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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: August 1st, 2023

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  • But that explanation is lost to time.

    One translation I read suggested a probable explanation.

    Rasputin’s phone advice was the same as many modern quacks: keep the patient away from modern medicine and doctors.

    So the hemophiliac prince was no longer given his normal cocktail of drugs, which probably included a new medicine for the time: aspirin.

    Stop giving a blood thinner to a hemophiliac and his condition (temporarily) improved. The best explanation for the people at the time was “magic”.




  • Civil war? Not even close.

    Outright corruption? Business interests have always ruled the country, this is not new.

    The bigger picture is that America is the most violent country since Nazi Germany. No other country comes close to our death toll. We spend $1trillion each year on violence and weapons- and those bombs must be dropped, because we need a reason to spend >$1trillion next year.



  • …Look in the mirror: The horror, the horror! The butt of your M-16 on my cheekbone The yellow patch it left The bullet-shaped scar expanding Like a swastika, Snaking across my face, The heartache flowing Out of my eyes dripping Out of my nostrils piercing My ears flooding The place. Like it did to you 70 years ago Or so.

    I am just you. I am your past haunting Your present and your future. I strive like you did. I fight like you did. I resist like you resisted And for a moment, I’d take your tenacity As a model, Were you not holding The barrel of the gun Between my bleeding Eyes.

    …The very same gun The very same bullet That had killed your Mom And killed your Dad Is being used, Against me, By you.

    Mark this bullet and mark in your gun. If you sniff it, it has your and my blood. It has my present and your past. It has my present. It has your future. That’s why we are twins, Same life track Same weapon Same suffering Same facial expressions drawn On the face of the killer, Same everything Except that in your case The victim has evolved, backward, Into a victimizer. I tell you. I am you. Except that I am not the you of now.

    I do not hate you. I want to help you stop hating And killing me. I tell you: The noise of your machine gun Renders you deaf The smell of the powder Beats that of my blood. The sparks disfigure My facial expressions. Would you stop shooting? For a moment? Would you?

    All you have to do Is close your eyes (Seeing these days Blinds our hearts.) Close your eyes, tightly So that you can see In your mind’s eye. Then look into the mirror. One. Two. I am you. I am your past. And killing me, You kill you.

    • Dr. Refaat Alareer

  • Sorry to be pessimistic. Voting local is a good thing, but I just dont see how local elections could ever add up to large systemic change that we agree is necessary. There is no way to vote out the military industrial complex.

    What else is there to do? I think broad-based protest movements, like the moment for Palestinian liberation that we are watching today, have a shot at changing things. It’s a long shot though - the same forces that crushed George Floyd, Occupy Wallstreet, anti-WTO, etc. will be back again with their winning tactics.

    Overall I think our best hope is with organized labor. Join a union or create one.