What in the world?

[odile32]

Andy Burnham

Saw a brief interview on the BBC

Don’t know much about him to be honest

But was annoyed by the woman who was interviewing him asking him, as if it were a catch 22, whether he would hold an early general election

Like why should he?

He answered that Britain was a Parliamentary democracy

Which was my understanding as well

British peeps, please correct me if I’m wrong

But, you vote for the party, NOT a specific person

IF so, Brits should be happy about that, voting for policies of a party avoids voting for used car, snake-oil salesmen like Donald Trump

It avoids voting for cult of personality

It avoids accidentally electing an authoritarian

So.. yeah, am I mistaken in thinking Mr. Burnham is not obligated to hold an early general election just because Keir Starmer is no longer PM

[odile32]

Fear mongering about “the commies”

Sometimes it just boggles my mind how people buy this stupid idea that “the commies” are rising

Then again, I try to make allowances for people who don’t understand the system and didn’t live it

Still.. people are glued to the phone and the internet, it takes 2 seconds to Google the definitions and the practical history of communism and socialism to realize the GOP is mostly full of shit regarding the “rise of the commies”

Just to be clear

Communism is a system where there is no private ownership.

Marx and Engles envisioned a society devoid of class distinctions in a stateless environment

Stateless is simply not possible imo - since there needs to be an organizational structure (i.e. governance) for things to function

Communism is when the means of production are in the hands of the public, which translates to ‘in the hands of government,’ because, again, you need some structure of public governance.

NOBODY in the USA on the left is actually proposing that

None of the Democratic Socialists are close to proposing anything that resembles true socialism, much less communism, as I knew it

So, MAGA and the GOP can just chill out

Fact is - capitalism is a great economic system, communism is not

Fact is - laissez faire capitalism kind of sucks as a social contract, creating too much wealth inequality

The US Congress’ job is to figure out how to make it all work

P.S: Communism should NOT be confused with the authoritarian system of governance of the eastern bloc.

Russia is not communist today, but the authoritarianism persists…

The GOP, imo, seems to not want the communist economic system, but they seem just fine with authoritarianism

[odile32]

Wealth and intelligence are not correlated

Although the President of the United States is an example of wealth ≠ intelligence, this post is not about him

Another man that qualifies is Elon Musk

Who announced that he would have AI make a “historically accurate” Odyssey movie by the end of the year.

Forgive me if I LAUGHED out loud at the idea of “historically accurate” Gods, Cyclops, sirens, monsters and witches

While some appearances are described by Homer (and not in great detail), others, of course. are entirely up to your imagination, including Helen of Troy whose appearance (besides beautiful) is not detailed in the Odyssey.

Not to mention, the Ancient Greeks did not imagine these creatures and their Gods to look like them, like the average Joe on the street in Athens

So unless race, age, eyes, hair or other features are specifically mentioned - feel free to imagine the Gods as you wish

Why not, many Christians imagine Jesus as blond and blue eyed - highly unlikely to be “historically accurate”

So yes, I am very curious how Elon Musk will ensure that the mythological characters of the Odyssey are “historically accurate”

Clearly, in this guy’s case, his wealth does not correlate with intelligence

[odile32]

REMINDER: Republicans control ALL branches of govt… they ARE the STATE

Love how they have complete power and still act like they are somehow victims

[odile32]

MAGA was never against war

Just to be clear, MAGA can no longer, ever, bitch about war and military actions

1. Biden didn’t start any wars - didn’t invade Russia or Ukraine, didn’t start the Gaza disaster

2. Trump’s policies didn’t stop the war in Ukraine, nor the suffering in Gaza

3. Trump actually started a war in Iran

4. MAGA is just fine with starting a war and with US military casualties

[odile32]

Sure, let’s cut that

On another episode of “How DOGE screwed up”

This is what happens when a total and complete idiot like Elon Musk and his gang of uneducated 20 year olds decided to cut govt

Turns out, govt did a lot of things in the background that we actually need

Like, idk, Cyclospora surveillance…maybe

But sure, let’s cut that program and HHS staff because we don’t know what cyclosporiasis is, so it must not be important

I mean, if you don’t test for it…. It doesn’t exist?

Genius…

As time goes on, we will discover more and more all the things govt did that were good and are now gone

Meanwhile, let’s fund the DoWar another 1.5 trillion, why not

[odile32]

UPDATE:

FDA says the culprit is Taylor Farms bagged lettuce

FDA backtracks finding saying it was a false positive - they apologize to Taylor Farms

Problem: we still don’t know where the outbreak originates

Good job DOGE… NOT

[odile32]

CONGRATULATIONS SPAIN ON A WELL DESERVED WORLD CUP WIN!!!

[odile32]

The story I always tell new students

You always need to know the science and meaning behind things.

So, when I was in my post-doctoral training, we had just hired a new technician in the lab.

My boss gave her a relatively simple task of bacterial transformation - putting DNA into a bacterium

There is a very well established protocol, like following a baking recipe

So, it was a surprise that her transformations were not working.

Then, my boss said: “hey why don’t you watch her do it”

I hate watching over someone’s shoulder, but ok

Then at one point, she skips this 30-45 second step

And I go - hey, why did you skip this?

And she said - it is only 30 seconds, how important could it be?

I FELL OVER!!!

That is like THE STEP

You could literally cut corners on any other step, BUT NOT THE 30 SECOND HEATH SHOCK

Of course, that was why her transformation wasn’t working

It was clear that she didn’t understand the biology, the REASON behind it

I explained and she never skipped that step ever again

THAT IS ELON MUSK, DOGE AND THE ENTIRE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

Republicans poopooed knowledge and expertise as just elitist, but we are now finding out how wrong they were

Measles outbreaks, cyclosporiasis, climate, ICE mess, tariffs, inflation, diplomatic blunders, war blunders, attacks on universities etc etc.

The administration is totally incompetent and it shows, because they don’t know the reason behind things

And worse, they don’t care and don’t want to admit they made a mistake

[odile32]

Sure, let’s cut that

On another episode of “How DOGE screwed up”

This is what happens when a total and complete idiot like Elon Musk and his gang of uneducated 20 year olds decided to cut govt

Turns out, govt did a lot of things in the background that we actually need

Like, idk, Cyclospora surveillance…maybe

But sure, let’s cut that program and HHS staff because we don’t know what cyclosporiasis is, so it must not be important

I mean, if you don’t test for it…. It doesn’t exist?

Genius…

As time goes on, we will discover more and more all the things govt did that were good and are now gone

Meanwhile, let’s fund the DoWar another 1.5 trillion, why not

[odile32]

Trump needs to let go

Trump didn’t read the documents the White House released last night after his embarrassing speech, did he?

No, of course not, because he is being laughed off the internet and media this morning

If his administration wants to limit the damage, they need to stop letting him make an Address to the Nation, UNLESS it is really an emergency

After, of course, giving a totally rambling speech with zero evidence for what he is saying,

The White House then released newly declassified documents as “evidence”

It’s literally 90% of the ramblings we’ve heard before

And if anything, it supports more that RUSSIA HELPED TRUMP, than it does that China went against Trump

It DOESN’T support ANY of the claims he made last night

In other words, he didn’t fucking read the documents

But let us assume his delusions are true, then the following statement is true (credit to whoever said it)

Imagine announcing you’ll expose failures from an election that happened entirely under your own watch

- Unknown

He needs to let 2020 go…

We do want election security, but this nonsense of his is too ridiculous

[odile32]

Young Washington - a review

So, I went to see the movie “Young Washington” this weekend. I went because I like history, and I was interested.

I went despite the fact some reviews called it a “MAGA movie,” implying an old-fashioned super-hero white American point of view.

I am happy to report that was not my impression and I recommend the movie.

Here are my takeaways:

1. It is Hollywood, and it is an action packed war movie, so of course, some of it is romanticized and obviously not historically accurate, but it was ok.

2. There are some enhanced Christian undertones (not entirely historically inaccurate), but they didn’t overwhelm the movie, thankfully, also because Washington was presumably not overtly religious

3. In Ken Burns’ PBS documentary “The American Revolution” it is mentioned, based on some new evidence, that George Washington’s group may have started the French and Indian war - this movie actually goes fully into that hypothesis

4. Colonial Americans were not given the same privileges as those born or raised in Britain

5. The movie makes it very clear in multiple ways that the Ohio valley was Native land, and neither the British nor French had any claim on it.

6. In case MAGA needs it spelled out - the western frontier was “stolen” Native land

7. George Washington makes a case for birthright citizenship lol - he tells a Native American: “I was born here, same as you,” classic

Anyway, I enjoyed the movie and when it comes out on streaming, I will definitely watch it again.

The cast was good, Ben Kingsley and Andy Serkis among others.

[odile32]

NATO approach to Trump

NATO’s approach to Trump the last couple of days seems to be:

1. Smile - in that condescending European way

2. Flatter - in that insincere European way

3. Let him make a fool of himself

4. Ignore most of what he said

LOL LOL

[odile32]

Awwww….

Can we review how much DOGE reduced the federal deficit?

How much money did it save the taxpayer?

Oh right….LOL

IT DIDN’T!!!!

The only thing it achieved was compromising sensitive data that is probably being sold to the highest bidder

[odile32]

Why liberalism was good for the rich… and now??

Thinking about capitalism

a great economic system

a shit social contract

It dawned on me that liberalism was a good partner for capitalism

The top 1% were never liked, obviously,

But as long as they pretended to care about humanity and society, they got a pass

Let’s be clear, they only ever pretended to care

But, as we all know, that is soft power and a positive PR image helps

It was good for them to pretend to care about the less fortunate, about helping poor countries, poor communities, farmers, coal-miners, autoworkers, etc etc

I always knew they didn’t give a shit, but whatever…

For PR points they were at least willing to share some of their immense wealth

Since the second Trump presidency, all pretense of caring about anything or anyone but themselves has evaporated

And what is left is an ugly image of reality - they are shit human beings

While people are struggling, Ivanka Trump is talking about buying islands in the Adriatic

While people are struggling, Elon Musk is on a full ketamine drug induced delusional rant about living on Mars

While people are struggling, Alex Karp is literally having an ADHD full blown temper tantrum about the wealth tax

Corporations are cutting costs (people, benefits etc) to increase profits because $500 billion is not enough, they want $550 billion

The image left is one of people being completely out of touch and delusional to the bone

Also, the fact they are having a full psychotic breakdown because their wealth might go down from $18 billion to $17 billion is DISGUISTING

They are not even that smart, it’s not like Elon Musk is himself building engines and coding AI - literally he hires educated PhDs to do it for him

People hate these assholes now more than ever and rightfully so

Liberalism was good PR for them…

Now the mask is off and they are all ugly

And they have squandered any good will they might have had

They are doing well financially…but will that last without the public’s cooperation - we’ll see…

[odile32]

The Atlantic republishes JD Vance 2016 essay

Atlantic 1: JD Vance 0

Biggest takeaways:

1. JD Vance is not an idiot, he knows (always knew) exactly who and what Trump is and the damage he is doing to the country

2. JD Vance would sell his own mother for power and I wouldn’t trust him with the USA, ever

I highly recommend you all go to the Atlantic and re-read this.

[odile32]

Are we all socialists?

So, according to comedian Dave Smith (voted for Trump), who offers political/economic commentary… everyone from JD Vance to AOC are socialists

His latest podcast was responding to an interview by JD Vance discussing economic theory and

He doesn’t agree that JD described laissez-faire capitalism

I sometimes listen to Dave Smith, he is surprisingly well read

I don’t always agree with him

But in this case, he is not entirely wrong

Right wing populism and Left wing democratic socialists - have many things in common

Dave makes the case that socialism/communism as well as populist govt control don’t work as an economic system

Having grown up in socialism, I agree with Dave

Socialism/communism doesn’t work as an economic system

BUT, DAVE

Laissez-faire capitalism doesn’t work as a social contract

And that’s the pickle we find ourselves in

The type of capitalism Dave wants, we have tried before… since the Industrial Revolution till WWI

Problem: IT CREATES TOO MUCH WEALTH INEQUALITY

Wealth inequality tends to destabilize society and lead to rebellions/revolutions

What the answer is to the current wealth inequality? I have NO IDEA LOL

But going back to laissez-faire capitalism is NOT IT Dave

[odile32]

SCOTUS upholds birthright citizenship

I mean, as they should have

Unless you are Native American, all Americans are beneficiaries of birthright citizenship

There is no “American race”

White Americans are racially Europeans

Black Americans are racially Africans or mixed

Etc etc.

(Actually, Latin Americans all do have some indigenous blood from somewhere on the American continent…

so…..aside from Native Americans they are the most “American”- the irony)

Being born here, on US soil, is the only way you can define being a citizen of the USA