Assuming that Trump is ultimately unsuccessful in overthrowing the U.S. federal government, there will be an ongoing conversation about the content of the meme here.

We will never stop wondering how it was possible that a man who was roundly regarded as a deranged moron by so many intelligent and highly accomplished public servants who worked directly with him over a period of many years, came to rise, through a free and fair election, to become the most powerful person on Earth?

Of course, the reason this is on so many people’s minds is that it appears that there is a good chance that he’ll be re-elected.

Things that would be inconceivable anywhere else in the developed nations of Earth make perfect sense here in America.

 

Tagged with:

Here, Socrates reminds us of the problems associated with being what is essentially a tribal species.  We tend to look for differences between us, rather than similarities.  Then we use these perceived differences as motivation for hatred and, often, violence.

In my email signature I quote explorer and writer Freya Stark: “Few are the giants of the soul who actually feel that the human race is their family circle.”  Socrates was certainly among them.

One wonders if some global event, e.g., environmental collapse, could change all this.  It’s definitely a possibility.

 

 

 

Tagged with: ,

As I told my mom on the phone last night:

I’m ashamed and embarrassed to call myself an American.

This didn’t need to happen.

When I was a small boy, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower was president.  He was a principled and honorable human being, who acted on behalf of all the people, and made us proud to be U.S. citizens.

Tagged with:

In response to the meme here, an appropriate response might be: says who?

This is what the Christian right, i.e., the followers of the Republican Jesus, does every day of the week.

 

Tagged with: , ,

Here’s an article in Global Citizen that begins:

Record heat. Record rain. Record fires. Recording-breaking environmental news is starting to sound like a broken record.

As Samantha Burgess, the deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), summed it up: “2023 was an exceptional year, with climate records tumbling like dominoes.”

2023 was an exceptional year with climate records tumbling like dominoes. Not only is 2023 the warmest year on record, it is also the first year with all days over 1°C warmer than the pre-industrial period.

All this raises the question, of course, that since we’re clearly seeing the onset of environmental collapse, how much longer do we sit by and watch as the oil and gas industry profits from our civilization’s slow but steady demise?  Wish I had an answer to that one.

Tagged with:

From Aldous Huxley: “The greater part of the population is not very intelligent, dreads responsibility, and desires nothing better than to be told what to do. Provided the rulers do not interfere with its material comforts and its cherished beliefs, it is perfectly happy to let itself be ruled.”
This really does explain a great deal, at least about life in the United States.  As long as the masses can afford to live in some level of comfort, it is foolish of us to expect them to become politically active to any significant degree.

That said, it’s possible that the 2024 presidential election may present an interesting counter-example. As we sit here, 10 months away, we notice an incredible level of animus when it comes to Trump–even from members of his own party.  Traditional Republicans may be concerned that the GOP is rapidly establishing itself as a criminal enterprise, and thus untenable to their voting base.

Tagged with: , ,

Here’s Bobby Kennedy’s assertion on our society’s resistance to change.  He certainly nailed something important, but I would argue that what we’re looking at now, several decades after his death, has a far uglier and meaner look on its face.

The vast majority of Republican voters appear comfortable being led by a vicious criminal who is doing his level best to overthrow American democracy and replace it with a dictatorship featuring mass cruelty, the rejection of science, racism, fanatical Christianity, the demise of the middle class, and the abandonment of rule of law.

 

 

Tagged with: , , , ,

In a recent post I commented that proponents of inductive charging face a huge challenge:  the world is steadily replacing gas- and diesel-powered cars and trucks with EVs that are physically plugged in when not in use.

Here’s a meme suggesting that I’m wrong, but if this were authentic, wouldn’t the green sign have been written in Swedish?

Tagged with: ,

Over the years, I know I’ve recommended The Daily Stoic to readers a few times, and I hope you’ll clink on the link above to request their free daily email.

At left is one of the gems that Marcus Aurelius left as a suggestion as to how to live a harmonious life.

It makes one think about “lying and unjust men.” Perhaps, it’s somewhat comforting to be reminded that there was no shortage of evil in the world  2000 years ago. It’s very much credible that ancient Rome had its equivalents to Donald Trump and the other world dictators who used fear, lies, and violence in their quest to gain absolute power.

 

 

Tagged with:

So the laws of the land apply to every one of us–except for the single most powerful?

And that sounds like the underpinnings of a democracy?

He really is putting this country through hell.

Tagged with: