News Factoids for Fourth Quarter 2022

In June 2022, Turkey rebranded itself as the Republic of Türkiye at the United Nations from now on. The new name is intended to better represent the country’s “culture, civilization, and values,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, and at least some reasoning behind the rebrand is the confusion with the North American bird.

The state of Texas official state flower is the bluebonnet (since 1901), the official small mammal is the nine-banded armadillo (since 1995), the official large mammal is the Texas longhorn (since 1995), and the official state freshwater fish is the Guadalupe bass (since 1989). There is now a movement to name the official state snake as Ted Cruz.

Amazon is the nation’s second-largest private employer.

Facts from a recent Sen. Bernie Sanders email:
Before Social Security was created in 1935, about half of our nation’s seniors were living in poverty; today, though still too high, the senior poverty rate is just 8.9 percent.
According to the most recent data, 12 percent of senior citizens in America are trying to live on an income of less than $10,000 a year and 55 percent of seniors in America are trying to get by on less than $25,000 a year.
The average Social Security benefit today is less than $1,540 a month {$18,480 per year}.

Firefox was the top browser to 2009, chrome grew to 60% by 2015, Internet Explorer shrunk; as-of mid-2022: M/S Edge is used by 7.5%, Chrome by 80%, and Firefox by 5.3%

"The Supreme Court just overturned Roe v. Wade and took away freedom from millions of women to control their own bodies. It’s an absolutely terrifying day for so many of us! Our worst nightmare is coming true." — Kathy Jennings, 2022 Democratic candidate for Delaware Attorney General

"While I am heartbroken for women across the country today, here in New Mexico, your right to have a safe abortion remains intact, thanks to forward-thinking legislation passed in 2021."
— Katy Duhigg, New Mexico Senate District 10

According to a new report, 2,500 daily and weekly newspapers in the U.S. have closed since 2005, leaving large parts of the country – many in 'economically struggling, traditionally underserved communities' – with no local news coverage.

Only the United States, Belize, Palau, the Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands use Fahrenheit as their official temperature scale.

New Mexicans die of alcohol-related causes at nearly three times the national average, higher by far than any other state. Alcohol is involved in more deaths than fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamines combined. In 2020, alcohol killed more New Mexicans under 65 than Covid-19 did in the first year of the pandemic – all told, 1,878 people.

About 80 percent of the candidates that Donald Trump endorsed in competitive 2022 primary elections won their races: seven out of eight Senate candidates that he backed and 17 out of the 21 House candidates that he backed; many of the November elections were between a Democrat and a slate of extreme Republicans with ever stronger sympathies toward fascism and nationalism and suppression of minorities.

Copyright 2022 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved

RECIPE FOR ICED COFFEE

I first encountered iced coffee on a menu around 1975, at Warner Brothers Studios, and again later at M.G.M Studios. Studio commissary menus have their own tradition: they all had matzoh crackers on the table, and offered chicken soup, cold beer, and ice coffee. Across the years since, I have usually ordered iced coffee in warm weather, and the server person would say "We don't have that." And I would ask "Do you have coffee? Do you have ice?" - most servers quickly understood, so I proceeded to tell them the recipe.

1)) Take a large glass and fill it with ice cubes.
2)) Slowly pour hot coffee into the glass - until the ice is floating.
3)) Add more ice cubes to top of glass.
{ these last two were added for the blog recipe }
4)) Add sweetener or cream-ness however you want.
5)) Drinking straw not required, but it is fun to make slurping noises, no matter where you are.

November 2022 Quotations (52)

“The book [that] you don’t read won’t help.”
~~ motivational speaker Jim Rohn [1930-2009]

“Mistakes are part of the dues [that] one pays for a full life."
~~ Italian actress Sophia Loren

“Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness.”
~~ Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl Of Derby [1752–1834]

“If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything."
~~ actress Marilyn Monroe [1926-62]

“I have always found that mercy bears richer fruit than strict justice."
~~ Abraham Lincoln [1809-65]

“It’s only after you’ve stepped outside your comfort zone that you begin to change, grow, and transform.”
~~ Roy T. Bennett

“If you're an asshole, you're not a success."
~~ popular science writer Adam M. Grant

“Inside the person [that] you know, there is a person [that] you do not know."
~~ saying in Syria

“There is more to life than increasing its speed."
~~ Mahatma Gandhi [1869-1948]

“The GOP never let the facts get in the way of bad policy."
~~ Teresa Hanafin, Boston Globe staff writer

“Become an alchemist. Transmute base metal into gold, suffering into consciousness, disaster into enlightenment."
~~ Eckhart Tolle

“Life: be the example or be made the example.”
~~ Chris Morgan

“Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.”
~~ Dr. Maya Angelou [1928-2014]

“Worrying is praying for what you don't want."
~~ Bhagavan Das

“The mission of an architect is to help people understand how to make life more beautiful, the world a better one for living in, and to give reason, rhyme, and meaning to life."
~~ Frank Lloyd Wright [1867-1959], in 1957

“[Donald] Trump is an unparalleled danger."
~~ journalist Bob Woodward, in 2022

“I ask not for any crown / But that which all may win; / Nor try to conquer any world / Except the one within."
~~ Louisa May Alcott [1832-88]

“Life has always been a series of battles - what matters is which ones you choose to engage in and which side you are on."
~~ G.E. Nordell

“It’s not a lie if you believe it.”
~~ character George Costanza on the "Seinfeld" TV series [1989-1998]

“The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude. Originality thrives in seclusion, free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind. Be alone, that is the secret of invention, that is when ideas are born."
~~ visionary Nikola Tesla [1856-1943]

“Life is a song - sing it. Life is a game - play it. Life is a challenge - meet it. Life is a dream - realize it. Life is a sacrifice - offer it. Life is love - enjoy it."
~~ Shirdi Sai Baba [1838?-1918]

“Remember, happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely upon what you think. So start each day by thinking of all the things you have to be thankful for. Your future will depend very largely on the thoughts you think today. So think thoughts of hope and confidence and love and success."
~~ motivational speaker & writer Dale Carnegie [1888-1955]

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure . . . than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
~~ Theodore Roosevelt [1858-1919]

“The older I get, the more clearly I remember things that never happened."
~~ Mark Twain [1835-1910]

“I consider myself a success only insofar as my life is useful, revealing, and rewarding to my kind."
~~ Frank Lloyd Wright [1867-1959], in 1957

“The reaction among Republican elected officials and their conservative-media life-support system to the beating of Paul Pelosi . . . marks a new level of depravity in the GOP."
~~ Tom Nichols, staff writer at "The Atlantic Magazine"

“As the vilest writer has his readers, so the greatest liar has his believers: and it often happens, that if a lie be believed only for an hour, it has done its work, and there is no farther occasion for it. Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it . . .”
~~ Jonathan Swift [1667–1745]

“You can't love your country only when you win."
~~ President Joe Biden, in speech 11/2/2022

“Sleep is the best meditation."
~~ Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

“Man is a genius when he is dreaming."
~~ cinema master Akira Kurosawa [1910-98]

“It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error."
~~ Thomas Paine [1737-1809]

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."
~~ Persian poet & mystic Rumi [1207-73]

“[The] precepts of Siddha Yoga [are]: Kneel to your own Self. Worship your Self. Meditate on your Self. Love your Self. Honor your Self. God dwells within you as you."
~~ Swami Muktananda [1908-82]

“I never signed on to Twitter. I try to avoid jumping into cesspools."
~~ G.E. Nordell

“The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy."
~~ Dutch theologian Henri Nouwen [1932-96]

“I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk."
~~ disgraced Cong. Lauren Boebert [GOP CO 2021-2022], in 2022

“Rambo is me before coffee in the morning; Rocky is me after coffee."
~~ action star Sylvester 'Sly' Stallone, in 2019

“Sex is like a Chinese dinner - it ain’t over until you both get your cookies."
~~ American comedian Gallagher [1946-2022]

“In the good old days, things were much more like they used to be back then."
~~ Ziggy cartoon panel drawn by Tom Wilson & Tom II, 11/2022

“A playful path is the shortest route to happiness."
~~ game designer Bernard Louis De Koven [1941-2018]

“One way to remember who you are is to remember who your heroes are."
~~ Steve Jobs [1955-2011]

“Social media is aging, not dying. I think that these [recent events] are just broad trends."
~~ Charlie Warzel, staff writer at The Atlantic Magazine, in 2022 interview

“Love is wise – Hatred is foolish. In this world, which is getting more and more closely interconnected, we have to learn to tolerate each other. We have to learn to put up with the fact, that some people say things we don't like. We can only live together in that way. But if we are to live together, and not die together, we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance which is absolutely vital, to the continuation of human life on this planet."
~~ British philosopher Bertrand Russell [1872-1970], in 1959 B.B.C. Interview segment on "Face To Face"

“Listen to your own voice. Don't listen to someone else's. To me the way to live is to always move forward - to keep searching for whatever it is that interests you."
~~ singer-songwriter Neil Young

“To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe."
~~ columnist Marilyn vos Savant

“Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It's seeing through the facade of pretense. It's the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true.”
~~ American spiritual teacher Adyashanti

“There's a point, around the age of twenty, when you have to choose whether to be like everybody else the rest of your life, or to make a virtue of your peculiarities."
~~ fantasy author Ursula K. Le Guin [1929-2018]

“If there is anything that gives me hope about the future of our country, it is that our younger generation is the most progressive generation in history."
~~ Sen. Bernie Sanders

“An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics."
~~ Middle Platonist philosopher Plutarch [46?–127 C.E.]

“I would like to paint the way [that] a bird sings."
~~ French impressionist painter Claude Monet [1840-1926]

“You cannot save people. You can only love them."
~~ Anaïs Nin [1903-77]

“Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as possess."
~~ Thomas Paine [1737-1809]

{each set of posted quotations are then posted at the Working Minds website, alphabetical by author}

PREDICTION re Congress

After the votes are counted, either the Senate or the House could slide over just a few seats and become majority Republican. In either case, what will happen is that the Eisenhower Republicans will step forward and assert control and the rabid fascist clowns will be prevented from doing more damage to the country.

October 2022 Quotations (55)

"Never argue with someone whose TV is bigger than their bookshelf."
~~ actress Emilia Clarke

"By not fully understanding money, the vast majority of people allow the awesome power of money to control them. The power of money is used against them."
~~ Robert T. Kiyosaki

"A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence."
~~ David Hume [1711-76]

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; Bring a friend, if you have one."
~~ George Bernard Shaw [1856-1950] to Winston Churchill.
response "Cannot possibly attend first night, I will attend the second . . . If there is one."
~~ Sir Winston Churchill [1874-1965] to George Bernard Shaw

"Once I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalog: "No good in a bed, but fine up against a wall."
~~ Eleanor Roosevelt [1884-1962]

"Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings."
~~ Anaïs Nin [1903-77]

"It is undeniable that the culture wars [that] we are facing today in the United States have a body count."
~~ David Boddiger, managing editor at The Progressive Magazine

"You're either on my side, by my side, or in my f***ing way . . . choose wisely."
~~ Anonymous {probably a woman}

"Business is a team sport."
~~ Robert T. Kiyosaki

"With persistence, success can come at any time."
~~ physicist Albert-László Barabási

"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother."
~~ Albert Einstein [1879-1955]

"Some achieve old-age decrepitude thru great effort, and others have decrepitude thrust upon them."
~~ G.E. Nordell

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."
~~ Henry David Thoreau [1817-62]

"The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common."
~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson [1803-82]

"In every human being, there is both garbage and gold. It’s up to us to choose what we pay attention to."
~~ Werner Erhard

"It is better to walk alone, than with a crowd going in the wrong direction."
~~ Dianne Grant

"Pay attention to your enemies, for they are the first to discover your mistakes."
~~ Greek Stoic philosopher Antisthenes [446?-366? B.C.E.]

"Labor is the source of all wealth."
~~ G.E. Nordell

"If it isn’t good for everybody, it isn’t good."
~~ Cherokee saying

"Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous."
~~ Albert Einstein [1879-1955]

"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here."
~~ Stephen Bishop

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator."
~~ John Bright

"Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success."
~~ Louisa May Alcott [1832-88]

"You don't have to go looking for love when it's where you come from."
~~ Werner Erhard

"Climb the mountain so [that] you can see the world, not so [that] the world can see you"
~~ Wm. Blake [1757–1827]

"This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in."
~~ Theodore Roosevelt [1858-1919]

"A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims . . . but accomplices."
~~ often falsely attributed to George Orwell [1903-50]

"With or without (i.e. religion) you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, it takes religion ."
~~ Steven Weinberg [1933-2021], Nobel Prize-winning physicist

"Men called bankers we shall hate, for they enrich themselves while doing nothing."
~~ Aristotle [384-322 B.C.E.], in his "Politics"

"Look, it’s a puppet show; it doesn’t have to make sense."
~~ Tom Nichols, staff writer at The Atlantic Magazine

"The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you."
~~ author David Foster Wallace [1962-2008]

"The character of a man is known from his conversations."
~~ Greek playwright Menander [342-292 BCE]

"Ambition is at the very core of success and extraordinary achievement. Unlike greed, [ambition] is a powerful, creative, and constructive force."
~~ motivational speaker Jim Rohn [1930-2009]

"Fake news is bad, but a Ministry of Truth is worse."
~~ Estonian lawmaker Andrus Ansip

"It's utterly ridiculous that powerful, resilient women are portrayed as dangerous, whereas in my experience it's the predatory men who are the real threat."
~~ actress Joan Collins, DBE [b. 1933]

"Tell people [that] there's an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority will believe you. Tell them [that] the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure."
~~ George Carlin [1937-2008]

"The person who does best is the one with the panic button farthest from his keyboard."
~~ hedge fund billionaire Charles Payson 'Chase' Coleman III

"Common leaders become successful. Remarkable leaders leave a legacy."
~~ Alan Maiccon

"Thinking for yourself and making your own decisions can be frightening. Letting go of other people’s expectations can leave you feeling empty for a time. And yet seeing yourself as an independent adult who can stand up for your own choices frees you to accept yourself as you are."
~~ poet Ellen Bass

"We can't solve all the problems of the world ... but that does not absolve us of solving the ones [that] we can."
~~ Robert Macauley [1923-2010]

"Freedom is what we do with what is done to us."
~~ Jean-Paul Sartre [1905-80]

"When something important is going on, silence is a lie."
~~ Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist A.M. Rosenthal [1922-2006]

"The most important office, and the one which all of us can and should fill, is that of private citizen."
~~ Louis D. Brandeis [1856-1941]

"[This paradigm shift] could be the most significant turning point in our evolution because it means [that] we could move from a you-or-me world—a world where either you or I make it, and where we need to compete and fight to see who wins—to a you-and-me world, where all of us can make it."
~~ R. Buckminster Fuller [1895-1983], in the 1950s

"Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, / Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man."
~~ William Shakespeare [1564-1616], in "The Life and Death of King John" [1598]

"It has always seemed strange to me,” said Doc. “The things [that] we admire in men - kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding, and feeling - are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits [that] we detest - sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism, and self-interest - are the traits of success."
~~ John Steinbeck [1902-68], in "Cannery Row" [1945]

"I like the human spirit; not so fond of human nature."
~~ "Frazz" syndicated comic strip [est. 2001], as drawn by Jef Mallett - 9/2022

"I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of a library."
~~ Jorge Luis Borges [1899-1986]

"For fast-acting relief, try slowing down."
~~ actress-comedian Lily Tomlin

"The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away."
~~ Pablo Picasso [1881-1973]

"The total number of minds in the universe is one. In fact, consciousness is a singularity phasing within all beings."
~~ Nobel-laureate physicist Erwin Schrödinger [1887-1961]

"Fellas, I don't want to create a stampede, but Marjorie Taylor Greene is now available."
~~ actor George Takei

"The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence."
~~ Aldous Huxley [1894-1963]

"We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid."
~~ Benjamin Franklin [1706-90]

"I hate almost all rich people, but I think [that] I'd be darling at it."
~~ Dorothy Parker [1893-1967]

{each set of posted quotations are then posted at the Working Minds website, alphabetical by author}

COMING-OF-AGE RITUALS for age twelve-ish

Laying down for a nap does not always produce sleep. Many times I am left to ponder or relive memories, to speak them to myself, like a story or as practice to regale others. Here are two such:

**************************

Both of my parents disliked their middle names, so they made a decision before I showed up as first-born not to give each child a middle name at birth. The plan was that as a sort of coming-of-age ritual, each child would get to choose their middle name at age twelve and then it would be officially added. So I chose my father's name, and next time we went 'Up Home' to visit relatives, the family went to the Alameda County Clerk's office, and it was done. (I don't remember any detail of this, just that it got done.)

My next sibling chose the name of his grandfather and favorite uncle, and my next brother chose grandma's maiden name; whatever my much younger sister Melissa chose, she doesn't use it.

**************************

The other such ritual had to do with each child taking our pastor to dinner, also around age twelve. (For anyone not connected to a specific church, the guest person could be a pastor from some local church, a school teacher, the mayor, the librarian - the key thing is not the identity of the guest but the requirement for the child to experience this new adult behavior.)

So I had to make the invitation by phone or in person, agree on a time and date, and be ready on time (wearing a Sunday suit, of course). I was given sufficient cash, the pastor - old enough to drive - picked me up at the house, and we drove off. Here again, much of the detail is missing from my memory, but it would have been a step or two up from Sizzler, maybe Petrelli's Steakhouse on Sepulveda or Bruno's Italian on Centinela. So we ate and talked, not necessarily around religion, just two guys having dinner and conversation, truly a new experience for my 12-year-old self. I paid the bill and added a tip and the pastor drove me home, and my parents asked a few questions (like "How'd it go?") and I probably gave them the change, and life returned to normal.

**************************

Every family has their traditions and my partly independent parents made up several on their own. We also had some that went back generations, but that's enough for now.

Copyright 2022 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved

VOTING

today Sunday 9/18 is only 50 days to election day on Tuesday November 8th and only 22 days to early voting in New Mexico October 11 - November 5

RECIPE :: BAKED POTATOS, MY WAY

For various reasons, I decided to try making a baked potato as a meal. Early on, I found that russets were too big and also rather difficult to cook (microwave). My grocery store sometimes had a small display of red potatos, so I tried them - very nice results. Then red potatos showed up in a 5-pound bag for $5 (excellent price), but sometimes there were none, so I tried the Yukon Gold, also 5 pounds for $5 - not as good. I later discovered cookery commentary on the internet, which said that russets are best for deep frying & boiling, Yukon Gold are best for roasting & pan-frying, and red potatoes are best for baked & scalloped.

I often use a seven-inch pottery plate for cooking; 3 small or 2 medium or one big red potato fit perfectly on that plate.
I rinse off each potato and remove any 'eye' growths, then puncture both top and bottom skin of each.

My microwave may be real different than yours; for comparison, the tea setting on mine is two minutes. Also note that my house is at exactly 5,000 feet elevation.

First I bake the potato/s for three minutes in the microwave; then I turn each one over (use a potholder: they are already quite hot). Bake for another three minutes. Depending on the size of the potato/s, I may add another half-minute or minute. (I have learned that less is often better here: an overcooked potato has tough or chewy skin.)

Then the fun begins: Use a potholder to carry the plate to the table. Use fork and sharp knife to cut each potato in half, so that you have two flat pieces. Cut each half lengthwise many times and then crosswise many times to carve half-inch chunks. Always put butter on a baked potato. Sometimes I sprinkle garlic powder, more recently I found a dry chicken seasoning that I like.

But mostly, I pour lots of salad dressing atop the steaming plate: First choice is ranch dressing, sometimes tomato-red French dressing or oil-and-vinegar style dressings, such as caesar or Greek flavor. (For some reason, blue cheese dressing does not work for me here - too salty.)

Eat. Eat. Eat.

(P.S. You are allowed to lick any remaining goop off of the plate, but pretend that you are civilized: use a finger.)

{{ recipes cannot be copyrighted }}

July 2022 Quotations (52)

"Rest but never quit. Even the sun has a sinking spell each evening. But it always rises the next morning. At sunrise, every soul is born again."
~~ boxing great Muhammad Ali [1942-2016]

"I figured out why carbon credits seem like a bad idea: It is like an overweight person paying a friend to go to the gym and exercise for them."
~~ G.E. Nordell

"The only thing that can stop a bad politician with a vote is a good citizen with a vote."
~~ Jocelyn Benson, Michigan Secretary of State

"When brothers agree, no fortress is so strong as their common life."
~~ Antisthenes [446?-366? B.C.E.], Greek philosopher and star pupil of Socrates [470?-399 B.C.E.]

"Flexibility comes from having multiple choices; wisdom comes from having multiple perspectives."
~~ Robert Dilts

"Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but usually manages to pick himself up, walk over or around it, and carry on."
~~ Winston Churchill [1874-1965]

"A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved."
~~ sci-fi author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. [1922-2007], in "The Sirens of Titan" [1959]

"It's time to state the obvious: The Republican Party has gone bull goose bonkers. Its leaders have turned the G.O.P. brand into an unprincipled gaggle of corporate profiteers, hatemongers, and screwball conspiracy theorists."
~~ populist author Jim Hightower

found text for back of t-shirt: "for sale by owner"
found text for back of t-shirt: "cooking time varies with equipment used"
found text for back of t-shirt: "Conditions apply.*"

"Getting old is hazardous to your health."
~~ G.E. Nordell

"Orthodoxy means not thinking - not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."
~~ George Orwell [1903-50], in the 1949 novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four"

How many Santa Feans does it take to screw in a light bulb? One hundred: one to screw it in and ninety-nine to attend the opening.
~~ joke first heard circa 1989

"Money poisons you when you've got it, and starves you when you haven't."
~~ English writer D.H. Lawrence [1885-1930]

"Chasing your dreams is not for the faint of heart."
~~ cooking show host Christina Tosi's mom, Greta

"Money can’t buy you class, but it can post bail."
~~ Jack Balderrama Morley

"It is good to trust others, but not to do so is much better."
~~ Benito Mussolini [1883-1945]

"In our blue Pacific continent, machine guns, fighter jets, gray ships, and green battalions are not our primary security concern. The single greatest threat to our very existence is climate change."
~~ Inia Seruiratu, Fiji's Minister for Defense

"The masses are already longing for a dictator."
~~ Benito Mussolini [1883-1945], in 1921

Greater Fool Theory: During a market bubble, an investor can make money by purchasing a risky asset because there will always be someone dumb enough to buy it from them at a higher price.

"A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower."
~~ Charlie Sykes, writer for The Bulwark U.K. [est. 2018]

"Honestly, I just assume that many declines in the quality of American life for the foreseeable future will be announced with 'In a 6–3 decision . . .' "
~~ Tom Nichols, contributing writer at The Atlantic Magazine target="_blank"

"On the hope of our free nation rests the hope of all free nations."
~~ John F. Kennedy [1917-63]

"The Truth has no defense against a fool determined to believe a lie."
~~ Mark Twain [1835-1910]

"I was taught in school that the American experiment was rooted in consensus and compromise. But internet algorithms have put us at an uncompromising moment of nonconsensual reality."
~~ artist Chris Ware

"A world that limits women’s power and influence also robs itself of women’s talents and contributions."
~~ Melinda French Gates

"Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim."
~~ Nora Ephron [1941-2012]

"There are always flowers for those who want to see them."
~~ French painter Henri Matisse [1869-1954]

"I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk."
~~ batshit crazy Cong. Lauren Boebert [GOP CO-03]

"Everything’s a war."
~~ conspiracy theorist Alex Jones

"New Mexico is a reproductive safe haven state – and it will remain that way as long as I am Governor."
~~ Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham

"Today one must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being."
~~ John Le Carré and American poet May Sarton [1912-1995]

"If you’re not barefoot, then you are overdressed."
~~ Unknown

"There'll never be any revolution. Humanity has bartered it for Coca-Cola and cable television."
~~ Swedish author Liza Marklund

"The world is all gates, all opportunities."
~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson [1803-82]

"ALGEBRA: The great value in teaching algebra is not that everyone will use it. Some people will indeed use it, but the others have learned skills of Reason that they can use anywhere."
~~ G.E. Nordell

"It took me seventeen years to get 3,000 hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course."
~~ baseball great Hank Aaron [1934-2021]

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something [that is] completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."
~~ author Douglas Adams [1952-2001]

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
~~ Herm Albright [1876-1944]

"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying."
~~ cinema master Woody Allen

"The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age."
~~ Lucille Ball [1911-89]

"Laughter is the corrective force which prevents us from becoming cranks."
~~ Henri Bergson [1859-1941]

"Allan Watts once asked me what spiritual practice I follow, and I responded, 'underlining books'."
~~ mythologist Joseph Campbell [1904-87]

"It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop."
~~ Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists."
~~ Ernest Hemingway [1899-1961], in "Hemingway On War" [2008]

"Consider that all accomplishment is constituted by a series of resolved breakdowns."
~~ philosopher Werner Erhard

"When people do not ignore what they should ignore, but ignore what they should not ignore, this is known as ignorance."
~~ Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi [IVth Century B.C.E.]

About New Coke, 1985: "Some critics will say Coca-Cola made a marketing mistake. Some cynics will say that we planned the whole thing. The truth is [that] we are not that dumb, and we are not that smart."
~~ Donald Keough [1926-2015], president/COO of Coca-Cola, 1981-93

"The common thing between all the men I've loved? Meee!"
~~ French actress Jeanne Moreau [1928-2017]

"Modern Americans behave as if intelligence were some sort of hideous deformity."
~~ musician Frank Zappa [1940-93]

"Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar."
~~ Cong. Liz Cheney [GOP WY-01]

"We need to show up for the 2022 Midterms as if we were Ukrainians."
~~ Bette Midler, in May 2022

{each set of posted quotations are then posted at the Working Minds website, alphabetical by author}

CALLING IT

"Let's call it what it really is: the U.S. Cold Civil War."
~~~ G.E. Nordell

Working Minds Essay #119: REASON-BASED TAXATION and OIL CORPORATION TAXES

The price of gasoline at the pump is not caused by the President, but by the greedy unregulated oil corporations.

One of the basic elements of the Reason-Based Taxation solution is that corporations are entitled to a ten percent profit on pre-tax revenue; many corporations struggle to make even a 5% or 3% profit. R.B.T. specifies that any profits above 10% are taxed at 50 percent, no loopholes. (The details here are one reason that the text of the R.B.T. document runs four pages.)

• British energy giant Shell reported a record quarterly profit of $9.13 billion for the quarter ending 31 March 2022 – nearly triple the $3.2 billion reported in the same quarter last year and beating out its previous record from 2008; the massive profit comes despite the company having to write down $3.9 billion for its decision to exit operations in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. — google search
• Shell revenue for the quarter ending 31 March 2022 was $83.164 billion, a 40.68% increase year-over-year. — Macrotrends LLC

The math is very clear (but you can skip to the result if you want to.)
Divide the $13.03B profit by the $83.164B revenue and it comes out as 15.667% profit!
Thus 5.667% excess profit times the $83.164B revenue comes out as $4,712,903.80.
Multiply that figure times 50% and it will cost Shell $2.356B in taxes under R.B.T.
– an amount paid to both the greedy shareholders - times two - and to the taxpayers

RESULT #1 = $4,712,903.80 in excess profit for just three months

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I also looked at ExxonMobil USA

• ExxonMobil Corporation first-quarter 2022 earnings of $5.5 billion; first-quarter results included an unfavorable identified item of $3.4 billion associated with the planned exit from Russia Sakhalin-1; earnings excluding identified items were $8.8 billion, an increase of more than $6 billion versus the first quarter of 2021
• ExxonMobil website shows first-quarter 'cash flow' of $48 billion and earnings of $23.040 billion for profits of 47.9%.
• The Trailing Twelve Months (TTM) column on SeekingAlpha shows total revenues of $309.269 billion and 'gross profit' of $98.367 billion

Here's the math (or skip ahead)
Divide the $98.367B profit by the $309.269B revenue and it comes out as 31.80% profit! - twice what Shell made.
Thus 21.80% excess profit times the $309.269B revenue comes out as $6,742,064.20.
Multiply that figure times 50% and it will cost ExxonMobil $3.371B in taxes under R.B.T.
– an amount paid to both the greedy shareholders - times two - and to the taxpayers

RESULT #2 = $6,742,064.20 in excess profit for just three months

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While families on tight budgets struggle to pay the sky-high price of gas at the pump, these five oil companies more than tripled their profits in the first quarter of 2022: Shell, ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips brought in an average of over 200 percent more in profits than in the first quarter of 2021 – a total of more than $35 billion in profits in just three months.

• Shell’s first quarter profits were 180 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2021. Shell made $19.3 billion in total profits in 2021 on revenue of $272.657B (Shell bought back $8.5 billion in stocks).

• ExxonMobil’s first quarter profits were 220 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2021. ExxonMobil made $23 billion in total profits in 2021 on revenue of $285.64B (ExxonMobil pledged $30 billion in stock buy backs).

• Chevron’s first quarter profits were 280 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2021. Chevron made $15.6 billion in total profits in 2021 on revenue of $162.465B (Chevron plans $10 billion in stock buy backs by the end of 2022).

• BP’s first quarter profits were 140 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2021. BP made $12.8 billion in total profits in 2021 on revenue of $164.195B (BP expanded its stock buyback plan to $2.5 billion in 2022).

• ConocoPhillips’ first quarter profits were 380 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2021. ConocoPhillips made $8 billion in total profits in 2021 on revenue of $48.3B (ConocoPhillips plans $10 billion in stock buy backs in 2022).

These five oil corporations made $78.7 billion in total profits on combined revenue of $933.257 billion in 2021.

RESULT #3 = 2021 $78.7B total profits were only 8.43% of revenue in 2021, but much higher in the first quarter of 2022.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• Shell first-quarter 2022 revenue was $83.164 billion with quarterly profit of $9.13 billion

• ExxonMobil first-quarter 2022 'cash flow' was $48 billion with quarterly profit of $23.040 billion

• Chevron first-quarter 2022 revenue was $52 billion with quarterly profit of $6.3 billion

• BP first-quarter 2022 cash flow was $51.220 billion with quarterly profit of $6.2 billion

• ConocoPhillips first-quarter 2022 revenue was $19.29 billion with quarterly profit of $4.3 billion

RESULT #4 = combined first-quarter 2022 revenue of $253.674B and total profits of $48.97B compute as 19.3% profits, for 9.3% in excess profits – which were generated entirely by corporate war-profiteering: $23.59 billion extracted from American consumers because the pirates of Wall Street are unregulated.

Copyright 2022 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved

IT IS TIME FOR ME TO WRITE A BOOK

Misinformation and propaganda about matters of economics continue to be spread by the fascist Republican propaganda machine. Trolls on Facebook repeat their drivel and Report anyone who 'harasses' them by telling the truth (censoring the truth teller with 30 days in Facebook Jail). Being tired of this meaningless battle is natural, but it will stop only when I and others *DO SOMETHING*.

Well, the next Working Minds essay that I write needs to be on the topic "Fascism For Dummkopfs", since so many fascist Republicans have no clue and are brainwashed into calling anybody who disagrees with them 'fascist', including folks in the anti-fa (anti-fascist) movement.

The plan for the book is to use already-existing Working Minds essays, possibly updating each one a little.

Essay #54 [September 2005] "F*** The Fed"

Essay #18 [December 2001] "The Stock Market Casino"

Essay #78 [July 2008] "The Robber Barons"

Essay #40 [February 2004] "Paleo-Capitalism"

"Fascism For Dummkopfs" will be essay #119

Essay #76 [June 2008] "How To Survive The Coming Depression"

Essay #92 [August 2010] "Reason-Based Taxation - The Solution To The Economic Crisis"

I am including these as links for readers/followers who want to begin self-education on these topics.

The completed book will have the title "Working Minds Philosophy of Empowerment: On Economics"
G.E. Nordell, 22 June 2022

Copyright 2022 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved

NEW MEXICO PRIMARY ELECTIONS - PLURALITIES

NEW MEXICO PRIMARY ELECTIONS - PLURALITIES
So, okay, So-and-So got x number of votes versus The Other Guy, the really important statistic for primary elections is a look at the plurality in each contest: the total number of Democratic voters who showed up versus the count of Republican ballots cast.

New Mexico official statewide voter turnout was 261,912 ballots cast out of 1,032,015 registered voters for 25.4% participation (up from 2018).

CONGRESS DISTRICT 1
Democrat MELANIE ANN STANSBURY 43,657
GOP 43,686
        this race is suddenly neck-and-neck!

CONGRESS DISTRICT 2
Dem Las Cruces City Councilor Gabriel 'Gabe' Vasquez
        Dems total 31,395 = good chance to flip district?
GOP 28,583

CONGRESS DISTRICT 3
Democrat TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ 46,804
GOP 28,686

New Mexico Governor
Democrat MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM 124,366
GOP 117,115
third party 1,041

Secretary of State
Democrat MAGGIE TOULOUSE OLIVER 119,631
GOP 92,844
third party 1,126

Attorney General
Democrat RAÚL TORREZ 72,773
Democrat BRIAN S. COLÓN 63,308
        Democrat total 136,081
GOP 92,360

State Treasurer
Democrat LAURA M MONTOYA 75,046
Democrat HEATHER R BENAVIDEZ 52,753
        Democrat total 127,799
GOP 91,438

State Representative DISTRICT 7
Democrat DANNY M BERNAL JR 1,042 = uphill battle
GOP 1,205

State Representative DISTRICT 8
GOP Brian Baca 2122

State Representative DISTRICT 22
Democrat AUGUSTINE N MONTOYA 1,937 = uphill battle
GOP 2,974

State Representative DISTRICT 49
Republican GAIL 'MISSY' ARMSTRONG 2,796

State Representative DISTRICT 50
Democrat MATTHEW MCQUEEN unopposed 3,575

State Representative DISTRICT 69
Democrat Harry Garcia 1155

VALENCIA COUNTY COMMISSION
District 1 GOP Gerard Saiz 994
District 3 Dem Sabrina Marie Sweeney 621
District 3 GOP Morris Sparkmen 619
        vote total 1512

VALENCIA COUNTY SHERIFF
GOP fascist Denise Vigil 4317
Dem Rodney Jones 3012

Copyright 2022 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved

News Factoids for Second Quarter 2022

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

The U.S. has only 4¼ per cent of the world’s population, yet it accounts for twenty per cent of all covid-19 deaths. Be sure to thank a Republican.

77,124 people in the US died of coronavirus in December 2020, making it the deadliest month of the pandemic.

May 19th, 2022: The C.D.C. announced 1,001,606 confirmed U.S. deaths, among 83,060,981 confirmed US cases.

ECONOMICS

Effective 1 January 2021, the minimum wage in New Mexico rose from $9.00 per hour to $10.50 per hour for most workers and up to $2.55 per hour for tipped workers not working in cities with higher local wage standards.

"There is now research showing that in advanced economies two-thirds of the population are now on the track to be poorer than their parents." ~~~ Rana Foroohar - Associate Editor, Financial Times in 2020

"If you told me you own all of the bitcoin in the world and you offered it to me for $25, I wouldn't take it. Because what would I do with it? I'd have to sell it back to you one way or another. It isn't going to do anything." -- American capitalist Warren Buffett - in May 2022

U.S. gross domestic product grew 5.7 percent in 2021, the fastest pace since 1984.

The national average price for diesel fuel stood at $5.56 a gallon as-of May 22, just shy of the record of $5.58 set the prior week, according to A.A.A.

OTHER MATTERS

Only about 11.5 million Americans actually hunt in a given year - fewer than go to ballet performances. -- per The Atlantic Magazine

Tasmania declared itself 100 percent powered by renewable electricity in November 2020

“Putin has now affirmed that he refuses to accept the outcome of the Cold War.” -- Tom Nichols, referring to the Russian president’s 'simply unhinged' speech on 21 February 2022

“It’s often said that genealogical research is the second most popular hobby in the United States, after gardening, and the second most popular search category online, after porn.” -- Maya Jasanoff

June 2022 : 21 percent of adults in the U.S. are illiterate and 54 percent have a prose literacy below sixth-grade level. -- per several news sites

May 25, the 145th day of the year: There have now been at least 198 mass shootings this year alone. Let that sink in for a moment: There have been more mass killings due to gun violence than there have been days in 2022.

In July, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number 800-273-8255 will change nationwide to a three-digit number - 988 - to make it easier for people in a crisis to get the help that they need. At least that's the hope.

Copyright 2022 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved

May 2022 Quotations (52)

NOTE: This is page #500 posted since 'Dateline Chamesa: A Revolutionary Weblog' began in October 2005.

"It is important to be comfortable with uncertainty."
~~ Chinese-British novelist Xiaolu Guo

"Without facts, you can't have truth. Without truth, you can't have trust. Without trust, we have no shared reality, no democracy, and it becomes impossible to deal with the existential problems of our times: climate, coronavirus, now, the battle for truth."
~~ Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech delivered in December 2021

"Only someone who is well prepared has the opportunity to improvise."
~~ cinema master Ingmar Bergman [1918-2007]

"Kindness is a folding chair / We carry with us everywhere."
~~ Ian Frazier, in The New Yorker Magazine, January 2022

"Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntary, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul."
~~ Joyce Carol Oates

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."
~~ painter Edgar Degas [1834-1917]

for back of t-shirt: WYSIWYG ~~ (which nerd types will understand is the acronym for 'what you see is what you get')

"The dumbest thing in the universe is a Republican making excuses for being a racist and a fascist and a traitor."
~~ G.E. Nordell

"We must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as ‘right to work’. It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights. Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of every-one . . . Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer and there are no civil rights. We do not intend to let them do this to us. We demand this fraud be stopped."
~~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. [1929-68]

"Take responsibility of your own happiness, never put it in other people’s hands."
~~ Roy T. Bennett

"Each of us has that right, that possibility, to invent ourselves daily. If a person does not invent herself, she will be invented. So, to be bodacious enough to invent ourselves is wise."
~~ Dr. Maya Angelou [1928-2014]

"Always do what you are afraid to do."
~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson [1803-82]

"The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human."
~~ Adolf Hitler [1889-1945]

"Any book worth banning is a book worth reading."
~~ Isaac Asimov [1920-92]

"Reservation-based casinos are the red man's revenge on the white man."
~~ G.E. Nordell

somebody should write a book about "Cooking In Space"

for back of t-shirt: "pre-order now!"

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly."
~~ visionary R. Buckminster Fuller [1895-1983]

"So please, oh please,
we beg, we pray,
go throw your TV set away,
and in its place you can install,
a lovely bookcase on the wall."
~~ author Roald Dahl [1916-90]

"I am not primarily an advocate of capitalism, but of egoism; I am not primarily an advocate of egoism, but of reason. If one recognizes the supremacy of reason and applies it consistently, all the rest follows. This – the supremacy of reason – was, is, and will be the primary concern of my work, and the essence of Objectivism."
~~ philosopher Ayn Rand [1905-82], in "The Objectivist" newsletter of September 1971

"All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal."
~~ author John Steinbeck [1902-68]

"So what does it all mean? . . . If a song moves you, that's all that's important. I don't have to know what a song means."
~~ Bob Dylan, in his Nobel Prize response speech, June 2017

"Sing in me, oh Muse, and through me tell the story."
~~ ancient Greek author/epic poet Homer [VIIIth Century BCE]

"Happiness often sneaks in through a door [that] you did not know was open."
~~ actor John Barrymore [1882-1942]

"Collect books, even if you don't plan on reading them right away. Nothing is more important than an unread library."
~~ independent filmmaker John Waters

"When we remember [that] we are all mad, the mysteries of life disappear and life stands explained."
~~ Mark Twain [1835-1910]

"April. Month of dust and lies."
~~ Nobel-laureate Naguib Mahfouz [1911-2006]

"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt."
~~ author Margaret Atwood

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."
~~ George Orwell [1903-50], in his 1949 novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four"

"I am going to try to pay attention to the spring. I am going to look around at all the flowers, and look up at the hectic trees. I am going to close my eyes and listen."
~~ author Anne Lamott

"Life has become immeasurably better since I have been forced to stop taking it seriously."
~~ gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson [1937-2005]

"There must be no tolerance of intolerance. There must be no freedom to destroy freedom."
~~ German-Swiss existential philosopher Karl Jaspers [1883-1969]

"History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and it's issuance."
~~ James A. Madison [1751-1836]

"When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there."
~~ salesman & speaker Zig Ziglar [1926-2012]

"No longer satisfied with simply twisting the truth to convince you of their point of view, O.A.N. has become a mouthpiece for Russian propaganda determined to convince everyone [that] there is no truth."
~~ Rick Weiland, founder of TakeItBack.org

"My mother and all the women who fought alongside her gave my generation Roe v. Wade. They gave us the bodily autonomy we should have already had . . . It was an essential gift, and an irreversible one. Or so we thought."
~~ Molly Jong-Fast, contributing writer at The Atlantic Monthly

"Of this I am certain, that we are not here in order to have a good time."
~~ philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein [1889-1951]

"All men with power must be distrusted to a degree."
~~ James A. Madison [1751-1836]

"I believe in doing something every day to pay for the day."
~~ musician Willie Nelson

"A demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men [that] he knows to be idiots."
~~ H.L. Mencken [1880-1956]

"The beginning of wisdom is to desire it."
~~ Medieval philosopher Solomon ibn Gabirol [1021-70 C.E.], possibly a shortened version of "Wisdom of Solomon" 6:17.

"In a society that has you counting money, pounds, calories, and steps, be a rebel and count your blessings instead."
~~ Lisa Heckman

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."
~~ Mahatma Gandhi [1869-1948]

"There are more old drunks than there are old doctors."
~~ musician Willie Nelson

"Strange as it may seem, my life is based on a true story."
~~ author Ashleigh Brilliant

"Every man is guilty of all the good [that] he didn't do."
~~ French philosopher Voltaire [1694-1778]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>      theme for the month: BEER      <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

"He was a wise man who invented beer."
~~ Greek philosopher Plato [427-347 BCE]

"Beer, if drank {sic} with moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit, and promotes health."
~~ Thomas Jefferson [1743-1826]

"Beer makes you feel the way you ought to feel without beer."
~~ Henry Lawson [1867-1922]

"On victory, you deserve beer. On defeat, you need it."
~~ Napoleon Bonaparte [1769-1821]

"Without beer, life would be a mistake."
~~ philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche [1844-1900]

"Never trust a person who doesn't drink beer."
~~ Andrew Jackson [1767-1845]

{each set of posted quotations are then posted at the Working Minds website, alphabetical by author}

A THOUGHT FOR MOTHER'S DAY

“My mother and all the women who fought alongside her gave my generation Roe v. Wade. They gave us the bodily autonomy we should have already had . . . It was an essential gift, and an irreversible one. Or so we thought.”
~~~ Molly Jong-Fast, contributing writer at The Atlantic Monthly

TWO EXCELLENT INTERVIEWS ON THE UKRAINE SITUATION

Former MI6 Chief On the Ukraine & Russia Conflict - interview with Q&A at Oxford Union 3/1/2022
watch full interview [34:03] online at YouTube
Sir Robert John Sawers is a British intelligence officer, diplomat and civil servant; he was Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service MI6, a position he held from November 2009 until November 2014

Former MI6 Officer, Christopher Steele - interview with Q&A at Oxford Union 3/11/2022
watch full interview [45:45] online at YouTube

January 2022 Quotations (53)

"At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can."
~~ Frida Kahlo [1907-54]

"Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves."
~~ George Gordon, Lord Byron [1788-1824]

"In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot."
~~ Mark Twain [1835-1910]

"Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!"
~~ George Washington [1732-99], in 1779

"Consciousness is an intellectual illusion."
~~ philosopher Daniel Dennett

"No amount of trouble outside the home can crush you if things are right at home; and no amount of success outside the home can satisfy you if things aren’t right at home."
~~ John Fogg of North Garden, VA

"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."
~~ Isaac Asimov [1920-92]

He warned his fiancée, Amélie Parayre, whom he married in 1898, when he was twenty-eight, “I love you dearly, mademoiselle; but I shall always love painting more."
~~ Henri Matisse [1869-1954]

"Life is always either a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope."
~~ Edith Wharton [1862-1937]

"Why not sieze the pleasure at once? How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!"
~~ Jane Austen [1775-1817]

"There is an idiocy in current discourse, which calls things about which people can be angry or mistaken ‘controversial’."
~~ author & film critic Renata Adler, in 1972

"[America is] really just a nation of [340] million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns, and no qualms at all about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable."
~~ gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson [1937-2005]

"I think we should throw those [29] books in a fire."
~~ Rabih Abuismail, Spotsylvania County, Virginia school board member, after the board unanimously passed a resolution to remove certain books (including fiction about teens struggling to overcome sexual abuse) from a high school library in November 2021; board member Kirk Twigg seconded the idea

"When good Americans die, they go to heaven; if they've been very good, they go to Paris."
~~ paraphrase of Oscar Wilde [1854-1900]
"Good Americans, when they die, go to Paris."
~~ American artist Thomas Gold Appleton [1812-84]

"Anti-racist work - ridding our schools of anti-Blackness, for example - will require that all children are taught historical truths to understand how racism impacts our society, while being empowered with the tools to eradicate it. Liberation for our society means liberating all peoples."
~~ education writer Rann Miller in 11-2021

"All I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by."
~~ from the poem "Sea-Fever" [1916] by John Masefield [1878-1967]

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever."
~~ from the poem "Endymion: A Poetic Romance" [1817] by John Keats [1795-1821]

"Round the world and home again, that's the sailor's way!"
~~ from the poem "Homeward Bound" [1866] by William Allingham [1824-89]

"Listen, you little wiseacre: I'm smart, you're dumb; I'm big, you're little; I'm right, you're wrong, and there's nothing you can do about it."
~~ character Harry Wormwood, as written by Roald Dahl [1916-90]

"The real immigration crisis in New Mexico is all the fools imported from Texas to the southern part of the state."
~~ G.E. Nordell

"The job of the artist is to always deepen the mystery."
~~ Sir Francis Bacon [1561-1626]

"No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says: He is always convinced that it says what he means."
~~ George Bernard Shaw [1856-1950]

"Procrastination is a great labor-saving device."
~~ G.E. Nordell

"There will be no recovery from this crisis until the Republican Party recommits itself to democracy."
~~ David Frum, in The Atlantic Magazine

"The highest form of human intelligence is to observe yourself without judgment."
~~ Jiddu Krishnamurti [1895-1986]

"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man [that] I know."
~~ Abraham Lincoln [1809-65]

"There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure."
~~ Jack E. Leonard [1910-73]

"They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge."
~~ Cong. Thomas Brackett Reed [1839-1902]

"[Richard Nixon] inherited some good instincts from his Quaker forebears, but by diligent hard work, he overcame them."
~~ author James Reston

"Don't let criticism destroy your dreams. The only person who never makes a mistake is someone who does nothing."
~~ Albert Einstein [1879-1955]

"Procrastinate wisely."
~~ The Atlantic Magazine

"[The year] 2020 was singularly awful, with the devastation caused by COVID-19 and the birth of the Big Lie Movement, led by the disgraced and deranged Donald Trump."
~~ Bill Leuders, editor at The Progressive Magazine

"Coca-Cola is the only business in the world where no matter which country or town or village you are in, if someone asks what do you do,
and you say you work for Coca-Cola, you never have to answer the question, What is that?"
~~ Muhtar Kent, chairman & CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, 2008-2017

"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge'."
~~ Isaac Asimov [1920-92]

"The question is not what you look at, but what you see."
~~ Henry David Thoreau [1817-62]

"If without stories we live not, stories live not without us."
~~ Phyllis Trible, Old Testament scholar

"The best films are effectively real life wrapped in metaphor."
~~ film director Travis Knight

"You have two lives, the second one begins when you realize you only have one."
~~ Chinese philosopher Confucius [551-479 BCE]

"I'm not into that one night thing. I think a person should get to know someone and even be in love with them before you use and degrade them."
~~ entertainer Steve Martin

"One way or another every human being is unique, for better or for worse."
~~ Roald Dahl [1916-90]

"Republicans are using every dirty trick in the books to stem the tide of democracy and cling to power."
~~ Congresswoman Veronica Escobar [Dem TX-16]

"Over the next three to four weeks, we are going to see the number of [COVID-19] cases in this country rise so dramatically that we're gonna have a hard time keeping everyday life operating."
~~ Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy - in late 2021

"A watched clock never boils."
~~ G.E. Nordell

"That's part of your problem: you haven't seen enough movies. All of life's riddles are answered in the movies."
~~ entertainer Steve Martin {as Davis} in the movie "Grand Canyon" [1991]

"There is no elevator to cool . . . you have to take the stairs!"
~~ Baldo comic strip [est. 2000] by Cantú & Castellanos

"And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings."
~~ Meister Eckhart [1260?-1328?]

"The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it. Power is what all messiahs really seek: not the chance to serve. This is true even of the pious brethren who carry the gospel to foreign parts."
~~ H.L. Mencken [1880-1956]

"Are any of you still doubting the Climate Crisis? As predicted - by Science - the problem goes beyond hot spells, drought, dying species, and melted glaciers to weather phenomena being bigger and stronger and of longer duration. Funny that folks are 'surprised', you should expect MORE and WORSE, just like Greta has been saying for years now (while our 'leaders' continue doing nothing but talk)."
~~ G.E. Nordell

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
~~ Socrates [470?-399 BCE]

"With Chris Wallace leaving, Homer Simpson is now the smartest person on Fox."
~~ Tracey Edwards

"[Marjorie Taylor Greene] is bat-shit crazy. But she’s going to Congress."
~~ evangelical conservative commentator Erick Erickson, during her first campaign

"People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be."
~~ Abraham Lincoln [1809-65]

{each set of posted quotations are then posted at the Working Minds website, alphabetical by author}