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All posts for the month November, 2024

Beliefs Versus Facts

Published November 30, 2024 by Nan Mykel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BELIEFS VERSUS FACTS?

By analysing communications by members of the US Congress on Twitter between 2011 and 2022, an article on pubmed shows that politicians’ conception of honesty has undergone a distinct shift, with authentic belief-speaking tending to become more prominent than explicitly evidence-based fact speaking. For Republicans–but not Democrats–an increase in belief-speaking of 10% is associated with a decrease of 12.8 points of quality (NewsGuard scoring system) in the sources shared in a tweet. In contrast, an increase in fact-speaking language is associated with an increase in quality of sources for both parties.  For example, the foregoing is “observational and cannot support causal inferences. However, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that the current dissemination of misinformation in political discourse is linked to an alternative understanding of truth and honesty that emphasizes invocation of subjective belief at the expense of reliance on evidence.”  authors

 

“You Animal, You!”

Published November 27, 2024 by Nan Mykel

 

 

As Suein Hwang, opinion columnist on the New York Times observes,  “Someone mistreats a dog and we’ll call 911. But if a company tortures millions of hogs as a business model, we dine on its products, invest in its shares and honor its executives.”

“The discrepancy is so stark,” Peter Singer, a moral philosopher, told me. “People are horrified by the very idea of eating dogs, but pigs are just as intelligent and make fine companions, too.”   As the article says, we draw a distinction between dogs and farm animals that is difficult to find a moral basis for.  opinion today.

Oh dear, I just read that some fish appear to have some level of consciousness!

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Reports on the troubled male-female relationship:

Though ballot measures to enshrine abortion rights passed in a handful of states in this election, the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade remains on the books, making abortion inaccessible and pregnancy far riskier in large swaths of the country.  In the last year alone there has been an explosion of young women who say they are deleting dating apps, whose market value has plummetedfemale celebrities (among others) who have taken vows of celibacy or identify as “self-partnered”; divorce memoirs by older millennial and Gen X women expressing profound disillusionment with heterosexual marriage; and trends like “boysober,” which preaches the virtues of “decentering men” to focus on self-improvement and platonic relationships.

President-elect Donald J. Trump’s decisive election victory seemed to turbocharge these feelings of unrest, at least among those who didn’t vote for him, leading to a surge in interest in South Korea’s 4B movement, which encourages women to reject dating, marrying, having sex with and having children with men.

 Online, women are exhorting one another to abandon men as a form of self-protection — buying a vibrator, or even a gun, might not be a bad idea either, a few suggested.

It is just one reaction among many from left-leaning women, who are far from united in what to do or how to think about a second Trump presidency. Disappointed by the defeat of another female nominee, some feel numb resignation, while others — particularly young women online — are channeling their disappointment into anger toward men as a whole.

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Gay stamps   “This early glimpse into our 2025 stamp program demonstrates our commitment to providing a diverse range of subjects and designs for both philatelists and stamp enthusiasts,” said Lisa Bobb-Semple, Stamp Services director for USPS, where “diversity” will no doubt be under fire under the incoming administration.— WordPress 

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CHILDREN MARCHED, BUT…

Published November 22, 2024 by Nan Mykel

 

 

Children  March

On March 15, 2019, in many cities around the world, one million children marched under the banner of “Climate Strike.”

Why should we go to school? Why should we prepare for a future that we will not have? We want you to panic. Then what?

This movement is a rebellion against extinction. (Can you rebel against extinction?) Simultaneously, this is the beginning of a culture of transitoriness and of rage against those who have engendered us.

Zain, the protagonist of the movie Capernaum (2018), directed by the Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki, is a twelve-year-old Syrian boy who lives with five siblings in a refugee camp in the metropolitan chaos of Beirut. Zain was not marching with Greta Thunberg and other youth activists on March 15, 2019; having been summoned by a judge, he demands that his parents be prosecuted for the crime of giving birth to him.

Zain is the perfect symbol of the children’s crusade that is mounting everywhere: an immense crowd of innocent victims who want to know why they have been compelled to abandon the blank immortality of eternal Nothingness, why they have been summoned, assembled in this awkward city of violence, in the sad murkiness of precarity and anguish. Why did you force me out of my space of dispassionate nonbeing into the fog and fury of exhaustion?

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In 2008 David Benatar published Better Never to Have Been.  Of note is his observation/decision that suicide is not an answer to the situation. I’m not clear whether his book had any bearing on the children’s demonstrations abut climate change.

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The news in America reports that president elect Donald Trump does not believe in climate change (he plans to “drill baby, drill” his first day in office.  However, the other half of the privileged two–Elon Musk–is reported to be a believer (and worrier?) about climate change.  We’ll have to see how this issue gets resolved….or not.

 

TRUMP’S PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE?

Published November 21, 2024 by Nan Mykel

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/24/opinion/trump-elon-musk-robert-kennedy.html

Surely the big ole grinning  president elect couldn’t wish his country harm!  It seems clearer each day that he has us heading for a big SHAKEUP, into a new government with a new blueprint.  Did 2025 stop just short of  its real agenda –crumbling structure due to the need for an entirely different blueprint,  probably during His lifetime. Hint: not very damn far away, in the long run. Trump won the vote  of those who admit they “don’t pay attention to the news at all” by 51 to 32.  Planned obsolescence isn’t a new concept–just not appropriate…or honest…or patriotic…just sneaky and dishonest and catastrophic on this scale.

Hint: Stuff the leadership with inexperienced leaders, then see what hits the fan,,,all part of the plan, his retributive destination not that far down the road.

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Remember the 2010 Supreme Court Decision About Corporations?  Just a reprint of the poem about one aspect of it by Patricia L. H. Black from my Life Issues page.

What’s Wrong with This Picture?

I met some corporations and
because I had a hunch they had
all been adjudged “persons,”
I invited one to lunch.
Oh, that naughty corporation!
As far as I could see,
it had not been taught its manners—
I got no R, S, V nor P.
But since I was the hostess
I had duties to perform,
though this corporation person
was so outside the norm
that making up the place cards
put my thinking to the test—
could I just write General
and forget about the rest?
And since Incorporated is so very long,
tell me what you think—
would it be uncouth of me
if all I wrote was Inc.?
Then, again, there’s gender
to complicate my tale.
Is corporation female
or is corporation male?
Somehow it seems that neither
is appropriate or will fit.
But it goes against my training
to call a person “It.”
Well, I had invited it
so I assigned it to a seat.
Now I had a problem—
What do corporations eat?
Was it carnivorous or vegan?
Lactose intolerant?
Some persons can eat seafood
while other persons can’t.
There were peanuts to consider
and corn syrup issues, too.
If I fed this so-called person eggs
would it suddenly turn blue?
What a jolt at lunch time
when the corporation knocked!
When the door was opened
I was shocked, I tell you, shocked!
I’m used to thinking “person”
as my neighbor or my dad
but I was sorely disabused
of all such thoughts I might have had.
There were janitors, clerks and typists,
lawyers up to you know where,
receptionists and file clerks
and scientists to spare;
there were bricks-and-mortar buildings
from here to Timbuktu;
fleets of trucks and warehouses,
the list just grew and grew!
Shareholders by the gazillions,
ships, public and private planes,
mortgage-holding entities
and miles and miles of trains.
There were CEO’s and CFO’s
and all sorts of other O’s.
How this “person” would fit
my dining room
the Supreme Court only knows.
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POST ELECTION Poem

Published November 20, 2024 by Nan Mykel

…by Ruth H. Reilly

WE DON’T AGONIZE…

We’re going on a cruise-

Not the two-week kind,

Only women,

Not a man to find.

It’s on the Liberation Line.

 

Our vow:

No sex, no babies,

No wedding bells,

No romantic ideas

That lead to certain hell.

 

We’ll have a blast,

Drink too much,

Turn the music up and dance.

We’ll declare ourselves a state

And organize, a very feminine trait.

 

With a small fleet of 10 ships to start,

At 3,000 passengers each,

We’ll sway future elections

To go our way–no more genuflections!-

Until we have a Madam President.

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Gentling Away…

Published November 17, 2024 by Nan Mykel

NEW DECISION

I’m backing off from trying to interpret some of the news on this blog.  It’s too much for an old lady to keep up with (and hoping to be one step ahead of).  But I don’t want to starve my site to death, so I’m going to empty some of my pages here until they’re all gone, and add some piddling stuff to keep my blood flowing.)

In the meantime, hugs and kisses to all my “liking” readers,  and you can be dismissed with no hard feelings.  I love you all.  The shift from FOLLOW to SUBSCRIBE did knock things off kilter a little bit, in addition to AI on the network, Co-pilot, rule changes in the middle of the year, etc.  I’d list you all but don’t want to overlook any former readers.  P.S. I know I’ve been very unreliable with keeping my decision/promises. We’ll see if I can do any better this time.  Smile.  PPSS:  In the process of publishing a photo of me, AI made  a “better” image of me, in a different hat… And I can’t work that funny square, either.

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SEX IS NOT LOVE

Is the man/woman thing getting worse?  It seems so.  The internet will have traced the battle between the sexes; I’ll just remind you of it, and re-state that if women want to be respected as co-humans, they might consider acting more like a co-human rather than a man-hungry lion.  I feel like posting a “No-No” beside every gussied up image/ad/AI facsimile on the internet, but don’t worry.  I don’t have the time.  Just thought that might be one step toward easing the current hostility between the sexes.

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AN OLD PAGE,  “Life Issues”:  (By a blogger other than Nan)

I’m Still Alive  from the Mental Chronicles – In 2013

“I just find it difficult to deal with and I tend to think maybe, maybe it is a trend going downward and maybe someday our world will become too heavy from the weight of its crimes and it will all fall down and collapse in on itself, and maybe that is the outcome humanity deserves.”

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Trump’s spiritual advisor says “no more rainbow flags” after re-election

–LGBTQ  Nation Weekly Newsletter

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TRUMP’S INFLUENCE…

Published November 14, 2024 by Nan Mykel

Trump’s Influence:  “It is a very scary time for young men in America, where you can be guilty of something you may not be guilty of. … Women are doing great.” [Oct. 2, 2018]

While many schools are no longer teaching about “Stranger Danger” …banning both books and sex education on one hand, our president elect is advising  men to “deny anything that’s said about you.”
AND NETANYAHU’S BEHAVIOR
For more than a year, Mr. Netanyahu has denied being briefed in advance about the invasion. He has avoided setting up a state inquiry to assess the culpability of Israel’s military and political leaders, including himself.  Was he willingly sacrificing his own people to justify an all-out war?  Sort of reminds me of Bush and 9/11’s “surprise.”
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A.I. in the Studio
In addition to “figuring out stuff” technically, A.I. has invaded human artists and creativity itself, belittling it down apparently to its bare bones of ho hum.  What’s left to bolster the value of humanity?  Did A.I. vivify Trump?  (That’s as dumb an idea as Trump’s many)….When will A.I. get to mimicking religion?  Or, like Trump, professing itself as our savior?  Oooh, I sound cranky, don’t I?  But I refuse to tinker with the free A.I. toys to slant reality.  Reality?  Reality anyone?
Whatever was that?
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OH MY!  AI!
We’ve outgrown our underpants,
Creation down to the nub.
Ay, that’s the rub.
 Cause for alarm
and yes, harm.
Dumpster diving for a soul.

JIGSAW PUZZLE IT

Published November 14, 2024 by Nan Mykel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awash from every side, flooded, yes flooded, by the planned harm of it all, the discarded morality and caring, what can we do to remain safe, sane, alive, yet productive?  Choose one grievance ,  but…but…  Feeling guilt for my growing resentment against other humans….Confusion about fear of former imagined team members….If only there was a jigsaw puzzle with all the pieces of a future that fit together….But in the meantime the internet is playing with our minds–scheming, scheming…messing with our heads….my old head, anyway.  I may have to gaze elsewhere for awhile?  And as for AI, possibly on its way to mess with our evolution–with the Tech world’s assist–Blah!  I’d curse if I weren’t so old and proper! (Ha!)

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She was gobbled up by a trolling net while singing her last song:

HER LAST SONG

Oh a mother fish’s life

is filled with strife,

raising her young

to spot the hooks

dangled above by

the fisherman cooks

and MAGA crooks.

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Hispanic Americans?

Published November 13, 2024 by Nan Mykel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why did a large chunk of hispanic voters along the border in Texas switch their vote to Republican?  Seems like I pondered this question earlier, but I’m still wondering about it.  Do they not recall Trump’s  earlier words and actions?  I read a hispanic man  said it was because hispanic men didn’t want to have a woman as president.  (Who said from the frying pan into the fire?)  [a Greek saying about running from the smoke or the fire into the flame.]

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PROBABLY SENSIBLE:

“Many self-styled bipartisan groups, in their search for common ground, propose solutions that move both sides to the center, a strategy that is simply untenable when one side is so far out of reach.”  Quote from Diane  Richter

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I Wonder…

Published November 13, 2024 by Nan Mykel

What kind of intimate childhood experiences did Donnie have?  Did he have any pets, and what kind?  How long did they live?  Did he love them, care for them?  I’m just having trouble imagining it.  I keep remembering the other woman who was trashed by Donnie about the time of Stormy Daniels. When a broadcaster asked if she thought Donnie had loved her, she said, “I know he did.”  I heard that with my own ears.

This may be an appropriate time to review some of his opinions of women:  His most bizarre and perhaps most puzzling statement was about Vice President Kamala Harris on August 17, 2024:   “I am much better looking than Kamala Harris.”

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Selected other Trump opinions of women:

KAMALA HARRIS has variously been described by Trump as very nasty, the meanest. most horrible, pathetic, totally unlikeable, lyin’, dummy, terrible, mentally impaired, retarded, so fu*king bad, monster, a Marxist, no one likes her, disrespectful…

It should be noted that Trump claims to have great respect for women. “Nobody has more respect for women than I do. Nobody. Nobody has more respect than I do.”  –ABC News via You Tube, Oct. 18, 2016.

Of Whoopi Goldberg on The View, Trump said she was “Filthy, dirty, disgusting, a loser.”  One wonders if he translates black as dirt.

Trump publicly referred to Stormy Daniels as “Horseface.”

And if we go back to Hillary Clinton…there’s a whole lot more.

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WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

I guess I’m trying to make sense out of a situation that remains a mystery to me.  I wonder where he is, inside himself.  He seems very unhappy to me, but remains a mystery.

 

 

 

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