Jodistrict

The polarization and hysterical rhetoric is at a level that I have never seen before. The reality is that whichever side wins, the oligarchs and their bureaucracy will be firmly in control. The clown show diverts attention from the real power structure.

There is more danger to censoring speech. The correction to bad speech is more free speech.

You are giving a version of the "free speech is too dangerous" argument. The framers of the US Constitution rejected that argument. And there are already plenty of rules and regulations. It's a balancing act that's largely driven by the Supreme Court. It would be worthwhile to educated yourself on Constitution Law.

Having right-wing and anti-ukraine sentiments is protected free speech. A foreign government targeting the U.S. is a different issue and brings in other laws like the Foreign Agents Registration Act and Espionage Laws.

I would stick with the US Constitutional Law in 60's and 70s when the Supreme Court was expanding free speech. I think the "hate speech laws" is a slippery slope which will end up biting you in the ass.

Right. People need to study history. In the 1960s, civil rights workers were considered a danger to society. Martin Luther King was investigated by the F.B.I. and considered a dangerous communist. It was only free speech in the Constitution that allowed them to keep protesting.

Not that is not absolutist. It's Constitutional law that puts in place neutral restrictions that don't favor one side over the other or require a subjective judgment of what is dangerous. The problem with your scenario is who determines what is dangerous"? Someone has to make the decision. And the decision is made by who is in power and at the end of the day "dangerous" is whatever threatens their power. Most people want to ban speech that they don't agree with. That is why freedom of speech is important.

It’s not as complicated as it sounds. US Constitutional law has already carefully carved out areas where regulation of speech is allowed. For example, if you yell fire in a crowded theatre or advocated violence against an individual, that speech can be regulated under criminal law. If you spread false facts to defame someone’s reputation, you can be sued under civil law. Although, these are exceptions to free speech, they are value neutral in that they don’t favor a particular political class or power interest.

China is authoritarian so they are going to restrict speech. The more authoritarian the government the less free speech. If someone argues for restriction on free speech, it is because they have the power to determine which speech is considered “too dangerous” and not permitted. In reality, the speech that is “too dangerous” is dangerous to their maintaining power. Everyone would like to prohibit criticism of themselves, but only those who actually have power can do it.

When you hear all the silly excuses for why free speech is too dangerous, it underlines the reason for free speech.

I think that criticism might be that Buddhism doesn't account for the wide range of mystical experiences and states of consciousness or the existence of the Absolute or God-like experiences. But the important think to keep in mind is that Buddhism is directed to suffering and the elimination of suffering as summarized in The Four Noble Truths. The Buddha would not answer metaphysical questions and avoided any speculation that diverted from the end of suffering. Don't ask a car to be an airplane.

Huachuma is subtle. Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 hours to activate. The Spanish called it “San Pedro” because Saint Peter held the keys to heaven. I have had this experience. There is a feeling of wonder and everything you see looks beautiful – the trees vibrate as if they are alive and even the sky looks pulsating and alive. The San Pedro I took last time had 20% peyote mixed in which made it more intense. You can also have a “bad trip” on San Pedro. I had one that went through the darkness and it lasted 16 hours. That is one thing to consider. Mescaline stays in your system a long time. Plan on a journey being at least 12 hours. I don’t take MDMA because it is synthetic and I believe nature is healing.

That's why in Buddhism you go into the jhana states before you investigate.

I am Old Age. I prefer ancient texts. The modern world is a degeneration of the past. There is less wisdom now than there was in the middle ages.

Intelligent people reevaluate the situation and the facts and change their mind. If Kennedy was working for his self interest, if could have easily gone along with the democratic party group think and been treated as a high status member and continue to be invited to all the parties. If Trump loses, he has nowhere to go. He is risking everything based on his convictions. He actually wants real reform and not the fake platitudes. This is courage.

Robert Kennedy has always stated that he is willing to talk to any side and to people that he disagrees with. This is how intelligent people act.

Maybe this will give you some insight into Kennedy's decision. Democrat lawyers are doing everything they can to keep Cornel West off the ballot. The Democratic Party fighting for less democracy. Maybe Cornel should join the unity party too. https://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-ballot-2024-west-kennedy-cc5507101bcd198028b04945d2d03aa3

The alternative to facts and evidence: Kamala Harris giving us feel-good platitudes read from a teleprompter. Hollywood comedians ridiculing and demeaning designated political enemies. High tech censoring anyone who falls outside of a narrow group think. Robert Kennedy is always respectiful and assumes the voters have the ability to understand facts. The reality is that most politicans spend all their time appealing to big money and don’t see the voters as capable of thought or of having real concerns. They are just to be entertained, managed, and manipulated.

He argues using facts and evidence so I can check to see if that is true.

Robert Kennedy fully explained his actions and gave his reasons in his speech I provided in a previous post.

Not necessarily. The question is why has RFK decided that there is a better hope of implementing real changes to the status quo with Trump than with the Democratic Party? Since RFK is a legitimate progressive with street creds, it could be time for those still in the democratic party to go through some serious introspection and critical analysis.

He was famous the day he was born. He is intimately knowledable of all the big players in Washington D.C and has met with most of the world leaders. I believe that the most effective thing Kennedy did is that he has potentially changed the message of Trump’s campaign. In his speech, Kennedy focused on removing corruption from the food supply and solving the problem of chronic diseases in children. When people look at this they will ask themselves which party is doing something important? What is more important: saving the children from chronic diseases or guaranteeing everyone is addressed by the correct pronouns (the focus of the democrat’s woke dogma)? If Trump redirects his message (“Make America’s children healthy again”), he could change the momentum and gain support. As a side note, Jill Stein is a physician and has also addressed this issue. She authored the report: “In Harm’s Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development”. https://www.kennedy24.com/end-chronic-disease

Kennedy was willing to honestly compete in a Democratic Primary. Instead they stacked the system in favor of a president they knew was becoming mentally impaired. Then, the system makes it almost impossible for an independent candidate to compete due to arbitrary onerous rules. Then Biden doesn’t give Kennedy secret service protection, putting his actual life in danger. In light of the facts, his position doesn’t look that irrational. It was the democratic party that rejected him.

Robert Kennedy's speech was incredible. He exposed the corruption in the democratic party. He exposed the neocons and their forever wars. He exposed the food industries systematic poisoning of the food supply to create chronic diseases in children so that the pharma industry can have a permanent income stream. Kennedy talks to people like adults and brings up the most important issues. The democratic party talks to people like children focusing on diversionary crap that doesn't matter to anyone. He said that he is keeping his name on the ballots in the non contestant states so I should be able to still vote for him. There is still a very small chance he could be president if neither Trump or Harris can get the required electoral votes. Here is the full speech which CNN didn't show.

You become more natural by removing your layers. The layers produce quirky unnatural behavior. You find a way to express your real self.