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Page added on October 1, 2017
The Dirty Secret of Catastrophism Exposed
If you are a reader of this blog, you may have been wondering what fun is there in writing every day about catastrophes to come: peak oil, abrupt climate change, mega financial collapses, etc. Why would anyone want to engage in that? Isn’t that a lot of stress?
Good questions; and I think I can confess to you our (the catastrophists) dirty secret. First of all, you have surely noticed that most of the leaders of the “catastrophist movement” are male. So, I can tell you that it is all a trick to seduce women. It works like this: first, we convince our female target that the world is going to end soon. Then, why should she oppose having a little fun with us before it is too late? Simple, isn’t it? But, before you think ill of me, let me also tell you that, a) I never tried that, b) it never works, and c) the lady is normally so stressed by the news of the impending doom that she fails to provide her best performance.
That’s a joke (of course!!) (*). It came to my mind while reading some recent news about Guy McPherson, the main proponent of the idea of the “Near Term Human Extinction” (NTE), who has been accused of being a sex predator for having abused of a follower of his, a woman in distress. About this story, let me say first that I stand by the rule that everyone should be assumed to be innocent unless proven guilty. Then, I can tell you that I see the near-term extinction of humankind as not impossible, although unlikely. This said, I think it is interesting to examine this story in some detail.
First of all, the row that erupted among the NTE followers was truly amazing for its verbal violence. Some people turned on Guy McPherson with a glee and a vehemence that I can only understand as the result of deep grudges that existed well before the story became known. McPherson’s own defense, then, was weak and probably counterproductive. He didn’t deny the accusations against him, rather, he erased his facebook page as if he was ashamed of something. Then, he vaguely spoke of “trolls” and “the deep state” having framed him, and that surely didn’t strengthen his position.
Clearly, there was a lot of stress to be vented out in the NTE group. Not surprising: if you go around saying that humankind will go extinct in a few decades at most, it has got to have some effect on your nerves. One of the reactions to such a situation is for people to find some solace in being together with other people who share the same ideas. It is human but, in the case of the NTE group, it seems to have taken a certain “cultic” aspect. At least, I noticed that, in many cases, NTE-oriented people tend to close all arguments with the statement that “Dr. McPherson said so”. That doesn’t mean that the NTE idea has generated a suicide cult or something like that; it is just that a strong reliance on a charismatic leader it is typical of these cases. Not rarely, cult leaders tend to misbehave in various ways, even though we have no proof that Guy McPherson did.
Within some limits, all of us, the catastrophists, may fall into the “cultic” trap and form tight groups of like-minded people. I notice it with what I write on this blog. Although I believe that our civilization is going to start declining in the near future (see my work on the “Seneca Effect”), I am far from being a hardcore doomer and sometimes I try to say that things are not so bad as some people say. In that case, I am often heavily criticized, apparently for denying the core ideas of the group (the cult). This effect is especially strong when I argue that renewable energy in the form of PV and wind can help us mitigate the unavoidable future decline. Some people seem to take this position as a personal insult and react consequently.
Again, it is understandable: for some people, it is less stressful to remain inside a group of like-minded people rather than venturing outside it. Yet, this is not good for one’s mental health. We are not necessarily doomed and we can still do something and help others to mitigate the effects of the future decline. For this, we don’t need to retreat into a cult. We just need a little help from our friends.
(*) It is a version of the joke of the multiple, mutually exclusive excuses of the lazy schoolboy for not having done his homework. It was because, a) he lost it, b) his dog ate it; and, b) he didn’t know it was assigned. (h/t Dmitry Orlov)
61 Comments on "The Dirty Secret of Catastrophism Exposed"
Ghung on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 10:13 am
And the flip side is the ‘cult’ of vocal deniers who, like little dogs hiding under the furniture, constantly yap loudly at the doomsday cultists as if that’s going to change the reality of multiple predicaments we collectively find ourselves in.
What a comical species we are.
Cloggie on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 10:25 am
Doomerism is a male strategy of keeping their wives as far away as possible from Italian shoe shops. Or any shop for that matter. Because “in the sticks” there are no shops.
It is btw a losing strategy as you can buy Italian shoes via amazon.com.
Davy on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 10:42 am
I am a doomer and prepper. My view has moderated significantly in just the last 3 years. It is now more a process than a great event. It is more a series of events in a process in various location but all interconnected. Acting like a techno optimist as if we are without dangers is being in denial. Being overly concerned like a NTE collapsenik and worried about a near term civilization killing event is not useful. What we need now is however we can be “useful” because we have so much work to do just to keep our head above the water of decline.
First we accept that multiple events or one event could radically damage our civilization at any time and render mankind primitive. Second we accept if we can manage to cooperate we can likely extend out the worst of what is ahead. Third we can’t save everyone and sacrifices are going to happen without a choice in the matter. Fourth we need a multiplicity of efforts so no one effort should take precedence. For example climate change is a likely a longer term civilization killer. Let’s not make the efforts to mitigate climate change a near term civilization killer. Fifth we need to focus on behaviors with demand management and population control. These will not achieve much because society can’t change much. It should be stressed to all those who care to address the likelihood of our civilization’s end that behavioral changes are the only way we can give many other mitigation efforts a chance to work. Finally, those of us who believe we are facing the end of our civilization within this century must realize that most people cannot process what we are talking about.
Most people will embrace the techno optimistic narrative of growth and development as the way to head off our problems even though this is the root of the current problem. We must recognize any significant and meaningful effort to address a coming end to our civilization would have the consequences of making the end sooner rather than later. Yet, the efforts will also make the worst that is coming less severe. IOW, if you demand manage and take effective action on population you will end the status quo of affluence. This will lead to more poverty and death sooner but less pain and suffering later.
There are only catch 22 tradeoffs anymore. There are no good ways forwards but there are a variety of less bad ways forward depending what our goals are. These goals are significant because it involves more or less. The effort for the environment, social justice, and or security must be balanced with cost benefit. There must be reality testing and budgeting. Logistics must be respected. There is too much ignoring of economic limits. There are way too many people who think we can make many things happen and the economy will be there. People are going to be sacrificed and this will not be fair. In the end we will lurch like a great ship towards an inevitable hit with a great obstacle. This hit will sink us but in the time it takes to get from here to there a lot can happen. A lot of life and a lot of death. Right now is the most critical time to start this process. Time is the most valuable resource at present. It is running out and can never be recovered.
Duncan Idaho on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 11:15 am
Well, just because we are in population overshoot, in a mass extinction, ecological collapse, resource wars, and runaway climate change doesn’t mean doom is near.
Party on!
(Dude, where is my frontal cortex?)
Cloggie on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 11:16 am
Basically support Bardi. Most likely development:
– No NTE
– no runaway climate change (global luckwarming instead)
– somewhat smooth energy transition as there is enough fossil fuel left
– what we saw happening with IT, computers and the internet between 1980-present, could repeat itself regarding the energy transition: every day yet another innovation, regular efficiency increases, price declines, larger wind turbines, large solar panels for under $100 at Walmart, everybody and his mother an e-vehicle, etc., etc.
No guarantees though.
And it is not because I am an incurable optimist. After all I fell for the Heinberg tale for a couple of years and then new data came in however that changed the picture, I dropped doomerism.
Now I see it repeated with climate doom: folks eager to jump on yet another doom tall tale. It is mainly a psychological issue of folks who love to put on a prophet robe and pretend to have knowledge the lesser Gods don’t.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Kbym7WYzs
(apneaman at [0:03] on the right)
Our self-styled Climate Lenin apneaman for instance once confessed that he intended to “enlighten the internet masses”. Insane self-aggrandizing.
GregT on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 12:05 pm
All of mankind’s predicaments are caused by, or related to, population overshoot. Population overshoot is the result of a surplus in the availability of energy. We continue to add more to our available energy mix, and breed at a rate of a billion more people every 11.6 years.
There is only one solution to population overshoot, voluntary or not.
Boat on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 1:48 pm
davy,
“Most people will embrace the techno optimistic narrative of growth and development as the way to head off our problems even though this is the root of the current problem”.
Trading coal for wind/solar will not head off our “problems”. Trading ff cars for electric cars will not head off our problems. But over the next 80 years, you can think….climate change could have been much worse, much faster and longer lasting. Thank greener tech/efficiency for its past, present, and future. Hell, let’s take a knee to the altar of science.
Boat on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 1:56 pm
greggiet,
“All of mankind’s predicaments are caused by, or related to, population overshoot”
Doing good so far.
“Population overshoot is the result of a surplus in the availability of energy”.
Wrong. There a plethora of reasons for Population overshoot. Energy is just one factor. Try some different books, your education is a little thin in this area.
Sissyfuss on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 3:22 pm
Boat; “your(sic) education is a little thin.”
That’s the pothead calling the kettle black.
onlooker on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 3:27 pm
No Boat, Greg is actually quite right. Directly it is obvious, more energy via the Bosh-Haber process and synthetic fertilizers has almost certain allowed a billion or more people to be alive who normally would not be. So energy in the form of food allows human to survive and to breed. But even less obvious excess energy has allowed modern civilization to take root. Modern civilization has allowed efficient transportation, effective medicine, infrastructure and tools to allow humans to survive and thrive in almost all regions of the Earth. So these are factors that have allowed for our population to grow. In fact, modern civilization is related to more people and a stable food supply. This allowed people to specialize in other occupations besides farming. This allowed them to invade and conquer other areas expanding Empire across the planet and the benefits I just cited as Empires were the hub of civilization in many cases.
Outcast_Searcher on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 3:32 pm
Cloggie, I KNEW there was a downside to all this great electronic technology aside from having to encrypt my data and keep an eye on my financial statements due to all the cyber-criminals out there!
Makes me really glad I never got married.
BTW, 40 years ago we had cars, and women insisted on driving, so living in the sticks didn’t cure the problem — it just made it less frequent.
LOL
Outcast_Searcher on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 3:38 pm
Well Greg, we could kill off people we don’t like. Hitler tried that, and it was frowned upon.
Today you can’t call a fat person fat or a blind person blind, so I’m pretty sure killing lots of people off would be REALLY frowned upon today.
You could try to get people to behave rationally and not overbreed. Good luck with that.
You could try to get people educated and have them use birth control. Somehow, irrationality like religion, and self interest (in a poor country, lots of kids are often seen to be like a 401-K as far as security for the elderly), so good luck with that.
China had the right idea with the one-child policy, but had to back down in the face to too few young people to care for too many old people AND run the country.
Maybe instead of taking away everyone’s job, that’s what robots should be doing — eldercare. But of course, that would be rational, so we can’t have THAT.
Boat on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 4:41 pm
While Confederate Monuments Fall in Texas’ Big Cities, Others Take a Slower Pace
https://www.texasobserver.org/knocked-off-their-pedestal/
kervennic on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 4:48 pm
Though i was a scientist, I never managed to understand this faith in renewable.
One has to be pretty dumb to think that such a technically intensive way will ever compete with coal and china is the living proof of this.
If there is a renewable, it is wood. With the ongoing collapse of wages, it is already our main fix.
It has two opsitive sides:
1) you work outside pretty much winter long so you do not need to light or warm your house during the day.
2) My muscle mass doubled in five years and a few zombie islamist with large knives make me laugh when i see what i can do with my large head splitting axe.
No way you’ll get that effect with any other renewable.
GregT on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 4:59 pm
“Well Greg, we could kill off people we don’t like.”
Well Outcast, as I said above; voluntary or not. We had our chance at voluntarily several decades ago, it is now far too late for that. The die off will be involuntary. The humans are not in control, mother nature is, and mother nature will not be sitting at the negotiating table with the humans.
GregT on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 5:02 pm
“Wrong. There a plethora of reasons for Population overshoot. Energy is just one factor.”
I guess we can add elementary biology, to the very long list of things that you do not understand Boat.
fmr-paultard on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 5:22 pm
i kept saying old men should beware of cults. i called nazi tard extremist preacher mollyneux a cult leader and you can find it on youtube. i was a paultard and i saw tons of video/dvds of his. i said i’m tired of cults tards who want to enslave me in the name of liberty. yes, they flock to movements because they sense fertile feeding ground.
and i said to everyone stop swinging off guy’s dick. i alone said don’t send me shekles, don’t follow me.
but generally i’m into empowering women to fight their way of of poverty. do this in non cultish way of course.
be careful out there, esp. for supertards. tard extremist nazi preachers are recruiting their cambridge five
fmr-paultard on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 5:28 pm
i discovered that nazi tard extremist preachers have very high sex drive but somehow paradoxically hate women. i don’t score but i don’t hate women. i love them. i think killing is easy and a good way to beat depression and a whole hosts of ills caused by feeling trapped. that’s why i encourage women to enlist and kill tard extremist nazi preachers.
there are some who thinks women can’t fight but they’re in the minority.
makati1 on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 5:56 pm
Ugo is just another hopey/feely writer that says we are doomed … BUT…IF…MAYBE we do this and this…
We sealed our fate long ago. Few, if any, humans will survive to see 2100. Using FF to build ‘alternates’ is just accelerating the end, not prolonging life on the planet. Tech is not the cure. It is the cause.
makati1 on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 6:06 pm
Outcast, The four years of WW2 killed off about 40 million people. That is about six months of increase today. About eight million die of starvation annually, today. Even if that was multiplied 10 times, the population would not shrink, The only way to kill billions is with nukes, which would end life totally.
Boat on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 6:11 pm
Another mak-fact-toid,
Like you have a clue to 100 years from now. In the last few years your fact-toids have been wrong unless they were US gov based. lol
JuanP on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 6:25 pm
I think we are doomed because of our human nature. It is only a matter of time. Humans destroy the environment, it’s what we do and we are very good at it and won’t stop. I am not a believer in any particular outcome, though, there are too many variables to consider.
It is likely that population will keep growing for a while while things keep getting worse. Renewable energy won’t change the final outcome in the least bit, but I believe in using it to prepare for what’s coming and cope with it when it comes. Many nuclear reactors will go Fukushima and we are likely to use nukes in a war in the future. Climate change, deforestation, ocean acidification, desertification, aquifer depletion, etc. will continue getting worse for the rest of our lives. I am a prepper focused on the basics: body temperature regulation, hydration, nutrition, and personal defense. Everything else is useless waste to me.
fmr-paultard on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 7:11 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAZTTTsSLjM
if a storm knocks it down how can u repair? u can’t. aswang will also prevent it from being fixed
Sissyfuss on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 8:45 pm
Unfortunately I agree with you completely, Juan. Maybe we should call it our human anti nature for that is what humann nature seems to be. We hate that which we can’t control.
Apneaman on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 10:23 pm
The End of Empire
“The American empire is coming to an end.”
“Our democracy has been captured and destroyed by corporations that steadily demand more tax cuts, more deregulation and impunity from prosecution for massive acts of financial fraud, all the while looting trillions from the U.S. treasury in the form of bailouts. The nation has lost the power and respect needed to induce allies in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa to do its bidding. Add to this the mounting destruction caused by climate change and you have a recipe for an emerging dystopia. Overseeing this descent at the highest levels of the federal and state governments is a motley collection of imbeciles, con artists, thieves, opportunists and warmongering generals. And to be clear, I am speaking about Democrats, too.”
“Short of a sudden and widespread popular revolt, which does not seem likely, the death spiral appears unstoppable, meaning the United States as we know it will no longer exist within a decade or, at most, two.”
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-end-of-empire/
Sounds like a catastrophe to me.
Apneaman on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 10:26 pm
Mangrove cover shows no significant increase ‘despite plantation efforts’
“KARACHI: Once rated the fifth largest mangrove forest in the world with a cover as high as 250,000 hectares a few decades ago, mangroves of the Indus delta now rank lower than 15th on the (global) list and have decreased to 98,014 hectares, indicating two to three per cent annual loss.
No significant success has been achieved to increase its size despite attempts for mass mangrove plantation in the delta.
These observations are part of a paper published in an international journal. Titled The Effect of Global Warming (Climate Change) on Mangroves of Indus Delta with Relevance to other Prevailing Anthropogenic Stresses, A critical review, the paper has been published in July this year in the European Academic Research journal.
It is authored by Dr Syed Mohammed Saifullah, a retired professor of Karachi University’s botany department.
The paper begins with the importance of mangroves and states that the total mangrove cover of the world has been estimated to be 137,760,000 hectares with an economic value of $200,000 to $900,000 per square kilometre and $1.6bn annually to ecosystem services.
“Besides, providing many goods and services to mankind, they also sustain about 80pc of global fisheries and serve as a sink of greenhouse gases. They fight back global warming through carbon sequestration at a higher rate than any other ecosystems on a unit area basis; it is estimated that as much as 25.5bn tons of carbon are sequestered by mangroves annually,” it says.”
https://www.dawn.com/news/1361040
Catastrophe in the making.
Apneaman on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 10:29 pm
Climate Change May Make Phoenix Uninhabitable By 2050
https://cleantechnica.com/2017/09/29/climate-change-may-make-phoenix-uninhabitable-2050/
By 2030 actually.
Bloomer on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 10:31 pm
I tend to agree with the posting. The largest most destructive cult in the world has a huge influence on society. The Southern Evangelist.
Cloggie on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 11:35 pm
“Short of a sudden and widespread popular revolt, which does not seem likely”
Keep on dreaming.
“Sounds like a catastrophe to me.”
For your bunch it is.
Your article is from a NYT writer and Pulitzer price winner. Interesting that the NYT admits that there is such a thing as US empire, rather than the “free West”.
The NYT is THE #1 “news” outlet of the US empire. And now they state the obvious, that 330 million people, tribally divided to the core, can’t hope to dominate 7 billion people and park them in a single power structure, owned by the owners of the NYT c.s.
What is remarkable that the NYT via mouthpiece Hedges admits it. This article itself will help set the unraveling of said empire in higher gear.
Timing? Article suggests 2030. I think the breakup will occur shortly after Trump will leave office, that is 2025 at the latest, exactly like happened with Gorbachev, that other failed reformer (of the Soviet empire).
The difference will be the bloodiness of the process. The breakup of the USSR went completely bloodless, well initially. Later you had Chechnya and now Donbass. But that’s it. Reason: these 15 Soviet republics were largely ethnically homogeneous.
No such luck with the US. The breakup of Yugoslavia, which happened mostly without foreign intervention apart from the end, cost 1% of the population their lives or 200,000. With foreign intervention like in Syria 2-3%. Expect in the US a multiple of these 200,000, like a million or more. “Catastrophe” you said? As I have said ad nauseam: there will be foreign (European and Russian) intervention on US soil. That will be the purpose of the formation of a European army, Macron announced last week.
How is the world going to look like? The article correctly predicts China will take over from the US and perhaps a multipolar world will emerge. Names are mentioned like Brasil, Turkey, India and even South-Africa. As always with Americans, Europe does not exist.lol
What really will happen is that the emerging Chinese super power will simply dictate the formation of a Greater European confederation as a counterweight against Chinese power.
The coming catastrophe will have major consequences for Europa. The multicult US vassal regimes will be washed away like their communist eastern European counter parts were in 1989. The defense against the invaders from the south will start in earnest, using the European navies with a shoot-to-kill license.
All globalist US centric post-1945 institutions like UN, IMF, etc will be closed down and moved to Eurasia (Kazakhstan?) and reshaped for a multipolar world, dominated by China and Eurosphere. Anglosphere will completely collapse, Australia and NZ will become Chinese sphere of influence, Londen will break-away from the UK and become a Caliphate and the US will balkanize. The Heartland will become a souvereign junior partner of Euro-Siberia, perhaps even adopt the euro. All the lies concerning WW2 will be dumped in the dustbin (German war guilt, holo-tale).
Thanks for the link apneaman. Epic.
Cloggie on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 11:43 pm
Small correction: this article was probably NOT published in the NYT, but written by a NYT columnist.
peakyeast on Sun, 1st Oct 2017 11:48 pm
It is difficult to get a world society to understand something when the wages and affluence depend on it not understanding it.
And so it has been for a long time.
Cloggie on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 12:24 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hedges
Professional Christian and hence leftist. A lot of folks here will love him. Socialist, anti-capitalist. Has an Asian wife who is a little too young and pretty for him.
https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Wong_Eunice.jpg
Quotes from wiki:
“and The New York Times,[4] where he was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years (1990–2005).”
“He has taught at Columbia University, New York University, the University of Toronto and Princeton University, where he is currently a visiting lecturer in African American studies.”
“He has described himself as a socialist,[9] and more specifically as a Christian anarchist,”
“Hedges spent 15 years as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times. He was based in the Middle East for five years, serving for four of those years as the Middle East bureau chief. He then covered the war in the former Yugoslavia as the Balkan bureau chief based in Sarajevo.”
“Hedges was an early critic of the Iraq War. In May 2003, Hedges delivered a commencement address at Rockford College in Rockford, Illinois, saying: “We are embarking on an occupation that, if history is any guide, will be as damaging to our souls as it will be to our prestige and power and security.”[25] His speech was received with boos and his microphone was shut off three minutes after he began speaking. His newspaper, The New York Times, criticized his statements and issued him a formal reprimand for “public remarks that could undermine public trust in the paper’s impartiality”.[27] Shortly after the incident, Hedges left The New York Times“
“In a December 15, 2014 article, Hedges compared the actions of ISIS today to the way Israel’s founding fathers acted in the late 1940s.”
“Hedges contended at the Left Forum in 2015 that with the “denouement of capitalism and the disintegration of globalism,” Karl Marx has been “vindicated as capitalism’s most prescient and important critic.” He elaborated that Marx “foresaw that capitalism had built within it the seeds of its own destruction”
Perhaps, but Marx his shabby communism went down the drain first.lol
Remedy: a tamed capitalism, that is max corporation size of say 10,000, max private wealth of say 50 million, radical ecological conditions as prescribed by the government and enshrined in law and international treaties. Basic income richer countries. Richer countries “adopting” poorer countries (neo-colonialism-lite) for knowledge transfer, micro-credit.
“Commenting on the 2016 election during an interview on The Real News, Hedges asserted that the modern American Left’s embrace of neoliberalism resulted in a dysfunctional democracy and has given rise to a Trump presidency, which he characterizes as “proto-fascist.”
Which is of course true, if you take into account that Americans like Hedges (and most here on this forum) understand absolutely nothing of history and instead project their slimy leftist-moralist wishful thinking onto history, letting mass-murder machines like the USSR off the hook and instead condemn Italian fascists around the clock, who merely wanted to protect their country against this communist mass murder machine takeover and killed internally less than 10 people throughout 20 years of fascism.
F* you America.
Cloggie on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 12:42 am
http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/trump-und-der-rassenhass-hawk-newsome-im-interview-a-1169929.html
Prominent BLM activist Hawk Newsome: “we are on the edge of a civil war”
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/ungarn-und-polen-jean-claude-juncker-gegen-finanzsanktionen-a-1170882.html
More populist victories: Juncker rejects financial sanctions against Poland and Hungary who refuse fake refugees (welfare tourists).
Dredd on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 4:54 am
Lame blog post.
Dredd on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 5:13 am
“I suspect the existence of what I call the `John Mercer effect’. Mercer (1978) suggested that global warming from burning of fossil fuels could lead to disastrous disintegration of the West Antarctic ice sheet, with a sea level rise of several meters worldwide. This was during the era when global warming was beginning to get attention from the United States Department of Energy and other science agencies. I noticed that scientists who disputed Mercer, suggesting that his paper was alarmist, were treated as being more authoritative” (Scientific reticence and sea level rise).
Dredd on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 5:16 am
“To hell with the truth! As the history of the world proves, the truth has no bearing on anything. It’s irrelevant and immaterial, as the lawyers say. The lie of a pipe dream is what gives life to the whole misbegotten mad lot of us, drunk or sober.”
― Eugene O’Neill, The Iceman Cometh
makati1 on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 5:30 am
“At least 20 people were killed and more than 100 wounded after a gunman on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay casino opened fire on an outdoor music festival on the Las Vegas Strip late Sunday, according to the WSJ. Police said they were first alerted to reports of an incident at 10:08 p.m. and then determined there was a shooter on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino who was targeting the nearby Route 91 Harvest Festival.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-10-02/shooter-las-vegas-concert-kills-20-injures-over-100
And the beat goes on in the land of guns and insanity.
Cloggie on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 5:45 am
50+ dead now.
Israeli radio (so it absolutely needs to be confirmed first):
https://twitter.com/davidbjpost/status/914785026235092992
“#Israel Radio reporting #LasVegasShooting shooter is Samir Al-Hajib – an American convert to Islam.”
Davy on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 5:56 am
“Short of a sudden and widespread popular revolt, which does not seem likely, the death spiral appears unstoppable, meaning the United States as we know it will no longer exist within a decade or, at most, two.”
“Sounds like a catastrophe to me.”
Sounds like drama to me. We are in decline and decay. We are coming down from a higher level so this is worse than many other areas but it is little different than the trend everywhere including Canada and Europe. The US may be the last man standing in a decade or two who knows I see no evidence other areas like China will fare any better.
Davy on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 6:00 am
“can’t hope to dominate 7 billion people and park them in a single power structure, owned by the owners of the NYT c.s.”
That is BS extremism we don’t dominate the world anymore as that statement says.
“What really will happen is that the emerging Chinese super power will simply dictate the formation of a Greater European confederation as a counterweight against Chinese power.”
Dream on with your fantasy future
“Thanks for the link apneaman. Epic.”
More like typical lame anti-Americanism which is extremist irrelevancy. You guys need to look around the world and take the extremist glasses off.
Davy on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 6:04 am
“Remedy: a tamed capitalism, that is max corporation size of say 10,000, max private wealth of say 50 million, radical ecological conditions as prescribed by the government and enshrined in law and international treaties. Basic income richer countries. Richer countries “adopting” poorer countries (neo-colonialism-lite) for knowledge transfer, micro-credit.”
AAH, how are you going to pay for that fantasy? How are you gong to get from here to there? You don’t have a clue about the systematic nature of civilization. They break before they do such things and when this current global one breaks we all break. BTW, I love the colonialism –lite by the loving Europeans..LMFAO
Davy on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 6:05 am
“F* you America.”
Getting emotional clogged head? Maybe the reality revisions and the fantasy future are broken. That will cause emotional distress when your identity is baes on it.
Davy on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 6:07 am
“Prominent BLM activist Hawk Newsome: “we are on the edge of a civil war”
Sure clogged mind, you could only wish. Man you are going off the deep end.
Cloggie on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 8:40 am
New “Pentagon Papers”:
https://ssi.armywarcollege.edu/pdffiles/PUB1358.pdf
“At our own peril”
Core message: “sorry folks, we are no longer hegemonic”
the U.S. military “no longer enjoys an unassailable position versus state competitors,” and “it no longer can… automatically generate consistent and sustained local military superiority at range.” This sober assessment led the Pentagon’s top strategists to “the jarring realization that ‘we can lose.’” Increasingly, Pentagon planners find, the “self-image of a matchless global leader” provides a “flawed foundation for forward-looking defense strategy… under post-primacy conditions.” This Pentagon report also warned that, like Russia, China is “engaged in a deliberate program to demonstrate the limits of U.S. authority”; hence, Beijing’s bid for “Pacific primacy” and its “campaign to expand its control over the South China Sea.”
http://www.unz.com/article/world-war-iii-with-china/
“World War III with China
How It Might Actually Be Fought”
Davy on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 9:35 am
Old news f-clog. Get with the times. The US military is far ahead of you in understanding the reality of a multipolar world. You are so excited you are aware of it and think they are not. Whoop ti doo f-clog. The US military is not going to let go of what and who it is overnight. It will happen as time goes on. If there is a WWIII then we will all likely be in a radically altered world
Cloggie on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 10:28 am
You are so excited you are aware of it and think they are not.
I was quoting the Pentagon for Christ sake, not myself!
If there is a WWIII then we will all likely be in a radically altered world
You got that right.
“Prominent BLM activist Hawk Newsome: “we are on the edge of a civil war”
Sure clogged mind, you could only wish. Man you are going off the deep end.
Davy has been preparing for a black swan event for years and making statements that we “should plan for a humanity the size of one billion”.
But now that it becomes clear that the first black swan event will likely take place in the US itself, Davy all of sudden shows his true colors and begins to call names as if he is a cornered animal.
Davy on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 11:25 am
“I was quoting the Pentagon for Christ sake, not myself!”
Yea f-clog, in an excited way
“But now that it becomes clear that the first black swan event will likely take place in the US itself”
Who says f-clog? It could happen anywhere in this interconnected global world. It is you who are and anti-American agendist speculating a black swan event will likely be in the US. BTW, I have been talking about a collapse process with the possibility of an event. More likely a series of events in a process. When you are discredited all you can do is put words in others mouth.
“Davy all of sudden shows his true colors and begins to call names as if he is a cornered animal.”
You are the confused animal. It appears Europe may be where this world unravels. Look at Brexit and now look at Spain. Plenty of terrorism and disunity in Eurotard land.
Revi on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 12:12 pm
We don’t have to be catastrophists any more. Just turn on the news. Nature and people are taking us down. Don’t believe it?
Don’t turn on the news!
Apneaman on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 1:31 pm
A Dramatic Increase in Annual Average Temperatures for U.S. Cities This Decade
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/dramatic-increase-annual-average-temperatures-us-cities-decade
Apneaman on Mon, 2nd Oct 2017 6:29 pm
Stark Evidence: A Warmer World Is Sparking More and Bigger Wildfires
The increase in forest fires, seen this summer from North America to the Mediterranean to Siberia, is directly linked to climate change, scientists say. And as the world continues to warm, there will be greater risk for fires on nearly every continent.
http://e360.yale.edu/features/the-evidence-is-clear-a-warmer-world-means-more-wildfires
Brazil’s worst month ever for forest fires blamed on human activity
September saw more fires than any month on record, as experts say uptick is due to expansion of agriculture and reduction of oversight and surveillance
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/28/brazil-forest-fires-deforestation-september-record-amazon
Once great terrestrial carbon sinks are now carbon sources. Big time catastrophe.
If you’re a Cancer and you know it clap your hands
CLAP! CLAP!
If you’re a Cancer and you know it clap your hands
CLAP! CLAP!
If you’re a Cancer and you know it then burning down your kids future for a few dollars more will surely show it.
If you’re a Cancer and you know it clap your hands
CLAP! CLAP!