Control and conservativism: a theory

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Friday December 17, 2021 · 8:12 PM PST

2021/12/17 · 20:12

yellow leaves, atlanta, GA — autumn for everyone

I keep trying to figure out why the republicans are so fired up mean and relentlessly blameful. It seems to me like a LOT to be so incredibly unreasonable—enough to not understand the deaths from being unvaxed; the disturbingly cracked up conspiracy theories etc. But today I had the thought that maybe the reason they are so convinced that we are out to get them, is because of how frightening the alternative is: that things are out of control! As long as someone is to blame, then things can be fixed if we just force them to admit they (the bad guys—in this case democrats) are wrong, then we can take over and this whole pandemic thing will go away.

The alternative: we are mortal, and will die, and we can’t say why or how, and there is ZERO to be done about it. Maybe thhe vehemence withh which they clingg to God guts and guns, and mysogeny and racism, and...is because they desperately need to believe that it CAN be remedied…

The idea of living with doubt, ambiguouty, no real category or answer, is unsettling enough that it can’t even be considered, and they will use every breath at every volume to deny it. Like sticking fingers in their ears and spit speakingg (kelly Ann and Gym) so fast that noone (most of all them) have not one second to consider and reflect...I think that may be it. Control freaks hopped up on fear balls. I mean the end of the universe and the notion of losing your privelege...it’s freaky man!

Around the building and up the street!

rubyred

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Monday October 12, 2020 · 10:07 AM PDT

2020/10/12 · 10:07

Just an excited short post: early voting opened up on our local campus, and on my commute to work at noon this was the picture. I said to the cop “well this is good news” and she said “it’s been like this since 5:45”. IT’s hard to see how many there are are here in the pic, but it’s probably 200 at 6 feet apart.

Atlanta.

Nice perk on the way to work.

Poll

51 votes Show Results

8-ball poll: will Georgia go blue?

51 votes Vote Now!

8-ball poll: will Georgia go blue?

As I see it, yes

15 votes

Ask again later

6 votes

It is certain

1 vote

It is decidely so

3 votes

Better not to tell you now

5 votes

Don't count on it

9 votes

Cannot predict now

12 votes

Biden listened last night, to a fault (but maybe that's exactly right--he can't NOT listen)

rubyred

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Wednesday September 30, 2020 · 3:24 PM PDT

2020/09/30 · 15:24

My Neighbor's Hands, photo by rubyredorange

Another Biden thought:

I’m for Biden, of course. But I am leary that he isn’t as sharp as I want him to be (he was not my top choice, but I am convcitedly for him right now).

One thing I was critical of last night during the hogwashh bully debate was that he kept beginning a thought and then getting sideswiped by the creep who would irk him. It seems like Biden would be poised for a clear strike of an idea, and then indeed be irked by the side comment. I kept thinking: just don’t listen! Keep your focus! Just don’t listen! Pretend like he’s not there...

But he got irked, and he couldn’t pretend he wasn’t there. And now I think that’s exactly what is helpful and good about Biden: he CAN’T not listen.

We want someone who will listen, we need someone who and be able to see from another point of view. Biden did that last night with the badgering, he kept responding to the comments—he HEARD them. While I don’t think this made him demolish Trump as a grand debater or look very strong at all, I do find it an attractive quality, and one I want in a president.

I’m also curious that this candidate might be exactly the kind of man who will be effective right now. I do think the nation is at a nexus, and ready for change. THe fact that Biden is neither here nor there, but present, might make him just the pivot point we need. He is a transitioner, with friends of old and new, and he listens. This just might work…

Two flag pony tail pick ups, one "customs clean up crew" tank, but not one, not ONE...TRUMP sign!

rubyred

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Monday September 07, 2020 · 7:45 PM PDT

2020/09/07 · 19:45

People of the 2018 Maine Sewing Rebellion create a sign for the fourth of july parade. This spells out: Peace Work, in pieced works — It says "Peace Work" (and it's piece work, get it?)

This afternoon I had to leave my blue dot community to go out into the blood red state (Georgia) to pick up a sink I’d bought. I always become “on alert” when I head out into the wild deep red, because I feel how I don’t fit, and I’m afraid of people with guns who smell the lib on me, and then will want to kill me*. So I thought I might as well use the travel as a measure of frequency and scale of Trump signs for an empirical sense of how vicious the next two months will be.

And this is what I saw: A State Park— (named for the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, a civil war fight the confederacy won) packed with people; the local Seed and Feed, also full; a lot of large houses; two of those High-Boy (bouey?)-Tow -Trucks-with-the-biggest-flag-you-can-mount-without-having-your-truck-tip-over; a pair of army tanks parked on a lawn, one spray painted with “border clean up support”; MANY American Flags, mostly large, some political signs, some large, but --- NOT ONE TRUMP sign. NOT ONE! I couldn’t even find a Trump bumper sticker. RURAL GEORGIA.

This is the kind of neighborhood where I expected bunting with Trump brocade spanning the width of houses, and maybe a jumbotron or two blasting Hannity.

I was floored. Bellweather? ‘Sign’ of the times?

Quarantini

rubyred

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Friday April 10, 2020 · 11:02 AM PDT

2020/04/10 · 11:02

I made a quarantini! With the Quarant Berry.

Internet Services: Things to understand about the Internet and how your service can be impacted.

rubyred

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Saturday March 21, 2020 · 10:23 PM PDT

2020/03/21 · 22:23

This came as a group email to our campus community, and I thought it informative, so reposting it here.

Message about the Structure of the Internet

Everything has limits!
The Internet backbone is made up of the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected computer networks and core routers around the country and world.
Problems can occur anywhere along a route that impact access to resources or speed of delivery or access.
The best analogy of the Internet is roads.
- Neighborhood
- City
- Region
- State
- US
- When there is an accident, there is a delay in a particular area that can also impact surrounding areas with increased traffic and delays.
- Specific times of the day have higher volumes of traffic.
This map, created by MIT, shows the long-haul fiber that carries Internet data around the US. Red spots show different cable connects. There are multiple connections to each of the red spots.

Useful Tips

Be prepared for slowness during prime time usage. What can you do:
- Stagger meeting times or change the time you use services.
- Consider other ways to accomplish what you are trying to accomplish.
- If using Webconferencing (Zoom, Google Meet):
  - Don’t use live video.
  - Use lower resolution playback.
  - Turn off your camera.
- Recognize that the quality of users’ connections will vary. When you don’t have any issue, someone else might.
There are sites where you can check the status of various online resources:

Covfefe 19 (Update: I made the graphic for your use)

rubyred

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Saturday March 14, 2020 · 3:25 PM PDT

2020/03/14 · 15:25

Doin’ a helluva job Orangey!

BEWARE The Cofefe 19 virus! It is toxic, insidious and hard to get out of the system. Remember self care, vote, wash your hands, and tell your friends.

Epic Path Forward for Warren!

rubyred

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Thursday March 05, 2020 · 9:51 AM PST

2020/03/05 · 09:51

Like the true patriots and humanitarians they are, in a press conference today at 4 pm, Biden and Sanders apologize to America for a country that has a history of brutal racism and sexism, and respectfully drop out of the race. “Speaking for all White Men we are very sorry for our racist and mysoginist culture, and today are respectuflly making amends” they suggest. “We couldn’t be more humbled by the politics and character of Senator Warren, and hereby defer to her for all of our future governmental responsibilities”

; )

What? It could happen.

No, YOU'RE the radical...

rubyred

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Monday February 24, 2020 · 4:35 PM PST

2020/02/24 · 16:35

Does anyone else think that the people may see that Trump has been so extreme, radical and system-busting that Bernie is seen as secure and pro-establishment? Bernie has ideas and ways of following (and changing) laws. He’s kept a steady job, worried the same problems, talked the same talk for years and years. I think he’s seen as trustworthy. He’s promising healthcare and economic parity in a time when things seem broken beyond all. Why wouldn’t people want Bernie’s system after Trump has made such a shambles? The rhetoric that he is radical may not hold up next to the extremism of the current regime. Comparibly, Bernie’s conservative!

(Warren supporter, but I’m for Bernie if he stays where he is)

FB reply from 84 yo Political scientist

rubyred

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Wednesday October 17, 2018 · 10:21 AM PDT

2018/10/17 · 10:21

I keep wondering if there’s something I don’t understand about the electoral college system, like there’s a complication that justifies it, that makes it right. So finally I asked my dad on facebook, because I knew that that would be a quick answer, and if it wasn’t I could take it or leave it. He’s a retired college prof, so he tends to have some long-winded answers, but also, he’s smart. Here’s the conversation:

Rape is a male issue

rubyred

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Friday September 28, 2018 · 4:11 PM PDT

2018/09/28 · 16:11

I am an older woman, and have dressed “down” and worn sensible shoes and avoided skirts and sexy presentation for most of my life. I am married with children and I am respected in my university position. I have covered up my sexuality all my life, because I am afraid of men. No one would know this about me. But the fact that every man is potentially going to to harm me, and is physically stronger than me, and that the system encourages and excuses sexual harrassment, abuse and domestic violence as “it’s none of my business” and “boys will be boys”, means I must regard every single man I meet with distrust. It’s a survival thing.

What if every woman WERE able to smile openly and be welcoming to men without the fear that she would be taken advantage of, labeled, or raped?

It would be a better place. Women could be their best selves. But they can’t, and so the men miss out on some really good relationships.

It is the men that should be crying foul and loudly marching in the streets at the way the senate judiciary committee hearings went this week. Those men (emblemized by Trump and Kavenaugh) are traitors to the male gender. They discredit every man and create an unsafe world for all of us.

He's crying because everything just changed for him

rubyred

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Thursday September 27, 2018 · 1:46 PM PDT

2018/09/27 · 13:46

Dear Brett Kavenaugh: you are crying for yourself.

Yes, it’s sad that you won’t be able to teach again (for you, but not for your students). Sad that you won’t be able to coach basketball (for you but not for the girls). Sad the ten year old daughter said “we should pray for the woman” [SHE GETS IT] (sad for you, because you’re embarassed, maybe a significant moment of recognition for her). Sad that your life as you envisioned it has ended (for you, not for the bad you generate).

So sad for this privileged good old boy — livin’ the dream. And maybe it’s sad as we come to see that the American dream is indeed a myth for “America”, but definitely sad for rich, white colonists who now will be stepping (falling/flailing/screaming) down. Maybe not today, but certainly tomorrow.

Pull your pants up, Brett. You waved your dick in our face, and we said no thank you. Next time, we bite.

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