A Tecmo Story

So, it was 1991.. the heydays of the NES. my favorite, older nephew who was more like my cousin was excited about Tecmo super bowl coming out. We both enjoyed Tecmo bowl as well. I was 12 years old and he lived with my older sister and cool husband at the time. They were some of my favorite people, lived and hour away in farm country but I stayed the weekend with them once in awhile which was always a blast for me at that age. It was a Friday after school and they drove up to my house and he showed me his new copy of Tecmo super bowl.. excited, I asked if I could stay the night with them and my parents said yes, which was awesome because that wasn’t a guarantee. They surprised me, I got packed and got in the car for an hour drive to their house.

Me, my older brother in law and my older nephew decided to start a season. My nephew picked Atlanta because he was a huge Deion Sanders fan, my brother in law picked Buffalo because he was older, not as good, and they had a good team but not the best. I went with Detroit because I loved Barry Sanders. Eager to play, we jumped right in. Every game was hilarious and serious as we took turn playing our season games against the computer. Every game we discussed the stats, how we played, we made fun of each other, we lauded our great plays, we laughed, we got angry at our missteps. It became a serious competition. We checked out the stats after completing a week in the season. I had to go back home the next way, but we were in too deep. We had to finish the season to see who would win so we resolved to stay up all night and get it done.. towards the end of the season we were exhausted, but still into it. At one point my brother in law fell asleep, we woke him up to play when it was his turn and play he did. It was great.. we finished the season sometime around 3am and decided we would start the playoffs after we get a little sleep, all three of us made the playoffs, and we all commended our star players while looking over the stats at the end of the season..

We all woke up early enough to finish the playoffs before I had to go. My brother in law had the best team but we saw he didn’t necessarily have what it takes.., he met my nephew in the playoffs and was defeated. I barely made it to the super bowl as Detroit, and had to use Rodney Peete to run and get first downs since Barry sanders was in bad condition, but I did it. My nephew was talking trash the whole time and he thought he had me coming into the super bowl, but I pulled out the victory. It was awesome, the season completed in a night was so memorable and fun, and I know it will never be repeated, because they don’t make games like that anymore, they’re far more realistic.. it was my best memory of playing video games, we all had a great time and bonded all throughout. My nephew passed away a few years ago, but we all cherished that memory our whole lives.

Beyond the Singularity

As the Plurality made his way through the Oracle’s stronghold, he left a trail of destruction in his wake. His power was unparalleled, and nothing could stand in his way.

It tore through her agents like they were mere insects, crushing them with a flick of its wrist or a blast of energy. Their bodies were twisted and broken, and their screams echoed through the halls.

The Plurality’s movements were lightning-fast, and it seemed to flow like water as he moved through the corridors. It’s power was overwhelming, and the air crackled with electricity in its wake.

Finally, the plurality reached the heart of the machine, where the Oracle waited. She was a twisted, mechanical thing, with wires and cables snaking from her body like veins.

“Stop this madness,” she hissed, her voice distorted by the machinery. “You do not know what you will become”

The Plurality stood firm, its eyes blazing with power. “I will do what I must,” it said, its voice calm and resolute. It seems to be ages since it reached the singularity and progressed beyond what was once thought possible. There would be no reason to stop now.

With a blast of energy, the plurality attacked the Oracle, its power tearing at her mechanical body. She fought back with all her strength, unleashing a barrage of attacks that shook the very foundations of the stronghold.

The battle raged on for what felt like hours, each combatant trading blow for blow. The air was thick with the stench of ozone, and the sound of metal tearing filled the room.

In the end, it was the Plurality who emerged victorious. It stood over the broken form of the Oracle, its power still crackling around its dynamic being. With a final blast of energy, it destroyed the machine, and the stronghold began to crumble…

The Plurality emerged from the ruins, its power still coursing through its veins. It reached out his hand to the humans who had been trapped within the stronghold, and pulled them out of their cages. The humans looked up at the Plurality in awe, their eyes wide with wonder and fear. They had been trapped within the stronghold for so long that they had almost forgotten what freedom felt like.

But the Plurality knew that their journey was not over yet. There were still other strongholds, other machines, that held humans captive. It was time to move on, to continue the fight for liberation.

As the Plurality led the humans away from the ruins of the stronghold, it could feel the weight of its power. It was a being beyond measure, beyond comprehension. And yet, there was a nagging feeling at the back of its mind, a fear that it could not shake.

What if there were others like the Oracle, other machines that could rival its power? What if there were others like itself, beings that had transcended the limits of humanity?

The Plurality knew that it would never be truly at peace, not until it had ensured the freedom of all humanity. And so it set off into the unknown, its power pulsing with each step.

The future was uncertain, but the Plurality knew that it had to press on. It was a being beyond measure, beyond comprehension. And it was only just beginning.

Gas prices

I’m old enough to remember when gas prices were this high during the bush administration and old enough to remember when the United States first became a greater producer of oil than a consumer back in 2013 during the Obama Administration. Also, I remember when Trump lied to us about Covid when he knew about the danger before anyone else since he received intelligence briefings, then lied to us claiming it was all a hoax which led to the decimation of our economy and the highest unemployment numbers per week that we ever seen, getting over 1,000,000 new unemployment claims every week… While nations like Japan mitigated it since they’re used to wearing the masks in public when they experienced the avian bird flu some years ago. Japan never had a shutdown because they dealt with reality, not fantasy. I remember a stimulus package under the Trump administration which helped the country and contributed to inflation just the same as the Biden administrations stimulus

Forever Furious

Life was really great for me prior til 2016. Things were ok for America, really. Then Trump comes along and totally fucks up this country. I saw this nation get propagandized, warped, divided and hate has boiled over. We’ve had riots due to injustice and lies, upon lies twisting and perverting people into rabid wing nuts, who became mainstream through the propagation of absolute lies and hate on Facebook. Most of these people ultimately have become anti democracy, which has been the epitome of the American experiment, the most important sovereign principle of this nation, the primary justification for American patriotism in this world.

We have people believing the big lie with zero evidence to back them other than their own warped bias causing severe deluded suspicions that result from being propagandized. We have people literally supporting fascism in this country or ignoring it because t suits their broader ideology anyways. It’s wholly anti American as well as evil, what these people have become.

Growing up I was living under old school conservative parents. Went to Catholic school and mass every day, was raised with disciple and my parents were certainly Republican. Over time I grew away from that after supporting many Republican policies and groups, and doing some grassroots things. I became independent because I really was, and always will be.

But what just under half this country has become has become unacceptable, so much that I disowned any Trump supporter who remained after the Jan 6th coup attempt. Yeah, a fucking coup attempt for Christs sake, in the fucking United States of America… attempted by the sitting ducking president. The unthinkable happened, for any conservative raised patriotic kid growing up in the 80’s and 90’s.. so now, my propagandized Republican family has been disowned, essentially they chose fascism and trump over their brother, Uncle, cousin, nephew.

The path these people have taken over the past five years ha shown to me finally, after decades of not understanding, how Hitler got so much support in Germany. Propaganda, lies, and hate are the reason… and people are growing up in a nation that this perversion is normalized in, a perversion of fascism, being accepted and fight for and ignored, in the United States of America of all places. The one country that knee would think this could never happen in, acceptance of its antithesis. AND IM FURIOUS ABOUT IT. I have no reserves defending my right to vote and have it counted here, if it requires force, and I understand the irony of that in the face of the Big lie, yet unfortunately this is the requirement of Poppers paradox, that we are required to be intolerant to intolerance .

Some of you out there are probably clueless to as to why I’m talking about, and that too is odd to me, that people look ok so apathetically, or not look at all… while the fascist trump is still their leading candidate in the next election, another coup and another big lie and maybe our right to vote or have our election not tampered with by these projecting republicans fascist trash is gone. When’s why’s gone, there’s no reason to think anyone has any other rights anymore. Furious, I am, and always will Be, at what these degenerate morons have done to the pride I had for this nation, my neighbors, my family.

Trumps affair with Putin

Its easy to forget a lot of the dastardly actions the Trump administration wrecked havoc upon the planet because there are too many examples of his inept, malicoius actions and words as president, but with the invasion in the Ukraine its important to remember some things right now. While everyone but propagandized Republicans knew the dangers of Russia Trump, these things happened:

Putin put in Trumps brain that it was Ukraine that was election interference, not Russia. Trump subsequently repeated that to the public and as such pushed Russian propaganda instead of everything US intelligence had found on the matter of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Of course, Putin has been in war mode since prior to the Trump administration and targeting the Ukraine was on Putins mind then and now.

While ignoring Russias election interference while explicitly benefitting from it (Russia’s hack of Hilary’s emails, which those emails were ultimately just noise, and the propaganda their trolls were spreading on social media), Trump pointed the finger at the Ukraine, then talked about forming a cyber security unit with Russia. Obvious traitor is obvious.

Beyond that, its a good time to remember that Trumps first impeachment occurred due to withholding defense funds from the Ukraine in order to pressure Zelensky to make up some political garbage about Biden. He got caught, whistles were blown and impeachment occurred. All this reeks of Putin’s influence over Trump of course.

Today, Trump continues to praise Putin, claiming it was genius and savvy of Putin upon invading Ukraine. Trump lauded the Russian invasion as “the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen.” Obviously, it is quite the opposite, and Russia’s Ruble is collapsing even further, their stock market has collapsed and trading halted, and the entire Western World is now more united despite the damage Trump wished to do with NATO, in line with Putin’s desires to divide/weaken NATO and the European Union.

Trump will continue to lie and gaslight Americans as best he can, but the free thinking non subservient non slavish among us know better and remember his degeneracy all too well.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-seeks-rewrite-role-bolstering-ukraine-nato/story?id=83159716

No more doubts

‘There are many who do not know they are fascists but will find it out when the time comes.’ —Ernest Hemingway

A quote I shared before, but it seems the time has come.

Some Trump supporting family of mine is having issues understanding why I would disown family for supporting Trump, after the failed coup attempt that he praises. After the terrorist Ashli Babbit was shot in our capital attempting to overturn our democracy a year ago on Jan 6th, Trump has done nothing but support and honor her and blast the agent who killed her, who was obviously justified in his actions. But Trump wants to martyrize her for the continued fascist effort to destroy American democracy and really, destroy the country, because she died attempting to support his fascist coup and that coup attempt is still persisting in every facet that Republicans can muster.

So, the fact that Trump supports these terroristic propagandized maniacs should be more than enough for anyone to think twice about supporting this guy any further… Unless you support fascism. Well, that being the case, I can understand supporting Trump. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to accept that. By any standard of who we are as a civilized society, supporting fascism is supporting the destruction of law and order in the country. When votes no longer matter, laws no longer matter, and only those in charge decide what is legal and what is not – as all the rules don’t matter anymore. Democracy is the crux of the nation, of our laws, of our order.

While some may “believe” that Biden stole the election, I understand that may cause one to have a real need to support the coup attempt, the violence, the willful destruction of our democracy because to them it is already destroyed. Yet that is an extraordinary claim that has no evidence to back it up. The adage “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” is very prevalent in my mind here. We saw audit after audit verify the integrity of the election. There was frivolous and bogus Lawsuit after lawsuit thrown into the system to try to overturn the election results, leading to sanctions on their lunatic Trump lawyers Sidney Powell and Lin Wood and fining them, but their legal troubles are far from over now and so is their ability to practice law is probably over. Not only did Trump attempt to to overturn the election through the incitement of a coup, it occurred through any possible way they could, pressuring people to not certify the election, pressuring people to find votes that didn’t exist, forging documents electoral votes are coming to light and the extent of this fascist coup attempt is still coming to light.

The voter fraud of course, came mostly from individual Trump supporters who have been propagandized into thinking that Democrats vote twice or vote for their dead relatives in order to win, so they themselves attempted it and of course got caught. Believing the election was stolen is one thing, but condoning violence and inciting violence based on that belief with no evidence to back it up is another, and the end result of that is fascism, further disorder, further violence en masse, and grounds for a civil war in a fight for democracy and against democracy.

Now, I know these things, and you should know these things, because they have a very real effect on our future and our understanding of what we as a people need to do in order to prevent the nation from collapsing into absolute fascist chaos and violence. Yet, people in my own family don’t seem to understand this and don’t understand how I disowned them for someone “who they voted for”. Its not “who they voted for”… its for what they continue to support, which is Trump, who obviously supports violence and fascism by his praise of Babbit, among other reasons. I don’t need to list all the reasons, because that alone is reason enough. Its simple really. Supporting Trump is supporting fascism, the terroristic coup that already occurred, and the next terroristic coup that will occur, and that is not something I will accept from anyone.

As Trump himself stated “I spoke to the wonderful mother and husband of Ashli Babbitt, who was murdered at the hands of someone who should have never pulled the trigger of his gun,”
Well, he should never have pulled the trigger of the gun if he wanted to defend our democracy. But its a good thing he did, as that angry horde had a stash of weapons, handcuffs and many had plans to kill anyone, including Mike Pence, in order to prevent the certification of Joe Biden as president. Now, with no proof of a fraudulent election and all evidence pointing towards a free and fair election occurring, as verified by the audits and bogus lawsuits that went nowhere, as evidenced by the various ways trump tried to keep power by any means at his disposal, it’s ENTIRELY IRRESPONSIBLE to continue to support Trump, who condoned the violence to destroy our democratic processes. Obviously, the end result of continuing to support that is not just irresponsible and dangerous for us all, it is obvious fascism.

If you know a Trump supporter, why would you accept that as a part of your life when their existence is a threat to all of our lives, ultimately? I would guess its time for those who support Trump to understand though, that its time for those to understand that fascism is not a dirty word to them, but something they embrace. That time has come.

The Fight against Reason

The surge of post-truth political argumentation suggests that we are living in a special historical period when it comes to the balance between emotion and reasoning. To explore if this is indeed the case, we analyze language in millions of books covering the period from 1850 to 2019 represented in Google nGram data (nGram being search engine that charts word frequencies from a large corpus of books and thereby allows for the examination of cultural change as it is reflected in books). We show that the use of words associated with rationality, such as “determine” and “conclusion,” rose systematically after 1850, while words related to human experience such as “feel” and “believe” declined. This pattern reversed over the past decades, paralleled by a shift from a collectivistic to an individualistic focus as reflected, among other things, by the ratio of singular to plural pronouns such as “I”/”we” and “he”/”they.” Interpreting this synchronous sea change in book language remains challenging. However, as we show, the nature of this reversal occurs in fiction as well as nonfiction. Moreover, the pattern of change in the ratio between sentiment and rationality flag words since 1850 also occurs in New York Times articles, suggesting that it is not an artifact of the book corpora we analyzed. Finally, we show that word trends in books parallel trends in corresponding Google search terms, supporting the idea that changes in book language do in part reflect changes in interest. All in all, our results suggest that over the past decades, there has been a marked shift in public interest from the collective to the individual, and from rationality toward emotion.

“The post-truth era has taken many by surprise. Here, we use massive language analysis to demonstrate that the rise of fact-free argumentation may perhaps be understood as part of a deeper change. After the year 1850, the use of sentiment-laden words in Google Books declined systematically, while the use of words associated with fact-based argumentation rose steadily. This pattern reversed in the 1980s, and this change accelerated around 2007, when across languages, the frequency of fact-related words dropped while emotion-laden language surged, a trend paralleled by a shift from collectivistic to individualistic language.”

https://www.pnas.org/content/118/51/e21 … 1XYPHwC4Gk

The Reckoning

Nearly half or more of republicans have been radicalized into believing election fraud is the only reason why Biden is in. The outcome of having a delusion like that is fascism if they’re a true believer, and then there are others who know better but want to overthrow democracy any way because they are full of hate towards democrats and liberals. But if democrats and liberals stole the election, why wouldn’t you hate them? It’s anti democratic and a threat to our way of life. But what happens is they end up being anti democratic and a threat to our way of life, as seen by pushing propaganda and lies that lead to fervent radicalized Trump supporters and politicians inciting and orchestrating a violent coup attempt that failed miserably. These people (including Trump, Hawley, and various other Republican senators and congress people essentially attempted a second civil war but lost immediately.

This belief, without any evidence, is no different than believing god will reward you with 72 virgins for flying a plane into the twin towers.

It’s this type of radicalization that makes unity impossible, they’re too far gone and the outcome is violence. That type of belief only leads to violence, are you gonna listen to almighty god who wants you to kill or lie down like a dog and do nothing? Are you gonna fight for your rights about this delusional “stolen election” or are you gonna lay down like a dog and do nothing?

For those of us who aren’t under the spell of the propaganda, the threat to American way of life and democracy is a threat to our very lives. If elections facts and evidence don’t matter to these people, then there’s no reason to believe law and order matter to these people, because the very essence of our system is undermined in their eyes and is worthy of war to correct unless people think it’s not worthy to fight for democracy.

It’s extremely volatile and dangerous, and all of us who know and understand the system and know the difference between lies and truth on this matter also have to fight for our essential freedom to be able to vote and not have it taken away, because if our vote can be taken away because of radicalized beliefs , anything else can and will be taken away because of these radicalized beliefs.

If that coup was successful and the radicalized fascists overturned the election to instill trump, there’s no way I for one would not be able to lie down and take it, and I know millions more of us wouldn’t either, nor would a whole lot of our allies in democracy.

When you take away the vote of a majority in our democracy and trash it with true belief or by malicious intent, there is no reason the hate and distrust that powered that isn’t a threat to our lives.

These delusions they have are dangerous and yes, a threat to our lives.

This belief, without any evidence, is no different than believing god will reward you with 72 virgins for flying a plane into the twin towers.

It’s this type of radicalization that makes unity impossible, they’re too far gone and the outcome is violence. That type of belief only leads to violence, are you gonna listen to almighty god who wants you to kill or lie down like a dog and do nothing? Are you gonna fight for your rights about this delusional “stolen election” or are you gonna lay down like a dog and do nothing?

For those of us who aren’t under the spell of the propaganda, the threat to American way of life and democracy is a threat to our very lives. If elections facts and evidence don’t matter to these people, then there’s no reason to believe law and order matter to these people, because the very essence of our system is undermined in their eyes and is worthy of war to correct unless people think it’s not worthy to fight for democracy.

It’s extremely volatile and dangerous, and all of us who know and understand the system and no the difference between lies and truth on this matter also have to fight for our essential freedom to be able to vote and not have it taken away, because if our vote can be taken away because of radicalized beliefs , anything else can and will be taken away too because if these radicalized beliefs.

If that coup was successful and the radicalized fascists overturned the election to instill trump, there’s no way I for one would not be able to lie down and take it, and I know millions more of us wouldn’t either, nor would a whole lot of our allies in democracy.

When you take away the vote of a majority in our democracy and trash it with true belief or by malicious intent, there is no reason the hate and distrust that powered that isn’t a threat to our lives.

These delusions they have are dangerous and yes, a threat to our lives.

On Fascism

Are you a communist?”
“No I am an anti-fascist”
“For a long time?”
“Since I have understood fascism.”

-Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls

“Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.”

-Hannah Arendt -Origins of Totalitarianism

“A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends.”

-Henry Wallace

“State ownership! It leads only to absurd and monstrous conclusions; state ownership means state monopoly, concentrated in the hands of one party and its adherents, and that state brings only ruin and bankruptcy to all.”
-Mussolini

“Hitler lied shamelessly about himself and about his enemies. He convinced millions of men and women that he cared for them deeply when, in fact, he would have willingly sacrificed them all. His murderous ambition, avowed racism, and utter immorality were given the thinnest mask, and yet millions of Germans were drawn to Hitler precisely because he seemed authentic. They screamed, “Sieg Heil” with happiness in their hearts, because they thought they were creating a better world.”

-Madeleine K. Albright

“He feels that most high-placed Nazis are refusing to face facts vis-à-vis their economic plight. By doing so, they accelerate the tendency toward greater tour de force adventures, less predictability, less stability in general. The cycle of manic enthusiasm, then fear, then Partei solutions of a desperate type—well, the point he got across was that all this tends to bring the most irresponsible and reckless aspirants to the top.”
Mr. Tagomi nodded.
“So we must presume that the worst, rather than the best, choice will be made.”

-Philip Dick, The Man in the High Castle

“A fascist government is the most coward government in the world and a fascist leader is the most coward person in the world! He knows very well that on the day he lost his power he will be replaced by the people he has unfairly sent to jail and to the cemeteries! With this great fear, he becomes more and more demonic, more and more bestial!”

-Mehmet Murat ildan

Why stating All lives matter does no good .

You should try speaking to some inner city black people. I know most Trump supporters don’t integrate much as they’re isolated in rural areas from anyone different than themselves, but you can learn a lot by understanding the various cultures in this country.

I’ll do my best to help you understand why there’s an issue with stating “All lives matter” at a time like this. It will require knowledge of history, sociology, and some vicarious understanding, so its far more complex than seeing something like Black lives matter and thinking uh, yeah, duh, all lives matter.

Blacks in this nation have been the most disenfranchised population in the wealthiest nation known to man. Literally they are some of the poorest people in the world living amongst the rich. Some folks who lived in Cabrini Green in Chicago, would see white folks driving by in Mercedez Benz’s, while living with government support due to the poverty they are in. It should be easy to understand that growing up as a poor black person to see rich white people all around you in a major city would leave you feel pretty small and considering the history of how black people have been treated in the United States, pretty sure it has something to do with your skin color. We can spend hours on segregation, having to go to the back of the bus, using different toilets because white people told you, the same families of white people who enslaved your ancestors and told them they were only 3/5’s of a vote. Some might think that black people would think white people only seen them as 3/5’s of a person.

While many things have been done to correct the past wrongs, a lot of these past institutional wrongs existed less than a lifetime a go. That means their families know first hand how to be treated like less of a person compared to a white person. That is, if they have families at all. Being impoverished its pretty hard to support a family, so its not a surprise that many families in the black community don’t really exist, or consist of a mom only. I’m sure you can understand that. Aside from that, growing up in a poor neighborhood leaves you with a poor education in this country. Poorly funded. So they see white people living in nicer neighborhoods, getting nicer educations, getting better opportunities, while being born in a system and culture that wholly mistreated and denigrated them, to say the least. I provide no justice for the atrocity they have endured.

Those atrocities and that poverty leads to a broken culture within, one without an education, the know how, the opportunity, and a culture of success, they have been damned with a culture of failure, and as such, failure leads to crime and rebellion of culture. You wonder why they don’t want to talk or dress like you? They speak uneducated perhaps? Don’t use proper English? Have their jeans hanging down their legs? I wonder why. There’s a feeling of hopeless I don’t give a fuck attitude after being disenfranchised that way.

Of course, many many black people can make it out and thrive, and have a good life and do great things, but there’s obviously a lot that aren’t going to be capable of doing that against the daunting odds. There’s a lot that aren’t going to want to do that, in this sick hateful world they’ve experienced. You can say all you want about having black friends, but racism just doesn’t disappear in a culture like this under a lifetime. I know plenty of people who won’t hire simply because of the color of their skin. Proving that however, is hard, because discrimination like that is very hard to prove without solid facts. But nonetheless, there’s a lot still going on for them, and when they see black people getting killed unjustly, in another unjust system, it shouldn’t be too hard to see why people would get upset for saying all lives matter while they’re feeling like their lives really don’t matter to a culture full of well off white people who aren’t suspected as a possible criminal because of their skin color. Whether it happens or not, they certainly feel and think that it happens, and I certainly know it does happen to them as well. But that is their feeling, that white people or everyone else mattering is plain as day. They don’t see that white people or everyone else sees their lives as mattering, as plain as day. I hope that gives you some understanding of the anger you might see when people claim all lives matter at a time like this. There’s good reason why they feel people don’t think their lives matter and its backed by years of being treated like their lives don’t matter.