Saturday, February 22, 2025

The Security Apparatus Loves White Supremacy

Related to my parents financially supporting an avowed white supremacist movement, $1 invested in the S&P 500 in 1970 instead of a racist embarrassment that rips off the Masons and has kooky rituals and costumes would be worth $300 now.  That's a much better investment than a failing marina and tire store.  Speaking of which, my parents technically had us kids own part of a tire store so they could avoid taxes that could help our nation and its people but paid 10% of the profits to an organization that openly practiced racial apartheid.  Of course, they also never contributed a dime to my higher education including that money either.   

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

The Security Apparatus Really, Really Can't Diagnose

The security apparatus really, really can't diagnose.  In addition to "Randy" Randy Canterbury's abject incompetence and thoroughgoing lack of professional ethics, my primary care physician insists on misdiagnosing my strabismus with consequent adjustment disorder as generalized anxiety disorder.  It makes no sense because there are obvious physical stressors due to my exotropia.  Moreover, adjustment disorder has long been shown to be associated with exotropia (p = .007) along with related conditions such as ADHD and learning disabilities by the fine people at the Mayo Clinic whereas there was absolutely no association with generalized anxiety disorder (p = 1.00).   

Sunday, February 16, 2025

The Security Apparatus Loves White Supremacy

PBS is airing American Justice on Trial: People v Newton, an interesting documentary on the Huey Newton trial in Oakland.  My last year in Berkeley the bigoted security apparatus had me go down to the Alameda County Courthouse in Oakland and spend three days listening to county residents express their opinions on marijuana laws, the Oakland PD, and all manner of other things in some supposed jury selection process.  It ended with a kind European immigrant from Livermore expressing her complete bemusement with the US system of criminalizing nonviolent drug addiction rather than emphasizing treatment.  The entire courtroom erupted in cheers and even the judge seemed amused. 

The entire time I had a strong sense of deja vu, the likes which I had never experienced, even though I had never been there before.  I finally realized that the courthouse had been the site of Huey's trial and was in the background of every black and white documentary I had seen growing up showing the Panthers marching and chanting "Free Huey!" on the courthouse steps.

Of course, some people like Ronald Demos Lee prefer to live in redlined enclaves and make a mockery of the sacrifices made by the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense to promote civil liberties and social justice.  Ron and Huey were the same age and yet, despite his immense character flaws, Huey Newton is viewed as an American hero whereas Genocide Ron is properly excoriated as a traitorous villain.

Saturday, February 8, 2025

The Security Apparatus Loves Cameron's Atrocities

Duncan Hume Cameron (geez, really tripling down on the Scottish shtick) recently died in DC.  Good riddance.  We really don't need apologists for heinous torture.  Oh well, perhaps Mengele's kids thought he was a good dad too.

He seems like a real Establishment type.  Harvard and Columbia Law in the '50s and then corporate law.  He was also president of the board of trustees of Zamarano Pan-American Agricultural School in Honduras for many years.  There was some old gringo going there on my flight to Tegucigalpa.

Sunday, February 2, 2025

The Security Apparatus Loves Bigotry

Other stupid and bigoted things my parents did - contributed money for the construction of multiple temples that the handful of Black LDS members couldn't even enter solely because of their skin color.  My father defiantly cited the handful of African-Americans who went west with Bigot Young (whom even the LDS Church acknowledges was a thoroughgoing racist) as justification for LDS bigotry.  One of them, Jane Manning James, lived with the Smith family in Nauvoo and had her request to receive her Temple endowment and sealing repeatedly denied.  Eventually, LDS leaders allowed her to be sealed to the Smith family as their eternal servant but didn't even let her enter the temple to attend the ceremony.

Saturday, February 1, 2025

The Security Apparatus Loves Stupidity

Another bizarre thing that the security apparatus hated was that as a kid I had a naive interest in investing in the stock market.  Well, it looks like $1 invested in the S&P 500 in 1984 is now worth $90.  In other words, the $7000 that my parents were obsessively giving to a white supremacist hate group at that time is now worth $630,000.  Of course, that's literally what the LDS Church has been doing with the money all along, and never paying taxes on it or actually helping anyone to boot.

News flash:  It's dense that the security apparatus continues to support shameless profiteering off of white supremacy and genocide.  It's even uglier when these atrocities are justified as supposed religious activity.

The Security Apparatus Loves to Infantilize Women

Then again, my mother hated the brief period in which she was "forced" to live in Arlington.  I can see why she hated it - decent schools, public transportation, some educated people including women.  It was even near an actual city with a few cultural amenities - it must have been hell on earth for her!