rickladd

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Americans are Ignorami

Reclaiming the Hammer and Sickle: Symbolism, Struggle, and Systemic Illiteracy In large part because of my activities in the antiwar and peace and justice movements shortly after I celebrated my 20th birthday, I began reading Marx, Engels, Lenin, Mao, Castro, and Guevara, as well as Black authors and activists like Eldridge Cleaver, Malcolm X, and George Jackson, among others. I was especially…

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Screw "The Rule of Law!"

Can we please stop using the phrase “Rule of Law?” The law has been used in this country for some of the most racist, vicious, and nefarious acts committed anywhere and it’s not, IMO, a useful phrase. Better that we use “Equal Justice Under the Law.” Here are a just a few examples of laws that have been passed or rulings that have been handed down that make the point: Chinese Exclusion Act of…

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The Trump Vacuum and the Opportunity of Idealized Design

There’s a strange sort of energy in the air these days. You can almost feel it—the wheels coming off the rickety jalopy that is Trumpism. The man himself, once a master of chaos and distraction, is looking more and more like a washed-up carnival barker whose tricks have lost their shine. The legal walls are closing in, the rallies are less electric, and the “movement” has become less about a…

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My 78th & Fuck Zuck

Even though I was unfairly booted from all Meta products I was using (FB, Insta, and Threads), I’ve managed to create another persona and have re-connected with many of the people I was “friends” with previously. As a result, I received a lot of birthday wishes this past Wednesday (06/04). I did my best to individually recognize everyone who sent me a greeting (and yes, I’m aware that FB makes it…

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Due Process? Don’t Make Me Laugh.

There’s a reason we supposedly revere the Constitution in this country—at least, that’s what every flag-waving “patriot” keeps screaming about at school board meetings and on Twitter (sorry, “X”). But I’d like to know: When was the last time any of these self-anointed constitutional scholars actually read the damn thing? Or, for that matter, when was the last time anyone in the Trump…

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The Art of Putting: Or, How to Turn the Green into Your Frenemy

Ah, putting—a small word for an enormous source of joy, frustration, and the occasional golf-induced existential crisis. If driving is the glamorous star of the show and iron shots are the dependable character actors, putting is that quirky sidekick who can steal the whole scene… or ruin it entirely. It’s an art form, a science, and sometimes a cruel joke. But fear not! With a little humor, some…

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The Secret to Innovation Isn’t Learning More—It’s Forgetting Less

In today’s hyper-connected, information-overloaded world, companies spend billions on training programs, knowledge-sharing platforms, and professional development. The conventional wisdom is simple: the more you learn, the better you’ll perform. But what if the key to innovation isn’t about learning more, but rather about forgetting less? It might sound counterintuitive, but this subtle shift in…

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At The End Of The Day

I prompted Poe’s chatbot, “Assistant”, with the following. It’s response seems almost like it enjoyed doing it. “Write a corporate pep talk of at least 300 words that sounds reasonable, but is nothing more than corporate gibberish.” Team: As we embark on the next fiscal quarter, it’s imperative that we synergize our verticals and double down on our core competencies to truly unlock…

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Evolving with AI

If Artificial Intelligence takes over in the future, and that seems to be what causes the most hand-wringing nowadays, wouldn’t it most likely follow that we will have evolved into cyborgs? Is there anything actually WRONG with that? Unlike Data, from Star Trek: The Next Generation, we’d almost certainly bring our emotions with us (unless evolution proves them to be detrimental to our long-term…

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American Descent

Something new. Bluesky is my goto social media site and I just now discovered I can paste in posts and, in this case, my response to this particular post by Robert Reich. Thought I would give it a test spin. This may become a staple of my blog moving forward. I tend to do a lot more writing there than I’ve been doing here. This way I can blend in the two. Remember: Almost all of us are the…

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The Crisis of Leadership: Toxic Masculinity, Bullying, and the Betrayal of Accountability

The meeting on February 28, 2025, at the White House, bringing together Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, serves as a stark illustration of the political, economic, and social chaos that toxic leadership has wrought on the United States. On one side of the table sat Trump and Vance, embodying the very traits that have plunged America deeper into division and dysfunction—traits of…

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The Legacy of DOGE

Recently I’ve been studying Generative AI (ChatGPT, et al), and learning how to use it effectively. This is somewhat difficult as I’m not currently employed and haven’t been for about two and a half years. As a result, I have few specific tasks to work on and discover how to implement AI, either to automate or to speed up their completion. Regardless, I’ve subscribed to Quora’s Poe, which is a…

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Leaving Facebook Permanently?

So this happened to me today. I received this message informing me “MY” Instagram account doesn’t follow their rules. I have no idea who aelizabeth_mehyh3821 is. I’ve been Rick Ladd on FB since approximately 2005. That’s my name on IG and Threads as well. So I clicked on “Log into your Instagram account”. This (below) was the message I received. Sounds pretty final, eh? Then I checked my Threads…

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SNL's 50th & Paul McCarney

Somewhere in my garage there’s a box with a tape of the very first Saturday Night Live, when Don Pardo referred to the ensemble cast as “The Not for Ready for Prime Time Players”. I haven’t watched the show much in the past 10 years, but I made sure the 50th Anniversary Special was recorded in my YouTube TV subscription. Unfortunately, this last bit was not recorded. I just watched it now and…

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Memories and the Fight Against Injustice

Some thoughts on what's currently happening to our country and how I, as a secular Jew, relate to it.

I am a secular Jew. My paternal grandparents fled the pogroms in what was then called “The Ukraine,” which was part of Russia or, later, the Soviet Union. On my mother’s side, my great-grandparents escaped Eastern Europe a generation earlier. I was born in Los Angeles, about two years after the end of World War II. While I encountered some antisemitism during my childhood, I grew up primarily in…

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You Say You Want a Revolution

I posted the following on Threads and want to share it here as well. Nearly 60 years ago I fervently hoped to see love conquer hate. It fueled my activity in the antiwar and antiracist movement during the 60s and 70s. I am deeply disappointed to see the U.S. going backwards, yet I take some solace in the phrase “The darkest hour is just before the dawn.” Here’s what I wrote: I was prepared, and…

[rickladd]

Screw "The Rule of Law!"

Can we please stop using the phrase “Rule of Law?” The law has been used in this country for some of the most racist, vicious, and nefarious acts committed anywhere and it’s not, IMO, a useful phrase. Better that we use “Equal Justice Under the Law.” Here are a just a few examples of laws that have been passed or rulings that have been handed down that make the point: Chinese Exclusion Act of…