Month: October 2011

Ron Paul, Our Only Hope of Defeating the Threat of the Federal Deficit

While other presidential candidates talk about spending cuts Ron Paul actually puts forth a comprehensive plant to reduce the federal budget but a notable amount:

GOP presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul will unveil his economic plan Monday afternoon, calling for a lower corporate tax rate, cutting spending by $1 trillion during his first year in office and eliminating five cabinet-level agencies, including the Education Department, according to excerpts released to Washington Wire.

A candidate that actually has a plan to reduce the size of government and thus knock down our deficit by an amount that matters? Count me in, hell give this man a raise when he gets into the White House. Wait? He’s willing to take a massive salary cut as well?

But Mr. Paul does get specific when he calls for a 10% reduction in the federal work force, while pledging to limit his presidential salary to $39,336, which his campaign says is “approximately equal to the median personal income of the American worker.” The current pay rate for commander in chief is $400,000 a year.

So Ron Paul has a real plan to reduce the size and cost of government for less money than the other candidates? It appears as though Ron Paul is the embodiment of the free market in action. Regardless of your view on Dr. Paul’s foreign policy you need to understand that the primary threat our country is facing isn’t Iran, Al-Qaeda, or communism; it’s the massive federal deficit. Unless we real in the government’s exorbitant spending we will find the “full faith and credit of the United States” to be a worthless world “commodity” and our economy will collapse fully leaving us in a situation far worse than the Great Depression.

Snowflakes in Hell Becomes Shall Not Be Questioned

Longtime gun bloggers Sebastian and Bitter have completed the remodeling and rebranding of Snowflakes in Hell. Say hello to their new site, Shall Not Be Questioned.

While I’m not digging the name change (personally I liked the name Snowflakes in Hell) I can understand their reasoning for doing it. Still I would like to congratulate them on the successful move.

The Obama Campaign Blame Game Continues

Members of the Obama Campaign really love to use the three year-old tactic of blaming somebody else for their failures. Take for instance Jesse Jackson’s latest rant:

“President Obama tends to idealize — and rightfully so — Abraham Lincoln, who looked at states in rebellion and he made a judgment that the government of the United States, while the states are in rebellion, still had an obligation to function,” Jackson told TheDC at his Capitol Hill office on Wednesday.

“Jackson added that his $804 billion stimulus plan is the only way to solve the unemployment crisis. “I support the jobs plan. I support the president’s re-election. I support Barack Obama,” he said. “But at this hour, we need a plan that meets the size and scope of the problem to put the American people to work.”

No Jackson, the only way to solve the unemployment crisis is to get the government out of the economy. Starting immediately the government needs to repeal every rule, regulation, and control they’ve placed on economic actors and let them prosper. The Federal Reserve needs to be dismantled and this country needs to return to sound money chosen by the free market. Anybody who believes the government can produce jobs desperately needs to read Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt.

“We’ve got to go further. I support what [Obama] does. Clearly, Republicans are not going to be for it but if the administration can handle administratively what can be done, we should pursue it. And if there are extra-constitutional opportunities that allow the president administratively to put the people to work, he should pursue every single one of them,” Jackson suggested.

President Obama’s jobs bill was defeated in the Democratic-controlled Senate on Tuesday and has not been voted on in the Republican-controlled House.

Emphasis mine. Yes it’s obviously the Republican’s fault that the jobs bill failed to pass in the Democrat controlled Senate. I’m sure it had nothing to do with Democrat Harry Reid blocking the vote either.

Misdirected Outrage

A common theme at the various occupy events seems to be misdirected outrage. While many attendees are properly directing their rage the enabler of both out-of-control corporations and bankers a majority I’ve talked to seem to direct their rage simply at the corporations and bankers. Neither large corporations or the bankers could have gotten away with what they did unless the government granted them immunity and bailed out their failures with taxpayer money.

Under such circumstances further government involvement is the last thing anybody should be calling for:

Even Hessel denounces that lobbyists have overtaken government in “the highest spheres.” Nevertheless, he seems to believe that if government were to have more control over industries, corruption would not do its harmful work. In other words, for Hessel, if politicians and bureaucrats had more power than they currently have, the system would be less corrupt. History, however, shows that Lord Acton was right: the more power there is in the hands of the rulers the more corrupt the system becomes. The greatest failure of socialism was not that it brought about economic misery to the masses it was supposed to help but that it created a class system more violent and rigid than anything the Western world had ever seen. The central maxim of socialism — namely, equality — was betrayed as soon as the revolutionary leaders consolidated their power over the state. The new elite created a two-class system that rested on systematic coercion: on the one hand there were the party leaders and their friends who lived like kings enjoying all sort of luxuries, many of them imported from the capitalist world; and on the other hand there was everyone else, fighting for survival.

The quote by Acton references in this paragraph was, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” A government by definition has absolute power because they enforce their rules at the point of a gun. Giving the goons in government more power is only going to allow them to strangle you harder while gifting your money and belongings to their friends. The former Soviet Union demonstrates this fact well as members of the Communist Party enjoyed lives of luxury compared to the average citizen living with its borders. Likewise the bankers couldn’t have pulled off what they did if the government had not given them the ability to print money via the Federal Reserve:

Regarding the “dictatorship” of the financial elites, denounced by Hessel and movements such as Occupy Wall Street, this is again mainly the product of government. We have a banking system that can only work the way it does because it is based on fiat currency and is supported by a central bank — that is to say, a government-created agency of monetary central planning. Central banks provide private banks with liquidity, allowing them to expand the money supply in a coordinated fashion, thereby creating financial and real-estate bubbles. But more importantly, banks take the money given at artificially low interest rates by the central bank and use it to speculate. The dramatic rise in the price of raw materials and agricultural commodities since 2008 is basically the result of the inflation created by central banks. The most perverse consequence of this government-induced inflationary process is that it redistributes wealth from the middle class and the poor to the rich financial elites and governments, for whom inflation works as a hidden tax.

The poor aren’t getting poorer because of actions taken by “the corporations” (I put the term in quotes because many people blaming corporations don’t even know what the term really means and instead believe it to simply mean big businesses). Your money is able to buy less and less every day because the Federal Reserve is able to print money. When you inject more money into an economy each monetary unit becomes less valuable (its purchasing power is reduced). Likewise stop blaming the rich who obtained their wealth by providing better goods and services to you and me:

Bill Gates for instance, for a long time the richest man in the world, has improved the lives of all of us with his inventions. We have freely decided to buy Microsoft products because they are useful; thus everyone has benefited. In the same manner, when we go to the baker next door and buy some bread, both parties to the transaction are benefiting: the baker because he has money to buy other goods and services he needs for himself and his family, and we who now have delicious bread to eat. It does not make any difference if this baker becomes a millionaire by selling his bread. Actually, it would mean that he is good at his job, so he expands his business in order to satisfy the demand. Why should we be outraged if he becomes rich in the process? We should celebrate the fact that he was prosperous. His prosperity means more jobs and more bread for more people. From every point of view, the millionaire baker is performing a social function. In the same fashion, Bill Gates’s inventions increased productivity, bringing millions of people over the poverty line around the world.

Just because somebody has a great deal of money doesn’t mean that they’re evil. I would go so far as to say a majority of those who are wealth obtained their wealth legitimately and should be celebrated for serving society so well. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Henry Ford didn’t obtain their wealth by using the government’s monopoly on violence, they obtained it by providing a good or service that a large number of people wanted. So when you decide to tweet about your hatred of “corporations” from your iPhone 4S stop to think for a second and realize Twitter and Apple have done you no wrong. You should be outraged at your government who stole money from you and gave it to the likes of General Motors, Chrysler, and many of the largest banks who you voted to fail by purchasing their competitors’ products. Unless the government decrees otherwise you have a choice in what companies you do business with so vote with your dollar, you don’t have a choice in what government services you wish to partake in though and that’s what you should be pissed off about.

If you’re outraged by current economic conditions don’t demand the government step in to intervene, demand the government get the hell out of the way.

The First Electric Car I’d Consider Buying

While I see a great potential in electric cars from a performance standpoint I don’t give two shits about them from an environmental standpoint (thanks to you fucking enviro-nazis, if it weren’t for you I’d have no issue with the environment). I also have a soft spot for one of the most famous pieces of crap that has ever been released, the DeLorean DMC-12. Well the DeLorean Motor Company has unveiled a fully electric prototype of the DMC-12 and I really want one.

Of course I’ll make sure to recharge it with a big soot spewing coal power plant just to piss the enviro-nazis off. Seriously, if you assholes weren’t in my face constantly telling me how to live I’d have no issue driving a “green” automobile. Thanks to you my current vehicle is a Ford Ranger and my next one will likely be a Ford F-150.

Debt Free Living

WizardPC has been writing a very good series on his website called Debt Free Living. I’m very fortunate to have the father I do because he began his own business with nothing and now has the most successful auto shop in his town. While he had to take business loans periodically to establish and expand his business he’s always paid them off far ahead of their due date and has never accumulated debt via credit cards of other frivolous expenditures. Although I’m not the smartest man on the planet I’m very capable of learning from those who are incredibly smart and thus I’ve always been a close manager of my money.

Unfortunately many people in this country (and elsewhere in the world) are not so careful with their finances. WizardPC’s guide explains important things that you need to consider when trying to get out of debt. The most important of these lessons is creating and sticking to a budget and eliminating your current debt and the interest that must be paid on it as soon as possible.

Sadly as government policies continue to cause ever increasing inflation it’s difficult to create a sustainable budget while your purchasing power is reduced on a daily basis. While the interest in my money market account used to be notable it’s now so pathetically low that it’s like having no interest at all. Thankfully I’m a man who diversifies a bit and have been able to maintain much of my purchasing power through investments in precious metals. I think an important lesson for getting out of debt is understanding that you not only have to eliminate your current debt to forgo paying eternal interest but also because your money is becoming more worthless every day (thanks government) and thus you’re going to need more of it in the future to cover basic living expenses such as food and water (especially if you’re not getting periodic raises to offset the effects of devaluing money).

A man without debt is truly beholden to nobody (well except the government because they still have guns to your head). Instead of working for your financer, work for yourself. Once you’ve eliminated your current debt then all money made by you goes to you (and the government who will ultimately shoot you if you refuse to pay their demanded pizzo).

Fear of Police and the Collectivist Mentality

In my previous posted I promised a followup post describing an observation I made at the OccupyMN event. Namely that there is a high level of paranoia amongst occupiers that other occupiers may be government plants or informants. I find this mentality fascinating and I’m not sure if this is due to the occupiers living in a police state already or if it’s a side effect of the collectivist mentality. I’m leaning towards the latter as the same mentality doesn’t seem to run through various tea party gathers.

Saying such concerns is a potential side effect of collectivist thinking is a rather bold statement without some explanation. If you look at the history of collectivist societies such as the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, or Cambodia under Pol Pot you’ll notice they always end up becoming police states at some point. Part of this is because collectivism requires members of the society to think alike. As soon as you have members whom with to diverge from the collectivist society norms problems rise up. Most collectivist societies started indoctrinating children at a very young at and either arrested dissidents as enemies of the people or just outright killed them. This type of atmosphere breeds paranoia as everybody is told to watch everybody else. When your government is telling you to spy on your neighbor and visa versa the only outcome and be extreme paranoia.

During the OccupyMN meetings I’ve attended I’ve noticed many accusations being thrown around proclaiming another occupier as a police informant or government plant. Hell I’ve been accused of being a plant, although that’s kind of funny because if I’m a plant I’m a pretty poor one (the way I dress when I go to the OccupyMN event makes me stick out like a sore thumb). One lady to left the tent committee meeting in a huff Friday night was instantly accused of going to the police. I’ve also noticed a couple of occupiers informing others to watch so-and-so because he or she is likely a snitch. These accusations seem to be tossed at anybody who isn’t willing to perfectly conform to the “collective.” I’d be shocked if a secret committee hasn’t been established to weed out snitches and plants.

In a collectivist society the most destructive accusation that can be made is usually one of non-conformity. Collectivists fear being ostracized from society and fear people not part of the collective infiltrating and propagandizing against the collective. Therefore accusing somebody of being a snitch would be an accusation that the target isn’t a member of the collective. The accusation could be seen as incredibly destructive by members of the collective and a good way to silence those who disagree with you.

This will be something I’ll invest some more time into researching.

Occupation Minneapolis Bitching About Free Pizza and Tent Confiscation

Friday marked the one week anniversary of the Hennepin Country Government Center Plaza occupation. Unlike last week, this week actually had some relatively exciting occurrences when the occupiers tried to perform their first act of civil disobedience. Namely a group of occupiers decided it was time that they were allowed to put up tents and they planned to give the local police a giant middle finger and start erecting tents against the orders of the country.

I visited the Plaza on Friday evening and Saturday from early afternoon to the early hours of Sunday. Although I had no real stated goal during my visit Friday I was fortunate enough to run into a few of guys from We Are Change. I say this encounter was fortunate because they were playing The American Dream and Freedom to Fascism on a projector in the Plaza in the hopes of educating some of the occupiers about the real state of the Federal Reserve. Although this occupation was originally going to happen at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve the location was changed a little under a week before the occupation was to begin. Besides writing stories one of my goals when visiting the occupation has been to education attendees on economics as such knowledge is sorely lacking.

The guys from We Are Change also ordered seven pizzas which they gave out freely to occupiers. Let me take a moment to warn anybody who plans on brining food to the occupation, there are a handful of really ungrateful fucks there. One of the first people to come by after the pizza arrived said in a really snooty manner, “We’ve resorted to Domino’s?” I replied, “Do you know who else will deliver pizza here at 10:00 at night?” He then said, “They don’t have any vegan pizza.” and walked off. Well tough fucking shit asshole, it’s free pizza, if you don’t like it then don’t fucking eat it. Seriously that prick really rubbed me the wrong way but I’m happy to say he was an exception, most of the people there were damn grateful to receive the bounty of free pizza.

After the pizza was distributed I decided to wander around the Plaza. For those who haven’t been to the Plaza it is broken up into two halves, a south grounds and north grounds. Most of the events occurring at the occupation take place on the northern grounds while people generally sleep on the grassy knoll located on the southern grounds. Friday’s arduous waste of time general assembly took place on the souther grounds. When I ran into the general assembly they were discussing the tent situation. In summary the tent situation was a planned act of civil disobedience where people were planning on showing up and pitching tents on the southern grounds against the country’s ordinances. Although I missed the beginning of the general assembly the later portion involved a great deal of arguing between those wanting to pitch tents and those who were afraid doing so would incite the wrath of the police. I ventured around and periodically returned to see if the general assembly had managed to move on from the topic but every time I returned they were still arguing about the same bloody thing. Finally it was decided that a special tent committee (the occupiers love their committees) meeting would take place after the general assembly to discuss the tent situation.

I attended the tent committee meeting as I was interested in the possibility of civil disobedience finally taking place. As with most committee meetings, the tent committee meeting ended up being mostly a waste of time where an hour or more was spent arguing the inevitable. A long back and forth continued where those opposing the pitching of tents were angrily debating with those who were going to pitch tents. Note the phrasing I used, “were going to pitch tents.” This is what made the debate pointless, those who wanted to pitch tents were going to regardless of what anybody else said (good on them by the way, if you’re planning on doing something then just fucking do it).

Eventually a lady whom I know presented a smart idea which was to build tents out of transparent plastic. I say this was smart because the country’s biggest opposition to allowing occupiers to pitch tents as been the fear that said occupiers would be doing naughty things inside the tents. What happened after this was rather interesting. A couple people in opposition to pitching tents scurried off and accusations started floating around that those people were going to the police. If there is one thing I’ve noticed at this occupation it’s the constant accusations being thrown around that so-and-so is a snitch or plant. Another friend of mine whom I ran into earlier Friday evening informed me that several people believed I was an infiltrator. Anybody who knows me knows that this news was met with a giant, “FUCK YEAH!” I enjoy the art of trolling and if a group of occupiers believe I’m an infiltrator all the better, I’m going to play this card for as long as possible (I’m also the least inconspicuous infiltrator ever, what with my business casual dress, australian hat, and brown oilskin coat). Still the second somebody disappears from a meeting, talks to a cop, nods to a cop, or otherwise does something to raise the ire of another occupier the accusation of that person being a snitch or plant is usually not far behind.

While I believe the tea party has been completely taken over by neocons at this point I still stand behind the original movement which was simply a protest against taxation. The tea party movement and the various occupy movements are often compared. Since I’m not one to pass by low hanging fruit I might as well make a comparison between the tea party movement and the occupy movements. Nobody at any tea party protest I attended every worried about a fellow protester being a plant of police informant. In fact the police were often embraced by those at tea party protests and everybody attitude about government plants was basically, “Whatever, we’re not going anything illegal.” It’s an interesting comparison for sure and I’m not sure if the occupy movement’s obsession with police plants and informants is caused by living in a police state or is a side effect of the collectivist mentality. What I mean by it being a side effect of the collectivist mentality will be covered in a future post as it’s quite a side note to drift off into right now. Either way let’s move onto Saturday’s events.

Among the people at the Plaza on Saturday afternoon were the usual crowd and a religious zealot trying to stir trouble through preaching against abortion, homosexuality, and other similar fundamentalist issues. While several occupiers argued pointlessly with the preacher I moved onto the southern grounds of the Plaza in anticipation of the tent pitching which was scheduled to start at 16:00. On the souther grounds I noticed news trucks from Fox 5, KSTP, and KARE 11 on location awaiting the great act of civil disobedience. 16:00 rolled around and nothing happened, not a single tent was pitched. 16:15 rolled around and still nothing, at this point I figured those who were talking big about pitching tents simply chickened out and the entire occupation lost any hope of appearing serious about anything. I stuck around as there were occupiers slowly gathering in the center of the grassy knoll where many people slept the night before hoping one of them would finally pitch a tent.

Finally at 16:18 two men with tents arrived, went to the center of the grassy knoll, and stood around. Neither pitched their tent though and it appeared as though all the talk, debate, and screaming the night before was for naught. At 16:30 I decided to wander around the Plaza again as nothing was happening on the southern grounds. What I found on the northern grounds shocked me, during the time I went to the southern grounds and when arrived again on the northern grounds some industrious individuals had build shitty, but effective, tents out of boards and transparent plastic. I’m not sure of the time but eventually a large group of people picked up the tents and everybody marched from the northern grounds to the southern grounds of the Plaza changing, “We are the 99%!” While I found the chanting incredibly creepy (I don’t like group chanting at all) I was glad to see the occupiers had more balls than I thought. They moved the tents into the center of the grassy knoll and stood around challenging the police to take them.

Eventually some officers from the Sheriff’s department showed up with camera equipment in two and filmed the entire scene. I had my phone camera out filming the police because I like to return the favor whenever I see evidence of the surveillance state. After some time the police returned to the Plaza building and weren’t heard from again for quite some time. I moseyed around seeing if the country security was going to make a move but they mostly just wander around themselves. At some point in the late afternoon a couple county security officers arrested Melissa Hill. While the charges claimed by the country police was “trespassing on a public sidewalk” it wasn’t until later that I learned Melissa was earlier banned from the Plaza grounds for chalking (while most of the Plaza grounds are now covered in sidewalk chalk I’m not sure what specific circumstance lead to her banishment). Either way she was released fairly quickly.

After Melissa’s arrest not much happen for a long time. I met a few new faces, some other people I know, and had a lot of interesting conversations as I meandered around the grounds looking for anything exciting to write about. One thing I did pass was a Soviet hammer and sickly drawn in sidewalk chalk on a building surface. Due to the wide variety of people attending the event I wasn’t sure if this image was drawn in support of communism or as a criticism of our ever increasing police state. If the image was in support of communism I hope the artist decides to look into the bloody history of the Soviet Union. Anybody who can read about the millions murdered by the Soviet government and still support the system scares the living shit out of me.

During the late evening I decided to move up to the parapet on the southern side of the Hennepin Country building. There were chairs up there and I planned to stick around until the police finally moved to interveine with the occupiers surrounding the tents. Unlike many people I like to clear my head and relax before expected trouble arrises. I found a chair on the parapet, pulled my hat down low, and closed my eyes just listening to the events unfolding around me. Members of the occupation’s media team eventually came up to the parapet and asked people up there to leave as they wanted to setup a “hidden” camera to record any police brutality. They never came over to ask me to leave (which is good because I wouldn’t have left and I don’t like people messing with my zen thing before a big event either) I did get to listen in on their laughable plan. If you’ve never been to the country building let me explain the layout of the parapet; one side faces the grassy knoll while the other side faces a wall of windows making up the center of the country building. Ducking low can prevent you from being seen from the knoll but there is no way you can hide from anybody inside the building. Being the police were inside of the building I thought the media team should have thought their clever plan through a bit more thoroughly.

At one point I was joined by an interesting gentleman whom I talked to for quite some time about various world issues. The man was well traveled, intelligent, and had a great number of stories and ideas which were good to listen to. Like myself he was there more as an observe than a participant and we made some rather interesting observations about the ongoings of the people occupying the knoll. My favorite thing about visiting the Plaza grounds during this occupation has been the interesting conversations I’ve had with random individuals.

Around 1:00 a county officer came onto the parapet and asked those of us up there to move down below as the police were planning to make an announcement. The gentleman and me moved down and sat at the base of the steps while roughly 40 police officers moved out of the county building and surrounded the occupiers on the knoll. The police walked around and announced that the tents were a violation of the occupation’s own bylaws (the organizers of the occupation specifically stated they wouldn’t erect tents) and made one last request for people to remove their tents from the property.

It’s rather funny because the occupiers were planning for everything from tear gas to mace. The street medics all had bottles of water at the read and vinegar to soak bandanas to help reduce the effects of tear case. Escape plans were drawn up, occupiers were warned about what would likely come, and a great deal of effort was put into overcoming the tactics believed to be used by the police to breakup the crowd. The occupiers were ready for everything… everything except one tactics, the police peacefully coming over and simply walking off with the tents.

That’s what the police did, they simply picked up the tents and walked off with them. No tear case was launched, nobody was maced, and no arrests were made. Watching this was downright humeros because the police walking off with the tents reminded me of worker ants carrying leaves back to their nests. They just silently walked in, grabbed a tent, and walked off with it. Likewise the police recorded the entire event while they were removing the tents. It’s not often I get a chance to commend police officers on anything these days but I commend the Hennepin County and Sheriff’s Department officers on their handling of the situation. While I find the country’s ordinances controlling the use of public property to be bullshit I also understand that the police could have been far more violent in their handling of the situation.

There were a couple of occupiers who were downright hilarious. Four cops walking off with a tent hit some handing branches of a tree with the tent and an occupier streams something along the lines of, “OH YOU HIT THE TREE, HOW FUCKING SMART TO YOU FEEL NOW? NO SHIT YOU HIT A FUCKING TREE!” As he was yelling at the cops I made the remark to the gentleman I met earlier saying, “That kid seems to think the police are pretty stupid but they still have his tent.” Another occupier was yelling, “WE’RE FIGHTING FOR YOUR PENSIONS! WHY AREN’T YOU WITH US INSTEAD OF AGAINST US?” If that kid had any brains he could have put two and two together and realized that any officer who joined the occupiers would find himself out of a job which would mean no pay now and no pension later. Yet another funny occurrence was the occupiers chanting, “WE’RE RESISTING ARREST!” I have some bad news for those occupiers, you can’t resist arrest unless you’re being arrested. Since the police weren’t making any arrests there were no grounds to claim you were resisting arrest.

After the police walked off with all of the tents they just vanished back into the county building without saying a word. When the action subsided the gentleman I had been talking to went home and I decided to move up and listen to the aftermath meeting behind held by the occupiers who still remained sans tents. The funniest thing I saw was a sign held by one of the occupiers that said, “Thank a union for your weekend.” Being a union just walked off with their tents this seemed like a rather idiotic sign to be holding. Another girl was going on about the injustice she had to bear, apparently a police officer touched her shoulder when they were taking the tents and she didn’t want to be touched there. She was being incredibly whiny about it and trying to make it sound like being touched on her shoulder was akin to being maced and beaten by a baton. While I respect her resolve in not running at the first sign of police officers I really wanted to go up to her and aske her to kindly shut the hell up. Others were talking about pitching some more tents immediately but nothing appeared to have come of it.

Not surprisingly an emergency committee was formed with the goal of deciding whether or not to pitch new tents immediately, pitch some later, or pitch some on the U.S. Bank grounds. Being I had been at the Plaza for many hours, it was cold as fuck, and I was tired I decided to call it a night and return home.

It was a fun weekend and once again I’m glad I went to the occupation. Every time I visit I managed to walk away with stories to tell and honestly, say what you will about the occupiers, they are some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met. Most of them will talk to anybody and many have interesting stories to tell.