Friday, January 27, 2017

In a Word (from Webster's Unabridged, 1983) . . .


16 comments:

  1. Oy! Your email fell very rapidly off my screen, sorry for no response!

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    1. Resent it as before and as an attachment. Hope that helps! ♥

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  2. The big, broad, beautiful American left: how marching in DC gave me hope [Click] Steven W Thrasher
    Mr. Thrasher makes a nice point about President Obama.

    --Alan

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  3. Being President Is Seriously Cutting Into Trump's TV Time [Click] And he still has his civilian cell phone?!!

    The Long History of "Nazi Punching" [Click] I remember reading about a Klan gathering in North Carolina. Locals armed with long guns gathered along the fences of the field where a cross burning was planned. The participants became uneasy and the service was adjourned…

    http://www.alternet.org/economy/trump-leaves-tpp>Trump's Decision to Leave the TPP Was to Protect One Faction of the Super Rich [Click] A good read on large-scale economic trends. Not enough time to read it right now, but I will later.

    --Alan

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    1. "Trump's Decision to Leave the TPP Was to Protect One Faction of the Super Rich" isn't particularly well titled, but it sure rings true. (Aside from the modern terminology) it is not different from Marx's analysis of the evolution of capitalism, but stops short of mentioning revolution as a curative.

      ---Alan

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    2. Harrumph! I must have made a syntax error--the link doesn't work. Here's another try:

      Trump's Decision to Leave the TPP Was to Protect One Faction of the Super Rich [Click]

      Reflecting on the column, I came back to the citation that 88% of manufacturing job losses can be attributed to automation/robotics. Then I recalled another recent article saying (reasonably) that the NEXT round of robotics will be coming not for the gardener, but for the managers. The reason is that it will be a deployment of artificial intelligence--which is very good at correlating lots of data and making decisions base on same--which describes a lot of managerial work. It occurs to me to wonder what the political effect will be of putting large numbers of white collar/upper middle class workers out to pasture, after a lifetime of being conditioned to think they are not proletarians. Wonder if they will be more effective political activists than the redundant folks who lost non-managerial jobs. It bears consideration, at least.

      Alan

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  4. I just called the Congressional offices of Rob Bishop (R-UT, 1-202-225-0453) and Niki Tsongas (D-MA, 1-202-225-3411). Rep Bishop chairs the Natural Resources Committee and I let Andrew there know that I am aghast and furious that there is a gag order on scientists, and that though a tax payer I am not supposed to be told their findings. I also spoke with Carolyn Turner at Niki Tsongas' office. She pretended to not know what I was referring to (essentially asking me to say the words. So there's a note for the future), and was happy to take my comment. When I call Dem or Indy offices I am also very carefully stating that I believe the President has mental illness, asking them to look up Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and saying as far as I know the only recourse is for Congress to make use of Amendment 25, Section 4. This has to come from the People!!

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  5. So, I also called my Congress peeps: Peter, Bernie and Pat, and spoke with Kelly, Mike and Jeff to register my grave concerns. On top I mentioned the gag order on scientists, mentioned the Wall and all of that, but also said that as mother of five and grandmother of six I am deeply concerned for our nation. I spoke of the vast evidence that the President is mentally ill, explained about Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and asked that our Congress do the difficult thing and make use of Amendment 25, Section 4. Kelly thanked me as she was previously unaware that NPD involves the left anterior portion of the brain. I ended with her saying that if Congress won't do it, could we at least redraw the Vermont state line as being part of Canada? (And she laughed.) :-)

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  6. Big news for me and my local area: The Oak Park DFA meet-up is being re-launched! I'd just been thinking that this was the sort of on-the-ground organizing we need for 2018.

    To provide the background for people elsewhere: Because of the way Howard's campaign played out in Illinois, a number of local DFA meet-ups were launched under local leadership. The Oak Park meet-up survived for another five years, until everyone got so involved with the Obama campaign they didn't really have time for anything else political. And maybe because people were so burnt-out -- and also so deeply satisfied -- after the campaign, efforts to revive it didn't pan out. But now there is a new meeting this coming Wednesday. Hooray!

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    1. Bill, that is wonderful!

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    2. Excellent! Please send a note to Jim Dean at DFA about this!

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    3. Oh, I didn't mention that it was actually national DFA that passed along Eric's invitation.

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    4. Action and reaction; or thesis engenders antithesis, if one wishes to sound Hegelian...

      Alan

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  7. Today I began the long-avoided task of cleaning out our really big storage closet. Within the first hour, I found an old Mother's Day card (2008?) and inside it a $50 gift certificate "from the good kids" for art supplies at one of two shops. The first shop closed permanently awhile back, but the other is still open. So I called and they are pleased to honour it! Wowzer! Day One and already a great reward! I should have started this project years ago! LOL!

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  8. Gee, buried treasure! Can't beat that!

    Alan

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