West Cliff Roller Blading Man

The Plan to Destroy Education
And what it means for the future of America
DANIEL PINCHBECK
MAR 19

I am reading Audrey Tang’s fascinating book, Plurality, and look forward to reviewing it here soon. Here is a link to a free, open-source edition that you can read for yourself. A transgendered woman and teenage hacker prodigy, Tang was a leader of the Sunflower student movement in Taiwan. Somehow as a result, she became Digital Minister for the country. From within the government, she helped build and launch a number of tools for responsive, open-source democracy that transformed the political system in Taiwan, which is, today, one of the world’s most advanced and efficient democracies. When we implement these tools in the U.S., we will take America back from Sauron and his Ring Wraiths — I mean, Trump, the Christian Nationalists, and tech broligarchs.

I think it is clear that America confronts a Fascist takeover at this point. Some commentators are fudging by using the term “competitive authoritarianism” to describe this new system. Under competitive authoritarianism, oppositional political parties are allowed to continue to exist, but the ruling regime uses all of the tools at its disposal to maintain control. This includes an assortment of unjust mechanisms for tilting elections. Some of these techniques were already employed in 2024, such as mass voter disenfranchisement and gerrymandering. According to investigative journalist Greg Palast, these methods stole over 3.5 million votes from the Democrats, who would have won the election. There is also the possibility / likelihood that more direct forms of hacking were used to engineer Trump’s victory. We may never know.

Now that Trump has refused to accept a court order, we are, officially, no longer a Constitutional Democracy. That means there isn't a rule of law in the U.S. anymore. As of now, we are just another Third World dictatorship ruled by a so-called “strong man” and his goons. Over the last few days, DOGE hackers have shown up at independent agencies not controlled by the Executive branch with armed men. They have forced their way into buildings. Even the milquetoast NY Times admits Musk and DOGE have violated the Constitution. This is what we used to read about from Zimbabwe or other failed states. Now it is happening in our country.

Trump's popularity has dipped, but it still isn't far below 50% from the last polls I saw — if you can trust the polls (which I don’t). Trump is dismantling essential social services like Social Security and Medicare to give bigger tax cuts to the wealthy while amping up the National Debt and the war machine. Even deep red state Republicans and veterans are furious, screaming at their representatives at Town Halls.

Trump wants to attack our long-time allies — Canada, Denmark, Mexico — who have done nothing to thwart us. If America was a country in Europe, there would be massive protests in every city and town at this point. It is eerie that most people in the U.S. don’t seem to care much or react forcefully as their future is stolen from them. Sadly, this is the case even among many friends of mine.

According to my analysis, there is a mix of reasons for this: Many still believe that technological “innovation” is inevitably good (some of Elon Musk’s former savior aura still affects people). We suffer from deep fatalism, cynicism, and irony due to trivializing and disempowering mass media. The “neo-spiritual” culture preaches detachment from political and social issues as being “low vibration.” Spiritual bypassers believe we “create our own reality,” solipsistically, through our thoughts. According to this false ideology, we shouldn’t even focus on things like the destruction of social services because we help create a negative reality by having such bad thoughts.

I mention this in the hopes of making you aware of the various ways your “subjectivity” has been shaped by the media along with other self-serving belief systems, sneaky rhetorical traps, and tools to increase detachment. When one person wakes up to the urgency of the situation and starts talking about it, they will lose a few friends but they will wake up 20 others and find new, better friends along the way. Once we all wake up, fascism fails.

Today I want to focus on the Right’s vicious attack on education, which includes dismantling the Department of Education and plans to defund universities. Trump/Musk cut federal funding from Columbia University ($400 million cut because Columbia hasn’t done enough to protect Jewish students) and Johns Hopkins ($880 million cut, leading to a loss of 2,200 jobs), as a prelude to going after the endowments of the universities in more direct ways. The massive, abrupt cuts to scientific research grants and other initiatives in medicine, public health, and climate seem bizarre and almost incomprehensible (this may be the plan). It is also very shocking that the tech broligarchs — who until very recently seemed to symbolize America’s intellectual and technical acumen as representatives of an open society — are among those leading this self-destructive, ritualized hari-kari.

To be fair, none of the tech bros go quite so far as Heritage President Kevin Roberts (a former history professor and an architect of Project 2025) who wants the US Government to seize the endowments of private universities such as Harvard because they are “woke” infected, as he told UnHerd:...

My NAU commute late '70s

Highway 89A, between Sedona and Flagstaff.

I have been jumping over this monument near the wharf and cursing it's existence for years. Must have been some angry ghosts there the other day as my feet both stuck and I belly flopped hard.

Have a seat on the low stone wall by the wooden wharf sign while I finish the story about Sloat’s landing.

In 1846, it was no secret that America wanted the 600,000 square miles of territory that was controlled by Mexico in California. President James Polk gave Commander Sloat the order to seize Monterey if he learned that the United States was at war with Mexico.

War between the United States and Mexico was declared on May 9, 1846. This was all Sloat needed to set sail from Mexico to Monterey. He arrived on July 2nd and met with the new American consul to Alta California, Thomas Larkin. The two evaluated the situation and on July 7, 1846 Sloat directed Captain Mervine to lead 250 sailors and marines to shore in an amphibious assault against the Customs House. They met no resistance.

There was a short delay while a Mexican flag was first located then raised and subsequently lowered in surrender. California was claimed for the United States with this conciliatory statement: “I declare to the inhabitants of California that, although I come in arms and with a powerful force, I do not come among them as an enemy to California; on the contrary, I come as their best friend, as henceforward California will be a portion of the United States and its peaceable inhabitants will enjoy the same rights and privileges as the citizens of any other portion of that Territory.” It would be four more years until California would become the 31st state of the Union on September 9, 1850.

The California genocide was a series of systematized killings of thousands of Indigenous peoples of California by United States government agents and private citizens in the 19th century. It began following the American Conquest of California from Mexico, and the influx of settlers due to the California Gold Rush, which accelerated the decline of the Indigenous population of California. Between 1846 and 1873, it is estimated that non-Natives killed between 9,492 and 16,094 California Natives. Hundreds to thousands were additionally starved or worked to death.[4] Acts of enslavement, kidnapping, r**e, child separation and forced displacement were widespread. These acts were encouraged, tolerated, and carried out by state authorities and militias.[8]

FB admin deleted my last vid due to copyright rules. I guess I'll only post w/ Michael Franti, Grateful Dead and any other music not copyrighted. ANY SUGGESTIONS???

It appears that FaceBook wants you to pay to play, no pay gets you very slow upload and sh*tty play back. Will probably abandon FB for YouTube soon.

Come on Chicas, join me for a roll on West Cliff

Farmacity 14k 2013 /// ph. Gab De Lunardo
https://www.facebook.com/RollerbladeArgentina