The art of persuasion or propaganda is a powerful tool used to sway minds to buy a particular brand of deodorant or vote for a particular candidate. A pioneer in the field of public persuasion, Bernays understood that the psychology of groups and of group identity could be used to influence thought. Famously, Bernays conceived of a campaign to promote cigarette smoking to women who were far less likely to smoke than men. The campaign sought to associate smoking with breaking from mores which were perceived as restrictive of women's freedoms and their ability to express womanly desire. Cigarettes were associated with "torches of freedom for women whose feminine desires were increasingly suppressed by their role in the modern world". We are on the cusp of a revolution in the methods of manipulating public opinion and it is AI. While very effective, traditional methods of persuasion relied on group psychology, the new AI powered propaganda will be tailored to each individual. AI has the ability to know much about me personally such as what web sites I visit, what I buy, who I communicate with, what I write on The Current , my emails, what car I drive, where I have been and where I am at any time I have a phone with me. I believe that an individually tailored propaganda will be the most powerful tool yet in the quest to mold public opinion. Based on analytical tools and brute force statistical correlation, AI has the computational might to craft individually persuasive arguments for each of us. I believe this will be an immensely powerful force and as far as I can tell it is in the hands of evil.
It doesn't take AI to track someone. My hearing aid has GPS which no doubt someone knows exactly where I am and probably knows what I say all the time. I told the audiologist one day I heard paper shuffling going on in my head ... I heard it. The audio guy ignored my comment ... I think he knew there could be strange things going on with these hearing aids, the GPS supposedly only used to find a lost hearing aid. Can you believe I can track myself on my iPhone when I'm wearing my hearing aid?
It's even worse. It can do this at a macro level down to the micro level. The hindrance to surveilling everyone and everything on earth is that it's too many parallel inputs, and in the human world you need a person for almost every surveilled thing. Not in the AI world.
In the AI world, all of these pieces of real and non-real time parallel data can be analyzed rapidly by AI. I work in AI for DoD projects, some of them at the experimental end... it's going to be a different world.
At the UCSB Economic Summit last week, a professor showed how they were using AI to analyze every ping from AIS (Automatic Identification System) worldwide to see where shipping had inconsistencies. AIS is the system required on all ships to report their position, heading, course, speed, port of origin, destination, etc... Sometimes the signal is spoofed or goes down for periods weirdly in areas of the seas with enough time to hit a port or conduct a ship to ship transfer with a country that has trade restrictions. They took that data and used satellite imagery to then prove it.
This is an example of large quantities of parallel data that would take an inexecutable amount of humans to look at daily.
(Marine Tracker is a fun website to see where exactly are, all these ships at sea. Plus our very busy SB Channel, even without counting the short seasons for the very few cruise ships who also occasionally ply our waters too.)
I designed VLF narrow-band receivers for Omega Navigation systems back in the 1970's and 80's for Teledyne and Litton. Omega was used for both ship and aircraft navigation which had a bounded error of about 4-5 miles vs. an inertial system with a drift rate error of about 5 miles per each hour of use. VLF navigation uses the space between the earth surface and the ionosphere as a "waveguide," measuring phase changes in signals. As you mention, strange communications occurrences can appear in reception. GPS replaced Omega Nav by the late 1990's. I predict someday China will knock out the GPS satellite constellation ... and then where are we? No more cruise missiles with pinpoint accuracy.
I assume you meant "something that is unwieldy "with AI," and not "without AI." Yes, AI is a data organizer. If I ask about Bill Russell (me), AI returns mostly with info on Bill Russell, the basketball player. If I ask about William Irving Russell, AI still comes up blank. If I ask about my first cousin Gordon Russell, it then talks about him as a prolific soap writer ... spot on. If I ask about William I. Russell, a patent holder (me) ... AI comes up with nothing. To me, AI comes up empty headed a lot. If you're not famous, AI won't find you. Maybe AI is designed for researching only "famous people." If AI doesn't find you mentioned anywhere in its "Hollywood or Politics" searches, you don't exist in the "eyes" of AI. Of course, if AI sifts through specialized data basis, I might be found in one of them, such as working at a specific company. I think AI is spoke of intelligence. I don't see any intelligence, just data organizing of what it goes sifting through.
I have no expectation of privacy for anything I do on my computer. I know whenever I agree to terms of an app I am giving the app access to my data and files. Even if I do not give permission, I have little confidence that my information, habits etc are secure. While this information will not show up in a search, it is available to the Googles of the world and will be used to manipulate my thought. You must agree that google search results are curated in a way that suits the political goals of Google which I doubt match my own. No power that can be wielded for political or financial benefit will go unused. I believe AI can take all my personal information available to my service providers or of the apps to which i have given access to my computer or to others to whom I have given no permission and reduce this to a profile which can be used to personalize the propaganda I receive, the search results I get, the news stories that top my feeds. Yes, this is unwieldy without AI but easy with AI.
Law enforcement (or law destroyers) will have a great time with AI in the future when everyone in the country and/or world is compiled. Compiled meaning all of a person's history ... work, legal infractions, etc. The good thing about AI is hopefully in aiding deterrence of presuming someone's automatically guilty of something, skipping the "due process" stuff for political reasons, etc. AI will eventually be the Wikipedia of everyone. Now is the time to write about yourself so you can go down in history <g>.
Once upon a time, it's kind of like when some grew up with parents that drove a Chevy, offspring won't drive anything else other than a Chevy. Fords are crap. Politics seems to be like cars. Grow up to be a Dem, most likely a Dem for life and Republicans are idiots. Absolutely no logic or common sense applied. If a neighbor is driving a Ford without any problems and your Chevy falls apart each weekend, the Chevy remains as the perfect car. Biases overpower common sense. We are learning this like never before with Trump Derangement Syndrome, or TDS. Trump can do the greatest things for the country and the Dems simply won't admit it. It's frustrating, but that's the way it is.
I don't believe the hypothetical term "extremely destructive" works with Trump. But I feel Republicans are typically much more grounded than Dems, IMO.
I don't know about more grounded, certainly far more disciplined. It seems to me that part of the good, or more often damage, that a president does relates to their personal behavior. On that account, I hold Clinton partially responsible for the Enron scandal, even though he had nothing to to with it, simply because part of the tone he set as president was the "slick willy, I can get away with things" attitude. People take up attitudes and imitate those in power. I've read reports of some of this effect showing up based on Trump's behavior, but don't have solid cases yet. My direct concern about his administration is the erosion of rule of law, following the pattern of Orban in Hungary (my wife is Hungarian and I get some stories about this).
My main concern with Trump is with some of the people he hired to run different operations. For example, Kash Patel wants many of the DC FBI (obviously mostly Dems) to spread out into the field offices. Kash Patel should be starting from the bottom (field offices) where the corruptions is dished out and work from there to the top to find out where the commands to do things starts, IMO. You think anyone at the top is going to admit to anything? My hunch, after observing FBI activity myself, is the FBI moves around their people because of the nefarious crap they get themselves into. The FBI wants to play judge, jury and executioner. I have one or two gray-colored aircraft flying over our house at one time about once a week. We have an FBI field office in our small town. This is where the crap happens.
Trump is not going to be any better than the people he hired. Kash Patel has these piercing eyes, but honestly, I don't think he knows what he's doing. He's a pussy cat inside looking mean outside. I think the old FBI will be able to play Kash like a fiddle.
Trump himself is an interesting character. There's a lot of look-at-me stuff going on with him. Hopefully Trump can direct others and not worry about thinking too much about how well he's doing to impress the masses.
Ya, actually my dad was a GM (Chevy, Oldsmobile) guy. I never owned a Chevy, but owned a Dodge, Ford, Audi and Honda. Could be the 6V battery system in my dad's 1952 Oldsmobile was a constant problem and maybe that's why I stayed away from GM stuff. Of course, the family choices were not always the best. My mother purchased the first year 1960 Corvair and I purchased a 1973 Ford Pinto station wagon, both brand new ... and both models Ralph Nader went after for safety reasons. I like the Resident Alien on Netflix. I'm a volunteer for the first flight to Mars, a no-return trip.
Shot at 30k miles she blew more smoke than my hippie friends behind the music building. I believe they thought they could get away without steel sleeves in an aluminum block. You would think that the faults in this design would have been revealed in testing.
Whenever I read anything written by Henry, I marvel at his ability to see and hear one side of any issue. It’s a trait that makes him blind to irony or hypocrisy. He complains about those with
‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ while simultaneously saying that those who disagree with him are ‘screaming like a banshee’… an unusually calm description from Henry. He claims that each of his positions is well-reasoned and supported by facts. In fact, his positions are always supported by opinion — his opinion. Donald Trump’s son’s are profiting by selling access to their father. That is exactly what Henry accused Joe Biden’s son of doing. If was was outrageous for Hunter then … Nobody is against eliminating Waste and Fraud from government expenditures — but they haven’t actually cut spending by much. And what they have cut hasn’t been fraud. Your team won the election Henry, It was a result that was, by the way, accepted by the other team, a tradition has almost been universally followed for 250 years. Almost. So, for example, since you won, you can dispute the worthiness of USAID, But that doesn’t make it a “Criminal Enterprise’ and it doesn’t justify the gleeful cruelty that accompanied the closure. It is simply not true that everyone who disagrees with you is an “Anti-American protector of killers, drug dealers and rapists.” You don’t need a drink Henry, you need to calm down and try, just a little, to listen with a somewhat open mind to something, that somehow, differs from your preconceptions.
Kind of like this comment "You can make stuff up without consequences. Sort of like CNN and ABC." And he fails to mention Fox - the same outlet that lost nearly 800 million dollars over false vote-rigging claims in 2020 to Dominion. Oh, but I guess that one did have consequences.....
Proof of "false vote rigging" continue to unfold. Hold your fire, TJ. The 2020 election "anomalies" are now high school curriculum exercisesin critical thinking. How or when do we conclude something is "true"?
Thanks Dan, I was thinking the same things as I read Henry's post. And I have nothing against Henry, but I too agree that Henry, stating his positions are supported by facts is by itself just his opinion.
Dan, What is Trump not being open transparent about? Can't suddenly change the goal posts and now accuses DOGE of failure, on your very curious terms. You misrepresent its first phase, which was identification of issues first. Translation into improved efficiencies in government services and cost savings is the next phase and will take a lot more work by both the Executive Office and the Legislature. Why don't you know this?
What is your own agenda to materially distort what is going on right now. Turning this all over to OMB is all part of responsible government functioning. Considering how many years of total neglect and unaccountability that dropped on Trump's lap, I am amazed the DOGE team was able to uncover as much as they have already.
How about everything? That’s what dictators do, they silence the press first. He’s sueing news outlets, local news even. He never really answers questions from reporters, he bullies, insults, and belittles them, he talks over them, he actually talks over everybody. so like I said everything.
I just wish all the people and companies and corporations would not back down. He’s considered a nuisance suit and they just settle and let him have his way. People need to start pushing back and call his bluff.
The voters might’ve known and wanted that in 2024, but as the saying goes, be careful what you wish (vote) for. and now they’re regretting it. They have buyers remorse, and we all have to deal with it.
I suggest that you apply your comments about how others are conditioned and biased to yourself. And if interested, investigate the literature on "heuristics and biases" and "cognitive illusions." I'll also suggest that you go to your local book store and order, or purchase on Amazon, the book Prisons We Choose to Live Inside by Doris Lessing. It's a short book (80 or so pages) that ought to be required reading in every high school.
I view all news media with a jaundiced eye, but certainly trust CNN or NBC far more than FOX or any of the far right outlets. As an Independent who has voted for Republicans and Democrats, I'm appalled by many of the authoritarian practices and policies the current administration is attempting to carry out (do you really believe that ignoring rule of law or suspending habeas corpus is a good idea?). On the other hand, I'm suspending judgment on some of his other actions, which may turn out to be beneficial. I notice that several other commentators here refer to Trump Derangement Syndrome as a condition of liberals, but in my opinion it applies more to MAGA types who think he's God. Reminds me of the story of a man who was suffering from a disfiguring disease but refused the cure, saying "On me, it looks good."
Only missing accusing us of being "cult" members, Burton. Hope you're thinking can come around, by spending more time reading the well-thought out opinion pieces this forum offers. We are human beings, and we don't need a "God" in our lives in the form of any elected official. That quite frankly is crazy talk. Is this your own conclusion, or what you get fed without criticism from others today? Flesh it out what you mean, so we can learn where this accusation comes from. Thx.
I wasn't making a blanket claim, Thomas John has it right--there are cultists on both sides of the aisle. I know some quite reasonable Trump supporters good friends and even a few family members. I also know some Trump haters who I wouldn't want to share a train compartment with. I've already stated my view on the guy. Here's a true story: From about 74 to 82 my father was legislative assistant to a Republican assemblyman from the Palm Springs area. He was a staunch Reagan supporter (I didn't like many of his policies but voted for Reagan as the better choice). Once one of my cousins and her new husband were travelling through Sacramento and stayed overnight with my parents. My cousin and her husband, that entire side of the family, were committed Democrats. As they all sat down to dinner, my father announced "There are two things we're not suppose to talk about at the dinner table--religion and politics. Let's start with politics." That sort of back and forth is sadly missing today, almost everybody has such strong emotional attachments to political positions that most discussions boil down to an angry tennis game of talking points.
BV: Doesn't the real divide really boil down to who pays for what, and why? Which is as old as the John Adams -Thomas Jefferson debates. Big Government vs localized small government. The only modern addition is the role government employee unions now play as a power grabbing unelected fourth branch of government, not covered by our system of check and balances.
Arguing "politics" today is so fruitless, because I think most are not really honest about what in fact is at stake for their own lives personally with this new highly organized and disciplined unionized government employee base which in fact is really pulling the strings at every level of interface with our "government". Too many smoke-screen issues today get used to cover up these much more real agendas. That is my own gut check. Having also been inside and outside of the "system".
Hello Mr. Burton H. Voorhees hopefully of "Computational Analysis of One-Dimensional Cellular Automata (World Scientific Nonlinear Science Series a) by Burton Voorhees (Author)"
It is always good to have an educated person commenting on All-Things-Santa-Barbara and to dissect the Corruption of this Town in an educated manner. Let's us begin our discussion with that mystery of eternal Corruption here in Santa Barbara but also in Washington. Buckle-up it is not pretty. Weblinks on President Biden's Mental Competence revealed>
I doubt that you would be receptive to my views, although if you want to discuss corruption we could start with a 400 million airplane, people buying bitcoins, inside deals right and left, and a multi-billionaire who now is in possession of personal data on every American. BTW, I wouldn't recommend that book of mine you reference, but you might find a later one, The Garden Path, enjoyable.
As lame as your anchor thesis is, even lamer is your concern that Musk has access to Americans personal data. Do you think the richest man in the world is now involved in a scheme to use Americans personal data for his own benefit? Your concerns tell me more about Burton Vhorehouse than they do about Musk. As a Canadian why are you even on this site? Your contributions dumb down this site.
Yup, I guessed right. You get fed your talking points. They are the same yada, yada, yada coming pretty much from all the lips of the loyal opposition these days. Biden is the one who started the Qatar jet deal, Trump just said yes to what was already in the works. Bit coins are part of the currency marketplace today - pays your money and takes your chances. No one is forcing bit coins on anyone. What "inside deals"? No generalities please. And finally you got to sneak in a Musk Derangement slur in to the same sentence. Thanks for sharing, Burton.
BV: Why are you still foisting off your "presumptions" on people you do not even know, unless you remain still wedded to your cartoon versions of today's political divide? "Tremendous trust" is something one would ascribe to a child, yet you toss this out as if you have superior insights about total strangers you have not even met.
I for one am quite cynical about the politics on both sides. It is a pendulum that always swings from being on the inside to earning being on the outside, over and over again. I also honor the power of self-interest as a powerful motivator for anyone's politics. And I abhor dishonesty on both sides.
Calling Trump a "liar" will also get you no where, so don't even bother going down that fruitless path - turn the sound off and watch what happens Don't get distracted by the superficial noise. That can be part of the art of the deal.
Wrong Mr. Voorhees, I am immensely interested in non-linear mathematics which to many years ago I had the pleasure to study under one of my University Professors. What is even more interesting is how this topic, and other classified material, relates to the Corruption and Concealments in Santa Barbara and it all comes back to the Democrat Strangle Hold over Santa Barbara and therefore the pervasive Corruption. Oh, and please do not get me wrong if the Republicans were in control they also would be lining their pockets like both parties in Washington.
Sorry for the misconception. I don't think I'd be qualified to discuss political corruption in terms of non-linear mathematics, my last academic math publications were around ten years ago. Political corruption is certainly something that shows up whatever the political milieu. There was a good book I read some years ago, Systems of Survival by Jane Jacobs. One of her points was that there was a categorical difference between business ethics and political ethics, meaning that any attempt to run a government like a business was doomed to fail, while political ethics invited corruption. Sort of a Catch-22. As Jeff Barton points out (although failing to understand what I'm calling the fallacy of the anchor), I live in Canada (Victoria) and have little familiarity with Santa Barbara politics. Although Santa Barbara is my voting home in the US my ballots usually leave many of the local issues blank.
Hello Mr. Voorhess I am very familiar with your home town of Victoria since
I worked close by, many years ago, Submarine Base Bangor, a highly classified Naval Submarine Base so you and anyone is qualified to discuss Public Corruption especially with your Intellect and higher education.
You see it is all very simple just start looking and opening your eyes around you the Corruption you hit you dead on. For starters I suggest you first read former FBI Executive Tom Parkers eye-opening article on Santa Barbara titled>
"Perceptions of Political Corruption Too Often the Harbingers of Stark Reality"
I especially like Mr. Parkers part on WIRE-TAPPING provided below>
"Upon close inspection by trained investigators, the proscribed relationship between the official and the co-conspirator becomes apparent. It can also surface when those plotting the scheme covertly agree to conceal their being symbiotically joined at their hip pockets. In today’s electronic world of emails and high-speed research, such concealment rarely lasts..."
Let's all have ALITTLE Discussion on our Nice Corrupt Denizens of Society here in Santa Barbara and CALI-LAND MAY WE?
While occupied with local corruption at home, and observing blatant signs of it globally, my main interest these days is in the formation of cooperative groups, how these develop into "rabbit holes" with narratives that are held and strongly defended, usually without much factual basis. How social identity gets tied into biological survival instincts so that questioning a persons beliefs, social attitudes, or tokens of social identity will often be taken as an attack on biological survival and responded to accordingly (even favoring a different sports team). That sort of behavioral information is, in my opinion, essential to go beyond polarized attitudes and knee-jerk reactions. I really do think you would find the Doris Lessing book I suggested (Prisons We Choose to Live Inside) fascinating. Here's a quote that you might think of when watching kids walking about glued to their mobile phones (p.73 in my copy): "We cannot expect a government to say to children something like this: 'You are going to have to live in a world full of mass movements, both religious and political, mass ideas, mass cultures. Every hour of every day you will be deluged with ideas and opinions that are mass produced, and regurgitated, whose only real vitality comes from the power of the mob, slogans, pattern thinking. ...But you are going to be taught how to examine these mass ideas, these apparently pressures, taught how to think for yourself, and choose for yourself. ...Well, no, we cannot expect this kind of thing to be in the curriculum laid down by any state or government currently visible in the world. But parents may talk and teach like this, and certain schools may.'"
My start on a reply seems to have vanished, here we go again. On this site, that discussion would be worthwhile, but I would not be able to contribute much. No time (retired but still working). There is enough corruption here at home to deal with, too. The past 18 months we (residents in my condominium and local neighbors) have been fighting a losing battle against a developer who wants to put up a 14 story high rise in a former parking lot across the street from us. The plan has been opposed by a huge majority of locals as well as by the city planning department but was given an okay by city council on the argument that he helped solve the "missing middle" problem. It doesn't, the building would be luxury condos selling at a high price. Three council members were strongly in favor of it, three were strongly opposed, and the mayor and the other two were weak yes votes. In a local survey 1004 of the 1012 respondents (out of 1962 questionaires sent out) were against, to which one council member said "That means that 950 didn't reply. I assume they were all in favor." Our last chance now is that for the project to go through the local zoning needs to be changed from "single family homes and townhouses, max of 6 stories) and at some point the council will hold a meeting to debate doing this, with public input. So it's letters to the paper and getting presentations ready for that meeting time.
Read the fallacy of the anchor by Voorhees before complimenting on his scholarship. A singularly vapid thesis, Mr V uncovers the subtle fact that people have bias. He should contain his observations to Canada where they might find a more receptive audience.
Society states we need demand to build. The opposition that elects demented to office state no we will build it and demand will follow. Uhh, look over your shoulder at the resurrected Communist Russia and watch people flee to other nations. China builds ghost cities that are now empty, and laughingly states how it will control the world with factories now idling because of a little thing called tariffs. Where is the bravado of the demented voters now?
Love the item here about "Common Sense" tools...... Unfortunately most public school kids today will never get the reference to a founding document that created the nation.
I suggest to the author the next time someone talks about criminal behavior you ask about the Shiffty destroyer of impeachment evidence, and refusal to call up what was a great defense.
Let me know when your picket fence decides to have a BBQ.... I'll bring the soft drinks and hot dogs.
We need to take the gloves off. We are in a civil war. We are undergoing an illegal invasion and judicial coup simultaneously. Nobody knows who the 'autopen' President was for four years that was running our country. The Deep State controls it all and the Republicans and Supreme Court appear to be largely in on it. This is the defining moment for America. We fight back with every means at our disposal, or we permanently lose the country. There will be no second chance. At the very least we will need a new rino free third party to represent us. We only have the uniparty now. We need to immediately ignore Supreme Court suggestions about deportations, eliminate the 60 vote rule, eliminate the filibuster, and stack the supreme court and fight for all we are worth. The only other option is to watch as Democrats do it instead of us. It is going to be done one way or the other. Might as well be our way and our time. America is at stake.
I agree, it's a battle-in-process without guns for now. The Supreme Court is one of the unbelievable instigators of making a real war possibly happen. They must wear Kevlar vests to prevent becoming an 86.
In Santa Barbara, the city politicians will have to hire bodyguards. What's the taxpayer's cost of bodyguards for those city officials bringing down the local governments? I think a bodyguard makes a lot of bucks. All you have to is to become a human steamroller. Just eat fried food and you'll stop a bullet.
Goerge Russell "Seems like a gross overreaction for a relatively minor infraction in my opinion" That is a very astute observation George and better well-founded opinion. The entire CA Judicial Commission Complaint is not the REAL MISCONDUCT by a Country Mile & completely Missing the Barn Yard Door. THINK CONCEALMENT.
Nuthin is ever as it seems. OSS and later CIA Santa Barbara Julia Child THE CHEF>
THE PUPPET MASTERS UNDER THE TABLE - WELCOME TO SANTA BARBARA
LOL...I want some of whatever Henry has been smoking! "And then there’s the convicted felon yarn..." Henry tells us. Excuse me for asking, but wasn't it a jury, not Letitia James, that found Trump guilty of 32 felony counts after a trial where evidence was provided and Trump was given an opportunity to defend himself? I believe that is called "due process" in a nation with the "rule of law." Still waiting for evidence of the jury's verdict in the trial of Kilmar Abrego Garcia - oh, that's right, there wasn't one, because he was accused, arrested, tried, convicted, sentenced, deported, and imprisoned by Trump's "gut feeling" about his guilt. Likewise, gifts to my grandchildren will be limited to only "two dolls" this year, whereas gifts to the Grifter-in-Chief are NOT limited multiple taxpayer funded golf trips and a $400 million flying palace unsuited for use as "Air Force One." Yep, I don't need to make any of this stuff up.
And the solutions they offered up during the four previous years, drove price of sky high, made us the laughingstock around the world, allowed men inside the girls locker room, and enabled them to compete against them on the courts and fields! The Democratic Party is a fractured effing joke!
Great article. I come in contact with a lot of people that say the same ridiculous things and you’re right, it’s hard not to laugh in their faces. TDS is a real thing.
I’ve often wondered about the psyche of liberal orthodoxy and why all the animosity directed at conservatives and our beliefs? Has it gotten personal? A long time ago!
If one analyzes “TDS” in depth , I have come to a few preliminary conclusions, starting with these folks are just unhappy people! It’s kinda like being chosen last for a pick up game of basketball…for life!
When one further digs deeper into the unhinged, vile hatred displayed by the left, it morphs into various political/societal issues, ie environmentalists, marriage “equality “ advocates, social justice warriors to include DEI and Public Union involvement to mention a few of the “America last,” malcontents. All of these groups seem to have a searing anger directed at all things conservative and American exceptionalism in general. Why? That can be a complicated answer, and most likely involving psychoanalysis and lying down on the couch with a mental health professional!
No doubt Trumps brash, in your face, unapologetic, bravado, America first, revolution has torn the unhealed scab off, left over from the Vietnam era and post Watergate mistrust of American political science. Further, Trump by virtue of DOGE and Musk have found all the buried bodies in terms of the hundreds of billions of dollars misused and misappropriated for liberal, lefty causes used for a variety of social causes, favoring those groups and others mentioned above.
Lastly, American celebrities such as Bruce Springsteen, Robert De Niro and others are just the latest examples of a massive public tantrum and “hissy fit” all while airing our dirty laundry from the rooftops. Undoubtedly, there are some deep physiological issues going on here, they have the resources…get some help!
It seems to me that the “vile, unhinged hatred” is on full display on this threads but it is aimed at an obsession with Democrats. Just maybe they disagree with the way things are unfolding…total disrespect for the law and the Constitution, cruel actions toward American citizens, wreckless foreign policy by aligning with Autocrats, amassing grotesque amounts of personal wealth while squeezing people who have little….the list I’d painfully long! Perhaps, just perhaps, there is something to examine there. How does attacking people who are offended by these things further your cause of getting rid of waste and political corruption? Biden has much to be blamed for. Agree…but he’s gone and the real crime family is now in the White House. This has nothing to do with Democrats. Own it. You like it. Half the country disagrees.
Earth to Elaine, come in please! How about when YOUR tribe remained SILENT, allowing a clearly disabled Joe Biden remain as President, embarrassing our Country.! Who was making the decisions? Who was in charge of the Nuclear Codes? Auto pen democracy?
Save your self righteous indignation, your Party is OVER!
…or the other possibility is you’re too stupid to see what has been going on under the one party, Dem State. Maybe you should be the one looking in the mirror!
That’s a mature response!! You do not know me or even if I’m a Democrat, Independent or a disgruntled Republican. Staying focused on the past is not a great strategy for moving forward.
Elon is gone, but DOGE is still there. Wait and see how crazy they get when they start tracing all they have found all the way back to the beneficiaries. It will be a sight to see, and I can’t wait. We better see some people in handcuffs, however where there is going to be a huge backlash toward the Republican Party.
The more they dig, the more they uncover about the last four years the more I am beginning to suspect it was Hilary Clinton running the Biden WH, and not the Obama team. Jake Sullivan was Clinton's longstanding boy toy, not Obama's. Traveled with her all over the world when she was SOS, and was her tech guru who set up her rogue email systems in her home closets. Then poof, this kid rises to the top of the Biden administration? Something is still not adding up about who in fact was President Auto-Pen from Day One.
SCOTUS grants a win of ‘due process’ to violent illegal criminal Venezuelan gangs. FBI’s Comey promotes ‘elimination’ of an elected US president. Are US citizens getting gigged again? ✔️victims to illegal alien crimes; ✔️footing the cost$ of ‘due process’ for the criminal illegals; ✔️forfeit constitutional protection from enemies foreign (gangs) or domestic (Comey). PS. These gangs ignored ‘due process’ to get inside the US and didn’t come here to pick strawberries. Their crimes: (rape, drug smuggling, human trafficking, theft, murder, assault, robbery … you name it!). BravO to Justices Thomas and Alito for their defense of the US citizen.
The Bible says that when a man digs a pit he will fall into it. Well, it's easy to draw a comparison to the "pit" the Democratic Party has dug...and we are watching them fall into it every day. I keep thinking they will "see" the pit, but apparently TDS also blinds those affected. At this moment there is not one notable effort by the Dems to turn back and choose a new path. It's crash and burn daily for the blind. Personally, each day I'm grateful the Almighty choose Donald J. Trump to be our leader. As always Henry, you are "spot on" with your article...thank you for your voice and this platform. Blessings
Henry I have a question. So you’re saying that to learn how to use “our” common sense we need to use “your” common sense skills. Wouldn’t that mean we would end up thinking like you and believing anything?
Actually, any comment on Facebook or X opens doors into the minds of readers who respond, good and bad. Glad you’re happy when you write about whatever.
You’re right about the digital world. Anyone can say what they want, even if it’s baseless nonsense, except there can be consequences, as Fox entertainment found out. $787 million worth. Had to change their name from Fox News to Fox entertainment, due to the baseless nonsense and lies they spew out on a daily basis. I’m surprised they didn’t poke anybody’s eyes out with all their Pinocchio noses.
It’s not interesting to see how some “intellects” twist and turn things to suit whatever they believe to be true, it’s a travesty.
You referenced someone who referenced you, saying, I’m assuming about trump, “uneducated, convicted felon, dictator, democracy in danger”, that could be me because I constantly say that. I’ve been saying it since his first term. Which proves true more and more every day. I don’t need CNN to tell me, I actually don’t watch CNN not sure when their news hour is on.
“He’s unfit to be president of this country” it sounds like something I’ve also said over and over, and there’s a chorus across the nation saying the same thing. Even on Biden’s worst day, the country was never in constant chaos like it seems to be on a daily basis now.
Yes, I’ve also said he wants to rule like a king, a dictator where he’s never questioned no matter what he says or does. He’s trying to silence the media. Yes, he’s a racist, take your blinders off. He’s working on whitewashing our nation, you can bet some of your “smart” voters are having voters regret.
He is selling access to the presidency to wealthy donors and corporations, right out in the open now. Everybody sees it, except you “smart” people, the magas see it because they’re just like him so they don’t really care. Oh yes, he was close to broke at one time, why do you think he refused to show his tax returns.
Biden had to give pardons to people he knew would face retribution from thin skinned trump. Look at all the people he’s gone after in just 4 months. As for trump conducting government business with full transparency? That’s a really big laugh. His little press nazi is always throwing people out of the pressroom or banning them. If she doesn’t like their questions, or if she doesn’t have a truthful answer, or even an answer it’s always “it’s classified”. trump bullies the, when they’re asking him tough questions or questions he doesn’t like. He calls them names and tries to belittle them. Transparent, my foot.
trump, saving money? You mean the illegal deportation flights, the $6 million paid to the prison in El Salvador, flights back-and-forth to Qatar-a-lago, constant golfing trips, at millions a pop, over 10 million in under three months, upcoming parade, the retrofit for his flying palace, which we the taxpayers will pay for, but baby trump saw a new shiny object, so he wanted it, the $5 million settlement to insurrectionist Ashley Babbitt’s family, The 2 new additional flag poles for each side of the White House, it already has one sitting right on top of it, there’s so much more. How has any of this helped with peoples groceries?
By the way, some of us are on this website to annoy the bejesus out of you “smart” people. At some point you “smart” people wearing blinders, will need to take them off and face the truth.
Right on Mr. Schultz! We have a few TDS sufferers in our extended family that are making ridiculous claims:
1) Trump is going to deport all the gays. Seriously are you really believing that lie after 4 solid years of Trump? Trump who hosted a gay wedding at Mar a Lago?
2) My 9 year old great niece told me that cats & babies hate Trump and that’s because he’s evil! Her Pink pussy hat Amherst graduate mother told her that.
and now the leftist California legislature is trying to block a proposal to make it a felony to solicit sex with minors 16 and 17 years old. this is mainly supported by gay men.
The art of persuasion or propaganda is a powerful tool used to sway minds to buy a particular brand of deodorant or vote for a particular candidate. A pioneer in the field of public persuasion, Bernays understood that the psychology of groups and of group identity could be used to influence thought. Famously, Bernays conceived of a campaign to promote cigarette smoking to women who were far less likely to smoke than men. The campaign sought to associate smoking with breaking from mores which were perceived as restrictive of women's freedoms and their ability to express womanly desire. Cigarettes were associated with "torches of freedom for women whose feminine desires were increasingly suppressed by their role in the modern world". We are on the cusp of a revolution in the methods of manipulating public opinion and it is AI. While very effective, traditional methods of persuasion relied on group psychology, the new AI powered propaganda will be tailored to each individual. AI has the ability to know much about me personally such as what web sites I visit, what I buy, who I communicate with, what I write on The Current , my emails, what car I drive, where I have been and where I am at any time I have a phone with me. I believe that an individually tailored propaganda will be the most powerful tool yet in the quest to mold public opinion. Based on analytical tools and brute force statistical correlation, AI has the computational might to craft individually persuasive arguments for each of us. I believe this will be an immensely powerful force and as far as I can tell it is in the hands of evil.
Jeff Barton you have that DEAD ON " I believe this will be an immensely powerful force and as far as I can tell it is in the hands of evil."
Go look at my recent post today for ALITTLE EVIL IN SANTA BARBARA
and THE ART OF PERSUASION ain't like the ART OF THE DEAL.
It doesn't take AI to track someone. My hearing aid has GPS which no doubt someone knows exactly where I am and probably knows what I say all the time. I told the audiologist one day I heard paper shuffling going on in my head ... I heard it. The audio guy ignored my comment ... I think he knew there could be strange things going on with these hearing aids, the GPS supposedly only used to find a lost hearing aid. Can you believe I can track myself on my iPhone when I'm wearing my hearing aid?
The strength of AI is that it can take myriad data already available and analyze it for each individual. Something that is unwieldy without AI.
It's even worse. It can do this at a macro level down to the micro level. The hindrance to surveilling everyone and everything on earth is that it's too many parallel inputs, and in the human world you need a person for almost every surveilled thing. Not in the AI world.
In the AI world, all of these pieces of real and non-real time parallel data can be analyzed rapidly by AI. I work in AI for DoD projects, some of them at the experimental end... it's going to be a different world.
At the UCSB Economic Summit last week, a professor showed how they were using AI to analyze every ping from AIS (Automatic Identification System) worldwide to see where shipping had inconsistencies. AIS is the system required on all ships to report their position, heading, course, speed, port of origin, destination, etc... Sometimes the signal is spoofed or goes down for periods weirdly in areas of the seas with enough time to hit a port or conduct a ship to ship transfer with a country that has trade restrictions. They took that data and used satellite imagery to then prove it.
This is an example of large quantities of parallel data that would take an inexecutable amount of humans to look at daily.
(Marine Tracker is a fun website to see where exactly are, all these ships at sea. Plus our very busy SB Channel, even without counting the short seasons for the very few cruise ships who also occasionally ply our waters too.)
I designed VLF narrow-band receivers for Omega Navigation systems back in the 1970's and 80's for Teledyne and Litton. Omega was used for both ship and aircraft navigation which had a bounded error of about 4-5 miles vs. an inertial system with a drift rate error of about 5 miles per each hour of use. VLF navigation uses the space between the earth surface and the ionosphere as a "waveguide," measuring phase changes in signals. As you mention, strange communications occurrences can appear in reception. GPS replaced Omega Nav by the late 1990's. I predict someday China will knock out the GPS satellite constellation ... and then where are we? No more cruise missiles with pinpoint accuracy.
I assume you meant "something that is unwieldy "with AI," and not "without AI." Yes, AI is a data organizer. If I ask about Bill Russell (me), AI returns mostly with info on Bill Russell, the basketball player. If I ask about William Irving Russell, AI still comes up blank. If I ask about my first cousin Gordon Russell, it then talks about him as a prolific soap writer ... spot on. If I ask about William I. Russell, a patent holder (me) ... AI comes up with nothing. To me, AI comes up empty headed a lot. If you're not famous, AI won't find you. Maybe AI is designed for researching only "famous people." If AI doesn't find you mentioned anywhere in its "Hollywood or Politics" searches, you don't exist in the "eyes" of AI. Of course, if AI sifts through specialized data basis, I might be found in one of them, such as working at a specific company. I think AI is spoke of intelligence. I don't see any intelligence, just data organizing of what it goes sifting through.
I have no expectation of privacy for anything I do on my computer. I know whenever I agree to terms of an app I am giving the app access to my data and files. Even if I do not give permission, I have little confidence that my information, habits etc are secure. While this information will not show up in a search, it is available to the Googles of the world and will be used to manipulate my thought. You must agree that google search results are curated in a way that suits the political goals of Google which I doubt match my own. No power that can be wielded for political or financial benefit will go unused. I believe AI can take all my personal information available to my service providers or of the apps to which i have given access to my computer or to others to whom I have given no permission and reduce this to a profile which can be used to personalize the propaganda I receive, the search results I get, the news stories that top my feeds. Yes, this is unwieldy without AI but easy with AI.
Law enforcement (or law destroyers) will have a great time with AI in the future when everyone in the country and/or world is compiled. Compiled meaning all of a person's history ... work, legal infractions, etc. The good thing about AI is hopefully in aiding deterrence of presuming someone's automatically guilty of something, skipping the "due process" stuff for political reasons, etc. AI will eventually be the Wikipedia of everyone. Now is the time to write about yourself so you can go down in history <g>.
Once upon a time, it's kind of like when some grew up with parents that drove a Chevy, offspring won't drive anything else other than a Chevy. Fords are crap. Politics seems to be like cars. Grow up to be a Dem, most likely a Dem for life and Republicans are idiots. Absolutely no logic or common sense applied. If a neighbor is driving a Ford without any problems and your Chevy falls apart each weekend, the Chevy remains as the perfect car. Biases overpower common sense. We are learning this like never before with Trump Derangement Syndrome, or TDS. Trump can do the greatest things for the country and the Dems simply won't admit it. It's frustrating, but that's the way it is.
Ford is definitely better. You would have to be stupid to buy a Chevy.
Trump could also do things that are extremely destructive and Republicans would refuse to admit it.
I don't believe the hypothetical term "extremely destructive" works with Trump. But I feel Republicans are typically much more grounded than Dems, IMO.
I don't know about more grounded, certainly far more disciplined. It seems to me that part of the good, or more often damage, that a president does relates to their personal behavior. On that account, I hold Clinton partially responsible for the Enron scandal, even though he had nothing to to with it, simply because part of the tone he set as president was the "slick willy, I can get away with things" attitude. People take up attitudes and imitate those in power. I've read reports of some of this effect showing up based on Trump's behavior, but don't have solid cases yet. My direct concern about his administration is the erosion of rule of law, following the pattern of Orban in Hungary (my wife is Hungarian and I get some stories about this).
My main concern with Trump is with some of the people he hired to run different operations. For example, Kash Patel wants many of the DC FBI (obviously mostly Dems) to spread out into the field offices. Kash Patel should be starting from the bottom (field offices) where the corruptions is dished out and work from there to the top to find out where the commands to do things starts, IMO. You think anyone at the top is going to admit to anything? My hunch, after observing FBI activity myself, is the FBI moves around their people because of the nefarious crap they get themselves into. The FBI wants to play judge, jury and executioner. I have one or two gray-colored aircraft flying over our house at one time about once a week. We have an FBI field office in our small town. This is where the crap happens.
Trump is not going to be any better than the people he hired. Kash Patel has these piercing eyes, but honestly, I don't think he knows what he's doing. He's a pussy cat inside looking mean outside. I think the old FBI will be able to play Kash like a fiddle.
Trump himself is an interesting character. There's a lot of look-at-me stuff going on with him. Hopefully Trump can direct others and not worry about thinking too much about how well he's doing to impress the masses.
Bill I think you need to modernize your post, the ole klunky cars meme ain't working.
I like the UFO and Alien screaming memmmey .... gets some real attention.
https://x.com/InterstellarUAP/status/1922385509654946192
"You are NOT Free and ........ God is Real" Not in SANTA BARBARA!!!
Ya, actually my dad was a GM (Chevy, Oldsmobile) guy. I never owned a Chevy, but owned a Dodge, Ford, Audi and Honda. Could be the 6V battery system in my dad's 1952 Oldsmobile was a constant problem and maybe that's why I stayed away from GM stuff. Of course, the family choices were not always the best. My mother purchased the first year 1960 Corvair and I purchased a 1973 Ford Pinto station wagon, both brand new ... and both models Ralph Nader went after for safety reasons. I like the Resident Alien on Netflix. I'm a volunteer for the first flight to Mars, a no-return trip.
My first car being a 1972 Vega soured me on Chevrolet.
The Vega might have had one of the worst designed engines in history.
Or have gotten the Cosworth Vegas. Besides being interesting, they are still worth something today.
Shot at 30k miles she blew more smoke than my hippie friends behind the music building. I believe they thought they could get away without steel sleeves in an aluminum block. You would think that the faults in this design would have been revealed in testing.
Whenever I read anything written by Henry, I marvel at his ability to see and hear one side of any issue. It’s a trait that makes him blind to irony or hypocrisy. He complains about those with
‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ while simultaneously saying that those who disagree with him are ‘screaming like a banshee’… an unusually calm description from Henry. He claims that each of his positions is well-reasoned and supported by facts. In fact, his positions are always supported by opinion — his opinion. Donald Trump’s son’s are profiting by selling access to their father. That is exactly what Henry accused Joe Biden’s son of doing. If was was outrageous for Hunter then … Nobody is against eliminating Waste and Fraud from government expenditures — but they haven’t actually cut spending by much. And what they have cut hasn’t been fraud. Your team won the election Henry, It was a result that was, by the way, accepted by the other team, a tradition has almost been universally followed for 250 years. Almost. So, for example, since you won, you can dispute the worthiness of USAID, But that doesn’t make it a “Criminal Enterprise’ and it doesn’t justify the gleeful cruelty that accompanied the closure. It is simply not true that everyone who disagrees with you is an “Anti-American protector of killers, drug dealers and rapists.” You don’t need a drink Henry, you need to calm down and try, just a little, to listen with a somewhat open mind to something, that somehow, differs from your preconceptions.
Kind of like this comment "You can make stuff up without consequences. Sort of like CNN and ABC." And he fails to mention Fox - the same outlet that lost nearly 800 million dollars over false vote-rigging claims in 2020 to Dominion. Oh, but I guess that one did have consequences.....
Precisely. I heard complaints for years about the problems of MSM. Now Fox is the highest rated 'news' service. It is mainstream.
Yes, Fox is so mainstream now over 20 plus something Fox personalities in Trump's current administration.
Proof of "false vote rigging" continue to unfold. Hold your fire, TJ. The 2020 election "anomalies" are now high school curriculum exercisesin critical thinking. How or when do we conclude something is "true"?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/05/oklahoma-schools-teach-issue-democratic-voter-fraud-students/.
Joan, please, it's Saturday. Pour yourself a drink and enjoy the day. Dan, TJ and I are spot on with our comments.
Feeling a bit peckish today, Dan?
I'm sad, I only get a one sentence reply? I'm used to your multi paragraphs. . .
Balderdash.
Thanks Dan, I was thinking the same things as I read Henry's post. And I have nothing against Henry, but I too agree that Henry, stating his positions are supported by facts is by itself just his opinion.
Thank you for your comment, I just said almost the exact same thing, but I used 10 times more words than you did and you did it eloquentl.
Dan, What is Trump not being open transparent about? Can't suddenly change the goal posts and now accuses DOGE of failure, on your very curious terms. You misrepresent its first phase, which was identification of issues first. Translation into improved efficiencies in government services and cost savings is the next phase and will take a lot more work by both the Executive Office and the Legislature. Why don't you know this?
What is your own agenda to materially distort what is going on right now. Turning this all over to OMB is all part of responsible government functioning. Considering how many years of total neglect and unaccountability that dropped on Trump's lap, I am amazed the DOGE team was able to uncover as much as they have already.
How about everything? That’s what dictators do, they silence the press first. He’s sueing news outlets, local news even. He never really answers questions from reporters, he bullies, insults, and belittles them, he talks over them, he actually talks over everybody. so like I said everything.
I just wish all the people and companies and corporations would not back down. He’s considered a nuisance suit and they just settle and let him have his way. People need to start pushing back and call his bluff.
It is not a bluff. Promises made and promises delivered. This is what voters knew and wanted in 2024. Deal with it.
The voters might’ve known and wanted that in 2024, but as the saying goes, be careful what you wish (vote) for. and now they’re regretting it. They have buyers remorse, and we all have to deal with it.
I suggest that you apply your comments about how others are conditioned and biased to yourself. And if interested, investigate the literature on "heuristics and biases" and "cognitive illusions." I'll also suggest that you go to your local book store and order, or purchase on Amazon, the book Prisons We Choose to Live Inside by Doris Lessing. It's a short book (80 or so pages) that ought to be required reading in every high school.
I view all news media with a jaundiced eye, but certainly trust CNN or NBC far more than FOX or any of the far right outlets. As an Independent who has voted for Republicans and Democrats, I'm appalled by many of the authoritarian practices and policies the current administration is attempting to carry out (do you really believe that ignoring rule of law or suspending habeas corpus is a good idea?). On the other hand, I'm suspending judgment on some of his other actions, which may turn out to be beneficial. I notice that several other commentators here refer to Trump Derangement Syndrome as a condition of liberals, but in my opinion it applies more to MAGA types who think he's God. Reminds me of the story of a man who was suffering from a disfiguring disease but refused the cure, saying "On me, it looks good."
Only missing accusing us of being "cult" members, Burton. Hope you're thinking can come around, by spending more time reading the well-thought out opinion pieces this forum offers. We are human beings, and we don't need a "God" in our lives in the form of any elected official. That quite frankly is crazy talk. Is this your own conclusion, or what you get fed without criticism from others today? Flesh it out what you mean, so we can learn where this accusation comes from. Thx.
I wasn't making a blanket claim, Thomas John has it right--there are cultists on both sides of the aisle. I know some quite reasonable Trump supporters good friends and even a few family members. I also know some Trump haters who I wouldn't want to share a train compartment with. I've already stated my view on the guy. Here's a true story: From about 74 to 82 my father was legislative assistant to a Republican assemblyman from the Palm Springs area. He was a staunch Reagan supporter (I didn't like many of his policies but voted for Reagan as the better choice). Once one of my cousins and her new husband were travelling through Sacramento and stayed overnight with my parents. My cousin and her husband, that entire side of the family, were committed Democrats. As they all sat down to dinner, my father announced "There are two things we're not suppose to talk about at the dinner table--religion and politics. Let's start with politics." That sort of back and forth is sadly missing today, almost everybody has such strong emotional attachments to political positions that most discussions boil down to an angry tennis game of talking points.
BV: Doesn't the real divide really boil down to who pays for what, and why? Which is as old as the John Adams -Thomas Jefferson debates. Big Government vs localized small government. The only modern addition is the role government employee unions now play as a power grabbing unelected fourth branch of government, not covered by our system of check and balances.
Arguing "politics" today is so fruitless, because I think most are not really honest about what in fact is at stake for their own lives personally with this new highly organized and disciplined unionized government employee base which in fact is really pulling the strings at every level of interface with our "government". Too many smoke-screen issues today get used to cover up these much more real agendas. That is my own gut check. Having also been inside and outside of the "system".
Very good point. TDS is alive and well on both sides of the aisle.
Hello Mr. Burton H. Voorhees hopefully of "Computational Analysis of One-Dimensional Cellular Automata (World Scientific Nonlinear Science Series a) by Burton Voorhees (Author)"
It is always good to have an educated person commenting on All-Things-Santa-Barbara and to dissect the Corruption of this Town in an educated manner. Let's us begin our discussion with that mystery of eternal Corruption here in Santa Barbara but also in Washington. Buckle-up it is not pretty. Weblinks on President Biden's Mental Competence revealed>
https://x.com/TomFitton/status/1901960167685497221
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb90PCc7Syw&ab_channel=FoxNews
Well AG Garland has himself a REAL PROBLEM as do Biden's Handlers.
I doubt that you would be receptive to my views, although if you want to discuss corruption we could start with a 400 million airplane, people buying bitcoins, inside deals right and left, and a multi-billionaire who now is in possession of personal data on every American. BTW, I wouldn't recommend that book of mine you reference, but you might find a later one, The Garden Path, enjoyable.
As lame as your anchor thesis is, even lamer is your concern that Musk has access to Americans personal data. Do you think the richest man in the world is now involved in a scheme to use Americans personal data for his own benefit? Your concerns tell me more about Burton Vhorehouse than they do about Musk. As a Canadian why are you even on this site? Your contributions dumb down this site.
Violence (and your language is violence) is the last resort of the incompetent. Bye.
Yup, I guessed right. You get fed your talking points. They are the same yada, yada, yada coming pretty much from all the lips of the loyal opposition these days. Biden is the one who started the Qatar jet deal, Trump just said yes to what was already in the works. Bit coins are part of the currency marketplace today - pays your money and takes your chances. No one is forcing bit coins on anyone. What "inside deals"? No generalities please. And finally you got to sneak in a Musk Derangement slur in to the same sentence. Thanks for sharing, Burton.
We certainly disagree. I'm interested to see your tremendous trust in the current powers that be.
BV: Why are you still foisting off your "presumptions" on people you do not even know, unless you remain still wedded to your cartoon versions of today's political divide? "Tremendous trust" is something one would ascribe to a child, yet you toss this out as if you have superior insights about total strangers you have not even met.
I for one am quite cynical about the politics on both sides. It is a pendulum that always swings from being on the inside to earning being on the outside, over and over again. I also honor the power of self-interest as a powerful motivator for anyone's politics. And I abhor dishonesty on both sides.
Calling Trump a "liar" will also get you no where, so don't even bother going down that fruitless path - turn the sound off and watch what happens Don't get distracted by the superficial noise. That can be part of the art of the deal.
Wrong Mr. Voorhees, I am immensely interested in non-linear mathematics which to many years ago I had the pleasure to study under one of my University Professors. What is even more interesting is how this topic, and other classified material, relates to the Corruption and Concealments in Santa Barbara and it all comes back to the Democrat Strangle Hold over Santa Barbara and therefore the pervasive Corruption. Oh, and please do not get me wrong if the Republicans were in control they also would be lining their pockets like both parties in Washington.
Sorry for the misconception. I don't think I'd be qualified to discuss political corruption in terms of non-linear mathematics, my last academic math publications were around ten years ago. Political corruption is certainly something that shows up whatever the political milieu. There was a good book I read some years ago, Systems of Survival by Jane Jacobs. One of her points was that there was a categorical difference between business ethics and political ethics, meaning that any attempt to run a government like a business was doomed to fail, while political ethics invited corruption. Sort of a Catch-22. As Jeff Barton points out (although failing to understand what I'm calling the fallacy of the anchor), I live in Canada (Victoria) and have little familiarity with Santa Barbara politics. Although Santa Barbara is my voting home in the US my ballots usually leave many of the local issues blank.
Hello Mr. Voorhess I am very familiar with your home town of Victoria since
I worked close by, many years ago, Submarine Base Bangor, a highly classified Naval Submarine Base so you and anyone is qualified to discuss Public Corruption especially with your Intellect and higher education.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Submarine_Base_Bangor
You see it is all very simple just start looking and opening your eyes around you the Corruption you hit you dead on. For starters I suggest you first read former FBI Executive Tom Parkers eye-opening article on Santa Barbara titled>
"Perceptions of Political Corruption Too Often the Harbingers of Stark Reality"
https://www.independent.com/2020/02/22/perceptions-of-political-corruption/
I especially like Mr. Parkers part on WIRE-TAPPING provided below>
"Upon close inspection by trained investigators, the proscribed relationship between the official and the co-conspirator becomes apparent. It can also surface when those plotting the scheme covertly agree to conceal their being symbiotically joined at their hip pockets. In today’s electronic world of emails and high-speed research, such concealment rarely lasts..."
Let's all have ALITTLE Discussion on our Nice Corrupt Denizens of Society here in Santa Barbara and CALI-LAND MAY WE?
While occupied with local corruption at home, and observing blatant signs of it globally, my main interest these days is in the formation of cooperative groups, how these develop into "rabbit holes" with narratives that are held and strongly defended, usually without much factual basis. How social identity gets tied into biological survival instincts so that questioning a persons beliefs, social attitudes, or tokens of social identity will often be taken as an attack on biological survival and responded to accordingly (even favoring a different sports team). That sort of behavioral information is, in my opinion, essential to go beyond polarized attitudes and knee-jerk reactions. I really do think you would find the Doris Lessing book I suggested (Prisons We Choose to Live Inside) fascinating. Here's a quote that you might think of when watching kids walking about glued to their mobile phones (p.73 in my copy): "We cannot expect a government to say to children something like this: 'You are going to have to live in a world full of mass movements, both religious and political, mass ideas, mass cultures. Every hour of every day you will be deluged with ideas and opinions that are mass produced, and regurgitated, whose only real vitality comes from the power of the mob, slogans, pattern thinking. ...But you are going to be taught how to examine these mass ideas, these apparently pressures, taught how to think for yourself, and choose for yourself. ...Well, no, we cannot expect this kind of thing to be in the curriculum laid down by any state or government currently visible in the world. But parents may talk and teach like this, and certain schools may.'"
My start on a reply seems to have vanished, here we go again. On this site, that discussion would be worthwhile, but I would not be able to contribute much. No time (retired but still working). There is enough corruption here at home to deal with, too. The past 18 months we (residents in my condominium and local neighbors) have been fighting a losing battle against a developer who wants to put up a 14 story high rise in a former parking lot across the street from us. The plan has been opposed by a huge majority of locals as well as by the city planning department but was given an okay by city council on the argument that he helped solve the "missing middle" problem. It doesn't, the building would be luxury condos selling at a high price. Three council members were strongly in favor of it, three were strongly opposed, and the mayor and the other two were weak yes votes. In a local survey 1004 of the 1012 respondents (out of 1962 questionaires sent out) were against, to which one council member said "That means that 950 didn't reply. I assume they were all in favor." Our last chance now is that for the project to go through the local zoning needs to be changed from "single family homes and townhouses, max of 6 stories) and at some point the council will hold a meeting to debate doing this, with public input. So it's letters to the paper and getting presentations ready for that meeting time.
Read the fallacy of the anchor by Voorhees before complimenting on his scholarship. A singularly vapid thesis, Mr V uncovers the subtle fact that people have bias. He should contain his observations to Canada where they might find a more receptive audience.
Thank you. Said better than my attempt!
That was for Burton
Interesting to read this.
Society states we need demand to build. The opposition that elects demented to office state no we will build it and demand will follow. Uhh, look over your shoulder at the resurrected Communist Russia and watch people flee to other nations. China builds ghost cities that are now empty, and laughingly states how it will control the world with factories now idling because of a little thing called tariffs. Where is the bravado of the demented voters now?
Love the item here about "Common Sense" tools...... Unfortunately most public school kids today will never get the reference to a founding document that created the nation.
I suggest to the author the next time someone talks about criminal behavior you ask about the Shiffty destroyer of impeachment evidence, and refusal to call up what was a great defense.
Let me know when your picket fence decides to have a BBQ.... I'll bring the soft drinks and hot dogs.
We need to take the gloves off. We are in a civil war. We are undergoing an illegal invasion and judicial coup simultaneously. Nobody knows who the 'autopen' President was for four years that was running our country. The Deep State controls it all and the Republicans and Supreme Court appear to be largely in on it. This is the defining moment for America. We fight back with every means at our disposal, or we permanently lose the country. There will be no second chance. At the very least we will need a new rino free third party to represent us. We only have the uniparty now. We need to immediately ignore Supreme Court suggestions about deportations, eliminate the 60 vote rule, eliminate the filibuster, and stack the supreme court and fight for all we are worth. The only other option is to watch as Democrats do it instead of us. It is going to be done one way or the other. Might as well be our way and our time. America is at stake.
I agree, it's a battle-in-process without guns for now. The Supreme Court is one of the unbelievable instigators of making a real war possibly happen. They must wear Kevlar vests to prevent becoming an 86.
In Santa Barbara, the city politicians will have to hire bodyguards. What's the taxpayer's cost of bodyguards for those city officials bringing down the local governments? I think a bodyguard makes a lot of bucks. All you have to is to become a human steamroller. Just eat fried food and you'll stop a bullet.
Roger that George "We are undergoing an illegal invasion and judicial coup simultaneously"
For the Judicial Misconduct and COUP look no further than SANTA BABARA and this is Just the Beginning>
Santa Barbara Judge Agrees to Lifetime Ban from Bench Michael Carrozzo to Resign, Accept Severe Public Censure over Alleged Ethical Breaches.
https://www.independent.com/2025/04/22/santa-barbara-judge-agrees-to-lifetime-ban-from-bench/
I read about that. Seems like a gross overreaction for a relatively minor infraction in my opinion.
Goerge Russell "Seems like a gross overreaction for a relatively minor infraction in my opinion" That is a very astute observation George and better well-founded opinion. The entire CA Judicial Commission Complaint is not the REAL MISCONDUCT by a Country Mile & completely Missing the Barn Yard Door. THINK CONCEALMENT.
Nuthin is ever as it seems. OSS and later CIA Santa Barbara Julia Child THE CHEF>
THE PUPPET MASTERS UNDER THE TABLE - WELCOME TO SANTA BARBARA
https://x.com/Koffee_Mark/status/1902499253596946660
LOL...I want some of whatever Henry has been smoking! "And then there’s the convicted felon yarn..." Henry tells us. Excuse me for asking, but wasn't it a jury, not Letitia James, that found Trump guilty of 32 felony counts after a trial where evidence was provided and Trump was given an opportunity to defend himself? I believe that is called "due process" in a nation with the "rule of law." Still waiting for evidence of the jury's verdict in the trial of Kilmar Abrego Garcia - oh, that's right, there wasn't one, because he was accused, arrested, tried, convicted, sentenced, deported, and imprisoned by Trump's "gut feeling" about his guilt. Likewise, gifts to my grandchildren will be limited to only "two dolls" this year, whereas gifts to the Grifter-in-Chief are NOT limited multiple taxpayer funded golf trips and a $400 million flying palace unsuited for use as "Air Force One." Yep, I don't need to make any of this stuff up.
And the solutions they offered up during the four previous years, drove price of sky high, made us the laughingstock around the world, allowed men inside the girls locker room, and enabled them to compete against them on the courts and fields! The Democratic Party is a fractured effing joke!
Great article. I come in contact with a lot of people that say the same ridiculous things and you’re right, it’s hard not to laugh in their faces. TDS is a real thing.
I’ve often wondered about the psyche of liberal orthodoxy and why all the animosity directed at conservatives and our beliefs? Has it gotten personal? A long time ago!
If one analyzes “TDS” in depth , I have come to a few preliminary conclusions, starting with these folks are just unhappy people! It’s kinda like being chosen last for a pick up game of basketball…for life!
When one further digs deeper into the unhinged, vile hatred displayed by the left, it morphs into various political/societal issues, ie environmentalists, marriage “equality “ advocates, social justice warriors to include DEI and Public Union involvement to mention a few of the “America last,” malcontents. All of these groups seem to have a searing anger directed at all things conservative and American exceptionalism in general. Why? That can be a complicated answer, and most likely involving psychoanalysis and lying down on the couch with a mental health professional!
No doubt Trumps brash, in your face, unapologetic, bravado, America first, revolution has torn the unhealed scab off, left over from the Vietnam era and post Watergate mistrust of American political science. Further, Trump by virtue of DOGE and Musk have found all the buried bodies in terms of the hundreds of billions of dollars misused and misappropriated for liberal, lefty causes used for a variety of social causes, favoring those groups and others mentioned above.
Lastly, American celebrities such as Bruce Springsteen, Robert De Niro and others are just the latest examples of a massive public tantrum and “hissy fit” all while airing our dirty laundry from the rooftops. Undoubtedly, there are some deep physiological issues going on here, they have the resources…get some help!
It seems to me that the “vile, unhinged hatred” is on full display on this threads but it is aimed at an obsession with Democrats. Just maybe they disagree with the way things are unfolding…total disrespect for the law and the Constitution, cruel actions toward American citizens, wreckless foreign policy by aligning with Autocrats, amassing grotesque amounts of personal wealth while squeezing people who have little….the list I’d painfully long! Perhaps, just perhaps, there is something to examine there. How does attacking people who are offended by these things further your cause of getting rid of waste and political corruption? Biden has much to be blamed for. Agree…but he’s gone and the real crime family is now in the White House. This has nothing to do with Democrats. Own it. You like it. Half the country disagrees.
Earth to Elaine, come in please! How about when YOUR tribe remained SILENT, allowing a clearly disabled Joe Biden remain as President, embarrassing our Country.! Who was making the decisions? Who was in charge of the Nuclear Codes? Auto pen democracy?
Save your self righteous indignation, your Party is OVER!
You make my point. It is not about that party. Not anymore. Time to look in the mirror!
…or the other possibility is you’re too stupid to see what has been going on under the one party, Dem State. Maybe you should be the one looking in the mirror!
That’s a mature response!! You do not know me or even if I’m a Democrat, Independent or a disgruntled Republican. Staying focused on the past is not a great strategy for moving forward.
Exactly, that’s why we’re staying focused on the future, the past under liberal leadership has been a disaster. Embrace it.
Elon is gone, but DOGE is still there. Wait and see how crazy they get when they start tracing all they have found all the way back to the beneficiaries. It will be a sight to see, and I can’t wait. We better see some people in handcuffs, however where there is going to be a huge backlash toward the Republican Party.
The more they dig, the more they uncover about the last four years the more I am beginning to suspect it was Hilary Clinton running the Biden WH, and not the Obama team. Jake Sullivan was Clinton's longstanding boy toy, not Obama's. Traveled with her all over the world when she was SOS, and was her tech guru who set up her rogue email systems in her home closets. Then poof, this kid rises to the top of the Biden administration? Something is still not adding up about who in fact was President Auto-Pen from Day One.
SCOTUS grants a win of ‘due process’ to violent illegal criminal Venezuelan gangs. FBI’s Comey promotes ‘elimination’ of an elected US president. Are US citizens getting gigged again? ✔️victims to illegal alien crimes; ✔️footing the cost$ of ‘due process’ for the criminal illegals; ✔️forfeit constitutional protection from enemies foreign (gangs) or domestic (Comey). PS. These gangs ignored ‘due process’ to get inside the US and didn’t come here to pick strawberries. Their crimes: (rape, drug smuggling, human trafficking, theft, murder, assault, robbery … you name it!). BravO to Justices Thomas and Alito for their defense of the US citizen.
That’s hitting the nail on the head. A fun read. Thanks
The Bible says that when a man digs a pit he will fall into it. Well, it's easy to draw a comparison to the "pit" the Democratic Party has dug...and we are watching them fall into it every day. I keep thinking they will "see" the pit, but apparently TDS also blinds those affected. At this moment there is not one notable effort by the Dems to turn back and choose a new path. It's crash and burn daily for the blind. Personally, each day I'm grateful the Almighty choose Donald J. Trump to be our leader. As always Henry, you are "spot on" with your article...thank you for your voice and this platform. Blessings
Bingo! All True! We can thank Lin Biao for the ‘Ghost Disease’ (mind virus) that has been put upon America citizens.
What happens when those same corporations are operated and controlled by a political ideology?
What happens when the news is no longer free from bias?
What happens when the news is no longer reliable and independent?
What happens when the news is no longer trustworthy?
What happens when the news simply becomes an extension/arm of a political party?
Fact becomes fiction?
Fiction becomes fact?
When does news become propaganda?
Identity creation?
How does the average person, who is under constant financial stress (by design), find time to research and discern fact v fiction?
Majority of people more prone to believe someone in power sitting behind a big brand ‘news’ name?
Do people [human psyche] tend to follow the ‘majority/mainstream viewpoint’ in fear of being isolated and/or shunned?
‘Mainstream’ is used for a reason [dominate trend in opinion].
[If majority of people believe ‘x’ then ‘x’ must be validated / true]
Why do ‘mainstream’ media heads, within different orgs, always use the same keywords and/or catch phrases?
Coordinated? By who? Outside entity providing instructions?
Do they count on the fact that people [human psyche] are more prone to believe something if heard over-and-over again by different ‘trusted’ sources?
Do ‘echo chamber’ tactics provide validation / credibility to the topic/point being discussed?
Threat to intellectual freedom?
Would control over[of] these institutions/organizations allow for the mass control of a populations viewpoint re: a desired topic?
Infiltration instead of invasion…JFK was on to [them]…thus his murder…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwMl79xrTKI
The Silent War continues…
Henry I have a question. So you’re saying that to learn how to use “our” common sense we need to use “your” common sense skills. Wouldn’t that mean we would end up thinking like you and believing anything?
Actually, any comment on Facebook or X opens doors into the minds of readers who respond, good and bad. Glad you’re happy when you write about whatever.
You’re right about the digital world. Anyone can say what they want, even if it’s baseless nonsense, except there can be consequences, as Fox entertainment found out. $787 million worth. Had to change their name from Fox News to Fox entertainment, due to the baseless nonsense and lies they spew out on a daily basis. I’m surprised they didn’t poke anybody’s eyes out with all their Pinocchio noses.
It’s not interesting to see how some “intellects” twist and turn things to suit whatever they believe to be true, it’s a travesty.
You referenced someone who referenced you, saying, I’m assuming about trump, “uneducated, convicted felon, dictator, democracy in danger”, that could be me because I constantly say that. I’ve been saying it since his first term. Which proves true more and more every day. I don’t need CNN to tell me, I actually don’t watch CNN not sure when their news hour is on.
“He’s unfit to be president of this country” it sounds like something I’ve also said over and over, and there’s a chorus across the nation saying the same thing. Even on Biden’s worst day, the country was never in constant chaos like it seems to be on a daily basis now.
Yes, I’ve also said he wants to rule like a king, a dictator where he’s never questioned no matter what he says or does. He’s trying to silence the media. Yes, he’s a racist, take your blinders off. He’s working on whitewashing our nation, you can bet some of your “smart” voters are having voters regret.
He is selling access to the presidency to wealthy donors and corporations, right out in the open now. Everybody sees it, except you “smart” people, the magas see it because they’re just like him so they don’t really care. Oh yes, he was close to broke at one time, why do you think he refused to show his tax returns.
Biden had to give pardons to people he knew would face retribution from thin skinned trump. Look at all the people he’s gone after in just 4 months. As for trump conducting government business with full transparency? That’s a really big laugh. His little press nazi is always throwing people out of the pressroom or banning them. If she doesn’t like their questions, or if she doesn’t have a truthful answer, or even an answer it’s always “it’s classified”. trump bullies the, when they’re asking him tough questions or questions he doesn’t like. He calls them names and tries to belittle them. Transparent, my foot.
trump, saving money? You mean the illegal deportation flights, the $6 million paid to the prison in El Salvador, flights back-and-forth to Qatar-a-lago, constant golfing trips, at millions a pop, over 10 million in under three months, upcoming parade, the retrofit for his flying palace, which we the taxpayers will pay for, but baby trump saw a new shiny object, so he wanted it, the $5 million settlement to insurrectionist Ashley Babbitt’s family, The 2 new additional flag poles for each side of the White House, it already has one sitting right on top of it, there’s so much more. How has any of this helped with peoples groceries?
By the way, some of us are on this website to annoy the bejesus out of you “smart” people. At some point you “smart” people wearing blinders, will need to take them off and face the truth.
It’s unpatriotic.
Right on Mr. Schultz! We have a few TDS sufferers in our extended family that are making ridiculous claims:
1) Trump is going to deport all the gays. Seriously are you really believing that lie after 4 solid years of Trump? Trump who hosted a gay wedding at Mar a Lago?
2) My 9 year old great niece told me that cats & babies hate Trump and that’s because he’s evil! Her Pink pussy hat Amherst graduate mother told her that.
and now the leftist California legislature is trying to block a proposal to make it a felony to solicit sex with minors 16 and 17 years old. this is mainly supported by gay men.