Iced over Phillpen Kill

Much more ice as it's been colder than even a few weeks ago. 

Taken on Saturday January 30, 2021

Masha Gessen

The Anatomy Of Autocracy: Masha Gessen

1/28/21 by NPR

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/118364543
Episode: https://play.podtrac.com/npr-510333/edge1.pod.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/throughline/2021/01/20210128_throughline_final_mix_insurrection__masha_gessen__wads_lw012721_with_gilkey.mp3?awCollectionId=510333&awEpisodeId=960766489&orgId=1&topicId=1136&d=2749&p=510333&story=960766489&t=podcast&e=960766489&size=43886748&ft=pod&f=510333

Russian-born journalist Masha Gessen talks to us about how the rule of the people becomes the rule of the one, the role of the media, and what we can learn about the building blocks of autocracy from the work of philosopher and writer Hannah Arendt, and what history tells us are the ways to dismantle it.

They probably are out to get you. πŸš”

… They probably are out to get you. πŸš”

One of my friends was posting Facebook about their relatives who lives on a farm with lots of guns in Oregon worried that the Joe Biden administration was out to get him. Ask the anti-war protestors, immigrants or people of the Islamic faith, and they are likely share their fate in a recent era of the previous administrations β€” targets of political oppression.

Power can be devious thing. Very few politicians go around, rounding up their enemies, putting them in jail in mass. Instead, they use existing powers to punish those of the other party or ideology through what they claim is a campaign to make society safer, more moral or just. Politicians seek to enact new laws and aggressively use police powers against people who they don’t like. Who gets investigated and punished? Those out of power!

The central truth of political power, is that people seek political power to bully and harm others – namely minorities of all types that are out of power. While wrapped in the flag, patriotism, and doing the moral and just cause, most legislation is about praying on others for political gain. We must defeat the enemy, cheers the politician! While others have a more a positive view of politics, often wrapped in ideology, politics is mostly zero-sum game, where any political gain on one side is a loss for the other side. And usually, the looser aren’t the political class.

What is the solution? Competitive elections and a denouncing of politicians who engage in bullying by defending civil rights. The former President Trump was clearly labeled as a bully and evil, but many on the left engage and embrace many of his tactics. While President Biden hasn’t been as much as a bully so far, we should be watching him, and the Republicans should hold him accountable, denying them votes when he hurts the conservative communities they represent. Likewise, when Republicans take back the White House in future years, Democrats must be a guardians of our freedom. Grid lock is often best for protecting the minority rights, especially it means not taking steps backwards.

Dog Looks Up

I was out snowshoeing with the dog. The snow was deep enough in some places that he had to hop through the snow, and his paw kind of froze up from the cold after a while, but he was fine once they thawed out.

Taken on Sunday January 24, 2010 at Partridge Run Game Management Area.

282 deaths in Albany County from COVID-19

282 deaths in Albany County from COVID-19 … ☠

I was looking at map I made yesterday of COVID cases, which also contain the number of deaths from COVID. I was surprised to see 282 people so far in Albany County have died of COVID, which has increased since the November-December second wave. I had to double check my data. But it was right. In comparison, in 2020 only 15 people were murdered in Albany County, the highest number in many years.

When you look at 282 deaths and divide it into the population of 305,506, it means that 1 in 1,088 Albany County residents have died from COVID. That’s a fairly high margin for any cause of unexpected death, even if you consider the sample to be biased to elderly residents who were likely on their final years. But it’s still a substantial loss, and reminds us how lucky we are to be alive.

With all the talk about violent crime, in 2020 one of the most violent years in recent years, you stood a 1 in 20,367 chance of being murdered. Almost 19 times more people were killed by COVID in the past year then malicious intent. In many ways, COVID is much more random, as most of people murdered knew their assailants which isn’t nearly the case when it comes to COVID.