“It’s a game–only much more elaborate,” Miss Holderness said. “We make our citizens march around and fight each other. We make them weep and laugh and pray.”
Mr. Dash raised the bowl and grinned. “ And after we’re done with that, we can always make them die, sometimes in spectacular ways.”
Sweat trickled down Michael’s neck. He felt as if he had just finished running a race on a warm summer’s day. “My world has different governments and armies and religions.”
“There’s no need to fight against any of these groups,” Mr. Westley said. “We’ll show you how to guide them in a particular direction. First you create a frightening story, and then you provide a happy ending…” —“The Golden City” John Twelve Hawks
1.
I saw this article from the Times posted a few times on Facebook and thought it worth a mention. It’s titled Your Brain Has Tricked You Into Thinking Everything Is Worse. You know ‘those’ people who go on and on about the ‘good ol’ days,’ ‘when I was a kid,’ and ‘back in my day.’ If only we lived in the Golden Age, whenever that was.
Adam Mastroianni, author of the article, an experimental psychologist, and the author of the science blog Experimental History, went on to say When you’re standing in a wasteland but remember a wonderland, the only reasonable conclusion is that things have gotten worse. That explanation fits well with two more of our surprising findings. First, people exempt their own social circles from decline; in fact, they think the people they know are nicer than ever. This might be because people primarily encounter positive information about people they know, which our model predicts can create an illusion of improvement.
Second, people believe that moral decline began only after they arrived on Earth; they see humanity as stably virtuous in the decades before their birth. This especially suggests that biased memory plays a role in producing the illusion.
It’s easier and more accessible to pay attention to bad news. It’s certainly what sells on the TeeVee. And with the advent of instant information most anywhere on planet Earth, we see and hear much more weirdness every nano-second. Read some history books. Hell, just read books. Except for technology and other human inventions, it’s the same as it ever was. People just trying to live their ordinary lives while people with money and power send your kids to war over natural resources and land. The Golden Age is in your own head.
2.
Oh, great. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has done some tireless work for the environment, it’s true, but he seems to be tossing aside that legacy with his strange stance on vaccines, bringing the controversy once again to the forefront. And he’s in the running against Biden for the Presidency. Even his own family, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Joseph P. Kennedy Ii And Maeve Kennedy Mckean, published an editorial in Politico denouncing his misinformation campaign.
As parents and concerned citizens, we stand behind the hard work of scientists and public health professionals at organizations like the WHO and the Department of Health and Human Services, whether in the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Food and Drug Administration. Their tireless efforts guide the development, testing and distribution of safe and effective vaccines against 16 diseases, including measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, influenza and HPV. The necessity and safety of vaccines are backed up by every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association and scores of others.
People come up to me all the time and ask, “How do you know vaccines are safe, DUDE? Are you a DOCTOR or something?” Sheesh, I dunno, and no, I’m not a doctor. But I am vaccinated, haven’t had COVID, and the evidence from doctors, public-health professionals, and government agencies across the globe suggest that vaccines work, and in particular, that vaccines have quashed the recent pandemic. I’m basing it on observable REALITY and a certain trust in a system that advances scientific evidence.
David Gorski, an oncologist at Wayne State University School of Medicine who edits Science-Based Medicine, a website focused on debunking medical conspiracy theories, said “His entire worldview has become a conspiracy theory. He has spent the last 18-plus years spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt about vaccines. He is just more respectable because he is a Kennedy.” Unlike most Democrats, he has called former Fox News host Tucker Carlson “breathtakingly courageous” for his criticism of drug companies.
I’m not FOR the status quo in politics—many things need to change—but RFK Jr. seems to be embracing doctrine of right-wing conspiracy theorists as he’s rubbing elbows with the likes of Elon Musk and Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman turned right-wing commentator, all while blaming psychiatric drug use for the rise of gun violence in the United States and contends that the gun ownership rate in the U.S. was similar to that of Switzerland. I can understand why a Kennedy would have some belief in conspiracy theories due to family history but I’m not sure this direction is doing him or the rest of us any favors.
3.
This is dang encouraging. Garden City, Kansas is a small farming community smack in the middle of wheat fields and flatlands, the kind of terrain most people think of when Kansas pops into their brains. And it’s in Finney County, which evokes memories of Truman Capote and In Cold Blood. But last Saturday, the inaugural Pride Event to celebrate LGBTQ acceptance among the largely conservative and religious populations in southwest Kansas, was held downtown in Stevens Park. Isidro Marino, fellow co-founder of Better Together GC, said “Advocacy and activism are something that really attracts us as young people. We wanted to advocate for our community but also make an event that makes this a safe space and is also a welcoming community event for all.” She went on to say “I think having people like me, myself, who is Mexican American, and others who identify as gay or bisexual or trans or lesbian … I think by hosting this event and having more community events where people can come out and enjoy each other and talk about issues is really is what’s shifting the culture and narrative of our community, and it’ll only happen as we continue having these events.”
The only hitch that took place was a puppet show depicting Jesus as queer. You don’t mess with Jesus in Southwest Kansas. Cornerstone Church pastor Jason Swann told churchgoers in his sermon May 28 that learning about the puppet shows “put a fire underneath me.” Swann said he used the hashtag “groomers” in online statements against the show. He said, “They’re utilizing puppets to begin the conversation of, ‘Who are you going to have sex with later. If that ain’t grooming, then I don’t know what grooming is, I guess.” Well, no, Jason. I’d place money more ‘straight’ folks fuck puppets than queer folks. As a compromise, Cundiff and Brett Crandall Studios removed one of the puppet shows that depicts David and Prince Jonathan in the David v. Goliath Bible story as queer.
Tiny Tidbits of Goddamn!
1. It’s indeed tragic that a billionaire’s tourist submersible imploded on the ocean floor leaving five dead but perhaps even more tragic is that an overcrowded fishing boat that sank off the Greek coast last week with 500 people missing barely makes the news. Some people were saying that people onboard were clearly in danger and making frequent pleas for help more than 15 hours before the boat sank while the Coastguard and government officials defended the decision not to step in sooner to save the rusting steel trawler. It left eastern Libya on 9 June carrying men, women and children from Syria, Egypt, the Palestinian territories and Pakistan. Them wealthy folk get all the ink. (In case you didn’t know, a former OceanGate employee and submersible pilot filed a lawsuit against the company in 2018, alleging that passengers were being subjected "to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible" due to "OceanGate's refusal to conduct critical, non-destructive testing of the experimental design of the hull." And Stockton Rush himself said “At some point, safety just is pure waste. I mean, if you just want to be safe, don't get out of bed. Don't get in your car.”) Goddamn!
2. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna(tic) (R-Fla.) spearheaded the effort to censure Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff this week claiming he misled the American public over the course of congressional investigations into the Trump campaign's potential ties to Russia, given that other probes have not found conclusive evidence that Trump colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. To his credit, Schiff responded “To my republican colleagues who introduced this resolution, I thank you. You honor me with your emnity. You flatter me with this falsehood. You who are the authors of the big lie about the last election but condemn the truth tellers and I stand proudly before you. Your words tell me I have been effective in the defense of our democracy and I am grateful. And yet this false and defamatory resolution comes at a considerable cost to the country and to the congress.” Goddamn!
3. You’ve heard me preach about buying local in this blog and in person—support local businesses, money mostly stays in town, spreads around, does good. So, I’ve had the pizza from Ciao Down next to the Tucson Hop Shop a time or two only when at the Hop Shop. It’s pretty good. But I’ve tried ordering one to pickup on three different occasions and all three times the phone goes to voicemail, maybe to encourage one to use the app online. First of all, good for some but not everybody’s online. Secondly, I did download the app but to sign up they wanted too much personal information, user name and password to my Apple ID (No sir), other hoops to jump through just to order a pizza and pick it up. I decided instead to call Sauce, a regional pizza joint out of Scottsdale, also close by. They kindly answered the phone and took my order in 20 seconds flat. All they wanted was a name and phone number. 15 minutes later paid cash for it and out the door. Easy as pie. I’m glad that the local pie shop is so busy that they don’t feel the need to answer their phone. Good for them. This rates a Goshdarn!
My last three months have been focused on this new piece of which I’ll post more about later…here’s a sneak peek.
And now…
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Not Boots Randolph!!! 👍