The Best Grift, Believe Me

Isn't it obvious by now that:

Trump's entire effort to run for president (which he never intended to or planned on winning), serving as president (as the host of a taxpayer-funded reality TV show where outrage was the Gross Domestic Product), and now selling $100 NFTs (of himself Photoshopped as a superhero) to the people who have been complaining about gas prices and inflation the loudest

...is just to monetize anger from the most insecure, gullible, xenophobic, and/or ideologically desperate people?

Because I think it's obvious.

Dark Brandon Rises

MAGA told Sleepy Joe, "let's go, Brandon!" Then he evolved into Dark Brandon and racked up political wins all summer. Now MAGA is crying about nationwide losses at the ballot and being called "semi-fascist" by Dark Brandon. It's sure looking like a "Remember, Remember, the 8th of Roe-vember" election this fall.

If the Republican Party wasn't actively working to dismantle democracy, this would almost be entertaining.

Federalism Failures

It's amazing to me that conservatives so often fail to see medical privacy as a fundamental right which one has regardless of which state they happen to live in at the time.  Why should the people of Missouri, Connecticut, or anywhere else get to vote on whether a person can choose the reproductive healthcare that they determine with their doctor is best for them?

This "leave it up to the states" mantra is a failed federalism which leaves fundamental issues of bodily autonomy and individual liberty up to the whims of highly gerrymandered state legislatures. It didn't work for interracial marriage, it didn't work for segregated schools, it didn't work for sexual privacy, it didn't work for same sex marriage, and it won't work for medical privacy.

Have You been to Facebook Jail for Justice?

I saw someone making bigoted and homophobic remarks about the first openly-gay U.S. governor, Jared Polis, on (of all things) a Facebook thread about Britney Spears finally getting her conservatorship ended.  After reading her hateful message to Gov. Polis about being married to another man, I told the person I wondered exactly how ugly of a human being she is and flagged her post for hateful speech. Facebook updated me by confirming her comment was hateful speech and removed it.

But Facebook also said I was harassing and bullying her by asking her this question and put me in Facebook Jail for 24 hours.

There was no appeals process or opportunity to respond before the deprivation commenced. This is a common experience for many of us on social media, likely many times each. And almost certainly because these decisions are made by algorithms who do not understand the moral context of the statement ("ugly human being"); likely instead recoding Facebook to combat worsening eating disorders and depression (especially related to recent internal research leaks about in teen girls on Instagram who struggle with self-image issues). So this kind of over-correction is the result.

Almost every one of these online policy decisions have a significant annual negative impact on commerce because many social media users also rely on these platforms for advertising and sales. And yet responses to such matters are almost all determined (along with sanctions imposed) by an automated process long before a person reviews the matter in question. Who wrote the Facebook Constitution, anyway? Why shouldn't there be a Social Media Bill of Rights to include sufficient due process from actual human beings employed by major online platforms?

Time Traveling with Google Street View

 I accidentally discovered a wormhole while using Google Street View. This could be used to travel back in time to warn people about future events.

Western Transitions (a brief travelogue)

 What would it be like to travel with only my thoughts? What would it be like to wander without a fixed destination, with only the most minimal of itinerary? What would it be like for an ordered, organized person to design a spontaneous adventure for the first time?

After much trepidation, some guidance from friends, and a truck packed with outdoor gear and a camera, I set off on a thirty day road trip across the Pacific Northwest. I didn't exactly know where I would go, or when I would get there, but I gave myself permission to discover those answers along the way.

And those became my Western Transitions.

What Happened to Carol?

After a random encounter on a WSJ article, I posted this on her Facebook wall. I'm sure she'll block me at some point, but I wanted to write it out and share here: