Freedom Day

 Worst Idea Ever?

If there were a new American Holiday, 'Freedom Day' (sounds nice, doesn't it?)...

And people were allowed to do anything they want for a day, (including the police):

People would go absolutely freaking nuts.    People would prepare for it all year.   They'd buy body armor.   They'd go on killing sprees.  Many would lock themselves in their homes.   But there would be burning and looting.  It sounds like it might be fun, but it would probably be a nightmare.   Without jail or prison, people would lose their minds.   Of course, cops could arrest anybody for no reason at all, and incarcerate anyone for a day, too.   Then the law would snap back into place.  Assuming there's still a place.   

People would beat up each other, for sure, and there would be a lot of loud music, and a shit ton of drugs... Every freaking store in America would get robbed.  But store owners could shoot thieves dead!  Hm.    

I like to think there wouldn't be much raping, cannibalism, or torture...

Interesting thought experiment, no?

You can grant yourself a "freedom day" and see if anything is different!

People would wake up, and see what it is they really want to do, and be grateful for law enforcement, etc..

Law

Kinds, Types, Varieties

God’s Law, Virtue and Sin, Be Good, Don’t be bad

Parental and Societal and Church Values

Scouting- Do a good turn daily, be prepared

Make the world a better place, service

Thou shalt not kill, love all serve all, be a man for others

On my honor I will do my best

To do my duty to god and my country

   you serve your country by making the whole world peaceful and rich

To obey the Scout Law

To keep myself physically strong mentally awake morally straight

Law:  A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrity, Brave, Clean, Reverent.   

Scout Law breakdown

   Trust.  Don’t Lie.   Be Honest.  Transparent.  Reliable.  A man of your word.  Dedicated to learning and sharing Truth.   Philosophical, teaching.  

   Loyalty to loved ones family and friends and maybe country or even humanity.

Helpful, Useful, Of Service, Assisting, Not Hindering, standing in the way, obstructive, harmful

You’re either a part of the solution or the problem.

The art of war is deception, though.  

    Friendly with all, compassionate, understanding, grok, comprehend, empathize, social, cheerful.   Meet people where they’re at, conform to situations, cheer people up, stay positive, be of value.

    Courteous not rude or offensive (or even offended: equanimity), tolerant, accepting, welcoming, respectful, treat as equals, not haughty or superior or arrogant or Better.

    Kind, make a difference, reduce suffering, increase joy, brighten people’s day, a force for good.

Obedient, not refractory or willfully noncompliant just to be stubborn or rebellious - but think about what you’re being told to do and disobey if unethical, or illegal, or against your values/integrity.

    Cheerful.   Smile, be positive, optimistic, hopeful, glad.    Aim for joy, even ecstasy or bliss.   Have gratitude.  Savor the good things.  Imagine a better future.  Laugh, tell jokes, watch standup, don’t (always) be serious, be light-hearted.   Life is crazy, absurd, and completely laughable.   Life shouldn’t be a series of chores and drudgery and tasks and misery.   Life should feel good, full of activity and life and entertainment and Fun.  

    Thrifty.   Go to thrift stores.   Don’t buy shit you don’t need.   Budget and stay within.   Spend wisely.   Save, invest.   Spend on things with the most bang for the buck.   Go to garage sales, get free stuff.  Conspicuous consumption is evil in light of starvation and basic need around us.  

We don’t need a lot of junk,  and commercials are a waste of time, and time is money.   Libraries have free books, free education, and food pantries have free food that would otherwise get thrown away.

    Bravery.  There is danger in the world, and you should be safe, be prepared, and confront evil whenever possible.   Know what you can and can’t do, know the law, and don’t be afraid to get help in difficult situations.   Confront the demons inside you, and cultivate confidence, so you are not afraid of driving, say, or going on a jog, or the everyday risks of living in a city or around potentially dangerous people.  Train to stay safe, and be prepared to have the courage to combat evil, if you can.  It takes bravery to do new things, and go outside your comfort zone, and say things that people may not agree with, or to take risks.   Be prudent.

    Clean.  Next to godliness.   Filth stinks, and is unhealthy, and looks bad.   Hygiene is essential to overall health.   Respect your body, the food you put in it, the drugs, the things you read or watch or listen to, and practice safe sex, for example, and avoid getting infected by covid or colds or what-have-you, as well as infecting others, of course.  

    Lastly, REVERENT.   God is a source of strength, and religious communities are valuable resources, in times of need, materially or spiritually.  Truth is holy, so worship by your lights, even if you are an Agnostic, Atheist, Pagan, Freethinker, or what-have-you.  We get by with a little help from our friends, and the world is full of good, kind, helpful, loving people, of all stripes, who want you to Thrive and love life.

Vegetarians think meat is a perdition dish!   I think sausages are saus-ome :-).   But I see the vegan perspective, point of view.   The meat industry is freaking heinous, and probably needs reform, and the SAD (Standard American Diet) should get kinder, healthier, (some would say, more delicious, even).  But it's okay.   We're all dying, anyway.  Meat animals wouldn't even be alive anyway if it wasn't for their fate in our stomachs.

What is Hell?   War.   Death.  Suffering.  Going to shit.  The art of war is deception.  Suffering is from pain, attachment, ignorance.    Aversion, craving, delusion.  So Heaven is not wanting for anything.  Accepting reality.  Accepting death, suffering.   We will all be dead for all eternity.   Everybody hurts, sometimes.  We are all going to hell.   Misery and depression and just regular dissatisfaction are forms of hell, too.  "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation" -Thoreau.  Seeing others suffer is painful, too.  Being angry can be madness, and madness can be hell.  Prison isn't a walk in the park.  Sickness isn't fun.  Starvation is painful and unnecessary.   Injustice hurts.   Death of loved ones, drug nightmares, victimization, cruelty and bullying, and sometimes even the concept of Hell itself, are hellish.  It's not necessarily a bad thing.   We are sensitive, and if we didn't care and empathize, we wouldn't feel the pain of others.  Pain is an evolutionary adaptation to telling our bodies when we need to heal.  Anger and rage against evil and wickedness are merited, and it is understandable to seek vengeance, payback, and yes the threat of endless suffering in the hope of ending it for others.    It's twisted.  There are even sadists who want hell for their own pleasure.  But justice, when fair and proportional to the crime committed, is called for.   Childbirth is hell.   Flamethrowers and incendiary bombs and self-immolation are NOT what singers are talking about with, "you set me on fire" (!!).   Fire is metaphorical, too.   

Update on HIV/AIDs

AIDS is still a big problem in Africa.   Up to 10% of the population of some countries in Africa have AIDs.   ART is helping (Anti Retroviral Therapy).    Over 25M people in Africa have AIDS.   Over 2/3 of global cases are in Africa.    South Africa has over 7M cases.   4 countries have a prevalence of over 20%.   Stats are imprecise (by source, year).    The height of the epidemic, withe the greatest incidence of infection, was in 1997.  

So Heaven is not being in Hell, primarily.   You should have gratitude for that, at all times that is true.   And it's not wanting for anything.   Basic needs met.   Being happy for no reason.   Plus, being happy for all the reasons that make you personally happy.   You don't need a charmed life, like Silver Spoons or something, to be fully happy.   Comfort and meditation and good meals do it for me.  I've got my list of things:  Nature, comedy, love, sex, pleasure, variety, quietude, libraries, internet, music, recreation, health, money, fun, exercise endorphins, compliments, writing, good conversation, a good book, a good movie, friendship, hobbies, frisbee, joe frank, travel, museums, kid energy, trivia, research and learning and teaching, shopping or finding things, etc.   But I can still imagine more.   I mean, if I went to Harvard and had power and privilege, parents that gave me enviable DNA and money and upbringing, and had friends in high places, and was sitting by a pool, sipping a whatever, contemplating my next trip to Rio, say, and was shopping for which horses to keep on my estate, to give my grandchildren, or who to replace my elderly servant with...   You get the picture.   CELL.    Comfort Ease Luxury Leisure!   Or jail/prison,   I mean, if Heaven is savagely beating your enemy, maybe you'll enjoy being locked up in prison reading their tablet or whatever, too.

Earth Day

Happy ED, everyone!  (no, not erectile dysfunction)

The Earth is the third rock from the sun, and the only known planet (to us) in the universe known to harbor life.

Life is sacred and precious, and depends on a clean, healthy planet.

Do aliens want our planet?  Do they want us dead?   I don’t think so, but it’s a weird thought that crossed my mind.

Planet- let’s plan it!   No pollution, and lots of Nature, and thriving ecosystems, and no runaway temperature nightmares, and lots of LIFE!   Live!   Get out into the woods and deserts and beaches and observe the plants and animals, draw them, protect them, respect them, and love the globe that sustains all of us, which is the only Heaven for humans that EXISTS!   I mean, there’s the space station, which hopefully isn’t a nightmare, but seriously, let’s keep the earth habitable and hopefully fun for everyone, because we humans are animals too, that have evolved and adapted to conditions on EARTH, and nowhere else.    Obviously.   This madness about the earth being a way station to some “heaven” out there in space, after we die, is utterly daft insanity, a delusion of the mentally ill.    I mean, if you ask me, lol.   

Anyway, 

Let’s love animals, tend our gardens, do more than just go to zoos, and feel a part of Nature, integrated into it, not some dominant race of god-beings who lord over the animals, who are free to destroy our planet, in an absurd and meaningless universe of vast, cold emptiness.   We should be stewards of Nature and live up to our responsibility as the species at the top of food chain and overwhelming masters of our environment(s) to make sure all the other animals don’t needlessly suffer, and that we feel good about ourselves doing good, not as disrespectful and callous sinners who fail to show compassion to all the other animals who feel pain like ourselves.   Maybe you want to eat less meat.   Maybe you want to put out a bird feeder.   Maybe you want to take a train instead of flying.   Maybe you want to go camping with your kids.   Or go to Africa and on a safari.   Or go birdwatching, or whale watching, or pet a dolphin, or what have you.   Raise pets, like dogs or lizards or even an antfarm.  Watch Nature documentaries, ask questions, support organizations, ride a bicycle, save electricity, don’t pollute, recycle, and soothe your soul in places that don’t have so much goddamned cement.  

Teshara is an anagram of as earth, as heart, as hater, and he’s a rat.    It’s a fun name.   Earth means dirt, and we’ll all become dirt / dust, and we like to be dirty, and we all need Nature, in our cores.   Not just because we’re part of an interdependent web of relationships with plants and animals for food and air, but because animals are fun, gardens are beautiful, fishing is healthy, getting away is basically mandatory, and scenic landscapes are essential to our well-being.   So don’t treat earth day like some hippy politically-correct day for tree-huggers, treat it like your life and happiness, and the survival of unknown numbers of generations, depends on it.

That’s what I have to say.

Happy Earth Day and Every Day, and go catch a wave, go climb a rock, go fly a kite, and love your mother!   All religions should incorporate a little Native American spirituality, if you ask me.     They say Nature is red in tooth and claw, but humans are at risk of killing the whole deal.   Corporations and governments need to all join the party.

President Trump

Dear President Donald J. Trump,

Congratulations on your victory! May your second presidential term be good for you, the country, and the world at large.   Kelli (my girlfriend) and I wish you Mr. President Donald Trump and your BEAUTIFUL wife Melania a GREAT Presidency! I trust you will do right by the American People, and that you will help the nation and the planet, serving the United States of America with dignity, making us all proud!  I would avoid the spite, malice, and resentment and accentuate the positive, making the best of the character strengths, the peak traits and qualities within your diverse staff.   To establish your historical legacy as a man of honor, I would like to see action on ecological destruction, global poverty, dealing severely with heinous crime and criminals, and paying off the national debt.   We are with you in your quest to ameliorate the wicked scourge of abortion whenever possible, unless absolutely necessary, but believe it should still be on each individual woman.   Less cars, less gas, less emissions, and less pollution seem good to us, too.   

Jesse and Kelli

USA natural born citizens

President

 If I Were President

I would speak logically and clearly and truthfully.

I would be serious about my job, and it’s potential to alleviate suffering, create happiness, and cause national and global growth and development.  

The priorities, of course, would be lifting the world’s poor out of misery, and peace and security for America (and all, really).

I believe healthcare should be a human right, like housing, and education.

I believe in a rising tide lifting all boats, and creating American wealth by creating a world of global prosperity, as producers for American consumers and markets for American producers.

I believe hunger should be eradicated, and the food supply should not be centered around the profit motive (in other words, incentivized to be designed by food chemists and tweaked for maximized profit at the expense of health and nutrition).  

Obesity and poor nutrition and exercise, as well as hunger and malnutrition, need to be addressed in a caring environment of safety and sanity.    Security and mental health are essential to physical well-being.   Less meat and ethical treatment of animals are crucial, if we are to think of ourselves as virtuous, a people of God, with morals and values.

Clean water is a human right.

Love is the universal aspiration for all, and begins with respect, compassion, kindness, joy.

Love is devotion and delight.    Nobody should be alienated, isolated, alone.

Our culture of guns and violence and combat is sick and twisted and must end, and be replaced with one of  respect, understanding, sympathy, empathy, camaraderie, friendship, and peace (not misery and resentment and vengeance and hate).

Our military must be strong and ready, but not on a perpetual war footing.   The main purpose of the Department of Defense, like the State Department, is to prevent war and maintain peace.   Nuclear weapons are an abomination, and must be eradicated, worldwide, as unthinkable.    The balance of terror is untenable, and they never should have come into existence.  The whole world would breathe a sigh of relief if the threat of their use was lifted.   The possibility of nuclear winter and the end of human existence means the time for them to go has come.   The potential for a single unhinged leader with a “finger on the button” to kill millions means we live in a sick world that needs fixing, urgently.

Personally, I think there shouldn’t be any borders, and the whole world should live in a community of “United States”, with everyone free to go anywhere.  We are all just humans, and jingoism has no place.  We are all just animals, actually, and we should respect life and Nature.   We are all different, and we should all respect both individual and cultural variations.  We are all made by Love, and God should inform everything we do.   Atheism is a path to God.

a ditty about the duty of a deity

G-D, Gravely disabled, good dude, governing democrat, go deep

SB, Supreme Being (somebody?  Simone Biles?) 

   at Sports Basement and Starbuck's in San Bruno

Kamala is clear, logical, intelligent, rational.   Basically, someone I'd rather listen to for four+ years.    (But I wish she'd come alive and sound normal though.    She sounds annoying and comes off as talking down to everyone all the time).    I take that back.  That was a first impression.  She's WAY more impressive.   I watched her give a speech on YouTube.   She has humility.  She's real.   AND..At least she doesn't have 34 felonies, and liable to 57 more, possibly!    As Ben Carson, the housing secretary under Mr. Trump said, reminding the crowd that DJT came from the "dog eat dog world" of Manhattan real estate, "But it's okay, because, you know, David was a pretty slimy guy, too, in the Bible - I mean, murder, and adultery, and deceit.   And yet, God said he's a man after my own heart." 

apparently, the election is all about money.   The voters are sheeple who can be manipulated by social media and ads, not substance like ideology or experience or skill or inspiring rhetoric...  I'm tired of getting hit up for money, and being told the entire election depends on my money!!

iffy at jiffy lube, but certainly hurtin'

cartoons about neither cars nor tunes

bumpers sticker I saw today (the ultimate 'I don't give a fuck' statement'):

    I neither deny nor justify my actions

use your dick to music, Azusa-Pacific

which doctor is a witch-doctor?  said the wretch on watch

deluded and diluted

different and deferred rent

feeling happy or feeling crappy?

reading the noose paper

breaking your fist before breakfast

adversarial, bilious, contentious, fractious, 

  antagonistic, hostile, rancorous, combative, truculent

gr, growing resentment

mad about murder, adultery, deceit

rich Richard from Richmond, and the poor eating porridge and pork

BLVD:  beloved bull-vd boulevard

happy in Napa, irked in Berkeley

Urkel taking a nap

phi beta nappa from Berzerkeley

legos in Lagos

a freak from Afrique 

feet, flatulence, and feculence (666)

caught cotton-candy colored crustacean

cheeses, Jesus, and diseases

Jesse Jackson, James, Owens, Helms, Ventura

   Disney Jessie and Christina Applegate Jesse

jester, jesus, hey zeus, isaí, chuy, jess, jessemiah, jesse tree

grl, giving and receiving love

I love your gloves, I hate your fate

death from meth and sick from ticks and sad from bad lads

blissful kisses and joyful boys and girls with pearls

love from above, dough from below

money for you honey, for rings and things

our intent is to be content 

our nightmare is to bite a pair of spiteful bears

unleashing rage from a cage

sage mages earn wages from pages

I saw a bumper sticker today that read, "born again crustacean"

   which I thought was funny.  like pornography and prawn-ograpny.

humans are animals: Homo sapiens sapiens

wise, wise homos (lol) (we're so full of ourselves)

 (homo homeowners) and ho moaners (moaning whores)

kingdom Animalia.  Jesus was an animal, too.

monkey monks and ant christ (ha), aunty christ, and anarchist

naked apes and bipedal primates and uber-social, like bonobos

let's be scientific and modern, not backward, folks

Jesus is dead.   He may have survived the cross, but not old age!

vampire, immortal, vengeful angry mean pissed ire

irate in Ireland, dire in the fire, not higher in a choir

We all have 5 souls: 2 on our feet, a beer, a fish, and a sun.  ha ha.

question: 

can you identify a dangerously insane mentally-ill killer?

   (versus an angry person who just needs to cool off?)

academic-  ack! a dimik  (dim mak?)

    A danger to self or others (or both), doesn't give a fuck, suppressed rage;  suicidally homicidal, freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.    lethal, by experience or training or madness/ surprise/ cunning/ poison.  under a spell, like music, a movie, or book, perhaps...  such as, say, hannibal lecter, or anton chigurh, or kaiser soze, or sauron, or Slayer.   maybe self-identifies as a vampire, devil, demon, monster, mob-boss, etc.   maybe people are objects/things, like blade runner, or mere programs, like in the matrix.   hearing voices, aggravated, suffering, tormented, possessed, avolition, not in control.    seeking justice, vengeance, payback, retribution, karma - bloodthirsty, angry.   a dish best served cold.  mad at the world, everybody, god, reality, the universe, life, everything.   sexually frustrated, alienated, no love.  a wily predator with a need, that seizes any and all opportunities to kidnap, rape, torture, kill.  addicted, can't stop.  the most dangerous game.  resentment, channeled into cold murder, mixed with sadistic pleasure.  playing a delusional role (a twisted, evil, deity??). life is boring and depressing, and crime is spicy.  that's my take on it.   maybe a very scary fairy.

are we all just meat?  shit?  dna-replication devices?  we say shit, do shit, think shit, and a lot of us are pieces of shit.    Some think we all are.  We all turn to shit, eventually (decay).  Eaten by worms, and chopped up by time into little pieces, particles, dust to dust.  Shee-it.  The world chews us up and shits us out.  We're planted, become soil, feed the plants, recycle.  Butt just because we ARE shit, doesn't mean we should treat each other like shit.   I mean, I flush shit, and I pick up dog shit (respectfully, tying off the bags), and I certainly don't think my shit don't stink.  Feet and farts stink, too.  Am I merely an object, like a rock?  A heinous object, maybe, even worse than a rock?  As the Grateful Dead sang, "please don't murder me."

this is water

don't drown.  (but we all have a terminal diagnosis)

POST-Election Website

For When You Want the RESULTS

There should be a website, like Ballotpedia (a nonprofit), or a .gov, that you simply enter your address and get ALL the results of your ballot, as soon as they become available.   Ballotpedia focuses on educating voters on all the issues BEFORE the elections.   But AFTER matters, too.

Now, you have to google each result, individually, or comb through a newspaper for SOME of the results. 

There should be ONE site, nationally, for everybody to access their election results, imo.   I'm incredulous something like this doesn't already exist.  

MODERN INFRASTRUCTURE

Globally,  USA

What is it?  how much is needed?   What will it cost?  What about low income housing?  Dams, roads, bridges, ports, airports, electrical grids (housing??) (transportation) (hospitals).  What ISN’T infrastructure.    Etymology:  INFRA means. (anagram?  taciturn surfer!  as current fruit!  sit run fracture!   ruin trust farce!  fun trust racier!  centaur fur stir!  fruit stun carer!  curare fist runt!  frantic user rut!  I nurture crafts!  truer facts ruin!  can furriest rut?).   Where money comes from.   Public, private.  ROI.   Agencies.   UN.  Simulation, like Sim City, urban planning,  city planning - the art and science of it.   Rebuilding Gaza.  From ground up.   Razed.   From scratch.   From next to nothing.  Rubble.  Safety and earthquakes and hurricanes and sustainability and solar and efficiency.   Modern materials (science) and durability and ecological impact and EIR .  Toxicology, hazardous materials, mining process, and MONEY.  States investing in future, geopolitics, sector dominance, leadership, and information.  AI, technology, internet, fiberglass, cloud, computers, software, hardware, quantum… Colleges, universities, libraries, salons, culture (knowledge, information, data, kwuteo*, philosophy) *knowledge, wisdom, understanding, truth, enlightenment, omniscience.

Speaking of which

God and Religion is entirely a set of manmade constructs, made by people, over history.   The bible was written by people.   All the Gods were invented by people.   It’s all Creativity.   You can be original, inspired, and clever too.  Man created God.  God created Man.   Man kills God.  God kills Man.  If life is hell, then death is heaven.  Maybe even eternal bliss.  Does that mean if life is heaven, then death is hell?   Yes and no.  Maybe you don't want to die.   Maybe you're ready to die.  Maybe nothing is forever.   Eternal torment doesn't exist.  A creator of such would be worse than the devil.  Forever is a mighty long time.  God is Pure Good.   AntiGod is Pure Evil.  The Devil is FOR evil.  Fred? He’s just an asshole.  Some guys are dicks.   Some women are witches.  Some folks are saints.  A lotta folks are angels.   Or whatever.  Call anybody anything.   It doesn’t matter.  People are people.  Everybody is everything.  God bless, lol. 

Climate Crisis

 Hi Rose.  I’ll write about it.  

It’s also known as global warming or climate change.  Terms are politically charged, these days.   I guess it was identified back when Al Gore was in college, really.  The "greenhouse effect."  It’s ongoing (but “crisis” means NOW and IMMEDIATE).   Who knows if we’re near (or past) a “tipping point”.   It’s basically pollution.   Chemicals in the air.  Carbon mainly, but also CFCs.   We should alll be using less electricity and using renewables and trying to have a smaller carbon footprint, like bicycling or walking, or public transportation, instead of driving, say.  You can buy carbon offsets.  Airplanes use lots of fuel, make lots of carbon.  Trains are better.  There’s lots of activism, and government pledges at UN or Paris or whatnot.   (Some) Corporations are trying to be better.  Technologies are being developed.  Education is happening.   Ignorance is still a problem.  A congressman brought a snowball onto the senate floor to prove warming wasn’t happening.   There’s a difference between climate and weather.  If we don’t do anything, there’s like 5 results: 1. Extinctions and great animal suffering, and all the ecological ramifications for the web of interdependent living creatures, including us and our diets, 2. (Melting glaciers) Sea rise, covering islands and a great deal of Florida, for example, or even NY (worst case, 44 feet??), 3. Extreme weather events, like storms and droughts and floods and hurricanes.   So, death, disease, destruction, and displacement. 4. Temperature change, making life worse (or better).  Some places will actually get colder.  So, livability and property values.  5.  Politics and international relations: war, migrations, lack of drinking water, general disruption.  

POVERTY

Lack (of anything, but mostly money)

Poverty (‘pobreza’ in spanish) is a lack of money, wealth, income, possessions, property, resources, assets, wage, salary…resulting in a lower standard of living, usually unhappiness, and things like suffering, poor health, poor prospects of upward mobility for yourself or your children, hunger, homelessness, unfulfillment, feeling inferior, lower life expectancy, greater vulnerability to things like crime or exploitation, feelings of anomie and meaninglessness and going nowhere as a wage-slave running on a treadmill in dead-end jobs, dependency on charity, alcoholism drugs and addiction, incarceration, less fun like vacations or nice stuff/things/toys, struggle to rise in status, perhaps giving up, or constant seeking of betterment and greater comfort, and of course, exhaustion.

Ideally, everyone would have all their basic needs met, and be happy, and live long lives, content and fulfilled.  Basic needs like food, water, clothing, shelter, healthcare, relationships, sanitation, heating, cooling, electricity, sewage, and (for me, anyway) things like libraries.

But there are different types of poverty.   Absolute poverty is the abject, dire, squalid depth of unmet basic need to keep the human organism alive.  Luckily, that is rare, these days.  Extreme poverty is at or below the international poverty line of $1.90 per day.   This is roughly one American dollar per day.  80% of the world lived in these conditions in 1800.  670m people in 2022 are living in extreme poverty, says an internet source.  Burundi is the poorest country.   It is economically unstable, with political unrest, and is characterized mainly by subsistence agriculture.   The GDP per capita in USD there is $259.03 for the year 2022.   Does that make you feel better?

What makes people feel worse, or RELATIVELY poor, is the comparison and contrast with others, especially people around them, in their time and place, who are better off, or even in some cases LIGHT YEARS better off, in terms of inequality and keeping up with the Jones’.   So poverty is usually understood intuitively as more of a lack of financial resources and essentials for a standard of living, versus an inability to survive.  That doesn’t make the effects of poverty any less real.  1/3 of deaths worldwide are a result of poverty-related causes.  Americans believe everyone is born equal, but billionaire Bezos vs. bums??  It’s too much.

Poverty breakdown:  

10% of the world earns less than $1.90/d

   (similar statistic: 9.2% of humanity -719m- lives on < $2.15/d)

2/3 less than $10/d

85% less than $30/d

     

In 2022, 12.4% of Americans lived in poverty

(i’m not sure what that figure means, actually)

Wait, here it is:  The percentage of persons who fall below 50% of a country’s median income.   MS is the worst, at 18.7% (Mississippi).   The black poverty rate has decreased.

Poverty measurement (and alleviation) requires definitions, lines, thresholds, and creative thinking.   Then again, the whole world is already doing almost nothing else than trying to make a buck, it seems.  Making paper, dead prez, dolla dolla billz y’all.  Gotta buy bling and make it rain at the club or whatever, dawg.   The quality of life is subjective, but earning sustenance through grind and tedium doesn’t pair well with conspicuous consumption, waste, and mansions, helicopters, yachts, and supercars.

Other types of poverty are situational, generational, rural, urban.   Dimensions of poverty include: nutrition, housing, education, clothing, information access, leisure, social participation, and utilities.  Synonyms for poverty include: penury, privation, impoverished, impecunious, hardship, destitution, indigence, pauper, beggar, bankrupt, insolvent.   Other definitions include, 1. Inferior quality or insufficient quantity, or 2. A renunciation, as part of a religious vow, of one’s right to ownership of property.    Synonyms for shantytown include, favela, slum, ghetto, hood, run-down neighborhood, wrong side of the tracks, tenements, projects, skid row.

Fun fact:  In 2016, 62% of Africa’s population was living in shantytowns (!!!).

Economists, the economics they study and create, and the economies they shape, are vital to our world.   Everything is economic, basically.  Corporations.  Third world countries.  A study even said poverty changes children’s personalities.  Decreased poverty leads to decreased violence.  The world’s ability to EAT:   “approximately 42% of the world’s agricultural land is seriously degraded”  (soil exhaustion and water resource depletion, from unsustainable practices like tillage or overgrazing).  The ‘poverty cycle’ describes a trap of inherited generational poverty from a complex self-reinforcing mechanism of persistence.  3/4 of the poor today are farmers.  The “poverty-industrial complex” describes for-profit companies taking on the roles of government agencies.  Aporophobia is the fear or hostility toward poor people.   The poor are often thought of as lazy, wasters, losers, or scammers.  And the rich as industrious, entrepreneurial, patriotic, and the drivers of economic success.  The truth is the poor are overwhelmingly born into poverty, or thrust into it by circumstances beyond their control.   Circumstances like disability (physical or mental), divorce, job market discrimination, unlivable wages, family breakdown, illness, or old age).    Children are twice as likely to die of poverty than adults.  War, which can level cities, can also stimulate innovation and invention.

So many factors figure into individual and societal poverty.  Good governance, minimum corruption, geopolitics, macroeconomics, global warming/climate change (whatever you want to call it), environmental degradation, plastic pollution, overfishing, sustainable development goals, technology, charity, activism, greed and selfishness and materialism, war….  From the stock market as an aggregate of millions of decisions to the effect of a single individual, wealth and poverty hinges on all of us.   Capitalism emphasizes looking out for number one, and trying to be self-reliant.   But we’re all in this together, and we need to help each other out, if we’re a community, a society that cares.  Greed may be good, but so is charity.   Done well, intelligently.  Things like opportunity cost, and cost-benefit analysis, and advertisements that target specific demographics with psychology to manipulate the vulnerable.   Debt relief.  A Universal Basic Income.   The Protestant work-ethic (and COJCOLDS, and Japanese, etc.).  Recessions and Depressions put the Eek! In economics.   The nature of the economy is psychological, to a very large extent.  The outlook for the future.   Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?  (as if the president controls the economy!).  Jesus said, “the poor will always be with us.”   I believe in the Housing First policy-  So hopefully the homeless won’t!

tentative constellation of 5 policy solutions:  1. Housing First, 2. UBI, 3. efficient food pantries/ food banks, that redistribute unpurchased food, and less food waste, 4. free healthcare, and 5. opportunity.    Plus, some philosophy:  Redefine "success" as personal fulfillment, not merely prosperity and riches.  Less alienation, isolation, loneliness - and more community, interaction, social engagement.  Less atomization and more association.  Getting a job you like should be easy.   As my friend Kelli says, "it's a job getting a job."

My Education Philosophy

Kids First

Not the parents.  Not the teachers.  The kids.   They should follow their interests, their curiosity, their passion, their dreams, if they have one.  I believe in specialization and focus on what is interesting, being motivated to learn.  They should also get a liberal education that spans all the bases of the traditional curriculum, focused on critical thinking, writing, getting into college, passing tests, if that’s what the kid wants.  

Teachers should be ranked second, in forming an educational programme.  They should only be teaching what they’re interested in, enjoy, and can effectively convey passion about.  Not anything else.  If the teacher loves a subject, the student probably will, too.   The best teachers can be made available to all, online.

Parents already have the greatest influence on their children, and don’t need to be given any more, in my view.  They can choose which school to pay for.  If they have a specific syllabus they want emphasized, they can move to a place that shares their values, or even home-school their kids, themselves.  Parents can ask their kids what they’ve learned, what they want to learn, and play vital roles in the growth and formation of their kids.  But they don’t have the only say, and shouldn’t have even the final say, in my opinion.  

The internet and libraries are centers of learning.  Wikipedia and Ted and YouTube and free college courses online and instructional resources abound.  Google, Alexa, Siri, Chat GPT can answer questions, as well as message boards.  Education is already free.  A motivated kid will earn good grades, and should therefore qualify for financial aid, based on merit, which grows naturally from youth being excited, engaged, motivated, and learning, actively, daily.  

The best model of learning is teaching what the kids are interested in.  They should generate and submit questions daily, to teachers, to libarians, to the internet, to parents, and anyone else.   That is the joy of learning (and of teaching).  Ramp up the curiosity, and motivate kids to engage in finding and acquiring the answer(s).  Question by question, as a class, as a community, with their peers, as well as individuals.

As an adult, I collect trivia cards, have a kindle that has the NYT and Economist.   I have a computer, a phone, an Echo smart speaker, an apple watch.   I can ask questions as they occur to me.  My blog allows me to keep (and share) a record of my opinions, books I’ve read, interests, and compile facts, for others and my future self.  Chat GPT is a fun way to engage with trivia.  Libraries are a kind of heaven.  School shouldn’t be a kind of hell.