"America First" is a Theological Heresy

Look, we are supposed to love our neighbors. There isn't anything intrinsically wrong with loving your home. And that may be extended to include your community, city, and even state and country. 

But to consider yourself better than others by the shear chance upon which you were born, and others somehow less by virtue of their not sharing that chance in common with you is not only wrong, it's a sin!

And it's nationalism bordering on fascism. If you take a kind of hyper pride in where you are from, and consider yourself a Christian, you should probably read this article:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/freelancechristianity/america-first-is-a-theological-heresy/

What's For Dinner?

What's the difference between a garbanzo and a chick pea?

Donald Trump never had a garbanzo on his face.

#DoggerelsBeforeCoffee

Threre are #Witchhunts & #Fakenews
And fascists singing the blues
From #NewYork to old #Mizzou
Sycophants are panicking in #DC, too.

The rest of us are playing "My Heart Bleeds For You".

#DoggerelsBeforeCoffee

Facebook

Facebook just made the stunning admission that 100 percent of its 2 billion users have likely had their personal data stolen by “malicious actors.”¹

That’s right. One hundred percent. If you’re on Facebook, then it’s a virtual lock that your data has been stolen.

This is a massive privacy violation on a global scale, and it’s clear that Facebook simply can’t be trusted with the massive amount of data that they’ve allowed to be stolen and used to manipulate our behaviour, influence elections, and worse.

We’re calling on the government to make sure Canada's privacy laws protect us from modern-day digital threats so this kind of privacy violation can never happen again.

Will you make a donation to help demand action to prevent the next massive Facebook data scandal?

Facebook has been saying for years that there’s nothing to worry about, and even now we wouldn’t even know about these violations if not for whistleblowers and activists.

Canadian whistleblower Christopher Wylie revealed how Cambridge Analytica improperly harvested the data of millions of Facebook users to influence voters in the U.K. during the Brexit referendum and the election of U.S. President Donald Trump. Imagine what else has been done that we don’t know about?

The good news from all this is that the Canadian government may finally wake up and take action to put privacy protections in place to prevent this kind of massive data theft from happening again. Already, privacy watchdogs in B.C. and Ottawa are investigating whether current laws were broken by AggregateIQ in its efforts to sway the Brexit vote.² And the Canadian government has FINALLY agreed to push forward mandatory data-breach disclosure rules that have been been delayed for nearly three years.³

But we won’t be safe until the laws covering our privacy rights are significantly strengthened. For example, under current law, our Privacy Commissioner has no power to force compliance with our laws or issue fines. So many companies simply flout the law, knowing that there will be no repercussions.

To harness the momentum from these scandals, we’re launching an emergency campaign to demand a commitment from our government to reform these toothless privacy laws.

Will you make a donation to help demand action to prevent the next massive Facebook data scandal?

Footnotes: 1 Facebook: ‘Malicious actors’ used its tools to discover identities and collect data on a massive global scale: The Washington Post 
2 Privacy watchdog suggests he may join ongoing AggregateIQ investigations: CBC 
3 Feds to enforce mandatory data breach disclosure rules on Nov. 1: iPolitics

Reference:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/04/04/facebook-said-the-personal-data-of-most-its-2-billion-users-has-been-collected-and-shared-with-outsiders/

"Social" Media

I've been increasingly disturbed by interactions between people that I've seen on Facebook and Twitter. People are just hateful, mean and crazy. Before the advent of social media people had to be in person or on the phone to express themselves. This required a certain level of civility. But when people hide behind a computer screen or the screen in their hand they feel they are insulated somehow from the ramifications of the crazy that pours out of their heads and out through the tips of their fingers. 

But with the recent revelations about the mishandling of the data of millions of users I feel the earth shaking under my feet, so to speak.

Indeed, I have two different app nests on my devices for social platforms:

* Social 
*Anti-social 

The first holds shortcuts to things like my blogs, Diaspora*, Mastadon, and other places I feel safe in sharing to others.

The Anti-social folder holds places like Twitter and Facebook. 

But with the revelation that Facebook is also tracking my phone calls, I'm beginning to feel it is time to jump ship. Keeping close to my family and close friends, which is the ONLY reason I'm still on Facebook, is just not that important. Maybe in time they'll come to the same conclusions and follow me to a federated sharing platform. But until that happens I guess we'll just have to keep up with each other the old fashioned way: in person or on the phone (preferably on phones without FaceSnatcher or the like installed).

I guess my primary point is that when people I'm connected to behave badly I can shake my head and I have a few tools I can use to work around them. But when corporations and fascist states behave poorly and misuse my trust and information I am left with few options. So, I guess it's getting close to time to chop off the head of the snake.

Doc Shopping

I am annoyed by the derogatory use of the term "doc shopping". It implies the act of going from doctor to doctor looking for one who will give one the drugs they want. Oftentimes, however, after encountering 10's of doctor's who are unwilling or unable to actually treat one with multiple complex health issues there is a paper trail which gives the illusion of so called "doc shopping". 

When shopping for an appliance you go from store to store until you find the appliance that satisfies all your needs for that appliance. Why can't it be the same with doctors? They are, like all people, imperfect and not right for everyone. And they, too,  have likes, dislikes, and prejudices like everyone else,  right or wrong.

So, it falls to the patient to be FORCED to "shop" until they find a provider who can and will treat them adequately and fairly.

In today's United States this is a tall order. And a hard one to fill.

 

Actual alt-left

An image of actual alt-left attacking Nazis.

Anyone who can't understand that supremacy and nationalism is evil is simply a pin head and needs to be re-educated.