Thursday, March 31
Disney's Gay Agenda
During a staff meeting on Florida’s recent enactment of the Parental Rights in Education bill, an executive producer at Disney said she was advancing a “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” to insert queerness into children’s animation.
Latoya Raveneau, executive producer for Disney Television Animation, talked about how the studio’s treatment of her progressive ideas defied her negative expectations of the company, in a video obtained by journalist Christopher Rufo. Instead of vetoing her pitches for LGBTQ-friendly Easter eggs or overt references in her series, Disney gladly accepted and included them, she claimed.
“In my little pocket of Proud Family Disney TVA, the showrunners were super welcoming . . . to my not-at-all-secret gay agenda,” she said. “Maybe it was that way in the past, but I guess something must have happened . . . and then like all that momentum that I felt, that sense of ‘I don’t have to be afraid to have these two characters kiss in the background.’ I was just, wherever I could, adding queerness. . . . No one would stop me, and no one was trying to stop me.”
She said that when she joined, she assumed Disney would try to keep LGBTQ elements out of content for younger audiences, but she was pleasantly surprised.
“I love Disney’s content. I grew up watching all of the classics. They have been a huge informative part of my life, but at the same time, I worked at small studios most of my career, and I’d heard whispers. I’d heard things like, ‘They won’t let you show this in a Disney show.’ So I was a little sus when I started, but then my experience was bafflingly the opposite of what I had heard,” she said. READ MORE...
Immigration in France
A writer and talk show pundit known for his polarising attacks on Muslims and immigrants, Zemmour emerged as the election’s dark horse early on in the campaign, drawing from both the mainstream conservative camp and voters disappointed by the far right’s traditional champion, Marine Le Pen. He has since slipped down the table in voter surveys, polling at around 10-11 percent, though his supporters still rank among the most raucous and motivated ahead of the first round of the election on April 10.
On Sunday, tens of thousands gathered at the Trocadéro in Paris, facing the Eiffel Tower, hoping to inject new momentum into his campaign. They included veteran far-rightists, staunch Catholics, anti-LGBT activists and anti-vaxxers for whom Zemmour is the best candidate to halt immigration, restore order and uphold traditional French values.
Donning a “Zemmour 2022” cap and a baptism medal wrapped around her neck, 18-year-old Eugénie is getting ready to cast her very first ballot on April 10 – and she could hardly be more thrilled about her choice of candidate. “I never thought I’d support someone with such fervour,” she says. “I’m lucky to be casting my first vote for a candidate I really like.” The philosophy student was just 9 years old when she first took part in a Paris rally, back in 2013, to oppose marriage for same-sex couples. Nine years on, she’s back on the streets of the French capital to “prove that Zemmour is not alone, contrary to what the media claim”.
A practising Catholic, Eugénie stresses the former pundit’s “love of France (...) and the fact that he’s the only candidate to defend Christian values”. He’s also “the only one to challenge the transhumanist movement [advocates of human-enhancement technologies]”, she argues, praising Zemmour’s conservative stance on “bioethical debates that undermine society”. While she acknowledges that transhumanism is a niche concern, even for the far-right candidate, Eugénie wholeheartedly subscribes to his core policy: his pledge to halt, and indeed reverse, immigration. READ MORE...
Abortions Protested in Madrid
Carrying signs that read "Abortion is not right" and chanting "More respect for life", demonstrators walked through the centre of the Spanish capital to Cibeles square in central Madrid where a manifesto was read aloud.
"There are other alternatives. After an abortion there is always trauma but that is not talked about," said Yolanda Torosio, a 44-year-old secretary who attended the protest with her daughter.
The protest was organised by the "Yes to Life" platform which estimated that some 20,000 people took part. The central government's representative in Madrid put the number of marchers at about 9,000.
The crowd included parents pushing strollers, retired couples and groups of youths, some carrying Spanish flags.
While Spain decriminalised abortion in 1985, women in the predominantly Catholic country still face obstacles when choosing to terminate a pregnancy since many doctors refuse to care out the procedure.
According to the OMC Spanish doctors' association, "most" obstetrician-gynaecologists who work in the public sector consider themselves "conscientious objectors" and refuse to carry out abortions.
As a result women in some regions must travel hundreds of kilometres for an abortion because there is no private clinic nearby and the local hospital will not perform them.
Socialist Prime Pedro Sanchez's government is preparing a law to ensure that all public hospitals perform abortions, and wants to ban protests outside of abortion clinics as "harassment".
IT also wants to modify the law so minors of 16 and 17 can terminate a pregnancy without their parents' consent, as is the case in Britain and France.
Polls show a majority of Spaniards are in favour of keeping the country's existing abortion laws, which allow the procedure on demand in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.
Wednesday, March 30
Off My Rocker...
Infinite
Multi-dimensional
Multiverse
So... if I were to speculate that there is a cosmic consciousness that floats around in our universe and contains all knowledge that was, is, or will be... then it would be difficult for me not to expect that only a few people would agree with me...
Yet... this is what I believe... when we use our mental capacities, we generate some sort of mental energy that dissipates out of our bodies... and, like the commercial asks where does this stress go? Where do these mental energy thoughts go?
Human beings typically disagree with anything that they don't understand or that they cannot see right in front of them... Case in point: Religious Faith.
Ironically, years ago, we did not believe in UFOs and yet today, many of our government leaders and educational leaders believe that we were visited by aliens and that aliens are still visiting us... and, they believe this because the evidence is changing in the sense that it can only be explained by aliens visiting us...
WE NEED TO OPEN OUR MINDS... to all sorts of possibilities...
My Biased Views
My thoughts this morning are on China... and, the fact that as the USA, Canada, Europe, and Australia GOES GREEN, China, Russia, Asia, Africa, Middle East, Central America, and South America DOES NOT GO GREEN.
How in the hell are our efforts going to make any difference? In fact, we are getting played by China because according to Reuters: BEIJING, March 5 (Reuters) - China will boost the production of more modern coal mines and enhance coal reserve capacity, and aims to increase the government-deployable storage to 5% of local consumption, the country's state economic planner said on Saturday.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) also said in a statement during the annual parliament gathering that it will guarantee coal transportation and further improve coal pricing mechanisms.
Do you want to be laughed at by the rest of the world because we are being played by China? This has nothing to do with being Democratic or Republican... but it has everything to do with being an American... and, I am rather pissed off that we are not smart enough as an administration to see what is going on throughout the rest of the world... and, those of us who are not wealthy continued to get SCREWED OVER by those who are wealthy... and, the sad thing is that we just seem to bend over and spread our ass cheeks so that it can happen more easily...
ALL OF US CANNOT SIMPLY BE THAT STUPID...
Top Problem is INFLATION Since 1985
The share of Americans who rate inflation as the top issue facing the country is at the highest in nearly 40 years, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday.
About one in five Americans, or 17%, surveyed March 1-18 cited inflation as the nation’s most important problem. That’s up from 10% in February, and compares with 4% who pointed to fuel prices in particular.
U.S. consumer prices are rising at the fastest pace in four decades, outpacing wage gains and fanned further by Russia’s war in Ukraine. Gas prices are near record highs -- well over $4 a gallon nationwide -- especially straining lower-income families.
Among those polled -- a little over 1,000 U.S. adults -- 22% say the government is the top problem outside of the economy, while 9% cited the war in Ukraine. The share citing the coronavirus fell to the lowest level since the pandemic began.
Similar to a University of Michigan survey -- which showed U.S. consumer sentiment remained at a decade low in March -- inflation concerns diverge sharply from a political perspective. Nearly 80% of Republicans are worried about inflation, more than double the proportion of Democrats, according to Gallup. SOURCE: Bloomberg READ MORE...
Covid Tests No Longer Free
Coronavirus tests for uninsured patients are no longer free in some places. That's because the program that reimbursed clinics and hospitals for the testing, as well as for treating uninsured patients with COVID-19, stopped accepting claims last week "due to lack of sufficient funds." Some clinics have already started to turn away people without insurance who come to get tested and can't afford to pay for it.
Free vaccines for uninsured people are next — that funding will run out next week. After that, the vaccines themselves will still be covered by the government — for now — but the costs of administering them will no longer be billed to the federal program.
In another blow to the COVID-19 response, federal shipments of monoclonal antibody treatments to states — drugs designed to keep people infected with the coronavirus out of the hospital — were also slashed last week by 35%, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
Biden administration officials such as Becerra warn that this is just the beginning. They've cited a long list of consequences — short and long term — as they plead with lawmakers to allocate $22.5 billion more for pandemic relief.
At the moment, that request for funding appears stalled in Congress. That has hospitals and public health experts worried that the U.S. will be poorly equipped to identify — let alone manage — whatever happens next with the pandemic. READ MORE...
Resign or Face Impeachment
“Clarence Thomas should resign,” she wrote on Twitter. “If not, his failure to disclose income from right-wing organizations, recuse himself from matters involving his wife, and his vote to block the Jan 6th commission from key information must be investigated and could serve as grounds for impeachment.”
Ocasio-Cortez is just the latest in a series of Democratic lawmakers and legal experts to intensify ethical scrutiny of Thomas in the wake of explosive reports last week that exposed his wife’s aggressive efforts to help overturn former President Trump’s electoral defeat.
Those revelations raised fresh questions about the justice’s refusal to step aside from related cases before the Supreme Court, including at least 10 rulings concerning the 2020 presidential election, without any indication of him recusing.
The ruling that has drawn the sharpest criticism came in January, when Thomas was the only justice who dissented in an 8-1 ruling that cleared the way for House investigators probing the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection to obtain Trump-era White House records. READ MORE...
Tuesday, March 29
Remembering Vietnam Veterans
.jpg)
I am a Vietnam Veteran... 1969-1975... I was in the US Navy in the area of communications... I was stationed in Little Creek, VA just right around the corner from the Norfolk Naval Base, VA...
I remember that when I was wearing my uniform in the city of Norfolk or in the airport, having other American spit on me or throw trash in my direction, or call me hateful names... none of these people actually knew me... but they lumped me into the category of hating all people who were in the military...
Because I was in the military during the Vietnam War (that they call a conflict), I received the entire GI Bill... and not only was my undergraduate degree paid for but my graduate degree was paid for except for $500.
Was the price I paid worth it?
YES!!!
Because of my time spent in the military serving this country, I have the RAMBO mentality... I don't believe in war... nor do I think war is the only solution when countries disagree... BUT, if you hit me first, then I am going to KICK THE SHIT OUT OF YOU... so you don't do it again... or even think that you could do it again.
Because of our FREEDOMS here in America, I will always defend YOUR RIGHT to HATE AMERICA... but will not stand by and let you destroy her...
Let's remember the Vietnam War as WHAT NOT TO DO... America has no business sticking their nose into other people's wars... and say, that we are here to protect OUR DEMOCRACY... that's just bullshit... people around the world don/'t want our brand of democracy because for 100 years or more we rubbed their noses in our democracy... and, they dislike us... and, rightly so... I would hate us too if I were them.
America was founded to get away from the control of Great Britain... and now, like Great Britain, we are trying to control other countries because we think our way is better... maybe it is or maybe it isn't but that is YOUR CHOICE not OUR CHOICE TO MAKE FOR YOU...
Let's remember the Vietnam War, but let's remember it in light of what we did wrong... not in terms of what we should do throughout the rest of the world.
AMEN TO THAT...
BUDDHISM 101
the truth of suffering
the truth of the cause of suffering
the truth of the end of suffering
the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering
Now, I understand the concept of TRUTH as truth is oftentimes a slippery slope but I don't understand the concept of suffering from the standpoint that all their beliefs revolve around the concept of suffering...
Life is a celebration even though there are aspects of the celebration that revolve around suffering... There is too much beauty and joy in life to see it as nothing more than learning how to end suffering.
There are 3 branches of Buddhism: THERAVEDA, MAHAYANA, and VAJRAYANA and these are the vehicles that carry pilgrims from suffering to enlightenment.
So, enlightenment is reached (so to speak) when one's suffering ends or when one learns how to take the path that leads to the end of suffering... although, I suppose that there are no guarantees that suffering will end or that enlightenment will actually be reached. How can one be 100% confident that enlightenment has been reached since no one really knows what is inside the mind of another human being?
There are 5 precepts of Buddhism that one can easily see are similar to Christianity...
- Refrain from taking life
- Refrain from taking what is not given
- Refrain from the misuse of one's senses
- Refrain from wrong speech
- Refrain from intoxicants
There are 4 stages that take one away from the sensory world...
- Detach oneself from consciousness
- Suppression of reason and investigation
- The passing away of joy
- Entering a state of pure possession
One might also refer to this as a form of meditation where one is completely oblivious to one's outside environment...
When one is in this state of semi-consciousness, one is not only oblivious to what is going on around them, but one has no consciousness or awareness at all... one is in a void of emptiness where absolutely NOTHING is taking place... you are as empty as you were before being born... and probably more so because babies are aware of their mother's presence in the womb.
While it might be nice to achieve complete and total enlightenment... what is that kind of level of consciousness or unconsciousness good for outside of emptying one's mind of anxiety for example?
What do you do with enlightenment except tell others that you have been there...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)