An interesting view of the US and the wars it initiated in the 21th Century.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-us-the-century-of-lost-wars/5653844

The US military defeats are products of a fatal flaw:  imperial planners cannot successfully replace indigenous people with colonial rulers and their local look-alikes.

Wars are not won by high tech weapons directed by absentee officials divorced from the people: they do not share their sense of peace and justice.

Exploited people informed by a spirit of communal resistance and self-sacrifice have demonstrated greater cohesion then rotating soldiers eager to return home and  mercenary soldiers with dollar signs in their eyes.
The lessons of lost wars have not been learned by those who preach the power of the military–industrial complex, which makes, sells and profits from weapons but lack the mass of humanity with lesser arms but with great conviction who have demonstrated their capacity to defeat imperial armies.

This makes it impossible for me to support Corporate Candidates for Congress.

Why?

Oh I don't know, maybe this - https://www.opensecrets.org/races/contributors?cycle=2018&id=WA08&spec=N

Dino Rossi (R)

Contributor	Total
Club for Growth	$54,028
Moneytree Inc	$21,600
Wells Fargo	$18,950
Ignition Partners	$16,200
American Bankers Assn	$12,800
Kemper Development	$12,050
Diamond Technology Innovations	$11,800
Trf Pacific LLC	$11,643
Koelsch Senior Communities	$11,550
Janicki Industries	$11,380
Microsoft Corp	$11,200
Acorn Ventures	$10,800
AIMCO	$10,800
Alyeska Ocean Inc	$10,800
Car Wash Enterprises	$10,800
Chateau Plateau Winery	$10,800
Coast Equity Real Estate	$10,800
Coast Real Estate	$10,800
Coscto	$10,800
Emerald Services	$10,800
Fisher Investments	$10,800
KG Investment Management LLC	$10,800
Lytle Enterprises	$10,800
Metier Construction	$10,800
Nelson Irrigation	$10,800
Nierenberg Investment Management	$10,800
Nuprecon LP	$10,800
Sabey Corp	$10,800
Sundquist Homes	$10,800

Kim Schrier (D)

Contributor	Total
Virginia Mason Medical Center	$34,285
Microsoft Corp	$24,805
University of Washington	$24,401
Seattle Genetics	$18,950
Amazon.com	$17,150
Top Ten Toys	$16,200
EMILY's List	$13,600
Omnicom Group	$12,155
Hewlett Packard Enterprise	$10,800
Microbiologist	$10,800
Farstar Ventures	$8,100
Allegro Pediatrics	$7,500
Costco Wholesale	$7,400
Valve Corp	$6,463
Intellectual Ventures LLC	$6,400
Rustic Canyon Partners	$6,400
EmblemHealth Inc	$5,800
Allbee Romein	$5,400
Cooper House	$5,400
Global Diversity Crop Trust	$5,400
Northwest School	$5,400
Overlake Internal Medicine	$5,400
Paloma Partners	$5,400
Providence St Joseph Health	$5,400
Solil Management	$5,400
Stellman's College	$5,400
Tecton Smp	$5,400
Telstra Corp	$5,400
University of California	$5,400
Urban Renaissance Group	$5,400
Zumiez Inc

I don't really care who's contributing to whom. It doesn't really matter. What matters is that both of these candidates are bought and paid for. I won't hold my nose and vote for the 'lesser of two evils' - that never has worked.

One of the reasons I like Wikipedia.

I get to read about things like this -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22Heroes%22_(David_Bowie_song)#Inspiration_and_recording

"Bowie's vocal was recorded with a "multi-latch" system devised by Visconti that creatively misused gating.^[20] Three microphones were used to capture the vocal, with one microphone nine inches from Bowie, one 20 feet away and one 50 feet away. Each microphone was muted as the next one was triggered. As the music built, Bowie was forced to sing at increased volumes to overcome the gating effect, leading to an increasingly impassioned vocal performance as the song progresses.^[19] Jay Hodgson writes, "Bowie's performance thus grows in intensity precisely as ever more ambience infuses his delivery until, by the final verse, he has to shout just to be heard....The more Bowie shouts just to be heard, in fact, the further back in the mix Visconti's multi-latch system pushes his vocal tracks, creating a stark metaphor for the situation of Bowie's doomed lovers".^[21]"

One of the disadvantages traveling by train.

If the train don't run, neither do you.

Corporate Power and Expansive U.S. Military Policy

Corporate Power and Expansive U.S. Military Policy

 

Most succinct summary of the Military and Establishment all in one.

New term I learned about today - SLAPP.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_public_participation (h/t Lee Camp)

Gig Economy=>'Rigged Economy'.

Which is really nothing more than slavery.

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-gig-economy-and-outsourcing-a-dark-net-of-near-slavery/

The gig economy is being driven by those who seek to cut costs, and this begins and ends with their ability to wiggle out of being considered “employers” in any sense. What will it take for those of us who freelance and are at the mercy of the market forces where fees are being driven down in the current economic climate? We either must band together and agree to fees that we simply will not dip below or we must create a formal unionization.