DeepSeek-R1!  Sputnik Moment?  Paradigm Shift?  Black Swan?  Genie / Bottle? (January 27, 2025)

Posted in China, Internet, Technology on January 27, 2025 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “A new, free, open-source, large language model?  Holy smokes!”

J          “Holy Toledo!  Seems from the early reports that the cost of training and developing DeepSeek’s model is only a small fraction of what is required for OpenAI or Meta Platform Inc.’s best products?  And available to everyone for free?  Say what?”

. . .

J          “The big American monopolists have invested massive amounts of money in hardware and energy centers that now may be less important if freely available software will do the trick.  They will lose huge monopolistic margins.  They will not be amused.”

K          “What appears to be a gift to the people of the world is also an existential threat to western financial interests.”

. . .

. . .

K          “Will the Deep State deep six DeepSeek?”

J          “The country that considers itself the greatest democracy is threatened by a program or protocol that democratizes artificial intelligence.”

. . .

J          “Stay tuned.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Will the Deep State deep six DeepSeek?

Stay tuned

Le Big Day.  Oh, And Happy MLK Day! (January 20, 2025)

Posted in Presidency, Trump on January 20, 2025 by e-commentary.org

. . .

J          “The use of Executive Orders seems akin to a dog marking its territory.  With great consequence.”

K          “Trump marked his territory and remarked what Biden had unmarked.  Biden had marked his territory and unmarked what Trump had marked.  You can mark their words.”

J         “It is a dog-mark-dog world.”

. . .

K          “We may each hear what we want to hear.  I did hear him celebrating freedom of speech and the rule of law and the possibility of peace sprinkled among some of the other dross and red meat he announced.”

J          “He has not left the campaign trail.  His screed was a full contact frontal ‘shock and awe’ assault on the status quo.”

. . .

J          “Not much about China.  China is the challenge.  China will define his administration.”

K          “You can say that again.”

J          “Not much about China.  China is the challenge.  China will define his administration.”

. . .

J          “The DEI movement was problematic and often unfairly discriminatory in practice.  However, the wholesale attack and dismantling of the programs is too wrenching.  Public and private programs must provide for everyone’s participation in society.”

K          “His broad attacks on LGBTQ+ concerns are too sweeping.  Someone needs to find the reasonable common ground.”

J          “Americans of all stripes believe they can repudiate both physics and biology when reality is inconvenient or intrusive.  Trump and I – imagine that – and you – imagine that – accept biology and recognize that biological men and women are different when they walk out on the playing field, the pitch and the court.  However, some courts demand to repudiate this reality.”     

. . .

K          “I am pleased he kept his word and commuted and pardoned the January 6 defendants.  I have trouble with the release of those who had committed violent acts and/or destroyed property.  However, with time it is clear that the entire undertaking was a grand cynical entrapment by the Democrats.  Convictions are tossed out when the prosecution is tainted.  The pardons are in effect a repudiation and an indictment of the entire Democratic political and legal machine.  Biden’s pardon of the J6 Committee is a clear acknowledgment that the members and its henchman were involved in a dishonest and fraudulent enterprise.”

J          “Trump’s pardons are disgusting.  There is no law.  Biden’s pardons were necessary and appropriate.”

K          “Is there even one person in America who has the knowledge and the wisdom and the perspective and the maturity and the independence to chronicle the events of J6 honestly and objectively?  Future historians will write whatever is necessary to obtain tenure.”

J          “If there is tenure.”

. . .

K          “What about Biden’s pardon of the other members of the Biden crime family?  If they accept the pardon, they are admitting culpability.  Back to the books for a read of Burdick v. United States, 235 U.S. 79 (1915).”

J          “Trump has made it clear that the Biden family would have been unfairly pursued and prosecuted.”

K          “On the basis of the available public information, there is no doubt that the government could have secured criminal indictments against each one of the Bidens.”

J          “Just a political vendetta.”

K          “Someone has argued for some time that the Lawfare would circle around.”

. . .

J          “It is and will always be Denali.”

K          “Yup.”

J          “Denali, Alaska has a nice ring and subtle cadence.  As I recall, ‘Denali’ is a Koyukon Athabascan word that means ‘big’ or ‘tall’ and ‘Alaska’ means ‘Mainland’ or ‘Greatland’ in some dialects.  Big, Great.  They pair well.”

K          “Denali, Alaska is also a pleasing six-word memoir.”

. . .

J          “Here be dragons.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at Cheney/Bush v. Trumpi:  Crime Families Battling On The Big Stage (August 22, 2022) and Let Lawfare Continue!  And Let War With Russian Escalate! (June 3, 2024).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end and, perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into. My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier.  That’s what I want to be, a peacemaker and a unifier.”  Donald Trump, Inaugural Address.

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast.”  Alexander Pope

Here be dragons

Trump:  Now What? (January 13, 2025)

Posted in Debt/Deficits, FISA, Inflation, Tariffs, Trump on January 13, 2025 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “I do not think that even Trump knows exactly what he thinks.  Is he a nationalist or a globalist?  He has slipped Panama, Canada and Greenland into the public discourse.  Yet the Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan quagmires are expanding and exploding and may consume him and his administration.”  

J          “Vegas, the French Quarter and the LA Fires raise issues that are hard to put in perspective.”

. . .

K          “I have been wrong about what is called the ‘economy’ year after year after year after year.  However, I maintain that the Debt Black Hole is now too far out of control and will haunt and hobble his administration.”

J          “Extending the tax cuts will cost the public fisc something like 500 million dollars in each of the next ten years.  That will add up.”

K          “Inflation will continue for the foreseeable future.”

J          “Enacting tariffs will turbo charge inflation without necessarily spurring American manufacturing and production.  Any new plants will be automated.  Stay tuned.  Inflation may be the major election issue in 2026.”

. . .

 J         “I keep reminding and reassuring myself and others that he will break every one of his major promises.  He will not even propose making Social Security payments non-taxable.  No way.  His billionaire boys may reduce the actual payments.  He will not make overtime payments and tips non-taxable.  No way.  He will abandon the voters who will be even angrier at and more frustrated with the system.”

K          “I don’t disagree.  I told someone that his election postpones the revolution.  From another perspective, we are better off if he does break some of his promises.  Judging by his Cabinet nominees, he is breaking his promise to end the many wars of choice.”

. . .

K          “During the election, I saw some hope and change in the Kennedy Gabbard wing of the Trump Machine.  However, Tulsi Gabbard’s recent volte-face is the clearest reveal that reform is impossible.  You surely saw that she changed her stance regarding the unconstitutional government program that she once sought to repeal as she now fights for survival and confirmation.  So much for ending the section 702 authority that allows the government to track conversations involving foreigners without a warrant.”

J          “You should have known.  The real Trump 2.0 is emerging.  Don’t forget that many of the foreigners are engaged in illegal and dangerous activity.”

. . .  

K          “Let’s circle back at Thanksgiving and see if three phenomenon emerge this year.  Expanding wars.  Galloping inflation.  Deepening recession.”

J          “And metastasizing restiveness.  Let’s revisit the topic on November 24 or so.”

K          “World War III is now accelerating and this week in Romania.”

J          “Stay tuned.”

. . . 

K          “Looking and listening to others, I sense that many are disquieted and enervated by the uncertainty.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at Time To MAAA:  Make America America Again? (September 30, 2024).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Make America ??????? Again

Expanding wars?  Galloping inflation?  Deepening recession?

“We’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somali, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.”  Wesley Clark

Stay tuned.

Boycott Red / Blue America?  (January 6, 2025)

Posted in Blue States / Red States on January 6, 2025 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “What do you do when you are neither Purple nor Red nor Blue?  I am at a stage and a place where I do not have a party or a gang or a tribe or a club or a clan or a squad or a refuge.  The situation leaves me blue.”

J          “Blue will still do.”

. . .

K          “Decades ago, I noted that if you are not what was once called a ‘liberal’ at the age of twenty, you did not have a heart; if you were not what was once called a ‘conservative’ at the age of forty, you did not have a head.  The admixture of  heart and head does not always produce predictable results.”

J          “Mugged by reality.  And actually mugged.  I have moved rightward on a few issues primarily economic and financial as I have moved through life.  The Blue core endures.”

. . .

K          “For decades, I self-indoctrinated by waking to NPR in the morning, listening all day and evening, and then slipping off to sleep at night with the radio still broadcasting.  I even assisted the NPR folks with money and time.  Thousands of hours and dozens of fundraisers later, something emerged and escaped.  Things did not add up.  There was and is much more to the story.”

J          “They are still a font of insight.”

. . .

K          “I have studied and observed every major institution.  They have failed and are failing.  I find that credit unions may be one of the few institutions working in America.” 

. . .

K          “I look back and wonder if I did not unwittingly take a ‘Red Pill’ along with my multivitamin and zinc every morning.”

J          “I don’t touch the ‘Blue Pill’, yet I still vote Blue.  There is no alternative.”

. . .

K          “I deeply understand how the world operates and who is in control.  I could not be more cynical about its prospects than ever.”

J          “Now we agree.”

. . .

J          “But Blue will still do, I tell you.”

K          “Not the current hue.”

. . .

[After years of tinkering with first drafts and contemplating the journey, the original “e-ssay” that kicked things off a score years ago appeared at Boycott Red America (January 3, 2005).  Based on the statistics, it has never been read by anyone other than the author.  One anniversary piece at Post Number 1000!  And Still Having Fun!  Oh, And Happy Post Number 1000! (November 18, 2024) looks back at the trek.  Today is the four-year anniversary of the event addressed last year in January 6:  The Country Needs An Impartial And Objective Inquiry (January 8, 2024) that revisited the initial discussion four years ago at On Riots And Rampages (January 11, 2021)).]

[See the e-commentary at The War On Truthful Journalism Marches On;  U.S. Carpet Bombing Propaganda And Censorship Campaign Rages On (August 1, 2022), N. Propaganda R. Transcribed:  “Get Vaccinated.  Attack Russia.”  Oh, And Happy Presidents’ Day! (February 21, 2022), Red State Medicine v. Blue State Medicine; Red Continent Medicine v. Blue Continent Medicine; WCH v. WHO (October 25, 2021), [Don’t] Support Public Media? (June 10, 2019), National People’s Radio?; National Public Radio?; National Petroleum Radio?; National Propaganda Radio? (June 11, 2018), Dispatches From The War On Journalism: The New “Nixon’s Enemies List” (December 5, 2016).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

We have met the enemy, and boy oh boy is he and she ever you and me.  Mr. Pogo.

“Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.”  Bob Seger, “Against the Wind”  (Someone suggested that Bob Seger regretted the syntax.  He crafted a perfect poem.  Not a word too many; not a word too few.  The two contractions are critical.  Wish I’d written it; what I can do is quote it.) 

Boycott Red [_] Blue [_] Other [_]

Jimmy Carter

e-commentary:  A Score Years And Still Having Fun.  Oh, And Happy New Year! (December 30, 2024)

Posted in Year In Review on December 30, 2024 by e-commentary.org

. . .

Peaking behind the curtain, lifting up the carpet, looking under the table.  Honing skills, helping folks, having fun.  Venturing answers to questions that have not yet been asked, seeking to elucidate as much Truth on as many issues in as few words as possible, striving to leave a “commentary of record” for Clio’s consideration.  Chronicling the American experiment and the American experience, the theory and the practice, the promise and the performance, and the aspirations and the aftermath.  Doing something was paramount.  

What is in a name?  “essay.org” and “e-essay.org” were taken.  “e-ssay.org” turned out to be the perfect portmanteau of “electronic essay” and provided the original title for this undertaking.  In the first few years, taut, short, cogent, succinct and focused “e-ssays” told people what to think rather than suggesting ideas to think about during the following week.  Reveal, don’t tell, they wisely decree.  Conversation provides a rapid ping-ponging of ideas.  After a few years, “e-commentary.org” emerged and provided “electronic commentary” using dialogue to allow the reader to listen in on the discussion rather than being told what to think.  The pieces are laced with many little lagniappes for the diligent reader to discover and deduce.  Stitching these weekly poems together may reveal a . . . novel? 

Over the past three years, most of the topical pieces focus on the wrenching, painful and uncertain transition from a uni-polar world to a multi-polar world evolving on an overpopulated planet undermined by debilitating debt – government, corporate and personal.  The economy seems to be in a checkmate that keeps moving to another square that is also in checkmate.  # to # yet the economy stumbles and bumbles along.  See the e-commentary in 2024 at The Command Economy Is Failing;  Cease Fiddling . . . With Interest Rates.  Oh, And Happy Constitution Day! (September 16, 2024), Not Derivatives Again: Japan? (August 5, 2024), Bankruptcies?  Layoffs?  Foreclosures?  Evictions?  Inflation? (July 29, 2024), Au And Ag.  To The Moon?  PetroDollar Pact Expires? (June 10, 2024), So It Was The Red Sea And Credit Suisse.  Who’s Counting?  (Strait of Hormuz or Deutsche Bank?  Deriving Derivatives (July 8, 2019)) (February 12, 2024) and China Invaded . . . And Won!  Oh Well. (January 29, 2024).  See Portentous Developments In 2022? (January 23, 2023), Counting Battered Bodies Badly.  Oh, And Happy Valentine’s Day! (February 13, 2023), World War E / World War III Is 1 [9?] Year[s] Old This Week.  Oh, And Happy Presidents’ Day! (February 20, 2023), The Two Great Geopolitical Elections:  China in 2014-15; Russia in 2022-23 (March 20, 2023), Russia Is PLANet B!  We Are Saved! (March 27, 2023) and World War I (18__ – 1918).  World War II (19__ – 1945).  Planetary Implosion l (Festering For Decades / 2022 – ____) Oh, And Happy Armistice Day! (November 6, 2023).  Some of the economic, financial, political and social consequences of the transition are discussed at Special Edition.  Deciphering Derivatives.  Oh, And Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! (March 17, 2023), CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currencies):  The End Of Freedom, Privacy, Dignity, Sovereignty And Humanity.  And What Happens When AI (Artificial Intelligence) Takes Over Control Of CBDCs?  (April 17, 2023), “De-Dollarization” Is The Word Of The Week.  And The Development Of the Year. (April 24, 2023) and The Economic Equinox:  Half Light; Half Dark? (September 25, 2023).  Few understand what is happening; fewer are prepared for what is happening.  Interesting times.  Some of the lighter pieces this year glance at our follies, foibles and failures and also our hopes, dreams and successes.  United States of America V. Thomas Jefferson: The Transcript (September 18, 2023), The Trenchant And Traumatic Hemingway (July 31, 2023) and others.

The “On [Traits / Characteristics]” Series acknowledges the father of the essay, Michel de Montaigne, who explored individual traits and personal characteristics.  He shared personal ruminations and anecdotes about society in his celebrated collection Essais (e-ssais?).  Earlier “e-ssays” on this site ruminate on respect, fear, admiration, irreverence, success, self-esteem, regret, standards/quality, loyalty, hypocrisy, honesty, empathy, joy, mudita, etc.  This last year the concern was On Friendship Today:  Flat, Fried, Frayed, Frazzled, Frozen, Fractured, Fissured, Fatigued, Finished?  Oh, And Happy Thanksgiving! (November 20, 2023) in the current post-Covid climate.

The “Less Government Regulation” Series posits examples where government regulation may suffocate and free markets may suffice.  An e-commentary in the series in 2009 advocates for regulation of Google/Alphabet in an economy that is now pockmarked by monopolization of every industry in America.  Subsequent e-commentary challenges the overweening role of the Frightful FiveFacebook, Amazon, Apple, Google/Alphabet and Microsoft.  A half dozen megabanks and six media conglomerates control and manage our money and our minds.  In an economy without any price discovery, the completion of the “General Theory of Economics” is forced into remission.  The need for free markets is discussed at We Need Free Markets.  Oh, And Happy Fourth! (July 3, 2023).

The “Boycott” Series suggests that readers treat dollars like votes in the marketplace and use them to support and reject policies and activities.  An e-commentary in the series in 2008 proposed a boycott of Facebook because it and the other tech beasts and behemoths are not friendly.  Boycotting the only supplier of an essential good or service is problematic and is addressed.  An e-commentary in 2011 proposed boycotting big banks and depositing funds in and supporting local credit unions.  An early e-commentary in 2006 implores the reader never to boycott and always to buy into the franchise, even if voting appears to and may be futile in a country with only one political party, the War and Wall Street Party.  The notion of purposeful boycotting undergirds the discussion in Read, But Don’t Read (June 26, 2023).

The “First Monday In October” Series debuted in 2010 with a discussion of “strict constructionism/originalism” in the context of gun control that should resolve the debate over the proper paradigm for all and once.  Subsequent e-commentary in the Fall series provides insight into the Supreme Court, courts and the state of the law, justice, crime and punishment in America.  The emerging irrelevance and illegitimacy of the current Supreme Court is discussed for the first times in 2011 and then in 2012 and developed in subsequent e-commentary.  Regular visits to the Court to observe the hired help further inform the analysis in the draft “Treatise on Law” now in nearly final form.  Last year a few issues are discussed at The Government Stumbles; The Judicial Legislature Rumbles (October 2, 2023).  This year some trends are noted in First Monday In October:  Dos-à-dos (October 7, 2024).

The “Graduation Advice” Series is inspired by the national treasure “Wear Sunscreen” crafted by Mary Schmich and proposes a pithy suggestion for graduates of school and participants in life.  Advice was dispensed in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 (Graduation Advice:  Transcend:  Maintain FL 44; Make A Few Discrete Dives And Diversions To TPA (Traffic Pattern Altitude) (May 16, 2022)), 2023 (Graduation Advice:  Find The First Amendment (May 15, 2023)) and 2024 Graduation Advice:  Plant A Garden (May 13, 2024)).

The greatest threat to the Planet may be the threat to the Planet.  However, the plausible challenges to the Anthropogenic Climate Change theory must be acknowledge and addressed.  Posed and poised and poisoned by Man.  [Wo]Man versus [Mother] Nature?  Plastics and plutonium versus People?  Is Man the mortal enemy who must be contained by whatever means?  Is a carbon fee and dividend program the long-shot market-based solution possibly capable of salvaging the vulnerable blue marble

Over the years other e-commentary reviews everything from the human causes to the economic consequences of actions and inaction.  e-commentary addresses everything from philosophy to foreign policy to domestic polity; from the intertwined 3Es (from energy to environment to economics); from war to war to war; from sports to technology to society; from race to class to gender; from guns to gold to the Great Wall of Canada; from war to war to a possible antidote to war; from newspapers to the press/media to journalism; from the First Amendment, to the Second Amendment, to the Third Amendment, to the Fourth Amendment, to the Eighth Amendment, to the Balanced Budget Amendment and to the Term Limits Amendment; and from A – (AIIB, CFETS, CIA, CIPS, FBI, FDIC, IMF, INE, LIBOR, MICAC, NATO, NPR, NSA, SDR, SWIFT, TARP, USA PATRIOT ACT, ZIRP) Z. 

After considerable thought and development, the “Awards and Incentives Project” rolled out and now includes four annual awards with others under construction.

The “Cameo In Courage Award” challenges the award given by the establishment to other members of the establishment.  Society needs an award that rewards those who are truly courageous.  Awards were made in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 (Cameo In Courage Award Nominee: Julian Assange (January 31, 2022)), 2023 (Eighth Annual “Cameo In Courage” Award For 2023 (May 22, 2023)) and 2024 (Ninth Annual “Cameo In Courage” Award For 2024 (May 20, 2024)).

The “Noble Prize In Eco-nomics” identifies those who develop and advance eco-nomic ideas to promote the public weal and the common good.  The award serves as a challenge and counterpoise to the “Nobel Prize In E-con-omics” awarded by the Swedish Central Bank to those who advance ideas that promote the interests of the wealthy and well-connected.  Awards were made in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 (Seventh Annual Noble Prize In Eco-nomics (October 10, 2022)), 2023 (Eighth Annual Noble Prize In Eco-nomics (October 16, 2023)) and 2024 (Ninth Annual Noble Prize In Eco-nomics (October 14, 2024)).

The “Noble Prize In Jurisprudence” celebrates the work of someone who really knows something about jurisprudence and the impact of courts, judges, lawyers and police on the lives and livelihoods of ordinary citizens.  The award recognizes a person who or institution that lives the conviction that men and women should establish and respect some norms and standards that are promulgated clearly to all and enforced equally in favor of and against all.  Awards were made in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 (Seventh Annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence (October 17, 2022)), 2023 (Eighth Annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence (October 23, 2023)) and 2024 (Ninth Annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence (October 21, 2024)).

The “Pushitzer Prize In Commentary” honors inspiring and inspirational writing that does not necessarily reflect the dominant viewpoints and worldviews.  Awards were made in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 (Seventh Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2022 (May 9, 2022)), 2023 (Eighth Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2023 (May 8, 2023)) and 2024 (Ninth Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2024 (May 6, 2024)).

e-commentary provided first–hand on–the–ground dispatches from the March for Women, the March for Science, the March For Our Lives and the April 19 March. Lists of the clever and inspiring signs sported by participants are noted.  We march on.

The requisite moving and stirring memoir is now available.  The book tour is still not yet booked.  However, although “Analog Knowledge Devices (“AKD”)” will soon be worth their weight in gold, this production saves paper and is only available e-lectronically.     

 Over the years, a menagerie of speakers and characters such as “A” / “B” and “GO1 [Gun Owner1]” / “GO2 [Gun Owner2]” and “3” / “6” / “9” among others debuted and debated issues.  In recent years, “J” and “K” emerged as the primary characters in the ongoing dialogue and debate. The events of the last five years have bitterly divided the two of them, however the recent antics of the Supreme Court have “J” and “K” back on the same page on some issues.

The “Bumper sticker of the week” started out as a spoof on the shallow and callow “bumper sticker” nature of our public discourse and became the playful signature sign off concluding each piece every week.

Looking back, the undertaking is an extended serialized novel about the American experience presented in a series of weekly poems developed through dialogue that allows all of us in some small way possibly to . . . immanentize the eschaton

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not possibly succeed under any circumstances?

“Do.  Or do not do.  There is no try.”  Yoda

“Not being heard is no reason for silence.”  Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“It doesn’t require many words to speak the truth.”  Chief Joseph

Otter:  “I think this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part.”     Bluto:  “We’re just the guys to do it.”  “Animal House” (1978)

“It is clear that thought is not free if the profession of certain opinions makes it impossible to earn a living. It is clear also that thought is not free if all the arguments on one side of a controversy are perpetually presented as attractively as possible, while the arguments on the other side can only be discovered by diligent search.”  Bertrand Russell, Skeptical Essays

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.”  Thomas Paine

“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”  Marcus Aurelius

“You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best.  You want to be considered the only one who does what you do.”  Jerry Garcia

Think big, think long.

e-commentary:  A Score Years And Still Having Fun.  Oh, And Happy New Year! (December 30, 2024)

Posted in Year In Review on December 30, 2024 by e-commentary.org

. . .

Peeking behind the curtain, lifting up the carpet, looking under the table.  Honing skills, helping folks, having fun.  Venturing answers to questions that have not yet been asked, seeking to elucidate as much Truth on as many issues in as few words as possible, striving to leave a “commentary of record” for Clio’s consideration.  Chronicling the American experiment and the American experience, the theory and the practice, the promise and the performance, the aspirations and the aftermath.  Doing something was paramount.  

What is in a name?  “essay.org” and “e-essay.org” were taken.  “e-ssay.org” turned out to be the perfect portmanteau of “electronic essay” and provided the original title for this undertaking.  In the first few years, taut, short, cogent, succinct and focused “e-ssays” told people what to think rather than suggesting ideas to think about during the following week.  Reveal, don’t tell, they wisely decree.  Conversation provides a rapid ping-ponging of ideas.  After a few years, “e-commentary.org” emerged and provided “electronic commentary” using dialogue to allow the reader to listen in on the discussion rather than being told what to think.  The pieces are laced with many little lagniappes for the diligent reader to discover and deduce.  Stitching these weekly poems together may reveal a . . . novel? 

Over the past three years, most of the topical pieces focus on the wrenching, painful and uncertain transition from a uni-polar world to a multi-polar world evolving on an overpopulated planet undermined by debilitating debt – government, corporate and personal.  The economy seems to be in a checkmate that keeps moving to another square that is also in checkmate.  # to # yet the economy stumbles and bumbles along.  See the e-commentary in 2024 at The Command Economy Is Failing;  Cease Fiddling . . . With Interest Rates.  Oh, And Happy Constitution Day! (September 16, 2024), Not Derivatives Again: Japan? (August 5, 2024), Bankruptcies?  Layoffs?  Foreclosures?  Evictions?  Inflation? (July 29, 2024), Au And Ag.  To The Moon?  PetroDollar Pact Expires? (June 10, 2024), So It Was The Red Sea And Credit Suisse.  Who’s Counting?  (Strait of Hormuz or Deutsche Bank?  Deriving Derivatives (July 8, 2019)) (February 12, 2024) and China Invaded . . . And Won!  Oh Well. (January 29, 2024).  See Portentous Developments In 2022? (January 23, 2023), Counting Battered Bodies Badly.  Oh, And Happy Valentine’s Day! (February 13, 2023), World War E / World War III Is 1 [9?] Year[s] Old This Week.  Oh, And Happy Presidents’ Day! (February 20, 2023), The Two Great Geopolitical Elections:  China in 2014-15; Russia in 2022-23 (March 20, 2023), Russia Is PLANet B!  We Are Saved! (March 27, 2023) and World War I (18__ – 1918).  World War II (19__ – 1945).  Planetary Implosion l (Festering For Decades / 2022 – ____) Oh, And Happy Armistice Day! (November 6, 2023).  Some of the economic, financial, political and social consequences of the transition are discussed at Special Edition.  Deciphering Derivatives.  Oh, And Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! (March 17, 2023), CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currencies):  The End Of Freedom, Privacy, Dignity, Sovereignty And Humanity.  And What Happens When AI (Artificial Intelligence) Takes Over Control Of CBDCs?  (April 17, 2023), “De-Dollarization” Is The Word Of The Week.  And The Development Of the Year. (April 24, 2023) and The Economic Equinox:  Half Light; Half Dark? (September 25, 2023).  Few understand what is happening; fewer are prepared for what is happening.  Interesting times.  Some of the lighter pieces this year glance at our follies, foibles and failures and also our hopes, dreams and successes.  United States of America V. Thomas Jefferson: The Transcript (September 18, 2023), The Trenchant And Traumatic Hemingway (July 31, 2023) and others.

The “On [Traits / Characteristics]” Series acknowledges the father of the essay, Michel de Montaigne, who explored individual traits and personal characteristics.  He shared personal ruminations and anecdotes about society in his celebrated collection Essais (e-ssais?).  Earlier “e-ssays” on this site ruminate on respect, fear, admiration, irreverence, success, self-esteem, regret, standards/quality, loyalty, hypocrisy, honesty, empathy, joy, mudita, etc.  This last year the concern was On Friendship Today:  Flat, Fried, Frayed, Frazzled, Frozen, Fractured, Fissured, Fatigued, Finished?  Oh, And Happy Thanksgiving! (November 20, 2023) in the current post-Covid climate.

The “Less Government Regulation” Series posits examples where government regulation may suffocate and free markets may suffice.  An e-commentary in the series in 2009 advocates for regulation of Google/Alphabet in an economy that is now pockmarked by monopolization of every industry in America.  Subsequent e-commentary challenges the overweening role of the Frightful FiveFacebook, Amazon, Apple, Google/Alphabet and Microsoft.  A half dozen megabanks and six media conglomerates control and manage our money and our minds.  In an economy without any price discovery, the completion of the “General Theory of Economics” is forced into remission.  The need for free markets is discussed at We Need Free Markets.  Oh, And Happy Fourth! (July 3, 2023).

The “Boycott” Series suggests that readers treat dollars like votes in the marketplace and use them to support and reject policies and activities.  An e-commentary in the series in 2008 proposed a boycott of Facebook because it and the other tech beasts and behemoths are not friendly.  Boycotting the only supplier of an essential good or service is problematic and is addressed.  An e-commentary in 2011 proposed boycotting big banks and depositing funds in and supporting local credit unions.  An early e-commentary in 2006 implores the reader never to boycott and always to buy into the franchise, even if voting appears to and may be futile in a country with only one political party, the War and Wall Street Party.  The notion of purposeful boycotting undergirds the discussion in Read, But Don’t Read (June 26, 2023).

The “First Monday In October” Series debuted in 2010 with a discussion of “strict constructionism/originalism” in the context of gun control that should resolve the debate over the proper paradigm for all and once.  Subsequent e-commentary in the Fall series provides insight into the Supreme Court, courts and the state of the law, justice, crime and punishment in America.  The emerging irrelevance and illegitimacy of the current Supreme Court is discussed for the first times in 2011 and then in 2012 and developed in subsequent e-commentary.  Regular visits to the Court to observe the hired help further inform the analysis in the draft “Treatise on Law” now in nearly final form.  Last year a few issues are discussed at The Government Stumbles; The Judicial Legislature Rumbles (October 2, 2023).  This year some trends are noted in First Monday In October:  Dos-à-dos (October 7, 2024).

The “Graduation Advice” Series is inspired by the national treasure “Wear Sunscreen” crafted by Mary Schmich and proposes a pithy suggestion for graduates of school and participants in life.  Advice was dispensed in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 (Graduation Advice:  Transcend:  Maintain FL 44; Make A Few Discrete Dives And Diversions To TPA (Traffic Pattern Altitude) (May 16, 2022)), 2023 (Graduation Advice:  Find The First Amendment (May 15, 2023)) and 2024 Graduation Advice:  Plant A Garden (May 13, 2024)).

The greatest threat to the Planet may be the threat to the Planet.  However, the plausible challenges to the Anthropogenic Climate Change theory must be acknowledge and addressed.  Posed and poised and poisoned by Man.  [Wo]Man versus [Mother] Nature?  Plastics and plutonium versus People?  Is Man the mortal enemy who must be contained by whatever means?  Is a carbon fee and dividend program the long-shot market-based solution possibly capable of salvaging the vulnerable blue marble

Over the years other e-commentary reviews everything from the human causes to the economic consequences of actions and inaction.  e-commentary addresses everything from philosophy to foreign policy to domestic polity; from the intertwined 3Es (from energy to environment to economics); from war to war to war; from sports to technology to society; from race to class to gender; from guns to gold to the Great Wall of Canada; from war to war to a possible antidote to war; from newspapers to the press/media to journalism; from the First Amendment, to the Second Amendment, to the Third Amendment, to the Fourth Amendment, to the Eighth Amendment, to the Balanced Budget Amendment and to the Term Limits Amendment; and from A – (AIIB, CFETS, CIA, CIPS, FBI, FDIC, IMF, INE, LIBOR, MICAC, NATO, NPR, NSA, SDR, SWIFT, TARP, USA PATRIOT ACT, ZIRP) Z. 

After considerable thought and development, the “Awards and Incentives Project” rolled out and now includes four annual awards with others under construction.

The “Cameo In Courage Award” challenges the award given by the establishment to other members of the establishment.  Society needs an award that rewards those who are truly courageous.  Awards were made in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 (Cameo In Courage Award Nominee: Julian Assange (January 31, 2022)), 2023 (Eighth Annual “Cameo In Courage” Award For 2023 (May 22, 2023)) and 2024 (Ninth Annual “Cameo In Courage” Award For 2024 (May 20, 2024)).

The “Noble Prize In Eco-nomics” identifies those who develop and advance eco-nomic ideas to promote the public weal and the common good.  The award serves as a challenge and counterpoise to the “Nobel Prize In E-con-omics” awarded by the Swedish Central Bank to those who advance ideas that promote the interests of the wealthy and well-connected.  Awards were made in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 (Seventh Annual Noble Prize In Eco-nomics (October 10, 2022)), 2023 (Eighth Annual Noble Prize In Eco-nomics (October 16, 2023)) and 2024 (Ninth Annual Noble Prize In Eco-nomics (October 14, 2024)).

The “Noble Prize In Jurisprudence” celebrates the work of someone who really knows something about jurisprudence and the impact of courts, judges, lawyers and police on the lives and livelihoods of ordinary citizens.  The award recognizes a person who or institution that lives the conviction that men and women should establish and respect some norms and standards that are promulgated clearly to all and enforced equally in favor of and against all.  Awards were made in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 (Seventh Annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence (October 17, 2022)), 2023 (Eighth Annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence (October 23, 2023)) and 2024 (Ninth Annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence (October 21, 2024)).

The “Pushitzer Prize In Commentary” honors inspiring and inspirational writing that does not necessarily reflect the dominant viewpoints and worldviews.  Awards were made in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 (Seventh Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2022 (May 9, 2022)), 2023 (Eighth Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2023 (May 8, 2023)) and 2024 (Ninth Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2024 (May 6, 2024)).

e-commentary provided first–hand on–the–ground dispatches from the March for Women, the March for Science, the March For Our Lives and the April 19 March. Lists of the clever and inspiring signs sported by participants are noted.  We march on.

The requisite moving and stirring memoir is now available.  The book tour is still not yet booked.  However, although “Analog Knowledge Devices (“AKD”)” will soon be worth their weight in gold, this production saves paper and is only available e-lectronically.     

 Over the years, a menagerie of speakers and characters such as “A” / “B” and “GO1 [Gun Owner1]” / “GO2 [Gun Owner2]” and “3” / “6” / “9” among others debuted and debated issues.  In recent years, “J” and “K” emerged as the primary characters in the ongoing dialogue and debate. The events of the last five years have bitterly divided the two of them, however the recent antics of the Supreme Court have “J” and “K” back on the same page on some issues.

The “Bumper sticker of the week” started out as a spoof on the shallow and callow “bumper sticker” nature of our public discourse and became the playful signature sign off concluding each piece every week.

Looking back, the undertaking is an extended serialized novel about the American experience presented in a series of weekly poems developed through dialogue that allows all of us in some small way possibly to . . . immanentize the eschaton

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not possibly succeed under any circumstances?

“Do.  Or do not do.  There is no try.”  Yoda

“Not being heard is no reason for silence.”  Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“It doesn’t require many words to speak the truth.”  Chief Joseph

Otter:  “I think this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part.”     Bluto:  “We’re just the guys to do it.”  “Animal House” (1978)

“It is clear that thought is not free if the profession of certain opinions makes it impossible to earn a living. It is clear also that thought is not free if all the arguments on one side of a controversy are perpetually presented as attractively as possible, while the arguments on the other side can only be discovered by diligent search.”  Bertrand Russell, Skeptical Essays

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.”  Thomas Paine

“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”  Marcus Aurelius

“You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best.  You want to be considered the only one who does what you do.”  Jerry Garcia

Think big, think long.

Oh, And Happy Holidays! (December 23, 2024)

Posted in Culture, Society on December 23, 2024 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “The time to think good thoughts.”

J          “For old times’ sake.”

. . .

Syria.  Extending ______________ (December 16, 2024)

Posted in Russia, Syria, World War III on December 16, 2024 by e-commentary.org

. . .

J          “Russia.”

K          “U.S.A.”

. . .

K          “Both countries are getting extended.”

J          “One country is retreating.”

. . .

K          “Russia had little choice.  Russia is moving purposefully because it must move purposefully.  The U.S. is moving clumsily because it always moves clumsily.”

J          “This is the biggest game changer in recent years.”

K          “Turkey is the emerging big player.”

J          “I do not doubt that there will be many unintended consequences.”

. . .

K          “When you have someone cornered, you are in the same corner.”

. . .

K          “They all certainly extended and expanded World War III.  More war, more death, more destruction, more violence.  More war, more death, more destruction, more violence.  More war, more death, more destruction, more violence.  And as I have said many times, when the tide shifts, the blowback over the next 100 years will be unprecedented in human history.”

. . .

[See “Overextending and Unbalancing Russia” by a number of authors in “Rand” dated April 24, 2019.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

“When two neighboring countries fight each other, just know the USA visited one.”  Nelson Mandela

The Shot Heard Round The U.S. Of A.  Oh, And Happy Saint Nicholas Day! (December 9, 2024)

Posted in Civil War, Class, Courts, Ethics, Health Care, Judges, Morality, PMC on December 9, 2024 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Takes one back to that timeless question in the first year philosophy class.  If a killer has in the past and continues now to issue and execute death warrants against your grandchildren and the legal and political system block and preclude each and every possible means of resistance or redress, are you morally obligated to dispatch the killer?”

J          “I agree with the verdict of the Internet.”

. . .

K          “I have never seen one issue so unite peoples of all races, colors, creeds, classes and backgrounds so quickly.  Every caste except the Ruling Class and their Parvenu PMC errand boys and girls are united.”

J          “People have been using the word ‘mandate’ recently.  This incident elicited the most resounding mandate in recent years.”

. . .

J          “A member of the Silent Majority appears to have used a silencer to silence corporate violence.”

K          “They say it only takes one butterfly.”

. . . 

J          “If a presidential candidate campaigned on a promise to deport all health insurance company executives on the afternoon of January 20, she or he would garner 250,000,000 votes.”

K          “In many Native cultures, the sociopaths and the psychopaths are readily identified and banished from the group/tribe/clan.  Banishing them is a more tidy way of dispatching a killer.”

J          “That would work, but how would it work?”

. . .

K          “I presented my appeal to a state court judge with an IQ of 105 dripping wet while standing on his tip toes who seemed to be imposing some type of perverse Chevron deference when he said that a private insurance company exists to tell the public when they should be reimbursed for their necessary medical care.  The appellate court used arrogance to hide their ignorance and were hostile when they were not indifferent. The courts have failed. There is no recourse.”

J          “And the judge surely has health care coverage with $25 deductible and is able to remind the insurance adjuster that he or she is a judge and expects the claim to be reimbursed in full.”

K          “Yup.  The judges are part of the problem not part of the solution.  One of the adjusters for BC/BS blurted out on the recorded line that she could get fired immediately for saying to me that they are directed to deny all claims and then force the patient to fight back.”

J          “You should have said that you are a judge.  You have the skills and the talent and the acumen for a judge; most judges do not.”

. . .  

K          “Are the folks with the pitch forks finally uniting with the people with the burning torches?”

. . .

[See “Murder and Social Murder: The Case of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson” by Yves Smith, the recipient of the Seventh Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2022 (May 9, 2022), in “www.NakedCapitalism.com” dated December 5, 2024.]

[See the e-commentary at Fight Or Flight In The Face Of Fear? A Principled Reaction To Stand (November 30, 2020) and “If I Get Diagnosed With Stage 4 Cancer . . . .” (December 13, 2021).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“Those who make peaceful revolution [resolution] impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”  John F. Kennedy (Ted could have polished/improved/balanced/cadenced the statement by saying “peaceful resolution” rather than “peaceful revolution”.)

“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.”  Frederick Douglass

“Power concedes nothing without a demand.  It never did.  It never will.”  Frederick Douglass

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking:  What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family?  Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?  …  The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt!  If … if … We didn’t love freedom enough.  And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation … We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”  Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918 – 1956

“The most terrifying force of death comes from the hands of Men who wanted to be left alone.  They try, so very hard, to mind their own business and provide for themselves and those they love.  They resist every impulse to fight back, knowing the forced and permanent change of life that will come from it.  They know that the moment they fight back, their lives as they have lived them are over.  The moment the Men who wanted to be left alone are forced to fight back, it is a form of suicide.  They are literally killing off who they used to be.  Which is why, when forced to take up violence, these Men who wanted to be left alone fight with unholy vengeance against those who murdered their former lives.  They fight with raw hate and a drive that cannot be fathomed by those who are merely play-acting at politics and terror.  True terror will arrive at these people’s door, and they will cry, scream, and beg for mercy… but it will fall upon the deaf ears of the Men who just wanted to be left alone.”  Author Unknown

“I’m starting to think the ppl that got more upset about Oct 7 than the preceding oppression/subsequent genocide of Palestinians, & the ppl who are more upset by the murder of a healthcare CEO than the systematic killing of 10,000s of ppl via denial of healthcare, are the same ppl.”  Rohan Grey

Le Pardon.  Pardon Moi. (December 2, 2024)

Posted in Biden, Presidency, Prison/Criminology on December 2, 2024 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “He said he would not pardon him; she said he would not pardon him; they said he would not pardon him.  He said he would not pardon him; she said he would not pardon him; they said he would not pardon him.  He said he would not pardon him; she said he would not pardon him; they said he would not pardon him.  He said he would not pardon him; she said he would not pardon him; they said he would not pardon him.  He said he would not pardon him; she said he would not pardon him; they said he would not pardon him.  He said he would not pardon him; she said he would not pardon him; they said he would not pardon him. He said he would not pardon him; she said he would not pardon him; they said he would not pardon him.  He said he would not pardon him; she said he would not pardon him; they said he would not pardon him.  He lied; she lied; they lied.  The pardon is unpardonable.”  

J          “Closing a chapter.”

. . .

K          “I observed that he would pardon him just before leaving office.”

J          “Not at all surprised.  Closing a chapter.”

K          “More pardons of the Biden clan are coming.”

J          “Closing chapters.”

. . .

K          “I shared a story that I reflect on frequently.  An old experienced law professor who taught comparative law in American and European law schools for over two score years shared his settled observations about the fundamental difference in training and perspective between American-trained lawyers and European-trained lawyers.  With some exceptions, an American-trained lawyer first asks:  ‘Can we get away with it?’  With some exceptions, an European-trained lawyer first asks:  ‘Is it lawful?’.”

         “They will get away with it. Trump got away with his crimes. Biden will get away with his crimes.”

. . .

K          “Because he is mentally incompetent to enter into a contract and or execute a will, is he competent enough to grant a valid pardon?  And then you wonder if the quid pro quo for buying Mr. Hunter’s silence might backfire because now he cannot assert the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and refuse to testify.  Life is funny that way.”

. . .

K          “I am revising my ranking of Presidents which has been and is quite an undertaking.  He may be the worst President in American history.”

J          “Just a parent taking care of a kid.  Not my favorite President.”

. . .

[See “President Biden Cloaks His Legacy in Infamy With the Hunter Biden Pardon” by Jonathan Turley, the recipient of the Ninth Annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence (October 21, 2024), in “JonathanTurley.org” dated December 2, 2024.]

[See the e-commentary at Afghanistan: Free Friendlies; Impeach Biden (August 23, 2021).]

Bumper sticker of the week:

“I abide by the jury decision.  I will do that and I will not pardon him.”  Joey R. Biden