The most dangerous addiction today isn't a substance. Research on 100,000 people confirms that heavy short-form video use is just voluntary cognitive decline. We are actively training our brains to fail at hard tasks. If you can simply sit with a problem for 10 minutes without swiping, you have a massive competitive advantage. Basically, boredom is the new IQ.

D’Angelo was connected to what I call Soul in a big way. This isn’t just heartbreaking-it’s cosmically cruel.

...because despite Nix and Clint being "buried", the corruption never ceased. All everyone saw was a clown show rolling onward. That's one reason.

Fun Fact: Democrats are wearing pink tonight as a symbolic protest against people who want them to do something meaningful

Richard Manuel died on this day in 1986. The darkness of his struggle was real, but it need not blot out the light. We all die. We all have problems. What we all do not have—indeed, what almost no one has—is the ability to summon beauty like this

During his inaugural address, the new president of the United States was refreshingly open about the fact that Washington is the hub of a continuously expanding empire which is ruled by billionaire plutocrats. As Joe Lauria highlighted for Consortium News, President Trump’s speech included references to the “manifest destiny” of America, saying that under his presidency the US will consider itself a nation that “expands our territory”. He waxed fondly about the settler-colonialist past which established the country at the expense of the people who were already living there, and vowed to take control of the Panama Canal. Trump gave this speech to an audience where the wealthiest people on earth sat alongside his own cabinet in the best seats in the house. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were seen together in the crowd among the more official members of the incoming administration. Israeli-American Trump megadonor Miriam Adelson, who according to Trump helped dictate US policy toward Israel during his first term, was seen sitting among Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the Clintons at the inauguration. There will reportedly be no fewer than 13 billionaires with official roles in the new Trump administration. If you were to twist my arm and force me to say something positive about Donald Trump, this is the sort of thing I would point to. He makes the US empire much more transparent and unhidden. He removes its mask and reveals the twisted face beneath it. The US isn’t suddenly ruled by billionaires now that Trump is president; it was already ruled by billionaires. The US isn’t suddenly an empire bent on global domination now that Trump has been sworn in; that was already the case. But you’re not supposed to just come right out and say that. Well, Trump comes right out and says it. He says the quiet parts out loud. He’s the only president who’ll openly boast that US troops are in Syria to keep the oil or lament that they failed to take the oil from Venezuela, or just come right out and tell everyone he’s bought and owned by Zionist oligarchs. He puts much less effort into disguising the true nature of the US empire than other presidents. That’s the only reason various factions of America’s unofficial permanent government have had objections to Trump’s presidency over the years. It’s not because he presents a threat to the establishment or because he’s trying to bring down the deep state, it’s because he is viewed as a poor custodian of the empire. He either doesn’t understand or doesn’t care about the importance of keeping a polite face on the imperial machine. If I were forced to say something positive about Trump, that would be it. The thing some US empire managers dislike about him is the only thing I like about him: that he makes the US empire a less effective evil because of how much less hidden he keeps the inner workings of the machine. The hood stays popped open the entire time, showing the whole world how the imperial sausage gets made. Not that there haven’t been plenty of mask-off moments during the dementia-muddled chaos of the Biden administration as well. A new article in Time titled “Why Biden’s Ukraine Win Was Zelensky’s Loss” is a good example of this; the report cites a former member of Biden’s National Security Council saying that victory for Ukraine was never part of the Biden administration’s plan. The opening paragraph reads as follows: “When Russia invaded Ukraine nearly three years ago, President Joe Biden set three objectives for the U.S. response. Ukraine’s victory was never among them. The phrase the White House used to describe its mission at the time — supporting Ukraine ‘for as long as it takes’ — was intentionally vague. It also raised the question: As long as it takes to do what?” “Ukraine’s victory was never among them.” Talk about a mask-off moment. It has long been clear that the US pushed Ukraine into an unwinnable war with the goal of bleeding and preoccupying Moscow, and that it actively sabotaged peace negotiations in the early days of the war in order to pursue these goals. Now that the job has been done and the demented meat puppet is out of office, we are finally hearing it from Biden’s own handlers in his administration. And of course there was Gaza, where the world spent 15 months watching history’s first live-streamed genocide right in front of their faces while western officials made nonstop excuses of less and less believability. If there’s to be any good to come from that incomprehensibly horrific nightmare, it’s that it has shown everyone the true face of the empire. The more glimpses people get of the true face of the empire, the less effective the imperial propaganda becomes, because propaganda only works if you believe it. The primary obstacle to revolutionary change under the western empire is the fact that its citizenry have been successfully propagandized into accepting the status quo. The more people open their eyes to the fact that we are ruled by psychopaths who are driving us to our doom on multiple fronts, the closer we get to a collective movement toward a healthy world.

The last verse of tonight’s Hard Rain. This was an incredible performance.

absolutely wild that the only lasting impact of the Trump assassination was Tenacious D breaking up

Again I'm a nobody but if anyone in the Harris campaign is reading she needs to have a better response to anti war pro Palestinian protestors. The Gaza war is ongoing and escalating. Over 50% of Biden voters call it a genocide. You can't mock it away. Just have a line ready that at least acknowledges you hear them. Something like: "I hear you. President Biden and I are working on a ceasefire. We want the hostages home and Palestinians to be safe. We won't stop until Netanyahu and Hamas accept the deal." The crowd will applaud. You reiterate a talking point. You keep the pressure on Bibi and Hamas. Anyway my 2 cents.

The crowd of Democrats cheering a petty, callous, and poorly executed slap down of people simply asking her to stop participating in a genocide is the historical nadir of the “lesser of two evils” discourse so predictably weaponized against people who yearn for a better world.

Bob Dylan — Six Days on the Road Chula Vista, California 29th July, 2024 Outlaw Music Festival Tour — Recorded by: Scott Fyson (you tube)

do what they've never heard before 🤘🔥✨

Exactly. Aside from the very real deaths and injuries, still unbelievable. Much like the barn in DeLillo's White Noise, we cannot see what we are seeing. The more we post and look the less we are connected to the reality. #societyofthespectacle #nobodyseesthebarn

I'm with her. Won't likely see it in my lifetime but maybe hers.

Can't ignore that the shooting was, either directly or indirectly, "allowed" via security measures. Seeing the picture of bloodied Trump at the top of our @hulu menu last night confirmed deft spectacle-making. Indeed, it's right in front of us, but what IS it we are seeing?

The way top Democrats are acting is not and has never been the way people would act if they think their opponent is an existential threat to democracy and that beating him is the most important political priority.

I have had thoughts like this for over 30 years. Not always, but often. Certainly now. You want to make sense of things, find a logic that will explain what you see....

If France can do it we can do it.

Exactly. This is ridiculous.