Whom is Crazier? Life in Bizarro World.

Whom is crazier, those decrying the many ills of society, but willingly remaining fully complicit in the systems that create those ills?
Or those choosing to actively abandon, and fight those systems that continue to create those ills, despite hardships, personal sacrifices, and other consequences of that Direct Action?

Is it better succumb to malfeasance than fight it?
If you can’t fight ’em, join ’em?
Is merely complaining about climate change ethical & just, whilst continuing to consume the products (fuels, plastics, fertilizers, etc.) that are often blamed for that climate change?
How sensible is it to express concern for the growing monopolistic and other powers of Big Tech, whilst continuing to support those Big Tech firms?
And/or griping about inequitable pay, income, wealth, etc., whilst continuing to buy from the corporations that are creating & engaging in that inequitable pay, income, wealth, etc?
And/or supporting “social welfare” initiatives, which are relying on mega-corporations for administration of those initiatives?
And/or calling for more “renewable energy” projects, that are heavily reliant on mining, that is creating it’s own ecological disasters.

How I Beat Chronic Pneumonia

I’m not afraid of covid, not one bit.

Note: The following is not intended to diagnose nor treat any disease or illness, but is simply my real-life account of my own experiences & observations.
I have absolutely no monetary stake nor financial interest in the products mentioned.

I first contracted pneumonia at age 16.
It succeeded in plaguing me for about 25+ years, becoming a chronic condition that would reoccur year-after-year, at least twice a year.
I would go through the same routine, to the hospital or clinic, be prescribed antibiotics or antivirals, which would take 7-10 days to clear that condition.
Only to have it return often about 6 months later.

Then a retired Doctor, whom had become disenfranchised with the largely-failing medical industry, had suggested I look into Eucalyptus.
Eucalyptus has been shown, in countless number of studies, to contain numerous compounds that work effectively as natural antibiotics & antivirals.
Consider that Eucalyptus has been historically in cold medicines, in cough drops, and to relieve chest & sinus congestion.

I began exploring the best ways to use that Eucalyptus.
And soon found that steam inhalation seemed to offer the best delivery, and quickest relief.
I also began experimenting with other natural compounds, like Tea Tree oil.
Which has similarly been demonstrated to contain numerous antibiotic & antiviral compounds (like flavonols, hydroxybenzoic acids and hydrolyzable tannins, and other compounds).
I sometimes also add other compounds, like White Willow Bark, which is a natural source of Salicylic acid (of which aspirin is based).

I quickly noted that steam inhalation of those compounds most often eradicated my pneumonia within 24-48 hrs. of use.
Not 7-10 days.
Plus, the frequency of recurrence of that pneumonia has since been drastically reduced.
In fact, I haven’t suffered from pneumonia now for over 10 years.
As soon as I start to feel ill I simply do a quick steam inhalation treatment with a combination of Eucalyptus (leaves or oil), Tea Tree oil, and White Willow bark.
And it has worked every time.

I haven’t taken any additional measures or steps to protect myself over the past 21 months.
I’ve had people tell me that guaranteed I will get covid.
And yet I’ve had the healthiest 2 years of my life this past 2 years.
The one time I did start to feel ill (headache, sore throat, muscular aches, bronchial congestion, cough, etc.) over the past 21 months, I simply did a steam inhalation treatment of that Eucalyptus, Tea Tree and White Willow.
And I was back to 100 percent later that day.

I have honestly taken what some would consider unnecessary risks, just in order to test these treatments.
I honestly don’t mind being a guinea pig for my own experiments.
I am more interested in discovering & learning.
And I haven’t succumbed to anything worse than that one instance of a mere 6 hours of illness.

So, I’m not afraid of covid, not one bit.


The ancient healer and regarded “Father of modern medicine” Hippocrates reportedly said “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be they food“.
He seemingly understood the roles of natural compounds in phytochemicals for their natural healing powers.
Herbs & spices are much more than just flavorings.
They are often full of these phytochemicals, aka secondary metabolites, which have been demonstrated time & again to offer natural protection from disease & illness.
In fact, some data shows that upwards of 80 percent of all pharmaceuticals used globally are based on those natural phytochemicals (but now most often synthesized, in order to offer IP & patent protections, and greater industry profits).

Caution – Always beware & take caution before attempting to self-diagnose or self-treat any condition.
What works for one person may not work for another.
Our bodies are each quite unique, highly-dependent on own own unique micro-biome composition.
And, just because something is natural does not mean it is safe.
And, as in the words & advice of 16th century Swiss Physician Paracelsus, “The dose makes the poison” (paraphrased from “All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison.“).
Thus in sufficient quantities, even seemingly benign or useful compounds can produce toxicity.

Always Beware Those Whom Have More “Answers” Than They do Questions.

A short & sweet bit of advice.
Those whom think they know most, often don’t know nearly as much as they fool themselves about.
True knowledge is in recognizing one’s own limitations, and always seeking greater knowledge/greater improvement.

Even when we think we have answers, we should never stop questioning those presumed answers.
And continue asking questions.


“…for it is not having insufficient knowledge, but persisting a long time in insufficient knowledge that is shameful…“
–Cicero – De Inventione, Section 2.9.3–

“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge”
–Charles Darwin- The Descent of Man-

I remain constantly amazed at how so many of those whom refer to the Dunning Kruger effect in regards to others, that simultaneously fail to consider their own ignorance, remaining prone to the same failures of overconfidence.
Especially often by those in positions of “authority”.
Whom seemingly think the Dunning Kruger effect applies only to others.
Way too ignorant to recognize their own massive ignorance.

If it Were Known That the World or Human Population Were to End Tomorrow, How Would You Act Today?

“Even the dreaded plague, in Lucretius’ account—and his work ends with agraphic account of a catastrophic plague epidemic in Athens—is most horrible not only for the suffering and death that it brings but also and still more for the “perturbation and panic” that it triggers.
It is perfectly reasonable to seek to avoid pain: such avoidance is one of the pillars of his whole ethical system. But how is it possible to keep this natural aversion from turning into panic, panic that only leads to the triumph of suffering? And, more generally, why are humans so unhappy?“
― Excerpted from The Swerve (2012), by STEPHEN GREENBLATT―


Would you seek to help & comfort others in those final hours, or take as much as possible for yourself, for that remaining short-term?
Would you allow your fears & anxieties to guide your towards irrational & selfish behaviors?
Would you ensure you engaged in excesses, allowing others to fight over growing scarcities?

“What unhappy beings men are! They constantly waver between false hopes and silly fears, and instead of relying on reason they create monsters to frighten themselves with, and phantoms which lead them astray.”
― Charles-Louis de Secondat, de la Brède et de Montesquieu, Persian Letters ―

My Opinion on How Donald Trump was Used to Sell the Covid Narrative to “Liberals”, Via Reverse Propaganda

Both the “Left” and “Right” are being most-completely manipulated, with few-to-none of either side recognizing that massive manipulation.
The strategy of Divide & Conquer, aka Divide & Rule has been utilized for centuries as a method of controlling populations. By keeping a population busily distracted fighting amongst themselves, it becomes easier to prevent large segments of that population from rising up against the powers that be.
Divide & Conquer has been perhaps one of the most covert methods of controlling a population.
Existing largely as gregarious creatures, humans often seek group identity, membership, loyalty, adherence, etc.
One of the best ways of maintaining group cohesion, is by distracting away from individual differences within that group, and one of the best ways of accomplishing that distraction is by the identification of another “opposing” group, and recognition of their differences (in-group vs out-group dichotomy).
Most wars on fought on this very principle.

Just as there is reverse-psychology, so too is there reverse-propaganda.
And whereas some choose to define reverse-propaganda as an attempt to defeat false & malicious propaganda, there is also a very different type of reverse-propaganda.
Reverse psychology is a technique involving the assertion of a belief or behavior that is opposite to the one desired, with the expectation that this approach will encourage the subject of the persuasion to do what is actually desired.
Propaganda is largely a psychologically-based activity.
Thus reverse-propaganda is the use of reverse-psychology, the intent of modifying behavior that is opposite to the one seemingly desired.
Like taking a “villain”, and getting that “villain” to promote some cause, in order to dissuade the foes of that “villain” from taking up that cause.

Note: Before proceeding, I want to point out that whilst Donald Trump initially came out against the covid narrative, creating partisan divisions, he eventually did a near 180-degree turn, fully supporting the Operation Warpspeed vaccine (not-vaccine) roll-out, and even claiming to have become infected by SARS-CoV2.
And yet the “Liberal” vs “Conservative” partisan narrative regarding covid has largely remained.
Evidence that the near-entirety of the covid event has been an exercise in insanity.

Ad Hominem is a logical fallacy generally referring to a rhetorical strategy where the speaker attacks the character, motive, or some other attribute of the person making an argument rather than attacking the substance of the argument itself.
Appeal to Authority is a logical fallacy wherein the opinion or position of an authority figure is center of an argument rather than the substance of the actual argument.
Appeal to authority can work in two different, opposite ways – either supporting a position based on the support of an authority figure, or opposing a position based on the opposition of an authority figure.

Partisan politics often make use of the Appeal to Authority fallacy, with followers of political parties often accepting those positions of their party leaders, and rejecting those positions of opposing party leaders.
It is akin to Tribalism.

The book Thinking, Fast & Slow, by Psychologist Daniel Kahneman, illustrates what it claims as two types of mechanisms of thinking, a quicker thought process governed more by emotion, and a slower more deliberative thought process governed more by evidence, logic, reason & such.
Emotive thinking can often overcome the more deliberative thought process, leading to less logical and more irrational conclusions.
As such, leading an opponent to a emotionally-charged state can help overwhelm their deliberative side, forcing them to succumb to fallacious conclusions.

Appeal to Emotion is a logical fallacy, related to the claim above, that occurs when a misleading argument, and particularly one that is unsound or missing factual evidence, is used with the goal of manipulating people’s emotions. For example, a person using an appeal to emotion in a debate might encourage the audience to ignore facts that their opponent brought up, by attempting to elicit anger, resentment, and distrust against their source.

The appeal to emotion can be highly effective as a rhetoric technique, due to the nature of human cognition. This is because, when people process information and make decisions, they often rely primarily on their intuitive, emotional response to things, rather than on a logical, fact-based reasoning process. Furthermore, in many cases, people might utilize a reasoning process when making a decision, but will do so in a flawed way, in an attempt to confirm their emotional intuition, without being aware that they are doing so.

I am astounded & perplexed by two recent developments:
1. At how so many “Liberals” have most-completely embraced restrictions on individual liberties, via the covid narrative, after spending decades criticizing suppression of those same individual liberties at the behest of “conservative”-led narratives, like the War on Drugs, the War on Terror, the War on Immigration, etc.
Their embracing of those restrictions seems drive & supported more by their absolute hatred for Trump, than their support for individual liberties.
Hate is a powerful emotion.
As is fear (fear of death).

2. At how so many “rebels” I know, most of whom have spent decades criticizing industries like Big Med, Big Pharma, etc., are now most-completely embracing those same industries, and due largely just to their hatred for Trump.
They are now embracing the very same industries & institutions they have spent their lives criticizing.
And mostly via emotional triggers.

Trump has been effectively presented the greater of two evils, and now scores of people are being led towards accepting other evils, in their emotionally-charged hatred of him.

It absolutely fascinates me to watch as people act in completely contradictory & hypocritical ways, and observe as most aren’t even aware of their biases & actions.

I’m also fascinated at how to opposing sides, can each support suppression of individual liberties, based on differing narratives.
But simultaneously criticize the “other” side for their calls for suppression, whilst doing the same themselves.

Liberty cannot be a merely subjectively defined term.

The oft-renowned “Father of Spin”, Edward Bernays, in his 1928 book Propaganda, wrote the following:

• “If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway. But men do not need to be actually gathered together in a public meeting or in a street riot, to be subject to the influences of mass psychology. Because man is by nature gregarious he feels himself to be member of a herd, even when he is alone in his room with the curtains drawn. His mind retains the patterns which have been stamped on it by the group influences.“
• “But when the example of the leader is not at hand and the herd must think for itself, it does so by means of clichés, pat words or images which stand for a whole group of ideas or experiences. Not many years ago, it was only necessary to tag a political candidate with the word interests to stampede millions of people into voting against him, because anything associated with “the interests” seemed necessary corrupt.“

“Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.“

“In almost every act of our lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons […] who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.“

“Who are the men, who, without our realizing it, give us our ideas, tell us whom to admire and whom to despise, what to believe about the ownership of public utilities .. about immigration who tell us how our houses should be designed, what furniture we should put into them, what menus we should serve at our table, what kind of shirts we must wear, what sports we should indulge in, what plays we should see, what charities we should support, what pictures we should admire, what slang we should affect, what jokes we should laugh at?“

“If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it?“

Most people most often don’t know, realize nor understand how propaganda is being used against them.
There is propaganda, and there is reverse propaganda.

One PR campaign that Edward Bernays is known for is his Torches of Freedom smoking campaign.
Wherein, working for Big Tobacco companies, in looking to promote smoking amongst women during a time when smoking for women was largely unacceptable, he portrayed smoking as women exercising their freedom.
And yet that “freedom” largely led to women’s dependence on Big Tobacco, via addiction.
A type of reverse propaganda.

Another type of reverse propaganda is getting a largely-unpopular protagonist-type figure promoting an idea, leading opponents of that protagonist-type figure to adopt the opposite stance/idea.

The covid event has seemingly most-completely disrupted most people’s psyches.
It sure seems to me that emotionalism is overriding most peoples more deliberative cognitive thought processes.

The (True) State of the Nation.

War on Drugs?
War on Terror?
War on Viruses?

Why does it seem that the U.S. is in a constant state of war?

“What unhappy beings men are! They constantly waver between false hopes and silly fears, and instead of relying on reason they create monsters to frighten themselves with, and phantoms which lead them astray.”
― Charles-Louis de Secondat, de la Brède et de Montesquieu, Persian Letters―

Some Stats at a Glance, That May Help Explain the True State of the Nation:
☼ Since the 1940’s the population of the U.S. has more than doubled (from 132,164,569 in 1940 to 331,449,291 in 2020).
☼ But since the 1990’s the number of publicly-listed companies has decreased by about 70 percent (meaning much fewer jobs (percentage of jobs to population), as corporations merge, eliminating duplicate positions).
☼ Since the 1990’s the number of new small businesses starting has been reduced by close to 70 percent (again, meaning much fewer jobs, as small businesses used to make up a large segment of the employed).

☼ Wealth & assets have increasingly been concentrated into the hands of the ultra-rich (there may be more billionaires, but that means more wealth is being hoarded, leading to reduced economic activity, as growing numbers of people have less to spend, and economies require increased spending to show continued growth).

☼ In 2000 the median price of a home was about $166,027.
☼ More recently, in 2020, the median price of a home is about $365,524.

☼ The median income in 2000 was about $31,216 (an income to home ratio of 1:5.31).
☼ Whereas the median income in 2020 is only about $35,598
(an income to home ratio of 1:10.26 – almost double that of 2000).

☼ Though the median income has increased by only about 14 percent between 2000-2020, inflation has risen by over 58.5 percent in that same time (even that number doesn’t take into account the year-over-year recent explosion of inflation from 2020-2021 of 13.4 percent).

☼ The U.S. workforce in 2000 was about 159,593,548.
☼More recently, in 2020, that workforce is only about 151,827,459.
So, despite a population increase, with fewer companies & fewer jobs, far more people are employed as there just aren’t the jobs being created by those billionaires whom are hoarding increasing amounts of money.

War on drugs.
War on terror.
War on viruses.
Increasing suppression of rights, freedoms, liberties, etc.

The U.S. needs constant wars to provide continued distraction away from the quickly crumbling Empire.
An Empire being destroyed by Shysters.

DIVIDE & CONQUER?
Phony “partisan” political issues are continually being promulgated, designed to keep the masses distracted, & divided, busily blaming & fighting each other (via Groupthink), rather than turning on the neo-feudal Lords whom are rapidly plunging this country into utter chaos.

We’re No. 1? Or Just Mediocrity Guised as Exceptionalism?

I’m seeing a trend lately, where so many people I know, anywhere from Maintenance Workers to Executives to Teachers to Bureaucrats to whomever are proclaiming that they were and/or are great at what they do.
And yet none are doing anything truly exceptional, nor outstanding, nor groundbreaking, nor remarkable, nor even above average.

How often do we hear anyone proclaim “I suck”, or I’m number two”, or “I really need to improve”, or similar?
Constantly, the mundane & average are being spun as greatness.

In my lifetime I don’t recall seeing such as bad quality, and/or service, and or education, and/or such lackluster efforts being put into most everything, but witnessing so many people & companies proclaim how great they are, as I’m seeing in recent times.
I remember when I first started working, at how many actually good companies I dealt with that based their operational strategies & reputations on allowing their customers to define good quality & good service, and not in defining those concepts themselves.
It doesn’t matter how great a person and/or company thinks themselves, but how those they work for evaluate them.
But that concept seems completely lost today.

I often keep the cognitive bias known as the Dunning Kruger effect on my mind.
Often summarized as “Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge” (via a quote by Charles Darwin).
Though often pertaining to perceived knowledge, the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias stating that people with low ability at a task overestimate their own abilities, and that people with high abilities at a task(s) underestimate their own abilities.
And that bias seems to be standard thought in current times.

Goals like improvement, exceptionalism, breakthroughs, remarkable performance, and such come from those not satisfied with their current performance.
Those constantly seeking true mental, physical & task progression and advancement.
Satisfaction rarely produces true exceptionalism.
It’s those seeking true exceptionalism, progress, innovations & such that are able to know & recognize their own flaws, faults, failures, shortcomings & such.
And are able to overcome those setbacks.
And yet society seems stuck on overestimating abilities.
The attitude of “good enough” reigns supreme today.
Without first recognizing our flaws, and recognizing that we need improvement, we can’t make true progress.

Critique is NOT the same as contempt.
I’ve worked on mechanical systems most of my life.
And without being able to identify the weakest parts of those systems, we can’t make them better.
Same holds true of most all systems & process, whether mechanical or humanistic (psychological, physiological, etc.).
Critique should be the honest evaluation & analysis of systems, for sake of recognizing weaknesses and flaws, for sake of improvement.
But too often, thoughtful critique is dismissed merely as contempt.

I admire good Writers.
I am not one, but I write anyway.
I write to try to express certain ideas. And yet I’m keenly aware of the numerous deficiencies in my writing style(s).
But I would never consider myself a true Writer, as my skills in the art are just too mediocre.

Way too many factors of life currently seem based on that standard of mere mediocrity & theater (aka spin).
The Everything Bubbles we’re seeing in most all asset classes, for example, are based on mere mediocrity & “good enough” attitudes & satisfaction, not true exceptional performance.
Our U.S. economy is hardly thriving but existing on magically created money. In a theater of economic activity that has proven completely disastrous time & again in the past.
Similarly, we’re being told that we’re facing a horrendous health crisis, aka pandemic, but the oft-regarded (spun) “breakthrough” & “revolutionary” vaccines (not-vaccines) that are being touted 24/7/365 seem to be doing little more than reducing related symptoms (if even that), not truly protecting people.
That’s considered exceptional?
Really?

I call those major problems, not major advancements.
And I often feel alone in recognizing that plague of mediocrity we seem to be infect with.
Stagnation increasingly seems marketed as progressivism.
Failure as achievement.
Debt as wealth.
Inheritance as deserved achievement.

I fully believe in efficiencies.
In finding the best ways to do the most productive things in the best possible ways.
If one employs more efficiencies to do things correctly, then one can do more things better, leading to more lasting results.
But I see a world around me where most everyone is putting in the least amount of efforts, for the most mediocre end-results. Mediocre end-results that fail prematurely.

Perhaps even worse than that trend of commonplace & wide acceptance of mediocrity is the trend of rejection of true exceptionalism.
The few people I do know that continue to strive for improvement & excellence are more often turned away, dismissed, ridiculed, etc.
Yet those that dismiss that true exceptionalism most often settle for, even praise a pseudo-exceptionalism.
A false sense of exceptionalism that exists in phrase only.
Following that Dunning Kruger model, the true ignorants, being incapable of understanding more complex & comprehensive bases of knowledge, often reject those more complex & comprehensive concepts. It’s just too hard for them to understand. Simplicity is key in the Dunning Kruger model.
And hence that attitude follows for true exceptionalism.
When most people are doing most things the easiest ways possible, producing mediocre results, complex problems requiring complex cognitive thought processes are often too confusing, misunderstood, and thus rejected.

There are seemingly too many of those that find criticism as a lack of pride, as an attack.
Rather than as a method of analysis & improvement.
I used to do Consulting work for a once-large software company. This company at one time was considered the industry standard & leader in its field.
But that status of industry “leader” led to complacency & haughtiness. Pride that became arrogance, and quickly morphed into unfettered superiority.
They began to ignore their customers desires, and industry needs. They thought they were great, and so rather than try to improve, they simply merely existed, continuing to churn out increasingly mediocre products.
They even began engaging hostile & confrontational relationships with their users, their customers that provided their revenue stream.
“Love it or leave it” could’ve been their motto. It certainly became their mode of operation.
Pleas for improvement from customers were simply disregarded as warrantless complaints, and/or as attacks against the company.
I would monitor phone calls between customers/users and Reps. in their Customer Service, Sales and Tech Support departments, and was astonished at the hostilities, even direct insults that these Reps would lodge at customers expressing frustration over software glitches, bugs & deficiencies.
The company Owners saw declining revenue, and thus hired me to analyze the causes of that revenue decline.
And yet they often scoffed at most any hints & suggestions of improvement.
Any suggestions of improvement were simply disregarded as attacks.
They wanted more revenue, but didn’t want to make the effort nor spend the money to improve their performance.
I would at one moment be witting in front of a Board & company Executives, listening to them worry about declining revenue, but at the next moment find myself up against near total resistance to any change.
Same ole, same ole.

Why improve?
They were the dominant force. They had spent years building their reputation and user-base, they felt immune from competition.
Why spend time, resources, energy and money on improvement, when their users had to rely on them, as there were no viable alternatives?

But then it finally happened. Another company launched a new product to compete with this industry standard.
This other company began dedicating large amounts of time & resources towards developing a better product.

That once leading industry software company has now become a mere afterthought by the industry they once thrived in.

And yet I now see the exact same trend happening all around me.
Amongst most people, and in most industries.
Oft regarded exceptionalism is most often just wishful thinking & corporate & personal spin.

It’s ok to have pride in one’s work, even perhaps natural, but pride should not devolve into arrogance, nor prevent growth, nor stifle improvement, nor stagnate true progress.

So, I Know This “Progressive” Couple….

I know this “Progressive” couple, whom recently moved next door.
They often tout their environmental concerns. Even brag about moving to a fairly rural area, anticipating the collapse of society.
But they drive their gas-guzzling SUV’s everywhere.
Even to the stores, which are only about 2-3 blocks away.
Rather than walk.

They proclaim to rail against economic inequality.
But live on the retirement of their public service jobs.
From higher-salaried positions (relative to much of the dying private sector),
now with comfortable pensions that are paid for by taxpayers.
Taxpayers of often much-lower income brackets.

They bought one of the most expensive homes in the area.
Looking to take advantage of an extremely bubbled housing market.
Enforced by “capitalist”-driven, massively-lowered & manipulated interest rates.
And they are often seeking free or low-cost labor to do their work for them.
Often via subsidized programs.
Again, paid for by other taxpayers, of often much lower income brackets.

They support the region’s “Progressive” Politicians.
The career Politicians that have made a living off the very massively corrupted corporate-political system they proclaim to despise & fight.
They even rail against highly-corrupted Corporate America.
The same highly-corrupted Corporate America that exists as the largest campaign donors of those cherished “progressive” political leaders.

And despite that continuous railing against that highly-corrupted Corporate America.
They continue to live & engage as enablers, passive & mindless consumers of the destructive wares constantly peddled by that highly-corrupted Corporate America.
Further enriching the same corrupted systems they proclaim to despise.

They often warn that “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely“.
But insist on the integrity of their own absolutist leaders.
Whilst simultaneously condemning the absolutist policies/actions of other groups’ leaders.

They are scared to death of “covid”.
Even publicly condemning those refusing to mask and/or vax.
Proclaiming that others have the social duty to protect them.
But they smoke like chimneys.
One cigarette after another.
Continuously.

This “Progressive” couple recently relocated to the “Progressive” state where I currently reside.
They say they did so because they feel the state is more inclusive than the largely “conservative” state they moved from.
And yet this “Progressive” state I currently reside in has one of the lowest black populations in the entire U.S.
And amongst the lowest minority populations in the U.S.
Where they moved from has about 200 percent more, per population, of each.
Unfortunately, anti-black rhetoric is not uncommon in this “Progressive” state.
A visiting Professor I knew of Chinese nationality that was teaching at the local college here used to tell me tales of the racism & nationalism he encountered frequently in this “Progressive” state.
He said it was one of the most racist places he had ever lived.



Note: This is not intended as a criticism of just “progressives” nor of “progressivism” alone.
It is intended as a reflection, a critique designed to encourage people to think about any movements and/or groups with which they may identify, and seeks to examine hypocrisies of most, if not all movements.

Alexis DeTocqueville, 19th century French political thinker and historian, most famous for his work Democracy in America, wrote:
“The last thing abandoned by a party is its phraseology, because among political parties, as elsewhere, the vulgar make the language, and the vulgar abandon more easily the ideas that have been instilled into it than the words that it has learnt.“

Meaning that ideologies are often the first things abandoned in parties/groups/etc.
Tags, like “conservative”, “Democrat”, “Republican”, “Libertarian”, “Progressive”, etc. often exist as mere identifying labels, absent any true/underlying meanings.

I, for one, believe in true progress. True progress to me means something better than the old standard. It means constant improvement.
If a system or standard is not working or has critical failures or flaws, then progress should be employed to fix those systems or standards.
Progress often does not mean a complete dissemblance of entire systems, just for the sake of change alone. Change should be instituted for sake of logic, reason, cause, betterment, etc. And change should result in improvements.

And, there exists an inherent flaw in the progressive movement & party, a flaw that similarly exists in all movements & parties….
All movements & parties can be vulnerable & subjected to corruption, undue influence, manipulations, covert control etc.
Which is amongst the main points behind DeTocqueville’s words above.

I believe that true ideologies, like liberty, freedom, democracy, progress, republicanism, and such are essentially dead, having been merely replaced by catchy slogans.
And that too few people are holding their own groups/parties/etc. accountable for the true ideologies that are supposed to define their parties/groups/etc.

I Had a Dream.

I had a Dream.
That a global Cartel of Billionaires controlled most everything.
From the energy (both “brown” & “green”) industry, to the manufacturing industry, to the money industry, to the media industry, to the consumer industry, to the medical industry, to the food & drug industries, etc….
Control of everything.

The controlled most all narratives, of most all kinds, from religion to science to education to corporate to climate to space, etc.
And by controlling all the money & all the major industrial sectors, and the media, they could coordinate PR campaigns.
“Truth” was as they created it to be.

They controlled desires, habits, thoughts, beliefs, wants, trends, etc.

And they directed those PR-driven narratives to drive more money, wealth & assets their way.

Even narratives involving supposed rogue Actors, like Iran, North Korea, Russia et al, were driven by them, for profit.
By creating narratives of say “terrorism”, by say Iran, they could easily drive oil prices up.
Driving more revenue & profit.
By creating narratives of say “election fraud”, by say Russia, they could divert attention of their complete control of the world’s political industries.
Distracting from their roles as neo-feudal Lords of the globe.

For this Cartel of neo-feudal billionaire Lords even covertly controlled the “leaders” of those supposed rogue nations.
Even unbeknownst to those “leaders”, or to other leaders.
Much like how many Corporate CEO’s remain largely unaware of how they, and their colleagues at “competing” corporations, are similarly influenced & controlled by the Cartel of billionaires that own their respective corporations.
Each is led to believe they exist largely as autonomous entities, but in fact remain under the complete control of that Cartel.

And yet few to none of the mindless masses were the wiser.
The ordinary citizens continued to believe these created narratives.
Narratives that played-off personal & group biases, prejudices, beliefs, etc.
Narratives that were therefore absolutely effective.
Because most everyone believed and/or relied upon them.

Much like how fads & trends control most consumer sentiments, preferences & attitudes, so did these created & controlled narratives drive most aspects of life.

Narratives like nationalism, and racism, and sexism, and faithism, and scientism, and all other types of “isms” were all merely contrived as methods of distraction (as many group identities are).
As they were all so believable, as they were promulgated 24/7/365, by most all sources, from all directions.

And though many, if not most people claimed to be aware of these absolutely contrived & controlled systems, few were actually aware of the absolute pervasiveness of these systems of control.
One group easily identified the manipulations of another group, but failed to identify the manipulations of their own group.
Each claiming ignorance of the other.
But each steeped in their own ignorance.

And ordinary citizens, even regarded “leaders”, both corporate & national, were driven towards turning & fighting on each other by these narratives.
Rather than recognizing the massive systems of complete influence & control instituted by these Lords.
Ensuring the continuing roles of these Lords, as Lords.

Thank god it was all just a dream.

OR WAS IT?

Pandemic? Or Mass Fear & Insecurities Being Brought on by the Impending “Death Boom”?

Prelude/note:
After writing this essay I found this interesting article from the Census, dating back to 2017, titled:
As Population Ages, U.S. Nears Historic Increase in Deaths
And this article, titled:
Excess Mortality among Baby Boomers in Canada and the United States

Both serve as interesting additions to the info presented below.

---

The “Baby Boom” started around the mid 1940’s.
1946 was amongst the first years with the largest increases in birth rates, with an increase of ~25%.
Given a contemporary average life expectancy of roughly 72%-78%, the subsequent “Death Boom”, increases in death rates resulting from that Baby Boom, are now descending upon us.

I’ve a feeling the recent hysteria we’re witnessing regarding illness & deaths is actually being underlined & directed by the fear & insecurities of that impending “Death Boom”.
Fear of loss, aka Death Anxiety.
Those aging Boomers, whom are now sitting in political offices, sitting on corporate boards, Directing Governmental Agencies, and otherwise controlling public policy, are perhaps looking to do most anything to eek out a few more years.
From Anthony Fauci, to Bill Gates, to Joe Biden, and far beyond, most of those making or directing the public health policies are in, or quite close to that “Boomer” generation.

Sitting Back, Watching Insane People Continue to do Insane Things

A definition of insanity has been offered as doing the same things but expecting different results.
I see that in action, every single day, amongst a large majority of people.
People that then look suspiciously at me, as I fail to participate in or seek to escape from their insane ways.

I ask, what is more insane, continuing to do insane things that continue to result in negative consequences, or refusing to participate in those insane things?

D.I.Y. or Die!

Where you have growing dependence, you have a lack of independence.
Where you have a lack of independence, you generally have an absence of true liberties, freedoms, rights, justice, etc.

There are massive power & profit motives behind growing levels of systems of dependence.

You can start & run your own company, doing your own things, outside the establishment system.  You are only limited in scope by your own mind, your own self-imposed constraints.
You can conceive of ideas & thoughts outside the established narratives, breaking free of both manufactured consent and manufactured dissent.
You can grow more of your own foods, even your own medicines.
You can live more off the land.  Even with little land, even with rented land.

The U.S., and much of the world, is often abundant with beneficial natural resources, resources largely untapped, as corporations and the Establishment are constantly herding us towards conformity, reliant on the same resources, that they control and profit from.

Independence takes effort, hard work, dedication.
But those things we have to work (not work in the sense of slaving for someone else) for often provide so much more joy, appreciation, ambition.

You Can’t Save Your Cake and Eat it Too

You can’t have your cake and eat it too is a popular English idiomatic proverb or figure of speech.
The proverb literally means “you cannot simultaneously save your cake and eat it” (some people get confused over the use of the word “have” in the idiom, which is used to mean “save”).
In order to save it, you can’t indulge in eating it.
If you eat it you can’t save it for later.
Thus you simultaneously can’t have two opposing conditions, which  can’t exist at the same time.

I bring this up because I keep reading articles from people that keep griping about things like the actions & abuses of Big Tech, but they simultaneously continue to support that same Big Tech.
Or people that are griping about billionaires and the vast concentrations of wealth that are occurring in modern times, but whom continue to engage in the systems set up by those billionaires that continue to send more wealth towards those billionaires.
Or people that complain of the massive corruptions in politics, whom continue to support the systems that send the same corrupt politicians back to office.
You can’t have it both ways.

Choosing between two opposing conditions illustrates the concept of trade-offs.

I’m often largely a fan of more alternative media, but most of that “alt” media that exists today is emerging as one among the most hypocritical.
Many of those media are remaining reliant on Big Tech companies for marketing (i.e. maintaining social media pages for reference to their own sites), but simultaneously complaining of the growth of and increasingly restrictive policies of those Big Tech platforms.

So they’re doing business with those companies, actively supporting those companies in the process, but complaining of having to comply with the terms of doing business with those companies.
Try as they might, they can’t have it both ways.

This post is also partially directed at Protestors and Demonstrators, of both “opposing” sides, like many in the BLM, Antifa, and Capital Stormers.
Those that are (rightfully) complaining of the systematic abuses occurring, like losses of liberty, freedom & justice, but whom then engage in actions that require greater police & security presence, and more laws that are more restrictive of those actions.
You can’t commit crimes, but then complain of an increase in laws aimed at preventing those crimes.

I was chatting with a fellow the other day whom was complaining of certain actions in Congress, yet when I asked if he engaged in contact with his Congress persons to express his opinions and desires, he replied “no”.
I asked simply “How can you expect Lawmakers to even consider representing your views if you don’t express those views to them?”.
You can’t have or expect a representative government to function if you don’t reach out to and hold those Representatives accountable.
And though reaching out to them may not produce the results you want, or demand, you can’t simply give-up (keeping in mind that a “democracy” requires constant compromise, and we can’t always get just our way).

One of my favorite slogans/phrases is
Talk – Action = Zero (Talk minus Action equals Zero).

If you simply engage in empty rhetoric, without taking meaningful actions yourself, your words are largely useless.

 

How I Used Eucalyptus & Tea Tree Oils to Treat, and Thus Far Cure my Former Chronic Pneumonia

There has obviously been a lot in the news & media over the past year regarding pneumonia and bronchial infections.
I wanted to share my own personal experiences dealing with such.

Note:  This is absolutely NOT intended as medical or healthcare advice, this is just recounts of my own personal experiences.

I used to suffer from chronic pneumonia, bronchitis and bronchial issues for over 20 years.
Every single year, at least once to twice a year I would contract a cold or the flu, which would then become bronchitis or pneumonia.
And I would go through the same old routine, to the hospital or clinic, be prescribed antibiotics or antivirals, which would take 7-10 days to clear that infection.
Only to have it recur again in 6-12 months. 

Then  someone once mentioned Eucalyptus to me, and told me there was clinical evidence of its effectiveness against such infections.
So I began experimenting with that Eucalyptus (E. Globulus), first by just inhaling fumes from the bottle, which was ok but not as effective as I had hoped.
Then I began experimenting with steam inhalation, by dripping Eucalyptus oil, or whole or crushed leaves, in steaming water, and inhaling that steam.
Which proved much more effective.
But I noticed that symptoms of my infections would disappear within 24-48 hours after that steam inhalation.

When using Eucalyptus oil I had to learn to better regulate the amount of oil I dripped in the water, as too much proved too strong to inhale comfortably.

I have now not succumbed to either bronchitis or pneumonia for over six years, since starting that steam inhalation.
If/when I do start to feel ill, muscular pain, sore throat, fatigue, cough or such, I simply do that steam inhalation treatment, and am back to 100% within 24 hours.
Every single time.

I haven’t even had the flu during that six years.

I work with compost and make numerous soil amendment by using forest products.
Thus I am frequently exposed to large populations of numerous microbes, including “Black Mold” like Aspergillus Niger, which has proven quite harmful when inhaled.
There have been times when I was exposed to those microbes, and experienced serious bronchial issues, when I was experimenting with that Eucalyptus steam inhalation, but was able to clear those infections right away.
On one particular occasion, after inhaling large quantities of a mineral powder I make from certain forest products, and suffering serious infection and severe breathing difficulties for several days, literally gasping for breath, that I did one of those Eucalyptus steam inhalation treatments, and had that infection and breathing troubles clear by the next day.

I’ve been curious about any studies that have been done to investigate this treatment, and was surprised to find several studies that have shown how Eucalyptus does act as a natural antiviral, by inhibiting virus replication and binding.
Note how that study focused on the A/H1N1 virus (the swine flu), and then read & take note of numerous RT-PCR data sheets, like this one, in that they target viruses with genes shared with the so-called “covid” virus.

I have also been experimenting with Tea Tree oils, as numerous research studies have shown similar antiviral qualities, and have noticed similar effective results.
Note – I do urge caution when using Tea Tree oil as there is toxicity associated with internal use, thus I use it quite sparingly.

Despite my past, former chronic issues with bronchitis & pneumonia, I have absolutely no fear of coronavirus.

I encourage everyone to learn to investigate, observe and experience things for themselves.
To take more independence in, and personal control of their health & wellness.

I have learned that Nature is often the best steward of Nature.
That Nature takes care of, and often remediates itself.

I find it interesting that during this pandemic the healthcare industry is pushing even more antibiotics, sterilizers, and such.
Which have been recorded as one of the most concerning issues of the CDC prior.
Those lab-created synthetic antibiotics and sterilizers are leading to increased antibiotic resistance.

But antibiotics and antivirals are produced by interactions between microbes, enzymes, secondary metabolites, and such.
Those natural antibiotics and antivirals are a sort of germ warfare, that microbes use to defeat other microbes.

Microbes are among the quickest mutating/evolving organisms known to humans.
They develop resistance quickly.
But as harmful pathogens develop resistance, other microbes respond in-kind by similarly mutating/evolving and producing new antibiotics to overcome that resistance.

There are more and more studies being conducted on the effectiveness of allelochemicals contained in plants to fight bacterial and viral pathogens.
Globally some 50%-70% of all pharmaceuticals are based on these allelochemicals.

Allelochemicals are secondary metabolites, like polyphenols, terpines, lignans, and other compounds that are produced by, and used by microbes, as they live & function in healthy plants.

Despite many traditional & herbal medicines often simply being castigated as mere “quackery” by the medical & pharmaceutical industries, those same industries are increasingly studying the benefits of those plant allelochemicals.

Following are some studies regarding the effectiveness of Eucalyptus and Tea Tree oils:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0021850213000086

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00284-007-9045-0

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/mbo3.459

https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1365-2672.2003.02026.x

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02786826.2012.708948

Despite the constant bickering & fighting I see going on between opposing tribes, I’m more concerned about what is being obscured by those tribal narratives, and I have serious concerns about what I see as the failing systems behind those narratives.
Like a healthcare system that is failing.
And an agricultural system that is failing.

It seems to me we simply keep placing bandages over wounds that are continually growing bigger.

And virtually nothing known has the exact same effect on everyone.
Penicillin, for example, which is created naturally by microbes, has life-saving benefits for many, but can be dangerous for others.
Thus I feel it important for people to try things and find those things that work best for them.

Note – I have absolutely no investment in nor stake in anything related to this post (including no short positions in any other treatments or therapies related to bronchial issues).
I just believe in the power of sharing information and personal experiences, in the interest of advancing human knowledge.

Freeing the Mind – Learning to Let Go of Cognitive Constraints, Biases and Prejudices

A cognitive bias can be described as a pattern of deviation from rationality in judgment.
But cognitive biases can also have some degree of validity that underlie those biases.
Like a victim of several dog attacks may develop a tendency to be scared of most all dogs.
And that subsequent fright may have both positive and negative consequences, which may occur simultaneously like enabling a person to keep their distance from dogs, helping prevent any future attacks, but preventing them from approaching friendly dogs and developing a trusting relationship.

I’ve no stats but tend to believe that most everyone, if not everyone, has cognitive biases.
And some are better able to recognize, identify and admit those biases.

I’m more concerned about those that cannot recognize those cognitive biases in themselves.
If one can’t recognize their own biases, they likely cannot transcend beyond those biases.

Some cognitive biases are a “by-product” of human processing limitations,resulting from a lack of appropriate mental mechanisms (bounded rationality), impact of individual’s constitution and biological state (see embodied cognition), or simply from a limited capacity for information processing.

But I argue here that, despite any positive aspects of cognitive biases, people can learn more, and make better decisions, if they learn to first identify, then let go of any cognitive biases. 
This certainly does not mean negating or forgetting any past experiences or observations, but better incorporating those into thinking processes.

The longer I live, learn, observe, discover, and seek knowledge, the more I recognize the seeming inherent biases in most everything.

Donald Trump helped usher in the phrase “fake news”, but virtually no one I know, truly knows what that means.
Trump himself, despite using it, is an frequent abuser of that concept.
As are most people that claim to be aware of biases.

But a problem that arises with cognitive biases is that once you allow something to affect your thinking to the point that it becomes an automatic process, it becomes nearly impossible to expand your overall knowledge base.
This has been identified as an “echo chamber” effect in the example of news.
Those identifying as “Democrat” are unlikely to consider the views of those identifying as “Republican”, and vice versa.
Neither side is likely to get truthful information about the other, thereby limiting their logical decision making.

Plus, feeding on people’s cognitive biases is an excellent ploy for marketing and propagandists campaigns.

I’ve been interested in reading more “Scientific” journals of various topics as of recently, and am noticing a disturbing trend wherein even the “educated” and “learned” professions and people tend to resort to biases, often failing to take more objective studies and/or make more objective observations.
Which then go to influencing their conclusions.

Rather than allowing evidence and facts to determine their beliefs, they’re seemingly allowing their biases to drive their beliefs, and skewing the data, and/or using only that data that supports those beliefs.

Human error is quite natural, and numerous studies have demonstrated the link between many of those errors to cognitive biases.

It becomes a bit frightening, and highly disconcerting, when you realize that supposed “experts” are little better than common “lay persons” at discovering the truths, often influenced by the same biases and thus assumptions.

Types of Cognitive Biases to be aware of:
Attentional Bias:
The tendency of perception to be affected by recurring thoughts.

Authority Bias:
the tendency to attribute greater accuracy to the opinion of an authority figure (unrelated to its content) and be more influenced by that opinion.

Automation Bias:
The tendency to depend excessively on automated systems which can lead to erroneous automated information overriding correct decisions.

Availability Heuristic:
The tendency to overestimate the likelihood of events with greater “availability” in memory, which can be influenced by how recent the memories are or how unusual or emotionally charged they may be.

Backfire Effect:
The reaction to unwanted and/or disconfirming evidence by strengthening one’s previous beliefs.

Belief Bias:
An effect where someone’s evaluation of the logical strength of an argument is biased by the believability of the conclusion.

Confirmation Bias:
The tendency to search for, interpret, focus on and remember information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions..

Dunning Kruger Effect:
The tendency for unskilled individuals to overestimate their own ability and the tendency for experts to underestimate their own ability.

Experimenters Bias:
The tendency for experimenters to believe, certify, and publish data that agree with their expectations for the outcome of an experiment, and to disbelieve, discard, or downgrade the corresponding weightings for data that appear to conflict with those expectations.

Groupthink & Bandwagon:
Doing or thinking a certain way because your peers are doing or thinking that thing.
Conformity.  Following the crowd.

Illusory Correlation:
Inaccurately perceiving a relationship between two unrelated events.

Status Quo Bias:
The desire to keep things relatively the same.  A fear of change.

And numerous others.

I believe if you can be mindful of, and avoid using these biases, you are perhaps much more likely to open & thus free your mind

The Story Behind the Official Narrative – Consistently Rising Death Rates Year After Year, for the Past 10+ Years

I have absolutely no stake in the “covid” narrative.
I am far more interested in the stories behind the stories, and in finding empirical data, evidence, stats, etc.
Looking at one single snapshot is virtually meaningless.
Examining trends can often shed more insight.

Hearing so much about supposed increases in deaths in 2020 has led me to compiling population versus death stats, from several countries.

Stats can be tricky.
They can used in various ways to make pre-determined conclusions.
Like stating 2020 has seen “excessive” deaths as compared to 2019.

I’ve completed two spreadsheets, one for Sweden and one for Canada.
I’m working on other countries but just awaiting official national stats from the government stat keeping agency from each country, rather than rely on data from third parties.

But what I’m finding in most all preliminary data is that while most countries have had “excess” deaths in 2020, that is based on side-by-side comparison of raw death numbers from 2019.
In other words countries are seeing more total deaths in 2020 as compared to 2019.
But their also seeing increases in population.
Thus one would expect more deaths as populations increase.

Another interesting thing I’m finding is that while most countries are seeing increases in death rates in 2020 as compared to 2019, but most every year is seeing similar increases from the prior year.
And those increases in 2020 are not out of the ordinary, compared to increases in previous years.
In other words, where a country may see a 0.109% death rate in 2020, versus .107% in 2019, 2019 similarly saw an increase from 2018, which is was at .105%.

So year after year is seeing a steady .002% increase.
Does this count as “excessive” deaths?
It results in more total deaths, but again as would be expected with rises in population.

What I’m perhaps most fascinated about is the continual year-after-year rise in death rates, in most every “industrialized” country I’ve checked.
Why are supposedly “more developed” & “advanced” countries seeing higher death rates year after year?
With advancements, shouldn’t those rates be going down, not up?
And what is that really saying about healthcare systems in these countries?

It seems rather than focusing on one single year, 2020, and on one cause, coronavirus, we should be examining the steady year-after-year increases.

Feeding your biases:
But both sides, pandemic believers and pandemic disbelievers can both make claims to support their own beliefs.
Yes, total death numbers are up in 2020 versus 2019.
Yes, death rates are up slightly in 2020 versus 2019.
But total death numbers have gone up in most years.
And death rates continue to climb.

So both sides have winnable arguments.
Or do they both have unwinnable arguments?
Maybe they should be arguing about that.

Rather than focusing on the fact that people in industrialized countries are dying at increasing rates, year after year.

Examples of Japanese Population, death and birth stats by year (note that since 2007 total deaths have exceeded total live births in Japan):


(Above chart from knoema.com)
———————————————————————————————————————


(Above chart from indexmundi.com)
——————————————————————————————————————

(Above chart from Japan Ministry of Health, Labour & Welfare)

 

Beware – The Rebirth of the Hydra – The Rise of Big Everything

“The beast was nurtured in the marshes of Lerna, from where she would go out onto the flatland to raid flocks and ruin the land. The Hydra was of enormous size, with eight mortal heads, and a ninth one in the middle that was immortal.”
─From Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 77-80─

According to Hesiod in the Theogony,, the Hydra was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna. It had poisonous breath and blood so virulent that even its scent was deadly. The Hydra possessed many heads, the exact number of which varies according to the source. Later versions of the Hydra story add a regeneration feature to the monster: for every head chopped off, the Hydra would regrow two heads. Heracles required the assistance of his nephew Iolaus to cut off all of the monster’s heads and burn the neck using a sword and fire.

Beware the rebirth of the Hydra, via the emergence of Big Everything.

The 2007-2008 economic meltdown revealed the existence of the “Too big to fail” banks.
Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke defined the term in 2010: “A too-big-to-fail firm is one whose size, complexity, interconnectedness, and critical functions are such that, should the firm go unexpectedly into liquidation, the rest of the financial system and the economy would face severe adverse consequences.”
These banks, which made vastly speculative & risky investments, eventually required extraordinary banking charters to obtain additional Federal Reserve support, plus the government provided bailout funds via the Troubled Asset Relief Program in 2008.

Little did many know that was just the beginning.
Rather than learning from their mistakes in that reckless investment strategy, the wealthy owners of those banks seemingly learned the government would simply bail them out, to avoid risking larger economic impacts.

Now it’s not just banks.
The Cartel of largest investment banks, like Vanguard, BlackRock, State Street, Fidelity, The Capital Group, and others have been busily gobbling up massive shares of stocks, becoming the largest shareholders of the largest “competing” corporations, in most every single industry.

From Big Banks, to Big Tech, to Big Oil, to Big Medicine, to Big Manufacturing, to Big Food, to Big Ag, to Big Chem, to Big Media, and so one.
These are the multiple heads of the new Hydra.
Big Everything.
All controlled by the same Cartel of largest investment banks.

A seemingly undefeatable monster, with so many different heads that simply chopping off one leaves many left still intact, sustaining that monster as a new head grows back.

Various people, like Politicians, have often discussed the dangers of individual heads of this Hydra, like Congressional Hearings on the monopolistic practices of Big Tech, or Journalists writing of the concentrated ownership and control of media outlets, and other such.
Likely any attempts to break-up these large corporations will simply result in numerous smaller corporations, each that will come under ownership & control by the same Cartel of largest investors.
Just obscuring their ownership & control.
For Politicians are just as subservient to the Hydra are is most everyone else.
The Cartel that own these investment bank firms own the corporations that have become that largest campaign contributors of the most powerful Politicians.
Thus they similarly exercise massive control over public-policy & legislation, which will be crafted firstly to their whims & needs.

But the true power of this Hydra rests largely on its vast size, on those numerous powerful heads, it’s omnipresence in multiple industries and facets of every day life.

Like the fact that most Americans now work for corporations that are owned by this Cartel of investment banks that make up that Hydra.
Thus they have become dependent on that Hydra for financial support, via wages.
But as inflation continues to erode away at income, far outpacing dwindling wage growth, more Americans are also becoming increasingly reliant on these largest investment banks for personal investments in funds owned & controlled by the firms in this Cartel, as they look to supplement their dwindling wealth.
These investment banking firms are the ones that exercise actual voting power & thus control over the corporations in their funds, not individual shareholders whose investment money is being used to secure those shares.

Americans are also becoming increasingly reliant on the Hydra for means of production.
Those that don’t work directly for corporations owned by the Cartel that controls this Hydra, often rely on the Cartel that controls this Hydra for their tools of their trade.
From machinery, to materials, to equipment, to chemicals, to ingredients, to methods of distribution, to energy, etc.
Even small businesses spend most their revenue with Big Everything.

Consider this:
Total market capitalization in the U.S. is ~$38.5 trillion.
The Big Three investment banks (Vanguard, BlackRock, State Street) control over $16.5 trillion of that (thus ~43% of the entire market).
The top five control over $21.8 trillion (thus ~57% of the entire market).
Add another handful and you hit 85% of the total market, or so.
(check SEC 13 D/F/G filings for proof, for those that don’t believe any of this – as it’s all publicly available & easily found info).

Each of the heads of the Hydra are powered & protected by that cartel.

Thus nearly everyone has become heavily reliant and dependent on this Hydra, the same monster that is slowly devouring & destroying those same people.

Canada- Population, Deaths, Births – 2010-2020

20th century Thinker, Philosopher, Logician, Mathematician, and genuine Polymath Bertrand Russell is one of the few people I truly admire & respect.

In his 1957 book Why I Am Not A Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects, edited by Paul Edwards. London: George Allen & Unwin, he wrote:
“A habit of basing convictions upon evidence, and of giving to them only that degree of certainty which the evidence warrants, would, if it became general, cure most of the ills from which the world is suffering. But at present, in most countries, education aims at preventing the growth of such a habit…“.

I’m a fan of stats, and info, and data.
One of my hobbies is to search the relevant data on which to base any of my beliefs, or judgements, or values.
And to find the relevant data that may cause me to think differently, even change my mind on the conviction of any of my currently held beliefs.

But I was recently reading an article stating that in Ontario, the “covid” death count includes people that didn’t die of “covid”.
It’s just one of many articles that have had the same theme.
And it piqued my interest as to the actual yearly death toll in Canada, in regards to population and deaths rates.

Following is a spreadsheet detailing that data:
Canada death rate by year

And upon analyzing this data, I realized the complexity, and underlying larger trends of this data.

Notes/highlights on attached stats:
1.  The death rate of Canada has increased in data-year 2020 (which includes stats from July 1, 2019-June 30, 2020 – which is how Statistics Canada compiles this data-set, thus it is not directly correlated with population trends), and is the highest it’s been for 11 years.
But that death rate has been seeing steady increases, across most years (with the exception of 2012, 2014, 2016 & 2019).
2.  Year-toYear increase (total numbers) in deaths in 2020 (compared to previous year) is above average, but not at it’s peak, but is sitting at it’s second-highest increase.
3.  The Year-to-Year increase (percentage) in deaths in 2020 is above average, but not at it’s peak, but is sitting at it’s third-highest increase.

In my opinion, there are several ways to interpret this data.
• In regards to national/global lockdowns, if total deaths are the factor in that decision, why wasn’t there a lockdown in 2017 or 2015, when the death number increases were at  peak levels?
• Whilst total deaths have increased in 2020, that increase has happened in prior years, has been a temporary situation, and thus may not be grounds for such possible over-reactionism.
• Year-toYear death rate has been seeing a general upward trend (though not consistent), thus though Canada has seen a higher rate this year, that same can be said for many years.  Thus may not be grounds for such possible over-reactionism (or perhaps needs to be grounds for a larger discussion on the larger historical trend).

And there are many other ways to analyze this data.
But I think it’s important to put things into historical perspective & analysis, which I haven’t seen very many media outlets doing.

I also feel it important for more people to take the initiative to perform their own inquiries, and studies, to better educate themselves, and continually seek to gain greater knowledge.
And we should make ourselves aware of the complexities of any thoughts, beliefs, analysis, etc.
Each of us should beware of reliance on others to tell us of their own version of reality.

QUESTION EVERYTHING – BUT DO SO WITH INTELLIGENCE & WITH THE USE OF EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE.

“The Virus” – Deadly Pathogen, or Scapegoat for Human Stupidity?

It has long been known the benefits of proper human and natural nutrition & health.

The phrase “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”, often attributed to ancient healer and the “Father of medicine” Hippocrates, though perhaps misattributed, still highlights the necessity of proper nutrition as the factor of truly natural health.

Our world is increasingly becoming dominated by synthetics.
Synthetic fabrics, synthetic fuels, synthetic medicines, synthetic ingredients in foods, synthetic vitamins, etc.
In fact, most vitamins sold and/or added to foods for “enrichment” are synthetic derivatives, not born of Nature.
Many are byproducts of the mining, gas & oil industries.

Sure, we are told they are equivalent to their natural counterparts, but they aren’t (they may have similar, even identical basic chemical structures, but this is reductionism, and there are many more aspects to natural vitamins than single chemical compounds).
German-Jewish Chemist Fritz Haber, recognized as the Inventor of the Haber Process for nitrogen synthesis, recognized this in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize, stating “…Nitrogen bacteria teach us that Nature, with her sophisticated forms of the chemistry of living matter, still understands and utilizes methods which we do not as yet know how to imitate.“

That recognition of the role of bacteria is key.
As is the benefit of enzymes, secondary metabolites, and other compounds that may accompany the natural versions of vitamins.

Synthetic antibiotics are another example.
Most all natural antibiotics known are produced via the interactions of bacteria, fungi, enzymes, and other microbes & compounds.
They are used as a sort of germ warfare, as species of microbes battle other species microbes for control & dominance of wherever they reside (plant roots are a great example, as they exist as virtual battlegrounds of microbe vs. microbe, each looking to control the nervous system of that plant).

But bacteria are one of the quickest mutating/evolving forms, and they develop resistance to those existing natural antibiotics, but in equal response those other microbes mutate/evolve and generate evolutionary antibiotics to counter that resistance.
It’s a naturally balancing and evolving system.
Whereas synthetic antibiotics don’t evolve to match the evolution of the bacteria it’s suppose to fight.

The purpose of all this goes back to natural nutrition, and more of it.

It’s been often reported by numerous Scientists, Researchers, Historians and such that decreasing human nutrition likely exacerbated the Black Plague during the Middle Ages.
That decreased nutrition resulted in severely deficient immune systems.

I’ve little doubt the same is happening today.
Our grown foods have been shown in numerous studies to contain only a fraction of the nutrition as it did just 60 years ago.
Plus, with increased fertilizer use, there is increased harm to natural microbes, which need organic matter to feed on to live & thrive.
Fewer microbes means not only fewer natural vitamins but fewer natural antibiotics too.

And it’s true – you are what you eat.

I’m honestly astonished when people express surprise over any typical or recent health scares.
Like “The Virus”.
How can our bodies possibly be expected to properly fight infection when we constantly shovel garbage & toxic stuff into it?
And when even our “health promoting” supplements are low-quality substitutes, at best?

To make matters worse, rather than tackling the source of the problem, we’re demanding purely reactionary measures.
Perhaps just a mask today, but what about tomorrow?
Fully enclosed personal bubble? 
To ward off the growing number of potentially harmful things attacking our increasingly weakening bodies?

I prefer a stronger body.
But synthetics are not providing for that stronger bodies.

But rather than attack our own terrible habits & failings, we can blame “The Virus”.

The Soft Drink Example:
I consider the history & evolution of soda/soft drinks as an epitome of that rise of synthetics, and as an analogy of the  downfall of humanity.

Patent medicines of the 18th to 19th centuries, though holding a complicated and controversial history, often had roots in beneficial natural remedies.

Cough drops, bitters, root vegetable brews, and other such originally contained vegetables, oils, herbs and other compounds that were effective at treating numerous ailments.
Though largely unknown at the time, these natural products contain various allelochemicals, plant phytonutrients, of which a growing number of pharmaceuticals are based.

White Willow Bark, for example, contains natural Salicin, the original source of Salicylic Acid for aspirin.
Or Menthol and Eucalyptus used for cough suppression, throat irritation, even as antibiotics and antivirals. 

Coca-cola & root beer were originally formulated as patent medicines, using natural ingredients (despite the stigma of coca, which is deserved due to abuse, it does have beneficial medicinal properties, when used correctly).
Ginger Ale and Sarsaparilla have also demonstrated medicinal properties.

But the quest for profit and greed quickly consumed the patent medicine industry.

Today, few of these drinks contain any of their natural ingredients anymore.
Most are just artificial flavorings, colorings, and highly-processed sugars, or sugar substitutes.
None of which provide any medicinal benefits.

How much has that move away from natural beneficial compounds to most purely synthetic ingredients affected human health?
There is plenty of evidence that increased consumption of soft drinks leads to more negative consequences on health.

The Tobacco Example:
There is perhaps little doubt that smoking & tobacco use can cause cancer, or that use of tobacco products is linked to greater incidences of cancer.
But tobacco products are highly-processed, and contain much more than just tobacco.
There are some ~600 known additives contained in processed tobacco products.
Many are demonstrable carcinogenic.

Of all the studies that have linked tobacco use to cancer, none have focused on pure, unprocessed (no additives) tobacco (to be fair & accurate, tobacco smoke itself has been shown to create carcinogenic chemicals – thus I am excluding smoking herein).
And in fact, tobacco was used for centuries as a medicine (see here, and here for example).
“…when the use of Nicotiana by the indigenous populations in the New World was first observed by Columbus and the plant was brought to Europe…“
“Indeed, Nicotiana [the tobacco plant] acquired a reputation as a panacea, to the extent of being called the ‘holy herb’ and ‘God’s remedy’.“

“For three hundred years following its importation into Europe, tobacco came to be considered a universal remedy highly prescribed by physicians. In the early history of tobacco, the literature on its medicinal benefits was voluminous.“

Many native American tribes used tobacco for both medicinal and spiritual purposes.

And as of recent, there have been several studies conducted by numerous research universities and other Researchers demonstrating that pure natural tobacco contains anti-cancer compounds.
See here, here and here, for example.

There are obviously several factors involved here, but the increased synthesis and processing of tobacco is most likely a large factor.

Marijuana has been noted for numerous potential medicinal benefits, but the marijuana industry is see similar increases in synthesis of the plant.
I’ve little doubt today’s “legalization” movement will lead to increasing health consequences in the future.
As has happened with tobacco.
As has happened with fertilizers.
As is seemingly happening with the increased synthesis of most all other products, including food & vitamins.

 

 

Show Me!

“A habit of basing convictions upon evidence, and of giving to them only that degree of certainty which the evidence warrants, would, if it became general, cure most of the ills from which the world is suffering. But at present, in most countries, education aims at preventing the growth of such a habit, and men who refuse to profess belief in some system of unfounded dogmas are not considered suitable as teachers of the young…”
-Bertrand Russell Quoted in G Simmons Calculus Gems(New York 1992)–

I’m a tough person to convince, of most anything.  I don’t necessarily deny that I’m not convinced of, but neither do I necessarily believe in that.

I often hold what I consider a sliding-scale of beliefs.
I may, for example, give something 80% belief / 20% disbelief.
And I constantly reevaluate that scale, based on available and new information, data, stats, experience, etc.

And one of the main forms of evidence I rely on is personal experience & observation.
I don’t care so much about what other people tell me, as I do what I observe.

Many of the greatest Thinkers, Philosophers, Inventors, Discoverers, etc. (or at least most my favorites) refused to allow others to them how to think, or act.
What to believe & not believe.
And one of their main motivations for diversion & innovation ware personal observation and experience.

People in Charles Darwin’s time generally believed in the strict hierarchy of species.  A specific order for the food chain.
But Darwin personally observed carnivorous plants (which he wrote about in Insectivorous Plants [1875]).
And reports of his peers and foes widely criticizing Darwin, many making claims of fraud, and fabrications.
They were all taught that plants are near the bottom of the food chain.
That plants could not possibly prey on insects, let alone animals.

Nicolaus Copernicus in the 16th century.  Aristarchus of Samos before him in the third century BC, faced criticism as they rejected geocentrism, and promoted heliocentrism instead.
They refused to simply believe what they were told, and used personal observation to make theories and discoveries.

But like them, I need more verifiable data & info. before I put much belief in anything.  I’m often not convinced of anything until I observe it for myself.
So I say, if you want me to put belief in anything, show me that thing is true.

Obedience to Authority – in the 21st Century

The Milgram experiments on obedience to authority figures was a series of social psychology experiments conducted by Social Psychologist Stanley Milgram.
The experiments measured the willingness of study participants, men from a diverse range of occupations with varying levels of education, to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts conflicting with their personal conscience.

Milgram elaborated two theories:

• The first is the theory of conformism, based on Solomon Asch conformity experiments, describing the fundamental relationship between the group of reference and the individual person. A subject who has neither ability nor expertise to make decisions, especially in a crisis, will leave decision making to the group and its hierarchy.

• The second is the agentic state theory, wherein, per Milgram, “the essence of obedience consists in the fact that a person comes to view themselves as the instrument for carrying out another person’s wishes, and they therefore no longer see themselves as responsible for their actions. Once this critical shift of viewpoint has occurred in the person, all of the essential features of obedience follow”.

Milgram conceived of his theories and experiments based on the events of the Nazi movement, the events of the Holocaust, and especially the trial of Adolf Eichmann (whom, as per observers like Hannah Arendt, was actually not a fanatic or a sociopath, but instead an extremely average and mundane person who relied merely on clichéd biases rather than thinking for himself, was motivated by professional promotion rather than ideology.  Banality, in this sense, does not mean that actions by the likes of Eichmann were in any way ordinary, or even that there is a potential Eichmann in all of us, but that his actions were motivated by a sort of complacency which was wholly unexceptional, and devoid of true intellect, individualism, ethics and morals).

Milgram’s experiments seemed to show that it wasn’t just “Nazi’s” that were susceptible to this obedience to authority.
But that traits exhibited by many of those followers of Nazism were similarly exhibited by many in the general populations.

Now, heading into the 21st century, I’m noticing some incredibly disturbing trends: the rise of the same sort of unexceptionalism; growing reliance of presumed “authority” figures; blind obedience; increasing complacency; large decreases in true intellect; and other such banal traits and behaviors.

Divergence and diversity, creativity and eccentricity, individualism and disparity, rather than being accepted and/or celebrated, are increasingly feared, abhorred, even punished.

Even many people I know personally, whom consider themselves keen & aware to the conditions and effects of that obedience to authority, are largely falling victim to the exact traits, conditions and effects, but most completely unaware of own traits & habits of such.
And perhaps one of the worst aspects of what I’m observing is that many of those falling victim of this trend of obedience are those in the ranks of the considered “educated” and “learned” classes.

But what is “authority”, whom defines those hierarchies, and why do people choose to obey those systems?

In his book The Republic, Plato wrote “The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness. . . . This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears above ground he is a protector. . . . having a mob entirely at his disposal, he is not restrained from shedding the blood of kinsmen; . . . he brings them into court and murders them . . . at the same time hinting at the abolition of debts and partition of lands. . . . After a while he is driven out, but comes back, in spite of his enemies, a tyrant full grown.“
Thus those “authority” figures are most often created by their own peers, not born of some divine origin nor often in possession of special characteristics.

In fact, the Public Relations industry is one of the largest creators of “authority” figures.
It is like the Marketing and Advertising industry for the product of people and personalities.
Their job in that function is to create campaigns to cast those people in the best possible light.
One can see this in a source like Wikipedia, for example.
Read the articles on most any billionaire and you will most always see words like “Philanthropist” to describe that billionaire.
But these are not objective, factual definitions, but mere labels in marketing campaigns with the intent to persuade.
Billionaires hire PR people and agencies to purposefully edit those articles with those favorable words & tags.
That is image building.

Television stations do it for their Anchors & On-air personalities.
As do radio stations.
Authorities on news.  Authorities on music.

Much of a cops uniform is designed to instill authority.

Authority therefore is just determined, by whomever chooses to determine or accept it, not based on any innate quality or value.
Kings of old used to promulgate the belief they were divinely chosen by god to lead.
They were the authority because they placed themselves (or were placed by backers/supporters) in a position of authority.
And people often simply accept it.

 

Forward Into the Past?

Massive wealth concentrations, nationalism, authoritarianism, fascism, insecurities over scarcities, rising geopolitical tensions, etc., these are some of the conditions that were present in the early 1900’s.

Fast forward ~100 years, massive wealth concentrations, nationalism, authoritarianism, fascism, insecurities over scarcities, rising geopolitical tensions, etc., these are again some of the conditions that are present, in 2020.

Presumed Infectious Until Proven Innocent?

What is “guilt“?
“Guilt” can be defined as:

1. The fact or state of having committed an offense, crime, violation, or wrong, especially against moral or penal law; culpability: He admitted his guilt.

2. A feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., whether real or imagined.

3. Conduct involving the commission of such crimes, wrongs, etc.

Why is there a protection of legal presumption of innocence in the U.S., and other “free” nations?

After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the West began to practice feudal law, which was a synthesis of aspects of Roman law as well as some Germanic customs according to the new elite, including presumed guilt.
This tended to favor the nobility over the lower classes, whose witnesses risked being seen as less credible.

After the rediscovery of Roman law in the 12th century, the presumption of innocence made a comeback.

“Presumption of innocence” serves to emphasize that the prosecution has the obligation to prove each element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt (or some other level of proof depending on the criminal justice system) and that the accused bears no burden of proof.
The phrase “innocent until proven guilty” was coined by the British barrister Sir William Garrow (1760–1840) during a 1791 trial at the Old Bailey.
The foundations and idea being that accusers and their evidence be thoroughly tested in court, preventing jurors from prematurely assuming and/or concluding that a defendant almost certainly committed the crime,
and based on the legal inference that most people are not criminals.

Blackstone’s ratio as expressed by the English jurist William Blackstone in his seminal work, Commentaries on the Laws of England, published in the 1760s, said that:
“It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.“

Without such presumption of innocence, citizens can therefore be convicted and imprisoned without any evidence.

Assuming or presuming that a person, every person, is infected with some disease, results in the same type of consequences.
Social stigmatization, consternation, alienation, rejection and other such similar penalties often result.

So, in 2020 heading towards 2021, why is a person’s health status treated differently than their status as free human beings?

The Concentration of Wealth & Assets, and the Tyranny of the Aristocrats

In his 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, Political Activist, Political Theorist, Philosopher and Revolutionary Thomas Paine wrote:

“I know it is difficult to get over local or long standing prejudices, yet if we will suffer ourselves to examine the component parts of the English constitution, we shall find them to be the base remains of two ancient tyrannies, compounded with some new republican materials.

First.—The remains of monarchical tyranny in the person of the king.
Secondly.—The remains of aristocratical tyranny in the persons of the peers.“

“To say that the constitution of England is a union of three powers reciprocally checking each other, is farcical, either the words have no meaning, or they are flat contradictions. “

18th century Britain had seen tremendous concentrations of wealth.
Those Aristocrats that had accumulated that wealth, used it to massively influence the Monarch (the King), and Parliament, to their advantages.

The Declaration of Independence was not mere a declaration of independence against the British government, but similarly against the Aristocracy that were corrupting that British government.

The Boston Tea Party was similarly an action against the special privileges being afforded those Aristocrats, often via their corporations, like the East India Co.

British Authors John Trenchard & Thomas Gordon, in their Cato’s Letters, wrote of the same abuses.
“For if any crimes against the publick may be committed with impunity, men will be tempted to commit the greatest of all; I mean, that of making themselves masters of the state; and where liberty ends in servitude, it is owing to this neglect. Caesar thought that he might do what he had seen Marius and Sulla do before him, and so enslaved his country: Whereas, had they been hanged, he would, perhaps, never have attempted it.“
-Cato’s Letters #2-

This Aristocratic Tyranny is what led Political Enlightenment Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau to write:
“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. Here’s
one who thinks he is the master of others, yet he is more
enslaved than they are.“
-The Social Contract – The Subject of the First Book-


“In the word’s precise sense, a
tyrant is an individual who grabs the royal authority without
having any right to it. That is how the Greeks understood
the word ‘tyrant’: they applied it even-handedly to good and
bad princes whose authority wasn’t legitimate. . . . ‘Tyrant’
and ‘usurper’ are thus perfectly synonymous terms.
So as to have different labels for different things, I call
someone who usurps the royal authority a tyrant, and him
who usurps the sovereign power a despot. The tyrant is
someone who illegally forces his way in, so as to govern in
accordance with the laws; the despot is someone who sets
himself above even the laws.“

“Excess” “Covid”/Coronavirus Deaths? The Example of Statistics Sweden Official Stats

There has been much press regarding supposed “excessive” deaths from “covid”.
Even much of the alt-media is jumping on the bandwagon.
But most all are simply publishing numbers provided them, without any deeper analysis.

Below is the example of Sweden’s population vs. deaths, from 2010-2020.
These are deaths from all causes.

Sweden has been in the news, a lot, regarding the country’s policies over handling of the “covid” event.
But what hasn’t made the news is these detailed numbers, nor greater analysis.

I’m using Sweden as an example here simply because Sweden is about the only country I’ve found that keeps regularly updated stats, and makes those stats readily available.

Sweden Deaths 10-yr Average:

So, since 2010 Sweden has seen an average annual death rate of 0.92486%.
2019 was an anomaly, at a lesser 0.88444%.
If December continues to play out with the rest of the year, we can expect a death rate of ~0.92181%, which is less than the 10-year average.

* Note – numbers for 2020 are through the end of November.
The estimates take the 11-month, monthly average, and provide an extended estimate for 12 full months using that monthly average.

So I ask, did people in Sweden stop dying of all other causes in direct proportion to the supposed increase in “covid” deaths?

Is this really what’s causing global panic?

And Sweden is reported as being the Nordic country with the highest number of deaths from “covid”, thus this is a worst-case scenario.

Something isn’t adding up in this “covid” narrative.
And too few people are willing to question the official narratives.

Note – This is similar to findings of supposed “covid” deaths in the U.S. by GENEVIEVE BRIAND in the Nov. 26, 2020 issue of the Johns Hopkins News-Letter.
In that article, Briand states:
“These data analyses suggest that in contrast to most people’s assumptions, the number of deaths by COVID-19 is not alarming. In fact, it has relatively no effect on deaths in the United States.“

“This comes as a shock to many people. How is it that the data lie so far from our perception?“

In other words, the number of deaths in the U.S. in 2020 have not increased.
Just like in Sweden.
The supposed “excess” deaths being attributed to “covid” have come at a reduction of deaths from all other causes.
Deaths are just being reclassified as “covid”.

I find that to be a huge problem.
If a person died while suffering a heart attack, but a Physician determined they had “covid” during that heart attack, the cause of death is being listed as “covid”, rather than the heart attack.

This practice is leading to false numbers, and causing irrational panic, fear and “covid” hysteria.

A closer look at U.S. deaths being considered due to COVID-19.