“I don’t know why the Democrats lost. I don’t understand … Prices have come down, the economy is good. I don’t know why they voted against her, against the party.” — William Shatner (Captain Kirk)
I watched MSNBC this morning just to laugh while they gossip incessantly about Trump’s cabinet picks. They reminded me of the middle school super duper clique lunch table. Gossiping and trashing those who just aren”t “good enough” to sit with them. I do believe that’s what that network has become. The middle school lunch table. No value whatsoever. Vapid clowns.
Agreed. Unfortunately, a LOT of people (some of my family included) watch these shows, BELIEVE these people, and when sufficiently riled up, ACT accordingly, usually spitefully.
“EXCLUSIVE: PALM BEACH, Fla. — President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that in order to "Make America Great Again," it is "vital" to have a "free, fair and open media," telling Fox News Digital that he feels he has "an obligation" to the American people to work with the press, even those who had treated him "badly beyond comprehension.” I guess the adage applies. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
For things to change, the hearts of the people have to change. The Deep Sate has acquired its position because of the people sending the same cretins back there, over and over. The Deep State is a reflection of us. Until Trump wins over the hearts of the people, change is impossible. Steamrolling DC will not help.
Comcast has put out feelers for selling CNN and other news outlets. They cannot correct their brand. They went too far, and show no signs of changing. It is quite amazing to watch them lie without blinking or blushing, making it up, and "reporting" as if it's real.
When they lose their idiot watchers, Comcast will lose its advertisers and shitcan this obnoxious network. Do not stop with MSDNC, take out NBC TOO, then ABC, then CBS.
No. They will have advertisers that pay less for their diminished and focused demographic: Gimmiedats with TDS and Karens with hemorrhoids. Think Lifetime/Oxygen/Hallmark/et al.
That being said, Women watching Womyn cry will not balance their finances.
The jaw boning is beginning to discredit and character assassinate President Trump's choices to fix our federal government. Trillions of dollars are at stake. The key ones are DOD and NIH being brought back on track. The paid mouth pieces can't see beyond their paycheck.
They’ve known it all along but there never were consequences. They will suffer those consequences now. We should beat them until their moral improves. I’m giddy just thinking about it.
Absolutely - they can only learn by having to deal with the consequences.
There is this absolute nutter in Vegas named Robert Telles, and he was a low-level councilman on a power trip. He became so deranged with power that when a local reporter wrote some (deserved) hit pieces on him, he killed the guy. He actually got arrested and went to prison. He was sloppy with the murder, figuring (as narcissists and psychos do) that he could just talk a judge and jury out of believing he was the murderer (!!!!). That didn't happen, and he's in jail for life.
This is what should happen to every single public "servant" who was in on and pushed the covid and trans agendas, who probably are responsible for more misery than even Robert Telles.
I don't think either party of self-aggrandizing grifters will ever care what they did to us, as long as they made a buck or won office, etc. These are psychopathic people. In fact, they set out to damage others because they hate humanity. The goal is to replace them. In order to do so, we have to start recognizing who is actually a narcissist, a psychopath, etc. and stop worshipping those. Sadly, our society shows no signs of being able to do that.
HG Tudor, (on YouTube), who ought to know, says Trump is a narcisisst too. The whole system is set up by narcisissits to reward narcisissts, and thus attracts them in great numbers. We're fortunate in Trump, as he is the sort whose ego won't allow him to fail. May God protect him, because those people will kill him, if they get the chance.
He might be a narcissist but if so, he's a brilliant one, because he is not killing the host, like most of them do. So perhaps he's more of a showman than a narcissist? It's hard to tell. He has many narcissistic qualities, but he is definitely not murderous like, say, Obama. At least not demonstrably.
I wrote a piece a while back asking if the "swamp" is now too big to ever drain. It probably is, but let's drain as much of it as we can. What the world needs is a Mass Purge of the dunces and sociopaths who have ascended to the top of all the key leadership organizations. A Baby Purge would be better than no purge.
I imagine draining that swamp. But all the swamp creatures need to be contained and dealt with. Before draining the swamp an invisible fence must be built around the swamp to contain the creatures. So when it is drained there will be no escape.
First contain the creatures, then drain the swamp. Then Matt Gaetz can deal with them.
Well said, Bill. It will never drain from the top down, which is what people envision. It will have to drain from the bottom up, just like your bathtub - this is where the drain-plug is. No-one wants to hear this, because of the hip waders, hardhat and dedication needed to enter the local political arena. We’ve become addicted to be liked on social media. Yes, your next door neighbour may not LIKE you any longer. Local government has been under foreign attack since early 2000, intentionally removing our elected officials and bureaucrats from our reach. Under auspices that mere disagreement with decisions and speaking your opinion is an aggressive assault on vulnerable bureaucratic servants who download UN swamp agenda into your community every step of the way. No-one wants to rock the community boat and call out UN foot soldiers. The war is too close to home.
Maybe. Much of it is right what we want to hear. I am all for decentralization and the rolling back of collectivism - which has become an ideology for many. Because - the peddled ‘safety’ factor. Meaning it will take time and much hand-holding to return to functional communities currently sporting bureaucracies fixated on top-down hand-outs and a UN SDG ideology to the last hole-punch. So, it all depends on how many will continue to ration their personal involvement to a 4 year vote and a hero roll, and how many will activate on every local level to sort bureaucratic apples from oranges sporting a Spartan topcoat. The deception will come in a rebranding of ideology, rather than a replacement. Such as the call for new, safer and more functional communities, which currently are peddled under a UN thoroughfare of 25+ local bureaucratic acronyms to hide the beast of 15 min. Cities, Compact Communities, and what else has become too hot a brand. All of these tentacles are in place, right now, right into the smallest enclave, everyone’s front door.
Walled towns and cities. Every man a soldier. Nobody has anything they can't keep from robbers and gangs. The return of a sane understanding of economics: You didn't build that by yourself. And nobody votes who isn't part of the guard.
Drinking my coffee awaiting your adjectives . . . I moved rural and the farmers’ markets are thriving everywhere. From homemade soap to homegrown vittles…if Trump returns schools to the villages, all will be well.
I live in the center of every natural local food you can get. I have a stack of their business cards that gives me comfort and good clean food. I just need a bigger freezer. If the insane regulation is stopped then there will be a revolution in food and health ahead. GO RFK jr. !!
Two factors have driven the food industry to do what they have done. One is the creation of “Big Food” the result of price control and government regulation. This has been driven purely by the socialists driving to control everything from DC. The second is the pressure to reduce costs while creating “Big Food”. These huge food producers are corporations. Their function is not to produce food for the people, it is to make a profit. Cost reduction is not a double digit deal, it is saving single digit costs.
Antibiotics in livestock to save a few percent sick animals, or to prevent wholesale epidemics of herds. The reason “chicken kills” happen is because chickens are jammed together in dirty crowded environments. Same with beef herds, or pig farms. A really scary thought is what happens to these animals that die? What happens to the grounds they are raised on as the accumulation of wastes becomes toxic.
Farming of crops is just as bad. Trying to control pests and weeds, toxins are applied to fields. How do you remove toxins from crops? How much of the toxins become systemic? What is the effect of GMO crops on human DNA in the long term. You would think that the vaxx would tell society not to mess with cellular level modifiers. The other potential toxic problems stem from fertilization. Fertilizers come from fossil fuel, or animal waste, both potentially toxic. Fertilizers are required because the balance of nutrients in the soil is destroyed by over production.
Everything is happening because our food industry is trying to keep up with our population with the amount of arable land decreasing due to housing requirements. As supply and demand wreak their control, the price of everything is going to go up. When RFK, Jr. tries to control these bad practices that have evolved, expect the cost of food to increase as production costs increase.
JHK has discussed these influences since I started reading him in 2005. This is just food. Everything we have as commodities are under similar pricing pressures. Kennedy’s job is enormous, to re-structure American agriculture without price increases. Mission Impossible? Maybe they need Tom Cruise as an advisor!
There was a great Joe Rogan episode a year or two back with a guy about how the planet's soil is in big trouble ... and without changing course, we're basically screwed. Monoculture is literally destroying parts of the planet ... for profit.
Oh yeah, the idea of local supply of food in farmer’s markets is great,
Except, it works in Red rural small town realms, but does nothing for the Blue big cities where people live that have not a clue where food comes from, they think that it comes from Krogers. The cities under Dem controlled government have allowed the over-production of the nation’s agriculture, and without much supervision.
Well the moderately sized blue city of Portland is obsessed with food and where it comes from. It's almost sport.
The main farmer's market downtown is gigantic and it has affiliates in every neighborhood running throughout the week from Spring until Fall. The large, multi-level James Beard Public Market will become a real thing downtown in the next year. It's a very exciting development and of course James Beard is from here. If one wants to get in on a farm share for direct delivery then you must act now as they fill up quickly.
It's mushroom hunting season and my local grocer has freshly foraged Chanterelles for sale. Crab season is just around the corner – again you have to act quick as they sell out.
Many have been going around the "food Industry" for a long time. I Portland is surrounded by bounty and celebrates it. Organically Grown began in Oregon.
The "Farm to Table" idea is one that began on the Left coast.
Soros knew that concept long before we did. Change begins at the local level. I see things reverting back to the “old days” when life really was better. Can’t happen soon enough for me.
“I don’t know why the Democrats lost. I don’t understand …" — William Shatner (Captain Kirk)
"I don't believe you." — Ron Burgundy
William Shatner seems like a nice guy, but I'm sorry, I just cannot comprehend how anyone let alone an allegedly sentient human being like Shatner doesn't understand how the weakest Presidential candidate in American history running the most pathetic campaign since Biden deservedly and decisively lost the election. Not buying it.
IMHO, the reason half of the Hollywood and celebrity crowd and much of the city culture in the USA support the Dems and the Deep State is because they want that border open. Why? Serfs and drugs to be unobstructed and cheap. The elite have their slaves and drugs, and the government has its revenue from the cartels. Isn’t that a lovely picture of America? I am watching the effect of RFK, Jr., DOGE, on the flow of drugs into the country. Human trafficking will need border closure and control. Will this country be able to control the cartels and their goon squads? That would be a legacy of Trump.
We're into one of Taylor Sheridan's shows, "Lioness". While the premise is pretty ridiculous (gorgeous females in SpecOps who handle business like John Wick) this season is actually touching on real issues, including human trafficking. At least some folks in HollyWeird are trying to bring attention to it.
Tom's not really wrong though, right? Those two are empirical Elites who found populist politics when the time was right. OTOH, the true, lifelong populists of the core crew, who have lived their lives more or less like regular folk, would be people like Gabbard most obviously, then Vance and Kennedy. Billionaire celebrity johnny-come-latelys just represent the natural first, transitional step in reverse engineering or -- depending on one's perspective -- organically navigating a way out of a plutocratic society in which the working class is hopped up on celebrity worship. Once hard times come, the true populists will need to be taking the reigns. Won't be all that long before Maralago starts rubbing the base the wrong way IMO.
I was listening to his album he worked on with Ben Folds and Henry Rollins, "Has Been" ... it came out years ago and I decided to cue it up again while I was out running errands. He touches on subjects like the death of his wife, his relationship with his daughter, and life in general. Good for a few laughs. He was probably more "with it" back when they cut those tracks.
For multi-millionaires like Shatner the economy is good because that's all they see in their sphere of influence. They only hobnob with other wealthy people. They hire and pay servants to do their shopping and prepare their meals, clean their homes and maintain their yards while they hop from vacation house to vacation house. It doesn't surprise me at all that Bill Shatner (one of my favorite actors as a child) can't understand Trump's victory. A wealthy person's opinion on the economy is as worthless as sock with holes.
Well there's the problem right there. ".......seems like a nice guy". HAHAHA . Great depth of thought. In fact, Shatner is an ACTOR. Brain dead Hollywoodian ACTOR. He ACTS for a living!
It's what he DOES.
But how we FEEL about anyone now is supposed to count for something ??
Shatner arrived from Canada, fully indoctrinated in the illusion of wealth via robbing the working poor as Government Mandarins (CBC) bleed you out as they tell you daily, they are there to "help" you.
Contribute nothing, take everything. Shatner's Canadian disease.
Unfortunately, people do not realize the pain and suffering they will be forced to endure from the years of Dems (uni-party) in charge. This is where were going to live the result of weak men creating hard times. Only good news is that it will lead to hard men who will make good times.
Semantics….and I suggest given the shit that we are in there will be few (in any good) options. Unfortunately, it will be hard men that will have to lead the way out. Thus the saying….Hard times make hard men….hard men make good times…good times make weak men…weak men make hard times….and the beat goes on. Pax
We have a nice local run coffee shop in our 9,000 pop city. Unique and used by me snd our large Hispanic population. Young owners. Now, the stupid city has let Dunkin AND Starbucks in on the main highway through town. I will not be drinking coffee there. Starbucks coffee sucks. Hopefully we locals can keep our local one going. Walmart has prevented any other grocery store from opening so we’re stuck with it. I do use the local nice Mexican supermarket but it’s actually more expensive and lacks things I need. But produce and other products are “cleaner” in ingredients. I hope the Democrat snobs writhe the rest of their lives with their voices a tiny squeak in the background. I was a democrat who learned the truth in 2021.
My local independent coffee shop’s founder at one point experimented to test a theory. He offered a faux Starbucks coffee. He took a mediocre bean and roasted it to death pretty much destroying it. Starbucks buyers who came in did indeed enjoy it! Point proven but he couldn’t bring himself to do it again :-)
Coffee in general tastes like dirt to me though I do enjoy the aroma of coffee in the office. I don't understand peoples' obsession with it. Back in the wild west people used coffee to mask the taste of river and well water. Today? Not sure what it is. The caffeine, probably.
Yep, I hear what you're saying. I live in a small community in rural Texas (about 3500 and growing...eye roll), and we have two local pizza places. Recently, I began noticing Dominoes delivery vans in town and I wondered where they were coming from. Turns out there's a new Dominoes pizza right here in our town now. I hate seeing it happen as they will undoubtedly siphon a lot of business from the local businesses.
The Blues want control of every aspect of life. Incorporation allows them control of just about everything.
Just heard an interesting statement. Musk’s main influence in the Deep State will be the ability to expose the cretins on X, uninhibited. He is the Red equivalent of the MSM, being able to make toast out of the shenanigans of the Left. As news moves more and more to the social media approach, his influence will do nothing but increase.
The task ahead is truly going to be one of Herculean proportions, and perhaps it’s most challenging aspect will be the essential element of having a single unity of purpose. That’s a tall order, with so many with their hands out for “their piece of the pie”.
Freedom has come to mean a lot of different things to a lot of people, and for most, it’s most necessary ingredient of personal sacrifice doesn’t even come to mind. But the transformation back into our original Constitutional Republic will not happen without some level of sacrifice in some measure being willingly borne by every American.
The people’s concept of the very original purpose of our form government, the Federal government in particular, has been thoroughly perverted after decades and decades of its flagrant disregard and willful ignoring of its very stringent Constitutional limits and parameters.
Our government was never intended to “fix every problem” - especially made up ones - or to “give us hand outs” for every damned thing under the sun.
It was designed to be nearly inconsequential and purely perfunctory in relation to our everyday lives, not the arbiter of every aspect of them.
Thus, the process of dismantling the monstrosity that currently masquerades as our federal government must absolutely and unequivocally go hand in hand with a “Manhattan Project” re-education of the American citizenry as to its original purpose, which, inevitably demand a sacrifice to varying degrees from the populace, but will be the only way we will ever truly get to experience genuine freedom, if that’s truly what we want.
It will be excruciatingly difficult, painful and disruptive, but absolutely necessary.
Government cannot fix every problem. We are too many. Too diverse. Too many unique problems to be fixed. Hence the reason we need to be able to govern ourselves and resolve our own problems.
Trump cannot dismantle everything even if he were willing to try. He needs a willing Congress and that he does not have. Correct me if I am wrong but I don't think the Republicans can break a filibuster in the Senate, especially with so many Republicans willing to vote across the aisle.
Any real change is going to come because it MUST come, not because we want to fix things. Too many people with too many differing views. Something must happen that unite all of use and cause us to cast off the political parties and work together to resolve the issues.
"But the transformation back into our original Constitutional Republic will not happen without some level of sacrifice"
I am not so keen on how our representational Republic works. Perhaps term limits would make a difference but we need things to evolve to reflect the realities of our population and the 21st century.
And when I hear a "Manhattan Project" of "re-education" of the American citizenry why does Mao comes to mind? And what exactly are the sacrifices you're expecting for this so we get "genuine" freedom?
See there's never been a magical time when the citizenry of the U.S. was all on the same page and participated in the government. That should not be a goal.
The job of our government is to protect us from foreigners. That is its number one job per the Constitution.
Open border is a direct obliteration of that charter and is why all the Mayorkas types should be imprisoned for being traitors to their oath of office.
An outsized portion of Americans think it is the government’s job to care for them from cradle to grave.
It is not.
And It is not Maoist by any means to want our children (as well as adults!) to be educated about their country’s Founding Documents, freedoms, and principles. Every school should include that in their curriculum, as once upon a time we did just that, but conveniently stopped doing so little by little over time.
By sacrifices I mean Americans have to relearn how become more self-reliant, and no longer so dependent on the government to fix all their problems. That is not, and never was the government’s job.
The problems in the 21st century are pretty much the same as they were 250 years ago: war, crime, poverty, corruption, etc. The Constitution addresses all of these when applied appropriately, just not always the way some people may wish it did.
A lot to do to save America. There will be pushback by those that benefit from its destruction. Big Pharma, Big Ag, the Military Industrial Complex, the MSM. These are not inconsequential foes. They won't be defeated in a single election. We must be strong and forget expecting the government to come to our aid with other people's money. $35 trillion won't be found under our sofa cushions. Firing 80% of the government work force sounds drastic but may be the ONLY way to significantly shrink the deficit.
First, eliminate deficit spending and balance the budget. Once that is accomplished, eliminate half of our defense spending. We would still be spending more than the rest of the world. Put the savings towards paying down the $35 trillion.
But, you are correct. Big pharma and the MIC won't take this lying down. Trump has only 4 years and the American people will swing the pendulum back to the Democrats in 2028. These problems are not going to go away.
Balance the Budget? Impossible. The service on the debt alone is over a trillion a year now. In microeconomics, the USA, by definition is bankrupt. Half the population is dependent on government outlays. Think about what Trump and his group face, how to make economic policy more conservative without driving society onto the streets.
Best case? Slow the increase in spending, and keep the tax and spend Blues out of office. It will take fifty years of slowing the spending to be able to balance the budget or start working on the debt. Mission Impossible?
Start thinking what will it be like to have no government support for the masses, AKA bankruptcy.
I disagree, JohnAZ. Balancing the budget is always possible. It's just going to be extremely painful and I don't know if there is the will to endure such pain.
@Kelly Harbeson I like your comment. Unfortunately, quite a few of those federal employees "work" in the business of administering government programs, and the biggest programs (in dollar terms) regard transfer payments that benefit people, including quite a few middle-class people, who will not like it.
Interest on the federal debt. Military spending. Transfer payments. If Federal employees could be replaced with robots, and their payroll (pay and benefits) eliminated, we are still left with the first three items, which are vastly more costly than the pay of Federal workers.
And there are many shell games, perfectly legal, played in the US. One easy example--the tax coded, which is very complicated. This complexity employs hundreds of thousands of accountants and tax preparers in what is essentially non-constructive work. Do you think these accountants' lobbyists will permit simplification of the tax code?
Still, every bit counts. It's a sure thing that, had Kamala Harris and the Democrats won, NOTHING positive would happen, and most likely, things would degrade even more. With Trump, it's possible we could see improvements. We need every bit at this point.
"and the biggest programs (in dollar terms) regard transfer payments that benefit people"
Perfect job for AI to do. In fact many of these jobs might do thing that appear complicated but a computer can figure out the differences in tax codes pretty quickly. We're going to see how many jobs are worthless.
Also, understand the difference between AI and a "robot". No need for robots.
It will take a while to filter down to the democrats around me. Some will, some won’t. It was the child trans evil and my own president threatening me if I didn’t get the kill shots. A fairly sudden awakening. A realization that what my 14 yo granddaughter was going through—a transgender grooming, WAS THE PLAN ENABLED BY THE LEFT. As far as I’m concerned, the left is irredeemable and will never get my respect ever again. Ever. Over. I want vaporizing revenge. Now.
Now if you would just awaken to the Republican scum who have stabbed you in the back over and over and over. How many times have the Republicans held the Congress and the Executive but done nothing with that power to curb spending, reduce government, and eliminate unconstitutional agencies? People are still playing the tribe game. Democrat or Republican. Republican or Democrat. Their tribalism is blinding them to the fact that both parties want and do the same thing, they just use different jargon to get themselves there. Both spend too much money. Both continue waging foreign wars in lands that pose no threat or interest to the USA. Both refuse to deport all of the illegal immigrants. Political parties are the demise of America. More Americans need to cast off the party brainwashing and just think America first.
Get out of the business of passing lame to the Dems or the Republicans, these do not really exist any more. RINOS are counted as GOP and they are not MAGA, they are Deep State.
Trump has Dems in his group, get it? He is anti-Deep State, MAGA, not GOP. I wish he had declared a third party, MAGA. He couldn’t, but now perhaps with other anti- Deep Staters coming out of the Blue closet, he can form the MAGA party. Screw the RINOS! They are the worst.
You hit on a point that has disgusted me for years-referring to us always and only as “consumers”, not as citizens. The differences between the two are monumental.
I heartily enjoyed this morning's article. It's brilliant. I don't know how you manage to so beautifully and accurately describe the condescending self-owning ignorance of the Woke Jacobin left, but you do it like nobody else. So many great lines in today's post! I don't know where to start.
I guess the most satisyfing line is: "the punking of America by a gang of vicious, criminal snobs. The aggregate insult alone deserves a world-class beat-down. They know it, and they know they are going to get it, and it will be satisfying to watch them rat each other out as judgment nears."
I endeavor to avoid schadenfreude; however, I am only human. And I have saved all of the proof of the horrors unleashed upon us during the covid psyops, and the inducement of TDS to the point where I can't even talk to my former friends and most of my family - even if I don't bring up even one "political" issue or figure. The damage that the MKULtra tactics used via the mainstream media is vast and deep, and I don't know if it can be reversed. Peoples' minds are destroyed. In any case, if these people aren't somehow able to be deprogrammed, I am not sure how much we can progress.
Perhaps the answer is to just begin the work ourselves, and see whether they are smart enough to come along.
Good text, but it doesn't look far enough beyond the tip of the nose, let alone the horizon.
Rebuilding America, or any part of the world, to its former glory, whether real or imagined, is anachronistically delusional.
It's time to start connecting the dots, namely societal, economic, and, most importantly, physical issues. The way the world, the Occident in particular, has developed over the past few hundred years is fully owed to hydrocarbons - coal, oil, and natural gas. More specifically, cheap, easy to get hydrocarbons. That is no longer the case, they're not so cheap anymore, in the sense of energy needed to invest to obtain energy (not money, money is worthless shit). This will only get worse, and similar problems are faced in regard to just about all other resources. Energy, however, is the master resource, and matters the most.
Thus, rebuilding America's glory is impossible because the physical conditions that formerly allowed it to thrive are no longer there. That includes the aforementioned energy and other factors, such as privileged status after the two world wars, control over the world through the dollar and military strength, soft power thanks to the entertainment industry.
Gotta look to the future. All of humanity will have to reinvent itself and embrace a whole new paradigm. The notion of ongoing progress, growth (in the physical sense), the biblical dominion of the world, will have to be abandoned and replaced with a sustainable, unchanging existence aligned with natural cycles. The transition to a different source of energy is a pipe dream, not to mention that it wouldn't solve the dwindling reserves of other resources, rare earths, minerals. Fertilizer made using natural gas too!
As fucking disgusting as wokeism is and as heartwarming as is its rejection in Trump's election, the vast majority of people have no clue about what's in the pipeline, and the vote was mostly reactionary, cast in vain hope of returning to the heyday of America's prosperity. That ain't happening, as per the above.
It would behoove everybody to start looking forward and instead of invoking RE-building of this and that focus on building something new, taking into account the physical constraints humans will be facing.
Another point to make in addition to your points is that people are not having children anymore. Population is set to begin decreasing once the Baby Boomers are gone. Without population growth there is no economic growth. Who is going to buy all of those new homes if there isn't population growth. Who is going to buy all those new cars if there isn't population growth. Our young people are so obsessed with their phones they don't notice each other. Our young men are neutered by pornography addictions. Our young women have been taught to believe they don't need men and have grown to hate men. Babies are our future. Lots of babies result in economic growth. People aren't having lots of babies anymore.
The point I was trying to make is that people have to start looking beyond economic growth. The age of economic growth, driven by cheap energy, is nearing its end. We're on the downslope already, as energy is becoming too expensive (in the physical sense, in the sense that you get less energy from the energy you put in or, in other words, more energy needs to be invested to obtain energy).
We've built a very complex civilization and there ain't enough juice to run it and maintain it. Shit is crumbling all over the place. Bridges, roads, power infrastructure, you name it. The same goes, by extension, for everything else.
In the long run, the fact that people are not having kids is a good thing. The world's population has doubled over the past circa 40 years and that can't go on, even if there were enough resources (especially energy), which there aren't. Population will have to be reduced and if it happens because limpdick faggots can't get it up, so much the better. Certainly better than a war or some other violent event or another fucking covid and fuckccination.
The decadence you allude to, women fucked up in the head (men too), and all the other shit are side-effects of the energy- and resource-related structural issues.
I didn't disagree with you, Paul. I think you are right. I was just also stretching what you were saying to the fact that humans are naturally going to de-populate themselves by not reproducing. The need for all of this energy is going to naturally reduce itself simply through the reduction of population and the economic contractions that are going to follow.
Believe me, I agree that there are too many people on this planet. I can't go anywhere and be totally isolated, even back packing in high Rocky Mountain wilderness still yields other back packers who can't go three days without listening to loud hip hop rap music on their I-phones (true story).
The problem with population size is primarily energy. Although you can fit zillions of people into a city, everybody lives from what a chunk of land somewhere out there produces (distributed all over the world). The stuff is grow, harvested, processed, and delivered to us thanks to energy (hydrocarbons). Without energy, we'd lose the connection to the land out there and starve. Even if people went back to manual farming and even if they did it collectively, they wouldn't be able to produce enough to sustain themselves.
Rap in the Rockies is sick! The bears will hopefully eat the fuckers!
Cankerpuss is right. Demography is destiny. I see your point that we don't need a permanently increasing population, but there needs to be balance.
On paper, the lack of young people can be filled with "immigrants". In practice, when the immigrants are "too different" and too many, I think that will end a society, albeit less violently than war, or with less pain than natural disaster or economic calamity.
The problem is that the so-called elite, the people who run the circus, are not only the worst scum (they get where they are through the most abominable practices, backstabbing, corruption, the worst possible sleaze), but also stupid as fuck. They're good at scheming, sucking dick, and backstabbing, not looking beyond the horizon. If anything, they do quick fixes and myopic solutions.
Immigration is a farce. Instead of picking educated, hardworking, high-potential people who want to integrate (kinda the way it used to be), they not only let anybody in, but the newcomers are assigned a privileged status, allowed to bring whatever problems fucked up their world back at home, and all the rest.
Things are fucked up to the nth degree, just about completely inverted. All these issues, however, are secondary to the energy predicament and the underlying raison d'etre of this civilization - technological progress and economic growth for the sake of progress and growth.
We call all read all kinds of things into the election, and they all have varying elements of truth. IMO, the election was a referendum on the state of the nation under the Biden Administration--and Biden/Harris lost.
Even before reading JHK's "The Long Emergency" in 2006, during my young adult life, the 1980s and 1990s, I felt America was going in the wrong direction, by doubling down on suburbia and the new "exurbia". More sprawl. Bigger houses, with more house to cool and heat, with more wasted space, further away from jobs, doctors, shopping, etc.
Not that Americans are necessarily greedier and more materialistic than others--it's just that land was relatively cheap and plentiful AND America was relatively affluent. The energy crises of 1973 and 1979 should have alerted people to the physical constraints and resource limitations, but they did not.
Also, in the early 1990s, after the relatively peaceful implosion of the USSR, rather than declare "Mission Accomplished" and come home, the US decided to become the unipolar power, a position that is not sustainable by anyone, especially a nation that is not a dictatorship. The US has wasted trillions in what Candidate Trump called the "forever wars".
The US government/deep state has rolled the dice with Russia (Ukraine) and the middle east (Israel), and the latter (perhaps both, if Biden and the Deep State can provoke Russia) are going to spectacularly blow up and boomerang and overshadow the earlier paragraphs of this comment.
Empire. Suburban sprawl. Big moves with big, long-term impacts that cannot be undone in four years, or even four decades.
Of course, we need to do what we can as individuals to adopt, but I'd bet things in this world will continue to deteriorate--and we should try to slow the rate of decline. In that sense, it seems Trump's victory is the better outcome.
"If the Democratic Party had not gone completely insane for a decade, its many eggheads like Walter Isaacson and Michael Sandel would have been working on these major socio-economic transformations, instead of punking us with drag queens, pointless wars, and Marxian punishments."
The pusillanimous pricks have plenty to answer for, as they often knowingly committed damaging actions. But the Long Emergency also ushered in a great wave of denial in the early stages, much of it only possible due to the extreme wealth Western Civilization exploited due to fossil fuels and technology. Now there are many citizens getting clarification on their gut feel of "something ain't right" as they are slowly awakening, realizing things will not improve without some serious pain.
Like a roller coaster diving down from the top, the rather pleasant feeling of weightlessness and stomach floating is now morphing into the increasing g-force of slamming backwards into the seat, eyeballs pressed into sockets, face-ripping in the wind and white-knuckling of the crash bar as survival instinct kicks in. The screaming has just begun.
Knowing Bill Shanters background, he sucks at bluffing his way out of why his Democratic Party lost the election; I’m sure the wife he cheated on a lost, when she drowned herself in the backyard pool (fast enough for him to not be able to save her) would confirm that Bill Shanter sucks at bluffing his way out of trouble💀
He’s just a fat old has been bad actor. Why ask him anything or listen to the drivel old Hollywood farts spew. Hollywood—that bastion of fakes and pedos.
He was cool in his prime. Then he got old and fat, like all of us do. The pathetic thing about Hollywood is they are so self absorbed they don't go away when they get old and fat, unlike we normal folk.
Why should we normal folk go away just because we're old (fat optional)? Years and experience can as readily bring enlightenment as its opposite. Remember the adage "Too soon old, too late smart." There's something in that.
I watched MSNBC this morning just to laugh while they gossip incessantly about Trump’s cabinet picks. They reminded me of the middle school super duper clique lunch table. Gossiping and trashing those who just aren”t “good enough” to sit with them. I do believe that’s what that network has become. The middle school lunch table. No value whatsoever. Vapid clowns.
Agreed. Unfortunately, a LOT of people (some of my family included) watch these shows, BELIEVE these people, and when sufficiently riled up, ACT accordingly, usually spitefully.
Yep, they really are the roving pack of Mean Girls we all had to deal with in middle- and high-school.
Bingo. Even those liberal pussies behave like that. Morning Joe, Conan, Andrew on SquawckBox.
What do you think about Joe and Mika’s visit with Trump?
Not much.
“EXCLUSIVE: PALM BEACH, Fla. — President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that in order to "Make America Great Again," it is "vital" to have a "free, fair and open media," telling Fox News Digital that he feels he has "an obligation" to the American people to work with the press, even those who had treated him "badly beyond comprehension.” I guess the adage applies. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
Or, he's not going to hold anyone accountable - again.
Mary
The problem is not Trump!!!!
For things to change, the hearts of the people have to change. The Deep Sate has acquired its position because of the people sending the same cretins back there, over and over. The Deep State is a reflection of us. Until Trump wins over the hearts of the people, change is impossible. Steamrolling DC will not help.
Heathers.
Yup.
MSDNC should be kaput
Comcast has put out feelers for selling CNN and other news outlets. They cannot correct their brand. They went too far, and show no signs of changing. It is quite amazing to watch them lie without blinking or blushing, making it up, and "reporting" as if it's real.
They have no reverse.
When they lose their idiot watchers, Comcast will lose its advertisers and shitcan this obnoxious network. Do not stop with MSDNC, take out NBC TOO, then ABC, then CBS.
"Comcast will lose its advertisers"
No. They will have advertisers that pay less for their diminished and focused demographic: Gimmiedats with TDS and Karens with hemorrhoids. Think Lifetime/Oxygen/Hallmark/et al.
That being said, Women watching Womyn cry will not balance their finances.
LOL. So true. I’ve often had similar thoughts.
Excellent analogy
The jaw boning is beginning to discredit and character assassinate President Trump's choices to fix our federal government. Trillions of dollars are at stake. The key ones are DOD and NIH being brought back on track. The paid mouth pieces can't see beyond their paycheck.
RFK Jr. task is daunting! https://thomasabraunrph.substack.com/p/bobbys-goal
Is there a better start to the morning than this in my inbox?:
"James Howard Kunstler from Clusterfuck Nation"
Seriously on-point with this one, maybe demonrats(and neoliberal 'republicans') will finally understand what they have done to us.
They’ve known it all along but there never were consequences. They will suffer those consequences now. We should beat them until their moral improves. I’m giddy just thinking about it.
Absolutely - they can only learn by having to deal with the consequences.
There is this absolute nutter in Vegas named Robert Telles, and he was a low-level councilman on a power trip. He became so deranged with power that when a local reporter wrote some (deserved) hit pieces on him, he killed the guy. He actually got arrested and went to prison. He was sloppy with the murder, figuring (as narcissists and psychos do) that he could just talk a judge and jury out of believing he was the murderer (!!!!). That didn't happen, and he's in jail for life.
This is what should happen to every single public "servant" who was in on and pushed the covid and trans agendas, who probably are responsible for more misery than even Robert Telles.
That sounds like a story a guy once told me at a Blackjack table at Binion's Casino. Except nobody got arrested and no bodies were found.
Had to laugh…giddy is good, girl…
That's good. I'm giddy too.
Agree to all points.
I don't think either party of self-aggrandizing grifters will ever care what they did to us, as long as they made a buck or won office, etc. These are psychopathic people. In fact, they set out to damage others because they hate humanity. The goal is to replace them. In order to do so, we have to start recognizing who is actually a narcissist, a psychopath, etc. and stop worshipping those. Sadly, our society shows no signs of being able to do that.
HG Tudor, (on YouTube), who ought to know, says Trump is a narcisisst too. The whole system is set up by narcisissits to reward narcisissts, and thus attracts them in great numbers. We're fortunate in Trump, as he is the sort whose ego won't allow him to fail. May God protect him, because those people will kill him, if they get the chance.
He might be a narcissist but if so, he's a brilliant one, because he is not killing the host, like most of them do. So perhaps he's more of a showman than a narcissist? It's hard to tell. He has many narcissistic qualities, but he is definitely not murderous like, say, Obama. At least not demonstrably.
Yup. Do you think he means it when he says he is trying to save America?
Only he knows. We can only judge by his actions.
I wrote a piece a while back asking if the "swamp" is now too big to ever drain. It probably is, but let's drain as much of it as we can. What the world needs is a Mass Purge of the dunces and sociopaths who have ascended to the top of all the key leadership organizations. A Baby Purge would be better than no purge.
I imagine draining that swamp. But all the swamp creatures need to be contained and dealt with. Before draining the swamp an invisible fence must be built around the swamp to contain the creatures. So when it is drained there will be no escape.
First contain the creatures, then drain the swamp. Then Matt Gaetz can deal with them.
Well said, Bill. It will never drain from the top down, which is what people envision. It will have to drain from the bottom up, just like your bathtub - this is where the drain-plug is. No-one wants to hear this, because of the hip waders, hardhat and dedication needed to enter the local political arena. We’ve become addicted to be liked on social media. Yes, your next door neighbour may not LIKE you any longer. Local government has been under foreign attack since early 2000, intentionally removing our elected officials and bureaucrats from our reach. Under auspices that mere disagreement with decisions and speaking your opinion is an aggressive assault on vulnerable bureaucratic servants who download UN swamp agenda into your community every step of the way. No-one wants to rock the community boat and call out UN foot soldiers. The war is too close to home.
Maybe. Much of it is right what we want to hear. I am all for decentralization and the rolling back of collectivism - which has become an ideology for many. Because - the peddled ‘safety’ factor. Meaning it will take time and much hand-holding to return to functional communities currently sporting bureaucracies fixated on top-down hand-outs and a UN SDG ideology to the last hole-punch. So, it all depends on how many will continue to ration their personal involvement to a 4 year vote and a hero roll, and how many will activate on every local level to sort bureaucratic apples from oranges sporting a Spartan topcoat. The deception will come in a rebranding of ideology, rather than a replacement. Such as the call for new, safer and more functional communities, which currently are peddled under a UN thoroughfare of 25+ local bureaucratic acronyms to hide the beast of 15 min. Cities, Compact Communities, and what else has become too hot a brand. All of these tentacles are in place, right now, right into the smallest enclave, everyone’s front door.
Walled towns and cities. Every man a soldier. Nobody has anything they can't keep from robbers and gangs. The return of a sane understanding of economics: You didn't build that by yourself. And nobody votes who isn't part of the guard.
Drinking my coffee awaiting your adjectives . . . I moved rural and the farmers’ markets are thriving everywhere. From homemade soap to homegrown vittles…if Trump returns schools to the villages, all will be well.
I live in the center of every natural local food you can get. I have a stack of their business cards that gives me comfort and good clean food. I just need a bigger freezer. If the insane regulation is stopped then there will be a revolution in food and health ahead. GO RFK jr. !!
Two factors have driven the food industry to do what they have done. One is the creation of “Big Food” the result of price control and government regulation. This has been driven purely by the socialists driving to control everything from DC. The second is the pressure to reduce costs while creating “Big Food”. These huge food producers are corporations. Their function is not to produce food for the people, it is to make a profit. Cost reduction is not a double digit deal, it is saving single digit costs.
Antibiotics in livestock to save a few percent sick animals, or to prevent wholesale epidemics of herds. The reason “chicken kills” happen is because chickens are jammed together in dirty crowded environments. Same with beef herds, or pig farms. A really scary thought is what happens to these animals that die? What happens to the grounds they are raised on as the accumulation of wastes becomes toxic.
Farming of crops is just as bad. Trying to control pests and weeds, toxins are applied to fields. How do you remove toxins from crops? How much of the toxins become systemic? What is the effect of GMO crops on human DNA in the long term. You would think that the vaxx would tell society not to mess with cellular level modifiers. The other potential toxic problems stem from fertilization. Fertilizers come from fossil fuel, or animal waste, both potentially toxic. Fertilizers are required because the balance of nutrients in the soil is destroyed by over production.
Everything is happening because our food industry is trying to keep up with our population with the amount of arable land decreasing due to housing requirements. As supply and demand wreak their control, the price of everything is going to go up. When RFK, Jr. tries to control these bad practices that have evolved, expect the cost of food to increase as production costs increase.
JHK has discussed these influences since I started reading him in 2005. This is just food. Everything we have as commodities are under similar pricing pressures. Kennedy’s job is enormous, to re-structure American agriculture without price increases. Mission Impossible? Maybe they need Tom Cruise as an advisor!
Then there is oil production.
Then there is the “production” of medical care.
There was a great Joe Rogan episode a year or two back with a guy about how the planet's soil is in big trouble ... and without changing course, we're basically screwed. Monoculture is literally destroying parts of the planet ... for profit.
Oh yeah, the idea of local supply of food in farmer’s markets is great,
Except, it works in Red rural small town realms, but does nothing for the Blue big cities where people live that have not a clue where food comes from, they think that it comes from Krogers. The cities under Dem controlled government have allowed the over-production of the nation’s agriculture, and without much supervision.
Well the moderately sized blue city of Portland is obsessed with food and where it comes from. It's almost sport.
The main farmer's market downtown is gigantic and it has affiliates in every neighborhood running throughout the week from Spring until Fall. The large, multi-level James Beard Public Market will become a real thing downtown in the next year. It's a very exciting development and of course James Beard is from here. If one wants to get in on a farm share for direct delivery then you must act now as they fill up quickly.
It's mushroom hunting season and my local grocer has freshly foraged Chanterelles for sale. Crab season is just around the corner – again you have to act quick as they sell out.
Many have been going around the "food Industry" for a long time. I Portland is surrounded by bounty and celebrates it. Organically Grown began in Oregon.
The "Farm to Table" idea is one that began on the Left coast.
But
How many folks use the farmer’s market vs. use the supermarket? How long would the bounty last if no food came through conventional routes?
Right. No local schools, no local life.
Soros knew that concept long before we did. Change begins at the local level. I see things reverting back to the “old days” when life really was better. Can’t happen soon enough for me.
“I don’t know why the Democrats lost. I don’t understand …" — William Shatner (Captain Kirk)
"I don't believe you." — Ron Burgundy
William Shatner seems like a nice guy, but I'm sorry, I just cannot comprehend how anyone let alone an allegedly sentient human being like Shatner doesn't understand how the weakest Presidential candidate in American history running the most pathetic campaign since Biden deservedly and decisively lost the election. Not buying it.
Truth doesn’t touch them. They live above us, in a wealthy celebrity world of narcissism.
IMHO, the reason half of the Hollywood and celebrity crowd and much of the city culture in the USA support the Dems and the Deep State is because they want that border open. Why? Serfs and drugs to be unobstructed and cheap. The elite have their slaves and drugs, and the government has its revenue from the cartels. Isn’t that a lovely picture of America? I am watching the effect of RFK, Jr., DOGE, on the flow of drugs into the country. Human trafficking will need border closure and control. Will this country be able to control the cartels and their goon squads? That would be a legacy of Trump.
Mexico hasn’t.
We're into one of Taylor Sheridan's shows, "Lioness". While the premise is pretty ridiculous (gorgeous females in SpecOps who handle business like John Wick) this season is actually touching on real issues, including human trafficking. At least some folks in HollyWeird are trying to bring attention to it.
Are you describing Donald Trump and Elon Musk?
Trolling, Tom?
Tom's not really wrong though, right? Those two are empirical Elites who found populist politics when the time was right. OTOH, the true, lifelong populists of the core crew, who have lived their lives more or less like regular folk, would be people like Gabbard most obviously, then Vance and Kennedy. Billionaire celebrity johnny-come-latelys just represent the natural first, transitional step in reverse engineering or -- depending on one's perspective -- organically navigating a way out of a plutocratic society in which the working class is hopped up on celebrity worship. Once hard times come, the true populists will need to be taking the reigns. Won't be all that long before Maralago starts rubbing the base the wrong way IMO.
Nah...I love you and you're always on my to do list to read Mon. morning. A day w/o Kunstler is a day w/o sunshine.
No, just the opposite, Tom. Your Blue world is going to get a rude awakening, hopefully.
Alas, much as I like Bill Shatner (Boston Legal was side-splitting hilarious at times) he is old and living in the past.
I was listening to his album he worked on with Ben Folds and Henry Rollins, "Has Been" ... it came out years ago and I decided to cue it up again while I was out running errands. He touches on subjects like the death of his wife, his relationship with his daughter, and life in general. Good for a few laughs. He was probably more "with it" back when they cut those tracks.
For multi-millionaires like Shatner the economy is good because that's all they see in their sphere of influence. They only hobnob with other wealthy people. They hire and pay servants to do their shopping and prepare their meals, clean their homes and maintain their yards while they hop from vacation house to vacation house. It doesn't surprise me at all that Bill Shatner (one of my favorite actors as a child) can't understand Trump's victory. A wealthy person's opinion on the economy is as worthless as sock with holes.
I call that archetype the "Limousine Liberal". They exist in their own vacuum/echo chambers.
Well there's the problem right there. ".......seems like a nice guy". HAHAHA . Great depth of thought. In fact, Shatner is an ACTOR. Brain dead Hollywoodian ACTOR. He ACTS for a living!
It's what he DOES.
But how we FEEL about anyone now is supposed to count for something ??
But, I’m trying to reach him to find out where he shops(LOL). Prices have gone down!
Shatner arrived from Canada, fully indoctrinated in the illusion of wealth via robbing the working poor as Government Mandarins (CBC) bleed you out as they tell you daily, they are there to "help" you.
Contribute nothing, take everything. Shatner's Canadian disease.
"allegedly sentient"
Hank,
You assume.
I believe Shatner was being sarcastic.
Oh now that’s giving credit where it is not due!!!
Unfortunately, people do not realize the pain and suffering they will be forced to endure from the years of Dems (uni-party) in charge. This is where were going to live the result of weak men creating hard times. Only good news is that it will lead to hard men who will make good times.
Strong men, not necessarily hard.
Semantics….and I suggest given the shit that we are in there will be few (in any good) options. Unfortunately, it will be hard men that will have to lead the way out. Thus the saying….Hard times make hard men….hard men make good times…good times make weak men…weak men make hard times….and the beat goes on. Pax
We have a nice local run coffee shop in our 9,000 pop city. Unique and used by me snd our large Hispanic population. Young owners. Now, the stupid city has let Dunkin AND Starbucks in on the main highway through town. I will not be drinking coffee there. Starbucks coffee sucks. Hopefully we locals can keep our local one going. Walmart has prevented any other grocery store from opening so we’re stuck with it. I do use the local nice Mexican supermarket but it’s actually more expensive and lacks things I need. But produce and other products are “cleaner” in ingredients. I hope the Democrat snobs writhe the rest of their lives with their voices a tiny squeak in the background. I was a democrat who learned the truth in 2021.
Starbucks coffee sucks.
My ex and my eldest son love this acid.
Starbucks taste always reminded me of the last dregs in the pot as you turned out the lights in the office.
No wonder sugar and creams are needed to offset the swill.
My local independent coffee shop’s founder at one point experimented to test a theory. He offered a faux Starbucks coffee. He took a mediocre bean and roasted it to death pretty much destroying it. Starbucks buyers who came in did indeed enjoy it! Point proven but he couldn’t bring himself to do it again :-)
Like Navy coffee, which much of the time was the last dregs in the pot.
Coffee in general tastes like dirt to me though I do enjoy the aroma of coffee in the office. I don't understand peoples' obsession with it. Back in the wild west people used coffee to mask the taste of river and well water. Today? Not sure what it is. The caffeine, probably.
It is a drug.
Lol! True! Not to mention $3.50 for a small cup of swill.
Yep, I hear what you're saying. I live in a small community in rural Texas (about 3500 and growing...eye roll), and we have two local pizza places. Recently, I began noticing Dominoes delivery vans in town and I wondered where they were coming from. Turns out there's a new Dominoes pizza right here in our town now. I hate seeing it happen as they will undoubtedly siphon a lot of business from the local businesses.
The local pizza place should change the name to “Checkers” and start delivering.
The Blues want control of every aspect of life. Incorporation allows them control of just about everything.
Just heard an interesting statement. Musk’s main influence in the Deep State will be the ability to expose the cretins on X, uninhibited. He is the Red equivalent of the MSM, being able to make toast out of the shenanigans of the Left. As news moves more and more to the social media approach, his influence will do nothing but increase.
Starbucks tea is horrible too. Bitter and acidic.
The task ahead is truly going to be one of Herculean proportions, and perhaps it’s most challenging aspect will be the essential element of having a single unity of purpose. That’s a tall order, with so many with their hands out for “their piece of the pie”.
Freedom has come to mean a lot of different things to a lot of people, and for most, it’s most necessary ingredient of personal sacrifice doesn’t even come to mind. But the transformation back into our original Constitutional Republic will not happen without some level of sacrifice in some measure being willingly borne by every American.
The people’s concept of the very original purpose of our form government, the Federal government in particular, has been thoroughly perverted after decades and decades of its flagrant disregard and willful ignoring of its very stringent Constitutional limits and parameters.
Our government was never intended to “fix every problem” - especially made up ones - or to “give us hand outs” for every damned thing under the sun.
It was designed to be nearly inconsequential and purely perfunctory in relation to our everyday lives, not the arbiter of every aspect of them.
Thus, the process of dismantling the monstrosity that currently masquerades as our federal government must absolutely and unequivocally go hand in hand with a “Manhattan Project” re-education of the American citizenry as to its original purpose, which, inevitably demand a sacrifice to varying degrees from the populace, but will be the only way we will ever truly get to experience genuine freedom, if that’s truly what we want.
It will be excruciatingly difficult, painful and disruptive, but absolutely necessary.
Very well said, Suzie. An appropriate maxim: Nothing worth having is ever easy.
Government cannot fix every problem. We are too many. Too diverse. Too many unique problems to be fixed. Hence the reason we need to be able to govern ourselves and resolve our own problems.
Trump cannot dismantle everything even if he were willing to try. He needs a willing Congress and that he does not have. Correct me if I am wrong but I don't think the Republicans can break a filibuster in the Senate, especially with so many Republicans willing to vote across the aisle.
Any real change is going to come because it MUST come, not because we want to fix things. Too many people with too many differing views. Something must happen that unite all of use and cause us to cast off the political parties and work together to resolve the issues.
"But the transformation back into our original Constitutional Republic will not happen without some level of sacrifice"
I am not so keen on how our representational Republic works. Perhaps term limits would make a difference but we need things to evolve to reflect the realities of our population and the 21st century.
And when I hear a "Manhattan Project" of "re-education" of the American citizenry why does Mao comes to mind? And what exactly are the sacrifices you're expecting for this so we get "genuine" freedom?
See there's never been a magical time when the citizenry of the U.S. was all on the same page and participated in the government. That should not be a goal.
The job of our government is to protect us from foreigners. That is its number one job per the Constitution.
Open border is a direct obliteration of that charter and is why all the Mayorkas types should be imprisoned for being traitors to their oath of office.
An outsized portion of Americans think it is the government’s job to care for them from cradle to grave.
It is not.
And It is not Maoist by any means to want our children (as well as adults!) to be educated about their country’s Founding Documents, freedoms, and principles. Every school should include that in their curriculum, as once upon a time we did just that, but conveniently stopped doing so little by little over time.
By sacrifices I mean Americans have to relearn how become more self-reliant, and no longer so dependent on the government to fix all their problems. That is not, and never was the government’s job.
The problems in the 21st century are pretty much the same as they were 250 years ago: war, crime, poverty, corruption, etc. The Constitution addresses all of these when applied appropriately, just not always the way some people may wish it did.
A lot to do to save America. There will be pushback by those that benefit from its destruction. Big Pharma, Big Ag, the Military Industrial Complex, the MSM. These are not inconsequential foes. They won't be defeated in a single election. We must be strong and forget expecting the government to come to our aid with other people's money. $35 trillion won't be found under our sofa cushions. Firing 80% of the government work force sounds drastic but may be the ONLY way to significantly shrink the deficit.
I know. As relieved as we are with a sane man now in charge, looking at the waste and lies, there is battle ahead…
First, eliminate deficit spending and balance the budget. Once that is accomplished, eliminate half of our defense spending. We would still be spending more than the rest of the world. Put the savings towards paying down the $35 trillion.
But, you are correct. Big pharma and the MIC won't take this lying down. Trump has only 4 years and the American people will swing the pendulum back to the Democrats in 2028. These problems are not going to go away.
Cankerpuss
Balance the Budget? Impossible. The service on the debt alone is over a trillion a year now. In microeconomics, the USA, by definition is bankrupt. Half the population is dependent on government outlays. Think about what Trump and his group face, how to make economic policy more conservative without driving society onto the streets.
Best case? Slow the increase in spending, and keep the tax and spend Blues out of office. It will take fifty years of slowing the spending to be able to balance the budget or start working on the debt. Mission Impossible?
Start thinking what will it be like to have no government support for the masses, AKA bankruptcy.
I disagree, JohnAZ. Balancing the budget is always possible. It's just going to be extremely painful and I don't know if there is the will to endure such pain.
@Kelly Harbeson I like your comment. Unfortunately, quite a few of those federal employees "work" in the business of administering government programs, and the biggest programs (in dollar terms) regard transfer payments that benefit people, including quite a few middle-class people, who will not like it.
Interest on the federal debt. Military spending. Transfer payments. If Federal employees could be replaced with robots, and their payroll (pay and benefits) eliminated, we are still left with the first three items, which are vastly more costly than the pay of Federal workers.
And there are many shell games, perfectly legal, played in the US. One easy example--the tax coded, which is very complicated. This complexity employs hundreds of thousands of accountants and tax preparers in what is essentially non-constructive work. Do you think these accountants' lobbyists will permit simplification of the tax code?
Still, every bit counts. It's a sure thing that, had Kamala Harris and the Democrats won, NOTHING positive would happen, and most likely, things would degrade even more. With Trump, it's possible we could see improvements. We need every bit at this point.
"and the biggest programs (in dollar terms) regard transfer payments that benefit people"
Perfect job for AI to do. In fact many of these jobs might do thing that appear complicated but a computer can figure out the differences in tax codes pretty quickly. We're going to see how many jobs are worthless.
Also, understand the difference between AI and a "robot". No need for robots.
Long, long before the 4 year term is up, you will know if this Herculean Task can get started.
Dems are truly the party of numbnuts. But also, as the party of liars, they know they were caught with the pants down, finally!
It will take a while to filter down to the democrats around me. Some will, some won’t. It was the child trans evil and my own president threatening me if I didn’t get the kill shots. A fairly sudden awakening. A realization that what my 14 yo granddaughter was going through—a transgender grooming, WAS THE PLAN ENABLED BY THE LEFT. As far as I’m concerned, the left is irredeemable and will never get my respect ever again. Ever. Over. I want vaporizing revenge. Now.
Now if you would just awaken to the Republican scum who have stabbed you in the back over and over and over. How many times have the Republicans held the Congress and the Executive but done nothing with that power to curb spending, reduce government, and eliminate unconstitutional agencies? People are still playing the tribe game. Democrat or Republican. Republican or Democrat. Their tribalism is blinding them to the fact that both parties want and do the same thing, they just use different jargon to get themselves there. Both spend too much money. Both continue waging foreign wars in lands that pose no threat or interest to the USA. Both refuse to deport all of the illegal immigrants. Political parties are the demise of America. More Americans need to cast off the party brainwashing and just think America first.
Get out of the business of passing lame to the Dems or the Republicans, these do not really exist any more. RINOS are counted as GOP and they are not MAGA, they are Deep State.
Trump has Dems in his group, get it? He is anti-Deep State, MAGA, not GOP. I wish he had declared a third party, MAGA. He couldn’t, but now perhaps with other anti- Deep Staters coming out of the Blue closet, he can form the MAGA party. Screw the RINOS! They are the worst.
Blame!
Primaries are important. Weeds must be pulled out and replaced.
I missed where she said she was going to the other side. All I got was that she didn't want to be a Democrat any more. That's a win. The end.
Oh, come on Red, you know for most people it is either Democrat or Republican. Even "independents" still vote Republican or Democrat.
Morning Jim - excellent as always. Thanks as always. I love you - sane, relentless, a fighter.
"The aggregate insult alone deserves a world-class beat-down." ~ JHK
Amen.
You hit on a point that has disgusted me for years-referring to us always and only as “consumers”, not as citizens. The differences between the two are monumental.
Amen.
I heartily enjoyed this morning's article. It's brilliant. I don't know how you manage to so beautifully and accurately describe the condescending self-owning ignorance of the Woke Jacobin left, but you do it like nobody else. So many great lines in today's post! I don't know where to start.
I guess the most satisyfing line is: "the punking of America by a gang of vicious, criminal snobs. The aggregate insult alone deserves a world-class beat-down. They know it, and they know they are going to get it, and it will be satisfying to watch them rat each other out as judgment nears."
I endeavor to avoid schadenfreude; however, I am only human. And I have saved all of the proof of the horrors unleashed upon us during the covid psyops, and the inducement of TDS to the point where I can't even talk to my former friends and most of my family - even if I don't bring up even one "political" issue or figure. The damage that the MKULtra tactics used via the mainstream media is vast and deep, and I don't know if it can be reversed. Peoples' minds are destroyed. In any case, if these people aren't somehow able to be deprogrammed, I am not sure how much we can progress.
Perhaps the answer is to just begin the work ourselves, and see whether they are smart enough to come along.
Thanks for the excellent work, Jim.
Good text, but it doesn't look far enough beyond the tip of the nose, let alone the horizon.
Rebuilding America, or any part of the world, to its former glory, whether real or imagined, is anachronistically delusional.
It's time to start connecting the dots, namely societal, economic, and, most importantly, physical issues. The way the world, the Occident in particular, has developed over the past few hundred years is fully owed to hydrocarbons - coal, oil, and natural gas. More specifically, cheap, easy to get hydrocarbons. That is no longer the case, they're not so cheap anymore, in the sense of energy needed to invest to obtain energy (not money, money is worthless shit). This will only get worse, and similar problems are faced in regard to just about all other resources. Energy, however, is the master resource, and matters the most.
Thus, rebuilding America's glory is impossible because the physical conditions that formerly allowed it to thrive are no longer there. That includes the aforementioned energy and other factors, such as privileged status after the two world wars, control over the world through the dollar and military strength, soft power thanks to the entertainment industry.
Gotta look to the future. All of humanity will have to reinvent itself and embrace a whole new paradigm. The notion of ongoing progress, growth (in the physical sense), the biblical dominion of the world, will have to be abandoned and replaced with a sustainable, unchanging existence aligned with natural cycles. The transition to a different source of energy is a pipe dream, not to mention that it wouldn't solve the dwindling reserves of other resources, rare earths, minerals. Fertilizer made using natural gas too!
As fucking disgusting as wokeism is and as heartwarming as is its rejection in Trump's election, the vast majority of people have no clue about what's in the pipeline, and the vote was mostly reactionary, cast in vain hope of returning to the heyday of America's prosperity. That ain't happening, as per the above.
It would behoove everybody to start looking forward and instead of invoking RE-building of this and that focus on building something new, taking into account the physical constraints humans will be facing.
Another point to make in addition to your points is that people are not having children anymore. Population is set to begin decreasing once the Baby Boomers are gone. Without population growth there is no economic growth. Who is going to buy all of those new homes if there isn't population growth. Who is going to buy all those new cars if there isn't population growth. Our young people are so obsessed with their phones they don't notice each other. Our young men are neutered by pornography addictions. Our young women have been taught to believe they don't need men and have grown to hate men. Babies are our future. Lots of babies result in economic growth. People aren't having lots of babies anymore.
The point I was trying to make is that people have to start looking beyond economic growth. The age of economic growth, driven by cheap energy, is nearing its end. We're on the downslope already, as energy is becoming too expensive (in the physical sense, in the sense that you get less energy from the energy you put in or, in other words, more energy needs to be invested to obtain energy).
We've built a very complex civilization and there ain't enough juice to run it and maintain it. Shit is crumbling all over the place. Bridges, roads, power infrastructure, you name it. The same goes, by extension, for everything else.
In the long run, the fact that people are not having kids is a good thing. The world's population has doubled over the past circa 40 years and that can't go on, even if there were enough resources (especially energy), which there aren't. Population will have to be reduced and if it happens because limpdick faggots can't get it up, so much the better. Certainly better than a war or some other violent event or another fucking covid and fuckccination.
The decadence you allude to, women fucked up in the head (men too), and all the other shit are side-effects of the energy- and resource-related structural issues.
I didn't disagree with you, Paul. I think you are right. I was just also stretching what you were saying to the fact that humans are naturally going to de-populate themselves by not reproducing. The need for all of this energy is going to naturally reduce itself simply through the reduction of population and the economic contractions that are going to follow.
Believe me, I agree that there are too many people on this planet. I can't go anywhere and be totally isolated, even back packing in high Rocky Mountain wilderness still yields other back packers who can't go three days without listening to loud hip hop rap music on their I-phones (true story).
The problem with population size is primarily energy. Although you can fit zillions of people into a city, everybody lives from what a chunk of land somewhere out there produces (distributed all over the world). The stuff is grow, harvested, processed, and delivered to us thanks to energy (hydrocarbons). Without energy, we'd lose the connection to the land out there and starve. Even if people went back to manual farming and even if they did it collectively, they wouldn't be able to produce enough to sustain themselves.
Rap in the Rockies is sick! The bears will hopefully eat the fuckers!
Cankerpuss is right. Demography is destiny. I see your point that we don't need a permanently increasing population, but there needs to be balance.
On paper, the lack of young people can be filled with "immigrants". In practice, when the immigrants are "too different" and too many, I think that will end a society, albeit less violently than war, or with less pain than natural disaster or economic calamity.
Agreed.
The problem is that the so-called elite, the people who run the circus, are not only the worst scum (they get where they are through the most abominable practices, backstabbing, corruption, the worst possible sleaze), but also stupid as fuck. They're good at scheming, sucking dick, and backstabbing, not looking beyond the horizon. If anything, they do quick fixes and myopic solutions.
Immigration is a farce. Instead of picking educated, hardworking, high-potential people who want to integrate (kinda the way it used to be), they not only let anybody in, but the newcomers are assigned a privileged status, allowed to bring whatever problems fucked up their world back at home, and all the rest.
Things are fucked up to the nth degree, just about completely inverted. All these issues, however, are secondary to the energy predicament and the underlying raison d'etre of this civilization - technological progress and economic growth for the sake of progress and growth.
We call all read all kinds of things into the election, and they all have varying elements of truth. IMO, the election was a referendum on the state of the nation under the Biden Administration--and Biden/Harris lost.
Even before reading JHK's "The Long Emergency" in 2006, during my young adult life, the 1980s and 1990s, I felt America was going in the wrong direction, by doubling down on suburbia and the new "exurbia". More sprawl. Bigger houses, with more house to cool and heat, with more wasted space, further away from jobs, doctors, shopping, etc.
Not that Americans are necessarily greedier and more materialistic than others--it's just that land was relatively cheap and plentiful AND America was relatively affluent. The energy crises of 1973 and 1979 should have alerted people to the physical constraints and resource limitations, but they did not.
Also, in the early 1990s, after the relatively peaceful implosion of the USSR, rather than declare "Mission Accomplished" and come home, the US decided to become the unipolar power, a position that is not sustainable by anyone, especially a nation that is not a dictatorship. The US has wasted trillions in what Candidate Trump called the "forever wars".
The US government/deep state has rolled the dice with Russia (Ukraine) and the middle east (Israel), and the latter (perhaps both, if Biden and the Deep State can provoke Russia) are going to spectacularly blow up and boomerang and overshadow the earlier paragraphs of this comment.
Empire. Suburban sprawl. Big moves with big, long-term impacts that cannot be undone in four years, or even four decades.
Of course, we need to do what we can as individuals to adopt, but I'd bet things in this world will continue to deteriorate--and we should try to slow the rate of decline. In that sense, it seems Trump's victory is the better outcome.
"If the Democratic Party had not gone completely insane for a decade, its many eggheads like Walter Isaacson and Michael Sandel would have been working on these major socio-economic transformations, instead of punking us with drag queens, pointless wars, and Marxian punishments."
The pusillanimous pricks have plenty to answer for, as they often knowingly committed damaging actions. But the Long Emergency also ushered in a great wave of denial in the early stages, much of it only possible due to the extreme wealth Western Civilization exploited due to fossil fuels and technology. Now there are many citizens getting clarification on their gut feel of "something ain't right" as they are slowly awakening, realizing things will not improve without some serious pain.
Like a roller coaster diving down from the top, the rather pleasant feeling of weightlessness and stomach floating is now morphing into the increasing g-force of slamming backwards into the seat, eyeballs pressed into sockets, face-ripping in the wind and white-knuckling of the crash bar as survival instinct kicks in. The screaming has just begun.
Knowing Bill Shanters background, he sucks at bluffing his way out of why his Democratic Party lost the election; I’m sure the wife he cheated on a lost, when she drowned herself in the backyard pool (fast enough for him to not be able to save her) would confirm that Bill Shanter sucks at bluffing his way out of trouble💀
He’s just a fat old has been bad actor. Why ask him anything or listen to the drivel old Hollywood farts spew. Hollywood—that bastion of fakes and pedos.
Guess he thought he was a badass, with his Elvis hairdo, when he tried-but failed-to rescue his wife from drowning💀
He was cool in his prime. Then he got old and fat, like all of us do. The pathetic thing about Hollywood is they are so self absorbed they don't go away when they get old and fat, unlike we normal folk.
Why should we normal folk go away just because we're old (fat optional)? Years and experience can as readily bring enlightenment as its opposite. Remember the adage "Too soon old, too late smart." There's something in that.
I don't disagree with you, but, as people age they tend to become more reclusive.
😂😂😂