Economic Inequities
Capitalism & Socialism January 20, 2020
![The profit motive encourages cuthroat competition and selfish ambition that is [more] about making a living than making a life.](img/mlk-capitalism-profit.jpg "The profit motive encourages cuthroat competition and selfish ambition that is [more] about making a living than making a life.")
“The
profit motive, when it is the sole basis of an economic system,
encourages a cutthroat competition and selfish ambition that inspires
men to be more concerned about making a living than making a life.” - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“We all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free market capitalism for the poor.” - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Music Association: George Harrison - What Is Life?
Crowd Control
Climate Emergency January 15, 2020
Have
you ever tried to get a whole group of people to agree on pizza or
something for lunch? People worry over their decisions as if either
they have never eaten before or they will never eat again. It can be
really tough to get consensus on any dire questions like lunch.
And yet just last November, 11,258 scientists from 153 countries signed a statement announcing a
Climate Emergency, published in the journal
BioScience:
“Scientists
have a moral obligation to clearly warn humanity of any catastrophic
threat and to 'tell it like it is.' On the basis of this obligation...
we declare... clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a
climate emergency... The climate crisis is closely linked to
excessive consumption of the wealthy lifestyle. The most affluent
countries are mainly responsible for the historic [greenhouse gas]
emissions and generally have the greatest per capita emissions.
Profoundly
troubling signs from human activities include sustained increases in
both human and ruminant livestock populations, per capita meat
production, world gross domestic product, global tree cover loss,
fossil fuel consumption, the number of air passengers carried, carbon
dioxide (CO2) emissions, and per capita CO2
emissions since 2000... Especially disturbing are concurrent trends in
the vital signs of climatic impacts. Three abundant
atmospheric greenhouse gases (CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide) continue to increase, as does global surface temperature.
Despite
40 years of global climate negotiations, with few exceptions, we have
generally conducted business as usual and have largely failed to
address this predicament. The climate crisis has arrived and is
accelerating faster than most scientists expected. It is more severe
than anticipated, threatening natural ecosystems and the fate of
humanity. Especially worrisome are potential irreversible climate
tipping points and nature's reinforcing feedbacks (atmospheric, marine,
and terrestrial) that could lead to a catastrophic 'hothouse Earth,'
well beyond the control of humans.
To secure a sustainable
future, we must change how we live... We suggest six critical and
interrelated steps (in no particular order):
1. Energy
The
world must quickly implement massive energy efficiency and conservation
practices and must replace fossil fuels with low-carbon
renewables and other cleaner sources of energy if safe for people
and
the environment...
2. Short-lived pollutants
We
need to promptly reduce the emissions of short-lived climate
pollutants, including methane, black carbon (soot), and
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)...
3. Nature
We must protect and restore Earth's ecosystems...
4. Food
Eating
mostly plant-based foods while reducing the global consumption of
animal products, especially ruminant livestock, can improve human
health and significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions...
5. Economy
Excessive
extraction of materials and overexploitation of ecosystems, driven by
economic growth, must be quickly curtailed to maintain long-term
sustainability of the biosphere...
6. Population
Still
increasing by roughly 80 million people per year, or more than 200,000
per day, the world population must be stabilized—and, ideally,
gradually reduced—within a framework that ensures social
integrity. There are proven and effective policies that strengthen
human rights while lowering fertility rates and lessening the impacts
of population growth on greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity
loss. These policies make family-planning services available to all
people, remove barriers to their access and achieve full gender equity,
including primary and secondary education as a global norm for all,
especially girls and young women.”
Music Association: Yes - I've Seen All Good People
Happy New Year December 31, 2019
Baby Yoda wishes you a Happy New Year
(illustration by MDI Digital for the Hollywood Reporter)
Music Association: U2 - New Years Day
Movie Series Review (with mild Spoilers)
Star Wars: The Last Trilogy December 27, 2019
When Disney set out to continue George Lucas's
Star Wars, they wanted to continue the good movies, you know, just the good stuff --
ala carte
movie making. To follow up from the middle (first!) trilogy of A New
Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and the Return of the Jedi, they probably
explored having an Ewok movie, a Wookie movie, and then an Ewookie
movie -- teaming up pairs of Ewoks and Wookies in a delightful romp!
The next day, the Disney people sobered up and focused on the
three stars
of the best two Star Wars movies (New Hope and Empire), so Obi-Wan
Kenobi, Yoda, and Lando. When they really sobered up and were looking
at three movies to fill, they decided to make the first one focus on
Han Solo, the second one on Luke Skywalker, and the third about
Princess Leia.
Star Wars 7 - The Force Awakens (the Han Solo follow up)
Star Wars 8 - The Last Jedi (the Luke Skywalker follow up)
Star Wars 9 - The Rise of Skywalker (the Princess Leia follow up)
All three film titles could have been titles of A New Hope and references to Luke Skywalker.
In
retrospect, it seems the Disney people may have been more excited to do
an Ewookie movie than following up on what Han, Luke, and Leia have
been doing. They killed them all off in fairly non-heroic ways. Luke
choked on blue milk right after milking a sea-cow. Han mishandled a
lightsaber while juggling it. And Leia died in her sleep. Did I mark
this with the
-spoilers- mark? Sorry. None of them died (exactly) as I said.
I'm
trying to write about the last Star Wars movie trilogy while being
preoccupied with Baby Yoda. The robe-blanket that Baby Yoda wears is so
big, it would probably be too big for Master Yoda. Hey! What if that
robe had some history. What if... Remember when Obi-Wan Kenobi died and
his robe survived? What if Baby Yoda wears the Master Kenobi robe?!?
I
rewatched Last Jedi before going to see Rise. I had remembered the
whole jumping-into-hyperspace-crash nonsense and nothing else. I forgot
how much the core story, the core message of the movie, sucked, and how
much Mark Hamill didn't like what they had him say and do as Luke.
(When commenting on his role in The Force Awakens, Hamill said, “
I'm speechless.”)
Star Wars 8 - The Last Jedi
LUKE:
And this is the lesson. The Force does not belong to the Jedi. To say
that if the Jedi die, the light dies, is vanity. Can you feel
that? Balance. Powerful light, powerful darkness.
REY: You've closed yourself off from the Force. Of course you have.
LUKE: Lesson
Two. Now that they're extinct, the Jedi are romanticized, deified. But
if you strip away the myth and look at their deeds, the legacy of the
Jedi is failure. Hypocrisy, hubris... At the height of their powers,
they allowed Darth Sidious to rise, create the Empire, and wipe them
out. It was a Jedi Master who was responsible for the training and
creation of Darth Vader. [After turning Vader] I became a legend.
For many years, there was balance.... and then I saw Ben. My nephew
with that mighty Skywalker blood. And in my hubris, I thought I could
train him, I could pass on my strengths. Han was Han about it, but Leia
trusted me with her son. I took him, and a dozen students, and began a
training temple. By the time I realized I was no match for the darkness
rising in him, it was too late... I went to confront him. And he
turned on me. He must have thought I was dead. When I came to, the
temple was burning. He had vanished with a handful of my students. And
slaughtered the rest. Leia blamed Snoke, but it was me. I failed.
Because I was Luke Skywalker. Jedi Master. A legend.
What
a load of crap. That's the big backstory. If the hiding hermit story
wasn't bad enough, Rise of Skywalker reveals that in the dark of night,
Luke went to kill Ben Solo because he was afraid of him. What a weak
story and backstory.
Imagine how much better the story would
have been if Luke trained Ben, feared Ben's choices, overcame the fear,
and then went on teaching.
The Luke Skywalker story would have been forgivable if the stories of Rey, Finn, Rose,
Poe, and Kylo Ren had depth and character and charm beyond just
disobeying orders (all the time).
I
was glad I rewatched Star Wars 8 before seeing Star Wars 9 (on opening
day in a nearly empty theater) to help me to like 9 in comparison to 8,
but that's not saying much.
My summary of Star Wars 9 is that
Disney couldn't make the Leia story due to Carrie Fisher's death. So
they made Luke more of a villain, while Rey and Kylo Ren talked over
the
Force=Internet. Meanwhile
Disney freaked over Poe's preferences and mildly improved Finn's
role. Then they added Babu Frik, the little mechanic, and maybe
(just maybe) all will be right in the Star Wars universe.
Music Association: Coven - One Tin Soldier
Caged Innocents
Detained Nativity December 15, 2019
A nativity
scene with immigrant detention fencing, barbed wire, and a mylar
blanket was unveiled about a week ago at the Claremont United Methodist
Church in California.
On any given day, about 47,000
immigrants are detained in the United States under the Trump
administration. More than 11,000 of those immigrants are children.
Seven children have died in the facilities in the past year. Children
were sleeping on concrete floors and being denied soap and toothpaste
at a facility in Clint, Texas, according to observers. A visiting
doctor called the detention centers
“torture facilities.”At a processing center in El Paso, Texas, 900 migrants were “being held
at a facility designed for 125. In some cases, cells designed for 35
people were holding 155 people,” the
New York Times reported.
According
to
NBC News, one
internal DHS report described cells so overcrowded
that detainees could not even “lie down to sleep,” with
temperatures “reaching over 80 degrees.” With inadequate
showers, the migrants were “wearing soiled clothing for days or
weeks,” and agents struggled to “quarantine outbreaks of
flu, chickenpox, and scabies.”
Overcrowded fenced area holding families in McAllen, Texas on June 11, 2019And U.S. border officials are issuing
fake court notices (
pdf) to keep out immigrants who have won asylum, according to
BuzzFeed.
While
most of the larger detention locations are at the southern border,
hundreds of jails and other public or private facilities are scattered
all over the United States (
ICE Detention list and
Wikipedia list). Four are in Minnesota (there used to be more until
local authorities said no):
•
Carver County Jail, 600 East 4th Street, Chaska, MN 55318
•
Freeborn County Jail, 411 S. Broadway Avenue, Albert Lea, MN 56007
•
Polk County Jail, 816 Marin Ave #110, Crookston, MN 56716
•
Sherburne County Jail, 13880 Business Center Drive NW, Elk River, MN 55330
Music Association: John Lennon - So This Is ChristmasCute, Real Cute
Force Out December 2, 2019
Once upon a time, a little frog hopped.
The
little green frog hopped down a trail, you know, hippity-hoppity and
all that jazz. The little frog looked over its shoulder without a pause
in its hopping, as the trail curved round a tree.
Hop. Hop. Hop. And from around the tree a small toddling figure appeared, chasing the little green frog.
The
wobbling figure with big black eyes, long green ears, and a long
rustically-brown robe was gaining on Hoppy, the little green frog.
That's right, I went ahead and named the frog.
Somebody in this story needs a name and...
I don't know... a species.
The nameless, unknown species little figure dove on top of the little green frog and caught it and ate Hoppy the frog.
Is
there a point to this story? Not so far. We've come a long way without
having any point or purpose. That's what streaming shows are all about.
That's what this President is all about. Stumbling along.
Music Association: John Williams - Binary Sunset
Three Tickets Please
The Impeachment November 15, 2019
Music Association: Dr. John - Right Place, Wrong Time
Voter
Suppression
Music
Videos
Landmine
Hopscotch
Superman
Impact
Investing
Holiday
Gifs of Cats and Kittens Part 1
Part 2
Part
3 Part
4 Part
5
Southdale
Hennepin Library, Edina Library 
Wonder
Woman
Food
Fraud 
