Democracy is only as free as its citizens’ minds. Without the education and critical thinking to understand what’s at stake, the people don’t govern, they get governed. That’s the shared claim of Aristotle’s “democratic education” and Sagan’s “otherwise the government runs us” are the same argument.

Statistical analyses indicate that motorists face roughly 500 times more crime than transit passengers when accounting for exposure (trips, miles, or hours). While the types of crime differ—transit riders are more susceptible to theft of personal items like wallets or phones, whereas drivers face higher risks of vehicle theft, vandalism, and road rage incidents—the overall risk of victimization is far lower on public transportation.

I wondered if the type of crime, in-person vs not, explains the perception.

Forty five thousand votes lol!!

Agreed the cuts are wrong and Harris would not have done, but critical things should have gotten other funding, other countries step up to fill in for what’s so important, once maga ruined it all, and it should be known not to trust the usa anymore.

The best states have healthcare for all incomes, as best they can in the current broken system. They also have other healthy values like school meals for all, right to repair laws, and paid sick and family leave. Once people are not trapped by the artificial scarcity, or even understand it all better, we can make better decisions and be happier, healthier, which improves society overall.

Check out Mr. Money Mustache and related resources, like this one, https://livingafi.com/2014/01/21/how-to-live-in-corporate-prison/. That guy did go back to work, due to unexpected divorce and health issues that changed the math. Still lots of good posts on bad workplaces, how to deal with work in healthier ways, and navigating stages of his life was relatable.

With a do-over, I would have picked 100% growth fund in the 401k from the start. If you want some bond funds too, buy them separate, not the target-date or other mixed funds, so you decide which fund type to sell when you want to. Good luck!

There will always be violence as long as so many are stuck in supernatural systems, that have to defeat the other supernatural systems, or variations of their own. All this violence over unfalsifiable stories, like Sagan’s invisible dragon, but no one killed or abused over that story. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/107506-now-what-s-the-difference-between-an-invisible-incorporeal-floating-dragon

They could test fasting insulin and CRP along with the usual blood tests, and see if heading toward health issues and change course, before fasting glucose and A1C show issues. But then they can’t profit for medications and treatments. They can’t profit on healthy lifestyle changes, and the junk food supply chains would lose profits too if people eat better now rather than need meds later and keep eating the junk.

Everyone can see what works best for healthcare, work/life balance and quality of life. It’s not what russia, argentina and maga is doing. More restrictions and harshness is the opposite of what successful countries do and it’s obvious in data, but all these people keep going for the right wing propaganda and ignore the data on how to make a healthy civilization. More of the controlling, just obey us, keep people in scarcity and stress so they don’t realize how much the system screws them over and reject it for what’s healthier for humanity,

They voted to bring,

Suffering to the whole world,

Trillions spent to hurt

Needed therapy,

His daddy mean and no love,

Now nazis kidnap

The benign parts come along with other parts that do hurt people by not allowing their full humanity, and blame supernatural for real world problems that we can improve, but not if blamed on supernatural. Some say they are skeptics, but that’s not true. Real skeptics are like Sagan and his kit to detect baloney. They are the opposite and really need the truth in his books. Once we know how to live better but some still subject innocent people to the unhealthy ways, it’s inhumane. Half the population in some countries are still unable to ever self-actualize. Countless geniuses to help solve our problems, kept from their potential and freedom as all humans deserve.

Climate refugee crisis requires mass cooperation, but as long as people are indoctrinated to dig in deeper to supernatural and other unfalsifiable trenches, tribalism, it won’t happen in time, and the suffering will be worse than it could have been. Greedy company profits drives a lot of the issues and part of the high-control system problem, but lots of people can’t wait for the end to their suffering, with a supernatural reward that doesn’t exist. The systems were to benefit those with the wealth and power, in this one existence, the one chance to actually experience the cosmos as conscious stardust.

That’s what they’ve been indoctrinated to believe, and most people never question this controlling system that demands low-level thinking, or any of the others. They just want to fit in and go with the flow, and thinking is too hard so they want catchphrases to obliviously go through life thinking they are the chosen ones, special, etc. It’s the same difference between authoritarian politics and progressive. One demands obedience to supernatural or other unproven things and the other follows the evidence of what helps humanity, reduce suffering for the most in data backed ways. We update information as we discover new things.

The truth will set us free, if enough would believe it. We’re all waves of one ocean, made of stardust, the cosmos observing itself, DNA that survived all the extinction events to have this level of awareness and technology, but might cause its own extinction, or at least for billions of people born in the wrong places and w/o enough wealth. The controlling systems won’t give up their wealth and power, they’ve had it since the first supernatural stories were used by them and they worked so well, still used today to control the masses.

With running mate, Lumpy Pillows, will win bigly!

Data breach by xai, of Swiss ID system exposed data of millions of teens!

some future headline

What’s so unhealthy is that none of it is a rock, but the very sand they warn about, how convenient, projection been going on a long time! Same with all the other supernatural systems that preceded it by thousands of years and that came after. It’s a compilation of what worked best for men in power to keep it, and supernatural stories controlled people better than force alone.

Other tricks they use to keep people hooked, indoctrinate from birth, offer belonging*, simplify thinking with phrases to repeat, must say/think the right words for alleged, but no proof of later reward, fear/reward cycle, cortisol, dopamine, oxytocin, guilt/shame/blame and they are the only one that can fix it, how convenient! It’s been used for so long most think it’s good to not have healthy skepticism and encourage curiosity and growth, transcend the ego control. Real truth sets us free from the low-level thinking and high-control and associated unhealthy ways. Big claims require big proof as Sagan said. We are waves of one ocean made of stardust, the cosmos observing itself, for this short time, nothing after, nothing to balance the ledger of suffering now.

*conditional

Model what works elsewhere and do more of this, to reduce wait times and costs and more good wage and secure jobs:

A study of 39 countries found that 69% have implemented “task shifting” from physicians to nurses or other advanced practitioners. Most developed health systems already do this to some degree. The U.S. is actually unusual in how much it restricts NP/PA scope of practice at the state level.

I hope Aldi’s grass fed beef is safe. And subsidizing Argentina and their failing system, liberated from quality assurance and other pesky democratic things. Understand the food safety laws in the usa and who forced federal action to protect, The People, from greedy companies that literally killed and blinded people.

It’s also shown when people have enough, crime goes down, quality of life goes up, artificial scarcity anxiety goes down. Hmm, so then the for-profit prisons won’t be full and workers will have more bandwidth to question why they don’t get more of the pie, like people in other wealthy countries do, more stable and wouldn’t ever accept the downgrade to system usa.

What a deplorably designed country that one person can do all this wasteful stuff. Way more wasted by this party than the fraud they like to point out in some places, and no peep on where it’s actually worse. It’s one part of the low-level thinking that high-control groups enforce, to keep people from asking questions and finding the evidence. For example that all the other rich countries pay much less for healthcare with better outcomes, get better worker benefits and satisfaction and all that makes healthier people than the usa system. It shows that they don’t want that for everyone, just them and theirs, the selfish tradition is strong!