SoapboxTonight™ Ep 8:🦃 Gobble Wisely
America’s Thanksgiving Checkup
🦃 Gobble Wisely: America’s Thanksgiving Checkup
🧠 Thanksgiving, Brains & Big Tech
Thanksgiving this year comes with more layers than your grandma’s sweet potato casserole. Did you know your brain goes through five secret ages — and one lasts most of your life? Apparently, adulthood doesn’t fully arrive until age 35. No wonder society has been running a nationwide experiment in perpetual adolescence: everyone glued to phones, scrolling TikTok, arguing about memes.
Meanwhile, Big Tech is quietly running its own experiments. Meta allegedly hid research showing that quitting their apps for a week lowers anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Your brain tries to mature while algorithms quietly poke around, seeing how much they can mess with your wiring.
In international news with timing that defies coincidence, Saad Almadi, 75, blocked from Saudi travel for critical tweets, returns the day the crown prince visits the White House. Diplomacy sometimes works like a fast-forward button.
And yes, the White House turkeys got pardoned. Waddle and Gobble are off to live out their golden years. So at least two creatures made it to retirement. Thanksgiving done right. 🦃✨
🏥 America in the ICU
Imagine America lying in the ICU: monitors beeping, moral clarity on break, bureaucracy multiplying like a lab experiment gone rogue. Enter Democratic Socialism — subtle, rebranded, present everywhere: social media, urban centers, universities. The civic immune system is working overtime.
History shows this isn’t new: 1930s, Cold War, early 2000s… centralization rises, dependency spikes, bureaucracy grows, rinse and repeat.
Symptoms to watch for:
Bureaucracy thick enough to make Kafka blush 📚
Slow incentives 🐌
Moral relativism: suddenly every side is “equally right” 🤷
Feverish rhetoric: hashtags, slogans, late-night threads 🔥
Intervention: strengthen the civic immune system — civic literacy, local engagement, recognizing ideology at the polls. And don’t be fooled: glitter politics looks shiny but sticks everywhere. ✨
⚖️ The Rule of Law Still Matters
Sometimes, the antidote to chaos is simple: follow the law.
Take Sussex Hamilton High School, Wisconsin. Students wanted to start a Turning Point USA–affiliated club. Paperwork filed, rules followed. Student council voted 35–0 against it — but that veto was illegal.
Principal Dominic Bauer stepped in:
“We are not in compliance. That changes now.”
The club was approved immediately. Leadership. Integrity. No excuses. ✅
Then came a student tearing down club posters because she felt “uncomfortable.” She was suspended. Comfort doesn’t override others’ rights. Rule of law matters — in schools, and in society.
🎥 Free Speech Under Fire
From schools to streets, the First Amendment is on the line.
Cam Higby, citizen journalist, repeatedly documents protests despite assaults, harassment, and gear damage. Ordinary citizens exercising rights — praying, protesting, holding signs — face similar intimidation.
Examples:
Florida: three men waving bacon 🥓 in public arrested for exercising their first amendment rights.✝️
UCLA: conservative students & journalists harassed on campus
Online, the threats continue: shadowbans, demonization, harassment campaigns, algorithmic suppression. The public square — physical and digital — is shrinking.
Takeaway: Support independent voices, document events, defend civic space. If we don’t, liberty itself erodes.
🏛️ Who Killed the Public Square?
Violence, or even the threat of it, hollows out public life. Fear drives people indoors, screens replace neighbors, surveillance replaces trust, and civic habits vanish.
History shows the pattern:
Late Roman Republic: street violence → citizens retreat → private power rises 🏛️
Weimar Germany: extremists make public spaces unsafe → demand for “strong hand”
Mao’s Cultural Revolution: festivals & rituals destroyed → reliance on state
Post-2001 U.S.: terror threats, mass shootings → decline in public rituals 🚨
Modern parallels: shootings at parades, markets, tree lightings. One bad incident and civic life shrinks.
Who benefits? Governments, corporations, activists, media, social platforms, and bureaucracy. Not a conspiracy — just aligned incentives. ⚡
📰 Headline Roundup
Quick hits you shouldn’t scroll past:
Frida Kahlo’s “El sueño (La cama)” sells for $54.7M — record for female artist 🎨
September jobs report: 119,000 jobs added; unemployment slightly higher 📈
Trump/Nvidia/China: potential H200 AI chip sales raise national security questions 💻
Fugees’ Pras Michel sentenced: 14 years for conspiracy & illegal lobbying 🎶
South Carolina abortion legislation: strictest U.S. ban under consideration ⚖️
🦅 Wrapping Up
From brains and turkeys to schools and streets, our civic life requires attention, participation, and courage. Following the law, standing up for free speech, showing up for public spaces — that’s how the public square survives.
So gobble wisely, stay informed, stay involved, and keep showing up for the public square. Your liberty depends on it. 🦃💪
🦃 Gobble Wisely™ – Ultra Extreme Absurdist Pocket FOB, FOB Edition
🎯 Mission: Keep Your Civic Life Weirdly Functional & Fun
1️⃣ Brain Check 🧠
Did you age past 35 mentally? 🤯 (optional, sarcasm included)
Did you scroll TikTok while ignoring the existential dread? 📱🔥
Adulting mode: on or off? 🎛️
2️⃣ Big Tech Sabotage Protocol 💻
Meta algorithms trying to fry your serotonin? ⚡🧠
Unplugged for 7 days? ⏳ (yes, it hurts, we know)
Avoided meme arguments at all costs? 🥊😂
3️⃣ Civic ICU Monitoring 🏥
Bureaucracy bloating? 📚😵
Moral relativism detected? ⚖️🤷
Feverish rhetoric alert 🚨🔥
Glitter politics in eyebrows? ✨👀
4️⃣ Rule of Law Defense ⚖️
Know your Equal Access Acts 📜
Posters safe? 🖼️💪
Vandalism = bad ✅
Comfort ≠ Override others’ rights ❌
5️⃣ Free Speech Armor 🛡️
Camera ready for citizen journalism 🎥
Threats / assaults recorded? 📹⚡
Social media suppression navigated 🕵️♀️💻
Public square courage deployed 🏛️💪
6️⃣ Public Square Survival Kit 🌳
Tree lightings attended safely 🎄
Markets survived without panicking 🍿💨
Festival participation intact 🎉🕺
Screens = enemies? 🤳❌
7️⃣ Historical Pattern Alert 📚
Rome: ✅ Street violence
Weimar: ✅ Public retreat
Mao: ✅ Party reliance
Post-2001 U.S.: ✅ TSA / mass lockdowns ✈️🚨
8️⃣ Headline Awareness 👀
Kahlo auction record noted 🎨💰
Jobs report digested 📈
AI chip export story bookmarked 💻🇨🇳
Fugees’ Pras scandal stored 🎶
SC abortion bill tracked ⚖️
9️⃣ Thanksgiving Finale 🍗🦃
Turkeys pardoned? ✅ Waddle & Gobble
Family chaos survived? 🙃
Brain & civic immune system intact? 🧠🏛️
Gobbled wisely? 🦃✨