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Comment Re:smash your phone - it worked for me (Score 1) 119

How did you get the preinstalled social media crap-apps out?

One way might be to get a phone from Rob Braxman, "The Internet Privacy Guy". The last time I checked, he sells phones with a very sterilized version of Android.
Then, maybe Linux phones might do the trick. The ones that come to mind are PinePhone, Fairphone, and Librem.

BTW, I am in no way associated with any of this stuff.

Comment Re: Is Social Media Really Harmful? (Score 1) 202

I believe social media is not inherently harmful or good per se. I'm not talking about the content, but the characteristics of the media itself. The internet has become roughly analogous to the Gutenberg Press, which had a spectacular influence on democracy, capitalism, religion, and just about everything else. Some of the internet's biggest publishers are found in social media.

Staring at a computer screen, or a smartphone, or a book rather than interacting with a group of people has the effect of severing us from a reality based culture. Social media has created new social circles not bound by geography. As the mind becomes 'synchronized' with an online social network, our comments may become more emotionally driven than rational, and critical thinking might occur less and less frequently.

Many social media site's AI algorithms interact, or 'synchronize' with us, turning the art of persuasion into a science. The illusion of free will is just one of their tools used to manipulate us, individually and collectively. They have created a cybersocial construction of what passes for knowledge and even reality, and we can’t get it out of our heads. Their AI knows us better than we do ourselves.

Avoid the harmful social media sites. Go somewhere that's worth it.

Comment Re:It's In The Bible, And If A Teacher Contradicts (Score 1) 5

I agree that William Bennett is dangerous.
The reason why I think Milton Friedman, the most influential economist of the 20th century, was trying to abolish public education is because he admitted it: “the ideal way [to give parents control of their children’s education] would be to abolish the public school system and eliminate all the taxes that pay for it.”
https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ineteconomics.org%2F...

BTW, my heading, "It's In The Bible, And If A Teacher Contradicts" was an edit of something I stole: "It's in the bible, I believe it, and if a teacher disputes it, the courts can settle it in my favor." And that line is a reference to Ernest Angley's "God said it; I believe it, and that settles it."

As far as flat earthers are concerned, I've heard that a lot of them speak with their tongues in their cheeks. But for some "true believers" though, there's this relevant reference in Revelation 7:1, “And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree”. For those that believe in the infallibility of the bible, this probably means the earth is flat.
I think it's a metaphor. Does that make me blasphemous?

Comment It's In The Bible, And If A Teacher Contradicts It (Score 1) 5

FYI, There's this Feb 4, 2022 Oklahoma Proposed Bill that Would Fine Teachers $10,000 For Contradicting A Student’s Religious Beliefs.

BTW, Milton Friedman, a few months before his death, admitted he had been trying since the 1950s to eliminate all government funded schools. I think he had a large part in the trashing of public education.

Comment Re:They Don't Care (Score 1) 118

You’ve made a good point about Trumpers trying to put us into a recession. I’d like to see some objective, fact-based reporting backing this up. It would turn the tables around if the story’s presentation is persuasive enough.

Irrespective of a quibble about current interest rates, it's obvious that we're both for anti-inflationary policies. Overall, a well regulated market is needed for successful economic development. IMHO, GDP growth can be aided by analyzing the successes and failures of the market, then go with what works for the country as a whole.

Unregulated markets, whose mantra is ‘all for self, forgetting all else’, often fail for everybody but that elite few on Wall Street you were talking about. It’s been a major problem when they’ve exploited an existing crisis, only to cause a bigger one.
So, I agree with you that we need a windfall profit tax, and about repairing the elections too. Hell, it seems as if the government has been bought out, and now is selling us out. We gotta fix that.

Comment Re:They Don't Care (Score 1) 118

1) Biden's fed appointment is being stalled maybe will be blocked. 2) Interest rates were at emergency levels which they never should have been lowered in the 1st place; they have to be restored so there is something to do when an emergency happens.

1) Republicans tend to reject Democratic nominations of any significance.
2) Interest rates influence borrowing, which can affect the entire economy, including job growth and wages. I’m usually OK with that, but now, not so much. After a 2-year COVID disaster, the resultant economic crash, and now rising prices of goods and services, raising interest rates aren’t just over the top unaffordable. It’s insane.
The S&P 500 profits are through the roof, and big corporations are worth more than ever. And yet, the US GDP falls 1.4% as inflation soars. This is all mixed up. I don’t think raising interest rates will be anti-inflationary in this economy.
The problem is that corporations are taking advantage of the current crisis egregiously. Prices are rising much more than they should, as the wealthy profit from a rigged market.
If the government really wants to fix the problem, corporate abuse is where regulation is needed. Yeah, that’ll happen.
To make matters worse, Deutsche Bank is warning that a major recession is coming. I'm worried that Biden will probably pull an Obama “Too-Big-To-Fail” Great Recession corporate bail out, and we plebs will be picking up the bill.
I don’t think raising interest rates will help. Loans and debts will become more expensive. And it’ll just get added to our tab.

Comment Re:Get A Handle On These (Score 1) 11

I’ve checked out a few YouTube videos of John Keane. Ron Paul must have been inspired by his hairdo.
My take on John Keane is that he associates liberalism, the left, and capitalism with democracy as defined by the thoughts and actions around the time of the French Revolution. I think the etymology of those terms have changed since the 18th century, but that’s a whole book-long story in itself.
Referring to Trump as "35", and others more ambiguously, Keane thinks there is an imminent threat to democracy: populism leading to totalitarianism. He calls his solution ‘monitory democracy’. To summarize, he advocates for participatory power, reinvention of parties, changing electoral laws, and building up institutions to deal with policy challenges that are on the agenda. Other ‘inventions’ include a new generation of uncorrupted leaders that have the capacity to motivate citizens.
I see things a bit differently. The problem is our democracy has surrendered to money and power; and we’re on the precipice of a new world order that includes another Great Depression where corporations will be too big to jail or fail, so only us plebs will bear the brunt of what's coming. The solution includes a Constitutional Amendment to eradicate corporate personhood, end the equation of money with speech, and prohibit monetary contributions to federal candidates by corporations and nationally charted banks. In other words, we need to permanently set in stone a more elaborate version of the 1907 Tillman Act, designed in a way that the Supreme Court can’t ruin again.

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