Today is a dark day in human history.
A very empty and sick man has been given power to enough to ensure the extinction of our species. An entire Nation allowed him to have this power. Many in that Nation are foolish enough to excuse themselves because they did not vote for him. It is this level of lack of understanding that made him president.
Many of us (but not enough) have been warning about the factions among us who were working for years to get us to this point. As Steve Bannon told the republicans the other day, this is not a debate. He is serious about his goals. He is not playing politics. If you are, you are more dangerous than any of them as dangerous as they are.
People have been blinded by religion, racism, fear of their own homosexuality, and economic myths used to disguise greed so that they will “debate” the fictitious issues with enthusiasm and total lack of awareness of the consequences of the positions they take.
Having been struggling most of my 81 years to get people to take our need to live in a sustainable manner seriously, I am totally disgusted with the liberals, progressives, etc. who still see this as a time for debate and winning political arguments.
We have gone to war for false pretenses like danger to our families, way of life, etc. What a bunch of malarkey - yet a justification for deaths in huge numbers.
Now we have installed a dictator who is ending every attempt to try to survive. His suicidal bent may also lead to nuclear war, but that will only contribute to the eventual end of our species and unimaginable suffering for future generations until the species disappears.
The sense of helplessness that overtakes me is only exceeded by my wanting to cry out until people wake up. Maybe I am losing it. I am 81. I can ride it out and deaden the feelings as best I can. But that is not who I am. We must act!
Comments
You know
America was never going to be the nation that saved the human species from a climate disaster. Trump only made it clear to everyone that was the case. The Dems would have and have done very little over the last 30 years to stop climate change, and would have done very little different if HRC had one except pay it lip service. They are addicted to the fossil fuel lobby money too. The miniscule and vastly insufficient regs Obama put in were too little too late and HRC was not going to stop fracking here or anywhere else in the world.
Most of the damage is locked in now. It was probably locked in 20 years ago when we didn't begin an immediate start to a fossil fuel free, sustainable world model then when Bill, Clinton was in office. The only power to limit the damage now comes from us. The little people.
And the rest of the world living without delusions of Empire and exceptionalism.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
Trump will be hated by everybody after it's too late
Some people just aren't going to accept climate change until it's all around them and undeniable by anybody. The causes of climate change are so enriching for these people that their brains will simply not allow them to change their views of the World no matter how glaring the reality.
Beware the bullshit factories.
I will not accept fault. But I understand the blamed.
I am one of those, sorry, why do I feel that others should be punished? They would not listen to me, a mere human. Just a normal like them? Meanness is erupting. Civil War may be close. I do not have a firearm. Becoming afraid.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
I resemble that remark! :-)
Ego te audio! (I hear you!)
For the vast majority of real Americans, we had no choice in these matters. Our interests run counter to those of the fossil-fuel mongers and the likes of Goldman Sachs. Therefore, anybody likely to represent or defend those interests were neutralized, early and often, as Goldman had the gold to do it and we didn't.
We have about as much control over our current situation as someone locked in the trunk of a stolen automobile. The fact that our name is on the title has exactly zero bearing on how the vehicle is driven.
And most of the world's peoples know it, too. They know we are just as much victims as they are.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Well, my outrage at Trump's actions
is somewhat tempered by the fact that Obama stalled any climate actions for so long that almost none of the regs Trump just cancelled have actually been implemented yet. He made sure they could be easily cancelled out by any of his successors.
You are absolutely correct
Why did it take him almost 8 years to pass his legislation that should have been the first things he did after becoming president.
Instead he waited until the republicans were able to block his legislation and instead of using the bully pulpit, he rolled over and didn't fight for what he wanted. (Except for the ACA and the TPP)
The democrats did the same thing and have been doing this for well over 3-4 decades but I really noticed it after the 2006 election when they ran on rolling back the Bush abuses and after they won basically said never mind, we were just kidding.
On at least 4 websites this evening I saw headlines on "The democrats need to do this if they want to retake congress" and other types of headlines. I don't bother reading them since I know that they aren't going to change anything about how they govern.
Pelosi told us just that when she said that they aren't going to change anything.
The comments in my local news website about climate change run about 7/3 against believing that it's real and that there is something we can do about it.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Ok. It is my fault. I am to blame.
I didn't walk up a 2 mile hill to my office daily, or walk back down at night. I didn't have $50,000 to install solar panels to cut my light bill by 30%. I didn't consistently hang my clothes to dry. I didn't always sort out my garbage.
I didn't convince more than a few climate deniers to see the truth, out of thousands of attempts.
I didn't send money to candidates for office that understood climate change, because there were none. I didn't actively recruit people to run against the knuckle draggers. my bad.
I didn't write books, like you did. I didn't write articles, like you did. I have no academic credentials like you do, Don. Nobody listens to me like they would you, Don.
I have been protesting government bullshit for 50 years, to absolutely no effect, Don.
"We" doesn't mean what you think it does, my friend.
But load it up on me. Blame me.
I am used to carrying the weight.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
@on the cusp blame is a coward's game.
blame is a coward's game. responsibility is widespread. We made this clear in the book: Global Insanity: How Homo sapiens Lost Touch with Reality while Transforming the World
An idea is not responsible for who happens to be carrying it at the time. It stands or it falls on its own merits.
The Rest of Humanity
will have to take the lead on this one. Our buffoon-in-chief will do nothing but try to restore the smokestack economy of his childhood. The State Department is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Exxon/Mobile, it's first act to approve the Keystone XL pipeline (was there any doubt it would?).
The pipeline will be useless if Canada shuts down the tar sands. Step up your game, Trudeau. Oops. "No country would find 173 billion barrels of oil in the ground and just leave them there".
If the rest of the world won't lead, making sure every gram of carbon stays in the ground forever, whatever El Trumpo does or doesn't do won't make any difference. Eventually this farce of an administration will pass. Maybe the next one will be better, maybe worse.
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone
I have been wondering if Hillary was meant to lose to
Trump because whoever is running the government behind the scenes wanted him to do exactly what he has appointed his cabinet members to do.
Almost every one of them are not qualified for the positions that they are in charge of and they are supposed to run them into the ground by destroying them or cutting off the funding for them.
Carson is just as qualified to run the HUD department as I am, but I wouldn't cut the funding for it as he is. He is cutting the program by 31% and it was already defended when Clinton passed the crime bill.
Look at what DeVos wants to do to the education department.
As you wrote, the state department is a wholly owned subsidie of Exxon mobile.
Trump wants to not just cut off the funding for the LIHEAP program which helps low income people to survive the winter, he wants to do away with it period. That means that people are going to die if he's able to get that passed.
And what is he going to do with the food stamps program or any of the other programs poor, elderly and disabled people rely on?
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Drumpf Was a Palatable Substitute. Like "Good" Fast Food.
He still accomplishes the same goal, privatize public functions and give democracy and self governance a black eye. It's just faster and more unpredictable, . It requires a safety belt, as it might be a bit of a bumpy ride.
Still going the same place though. Not much to worry about down in steerage.
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
Obama hired practically the
same people. When he announced his cabinet in Jan., Feb. 2009 it was pretty much Repub choices. We should have known then that he had zero intentions of keeping any campaign promises, hope and change a crock of crap.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Obama cabinet came from Citigroup list.
Froman sent him the names before the election.
this is in Podesta emails.
totally busted Obama as a fake and liar.
thank dog for wikileaks.
haha.
Yes I knew that he had hired the same group of people
who were responsible for the global economic crisis and that Podesta sent him an email telling him who to hire.
The betrayal of his promise to filibuster the fisa bill was the beginning of his betrayals and wasn't even in office yet. That should have been our first clue that he was blowing shit, but people gave him a pass. He had to vote for it so he could become president and then he would fix it. He certainly did fix it. I don't know how many companies were involved with the spying before he was president but now there are over 800' private companies who can spy on us.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Froman (of Citigroup) sent the list to Podesta,
who passed it on to the "boss".
I suspect Citigroup sponsorship had much to do with Obama's "sudden rise to stardom" in 2004.
Froman brought Obama to Rubin about that time.
A smart play by Citigroup.
We should demand 30%
off the top from the ISPs that sell our data. How they can steal our data, then sell it without us getting a cut is uncapitalistic, unless they define capitalism as stealing everything they can and then sell to the highest bidder. wait a second...
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
@Wink
Best bet - start drinking heavily, if this situation doesn't have you there already - make certain that your liver's unsaleable ASAP...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Funny, I had a few
extry bucks in early Feb. and bought a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red scotch just to have on hand. The black label a tad out of reach. [sigh]
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.