Regarding Russia and Ukraine Part 2

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

Let me amend my previous statement. I see how our politicians work. I also see how our media works. And lastly and most importantly, I more than anyone (except Christ and God) know how Satan can work manipulating perceptions, thoughts, and even reality itself.

So, rather than saying I support Ukraine over Russia … how about instead I suggest we try massive worldwide protests in support of peace. End the war. Putin, please pull your troops back. Zelensky, please let them leave.

Of course, I am the antichrist. “And he will destroy many through peace.” I’m probably not the best to go to for political advice. Particularly when it comes to war and peace.

Regardless, another quote from the Bible “Place not your faith in princes.” That one, I think has merit.

Still, I say, let’s end the pointless slaughter of other people, even when they are our enemies, behind us for good.

I will pray for Putin and Zelensky, for the Russian people and the Ukrainian people. And may God help us all.

And may Satan poop in his hat. As he’s the real enemy of all of us.

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

Regarding Putin and Ukraine

Regarding Putin and Ukraine

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

I started to write one of my long detailed quasi-philosophical/political posts about “talking”, reverse-relativism, good and evil, black, white, and grey, and a lot of other stuff. But in the end, I think I lack sufficient information about the Russia-Ukraine war to really give a powerful opinion. However, from the information I do have, I will say the following:

I SUPPORT UKRAINE. NOT RUSSIA.

The Russian forces should cease hostilities and Putin should apologize. And step down. But I suspect none of that will happen.

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

The Sword of Damocles

Truckers, Trudeau, Elites, and Space Elves

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

No one probably believes me anyway, but I think I’ll share what I really think … Space Elves and all.

For the record, I tend to be on the political Right.

Anyway, first things first. At one point in time, in one of my posts, I wrote something like, “Yeah, get up and yell and scream at each other to vent, just don’t start killing each other.” Okay, if you read that, and took that advice to heart, please disregard it now, and try to be as peaceful as you can. Try to be calm, cool, collected, and try to talk through your difficulties.

Remember, I may be the antichrist, but I am NOT omniscient. Satan is trying to pit everyone against each other. He may be using me to assist in achieving that goal. It seems like every idea I have is implemented and leads to a worse situation. Or not. I may be being ignored. I honestly don’t know.

I suspect if anyone else knows I am the antichrist, not everyone does.

Anyway, back to the Sword of Damocles.

Let’s talk about Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Justin Trudeau, and the rest of the elites of the world. Let’s talk about the Great Reset. Let’s talk about the World Elites. Yes, let’s even talk about Aliens.

If I had to choose a side between the truckers and Trudeau, I’m going to side with the truckers. That said, I don’t want to divide the groups into a binary choice between Good and Evil. When it comes to morality, sometimes there are black and white choices, but often morality should be looked at in terms of shades of grey.

In this case, I think the truckers are a lighter shade of grey than the Elites (a.k.a. the Illuminati or whatever name you want to give them). I say that because, hey, we are all sinners. That includes the truckers, the Elites, and me, and everyone else.

So, we’re all a little grey – morally speaking.

In terms of moral blacks and whites, I tend to qualify actions as morally good or evil (not people—they are simply shades of grey), but even actions can be grey as well.

There is a strong movement today toward relativism of truth. I reject that. And suggest we should embrace relativism of knowledge. I know some things. You know some things. We just don’t know the same things. I could go on for a few more pages, but you probably got the gist.

Anyway, to be more concrete: Trudeau knows things the average trucker doesn’t know, and the average trucker knows things Trudeau doesn’t know. To be more concrete, they each know roughly the same amount of stuff … just different stuff.

Same goes for Zuckerberg and all the rest.

Which brings me to my stupendously amazing idea of Reverse Relativism. Which is a fancy name for … uh … talking. Which consists largely of looking at a situation from the other person’s point of view and vice versa to swap knowledge as it were.

Anyway, in the interest of trying to look at the situation from the other person’s point of view, I, as a person from the Right, am going to try to look at things from the point of view of Zuckerberg and the other Elites.

Zuckerberg is in charge of Facebook. He is under extreme pressure. If he screws up and Facebook collapses that’s probably like having one of the 50 states collapse or even several. That would have repercussions across the globe. It’s that web of the economy thing, you know. That’s a lot of responsibility.

Then, there are all those impossible choices that some governments can give you when they turn the screws on you. Facebook, Google, and the others invested in China despite the questionable moral concerns at the time of normalizing relations with a communist country.

I don’t know what exactly Zuckerberg knew and when he knew it when dealing with China (regarding the Uyghurs and what-have-you), but I suspect that once he was invested in China he found himself trapped the more he realized the situation he was in. So, I have some sympathy for Zuckerberg and the others as I suspect they all, much like in the story of the Sword of Damocles, found themselves trapped by the power they obtained.

Of course, this is largely speculation. I have never met Zuckerberg, or Gates or anyone else.

Now, let’s talk about Trudeau and the Truckers. Will talking solve such a conflict? Maybe. Maybe we’ve progressed beyond that. I’m definitely on the Truckers’ side, but, like in the case of Zuckerberg, I have some sympathy for Trudeau.

Much like Zuckerber, I suspect Trudeau is also stuck in a Sword of Damocles situation. Again, this is largely speculation. I know very little about Canadian politics or interests, but I’m kind of the view that if you are a government and a large slice of your population descends on your offices in protest, you should address their concerns, not try the squelch them.

Besides, the Truckers are against mask mandates (as am I – although I wore them in stores and other public places for my own reasons) and want their freedom returned to them. Like I said, I am far more on their side than Trudeau’s.

Trudeau, I’m sure, claims to be on the side of science (although the science may be debatable). After all, I’m sure he believes he’s saving people’s lives. And it’s really a binary choice. You can’t really wear a mask and not wear a mask at the same time.

Wear a mask and lives will be saved … at least, that’s the narrative. Don’t wear a mask and people may die … again, that’s the narrative that Trudeau likely believes and many scientists, I’m sure, support him.

If you believe that, you will likely believe that you really must do something. The something in this case is enforcing mask mandates, and all the rest. Because “the science says so.”

And the populace is getting sick of it. And since it’s a binary choice, there is no middle ground. Someone has to give. And I think in principle, if it’s a conflict between the people and the government, the government should give. But, of course, I’m sure a lot of people in Canada, as elsewhere, support the mandates. So, who should government side with? It’s that binary choice thing, again.

Of course, the binary part of this only applies to the decision to side with a particular side. Not in the actions one takes to support that side. Crushing dissent isn’t supportable. And that is what it looks to me from the info I’ve gotten. And that seems to be a common theme around the globe. Those in power want to crackdown on dissent. Not negotiate and compromise. Instead it wants to demonize and imprison. Why?

Which brings me to the Great Reset. My sense of the Great Reset, as inadequate as it is, is that it is an attempt by the global elites to establish firm control over the globe for the sake of its environmental well-being. But it is not limited to the environment. It includes the financial system, the governing of the globe, and just about everything else. It sounds like tyranny to me. But I also think I’m the antichrist.

Anyway, I suspect that this is another situation in which the Elites got caught in a web spun by their own … success? I have no proof of this. It is only speculation. It will probably be disregarded, but I’m going to say it anyway. I think the Elites are subordinate to and taking orders from Aliens. Yes, Space Aliens.

We’ll call these aliens, for lack of a better name, Space Elves. Space because they come from outer space (although I suppose they could come from another dimension, but why go there). And Elves because I think they are big environmental/nature freaks. After all, they surely have a number of planets which require climate regulation to keep things from going bonkers.

Yes, in other words, I think the Space Elves are forcing the Illuminati to establish a global tyranny here on Earth that is subordinate to the Elven government. The Illuminati are probably getting something from it (super technologically-enhanced abilities, maybe) but with what is happening across the globe, they may be regretting their arrangement.

But, the Illuminati may be all that stands between us and the Space Elves getting fed up and deciding that Earth needs to be invaded to save its environment from the abuses of mankind. The U.S. military is pretty impressive, but I don’t think they can stand toe-to-toe with a race of alien invaders who have the technology to travel between stars.

So, if that’s true, and the Illuminati are buying us time or trying to keep the Space Elves from wiping us all out, we might want to cut them some slack. But my support still remains with the people of the globe including the Canadian Truckers.

As for the Space Elves, I say we not join their Elven Galactic Federation or whatever-it-is and instead take 1000 years to get to know them through trade and such. Then take the matter up then. Because if they’re pressuring the Elites to act how they are acting, I don’t think I really like them much. I am far more fond of Galadriel and Legolas.

Of course, as always: Remember, I am NOT omniscient. I am a sinner. And I certainly can be wrong.

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

Rule of Law

Can We Discard the Rule of Law?

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

I’m just going to come out and say it. I don’t like the “Rule of Law.” Why, you ask? Because we have far too many laws for any human being to keep track of. I seem to recall that the Tax Code alone is 70,000 plus pages long.

That’s absurd.

We don’t have laws, we have a plethora of reasons to deprive someone of their liberty. I have something against this person. Can I put them in prison? Let’s see! He he he he.

Obviously, I think you need some laws. Murderers probably should not go unpunished. But I’m half-tempted to leave it there. I mean, really, manipulation of money? Money? Not that I’m pro-fat cat, but we spend far too much energy chasing dollars.

Okay. It is abundantly clear to me that we have too many laws. I mean, anything beyond like 25 is excessive in my opinion. Can’t we cut it down so we can actually do things without feeling like Big Brother is waiting to pounce?

What are the other options?

Rule of Man. Well, we’ve tried that, or so I’ve heard, and it doesn’t work. I’m not quite clear what it is. I guess, according to Wikipedia, it is a system where the laws can change according to the whims of those in power—more or less.

The problem, of course, is that men (and women) are corruptible. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Of course, even in Rule of Law, laws ultimately come from men. Of course, you can say Rights come from God, and I would agree, I just find proving that to be a little problematic. Anyway, a law of any sort must first be promulgated by a person.

The Rule of Law idea embraced by the U.S. incorporates three branches of government to safeguard the validity of U.S. laws. There is supposed to be a system of checks and balances so that none of the branches devolve into a Rule of Man situation.

But I repeat: WE HAVE TOO MANY LAWS! A 70,000 page tax code! Really? Really?

Let’s go back to the Constitution and the Ten Commandments and leave it at that. Even if you don’t agree with them, at least you can learn them all.

I think the problem stems from precedent and the Theory of Evolution. I’m not an expert in the Law, but I’m under the impression that courtesy of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and humanity’s infatuation with science and reason, sometime in the early 20th Century we got the notion that our laws should evolve over time.

They must be consistent and applied equally throughout future history.

I wonder what Godel’s Theorem says about a “consistent” legal system. I kind of think Godel would shoot that down. Mathematics can’t be both complete and consistent. I suspect Law is even more complicated than mathematics because it is based on language.

Anyhoo, I want to go on record saying that I don’t support the current incarnation of the Rule of Law in the United States. There are too many friggin’ laws. No one person can keep track of them. It’s idiotic.

I say, get rid of precedence. Have a Rule of Law system based only on the Constitution and the Ten Commandments. For courts, I say have a trial with a jury of 12 peers, a judge, and basically what we have; however, don’t record the decision. Implement it, and just forget about it.

Or record and file it, but only for the purpose of possibly being overturned. Don’t build precedence on it. There are an infinite number of details in any case. Thinking you can encapsulate all the details in a way to guarantee consistency across multiple cases is doomed to fail. It has led us here.

We are prisoners of our own endless litany of Laws!

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

The Foundations of Economics

Thoughts on Economics and Its Foundations

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

This is another one I wrote several months back and never got around to posting until now. In fact, I was planning on starting a new blog that didn’t mention any of my antichrist stuff so I would have a better chance of retaining visitors, but I just lack the time. So, I will continue posting all sorts of stuff here.

Economics is a critical component of life. It is a science that affects everyone for better or worse. Its forces determine who is rich and who is poor.

Economics is used to describe the flow of money and goods, analyze such things as inflation, compound returns, and the potential return of investments. It is the science of money, its use, and its manipulation.

This post explores the topic of the foundations of economics from several different viewpoints.

Disclaimer

I feel I should point this out. I am not an economist. I’ve studied philosophy, math, and computer science. I’ve dabbled in investing on my own. Enough to know the difference between the bid & the ask, what investing on margin is, and the difference between fundamental analysis and technical analysis.

The field of economics covers all these topics and much, much more. Its primary concerns include the flow of money and goods, the accumulation of wealth and capital, and how such things are distributed throughout a group of people.

I am not an expert in the field. So maybe I should just shut up and not write this post. But I’m going to. I enjoy writing. And I have a couple thoughts to share. Just don’t take them as gospel. This is largely speculation (in the scientific sense, not the economic one). And, by the way, the above two “definitions” are probably insufficient or inaccurate to some extent. Regardless, read on if you feel so inclined.

Socialist Economics

By my understanding, socialism has a bad historical record. Time and time again, wealthy nations transform into socialist ones, only to grow poor and to collapse into chaos. Yet why does this happen? What is the appeal of socialism?

I believe the answer to that question is tied to The Labor Theory of Value. In essence, this theory states   that the monetary value of a thing should be determined by the amount of labor that is used to produce that thing.

I believe there is some merit to that claim, but I don’t think it tells the whole story. However, we’ll leave that aside for now.

Basically, the idea is that if I put in some work, I will be paid for that work. The money I get represents the effort I put into that work. The belief is that the management/ownership class does a disservice to the labor class by shortchanging them for their labor by paying them an insufficient wage.

The management can do so because they are in a stronger bargaining position. An unfair bargaining position. Again, I think there is some merit to that.

However, I think it fails to be a complete description of the source of the value of money.

The following things pose difficulties to looking at the monetary value of something being determined entirely by labor.

  • Art—skilled labor vs. unskilled labor
  • Gold and Jewelry—aesthetic appeal and rarity of something
  • Dead labor—we all profit from the work our ancestors did.
  • Failure—sometimes work doesn’t pay off and sometimes it comes to nothing.
  • Leverage—sometimes one can leverage one’s labor (through intellect or what-have-you) to accomplish more than someone else who puts in exactly the same amount of labor (Washing dishes by hand vs. using a dishwasher).

That list may not be complete.

Capitalist Economics

One of the fundamental differences between capitalism and socialism is that capitalism recognizes property rights. Socialism does not—at least theoretically. In practice, the government and those in power wind up owning everything in socialist systems.

Anyway, we were talking about money. What gives money its value in a capitalist society according to capitalist theories? Honestly, I don’t know the correct official answer, but I will postulate a couple thoughts on the matter, nonetheless.

One of my brothers once told me that money represents trust. I think this has some merit. At least, from a macro-economic point of view. The U.S. Dollar is backed by the “full faith and credit of the U.S. Government” or something like that.

But in the end, since it is a fiat currency, it really only has value as long as we “trust” in the U.S. Government to back it up. So, it’s kind of a “Trust Theory of Value,” where trust is trust in the government in question. In this case, the U.S. government.

Another aspect of capitalism would be what I would call the “Purchase Theory of Ownership.” Basically, this means that whoever purchases an item or piece of property is regarded as the owner of said item or property, be it land, a backpack, or what-have-you.

In this way, money and its use are used to make a decision or distinction in the distribution of goods.

And yet another aspect of capitalism is what I would call the Ownership Theory of Decision-Making. Basically, this is the tenet that whoever owns a piece of property, be it a house, a business, or what-have-you, gets to make all the important decisions regarding that piece of property. They are also responsible for maintaining it.

This makes decision-making much more efficient and less-time consuming.

As for weaknesses to capitalism, I think the major one revolves around the “Trust Theory of Value.” Making the leap from trust to the right to ownership isn’t clear to me at this point. That’s not saying it’s not there, I just don’t fully understand whatever connection might be there.

Also, I don’t want to totally disregard the socialist’s “Labor Theory of Value.” I expect to be paid when I put in labor. I should be trustworthy when I put in that labor, but … I don’t think the trustworthiness of an individual should affect their pay if they are doing the same amount of work. This is, of course, on the micro-level.

My Economics

I lack the knowledge and skill to propose my own economic theories, really, but I will toss out a few more pseudo-theories (like most of the ones above) that just sound reasonable to me.

First, there is the Accomplishment Theory of Value. I think accomplishment is a better measure of value than mere labor. You could dig and fill the same holes all day long and accomplish nothing in the end. What you are really expecting to be paid for is the accomplishments you have.

Second, or perhaps “logically prior to,” is the Labor Theory of Accomplishment. Accomplishment requires work and effort. Although a dishwashing machine saves labor, that labor-saving is only possible because someone else had the development of a dishwashing machine as an accomplishment.

Third, I also think one should have the Freedom to Value as one Desires. If you want to collect dolls, and pay an exorbitant price for one, you should be free to do so. The same for jewelry, art, and other rare items. If you make a mistake in valuing an item and pay too much, that’s on you—not society or other people.

Conclusion

There should probably be a law against philosophy majors babbling on about economics when they never studied it in college. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed these musings. I’ll be thoroughly surprised if they make any sense to anyone. 😉

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

The Arrogance of Intellectuals

Intellectual Arrogance

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

I wrote this a couple months back and haven’t got around to posting it until now.

Once upon a time, I studied philosophy. My favorite was Plato/Socrates (Plato the writer/disciple, Socrates the teacher who never wrote a thing). Although I love Plato’s intellectual grasp of moral issues, I readily admit he was arrogant.

Yes, the philosopher/s who coined the phrase “the philosopher king” and stated “Man shall know no peace until philosophers become kings,” was … uh … a little arrogant. At the time I was studying him, that point wasn’t as obvious to me as it is now. Of course, arrogance is a flaw I also suffer from. In spades. After all, when confronted with God and Satan (Satan being the universe and the smaller of the two) I proudly injected, “I challenge you both! Now, I’m God!” Honestly, I had no idea what else to do—but I never took my boast seriously. I was being sarcastic (unlike Satan).

Of course, as the antichrist, arrogance is supposed to be one of my greatest sins. For a while, I didn’t regard arrogance as bad. I thought I was better than everyone else and I let my ego inflate as much as I felt like it. I have since changed my opinion on that. Arrogance is repugnant. And is, generally, refuted by relativism of knowledge … at least, mostly. Trying to develop humility when you have been deliberately arrogant for a long time, though, isn’t necessarily easy. It’s a tough habit to break.

Although I earned a B.A. in philosophy and considered going for a P.h.D. in it, I took some time off in the real world after my undergraduate degree. Shortly thereafter, I had my “encounter with Satan”—which I have dealt with elsewhere, so I won’t dwell on here.

Philosophers are from the intellectual crowd. I was on that path, and could have gone the distance, and might have if I hadn’t had my encounter. So, I have some personal experience with being a smug, intellectual snob (Okay, that might be a little harsh. Might).

Anyway, I feel obliged to warn the many modern intellectuals that exist in today’s society (Of course, I could be wrong—maybe I was the only one). God does not care how smart you are. It’s just not that important in itself. Morality is important, not I.Q. And arrogance is morally repugnant (at least, pathetic, possibly evil, and quite capable of leading to truly evil behavior).

Further, relativism of knowledge should squelch your idea of intellectual superiority quite soundly. What is relativism of knowledge? A fancy phrase for specialization, although, perhaps a little more general in scope.

One person is great at physics, another at math, another at biology, and so on. That’s just the sciences, though. One person is great at carpentry, another bricklaying, another painting, and so on. Is painting as complicated as physics? One seems simple. The other seems intellectually intimidating.

From my own experience, I’ve taken two college level physics courses and got A’s in both of them. The first room in my house that I tried to paint I totally butchered. The walls are all scratched up because I lacked the necessary skill to peel off old wallpaper without scratching the drywall.

I did a second room and a hallway. The results were still not ideal. Does painting require as much knowledge as physics? Well, if you look at them as skills, I think they both probably require similar amounts of brain power—just different types and in different areas.

That is, painting requires a different kind of brainpower. You’re not manipulating numbers, you are manipulating paint. Although most people can paint to a certain extent (that may not be true of physics), how many can paint well?

To paint without smudging transitions, leaving marks on drywall, and taking into account a hundred other minutiae, and doing so relatively quickly requires considerable skill and knowledge. It shouldn’t be scoffed at or looked down upon.

Look at it this way: if the human brain is a computer, how much information can it store? I think the average human brain can store, oh, say X gigabytes or whatever. From person to person, there may be some variation, but I don’t think it will be huge. I would expect something like X gigabytes +/- somewhere between 1 and 3 percent, if that. Certainly not, +/-25%–no matter how “smart” you are.

Going further, how do you quantify and value non-knowledge characteristics and attributes? I knew a woman once who liked mind-numbing, repetitive labor that she didn’t have to think about. In some ways, that’s a skill. I don’t really like stuff like that. If she wants to do it, give her the task, not me. For many people, doing the same repetitive task for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, would be torture. Others can thrive doing that. Should they be looked down upon because it is just so simple everybody can do it? Well, everybody can do it … for a time. Then they go stark raving mad!

There are tons of attributes like that. Truckdrivers have to sit in a vehicle for what, 8 or 10 hours a day? Plus, they have to handle those hideously huge trucks through traffic and around corners. I couldn’t do that. They’re job requires skills and attributes I don’t have. I can drive for, maybe, 5 hours before I start getting really, really uncomfortable. And there is no way I could do the stuff those drivers do with those huge 18-wheelers. Yikes!

So, it goes back to relativism of knowledge. Regardless of how much you know, the other guy, regardless of what he does, probably knows roughly as much as you do. It’s just different information. Not better or worse. Different.

Oh, and there is one other thing: the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge can be taught in a classroom. Wisdom must be earned through experience and living. Regardless of how many degrees an average 30-year-old has earned, he will never be as wise as an average 50-year-old (barring something extraordinary like disabilities and such).

A physics book will not help a baby walk.

I guess my final point is that we, as a society, have put intellectual pursuits on a pedestal. I really think we should rethink that position. Morality is far more important, and it requires more than an intellectual understanding. And I, of course, am saying that as the Man of Sin.

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?