argued, that through his journalistic endeavours he is acting in the public interest by factually  and accurately informing the public.  

3.       The third point, no doubt, will be contested on appeal to the UK Supreme Court with regards to the assurances given by the US Government. One might cynically but factually question – did Colin Powell as representative of the US Government not assure the UN Security Council that Saddam Hussein had WMDs? But, more to the point. There is the case of David Mendoza, who was a Spanish drug trafficker wanted by the US. The US Government not only assured Mendoza that if he surrendered to US jurisdiction he would be permitted to serve his prison sentence  in Spain – and  – the agreement was placed in writing.  This undertaking was prepared as a formal binding legal agreement and duly signed by a US Government representative. Once Mendoza surrendered to US jurisdiction the US Government reneged on its binding word. Mendoza  had his lawyers make two applications in Spain and the Spanish court found in Mendoza’s favour. After six years in  US custody, Mendoza’s US lawyer approached the US court on the basis of the signed and binding agreement and it was only then that Mendoza was permitted return to Spain as agreed. There are other similar precedents, so in Assange’s favour, his legal team will most definitely be able to argue that the US Government’s assurances and  undertaking cannot be taken at face value nor be too readily trusted.  

Put the foregoing all together and one ends up with Assange’s imprisonment in the UK in their top prison designed for the incarceration of convicted terrorists. So, for publishing the truth to the world Assange is designated ‘terrorist’. Interestingly, even if the UK’s Government lawyers argue that Assange breached bail, which then requires his confinement, it could still  be contended that since the seeking of asylum is a legal right afforded to all, which the Ecuadorian Embassy did extend to Assange,  he could not logically be submitting to UK bail conditions while simultaneously accepting the asylum extended to him by Ecuador. Anyway, all said and done this is a ‘POLITICAL CASE’  writ large in big, bold letters and there will be a lot of politics played behind the scenes between the US and UK Governments and full frontal too in the UK judicial system before the saga is completed. 

The American, Anne Sacoolas, left the U.K. shortly after a crash in which Harry Dunn was killed and she claimed diplomatic immunity. Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity which was  asserted on her behalf by the US government following the collision – and – she was a US intelligence officer as was her husband. Now, the preliminary evidence suggests that Sacoolas ran into Dunn while he was riding on what the Brits call a ‘moped’ ( his mini bike or scooter). He was a teenager. She was charged with causing death by dangerous driving. So what did Sacoolas do? She fled  Britain and the US Government covered her behind diplomatic immunity. She was removing herself totally from British jurisdiction. What then happened with Harry Dunn’s mother and father? They were grieving over the loss of their son and they went all the way to the White  House and spoke to then President Donald Trump  (he would presently say that he is still the legitimate President of the US) and Trump declined to use his Executive authority to waive diplomatic immunity. The  story worsens – there is no assured happy ending. What the Dunn family, quite intelligently did was to secure a ‘red notice’ from INTERPOL ( i.e. the International Criminal Police Organisation “for fugitives wanted either for prosecution or to serve a sentence.” ). In  legal terms, if Sacoolas left the US then she could be arrested pursuant to an international arrest warrant. But, here is the point. President Biden succeeds Trump ( but not in Trump’s  mind as internationally professed ) and Biden continued – at least for a while –  with Trump’s policy of not waiving diplomatic immunity to have the UK’s extradition application advance and then bring the matter to trial in a British court. The legal position has now changed and Sacoolas has agreed to an 18th January, 2022 trial by virtual link. So – if she is convicted to a custodial sentence – what then?  What upholding and respect for the rule of law – none – yes/no? So, let us then examine the total picture under both international and domestic law. Above – you have seen the clear video evidence of a  dozen innocent lives being claimed on an Iraqi street; you are now aware of Harry Dunn’s family’s grief over the loss of their son; and – having over a forty year plus legal career of legal defence in the courts – I can well and truly invite you to ask yourselves – where is the justice? Maybe some ultimately? 

In how the US has worded its so-called ‘undertaking’, it has imposed a ‘get out of jail free card’ for itself, with regards to Julian Assange. Any lawyer with a modicum of experience would never submit to such an agreement. The system ( both US and UK- where actually I studied) now clearly lack an iota of credibility in Assange’s case and continue to pursue a self-righteous path which denigrates, belies and compromises the best of  their own legal principles. Sad to say.  

I believe that the implications of this case go well beyond the narrow political minds of the UK Judges who sat and disgracefully ruled in the UK’s Court of Appeal.  

We shall see in the fullness of time how this legal saga ends for Assange in particular and journalism in general.

______________________________________

Courtenay Barnett is a graduate of London University. His areas of study were economics, political science and international law. He has been a practising lawyer for almost fully forty years, has been arrested for defending his views, and has argued public interest and human rights cases.