Florida Man hates Triangle Man

… lives his life in a garbage can…

Florida, man…

I am constantly amused by the fear of IDENTITY THEFT


it's a thing, sure - I myself had my identity stolen. Twice in fact. One was a pypal scam and the second was my discover card being used to buy gas and take cash advances.

Both times it was a hassle, but I ultimately lost 0 dollars. I know that's not always the case, , but generally it seems to be.

The real theft, tho, is corporate grift. My 5 year old LG refrigerator has ceased refrigeration. I am a prisoner of Wells Fargo bank these last 20 years and they and every other credit card company is guilty of usury upon me and all of their "customers". We are made to fear scammers of all varieties, but the real scam is out in broad sight. 

Let's Hear it For The... Government Bureaucrats!!

Government isn't the problem, folks.

Governance is.

Our current administration entered office "unqualified" - of course, my standard for qualified to be president is fairly radical in its minimalism.  Like, 35, American born, hasn't done it before for 6+ years.

Over time, and in recent decades, we have come to believe and profess a specific pre-qualification for being president.  For a long time this has unfortunately meant male-ness and whiteness.  This has also, always meant privileged and wealthy (i know i know, you'll point out Bill Clinton's birth or Barack & Michelle Obama's humble beginnings, but they all came by way of privilege - and the honest ones will acknowledge that).  Most recently, before 2016 at least, EXPERIENCE was king, as if previously winning (m)an(y) election(s) - and possibly trying to do some governing - prepares them to lead our silly monster of a nation.

Dan Carlin makes the point in his erstwhile podcast Common Sense that the way we elect our leaders has almost nothing to do with what we ask our leaders to do once they're in the job.  It's part of the reason that my Conversation Party idea (or the random appointment of citizens to every elected office) is so compelling a path forward.

In the 19th Century, we had several pretty bad presidents.  Of course, we were a minor nation - not the SuperPower that we are today.  Today we have a 19th-Century President in our 21st Century age.  And as little as we good liberals would like to admit it, we're doing okay.  Sure, it's embarrassing.  And we are something of a laughingstock amongst the nations.  And the tweets are really bad.  And he's not so smart.  And he's not a good person.

But in truth, the proverbial trains are running on time.  The Department of Defense is defending, the IRS is collecting taxes, State is stately.  The bureaucracy (what Fox News/State TV calls "the Deep State") is working.  Bureaucracy sounds inherently bad, but only because we've been programmed since Reagan at least, to think so.  In reality, the career public servants work a job - a job they likely could be paid more to do in the private sector.  Their mission is not abstract profit for a nameless corporation, rather to do the work of the people.  This work continues, regardless of whose at the head.  (If you think a moment about your experience, you'll see that this makes sense.  If your boss {or boss's boss, etc. ...} weren't there for 6 months or a year or more, but you all kept working tell me how things would go...  The answer, generally, is, i expect, as they are.  Status quo.  Keep on keeping on.

And so, as we look toward 2020,