Bondo’s tribute to my loved ones who went ahead in 2018. My dad Victor Bond, my brother Ben Bond, our neighbor Marilyn Tracy, a friend from days gone by Jose Mireles Jr., our beloved Chewy, and three adored chickens- Big Yella and the Sisters.
I remember you.
(I don’t have a way to embed audio on this blog as I intended, so I like to play this youtube version while I watch the slide show):
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Cherish them while you can. Know that they are waiting and remember you!
As I walked along the fence-line of the pasture, I glanced across the dark field and realized with a jolt that there was a person on the other side of the pasture.
It was the middle of the night out in the middle of nowhere- Four Forks, Texas. I had snuck out to an older kids house to hang out and smoke cigarettes and was now navigating the back pasture in between the woods and a neighbors’ property on the walk home, when I noticed the shadowy figure. A million thoughts ran through my head after I had dropped to the ground- wondering if I had been spotted.
Who could it be? What were they doing out in the woods in the middle of the night? After a bit, I cautiously poked my head up and- gasp!- there was nobody there. Had I really seen someone? If so, where did they go? Before I could even begin to calculate all the possibilities of this development- gasp!- the person poked his head up.
We all have subconscious parts of our brain that observe things like distance, speed, trajectory, direction and so on that constantly observes, calculates, and adjusts. These are calculations made in milliseconds. It is how we are able to perform highly- skilled motor functions like sports, riding a bicycle and driving a vehicle. That part of my brain told me that where this head had poked up wasn’t right- that either there was another previously unseen person or persons- or this person had scooted along the ground at an unnatural scooting speed.
Before that millisecond was over, I had calculated that I didn’t like either prospect and had already sprang to my feet and ran as fast as Bondo was capable of at that time. After some of the adrenaline/terror jolt began to wear off, I cautiously looked back over my shoulder. The person was now upright again, in the middle of the pasture and trotting towards me. This development enabled another adrenaline/terror jolt to push me to previously unknown speeds.
As I approached the barbed-wire fence separating the pasture and the neighbors’ property- I briefly considered leaping over it and felt as if I could. But having had a bad experience previously with that feat, I deftly spread two strands and quickly leaped through, as any country boy who has ever fled a bull or goat is able to do.
Straightening up on the other side, I stole a quick glance, and was heartened to see my mad dash had increased the distance between us. I squinted and tried to see who, what this was. It was so dark, all I could see was a silhouette- not unlike a warrior in Braveheart- plodding steadily towards me!
There was no longer any doubt this thing was after me as I hit a panicked sprint once again. I didn’t stop until I had completed the long run through a twenty-acre pasture, another fence, a five-year acre yard/field before finally reaching my road. I stopped, lungs burning and side throbbing and scanned the shadowy dark landscape. No sign of my pursuer.
After a fright, often times there is a let down reaction that causes the person to become aggravated or angry with the cause of the fright. Not seeing my follower anymore brought a temporary cockiness. I walked deliberately down the road now, scowling as I continued scanning around.
My bravado was temporary, for as I searched the darkness, I realized that I couldn’t see the back fence-line- meaning my follower could not only be paralleling me- but could in fact, since I was now casually strolling- be already ahead of me and ready to spring out on the road ahead of me!
Sprinting again, I didn’t stop until I was at my driveway. I looked around once more, before going in and posting up by the hall window.
As I sat there watching, I began to remember little things. Neighbors with missing chickens, an unoccupied work shed mysteriously burning down. I remembered my little brother woke us up one time claiming there was a ‘black man throwing gravel’ at his window.
And then, I saw the figure walking down the road in front of our property! Ducking down as far as I could while still being able to see him, I was relieved as I watched him continue down the road. Then, the relief turned to horror as he stopped in front of our neighbors house and then began walking up their driveway towards their house.
As I watched, I frantically considered what I should do. Before I could decide, he stopped, turned around, and walked back to and on down the road.
I stared down the road for what seemed like hours, before waking, slumped up against the wall under the window. I peered around everywhere frantically. Nothing.
It was a long time until I was able to sleep the whole night again. I wasted a lot of time staring out that hall window at night.
“Beware the military-industrial complex”- President Dwight Eisenhower, 1/17/1961
In what should have been considered good news we all can use, President Trump’s announcement that US troops are leaving Syria, and are finally drawing down in our longest quagmire- Afghanistan- the bi-partisan panic reveals that our elected officials CAN agree. They agree, like dogs, to return to their vomit at every opportunity.
President Trump orders the “full” and “rapid” withdrawal of US troops from Syria, stating the “defeat of ISIS” removes the reasons for continuing involvement.
After opposing every military intervention of the last 50 years, Hollywood liberals now love war.
President Obama tried to get us deeply involved in Syria- remember the “red line”?- and met fierce enough pushback that he had to let it go.
Syria is a Russian ally and has been for a long time. Questionable events, unverifiable “gas attacks”, the anti-Assad “rebels”- it is a dirty little mess. We have no interests there. If whoever we are allegedly supporting there can’t get along wthout our 2,000 troops, then we don’t need to be involved in that anyways. Next they will need 2000 more and then a little “surge” to wrap things up. And then 20 years from now, just like Afghanistan, we’ll still be involved in a “generational” conflict. We have seen this movie before- several times in fact. Bring the boys home.
And, speaking of Afghanistan:
President Trump orders a 50% reduction in troop levels in Afghanistan. The article tries to paint Trump as impulsive, irresponsible, and neglectful of our allies while explaining why the drawdown is a mistake. But the unmistakeable truth is also proven through these justifications- after 17 years and over 2400 deaths, not a damn thing has changed. Bring the boys home.
The Military Times picked up this story from Associated Press. The author spends three paragraphs on the relevant fact: the Afghans say it won’t affect them.
Then eight paragraphs and two links to how this is all an impulsive mistake.
Ron Paul says it’s a “good start”. He also points out how the same people that cried for two years that Trump was going to get us in a war, are now mad he is trying to end some.
FLASHBACK: October 2016- TIME magazine runs an article from Cato Institute arguing that it is time to close our overseas military bases. All 700+ in the over 80 countries.
I thought this would be a kewt topic. When it comes to outrage it’s like “Where’s Waldo”!! Where is it?? When and if it shows up, if it is on the side of TRUTH, the media would be absolutely silent. The yellow vest movement does not seem to be going away, and according to the media, “it’s just a fringe right wing group throwing a fit. If there is violence they pin that on THEIR preferred target!! Have we seen any negative publicity on ANTIFA yet, how about the muslim brotherhood? Then we have every topic of the week. The wall? The first step act? No outrage! Banning bump stocks? Banning firearms magazines over 10? Nope, NO OUTRAGE YET!! The continuous assault on the President! The continuous assault on our Rights, our Heritage, our Culture, our seasonal songs, and even our cartoons. Has anybody bought a yellow vest yet?? Did anybody check out the media madness over “The First Step Act”? A woman says that after being RAPED, not once, but twice, proceeds to tell us that VICTIMS just “Don’t want to Know that the perpetrator of THEIR crime now is FREE! It doesn’t matter if BILLY BOB or JAMAL, JOSE or MUHAMMED live three doors down. VICTIMS DON’T WANT TO KNOW!! To top this off, this is supposed to be about victimless crimes, but Lawmakers threw out the part of the BILL that would have told the victims. There is a little OUTRAGE over this, but where is the outrage over the Media Shill saying this is how VICTIMS feel?? The media thinking normal people can’t see right through this?? They can’t fulfill campaign promises about the wall, but the figure they are sending to Mexico and Latin America last figure said $25 BILLION, more outrage? Republicans tried to sneak around backing Trump by secret session to prevent a shutdown, but he called their bluff, and they decided to finally fund the dadgum wall. UNDER DURESS!! This is beyond OUTRAGEOUS, Rhinos made it obvious they don’t care what the people want! Trump opening up the prisons saying this is good for AMERICA, is probably ludicrous, but once more we are supposed to wait and see. Prisons bilk taxpayers for every beating heart housed there. They are run by private Corporations that aren’t even making enough money to expand?? Since when do we the AMERICAN PEOPLE need MORE LAWS??? Don’t we need to get out a magnifying glass and go over the unwanted and and unneeded laws we are still throwing money around for. The money Mexico and Central Americaare getting is coming from a non taxpayer source funded under Nixon, that has been profitable for years. Sounds fishy?? Sound like CIA drug money lying around to enslave governments and people?? Wait, WHAAT?!! Formed under Nixon, has an extra 25 bill, with a b! Why didn’t they throw that money before the caravan headed North. Why didn’t THEY say here Donald we got an extra 25B lying around here take 6, build a wall. No outrage? Disgust? No questions about this new organization we funded 5 decades back that throws money around like this, is so profitable, did they bother to pay us back?? Someone, or something, is dividing people, trying to stir up inner strife, steal more and more rights, and stand against the common good of our people, our health, and our virtue! (What’s left to claim). Boys now can claim menstrual cycles. Children can now dance in gay bars. Measles didn’t exist in 2015, but the vaccine killed a bunch of kids. Every respiratory illness boosts flu vaccine fatalities, but influenza testing isn’t in the autopsy. The band plays on. Everything pointing out cognitive dissonance is a conspiracy theory. The Main Stream Media is caught Lying on a weekly basis! The people employed brag about lying to make news, and people still watch and quote their figures as truth. Disgusted yet. How about human waste to fertilize your food? How about the cloud of corruption hovering over roundup, your pharmaceuticals, your food products, health products!! Then you are being surveiled at home, at work, on the road, and if your phone goes with you to the bathroom, there too. Nothing is sacred, private, or your own.
People want to call you a whackjob, a nutcase, a tin foil hatter, a conspiracy theorist the day you say, “I will not comply”. “Don’t Tread On ME”!! How about obeying unjust laws is probably TREASON,. IT IS YOUR DUTY NOT TO OBEY UNJUST LAWS!! Boy big bro does NOT like that one!!;
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.- Matthew 1:21
We hear of things being of “Biblical proportions”. When I read the Bible, I like to try and picture the things as if I was there. Try and picture how except for the time and place, the same stories could play out today.
your son will save us
I used to watch a cartoon called King of the Hill. There was a schoolmate of Bobby’s named Dooley. His nickname should have been “Stark Reality”. He was the glum minimalist who pointed out reality with a monotone statement: “Your wife divorced you.” or “Your dad lost his job.”
I can see Dooley telling Joseph “Your fiancee is pregnant.”
It would have been a shock and disappointment to find out. But the Bible says that Joseph was a good man and decided to end the engagement discreetly, without embarrassing anyone or making a big deal out of it. While he was considering his options:
Matthew 1:20-21- … behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.
As we know, Joseph listened to the angel and accepted the calling to raise and be a father for the Son of God. And they called his name Jesus- which means to deliver, rescue, or save.
That’s the meaning of Christmas that I try to remember. I am a flawed individual, and fall short often. A rescuer has come to save me from a hopeless state of mind and body.
A baby was born who would save his people. And they called his name Jesus.
JEDI is intended to not only improve information sharing but to dramatically increase the US military’s ability to collect and sort through huge amounts of surveillance information from many, many sources on individuals and groups – governmental and non-governmental – around the world. This will be part of a process of using Artificial Intelligence and algorithms to identify probable targets for killing.
According to a 2018 report by National Public Radio and Edison Research, 8 million Americans own three or more smart speakers, suggesting that they feel the need to always have one within earshot. By 2021, according to another research firm, Ovum, there will be almost as many voice-activated assistants on the planet as people.
It took about 30 years for mobile phones to outnumber humans. Alexa and other Smart speakered ilk may get there in less than half that time.
One reason is that Amazon and Google are pushing these devices hard, discounting them so heavily during last year’s holiday season that industry observers suspect that the companies lost money on each unit sold.
They are so desperate to get them into households that they are willing to lose money. They want full spectrum dominance and they will start with your home, office, and your car.
In the near future, everything from your lighting to your air-conditioning to your refrigerator, your coffee maker, and even your toilet could be wired to a system controlled by voice.
In the future, the office assistants will be modified into robots, and they will be used to carry out tasks by voice as well.
If you are okay with that, the next step is to use modified versions of these innocent assistants to aid in security, law enforcement, and assisting in decisions in warfare scenarios.
You heard right, Alexa may eventually have command over her own army of tin soldiers.
Talk about your dark Christmas metaphors.
In fact, the Nutcracker character in the famed Nutcracker story is actually the story of a mechanical soldier that is the product of a clockmaker and tinkerer, who often gave the children wonderfully unique toys that moved on their own.
In the age-old tale set during the Christmas season, the clock strikes midnight, and the Nutcracker and the other toys come to life to go to war against the Mouse King.
At first glance, this story doesn’t seem to really tie into the Christmas season other than its setting. However, for the sake of the topic at hand, animated tin soldiers fighting a war could easily be updated into a future setting where a smart computer system animates robots to launch an attack against an enemy.
You may have heard of this story, it is called The Terminator.
In the film, The Terminator, a super surveillance system called Skynet becomes self-aware and sees humanity as a threat to its existence. It deploys an army of Terminators, anthropomorphic cyborgs against humanity.
Maybe it can be seen as a stretch to compare an army of animated tin nutcrackers to that of huge mechanical terminators – but there is an important message that can be gleaned from the comparison and that is Alexa wants to order the March of Robotic Tin Soldiers of the Future.
The robotic systems now rolling out in prototype stage are far more capable, intelligent, and autonomous than we realize.
Amazon is seeking to build a global “brain” for the Pentagon called JEDI, a weapon of unprecedented surveillance and killing power, a profoundly aggressive weapon that should not be allowed to be created.
Amazon has built a vast, globally distributed data storage capacity and sophisticated Artificial Intelligence programs to propel its retail business and now it hopes to use this capability to win a $10 billion Pentagon contract to create an artificial “brain” that goes by the project name Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI a moniker that obviously tips its hat to the movie Star Wars.
Amazon is the betting favorite for the contract, which will go to just one bidder, in spite of protests by competitors, chief among them Microsoft and IBM. The Pentagon appears likely to select a winner for the contract in 2019.
In discussing JEDI, Pentagon officials refer to the need for efficiencies in sharing data among its military branches, with the goal of increasing the “lethality” of the US war machine.
JEDI is intended to not only improve information sharing but to dramatically increase the US military’s ability to collect and sort through huge amounts of surveillance information from many, many sources on individuals and groups – governmental and non-governmental – around the world. This will be part of a process of using Artificial Intelligence and algorithms to identify probable targets for killing.
JEDI will do what is being done now on a less coordinated scale and with a smaller volume of surveillance data, but JEDI, promises to find those enemies faster – even if all it takes to be considered an enemy is exhibiting a pattern of behavior that a classified machine-learning model associates with hostile activity.
Call it death by big data.
In addition, JEDI will very likely to be at the heart of managing the first generation of operational US robotic land, sea, air and space weaponry.
Decisions on who and when to kill based on human and JEDI’s massive, fallible Artificial Intelligence will almost certainly be significantly guided by the concept of pre-emptive killing; that is, assassination or larger attack based on suspected threat.
Thus, JEDI will generate new levels of global fear, violence, repression, and conformity in the service of Western US corporations, following current US policies.
It appears very possible that if Amazon gets the Pentagon contract, the personal profiles of its customers around the world, developed to stimulate retail sales, will become, either individually or as aggregated, instruments of these customers’ intimidation and control. In a real way, the acquisitive impulses of hundreds of millions of people may well become the stuff of their imprisonment and, in some cases, their deaths.
Further, JEDI as a global presence represents the creation of a weapon that dramatically ups the level of global military rivalry and ensures more global human conflict. JEDI demonstrates a new level of US determination for global domination that can only be described as disastrous.
The US public’s acceptance of rampant militarism, of which JEDI is a manifestation, is clearly driven by fear of “terrorism” and racial, ethnic and religious differences.
The difficulties for the existing laws of war that this robotics revolution will provoke are barely beginning to be understood. Technology generally evolves much more quickly than the laws of war.
According to numerous reports, the JEDI project stems from the conclusion of Pentagon officials that the US military needs a “brain” operating on cloud technology. The Pentagon’s Request for Proposals to create JEDI says the system must be able to provide information simultaneously to “all Military Departments, Army, Navy, Air Force, Department of Defense Components, the Defense intelligence community, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense; the US Coast Guard; the Intelligence Community; international allies and partners; and contractors supporting defense business and mission operations.
The Pentagon leaders have decided that the Pentagon is way behind in developing cloud capability. So, rather than having the military build its own “brain,” the Pentagon will pay to use and to expand the power of an already existent corporate cloud.
To understand the implications of JEDI, we must realize that the information being gathered and sorted will inevitably be used for the targeting and killing of not only opposing government-based military forces but also nongovernmental individuals and groups who are viewed as political or potential military threats by the US. And this information will be gathered on a global scale.
JEDI’s brain will almost certainly be fed a set of criteria commonly used by governments for identifying potential “threats,” such as political ideology, intellectual and religious pursuits, ethnic and racial origin, race, sexual orientation, and social relationships.
We will not know specifically all of the criteria that will be used to define an “enemy” of the US, nor do we know specifically who decides on these criteria. This type of information-gathering and target identification is already a Pentagon activity used to target US drone assassinations.
JEDI would obviously “benefit” from having access to the millions of personal profiles developed by Amazon and other major cloud operators and any other personal information it can capture.
The transfer of a massive amount of military information into a privately owned and built cloud, as will happen with the creation of JEDI, raises the possibility that the owner or owners of that cloud will – because of their knowledge of the cloud structure, capabilities, and content become more powerful than military and elected officials. Such a transfer has never happened before, and the RFP for JEDI does not speak to the question of how JEDI will remain in governmental control.
The degree to which the JEDI cloud provider may be willing to assert control over US politics and military decisions in the absence of specific controls may depend solely on that provider’s ambitions.
We all know of Amazon owner Jeff Bezo’s ambitions.
Jeff Bezos is a person who has shown a determination to be a very big player in Washington. He owns The Washington Post and has become a formidable lobbying force. Amazon has increased spending on lobbying from less than $1 million in 2000 to $13 million in 2017; so far, $10.6 million has been reported in 2018.
This is what we get when we trade our humanity for convenience; it all begins as an innocent office assistant grows into a tool for war.
As military robots gain more and more autonomy, the ethical questions involved will become even more complex. The U.S. military bends over backwards to figure out when it is appropriate to engage the enemy and how to limit civilian casualties. Autonomous robots could, in theory, follow the rules of engagement; they could be programmed with a list of criteria for determining appropriate targets and when shooting is permissible.
Even if a robot has software that follows all the various rules of engagement, and even if it were somehow absolutely free of software bugs and hardware failures (a big assumption), the very question of figuring out who an enemy is in the first place—that is, whether a target should even be considered for the list of screening questions—is extremely complicated in modern war.
It essentially is a judgment call. It becomes further complicated as the enemy adapts, changes his conduct, and even hides among civilians. If an enemy is hiding behind a child, is it okay to shoot or not? Or what if an enemy is plotting an attack but has not yet carried it out? Politicians, pundits, and lawyers can fill pages arguing these points. It is unreasonable to expect robots to find them any easier.
This is the main reason why military lawyers are so concerned about robots being armed and autonomous. As long as “man is in the loop,” traditional accountability can be ensured. Breaking this restriction opens up all sorts of new and seemingly irresolvable legal questions about accountability.
Most people say that all of these decisions should be left for the technocrats to decide. However, everyone should be aware of what is happening.
It shouldn’t just be up to the scientists to make decisions, but everyone from theologians who helped create the first laws of war to the human rights and arms control communities must start looking at where this technological revolution is taking both our weapons and laws.
These discussions and debates also need to be global, as the issues of robotics cross national lines. There are forty-three countries now have military robotics programs. Over time, some sort of consensus might emerge—if not banning the use of all autonomous robots with lethal weapons, then perhaps banning just certain types of robots such as ones not made of metal, which would be hard to detect and thus of most benefit to terrorist groups.
With JEDI we will have a weapon that will dramatically increase the gathering and managing of information to identify people to target for killing and to increase the speed of killing.
It gives me the creeps to think that all that has to be said is “Alexa Drop a Bomb” and the whole world meets its judgment day.
Here they come!! House Democrats are going to be moving in real shortly. If we weren’t sick of Nancy Peloski before, I don’t imagine it will take long once this idiot hits the house. These people have no problem declaring WAR on the American people. We have idiots like Swallwell trying to tell us that the founding fathers wouldn’t be talking about the people having the most sophisticated of arms to protect us from Government over reach, so if we don’t want to turn over what he deems too technologically advanced for us to own, he would advocate nuking us. We have a whole crew of morally, intellectually bankrupt individuals that have no clue about the Documents or the people of our REPUBLIC that they have sworn to protect and defend, against all enemies, foreign or domestic. We have one woman that upon her victory to the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA drapes herself in a Palestinian flag. Does anyone see something wrong with this picture?? Then we get a bartender that isn’t smart enough to pour p from a boot with instructions on the heel.
This crew that is about to take control is a motley mix of the worst of the worst. I mean seriously folks does corruption follow these people like pigpens cloud (peanuts) or what?? I haven’t figured this out Republican complacency and corruption is there, but at least it is somewhat hidden. It’s been like you can almost see who got envelopes under the table by the way they hang out their constituents, and vote. This bunch of democrats act like they already have a get out of jail free card, or do they know nothing will happen.
Here we are!! We have an INDIANA representative sponsoring a #&$+&$#$@@. RED FLAG BILL!! This BIMBO is a Republican to boot!! I don’t know any self respecting HOOSIER that can see any good come out of a Red Flag Law. The run around on this will far outweigh the benefit. All it takes is the Journal of Psychiatric medicine to declare a new disorder and they will have license to disarm EVERYBODY!! Love your right to self defend yourself?? That is a mental condition! Was it SWEDEN where the guy had a gun on this guy’s kid, and he gets jailtime be for knocking him out. It’s coming folks! This madness has already landed. HB 7115 sounds like common sense gun control, except it doesn’t really follow the title. It is about gun building parts, but it proceeds to define everything except a tubular loaded 22 as an ASSAULT WEAPON!!!! This bill should not stand a chance, BUT IF it did get through, WAR against the AMERICAN people will be too blatant to sleep through. If you think there is anything good about a Red Flag law, think hard! If grandma takes a nerve pill she could get a visit to surrender her weapons at 5am by a band of armed thugs with an mrap and flash grenades. If your pain meds make you anxious, your DR says try these, if you answered your Obamacare forms honestly, they already know if there are firearms in your home! Your wife? Your kid? This game has now turned into any excuse to disarm. I read 2 days ago that it only takes one lie from one law enforcement professional, and you will be disarmed for 5 years.
If you read your CONSTITUTION correctly SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED means TREASON if you try!! It is time to keep it in this context. GUN CONTROL=TREASON!! No ifs and or buts. I could go off on a couple more tangents about some kid on Psychiatric meds that has been hearing voices for awhile getting access to a shiny new gun and going on a rampage. Walking down the hall with his friends before it’s over, maybe later. Or about the weapons that make people hear voices, or how loners are picked, so that if they disappear prior to an event for a couple days, no one misses them, but maybe next time.
Bear in mind: What is their agenda?? Get rid of Trump at any cost. Crank up that GUN CONTROL, and throw open those borders because be the UN wants to kill your peaceful society. They have not hollered KILL WHITEY yet, but that is for next election. Keep your steel sharp,and your powder dry