jane fonda commencement speech

 caught the last few minutes of this on c-span. i thought it was quite good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPYKI67KOy8

zionists crying wolf(!)

a couple of days ago u.s. president trump ordered planes to bomb nuclear facilities in iran. this followed an unprovoked attack from israel using american supplied weapons on iran. as usual, the justification for such 'pre-emptive' attacks is to prevent a 'terrorist' nation from acquiring nuclear weapons. however, much like the case with the iraq invasion in 2003, this 'threat' is wholly contrived and used to conceal the surreal reason why the zionist alliance of israel and the u.s. are constantly threatening to go to war in western asia when they aren't in fact doing so: to eliminate any and all opposition in the region to their hegemony.

this recently published article from jeff sachs exposes this pattern going back for decades. below is an excerpt followed by the link to the whole article:

Since 1992, Netanyahu and his supporters have claimed that Iran will become a nuclear power “in a few years." In 1995, Israeli officials and their US backers declared a 5-year timeline. In 2003, Israel’s Director of Military Intelligence said that Iran will be a nuclear power “by the summer of 2004.” In 2005, the head of Mossad said that Iran could build the bomb in less than 3 years. In 2012, Netanyahu claimed at the United Nations that “it’s only a few months, possibly a few weeks before they get enough enriched uranium for the first bomb.” And on and on.

This 30-year-plus pattern of shifting deadlines has marked a deliberate strategy, not a failure in prophecy. The claims are propaganda; there is always an “existential threat.” More importantly, there is Netanyahu’s phony claim that negotiations with Iran are useless.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/netanyahu-war-on-iran

doom is still in the cards

Since starting this blog the vast majority of my posts have been about some aspect of dystopia, the horribleness of our culture and especially of government and rulers or 'authorities'. Of course, the prospect of a great mass extinction of species and near term human extinction is arguably of much greater importance. Because our culture is so myopic, long term prospects get short shrift, if attended to at all. I myself only think of doom infrequently and fleetingly, but never forget that just because it's out of mind doesn't mean it's out of the picture. Understanding and come to grips with the many ways in which civilization is unsustainable, i've known for a long time that it's days are numbered and almost certainly far fewer than most sheeple, even those few with a rudimentary understanding themselves of it's unsustainability, might suppose.

most sheeple have no idea how imminent and fated the collapse is. but there were a few over a decade ago who followed and participated in a blog titled NATURE BATS LAST that were well aware of it and thought it important enough to ponder and discuss at length. Below is an essay from that time / blog  by a writer whose view of the fundamental problem and potential solution, horrific as it is / was, is shared by me. Here's a snippet from it, followed by the link to it:

The vast majority of civilized humans believe civilization to be a good thing, and see it as something to be protected, nurtured, and preserved. I strongly disagree with this point of view. To me, that is like saying you want to save the patient and the cancer, too.

https://guymcpherson.com/on-the-acceptance-of-near-term-extinction/

psychedelic therapy / the war on consciousness

 i so want to experience a psychedelic trip in a therapeutic setting. i believe it would make me much happier and more likable. less depressed by dystopia and doom.

just read a lengthy article that was published by the new yorker magazine over 10 years ago, authored by michael pollan, who has also written a couple of books about psychedelics. article titled THE TRIP TREATMENT, specifically dealing with psychedelic use to treat anxiety about dying in the terminally ill. then watched a short video in which one of these psychedelic patients talks about his experience, which is the first link below:

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/video-magic-mushrooms-healing-trip

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/09/trip-treatment

of course, psychedelics have long been prohibited by the dogmatic puritanical hypocritical and corrupt government that rules over me and my fellow americans. of course, many other governments are similarly oppressive. in the link below, a 'banned tedtalk', graham hancock decries this prohibition / oppression. it's aptly titled 'the war on consciousness':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0c5nIvJH7w

standing up to fascism

Masked Agents Snatch NYC Mayoral Candidate In Chilling Video

as shown in this video, at least a few rather prominent americans are trying to stand up to the authoritarian thugs who work as immigration law enforcement officers in this time of fascism under a president who openly aspires to be a dictator and who, like others like him in the past, demonizes some particular minority group and persecutes them. will their courageous resistance be enough to stop or deter such madness? i doubt it, but am glad they're trying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WsvzqpsJpM

pride videos

 below is a copy of a post from last year. i decided it's a good idea to repost it every june,

in honor of pride month here's a couple of great videos. the first is an eloquent TED talk, a short fact based case that homosexuality makes sense from an evolutionary perspective, by a proud father of a gay son. the 2nd is an old tv movie, Doing Time On Maple Drive about a family with communication issues with conservative religious parents, a gay son, a plot with very dramatic twists and turns, and the family's struggle to come to terms with the truth of their lives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Khn_z9FPmU

https://vimeo.com/242773246

one nation under fear

 i find it a little fascinating that in the biblical creation story our species original sin was eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. assuming this is metaphor, it's meaning is still mysterious.

for one, what is good and what is evil? and why is knowledge of it forbidden us? isn't such knowledge of the most vital importance? isn't our whole punitive criminal (in)justice system predicated on the assumption that sane people know the difference between right and wrong?

as anyone remotely knowledgeable of christianity should know, 'the wages of sin is death'. this proclaimed by 'our lord and savior' jesus christ in the new testament, it's consistent with old testament god's admonition to adam and eve, that if they ate forbidden fruit they would surely die.

so, what's the surreal deal here, christians? are we supposed to have knowledge of good and evil, to know what's right and what's wrong, or should we leave such matters up to god?

i doubt anyone has a satisfactory answer.

returning to the question of morality or the discernment of sin and virtue, again, by what or whose definition? and aren't many such questions fraught with complexity and ambiguity, in the surreal world?

some think that morality is best left to be defined by 'authorities'. of course the ultimate 'authority' lies with the highest levels of government, those who make laws, interpret, and execute them. and it is painfully obvious that these 'authorities', at least in the usa, are a bunch of idiots and assholes!

now i'll get to the title topic of this post. fear has long dominated my life. especially fear of failure and of rejection. and as i've gotten more experienced and better informed, fear/conviction that this is a hopelessly dystopian world  

but the fear that i and others like me now confront with a fascist would be dictator with many fascist brutal ruthless supporters running things in the usa, is a much more visceral fear. the fear of running afoul of these evil sick bastards. the fear of being punished for trying to stand up against them. it's a very well founded fear, considering what has been and is being done to others who have tried and are trying, like in the case of a young man, a foreign student at nearby cornell university, who, after speaking out against the horrid genocide being committed against palestinians by the horrid state of israel with the full horrid support of the usa and most of it's 'western' allies,.... found himself facing persecution and likely imprisonment and deportation, if he didn't first decide to self deport himself, which he did... link below to an excellent youtube video put out by the socialist equality party, detailing not only this case but the horrid history of american suppression of human rights, in striking contrast to the hypocritical lies and propaganda put out by the american establishment about how virtuous it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XjO7RRKQPI