Senator Warren considers running for President!

Yes! According to this article where Warren said: “It’s time for women to go to Washington and fix our broken government and that includes a woman at the top. So here’s what I promise, after November 6 I will take a hard look at running for president.” Here is the video where she said it (around 4:00).

Repugnantan assault on Justice

What Dr. Ford described is typical Repug behavior when it comes to Lady Justice: Bound, gagged and assaulted.

Kavanaugh's Russia connection

And here's the case where he ruled this. It allows foreign nationals free reign in US issue ads. So much so that one of the Russian companies indicted by the Mueller investigation is using Kavanaugh's ruling as a defense to justify their interference in our election. So perhaps Kavanaugh has his own Russia connections to hide from the Mueller investigation? And another reason he was picked so he could thwart it?

Blight House limits FBI investigation

Despite Dump lying about it, as usual, the investigation will be limited in the following ways.

1. Anything related to Jule Swetnick will not be investigated.
2. Former college classmates will not be interviewed about Kavanaugh's drinking.
3. Former high school classmates will not be interviewed about the accuracy of Kavanaugh's testimony.
4. It is not an FBI criminal investigation but a Blight House background investigation, so the Blight House sets the limitations.
5. Neither Ford nor her lawyers have been contacted about the investigation.
6. "The White House has authorized the FBI to interview four witnesses: Judge; Leland Keyser, a high school friend of Ford’s whom she said attended the party but was not told of the assault; P.J. Smyth, another party guest; and Ramirez, the Yale accuser." That's it.
7. Blight House Counsel McGahn, who wants Kavanaugh on the Corp, is in charge of the limitations.

Bottom line, it's a sham that in intended to skim the surface so as to not find any real proof.

Silverman: Billionaires cost us money

She uses Amazon's Bezos as an example. Sure he's donating $2 billion for a worth cause, but what about the worthy cause called his workers, who need public assistance because their wages are so low. She also points out that Amazon paid $0 in federal income tax last year, so they do not contribute 1 penny to the social programs their employees need to survive. Think of this next time you order from Amazon. Unless you don't give a shit about it as long as you get your own immediate needs conveniently met.

SNL's version of Kavanaugh's testimony

Hilariously funny yet accurate depiction of the testimony.

Why Graham is defending Dump and Kavanaugh so vigorously

This article shows hows Graham received $800,000 in 2017 "from a man with ties to Putin-allied oligarchs." Graham is up to his eyeballs in the Russia scandal so he's trying to prevent the Mueller evidence from seeing the light of day. And/or when it does to ensure that Dump and he are either protected from prosecution or eligible for pardons. The whole lot of them are traitors to our country and need to be brought to justice if our democracy is to survive. But that is the bottom line of these Dumpsters: The decimation of democracy.

When disagreement is more than that

The Repugnantans try to make the argument that it's just two equal sides of an argument, a false equivalence. When they ignore and/or minimize women for sexual assault claims, or blame poor people for their plight, or think it's right to put kids in cages to punish their parents, then they are denying humanity and that is far beyond a mere disagreement. They are morally wrong and there's no compromising with that in some imaginary center. And yes, when someone denies another's humanity and right to exist then indeed it is morally correct to question and even deny their humanity.

Kavanaugh using Dump's playbook

Good video showing how Kavanaugh is using the exact same tactics that Dump gets away with. Was he coached to behave this way? We have a paranoid conspiracy theorist and sexual predator in the Blight House so now another one on the Supreme Corp? WTF happened to the Repugnantan Party?

Kavanaugh FBI probe will include accuser Ramirez

Great news. So it will include not only Dr. Ford and the witnesses associated with that claim but Ramirez's claims too. The clip has a debate with a Kavanaugh apologist and a detractor. You can decide who is making sense and who is making excuses for a predator for ideological purposes.

Definitive proof Kavanaugh lied

The Young Turks break it down. First there's Kavanaugh's response to terms in his yearbook, like boufing and the Devil's Triangle. Why lie about this? Because the latter description is about 2 guys having sex with 1 woman, what he's accused of doing with Ford. Then there's the lie about Renate being an alumnius, which he says means they were all friends with her. No, it refers to all the guys having had sex with her. When asked if he took a polygraph test he claimed no because they are unreliable, yet in one of his rulings he said they indeed are reliable. Another lie. Kavanaugh said Ms. Kaiser, Dr. Ford's friend, said it never happened when in fact she said she didn't recall the incident but believes Dr. Ford nonetheless. Another lie.

These are just some of the lies in his last hearing, let alone the other proven perjury he's committed. He's a pathological liar arising from his entitled upbringing because he thinks he above accountability, like like his nominator Dump.

Crossing paradigms

Continuing the last post, Edwards gets at this from his own angle via his four orders of holonic relations: Intra, inter, systemic and inter-systemic (189-90). Intra-holonic order is the dynamics within an individual holon, often the focus of developmentalists. Inter-holonic order is the mediational dynamics between holons, often the study of constructionists. The systemic order is the relationship between holons and the holarchy in which it is embedded. He uses the governance holarchy as an example of this. Inter-systemic order is multi-lens frameworks "which consider multiple systems of holons and holarchies in dynamic environments" (191). The latter sounds a lot like Lakoff et al's cogsci, both at least cross-paradigmatic approaches.

Note: Commons et al now have a new stage above that call meta-cross-paradigmatic. I'm honestly not that interested in the minutiae of all this stageism. What's next? Super-post-trans-meta-cross-what da fa?

Set theory relationships

Continuing this post, in the referenced Edwards book he discussed 3 different kinds of holarchy: developmental, ecological and governance (132). This might or not refer to different kinds of set theory. E.g.: "In true governance holarchies, more encompassing levels do not determine what the less encompassing levels will do in isolation from the organising agency of those junior levels. Higher holarchical levels do not cause lower levels to behave or think. The exchange is always a two-way process. Hence, in a balanced governance holarchy, constituent holons are best seen as leader-followers" (133).

Note the diagrams of the 3 types (figure 7.1). The governance holarchical levels are not subsumed within the higher levels, indicating a different set relationship.

Which of course reminds me of Bryant's discussion of intension and extension relationships in Badiou's set theory. In the former the elements of the set are ordered in a particular way, whereas in the latter the elements can be related in multiple ways. I.e., elements in the latter are not defined by their relations whereas they are in the former. This seems to be the difference between the internal organizational structure of an individual holon and its relationships with other, external holons, similar to Edwards' different types.

Some Repugnantan-Russia money connections

Perhaps this is why the Repugs don't care about Russia influencing our elections: They take Russian money. And why they are actively thwarting the Mueller investigation, for it will likely expose them as well.

"Donald Trump and the political action committees for Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Lindsey Graham, John Kasich and John McCain accepted $7.35 million in contributions from a Ukrainian-born oligarch who is the business partner of two of Russian president Vladimir Putin's favorite oligarchs and a Russian government bank."

Dump losing ground with Repugnantan women

According to this poll, especially in light on Dump pushing another sexual predator on them. Dump's support among this demographic has fallen 18 points. Unfortunately 49% still approve, but that support is dropping is a hopeful sign that at least some female Dump voters have had enough of the misogyny.

Do Repugnantans care about sexual assault?

Yes, but only in that their men are usually involved in it as if it's a God-given right of men over women. So when it comes to women complaining about it they could care less.

Reich: It's up to you

Another of his quick videos on what we must do to get out of this Dumpster fire. First and foremost: Vote! But before that verify you are registered and on the voting rolls, since the Repugnantans are hell bent of purging voters. And get everyone you know to do the same, especially young voters. Get active in the political process in a way suited to your skills and inclinations.

Maher's monologue

Of course the Kavanaugh circus is front and center. Ford is credible and Kavanaugh shows the same unhinged rage that indicates sexual predators. You know, like his idol the Presidunce.

Maher on God and Dump

Religion has proven to be hypocritical, especially since the Evangelicals support the most irreligious man on earth, the Presidunce. Then there's State religions, believing in the nonsense of irrational nationalism. And then there's Dumpsters, which inherit the authoritarian worldview of religion with Dump as their Dope (instead of Pope).

Colbert interviews new Blight House attorney

The new attorney is Jeff Bridges.

Kavanaugh lied about witnesses

No surprise, as he's been caught lying several times now and the Repugnantnas won't do a damn thing about it. In this case, he said that the 4 witnesses involved in the Dr. Ford case said "it didn't happen." That a bold face lie; they said they can't remember. That's an entirely different thing. Kavanaugh is a serial and pathological liar, perfect for today's Repugnantan Party.

Supreme Corp case could protect Dump's pardons

The Corp accepted this case and Kavanaugh, if confirmed, will vote on it. In essence, the case is about eliminating the power of States to try someone for crimes if the federal judiciary rules on it and vice versa. That could mean that if Dump pardons Manafort, for example, that States could not also bring charges against him. And conveniently just in time for Kavanaugh to vote on it, and we know exactly how he'll vote on it.

Flake votes yes on Kavanaugh but requests FBI investigation

He'd like the investigation to be done in the next week before a full floor vote on Kavanaugh. He might like it but McConnell can just say no and likely will. So it's an empty show gesture. We are not fooled Flakey.

48% white evangelicals support Kavanaugh if sexual assault true

The poll is here. How morally bankrupt can these fake Christians get? Answer at the link and below.

Colbert on the Kavanaugh hearing

In part 1 below he goes over Ford's convincing testimony. Even Pox Views was sympathetic, no easy feat. In part 2 here he reams Kavanaugh for his infantile temper tantrums and self-righteous indignation, with a devastating zinger at the end. Also how this performance seals that Kavanaugh is a political hack whose only goal is to be a toady for the Party's oligarchic agenda.

Senator Flake is a flake

All his bluster about protecting women from sexual assault and he'll now vote to confirm Kavanaugh. He said that the hearing was between two compelling witnesses so he had doubts about who is telling the truth. Then have a f____ing FBI investigation to determine that! But no, let's just get on with it. Coward. Liar. It's not name calling when it's the truth.

Kavanaugh using Dump's playbook

And it does work for the ignorant and developmentally challenged.

Redneck Liberal on Kavanaugh

Good, down home logic, something the Repugnantan Party obviously lacks.

American Bar Association: Delay Kavanaugh vote, do FBI investigation

The Repugns trotted out the ABA's glowing accolades of Kavanaugh as proof of his character. Yet now the ABA is demanding that the nomination be put on hold until after an FBI investigation into Ford's and other's accusations. Seems the ABA is not to be trusted either now, after using it as a character witness? Further proof their hearing was a sham as they are having their vote this morning. However, contact Flake, Murkowski and Collins and give them holy hell.

Kavanaugh afraid of FBI investigation

A good, brief clip highlighting his refusal to answer the question.

Durbin asks Kavanaugh to request an FBI investigation

In this Q&A Kavanaugh said he'd do anything to prove his innocence. So Durbin asks if he'd therefore request an FBI investigation to get the facts. Durbin asked this repeatedly and Kavanaugh equivocated repeatedly, making it obvious that Kavanaugh and the Repugnantans do not want to get the facts in this case.

Compare Dump and Sanders on women

One is a misogynist and sexual predator, one treats women as human beings and fights for their rights. I'll leave it up to you which is which.

Some more of Dr. Ford's testimony

How anyone could discount this witness is beyond reason and compassion. Oops, I just described today's Repugnantan Party.

A Star is Born extended preview

I'm so looking forward to this one.

NZ Prime Minister on why UN laughed at Dump

Dump is now trying to spin it that he intended his remarks to be a joke so the UN was laughing with him at the joke. The New Zealand Prime Minister, who was there, tries to be diplomatic about it but her hedging makes it obvious they were laughing at idiot Dump.

FDR on the minimum wage

FDR meant a minimum wage to be a living wage. We know today it is not. Hence Repugnantans do not want us to live, since they are opposed to the $15 minimum wage, which today is the bare bones livable wage.

Dr. Ford's opening statement on Kavanaugh

Is here and below. She is credible and has credentials beyond reproach. Let the Repugnantan misogynist circus begin.

Silverman on Dump UN laughingstock

Funny how world leaders laugh at the same comment Dump got cheers for from his Dumpsters. I wonder what the difference between these two crowds could be? If you know the correct answer you're liking laughing with the UN at him. If not, we're laughing at you too.

Sanders lays out the case against Kavanaugh

The sexual assault is just the latest in a long line of reasons against this Repugnantan hit man. He's lied to Congress several times over his career, most recently about receiving stolen Democratic emails. Discovered emails proved this to be perjury to the Senate. He lied when he said he didn't know about his mentor sexually harassing employees, again proven to be perjury.

And he's lying again about the recent accusations of sexual assault, now up to 4 women. If he's telling the truth then why not request an FBI investigation to prove it? Why must the Repugs rush the confirmation before such a fact-finding investigation, in fact preventing it from taking place? The answers are all too clear from this old boys club of inveterate liars and sexual predators. In their minds Kavanaugh has passed the test for corruption necessary to be a member of that club.

Want a moral society?

Then vote for candidates that make the kind of moral choices you want. Which candidates are those that will help everyone, including us working folk and those in need? And which only help the already rich? It's easy to determine so the choice is also that easy.

Dogs of Shakespeare

For those who loveth Shakespeare.

Fuzzy sets

Continuing the last post, in chapter 2 of Sattler's book, Wilber's AQAL Model and Beyond, he reiterates a point I've long made in the "Real and false reason thread" regarding set theories: Some sets are fuzzy, meaning a member can be both partially in and out of a defined set. Hence a part is not completely subsumed in a larger holon as in the typical nested concentric circles. One kind of set theory does that, another kind (fuzzy set) does not. The former nested set forms one kind of hierarchy, the fuzzy kind form what I've come to call hier(an)archical synplexity. Both are internally consistent depending on which set axioms you choose, yet both are inconsistent with each other.


Then again, which set axioms are more consistent with cognitive science given its own methodological axioms? It depends on which cogsci you use. The 1st generation is built on what Lakoff calls the necessary and sufficient categorical conditions of disembodied, abstract reason. The 2nd generation is built on the fuzzy categories of embodied reason. The question becomes which is more empirically accurate given advances in the field?

Different forms of set theory

Continuing this post, yet Lakoff said this about set theory, which is built at least in part on the container schema:

"The same is true of set theory. There are lots and lots of set theories, each defined by different axioms. You can construct a set theory in which the Continuum hypothesis is true and a set theory in which it is false. You can construct a set theory in which sets cannot be members of themselves and a set theory in which sets can be members of themselves. It is just a matter of which axioms you choose, and each collection of axioms defines a different subject matter. Yet each such subject matter is itself a viable and self-consistent form of mathematics. [...] There is no one true set theory." (WMCF, 355).

 He also explains why the above is not postmodern relativism: 

Maine increased minimum wage, raised 10k kids out of poverty

According to this report by the Maine Center for Economic Policy. The only logical conclusion is that those who oppose raising the minimum wage don't care about kids living in poverty but only care about business making the most profit it possibly can on the backs of poverty workers. How great is that America? What's truly great is that raising the minimum wage actually helps workers and their families.

Colbert joins UN in laughting at Dump

Anyone with at least half a functioning brain can't help it. He praised only for dictators while criticizing actual democracies. And then there's Dump's isolationist xenophobia, where he refuted the very idea of the United Nations.

3rd Kavanaugh victim identified

Her name is Julie Swetnich, represented by Avenatti. She said that Kavanaugh, Judge and their buddies would spike the girls' drinks so that they could be gang raped. She saw both Kavanaugh and Judge waiting in line for such gang rapes. She herself was a victim of one of those rapes where the two were present, though she doesn't say they participated in her rape.Will Repugnantans or the FBI investigate? Of course not.

2017 Democracy Index

The US continues to be a flawed democracy. You can see the EIU report here. The latter says of the US decline: "The main cause of the US regression was a serious decline in public trust in US institutions in 2016." See the link for much more on why we are so flawed on the very premise of our country: Democracy.

Gestalt perception and the container schema

Continuing this post, I noted that Edwards Edwards uses the holonic lens as a 'scaffold' to accommodate all the lenses (189). That lens is the container schema according to cogsci. And it has its own premises and inferences that apply to that schema, but it is only one of dozens of schemas. So I question that the holonic lens can truly provide a syntegrative scaffold for all the other lenses. Lakoff et al. certainly do not use the container schema to do that with the other schemas.

However, in rereading Philosophy in the Flesh it turns out that our basic level categories and actions, those with which we directly interact with the world, depend on gestalt (part-whole) structure. Mental imagery (image schema) are also based on this gestalt perception. So it seems that the container image schema (holon), while only one of several different schemas, is fundamental in the sense above.

Repugnantan tax scam 2

Remember the first one where the rich got all the money and we working class folk got cuts to our pay, benefits and infrastructure? The real takers at it again, piling up more tax welfare for themselves. We must wake up and vote these thieves out, and vote in people that care about us, not their rich benefactors.

Dump betrayed the working class

But will they be informed enough to know it? They will if they watch this video. And still have some respect for facts and reality.

Repugnantan Party declares moral bankruptcy

Borowitz does it again:

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—The Republican Party officially filed for moral bankruptcy on Tuesday morning, a move that many in the nation considered long overdue.

In filing for moral bankruptcy, the Republicans will formally attest that they have no morals, standards, or ethics on their balance sheet, and will agree to cease all activity as a political party in exchange for indemnity from any and all legal actions.

Harland Dorrinson, a Washington attorney who specializes in moral bankruptcies, said that, by making its moral vacuum official, the G.O.P. could theoretically break itself up and sell off the parts, but, he warned, “There are no buyers.”

“From Lindsey Graham to Ted Cruz to Mitch McConnell to Chuck Grassley, all of the Republican Party’s assets could only be described as toxic,” he said. “Their breakup value is zero.”

Naomi Klein on the reality of Puerto Rico

She debunks Dump's lies about what has happened during and after the hurricane. Warning: Facts ahead. And it ain't pretty.

Kavanaugh's 1982 social calendar

Since Kavanaugh claims he has his high school calendar to prove he wasn't at the party in question, Colbert comes up with a copy for our enjoyment.

Colbert on the growing list of Kavanaugh accusers

And we already know they will all be ignored. I mean, we have a sexual predator in the Blight House and several throughout the Congress, so why not the Supreme Corp? Men will be boys, right?

The UN laughs out loud at Dump

In his presentation before the UN Dump made one of his typically absurd statements: "In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country." And the audience of world leaders immediately laughed in his face because Dump is a joke. And they were laughing at him, not with him. The idiot Dump though didn't get that.

Repugnantan response to #MeToo

It figures. Does that work for you ladies? Having your sexual assaults ignored? Is "boys will be boys" acceptable? If not vote them out in November. And remember to check to see if you've been purged from the voter rolls. Repugnantans know they cannot win fair elections so are purging Dems by the hundreds of thousands.

Yale law students stage sit-in to protest Kavanaugh

They were sitting in the halls and refusing to go to class while demanding that a proper investigation is done into the sexual assault allegations against Kavanauch. 31 classes had to be cancelled. This is exactly what we need: To stand up against Senate corruption in this process. To make it so that if they proceed anyway their very jobs are at risk. Their very jobs should already be at risk for what they've done so far, complying with the Biggest Sexual Predator in Presidential History.

Repugnantan Senate aides knews of 2nd Kavanaugh accuser and

Tried to rush the confirmation before it was made public. These are some serious scumbags that would knowingly push a sexual predator onto the Supreme Corp just so that their agenda items would pass his prejudiced muster.

>1000 Yale students, staff and faculty are against Kavanaugh

See this report. The letter is against Kavanaugh due to:

He will likely overturning Roe v. Wade; has argued that religious business does not have to provide contraception in employee coverage; will exempt the President from even an investigation; has consistently ruled for corporations against people; has ruled against environmental protection; ruled to protect predatory lenders; advocated for school prayer and so on. See the letter at the link which includes the growing list of the school signatories.

Jesus and Evangelical Q&A

Plain and simple.

Are you a democratic socialist?

Good quick quiz that reveals if you are one, as well as what that phrase means. I of course answered every question that reflects that description. Here is my Q&A:

Q: Let’s start with the big question. In an ideal world, who would control the means of production?
A: Workers
Explanation:

You agree with democratic socialists. They believe that wherever possible, industries should be controlled by the workers who operate them and the consumers who depend on them — not by corporations, and not by the government either. Essentially, they believe that the more control that is directly in workers’ hands, the better.

“Our ultimate goal is for working people to run our society and run our workplaces and our economies,” said Maria Svart, the national director of the D.S.A. “It’s a vision of actually, truly democratizing the economy, not just taking a lot of public services away from the profit-seeking private marketplace.”

Democratic socialists do believe that a small number of industries, including energy and steel, would be best administered by the government. But generally speaking, they want a decentralized economy. They explicitly oppose authoritarian communism as seen in the Soviet Union; instead, they favor arrangements like workers’ cooperatives.

Q: In a capitalist system, do you believe government regulations are helpful or harmful?
A: Helpful
Ex:

Avenatti represents 3rd Kavanaugh victim

Continuing this post, Avenatti claims the woman he is representing is Kavanaugh's 3rd victim. Avenatti wants the following entry addressed from Kavanaugh's high school yearbook: "FFFFFFFourth of July." Avenatti believe that this stands for: Find them, French them, Feel them, Finger them, F*ck them, Forget them. In other words, Dump and the Repubnantan's perfect nomination.

Europe's post-growth economy

The collaborative commons movement is trying to have a larger effect on governments. We'll see what happens from this conference. From this piece:

"238 academics call on the European Union and its member states to plan for a post-growth future in which human and ecological wellbeing is prioritised over GDP. [...] This week, scientists, politicians, and policymakers are gathering in Brussels for a landmark conference. The aim of this event, organised by members of the European parliament from five different political groups, alongside trade unions and NGOs, is to explore possibilities for a 'post-growth economy' in Europe."

See the link for the details.

Deputy AG Rosenstein resigning

As reported here. Apparently he has already done so. So what becomes of the Mueller investigation? Will Sessions hire someone else to continue it? And when Sessions is fired? What then?

Dump's unholy alliance

Time to refute them all in the mid-terms.

Mutual Aid Networks

From the Humans Global Cooperative. The blurb below. See more at the link.

"Mutual Aid Networks (MANs) are a new type of networked cooperative creating means for everyone to discover and succeed in work they want to do, with the support of their community. Through the HUMANs (Humans United in Mutual Aid Networks, formerly the Main MAN), a global umbrella cooperative, all pilot sites and members share their tools, experiences and resources. Together we demonstrate that the economy is what we make it."

Avenatti represents a woman with dirt on Kavanaugh

This just in. Avenatti said he's representing a woman who has credible info on Kavanaugh and Judge. Judge is the other guy who was at the Ford assault. More as it develops.

2nd woman accuses Kavanaugh of sexual assault

This was also at a drinking party, where apparently a drunk woman named Ramirez vaguely remembered a guy putting his penis in her face. She said Kavanaugh was standing next to her, laughing and pulling up his pants. Some people interviewed remembered it that way, others did not. Hopefully more and more women will come forward to report on this abuser.

6 Repug Senators voted NO to protect women from violence

Indeed this meme is accurate, as here is the Senate vote count on the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013. No wonder these misogynists have already made clear they'll proceed with confirming Kavanaugh no matter what Ford says. Remember that when you vote ladies.

How Senate Repugs plan to question Kavanaugh accuser

This is their preferred method, more effective than waterboarding. And invented in an era where most of them still live.

I thought Repugnantans considered this murder?

I guess not when one of theirs does it, eh? But he's taking the Dump Defense and denying it.

Libertarian Socialist Caucus platform

Can be found here. See it for the details. Some highlights:

• Housing Justice: build and support popular neighborhood assemblies, ^[1] tenants unions, ^[2] housing cooperatives, eco-housing, community land trusts, and anti- gentrification coalitions; ^[3] and hold landlords accountable. ^{[4] [5]}
  
• Ecosocialism: protect people and nature from fossil fuels, ^[6] toxic waste, ^[7] and ongoing climate catastrophe. ^[8] Work to ensure clean air, water, and land for everyone. Prepare and repair the world with community resilience, ^{[9] [10]} permaculture, and democratic, municipal control of energy grids and utilities. ^{[11] [12]}
  
• Anti-Racism and Indigenous Rights: working locally and globally ^[13] to dismantle systems of oppression and ensure that all people have what they need to thrive. Encouraging and supporting anti-racist and anti-fascist organizing, ^[14] and work to end the colonial oppression of indigenous people and protect the rights of First Nations. ^[15]
  
• Freedom of Movement and International Solidarity: abolish ICE ^[16] and ensure freedom of movement for all people. Develop international relations policy based on peace and economic solidarity, dismantle the war machine, and support global freedom struggles. ^[17]
  
• Restorative and Transformative Justice: with the goal of abolishing police and prisons, efforts to make police accountable to communities, ^[18] support incarcerated people, ^{[19] [20]} and build community justice systems ^[21] to transform bad situations and unjust conditions into nurturing and just ones. ^{[22] [23]}  

Bonding with your algorithm

The blurb follows from this video and transcript:

"The relationship between parents and children is the most important relationship. It gets more complicated in this case because, beyond the children being our natural children, we can influence them even beyond. We can influence them biologically, and we can use artificial intelligence as a new tool. I’m not a scientist or a technologist whatsoever, but the tools of artificial intelligence, in theory, are algorithm- or computer-based. In reality, I would argue that even an algorithm is biological because it comes from somewhere. It doesn’t come from itself. If it’s related to us as creators or as the ones who are, let’s say, enabling the algorithms, well, we’re the parents.

"Who are those children that we are creating? What do we want them to be like as part of the earth, compared to us as a species and, frankly, compared to us as parents? They are our children. We are the parents. How will they treat us as parents? How do we treat our own parents? How do we treat our children? We have to think of these in the exact same way. Separating technology and humans the way we often think about these issues is almost wrong. If it comes from us, it’s the same thing. We have a responsibility. We have the power and the imagination to shape this future generation. It’s exciting, but let’s just make sure that they view us as their parents. If they view us as their parents, we will have a connection."

Investor and philanthropist NICOLAS BERGGRUEN is the chairman of the Berggruen Institute, and founder of the 21st Century Council, the Council for the Future of Europe, and the Think Long Committee for California.

How they manipulate and misdirect your anger

And you truly are an idiot if you fall for it. Wake the f____ up!

We pay Israel to have universal healthcare

Yes, they have it. But why can't we can't have it? Because Repugnantans and corporate Dims in Congress, that's why. Vote them out!

Senate ignores federal employee witnesses against Kavanaugh

Kavanaugh clerked for Alex Kozinski, former 9th Circuit of Appeals judge, who resigned amidst sexual misconduct allegations. Kavanaugh denied that he knew about any of this behavior, while federal court employees were willing to testify that he most certainly did. The Senate Judiciary Committee did not allow any of these employees to testify.

Kavanaugh lied not only about this but other things as well, verified perjury. Yet the Repugs turn a blind eye to all of it. It's not wonder they set up a hearing with just Kavanaugh and his sexual assault accuser Ford with no other witnesses or evidence allowed. They are complicit in the lies because they too are professional liars, cowards and cheaters. Rigged!

Germany launches first hydrogen powered train

According to this article. The purchase price is more expensive than a diesel train but it's cheaper to maintain, so likely just as cost effective. Steam and water are it's only emissions. It has a range of 600 miles per tank of hydrogen, comparable to diesel. Germany plans for 14 more. Other countries are also planning on using them. The future is now and as usual the US is behind the times with its addiction to fossil fuels, with some City and State exceptions.

Colbert interviews Hillary Clinton

Part 1 if below. Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here. She asserts correctly that our democracy is in crisis due to the Biggest Dump in our history. They discuss Nixon and Woodward's book. Part 2 is about the Kavanaugh nomination and Russia committing as act of war against us.  Part 3 is about the Mueller investigation and impeachment. Even though I didn't find her to be the best Democratic candidate, she is a universe above what we got. And there's no way in heaven or hell that she would have done any of the shit Dump has pulled.

Main Street Employee Ownership Act

Continuing the last post, it noted that "just a couple weeks ago, the Main Street Employee Ownership Act passed, which facilitates worker ownership and conversions of businesses." It passed in the House and has been referred to the Senate. Here's the Senate Bill, as yet no action taken beyond referral to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

The cooperative movement is surging

The blurb from this Democracy Now interview:

"This week marks the seventh anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement and 10 years since the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, which triggered the onset of the global financial crisis. The crisis also sparked massive global anti-capitalist movements, including Occupy Wall Street, the M-15 movement in Spain and the anti-austerity movements in Greece. 'It’s striking how little we are marking these anniversaries,' says author and activist Nathan Schneider. 'I think … we recognize we really haven’t done anything serious to deal with the causes of this crash.' Schneider’s new book outlines an alternative economic model based on cooperative ownership that saw a resurgence since the 2008 financial crisis. It’s titled Everything for Everyone: The Radical Tradition That Is Shaping the Next Economy."

The link also has a transcript if you prefer reading.

A Yogacara Buddhist Theory of Metaphor

This review of the book is strictly for nerdy Buddhapests. In discussing Chapter 6 he describes something akin to the basic categories and image schema of cogsci. "Different patterns of mental continuums [...] constrain experience and conceptualization allowing similar beings to share an experienced world and referential content."

Implications of basic categories and image schema

Continuing this post, some commentary from the Ning IPS archive. From this (edited) Ning post:

So our basic categories are embodied with image schemas that arise from our interactions with the world. Recall that one of the image schemas is the part-whole gestalt, aka mereology. Since image schemas and basic categories operate below conscious attention we’ve come to assume that they are inherent to the world themselves and thus project this notion of 'natural hierarchy, with its most developed forms in Aristotelian abstract, nested, categorical hierarchies. All of which assumes a basic, particular and inherent 'constituent' as foundation at the bottom and/or a general and inherent 'being' as foundation at the top. Meanwhile the process actually begins in the middle of the classical taxonomy and we get more abstractly specific 'downward' and more general 'upward' from there with a useful but constructed hierarchy. This doesn’t necessarily eliminate hierarchy per se, just contextualizes it is a more naturalistic way and only eliminates its dualistic and metaphysical elements, elements which have some form of inclusivism and hegemony at its core. The notion of holons as involutionary givens is one of those metaphysical elements, and as we’ve seen this is much better explained by the part-whole gestalt properties of the container schema.

And this post discussing how Hartshorne uses relative and absolute terms, the latter asymmetrically dependent on the former:

Maher interviews Moore

About his new film 11/9. "It's not a democracy if you're sitting on the bench." VOTE! Moore explains why so many Democrats didn't vote in '16 and it is in part due to the Dem Party's own subterfuge and meaningless gestures. They need candidates they can believe will truly implement policies to help them. Fortunately there are a number of progressive candidates winning Dem primaries who will inspire trust in those former voters who felt betrayed.

Maher: Dump is truly incapacitated

He helps us laugh at the very real danger of the extremely sick man running our country. Everyone in our government knows this to be true yet they do not take action to invoke the 25th Amendment. They too are traitors to our country for allowing this to go on. And that is no joke.

Senator Collins is posturing

To soften when she ultimately votes to confirm Kavanaugh. Go ahead, prove me wrong Senator.

Conservative writer lambasts Repugnantans

Particularly those who are going over the edge in defending Kavanaugh. Max Boot commented on the latest conspiracy theory defense, that Ford is mistaking Kavanaugh for someone else. That's your Party today Boot. Love 'em or leave 'em.

"There are a lot of people who will believe his conspiracy theory, despite the recantation, because they are predisposed to believe it. Much of the right has taken leave of its senses. They are willing, even eager, to believe in 'alternative facts,' to quote Kellyanne Conway’s infamous phrase, if by doing so it will advance their agenda. Any sin, no matter how grave — even maligning an innocent man on sexual-assault charges — is justified in the name of political expediency."

Repugnantans own poll shows we think it was a tax scam

As reported here. The Repugnantan National Committee commissioned Public Opinion Strategies to ask questions about the tax scam and whether they would cut Social Security and Medicare to pay for it. The results: 61% said the tax scam favored the rich over the working class. Most respondents also thought they'd cut those social programs to pay for it.

The Repugs had to admit that "we’ve lost the messaging battle on the issue" due to "a fairly disciplined Democrat attack against the recent tax cuts." Kudos to the brave and persistent progressives for doing a good job of winning that battle. Keep up the good work.

Fallon and Hart go back to high school

If you need a few laughs this should do it.

Ocasio-Cortez smacks down D'Souza

With facts and an attitude.

Kavanaugh's high school yearbook

A peek into his early years.

Sanders: The truth about Medicare for All

He debunks the Dumpsters and Repugnantans with the facts of their plans compared to single payer. Single payer is the clear winner and it costs a lot less. Yes, your taxes might go up some but when you don't pay insurance premiums, high deductibles and co-pays, and high prescription drug prices you will overall save $thousands. It's cost effective and covers pre-existing conditions, something the regressives are eliminating.

Alaska Governor and Lt. Governor statement on Kavanaugh

Alaska has come a long way since the days of Sarah Palin.

Liberal Redneck: Climate change the game

Very funny clip on a very serious topic. With special guest Al Gore.

The scumbag version of #metoo

Birds of a foul feather.

The spirituality lens

Continuing this post, from the Intro to the Spirituality Lens (184), e.g., from section iii:

"A spirituality lens that is more concerned with integration moves our attention away from the growth-based explanations of change and technological innovation towards integrative conceptualisations of sustainability. Hence, the particular interest in agricultural sustainability, urban gardens, simpler lifestyles and in forms of organisational sustainability that make use of such things as biomimicry and substituting biological systems for man-made technological systems. [...] Such approaches are calling for integrative visions rather than purely growth-based planning. Integrative futures seek to develop and rediscover nature-based technologies, economies and lifestyles that reclaim core human values and eschew growth-based visions of the future." (187).

Yet another tax scam for the rich

This time it's to reduce capital gains taxes. Reich explains why it's just one more scam that increases the deficit at our expense.

Sophie Lloyd - Made of Wax Playthorugh

Another original from this amazing virtuoso.

Who is Kavanaugh?

Some more tidbits for your factual research on how he has voted and will continue to vote on corporations over people.

Toad responds to Stormy's description

He was not happy about being compared to Dump's little deformed dick. Also see Colbert's funny jokes about it here.

Colbert: Repugnantans go after Kavanaugh's accuser

Typical white male misogynists question her integrity and give Kavanaugh a pass. Boys will be boys, right?

Sanders and Silverman

Sanders jokes with Silverman that the Senate can't use dirty words yet they are willing to starve little children. Needless to say, the Repugnantans are using this to say he's a dirty commie who hates America. No you morons, he hates it when Repugnantans pass laws that starve little children. So f____ you cruel and inhumane bastards.

Just when you think he couldn't be any dumber

Dumb and Dumper.

Categories of conceptual lenses

Continuing this post, here is Mark Edwards' Ph.D. thesis turned into a book. Check out the different lenses in Chapter 6 and how he relates them in Chapter 7. E.g.:

"In general, theorists rely on only a small number of conceptual lenses in developing their explanations of organisational transformation. This means that, for example, process theorists ignore structural lenses, such as those used by multilevel theorists, and developmental theorists make very little use of the transition process or learning lenses. Theorists who come from a standpoint or relational perspective often neglect the developmental and multilevel lenses and those lenses expressed as bipolar dualisms. In fact, the extensive list of lenses in Table 7.1 suggests that most theorists are relying on a relatively limited conceptual base in developing explanations for transformational occurrences. This exclusionism has several unfortunate implications for theories of transformation in organisational settings" (134).

Dump series finale coming soon

I am so looking forward to the complete end of this horrifically scary reality series.

Moore on the Kavanaugh assault claim

He's right about this: "Separate from that, a president who is under criminal investigation, possibly for treason, has no rights to appoint anyone or nominate anyone to the Supreme Court. Can we all just agree on that?"

No, the Repugnantans cannot agree on that. Or that the FBI should investigate the facts of Dr. Ford's claims. They are truly hideously repugnant human beings. Oh yes, this is personal and these facts prove that accurate statement. Hopefully at least a few women that voted for these monsters will change their minds with this daily mounting evidence that they hate women.

Corden on Stormy Daniel's new book

Especially the parts where she describes Dump's junk. Some pretty funny jokes in this clip.

Palast: Georgia purges >100,000 registered voters

Repugnantan Brian Kemp, GA Secretary of State running for Governor, has purged 500,000 voters from the rolls, mostly minorities with common last names. He had to cough up this information to Palast under the deadline threat of a federal lawsuit. As of now Palast said that he knows at least 106,000 have been illegitimately removed, with more likely after further investigation. He has the list of names and addresses that can be found at gregpalast.com. If you're in GA check the list and contact the Sec. of State's office to correct it. Palast and company are putting people on the streets to knock on doors and inform people if they've been purged. Please pass the word because major media will not even report on it.

Moore to Dims: Stop playing nice

Some excerpts from this article on his new movie.

"The main problem, in Moore’s view, is the Democratic strategy of trying 'to not rock the boat — in other words, to lose,' as he says in the film. He skewers Democrats for playing nice, featuring a montage of lawmakers saying the word 'compromise.' 'If you leave this up to the Democratic Party apparatus, we will fail, he said during a lively Q&A after the film. You have to admire Republicans and the right wing on some level because they have the courage of their convictions, and they will not relent. They will stand up and fight for what they believe, even after they’ve been proven wrong by the facts. They just will not give up. And our side, we’re like, Oh, OK,’ he continued, adopting a meek voice. 'We don’t have to have total health care for everybody, it’s OK.'"

Vicki Barbolak

Another good performance at the final. Her suggestion for a female version of Hooters had me laughing for 5 minutes.

Zucaroh at the AGT final

As usual, phenomenal performance. It affected me as much watching it the 2nd time. This is a professional act deserving of Las Vegas. And it's mostly amateur kids!

Michael Moore on his new movie

What he has to say here is very disturbing but we need to hear it. We need to know how this happened so we can get the hell out of it.

Dump declassifies certain Russia investigation documents

As this clip explains, it's just certain pages of Carter Page's FISA application that the Dumpsters believe will prove it was based on false information. Why not just release the entire document? Or other documents that provide the wider context? Because they are attempting to refute the entire Russia investigation based on these excerpts limited excerpts.

On metaphors and inferences

Continuing this post, more on mistaking the map for the territory. Lakoff said:

"The science and the social sciences all use causal theories, but the metaphors for causation can vary widely and thus so can the kinds of causal inferences you can draw. Again, there is nothing wrong with this. You just have to realize that causation is not just one thing. There are many kinds of modes of causation, each with different logical inferences, that physical, social, and cognitive scientists attribute to reality using different metaphors for causation. Again, it is important to know which metaphor for causation you are using. Science cannot be done without metaphors of all sorts, starting with a choice of metaphors for causation. Most interestingly, if you look at the history of philosophy, you will find a considerable number of "theories of causation." When we looked closely at the philosophical theories of causation over the centuries, they all turned out to be one or another of our commonplace metaphors for causation. What philosophers have done is to pick their favorite metaphor for causation and put it forth as an eternal truth."

Progressives: Reinforce the narrative

Good article on how Obama did it, and how the rest of us should learn. It quotes Obama's recent speech as a good guide. For example:

"I mention this just so when you hear how great the economy is doing right now, let’s just remember when this recovery started. I’m glad it’s continued, but when you hear about this economic miracle that’s been going on, when the job numbers come out, monthly job numbers and suddenly Republicans are saying it’s a miracle, I have to kind of remind them, actually, those job numbers are the same as they were in 2015 and 2016 and—anyway. I digress. So we made progress, but—and this is the truth—my administration couldn’t reverse 40-year trends in only eight years especially once Republicans took over the House of Representatives in 2010 and decided to block everything we did. Even things they used to support."

It encourages us to continually reinforce these issues:

Dark money groups have to disclose donors

See this story. Even the Supreme Corp agreed that "any group that runs an independent expenditure ― election ads that expressly call for the election or defeat of a candidate ― in excess of $250 will have to disclose all political donors above $200." However one important limitation is that dark money groups can still do issue ads without disclosing donors. See the link for the details.

Review of Harari's Homo Deus

In this document. A teaser from Chapter 1:

Concerning the goal of immortality: “Many people are likely to dismiss such statements as teenage fantasies.” The discussion following that quote assumes capitalism is inevitable as motive for progress to end the specter of death. Yet earlier he notes that climate catastrophes are a consequence of our human foibles. Tech itself is not going to change our motives and socioeconomic systems, which currently are leading to mass deaths and soon.

He notes that when immortality is a likely possibility we “will refuse to go on pulling the rickety wagon of art, ideology and religion” (p. 28). That reinforces that such a vision lacks the humanities to constrain such tech fantasies.

The section on happiness reiterates that what makes us happy is a never ending spiral of increasing growth of the things that make us happy. It’s reductionist capitalism 101, that our only concerns for happiness are things that trigger our ancient urges. It even suggests that we can “forget economic growth, social reforms and political revolutions,” as we just need a feel good buzz. Gone are the hierarchy of the higher needs that also make us happy and have little to do with this buzz.

Hartmann: The Progressive Hippocratic Oath

The oath is to do no political harm. Meaning meeting certain things in the middle that still cause harm is not compromise; it is a deal with the devil. Here Hartmann lists some of those non-negotiable items with which progressives cannot meet in the middle. And yet these very items are indeed in the Repugnantan and some corporate Dimocrapic agendas. We must stand firm in moral humanitarian and sustainable environmental values and policies.

Che and Jost's Emmy monologue

Some good jokes about the previous lack of diversity on TV.

You MUST vote

Make it a statement against the madman running our country and his enablers in Congress. Vote them out!

They all know Dump is nuts

Thing is, everyone in government knows this is true and yet they fail their duty to serve and protect our country from this madman. Vote them out!

Embodied cognition in a 4-mintue nutshell

Particular philosophies get attached to a root metaphor (or blend) that entails certain premises and conclude that it is reality in toto without going further to understand that other metaphors entail different premises with equally logical conclusions. It's a form of mistaking the map for the territory error. We use metaphors to model reality and then forget the model is based on a metaphor. Hence there are multiple equally valid realities conjured up with the different metaphorical inferences we start with. 

Repugnantans admit they steal from the poor and give to the rich

They openly admit it. So how f____king stupid do people have to be to think otherwise?


"As the GOP plows ahead with another round of budget-exploding tax cuts for the rich just before the crucial 2018 midterms, President Donald Trump's top economic adviser and former television personality Larry Kudlow confirmed on Monday that the White House will push for cuts to life-saving safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security if the GOP retains control of Congress in November."

Remember this, Collins and Murkowski

Something tells me they won't and will vote to confirm Kavanaugh. What is that something? They are Repugnantans and will live down to that name. Go on, prove me wrong.

Silverman in the Hall of Presidents

Good skit on how our Presidents were always a mixed bag. Too bad though she didn't take the opportunity to point out how Dump is by far way over that edge and a thread to our very democracy. It pretty much just focuses on how they were all adolescent horn dogs, so Dump is just another in a long line.

Kavanaugh vote delayed

Given this report of attempted rape while in high school. So Senator Collins is mouthing concern, just like she does about women's reproductive rights, but it's bullshit. The hearing before the committee will just be "he said, she said" and she, along with the other Repugnantans, will confirm this lying misogynist who will overturn Roe v Wade. It's already been proven Kavanaugh has committed perjury at least 5 times and that's not stopping them.

Comments on neurofeedback self-regulation

Continuing the last post, the last study cited that the neurofeedback training was 'active,' meaning subjects were "trained to control the differential feedback between a target region of interest in early visual cortex" and "had to maintain fixation on a central point." Whether this sort of enduring effect happens with 'passive' neurofeedback was not in this study. Also the study shows that "learned self-regulation is an acquired skill" initiated by the neurofeedback training, but they continued to practice the skill to maintain the desired effect. Like any learned skill, it first takes conscious practice but once ingrained it is then continually practiced nonconsciously.