Grateful Dead

Did from 1st grade to middle of 5th in a Catholic school. (and was at 8th-9th grade reading, writing and arithmetic level as I transferred to public school when we moved) Every day began with a mass in Latin. When they went to saying the mass in English I was surprised the dogma was so simple and remember thinking, "Is that all there is to this stuff?". It lost all the mystery and majestic pomp once I knew what they were talking about, lol. But I was always a questioning child and was actually asked to not come back to catechism classes around 13-14 years old. "You ask too many questions", the lay person said. You go Leo!
Cheers

In his first 100 days, the orange turd has managed to do almost as much damage to American democracy as Modi did in India in a decade, or Erdogan in Turkey, or Orbán in Hungary in the past eight years. Bearing in mind the orange turd still has almost four years to go, the future for America as a democracy looks very bleak indeed.

It seems a bit inappropriate to try and teach children about religion to me. I would have thought you needed a certain amount of life experience before the truth starts to unfold., in whatever way it does. You can't teach spiritual experiences to people who have never had them.
I used to like Bible stories when I was a very young child, in the same way I would have like fantasy. Then it all seemed a load of old tosh when I got into my teens. And things have continued to change and grow ever since .

suspend habeas corpus

WHAT THE GIVL

Slowly the water in the pot gains Celsius degrees...

This is the sign, crew. You must contact your Senator and Representative and say NO.

I see your ‘president’ is hoping for a free ‘plane in a transparent deal. Does he think he is Wonder Woman?

I'd never made that connection before, but he could have been a villain in the 1960's T.V series Batman. The one starring Adam West and ...Julie Newmar.

But he's not smart enough to be E. Nigma, the Riddler. He's not funny enough (at all, really) to be the Joker, etc ... Maybe the Penguin, Oswald Cobblepot?

Oh well, any highly corrupt, malignant, and megalomaniacal industrialist-type moniker can fit just fine. 🤮

Edit: Yes ... Julie Newmar 😉

ja, gerne

...of damage?
have been planned for
since before
2016

....he thinks he's The Kingpin. But a really stupid Kingpin. Don't worry Mr. Fisk. You don't have competition.
Regarding the Qatar jet, the Constitution has something to say about that, not that he nor his followers gives a flying fuck.
"Article I, Section 9, Clause 8: No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."
May I also produce evidence to the court of a trump tweet from 2017.
"During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar - look!"
Flip flopping, bribe taking, unless waste of space deplorable Benedict Arnold wannabe traitor.

it is a joke

this administration is literally criminal.

I mourn the nation I naively believed in. I knew it was messed up, but I had hope.

We are only 4 months in. It was 8 years until Operation Reinhard began.

We are slippery-sloping in that direction.

You think I'm crazy? Go ahead. But I am correct.

I think you are correct.

As a reminder of how things used to be.

As some would say(sing).

The Grateful Dead's first 45 single, "Stealin'/Don't Ease Me In," was released in 1966 on the Scorpio label.

"Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself."

....against Bruce Springsteen. Yet. Here we are.
Born In The USA is not really the pro-USA song they think it is, but they're dumb, so who am I to argue.

190 years ago the Liberty Bell Cracked!!! Should have been the first sign of trouble ahead!!! :-D

Following their feckless orange Mussolini like lemmings.

And tumbling off the cliff (eg. economy, lack of compassion, ethics, humanity, etc.)

"I wouldn't seen it, if I hadn't believed it."

... a barnum and bailey world
it's as ______ (fill in your choice of words)
as it can be

It's a Hup Ho world.

....unless you're over 65 or have pre-existing heath conditions.
Taking away a persons free right to take it or not.

I think they already did. But so far it is only the Novavax? Over 65 or have an underlying condition? Check. Will I have to bring a note?
RFK's goal is to make it economically unfeasible by making them do expensive unnecessary huge placebo trials to verify facts that are already proven. His hidden agenda is not so hidden anymore. Still as anti-vax as it gets.
Get them while you can. My wife preferred the Novavax as it did not make her feel sick for a day and a half like the others did.

I work in the Clinical Trials Operations space and have done so since the turn of the century.
The use of placebo requirements in vaccine trials raises ethical concerns, especially when a safe and effective vaccine already exists for the targeted disease.

Here's why using placebos in such scenarios can be considered unethical:
1. Withholding Proven Protection:
• Risking Serious Illness: If a safe and effective vaccine is available, giving a placebo instead means deliberately withholding protection from individuals who could otherwise be immunized, potentially exposing them to the risk of contracting a serious and preventable illness, including complications or even death.
• Unnecessary Harm: Randomizing participants to a placebo group when an efficacious vaccine exists subjects them to the potential harms of non-treatment, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
• Ethical Principles: This practice violates ethical principles like beneficence (acting in the best interest of the participants) and non-maleficence (avoiding harm).

This new administration is bent on killing our population. The stupidity of those in charge is abhorrent.

Be Well People,
Sixtus

Whether it's regarding Vaccines,
Medical Research & Healthcare Access, FEMA,
... or, of course, Food > with prices continuing upwards and big cuts on the table for SNAP and other assistance pathways - all in service of tax cuts for the wealthiest, who will afford (themselves) 'private' healthcare, insurance payouts versus any disasters, and lux food basically upon command.

Agreed: None of it can be termed Benificent, but rather >> Malevolent through and through.

did you ever think you would be old enough to use the expression, "the turn of the century"? :-)

USA: died by suicide 11/5/2024

God help us all

All of the stuff going on is utterly unfathomable

Ha ha - I know, right? Longevity can often translate to wisdom.
For me, I'm just happy to be here, happy to be alive!

And I believe your music collection(s)/ing DWARF any longevity I may possess....your efforts there are like a giant high-five to the needed appreciation for ANY Music - and music as we know, saves us All.

Be Well!!
Sixtus

Looking to talk about anything other than the music as music is my escape from something anything.

I refuse to believe that the orange one will stop all progress. But I understand your concern.

I refuse to believe that the orange one will stop all progress. But I understand your concern.

Ten years ago for my 60th birthday, one of my sons gave me a card and he wrote "They say you get smarter with age. So you must be a freakin' genius by now."

Hilarious.

"It ain't what I don't know that gets me into trouble, it's what I know for sure, that ain't so." - Mark Twain

....confirmed in the new "Big Beautiful Bill." By one vote. One.
Doesn't seem very beautiful to me, but up is down and down is up in recent months, so, I guess?
Like Sixtus stated, this administration is hell bent on killing Americans.
Maybe this shitty situation will change some MAGA minds, but the kool-aid is potent.

Oro - that's a great quote from Mark Twain. Particularly apposite in my case as I have just spent an after listening to somebody criticizing something they have absolutely no understanding of. There's a lot of that about. I try not to do it myself - with try being the operative word.

On the Flip-side? Peace!

"Its easier to fool someone than it is to convince someone they've been fooled."
100%

a lot of MAGAs will get burned by the cuts in Medicare and Medicaid.

Just tragic.

Unfortunate times.

for those who voted for all this: Phukem

in the immortal words of Motorhead:

"no sun, just clouds and poison rain"

It's the epitome of the Dunning-Krueger effect.

The Dunning-Kruger effect describes a cognitive bias where individuals with low competence in a particular area overestimate their abilities, while those with high competence tend to underestimate their abilities.

This means people lacking knowledge or skill are often unaware of the extent of their ignorance, leading to inflated self-assessments.

In this American culture, the more ignorant one is on a topic, the more likely they present themselves as an expert. I have seen it over and over in the letters to the editor, discussions on the floor of the legislature, and by bloviators of every stripe. The orange menace and RFK Jr. are the most obvious examples of this malady but this effect happens much more than any realize.

Before retirement I was a therapist and it is remarkable how the majority of patients/clients did not recognize the difference between opinion and facts. This fundamental concept and working to learn the process to identify one's opinions vs. the facts was a treatment target for the population I served. This misunderstanding is endemic (unfortunately), and the cause of grievous mistakes, bigotry, interpersonal conflicts and a myriad of societal ills.

Humility is one key to recognition of one's skewed perspective. Sadly the wholesale hubris we see nowadays is a massive impediment to the development of personal introspection and insight.

"I wouldn't have seen it, if I hadn't believed it."

thanks great post there, so many sources of propaganda these days, people believe what they want in spite of facts... for example the recent photos of RFK Jr. frolicking with children in Rock Creek... the water looked fine, come on in. I grew up close to DC, used Beach Drive to get downtown often, it follows Rock Creek (Park) down to center city and the Potomac, the drainage for the park... its dead water, barely better than an open sewer. I am told by a resident thats not where Mr. Worm Brain, dead bear in my trunk was swimming, the media failed to make that clear... he was in a small tributary in Dumbarton Oaks Park above Rock Creek, which oddly enough is connected to Harvard... all those foreign students headed elsewhere now... what a shame. Good to see Kermit the Frog spoke at the U.MD commencement, one of my alma maters.

Oro - thanks very much for this post. I have never heard of this effect by name, but I recognise it's application in people I know. One particular individual constantly passes judgement on people and systems he has no real understanding of. These judgements are almost always negative. He has constantly told me of his expertise in a lot of different areas, but that he declines to exercise it through choice. He is also a great one for labelling - I am an introvert, apparently, which he feels explains my behaviour.

The opposite of this is a lady I know, who I eventually realised is a retired psychologist. Unlike the man referred to above, she likes to listen rather than talk, and her impression of others is usually positive or accepting. She always makes me feel that she can see and hear just that little bit further than I can, not by telling me she can, but by the considered way she discusses things. After sending an hour or two with her, I always come away feeling that my horizons have been expanded slightly, that what I had previously assumed, may in fact not be always correct. I feel happy, too. A bit lighter, somehow.

After having spent a few hours with the man, I usually come away feeling a bit angry, and more entrenched in my views than ever. I feel lucky to have met her, whereas he is becoming a bit of a burden, sadly.

If I ever met Trump I think I would come away feeling homicidal.

I am kind of obsessed with the Dunning-Kruger effect. It's helped me to understand a lot of behavior that I previously found puzzling.

Just for example, I've often been puzzled by the fact that most of the best musicians I've ever played with are also the humblest and the most self-critical, while the worst are often perfectly satisfied with their poor playing, and often arrogant to boot.

When I heard about D-K, I started to understand why this could be. The best musicians have impeccable time and perfect (or near perfect) pitch. They hear every little mistake they (and others) make. They've typically studied the best of the best, and that's the standard they're trying to achieve. Hence, they are almost always dissatisfied with what they played, even if it was really really good by anyone else's standard. Hence, they stay humble.

The worst players are oblivious to the fact that they're dropping time or playing out of tune. They haven't studied much, so they don't know what they don't know. They think they sound great, and they'll be happy to tell you so whether you ask them or not.

At some point, I learned that D-K people lack the capacity to form or process feedback, which is annoying when it contributes to bad musicianship, but downright dangerous when you give them power over other people. As we're seeing now with various Trump associates.

Trump himself, however, I would classify as a pathological narcissist, which is a little different. For him, nothing exists but the self. Other people don't actually exist, unless they are in some way of service to his needs. He is the center of his universe, the world's greatest expert on everything, and in his mind he is incapable of making mistakes. He is also impervious to negative feedback and oblivious to his inadequacies, no matter how obvious they are to others, but in a different way than, say, Kristi Noel, who seems pretty clearly a D-Ker.

Individual insight and introspection are reflected in your post, Dave.

IMO, introvert or extrovert are tendencies and neither is intrinsically better than the other. Seems to me introverts usually get their batteries charged in more solitary pursuits and extroverts get theirs charged by being around other people. But like everything, usually on a continuum and some manifest aspects of both styles.

When I had my exit interview with the clinical director 3 years ago I told him "there is no one more dangerous than someone who doesn't know, what they don't know." His eyebrows raised and I raised mine and leaned in. I was talking about him and he knew it.

A wise and measured person can recognize their strengths as well as their weaknesses. And of course to seek out an expert in an area reflects solid judgement. Instead there are individuals who masquerade as experts because they cannot admit any lack of knowledge.

And yes, the orange menace is a malignant narcissist and remarkably he displays every one of the diagnostic criteria for this personality disorder. It is very rare to have all features of an identified personality disorder, usually persons only have to manifest a simple majority of these features. However Trump demonstrates them all.

Addendum- no cure for this disorder and no medicine can help. Only a very motivated and introspective individual can stop acting on their deep seated selfishness along with an abject lack of compassion for others (as Crow told me referred to). Tragic really.

And I agree with Crow's observations on how the curious, adventurous, and eager enthusiastic musician is eminently preferable to those who mistakenly believe they have learned it all or have 'arrived' and their playing stops in it's tracks.

“To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is.”
– Thich Nhat Hạnh

Cringeworthy explorations, insightful. How so many citizens put stamps of approval on a such a dangerous and pathological criminal is baffling. Intro or Extro, listening, really listening to others so critical for musicians as well as conversation. We might never really get to grace/zen but we have to make the effort. Rather quickly becomes clear who listens and moves forward and who is stuck. Out last night to listen for live jazz, always like to interact with those musicians playing and attending. They are often ready to talk about their music, encourage comments and further explorations.

A grandfather told his grandson that he sometimes feels as though there are two wolves, fighting, within his chest. One is kind and loving, and the other is cruel and devouring. The grandson asks him which one will win. The grandfather replies, whichever one I feed.

I had the unfortunate experience of meeting him many times between 2001 2005 thru work and I can tell you without hesitation that I felt exactly that way long before he decided to infest all of our lives with his grotesque Bile. What you see is what you get the shallowest piece of excrement you will ever meet.

I can't say I envy you having that experience ! It amazes me how much power this man has accumulated. I have met some pieces of work in my time, but they never amounted to much. This guy is one of the most powerful men on the planet, without having any of the essential qualities that should qualify someone to assume such a role. Doesn't say much for the human race.

....goes to show, a lot of our American brothers and sisters seem to willingly accept a narcissist in chief.
He checks all those boxes. And if you are one who tries to interpret the Book Of Revelations into a certain destination of explanation, some results will show he also checks a lot of anti-christ boxes as well if thats your thing.
Was alter boy. Can confirm.

I truly appreciate this discourse here - it shows there is indeed still a segment of society who understand what is going on, looking from the outside.

If only our leaders had such respect for introspection and self-understanding while leaning toward the common good.

Be Well People!
Sixtus

Is too do the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome!! :-O :-D

Give me your hungry, your tired, your poor - I'll piss on 'em
That's what the Statue of Bigotry says
Your poor huddled masses, let's club 'em to death
And get it over with and just dump 'em on the boulevard

.....he loved that. Keep it up!
Hey Taco Bell. You have a golden opportunity. Just sayin'.

reveals their evil more and more every day

erasing Harvey Milk's name from a Navy ship...HM was a veteran, ffs

terrible times for this nation