AmericanDelusions

The Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) Memorial is coming

May 30, 2023

A recent NPR report, “Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation aims for a monument on the National Mall”, alerted me to this project. Authorized by Congress in 2017, it is entering the design selection phase now. The group driving this is the aforementioned GWOT Memorial Foundation, and it states its --->> read more -->>

The Presidential-Congressional-Military-Industrial Complex Grows Ever Fatter

May 9, 2023

President Eisenhower, previously General Eisenhower of WWII fame, warned of the Military Industrial Complex in his farewell addresses in 1961. “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced --->> read more -->>

AI and Social Proof Processes

May 2, 2023

Speaking of AI in 2018, Jason Yosinski said, “To a certain extent, as these networks get more complicated, it is going to be fundamentally difficult to understand why they make decisions,” he said. “It is kind of like trying to understand why humans make decisions.” As the mega-monopolies in the --->> read more -->>

Video Post – Embracing Our History of White Supremacy

April 27, 2023

Received this morning (4.28.2023) from YouTube: “Important notifications Community Guidelines warning Your content Embrace White Supremacy was removed due to a violation of our Community Guidelines.” Clearly, no one at YouTube watched even the first minute, let alone the entire video!! I appealed. To YouTube’s credit, I received a response --->> read more -->>

Embracing Our History of White Supremacy – addendum

April 27, 2023

No sooner did I finish work on my 4.18.2023 post “Starting down the path to embracing White Supremacy” than I came upon a powerful essay on the Time website, “Without Indigenous History, There Is No U.S. History” by Ted Nighthawk, a professor of history and American studies at Yale University. --->> read more -->>

Photos of NYC from 15,000 ft. (4,572 m)

April 26, 2023

This is definitely an “Other” category topic. My stepdaughter Andrea has long lived in Harlem overlooking Marcus Garvey Park (aka Mt.Morris Park) from the 25th story. This is a perspective that I view on every visit. Of course, I have been to the top of the Empire State Building and --->> read more -->>

Deep Sea Mining & Externalities – a favorite

April 24, 2023

Several years ago, I came on the news that deep-sea mining for nodules of nickel, cobalt, and other rare minerals was about to commence. I found a video from MIT discussing the issues surrounding this practice, Mining the Deep Sea, (link opens YouTube video) The ocean’s deep-sea bed is scattered with --->> read more -->>

Addendum to “Starting down the path to embracing our history of White Supremacy”

April 23, 2023

A Reader Adds: My friend Walter Stitt wrote to me last week partially in response to my post, “Starting down the path to embracing White Supremacy” Here are his additions: “I have shared my interest in Rhode Island history, and the often salutary effect RI events had on the development --->> read more -->>

The Glory of Our Food – on the back of farm workers – more from John Oliver

April 19, 2023

Only the oldest amongst my readers will remember Edward R. Murrow’s 1960 CBS TV report Harvest of Shame (opens CBS channel on YouTube) that reported on migrant farm workers, including scenes from upstate NY and Long Island. Unfortunately, not a lot has changed for the better in the lives of migrant --->> read more -->>

Starting down the path to embracing our history of White Supremacy

April 18, 2023

Several years ago, I participated in a reading group at the Hudson Area Library that worked through a range of writings by James Baldwin. Since he is an author I had not read in several decades, I was intrigued at how resilient and on target his comments about race and --->> read more -->>

Video Post – It’s time to admit that US health system is 3rd rate, or worse

April 12, 2023

On YouTube at:

Our Supreme Ethics: A Painting of Clarence Thomas, Leonard Leo, Harlan Crow, et al.

April 7, 2023

The egregious ethics violations and probable law-breaking by our Supreme Court justice are explored in depth in this article from ProPublica: Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire by Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, and Alex Mierjeski (4.6.2023) It is not terribly long but much worth a read. We normally expect that judges will --->> read more -->>

Wealth & Poverty course from Robert Reich – UC Berkeley

April 6, 2023

Reich is offering an online course, “Wealth & Poverty”, that started today. I watched the first lecture, “What Happened to Income and Wealth?” Looks like this will be worth some ongoing effort. I suggest being ready at the fast forward button for the parts of the class when Reich is --->> read more -->>

Defendant Trump Pleads Not Guilty To 34 Felonies

April 4, 2023

Evaluating ChatGPT & AI Systems – Apply Our Social Skills

April 1, 2023

ChatGPT and its many competitors are now flooding the market. Prognosticators, bloviators and professors are wagging their tongues at top speed full-time. This headline appeared in the NYTimes two days ago, “Elon Musk and Others Call for Pause on A.I., Citing ‘Profound Risks to Society’“. Leaving aside the ironies of --->> read more -->>

Trump Indicted in NY!!

March 30, 2023

March 30, 2023 FINALLY!! Trump INDICATED !! I agree that “THE USA IS NOW A THIRD WORLD NATION, A NATION IN SERIOUS DECLINE.” Just not because we’ve finally indicted Trump for a few of his manifold crimes. How’bout the death toll during the pandemic? 17% of the world’s deaths due --->> read more -->>

More on our status as Number One in Incarceration – Jon Stewart

March 27, 2023

Another few minutes with a comedian. This time it’s Jon Stewart. Prison Is America’s Real Cancel Culture | The Problem with Jon Stewart Here is a screen grab: Drop over to the Prison Policy Initiative for an in-depth look at the state of incarceration in America. Especially troubling are the --->> read more -->>

Time to admit that US health system is 3rd rate, or worse

March 27, 2023

We’ve argued here numerous times that the state of the US healthcare system is an outrage. We spend almost double per capita what every other developed country spends, except Switzerland, which comes in at 70% of our per capita spending. An NPR report this morning (3.29.2023) (‘Live free and die?’ --->> read more -->>

Private Equity, Housing, and the Extraction Economy

March 26, 2023

In the last couple of years articles have begun to appear with titles like: When Private Equity Becomes Your Landlord Where Have All the Houses Gone: Private Equity, Single-Family Rentals, and America’s Neighborhoods Meet the Latest Housing-Crisis Scapegoat Wall Street has purchased hundreds of thousands of single-family homes since the --->> read more -->>

Tik Tok, Surveillance, and Short Memories

March 24, 2023

The recent ruckus about the likelihood that the Chinese government might access data from American TikTok accounts is perhaps well-placed. They might also use their access to TikTok to spread propaganda and other malicious information. Certainly, the simple solution suggested by TiKTOk of storing all US user data on servers --->> read more -->>

Computer Chips, Taiwan, Biden & China

March 23, 2023

China spends more on importing computer chips – $260 billion in 2017 – than it does importing oil. President Biden’s recent bans on the export of American-made chips to China as well as a ban on companies throughout the world using American technology to export to China intends to make --->> read more -->>

Empire

The Empire and Capitalism – Expansion of Railroads Across the North American Continent

March 19, 2023

Recently I listened to the first episode of the podcast City of the Rails. About 30 minutes in, the author Danelle Morton interviews the historian Richard White about what actually happened when railroads were built across the North American continent in the 1860′ and ’70s. (opens the podcast at the interview) --->> read more -->>

Lewis Black on capitalism from 2009

March 16, 2023

I can’t seem to forgo comedians. Sometimes a laugh brings brief relief. Stumbled on this typical brief rant (3 minutes) from Lewis Black. A bit of context. This is shortly after the election of Obama. He had run against John McCain in 2008. These are the politicians he is referring --->> read more -->>

A Revisit – book review from 2001 – When Work Disappears- WJ Wilson

March 16, 2023

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Here is a book review I posted on markorton.com 3.24.2001 When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor – book review When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor Book Review: William Julius Wilson, When Work Disappears: The --->> read more -->>

Sources of Poverty in the US – Matthew Desmond article – Updated

March 16, 2023

Original posting – 3.6.2023 Matthew Desmond, author of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, has a new book Poverty, by America set to be released shortly. He has written a piece for the NYTimes, “Why Poverty Persists in America” that is worth a read. He poses this question --->> read more -->>