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On Jan. 17, 1961, the POTUS hinted that the U.S. was an empire. Along with empire comes militarism.
The "Father of the Constitution," James Madison believed that war often leads to significant consequences, including the erosion of civil liberties and the potential for tyranny. He argued that the costs of war extend beyond the battlefield, affecting the very foundations of democracy and governance.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/president-dwight-d-eisenhowers-farewell-address-1961-mcdonald
Don't trust AI doctors!
Misleading AI-generated doctors pose ‘huge danger to public safety’
Research shows AI accounts are gaining millions of views on TikTok by spreading dubious health advice.
AI-generated physicians were found to have spread disproven myths about cancer, including that microwaving food in plastic, using deodorants and sleeping next to your phone could all cause cancer – all claims which have been refuted by cancer research.
In politics the dominant time frame is a term of office, in fashion and culture it’s a season, for corporations it's a quarter, on the internet it's minutes, and on the financial markets mere milliseconds.
“If one is mentally out of breath all the time from dealing with the present, there is no energy left for imagining the future”
That's why researchers, artists, technologists and philosophers think that short-termism is the greatest threat we are facing this century.
- Thucydides -
Most people, in fact, will not
take the trouble in finding out
the truth, but are much more
inclined to accept the first story
they hear.
The best way to increase your tolerance for uncertainty is through exposure, and resisting easy answers, but the internet makes it much easier to avoid that discomfort.
Because the future is unknowable, the real question is how we can learn to cope better with not knowing.
Our brains tend to think about the worst-case scenario, and catastrophise. A lot of our anxiety is driven by worrying about things that haven’t happened yet.
https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2026/may/17/author-simone-stolzoff
“Can China and the United States transcend the so-called ‘Thucydides Trap’ and forge a new paradigm for major-power relations?” - Xi
Thucydides Trap refers to the idea that when a rising power threatens to displace an established one, the result is often war.
@tante@tldr.nettime.org "Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."
National Survey Finds Just 1 in 3 Americans Would Pass Citizenship Test
Our 2018 survey shows only one in three Americans (36 percent) can actually pass a multiple-choice test consisting of items taken from the U.S. Citizenship Test, which has a passing score of 60.
Among all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Vermonters were the sole group able to pass the multiple-choice test.
https://cands.org/research-national-survey-finds-just-1-in-3-americans-would-pass-citizenship-test/
“We want capitalism to support democracy. Capitalism has to become more humane. It has to be more regulated. And in democracy, we don’t leave anybody behind”
“When you use strategies designed to manipulate knowledge to create market power, you go way beyond what we should be willing to accept”
“Trumpism will not go in a whimper,” Kurz says. “There may be a big recession or a big depression or some other crisis before we can complete a new reform cycle.”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/may/18/big-tech-monopolies-democracy-mordecai-kurz
Can digital devices change what you think and do? Can they motivate you to stop smoking, #persuade you to buy insurance, or convince you to join the Army? "Yes, they can," says Dr. B.J. Fogg, director of the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University.
He reveals how Web sites, software applications, and mobile devices can be used to change people's attitudes and behavior. All about how #propaganda techniques are being used.
Click on this to download the PDF.
https://memoof.me/download/922/pdf/922.pdf
"The susceptibility of the GOP to the totalitarian mindset has come as a surprise even to cynics. I have some idea of how this happened: It involves a confluence of big-money corruption, crony capitalism, religious fanaticism, and the ever-present forces of racism and sexism." ~ Paul Krugman
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/reality-is-a-communist-plot
“Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few."
~ James Madison was a Founding Father and the fourth president of the United States. He was popularly acclaimed as the "Father of the Constitution".
