"Blogging" the Internet

https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-316-27577-4

Over the coming days I plan to write about the Internet itself, how it is affecting our economy and our democracy.  My major resource will be Jonathan Taplin's "Move Fast and Break Things."   (You may follow on the link above for more information.)

It has become clear that our democracy is under threat from several sources.  Not the least of these it turns out are the major Internet companies.  Taplin's book focuses on three major Internet concerns which have broad impacts on our nation now.  The three are Facebook, Google, and Amazon.  Coming from someone who has significant experience in both the computer and music worlds as Taplin does, this book is of special interest to The Musical Patriot.

I will be sharing some of what I learn or re-learn as I read the book for a second time.  I can start by mentioning how the book begins with the premise that these Internet companies have essentially returned us to the Gilded Age in which a few monopolies controlled the economy, and thus politics in the United States.

Since this is such a big subject, it is best for the reader to consult "Move Fast and Break Things," directly.  For now I will simply say America is indeed in an emergency which seemingly goes beyond any so-called Constitutional Crisis.


Coming:   Technology's Counter-cultural roots  

Mueller Report One Piece of the Puzzle

Robert Mueller

News of the release of the Robert Mueller report to the Attorney General, William Barr, broke some four hours ago in the Eastern U.S.  Few details were made public except for the fact that the report does not recommend any further indictments, according to several major news sources (NPR said).   

The news media here are understandably anxious to find out more about what is in the report and whether it will be released to the public.  

In the meantime, we need to keep in mind the larger picture of deep and widespread corruption within the American political process which has become increasingly dominated by vested interests at essentially all levels.  Regarding the Presidential election process, this has been made abundantly clear by the internationally recognized reporter, Greg Palast.  

So while the Mueller report is certainly of vital importance relating to the influence of any foreign power in American elections, there have been plenty of American bad actors from right here in our own country.  Whether there are any connections between these American bad actors and Russians will be the big mystery to solve over the coming days, weeks, months, and even years.  We already know, for instance, that the founder of the Koch enterprise had business dealings with Russia in earlier decades.  

Above all this, however, we must keep in mind the safety of the whole world and all the people in it.  Those things which promote peace should be held dear, and those things which undermine or delay peace should forever be kept at arms' length.   

Future days should be interesting, to say the least.  

Corporate Personhood: A False Notion

This month's focus

As the short articles at the link below attest, the idea that a corporation is a person under the law is patently foolish and demonstrably false.  Further, this concept -- though hinted at for decades -- reached a new pinnacle of notoriety when it was mentioned by a mistaken clerk in a Supreme Court summary late in the nineteenth century.  Otherwise, the notion that corporations could have certain rights just as a real naturally-born person would havehad never been sanctioned by the Court.  

Yet gradually, and especially in the twentieth century, corporations gained more and more so-called rights, including the right to sue and be sued.  This inevitably led to a severe imbalance in power as corporations with their superior resources moved aggressively into the legal arena to intimidate those who would question their decision-making power, even in the area of product safety.  

While the philosophy of corporate personhood did not create the profit system it did become in America its technical underpinning in a legal sense.  Never voted on by anyone, corporate personhood has achieved the status of stare decisis, or accepted legal practice, as well as received wisdom.  

But wise it most surely is not.  Whatever we may have gained in predictability, we have lost in practice.  Corporations are now more powerful than ever, though it does seems they have not yet been able to completely overcome certain forces of justice and truth inherent in the nature of things.    


Corporate Personhood: What It Is

Coming Soon: The Farce of Corporate Personhood

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I am currently in research mode.  Posting will resume soon.  Thank you for your patience