There are anti-Trump protests scheduled around the country on June 14th called No Kings.
This is paid, coordinated, nation-wide agitation, aka Summer of Love 2.0. You can go to NoKings.org to see the map for a protest near you.
I’d advise staying very far away….
But is a PhD a gate-keeping mechanism so that only certain ideologies are embraced and supported….or manipulated and redirected focus to ensure a specific outcome?
“Higher Education” can turn into humiliation rituals (just ask any Resident Dr). Or detect who is willing to play the game…and at what cost. And many people play the game because the allure of wealth, or notoriety, or some other perceived advantage is strong.
Don’t mistake my ramblings as broad brush statements; there are MANY people who pursue advanced degrees for noble causes. But there’s a lot of places to hide in academia and it can be a quite lucrative endeavor. There’s a whole lot of money involved and anyone who doesn’t think that there are dark corners in most of our higher learning institutions are naive.
But WHY is a PhD really necessary?
It panders to the professional student but outside of ‘prestige’, what value does it really hold outside of academic titles and tiaras? Does a PhD make that much difference for humanity, or is it just another elitist gate keeping ploy?
The original Dixie Chicks quartet (out of Dallas area) were fantastic. They played a corporate event for us at TI back when they were first getting started.
It all went south when the original four broke up and Natalie Maines got involved.
My honest opinion?
The “Africanized” bees escaped in South America in 1956. Since half of the crossbreed is Apis mellifera (European honeybee), I would think that over the last 70 years the Apis m. scuttellata genes would have bred down significantly, since queens are replaced by the colony every year or so and new queens mate outside of their colony specifically for genetic diversity.
I have had hives that were extra spicy; they just get inspected less than the others. And in a season or two, the colony will have replaced their queen and be as nice as kittens. All behavior is based on Queen genetics. The only way to truly tell if a colony is Africanized is via genetic autopsy.
Granted, I am in North Texas where “Africanized” bees have been supposedly found and I have no idea about the current state of affairs down in the valley. But as a keeper I do know the proper conditions (weather and timing) for opening a bee hive without deliberately pissing them off. Inexperienced keepers may not yet understand those conditions and be the reason for angry bees and not genetics.
I am a beekeeper, and am aware of the die-off.
What is NOT mentioned is the majority of this decline is affecting COMMERCIAL beekeepers. I run my county bee club and our winter losses were normal.
Did you know that almonds alone in California require 1.5-1.6M colonies of bees for pollination? A crop that isn’t even native to the US? Bees are trucked from all over the country to California to sit on a monocrop for an entire brood cycle. Not to mention the chemical pest treatments that are required by contract. There are plenty of research facilities studying this issue right now with no single factor cause emerging. This also happened in 2008 and was dubbed Colony Collapse Disorder, due to multiple causes.
IMHO, bees were not created to be ridden hard and put up wet. Pollinate local farms and orchards instead. And for the love of God, monoculture kills native insects and soils.
And the group of people I worry about the most (outside of the children, of course) is what I call the Religious Spirits. God-loving people who are chained by their doctrine rooted in fear and shame.
I know some REALLY GOOD people who are going to have the entire rug of their existence yanked right out from underneath them. It’s a train wreck I see coming and there’s nothing I can do about it.
It’s not overt. There are innocent phrases and situations that appear insignificant on the surface. But looking back, you can see it.
I listened to a lot of it while puttering around the house, but for instance, the second season finale (I think) was “live” with Regis Philbin as emcee. At one point “hail to the chief” is said. If I wasn’t in 2025 looking back, I probably wouldn’t have noticed.
That’s just off the top of my head. It’s all subtle, but it’s there.
I have just watched all 7 seasons of The Apprentice currently available on Prime.
Holy shit. It was ABSOLUTELY subliminal priming for where we are now. He’s EXACTLY the same now as then; clear-headed, decisive, demanding and truthful, yet you can also see his humanity with the contestants.
It’s masterful to watch.
Also great info here:
I lived in Collin County for 25 years and just recently moved just outside the county. I know kids who were at that meet, including one who was an eye-witness (I have not asked what she saw due to the trauma).
I have also heard that there is video evidence that there was no deliberate provocation by Metcalf during their exchange. 🤷♀️
Knowing Collin County as I do, as well as the recent influx of diversity, I am fairly certain that this will be a pretty solid case.
We shall see.