Walkabout Thoughts #50

Wow. My 50th "Walkabout Thoughts" Blog today! Cheers! Slainte! I have about 1500 total blog articles on this since about 2010. I started having 2 daily blogs 7 days a week, got down to once a week, now it's kind of intermittent (thanks long covid!). But I've tried to do every other day (we all have to have something to shoot for) OK, let's get started... .

My thoughts, Stream of consciousness, rough and ready, while walking off long Covid and listening to podcasts… July 9, 2023, Sunday

Weather for the day… sunny and 57° but 71° by time I got home.

Podcast Pod Save America

Regarding the student loan issue, how do you think, since we give K-12 "free" (nothing's free but we use our taxes for this since the 1700s: "In 1790, Pennsylvania became the first state to require some form of free education for everyone regardless of whether they could afford it."), we should appropriately fund that and end this charter school bullshit nonsense. We should extend that to K-14 so everyone can afford to get a basic education before becoming an adult at 18 and potentially moving out of their parent's house. Receiving then at least two years of vocational. or community college education toward a better job. Originally it was thought 12th grade would be good for a kid to get a job. Times have changed and our education hasn't caught up, and esp., Republicans have crippled our education system for divisive reasons. K-12 should service us better toward being ready for the job market. When I graduated high school in 1973, I knew full well I wasn’t prepared. I got a very basic job in an insurance company, in the mail room. I covered all the odd jobs beyond that they would come up, with such as moving things and delivering insurance forms to all the schools in the school district, in the fall,in Tacoma, Washington. But it seems to be a viable adjunct to school loans. Forgiveness could be not requiring payment until graduates get settled and have a job they can afford to live on and pay the loan back. I also don’t think we should be paying interest. Or interest should be so low it’s reasonable. wholesale. The amount of student loans we’ve heard some people have to pay back is ridiculous. Especially for those who can’t find a job that’s paying well enough to pay the loan back and not be such a burden it breaks people. A student loan should never lead to economic devastation of the individual.

I’ve said this before, but at least half of the people I see walking this road for exercise, don’t walk against traffic, as is legal... and kind of rational. I just walked by a small family with one child walking with their back to traffic. Strikes me as odd. Which, strangely enough reminds me of the TV show "CB Strike". The lead actor on that, who I just realized is on the show I'm watching about fighting the occasional apocalypse and world ending event, through a strange form of time travel ("The Lazarus Project" on TNT). Kind of entertaining Brit show. Yeah, no idea why I thought of that... but, there it is, this is a blog on my stream of consciousness.

Jon Lovett on the podcast asks, what do you think about “Barbie Oppenheimer“? I don’t know, but the Barbie movie oddly enough looks interesting in its bizarre comical fashion. I’ve also always been interested in Oppenheimer and the bombs that ended WWII on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On that, I’ll never get it out of my head. A documentary I saw years ago where one of the top Japanese generals said, and I saw him say it (translated from Japanese), that for those who say we shouldn’t have dropped the bomb, or that we didn’t have to do that, from where he was standing with others running the war, he said had we’re not dropped the first bomb, they would’ve never believed it, and it wasn't until we dropped the second one that they began to believe the reports. That, indeed was what made them want to end the war under threat of such overwhelming power they had trouble assimilating it.

Oh my God, the cocaine found in the White House was in an area where visitors are asked to leave their cell phones and things in a cubby. A public area and conservatives are making a big deal about this specifically having to do with the Biden White House? That’s just embarrassing... for them and humiliating for America, again.

Cocaine in the White House? Remember that moniker for old Senator Mitch McConnell “cocaine Mitch”? That’s all I’m saying…

As for cocaine in the White House… Again… Seriously, who looks more like he uses cocaine? Trump and his family, especially druggie Junior? Or Joe Biden who even Trump called "Sleepy Joe", so...not a cocaine moniker. I would argue Joe’s not sleepy, but laid-back. Anything we could use from the Trump dumb cluck once POTUS45, orange clownish fat and lazy golf whore, is well...you know I’m talking about.Nothing.

I have to say, Donald Trump reminds me of a cocaine freak, like his son, Junior, but acts like a meth head, even if he is just an Adderall freak.

Podcast is over, switching not to The Beat with Ari Melber. Apparently somebody was trying to set up a military coup when Trump was president?

Let’s be clear about something regarding drugs. People can use drugs as they use alcohol …sensibly. Yes, the issue is people who get carried away and addicted or cannot handle anything sensibly. No I don’t want drugs in the White House and I grew up in the drug culture years of the 60s and 70s, and 80s. But I would rather deal with a same person, reasonably on drugs, then someone like Donald Trump, who OD'd on autocracy and oligarchy and his Russian connections Or Richard Nixon as POTUS addicted to paranoia. Somebody a little high on drugs can still make sane and rational decisions. Sometimes the drugs actually help them with the stress to do so. No, I’m not advocating people in positions of power use drugs. But let’s face it. Plenty of people are on so-called legitimate, prescribed by a doctor drugs, or “medication" if you prefer, because of the amount of stress they’re under. This' s why it’s bad to throw somebody in as president like Donald Trump, as opposed to a career professional politician like Joe Biden who has learned through decades how to acclimate, maintain and manipulate, and maneuver within a political environment. Whereas Trump in being a criminal, simply did whatever he wanted with no due respect in trying to break every law he could in order to get whatever he wanted to make himself evermore wealthy. What kind of an ignoramus or worse, idiot, would vote for Donald Trump? It boggles the mind. Or maybe you just can't see it, until you can, and then you can't NOT ever not see it again.

Yes, a couple of things about the military. They do not, and should not follow illegal orders, such as Trump wanted to give. Because of things like Posse Comitatus, they cannot and should not be used within the interior of the United States or protectorates. That’s what the state's National Guard is for. And again, mostly and only for protecting the people. Donald Trump is not and was not, never will be there to protect the People. He’s there to protect his interests and his interests alone and when that matches up with the People, well then you’re just lucky (even a broken clock is right twice a day) and he will turn on a dime to benefit himself. Something a government should never do. Except in moments of disaster. Not as the Republican Party and conservatism anymore teaches every fucking moment of every fucking day. It is not as they keep lying...disaster time. Just because someone disagrees with you or has a different orientation in life or government, does not mean it’s a disaster, or a war is necessary. In their case their orientation and ideologies are simply out of step with the country, anachronistic and essentially utterly wrong.

I’ve seen today's faux conservative ideology, and them some real conservative ideology, historical concepts of conservative ideology within the Democratic Party and I've seen it in the Republican Party for decades and invoked when necessary, as human decency and the US Constitution requires and demands. But what is going on today with faux conservative ideology as having been subverted by Trump and his minority of the Republican Party, his MAGA elements, as they try to kill the GOP and America. So like seriously people...WTF?

Two hours after the failed military coup planning meeting in the oval office that ended at 1 o’clock in the morning, on December 19, 2020, Trump sent out a tweet that Peter Navarro had reported it was statistically impossible for Donald Trump to have lost the election. Uh huh. Right... There, is the Big Lie. Yes, evidence of all this is available to Jack Smith, Special Prosecutor who has indicted Donald Trump with more to come. If you’re a Trump supporter, I’ve been telling you since 2016, get off that clown wagon, and now  sure as hell. Though I know some of you will go to your death quietly, supporting a criminal and a stochastic and real terrorist and a treasonous criminal SOB and failed businessman... Donald Trump.

I need to be sure that the work I did on my blog at murdocknations.com, has the Google ads designator properly embedded to where I’m receiving appropriate accounting for viewership. [I checked, it is] I had that originally set up back around 2010, but they recently broke it in updating and upgrading it or something.

Donald Trump loves loudmouths just like him, especially when they are criminally, ethically and morally compliant to his wishes and have a sliding scale of those things that he has been given free and open reign to update at his whim. Just sayin'...

Donald Trump got elected in 2016, something wherein had everything been running correctly, as he complains about now in the 2020 election, he would not have been elected. But he was elected, as underhanded as it was, and with help by a foreign enemy. He then hired by his own word “the best people“ and the “smartest people”, many of whom took the job because of the White House, not Donald Trump...a few because of Donald Trump, but others because they feared for America with Donald Trump as POTUS. With them there they could at least they thought, curb him, indoctrinate him, help the oval office to do what it does, which is form new presidents on the "anvil" of the importance of that office (which I question if Trump ever truly felt even one). after seeing how useless it was trying to herd the Trump "cat mentality". So some quit, some resigned, others were fired. And that began the Lazy Susan clown carousel of Trump replacing the better with the worst until he got people who are nothing but “yes men “. And women. I get men being corruptible, but it’s sad to see how women are catching up to them.

I just want to mention that as I "voice to text" transcribe, that is dictate on my iPhone 11, the software does a pretty good job. I can see it correcting what it thinks I said by context. But I wish it did that more correctly. At the very bottom of my file I am writing "2". I keep a log there that just says "mile:". At the beginning there is always a "1". After I walk a half mile, I turn around and walk it back and I add "2" until I get up to "5". I finish that 5th mile and head home. If I didn’t do that, and I’ve done this before, which is why I started doing this, exercise is one of those things that, as in life in general, as I see it, is being smart, not hard. I’ve known plenty of people who worked very hard in life and got nowhere. Because they weren’t paying attention. They were actually working dumb. Yes, work hard at exercise. Getting a good work out is important. But working out hard in the wrong ways is working out dumb and you can end up working harder to your detriment. Better to work out smart, and do the exact amount of exercise you need to achieve the goal you’re seeking. I can quickly lose track within even 100 yards on this mileage issue, wondering what mile I'm on? But I would rather walk an extra mile, then less 1 mile. You don’t scam or scrimp on exercise. Because you’re only scamming yourself and your health. Esp., with long covid which adds some import to it all. Trust me.

I switched over to the "Strict Scrutiny" podcast episode, "What else can the Supreme Court get away with?" This podcast is from Crooked Media who brings us "Pod Save America" et al, with three women knowledgeable in their areas, who decided to take a moment and do what I do in these "Walkabout Thoughts" stream of consciousness blog articles. More stream of consciousness, more what my true feelings are and covering topics I find are relevant and important. In this case, this episode, they’re discussing, SCOTUS. Oh, fun...

I didn't know these ladies but I LIKE them after listening to this podcast! Here is who they are:

Strict Scrutiny is a podcast about the United States Supreme Court and the legal culture that surrounds it.

Hosted by three badass constitutional law professors-- Leah Litman, Kate Shaw, and Melissa Murray-- Strict Scrutiny provides in-depth, accessible, and irreverent analysis of the Supreme Court and its cases, culture, and personalities. Each week, Leah, Kate, and Melissa break down the latest headlines and biggest legal questions facing our country, emphasizing what it all means for our daily lives.

I weighed myself the other day in the high 220 pounds. That has to stop. So I’m cutting out the sweets again, completely this time. Thought I could do at least a little bit but not now until I get a downward trend going. Also diet, it’s going to become a little more spartan. Onward and downward!
Yay! I finished my 4th mile and I’m starting my 5th. It’s starting to warm up, it’s 10:10 AM on Sunday now. But it feels so good to be outside in nice weather getting some exercise. This last winter has really made me appreciate this even more. I do miss my younger decades where I could go out and be more physical in  duration and intensity. But I have to say, of all the times I missed getting to do that because of my job, my family, etc., lack of time and so on, just as I took time to spend with my kids, regardless of my busy schedule and career, I’m glad I took time for both. Where I’m sad is I wish I could’ve taken my kids more trips to the mountains and into places I had gone when I was younger. But we did get some interesting vacations. My wife back in the 90s was a professional horse trainer and riding instructor and horse show rider and we would take working vacations. She’d work and see us when she could and I'd take the kids and we'd do things. Reno, Nevada was like that. That was a great time. Except for one incident. I was helping her with a horse to give her female hormones because of the nearby studs, as they’re all grouped together too closely. I asked for gloves got cloth gloves. Stunned, as I tended to be with these horse show people, because they only seem to have half a brain half the time, but then a lot of the time they were exhausted. In hoping for surgical gloves of some sort, I got white cloth. Then I accidentally spilled the hormone all over my hand. For reference, which I suddenly realized in the moment, a cloth glove does nothing more than hold something spilled on them, longer against your skin. It took a moment because I had to do something with the open bottle of horse horror, I mean horse hormone so that I didn’t spill or waste any and had to do something with the hypodermic. I was pouring it a big one just to easily squirt into the horses mouth. It took a moment to get the damn glove off because it was wet and then there was nowhere to wash my hands off right away. And so over the next three days I experienced the worst of what a woman’s worst monthly menstrual cycle (Yes, yes, minus cramps) must be like, only literally on steroids. Or hormones anyway. For three days, I thought I was going insane. On the second night I lied in bed next to my wife, contemplating suicide. I could hear a train going by, half a block away and considered walking in front of a train. This was at The Sands hotel in Reno, Nevada. But instead, I went inside the casino at 2AM (so weird how 24 hours that town is) while my wife and two kids slept. I sat at a bar having drinks and playing some game at the counter until I could calm down enough to go back to bed, hopefully, to sleep. It wasn’t until days later I realized what had happened. Every toxically masculine guy should have to go through that. It’s a real fucking eye-opener. I’ve told this story before in more detail. But I think it enlightening to mention it every once in a while as I’ll never forget the experience. So when you get on the subject of trans people who say they feel like they’ve been insane all their lives until they got the healthcare they needed where at least some of their situation could be alleviated (like hormone blockers or hormones), when they start to feel sane for the first time in their lives? I can at least somewhat comprehend what they must go through, only from birth. For me... it was only three days. Three days of madness.

As far as weight loss goes and exercise, I know it takes two or three weeks to see results. It’s going on the third week maybe of doing 5 miles about every other day. As it's warmer than I’m used to, this is a hard 4th and 5th mile. But it’s not long Covid hard. It’s just old guy hard who’s trying to get into shape again. And that's... a joy.

SCOTUS Justice Sam Alito, or “scamAlito”? Or Sam "ALeak-o", about an alleged action of tipping off the "Right" about the Hobby Lobby SCOTUS ruling and how he has a too cozier relationship with the Wall Street Journal, who seems to know things at times that they just shouldn’t.Who told them? Huh, Sam?

Kudos to most prepared and educated Supreme Court Justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson. Who has these women on the podcast indicating how she hit the ground running rather than join SCOTUS and then just sit back for a while to read the room and see how things are before incorporating her participation. The woman is a force to reckon with!

I’ve heard people in my life say that as you walk through life keep your head up. OK, well that’s a metaphor, or an allegory? Something like that. It’s not literal. All my life since I was a child, I’ve kept my head down while being fully aware of my surroundings in a martial arts, Zen kind of "Zenshen" (or “total awareness“), or at least attempting that. And my life has been all the richer for it. Back in the 70s you could things on the ground as you walk along a sidewalk or someplace, finding spare change, random joints (cannabis cigarettes) on the ground (do I really have to define that to anyone in 2023?). I found money and all kinds of things on the ground over the decades. Since moving here I found two ancient hand tools which I’ve detailed in a blog elsewhere. I have not detailed the latest one I found a couple of weeks ago. Within a city... I found rock tools... that could be from hundreds or thousands or hundreds of thousands of years ago. The first one I wrote an entire blog about. I actually had a archaeologist verify it as an ancient tool. You can tell because if it fits your hand. Rocks don’t usually just show up that way, they have to be formed. And you can often see, maybe using a magnifying glass if nothing else, chip marks that helped form it that way. Type of rock also has something to do with it. So keep your awareness of your environment, metaphorically and literally, but also keep your eyes on your next step. I wonder how many people who stepped into so-called quicksand wouldn’t have if they were just paying attention? There’s a lot of different kinds of "quicksand" in life. And there’s a lot of people out there trying to scam us and some of our trusted leaders. Some of whom should never be trusted. One in particular comes to mind...

A moment to respond to the situation of black culture in America. I believe that 13.6% of the American population is Black. I have long agree that should be reflected nearly everywhere which is what affirmative action was about. Rather than zero Black people in a university, or 5% where some colleges had 9%. It should’ve been 13%. However, for those who say they seem to see Black people everywhere nowadays, I would just like to mention that when you’re 13% of a population, but your culture has had such an impact that it in part spawned a Civil War which almost tore this country apart and did for a while, your relevant  impact on this culture and society, this nation, is actually greater than 13% and should so be reflected.

So my left ankle is acting up again as I’ve detailed in the past. I had surgery on that arch in 10th grade in 1970. I had an interesting history in the Air Force because of my flat feet. A doctor told me as a child, I had “loose joints“ that would cause me problems when I got older. I’ve had knee surgery on both knees, not replacements, I’m too young for that 67. Or so I’m told by the VA. But it feels like there’s not much in my ankle. The doctors claim without I think appropriate imagery, that it’s normal wear and tear. Uh huh. Right. That seems ludicrous. But there it is. America’s marvelous healthcare. Which for too many of us is priced right out of our using it. Then, let’s talk about how dangerous childbirth is in America for women and more so for minorities, and blacks…what the hell is THAT about?

See Judge Reeves on second amendment, putting that issue in its place.

I agree with one of the women on the podcast that Justice Clarence Thomas is someone who should not be anywhere near a life long term on SCOTUS, but should be in some serious therapy for the truly serious damage he received as a child, and the trauma that he is now serving up to America, because of his own pain from HIS childhood. I can't stand people who take their pain and share it to others and shove it into their lives. Deal with it, pal. Suck it up. Maybe hanging with all those wealth people compromising your career can help, have helped?


Cheers! Sláinte!

Walkabout Thoughts #43

My thoughts, Stream of consciousness, rough and ready, while walking off long Covid and listening to podcasts…June 24, 2023, Saturday

Weather for the day…62-72degrees

Podcast for the day “Prosecuting Donald Trump”

Dropped off just now, one of my older (and most epic) books "Death of heaven" (ebook discounted through July 2023 on Smashwords, as with my other writings there, or free) at my local Little Free Library on Lafayette Street today. I signed and inscribed it, “A Lafayette Avenue drop off.” Cool! Someone already picked up the previous book I had left, "Suffering Long Covid" (2022).

Speaking of which, long Covid...last Friday I got to see one of my kids and spouse in Quilcine, Jefferson County, north of me, across the Hood Canal Bridge, which is near to Bangor nuclear sub base/sub pens, tto attend a small concert from Victoria, BC, Canada, a Celtic music trio, Clanna Morna. I had a great time. But the next day it rained (and then for days until yesterday) leaving me not feeling so well. Today it’s sunny and it’s going to be warm and I’m feeling a lot better so I set off for a walk, after days off from walking since last Thursday’s walk.

I contacted my cousin, who also lives in Quilcene, about coming over to visit so we could go through our long late (1874) grandfather's stuff. I’m thinking about doing a documentary on him. It would be fascinating since back in the 1940s, 50s and 60s he was traveling the world. I have his old 8mm footage. For instance one of him walking through what was then Bombay, India. It shows a cow lazily walking down a main street in town. In examining his passport from the beginning of World War II, he was traveling around northern Africa and southern Europe and, South America, back in the early 1940s. 

Why? Just for, fun? Well, he did do that. But were there other reasons? I also have his draft card from about that time. He had already been in WWI. The "Great War", the "War to end all wars". The war my last multi award winning documentary film was about, "Pvt. Ravel's Bolero". He traveled to places that may have been just for tourist reasons, but as he worked for the US Government later in life, it has to make one wonder. I'll need to do some FOIA requests (Freedom of Information Act) on him. [Yesterday (July 3) as this blog today is from a while back, I happened to talk to my older sister and tell her about this project and she's going to look through her things to see if she has any of Grandpa's documents or media]

I joined Ancestry.com years ago in 2008. I got my DNA done through them a few years ago, and also done by someone else for my ancestry and health info. It occurred to me I know more about my grandfather now, and my grandmother, then she ever knew about her husband, or he ever knew about his own family history. I traced my family line back through to the ninth century. 

DNA then offered me even more and surprising information. For instance, one of our ancestors or a few, must have been a seafarer. One may have gone over with the Conquistadors. Because we have ancestors that show up in the Caribbean, Mexico, and South America around those times. I already know among other things, that I'm Black Irish (dad's side). A term that carries confusion and various explanations.

It’s now 9:16 AM and I’m approaching my first half mile of today's walk. It’s not hot yet, but I’m already thinking that before I finish today, I may think I started too late in the day. It’s only supposed to get up into the 70s but…we shall see.

Just passed a half mile and decided to switch over to Pod Save the World because... they’re talking about things I’m a little more interested in today. About India’s Prime Minister Modi visiting the US, and China, and Navalny in Russia who had tried to murder someone in Florida (Putin/Russia, not Navalny), and so on…

What is also interesting in the news this week is that the Pentagon somehow screwed up misplacing $6.5 billion that they still have available for sending resources to Ukraine, to fight against Putin’s criminal war in which he attacked another country without provocation, disregarding international borders like a toxic ex who can't let their once significant other go. War, ignoring history and reality because of Putin's petty, immature ego. Like Donald Trump. Damnaged personlaities.

I know this is nuts, but I have been a speculative fiction writer and reader all my life. And I wonder if it would be useful to have a small group dedicated to eliminating, if not autocracy around the world, its leaders… especially when they get out of hand. Had that been in place around the world, we would have eliminated what Modi has been doing in India? Or what Putin‘s doing in Russia? What Kim Jong-Un‘s lineage has long done to their citizeens? Or the GOP turning MAGA, worshipping Trump, and his cult? 

Arizona (ADOA) selling over 2,000 shipping containers illegally put at their Arizona-Mexico border.
How much has conservative bullshit cost US in recent years?
THIS all cost AZ, $194million!

We’re selling drones to India? India’s long been buying their weapons from Russia to protect themselves from China. India and China having long been at odds in having a border between them. But I have to wonder if our drones are already now long compromised, if Russia has them, and been able to duplicate them? Since now India will have them, that would seem to indicate Russia soon having them, too. Friends, share, right? Just like in Trump having classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, it seems pretty clear then that we know China and Russia have at least copies of some of those documents (having acquired them, if in no other way, secretly), as well as probably North Korea, and God knows....anyone else who was interested. 

Because the DAY those documents were moved out of the White House, every interested intelligence agency of every international enemy of America around the world also knew, and they were already planning how to get a hold of them. Possibly setting up plans, even before they moved out of the White House. THAT is how expionage works. In their anticipating ripping off the joke and disaster that Donald Trump is and always has been, and always will be, as he eventually and hopefully dies in prison.

Hey! Whatever happened to Pakistan? Or "migrant caravans" for that matter? How easily we do forget. We used to hear about Pakistan in the news, constantly. Lately? Pretty much nothing. So, nothting is going on there now, right? Uh huh...right. Sure.

About Trump's argument about the classified documents he didn’t give back right away, because as he put it...he "needed to go through them and pull out his personal [golf] shirts and things because he was too busy". OK? Too busy as we all saw, day after day after day playing golf. How long does it take to go through 60 boxes and pull out clothes? Which should’ve been done before they left the White House. Never being mixed with personal items. How hard is that to figure out? When you get a request to return something like classified docs, you drop everything, get it done, then bo back to having a life. Only a criminal, by definition, would view that differently. The boxes were labeled, and like I said, you don’t put personal items in them when leaving the White House. This is 100% on Trump who has no leg to stand on in this. So? Trump, still fat, lazy and stupid. No surprise there.

Trump's upcoming claims in court of his doing bad things because he's either stupid or delusional, can’t hold much water considering he was actually (somehow) President in the United States of America. If you’re that stupid and delusional, Article 15 should have been invoked, automatically. Which also means he couldn't be POTUS ever again. Shouldn't be. Never should have been. Which means he should also be disallowed from any public office. Considering his family's charity was a scam to make him money and of course was dissolved by court order. 

Trump shouldn’t have anything to do with anything public at all, ever again. Including walking our streets. If I were king? I would give Trump his life in prison and in a regular prison, a regular prison cell, with no Secret Service protection. Should he die before his sentence is up of 100 or 200 years? So be it. Because what I would really do would be invoke capital punishment for reasons of treason and crimes against humanity, against our American citizens (and other countries), not to mention his incessant asinine stochastic terrorism, and a bit of direct terrorism.

It should be noted in Trump's narcissism and political desires, that he always does what he can to win the "news cycle". That’s something utterly and totally dysfunctional... in court. He's so screwed. Considering Jack Smith turned over things to him yesterday? You don’t do that so soon, unless it’s a slam dunk case against. What this means is today his lawyers are reading and "shitting bricks" in trying to figure out how to tell Trump. Who again, is so completely screwed. They have got to make a deal. Except, when you have a slam dunk with a criminal of this degree, you don’t make a deal with them. You prosecute to the full extent of the law with all due and deserved prejudice.

"All the best people“ who Donald Trump hired in the first part of his administration. he either got rid of, or they left, and refuse to support him since. They denigrate him at every chance possible trying to point out he should never be president again. Trump's childish ad hominems against these people and anyone he doesn’t like, or anyone who disagrees with him, who he calls "stupid" if they refuse to break the law for him...and yet his sad MAGA crowd does what? They rationalize it all off as him speaking like a “normal person“. Well? That’s... not... normal. And if that’s normal for MAGA? That is just them telling us who they are, and not someone we want as part of our political system, or our citizenry.

I need to update my jzmurdock.com website and on the front page below the revolving carousel of my books for sale. I need to put a list of interviews and such things on the first page rather than in the "Non-Fiction area. [and...I did play with it a bit after writing this]

I don’t understand how Israeli settlements in the Palestinian area are a good thing for humanity, or anybody, other than Israel. I used to like "Bibi" Netanyahu, but I don’t like his autocratic slant. It reminds me of Donald Trump. I also used to really like Trump, for superficial reasons as I only knew his trumped up and carefully curated bullshit public image. In the early 2010s I got to know him better with his Obama "birtherism" bullshit and his anti-democracy autocratic nonsense and learned more about his (and his family's) bigotry; that he’s basically a toxic narcissistic asshole who’ll destroy everything for his own gratification and benefit. The fact that any Americans support that kind of thing is just embarrassing, utterly humiliating, and on an international scale.

I recently saw a video my son sent me about an African in Africa, complaining about how we always hear about Jews in the Holocaust, but never about what happened in Africa under King Leopold the II. Well, I get that. But his numbers were vastly out of whack. He said "100 million Africans had been slaughtered". The best I can find is 10 to maybe 15 million. Now that’s a lot ! He has reason to be pissed. I appreciate his argument and outrage. Which is basically that white people equel "big travesty, but Black people, nothing". But he doesn’t need to use incorrect information, or maybe he’s just misinformed himself. But it brings up a point I've always wondered about it. With all we’ve heard about the Holocaust all my life, I’ve wondered, every time I heard about another genocide in some country around the world, why I didn’t first hear about how Israel was speaking up about it, leading the outrage? I seldom if ever heard that. Why? Maybe they did speak up, but why wasn't I hearing it? Why don't I remember that? 

One would think those who speaks so much for themselves about something so horrendous, would speak for any and all others, whenever and wherever that happened again, or was even about to. Which leads me back to thoroughly not understanding the whole Israel/Palestine situation. I get it, there’s assholes, apparently on both sides, and both sides have a reasons to hate. But you would think a culture so steeped in such abuse for millennia would’ve figured out a way by now, better than what they’ve fallen upon, and into.
 

I had mentioned that it rained from last Saturday through this Tuesday. So Tuesday I got on my elliptical and did a single mile. Man, the next day, just 1 mile, I felt it in my calves and my stomach, my core. So I’m thinking if I can do 5 miles every other day, maybe I can do a mile or two on the elliptical in between, for a "rest" period. Such because it seems to be more greatly utilizing certain muscles that are good to use and get into tone.

Netanyahu is starting to look like Israel’s, Kevin McCarthy and the House of Representatives here in America. Making as many deals as he can to retain power. Sometimes it’s best to just step down move on. He stacked his government with right wing zealots, much as happened in our government and at some point one loses control. So even if he means to do well, he’s working against himself in having retained power.

The Ukrainian counteroffensive has not failed regardless what MAGA or RFK Jr. says. I got to say, I don’t see us helping in all and any ways that we should be. Even illegal ways using cut outs so we can't get blamed for it. Look, Putin‘s got to go. If not physically leave this earth, he has to have his reputation ruined with the Russian people. And I’m not seeing a lot of efforts on that.

"Spies, The Epic Intelligence Wars Between East And West" details, the espionage attempt by Russia to murder one of their own on American soil, in Florida. Russian spy, Alexandra Pootie, who told American intelligence about sleeper cells had led to the TV show “The Americans,” as written up in the New York Times. This is also related to Sergei Skripal whose attempted assassination (with his daughter) by Russian intelligence in the UK. Where this is important is that we have long wondered if Russia was willing to assassinate people in the UK, would they ever try it in America. Obviously they would. It’s good to note for our own awareness that the kind of shit Russia and Putin are doing now wasn’t being done during the "cold war". Certainly not so overtly. Something I was involved in, in the late 70s. I have my US government awarded "Cold Warrior" certificate hanging on my wall behind me, as I write this.

Facebook has been getting more and more in bed with an autocratic Vietnamese government against dissidents and citizens. Seems to me we need some laws about that for our multinational corporations involved in questionable government countries. I’m not sure what that could or would be, and for Facebook to just shut down, or Twitter, in some of these countries, where the Internet IS Facebook or Twitter, really is problematic. Vietnam is the seventh largest population using Facebook. 70% of the hundred million people in Vietnam use Facebook. Facebook’s reach and impact there is much bigger than Twitter, and in most countries. The interface in Vietnam for many to the Internet, IS Facebook. Facebook does have some power to push back in Vietnam however, because if the government removes Facebook it’s likely they would have some kind of uprising. Facebook likes touting openness and friendship and community, but really in the end, especially since they’ve laid off people who used to handle this kind of situation, it’s about profit, pure and simple. Facebook has been given a list of government officials by Vietnam who are not allowed to be spoken out against. So I guess if I lived in Vietnam, I would have to speak like Nostradamus did about the royal, the rich and powerful, in his own time, indirectly and encoded.

Interesting to know nowadays, especially in America when you hear the term "kangaroo court" or "witchhunt" by some officials who are being called out "on the carpet" for their bad behavior, that it’s probably not fake attacks against them. On the other hand, when you hear the more reasonable types calling out things like MAGA, as "kangaroo courts", or "kangaroo court commissions", or "kangaroo court hearings", I suspect the Kangaroo population of the planet is pretty offended by that.

America needs a real time office in Congress of Truth and Speech, but only to hold our pubuc office officials to task. And anyone caught lying on the floor of Congress. Which, anyway for now, is out for a month.

Podcast is over, switched over to The Intercepted. They’re talking about Erdegon in Turkey and how his recent electoral win put him as despot of Turkey, evermore, his autocratic government with a failing economy not headed into two decades of his rule and foolish and manipulated support. They are what MAGA could turn America into, what they want to turn America into even (remember CPAC has now been held in Hungary with Viktor Oban speaking). We should also remember the recent devastating earthquake in Turkey, where tens of thousands of buildings dropped, killing their citizens and remember how Erdogan gave contracts to his friends which I’m sure he got kickbacks from. Those builders cut building codes which led to many buildings collapsing and has to make one wonder, if those tragic deaths are actually not murders. Much like the 100,000+ Americans, who didn’t need to die of Covid, who are dead because of Donald Trump. So these leaders are all at least morally and ethically, guilty of crimes against humanity in their personal footnotes of history.

It’s so sad what a democracy gets locked into a downward spiral in supporting poor leaders, such as Erdogan in Turkey or Donald Trump with his moronic MAGA, in America.

America needs some kind of independent commission to fix what’s wrong with our government, at least the broad strokes. Gerrymandering is toxic in too many cases. Voter suppression is a serious problem and dirty tricks have led some perpetrators to guilty judgments and prison in suppressing voting during elections. Including spam political phone calls that our courts have found heavily stacked in favor of anachronistic beliefs and toxic conservatism. Our government or state governments (or national government) have been infiltrated by domestic enemies, and MAGA falls under that heading. To be sure, not all MAGA (or Republicans, although silence is enabling) have made themselves our domestic enemies. But the majority of our current domestic enemies are indeed, MAGA. And their "friends", the White Christian Nationalist and White Supremacisits, and... Neo-Nazis:

""By leaving a definitional vacuum around the word 'great,' it became very easy for groups to co-opt it, ascribing to it the meaning they wanted it to have," Van Brunt says. "The same way a mother rests easy because her baby's food has 'all-natural' written on the jar, Nazis, the KKK, and other white supremacists were able to feel good about Trump because 'great' became interchangeable with white, heterosexual, male, hate, oppress, deport."

The ironic thing about many dysfunctional government situations is, if (conservative/Republican) officials would just allow government to work, it could be efficient. Well, maybe not efficient, but functional. And it's what we’ve seen for many decades now, as Republicans try to jam up our government, or even just simply destroy it. Because they know they have bad ideas in their anachronistic beliefs, and they’ve become toxic to America and to humanity.

That’s why I have never been a conservative. Conservatism is for times of dire need and times of war. The belief that we are always in dire need, or always forever in some kind of  war…is ridiculous. Think about that for a moment. When did the "war on drugs" begin? The 1970s. And what did it do but literally destroyed lives...and entire families? And it did NOT get the drug situation under control. Ruling through fear and power is why we have a country now as confused and damanged as we are in America. And yet it's white Republicans have been defaulting, over and over now, for decades. That, is how autocrats function.

 Cheers! Sláinte!

Walkabout Thoughts #42

My thoughts, Stream of consciousness, rough and ready, while walking off long Covid and listening to podcasts…from day of Thursday, June 15, 2023. 

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July! I'll be talking about my screenplay, "The Teenage Bodyguard" and wishing ALL a happy Fourth!

Weather for the day… 52 and overcast and 62 when I finished my 5 mile walk.

Podcast for the day...first up, "The Intercepted", then, Pod Save The World


So it appears the Russians did blow up the Ukrainian dam. And they’re shooting people trying to escape the disaster. Strikes me that if I were Ukrainian, I would plot to blow up a Russian dam and make it look like the Russians blew up their own damn dam. As a false flag operation. But all this tragedy needs to start up within the Russian borders and seem to be done by the Russian government. 

Make it happen? Somebody just stop this stupid war?

For people, wondering if and what Russia would do to escalate things if they’re not winning… Which they’re... not winning… Blowing up a dam and harming their own people along with Ukrainians seems a pretty good indicator of the war crimes they are willing to commit. So it’s not just tactical nuclear weapons to worry about. What do you do when you have a nation state acting out so badly? It seems there’s got to be more we can do and then part of that would be getting those who are aiding and abetting in Russia, in anyway whatsoever possible, to change their minds and wake them up to realize there’s more to life than simply profiting for your own country. Or of your own bank account as it seems to be.

Sadly, on that, America really needs to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. We’ve made some bad decisions in the past decade because, you know... "America first! Baby!" Obviously, we need to protect America in the, "put your oxygen mask on first, in order to help others on an airplane", when under duress. We also have to see a parallel in our humanity as also being important.

Generally speaking, the American soldier and citizen is important to our government. Because we have high self-esteem, I suppose. But in Russia, the Russian soldier and citizen are pawns and mere cannon fodder for, if not the government, certainly for Vladimir Putin. Who with his past, if you haven’t heard, in being born around the time of the siege of Stalingrad, he should know better. He should have some compassion for his own people, instead of just an ideology and consideration for the greatness of mother Russia and "Papa Vlad".

Robert F Kennedy, Jr’s contention that America is responsible for Russia invading Ukraine is ludicrous. Putin did this. This is on Putin, and his personality disorder. It’s on the books. He read history books during Covid when he was in lockdown, by himself. He's going against his own childhood experiences. This is why ideology and religion along with absolute power in a leader, are so very, very dangerous.

One could argue that binary thinking, especially if closed off with a lack of real historical context and world issues is responsible for much of this immature libertarian, anti-woke, anti-government nonsense. People think this "push button" culture concept of a revolution in their romantic notion of "instant change", is how you fix things. First off, things aren’t as broken as they think, in the ways they think. Second, things are broken in ways they don’t think they are. Prime example is that they’re part of what’s broken. God, I’ve said this to the point that I’m sick of saying it… Children, CHILDREN break things to fix them. Adults do the hard work, take the effort to fix what there is. To proactively enhance things and better things over time BEFORE they break. But what we’ve seen with the Republican Party is they do everything they can to break things. Then turn around and point the finger away from themselves and say you did this and this is how we fix it… By destroying it completely and building from scratch. That is the mindset steeped in the present with no concept of history or awareness of how that relates to now with no concept of how that relates to our future. It is a weaponizing disregard and selective ignorance, which is the epitome of sheer stupidity and narcissism. Which makes it clear how Trump is such a darling of those types.

I just saw a sign saying "class of 2023 Bremerton". It's been 50 years since I graduated in 1973 from high school. In many ways I feel like the same person, just wiser with a lot more life scars. It occurred to me if we could just go back in time and inject some of our knowledge into our younger selves, maybe at different stages in a little bit at a time, maybe at five, just a little bit. Then, like every five years. How far humanity could advance? How much better everyone’s lives could be. Not about foresight in a window into what's coming. But some of that which you learned from those things that happened in order to make better choices and to enjoy life more. To perhaps have more of life to enjoy.

Pod Save the World episode is talking about countries in the heart of Africa after years of drought. One country where there’s two warlords fighting it out who could use some UN peacekeeper types. Which are disallowed because of the chaos and violence still going on. One wonders if actual soldiers went in from many countries and overwhelmed that country and killed anyone who is fighting until there’s just those who want peace left. Ludicrous? I’m sure. But at what point in our history, if we did that consistently, would humanity have eventually given up their violent ways?

North Korean hackers in the past few years have stolen $3 billion in cryptocurrency and are using it to fund their nuclear program. It started in 2018. Apparently NK has workers around the world who will apply to cryptocurrency companies to work on their software and then apply back doors left open to be used from elsewhere at some point in the future. Companies are scrambling to counter that effort. Apparently NK has shifted from espionage to theft. I suspect this might be a good argument for using a hardware wallet for the bulk of your crypto investments. NK's the next step forward in this? AI.

A couple of weeks ago my adult son asked if my calling for capital punishment for Donald Trump for his crimes, which isn’t on the table, if that’s showing a pattern. Am I headed that way more than before, in saying that perhaps too loosely about people? Which, if you know me, is ridiculous and he should know better. But he’s just being careful and pointing it out because he wondered about it. And that’s good, better to speak than be quiet on these things. So thanks. But the only other time I remember calling for that in the past was Pres. George W. Bush with his Iraq war. I think that was war crimes. I think he had people set him up with plausible deniability. According to things I read from people who knew of those things, Bush did a “force" on our Intel community in order to get enough information to be able to go to war in Iraq. Something which he had long wanted to do, finishing up what his father had begun over the Iraq/Kuwait issue. What he long hoped to do. Perhaps planned to do long before he became president. Yes, "Sadman Insane", was a bad guy. But he was right in saying "if you remove me...chaos". And that’s what happened. Yes, he had to go. No, war was not the best way. But a week or so after 9/11 hit, I remember telling people that I’m worried. Because America has been hurt, on American soil. That’s never happened before, except when we did it to ourselves in the Civil War. We'll have to lash out, we'll have to punch somebody in the face. My concern at the time was that it was going to end up being someone inappropriate. We rightly immediately entered Afghanistan to go after bin Laden, who had attacked us. But just before we got him we were pulled back and allowed him to enter Pakistan. Functionally speaking, that’s what happened. And then we attacked Iraq! Queue the Iraq War.

Why am I so against Donald Trump, his MAGA crowd of sycophants and worshipers, QAnon, and conspiracy theories? My conspiracy theory awareness goes back to 1973 after I graduated high school. I read a book by the general who ran the Vietnam War. Interesting book, until he just dove straight into conspiracy bullshit. It was a shock. But rather than going down conspiracy rabbit holes that he was preaching, I did what I usually do. I delved right into studying conspiracy theories themselves. If everyone in America had done that? Donald Trump would’ve never become president. At that time, when I was 17, I was very oriented towards going into espionage work. I ended up in the Air Force, and eventually joined their version of the FBI, the OSI, The Office of Special Investigations. Then rather than go to Berlin, I left the service. I was going to be stationed and had asked to be stationed in Berlin, because it was the most dangerous place in the world, of OSI Officers. But you could learn the most about espionage tradecraft there, I was told by the OSI CO who interviewed me. I would’ve replaced the agent who had been blown up getting into his car one day...by the KGB. I would’ve undoubtedly ended up coming in contact with Vladimir Putin, a mediocre KGB agent at that time. I would not have been mediocre. But instead, I got out of the service and ended up at a University. Then another. But I spent two decades studying the Soviet Union and their KGB in their expert efforts in ESPIONAGE and OBSTRUCTION JUSTICE. As well as UK’s intelligence services starting around 1900 through World War II when they were teaching America about espionage through among other things, the "ABC Group", of America, Britain and Canada. Look it up. I read about our OSS and its evolution into the CIA. So it turned out that I’d been studying KGB tactics and disinformation for decades before Newt Gingrich picked up on it and started following their playbook of disinformation. Which led into the autocratic playbook and Donald Trump becoming president and eventually, today’s Republican spawned mess. So that a third of America has been overtly propagandized and delusioned into sheer an utter nonsense. I mean, how else did Donald Trump ever become elected POTUS?

Why do I listen to "Pod Save the World" podcast? Things like what they said in this episode today. The two of them are talking, remember that G7, (or was it a G8) meeting they had to fly to and were getting drunk one night with a bunch of Brits. They had a meeting the next morning they had to fly to and it turns out it wasn’t that G7, but it was a later G8 or something… But then they realized they were partying with a bunch of British MI5 or MI6 officers. Then the next day they had to sit in a meeting with Medvedev and Sergey Lavrov and others, and they were hung over too! At one point one of them looked over at Lavrov and said there he was sitting in "his shame and hangover, and I realized... he looks just like I do, the Russians must’ve been up late drinking too!" That stuff is gold!

Dear America, we have ways of changing our government and voting and protesting, and we have a free and fair, or “Free Press“ anyway. Even as much as Donald Trump wants to kill all that for his own selfish autocratic political fetishes and desires. Or an armed insurrection when necessary. But no, let's not. Not when you’ve been lied to, disinformed and propagandized for the desires of our enemies, via a Republican Party that’s lost its fucking mind by way of a populist, narcissistic cult, leader, and mob boss. We all want things to change instantly. But here’s an actual truth, and not one from Trump's disinformation “truth social faux social media platform". When you change things too quickly, even if you get exactly what you want, since everything is intertwined to everything else in government, and in our population and in our international relations... The reason government moves like a "lumbering giant" is for good reason. Move too fast, you can break the "babies neck". The issue is we that move too slow for some who see it as never moving. Because they’ve been pumped so full of rage they think nothing ever changes. And then when things change, for the betterment and evolution of our citizens and government, and so our country at large... but when you've been raised and propagandized to be freaked out about other citizens being different than you, be they having gender differences, or cultural ones as immigrants, you’re allowing yourself to be set up to be the "ugly American", within our borders. Look it up. "Ugly American", the model GOP citizen, certainly the model MAGA citizen. Embarrassing to America, internationally.

On Saudi Arabia in all that mess. Here’s the thing about so many countries like that. It’s so much the government. Our governments are different than our citizens, MAGA not withstanding, perhaps. I heard a Saudi woman talking a couple nights ago and she had a good point. She said, "We want to be in the world! But what's stopping us is our government and our leadership in our form of government. Shouldn't we want women’s women’s rights? Things are changing with this leader who everyone calls a murderer. And valid point. But what about the citizens?" Isn’t that the issue with so many other countries? The only exception maybe is North Korea as they are so brainwashed after generations that, that is a real problem. Russia too. So severely (though not as severe as NK) propagandized. But they’re waking up, just too slowly. We want countries to come out to the world to be world citizens. As Nixon did with China in the 70s. Which worked. Those who say bringing democracy to China failed in that effort? They have no consideration of how much it worked, yes somewhat in that, but also in other ways. He mostly took them off the platform Russia's on still today, still locked in their (Putin's) Cold War mentality. So if we had times have to forgive abuses for the evolution of a country to become a world citizen, maybe that’s what we need to do? I’m not referring to Russian here at all. When you disrespect another country's borders, you’re NOT being a world citizen. You’re being a bad actor, a war criminal. But these are indeed things to think about. International relations is extremely complicated. So much so that people far smarter than you are I, even have trouble thinking about it and working it out. Even with their groups of experts and professionals, and extremely well educated and knowledgeable professionals who’ve done the work for decades. And the best of plans will always go wrong and then you work them, massage them into fruition and production. As they say, "the plan is 100% perfect until it’s executed. So we need a little compassion and understanding and...wherewithal (the painful part). Our government and government workers are not perfect, but just people. Most of them are doing their very best and are very good at their job, or they wouldn’t be there. The problem is navigating, as it is with companies, international departments, and international rules and regs. Petty kingdoms within some of those departments. Progress being contingent upon such fools within those departments. As we’ve also seen with seditionist types who, when their favored despot raises his head, they will lean in his direction. This is a failure of our American priorities, and our education.

Interesting how the same day that Donald Trump gave a talk a while back, when Boris Johnson was UK PM, Trump used the term "Kangaroo Court" about somebody who was bugging him, and then later that same day, Boris used the same exact term. Not like he was mimicking Trump. But quite a coincidence, yes?

Here’s the thing about mottos. A good idea can be turned into a nightmare. "E Pluribus Unum" was Americas motto and in my book, still is. Changing it because of the fear of communism decades ago in the 1950s to "in God, we trust", was not only foolhardy, it was insipidly stupid. It’s also proving to be abusive and being weaponizing, in recent years and before. "Out of many, one"... "E Pluribus Unum"… That long worked well for us and we seriously need to get back to it. Because religion, especially Christianity, especially American evangelical Christianity, has been weaponized against the US Constitution and our United States of America and citizens. It’s opened the autocratic bigot door for so much fucking abuse, we really can’t even count it. Women are losing their rights. They don’t have autonomy over their body in some states anymore. Which is a ramp that will only allow more to come. Divisive conservatives stack our courts. Deliberately gerrymandered and suppressed votes from specific minorities in order to swing elections and to implement illiberal and abusively idiotic laws. They’ve changed the meaning of things like "patriotism" and "freedom". They apparently hate and are working to destroy our democracy for wont of autocracy and theocracy. And that’s not America. It’s just not American. And no one should want it to be.

Did you know that not just Donald Trump wants to be POTUS again, but Boris Johnson in the UK wants to be PM again? ARE adults that stupid?

What we are seeing both in the UK and in America with conservatives with this delusional nonsense of supporting obvious criminals, here, specifically in the form of Donald Trump. I started warning about this when I graduated university back in 1984. I started in talking to people about the dangers of “corporate thought“. It’s a closed minded concept of winning at all possible costs. "Full speed ahead damn the torpedoes!" Shareholders in the company, over concerns of the employees, or citizens, or the environment. It's why we've seen so much damages done by corporations worldwide. Pairing that with the travesty we’ve received into our institutions, bring evangelism into it which evolved out of the south Christian community and has led to many leadership with too many charlatans and grifters who built and led Mega Churches. Some of them going to prison. Those are powerful things to combine. And it’s exactly what we’re seeing when we watch people support people like Boris Johnson, or Donald Trump, or Erdogan in Turkey. One has to wonder how and why would people support such clowns. Well, there’s your answer. 

It’s a toxic social disease. And it got in through ways that were not obvious. When I first stumbled across this in my university days, I started to see this thing forming in my mind. The more I looked around the world, the more I thought about it and worried that it might evolve from where things were back in the early 80s. And evolve it has, beyond my worst nightmares. Until now it’s nearly torn this country apart. It could do so again, or finish the job next time if we don’t do something about it. The biggest thing we can do is to become aware. That’s all people like BLM wanted when they talked about being “woke“. Just know our/your history, know your/our place in the world. Experience compassion and work toward the best of the whole group and not just your specific and for some, greedy desires. Sometimes we have to suffer for others. It’s part of being in a family, the human family, or in a country, part of a species. Yes you have to survive, but when you’re surviving and doing better, when you’re living a life and other’s are hurt and, I’m not talking communism, or socialism here... because that’s where the "toxic" conservative mind goes immediately. out of a desire to "win" the argument, the debate, in order to continue their greed and lack of empathy. It's "Corporate Thought". It's shallow thinking. It's low information. It's dumb.All  I’m just talking about doing here is our fair share, our part to pay our fair share. Yes, most of us are. But many aren't and fight hard not to. The GOP is there to protect and enhance their lack of paying their fair share. They define that fair share as far less than is reasonable and disingenuously define that in ways of "Corporate Thought". And we can’t even get Republicans to make those who have more money than we can EVEN conceive of to give their decent and fair share to our country and the people who laid the foundation for them to be that wealthy. It is disgusting. It is anti-human and it is "Corporate Thought" at its worst, and strongest. We can do better. If not always, at least to a fair and reasonable degree.

That being said...

Cheers! Sláinte!

Walkabout Thoughts #25

 Weather for the day… 35 overcast nice cool day for a walkabout

Short one today. Blame, Kelly. 

Podcast for the day Intelligence Matters episode with "Former CIA Chief Operating Officer on his Career at the CIA". Very interesting. 

Not quite as interesting (nearly) as the podcast I listened to the other day. Pod Save the World episode with "Brittney Griner is Home (with Jen Psaki)" Fascinating episode (both were). The latter thoroughly explaining the reality of why we should want Joe Biden for another term if he's willing to go for it. I was on the line going either way. Now, just for it. Why? Listen to the episode. 

Instagram post for the day from last Friday night when I shot film for a benefit Drag show for anti racism for #JCARF. 

None shot as usual during my walk, oddly enough because Kelly called and we talked for 2 hours about the new streaming movie channel we're building, as I walked.

Yesterday I watched a new series on Netflix, "The Recruit". I like it. It was a lot of fun about the CIA. Nearly cartoonish (or stereotypical) sensibility of working at/for the CIA at some times (making fun of it), extremely accurate at others (and oddly enough in the making fun of it part). Ebert called it "Dull". No idea who the actors are (Some (one) I remember from, for instance, "Orphan Black"). I look forward to a season two.

I’ve been writing my companion book for my filmic poem, and historical documentary, "Pvt. Ravel‘s Bolero". But mostly I have been working on the new streaming movie channel, getting it up and running. 

In the book I had hit a section about "combined forces" in war and I was trying to remember the three types of intelligence in HUMINT (Human Intelligence), SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) and one that for the life of me I couldn’t remember all week, and couldn’t find references to it online either. But just remembered it, ELINT. Electronics Intelligence. Now they have it broken down in more parts and differently. From the book.

"As well as integrating the five distinct modern intelligence disciplines: CI (counterintelligence), HUMINT (Human Intelligence), IMINT (Imagery Intelligence), MASINT (Measures and Signature Intelligence), and SIGINT (Signals Intelligence)."

It was about here that Kelly called and we started talking about the streaming movie network. We were kicking around ideas about format and genres and how other streamers work and are set up. We got off topic a few times. 

Mostly I can't talk about what we were talking about. So, sorry about that. But it will be more obvious next month.

Today finally, I got in five miles. Last two few walks were only four. I had a good time yesterday. Big glass of wine with lunch, some food all day that would have left me ill today from long covid but nope. Feeling pretty good. Also noticed yesterday that I don't have to take Benadryl so much. If I can ignore any blood pressure issues, they fade after 20-39 minutes rather than causing me grief. I always try to stop taking meds as soon as is reasonable and useful. And that's all in my book on long covid. Of course I'm sharing a link to it...

Cheers! Slainte!