LIFE- It Don't Always Make Sense

     Photo: © S. Banos

I spent a considerable amount of time, money and effort to do "the right thing" and get my father in a different place where he would hopefully have a better time of it in his remaining years. This not to laud my own efforts, they've been absolute minimal- my mother has done the totality of the heavy lifting. And I mention it only because in the end, I succeeded in getting him placed in a setting where he this week broke his hip and now lies in a hospital post op in stable condition with a screw holding him together. 

And all he wanted to do was die in a dignified manner a few years back, when he still had his mind.

Where To Invade Next

I was tepid at best about seeing Michael Moore's latest, Where To Invade Next. The previews looked, well... not only lackluster, but silly, seen it before and- no longer funny. But being that we hadn't seen a flick in quite a few, off we went- and I celebrated by taking... my first senior discount ($1.50- Woo Hoo!).

Surprisingly, the movie itself did not disappoint. Unfortunately, at this point, Moore's movies only preach to the choir- it's pissed off Trump Republicans that need to watch and learn. Watch and learn how the US has chucked, forsaken and forgotten what once made this country great- and what we could now undertake to heal, repair and restore. As usual, Conservatives go on and on about how the US is overtaxed, and yet they never mention the crippling amounts we have to pay for: health care, higher education and a whole host of other social/civic services that we either pay top dollar for- or (increasingly likely) learn to do without. Our health, economy and hopes breaking down before our eyes just as the very environment and infrastructure we so desperately depend upon. And as Moore points out, insult to injury- many of the very ideas that could alleviate so much suffering and right so many of our current economic and social ills that other countries so effectively employ... originated right here in the good ol' US of A!

Sadly we have allowed ourselves to become so tone deaf and dumbed down, so marginalized in our own frustration, that we can only now seek to blame others as we mindlessly chant on in ever increasing fervor- USA, USA, USA...

Remembering The Fall Of Rome (And It's Batshit Crazy Leaders)

As a kid I always wondered how mighty, kick ass Rome pretty much allowed itself to fall apart and rot from within as the barbarians trolled the gates. Of course, once you start reading just how insane its Caesars really were, you soon start asking yourself- just how was it that Rome managed to survive as long as it did?

Of course, our modern, interconnected world experiences everything at a considerably accelerated rate. And I have been amazed at what this country has been able to endure just in my lifetime, including a President who (while definitely not insane), at least kinda knew he was dumber than a rock in some round about, dry drunk kinda way- and didn't give a damn how many people lost their lives in his little macho military fantasies. Now we got someone running who not only doesn't have the slightest clue, but who actually thinks himself more intelligent than all human life combined. And even scarier, if such a scenario is even plausible (and it is)- there are people who actually think believe he is, while others simply revel in the fact that he'll forever be the ever lovin' dick that he truly is... (just like them- except w/o his $).

Civilizations in the final stages of decay are dominated by elites out of touch with reality.

          -Christopher Hedges
 

Because We're Stupid

Not stupid because we didn't understand exactly how the banks were conducting business, it was made purposely too complex for us to understand. No one can be faulted for that. Stupid because once they were finally exposed, finally exposed bare and naked and clean for all to see just how longingly and lovingly they were fucking us up the ass each and every day, we chose to... 

1.) Allow them to be rescued with our money,

2.) Demand no accountability whatsoever,

3.) Blame exactly who they told us to blame ("poor people, teachers and immigrants"), and-

4.) Smile as we continue to let them fuck us each and every day, to this very day!

The beauty and genius that was Jon Stewart and The Daily Show was that they broke down complex (and often boring) social, political and economic issues into logical, easy to understand bits and pieces that were... goddamn funny to boot. The Big Short does much the same, and does so brilliantly, covering the financial meltdown that happened under our watch (Anthony Bourdain explains CDOs, Salena Gomez breaks down synthetic CDOs)- and that continues unpunished and unrepentant, however disguised, as you read this.

But, hey, it's Christmas- grab the eggnog and a warm blanket; you can kick the dog when you're hungover after New Year's. 

PS- Oh... And when someone with a big, self satisfied smirk demands you explain just how the government could ever possibly keep a secret as overwhelmingly HUGE as UFO's under lock and key for soooo damn long- kindly just remind them that... it's all so easy, when we're the ones who do it for them; aliens are small potatoes indeed, compared to knowingly letting them rob us blind each and every day of our hard earned $$$...

Just try not to roll your eyes when you tell them.

"I Was Appointed To Be Duped."

The Hoffman Report- How the APA, the CIA and the US Military colluded to excuse, allow and practice torture...

96- Per Day...

America = Corruption

Operation Tomodachi

The Fukushima catastrophe changed the world. Nuclear reactors melted down on live television and twice as much radioactive material was released as during the Chernobyl accident in 1986. The disaster drove 150,000 people from their towns and villages, poisoned entire landscapes for centuries and killed hundreds of thousands of farm animals.

AFP/US Navy

There's an old Saturday Night skit in which a Black janitor (Garrett Morris) is ordered to get his mop and bucket and clean up... a radioactive spill at a nuclear power plant. It was one funny skit- it's also basically what  Navy Captain Thom Burke told his crew to do on the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan when they entered the radioactive plume dispersed by the critically damaged Fukushima nuclear plant. Not so funny...

Many of those sailors lived and worked well within that radioactive plume for days, cleaning radioactive fallout without protective clothing, drinking contaminated water. Hundreds of them are now suffering from advanced cancers and "unexplained" debilitating diseases that the Navy says they cannot explain, and for which they take no responsibility and admit no accountability. Of the 500 sailors stricken ill, 247 are now attempting to sue Tepco (the Japanese power company that ran the plant in question), they're legally prohibited from suing the US Military itself due to the Feres Doctrine).

 

 How much of this have you heard or read about on the news???

Water, $$$ & Western Civilization

“A new brand of dot.com millionaires and generally Silicon Valley money moved into San Francisco with bags full of cash and no manners and very little education in the great culture of Western civilization,” Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

We're currently in one of the worst (if not THE WORST) droughts in California history. Many a Californian municipality has already begun imposing serious water restrictions on it populace. But drought minimization efforts here in San Francisco range from non existent to absolute minimal. Could it possibly have something to do with all the construction cranes that have become ubiquitous throughout the city the past couple of years? Could it be because there's just so much money pouring in from all these recent high tech firms (both start ups and established) that no one wants to rock the boat in whatever puddle is left to rock? Would this most recent wave of high end $$$ look elsewhere if they heard that water access would be cut several hours a day? Of course, it makes little difference either way to the scores of homeless that literally litter our streets despite this plethora of high tech income.

And for 1/2 hr every Friday at lunch hour, you can see a regular handful of these dot.com, start up, millionaire wannabes deftly maneuvering around the homeless on the streets as they pick up latte cups and napkins off the city streets with their mechanical grabbing sticks. This is their officially sanctioned method of "giving back" to the city they've invaded, in return for which, San Francisco has bequeathed them with millions in tax incentives as they price local, long time residents out of home and... city.

Everything You Know About Drugs Is Wrong...

Yeah, pretty much everything... from the way they affect our minds and bodies individually, to the way they affect society as a whole. We've created and perpetuated so many long standing myths about drugs, that we've come to believe them as basic truths. See how quickly they dissipate into disrepute when held to the light of the most basic of scrutiny...

Will straighten ya out right quick!

The Face Of Ignorance

Whether it's White Supremacist Nazis burning books, or Jihadi crazed fundamentalists- this is what IGNORANCE looks like... and it always leads to, is concurrent with, was preceded by, a blatant disregard for the value and sanctity of life itself.

Lords Of Secrecy

Why did 4X deferment Dick Cheney allow Pakistan's evacuation of key Al Qaeda operatives from US jurisdiction? And other outrageous and essentially unpublicized and unaccounted for acts of complete security insanity...

NYPD Officially Banned Choke Holds 20 Years Ago...

Kinda, sorta, in a way- and definitely not so much that it still doesn't get used... enough to kill. At this point, it seems that police nationwide have clearly proclaimed (and society has sanctioned  by default) open season on African American males. All officers need do is quote the mantra: he resisted, came at me, reached for his waist, made a scary face...

Honesty vs. Cowardice

Iraq War vet/peace activist Tomas Young died Monday. Tomas Young was a victim of a needless, unnecessary war fought at the behest of a man too cowardly to go to war himself. Instead, the coward chose to fly planes at home, and when bored of flying planes, just left and got drunk.

Mr. Young died a slow, excruciatingly painful death- a death that lasted a good ten years. While Mr. Young suffered, the man who sent him to death laughed and made fun of the needless, useless war he himself had created- a war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives (many, women and children) was laughed at by those that didn't have to fight it. A needless war that created more conflicts and more enemies, persisting to this very day. 

Mr. Young is dead- but thousands of others, wounded and maimed, survive silent and unseen. The remainder of their lives spent in pain, while one man lives the rest of his in luxury and denial.

Third World New York

No, this did not happen in some ruthless Central American dictatorship or some lawless African semi-state. It happened in New York City, that historical hub of Liberalism and over regulation. Welcome to the subhuman nightmare in which a minor is allowed to rot for three years without jury, trial or conviction- much of that time in complete isolation... Welcome to Kalief Browder's world of injustice:

Don't Shoot... Going Home

Photo: © S. Banos

Actually, this elderly (White) gentleman doesn't have much to fear in that respect- as clearly evidenced here. But point most definitely... taken. Seems that except for those in complete denial (and yes, that faction always does represent in substantial numbers), there now seems to have opened a small window to which the public at large can no longer claim ignorance to the fact that maybe, just maybe, cops do treat Whites different than... the darker complected spectrum of humanity.

Reciprocity Failure will be recharging its analog batteries in the coming fortnight as I head over towards the homeland to visit the folks, participate in the largest climate march in the world to date, check out the doings in Photoville, and catch a show or two. May send in a brief on the spot post if and when appropriate- and do say hello if so inclined...

Once again, thanks to all who drop by to make this little endeavor worthwhile!

Speaking of home...

And if ya made it this far, you may wish you hadn't- something else to think on during the interim... 10 mind chilling scenarios!

OK, OK- couldn't leave everyone in such a foul funk, these make everyone* happy!!! Least, did me, when I had one...
*(who has Pinterest- sorry)

Income Inequality Is Higher NOW Than In 1928

 

In 2001, the deputy spokesperson of the White House Press Office was asked what he thought the median income was on that year's tax returns. He replied it was around... $250,000.

It was $28,000.

Hear It And Weep...

Israel's Legacy Of Serial Child Murder

Tapper told Regev that Israel has killed more Palestinian children in the past three weeks than "the total number of Israeli soldiers killed in military operations since 2006."

"That is a lot of dead children," he said. "At what point does the Israeli government say, enough, we're killing too many innocent children?"

We are then told that "the deaths of these children pains the chief of staff of Israeli military." Well then- what the heck is everybody complaining about?

How many times can a nation repeatedly kill scores of children and get away with it? Clearly Syria has no qualms about killing as many children as they want, and it now seems- neither does Israel. This nation which repeatedly likes to remind everyone just how much more civilized they are, than say... Syria, currently seems hellbent on ignoring just how many dead children's bodies they are now accumulating.

But Stan! What about all those crazed Muslim suicide bombers killing innocent Israelis- many of them children! What about them, huh? Yes, crazed, desperate lunatics each and everyone- to be roundly denounced, condemned and eliminated in as expedient a manner as possible! Clear? 

But, but... don't then come washing your hands and excusing yourself of child murder by gently whispering "collateral damage" in my ear. You're not arguing degrees of morality, you're arguing degrees of technology. One side kills innocent women and children as the consequence of high tech, push button, missiles and bombs, the other kills them with a decidedly more primitive... weapons delivery system. Both the rational and end result is the same- each trying to kill the other into submission by any means necessary, the blood of innocents deterring neither side. The moral high ground is highly absent here.

Israel- you were once a noble people fighting back against all odds in the Warsaw Ghetto. Now you find yourself top dog in the hood, and determined to remain so- no longer the bullied, but the bully.... like the childhood victim of sexual or domestic abuse that instead of learning from their experience, grows up to become yet another abuser doomed to repeat without conscience or remorse.

The Coliseum Revisted

Andrew Burton/Getty Images (via)

I wonder if this photo will someday end up in Mark Kologi's found photo garage? Some yungun will pick it up and wonder what outdoor show or fireworks display from decades past these relaxed vacationers were preparing to watch. They'll remember how much fun they had in their own youth celebrating with their families or neighborhood friends before the responsibilities of adulthood finally hit home. They'll bask in the temporary glow provided by warm childhood memories...

And then some grizzled old timer like myself will walk up and sadly inform him or her that those are not vacationers, those are not fireworks, and that those nice people came to view and cheer on the death and dismemberment of children and families, came to celebrate the hatred and carnage that one group of people can bestow upon another.