110 boom! bang! pop! flash! it's freedom!

It was the fourth of July yesterday. After returning from the Delta, we spent most of the day by ourselves, in the backyard, and then marveled at the hours long homemade display of fireworks. Everywhere. For some weird reason, I had no trouble going to sleep despite the banging. 

Oh wait, that's right, I've been sleeping rough(ish) the past few nights, that might have helped.

Here's the video of my sailing trip: https://youtu.be/asxDgYYuK6o

Now, let's talk for a minute about freedom. 

A while ago I learned the difference between "freedom" and "liberty."

Freedom is when one person struggles against bonds to create a state of self-determination. You escape from slavery, or a restrictive relationship, into freedom. 

Liberty is when a whole society has freedom. Everyone has the option to choose what they want to do.

Like voting. In a society with liberty, voting is easy, because everyone wants to hear from everyone else. "What's your choice?" is the question, not "Where's your ID?" 

"Where's your ID?" doesn't really ring of freedom, does it?

Now, let's see what dear leader, the projector in chief, has to say on the topic. 

July 4th? It's a day, a great day, a magnificent day, for fireworks. 

The pledge of allegiance, for instance.

November is still a ways off, but in the big picture it will arrive quickly indeed.

It is? Remember BLM asking for a return to the UK? I'm pretty sure I heard it, between chanting of "no justice, no peace" and "this is what democracy looks like" did you hear that tiny hopeful voice singing out "God save the queen?"

Give me liberty, or give me ten years for tearing down Andrew Jackson, who owned slaves and walked first people to death.

Not sure the connect between the revolution and the civil war, but pretty sure Washington and Jefferson were called radicals by a few people.  Even so, there's more to their stories.

Washington, the richest man in America at the time of the revolution, had a set of false teeth made not from wood, but from the teeth of his enslaved workers.

Jefferson had several children by his enslaved servants, none of whom he acknowledged, even as he wrote that all men are created equal. 

Free debate, like the ones you wanted to skip out on this year? Tolerance, as in zero-tolerance?

Now, we get into some serious projection. Apparently dear leader has heard he is being called fascist. Time to point at someone else!

Who is attacking who? 

To be fair, dear leader is mainly parroting all the bullshit he was indoctrinated with in school. It's pretty hard to get away from  "America is the greatest, most free country on Earth" propaganda.

So, who are these radicals intent on illuminating American propaganda?

Moderates. Here's an example of the "radical" demands:

And finally, a chart on when to wash your hands and wear a mask.

Gotta say, sailing was more fun than trying to keep up with this circus.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

547 a giving planet

Image
Where to start? With a drip. Due to a recent large bill for two pieces of plastic pipe and a valve, I have become interested in learning more about pex plumbing. Like many things in the US, this more efficient way of doing things is having a slow takeoff.  Why? Because existing building codes, laws created by localities, have been slow to change, sticking with the tried and true rather than adapting to new technology. This is true on many fronts. After recently riding the train cross country, I arrived in the town I grew up in. Above is a bit of information from the town zoning laws, stating businesses are not allowed to have exterior displays of their products.  This runs counter to everything modern "new urban" planners have found: to create a vibrant retail presence, stores want to invite shoppers inside by displaying their goods outside. But really, it seems like everything is upside down. Above is a classic piec...
Read more

610 totally unrelated

Image
At top, a bicycle built for golf. Mid-drive, even. Kinda spendy at $7k, but this is golf. Apparently they're selling.  We're talking about Bikes and Batteries today. This is a, um, what was this?  Right, a swappable battery.  Sounds a lot like a dorado battery with a new design. Having uniform parts between different manufacturers will help us consumers. (Imagine if your car only worked with one brand of gasoline.) So this thinking is in the right direction-ish. Throw a golf bag holder on the front and they could charge more. ;) There's gold in them thar batteries. (Or at least some rare earth minerals.) The question is, how do we get them out, and then back in?  At least we can haul them about in this.  It's funny how some designs look bad while others look good. In my eye, that's a pretty good looking box for moving other boxes.  ...
Read more

469 who spiked the corona?

Image
Omicron is here. In less than a month, it has gone from zero cases in the US, to 73% of cases as of this past weekend. At top is San Francisco, below is New York State. The good news is, if you're vaccinated, you might not get too sick. The bad news is, there's a pretty good chance we're all going to get sick in this one. Here's NYC, where you can see omicron is making the curve from March 2020 look small. Or else, lockdown. I'm not a doctor, or an expert. Here's what I've picked up about omicron: 1. It is more transmissible . At least twice as easily spread as the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2. They say it's on the level of measles, the most easily spread virus we know. 2. It seems to have borrowed some tricks from the common cold. Literally, according to at least one report I've read, most of the spike protein mutations in Omicron match directly to the common cold, an...
Read more