Happy New Year 2023!
I just received an email from the Indie Filmmakers Awards in California. I received an email from FilmFreeway.com yesterday indicating I'd won for my submission of my antiwar historical documentary and filmic poem, "Pvt. Ravel's Bolero". But the email today from the awards festival indicated my award not for just the film, but as director! My first director award! I had submitted to a Dublin festival for best Director but only got Semi-Finalist for the film (I had a great time in Ireland in 2015, by the way).
Weather for the day… 45° and overcast
Podcast for the day The Problem with John Stewart, episode with Mark Cuban, Maria Ressa & Julia Ioffe Join Our 2022 WrapUpFestPalooza
Instagram post for the day
Maria Ressa on the MIT study, finding that lies travel six times faster than truth on social media (Specifically, Twitter). Also, how toxic conservatives been hampered on Twitter for saying stupid shit and outright lies and hate speech as a first amendment issue until Musk bought Twitter, when it’s suddenly becomes a private company where Elon can do whatever he wants according to conservatives because now they can speak and spew their nonsense.
Zuckerberg with Facebook was Rupert Murdoch 2.0 where now Elon Musk with Twitter is Zuckerberg 2.0.
We need some new laws for social media. There’s no doubt about that. We need to protect human beings, not just America. Twitter is global, so Elon Musk has this global social media power through Twitter. That has to stop with our making Elon Musk the very last one allowed to do that. It needs to be run by some kind of a board who are accountable to someone. Like in Europe, who had seen this ahead of time has done way better than America in moderating this kind of stuff.
If Trump was President, he would be hitting on Elon Musk to be head of the FCC. What do we think the ramifications of that would be? Not good.
John Stewart: you can be good at Twitter, or you can be profitable, but you can’t be both.
Mark Cuban on podcast: I might invest in Twitter depending on its valuation but not right now. Post News, I would have invested in it but they’re evaluation of $250 million was too high. Mastodon, it was too hard to use in its too many servers and just too confusing. I like Post better. Mark also said about Elon buying Twitter, don’t give him too much credit for all the stuff he says, in the political angles. He’s just another rich guy who got a new toy he’s playing with it. How just wants to have his voice heard but he wants profits.
Maria said Twitter in the Philippines is far better than Facebook or YouTube, certainly in allowing her some protections. And in the Philippines, Facebook is essentially, their social media.
Elon is providing Internet for Ukraine, but last month he raised the prices by 25%.
Elon should be charging Russia for Internet access for Ukraine, as long as the Russian are within and attacking Ukraine.
Fatalism has somewhat taken over in America, especially for conservatives & autocrats. In Russia, the propaganda is so much that same thing, happening there. People don’t know what to believe in Russia or who to listen to so they just shut down and go "well government? Do whatever you want. I don't matter, and can't." This is not something that happens by accident.
As far as the Russians, noticing that their men dying in Ukraine, for apparently no good reasons, as Julia points out on the podcast, remember that they’re not Americans. They don't expect life to be a get better, they're Russians. who have centuries of basically being serfs, forever abused by the elites.
Julia tell the Russian joke to explain the Russian mentality: A bunch of Russians are standing in a pool sewage with it up to their noses. One of them raises his head up looks around and says, Hey let’s organize and get out of this shit. Someone else says, Hey stop making waves!
Considering how much faster, lies travel, and how companies can make money off of it on social media, look at the Republican party with people like Trump or George Santos ...lies aren’t sticking anymore. They can say whatever they want, getting what they want (elected), profit from it and yet, still stay in office? Again. Who is STILL Postmaster General right now? Louis DeJoy. How many Supreme Court Justices do we have who should never have been allowed on the Supreme Court? At least four conservatives. That, is not good.
I'd just like to mention yet again that I started telling everyone I knew back in the 90s that I was seeing the Republican Party using old Soviet KGB disinformation tactics and techniques. It was blaringly obvious to me. I was attuned to noticing whenever the Russians did something like that. Then suddenly I started to notice a change in the GOP and realized, they were doing the same things. They’ve only gotten better at it over the years and expanded it. I would almost argue now that it’s coming back around to beginning to destroy them. Because it’s never been a last forever this kind of thing. KGN only used it for short term efforts that were then supported by other things or actions executed in the short term. The GOP has been relying on it now for decades. Just as autocracies sooner or later cave in on themselves, so too will the GOP. And should they take over America? That version just won't last.
As Maria’s pointing out now, why are some of us now in America electing a illiberal leaders? That makes absolutely no sense at all. But that’s not just America, as she points out 60% of the world is under autocratic rule. And if this keeps happening…well?
Corporations and governments are now doing exactly what we’ve been doing for decades to our earth. We take the wealth out, and we let the worst happen, we allow parts of the world to die for it, because of it. We now seek politicians, who are taking wealth out for themselves and their kind, and their supporters... and I don’t mean citizens or voters. I mean, lobbyists and corporations, dark money and letting their/our citizenry die, sometimes, literally. It can’t be avoided to say that Donald Trump allowed hundreds of thousands of Americans die because of his purposeful befuddled COVID-19 Response. There is no making excuses and saying that he got the vaccine out. That’s absurd. Just because the vaccine got out under Trump has nothing to do with what he did before, or after that point.
We have to ask ourselves as Americans how much responsibility do we bear for the war on drugs destroying families and citizens, for decades. And then a two decade plus war on terror help spin up some of the autocracies in the world, adding to an autocratic movement around the world.
Julia said in 2015 Putin helped in Syria by bombing the shit out of them to generate in part all the many refugees to flee the country, which help lead to Brexit and other issues in Europe. A force multiplier situation.
To my VA doctor. I want to thank you as I’ve said before, for helping me through this year. Especially from the end of March when I caught COVID the last time, until our last email, for all the support and sometimes just listening or not reacting poorly to my emails. I did want to mention one thing, that my dentist noticed a dark spot on my lip which in researching it, I’m assuming could be nothing. And also, although 2022 wasn’t the worst year of my life, it was certainly the scariest from this last bout of Covid and long Covid. Which I’m at the trailing end of and which could drag on for more months or (I’m hoping not), beyond to March of 2023. Since I’ve read some doctors saying it seems to last about two years for many and the last time I caught it, it lasted about 14 months. I felt because I can, I should, and so I did write a book on long covid and the experience. I just wanted you to know that and share that with you. I titled it, “Suffering, Long Covid“ and published it end of October. Anyway, happy new year and here’s hoping the VA has all the funding it needs so you guys aren’t so overworked anymore, and that Covid or whatever the next pandemic might be, won’t be.
Also, to help me get through the end of my last long Covid in early 2022 I had created/produced out a filmic poem, antiwar historical documentary titled, “Pvt. Ravel's Bolero“. It’s been winning a lot of awards and I just won another one in California today, for best director of an experimental short film. Anyway…
Cheers! Sláinte!
Maria says here that Russian military doctrine, according to KGB head, Yuri Andropov said disnformation is like cocaine, it's OK to consume once or twice, but if you taken in a steady diet of it you become a changed person. Welcome to Russia. Welcome to America.
Mark Cuban: And it’s all gonna get worse.
Mark also says those who control what goes into AI's like ChatGBT, or DaVinci version 3.5, they will control a lot as it can be Weaponized.
The first murder in history put us on the path to "Godhead", but it took social constructs of government and laws to reign that in. We can now design babies using CRISPR, but government regulations worldwide won't allow it.
The first murder was supposed to be when Cain killed Abel. He got kicked out of town because God didn’t like a human broaching the realm of Godness. Except that wasn’t the first murder. Because Cain then went to the land of Nod, married some woman whose brother had killed somebody (my personal Biblical history) and so they felt an affinity over that and that’s how they got together.
Mark Cuban pointin st where there’s no transparency there’s crime. So how about if you run for public office your tax returns are immediately examined. Yes, we'll have to pay more for the IRS. Get over yourself. I was thinking, do that with the president and whoever is a candidate. And then I thought, Congress, too. And then I thought, governors too, because they’re the "presidents" of their state. And then it occurred to me, if transparency helps to illuminate crime and abuse, then if you want into public office you'd better be honest and we'd better see your tax returns.
Paraphrasing Donald Trump: "Yes, I gave politicians money because they would do what I say." That’s proving both politicians he paid and Trump himself, are corrupt. He went on to say because he knew how corrupt they are, voters should elect him to fix all this. And so MAGA, elected a corrupt person. Or as we used to put it, a fox/wolf was set to oversee the chicken coop/flock of sheep. Dumb.
Regarding Congress and insider trading? I've said this many times. If you’re gonna be in Congress, you have to eliminate your portfolio or convert it to like an IRA/401(k) set up just for Congress. Or maybe better, set one up for all government employees which helps to demystify it. And make it more egalitarian.
Mark: it takes a few frauds to burst a bubble. Financially speaking. So now that a few of these things have rolled over in crypto, that’ll get looked at and probably fixed. But we don’t have the same thing for government.
How many of those frauds have happened? Because it’s been happening all through history, so it's become normalized. No one ever really thinks about it. Just fix it. But instead, it’s more like, "Oh look he’s having a massive heart attack and a compound fracture. He’s bleeding all over the place. Here’s a Band-Aid."
Word for the day from Mark Cuban: duopoly. Referring to our two-party system in America. Which he said is why he likes the ranked choice voting. Which I’ve been liking a lot too since I first heard of it only a year or two back.
I know people get confused between sociopath and psychopath. The way I view it is there are many sociopaths. A lot of them are drawn to leadership and a lot of them are actually harmless. But they don’t have the same need to follow the rules as most of us. When you add narcissism into that (see, Donald Trump), it’s like adding an octane booster into the crazy cocktail. A psychopath is within the group of sociopath and more acute/dangerous. He went to sociopath university and became a graduate Summa Cum Laude. And that’s amongst their cohort, their group of their peers. And that could be people in their social circle, there physical location, or economic/ political stratum, worldwide.
There are people who can’t differentiate faces. In some cases, it’s a pathology. For most of us who have that issue at all, we’re just not that good at like picking people out of a lineup, say. Artists are much better at it than most people. We’re seeing that today with too many people who can’t differentiate fact from fiction. That’s achieved through many routes. The problem today is that some of that is achieved through selective ignorance, and choosing what pleasures them. Until they finally can’t see fact because they're so estranged from it. Maybe the primary way to explain Donald Trump getting elected. Obviously that’s also all been magnified through foreign entities, who are our enemies (and domestic enemies) who are simply profiteers, toxic capitalists and toxic politicos.
Many of the people who seem to get the furthest in America, merely say American patriotic things, and then do the opposite. Thank you for that comment, Julia.
Sometimes I feel like I got fucked, family-wise. On the other hand, I had two dad’s, my birth father, who didn’t seem to want anything to do with me, and my stepfather, who really didn’t seem to like me, who made my childhood kind of a hell. Who when mom told us she was marrying him, I was five years old and said, "NO, I don't like him!" And rightly so. But she was pregnant so... And I had half a mother, who in the last half of her life, my life, made life hell her my siblings and I (and her). But in the first half of my life, she was almost like two mothers worth of mother. Who loved us a lot. My own two grown kids I dearly love and they love me very much. I made sure of that. I didn't want my kids growing up disliking their parents as I had. It didn't work out so well for either of their mothers however, who didn't pay that kind of attention to raising them. So maybe that makes up for all of it, having kids who love me. What I mean about feeling like I got screwed, family-wise, was that I grew up watching those early 60s family TV shows where everything was perfect and mom worked around the house wearing a nice dress and pearls and nobody got divorced. while I grew up in a family where my siblings were all half siblings, we all had different dads and my parent's relationship sucked. Life. Can't live with it sometimes, surely can't live with out it.
Somehow, I ended up with a bunch of 10% off coupons from Safeway for getting my vaccinations this year. I’ve gotten a few between Covid shots/boosters and other things and so today was the last day of the year. I finally used one of those coupons for 10% off for fun stuff for New Year’s weekend. I was standing there looking at a couple of those coupons at the self checkout, so...I just left them there for whomever else comes by after me... so here, have 10% off!
Here’s a question, asking for a friend… Is murder justified if you buy through the mail a signed author copy of a book and it has one of those fucking stickers on it that says "author signed" copy that you can’t get off the front cover? I mean that’s justified... right? May this new year have no "author signed" book stickers on them!
Cheers! Sláinte!
Word for the day from Mark Cuban: duopoly. Referring to our two-party system in America. Which he said is why he likes the ranked choice voting. Which I’ve been liking a lot too since I first heard of it only a year or two back.
I know people get confused between sociopath and psychopath. The way I view it is there are many sociopaths. A lot of them are drawn to leadership and a lot of them are actually harmless. But they don’t have the same need to follow the rules as most of us. When you add narcissism into that (see, Donald Trump), it’s like adding an octane booster into the crazy cocktail. A psychopath is within the group of sociopath and more acute/dangerous. He went to sociopath university and became a graduate Summa Cum Laude. And that’s amongst their cohort, their group of their peers. And that could be people in their social circle, there physical location, or economic/ political stratum, worldwide.
There are people who can’t differentiate faces. In some cases, it’s a pathology. For most of us who have that issue at all, we’re just not that good at like picking people out of a lineup, say. Artists are much better at it than most people. We’re seeing that today with too many people who can’t differentiate fact from fiction. That’s achieved through many routes. The problem today is that some of that is achieved through selective ignorance, and choosing what pleasures them. Until they finally can’t see fact because they're so estranged from it. Maybe the primary way to explain Donald Trump getting elected. Obviously that’s also all been magnified through foreign entities, who are our enemies (and domestic enemies) who are simply profiteers, toxic capitalists and toxic politicos.
Many of the people who seem to get the furthest in America, merely say American patriotic things, and then do the opposite. Thank you for that comment, Julia.
Sometimes I feel like I got fucked, family-wise. On the other hand, I had two dad’s, my birth father, who didn’t seem to want anything to do with me, and my stepfather, who really didn’t seem to like me, who made my childhood kind of a hell. Who when mom told us she was marrying him, I was five years old and said, "NO, I don't like him!" And rightly so. But she was pregnant so... And I had half a mother, who in the last half of her life, my life, made life hell her my siblings and I (and her). But in the first half of my life, she was almost like two mothers worth of mother. Who loved us a lot. My own two grown kids I dearly love and they love me very much. I made sure of that. I didn't want my kids growing up disliking their parents as I had. It didn't work out so well for either of their mothers however, who didn't pay that kind of attention to raising them. So maybe that makes up for all of it, having kids who love me. What I mean about feeling like I got screwed, family-wise, was that I grew up watching those early 60s family TV shows where everything was perfect and mom worked around the house wearing a nice dress and pearls and nobody got divorced. while I grew up in a family where my siblings were all half siblings, we all had different dads and my parent's relationship sucked. Life. Can't live with it sometimes, surely can't live with out it.
Somehow, I ended up with a bunch of 10% off coupons from Safeway for getting my vaccinations this year. I’ve gotten a few between Covid shots/boosters and other things and so today was the last day of the year. I finally used one of those coupons for 10% off for fun stuff for New Year’s weekend. I was standing there looking at a couple of those coupons at the self checkout, so...I just left them there for whomever else comes by after me... so here, have 10% off!
Here’s a question, asking for a friend… Is murder justified if you buy through the mail a signed author copy of a book and it has one of those fucking stickers on it that says "author signed" copy that you can’t get off the front cover? I mean that’s justified... right? May this new year have no "author signed" book stickers on them!
Cheers! Sláinte!
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