It's Not News, It's Crap, And My Brethren (Refuse To) Know It

About every 3 months, someone criticizes Me for not watching local news, listening to local talk radio shows and/or not reading a local paper in print or digital format. I don't bother with any of it so that 95-98% of the year, I promenade through life in quieter contemplation of more important things. Which is pretty much everything.

Now some people might think But the news is about important stuff. (Yes, these are the kind of people who would say "important stuff." Therefore, I pity them, but I keep a poker face.) My cogent and erudite response to that is: It's all crap.

Period.

Example: A good friend and colleague of Mine, someone who I often disagree with, but find his positions largely defensible and understandable, swears that one can only understand Puerto Rico by listening to talk radio and reading the daily papers. He has a minor point: if you want to know how and why My Island is being screwed like a cheap whore in a crack house, then yes, you do need to listen to local asshats and read the sophomoric words written by local asswipes. (There are exceptions in both categories, but they don't even achieve a Pareto Rule level of 20%, falling closer to 10%, if that.) But if you want to grok My Island, to see beyond the crapfest slung daily, you have no other choice but to avoid the local media.

I'm on record, several times, as calling Our level of """journalism""" essentially sheep-like, with more similarities to sheep dung than to the woolly beast itself. Take TV news, please. (Ba-dum-bum!) Anchors here are like anchors in the U.S of part of A.: photogenic monkeys plastered in make-up. The field reporters are often stupid enough to start grazing if they fall on a lawn, but make up for their lack of intellect by being willing puppets to whatever power-that-be wants to play them. Again, there are exceptions, but the ones I can pinpoint to on My Island are no longer with the major TV stations, plying their trade on much smaller newscasts and on websites, distant from the masses.

If there's a category that defines crap, at every imaginable level, it is pundits, the folks lumped together as so-called so-called so-called experts, three magnitudes removed from any type of intelligence higher than that shown by retarded weasels with alcohol poisoning. These wretched morons, on TV, radio and in newspaper columns, are incapable of stringing coherent thoughts together unless it is in service of some controlling agenda, whether it is related to party politics, political agendas or socioeconomic objectives that the "haves" want to impose on the "have nots."

Now I'm implying that there is some sort of mindfulness behind all this, and that's correct. But it doesn't appear n the media, at least not directly ad not often. No, the public role of the media is to shovel crap in massive quantities at the gaping maws of mindless indifference that constitutes the greater majority of My Brethren. Folks who slap on talk radio in the morning, peruse the paper during the day (to avoid work and/or stay current with gossip) and then watch TV news in the evening. Whatever that percentage is, and it's well above 50% of Our adults, it's nothing more than a misinformed herd of passive beasts causing all of Us long-term harm. And if you think "misinformed herd of passive beasts" is harsh, My first draft read "walking bags of useless stupid shit," so, yeah, I have a gentle side.

For the past two years, I've kept track of predictions that My friend and colleague have made about local issues, from taxes and prices to status debates and political machinations. We sat down recently to go over the list, and after agreeing on 27 topics We had made some sort of prediction on, We verified who was closer to the actual end result.

No surprise: I was closer on 18 to his 9. It should be noted that on purely economic issues, We were both right on 6 of 9 predictions, albeit different ones. But in political matters, I was more prescient on 12 of 19, while he was on point on only three, even though he claims to be non-partisan and thus "objective" in his evaluation of political arguments.

Is he going to stop listening to talk radio? No. But I got him to admit that he often listens because it "entertains" him more than it informs him.

One down, about a million and a half to go.

Crap.



The Jenius Has Spoken.


[Update: 6 December 2014: Via Eric Zuesse, of Washington's Blog, this scythe to the collective sheep-brain: the media in the U.S. of part of A. is extremely controlled.]

Some Things Gotta Be Said

Long. Live. Stupidity.

However:

Example the First: The "Proto-Weasel," Our misbegotten ungovernor Alejandro García, is uncaptain of a badly-sinking ship, with Us as the long-suffering passengers. The Proto-Weasel, whose face always looks like he really wants to be evil but his mommy won't let him, allegedly hand-picked a wormy Cabinet from the dregs of pseudo-talented parasites and is now watching as plenty of them are running away so fast the vacuum threatens to suck the paint off La Fortaleza. The stupidity is rampant, but just thinking that one can "fix Puerto Rico" or "make a real difference" simply by occupying the now-ungovernor's mansion is hubris at best and sub-zero IQ at worst.


Example the Second: Speaking of sub-standard IQs, enter one Ricky "Fraud Frat" Rosselló, son of the infamous corruptiongovernor Pedro "Liar Liar" Rosselló. Like smegma from a peter (or in this case, from a pedro), Reeky is a pusbag. I don't give a rat's (f)Reeky atriopore for what goes on in the bootlicking excuse called the statehood party, but the fetid rise of Reeky Fraud Frat needs to be placed in context.

A thumbnail run of the last 5 sorry wretches stinking up La Fortaleza looks like this:

1) Pedro the Liar: Pediatric surgeon, major health agency director.
2) Sila the Quitter: Mayor of San Juan, Secretary of State, major agency director.
3) Aníbal the Jellyfish: Lawyer, representative in the House, Head Beggar in Washington.
4) Luis the Larva: Lawyer, multi-agency director, Head Beggar in Washington.
5) Alejandro the Proto-Weasel: J.D. degree, Senator and major agency director.

All of those on the list, regardless of how feckless and criminal their tenures in office were (right, Liar and Jellyfish?) came in having established themselves as somewhat useful, as having at least tried to prove themselves openly. Furthermore, they came in directly beholden to a legacy that they at least said they respected. In other words, they may have been parasitic scum, but they had certain (minimal) standards.

Now Reeky Fraud Rat skitters in. His academic degree is suspect, the """paper""" he """"""wrote"""""" was merely a case of "he was a grad monkey pair of hands," he gets a cushy job at the Medical Center for which he was as qualified as Bob the Builder and it has become obvious that Reeky Fraud does not have and will not have any standard except himself.

So answer this: what could a fetid pus-addled rodent (sorry rodents) like Reeky want with La Fortaleza?

Only one thing: whatever it can get as fast as it can get it. Fuck everything else.

And the stupid excuse for a stupid party will do the stupid thing and put the stupid Reeky Fraud Rat in position to do Us stupid all the way to where the Sun was never meant to shine.


Example the Third: Because Our """journalists""" deserve that respectable title exactly as much as hyena spit does, a mini-herd of them jumped on a lickpittle hatchet job about My Island called something like "Puerto Rico: Zombie Island. This piece of shit portrays Us as swamped up to Our necks in drugs, that We are so zonked out that Our population is at risk of dying in a generation, all of it couched in language so ponderously hyperbolic and crass that if it had been about ANY other topic, My Brethren would have giggled and hooted. But because it was about Us, and We ferociously lust for any attention, even hyperbolically-stupid bullshit like this "special report" ("special" as in "Special Olympics"), first a """news team""" jumped on it with all hooves and even had the unmitigated idiocy of claiming that they had asked the ungovernor to comment on their scum-sucking wallowfest, To the Proto-Weasel's credit, he passed.

Now if he just passed out permanently, then We got something good.

So after seven and a half months, the ability to just let stupidity slide by unremarked runs out. Not that stupidity will ever end, but there's only so much of it a Jenius can take before the keyboard needs to be pecked at to keep the record straight.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

Solving Puerto Rico 002: María José de Mata

The second Gil The Jenius: Solving Puerto Rico vidcast features a talented young lady who is looking to make her way in films and multimedia. Although Puerto Rico is a huge consumer of entertainment, the only genre with a great number of projects is music. Local films are few and far between, and the obstacles We face to increase their number are many.

Some folks might consider that government monies used in supporting films are wasted, when there are drug addicts on the streets, battered women without shelter and politicians needing a late-model Lexus. But it isn't a matter of "or," but of "and." We should have the flexibility and support systems to foster films, decrease the number of addicts, protect battered women and run politicians over with their current Lexus.

María focuses on the film side of the equation, and the chance to develop Our own stories. Use the direct link or just click below.

On the off-chance that you might ask, the cat's name is "Sally."

The Jenius Has Interviewed.

Gil The Jenius: Solving Puerto Rico

Aside from the fact that I just found out about Tribuna Puerto Rico, an online digital newspaper that makes Me want to dance,  I have an announcement:

The Jenius is launching a vidcast, titled "Solving Puerto Rico."

Beginning next week, I'll be talking with folks about all kinds of subjects, from education to economics, technology to security, politics to filmmaking, all with an eye towards offering solutions that can help Puerto Rico move forward.

Being The Jenius, there's a need to clarify what this vidcast will be. After all, a quick glance through the archives would indicate that engaging with Me might be akin to a wrestling match. That is not what Solving Puerto Rico is about.

* It is not about arguing with anyone: it is about exploring ideas.

* On that basis, I don't have to agree with the idea. It might even be better if I don't, for that may help push the idea into new, unintended arenas.

* It isn't about making money. I don't derive a cent from this blog and that will continue. (Heck, Mrs. Jenius gets 98% of everything I make anyway, so it's not like I'm losing a ton of money.)

* It is about presenting the conversations in a public forum. The vidcasts will be made using Google Hangouts, and uploaded to YouTube.

* Only two questions will be pre-arranged. The first: What do you think will the "tipping point" for this solution? The second: Who would you recommend for this vidcast?

Aside from the above, the conversations will take about 15-20 minutes, and most will be carried out in English. Why? Because this blog is already in English, with the language intended to reach a certain local audience and a wider global one. I see no reason to change that, just as I see no reason to not include a Spanish-language vidcast if the mood strikes Me.

Now I extend My invitation to all of you: Who should join The Jenius on a vidcast? Nominate yourself or someone you admire, know, like or just want to learn more about. Nominate folks who teach, inspire, create, modify, or simply do their job under everyone's radar. Nominate people that make a difference, whether they are poor, rich, native-born or "gone native." They don't even have to live in Puerto Rico, for there are several hundred thousand of Us making a huge difference while living in the U.S. of part of A.

Most of all, nominate yourself or someone who wants to talk about solving something in Puerto Rico. Too many of the conversations on My Island end up in a downward spiral of negativity that culminates in a nadir of hands-thrown-in-the-air despair.

Enough.

Solutions are out there. We have solutions. It's time We made them known.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

Censoried Stories = Proof

Saturday Special here. Free of charge.

From Project Censored's Top 25 Censored Stories of 2013 (they are in a hurry), come these Jenius-selected facets of Truth that provide Proof about topics Moi has covered recently. And lest you think Project Censored is just spouting off, each story has multiple links for reference and further research.

Here We go, with all emphasis Mine:

1. Signs of an Emerging Police State: As per My recent posts--1, 2 & 3--about fascism.
"The 2012 passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has allowed the military to detain indefinitely without trial any US citizen that the government labels a terrorist or an accessory to terrorism, while President Barack Obama’s signing of the National Defense Resources Preparedness Executive Order has authorized widespread federal and military control of the national economy and resources during 'emergency and non-emergency conditions.'”

4. FBI Agents Responsible for Majority of Terrorist Plots in the United States: See above.

"The agency has developed a network of nearly 15,000 spies to infiltrate various communities in an attempt to uncover terrorist plots. However, these moles are actually assisting and encouraging people to commit crimes. Many informants receive cash rewards of up to $100,000 per case."

9. Prison Slavery in Today’s USA: See yesterday's post, "Prison Rape."
"The US comprises less than 5 percent of the world’s population, yet US prisons hold more than 25 percent of all people imprisoned globally. Many of these prisoners labor at twenty-three cents per hour, or similar wages, in federal prisons contracted by the Bureau of Prisons’ UNICOR, a quasi-public, for-profit corporation, which is the US government’s thirty-ninth largest contractor."

10. HR 347 Would Make Many Forms of Nonviolent Protest Illegal: Memorize this...and act accordingly.
"The (Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011) specifies as criminal offenses the acts of entering or remaining in areas defined as 'restricted.' Although pundits have debated to what extent the new law restricts First Amendment rights or criminalizes Occupy protests, it does make it easier for the Secret Service to overuse or misuse existing laws to arrest lawful protesters by lowering the requirement of intent in the prosecution of criminal activity."

[Jenius note: Years ago, Jenial Friend Kevin Shockey told Me that Puerto Rico was "a test case" for Republican-spawned policies. I agreed. The local legislative (out)house and The Larva enacted a law like this just before HR 347 went into effect. I applaud Kevin's perspicacity, for the evidence is mounting that his observation back then can only be described as very astute and accurate.]

19. New York Police Plant Drugs on Innocent People to Meet Arrest Quotas: Go ahead and verify what races these "innocent people" are, then accept that the """war on drugs""" is not about drugs at all.
"The NYPD’s controversial “stop and frisk” program has invested seventy-five million dollars to arrest suspects for possessing minimal amounts of marijuana. Each arrest costs approximately $1,000 to $2,000. Although NYPD use of unlawful restraints and disproportionate force to arrest peaceful Occupy protesters has received some news coverage, police brutality directed against people of color continues to go underreported."

20. Stealing from Public Education to Feed the Prison-Industrial Complex: Once again, a brain-dead march to prison rape. Jenius note: I haven't touched the topic of the education system "feeding" the prison-industrial complex. It's time I did, right?
"A systemic recasting of education priorities gives official structure and permanence to a preexisting underclass comprised largely of criminalized, poor people of color. The rise of corporate-backed charter schools and privatized prisons cannot be understood apart from the record closures of public schools across the country."

21. Conservatives Attack US Post Office to Break the Union and Privatize Postal Services: One of the 14 characteristics of fascism; number 10, to be precise, with a dash of #9 thrown in.
"The US Postal Service has been under constant assault for years from conservative Republicans who aim to eviscerate the strongest union in the country. Under the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, USPS must fully fund retiree health benefits for future retirees—including the retirement packages of employees not even born yet. No other organization, public or private, has to pre-fund 100 percent of its future health benefits. Thus, the post office’s oft-reported nine-billion-dollar deficit is largely a result of government-imposed overpayments."

22. Wachovia Bank Laundered Money for Latin American Drug Cartels: Yeah, the """war on drugs""" makes money from its racist, nearly genocidical, roots. Even a local bank gets in on the fun...and probably still does.
"Between 2004 and 2007, Wachovia Bank handled funds totaling $378.4 billion for Mexican currency-exchange houses acting on behalf of drug cartels. The transactions amount to the largest violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, an anti-money-laundering law, in US history. This case is not exceptional; Wachovia is just one of several US and European banks that drug cartels have used to launder money."

24. Alabama Farmers Look to Replace Migrants with Prisoners: Stupid anti-immigration laws being used to try to reduce wages to 23 cents an hour. "Land of the Free" or "Land of the (Almost)Free Labor"?
"Alabama’s expansive anti-immigrant law, HB56, has been so economically devastating that farmers in the state sought legislation to force hard labor on prison inmates eligible for work release programs, to 'help farms fill the gap and find sufficient labor.'”


Yeah, I might only be a Jenius, but I'm on it.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

Countdown For A Cowardly Cartel

There's rumblings that We are about to get new daily newspapers. Two, to take the more specific part of the rumors. At a time when most markets are losing newspapers to web-based news sites, Puerto Rico is gaining--apparently--two dailies.

Why? Why now?

It's not like We are avid readers or consumers of news. I hate to say it: My Brethren look upon reading as akin to inserting suppositories, but less useful. And as far as news, Our general mind-set is geared to PUERTO RICO: GOSSIP/SCANDAL/TRAGEDY with a second set consisting of U.S. of part of A./NY/FL/Scandal and a dot that says "The rest of what other people call 'the world'".

So if it's not serving a reader/news consumer market, what could cause 2 new newspapers to jump into Our market in 2013?

Ad revenue.

Banners of the Farewell Tour

For some reason, the ad market locally is more like a dinosaur than an iPhone 5. Even now, the majority of overall ad dollars spent here goes to newspapers, an estimated 63%. That leaves a paltry 37% spread across TV, radio, Internet and several alternative media.

So newspapers still rule here. And who rules the newspapers and thus the ad revenue stream? The Ferré-Rangel cartel, owners of El Nuevo Día, Primera Hora and more than half the major local weeklies. They control about 65% of the newspaper ad revenue, which means they control about 41% of the total stream, a princely sum, when you consider it represents about $98 million.

Still, why? Why now?

First of all, Puerto Rico is a captive ad market. It's an island. But not just any island: it is an island filled with people who buybuybuy like drones. That means that companies will advertise like mad to lure the drones. It's what We've seen for decades.

Second, the Ferré-Rangel cartel is vulnerable. Their attempts to polish the face of the pig they call "the family corporation" have not helped improve its looks. So the big mega-millions sale they lusted for has not been completed, and as their position and the economy worsened, the prospects of umpteen dollars to bankroll personal ambitions have faded.

Third, thanks to a corrupt passel of smegma-licking thieves, a local failed daily is now a putrid propaganda puppy trainer given away for free. It broke the "free" price barrier and further eroded the ad revenue base for the Ferré-Rangel cartel.

Fourth, the ad market here is ripe for a competitor because the environment has become stagnant. The deaths of El Vocero (now a zombie) and The San Juan Star (a puny half-zombie called The Daily Sun or some such crap) have given one competitor a solid base...with huge cracks. And into those cracks comes a rival.

Yes, one. According to the rumors, the international chain of Metro papers is the King Kong moving in next year. {Disclosure: I worked on a project to bring that chain to Puerto Rico in 2008-2009. The big stumbling block: no large local advertiser would commit to placing ads in the new paper for fear of retaliation by the Ferré-Rangel cartel.} And again, according to the rumors, the cartel will launch its own free daily as a pre-emptive strike.

Which means that the cartel will actually cannibalize itself in a desperate attempt to survive.

Really.

Here's the thing: If a company dominates the newspaper industry the way the Ferré-Rangel cartel does, it would behoove said cartel to improve the quality of news coverage and community interaction so that future competitors would have a bigger entry barrier to their market. In essence, be a true newspaper and develop yourself into an integral part of the business, industrial and social fabric. Which means you become an integral part of all of Us.

Is it hard work? Yes. Does it take time? Of course. But the end result is a newspaper or a newspaper chain--in a closed market--that can only be beaten by the Internet, which is still in its infancy here and thus capable of being dominated even by something as horrendous as elnuevodia.com and primerahora.com.

Remember, this is a market where total ad revenue exceeds $210 million and one company is dragging down close to $100 million. Let Me put it this way: that represents roughly $26.50 per person. How many companies get at least $26.50 a year per person in their market?

But of course, the cartel won't do that: they haven't in the almost two decades they've cornered the market. They took the easy route, the exploitation route, and when the going got tough--as it will--they went into "survival" mode, short-term thinking. If they'd had a gram of vision or a smidgen of guts, they could have created a new paradigm for newspapers in Puerto Rico, a potential model for others to emulate.

Instead, they're going to launch a free daily to compete with their two newstand-sold dailies in order to fight off a free daily...with much deeper pockets, talent and vision.

And because the Ferré-Rangel cartel is not really a part of Us, never wanted to be except to exploit, threaten, browbeat, deceive, insult and manipulate Us, We really don't care what happens to them. They've taught Us to not care about the news, to not give a damn whether We read the Truth or not, to not have any concern for them as Our allies because they never were.

Now they need Us to fight off a rival that could become--blind hope--the ally We deserved these past three decades. Regardless of whether that ally emerges or not, the Ferré-Rangel cartel is headed for a crushing defeat. They will want--hell, they will desperately need--allies...and I for one am sure they won't get enough to survive.

I've said for years that the cartel is an obstacle to Puerto Rico's progress. Come 2014, their days as an obstacle may become a visible countdown. And they will have nobody--absolutely nobody--to blame but themselves.

Good riddance.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

[Update: 2 Oct 2012: The battle of the free dailies has its first salvo. The Ferré-Rangel cartel launches Indice and Metro launches a sneak peek of its offering. Oh, We won't be better informed...We'll just be entertained. I can't wait for the Ferré-Rangel cartel to file for bankruptcy.]

Transparency FTW

[My Thanks to Janine Mendes-Franco for selecting My recent "We're #1! We're #1! (In Corruption)" post for Global Voices Online. It's been a while since I was honored that way, but that's not Janine's fault; I wasn't producing that much worth looking at. Happy to see it happen again.]


Things on My Island--for it is still My Island--are atrocious, in many ways. We have politicians stealing millions of dollars and names have been named repeatedly, most of the prominently placed in the statehood party, currently running the show like their own carny. We have government services gouging citizens to enrich """public"""" servants and private pockets, which leads back to politicians stealing Our money. Again.

We have a declining economy, further saddled by a government debt fueled by politicians stealing Our money. Parts of Our public property are being sold to line the pockets of private companies and politicians stealing Our money. And the watchdogs We are supposed to have are lapdogs licking the balls of those who feed them the merest scraps of the loot they've stolen over the years.

My go-to solution would be to shoot the vilest offenders, in the face. That--amazingly--is frowned upon. When so-called drug lords do it to each other, over mere money, it's okay, but start talking about shooting thugs and thieves that steal Our money, Our rights and Our future and--Whoa, Nelly!--now We got some 'splainin' to do.

Fuck that. The reasons are obvious: if We don't exterminate the vermin, they will ruin Us. They are close to doing so on a scale that would turn this Island into the second book of the Bible...and no need to re-CGI the parting of a sea. So wiping them out is rational, a measure of sanity and sanitary behavior. That is frowned upon. No wonder We're getting screwed.

But what is really going on? Is the level of corruption so dense and broad and deep that no solution can be implemented? No, it isn't that bad...yet. How do We know? The majority of Our population is still outside of the thievery. If a majority of Us were involved, like the drug lords, the bullets would have been flying. 

Thus: a solution is possible. And the word to trigger it is transparency.

Obviously We can't count on Our media to do this. The newspapers We have are inked toilet paper with their own feces pre-imprinted between pestiferous ads. Radio """pundits""" are very much based on the "ideological idiot" model wherein your personal stupidity in regards to political preferences has to be waved like a party flag in drunken paws. Not to mention that radio journalists suffer the same sans cojones and shit-for-brains mush that affects nearly all Our so-called newspaper and TV journalists, where courage and conviction are tossed aside in favor of gossipy questions, empty-handed rants and huge proclamations of integrity that add up to old triple-penetration whores claiming virginity in any one of their cash-crop holes.

No, We can't count on Our media. The transparency push We need will come from the Internet. Our version of the Internet. To make it work will take a concerted effort, a multi-layered, 24/7, laser-focused charge against "politics as usual, business as usual" and the self-fucking chronic "We're helpless" stupidity of "Ay bendito, what can We do?"

We have the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, investigative journalism under a non-profit model. We have News Is My Business. There's NotiCel and CaribNews Puerto Rico. There's Think Puerto Rico. There's José Maldonado and Luis Villanueva. We have bloggers like Michael Castro, the pseudonymous Elco Lao and Kofla Olivieri. We have many many more resources that indicate a band of dedicated newshounds who are more interested in facts than fluff, in the grubby details of Truth than the airy bubbles of gossip and who strive to cut through the bullshit because We've had enough of it all.

These are some of the people I follow closely, on Twitter and blogs. I don't agree with them all the time; I don't have to. But what they say is often pointed squarely at Truth and that's a hell of a lot more than what I get from Our so-called "prensa".

Some of them won't want to become part of a "Journalism Strike Force," but I believe enough will want to, those will attract more and We'll have the deep, broad and focused spotlights We need to truly stamp out most of the corruption that rots Our society.

But separately, We can't do as much as We can united. The paucity of local government statistics can be remedied by folks like Leo Gómez and fellow economists, and with those stats, We can challenge the fetid utterances that pass uncontested in press conferences. But stats without analysis and context are useless, so the news sources have to come together to use them. And there have to be outlets for these analyses, ones that don't already have their asses owned by politicians and corporate thieves.

What's needed is a unit formed by as many competent players as possible that not only gathers the news, but studies it and reveals its truths. One that challenges the status quo every day, systematically, loudly and with the conviction that doing so is not obstruction, it is duty. Because I have to keep saying this: the government works for Us. And their dealings in Our name are subject to every--I mean every--level of scrutiny We have the will to apply. If they don't like it--good. They work for Us. We can fire them at will, in lieu of just firing at them.

It will take some time to get this unit to converge and start rolling. But once it does, it will pin elected officials like bugs to cardboard and make them offer proof of what they do and how. Cockroaches flee when light shines upon them, and try as they might, no politician, no political party, no government, has ever effectively shut down the power of a crusade for Truth without using guns. And if they go that route, well We can too. Count Me in either way.

The power of the Fourth Estate is the power of the citizenry to remind the government that it is a servant, not a master, and that it remains only by sufferance. The call to transparency will be fought--bitterly, savagely, criminally, even--but when many lights shine, darkness is ultimately banished.

We can do this. We have to do this. Or the visible future of Our media talent will be scattered jottings about Our collapse and a few maudlin essays of "What once was and could have been."

And that's an Island I won't give a damn about.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

Vote Or Shut Up...Not

Through some concatenation of idiocy, composed of 34% stupidity, 18% ignorance, 22% illogic and 26% moral turpitude, a campaign was launched that told Us--straight up--to "Vota o Quédate Callao"--"Vote or Shut Up."

Do tell.

Actually, a truer translation would be "Vote or Keep Quiet," but the sentiment of "Shut Up" is clearly indicated and shoved down Our throats. I won't forget that in My response.

The problem with this kind of campaign is that it uses a very Republican (as in "GOP") technique--gross oversimplification--to create a false dichotomy, an unrealistic "black or white" option set. Gross oversimplification does to rational arguments what performing brain surgery with a golf club does, so it's up to Us to set the record straight.

First: Voting is a right. It might actually be a duty, but it is defined as a right and as such, a person has the option to decline to use it. One can abstain from voting and that in itself is a decision within the parameters of a democratic process.

Second: Voting and "speaking up " are two different rights. The idea that one's right to free speech, to lob verbal grenades at the rotting vermin We elect and the ugly-ass problems they don't solve and actually create, is inextricably linked to voting is beyond ludicrous: it is criminally stupid.

Let's see if the "logical" structure holds up: Vote or lose your property. You have the right to property, so connect voting to property and We can turn the next election into an eminent domain orgy! There is no logic or rational connection in "vote or shut up," but that hasn't stopped these brain-dead pigs from squealing it over and over again.

Third: "Speaking up" will happen anyway. The notion that by not voting a person simply has to shut up has all the basis in reality that the Book of Mormon has (and no, I don't mean the Tony Award-winning musical.) Even if a person doesn't actually think the very flawed premise through, they will grasp that (A) Who will know if I voted or not? [more on this point below] and (B) Who's going to make Me shut up?

Expanding point A, yes, there is a record of who voted. But who knows if vociferous citizen The Jenius (for example) voted in 2012? And will they be around every time I bitch-slap ignorance and thievery to scream "He didn't vote!"?

No.

The underlying message of this campaign is not a reinforcement of democracy. It isn't meant to build awareness of a citizen's rights and the power/responsibility duet they represent. Uh-uh. The purpose of this campaign is to continue to imply that the power is not Ours: it's theirs. "Theirs" being the people We elect, the people We vote for, the people who are fucking supposed to WORK FOR US.

Any wonder the whole false dichotomy/rancid pig squeal campaign has the support of every local party, also known as "Tweedledumb, Tweedledumber and the 4 Mental & Moral Dwarfs"?

And because you simply have to talk back to these pig squealers in a way their microscopic proto-brains can understand, here's My response to "Vota o Quédate Callao": Mámenmelo y Quédense Callaos.



The Jenius Has Spoken.

El Vocero: A Bloody Tampon

Free press. The Fourth Estate. The Voice of the People. The Watchful Eye. The Preserver of Democracy. When it comes to what the power of the press is in Our society, the ideal is clear: it holds the power of government in check.

Somehow, for local rag El Vocero, that phrase became "It gets checks from government powers."

El Vocero is a """newspaper""" that was launched in the 1970s as the then-most extreme example of "populist" press, often equated with yellow journalism. Featuring graphic photos of dead bodies on the front page and several more in its interior pages, El Vocero was often described as "dripping blood if you squeezed it." For years, it kept its reputation as a blood-rag and in that interim, it became the highest-selling Puerto Rican paper in New York.

Misery sells.

In the 1990s, local """newspaper""" mogul, the Ferré-Rangel cartel, owners of El Nuevo Día, launched a "lighter" """newspaper", Primera Hora. (A "lighter" version of El Nuevo Día would be like finding a lighter version of a fart.) Aimed at a younger crowd and focused on "don't read," Primera Hora started to erode El Vocero's local advertising base. That along with undue and unethical pressure in ad agencies by the Ferré-Rangel cartel practically killed El Vocero, who tried to erase its bloody image and become a newspaper, for once.

For a time, they succeeded. For a time.

As the economy worsened and the Ferré-Rangel cartel played faster and looser with circulation numbers, sales data and ethical breaches, topped by a strike that further gutted the rag, El Vocero ended up being printed on shitty leftover El Nuevo Día paper and on their presses.

With the comatose state of The San Juan Star, the only English-language daily, the """newspaper""" field in Puerto Rico was reduced to El Nuevo Día and Primera Hora, two sides of the same turd. And Primera Hora was gutted of its senior (read: higher salaried) journalists in order to pump up the chance of selling the Ferré-Rangel puppy trainers to a Chilean company.

So.

What happens when El Vocero, the erstwhile blood-red rag, reappears as a daily, with a suspiciously blue tinge...given away FREE...and all of that based on having received some $20 million in government contracts, incentives and advertising?

El Vocero had a $14.5 million debt with the local government, now run by a (non)administration leaking blood like a late-stage Ebola patient. So in the kind of illegal legerdemain that makes the statehood blue the color of theft, the suddenly 5 new companies that broke off from the original El Vocero rathole are now swimming in money...that comes from Our taxes.

In short, El Vocero was rolled up and jammed into a bleeding hole to try to stop the hemorrhaging of a failed (non)administration. What was once a bloody rag is now a bloody tampon.

Speaking of which, the president of this new conglomerate for theft is one Peter W. Miller, who is an attorney/consultant and under contract as an advisor to senate president Thomas "Mad Dog" Rivera. Bloody hell.

Furthermore, the illegally-fired workers from the strike have yet to be paid their Court-sentenced salaries and benefits. Apparently the 1-to-6 move-to-loot-Our-taxes is being used to also avoid paying what the workers earned twice over.

And this, sad to say, is business as usual on My Island. A theft-crazed political party uses tax monies to crap out a sweetheart deal for a political crony, then uses that property--which should be a bastion of Truth--to spew rot like some sort of overflowing, over-pressurized sewage system. And if in the process these thieves, these disgusting vermin, can also screw workers from their earned pay, well that's just even better.

A word to El Vocero: tampons are not permanent. You will be discarded, rightly, and with extreme distaste. As for Peter: you are one, small and crabbed. And to the pus-infested seepage called the statehood party: gangrene stinks. The only cure at that point is amputation, fire...or death.



The Jenius Has Spoken.


[Update: 2 Oct 2012: As a new free daily paper hits Our streets, here's a look at the "splash webpage" of El Vocero, clearly defining what its true agenda is. You don't have to be up on all Our political nuances to see the crock of bullshit for what it is. And for those of you who told Me I was attacking statehooders and El Vocero because I'm biased, bite Me.] 

[Update: 19 Oct 2012: San Juan Mayor Jorge "Sniffy" Santini, is linked to a scheme of pardoning tax debts for Caribbean International News Corporation--"owners" of El Vocero--in exchange for ad space. Our tax dollars tossed away for Sniffy's ad space...and maybe a little nose party for the, you know, down times.]

The Larva = Rampant Idiocy Plus

An """advisor""" to Our outhouse of representatives tweets that Obama should "take (Michelle) to your homeland, Kenya" because that's where he was "borned." She defends herself from charges of making a racist comment by later tweeting that her "most beloved nieces are black" and that she is "anti-Obama" and as such she fights him "with all my heart and passion, as a descendant of Germans!"

As a fellow boricua descendant of Germans, shut the fuck up, Fotze.

When asked about the controversy, numbnuts nongovernor Luis "The Larva" Fortuño said he didn't know anything about it. Despite it involving a leading advisor to the president of the outhouse, a key advisor to the party he ostensibly is the leader of and amidst a media storm emerging from media he claims to "dominate."

On another front, a contractor is fired from building a vocational school. The contractor claims he was dismissed because he refused to raise campaign funds for The Larva's flight from La Fortaleza. The Larva the goes on TV--on a show with the intellectual, moral and ethical values of a thieving crack whore on crocodil who spits on blind orphans--and claims that the firing was forced by the bond company.

The president of the bond company, United Surety & Indemnity Corporation, states that what The Larva said is categorically false, adding that "(W)e never get involved in the process of declaring a contractor as non-compliant; we can't do it, we don't want to and we aren't interested in doing so."

Now there's idiocy and then there's rampant idiocy. The advisor, it of the racist ilk, is an idiot. To expose your idiocy and racism in a public forum--and Twitter is not just "your followers," moron--is idiotic; to do so as a public employee is doubly so. To continue to expose your lack of intellectual and moral acumen is rampant idiocy. And to actively state your position that you want your country to become a part of another and not know how to conjugate a simple verb in their language is simply too much to be borne(d). That level of idiocy is called "statehooder".

That The Larva claimed to know nothing about the tweet controversy is idiotic. To do so in the midst of an election run-up period is doubly so, compounded by his cowardly non-reaction to the racist and erroneous statement made by the idiotic advisor. To then enter another fray, on what amounts to a gossip show run by a moral and mental defective of less social value than dog poop, indicates that the charges leveled against you have some truth to them, which makes the action rampant idiocy. But then to lie like a thieving bitch and make the situation worse, well, that level of idiocy is called "statehooder."

In this battle to the bottom between rampant idiots, The Larva is the clear and biggest loser, slamming into rock bottom way ahead of the barbarian (more accurate description than you know). A racist advisor, a stupid parasite in Our government, is bad; that the so-called "leader" of her party and her government makes 3 idiotic moves to her 2...well, that's clearly worse.

So Let's write "The Larva: R.I.P."

Yeah, I know: I was about to cheer wildly, too, but I momentarily forgot I meant it as "The Larva: Rampant Idiocy Plus."

But there's hope We can soon see what made Us want to cheer so much...



The Jenius Has Spoken.

Power Lies

Take a look at this graphic:

It supposedly shows that although the average cost of a barrel of oil has dropped substantially, the average cost We pay per kilowatt-hour of electricity has gone up--substantially--and that Our average electric bill has gone up because "We are paying for The Larva's (corrupt) friends." That last is based on several prominent statehood party (the Legion of Fools) members that have been caught stealing electricity.

Now, has the average price per oil barrel dropped? Well, that's not what the graphic states. It says that the price of a barrel of oil was $147.00 in June 2008, not an average, but a single data point. The graphic states that oil has averaged $80.58 in 2012, but what's the data source? CNN Money has oil averaging over $102.00 a barrel in 2012, while Index Mundi has it averaging $112.50 a barrel (Jan-Mar 2012). Now Index Mundi does factor in oil futures, but even so, how is this data compatible with "$80.58" as an average oil barrel price in 2012?

It isn't. Always remember: Lies, damn lies and statistics. If you factor in the oil plunge in 2009, when oil was trading at between $35.00 and $82.00 a barrel, then--and only then--could anyone say that oil was "averaging" $80.58, but never in 2012. The fact is that oil is trading, which means being bought and sold, at well over $100 a barrel, so far in 2012.

Now, despite the falsity, does this mean We are paying "the most expensive electricity in the world"?

Here are the average residential rates across the 50 States in 2009-2010, according to ElectricChoice.com:

Why did I pick 2009-2010? So you can compare it to the 2008 rate quoted in the graphic. Note how Puerto Rico was paying 18.26¢ while Hawaii was paying...24.13¢.

Oops. We weren't even the most expensive electricity in the U.S. of part of A., so forget "in the world."

What about 2012? From the U.S. Energy Information Administration, click and scroll down to "Pacific NonContiguous," which means Alaska and Hawaii and you'll see that in January 2012, Hawaiians were paying...gasp!...33.10¢ per kilowatt-hour.

And folks, 33.10¢ is more than 28.58¢, isn't it? (Let Me anticipate the commonwealthers' puke: oil went up in price between January and February 2012 so it's very doubtful that the Hawaiian rate went down in February, okay? Okay.)

So, two claims down the toilet for being ridiculous falsifications. The third states that the average electric bill rose from $156.00 in 2008 to $215.00 in 2012. Now first of all, round numbers in this context are suspicious. Second, the graphic claims that the average family uses 800 kWh in both years. But given the increased rate, wouldn't the average family use less electricity? Maybe not, but the graphic doesn't give a damn about that, obviously.

Third, the average electric bill can be easily calculated, using the data the graphic itself provides:

2008:  800 kWh X 18.26¢ per kWh = $146.08
2012:   800 kWh X 28.58¢ per kWh = $228.64

Uh, watt? I mean, what? Yes, I'm aware that there are other fees and charges in My electric, but so are the people who put this crappy graphic together. If they aren't, then what the hell are they doing putting it together in the first place?

Well obviously, they are trying to unleash a political hatchet job against The Larva. And given that the average voter has the IQ of a washing machine, they might succeed. Stupid is as stupid does.

But here's what pisses Me off: This offensively-stupid OfensivaPopular asswipe sheet takes a potentially-legitimate attack against the ineffectiveness and outright corruption of Our (non)governor's crappy term and dulls it to the point of abject uselessness...for anyone who thinks.

This is what the retarded hacks at (In)OfensivaPopular threw away:

1) The outright manipulation of the electric rate by this (non)administration, desperately trying to cover debts, theft and incompetence.
2) The serial thievery by high-ranking Cabinet members and statehood party officials, with one of the thieves being a high-ranking Electric Power Authority executive director.
3) The outright lies by The Larva in "doing something about the cost of electricity," the very fucking point of this stupid graphic.

You got it: what I'm saying is that I want My campaign ads and diatribes to be fact-based, reasoned and at the very least, goddammit, internally consistent. Is that too much to ask? Powerful discussions rather than power lies?

Of course it is. Stupidity rules when it comes to politics and political campaigns, as exhibited above.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

Police Lies, Stupid Remarks, We All Lose

A 29-year old woman is found unconscious off a trail on the tiny island of Vieques, a vacation hotspot municipality of Puerto Rico. The woman, visiting Vieques as a tourist, was semi-nude and may have been raped.

The blow to the left side of her head was so powerful that it caused injury to the right side, not from a fall, but from the contusion itself, requiring emergency surgery. That is horrible enough. Worse is the possibility that she was raped, for no crime short of murder is more heinous. But beyond that lies another horror: the woman may have been the third victim of a serial rapist, whose two prior attacks were hushed up.

Let Me give you some context here: Vieques proper is about the size of some suburban tracts in the U.S. of part of A., for although 21 miles long and 5 miles wide, two closed areas on the western tip and eastern half of the island are closed off, halving the island's civilian zone. Just look at the map and you'll see that the civilian area--the township itself--is quite tiny. Population: about 9,600, give or take a few hundred visiting for Spring Break or Holy Week or some other pagan ritual.

There's two ways off the little island: boat (ferry or private vessel) or plane (local air transport or private plane). Although checking and vetting private boats and planes is not easy, it is routinely done as part of the massive(ly ridiculous) "drug war." Even with the ineffective and lackadaisical monkey squads We call police, trying to hunt a rapist on Vieques is far from impossible; in fact, the only place easier in Puerto Rico would be the tinier island-municipality of Culebra, northeast of Vieques.

So why hide the fact that two other women were attacked, one raped?

Politics. With maybe a soupçon of equally disgusting and hypocritical economics thrown in.

Rape is a violent crime that thrives when covered up. Sadly, disgustingly, Our """society""" often blames the victim rather than the perpetrator, a nauseating reversal that says too much much about Us and all of it bad.

For those of you who don't get it (mostly men who are morally and intellectually retarded, but also some stupid women), imagine someone comes up and beats the living shit out of you. Pounds you like beating a mule. (Simile intended and the shoe fits, so shut up.) Barely leaves you alive. Now imagine that YOU--YOU--get blamed for the beating because you were in the wrong place or were wearing the wrong clothes or simply because whoever beat the shit out of you gets treated with more respect than you and your broken bleeding body.

Still think it's fair? If you do, then I hope My example becomes your reality in the next 5 weeks.

Two women were attacked in Vieques prior to this third attack. Even without charges, the attacks themselves would have to be publicized to alert other women and the community that some deranged animal is on the loose. Covering up this information was not done to protect the community: it was done to protect the image of Vieques. Specifically, the political image related to tourism.

If you think the economic image to tourism is the salient factor, rather than the political, think about this: other attacks against tourists in Puerto Rico--rare, but they do happen here, just like the do around the world--are mentioned quickly and openly. The Vieques' attacks were not.  So what happened in these attacks?

July 15, 2011: A man described as "thin, with dark skin," leaps out from behind a rock and strikes a young (about 27) woman several times in the head. Despite the blows, the woman fights back, screams and gets the attention of her two girlfriends who were walking further ahead. The woman was hurt, but chose to leave Vieques immediately.

December 27, 2011: A 15-year old girl goes back to the hotel to get a snorkel. Her return takes so long that her parents search for her, but don't find her. She eventually appears, "beaten, delirious and bleeding". The family leaves Vieques and days later the girl indicates she was raped.

In neither case were charges filed by the persons involved, directly or indirectly. That happens all-too-often in a society that treats rape victims like criminals; no, worse, because the """legal system""" eviscerates the victim to coddle the criminal. But the police knew about each case. They had the injury reports and testimonies. The Vieques police knew that two women were attacked, one was raped, and yet the Regional Commander, Antonio López, said "he didn't know" about the two previous attacks and "defended" the police's inaction by stating that "(T)here have been no reported rapes in Vieques since 2003."

Now here's the objective take: (1) It is entirely possible that the Regional Commander didn't know about two specific cases of essentially assault and battery in one small township of his area, even though that township is a high-profile hotspot for tourism and drug intervention; and, (2) It is entirely possible that there have been no reported rapes in Vieques since 2003.

But here's My non-objective take, aimed straight at Tony "Lip Service" López: There are times when the facts are on your side and there are times when sticking to the facts makes you an asshole. And in this case, "Lips On Ass" López, you are being an asshole. 


Your job--cough-chuckle-retch--is "To Serve and Protect." Under your command, three women, one of them a minor, were attacked and beaten, almost certainly raped in two cases, and your response is basically a politically-farted, shit-for-brains version of "I don't know and I don't care."

Over three years ago, a pregnant woman was abducted and brutally murdered while vacationing here--in Ceiba, part of your command area, "Loose Lips" López. Just before her murder, terrified and anguished in the trunk of a car, the woman called her fiancé. What that must have been like for both of them staggers reason. The crime received a great deal of press and a Tourism Company executive--a woman, no less--had the unmitigated gall to say that the crime was a tragedy because it stained the tourism reputation of the Island.

Yes, crimes do stain a country's reputation, particularly for tourism. Just ask Mexico. But stupidity, product of a smelly, self-serving blend of ignorance and arrogance in the form of puke-inducing statements, does just as much damage.

Partially-lost in this mess is that local officials moved quickly to help the most-recent victim's mother arrive here within hours and have provided accommodations for them both and the victim's friends, also here on vacation. It's truly the least that could be done.

But Let's get some things straight, right now:

---Crime happens. Sometimes to tourists. But regardless of who gets hurt--tourist or resident--stop covering up the crimes for political """gain"""". To the Vieques police and anyone involved in hushing up the noted attacks and any other danger the community should be alerted to: Fuck you.

---I read comments, some from women, that these attacks and rapes happened because the victim's were "walking where they shouldn't be walking" or bullshit to that effect. In other words, they are saying that by "going there," they "invited" the crimes perpetrated against them. These women were on a tiny island where security could be enforced with relative ease. But that's beside the point. Glance up to My example again. The crime is committed because the perpetrator chooses to commit it, not because the victim """""chooses""""" it. If you can't understand that, you should be sterilized.

At a time when Our government's statistics on crime are complete, total and pestiferous hogwash, slamming cases into courts to "up" numbers and hiding crimes to "down" others, it seems obvious to anyone with a higher IQ than a turd that the energy involved in hiding the facts can be put to better use. Not that it will be, simply that it can be.

Because when it comes to facts and fibs, facts are the only ones that help Us all, while fibs only serve the fucking liars.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

"¡Ciencia Boricua!" Rocks

Thanks to Dr. Daniel Colón-Ramos, a Yale researcher of nematodes and founder of CienciaPR.org, I received a copy of the outstanding science essays collection titled ¡Ciencia Boricua! And the best part? It was personally dedicated to Me!

Okay, to Mrs. Jenius and Jenius, Jr, too.

The purpose of the collection was to present Puerto Rican scientists and sciences in a Puerto Rican context. Now some of you gringos and other-than-Puerto-Ricans out there might think this is silly, "sciences in a Puerto Rican context." But let Me ask you this: how many plant species do you know from Brazil? How many insects can you name that are common to Japan? Can you name 3 scientists who have no direct links to the U.S. of part of A.? Go ahead: name three.

"But Jenius, who cares about Brazilian plants, Japanese bugs and scientists not from the proto-fascist U.S. of part of A.?!"


Brazilians, the Japanese and every nation that takes pride in the achievements of its people.

You see, an interest in science is developed by observation and thought, by observing the world We live in and are surrounded by, linked to a questioning, probing thought process. But if the science you are exposed to is from "somewhere else," if it doesn't connect directly with your experiences and help you answer the questions you encounter in your own environment, then you develop a sense that science is not for you, that it has nothing to say to you, and you look for other things to occupy your mind.

And that's where ¡Ciencia Boricua! comes in: it gives sciences a Puerto Rican look and feel. Every author is Puerto Rican and every essay--each about 2-4 pages long, making it a breezy read--is about an aspect of science explained with local geology, flora, fauna and examples.

The essays range from microscopic life forms to a time when the Earth was almost constantly heaving lava, from the need for improved science education to a personal exploration of what science means. The essays explain their topics simply, not in the offensive "dumbing down" way favored by modern media, but directly, almost conversationally. There's something for everyone, and better than that, it's all important.

I was so enthused by ¡Ciencia Boricua! that I offered to help turn it into an e-book. I know Dr. Colón and CienciaPR are trying to create a broader range of science-based channels to bring the wonders of science directly to the masses, from school-age children to curious adults. In this arena of creating connections, Dr. Colón received a prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) Early Career Award for Public Engagement with Science.

The goal would be to create a series of textbooks for all grades, covering all major sciences, with a Puerto Rican-centric context. We certainly don't lack the scientists, and to those who say that "science is not cultural," My response is "Explain any science without a cultural context." Why can't you do it? Because you'd need to use a language...and where does language (word usage and terminology) come from if not a cultural context? We understand sciences better because We internalize them according to Our cultural norms and mores.

¡Ciencia Boricua! is a small book as many science texts go, but it is a giant leap for Our educational system and cultural context. It might seem odd that the the juxtaposition of "small step, giant leap" made popular by Neil Armstrong on the Moon--placed there by NASA and a huge national effort--is used in this context, but when you realize that NASA is literally jammed with Puerto Rican engineers and scientists, you see why I used it.

There's plenty of Puerto Rican presence in the sciences; the time has come to make that fact known to a wider audience and to encourage a new generation of Our scientists to discover the wonder of the Universe We live in...no matter where We choose to look for it.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

Media Manipulation, Retards Reacting

[Very Jenial thanks to Global Voices Online for picking up My interview with Andrea Pérez (the post beneath this one.) Learn more about Andrea's work with her Silent Grace Foundation and please look into supporting her efforts for sustainable development in Haiti.]


You have noticed, I'm sure, that when the fecal matter hits the rotating oscillator in a big way, the media almost invariably finds some dumb-as-manure "story" to focus on. Now a part of that pattern might be the natural human tendency to want to be distracted from what makes Us anxious, leading to the widespread use of alcohol, drugs and cartoons to keep the fears away. But another part is sheer manipulation, the naked attempt by "media moguls" from top CEOs to your local dumb-as-day-old-dirt reporter to feel power in the simple act of "Focus on what I say you should focus on."

What this pattern boils down to is that the moronic media acts in an un-concerted way to manipulate Us and We, in an un-concerted way, mainly react like retarded children pursuing soap bubbles. The end result is that We are largely misinformed and the media defends itself by mewling "But it's what the people want!"


And the reason they have been able to puke that garbage excuse for decades is that there's more truth than crap in the statement: We generally do want the media to give Us turds rather than turquoise.

You see, by and large, We are lazy. To the vast majority of Us, thinking is like competing in a decathlon: an effort too complex and lengthy to even consider. We don't want to think, so We like to have someone tell Us what to think; hence the "success" of talk radio and FOX """News""" with its fanatics and lunatics garnering huge audiences.

Bypassing thought, just make Us feel something, and if that something helps Us feel "better" than We normally do--even if it is false--then bring it on! Thus the "success" of scandal stories, preferably involving the humiliating downfall of someone "famous" or "noteworthy." Their media-engineered rise to fame/success was a good story (in the "See? We can all do it!" mode), but their fall from grace--also media-engineered--is a great story. And We get to feel "superior" to the fallen bum/tramp, even when the vast majority of Us will never amount to 1% of some of their positive achievements.

For those of you more on the media-savvy side, I am talking about the proverbial "lowest common denominator," the subjective point at which most of Us will "bond" or "react" to a story. The President violated the Constitution and committed major crimes? To most of Us, that rates no response. The President committed an ethical lapse? That barely rates a look. The President committed a moral lapse? Well, okay, but make it snappy. The President had sex with an intern? Hell yeah, tell Me more!

Some pundits claim that explaining how a murderous moron violated the Constitution to the extent Huns raped nuns is too complex a story to get people interested; the "don't make Me think" corollary introduced above. But what's to explain about an intern performing oral sex on the President? Not much, except to answer "Why couldn't 'the most powerful man in the world' pick a better-looking fellatrix?"

No one can argue that a story involving the deaths of thousands of citizens and hundreds of thousands of non-citizens because of a war based on lies is more important in every way than a sperm-stained dress. But that's exactly how it's playing out, not for the first time, not for the last.

Is the problem the media? Yes. Is the problem Us? Yes. Is the problem solvable? Of course it is. But We'd have to think about it, right?

And there's your answer, right there.


The Jenius Has Spoken,

Political "Go Fish"

The Larva, Our pathetic excuse for a (non)governor, goes by the name of Luis Fortuño, signed a measure to place into the upcoming referendum the notion of reducing the size of Our legisalture. This as a result of a referendum voted on in 2005 that ended up saying "Reduce the size of this $!@&#%&*@ legislature."

Why is a 2005 result, condemned and then ignored by his own party (and Let's be fair: by the other major party as well, whose then-governor actually put it out there) coming up for "debate and vote" in this here 2012?

Backtracking: The Jellyfish, then-governor Aníbal Acevedo, attacked the legislature, led by the opposition, with this idea of reducing their size, and thus their "power." He took it to the masses who were massively indifferent to the whole thing. (I didn't vote.) About 28% of the eligible voters said "Reduce it," and the legislature...farted on the whole thing.

In Our system, the legislature votes about itself, so changes like a reduction in membership size or a salary hike, are voted on purely on institutional self-interest. The battle in 2005 was not about the size of the legislature (as it should have been, because it's too damn big), but about appealing to voters for "momentum."

Same as in 2012.

The Jellyfish had a contrarian legislature hell-bent on screwing him over at every step. "The hell with running the country and helping it grow: this is politics!"

The Larva (he wishes he had a sting, like The Jellyfish, but he's just not "big" enough to have one) has a contrarian legislature hell-bent on screwing him over at every step. The difference: in 2012, both branches are under the control of the same party.

Historians say that civil wars are the worst, because they pit brother against brother. In Our case, The Larva's (non)administration has pitted slimebag versus slimebucket in another sickening bout of "The hell with running the country and helping it grow: this is politics!"

What did The Jellyfish gain in 2005? A political "card" he could toss on the table to (A) hint that the legislature didn't listen to the people; (B) distract the people from whatever pissant problem he didn't want deal with or (C) claim speciously that he had the people's best interests on his side.

Did it work? Not well. Maybe the 24 charges filed against The Jellyfish in federal court took the sting out of the legislature reduction card. (He as found "not guilty" on all counts.)

What could The Larva hope to gain with this card now?

Ignorant votes. The best kind, cuz We got plenty of 'em!

Here's The Larva's fiendishly transparent plan, in monologue form (smartened up to make it worthy of being placed here):

"Doh! I'm gonna lose the election! Crime! Moiders! De economy! Edumacation! It all sucks! I'm being blamed! But wait! A referendum on status could scare people into voting for me!! We could sell it as if a vote for me is a vote to stay sucking on Uncle Sam's...tit. Yeah!! But that isn't enough!! OH NO! What to do?! [Several weeks later...with a HUGE headache...] I got it! Make another referendum that makes the meanies in the legitasor--legisrazo--Capitolio look bad AND confuses people into voting for me!! The 'cut the numbers' vote again!! Yeah! Hey, where am I?*"

The Larva is trying to stack the deck for his benefit, not Ours, and to try to gain some measure of control in his own party. When the opposition--his own party or the other---attacks him as expected, he will play one or both cards, to hint about the opposition, distract the media and masses or whitewash his pathetic image. 


The opposition will say "Crime," and he will play "Status." The opposition will say "Jobs" and he will say "Cut the ones in the lesligato--Capitolio." And because neither card means anything or matches anything truly relevant to Our current situation, this game of "Go Fish" will have no valid conclusion, no true measure of progress, until Election Day.

And after that, some other totally worthless and immensely stupid game will take its place.

Politics as usual.



The Jenius Has Spoken.


*Freebie: Waldo joke.

Propaganda Over Police "Work"

Here, from Leo Gómez, comes a statistical fact that nails The Larva through his non-existent genitalia:

In brief, the budget for the Police Department's Criminal Investigation Program decreased 30%, a roughly $40 million reduction, while the Police Department's advertising budget--I said "advertising budget"--shot up from $57,000 in a 4-year period to over $7.5 million in a 3-year period.

Makes Me wish The Larva were shot so he could "benefit" from the reduced investigative capacity of the Police, but be forgotten with the next new "Police release."

Now, Let's try--just because I have a few free minutes--to figure out why Our pathetic excuse for a (non)governor would sit and watch this happen. (Yes, watch: I don't think he could actually do this all by himself.)

--The Program is no longer needed? Puerto Rico did establish its first 25 detectives in 2009-2010, i.e., police officers specifically geared to major crime investigations. Are 25 enough? Not with 1,136 murders in 2011, a rise in drug trade and serios bone-deep corruption within the Police itself.

--The Program was over-funded in the first place? Okay, so We drop the budget some $40 million and someone--obviously a person with ad agency connections--decided to shift $7 million of that to whitewash the Police force's cruddy-crappy image? This sounds likely, though it does nothing to excuse the abject stupidity of the act itself.

--The advertising was meant to divert/diffuse/confuse issues? Obviously. That's what propaganda is. To paraphrase what's attributed to Lenin, a lie repeated often enough becomes the truth. Advertising the Police, for the Police, is a useless activity. If the ads were not "about" the Police, but for public service, then why attribute it to the Police's budget? Look at the numbers again: $57,000 for 4 years, $7.5+ million for three. Is this accounting legerdemain or a satchel of corruption?

Given the track record of Our governments, of The Larva and his 40,000 thieves, of the corruption-riddled Police...then yes, this is another satchel of corruption.

Now Let's ask: what ad agencies got the bulk of this $7.5+ million windfall? 

Prediction: The same ones that did most of the work for the Statehood party's campaigns.

I'll even call it now: I'm 1-for-1 in 2012.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

TEDx San Juan: We're Not Alone

Oh yeah, I was wrong.

TEDx San Juan was a rousing success. As I tweeted: I'll eat some of My words, happily.

Let Me dismiss My off-targets first: I sill don't agree with hiding the speakers line-up until just before the event. Sharing of anything is enhanced by symmetry and symmetry means We have the same or as much of the same (information) as possible. I would have gone to TEDx San Juan no matter the line-up, and...

Given that over 1,000 people applied and only 100 were allowed (My second point) by TED guidelines (for a first event), then there would have been no problem filling up the event. Only 100 was a stipulation, not a whim: I would have liked to know that beforehand. So picking Me to attend was not a mistake (I don't know what criteria applied), but a a pondered decision that actually honors Me.

Now for the positives: TEDx San Juan is the first event I have ever attended locally that exceeded My expectations. My biggest Congratulations go to the organizing team: Ramphis Castro, Iván Ríos, Marcos Polanco, José Padilla, Arelys Rosado and Héctor Ramos. They did a magnificent job.

A special Congratulations goes to Marcos Polanco for coordinating the speakers. I understand the selection was made by a group, but Marcos had the direct responsibility for the line-up and the agenda and his choices in both regards were impeccable.

Another special shout-out goes to Jenial Friend Luis Herrero as his company was in charge of the video and livestreaming, which I understand was world-class.

The speakers deserve their own recognition, to wit:

Justo Méndez, Nuestra Escuela: Born from the tragic loss by auto accident of his daughter, Nuestra Escuela takes in troubled kids and gives them back their capacity to dream and reach that dream.

Fernando Lloveras described why he created an organization to rescue Puerto Rico's rapidly-diminishing land area, preserving it for Our future.

Jorge Rigau presented his two proposals, a Metropolitan Walking Paths project that could easily and economically provide San Juan with some 3,000 miles of "urban walking paths," rescuing little-used spaces and a project, already done once, to convert a 35-kilometer irrigation canals infrastructure into a passive recreation/tourism attraction.

Dr. Daniel Colón talked about the exponential impact and importance of basic research, so strongly-maligned now, in healthcare and broad-based public benefits.

Tara Rodríguez described her Department of Food company, linking organic farm products with urban and suburban deliveries of high-quality vegetables and fruits.

Jorge Gaskins spoke about microalgae and the enormous potential they have for both food and fuel. Key number: microalgae can produce over 10,600 gallons of biofuel per acre per year; no plant can produce more than 780 gallons per acre per year.

Noel Quiñones spoke about and showed excerpts of his documentary about a school in Maricao that after 9 years of failing the standardized department-wide tests, and facing closure if it failed again, dramatically rocketed its scores to pass the tests...in 60 days.

Lawrence La-Fountain spoke of "sexiles," Puerto Ricans who leave the Island or are marginalized because of their homosexuality and how they respond through artistic expression to that exclusion.

Andrea Pérez (daughter of My Friend Lovely Laura) spoke about her personal decision to truly give, consciously developing sustainable charitable work, based on her experiences in Sudan (yes, Sudan) and Haiti.

Giovanni Rodríguez reconnected with his Puerto Rican roots and described his path to becoming a (cheer)leader for social engagement, social media use that foments change amongst Latinos, the "original retweeters." (In joke...)

Mayra Santos, accomplished writer and teacher, told Us two powerful truths: We need to lose Our fear of literature (We don't read enough) in order to tell the world Our stories, for without Our stories, the world and Us are diminished from full potential.

Four videos were shown: Emiliano Salinas on the attitude change needed to properly face up to the horrendous crime wave in his native Mexico; the Khan Academy's re-framing of education; Joan Halifax on the powerful nature of compassion and a brief video with Joachim de Posada indicating that delayed gratification--not eating the marshmallow for 15 minutes (watch the video)--is an almsot 100% predictor of success.

Three artistic presentations, a TED conference requirement, had strong impact as well: Y No Había Luz, Andanza and Time Machine Squad.

For My money, every speaker was a huge hit. I was especially moved by Andrea Pérez, Noel Quiñones and Lawrence La-Fountain, intrigued by Fernando Lloveras, Jorge Rigau and Jorge Gaskins and I fell in love with Mayra Santos (who is a sex symbol and rightly so.)

I must give a special thanks to Dana Montenegro who served as an energetic, quirky and hugely engaging emcee. I can offer no greater praise than "I couldn't have done it better."

Suggestions? Tables so attendees can sit and share, better monitoring of time so We can start/finish and explore with each other during the event and some stronger form of "connecting," like maybe setting up the tables with names so that you end up sitting with a group of (hopefully) strangers that you can then engage with.

But these are minor quibbles, at best. TEDx San Juan was interesting, dynamic, moving and impressive. Three thoughts came together during the event:

1) I'm so used to events like these being "what could have been" that I have become too cynical about "what could be." I won't do that again.


2) I, and We, are not alone. There are plenty of My Brethren who not only want to make a difference, they actually are making a difference.


3) The next TEDx has already begun. And it will be even better than this one.


The Jenius Has Spoken.


[Update: 11 December 2011: Videos of the TEDx San Juan speakers are here.]

TEDX San Juan: Stale Cracker Or Artisan Bread?

As I write this, TEDx San Juan, first edition, is to start in 17 hours.

I have no idea who's speaking. Or what they'll talk about.

The only information I have is that the theme is "Bursting the Bubble," referring to My Brethren who are pushing the envelope, boricuas breaking new ground. Good. Marvelous. But to be blunt: so what?

Now for the two of you who don't know what the TED events are, they refer to a series of brief (10-20 minute) presentations on topics related to technology, education and design--TED. (Careful: the website is addicting to curious minds. The average statehooder will be bored.) The driving force behind the concept is to bring to light new ideas and have them create synergies. For that to happen, information must flow...so not sharing information defeats the whole purpose of TEDx.

Let Me point out something else: to be able to attend TEDx San Juan, you had to be selected. By who knows who based on who knows what. My feelings about this are best defined by quoting Marx: "I don't want to belong to a club that would have me as a member." What's the idea behind this? (And the Marx quoted was Groucho.)

If the purpose is to "create a better atmosphere/event," then it begs the question: Better for what? And for whose benefit? With no criteria/explanation/definition/reason/plausible excuse offered, then I think the only reason for this little exercise in pedantry is ego: the organizers want to exert a "zero-sum" level of control over an event that is meant to be the total antithesis of that (poor) posture.

More proof? No agenda yet, a "You can't prepare for this until we say you can" gambit.

Now maybe, as friend Kevin has pointed out, the idea is to enhance the event's appeal or manage expectations by using "surprise" as a marketing tool. I give these a 3 on a scale of 1-10 for marketing ideas, with 1 being tossing a dead cat on the salad bar. I don't buy these as good marketing, much less for a TEDx-caliber event. On the other hand, I've also been told that I shouldn't seek conspiracy where incompetence can be the answer.

I know two of the lead organizers of the event; one I have direct negative experiences with and the other I know only through e-mail exchanges. Of the one I know well, this petty power play seems quite in character, the kind of action a low-level bureaucrat would take in office politics. Given his background of several years in government, where his endeavors labeled him as nothing more than a stale cracker in an artisan bread convention, I can see where TEDx is shaping up to be a severe letdown.

(Clarification: The government of Puerto Rico is by no stretch anywhere near being as good or as productive as an artisan bread convention. I was using the analogy so I could write "stale cracker." My blog, My rules.)

So Jenius, if you're so down on the event, why are you going?

Because I could be wrong. I could be wrong that the agenda, when it is finally revealed, will be a flop, a collection of butt-buddies brought in to present a skewed shadow of "Bursting the Bubble" excellence. I could be wrong that the speakers chosen qualified more as "personal networking" for the Speaker Coordinator than as the antithetical proof that We don't need to live with a zero-sum mentality. I could be wrong that TEDx San Juan has a somewhat hand-picked audience solely/primarily in order to establish a power-base for one or more of the organizers. I could be wrong that I shouldn't have been "selected" to go (and buy a $20 ticket) over others I'm aware were told "You aren't worthy." I could be wrong that this event will fail to coalesce its enormous potential and become another in a long line of "what should have beens."

For those of you not deemed worthy and who believe that not sharing basic information is cool, you can tune into the live stream of the event.

And don't bother looking for @GilTheJenius tweets or live-blogging during the event. I'm not going as a reporter, though I can. I'm not going as a social media user, or even as a blogger: I'm going for My sake, to see if My vision of what's possible in Puerto Rico has been discovered by TEDx San Juan.

If their intent was to control the event to manage My expectations, they failed: I have My own. Always have, always will. Bottom line now is that the organizers have to prove to Me that they can live up to Mine.

Good luck.



The Jenius Has Spoken.