But Icarus Laughed

But Icarus Laughed As He Burned And Fell

If you’re my age, near to it, or older than me – though I can’t vouch for the younger sorts – you’ve had some exposure to the tale of Icarus and his father, Daedalus. And, we’ve always had taught to us a cautionary tale against hubris or excessive ambition – essentially a fable of what dire consequences come from not knowing your place and acting above your station or means.

But what then if Icarus laughed as he burned and fell?

Yes, what if Icarus laughed through his pain as he burned and fell? That would change the tenor and the moral of this ancient fable.

There is a bitter triumph in crashing when you should be soaring

And isn’t there such a bitter triumph? To fly in the face of greater powers; to force them to recognize your existence; to feel their wrath upon your flesh, knowing that those powers can wrack and ruin your flesh, end your body’s life, but cannot quell your soul. That is triumph, albeit a bitter one. That is a death well-earned and rarely equaled.

There is a certain beauty in setting the world on fire
and watching from the centre of the flames

And yes! I’m honest enough to admit – indeed, to proclaim – that there is a certain beauty in destruction and that the best and greatest view of it if from the epicenter of the flames.

Icarus Laughed As He Burned
Then Let Us Burn Together

So not what Ovid’s work was meant to teach, but truer to the spirit of Man. What greater and more terrible beauty can there be than scream out our spite till the flames melt our lungs and burn out our voices? What more awesome beauty is there for any of to see than world burning around us until it melts the eyes from our faces?

It is hard to deny the beauty and majesty of not just refusing to go quietly into the long night; not just raging raging against its coming – but laughing as we bring the light of our pyre into it.

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Birth Of Freedom

Birth Of Freedom
Birth Of Freedom

As we are – what with early voting, absentee voting, and every other scam Democrats have perpetrated in order to suborn the nation – deep in the 2022 Midterm Elections season, let all Americans remember that freedom is born of blood and pain and the its birthcry is a chorus of the rage of patriots and anguish of their enemies.

No, not since what the Democrats did in the 2020 elections is the phrase “by ballot or bullet” truly applicable. Now, in these times when Dems waged a four-year long war to overthrow our duly elected POTUS, President Donald Trump and stole the election, the phrase is “by ballot first, but by bullet if needs be.”

My fellow Americans, don’t trust any result that places a Democrat in office. And, if and when the Dems’ malfeasance is indicated, be prepared to take action because those placed in authority to punish the Dems won’t do it themselves. And never let them tell you that you’re a threat to America’s democracy, not after all they’ve done and keep doing.

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Mr. Musk's New Platform

Mr. Musk's New Platform
Twitter's His Now, Bitches
Mr. Musk’s New Platform

Yesterday, April 25, 2022, Multi-billionaire and the richest single individual in the world, Elon Musk outright purchased Twitter for roughly $44 billion. When your net worth is $264.6 billion USD, you get to do that, and the Democrats’ government can’t do much about it and is unlikely to even try. 😉

Twitter As We Know It Is Over… Maybe

So, if Elon Musk does all, most, or even a significant fraction of what he claims his plans are for renewing and rebirthing Twitter – and, since he’s taking it private, there’s nothing stopping him from doing so – the Twitter that we either love or loath is likely over.

Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated. I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.

Elon Musk

Read Musk’s statement very carefully. Three words in the 1st sentence of it are very, very important, and firmly grounded in US case law. Those words are, “digital town square.”

As I’ve written before, the SCOTUS has already ruled twice that social media platforms are the modern age’s public or town square and are, as such, bound by the restrictions of the 1st Amendment.

Social media allows users to gain access to information and communicate with one another on any subject that might come to mind. With one broad stroke, North Carolina bars access to what for many are the principal sources for knowing current events, checking ads for employment, speaking and listening in the modern public square, and otherwise exploring the vast realms of human thought and knowledge. Foreclosing access to social media altogether thus prevents users from engaging in the legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights.

— Justice Anthony Kennedy
Packingham v. North Carolina, 582 U.S.

So, Twitter is now poised to be transformed into an actual platform for the free exercise of speech… if Mr. Musk actually follows through on his pledge. And truly, the only real thing that could prevent him from doing that is if the market will not bear it and Twitter’s federally limited number of stockholders find this too painful to tolerate. That seems more than little unlikely given people’s addiction to social media in general and Twitter in specific.

Now, it’s true that word of Musk’s now essentially fulfilled intent to buy Twitter spurred certain sorts of users, including some high-profile ones, to “say” #GoodByeTwitter, we’ve all seen, heard, and/or read about that sort of promised exodus before. 😉 So I doubt there will be much in the way of financial fallout from the buyout and proposed changes.

So, the ball is in Elon Musk’s court. Elon Musk’s new platform will largely be whatever he wants it to be. He owns it after all. I’ve some hope for it, but that hope is seasoned by long experience.

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Meiriceá Go Bragh

Meiriceá Go Bragh

If and when you think about it, “Let’s Go Brandon!” while “meaning” “Fuck Joe Biden!” is really just an Americanization of “Éire go Brách!” It’s proclaiming America (Meiriceá) till the end of time/for eternity, just as the original form is proclaiming Ireland (Éire or Éirinn) till the end of time/for eternity.

Let’s Go Brandon!

Meiriceá Go Bragh!

Note: Given that the image is from the movie Braveheart, which is set in Scotland, the base phrase should be Alba gu bràth. I only used the Irish version due to Americans’ far greater familiarity with it.

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Google E-A-Ts Freedom

Googlereich
Google E-A-Ts Freedom

Google E-A-Ts Freedom, free speech, and free thought by using its algorithm to down-list – effectively de-listing and therefore silencing – many sites and articles in potential readers/viewers search results. And, make no mistake this is a deliberate act on their part to perform both social engineering and kingmaking/regime change upon the world at large.

What Is E-A-T And How Is It Used Against Us?

Canonically, E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. This concept originates from Google’s Search Quality Rater guidelines and it became well known if poorly understood after the infamous Medic Update in August 2018. E-A-T is one factor that Google uses to evaluate the overall quality of a web page.

Now supposedly Google is only being strict with applying E-A-T to what they define as YMYL (“Your Money or Your Life”) sites, articles, and/or webpages. But, as can be seen below, what Google considers YMYL is very broad, comprehensive, and includes most topics that people might have differing views upon and/or those topics which are in contention.

Google’s Definition of YMYL Content
Google’s Definition of YMYL Content
(Click to Enlarge)

As you can see, E-A-T is used by Google to control the reach of a vast swath of what many people, groups, and organizations would normally write about and almost all of what they would consider important to write about.

Expertise

Expertise comes down to how knowledgeable or skillful someone is perceived by Google’s algorithms when it comes to the particular subject that is the main content (MC) of that is being graded. Essentially, it is posting content that Google’s systems agree with as being accurate, informative, and engaging.

Authoritativeness

Authoritativeness is Google’s way of defining whether or not a content creator/publisher has the proper credentials or associations to write upon the topic in question.

Trustworthiness

Trustworthiness is Google’s composite measure of how transparent your site in general is and how good its reputation and the reputation of any cited sources are among viewers.

~*~

So, Google is now using a combination of variants of the Genetic Fallacy, Ad Hominems, and the Association Fallacy in order to quasi-demand that YMYL content adheres to their chosen variety of Argument From Authority. And, of course, failure to abide by their Magisterium means that your content will not be seen by many people at all, keeping your ideas, positions, and viewpoints “safely” out in the empty wilderness where they won’t cause issues for the orthodox or popular ideas that Google supports and promulgates.

Hence, I’m telling you, those few individuals that will be able to find this article, that Google E-A-Ts freedom, of speech and of thought by actively denying voices they disagree with the reasonable chance of an audience. And by denying that potential audience access to “dangerous” ideas.

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