Author: plinyblogcom

We have previously commented on the disturbing subject of the commercial exploitation of elderly members of the community. In our blog concerning “Equity Loan Mortgages,” we indicated the numerous unspoken financial responsibilities still remaining to the lender, such as taxes and upkeep, and the cruel requirement that a resident who is not the official title-holder, upon the decease of the record owner. must vacate the premises. On the subject of the sale back of insurance policies, we commented on the financial loss on the part of the originally intended beneficiary and the unconscionable windfall thereby obtained by the insurance company

However,. It would appear that the singularly most heartless and cruel of all of the profitable elder scams consists of the advertised sale of purported panaceas for the dreaded disease of dementia.

As is popularly known, “dementia” is a progressive decline in cognition, i.e., memory and thinking. The risk of the dreaded condition reportedly increases after age 65. It would appear that there is no known preventative or cure for the dehumanizing malady. We have confirmed the latter declaration by our readings on the subject and by inquiries of friends who are physicians.

Notwithstanding such a disappointing state of affairs, we daily experience televised offers of sale of pharmaceuticals allegedly designed to prevent or ameliorate the onset and nightmarish effects of this ultimate disability. If our information and resultant perception are correct, this practice is, demonstrably fraudulent but cruel and insulting to the elderly citizen and their family.

The dramatic portrayal in television commercials of scripted testimonial statements from smiling, fully cognitive, elderly citizens, attesting to the unfailing efficacy of various presented products, allegedly effective in the prevention or amelioration of this frightening disability, deserve condemnation. Assuming that our accumulated information is correct, this nefariously profitable practice is no more acceptable than the misleading sale of “Snake Oil” in the days of America’s wild west.

Notably, such practice is more misleadingly impactful and deceptive than the glamorous pretensions contained in cosmetic commercials; in its efforts to be commercially successful, it is sociopathically cruel. One requires but a modicum of circumspection to conclude that these empirically misleading representations are as brutal and insulting as they are unsupported, blatantly quixotic, and deceitful.

We would be overjoyed to learn of the future development of a medical preventative for the onset of the existential debilitation caused by this dehumanizing tragedy. In such instances, doctors would then be appropriately enabled to prescribe it to contextually vulnerable patients. Until that singularly celebratory event, it would seem that such advertised, misleading panaceas should morally be removed from television (as were tobacco products, for health reasons) as an avoidance of shameful commercial grift and the preservation of the dignity of our elder citizens.

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It is painful to recall the violent Trump-inspired insurrection against the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. We have amply described Donald Trump, the exotic President of the United States, based on his egoistic, propagandistic, and notably, unsupported assertion that the results of his election loss to Joseph Biden were the product of election fraud. The violent riot was eventually recalled by Trump, but not before serious injuries were inflicted, damage to precious historical property, and the tragic homicide of a Capitol policeman. As an authoritarian act of illegal and sociopathic injustice, Trump, subsequently as President, shamefully, the instigator and director of the criminal insurrection, pardoned the wrongdoers with shamefully obscene commendations for their loyal service.

Donald Trump, ultimately, was not punished for his colossal act of unconstitutional and immoral criminality, but, bizarrely, was, instead, successful in the following Presidential election.; empirically enabling him to neurotically apply the disgraceful taint of fascistic autocracy to America’s systemic, humanistic democracy. At the time of this writing, he has been actively and perversely employed in an autocratic effort to exact his promised retribution on his political opponents, most notably the dedicated governmental officials who, dutifully, have attempted (but failed) to bring him to his deserved justice.

It is historically and morally embarrassing to contemplate the factual realitty of the glaring historical dissonance between our Nation, the avowed and recognized “avatar of democracy,” and crusader-in-chief for human equality and justice, and the recent response of the government of Brazil, relative to that Nation’s contrasting response to the occurrence of an analogously seditious and illegal insurrection.

Donald Trump has trotted out his personal, neurotically soiled catchphrases of “witch hunt’ and “stolen election,” notwithstanding which Brazilian justice has appropriately sentenced the Trump-like, immoral autocrat to 27 years in prison.

We have recently switched to drinking Brazilian Coffee to offset Trump’s outrageous, illegal, and notably, infantile, imposition of punitive tariffs on Brazilian imports.

=p.

• title based on Dickens’ “Tale of Two Cities.”

In principle, the salubrious word “progress” connotes beneficial development, as in progress in science, medicine, understanding, and civil rights. Individuals who espouse modernity and societal development are properly referred to as “progressives.” The printing press, railroad, airplane, telephone, radio, television, penicillin, and vaccination are but a sample of the cornucopia of human developments, ineluctably deserving of the beneficial noun, “progress.”

The development of the revolutionary digital age caused the thematic word to become equivocal. From a noun irrefutably denoting the development of new and useful phenomena, scientific, medical, mechanical, and otherwise, it has morphed into a more empirically descriptive word for “change”; the latter noun denotes something more ubiquitously nuanced and equivocal.

Readers of this blogspace are familiar with our eternal reservations concerning the “progressive” change from natural interaction, i.e., in person or by telephone, to the impersonal “smartphone.” Unfortunately, our previously expressed concern regarding the loss of individuality, spontaneity, and personal affirmation has borne the worrisomely predicted results, confirmed in subsequent academic studies as causing unhealthy feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and depression, especially among the younger generation. Such universally declared “progress” led to a retrogressive and harmful social debacle by substituting an allegedly facile mode of interaction for the previously traditional, salubrious, and humanistic practice.

An analogous aspiration for “progress” resulted in the curtailment of the profoundly rewarding benefits derived from reading print books, as distinguished from digital replications or from spoken literature. The intimate scenario of a soft light, a comfortable, easy chair, and a hand-held book has no equal in terms of personal and contemplative experience. In this regard, we have even enjoyed the tactile pleasure of holding the book and, serially, turning the pages. The intimacy of such private experience is empirically catalytic to the intimate enjoyment of reading.

We also enjoyed the search for information and particular books in our trips to the public library. The successful discovery of the desired information was always satisfying, at times, exciting. Carrying the universe of information in one’s pocket or purse seems to be far less impactful or personally challenging.

It would seem appropriate to distinguish the broad category of technological “advancement” from the empirically salubrious term, “progress.”

-p.

With barely ten days to go before we attain the advanced age of 89, we seem to have the urge to express our personal perspective on Humanity’s aging process. We find it convenient to employ the analogous dynamics of developing agriculture.

Accordingly, we would conveniently describe the universal process of human life as a dynamic process, proceeding from fertilized seed through the sprouting and fast-growing stage, followed by its floral maturity and, hopefully, its harvest. The growth process of Man’s life and development is analogically similar: fertilization, development, maturity, and, hopefully, harvest. In the nuanced life sequence of the planet’s human sapient species, there are predictable reactions, rational and emotional, to the process, which vary with the specific stage of development and its personally relevant reaction.

It is common and expected for the individual in this evolving process to react with personal pride regarding those stages of his increasing physical and intellectual changes from early childhood to adulthood, and mourn their decline as he proceeds to older stages of life, which present physical decline.

To exacerbate the reactive sentiments relative to the increase, and thereafter, the slow and steady decline, of physical capabilities, populist society, most especially the advertising and entertainment industries, daily instill and portray the impression that the worth and significance of the individual is founded upon his appearance and physical capabilities. It is thematically useful to note that there is, conversely, scant promotion of the classically proven, invaluable elements of internal growth and intellectual advancement. The latter, unprofitably, does not market clothes, sports equipment, running shoes, exercise equipment, and the like. By contrast, libraries, book stores, art galleries, and museums are not popular subjects for dramatic and compelling sales commercials. The common predilection for artificiality appears to be ubiquitous and ever-present.

The net result is the universal worship of the ethereal and insubstantial, and a neglect of the valuable and existentially humanistic and fruitful phenomena of which the human mind is capable.

Thus, when physical prowess and capability decline, the populist individual understandably feels worthless by declining degrees, until he reaches an infirm old age; for such individuals, “aging” is empirically identical to a diagnosable disease.

To ourselves and countless contemplative others, life has more to offer than the elements of celebrated motion or physical capability. Inarguably, physical decline, painful joints, and the other physical concomitants of old age are disappointing, even frustrating; however, old age, valuably, has a potentially generous harvest of desirable fruits that may compensate for the empirical frailty. Those who have discovered the special elixir are immune to the “disease” of old age and are capable of experiencing the admittedly uncomfortable period as a unique opportunity for a contemplative and life-nourishing harvest.

A mature perception of life and the environment is readily available to the contemplative individual who has beneficially chosen to include in his life, avenues of accumulated personal understanding, through empirical experience and, notably, by way of elective engagement in literature, the humanities, and the eternally available cornicipia of sources of potential human advancement..

After a lifetime of humanistic advancement, fortunate elders of the species, homo sapiens, can, as we, rationalize their painful joints by the invaluable pleasure of an ultimate understanding of their life in the context of its temporal circumstances; the latter, an incomparable resource, and a truly bountiful harvest.

-p.

With barely ten days to go before reaching the advanced age of 89, we have the urge to express our personal perspective on Humanity’s aging process. We find it convenient to employ the analogous phenomenon of agriculture.

Accordingly, we would conveniently describe the universal process of human life as a dynamic process, proceeding from fertilized seed through the sprouting and fast-growing stage, followed by its floral maturity and,hopefully, harvest. The scheduled process of Man’s life and development is analogically similar: fertilization, development, maturity, and, hopefully, harvest.

In the empirically nuanced life sequence of the planet’s human sapient species, there are predictable reactions, rational and emotional, to the process, which vary with the specific stage of development and its relevant reaction.

It is common and expected for the individual in his evolving process to react with personal pride regarding the stages of his increasing physical and intellectual changes from early childhood to adulthood, and to mourn their decline as he proceeds to older stages of life, which feature physical decline and, at times, decline in cognitive abilities.

To affirm the changing sentiments regarding the increase and thereafter the slow and steady decline of physical capabilities, populist society, most especially the advertising and entertainment industries, consistently instill and portray the impression that the worth and significance of the individual is based upon his appearance and physical capabilities. It is noteworthy, thematically, to note that there is, conversely, scant promotion of the classically proven, invaluable elements of internal growth or intellectual advancement. The latter purpose does not market clothes, sports equipment, running shoes, exercise equipment, and the like. By contrast, libraries, book stores, art galleries, and museums are not popular subjects for dramatic and compelling sales commercials. The common predilection for artificiality appears to be ubiquitous and ever-present.

The net result is the universal worship of the ethereal and insubstantial, and a neglect of the valuable and existentially humanistic and fruitful phenomena of which the human mind is capable.

Thus, when physical prowess and capability decline, the populist individual. understandably feels worthless by simultaneous degrees, until he reaches an infirm old age; for such individuals, “aging” empirically constitutes a diagnosably fatal disease.

To us and many contemplative others, life is more than celebrated motion or physical capability. Inarguably, physical decline, painful joints, and other physical concomitants of old age are disappointing, even frustrating; however, old age has a potentially generous harvest of desirable fruits that may compensate for the empirical frailty. Those who have discovered this special elixir are immune to the “disease” of old age and are capable of experiencing the admittedly uncomfortable period as a unique opportunity for a contemplative and life-nourishing harvest.

A mature perception of life and the environment is readily available to the contemplative individual who has beneficially chosen to include in his life, avenues of accumulated personal understanding, through empirical experience and, particularly through elective engagement in literature, the humanities, and the eternally available cornicipia of sources of potential human advancement..

After a lifetime of humanistic advancement, fortunate older homo sapiens like us can rationalize his painful joints by the invaluable pleasure of ultimate understanding of the course of his life in the context of its temporal circumstances; the latter, an incomparable strength, and a truly bountiful harvest.

-p.

As we have often declared, this blogspace had initially been dedicated to the exploration and aspirational enhancement of Man’s efforts to achieve a fulfilled life. We have eternally championed personal advancement through the study of the humanities, the reading of good literature, the study of art, and, in notable addition, the cultivation of personal, elective interests. However, the beneficial goal has b diverted by the ominous threat of anti-democratic and inept governance, personified by Donald J.Trump and his exotic menagerie of inept Cabinet Ministers in toxic combination with a catastrophic Congress.

Admittedly, in the course of our opposition to such a developing autocracy and our ardent support for appropriate constitutional governance, we may have been remiss in our discussion of the underlying, metaphysical subject relevant to the character of an electorate that would elect such a catastrophic Chief Executive. It is entirely conceivable that we had been reluctant to admit the fact that our venerable Nation is inclusive of a large, determinative horde of inadequately educated and poorly informed populists; the latter, dynamically hazardous to the endurance of a Democratic Republic.

Such a regressive public eschews the reading of good literature, salubrious participation in cultural and educational events, intellectual engagement in esoteric political and moral problems,; nor, ultimately, the salubrious incentive to advance its understanding of itself and perception of its environment. Notably,i It has historically been demonstrated that the most significant and impactful national resource is its people. As a necessary consequence, only a Nation with a sufficient population of educated and informed citizens can truly prosper and long endure.

It is sad and extremely disappointing to observe that too many fellow American citizens would appear to prefer ephemeral and insubstantial pursuits capable of momentary diversion to those more personally challenging and rewarding.. The inevitable result is an individual life consisting of minimally inspiring surface impressions, as contrasted with the salubrious sense of a life of self-fulfillment.

Returning to the matter of the metaphysical cause and dynamics of the Nation’s extant autocratic and dystipian indisposition,, contemporarily sickening and then metastisizing in America’s body politic, we would thematically observe that our inept and syastemically corrupt President initially attracted the notice of the contextual horde of American populists, by virtue of his service as the host of a sophomoric and insipid television game show, “The Apprentice;” the same apparently, an item of choice of the populist television audience. Donald J. Trump, previously relegated to the activity of a “real estate gonif,” thereby caught the attention of the stereotypical populist, with the ultimate consequence of a roiling, unstable, embarrassed Nation,

The many and ubiquitous Presidential overreaches of unconstitutional power, with the silent acquiescence of his MAGA, populist base, have been responsibly observed in many of our earlier writings. Trump’s demonstrated relationship with Jeffry Epstein, the rich package store, entrepreneur, demonstrably guilty of decades of sexual abuse of young women, Trump’s overt derogation of the Constitution, law, the media, his prosecution of institutions of higher education, intimate friendships with enemy leaders, stupendious violations of the Emolument Clause, profanely enriching himself and family, his Gestapo policies toward Hispanic Americans, his impropoer use of governmental authority to obtain autocratic retribution against political opponents, his untethered elimination of programs of food and medicinal aid, natioinally and internationally, his bizarre and illegal imposition of tariffs on imported goods, thus raising prices and courting inflation, (despite his demagogicly false promises vto lower prices,) his asserted control over educational institutions and scientific progress. his televised and other violations of the voting laws, his solicitation of an insurrection against thev Capital and subsequent pardoning and praising the criminal insurgents, his adjudicated 34 felony convictions and uncountable outstanding criminal indictments, his adjudications of tax fraud and sexual abuse, his sdjudicated defamation, his blatant violation of posse comitatus by dictatorily employing the military for private purposes, his unauthorized declarations of war, his fascistic program of retribution against political opponents, his warmongering statementsd regarding Greenland and Canada, and a dumpster-full amount of other immoral acts, apparently were not sufficient cause Trump’s loyal supporters to lose a wink of sleep.

However, Trump’s recent actions, causing certain late-night comedians to be removed and thereby daring to interfere with populist television choices, may well constitute appropriate grounds for the dense MAGA horde of populists to write Trump off the hallowed list of populist deities. The blatant interference with the populist, couch potato’s choice will undoubtedly constitute “a bridge too far.”

-p.

• Title borrowed from the eponymous novel by Cornelius Ryan.

We, and the entire universe of mainstream, traditional American citizens, have been relegated to an unprecedented state of shock and abject frustration, in waking up each morning to the dystopic state of our beloved Democratic Republic; the latter, nightmarishly appearing to dissolve before our eyes, by the toxicity of a presenting governmental autocracy. A pervasive feeling, bordering on paralytic helplessness, not unlike that experienced during a traumatic nightmare, is presented, invading our daily lives, and resulting in widespread feelings of anger, frustration, and, at times, profound despair.

Such feelings on the part of the mainstream American citizen are empirically credible, as being dynamically reactive to a Presidential pirate and a perverse crew, who have navigated, conceivably, the fair and pacific course of our venerable Ship of State to the dark and dangerous shoals of autocracy. This writing is dedicated to the freedom-loving, peaceful, and humanistic American citizen who, conceivably, may be cowering in a state of catatonic despair. The arrogant disregard for the fundamental restraints on Presidential authority and the dereliction of the freedoms of the American citizenry, as evidenced by the current monarchical style of governance, is credibly abhorrent, empirically warranting such despair.

A brief dip into modern history is merely required to conclude that any such comprehensive response to the evident destruction of the fundamental underpinnings of our venerable polity is self-destructive, as well as ultimately defeatist.

It is ubiquitously demonstrable that the policies and actions of the Trump-MAGA Administration are antagonistic to, and in express repudiation of, the personally directed Nation’s systemic democratic metabolism. Monarchial arrogance and cruelty practiced by the present Administration, with the irresponsible, silent, and self-interested support of the Republican-led Congress, have led to a virtual transmogrification of the Nation to the repressed context of a Hungary or Russia.

A mere dip into modern history will reveal that the disappointed acquiescence or resolution of helpless despair reactive to such perverse demolition of appropriate democratic governance and individual rights is more than unproductive; it is fully compliant with the planned intentions of a would-be autocrat and his errant supporters. Acquiescent despair and accommodation are the tactical goals of aspiring autocracy; inactive frustration and resignation, in such instances, amount to a metastasizing acquiescence and hopelessly abject surrender.

It is existentially imperative that the concerned American citizen not resign from his traditional love of our historically established Democratic Republic and resign himself, to any degree, to the extant fascistic, authoritarian drift toward political disaster. In addition to taking whatever peaceful actions available to him, such as speaking out, writing, contacting political officials and legislators, local and federal, and other available modes of appropriate expression, he must not, lazily or resignedly, accept the present, untenable state of nefarious, un-American tactics and fascistic intimidation. Frustrated acceptance and silent resignation are the dynamic goals of any aspirational autocracy. The American citizen has the natural right to demand democratic polity and its explicit assurances of liberty.

Some would protest (with sufficient rectitude) that this blogspace is dedicated to “Preaching to the Choir.” We certainly hope so; to confirm fundamental moral and equitable principles, is vitally important to their beneficial endurance. The reader is encouraged to do the same, as well as to affirmatively continue, when relevant, to adamantly stand up to the reductively ignorant dissidents, for the salubriously traditional American way of life.

-p.

In the venerable Nation of “Tis-of-thee “, the patriotic citizens sing a National Anthem whose verses begin with the arguably confusing identification, “My country, Tis-of-thee” I sing. The democratically free Nation itself is not free from confusion and heated contention.

At a notable meeting of its legislature, the subject of universal vaccination was discussed, which evinced much heated contention. The continuation of the Nation’s vaccination program, inclusive of its existence as a prerequisite to entry into primary school. In empirical support of the practice, profuse National statistics were introduced, which inarguably demonstrated the historic record of effectiveness of the relevant program in its salutary prevention of vulnerability to diseases, such as Hepatitis B ,Polio, Diphtheria, Mumps, Whooping Cough, Flu, and recently, COVID-19.

Notwithstanding the demonstrable salubrious results garnered by the prophylactic practice of vaccination, the erratic Secretary of Health was adamant in his unsupported opposition to the procedure, stridently asserting his unproven and exotic charge that vaccination causes autism. It is empirically notable that the recent decline of vaccination programs has resulted in serious outbreaks of formerly eradicated diseases, such as measles. whooping cough, tuberculosis, flu, polio, and rubella. There are recent ominous predictions relating to the possible immigration of the deadly African disease, Ebola, into the American population.

Empirical results contradicting such an asserted, empirically spurious claim of autism are also irrefutably supported by clinical testing. The latter, as commonly known, is research involving human volunteers to evaluate the medical prevention, diagnosis, or treatment.

Common sense would recommend that the general population of Americans, universally vaccinated at several indicated stages in their lives, from birth to geriatric age, have been recipients of the contextual program; and if the exotic claim had any validity, the Nation would be awash with the infirmity. Since this is not the case, this ultimate clinical test puts to rest the bizarre theory.

Coincidentally, as the panel nodded unanimous agreement to the conclusion, an orange-haired, corpulent, red-tied individual was observed coming down a gold escalator, notably, out of earshot, and accompanied by greasy bits of hamburger detritus and ketchup conspicuously dripping on the gold banister, loudly exclaimed, “rigged decision!”

-p.

Our present analogy to” lighthouses” refers to the traditional structures erected and operated to emit light to serve as a guiding beam to ships for navigational purposes’. In this writing, we employ such a phenomenon in an analogical fashion to the subject of the present peril to the democratic endurance of the Nation, currently threatened by the hazardous shoals of ignorance and political harm residing in the swirling currents of popular ignorance and reductive bias. The eponymous lighthouse keeper, nevertheless, dutifully maintains the directional light and monitors the weather and sea conditions in the responsible interest of ship safety.

This writing is an expression of a long-overdue fanfare and appropriately deserved tribute to those praiseworthy individuals who, despite the prevailing dystopian and unjust course of political turmoil, besetting our Democratic Republic, dutifully continue to keep the eternal light of reason from fading, and serve as guides to the continued path of the human exercise of moral advancement. History has consistently demonstrated that enlightened reason is the route to empirical wisdom and human success, and that the inexorable course of medieval Europe’s “Dark Ages” evincing non-empirical “knowledge” is the predictable way to tragedy, injustice, and human misery.

We would notably prefer that society’s enlightened, rational, and dedicated citizenry make its presence more affirmative and overt. Society’s subtle but invaluable guardians of rectitude and humanism, it is our analogously named “lighthouse keepers,” that, vitally and admirably, sustain the shaky guardrails of our vulnerable polity against its existential collision with the dark and ghastly. shoals of autocratic disaster.

Our trumpets blow strident fanfare, our drums beat dauntless tattoos, and our voices thunderously cry out the praises of the dauntless citizens, teachers, librarians, social workers, scientists, and all citizens eternally working toward the return to our traditional democracy and its ongoing progress toward full equality and personal fulfillment. We have earnest confidence in the consummate return of traditional American democracy, regarding which we bestow our kudos to our beleaguered, albeit adamantly humanistic and confident lighthouse keepers.

-p.

The public media has been consumed with the shooting and killing of the 31-year-old, Conservative rising star, Charlie Kirk, at the start of his scheduled speaking engagement at Utah Valley University. The FBI and local enforcement agencies have, as usual, been tasked with informing the public about the circumstances of the criminal act and the steps to be taken to identify and apprehend the individual. Anecdotally, the youthful shooter turned himself in to authorities at the request of his family.

The tragic event seems to have consumed the greater part of the media’s time, relevant to the perceived impact of historically attempted and realized political assassinations, the latter, the empirical result of the tactical misreading of the language and intended scope of the Second Amendment. (See: plinyblog # M.357 “Occam s Razor”).

Disseminated photos of the apprehended killer appear to evince an expressionless, hypnotic, “wax museum-like” face; one, entirely undisturbed by the mere scintilla of human emotion or nuance, but rather of an expressionless and dull young man, as distinguised from one resembling the passion of a post-political assassin.

Personal nuance aside, we are shocked and dismayed at the occurrence of the event, and even further confirmed in our principled opposition to the misapprehended, but popularly held, belief in the universally acceptable constitutional franchise to own guns. As previously stated, guns have the sole utility to kill or maim other human beings; it is ineluctably deniable that the Founding Fathers intended to grant a franchise to all citizens of the new Republic, to be “gunslingers.”

We are greatly relieved and thankful that none of the pro-gun adherents has extolled or praised the confident skill and acumen to accomplish the tragic event with a single rifle bullet. Because we detest guns, we are systemically unable to grant kudos to the shooter for this unprecedented act. We are intellectually, morally, and emotionally thankful and relieved in principle that no one has publicly recognized the singular, demonstrated skill and confidence of this emotionless, zombie-like shooter.

We are unhappy, nevertheless, at the irrational and tactical designation of the mortal event as “Terrorism,” presumably intending to make somewhat more palatable, the constitutionally abusive, autocratic policy of utilizing the military for private policing purposes. One man is not a terrorist cell, even in the wide and ubiquitous scope of absurdity relative to the Trump-MAGA horde of populist reductionists

-p.