Musings about our changing times and how I anticipate it may effect me (us)

[crfriend]

This'll be my last comment on this before I resign.

Yep. The United States got precisely what it voted for, and deserves the ravaging it's going to get. I'll not shed a tear although I'll be among the fatalities. The oligarchs have finally won -- and the last time I read the takeover plan it was in the original German. I was not amused then, and I am less amused now. But it doesn't matter. I've been cancelled, so off into the sunset I shall go.

Automated anti-spam tactics have already been disabled from home. Composing resignation letter.

[moonshadow]

Here are the raw numbers per Wikipedia:

2020 election,

Biden carried 81,283,501 votes in total
Trump carried 74,223,975

2024 election,
Trump carried 77,302,580
Harris carried 75,017,613

This means...

Trump gained 793,638 additional supporters in four years

Harris actually lost 6,265,888 voters from Biden's lot in 2020.

6.2 million votes... that is almost the average population of a given state!

Subtracting Trump's 793,638 votes from Harris's loss, we are netted with 5,472,250 FORMER BIDEN VOTERS THAT DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO SHOW UP! This is just as much on the left wing vote as it is on the right.

Yep. The United States got precisely what it voted for, and deserves the ravaging it's going to get. I'll not shed a tear although I'll be among the fatalities. The oligarchs have finally won -- and the last time I read the takeover plan it was in the original German. I was not amused then, and I am less amused now. But it doesn't matter. I've been cancelled, so off into the sunset I shall go.

I am right behind you.

"The United States got precisely what it voted for, and deserves the ravaging it's going to get."

Yep...
"I'll not shed a tear although I'll be among the fatalities."

Nor will I!

Gheeze... a handful of trans-women just HAD to play on the girls team! Couldn't play with the boys... no, just HAD to play with the girls. That's what got all this crap started. And I KNOW I'm going to get taken to task for writing that, but that's what got Trump supporters to the polls, and you know what... that cost the dem's quite a few votes, especially among the more traditional Democrats.

[Grok]

Recently a 100 year old veteran appeared on television. As a very young sailor he had survived the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

When I was a kid there were many veterans from that war around. World War II-the largest conflagration in history-ended in 1945. 80 years ago, a life time ago. In 20 years that war will be virtually gone from living memory.

The Vietnam War, the war which was the first bit of international news that I noticed, ended in 1975. 50 years ago.

As an officially older guy, I remember events that occurred before the birth of todays young adults. I could almost teach history to such people, based on my everyday memories.

[crfriend]

As an officially older guy, I remember events that occurred before the birth of todays young adults. I could almost teach history to such people, based on my everyday memories.

Therein lies the rub. The younger generations do recall that in many, many cases the past is prelude -- and have a difficult time understanding why their elders "saw it coming".

Right now, we're in about 1932, with some accelerant added. The Weimar Republic fell due to the Great Depression and the NAZIs took over and filled the gap with the subtext of "Make Germany Great Again". That ordering has been inverted this time in the US and whilst the Main Street economy has been in an outright depression since COVID we've got a rabidly right-wing (or at least wildly unpredictable) cast at the helm -- so we've got some extra knobs to deal with. I put another world-scale war at about 3:5 so things are extremely dangerous. The Main Street economy is now beyond rescue save a revolution to throw the oligarchs out. Peasants in the US are done for at this point and will be left to die once the last bit of wealth is usurped by the billionaire class.

Expect wars and expect privation. If the US puts heavy tariffs on Canada, I hope Ontario flips the power switch to "off" and darkens the entire Northeast -- who might then say The Hell with D.C., secede and join Canada. We might well expect a trade war with the EU to boot. Nothing can be done about China as they effectively (1) own us and (2) have a power switch of their own that can shut the US electric grid down destructively -- which will not be able to be rebuilt because the US shipped all its manufacturing capability to China to maximise profit.

Yes, those who fail to study history are pretty much doomed to repeat it -- and I do not ever recall a population this dumb or this ignorant of the world around them. I'll take Nero's side -- "Let it burn." There's no way to stop it. We did it to ourselves -- all sacrificed on the altar of greed and avarice. We had a chance and botched it.

Note: That was not a comment on the last "election" in the US. That was rigged from Day 1.

[Grok]

For years I participated in the old Fourth Turning forum. (Which was terminated back in 2016). This was based on theory in the books Generations and The Fourth Turning, by William Strauss and Neil Howe. I wish I could ignore what they investigated, but one part seems all too relevant today.

Strauss and Howe described how a country may go into a period of hardship and crisis. They compared this to a seasonal metaphor-"Winter."

The more severe "winters" are described as blizzards.

Many countries experienced the last Winter together-the Great Depression/World War II era.

[moonshadow]

Expect wars and expect privation. If the US puts heavy tariffs on Canada, I hope Ontario flips the power switch to "off" and darkens the entire Northeast -- who might then say The Hell with D.C., secede and join Canada. We might well expect a trade war with the EU to boot. Nothing can be done about China as they effectively (1) own us and (2) have a power switch of their own that can shut the US electric grid down destructively -- which will not be able to be rebuilt because the US shipped all its manufacturing capability to China to maximise profit.

There is chatter about Washington, Oregon, and California annexing to Canada. Of course I doubt they are serious, however if such a movement gained traction, a fair compromise, and one I'm sure the GOP would approve of is dividing the eastern and western side of the states... East California, Oregon, and Washington remain with the U.S. and western side to Canada.

The win for the GOP is they retain three separate states that are suddenly Republican strongholds (six additional Senators, congress, etc) and the coastal populous joins a country more in alignment with their values.

Food for thought.

While we are at it, Canada could annex New England.

[crfriend]

There is chatter about Washington, Oregon, and California annexing to Canada. Of course I doubt they are serious, however if such a movement gained traction, a fair compromise, and one I'm sure the GOP would approve of is dividing the eastern and western side of the states... East California, Oregon, and Washington remain with the U.S. and western side to Canada.

I've read scuttlebutt about that, but I don't think it's serious, California has enormous problems, although Washington and Oregon would line up quite nicely with Canadian ideals and comprise a potential province of "Cascadia". New England might make a reasonable go at trying to join Canada as another "maritime province", although New England will need to take a very hard look at its internal situation beforehand.

In any event, it's time for the USA to finally break up the way it should have in the 1850s. Like the Soviet Union, it's too big and too diverse to survive in one piece. It's going to fly apart at some point. I just hope it's not violent.

The good news is that I'm back to wearing skirts, being fully resolved to raise high my middle finger to D.C. for the crimes committed. Whether it sees red or green nail varnish depends on which middle finger I deploy (being ambidextrous, it can be either). Let 'em shoot me dead, I don't care any longer.

[moonshadow]

The good news is that I'm back to wearing skirts, being fully resolved to raise high my middle finger to D.C. for the crimes committed. Whether it sees red or green nail varnish depends on which middle finger I deploy (being ambidextrous, it can be either).

YES!

That's the spirit!



Nothing like a little tyranny to harden ones resolve!

[Mouse]

he good news is that I'm back to wearing skirts,.......

I am so pleased that your spirit and flame is still with us. You had us worried for a while.

Difficult to keep a good man down.

[Ozdelights]

Great news Carl!

[familyman34]

Right now, we're in about 1932, with some accelerant added. The Weimar Republic fell due to the Great Depression and the NAZIs took over and filled the gap with the subtext of "Make Germany Great Again". That ordering has been inverted this time in the US and whilst the Main Street economy has been in an outright depression since COVID we've got a rabidly right-wing (or at least wildly unpredictable) cast at the helm -- so we've got some extra knobs to deal with. I put another world-scale war at about 3:5 so things are extremely dangerous. The Main Street economy is now beyond rescue save a revolution to throw the oligarchs out. Peasants in the US are done for at this point and will be left to die once the last bit of wealth is usurped by the billionaire class.


Yes, those who fail to study history are pretty much doomed to repeat it -- and I do not ever recall a population this dumb or this ignorant of the world around them. I'll take Nero's side -- "Let it burn." There's no way to stop it. We did it to ourselves -- all sacrificed on the altar of greed and avarice. We had a chance and botched it.

Carl,

You might be interested in the following quotation from James, Ian R., "Education in Nazi Germany" (2019). Student Publications 715, pages 6 and 7, (https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/715) about the efforts of the German regime in the mid-1930s to ensure that their schools were producing a generation of citizens with lowered ability to view their situation with critical discernment.

The 1934 pamphlet, Education Under Hitler, published by the Friends of Europe was a
call to action against the Nazi regime. Written by Mr. Ogilvie, an English elementary school
teacher who had worked in Germany, this piece was an outsider’s interpretation of the educational
reforms in Nazi Germany. Mr. Ogilvie described his aims in publishing this pamphlet. “Far more
important than anything Hitler may say under pressure of circumstances is the sort of teaching
actually given to the coming generation in Germany.” He claimed that this system of education
could have international ramifications; “The urgent point is this: does a self-conscious and
aggrieved national megalomania, based on compulsory ignorance, compulsory falsehoods, the
abolition of the individual’s right to form opinions for himself and a scrupulous prevention of
intellectual contact with the rest of the world, breed a state of mind favorable to peace?”
Although a brief publication, Education Under Hitler revealed several concerning practices in
German education that were alarming to non-Germans as early as 1933.

Is the USA heading in the same direction today?

[crfriend]

Is the USA heading in the same direction today?

I will let the readership here make up its own mind. I have my opinion on the matter which would likely get me kicked off the forum, but it dovetails precisely with the assertions above and the entire scheme in the USA today was lifted pretty much verbatim from 1930s Germany.

Now could no one have seen this coming?

[moonshadow]

One thing I miss about the east coast is the opportunity to antagonize the abundance of red states all within a day's drive with flashy flamboyant skirts!

The only one I can realistically toy with on a day trip is.... Idaho. And they just don't have the same.... "punch" as Alabama...

[moonshadow]

The good news is that I'm back to wearing skirts, being fully resolved to raise high my middle finger to D.C. for the crimes committed. Whether it sees red or green nail varnish depends on which middle finger I deploy (being ambidextrous, it can be either). Let 'em shoot me dead, I don't care any longer.

Well, shooting the bird and wearing a skirt as a man could most definitely be considered a political statement and thus is protected "free speech", and Trump's executive order would cover you!

Hell, I reckon drag queens have the go-ahead now to be seen in public.

FREE speech.... it's not just for certain people... IT'S FOR EVERYBODY!

[moonshadow]

BTW Carl, this site could be considered "social media" and you now can't be banned for sharing your thoughts...

So sayeth Donald Trump!