Turns out, I'm not the only one.
2023-10-31
Gaza Telecide.
Perhaps it should be referred to as 'telecide'?
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/31/hundreds-feared-dead-in-bombing-of-refugee-camp/
Like most things on American television, it'll be heavily censored, 'content' edited, and of course, packed with lies and propaganda!
2023-10-30
If you had a $175 million dollar judgement against you, you'd probably be shitting bricks.
Unless you were a large destructive chemical company, whose own criminal history can be somewhat comparative to it's parent corporation (hint - they were complicit in the Holocaust).
https://sustainablepulse.com/2023/10/29/bayer-monsanto-hit-with-175m-verdict-against-roundup/
Bayer-Monsanto Hit With $175M Verdict Against Roundup
Coming into downtown and all there is for me ..
... are darkness, trains, and cold winds ... and a beaten-up piece of candy.
2023-10-27
Quote of the day - 10-26-2023
More Americans than previously now make the connection between the Pentagon’s budget and supplemental spending such as Biden just requested and the decline across the board of American life. The heavy price we pay as Biden feeds us outworn platitudes is ever better understood. Is it not equally irrational that it does not occur to the majority of us to raise our voices in protest, to object to all that is done in our names, to reject the idiotic rhetoric, the cover story, and insist that those who purport to govern us and execute policy owe us honesty, open debate, a truthful accounting of what this nation does in the world?
2023-10-25
2023-10-24
Sayonara Nebula and Curiosity Stream.
I subscribed to your streaming service because of JT (the host of First Thought, and Second Thought).
You chose to censor him and remove all his content over false accusations and for his daring to stand up to the right-wing propaganda being fed here over Israel's continued genocide of Palestinians.
Well you can kiss my subscription goodbye.
And good riddance to you.
We should call de-platforming of individuals by tech corporations what it is - censorship.
On YouTube, I see that Richard Medhurst;s and Eva Bartlett;s channels were either demonetized, or completely removed.
First Thought got removed by Nebula.
I figure with the continued bombardment of Gaza/genocide of Palestinians by their colonial oppressors - this would just be the beginning.
They are scared of people like them speaking out, and speaking up. They are afraid they will be listened to, and then in turn; those who listen will then question.
2023-10-23
Another reason to dislike driving into work.
When one isn't feeling well.
But if one doesn't work, one doesn't get paid.
Then there's the whole 'visibility' carrot that management has been dangling over me for years. To disobey or defy would be 'perceived' as a 'career-limiting move'.
2023-10-19
The cult(ure) of lies and propaganda that is Israel.
https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/18/chris-hedges-israels-culture-of-deceit/
Note: I said Israel. Not Jews.
When you see how this is traced to the US capitalist ruling class, you see a trend that connects racial supremacy, colonialism, imperialism, and settlerism - all in one.
2023-10-16
Yes, what fucking banking crisis?
https://www.axios.com/2023/10/14/global-banking-boom-crisis-svb
Gotta love that tagline -> 'quiet global banking boom'
The world's banks earned $1.3 trillion in 2022, in "the best period for global banking overall since at least 2007," per a new report from McKinsey. The estimate for 2023 profits, at $1.4 trillion, is even higher.
Why it matters: The past two years' headlines have been filled with bad news for banks. But the industry as a whole looks astonishingly healthy. Which, if nothing else, is a good reminder to always look past the headlines.
Driving the news: This year has seen the biggest bank failures since the financial crisis. Silicon Valley Bank was felled by higher interest rates; First Republic and Credit Suisse soon followed.
- Other banks are also hurting. Bank of America is sitting on paper losses of more than $100 billion after buying low-yielding bonds it now can't afford to sell. Citigroup is trying to cut its way to growth, with no visible success to date. Goldman Sachs has given up on its core strategy of leaning into being a bank. Charge-offs across the board are rising.
- The Chinese financial sector is looking particularly fragile.
The other side: If you're the kind of person who pays attention to quarterly earnings reports, you would know that JPMorgan on Friday reported that third-quarter revenue was up 21% and income was up 35%, thanks in part to its acquisition of First Republic.
- Wells Fargo's revenue and income were up 20% and 57%, respectively. Even Citigroup had a pretty healthy third quarter.
2023-10-12
2023-10-11
It's a little late, but posting it anyways.
Summer Sunset in Loomis Lake State Park, Washington State.
The war crimes of Israel.
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/10/a-massive-war-crime/
“Starving 2 million people who cannot move and are under a land siege and naval blockade is genocide,” Pakistani writer Fatima Bhutto wrote on social media. “This is a war crime.”
2023-10-09
Indigenous Peoples' Day.
As written by a (presumably) white female America. Note the word 'celebrated' below -
How is Indigenous Peoples' Day celebrated?
Indigenous Peoples' Day is more a day of recognition and mourning than of outright celebration. Great ways to commemorate Indigenous Peoples' Day are to educate yourself and others on indigenous and Native American culture, and their contributions and history.
You can also contribute to charities and causes that support indigenous people. Good options include:
- American Indian College Fund provides scholarships for Native American students.
- American Indian Policy Center provides government leaders and policymakers with accurate legal and historical information.
- American Indigenous Business Leaders support the education and development of indigenous-owned businesses.
- Association of American Indian Affairs provides aid in drafting integral legislation for indigenous people, including the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and the Tribal Governmental Tax Status Act and the Indian Child Welfare Act.
- First Nations Development Institute supports economic development and education for Native communities.
- Native American Heritage Association provides financial aid to those in need living on reservations in South Dakota.
- Native American Rights Fund fights to preserve Native American rights and tribal resources.
- National Indian Child Care Association provides tribal child care and early childhood programs.
- Partnership With Native Americans aids those living in poverty on reservations.
- Women Empowering Women for Indigenous Nations provides networking, professional and career opportunities for Native American women.
Still the above listing of the groups is a good starting point.
Of course in the late-stage of late-stage capitalism, there's never any responsibility taken for the crimes committed, no accountability for the lives destroyed, and no justice for the victims, survivors, and descendants. Just lots of talk and proclamations.
I would say for those who sincerely want to learn more - best to start in the area you live in now.
There are also outlets online to learn from as well, like Native News Online.
2023-10-07
Hey look, the ruling class in other crapitalist countries is just as bad as the ones in the US.
Apart from a different religion and skin color, there's not really any difference.
They target the flow of information to the majority, because that's their only real means of control.
https://www.newsclick.in/bengal-editorials-organisations-reactions-pour-against-newsclick-raid
2023-10-05
'Capitalist Magna Carta'?
Definitely need to find the book this article is based on and add it to my reading list -
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/05/german-banker-british-lord-who-wrote-capitalist-magna-carta/
2023-10-04
New terms of the day - 'cognitive warfare'
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/01/impeachment-cognitive-warfare-on-capitol-hill/
Bonus term: cognitive warriors.
We will have to maintain a keen sense of history. We must be able to put the proceedings in the context of an indisputable written record that extends back at least nine years, when Hunter Biden was named to the board of Burisma Holdings, the controversial Ukrainian gas company, and Joe Biden, as vice-president, began intervening directly in Ukraine’s political, economic, and business affairs.
Extensive Catalogue of Evidence
The cognitive warriors in the press and among agenda-setting Democrats will urge us at every turn to assume there is no written record of events — no valid history.
2023-10-03
Probably the best and deepest backstory into the whole Canada Nazi situation.
https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2023/09/26/canada-saluting-a-ukrainian-nazi-was-no-coincidence/
I'm still at a loss as to why this guy who got the standing ovation from Canadian Parliament isn't in jail.
2023-10-02
The end of an era - and the end of effective usage of Netflix.
I have to admit, when I signed up for it all those years ago, Netflix was an appealing service and concept.
I liked the idea of renting DVDs to watch and return through an online service, but there was something else that was essentially more appealing.
I realized that I had access to a whole variety of movies, shows, and so forth, that one could otherwise not find a regular video store (do those even exist outside of porn shops now?).
So my 'queue' ran the gamut of many genres - various Hollywood film types (gangster, horror, comedy, noir, drama, action) from numerous periods going all the way to over a hundred years ago.
Additionally, there was music performance shows, theaters, independent films, documentary films, and many more. And, many of those across a variety of other countries' cinema flavors.
And I had always had it in my mind that for Netflix to expand and grow, it had to branch out and create its own sets of entertainment along the lines described above.
But a few things happened along the way that have since ensured I'll likely not be a customer of theirs for too long.
- For one thing, like many online companies, they have since treated all things that are presented on their platform as 'content'. So, no longer films, or music, or theater and so forth, but just product on their medium. In this regard, pretty much everything is reduced to just bits streaming back and forth across many services on many systems, and into 'devices', as opposed to just televisions and our heads.
To be fair, that's something even many of the traditional film companies do now. And indeed, since they themselves are now owned by large media conglomerates, they figure the best way to 'monetize' their products and services and content, would be to stream them.
Of course, all of this still is riddled with ads at every turn, no only within the sponsors and regular commercials, but within the shows themselves (hint: product placement never went away).
- And then there's the mode of filming itself. It's gone from actual film, to digital. Which if you're into all this 'high-definition' imagery may be fine. But having more definition doesn't necessarily make for better quality filming. Indeed something I actually find distasteful about most digitally films today is that they all have a similar look and feel - some degree of motion and graininess that doesn't really appeal to me.
- Then there's the reality that , I as the primary demographic has been pushed aside. Indeed as a cross over from computer animated films from the 1990's every one of them contains no end of 'celebrities' lending their 'voice talents' to obnoxious, idiotic and outright stupid characters in a variety of genres. And the idea that this would somehow relate to children is all bullshit. Really what it is making whole (and subsequent) generations dumber and dumber. None of this ever appealed to me. Now to make things worse, there's an entire generation of movies, shows, and so on that do nothing but shit on all things male. In these, males are usually portrayed as one or more of the following - dumb, scummy, racist, violent, cowardly, evil, and, well you get the idea. It's what sells these days.
None of this is any surprise - I'd been seeing this for a long time. It's simply how these media corporations operate in a crapitalist system. And I guess that's the part of me that's really disappointed in what Netflix has become. The company that a recently as a few years ago helped complete Orson Welles' last film, is not what it is today. It certainly is not what it once was, or could've been.
Today I'm less than a customer and really just another subscriber/bill-payer. I pay for content my family watches and that's really what Netflix counts on. They count one me tolerating the shit they put today because I tolerate it.
Thanks for the memories Netflix. I'll remember the good times when something better comes along, and when I find a way to drop it altogether and move on.
Some people make a career out of making excuses.
When it comes to the Toronto Maple Laughs, it's call being a sports writer evidently.
https://thehockeywriters.com/1993-non-call-costs-maple-leafs-stanley-cup/
Focusing on missed calls, writing about it 30 years later and leaving that part that Toronto completely bombed in Game 7 is the ultimate in feigned victim-hood.
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