THE EARTHIAN, Number Twenty-Two, Effective Learning Publications, https://effectivelearning.net/effective-learning-publications/ 32 East Main Street, Statesboro, Georgia, USA, March 18, 2021.
THE EARTHIAN is a digest of articles containing facts, perspectives, theories, models, analyses, and recommendations concerned about existential states of affairs affecting all species of fauna and flora around Spaceship Earth. Recent relevant articles written and published by intelligent hard-hitting truth-seeking writers in Internet journals about psychological, social, economic, political, military, religious, and ecological states of affairs around Spaceship Earth are linked below as sources, following a usual comment by the editor.
“ASK LESS WHAT YOUR NATION CAN DO FOR YOU–ASK MORE WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR SPACESHIP EARTH”
OR SO IT SEEMS TO ME RIGHT NOW
By Richard John Stapleton
Hallelujah, we almost got rid of Trump being thrown in our faces daily on computer and TV screens, at least for now, except for a muchly-reduced flow of posts and news reports about the civil and criminal court cases he now faces and what he’s doing to harvest more millions of dollars from his marks and gang members, aka followers and supporters, while playing his usual psychological Games with the Repug party, with an eye toward running again for president in 2024, thanks to his Repug gang members in the USian senate Rescuing him by voting to acquit in his 2021 impeachment trial, insulting common sense and consensual truth, given the exemplary Dem impeachment trial managers proving beyond a reasonable doubt Trump incited an insurrection against the US government on January 6, 2021.
Now that Trump has waned from view we are seeing and hearing more posts about Joe Biden, the new USian president, pop up on our computer and TV screens. He seems to be doing a decent job domestically, getting Covid vaccinations jabbed into the arms of millions in relatively short order, doing a good job compared to what Trump did about Covid, very little.
Biden and the Dems have passed with a party line vote a Covid relief/rescue package worth $1.9 trillion to recipients. The Biden administration has now started bombing Syria again reinstating the neoliberal Dem foreign policies of Obama and Clinton, while maintaining the sanctions Trump and his cronies in the State Department imposed on Venezuela and Iran.
After the end of World War II in 1945, a war the US helped win, rather than lay down its arms and live peacefully with other sovereign nations at war’s end, the US has been since that time up to the present day almost constantly at war with someone, having not won a war in the 75-year interval. While fighting in WWII may have been necessary for defense, the US having been attacked and threatened by Japan at Pearl Harbor, all USian wars since have been discretionary offensive wars designed to create advantages and benefits for the USian military-industrial-intelligence-financial complex and presumably for the USian people, and all Earthian humans, for that matter. The wars have been sold as global do-gooderism, doing things such as spreading democracy; stopping the spread of communism; controlling global oil, scarce minerals, and other natural resources; and maintaining the reserve currency status of the “American” dollar to facilitate global trade.
Up until 1980 or so it appeared these discretionary wars paid off economically for most USians. Real incomes in the US generally increased from year to year after 1945 for all classes, lower, middle, and upper, up until about 1980. Since then however real incomes stagnated or declined for most of the USian lower and middle classes while incomes and wealth of the elite rich, the upper one percent, dramatically increased, creating gut-wrenching inequality. If discretionary offensive USian wars paid off after 1980 it was primarily for the elite rich.
These discretionary wars have entailed the US playing psychological Games internationally such as IF IT WEREN’T FOR YOU, regime change wars, and NOW I’VE GOT YOU, YOU SOB, punitive wars for heinous actions against the US economy and the American dollar. Here of late the US government has developed a new form of warfare known as “sanctions”–punishments inflicted on other countries and their people, actions such as freezing foreign bank accounts, and preventing certain countries, such as Iran and Venezuela, from selling their oil in certain markets, creating economic hardships and suffering for their people.
Joe Biden has come across socially in his speeches as president as a compassionate and considerate good guy, speaking courteously in humble tones, espousing desires to work for the good of all USians, not just those who voted for him. This is refreshing compared to Trump who went out of his way to come across socially in his speeches as an arrogant, bellicose, threatening, wise-ass, cocky crime boss, not caring about anyone or anything but himself and his aggrieved loser-survivor supporters, vowing to make “America” “great” again for them.
Psychologically Biden’s historical voting record during his fifty-years-plus in the US congress has not always been compassionate or considerate. When it came time to vote for bombing Iraq or vote for Clinton’s crime bill that greatly increased the USian prison population, Biden sided with his cronies in Congress and the elite rich, not we the people. Nor has his record been psychologically compassionate or considerate for USian people suffering from exorbitant pharmaceutical bills, predatory student loan debt, and predatory credit card interest and special charges.
It would be nice to think happy days are here again, with Biden as president rather than Trump, but for sure that’s not the case. Yes, it’s good there’s light at the end of the Covid tunnel, aided and abetted by Biden. Hopefully the US will get the Covid disaster under control by the end of this year as more and more people get vaccinated and more and more become immune, but the overall Usian plight has not changed much. Biden socially told the deep state before he got elected there would not be any major changes if he got elected.
It’s one thing to change the social and psychological transactions and personalities of egotistical presidents; it’s another to change the policies of neoliberal Dems and conservative Repugs. Both parties are right of center bought and paid for by big money donors in big banks, the for-profit health care industry, the oil industry, the defense industry, high tech, and large corporations of various stripes. Since the Reagan revolution of 1980 the US has more and more become a plutocratic corporate state.
What is normal? Is normal the economic conditions the US had before Covid hit in March 2020, what Trump called the greatest economy in US history, all caused by him of course. Seems to me however the burst of retail sales growth and job growth (mainly gig jobs with no security) at that time was largely due to Trump’s tax cuts and increased military spending that significantly increased the federal budget deficit and debt, now some twenty-eight trillion dollars in piled-up debt and three trillion dollars per year in deficit red ink, which will significantly increase as the treasury borrows new money to fund the new stimulus and/or rescue package. And what will happen after the stimulus money is paid out? Will the Fed govt have to do it again over and over to avert market bubble collapses and social unrest? And how many times can they do it again before the US govt goes bankrupt? According to one of the Sources listed below in this issue of The Earthian the USian Federal Reserve system will keep creating more funny money out of thin air, by punching digits into their computers and calling the resulting numbers money, to buy US treasury bills and notes to fund the budget deficit, knowing full well sooner or later this is going to ignite serious inflation, which is OK with them since all this funny money creation and helicopter money dissemination in rescue packages will make it easier for the US treasury to service their Federal Reserve debt with cheaper funny money dollars that will buy less and less per dollar in the real economy, aka debasing the dollar. Meanwhile Fed overnight interest rates and US Treasury bond and bill rates will stay low, sometimes get below zero, as far as the eye can see, to stave off as long as possible the macro financial process reaching the end of the line. When will that be? Nobody knows.
Seems to me “normal” would mean USians working in stable fulltime jobs that pay a living wage with good benefits, such as health insurance and retirement plans, with only frictional unemployment temporarily caused by people changing jobs or looking for jobs after graduating from high school or college, about four percent per year. This sort of normal started becoming less normal around 1980 when USian corporations started seriously outsourcing high wage blue collar jobs to low wage countries and using more and more robots and automated processes instead of human labor. Seems to me the only way to get back to pre-1980 happier days in the US is to redefine what work is and pay humans to think with mind grants, not to do physical work that robots and machines can do cheaper and better, while decreasing the USian human population through natural attrition, natural deaths exceeding births, to increase the size of yearly economic pie slices for lower and middle class people taken from a smaller and more rational national economic pie baked each year (aka GNP), requiring less resource consumption and less fossil fuel energy to control global warming and climate change, and prevent nuclear war.
Bringing changes such as these about will require significant changes in the way humans feel, think, and behave around Spaceship Earth so as to create new psychological, social, economic, religious, and political systems and processes, creating a “new” normal that has never existed. MAGA-type magical thinking will not get the job done because the US and all Earthian countries have never produced satisfactory jobs and incomes for everyone. Some countries may have made “progress” here and there through time but none have ever been “great”.
No country can be OK unless all countries are OK–not great but OK.
We’re OK–You’re Not OK life positions used to formulate foreign policy by rogue countries (such as the US under Trump) exacerbate Earthian Not-OKness, causing premature deaths, poverty, suffering, destruction, and population dislocations.
Biden’s new crisis on the USian southwestern border caused by thirteen thousand or so unaccompanied children from Central America and South America being left on the USian doorstep in North America exemplifies the problem. The best foreign policy for curing the “immigration” problem is to help all countries become OK, so no one will be forced by necessity to emigrate. Seems to me undermining the OKness of other countries, however Not-OK they might be, with wars, sanctions, and covert intelligence agency operations, will only make the problem worse.
Before presenting in this issue of The Earthian Sources of new perspectives by various authors on current economic, psychological, social, religious, and political states of affairs around Spaceship Earth, I herein present some transactional analysis ideas, variables, and processes that I think might help all Earthian humans make changes in the ways they feel and think about psychological, social, economic, religious, and political processes that might help bring about salutary feeling, thinking, and doing processes around Spaceship Earth for preventing and eliminating existential threats such as global warming, climate change, and nuclear war.
Ego states are states of being including thoughts, beliefs, behaviors, feelings, gestures, body language, and other signals determining how people come across with others in communication episodes, whether parent-like, adult-like, or child-like, in all kinds of situations. People switch ego states depending on who they are communicating with and what sort of circumstances they are in, whether they are parenting, working, socializing, teaching, having fun, playing Games, or whatever. They transmit messages from three ego states in themselves to three ego states in others in pair vectors, Parent-Parent, Adult-Adult, Child-Child, Parent-Child, Child-Adult, Adult-Parent, or whatever possibility. These transactions are especially meaningful in situations in which there is some sort of authoritarian system involved, such as parents parenting children in homes, teachers teaching students in schools, or bosses bossing subordinates in a business or political organization, which normally entail primarily Parent-Child transactions. In general however the more Adult-Adult transactions there are the better things go in families, schools, businesses, and political organizations.
Script messages are transmitted socially and psychologically as I have shown and explained with diagrams in my books. Unfortunately I have not shown one of these diagrams in this article, having not invested time and energy to get jpeg pictures of them made and get them posted to my computer desktop to download into this WordPress program. Ah, the joys of desktop publishing. Yeah, right, I probably am a little lazy. If you want to see what a transactional analysis script diagram looks like right now scroll to the top of this page and click on ELR Editor’s Daily Shares. You can see a picture of a TA script diagram in the assemblage of pictures on the top left of the page that will pop up, having been accepted by my Facebook program in a non-jpeg format.
A TA life script diagram shows the three stacked Parent, Adult, and Child ego state circles representing parent, adult, and child ego states for each parent and child. The solid lines in the diagram denote overt spoken social messages and dotted lines denote covert psychological unspoken ulterior messages. Social messages are verbalized overt auditory messages; psychological messages are covert non-spoken ulterior messages transmitted by body language, emotional states, and after the fact positive or negative stroking as people react to situations and feel and do things.
Scripts in families are created automatically when parents transmit various messages to their children from various ego states socially and psychologically, in and out of awareness. Scripts are life plans are generally decided before the age of eight by offspring based on script messages transmitted to them by their parents and others. Since parents by and large transmit the same script messages that were transmitted to them before they were eight years old script messages in families can remain intact for many generations. According to transactional analysts script decisions made before the age of eight have lasting effects determining three general life outcomes: winner, loser, and non-winner. These decisions can be redecided and updated later in life but it’s not easy for most people.
Psychological Child-Child ego state script injunctions are what cause the most trouble for people in their lives. These script injunctions forbid appropriate behavior in the here and now. Script injunctions are caused by emotional and behavioral requirements created by families through time as they adapted to and coped with problems and environmental forces that may have been appropriate in past environments, but which are inappropriate and ineffective in different here and now environments.
Opposing script messages transmitted by parents can put a child in a Not-OK bind in childhood and throughout adolescence, assuming a divorce has not already occurred, causing considerable trouble within a family, since the child cannot please both parents in the presence of both parents, which can put parents in worse Not-OK positions if the child makes a decision about which parent is right, increasing Not-OKness in the family system as a whole.
What many people need is psychological permission to violate and ignore their psychological outdated obsolete family Child ego state script message Injunctions, not only to increase their own OKness but the OKness of all living members of the family system, and the OKness of Earthian humans in general.
Two common family script Injunctions in most cultures are Don’t Think about the true nature and causes of states of affairs and Don’t Feel certain feelings, such as mad, glad, sad, and scared, when certain things happen in certain environments.
Joe Biden at least socially comes across projecting an I’m OK–You’re OK life position. Donald Trump on the other hand came across socially and psychologically projecting an I’m OK, my buddy is OK, nothing else is OK, and we are going to make the world pay life position.
Here is what Martin Groder, MD, one of my transactional analysis mentors at Chapel Hill, NC in the late 1970s, the best mentor I ever had, thought about life positions in what I called Martin Groder’s People Map, in a passage I wrote and published in 2011 in my book Business Voyages: Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata and Tools for Discovering and Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds, pp. 148-150:
“The Human Spectrum”
“Humans generally give little thought to what kind of human they are and where they fit in the spectrum of various types of humans. Innumerable philosophers, psychiatrists, social scientists, preachers, priests, writers in various fields, and other types have described and categorized humans in various ways. Following is a schema developed by Martin Groder, MD, a psychiatrist, organizational development consultant, and entrepreneur, who also had an undergraduate degree in physics (Groder, 1977). Groder developed this schema while working with maximum security inmates of the federal prison system at Marion, Illinois in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. He was involved in a process of changing hard-core criminals into law-abiding citizens. Such a process would challenge the abilities of the most skillful and powerful of change agents.
“According to Groder, humans vary on two fundamental spatial dimensions. One dimension is Okness, which he estimates on the horizontal axis of Figure 1 (sorry, I could not get the Figure 1 image to copy and paste here, so you’ll just have to imagine it); the other dimension is the energy level of the individual estimated on the vertical axis of the space.
“People vary in terms of how OK they see, feel about, and experience, (1) themselves, (2) the other individual, (3) their group, (4) other groups, and (5) the world. In Groder’s terms, they are OK or not-OK with respect to I, You, We, They, and It (the world). Groder estimates how OK they are on each of these five existential dimensions on a scale of -1 to +1, -1 being as not-OK as possible and +1 being as OK as possible. Thus people with extremely high self-esteem would be at the +1 level regarding themselves; someone with extremely low self-esteem would be at the -1 level regarding themselves. People could exist at any level in between, at -.5, 0, +.25, etc. The same would be true of the positions of specific individuals with respect to buddies on a one-to-one basis, groups with which one belongs, other groups with which your group cooperates or competes, and the world in general. Summing the 5 existential OKness positions for an individual (I, You, We, They, and It), the highest possible OKness rating would be +5 and the lowest possible would be -5. A +5 person would have the highest possible feelings of Okness regarding his OKness, the OKness of his buddy, the OKness of his group, the OKness of other groups, and the OKness of the world. Such an individual would have very positive feelings and thoughts for self and others. On the other end of the spectrum, a -5 person would have the lowest possible feelings and thoughts for self and others. Very negative people tend to end up in prison. Very positive people tend to end up cultural heroes. Probably the most profitable attitude for an entrepreneur in a capitalistic economic system would be I’m OK, my employees are OK, my company is OK, the world is OK, but my competitors aren’t worth a damn, since this attitude would motivate his or her sales employees to steal business from competitors to increase the profit of the company.
“Entrepreneurs have higher energy levels than middle managers and normal people. It takes less energy to be a normal person than anything else. Entrepreneurs in Groder’s schema have approximately the same energy level on the vertical axis of Figure 1 as Monsters, the -3 OKness level convict leaders of other convicts. Monsters have the attitude “I’m OK, my buddy is OK, but everything else is not OK, and I am going to make the world pay.” According to Groder, it’s more difficult to change the energy level of a human than the OKness position. In rehabilitation work, Groder attempted to arc people across the gap of Figure 1, and make +3 OKness level entrepreneurs out of -3 monsters, +2 OKness middle managers out of -2 OKness creeps, slobs, lunch buckets, etc. Sometimes people arc across the gap the other way. Honest entrepreneurs can turn criminal. Entrepreneurs are winner-survivors; Monsters are loser-survivors.”
The trick to it all is setting appropriate goals and objectives, planning to do what you really want to do, can do, and should do given your natural abilities, scripting, and education, and the requirements and options of your environment that will produce satisfaction for you. How much money you get your hands on in the process beyond a certain level necessary to satisfy physical needs for food, clothing, shelter, and good health is irrelevant, if you aren’t addicted to playing psychological Games as compensation for poor scripting, in my opinion.
Without doubt Trump has a high energy level, but his OKness life position may be -3 or lower. Whether he’s a winner-survivor or a loser-survivor remains to be seen. Seems to me he has made his plight worse doing what he has done since losing the 2020 USian presidential race fair and square, such as his scripted telephone performance threatening and demeaning the Georgia Secretary of State and the Georgia Governor, not to mention all the honest hard working public servants who did their jobs well conducting the Georgia election. How seventy million or so USian voters could have voted in the first place for someone with Donald Trump’s kinds of personality and behavioral dysfunctions amazes me. This implies there might be seventy million loser-survivors in the US.
Trump had a hard life psychologically and emotionally undergoing his family scripting in his early years, despite what the billions of dollars he got his hands on could buy, including the USian presidency, resulting from leveraging about four hundred million dollars of family money he inherited.
No kind of economic or political system will work for everyone if bad guys get control of them at the top, which is why Georgians voting for Warnock and Ossoff for the US Senate in Georgia was so important, making it possible for Dems to pass with a party line vote in the US Congress the Covid Relief Act of 2021. One of the worst bad guys still at the top of the USian government right now is Mitchell McConnell, the Repug Not-OK now-minority leader in the USian senate, thankfully no longer the majority leader in control of the US Senate. If Warnock and Ossoft had not gotten elected….
In my opinion it’s not that Dems are paragons of virtue, intelligence, fairness, and compassion for all USians and Earthians but it seems to me right now they really are the lesser evil in USian politics. In my opinion they should have elected Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren as president and vice president nominees in the 2020 primary races. Had they it seems to me Earthian humans would now be living in happier days than they are; but no one could prove that beyond a reasonable doubt. Trump might have beaten Bernie in the general election based solely on personality factors. Kurt Vonnegut once made an an astute comment about how awful it was for him to wake up one morning and realize his senior class in high school was now running the country.
I became a certified transactional analyst in education and organizations, a CTA, after passing written, oral, and experiential comprehensive exams administered by the International Transactional Analysis Association in 1978, after undergoing three years of once-a-month training, all day Saturday and half of Sunday, at the Southeast Institute at Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
I have covered ego states and scripts in my books Business Voyages and Born to Learn: A Transactional Analysis of Human Learning, listing common Parent ego state script messages and Child ego state injunctions. All parents do not transmit the same script messages creating considerable variety among family scripts and outcomes. Certain life scripts conveniently fit certain roles, jobs, professions, careers, and what have you more than others, providing fresh recruits already scripted for job openings, slots, roles, and positions in an economy, which is fine so long as the economy does not change very much. Unfortunately in recent years in the United States the offshoring of high wage blue collar jobs to foreign low wage countries and the use of more and more automation has rendered many family scripts obsolete.
Unfortunately, a bitter pill to swallow found embedded in my books Business Voyages and Born to Learn is that everything that happens is either predetermined or accidental, as the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein postulated in his book of propositions, Prototractatus; and therefore no one is to blame or praise. Believing and acting otherwise will simply perpetuate the same sorry I’m OK–You’re Not OK life position that has bedeviled humankind since time immemorial contributing to if not causing repeats of historical abominations such as genocides, wars, economic depressions, famines, mental illnesses, and social collapses.
For more information regarding my use of Transactional Analysis https://www.itaaworld.org/ to create better discussion groups and democratic processes see my book 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 see my book Business Voyages: Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds https://www.amazon.com/Business-Voyages-Schemata-Discovering-Co-Constructing/dp/1413480810
See my article “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc,” https://blog.effectivelearning.net/the-evolution-of-spaceship-earth-inc/ for some management science ideas on how human Earthians 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.
This entails Earthians 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 can be done using linear programming based on the general algorithmic matrix algebra form
Max CjXj, s.t. AijXj ≤, =, or ≥ Bi
As I explained in “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.” https://blog.effectivelearning.net/the-evolution-of-spaceship-earth-inc/
Flying aboard an airliner about to land at night moving at four hundred miles an hour at thirty thousand feet with cloudy and rainy weather below, which would you rather have landing the plane, the plane’s radar and computer system or the pilot and co-pilot, seeing nothing out their windows but clouds and lightning?
I am indebted to Buckminster Fuller for teaching me in his book Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth the metaphor in the above paragraph and planting seeds for other ideas in my essay “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.,” such as computers being the best hope for mankind and humans not doing work that machines can do better, being paid to think instead with what Fuller called mind grants. To my knowledge Fuller was the inventor of the appellations Earthian and Spaceship Earth.
For details regarding my transactional analysis and management science qualifications see my RJS Academic Vita at https://blog.effectivelearning.net/rjs-academic-vita/ .
Learning De-Gamers
In case you might be wondering what the flat circular object under my left hand is in the picture above, it’s a Classroom De-Gamer™ I invented. It has a spinner attached and there are concentric circles of numbers around its circumference to accommodate different numbers of students in classes. Each student gets a number and whoever’s number gets selected when the spinner is spun gets to be the leader of the moment leading a discussion of assigned reading, mostly factual cases in my courses. As you can see in my academic vita by clicking on the ELR Editor’s Academic Vita tab at the top of this page, I have published some professional journal articles and book chapters explaining how Learning De-Gamers de-Game psychological Games in learning situations. They will work in any situation in which there is teaching and learning going on, parents and children in homes, teachers and students in schools, bosses and employees in businesses, leaders and members in groups and organizations. Basically Learning De-Gamers cathect all Ego States in all participants and drastically reduce Rescuing, Persecuting, and Victimizing among participants, focusing Adult attention on solving relevant problems and issues not winning psychological Games. I used a Learning De-Gamer in all my classes for thirty-five years producing management learning with university students, and I used one on an as-needed basis over a five-year period consulting with a large manufacturing corporation discussing current problems with participants from all functions and levels of the plant in small mixed groups of ten or so participants, in a plant with several hundred employees, getting individuals out of their functional silos to discuss with others interrelated plant problems. I wrote about this experience in my ebook Recommendations for Waking Up From the American Nightmare, at https://www.amazon.com/Recommendations-American-Nightmare-Business-Voyages-ebook/dp/B009TOJVPI .
Learning De-Gamers facilitate a democratic way of teaching and learning involving sortition wherein everyone involved is OK with an equal shot at being the leader of the moment, a process ancient Greeks used to create democratic government during one of the most OK periods of Earthian human history, it seems to me. I think sortition and Learning De-Gamers should be used around Spaceship Earth today in as many teaching and learning situations as possible, including governmental legislative groups, especially in the USian House and Senate.
TO RESPOND:
As usual this month’s THE EARTHIAN links and cites as SOURCES recent articles written and published by clear deep-thinking hard-hitting independent writers on various Earthian states of affairs.
Some Game playing goes on in the articles, i.e., a writer is psychologically persecuting, rescuing, or victimizing someone, but it seems to me the writers are generally trying to paint accurate pictures of what they think is really going on.
Unfortunately it seems to me one can build a case politicians spend most of their time playing psychological Games, mostly wasting their time and energy pastiming (bullshitting) and engaging in rituals (shuffling paper, filling out unnecessary forms, attending useless meetings with lawyers and others, and the like), running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Almost everything done in so-called foreign policy is a move in a psychological Game it seems to me.
It’s not easy, impossible some say, to separate relevant from irrelevant focal points in order to comprehend global cases, systems, and processes, while being inundated with fake news and true facts of states of affairs generated daily around Spaceship Earth, made public on the Internet, and elsewhere, to see what’s really going on, using primarily inductive and analogical reasoning, based on probability, not deductive logic. Almost never can anyone prove with deductive logic that a general proposition about psychological, social, economic, or political states affairs is absolutely true. About the best humans can hope for is to develop consensual answers that are generally acceptable and true based on probability.
It’s better to be honestly wrong than dishonestly wrong. Telling someone something you know is fake as if it were true is worse than telling someone something that’s fake because of genuine ignorance. A good case in point these days is most USians calling FICA insurance premium payments “payroll” taxes. It’s hard to know if sayers calling FICA payments payroll taxes really do not know any better or if they really do know better but are overtly lying about it go along with the crowd to get political brownie points for conforming to a group lie.
It seems to me most lying is lying by omission, people not telling people things they know are true that others need to know. Whether lying by omission is more or less harmful than lying by commission, telling people things you know are false and fake, is debatable, as is proving whether it’s getting easier or harder for most people to know what’s fake and what’s not. Political parties, Earthian governments, and Mainstream media lie by omission with alacrity, information about the Julian Assange case being a case in point.
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 our RESPONSES page and let us know about them at https://blog.effectivelearning.net/responses/ .
Feel free to respond with comments and criticisms about any of the SOURCES listed below using the RESPONSES post on this blog masthead at the top of this page; but please refrain from making ad hominem attacks. Criticize and correct any of the facts, data, evidence, reasoning, and conclusions in any of the articles; but please refrain from slandering and defaming the characteristics and reputations of the authors illogically using slanderous or defamatory comments trying to prove their arguments and conclusions in their articles are wrong, and yours are right.
I do not sell subscriptions or advertising or solicit donations for THE EARTHIAN or the Effective Learning Report but I would like to sell more books. If you feel you’ve gained value from THE EARTHIAN and would like to reciprocate go to our Effective Learning Publications page and purchase one or more copies of my books at https://effectivelearning.net/effective-learning-publications/ .
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Richard John Stapleton, PhD, CTA, certified transactional analyst, educator, octogenarian emeritus professor of management, writer, editor and publisher.
SOURCES:
March 18, 2021
It would be interesting to say the least.
“‘Soul-less’ Putin Challenges ‘Killer’ Biden to a Live Debate,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-responds-biden-killer-slur-it-takes-one-know-one?fbclid=IwAR1UmMkMSTxt2DZJg92rLhnE3imN1fwIjyNSvpjBoOFResCBrIhIU9tQExA.
March 18
A good idea
“Sanders’s Bill Would Hike Taxes on Big Corporations That Pay CEOs Over 50 Times More Than Median Workers,” by Jake Johnson, COMMONDREAMS, https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/17/sanders-bill-would-hike-taxes-big-corporations-pay-ceos-over-50-times-more-median?fbclid=IwAR3pug1cM3jSelBphHztrDP3E9wGYtRIZZVOLJhqRS1MigpiBXk3J-me8Aw.
March 17
Never saw nothin’ like this before
Robots at Work Inside a Mercedes Factory, Skeffa Chimoto, https://www.facebook.com/richard.stapleton.397.
March 17
Seems right to me
“Racially Motivated Extremists, Militias Pose Most Lethal Domestic Threat, Report Finds,” by Warren P. Strobel and Rachael Levy, WALL STREET JOURNAL, https://www.wsj.com/articles/racially-motivated-extremists-militias-pose-most-lethal-domestic-threat-report-finds-11616011558?fbclid=IwAR0L4kucZsOIE4jumn54mgbBJEjmLZH_Tnltc9HmXRb3D1YiuI2jJWChY4I.
March 17
Assuming Ellsberg is correct in this article, the US already is a de facto military dictatorship, still pretending to be a democracy.
“Daniel Ellsberg Talks About Whistleblowing, The Pervasiveness of Official Lies, and The Dangers of The Espionage Act”, authored by Matt Taibbi, TK News, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/political/daniel-ellsberg-talks-about-whistleblowing-pervasiveness-official-lies-and-dangers?fbclid=IwAR0YVdtqtNSs9JIc96SdzdN_JpQ4nqMjSxkOpyB8X6nfYVEmvwIihCE4xV8.
March 17
Might be spot on; but one reason why this would not happen is that Earthian humans would make structural changes in their social, religious, economic, and political systems successfully dealing with the causes of today’s confluence of dire problems. What the probability of this happening is is anybody’s guess. Also gold, however valuable it might be in terms of whatever the Spaceship Earth reserve currency becomes if the Earthian ecosystem collapses, due to global warming and climate change or nuclear war, won’t do you much good if there is nothing to buy with it.
“Getting Ready for Gold’s Golden Era,” by Matthew Piepenburg, MATTERHORN ASSET MANAGEMENT, https://goldswitzerland.com/getting-ready-for-golds-golden-era/?fbclid=IwAR0azdtHw6vnrlSzNe7uyChNiuPwPpH3NAyXIV8Rp3SPydOI1_ydJlW0u_k.
March 17
USian Dems and Repugs formulating foreign policy are like Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum in Alice in Wonderland.
“Biden Persists with Failed Venezuela Policy,” by Ramzy Baroud, CONSORTIUM NEWS, https://consortiumnews.com/2021/03/17/biden-persists-with-failed-venezuela-policy/?fbclid=IwAR1UmMkMSTxt2DZJg92rLhnE3imN1fwIjyNSvpjBoOFResCBrIhIU9tQExA
March 17
Hard to believe
“There are More Socialists Than Democrats or Republicans,” by Ted Rall, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/03/17/there-are-more-socialists-than-democrats-or-republicans/?fbclid=IwAR39wNQ3GcRjDBFfztYAG7hXpsWPuPOs1ZYXICXabuGmM41b6tjnOQjYD-s.
March 17
Almost no real stories about immigration to what is now the US have ever been told in any detail in USian schools to more than a smattering of students. The fact is most people in the US are descended from immigrants who came to the USian part of the American continents to escape poverty in the countries they came from caused by individual and collective irresponsibility and malfeasance in those countries, primarily over-fecundity and over-population, but also political and religious corruption, superstition, persecution, and strife.
“The Real Irish American Story Not Taught in Schools – Zinn Education,” by Bill Bigelow, ZINN EDUCATION PROJECT, https://www.zinnedproject.org/if-we-knew-our-history/the-real-irish-american-story-not-taught-in-schools/?fbclid=IwAR2PdzJPRoE_xt9AbchKy60-tSf4aWSB7I9aKHzbuoSTtNplHRo-9StM75Q.
March 17
Scorched earth my ass. Get rid of this repug thug once and for all at Kentucky ballot boxes.
“McConnell’s Warning of a ‘Scorched-Earth’ Senate is an Empty Threat,” by Erin Levitz, INTELLIGENCER, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/03/dems-shouldnt-take-mcconnells-advice-on-the-filibuster.html?fbclid=IwAR3-LcLOUZoIScHWaK5KTO17-OH7hgLXDHdi5FzbOOl66x_xY2tRAzqNGSQ.
March 17
Probably another sexually frustrated young male gone berserk. The fact this shooter targeted three Asian businesses and killed six Asian women probably proves his motives were caused by sexual and racism problems.
“8 Dead in Atlanta Spa Shootings, With Fears of Anti-Asia Bias,” THE NEW YORK TIMES, https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/17/us/shooting-atlanta-acworth?fbclid=IwAR3pug1cM3jSelBphHztrDP3E9wGYtRIZZVOLJhqRS1MigpiBXk3J-me8Aw.
March 16
Pretty much what we have been experiencing as time goes by. No USian citizen is smart enough to understand this drug bill crap in detail without spending untold hours trying to figure it out, listening and responding to robots and so-called menus on the telephone, trying to talk with a human about the problem at responsible insurance companies. How much politicians have been bought off by pharmaceutical companies is also hard to fathom. All we seniors know for sure is that our out of pocket pharmacy bills (copays etc.) for glaucoma, blood pressure, and other maladies keep going up, taking ever larger shares of our total disposable income, even if we have health insurance. It appears the pharmaceutical companies have no mercy for those held over a barrel, who have to go blind, get crippled, die early, or pay up, whatever they say.
“Perfidy Meets Putty – Congressional Democrats Betray Voters,” by Ralph Nader, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/03/16/perfidy-meets-putty-congressional-democrats-betray-voters/?fbclid=IwAR0azdtHw6vnrlSzNe7uyChNiuPwPpH3NAyXIV8Rp3SPydOI1_ydJlW0u_k.
March 16
“The idea that China or Russia pose a threat to you is so self-evidently ridiculous, so transparently absurd, that the only way to make you believe it would be is to propagandize you, writes Caitlin Johnstone.”
“Countering the Establishment’s Message,” by Caitlin Johnstone, CONSORTIUM NEWS, https://consortiumnews.com/2021/03/05/countering-the-establishments-message/?fbclid=IwAR3V4aRQivFkPPTPrXVsFMeL2nQoFIH_Aa_p9Wa0pcyri0XDHjtaMwD_nMw.
March 16
Hopefully they know what they are talking about.
“Phasing Out Fossil Fuels is Possible. These State-Level Plans Show How,” by C. J. Polychroniou, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/phasing-out-fossil-fuels-is-possible-these-state-level-plans-show-how/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR09mRHFEqr69M4MtGsMDJ7_ADSMZmIoG8ggvptOZgE6lZBbA53vnob6xcw.
March 15
“I don’t want you telling me to go back to Africa unless you going back where you come from…”
A Compelling Photo and Statement of Fannie Lou Hamer, by Nancy Davis-Sanders, RJS Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/richard.stapleton.397.
March 15
More authoritarianism may be inevitable. If so let’s hope it will be a benevolent authoritarianism, which seems possible if humans delegate control of economic and political affairs and operations to computers and artificial intelligence at the top. Given human historical experience I do not have any hope for individual humans making wise and fair economic and political decisions at the top of society. It seems historically all top dog decision makers became corrupt one way or the other given the opportunities and freedom they had at the top of their societies in their lofty positions to gratify their personal human egotistical needs and wants, irrespective of the needs and wants of others. Computers and AI do not have egotistical needs, wants, and human weaknesses.
“Expect Government Crackdowns in A ‘Global Depression’,” by Bruce Wilds, ADVANCING TIME, https://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2021/03/expect-government-crackdowns-in-global.html?fbclid=IwAR1R3Eku9NcAqKcci_F87Efpwh0CZaDNzhXTzhwXadL8gypO89k7mRo_K28.
March 14
Denmark is a democratic socialist/capitalist country that works better than the US for all its people. In order for the US to pay its McDonald’s, Walmart, and Amazon workers a living wage those at the top of the USian corporate state would have to take a smaller piece of the total USian economic pie every year. As shown in this picture such workers make $22 per hour in Denmark and have benefits and paid vacations. What gives?
“The Other 98%,” https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/fastfoodglobal,
March 14
Here’s a way you can learn at low cost how you can improve your performance to increase your satisfactions communicating with others using transactional analysis no matter how bad the economy or the environment might get.
“Transactional Analysis Tutoring,” by Richard John Stapleton, EFFECTIVE LEARNING REPORT, https://blog.effectivelearning.net/transactional-analysis-tutoring-3/?fbclid=IwAR3gn-JAAc0P9hDUDTaVxyJhOH3a7L1HE06GOajfcHCM6E1cpE5rXbqsaQU.
March 14
Hedges is the first economic, psychological, social, and political writer I have read other than me to advocate sortition in groups, embodied by my Classroom De-Gamer™, shown over and over in my social media picture fifteen years, a spinner to be spun, to democratically select a leader of the moment, to democratically discuss three existential questions: what is the problem? what are the alternatives? what do you recommend?
“These flash mobs pose no threat to the elites unless they build disciplined organization structures, which takes years, and articulate a vision of what can come next. (This is why I support Extinction Rebellion, which has a large grassroots network, especially in Europe, carries out effective sustained acts of civil disobedience and has a clearly stated goal of overthrowing the ruling elites and building a new governing system through people’s committees and sortition.)”–Chris Hedges
“Chris Hedges: Bandaging the Corpse,” by Chris Hedges, CONSORTIUM NEWS, https://consortiumnews.com/2021/03/12/chris-hedges-bandaging-the-corpse/?fbclid=IwAR1zir4tDK9XWwpmsm5O9zPUPEZDu3Nvy95bGVzD0tozAhSXePIDInaTDJc.
March 13
Another interesting and probably true story by Eve Ottenberg.
“Leaving Afghanistan by May 1? Alas, Not Likely,” by Eve Ottenberg, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/03/12/leaving-afghanistan-by-may-1-alas-not-likely/?fbclid=IwAR2mJ46rx_Yt1tjfRDyeBT2NQm3cILidXQhz3nNJVop95fvK167vIxaCgzw.
March 13
A gruesome tale by Charles Hugh Smith
“The Cannibalization Is Complete: Only Inedible Zombies Remain,” by Charles Hugh Smith, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/rabobank-inflation-being-hidden-because-belief-our-whole-fantasy-system-collapsing?fbclid=IwAR3QYul0YBTsN-jHjiF4eoMfo2wVspe2nej5SaKNUTW9iJAZKB5Cw_llPoo.
March 12
Read at your own risk
“Rabobank: Inflation is Being ‘Hidden’ Because Belief in Our Whole Fantasy System is Collapsing,” by Michael Every of Rabobank, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/rabobank-inflation-being-hidden-because-belief-our-whole-fantasy-system-collapsing?fbclid=IwAR3QYul0YBTsN-jHjiF4eoMfo2wVspe2nej5SaKNUTW9iJAZKB5Cw_llPoo.
March 11
Yep
“Economic Growth is the Cause of Climate Change, Not the Solution to it,” by Rob Urie, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/03/05/economic-growth-is-the-cause-of-climate-change-not-the-solution-to-it/?fbclid=IwAR1UzBoMjlua2J_vj6z-7kT9scmraz0zkLVM03rxqLjvON9jo8F90fjJKfE.
March 11
Straight talk about where USians are
“The Republican War on America,” by Evaggelos Vallianatos, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/03/10/the-republican-war-on-america/?fbclid=IwAR2aabkes8grRL1hybFHlBrORDYhayOkzikSMO-ZB9ElyyooHH5JofFEqqA.
March 10
Here’s an old style windmill with Texas flag colors painted on the windvane. We had a wooden windmill like this on our farm in 1944. We used to sell sucker rods for such windmills in our lumber yard, Stapleton Lumber Company, at Wolfforth, Texas. Wind was a significant power source for drinking water for cattle and people in Northwest Texas in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s.
“Wind Power Is A Disaster In Texas, No Matter What Paul Krugman Says,” by Robert Murphy via The Mises Institute, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/political/wind-power-disaster-texas-no-matter-what-paul-krugman-says?fbclid=IwAR1mybn-i10Ux0aqHlif1j5VK8V3Penh28vPjhGxKgpO4TJvoDjTfPGqaVs.
March 10
Yuk
“Fears Of A ‘Return Of The 1930s Dust Bowl’ Rise As Record Drought Sizzzles Southwest,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/weather/record-drought-sizzles-southwest-fears-return-1930s-dust-bowl?fbclid=IwAR3hYwhLC0oqXB19FRqBTem4vn6HDEFhpLYm0ZUfU25kRKfTQgnzmxcoc2s.
March 10
Yes, of course
“Abolish the Filibuster Now,” by William Rivers Pitt, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/abolish-the-filibuster-now/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR0T_JS5cKX-Qp6UIIw4wM_xjCluWMYSxNostCIQayOJwDVWEJ8Ahd51utc.
March 9
Pathetic
“Georgia Senate votes to eliminate no-excuse absentee voting,” by Mark Niesse and David Wickert, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, https://truthout.org/articles/abolish-the-filibuster-now/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR0T_JS5cKX-Qp6UIIw4wM_xjCluWMYSxNostCIQayOJwDVWEJ8Ahd51utc.
March 7
“They should have insisted on calling witnesses when they had the chance no matter the risks or how long it took. Nothing was more important than doing everything Dems could to convict Trump in the eyes of all Earthian humans, to send a permanent powerful message proving that democratic consensual truth can rule when threatened and confronted by the lies, machinations, violence, and crime of gangs.
“In this case two hundred or so of the gang members will be punished with fines and jail time for their crimes, but the gang leader got away with his crimes scot-free, thanks to 43 Repugnant Senators voting to acquit, of 100 Dem and Repub senators voting. Seven non-repugnant Republicans voted to convict.”
“The Exemplary USIAN Impeachment Trial of 2021 Morphed into a Tragedy of Wrongdoing,” by Richard John Stapleton, EFFECTIVE LEARNING REPORT, https://blog.effectivelearning.net/the-exemplary-impeachment-trial-became-a-tragic-event/?fbclid=IwAR1bHQmo8Nw0C0clIZdLLdlezaZhjoIdy2BZTIwlOY91n8RCg0zQT23L8vc.
March 7
Hell of a note. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Destroy Earthian human life if you go to nuclear war or destroy the USian economy if you declare peace, lay down your arms, and cooperate.
“Full-Spectrum Extinction,” by Paul Atwood, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/03/05/full-spectrum-extinction/?fbclid=IwAR1qfawU2BQThNXExkDe1UXjkp1c3rtwUDz2Vs4J6aTw-4xpoTCjHPbvowg.
March 7
Excellent video embedded, a must watch and listen to summary of the situation in Syria. Tulsi Gabbard won the early 2020 Dem primary debates according to Drudge Report polls as I documented in the Effective Learning Report. Now she is no longer in the USian congress.
“Tulsi Gabbard Calls Out The US Dirty War on Syria That Biden & Aides Admit To,” by Aaron Mate at The Grayzone, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/tulsi-gabbard-calls-out-us-dirty-war-syria-biden-aides-admit?fbclid=IwAR3Xst49kVPY6jbmfPkUEtqQd4-HJCCUUwEfKg4XATushK3ARdkYl57MrEQ.
March 7
Say it aint so Joe
“Kroger Opens Fully-Automated Ohio Fulfillment Center As Fears Mount Of Rising Technological Unemployment,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/kroger-opens-fully-automated-ohio-fulfillment-center-fears-mount-rising-technological?fbclid=IwAR1M6inodZZIu6DjN2EtB_-tAfuXGMIRICw7IwBumaZFHftykKByk09Cv5g.
March 6
A good history lesson
“March 5, 1857: Dred (and Harriett) Scott Decision,” ZINN EDUCATION PROJECT, https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/dred-harriet-scott-decision/?fbclid=IwAR390Uijp0GEvoTUs0SnAhHZIxtvVDuNF1Ky3FnvBJK-8-pGvIT9vxTIiYE.
March 6
Because Georgia elected Warnock and Ossoft
“Senate Passes $1.9 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Package,” by Chloee Weiner, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO/GEORGIA PUBLIC BROADCASTING, https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/03/06/973126199/senate-passes-1-9-trillion-coronavirus-relief-package?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR2FHHjGKZRvpflakjpqcC1kjZX5ef5IJabkBmOwOqWFCn84rIcLC9p74BQ
March 5
Is it we have not had inflation yet because most people have gotten poorer and poorer and thus unable to bid up the price of goods?
“One Bank Turns Apocalyptic: ‘The Fed Will Inevitably Move to YCC’ As ‘Rates Are No Longer Anchored’,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/one-bank-turn-apocalyptic-fed-will-inevitably-move-ycc-rates-are-no-longer-anchored?fbclid=IwAR2sn_YeGm9ImKZEBm1wxOWMXOpLcicRViToK17mG7Mgats_z5gcY863Nfo.
March 5
Dogs having fun
“Pure happiness,” by Chitra Basarkar, Video, RJS Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/richard.stapleton.397.
March 4
Without a doubt
“The Pentagon, First, Last, and Always,” by Mandy Smithberger, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/03/04/the-pentagon-first-last-and-always/?fbclid=IwAR3PFmnElPY0tuoqSd3niQnR52ZxqVhpTMYuthOa3XBlxtLkf7_7XTzrCDA.
March 4
Yuk. Just like I thought. Why oh why didn’t they elect Bernie in the 2020 Dem primaries?
“Biden’s Foreign Policy: No Joy in Mudville,” by Thomas Knapp, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/03/04/bidens-foreign-policy-no-joy-in-mudville/?fbclid=IwAR3OLJU7nHFne1Q8ukoX0CEnWaUgoB_dy7et83-28xFhkxM-00_w4ya3kzI.
March 4
Neoliberalism not the way to go, as I have said before
“Skeletons in the Neoliberal Cupboard,” by Thomas Klikauer and Norman Simms, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/03/04/skeletons-in-the-neoliberal-cupboard/?fbclid=IwAR1BOgHrI_fybhc-sjuW5r-xvZWjg0zIirbdOmqWcg4cAliVsZAGJXg4Qg8.
March 4
Caving to the Pentagon or just a war mongerer on his own?
“Senators Move to Repeal Some Presidential War Powers After Airstrikes in Syria,” by Jessica Corbett, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/senators-move-to-repeal-some-presidential-war-powers-after-airstrikes-in-syria/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR1p3VbOmE4QTT4pMSe3lSaw9CgIo2zKCieVd4K4nqalIbkdg5X-7mQlSLc.
March 4
How bad can it get?
“Louisiana Hunger Strikers–Already in Solitary–Are Being Brutally Punished,” by Frances Madeson, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/louisiana-hunger-strikers-already-in-solitary-are-being-brutally-punished/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR1rbdG5XdLbVMj4M3p04zt4HrYPNIqpyP-CdBSQyk9_5vaaLEf_iQ9lNb4.
March 4
This exemplifies what’s wrong with the US government. Rules are passed to favor political parties and persons not to cause efficiency and effectiveness of operations. This penchant for rule-making has turned the process of USian government into a process of Game-playing, rewarding connivers and manipulators, Adapted Child and Critical Parent people, who enjoy adapting to and using petty rules and playing psychological Games, such as NIGYSOB, Now I’ve Got You, You SOB, fostering constant competition and conflict, requiring I’m OK – You’re Not OK life positions to function, almost obliterating Adult ego state objectivity performing their duties, causing an incredible waste of time, energy, and money to get anything done resulting in real improvement for we the people of the US or citizens of Spaceship Earth. As shown in the embedded photo in this article what congress people need to do is use a Classroom De-Gamer™ I invented to randomly select members of committees and leaders of the moment to start Adult discussions of relevant issues, a Congressional De-Gamer to cut down on psychological Game playing that is almost destroying the functioning of congress. All you have to do is spin the spinner. The process is known as sortition. Ancient Greeks used it to create real democracy for free citizens.
“The Exemplary USIAN Impeachment Trial of 2020 Morphed into a Tragedy of Wrongdoing,” by Richard John Stapleton, EFFECTIVE LEARNING REPORT, https://blog.effectivelearning.net/the-exemplary-impeachment-trial-became-a-tragic-event/?fbclid=IwAR3e4T75pZcHRam70WMVhikDvk1T6weryRkTannKgWosQjFLa3KU3kRU0hk.
March 4
A fine kettle of fish
“Fed Has Left Us With A Bond Market That’s ‘All But Destroyed’,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/jim-grant-fed-has-left-us-bond-market-thats-all-destroyed?fbclid=IwAR0lMglSAdbTrjqfNk5g_SA5gHqJmFLpoJP8KslJpV60kBGea1gRtWXmRbA.
March 3
Right. If you are worth something only if you are working for some sort of boss for wages or a salary what sort of world is this?
Mike Rowe: Everyone is Essential,” by John Stossel, PJMEDIA, https://pjmedia.com/columns/john-stossel/2021/03/03/mike-rowe-everyone-is-essential-n1429583?fbclid=IwAR07yFQZNG6PySKy3-5lu7BHOyDVMOFlRwHfPPRAbZL3bWwPHg7gaRPxKis.
March 3
In my estimation there is greater than a .50 probability Biden will cave to the Pentagon more than Trump did.
“Biden’s Quandary: Proxy Wars and Endless Wars,” by Melvin Goodman, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/03/03/bidens-quandry-proxy-wars-and-endless-wars/?fbclid=IwAR2YCokMEz1p-C7_vUi6cUSCPQDS1mUIqjgeG9ft-jJObIHjL-BPOso_7wE.
March 3
Aint no fairness in the world
“Latinx Farmworkers Risking Their Lives During COVID Struggle to Access Vaccines,” by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/video/latinx-farmworkers-risking-their-lives-during-covid-struggle-to-access-vaccines/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR3qHR5KlAmmHOS5KJ_i7FiFfu7k64olnri8miAuUf8zxAATgCC67WnrN1g.
March 3
Goes without sayin’
“To Renew Our Democracy, We Need to Tax the Ultrarich,” by Madeleine Johnsson, Inequality.org, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/to-renew-our-democracy-we-need-to-tax-the-ultrarich/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR0UZVRidFH-H3DRpHG1vP-VINgg3D2lOO9rSh9RFi3agE766BEqKZGNFV8.
March 2
And so it goes. Ralph Nader asks a very relevant question.
“Why Didn’t Speaker Pelosi Want Witnesses?,” by Ralph Nader, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/02/22/why-didnt-speaker-pelosi-want-witnesses/?fbclid=IwAR2cTnOKwoxpdwWU–YILyoxtUTMozP_t9yrvFol8nEA6gAXdWs_TkhgSJ0.
March 1, 2021
How complicated it is. Paul Street speaks at length. and maybe on the mark. We’re in deep doo-doo, no doubt about that.
“The Anatomy of Fascism Denial,” by Paul Street, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/02/28/the-anatomy-of-fascism-denial-2/?fbclid=IwAR3sA0axHcePQJxhGQW7w4B6V-JYW8TfuMHlEKOjQ-DIAUS_7_F4LLqoJA8.
March 1
If citizens of France can imprison a former president why can’t USians?
“Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy Sentenced to Prison in Humiliating Corruption Conviction,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/political/former-french-president-nicolas-sarkozy-sentenced-prison-humiliating-corruption?fbclid=IwAR1zPkjpairIFQiHfhPaovYwXvqBWknlEfr08FvhS_Kr5E4yn5U3m_9UWxM.
February 27
Amen. It’s even worse conspicuous consumption than what went on during the Gilded Age. We’re living in an age of capitalism run amok enriching the rich at increasing rates, largely caused by computers and artificial intelligence. We need to find a way to make sure computers and artificial intelligence work for all humans not just those owning the copyrights and patents for computers and artificial intelligence programs.
“We Need Democracy, Not Billionaire Philanthropy,” by Jill Richardson, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/02/26/we-need-democracy-not-billionaire-philanthropy/?fbclid=IwAR11rAp6381tLwe1FUPo_eSsUtXt1g8V_jUN8PjNsc2waDFgicJSmeFRHDY.
February 27
As reality sets in
“‘America is Back’: Make the Best of It,” by Andrew Levine, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/02/26/america-is-back-make-the-best-of-it/?fbclid=IwAR0UZVRidFH-H3DRpHG1vP-VINgg3D2lOO9rSh9RFi3agE766BEqKZGNFV8.
February 27
Whoopee. The deep state is back.
“Joe Biden’s US Foreign Policy: Return to the Old Normal,” by Roger Harris, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/02/26/america-is-back-joe-bidens-us-foreign-policy/?fbclid=IwAR3qHR5KlAmmHOS5KJ_i7FiFfu7k64olnri8miAuUf8zxAATgCC67WnrN1g.
February 27
Without one shred of factual tangible evidence he did win. Unbelievable. How can anyone lie like this with a straight face over and over again.
“Two-Thirds of GOP Voters Still Buy Into False Claims of Election Fraud,” by Chris Walker, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/two-thirds-of-gop-voters-still-buy-into-false-claims-of-election-fraud/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR3-d92or5lMlZJ8YX7URvq-IJX6Aad9kuL92dWjHguRXdSDCz9BRRomJUQ.
February 27
Thank goodness the US is not Burma.
“Factory Workers in Burma Are Resisting the Military Coup With Strikes,” by Kevin Lin, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/factory-workers-in-burma-are-resisting-the-military-coup-with-strikes/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR3CeXAG5ge1Ahi7dbbCPEXUpoPI2Ngm2vfBv3Yb3msVepv9ISLPZvWXmtg.
February 27
Oh, the joys of being a billionaire while serving, eating, and drinking hamburgers and coke.
“‘Eventually, The Party Ends’ – Buffett Releases Annual Letter, Repurchases Record $25BN in BRK Stock,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/never-bet-against-america-warren-buffett-releases-annual-letter-berkshire-hathaway?fbclid=IwAR10GS0tJupbM4tCmhuMrrE5DjTV4WI7m4nZ_3Y3306_Rzd6z1RV5XYmw4Q.
February 27
Here we go again with neoliberal policies back in force.
“‘Letting a Murderer Walk’: Leading Dems Outraged MbS Gets ‘Free Pass’ From Biden,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/leading-dems-outraged-mbs-will-get-free-pass-biden-despite-intel-findings?fbclid=IwAR2yMvoa2eDl6ml3P3eRCzVxDZWS9XYNyPFB73oJzwDfA2FBMiC3qV48FAo.
February 27
Crimea has always been basically Russian as I understand it. Why antagonize the Russian govt over this? To justify keeping US and NATO troops and bases in the region? What right does Biden have to decree that USians will never accept something?
“Biden Says US will ‘Never’ Accept Russia’s Annexation of Crimea,” by Dave DeCamp, ANTIWAR.COM, https://news.antiwar.com/2021/02/26/biden-says-us-will-never-accept-russias-annexation-of-crimea/?fbclid=IwAR3UV9xI8-GShokjxpInwTJ7febaJpVLNPbL98WQ4vB2wC-5ZBx6qauH-_M.
February 26
How much was wasted on this? $1.5 trillion? Think what that could have bought for good causes.
“The U.S. Air Force Just Admitted The F-35 Stealth Fighter Has Failed, by David Axe, FORBES, https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2021/02/23/the-us-air-force-just-admitted-the-f-35-stealth-fighter-has-failed/?fbclid=IwAR0B7-Q4DYxNgAW48taPNjbuLvhlAGLyY_kyLSeV85AhGo__-pYyOafQ1F8&sh=579823a31b16.
February 25
Corruption of the highest order. Trump was the highest paid non-professional golfer in history, paying himself to play golf with federal money on his own golf courses, over one hundred million dollars over four years. Nice work if you can get it. He did not “make” $1.6 billion while he was president. that was gross revenue generated by all his vanity enterprises, hotels, golf courses, etc., some of it not generated by himself counted as expenses to be paid with his govt expense acct. No individual can really “make” money. only the federal reserve and banks can do that, by punching digits into their computers and calling the resulting numbers they loan out money, whether loaned to the fed govt, corporations, or individuals.
“A large portion of the former president’s Trump Organization revenue came from properties that he would often visit during his presidency, according to the report. Mar-a-Lago, the Trump hotel in D.C. and his golf courses in New Jersey, Florida and D.C. were responsible for over $620 million in revenue for Trump while he was in office, and he visited those properties a combined 399 times, says CREW. In all, Trump visited his properties 547 times over his presidency, CREW found in another report.”
Do you think he did not do any sort of work, make decisions, etc., managing those properties on those visits? If so think again. Being president in the White House was a part-time job for him, counting the time he spent entertaining his “rallies” and making tweets, and visiting his properties and playing golf.
“Trump Salary Donation Was Only 0.1 Percent of the $1.6 Billion He Reported Making While President,” by Sharon Zhang, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/trump-salary-donation-was-0-1-percent-of-reported-1-6-billion-he-made-in-office/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR1ndJygYblBgMK9hmaWB_AvUKK_6qlfg7APzTh_IoYcHgk4kUXdXRj7Ia0.
February 24
Will Biden become a bigger and better war-mongerer with NATO than Trump, Obama, Bush II, Clinton, or Bush I did with NATO? Is NATO and the US the biggest threat to Earthian peace? Ostensibly doing what they do to control oil supplies and other Earthian resources for their chosen people?
http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/32120
February 23
Well done article
“Yemen: The bigger lie,” by Gwynne Dyer, HURRIYET DAILY NEWS, https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/opinion/gwynne-dyer/yemen-the-bigger-lie-138280?fbclid=IwAR1PYuxsC1CcNCSSqJeiTH4f_ivzgqVsXvYrCq2TlDqhOJIWyXTQlb-tvhI.
February 23
Agree
“It will take more than dumping Trump to stop the neo-fascists,” by John Wojcik, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/32095.
February 22
Let’s hope not
“The Trumps Have Fueled a Far Right Media Monster That Is Not Going Away,” by Mike Ludwig, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/the-trumps-have-fueled-a-far-right-media-monster-that-is-not-going-away/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR1PYuxsC1CcNCSSqJeiTH4f_ivzgqVsXvYrCq2TlDqhOJIWyXTQlb-tvhI.
February 22
Abolition as World-Making
“At the heart of each of these approaches is a commitment to building community safety and well-being by strengthening capacity for solidarity and standing up to/dismantling white supremacist violence in its many social, cultural, political and economic guises. The transformative power of abolition doesn’t pass the buck to someone else to “take care of things.” It asks us to create the world in which we want to live without relying on white supremacist, patriarchal, heterosexist and ableist structures of violence, exploitation and greed to triage the worthiness of anyone.”
“Jail Won’t Solve White Supremacist Violence. Here’s How to Truly Confront It,” by Kay Whitlock, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/jail-wont-solve-white-supremacist-violence-heres-how-to-truly-confront-it/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR1PYuxsC1CcNCSSqJeiTH4f_ivzgqVsXvYrCq2TlDqhOJIWyXTQlb-tvhI.
February 22
Agree. What is needed is more face-to-face dialectical discussion among people from all walks of life about existential questions, especially in the halls of congress: what is the problem? what are the alternatives? what do you recommend?
“Education won’t stop conspiracy theories,” by Jill Richardson, INTREPREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/32085.
February 21
Convicting Trump would have led to his disqualification from ever again holding a USian political office, and this vampire-like MAGA fascist Nazi authoritarian fantasy of his would have figuratively had a wooden stake driven through its sadistic heart. But, alas, his fantasy can now rise again with him as its supreme gang leader, thanks to 43 Not-OK Repug gang members voting to Rescue him in his impeachment trial.
What are grade school teachers supposed to tell their students about this in history lessons?
“No compromising with the GOP cult,” by Robert Reich, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/32058.
February 17
Don’t get me wrong. I am not a Marxist, but I do have a degree in economics and I studied Marx’s writings in a history of economic thought course. While I disagree with Marxist thinking less now than I did then for sure I do not advocate any sort of communist revolution. Unfortunately Marx or no Marx there is no doubt that capitalism has not worked for most humans in recent decades, especially in the US where lower and middle income humans have gotten poorer and the rich have gotten richer at an increasing rate, which is a major cause of the social and political unrest and violence USians are experiencing now. Here is what I have been advocating for dealing with Earthian economic, social, and political problems and plights for some time now, in my essays “FreeFairProgressParty” at https://blog.effectivelearning.net/freefairprogressparty/ and “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.” at https://blog.effectivelearning.net/the-evolution-of…/
“Capitalism is unfolding exactly as Karl Marx predicted,” by Olivia Goldhill, QUARTZ, https://qz.com/1269525/capitalism-is-unfolding-exactly-as-karl-marx-predicted/?fbclid=IwAR38JlBNEZRl6EtkrLsUigDTbkrBElzCkZPrD4A28I6G7QdVzoifuzyVGfY.
February 16
Agree
“Pope Francis declares evolution and Big Bang theory are real and God is not a ‘magician with a magic wand’,” by Alan Withnail, THE INDEPENDENT, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-declares-evolution-and-big-bang-theory-are-right-and-god-isn-t-magician-magic-wand-9822514.html?fbclid=IwAR3ylNM0p3MM3NTxy_topaMRyJOuTTtyZFrM9udlU62E0jb5yTrcRj0Vrkk.
February 13
Rejected by dim Dems in the 2020 presidential primaries, Bernie is now still hard at work as a senator getting thing’s done for working people. What a pity he’s not now president.
“Bernie on the Budget Committee,” by Eve Ottenberg, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/02/12/bernie-on-the-budget-committee/?fbclid=IwAR1DLxSJJyXtRxay5ZJvcFbYKB_zJekl_yx8PYFdIH3oinuTfiOFRFHedPU.
February 11
Loser-survivors
“A majority of the people arrested for Capitol riot had a history of financial trouble,” by Todd Frankel, MSN NEWS, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-majority-of-the-people-arrested-for-capitol-riot-had-a-history-of-financial-trouble/ar-BB1dyUcH?fbclid=IwAR3o4m4xJ_xflj79lDovpcNvpy53gu93n_vO5qnQ7YS9SXRaFRU1NH5mhaI.
February 8
Rout Logger’s Group: To Save Earthian Civilization is a work in progress. While settings, plots, theories, objects, and narratives in this novel may be loosely analogous to the same that have happened in various realities, the names, actions, and attributions of characters cast herein are fictional. All parts of this novel will be published in the Effective Learning Report at various intervals on the Internet, subject to revision at any time, hopefully culminating in a final print edition offered for sale to the public.
“Rout Logger’s Group: To Save Earthian Civilization, Internet Episode Six,” by Richard John Stapleton, EFFECTIVE LEARNING REPORT, https://blog.effectivelearning.net/the-group-to-save-spaceship-earth-internet-episode-six/?fbclid=IwAR0dCQWRAKMIBMw-uqWt8EZZ_3TVXU7CifKys7BkaLnz_kdRPcaA_StERy0.
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