The USSR is definitely the nearest analog. That was, what, 35 years ago. That’s very recent, in civilizational terms. A little over 100 years ago, in the early 20th century, several large, powerful empires collapsed. That’s relatively recent, all things considered.

Maybe it doesn’t seem to happen as much today because in the aftermath of all of those empires collapsing, new, more resilient nation states were formed, with more sustainable social, cultural and political systems. But the US is much older than all of them. The oldest democracy still going. Also by far the oldest federated, presidential republic. It’s hard to really compare the resiliency of a country like ours to, say, a much more recently formed parliamentary democracy, especially when most of those nations are much smaller than us by population, and are usually significantly less geographically and ethically diverse.

It’s like they’re daring me at this point.

I don’t want to leave this country. I was born here, my dad was born here, my dad’s dad was born here, etc. But, holy shit, this society is failing. It’s not failed, yet, but it is failing. I want to believe that things can turn around, but it gets harder everyday to hold onto that belief.

It’s especially hard because I feel like my proposals for how things could be fixed are actively, aggressively being fought against by many of my countrymen. Hell, we can’t even agree on the problems, let alone solutions. For a lot of Americans, there is no problem! This is all hunky-dory.

A nation is a shared idea. A nation exists when a group of people all agree that they are a nation. I ain’t in the same nation as these folks. They’ve got their idea of America and I’ve got mine, and they are two different things. I’m not a part of the shared idea anymore. It’s moved away from me. It’s become something that I don’t understand or agree with. I don’t think it’s moral or rational, or sustainable.

Frankly, I think the idea of America as a nation, as it stands right now, is doomed to fail. It’s far too tolerant of greed, ignorance and liars with malicious intent. A society like that won’t last. It will collapse.

So you’re telling me that people don’t like being bombed or shot by a foreign military, all while being told at the point of a gun that they should be grateful because it’s being done for their liberation? Well I’ll be darned.

If warming continues to accelerate, we’ll hit 2C before 2050.

“An important caveat, however, is that the acceleration may prove temporary,” said Beaulieu, who has published on the topic but was not involved in the new study. She added that the strong El Niño of 1998 also produced a period of apparent anomalous warming.

“The relative slowdown that followed was interpreted as evidence of a pause in global warming,” she said. “Continued monitoring over the next several years will be essential to determine whether the accelerated warming rate identified here represents a lasting shift or a transient feature of natural variability.”

It might be temporary. It might be transient. Then again, it might not be. We’d be taking a huge risk by proceeding on the assumption that it will only be temporary. If we’re wrong the consequences could be severe. Maybe some people are willing to risk the future on hope, but I don’t think that’s a wise decision.

You ever hear the saying: hope for the best, prepare for the worst? We’re not prepared. Not even close. It’s true the worst case scenario isn’t likely, but it is possible. And worse case, though not necessarily worst care scenarios are also possible, and more likely. We’re not prepared for those either.

I talked to god just now and he said Trump is a dipshit.

Eventually your auto insurance will go up to the point where it’s unaffordable to drive yourself.

Then I’ll sell my car for scrap and walk or bike. And when I can’t walk or bike anymore, well, there’s always mobility scooters.

Everyone suddenly has their own personal drivers.

I don’t want a driver. Even if I had enough money to pay a personal chauffeur, I wouldn’t want one. I prefer to drive my own car.

But maybe I’m in the minority on that one. Maybe most people would prefer self-driving cars. That’s fine, I guess, but I just hope someone keeps making regular cars, because I ain’t interested in being driven around by a robot.

Ideally I’d be able to live in a city or town designed around people, not cars. So I wouldn’t have to own a car, autonomous driving or otherwise, to get around.

Yeah, but the whole point of a car is autonomy and independence. The person’s, not the car’s. If you’re looking for someone, or something, to transport you places, buses and trains are much cheaper and safer.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”

It frustrates me beyond words that we can’t even get 51% of Americans to agree on something like this, which I think is so obvious. But, that’s where we are as a country. I suppose I need to have enough wisdom to accept that.

The Shah became quite autocratic by the early to mid 70s or so. But I think a fair number of Iranians today feel the Monarchy was preferable to the Islamist theocracy. And it should be up to the Iranian people. But if the Iranian people can’t come to a consensus, the decision will be made for them, by the Islamists or the monarchists or the US and Israel, or someone else.

I would wait until you know who will replace Khamenei before celebrating. When despots are killed it creates a power vacuum and power vacuums tend to get filled. Maybe it will be filled with something better, maybe it won’t. That’s why killing and hoping isn’t the best strategy.

1 in 4 Americans support this shit because it allows them to live out their own Punisher fantasies vicariously through the US military and State Department.

“Crockett is testing out the coarser, insult-comedy-style attacks that the GOP has embraced under Trump, the general idea being that when the Republicans go low, the Democrats should meet them there,” Godfrey wrote at the time.

It might be our only option. If that’s what a majority of Americans respond to, I don’t see any other choice. Democrats have to win elections to accomplish anything. Taking the high ground and losing is meaningless. We can no longer be content with moral victories, the Democrats need to actually win elections. Some liberals and leftists get really irritated whenever I point that out, but it’s the truth, inconvenient though it may be.

That being said, it all depends on whether or not this is actually what a majority of Americans will respond to. 77 some million Americans responded to it when Trump did it, otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten reelected. But, that’s only about 32% of eligible voters. Nowhere near a majority. The vast majority, 68%, of eligible voters didn’t respond well enough to Trump’s behavior to vote for him. However, only about 31% of eligible voters responded well enough to what the Democrats presented to vote for them. That’s not good enough.

The Democrats may never be able to get 68% of eligible voters to vote for them, but it sure would be nice if they could get at least 51%. I mean, if the Democrats could get 51% of eligible voters to vote for them, the Republicans would not stand a chance (obviously).

Does anyone know what 51% of eligible American voters want in a candidate? Whenever I ask this question, I think people just tell me what THEY want in a candidate, apparently assuming that what they want must be what a majority of eligible voters want. I think it’s natural for people to assume that they are indicative of the majority, but it’s not necessarily true. Perhaps asking the American people would give us some needed insights.

But maybe 51% of Americans just can’t agree on a candidate, or a party or an ideology. Maybe we’re too fractured for any kind of majority political consensus to exist.

I’m ashamed he’s my president but I’m more ashamed that a significant number of my fellow Americans don’t just tolerate his words and behavior, they fully and enthusiastically support them.

If Trump successfully fixes this election…

A lot of Americans wouldn’t only tolerate Trump fixing the election, they’d support it. Celebrate it, even.

Much of the rest of America doesn’t fully appreciate the threat. Many are just oblivious, but others are complacently holding on to their faith in our legal and political institutions. They believe in our system, and they believe it will ultimately hold up against the threat of a fascist takeover. I hope they’re right, but I don’t share their conviction. I think our institutions are far more vulnerable than many of them realize. Frankly, I think they’re unwavering devotion borders on hubris.

And my concerns about the integrity of our system are not baseless. I have seen our systems tested multiple times over the past few decades, essentially my entire adult life, and I would say the resiliency of our system has been… mixed, at best.

If things don’t turn around soon, I don’t see any other option.

I’ve never quite understood this, because the birth rate is highest at the lowest income level. So, the people who are least able to afford child care have the most kids. I know people will say the reason is a lack of education or insufficient access to birth control, but if that’s the case then what causes people to have fewer kids is a better education and more access to birth control, not unaffordability. And that seems to be supported by the fact that households making $50k to $75k have more kids than households making $150k to $200k. Yeah, they’re both making less than $400k, but the people making $200k are much closer to $400k, yet they have fewer kids.

That includes Jack Hughes, who scored the winning goal for Team USA and said the first person he thought of after scoring was Megan Keller—only to laugh along as the president insulted her team.

They don’t care. They don’t care because they’re arrogant and self absorbed, and they think that’s what makes a man. They think manliness is being uncaring and cocky. They think masculinity means just being a dick. And you know, it’s pretty common for young men to think that way. It’s kind of a young man thing. But, we’re supposed to grow out of that. Unfortunately, far, far too many men in our society today never do grow out of it. They stay immature, arrogant and dickish their whole lives. And now we’ve got a whole generation of men who think that’s ok, who think that’s how men are always supposed to act.

“People are so negative about things,” he continued. “I think everyone in that locker room knows how much we support them, how proud we are of them and we know the same way we feel about them, they feel about us.”

I’m sure he believes that, but I doubt he’s talked to a single member of the women’s team to hear their opinions on the matter. I doubt he cares.

It just goes to show the huge gender disconnect in this country. Trump is a white man’s president, and these white men can’t understand why everyone else is so mad at them. They are seriously lacking insight.

And I’m saying this as a white man. Not all of us are on board with this, but I can’t seem to explain to some of my fellow white men why they need to make some changes to how they view things. Again, they lack insight and I don’t know how to get them to open their damn eyes. I’ve kinda just stopped trying, and I just don’t talk to them about it anymore.

Edit: idk if it’s right to say Trump is a white man’s president, necessarily, because it’s not all white men and it’s not only white men, even if it is mostly white men. But, I do think it’s right to say that Trump is the president of people who have a certain attitude about manhood or masculinity. He’s the president for people who think they’re just inherently superior to everyone else. He’s the president for people who don’t care about anyone else. He’s the president for selfish, narcissistic people, and in this country a lot of white men are that way, unfortunately.