Notes from Underground – March 2023

3/31/23 – Between the Christmas gift of Tuckyorose’s hair setting aflame from jealousy of Zelensky, the evil one’s long overdue indictment and his self-humiliating rage, and Dominion delicious, it’s been a generous few months of God’s goodness. Let’s pray to stay in his favor.

3/31/23 – Hope everyone appreciates how important it is to protect our judicial system if we are to protect our democracy.

3/31/23 – While we were drinking wine (or some other alcoholic beverage) in anticipation of the mugshot, “[i]n his ruling, Davis determined that the conservative cable-news network had undeniably broadcast falsehoods when it allowed allies of Donald Trump to float baseless conspiracy theories about Dominion supposedly rigging voting machines to boost Joe Biden.” Check, “harmed the company’s reputation, meaning that the impact on Dominion will not have to be debated at trial.” Question for lawyers, does selectively choosing to broadcast the conspiracy theorists while excluding the sane people prove “actual malice”? “Davis wrote that Fox undermined this line of defense by failing to also report statements from government officials and the company debunking claims of fraud.” Let’s all pray this goes to trial. Delicious.
Judge undercuts key Fox News defense as he sends Dominion suit to trial

3/31/23 – Who’s feeling more schadenfreude right now, the Republicans feigning outrage or the Democrats expressing genuine satisfaction? It might be a hard call.

3/31/23 – The Lord walks with the righteous. Never fear. Just do the right thing. Apply the law without fear or favor. The evil one is not being indicted for political reasons. He’s being indicted because he committed a crime, for which the severity doesn’t matter, and no person is above the law. “As unfortunate as this is, it may be the cost of accountability, something Trump has avoided his entire life. It has long been a source of pride for Americans to say that no person is above the law. And while that’s never been quite true, that aspiration is admirable, a kind of north star to guide our justice system.”
Accountability Arrives for Donald Trump

3/31/23 – We have said before that if MAGA continues to push for the evil one, the wannabee dictator, and tries to destroy our democracy, we will bring this country to its knees. We will appeal to our western allies, and we will destroy the evil one and his supporters. We end minority rule, or end in civil war. “Ironically, in a moment that recalls the Arab Spring, the religious, the secular, the business community, leading intellectuals, labor unions and even the military rose up to thwart, at least temporarily, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheme to subvert an independent judiciary.”
Unprecedented events in Israel hold lessons for U.S.

3/31/23 – Why doesn’t Pence get this? “Frankly, it’s time for Pence to stop trying to appeal to the MAGA base by withholding relevant, probative information about Trump’s attempt to subvert the election results. MAGA voters, to be blunt, are unlikely to select Pence for the 2024 nominee under any circumstances.”
Pence must testify. What he’ll have to reveal is an open question.

3/31/23 – Exactly. “Trump is being prosecuted not because he is a former president but because his status as a former president does not shield him from the law.” Let’s hope and pray. “The rule of law seems finally to have caught up to him.”
Trump is indicted, and justice is served

3/30/23 – Absolutely! “Protecting the principle that no person is above the law requires constant vigilance, as we have already come perilously close to losing it once. It was damaged nearly 50 years ago, when another modern president committed provable crimes in office. In 1974, President Richard M. Nixon escaped criminal accountability for his Watergate offenses when his successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned him to ‘shut and seal’ the book on what he had called ‘our long national nightmare.’ In fact, letting the most notorious political criminal of his day escape justice helped set the stage for the nightmare’s return — with a vengeance. Trump’s misconduct in office exceeded Nixon’s, and he came close to plunging our nation into chaos.”
By indicting Trump, Alvin Bragg restores our faith in the rule of law

3/30/23 – Let’s make what we expect very clear. At a minimum, the evil one, trump, ends up in prison for the rest of his life. True justice would mean that he receives the death penalty by firing squad.
Trump indictment follows 50 years of investigation on many fronts

3/30/23 – Well, what do we have here? Is it justice we hear?

3/28/23 – This is why you don’t elect morons. They can get you killed. “The Pentagon is raising alarm over one Republican senator’s bid to block the promotion of nearly 160 senior U.S. military officers in a dispute arising from the Defense Department’s abortion policy, joining top Democrats in labeling the political showdown a threat to national security.”
Pentagon chief warns Senate amid abortion-policy showdown

3/27/23 – To poor Republicans, you don’t need to worry about rich people. They don’t worry about you. You can also stop trying to impress them. They aren’t going to be impressed by you. They’re busy spoiling their talentless kids.

3/27/23 – Nepo babies extend well beyond celebrities to all aspects of our society, and they are an abomination.

3/27/23 – Netanyahu is an existential threat to Israel. Also, this is another example of how the evil one, trump, is an existential threat to the USA. “U.S.-Iran tensions intensified following President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran in 2018.”
Biden warns Iran after U.S. forces clash with proxy groups in Syria

3/27/23 – It is quite strange that Republicans who like to think of themselves as self-reliant and independent of government rely so heavily on blue states’ coffers and are the first to ask for government bailouts.

3/26/23 – Fifth Sunday of Lent. What Jesus taught us more powerfully than anyone else is that there is death, but more importantly, there is change. If death is the end, then there should be no change afterward. The state is final. If there is life after death, then it is not final. Death is just another state of change. However, change scares many people. Ironically, it doesn’t scare them as much as death, even though, for many nonbelievers, it would involve no more change. To believers, remember that our God is always with us, and the world he created is not static. Change is nothing to fear. We must seize it and make it ours. We must only say, “I trust in the LORD; my soul trusts in his word.”

3/26/23 – In the United States, the atheists and others, in particular, the media generally want to focus on the negative aspects of the church. The truth is that the church also does some very good things. It is often the last holdout for human rights, peace, liberty, democracy, etc., and its religious people sacrifice greatly for others. Let’s all pray for Bishop Álvarez. “Keeping this brave man’s name before the public may not be sufficient to liberate Nicaragua, but it is necessary.”
Do not forget this Nicaraguan bishop’s brave stand for human rights

3/26/23 – The most recent rise in authoritarianism started, unsurprisingly, after the 2008 financial crisis? Is the Federal Reserve responsible for destroying democracy?

3/26/23 – The satanic Netanyahu is a wannabee dictator. Anyone noticing a pattern?
Netanyahu fires defense minister who called for halt to judicial overhaul

3/26/23 – This tells you a lot about race, power, and money in America. It would be a very good move for Democrats to make this popular change happen, raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. “About three-quarters of Hispanic (76%) and Asian Americans (73%) also favor raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, with 52% of Hispanics and 43% of Asians saying they strongly support the idea. White adults, by contrast, are divided: 51% favor raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour – including just 30% who strongly favor it – while 48% oppose it.”
Most Americans support a $15 federal minimum wage

3/26/23 – Is this actually a question? Get some f—king balls people. Move on s—t. “Those who hold Russian assets are entitled, under the international law of state countermeasures for a grave breach of international law, to cancel their obligations to the Russian state and apply Russian state funds to pay what Russia owes.”
The moral and legal case for sending Russia’s frozen $300 billion to Ukraine

3/26/23 – MAGA are stuck in a psychological doom loop. (Doom loop, great expression. So handy and multipurpose.)

3/26/23 – Generally, MAGA likes to blame victims. So, it’s psychologically related to see the perpetrator, the evil one, trump, as a victim and to rush to defend him at every chance. In their own minds, they view themselves as victims (see white grievance and diminishing numbers below), so they have merged their own sense of victimhood with his. This is why he’s able to play them so effectively. He’s a loser, but they don’t accept this. In their minds, he’s a victim of voter fraud, etc. They are also victims of what they perceive as a rigged system. It’s a cynical and dishonest political tactic, but it works because they are psychologically primed for it.

3/26/23 – MAGA aren’t just getting trolled by the evil one, trump, they’re also getting totally ripped off. They are total schmucks! (The media does get played by him too though. To other readers, don’t give it more time than it deserves. Read one story, take note of his autocratic moves, and then wait for something more material. There is a difference between taking in oxygen and giving it oxygen.)
Trolled by Trump, Again

3/26/23 – This is true, and ironically, it is MAGA’s unwillingness to accept reality, that their dear leader, the evil one, trump, is a loser that cost the Republican Party the midterms. Remember it was Fox and other Republicans that perpetuated the big lie, so they ended up bringing about their own losses. Perhaps there is justice in this life after all. “But his candidates’ abysmal record in the midterms and his own weak showing against Biden in public polls make him damaged goods. The reason Trump has gone to such lengths to deny the 2020 election results is because he can’t allow himself to be seen as a loser — it’s political poison with the base.”
Trump bleeds GOP base support

3/25/23 – There should be no doubt that the satanic modi is a (wannabee) dictator. “‘This is a direct murder of democracy,’ said Uddhav Thackeray, a former chief minister of Maharashtra and the leader of a right-wing party in the state, which includes the financial hub Mumbai. Other parties variously called Gandhi’s expulsion ‘a cowardly act’ and an attempt to ‘silence the voice of the opposition,’ and called for the withdrawal of the expulsion…. Hours before Gandhi was expelled on Friday, 14 opposition parties approached the Supreme Court asking it to stop the government from using law enforcement agencies to hobble political opponents. In a news conference late Friday, Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi described Gandhi’s disqualification as part of the ‘systematic and repetitive emasculation of democratic institutions by the ruling party.’”
India’s top opposition leader Gandhi expelled from Parliament after conviction

3/25/23 – Without digging into the data, it seems as though the most strategic political move for Democrats would be to appeal to religious groups. The atheists can be rather obnoxious and carry too much weight in the party, so this would also be an overdue correction. “There is also a huge religious divide — White people who aren’t Christians are much more likely to be Democrats.… Among Latino voters, a big divide is religion. Latinos who are Catholic or who aren’t religious are much more Democratic-leaning than Latino Protestants are.”
The GOP gains among ‘voters of color’ are overhyped

3/25/23 – Exactly. “But as disheartening as our increasingly godless society can be to many of us, neither Christian doctrine — despite its cultural dominance — nor any other religious creed was intended to be government policy. Besides, the Bible repeatedly reminds believers not to be so concerned with the things of this world. But progressive Americans must adjust, too, by exhibiting tolerance for conservative social and religious beliefs rather than disparaging such views as bigoted or hateful. They must show more consideration for people who are asked again and again to reject beliefs and practices that their communities have sincerely held for generations.”
Americans need to rediscover the lost art of tolerance

3/25/23 – If for no other reason, this is a very good reason to never elect the evil one, trump, again. The world is changing fast. Africa (it’s a continent) actually has growing populations. It’s dynamic and important. “Harris’s trip is the latest step in an intensive courtship after U.S. relations with Africa deteriorated badly under President Donald Trump, who never visited the continent and whose reference to ‘shithole countries,’ at a closed-door meeting in 2018, was seen by many Africans as directed at them.”  We cannot have that f—king autocratic, racist moron as the head of state ever again.
Harris heads to Africa amid Biden’s urgent courtship of the continent

3/25/23 – We need a Schoolhouse Rock for genitals. “I’m just a boy with a penis that pees.” “Well, it’s a long, long journey through puberty.” “But I know I’ll be a man someday with a penis that can do more than just pee.” “Then, I’ll be able to find a pretty lady with a vagina and make cute babies because that’s what man penises and woman vaginas can do.” Something along those lines. Others can wordsmith the lyrics.

3/24/23 – Apparently, kids aren’t supposed to know that they have genitals even though they have genitals. Around 6th grade is when many kids start puberty. Their own genitals will be announcing quite clearly that they are indeed genitals. Yes, these are the times we’re living in. Genitals, they are a part of the human body that God created. He wasn’t ashamed of them. PS David remains one of the greatest pieces of art ever created, and Michelangelo was a devout Christian. Thank you and have a nice day.
Parents, be warned! There will be art in this art class!

3/23/23 – Basically, the mini-me idiot has no clue what he’s talking about.
DeSantis walks back ‘territorial dispute’ remark on Ukraine

3/23/23 – “As the old Wall Street saw goes, the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.” This was Keynes, who lost a lot of money in the stock market. So, he personally experienced this.
Surprised by interest rate hikes? Really?

3/23/23 – It is very important to be disciplined and hard-working. Religious people have such great lives. It’s a complementary balance of work and spirituality. Their spiritual lives give their work purpose, serving God and others. And their work gives their spiritual lives an earthly expression. For some of us, this is the perfect life.

3/23/23 – The full retirement age in the USA is 67, so we should have no sympathy for those lazy f—kers. 62! Give us a break! Many people work until 70. As long as one is treated with dignity, well-compensated and has a good work-life balance, work is fulfilling. It gives people purpose and meaning in their lives. It also keeps one’s mind and body healthy. France is the country that went from being slaves to monarchs to lazy, entitled a—holes who don’t care about anybody else but themselves.

3/23/23 – People are living longer. You have to work until later in life. So, shut the f—k up and go home.

3/23/23 – One million French a—holes didn’t protest for a worthy cause like Ukraine’s freedom and democracy, but they’ll protest to be lazy entitled f—kers. So self-centered.
Violent French pension protests erupt as 1M demonstrate

3/22/23 – The Fed, “we nearly had/created (how should one phrase this?) another financial meltdown, but everything is going according to plan.” They get paid for this with our tax dollars. Remember that.

3/22/23 – Right to work should be repealed in every state. If Michigan can do it, every state can do it. The race to the bottom for labor policies and protections will stop once every state repeals it. (Also, just because one can free ride, doesn’t mean one should.)
Michigan is set to repeal its decade-old right-to-work law, a big win for unions

3/22/23 – Zelensky is so attentive to his people and his troops. He celebrates them all the time. What a great leader! What a great people! Slava Ukraini!

3/21/23 – Being (like Jesus), believing (in Jesus), belonging (to Jesus’s church), and their relationship are common themes in Christian sermons. The common element is supposed to be Jesus, but generally speaking, most churches are only marginally successful at focusing exclusively on this. That said. At least, many of them try. At least, they make the unifying element clear. The creeds also state this. We also have a clear model for our behavior, Jesus. That is extremely helpful. We routinely fall short, but the goal is right there in the New Testament. We can read it, and try again. America, as an “institution,” does a poor job of all of this. It could learn from the church.

3/21/23 – As a thought experiment: Imagine the USA engineered immigration such that groups of various kinds: races, religions, languages, etc. were perfectly balanced. No one group was dominant in terms of numbers, and no one group was a minority. Would belonging increase, decrease or remain unchanged? Hard to say since it would depend if even in this perfectly balanced scenario in terms of numbers, one group was dominant outside of the numbers. Would this arrangement upset whites more than anybody else? Yes, it would because, presently, they are the dominant group. This is why they are doing everything possible to maintain political and economic power even if their numbers erode. Will it work? In a democracy, it’s less likely to work. To some degree, this might explain their drift to fascism.

3/21/23 – “Make Whites Belong Again” Is this catchy? In Christianity, believing and belonging are meant to go together. This isn’t how it usually plays out in practice. Why should one feel like they belong in any Christian church? Because they believe in the same God. Worldly things get in the way though. In the United States, we’re all supposed to feel like we belong because (theoretically) we all believe in our country. Again, this isn’t how it plays out in practice. Considerably complicating matters, unlike Christianity, which has no cap on believers, the United States does have a cap on Americans. Perhaps for this reason, belonging in the USA is being treated as a zero-sum game. If one group rises, it must mean that another group falls. Since whites are still the dominant group, the onus is on them to stop thinking of and treating belonging as a zero-sum game. Instead, they are lashing out because they think they are falling.
Why so many Americans feel left out

3/21/23 – Yes, the thing to do is to glorify dictators dictating dictatorships. “Smart diplomacy.” “Xi similarly used China’s close relations with Iran to make the diplomatic breakthrough between Riyadh and Tehran that the United States could never achieve.” Also, China is not a strong country. That’s an illusion. How does one define strong, and to what is China being compared?
Here’s the real lesson from the showy Xi-Putin meeting

3/21/23 – Ranked-Choice Voting is a no-brainer. It would help with a lot of our problems and ending the doom loop.
Montgomery County should adopt ranked-choice voting. So should everyplace else.

3/20/23 – The satanic poop in Russia, look over here [fill in the blank] while I rob the country blind. And the Russians fell for it.

3/20/23 – Rich people want you to work super hard (while they lazy about like the parasitic loafers they are) so that you won’t have time to fight for your rights, your dignity or to learn how they have been cheating you. They want you to be slaves.

3/20/23 – Don’t expect any of the pedigreed elites to actually admit they were wrong about interest rates or anything. They don’t do that. They and their egos are a big part of the doom loop. We must break the doom loop.

3/20/23 – The comments are quite fun to read. My first thought also. “Where can I get a copy of Trump’s mug shot to hang on my wall?” “Alexander posted on the Telegram platform. ‘Now, I’m retired.’” He can be retired, but we’ll never forgive him or other MAGA. Revolting traitors, and they are such schmucks. The evil one is paying his legal fees with the moronic MAGA’s retirements accounts and their children’s inheritance.
Trump calls for protests of what he claims is his imminent arrest
Suckers! Haha! They actually thought the evil one, trump, would pay their bills. “‘We’ve both got enough going on fighting the government,’ Alexander wrote. ‘No billionaire is covering our bills.’”
Trump’s call for protests gets muted reaction by supporters

3/20/23 – “Xi arrives in Russia to stand with Putin against West amid Ukraine war” Dictators of the world unite!

3/20/23 – Ukrainians have worked so hard for so long to win their freedom and independence. They must win!
‘We are warriors, not layabouts or loafers.
And our cause is righteous and holy.
We stand for independence,
that is why it is so hard for us.’
[3/19/23] is the birthday of the legend of Ukrainian poetry Lina Kostenko. Sometimes bitter yet apt words of the poetess describe the pain and at the same time the strength of Ukrainians. Thank you for your contribution to Ukrainian culture and for your indomitable virtue!”
Zelensky – Ukrainian Poet Lina Kostenko

3/20/23 – The war in Ukraine is a battle of good against evil. Good must win. Ukraine must win. Keep the faith. Keep fighting. “The war in Ukraine is one of the largest armed conflicts since the Second World War. The active front line reaches 1,500 km. Battles take place in fields, forests, on water, in the sky and in cities. We continue fighting for our native land. The liberation of all occupied territories is ahead. And Ukraine will definitely do it.”
Zelensky – Ukraine will do it.

3/19/23 – “Poverty abolitionists!” Love that. This is a great article and book for Lent. For the sanctimonious many, acknowledge that we are all sinners. We do things on a daily basis that harm our planet, God’s creatures or our fellow human beings. To quote Mark Twain, we are all guilty of “The Cruelty of ‘I Didn’t Think’.” Some really good suggestions in here, and there is hopeful change. “In fact, one of the more encouraging findings Desmond cites is a 2020 Pew survey showing that a large majority of Americans have come to blame structural obstacles, not personal failings, for poverty, and to believe that most of the rich got that way not through hard work but through advantages. That’s a big shift in a country that has long been enamored of bootstrap mythology. It seems like a precondition for taking poverty abolition seriously and believing it to be possible.” Bootstrap is a total myth. We were blind, but now we see.
How America Manufactures Poverty

3/19/23 – “As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth.
His disciples asked him,
‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind?’
Jesus answered,
‘Neither he nor his parents sinned;
it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.
We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day.
Night is coming when no one can work.
While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’”

3/19/23 – Fourth Sunday of Lent. We should always honor the Sabbath, but we sometimes or even often fail to do so. After this exhausting week, let’s have a day of rest and prayer. Let us be one with God and his creation. Know that the devil will test us. He will test our resolve. He will test our faith. In the darkness, we must be the light. “I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whoever follows me will have the light of life.” We must conquer the devil. We must conquer evil. Never give up. Keep the faith. Spread the faith. Be the faith.

3/18/23 – We’re at a critical moment, and the powers that be need to act much more aggressively and urgently to eliminate the authoritarian threat.

3/18/23 – If this idiocy with monetary policy continues, all the genius elites who have been calling for interest rate hikes will be calling for interest rate cuts as soon as the recession hits, which is going to be much worse than the inflation that was moderately higher than what we had come to expect. How these people got and keep their jobs reflects the deep rot in our political and economic system.

3/18/23 – Necessary Changes to the Law: Credit card companies must be required to give a minimum 28-day grace period, the time between your statement’s closing date and your required minimum payment. Why? Because most people get paid biweekly, and it allows them to better manage their bill payments. We want a bill with just this one change to the law, which is popular with all Americans, and we want all lawmakers on the record as to where they stand, one easy to understand vote at a time. We want transparency and accountability. Do you work for the American people or for the banks?

3/18/23 – The Fed needs to announce that there will be no more interest rate increases in the near-term. That’s how it will calm markets. Would say that the garbage Jerome Powell, who is not an economist but a lawyer should be fired, but the f—khead economists are just as bad as he is, so you can’t win either way.

3/18/23 – Since Twitter is dead, no idea what happened here. “What role did social media-led coordination among customers play?” This needs to be looked into, and the rich f—kheads need to held accountable. Apply the law without fear or favor. If they broke the law, arrest them and put their whiny, talentless government needs to save our libertarian a—ses in prison.
Bank failures: Anger in Congress, but division on what to do

3/18/23 – We need to hold everybody, Democrats and Republicans to account. Everybody. Without fear or favor.

3/18/23 – The ICC issued an arrest warrant for the satanic one, putin. It was well overdue. The world needs to take aggressive action to hold dictators and wannabee dictators accountable. Crush them. Now.

3/18/23 – F—k the French and their lazy, entitled a—s. They are a self-centered group of people who think they are god’s gift to mankind yet they have nothing substantive to back up their s—t. They are self-glorifying often racists who think the only good Americans are WASPs, which excludes the French by the way, and who can’t deal with the fact that past “glory” (what was glorious about colonialism or being slaves to monarchs?) is not indicative of future performance.

3/18/23 – Being a good leader isn’t about always being cautious and moderate. Sometimes, you have to aggressively take people and s—t the f—k down. It’s knowing when you tap and when you crush. Biden, who in part due to temperament, in part due to age, is too cautious. This moment calls for new leadership that is bold and a fighter.

3/18/23 – Biden and the administration has been too cautious on Ukraine. He should listen to the Republican members of Congress who have for a long time wanted him to be more aggressive.

3/18/23 – To MAGA, we will not forgive you. Go f—k yourselves all the way to hell from now until eternity. You will be remembered in history as traitors. Know that now.

3/18/23 – David Sacks, Peter Theil and all of the other tech bros are f—king hypocrites and idiots. They are not libertarians. They have no principles and no solid values. They are evil opportunists. This country is addicted to morons who are lucky and greedy. It worships these false gods instead of worshipping the one true god.

3/18/23 – People need to get more creative in how they deal with inflation. Stop looking at the overall price level. Use the f—king technology, break down the economy into specific markets, and address whatever issues exist there, whether it’s supply-chain issues or a lack of suppliers/inadequate competition, whatever. That’s the way you manage this s—t. Not some blunt tool that inevitably triggers a recession, and given the nature of our financial markets and economy, possibly another financial crisis. The world will not be able to handle it, and you risk replaying the political turmoil of the world war years, especially WWII. You risk helping authoritarians rise to power, and you will regret it.

3/18/23 – You’ll see here that the effective fed funds rate is similar to where it was when the 2008 financial crisis was triggered/started (how should we describe that?). The Fed has to stop raising rates now! (No idea what the ECB is doing. They are often idiots. In fact, most economists in the world are well-credentialed idiots.)
Effective Fed Funds Rate

3/17/23 – Going to try to say this as calmly as possible. From the beginning, we have been saying (i.e., berating the Fed on Twitter, which is dead) not to raise rates. The a—holes with their econ 101 textbooks have been saying raise rates. A lot of the inflation was due to supply-side issues. Basic logic dictates that is what needs to be addressed to bring down inflation. Those are policy issues that the Biden administration and Congress need to tackle. This is not the god—m 1970s. Stop with the Milton Friedman s—t. The financial system, the economy, everything has changed, and on top of all of that, the world is emerging from a pandemic. The elevated demand was mainly due to that. And there is a war. Instead of taking a nuanced approach to economic policy, it’s a formulaic approach that does not suit this case. If the Fed is too incompetent to manage the economy, it needs to be completely overhauled. Fire and hire until it can do its job correctly. This entire f—king banking crisis fiasco, not to mention the higher debt servicing both for regular folk and the government, which is ultimately paid for by the taxpayers, is because of the higher interest rates. In addition, the financial system, which has been drunk at the punch bowl (low interest rate environment) for how long is it, almost a half a century, give or take, is an alcoholic. It is brittle. Raising rates this aggressively over a short period of time is going to destabilize it. So, f—k you to everyone who’s a bloviating moron about inflation, finance and economics. You are a contributor to this mess. Thank you, and have a nice day.

3/17/23 – Psycho, evil, traitorous MAGA’s “election integrity” is code for their own election fraud, rigging the election for the evil one, trump. White sociopaths like double speak.

3/17/23 – To our beloved Ukraine, the country, except for the traitorous MAGA, has not forgotten about you. Just doing some important housekeeping. Since our countries are friends and who has time for any BS anymore, just know that the USA is one f—king wild country. It’s both infuriating and inspiring. Hang in there, and hang in there with us. We won’t abandon you.

3/17/23 – There is a deficiency of regulation and regulators. It is not either/or. And Congress is a sewer. Both parties readily sell out the American people and the economy to line their own pockets and retain power.

3/17/23 – What the f—k is this? “Adding a potentially uncomfortable wrinkle, the since-ousted chief executive at Silicon Valley Bank, Gregory Becker, served as a director at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco until last week.” This should never be the case. We also need to put a stop to the revolving door. There is too much corruption and conflict of interest in our government.
After Silicon Valley Bank collapse, Washington asks: Is it to blame?

3/17/23 – Supervision of the country’s highly complex financial system needs to move out of the Federal Reserve’s responsibilities and purview to a new institution dedicated to this important function. Prior to the creation of the Federal Reserve, it was JP Morgan (who was a ruthless capitalist and generally horrible person) that helped during financial crises. (You will notice that JP Morgan continues to play this role to some degree.) We should ask how this lender-of-last-resort function can to be redesigned so that it is the country’s financial institutions that “bail themselves out,” in more technical terms, act as their own lender-of-last-resort. The Federal Reserve should be focused on managing the economy, which is a lot as it is.

3/17/23 – The world’s democratic powers need to start assassinating the world’s dictators who have been proliferating, and now. That’s all there is to it.

3/16/23 – Not a lawyer, but if we’re talking stare decisis, Judge Thomas Wheeler’s ruling in Starr v. US should be the basis for another lawsuit against the government. Unmitigated rage.

3/16/23 – “This is just a fundamentally different type of bank run.” It’s not. It’s the same s—t, different day, and it’s all “electronic” now…. “The speed at which this all happened is something that regulators were fundamentally not really attuned to.” It is always “fast,” and it doesn’t matter how the panic spreads, whether Slack, landlines, the newspaper, or the god—am telegraph. All that matters is that it spreads. “Silicon Valley Bank doesn’t exist anymore, so it’s not a bailout of anyone.” What are y’all saying right now? It doesn’t matter if the institution continues to exist or not, it can still be a bailout. They bailed out the f—king rich investors. “Those equity holders were fully wiped out.” Look at AIG. Are you telling us that wasn’t a bailout? What about the losses its shareholders incurred? F—k you. “And it’s not like it wasn’t clear that we were on the brink of a potential crisis, because you’ve had people for months saying, ‘Listen, if [Silicon Valley Bank] had to liquidate today, they wouldn’t have been solvent.’” Solvency and liquidity are two different things. People said Lehman wasn’t solvent either, and it remains debatable whether that was actually the case. It went down quickly irrespective of whether it was solvent. It might have been solvent until the panic hit. That’s the nature of the beast. Too annoying to read the entire thing. Enough misery for one day.
‘Financial Regulation Has a Really Deep Problem’

3/16/23 – The country does not hire based on merit and talent. It’s based on luck, connections, “faking it,” ass-kissing and academic ass-kissing, also known as pedigree. This is a big reason we’re having so many problems in our country. This happens throughout our economy, in both the private and the public sectors. So, here we are: the United States of Incompetence.

3/16/23 – See below. “The combination of a high level of longer-term asset maturities and a moderate decline in deposits underscores the risk that these unrealized losses [they haven’t sold the assets but their value has declined] could become actual losses [they had to sell the assets because they needed to meet withdrawals, and when they do this, the losses become actual/realized] should banks need to sell investments [at a loss, in this case, bonds that fell in value because the Fed raised interest rates] to meet liquidity needs [to meet withdrawals].” American CEOs are f—king idiots. That moron was running a bank and didn’t know s—t, and he was a corrupt a—hole. “And its chief executive officer had started cashing out his stock.” This definitely was not “balance-sheet minutiae.”
You Should Be Outraged About Silicon Valley Bank

3/16/23 – It is quite strange that evil moronic MAGA is so hellbent on isolationism when that means isolated with the other over half of the country that resents their very existence and hates their guts.

3/16/23 – “He may well be trying to sound like an ill-informed isolationist, because he is trying to capture the MAGA voters who now support Trump. The former president is the undisputed world heavyweight champion of ignorant views, and if you’re going to take him on, you’d better have some stunningly ignorant views of your own to bring to the table. That’s what the Republican base wants.” Sane people don’t want to be ignorant and stupid. MAGA are evil and crazy, and they will get us all killed.
DeSantis Will Betray Ukraine for MAGA Votes

3/15/23 – We are living in one of the dumbest periods in human history.

3/15/23 – This is coming from the evil Russian s—t’s supporters, you know the person who’s trying to recreate Soviet “greatness,” make russia great again. “Later, they get slightly more specific as ‘wokeness’ is compared to authoritarian states and the censorship that defined the Soviet Union.” We don’t know what woke means, but when we look up ignorant idiot in the dictionary, it says MAGA.
A viral moment reinforces the hollowness of ‘woke’ as an attack

3/15/23 – She says, you’re saying because “fair” doesn’t appear in the Constitution, the maps don’t have to be fair. [Now, we digress to some other argument.] He says, I’m saying you don’t have the authority to determine if the maps are drawn to be fair. It’s up to the people to decide. She says, if the maps aren’t fair, aren’t you preventing the people from deciding if they are fair? [Now, we digress to another argument.] He says, that’s a circular argument, you’re assuming you can define what fair is.” Wow! That was painful.
Actually, he argued that fair is definable since he says that voters can decide, meaning they can determine if it’s fair. (It’s ambiguous what “it’s” is referring to here, but the context is the maps.) So, if voters can decide if the maps are fair, so can the courts. Fair is “definable.” The question he raised in the middle of his grasping “argument” was about authority. Do the courts have the authority? The Supreme Court ruled they do if the maps are overly partisan. He got paid for this. Think about that.
N.C. high court mulls throwing out rulings on redistricting, voter ID

3/15/23 – Again, it seems the apocalypse is nigh.

3/15/23 – Still thinking about this Theil situation. Is it more akin to yelling “fire” in a theater or publicly stating an opinion? Could his “opinion” be construed as defamation? The legal limits for free speech are quite intriguing.

3/15/23 – What role did superior a—hole Theil play in SVB’s demise? “Thiel is back in the spotlight after Founders Fund, a venture capital firm he founded, urged companies to withdraw their money from Silicon Valley Bank last week.” The data usually show a precipitous decline (basically withdrawals/redemptions), so one could simply look at the timing (temporal proximity to his statement(s)) to determine. A question for legal experts: Does this open Theil up to lawsuits? (Not a lawyer, but it’s strange to me to sue SVB for not disclosing what is standard knowledge about bonds and interest rate risks. This is not some exotic risk. That’s like suing SVB for not disclosing that stock prices rise and fall. Should SVB also disclose that the grass is green and the sky is blue?)
After SVB collapse, bank stocks slide despite government intervention

3/15/23 – We can’t solve our problems if our country is full of nuts who are ignorant and stupid.

3/15/23 – All it really takes for a bank, whether commercial, investment, crypto, what have you, to go down is a loss of confidence. What triggers the loss in confidence could be either rational concerns and/or irrational fears about the bank’s balance sheet, its solvency and/or its liquidity. It’s usually some combination of both, rational and irrational. There are problems (rational), but the panic makes it a self-fulfilling prophecy (irrational). (Lehman also had plenty of good collateral.) This s—t isn’t hard f—kheads. It’s basically the same f—king thing over and over again in different contexts, given the ever-evolving nature of financial markets and economies.

3/15/23 – Catherine Rampell, the anthropologist, needs to shut the f—k up about economics. Pretty certain the only reason she got that job at WaPo is nepotism.

3/14/23 – In the midst of our misery, we must still celebrate pi day because math is amazing (even though it’s a human creation), and God is great.

3/14/23 – Let the rest of us say this as politely as we can, which means totally impolitely because we ran out of s—ts to give a long time ago. The reason we’re in this predicament is not just the greedy people’s greed. It’s also the stupid people’s stupidity. Combined, they are a force that could destroy the entire world.

3/14/23 – Pretty much every banking crisis is, loosely speaking, triggered by the same thing. There is a maturity mismatch between the assets and the liabilities. That’s the nature of their balance sheets. Depositors can come and get their money immediately. This is the liability side. But their assets are longer dated and/or less liquid. Even when you’re talking about Treasuries, which are generally highly liquid, there are other risks, such as interest rate risks, which can negatively impact the value of these assets. Even Lehman, which was an investment bank, not a commercial bank, basically also experienced a classic bank run, just with repo. Seriously, get a f—king grip on reality, people. Use the f—king Google. The rest of us are out of patience with your stupid a—ses.
Maturity Mismatch: Definition, Example, Prevention

3/14/23 – Just come right out and say it. We think our voters are psychotic idiots. So, we feed them crazy, stupid shit because that’s who they are. Every time, Republicans do this, that’s the unspoken message to their voters.

3/14/23 – Pedigree. Why do the Ivy League schools keep producing total and complete f—king morons? “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, widely believed to be gearing up for a 2024 GOP presidential bid, said Sunday that Silicon Valley Bank’s diversity, equity and inclusion requirements ‘diverted from them focusing on their core mission.’” And what the f—k do Treasury bonds and the Fed raising interest rates have to do with ESG or DEI? If anyone actually falls for this s—t, they’re as stupid as these morons selling it, but remember, they have Ivy League degrees. Never in my rather extensive research on various crises have I ever come across one triggered by ESG or DEI. It doesn’t exist as a thing except in moronic MAGA world.
GOP blames Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse on ‘ESG’ policies. Here’s what to know.

3/13/23 – SVB is definitely not Lehman, and f—k those who claim that it is. They are ignorant or lying, or both.

3/13/23 – To those people who say that SVB failed to hedge against the obvious risk of rising interest rates. Who gave them the idea that interest rates would stay indefinitely low? The f—king Fed. That’s who.

3/13/23 – It is not moral hazard because they face the consequences. It’s not moral hazard because of deregulation, for as unwise as that is. It’s moral hazard because they keep getting bailed out. And who is bailing them out? Democrats, that’s who.

3/13/23 – Don’t deceive yourselves into thinking the American people are just going to fault the Republicans and the evil one, trump, for rolling back regulations. We’re also going to fault the Democrats, including Biden, for bailing out these f—kers time and time again. Both parties are to blame.

3/13/23 – Unadulterated rage.

3/13/23 – The evil one, trump, should be given the death penalty for trying to overturn an election and inciting an insurrection. Let’s go Brandon should resign immediately for bailing out the private sector – again. Americans have terrible politicians and a terrible political system that does not work for the people.

3/13/23 – GOP and DNC: Get us new, actually competent candidates with actions that match their stated values.

3/13/23 – “Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” We see what you value all right. Brutal capitalism for the poor. Socialism for the rich. Look at the lines for food. Where is our money going? To rich people, stupid, f—king hypocrite.

3/13/23 – Hell is not other people. It’s being stuck in the same f—king doom loop, replaying it over and over and over again. The Republicans deregulate. The Democrats bail out the rich. The Republicans deregulate. The Democrats bail out the rich. And the entire country is looking forward to a reply of 2020, two geriatrics vying to lead a nation that wants to move on from both of them, as much as a godd—m root canal. We’re so f—king sick of this s—h we could scream. It’s kleptocrats to the right. It’s kleptocrats to the left. It’s corruption throughout our entire government no matter the party. It’s stupid, narcissistic politicians who don’t do anything for the American people and do everything for themselves. We’re f—king done. F—k them all!

3/13/23 – The Federal Reserve is the most incompetent and corrupt institution in the country. It is a disgrace to this great nation. How many f—king times is it going to bail out the blood-sucking financial industry? How many times is it going to ignore moral hazard? How many times is it going to screw over the American people to support greedy rich parasites? The Fed needs to be completely reformed.

3/12/23 – Third Sunday of Lent. God will give us justice.

3/12/23 – We could be in the middle of World War III, and Biden/Harris (or whoever the VP is) will not be getting our vote. There are no circumstances under which there will be a different decision. None at all.

3/12/23 – If it comes down to not voting in November 2024, that’s what will happen.

3/12/23 – It is really sad that a country like the USA with so many good people are stuck with these two choices: the evil one and let’s go Brandon.

3/12/23 – Let’s go Brandon. Let us know when you can actually hear and “see us.” Fake f—kers.

3/12/23 – The Democratic Party under Biden has lost our support. From now until the end, it will get nothing. Get a different nominee who has a moral compass.

3/12/23 – The third rail is not Social Security. It’s bailouts. They crossed a line. Let it go to hell.

3/12/23 – The Biden Administration is as corrupt as the Federal Reserve. The American government is held hostage by rich parasitic a—holes.

3/12/23 – F—k Biden. Let it all burn to the ground.

3/12/23 – War.

3/12/23 – If the elites in Washington, Silicon Valley, or the “captains of industry” think the resentments from 2008 have moderated. They have not. They have only intensified. The abuses of corporate America during the pandemic, when Americans were dying, are yet another insult. The vast majority of Americans (liberals, conservatives, independents) dislike all of the elites with an intensity they underestimate because they are blinded by their self-love.

3/12/23 – Apparently, the Biden Administration is also more concerned about the rich, tech moguls in Silicon Valley who want to privatize gains and socialize losses than about ordinary Americans who are struggling to pay their bills with high inflation. If there is one thing liberals and conservatives – oh and independents – are united about, it’s our common hatred of bailouts. Get ready for these attacks every day from now until election day 2024.

3/12/23 – The Federal Reserve is totally f—king corrupt. It keeps bailing out the private sector at the expense of American taxpayers. It is an elitist, even racist, institution that only cares about the ultrarich. It has screwed over everybody else, including upper-middle-class white people, and it’s getting worse every day. Instead of focusing on reining in the parasitic and abusive credit card industry and credit reporting agencies, instead of focusing on price gouging, instead of helping people who are waiting in food lines, who is the Fed concerned about? Rich, tech moguls in Silicon Valley.

3/12/23 – SVB does not pose a systemic threat. It would be an extreme overreach, and the American people will sue the government. Changes need to be made to the law and the Fed’s powers. It is abusing them at the expense of the American taxpayers. The Federal Reserve is owned by the rich parasites that want to enslave the American people. Jerome Powell is garbage. F—k you!

3/12/23 – The USA has the most overpaid CEOs in world history.

3/12/23 – If you run a bank, and you choose to ignore the risks that come with maturity mismatch, too bad for you. There is no free lunch in economics or in life.

3/12/23 – Any and all liberal excesses need to stop immediately. Stop the “virtue-signaling” garbage. Not only do you denigrate yourselves (no decent person respects people like that), but you’re putting our country in greater danger. You’re making it more susceptible to internal and external evil forces. The world is quickly getting really dangerous. Remember: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It applies to the laws of physics and societies. Hard truth: the extreme left helped bring the evil one, trump, to power.

3/12/23 – The evil one, trump, helped install MBS. They will collude against our nation’s interests.

3/12/23 – Our foreign policy needs to start thinking differently about Mexico, which spans our entire southern border. It is overridden by drug cartels. They are extremely dangerous. The political leadership is feckless, and the country is corrupt. It is ripe for a nefarious actor, such as Russia or China, to gain strategic influence. They would then have direct access to our country in the event of war.

3/12/23 – MAGA is evil. They are abettors of the devil.

3/12/23 – It has become a moral dilemma how to view these Russian people. They allowed or even supported the satanic s—t’s, putin’s, rise. They couldn’t be bothered to care about others or the awful things their country was doing in Russia and around the world. (They allowed him to steal their money.) They are racist f—kers who think they are better than others. Why should the world feel compassion towards them when they don’t care about anybody else? Now, their country has become a terrorist state, and they are being slaughtered in a genocidal war that their actions or inactions created.
It is a warning to every country. You reap what you sow. At least in the USA, over half the population, which is a lot of people, is vehemently against the evil one, trump. One needs to be informed, actually care and take action to root out evil. Once evil establishes itself, you’re screwed.
Russian wives and mothers call on Putin to stop sending mobilized men ‘to the slaughter’

3/12/23 – The axis of evil is growing (and fast): Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and soon to be Saudi Arabia and Mexico. Yes, Mexico. We need to be prepared.

3/12/23 – The evil one, trump, has gotten more evil and more dangerous. He must get the death penalty for his crimes against the state. “Historical experience suggests that it would be foolish to disregard this kind of statement by a man who commands such a large and unyielding portion of the electorate. Would-be authoritarians like Trump, given a chance to return to power, do not have a record of moderating their views.”
2024 Trump Is Even Scarier Than 2020 Trump

3/11/23 – Turkey is not to be trusted.

3/11/23 – No bailouts of any kind at all! Or you will pay the political consequences.

3/11/23 – Max Abrahms, professor of political science at Northeastern University, should be fired immediately.

3/11/23 – Absolutely! “I believe that today’s Trump supporters are people who are making a conscious, knowing, and morally flawed choice to continue supporting a sociopath and a party chock-full of seditionists…. What we’re seeing at Fox, however, is lying on a grand scale, done with a snide loathing for the audience and a cool indifference to the damage being done to the nation…. You can see this same kind of contemptuous elitism in Republicans such as Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Elise Stefanik.”
The Ugly Elitism of the American Right

3/11/23 – “Dirty hands. Clean money.” That’s great. There need to be more pathways and options. Many students were going to college for a bachelor’s degree who were not well-suited for that particular path. At the same time, we need a well-educated populace that has broader knowledge than just in a particular industry or job. A combination of community college classes to fit work schedules in trade or other work is a good place to start. AA degrees should be required, but the timelines and paths should be flexible.
Jaded with Education, More Americans Are Skipping College

3/11/23 – Tuckyorose wanted the January 6 footage so that he could support his MAGA-ness when Dominion’s discovery, which did not support his MAGA-ness, was made public. That’s the timing.

3/11/23 – What the f—k is going on?!
Tennessee congressman Andrew Ogles’s résumé is too good to be true

3/11/23 – It could be argued that it isn’t until you get intimately familiar with war that you truly understand the value of freedom.

3/11/23 – So cute! God is great. “Bees work so well together — some scientists call hives ‘superorganisms’ — that people have long thought they had a sophisticated way of communicating.”
Bees teach their babies how to dance

3/11/23 – F—k you. No bailout. FDIC covers ordinary folks. Private investors take risks; they own the risks. Can we talk about credit card debt instead?
Silicon Valley Bank failure raises fear of broader financial contagion

3/10/23 – We see, and we cry. But the world does nothing. The UNHCR needs to be reformed. The only way forward for the world is to be united against hate and evil and to actually take action.
The Rohingya fled genocide. Now, violence stalks them as refugees.

3/10/23 – Interesting. Divide and conquer.
Head of private Russian army says he’s been ‘cut off’ by Putin

3/10/23 – Rich people and corporations in the USA have a disease. They are addicted to money. They need an intervention.

3/10/23 – Credit card companies are vampires that suck on the blood of hard-working Americans. The federal government does not regulate them or credit rating agencies adequately. Also, instead of bringing inflation down, the main effect of the rate increases is this: “Credit cards are one of the most expensive ways to borrow money. Currently, annual percentage rates, or APRs, are around 20%, an all-time high. If the Federal Reserve announces a half-point increase in its benchmark interest rate at the March meeting, those APRs will climb even higher. That will cost credit card borrowers an extra $3.4 billion in interest charges over the next 12 months, WalletHub calculated.”
Credit card debt is at an all-time high, putting households near ‘breaking point,’ study shows

3/10/23 – The endless winter is exhausting. The northern parts of North America are not for the faint of heart. But we have more water for our land, so that’s good. Let us be thankful. God is good.

3/10/23 – It is hard to find Ukrainian literature translated into English. Thanks for the translation.
“And glory to you, dark-blue mountains,
Frost and snow protect you;
And to you, great-hearted heroes,
God does not forget you.
Keep fighting – you are sure to win!
God helps you in your fight!
For glory and freedom march with you,
And truth is on your side!
Taras Shevchenko, 1845.”
Zelensky – Taras Shevchenko, 1845

3/9/23 – We must ramp up production capabilities and production now! Can we shift into a war-time economy now or what? Why the foot-dragging?
In race to arm Ukraine, U.S. faces cracks in its manufacturing might

3/9/23 – This is crazy. Just like the book-banning is crazy. The extremes on the left and the right have lost it, and the middle needs to push back forcefully. You have the controlling communists on the left and controlling fascists on the right. “At Stanford, a full-service, broad-spectrum educational institution, an ‘Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative’ several months ago listed words to avoid lest they make someone feel sad, unsafe, disrespected or something. Problematic words include ‘American,’ which suggests that America (this column enjoys being transgressive) is the most important country in North and South America.” (The article could have done a better job of staying on topic. It digressed into unrelated topics.)
Woke word-policing is now beyond satire

3/8/23 – Western Europe is leaderless, and their populace is indulgent and content with being dependent on the USA. They would do well to remember that we’re a democracy, and our citizens get to vote on how our blood and treasure is spent. If we don’t want to pay the price for European security because Europeans are more interested in taking vacations and keeping their pensions, it’s going to be tough s—t for Europe. Just know this. They would be wise to be prepared.
Europe is finally starting to face its threats. It should do more.

3/8/23 – Being able to deliver hard truths and withstand the unpopularity that comes with doing so is a valuable sacrifice and service to humankind.

3/8/23 – “On International Women’s Day, we want to celebrate women in Ukraine who withstand brutal Russian aggression and contribute to the fight against it. According to the United Nations, Russia’s all-out war has taken ‘a devastating toll on the well-being of millions of women, girls, and young people.’ Thousands of women have been killed since Feb. 24, 2022. Thousands more have lost their loved ones. Nonetheless, women have been an essential part of Ukraine’s resistance. Some 41,000 women are serving in Ukraine’s Armed Forces, according to the Military Media Center. Women also contribute as first responders, volunteers, journalists, and others.”
Kyiv Independent – International Women’s Day – Ukrainian Women

3/8/23 – Dominion’s discovery was delicious. Thank you.

3/8/23 – What a bunch of f—king cowardly phonies. “Carlson, in his text exchange with a colleague, expressed his ultimate frustration with Trump’s administration. ‘We’re all pretending we’ve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it’s been is too tough to digest,’ he wrote. ‘But come on. There really isn’t an upside to Trump.'”
Trump spurred ‘existential crisis’ at Fox News, lawsuit exhibits show

3/8/23 – Schadenfreude. “‘Carlson texted with a colleague in early 2021 that his show was ‘very very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can’t wait.’ Carlson added of the then-president, ‘I hate him passionately.”… The Trumpty Dumpty thing was the declaration of war. Once producers saw that, they did not wonder: How are we playing that?’ a former Fox executive said.”
Inside the simmering feud between Donald Trump and Fox News

3/8/23 – On this International Women’s Day, let’s remember that there are billions of women around the world, and they have their own identities. They speak different languages, come from different cultures and have different values. They should not be judged by the west and western standards, especially with its obsession with excessive liberalism and virtue-signaling. They are their own people.

3/8/23 – Absolutely! “More than a year after an invasion that most outsiders believed would succeed within days, second-guessing Ukrainian tactics is the height of presumption as their citizens continue dying on the battlefield against a country with triple Ukraine’s population and an economy nearly 10 times its size. The burden is rightly on the West to ramp up production and shipment of the weapons and munitions Ukraine needs.”
Biden must follow Roosevelt’s ‘arsenal of democracy’ example

3/8/23 – Germany can go f—k itself. It’s ready for war when it’s the aggressor. It’s “pacifist” when it’s supposed to help another country defend itself. Nobody buys its selfish BS.
Germany must do more on defense. But critics should be patient.

3/8/23 – Some people think they’re helping, but they’re actually making matters worse. Some sins are also crimes, e.g. murder. Some crimes are not sins, e.g. parking violations. Some sins are not crimes, e.g. adultery. The guy (Pope) explicitly separated the two things for homosexuality, and the author brought them right back together. So annoying! The gay people who are criminalized or worse killed in certain countries really don’t need this person “advocating” for them. She has good intensions, but that argument undermines the Pope’s meaningful statement. Be more aware of what’s happening in the world and the stakes, or just be quiet.

3/7/23 – The author made a significant (and obvious) logical mistake. Homosexuality is a behavior. Race is a physical attribute over which one has no control. How one looks is not a behavior. False equivalences are not exclusive to the right. *Don’t engage in false equivalences.* The crux of the matter is: Did God make homosexuals that way? People will come to different conclusions – as is their right. Some might argue that even if God made them that way, it’s still sinful. Although a strange position, this is also their right. If a particular religious institution does not accept LGBTQ people, just move on and find one that does. There are many that warmly embrace LGBTQ. Also, the church is not the state, and vice versa. *Keep church and state separate.* We don’t want the state to control personal decisions, such as reproduction, based on religious values. The Pope made this clear when he said homosexuality shouldn’t be criminalized, meaning using the state to punish based on religious views. A sin is not necessarily a crime, and the author muddied this important distinction, which is not helpful! The state also shouldn’t control religious institutions unless it’s over violations of human rights. Whether or not LGBTQ people can attend or feel accepted at a religious institution is not a violation of human rights. Our collective freedom and our democracy depend on people accepting certain views and choices even if they disagree. It cuts both ways.
Why are we so tolerant of churchy bigotry?

3/7/23 –  Know this. Lies are evil, and when you engage in them, you engage with the devil.

3/7/23 – Didn’t Jesus say something about truth?
Democrats’ simple equation to win the culture wars: 2+2=4

3/7/23 – Do the Chinese people know that many Russians are total racists? Do the Russians know that many Chinese people are total racists. These two groups of people who both think they are superior are going to “collaborate.” Right. Even if they do, how long before that blows up?

3/7/23 – Many groups of people think they are superior. They are all wrong. White people have sold this myth more successfully than others because even after the Jesus revolution, the world still buys the other great myth that might makes right.

3/7/23 – Rich people think everybody else should suppress their humanity and human needs so that rich people can feed their money addiction. We won’t. Eat the rich.

3/7/23 – White grievance is a disease.

3/7/23 – “Indeed, just five months after McCarthy’s comments assuring ‘no one would disagree’ that it was an insurrection, the poll showed a majority of Republicans did in fact disagree.” That’s because MAGA are white sociopaths with inferior genes. They are dangerous.
The GOP backlash on Tucker Carlson
More evidence of their inferior white genes. “Despite there remaining no evidence that the 2020 election was compromised, 6 in 10 Republicans still ‘mostly’ agree it was stolen.”
Trump’s dark ‘I am your retribution’ pledge — and how GOP enabled it

3/7/23 – White sociopaths are a serious danger to mankind because they live in rich, powerful countries.

3/7/23 – Please support Kyiv Independent’s brave reporters however you can.
Kyiv Independent – Women Led

3/7/23 – MAGA are white sociopaths. They have inferior genes.

3/7/23 – Genocide.
Zelensky – Genocidal Kidnapping, Worst Since Holocaust

3/6/23 – The average American doesn’t respect educators but could also never do their job well. The reality is that it’s easier to automate jobs that are – presently – well-regarded, mainly because they are well-compensated, such as IT jobs or even doctors than educators, especially for primary and secondary schools. (As a thought experiment, if IT or medicine didn’t pay as well, would you still respect the profession? Would you still want to work in those industries?) Beyond the knowledge and communication skills, which is already a lot, teaching is a very person-to-person profession. It is demanding. There needs to be a sea change in how education is viewed and managed in the country, or we will fail as a nation.

3/6/23 – Glory to the brave. Glory to Ukraine, the world’s defenders of freedom, democracy and dignity. “Today, a video has emerged of the occupiers brutally killing a warrior who bravely said to their faces: ‘Glory to Ukraine!” In unity, we say:
“Glory to the Hero! Glory to the Heroes! Glory to Ukraine!”

3/6/23 – Anybody who has a functioning brain knows how difficult it is to create works that can endure. The reason these books have withstood the test of time is because they engaged and challenged their societies and continue to do so even now. This is how one makes it as a great writer, not by playing it safe or catering to white or any other grievance. Smart, well-educated parents will continue to have their kids read these classic works that force readers to think hard while these moronic parents do their children a gross disservice and damage their intellectual and moral formation. Somebody needs to put a stop to this madness.

3/6/23 – These are some of the things to understand about education in America. 1. Many parents are stupid and ignorant 2. Children are the future, and these parents are terrible. Don’t allow them to ruin their children who don’t know better. 3. If we want to fail as a nation, we’ll continue to allow these moronic parents to dictate what their children learn, overriding the judgment and expertise of the teachers whom they don’t value. 4. Wollstonecraft, Twain, Steinbeck, etc. are considered staples of the “western canon.” It is quite strange, to say the least, that these narcissistic white people with their fragile white egos and love of white grievance wouldn’t want their white children to study works within the (white) “western canon.” 5. Pretty certain this is one of the dumbest periods in human history.
‘Slavery was wrong’ and 5 other things educators won’t teach anymore

3/6/23 – When a group of people worships their skin color or anything else about themselves, this collective act of narcissism tells you how fragile their egos actually are. A house built well glorifies God not the self.

3/6/23 – Be honest with God and with yourself. God heals.

3/6/23 – There will come a day when every single MAGA, who are almost all known because of social media and other technology, will be remembered by future Americans as traitors.

3/6/23 – Smaller districts are called state government. What if we made the House smaller, and each representative had to moderate their views to win? Another benefit is that we won’t have to pay more of these often worthless people’s salaries.
The House was supposed to grow with population. It didn’t. Let’s fix that.

3/6/23 – White “culture”: You’re not smart if you’re not white. You’re not pretty if you’re not white. You’re not artistic if you’re not white. You’re not “cultured” if you’re not white. You’re not refined if you’re not white. You’re not cool if you’re not white. You’re not professional if you’re not white. You’re not talented if you’re not white. You’re not Christian if you’re not white. Et cetera. Unsurprisingly, after many decades (if not centuries) of having this BS shoved down their throats, the world has told delusional white “culture” to go f—k itself.

3/6/23 – To those who claim that we are a “Christian” nation, then why don’t you want us to feed our poor? Oh, that’s right. You’re just using Christianity to exploit the poor so that you can support your money addiction.
 A mile-long line for free food offers a warning as covid benefits end

3/5/23 – Second Sunday of Lent. Some of the most important people in the Bible are women. Blessed be the God of Abraham and Jesus, both of whom elevated women. God created Eve for Adam out of love. Adam and Eve sinned, but God continued to love them. As fallen people, even though we fail, love never fails. Jesus loves you.

3/5/23 – Ukraine’s military needs to withdraw from Bakhmut. Live on to fight another day in a more meaningful battle. Bakhmut would be a Pyrrhic victory at best.
Ukrainian soldiers in Bakhmut: ‘Our troops are not being protected’

3/5/23 – It is very important to be disciplined, hard-working and focused. We need more young people to get military training and join the military. Parents and society have failed them. They are decadent and undisciplined. They are addicted to their phones and their value system is skewed to indulgence. The education system’s resistance if not outright hostility to the armed services is insulting to our military, which is the best in the world, and a disservice to these young people and to the nation.
Army boss’ mission: Persuade schools to welcome recruiters

3/5/23 – We need more “nasty,” “demanding” women. “The 1990s were the first big breakthrough. The number of women in Congress rose from 33 to 54 after the ‘year of the woman’ election of 1992. The numbers have steadily risen since, finally rising above 100 (to 101) in 2013. The 2018 and 2020 elections were breakthroughs comparable to 1992.”
‘History months’ celebrate those who were written out of the story

3/5/23 – If not already, Minnesota is fast becoming the best state in the union, and it’s the blue enclave of Minneapolis that has put it in this position. (Red areas don’t know how to vote, but the people do work hard. They feed the country, and they build things.)

3/5/23 – Indeed. “Re-enfranchising millions of Americans who have paid their debts to society would be a powerful step in the direction of universal voting, a core principle of democracy…. The battle to preserve democracy won’t succeed in a week or a month or a year. But progress is still being made that can restore rights to millions of potential voters. There is reason for hope.”
Minnesota’s vote to re-enfranchise felons is a victory for democracy

3/5/23 – MTG is a traitorous moron. However, contrary to elite opinion, this is a democracy, and if we want to have a national referendum about a “national divorce,” that’s entirely in keeping with our democracy. It’s also definitely preferable to another civil war or to living in the totalitarian state that MAGA wants with their evil orange monster as its dictator.

3/4/23 – It has been said that American women are “demanding.” Thank you. We demand the full acknowledgement and respect of our freedom, our rights and our humanity, all of which God gave us.

3/4/23 – The Taliban are agents of the devil. “Changes to the country’s marriage laws are another wrenching example of how the Taliban has stripped women of their rights. Taliban rule also has severely restricted their access to education and employment, banned them from public parks and mandated ultraconservative female dress…. ‘I think now fewer women will come forward,’ she said. ‘More will stay in bad situations and more will die from domestic violence.’… ‘The Taliban have created the perfect situation for men seeking revenge,’ she said. ‘The courts have lost their effectiveness and instead we see on the news women receiving [public] lashings for adultery.’” “Dying” from domestic abuse is called murder. “Lashings for adultery” is injustice upon injustice. Only demonic people such as the Taliban would support this.
Divorced and remarried, these Afghan women are outlaws under Taliban rule

3/4/23 – Especially during Women’s History Month, let’s remember all the females around the world that pay the price for men’s aggression and use our collective voice to help them. Beyond our humanity, we have an important commonality with all of them, our gender. United, we are always stronger. “First Lady Olena Zelenska said at the United for Justice Conference in Lviv on March 4 that the number of acts of sexual violence undertaken by Russian troops in Ukraine indicates that such crimes are a deliberate policy of the Russian military.”
Zelenska: 171 cases of sexual violence by Russian troops recorded in Ukraine.

3/4/23 – Слава Україні!

3/4/23 – Money corrupts the soul.

3/4/23 – Union strong. Union proud. This guy wanted to run for president. Schultz lost his way. Once they make it, they forget their roots. All of these people are BS artists who want to oppress the working class, the people who actually make this country. For people who buy Starbucks products, wake the f—k up. Support your local coffeeshops. Stop being hypocrites. You’re supporting a company that engaged in an “aggressive and illegal union busting campaign.”
Starbucks displayed ‘egregious and widespread misconduct’ in union fight, judge says

3/3/23 – Fascinating! “The Yamnaya culture, known for its characteristic burial mounds, originated in what’s now part of Ukraine and western Russia, an area called the Pontic Caspian steppe. The horses they kept were distinct from modern horses – likely more easily startled and less tolerant of humans – although they may have been the immediate genetic ancestors of modern horses, which emerged a few centuries later, the researchers say…. ‘The spread of Indo European languages is linked to their movement, and they reshaped the genetic make-up of Europe,’ he said.”
First evidence for horseback riding dates back 5,000 years

3/2/23 – The USA’s democracy is still in peril. More needs to be done to protect it.

3/2/23 – This is the kind of technology we need more of, and these evil monsters need to be brought to justice. Are they going to be held accountable for their war crimes? International justice community – do your jobs!
Hundreds massacred in Ethiopia even as peace deal was being reached

3/2/23 – This is what happens when neoclassical economists dominate policy, particularly international economics. “Roughly 50 years after the broad decline in America’s industrial base began, the ability to make certain products (like casting and forgings, vital in arms manufacturing) is in short supply, as is depth in the skilled trades that make them possible.” Maybe they can live out their nerdy fantasies and defeat Russia and China with their superior math skills. Autarky now!
An uncompetitive defense industrial base puts the nation at risk

3/2/23 – Absolutely! “Without holding these enablers accountable, democracy and the rule of law will remain at risk.”
Trump’s enablers must face consequences, too

3/2/23 – The Chinese people are inspiringly creative in how they tell their overlords where they can go.

3/2/23 – It’s not just China. The whole world should tell the rich parasites in their country and abroad to go f—k themselves. Don’t give them your genes! Last generation. Eat the rich. “Yet China — amid social order and economic health, not apocalyptic upheaval — has just experienced its own harrowing birth plunge. Why? The answer most likely lies in the dispirited outlook of the Chinese populace itself…. More than any other factor, human agency matters in national birth patterns, a truth that should come as no surprise.”
China’s collapsing birth and marriage rates reflect a people’s deep pessimism

3/2/23 – Haha! Community is everything. “The plan might have been to prank her mother, but Adams ended up pranking herself. When she returned home last week from an evening with friends, she suddenly noticed Ape Ventura, staring at her in the dark. Adams screeched with fright. Her husband screeched with laughter. Ape Ventura screeched with screeching monkey noises.”
Buy Nothing is everything

3/2/23 – Employers have a “pedigree” (like people are dogs) obsession, and it’s damaging their institutions.

3/2/23 – Most people don’t need anywhere near as much tech as they’re getting or as they think they need.