07:44 – All signs are that yet another Greek default is imminent, perhaps as soon as the end of the month. When or if that happens, Greece crashing out of the euro is almost inevitable. The follow-on effects on the European and world economies are unpredictable at this point, but they won’t be good, to put it mildly. Best case, eurozone taxpayers are left holding the bag and are likely to vent their fury on EU politicians and mainstream political parties, with unpredictable consequences and likely regime changes. Worst case, we’re looking at a catastrophe unfolding over the coming months and years that will make Lehman look minor and will spread to affect the rest of the G7. In any case, Greece is toast.
There’s some time left, but now would be a good time to get stocked up, if you haven’t done already.
13:17 – Email from Jen, saying that she’d ordered one can each of the Keystone canned chicken and pork to see how she and her family liked them. She commented that at $4.44 for a 14.5-ounce can the Keystone chicken was more expensive than the Costco Kirkland-branded chicken at $2.30 for a 12.5-ounce can, but that she wanted to try them side by side to see if the Keystone was enough better to justify the higher cost. Actually, the Costco product is more expensive because that 12.5-ounce can is “packed in water” and contains only 7 ounces of actual chicken. The Keystone product is “no water or broth added” and contains the full 14.5 ounces of actual chicken. On a per-ounce basis, the Costco canned chicken is just under $0.33, or about $5.25/lb., while the Keystone is about $0.306, or about $4.90/lb.
Keystone is even a better deal in the 28-ounce cans, which shouldn’t be a problem given how many people Jen plans to feed. The chicken in 28-ounce cans is $7.34, or $0.262/ounce or $4.19/lb. The 28-ounce cans of ground beef, pork, and turkey are less expensive than the chicken, at $6.28 each, or $0.224/ounce, or $3.59/lb.
Considering the relative strength of the “new Drachma” with respect to the Euro or USD, September might be an excellent time for a low cost vacation to Greece.
It doesn’t matter to the elite that run the EU and associated institutions what the voting public thinks. For example, when a more pliable government was required in Italy and Greece (before the current Greek government), the EU used economic threats to install governments more to the EU elite liking. Not to mention requiring some member states to repeat votes on EU treaty changes until they were ultimately adopted.
Of course, Louis XVI thought things were going well until he became a head shorter.
The Telegraph (London) says this morning:
Greek premier Alexis Tsipras has accused Europe’s creditor powers of trying to subvert Greece’s elected government after five years of “pillaging”, warning in solemn terms that his country will defend its sovereign dignity whatever the consequences.
The defiant stand came as the European Commission lashed out at the Greeks and warned that the country would collapse into a “state of emergency” unless there is a deal to avert a financial crash.
Germany’s EU Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said the creditor powers must draw up urgent plans to cope with social unrest in Greece and a break-down of energy supplies and medicine as soon as July.
In a terse statement, Mr Tsipras called on the EU institutions and the International Monetary Fund to “adhere to realism”.
• Markets suffer as Greece teeters on edge of Grexit – live
He accused the creditors of “political motives” for demanding further pension cuts, hinting that their real goal is to destroy the credibility of his radical-Left Syriza government and force regime change.
“We are not only carrying a historical past underlined with struggles. We are carrying our people’s dignity as well as the aspirations of all Europeans. We cannot ignore this responsibility. It has to do with democracy,” he said.
The problem is the same as it’s been all along: Greeks consume much, much more than they produce, and they expect the rest of the world to subsidize that.
I read an analysis the other day that said when Greece re-introduces the drachma at euro parity it will immediately fall 10% against the euro. I think 90% is more likely.
Greece is already a very poor country, but they ain’t seen nothing yet. I expect to see food riots as this plays out.
Man, just grexit already, and be done with it. All the wailing and tearing of hair is ridiculous. Either that, or else the EU will bend over yet again, throw even more taxpayer money down the black hole, and we’ll be back here next year, and the year after, and the year after…
A currency union outside of the financially stable Western countries never made any sense. I suspect that the idealistic hope was that it would lift the poorer countries to a higher standard of living, while providing the established countries with an inexpensive source of labor. What they clearly did not understand is the difference in mentality. Italy without mafia-style corruption? Greece without massive cheating and government handouts? You can’t have financial unity with countries that want to pick your pocket.
The first time I saw the “eurocrat” construct, I thought it was a portmanteau of euro and bureaucrat. I quickly realized that it wasn’t “bureaucrat” but “autocrat”.
Dont think so, the geopolitics just now doesnt allow to drift Greece to Russia, and Turkey going to Islam now.
Remember 1947
“The H-1B visa program is a scam”
http://www.cringely.com/2015/06/15/the-h-1b-visa-program-is-a-scam/
I have long thought this.
“I have long thought this.”
Ditto. It’s been brought home radically to some of us here with being forced to train our replacements under threat of being fired immediately and/or never being able to collect unemployment bennies. The job I had at IBM is not even being done by visa guys; it’s offshored to India and Slovakia. No idea who’s been doing the 80% of the job that was hands-on inside the data centers with a security and ITAR clearance.
We’ll be watching the Greek and Euro drama as a nice prelude to whatever’s coming down the pike at us here later this year and next. It certainly seems like our elites are prepping, doesn’t it? And why would they spend the money and effort on the Jade Helm exercises, done on Murkan soil and arranged to simulate massive actions against the Murkan public? The kickoff in those states was supposed to be next month but it sure looks like they’ve been running mil-spec exercises all over the country since March.
I don’t know much about Jade Helm. Is it limited to the larger cities?
“Augason Farms Emergency Food Non-Hybrid Vegetables Garden Seeds, 16 oz ”
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Augason-Farms-Emergency-Food-Non-Hybrid-Vegetables-Garden-Seeds-16-oz/22001485
???
“NAACP Imposter Sued School Over Race Claims”
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/bizarre/rachel-dolezal-discrimination-lawsuit-786451
Bold.
Jade Helm is the army people who will sit at the end of your block in an APC while the grunts collect your food, guns, and ammo.
“Martin Armstrong Warns “Kiss Your Pension Fund Goodbye””
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-26/martin-armstrong-warns-kiss-your-pension-fund-goodbye
This will be the death wail of the USA. The author does not mentions IRAs but I am sure that they will be seized and “reinvested” in USA Tbills also.
Do it for the children!
“I don’t know much about Jade Helm. Is it limited to the larger cities?”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_Helm_15_conspiracy_theories
Looks like the only large city affected is San Antonio, but who knows? Of course only conspiracy nuts and the tinfoil-hat crowd buy any of these crazy-ass ideas…
Bracken and others have reported various strange mil-spec movements around the country for the past several months, supposedly having nothing to do with JH. I’ve seen similar up here in VT but may be able to write them off as simply increased border security ops so far. Word has it that even some of its top command staff don’t know the full extent or some of the particulars, which is kinda worrisome.
I guess we’ll all wait and see, eh?
Pension funds? What are those? Retirement? What’s that? Our overlords, as in certain Euro countries, are scrambling to extract the last remaining cash from us before they high-tail it to their bunkers. SS, pensions, 401k’s, etc., are all gonna get grabbbed; ObummerCARE is a total criminal fraud, just like Medicare/Medicaid, only much worse.
All we’re waiting for now is some kind of major trigger effect, not sure what exactly it will be but I tend to think more and more that it will come about this summer or fall.
I hope you’re wrong, but we are making it a high priority to get moved to West Jefferson. Alas, moves take time.
“No idea who’s been doing the 80% of the job that was hands-on inside the data centers with a security and ITAR clearance. ”
In my (limited) experience with this sort of thing, those things get subbed out to defense contractors who specialize in providing the service. Ironically, it usually costs more, but gets billed or written off in a way that is more beneficial to the bottom line lies than pure employees.
In any industry there are smaller (and sometimes small parts of giant) firms that specialize in actually doing the work. I’ve been part of those things, and seen them.
Often the intervals between required tasks get stretched out.
Sometimes the work is done by uncleared personnel ‘under supervision.’ I’ve spent a lot of time working ‘under supervision.’
Sometimes the old systems are scrapped in favor of a completely new managed system that avoids some of the issues thru design or compartmentalization.
And sometimes old systems are left in place untouched LONG after they should have been upgraded or replaced because under normal circumstances, NOT spending money will improve your bottom line– at least for a while.
Before I left my previous employer, they were getting a tough lesson in ITAR (particularly difficult if you have offices and staff that MUST work on the project located in foreign countries, even nominally allied ones, and a tendency to hire eastern European engineering staff.) They were also learning about the potential downside to being involved in a “national defense priority” project while trying to also build consumer and industrial stuff. (Hint, if you miss deadlines or delay without some REALLY good reasons and prior approval, Uncle can just come in a seize what they need to fulfill the contract.) And for some people the difference between a US Citizen and a US PERSON, was a difficult concept.
There are reasons defense and .gov stuff costs more than equivalent civilian stuff. There are a LOT of hoops to jump thru, and just maintaining compliance officers is expensive. That’s also why a lot of that work tends to go to the same folks. Once you are familiar with working under the restrictions and have the necessary stuff in place to comply, that is a serious barrier to entry for everyone else. Maintaining separate networks, physical pcs, offices and facilities, and all the rest that comes with those projects costs lots of money.
nick
That sounds about right, Mr. nick; from what I could see and hear and what I’ve heard since about the place.
We were just interchangeable drones and got replaced by some other similar drones, which probably improved the bottom line somehow and kept the PHB manglers in greens fees and yacht berths.
What was kind of surprising was that seniority/longevity meant zip; of course I was bounced after two years, but so were peeps with 18, 25 and 35 years. While others were kept on, seemingly at random.
I may or may not grab a shot at doing some of this crap again for a few months on a p.t. basis just to bring in some piastres here and get outta the house and make Mrs. OFD a little happier that I’m contributing.
Or you may find that working less suits you. 🙂
A couple of gigs a year, or providing service locally can help ease the transition.
There might be a related thing you could do too (like installing video cameras instead of AV gear, fer instance.) Or doing documentation like visio drawings or BIM models for other companies who want to step up their game (esp if you did this as part of your previous job).
You might find a fun niche making stuff. There is a ton of decor type items that sell well seasonally. I knew a guy who took old lumber (torn down fencing, mostly) and made ‘decor’ bird houses. They were only meant for decor, not as houses for birds. Some weathered corrugated metal, some bits and pieces, a bandsaw, brad nailer, and an eye for ‘fun’ and he had a nice income stream. He sold online mostly, but I think he did local sales too. He had a church, a school, a general store, all similar but not identical, and they sold well.
There is also a huge secondary economy in buying stuff and reselling it. Most of my income these days comes from this. I’ll caution that it is easier to buy than sell 🙂 It is a job and needs to be treated as such. I know several people locally who do mainly this. Nationwide, it’s a huge industry. You can spend lots of time on youtube watching thrift store finds or dumpster finds. The folks in the videos are doing it for resale. Cheap shipping and online marketplaces make for an efficient market for used physical things, and a sort of location arbitrage (if you will.) Should also be noted, as an indicator of the state of the economy, how well power supplies, remote controls, and replacement parts for consumer goods sell. To me this indicates a willingness to seek out the missing part rather than replace the whole item. Or maybe the 5% replaced the item, and the secondary market is putting the missing power supply with it and reselling it to the 70%. (the bottom 25% buys new with OUR money, then sells for pennies to pawn shops and second hand stores.)
People are repairing things again (and this is a clear indicator to me of the state of the economy.) There are a bunch of Ipad/tv/phone/ gadget repair places near me. Some look like franchise operations. Most TVs and monitors are bad power supplies, or occasionally bad backlight drivers. Recapping fixes about 90%, the others are fixed with a board swap. Boards and recap kits are available online. Phones and tablets seem to be mostly screen replacements. There are parts and guides online. I do it for myself, but I could see expanding to fixing other people’s stuff, or fixing stuff for resale.
In other words, unless you love it, you may just want to move on to something new (or related but local and not at your normal rate.)
nick
Hide the Crisco. Obama bans all trans-fat
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/obama-bans-trans-fat-119050.html
“In other words, unless you love it, you may just want to move on to something new (or related but local and not at your normal rate.)”
Yup, I’m transitioning as we “speak” from full-time employment-with-zero-to-minimal bennies to whatever I can gin up here, between pooters and firearms. Some of it will be web dev stuff but I see most of it involving the latter, and my Fed paperwork is now enroute accordingly and I’ve got my LLC from the state and the EIN as of last night.
What’s worrisome is how much longer Mrs. OFD can pull the whole freight wagon by herself, which I don’t want her doing anyway, and when exactly stuff will really begin to fall apart in this country. She is likewise transitioning, slowly, to her online and meatspace jewelry activity/business. Which I see to be kinda time- and labor-intensive with not much ROI, but we’ll find out, I guess.
In other prepper activity here I’ve got a bunch of ammo enroute, along with two QRP radio kits. And very slowly trying to get up to speed on basic PT without damaging anything so I can keep going. Weight is down from a high of 275 to about 240 and I’m aiming for 225 and dropping the waist from 38 to 34. Main thing, though, is joint flexibility and cardio. If I can get in reasonable shape again, I wanna sign up for the Project Appleseed weekend this fall and then some more advanced stuff next spring down in WV and out in WY.
“”You know, I think I’m going to ‘identify’ as skinny. That way I will not have to ever go on a diet. I’m just gonna ‘identify’ as skinny. I just am. You think I’m not? Screw you!” -Rush”
Rush Limbaugh, June 16, 2015 email and
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/06/16/i_rush_limbaugh_identify_as_skinny
Rush gets it. The media and certain crazy loons are claiming that the imaginary world, ever present, is now more important than the real world. This imaginary world is going to become more and more important to the unwashed masses as the real world sucks more and more. I know this because our betters are telling me so.
Me too Rush, me too!
Hey, I’m a Klingon warrior princess and I think Rush is hot. Say, you look kinda hot, too, down there in Sugarland, sugar-pie-honey-bunch…
“California Water Cuts Leave City Days Away From Running Out Of Water”
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/06/16/california-water-cuts-leave-city-days-away-from-running-out-of-water/
“The community of Mountain House is days away from having no water at all after the state cut off its only water source.”
“Anthony Gordon saves drinking water just in case, even though he never thought it would come to this.”
““My wife thinks I’m nuts. I have like 500 gallons of drinking water stored in my home,” he said.”
Prepper!
And the wives all think we’re nuts. Must be nice to go through life with one’s head firmly in the sand and not worry about chit.
Great nooz, now that son, DIL and three grandkids are moving to Brentwood, Kalifornia, right smack in the middle of it all. Wonderful.
But hey, sonny will be pulling down the big piastres! Great career move!
I’ve seen Klingon warrior princesses and I am going to pass. I am not into BDSM. Those foot long pig stickers they wear are not ornamental.
BTW, ^Sugarland^Sugar Land. The country band got it wrong.
https://www.sugarlandtx.gov/
Whoops! My bad!
Hey, big stuff going down up here just a hundred yahds away right now!
Our gov is on the pier, glad-handing folks, and announcing the passage of a House bill that might do something to clean up the lake, supposedly. Cars parked up and down the street and peeps out in boats with cameras and suchlike.
I’ll believe it when they start fining the shit out of the big industrial-level farmers around here whose cows never see daylight or get out of their industrial barns, and they keep dumping all their crap into the watershed. Small farmers have been making an effort, but not the big guys. A $4,000 fine don’t mean squat when they’re getting $400,000 in subsidies, as the protected “profession” up here.
Hey, Pournelle has a new book coming out, “Lord of Janissaries”:
http://www.baenebooks.com/p-2810-lord-of-janissaries.aspx
I suspect that he only wrote the outline, but, good for him! JEP has been having a tough go of it lately since his stroke.
With progs intent trumps outcome so they have lots of practice denying reality.
Add in current economic issues like the (literally) unbelievable valuations of internet companies with no revenue and no likelihood of generating same. Another example of wishful thinking trumping reality.
We are constantly lied to and fed ‘narratives’ — the improving economy, better unemployment, the deserving poor, AGW, obamma is an intellectual– and most people believe those things, at least on some level, as a kind of self defense.
You can’t even speak plainly anymore without being called names and ostracized.
Remember when the phrase “politically correct” was a snide, sneering reference and not the GOAL?
Hard times are coming and the rhetoric and denial will become increasingly shrill. The elites and their willing handmaidens will lead the screeching until the vast middle roars out ENOUGH. The emperor HAS NO CLOTHES. The pendulum swing/backlash/reversion to the mean is likely to be brutal. If we’re lucky, there won’t be a charismatic leader waiting to step forward.
As Jerry Pournelle is fond of saying, “that which can’t continue forever, won’t.” Eventually this huge interlocking pile of lies that they have built up will come crashing down around them, and maybe this time the stink will stick to them. It’s starting to. Look at one of their golden boys, the newscaster. Eventually someone had enough and squashed him. More and more big names in finance are warning that the current financial state can’t continue. It WILL collapse. The welfare state, big govt, world socialism will collapse.
We may not get all the way back to Kipling “If you don’t work, you die.” but I bet we get close.
I just hope we get thru without also losing the CT scanners, MRI machines, chemo, satellites, internet, etc. In fact, I’m hoping for something like the Tinker society of Vernor Vinge’s Realtime series. I see that as the best case, post collapse.
What we’ll probably get is a reduction to 3rd world conditions, while the 3rd world descends further into squalor and misery, with starvation and painful death the norm.
Unfortunately a forest fire clears out healthy trees as well as the deadwood.
nick
And here’s some hypocrisy for you,
‘If she wants to be black, she can be black,’ Goldberg said Monday.
Ask the black community if a black can be white if they want to…
“actin’ white” “uncle Tom” “sellout” “house nigger” and on and on and on……….
nick
There it is.
I hope it ain’t a forest fire but fear that it will be. And the “moderates” and “silent majority” will be among the first to fall, and not in a good way, either.
It would indeed be nice to keep our technologies but the Grid is very vulnerable and plenty of goblins out there would love to take it down. Amazing there haven’t been more widespread outages lasting weeks or months by now.
It seems that at best, we’ll get knocked back to circa 1900 in a lot of areas, and eventually, yeah, Third World conditions, too. In our lifetime? I don’t know. But we’re getting too old to do too much about it, other than try to take care of our ‘little platoons’ out here as best we can.
I took a time out from the doom and gloom that is the US of A with my Twins to see Jurassic World. I liked it. Can’t go wrong with dinos.
For my 30 day emergency food prep, I’m thinking of gaining all my weight back plus 50-60 pounds more. Then I just have to store water and live off my fat like a bear. Think of all the delicious overeating I can do.
Nah, I’ll keep it off and stay in shape for the upcoming Barackoylpse. It’s hard to convince your family to prep. I’m going to store the food in my closet. Go with all canned for five peeps for 30 days. A pallet of 55 gallon drums of water in the garage.
I’ll post some pics if I get it done before the end.
I think that’s probably the one that we almost co-authored. We talked very seriously about doing that maybe 10 years ago. He’d already written about a novella’s worth of it and had kind of painted himself into a corner. I really, really wanted to do it with him, but I just didn’t have time.
I sure do not like that n***** word. When I was a kid growing up in Norman, OK from 1963 to 1969, there was a sign out on the interstate, “No N******s and Indians allowed in Norman.” I do not know when the sign was removed but it is not there anymore.
And my wife is 1/4 Cherokee. I did not know that when I married her but suspected so when I met her west Texas grandparents at the wedding. Would have married her anyway, I do not care. In fact, I am rather proud that my kids are 1/8 Cherokee.
Worst case, we’re looking at a catastrophe unfolding over the coming months and years that will make Lehman look minor and will spread to affect the rest of the G7.
Except the USA. IMHO, the rest of the world can get pneumonia and we will just get a slight cold. Just as long as the Federal Reserve keeps on buying those t-bills. And guaranteeing the credit markets.
“I sure do not like that n***** word.”
That’s good, ’cause y’all ain’t allowed to use it, dude. Only the bros and the sistahs can use it. Which they do, constantly. It’s even a big part of the major standup comedy routines the major stars do, and have done for years.
As for Native Murkan blood and DNA, I have a bit, not much, but a little bit; Algonqian, via the various Wampanoag bands, mainly in southeastern Maffachufetts and the Islands. When my late dad had gigs on Martha’s Vineyard, they treated him, blue eyes and all, as one of their own, and he got free cab rides from them to and from the little airport there.
“Except the USA. IMHO, the rest of the world can get pneumonia and we will just get a slight cold.”
That would be OK, I guess, but I’m afraid we’ll get double pneumonia here and the rest of the world will catch ebola and smallpox.
Yup, that is one word I have tried to eliminate even from my thoughts, but I hate the “n-word” construction. I REALLY don’t like being dictated to by the PC police, and think it is cowardly to not say it, especially in quotes. So I used it purposely. It’s what they called Condeliza Rice and Colin Powell both in public forums.
Surprisingly to me, and I think many people, I heard that word much more often in Chicago than in the south. I almost never hear it in Houston, and then usually from hispanics (who really hate blacks). I still hear it from many people in the Chicago area whenever I’m there. I also haven’t come across the Klan in the south, but the Klan was still burning crosses in Cicero (Chicago) just a few years ago, and the only time I found myself in a Klan bar was in Indiana, just an hour outside Chicago. That makes for an interesting story in dumbassery which I probably shouldn’t share.
I have some evidence that folks are getting tired of being nice to blacks or caring what they think. Just today I was on a mainstream news site, and the comments were almost exclusively full of overt racial commentary and many uses of that word. This is a big change from a few months ago when even the comments on Ferguson had much more oblique and veiled references and language.
I suspect that the racial agitators are not going to like it much when they get the race war they’ve been agitating for. I think it will be like the Japanese and Pearl Harbor. The 12% are going to be forcefully reminded of their importance and proportion in society. MANY innocent people, people that you’d be proud to have as neighbors, are going to be hurt.
That is just one of the many threads that seem to be coming together pointing to a major upheaval in society.
Here’s another:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3125530/The-breeding-ground-jihadis-ice-cream-lady-wears-burka-great-textile-town-Dewsbury-undergone-terrible-transformation.html
This story would NEVER have run 6 months ago. Note the comments about multi-culturalism.
There have been other recent articles with negative references to multiculturalism both in the US and UK.
People seem to be getting tired of that nonsense too.
nick
Peeps are getting not only just tired about all the PC chit, but really FED UP with it; I see and hear comments all over the place, not just online, and the libturds and libtards and PC police just keep pushing and pushing anyway. They’re very near the edge of pushing too far, and then they’ll run into a shit-storm that will be even worse than their PC stereotypes of maniacal rayciss white people. Unfortunately, it will probably be moderates and the “silent majority” who don’t cause any ruckus and just wanna get through the day like most of us who will suffer the most. The real assholes will skate, like they almost always do. And our own assholes will be doing most of the damage, naturally.
Thus fulfilling all stereotypes and exacerbating an already worsening situation. Here it is 150 years later and we’re still catching fallout from the War of Northern Aggression, and before that, the War of Independence and the English Civil War, what Kevin Phillips called in his very good book, “The Cousins’ Wars.” Not all the bad shit that happens on account of a war, happens DURING that war. Which some of us have been finding out.
Meh, I imagine most of us have at least one story which would tend to demonstrate that we are the end products of a ten-generation breeding project to create the stupidest biped to walk the face of the earth.
Yup, in spades 🙂
nick
“NAACP Imposter Sued School Over Race Claims” …
An honest-to-gosh, real life grievance whore!
Oh, she’s not a grievance whore; she’s a procuress, there being no female version of “pimp” per se, other than maybe “madam” of a brothel. A phony white procuress who hates her race and her family and has worked hard to generate more gelt for the actual grievance whores. The online Maoist site Salon has been boasting of how she led Matt Lauer by the nose on some tee-vee show recently or sumthin; who cares.
But it’s great to see the Revolution eat its own, as always.
“If the Greek government had any sense, it would simply default. That would make Greece debt free. With just a few words, Greece can go from a heavily indebted country to a debt-free country.”
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/06/paul-craig-roberts/default-greece-default/
They can show us how it’s done so when it’s our turn we’ll know how it’s done. Three years out? Five? Ten? Who’ll give me twenty? At least one other person here thinks it’s thirty.
Ima gon guess five. What do I win?
Hahaha…my old pal Patrick still thinks a candidate can save us…Jesus wept…
“Anyone concerned for the future of this country as one nation and one people should find a candidate who will commit to secure the border, enforce immigration laws against businesses that hire illegal immigrants, and pledge no amnesty for the duration of their presidency.”
http://buchanan.org/blog/is-third-world-america-inevitable-16150
Pat, we have NOBODY. None of them, Repub clowns or Dem douchebags, will do this for us. None.
The sooner we all realize this, the better off we’ll be. Not really, but at least we’ll know what we’re actually up against. The Turd Worldization of this country, planned and executed deliberately and with much malice aforethought by treasonous bastards who will be the first priority during the revolution for the firing squad walls and tumbrels.
I did all but throw rocks at snakes in the river; live and let live was my thing.
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/06/daisy-luther/the-last-rebels/
Funny thing about pendulums, they do swing back. Seems to me that this one started its swing in the 1960’s, at which time it was much needed, reacting perhaps to the overly conservative, conformist culture established post-WWII. Those of you, like OFD, who know history better than I do, could probably do a better analysis.
Unfortunately, pendulum swings tend to be pretty extreme, especially in the USA for some reason. Witness prohibition, which must have just been hilarious from an outsider’s perspective. Today, you have “micro-aggressions”, which are just as hilariously absurd.
Anyhow, this pendulum swing has finally come to an end, with all the progressives fighting the inevitable reversal. If the wheels stay on, we will all enjoy the next decade or even two, as society corrects to a more moderate course. Who knows, maybe some other stupid cultural things, like helicopter parenting, will also get fixed.
In 30 or 40 years, the pendulum may be at the other extreme (or an other extreme – who knows what direction it may take), which will be every bit as hard to take as the current one. With luck, some of us may still be around to see…
“If the wheels stay on, we will all enjoy the next decade or even two, as society corrects to a more moderate course. Who knows, maybe some other stupid cultural things, like helicopter parenting, will also get fixed.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X39MaWV8aCQ
Dream on? Ok, I will…
Seriously, it does seem to me that everything people do moves in cycles. What’s the saying? History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.
Look at the attitude toward the military: very positive in/after WWII, disintegrated to an absolute nadir during/after Vietnam, and for the past 10 years or so it’s totally positive again. Full cycle in about 70 years.
Global warming panic: Early 20th century there were worries about global warming. In the 1970s ot was global cooling, and in the 2000s it was global warming again. If you squint just right, a cycle of somewhere between 70 and 100 years.
The US was, as I understand it anyhow, pretty conservative in the 1940s and 1950s. The reaction, 20-30 years later, gave us the liberals of the 1960s and 1970s. After that rather than going conservative again, society wandered off in a third direction: progressivism. It’s not conservative, obviously, but it could hardly be more dogmatic. Seems to me that the progressive extreme has reached it’s end – people are finally fed up with it and reacting. So: extremes roughly around – squinting carefully – 1950, 1975 and 2010? Aligns not badly at all with the attitude towards the military.
So where to now? Time for anti-military sentiment, a global cooling panic and a move away from progressivism towards…dunno, something different.
Global cooling panic would be reasonable. Humanity could easily deal with average temperatures increasing a few degrees. The same amount of decrease would be catastrophic. Humanity doesn’t do well during Ice Ages.
As to the something different, I hope it’s anarchy (AKA real free-market capitalism), but I fear it may be chaos.
Probably chaos in the cities and suburbs and a variety of systems in different regions; what may work fairly well in South Dakota is likely to be different in Florida. I’d like to think some sort of town meeting will still exist in rural northern New England, maybe town managers and councils in larger towns.
And of course, military and warlord juntas in other places. No doubt the vestiges of the Murkan state apparatus will try to hang on in areas like Mordor and the big military bases.
It’s all going to be okay; Donald Trump will be the next president… 🙂