Reasons to Fear the End O' Times.

[Biggus Dickus]

Today is it. The final day of what future historians will surely record as the " End of Times", especially for those of us living in the US, but I also worry about all of you who are on the other side of the wall, and how you will fare during these dark, dystopian years.

Please remember some of us were good and decent, and fought the good fight against tyranny and stupidity. We didn't want Trump or any of this "Make America Great Again Fascism" crap, but maybe this is our time here in the US, similar to Europe during the last century...maybe the only way to clean house is allow the fascists to burn it down, and hope some decency survives.

I also realize I haven't made as many friends here on the forum as I'd had liked, rubbed some of you the wrong way, but I've enjoyed our time together, I was both entertained and educated reading your posts, and enjoyed the ribald exchange of barbs back and forth between us. (Except for Crow)

Be good out there. Be safe. Remember us kindly, and good luck.


Afraid I'm not very optimistic about the future am I, in fact during the holiday break I had a discussion with my daughter, and she told me that I was taking this too far, she told me she was really sad, as it appeared I was giving up hope. I told her that I wasn't going to stop protesting or fighting back against Trump and the Republicans, but rather that I honestly don't think the human race has much chance to survive itself, that the odds are not very good for us all.
We're destroying the planet, making it totally inhospitable, and now have someone in the White House who during a briefing asked more than once,..."Why are nuclear weapons off the table if we have them, why not use them"?


In fact like the great Harry Seldon from the Foundation Series, Math Historians are now predicting Society could collapse during the next decade.

My son said I was a pessimist for believing the human race would destroy itself, and that for the sake of other life forms possibly should destroy itself.

Quite like what Rust Cohle from True Detective said,

I think human consciousness is a tragic misstep in evolution. We became too self-aware. Nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself - we are creatures that should not exist by natural law... We are things that labor under the illusion of having a self, that accretion of sensory experience and feelings, programmed with total assurance that we are each somebody, when in fact everybody's nobody... I think the honorable thing for our species to do is to deny our programming. Stop reproducing, walk hand in hand into extinction - one last midnight, brothers and sisters opting out of a raw deal.

Anyway this is the last day, going to go for a long walk in a park nearby at lunch, maybe buy some flowers. Sing a Larry Cohen song to myself.

[Dave]

Well, could be the end of The New York Times!

Just the start of something else for the rest of you, and us to some degree no doubt!

Hari got it wrong in the end - is Trump a Mule as well as being an ass?

[Ecurb Noselrub]

I understand Bruno's concerns, but prophesies of the end have, so far, always been wrong.  I just take it a day at a time, and I'm finding some meaning in resisting Trump's Wall.  I've elected to take on one specific aspect of his agenda, and the prospect of a fight has me pumped up.  Something to live for, etc.  Don't give up.

[Firebird]

You know what, many people felt the same way during the Cold War, and yes, we came uncomfortably close to blowing ourselves to smithereens. But we didn't then. We also fucked up the environment in other ways (ozone, acid rain) but pulled ourselves back from the precipice then too.
This undoubtedly has the chance of being much, much worse. We've never had someone like Trump before and climate change is a much bigger risk than the others were. My guess is that things will be much harder for us over the next 30-40 years, and we might have to build floodwalls in our coastal cities, and there will be casualties from wars and the climate. But I don't think we're fucked. Hell, we survived the fall of Rome, the Dark Ages, the Black Death, two World Wars, and Justin Bieber. Clearly we've got perseverance.
Yeah, I have to convince myself of this too, but firechicklet's going to grow up in this world and I'm not going to give up on it just because we've entered one of those periods where everyone went crazy. It's happened before, and it'll happen again. But there's hope. The Republicans will do a lot of damage, but it'll be because they're attempting to undo the progress the Democrats managed to make over the last 70 years, and they won't be able to go all the way back. There's already backlash against repealing Obamacare and touching Medicare, gay marriage won't go anywhere, and more young people are non-religious than ever before.
And if we are fucked in the end, at least we had our little corner of the internet here to scream about it. Seriously, I come back here when I need to remind myself that there are other people like me who care and are not completely nuts. Thank you for that.
Even though you're distracting me from work

[Firebird]

Then I read this in the NY Times:

WASHINGTON — When President-elect Donald J. Trump offered Rick Perry the job of energy secretary five weeks ago, Mr. Perry gladly accepted, believing he was taking on a role as a global ambassador for the American oil and gas industry that he had long championed in his home state.

In the days after, Mr. Perry, the former Texas governor, discovered that he would be no such thing — that in fact, if confirmed by the Senate, he would become the steward of a vast national security complex he knew almost nothing about, caring for the most fearsome weapons on the planet, the United States' nuclear arsenal.

Ok, maybe we're fucked.

[Dave]

Then I read this in the NY Times:

WASHINGTON — When President-elect Donald J. Trump offered Rick Perry the job of energy secretary five weeks ago, Mr. Perry gladly accepted, believing he was taking on a role as a global ambassador for the American oil and gas industry that he had long championed in his home state.

In the days after, Mr. Perry, the former Texas governor, discovered that he would be no such thing — that in fact, if confirmed by the Senate, he would become the steward of a vast national security complex he knew almost nothing about, caring for the most fearsome weapons on the planet, the United States' nuclear arsenal.

Ok, maybe we're fucked.

Oh, fucking, dear.

[No one]

There is no need to fear the inevitable "end of times", it will come no matter what. That's the way it works. Everything eventually ends. Individual lifeforms. Species. Planets. Stars. Galaxies. And even at some point, the universe.

[Icarus]

Everything is not going to be alright. Some of our destiny may be twisted a bit but I have high hopes that Mr. T will be drummed out of the corps. He is clearly incompetent, dishonest, and emotionally incapable of fulfilling his duties as POTUS.  But so far a lot of citizens still believe that he is actually the key to prosperity and sound government.  The numbers are shrinking daily.

Right now DT is in deep shit because of his  numerous conflicts of interest.  Lord help us if we actually allow that condition to continue.

Here is what worries me. Some loony tune who dislikes the man, and feels that he has been wronged, may take a pot shot at him. I definitely do not want that to happen but it is a real possibility. Over time Trump enterprises has wronged countless small business owners and poor working stiffs. There are people who hate him more than we do.

If T were to be dismissed by impeachment or other means we would still have VP Pence who is a flaming flat earth fundie. 

Here is my salute to Bruce, and to Bruno and to all the rest of our HAFers who have some actual powers of reasoning.   Hang in there everyone, we will survive. We have to survive because of our obligation to so many little ones like Firechiclet.  Tomorrow is not the end of the world, It just feels like it.

[Tom62]

Would Trump really be such a bad president, like J.W. Bush was (or worse)?
There are lot of things that I don't like about Trump, but some of his politics would be beneficial.

For example, to invest money in the infrastructure is a very good idea.
Reducing military expenditure is another one.
Having a better relationship with Russia is not so bad either.

[OldGit]

What Tom said.

[Arturo]

He says things but that doesn't mean he is going to do them. He has been known to contradict himself and lie on multiple occasions. Also, the reasons he's doing these things? Don't seem like anything more than a grasp for power.

[Pasta Chick]

Except we don't actually know what any of that entails. Trump just says shit. There's no substance behind it at all. Stating positions means shit when you have no actual plan, and consistently switch positions while lying about it. The plans that he has outlined amount to benefits for the wealthy. There is no reason to believe his comments about infrastructure are not attempts to use businesses he refuses to separate from for his own benefit. There is absolutely no evidence he has idea what he's even talking about as far as infrastructure, given his multiple bankruptcies, gross miscalculations of project costs and timelines, and habit of not actually paying people.

I'm skeptical of how he's going to reduce military expenditures. Especially after the Air Force One bullshit he pulled. And the way vets are already screwed in this country.

And someone needs to define was "better relationship with Russia" means. I don't think we should be antagonizing Russia by any means but, allowing Russian interference into the election, being all cool with a nuclear arms race and ignoring the human rights crises (like LBGTQ) happening? Yeah, no.

[Pasta Chick]

I will be thrilled if he is only as bad as Bush Jr.

[Tank]

Would Trump really be such a bad president, like J.W. Bush was (or worse)?
There are lot of things that I don't like about Trump, but some of his politics would be beneficial.

For example, to invest money in the infrastructure is a very good idea.
Reducing military expenditure is another one.
Having a better relationship with Russia is not so bad either.

He was on the radio this morning saying he was going build up the armed forces.

[Dave]

I recall hearing something about Trump saying that his speech will be "philosophical" rather than stating policies.

Sounds like he may have no real idea what his own stance is. My guess us that analysis of his speech could end up "zero content"

I cannot see Trump as truly "philosophical"!