June 16, 2020: Capitalism Can Be a Soulless Beast

 

6/16/20: Proof that capitalism has no soul. You can now buy “George Floyd” running shoes. For $18, you can purchase three pairs of “George Floyd R.I.P.” underwear.

Capitalism has no soul, save profitting.

 

_____________________ 

Capitalism can be a soulless beast.

_____________________

 

This is not meant as a knock on capitalism in totality. But we need to remember that capitalism can be a soulless beast. That’s why the slave trade was legal in this country, until 1808. That’s why child labor was accepted as normal until 1908. That’s why coal miners used to die by the thousands in cave-ins and explosions yearly. It’s why, even now, that thousands of U.S. corporations claim their headquarters are in the Cayman Islands, so they can dodge taxes. 

Take, for example, the decision of Thermo Fisher, an American tech company, to work with the Chinese communist government. 

(I know, I know. Communism is a fatally flawed economic model.)

 

In the last three years, Chinese authorities have been gathering DNA samples from all males in that country. Thermo Fisher has supplied testing kits, to Chinese specifications, to make creating a database possible. 

Could you catch criminals more surely, if you had blood, saliva, hair, and genetic materials from every single male? Yes. 

Could you catch protesters and anonymous critics of the government if you had the same? You could. 

Communist leaders will no doubt abuse the system.

 

* 

PROOF THAT WITH the Trump administration, no matter how much you try to keep track, there’s always more sh*t to discuss. An independent panel commissioned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has found that two top officials violated the agency’s ethics code. 

How? Why? Did they steal money? 

 

“Domineering autocratic ogres.” 

If you remember:  Mr. Trump claimed that he was right when he said Hurricane Dorian was going to hit Alabama (see: 9/5/19). Weather experts said he wasn’t. The president then produced a map “showing” that Dorian was bearing down on the state. Some poor fool had clearly doctored the map – marking a new path for the storm with a thick black Sharpie line. 

I mean, who would do that! 

In any case, two agency officials caved and backed the president. The two officials later defended themselves – said they were pressured by top Trump political appointees to bend the truth. 

Craig McClean, the acting chief scientist for NOAA, wasn’t buying. If top officials at NOAA dared not stand up to “domineering autocratic ogres,” he couldn’t muster up much sympathy. If top people at NOAA, couldn’t stand up “for the Scientific Integrity of the agency and the trust our public needs to invest in our scientific process and products,” then who would?

 

* 

PROOF THAT OUR PRESIDENT is an ill-informed lout, with no real interest in learning: Speaking at the White House today, Trump says he believes the same expertise that produced a vaccine to cure AIDS will soon produce a vaccine to defend us all against COVID-19. 

Tipping his hat to the scientists of this country, he says, “These are the people – the best, the smartest, the most brilliant anywhere, and they’ve come up with the AIDS vaccine. They’ve come up with ... various things.” 

This would be great news…if a vaccine to cure AIDS actually existed. Instead, it’s just more proof of how little Mr. Drink Bleach knows about the real battles to combat this new and deadly virus. 

When he talks about “various things,” you know what he’s really saying is he doesn’t know anything.