Lex Anteinternet: Two random items. Andy Griffith and Taylor Swift
Two random items. Andy Griffith and Taylor Swift
Lex Anteinternet: Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 54th Edition. The swift and the not so swift edition.
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 54th Edition. The swift and the not so swift edition.
- Twitter has banned searches for Taylor Swift.
This tells us something about the danger of AI, as what they were searching for is AI generated faux nudes of the singer.
It also tells us something about entertainers we already knew. Yes, their art counts, but part of their popularity, quite often, is that they're a form of art themselves. Which leads us to the next thing.
Everything about this is wrong on an existential level. AI, frankly, is wrong.
And once again, presented with the time, talent, and money to be sufficiently idle to do great things, we turn to the basest.
- There's a creepy fascination going on with Tyler Swift
People who don’t understand why I have been commenting on Taylor Swift and Barbie are completely missing the point and NGMI These are mascots for the establishment. High level ops used as info warfare tools of statecraft for the regime.
Newsmax host Greg Kelly:
They’re elevating her to an idol.
Idolatry. This is a little bit of what idolatry, I think, looks like. And you’re not supposed to do that. In fact, if you look it up in the Bible, it’s a sin!
The Democrats’ Taylor Swift election interference psyop is happening in the open … It’s not a coincidence that current and former Biden admin officials are propping up Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. They are going to use Taylor Swift as the poster child for their pro-abortion GOTV Campaign.
I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month. And I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall …
And if all of that isn't weird enough for you, a host on the right wing OAN claims the Swift football dating is a deep state psy op, because sports brainwash kids when they should be focused on religion.
- Celebrity endorsements.
- Jay Leno is seeking to be the guardian and conservator for his wife, Mavis, who is 77, and has dementia.
- The National Park Service reports a 63-year-old man died on a trail in Zion National Park. Heart attack.
This headline tells us something, too. 63, we're often told, isn't old. But then we're not too surprised when a 63-year-old dies hiking, are we?
- A concluding thought. We're getting scary stupid.
Last Prior Edition:
The Lost Cause and the Arlington Confederate Monument. Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 53d Edition.
Lex Anteinternet: Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist. 49th Edition. The speaking truth to the unwilling edition.
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist. 49th Edition. The speaking truth to the unwilling edition.
De l'audace, encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace
Georges Jacques Danton (often mistakenly attributed to Frederick the Great due to misattribution in the movie Patton).
Governor Gordon had the audacity to speak the truth. More specifically, he stated:
It is clear that we have a warming climate. It is clear that carbon dioxide is a major contributor to that challenge. There is an urgency to addressing this issue.
Wyoming is the first that has said that we will be carbon negative.
Gasp!
Well, of course the populist GOP in the state leaped on this.
Gordon is well-educated. Where you get your money doesn't determine scientific truths. Loving the state doesn't mean ignoring dangers to it so that we can exploit it until we die, leaving our children with a less livable planet and one that was different from the natural world we love.
Nor, might I add, does having to believe in a set of facts contrary to science and nature amount to a requirement for being a conservative, and it should not be a requirement to be a real Republican. Likewise, working in the current economy, in any occupation, does not amount to a requirement that you have to believe in its purity or that things should not change if they need to.
Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free.
Thomas Jefferson, slaveholder.
Last Prior Edition:
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist. 48th Edition. Freaking out over the Polish election.
Lex Anteinternet: And the artist retorts.
And the artist retorts.
Lex Anteinternet: Rich Men North of Richmond, Part I. Resisting the "signs and wonders" and completely missing what's gong on.
Rich Men North of Richmond, Part I. Resisting the "signs and wonders" and completely missing what's gong on.
I've been sellin' my soul, workin' all dayOvertime hours for bullshit paySo I can sit out here and waste my life awayDrag back home and drown my troubles awayIt's a damn shame what the world's gotten toFor people like me and people like youWish I could just wake up and it not be trueBut it is, oh, it isLivin' in the new worldWith an old soulThese rich men north of RichmondLord knows they all just wanna have total controlWanna know what you think, wanna know what you doAnd they don't think you know, but I know that you do'Cause your dollar ain't shit and it's taxed to no end'Cause of rich men north of RichmondI wish politicians would look out for minersAnd not just minors on an island somewhereLord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eatAnd the obese milkin' welfareWell, God, if you're 5-foot-3 and you're 300 poundsTaxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge roundsYoung men are puttin' themselves six feet in the ground'Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin' them downLord, it's a damn shame what the world's gotten toFor people like me and people like youWish I could just wake up and it not be trueBut it is, oh, it isLivin' in the new worldWith an old soulThese rich men north of RichmondLord knows they all just wanna have total controlWanna know what you think, wanna know what you doAnd they don't think you know, but I know that you do'Cause your dollar ain't shit and it's taxed to no end'Cause of rich men north of RichmondI've been sellin' my soul, workin' all dayOvertime hours for bullshit pay
Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalkCarjack an old lady at a red lightPull a gun on the owner of a liquor storeYa think it's cool, well, act a fool if ya likeCuss out a cop, spit in his faceStomp on the flag and light it upYeah, ya think you're toughWell, try that in a small townSee how far ya make it down the roadAround here, we take care of our ownYou cross that line, it won't take longFor you to find out, I recommend you don'tTry that in a small townGot a gun that my granddad gave meThey say one day they're gonna round upWell, that shit might fly in the city, good luckTry that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the roadAround here, we take care of our ownYou cross that line, it won't take longFor you to find out, I recommend you don'tTry that in a small townFull of good ol' boys, raised up rightIf you're looking for a fightTry that in a small townTry that in a small townTry that in a small townSee how far ya make it down the roadAround here, we take care of our ownYou cross that line, it won't take longFor you to find out, I recommend you don'tTry that in a small townTry that in a small townOoh-oohTry that in a small town
Rich Men North of Richmond
Republicans court cultural populism, while Democrats eschew economic populism. But economic populism is the key.
1. 39 years old. Spent 12 1/2 years as a plumber until the small company I worked for went under as the pandemic began. Working for a big chain home store for the last 3 years getting beaten into the ground, treated like a disposable asset, and watching my earnings equal less and less as the prices of basic necessities goes up. Ive fought addiction and won. Ive found love and lost it. This song resonates on a level that I havent felt in a long time. Thank you and god bless. 🙏2. As a disabled Marine, struggling to even be in public, struggling with all the bullshit in this world, struggling with thoughts of suicide, struggling to find pride in my Country, struggling to find the strength to get up every day to do the same damn thing to barely make ends me… as an American STRUGGLING with LIFE… thank you for bringing a little hope to my small part of the world… thank you for letting me know I am not alone with my thoughts and feelings… THANK YOU and God bless you Oliver Anthony3. I’m a 42 year old ex addict living in a camper trailer pay cheque to pay cheque with my kids part time while working to help the homeless and addicted community. I won’t stop working like the rest of you because we know at some point that one day will come that we may get that one break that shows us it was all worth it.Amazing song Oliver, thank you for sharing it4. As a hard working black American man, this song is 🔥 📛 the first country song on my Playlist and I hope for more. In an Era where soul is gone from music THIS IS A BREATH OF MUCH NEEDED AIR. even put a tear in my eye 🔥5. And just like that you became the voice of 40 or 50 million working men. Amazing work, sir.
And there are a lot more.
Let's break down the lyrics again, emphasizing the ones that are telling.
I've been sellin' my soul, workin' all dayOvertime hours for bullshit paySo I can sit out here and waste my life awayDrag back home and drown my troubles awayIt's a damn shame what the world's gotten toFor people like me and people like youWish I could just wake up and it not be trueBut it is, oh, it isLivin' in the new worldWith an old soulThese rich men north of RichmondLord knows they all just wanna have total controlWanna know what you think, wanna know what you doAnd they don't think you know, but I know that you do'Cause your dollar ain't shit and it's taxed to no end'Cause of rich men north of RichmondI wish politicians would look out for minersAnd not just minors on an island somewhereLord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eatAnd the obese milkin' welfareWell, God, if you're 5-foot-3 and you're 300 poundsTaxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge roundsYoung men are puttin' themselves six feet in the ground'Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin' them downLord, it's a damn shame what the world's gotten toFor people like me and people like youWish I could just wake up and it not be trueBut it is, oh, it isLivin' in the new worldWith an old soulThese rich men north of RichmondLord knows they all just wanna have total controlWanna know what you think, wanna know what you doAnd they don't think you know, but I know that you do'Cause your dollar ain't shit and it's taxed to no end'Cause of rich men north of RichmondI've been sellin' my soul, workin' all dayOvertime hours for bullshit pay
Okay, some of that, like Mr. Reich notes, is economic, but a lot of it isn't. The protagonist notes:
1. He has "an old soul".
2. The rich men he complains about want total control, even over what he thinks.
3. He complains about the Jeffrey Epstein saga, but more in an allegorical way than a specific way, suggesting that politicians are more concerned with their immoral pursuits than the lives of average working people.
4. He takes a shot at the welfare poor, and unusually, notes fat ones (hardly anyone does that in contemporary America).
1. 39 years old. Spent 12 1/2 years as a plumber until the small company I worked for went under as the pandemic began. Working for a big chain home store for the last 3 years getting beaten into the ground, treated like a disposable asset, and watching my earnings equal less and less as the prices of basic necessities goes up. Ive fought addiction and won. Ive found love and lost it. This song resonates on a level that I havent felt in a long time. Thank you and god bless. 🙏2. As a disabled Marine, struggling to even be in public, struggling with all the bullshit in this world, struggling with thoughts of suicide, struggling to find pride in my Country, struggling to find the strength to get up every day to do the same damn thing to barely make ends me… as an American STRUGGLING with LIFE… thank you for bringing a little hope to my small part of the world… thank you for letting me know I am not alone with my thoughts and feelings… THANK YOU and God bless you Oliver Anthony3. I’m a 42 year old ex addict living in a camper trailer pay cheque to pay cheque with my kids part time while working to help the homeless and addicted community. I won’t stop working like the rest of you because we know at some point that one day will come that we may get that one break that shows us it was all worth it.Amazing song Oliver, thank you for sharing it4. As a hard working black American man, this song is 🔥 📛 the first country song on my Playlist and I hope for more. In an Era where soul is gone from music THIS IS A BREATH OF MUCH NEEDED AIR. even put a tear in my eye 🔥5. And just like that you became the voice of 40 or 50 million working men. Amazing work, sir.
And there are a lot more.
Let's break down the lyrics again, emphasizing the ones that are telling.
I've been sellin' my soul, workin' all dayOvertime hours for bullshit paySo I can sit out here and waste my life awayDrag back home and drown my troubles awayIt's a damn shame what the world's gotten toFor people like me and people like youWish I could just wake up and it not be trueBut it is, oh, it isLivin' in the new worldWith an old soulThese rich men north of RichmondLord knows they all just wanna have total controlWanna know what you think, wanna know what you doAnd they don't think you know, but I know that you do'Cause your dollar ain't shit and it's taxed to no end'Cause of rich men north of RichmondI wish politicians would look out for minersAnd not just minors on an island somewhereLord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eatAnd the obese milkin' welfareWell, God, if you're 5-foot-3 and you're 300 poundsTaxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge roundsYoung men are puttin' themselves six feet in the ground'Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin' them downLord, it's a damn shame what the world's gotten toFor people like me and people like youWish I could just wake up and it not be trueBut it is, oh, it isLivin' in the new worldWith an old soulThese rich men north of RichmondLord knows they all just wanna have total controlWanna know what you think, wanna know what you doAnd they don't think you know, but I know that you do'Cause your dollar ain't shit and it's taxed to no end'Cause of rich men north of RichmondI've been sellin' my soul, workin' all dayOvertime hours for bullshit pay
Okay, some of that, like Mr. Reich notes, is economic, but a lot of it isn't. The protagonist notes:
1. He has "an old soul".
2. The rich men he complains about want total control, even over what he thinks.
3. He complains about the Jeffrey Epstein saga, but more in an allegorical way than a specific way, suggesting that politicians are more concerned with their immoral pursuits than the lives of average working people.
4. He takes a shot at the welfare poor, and unusually, notes fat ones (hardly anyone does that in contemporary America).
El Paso Sheriff : What's it mean? What's it leadin' to? You know, if you'd have told me 20 years ago, that I'd see children walking the streets of our Texas towns with green hair and bones in their noses, I just flat-out wouldn't have believed you.Ed Tom Bell : Signs and wonders. But I think once you quit hearing "sir" and "ma'am," the rest is soon to foller.El Paso Sheriff : Oh, it's the tide. It's the dismal tide.
No Country For Old Men.
And that's why their message is failing.
And for traditional conservatives, as, well as liberals, there may now be, by this time, something even scarier at work. . .
Lex Anteinternet: Vincit qui se vincit
Vincit qui se vincit
It is so easy for those who have made their money under a given system to think that that system must be right and good. Conservatism is for that reason nothing else than a pseudo-philosophy for the prosperous. -
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, Communism and the Conscience of the West, p. 81
This is going to hit California and Baja Mexico:
Coastal Watches/Warnings and Forecast Cone for Storm Center
Forecast Length* | Forecast Track Line | Initial Wind Field |
* If the storm is forecast to dissipate within 3 days, the "Full Forecast" and "3 day" graphic will be identical
Click Here for a 5-day Cone Printer Friendly Graphic
How to use the cone graphic (video):
About this product:
This graphic shows an approximate representation of coastal areas under a hurricane warning (red), hurricane watch (pink), tropical storm warning (blue) and tropical storm watch (yellow). The orange circle indicates the current position of the center of the tropical cyclone. The black line, when selected, and dots show the National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecast track of the center at the times indicated. The dot indicating the forecast center location will be black if the cyclone is forecast to be tropical and will be white with a black outline if the cyclone is forecast to be extratropical. If only an L is displayed, then the system is forecast to be a remnant low. The letter inside the dot indicates the NHC's forecast intensity for that time:
D: Tropical Depression – wind speed less than 39 MPH
S: Tropical Storm – wind speed between 39 MPH and 73 MPH
H: Hurricane – wind speed between 74 MPH and 110 MPH
M: Major Hurricane – wind speed greater than 110 MPH
NHC tropical cyclone forecast tracks can be in error. This forecast uncertainty is conveyed by the track forecast "cone", the solid white and stippled white areas in the graphic. The solid white area depicts the track forecast uncertainty for days 1-3 of the forecast, while the stippled area depicts the uncertainty on days 4-5. Historical data indicate that the entire 5-day path of the center of the tropical cyclone will remain within the cone about 60-70% of the time. To form the cone, a set of imaginary circles are placed along the forecast track at the 12, 24, 36, 48, 72, 96, and 120 h positions, where the size of each circle is set so that it encloses 67% of the previous five years official forecast errors. The cone is then formed by smoothly connecting the area swept out by the set of circles.
It is also important to realize that a tropical cyclone is not a point. Their effects can span many hundreds of miles from the center. The area experiencing hurricane force (one-minute average wind speeds of at least 74 mph) and tropical storm force (one-minute average wind speeds of 39-73 mph) winds can extend well beyond the white areas shown enclosing the most likely track area of the center. The distribution of hurricane and tropical storm force winds in this tropical cyclone can be seen in the Wind History graphic linked above.
Considering the combined forecast uncertainties in track, intensity, and size, the chances that any particular location will experience winds of 34 kt (tropical storm force), 50 kt, or 64 kt (hurricane force) from this tropical cyclone are presented in tabular form for selected locations and forecast positions. This information is also presented in graphical form for the 34 kt, 50 kt, and 64 kt thresholds.
Interestingly, it's going to basically go right over Bakersfield, California, where this lifelong resident of that city is now serving in Congress:
Bakersfield is an oil town, and a rough one. Kevin McCarthy never worked in the oil patch, but he comes from blue collar roots. He graduated with a MBA from California State University, Bakersfield, in 1994, but was already in politics by that time. He's been a member of Congress since 2006.
Kern County is representative of a type of California we hardly think of. An oil and gas province in a state that we associate originally with agriculture, and then with. . . well itself. In some ways, McCarthy has been sort of an odd man out in his native state his entire life. And it must be frustrating, as he's a fourth generation Californian.
That sort of frustration has expressed itself in the nation's politics, on both the left and the right, for some time now. It's given rise to populism, and that populism has morphed into a form of fascism. Right McCarthy's party is struggling to see if it will be, after the nomination process is over, a conservative party, a populist party, or a fascist party. The fascist is in the lead, but he disregards of the law, a common trait for fascist leaders, may be his undoing. If it isn't, it risks being the undoing of American democracy.
The fact that "conservatives" no longer apply the broad scope of the word "conserve" may prove to lead to multiple undoings as well.
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen hit on something that ought to be obvious to us all, but in fact It's something rarely occurs to anyone. Liberals, or progressives as they like to think of themselves, decry the rich as evil on the basis that bad things happen due to wealth and therefore that's evil, and the evil must know that it's evil. In truth, "It is so easy for those who have made their money under a given system to think that that system must be right and good.", and that doesn't apply only to those who make vast amounts of money in something. Regular workers feel the same way. Tobacco farmers probably almost never thought to themselves about how their product directly resulted in cancer, and if they did, they must have mentally excused it, for example.
Systems are big, and big systems have to be addressed at a big level. Germans who worked in factories that were converted to war products as the war went on weren't in the same position as Albert Speer. But attempting to sanctify your occupation and livelihood (something I'll note that is very common for lawyers to do) doesn't change the reality of things.
This the first tropical storm to hit California like this in 84 years, the last such one being 1939's El Cordonazo. That storm was not only the last one, it's the only one to have made landfall in California in the 20th Century. We've had the terrible fires in Maui. We've had terrible fires in Canada all summer long. The list goes on.
The GOP is loud on the Biden "radical climate agenda". At least one of our local Congressional representatives, I'd wager, can be guaranteed to come on Twitter or Fox News within the next 30 days and complain about "Biden's radical climate agenda". The truth is, humans should not dare alter the climate, and just because I make money from things that might doesn't mean that it can't happen.
After this storm hits Bakersfield, McCarthy, along with the other top GOP leaders, should go to Kern County and explain what they're doing. McCarthy is Catholic (one of our three Congress people was, but long since adopted a Protestant faith, the latter allowing divorce and remarriage, although I don't know that's the reason that he did so). In Catholic theology, lying about serious matters is a grave sin.
I note that as I feel that most of these people, although not all of them, know better. If they don't know better, they can be excused, I guess, for not knowing better, but they can't be for willfully blinding themselves to the truth, which certainly can and does occur.
We really don't need Kevin McCarthy blathering about Hunter Biden. There's no excuse for ignoring the real, and difficult, problems of the day. You can feed red meat to the dogs, but once that's gone, and they're starving, they'll be coming for you.
People cheered Mussolini when he marched on Rome. They then hung around and celebrated his demise 20 years later. Austrians lined the streets when Hitler visited after the Anschluß, and were pretty glad to see the Nazi go just a few years later.
People who faced reality and undertook to engage it are better remembered than those who buried their heads in the sand and tried to ignore it. People don't sing the praises of John C. Calhoun today. They're not going to sing the praises of Ted Cruz tomorrow. People remember Lindbergh for what he did heroically, not for being an American Firster before December 7, 1941.
There's an opportunity here to be grasped, but will it be. Of couse, is there even an audience for it. The Wyoming GOP has been busy censuring its members for not falling into the fantasy right. People like to hear that they're beautiful, that smoking won't hurt you, and that you can go ahead and have that fourth beer before you drive home.
The We The People Amendment
A proposed Constitutional Amendment introduced by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington):
Section 1. [Artificial Entities Such as Corporations Do Not Have Constitutional Rights]
The rights and privileges protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights and privileges of natural persons only.
An artificial entity, such as a corporation, limited liability company, or other for-profit entity, established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign State shall have no rights under the Constitution and are subject to regulation by the People, through Federal, State, or local law.
The privileges of artificial entity shall be determined by the People, through Federal, State, or local law, and shall not be construed to be inherent or inalienable.
Section 2. [Money is Not Free Speech]
Federal, State, and local government shall regulate, limit, or prohibit contributions and expenditures, including a candidate's own contributions and expenditures, to ensure that all citizens, regardless of their economic status, have access to the political process, and that no person gains, as a result of their money, substantially more access or ability to influence in any way the election of any candidate for public office or any ballot measure.
Federal, State, and local government shall require that any permissible contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed.
The judiciary shall not construe the spending of money to influence elections to be speech under the First Amendment.
Section 3.
This amendment shall not be construed to abridge the privilege secured by the Constitution of the United States of the freedom of the press.”.
I like it. The concept that corporation are people is problematic in every sense, but particularly in regard to the idea that they have the same rights, or some of them, as natural-born real people.
This clearly attacks the Citizens United decision, which frankly was decided wrongly. Indeed, early in the country's history not only was this idea completely foreign, but the formation of corporations was strictly constrained and relatively rare.
Unfortunately, of course, even in this hyper populist era, this populist idea, as it's from the populist left, is probably stillborn. The McCarthy GOP isn't going to pass anything that a Democrat comes up with, particularly as its a minoritarian party in some significant ways that might fear the result.
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