Truly, the Future Is Now

Twenty-first century nationalism is just atavistic tribalism with cell phones. After two world wars spewed from nationalistic sewers in the 20^th century, yet another scourge of jingoism infects the world. What will it take to finally purge the scourge of tribalism from human consciousness?

On the left, American sentimental nationalists like Roger Cohen make one last stab at progressive spiritual and metaphysical denial:

“The essence of America is openness. History, geography, immigration and fate have established that. The shrinking of the American mind under Trump therefore amounts, for Americans, to a dangerous denial of themselves.”

American nationalists on the right, like Ross Douthat, have schizoid dialogues between their dark side and their darkest side. The lesser of two evils wins in Ross by surrendering the man-made chaos that Trump epitomizes and maximizes to Christianity’s Father God:

“It wouldn’t entirely surprise me if, by some miracle, Trump won one more time — if his presidency is part of a bipartisan chastisement, and God isn’t finished with us yet.”

The “us” that “God isn’t finished with” is, abnormally, America. To white nationalists on the right, and ‘right’ nationalists on the left, the United States remains the center of the world.

All nationalists feel their nations are the center the world of course. The difference is no empire since the Roman Empire, which encompassed the known world surrounding the Mediterranean, has spread its rapacious culture like America has.

And no other nation in history has its tentacles in three-quarters of the nations of the world through its obscenely bloated military, which sucks up a trillion dollars a year just to keep it unquestioningly afloat.

Therefore if Trump wins again, miracles will have no more to do with it than they did the last time. Democrats will just have a harder time blaming a screwy electoral system, even with Republican voter suppression, and President Trump’s ‘fluke’ will become as immaterial as Senator Flake.

So if we define God as immanent intelligence, what is She up to? It is an awfully small-minded God that’s concerned with the fate of one nation, especially a nation of such military strength and spiritual weakness as America.

To say the least, I doubt that another “Trump presidency is part of a bipartisan chastisement.” It seems Douthat’s God is a nationalist, albeit one that stands above the fray in divine comity (and comedy) even during the nastiest of times.

People old enough to remember the dizzying events of 1989 (the Tiananmen massacre, the fall of the Berlin Wall) know what a ‘hinge of history’ feels like.

Though it seems the hinges of history have rusted shut (or rather rusted open, seeing how wide the gates of hell have opened), do we stand at another hinge of history, the second in even a 50-year lifespan?

Given there is some kind of Intelligence beyond the unintelligence of man, clearly the Donald is playing a bit part in a much larger drama involving, though certainly not revolving around the shrunken stature of the United States of America. 

That said, Douthat’s self-comforting notion that “Trump is too incompetent to pull off anything so ambitious as stealing an election” is dangerous as hell. Both Democrats and Never (Again) Trump Republicans have continually been taken in by the incompetence of the man, while underestimating the evil the man channels.

Going from the slime to the sublime, it’s a risky business exploring the mind of God. If God is immanent however, rather than above and apart, then potentially at least, God is, to some degree, within us.

And if that’s true, “Nosce te ipsum” is not just the dubiously cumulative journey of self-knowledge, or even the pathless path of self-knowing, but via negativa (the negational way) to the sacred.

Just as there is no fixed entity as a “Supreme Being,” there is no fixed providential plan external to us. The plan, if we can even call it a plan, can only unfold with our participation, unwitting or witting (preferably witting).

Clearly any cosmic intelligence worth its stars would want potentially intelligent life, wherever it evolved in the universe, to live in harmony with its planet, itself and the cosmos. But let’s face it; Homo sap is still heading headlong in the opposite direction.

This ‘context’ throws an entirely different light on the darkness that is pan-Trumpism, and on the more-annoying-than-destroying global plague that is Covid-19.

So what is the future of humanity, even the near future of humanity?

Looking into the vacant, dead eyes of the narcissistically mask-less one can see one future; looking into the searching, empathic eyes of the masked one can see another.

Choose and you lose. See and be free.

Martin LeFevre

————-

Roger Cohen:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/23/opinion/Trump-biden-debates.html

Ross Douthat:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/24/opinion/sunday/pro-trump-2020-argument.html

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Costa Rica Amusement Park Remains Closed

The amusement park is one of the happiest places in Costa Rica, usually. This year, it’s closed, due to the pandemic. Just 23 employees keep everything up to date. They describe it as a sad year.

Workers used to get excited about their jobs there, noting that they would take the bus among families with children screaming of excitement from a few stops away when they saw the tops of the rides.

The park is now so silent you can hear the birds. The kiosks and restaurants are closed and the train is not running. The water slide and lake are dry. The rides are maintained every other week to keep them in good shape. Otherwise, the park is asleep, it seems.

It’s been like this for seven months and will stay this way indefinitely, until it is safe to reopen. There’s no goal or idea of when that might be, as it depends on how the covid-19 situation continues.

266 employment contracts were put on hold in March, at the start of the pandemic, and another 62 were put on hold more recently. Among those out of work are the six senior citizens who patiently took visitors on a train tour of the entire park, sharing their spark and experiences.

Each year, before the covid-19 pandemic, the park was able to donate approximately ₡120 million to the National Children’s Hospital. This year, there is no income and no funds to donate.

The management dreams of soon hearing joy fill the park and being able to share the earnings with the children’s hospital.

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Closed Costa Rica Diquis Plant Somehow Still Receiving Money

The failed Diquís plant was a project that spanned three administrations but didn’t get far. Still, somehow, ₡88,557 million were used for this project that was stopped in 2011 and cancelled in 2018.

The Comptroller’s Office is investigating how this could have happened. Specifically, it has opened an administrative procedure against the ex-hierarch, three other former workers, and one current employee.

All of them must appear in court on November 2. The reasons that the investigation is directed toward these individuals has not been disclosed. The preliminary investigation was completed and possible irregularities found.

The procedure may lead to sanctions like disqualification from holding public office. ICE may be ordered to recover resources, if patrimonial responsibility is confirmed. A formal investigation will be conducted.

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New Trawling Law in Costa Rica Congress

“I am and I will be against trawling,” said President Carlos Alvarado during his campaign. Has he changed his mind? Many organizations and institutions call on him now to veto the law approved in Congress on Thursday that would allow trawling once again.

The practice is widely believed to devastate the ecosystems that so many sectors and families depend on. The fishing technique was suspended in 2013, by the Constitutional Chamber, due to the environmental damage it caused. The door was left open to restart it if a sustainable outlet was demonstrated.

A new type of net was tested and shown to capture 75% shrimp and 25% other marine life. Older practices caught a much larger percentage of fish and turtles. Still, these studies are under question because they were carried out so quickly without taking into account the conditions in different sectors of the seabed and during different parts of the year.

The United Nations Development Program called on Costa Rica to not backtrack on the progress made in conservation and sustainable marine management, for which it was awarded the “Champions of the Earth 2019” award. 

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European Airlines Adding Flights to Costa Rica

Three European airlines will be resuming flights to Costa Rica soon, the first, Air France, on October 31st. They’ve been absent from the country for seven months, due to the covid-19 pandemic that left borders closed.

The first flight will arrive from Paris with 300 passengers. In December, the frequency will be increased to three times a week, on Saturdays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. 

British Airways and KLM have also confirmed they are to resume flights between Europe and Costa Rica. They will do so in November, in time for the start of the high season. 

By the end of October, just three months after reopening to commercial flights, there will already be 48 weekly operations. 

Europe is a great market for tourists because of the population’s high educational level and appreciation for both nature and culture. The opening of new flights will contribute to the recovery of the tourism sector.

As of November 1, Costa Rica’s air borders will open to the whole world. Daily updates can be found at https://sjoairport.com/reporte-operaciones/

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Poems for Halloween

MILK

My first desire
Was to drink from the well
Of love-
Nearby a heart shaped radio
Which makes music in frequencies
That cannot be seen by us

But, like a vampire
I wanted to aquire life
Even though I was already dead
With blood red lips and rosy flesh
to kiss you with

This time,
I did not want it
But, I did not know
The face of death like I thought I did
Because it is always changing
So, I can’t remember him

Yet, the first word I spoke was
‘Milk’
to my mother
Who gave me a copper bracelet
When I was born
To wear upon my wrist
For good luck to exist
Because I was starving
Then and now-
It’s left with the dead

Who want nothing
But words
To pray
To be said
Good things that were meant
To be forgiven for
Crimes they did not commit

But, maybe
I feel like I want to die
Because
I’m always hungry-
And I hate being empty
And tomorrow I will
Be sad as I rise up
Without her
To do it again

So, I melted the moon
Into silver bullets
For my weapons
Against the ones who
Hurt her
And I sleep in-
dreaming till noon
of you God

Where I wake up
And I know
Each night that
I sleep & drink
From a bowl of porcelain
Waiting for my resurrection
To feed
And be full again

CHOCOLATE

My first admirer
Gave me chocolate
And I ate it,
But-
I didn’t want to date him

So,
I took the letter
He wrote,
It was a poem
And I gave it to my father-
Who took the boy’s side
And I became evil
For destroying him

By
Saying
“No, I won’t.”

To being his girlfriend.

He must have been
Heartbroken
Because he
Gave me the sugar
From his family
And it was nothing to me
But, a treat.

I’m sorry.

But, I still
Have the ring
Made of amethyst
That my first boyfriend
Gave me and
It’s already rusted

I GUESS

I like chocolates instead.

PUMPKIN

Speak of the dead
The silence will wake them
Ghosts fly at midnight
By candle flame
They worship the words
On my tongue,
The jewelry on my neck
And the promises
That I said-
Which can bring you
Pleasure or pain

The wisdom won by
Carving out with a golden knife
Your happy face like
A beautiful life
A smile set free
Onto a glowing pumpkin
Beneath a leafy tree
Changing colors & lovers
Jack O’ Lantern

While the seeds
Of your dreams
All turned into food
And you knew I would taste
Best on your lips
Better
Than the humans do
Because
You made wishes
Underneath a full moon
For me
A destiny
On Halloween

And I was the one
That you couldn’t cut loose
Or everything would change
When night turned to day
And you realized I was gone
And it was winter again

By Deanna Jaxine Stinson aka Wish Fire
Halo Paranormal Investigations
www.cryptic916.com/
Sacramento Paranormal Help
www.facebook.com/HaloParanormalInvestigations/

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Costa Rica CVOID-19 Update

With 1,503 new cases, Costa Rica is almost at 100,000 covid infections. 14 deaths were reported on Wednesday, bringing the total losses of life from the disease to 1,236.

Of the 1,503 new cases, 329 are due to epidemiological nexus and 1,174 due to laboratory tests. This number was a big jump, following two days with figures well below 1,000 (847 on Tuesday and 632 on Monday.

Of the total covid-19 cases in Costa Rica, 47,811 are female, 51,614 are male, 83,140 are Costa Rican and 16,285 are foreigners. 

The age range of cases resulting in death is from zero to 100-years-old. By age group, there are 2 minors, 417 adults, and 817 senior citizens.

There are currently 531 patients hospitalized due to covid-19. 206 of them are in intensive care. They are aged 1-91-years-old. 

60,738 people have already recovered from covid. These include 29,120 females, 31,618 males, 52,092 adults, 3,420 seniors, 5,155 children, and 71 still under investigation.

The Pan American Health Organization stated that Costa Rica has the highest incidence of covid-19 cases in Central America, established by the relationship of number of cases and the population.

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