The Difference between the US invasions of Afghanistan/Iraq and the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Sometimes people caught up in rigid, self-righteous demonization of their own country need to learn to pick a side and crawl into bed with those they despise

A number of people for various reasons anti-this and anti-that, some nevertheless rightfully so, perhaps, are making a common error. They justify their anti-American stance against NATO’s support of Ukraine against Russia’s invasion by collapsing it into the Global War on Terror. These activists claim there isn’t any difference between the American invasions and conquest of Afghanistan and Iraq and the Russian invasion to conquer Ukraine. 

Yes, there are differences, major differences, and they are significant. Continue reading

Elephant Whisperers Mini-Review

A gorgeous, tearful film of love, empathy, and connectivity

Have any of you watched “The Elephant Whisperers” on Netflix yet? Recently won an Oscar for Best Short Documentary, and no wonder. It’s gorgeous and emotionally intense. Set in a national park in South India, it follows in 41 minutes the lives of Bommon & Belle, a middle-aged tribal couple who spend their lives raising orphaned baby elephants. Don’t worry – despite loss & challenges all ends well. Highly recommended and an uplifting break from all the gloom & doom weighing down the news. One could say it’s about climate disruption and mass extinction, for it is, and it’s really a love story, yes, a stand for love. Highly recommended! A warning: the film moves as slow as a languid, tropical river.

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BAN ALL INTERNET COOKIES!

ABOLISH THE HORRORS!

Free download of Cookie Monster image from clipartmag.com.

C‘mon, advertising wizards, WTF are all of you doing pushing cookies and cookie pop-ups on us? It ain’t working. [Imagine this space churning with profanity and fed-up energy!]  We HATE them! What’s taking so long for y’all to notice? These corporacratic “tools” are not even addictive so don’t even try to pretend it’s digital fentanyl. Screw fentanyl anyway as opiates are a scourge as bad as any nasty viral epidemic.

Please, for God’s sake, even if you’re an atheist, study basic 21st Century human behavioral psychology. We’re not all slobbering capitalistic Pavlovian dogs! Yes, we struggle with overconsumption, pollution, and affluenza, sure, and we all HATE WEBSITE COOKIES! How cruel it is to tease one with some faint, nostalgic reminder of hot, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies hoping such memories of happy holiday treats will make us consent to installing cookies? My goodness, I rarely write the way I am here in the now. I feel so exasperated, frustrated, and angry as this mini-essay unfolds into a diatribe as businesses continue to bobble senselessly along the edges of the Charybdis of Cyberspace. Continue reading