Evil

Politricks

Chill Evil

Might as well put Xi Jinping in charge of the country. This is more than about politics. Even though I disagreed enormously with Reagan and the first George Bush, I did believe they had the best interests of the US at heart.

I do not believe that about Trump and his cronies. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Children Forever

Chill Evil

Wow, all of that has gotten so much worse. I rented a hotel room back in the 90s as a sixteen-year-old in Orlando, Florida. A decent one too. My friends and I were going to see Tori Amos and didn’t want to drive back in the middle of the night.

It looks like that’d be totally impossible now even as a twenty-year-old. Which is fucking insane. But I guess that goes hand in hand with the insistence by many “feminists” that women are children until they are 35 or 40. Different aspects of the same terrible trend.

Next-level Clownishness

Chill Clowns, Evil

MAGA clowns are so stupid. Fundamentally, they are just dumbasses.

No Energy Star: I want my refrigerator rollin’ coal!

No NSF or NIH: I want to be sick with everything all the time forever while living in a cave! I love the smell of pustules and buboes in the morning!

No NOAA: Durrr, I think weather is the same as climate and both are evil!

No trade with other countries: Elves will surely make all this shit by magic! I saw it on Joe Rogan!

No EPA: I love nothing more than burning rivers and my kids dying of lead poisoning at six years old. That is, if the measles or rubella or whooping cough don’t get ’em first!

Come on, these are not serious people. Though they are seriously harmful. They are idiots and absolutely deserve to be made fun of.

Divided

Chill Clowns, Evil

NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions.

This will harm the United States and its position in the world for the next 100 years. It’ll be devastating to science, to America, and to everyone everywhere who has benefited and would benefit in the future from advancements funded by the NSF.

I do believe the enemies of the US substantially run the country now. No other explanation makes sense. You’d only destroy the NSF if you wanted to hobble America in the future.

Calam Down

Chill Clowns, Evil, Political Economy

Most Americans alive today have not experienced an era of extended decline. I haven’t either, but was around people commonly as a kid who had struggled to survive through the Great Depression. I suspect the upcoming calamity will be one that most people are totally unequipped to deal with.

It’s hard to know specifics now, of course, but I expect the Trump Depression to last 8-ish years (though it could be as much as 20), at the peak to have about 40% unemployment and to result in a decrease in US GDP of 20-30% in real dollar terms.

And that’s the most likely but far from how bad it could get. Worst case could be even more horrifyingly terrible. The middle-bad case is locked in now; it’s coming, like it or not. (And no one should like it, not even the most MAGA-addled doofball.)

NSF Anyone

Chill Evil

NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones.

The totally-preventable self-destruction continues. NSF grants were instrumental in creating the internet, most of modern computing, clean energy tech, on and on ad infinitum.

This is what happens when your enemies are in charge of your country. And again, I do not mean my political enemies. I mean that Russia and China appear to be running the place. And if they aren’t this is exactly what they’d do if they were, so what does it matter?

Weeks Away

Chill Clowns, Evil, Political Economy

The last boats without crippling tariffs from China are arriving. The countdown to shortages and higher prices has begun.

I cannot stress this enough: if there is something you think might want or need in the next few years and it’s not perishable, buy it now. There’s an extremely good chance you might not be able to obtain it in the future, or perhaps ever again in the worst case. Very best case, it’ll just cost vastly more.

We’ve already bought computers and related that is likely to last 10-ish years, enough food to last a few months if we’re fairly austere 1, some water and other supplies. We probably still should buy some batteries and related things, but what’s left is minor. We own our own home free and clear (no lien) so it’s nearly impossible to dislodge us as long as we keep paying taxes. And we live in a warm enough climate that we could survive the winter even without reliable heat and/or electricity.

We’re about as ready as we can be without going full prepper-in-the-mountains. Which we have no plans to do.

A very bad few years lie ahead of us. I hope everyone is doing the best they can to avoid the refrigerator box by the side of the road, which will be the fate of all too many Americans.

  1. More than this is fairly pointless in reality.

Future Decline

Chill Evil, Political Economy, Prediction

US economy shrinks in first quarter of Trump 2.0 amid sweeping tariffs.

This is the beginning of the beginning of the depression that is on the way. This quarter of economic decline didn’t occur because of tariffs, but rather due to business uncertainty. That is actually worse than tariffs and as long as Trump makes random unaccountable decisions the economy will only get worse.

Too much is up in the air at the moment for more substantive claims, but we are definitely going to be in a depression for a while. The best case scenario is 2-3 years. I give this a 30% chance. The most likely case is 5-8 years of depression followed by low growth. I give this one a 60% chance. And the apocalyptic case is complete destruction of the economy with further Trump-like figures succeeding him. This would perpetuate depression conditions (even if there is some intermittent growth occurring due to how great was the decline) for 20+ years. This of course has a 10% chance of happening.

We are living in terrible times. They’re already here. Most people just don’t know it yet because they can’t see that the plane has already lost all power and the mountains loom in the distance.

Tsunami Inbound

Chill Clowns, Evil, Political Economy

This is going to be worse than I initially thought, so I bought more crap than I had originally planned. It’s the last chance now and in the next week or two.

Then, many many things will be vastly more expensive or impossible to get at all. It’s coming. Be warned. Or don’t. Either way, I’ll avoid doing the stupid. Maybe we should’ve immigrated, but too late for that now.

We’re here and are as ready as we can be.

Not So Grate

Chill Evil

Europe is at risk from immigration in a way that the US largely is not. Allowing and even encouraging unrestricted immigration from Islamic countries is going to destroy a lot of those countries. That is, of course, if Putin doesn’t get there first.