Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts

17 August 2017

The World

The world is the United States president saying one thing, then another, then another thing. It makes only some people ridiculously happy because they get to speak about it incessantly.

The world is vehicles that become murder weapons throughout Europe… because why not?

The world is political figures constantly trying to one-up each other just to say they're better, even though when they die they'll all become dust.

The world is businesses that try to innovate even when they've reached maximum saturation. It's only because they feel they must always expand.

The world is taking advantage of debt, reselling it, gouging on interest, passing it around, and forgetting about it via bankruptcy.

People wonder when I hesitate to acknowledge others' thoughts that human beings are the pinnacle of creation.

11 August 2017

Things That Leave Me Aghast

So, I saw this on my Facebook feed today…




All I could do was shake my head. Yes, I'm not an immense fan of his because of sometimes the way he reacts to others. I'd accepted on the day the results came out that he'd become the United States president and that, among other things, one should pray for him and the country like any other leader, and that he makes good decisions.

This, like some things that some would characterize he's said, is childish. It serves nothing more than to, as the poster of the video link put it, troll him. Trolling serve no purpose other than to antagonize; it is senseless antagonism.

Senseless antagonism is mindlessly calling him "The Cheeto" or "His Orangeness". And people who'd called President Obama or Hillary Clinton, or anyone else anything, or referred to them as anything other than their names or official titles (and not said them with disdain, even though they have the right to do so) does nothing to solve the ever-growing list of problems this world has.

28 July 2017

Genetic Modification

GMO.

It is, for some people, a curse word/phrase.

I've not really cared whether something has, or is, a genetically modified product/organism, I suppose partly, because I'm a science fiction fan. Between the Augments, the Denobulans, and just seeing all the kinds of things that we have done with genes already that have made human lives more comfortable, I haven't seen what.

Besides the Augments. They're something wrong, at least in their tyranny. And Linnea of Stargate SG-1. She's kind of evil. And Hathor too. Yes, those are examples of when we don't watch ourselves with the progress we seek to make.

Alas.

The bananas we eat are Cavendish, which did not exist in nature. We made them that way in efforts of genetic engineering (though, because it's botany, we don't really think about it that way). I hear all kinds of things about "frankenfish" (though, like the origins of "corrective rape", this too is something I've not actively gone researching just yet) and how people hate the thought of them. I do think of that term as a charged buzzword people use to engender automatic despise of the idea (like Obamacare).

We genetically engineer viruses and bacteria to produce vaccines, mass-produce silk, and try to eradicate malaria-carrying mosquitoes. These are all so we can be comfortable, or not die... Hell, we're all [eyeroll] living longer partly because of these things.

Is it more correct for genetic engineering to happen over millennia that to artificially give it a boost? Gregor Mendel kind of did that with his experiments.

My moderation wants to keep it in check, and I suppose after thinking about how moderate I am and how I want things in check, perhaps I'm leaning towards labeling. But people shouldn't care that it is a GMO, because there are plenty of things that are without the labeling anyway.

26 June 2017

Trump ends White House tradition of celebrating end of Ramadan

Trump ends White House tradition of celebrating end of Ramadan
From Eid al-Fitr, a Flipboard topic

US President Donald Trump broke a two-decade-long tradition this weekend by not hosting a White House dinner to celebrate Eid, marking…

Read it on Flipboard

Read it on france24.com


20 June 2017

Voting

So, I went and voted in today's special election for this district. It was because I felt I'd needed to (because I believe in voting).

Still, my fellow humans didn't make it easy.

Over the past week, this is my missed calls list: 

 

These were probably all people trying to "encourage" me to vote, and to remind me how "landmark" this election is.

I don't need anyone to tell me that. I realize the election is important, but not because of who's running or who's against whom. It's an exercise of a right, and one that puts someone in place who can vocalize my views (somewhat/somehow).

Having all these people call seemingly incessantly is just… rude. Having a mailbox, one day, with eight different flyers reminding me to vote is rude. And wasteful environmentally. Everything went in the recycling bin, yes, but goodness…

I don't even think I got this amount of grief in Florida when Obama was running.

I don't think other countries get nearly this invasive with elections, but I don't know. All I've seen of it is other countries sometimes have supremely high voter turnout.

But I voted. Now leave me alone.

19 April 2017

International Elections

I'd had this thought as I was at work this afternoon to have separate blog entries where I try to look up information on various countries' elected leader candidates for their upcoming elections and then, basing it on what I've read and comparing it to my own beliefs and stances, I'd select the candidate for whom I'd most likely vote if I were actually able.

I was going to start with the French elections, but I was finding the research to be more of a challenge than the time or patience I have for it. It's kind of daunting just keeping up with one's own country's various jurisdictions and their electoral candidates to keep up with other places'.

So, I'd sworn that off.

Still, it's fascinating at least recognizing who these people are. Le Pen vs Macron vs Fillon vs whoever else (since these seem to be the biggest names I remember anyway) in France… And then I remember they'd elected Barrow almost 100 days ago in The Gambia… The Green Party candidate in Austria… What's his name again? Alexander van der Welle Bellen. I was kind of glad he won, from what I was hearing of his stances. I was pretty glad Justin Trudeau won in Canada.

I was more aware of the Canadian elections for a while than I was even the United States' until they'd winnowed down the candidate list.

I think Liberia is to elect someone pretty soon, and then Germany is going to have Chancellor Merkel defending her post yet again. Then the United Kingdom will be having general elections again pretty soon, so that's another thing.

I don't even know why these things fascinate me. It's not like I have anyone who shares this interest with me.

05 March 2017

Separation

US Considers Separating Kids And Adults At The Mexico Border

Here's what it's about:
Typically, adults who illegally enter the U.S. with children are released from detention while they wait for a court hearing.
Another means of forced dissuasion. This one, it actually seems a little cruel, but rather pragmatic.

The immigration issue, I have mixed opinions. I often wonder what I'd be like today if I grew up in Jamaica or the United Kingdom instead of the United States. As far as living here, I'll just say that it probably wasn't the most kosher way of doing things. I'd have preferred proper channels.

If they forced me to move, I suppose it would be inconvenient, and I suppose I'd have to think about alternative plans.

Proper channels themselves are up to debate at the moment, and constantly in flux. I wonder, though, how traumatic it would be for the parties to have themselves in separation. It beings to me an image of Nazi times where they'd done the same thing, separating parents and children, but it seems they'd done it more for cruelty (because the people had no choice in their relocation) than to actually try to stop people who (debatably) have a choice in their relocation and migration patterns.
Their options may not be ideal (and thinking about it might cause some people to think I'm supporting it instead of completely dismissing it), but they seem to have alternative options that might not be timely but there.

It does sadden me some that they have to consider this.

11 June 2011

CNN Breaking News: 11 June 2011, 14:01

From: "CNN Breaking News"
Date: June 11, 2011 14:01:08
Subject: CNN Breaking News
‘The head of the Democratic National Committee is calling for the resignation of U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, who has been under fire after admitting to inappropriate communications with women online.
"It is with great disappointment that I call on Representative Anthony Weiner to resign," DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement Saturday. "The behavior he has exhibited is indefensible and Representative Weiner's continued service in Congress is untenable.
This sordid affair has become an unacceptable distraction for Representative Weiner, his family, his constituents and the House -- and for the good of all, he should step aside and address those things that should be most important -- his and his family's well-being."
And House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Steve Israel have told Weiner he should resign, a Democratic source with k nowledge of the conversations told CNN. Both released statements also demanding his resignation Saturday.’

Ferchrissakes, I don't get this country most of the time. They speak of personal freedom, of individuality. They want people to be themselves and to err as humans do. I suppose I'm continuing the cycle by opining on this myself, and even forwarding this on, but people should just leave him alone on this. Whatever: he erred!

I suppose this is one of the many shreds of idealism I still have remaining, but I find it stupid that people who work in politics expect everyone "representing the people" to be perfect and to never err. I find it further stupid that people base their electoral decisions on things like this, and whether the candidate is a Christian, or was ever divorced, or even if the candidate is a he.

Do people expect that every politician/people-representative step down every time the err in their personal lives? I had in mind Japan, which has had a prime minister every year for the last five, when it's supposed to be one for at least err four. The prime ministers decided they erred in their decisions as prime minister (with two, I think, stepping down because of personal scandals) and decided they should no longer be prime minister.

Silvio Berlusconi has his teenage dancer scandal, but is he giving up his seat? No! Vladimir Putin may have been maritally infidel multiple times, but he's probably going to run for president again. These men have a separation of the "mistakes" they make in their personal lives from what they do in their offices as world leaders.

Their personal decisions - Weiner, Berlusconi, Putin - have not cost people their lives. They have not done things others have not done ever, and people shouldn't base hiring and firing of leaders based on personal mistakes that have no influence on their official capacities.

Judge them as humans on the human court. Don't judge them in official courts and question their official capacities based on personal mistakes. If they've made official errors, that's up to debate, not "oooh, he texted!"

Whatever.