Commenters – Buddy Lives! Lighten up!

For reasons I do not understand, a post that I wrote in May of 2016 is getting lots of hits and comments, most of which are unprintable. We have 1,032 followers on this blog, not by any means a large number. It is, however, enough that attention has been drawn to the Weird Scenes in Clear Lake post where I insinuate, and then state outright in a footnote, that Buddy Holly’s 2/3/1959 death was faked, long with Richie Valens and “The Big Bopper.”

I am wondering, given the low quality of most of the comments that have come in, if this is the the geratric set, aging fans of the former idol. The writing is childish and the anger at me deep and passionate. Here’s an example from this morning:

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Time marches forward

I have been reading, only slowly and without much absorption, about the electric universe. I don’t plunge into such projects expecting immediate comprehension. The subject matter is complex, and only slowly does any of it begin to penetrate the thick hide of the accountant.

Still, it is a joy to read very difficult material, even if most of it is bouncing off that hard outer surface. (As the late Tom Magliozzi of Car Talk fame said, he was a member of Densa, not Mensa.)

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This wackadoo planet

We have just concluded a two-week trip to Baja, California, watching whales and kayaking. It’s different and beautiful down there except for the litter all about, the run down buildings and impoverished population.

Our guides were educated men and women – this is common. One is a marine biologist. What the hell is he doing helping privileged Americans and Canadians push kayaks cross the Sea of Cortez? It is a but choice he made. Why? Because all the other choices were worse. That makes me sad. He wants to apply his learning but cannot break through. So he lives in Lareto and in winter makes his living erecting tents and paddling his kayak at a far slower rate than he is capable of …

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Welcome to Caracas

https://thesaker.is/reporters-diary-from-venezuela/

This morning I read an awesome article, translated by Scott over at Saker’s blog, from an independent reporter named Georgy Zotov.  Georgy Zotov (author of AIF weekly)
I found his personal experiences in Caracas most interesting.  I hope POM readers are able to gain a broader view of Venezuela, the country, it’s people, it’s leader(s) and it’s predicament.  Peace, brothers and sisters.  

One thought I had while reading Georgy’s entry was the different social/cultural instincts between “northerners” and our neighbors living closer to the (tropics) Equator.  We (northerners) seem to have extreme difficulty understanding the “laid-back” culture of these parts. 

Surely, they  need to change, or we will need to do it for them, right?  I am joking.  

Can Uber-Marketing False “Green Awareness” Save Capitalism?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ed Markey’s Green New Deal is being unveiled today. https://www.vox.com/2019/2/7/18215290/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-ed-markey-green-new-deal

Democrats appear poised to take a page out of FDR’s New Deal promotional tactics with a media blitz of their own, pushing a “Green New Deal.”  Sorry, no fireside chats.  There will be an impressive electronic/digital media blitz.  Soon we will all hear the story.  It has been playing nonstop for a while now.  The trick is to gain consent.  By hook or by crook commoners will be taught to sing a single chorus line in harmony – all from the same green-energy/climate-change hymnal.

Is it time for a real shift toward conservation and protection of nature? Or are we – most of us passively – sitting on the sidelines, witnessing yet another clever ploy to coopt “the left” and once again, save capitalism and the two-party system (how many times is this now?) from recurring fatal flaws:  Greed, wage and wealth inequality (slavery) and ecological destruction.  In order to fully understand the implications of the Green New Deal, one must be familiar with the New Deal.  We only think we know what happened in the 1930s.

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iSpy?

This is neither theory nor opinion. I am merely recounting an experience for you to ponder.

I had a brief meeting the other day with an acquaintance who holds a fairly high position in local government. Our chat was mostly pleasantries, and so I did not broach the topic that was at the forefront of my mind from the moment I walked into his office: namely, the piece of electrical tape over his monitor’s camera lens.

I don’t know how I noticed it—it Continue reading “iSpy?” →

The Great Tylenol Scare and Coverup (1955- 2019)

Liver and Onions

By annspinwall and Steve Kelly

The (Extra Strength) Tylenol murders of September,1982 remains one of the great unsolved crimes in U.S. history.  The story we are supposed to believe is that 7 random individuals died after purchasing and consuming Tylenol deliberately dosed with cyanide.  Store shelves were not safe.  Panic in the marketplace led to a massive, nationwide (31 million bottles of capsules) recall by Tylenol manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson.  New, federal legislation initiated mandatory “anti-tampering” packaging, which magically gained J&J even greater market share in a few short weeks after the incident.  Excellent crisis management, or premeditated PR stunt? Was J&J in on it? We’ll never know for sure.

Here’s what we do know.  Tylenol has long been promoted as a “safe” alternative to aspirin and/or ibuprofen and other NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs).  Johnson & Johnson says so on the tv, and in magazines piled high at MDs’ offices throughout the world, so it must be true. 

Propaganda!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iksji1yZjoA   It works. 

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Fake elections, fake deaths

I am currently working on an AIDS piece, and it is proving extremely difficult for me. It will be done in a few days I think, but in the meantime I am violating one of the core concepts of blogging, not putting up enough fresh material.

This piece is the result of a discussion I had a while back stemming from Facebook and politics. It goes off in an unplanned direction.

What I see going on, with Facebook as the prime mover, is an ongoing and fake investigation into Donald Trump and Russian influence in our elections in 2016. It portends to be another Watergate, that is, the landscape is seeded with new clues on a regular basis. This is done to keep the issue alive and front and center. The purpose is to keep people who do pay attention to politics fixated on the wrong subject and asking the wrong questions. That keeps them out of the hair of real power, which operates behind a veil of media indifference and silence.

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