This is how they do it
If you want to think about how "flooding the zone" works, imagine this scenario. Over breakfast, I tell my husband, "This week I'm going to have lunch in Budapest, slap your mother, eat all the donuts I want, slash the tires on your car, fix the leaky toilet, make the neighbor stop stealing our mail, and replace all the doorknobs. By the way, did you know that our roof is too slippery for Santa Claus? It's really dangerous to have a roof like that, and flat roofs are much better. Anyway, there's more coffee if you want it and I'm a lot prettier than your sister."
Hubby isn't sure how to respond, but he knows that lunch in Budapest is unrealistic and our mail hasn't been stolen. The comments about the roof sound crazy, but in the meantime, hearing that I might fix the leak makes him feel hopeful. "Don't you dare slap my mother," he says. I just laugh and tell him that's not what I meant, I'm just going to tell her to stop giving our kids so many cookies and I might have to yell a little. By now, he can barely remember anything I said, except that I mentioned his sister. "What's my sister got to do with it?" he asks. "She bakes the cookies," I explain.
At this point, he's thoroughly confused and doesn't even remember to get a second cup of coffee. Later in the week, when he finds all his tires slashed, he storms into the house, only to find that I've removed all the doorknobs. It turns out that I sold them for scrap metal, and Hubby eventually has to hire a guy to replace them (with plastic ones so I won't take them again). He doesn't even ask me about the tires, which get replaced by insurance. The toilet is still leaking.
More Random Thoughts
I understand pumpkin spice cookies, candy, drinks, even candles. But dish soap?
When I got my first job, it was my understanding that my employer had control over what I did at work. They could implement a dress code, require employees to speak courteously to each other and customers, insist that we be on time, etc. As soon as I left work at the end of the day, my life was my own. I could go where I chose, say whatever I wanted, dress as I liked, etc. When did that change? When did we, as a society, decide that an employer owns a worker's entire life?
I'm old enough to remember when Republicans said that communists were horrible because they controlled what people could say, and encouraged citizens to snitch on their friends and neighbors, and expelled people from their jobs if they expressed even mild disagreement with the regime.
I must be really old, because I can remember when presidents, vice-presidents, and members of congress tried to behave and speak with dignity.
For decades, we've been told, "There are two sides to every story," with the implication that both versions are equally valid (often with comparisons to two side of the same coin). This is utter nonsense. Sometimes there are three, four, or ten sides. Sometimes, there are no sides, just a big blob. Often one of the "sides" is the truth and the others are something else. If you're indoors and a person tells you it's raining outside, while another says it's dry and sunny, you don't think these are two sides of equal validity. You stick your head out to see for yourself.
Lies, Stupid Lies
There are actually better defenses for this, ones that don't require completely letting go of reality. If nothing else, he could use some variation of the "locker room talk" excuse. It wouldn't be hard to say, "This was over 20 years ago, in a different context, and we were all just joking around, and yes, some people probably got carried away and wrote things in poor taste, but it seemed funny at the time." That, at least, could be seen as plausible.
"Privatize It"
The purpose of a government agency is to provide a service. The purpose of a business is to make a profit. When public services are privatized, the quantity and quality of the service is reduced in order to maximize profit.
In a free market, you can leave a business that provides bad products and services. When a business has a government contract, you don't have that choice, and you are paying (through taxes) for that bad service.
Let Them Consider Cake
One of my elementary school teachers told this story.
A woman had three daughters. She was determined to show no favoritism, and had dedicated herself to treating them equally and fairly at all times.
One day, the mother baked a beautiful chocolate cake, and served it for dessert. She carefully cut three identical pieces and gave one to each of her daughters. The first daughter considered chocolate cake to be about as good as any other dessert, so she thanked her mother and ate her slice. Chocolate cake was the second daughter's absolute all-time favorite. She ate her slice with intense enjoyment, and still craved more. When she asked for another piece, the mother refused because it wouldn't be fair to give one daughter more than the others. The third daughter thought chocolate was about as yummy as cardboard. She set her piece aside and asked her mother for something different. But the mother refused because it wouldn't be right not to treat the girls equally.
How often do you suppose these girls felt that Mom was treating them fairly?
Random Thoughts
Illustration: "Such Visions Have...." (1804-20), William Blake What they don't like about "DEI" is "D" - diversity, because that means seeing and hearing people who are different from you. Another thing they don't like about it is "E" - equity, because that means fairness rather than allowing some people to start with special privileges and advantages. They also don't like "I" - inclusion, because making places and institutions accessible might require a small amount of effort, and it would certainly make Diversity and Equity more likely.
One day, the body stops working. Do something before that day.
One place I worked had a big common area surrounded by small offices. The common area had a motion-activated lighting system. If there was no movement for a time, the lights would go out. When some entered the area, the movement caused the lights to come on. Sometimes I'd be working early in the morning or late in the afternoon, when no one else was around. I got used to the area outside my office being dark. But it was really eerie when the lights would snap on and no one was there.
U.S. citizens have always been proud that we don't have to carry "papers" to show at random to enforcers on the street. That will change, as more citizens start carrying papers to avoid being deported in mass raids.
I suspect my fingerprints of wearing out. When I try to pick up small objects, they slip away from my fingers.
If you hire an irresponsible, unreliable, unqualified substance abuser to water the plants, the worst thing that happens is that some of the plants die. Put that guy in charge of national defense and the worst thing that happens is that people die, and wars are lost.
Certain people have fallen in love with the word "tribunal". They don't just want a trial for those they dislike, they want a tribunal! Their posts suggest they believe a tribunal always leads to execution, and they are eager to execute as many people as possible. There are cultists who spend a lot of time dreaming about locking up anyone who ever opposed or even mildly disagreed with the cult leader. They fantasize about killing people, and post messages about longed-for executions. Of course, they want to imprison or kill all Democratic politicians. Their bloodlust extends to Republicans who are insufficiently subservient, and to former trump administration members for reasons I don't understand. I saw one recently, advocating execution for Dr. Deborah Birx, apparently because they hated her scarves.
The ads for prescription drugs and their horrible side effects are fascinating. I particularly like the ads for drugs whose purpose is to fix the side effects from the other drugs.
Most of the drug ads seem to say, "It'll make you feel a little better for a while, but then it'll probably ruin your life and possibly kill you." Kinda like heroin.
What kind of country puts a government monitor into a television network to make sure news and opinions are in alignment with the current regime?
If I were the absolute ruler of a nation, I would want the populace to be generally happy, well-fed, healthy, educated, secure in their homes and communities. I'd want them to feel optimistic about the future. To me, this would be success. If large numbers of people were poor, or if many people felt anxious and threatened, if law enforcement agencies terrified people, if entire communities were unable to recover from disasters, if babies were cut off from health care, if the majority agreed that everything I did was wrong, if people dreaded the future -- that would be failure.
They're Looking at You
"Gestapo men", public domain, Wikipedia
ICE is now a huge military force, with a budget bigger than the militaries of most nations. It isn't part of our national defense. It operates only within this country's borders. It does not track down drug cartels or violent gangs. It isn't looking for bank robbers, rapists, or murderers. It will now be receiving from Medicaid and the IRS information that used to be considered private and confidential. Ask yourself what history tells us about countries that have huge internal militarized police forces with operatives whose identities are concealed, arresting people without warrants, moving them to undisclosed locations, imprisoning people without trials, and accumulating vast dossiers of information on the entire population.
Food Shortages Are Coming
Many Americans are unaware of how much of their food comes from California. They think California is just two or three big cities, and ignore the fact that it is a largely agricultural state, supplying nearly 70% of the nation's fruits and vegetables. If the Republican regime succeeds in its goal of destroying California's agriculture, the entire country will experience shortages and higher prices. In addition to providing your fruit and veggies, California produces about 20% of U.S. dairy products and about 80% of the country's fresh cut flowers. If the workers are driven off, tons of valuable food will sit in the fields and rot. Imported fruit, already expensive, will experience extreme price increases driven by tariffs.
Random Thoughts
Big Fishes Eat Small Ones, 1556, Pieter Bruegel the Elder
If an envelope that comes in the mail says "Important information" on the outside, that's a sure sign that it is extremely UNinmportant.
Here's one of those things I see on TV that is so unlike real life I start yelling at the screen. A person comes home at night, enters the house or apartment. It's dark, but they don't turn on the light! They wander through the dark house into the kitchen for a drink (still in the dark) or into the living room to just sit on the couch in the dark. If it's a crime show, there's a killer lurking in the house who ambushes them in the dark. Or some unpleasant person from their past (with remarkable burglar skills) is in the house and surprises them with sarcastic remarks. Or their roommate has already been murdered and they stumble over the body in the dark. In any case, why didn't they just turn on the damn lights?!!?
People keep saying, X is a distraction from Y. But, really, they are doing both X and Y because those are both things they want to do. Doing everything all at once is not a distraction, it is a strategy to overwhelm us.
I just don't understand the mentality that looks at uber-rich people and says, "We need to give these guys more money."
If a religion can be damaged by someone's disbelief or satire, then it is too weak to benefit anyone.
Imagine the mind of someone who wants to make poor people poorer, hopes to see more children die, looks forward to increasing the number of homeless people, wants health care workers to be unemployed, and likes the spread of infectious diseases.
Random Thoughts
Someone who really believed in "America First" would want America to be first in education, to have the finest and most prestigious academies and universities and the most well educated population. Wanting America to be "First" would mean wanting excellent public education available to all.
It is horrifying to me to see how often "peace officers" are unable to control their emotions and will start screaming and using threatening body language toward civilians over trivialities or imaginary incidents.
What kind of country turns the military against its own citizens? What kind of government arrests people for asking questions?
Someone who really believed in "America First" would want America to be the healthiest nation. That would mean making great health care accessible to all. It would mean supporting medical research, having excellent hospitals, employing the best professionals, educated here and recruited from abroad.
There were countries I didn't visit, because they were dangerous for tourists. Now I live in one.
Someone who really believed in "America First" would want us to be first in science and technology. This would mean promoting excellent public education, encouraging universities and industries to perform high-quality research, and attracting the best minds both from home and abroad.
Someone who really believed in "America First" would take pride and pleasure in our great national parks and public lands. This would mean embracing the responsibility to care for and preserve our unique natural resources, keeping them safe now and for the future.
Death Without Dignity
Think about these matters for a minute.
We are all encouraged to have a will - a document that directs how our property will be distributed or disposed of after we die. A person's right to control their property, even after death, is legally recognized and traditionally honored.
Most societies consider it important to treat the dead with respect. That includes, not only a deceased person's property, but also their physical remains. Desecration of a corpse is considered especially detestable. Abusing, mishandling, or improperly disposing of a corpse carries both civil and criminal penalties.
When it comes to organ donation (using a person's body and its parts after death), once again, we are encouraged to express our wishes prior to death. If a person has not given permission for their organs to be used by other people, then it is illegal to use those organs. In some cases, family members are permitted to grant permission ater the person's death, but, in any event, it remains illegal to take organs, or to use a body in medical research or experimentation, without proper permission.
Traditionally, grave robbing - taking a body out of its grave - is considered a particularly vile crime. In times past, professional grave robbers would supply freshly dead bodies to medical schools where they were dissected for the purpose of teaching anatomy and surgery. This practice was widely condemned, and laws were enacted to control the acquisition of cadavers and to ensure that bodies used in medical education would eventually receive a dignified burial or cremation.
Unfortunately, we now find ourselves living in a society where some people are no longer allowed the respect and dignity that comes with making one's own choices regarding the handling and use of the body after death. Specifically, there is a trend to treat women as less than fully human, a lower caste of beings who do not enjoy the same rights as men when it comes to basic decisions regarding their own bodies. For some time, there have been persons openly advocating for the use of female corpses in bizarre medical experiments. Until recently, one might expect that a woman, just like a real person, could choose to grant - or not - permission for her body to be used in research and experimentation, and that, in the absence of such permission, her remains would be handled and disposed of in accordance with her and her family's wishes. In the year 2025, this is not true.
A woman who happens to be pregnant at the time of death may end up as a sort of living corpse, her body connected to machines that force some of her organs to continue functioning, so that her body can be used as an incubator for the nonviable fetus that, under normal circumstances, would have died with her. This has just been done to the remains of a woman who did not give permission for organ donation or medical research, against the wishes of family members who wanted her to be treated with dignity.
As it happens, in this case, the mad-scientist experiment seems to have succeeded, in that an extremely premature infant, weighing less than two pounds, was extracted from the woman's body and placed in intensive care. Infants delivered at this stage have about a 10% chance of survival and, if they survive, are likely to face severe medical problems.
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