Category: Society

Is This A Coming Trend?

“When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right.”  Victor Hugo

A couple of years ago some guy pooped a CEO of a health corporation…..and he has become some what of a cult hero.  I have heard people whine about his wife and kids but no one whines about the wife and kids of those denied healthcare by his organization.

Was this the start of a budding revolution?

Luigi Mangione, the man awaiting trial in the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is fast becoming a symbol of a new wave of ideologically-motivated violence, argues the Washington Post‘s editorial board. Investigators say his case inspired last year’s deadly shooting at the Manhattan skyscraper home to the NFL headquarters. The editorial board highlights other cases—including a California warehouse arson that caused an estimated $500 million in damage and a firebomb attempt at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s Texas home—in which suspects allegedly referenced Mangione.

The Post notes the 27-year-old, who has pleaded not guilty in Thompson’s murder and awaits a trial this fall, has taken on “folk hero” status among some on the radical left, with a legal defense fund pulling in $1.46 million from more than 40,000 donors. Federal prosecutors say his supporters increasingly see violence as a substitute for political or ideological argument, supercharged by online anonymity and social media. The editorial insists there’s no justification for such attacks—against tech leaders, health executives, or anyone else.

For the full argument and examples, read the editorial here.

Full disclosure–I do not rust the WaPo to be forthcoming with the news…..but I include it for the sake of my readers….

That aside it seems the recently violent acts are seemingly accelerating….recently, last week, a disgruntle employee of a paper company set fire to a warehouse…..

A California warehouse worker accused of torching his workplace allegedly cast himself as a kind of anti-corporate avenger, prosecutors say. Authorities say 29-year-old Chamel Abdulkarim set multiple fires early Tuesday inside a 1.2-million-square-foot Ontario warehouse packed with Kimberly-Clark paper products while about 20 others were on site, then posted video online that appears to show a hand igniting stacks of paper as a voice complains about worker pay, the Los Angeles Times reports. In texts afterward, he allegedly compared himself to Luigi Mangione—the man charged with killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in New York—and wrote, “I just cost these [expletive] billions.”

Federal prosecutors say Abdulkarim also posted videos arguing workers aren’t paid enough to live and texted complaints about the “1%” and corporate shareholders. The blaze destroyed roughly $500 million in goods and the $150 million building, per local officials, and grew so fast firefighters had to withdraw and fight it defensively; about 175 responded before the six-alarm fire collapsed the roof. No one was injured, KTLA reports. Abdulkarim, an employee of third-party distribution company NFI Industries, was arrested later that morning. He faces one count of aggravated arson and six counts of arson of a structure in state court, with a potential sentence of 10 years to life, ABC 7 reports. He is also expected to face federal charges.

I believe some of his words were….this did not have to happen if you paid a livable wage”…

Not to fear the culprit has been arrested…

Next came a fire bomb of AI guru Altman’s house…..

The man accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home in San Francisco has been charged with attempting to kill Altman and a security guard at the residence, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said Monday. Daniel Moreno-Gama, who also faces multiple federal charges, faces two counts of attempted murder and attempted arson in California state court, the Washington Post reports.

  • Authorities allege the 20-year-old threw the incendiary device about 4am Friday, setting an exterior gate at Altman’s home alight before fleeing on foot, police said. Less than an hour later, Moreno-Gama allegedly went to OpenAI’s headquarters and reportedly threatened to burn down the building. Moreno-Gama was opposed to artificial intelligence, writing about AI’s purported risk to humanity and “our impending extinction,” according to court documents.
  • This was not spontaneous. This was planned, targeted and extremely serious,” said FBI San Francisco Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Cobo during a press conference. On Monday morning, FBI agents went to Moreno-Gama’s home in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston, where they spent several hours before leaving. He has been charged by federal prosecutors with possession of an unregistered firearm and damage and destruction of property by means of explosives. The criminal complaint does not name Altman or OpenAI but both have confirmed they were the targets of the attack. No injuries were reported.When Moreno-Gama was arrested Friday, officials found a document on him in which he “identified views opposed to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the executives of various AI companies,” court documents say. The document discussed AI’s purported risk to humanity and “our impending extinction,” according to the criminal complaint. Authorities allege Moreno-Gama traveled from his home in Texas to San Francisco and visited Altman’s home early Friday morning.”
  • “We are only at the beginning of this investigation, but if the evidence shows that Mr. Moreno-Gama executed these attacks to change public policy or to coerce government and other officials, we will treat this as an act of domestic terrorism and together with our law enforcement partners prosecute him to the fullest extent allowed by law,” US Attorney Craig Missakian said in a statement, per Reuters.
  • The document in which Moreno-Gama discussed his opposition to AI also made threats against Altman, officials said. “Also if I am going to advocate for others to kill and commit crimes, then I must lead by example and show that I am fully sincere in my message,” Moreno-Gama is alleged by authorities to have written in the document.
  • Advocacy groups that have issued grave warnings about AI’s risks to society condemned the violence. PauseAI said in a statement that the suspect had no role in the group but joined its forum on the social media platform Discord about two years ago and posted about 34 messages there, none containing explicit calls to violence but one that was flagged as “ambiguous.” Discord said Monday that it has banned Moreno-Gama for “off-platform behavior.”

Interesting, eh?

But not to worry the pampered billionaire is safe….

The man accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home in San Francisco has been charged with attempting to kill Altman and a security guard at the residence, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said Monday. Daniel Moreno-Gama, who also faces multiple federal charges, faces two counts of attempted murder and attempted arson in California state court, the Washington Post reports.

  • Authorities allege the 20-year-old threw the incendiary device about 4am Friday, setting an exterior gate at Altman’s home alight before fleeing on foot, police said. Less than an hour later, Moreno-Gama allegedly went to OpenAI’s headquarters and reportedly threatened to burn down the building. Moreno-Gama was opposed to artificial intelligence, writing about AI’s purported risk to humanity and “our impending extinction,” according to court documents.
  • This was not spontaneous. This was planned, targeted and extremely serious,” said FBI San Francisco Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Cobo during a press conference. On Monday morning, FBI agents went to Moreno-Gama’s home in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston, where they spent several hours before leaving. He has been charged by federal prosecutors with possession of an unregistered firearm and damage and destruction of property by means of explosives. The criminal complaint does not name Altman or OpenAI but both have confirmed they were the targets of the attack. No injuries were reported.
    • When Moreno-Gama was arrested Friday, officials found a document on him in which he “identified views opposed to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the executives of various AI companies,” court documents say. The document discussed AI’s purported risk to humanity and “our impending extinction,” according to the criminal complaint. Authorities allege Moreno-Gama traveled from his home in Texas to San Francisco and visited Altman’s home early Friday morning.

Then a couple of days later Altman’s house once again a target….

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s San Francisco home may have been targeted by two alleged attacks in a span of three days, with police announcing a pair of arrests in the latest incident, the San Francisco Standard reports. Around 1:40am Sunday, a Honda sedan allegedly drove past Altman’s property in Russian Hill, then stopped; the passenger extended a hand out the window and appeared to fire a shot toward the Lombard Street side of the estate, according to a police report citing security staff and surveillance video. No injuries were reported. The Standard frames the alleged shooting as an attack on Altman’s home, but the San Francisco Chronicle notes that has not yet been confirmed by police.

Police say a license plate captured on camera led them to a residence on Taylor Street, where officers detained Amanda Tom, 25, and Muhamad Tarik Hussein, 23, without incident and recovered three firearms. Both were booked on suspicion of negligent discharge of a firearm. The alleged shooting followed a Friday morning episode in which a 20-year-old Texas man, Daniel Alejandro Moreno-Gama, is accused of hurling a Molotov cocktail at Altman’s gate from Chestnut Street; security extinguished the flames, and the suspect was later arrested after making threats at OpenAI’s Mission Bay headquarters, authorities say. The suspect has been linked to a Discord server called PauseAI, which is against the development of frontier AI models; the group quickly disavowed the alleged attack, Business Insider reports.

After the first incident, Altman wrote a lengthy blog post reflecting on it. “There was an incendiary article about me a few days ago. Someone said to me yesterday they thought it was coming at a time of great anxiety about AI and that it made things more dangerous for me. I brushed it aside,” he wrote. “Now I am awake in the middle of the night and pissed, and thinking that I have underestimated the power of words and narratives.”

While I was writing news came across of more warehouse fires….

there are now reports of six different Warehouse or storefront fires that have happened across the United States in the last three days five of which are in different states. currently there have been two in California one in Queens New York another in Ohio at an Amazon location another in Pennsylvania and a final one in New Jersey. They’re pretty hard to look up, I’m suspecting to keep the trend from catching on.

Fascinating.

Is this the beginning of a revolt against technology or against the insanely rich?

Sorry but I cannot work up much sympathy.

“A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.”

I have been waiting a long time for this….Let it begin!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Thoughts About Surviving Donny

Four ex-presidents were asked if this country can bounce back or even survive the crap Donny is putting it through….

Let me say here I could write this without ever hearing what they would say….but they were asked and they answered….

All four living former presidents are striking a similar note as the US nears its 250th birthday. In exclusive interviews with Jenna Bush Hager for Today, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton all argued that the country’s democratic foundations are sturdy enough to weather its current tensions—if citizens stay engaged. Highlights:

  • Biden: “We’re the most unique country in the world,” said No. 46. “Most unique country in the world in the sense that we really do think democracy is dictated by the rule of the Constitution. And we do believe … that all men are created equal.”
  • Obama: “Hope is not blind optimism. Remember what’s best in us,” said No. 44. “The basic principle upon which this country was founded, which is we don’t have rulers, we don’t have kings, or monarchs, or aristocracies. We have citizens.” Hope “arises in the face of difficulty” and depends on Americans treating each other with respect while working out differences “in peaceful, legal ways.”
  • Bush: “My message is consider yourself fortunate to be a part of a great nation,” said No. 43 and the only former president Hager addressed as “dad.” “Study our history so you have a better sense for what the future will be like. And be a citizen, not a spectator. And by that I mean participate in the process, but also love a neighbor like you’d like to be loved yourself.”
  • Clinton: “The country will survive as much by the process, by the freedom to speak, the freedom to vote, the freedom to be active in politics as by any particular issue,” said No. 42. “And because it’s like it is, compromise is essential.”

read the full piece at Today.

Just as I thought….centrist crap….they do not want Americans fighting for their rights just to vote and keep- the riff raff in bucks.

Sorry I know that is a bit harsh but nothing changes in decades and these guys are part of the reason.

If you vote their thoughts then you are looking at a very long time before we have our country back.

But you do what you think is best….and I will do what is needed.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Same Sh*t, Different Election

HAPPY EARTH DAY

Let’s take a break from silly Donny’s Iranian venture and talk about the quickly approaching elections, both midterms and the general in 2028….

There are many reports telling us what is happening with the politics around these elections….but sadly everything being said/ewwritten has all been so before….

First the voters attitudes…..

According to a recent study from the University of Notre Dame, voters who are comfortable living in the middle—neither agreeing nor disagreeing when asked about substantive issues relevant to upholding democracy—might be the largest group to blame for democratic decline in the United States.

These “democratic neutrals” are what the study’s co-authors consider some of the most dangerous voters in the current political environment.

Using three surveys of more than 45,000 voting-age Americans, the researchers found that about half of the U.S. population expresses an attitude of democratic neutrality—or an “unwillingness to support or oppose policies or practices that undermine democracy,” explained Matthew E.K. Hall, lead author of the study recently published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.

“Neutrality towards democracy, rather than outright opposition, has enabled democratic backsliding among various Western democracies as elected officials leverage citizens’ neutral attitudes to pursue antidemocratic outcomes,” Hall and his two co-authors wrote in their study.

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-america-democratic-limbo-silent-middle.html

Basically it is a wait and see attitude…..and this type of thinking is what put us in the position we find ourselves today….this whole neutrality thing is total BS.

Because of this laziness we may miss the opportunity for change….

We have a leader who does nothing but expand a war department, make his friends richer and destroy what little democracy we have left.

And when we do change leadership at the top we get very little in return….the rich get richer, the masses suffer and corporations still write the laws….what part of that is change?

This coming election will be NO different without a change in attitudes from the voter……so if you are looking for a saving grace from the destruction of Donny you will be disappointed for all you will get is a new face to twist the knife in you back.

This is a little something extra for all you AI fans…..trhis basically focuses on thge 2028 election, Vance and Rubio…..

A simulation utilizing AI has delved into how the 2028 U.S. presidential election result could look, and it was far more nuanced than a simple prediction.

By feeding political trends, polling dynamics, and candidate positioning into an AI model, the YouTube channel, I Ask AI, has attempted to understand not just who might win, but why.

…

The simulation suggested a scenario where changing political conditions shift momentum. If Republican performance weakens and Trump’s approval declines, Rubio could emerge as the nominee: “By 2028, Trump’s approval will have dragged Vance down too far to recover. The guy standing next to Trump for four years owns every bad decision, every scandal, every economic complaint.”

Meanwhile, Rubio’s relative distance becomes an advantage: “Rubio has the crucial advantage of distance. He was doing diplomacy while the domestic mess was happening.”

https://vt.co/news/us/simulated-2028-election-ai-next-us-president

In conclusion….just as the title implies….Same Sh*t, Different Election.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

The Danger Of Music

Today is my day with the cancer doctor so I want to leave you with some history….it is never too late to learn.

Think back to the early 2000s and all the mash-up about this hip hop song or another…..Congressional mental midgets held hearings to try and ban the music of a generation…..thank goodness their attempts to ban music did not succeed but it did elevate the sells of the songs and albums in question.

The conservative South has always had a hard on for music if it was not clean and wholesome (whatever that means)….in my youth songs were deemed too shameful for radio…..I am talking about rock icons and their traditionally great songs….songs like Louie, Louie, Gloria, Light My Fire, etc etc.  They wanted anything that did not conform to what these narrow minded twats considered proper…..

T o show you how bad it was I have a video explaining what songs were banned and why….it is a lengthy video but you will see just how far conservatives in the South will go to control what people listen to as music.

Rock classics were not acceptable to the conservative religious twats in the South and were banned from the radio.

Open Letter To Trump Voters

Today is Tax Day…..so I will give you something to try and take your mind off of the hurt to come.

This is an open letter by S.E. Cupp, who is a conservative commentator but a conservative with a brain (very few of those lefty)…..she wrote this letter last week when Donny threatened to destroy Iran and their civilization.

Tuesday morning, the president of the United States threatened genocide against another nation, all because he does not know how to get out of a war he started to distract Americans from his terrible economy, disastrous immigration headlines, and attempts to bury the Epstein files.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” he wrote on Truth Social, the social network he had to create so he can say deranged things like this without being deplatformed.

“I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” he continues flippantly, suggesting that he will “probably” nuke a nation that just a month ago he was insisting he wanted to liberate.

In case it needs pointing out, this threat of genocide would be a war crime, as are the many threats he’s made to strike Iranian infrastructure like water and bridges.

So as we sit on the precipice of what could be NUCLEAR WAR, my question to Trump voters is this: what more are you willing to ignore?

What more are you willing to “compartmentalize” while you tell yourself this is all an acceptable bargain to get judges and tax cuts?

What indefensible, illiberal, un-American and inhumane garbage are you willing to defend in service of MAGA’s childish obsession with “owning the libs”?

How much more chaos, b.s., gaslighting, lying, grifting, incompetence and corruption are you willing to put up with?

And how much economic pain and destruction are you willing to suffer so that he can get rich and spend your taxpayer dollars bombing other countries, suing his political enemies, and building monuments to himself?

Ten years ago, Trump told us exactly who he was, and he’s been revealing himself ever since.

He was a bad person then. During campaign rallies and his presidency, you watched as he made fun of disabled people, prisoners of war, women, and children. You ignored it.

He was a bigot then. You watched as he defended neo-Nazis, called for travel bans against Muslims, called African countries “sh­-­hole nations,” denigrated Black and Brown communities in American cities, called Mexican immigrants rapists and murderers, called himself a nationalist and welcomed white supremacists into the party. You ignored it.

He was a misogynist then. You watched as the “Access Hollywood” tape came out, as woman after woman told their stories of rape and sexual assault, as the Epstein rumors swirled for years, as porn stars revealed their affairs, as he made fun of women’s faces and biology. You ignored it.

He was a fraud then. You watched every story about the fraudulent Trump University and Trump Foundation, stories of tax fraud, licensing scams, real estate fraud, contractor non-payment, election interference, and now crypto corruption. You ignored it.

He was a terrible Christian then. You watched as he repeatedly broke nearly every Commandment, every tenet of Judeo-Christian faith, all while corrupting the religious right to sell bibles with his name on them. You ignored it.

He was a terrible conservative then. You watched as he abandoned nearly every long-held conservative principle that Republicans had stood for, from lowering the debt and deficit, to anti-protectionism, to family values. You ignored it.

And he was a terrible leader then. You watched as he turned American against American, broke the trust of our allies, propped up our enemies, sent his own supporters down dangerous.

So what now? Does he need to nuke a nation to lose your trust and respect? Does he need to shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue to test your moral compass? Does he need to bankrupt our country, destroy 250 years of American exceptionalism, undo 70-year-old international treaties, and start WWIII to get you to finally object to one more second of his unhinged lunacy?

If not now, when?

Sincerely,

Sane America

S.E. Cupp is the host of “S.E. Cupp Unfiltered” on CNN.

She hit the nail on all heads.  I was seldom a fan of hers in the past but at least now she can communicate with a brain…..something her contemporaries cannot muster.

Now that that corrupt MAGA POS has CNN will she be silenced?

Tell me what you think of her letter.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

At Least One Billionaire That Does Good

I admit it I am no fan of billionaires….why?  Most do nothing to help their fellow Americans they pay little to no tax and buy politicians to keep the billions flowing.

With that said I have great admiration for one of them, Mackenzie Scott, ex-wife of the tool Bezos…..she is donating millions upon millions to help the less fortunate in this country.

While billionaires have come under fire for not living up to their philanthropic promises, one person is rising from the rest: MacKenzie Scott. She’s pouring billions into education, public health, and the environment—and now, she just funneled some of her fortune to help feed and support millions of Americans.

Scott recently gave a $70 million unrestricted donation to Meals on Wheels America, a leadership organization that supports nationwide charities in providing meals, social connection, and safety checks to more than 2 million U.S. seniors and homebound people every year.

The organization announced Scott’s donation last Thursday, adding that her contribution comes at a time when one in three local Meals on Wheels America providers have a wait-list, with elderly citizens having to wait an average of four months for meals and services.

Scott’s $70 million donation is just a drop in the bucket of her $26 billion philanthropic streak since 2020. The early Amazon employee and ex-wife of Jeff Bezos worth $41.1 billion is rewriting the playbook of billionaire philanthropy.

Thanks to Scott’s latest investment, Meals on Wheels said it can focus more on opportunities to “strengthen the network’s capacity” in the long term and give more resources to local providers.

Meals on Wheels America currently supports more than 5,000 community-based programs related to senior hunger and isolation. Scott’s gift will make a real difference, the organization says, but it won’t completely bridge the country’s growing needs. It hopes her donation will inspire others to support.

“We will steward the investment thoughtfully and responsibly to help generate economies of scale and impact that strengthen the capacity of local providers so they can reach more older adults with meals, connection and care,” Kristine Templin, chief development and marketing officer at Meals on Wheels America, tells Fortune in a statement.

“Ultimately, success means more seniors are able to access the support they need to live more nourished, independent, and healthy lives.”

https://fortune.com/2026/04/13/billionaire-philanthropist-mackenzie-scott-donates-70-million-meals-on-wheels-america-feed-2-million-people/

I say bully for her at least she deserves praise for the work is doing….how many others can you say that about?

(I’ll wait while you Google it)

I love this woman and If anyone deserves a medal of freedom it is she.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Teaching Pigs To Sing

I have always thought that it was part of my DNA to help others what is happening around them….educate and agitate….my grandfather use to get onto me for my obsession….his words we “when you teach a pig to sing you waste your time and piss off the pig (exact words).

Regardless I continued and continue to try and help people understand the situation…..and there are those here that agree with my grandfather that I waste my time….it is after all my time to waste and I do not like the defeatism that is prevalent.

There is always someone point a finger and trying to get people like me to stop what we are doing….

Mark Twain once quipped, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” The problem is that we rarely question our own beliefs. Once a false assumption takes hold, it becomes a default lens we use to interpret the world—and dislodging it becomes incredibly difficult.

One very basic assumption that lies at the heart of many change efforts is that information is power—the notion that if you arm people with the right knowledge, they will act on it. That’s why so many change programs are rooted in education and training, because they assume that the right information will change people’s behavior.

There’s even a name for this assumption: the information deficit model. Decades of research show that it doesn’t hold up. The truth is that we rarely change our behavior after being exposed to new facts. When confronted with evidence that contradicts our beliefs, we’re more likely to question the evidence than to update our views. Our brains prefer stability to change.

The core assumption of the information deficit model is that when people lack basic knowledge, exposing them to new evidence will change their opinions. But that assumes that their minds are blank slates, which is rarely true for most subjects and contexts. We all have preconceived notions of how the world works and will tend to cling to our views.

For example, people who believe in a flat earth don’t simply lack knowledge of a round earth, but have a model of the universe in which the earth is flat. In order to change those beliefs, they would not only need to accept new evidence, but also to discard old beliefs that they have relied on to navigate the world.

To do that they face a number of barriers they will need to overcome, including the synaptic pathways built up in their brains that are devoted to their existing model, the social pressure of people in their community who hold similar views, and the switching costs involved in changing their behavior based on their new knowledge.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91517078/stop-trying-to-educate-people-into-changing-science-proves-it-doesnt-work

The unreasonable idea is fed by stupidity not ignorance.

So to all those that feel I am wasting my time I say with a heart felt….BITE ME!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Good News For Some

If you are a normal working stiff then there has been very little to call ‘good news’…..but if you are among the ‘robber barons’ then you should be all smiles.

Bonus season is back on Wall Street, at least on paper. Axios reports that the average bonus for New York City securities industry workers hit $246,900 last year, a 6% jump from the previous year, according to a new report from New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Total profits in the securities industry climbed more than 30%, to $65.1 billion, while the overall bonus pool reached a record $49.2 billion, up 9%. The gains were fueled in part by heavy trading during market volatility linked to tariffs enacted by the Trump administration.

Bloomberg reports it’s the highest bonus pool on record, going back to 1987. There’s a caveat, however, per Axios: Adjusted for inflation, the bonus pool actually reached its highest level in 2006 at $53.7 billion, and it remains below the highs of 2020 and 2021, when pandemic-era markets and deal-making surged. The comptroller’s estimate is based on income tax withholding data for New York City employees and excludes stock options and other types of deferred pay.

DiNapoli said Wall Street’s strength is a plus for state and city budgets that depend heavily on its tax revenue, but he cautioned that weaker job growth and geopolitical tensions could pressure the industry, as well as the broader economy. Fortune reports that this year’s bonus outlook “is already darkening,” with the outlet noting some of the city’s budget planning “may … be too rosy,” with some targets seemingly “out of reach.”

If you are a billionaire then all is coming up roses…..the rest of us peons are struggling with day to day life.

Eat The Rich!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Damn Good Idea

This entire country is ignorant on how the government works and that has lead to some silly stuff in government….why is this?

Civics is not a mandatory subject in schools….here in Mississippi a Senator is trying to do something about the ignorance.

In celebration of America’s 250th birthday, we must ensure that Mississippi’s students graduate with knowledge of and appreciation for the Declaration of Independence and our state and federal institutions it inspired. Civics knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors are not passed along through the gene pool, but must be built anew with each rising generation of citizens.

To this end, I am proud to author Senate Bill 2292, legislation that would require civics courses in every public and charter school in Mississippi in order for students to graduate high school.

Earlier this month, the Senate unanimously passed SB 2292 with strong bipartisan support. It’s now assigned to both the House Education and Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency Committee, and I encourage my House colleagues to put aside “education politics” of the last couple of years and advance it to the House floor, teeing up its passage prior to our adjournment in April.

Thirty-seven states plus D.C. require stand-alone civics courses for high school graduation, seven of them for a full year. If we pass this bill, beginning with the 2027-28 school year, Mississippi would proudly join this mix.

Civics knowledge is sadly lacking across our citizenry, perhaps most acutely among our students here in Mississippi. Nationally, only 22% of eighth graders achieved proficiency on the most recent NAEP civics assessment — the lowest performance of any tested subject outside U.S. History. For Mississippi students, who largely lack access to a dedicated civics course, the picture is likely no better. Mississippi students deserve better than that national floor.

Sen. Wiggins: Mississippi must require civics education for graduation

This is a stellar idea….not just for Mississippi but for this whole darn country.

Here in Mississippi I do not think this has a chance for state politicians like having an ignorant popular that is easily duped into their schemes and scams.

Hopefully this idea will catch on nationwide…..it is sadly needed for an informed population.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Dark Days Of Yesteryear Returns

Lots has been said and/or written about what is going on in the US these days…..some see it as an improvement but most see it for what it is….a return of the fascism of the past.

Donny has set himself up as the supreme leader with is underlings cleaning up his messes…..all this smacks of the aesthetics of yesteryear….

What is most revealing about the MAGA aesthetic is its studied ugliness. On one side stands the grotesque excess of beauty-pageant femininity, plastic smiles, puffy lips, lacquered beach-wave hair, sharpened jawlines, and a hyper-sexualized nostalgia masquerading as “traditional values.” US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem exemplifies this aesthetic as a badge of cruelty. Carefully styling herself in a Barbie-doll register of hyper-femininity, she delivers media performances staged in front of prisons and other sites associated with the punishment and terrorization of immigrants. The effect is chilling: a glossy, pornographic aesthetic fused with images of confinement, state violence, and racialized cruelty. Beauty here does not soften power; it aestheticizes domination and makes authoritarian violence appear natural, even glamorous. This aesthetic of cruelty is not confined to clothing (heavy on tweeds), posture, or setting. It increasingly takes hold at the level of the face itself, where artificiality is no longer concealed but aggressively displayed.

Fascist Aesthetics Has Come Back with MAGA Politics

There is more if interested….

The United States is not merely awash in brutalizing and murderous acts of state-sanctioned violence. It is being restructured by them. The killings of Rachel Good and Alex Pretti are not aberrations or tragic mistakes; they belong to a longer and darker history that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People once named with chilling precision. In earlier periods of American turmoil, such killings were called lynchings, acts “carried out by lawless mobs, although police officers did participate, under the pretext of justice.” Today, this violence extends well beyond the bullet and the baton. It takes form in the expansion of prison camps, what Thom Hartmann rightly calls concentration camps, the war on immigrants, and the routine assault on Black and brown lives made disposable through policy, indifference, and neglect. At the same time, the country is saturated with a culture steeped in fascist spectacle and authoritarian display. Under the Trump administration, aesthetics itself becomes a battleground, a weaponized field where power works on desire, memory, bodies, and pleasure to consolidate domination.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/02/13/maga-aesthetics-and-fascist-power-spectacles-of-white-supremacy/

All this is pointing to a problem that we have faced before but not with such approval as today….the GOP today seems to be embracing the policies and actions that this country fought against less than a hundred years ago…..

No less an authority on right-wing extremism than Laura Loomer, Donald Trump’s wacko loyalty policeman, said it: Republicans have a Nazi problem, warning that there are those “trying to redefine” the party “so it can become modern-day Hitler Youth.”

When a Loomer admits it, you know this is a real problem, not just a liberal fabrication.

The Republicans’ entanglement with Nazism — especially after a recent kerfuffle involving conservative hero Tucker Carlson, Nazi apologist Nick Fuentes, and Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts (more on that to come) — has been much written about, as GOP stalwarts argue over whether they should denounce Nazi sympathizers or make common cause with them. This is a debate that really shouldn’t be a debate at all, and certainly not one that requires another disquisition on the Republicans’ moral bankruptcy.

But I am delivering one nonetheless, because — no matter how much space this courtship has been given, no matter how many pundits decry the celebration of Nazis and the canonization of Adolf Hitler by large segments of the conservative movement, no matter how often conservatives trot out antisemitic tropes, and no matter how often conservative leaders declare that this would be a much better country if it were a dictatorship — the fact that one of our two major parties actively, publicly, enthusiastically embraces Nazism should be a scandal, a horror, and a disgrace. Not something to be promptly forgotten, as it has been, but something that should be a front-page story every single day.

Lest we forget — and Republicans seem to have forgotten — the Nazis were the bad guys, the very personification of evil, the force that hundreds of thousands of Americans gave their lives to defeat, and the gleeful, bloodthirsty murderers of millions. They needed to be destroyed, forever castigated as the very worst of humanity, not emulated. Yet emulated they are.

So, yes, Ms. Loomer: The Republicans do, indeed, have a Nazi problem, and that means America has one too.

America’s Nazi Problem

What amazes me is that many average Americans see no problem with the direction the government is taking….I have people I know that see no problem with the direction that I do not understand for they see and hear the same information I do yet they are content with the erosion of our rights as Americans.

How can this be?

We live in a ‘Dual State”…..

Life under authoritarianism is actually, for the most part, weirdly normal. It’s often even, well, boring. The average person can go about their day as usual. You take your kids to school, you head to the office, and yes, you even host dinner parties. You live in the realm that Fraenkel referred to as “the normative state,” and from within that realm, it’s easy to think that if you just keep your head down and avoid making waves, you’ll be perfectly fine, thank you very much.

Fraenkel’s book is called The Dual State for a reason. This first state, the business-as-usual one, actually exists to lull you into a sense of complacency such that you don’t realize that another state is also operating in parallel with it. That second state, which Fraenkel calls “the prerogative state,” only becomes visible to you when you do something that the powers that be don’t like. Then suddenly you’re in a realm where the rule of law does not exist, where citizens can be killed with impunity, where you — even you, who thought you were invulnerable — can become a target.

The dark genius of this setup is that most people don’t realize that the prerogative state is active until it’s too late. They only wake up when the knock comes on their very own door — or when the door is forcefully broken down.

“The Dual State lives by veiling its true nature,” Fraenkel wrote.

That’s why it’s not surprising to me that your friends have been politically inactive. If they think of themselves as “not the target” — if they’re citizens, if they’re white, if they don’t speak with the “wrong” accent or express the “wrong” political views in public — it’s extremely easy for them to think everything is mostly normal, because the whole political apparatus is designed to make them think exactly that.

(yahoo.com)

Cut it any way you like but the ugliness of the Goon Platoon and Donny’s sycophants is getting out of hand.

We are entering into a world that was crushed before and it will again….but only if the American people have the courage to step up.

Do we?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”