February 28, 2021 | by Eriс

The Silent Supreme Court of the United States

In our collective minds there is no higher legal authority than the Supreme Court of the United States. On many issues it is their final word we hear after we have heard everything from everyone else, on all levels of our government.

The judges who are respectfully referred to as “Justices” are appointed for life by the President and confirmed by a required vote of the U.S. Senate. They possess deity-like powers when they speak out, over matters public and private.

When they render their judgment, there is nothing further to be said, by anyone. They have the last word on all cases they accept and review.

The Supreme Court’s main role is to judge whether a local County, City, State or Federal law violates the U.S. Constitution. They can also look at a case tried in lower courts, after the case has gone though all the Appeal courts first. Over 2,000 cases a year are presented to the Supreme Court. About 70 cases out of the 2,000 per year are selected by the Court’s clerks for consideration. Then the Justices study those cases and decide which ones merit a trial at their Court. The Justices might agree with the lower courts, not hear the case and let the lower court ruling stand.

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February 24, 2021 | by Eriс

Antifa. The Movie

“By any means necessary”

Popular revolutionary call to action, implying violence

New information is being revealed about Antifa these days. They are becoming more and more emboldened in several locations around this country. In case you missed this recent phenomenon descending from the 20th century far-left political gangs, allow us to make a short introduction. Meet the proverbial parents. Read about them here, here and here. The slate of relatives is a lot broader, but we imagine you get a good look at the family picture. For all intents and purposes, BLM is closely related to Antifa. All of them are Marxists of Maoist persuasion; anarchists bent on violence, lawlessness and total destruction of anything and everyone acting as pillars of our society.

For generations, the “angry” young men and women never quite disappeared from the political landscapes of many countries. Like roaches, emerging under the cover of darkness, to be around decaying organic matter. In a way, they are democracies’ real infestation tests. When countries cannot timely deal with some political or societal issues, these characters come out from their moldy slimy hideouts. Their goal is to latch onto these matters and begin recruiting adepts to their destructive “revolutionary” ideology.

They openly tell us it is their intent to achieve political goals “by any means necessary”.

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February 17, 2021 | by Eriс

The Personal Cost of Politics

We hate politics – office politics, party politics and world politics. It’s what makes everyone nervous, suspicious, violent, fragile, despondent, desperate, regretful and vulnerable. Did we miss anything? Probably did. Politics produces many effects.

It enters our lives, whether we want it or not, mostly uninvited. From TV and computer screens, emails, texts, blog entries somewhere. From Twitter remarks; images and videos sent by friends and posted by people we don’t like. It rides the bus and enters into your home from child’s school; jumps over the fence after a brief conversation with your next-door neighbor. Oftentimes resonates in FM radio news program; looks at you from the billboards as you drive down the road. Politics manifests itself through the supermarket price tags or the price of gas. It’s often a part of an early morning coffee with your spouse or a late night family dinner.

Too frequently, if you don’t talk politics, you and your significant other find you both have nothing to say to each other. And this is very sad.

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February 9, 2021 | by Eriс

The Beginning of American Political Profiling

Many moons ago, we knew someone who worked in the credit card industry. He told us fascinating stories. The company he worked for serviced a number of banks that were too small to support their own credit card infrastructures, so they had a kind of umbrella organization. Part of their job was to help their customers add new, well-to-do clients to the rolls of credit card holders. Mind you, this was way before the Internet era. No smart phones, browsers, websites from where to glean information from. Today this is a much simpler process.

Their task was to find them new customers. Not the ones who already owned mansions or spent lavishly using credit cards in their possession. So how did they go about doing it? They purchased consumer data from outside marketing companies. All sorts or data, lists of magazine subscribers and lists of known U.S. passport holders. Lists of people who stayed in certain hotel chains, data from people who warranty-registered new products they bought (remember those little cards to be filled out and mailed back to the manufacturers)? They had a lot of questions answered about one’s lifestyle. All of that went into individual profiles in huge marketing databases. The marketing companies clients, like that organization we mentioned, bought information based on specific criteria they defined. They were called “selective solicits.” Example:  “we want data on U.S. passport holders who are also subscribers to the “Town and Country” magazine”. What’s the connection you may ask? There was one. Someone someplace figured out that certain people in this category would think nothing of flying over to France for a dinner at “Maxim’s,” famous Parisian restaurant, and come back home the next day. They were good candidates for new credit card offers. There were many such criteria, but we vividly remember that one. The information was collected, addresses matched, letters printed and mailed. Voila, welcome new clients.

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February 6, 2021 | by Eriс

Are You Kidding? BLM is Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”

George Orwell, 1984

Another sign of the precarious times we live in.

“Black Lives Matter” movement has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Norwegian politician representing the Socialist Left party in parliament wants the BLM racist goons recognized for their battle against racism. One Petter Eide, makes a case for BLM “as the strongest global force against racial injustice, (to) send a powerful message that peace is founded on equality, solidarity and human rights”.

The right words, the wrong nominee, the wrong cause and effect.

Ugly racists of the Marxist slant who fan the flames of racial intolerance and sow destruction in our society are suddenly the saviors of our freedoms and human rights. Can anyone twist this any further? It is hard to imagine that they can.

This was not done in jest, like it happened in 1939, when an antifascist member of the Swedish parliament Erik Gottfrid Christian Brandt nominated German dictator Adolf Hitler. That nomination was cancelled; no prize was awarded in 1939 to anyone for peace.

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February 3, 2021 | by Eriс

“Don’t Be Evil”. The Abandoned Promise.

Those of us, who have been around the Internet from the early days of Google, may remember these words: “don’t be evil” proudly spoken by early Google founders.

It was a somewhat romantic notion, based on the power of a new search engine gathering steam and moving the world forward. Recognizing the influence of information, any kind of information, about everyone, became a semi-official motto, and a good one. It was easy to remember and it set our minds in belief that nothing bad can come from Google. No matter what they do. By declaring their purpose and intent in three short words, they told the world they are a force of integrity, of promise, of freedom and whatever they planned on bringing into our lives would make it all better.

We lived with these words for many years. Do you recall their own early candid admission that “after they grew to be over a certain size with power and influence, the corporation must hire people to act as lobbyists of their influence in the corridors of power” be it in Washington or elsewhere? This isn’t an exact quote, but the thought and image they projected is herein. It was a discovery of sorts, by Google who were amazed at the intensity of what they were involved in and how it intertwined with everything else around them, akin to a child learning about the world out there.

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