Gestalt #204

Clade 1B Mpox (Monkeypox) – Facts

• Spreads human to human via heterosexual sex and casual contact
  • Female prostitutes have infected male customers
  • The virus spreads easily within families
  • There have been outbreaks after spread within schools
• Mortality rate is 5% in adults and 10% in children
  • 60% of the deaths have been among children
  • Pustules are found throughout the body, similar to small pox
  • Fertility maybe permanently decreased in survivors
  • The virus causes miscarriages in pregnant women
• Currently reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Some of the infected prostitutes were from neighboring countries including Rwanda; Burundi and Uganda
  • The virus is now in major cities including Goma
  • Goma has an international airport

A declaration of Independence

One of the most important decisions one can make is whether one wants to live under the control of others or whether one wishes to be free. Prepping is one way to take control of our own lives and not have to depend on others in a crisis. Owning our own land and using it to support ourselves increases our independence and freedom. As has been proven definitively in the past week, putting our lives in the hands of people in even the most senior government positions is dangerous to our health. We can’t do everything for ourselves. I can’t fly a F35-A. I have no choice but to depend on the US military to protect me from foreign countries. I can’t give myself advanced medical care. I have to depend on health care workers to do that for me. However, I can certainly grow my own tomatoes, and many other things, myself. I can choose to live in a place with a low crime rate. I can choose to filter my own water. I can choose to exercise and eat high quality food that I grow and cook myself. I can learn basic first aid. I can choose to give myself an excellent education. I can constantly work to increase my skill set. These choices determine how free I am.

Our ancestors chose independence over dependence. Want to know what makes an American? Just this.

The 25th Amendment

Section 1

In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

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Section 2

Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

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Section 3

Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

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Section 4

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
     
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

References

Fears new ‘most dangerous’ mpox strain could cross borders
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240626-fears-new-most-dangerous-mpox-strain-could-cross-borders
France24, June 26, 2024

Warnings over lethal and contagious strain of mpox as children in DRC die
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/jun/26/democratic-republic-congo-drc-virulent-strain-mpox-monkeypox-virus-killing-children-miscarriages
Kat Lay June 6, 2024

Presidential Disability and Succession.
https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-xxv
National Constitutional Center

Gestalt #189

The decay of American politics

One of the most disappointing features of the 21st Century is the decay in the quality of American politics. Both the politicians themselves and the media coverage of politics has descended to Third World levels. Compare the two currently likely candidates for President in the general election with John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon:

Compare also the anti-vaccine nonsense of a current Kennedy candidate with this statement by his uncle:

https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/jfkpof-036-047

Compare the quality of political analysis of the “pundits” with the intelligence of William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal:

The intellectual capacity of the people who lead us matters, greatly. Pretending it doesn’t won’t make the problem go away.

Our distorted economy

The vast majority of office jobs in the US are phony, make work jobs. If you look at the tasks that people actually do, almost all of them could have been automated out of existence back in the 1980s with the computers available back then. AI was not needed. At some point, the government, both federal and local, decided to sacrifice the obvious gains in productivity that could have been obtained by appropriate use of technology for the sake of apparent full employment. They did this by providing powerful financial incentives to companies to employ as many people as possible, regardless of whether this made any sense from an economic perspective. To meet government quotas, companies then created make-work jobs that involve useless box checking and paid workers as little as possible to maximize government funding and minimize the expense of paying the drone-“workers”. Instead of automating factories and dealing with predictable complaints by Unions, companies simply closed their factories, unbolted the machines and sent them to China where there were no Unions and no enforcement of environmental regulations. Upper management skimmed the cream from these schemes, hence the widely reported income inequality. This isn’t a result of market forces. This is the result of backroom deals between elite executives and politicians, of both parties. We are now in a situation where we don’t have enough people to do the jobs that need to be done (trucking, construction, law enforcement, health care, etc.) while millions sit in cubicles doing useless tasks and breathing in brain-destroying virus. I don’t know if there is any politician with the brains and the guts to tell the American people the truth and end the charade.

Who will win WW III?

The answer is simple: whoever has the most smart, well-educated people producing the most advanced technology. You think the US can avoid this war because others fear us? They don’t. I have heard this from the horse’s mouth. You think we will automatically win because we are the good guys? You haven’t read much history if you think this. The strong win, the weak go the wall. It doesn’t matter who is the good guy or the bad guy. The winner will write history and the loser will decay into compost. The anti-intellectualism prevalent in the US today is poison that will destroy us if we don’t wake up. We need Science. We need Engineering. And we need them now.

弱肉強食

Gestalt #185

Sweden

Sweden is a small country with advanced technology. Most people don’t pay much attention to it. They should, because Sweden has a history of taking care of itself while situated in a dangerous neighborhood. In WW II, Sweden avoided invasion by Nazi Germany by attaching explosives to every single piece of infrastructure and factory of value, drafting everyone who could possibly hold a gun and telling Hitler that if he invaded Sweden, he would “win”, but since the Swedes would fight to the last man Hitler would lose a huge number of his troops and they would gain nothing because Sweden would blow up everything of value before German troops got to it. Instead, the Swedes offered to remain neutral and trade with both the Allies and Nazi Germany. Hitler took the latter deal. As a result, Sweden was not bombed, did not lose a large portion of its population and was well-positioned to achieve a socialistic paradise in the 1950s. This history lesson is to provide context for a recent announcement by the Swedish Civil Defense Minister and Commander-in-Chief:

Bohlin expressed concern that the modernisation of the Swedish civil defence system was not happening fast enough and urged everyone, from managers and local councillors to private citizens, to take action.

“Many have said it before me, but let me say it with the force of my office – there could be a war in Sweden.”, he said, adding that awareness needs to be translated into practical action.

He also drew parallels with Ukraine, which faced a full-scale Russian invasion with “total resilience”, according to him.

“Such an effort can only be made quickly enough if the vast majority of people are aware of the situation and understand what is at stake,” Bohlin said.

Commenting on Bohlin’s take on Swedish broadcaster SVT on Monday, Swedish Commander-in-Chief Micael Bydén said he agreed with what the minister said.

“On an individual level, you have to prepare yourself mentally,” Bydén said, adding, “This is a very serious situation, and the clarity yesterday was unmistakable. It is now about moving from words and understanding to action”.

Charles Szumski, January 8, 2024, Swedish minister, commander-in-chief warn of possible war in Sweden, Euractiv.

Many Swedish families have “Stugas”, cottages in the woods that they can go to in an emergency. For those who don’t, there are 7 million well-equipped bomb shelters waiting for them to go to. Sweden has a surprisingly sophisticated military given the size of the country. They make their own fighter aircraft, the Gripen, designed specifically to fight over Swedish territory. All of this is public knowledge. I suspect that preparations for war that are not public will be serious. Sweden will do what it must to survive.

Iran

The attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 by Hamas was suicidal from the standpoint of the Gazans. Obviously, they did not benefit. This could easily be foreseen. The attack was ordered by Iran who view Gazans as easily manipulated and entirely expendable. The Houthis of Yemen have launched suicidal attacks on ships in the Red Sea. The US and other western militaries have been responded by bombing the Houthis, as could easily be foreseen. The Houthis are backed by Iran. Once again, Iranian leaders have manipulated an unsophisticated people to be their catspaw. How many other chess pieces will Iranian leaders sacrifice to win? When will those who are being attacked by Iran’s pawns go for the King in Tehran? To me, this is just one of the theaters of WW III. The big show is yet to come in Asia.

Dementia Dystopia

Imagine a giant warehouse, except, instead of being filled with boxes and crates, it’s filled with thousands of older people on cots. There is an unpleasant smell that hits you as soon as you enter. The moans, groans and inarticulate mutterings of the people on the cots combine to make waves of sound suffused with suffering. As you approach closer, you see heavily tattooed workers roughly changing the diapers of the people on the cots. Crude robots, mostly carts with cameras on them, bump along crowded aisles carrying human waste to a back area. Not infrequently, a larger cart comes to pick up the body of someone recently expired. It goes to the same back area.

The United States is facing a debt crisis. The US debt is now 34 trillion dollars and rapidly climbing. How will this be paid? There is no plan. Both Social Security and Medicare will soon be insolvent. What happens then? There is no plan. Study after study has shown that being infected with SARS-CoV-2 causes damage to the brain. There is evidence that the risk for long covid goes up with each re-infection. This damage is relatively mild in young people, but it may be taking its toll. On almost every metric of cognitive and mental health, young people are struggling. We are told that this is because they had to learn remotely for a few months. Is this believable? Or is the alternative hypothesis, that SARS-CoV-2 is slowly causing an erosion of mental faculties of those it infects more believable?

Consider the following possibility: What if the brain shrinkage known to be caused by SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for the declining cognitive and mental health of people in the US? What if there is a massive wave of dementia in a few years as a result? What if Congress does not act and no funds are provided for the long term care of people with dementia?

References

Brain disorders: Impact of mild SARS-CoV-2 may shrink several parts of the brain. (2023) Kumar et al. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 149: 105150.

COVID-19 Associated with Long-Term Cognitive Dysfunction, Acceleration of Alzheimer’s Symptoms. (2021) Alzheimer Association.

Medicare Won’t Have Enough Money to Pay Full Benefits After 2031: Report. April 5, 2023. Adam Hardy.

Gestalt #183 – What’s wrong with the world and how to fix it

Not a modest title. And I’m not especially well-qualified to write it. I know a lot about a couple of narrow fields in science a little bit about a lot of other things. But here’s the thing, something it took me a long time to find out – no one’s in charge; no one is especially interested in fixing or even acknowledging the serious problems facing our planet. I will attempt to tell the truth. It won’t be politically correct. It will make people mad. Sorry, but you should hear the truth from someone.

Cults that explain everything

One of the things that’s wrong with the world is that various hucksters have filled the gap that was created when more knowledgeable and well intentioned people failed to step up, assume responsibility and tell people unpleasant truths. There are many examples of cults which offer complete explanations of the world that are completely wrong and dangerous. The maximum leader personality cults in China and North Korea are examples of political cults. In the US, QAnon is an example of a political cult that seems to have religious overtones. It is completely nutty, yet surprisingly persistent despite many failed predictions. Sadly, many “low information” Americans are being sucked into this cult. The overall feel of the QAnon cult reminds me of the followers of Jim Jones. I fear a similar ending for these cult members. Anyone who gives comfort to this cult is endorsing evil.

Sociopaths

Sociopaths are people who are born with defective brains. They are incapable of guilt or fear. The less intelligent sociopaths end up in prison. Some sociopaths are highly intelligent and end up in leadership positions. All sociopaths cause harm to others; however, sociopaths who achieve political leadership may cause enormous destruction. Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un are all sociopaths, in my opinion. They each have access to nuclear weapons and may trigger a major decrease in the human population at any time. I am convinced that none of them would feel the slightest guilt if they “pushed the button”. They have to be removed from power, at any cost. It would be best to avoid war, of course. Without money, none of these guys could do much of anything. Hence, the best nonviolent way to deal with them is to identify their sources of income and destroy them. This needs to be a committed, complete effort. It will mean ending all financial ties with the countries they lead and other measures aimed at severely restricting the flow of funds to their militaries. The limited measures we have taken thus far are obviously insufficient.

Sociopaths exhibit various symptoms but are hard to detect in everyday life. If you find yourself dealing with someone who talks about people differently behind their backs than when they are present, assume that they are doing the same thing with you. Don’t engage with such people, just avoid them. If everyone did this, sociopaths would have no power. There have been some limited studies indicating that sociopaths may be able to be identified with certain types of brain scans. Further research on this should be conducted. If such scans turn out be valid and reliable, they should be used to screen candidates for sensitive positions.

Egomania and victimhood

Almost all humans have a tendency to have an exaggerated self-regard. This is harmful to others but also to ourselves. The mainstream media is quick to encourage the unpleasant habit of self-indulgence. This should be resisted. Maybe today, you don’t deserve a break. You were lazy. You were mean. You ate too much. You drank too much. Think about your sins more and your specialness a little less. Benjamin Franklin recommended writing down a list of your failures at the end of every day and planning out how to combat them the next day. This is excellent advice, imo.

The media also encourages people to see themselves as victims – of something. It is certainly true that we have all been treated unfairly at some point in our lives and some people more than others. However, seeing yourself as a victim is not productive. “Opening up” about this or that bad thing that has happened to you won’t improve your life. Wallowing in self-pity will definitely not help you. Accomplishing something productive each day will improve your mood and make you a stronger person. Do a good job at your work; be nice to your family and friends; give your house a thorough cleaning; give blood; play with your dog, etc. If you do accomplish something worthwhile, then do something you like: go for a walk; read a fun book; make a nice meal for yourself; etc. Be productive and enjoy yourself. Let the mean people take care of themselves.

Failed States and mass migrations

You may not realize this, but many countries within this world are failing. The future depicted in the “Mad Max” movies is happening now in some countries. This is not due to “colonialism”; it is due to corruption. Look at the list on Corruption Perceptions Index. The countries that score the worst are: Somalia, Syria, South Sudan, Venezuela, Yemen, Libya, North Korea and Haiti. These countries have descended into a type of Hell few Americans can imagine. You won’t hear about what is going on in these countries from the mainstream media. They will lecture you about pronouns and cover every last detail of Taylor Swift’s life but they won’t tell you about the nightmare conditions that people in the most corrupt countries are suffering from right now. But don’t think this won’t affect you. When a country’s leader fails in his most basic responsibilities, people must leave that country to survive. Millions of desperate people are now on the move. Some of them are coming to the US from the Southern Border. I feel sorry for the people trying get their families to safety. However, the boat is full. The US cannot provide for the billions of people who would be better off here than in their own country. Western Europeans can’t either. We have three options: Be overrun by millions of desperate people; build massive walls and shoot anyone who tries cross them; or send our militaries into the failed States and impose order. None of these are appealing, but I think the third choice is the least bad. The Romans didn’t become an Empire because they wanted to. They did it because they had to. It was the only way to keep Rome safe, for a while.

A note of hope

There are incredible technologies that are being developed that can provide us with unlimited energy, food and health. Almost all of our problems are self-inflicted. That means that if we change our behavior, we can make the world a very nice place, for just about everyone. We aren’t doomed. We just have to make the right choices.