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Government Victims

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I was walking by the City of Albany’s Victims Monument. I was thinking it’s odd that government would create a monument to all the people it’s victimized over the years. Seems more like a way to terrorize victims rather then celebrating them.

Maybe though, I have essentially a negative view of the government, mostly consisting of a bunch of patronage workers who are maggots who live off the flesh of society. Who pass and enforce laws not to benefit society but to extract wealth mostly from the colored and the poor.

Map: High Falls Reservior

America Exhibits Predatory Behaviors

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Critics across the political spectrum argue that while the U.S. is not a literal kleptocracy, its systems have been heavily distorted by elite capture. Economist James K. Galbraith popularized the term in his book The Predator State. He argues that modern American conservatism does not actually seek a free market, but has instead built a framework where corporate interests capture government agencies to enrich themselves through:

  • Privatization of Public Wealth: Turning public services (like healthcare, prisons, and student lending) into highly lucrative, guaranteed revenue streams for private corporations.
  • Regressive Tax Structures: Implementing tax codes that systematically favor capital gains and ultra-wealthy individuals over wage earners.
  • Deregulatory Capture: Shaping financial, environmental, and antitrust laws to protect monopoly power and eliminate smaller competitors.

Unlike developing predatory states where corruption involves direct bribery, critics point out that the U.S. has legalized influence-peddling:

  • Campaign Finance: The Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling allows unlimited independent political expenditures by corporations and unions, effectively granting wealthy donors disproportionate influence over legislation.
  • The Lobbying Industry: Massive corporate lobbying operations write complex regulations that create barriers to entry for competitors while securing targeted tax loopholes.

Certain domestic policies are frequently criticized as predatory because they target lower-income demographics to fund municipal or corporate operations:

  • The Carceral State: Utilizing private, for-profit prisons and exploitative prison labor systems.
  • Regressive Regimes: Municipal reliance on criminal fines, civil asset forfeiture, and regressive sales taxes to fund local budgets rather than taxing concentrated wealth.

June 25th 2026 Edition

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You can feel your summer fading fast. I should commit to getting out of town next Tuesday, by taking off Wednesday and Thursday next week.

Truth is I am quite bored and without much of a plan these days. 🥱 See what you need is Better Help, so you can enjoy your summer, along with a lot of plastic and weekly garbage service, a 25-year old Honda Civic and a plastic house. I heard those burn good on the brush piles, 🔥 according to TikTok.

Well if I do go north next Tuesday, I should be a few days into my adventure at this point. 🏊‍♂️ I may need to replace my camp stove again, the burners are falling apart on yet another unit I own. I just hate more trash, especially the crap I can’t burn on up. I could order new burners but they are probably nearly the price of a stove. And I need to get the USB ports and some lights wired up in the truck cap this weekend, along with hooking up the batteries 🪫 and solar. Get fireworks, gas, and supplies. And bacon on Tuesday. 🥓

Maybe it will be all better once I get away from it next Tuesday. 🤪 It’s just been so crazy lately, and I don’t know why I stay involved in all this nutty shit. But then again, I was up to 1 AM last night on Primary Night in dungeon, got home, had trouble sleeping, and woke up at 5 AM with police sirens 🚨 and then I had to cook down beans, and rice and lentils down. And catch the bus in. 🚲 Today looks good enough to ride in, which until the latest forecast didn’t seem likely. Might get wet on the way home, but whatever.

I am just a bit annoyed I had to dip into my emergency savings account 🥤 to cover my rent this month, because it seems like a lot more money is going out then coming in. But alas, it is ultimately a three-paycheck month, and I do pay too much in taxes and probably are over for 457 account, so I’ll max that out by November this year and have more money at the end of year. 💵 I should reduce my withholding. A lot of cost is just residual for the truck and camper set up. Things will go down, and summer vacation should be less expensive now that I’m just going out to Finger Lakes and gas prices are coming down. ⛽ I still want to get north, not just to burn shit 🔥 but so I can get away and see if I can get some of my sanity back. But what you need is Better Help.

The planning board meeting last night I was at 🧑‍⚖️ was particularly obnoxious, or maybe I was just tired. 😩 But I don’t think the idea of SEQRA reform was to exempt all new projects from environmental review 🦋 despite what the planning board chairman claimed. I was kind of annoyed, but really tired. Being that I only got fours of sleep the previous night. But the bike ride today to work should be good, 🚲 even if I do get wet on the way home. I’ve been busing it to work too much lately. Need to get a bus pass so I’m not relying on my phone all of the time. Finally getting back to wilderness will be nice next week.

I don’t really have a plan. 📋 There are different options, maybe head up to Speculator on Tuesday and camp somewhere along the East Branch, Perkins Clearing or the Speculator Tree Farm. Hang out in Speculator until Friday. Though I kind of want to get deeper in the wilderness, more like Piseco-Powley Road, the Potholers are appealing. Then maybe head to Moose River Plain for Independence Weekend? 🇺🇸 I really don’t know, it’s been a long time since I’ve been to MRP and I kind of want to camp somewhere a bit wilder where I can have music, smoke a lot of dope, swim, paddle, and ride my mountain bike. There is a lot of places I could ride at MRP for sure. Potholers and floating in the East Canada Creek is kind of appealing though too. Late enough in summer 🐜 the black flies should be gone, and the deer fly should be thining out too. Get some audio book and regular e-books, 📚 especially on Hoopla which work good when downloaded ffline without cell service. But mostly just a lot of time laying back in hammock.

In the subsequent weekends, 🏕️ I do want to get out to Schoharie for Mine Kill Pool 🏊‍♂️ and some other areas, and probably the July 29th or 30th head out to Finger Lakes. I am kind of disappointed 😔 and bored with antoher summer vacation in the Finger Lakes but cash is tight, 💷 and at this point I’m just tired and want something easy, 🍳and Chicken Coop Road at a home base home 🪹 seems like a good way for a summer vacation with lots of reading 📚 and just hanging out away from it all. I feel surprisingly burnt out at this point, but it’s been a tough few months, and this has been along week. 🚲 But it should at any rate be a good bike ride in this morning, and hopefully not too bad later and I can get some groceries that I badly need. 🥚 Got eggs and milk at Stewart’s, pricey now, but I have a list of other things I could really use to make it through the weekend. Get the supplies need for the camping trip mostly on Saturday, and pick up anything remaining Tuesday morning before heading into work. As the ads say, Better, Better, GODDAMN IT BETTER HELP!!

Map: Battery Diagram
United Steaks of America map: If each state could have only one meat, what would it be?
Map: 2016 Presidential Election In NY State Cartogram