I know my readers have seen me write “can’t fix stupid” many times and I firmly believe that it cannot be fixed….but I read an article that pushes the premise that ‘stupid’ can be fixed.
We’ve heard it said, “you can’t fix stupid.” That’s a grim assessment….with a different take on the issue – from the mind of German Christian theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian, and and a vocal critic of Hitler’s program. When most of the Church in Germany was silent, complicit, or even actively pro-Nazi, Bonhoeffer and his colleagues founded the Confessing Church to create a distinction between those capitulating to Nazism and those holding to true doctrine.
Needless to say, Bonhoeffer’s efforts to awaken the Church went unheeded for much too long.
As we will explore in the coming days, there are a startling number of similarities between Christians of Bonhoeffer’s time and today, and we might do well to learn from history.
Today, let’s get to know a little of what we’re up against – not the big, dangerous guys on top, but the millions of minions who are all around us: The Stupid.
Spoiler alert: the fix for stupidity is not simple. It is spiritually and/or psychologically costly. But it can be done.
In reflecting about how the normally intelligent and compassionate Christian people of Germany could become complicit cogs in the killing machine of Nazism, Bonhoeffer explains that stupidity is more dangerous than evil.
Somewhere down the line there will be a peace deal that could end the hostilities….that is a joke for even in peace there will still be lingering hostilities…..then there is those countries that border Ukraine on the West a report says that are concerned for peace.
NATO members that border Russia and Belarus are afraid that growing opposition to the proxy war in Ukraine inside the United States will put pressure on the Ukrainians to pursue peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, The Hill reported on Tuesday.
While the Biden administration’s stated policy is to back Ukraine for “as long as it takes,” and the majority of Congress still supports the proxy war, there is there is fatigue among Americans. A recent poll from CNN found that 55% of Americans are against Congress authorizing more spending on the conflict.
Former President Trump, the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 election, has claimed he would end the war in Ukraine within “24 hours.” The Biden administration is looking to sign a long-term security deal with Ukraine to tie the hands of a future administration on the issue, but the political climate has some NATO members nervous that peace might be pursued.
The report said that for Poland and the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, talking with Putin is a “red line.” The four nations want the US and the rest of Ukraine’s Western backers to prepare for a future where the Russian leader is completely isolated.
The narrative from the countries on NATO’s “eastern flank” is that peace talks would reward Putin and put Russia in a better position to exert its influence. “All of this then increases the threat on NATO’s borders. Putin would be able to sell negotiations as a victory, and [it] would help him exert even greater political influence globally — we already see it in Africa, in Niger and South Africa. It’s not only a military threat but a diplomatic one, too,” an unnamed Baltic official told The Hill.
(antiwar.com)
I understand the position taken….but at some point the death and destruction must end.
I would like to see some poll of Ukrainians on this conflict…..we see reports of Ukrainians offering their points but nothing on all Ukrainians.
Ukraine may be fight another war….a trade war with its neighbors….
Ukraine is threatening to take Brussels and EU member countries to the World Trade Organization if they fail to lift restrictions on its agricultural exports to the bloc this month.
The country’s grain exports — its main trade commodity — are currently banned from the markets of Poland, Hungary and three other EU countries under a deal struck with the European Commission earlier this year to protect farmers from an influx of cheaper produce from their war-torn neighbor.
The glut, triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its blockade of the country’s traditional Black Sea export routes, has driven a wedge between Ukraine and the EU’s eastern frontline states which have been among the strongest backers of Kyiv’s military fightback.
The restrictions, already extended once, are due to expire on September 15. Amid speculation that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will let them lapse, Poland and Hungary have threatened to impose their own unilateral import bans, in violation of the bloc’s common trade rules.
Remember in recent years the US has had many rolling shortages….bleach, toiler paper……now we have yet another shortage…..laxatives.
Say what?
You read it right….the US is experiencing a shortage in laxatives….
Overuse of laxatives by Americans is making it harder to find them at the store. The shortage, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, comes from a variety of factors. Along with an aging population and Americans’ tendency to eat less fiber, poor eating habits developed during the pandemic and an uptick in travel and hybrid work schedules are making it harder for Americans to go number two. This increased demand for laxatives has made products like Miralax and Glycolax fly off the shelves, and fiber supplements are seeing double-digit growth. “It’s crazy to think that our collective bowel dysfunction problems have gotten so bad that we’re literally running out of stool softeners,” Dr. George Pavlou of Gastroenterology Associates of New Jersey tells the Journal
A new consumer group has also emerged. Younger buyers increasingly rely on laxatives, and companies are adapting to this shift, offering gummies products marketed to them. Discussions about bowel health have also become less taboo with younger generations, sparked by the viral #GutTok movement. But healthcare providers who observe the overuse of laxatives and supplements when addressing bowel issues are concerned. Misinformation about gut health on social media is rampant, along with the misconception that laxatives aid in weight loss. Eating disorder specialist Dr. Jenna DiLossi tells the Journal she’s seen a recent spike in teens abusing laxatives. “When people have an excessive bowel movement and they feel completely empty inside, that gets wrapped up in thinness and health,” she says.
Doctors stress the importance of balanced diets that are rich in fruit, vegetables, and whole grains as the first step in maintaining a healthy gut. Taking laxatives often highlights a preference for quick fixes—the New York Post rounds up examples of this on social media—over sustainable lifestyle changes, though doctors warn that starting to eat fiber also won’t change things overnight. “A lot of people take it for constipation and then expect that it will work the same day,” Dr. Wendi LeBrett, a gastroenterologist, tells Insider. She also notes that when working from home, people don’t move around as much “so that definitely can cause or increase constipation.
Surely I could say something clever about the shortage but why bother? But could not let this go without one observation…..this could explain MAGA supporters and their needs.
Looks like Trump is still the front runner in thew GOP dash for a candidate….
There is a sorta large attempt to keep Trump off the ballot and the 14th amendment is the weapon of choice……more specifically Section 3 of the amendment which states….
Section 3
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
While Trump has railed against the effort as “another ‘trick’ being used by the Radical Left Communists, Marxists, and Fascists,” the renewed look at the little-used provision was sparked by a law review drafted by two conservative law professors.
“It disqualifies former President Donald Trump, and potentially many others, because of their participation in the attempted overthrow of the 2020 presidential election,” William Baude and Michael Paulsen wrote of Section 3 of the amendment.
But the rarely cited provision leaves open questions about how Trump would be removed from the ballot — or if proactive measures are even needed to do so.
While some legal experts and lawmakers have argued the clause clearly applies to Trump over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, others cast more doubt and note any challenges are likely to be tied up in court.
This one issue has raised so many questions and could be settled by SCOTUS which few Americans any longer trust.
I wish I could say that this could be settled in a civilized way but that ship left port and sank of the reef of partisanship which has wrecked so many initiatives.
Do you think the Constitution should be employed in this situation?
We have a president that looks fragile and slow….we have the Senate majority leader who has had a couple of brain farts at news conferences…..the there is Feinstein, the oldest member of the Senate who is having health issues and cognitive brain farts…… these ‘leaders’ (I use the term loosely) are showing their age and their fragility……and now word has come out that Pelosi will stand for re-election….she is 83….
Nancy Pelosi may be well above the median age (58) for members of the House of Representatives, but the 83-year-old Democratic congresswoman has no intentions of leaving anytime soon. Although the former speaker stepped away from any possible leadership post in Congress last fall, Pelosi announced Friday that she plans to run for reelection for her House seat next year, reports the Hill. “Now more than ever our City needs us to advance San Francisco values and further our recovery,” she wrote Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Our country needs America to show the world that our flag is still there, with liberty and justice for ALL,” she added. “That is why I am running for reelection—and respectfully ask for your vote.” Politico notes that Pelosi’s reelection run would “[extend] a 36-year House career and [freeze] her would-be California successors in a long-standing holding pattern.” Per the AP, Pelosi was first elected to the House in 1987 and became the first female House speaker in 2007. She became speaker once again in 2019, a role she served in until last January.
Too damn old!
Time for all these old farts to move aside and let younger leaders step into the fray.
Even so-called liberals are too damn conservative…..we have no leadership on the Left where great ideas come from and then go to Congress and die an agonizing death.
Today we set aside a day to remember the deadly attacks within the US and we have called it Patriots Day…..
Three terrorist attacks by extremists….most of us remember the day but do any remember why the attacks took place?
How did the terrorist decide on which targets to hit within the US?
On September 11, 2001, two symbols of American power were attacked. First, two hijacked planes — Flight 11 and Flight 175 — struck the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, causing them to collapse and killing thousands. Later that morning, a third plane, the hijacked Flight 77, hit the Pentagon in D.C., killing all aboard and 125 others in the building. In the minds of the terrorists involved, the Lower Manhattan Twin Towers represented Western economic might. Meanwhile, the Pentagon — where the U.S. Armed Forces command is headquartered — stood for Western military dominance. With those two locations taken out, they thought America’s impact on the world would be greatly diminished, according to the 9/11 Memorial Museum.
In 2004, Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden affirmed his group’s responsibility for the deadliest terrorist attack in history, the CBC reported that year. In his video message, bin Laden said his organization sought to “destroy towers in America” because “we are a free people … and we want to regain the freedom of our nation.” Also on September 11, passengers and crew fought back against one other hijacking, and a fourth plane, Flight 93, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania near D.C., killing everyone on board, according to the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.
Decades later, Flight 93’s final destination remains uncertain — possibly the U.S. capitol — butthe Pentagon and the Trade Center were clear objectives that day. By 2002, the Pentagon was rebuilt, and since 2011, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum has stood where the Twin Towers were once located.
Then there is that third plane, Flight 93, and its supposed destination.
There is not clear consensus on the destination but there are a few theories.
The passenger plane that crashlanded in Somerset County, Pennsylvania 240 miles from Washington D.C. is assumed to have been intended for a specific target in the city. As the nation’s capital, there are a number of potential locations that the hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 may have had in mind as the ultimate target of their attack. The headquarters of the CIA, the Capitol building, and the White House have all been identified as possible targets for the attack — security expert Tyler Drumhiller has a hunch that the hijackers were aiming for the latter, per NBC News — but more than two decades on from the attacks nothing has been confirmed.
The hijackers, members of the radical Afghanistan-based terror group Al Qaeda, told the crew that they had a bomb on board. After the captain had informed the passengers of the hijacking and advised them to stay in their seats, the terrorists took control of the plane and turned it toward Washington D.C., where they intended to fly into a prominent building just as their murderous co-conspirators had done earlier that day.
But a number of Americans who found themselves at the mercy of the hijackers had other ideas. In a coordinated effort — the planning of which has been immortalized through a famous recording — several of those on board rushed the hijackers, forcing them to crashland the plane into a field in Somerset, Pennsylvania, killing all 33 passengers and seven crew members on board.
Time for that FYI and a little history after all it is a Sunday.
There have been several ‘eras’ in the 20th century….the atomic era, etc….but the one that has had the most impact worldwide is the digital era.
Many of our young use the internet ad nauseam for hour upon hour on such mind numbing endeavors as Facebook, TikTok, et al….but how many can sit and tell us where the marvel of modern engineering came from or when?
Let’s begin with when and where this baby was born….
Arguably, the seeds of the Internet’s history began in 1957 in the historical context of the Cold War, which divided the world into two blocs led by the Soviet Union and the United States. In that year, the USSR launched the first satellite into space, Sputnik I. In response, the Americans created the Internet. In response, in 1958, the Americans created the Advanced Research Projects Agency, ARPA, under the Department of Defence. This agency had the talents of some 200 scientists focused on creating a network capable of communicating between several computers located in different places.
In 1961, Leonard Kleinrock published the packet-switching theory from his post at MIT. It was based on the idea that all the information leaving a device was chopped up into blocks to facilitate its transmission. He called these blocks packets. The following year, Paul Baran presented a communications system that, through computers connected to a decentralised network, was immune to external attacks. Thus, if one node was destroyed, the rest could continue without any problems.
Later, in 1965, it was possible to connect two computers: one in Massachusetts and the other in California by means of a telephone line, although it was not very operational. The big breakthrough came in 1969 with Michael Elie, who succeeded in connecting a computer at the University of California with one at the Stanford Research Institute. Soon after, four more universities joined and this interconnection was called the Arpanet.
It happened in 1983. The US Department of Defense decided to incorporate the TCP/IP protocol into its network, which was renamed Arpanet Internet, and eventually, the term Internet alone remained.
Years later, in 1989, Tim Berners Lee incorporated three new resources: HTML, HTTP and a programme called Web Browser. They were the basis for making web pages. A year later, the Internet was born in closed form within CERN, the European Centre for Nuclear Research based in Switzerland, and in 1991, it finally reached the general public.
Another weekend begins….basically the week was full of boring news nothing to hold my attention….so Saturdays give me a chance to drop some news that is interesting as well as entertaining…..
My first offering is from the ‘Can’t Fix Stupid” files…..
Family members say a Massachusetts teen has died after eating an extremely spicy tortilla chip featured in the viral “One Chip Challenge.” A classmate gave the Paqui-branded chip to 14-year-old Harris Wolobah at Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester before the boy went to the school nurse complaining of stomach pains, Harris’ mother, Lois Wolobah, tells WBTS. The school called Harris’ mother, who picked him up. The boy started feeling better at home but fell unconscious while getting ready to head to a basketball team tryout, Lois Wolobah says. Police responded around 4:30pm Friday and found he wasn’t breathing, per Spectrum News 1. He was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead.
A cause of death has not been determined as an autopsy is pending. But Lois Wolobah says the family believes the tortilla chip contributed to her son’s death, per WBTS. The chip—sold in a coffin-shaped container—is made from the world’s spiciest peppers. The 2023 version is derived from the Carolina Reaper (1.7 million Scoville Heat Units, compared to 2,500-8,000 SHU for a jalapeno) and Naga Viper (1.4 million SHU) peppers. Late last year, paramedics responded to a Georgia high school and treated a boy who’d eaten one of the chips, per KIRO. Local police then issued a warning, citing medical professionals as saying the chip can trigger severe coughing, vomiting, and more serious issues, including “esophageal damage, chest pain, heart palpitations, and even heart attacks.”
Paqui encourages people to test their bravery by eating just one of the extra spicy chips in what’s known as the “One Chip Challenge.” However, it notes children and those with allergies or sensitivities to spicy food should not attempt it, per the Guardian. It also tells consumers to “seek medical assistance should you experience difficulty breathing, fainting or extended nausea.” Lois Wolobah says she wants to warn other parents about the dangers involved in the challenge that has gone viral on social media platforms including TikTok. She also says she believes her son should have been taken to a hospital from school. “The pain our family is experiencing is unimaginable,” a relative writes on a GoFundMe page, which has raised $29,000 for funeral expenses.
Sorry but all I can say is…..Can’t Fix Stupid”.
After I wrote this part of this post word has come out from the company that makes this killer…..
The company that makes the tortilla chip involved in a social media challenge said Thursday it has asked retailers to pull the product after the death of a 14-year-old boy. Paqui, a subsidiary of the Hershey Co., posted a statement on its website saying the company is “deeply saddened by the death” of the teenager; results of an autopsy to determine the cause of death have not yet been released, the AP reports. Paqui said that though the package says the chip is for adults and should be kept out of the reach of children, “we have seen an increase in teens and other individuals not heeding these warnings.” 7-Eleven has removed the chips from its stores.
Elon Musk….seems he wants to prove he is not antisemitic by suing a Jewish group…..
X-formerly-Twitter owner Elon Musk is on a quest to prove that he is not antisemitic — and is threatening to sue one of the world’s most well-known Jewish advocacy groups to do so.
“To clear our platform’s name on the matter of anti-Semitism,” the world’s richest man tweeted, “it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League.”
“Oh the irony!” he added, without evidence of a hint of it.
It’s a confounding line of reasoning that could represent a desperate, last-ditch effort by Musk to stop the social media company from hemorrhaging money under his questionable leadership.
Earlier this year, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found that the number of antisemitic posts soared by more than 61 percent following Musk’s takeover of the site back in October 2022.
A new study into American beef consumption has shed light on a massive disparity between the Americans who are living their best lives and eating a ton of beef every day, and everyone else.
The study titled ‘Demographic and Socioeconomic Correlates of Disproportionate Beef Consumption among US Adults in an Age of Global Warming’ found that just 12% of Americans consuming beef accounted for over half of all beef consumed each day.
While the study was intended to look into how global warming or climate change can impact dietary choices, the real finding was that older men are the ones still living the American dream of being able to eat whatever you want whenever.
In a press release on Eureka Alert, the study found “those 12% – most likely to be men or people between the ages of 50 and 65 – eat what researchers called a disproportionate amount of beef on a given day, a distinction based on the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which suggest 4 ounces per day of meat, poultry, and eggs combined for those consuming 2200 calories per day.”
Just 4oz of meat per day? Have they seen the news lately? Do they not realize that we should be eating whatever we want whenever we want because food is one of the things that brings humans the most joy? I think I’m going to eat a steak tonight simply because I read this study.
Before I go any further let me say that I do not support Haley in any way….I had sooner vote for my dog for president.
With that said we have an election coming soon to a polling station near you and it will be some GOPer against Biden and that should be the biggest boring election we have ever had even though it is important.
A recent poll by CNN has shown some interesting turns….
A new CNN poll has some bad but familiar news for President Biden: Most Democrats would prefer a different nominee because of his age. The poll found that 67% of Democrats or Democratic-leaning voters say they wish the party would nominate someone else. Among these voters, the concern most often mentioned directly was age (49%), along with mental acuity (7%) and health (7%). Another interesting nugget came when Biden was matched up against the top GOP nominees in hypothetical one-on-one races. In this scenario—in which voters of both parties were questioned—only one Republican defeated him by an amount beyond the margin of error of 3.5 percentage points: Nikki Haley, not Donald Trump.
Haley 49%, Biden 43%
Trump 47%, Biden 46%
Mike Pence 46%, Biden 44%
Ron DeSantis 47%, Biden 47%
Tim Scott 46%, Biden 44%
Chris Christie 44%, Biden 42%
Vivek Ramaswamy was the only top candidate to lose to Biden, by a margin of 46% to 45%
Then there is the way voters feel about Biden….according to the CNN poll….
President Joe Biden faces continued headwinds from broadly negative job ratings overall, widespread concerns about his age and decreased confidence among Democratic-aligned voters, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.
I know it is early and many things can change between now and election day…….I just wanted to show that Trump may not have a death grip after all….but like I say it is too early in the process to crown a winner.
She could be a viable choice has she not snuggled up to trump and his administration.
Like I said there are some that are holding some progressive ideas…but bow to political pressure to tow the line….
Maybe the so-called progressives should read some and learn some progressive history so they can finally get it right.
“Medicare for All.” “The Green New Deal.” Calls to overhaul the Supreme Court and replace the Electoral College. Many activists today are heralding a new progressive movement—a successor to the vibrant reform coalition that swept both major political parties in the early years of the 20th century.
There’s more than a little truth to this comparison. America’s current reality—marked by rising income inequality, the concentration of political and economic power and changing patterns of work and leisure—bears uncanny similarity to conditions that produced a burst of reform activity more than 120 years ago, including measures to improve urban health and safety standards, ameliorate labor conditions and introduce more efficiency and transparency in state and local government.
But if contemporary progressives aspire to drive the same degree of change as the progressive movement of the early 20th century, they might take a cue from their ideological forebears.
Many of today’s progressives define their movement by commitment to a specific menu of policies, and those who don’t share this very specific set of goals are easily read out of the progressive movement, typecast as “neoliberals” or “corporate liberals.” This kind of rigidity is something that their progressive forerunners never exhibited. The progressive movement of the early 1900s was successful precisely because it was flexible and incorporated a wide range of views—so much so that the movement defies easy definition.
