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."