Thought for the Day

[MrFanti]

As a person with African roots, I find the ironies and hypocrisies here to be absolutely hilarious!

-"Colored People" is offensive yet...

--"People of Color" is just fine...
--"NAACP" is just fine...
--"Black People" is just fine as well (even though none of us have Black skin)...

[Stavros]

It may be a characteristic of Trump that, having escaped another assassination attempt, he begs for money. But what underlines this is the extent to which gun violence has become a normal part of American life. I don't know when it became normalized, I suspect a long time ago, but I don't think we need speculate that this aspect of American life is not going to go away, decline or more importantly, be addressed as a political issue that has or even needs a solution, when the obvious solution is to either Repeal the 2nd Amendment, or amend it to establish a clearer meaning, if anyone can think of one.

Does the 2nd Amendment give one American the right to purchase a firearm in order to kill another? I don't think so.

But it might also be a step forward if politicians and their supporters did not use the rhetoric of violence to campaign for what they think will be a better America. I don't know how the use of words like 'bloodbath', 'retribution' or 'Stalingrad every day' is supposed to calm nerves, but when Harris and Walz say Americans should focus on what unites rather than divides them, I do feel that dolphin has sunk beneath the waves, and is unlikely to re-surface soon. Elon Musk, speculating on why there has not -we assume- been an assassination attempt on Kamala Harris will be criticized by some, but the views he holds don't inspire confidence that the 'concept' of political assassination is totally unacceptable. Just as the attempt to normalize the attack on the Capitol on Jan 6 2021 deepens the anxieties some people have about the future of the USA. If it has one.

[Stavros]

No hospital, no cars … and only three school pupils: life on a remote island – in pictures | Art and design | The Guardian

Must be Alicudi

Alicudi - History (alicudi-paradiso.com)

[Stavros]

This is a longer read than most, and an important one too, I think, as far as Transgender politics and policy goes. If I have one criticism, it is that the cases referred to are all of young people who have benefited from early stage advice and therapy, while I know that there is an argument that such treatment ought not to take place before the individual is at least 16 or even 18. The cases here suggest early onset treatment is positive, but does not offer any reporting of cases where it was not just a failure, but damaging, possibly even fatally so. It may be that as far as is known, most cases of treatment are positive, but I doubt all of them are. This remains a sensitive and difficult issue to analyse in depth.

The article moves beyond young people to refer to LGBTQ+ in general.

That said, the position of Trump, his party and Project 2025 appears to be that every US citizen is equal before the law, but not if they are transgendered. At this most basic level, it shows how fragile democracy and the rule of law is in the US, and that by extension this is also true of other Liberal Democracies.

If Trump wins the election, he could launch a ‘catastrophic’ rollback of LGBTQ+ rights | LGBTQ+ rights | The Guardian

[Stavros]

Goodbye World, Hello Nowhere

Have those who think human beings should become a 'Multi-Planetary' species given up trying to solve the problems we have here, on this humble Planet Earth that Carl Sagan once called 'a quiet place in the Universe'?

Elon Musk wants people to live on Mars, and so does a minor English geek, Brian Cox. Here he is, echoing the hopeless drivel of the X-Man

"There are limited resources on the Earth and damage is being done to the planet through “civilisation’s thirst and requirement for more resources”, says Prof Cox, making it imperative we look towards becoming a multi-planetary civilisation."
'Human race needs to expand beyond Earth,' says Prof Brian Cox - BBC News

Cox once made an expensive programme about what it would be like to live on Mars, when all he needed to do was spend a weekend in the Atacama Desert in Chile with just a backpack and bottle of water to decide which he prefers- the comforts of home or the misery of nowhere.

In just one week Israel has made a million people homeless in Lebanon, with more to come, to add to those made homeless in Gaza, the Ukraine -and even, for the time being, in Georgia, USA as a consequence of Hurricane Helene. In the US I expect practical solutions will over time re-house and re-build, while Elon Musk and Brian Cox look on in despair, and decide 'enough is enough', and because they cannot cope with, or can't be bothered with practical solutions to housing, food prices, and extreme weather events want to live on Mars, where the housing is a prison because you can't go outside and breathe the air; where the food is synthetic mush from cans and sachets unless they find a way to grow potatoes in a tent; and where extreme weather events happen every day, sometimes all day for months if not years on end.

When men with an interest in science and technology abandon practical solutions to the problems caused by Capitalism, one wonders what their intellect is made of. There is no need for scarcity in today's world, we have plenty, it is the age old factors of greed and profiteering that prevent the people who marshal our resources having their fair share of its products.

I can understand the fetish for space travel, but it is no solution to dealing with real issues here and now, and doing so to improve life over the long term. Mars is not a solution, living, in effect in Nowhere is despair where none is needed.

And why go to Mars if there ain't an opera house there?

[KnightHawk 2.0]

The twice impeached four times indicted convicted felon Donald Trump said the following disgusting comment,at that so-called townhall he had on the propaganda channel: Any black or latino who votes for Kamala Harris should have their head examined. Anybody who supports and voted for an Orange Rambling Malignant Narcissistic Thinskinned Petulant Child like Donald Trump,who constantly talks shit about the United States of America,and cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin,Victor Orban,Kim Jung Un and Xi Xinjiang Ping. And made derogatory and dehumanizing comments about the Arab,Asian,Black,Haitian,Hispanic,Jewish,Muslim and LGBTQ Communities should really have their heads examined. And Donald Trump comments continue to show how unfit,unhinged,mentally unstable and unqualified he is to be president of the united states,and should be disqualified from holding public office.

[MrFanti]

[COLOR="#2F4F4F"]The twice impeached four times indicted convicted felon Donald Trump said the following disgusting comment,at that so-called townhall he had on the propaganda channel: Any black or latino who votes for Kamala Harris should have their head examined.

Just as bad as Biden saying "If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black’"

As a Black man, to me, BOTH COMMENTS piss me the heck off......Who the fuck are they to judge my Blackness!

[filghy2]

As a Black man, to me, BOTH COMMENTS piss me the heck off......Who the fuck are they to judge my Blackness!

But it's okay for you to judge others' Blackness?

It has nothing to do with polls IMHO, we Blacks didn't support her because of certain things that she did - hence the reason why she dropped out before even the primaries had started. And IMHO, I can think of a few Black women that I'd pick over her.
But technically, she's not Black......so I guess that makes my point moot.....

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Green Party Candidate Jill Stein who hasn't been heard from in eight years popped back up recently,and can't be taking serious as a third party candidate. And the only reason she decided to run again,is to play spoiler in this year's election. A vote for Jill Stein,is a vote for the Convicted Felon Donald Trump.

[MrFanti]

Green Party Candidate Jill Stein who hasn't been heard from in eight years popped back up recently,and can't be taking serious as a third party candidate. And the only reason she decided to run again,is to play spoiler in this year's election. A vote for Jill Stein,is a vote for the Convicted Felon Donald Trump.

I'm for ANY voter that thinks outside of the brainwashing that makes them believe there are only two parties, Republican and Democrat.