By the Rockets’ Red Glare

Mr. Trump said, "We'll take care of it."

Somehow, I don’t feel reassured. Do you?

I’m not liken’ this version of, Makin’ America Great Again.

Perhaps, we’d better start teachin' the grandkids about, “Duck & Cover”.

Duck and Cover - 1950s

Each Man For Himself

On a clear day in Southeast Michigan

On a clear day in Southeast Michigan I can see the sun and blue sky. I love clear days!

For many people residing elsewhere, seeing the sun and blue sky is not so cherished.

But, seeing blue sky instead of the near constant gloomy, cloudy skies is just short of a miracle here in Michigan. It’s good to see the sun. It’s reassuring and soothing.

This morning, the beautiful sun streaming through the window, empowered me to see many things I didn’t want to see. In the gloom, they conveniently remained hidden.

In the brilliance of the sun a few of those things stood out and I was forced to ponder them.

For instance, in the past I’d considered Mr. Trump simply an accomplished psychopath. Adept at obtaining “wealth and fame” through any means, but without a particular plan or political philosophy, save for the “philosophy” of Trump First.

Today, following his appointment of Mr. Mick Mulvaney to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in the bright morning light, I did recognize the outline of a plan.

Mr. Trump’s plan is: anarchy. The total destruction of the U.S. government.

It’s obvious now. He wants it to be, each man for himself.

I’ll bet you can remember the last financial disaster. Just a couple of years back nearly all of us, including the Banksters, were on our backs like a bunch of nearly dead bugs, gasping for air. Due in large part to outright fraud, the Big To Fail Banks had to be saved from their own bottomless swamp at the cost of trillions of dollars. The public paid the price…, millions of mortgages gone bad… repossessed homes, lost savings… and much more misery than I can relate.

Now Mr. Trump wants to back-knife the itty-bitty consumer protection we have, even in the face of continuing big-bank fraud.

He may very well see his wish come true. But, he won’t be happy if it does.

Sammy Davis Jr - On A Clear Day You Can See Forever

Aryans – Another Lie Too Big to Fail

The Aryan Supremacy Myth or white male racial superiority may very well be the reason the American Dream fails in the United States itself, to say nothing of failure throughout the world.

Certainly, its modern-day advocates, in the form of the current Trump administration, are responsible for shredding 300 years of life-affirming American social progress, plus reducing the U.S. presidency into a “has-been” world leadership role. Needless-to-say, most leaders throughout the world hold a less than favorable view of President Trump’s leadership strengths, with the sole exception, perhaps, of Mr. Putin.

Mr. Trump does not embody, let alone project, America’s greatest values, among them our “culture and civic liberties”.

The idea of Aryan supremacy which became the foundation of sand, born out of the 1800s and used justify the most heinous crimes of the 20th Century, bolster the “American exceptionalism” ideology, sustain the British hegemony of India, and the touchstone of the pre-WWII Nazi movement, as well as the current neo-Nazi in the USA, is in fact based upon a misunderstanding and misapplication of the word ‘Aryan’.

Mistranslated from the Rig Veta, which in its written form was compiled in ancient Sanskrit, the word ‘Aryas’, actually means ‘noble’ or ‘cultured’ and does not refer to a “race” of invaders who supposedly not only vanquished, destroyed and conquered the people of northern India, but also brought enlightenment and culture to ancient Indian civilizations in the form of the largest historical body of works, the Vedas.

Fortunately, understanding and discovery, if allowed to see the light of day, has a way of challenging and eventually dismantling false theories.

In this case, the discovery and excavation of the Indus valley sites of Harappa and Mohenjodaro during the 1920s and 1930s and subsequent exploration of the sites, and others, has led to a certain academic epiphany.

By the 1990s, historians began to realize that Harappa and Mohenjodaro were, “…sophisticated, centrally planned cities… much older than the supposed 1500 BC date for the Aryan invasion of India and that they belonged to a previously unidentified high civilization of remote antiquity, perhaps almost as old, it was speculated, as Sumer or Egypt – in other words, dating back to 3000 BC or earlier.”

Gregory Possehl, Professor of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, and author of numerous academic articles and books, including, Indus Age: The Beginnings, explains:
“This had to do with the Aryan race, proposed to be the people who spoke the languages of the Indo-European family. European intellectual and moral superiority was a foregone conclusion to most savants of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The success of European colonialism, Christianity and the Industrial Revolution proved that. This condition of innate superiority was seen in the Classical Greeks and to have been carried forward by Rome. With the discovery of the Indo-European family of languages there was evidence for an even earlier history, one set within a prehistoric past that only archaeology could uncover. The Aryans, or Indo-Europeans, must have been blessed with this ‘superiority’ since they too were successful conquerors of vast lands, from the Bay of Bengal to the outer islands of Scandinavia and the United Kingdom.”

“In the end there is no reason to believe today that there ever was an Aryan race that spoke Indo-European languages and was possessed of a coherent or well-defined set of Aryan or Indo-European cultural features.”

Due to underwater exploration and sophisticated computer modeling of the ocean levels during the various ice age meltdowns, we now know even more… some researchers share the opinion that the Indus Valley civilization actually predates the last ice age.

And, there is much more…

"This should help settle the issue as far as its modern misuse is concerned. As far as ancient India is concerned, one may safely say that the word Arya denoted certain spiritual and humanistic values that defined her civilization. The entire Aryan civilization - the civilization of Vedic India - was driven and sustained by these values. The whole of ancient Indian literature: from the Vedas, the Brahmanas to the Puranas to the epics like the Mahabharata and the Ramayanacan be seen as a record of the struggles of an ancient people to live up to the ideals defined by these values. Anyone regardless of birth, race or national origin could become Aryan by following this code of conduct. It was not something to be imposed upon others by the sword or by proselytization. Viewed in this light, the whole notion of any 'Aryan invasion' is an absurdity. It is like talking about an 'invasion of scientific thinking'."

Aryan Invasion — History or Politics?, archaeologyoneline.net, Dr. N.S. Rajaram

Take that, you wall-building, xenophobic Trumpists and neo-Nazis!

The Aryan superiority, white male superior thing, is based on a big bottomless swamp. But then, we just somehow knew that, didn’t we? It’s just another lie too big to fail.

Rig Veda Full Sri Suktam in Devanagari Sanskrit English translations.wmv

On the Trail of a Limitless Energy Source

Physics professor Paul Thibado has designed tiny graphene-powered motors that can run on ambient temperature.

Could it be that a bunch of atoms - that like to constantly move around together - connected in a sheet of graphene can be harnessed to produce energy?

Yes. It is possible.

Explained Physics professor Paul Thibado, University of Arkansas, "Unlike atoms in a liquid, which move in random directions, atoms connected in a sheet of graphene move together. This means their energy can be collected using existing nanotechnology."

“Self-powering enables smart bio-implants, which would profoundly impact society, ” he said.

Here’s the story:
Good Vibrations, Camilla Shumaker, University of Arkansas, 20 Oct 2017.

Using the Natural Motion of 2D Materials to Create a New Source of Clean Energy

Graphene is a seemingly impossible material. For years, scientists had theorized that lifting a single layer of carbon atoms from a chunk of graphite could produce the first two-dimensional material, which they called graphene. Finally, in 2004, this was accomplished by two physicists at the University of Manchester, who earned the Nobel Prize in Physics for this breakthrough.

There was a problem, however: two dimensional materials violate the laws of physics. Without the support of a substrate, physics predicts they would tear apart or melt, even at a temperature of absolute zero. Physicists had to find a loophole to explain their existence.

That loophole turned out to be related to a phenomenon known as Brownian motion, small random fluctuations of the carbon atoms that make up graphene. This causes the material to ripple into the third dimension, similar to waves moving across the surface of the ocean. These movements in and out of the flat surface allow graphene to stay comfortably within the laws of physics.

Ever since Robert Brown discovered Brownian motion in 1827, scientists have wondered whether they could harvest this motion as a source of energy. The research of Paul Thibado, professor of physics at the University of Arkansas, provides strong evidence that the motion of graphene could indeed be used as a source of clean, limitless energy.

Much more here…

A Potential Source of Clean, Limitless Energy

The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations - 1966

Inquiring Minds... Thank You!

Astounding, that’s what it is.

Each and everyday researchers somewhere throughout the world are making life-changing discovers in nearly every discipline. We are learning more everyday about those who preceded us on this earth and their incredible abilities to engineer and build as well as their unbelievable understanding of the sciences. 

Scientists specializing in microbiology, nanotechnology and physic, just to name a few, are modern day heroes, living on the cutting edge of knowledge and understanding. They are our future.

For one, I’m thankful for these inquiring minds and for the questions they ask.

Here’s an example:

Solar cell discovery opens a new window to powering tomorrow's cities, Ron Walli, phys.org, 23 Nov 2017.

Buildings of the future may come equipped with windows that can generate their own electricity, thanks to a finding of a team led by Jacqui Cole, a materials scientist from the University of Cambridge, UK, currently based at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory.

For the first time, Cole and colleagues determined the molecular structure of working solar cell electrodes within a fully assembled device that works like a window. The finding, published in Nanoscale, helps advance smart window technology that could enable cities to move closer to the goal of being energy sustainable.

The experiments were performed on dye-sensitized solar cells, which are transparent and thus well-suited for use in glass. Attempts to create smart window technologies have been limited by the many unknown molecular mechanisms between the electrodes and electrolyte that combine to determine how the device operates.

"Most previous studies have modeled the molecular function of these working electrodes without considering the electrolyte ingredients," Cole said. "Our work shows that these chemical ingredients can clearly influence the performance of solar cells, so we can now use this knowledge to tune the ions to increase photovoltaic efficiency."

The discovery was made with colleagues from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK. Researchers are continuing to apply this materials characterization technique to dye-sensitized solar cells, which could reveal further molecular secrets and lead the way to future energy applications.

Please go here for more of the story…

Simon & Garfunkel - Song For The Asking - 1970

Yesterday's Coffee

Working nights as an orderly at Akron City hospital help pay my way through college and often it was Grandma Baker’s coffee that helped me make it to work. She always had some Eight O’Clock coffee brewing on her stove when I’d stop by her place to see how she was doing. We’d talk for a few minutes and then I’d head out to work. I still remember the wonderful aroma of that coffee when I think about those few precious moments.

Next time I visit London I may reprise that coffee memory because the buses are scheduled to be powered by bio-diesel fuel comprised of coffee grounds and some other stuff. It’s a great idea that I hope we’ll bring home to the USA one day soon.

Here’s the story:

London buses to be powered by coffee, BBC, 19 November 2017.

It is the first time a coffee-derived biofuel will be used on London's public transport system

Waste coffee grounds will be used to help power some of London's buses from Monday, it has been revealed.

A biofuel created by blending oil extracted from coffee waste with diesel is to be added to the public transport fuel supply.

Technology firm bio-bean says it has produced enough coffee oil to power one bus for a year.

Transport for London (TfL) has increasingly turned to using biofuels to reduce transport emissions.

Will buses be run on coffee in future?

Biofuel made using waste products such as cooking oil and tallow from meat processing is already used in many of the capital's 9,500 buses.

However, this is thought to be the first time a coffee-derived biofuel has been added to London's public transport system.

Londoners create 200,000 tonnes of coffee waste a year, according to bio-bean.

The company takes the used grounds from coffee shops and instant coffee factories, and extracts oil from it in its factory.

This is then processed into a blended B20 biofuel.

Buses can be powered using the fuel without the need for modification.

Please go here for more information:

bio-bean

Shell

Coffee Drinkers... Oh, My!! What have we come to??

 The Muppets - The Coffee Song -2011

Life-Affirming App

My mind went wild the other night as I conjured-up a new app for smartphones to aid in finding life-affirming products and services. I thought, "Let’s use all that 'big data' for something good."

Instead of buying unhealthy stuff and garbage services, let’s be proactive and purchase only stuff that serves our best interests.

But, how? How do we recognize the good stuff?

Well, let's take advantage of all that "big data" (Which is collected from us, without compensation, when we use the Internet.) and create an app that will sort out the bad, unhealthy stuff, and provide us with the life-affirming, healthy products and services… the really good stuff we need and want.

Here’s how it will work: just type in a product, like for example: household cleaner. The Life-Affirming App will sort through its magical algorithms and out will pop the best life-affirming product for you to purchase. And, not only that, it will direct you to a choice of locations where you may purchase it.

The same will work for a service you might need. Say, I need a lawn care service. Type in “lawn care” and out will pop a selection of companies that provide lawn services using bio-friendly fertilizers and other products.

That’s what I need, I thought!

Perhaps tonight I can get a little sleep and begin my app programming chore later.

Please go here for the spark-of-it-all… you know, the story that provoked my sleeplessness:

Shop Here, Not There: Science Says Reducing Inequality Is Almost That Simple, Chris Winters, yesmagazine.com, 20 Nov 2017.

"New research shows that shuttling even 5 percent of consumer transactions to poorer neighborhoods can reduce income inequality by up to 80 percent."

Imagine heading out to run errands at all your usual places, and your phone’s “equity app” has a better idea. Siri might say: “Buy your groceries at one of these other stores, just as close as your regular store.” Or: “There are three coffee shops within 2 miles. You haven’t tried this one before.”

We already get shopping suggestions when we bring up Google Maps, especially when our smartphones are transmitting our GPS coordinates. A similar type of computation is happening behind the scenes at Facebook and Twitter, whose targeted ads can sometimes be scarily on point.

But what if, instead of just boosting sales, those suggestions coming from your phone were designed to address social problems like inequality?

A group of researchers in France and Spain may have solved one preliminary puzzle toward getting us to that point. In the paper “Crowdsourcing the Robin Hood Effect in Cities,” published in June in the journal Applied Network Science, the researchers describe a computer algorithm they created that attempts to “rewire” the complex network of commercial transactions and shopping trips people take part in every day. The goal is to redirect more money to poorer neighborhoods so that the wealth differences between rich and poor parts of a city are evened out.

The study used data from 150,000 people and 95,000 businesses in Barcelona and Madrid, and on the surface the pattern of transactions and the money spent revealed that some neighborhoods were up to five times wealthier than others. But researchers were shocked to find that if as few as 5 percent of commercial transactions were changed—so that capital flowed from richer to poorer neighborhoods—income inequality in those cities was drastically reduced, up to 80 percent.

“We were not expecting that,” said one of the study’s authors, Maxime Lenormand of the National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture in Montpelier, France. “Actually, I checked the algorithm because I was not sure in the beginning that everything was OK in the code.”

Lenormand conducted the study of the Robin Hood Effect with Thomas Louail of the Paris-based National Center for Scientific Research’s Joint Research Unit of Urban Geography, Juan Murillo Arias of Madrid-based BBVA Data & Analytics, and José J. Ramasco of the Institute of Interdisciplinary Physics and Complex Systems in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

Guiding and changing individual behavior to instigate social change is possible.
Their research began as an attempt to use a model in transportation planning that finds the most efficient way people can get to work and extend it into the area of reducing inequality, Louail said.

more...

Live Longer? Ask Amish

When I was a boy, my uncle owned some horses. I enjoyed visiting him and riding the horses.

One of my fondest memories is when my cousin and I rode horses to the local swimming pool, tied them to a fence and went in for a swim.

Once I went with my uncle to visit a farrier and bring him back to shoe my uncles’ horses. The farrier was an older Amish man and I remember listening to him talk about horses and taking care of them.

Often, I’d see a horse and buggy tied up waiting for its owner to come back from his trip into the local Lawson’s store, not far from our home on the southeast side of Akron, Ohio.

Thinking back on it, I’m not sure if they were Amish or Mennonite. But, for me, it didn’t matter. I just liked seeing the beautiful horse and buggy.

There’s a point to all this rememberin’, of course.

Scientists at Northwestern University in Chicago have discovered a genetic mutation among an Amish population in Indiana which appears to prolong human life and protect against biological ageing.  Their discovery is raising hopes for new treatments to prevent age-related disorders.

I know that has nothing to do with horses, buggies and Lawson's. I just wanted to tell my story.

Here’s the real story:

Rare genetic mutation found in Amish community could combat ageing, Ian Sample, theguardian.com, 15 Nov 2017.

The discovery of a rare genetic mutation that prolongs human life has raised hopes for new treatments to combat ageing and prevent age-related disorders from heart disease to dementia.
Researchers spotted the mutation in an Amish population in Indiana where carriers were found to have better metabolic health, far less diabetes, and tended to live a decade longer than others in the community.

Scientists studied 177 members of the Old Order Amish in the town of Berne and identified 43 people who had inherited one normal and one mutated version of a gene called Serpine1. Those with the mutated version of the gene typically lived to 85 years old, a full 10 years longer than those who did not carry the mutated form.

“This is a rare genetic mutation that appears to protect against biological ageing in humans,” said Douglas Vaughan, a professor of medicine who led the research at Northwestern University in Chicago.

The Serpine1 gene provides the body with instructions to make a protein called PAI-1 which serves as a brake on a process that destroys any clots that may build up in blood vessels. But the protein also has a hand in a process called senescence, where cells go into a state of suspended animation and steadily build up in the body’s tissues. Senescence is increasingly thought to be a strong driver of the ageing process.

Studies in animals have shown that reducing levels of PAI-1 can protect them against ageing and age-related diseases and even prolong life, but until now, the same effect had not been seen in humans. The Amish group in Indiana are the only known community to carry the mutation that naturally suppresses levels of PAI-1 in the blood.

Writing in the journal Science Advances, the researchers describe how those with the single mutated gene had 50% lower levels of PAI-1 in their blood. The scientists went on to look at biological markers for ageing, known as telomeres, in the individuals. Telomeres are tiny caps that tip the ends of chromosomes and which get shorter with age. Carriers of the mutation had longer telomeres than others, suggesting they had aged more slowly, the scientists report.

Tests found a range of health benefits in those who carried the mutation, including better metabolic health, lower levels of diabetes, and a longer lifespan. More…

Flashback Memory... (when I was just an impressionable kid.)
Gene Autry - Back in the Saddle Again (from Back in the Saddle 1941)

Maroons Screwing With Your Grandkid's Future

If there is one thing I've learned so far in this life is to not accept something the politicians came up with in secrecy. The recent Republican Tax bill is no exception.

But those who will be hurt the most are our children and grand children.

They will be burdened with more than $1.5 trillion of debt; little healthcare protection and a Zombie economy, the likes the world has never seen before.

I know you want the best for your grandkids. So, don't let these maroons pass their tax bill.

Here's the story:

The Shocking Math of the Republican Tax Plan, Adam Davidson, newyorker.com, 17 Nov 2017.

"If it gives us nothing else positive, the Republican tax plan—and, in its Senate form, the health-care repeal—at least provides clarity. There is no debate. The middle class will, in the long run, pay more in taxes than under current law, and the rich will pay less."

"The numbers are in and it’s clear: this tax bill helps the rich and hurts everybody else."

Senator Orrin Hatch, of Utah, co-chairs the Joint Committee on Taxation, whose reports this week make startling reading, or as startling as a series of spreadsheets of tax revenue data can be.

If it gives us nothing else positive, the Republican tax plan—and, in its Senate form, the health-care repeal—at least provides clarity. There is no debate. The middle class will, in the long run, pay more in taxes than under current law, and the rich will pay less.

The numbers are in and it’s clear: this tax bill helps the rich and hurts everybody else. Just ask the very people who wrote it. The U.S. Congress Joint Committee on Taxation is run by the chairs of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee—Representative Kevin Brady and Senator Orrin Hatch, respectively. The Joint Committee’s reports of this week make startling reading, or as startling as a series of spreadsheets of tax revenue data can be.

The report shows that this bill is much like a teaser rate on a new credit card: there are some goodies in the first couple of years, but those disappear fairly quickly, at least for those below the median income. In 2019, the first full year that this bill would be law, the benefits are concentrated on the bottom of the income stream, with middle-class people, on average, paying just under ten per cent less in taxes than they would if the law weren’t passed.

With each passing year the benefits shift upward, toward the rich. By 2021, those making between twenty thousand and thirty thousand dollars a year are paying considerably more in taxes, those between thirty thousand and two hundred thousand see their benefit shrinking, and those making more start to see their taxes falling.

By 2027, every income level below seventy-five thousand dollars a year sees a tax increase, while everybody above that level sees a continued decrease, with the greatest cut in taxes accruing to those making more than a million dollars a year.

The report shows that the rich benefit and the poor are hurt in every way that it measures. For example, the effective tax rate—meaning the percentage that people, on average, actually pay after they take all deductions—changes in a precisely regressive form. The poorer you are, the higher your effective rate will rise.

By 2027, only those making a hundred thousand a year or more will see an actual cut in their effective tax rate. And, as could be expected by now, the more they make, the greater the cut in their effective rate. 

By 2025, there is a direct transfer of money from the poor to the rich and corporations. 

"This is not a flaw but the whole point, Harvard’s Martin Feldstein argues. Feldstein is, arguably, the single most widely respected Republican-leaning scholar of tax policy, and one of the few academics who came out in favor of the bill, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. His defense, though, should not give much comfort to the bill’s proponents."

"He argues that cutting individual tax rates won’t increase economic growth and will add to the deficit—which, he acknowledges, is a bad thing. But he’s so excited about the corporate tax-rate cut that he thinks the bill should pass nonetheless. This is an odd stance, since the corporate rate cuts are about a third the size of the individual cuts."

"That is the state of debate on this current bill. Its most respected defender acknowledges that three-quarters of the benefit are a wasted, harmful gift for the rich, but a quarter of the benefit goes to corporations, and we must assume they will spend it wisely."
more...

And, this:

How Republicans Aim to Combine the Destruction of Obamacare with a Tax Cut for the Rich, Adam Davidson, newyorker, 15 Nov 2017.

"Senate Republican leaders have announced a plan to marry their tax-cut legislation with a sloppy effort to destroy Obamacare. Specifically, they will eliminate the mandate requiring Americans to have health insurance, so that they can free up three hundred billion dollars to add some middle-class tax cuts to a bill focused on the rich. This is the legislative and intellectual equivalent of a terrifying and offensive tweet from the head of state, and could have far more lasting impact."
more...

Happily Living

No matter your age or your position in our world now, you'll benefit from watching this video.
Life Lessons From 100-Year-Olds.

Change your story... change your life. Change your life... change the world.

Regrets (Omeleto)

What You Can Learn From Other People’s Regrets, Dr. Joseph Mercola, mercola.com, 16 Nov 2017.

Please go here for more about Dr. Joseph Mercola.

Past Portends Future

Researchers have found that historically inequality repeatedly leads to social disruption, even collapse. Here's the story from Washington State University...

The roots of inequality: Researchers chart rising inequality across millennia, Washington State University, phys.org, 15 Nov 2017.

“Researchers at Washington State University and 13 other institutions have found that the arc of prehistory bends towards economic inequality. In the largest study of its kind, the researchers saw disparities in wealth mount with the rise of agriculture, specifically the domestication of plants and large animals, and increased social organization.

“Their findings, published this week in the journal Nature, have profound implications for contemporary society, as inequality repeatedly leads to social disruption, even collapse, said Tim Kohler, lead author and Regents professor of archaeology and evolutionary anthropology at Washington State University. The United States, he noted, currently has one of the highest levels of inequality in the history of the world.”

Please go here for more.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bad Moon Rising - 1969

Hiding in the JFK Files - Lies Too Big To Fail?

Are you one of the few Americans still believing that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by a lone assassin?

The President's recent disregard of the Congressional order to release all documents relating to JFK's murder should give you reason to consider why the CIA does not want you to see: “3,147 ‘withheld in full’ records never seen, and an unknown number of redacted documents estimated at about 30,000”.

Rex Bradford, president of the Mary Ferrell Foundation explained what actually was heldback, “Intensely lobbied by federal agencies including the CIA, Trump instead authorized the withholding of well over 90% of these documents. 52 of the 3147 withheld-in-full records were released and put online by NARA, less than 2%, and 2839 of the redacted documents were released, which is probably less than 10% of that set.”

From the public metadata available for all these records, it's clear that the most-desired records were held back. Still withheld-in-full records among the 98% of those not released include, for example:

1. Still-withheld Church Committee interview transcripts not included in the 1990s releases, including one with none other than CIA Counter Intelligence chief James Angleton.
2. Lengthy CIA files on officers who played a role in Castro assassination plotting and/or the JFK story, including William Harvey, David Philips, E. Howard Hunt, James O'Connell, Richard Synder, and several others.
3. A 167-page CIA document on Valeriy Kostikov, the Soviet agent stationed in Mexico whose name was used as part of the "World War III" scenario that the Warren Commission we now know was created to push back against.
4. An interview the House Select Committee on Assassinations conducted with Orest Pena, the New Orleans bar owner who told the Committee that Oswald was an FBI informant and he often saw Oswald in the company of a particular FBI agent.

Please go here for the whole story... the one you did not read in the mainstream press:
What Happened Thursday with the JFK Records?, maryferrell.org

Please download background info, I've written: Lies Too Big To Fail (PDF)

Power Struggle Addiction

 Are We Addicted To Power Struggle? - Sharon Ellison

People know about drug addiction. Alcohol, sex, money… just about every coveted thing can become an addiction.

Sharon Ellison believes that power struggle is the “core” addiction.

See: Taking the War Out of Our Words, by Sharon Strand Ellison

http://www.pndc.com/

Ultimate Lie Detector

Thank you Jay Heinrichs. I needed this!

Please go here for the whole story... and No B.S.!
Enthymeme: The Ultimate B.S. Detector, Jay Heinrichs, argueLab.com, 19 Sept 2016

"Don’t you wish you had a lie detector? Especially these days. How can you stop from being manipulated, voting for the wrong person, buying stuff you don’t need, or falling in love with a good looking cheating liar?"

More:
Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach,
About:
Jay Heinrichs

Do You Believe in Redemption?

One Sunday morning, a long time ago, I stood next to Mom and listened to her sing her favorite hymn, I Come to the Garden Alone.*

Back then, for me, it was just a beautiful song that I knew Mom loved.

Today it somehow reassures me of redemption… my belief that we all can be saved from our own sins, the sins of others and evil.

This morning I read Pres. John F. Kennedy’s famous American University “Peace Speech” from 1963. I glanced out the office window and watched, mesmerized, at the beautiful sunrise before me. Suddenly thoughts of that beautiful song came flooding back in my mind.

It occurred to me that it would be a certain "redemptive" miracle if we all could walk in the garden together for a moment or two and consider together how much we do have in common… even people who believe and trust in Pres. Trump and those who do not.

Then I looked at my computer and read:

“So, let us not be blind to our differences—but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”**

I know miracles happen. I’d rejoice if a redemptive, talk and walk together in the garden could be one of them.

* In the Garden (I Come to the Garden Alone) C. Austin Miles - 1912
**President John F. Kennedy American University Commencement Address, 10 June 1963

President John F. Kennedy, "Peace Speech" American University - 10 June 1963

Anne Murray - In The Garden (Live) - 1999

$8 Trillion… That’s a lot... for Nothin'

Remember way back when we went to war in a blaze of shock and awe to defend ourselves from those weapons of mass destruction?

The weapons didn’t exist. But the wealth we squandered trying to destroy them did.

Do you remember who got us into that little Iraqi dust-up?

Well now, recent projections conclude that we could be paying off the post-9/11 war debt to the tune of some $8 trillion. Even by my poor figurin', that's a lot.

And, the Congressional Budget Office says the GOP tax plan would add $1.7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. This is from the people who traditionally claim that the Democrats foolishly spend too much, racking up too much national debt.

Don’t you agree that it’s time to reconsider our priorities?

About now, a change of direction just might be a wise move.

Here's the story:
Paying Off Post-9/11 War Debt Could Cost $8 Trillion: Report, Caroline Houck, defenseone.com, 9 Nov 2017. 

Please download background info, I've written: Lies Too Big To Fail (PDF)

Fleetwood Mac ‎- Little Lies - 1982

How to Reduce/Eliminate Gun-Related Shootings

The most direct path to eliminate or reduce mass shootings and gun shootings of all kinds is to require that the manufacturers and the sellers of weapons used by the shooter pay the shooting victims medical and rehabilitation bills, funeral costs and lump sum (i.e. life insurance) to the victim's survivors.

The manufacturers and the seller will cipher out a plan so they can continue to profit and we (the potential victims) will have a viable (American) solution forthwith.

Please go here for the story.

How to Make the Gun Industry Pay, Mark Joseph Stern, Slate,6 Nov 2017.

“Federal law shields firearm purveyors from liability. (Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act [PLCAA] in 2005 at the behest of the National Rifle Association and other industry lobbyists.) Taxing gun-makers and dealers is the only way to make victims whole.”

Sarah Mclachlan - I Will Remember You - 1995

Do Something Today... Vote for Life.

Today is election day for many communities. In some you are electing people to office.

If you are, would you please consider voting for people who want to confront the evil consuming our nation and try to end this unnecessary slaughter of the innocents?

For Mom, she loved us and taught us to love others, too.
Oliver- Jean 1969

Disposable Grandkids

As far as the calendar is concerned, Halloween has passed on.

But life squandering, scary politics didn't. It is still with us and likely to stay. It has crawled out of its grave, hungry for fresh blood and looking for easy pickings.

Like easy immigrant targets from the past – the Irish, Italians, Polish, Jewish and many other nationalities and religious minorities – the conveniently powerless have been made into the foil for the Washington, D.C., party-in-control.

This time the disposable are the people of Puerto Rico, the immigrant children, the Dreamers, no longer protected by DACA, and the victims of the Los Vegas mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival.

For political gain, the Washington, D.C., party-in-control has trash-canned these defenseless humans.

When their usefulness is consumed, who next will be thrown into the trash? Will they be your grandkids?

Here’s the whole story.
Disposability in the Age of Disasters: From Dreamers and Puerto Rico to Violence in Las Vegas, Henry A. Giroux, Truthout. 2 Nov 2017.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fortunate Son - 1969

Diet Soda Makers Hit with False Advertising Class-Action Suit

Class action lawsuits could take aim at diet soda makers - 20 Oct 2017

Recently (16 Oct) three separate class-action lawsuits were filed against Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo, Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Dr Pepper/Seven Up Inc. These corporations make and sell diet” beverages sweetened with aspartame. *

“The suits allege that the companies' use of the word ‘diet’ in the beverages' ‘false misleading and unlawful’ marketing could make a ‘reasonable consumer’ think the drinks are a diet aid.”

According to attorney Abraham Melamed: “What's been going on is clearly deceptive advertising. In our opinion, it's one of the biggest consumer scams in the last 50 years, and it has to stop. There's a strong sense of urgency because there are hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of consumers out there that are being deceived on a daily basis."

But, despite the ABC commentators downplay in the clip above, this is big news.

Why?

Because drinking diet soda has no effect on weight gain but may have other serious health concerns.

For years researchers have suspected that consumption of diet soda plays a role in obesity, diabetes and the metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance).**

Explains Dr. Robert H. Lustig, M.D., MSL Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, “Individual pieces of data are concerning,” he says. “There’s no question that diet soda consumption is associated with diabetes, but we don’t know yet if it’s cause or effect.”

The class-action suit has implications above and beyond deceptive advertising because the cost of treating the victims of these epidemics ranges in the trillions of dollars each year alone.

*Please go here for the whole story:
Diet Soda Makers Sued Over Deceptive, False and Misleading Advertising, Dr. Mercola,  Mercola.com, 31 Oct 2017

** The eight chronic metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance) diseases: heart disease, lipid (blood) problems, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cancer (especially breast and colon), polycystic ovarian syndrome, and dementia.

How diet soda confuses your body

My Challenge, Your Challenge

A few years from now, when we look back to this point in our national history, which “reality” will we see? 

Our children's future, our grandchildren’s future, depends upon our working together toward our mutual benefit. But how will we know what “mutual benefit” means when we don’t know what is “fact” and what is “alternative fact”… and lack the ability to distinguish which matters most?

And, do you define benefit as maintaining or gaining some sort of advantage over others, even to the point of their demise? In your mind, do benefits only deservedly accrue to you, or your family, or race, or gender, or nation?

We all know that history is written by the winner. But the winner of this battle could damage our dominate capitalistic society beyond repair - and hustle us into a dystopian quagmire unable to sustain an America-First style capitalism.

Those who will live in the future will ultimately suffer the results of our “alternative fact” telling because the more we fail to discern fact from alternative fact fiction, the further we slip away from reality. We will see less and less clearly the choices before us and what is at stake in them. Eventually, we will find ourselves unable to see what we are really doing and how it is affecting others and ourselves.

Still, fact will remain fact whether we wish it otherwise or not. 

We may choose to tell ourselves “alternative fact fiction” but the decisions we make based on fiction will be hazardous, perhaps fatal, to our children, if not to ourselves.

Overcoming willing “alternative fact fiction” self-deception… therein lies our challenge... humanity’s challenge.

Please see:

Mueller Indictments and Guilty Plea Show Dangerous Divide Between Trump/Right-Wing Media and Reality, Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet, 30 Oct 2017.

Harry Chapin - Cat's in the Cradle - 1977