Twitter posts in response to AOC

Finding a lot of typos in this.  May delete the tweets and re-post.

I feel despair about the long term effectiveness of what is happening there. I am persuaded that Donal Trump is a traitor to the Republic and that Jan 6 (typo 16) was a failed coup, and, moreover, that Republican senators were complicit and are also traitors, but what will happen?

It seems, in all likelihood, due to inflation, and gas prices, the Democrats will lose control of both the House and the Senate.  

I think this would not have happened if the Democratic Party [sic, had] not chosen to change the debate rules to exclude Tulsi Gabbard.  Without her, the remaining

Candidates felt free to focus the debate almost entirely on domestic issues, ignoring our disastrous foreign military policy, which she wanted to bring to the public attention.

This resulted in the nomination of a long-standing, notorious hawk for President. One of his first actions [sic, was] to re-energize NATO.   This really is the fault of the Democratic Party.  

Tulsi Gabbard would certainly have pointed out Biden's hawkish voting record, such as supporting cluster weapons in Vietnam.  She was primarily focused on preserving peace.

Another sad result of this is that somehow the fiend, Trump, has become the main peace candidate in the eyes of people who are tired of our Forever Wars.

Perhaps you can do something about the fact that the Democratic Party is in bed with the military/industrial complex.  

Hillary Clinton was also a big hawk.  It's time for the Democratic Party to stop nominating big hawks for office.

#Aoc #Biden #Inflation #GasPrices #January6 #Trump #TrumpIsATraitor #RepublicanSenatorsAreTraitors #Hawk #Hawkish #BidenIsAHawk #HillaryIsAHawk #January6CommitteeHearings #Ukraine #Putin #Russians #DNC #DemocraticParty #MilitaryIndustrialComplex #ForeverWars

recomposed tweet follows.  You can follow the thread from there.

 

I feel despair about the long term effectiveness of the #January6CommitteeHearings.

I am persuaded that Donald Trump is a traitor to the Republic and Jan 6 was a failed coup; and, moreover, that Republican senators were complicit and are also traitors — but what will happen?

— Annalisse Mayer (@AnnalisseMayer) June 19, 2022

To that movie star -- a poem

 Fantasy

You don’t know that — at this moment —

You are my best friend

We go hiking together

We visit my cousins together

I help you rescue your daughter

You help my kids who don’t have a father

Because my ex is a trans woman

You go on about your life

Knowing, perhaps, 

That there are many women

Who have these same fantasies about you,

But not knowing us

Anonymous strangers

Anonymous fantasizers

Do you feel

The  collective pressure of

A million thoughts

Directed at you?

Or at an image of you

An image 

A moving image

The power of moving images

Something you have a special gift for

Injecting charisma

Into impersonal machinery

In a way that shoots us 

Right through the heart

-------------------------------

When I wrote my second novel -- When Alice Met Her Favorite Movie Star in an Elevator -- It was supposed to get fantasies about this guy out of my head.  That did work for a while.  But they're back.

Ukraine (a poem that keeps growing)

We watch them dying in slow motion.

Defeat seems inevitable,

but they fight on and on --

starving,

having their country destroyed before their eyes,

never giving up.

And, yet,

we cannot really help.

History, spheres of influence, nukes --

chains that bind us.

Their pictures on my screen

Seemingly so close

And yet so far

I reach out my hand

I cannot reach

It's peaceful here

Where I live

But for how long?

When will it be us

Crying, dying?

*****

He stops their ears 

so they cannot hear. 

He closes their eyes 

so they cannot see.  

He knows that good people

cannot accept what he is doing -- 

but goodness is alien to him.  

He knows only evil, 

corruption, torture, murder, 

and basking in unimaginable wealth.

**********

Путин лжет. Это война. Россия напала на Украину. Украинцы храбро сражаются с превосходящими силами противника.

**************'

Helpless,

powerless,

watching the brave men fight,

believing they are right,

believing the attackers are wrong,

fearing WWIII.

Опусти Oружие

Россияне, Путин вам врёт. Украинцы твои братья. Любите своих братьев. Опусти свое оружие.

#ПутинВрёт #ОпустиОружие #ОпустиСвоеОружие 

ради любви к Иисусу

#РадиЛюбвиКИисусу

meme about the Ukraine

I am copying this from a FB post.  I have not verified its statements, but I think it makes interesting allegations.

WHY UKRAINE MATTERS 

For those who ask 

How the nation of Ukraine ranks:

• 1st in Europe in proven recoverable reserves of uranium ores;
• 2nd place in Europe and 10th place in the world in terms of titanium ore reserves;
• 2nd place in the world in terms of explored reserves of manganese ores (2.3 billion tons, or 12% of the world's reserves);
• 2nd largest iron ore reserves in the world (30 billion tons);
• 2nd place in Europe in terms of mercury ore reserves;
• 3rd place in Europe (13th place in the world) in shale gas reserves (22 trillion cubic meters)
• 4th in the world by the total value of natural resources
• 7th place in the world in coal reserves (33.9 billion tons)

 Ukraine is an agricultural country:

• 1st in Europe in terms of arable land area
• 3rd place in the world by the area of black soil (25% of world's volume);
• 1st place in the world in exports of sunflower and sunflower oil;
• 2nd place in the world in barley production and 4th place in barley exports;
• 3rd largest producer and 4th largest exporter of corn in the world;
• 4th largest producer of potatoes in the world;
• 5th largest rye producer in the world;
• 5th place in the world in bee production (75,000 tons);
• 8th place in the world in wheat exports;
• 9th place in the world in the production of chicken eggs;
• 16th place in the world in cheese exports.

Ukraine 

•  can meet the food needs of 600 million people.
•  Ukraine is an industrialized country:
•  1st in Europe in ammonia production;
•  2-е Europe's and 4th largest natural gas pipeline system in the world (142.5 bln cubic meters of gas throughput capacity in the EU);
•  3rd largest in Europe and 8th largest in the world in terms of installed capacity of nuclear power plants;
•  3rd place in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of rail network length (21,700 km);
•  3rd place in the world (after the U.S. and France) in production of locators and locating equipment;
•  3rd largest iron exporter in the world
•  4th largest exporter of turbines for nuclear power plants in the world;
•  4th world's largest manufacturer of rocket launchers;
•  4th place in the world in clay exports
•  4th place in the world in titanium exports
•  8th place in the world in exports of ores and concentrates;
•  9th place in the world in exports of defence industry products;
•  10th largest steel producer in the world (32.4 million tons).

Translated from InVenture: "Is Ukraine a Country underestimated by investors?" by Anatoliy Amelin

**********

Second meme

My only contribution is some gentle editing of what I think is a very accessible explanation of the situation.

So, here goes...

"Ukraine used to be in an abusive relationship with Russia, feeding him, letting him use her car, and giving him whatever he asked for until she built up the confidence to call it quits back in 1991.

Since then Ukraine has been working on herself, becoming a strong independent woman, with help from friends like France, America, Poland, etc., offering her support, loaning her money, and helping her find her way.

Ukraine has been enjoying being single for 30 years, and looking forward to continuing to grow and create new friendships.

Now Russia, being the "Toxic Ex" that it is, wants her back, and doesn’t want her meeting new people or having any new relationships. 

A couple of weeks ago Russia started sitting in front of Ukraine’s house, and when her friends asked him what was he doing there, he said, “Oh nothing. Just getting a little bit of exercise in, that’s all.” 

After her friends told her that Russia was potentially getting ready to do something bad to her, he said, “They’re lying, they just want you to be scared of me, and that’s not what it is.”

Then, sure enough, Russia broke into Ukraine’s house, beating her up, and “taking advantage” of her while on livestream, and double-dog daring any of her friends to do something about it."

And there you have it, folks. 

A sad and disturbing tale. 

(Sigh.)

Thoughts about HP in 12 step programs

I wrote this in a secular meeting where the query was posed as to how people dealt with the concept of a male God in 12 step literature 

I do not believe in a male God.  I do not believe that God is a “person,” capable of having gender.  

This does not mean that I don’t believe in God.  It’s just that I think the true name and nature of God are unknowable.

When I read program literature that calls God “he,” I translate it mentally to “it,” and think “this is how the author experiences HP.  They are doing the best they can to describe their experience.”  Their understanding is incomplete.  That is true of all humans.  All of our understandings are incomplete.

I am not certain as to whether the spiritual experiences I have had, which have led to 17 years of abstinence, are actually due to an external God, or due to an interesting neurological phenomenon that merely feels like an external God.  I do not feel that I need to know that. I do not believe that God is governed by binary true/false logic or human reasoning.

The people who write program literature, like all religious writers, are fallible. Their expressions of how this program works are limited by their understanding, which is necessarily incomplete.

It may be that scientific research will one day uncover the neurological basis for the spiritual experience.  I hope so, because then, perhaps, it might be reproduced artificially.  This might be of great benefit to people who do not easily have spiritual experiences.

Or it may be that these spiritual experiences are really inexplicable miracles that come from a mysterious external source that is God — or some other external source. 

The OA 12 & 12 invites us to leave the debating club and just work the program in light of our own desperate search for recovery.  I have heard this expressed in the saying “utilize don’t analyze. “ 

This reminds me somewhat of the process of using Zen koans.  Many of these koans are statements that make no sense, like “listen to the sound of a rock growing.” Rocks do not make a sound that humans can hear.  They do not, so far as we know, grow.  Yet, if one does focus on listening to the sound of a rock growing, one may experience an altered mental state, a spiritual experience — at least I do — and this is the sort of mental state that fosters abstinence for me. 

The Zen practitioners also have a “utilize don’t analyze” approach.  If a student feels stuck in analysis, he or she can ask the master to beat them to stamp it out — as it is not conducive to the desired result.

Many people seem as stuck in logic and reasoning as others seem stuck in a rigid, intolerant view of religion.  I reject both approaches.  

In a Zen koan like approach, I could say something like "God does/does not exist."  I feel that the apparent contradiction here is a limitation in human reasoning and the statement as written is not a pair of alternatives but co-existent realities.

AOC tweeted link to Boebert photo

AOC tweeted a link to this image

The lady with the demonic smile surrounded by her children, who appear to be carrying military grade weapons.  All of them are clearly under 18.  The youngest looks like he's about 6.  The family's name is supposedly Boebert

 Do these people consider themselves Christian?

My tweet in response

When pagans holding phallic totems in front of a pre-Christian symbol of the winter solstice claim to be Christians, it sounds like the sort of thing that would bring down the apocalypse in vengeance. https://t.co/BuzX9xMrn5

— Annalisse Mayer (@AnnalisseMayer) December 25, 2021

text of my tweet: When pagans holding phallic totems in front of a pre-Christian symbol of the winter solstice claim to be Christians, it sounds like the sort of thing that would bring down the apocalypse in vengeance.

Some years back there was a news item about someone finding bullet casings on the ground and concluding that perhaps a group of gun activists might have gathered and shot bullets into the air.  I'm searching for this news item.  I can't find it.

In any case, my reaction at the time was that this type of event -- where people gather to shoot guns -- is a gathering of phallically insecure men who staged a symbolic mass masturbation.  

Somehow, my Freudian style observations about people who are obsessed with guns is not gaining a foothold in the national consciousness.

Sometimes in the past things that I've said have seemed turned out to circulate widely -- not attributed to me, and possibly arising from other sources simultaneously by coincidence.  Even tho some people have told me that they agree with my Freudian style analysis, I haven't seen it repeated generally.  Perhaps it makes people too squeamish to say these things.

I find that I have a persistent fantasy that something I say will go viral and make me famous.  Actually, fame is over-rated.  Especially in this case, inviting the attention of angry, armed people could endanger my life -- so maybe it's just as well that no one notices that I'm saying these things -- but, still, I fantasize that what I say might get attention.

Of course, I think that people who engage in mass shooting incidents are often fantasizing the same thing, which is why I have supported the #nonotoriety movement -- that the press should pay less attention to these incidents.