WURSTWRITER

Tom's blog of whatnots and other stuff

Category: News

Wurst-opinions, I guess.

  • The Thing Missing In A World Of Red

    world of red
    Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Countries_implicated_in_the_Panama_Papers.svg

    Update: I guess I stand corrected. Since posting things have changed in the map. But I reckon I’ll just leave the original map–for posterity. Link that motivated this update:

    Americans implicated in Panama Papers | The Guardian

    I’m perturbed as usual, dear worst-reader. Once again my expectations are overwhelmed by the rampant dispersal of new fangled heroes in the form of journalistic endowment and leaks, leaks, leaks. I’m not worst-writing about war-mongering heroes here, of course. No. These heroes are something different. They are the ones who supposedly watch over the gates of information and thereby allow the minions of this world to not be overwhelmed by that information. Which brings me to the question: what would happen if aliens actually came to earth? Do you think the gate-watchers of our earthly atmosphere, i.e. those in the perfect position to detect such a visit, would actually entrust us (minions) with the reality that life exists elsewhere in the universe? I mean. Come on. Basic knowledge of the physical universe states: in order for life to exist there has to be energy. Where there’s energy, especially the kind you can get rich off of, the powers-that-be of the minions of this earth, won’t readily pass up a chance to earn a few bucks just by letting us all know that these visiting aliens come in peace. Hell no! First and foremost the powers-that-be will make sure that before we know about aliens the few and far between rich folk get their deserved crack at the money pot. I suppose it’s a good thing that we live in a period of earth history where aliens, even if they were able to make it here, would have the capacity to see through humanity’s measly existence and would then simply fly-by knowing/learning: they aren’t ready yet.

    Which brings me to leaks and the colour red, as in: check out the map above. Two things stand out from the map.

    1. It’s got a lot of red in it that indicates where most of the greed-mongers are that have been implicated in the Panama Papers leak. And:
    2. The US ain’t red!

    Of course, let’s not forget in these times of ever-more leaks and Orwellian governments that, although this one is a data-doozy–2.6TB to be exact–it is being released to us via news channels that we must trust as much as we trust Big Brother. Which makes worst-writer ask the following question: Why does there need to be an intermediary with these leaks? Why is it that some anonymous do-gooder in this world has to first contact a journalist and then that journalist has to scrutinise the info in the leak before releasing it? In this case, btw, hundreds of journalist were involved in scrutinising the leaks and all of them are connected to a journalist organisation in Washington DC. I really don’t get that. Isn’t there a way to get these leaks out to us raw?

    As corrupt as Julian Assange may or may not be (held up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London), I’ve yet to be given any indication that the idea of simply releasing these leaks to the public via the Interwebnets is a bad idea. Is scrutiny by intermediaries needed to protect the innocent? Fuck the innocent! Perhaps Wikileaks isn’t even the best example of a system that could/should avoid an intermediary. Wasn’t that Wikileaks original intention? But then the website got so big, so popular, there are obviously so many anonymous leakers in the world. Wow.

    Obviously Wikileaks also somehow scrutinises the information it gets. And I guess that’s ok. It’s just that, with the Panama Papers, not unlike the Snowden leak–which went through a guy who, because of the leak, was able to suddenly become his own news media organisation–the whole thing oozes worst-writer skepticism. Or are we worst-writing about conspiracy-theory here? Or didn’t you know that the CIA created Wikileaks? The NSA just pissed off Snowden by not giving him the corpo world (at such a young age) and he went rogue but the NSA knew the whole time that he was releasing information that contained no real data–just power-point presentations and new ideas for code words. And what about the idear that Russia’s oh-so-loved two-bit dictator, Putin, has been working all these years because of his love for mother Russia–and not to pocket a buck or three? Come on. Oh! Wait. Now they’ve even got a politician from Iceland by the balls. And what about that big-shot, billion dollar earning soccer player that’s been found out? Oh yeah. Money laundering, offshore accounts is new. Hashtag: how stupid do we have to be to fall for this krapp?

    Look. I’m not trying to be downer about everything here. It’s just that things like this feel as though they are connected to something bigger, something like a puppeteer. And that puppeteer is obviously dancing around with the idear that money or taxation are noble endeavours? Just like Snowden’s leak, I can’t help but ask the question: are we really learning stuff here that couldn’t already be known if there was the will of knowledge and truth in our world? Oh. Forget it. What am I saying? Let’s wait for the aliens to come out of the goodness of their hearts.

    Rant on. And. Good luck suckers.

    -Tommi

    Links that motivated this post:

  • Know Who You're Competing With For Life, Liberty & The Pursuit Of Spendable Income

    the greatest

    Competition is the opposite of cooperation and is perfect for sport, games and getting laid. What else has it proven to be good for?

    Not sure if I got the right article. But I’m gonna go with it. See below. §Gave a listen to comrade Wolff this morning. See other link below. As usual, and unfortunately, Comrade Wolff doesn’t provide links to the articles he references during his podcast. That means I have to go out and source what he references myself. Good thing I worked in information services for a few years. I guess Comrade Wolff’s budget doesn’t allow for someone to just codify and post the info he references. I mean, through the first half of his podcasts he’s always talking about this article or that article or whatever thing he or his staff finds in the news. If you don’t listen carefully then you miss the source of what he’s referencing and it’s kind of a bummer to go back and fiddle though the podcast to find it again. Nomatter. §Today Comrade Wolff talks about how Generation Y, i.e. those born after 1980, is royally screwed because parents and grandparents are nothing more than a bunch of greed mongering schmucks. Well, he doesn’t quite put it that way. Comrade Wolff even goes so far as to claim that the progenitors fought and, I guess, died for things like worker benefits, pensions, retirements, etc. Did they? Whatever. The thing is, I agree with Comrade Wolff–except for one thing. It’s not only Generation Y that is screwed by previous generations. If you ask me, and no one should, there is a pattern in humanity that this situation follows. Or maybe not. §The generation that fought WW2 and the children of that generation, i.e. baby-boomers, are the ones Comrade Wolff talks about. I take issue with blaming only one generation. Reason? I was born in 1963. If I’m not mistaken I am right in the middle of the baby-boomer generation and Generation X. Being generationally positioned as I am, I can easily claim that I too have felt the greed-pain of previous generations. The problem is, according to The Guardian, there seems to be only figures and stats for Generation Y. It’s as though they’re the only generation that’s been screwed. And so I say: Where are my stats? Where’s proof of my economic demise? As far as I can tell, I’ve been just as screwed as Gen Y and Gen X and Gen forevermore. Or maybe not. §I should also include in this rant the fact that I saw the sinking ship that is also the train wreck that started in 1980’s #americant. I knew very early on that if you don’t inherit some money, have parents that can afford to support you, or find a way to get a clean education beyond graduate school–and then become an automaton programmed to live-to-work–you are gonna be screwed, screwed, screwed. Not only was it next to impossible back then to get a start in a career coming from the broken-ness of middle-class suburban hell, but the hoarding of life, liberty and consume-to-survive was already well underway. That is what Reagan unleashed! Heck, I remember my parents (born at the end of WW2) buying houses on equity loans in the early 80s. They also bought a second pool (because the first one wasn’t new enough). And then there were all the new cars every few years. And while they were consuming to their heart’s content, I couldn’t get student aide or even a student loan because Ronald (the dipshit actor) Reagan changed all the benefits for the underprivileged. Although I was raised in #americant’s low middle class, my stepfather never felt obligated to assist in my life start. Since I had no relations with my biological father, where were the resources for the beginning of life to come from? Oh yeah. It’s America. The land of opportunity. Dish washer to millionaire. The problem is, I never believed in fairies, easter bunnies or fucking santa claus after the age of six. Which means, once I turned eighteen and my mother wasn’t around to stop him (she was visiting Germany at the time) my stepfather literally threw me out of the house because I wouldn’t subject myself to economic conscription and go off to  support a war machine owned by rich people. As I walked out of the door of the house I had grown to hate anyway, the pseudo patriarch of go-nowwhere, suburban hell #americant said, to crown his grand achievement: good luck and thanks for all the fish you smart ass. I flipped the fucker the bird and was off to a life of happy failure. Boo f’n who, eh! But enough about worst-writer. §My point is this: both The Guardian and Comrade Wolff have it wrong. It’s not so much about whether a particular generation has less earning and/or consumer (cap)ability. The issue is: what is humanity capable of? That is, we are all competing not only against each other but against a globalised world owned and run by rich people. Because no one–at least I’ve never met anyone–can recognise their place on this planet, how are we supposed to circumvent our own demise? We’re competing with the same generations who never knew Starbucks, TV and Lego in India and China. Every time you buy a Starbucks, Lego or a TV you add to the weight of children unborn–which is no different than the weight I carried. We compete to our doom because we know no better and for some us–yours truly–it worked out fine. My parents generation, my generation, generation x and y, and generation unborn are all the source of what’s wrong. Does that make me a misanthrope? I hope so! If Comrade Wolff really believes that the world can be changed by a new generation just because they can’t buy enough krapp… Well, good luck suckers… And thanks for all the fish. Rant on. -Tommi

    Links that motivated this post:

  • Everyone's Day In Court Will Never Come

    justice FBI apple

    Subtitle: Juxtaposition of Hope v Change v Consuming v Survive v Gee, I don’t know, …Orwell?

    You know, recently, before our move to India, I floated the idear that we should probably update our ageing digital devices. My wife’s iPhone 5S was looking pretty beat up and my iPhone 4S was almost a brick due to Apple’s draconian iOS updates. It only made sense to consider updating this stuff before our move as India is a pretty expensive place to buy tech krapp. My wife half-joked not to worry about it because we could just take a flight from Bangelore to Malaysia. “It’s a only quick flight”, she said. “Malaysia’s the cheapest place to buy tech krapp,” she added. But all worst-bourgeois joking aside, my floated idear was taken seriously and we ended up buying, without contract, new digital devices before our move. I bought my new iPhone 6S in the US during a recent visit and my wife bought one too while we spent a last weekend in Europe, albeit in London. All in all, with trade-ins, selling of old devices, exchange rates, we’re pleased with our status as über-consumers. And let me add that we got these devices without those crazy-as* phone cell contracts. Which means, we paid full price for this krapp! Does anyone know what full price is these days as we finance, lease, perpetually rent everything? But I digress. §Recent developments in the tech world have made me worst-think twice about our purchase. Conclusion (so far)? There is, obviously, another immense hidden cost of owning a piece of The Digital World. Let’s face it. Beyond the reality of there being a tech cabal out there made up of a few companies who have managed to monopolise everything–screwing consumers royally–what is the real cost we’re paying for having a connection to The Digital World? Enter the recent debacle of the FBI v Apple. It’s one thing that we are forced to pay such manipulated, unjustifiable prices for this krapp. I mean, come on! How much does it really cost to make this stuff? I’ll wager it costs next to nothing to make an iPhone. Considering that incremental updates to the device have been taking place since its intro, and the profits Apple has made since then, yeah, Apple has to create the illusion that it’s expensive. Apple is good at illusion (and distortions fields). But, again, I digress. §So what about the issue of whether or not government will use these devices as tools of oppression? I mean, how far are we away from the retina scanners of Minority Report? Isn’t that what the whole debate is about right now? In the movie Minority Report we see retina scanners doing their thing in order to sell us krapp. Of course, when a rogue agent is being hunted by religious and conservative nutbags, those retina scanners serve a completely different purpose. That “purpose” is so immense that people even gouge out or replace their eyes to prevent government spooking. And so. When I hear the FBI–the largest and best funded police agency in the frickin’ world!–bitch & moan like a spoiled girly in spring-time that it can’t crack an iPhone 5C, I start to tear up. On top of that, just watch the mongrels from the FBI laud their reasoning for breaking some seriously good encryption that the private sector has spent a pretty penny developing. Indeed. As much as I hate the technology cabal that manipulates markets, subverts free commerce, treats consumers like dirt, the encryption technologies that have been developed are worth every bit of praise. Encryption for the masses is supposed to be part of being free–not just preventing hackers from accessing your paypal account or your sexy selfies. And so. It’s not tears that come out of my eye ducts when I hear govt./FBI bitch & moan like only conservatives can, it’s puke that comes out. Or, put another way–after taking a deep breath–I’m flabbergasted at what’s going on between the federal government and a private corporation in the land of the free. Or course, as we all know, it’s the land of the free to be stupid, right Donald Trump followers? Which means, it’s not expected that the masses actually comprehend what’s going on in our digital world. That’s why I believe the FBI went public with this issue. The FBI knows that #americants are stupid and will react to this issue based on populism, patriotism or who yells the loudest. These lemmings have long since been driven off the cliff’s edge or rational thought. In fact, when you consider the forum in which a debate about privacy and freedom is taking place, i.e. the united mistakes of #americant, where The Donald, a psycho maniac, is leading the republican party down the path it was always meant to traverse, it’s no wonder that a legal precedence is about to be made regarding liberty and individualism? A precedence that favours government power and the collusion of big tech. Wow. With all that in worst-mind, I’m wondering if 2016 will go down in history as a moment of truth. Based on what we’ve experienced from government up till now, combined with the greed mongering of monopolistic industries who obviously haven’t paid off their government reps enough, we already live in the Minority Report future. Time to figure out how to remove your retinas, baby. Rant on. -Tommi

    Links that motivated this post:

     

  • Do Your Job Sounds The Same As Get A Job

    Who knew that rational thought existed in the united mistake’s Senate? Why aren’t there more Senators like this one? Oh yeah, #americant prefers batsh*t. Now, if only I could get through a #trump2016 speech. Wait. Let me swallow some mustard water first. There. Now I can watch a Trump speech.

    Rant on. -Tommi

  • News ECB German Real Estate Bubble

     

    ecb-german-real-estate-bubble
    This is a screenshot of google search.

    Reason I googled it? Overheard my better-half’s morning news show while she was preparing for her day. She props her iPad on a shelf under the mirror in the hotel bathroom. She streams the news from Germany. Even though we’ve been away from Das Vaterland for just over a week, the saying holds tried & true: you can take her out of her country but you can’t take her country out of… Anywho. During the newscast the word Blase (bubble) was used several times in the context of the German real estate market. This woke me out of my drowsy state as I had a rough night of sleep, got up around 2:30am and tried to worst-write to compensate–but nothing helped. A big segment of the German newscast was the announcement by the ECB of lowered interest rates, which are now near zero, and the consequence that may have on real estate and the suckers who bought in the last few years. Of course, the real reason my eyes popped open was because the news report said only what I’ve been saying for the past three or so years. Vindication is a great source of wake-me-up. Not only am I worst-writer, dear worst-reader, but I’m also an arm-chair economist, a pseudo news debunker and an all-around wannabe polymath. That said, I love it when I’m proven RIGHT. §We started looking at real estate in Germany around seven years ago. Four years ago we moved from Wiesbaden to Cologne where the search continued. One thing held true the whole time we were searching to make the purchase of life-time. Etwas stimmt nicht im Land der über Optimismus. The whole time we were looking to buy a house or a flat it felt as though we were competing with others who purchased on the basis of now or never or panic. I kept getting the feeling, with every agent we spoke to, that something was wrong with the real estate market in Germany. My better half, of course, being the optimist that she is, would have none of my nonsense. She held that the over-priced market (at least she did admit to prices being very odd) was the way it was because Germany was a stable economy and there was Ordnung and the daffodils that bloom during the few days of sunshine in spring look the same in the dark-grey days of the rest of the Germanic year. She never believed me when I told her that the reason we couldn’t fulfil her dream of owning a home (which is still a pretty big deal for most Germans) was because, although we are well-to-do, the housing market in Germany is not. It is in fact inflated, over-valued and preoccupied by a bunch of wannabe real estate sharks name Manfred or Heiner or Bierschen. In order to buy a house in Germany for the past (my worst-estimate) 20 years, you not only had to over come all the ridiculous costs of the bureaucracy and the mafia-like state that made laws that guaranteed that they would also get a share of your dream, but you had to compete with the bubble–and don’t forget all the real estate sharks. No one believed me when I said that there is no justification for the prices of real estate in Germany today. With globalisation and down-sizing rampant in the country, with all inheritance value from the wirtschafwunder used up, where is the money supposed to come from to buy all the real estate? Heck, VW just announced, in the wake of its ridiculous smoke screen that is supposed to hide managements choice to over produce, it’s gonna lay-off over three thousand people by 2017–most of whom are office workers. “Office” workers are supposed to be the ones that can afford to buy real estate. Or? §But like I said, the real estate market hasn’t felt right in Germany for years. Stuff is being built like crazy. It not only felt like there was an over supply of new houses but there was also an over supply of old houses that were being sold for the same price as new houses. Hello! Are you fucking kidding me. And get this. We made an offer on a house two years ago just south of Cologne. After several meetings with the agent we met one last time where I made my offer. I mean, we considered our offer for a few days. We spoke with people about how to do it. We thought we offered a fair price where we hoped negotiations would begin. Yet. We got absolutely no response from the agent. When we finally called him back, although he was supposed to return our first offer, he just said that the owner had decided to rent the place. Rent the place? For real? Ok. Fine. I guess if the owner can’t sell it–because he’s priced it waaaaaaaay to high, he has to then, at the least, rent it–to stop the bleeding of cash he must pay to maintain the mortgage. I turned to my wife and said: this is bullshit, its all a bubble. As of our leaving Germany to move to India for a few years, the guy still hadn’t sold the house. With that in mind, I feel bad for anyone in Germany who bought a house within the last few years believing/thinking that low interest rates were the reason to fulfil the dream. This most recent lowering of ECB rates means buyers will never get any equity out of their house and the price paid was a lie. Good luck suckers. Rant on. -Tommi

    Links that motivated this post:

  • Phallic Symbolism Of Colour Bias And Other Taunts

    uncle sam bathing suit

    Moments that tell all? Or points in the time-space continuum that hide from view but are always there? One thing stands out from all the 2016 GOP debates. There is something seriously wrong with the mindset that has produced the current iteration of the republican party in the united mistakes of #americant. Double seriously. I mean, this shit’s no longer funny. Or is it? Even to worst-writer, who thinks only in terms of WORST, there are moments where I think things can’t get any…. Enter NOW. Not only is the true face of the republican party being shown in all its ugly, hate-filled glory–along with its blatant racism–but the entire world has now been indelibly impressed with a new level of incivility, #americant style! American men can now dangle their private parts in a show of presidential prowess that has never been witnessed before. I mean, that’s it. The American electoral process can go no lower. Or? Ok. There is the race thing. Which means we can’t go any lower than racism and dicks when it comes to our democracy. No. Wait. That’s can’t be true. Maybe it’s always been this way. What’s new is that The Donald has opened up the secret door where this behaviour has been going on all along. But I digress. §Even though I hate what Reagan did with America one has to admit that thirty years ago isn’t enough time to claim that civility once ruled. Thirty years isn’t that long, now is it? From New Delhi to Hong Kong to Paris to Moscow–this is what people around the globe can talk about when discussing the 2016 election for US president: dicks and unmitigated racism. With that in mind, where else can #americant politics go from here? Through out these modern times of human greed ruling everything and being the sole source of action one can witness other governments, parliaments, democracies hammer out there differences–but have they’ve gone so low as America? Haven’t Russian politicians slugged it out with their fists at times on the floor of their parliament? Haven’t south American elected officials thrown water in each others faces while disagreeing? Well, I guess there are some Americans who feel that we have to put something out there to challenge all those other governments–and their civility. Thank you Donald Trump. Thank you GOP. Now we have dick hanging–thanks to not just my beloved #americant but to those voters who played this game for the last thirty years. Oh my. As a kind of pseudo diplomat I’m gonna have to start thinking of new ways to change the subject when I’m at dinner parties in Bangelore or Bangkok and people ask me about America. Rant on. -Tommi

    Links that motivated this post:

  • The World Should Be Thanking The(ir) Heavens For #thedonald–Or Maybe Not

    earned the donald gop implode

    First. Can The Donald really win a general election? If you think he’s worth comparing to whether or not Berry Obama could win when he announced back 2007, think again. There is no comparison. And even if The Donald were to win, would it be so bad? Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t want him to win the presidency. I do want him to win the republican primary, though. After what I’ve seen and read since his announcement to run, there is more to this guy than meets his infamous combover, his hate speech and his misogyny. The thing is, dear worst-reader, I’ve heard from The Donald ever since I was a kid. In fact, I’d go so far as to claim that The Donald that is stuck in the 70’s mindset is not far off from the batshit that raised me. Of course, the fact that this guy manages to get his kisser in the news regularly is nothing short of ingenious, to say the least. And what does he do to warrant such attention? Who knows and who cares. He is a businessman. And not just any businessman. He’s the first businessman to run for president of the united mistakes, baby. The Donald represents a part of America that is somewhat dark but not inherently evil. Up to now he gets press coverage because, well, he’s earned it–and so too has the GOP. Just have a look at TV, WWE and beauty pageants, etc. But so have many others earned it before The Donald. We joke and/or kill opinions with the likes of PT Barnum or Charles Ponzi, Bernie Madoff, and the ever present Mitt Romney, etc. by claiming that there are confidence men among us. But is The Donald really part of that club? Can he claim fame to taking advantage of a sucker being born every minute (PT Barnum) or conniving money out of naive investors (Ponzi; Madoff) or just plain suckering a country out of its valuable assets (Mitt)?  Whether clean cut or sloppy joe, these men are no different than those that came before them. And speaking of Mitt! One thing Mitt Romney got right the other night when he tried to condemn The Donald is that there is a confidence artist (conman) in our midst. If you really think about it, truly look beyond the pale, look underneath the veneer of #americant, one thing will be clear above all other things. America was built by conmen and even today it’s run by them. Whether snake oil salesman or religious fanatics or presidents and politicians or businessmen, #americant is a place of the con. In fact, when my grand united mistakes won the cold war (and I was on my way to expat shores because I saw the con of Reaganomics coming), and the Soviet Union was collapsing, Bush#1 told Boris Yeltsin, when Yeltsin asked about managing a free country (paraphrase & creative license): let the criminals have their way just not the whole way. In other words, Bush#1 told Boris Yeltsin to give the conmen rising out of the ashes of the failed soviet state free rein and then added: just don’t let them ever run the show. Hence, Authoritarian Russia has since returned thanks to Yeltsin’s prime choice of protege, Vladimir Putin, to its old ways where only a select few can have both the power and the business (the con). And so, all Russian conmen have been put in their place. If they didn’t accept their place then they were jailed or run out of the country. It’s no wonder that Putin has already come out to praise The Donald–or did The Donald praise Putin? Nomatter. The thing to keep in mind is that after all these years the end of the Cold War resulted in nothing but a world of conmen on the grandest scale ever. It is the only way to keep the human greed freak-show going. So now you must choose between conmen A or conmen B–one of which has a really funny head of hair. By the looks of all participants, The Donald showed up in the nick of time to offer the world a picture of the reality of the con. But is the world thankful? The worst-writer fact is, politicians, especially politicians of major economic powers, are nothing but conmen. For Mitt Romney, who espoused to a higher Mormon calling of public service after pillaging post industrial-age America of any remaining value (it’s the business model of his entire billion dollar career at Bain), to come out and be the pot that calls the kettle black…? But I digress. Btw, the only difference between conman aka The Donald or conman aka professional politician or goody-two-shoes Mitt, is the level of hurt and damage one has under his/her belt. It is clear that The Donald is a sullied, unsavoury character but he is also not a darling to the GOP and their war-mongering. There is no evidence, including his popular (hate) rhetoric, that he would do the same amount of damage to this world that, say, Dubya did to it in the name of the GOP. That may be a naive (although I hope it would also be provocative) claim but it is also a claim indicative of what the world is missing when it complains about The Donald. Could he really be any worse than world politicians of the past seventy years who have lead us to one war after the other in the name of greed, oil and more-more money? Comparing The Donald to Hitler or Mussolini is also preposterous because he’s not politically ideological–he’s just a businessman, not even a banker or a war mongering oil mogul. As far as his inheritance goes, just like his personal wealth claim, proper scrutiny would reveal a different reality. And then there’s his politics we know about so far. On the one hand he supports a minor government funded agency for women’s health care (planned parenthood) and on the other hand he rips the Bush family a new asshole by calling them out on their lies of wars-galore. Again. This is not a post to promote The Donald. I don’t want him anywhere near my child. But if one were to get to know the environment that reared him, that created him, one would also know that there is a big heart behind much of what his type is all about. I don’t know yet how to transcribe that type. It’s a New York, New Jersey or east coast thing, maybe. Or it’s just a down home 70’s thing that I grew up with/in. Yeah, some of these people are evil but I just don’t think The Donald is one of them, especially when compared to the likes of his contemporary dipshit Dubya Bush. I guess that says something about people that can just talk (New York) sh*t. Anywho. What’s clear is that governments must be creative in maintaining power, especially once a force is awakened or when two immovable objects meet. Enter the natural way of things and the inevitable rise of right wing batshittery that is the Republican Party, the GOP, the united mistakes of #americant that has so willingly given rise NOT to The Donald but to its true and ugly bigoted, racist face. And so. World! Don’t be afraid. The Donald can’t get elected president anyway and here’s why according to worst-writer. §The republican base is about 30m strong. That’s it. Doesn’t sound like much when you consider America has, depending on its mood swings, just over 100m people that actually vote. It is the 30m republican voters that keep faux newz and Limbaugh going and they are also the controllers of all media. This base doesn’t necessarily include blue collar workers–who are republican when their situation deems them to be. I call them other voters. It is a combination of the base and these other voters that enabled Dubya to be appointed by the Supreme Court (thanks to Scalia) in 2000. Keep in mind, these other voters are the ones that have shown their true face since Barry O’s election. They were just as angry in 2000 as they were in 2008, i.e. the Tea Party. The problem is, IMHO, these other voters have probably woken up to their stupidity and ignorance. Hence the rejection of tea-party bed wetters Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio in this campaign. I mean, come on! Are these two guys the only thing the grand old party has to offer at this point? Seriously! But instead of admitting how stupid voters
    are–that got them Cruz and Rubio–they instead channel their voting (anger) into a different kind of stupid. Enter WWE and TV personality Donald Trump. With that in mind, can The Donald win a general election with 30-40m voters that he’s splitting like a twig? I don’t think he can. But if he does, as usual, you don’t necessarily get what you deserve but you do get what you’ve earned. Good luck suckers.

    Rant on.

    -Tommi

    Links that motivated this post:

  • This Article Is So Good I'm Willing To Give Up Oreos For Breakfast To Read It Again

    Just kidding. I actually got more oreos and made another cup of earl grey to go along with second read of Matt Taibbi’s brilliant article. Things in this article that tickled me most:

    • Hunks of recent political history that #americants should know. (But then again, if we knew them we wouldn’t be #americant.)
    • Taibbi rips apart the Bush family and I can’t think of a family that deserves it more! Although Taibbi doesn’t go after those who voted for the Bush’s. Or does he? “Dinkley McBush.”
    • Making the comparison between Trump’s wrastling persona and the reality that #americants actually believe in wrestling means that Trump is the perfect presidential candidate for republican blue-collar voters.
    • The author mentions the German word backpfeifengesicht that is used by a psychologist when asked to describe Ted Cruz’s irritating face. It means: a face you want/need to slap.

    Definitely worth a read once or twice along with worst-writer’s POV that Trump is what #americant has earned–not what it deserves.

    Rant on. -Tommi

    Source: How America Made Donald Trump Unstoppable | Rolling Stone

  • This vs That And Something Above The Snowball(den) Effect

    As usual, dear worst-reader, worst-writer is shocked. (But I’m not surprised.) I’m shocked that #americants once again just don’t get it. I mean, come on. Do you really believe that Blackberry died such a tragic death because the Canadians are so bad at managing a corporation? Or could the whole demise of Blackberry have something to do with the fact that it lost its edge in security? Ok. Ok. I have absolutely nothing to substantiate a claim that Blackberry went under because it lost-out on the secure-phone game. But I can say this: the fact that Apple has to answer to the US government because it made products that are secure enough to prevent a multi-billion-dollar funded security apparatus from cracking customer passwords…. Yeah. ‘Nough said. With that in mind, let’s do a worst-writer run-down of what’s happened here so far.

    1. Yet another horrific murder spree takes place in San Bernardino, CA, USA. This murder spree is different than any other murder spree because, well, it was committed by… (wait for it) “terrorists”.
    2. One of the murderers possesses an iPhone, which, btw, was issued by his US employer.
    3. After the murder spree and during the subsequent criminal investigation of it, it’s determined that the culprit shut off the auto back up settings of his US employer issued iPhone.
    4. When the US authorities discovered that a few days of backups were missing they decided that they needed that information in order to further their investigation.
    5. The US authorities, via court order, requested that Apple provide a means to crack the security settings of their iPhones. In other words, Apple has to rewrite its iPhone operating system so that US investigators can attempt to re-install the new operating system on the phone they want to crack. If that works, then US investigators will attempt to “brute force” cracking the iPhone and its user’s access password.
    6. Brute-forcing a password means nothing more than being able to submit millions upon millions of password inputs on the phone. Preventing multiple inputs of passwords is the fundamental means of securing the device.

    Ok. I’ll stop there. But if you get a chance to see the video I’ve linked to in this post (see above), heed this: the entire conversation about this issue is wrong. The fact that Apple’s security methodology is being discussed means nothing more than the US has failed after it has invested multiple trillions of taxpayer dollars into a system that was unable to do anything about… the Boston bombing, 9/11, London, Madrid, Paris…

    Once again, #americant and the automatons that are part of its hugely expanded government protection apparatus have failed. But then again, failing upwards is winning. And so. While failing all one has to do is tap into the ingenuity of corporatist that don’t fail (as much) and all that taxpayer waste will be fine. Or maybe not. Good luck suckers. And…

    Rant on. -Tommi

  • Backdoor To Your Frankenstein

    be owned

    The grand question goes like this, dear worst-reader: who owns you? In the case of the individual and her/his desire to lead a digital life, your owner is your hardware supplier.  (Boy did Blackberry screw this up, eh?) But the questions don’t stop there. How secure is your digital life? Worried about passwords? Worried about losing your phone? Worried about that Amazon purchase you made while connected to the Interwebnets at a coffee shop? The problem is, once you start asking one question about technology security it only leads to a bunch more. Reason? Well. Since a company like Apple puts a lot of effort into making its phones secure, why should they give up all that effort because a government agency can’t do it’s job in the first place? Does that agency really need access to my/our digital world? Besides the fact that the FBI, IMHO, is one of the most useless agencies every created by our grand dysfunctional government, no agency should get a backdoor to my phone. Heck, if granting backdoor access to Apple iPhones is what the FBI needs to “protect” the US from bad guys, that’s just more proof of how useless the agency is. Let’s not forget–as we #americants often do–that it really doesn’t matter if the FBI can make your digital life insecure or not! The question is, what will the FBI do with access to our digital lives? Do you want the FBI to possess a key to your house? How about the pin number to your debit card? How about access to your PC? A copy of the key to your bank safe deposit box? Heck, the US government knew about all those 9/11 guys being in the US (and how they went to strip clubs!) and it also knew about an imminent attack from Osama Bin Hasen. (Hasen is German for rabbit.) What about the Boston bombers? The FBI was tracking one of those guys for a while, weren’t they? Oh yeah. If the government would have taken one of those guys out before their bombing spree then maybe $300m wouldn’t get spent on trying to catch them. (Just google it.) What good did any of that information do for anybody? Oh. I guess, at least, 9/11 made a few well connected government officials very, very rich. But I digress. §My point is this: backdoor access to technology by a government agency should not be granted under any circumstances. I hope Apple wins this one. But I’m not sure it will. Remember: government is the Frankenstein Monster, the electorate is Frankenstein (the crazy grave robbing doctor). Rant on.

    Link that motivated this post:

  • The Lie Of Things Flawed

    Here’s the thing, dear worst-reader. Does Morgan Stanley actually have $3.2 billion to pay a fine? I mean, does it have that much cash? And if it does, would it use that cash for something as silly as paying a fine? Or would it use it to pay an exec another bonus? Which brings me to the question: where does this “news” come from about a bank paying a huge fine with money it probably doesn’t have? I mean, what’s the point of publishing this as “news”? Well, let’s go deeper, shall we? Morgan Stanley doesn’t have money in its bank account anymore for paying fines. Bet you didn’t know that, did you? No. And the reason for that is simple. Morgan Stanley has your cash to pay fines. So is that the “news” that should be reported? Probably not. And here’s why. While you were galavanting around your whole life buying all that krapp you don’t need on credit that keeps you a slave your government combined with a few private sector big-shots have been laughing their asses off watching the minions of the so-called “middle-class” have an orgy dance of ignorant bliss. These bankers and government stooges got you to vote for their ideals, they got you to hate liberals, they got you to believe the lies of taxation and representation, they got you hating each other because of race, migration, religion, etc., etc. Indeed. They got you. And now that they’ve are able to combine investment bank assets/liabilities with retail banking assets (i.e. your savings and personal investments) every greed mongering bank has enough money to pay fines. It’s just not the banks money. Now that’s worst-news! Of course, the other side of the coin is nothing more than the same type of bank across the Atlantic. So while Morgan Stanley pays its silly little fines–that amount to nothing more than a tax write-off–Deutsche Bank is doing the same thing but instead of fines it’s in über-debt because of Euro-greed. Yeah, baby. Rant on. -T

    Links that motivated this post:

  • Contradictions In The Skies Of Greed

    Can’t believe what I heard this morn while listening to a BBC News podcast. Get this, dear worst-reader. The “news” is promoting the idear that airlines might have to raise ticket fares on account of climate change. Climate change is gonna mean they have to fly longer and burn more fuel to get through the/our dirty atmosphere. I say “news” because in other news something completely different is being reported–and I’m wondering if these are two different things. Now, I don’t know about you, but something is up. For example, is it possible that airlines–practically a monopolised industry these days–are a bit pissed that they had to release info about their high profits due to low oil prices? To counter that, I guess, they have to blame climate change for not giving us (passengers) a bit more than krappy peanuts.

    Rant on. -T

    Links that motivated this post:

  • The Tidyman, Casseroles And Early Dessert

    tidyman don't litter

    Remember how, if given the choice, children always reach for dessert before dinner? Remember how, when playing in the sandbox, there’s always a kid who will destroy your sandcastle just because he can? Remember when you got so made at the government for taking out so many taxes and giving you nothing back for it that you thought about killing EVERYBODY? Ok, that last one goes a bit far. But perhaps this worst-rant comes across anyway. No? Well, how ’bout this? We live in a sloppy casserole. What? Never had a sloppy casserole? Yes you have. In fact, you live in one. And just like a casserole, you also live in a mess. The only reason casseroles exist is so that lazy people can throw krapp into a pot and say they’ve cooked something when it’s done. Again. You live in one. But enough about casseroles. Let’s worst-write about Tidyman. Ever put any effort into figuring out why it is we have trash cans? No? Well, don’t worry. It’s really a no-brainer–once you figure out how to use your brain. Which brings me to the Supreme Court of the united mistakes of #americant. You know, say what you will about politics in the US these days–goodness knows the only thing good about it is the havoc The Donald is causing the Republican Party. Nomatter what happens with the election, the damage that the GOP has done to #americant over the past thirty or so years is probably irreversible. And part of that damage, IMHO, is what conservatives have done to the third branch of government which has conveniently decided recently to hear a case regarding the “rights” of corporations–before the case is ever heard in lower courts. Did you know that two liberal seats on the Supreme Court could be vacated during the next presidency? For this reason alone republicans should not have any majority power in national politics. But I digress. I was trying to talk about Tidyman and why it should not be a political issue whether or not we (all) clean up after ourselves. Here’s my thing about the whole climate change issue: clean up after yourself. That’s the only thing that needs to happen with all the krapp pumped into the air by greedy energy companies. Just clean up after yourself. If you can’t clean up after yourself than you should be made to do so by government. Just like you mom made you learn to clean your ass. Which means we’re back to the worst-thought about all the damage that republicans have done over the past thirty or so years. Good luck suckers. Rant on. -Tommi

    Link that motivated this post:

  • Error 53 Or Area 51? Either Way Want More Want More

    tommis iphone 6s

    Warning: post is NSFW. §After reading article above and a few others on the same subject, I’ve concluded the following: Dear worst-consumer… you and your journalists don’t get it. An iPhone isn’t “bricked”. Instead, it’s controlled. It’s owned. It’s not yours. I mean, you don’t really believe in what is printed on your dollars or your purchase receipt, do you? Legal tender? Tender for/with what? §This isn’t an issue of privacy and/or government spying. This is instead an issue of consumption. Consumption run amok. Your iPhone breaks and you obviously can’t afford to buy another one. You then take it to some guy that will help you save some money getting it working again–because you already gave most of your money to Apple when they suckered you into buying it in the first place. The cool thing is, most of these devices are fixable at reasonable prices. The uncool thing is, Apple is founded and is run on the principles of assholes. With that in mind, let’s not shy away from reality. §Steve Jobs was an asshole. Being an asshole is the greatest legacy that he left behind. Obviously the iPhone is also part of his legacy–I guess a financially successful company is also part of it. But let’s not get to far off subject here. §As we see in the article above, Jobs’ asshole-ness still lingers among us. It is a hard thing to get rid of. But I think its (Apple’s) time has come (once again). §Please stop misreading the daily news, your daily life, the day. There is nothing out there in the ether of your consumption that is more dangerous than your consumption–which leads to misreading your daily news. It really doesn’t matter what Julian Assange says or what Glenn Greenwald publishes. The game has been rigged all along–by assholes. In fact, it’s been so rigged that the friggin’ govt. can’t even keep up anymore. The device in the article above (dare I say iPhone) was and always will be a device that is closed. It’s as closed as Steve Jobs’ asshole. In fact, the iPhone ain’t even the first device that Jobs made that was as closed as his asshole. Can you say: Macintosh? I will never forget the first Mac Classic I bought (yes, even though I was well into adulthood when I bought it, it took me till then to be able to afford it). Obviously I love Macs. The Mac is the single greatest glorified typewriter ever made. Heck, some even consider it the greatest über-pencil ever made. But let’s not get off subject (again). Steve Jobs was very clear with his intentions about selling and–and this is very important–controlling hardware. Jobs, although he never said this out loud, believed that the hardware you buy from Apple isn’t yours. The stuff you create with it can be yours–but the hardware belongs to Apple. That’s why Apple made computers that were/are all about closed eco-systems. Why should the iPhone be any different? But then again, if journalists miss the real issue, as is the case with the linked article (above), I suppose there is no reason for worst-consumers the world over to get lost in their miss-hate. Keep trying journalists–and I’ll keep up the useless blogging about the truth. Rant on. -tommi

    Link that motivated this post:

     

  • Article About The Big Short Is Short

    credit cards

    The good thing is, I read the book. The bad thing is, I’m still waiting for someone to address the unspoken reality of where the world is today regarding banking and finance and, of course, the (unending) great recession. The thing that gets me is that every time I read something about The Big Short (movie) or the problems of the banking industry I have to smirk and giggle. I cannot believe that no one has written about what’s really going on. Ok. Ok. I’m sure the book as been written. Hopefully someday I’ll find it. Until then I can only go with what I’ve got–as pretentious as that may be. With that in mind, I’ll assume the movie version of The Big Short is at least as accurate as the book. Based on that, here’s a summary of the ship we’re all aboard.

    • Banking is in full collusion with government.
    • Compensation of bankers is no different than hush-money.
    • What’s behind the revolving door between the SEC and bank board rooms should be as scary as the threat of nuclear war or terrorism.

    The lack of action on the part of politicians should be an indication of how deeply embedded the problem really is. But, I suppose, in the end it doesn’t matter if someone writes the right book which then can be made into a movie by bored, rich actors so as to give them (and their lives) a feeling of worth and value. (Just have a look at who produced The Big Short.) The simple fact remains: the ship has sailed and the only destination available for it is tragedy. Some might even say that we’ve long since landed on tragedy. But I don’t think that’s the case. Tragedy is out there but it’s still far off as the world enjoys its love-boat. Indeed. The world and the crisis we are in is simply not bad enough to make anything happen that could force a correction. The idear of a forced correction alone is worth writing a book about. Seriously. A phoenix can’t rise if the whole shebang hasn’t burnt to ash. Or? Oh well. As usual, I’m off subject.

    The article below is a winded one. I mean, it’s really, really long. And you know what it says? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. But it also says a lot of nothing. And as I read through it I couldn’t help–between all the snickers and giggles–to keep whispering out loud: boy am I happy that I don’t have a thing vested in this system. I also would whisper: man, all those people vested in this system are fucked. Because of the carnal aspect of what’s going on these days, it’s not possible for something to come about that could/would correct the dead ship to tragedy we’re riding. The reality is this: everything being done by government and banks is for the sole purpose of keeping the ship afloat–not changing its direction. And get this: a change in direction would mean a change in those aboard. And so. When ever I come across an article like the one below I hope to come across at least a minor mention of where change could begin. But, as usual, I’m always disappointed.

    Rant on. -Tommi

    Link that motivated this post:

  • Hammer Sickle Podcast

    fourth international.png

    Listening to comrade Wolff again. Luv this nutty professor. And that says a lot. Of all the teachers I’ve had in this (my) useless-eater life, few (if any) teachers have left an impression on me. And that’s an odd thing to admit if you consider the fact that by the time I was finished with college I had finally figured out what I wanted to do. Yeah. I wanted actually be one of them–one of the ones who fails to leave an impression on someone. Yeah, I thought, be a teacher and you can have three months out of the year off to smoke weed and maybe learn how to sail (a dinghy). Of course. Having been reared in #americant, in suburban hell, it didn’t matter that I knew what the future held. I knew it held what we have now. Boy do I feel sorry for teachers. What a bunch of shmucks. Talk about getting duped. Now they all have to work those off months in order to pay their (land)lords all those serfdom-fees. But I digress.

    Today’s podcast, dear worst-reader, covers four things.

    1. Health Care, aka Obamacare
    2. Banking and Finance
    3. Pension looting
    4. Subsidizing Religion

    Of the four issue covered by comrade/professor Wolff, the fourth is the funniest. That fact that #americants tolerate the free-ride given to “churches” (they don’t pay any tax) and yet can’t find ways to finance education says a lot. Obviously the other issues covered are funny, as well. But then again: the podcast featured has nothing to do with comedy. Or does it?

    Listening to a winded professor try to explain to #americants what capitalism is–and more importantly how it’s failed everyone–just seems like such a mute issue that one can’t help but laugh/giggle. Or? Still. With that in mind, it’s fascinating how the professor does such a great job explaining it all. I suppose that’s due to his ability to be so obviously partisan. I don’t mean partisan in a Dem vs Repub way. He’s partisan in a truth vs lie way. And that should be a good thing. Well, I suppose it would be good if the professor didn’t come across as a comrade. But, again, I digress.

    Hail the fourth international. Or maybe not.

    At this point, I should probably provide a warning. Be careful if you listen to what the professor/comrade has to say. Or should I say: Danger Something Might Be Learned.

    Rant on. -Tommi

    Links that motivated this post which includes a podcast:

  • Maine Subtext Drugs Promiscuity And Nice Shirts

    el chapo.png

    The traffickers—these aren’t people who take drugs. These are guys by the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty. These type of guys that come from Connecticut and New York. They come up here, they sell their heroin, then they go back home. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave. Which is the real sad thing, because then we have another issue that we have to deal with down the road. –Paul LePage, Governor of Maine, USA

    Where does it go from here, dear worst-reader? Obviously Trumpism is having an effect on my beloved United Mistakes of #Americant. Trumpism and the tea party combined will have an even bigger effect. Look at the state of Maine. Or has it already happened to every US state? Nomatter.

    If anyone is wondering what will come of all the batsh*t–we only need to begin the study of subtext and have a look at what Maine’s governor recently said. I, for one, love subtext. Without it I could have never written all those awful (stuck in amateurism) plays of mine. Of course, at the time, I had no idear what subtext is/was. So let’s define it now, shall we.

    subtext |ˈsəbˌtekst|, noun, an underlying and often distinct theme in a piece of writing or conversation that is not explicit.

    Which brings me ’round to the subtext I’ve been reading in the newz lately. Would you believe that a sitting US governor spilled the beans of what’s on/in his mind? (See quote above–which, btw, is missing the name El Chapo as one of the dealers that enter the state.) Paul LePage, Governor of Maine, said, in front of small crowd, that citizens of Maine are all heroine addicts and that the state’s women are overly promiscuous with all the drug suppliers that regularly visit from Connecticut and New York. Or did I miss something in the (sub)text?

    Obviously there is a drug problem in the US. Nothing new there. But what kind of drug problem? Has the war on drugs had an effect on #americants lust for narcotics? You bet it has. For the most part the war on drugs has legalised what was once illegal. Which brings me to the following question: has the war on drugs been a good thing or a bad thing? Wait. It’s #americant. There is no good or bad. Just money. Money. Money. And lots of profit for a select few. Indeed.  The long-lasting war on drugs has had an effect on something. Yeah.

    I, for one, will never forget sitting in PHL Airport bar waiting for a flight and watching two complete strangers exchange pharmaceutical drugs as I gulped at my glass of Yuengling. To say the least, I was shocked at both their wit and knowledge of the pills they were exchanging and also the expertise one expressed to the other about how to take the pills during the flight. And. Of course. I couldn’t help but think about what those drugs are made of. Yes. Like the subtext of words spoken, dear worst-reader, there is the unspoken, the unspeakable of the legal drug trade in the US.

    Ultimately, all the pharma drugs that #americant is addicted to are derivatives of illicit drugs that we hear about every day. The only difference being the pharma drugs generate huge profits for corporations and the illicit drugs simply provide Sean Pean an interesting interviewee partner. Ironically (or not) drugs, e.g. cocaine and heroin (opiate) are the basis for most of the pharmaceutical drugs #americants ingest daily. Which brings me full-circle to the governor of Maine and the subtext of what he said the other day.

    Btw, the great thing about subtext is that you can come up with your own.

    Good luck suckers. Rant on. -Tommi

    Links that motivated this post:

  • Boardroom Gender Quotas vs Cologne On New Year's Eve vs The Meaning Of Freiwild

    what is freiwild.png
    Left: a band. Right: police making sure no one enters the church.

    What a grand opportunity Germania has right now. Will it act on this opportunity? Of course not. And why not? Well, the answer is simple. There’s no money or taxes to be had in acting on a human failing that, up to now, cannot be made financially exploitable for the centralised state. Misogyny and (mafia) patriarchy are fundamental to the Germania lie–the lie of a social-market-economy. I suppose one can give Germania credit for at least trying. The land of wurst, kraut, autobahns that require drivers of awesome cars to drive all the time with their brakes and cleavage did pass a law last year that requires the centralised corpo-state to add females to its roster of corpo-managers. The idear of actually having some female corpo-leadership is, indeed, a fine one. The problem, though, is that requiring females to be corpo-state-managers means that you first have to have conditioned females that can actually do it. I mean, “conditioned” is the only way to get ahead in a corpo-state, in a centralised economy, among automaton comrades that all must share elbows and cubicles–aka the western (white) world. That would also mean, since most Germania females aren’t all that interested in engineering or banking, the corpo-state would have to do more than just provide tampons in advisory board bathrooms to get Germania females to actually do it. Germania simply doesn’t have enough females that think like the males that have made the country what it is today. And so. As the saying goes: Germans aren’t funny… but some of the laws they make are. Which brings me to the article below. Germany enacted a law last year that is supposed to help change the German mindset–that got the country to where it is today. Ist das dein ernst (are you serious), asked the one-eyed, red-haired pirate born and reared in Saxony. Du spinnst (you’re an idiot) responds his Westphalia rival. Both men tap the bottom of their Kölsch glasses, kiss with their eyes, and sing Kölle Alaaf in front of an audience that doesn’t know which way to sway or get out of the arm-lock they are in. Indeed. §I couldn’t help but snicker as I read the article below. Nomatter what the subject, nomatter what the issue in Germania today, it all boils down to one thing and one thing only: Money. And so. There are two mindsets in the western world battling over (Kölle Alaaf and) money.  On the Anglo side that fight evolves around this: it’s all mine and you can’t have any, i.e. the haves and the have-mores. On the Germania side of doing things the fight evolves around this: it’s all mine and you’ll get what I feel like giving you when I’m ready and my tax revenue allows it. Yeah, baby. Long live centralised, pseudo-communist states faking it (the economy and capitalism) like a drag queen selling out for a drinki-poo. And since I’m on the subject of drag queens. What about Freiwild. It’s all over the place right now. I suppose a naked supermodel with a protest poster in front of the Cologne Cathedral helps spread the word. But to be honest, I had to do a double-take on the word because I hadn’t used it in such a long time. It means something like “fair game”. But I suppose in the context of what’s currently going on in Germania, especially old Colonia, it means something much more specific. And to be honest, one of the reasons you have words like Freiwild means that you also have words like Karnevalsflüchtlinge. Karnevalsflüchtlinge is a word that describes all the people that leave Germania because they fear all the touchy-feely that comes with a corpo-centralised, mafia-patriarchy state that MUST party when the bell rings–which is all that Karneval is these days. Well, it’s that and lots of drinking. But I digress. As I worst-wrote at the beginning of this post: Germania faces a grand opportunity right now. I wonder what it will do with it. Prosit! Alaaf! Maach et joot! Rant on. -Tommi

    Source: Boardroom Quotas: The Slow Pace of Gender Equality in Corporate Germany – SPIEGEL ONLINE

  • Pale Shades Of Gemütlichkeit, Gleichgültigkeit And Happy Kites

    Beer Belly Horst

    Had a brief call with an old girlfriend the other day. Before I could even get around to the “how’s the weather” or “how’s your love-life” (up there in Berlin) there was something boiling in her voice about who/where/what she is. While she spewed out all her frustrations from being fired from her job because she complained about workplace sexual harassment, I couldn’t help but think of how I too was once harassed. Obviously when a man is harassed it’s never the same as with a woman. I suppose, in a way, most (real) men want to be harassed like most women ARE harassed. But, again, it is not my intention to belittle the reality of females being harassed–especially in light of what recently happened in Cologne. Yet there is IMHO something that connects what my former girlfriend is dealing with and what all those nice young girls had to deal with on New Years Eve 2015 in front of one of the Catholic church’s most iconic cathedrals. Which brings me to the question: what does sexual harassment have to do with patriarchy? Or maybe that’s not the question. Wait. Let me try to explain how I was harassed first–by patriarchy. It started in hallways. German corporate hallways, to be exact. Hallways that were/are built by men. I was working in this German company or that German company–with a bunch of German men. I had been doing that for the better part of the last decade of the twentieth century. Yet nomatter what German company I worked at, the walls of that company always spoke to me and they always said the same thing–in a tainted male voice. So I guess, in a way, I was harassed by German walls. (How ironic, eh, as it was the east/west wall of the Germans that turned me into an expat to begin with.) And do you know what those walls said to me, dear worst-reader? They said (shit like): why are you taking our jobs; ami go home; Ich war hier zuerst; Deutschland!; etc. §Of the few places on this planet that I’ve lived–and perhaps of the few places I’ve visited–Germany is… Wait for it. Wait for it. Ok. Here it is. Germany has got to be the (pronounce thee) most patriarchal place in all of the western, industrialised world. Which also means Germany is intolerant, amoral, misguided and she pees standing up with the toilet seat down. And when one uses the word patriarchy in the context of anything European (#eurowasteland) it is almost always synonymous with mafia (which is the only thing Europe has given the world in the last fifty or so years), macho and chivalry-is-dead. Mafia is, of course, synonymous with the Catholic church. But I guess I should stop with the whole synonym thing. Yeah. There is something else that connects with patriarchy (but isn’t synonymous with it) and what’s really going on in Germany (and most of the western world). And it’s a little bit more than just harassment. Germany’s problem, even though it is trying to avoid that problem by blaming refugees and harassment, is that it is stuck in a world of old, archaic, greedy patriarchy. It’s the same damn thing in Italy and that country’s love/lust of the Mafia that entertains the world through film, Guido-characters and noodles. The thing about Italy’s patriarchy, though, i.e. Italy’s mafia-society, that makes it different than Germany’s is this: Italy is an underachiever. But let’s not get too far off subject. My guess is, as long as women are willing and able to marry men and provide those men with the ideal of a “family”–especially in a world that has sold-out to Globalisation–there isn’t much chance of changing how men think, hence there is no chance of changing patriarchy. Does that mean that in order for the world and patriarchy to change that change will have to come through women? I don’t know. What I do know, though, is that the current discussion regarding how women are treated is a mute issue–as long as the patriarchy rules and rules and rules. And so. In the mean time. Keep talking about refugees. Keep talking about how women are treated here or there. Keep talking about what’s wrong with everything. And through it all (the talk) the truth and reality slip by like a cool breeze of forevermore. Stay asleep. Good luck suckers. Rant on. -Tommi

    PS In the context of (mafia) patriarchy it doesn’t matter that Germany has a “matriarch” as its chancellor. The only thing Merkel is–is entertaining. Neverforget. There are no women doing anything substantial in Germany. They are all sitting at home either content or discontent with their husbands and a bit frustrated that they don’t understand why a woman will NEVER run Deutsche Bank, VW or Mercedes, etc. Or something like that. Good luck, babes! ;-)

    Links that motivated this post:

  • How To Print Your Own Money

    Adieu iPhone 4s
    Can you find the odd man in this pic?

    When I was a kid I remember being confused about light bulbs. Beyond the fact that few of them would go off in my head, I couldn’t wrap that same head around issues of wires, connectors and periphery that made lightbulbs an essential part of every night life. Plus. Why is it that there are so many kinds of lightbulbs? And I don’t mean just shapes and sizes. There’s different wattage, different glows, different screw-threads, incandescent, florescent, LED, etc. And that’s all fine and good. But then one day I was reading something–you know, in order to help train my brain to start making lightbulbs go off–that opened up the world around me beyond being able (and thankful) that I could read in the dark. It was a story about how the powers-that-be of the lightbulb industry were able to start printing money at will. Long story short, the lightbulb industry is/was the first industry to purposefully make products that would, after a certain amount of time, stop working so that you, the sucker consumer, without question, would have to go out and buy more lightbulbs. It’s called obsoletism. Oddly, I just put “obsoletism” in Wiki and it redirects to “archaism”. Conspiracy? Nomatter. The cabal that is the lightbulb industry which I read about so many years ago stuck with me. I knew as a good and subservient consume-to-survivor in this world that the powers-that-be had me by the balls. Not only was/am I forced to buy krapp that is eventually obsolete which means I have to buy it again and again and again, but most people are oblivious to their position in this free-for-all of greed. Reason? It’s not just lightbulbs that got us by the balls, aka wallets. The tech industry is probably the best equipped industry to fully implement obsoletism as a corporate strategy. I have a drawer full of old cellphones. I have to have a completely different drawer to house all the cable and wires that made those cellphones work. Why so many wires and cables? Gee, should the cellphone industry be asked that question? I mean, come on. Why isn’t there a standard regarding cellphone connecting cables? Is it measurable/understandable how much copper is wasted in making all those cables–that end up in the same trash as the phones? How many resources could be saved if people had the option of buying just the phone and thereby use their old cable to power/connect them? What a bag of worst-worms, eh dear worst-reader? And I digress. §The problem is, turning the lightbulb industry into a print-money free-for-all is like offering a baby honey when its teething. Babies learn quickly to want and want and want more. And so. Obsoletism is the norm. It is the engine of this consume-to-survive world we are forced to live in. Without it most corporations today would go out of business tomorrow because, as is obvious, they cannot innovate, create or begin anew. Hence we have a world full of monopolies, eco-systems, Geschlossene Gesellschaft. §Note. Geschlossene Gesellschaft, aka Huis Clos or No Exit is a fav play of mine from Sartre. This play contains nuggets of knowledge and wisdom that helped me understand the world around me–especially the greed-world that I’m forced to cope with. With that in mind, “Hell is other people.” §And so. Enter Apple computer. The love-child of famed and thoroughly dead Steve Jobs. What a freak show this company has become, eh. I mean, come on, just have a look at those yearly product introductions. The assholes that get up on a stage and present to us krapp that no one should need is an astonishing thing to witness. Tim Cook, probably the luckiest guy in the world–as he better than anyone embodies the automaton corporate stooge–is mindless, devoid of creativity, subservient, question-less–oh, the perfect combo for corporatists everywhere–yet he “manages” one of history’s most profitable corporations. Which brings me to the following joke-question: who is the Ringo Starr of the corporate world? Ok. Ok. Tim Cook worked his way up the #americant corporate ladder. I guess he deserves some credit for that. Or maybe not. Fuck him. §Here’s the thing. Steve Jobs found a way to print money at will–not unlike the greed-mongers that gave us lightbulbs. Indeed. As grand as Jobs was with his marketing savvy and product-wit, it is true that he could probably sell me a bag of salt when I need water. And not only can he sell it to me. Steve Jobs created more than a tech company making great products. He found a way to sell obsoletism better than anyone else. Hence, I will miss my iPhone 4s. A perfectly good phone that I am now forced to put aside for a new iPhone 6s–because Apple flat out lied to me that my 4s was compatible with OS updates. And to be real honest with you, dear worst-reader, after a few weeks of use, I’m not impressed with the differences between the 4s and the 6s. Would I be impressed with the 4s and an Android device? Who cares. My point is this. I tried and I tried to make my 4s work for as long as possible–as that is my contribution to mindless consumerism. But I have obviously lost the battle and, as usual, Apple (corporatism) has won. But then again, have a look at the articles below. There are some people out there with as much wit as Steve Jobs and more creativity than Tim Cook can ever muster. Yeah. Sue all corporations when they act like assholes. Sue the krapp out of them. Yeah, baby. Rant on. -Tommi

    Links that motivated this post:

  • Repeating History Because You Like How It Tickles

    Time to celebrate. Break out the bubbly, the cheese & crackers, turn on the game, crack open that can of rice beer. And what is it we celebrate? Well. What is about to happen, dear worst-reader, is more than just a new year. To (y)our joy this is a year just like the last and the last before it and the last before it. And what ties every year together? 2016 will bring just as much truth that 2015 brought and 2014 before it and 2013 before it, and so on and so on and so on. Yes, the truth is here. But that’s not what we’re celebrating. No. We’re celebrating another year after another year after another year of avoiding truth. Some like to call it avoiding the mirror. But I’m not one for mincing words–at least like I mince meat. Indeed. And so. We are once again at the truth. It is right in front of us. And do we see it? Of course not. At the least, I, worst-writer, have tried to put it out there. Just have a look here. Yes. I’ve tried in vain to articulate in the worst-way possible anything akin to truth, albeit Tommi’s worst-truth. And what is that truth? Well, it goes something like this: you are fucked. I don’t mean that in a literal way, although for some it would be welcome. No. This form of being fucked has nothing to do with the tingling and pleasure grinding that remakes you, your parents and every other lost soul that has walked this jungle of consume to survive. No. This form of being fucked has more to do with payback, revenge, vengeance. Yet when worst-writing about such acts one can only wonder who is the one doing the payback? Well, the answer is easy because it is yet another part of the truth avoided. For you see, dear worst-reader, the truth is simple. The thing fucking you is the past. And not just any past. It is not an infinite past. It is a not-so distant past that has found a way to rear its head out of its smelly coffin. It’s still wearing jewelry, a necktie and even a pocket watch. It’s tophat no longer fits on its flaky skull, though. But tophats are neither here nor there. Eh? If you haven’t guessed who or what this past is, then I reckon I should just come out and tell you. It is the past of your great grandparents, the near past of your country, where tophats are common place amongst the grinding folk of Greed’s yesteryore. Indeed. For you must realize eventually, dear worst-reader, that the comings and goings of your country–that place you so mistakenly love without condition(s)–is ramping-up yet another assault on you. You know what assault I’m worst-writing of, don’t you? I know it’s hard for you. But you must (eventually) try (to look around). All it takes to wake-up from the dream that is your nightmare is to try (and look around). You will see how and who is fucking you so royally into oblivion. Your sweet-lie that is the middle class has been decimated. The poor have finally washed their last dish–there is no more chance to being a millionaire. (Boy, I particularly loved that lie we were fed: dishwasher to millionaire.) Or maybe not. Yeah. Forget all that. It’s end of year buying season. Go buy something. Or. Maybe. Have a look at the commencement speech above. It’s from the guy who “bet against America” because he was able to see the truth. Yes. He was able to see your truth. He was able to see how (y)our past reared its ugly Greed face and took over everything. Greed is a vindictive bastard, eh! That Greed face told you to buy and buy and buy–nomatter what–and you abided. You bought and you bought and bought more. And when there was no more money to buy with you borrowed and you borrowed and you financed and you financed. And now that the bottom has fallen out and your pants have been hanging at your ankles for so long you can’t tell anymore the difference between penetration, violation and procreation. Yeah. You are fucked. And with that in mind. Even though buying season is almost over, it doesn’t matter. The first thing you’ll do as the year changes to the next is what did previously and what you family did previously. All because you can’t see the truth. Or maybe not. Nomatter. Good luck suckers. Rant on. -Tommi

  •  Who Has Sold You

    louis cypher the grand salesman
    Screenshot of Louis Cypher. The man who could sell you a soul at a really great price. The American soul.
    Schadenfreude is not my thing. Nor do I wish any one ill-will. Live and let others live better–that’s my motto. But there are times, moments, where I giggle and smirk at the goings and cummings of my beloved #americant and of those still trapped in all (her) confused greed-dollar-tendrils. On the other hand, of course, I don’t laugh out loud at what happens within those tendrils. That would be rude. Or would it? Actually, when I rehash it all in my head, I guess it wouldn’t be rude. I mean, all things considered, what is “rude” these days? A bubble world in which the participant’s lives are determined by the behavior of all participants–hence compulsive behaviorism, corporatism, cronyism, etc. It means that eventually there will/can be no difference between rude and not rude. Which brings me once again to The Donald. I can’t remember that last time I travelled to my beloved #americant and found so much excitement when turning on the boob-tube. I am, you know, a cord-cutter. But when I’m in America I can’t help but turn on the boob-tube. Obviously I’m not alone. The boob-tube runs twenty-four-seven here. Or? §Usually when I’m in the united mistakes I check the news, maybe see if tits are showing somewhere on HBO, or, at the least, bear witness to the cummings and doings of faux newz so that I may continuing standing on my limited raised pillar that keeps me a head above the rest. The good thing is, the rudeness can’t stop with The Donald or his adherents. Which means there will be entertainment forevermore. The bad thing is, as The Donald overwhelms the airwaves (and the fragile minds of the dumb-downed via ever higher levels of rudeness), there are so many other examples of why/how things are so so so bad. Or are they not so bad? Does rude equal bad? Obviously not. So. Are things good? Has my beloved #americant caught the curve, beat the bear around the last turn, sucked it up? I certainly don’t know. I’m only here for a few painstaking days then its up up and away eh in my beautiful balloon. I have to return my expat comfort where I have never seen a doctor bill, a dental bill, a psyche bill. Of all my gold fillings, none of them are ear-marked by a creditor or bank controlled location beacon. I most certainly don’t have to worry about the same beacon being put in the car that you will never own–volunteering as an indentured servant. But I’m off subject–as usual. This post is supposed to be about the articles below. About the people in the articles below. Who are these people? What are these people? Where do they come from? Where are they going? The simple answer is thus: America. The complex answer is thus: Money is God. Or maybe not. Need I mention the simple fact that the united mistakes of #americant is not only the sole perpetrator of giving the world a middle class but now it’s also the one to take that middle class away. Indeed. And don’t get me wrong. I could give a rats ass about the middle class. Seriuosly. Fuck it and fuck all those who adhere to it. I mean, hell, the middle class is where I was reared. I have seen all it has to offer. I have seen it naked and puking and defacating upon its mothers and its children–having convinced its prey that what it’s doing is Disney World. The middle class is the ugly picture of white men of Euro-heritage. They are perverts and simpletones who have found a way to rule the world. All because they prey on the fear of those who might wake to the true reality of their Disney World. Which means, in my worst-mind, in my worst-fantasy, the American middle-class should be left somewhere on the side of the road so that it may wither away or become the homeless it deserves to be and then, like us all, finally, finally, fucking die. Or maybe not. I mean. Why bitch & moan & rant. Why should any white man die? Someone has to survive. Survive this experiment in greed and idiocracy. Survive so that a child can sit on a perverts lap and wish for everything in the world as the tree gleams of snow white and her seven owned dwarfs. Which brings me once again to The Donald. The ultimate white man. The ultimate Santa. Yet even I, dear worst-reader, underestimated the size of the lust from which The Donald has emerged. Lust, you say, dear worst-writer? Yes, lust, dear worst-reader. For what is lust? Well, lust is what we all try desperately to fulfill as though it was the empty bucket that is our minds and our souls. The #americant dream, baby. Or. If you prefer, dear worst-reader, check out the articles below. Check out the personalities featured in them. Here we have the top of crop. The entrepreneurs. The college educated. College drop-outs. Those who are driven. Yes. Those who are driven. Look at what they do. Look at what they sell. Look closely. Look at who taught them. OYG! Good luck suckers. Rant on. -Tommi

    Links that motivate this post:

  • Lead Sinker Bon-Bon Welfare Queens

    lead bonbons

    The first time I ever heard someone use the term “welfare queens” was when that dirty uncle was visiting for Thanksgiving dinner. You know the conversation that eventually rears its head at a such a family gathering. You not only got your lefts and your rights but you also got your ugly faces and morons–all stuffing their mouths with stuffing. When I asked dirty uncle where/how he came up with calling poor people welfare queens he responded with confidence that he recently started listening to a man on the radio named Rush. That was back in 1990. Obviously I eventually stopped talking to dirty uncle, although I think I did see him in 2002 briefly just before his passing. Yet even after all these years and all the distance I’ve put between myself and dirty uncle, every once-a-once I come across something while catching up on the goings-and-comings of my beloved #americant that make me think of dirty uncle. The issue/article (see links below) had to sink in for a few days before I was able to really wrap my head around it. And what a thing to wrap around! I suppose, somehow, somewhere, I had hoped that the welfare queen thing had been purged from my life. Along with dirty uncle (who we all have) and the prejudice of the mind (who most have), there is little to be done about the bitchin’ and moanin’ that #americant talk radio has made our past-time. For talk radio is so deeply embedded into the #americant psyche that it doesn’t even know when it blatantly goes over the edge, rearing its true inner conscience, its true face. Hence the immaculate coming of The Donald. I mean, where else could a country like #americant come up with such a character? But I don’t want to get too far off subject. Dirty uncles and the krapp they spew are the legacy of people not only addicted to pharmaceuticals but also addicted to being given all the answers of life without ever trying figure things out for themselves. So is a world ruled/governed/educated by (conservative) talk radio. For it is true, dear worst-reader, that without talk-radio–and a little help from The Gipper–there would be no welfare queens. But, again, I don’t want to get too far off subject. Obviously dirty uncle is dead. Long live prejudice and ignorance. In fact, the only smarts dirty uncle has is in his ability to either re-invent or encode the stuff he spews. Hence there is the problem of poor children suffering from lead poisoning–all because evil landlords that listen to too much talk radio are too greedy to replace poisonous lead paint in the slums they own. Some of these poor children are able to deal with their dilemma by suing and winning in court. This so angers the dirty uncles of #americant that they replace welfare queens with lead poison babies. And so. Instead of a state (governed by dirty uncles) making laws to limit the benefits of welfare queens, they make laws that benefit banks that can prey on lead poisoned babies who won a few lawsuits. Can you imagine what a sight it is to see a banker meeting with a lead poisoned person and getting that person to sign a contract where she turns over her won lawsuit after never even reading the contract! All of this because of the mindset that gave us “welfare queens” so long ago. These poor people, brain damaged by lead poisoning, who can barely read a letter–let alone understand a contract–fall prey to the tactics of dirty uncles. Only in #americant. Wow. Good luck suckers warding off your predator bankers and the predator dirty uncles running your show. Rant on. -tommi

    Links that motivated this post:

  • US White Males And A Flat Earth Worth Jumping Off

    US white males dying large
    Red line USW=US white males age 45-54. Source below.

    Got caught in a rut the other night while trying to find my new girlfriend who is named Sleep. A heroic bitch she is and I don’t know if my love for her is worth the effort. For as we all know love is an effort. For example, how many kisses have you wasted on Sleep this day? That’s why, historically speaking, marriage is the way out. Or is it jumping off the edge? Yeah, jumping off the edge sounds better. At the least, since we live in a flat world, wouldn’t that be a better way out than trying to circumnavigate a round world where we invent marriage and toasters? But I digress. §As the rut deepened in my search for Fräulein Sleep the following thought crossed my mind: if the world was flat then I could jump off the edge and race my burdens to the bottom. Then again, when I hit that bottom will I have to (eventually) jump off another edge? There are surely Fraüleins on any new shelf we jumped to. Either that or I should focus on a way to get to Fr. Sleep through other means. But enough about me and my frivolous joys and tantrums. §Check out the article below. Of all the negativity that I live for, for all the pessimism that gives me joy, finding an article about a subject matter like this should rock my world. Rock me right into Fr. Sleep. But it doesn’t. And the reason it doesn’t has nothing to do with the fact that I’m only partly in the demographic that the article deals with. Indeed. So let’s go there. §There is an alarming increase in death rates of US white males between the age of 45 and 54. These days rates are attributable to substance abuse and suicide. Gee. When I read such stuff I giggle and smirk. The giggle is because I have an advantage above and beyond this demographic. For you see, dear worst-reader, at 52–about to turn 53–there is an obvious advantage to being only half white. I smirk at this article because, well, I saw it all coming thirty friggin’ years ago! No. Seriously. When I left the (your) Homeland so many years ago (before it was called Homeland; when it was still mostly a country), my departing words, shed with a few tears, were: I will miss you very much but I won’t miss the madness and the madhouse. Now look at you. Indeed. I left the madness and its house and I have been staring back at what I’ve done ever since. But it was the only way out–the only way to rid myself the flat world that raised me. So I went to its edge and I jumped. And guess where I landed. I landed on another flat plain where the edge doesn’t call for me as abruptly and the wine is better, the beer is better, the food is better–but the grass ain’t greener. Seriously. Am I the only one to have seen this coming? To have seen the madness of the madhouse take over the show with the sole purpose of widening the horizons of being mad. Death of my peers, my compatriots, my fellow Federalists, comrades. By the millions you die because you can’t see through the prick of your heroin needles, the gulp of another bottle of rye or the leap from the tall building you mistake as an edge. No one saw this coming. Except me. Death in a world made of nothingness has to be the consequence of nothingness and life run amok. Or? I suppose if one propels death to higher levels, i.e. putting a price on life (living standard) and make one live be the objects that kill (the war machine + economic conscription = the only way out of poverty) this is what must come. Especially now, or at least since 2007 AD (the great recession), since there is even less than nothingness to fall back on. And with that nonsense in mind, good luck suckers. Rant on. -tommi

    Links that motivated this post:

     

  • Chancellor Of The Automatons Person Of The Year

    merkel oh natural
    Even though this blog is NSFW, I couldn’t bring myself to post the whole pic. If you’re interested in the rest of it, give your fav search tool a try.

    Well, there you have it. Finally, after all these years–almost thirty years to be exact–a human female makes the big cover, the big issue. Time magazine has chosen its “person” of the year. Now. During such an occasion other (privileged) humans can see who/what… a human female that runs a really, really, really big corporation actually looks like. I know. I know. It’s a eurowasteland corporation. Some prefer that it be referred to as a club. But then, if you refer to it as a club in the wrong place while drinking the wrong schnapps, Swiss people get offended. Switzerland is, by all means, this planets largest country-club but also a relative small country-corporation. Or? Then again. Is there another reason for choosing Angie Merkel to be on the cover of such a prestigious, respected magazine? (Excuse me while I itch that shred of sarcasm on the back of my neck.) But then again. Let us put worst-writer’s (aka Tommi’s) misogyny and nation-state hate aside for a moment. For we not only have a woman on the cover of this influential magazine (more itching) but also an East German. When was the last time that happened? Well, it’s never happened. So I guess it was time that it happen. The last West German on the cover was named Willy and it was 1970. Actually his name wasn’t Willy it was instead Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm. But that’s neither here nor there. Anywho. I actually had the opportunity to meet Willy when I was a sailor parked in Hamburg. On numerous occasions I would frequent a pub near the water named Muschi. But don’t bother looking for it. It shut down years ago. Anywho. After a while I had stop Willy meeting in Muschi because Muschi went dry. Muschi did some bad stuff and the Hamburger authorities shut the place down. It couldn’t deal with the onslaught of new Willy’s coming in from the recently freed East. Indeed. Muschi couldn’t handle too many East Willy’s. But I digress. I don’t know about you, dear worst-reader, but I’m so tickled with Angie’s win here that I have the need to run around Germania right now yelling and screaming “Hey Toots, Muschi has reopened. Where’s Willy!” But enough about me and my Americania vulgarities and/or poorly influenced experience living among the Germanians for so long. For this is a day of celebration–even I find it a bit much to ruin such days. I mean, it’s not as though Germania has to worry about things these days. No. Germania is in fact a utopia state and highly profitable corporation that deserves having its leadership on the cover of #americant magazines. In fact, Germania has made massive headways into the societal infrastructures of both the now and the future. Germania, with a female at its head, is currently in the process of laying the blueprint for future corporate states where no one has to worry about VW execs screwing the pooch or Sig Sauer losing a new gun deal. No. Things are well in the nation-state Germania and that is the reason Angie has been chosen. And there you have it. Congratulations. Now it’s time to give out some corporate gifts like pens, t-shirts and for those with advanced degrees, neck-ties and business socks. Automatons the world over unite. The Germanians, lead by a female reared at the hand of Margot Honecker, is running the fucking show. Oh. And btw! If the world needs any more space for “refugees” just call Angie. Her doors are open and there’s plenty of sleeping space on her Autobahns and cheap labour spots on her corporations. Yeah, baby. It all reminds me of the good’ole days with Willy and Muschi. Or maybe not. Whatever.

    Rant on. -tommi

    Source: TIME Person of the Year 2015: Angela Merkel