Recent Comments

1. about 2 months ago on Pearls Before Swine

   Actually I think you can explain this all with only the observation effect.. just as with Schrodinger’s feline fatale, if you will simply refrain from opening the dryer door the socks remain in superposition, neither missing nor paired and we can be barefoot as Dog intended.

2. 3 months ago on Pearls Before Swine

   For the life of me, I just cannot understand Americans’ unwavering predilection for ultra processed and franchise fast foods in this day and age..

   I mean, there was a time when eating at home meant significant extra work and privation (or so the big agra and franchise propagandists would have us believe)..

   But honestly, here in the USA any decent grocery store has reasonably processed (as opposed to ultra processed) foods such as seasoned small species fish – healthier than large species in terms of accumulated toxins, prewashed greens, and other makings of easy healthy summer meals..

   Further, with ubiquitous Internet access even in the southern mountains that I haunt, your choice of mealtime music, content, companionship or whatever has never been better – even taking all the above ingredients for a quick picnic at one of the many underutilized municipal parks we have..

   When I compare the trivial efforts needed for inexpensive heathy and enjoyable mealtimes with paying ten times as much for an absolute assault on my senses and hair tearing frustration that trying to get food I actually want from a franchise staffer with at most weeks of work experience while shouting over piped in ‘entertaiment’ and loutish loudmouths ,

   or, far worse, the deeply depressed ultra processed food zombie trance that people apparently adopt in the pale blue light of the cable and streaming services indoctretainment to dull the shame and anxiety while voluntarily destroying one’s health,…

   I mean, I was raised in the USA, and I did participate in the same things pre pandemic, but today, when food fresher than any franchise – and multiples cheaper – is so easy to acquire and prepare, and when modern cooking appliances, refrigerators, deep freezers and dishwashers are so cheap and reliable…

   I understand the Anglo-American penchant for physiological destruction even less than their penchant for destruction of their democratic and cultural legacy..

   So glad for the national parks!!

3. 4 months ago on Nick Anderson

   Thank you!

   The language is actually very amenable to things like the Digital Democracy Project and other strategies where we can work on elimination of the elements of representation necessitated by lack of communication technology and on understanding and enhancing those elements that are actually effective for the preservation of representative democracy..

4. 4 months ago on Nick Anderson

   Hmmm .. if you could, please provide a reference to the minutes you reference..

   The work on factions by Madison that I am familiar with is Federalist 10, and, briefly, while it is true that factions around various opposed human interest are inevitable and so called ‘pure’ democracy (which is a bit of a red herring) is likely to be as violent and short lived as Madison asserts, and within the systems we can countenance, neither equality of citizen interests nor strictures on factions sufficient for safety are possible, I think the logic of representative democracy that was embodied in our system was wanting then (owing, ironically, to a rural Southern faction) and has only been shown to be further from the post revolution/defeat governments of every successful developed nation from France to Japan, to say nothing of the modern iteration of the system we ourselves rebelled against..

   This doesn’t even address the modern work being done on the proper digital transformation of said government, which is happening in places who have reason to cherish their democracy, like Estonia and Taiwan..

   There is a work on this (mostly in Taiwan) worth looking at here:

   httpS://wWw.plurality.Net

   The works of the founding fathers are surely important, but just as Descartes’ dualism and Hegel’s dialectics tie us to baggage best discarded, I think capitalism and republicanism are in need of serious science driven reform if we want to face challenges like climate change without another civil war (or worse).

5. 4 months ago on Nick Anderson

   Sadly, I think tRump will only serve as an accelerant on a process that those bent on removing democratic representation from anyone outside of their chosen ‘elite’ are willing to overthrow our government for..

   There is an excellent article on how the Federalist society has pulled SCOTUS into the mire that they used to destroy the legislative branch:

   ”All of the United States’ most important governing institutions are failing at once.

   Congress, of course, has long been barely able to function. Every year, it struggles merely to fund the rest of the government, and the risk that it will trigger a debt ceiling breach that would set the global economy on fire is alarmingly high.

   The Republican Party has atrophied into a cult of personality, centered on an authoritarian who literally tried to overthrow the duly elected United States government. The Democratic Party, meanwhile, may be unable to dislodge a senescent leader who is no longer capable of making the case against his imperious opponent.

   And then there’s the Supreme Court, perhaps the only branch of the United States government that is capable of speaking in complete sentences right now. But the most recent Supreme Court term, which ended last week, makes one thing clear: Don’t confuse the Court’s relative eloquence for competence."

   httpS://

   wwW.vox.Com/scotus/359206/supreme-court-incompetent-abortion-trump-immunity

   A tRump victory this year will seal the fate of the executive, to join the other two branches in the mire, but I don’t know if a Biden victory will mean all that much in the current context..

   The more I read the philosophy of the time, the more I believe the honorable Mr Franklin was warning about exactly this..

   In any case, we shall soon see if we can hold onto our Republic..

   You get the government you educated your citizens to uphold I guess.

6. 4 months ago on Nick Anderson

   Personally, I hope we can all live to see them die out before they complete any take over..

7. 4 months ago on Nick Anderson

   While I agree with you about the tRump organization, the Republicans afraid of being primary-ed and even the likely appointments he will make, I think the supporters now backing him are becoming more organized around billionaire mega donors and those behind project 2025 who are essentially looking to use tRump and the supremes they bought during his last ego binge to literally destroy the entire professional staff that maintained stability in the country regardless of administration and replace it with a shadow oligarchy..

   As vindictive as tRump is, he is still a buffoon in the end, and I fear the evangelical Armageddonists, the dark pattern behavioralists, the techno oligarchy and the apartheid gerrymanders that are rapidly festering and multiplying in his putrid wake as the Democrats debate Biden

8. 4 months ago on Nick Anderson

   A system where one party is being faithful to the process of representative democracy by ACTUALLY DELIBERATING about the fitness of their candidates while their opponents are amoral and willing to employ a FELON AND TRAITOR with no consideration beyond staying in power CANNOT SUSTAIN DEMOCRACY.

9. 4 months ago on Nick Anderson

   There is a very good article on Mother Jones about the history of American anti democratic tendencies:

   “The founders didn’t want a direct democracy, like in ancient Greece, because they thought that direct democracy led to mob rule. But they wanted to create a representative democracy, in which you would have representatives who they believed would be wiser and more thoughtful and more careful and who would represent the views of their constituencies. The representative democracy the founders set up was very flawed. But the point is, they didn’t say we’re not a democracy. They said clearly that we’re a representative democracy. And it’s the representative part that is always missed by the people who say we’re not a democracy. But they invoke this mantra to justify all sorts of anti-democratic tactics.”

   ..

   “They are now more strategic, and they are now being helped by a political system that advantages more conservative and more rural areas as opposed to more urban, more diverse, and more progressive areas. I’m concerned about the toxic combination of an undemocratic political system and an authoritarian leader who wants to take advantage of that political system. I wonder whether our institutions will hold again.”

   httpS://

   www.motherjones.Com/politics/2024/04/ari-berman-interview-minority-rule-gop-republicans-founders/

10. 4 months ago on Nick Anderson

    This illustrates the situation perfectly – exactly as good political comics should do.

    Simply put, democracy CANNOT survive in an environment where any significant political faction is allowed to take advantage of anti democratic tactics.