frankilin roosevelt

It's not about being liberal or conservative anymore y'all. That is a hype offered by the fascist whores who want to confuse the people with lies while they turn this country into an aristocratic police state. Some people will say anything to attain power and money. There is no such thing as the Liberal Media, but the Corporate media is very real.


Check out my old  Voice of the People page.


Gino Napoli
San Francisco, California
High School Math Teacher

jonsdarc@mindspring.com




Loyalty without truth
is a trail to tyranny.

a middle-aged
George Washington



ARCHIVES
1664 POSTS
LATEST ITEM

March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
May 2022
April 2022
February 2022
January 2022
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
September 2016
August 2016
May 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
September 2014
August 2014
May 2014
March 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
August 2012
July 2012
April 2012
March 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
August 2010
July 2010
March 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
August 2009
July 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
June 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
June 2005
May 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004

Saturday, 24 October 2020 at 1h 21m 28s

Fomenting Plutocracy

Nazi’s and white nationalist movements are like mafia organizations combined with the fervor of religious movements. People are lead to believe that all members will benefit if they all stand with one another in the sect. There are cult leaders who exude and inspire confidence, and the organizations are connected by tight lipped inner circles. Funds are filtered in by large plutocratic connected organizations to promote false mythology about the economic system from which they exploit and derive their wealth, distracting the lower classes with false ideology while they steal the fruits of the social system and convince those on the lower rungs that they didn’t work hard enough to make it big and become wealthy.

Our society actually ranks billionaires, like they were in some sort of competition. Honestly, what is the difference between 2.1 and 2.2 billion (mathematical answer : 100 million or 1,000 times 100,000 dollars) ? When you have that much wealth, the difference between those two numbers is enough to have 1,000 people make 100,000 dollars a year. One billion would be 10,000 people making 100,000 dollars a year. That’s a lot of money being sucked out of the economy that could support a living wage. Seems to me that a country counting billionaires as a symbol of pride should instead be ashamed at how many working people are losing out. Ten thousand here, ten thousand there. Sooner or later you start talking about millions of people affected by the aggregation of extreme wealth into the hands of fewer than 10,000 people.

Here’s another math question. What is 10,000 times 10,000? Count the zeroes, and you get 8. So add 8 zeroes after the one and you get 100,000,000. That’s how many people have been financial affected by the vacuum cleaner of wealth into the hands of a mere 10,000 people.

So do you think these hoarders of wealthy want to acknowledge their responsibility to the social system’s economic demise? Nope. Instead it is easier to hide behind self-serving ideology and brainwash a cult to do the dirty work propagandizing the lower orders, keeping them divided on cultural issues while the more important economic issues never get addressed.


Friday, 9 October 2020 at 1h 36m 18s

Bad ass electric scooter : the Mercane Widewheel pro

So today, Fed Ex arrives with this 55 pound electric scooter from Mercane called the Wide Wheel Pro. I ordered the machine on Sunday, and got it today, on Thursday, at 1:33 pm. Oh blessed is the modern world of commercial shipping and transportation via the internet.

Oh. My. Fucking. God. OMFG. The thing is amazing. The wide wheels give the machine a lot of easily manageable traction. You can just release the throttle and tap the breaks just like a bicycle. Plus, OMG bonus times 2, the ability of the dual 500 watt wheel motors to go up hills is amazing. I am so looking forward to using this machine on Saturday to go to Simple Pleasure (3434 Balboa) and Wicked Donuts (1243 Noreiga) - 3 miles one way.

Here are my initial thoughts:

It is a bit bumpy on roads with holes, crags, issues, but is nevertheless stable. I also suggest releasing the throttle before breaking. Also I wouldn't ride it up curbs because the solid tires are not the same as pneumatic (air filed) tires, you could bust the rim.

After one ride over 6 city blocks and back I am fucking happy.

Here is a more sophisticated analysis of the Mercane wide-wheel pro




Saturday, 3 October 2020 at 20h 28m 54s

Bad ass electric scooter : the Mercane Widewheel pro

I just bought a bad ass scooter with wide wheels that never get flat and have 500W motors for each wheel. The scooter tops out at 26 mph but has a 22 mile range. If you cruise less than 20 mph the range is closer to 30 miles.

Hell yea man.

2020_Mercane_WideWheel_Pro_4000x.progressive.jpg


Monday, 28 September 2020 at 2h 54m 42s

A great discussion about corporate power and boondoogling


Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich sits down with Anand Giridharadas, author of Winners Take All, to discuss how the GOP’s hypocrisy on the Supreme Court underscores the dangers of minority rule. They dig into how those with power, from politicians to billionaires, leverage it to gain more — at the people's expense.




Tuesday, 22 September 2020 at 1h 24m 11s

Wow actually published

My letter to the editor of which I spoke in a previous blog post was published.

Here it is.

I must say the editor gives everyone free reign of opinion, and is quite fair. I just hope the hordes don't pummel me with fury.


Saturday, 19 September 2020 at 3h 0m 57s

I wrote another letter to editor today

I have been writing letters to the editor since I was in high school. Back then I got something published in the Times Picayune (New Orleans) when I criticized the foreign policy hypocrisy of Robert Livingston. I have no trace of the letter since in the mid 1980's this was back in the days before the internet and my ownership of a computer. I actually mailed a type written letter to the newspaper.

Currently my neighborhood monthly district newspaper the Richmond Review has merged with the Sunset district. However, I have gotten my letters published before on two occasions.

Here is my recent letter to the editor. It might not get published, because it's pretty harsh to commentary guru Quentin Kopp . The man has pretended to be an "independent" politician while being funded by Republicans ever since he ran against Diane Feinstein for mayor in 1979 during the aftermath of the dual assassinations of SF Supervisor Harvey Milk and SF Mayor George Moscone.

At the trial of the assassin Dan White, the defense argued that he suffered diminished capacity as a result of his depression, a symptom of which was a change in diet from healthy food to Twinkies and other sugary foods. This court case led to what was called the Twinkee defense. Jurors convicted Dan White of "voluntary manslaughter".

Politics in San Francisco has always been unique because their are a lot of competing interests, and each neighborhood has strong community connect civic institutions that politicians have to respect. The result is a tendency for local politicians to genuinely represent the interests of their neighborhood communities. Corporation-ists have to pretend to care about (and often dupe) the community in order to effectively run a campaign. They are relentless because they have more money.

People like Quentin Kopp have been playing this game for a while. He plays the independent card. Republicans help fund his campaigns.

Here is my recent letter to the editor in response to his recent monthly article in the Richmond Review. Here is that article.


Why is the Commentary of an aged politician allowed on a monthly basis? I know there are persons who will protest that the monthly commentary represents alternative opinions to “leftist” extremism, but seriously, what value or substance comes from these monthly scribblings? What if any insight is gleaned from the smorgasbord of red herrings and straw man arguments sandwiched by choice quotations from cherry picked political agents in highly partisan media organs or out of context from the original quotation.

His recent cute quotes that begin and end his latest commentary is a perfect example. “An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry.” So stated George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) in 1866. This was followed at the end by another quote: Walt Whitman once wrote: “I know nothing grander, better exercised, better digested, more positive proof of the past, the triumphant result of faith in humankind, than a well-contested American national election.” That inspires me to recommend voting for supervisorial candidates .. blah blah.

In between these quotes were a bunch of paragraphs supporting or not supporting various propositions. Quick fly by hits that really don’t help anyone understand, and are also somewhat suspect in context. Regardless, can anyone explain what these quotes have to do with the wording that was in between? He cries about California being a one-party state, but never explains that this has occurred due to the utter hollow corruption of the entire Republican party. If that last sentence bothers you then you haven’t been paying attention. When your baseball team is bad, when your debate team is bunk, don’t lay down a subtle hit on the other side that has done the homework and has SOME INTEGRITY. This is the reason why elder Republicans (like the commentary individual) are now scurrying around trying to say they are “independent”, meanwhile saying the same things and spewing the same unsupported ideology. Zombie ideas just need a new political party, right?

Persons who support this kind of tripe want to use tired monikers of leftist and conservative, but those descriptions don’t describe the tawdry emptiness that is actually in these monthly commentaries. Arrogant slanted phraseology that does not evince any fair assessment of the issues is not a conservative opinion. Copious usage of cherry-picked statements and quotes are like cheap ornaments on a christmas tree, and are not remotely close to a cogent analysis of ideas and policy choices. The evidence is there every month.

Giving this charlatan a podium from which to spew nonsense is giving the label of conservatism a bad example. The smug language and dismissive attitude characteristic in every single article is blatant. And every single article that is pieced together by this inept firebrand speaks for no one except the clan. The rest of us get to have our sensibilities and intelligence insulted because we want to read the commentary in our district monthly newspaper, but instead get to experience convoluted jargon which speaks only to true believers.

All that aside, in all his year’s as a politician, the only claim to legitimacy that I see is jumping on the political bandwagon of getting BART to connect with SF Airport, as if this politician actually did all the heavy lifting to make that happen. Some might call that statesmanship.

Some might deflect the legitimate criticism by describing others as leftist. However that is the only criticism. Call something else a name in order to justify your own inability to understand the legitimate criticism being presented by multiple people. Nice. Funny thing though — that is the only criticism of what is perceived as the “other” side. No breakdown or analysis of the argument is presented at all. Just call it leftist, and the debate is over. Therefore the rest of us have to accept the illogical, border-line reactionary writings of someone who is not convincing, and has given ample ongoing evidence of his own inability to overcome his own biased prejudices.



Friday, 28 August 2020 at 0h 59m 23s

Bingo

The hypocrisy is too blatant at this point. So much so that players on sports teams are boycotting in protest in order to wake people the fuck up.

Trevor Noah does an excellent job.

Even the LA Times did an article on it.




Tuesday, 4 August 2020 at 1h 40m 39s

Pigeons needing help

This is from Pablo Rochat, a resident of North Beach (San Francisco) who makes these silly videos.




Sunday, 2 August 2020 at 22h 49m 26s

Insanity is ...

...saying the same thing over and over again, and expecting your argument to suddenly make sense.

The positivity rate is more indicative then both the number of tests and the number of positives. Having 100,000 new cases is different if only 1% of those tested (meaning 10 million tests) are positive. If it's 20% and 100,000 new cases that means 500,000 tests.

The are 5 types of people in the larger population.

  1. People who have symptoms and seek out getting a test
  2. People who have had contact with persons who have positive tests and were sought out
  3. People who are asymptomatic that willingly seek out a test
  4. People who are symptomatic who have had not had contact with a positive test person or do not willingly seek a test
  5. Everyone else

-(Have I left anyone out?)-

If you do not have a track and trace system, groups 1 & 3 will be the only persons in your pool of testing. If you have a track and trace system, groups 1, 2, & 3 will be the only persons in your pool of testing. Note that here, everyone else (group 5) includes elements of groups 1 unless these persons can be contacted and traced (assuming such a system is in place at all).

I am not going make any conclusions about this. I haven't thought enough about this. However this pathetic argument that doing more tests means more positives is abhorrent. But the man-child lying denier is who he is.


The loose rule from WHO is that it's adequate if it's getting a positive rate of from 3% to 12%, but the countries where the disease really under control seem to be the ones where it's under 1%, like Uruguay, Germany, Malaysia, and Uganda. Those like the US where it's between 5% and 10%—Zimbabwe, Paraguay, Kazakhstan, Philippines, and Iran—are clearly in an order or two of magnitude more difficult situations.

But the relevant numbers for the US are really those for the state levels, where there's a huge range from 1% (New York) or lower (Vermont) through higher levels like California (6.5%), Kentucky (7.2%), and Texas (12.4%) to scary inadequate levels for Alabama (20.1%), Arizona (18.6%), Florida, (19.1%), Idaho (18.8%), Kansas (18.6%), and Mississippi (22.2%). If you increased testing in New York, you'd clearly find a negligible number of new positives—we are in principle catching them all—while if you increased it in Alabama or Florida you'd find relatively a lot.

But in Alabama and Florida you'd also find a lot more negatives, as has happened in California and Texas as testing has improved in those states, and the rate would go down. Which is where Trump is so pathetic: if he could only bring himself to understand the point, more testing would make him look better.

"We have more cases because we do more testing."

No. We have more cases in the US because

  1. the cases exist; and
  2. we do enough testing to find the number we find (which might or might not increase if we did more).

If the cases didn't exist, the amount of testing wouldn't make a difference. If you did more testing in UK (where the positive percentage is now down to 0.4%), the number of new cases would be insignificant. You can only find them if they're there. And this is where Donald seems to me not just pathetic, but cognitively impaired. And I don't mean suffering from senile dementia (on which I remain neutral) but from a failure to undergo the development most children are finished with by the age of seven or so. It's the insistence that the number of tests is the only factor:

"Think of this, if we didn’t do testing, instead of testing over 40 million people, if we did half the testing we would have half the cases,” Trump said at a press conference at the White House. “If we did another, you cut that in half, we would have, yet again, half of that. But the headlines are always testing." ~ Donald Trump (CNBC)


[SOURCE: No More Mister Nice blog | 2 August 2020]

Say what? Halving the sample size is not proportional to the rate of positives, because it completely depends on what groups are getting captured in the sample size. More than likely a smaller sample is more non-representative, drifting into a convenience sample. Which means you are only testing those people who have symptoms that volunteer to seek testing. You are not capturing the larger population at all.

That's why the positivity rate is a good proxy for how well a state or nation is at knowing where the virus is spreading.


Sunday, 2 August 2020 at 3h 48m 19s

Monopoly Monopsony WTF

Listen to the reality of monopolies, how they inhibit and how they strangle.

This is a radio show out of Los Angeles from Brad Friedman involving a conversation with David Dayen who recently wrote an excellent book titled "Monopolized" on the subject.

Click here




GOTO THE NEXT 10 COLUMNS