Donations to NORML

I donate to NORML indirectly, or rather I influence others to donate, namely AMAZON. I received this note this morning:

This is your quarterly AmazonSmile donation notification. Your charity, The NORML Foundation, recently received a quarterly donation of $2,535.56 thanks to customers shopping at smile.amazon.com. To date, AmazonSmile has donated a total of: $43,812.06 to The NORML Foundation $134,890,393.33 to all charities Thank you for supporting The NORML Foundation by shopping at smile.amazon.com.

Perhaps it is ironic that I do not now use marijuana and tend to associate with those that do not use it either. Indeed, I have grown to like and respect several narcotics officers on the local police force. But in my view, and this is an important distinction to make, the narcotics officer is just doing his job. He is told what to do by the boss, that is, our elected representatives. It is not as though he has a choice--he does not. If he does not enforce the law, there will be somebody else who will. And the truth is, there may be some good that derives from Prohibition, even of marijuana, if it takes hardened criminals or hopeless addicts off the street, if it manages somehow to also bite into crime, although that is all debatable I suppose. There are many fools that drive around while smoking weed--they need to be put in prison. Driving while stoned is rather more common than I ever expected. Those who do so, need to go to jail before they kill someone.

Yet, if our elected officials were to legalize marijuana, then I feel that would make the narcotics officer's job easier in many ways, by narrowing the scope of what they do, and removing much of the general public from suspicion. You see, marijuana is and always will be popular, whereas the other, harder drugs--people will cooperate and collaborate to see such things as meth and heroin eradicated. Marijuana gains the sympathy of the reasonable person, but addictive hard drugs, in general, do not.

In my view, marijuana should never have been made illegal in the first place, by virtue of the fact it is less harmful than alcohol by any measure one might care to apply. NORML seeks to amend that historical injustice, and I will always support NORML for doing so. People should have a right to grow their own, smoke their own in the privacy of their own homes, and generally live their lives the way they want to. They should not be fired or lose custody of their children by mere association with marijuana.

I am not at all fond of the surging commercial interests in marijuana. I think it is loathsome and base, all of these merchants rushing late to the scene to profiteer by inflating the price of an easily grown weed. Sadly, our elected officials that have chosen to legalize marijuana were motivated less by the civil justice aspect and more by the prospect for profit and taxation, because human beings are ruled by fear and greed, and have precious little in the way of virtue in them.

Now we see the ugly aspects of commercialization of marijuana, the over-pricing, the crime, the taxation, the regulation, the competition pushing smaller business owners out, and so on. It is because people always want things easy. They do not want to grow their own, but instead buy a finished product in a nice shiny wrapper. Everything is a shiny product these days. That, to me, makes marijuana less appealing, not more. I liked pot when it had outlaw status. Now that is it becoming an item found in a store--bleh.

Republican Hypocrisy

Every little thing that the long-aggrieved, much-complaining Republicans griped about the Clintons and Obama, Trump does a thousandfold worse. The list of his corruptions could fill this blog. Basically, when one wants to know the ideal Republican, study Trump, that is what the Republican strives to become. It is their very highest spiritual ideal, what they strive for in their fondest prayers, the summit of their aspirations. To become Trump: to cheat, lie and swindle on a grand scale, is what every Republican wants to do, in the secret truth of their soul. Failing that, they reach for the gun, go out and kill the innocent, acting out their fondest fantasies of murder, much-repeated fantasies that represent the summit of their desolate imaginations.

Harvest in the Prisons

What we need is a good harvest-time in the prisons. Anyone who has killed should be killed, same day, same hour. Just get it done. Prior to execution, the maximum possible amount of blood should be extracted in order to help those in trauma. Following the execution, organs should be harvested to help those in need. Execution should be by hanging. Worked before, works now, and it is a symptom of chronic stupidity that the State dithers around with questionable chemicals from unreliable sources. A rope is all that is needed.

If this practice were followed, not only would the taxpayers receive mercy, but these killers would not have the opportunity to kill again. It is really atrocious when killers get paroled and kill again, or kill prison guards or even other inmates. Violence within prison is a huge problem. The idea that it is somehow better for the State to keep a killer in a cell for fifty years is just nonsense. Eventually, the killer is going to figure out a way to get back at either the guard or another inmate. And if parole ever happens, watch out.

The main reason that some people, often termed bleeding hearts, oppose the death penalty, is that on an unconscious level, they want to die themselves. They want their loved ones to die as well. They welcome death into their lives. Thanatos is the irrational impulse that moves people to want to embrace danger and death. They see in killers, not something to be avoided, but opportunity to rejoin the Void, to become annihilated. But Thanatos should not write public policy.

French Law is Soft

French law is soft, because the French are stupid. That is why they lost WW2 and got taken over, until the United States came to their rescue. That is also why a notorious gangster escaped by helicopter from prison. If the French had any brains in their vacant skulls, they would have punished the criminal in the correct manner after he killed a policewoman. They would have poked a stick through each of his eyeballs and scraped out his brains. Then, no escape in 2018. There is no known escape from the crypt. In a way, the French deserve what happens to them. The gravest crime in the Universe is stupidity. The punishment is severe and often comes quickly. The French really have been stupid for hundreds of years. It was pretty obvious after Napoleon invaded Russia, but even before that, the excesses of the French Kings, driving their country into debt for the sake of stupid and pointless wars pointed to lack of intellectual prowess.

School Shooters

It would be satisfying to take the latest school shooter, string him up in his front yard, and leave him there until the crows pick his bones clean. Then incinerate bones, home, and everything in the home. I wonder how many school shooters would play copycat after that spectacle gets live-streamed on YouTube. My guess is not as many. The glory and notoriety factor would work in the opposite direction from what it is now, where these school shooters are sitting in prison watching TV news about themselves and browsing their sick fan mail.

Death for Drugs

I read with interest the WaPo's analysis of Trump's desire to impose the death penalty for drug traffickers.

Meth traffickers (just to name one variety) certainly have zero concern for the well-being of humankind. I kept reminding myself, while watching "Breaking Bad," that there were no heroes. It is improper to root for Heisenberg. He was as bad a villain as any of the others in the show, and in reality, it was a show about villains. Really the only good guy was the D.E.A. agent, Hank, a sympathetic figure.

I think the death penalty does have a spiritual component to it, though, and there is something ancient and venerable about a life for a life. If a crime does not result in death, then perhaps, the death penalty should not be applied. I suppose in the case of drug trafficking, the outcome of the crime is not fully known, and death might be assumed.

However, the law should not be promiscuous in assigning death for crimes. I think Trump reflects a widespread dissatisfaction with the current system, in which we have a large population of prisoners that are hard to manage and expensive to manage. That is a complicated problem, but not every complicated problem has a simple solution, as Trump and his followers would prefer. My own solution to the problem is prevention--prevent people who commit crimes from ever being born. Eugenics. But, that is politically incorrect, condemned by both left and right, and associated with the most unpleasant regimes. I think that society is certainly moving, rapidly and inevitably, in the direction of eugenics, however, and anyone paying attention must agree. Eugenics will come about, not because of politics, law, or force, but because people simply want what is best for themselves and for their children. Self-interest will ensure that eugenics is practiced--voluntarily. And that will result, hopefully, in a reduction in crime.

In Education, Bigger Isn't Better

One reason there are so many school shootings is schools are huge mini-cities nowadays. The only reason is people are cheap as hell and want to maximize their investment in education by herding kids into the biggest possible cattle farm. The kids don't know each other anymore and don't much care about each other, either. Every other kid is just another zombie in a video game shoot-em-up. It is a situation that was well-designed to create mass-murderers. When folks know one another by name and know what is really going on in a small school environment, that is when you nip these problems in the bud, rather than letting them fester.

Guns Vs. Pot

It is amusing to contrast the police response to an active shooter situation at a Florida high school with that of a pot dealer. Tipped off that there's a large stash of pot, eager swarms of police bust in the doors of the pot dealer, looking to score cash, guns, and drugs, some of which can be siphoned off, but at any rate all opportunities for promotion, because the police department gets to keep the cash. Now, active shooter on a school campus? What's the hurry! We could get hurt, yo? No money in that, either.

It is a symptom of the collective schizophrenia in the world today that marijuana is perceived as a crime that must be answered with deadly force. China, Singapore and Malaysia, among other barbaric outposts, are known to execute those that traffic in large quantities of marijuana. For this reason, among others, an alien intelligence evaluating H. Sapiens would be wise to conclude that our species is not worthy of rescue, of enlightenment and education; that we should be left to our own devices, which means, to self-destruct in our own toxins and nuclear weapons. Rather than continue to contact us, they withdraw, leaving no trace.

The Mental Illness Defense

I'm not sympathetic to those murderers pleading mental defectiveness to escape the death penalty. They should be hung from the neck just the same, regardless if they suffer from every mental defect in the book. Although their brain may not understand the rope, their neck will understand perfectly and behave according to the laws of physics. This business where a murderer pleads insanity, then gets the taxpayer to foot his bill the rest of his days, is complete nonsense.

If there are some who want to pay to keep a murderer alive, then they should donate the cash, after compensating the victims' families a million dollars per life, and compensating the state for all legal costs, police overtime, etc. Perhaps some of these people that want to keep the insane murderers alive can sell their homes, cars, clothes, kidneys, fingers, eye-balls etc. to raise money. It is not the responsibility of the taxpayer to keep an insane murderer alive for the next hundred years. It is a violation of my rights as a human being to compel me to finance a murderer's food, shelter, and so on. The amount I am willing to pay for that sort of thing is zero.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.