Quick thoughts on Trump’s vague “Great Healthcare Plan”. IF you paid directly for care, you could cut most costs down by some 40%. An average adult would need about $3000 a year to pay this way. BUT, a catastrophic event (cancer, stroke, car crash) could instantly obliterate this and bankrupt you.

Just so we’re clear. You can be a dictator that assassinates your critics. You can have invade sovereign nations that are democracies. You can even protect child molesters. But you absolutely cannot be a socialist, especially if your country has oil. Got it.

Here’s an example of DOGE “accomplishments”: apple.news/AuPXSAesjRNi...

If we’re bombing “terrorists” for attacking Christians in Nigeria, are we going to defend and protect the Christians being killed in Ukraine? www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

21 months ago I wrote an article on Medium predicting this outcome. The only question I have is why such a "small" investment form Disney? My guess is a lot more money to come. www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus...

The US politician who admits this is true when so many just gaslight us pretending the job market is solid, AND has some solutions to fix it (other than more tax breaks for corporations) is going to be very popular. www.wsj.com/economy/jobs...

Meet Douglas, the character from a short story of mine. youtube.com/shorts/qw-Kx...

I have the answer for Congress. How about considering that capitalism isn’t actually the best solution for healthcare? apple.news/AMtm2a2B7Rea...

Perfect example of oligarch media trying to divide people. This implies older people have all the money, so you should be angry with them. But boomers aren't truly rich. In fact many are poor. It's the .1% oligarchs who are rich. They are the ones screwing us. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

I got a C- in the only English class that ever mattered to me. Decades later, I still remember nearly every word we read. www.linkedin.com/pulse/where-...

I know the Democratic is still quite out of touch, but I didn’t think The Atlantic would write something equally missing the mark. Let me help. apple.news/A15gPtMWxQzq...

Is Portland really burning to the ground? This website has the facts, with webcams across the city (including both downtown and the ICE facility!) Full 24/7 coverage. Watch the mayhem and destruction from the safety of your own home! isportlandburning.com#cameras

I hope the troops Trump is sending to “war ravaged Portland” like the rain. apple.news/A8k52_wsFT6S...

Damn shame about TikTok being sold. It had the best algorithm for reaching real people with similar interests. With it being forced sold to US billionaire capitalists, it will gradually send me increasing content I'm not interested in but they want me to see, and likely more and more ads.

Folk ballad about the killing of Charlie Kirk. I wrote most of the lyrics (help from AI when stuck) and used Suno AI to complete the song. Give a listen if you can. If you hate all AI, move on and post somewhere else. www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTj_...

I'd say the most common response to universal basic income is some variant of "it will just increase prices!" In response, I frequently find myself explaining how it's not that simple, and there are many variables involved. So here's my summary of 17 of those variables to consider.

In this time of strife, anxiety, and at times hatred, people could learn a lot from history. In this case, the powerful demagogue Father Coughlin. Who was as big in his day as all alt-right (and left) media today combined, bigger than Fox. opb.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/rad...

Step back in time to the mid-1980s with this unique re-imagining of John Tesh's early music for CBS's Tour de France coverage. Listen for free, here: youtu.be/yOTmIe5mSC0

Here’s what will happen after Medicaid cuts. Hundreds of thousands of people will no longer go to the doctor unless there is an emergency, after which they will go to the ER, and not be able to pay the bills, bankrupting them. This will drive healthcare costs through the roof for everyone else.

Listen here: distrokid.com/hyperfollow/...

BREAKING: Lee Jae-myung is projected as the winner of the presidential election in South Korea. For all who don't know, he ran on universal basic income during his previous campaign. Here's the ep where we discussed the likely possibility he would become the next president and how he might do UBI:

Homage video to REI founders Lloyd and Mary Anderson. Pushing the limits of blending traditional video editing, writing, directing, as well as generative AI. About six applications were used to create this in entirety. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHm_...

Before everyone gets all giddy about the US China tariff suspension, let’s not lose sight of the fact that 30% is still a huge amount. It’s still going to have a very large impact on a great deal of consumable goods, and the US and global economies.

If Trump decides to have a military parade celebrating his birthday/dictatorship, this will be me.

1/2 The Trump admin and MAGA Congress are looking to make work a requirement to attain Medicaid. Do they not realize 63% of all people in nursing homes are covered only by Medicaid? But even if a work requirement is not implemented in such facilities, it remains a large % of the budget...

Follow up video to my previous post about DOGE. Here I explain what hiking permits are for, and what DOGE truly wants by firing rangers and gutting funding of public lands, like the USFS and NPS.

DOGE at work. (In all honestly, this chronic underfunding was a problem before Elon, who is making this far, far worse.

The modern job hunt isn’t broken—it’s been reprogrammed. Here’s what’s really happening behind the facade of algorithmic efficiency - and what, if anything, you can do about it. www.linkedin.com/pulse/algori...

Worried about AI flooding the creative markets? Diluting quality? Breaking the law of scarcity? 100 years ago Claude Monet became a renowned painter. Today you find his paintings on things like disposable plastic dinner plates at Dollar Tree. There's no going back.

Regarding the tariffs and concept that the US companies will bring back manufacturing jobs to the US in the coming years; What's significantly more likely to happen is factories built in the US will be heavily automated, robotics driven by AI, with an increasingly minimal amount of human staff.

Nature clears the mind.

With a bulletproof glass ceiling above me, I've gone rogue in creating this short video promoting REI's 2025 Member Sale. Enjoy! youtu.be/ozqYyBE2bRE?...

Chotrul Düchen , the Buddhist day of miracles is today. In Zen, “miracles” are attained wisdom gained from deep meditation, more than perceived empirical events or actions.

This graphic came out kind of cool. I don't plug my AI music much (though chunks of this are still human generated music by me, and I wrote nearly all the lyrics myself), and left my name off the cover. This album is also very dark lyrically, not easy to listen to. philandersonmusic.com

The wonder of black history month. I gave a presentation at my job (REI) today. It was originally going to be on Robert Taylor, the first African American to hike the AT & PCT, but I knew there had to be an outdoor pioneer before him. Which led me to this man. www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6fZ...

An acquaintance challenged me to create a song using AI (Suno) that sounds like the play Hamilton. I usually put a lot more human effort into songs I make using AI. Here, I only wrote a chunk of the lyrics myself, the rest is AI. Pretty wild. suno.com/song/6c59dcd...

Happy Nirvana Day everyone!

My speculation is we are hovering between 15 and 17. What do you think?

In the final stages of decay for all empires, the rulers, focused exclusively on personal enrichment, ensconced in their versions of Versailles or The Forbidden City, squeeze the last drops of profit from an increasingly oppressed and impoverished population and ravaged environment. - Chris Hedges

This is the first Super Bowl in 23 years I will be skipping. I don't like either team. I do not trust that the officiating will be fair. And there is far too much gambling in the NFL, and sports in general. I'm also not interested in the 5 ads supporting plutocratic fascism that will be on TV.

If I were Xi Jinping I'd be on the phone right now talking to Denmark, Greenland, Panama, even Canada saying, "Hi! We don't plan on ever taking over your country. We'd just love to sell our fantastic EVs - ones that are better than the overpriced American ones, to you and be good friends."

This will not end well. The fuse has been lit, and it's inching closer to the powder keg.

I'm absolutely certain this will help quite a few of you. Give it a try.

This development by YuE is why I have stated the music industry's lawsuit against Suno and Udio is pointless, meaningless. Even if they are completely shut down, the approaching tsunami of open-source AI models like this will be unstoppable in the near future. map-yue.github.io

This may be the most meaningful video I've ever made. It's short and to the point. Please share if you like it. youtu.be/rCbXtL-0i2g

The next 15 years, 2025-2040, will be the most disruptive in human history due to rapid advancements in AI, automation, and robotics. More so than the biggest wave of the Industrial Revolution. Be ready.

Do not be afraid of Deep Seek.

This could have happened some years ago, but I’m glad Leonard Peltier is finally going home. amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/01/...