Category: Politics

We (meaning people who understand the Internet and mass communications) have known this for a long time. I daresay Zuckerberg and his ilk have know it longer than anyone. There have been documented episodes of what I am now referring to as “Facebook Frenzy” (FF) getting people killed all over the world for years. Now we have some terrorist moron murderer in Christchurch NZ live streaming his mass shooting. Despite my doubts about Elizabeth Warren as a presidential candidate, she might be on to something with her recent idea about breaking up the tech giants. I think her position is probably too broad-brush at first blush. But the social media part is definitely something to consider.

Operations like Facebook have existed for only one purpose from their very beginning: To profit from people’s private information. Trading marketing intel, ad revenue and the burgeoning membership driving it all has created a society where truth becomes questionable and every individual with an Internet connection holds the potential to become a viral sensation, up to and including a mass murder broadcast.

There is nothing FB does that cannot be accomplished with the more commonly recognized tech tools preceding it (email, SMS, html, etc.) FB just made it easy for anybody to broadcast – with one glaring side-effect: FF. It’s just another in the ongoing string of unintended consequences created by dumb-asses who either didn’t know what they were doing, or continued doing it for sheer greed anyway, well aware of the risk. Sell that mutherfucker.

Don’t believe for a second this SOB has one single fuck to give about his customers.

It’s gonna be a 3-fer from me here on the weed topic early in 2019:

“Let me begin by saying that I understand and respect the strong feelings on both sides of this debate.”

Apparently you do not yet understand the fact that this “debate” as you refer to it, is based only on greedy capitalists wishing to continue taking unfair market advantage due to government collusion with the alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceutical industries for the past 70 years since the Federal ban was enacted. Anyone with their eyes open who has studied the science and read the history can see this. You need to educate yourself on the topic instead of trying to balance political interests on the backs of people in need.

“…we have a responsibility to cultivate an environment that protects our children from drug use…”

This duplicitous generalization only reinforces the fact that you simply do not know what you are talking about. Again, look at the facts: I won’t even mention the opioid issue, using alcohol alone as the example. Health risk (confirmed cancer link in recent studies), DUI (we don’t even yet have a reliable way to measure impairment with Cannabis because research has been stymied), domestic violence (how many husbands convicted of spouse abuse after ingesting Cannabis? Answer: ZERO). Yet Cannabis holds great potential and has been conclusively shown to offer health benefits in a wide assortment of chronic condition treatments, where corresponding pharmaceutical remedies are fraught with dangerous side effects and high cost. Have you seen the TV commercials? Oh hell, let’s just mention the opiate/painkiller comparison: OD risk for Cannabis: again- ZERO. How may CO citizens died from opiate overdose last year, while the Pharma Co’s continue raking in millions?

“Should any marijuana legislation come before the Senate, I will keep your concerns in mind.”

Based on your response, I find that doubtful.

Lying, Teat-Sucking Idiots.

v/r
Full text of the senator’s message here.

As long as we’re on the topic, apparently industry insiders are just now coming out of a 50-year coma:

“Consumers will continue to look to cannabis products over alcohol for occasions when they are feeling creative, need to get motivated, or seeking health, medical or wellness benefits,” BDS Analytics’s Vice President Jessica Lukas added.”

The headline reads:

“LEGAL MARIJUANA COULD THREATEN THE ALCOHOL INDUSTRY, SAYS REPORT.”

So, just as the electric utilities are caught with their pants down by alternative energy, so the alcohol industry begins to realize decades of unfair market dominance are coming to a close.  The craft brewers here in CO saw it coming, and hemp-infused beer is gaining traction.  Looks like once again, greedy capitalists will be scrambling to preserve their bottom line and jobs in an industry that does little more than cause a whole host of problems including dangerous health issues, DUI, domestic violence, etc.

Society will eventually realize benefits from the truth about Cannabis and the alcohol industry will adjust to a size and market cap more appropriate for such enterprise in today’s economy.

Stumbled across this A.M. – had to re-post, so true:

The New Hampshire Gazette recently ran a couple of opposing editorial viewpoints.  Taken together, they reveal a disturbing political truth we are living through these days:

“Trump is nothing but a freak show which serves to distract the public so that McConnell and the rest of the ghouls in the GOP can go on looting and polluting.”

Fair enough – pretty much my take. Problem is, they couldn’t just loot and pollute “as-is.” Noooo. They had go in and try to roll back the playing field to 50 years ago before people realized what was going on. That was the editorial response to this:

“The left underestimates the intelligence of the common man. The left is a movement populated by fools who by identifying with the elites, think themselves to be elites, when in fact those elites do all they can to isolate themselves from anyone who does not meet the requirements to join their club. The elites use their base only to maintain power but do nothing for that base except to make them feel superior to Trump voters. “

So if you pick through the partisan bickering, bottom line is, at least Trump is trying to keep campaign promises. Small consolation.
No IMHO, what we have here is the early stages of the utter failure of western democracy. There is no middle ground. The so-called “common man” no longer has a voice in government – if he ever did. The only thing left to do is to sit back and watch the show while a government diametrically opposed to it’s own stated intent, implodes.

Government is not the solution to our problem – government IS the problem.” -Ronald Reagan, 1981 Inaugural Address

It all comes out in the wash, right? Too bad for the millions of people with lives ruined because of these cock-sucking pieces of shit. This – after numerous opioid-related convictions in recent years:

In May 2007 — immediately after the 2007 convictions — then-CEO John Stewart began planning to expand Purdue’s sales force in Massachusetts and across the country.

Somebody please get real, lock up these greedy mutherfuckers and throw away the key.

“Despite the opioid epidemic, there are no federal limits to marketing opioids.”

What is wrong with these idiots?
And it just keeps getting better.
Baloon-Busting Inflation

Hemp is back. Was there ever any doubt?

Trump certainly performed well as the useful idiot in every way ever expected. The Federal government has been completely bogged down with nothing much done for over 2 years. Seriously, that is really the BEST I have come to expect from Washing D.C. – NOTHING. Because at least in my view, “nothing” is better than the never-ending string of ongoing stupidity and waste coming out of that institution we call a Federal government.

But what I did not expect was the overtly public and disgusting displays of pure disrespect. Sure politics is a dirty business, go figure. I knew the guy was a fuck-ass businessman, but did not realize he is actually just stupid. The extent to which this moron has used vile impertinence and contempt in his public behavior and communications is unnerving, even to me – a retired enlisted military member who grew up learning to swear with the best of them, where provocative language and colorful discord was the norm. When time for John McCain’s funeral rolled around, it was the last straw for me. Let the impeachment proceedings begin.

Then a few days later we see this. What a shame. The guy is a national disgrace.

Is simply this. Far too many in power still hold dear their biblical devotions, and associate all matter of professional and political life with it. The separation of church and state concept was a great idea, but we never really thought it all the way through. Garnering tax exemption while raping children in the choir room closet seems a bit off, to me. ISIS believers plan their next IED attack the same way conservative judges block human rights, while stupid believers shun vaccinations for their children and countless other acts of inhumanity: In the name of Gawd. That’s how I spell it and that’s how I see it – fairy tales mocked, now grown into globalized evil for all to see on the air and cyber-waves every day.

What more do we need to see before people wake up to the fact that our government is riddled with corruption?

The FDA Advisory Board chairman called for the drug to be rejected, but they approved it anyway. How does that work? The interesting thing to me is how the pharma companies keep re-making this same poison in ever more concentrated form. Therefore, as the excuse goes, it’s more tightly restricted. …Leading to guess what? Higher prices, of course. It’s getting more expensive to die of an accidental overdose.

Whodathunkit?

Conservative Modus Operandi: First you get control by stealing the election, then rush to implement as much of the agenda as possible, including diversionary tactics like re-scheduling a drug (but not it’s source), because some of this stuff is just so stupid you know another election win is totally out of the question.

A couple months ago, I posted a little quip about the end of the Marijuana Prohibition era. It’s truly un-deniable – it IS coming. Then you see stuff like this:

“In other words, rather than apply generally to all CBD-based products, the order applies to only those that have cleared FDA’s expensive and time-consuming approval process.”

So according to the DEA, Cannabidiol (CBD), the non-psychoactive, safe, highly effective and clinically proven compound occurring naturally in the Cannabis plant is still a dangerous drug with no medical application. Really? This is such total horseshit it almost defies comprehension. It benefits nothing and nobody except the drug companies and harms everyone without access, or who cannot afford it.

But comprehending the new DEA scheduling makes perfect sense. The collective conscious that is our government cares only about a few things. Near the top of that list is the monetary math supporting establishment and protection of wealthy political contributor’s unfair market advantage through (among other things) corrupt regulatory practices. The health and well-being of millions of citizens does not factor into that equation.

These pharmaceutical companies can profit from millions of people addicted to opiates, then get away with shyt like this.  Our culture has already legalized Marijuana. The question is how long will it take for the laws to catch up. People need to stop promoting and buying the pharma garbage, starting with doctors who should be smart enough to know better.

Maybe enough of them are just too greedy to care as well.

It was gonna happen sooner or later. And no, Herr Trump did not make another executive order and the Supreme Court hasn’t had anything to say about it either. But the wheels of government turn slowly – when they move at all. Anyone with their ear to ground on the Cannabis issue saw it coming years ago, and like the article says, June 2018 was a banner month.

I know it saved me. I have such an acute case of full-body arthritis and lesser neuropathy symptoms, doctors were prescribing a max dose of Tramadol for years, along with shot-in-the-dark attempts at things like anti-depressants and high-strength prescription anti-inflammatory drugs (one of which induced coronary symptoms). It continued being a downhill slide, health-wise during that time. I was just drugged out of my mind, not feeling it so much. Now after a couple years of learning how to use weed, I can say although not recovered by any means, I am myself again and can live a somewhat physically less un-comfortable life – without dangerous pharmaceutical drugs.

The Commander in Chump’s current obsession with Amazon is truly entertaining, to say the least. Despite their relentless late-night attacks, it’s easy to see why the comedians just love the Trumpmiester. You can’t make this shyt up. Stumbled upon just now:

“How much longer are the Lemmings going to support this idiot? FACTS: The Post Office makes a tidy profit carrying Amazon packages. Unlike the junk mail we are still deluged with. When will Herr Drumph go after those folks? Next fact: Amazon collects and remits sales tax in all the states which charge it. Unlike many other online businesses – most notably eBay.  Trump is going after Amazon because its founder Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post which keeps annoyingly publishing stories that are less than flattering to El Douchee and his Cabinet of misfits.  Donnie – how about we discuss how you and your cabinet are fleecing taxpayers so you can vacation all over the world? Trump didn’t drain the swamp, he restocked it with new species of cretins and grifters.”

Thank you Micheal Steel, whoever you are, for posting the truth. Amazon is probably one of the few big companies currently doing an ethical, good job. They pay decent wages and provide employment to thousands of Americans in an expanding business, meeting growing demand. Comparing or tying that to the USPS in any way whatsoever is so flagrantly absurd only the Trumpster could come up with it.
He should be talking about privatizing the Postal Service (not the VA!). USPS has been a losing proposition almost since day one. What’s that old adage about “…good money after bad?” Would it take much more than re-painting a few thousand trucks and have about half their employees fill out new employment paperwork with FedEx or UPS?

President Trump on Monday will release a plan to combat the opioid epidemic that includes the controversial move to use the death penalty for some drug dealers.

Full story from The Hill.