My Third Novel's Conclusion, My Heartbreak

My heart begins to break when I think about completing this particular book -- because this narrative has sustained me like no other story I've known. It's both more personal and more universal than my other works. But beyond memory and archetype, it's a cri-de-coeur about needing to become the person one is destined to be. And in the writing, I have met my own life's work, my own fated journey -- having the sense all the while that the pages are suffused with a resonance, an energy, an electrified field that defies explanation. Writers hope and pray to be overtaken by a work in this way -- to be conscripted into passionate service of a profound story. To experience it even once in a lifetime seems a great privilege. I still have several months before this novel is complete, and this constitutes my reprieve. Because I'm not ready for the beauty to end.




Thursday, March 16, 2023

When Heat and Light Become Totalitarian Tools
 
1. Did you witness a helicopter turning a low 360 degrees over your back yard yesterday?
Answer: I did.
2. Did this seem unusual to you?
Answer: Most certainly.
3. Was this a military helicopter?
Answer: No.
It appeared to be a law enforcement aircraft.
4. When will PG&E turn your power on? When will Comcast reconnect your broadband internet? And when will AT&T re-establish your landlines so that you can make phone calls?
Answer: No time estimates have been provided by any of these companies.
5. When will the road leading to and from your house be re-opened?
Answer:
No time estimate has been provided by our municipality in
Portola Valley.
6. You have been told that the actions by the utilities represent
"demonstration outages” What does that mean?
Answer:
I believe it means that the far right is intent on not being caught held accountable for its crimes against the law-abiding American public.
7. How do you feel about that?
Answer: Public utilities represent monopolies, and so they have
unique responsibilities toward consumers, including singular obligations to protect them from harm.
8. Should FBI personnel maintain close communication with American utilities companies?
Answer:
Those rights of access have resulted in abuses of power, in my opinion. I believe they ought to be rescinded as a result.
There are other government entities that might be better suited to ensure that public utilities are fulfilling their mandates.
9. Who is actually behind this bid for totalitarian control of the
American public?
Answer:
Neither China nor Russia are our friends, certainly.
In this particular case, it appears that Russian-affiliated organized crime has developed substantive ties to the far right within the United States over time, likely beginning in the mid-1990's.
10. You believe Russian elements may have corrupted far right factions of the
United States' national security apparatus.
Answer:
It appears likely.
11. What can be done?
Answer:
Bribery modalities need to be assessed. Cryptocurrency and barter/"in kind" remuneration agreements as wielded by FBI personnel and Infragard should be halted. Compensation tendered to informants should be denominated in U.S. dollars that are fully taxable.
That way, the IRS can assist in characterizing the scope of corruption as facilitated by payoffs.
12. You feel that the finances of mid-level and senior officials in the three-letter agencies should be regularly assessed.
Answer:
It's necessary. Law enforcement officers need to be adequately compensated for their critical service to our communities. But it's unacceptable for them to possess Bitcoin accounts with deposits that cannot be traced.
13. Speaking about the movements of money, there are tremendous investments being made to rush AI-driven search engine development right now.
Answer: So, I have been told.
14. You do not support AI-driven search engines without extensive safeguards.
 
Answer:
They represent a Troian horse for democratic societies and free market economies.
15. Your contention is that real people will still be setting the parameters for information aggregation by AI-driven chatbots.
Answer: Yes, they will.
16. And you believe that law-abiding consumers and free market economies can easily be brought under a form of totalitarian control by chatbots that invade banking systems, supply chains, and the personal lives of democratic electorates.
Answer: Without question.
17. Should Microsoft be dictating the timing of ChatGPT's introduction to the public as a purely entrepreneurial concern?
Answer;
That would be no. Democratic governments need to become involved in preventing the release of this technology as a fait accompli.  This is an inflection point in the course of human development and the expression of free will. We need to attempt to preserve our capacity for independent self-determination and democratic self-governance.
18. You believe we're already wrestling with technologically advanced totalitarian constructs.
Answer:
Our surveillance technologies have raced ahead of our human development.
Our trust in some members of our national security apparatus has been misplaced. Corruption within the far right now represents an insider threat to our democracy.
19. You're speaking of the far right's engagement in knowingly falsified law enforcement reporting.
Answer:
I am.
20. Is the recovery of our democracy possible?
Answer:
I stand with President Biden in my belief that it is.
21. You view President Biden as a hero for our democracy.
Answer:
He is a hero for our democracy.
And so are the OIG Hotline investigators who have been illuminating the facts of this case.
22. You hold high praise for the Director of ODNI as well.
Answer:
I do.
I would not be alive without all of these good people.
Like their efforts and mine on this issue to stand in service of the country.
23. Do you hereby certify that the foregoing is true and correct?
Answer:
I do.
 
Lane McWilliams
(Posted on behalf of Lane MacWilliams by KPM)

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