Month: February 2023

nap-120000- Democracy or Repbulic

nap-121000 What is Democracy?
nap-121100 – What does Democracy mean to you
Democracy is a form of government in which power is held by the people through a system of representation or direct participation. It is characterized by free and fair elections, the rule of law, the protection of individual rights and freedoms, and the separation of powers between different branches of government.

In a democratic system, citizens have the right to participate in the decision-making process through voting and other forms of civic engagement, and they have the ability to hold their leaders accountable for their actions. Democracy is often seen as a fundamental principle of modern governance and a cornerstone of human rights, as it allows people to have a say in how they are governed and to have a say in shaping the policies that affect their lives. ChatGPT Feb 13 

Democracy is what we allow it to be. Freedom to vote means nothing if you do not vote. Government in a democracy is determined by a majority of thouse who vote.
We almost always use ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’ as having the same connotation. In actuality they are two very different things. You can live in a democracy and have little freedom.

Not a Democracy
The United States of America is not a democracy, and never has been. At best it was a democratic republic. In the last 6 years it has become an autocratic republic, controlled by a conservative fanatical right wing cult bent on the completed defeat of democracy.

nap-108000 Firearms (Guns)
nap-108100 AR15 and Assault Style weapons

We will never have the laws we need to control gun violence. This is because America has become a nation without personal responsibilities. Americans, Republican and Democrat, want to own guns, but do not want the responsibilities and liabilities that go with it. Every gun owner in America is terrified that one of their guns might be used in an incident that a life is lost.
Currently it is almost impossible to sue someone in this situation, regardless of how negligent they were. Recently, for the first time evet, parents have been charged for a shooting their child committed. This case will have a major effect on gun control in America.
It is time to stop blaming politicians for what has happened to America. WE elect these people. Polls show 80% of Americans say they want gun controls passed. If 80% really wanted change then there would be change. Lip service does not equate to change.

We require automobile owners to have insurance, why not gun owners.

========= HISTORY =========

112322 ==== Colorado Springs shooting


032723 – Three students and three adults killed in Nashville by woman with 2 assault rifles and a handgun.

Reference
Boebert/Masse – Guns for Christmas
fb-post  gun grooming
FB- POST – AR15 America’s rifle
After stopping at Family Firearms in Troy, Ala., congressman Barry Moore said, “The anti-Second Amendment group won’t stop until they take away all your firearms… One rule to remember: any government that would take away one right would take away them all.”

news – take away one right take away all

Google:

What is meant by critically thinking?

Google: Critical thinking is a kind of thinking in which you question, analyse, interpret, evaluate and make a judgement about what you read, hear, say, or write. The term critical comes from the Greek word kritikos meaning “able to judge or discern”.

ChatGPT: Critical thinking is a mental process of analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing information to form reasoned judgments or conclusions. It involves questioning assumptions, examining evidence, considering alternative perspectives, and drawing well-reasoned and objective conclusions.
Critical thinking is an essential skill for problem-solving and decision-making in various contexts, including academic, professional, and personal settings. It helps individuals to identify biases, logical fallacies, and errors in reasoning, and to approach complex problems with a clear and analytical mindset.
Some of the key characteristics of critical thinking include being open-minded, objective, analytical, curious, reflective, and systematic in approach. Critical thinking can be developed and enhanced through practice and by using various tools and techniques, such as asking probing questions, evaluating sources of information, and considering multiple perspectives.

nap -100050- Autocracy

The greatest danger to the world is not the environment or climate change. The greatest danger to the world is authoritarianism.  The danger that  the actions of a single man, or the extreme minority of a population, will ignite a nuclear war is far more dangerous than any other pending disaster. We now have authoritarian leaders in multiple countries who see that threats, or even outright military action, will cause democratic countries to back down and retreat.

Where does it stop

When will America, and the world, wake up to the fact that authoritarianism knows only the bounds imposed on it. Why does anyone think that Putin will stop when he has crushed Ukraine and imposed his dictatorship on it. Why would Kim un-Jung stop his nuclear missile development? They know we are afraid of them. They know all they have to do is to threaten to use nuclear weapons and we will cower before them. I have said it before and I say it again. What is the reason to have the world’s  most expensive and powerful military if we refuse to use it to stop naked aggression that isl never going to stop as long as it is tolerated?

Over and over, we hear news commentators and retired military generals tell us how we cannot afford to stand up to Putin. This is nuts. Putin is going to keep backing us up because we are letting him. We are not stopping a war. We are just letting Putin win it a bit at a time.  In reality we cannot afford not to stand up to authoritarianism. The authoritarian leaders around the world have seen that democracies will not stand up to them if they threaten the lives of the innocent or threaten the use nuclear power.

This will never stop until democracies stand to the threats.  We must declare Kyiv a ‘free city’ and use ANY force needed to enforce that declaration.  Putin will use whatever force he needs to destroy all resistance and to take control of the city.  Putin will not stop at Ukraine or anywhere else until force, internally or externally,  is used to stop him.  This can be said of any authoritarian leader who exercises total power over a country.

nap -100050- Autocracy

pol-20000 Republicans

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020823— response to state of union
“It’s time for a change. Tonight, let us reaffirm our commitment to a timeless American idea: that government exists not to rule the people, but to serve the people. Democrats want to rule us with more government control, but that is not who we are,” she added.

020823 – The GOP position on Social Security and Medicare

nap-2500 Healthcare
062324 – Healthcare has become intwined in politics as MAGA supermajorities place politics and bigotry over public welfare and medical needs. No longer can a woman in America go to the hospital while bleeding to death and expect to be treated.
==========================================

Healthcare is a basic building block of a nation.
Millions of Americans do not have healthcare coverage because of the high cost. No American should be without full medical coverage.
Why does America not have full medical coverage for all of its citizens? Because Americans have the false belief that it would be too costly.
There are two main reasons that healtcare in the US is so costly.
1. Healthcare in the US us so high is because of the many levels of bureauchy between the patient and the doctor or hospital. Employers, insurance companies, and excessive profits by drug companies add layers of unnecessary levels of cost to our healthcare.

Why do we not have universal healthcare?
1.Simply because the Republican Party has chosed to use healthcare as a political weapon.
2. Corporations and lobbyists spend Millions every year on blocking any attempt to pass legislation that would impact their profits.

References
fb-post High Cost of Healthcare
fb-post High Cost of Healthcare

nap-2000 Education
nap-2300 Educating Our Children

American Education is under Attack
MAGA evangelicals are using any means possible to undermine American education and put an end to individual thinking. They do not want you to depend on your own experience, but blindly follow the teachings of religious and political leaders.

==================================
Education is the true foundation of any society. Education in the sense of what is learned in the family, at religious institutions, and in schools. What is learned in each of these will form the person we will ultimately become. And yet, education is not even on the list of voter priorities during elections. 

We need to teach our children what it means to be an American. The ethics, right from wrong, need for loyalty to country above perceived personal or political beliefs. So who’s going to change the direction education is going?  It doesn’t seem like anyone is. Everyone in America likes education the way it is because they can educate their constituencies oriented to their beliefs.

Education in America has stopped being about learning and is now about profit and influencing students to accept the beliefs of the organization providing the education. Schools run by Organizations have always shaped the future of their students to be aligned with the beliefs of that organization. This has now crept into public schools.

No politician will criticize education. As our nation becomes more divided our education will continue to deteriorate. Only when the nation becomes united in the quest for respect and equality in education will we be able to start reforming our broken educational system. That means the emergence of a new political party that represents the people of America and not just wealthy individuals, religous groups, and corporations. In America education is no longer about knowledge. It is about indoctrination and profit.

Schools are more concerned about their tuition and donor contributors than they are about their curriculum. Sports have become more important than science, history and civics.  

Many of our brightest students do not get a higher education because they cannot afford it and do not want a life crippling student loan. Many of the 1% that can afford it are there for the social contacts that will enhance their future, not education.

The greatest costs to American families are Housing, education and healthcare. Why is America, the ‘freest nation on Earth’ one of the few nations that does not provide free education and healthcare to its citizens. Our education system is the worlds most expensive. Any American institution with a high world ranking is prohibitively expensive for the average American.

u-15000 Animations

u-5000 Animations

– Open Animator
– Add Empty
– Change name to Idle
– Set to ‘Default’
– Create transitions to an from Platform

nap-107500 China Balloon
021023 ===
I had decided that I would waste no more time on the China balloon issue, there are bigger fish to fry. But after watching the media circus this morning I have to add one last post.
First on MSNBC they were going on about all of the sophisticated spy equipment being recovered, and how we should just let the intelligence agencies make the decisions as to what was best for the country.
Then, on CNN they tell us that the equipment was unsophisticated, and little intelligence of value could have been captured. They also say that only a portion of the payload has been recovered, and no real information has been obtained yet.
The Democrats are furiously defending Biden and the Republicans are furiously placing all blame on Biden. Biden is the President. In the end the responsibility was his.
I have lost all patience with people saying is should or should nt have been shot down. There is no reason for it to have been shot dow. Biden said it was too dangerous to shoot it down in Montana, “What if it hit a shcool?”. Who is he trying to fool. If we can put a man on the moon we should be able to shoot down a balloon in one of our least populated states without hitting a balloon.
The biggest question I have is why did we shoot it down at all? Why not puncture it and let it slowly descend. After it got low enough a sky crane helicopter should be able to catch it on a grappling hook and lower it safely. Intelligence would have a complete, undamaged payload to investigate.
This should not be a Republican or Democratic issue. It is a US national security issue of great importance to all Americans.
Instead of stupid hearings into Biden’s laptop the Republicans and Democrats should be looking into why this fiasco happened. What we need is not blame, but to find out what went wrong and to fix it so this never happens again.

020723====
Once again the US shows ‘an abundance of caution’ and allows a Chinese survalence maneuverable balloon to float over the US. A spokesman for the militry says it poses no physical or military threat to ‘people on the ground’. He emphases this over and over.
They acknowledge it is maneuverable, has violated US airspace and theat they know it is a surveillance balloon.

Instead of shooting it down we should just poke a small hole in it so it comes down slowly. We could then retrieve the undamaged equipment to determine what the real purpose was, how it was capturing the information and what information was captured.

The spokesman said that action has been taken to prevent any intelligence being gathered. How can they be sure? Under no circumstances should this baloon b allowed it to leave US airspace.
–
The State Department says that this is ‘unacceptable’ and they that they have sent a ‘stern’ message to China.
Yet even though ‘this is unacceptable’ but we do nothing about it.
If nothing else this incident proves to China (and the world) that while the US is not a toothless tiger it is a paper tiger, unwilling to confront aggressors physically, but only with words and paper resolutions.

After seeing how well sanctions have worked to stop Russian aggression in Ukraine and stopping North Koran nuclear missile development, maybe the US will get threaten China with sanctions.

You have to wonder how China, Russia, or North Korea would react to a balloon from the US over their territory.

==== References ===
020323 – Fox News
020423 – My FB post replies