2021: End Of Year Thoughts.

Introduction

If I thought 2020 was an interesting year, I’d say 2021 was merely an extension of it.

I could modify the headers I used last year and adjust accordingly (yes I am that lazy) -

·         COVID-19

·         Establishment path from craptialism to fascism continues

·         Climate Collapse – catastrophes the new reality

·         Working, working, working

·         But what, what about me?

I mean there are so many aspects of this year that will forever differentiate this year from others previous, as well as the ones to come.

COVID-19

Hard to believe, but 2021 was an even worse year than 2020 – think I’m fooling?

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/mortality-overview.htm

There were 385439 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the US for 2020. For 2021 (as of Christmas), there are 431384 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the US. And that’s just fatalities (which are likely underreported, delays in reporting, etc.  By that measure alone, the response by the establishment-controlled system that rules us – crapitalism – is again a colossal failure.

How does it respond – vaccines, vaccines, vaccines! Oh and vaccine mandates! Look at how that’s all worked out.

Let’s be clear – we’ve learned a lot more about the virus in 2021. We know now that the current Omicron variant though more prevalent, appears to be less deadly. We also know that the current ‘vaccines’ offered by 1 of 2 large multi-national drug corporations neither stop transmission or completely prevent the virus from entering the body. That means at some point we are all going to get it – and if one gets vaccinated it makes it easier to deal with.

Establishment path from craptitalism to fascism continues

I could go on and on about stats, but the one that underscores just how fucked up things are here in the US are is – between February 2020 at today, more than half the workforce in the United States has at some point applied for some form of unemployment insurance at either the state or federal level; for either a few days all the way through the entire time. That more than anything is a sign that the system is captured and is itself the problem. But tell that to my family members – they suffer from cognitive dissonance. They think all problems started when Trump became President in 2017, and we’re clear through things now. Well based on what I’ve seen, all the problems were in place long before 2017, Trump and Biden appear to be continuing the same policies and practices that benefit the same small group of rich and powerful – look after all at who benefits -> https://inequality.org/facts/wealth-inequality/

I’ll make this easy for you – just go hear to see the list of shitty things done in 2021 alone -> https://vultcult.blogspot.com/search/label/Crapitalism

And that’s just a tiny fraction of things.

But nothing really illustrates that there is no difference at all between a fake Republican and a fake Democrat than the persecution of Julian Assange. Trump started it, and Biden is continuing it. That alone is enough to point out that 1) there is no material difference between these two political brands Democrat and Republican; and 2) this system isn’t going to save us from anything, let alone itself.

Still some offer some hope (https://consortiumnews.com/2021/12/30/yes-10-good-things-about-2021/) and I for one am not one to completely dwell on the past as a way to remain stuck. At some point wallowing in misery is about finding the bottom, and as a means to get it out of my own system. This then leaves me with my reasoning, my critical thinking, and figuring out what my options are to move forward and back up and out.

Climate Collapse – catastrophes the new reality

As before you can start here -> https://vultcult.blogspot.com/search/label/Global%20Warming

As if it weren’t all bad enough (droughts, heat waves, floods, storms, etc.).

Let’s just focus on this -> https://interactive-atlas.ipcc.ch/documentation

It’s Code Red for the planet. And since that report came out, absolutely nothing has changed for the better. COP26 was a complete failure.

It’s easy to feel a failure, not just to myself, but to my family, my community, and the planet as a whole.

On the other hand – there is some hope I look towards in 2022: https://youtu.be/hJBHdmcSZVE.

Working, working, working

Yes 2021 was another year of excessive productivity at work. More evenings, more weekends, etc.

My boss says he was happy, and why shouldn’t he be? A lot of shit  got done. All the same things as last year, and more.

They keep talking about returning to the office. We’ll see if 1) that’s actually gonna happen as planned; and 2) if that’s something I’m really going to go for (the answer to 2) is no).

Granted on a ‘compensation’ level, I’m probably higher up compared to peers doing the same work in other corporations in this area. That in and of itself is impressive considering I’m neither a functional or technical expert at software. I simply follow the late Gerald Weinbergs advice on how to approach and do things and go from there.

This is not to say the usual micromanagement and bullying tactics don’t occur. And this year clearly someone higher up than me must have realized folks like me are potential candidates to look elsewhere in that that they started up the usual carrot-dangling of another opportunity in front of me.

My problem is essentially the same one it’s always been.

I feel that what I do presently and where I sit within the organization is about as far as I want to go.

That is, the next level up would be managing people outright – in a sense I already manage a lot of people’s time, deliverables, and am pretty much there driving things. That puts me in a unique position as someone said people can turn to as a mentor of sorts; at which I can offer cold, sober advice.

I’d lose much of that if I was actually made a people manager. Also, I’d be a true company man at that point. I put in far more than I want to, and at my age, I’m not sure how many more years I can keep continuing to do this. I’m trapped by the job, the industry, and responsibilities and so on, such that it’s almost as if the company’s both pushing me this way, then denying me any actual reward.

If it sounds like I know what I’m talking about, it’s because I’ve been in this position before. I do x amount of work upward, only to have the power-that-be give that role to someone else.

But more importantly, work in IT was and always will be nothing more than a job. Yes I take it seriously. Yes I do my work honestly, and give my best when possible.

But it’s not my passion. It’s certainly not my life. I’m not gonna install work-solutions like Slack or Teams, or Lookout on my personal phone and work. That’s ripping me off, and it’s a dishonest way to mask the true costs of delivery to the company.

But wait, what about me?

After close to four years of not working my own personal musical project, I actually completed one. Well technically it’s 9 out of 10 songs (plus a previously existing acoustic song, that I intended to re-do with electric guitars). But it wasn’t necessarily done out of creative drive, but rather intense loss.

I had a flash drive with perhaps hundreds of ideas on it collected over the years. One day this summer I inserted the drive into my PC, and suddenly there was this ‘flash’ over the computer (so-to-speak). It paused and froze and when it unpaused and unfroze, all my data on the flash drive was …. Flashed! I lost it all. Sure I can invest in some software to try and get it back I supposed. And of course, I didn’t have a backup.

And yes I was upset about it. But it taught me a very important lesson.

That is – instead of collecting ideas, it’s better to complete them as songs and at the very least, record the basis of it somewhere.

So this is now what I do. When I have an idea (or several) flowing through my brain, I don’t stop until it’s rendered into a song. That’s really what I aimed to do in December, and that’s what I accomplished.

And granted it’s not all a loss. I still have all the songs I’ve previously written. I did collect a brand new set of verbal ideas that I can use. My goal in 2022 is to spend more time writing and recording. Now that I have the ability to construct basic drum parts, and I can now start recording the songs proper.

As well despite our band having essentially no real rehearsing or playing, I did a fair amount of recording of our current set. Also wrote 7-8 new songs and started recording those. Hopefully in 2022 we’ll get that off the ground to and get at least a couple of … uh … collections (albums, releases, songlists, etc.) out to the public.

That aside, I will hit the big 5-0 this year. Despite the fact I don’t really look anywhere near as I did a ¼ century previous, I do feel a sort of pride. I wore a certain size (waist and length) of pants and weight a certain amount when I became an adult, and today I’m still the same (granted it hasn’t always been so). I still have neck issues, and still need to suck in my gut, but I always remind myself that it can be worse. I gave up trying to compare myself to others, and have to not get sidetracked by the bullshit that is others trying to compare others to me. I realize now that’s simply a way to make themselves feel better about themselves by pushing me down. I’ve learned that pushing others down doesn’t uplift you. In fact, if you push down hard enough on someone, you go down also.

We’ll see what 2022 brings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Questions Chris Hedges asks that PEN America won't answer.

https://scheerpost.com/2021/12/27/hedges-pen-america-and-the-betrayal-of-julian-assange/

Where is the outrage from an organization founded by writers to protect writers about the prolonged abuse, stress and repeated death threats, including from Nossel’s former boss, Hillary Clinton, who allegedly quipped at a staff meeting, “Can’t we just drone this guy?” (and didn’t deny it later) or from the CIA which discussed kidnapping and assassinating Assange?  

 

Where is the demand that the trial of Assange be thrown out because the CIA through UC Global, the security firm at the embassy, secretly taped the meetings, and all other encounters, between Assange and his lawyers, obliterating attorney-client privilege?

 

Where is the public denunciation of the extreme isolation that has left Assange, who suffered a stroke during court video proceedings on October 27, in precarious physical and psychological health?

 

Where is the outcry over his descent into hallucinations and deep depression, leaving him dependent on antidepressant medication and the antipsychotic quetiapine?

 

Where are the thunderous condemnations about the ten years he has been detained, seven in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and nearly three in the high-security Belmarsh prison, where he has had to live without access to sunlight, exercise and proper medical care? “His eyes were out of sync, his right eyelid would not close, his memory was blurry,” his fiancé Stella Morris said of the stroke.

 

Where are the demands for intervention and humane treatment, including an end to his isolation, once it was revealed Assange was pacing his cell until he collapsed, punching himself in the face and banging his head against the wall?

 

Where is the fear for his life, especially after “half of a razor blade” was discovered under his socks and it was revealed that he called the suicide hotline run by the Samaritans because he thought about killing himself “hundreds of times a day”?

 

Where is the call to prosecute those who committed the war crimes, carried out the torture and engaged in the corruption WikiLeaks exposed?

 

Not from PEN America.

Google wanting to see who you are AND what you do.

 I fixed their screen from this:

To this:

Some pseudo-left 'influencers' to watch out for.

https://thegrayzone.com/2021/12/24/leaked-files-syria-psyops-astroturfing-breadtube-covid/

Happy Winter Solstice everyone.

Very glad to be alive.

Hmm - interesting commentary.

https://sharmaritikaa.blogspot.com/2021/12/voice-for-laws-for-men-not-war-between.html

The only solution to tackle the grave injustice faced by today’s men (indirectly faced by their families) is to introduce gender neutral laws with utmost unambiguity and meticulosity. Indisputably, learning and unlearning daily in this dynamic world are the substantial parameters without which we all cannot leave our capacity to harm or tread upon the rights of others.

Agree - but I do wonder what this would look like?

A book I ordered to read.

https://power.postcarbon.org/

Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival traces how humans have come to overpower the earth’s natural systems and oppress one another…with catastrophic implications.

Humanity must act quickly to prevent environmental and economic collapse. Power lays the groundwork to understand what we’ve done and how to fix it.

But is it even possible for human beings to deliberately rein in our power?

 

One of ways crapitalism co-opt and corrupts, is by doing so with union leaders.

The strike at Kellogg is a case in point: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/12/21/kell-d21.html

While the main demand of workers is an end to the hated two-tier wage structure, under which “transitional” employees make substantially less than “legacy” workers, the new deal brokered by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers’ International (BCTGM) not only continues but expands it, eliminating caps on the number of “transitionals” the company can hire at each plant. The deal also contains paltry three percent wage increases.

In fact, the deal is virtually identical to a tentative agreement (TA) which workers voted down by an overwhelming margin three weeks ago. In response, Kellogg’s threatened to retaliate by firing workers en masse and replacing them, triggering outrage from workers and supporters of the strike across the world, and prompting a nervous intervention by the Biden administration and the Democratic Party, clearly eager to avoid provoking a too direct and open confrontation with the working class.

A leaked internal Kellogg’s management email lays out the company’s reliance on the union to push through the deal. “We are confident this will pass,” the email states, because “most of the union’s negotiating committee is for this and plans to recommend it.” It concluded by urging managers to maintain a careful silence about the deal in public, in order to allow the union space to pass the deal.

Don't be fooled when the establishment media announces that everything is good and fine, and you're in the clear to continue eating Kellogg's frakenfood. They are fucking over their employees just as they always have.

 

Carl Sagan's parting words aren't more clearer than they are today.

Though he died 25 years ago, he left us with this (taken from here):

• Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the “facts.”
• Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view.
• Arguments from authority carry little weight—“authorities” have made mistakes in the past. They will do so again in the future. Perhaps a better way to say it is that in science there are no authorities; at most, there are experts.
• Spin more than one hypothesis. If there’s something to be explained, think of all the different ways in which it could be explained. Then think of tests by which you might systematically disprove each of the alternatives. What survives, the hypothesis that resists disproof in this Darwinian selection among “multiple working hypotheses,” has a much better chance of being the right answer than if you had simply run with the first idea that caught your fancy.*
• Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it’s yours. It’s only a way station in the pursuit of knowledge. Ask yourself why you like the idea. Compare it fairly with the alternatives. See if you can find reasons for rejecting it. If you don’t, others will.
• Quantify. If whatever it is you’re explaining has some measure, some numerical quantity attached to it, you’ll be much better able to discriminate among competing hypotheses. What is vague and qualitative is open to many explanations. Of course there are truths to be sought in the many qualitative issues we are obliged to confront, but finding them is more challenging.
• If there’s a chain of argument, every link in the chain must work (including the premise)—not just most of them.
• Occam’s Razor. This convenient rule-of-thumb urges us when faced with two hypotheses that explain the data equally well to choose the simpler.
• Always ask whether the hypothesis can be, at least in principle, falsified. Propositions that are untestable, unfalsifiable, are not worth much. Consider the grand idea that our Universe and everything in it is just an elementary particle—an electron, say—in a much bigger Cosmos. But if we can never acquire information from outside our Universe, is not the idea incapable of disproof? You must be able to check assertions out. Inveterate skeptics must be given the chance to follow your reasoning, to duplicate your experiments and see if they get the same result.

Omicron.

The lies of the establishment:

The Biden administration is lying: Scientists warned about Omicron threat

The havoc it's having on professional sports:

Omicron surge wreaks havoc on professional and college sports

What the future is for all of us:

Outgoing NIH director warns that Omicron variant means “a million cases a day” by February

Billionnaires are obscene; they represent the ugly nature of crapitalism's core.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/12/17/a-critique-of-obscene-wealth/

7 Unasked Questions About US Military Spending - by William Astore.

 One: Why, with the end of the Afghan War, is the Pentagon budget still mushrooming upward?  

Two: After a disastrous war on terror costing upwards of $8 trillion, isn’t it finally time to begin to downsize America’s global imperial presence?  

Three: Speaking of China and its alleged pursuit of more nuclear weaponry, why is the U.S. military still angling for $1.7 trillion over the next 30 years for its own set of “modernized” nuclear weapons?  

Four: Why is America’s military, allegedly funded for “defense,” configured instead for force projection and global strikes of every sort?  

Five: Speaking of global strikes with awful repercussions, why is the Pentagon working so hard toencircle China, while ratcheting up tensions that can only contribute to nuclear brinksmanship and even possiblya new world war as early as 2027?

Six: Speaking of global aggression, why does this country maintain a vast, costly military within the military that’s run by Special Operations Command and operationally geared to facilitating interventions anywhere and everywhere?  (Note that this country’s special ops forces are bigger than the full-scale militaries of many countries on this planet!)

Seven: Finally, why, oh why, after decades of military losses, does Congress still defer so spinelessly to the “experience” of our generals and admirals?  Why issue so many essentially blank checks to the gang that simply can’t shoot straight, whether in battle or when they testify before Congressional committees, as well as to the giant companies (andcongressional lobbying monsters) that make the very weaponry thatcan’t shoot straight?    

https://consortiumnews.com/2021/12/17/7-unasked-questions-about-us-military-spending/ 

THE HABS WON A GAME!

That's now 7.

Reassuring to know I'm not alone in thinking this.

https://blackagendareport.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2d4925125cdba79d0b7d0f175&id=426d8f3780&e=2c632a210c

Thank you Margaret for expressing what I struggle to say.

Probably the best take I've seen on the human race's 'race' to extinction.

https://in-sights.ca/2021/12/15/humanitys-slow-motion-suicide/

Definitely a race we're all certain to lose. 

Still, it's always good to have some different perspectives on things, even if it's not too far away (Canada).

BTW - finally went to see a hockey game.

Granted it was the T-Birds. It was largely a good game, until the end.

Thom has all the details here: http://thombeuningsinthecorners.blogspot.com/2021/12/get-to-points.html

So the Theranos trial will be moving to closing arguments.

And as expected, the defense goes all metoo, and uses sexism, class, and race in an attempt make the accused on trial seem blameless.

Naturally the establishment media laps up this shit and palms it off to their viewers as fact.

Don't seem to recall the defense introducing any actual evidence - to this point.

Which would be funny - if it didn't place peoples' lives in jeopardy. 

Of course, the brown guy she accuses all this of wasn't on the covers of all those establishment magazines, and appearing in online talks where she demonstrated her fake voice.

We'll see if it pays off. After all, she's on trial for fraud in that she duped investors into funding her company, and patients for ordering their lab tests, all the while believing what she said.

If anything, the facts that have come out illustrate that she was the one driving. And the evidence indicates she knew her company's products and services didn't actually work (funny thing Science is).

Has the CIA finally succeeded in getting rid of Aasange?

See here

The transition from crapitalism to fascism is on its way.

https://consortiumnews.com/2021/12/10/assange-loses-high-court-allows-us-appeal-sends-assange-case-back-to-lower-court/

Hug your kids a lot more today - I certainly hugged mine. Because if they possess any critical thinking skills and seek answers to the questions they'll have around why nothing is being done to stop things like climate change from destroying the planet, they will become a threat to the very system that's the cause - that system metamorphosing from crapitalism to fascism.

Just like Julian Assange has.

The history of the Nobel Peace Price, establishes what a fraud it has been since its inception.

Alfred Nobel may have had a good intention, but it was clearly doomed to fail - why?

https://consortiumnews.com/2021/12/09/2021-nobel-peace-prize-freedom-for-the-press-or-the-us/

Quote of the day - 12-09-2021.

From Julie Hollar via FAIR:

" ... if access is only used to polish the image of the powerful, that's propaganda, not journalism."

Of course, that's all these brands are. 'Democratic' and 'Republican' are not political parties, but brands. They exist to continue crapitalism's illusion of democracy w/the smallest number of 'choices' - 2.

To all those who believe the 'Democrat' brand will save the abilty to choose whether to have an abortion or not.

They will not.

They will however campaign heavily on it as a way to stave off defeat in the upcoming 2022 Mid-Term Elections.

You know what would really help though - actually protecting the right to choice with you know, an actual federal law.

Here's one -> https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/1975/text

Next time you hear some 'liberal' person railing against the right-wing Supreme Court, send them these links.

And when they react with a shrug, a 'whatever', or some other stupid diatribe, refer them to the concept of 'cognitive dissonance'.

Don't do business w/Kelloggs.

Aside from their products containing tons of GMOs - and them not telling you - their workers have rejected both the company's (and union leadership's) outrageous contract demands.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/12/08/kell-d08.html

I don't believe in spirits, deities, or other such things.

I do wonder if someone doesn't like me watching the Montreal Canadiens.

Every time I tune in to a game, they always seem to lose.

Just like tonight. Had a 2-1 lead, and they blew it to lose with less than two minutes left in the game.

Granted it was against the two-time defending champions.

In the United States - justice is a function of capitalism and white supremacy.

Those that aren't rich, aren't white, are often those who either are made an example of violence, or denied any justice at all.

Nothing more illustrates this than the differences in how these cases are being handled.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/12/07/pare-d07.html

 

At the 30-minute arraignment of the parents on Saturday morning, Prosecutor McDonald demanded a $500,000 bond because the Crumbleys were considered a flight risk. With James Crumbley, 45, and Jennifer Crumbley, 43, appearing via video stream from the jail before Judge Julie Nicholson of 52-3 District Court in Rochester Hills, McDonald said, “This is a very serious, horrible, terrible murder and shooting and it has affected the entire community. And these two individuals could have stopped it.” The prosecutor said that the parents had reason to know their son was dangerous, had given him the murder weapon and had failed to secure it.

 

The public is fully justified in demanding answers to questions about how it was possible for Ethan Crumbley to carry out a terrifying mass shooting at Oxford High School, especially when there were warning signs that he was psychologically disturbed and, apparently, he could have been stopped by removing him from the school earlier that day. But the fact is that the prosecution of Crumbley’s parents by the Oakland County judicial system—with the support of the corporate media—will set a dangerous legal precedent. The state will be empowered. Children will be jailed for criminal threats without due process, many will be unfairly expelled, and the social ills that produce so many broken people will persist, paving the way for the next horror story.

Then there's this -> https://bossip.com/2111310/ex-district-attorney-jackie-johnson-booked/

 

Jackie Johnson thought only the white men who killed him deserved that kind of freedom and safety. BOSSIP previously reported in September that Johnson was criminally charged with obstruction for showing favor to Arbery’s killers and delaying their arrest for months.

In a bittersweet twist of fate, CBS News reports that Johnson was booked into the Glynn County Detention Center on Nov. 24, the exact same day that Greg McMichael, his son Travis McMichael, and William “Roddie” Bryan were convicted of murdering Arbery for jogging while Black. She turned herself into the Glynn County Sheriff’s office after a grand jury indicted her for charges of obstruction and violating her oath as a public officer. She was released from jail the same day on her own recognizance without paying the posted $10,000 bail.

Johnson’s failure to bring any charges in the case was so blatantly biased that Republican Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr investigated her office for misconduct and alleges that she used her position to help the killers avoid prosecution. Greg McMichael previously worked as an investigator in the District Attorney’s office for decades until he retired in 2019. He spent nine of those years serving under Johnson, who was the top prosecutor at the time of the fatal shooting last year. According to the indictment, Johnson failed “to treat Ahmaud Arbery and his family fairly and with dignity.” She is also accused of “knowingly and willfully” instructing officers not to arrest Travis McMichael for killing Arbery with his shotgun

 

As much as I would love to see Paul and Ringo play, much less meet them ...

... it's impossible to see their latest public effort as nothing more than an attempt to really rehabilitate their reputations.

Not to mention that seeing them on the Mickey Mouse network isn't worth watching.

https://consortiumnews.com/2021/12/06/the-beatles-get-back-glosses-over-bands-acrimonious-end/

I do like this take though.

More than 'False Equivalency'

https://fair.org/home/chilean-election-is-a-feast-of-false-equivalency/

Any kind of demonization of any left-of-center political candidate that results in the slightest increased chance of them getting defeated in an election, is the goal.

“boldly racist” rhetoric in Tukwila, WA

Curious how this wasn't widely reported: https://consortiumnews.com/2021/12/01/mental-health-workers-in-us-won-a-safety-strike/

The backstory: https://labornotes.org/2021/09/if-your-house-fire-you-run-workers-strike-safety-understaffed-mental-health-center: 

Acadia Healthcare has found other ways to line their pockets with federal dollars. In 2019 the company was charged Medicaid fraud for the overfilling of lab tests. Acadia settled and agreed to pay the largest health care fraud-related settlement in West Virginia history: $3.2 million to the state and $17 million to the United States.

Workers at Cascade say the company’s ruthless cost cutting and pursuit of profit has meant neglected building repairs, unsafe nurse-to-patient ratios, and admitting patients they couldn’t safely care for to fill beds.

BLAME THE WORKERS

Many of the staff are immigrants, predominantly from East Africa. They accuse Cascade’s management of being racist and xenophobic.

When patients attack, managers have repeatedly blamed the workers—claiming that they don’t speak English well enough and that their “accents aggravate patients.”

 

Platitude for 12-04-2021.

 A fact you refuse to accept can be worse than a lie you smugly swallow.

Well if Barbados can do it, why can't Canada?

I mean FUCKIN EH!

https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2021/12/02/barbados-now-newest-black-republic-dumps-her-royal-highness/

Nothing 'high' about that family - considering 'Prince' Andrew's connections with Jeffrey Epstein.

Better for Canada to distance their future from the horrible past that both this family and it's empire represent.

Oh joy - the month of December is here.

So the spending begins.