Swatting Gnats

The U.S. could yet emerge victorious in the current world scenario, if our people proved worthy, which remains to be seen. The odds are in our favor. The U.S. is fantastically powerful in every way. North Korea barks about its nukes, but through science, we could neutralize nukes, even ICBMs, from North Korea, Russia, China, Iran and all comers.

I doubt, however, whether our people are ready to devote resources to complicated, hard to understand science and scientific research, instead of the usual, par for the course: bombing ragheads in the Middle East.

The problem with bombing ragheads is they just reproduce like rabbits and make more ragheads. What's the point? The fanatic, despotic Muslims never were a realistic threat to the U.S., just a distraction and an annoyance. They are miserable savages, yes. They should be sealed off from North and South America, Europe and Australia and contained in the miserable Third World region with the other savages. Instead, our myopic leaders squandered the nation's treasure bombing places that were probably improved by the bombing and never were anything special to begin with. Meanwhile, Asia and the real threat, China, crept around and surprised us with a nuclear-armed NK.

North Korea is just a sock-puppet for China, yet another distraction while China wages economic warfare, seizing all manufacturing, and the U.S. transforms into a service economy unfit and unprepared for any serious endeavor, useless and dependent.

The United States, twenty trillion in debt and lagging in scientific research and development, with Trump wanting to spend money, not on science--goodness no!--but on military hardware, bullets and bombs and gadgets, in order to enrich his crony friends, and possibly wage war against the next annoyance, the outlook for the U.S. does not appear all that great. China's long-term strategy, meanwhile, is apparent to those who watch and listen. China's strategy must succeed, if the U.S. does not change course and focus on what is real, rather than swatting gnats.

The proud old lion gasps in the jungle as the bold hyena comes to claim dinner.

Trump's Right about USPS. USPS Sucks.

Trump's right here. Even a stopped clock will be right twice a day.

The USPS is managed by morons, who should be placed in a facility. It operates at a loss, because the management does not know what to do, other than play with their thumbs. Management wants the USPS to be privatized, so they are doing everything in their power to destroy the USPS.

The USPS gives money to Amazon for no apparent reason, charging half what UPS and FedEx charge to deliver packages. Meanwhile, they pay the drivers $15 an hour, with no benefits at all, and no full-time hours. They use part-time, disposable temp workers. Very few drivers are full-time, with benefits. The USPS does not provide good jobs to most of its employees. Instead, it is far worse than Wal-Mart. The driver jobs are noisy, dusty, long hours for little pay, and the vehicles are unheated, uncooled, violent, and liable to cause severe, permanent hearing loss in drivers. For $15 an hour, a driver can expect to lose 25% of his hearing for life, suffer injury to joints, bones and tissue, and possibly lose a limb, because the little jalopies the drivers run around in on dirt roads for twelve hours at a time are unsafe, antiquated WW2-style jeeps.

Lawsuits are Good for Apple

I'm glad Crapple is finally facing the music over their Iphone batteries. The problem with Iphones is simple. How do you replace the battery? Yeah, it is complicated, and that's Crapple's fault, for putting users in a pickle. Either pay to replace the user's battery every 3 years, for eternity, or else design the Iphone to be easily serviced by the user, as all devices used to be, just ten years ago. This planned obsolescence bit is tricky and tiresome.

Apple is a tax dodger anyway for hiding all their profits overseas and refusing to pay much of anything in taxes to anybody, even poor old Ireland. They have no goodwill as far as I am concerned. Microsoft is a better corporate citizen than Apple, any day of the week, and that's saying something.

While I'm on Crapple's case, why did they move all the jobs to China? They should stop calling themselves American. List Apple in the Chinese stock exchange and just call themselves a Chinese company. They don't need U.S. protection. Their executive types need to move over to Beijing and learn all about the tender mercies of Chinese law and attend all those Communist Party meetings.

I don't give a hoot about new Iphone models, because they have zero features that interest me. There is one feature that would interest me: a replaceable battery. Will Apple ever design such a phone? No, because they're greedy, irresponsible idiots.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

It is a law of the Universe that no good deed goes unpunished. People fear change of any kind, whether it is for good or not. By doing good, one disrupts the status quo, and it is the familiar that is preferred and trusted, whether the familiar be good or ill, while change of any kind arouses suspicion, because many cannot understand the desire to do good, and instead brood over imaginary deeper plots and schemes.

Because Guns are Everywhere

One of the many problems with simple-minded folk is they see conspiracy and malice where there is none, as in police shootings such as this recent one. The actual problem in that case was caused by a fleeing felon and thief.

Guns are about as good as we've got at this stage, but they are brutal, klunky weapons, and we have to be willing to accept that accidents will happen--often. Police require the ability to exercise deadly force simply because deadly force is widely distributed amongst our criminal class. If our criminals were not armed with deadly weapons, then yes, the police could be kinder, gentler, and have fewer accidents. But that's not the case. We have to get used to reality. The reality is that yes, the police will off innocent folk by mistake from time to time, because it comes with the job, and there is always going to be a certain percentage of accidents and misjudgements, both due to the human factor and due to the fog of war. People casting blame blindly upon police do not grasp the challenges that the police are up against in today's heavily armed society.

Relocate Israel

The simmering problem of Israel and the Middle East could have been solved long ago, but radical solutions were not fully considered. Israel should relocate its citizens and materiel to an unused, sparsely inhabited land-mass five times its size in the Australian continent, and pay Australia for the land. If they don't want to move, due to sentimentality or religion, then the U.S. should withdraw all protection and all funding, and let the Israelis duke it out with the surrounding countries. I am willing to bet the Israelis would come around, faced with annihilation by their hostile Muslim neighbors. It is high time that Israel stop being a drain on the U.S. Treasury. One day, the U.S. may not even be able to help Israel. One country can't count on another one being there for it indefinitely. That's a bad long-term strategy.

There are very few people in Australia, with the consequence that much of Australia goes unused, being desert and scrub, and the Israelis have the knack of knowing what to do with that sort of land. Australia would benefit not only from the money down on the purchase, but by having an industrious, well-educated neighbor (possibly a quasi-independent state) which could join the Commonwealth. The smart Israelis would set a good example for the Australians and teach them a thing or two about military endeavors, as well. I bet a lot of Australians would eventually want to go live and work in their new neighbor. Israel can then focus on what it is good at, science and technology, without the distraction of fanatical, stupid, know-nothing Muslims blowing things up and killing people.

Meanwhile, all materiel currently in Israel must be dismantled and shipped to the new homeland or destroyed, leaving nothing behind but a wasteland, where the U.S. can dump nuclear waste and other highly hazardous materials, to deliver the Muslims a Pyrhhic Victory, a victory they won't want and won't be able to exploit for a thousand years. Any buildings, farms or equipment left behind should be destroyed by fire or bomb. The Muslim fanatics now spending billions of dollars on terrorism can learn about the virtue of work, and spend billions to rebuild roads, shacks and sewage systems. Nothing should be left behind for them, and they can spend the next couple centuries cleaning up nuclear and biological waste. They don't deserve to profit from the unhappy situation they created, and it will be a good lesson for them to farm on radioactive soil filled with viruses, bacteria and heavy metals.

Arguing the Case for Hanging

This insect certainly argues in favor of the restoration of hanging as the death penalty in the U.S. There ought to be a scaffold erected about every hundred mile radii where specimens such as this are hung from the neck until the crows get bold and peck at dainty little snacks.

Cold

To be a good operator in this world requires replacing stock H. Sapiens blood with ice water. Sang froid, I believe it is called. For we have many opinions, don't we, about the way things are, but opinions do get in the way, and after all, aren't we wrong some of the time? The superb operator listens to realpolitik, to the sense, not the appearance, of reality. Because reality is not as our opinions seek to make it, but rather is independent of us and our beliefs and preferences. The Universe is greater than any--or all--of us. These things I accept.

This was the reason I stayed fully invested in the United States stock market after Donald Trump became President. I sensed inflation would rise, but so would the stock market. Donald is simple, and it is not difficult to walk though his mind and lounge about on his mental furniture while deploring his atrocious taste in decor. He telegraphs everything he thinks the moment he thinks it, all the time, and is remarkably consistent, and even his many lies are transparent, for he is rather a buffoon. This makes investing easy, even with little knowledge of the market.

Just because I am making money does not mean I support Trump or the Republicans. Money is not everything to me, and I don't think it should be. Money does not equate to morality, as those right-wing Christians that adhere to the Prosperity Gospel seem to think. I know that, a hundred years ago, John D. Rockefeller helped finance the whole theology that linked Christ to the Almighty Dollar. But this idolizing of the rich has a whiff of sulfur about it.

I don't think that removing all of the safety nets from the poor and the ignorant and the stupid is a very nice thing to do. I think that there is a danger that those millions may turn extreme, rather than passing into that good Night gently and quietly. The Opiod crisis, the meth epidemic and the alt-right are warning signals from the poor. There are many guns among the people, more than in the militaries of many nations, and the right to own them is enshrined in our Bill of Rights.

The simple, ultimate and universal answer to the problems of today are both philosophical and technological. We must control the production of our new humans and optimize this production to create the very best from birth. No more defects, no more sub-par, only the very best and the very brightest. This is a very radical concept, unpalatable to many, but will be adopted by other nations such as China even if we do not. This question will decide whether democracy survives, or whether totalitarian dictatorship is the only rational and effective system of government. The United States and its people will be overtaken and enslaved in brutal servitude if we do not adopt a system of Eugenics. This is not to say that the system cannot be humane, gentle and yet effective. There is no need for human suffering or for callous or insensitive treatment of existing humans. There is only a need, and an urgent one, to improve future generations, to be better than me, than you, and better than anyone we know. The brave new world is now, and let's not let China steal it away from us.

The Splendid Serenity of the Dead

My little familiar, Fra, is angry whenever I drink. But she doesn't understand. Thinking's overrated. We drink so as not to think. Or to think less. That is all.

I think, today, people think far too much, and that is why there are problems in the world. Most problems are the result of people over-thinking.

Now, tell me, what problems do rocks have? Trees? Water? Fish? Perhaps trees and fish do have problems, after all, but the problems only result from thinking--aspiring to survival, to prosperity, to reproduction, and so forth.

Were living things to emulate the dead, and not think, then they would be equals of the dead and share in the splendid serenity of the dead.

Suffer & Die

After reading about the fraud and corruption in the new Republican tax bill, I'm persuaded the ultimate objective of the Republicans is to gut Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, and basically every other government program out there. It's a rifle-butt to the teeth of the lower and middle classes, a removal of the social safety net, and a return to the way things were in the 1880's, but the change is set in slow motion, not taking effect immediately. In other words, the government is being set up for inevitable bankruptcy and failure to meet all its obligations, because not enough tax will be collected to finance everything. The giveaways to big business will just result in CEO's and investors pocketing the difference and taking it home.

All of this must delight Trump supporters, who want Evolution to take its course and weed out the weak, even if that means grandpa, aunt Suzy or their best friend, Annabelle down the street. Either they love Evolution and the bones that produces, or they don't understand the simple math, in which case, Evolution again, upon the thinker that failed to think. I asked a poor Republican once why he supported the Republicans, and he said it was because of the Abortion issue, and that that was the main, possibly the only, issue for him. Well, abortion in this case is abortion of the sick, elderly, and the marginal types. Basically, society will have a harder edge, with suffering and death being more likely outcomes, without Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid around. When folks get too old or sick to work, and don't have enough money, they will just buy a gun at the corner store, and blow out their brains. Republican Heaven!

Trump the Grump

Trump called a grieving war widow to tell her that hubby knew what he signed up for. That may be the single stupidest thing he has ever said, although there is tough competition from among the many stupid things he has said. One day a book will be published, just a list of all the stupid comments Trump made over the years. If he's the best this nation can put forward, we are in big trouble ahead. Young people look at him and think what's the bother, don't work too hard, don't study, don't care, just lie, cheat and steal, and as long as you don't get caught, you're fine, you can be President.

Republican Tax Bill

I've been reading a pretty good article on the final version of the tax bill. The BBC is really an under-rated news source for Americans. I often find it superior to anything America has to offer. WaPo comes off as too biased, as does FOX. The other television channels just do television well, but don't write anything worth reading, and their articles frequently contain spelling, grammatical and logical and factual errors. I think they let the high-school interns pen the articles. BBC is different.

To my surprise, I like the tax bill, as it effects me. I am less sure about the parts that effect others, like corporations and wealthy people. I don't feel qualified to judge. All of that is out of my league. But I will benefit, because I do not itemize on my taxes. I pay my taxes in a simple and straight-forward way, and I may miss a couple loopholes here and there, but I have never been audited, either. The Republican tax bill doubles the personal exemption, which will help me a great deal.

I support drilling for oil in ANWR, because I'm a realist. We have to get oil somewhere. Period. If not ANWR, then the Middle East, which supports terrorism. I would rather inconvenience the deer up in ANWR then give a bunch of money to Al Qaeda and ISIS. Those raghead idiots over in the Middle East do not deserve a skinny dime, all of that money should be kept here in the United States, which should always be self-sufficient where energy is concerned. The U.S. has so much going against us, due to the stupidity of our leaders, so let us at least gather together what advantages the land offers, in order to offset their stupidity a little bit.

Harmed

I do feel let down by the system, because so much of our peoples treasure was squandered on meaningless, pointless gonad-waving exercises overseas, from Viet Nam in the 1960s and 1970s all the way to Syria, resulting in our national debt, some twenty trillion last I heard, which will crimp U.S. prosperity in the future.

All that dough could have found a cure for Alzheimer's by now, along with cancer and other things, and maybe folks wouldn't be suffering so from horrible diseases. If only our leaders spent one minute of their time thinking about what could be truly awesome and wonderful and inspiring, instead of listening to their generals and the arrogant millionaires, who want to control everything, everywhere, even though they can't, and even though, deep down, they know they can't, and yet they still try, because they're morons with no philosophy in their vapid souls.

Scientific education, research and development is not prioritized in the United States, which is why our people will become organ bags for the Chinese, and nothing else. There won't be jobs, work, or good living going on over here, just prison-farms where people live their whole lives until their organs are needed for harvesting for a rich foreigner. That is my prediction for the U.S. and other declining countries.

I think the Mr. Robot television series is quite prophetic, and that the entire political class should be watching it on a nightly basis, before they go to bed. Indeed, China. So, tell me, how many trillions of dollars has China wasted on invading other countries? How many dams, roads, factories, and universities have they built instead?

Bad Decisons

Humans have a high error rate, when compared to machines. We see a lot of political leaders going down for what are simple errors of judgement, or "letting the little head think for the big head." But leaders make mistakes all the time, and the costs are high. There are a lot of problems in the world that could swiftly be fixed, if the leaders even cared about fixing them, but in reality, what most leaders want seems to be the satisfaction of their personal urges, petty desires and whatnot. They seem completely unconcerned about their moment in history. They don't aspire to anything greater than the slightly modified primates that they are.

Turn out we fought both sides of the Syrian conflict, supplying arms to both ISIS and their opponents, and fighting both Assad and his opponents (ISIS). War truly is a monumental waste of taxpayer money. Republicans cringe at the idea that, somewhere in the U.S., a child is getting medical care for free, yet they pour trillions into the war machine to kill babies around the world, and for what? How is the world any better or safer because we support one side or the other somewhere? I think ultimately 100% of all problems are caused by simple stupidity in our leaders. They are simply not intelligent enough to make the decisions that should be made. They fall for simple ruses and very easily deceived. Meanwhile, those that profit from war are laughing all the way to the bank.

In Close Proximity to Another Person

I was sitting up in bed, late at night, and next to me was a woman, also sitting up and using a laptop for business. A television played across the room that I seemed to watch while actually lost in a daydream. Both of us were, at a minimum, naked from the waist up, with our lower halves concealed under the covers, and clearly we had a history together, possibly a long one. I felt comfortable, and then confused, because all at once I remembered that this was not my life, and I could not possibly be the person in the bed, and who were these people, anyway? Then I woke up.

Possible influences: last night, I watched two intense episodes of Mr. Robot. They are always intense, though. Mr. Robot may have been the conduit. Also, one beer with strong Hops content, decaffeinated tea, and Ramen noodles.

Most folks would, I imagine, brush off as a mere dream the above, but my eyes have been opened to the possibility of soul flight by a Mr. Donald Tyson, among others. It may be just possible, I think, that in a severely limited, weird, often ineffective manner, our minds are capable of visitation with other minds. This is not to be understood in the manner it is portrayed in film, but rather in a prosaic, and as I said, severely limited manner. It is like walking through the fog of war, and catching glimpses betimes of things, elusive, fleeting.

Can't Wait 'Til Amazon is Amagone

Amazon isn't the unstoppable juggernaut some know-nothings think it is. In reality, Amazon sucks, and I can't wait to jump to the next big retailer. In fact, I've replaced Amazon for lots of things that I buy. First, they can't handle purchase orders properly. That means, no Amazon for business or government, unless you have a full-time purchaser willing to spend 5 to 10 hours per month dealing with their incompetent Synchony Bank. Second, Amazon is impossible to use with any intelligence or efficiency for computer parts--or any part, for that matter, more complicated than a pencil. Their filtering mechanism is about 10 years behind the state of the art. Just try shopping for motherboards, cpus or RAM. Third, the reviews are both gamed and censored, and most are pretty worthless one-liners that should be thrown out right away.

All these things are on top of the fact that Amazon treats its workers like crap, so there is really a moral downside to patronizing Amazon, knowing that Amazon drivers are driving around with a piss jar in their lap, because Amazon won't give them time enough for bathroom breaks. One Amazon driver was caught on video defecating outside a suburban home. First time I saw that video, I blamed the driver, but now I know all their drivers are under the gun and are rushed to the point where there is simply no time for the necessaries. In reality, Amazon's CEO was taking a crap outside somebody's house, not the driver.

Not Even Looking at AMD's Ryzen

I always filter chips for Intel when I shop, because I know AMD chips don't play well with Linux.

For Amor Fati, I am Grateful

For Amor Fati, I am grateful to the Deity, because without it, I would have been held by random souls I met along the way, distractions without any ultimate truth to show me; my energies diverted and wasted in pointless exercises in futility. To have a functioning Off switch is a grace for which I am immensely grateful. I have used the switch again and again, and it has never failed me.

Book of Enoch

I've been reading the Bible lately, or rather, the forbidden books, the Apocrypha, which are new to me. The Book of Enoch, specifically, which was canon until the Dark Ages. I am impressed by the similarity between Biblical tone and that of rap music. So much energy is expended establishing a mighty ego; I am the Lord Thy God, etc. I do not know why a powerful entity would need to descend to such theatrics. I am not impressed by rap music, either. I suspect most rap musicians would cry like a baby if they get stubbed their toe.

Many Spirits are named in Enoch, but it is, so far, difficult to take Enoch very seriously; I suspect it is a tome designed with an ancient, forgotten political agenda, rather than a spiritual one, like a goodly portion of religious scripture, if we are honest.

Christmas Spirit

Where's the Christmas spirit? Looking at cold statistics, you'd think most folks would be happy. Stock market up, inflation tame, jobs increasing. However, instead, what we have is a country that doesn't seem too hopeful to me. I don't really know all of the reasons for it. I think change probably hits people too fast and too soon, amid smartphones, the internet, and artificial intelligence. The first two, we can sort of handle, but the last, artificial intelligence, is a doozy. Already, computers beat us at chess, drive cars, guess what we are about to say or type. Computers have gotten awfully good at figuring us out. The scary part is, in case you haven't gotten the memo, computers can take all our jobs, from A to Z, and that future is not too far off.

People really do not know how to deal with all of that, at all, and probably won't figure it out. The trouble is, we are organisms which evolve to adapt to our environment. Well, we have not had nearly enough time to adapt. The reality is, we are all going to be obsolete. There is a sense of dread about that. I feel smug only because I don't have kids, but I do fear for my brethren, H. Sapiens. I have always wished H. Sapiens the optimal outcome in things, and I dislike feeling as though things are hopeless for my own species.

My hope, when I try to rationalize it, centers upon science rescuing us from science. Surely, in the end, couples will listen to a scientist prior to reproducing. They will consult with a laboratory, which will determine the optimal genetic outcome for their future offspring. Reproduction will occur in a petri dish. Sorry, romantics, but that's the way it has got to be. However, birth can take place as usual. Nothing needs to change about birth, although women may have a different viewpoint. My hunch is, I don't care about refining birth, because I'm a man, but a woman would say, let's change things, and make birth take place in the lab, too. If I were a woman, would I want to give birth? No, certainly not, if it were optional, if I could reproduce by some other method, while conveying my genetic code to the next generation. Although, I'm not really sure--I might change my mind, if there were advantages to gain by birth.

Also, in the short term, I am worried about Trump. Now, I also worried about other Republicans in the past, but Trump seems to be a worse rendition of Republicanism. He is the type of guy that plays to his base all the time and never extends an olive branch to the other side, never tries to expand his base. So, I don't think that the Republicans are going to do too well next election, and whatever nasty things that Trump does now is quite likely to be reversed in time. My chief fear is that Trump will start yet another war. We have had so much of war, and it is not good for the economy. Most of our debt is tied to all of these wars, great and small, and the preparations for war. An honest Republican will look at the budget and agree--"Sure, but we spend all that dough to keep the world safe. This era is the Pax Americana!" And there is some merit to that argument, that we are able to sway global outcomes, and that could be potentially positive. However, the outcomes in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq were far from optimal, and I don't think anyone can say that our investments over in those blighted lands was rewarded in any way. I would rather that we invest here, in the U.S. Imagine if we did that. Better highways, railways, shipping, high-speed internet from coast to coast, medical care for everyone. These are some of the things we could have had, if we had foregone the foreign adventures so pleasing to the pride of the well-to-do, who love power and control over others, and wish to extend their power and control to foreign lands.

Perhaps the corrupt, selfish elite of China are correct, in their cold realpolitik, that democracy is doomed, that the best governance is obtained by dictatorship or oligarchy, because democracy results in Mr. Average ascending to the levers of power, and Mr. Average just isn't very good at anything, as we see with Trump. I am philosophically opposed to dictatorship, because it can also turn very bad in a very short amount of time, but China has been lucky, so far, in some ways, although their leaders are playing with a stacked deck. China had been destined to rise for centuries, and merely needed mediocre governance in order to do so.

Nationalize the Cable Companies

Cable and DSL companies should be nationalized, because internet is only second in importance to water to a community. I see the whole net neutrality argument as a symptom of a larger problem, that just a few companies monopolize internet access. There is no free market in internet providers. Instead, I have to pay one company, if I want fast internet. The internet provider stinks, by 2017 standards, and overcharges, and engages in deceptive practices. Every American should be getting 10G speed right now, even in the most rural regions, for the exorbitant prices we are paying.

But the Trump supporters are elated, and why? Because they love to suffer, and poverty for them is the only path to Grace. Every dollar they earn, they want to give to a rich man. They want the cable companies to charge them a lot for slow internet, because they feel like no one deserves fast internet, and who needs it anyway, when you have FOX news to watch 24/7.

I Wonder

I had a millenial friend that didn't bother to vote, though he supported Bernie Sanders, because he feels the system is rigged, and there's no point in participating. I wonder how he feels now, with Trump in power, and Republicans doing just whatever they please, as though they had a mandate, which they do not, but they don't care. I expect he feels raped; welcome to the world of realpolitik, wherein one either uses the system or is used by it. The system is all-powerful, greater than any of us, and can reduce us. I pitied him then, for there was much he did not yet know, but I also perceived, I was once like him, just as unaware of the light, gray and dark forces in the world, just as self-assured, just as deluded. It is truly not necessary, I concede, but it is convenient, to observe the solemn formalities, accept the petty indignities, and display the expected piety in this world. He chose not to do so, and so chose the hard road. I say that, by all the gods, our ancestors died for the privilege, and it is better to vote. Rigged or not, fair weather or not, destined for loss or not, I will vote.

In 2020, we will see, won't we? We will see whether White Nationalism is where the nation wishes to go. I only hope that the Democrats can retire the old dead wood and bring in fresh new blood. Out with Pelosi, out with Franken, out with Schumer, in with young Turks that understand the age in which we live and feel comfortable with a computer in their hands. I am sorry to disparage gray heads, but they are fossils in a rapidly changing age, and we need people that are all over data, computers, and artificial intelligence. What we need are people that read science fiction for pleasure. We have always needed that, in truth.

Precious Metals are Preposterous

The prices of precious metals are preposterous and fueled by irrational chimerae. The popularity of role-playing and video games drives demand for gold, as millions have been trained to think of gold as highly desirable, and the only possible currency, within the gaming system. In reality, in jewelry, gold has been supplanted already by other shiny metals that can mimic its properties or indeed surpass them. Gold is not what anyone will want in an apocalypse; food and guns are what people will want. It is not at all likely that precious metals will ever again occupy the position of currency within any future civilization.

As for precious metals other than gold, similar logic applies. For what reason should a man pay $1000 an ounce for platinum and $16 an ounce for silver? Silver is destined for long-term decline, because it is no longer needed in film. Platinum is destined for $500/oz., because it will soon be no longer needed in catalytic converters. The temporary aberration that saw a spike in precious metal prices is destined to peter out as the oldsters that clung to the shiny metals die off, and their descendants take the metal and sell off.

Windows 10: An Interesting Toy

Windows 10 is an interesting toy for children, but it is inappropriate for any sort of business enterprise. When a professional needs to work, Windows seizes that time to perform unrequested updates. Microsoft believes it owns the computer, rather than the customer. I look forward to the day when our businesses and governments are free of Microsoft malware, and a new operating system is in place, based upon the principle that people need to get their work done without delay and without distractions.

Men & Women

What men don't get is that women don't have the same sex drive, about ninety-nine times out of a hundred. Women don't want it. Men acting as though they do (or should) is the cause of much scandal and now, the ending of careers of the offending men. I feel sad for the men getting scourged in the media without much chance to defend themselves before a disbelieving public. In a way, it seems unfair to be called to the carpet for something that happened ten or thirty years ago. In the first place, the offense is a distant memory, if remembered at all, and the person is a much different person, having aged and grown.

Probably the optimal adaptation, for an average man of modest income and average mental and physical endowments, is the obvious and simple expedient of self-pleasure. Complete reliance upon others for fulfillment of basic needs has pitfalls in today's society, where lawsuits can be filed, charges brought, careers ended overnight.

Technology in the form of Artificial Intelligence will come to the rescue of the many lonely, homely, uncouth men--and women--who seem incapable of finding fulfillment with eager, compliant sexual partners. Robot prostitutes will sell to a vast market, and the value of said market will easily exceed that of motor vehicles. This will arise faster than anyone thinks, because there is bound to be a bright fellow somewhere among the rich who will perceive the same things and pour the necessary investment into crafting an adequate robot-whore that can be sold, rented or borrowed by techno-pimps. Anticipate the next Microsoft.

Marijuana Edibles

Marijuana edibles are pure evil, and there is no valid reason that a person would transform an otherwise beneficial substance into a dangerous, concentrated, stealthy poison, which is what an edible is. Only demons in human form take what is good and twist it into something bad. The only way marijuana can harm H. Sapiens is if these demons concentrate it in the laboratory and concoct a THC liquor that they use to poison candy and other food.

The Media's Fixation on the Death Penalty

I don't know why the media goes bonkers everytime a killer gets offed. In my opinion, this lethal injection business is ludicrous. What we need is a nationwide return to hanging as the sole method of execution. Simple, effective, humane, and low-cost. Those with some kind of rare medical condition that aren't suitable for hanging can experience the guillotine, also a humane method of execution. Playing around with injections has always seem bizarre, risky, stupid and expensive to me. Whether the death penalty is right or wrong is a separate matter, but the optimal method of execution quite obviously exploits the primary weakness on the human body, the neck.

Tax Bill Should Please Trump Supporters

There's an article on how the Republicans' tax bill will screw the poor and middle class in order to help the rich. Some in the media seem to think these facts will disenchant folks from voting Republican. Not a chance. Trump supporters love this sort of thing. Deep down inside, they don't really value themselves or their own families very much. Take away their health care, and they feel happy. They want Washington to bring down Judgement on them, because they feel like they deserve it, being worthless sinners and all of that. The folks that matter, they feel, are those blessed by God--the rich, like Trump, who ought to be idolized and worshiped, for those with big bank accounts sit at the right hand of the Father. Welcome to the Cult of the Rich, a modern heresy.

Republicans, Craft What Will Endure

A bit o' turbulence in the stock market of late, due to dawning realization that the Republicans cannot accomplish Jack, due to being incapable of compromise with their Democratic colleagues. The proper way forward is straight-forward, simple and elegant: ensure long-term success, not just now but twenty years from now, by incorporating the Democrats into any plan, any bill, because why? Because gerrymandering and voter-suppression tactics aside, the Democrats represent over half the country is why. That is enough reason. America is Democrats, period, end of discussion, we are the country. You go against the Democrat on every bill, and guess what? Whatever you do won't last. It will be reversed next election cycle. So compromise, and why not? Do something intelligent for once. Listen to wonks, listen to policy experts, listen to the voice of experience. Learn, grow, gather intel, and act based upon what is optimal, not based upon your base base. It is entirely possible to craft a Republican-slanted bill, with a good Conservative color, and get Democratic sign-on, maybe not all Democrats, but some, and the goal should be, what can endure, not what is politically expedient for the current election cycle.

Fanatical buttheads is the problem with the world today, terrorists, fanatics, people convinced that the only way is their way or the highway. Refusal to listen to the other side once in a while, or at least take other people's feelings into consideration. Any man in a marriage of more than twenty years knows that compromise is key.

Trump Has Some Good Ideas

I recall a smart writer opining that "even a stopped clock is right twice a day," and that applies to Trump. I like some of the things he says. For instance, on trade. Yes, the U.S. is getting raped by China, among other nations, and that's a big concern of mine. Yes, we need to curtail some of the immigration coming in from the Middle East, and we need to end the refugee program. The damn refugees can go live in Africa or Russia, where there is plenty of space for them. We don't need a massive influx of Muslims coming to change our ways and build mosques in every village and holler out a call to prayer five times a day where people kneel in the middle of business, pointing their turban-covered head toward Mecca. No, we don't need that.

The trouble with Trump is he grew up rich and spoiled, having had everything handed to him on a silver platter, because Daddy gave him millions. He dodged the Viet Nam war because of Daddy's money. So the man has never really worked for a living and doesn't care about people who aren't millionaires. He pretends to care and does a good job at pretending, but you know, it is not really that difficult to see through him, if you have eyes that can see. A lot of people just go through life with blinders on. They can't see past their tribal allegiance to white supremacy. The only thing Trump cares about is helping the rich get richer, and pushing the poor to the boneyard.

Whereas Obama, on the other hand, had nothing handed to him. He worked and struggled and succeeded on merit. He found a way. That is the reason to vote Democrat, because the Democrats know what it is to work for a living. They have worked a full-time job in their day and know what it is to pay bills.

My, My, Roy Moore

Next time Alabama's Roy Moore goes off about "the homosexuals," he'll invite a sharp rebuttal. Worse than Clinton, by any measure one might care to apply. So all those long tedious tirades the right launched against Bill Clinton ring false now, as they beat the drum for Chester.

Interest Rates Artificially Low

Interest rates are artificially held down by the Fed's policies and by oldsters auto-investing in low return bonds and CDs. There are a lot of retirees right now, and their money is doing diddly-squat in bond funds and CDs, and they are scared to move into stocks because they haven't the time remaining to recover from any downturn.

So, the right investment right now, for those with a ten-to-twenty year investment horizon, remains stocks, particularly seeing as how a good value stock fund returns just as much, if not more than, a typical short-term or intermediate-term bond fund.

Interest rates have nowhere to go but up. Ironically, bonds now seem the "high-risk" investment, due to the threat of inflation and rising interest rates. I'll talk to long-term bonds when they bust the five per cent ceiling, but not before.

Robots Taking Our Jobs

Once again, I'm glad to be old, after reading this article in Mother Jones about machines taking our jobs.

Right-wingers, of course, never worry about the future, either global warming or the threat of automation. They still grind old horses, abortion, gays, marijuana, blacks, Jews, and other religions. All important issues, no doubt, but what about a world that is too hot? What about a world where there are no jobs?

I'll be dead before robots take over, I think. So, this is something the younger people will have to deal with. I really doubt they are capable of rising to the challenge, because they let Trump get in and don't seem to really be doing much of anything to take control of the country. I see young people as doing just what they are told, meandering about, going with the flow just like their elders, and hoping against hope things get better on their own, although things won't. They are not wired to do what is needed to change anything. The elite have bred a global population that just goes along with the tides of change created by the elite and by technology. For better or worse, that is the way of the world.

First to go will be the drivers. No more uber, no more truckers, no more taxi, no more chauffeur, no more delivery, no more airline pilots or train drivers. Robot cars will drive everything. That is huge in itself, but then, no more receptionists, secretaries, clerks, and so on. There will be a ton of people jobless and incapable of ever getting a job in the first place, no matter how much training.

Mother Jones agonizes over what to do, what to do. A social program, they think, to give benefits and money to the jobless, a permanent and persistent class of jobless, mind you, simply for doing nothing? Oh yeah? How long will that last? I just don't see that happening. There is no free lunch.

Meanwhile, the right-wingers don't care. They don't care about anything, seems like, except ghosts from the past, old axes to grind, against the gays, or marijuana, or women. I imagine they'd like a war and lots of people to die.

It does seem likely that war will break out quite often in the future, as joblessness spans the globe and billions of people are left in poverty and even starvation. I think that robots will be unleashed to deal with the situation and exterminate vast numbers of rebels. The human population, one way or another, will have to decline by 90 to 99 per cent, in order to accommodate a jobless future, where there is no way to earn a living, and humans are simply obsolete.

The only survivors will be the smartest and, more importantly, the richest, who will use the new genetic technology to craft ever more-capable versions of H. Sapiens, disease-resistant, extremely intelligent, strong, thin, obesity-resistant, and longer-lived. Robots will be unleashed to deal with the unhappy, starving multitudes.

Perhaps this is why China refuses to embrace democracy. Their leaders foresee a future where most of the population must die. Not only must most people die, but the survivors must not reproduce. They must have the capability of reproduction removed altogether, in fact. Reproduction in the future will be a crime, punishable by death.

Any other solution runs into the problem of national diversity. If we try to craft a gentler world in the United States, say, other nations will go the more expedient route, and they will gain the advantage. There is no world government, so in the end, what is expedient will win. We see this now. Republicans know. The social safety net of the West is imperiled, and I see nothing but more suffering for ordinary citizens in the future, which will be darker and crueler, with much pain, disease and misery. The reason is that all our jobs can be exported to China for cheap labor or else replaced by robots, so the Western worker is of little value anymore and might as well let him suffer and die, is the brutal logic employed by the masters. There is really not a way of preventing this trend without giving a huge advantage to nations like China and Russia that just don't care about their own workers in the first place. The absence of a functioning world government means that whatever is expedient, wins. This was the chief failure of H. Sapiens, to come together as a single species. Perhaps the future species will possess more of a sense of community and belonging.

Unfortunately, there just isn't a place for people, at least our current species, in the future. People are just too lame. Computers are smarter than we are. Robots are faster, stronger, and longer-lasting. No one alive today can compete with a robot at a specific skill set, at least the robot of the future, after the technology has been refined. It is possible, with a ton of genetic engineering, that a faster, stronger, smarter human can be cooked up in the laboratory, but that's still a long way off, and even then, the future race will probably be an amalgam of both computer and organism.

Killing off the humans solves two problems: no more threat of nuclear war, because the ones remaining will be too smart to mess around with nukes--and no more climate change, because the ultimate cause of climate change is too many people. Although it is an evil to eliminate 99.9% of the human race, in the end, those that remain will have a paradise at their feet, with minimal pollution and endless potential. The main cause of problems in the world is simply too many human beings of little intelligence and little value. They cause trouble with terrorism, warfare, violent crime, corruption, pollution, cruelty to themselves and to the animals, and meanwhile they keep reproducing like mad, because that is all they know how to do, and in the end, they are like rabbits, no better, no worse. There really is no way of persuading people not to reproduce. The way to reduce the human population remains the time-honored, traditional method, through warfare. It may even be that nuclear war on a vast scale is deployed, with an end to preserving certain outposts below the surface of the earth that will allow the elite to survive. North Korea, in fact, already foresees this and invites it, as does Russia and the U.S. and very likely, China. In these nations, secret little headquarters stacked with supplies, weapons and technology exist where the elite can endure decades if need be until the threat of nuclear contamination subsides on the surface of the earth.

Already the future is foreshadowed by the deployment of drones against Islamic barbarians and the invention of the self-driving Tesla. In the future, automated robots will patrol the earth, seeking rebels to destroy. Had we drones in sufficient quantities, we could have taken care of Afghanistan within a year. Of course, drones will only get cheaper to produce over time, as their manufacture becomes increasingly automated. In the future, our soldiers will be robots. The first side to run out of robots, loses.

Why was an Uzbeki Terrorist in the U.S.?

An Uzbeki terrorist mowing down bicylists in New York City while screaming "Allahu Akbar" is the poster child for why Muslims must not be permitted into the United States. Keep them in the Middle East, which they have ruined already. Don't let them ruin North America or Europe.

All of his family should be immediately arrested and confined in Guantanamo Bay until such time a prisoner exchange is arranged for the return of U.S. captives, now or fifty years from now. That would wipe the smirk off the scumbag's face.

Homophobic Crackdowns No Worry

In Russia, Africa, and the Muslim world, there are crackdowns against gays, with the death penalty, prison, and torture all on the table, either being considered or being actively implemented. Look at Chechnya, Russia, Zimbabwe, Iran, Egypt, Uganda.

It is useful for repressive regimes and corrupt politicians to scapegoat a minority--preferably an unpopular minority--and gays fit the bill, having a sexuality outside the norm. So that's the reason. The right-winger Satanists over in the U.S. (those charlatans that claim to be Christians) are delighted, and do everything they can to finance/enhance/support any homophobic laws or brutality that they possibly can. The more killings, the better, in their book.

Question--Will all those tortures and murders result in fewer gays? Well, with an eye to history, my answer is a firm No. In the past, gays had it far, far worse. About every country killed a gay, as soon as he was known. That policy obviously did not result in fewer gays, but in more gays, because the gays kept in the closet, and then tended to get with women and reproduce, thus producing, ironically, more gays. This is known as "poetic justice."

In the end, there will be half the world, the West, that is good to gays, and another half, the evil side, Islamic, Russian and African, that is wicked. I think that the good side will have the advantage of a vast hidden network of sympathizers, who will want to help the good side of the world, whereas the bad side of the world is never really going to know who is gay and who is not, and is going to make a lot of false assumptions and false arrests in their frenzy to detect and apprehend the harmless gays. In any event, going around punishing people for being gay is not a profitable use of time and resources. Meanwhile, the wicked side of the world falls further into corruption, vice and ignorance, as is the case with evil-doers.

Alternative to Organ Donation is Rot

The BBC reports that families often block organ donation, because of sentimentality. The cemetery should live-stream the corpse for a couple of years and show them what happens to a corpse buried in the ground. Instead of the organs being donated, what happens is worms eat the eye balls, and bacteria and funguses start a-sprouting, and all kinds of bugs and creepy-crawleys dine on a great big feast--instead of a nice, clean, organ donation that saves another person's life. It is complete nonsense that people can be so weak and mean-spirited as to deny others any use of a dead person's organs. They need a refresher course in morality or else need to spend time in a mortuary and learn what happens to dead meat. It would also be poetic justice if they need an organ and are told, No, we need to let this organ rot and provide food for fungus, bacteria, worms and crawley bugs, so you can just take some Tussin to shut up your fussin.

A Spoonful of Tussin Shuts Up Your Fussin

Another friend of the Trumpette without health insurance, after Trump's latest moves to gut Obamacare, is Robitussin. Take 'tussin for whatever ails you. It is said to be the cure for everything. You don't need no Obamacare! Be a true Republican, and go without health insurance, as your leaders desire. A spoonful of Tussin shuts up your fussin.

Stocks are in Wacka-Wacka Land

True, stocks are in Wacka-Wacka Land, with P/E ratios through the roof in comparison to historical norms. But with bonds, even high yield, yielding well under 5 per cent, is there really a choice for investors? Anyway, dividends on stocks often match or exceed the bond market. I have to stay in stocks, at least until bonds recover from their low interest rate disease.

Roy Moore

Alabama's Roy Moore, he's a live one, a typical specimen of hatemonger that, while professing his piety, is steeped in wickedness. To what entity, then, is his piety directed? For transitory power in this world, men estrange themselves from the other--a poor bargain, in any event.

Take Some Bufferin to Ease Your Sufferin

Those that voted for Trump now stand to lose their health insurance. Oopsy-daisy! You voted for Trump, now do what he says. Trump says you don't need health insurance, all you need is to take some Bufferin to ease your sufferin.

The Arab's Women

I read about an Arab up in New York who left his date to burn to death while he hailed a cab. With the influx of refugees in recent years, that's what we're bringing over from the Middle East, the idea that a man's minor discomfort is of greater moment than a woman's whole life. That fits in with the way the Arab culture treats women in general, beating and whipping them for minor infractions of the rigid religious laws. Women that go along with that sort of thing must have a taste for fist.

Sadistic Religion

The attraction of harsh, dogmatic, judgemental religion, like most strains of Islam, and some strains of the other religions, for some people has little to do with the spiritual. Such faith is hostile to spirituality. Instead, some people view religion as a rule-based system for sado-masochistic role-play. For them, it is fun, pleasurable, giving a new lens to their life-experience. Politically, they seek "religious liberty" to indulge in their sado-masochistic role-play. There is a considerable attraction for such people in a well-defined system to denigrate both themselves and others, to spread derision upon all and everything, and obtain pleasure through suffering and the infliction of suffering, while reserving all their devotion for a hidden entity, a Master unseen. Their actual god is Thanatos, son of Night, whose history with H. Sapiens is long and storied, but they are ignorant of the name, and suppose it is another entity, that out of respect, they dare not name. They dare not name, because the name is known, and is not conducive to trust. Ultimately, what they crave most of all and look forward to is dissolution from this world.

Trump is the President Some Americans Deserve

Trump is the President that a big segment of our fellow Americans richly deserve. The Vanity Fair article says it all. Trump reflects a big segment of our population, say around 46%: fat, lazy, old, and grasping for quick, simple, easy solutions to a complicated and changing world. People just don't want to be bothered to think about things. They want everything to be easy, across the board, quick and easy, most of all, first and foremost. But the world isn't easy, never has been and never will be. Thus, we have a President with a fundamental disconnect from reality, living in an alternative Universe of his follower's making, based on Fox News and Sean Hannity and little else. That everything they believe is false, is a thought that never occurs to them. Perhaps they deserve Trump. As for the rest for us, we have merely to survive and nurture hope for the future. Perhaps it is too early to advise teaching one's children Chinese.

Treatment of Animals is the Ultimate Moral Litmus Test

When one reads about the needless torture of lower life forms, such as pigs--a grave sin committed in an effort to maximize profit--and probably ineffective--and the alarming footnote, that this torture is now defended with all of the vast resources of our Federal Government, by directive of the Trump Administration, it is a shock indeed; and one wonders whether the moral divide between the U.S. and other countries, such as N. Korea, has diminished from a mighty chasm, to a hop, skip and a jump. Our enemy tortures humans for no good reason, for sport; we torture pigs for no good reason--and persecute those who would show any consideration at all to the animals. We are better, still, but there is a stain.

How can it be that the "Conservative Christians" that are all for Trump can turn a blind eye to the needless suffering of animals, committed out of pure callousness? The question must be posed: if their god would approve callous cruelty against animals, then what sort of god is it?

We may one day by judged, if not by God, than by an alien race, based upon how we treat other life forms on the planet, and if that day comes any time soon, then I certainly hope we are judged individually, rather than collectively.

Trump the Motivator

Trump is doing more for the Democratic Party than any of his predecessors ever did. I think, for all those Democrats, Independents and IDunnoKnow's, next time election-day rolls around, they are going to feel like voting. Thank you, Trump, for motivating the people to vote.

Emotional Support Pets

A Muslim woman was dragged off a plane merely because she mentioned she had an allergy to dogs. The pilot freaked out and ordered police to remove her by force. Turns out the dog on the plane was for so-called "Emotional Support," not because there was a blind person on board. And, by the way, seeing-eye dogs are exceptionally well-trained and well-behaved, and in all my days, I've never seen one act up. Seeing-eye dogs are better-behaved than a lot of human beings. Emotional support dogs get no training at all. You can have a toy poodle that barks its head off all day, and that's your emotional support dog that you can bring on to a plane.

Those morons that insist upon bringing animals into public spaces due, not to blindness, but to the supposed "emotional support" should be required to complete Army Basic Training as a condition of release from a psychiatric labor camp. If they fail to complete Basic training, they should stay in the labor camp to work out all of those emotional issues and help clean toilets, garbage cans and ditches in public spaces. I think, after either Army Basic Training or twenty years cleaning toilets, they may not have a need for an emotional support pet any longer. Of course, at either facility, pets would not be allowed.

Iran's Reparations

Iran should be paying the U.S. reparations for all the terrorism over the years. About a hundred billion a year, for ten years, would be about right. They have plenty of oil, they can pay. Terrorism should not be a risk-free or cost-free business. If Trump does go to war with Iran, then he should make sure the U.S. does not wind up footing the bill for the entire exercise.

With Age Should Come Dignity

As one ages, the most important thing to hold on to and nourish is one's dignity. Check out this article, about a fracas between a young, eloquent, smart, attractive college student and an old, haggardly, unemployed and, certainly by now, unemployable, ex-professor. What a way to end a career. That entire episode was undignified and an example of how not to behave. The main moral of that story is that with age should come calmness and philosophy. That is why I plan to remain sober and avoid vendettas. Better to remember the New Testament and turn the other cheek, than to make a big scene in a grocery store.

How to Live in France

If one lives in France, definitely one should travel armed and ready to slay a terrorist dead, along with any of his accomplices. France should institute nationwide defense training to educate its population on the most efficient methods of slaying terrorists, and everybody over there ought to be armed with something, be it mace, knife, or even a pistol. There shouldn't be a single woman walking in public over there without a fully loaded pistol in a holster on her hip, with additional cartridges in her purse along with a can of mace. The obvious solution to terrorism is to arm the populace, to militarize it. Terrorists treat civilians as military targets, so might as well in fact make them military, with the capability of slaying the terrorists. The only reason civilians are targeted in the first place is that terrorists are low-life, rotten cowards looking for a soft target. A good old bullet to the brain is the best cure for a terrorist, and there's no reason a civilian can't serve it up, when needed.

This is the consequence of letting in all those Muslims that hate democracy and hate the West. You have to arm everyone in society and be ready to kill in an instant. Basically, the Middle East is exporting itself, its instability, craziness and senseless violence.

Sonic Warfare on U.S. Diplomats in Cuba

I am tired of reading about the so-called "mystery" surrounding hearing loss of U.S. diplomats in Cuba. It is no mystery. It is obvious and transparent. A sonic generator was deployed. Those gadgets, anybody can buy for a hundred bucks or so. Whup-de-doo. Where's the mystery? It's not rocket science. You plug it in, hide it somewhere, and a sonic wave emanates below the range of detection by human hearing, yet quite damaging. The only tip-off the victim has is that they feel bad in a certain area of a building. There is no mystery, repeat, no mystery. As to who did it, I think that will never be known until somebody squeals. Most likely, it is North Korea or Iran, because these are the declared enemies of the United States, and these countries have a huge interest in cultivating animosity between the U.S. and Cuba. At any rate, blame Iran or North Korea, because those regions are completely worthless, full of evil-doers with no value to the world, and deserve whatever punishment gets meted out. Ultimately, who cares who is to blame? Iran and North Korea are the default scapegoats. Iran actually says "Death to America!" on a regular basis, and North Korea threatens to nuke us, so their intentions are clear.

Trump is Right about Puerto Rico

The reality is, Puerto Rico won't be around in a couple decades. It will be under the ocean. To invest money on rebuilding anything else on that doomed island is ludicrous. Hand out birth control and food, and that's it. Temporary shelters at most. Anything built will become homes for the fish of the future. All we have to look forward to is more and worse storms in that part of the world. Rebuilding New Orleans was stupid, too. I think people need to educate themselves on climate change and what exactly it means, then reconsider investing billions on the coast. Maybe billions of their retirement savings, but not of taxpayer dollars. If they want to go bankrupt flushing money into the ocean, that's their business. But it shouldn't be the taxpayer's.

As for the debt, default. Wall Street should have known better. Maybe they can recycle whatever is left on that island or sell the land to carnival ships, who can use it as a tourist destination until it disappears.

Stocks and Bonds Ain't Hard

Stocks and bonds ain't hard, at least if one chooses to use mutual funds. Stock-picking is not my game, because I feel like the system is corrupt and rigged, with inside knowledge dominating. Those "in the know" can make bundles of cash, legally or not, just like those Equifax business criminals did, knowing full well they had crucified the American consumer and that Equifax's share price would sink. Folks like me "in the dark" are marks. Unlike the business criminals, I wouldn't know about the Equifax Debacle until Equifax announced it. I don't bother with stock-picking and consider it a fool's game, because only fools trust wolves.

My advice is simple. Choose a low-cost mutual fund family like, oh, say, Vanguard. I do not know of any other. Vanguard is by no means perfect, but they are reasonably good and low-cost, allowing them to beat the performance of most mutual fund families, because let's face it, the stock market mainly moves in unison. There is not a whole lot of advantage to be had in stock-pickers, although there is a whole lot of risk to be had. That 1 or 2 per cent expense ratio on your darling mutual fund is probably being used for massage therapy and new luxury cars for the mutual fund manager, who is ultimately using a computer to pick stocks, anyway. To think you pay a guy more, and he picks better stocks, is a charming little fantasy.

With stock funds, all one needs to know are the fundamentals. One must know what a P/E ratio is, and bear in mind that in today's environment, 17 is not too shabby, but over 20, it's time to bail. One must pay attention to earnings growth. Anything in the double-digits is dandy. That implies red-hot growth. Right now, large-caps stink, but mid-caps and small-caps excel, and that's why investors are buying 'em. The smart money always looks at the fundamentals.

With bonds, one must keep in mind that bonds suck and have sucked for a very, very long time. Any interest rate under 5 per cent really is not worth the time of day. It is extremely high-risk, and there is a possibility one could encounter double-digit losses, depending on the bond fund, due to rising interest rates, defaults, or even inflation. All bonds these days are junk bonds. They are garbage. There is little to no protection against inflation, little to no protection against rising interest rates. That is why people are moving the lion's share of their money into stocks right now, because what's the alternative? There is no alternative to stocks, unless you want to stash your cash under your mattress.

I keep an eye on bonds, however, because if interest rates do recover, then bonds will become very attractive, especially in today's market, where the P/E ratios are through the roof, judged on a historical basis. Bear in mind, P/E ratios used to be in the neighborhood of 11 or 12, for about a hundred years or so. It is only in today's environment that a P/E of 17 or 18 has become "the new normal."

Uber

Uber is another loser corporation that provides crappy service using scabs working at subsistence wages, just enough to buy McDonalds for a treat on Sundays. Uber is another company run by irresponsible, childish executives and another tool to destroy the middle class. The basic model of Uber replaces moderately-waged jobs with crap jobs that have no benefits. Uber doesn't want to comply with any licenses, rules or even the basic law of the land, so good riddance if it gets the boot in Quebec and London.

The only way a spoiled, know-nothing corporate executive earns his keep is this: he figures out a way to pay the workers less for more work. Uber is no exception to the rule that pervades all industry and all commerce.

People working for Uber need to ask themselves, why did I wind up working as a temp scab for a company that pays next to nothing and will fire me just as soon as self-driving cars become a thing?

Going back to the land may be a good adaptation in today's economy, where so many manufacturing and service jobs are getting replaced by automation. Farm, as our ancestors did. At least by farming, one is assured of having enough to eat and enough land to dwell in.

The Equifax Debacle

The American people have been told, yes, Equifax had all your permanent, private, personal data: your Social Security number, birthdate, et cetera. No, you are not allowed to ever change this data. Yes, anyone can apply for a new credit card with that data, thus placing your credit history, privacy and even freedom in jeopardy. Care to play dice with your financial future? There goes your retirement, chump. All your hard work, down the toilet.

I don't recall consenting to give Equifax all my information. They invaded my privacy and then gave my information away to criminals.

Personally, if I have to go through identity theft hell at some point down the line, then it seems only right that Equifax people have to suffer, too, because that's not my cross, it's theirs. The amount of time I am willing to spend cleaning up Equifax's mess is zero. I will not lift a finger to resolve any kind of identity theft problem. Equifax makes me whole. There is no other way. If my dinner gets taken away by identity theft, then they feed me. My life is not about cleaning up after Equifax; otherwise it is no life. But if millions of people suffer identity theft, then our entire financial system is called into question.

The proper response, which would have already been taken by a benevolent dictator, is to make credit card applications much, much more difficult. Credit card, loan, or any kind of financial account application must be done in person and require a DNA sample, retina scan, or something else that is very individualized and extremely difficult to fake. That is the simple, elegant, permanent solution, not just to Equifax, but to all the other scandals that have hit our sorry, stupid, negligent and corrupt business community, driven by greed and completely unconcerned about the country.

However, none of the above is going to happen, because the Republican Congress is just as stupid as the business community. Maybe more so.

Congress has proven again and again it is incapable of acting, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that action is justified. Marijuana was proven non-toxic and harmless way back in the early 1970s, during the Nixon administration, and due to stupidity, Congress never did anything about the laws that equate pot with heroin.

So, is social collapse on the horizon? No, because the American people have a high tolerance for pain and suffering, a limited memory, and are easily distracted by social issues like bathrooms, prayer and abortion. What will happen is that millions of "nobodies" like myself will go through identity theft hell, and nothing will be done, and there will be a lot of hand-wringing but ultimately no changes, and the cycle will continue with more scandals, more data-leaks in the future, and future generations will deal with the problem as well. Because stupid rules the land.

In the end, the only hope for H. Sapiens is that genetic engineering creates a smarter species, capable of seeing through obvious lies and falsehoods. Then the electorate might become capable of electing good people into public office. Such a species might demand more accountability from the corporations that control so much of our lives. But today's people? They just roll over and take it, again and again. They focus on what's important, like Hillary Clinton's email server, or Anthony Weiner's weiner.

Dumbsday Prediction

That a Doomsday prediction of Sept. 23rd received widespread, mainstream media coverage, followed soon after by "what exactly does dotard mean?" betrays the cretinism in the American population. Cretins played their Trump card in 2016, and now Stupid rules the land. Goodbye, several trillion dollars, hello, waste and corruption. Poetic justice will be served if medical care is stripped away from the cretins that voted for Trump.

Sobriety

One reads, everywhere, that alcohol in moderation is good for you, or your heart, or your general state of mind, or your immune system, or something. A glass of wine with dinner, say, or a beer with your buddies, is supposed to enhance well-being. It helps the heart, well, they don't know how, but they think it may, due to statistics, or something.

On the one hand, we have trillions of dollars made through the global marketing of alcohol-based products. Of course, with so much money at stake, funding will be readily available to any scientist that wants to find virtue in a shot-glass.

On the other hand, we have zero dollars to be made, by the business-criminal class, from healthy, happy, high-functioning human beings.

It is clear to me where the truth lies. For the business criminal, the suffering and death of billions is of small concern, whereas their corporate stock price, and the luxuries afforded by their trade, is everything.

In the beginning, after I cut alcohol from my diet, my thinking was actually impaired, as my body chemistry took time to adjust. But after time, I see that I am stronger and in fuller possession of my powers. I sleep well, long, and deeply, awakening each morning refreshed, renewed, eager to begin the working day. My emotions are calmer, held in a tighter rein by the higher reason, which is of vast benefit. Money that was spent on expensive piss instead remains in my pocket. In addition, I lose weight.

There is a pleasure to be had from alcohol, but many paths lead to pleasure, and alcohol is neither the best nor the only way.

The trouble with a glass of wine at dinner is this. Those with ambition want more. If one glass is good, two must be better, after all.

Dyslexia of Spirits

"Many threes," "four at the end," and a "a three-long sequence," showed in a found crystal. But the drawing had, instead, many fives, a four at the beginning rather than the end, and, yes, a three-long sequence, not of thirties, but of fifties. The failure, rather than being worthless, hints at accuracy tinged by dyslexia. Observe that the Arabic Three, with a single line transposed, resembles the Five, an effect most pronounced on old-fashioned calculators. And looked at from a mirror, or upside down, it is not obvious whether a number is at the beginning or end. Therefore, a better strategy is to choose not just the revealed number, but possible interpretations of it, given the risk of transposition.

Iraqi Asylum Seeker, Stupid England

I read that an 18 year-old Iraqi asylum seeker committed the latest act of terrorism in Great Britain. In the first place, he should get the death penalty, whether it killed anybody or not, and it should be a hanging.

I don't think the Brits know what time of day it is, if they are letting in asylum seekers from barbarian territories that follow the cult of death. Anyway, why do asylum seekers need to come to the developed, rich West? Britain is a crowded island as it is. Is Africa so bad? Send them over to the Sudan, Kenya, or Zimbabwe, and let the folks over there deal with 'em. Definitely I would vote Conservative in every British election if the Conservatives are the only ones that have common sense on this particular issue. The Labour Party needs to sit down with the bombs and think about those nails, knives and screwdrivers penetrating their eyeballs. I think then they could "see" the simple truth, that granting asylum to every Tom, Dick, and Harry is stupid and wrong, and a poor use of taxpayer money. Those people can go over to Africa and live there. There is surely some African nation that will take them, or they can just slip off into the jungle and live off the land. Beggars can't be choosers. I can't even immigrate to England, so why should some 18 year-old Iraqi who doesn't know anything except how to kneel before the demon-pig?

Hopefully, the educational system over in England will improve to the point where politicians can trace the obvious line between letting terrorists into the country, and people getting blown up in bombs. Hopefully, they will learn that letting in terrorists in not such a great idea, and that includes all the Muslims, who are always going to feel alienated from Western culture and will always hate the West and are really just ticking time-bombs, destined to kill Westerners at some point in time now or later. To accelerate the learning process, politicians that don't get it should be voted out of office.

Identity Theft

As far as crime goes, my #1 concern in life is avoiding becoming a victim of identity theft. I read this morning this poor chap's story. Credit ruined, flagged at airports, taxes in disarray, collectors hounding him--I'd rather get beaten and sent to the hospital than have to go through all the paperwork hell, sitting on hold with disinterested, zero-knowledge customer service representatives, to restore my identity. I am pretty careful about safeguarding my personal information. Unfortunately, with the Equifax hack, everyone's a potential victim, whether they adhered to proper precautions or not. If the system cannot be trusted to hold confidential information, then where are we? The Wild, Wild, West, I'm afraid.

I think applying for credit cards should be far more difficult and involve DNA matching, in-person. Only one credit card per person is really needed. Anymore is nonsense. The more complicated finances are, the more opportunity for abuse, fraud and negligence. A lot of credit card companies and banks are worthless, including Equifax. I think Equifax betrayed the country. Is the Equifax betrayal worse than what Chelsea Manning did? Apples to oranges, but I think so. The executives at Equifax basically said, who cares about the American consumer. We can save a little bit of cash by skimping on security, so let's do it. Meanwhile, they played golf. They should have treated the confidentiality of our personal information like they were transporting gold bricks, but they acted like it was used rubber tires.

But I am a voice in the wilderness. Apparently, tons of people apply for credit cards online daily, and many people have multiple credit cards. No one will listen to me, and every day, the list of identity theft victims grows. But I bet you one thing. I bet you the identity theft victims agree with me.

Equifax, the Know-Nothing Company

A college music major was the top Equifax executive for security--but it was a she, and probably she was good eye candy at those executive luncheons, is my guess. That she knew nothing about security is no surprise. Most corporate executives are lucky to know how to tie their shoes. That is why the United States has a huge trade deficit and has so many problems without solutions. The idle rich at the top know nothing and do nothing, while the workers at the bottom that actually get things done are given more and more responsibilities for less pay, until they eventually drop the ball due to overwork. Without effective management, how is a company supposed to innovate?

The only thing an executive knows how to do is fire Americans and send the jobs over China for less pay. Steve Jobs, often held up as a shining example of a corporate executive, hated America with every fiber of his being, and that is why he told Obama "Hell, no!" when the President asked him to think about his country for one moment, think about American workers. Steve Jobs had the most ironic name in history, although Steve Traitor would have been more accurate. When I look at an Iphone and see "Made in China," I think of him, and think what a traitor he was. He sent all those factories to China, those factories that can be easily converted to produce military hardware.

My opinion is, we need fire executives like that and put people at the top that are actually capable of leading companies, instead of spending all day playing golf. Looks like Equifax did indeed fire their security officer and chief technology officer, although they sure did take their time coming to a rather obvious conclusion. Equifax owes the U.S. taxpayer a couple trillion dollars for negligence. Really, there is no need for a company like that, if it is going to give all our data to criminals. Equifax should be investigated for criminal negligence, let alone the civil lawsuits.

Inviting Terrorism

Hopefully, the Europeans have added one plus one and concluded, in their infinite wisdom, that it equals two. After so many terrorist incidents, is it not clear that inviting all the Muslims over to the West, for cheap labor, or whatever, was a bad idea? They hate the West, want to kill/rape Westerners, and if they had their way, every one of you would be dead. Now, how many you want to immigrate into your country, again? Maybe reconsider that thought?

St. Louis Shooting / Protests

After reading this story in the New York Post, I'm persuaded that the officer involved in the shooting of an urban heroin dealer, who was driving 87 m.p.h. on wet roads, was justified. Or at least, there is insufficient evidence to conclude it was murder. People don't listen to the facts. They just weave what they want to believe about the police and about society. I doubt anyone rioting bothered to read the judge's carefully crafted 30-page explanation for his verdict. Violent protesters that destroy property should be placed in prison. It may be that St. Louis needs martial law, and the National Guard needs to be activated. There is no right to destroy the property of hard-working home owners and store owners. No "letting off steam."

In the U.S., there is a certain element of blacks that make a living out of racism complaints. They feel like any sin can be excused based on the color of their skin. They are not without sin themselves. In reality, they are the racists. Every white person they see, they call racist. I have seen more black racists in my day than white racists, and I have encountered racism from blacks more often than I've seen black people on the receiving end. The only time I see blacks on the receiving end is in Hollywood movies.

The way to end racism is simple. Act decent, obey the law, work for a living. Any other proposal just smacks of reverse racism. There are plenty of black police, and local departments are eager to hire. Want to improve the police? Join them! They are looking for a few good men and women. Color of skin, unimportant.

The Pledge

The Pledge of Allegiance, like praying, should be voluntary. Observe that praying is compulsory in barbarian territories, so-called Islamic "countries" ruled by despots, where "morality police" punish those caught skipping prayers.

Teachers shouldn't assault kids over prayer or the Pledge. That is a foolish thing to do. In the first place, it won't make a kid patriotic; quite the opposite. In the second place, it is a poor excuse for an assault. Teachers that do that probably should not be in the profession.

The reason people pledge, or don't pledge, is a feeling of belonging to a nation and its system.

I remember back in the day, when I skipped the Pledge, as a fourteen year-old high school freshman. The reason had to do with complete alienation from the school and the country. It seemed like the school was run by the bullies, that is, the mean teachers and the tough kids, who seemed to recognize one another on some level and work hand-in-glove in many ways. The teachers turned a blind eye to bullying, and the mean kids just had a field day and ran the school. It was like prison--no different, really. There was violence, a good deal of it, and a lot of ugliness. Under the circumstances, I did not feel motivated to do the Pledge.

One day, one of the mean teachers, the Phys. Ed. instructor, who hated my guts anyway for being queer and was always working with the bullies to tear me down, yanked me up out of my seat, just like in this media story. I returned his hatred. "Big Red" can thank his lucky star nothing came of it--at least, that is, in my case. With an eye to the future, I absorbed, rather than reflected. Of course, violence begets violence, which is a basic lesson that people forget, and so the cycle continues, from prehistoric times to the present. I concluded that it is better to look toward the future than to dwell in either the past or the present. There is nothing about the high school years worth remembering. It was all wasted time.

Today, I pledge without a second's thought, and the reason is, I feel a part of the system, and a devotion to the country that is genuine, based on my good life, and a comparison of other countries around the world. Other countries, generally, stink. The U.S. is far superior in many ways, until you start comparing the most enlightened, such as Finland, Norway, Sweden, or Canada, for example. Canada, of course, has the better health system and many other things, but even so, the U.S. is definitely worth the pledge. And, I think for a black person, the U.S. is worth the pledge, because black people have it far worse in any given African nation. Yes, even with a certain level of background racism, even with the occasional police shooting, black people generally have it pretty good in the U.S., as demonstrated by the sizeable black middle class. If I were black, I'd certainly prefer the U.S. over any African nation, and I'd try to prove the racists wrong, by living a decent life.

Police Reforms

There need to be reforms to law enforcement in the U.S., because police shootings are out of control. However, the political will just is not there in many states, for various reasons. I think aversion to crime is a bigger reason than racism. People fear thugs more than police officers, and in the final analysis, people are willing to turn a blind eye when the occasional cop pops the occasional fleeing felon. The constant accusation of racism simply cheapens it, until people are inured and ambivalent to the charge.

One of the biggest problems of law enforcement today is that people take drugs or drink and then get behind the wheel of a large automobile. Where politics has failed, technology will succeed, and self-driving cars are the ultimate answer to the problems besetting law enforcement. If there are no drivers, then there is no need for quite so many police, and no need for chases. Every vehicle can have a "kill switch" installed if the vehicle ever becomes a problem. Whether stupid people drink or not, their cars can get them to where they are going. The police will then be confined to foot patrol, investigators and S.W.A.T. teams, resulting in a reduction of their manpower and significant savings to the taxpayer.

At any rate, there will be no jobs in the future, because robots are going to do just about everything, including driving. In a low-employment future, where so many of our current professions have become fully automated by robots, people will be willing to die for a job, and only the best of the best will be selected for a nice salaried job with benefits, such as a police officer. The top 1% will become police officers, while the vast majority will be unemployed, selling their organs or bodies in order to make a living.

My guess is that the vast hordes of the unemployed will become bandits, stealing and pillaging to make a living, and law enforcement will then need to be robotized. Vast armies of machines will fly about killing bandits and composting their bodies for agriculture. Mass-production of the flying killers will be necessary in order to reduce the human population by 99.99%. For the super-rich, this is all about forging a wonderful paradise for themselves and their future genetically-enhanced generations of godlike beings. After all, our ancestors did give Neanderthals short shrift. We cannot expect easier treatment, now, can we?

Chelsea Manning

The former CIA Director Mike Pompeo was right to oppose Manning's presence at Harvard. Manning wants to make a career out of her treachery. I think that she should be working the drive-through window at McDonalds, and anywhere else needs a strong backlash from the media and the social media. There is nothing she has to share with the world. Instead, she has much to learn, and should be listening to others. She received excellent treatment by the U.S. government, all things considered, and was not grateful to Obama for getting out of prison. In times past, she would have been hung, and indeed, there was a good argument to be made in favor of hanging. Had she picked the wrong document to upload, in her confused state of treachery, she would be on death row.

Martin Shkreli

If all rich people were like Martin Shkreli, then all good people would have to become communists.

Now, it's not rocket science. The other rich folk know that he makes their whole class look bad.

Just goes to show, a rich man has to act abominably, and make the other rich folk nervous, before the law comes after him. If Shkreli acted nice, played silent and listened to his lawyers--that is, if he had a lick of sense--then he'd get off, despite his alleged crimes, because money buys the law, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. Money buys the law, except in the case of a fool.

Shoe's on the Other Foot

In no way is Islam even remotely equivalent to modern Christianity or Judaism.

Over in Burma, the shoe's on the other foot for Muslims. Instead of Muslims butchering Christians and other minorities, in Burma, the Muslims are the ones getting kicked out. Well, too bad, so sad, real glad. How do you think the Muslims got there in the first place, if not by butchering and war? That's how Islam spread in the first place. Anywhere the Muslims are, they are in the business of getting rid of other religions and even giving the atheists a hard time. Either beheading, rape, or milder persecutions in the case of so-called "moderate" Muslim nations like Indonesia. There is probably a good reason the Burmese want the Raping-ya gone, and the Western media isn't reporting on that. Instead, the media just blindly treats the whole spectacle as a human rights crisis. In reality, Burma is cleansing itself of a dangerous, evil cult that always kills or marginalizes outsiders. Look at any Islamic country, and the truth is clear. They want the non-believer gone, period. They serve evil and behave accordingly. Muslim countries tend toward dictatorships, and the populations tend toward fanaticism, terrorism and brutality. The less Muslims, the better.

The Neighbor's Dog

My neighbor got a dog recently. I like it. I like hearing the sound of the dog barking when I go outside. You know what's worse than a dog? Human beings. A good guard dog, contained within a fence, will sound the alarm at any approaching human. Humans are the real danger, coming to steal, vandalize, urinate or defecate, or something similarly undesirable. A dog, we can deal with. A dog's no trouble, unless it wanders freely, in which case it will leave countless reasons arguing in favor of a fence. As long as a dog is kept in a fence, it is a net asset to the neighborhood, and people should be grateful. Never would I complain about barking. It is music to my ears. Dogs are the friends of mankind, and I have always gotten along with them.

Environmental Poetic Justice

I was quite amused at this article, which shows that tap water in the U.S. actually has more microscopic plastic fibers than tap water in...drumroll, please... Uganda or India. We have more of everything in the U.S., so why not microscopic plastic fibers in our drinking water, too?

What do microscopic plastic fibers do to the human body? Who knows? We are conducting an experiment on our bodies, you see. Just an uncontrolled, high-risk experiment, for funsies!

My best guess is that the super-rich, like Donald Trump, probably put their water through a lot of filtering which removes all the pollutants, including microscopic plastic fibers. I could be wrong, but that's what I would do, if I were super-rich. I'd also be nice and purchase filters for police and fire stations, to ensure they have clean, safe water. You don't want your heroes coming down with cancer or whatever it is.

Trump Believes

I wager Trump believes in global warming, because if there's anything he pays attention to, it is his own well-being. He says he doesn't, but he's a liar, so what he says doesn't matter. Often, the opposite of what he says is where the truth lies. Trump doesn't play around much with half-truths, he likes the whole hog, the complete and utter lie, because the more brazen the lie, the bigger the gonads of the liar, in his book.

The way the Republicans are going to solve global warming is simple. The world will mass-produce robots to replace every existing worker. Already, drivers are being replaced. That's huge, putting millions out of a job. Next, soldiers. Then, teachers. In the end, there will be no jobs, hence no need for all these people. So, with all these unemployed bums sitting around unhappy and miserable, there will be inevitable wars that serve the higher purpose of killing everyone off--that is, the people that don't matter, of which the majority consists--those making under, say, a million dollars a year, the middle-class and lower-class. I don't know, how many people do you need, in the end? One? A dozen? A thousand? That's subjective. There is no necessary number of human beings. If a human being is still in charge, then some extra humans will be retained as sex slaves and organ donation bags. You need a certain redundancy in kidneys, hearts, and parts like that. The rest are compost.

With no population to generate carbon dioxide or other pollutants, global warming will go into reverse, and plants will take over again. The whole Earth will be a beautiful, charming, luxurious amusement park for the super-wealthy, the elite, the chosen by God (as per Christianity's Prosperity Gospel). Must be nice, for those that live to see it.