makesyourworld

[makesyourworld]

If you missed it, I'm currently in Tanzania serving in the peace corps. Check out/follow the wordpress that myself and molly are writing for more frequent updates!

[makesyourworld]

Thanks for sending me some knitting supplies, @jak.bauer . Made in #Tanzania ... . . . P.S. Thanks for braiding the drawstring @giraffeattack14 ! #peacecorps #peacecorpstz #knitting #dnd

[makesyourworld]

If you missed it, I'm currently in Tanzania serving in the peace corps. Check out/follow the wordpress that myself and molly are writing for more frequent updates!

[makesyourworld]

THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!! #TZ #HaveYouHeardTheWord

[makesyourworld]

Sitting in a big chair covered in #Kangas in #TZ playing snake on molly's 35k shiling phone. (thats a little over $17, fyi)

[makesyourworld]

"Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights" - Albert Einstein, 1949 This article is full of gold. He was a genius, afterall.

[makesyourworld]

The article actually is talking about how hipsters are treating it like some fancy new health trend, and driving up the price of bones, so that the poor people who have been making it forever can't afford it anymore. Its like... food gentrification

2017

[makesyourworld]

Exhibit A of a 'nerd' being radicalized into some right wing crazy person post gamergate: Notch

[makesyourworld]

(x)

[makesyourworld]

Got invited to serve in the peace core. Tanzania, leaving on July 7th.

[makesyourworld]

Also if you got a bad score, trying adjusting the contrast on your monitor then try again... it makes a difference :P

How well do you see color?

I’m cry I scored 60, I feel blind

[makesyourworld]

Considering the peace corps - with an engineering degree you can teach sciene/math in quite a few places

[makesyourworld]

In a world where you can be anything, be kind.

[makesyourworld]

New Board Game.

[makesyourworld]

Ok here we go. I have not said much political in the last couple weeks because I feel like everything I’ve had to say has been said already. However in the last few days I’ve been hearing some things (and not hearing things) that have really started to scare me. This whole election has been a disaster for the left, and I mean the real left not the democraps. Not only did Bernie and Hillary undermine and delegitimize many left struggles (like opposition to drone warfare), but they have also forced us to become defenders of some of the most garbage policy imaginable. You may remember TPP? It’s a terrible “trade” deal which is mostly just investor rights and allows for more tax fraud and general multinational corporate bull shit, go look it up yourself. Anyway since trump opposes it democrats and leftist have begun to support it. And it gets worse. You can’t turn on the radio without hearing about how great nafta is. Democrats are threatening to oppose minimum wage hikes if tump supports them. It’s gotten to the point where we now need trump supporters, ACTUAL NAZIS!! To remind us that Russia is not the enemy. I feel like I’m in the twilight zone.

Tldr: If we are going to survive this we must must must stick to our guns, we can’t let trump silence us nor can we let false friends lead us down their little neoliberal highway in an attempt to oppose him.

[makesyourworld]

By the way, the current “Electoral College” method of selecting a president is totally antithetical to the way the founding fathers wanted it.  They wanted the people of each state (by district) to vote for an elector, who were supposed to be independent of any party/political ties, who would then come together and “deliberate” and select the “best candidate” for president based on their personal opinions.  Madison and Hamilton were pissed when states started just letting people vote for the president. Electors just started being chosen by the parties, and they’d go along (statewide) with whatever their state’s popular vote is.

To be totally honest, if it worked as originally intended, it would be way better for GOP voters. There are 247 Red congressional districts (each of which would presumably elect a conservative elector) and only 188 Blue congressional districts. However, that brings up an entire different debate about how many congressional districts each state has, how disgusting gerrymandering has become, etc.

My point here being that the electoral college isn’t even working anywhere close to how it was intended. Stop pretending that it’s some magic thing the founding fathers made up - It’s literally been bastardized from its republican (as in, a republic, not the party) roots by party interests (on both sides). Let’s get the fuck rid of it - if for no other reason to get rid of this every four years

Sources below:

Electoral College changes late 1800′s: http://www.fairvote.org/how-the-electoral-college-became-winner-take-all

Red/Blue districts: http://cookpolitical.com/house/pvi

Madison’s views on selecting electors: http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/99-02-02-0023 http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-25-02-0289

[makesyourworld]

None of the other large democracies in the world have electoral colleges. I wonder why?

this is why the electoral college fucking sucks.