Good morning, kids. It pisses me off no end to have to do this but it’s something that I feel I have to get out of the way before moving on to the fight for freedom abroad and here in our own country. Y’know, trivial crap like that.
So, let’s play a little game of compare and contrast, shall we?
Donald Trump / Kanye West / Nic Fuentes vs. Barack Obama / Jeremiah Wright / Louis Farrakhan
How about this example?
Bernie Madoff vs. Sam Bankman-Fried
Or . . .
Ashli Babbitt / Roseanne Boyland /unarmed, nonviolent J6 dupes vs. BLM / Antifa
I think you catch my meaning. Whatever one feels about Donald Trump and his worth as the standard-bearer for 2024 – and I am not necessarily sanguine about supporting him myself for reasons other than this BS – it is painfully obvious that this kind of garbage, along with the shampeachments, indictments, bureaucratic persecutions and all the rest of it are meant to make him absolutely toxic to voters as well as any potential allies and nominees in his next administration. That is if he survives this sliming, or else is induced into stepping on his own dick by taking the bait. Meh. Any time he defends himself it will be spun as such.
Look, you can support Trump or DeSantis or some candidate to be named later. And there are valid reasons to support or reject any of them. But, if you believe Trump’s one-off sit down with a mentally unstable West and an uninvited Fuentes makes him a Nazi, while Obama having as his priest and confessor a rabid, unreconstructed Jew-hater all his adult life is a non-story, then you’re a Democrat. Or Piers Morgan.
Basta cosi.
* * * * *
In mentioning both Ashli Babbitt and Roseanne Boyland, who are martyrs in every sense of that word, this happened in Iran a few days ago:
A man was killed by security forces in Iran after he honked his car horn to celebrate the country’s World Cup loss to the US, a human rights group said Wednesday — as anti-government protests erupted across the country following the defeat.
Mehran Samak, 27, was allegedly shot in the head at an anti-regime demonstration in Bandar Anzali Tuesday night after he rejoiced in the country’s 1-0 defeat, the Iran Human Rights group said, according to the BBC.
The alleged shooting came as Iranians opposed to the country’s “murderous” political regime took to the streets to celebrate the soccer team’s loss to its longtime political rival in Qatar Tuesday.
Let’s keep sending Iran pallets of cash and give them the green light to get nukes because, Israel bad, or something. And Donald Trump’s an anti-Semite. Oops. Sorry.
Over in China, where it’s equally suicidal to stand up to among the most repressive regimes in the world (Xi’s role model Mao Zedong butchered 60 million of his own people, making the other socialist heroes Hitler and Stalin look like amateurs in comparison), the junta in DC has kept silent. Mostly because a large segment of this government on both sides of the aisle (*cough!* McConnell! *cough!*) and most especially the Vegetable-in-Chief himself is owned by them, along with the private sector. And whatever the Chinese could not steal from us in terms of technology was eagerly given to them on a silver platter by our own high-tech industries. The tools of repression are being tested out over there because no doubt in the very near future they will be used right here to put us down and keep us down.
Tim Cook’s Apple is in bed with the Red Chinese now in much the same way as IBM was with the Third Reich. And as Daniel Greenfield brilliantly shows, it’s been going on for a lot longer than just Cook’s tenure.
“Think Different”, Apple’s slogan, actually means collaborating with a Communist dictatorship where thinking differently is a crime. And it also means suppressing free speech in America.
That’s why Apple is threatening free speech on Twitter just as it’s threatening it in Shanghai.
But that is what the company has always been behind the reality distortion field of its ads. “Think Different” has never meant anything other than, “Shut up and do what the visionaries tell you. . . ”
. . . Jobs, the talented marketer who had positioned Apple as the company fighting totalitarianism with its 1984 ad, was aggressively offshoring the company’s labor to Communist China.
What China had to offer was mass production under a ruthlessly totalitarian system that would, when Jobs decided to revamp the iPhone a month before launch, wake up 8,000 workers at midnight for a 12 hour shift.
At an Obama dinner, Jobs bluntly confirmed, “Those jobs aren’t coming back.”
“What U.S. plant can find 3,000 people overnight and convince them to live in dorms?” Apple’s supply manager asked.
The dorms, where 12 workers live to a tiny room, everyone is monitored and so many have committed suicide that nets were put up to catch the bodies, were the real “Think Different”.
Steve Jobs loved China and the Communist dictatorship loved him back. His famous black turtleneck appeared to echo the Mao suit. There are golden busts of Jobs in China looking like a Communist dictator.When Jobs died, there was hysterical mourning in China. There was no mourning for the deaths of workers at the Foxconn plants where Apple products were made. . .
. . . The company wasn’t just once again collaborating with a Communist dictatorship responsible for the murder of countless millions, but it was screwing its own users, the naive students who had paid premium prices for its slave labor products because they believed in Apple.
They believed, like so many Americans and Europeans, that Apple stood for something.
And Apple does. It stands for tyranny.
That’s why Apple is threatening Twitter’s place in its app store because under Elon Musk the platform has begun to offer the very thing Apple is helping China stamp out: freedom.
It’s a mistake to believe that Apple is just doing what it’s told. That’s a fundamental misunderstanding of the company as unfortunate as the one by the protesters risking their lives while believing that Apple wouldn’t kick the chair out from under its users and their movement.
Apple isn’t a great American company, it’s a great Chinese company. Its fundamental worldview is Maoist. Its simplicity of control isn’t just about manipulating interfaces, but people. Its ad campaigns, from ‘1984’ to ‘Think Different’, have always been regime propaganda. Jobs, unlike his genuinely talented co-founder, Steve Wozniak, held people in contempt. His vision of technology was essentially Communist: depriving people of control for their own good. . .
. . . Apple’s vision for America isn’t any different than for China. In both countries, Apple helps a leftist elite implement its collectivist vision by offering customers a poisoned chalice of convenience in exchange for data harvesting and control. The company doesn’t empower its customers, it tricks them into giving up control so that they can be better controlled.
That is why it’s coming for Twitter and threatening it over its newfound free speech.
“We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology,” a Big Brother analogue intoned in Apple’s famous 1984 commercial, “secure from the pests purveying contradictory thoughts.”
Jobs was a fan of Orwell’s book. Unfortunately he viewed it as a manual.
It’s not just Apple. It’s Google, Microsoft and a whole litany of companies that are working directly with the Chi-Coms to develop these systems. Systems that are on your smart phones, computers and probably every single device you come in contact with that has a microchip in it. Essentially, everything. Full disclosure: I write on a Mac and have used them since the 80s. Even if I could switch over, it would be like changing deck chairs on the Titanic. Ugh.
We already see what our law enforcement and national security agencies are capable of, as well as who and what they consider to be the greatest threats to said national security. That would be us. Object to the outcome of elections? The sexualization of your children? High gas prices? You’ll be lucky if all they do is throw the book, or in this case iBook, at you. That or wind up like the guy who cheered the US beating Iran.
Have a good weekend.
ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY“Neuralink is coming, and it won’t be pretty. The device, which offers miracle cures for paralysis, also ushers in a new era of human-to-machine interface that has so far primarily been the dark fantasy of dystopian fiction.”
Neuralink Seeks to Transform Human Beings Into Simply Another Data Port in the Internet of Things
Daniel Greenfield: “Suppressing protests in China and censoring Twitter in America.”
Apple Crushes Dissent in America and China
CHINA INTERNAL UNREST
- “Protests have quickly spread nationwide as the Chinese people express their dissatisfaction with China’s leader Xi Jinping.” China’s “Paper Revolution” Could Be the Beginning of the End for Xi
- “What sort of company sides with those who want to silence conservatives in the United States while working with the CCP to thwart freedom protests?” Apple’s Logo Finally Makes Sense
- “As Beijing’s repressive model makes clear, state power remains the greatest threat to freedom.” America, China, and the Spirit of Enterprise
- “Let’s call what ails the West today Sinocracy—a tyranny following the Chinese model of business and government partnering to oppress.” Americans Need the Freedom Fighters to Win in China
- “Do you think it’s problematic to do business with the Communist Chinese Party when they suppress human rights?” Vaughn asked. Cook did not respond. Apple CEO Tim Cook Hides Behind Staffers as He’s Grilled For Enabling Communist China’s Human Rights Abuses
CIVIL WAR 2.0: J-6 FBI FALSE FLAG “RIOT” & AFTERMATH, LEFTIST PERSECUTIONS, DEMOCRAT PUTSCH, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION
- Julie Kelly: “New ground is set with every egregious indictment and conviction with dire consequences for the future of political speech and activity.” Oath Keepers Verdict: A Dangerous Escalation in Criminalizing Dissent
- While Derek Chauvin got crucified just for doing his job. . . Minneapolis Will Pay $600,000 To Protesters For Injuries Sustained In 2020 George Floyd Demonstrations
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
- “For nearly a month, NBC News has refused to explain what was wrong about Almaguer’s report aside from a vague line that it didn’t meet company standards.” – Fox News (must be off somewhere interviewing Vince Foster – jjs) Where’s Miguel?’: NBC News Reporter Behind Retracted Paul Pelosi Report Remains Off-Air
- “Instead of speaking out against Apple, Republicans have been disturbingly silent, which means they still have no idea what time it is.” A GOP With Backbone Would Support Elon Musk, Punish Apple, and Fight for Free Speech on Twitter
- “Abrams, the former minority leader in the Georgia House of Representatives, lost her gubernatorial rematch against Republican incumbent Brian Kemp by an eight-point margin earlier this month after narrowly succumbing to the nominee four years ago.” “Tank” Abrams Spokesman Denies She Lobbied Biden To Become One of the Nation’s Top Regulators
- “The anti-Trump movement really wants Trump to win.” A Pathetic Ron DeSantis Hit Piece
- CEO Chris Licht announced impending layoffs in an internal memo on Wednesday. He said the change would be a “gut punch” to the network. (more like a cvnt-punt – jjs) LOL! CNN Fired Chris Cillizza!
- Douglas Murray: “Can anyone think of another example of this happening. Did Bernie Madoff get soft-soap articles about him after his fraud was discovered? Did he have invitations to major public events to put his side of the story after his ponzi scheme collapsed? Not that I remember. But Bankman-Fried has been given all the soft treatment possible. Now why should that be?” Media Treats Fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried [Sham Bank-Fraud] with Kid Gloves Because He Was a Dem Darling
- “Trump has not been particularly good in recent years at picking friends and allies but that doesn’t make his dining arrangements as contemptible as Piers Morgan would have us believe.” Diatribes and Dinner Dates
RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS, JUNK SCIENCE, LYSENKOISM
- “Following the Golden State’s example, Montgomery County, Md., is planning to pull the plug, or more appropriately, cap the pipe on natural gas in the coming years.” Maryland’s Biggest County Moves to Ban Natural Gas
- Constructing as well as continuously operating large wind projects off the New England coast will affect right whales’ habitats and cause noise pollution which will “stress” the whales and cause them to die off, according to a letter a NOAA scientist sent to the Interior Department. Biden’s Wind Power Push Will Threaten An Endangered Whale Species, Gov’t Scientist Says
- “Farmers protesting their own government in the Hague.” More War on the Boers
- “By depriving communities of wealth, ill-conceived climate-change proposals will lead to worse health outcomes.” “Statistical Murder?”
- “And the police aren’t pissing around with them either.” Videos: Climate ‘Protesters’ Thrown Around Like Rag Dolls By Angry French Motorists
THE ECONOMY, STUPID
- “Today was also a chance for Republicans to stand up for working people and against the DC establishment,” he added. “They missed it. But make no mistake, the people who put on overalls or pick up a shovel or stand on the assembly line every day are worth fighting for. And the Republican Party will have no future without them.” Hawley Tears Into Biden Admin, Democrats, Establishment GOP After Senate Imposes Labor Deal On Railroad Workers
- “I challenge some Republicans to step up, stand with the blue-collar workers of America, stand for the right thing, and vote with – vote with the Democrats on this issue. We also have, you know, some concern on a couple of the Democrats. We hope the Democrats stay with us as well. Look. Our members need paid sick leave.” (meh, they’ve been voting for Commies for 55 years so it’s hard to have sympathy – jjs) Rail Union Boss Blasts Biden Deal, Says It Fails to Address ‘Quality of Life’
- “A new survey of job data shows that there’s been a contraction in hiring among various economic sectors as employers get the message that Joe Biden’s economic crack-up will put a big hurt on the economy into 2025.” New Job Stats Show That This Economy Is Going to Be a Bumpy Ride
- “The United States and China are the world’s first and second largest economies, with real output of $23 trillion and $17.7 trillion respectively.” India Will Surpass Japan and Germany as the World’s Third Largest Economy
AMNESTY, IMMIGRATION, BORDER SECURITY
- “The rank and file air marshals are going to refuse to deploy and risk termination,” Londo said. “You’re almost going to have a mutiny of a federal agency, which is unheard of.” (why, when we have ICE, as well as the freaking National Guard, is Joey Choo Choo doing this? – jjs) U.S. Air Marshals Planning Rebellion After Biden Orders Them To Southern Border: Report
- “The Biden [junta] is hostile to transparency, and when it does publish data, it refuses to respond to media inquiries regarding significant discrepancies like this,” a former ICE official with knowledge of the Alternatives to Detention program told the DCNF, confirming the figure was underreported. “Likely, ICE communication staffers are having a lot of difficulty defending this administration’s chaotic and lawless policies.” ICE Is Underreporting Illegals It Releases Into The Country Without Tracking Equipment By Over 18,000%
- “Among some of the highlights of the latest installment from James O’Keefe and his team: A migrant who was forced to cough up $150 for a forged Social Security card, a minor child who works from 4:00 P.M. to 2:00 A.M. in a restaurant to pay off a bond debt, people, including children, who have paid immense amounts of money to traffickers to make it into the United States and, in doing so, incurred debts that can never be paid off.” Project Veritas Drops Part Two in Its Exposé of HHS Corruption
- “The predicted inflow adds up to roughly 4.5 million migrants per year or more than one extra southern migrant for every American birth in the United States.” Joe Biden’s 2023 Border Plan: Two Migrants for Every American Birth
- “Will Democrats push to reward illegal immigrants with citizenship?” Wrong Time for an Amnesty
CRIME & PUNISHMENT, NON-DOSTOYEVSKY
- “Since 1990, rates of gun-related homicide have been highest among Black men aged 20 to 24, the analysis said, with 142 fatalities per 100,000 people in this group in 2021—a 74% increase since 2014.” Gun Related Homicides of Black Men Climb to Rates Not Seen Since the 1990s
SECOND AMENDMENT
- It was caused by “a number of deficiencies within DOJ,” which included “lack of training, expertise, and professional rigor; insufficient documentation, policies, and procedures; and inadequate oversight.” Independent Report Reveals Negligence That Led To Massive California Gun Owner Information Breach
EDUCATION, AND WHAT PASSES FOR IT
- “We need to get back to educational basics.” (you have to abolish the teacher unions and fire like 90% of the professoriate – jjs) Our Devastating Education Schemes
- “The policy faces another hurdle as the [junta] contests a separate Nov. 10 ruling by a federal judge in Texas deeming the program unlawful. A federal appeals court on Wednesday declined to put that decision on hold, and the [junta] has said it plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.” Supreme Court to Render Verdict on Biden’s Student Loan Boondoggle
THE 2020 AND 2022ELECTION HEISTS & AFTERMATH
- “‘I was in Ukraine in March … at no point was it ever as overwhelming as it was on Election Day in Maricopa,’ Smith said.” Poll Worker Gives an Inside Look at ‘Complete Chaos’ in Maricopa County on Election Day
- “Mohave was one of several GOP-led counties in Arizona that asked for more time before certifying results to examine election integrity issues.” Katie Hobbs’ Office Threatened County Board With Arrest, Indictment If They Didn’t Certify Results
- “After refusing to certify its general election results due to widespread failures that potentially disenfranchised voters, the board of elections for Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, has flip-flopped and voted to certify its election results anyway — after pressure from a lawsuit by known Democrat election meddler Marc Elias.” PA County Cements Suppression of ‘Thousands’ of Voters by Flip-Flopping to Certify Disaster-Plagued Election
- “As new revelations come out about disgraced FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and how he defrauded investors of millions of dollars only to spend their money on lascivious living and personal pet projects, one glaring fact remains: Bankman-Fried was the second-largest individual donor — with only George Soros topping him — to the Democrat Party during the 2022 midterm election cycle.” Thank Sam Bankman-Fried for Democrats’ 2022 Ground Game
SHAMPEACHMENT 1.0, 2016 CLINTON/OBAMA COUP, CONGRESSIONAL PERSECUTION, SPYGATE, DEEP STATE, MUELLER DECEPTION
- The Atlanta-based 11th Circuit vacated Judge Cannon’s order appointing special master Dearie and remanded the case to her courtroom to dismiss Trump’s lawsuit. Trump now has the option of appealing the 11th Circuit’s decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, absent a stay from another appeal, the 11th Circuit’s decision is set to go into effect in seven days. A Trump spokesman called the court’s decision “purely procedural” and said it is “based only on jurisdiction.” Federal Appeals Court Ends Special Master Review of Records Seized from Mar-a-Lago
OFFICIAL DEMOCRAT PARTY/LEFTIST-ENDORSED ANTI-SEMITISM, ANTI-CHRISTIANITY
- “Move seen as shot at incoming Israeli prime minister Netanyahu.” Welcome, Bibi: Blinken To Headline Anti-Israel J Street Conference
- But what do you expect when advocates for “gay rights” like Ronna McDaniel run the party?To Its Eternal Shame, the GOP Hands Victory to the Dems on Gay Marriage
- “Twelve Republicans voted to recognize a definition of marriage unknown in human history until the cosmic equivalent of yesterday.” On Marriage, Betrayal
BIDEN CRIME FAMILY REVELATIONS
- “I think we need to have the conversation, instead of me being erased, and other women that were erased that tried to come forward,” Reade added, saying that House Republicans should launch an investigation while they have a majority. Tara Reade Calls GOP-Majority House To Investigate Alleged Sexual Assault By Joe Biden
DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AND RINO SCANDALS, MESHUGAS, CHUTZPOCRISY
- “FTX recently filed for bankruptcy after users discovered that trading firm Alameda Research, a company run by Caroline Ellison — a former love interest of Bankman-Fried, had allegedly been using consumer funds from FTX to make investments.” Top Commodities Regulator Tells Senators He Met With Sam Bankman-Fried 10 Times
- “The New Georgia Project then fired their top earning staff citing lack of funds.” Report: “Tank” Abrams’ Group Attempted To Purchase Multi-Million Dollar Real Estate In “Bizarre Deal”
- “Nearly 90 percent of his individual campaign contributions came from outside of Georgia.”Meet Wife-Beater Slumlord Warnock’s Paymasters
- “GOP leadership broke their own rules by meddling in primaries, accepting donations from hostile parties, and may be embroiling the GOP in an embarrassing scandal with their ties to FTX.” Our Republican Leaders Have Failed Us
POLITICS
- As he began his remarks, the [so-called quote-unquote “president”] told the gathering how, as a young senator, Biden was corrected by another senator when he used the phrase “Indian country.” Biden Uses the Phrase ‘Indian Country’ 9 Times After Telling Tribes He Was Chided for Saying That
- “Four more years!” the jokester in the audience shouted. “Oh, I don’t know about that,” Biden responded. Did Joe Biden Just Hint That He Won’t Run for Reelection?
- Yeah, we all know about “Uncle Joe,” who says crazy stuff. The question is, was Obama just trying to be folksy and came up with “Uncle Joe” by accident, or was it intentional? Watch: Did Obama Just Throw Shade at Joe Biden?
- The market-idolatrous, culture war-shirking ‘dead consensus’ Right has been shown to be a loser.” Still Against the “Dead Consensus”
- The governor explained that Republicans did not underperform because the party was divided; he said that Republicans nationwide did not use the same model that Republicans in the state of Florida used, which was focusing on exercising leadership, not bending the knee in politically uncomfortable fights, and taking big challenges and focusing on “producing results,” which “ends up attracting more people to want to be on your team and so that was not something that was happening throughout the rest of the country.” (the rigging in the swing states might have been a factor as well, Ron – jjs) DeSantis Explains Why Republicans Failed To Deliver Red Wave During Midterms
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL
- “One senior diplomatic source told the Washington Free Beacon the gesture undermines U.S. efforts to support Iranian protesters who are rallying in the streets against such draconian religious displays.” U.S. Ambassador Under Fire for Wearing Hijab at Lebanon’s Request
- AP News: “China currently has about 400 nuclear warheads, and that number could grow to 1,500 by 2035.” (if the CCP still exists by then – jjs) Pentagon: China to Quadruple the Number of Nuclear Warheads by 2035
- “China stepped up its military activities around Taiwan, including missile launches, after House Speaker [Malig-]Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)’s visit to the democratic island earlier this year in spite of Chinese opposition. While the level of those activities has gone down since then, it is not where it was before her trip, the official said.” Pentagon Official: China Establishing ‘New Normal’ of Increased Military Activity Around Taiwan
- “The East and the West are both collaborating in an effort to impose the Great Reset — but each side’s different interpretation of the Great Reset and their incompatibility eventually will tear them apart.” How the East and West will Part Ways on the Great Reset
- “Perhaps they’re most upset that in a remarkable new interview the pope still wouldn’t mention Vladimir Putin by name.” Russkies Whack ‘Race-Baiting’ Pope [Fiction] Francis
DEFENSE, MILITARY, SECURITY AFFAIRS
- “The unnecessary harm has gone on long enough.” American Forces Needlessly Caught in Turkish Crossfire
- “The survey showed that 62 percent of respondents said military leadership was becoming overly politicized, nearly 60 percent said the performance and competence of presidents as commanders-in-chief decreased their confidence in the military, and 55 percent cited the performance and competence of the military’s civilian leadership.” Survey: Less than Half of Americans Have High Confidence in Military — Leadership ‘Politicized’
ACTUAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
- “Sophia’s data also shows once again the utter unreliability of the modern mainstream press. Routinely it pushes false or weak stories, consistently showing that its reporters and editors are ignorant or naive about almost every story they cover, from science to politics. To trust its conclusions on any controversial story is to put your faith in fortune tellers.” SOFIA finds no phosphine in Venus’ atmosphere
- “These images only increase my mourning for a Saturn orbiter. Since the end of Cassini’s mission in 2017, we have essentially been blind to the ringed planet and its many moons. These images, while producing excellent data, also illustrate well what we have lost.”Webb and Keck telescopes track clouds on Titan
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
- “Ironically, celebrating long-haired men in heels and wishing to upend democratic institutions recalls the courts of Charles I and Louis XVI more than any kind of progress that could benefit hardworking Americans.” Toxic Masculinity and ‘The End of History’
- “Only if they drastically change their tune.” Can Britain’s LGB Alliance Defeat Gender Ideology?
CULTURE WARS, NATIONAL SUICIDE
- Christian Toto: “Florida governor follows Trump playbook in possible White House prelude.”Disney Blinks, DeSantis Snags First Huge Win of 2024 Campaign
- “If we do not reject the false morality of political correctness and guilt by association, we will no longer have a country that is recognizably free.” Stop Adopting the Left’s Pseudomorality
- Rabbi Dov Fischer: “Donald John Trump is a Philosemite.” On Trump, Kanye, Biscuit, Jews, and Dinners
- “In other words, we must denigrate and devalue all of our past history simply because past great Americans were not perfect, as these three philosophy students must surely be.”Today’s blacklisted American: Princeton considering blacklisting John Witherspoon, Founding Father and signer of the Declaration of Independence
- “It’s time for us to say, ‘I will not be conscripted into America’s culture war.’ We’re going to make good products, we’re going to help people, we’re going to lift each other up,” Brooks said. Harvard Professor Warns CEOs That 3% of Their Employees Are ‘Activists’ Bullying Coworkers About Politics Instead of Working
- “As conservatives pursue family policy, they should strive to resurrect the idea of ‘public marriage.’” The Once and Future Marriage
HITHER & YON
- “A new book about World War II scientists sheds light on lesser known heroism.” Lethal Tides
NOTE: The opinions expressed in the links may or may not reflect my own. I include them because of their relevance to the discussion of a particular issue.
