Hey guys I found this cool video, about a summarized history of the African continent and taking down misconceptions of the continent and its people.

Hey guys sorry I haven't posted in awhile been a very busy month, and in a nutshell just learning adult and get my stuff together as I try to learn some practical skills and formed a plan on moving out of my parent's place in the coming months. I'll be moving with a close friend of mine probably by the end of the year if all goes well. I'm now working two jobs to save as much money as I can but ill try to continue and get better at my writing. So I definitely got a plan on what I wanna do.

With that said, I got to see Dunkirk the other day and it was absolutely awesome, probably my favorite movie of the year instantly, hands down. It is downright the most intense and a quite realistic war movie I have seen. Somebody who appreciates military history, holy moly, everything felt authentic and real as if you're there, the atmosphere, the attack it does on your senses just blew me away and had my heart pounding, especially when you feel like at the receiving end of a stuka dive bombing attack, I recommend anyone who's interested in history or military history to go see it, you won't be disappointed.

Here's the trailer for Dunkirk



And for the history of the Evacuation of Dunkirk Myth vs Reality.

Hey guys, sorry if I haven't been posting lately, I have been quite busy since I graduated and now getting my balance as I send out applications for either a second part time job or a new full time job, making use of my new degree. But in the meantime, I felt I should go back to what I normally do and that is, put out educational/opinion journals and to start some conversations, since it's Ramadan let's sink in to Islamic history(this will be posted in the Muslim furs group as well).

Anyway, this video is by Caspian Report, I loved his earlier Islamic history series which I find among the most objective material on Islamic history on Youtube mostly because he tries to do it from a historical perspective. This video answers the question why the Muslim empires of old went from the leaders of science to trailing far behind the West today. He also touches upon one of the early Rationalist schools of thought of Islamic tradition, the Mu'tazila which have been one of the schools of thought that has influenced my view on Islam today.

I think this video is something that needs to be said, it's been roughly two weeks since I graduated with a Bachelor's degree and one thing I learned; universities typically don't teach much about life or practical skills which I felt a huge need to catch up on, and to attain my goals it all seems daunting. Though from reflecting on it all I think the biggest obstacle to achieving my goals is myself, the need to conquer or control my bad habits and traits, to get over my social anxieties and have the strength to keep pushing forward and get through the hardships, and come out better from it. Ramadan begins today so I think I might take that as a sign that I really should reflect and try to better myself, but this is a struggle many of us can relate to.

Hey guys, long time no see, sorry for not posting in a month, but I finally finished school and getting my Bachelor's degree in History by Saturday, so I finally finish school and now I'm in the stage of...now what? I'm working part time in the library system so now I actually have to find a full time job and learn how to adult :P

Anyway, the same guy who did "History of Japan" now went on and did a whole history of the world, if im gonna teach History in school, I think ill use this! It's awesome, watch it :P

PBS is a great educational network, I often go to it for documentaries and compared to a lot of private corporate funded news venues, PBS, NPR etc which are on par or at least close to BBC, and other such news and information venues. Though I tend to like some independent venues too as long as they don't sink into conspiracy theories which a lot of Americans seem like they have a bad habit of falling into more than usual.

I think education is hugely important for the public good of the nation, they are some who believe the free market will solve everything which isn't true, which I think they are certain things that market forces simply don't favor. In Healthcare for example we've seen many incidents of private companies jacking up the prices of essential medicines where it's much cheaper in most other industrialized nations, Similar can be said of public education, when well funded with good quality teachers and staff, you can have a fine education system(just look at the Finnish model, or even Canada is doing better than ours). Still public education would help society and the economy in the long run, so would a universal healthcare system of some type, a healthier, educated population means a healthy, innovative population to stay ahead of our competitors, and with different cultures in this country, they are many ways to think up an idea.

Educational media and funding it where it isn't exactly the most profitable, if you search Youtube for 5 seconds, a retarded funny vine video gets way more views than an educational video this is an example of why the free market isn't always the best at everything, it has its place but one thing to consider, the free market mainly focuses on what people want and not necessarily what they need. Have you seen History channel? It's all about ancient aliens and pawn shops or Hitler than it is about history in general because that's what the advertisers and people want but that's not really what they need in terms of learning history, there's more to history than Hitler or whatever which I used to be a fan of the history channel but no longer watch it much anymore. People who believe in a pure free market make the same mistake as Communists do, they both believe that humans would make rational decisions at all times, but that's never the case, since we are flawed.

However, I think in a democratic country, people in charge should have experience and be educated in whatever field they're responsible for, I admit I have technocratic tendencies but someone who's say minister of health should have a background of being a doctor or something or minister of education should be a former teacher so they'll have a better idea of what their field, that someone's ignorant opinion is in no way equal to an educated person's opinion that actually has facts to back it up, though ignorance can be the left or the right doesn't matter what side it is, everyone has bias, but with education you can better curb it. The difference is between a smoothbore musket and a rifled musket, sure the rifled musket isn't 100% accurate however it would be closer to the mark much more often than a smoothbore.



Anyway, here's John Green's case for PBS and public education.

The title is a Japanese phrase that is hard to translate, it translates as "What the hell", "Who Cares" "Why not?" It was prominent in the late 1860s when the Tokogawa Shogunate was beginning to lose its grip on power in the aftermath of Western nations slowly encroaching on them. Many people reacted to Who cares, why don't we just take our clothes off and have sex on the street? Many danced on the streets and had sex as well, mostly as a form of social protest against the rapid change they're going through and also a new feeling of freedom since laws in Tokugawa Japan were quite strict so for a small window of time people went crazy.

It's basically the Japanese way of saying "fuck it". So...I'm trying to say, I want to disengage from politics and the state of our country for now cause with Bush or Obama, like them or hate them, at least the issues they brung up happened with space in between, you got one issue to focus on and move on to the next. Though this crazy administration is just one crazy thing to a bad thing one after another and it just became overwhelming and I'm stressing out over it, so now I'm just at the point of fuck it,. My parents left their countries for a better life elsewhere, perhaps I should follow my parent's footsteps. Though I want to go back to educating history and the like as I usually do. I might engage back again when there's an impeachment or a resolution, or something really major, but otherwise it's just insane that's going on now, apparently they don't like intellectuals or facts or studies what have you, so I say fuck it, I'm done for now. I'd favor academics over any know nothing, I know it sounds like a bit of elitism, but hey might as well let anyone fly an aircraft, without any qualification whatsoever and see how well that goes.

Anyway, life updates, well, I've mostly been focused on working, studying, and thinking of where I'm gonna live after I leave my parent's place, I'm going to visit a close friend in NY in just over a week and will be gone for 4 days, and I'm left with a couple choices, each with their pros and cons, but it all comes down to where I can get a decent paying job after I get my degree I worked for so long for and really just want to get it over with, I have two more months and just getting through Mid Terms, so hopefully everything will turn out fine.Otherwise, I'm hoping things will be alright and I'll be working on starting my independent life, it's definitely going into the unknown and feel sorta unprepared but things are going to be changing fast in the coming months, my life will change, though the next question would be who ill be sharing this new life with, I have yet to decide on, only time will tell and I pray to God for my first steps to be independent, that I'll be making a decent enough choice, no doubt, I'll need His guidance.

In other news since taking this Japanese history class, I've been immersing myself in Japanese culture if you haven't noticed by now and it's pretty cool, and I like taiko drums :P

I'll start this with saying "El Caudillo" is a Spanish term that roughly means "Strongman" a nationalist demogogue not much different from many of the Latin American presidential dictators through the last century.

Anyway I haven't written a journal in about a month....as I watch in horror a trainwreck of an administration...like it's barely been a month and it's stressing so many people out,looking at my newsfeed makes my blood pressure go up and scream internally. I'm not sure how to make of this, I mean there was so much stuff he did or attempted to do and so much crap being thrown it's hard to single one thing out and talk about how wrong it is. I mean, at first I was thinking ok maybe it won't be so bad, maybe he'd tone down the bullshit but nooo he doubled down and doing exactly what he said he would do, and more.

There's too many to count, but the recent conference...oh my God, Trump was blatantly proven wrong and he still tries to lie around it. He claimed that he had the largest electoral college win since Reagan, when actually Obama beat McCain 365-173(that's 192 vote margin) in 2008, and HW Bush beats Dukakis 426-111(that's a 315 vote margin), vs Trump's win over Hillary 304-227(a 77 vote margin not even half of Obama's), a reporter used this information and blatantly proved him false and in his defense he claims that's the information he's given, I'm like...this is easily searchable, I mean holy crap it took me 2 minutes to find the information for the 2008, 1988 and 2016 US elections, something he could've done instead of being on fucking Twitter all the time but nope, he's never wrong, anyone who disagrees with him is fake news(which he tweeted btw), to me that was one of the most blatant examples of him talking of his "alternative facts".

The whole ban against people from 7 Muslim majority countries was a complete and utter fuck up as well, with the ACLU and the Judicial branch coming to the rescue, reading the text of the executive order, sure it doesn't blatantly say Muslim ban but the fact they made exceptions for religious minorities and other such things kinda is making it lean towards that, and the fact people with green cards and translators who helped our military overseas were getting blocked, was just an example of how incompetent the current administration is. The fact that Trump talked about a Muslim ban, he talks only on terrorist attacks done by Muslim surpremcists whether major or minor right away, yet was silent on a white surpremicist shooting and killing several Muslims in a Quebec Mosque.

When an Orthodox Jew asks Trump about the rise of anti-semitism and what he can do about it, Trump was given a fucking softball and he couldn't handle it, he goes on talking about himself, and shutting him up, I'm like...seriously there is something really really wrong with him.

All his actions so far has shown he don't give a damn about anyone but himself and his loyal friends and the GOP are his accomplices, save a few, the nomination of Betsy Devos with a tie broken by Pence shows how much they care about our education system which needs reform in my opinion but not getting burned down by someone who has no experience with the job.

We lowered our standards so damn low, next time I apply for a job if they ask me I have experience I'll say well if you can be president without any experience I can do this job. I think perhaps for anyone to work in the US government we should have a civil service exam, perhaps we've taken "anyone can be president" a bit too far, because it seems, if you have money, integrity, intelligence or qualifications don't matter, the US is no longer a meritocracy that many say it is. I think our standards for president is way too low, of course there should never be a religious test, but surely background check, civic knowledge test, health and mental check, all that, cause if you're head of a nation of 320 million people, then damn you should be qualified. I admit I can consider myself a technocrat, but I got my reasons judging from what I've seen.

This has me and my family worried, my mom even told me that since I'm half Syrian I shouldn't say anything I should lie low and not cause trouble, saying that I worked too long and hard to get my degree which im 3 months away from(assuming I pass all my classes just fine), my parents came from countries that had presidents that act kinda like him, they know what it's like to live in a country with nationalist demogogues, and unregulated capitalism, which has ruined their countries, and it gave them a reason to come here, especially my mother, for a better life, now the US is turning that way? Hell no, at least I see people mobilizing and actually giving a damn about politics and at least if they're loud enough they can make a difference.

Anyway, here's John Oliver on the current administration and how Trump has to be among the most blatantly dishonest presidents we ever had, him and truth seem to be mutually exclusive of each other somehow.

Well despite all the pundits say, and especially what the president elect has been saying, was Obama's presidency really that bad? Statistically and taking in information on everything that happened in his administration over the past 8 years I would say...the president elect is mostly either wrong, or gives half truths about really anything he talks about(like a stopped watch he does give a good point every now and then),and so my quick answer would be, it's a mixed bag, he did some good things, failed or did some questionable things, but under the circumstances he did alright in my opinion given how volatile and tense the political situation has been, so let's focus on the numbers that we have at hand here are a few links to take a look for yourself.

http://www.factcheck.org/2016/10/ob.....r-2016-update/

http://www.npr.org/2017/01/19/51049.....by-the-numbers

https://geopoliticsmadesuper.com/20.....-barack-obama/

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/da.....or-the-economy

So what has he accomplished? This video gives a rundown on that.



From all the data I have gathered I would give Obama an average grade, he certainly did better than Bush, but could've been better, economically he helped the US get back on its feet, cut the unemployment rate by half, saved the country from further economic damage. He's also notable for furthering the rights of LGBT, by taking down don't ask don't tell and helping to implement marriage equality throughout the country, which is similar to previous instances where the Federal state and its supreme court had to intervene to further the rights of political minorities(aka like women, ethnic minorities and sexual minorities), so I think it was definitely a step forward.

He tried the first real step in healthcare reform that the US has yet to solve, and will continue to try everything else before we join the rest of the first world in having universal health coverage. Obama could've done better but with a hostile GOP congress,the Affordable Care Act he had to do a lot of compromises to the point that it made it not perform as well as it should have, but nonetheless the uninsured was cut by about 2/3, but I think he could've done better. Though in 2009 Obama proposed the Public Option which I think would've done better, forcing the for-profit health insurance companies to lower their prices(which if you've watched the news lately, they are reasons why I'm against having the profit motive in healthcare), but the GOP would have none of that, which I found very frustrating, something every first world nation all have is so hard to have in the US, yet we can afford the best military in the world. To me the ACA has done some good but it has its problems, but it's something, it's better than nothing. The GOP had 8 years to come up with a viable, alternative they are several models to choose from by looking at other nations all of which are cheaper than our ad-hoc system we have now, to me the fact Obama at least tried something was better than the GOP was proposing and until they come up with a better, coherent plan based on a system that actually works, I'd be against a repeal of the ACA.

He was pretty decent in foreign policy in general, though with the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan not that great, given the drone bombings I found very troubling during his presidency, which he intensified the use of drones that Bush started(which I oppose).He failed to help Syria where we could've done a lot of good in preventing the country from total collapse, but by then we were war weary so I understand why we didn't help. We intervened over the past two decades almost where we shouldn't have and didn't intervene when we should've. In terms of national security and civil liberties, he practically continued what Bush has started, sometimes expanded that, so to me he didn't do well in that.

In terms of scandals, despite bs from tabloids Obama didn't have things that were similar to the Contra Affair of Reagan or the Iraq debacle with GW Bush, or Clinton's fuck up in Mogadishu though Benghazi was definitely a fuck up, it wasn't as big in terms of scale, the new president elect I think had way more scandals than Obama ever did.

Obama's presidency despite him trying to compromise seemed to make this country more divided than ever, I mean even when Obama tried to promote a politically moderate supreme court judge, Marrick Garland, they still didn't want to confirm him mostly out of spite, despite I think what the hell did they expect for a Democrat president to appoint? A conservative judge? Another Scalia? I don't think so, the fact the tried to compromise with Garland I think was a good move, but nonetheless, they refused to confirm him. I never seen how vicious people were towards a president in my life, I didn't see this type of viciousness with Bush but to me the only president now that will recieve more flak is the president elect though a lot of that is because of things he actually said and done or wants to do.

But would the president elect do any better? I think absolutely not, I highly doubt he'd be anything more than a one term president and probably will be impeached at this rate. To me there's not much of a comparison between Obama having a degree in law, with Trump who's a billionaire who's very questionable in his business ethics and not to mention has no tact, manners or hardly any knowledge on the subject matter he speaks me, and for me as an aspiring academic I find insulting. Where my family is from, they experienced unregulated capitalism that ravaged their countries. I think at best Trump has the capacity to do some good like in trade(both Trump and Sanders advocated Protectionism) however, there's a huge difference between Trump and Sanders in their moral character, which to me I cannot be behind the president elect as a Muslim. Though within the next week I'll probably analylze Trump's proposals and see if they can work or are they even constitutional.

Final verdict: Mixed, Average given the circumstances, some good, some bad, some inconclusive, but overall better than GW Bush in my opinion but not as good as say Bill Clinton's presidency, or perhaps HW Bush.

But anyway, Obama's two term presidency has many many issues to be discussed so it's difficult to summarize it all in one short journal but I hope it starts a conversation and give people an idea.

I meant to do this yesterday, was busy, but I wanted to post something in honor of MLK day, an American Muslim scholar, Omid Safi, often makes MLK to be a prophetic-like figure, in the idea that he's a social and spiritual revolutionary. Most people know the "I have a dream" Speech however aside from speaking out against racial injustice, and wanting equality among the ethnicities he also talked of economic and other social injustices as well as imperialism(ie, our war in Vietnam at the time which had a low opinion by the populace already at the time.), but overtime we idolized him yet take little of his revolutionary message, this exact same phenomenon has been done with revolutionary prophets such as Jesus and Muhammad, usually by the powers that be usually generations after who want to keep the status quo since it benefits them.

Here's a link to my last year's MLK post: https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7323010/

They are three main evils that MLK names in some of his speeches: racism, materialism and militarism, this goes in the face in a lot of things we can still relate to today. And the establishment and a large part of the American people opposed him and his movement at the time, we may love him now, but at the time, he was demonized, by both the government and a lot of the people involved, though to MLK his biggest problem wasn't exactly opposition but apathy. MLK explains this in one of his speeches:

" "First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action;" who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season."

Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection." "

And lastly here's a video on what people thought of MLK at the time which is far from any admiration that he has now. Any prophet like figure usually is met with huge opposition.

Here's an interesting music video done by a Palestinian artist and shot and set in the West Bank, the message conveyed is breaking the gender stereotypes imposed by his society but I'm sure many in the West can relate to it as well, it's definitely quite nice to see this and shows they're human too and have similar struggles that we deal with in some ways despite the circumstances on a macro level is much different.

I've been loving the Great War series on Youtube, been following it since back when it started in July 2014(commemorating World War I starting exactly 100 years before in July 2014), and been following it and posting some here on FA, now the war 100 years ago turns to 1917, which is arguably one of the most vital years of the war that would decide who wins. So without further ado, here's the situation of the war as it stood, 100 years ago. 1916 was a very rough year and 1917 is gonna be even more intense.

With the inauguration upon us in a week and a half, seeing how things are going, it made me think what would the world be like if the United States as an entity never existed? Canada was a North American territory of the British Empire, and it seems to have turned out just fine, so perhaps the 13 colonies would of ended up like a United States of Colombia or something? With a Parliamentary system and all that? This video takes that speculation deeper on what if the United States of America never existed.

Toriko! So I got the Last Guardian for Christmas, and man what a journey it was, I won't spoil it but I'll at least talk about some features of the game and reflecting on the themes it touches on, namely this game is centered on the friendship between this boy and a mythical Dog/Cat/Bird creature called Trico(Toriko in Japanese). But anyway, this game is quite unique compared to the other games from the same game developer, Ico and Shadow of the Colussus. I usually never cry with movies and video games but damn this game had me sobbing at the end, but it's very much worth playing through, it is one of the most emotional,engaging games I ever played.

The Last Guardian almost never came to fruition and it took 3 years of development, with another 6 years in development hel. Mmost of it actually was mostly attributed to developing Trico's AI which I have to say is incredible, it's almost life like, and Trico thinks on his own, so getting him to do something for you sometimes takes some patience and takes communication and understanding for him to get what you wanna do and you have to pay attention him, his body language, and what he does which can help you in the game. But seeing all this and the connection the boy and Trico develop I thought was awesome,and personally involved myself in it, and it effected me greatly. In any game I played I never felt so connected to a character, especially one that would make me cry, ever. But Trico was very well done by the developers, they are quirks here and there but by a large, Trico would remind many people of their pets, he's very much the closest thing I've seen in a video game of a simulated animal, one that can think and feel, and having individuality. As with Trico, working with an animal takes patience, and you have to form a bond, a connection with that animal, a mutual understand across the species and language barrier. You know each other long enough and you go from frustrating acqaintances to best friends. And I think the frustrating part to gamers is the very reason why I loved this game, making a connection with Trico was a great experience and this game quickly became among my favorites, I'm normally playing war games mostly FPS and strategy(with the exception of soccer games), but this is definitely refreshing and made me admit I'm more emotional than I thought I was.



This then made me think of the human relationship with the animal world. Like wolves(who later become dogs) have to be the greatest alliance with the animal world humanity has ever made, when humans were hunting and gathering, it took that one person who's not overly distracted with the internal politics of the tribe or survival to actually reach out and connect with this animal that's often feared and make a vital ally that would help them hunt and better their survival for the both of them, forging a bond that still continues today, a 30,000 year(minimum) friendship. And really if people actually pay attention to animals there's a lot less of a divide that some philosophical and religious theories want us to believe.

For more information on the Human-Animal connection you can refer to my previous journal here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/74013

This makes me think back in my anthropology class, on the first week, we debated, what traits are unique to humans compared to animals? We had several suggestions such as play and other things which turn out to be wrong, in reality animals have many things in common with us the difference only in degree, the only things humans really have unique to them is abstract thought and language(for example, the idea of time is unique to humans), and the ability to utilize energy(ie make fire).

They are also human traits that animals have to such as: sexual infidelity(look up crows/ravens for an example), compassion, dignity, forbearance(for offspring), gentleness, indulgence(for offspring), long suffering(for offspring), protectiveness of offspring, self-sacrifice for offspring, tenderness, toleration and yearning for freedom(in Guatemala for example the quetzal bird is typically never put in captivity due to the fact they die soon after).(Source: Appendix III, Beast by Moussaieff Masson)

Still there's a ton of information on this topic and they are several theories around it, but a lot of scientists today are finding out things that people who are familiar with animals often already know, it's just proven without a doubt now. :P

Here's an educational video on animal perception and understanding humans.

Well Happy Gregorian New Year! All I have to say f*ck 2016, this year has been quite rough for the world to say the least! The West making some really bad choices based on emotions and prejudice, it's the year where I see Western civilization in danger of abandoning its values that made it the place that my parents immigrated to have a better life, to have freedom, and me being the first of their family born here, I'm hoping that with the current president elect, they'd still be a place for me and others like me, that hopefully we'd come back to our senses and not totally fuck things up for the rest of us(of course the elites don't get to suffer the consequences of their decisions).

I think people have been in a very "fuck the establishment" mood, however, that energy that could've been able to battle corruption, oligarchy, inequality, and for the rights of all(not just a group of people based on arbitrary notions), instead many got manipulated to vote with their prejudices and against their own interests, this year(Though really, it was the electoral college that voted in the president elect, not the people, and they failed to do their job in terms of voting against unqualified candidates, making the electoral college about as useless as a screendoor on a submarine in its current state). Facts took a hit and it seems people often aren't caring about facts anymore which to me is very disheartening, but I think 2017 as a commentator said, would probably be a year of us learning from our bad decisions.

John Oliver says f*ck you 2016!



A geopolitical review of 2016:
https://geopoliticsmadesuper.com/20.....itical-review/

As for the new president elect to be, I don't think he wants the job, and he's going to learn that being the president of the United States is way different than being a CEO or whatever the hell he does that I don't give a damn about. If you noticed Obama is in his late 40s when he became president in 2009, and now 8 years later, he aged a fair bit, Trump is already 70, I have a feeling he probably will not last long, and I think he'd quit Either that or he'll hardly get anything substantial done, though on a later journal I'll give a run down of his policies as of the present and see if it's viable and constitutional but we'll see. God willing we'll get through this, maybe he won't fuck things up, maybe it'll be another 4 years of congress getting nothing done, which I'd rather have that then anything else :P

Hello! How's everyone? I just wanted to give a heads up and wish everyone had a great Christmas, I spent time with family and friends and was overall fun, and saw Sing today which is a fun movie and I recommend it.

But anyway since last time I put up a journal I finished my fall semester 10 days ago, mostly ended up with As and Bs so it's all good and I have one last semester to go, doing 7 credits(a math class, and a Japanese history class, plus a constitution seminar), and after that I should be a graduate by May and real life begins for me where I'll have to make big decisions. I plan to move out of my parent's place sometime summer/fall next year if everything goes to plan, might end up a place near where I live or out of state living with friend(s) wholly depending on job prospects, so ill send out applications here and cross state and see what happens. From what I've seen living on my own would be the most expensive of my options after making an evaluation!

So the next year would be definitely a year of transition in my life, where I'll hopefully be able to carve a path of my own of where im gonna work, live, possibly get a dog, maybe have a relationship, who knows, all I have to say is inshallah, and just trust in the creator to guide me on my next step in life.


And now...a quick history of Christmas :P

Here's a pretty cool animation of military history from WWII to present day, presented by food :P

And now for something completely different, a pretty good short film that features World War I and Bunnies. A bit sad though.

Hey guys it's been awhile, been busy with school, work and maintaining my close friendships, and been mostly thinking about what my future will hold. I got past the evaluation after 6 months on the new job with the library, with a perfect score, and now trying to apply for a position up for better pay and benefits. I got one more semester to go after fall semester in less than 3 weeks, basically going to do a math class, an elective class and a short seminar on the Nevada constitution and then I get my degree in May finally. After that, assuming that I can get a better job position, I'd probably be moving out of my parent's place with a couple choices, but more likely would move in with a close friend and hopefully be able to get a dog after I settle in.

Anyway...I need to stop looking at the news everyday, cause our dear president elect apparently is a immature manchild who can't take a joke or a criticism without him whining on the internet. I find it hugely unprofessional, and borderline authoritarian, in wanting to intimidate the media to stop saying bad things about him. For someone who advertised himself as anti-PC, he sure seems to want a safe space! Well he should know when being president there is no safe space and if we stay vigilant a few things can happen; 1.he'd quit, 2.he'd get impeached, 3. Hopefully those who voted for him will realized they're gambling the integrity of our democratic institutions, our economy, our healthcare, our national security to a guy who has a textbook narcissist and sociopathic personality, not to mention he seems to be wanting to run his businesses at he same time of wanting to president. Being president isn't a part time job for God's sake! And lately he bitched some more despite winning the election through the electoral college he's STILL not satisified that he didn't win the popular vote. So he makes a bullshit claim that they were 3 million illegal votes, which is not founded in fact, but it seems this year fewer people care about facts and demonize journalists, academics and intellectuals(Populist and authoritarian regimes always go after them first).

But from what I've learned, it seems attacking his personality does little to waver support for him, and many among the Republican and Democratic establishments that attacking Trump's rotten personality was no where near as effective as attacking his policy would've been, and I was surprised by this. I often look at this and am like...why would people vote for this awful man? But then again the Democrats if they nominated Bernie Sanders he would've beaten Trump by far, I think he had the populism, without the rotten personality and lack of morals(his record shows that), and not use people like Trump is currently doing. But anyway, it seems attacking Trump's personality only makes him stronger so I think the media should switch over to attacking his policies especially in terms of constitutionality of them.


Also here's an article on the Right way to resist Trump: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/o.....ist-trump.html

So for 2016, I'd want us to remember Facts and the joy it gave us in helping us learn and grow, I learned so much from facts and how my thirst for knowledge inspired me to want to become an academic, a scholar, but it seems people seem to respecting them less nowadays but facts died so soon :c

I'd share that quote from Isaac Asimov again..

"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."

Isaac Asimov, Column in Newsweek (21 January 1980)

Well it took me awhile to get over my trauma of what happened on election night and now that my rationality is back in the driver's seat of my brain after grabbing my emotions and tossing it in the backseat...I now will try to make sense of what the hell just happened.

My initial reaction

America...we need to talk...cause first of all...what the fuck America? Seriously? You elect among the worst candidates in US history? Someone who openly brags about exploiting people for his businesses, sexual assault, war crimes(he proposed to kill off the families of terrorists, insulted Muslims, Latinos, and everyone else in between(NY Times i believe has a list), you elect that guy? A pseudo Mussolini or Francisco Franco? Someone who's a textbook narcissist? Someone who lied on average, 75% of the time(according to politifact), cause it seems facts don't seem to matter to anyone anymore, though this can apply to both the right and the left, I would take a quote from Isaac Asimov on anti-intellectualism, which seems to have been a trend over the last generation.

"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."

Isaac Asimov, Column in Newsweek (21 January 1980)


But yeah that's basically was my first reactions, but I calmed down and analyzed, and...from what I've seen most Trump supporters aren't bigots but a significant portion are, still the mass panic it caused...I just have to say, we need to calm the fuck down and think this through, especially with the protests, it's alright to do it as long as its peaceful but if something starts burning they probably should stop.

However before dismissing the protests, I would want to say I was legitimately scared for the fact I'm Muslim, and half Syrian, which my grandmother is a refugee, and trying to get the rest of my family in Syria here, which it was already tough(Trump's comments on the Syrian refugee crisis and the vetting process is complete bullshit), now I think it'd be impossible. But nonetheless a lot of people are legitimately worried that the rights of Muslims, Latinos, Blacks, LGBT(because of Pence) would be trampled on now that the Socially and fiscally conservative Republicans who never really gave an effort to be friends with any of these communities, would screw them over, and undo over a decade a progress, and to me that's a legit reason to be scared and protest in anger.(However I condemn any violence or vandalism that has gone on in the protests)

Though interestingly in recent days, Trump seems to already back pedal on most of his 'promises' to his base which i find very strange, but I have the feeling he didn't expect to win the presidency, and he did, more likely Pence and much of his staff would probably be doing all the work. He insults and threatens and acts like a bully in one instance, and then tries to act normal in another, he seems to have changed his mind on his policies towards minorities however, probably would still go forward with fiscal conservative policies,but otherwise, might be another Bush(Which isn't great either), hell he might end up being a figure head with most of his staff doing the real work.

For more information look here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin.....492_story.html



Reasons for Trump winning the presidency and what he might do

Factor #1: The Electoral College

With that being said, Trump won the election though...this is the fifth time in American history of a president winning the electoral votes but not the popular vote, which I think is bullshit, Hillary would've won if the popular vote counted.

For problems with the electoral college please watch here:



Though we don't have to completely abolish the electoral college, we can reform it, like have a proportional system instead of a winner takes all system, perhaps renumber the electoral votes to reflect the population of said states. For example, a third of the California population votes republican than would mean 20 electoral votes or something like that goes to the GOP candidate and 35 goes to the Democrat candidate, so that can be one solution.

Factor #2: Political Apathy

Another notable thing is 46% roughly, of eligible voters did not vote, sooo.... political apathy is a threat to democracy in my opinion.

Factor #3: Corruption in the DNC(and RNC)

The blatant corruption of the DNC was a huge factor of why they got absolutely curb stomped in the election not only losing the presidential election(290 electoral votes to 228), but the GOP now majority in the senate and the house of representatives. This whole election was a circus both parties seemed to have had a contest of pitting their worst candidates against each other. Any other candidate would've beaten the other very easily, but Trump won the presidential nomination in the RNC mostly because they were pretty corrupt and didn't appeal to their base, despite I find it funny that what got him through was because of all kinds of outrageous things he said and get the nomination.

In the DNC, Bernie Sanders pretty much attracted people in a similar way but without the insults and racism towards minorities, but unfortunately didn't get approved by the DNC who insisted on Hillary Clinton who's very much an establishment candidate, the 2016 election like in Brexit has been a "Fuck the establishment" year, people are demanding a populist candidate, and they got one in the RNC, which is a huge factor of why Trump won over Hillary. If Bernie was nominated, I'm pretty sure he would've won, since he has a relatively clean record(no emails or other scandals) is not a loudmouthed narcissist, and has been a consistent and good politician, his only downside is he calls himself a democratic socialist(Which I have no problem with and I supported him), which I wonder if people would've voted for Trump with his rotten personality and rhetoric against someone who actually seems to care for people.

But in the end, the DNC has no one to blame but themselves for losing this election so miserably.

Factor #3: City vs Rural
If you notice in the electoral maps of each states, it seems that it isn't red states vs blue states, but mostly urban vs rural, the vast majority of the rural areas voted Trump, while the vast majority of the large cities voted for Hillary. Many of those living in rural areas and non college whites who were involved in manufacturing jobs that were outsourced overseas was a huge factor, since many of them liked Bernie, but with him being booted in favor of Hillary she symbolized the establishment which in their mind didn't and wouldn't give a damn about them so they went to the populist candidate, Trump, who wanted to get rid of NAFTA and back out of the TPP which many criticized would kill more jobs in the US.

So I think in the end I'm not as worried anymore, we're not gonna face a nuclear meltdown over a tweet, Latinos aren't gonna get kicked out in masse, Muslims aren't gonna get banned,LGBT aren't gonna lose their rights, however, I would say, Trump better reign in the extremists among his followers though most Trump supports are not bigots, a significant portion are, and because of the bullshit he has said, caused a rise in hate crimes towards minorities, because of what he said. Some may argue he said that bullshit without meaning it to rile up his base, but I don't buy that, and that some argue he shouldn't be held responsible for what some of his followers do, but to me he does hold responsibility because of what he said, what you say has consequences and the stuff he said though he's free to do so, has caused a rise in white nationalism, Nativism(which the US tends to go through every now and then), which is giving minorities a harder time to live their daily lives. This is a huge reason why I won't support him or his party, because they enable the bigots, he riled up his base by punching down(using the minorities as a scapegoat), instead of punching up.

Cause really one thing I would ask is, who are the ones that shipped their jobs overseas? Who are the ones who screwed them economically? Why are the US politicians seemingly corrupt? Who influences them? I can hardly blame minorities for any of that, it's mostly the elites of the private sector, bribing and conspiring with the elites of the government, which really to me this isn't anything new, the Progressive Era in the US from 1900-1920, had similar questions and conversations.

This is all just part of a right wing populist reactionary movement that has been surging since Brexit in Europe and in much of the rest of the continent and soon spread to here, due to a number of factors which includes jobs being shipped over seas, the fact minorities now have more influence in mainstream society has caused resentment, and also immigration and increasing diversity in Western nations.

Anyway, now that Trump is for the most part gonna be president for the next four years(unless they impeach his ass before his term ends), he's not gonna be a dictator, the US is a strong, democratic republic and I believe our institutions can endure a Trump presidency for the next four years.



For further reading:

https://geopoliticsmadesuper.com/20.....ed-in-america/

http://www.npr.org/2016/11/12/50184.....ntial-election

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w.....-a7405401.html

Well it's been quite busy, mostly focusing on work, school, and strengthening my close friendships, and also figuring out the way forward. I'll be evaluated Thursday, and I'm pretty confident I'll get past the test and move up in my job, and the fall semester is almost over. And now today is election day, everyone should vote, I casted my vote and if people ask me who, well...I'm half Syrian, half Latino, of Muslim background, it'd be kinda obvious(and if you read my previous journals on the subject) :x

But we'll see how it turns out tonight, this election definitely shows, the US is no exception to failure of its democratic institutions, many people say "it happens over there, it won't happen here" I don't believe that mainly because the US is made up of human beings, who can be good or evil or in between. Our nation is an experiment, it can fail, some historians say we're going nowhere but up in progress but with all the right wing backlash happening lately that isn't the case, we must remain firm if we want to keep the progress we've made, to ensure the US is a diverse nation and that is our strength, to live how you want as long as you don't violate the rights of others.

But anyway here's something to watch and some further reading on why one candidate is clearly worse than the other.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/op.....-donald-trump/

This video is almost 20 minutes but it's a very eye opening 20 minutes, a lot of what I read about human behavior and social structures, in terms of relating to politics is simplified and clarified. And from my conclusion? humans are bastards lol, they can be greedy, self-interested, etc etc however, there is hope. Human tendencies can be channeled in ways that would benefit greater blocs of society which it seems that's what this is about. In politics it seems that you stay in power when you benefit your coalition, whether or not the common person benefits depends on whether the ones you're supporting has similar interests to those blocs of people.

The one thing about democracies is that, it spreads power a bit more than dictatorships meaning politicians have to please more people if they want to get in office. With this election, you clearly see what blocs and factions within our nation of 320 million of what blocs and groups each candidate wants to support or enrich, the question is...which one would benefit your group or bloc more? *cynicism intensifies*

However it's not all bad, there is hope as said before, these tendencies we have can be channeled into productive venues where it benefits both the individual and others if done right.

Despite the worst dictators in history that come to mind, Leopold II, the king of Belgium between 1865-1909, often doesn't ring a bell. But during the time he was personally given ownership of what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, was ironically named "The Congo Free State". During his ownership of the land and by extension, the inhabitants within it between 1885 to 1908. He put them in forced labor, and it is estimated that roughly half the population died from overwork, torture, and just straight out murder, along with mutilations whenever their quotas weren't met(the key resource being rubber). The casualties estimates vary very widely depending on who you're talking to, the highest estimate goes up to 15 million, others as low as 1 million, simply because there wasn't a consensus at the time.

The first consensus was done by the Belgian government in 1924, and estimated a population of about 10 million, which one historian from using local sources, came to the conclusion the most likely death toll is probably around 10 million, but no matter if it's 1 million or 15 million it was nonetheless mass murder, exploitation and mistreatment of a people on a mass scale, and truly was a dark part of recent history. If anything this is probably among the worse cases of imperialism alongside the Armenian genocide by the Ottomans, the killing of Chinese by the Japanese empire, or the 1.5 million deaths in Central Asia by Russia, or the genocide of the Herero people in Namibia by the German empire, the US is the Philippines, France in Algeria(it wasn't called land of a million martyrs for nothing), the Italians in Libya, you get the idea.

But anyway, here's a video giving an overview of King Leopold II's exploitation of the so called "Congo Free State"

Hey guys it's been awhile, had a busy week. Did my mid terms, my parents took me to lunch for my whelpday, spent some time with a close friend and went back to work after. And now the next thing on my mind is in my state early voting is available as of today, sooo probably planning to vote sometime before the actual election day...cause it'll probably be crowded as hell. I just hope for this election to be over and hopefully we'd all be alright after(and Trump is more than likely gonna lose significantly if not badly).

But pulling away from politics, I noticed my preferences in terms dog breeds seemed to have evolved over time, I used to be loving German shepherds and never paying much attention to other breeds, but with experience and dog sitting, I gotten to really like alongside shepherds, collies, malamutes, huskies, pitbulls etc. So usually a medium to large dog with a friendly personality, I can get along with and potentially adopt. After reading the history of dog breeds and from an earlier post I made about how a lot of pedigree dog breeding has ruined the health of many dogs for sheer vanity(the English Bulldog being the worst culprit, the symbol of everything wrong with show dog breeding) which I find just wrong. Though not all dog breeding is bad, you gotta pass on good genes to the next generation of dogs, however, the aim should not be looks but rather, function, dogs that are bred for performance tend to do a lot better, and that a healthy, athletic dog has a certain beauty in and of itself, rather than trying to make them fit human ideas of what's beauitful and what's not(which is mostly subjective and arbitrary, and mostly different from culture to culture).

And now here's something interesting that talks on a topic of...are different dog types really that different from each other, personality wise? According to a few studies, that's now being questioned.

As of now, I'm 26 years old, and I have to say, not much has changed really, besides carrying on more responsibilities as I finish up school and get more fully involved in the work force and life. It's both empowering and anxiety inducing as I have to learn time management, work and study, while also trying to have fun and relax in between those, at the moment im only working part time and going to school mostly full time, not very far from graduation with my BA in history, while I transition in my job by the end of the semester into full time(or at least try to apply for it, we'll see). In a nutshell, I'm learning more in how to be a productive adult and citizen :P

And now for an episode of this day in history