Category Archives: Rage and Frenzy Politics

Turning frantic argument into constructive debate with historical context, facts, and solutions.

About Rage and Frenzy Politics, click here.

Fact vs Force

Fact: Mankind has not yet been to the Moon.

Force: Most of mankind believes we have been to the Moon and laughs at people who don’t believe it.

I believed the moon landings were real and I dismissed theories to the contrary for one simple reason: the moon landings required the efforts of hundreds of thousands of people and that many people cannot keep a secret. There can’t be a lie that big – I thought.

Hundreds, Not Hundreds of Thousands

The theory was presented to me that the astronauts went to low Earth orbit, and unbeknownst to even ground control, they faked everything beyond low Earth orbit. They faked radio calls, flight data, and some images and videos that had been pre-recorded from the California desert (probably recorded in the summer of 1968). Since ground control couldn’t tell the difference between a real flight and even a training simulation, it may not have been easy but it is doable. Launching and faking the radio calls and some imagery reduces the number of people involved in the secret from hundreds of thousands down maybe a hundred or so.

Lie or Die

A hundred still seems like a lot of people to keep a secret until you consider that the ring-leaders, whoever they were, killed people to do it. You don’t have to kill everyone who might speak up. Once you kill a few people who are willing to speak up, the remaining people willingly fall in line and keep the secret, knowing what happened to their friends.

The phrase, “for two people to keep a secret, one of them has to be dead,” should be, “For two or more people to keep a secret, you must kill one of them who speaks.”

Timeline

What follows is a timeline of key events along with video. Throughout the summary, I make two simple statements to categorize the evidence:

  • “To believe the moon landings were real, you accept …”
  • “To believe the moon landings were faked, you accept …”

Both versions of the story are incredible, whether we went to the moon or we faked it. When I see the evidence laid out, I come to the conclusion that the moon landings are not just an incredible feat. They are truly not credible. They did not happen. Mankind has not yet landed on the Moon – or even left low Earth orbit for that matter.

March 1962: Operation Northwoods, Etc

Operation Northwoods made it to the president for approval, but he rejected the proposal. See also Operation Mongoose, and MKUltra that lasted from 1953-1973.

12 September 1962: JFK, “We choose to go to the Moon…”
22 November 1963

JFK was assassinated and replaced by Lyndon B Johnson, who remained in office until January of 1969.

25 November 1963: Big Media Lie

The official story is that Dan Rather accidentally misspoke on literally one of the most important details he ever reported, a detail that is blatantly obvious in the film he was describing. He went on to become one of the most successful news anchors of his time.

Why did he say Kennedy’s head went violently forward? I know little about the Kennedy assassination, but if I ever go down the rabbit hole, I start knowing two things: 1. the head shot came from the front sending Kennedy’s head violently backward, and 2. whoever took the head shot controlled what Dan Rather said about it.

4 August 1964: Gulf of Tonkin Incident Faked

The Gulf of Tonkin incident is unrelated to the moon landings directly, but faking the incident that initiated the Vietnam War that killed 60,000 Americans puts killing a few Americans to fake the moon landings in perspective.

For the record, I think it’s annoying when videos or other media are titled with things like “TRUTH…” in capital letters. It makes them look silly. If it’s the truth, just say it. It is recently widely accepted that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was faked to provide pretense to start the war in Vietnam.

22 January 1967: Gruff Gus

According to Gus Grissom’s widow, when he was home for the last time before the fire that killed him, Gus picked a large lemon from a tree in their yard and intended to hang it on the rocket to call it a lemon. Grissom was quoted as saying we were at least a decade from going to the moon, not 2 years as was advertised. His criticism had earned him the nickname “Gruff Gus”.

27 January 1967: Apollo 1 Training Fire

Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, the Apollo 1 crew, died in a fire.

To believe the moon landings were real, you accept the official story that the only deaths in the entire Apollo program happen to have included the most notable critic exactly when his death would have been necessary to transition from real moon landing effort to faking it and put other critics on serious notice to stay quiet.

I believe people would have to have died for either story to be true – real moon landings or fake. I believe the Apollo program could have crash-landed humans on the moon if that had been an acceptable outcome. However, the dead astronauts coincidentally died just when they would have had to to fake the moon landings and keep it quiet.

21 April 1967: Thomas Baron Report

Thomas Ronald Baron wrote a 275-page report on NASA safety protocol violations, which he gave to Rep. Olin E. Teague’s investigation at Cape Kennedy in Florida, on 21 April 1967.

27 April 1967: Thomas Baron Death

Thomas Ronald Baron died along with his family when their car was struck by a train.

To believe the moon landings were real, you accept that Thomas Baron and his family’s deaths were also coincidental, just 3 months after the Apollo 1 crew’s deaths and 6 days after he released his critical report.

The Apollo Program: 9 Isolated Claims

There are only 6 total claims of landing humans on the moon. Furthermore, there are only 9 total claims of humans even leaving low Earth orbit, all the Apollo program. Nobody else even claims to have left low Earth orbit before or since the Apollo program, not Russia, no other NASA program, not China, nobody else in all of mankind. Here is a list of those claims:

MissionLanding Date (UTC)Landing Time (UTC)EVA DurationMoon Phase at Landing
Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin20 July 196920:17:402h 31mWaxing Crescent (28.8% illuminated)
Apollo 12, Charles Conrad, Alan Bean19 November 196906:54:357h 45m (2 EVAs)Waxing Gibbous (80.6% illuminated)
Apollo 14, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell5 February 197109:18:119h 24m (2 EVAs)Waxing Gibbous (approx. 84% illuminated)
Apollo 15, David Scott, James Irwin30 July 197122:16:2918h 37m (3 EVAs)First Quarter (51.7% illuminated)
Apollo 16, John Young, Charles Duke21 April 197202:23:3520h 14m (3 EVAs)First Quarter (67.7% illuminated)
Apollo 17, Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt11 December 197219:54:5722h 4m (3 EVAs)Waxing Gibbous (approx. 80% illuminated)

Apollo 8 claims to have orbited the moon 24-25 December 1968 with Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders

Apollo 10 “dress rehearsal” claims to have flown within 15.6km of the moon’s surface on 22 May 1969 with Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young, Eugene A. Cernan.

Apollo 13 claims to have been a failed moon landing attempt but also claims to have sling-shotted around the moon in order to return to Earth with James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise

To believe we went to the moon, you accept the official story that from December 1968 to December 1972, a 4-year period, the Apollo program sent humans beyond low Earth orbit 9 times, and the feat has not been accomplished at all before or since, despite the obvious leaps in technology during the following 53 years and counting.

August 1969: Apollo 11 Press Conference

To believe we went to the moon, you accept the astronauts’ behavior at this press conference at face value. If the Apollo 1 crew was murdered and these guys went along with the mission because they knew they were next to die if they resigned, then this was a type of hostage situation – which is exactly what it looks like. Why does it look like a hostage situation? There are even teleprompters. Why are there teleprompters on the desk?

YouTube commenters bring up some poignant questions: were they raped by aliens on the moon? Did the moon land on them? This video would not have survived social media in 2025. There would have to have been some explanation and human behavior is timeless, so really, why do they act like that?

11 December 1972 Lunar Module Lift-Off Footage

To believe the moon landings were real, you don’t laugh at this footage of the Apollo 17 “final take-off” from the moon:

Lunar module flying on Earth:

To believe we landed on the moon, you accept that that aircraft went “6 for 6” landing on the moon and taking off again. There is one-sixth Earth’s gravity and no atmosphere on the moon to contend with, but still. Do it again.

Take another look at that aircraft flying and compare it to what a rocket looks like that can lift off and enter into orbit. Again, 1/6 gravity of the Earth and no atmosphere, but that thing had to land on an unprepared, unknown surface ready to lift off again and enter into orbit. I understand it supposedly docked with the lunar orbiter where Michael Collins was waiting, but does that make it easier or harder?

No Unfakeable Footage

To believe we went to the moon, you accept that although none of the imagery brought back can be definitively proven fake, all of the imagery could have been faked, taken in the California desert and altered. While the imagery is impressive if fake, NONE of it is definitively unfakeable.

No Earth Footage from the Moon Surface

To believe we went to the moon, you accept that the astronauts never panned the TV camera up to see the Earth from the surface of the moon, despite the following reasons to have taken some video of Earth from the moon:

  • They spent a total of 75+ hours on the moon (combined among all 6 missions).
  • Neil Armstrong stated that the view of the Earth from the moon was a source of comfort to him while on the moon.
  • The Earth was visible in the lunar sky from their landing sites literally the entire time for all 6 missions, which is an astronomical fact. The Earth does not move in the lunar sky because the moon is tidal locked to the Earth. Also, the Earth would have been separated from the sun by roughly 90° the entire time. This is an astronomical fact because they landed near first quarter moon phase every time. The Earth would have appeared as a “half-Earth” because of the position of the sun.
  • The first famous photograph shown to the public from near the moon was “earthrise,” supposedly taken from orbit, but they never did another similar photo or video.

They never showed the stars or the Earth from the surface of the moon, especially in a video. Showing the Earth from the moon in a video would have been easy and interesting … but impossible from the California desert with 1960s technology. Why is that footage missing? Were they too busy playing golf on the moon to point the camera at Earth that was right there in the sky the whole time?

The Van Allen Radiation Belts

To believe the moon landings were real, you have to accept that the 9 Apollo missions got to the other side of the Van Allen radiation belts – somehow – without really mentioning them and when astronauts were questioned about the radiation, they hardly remember dealing with it. Contrast that with plenty of footage of NASA itself and scientists talking about how intense and dangerous the radiation is.

22 January 1973

Lyndon B Johnson died the day before the war in Vietnam ended and Nixon mentioned him in his speech. LBJ knew about the moon landings and profited from the Vietnam War as well. We’re not talking about nice people here.

20 July 1994: Neil Armstrong Speech at the White House for NASA’s 25th Anniversary

Today we have with us a group of students, among America’s best. To you we say: we have only completed a beginning. We leave you much that is undone. There are great ideas undiscovered, breakthroughs available to those who can remove one of truth’s protective layers. There are places to go beyond belief.

-Neil Armstrong, 20 July 1994

To accept the moon landings were real, you have to explain why Neil Armstrong said exactly what someone would say if he had been forced to fake the moon landing against his will and had the opportunity to speak to students 25 years later.

Read what he said. That is not a cryptic statement buried in a long speech among many speeches. The guy most famous for having walked on the Moon became a recluse from media attention for the rest of his life, but in one of the few speeches he gave, that’s what he said. Neil Armstrong was an unwilling participant and he told us what happened the best he could.

A Word on Bart Sibrel

If you believe the moon landings were faked, be warned: you’ll be grouped with Bart Sibrel, the loudest denier of the moon landings. While I happen to believe his theory and I think he does a pretty good job of organizing the evidence, he is unnecessary to come to the conclusion that the Apollo program faked the Moon landings. Also, Bart Sibrel is obnoxious to the astronauts, who were mostly I think unwilling participants, especially Neil Armstrong. Lastly, Bart Sibrel believes in multi-dimensional aliens that interbreed with humans. So, quote verifiable facts, not Bart Sibrel.

18 July 1969, Apollo 11 Faking Being Halfway to the Moon

Why does Bart Sibrel have this video? He says NASA gave it to him by mistake when he requested footage for a documentary, which sounds fishy but plausible. The video was not seen by the public until the 1990s when Bart Sibrel got it. Unless somebody can tell me how Bart Sibrel doctored this video or modified the date or changed the audio or whatever, it shows Apollo 11 near the Earth faking that the Earth is far away when they are supposed to be halfway to the moon.

To believe the moon landings were real, you have to explain either how Bart Sibrel has this video, or how the video is something other than what it appears to be, which is Apollo 11 faking being halfway to the moon on 18 July 1969. You have to explain this or they didn’t go. Is the date stamp wrong? Does the audio not actually line up with what’s happening in the video? Is the person seen in the video not actually Michael Collins or one of the astronauts? Did Bart Sibrel fake the video somehow? Why does an individual with little budget have a video showing Apollo 11 in low-Earth orbit on 18 July 1969, faking being halfway to the moon?

In Bart Sibrel’s Astronauts Gone Wild, he presents the 18 July 1969 video to Buzz Aldrin and Buzz Aldrin has no explanation. At one point in the confrontation Buzz Aldrin even suggests that Bart Sibrel manufactured the video. Bart Sibrel may be an ass hole in the way he goes about doing what he does, but the astronauts don’t act right either. Bart Sibrel is really putting his life on the line saying what he’s saying. I think the astronauts are the wrong people to confront since I believe they were unwilling participants, but their behavior is consistent with fake moon landings.

Laser Reflecting from the Moon

Supposedly the astronauts put laser reflectors on the Moon facing Earth and lasers can be bounced off of the mirrors back to Earth. To believe the landings were faked, you have to accept that there are in fact no man-made reflectors on the Moon, so the lasers are reflecting off of the surface of the Moon back to Earth. So, you have to accept that the surface of the whole Moon reflects more than Neil Armstrong’s pocket make-up mirror.

Motive, The Usual

The United States spent approximately $25.8 billion on Project Apollo between 1960 and 1973, which is equivalent to about $257 billion when adjusted for inflation to 2020 dollars.

Why do people even ask what the motive was?

Russia and China Know We Faked It

If we faked the moon landings, the Soviet Union may have known at the time and both Russia and China certainly know by now. Why haven’t they said anything? To believe the moon landings were faked, you have to explain why Russia and China don’t say anything. One claim is they are blackmailing us to not say anything. Since we collaborate with Russia in space, I tend to think they are happy to work with us on space travel rather than expose us. I don’t totally understand why they don’t say something, but I am sure they know.

Nah, why am I questioning this? They knew. The Soviets knew. Anybody with a space program knew what they saw was not real. The public has nothing to compare it to, no context. The Soviet Union knew in 1969 that the Moon landing was fake. We collaborate with Russia in space, everybody knows that. The only news here is that we were already collaborating with them during Apollo so the Soviets collaborated with us faking the Moon landings. They were happy in second-place with whatever cut they got of the Apollo program to stay quiet.

21 April 2025: Conclusion

I started looking into the moon landings on 21 April 2025 when I realized they could have been faked. Since I started looking into it, I have seen zero compelling evidence that we actually went to the Moon and a lot of compelling evidence it was faked. Am I cherry-picking evidence? Or do people imagine that evidence is compelling that isn’t?

This really shakes my perception of reality, which is why I titled the post “Fact vs Force”. I am sure we did not go to the Moon. For such an extraordinary, incredible claim the lack of evidence is absurd. Especially now with 50+ years of hindsight, the continued fervor with which people defend the validity of this fabrication leads me to realize that when force is applied, force can trump fact for a very long time…

However,

facts are stubborn things, and to those who continue to believe in this historically anomalous feat I say, “Cool. Do it again.”

When we do actually go to the Moon, we’re going to:

  • ferry fuel for the departure back to Earth
  • shield against Van Allen radiation
  • land somewhere where we don’t have to deal with a scorching 350-hour-long day
  • get some video footage of Earth from the surface of the Moon, which Apollo was apparently too busy playing golf to get done.

The Moon landings were fakeable when the public had nothing real to compare them to. When we do go to the Moon, the contrast with the fakes is going to be hilarious.

Heat Capacities of the Atmosphere and the Oceans

Volume
  • Volume of the atmosphere: not really meaningful.
  • Volume of Earth’s oceans: 1.335×1018 m3
Mass
  • Mass of the atmosphere: 5.15×1018 Kg
  • Mass of the oceans: ~1.4×1021 Kg
    • Average salinity: 0.035 Kg salt per Kg water, so 3.5% by mass.
  • The oceans are 272x the mass of the atmosphere.
Specific Heat
  • Specific heat of “air” at 250K is 1005 J/KgK
  • Specific heat of ocean water is ~4000 J/KgK
Total Heat Capacity
  • Total heat capacity of the atmosphere: 5.2×1021 J/K
  • Total heat capacity of the oceans: 5.6×1024 J/K
  • The heat capacity of the oceans is ~1,077x the heat capacity of the atmosphere.

I think it’s interesting that the ocean is only 272x the mass of the atmosphere. That is knowable intuitively if you know the approximate pressure deep-sea subs deal with or know that 10m of water is equal to about 1 atmosphere of presure.

Another interesting scale to put in perspective is that the hydrosphere is about 0.023% of Earth’s total mass. So the Earth mass is about the mass of 4,300 oceans.

Snitch Lines

Citizens in Delaware Ohio and Columbus Ohio are encouraged to snitch on each other, even anonymously, for not covering their face or for large gatherings. Fact.

Delaware Ohio

To snitch in Delaware, go to this address:

https://delawarehealth.org/covid-19/

or call the hotline at 833-427-5364

Delaware is seeking mask snitching specifically:

Columbus Ohio

To snitch in Columbus, call 614-645-3111, or go to this address:

https://311.columbus.gov/311_main.aspx

and submit a service request.

Columbus is more concerned with gatherings, both indoors and outdoors, which are “violations”:

Gathering and mask snitching is currently the #10 service request in Columbus:

No Mask Zone

This year, being polite requires being a bit forceful. As I have said from the beginning along with most people I know, there is a no-mask zone around me. Under no circumstances, directly or indirectly, will I be the reason you are required to cover your face. Breathe free, friends.

That said, there are many people who support wearing masks. We have to have a way of dealing with it consistently. My responses all year to even an allusion to mask support have been harsh. I have even been harsh if I perceive a failure to actively resist. After having had time to cool off, my only regret is the herd mentality stampeding to “safety” behind face underwear.

Being a divisive subject, I have decided the best course of action is active listening. Therefore I will directly quote the mask support I have heard and repeat it as best I understand it.

Active Listening 1

Mask supporter: “Masks are polite.”

What I hear: “Cover your face – and I do not consider it impolite to tell someone to cover their face.”

Very well. You will be safe. Do not come within two meters of me.

Active Listening 2

Mask supporter after I suggested that businesses post whether they require masks or not: “Of course businesses can post a requirement for shirt and shoes, ‘no shirt no shoes no service,’ but masks?!? … Obviously the government has to step in and mandate that everybody wear masks in public.”

What I hear: “My fear and belief in masks supersede a business owner’s right to operate with open faces. Cover your face.”

I hear you loud and clear – so now don’t come within two meters of me.

Active Listening 3

Mask supporter during a discussion about the various prevention measures: “Come on man. Masks aren’t political. It’s science. Of course governments have to require masks.”

What I hear: “No discussion. We have all agreed that all security trumps all individual rights. Cover your face.”

Loud and clear. Keep your distance from me.

Active Listening 4

Mask supporter admitting that outdoor masking is probably a waste: “OK yeah, they probably don’t do anything outside, but we need to show we’re all together in this.”

What I hear … ? “Join my cult. We cover our faces everywhere. Cover your face if you are near me. My government will require it.”

I’m a bit confused to be honest, but you said it. Keep your distance.

Active Listening 5

Mask supporter relating mask wearing to health codes in restaurants: “So you believe people should ignore the mask mandate, which is a health code, and not wear masks? Isn’t that a slippery slope of people not following health codes?”

What I hear: “I think I’m clever. Cover your face. My government will require it.”

You are a real threat because people really will buy that line if the TV says it.

Active Listening 6

Mask supporter: “Science says cover your face.”

What I hear: “The TV says cover your face, so I do.”

Take your “science,” your science, your TV, and your mask, and shove them all up your ass … and keep your distance from me.

Mask Etiquette

Having considered, the following categories apply for me:

People who actively respect a human being’s right to show their face while interacting, including whatever “risk” is involved: I appreciate your friendship more than ever.

People wearing masks. Depends who, where, and why.

People who fail to actively resist masking: I strive to be stronger. Writing about it is a form of resistance, hope this helps.

Any indirect support for any mask mandate: you are a mild threat. I am actively planning to avoid falling victim to any government you vote for.

Direct support, any enthusiasm for masking, or any in-person social pressure to wear a mask, even out of a perceived sense of duty: I will do my best to maintain two meters from you for the rest of my life.

President Biden’s First 100 Days

Trump’s First 100 Days

https://nathanruffing.com/president-trumps-first-100-days/

I tried to follow Trump’s first 100 days. I made an effort but alas I let it slide. Now when I read again what he actually said, I am reminded of how much the media distorts what he actually wrote.

My Post on Trump’s First 100 Days

I notice at the end of my post I said the same things four years ago that I’m saying now: turn off the TV and be local. Four years later I believe I can truly say I know a few people who have completely eliminated TV from their lives. That’s some success.

Biden’s First 100 Days

https://buildbackbetter.gov/

(Build Back Better? Tripling down on the slogans with not-so-hidden negative implication I guess: MAGA, BLM, … now BBB)

To Biden’s pledges. I guess two things stand out.

First, masking. I will continue to use masking as an indicator of mental illness and an indicator of people and places to avoid. Biden has declared himself the leader of the mentally ill.

Second, what little I saw from the media about Biden’s first 100 days looked like open provocation. I have to admit, this contrasts with what Biden has actually written, less dramatic, so once again the media is distorting and provoking.

Media quoting Biden: “I’m coming for you! Retaliation!”

Biden himself: “Washington DC plans to return to the usual half-truth thievery at the pace Americans are used to (plus masking attempt round two since a surprising majority of Americans seem to not value showing their faces).”

Solution to Immigration, Not a Wall

Marco Rubio nails it in 56 seconds, starting at 0:43 in the video:

https://youtu.be/6aq8OnyDeAw?t=43 

  1. Prevent visa overstays.
  2. Reform immigration process to more merit-based less family-based.
  3. Process the current illegal immigrants with the normal process.
Solution to COVID, Not Masks

This paper remains the best of 2020 on COVID:

https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa939/5867798

Focus on fresh air and ventilation.

Solution to Washington DC

Defund DC. Repeal the 16th Amendment to the Constitution.

30 April 2021

I’ll give myself a little more realistic task this time around since I failed to follow the details on Trump. It will be interesting to see how long Biden lasts.

Will Biden still be president on 30 April 2021? (100 days)

Probably.

Will Biden go the whole four years?

Probably not.

Storming the Capitol, War Movies, and Defund DC

I have always thought war movies are stupid. Now that I have seen what Americans think war is, I can accurately identify why.

My Glorious War

I have been to war. I spent a total of one year in Afghanistan as a transport helicopter pilot. This is how an infantry Marine would politely describe my experience for me:

“Sir, you lived on camp cupcake. You slept in air crew air conditioning every night and had a hot shower most nights. You ate like a king three meals a day and shit on a toilet whenever you wanted. You never made the decision to pull a trigger to kill, you were ‘shot at’ one time and the enemy didn’t have snowball’s chance in hell to hit you. In four deployments, nobody in your unit was killed and only a few were hurt badly enough to be sent home. Nobody received so much as a scratch from the enemy. Thanks for the lift, sir, but you didn’t really see war.”

Infantry Marine, thanks to God, the US government, the USMC, Chesty Puller, good logistics, effective leadership – and most importantly your efforts on the ground, your description is absolutely accurate.

A year flying transport helicopters out of “camp cupcake” was my experience with war. It was no World War 1 trench, but when I see a riotous, frustrated mob walk into the capital building thinking they are starting some conflict, I see a bunch of soft, pampered, TV-saturated fatsos who barely have the attention span to bring a cooler and sunscreen to their picnic conflict. From what I heard, three of the five deaths were attributed to heart attack or stroke … ? Is this true? Some preparation.

War Movies and Video Games

“You have to see Saving Private Ryan, the bullets whizzing overhead are so realistic.” – If the movie didn’t make you physically cringe uncontrollably and say a spontaneous prayer, then no. One training throw of a hand grenade or close proximity to a 50-caliber machine gun being fired are the cure to believing that Saving Private Ryan is realistic. No speaker in the world can imitate the explosive concussion of a single hand grenade or a 50 cal. It is not a “sound,” it is an emotional experience bordering on religious. Trust me.

“What do you think of Band of Brothers? Is war like that?” David Schwimmer looking stupid is about the most realistic part of that show. Plan and enjoy a week-long camping trip with three friends or your family and you’ll know more about war than David Schwimmer and his merry band of whiners ever will with their endless strings of ironic one-liner complaining.

“Braveheart … Freedom!” William Wallace’s wife was beaten and then executed. His friend’s wife was raped. In the end he had his guts ripped out in public. Scotland voted to remain in the UK in 2014. Glorious.

Waste of time, and worse, now we have mobs of people who believe violence is an end in itself.

How many Americans have now grown up spending thousands of hours playing first-person shooter games? Required military officer reading literally references violent video games as training to commit violence:

On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, by Dave Grossman

On Killing is recommended reading for officers in the US military. You want to know what violence and war are without going camping? Read it.

The Greeks fought violent hand-to-hand combat and logistically supplied themselves with their own families behind the front lines. That was war in ancient Greece. Tough people indeed. They had “cry sessions” after battles to overcome the trauma of close combat. They strictly forbade the depiction of violence in their entertainment.

What About the Various Anti-Police BLM Riots?

Also dumb. You want to be like them? Have those movements made any progress? Achieved any goals? You want to live in Seattle?

Work, Dedication, and a Cause

There are many frustrated Americans right now. Violence is not the solution. This is a good thing. Nobody has to be hurt or killed to get what we want.

We are frustrated with a central government that has grown too powerful and does not listen to you or care about you. You directly fund bloated Washington DC and the corporations that support it with your lifestyle, habits, money, and data. This is what you do to “fight” it:

  • Go outside. Go camping. Get in shape.
  • Cut all entertainment subscriptions including cable and Netflix.
  • Save money.
  • Support local food at farmer’s markets.
  • Learn a trade at a technical school.
  • Start a blog.
  • Lifetime boycott all social media.
  • Recycle your TV. Lifetime boycott all television.
  • Support local sports. Join a league. Join a gym. Occupy basketball courts. Occupy golf courses.
  • Lifetime boycott pro sports. They sold out. Sports are not television. Sports are not fantasy leagues. Sports is not ESPN. Support a minor league baseball team in person. Support the local D-3 student athletes and inspire your kids to participate like that. Life lessons.
  • Lifetime boycott college sports unless you or family are participating. D-1 sports never really represented university academics and universities folded with the rest during the pandemic.
  • What will you do with all the extra time? Learn to play an instrument. Start a garage band. Learn painting or photography.
  • Learn to cook healthy food.
  • Start a garden or organize a community garden.
  • Hunt. Support the humane lives of animals we eat. Stop supporting processed food corporations.
  • Like guns? Connect at the local shooting range. Support the local FOP. Learn who your sheriff is and what he stands for.
  • Prepare to home-school your kids as necessary. Organize with other parents around youth sports.

Repeal the Sixteenth Amendment. Defund DC.

Not easy, but the right thing to do.

Defund DC

Defunding is a strategy. The closest war word is “siege” and it is an effective strategy, especially long-term. Cutting off supplies is extremely effective.

Amateurs talk strategy and tactics. Professionals talk logistics and sustainability.

I support Americans for Tax Refrom: https://www.atr.org/about

Repeal the Sixteenth Amendment. Defund DC.

BRIC-US

What do Brazil, Russian, India, China, and the United States have in common? We all have capital cities that are geographically isolated from the populace by sheer size.

BRIC-US account for five of the seven largest countries in the world by area.

Brasília, capital of Brazil. Brasília’s population of 4.3 million is just 2.1% of Brazil. Distance to other major population centers: 16 hours to Rio de Janeiro / São Paulo, 30 hours to Salvador, 28 hours to the mouth of the Amazon River, more than 30 hours to Recife, Natal, or Fortaleza.

Moscow, capital of Russia. Moscow’s population of 12.5 million is 8.5% of Russia. Distance to other major population centers: 8 hours to St. Petersburg, 45 hours to Novosibirsk. Notable quiz question: how many cities in Russia are there with population over 2 million? Just two: Moscow and St. Petersburg. Wow.

New Delhi, capital of India. New Delhi’s population of 26.5 million is just 2.0% of India. Distance to other major population centers: 24 hours to Mumbai, 36 hours to Bangalore, 28 hours to Kolkata.

Beijing, capital of China. Beijing’s population of 21.5 million is just 1.5% of China’s population. Distance to other major population centers: 12 hours to Shanghai, 22 hours to Guanzhou, 28 hours to Xinjiang.

Washington DC, capital of the US. DC’s population of 6.2 million is 1.9% of the US population. Distance to other major population centers: 7 hours to Boston, 10 hours to Atlanta, 11 hours to Chicago, 21 hours to Houston, 39 hours to Los Angeles.

Social Programs

What happens if you administer education out of Brasília? Favelas. Brasília does not care.

How is Beijing on human rights? Xinjiang, what do you think? Concentration camps. Reeducation. Dystopia. Beijing does not care.

What are the chances of a fair election against Putin? Alexei Navalny, would you say Moscow meddled in your election? Dictatorship. Moscow does not care.

How is Washington DC doing on health? Multi-generational obesity epidemic feeding a bloated, confusing wealth care system that even the nurses don’t respect. We have a disease management system that profits from chronic illness and lobbies DC to continue poisoning Americans with high-fructose corn syrup, GMOs, sedentary lifestyles, and television advertisements for unnecessary pills whose side effects require more pills. Washington DC does not care.

Political Science

Want to give me a dissertation on why some large isolated capitals are okay and not others? Want to lecture me on why Washington DC is actually just fine? I am not a poli-sci major because I studied when I was in college and stuck with a real degree. Poli-sci graduates, your four years education is a bunch of details that cloud your common sense.

Common sense: sending tax money directly and automatically to a capital isolated from more than 90% of the population by more than an 8-hour drive is a horrible idea.

Follow the Money

What happens if I send my tax money along with millions of other people to a city completely separated from the population it “represents,” specifically designed to distribute tax money? Corruption. Cesspool. Swamp. Career politician = dictator.

In the US, people got frustrated and elected a reptile to fight a swamp full of reptiles. The professional thieves in DC have now ejected the foreign reptile and they think their swamp is safe to continue misrepresenting Americans and selling out to corporations.

BRIC-EU?

Hell no. Europeans from Dublin to Madrid to Berlin to Athens are not stupid enough to send 20-30% of their income directly and automatically to Brussels. They are paying attention. We need to.

Drain the Swamp

Sounds like I support the storming of the capitol, doesn’t it? Sounds like I support Trump maybe?

Absolutely not. Debacles both of them.

There is one fundamental aspect about America that feeds the corruption. The professional politicians in the swamp of Washington DC know it. Direct income taxation. Americans’ income gets siphoned directly from our paycheck before we even see it to get mad about paying it. The professional bureaucrat thieves from DC set it up that way purposely. Even state sales taxes do not have such an insidious arrangement – we see the price we pay and then the state sales tax gets added and we notice it and bitch about it. Even foreigners visiting the US complain about sales taxes.

$3.9 Trillion

$3.9 TRILLION per year quietly, voluntarily, automatically gets directed from Americans to far away Washington DC to fund the embarrassing circus of corruption that we show the world. It needs to end.

To put $3.9 trillion in perspective, which is just the income tax revenue of the US government in Washington DC:

$3.9 trillion would rank fourth in the world as a country’s GDP behind only the US (of course), China, and Japan. That means $3.9 trillion is more than the entire GDP of Germany. $3.9 trillion is more than the entire GDP of the UK. $3.9 trillion is more than the entire GDP of any individual European country. $3.9 trillion is more than the entire GDP of India.

$3.9 trillion sent to one city causes corruption: Washington DC really is a swamp.

The Solution

There is only one way to fix Washington DC. The bad news is it is difficult. The good news is it is straightforward and effective. We must repeal the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Do this and America survives. Do it not and we continue to directly fund the DC swamp.

Defund DC. Repeal the Sixteenth Amendment.

The money does not disappear. DC does not disappear. The money gets directed to local and state governments where real people are paying attention. The taxes get managed by people who are not separated from their constituents by a continent that allows them to thieve at will. The taxes get managed locally by mildly shady local politicians who have to consider what their neighbors think. Local politicians are shady but get the job done. Career politicians are criminals.

Republicans, you want to drain the swamp? Do it. For real.

Democrats, you want representative socialism? Do it – but pay attention. Administer it from Boston Massachusetts, Austin Texas, Saint Paul Minnesota, Columbus Ohio.

Bernie followers, you want free universities? The systems are already in place. California public universities are already free. In-state tuition is already low in most states. Make it lower, but do it from that list of capital cities that are within a morning’s drive from all of their people who pay for it and benefit from it.

The US Versus BRIC and MORE Government

What separates the US from the BRIC countries? One thing has historically made the US the world leader and not among a list of huge countries that remain in the third world (BRIC). The one thing is our public schools. Our public schools are locally-funded and give the vast majority of Americans at least a chance at college prep. Our public schools are effective local government.

You want to tell me the US is becoming a third world country? I know. That’s the point. This is why and this is how to fix it.

You want to complain about the US and compare us to Brazil, Russia, India, or China? Sign up your 7-year-old for an exchange program to swap with a kid in any of those countries. Millions of 7-year-olds around the world would be signed up for the exchange. The exchange 7-year-olds would show up ready to wear the most restrictive uniform you could find, no cell phone, and starve his / her way through school for a chance to be educated in America. Their parents would put their 7-year-old on a plane tomorrow not to be seen until they are 18 if their kid had the chance.

Local funding works. Fund local social programs. Organize locally.

Replace DC.

Counter-Examples

Canada is probably the best example (besides the US so far) of a successful large country with a geographically isolated capital.

Australia finishes out the global top seven and might be a good counter-example but most of the population is on the east coast together with the capital. The Aussies have to stay united or they risk becoming a province of China.

Look down the rest of the list beyond India. Of BRIC-US, except for India, each is more than 3x the size of Argentina, the eighth largest country in the world. BRIC-US countries are huge. Our scales do not compare to any other countries in the world.

Argentina is the largest country in South America besides Brazil. Buenos Aires contains 34.7% of the Argentine population. If you include Córdoba and Santa Fe provinces, you already account for 49% of the Argentine population. Easily more than half of Argentines live within 8 hours of Buenos Aires. The rest of Argentina is Patagonia.

Kingdom of Denmark is high on the list only because of Greenland.

France is the largest country in Europe by area besides Ukraine. Paris contains 18.8% of the French population. Paris is not in the geographic center, and still the furthest major city is Nice at the southeastern extreme of the country, only 9 hours away. The European portion of France is the 48th largest country in the world by area. India is 6x the size of European France and Brazil is 15x the size of European France.

The Pfizer Genetic Immune Boost

I posted this around 12 December and within a week my web host had a hardware failure on my server in which I lost data for the first time in six years of having a site. This is the re-write. Let’s see how long it lasts this time.

This is a summary of what Pfizer and the CDC themselves are saying about their own injections. This is plain as day on their sites and should be common knowledge with some basic informed questions they are not publicizing because they don’t know the answers.

Sources: Pfizer, CDC, FDA, Wikipedia

https://www.pfizer.com/news/hot-topics/the_facts_about_pfizer_and_biontech_s_covid_19_vaccine

https://www.pfizer.co.uk/behind-science-what-mrna-vaccine

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/8-things.html

https://www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine

The Word “Vaccine”

The word “vaccine” comes from the Latin word for cow because the first effective vaccine was to introduce cowpox to children to initiate an immune response. Most vaccines are a variation of this: give a weakened form of an infectious agent that triggers an immune response.

Vaccines are kinda natural.

Genetic Immune Boost

These injections are RNA. The ‘m’ in ‘mRNA’ stands for ‘messenger’ or ‘mod’ I have seen both. RNA is genetic. Fact. These injections are a genetic instruction to your cells to make protein. Making protein is exactly what genetics is. These injections are genetic instructions. Do they change your DNA? Not directly, but they are genetic instructions. Do they trigger an immune response? Yes, that’s the point in this case.

Genetic immune boost is not natural.

Injections, Plural

Why am I saying ‘injections,’ plural? Not just one or two – continuous. The truly effective vaccines that have given vaccination such a good name rely on our immune system’s durable immunity to an infectious agent. For diseases like smallpox, measles, etc. our immune system needs only see the infection once and it gains immunity for life, or at least decades. This is not the case for COVID-19. There have already been reports of individuals infected multiple times with COVID-19. Even Pfizer is not claiming the immune boost lasts longer than 6 months to two years. These genetic instructions must continue.

Note: Pfizer and the CDC are changing their sites fast. I can no longer find the “six months to two years” reference … The CDC is currently saying immunity after infection with COVID-19 is 90 days! 90 days, not even six months!

Effective?

Will genetic immune boost eradicate COVID-19 from the planet? Absolutely not. Smallpox was declared eradicated in 1979 and it is a miracle of modern medicine. Thank vaccines. Vaccines are great. However, the list of diseases for which we vaccinate that have not been eliminated is much longer, measles and polio for example. For those diseases, our immune systems have durable immunity. For COVID-19, we probably do not even have durable immunity to help out. Coronaviruses are here to stay.

Will this immune boost even continue to work for a few years with repeated injections? How long can our immune systems be forced into “high alert”? How many times can you inject RNA into an arm muscle and keep making and reacting to antigen proteins before the body stops reacting or starts reacting adversely? Long-term injection site scarring? Nobody is even asking that real question.

Synthetic and Cheap

One of the main advantages Pfizer lists on its own site is that the injection material is cheap and synthetic. Supposedly it is a good thing that they are injecting synthetic genetic material.

Side Effects?

We have all seen the list of side effects to pharma pills on the endless commercials especially in the US. Are we expecting these to be the first injections with few side effects? I am not. There will be side effects especially over time.

Pain at the Injection Site

Yes, of course pain at the injection site. What happens when we continuously instruct the creation of protein antigens and our arms get clogged up with extra proteins our bodies were never supposed to make? I would say “pain at the injection site” is a good start, yes. Now repeat every year or so indefinitely and see what happens to your arm.

Complete Unknowns: Autoimmune Diseases?

Will the injections cause these diseases specifically? I doubt it, but life is a finely-tuned chemical reaction. You mess with it, the possibilities are endless. Anything outside the norm is bad. COVID-19 is bad, sure. Continuous synthetic RNA injections? I’ll take the occasional COVID-19, thank you very much.

Type 1 diabetes is a known autoimmune problem. Our immune system can harm us. There have been outbreaks among children who live in the same location that were never explained.

We still do not know what causes autism. Is it autoimmune related? We do not know, but Japan did a study to test it and did not MMR immunize a test group of children for three years to see if the autism disappeared. Autism did not disappear and therefore it was not shown that the autism is related to vaccination in that small study, but we still do not know and it was suspected.

Just look at this list of autoimmune diseases. Rheumatoid arthritis for example. You recognize them and we do not know exactly why they occur. We just know that our immune system causes them.

Bell’s Palsey? Maybe, we don’t know. No definitive connection established but it’s openly a possibility on the FDA website. Read, people. It’s not complicated.

There are many things we do not know. What will happen if we start injecting RNA instructions en masse? How long will it take for problems to emerge? We are not talking about allergic reactions here. Many months? Years? Do not tell me COVID-19 is an emergency. If this were an emergency, we would go outside and ventilate.

Search EBSRS3

Gone Sailing

On 2 November 2020 I decided to depart the corporate career path (energy engineer) for the rest of my life. My knee-jerk solution was to learn to sail and make sailing my occupation somehow. Regardless of what I do, I made the decision because of a fundamental idea: I am convinced that true progress in the next several decades will not be in new technologies, but in learning to use the existing technologies in a more wholesome way. As I went down the list of categories on my blog, I realized my decision affects almost every category.

Brazil Now What Migration Series: I once again do not know where I will go.

English Lessons: language is basic. Will I teach English from a sailboat?

Industrial Change Surfing: Industrial Change Surfing is about decisions – this was an enormous decision based on industrial changes.

Rage and Frenzy Politics: I believe the current polarized divisive politics partly arise from frustration with the diminishing returns of tech. (A pause for sailing is in order!)

Real Estate: boats are floating real estate. (the tax is maintenance!)

Travel: Sailing is the oldest form of long-distance water travel!

Ventures Quarterly: I have not been faithful to quarterly updates lately, but this obviously represents a ventures update.

Evan Sayet on Modern Liberalism – OK Now What

2007: Evan Sayet – Regurgitating the Apple How Modern Liberals “Think”

Historical Context

The historical context I notice is that Evan Sayet presents himself as a New York Jew who would by his upbringing typically identify as a liberal, but due to events that were recent at the time of the speech – in 2007 – he identifies politically as a conservative Republican. He uses an analogous story – starting ~9:00 – to place himself and his own political conversion within the historical context of the points he drives home.

The Perceived Problem

Modern Liberals don’t think. Starting at ~9:30 Evan Sayet reasons out exactly why modern Liberals “don’t think.”

The Actual Problem

We are all considering issues nationally instead of locally. We are getting most of our information from impersonal national sources like television and the most popular participants on social media. We are imagining that our problems and their solutions come from national change.

Liberals usually think up change and drag conservatives kicking and screaming to a better place with national change while the conservatives filter the change with prudence. Now, Liberals are thinking up how to destroy what’s been created while both sides are distracted from important local problems with nationally-created mass media and consumer culture. Neither side will give up the comfort the system provides even while the system itself crumbles.

What the Mainstream Media Says

The mainstream media blasts entertaining political provocation like this at full-volume 24/7.

My Opinion

The idea that modern Liberals have arrived at a point where they can’t find anything to change is not new. I believe it is accurate. I believe the content of the video is a mostly-accurate description of what has happened to modern Liberalism. However, there are just a few words I would alter. Instead of saying modern liberals “don’t think,” he should have said, “liberals focus exclusively on how to make change nationally through government and mass media. In their fanaticism for change, near perfection has required them to consistently mess everything up.”

Solutions

The core of the solution is to address our problems that appear national at a local level. The only way Hollywood and other national entertainment will improve is to be abandoned and replaced locally. The only way the federal government will improve is to be less by being challenged by local governments.

Evan Sayet gives the solution at 24:10. “We have to take back universities, schools, media, the entertainment industry.” I agree. This is best done with participation in local government, local decision-making, and local entertainment. If we must educate our own children because the Liberal-influenced education administrators will not do it properly, how can we get it done? Fortunately our schools are funded locally, but we must participate in their governance. How can we entertain ourselves locally? Live minor league baseball, youth sports, adult sports leagues, golf, live local bands, symphonies, plays, and concerts are the answer. Unfortunately we face the challenge to eliminate what threatens these things with complacency: TV and air conditioning. We must turn off the TV, open the doors and windows, go outside and socialize.

At 43:22 Evan Sayet says modern Liberals question authority and attack the ability to distinguish right and wrong, but we have not replaced the authority and morality with anything. We need to replace this authority locally. A return to dressing decent in public would help. Once we turn off amoral TV, what do we do? We will only know once we do it. If a state were to refuse federal funding in order to maintain sovereignty, what would be the effect? How would we fund local projects and infrastructure? Are we prepared to really challenge the power of the federal government? How can we prepare? Are we educated voters on these issues?

I list five “bad” items in my Industrial Plagues category that bring only comfort and complacency and should avoided to the max extent possible: TV, cars, air conditioning, sugar, pills. These five items are almost entirely new in our daily lives in the last century. They barely existed in 1900. Nationalism and the internet are equally as new as the “bad” five items, but they each have a good side. They bring more than just comfort and laziness. Nationalism keeps relative peace and the internet enables almost unlimited bi-directional communication. We must learn what these two things really mean in order to understand the solutions to the complete failure of national leadership. Nationalism is only effective if the large whole is made up of strong, healthy individual parts. We cannot outsource everything to the national specialization. Hollywood and Netflix cannot be our source of entertainment. The internet can enable local entertainment and I don’t mean friends on Facebook and YouTube. Blogging is a great way to experience the bi-directional internet. Blogging can be as simple as organizing your internet experience and sharing it with others in a positive way that you completely control. Pay attention to local events through the internet. The internet, unlike television and Netflix, is just as powerful locally as it is nationally.