OMG, not Globalism

     Brazil's new president wants to do away with environmental laws to increase the countries wealth.  Screw the Amazon and the obvious planetary implications.  It is "Singles Day" in China, their equivalent to the US "Black Friday", and  Alibaba, just this one company, this morning, set a new online sales record, selling $1Billion in 86 seconds. I have flowers blooming in my yard on 11/11/18.  Trump is selling kill-tech to the Saudis to neutralize children in Yemen, and CNN is playing "rocks vs. RPG's" at the Rio Grand...... and on, and on, and on. 

     Trump, either needs to exterminate every human that does not watch Fox & Friends, or he needs to rethink this "nationalism" illusion.  It's hard to see anything ahead, other than

                                                            "Globalism or Gone"

Brad Bradshaw, MD.JD.MDZ

     Missouri voters who smoke weed should not vote this November.  Unprecedented advertising campaigns for three different initiatives regarding cannabis have caused, even the most sober, to be totally confused.  For those "high" or those who want to get "high", it is probably too steep a hill to climb.  Amendment 2, Amendment 3 or Proposition C, let's see, shall I go with 3 yes's, three no's or a blend.  My sober take is that either "Yes for 2" or "Yes for Prop C", make most sense, or at least follow the choices of earlier adopting States.

     Probably not "Amendment 3" unless you want the weasely Joplin Lawyer/Doctor, to win. Yes, the nausiating one whose TV Ads recruiting car wreck victims from a Hospital OR, run 24/7.  He is underwriting a "fake election" lottery for his own account. ......but if your just really into Brad and would like for Brad to be the Missouri Drug Czar (MDZ), controlling the future of Health Care in Missouri, along with mega millions of tax dollars, well then..... just check the Amendment 3 Box.

     OMG, if, for some unimaginable reason, a prospective Missouri voter were to read Amendment 3, they will never again be surprised when a rich, narcissistic ego maniacal ass-hole uses some of his dubiously gotten wealth to play  "dupe the electorate deplorables".  If he loses, no big deal, but if he wins, he wins the "power to tax" and an "existential high" the likes of which, the rest of us will but dream.

            Long live "Democracy".... at least as long as we don't educate the young! 

Alec Baldwin morphing to Trump

     Why just impersonate POTUS when you can cultivate "next in line" status.  Yes, Baldwin just punched a guy on 10th Ave, he did not shoot him.....but he did get arrested.  As our Pres would say, "I like a guy who punches a guy in the face:. It would have gotten more press had it been 5th Ave., but the message is clear,  Alec does the spontaneous violence shit that 37% of America likes.  With 2+ years of SNL practice and a few more "out of control" encounters, Alec should be ready to step in as "despot in waiting".  Never mind his policy inclinations.  The base is down for recognizable faces with extreme counter-culture proclivities.  As for Baldwin, he no doubt will do anything for fame.  He pretty much already has. #AlecBaldwin  

Bank of Missouri (Debit Card Dilemna)

     I maintain a small balance checking account/debit card at the Bank of Missouri in Branson (BofM.  I have never written a check on the account, but a few times each month I do use the debit card for local purchases.  Normally about once a month I open the BofM App on my phone and deposit a check on another account into the BofM account.  It has worked fine for a few years.

     About 10 days ago, the BofM debit card was rejected at McDonalds.  When I checked the BofM App, I discovered that the <$1 balance had resulted from as many as fifty posted debits during the prior week each for $4.  The post detail indicated that all debits were pursuant to "pre-authorization by the business "Square", a Company with a SanFrancisco number and address.  The number which I tried was telephony answered and ultimately advised that it was only accessible by internet invitation to existing Square customers.  The BofM customer service representative explained that Square was a company that processed debit payments via an attachment to smart phones and that BofM had no way of knowing the name of the utilizing Square customer. 

     I filled out a dispute report on 10/23, the day following my discovery.  On 10/31, I received a call from a BofM representative who advised that she was investigating the dispute.  She asked that I provide information about other bank account that I owned, and repetively asked if any of such accounts were linked to my BofM account.  I answered definitively no.  When I inquired as to when the dispute would be resolved, Karen, the representative said "as soon as they had all of the facts". 

    I told Karen that the bank should stipulate a time limit on such resolutions, in that it could well be that the BofM customer's situation might be endangering.  In today's culture, "we are working on it" is not very helpful.  A date specific is much better.  Surprisingly and perhaps revealing when I pressed this issue, Karen said that the disputed funds had been credited to my account on 10/30, with the stipulation that when, as, and if warranted, the amount would again be debited.  My quick takeaway is that BofM should not honor derivitive payments without end user information, but what do I know.

     What I do know is that Karen should have related the, already effected,  temporary resolution up front, and managed the communication more as a neighbor and less as a FBI wannabe. 

     All things considered....the BofM response was responsible and appropriate...... the customer service.....it needs some work.

Simulacra

     Simulacra are not a recently discovered human ploy.  Purposely creating reality distortions is at least as old as socialization.  Some distortions are artful, (Picasso), some are dystrophic, (The Matrix), and some are intentional disseminated constructs designed to implement reality change, (Trumpism). In his Sophist, Plato speaks of two kinds of image making. The first is a faithful reproduction, attempted to copy precisely the "original". The second is intentionally distorted in order to make the copy appear correct to viewers.

     This may have sufficed for Plato's readers, living in a more stable "original", but today we have lost all pretence of there being an "original".  As I have said in previous posts, we are now only able to intuit among competing narratives/simulacra. Accordingly, we are socially interacting from as many different motives as there are spinning narratives.  Seemingly we have chosen against strong, laser like, coherence, and further, even chosen against chaotic divergence.....no,  we favor flat out turbulence.  Hold on, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!

     Sam Harris says that humanity was pretty much fucked up until the Enlightenment when "reason" gained a foothold against the magic that dominated the ancient brain. I think he would conclude that today's turbulence can be held in check and managed into optimum coherence with a concerted adherence to the art of reason.

     Jordan Peterson believes that the need for a higher level of coherence is not possible with help only from a "reason compass".  He argues that today's extreme divergence can only be harnessed by a social consensus that the archetypical stories of the species contain bedrock narratives that have been validated by evolution to be life sustaining, and accordingly should be socially revered and adhered.... with or without the support of reason based arguments.

     Personally, I am just pleased that there is still some social consensus that "red means stop and green means go".  Sadly,  I don't trust either the primitive right, nor the effete left.