Monday, March 23, 2020
License to Loot, USA
At this time of trouble, American elected officials eagerly LOOT the US
Treasury for private corporate interests. -- 23 March 2020
Thursday, March 19, 2020
A Growing Terror
25 years ago I lived in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, doing fieldwork for my Oxford doctorate. Early on 20 March 1995 I'd scheduled a research interview, so left home on the crammed rush-hour subway via Kasuga Station & returned via Korakuen.
I blindly traversed disaster among the multitude. As we traveled, tightly packed, deluded terrorists silently released sarin nerve agent (a deadly poisonous chemical weapon) in five Tokyo subway trains, then disembarked.
A toxic Marunouchi-line train continued on its route for one hour & forty minutes, back & forth & back again, calling three times at many stations while splattering poison & fumes. That train passed through my neighborhood twice (and a prior time w/ culprits pre-release)...
地下鉄サリン事件 = Creepy!
Was I injured? Who knows? Japan's system does not care.
Look into Minamata Disease, long-term mercury pollution in Kumamoto Pref. by Japan's Chisso Corp. At least 10,000+ people were harmed (and probably many multiples more).
Though trouble was identified in the mid 1950s, law in Japan is still dealing with it - and very poorly. Just last week a court refused compensation to a number of claimants. More-recent TEPCO Fukushima nuclear liability is similar. People exposed to fallout because of bad design and unsafe corporate decisions, and not allowed to return home, struggle as evacuees. The Abe government clearly hopes to turn the page and ignore the human cost & injustice.
Most are led to believe struggle is futile.
In Japan, long before achieving proper compensation, you'll die.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/03/13/national/crime-legal/minamata-disease-claims-rejected-fukuoka-high-court/
BEWARE. Japanese officials & other corporatist governments corruptly interpret JUSTICE. Non-binding apologies, thoughts and prayers ain't worth shit.
I blindly traversed disaster among the multitude. As we traveled, tightly packed, deluded terrorists silently released sarin nerve agent (a deadly poisonous chemical weapon) in five Tokyo subway trains, then disembarked.
A toxic Marunouchi-line train continued on its route for one hour & forty minutes, back & forth & back again, calling three times at many stations while splattering poison & fumes. That train passed through my neighborhood twice (and a prior time w/ culprits pre-release)...
地下鉄サリン事件 = Creepy!
Was I injured? Who knows? Japan's system does not care.
Look into Minamata Disease, long-term mercury pollution in Kumamoto Pref. by Japan's Chisso Corp. At least 10,000+ people were harmed (and probably many multiples more).
Though trouble was identified in the mid 1950s, law in Japan is still dealing with it - and very poorly. Just last week a court refused compensation to a number of claimants. More-recent TEPCO Fukushima nuclear liability is similar. People exposed to fallout because of bad design and unsafe corporate decisions, and not allowed to return home, struggle as evacuees. The Abe government clearly hopes to turn the page and ignore the human cost & injustice.
Most are led to believe struggle is futile.
In Japan, long before achieving proper compensation, you'll die.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/03/13/national/crime-legal/minamata-disease-claims-rejected-fukuoka-high-court/
BEWARE. Japanese officials & other corporatist governments corruptly interpret JUSTICE. Non-binding apologies, thoughts and prayers ain't worth shit.
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
mRNA Hopes: Coronavirus Vaccine
With the rise of Covid-19 novel coronavirus, there's a sudden & substantive push to develop vaccine countermeasures.
One of the most hopeful areas is using mRNA, messenger RNA, to induce immunity. Properly designed, the goal is to stimulate immune response by mimicking the antigen production of viral pathogens.
Promising research includes self-amplifying RNA vaccines or replicons. A continuing challenge for replicon utilization is finding effective routes for vaccine administration (delivery barriers).
New businesses are quickly being founded / funded. Look for:
mRNA Research
Replicon Research
mRNAtech.com
Repliconics.com
etc...
God Bless Us, Every One!
One of the most hopeful areas is using mRNA, messenger RNA, to induce immunity. Properly designed, the goal is to stimulate immune response by mimicking the antigen production of viral pathogens.
Promising research includes self-amplifying RNA vaccines or replicons. A continuing challenge for replicon utilization is finding effective routes for vaccine administration (delivery barriers).
New businesses are quickly being founded / funded. Look for:
mRNA Research
Replicon Research
mRNAtech.com
Repliconics.com
etc...
God Bless Us, Every One!
Friday, March 13, 2020
A Glass of Water
Swedish humor can be dry.
 |
| (SJ is Swedish Rail, Statens Järnvägar); No 'glass' evident |
Tuesday, March 03, 2020
Friday, February 21, 2020
American Kool Aid
I've been studying about social stratification as seen from South & North Korea 사회 계층.
Americans don't talk about this topic sufficiently. We're taught about meritocracy, and the problems of prejudice, but do not really analyze caste & class in the USA.
Some squeamishness stems from American racial prejudices. I'll not write about common conceptions, but some citizens have difficulty shedding linkages to such words as hordes or savages or slaves.
We should recognize Native Americans as victims of deliberate GENOCIDE. ... as Landowners deprived of their inheritance by voracious intruders led by a handful of resource-extracting capitalists. This is not "maybe" - it is fact.
Americans prefer make-believe: pretending there's a bedrock justice in the land of the free & the brave, while in fact the foundation is theft & bullshit. Do you yourself dare to confront Truth? If so you'll find Truly Criminal Hype.
Anyhow, South Koreans passionately discuss social caste and class rigidities in many books and on TV. The film "Parasite" is a further example.
The typical American could learn valuable lessons from South Korean analyses of social stratification. While my Korean abilities are poor, I'm smart enough to recognize bits of their wisdom.
「대통령을 꿈꾸는 아이들은 어디로 갔을까」의 저자 오찬호는 대다수의 젊은이들이 ‘9급 공무원’을 희망하는 열풍을 들여다보며 미래가 없는 우리 사회의 어두운 면을 지적하고 있다.
https://brunch.co.kr/@onlys/15
"Difference in wealth under the capitalist system is inevitable. The problem is the wealth gap. Instead of leaving the economy to market alone, the government should actively intervene in fair distribution and make efforts to bridge the wealth gap. A good society should be equipped with a social safety net that does not give up what is human, meaning you'll not be poor in any job. Minimum salary guaranteed, and not undermining dignity. So valuable jobs exist but poor jobs do not exist. Young people can then challenge a variety of jobs that aren't ninth-class civil servants. Through this, our communities will cultivate many more types of lives. If diversity is guaranteed, opinions will inevitably increase and our tolerance index will naturally rise. If the tolerance index rises, our society will be able to move away from "focus on self" and be happy with solidarity and cooperation."
-- Hye-kyung Shin 신혜경 [excerpt]
(I saved as HTML and ran the page through Google translate)
Americans don't talk about this topic sufficiently. We're taught about meritocracy, and the problems of prejudice, but do not really analyze caste & class in the USA.
Some squeamishness stems from American racial prejudices. I'll not write about common conceptions, but some citizens have difficulty shedding linkages to such words as hordes or savages or slaves.
We should recognize Native Americans as victims of deliberate GENOCIDE. ... as Landowners deprived of their inheritance by voracious intruders led by a handful of resource-extracting capitalists. This is not "maybe" - it is fact.
Americans prefer make-believe: pretending there's a bedrock justice in the land of the free & the brave, while in fact the foundation is theft & bullshit. Do you yourself dare to confront Truth? If so you'll find Truly Criminal Hype.
Anyhow, South Koreans passionately discuss social caste and class rigidities in many books and on TV. The film "Parasite" is a further example.
The typical American could learn valuable lessons from South Korean analyses of social stratification. While my Korean abilities are poor, I'm smart enough to recognize bits of their wisdom.
「대통령을 꿈꾸는 아이들은 어디로 갔을까」의 저자 오찬호는 대다수의 젊은이들이 ‘9급 공무원’을 희망하는 열풍을 들여다보며 미래가 없는 우리 사회의 어두운 면을 지적하고 있다.
https://brunch.co.kr/@onlys/15
"Difference in wealth under the capitalist system is inevitable. The problem is the wealth gap. Instead of leaving the economy to market alone, the government should actively intervene in fair distribution and make efforts to bridge the wealth gap. A good society should be equipped with a social safety net that does not give up what is human, meaning you'll not be poor in any job. Minimum salary guaranteed, and not undermining dignity. So valuable jobs exist but poor jobs do not exist. Young people can then challenge a variety of jobs that aren't ninth-class civil servants. Through this, our communities will cultivate many more types of lives. If diversity is guaranteed, opinions will inevitably increase and our tolerance index will naturally rise. If the tolerance index rises, our society will be able to move away from "focus on self" and be happy with solidarity and cooperation."
-- Hye-kyung Shin 신혜경 [excerpt]
(I saved as HTML and ran the page through Google translate)
Thursday, February 20, 2020
Republican Bloomberg is an Asshole
Occupy Wall Street began in New York City's Zuccotti Park on 17 Sept 2011. Occupy drew
attention to oligarchy injustices and how corporations reach deep into
our lives.
Occupy protests soon flared-up around the globe, educating & debating about political corruption, corporate environmental destruction and wealth inequality. Each gathering, each encampment, became a place for education. Financial district parks, typically dark & empty at night, grew lively. Support and donations quickly flowed from surrounding communities. Growing political awareness worried the oligarchs.
After 60 days, Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg used paramilitary riot police to forcibly uproot the Wall Street encampment - and tried to block the press from covering the eviction. 😠 Nine years later (9 years gone), suppressed anger & community pain undoubtedly are...
Worse!
Wake Up World. Democracy is shit-on by big shots.
Democracy can allow us some true Public Spaces.
Zuccotti Park was never so important as in those 60 days.
Occupy Stockholm lasted at Brunkebergstorg in front of Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden's National Bank, the world's oldest central bank) from 15 October 2011 to 29 February 2012 (138 days) before being similarly attacked & crushed by riot police. The site's now a stark corporate-controlled concrete plaza, as some years later developers ripped-up all the earth & landscaping, and cut-down every tree. Very GRIM.
Victims of Violence:
return tamely for more beatings...
Occupy protests soon flared-up around the globe, educating & debating about political corruption, corporate environmental destruction and wealth inequality. Each gathering, each encampment, became a place for education. Financial district parks, typically dark & empty at night, grew lively. Support and donations quickly flowed from surrounding communities. Growing political awareness worried the oligarchs.
After 60 days, Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg used paramilitary riot police to forcibly uproot the Wall Street encampment - and tried to block the press from covering the eviction. 😠 Nine years later (9 years gone), suppressed anger & community pain undoubtedly are...
Worse!
Wake Up World. Democracy is shit-on by big shots.
Democracy can allow us some true Public Spaces.
Zuccotti Park was never so important as in those 60 days.
Occupy Stockholm lasted at Brunkebergstorg in front of Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden's National Bank, the world's oldest central bank) from 15 October 2011 to 29 February 2012 (138 days) before being similarly attacked & crushed by riot police. The site's now a stark corporate-controlled concrete plaza, as some years later developers ripped-up all the earth & landscaping, and cut-down every tree. Very GRIM.
Victims of Violence:
return tamely for more beatings...
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