Consequences of Refusing COVID Vaccinations
Well, they were far more likely to be hospitalized and to die by drowning in their own pus and blood that built up in their lungs.
Doesn’t sound pleasant. Not sure I’d call it “nothing.”
Tagged with: Refusing COVID Vaccinations
Is the U.S. More Terrified about the Specter of Communism or Fascism?
As the U.S. midterm elections grow nearer, the two political parties are desperate to find their central narrative. Coming down to the wire, it looks like this:
The Republicans still claim that life in the U.S. is becoming more affordable, and that we’ve won the war in Iran, yet they know that there is a limit to American stupidity. They are hunkering down on the idea that Trump is the only thing separating us from the communism of China and the former USSR.
Sadly for the GOP, the vast majority are more concerned that our nation is on the brink of losing its democracy to fascism. We want the sociopath out of office.
Tagged with: Communism
Do Social Democracies Commit Genocide on Their People?
Re: the meme here that a reader sent me, I’m not sure this is fair.
What social democrats are proposing is exactly what most of the governments of Western Europe, and many other countries around the globe offer their citizens.
I don’t read too much about genocide in Denmark. Are they killing each other with pastries?
Tagged with: social democracies
German Wind Turbine? Let’s Do Some Math
The turbine presented here has blades that are 0.5 meters in length, and the average home requires 1.2 KW.
When we plug this into a wind power calculator, we learn that we’ll need an average wind speed of 37 mph.
Since the average wind speed in Germany is 11 mph and power is proportionate to the cube of the wind speed, the average German will need 38 of these to power his house.
Tagged with: wind turbine
Forcing Our Teachers to Toe the Line on Communism
The substance of the meme here is correct; Florida public schools actually do require comprehensive K-12 instruction on the history and dangers of communism, following a series of legislative moves and curriculum standards. The updated “History of Communism” curriculum is rolling out for the 2026–2027 school year, mandating that students learn about the “brutal realities” and (the catastrophic) global impact of communist regimes.
When I was a schoolboy in the 1960s and early 1970s, we came to learn that all efforts to establish a viable communist nation had failed, but our teachers were not shackled as to what they could teach and how they could teach it. As a result, we came to have access to a variety of helpful viewpoints, and these are what I offered my own kids as they were growing up, e.g.,
- “Men are not angels,” as my sixth-grade social studies teacher explained. Those who do not need to work in order to survive can simply goof off.
- Yet idleness is averse to our basic psychological needs to be active and productive people, and members of society.
- Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Democracy, unless it becomes corrupt, prevents the accumulation of a pathological amount of power on the part of any one leader.
- If Vladimir Lenin (a butcher) hadn’t had Leon Trotsky (a compassionate intellectual) assassinated, the entirety of the USSR could have turned out completely differently.
- If the U.S. hadn’t, through its embargoes, made it impossible for Cuba to offer its people a decent quality of life, their revolution may have succeeded and brought forth a new way of thinking about our comparative political and economic structures.
- There are examples of smaller scale societies in which the ideals of communism work out very nicely, e.g., the Israeli kibbutz.
- We read and discussed at length a book called “Social Ideals and Ideal Societies” in which these concepts were analyzed fairly and in great depth.
Now, will American schoolchildren turn out better if they’re cut off from the capacity to think critically about all this and forced to accept the mantra that “communism = evil?” The typical Florida Republican would say the answer is an obvious yes, but most intelligent people would dispute that.
An educational system that produces young people who can think for themselves is an idea quite opposed to the ongoing control of an ignorant population.
Tagged with: "Men are not angels", all efforts to establish a viable communist nation had failed, communism = evil, cut off from thinking critically, Democracy prevents the accumulation of a pathological amount of power on the part of any one leader, Donald Trump's second term, idleness is averse to most people's psychological needs to be an active and productive person and member of society, If Lenin (a butcher) hadn't had Trotsky (a compassionate intellectual) assassinated the entirety of the USSR would have turned out completely differently, Power corrupts and absolutely power corrupts absolutely, Producing educated people who can think for themselves is an idea quite opposed to the ongoing control of a population, the ideals of communism work out very nicely the Israeli kibbutz, the U.S. through its embargoes made it impossible for Cuba to offer its people a decent quality of life
Why Trump Works So Hard to Divide Us
Trump appeals to two groups of constituents: a) a small group of billionaires who lavish him with campaign contributions in exchange for huge financial favors, and b) a large number of poorly educated white people who call themselves Christians–the so-called MAGA base.
Trump has little if any appeal to everybody else: honest, fairly well-educated people of a variety of ethnicities and religious affiliations.
For Trump, staying in power means making sure that there is a minimum of leakage away from the MAGA base. That requires barraging these people with messaging to the effect that the president is the only thing standing in the way of communism/socialism, open borders, the invasion of Muslims, godlessness, teaching our little children about LGBTQs, critical race theory, choking environmental regulations, and whatever else may be on the radical left’s agenda.
Maintaining this chasm means not letting up on the propaganda for a single minute. No nuance, no critical thinking, no considering what we’ve learned from history–just constant bombardment.
Tagged with: billionaires who lavish Trump with campaign contributions in exchange for huge financial favors, choking environmental regulation, critical race theory, Critical Thinking, godlessness, minimum of leakage away from the MAGA base, open borders, poorly educated white people who call themselves Christians--the so-called MAGA base, radical left's agenda., teaching our little children about LGBTQs, the invasion of Muslims, Trump appeals to two groups of constituents, Trump is the only thing standing in the way communism/socialism, what we've learned from history
Trump Supporters Stupid?
To the author of the meme here, I say: It’s safe to say that most folks in Trump’s MAGA base are stupid, though one needs more than a low IQ to fit into this segment.
In particular, we mustn’t omit mean-spiritedness. People who are kind, compassionate, decent and tolerant of others are grossly unqualified to be rank-and-file Trumpers.
The People Good Folks Support
The mural here reminds us of what Tom Joad famously tells his mother at the end of in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, in response to her asking Tom where he’s going:
Wherever people are fighting for their rights, where kids are hungry and crying, and where folks are struggling to be free. Everywhere in the dark, wherever there is a fight so hungry people can eat or a cop beating up a guy.
Maybe Religion Is Here to Stay
What the late Frank Zappa said here about atheism is what I began predicting when I was in my teens, but I’m not so optimistic today.
In fact, there seems to be a trend towards the rejection of science, fear, brutality, and tribalism–each one a pillar of religion and the fanaticism that so often surrounds it.
Tagged with: atheism, brutality, Frank Zappa, pillar of religion and fanaticism, rejection of science, tribalism
The Scare of Communism
As shown at left, “communism” and “socialism” have been used to scare American idiots for almost a century.
Tagged with: "communism" and "socialism"
