Showing posts with label Common Sense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Common Sense. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Brief review of some of the idiocy being promulgated primarily by various politicians

Politics is basically a flawed profession.  Why?  It often enables too much corruption, lying, and deceit.  It plays to the dark side of individuals who seek power above all else.  Finally, it too often utilizes propaganda which benefits Oligarchs/Plutocrats at the expense of Main Street.  While it's true we (all around the world) do have some politicians who are honest and ethical, unfortunately it seems they are far and few between, or perhaps reticent to speak out against the characteristics described above.

By any measure of common sense, I would think the scenarios below - brought about by various "Leaders" - are idiotic---

A Few Examples

1.  The current Israeli Leadership still is bombing/attacking structures in Gaza where CHILDREN are being sheltered, thus killing or maiming some of those innocent children.  Israel apparently believes such action is justified because Hamas people supposedly are in the same schools, houses, refugee shelters, etc.  These war crimes are being aided by munitions from the USA.

2.  The Biden Administration and probably most Republicans seem to believe Israel is NOT committing war crimes.  I believe most of the world (including me) disagrees.  The reasons for such disagreement should be blatantly obvious.  Yes, Hamas also commits war crimes; however, that's not an ethical justification for doing the same.  There is no justification whatsoever for war crimes.

3.  ALL governments which produce and maintain (or host) nuclear weapons are dangerous idiots.  Past posts on this blog have explained why.  Here's only one of them:

Public Awareness of ‘Nuclear Winter’ is Too Low Given Current Risks

Here's another:

4.  Due to adherence to the secular "religion" of neoliberalism (the Market will handle any problems), most humans on Earth now have PFAS (the "forever chemicals"), micro- and nano-plastics, and other toxic substances in their blood.  PFAS, in particular, have been linked to various health problems (including cancer) and the altering of reproductive hormones, as well as other hormones.  This all has been reported in scientific studies published in professional journals.
All the above is part of Ecological Overshoot, the main cause of our current Meta-Crisis.  Too many politicians everywhere seem to NOT be paying enough attention to this complex issue.  Those who are appear to be focused on only one of the symptoms of Overshoot:  Climate Change.  Other interconnected symptoms - biodiversity loss, soil degradation, toxic pollution, water availability problems, shrinking forests, overharvesting of fish, etc. - receive scant concern.

So, What Can Be Done?

A common sense response to the above-described human predicament would be to vote politicians out-of-office who promote the idiocy.  Exercise some due diligence and vote into office those people who at least favor the elimination of Eco-Overshoot.

Given the power of Edward Bernays style Propaganda and how dogmatic most voters seem to be, the above response doesn't appear to be likely.  But here's the thing:  NO ONE can predict the future with 100% accuracy every time.  In other words, we should not quit promoting common sense just because the implementation of it seems unlikely.  History shows that many proposed scenarios which were deemed to be "hopeless" eventually took root and came to fruition.  Such is especially true in the political arena.  Without "hope" for a better future, we're just marking time.
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Not only my opinion.  Happy Trails

Monday, April 23, 2018

The Appalling Gall of the U.S. Government


From beyond the grave, George Orwell must be having a belly-busting laugh.  I wonder if he knew that his writings were so prophetic.

On the News tonight (Sunday, April 22), there was a piece titled "Accidental Americans".  It was about a few folks who had been born decades ago in the USA, and then shortly thereafter, they and their families went back home to (in these cases) France.  By "shortly thereafter", I mean days or a couple of weeks.

Enter the Fed Government's IRS...that's the part of our Gov't to which I'm referring in the title above.  The IRS has decided that income taxes should be levied against not only residents, but anyone born here as well...even if they left as babies, never to reside here again.  So now these adults in France (and probably some other countries) are faced with US Income Taxes on their French incomes.  That makes no sense whatsoever.  I challenge anyone to explain sensibly how that action is justifiable.

The US IRS has a long history of exhibiting very little common sense.  This is another example of that; additionally, the agency too often adopts Gestapo-like tactics in "enforcement" actions.  It also glaringly shows how the Fed Gov't often displays zero respect for an individual's sovereignty.

I suspect that some people, perhaps many, fail to grasp the concept of "sovereignty".  It seems that too many people believe only The State has sovereignty, and that the concept does not apply to individuals.  In an ethical world/society, The State only REPRESENTS the sovereignty of We the People.  It's individuals who possess sovereignty, not governments.  That's why Plutocracies and Oligarchies around the globe constantly are propagandizing their citizens to believe that they live in a "democracy".  The USA is a prime example:  we don't live in a democracy; instead, it's a Plutocracy through and through.  It always has been.  The few politicians in our history who tried to change that were either marginalized or eliminated.

Wake up, Americans--- the Rich & Super-Rich rule us...to their benefit, and our detriment.  Now they're trying to do the same to people who don't even live here, and never have worked here.  Kudos to the lady in France who stated in the News interview:  "I'm not going to pay it [the U.S.-imposed income taxes].".  Why should she?  She never worked here in her whole life!  The gall of the IRS is beyond the pale.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

"Don't Believe Him"

The Nazis in the 1930's and 1940's used exactly the same propaganda tactic as is used by Trump:  repeat a lie over & over, and m...