YouTube has the video Joe Rogan Experience #1295 – Tulsi Gabbard.

I have only had time to watch 30 or so minutes of this, but it seems to be much more in depth than you are likely to see anywhere else. I don’t agree with every minute of what I have seen, but it has been extremely valuable to hear it so far. I am stopping now, or I will be up until 1AM listening to this. I’ll pick up listening to this tomorrow.

May 14, 2019

As I continued to watch this video it seemed to devolve into silly talk. They were discussing the negative impacts of social media as if these problems hadn’t existed in radio, TV, and newspapers before the age of the computer. They decried the internet focus on controversy and evil social influences, as if before the computer age the newspapers were full of reports of all the people that nothing happened to. The history books are not filled with the stories of the billions of people who ever existed to which nothing remarkable ever happened.

To fault people for talking mostly about the unusual is a silly misunderstanding of human nature and of reality. On the other hand, do they notice all the social media threads about what people just ate or what they just cooked?

There may be nuggets of value in the rest of this video, but I am not going to spend my time looking for them.

Jacobin Magazine has the article We Can Do Way Better Than These Guys.

Here is another great article that will change no minds. I’ll pick out a zinger for each target.

First Beto O’Rourke

Drawing on a familiar arsenal of political clichés and performing a painfully contrived rendering of what professional-class Gen-Xers think young people find cool, O’Rourke’s campaign thus far has been like an extended meditation on the true meaning of emptiness — with few policy positions to speak of and little of substance to say about what its leading man actually believes or where he intends to take the country.

Next the article tackles Pete Buttigieg.

Boasting an impeccable resume, boyishly unctuous grin, and no discernible agenda or program to speak of, the mayor of South Bend Indiana was suddenly everywhere.

And lastly, Joe Biden.

His Washington is one of elite camaraderie and locker room fraternity far exceeding anything ever dreamt up by Aaron Sorkin: an ancien régime to be nurtured and preserved by way of endless handshakes and magnanimous compromises between fundamentally decent people, be they milquetoast liberals, militant conservatives, or literal former segregationists. As far as the official narrative is concerned, Biden boasts strong appeal with the real America of hard-working, blue-collar Joes — the sort who toil in the mines and factories by day and toast bipartisanship with Comcast executives at gold-plated fundraisers by night.

Bloomberg has the article How Much Money Do You Need to Be Wealthy in America?.

The exact amount can depend on how old you are.

Rich is relative.

You might be amused by comparing your own situation with these numbers.

I found this self-contradictory statement particularly amusing and typical of the oligarch’s’ news media such as Bloomberg.

While a strong economy and low unemployment are helping consumers stay current on their debt payments, the largest U.S. banks are seeing losses on credit cards outpace those of auto and home loans at a rate not seen in at least 10 years.

Consumers are staying current with their debt, except for credit cards? So what could possibly go wrong with people falling behind in their debts that are charging 20% to 25% or more in interest, and that’s before we even get into the late payment penalty fees?

The Real News Network has the interview Can Biden ‘Make America Moral Again?’.

Biden is countering Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan with “Make America Moral Again.” But bipartisan deals with Strom Thurmond, the crime bill, Anita Hill, and more, shows he lacks the moral high ground. Jacqueline Luqman and Adolph Reed discuss Biden’s record.

Sad to say, these facts probably do not matter to people whose minds have been made up. How do we communicate our own experiences and motivations about this subject without resorting to trying to convince people with facts?

I say this with reference to one of the Sanders campaign volunteer principles.

We don’t argue or debate.

Research has shown that when two people enter an argument or debate, both parties usually come out more committed to their prior beliefs than before. In other words, rational debate is not an effective tool for persuasion. That’s why instead of arguing, we always come back to sharing our own stories and motivations.

We connect by sharing our stories.

We share what motivates us as individuals to vote and volunteer for Bernie Sanders’ campaign. This opens the door for others to resonate with our motivations. Sharing familiar and relatable parts of your own story is key. Talking about your own struggle with student debt or with the healthcare system is much more powerful than an abstract policy argument.

Elephant Journal has the article Gaslighting: The Mind Game Everyone should Know About.

Overall, the main reason for gaslighting is to create a dynamic where the abuser has complete control over their victim so that they are so weak that they are very easy to manipulate.

I took a quick survey around my home office. I found that half of us did not know what gaslighting was.

For those who have not seen the 1944 movie Gaslight, here is a synopsis from Google.

After the death of her famous opera-singing aunt, Paula (Ingrid Bergman) is sent to study in Italy to become a great opera singer as well. While there, she falls in love with the charming Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). The two return to London, and Paula begins to notice strange goings-on: missing pictures, strange footsteps in the night and gaslights that dim without being touched. As she fights to retain her sanity, her new husband’s intentions come into question.