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Open Thread - 10-02-26 - The Cause

Submitted by JtC on Fri, 10/02/2026 - 6:00am

I'm tired. I feel it in my muscles and bones. I have less stamina. This old body's been through a lot.

I'm getting old. I'm not as sharp as I used to be. I can't concentrate like I used to. I have less patience.

But, I'm still here, walking on the grass side of Terra.

Sometimes, while sitting at my desk I'll lean over a little to the right in my chair and look out the window at the beautiful countryside. The cardinals at the feeder, the mockingbird splashing in the birdbath, the multi-colored crepe myrtle trees swaying with the breeze, the squirrel infested and nut laden pecan tree, all outlined by huge loblolly pines and the big blue Texas sky.

And my mind wanders.

The beauty of the natural world is much the same as it always was, out in the country, as I remember it, anyway. That's been a constant, for most of my life.

But the temporal world of man has been anything but constant. The Machiavellian world. The world of politics, greed, and power.

Through the majority of my years the way of the world was fairly consistent, the American Dream worked, if you wanted it to. Life was better then. It was more stable, it was more private, there was less stress, and one thing's for sure, it was less expensive.

Then things turned dark. Things turned ominous. Things changed suddenly.

A maelstrom of turmoil and confusion swallowed the way of the world. As the Dream met with a quickening demise. And the world shuddered and shuttered.

And the pace quickened.

I wondered, there has to be a force behind this rapid change. Some causation. Something rational. Or irrational.

But what? Or whom?

Is there a hand guiding this denouement of an ancient Greek-like tragedy? What rationale is there for such a radical change in the way of the world.

And why? To what end?

Is it man-made? Is it natural? Is it both?

Is it organic? Is it all planned?

Where are we being taken to, out of our control?

There's so many black swans circling like vultures, it's hard to fathom it all. It seems like every day a new crisis is added to the roster of dilemmas. War, disease, famine, homelessness, the list is long, the solutions are untenable.

As I see it, there is one main problem that sits atop of this mountain of crises, and it's the root of our potential demise as a nation and a people, and maybe as a world.

I mentioned it above. Politics and the lust for greed and power.

Those are attributes of man, not of nature. Certainly there are natural concerns, but, in my opinion, our most urgent concerns are man-made.

One may surmise, I know I do, that the love of money and power will ultimately be catalyst of this country's great undoing.

Then look no further than the minds of powerful and greedy men as "the cause".

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In My Humble Opinion
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The Cause
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Comments

Submitted by JtC on Fri, 10/02/2026 - 12:37am

"Somewhere in my mind, there are things I think, I think, I'll find"...

...I think. (--Descartes [sort of])

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Submitted by QMS on Fri, 10/02/2026 - 8:07am
QMS's picture

.
in a more gradual way. The concentration of greed and evil
seemed to pass the tipping point about 30 years ago. It could
no longer be ignored or blamed on some episode of political
theater. And here we are, trying to salvage some form of positive
change. Grasping at straws? Dunno. Hope for the better.

Thanks for the OT!

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Zionism is a social disease

Submitted by JtC on Fri, 10/02/2026 - 9:57am

@QMS
when the shit wears you down, then refuse to stay down, because, fuck them.

Thanks for the comment, Cap. Hope you've dried out. Well, as dried out as an old sea dog can get, anyway.

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Submitted by orlbucfan on Fri, 10/02/2026 - 8:47am
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Just describing your casa makes me sigh. It's beautiful. Writing, painting, sketching, etc. are among the oldest and best psychological therapies. Shrinks have known that for decades. Smile I know we are close in age, and I hear you, loud and clear! In fact, I've got a barfday aka birthday coming up soon. LOL. Cheer up. Take a stroll in your lovely yard, weather permitting. And on that note, Rec'd!!

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

Submitted by JtC on Fri, 10/02/2026 - 10:20am

@orlbucfan
East Texas is lush and beautiful, it a lot like southern Louisiana, it's green and there's water everywhere.

I use writing and playing the dobro to keep my mind sharp, and chasing otc around the house for physical therapy. I'm still much in the learning phase of the dobro, and an old pro at chasing after otc. Oh, and the constant mental sparring with her helps as well.

Happy upcoming birthday, I'll be 73 next March. My brain tries to tell me I'm still 30, my butt says, "No you're not".

Thanks for stopping by.

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Submitted by Snode on Fri, 10/02/2026 - 10:20am

Everything has been assigned a dollar value, and a penalty assigned. Own your house? try being behind on your property taxes. Own your mind? Try being behind on your student loans. Own your body? Try paying off your medical bills , even with insurance. And the highest goal of business is to return profits to shareholders, and that profit should be the maximum they can extract from us.

Government used to do what was unprofitable for private industry, things we needed and voted for. Having our government develop those things we need as a people, our politicians then privatized as much as they could while also subsidizing, with our taxes, those same things, for as much profit as could be extracted. Most recent, the development of the internet.

Here we are, working for the company store, and the people we elected, no matter what stripe, made it happen.

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Submitted by JtC on Fri, 10/02/2026 - 10:54am

@Snode
laying the finger of guilt on the greedy and power hungry politicians and bankers is a recurring theme of mine. I try to pound that home, lest we all forget who's to blame for this shitshow.

Thanks for adding to that thesis. Well said, as usual, old friend.

I use to lay out hope that a collapse of the system would bring We the People some relief. Now I see that a collapse is what they are banking on to bring about their next phase of citizen servility to the leviathan of centralized federal government. They have plans for us. Our plan as non-servile and reluctant subjects should be to thwart their plans as best as possible, within means.

What really blows my mind is, just who do these people think they are that they can attempt to change the course of the path of humanity. Things were by no means perfect before, but things are certainly not better now. Those people don't think like you and I, their minds are wired differently.

I still think their plans will backfire on them though.

Thanks, man.

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Submitted by on the cusp on Fri, 10/02/2026 - 10:42am

I am gonna read this analysis of the plane rescue by the hero plumber. The comments are said to be hilarious.
https://www.unz.com/kbarrett/did-an-israeli-plumber-really-pull-an-emira...
We may as well joke about Bibi while it is still legal!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Submitted by JtC on Fri, 10/02/2026 - 11:27am

@on the cusp
the comments are double good.

It's not so easy to fool the awakened, but they aren't the target of that slop. It's the non-awake that will eat it up like a freshly baked propaganda pie, baked by a man that's trying to stay out of jail by reelection to his high seat of hell, of his own creation.

This reminds me of the Watergate Plumbers, remember them, only this plumber is there to fix the leak of a failing politician's popularity and ability to walk free.

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain cockpit door", so say internet commenters as they pull back the curtain.

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Submitted by on the cusp on Fri, 10/02/2026 - 11:05am

Exhaustipated (adj) Too tired to give a shit.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Submitted by JtC on Fri, 10/02/2026 - 11:35am

@on the cusp
so stealing that.

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Submitted by enhydra lutris on Fri, 10/02/2026 - 11:42am
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Illegitimi non carborundum

which is fake pseudo-latin, but still enormously applicable. You do have your wonderful environs to fall back on. Try not to fall back on Descartes, he blew it. (His whole artifice is dependent upon a deus ex machina, whereby, at the end he can only sustain it by declaring that god would not fool him.)

In a different context and with a different meaning, it has also been said:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

But that get's you ulcers, high blood pressure, and a host of other unproductive maladies. Besides, 73 isn't "old age", youngster. How will you know if you're old?
Fall down. If people laugh, you're still young; if they panic, you're old.

Continue to seek truth(s) and beauty and just be aware that if some opportunity somehow comes where we can make a difference you/we need to be ready to try to do so.

Meanwhile there is life to keep one busy.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --