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america’s disunion = civil war?

friday, february 15th, 2019

Is the United States on the brink of a new civil war?

According to Newsweek magazine’s polling, a third of all Americans think such a conflict could break out within the next five years, with 10% thinking it “very likely to happen.” Plenty of experts agree. Back in March, State Department official Keith Mines told Foreign Policy magazine: “It is like 1859, everyone is mad about something and everyone has a gun.” He rated the odds of a second American Civil War breaking out within the next 10-15 years at 60%.

October’s awful events – pipe bombs sent to leading Democratic politicians and supporters, the mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh – have only amplified these fears. “We are now nearing a point comparable to 1860,” my Stanford University colleague Victor Davis Hanson recently wrote in the National Review.

The historian Niall Ferguson, another Stanford colleague, suggested in The Sunday Times of London that if someone were to design a “Civil War Clock” comparable to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ “Doomsday Clock,” the designer would probably now be announcing that it is “two minutes to Fort Sumter.”

Ferguson himself is more upbeat, thinking that “the time on the civil war Doomsday Clock looks more like 11.08 than 11.58.” It seems to me, though, that all these speculations are deeply misleading — so much so, in fact, that the main thing they illustrate is how not to use the past to understand the present.

Similarities, differences and broad patterns.

There are certainly some striking similarities between the American political scene in the late 2010s and that of the late 1850s. Both periods saw extreme polarization over issues of intense economic and emotional importance. At both times, the country divided geographically, with more urban and educated regions leaning one way and more rural and less educated regions the other. In both periods, highly partisan media inflamed passions, sometimes brazenly peddling “fake news”; and at both stages, the country was recovering from a severe financial crisis.

It is all very alarming – but that does not put us minutes away from Fort Sumter. In the nearly four years that I have been writing columns for Stratfor, I have repeatedly drawn attention to a distinction that logicians like to make between “formal” and “relational” analogies. A formal analogy involves finding similarities between a case about which we know a lot (such as what happened in the United States at the end of the 1850s) and one about which we know less (such as what is just beginning to happen in the United States at the end of the 2010s), and extrapolating from them to variables that cannot be observed in the less well-known case – concluding, here, that if polarization, sectionalism, financial problems and political violence produced civil war in the 1850s, they will have the same result in the 2010s.

The problem with formal analogies is, of course, that no two cases are identical. The modern rage over globalization and its discontents does not come close to the moral intensity of the 19th-century arguments over slavery, while the consequences of the 1857 financial meltdown were nowhere near those of the 2008 collapse.

Even more striking, the forms of political violence in the two periods are very different. The 1850s experienced nothing like last month’s pipe bombs, the 2017 shooting of Republican Rep. Steve Scalise and three others or the 2011 shooting of Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others; and the 2010s have seen nothing like U.S. Rep. Preston Brooks’ near-fatal 1856 attack on Sen. Charles Sumner on the floor of the U.S. Senate, let alone the “Bleeding Kansas” insurrection of 1855-56 or John Brown’s raid on the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry in 1859.

The devil is in the details, which means that differences are just as important as similarities when we try to learn from the past. But how do we weigh up the pros and cons of comparisons? This is where the second kind of analogy comes in. Rather than cherry-picking convenient similarities and either ignoring or arguing away inconvenient differences, relational analogies begin from broad patterns in multiple well-known cases and proceed by understanding how a less well-known case fits into the larger structure. So, rather than wringing our hands over how much 2018 resembles 1860, we should be looking at how civil wars began in a wide range of different contexts, and then asking how well the late 2010s fit into that pattern.

Sufficient and necessary causes.

The most obvious point is that the polarization/regionalism/financial crisis/political violence package is not just shared by 1850s and 2010s America. It was also common in many other eras that ended in civil war. The English Civil War of 1642-51, for instance, was preceded by decades of comparable disturbances. The population split into “court” and “country” factions (nowadays more familiar as “Cavaliers” and “Roundheads”). Each had its own geographical base and religious affiliation, with High Church Royalists and Puritan Roundheads literally ready to mutilate and burn each other over their differences.

Distrust of institutions was even worse than in 2010s America: Royalists accused Parliamentarians of blasphemy and corruption, while Parliamentarians replied that Royalist corruption was even worse, and was magnified by the royal court’s sexual deviance and willingness to sell the country to foreigners. Throughout the 1630s, financial crises paralyzed government and political violence mounted. Pro-Parliament mobs murdered bishops and besieged royal favorites in their mansions, and, in the 17th-century equivalent of sending anthrax spores through the mail, a leading Parliamentarian received a package containing a rag soaked in pus from the sores of a plague victim. He suffered no ill effects – then as now, biological terrorism was difficult to do well – but within a year, the two sides would fight their first pitched battle.

The Roman Republic provides another classic case. In the 50s B.C., the political elite was deeply divided between what Romans called populares – men such as Julius Caesar, who presented themselves as champions of the masses – and optimates such as Pompey the Great, who claimed to stand for virtue, tradition and the nation as a whole. Webs of patronage and debt bound much of the population to one faction or the other. Escalating financial crises ruined cities and regions, and entire provinces lined up behind strongmen who claimed to be able to save them – Gaul with Caesar, Italy with Pompey. Politicians fortified their homes against mob violence, street gangs regularly stopped elections from being held and assassination became almost commonplace. The civil wars that began in 49 B.C. would leave millions dead.

However, although England and Rome provide alarming formal analogies, things get more complicated as soon as we start looking for relational analogies. While the polarization/regionalism/financial crisis/political violence package regularly leads to civil war, it does not always do so. In Rome, for instance, the package was in some ways even more prominent in the 130s B.C. than in Julius Caesar’s day. Tiberius Gracchus, usually seen as the first popularis politician, tried to cancel the debts of poor farmers and redistribute elite properties to them. A constitutional crisis ensued, splitting the ruling class. To conservatives, Gracchus seemed to be rallying the impoverished peasants of Etruria against Roman urban interests to make himself king. In political violence going far beyond Brooks’ assault on Sumner, a meeting of the Roman Senate in 133 B.C. ended with conservatives breaking up the wooden benches on which they sat and using the pieces to beat Gracchus and 300 of his followers to death. Twelve years later, his brother Gaius also died in political violence over much the same issues. Yet civil war did not erupt in either case.

Similarly, following Henry VIII’s break with the Roman church and dissolution of the Catholic monasteries in the 1530s, England experienced just as much polarization, regionalism, financial crisis and political violence as it would in the 1630s. However, it did not tip into civil war, although it came close. The United States was arguably almost as divided and haunted by political violence in the 1960s as in the 1850s, yet it too escaped civil war. We can only conclude that the polarization/regionalism/financial crisis/political violence package was not a sufficient cause for civil war in Rome, England or the United States.

Nor was it a necessary cause. In Rome and England at least, civil wars broke out in the absence of polarization, regionalism or financial crisis (although political violence is, by definition, always part of civil war). In A.D. 69, which became known as “The Year of the Four Emperors,” multiple civil wars convulsed Rome, but they were driven almost entirely by generals’ ambitions to seize the throne. Similarly, between 1135 and 1153, England was torn apart by such severe civil wars that the period came to be called “The Anarchy.” The violence was so extreme, one chronicler recorded, that “Men said openly that Christ and his saints slept”; yet the polarization/regionalism/financial crisis/political violence package was largely absent in the 1130s. A royal succession crisis and fragile state institutions were all it took.

The polarization/regionalism/financial crisis/political violence package that 2010s America shares with 1850s America can be present without leading to civil war, and civil wars can break out without the package being present. We can only conclude that these forces are neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for civil war. The dark prophecies of a second Civil War within the coming decade might well be nothing more than bad scholarship.

It’s the Army, stupid.

So, the obvious questions: Why do the polarization/regionalism/financial crisis/political violence package and civil war sometimes go together and sometimes not, and will they go together in America’s short-term future?

Fortunately, the answer to the first question was worked out long ago, by the Roman historian Tacitus. Looking back on the Year of the Four Emperors some 50 years after the event, he recognized that “Now was divulged the secret of the empire – that emperors could be made elsewhere than Rome.” What he meant by this was that although the empire’s political institutions were all concentrated in the city of Rome, if the armies out in the provinces decided to intervene in the political process, they always had the final say. Rome lurched into civil war in 49 B.C. because Caesar and Pompey each had armies to back their political ambitions. It did so again in A.D. 69 because no fewer than four rivals found themselves in this position. It did not lurch into civil war in 133 B.C., though, because its mighty armies remained aloof from politics.

England stumbled into civil war in 1642 because it had no standing army at all. When relations between the Royalists and Parliamentarians broke down, each could safely set about raising its own armed forces with no fear that Leviathan would intervene and stop them. This was Thomas Hobbes’ central point in his 1651 masterpiece Leviathan; only a powerful government with terrifying armed force can scare people straight and deter them from using violence to pursue their own ends. Things had been even worse in 1135, because in addition to there being no strong central army, dozens of barons had their own private armies, which they gleefully unleashed on rivals. In the 1530s, by contrast, despite the mass uprising in defense of Catholicism known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, the barons largely remained loyal to Henry VIII and civil war was avoided.

When relations between Northern and Southern states broke down in 1861, the United States had more in common militarily with England in 1642 than with any of the other cases discussed here. It did have a professional army, but it contained just 16,367 men, and 179 of its 197 companies were stationed west of the Mississippi, so far from the initial areas of fighting as to render them irrelevant. In any case, one in five of the U.S. Army’s officers promptly resigned their commissions to join the Confederate states and thousands of noncommissioned men simply deserted and followed them. The government in Washington effectively had no army to enforce its will, and both sides – like King Charles I and the English Parliament in 1642 – had to set about raising forces almost from scratch.

Nothing could be less like the United States’ position in 2018. It has the most powerful and professional armed forces the world has ever seen, and there is absolutely no doubt about their loyalty to the legitimate government or commitment to the principle of civilian command. American soldiers, sailors and airmen do have political opinions, but they currently can be relied on to put their duty first. The United States therefore has far more in common with Rome in 133 B.C. than with any of the other cases. Even if U.S. senators start killing each other with chair legs, the armed forces will not take sides, other than to implement orders – so long as the orders are legitimate and legal — from their elected commander-in-chief.

When we look at the recent civil wars in Syria, Yemen and Libya, or at places such as Egypt where civil war has been averted, nothing matters so much as the stance and strength of the armed forces. We have to conclude that the American Civil War Doomsday Clock does not stand at two, or even 52, minutes to midnight. The very idea is ridiculous. So long as the armed forces remain true to their highest traditions, it will not matter how angry the American people get or how badly their politicians behave. There will be no second Civil War.

© 11/7/18 By Ian Morris, MarketWatch, "Opinion: What are the chances that America’s disunion turns into Civil War?".

A Day In The Life.

After fighting GMail and Thunderbird's "passwords battle" for almost 3hts on Thursday night, I gave up and crashed early. I was getting a major pain in my R/S Shouler's Trapezius Muscle Group, and only aspirin and Rx Valium 10g helped. I left a voicemail for Nick at Spartan/ York Web Technologies at 10p Thursday, for a callback tech housecall ASAP. Enough, ot I just make it worse.

Up Friday morning at 10a, I did the usual routine of upping the heat and computer, making coffee, and having several smokes in the garage. Becky and I went to Marino's Pizza & Pasta House for lunch. High for the day was 45° and very, very windy. After getting back to my condo, I tinkered around w/ Thunderbird and GMail, and got nowhere, until at 4p, I called Nick at York Web Technologies, a division of Spartan Computers, here in East York, and we used Team Viewer to let him get inside my HP to see if he could figure out what was wrong, and fix it. We worked on it for almost 2hrs, and decided to let it download ALL Filesfrom GMail to my computer. We'd talk again at 10a on Saturday.

I had some re-heated pasta for dinner, watched several new episodes of both Gold Rush and Ancient Aliens, kept an eye on my "revised email" mail transfer downloads. By 11:15p, I was tired, closed down and crashed.

So many people have come and gone. Their faces fade as the years go by. Yet I still recall as I wander on, as clear as the sun in the summer sky.

Up at 8:30a on Saturday, it was just 19° outside, so I turned-up the heat to 75° from 65°, made coffee, fired-up the computer to check the email transfer process. Nick called at 10, and set-up an IMAP instead of a POP server at GMail, to keep me online, until Matt can get here next week, and migrate everything from Thunderbird, to MS-Outlook 365. GMail is a disaster. Get rid of it if you have it. I am.

Becky stopped by with Steamed Pork Dumplings and Fresh-Made Bread from Wegman's, in Lnacaster, and picked-up some blue cut stone estimates I'd received for her. I watched "Curse of Oak island Marathon" for most of the evening, Hitler's Secret Tunnels, and an episode of "Overhauling" on the MT Channel. Pulled the plug at 12:45a.

Awake at 9:30a on Sunday, I turned-up the heat, turned-on the computer and made Kona Coffee. Damn, that is good coffee! 22° and a bright sunny day, until the snow and ice storm "Maya" moves-in later tonite, for the next 2-3 days. 3-6" forecast, and then comes the ice. It'll be two good days to work on taxes. I had to run a few quick errands, picked-up my past few days mail at the CGCA Community Mailbox, and was back home by 1p.

I made a Chicken Salad Sandwich on a Croissant w/ Chips, had a bowl of Penera Lobster Bisque, went back to paying some bills online and watching "American Pickers" Reruns. I got a UPS delivery from Amazon Prime, of 3 cases of V8 Healthy Greens, 12 oz. Bottle (Pack of 12. Delicious and very healthy.

Crap, here we go again:

... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO 7 AM EST MONDAY...

... WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM MONDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING...

• WHAT... Snow expected. Snow accumulations tonight of around 2 inches tonight. Heavy mixed precipitation possible from Monday afternoon into Tuesday. Total snow accumulations of 3 to 6 inches and ice accumulations of one tenth of an inch are possible.

• WHERE... Dauphin, Lebanon, York and Lancaster Counties.

• WHEN... For the Winter Weather Advisory, from 7 PM this evening to 7 AM EST Monday. A brief break in snow will occur in the morning and early afternoon. For the Winter Storm Watch, from Monday afternoon through Tuesday morning.

• ADDITIONAL DETAILS... Plan on slippery road conditions. Be prepared for reduced visibilities at times. Plan on difficult travel conditions. Plan on difficult travel conditions, including during both the evening commute on Monday and morning commute on Tuesday. PENNDOT...

I stayed-up until 1:30a to watch the snowfall and "American Pickers' Marathon series, and soon enough, we had 1-2". I'd forgotten to shave and do laundry today, but a snowday Monday or iceday Tuesday, would easily suffice for those minor tasks. Forecast is now for 2-4", down from 3-6", whic suits me just fine. I like driving in snow; ice/frezing rain in a whole 'nother mstter. Time for sleep.

I slept-in until 10:30a, and woke to a snowstorm; we already had 4-5" by then. Nick, with York Web Technologies, called at 10a, to go thru my "revised email" and make sure I had all files tranferred over to the new IMAP account, from the POP account at GMail. I'll try IMAP for 2-3 weeks, and if I still continue to have email problems, will migrate to Outlook 365 on Matt's server at Spartan Computers. Matt called an hour later to see how I was doing, and I brought him up-to-date.

It snowed all day, but at 33°, it was a heavy, wet snow and with rain/sleet/ice coming tonite, most of it'll be gone tomorrow afternoon. I'm staying inside today and tomorrow. I worked on income taxes' receipts, the worst being a 4" stack of paid medical bills, which I had to separate into WellSpan, PSU-Hershey, Rite Aid, out-of-pocket co-pays and Geisinger. I got a lot done, but still have a 2" pile to go thru. The "American Pickers" Marathon was on all day and evening, and the new "American Pickers" episode was on at 9p, and by 11:30p, I was closed down and asleep.

Crap, here comes Winter Storm "Nadia", just hitting the West Coast, and we'll be seeing it over here in a few days. Meanwhile Winter Storm "Maya" is still pounding us. How do they name these storms?

Up at 9:30a on Tuesday, I fired-up the furnace and computer, made Kona coffee, and checked the weather maps. Freezing rain/ice coated everything, and at 30°, it wasn't safe to go out. It'd be another day to work on taxes. I listened to the "Chris Plante Show" until 12, then Rush, all the while working on taxes. The freezing rain/sleet continued for most of the day, but temps were rising into the mid-30s, we wouldn't be getting the massive ice storm the weather idiots predicted. Fine by me. Still, there were many thousands of closing and lat-starts list at the local weather station websites.

I finally finished 98% of my taxes in late afternoon, and it's quite a number of segregated piles of receipts, for Income, Expenses, Medical & Other. Now they go to my long-time personal and formerly-corproate CPA, in Dallastown.

Nigger boy's "story fell apart", the minute Sambo told it. Told you so last week. He's a racist piece of filth; even the Chicago Police Dept thinks so. It was just another, in a long line of racial Fake Hate Crimes, and now he's caught.

I watched the new episodes of both The Curse of Oak Island and Project Blue Book, the weather and news, and packed it in, at 12:45p.

I slept-in until 10:30a on Wednesday, and finally had a night without those wild, weird dreams. 36° outside and the snow was still melting. I turned-up mthe heat, made Kona coffee and checked the computer for weather and news. I listened to the "Chris Plante Show" for a while, and then ran some errands, and was back home by 1p. I had Lentil Soup and a Sliced Chicken Breast on Toast, for lunch. Snow squalls were blowing thru the area, with no trace amounts, and temp began dropping to the upper-20s.

Sure, I like some Panera Bread® products (soups), but this stupid, moronic, f•cking, hilarious socialist idea, called Panera Cares, was a FAIL from day one. Idiots.

Wednesday was another "NBC" (Nothing But Crap) on CATV, so I finished-up my taxes, and on/off watched a slew of new and old (S2-3-4) "American Pickers" and Garage Rehab new and old episodes, until 11p. I crashed at 11:30p.

On Thursday, I got up at 6:30a, fully-intending to take my 2018 Income Taxes to my CPA, but noticed 3 voicemails on my cell, from 2 of the largest nurserys/garden centers in south central PA, asking me if I was interested in working for them, part-time due to my SSI, and it took a while for me to call back. I also had to confirm next Tuesday's Anesthesia Mtg at PSU-Hershey, in Hershey, in preparation for 15th upcoming ERCP on February 7th. I said not at this time, due to my health situation. I made Kona coffee, fired-up the furance aznd computer, had Oatmeal w/ Bananna & Blueberries, Toast and a bottle of Ensure® MAX.

I don't want the labor pains; I just want the baby.

After a couple of mugs of coffee, I went thru my taxes for a second time, and emailed the 6 available *.csv spreadsheet 1099-R files to my CPA, noting that I'd be by with the paperwork today. 27° but clear and sunny, outside. After getting emails from Wells-Fargo that addditional 1099-R Tax Documents were now available, I printed them out for my files, and emailed the files to my CPA. I left at 9:30a for the CPA's offices, in Dallastown. Traffic was light, and I was back home by 11:30.

After a Fried Egg, Bacon & Cheese Sandwich and a bowl of Panera®'s Lobster Bisque, I took a 3hr nap on the LR couch, while listening to the remainder of the "Chris Plante Show" and into Rush's 3hr show. I felt better. Today was another was another "NBC" (Nothing But Crap) on CATV, so I did some computer work, and watched some of my favorite shows on ROKU, on the 82" Samsung TV. I watched Garage Rehab, and Gold Rush, and Homestead Rescue until 11:30p; then called it quits.

Tomorrow starts a new week here in the Journal, andf it'll be moderately busy. I have a trip to PSU-Hershey Medical Center for an Anesthesia Dept Mtg, for an upcoming 15th ECRP, and end-of-the-week meeting at a MD Stoneyard, to look at various natural stone material Seth had suggested for Becky's replacement 280sqft back patio. And I'm sure some other stuff will rear its ugly head, too.

CR's 5 Poison Provisions in The Amnesty Omnibus Bill.

Before getting into the details of this insane CR omnibus bill, it’s important to recognize that we don’t understand all the details. The worst provisions are written in vague language ensconced in an 1,169-page bill, which has already been posted online in two different versions (the first was 10 pages shorter). That is exactly why Democrats are salivating to vote on this within a few hours of passage, which is exactly why Trump has a responsibility to oppose it immediately and demand at least a short-term clean continuing resolution so that he can digest the consequences of this bill. If he cannot make that simple demand, which would not even trigger a phony shutdown, then his presidency is worthless.

The process is indefensible: It is immoral, from any ideological perspective, to vote on an 1,169-page omnibus with new provisions on immigration amid a border crisis. We are already four and a half months into this fiscal year and have been operating on stopgap bills. There is no rush to vote on something like this, which will fund seven departments for the remainder of the year, within a few hours when we should have another stopgap bill while we debate, and even discover, the contents of this long-term bill that makes important statutory changes. The only reason one would pursue this process is to hide things from the American people.

Here are the immediate issues to flag:

1.) Less of a wall than even what Democrats already agreed to: Trump originally demanded $25 billion for the wall. Then he negotiated himself down to $5.6 billion. Democrats balked and only agreed to $1.6 billion. This bill calls it a day at $1.375 billion, enough to construct 55 miles. But it’s worse than that. This bill limits the president’s ability to construct “barriers” to just the Rio Grande Valley sector and only bollard fencing, not concrete walls of any kind. There’s no ability to adapt. Furthermore, section 231 prohibits construction even within the RGV in five locations that are either federal or state lands. Remember, the challenge with building a wall in Texas is that, unlike in other states, the feds need to navigate issues with private lands. The first place you’d construct fencing is on public lands, which are now prohibited. The national parks along the border have gotten so bad that park rangers are scared to travel alone in them.

2.) Liberal local officials have veto power over wall: Actually, on second thought, it’s likely that not a single mile of fence will be built. Section 232(a) of this bill states that “prior to use of any funds made available by this Act for the construction of physical barriers” the Department of Homeland Security “shall confer and seek to reach mutual agreement regarding the design and alignment of physical barriers within that city.” With whom must the feds consult? “The local elected officials.” Now you can understand the brilliance of limiting the wall to the Rio Grande Valley. These are the most liberal counties on the border (thanks to demographics of open borders itself!), and there is practically no local official who supports the wall in these counties.

What are the consequences? This bill stipulates that “Such consultations shall continue until September 30, 2019 (or until agreement is reached, if earlier) and may be extended beyond that date by agreement of the parties, and no funds made available in this Act shall be used for such construction while consultations are continuing.” Thus, all the Beto O’Rourke type of politicians in that region have de facto veto power. There’s a reason why they didn’t authorize fencing in conservative counties like Cochise and Yuma in Arizona.

3.) This bill contains a blatant amnesty for the worst cartel smugglers: Section 224(a) prohibits the deportation of anyone who is sponsoring an “unaccompanied” minor illegal alien – or who says they might sponsor a UAC, or lives in a household with a UAC, or a household that potentially might sponsor a UAC. It’s truly difficult to understate the betrayal behind this provision. One of the driving factors of the invasion is the misinterpretation of the UAC law. Under current law, Central American teenagers are only treated as refugees if they are A) a victim of “A severe form of trafficking” and B) have no relatives in the country. Yet almost all of them are self-trafficked by these very illegal relatives who are indeed present in the country. Rather than clamping down on this fleecing of the American people, the bill gives amnesty to the very people paying the cartels to invade us!

“We can call this the MS-13 Household Protection Act of 2019,” said Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies. “We know that 80 percent of the UAC sponsors are in the country illegally. The number of people this would protect would reach into the hundreds of thousands, if all of the household or potential household members are counted. ICE has estimated that 30-40 percent of the MS-13 members it has arrested in the last two years arrived as UACs. There is no reason to shield any of these individuals from deportation. After all, if the minor is living with family, they should no longer be considered unaccompanied anyway. If there are illegal aliens here who do not yet have a child here to serve as a deportation shield, this certainly is an incentive for them to make the arrangements to bring one.”

4.) More funding to manage and induce the invasion rather than to deter it: While offering no new funding for ICE deportation agents or immigration judges to speed up asylum claims, as the president requested, this bill adds another $40 million for the Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program, which moves asylum seekers to facilities in the interior of the country, where they are usually released. Vaughan, who has studied interior immigration enforcement for decades, warned that “this bill will further expand and institutionalize the catch-and-release policies for those arriving illegally at the border from all over the world.”

What are the effects of the ATD program? “Most of these people have no intention of asking for asylum and know they don’t qualify for it, but are simply joining the illegal population, knowing it’s unlikely that they will be deported. The bill funds ‘case management’ staff to keep tabs on those who don’t abscond immediately, but no money for ICE officers to find and remove them. This is going to saddle the communities that have been forced to absorb these new arrivals with billions of dollars of future costs for schooling, health care, and other welfare services.”

At the same time, this bill reduces border detention beds from 49,060 to 40,520 rather than expanding them as Trump demanded. It contains no funding for more border agents. It offers $3.4 billion for refugee resettlement, more than last year’s record levels. Remember, much of the refugee program has been used not just for bringing in traditional refugees from overseas but to resettle the aforementioned Central American teenagers being self-trafficked through the border, empowering cartels, and taking advantage of us.

5.) Doubling low-skilled workers: This bill (p. 1,161) doubles the number of H-2B non-agricultural, unskilled seasonal workers who will continue to be a public charge on America. This gives you a glimpse of what is driving this amnesty bill on the Republican side.

This is just a cursory glance through the bill. Taken together, these provisions will aggravate the criminal conspiracy of the cartels and continue the invasion. Just this week, 1,800 family units came in during one 24-hour period, a new record. The message of this bill is to come here and seek bogus asylum or to grab a kid and you and others will get amnesty. Plus, there are no wall or policy changes to mitigate these effects.

Moreover, this bill will likely override Trump’s executive powers because of the sneaky limitations on wall construction. This is the sort of omnibus bill that ensnared Reagan in Iran-Contra. Signing this bill will undermine his case for an emergency at the border both legally and politically.

If Trump signs this bill instead of vetoing it and firing the people in the White House promoting it, he deserves to lose re-election.

Stamp Out Socialism In America.

When Senator Elizabeth Warren tried to steal minority status as a Native American for personal political opportunism, DNA proved that she is somewhere between 1/64th and 1/1024th—or 1.6 percent and 0.1 percent—Native American which she nonetheless went on to tout as proof of her longtime dishonest claims of Native American heritage.

Now that she’s casting her blue eyes on the 2020 presidency, she contends that a jail cell is a certainty for President Donald Trump because he “may not even be a free person” in 2020.

If the Green New Deal-backing Warren has her way, no American citizen will “even be a free person” in 2020 and beyond because all Americans will have been put behind bars in what can only be called Socialist Prison.

Senator Warren backs “the idea” of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal.

“Senator Warren has been a longtime advocate of aggressively addressing climate change and shifting toward renewables, and supports the idea of a Green New Deal to ambitiously tackle our climate crisis, economic inequality, and racial injustice.” (Axios, Jan. 1, 2019)

“The sweeping Ocasio-Cortez proposal calls for a special House committee to craft a detailed plan by early 2020 to meet a suite of goals including:

Transition to 100% renewable electricity in the U.S within 10 years, as well as efforts to curb transportation emissions. Massive investments in greenhouse gas mitigation; building a national “smart grid;” and work around emissions from agriculture and manufacturing. “The plan would include job guarantees for people working in the transition to a low-carbon economy.”

In other words, Warren is throwing in with AOC mentor Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who is weighing another presidential run and has long made climate change central to his politics and Senate work—and who backs the Green New Deal and is planning legislation around it, and other potential candidates, including Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, and activist Tom Steyer—who also broadly endorse the idea.

By supporting the Green New Deal, which will drag America into the Socialist net, all are, in effect, about to steal the heritage of Freedom and Independence from the American people.

President Trump may not be around by 2020?

“When asked to clarify her statements, Warren pointed to the multiple open investigations into the president, which includes the Russia probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and two additional investigations led byfederal prosecutors in New York and Democrats who won back the majority in the House of Representatives this past November.” (Fox News, Feb. 11, 2019).

Like most socialist-leaning politicians, Warren targets so-called “capitalist pigs”, conspicuously avoiding the fact that some of them are in the same group.

“A recent Politico-Morning Consult poll showed that more than half of all Americans already support what is expected to be a pillar of Warren’s candidacy: Higher taxes on the ultra-wealthy. (CNBC, Feb. 9, 2019).

“This is the fight of our lives. The fight to build an America where dreams are possible, an America that works for everyone. I am in that fight all the way,” Warren said on Saturday. “And that is why I stand here today: to declare that I am a candidate for President of the United States of America.”

Warren, who abysmally failed the DNA test which proved for once and for all that she is a measly 0.1 percent Native American, is now failing in an even bigger smell test.

She’s a fellow traveler of the Socialist Movement that seeks to put a chokehold on America, denying to Americans the heritage bequeathed them by their Founding Fathers.

The strong socialist stench around Warren and her fellow backers of the Green New Deal, stinks to high heaven.

Socialism kills human souls and human hope wherever it is allowed to raise its ugly, deadly and debilitating head.

Trump Did Not Fail Us; We Failed Trump.

I have deliberately tried not to read the articles and comments of the last couple of days since President Trump’s announcement on the deal to end the government shutdown.

The reason being was the kind of negative comments and wailing that the President had caved and no longer deserved our support. I flatly reject that argument.

None of can truly know the immense pressure the President was under to find a way to end this imbroglio. I, like many, had hoped that the President could tough it out and get the Border Wall Funding that is needed. The truth is the President went further than any one before him on Principle, but at some point it became an issue of diminishing returns politically, and the Democrats refused to bargain in good faith.

The real truth is that President Trump is one man who has been battling not only the Democrats, but his own party that have refused to stand with him, not only on the Border issue but many others as well. What could we the voters who put President Trump in office really expect?

President Trump in two short years has accomplished more than any of us could have realistically expected given the circumstances. A man who was not a professional politician and had come up through the ranks to become President, but one who was a independent outsider that by a fluke won and beat all the professionals, and badly at that.

We have to take note and realize that both political parties are corrupt, in fact they are beyond the Pale kind of corrupt and one man cannot take them on and win without unqualified support. We the voters that put Mr. Trump in office in many ways have failed him, and failed him miserably.

When exactly was the last time that people took to the streets to really protest anything or marched on Washington D.C. to demand any change? There were certainly many protests and such during the Vietnam War as well as Civil Rights Demonstrations in the 1960’s and early 1970’s.

The one time though that I can recall from history that people actually went to Washington D.C. for a real protest was during the early 1930’s. It was during the Depression and it was the Bonus March where veterans of W.W. I came to get the monies they were promised for fighting in W.W. I. Over 43,000 people came and tent cities sprang up all over Washington.

The Army was called out to disperse them, they were under the command of then Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur , tear gas and guns were used, people died ,and it was a shameful period in out history.

My point in bringing this up is this, at what point do we as Americans, finally decide we have had enough of the corrupt parties in D.C. and finally march on the city and demand our Government do what we elected them to do?

Recently we have seen those in France, The Yellow Vests, do exactly that. The people there were finally pushed to the braking point tax wise and were able to cause a General Strike and for the most part were able to force the Government to it’s knees and they aren’t finished yet as they have been emboldened to press on and try to get other reforms.

The question arises when do we in this country do the same, what is the tripping point here? Will people ever get motivated to come out of their little cocoons, put down their cell phones, get away from the video games, etc. and etc. to demand that government be accountable to them and have our elected officials do what we elect them to do or we will just go along, silently assent and acquiesce?

Because if we aren’t going to so what is necessary to demand our Politicians be accountable then how can we hold President Trump responsible?

President Trump isn’t perfect and we knew that when we elected him, but we also knew he wasn’t a Boy Scout either, he was a New York Street Fighter and that was what was needed. Like or not Donald Trump is the only game in town for us, The Deploreables. If what the Democrats propose and want doesn’t scare you then I don’t know what to tell you.

I will continue to support the President through thick and thin as there is no other alternative for the future of our country and Constitution.

Maybe we won’t get the Border Wall, but it won’t be for lack of trying. President Trump has put it all on the line for us because I think he loves his country, we need to find more ways to support the President.

My dream would be 10 Million of us march on Washington D.C. and demand what we know is right and the politicians be Damned.

The question is what will it take to make us do that?

How Best to Age? Do it Your Way.

I can hit the golf ball any way I can and laugh if it goes in the lake. That's the breaks. I'm just happy I can still hit that golf ball.

As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world, too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

When we're kids, we can't wait to grow-up. When we're grown-up and getting older, we just hope time will slow down.

Whose business is it, if I choose to read, or play, on the computer, until 4 AM, or sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 50, 60 & 70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love, I will.

I will walk the beach, in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves, with abandon, if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set. They too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And, I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years, my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break, when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet passes? But, broken hearts are what give us strength, and understanding, and compassion. A heart never broken, is pristine, and sterile, and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I believe in simple things, like the miracle this day brings.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face.

So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day (if I feel like it).

Why Do So Many Young People Embrace Socialism?

It’s not youth and inexperience. It’s not even government-run schools and idiotic celebrities. Not primarily.

Why do so many young people embrace socialism?

For the same reason any middle-aged or older person embraces socialism: Anxiety and envy.

By “anxiety” I mean neurotic anxiety, which means a false or exaggerated belief that one will be unable to properly survive or take care of oneself, so that unspecified help is needed to ensure survival.

Envy is often a byproduct of anxiety. If one starts out feeling, “I’m unable to care for myself,” then it’s not a stretch to look at someone else who has more than enough and say, “That’s not fair. He can more than provide for himself, and I’m unable to do so for myself”.

What about the fact that young people have not yet earned much money, and therefore don’t appreciate the value and justice of private ownership, i.e., being able to keep what you earn? Not all young people feel this way. Some young people understand the justice of keeping what you earn. Some do, and change their minds later and become socialists in middle-age.

Regardless, unless you have a significant amount of neurotic fear and/or envy, it’s unlikely socialism would grab your fancy for even five minutes, much less for years (and elections) on end.

It’s true that public schools are teaching the ideology of self-sacrifice and blind service to others (the same premises as Nazism and Communism) as self-evident givens in today’s government-run schools. But these faulty ideas are not new to the present era. Yet in earlier eras, the majority of young people did not turn as socialist as they appear to be doing today.

The more likely contribution of today’s mediocre schools — as well as an increasingly irrational culture — is that young people don’t know how to think. Thinking is your basic tool and precondition of survival. If you feel inadequate to think critically, rationally and objectively, you’ll develop a neurotic and pervasive sense that, “I’m not equipped to survive.” In a land of plenty, particularly, it seems logically appealing when someone comes along and says, “No worries. We’ll pick up your college tuition. And health care. And tons of other things too. You’re entitled to it, after all.” It comes as a relief to the anxiety-ridden souls who embrace socialism.

In older folk, and in some young people born into wealth, there’s the factor of guilt and atonement. That’s a form of anxiety, too. “I’m rich and I don’t deserve to be. It’s not fair.” So it becomes a form of virtue-signaling merged with a psychological tonic to make sure others see you support socialism.

It’s not that most young people are depraved and stupid any more than most older people are totally depraved and stupid. And it’s not just inexperience. It’s fear. And the envy that gets ignited by fear.

It’s truly sad. And yes, it’s dangerous for the future of a free society, but dangerous most of all for those young people who now seek to embrace socialism. It’s not going to end any better for them than it did for anyone else. And if they get their wish, and socialism gets enacted completely, then their fears will quickly become rational.

Scientists Discover New Element – Pelosium.

A major research institution has just announced the discovery of the densest element yet known to science. The new element has been named Pelosium. The chemical symbol of Pelosium is Pu. Pelosium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 311. These particles are held together by dark particles called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Pelosium’s mass actually increases over time, as morons randomly interact with various elements in the atmosphere and become assistant deputy neutrons within the Pelosium molecule, leading to the formation of isodopes. This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientist to believe that Pelosium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as Critical Morass.

When catalyzed with money, Pelosium activates MSNBCobnoxium and CNNadnausium, both elements that radiate orders of magnitude more energy, albeit as incoherent noise, since they have half as many peons but twice as many morons as Pelosium.

Since it has no electrons, Pelosium is inert. However, it can be detected chemically as it impedes every reaction it comes in contact with. According to the discoverers, a minute amount of Pelosium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete when it would have normally occurred in less than a second. In the presence of anti-morons, Pelosium can be extremely corrosive. Botox seems to distort and smooth it’s surface, without impeding it’s ongoing decay.

Pelosium has a normal half-life of approximately two years, at which time it does not decay, but instead undergoes a transmutation, appearing in a new location but displaying the same properties. In this process, assistant neutrons, vice neutrons and assistant vice neutrons exchange places. Some studies have shown that the atomic mass actually increases after each transmutation.

Research at other laboratories indicates that Pelosium occurs naturally in the atmosphere. It tends to concentrate at certain points such as government agencies, large corporations, universities, and anywhere there is news coverage occurring. It can usually be found in the newest, best appointed, and best maintained buildings.

Scientists point out that Pelosium is known to be toxic at any level of concentration and can easily destroy any productive reaction where it is allowed to accumulate. Attempts are being made to determine how Pelosium can be controlled to prevent irreversible damage, but results to date are not promising.

DemokkkRATs' Wet Dreams.

Rather than deal with Illegal immigrant wave number 2, the Democrats on the Hill engage in wet dreams and socialism.

A 70% tax rate?? This is the proposal that will bring in American votes - Yeah Right.

Government run healthcare "Medicare for all". Yeah Obamacare skyrocketed premiums. So instead lets Tax them to a literal death with European style healthcare.

Abolish the Electoral College so that New York, California, and Illinois rules - the little states be Damned.

100% renewable Energy. Lets just ban gasoline and diesel vehicles like Trucks and Cars, and depend on wind and solar energy for our needs even though they are not dependable nor sufficient.

Ban Guns. Who cares if illegal Aliens come across the border with them. Our Ranchers deserve to die and don't need no stinking 2nd Amendment. For that matter so do US Citizens, they don't need to protect themselves from MS-13, we Democrats will get around to protecting them eventually.

Democrats please engage in some more wet dreams. We are excessively entertained during this Shutdown.

Where's The Chaos?

The government shut down Dec. 21 over Sen. Chuck Schumer and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi petulantly not wanting Trump to have any border wall funding. The federal government spends $4.4 trillion a year; the $5 billion Trump wanted is one-tenth of 1 percent of that. About the same percent that Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren is Native American.

If you are like me, you are more worried about government starting back up than it being shut down.

Who will open our open-air national parks? Who will answer the phones when we call? Who will give us the runaround at the IRS? Who will put us into intractable wars? Who will use the Justice Department to go after political opponents? Who will put us $22 trillion in debt?

Most of NASA is shut down, including the division that we pay to monitor to see if aliens in outer space try to contact us. I trust they put their “Out of Office” message on their email before they went home, in case aliens contact us.

Shouldn’t there be chaos? Why are you not looting Target for a flat-screen TV? Who will let me know when the panda cam is back on at the Washington Zoo?

Two things become clear during a government shutdown: how little we need most of government, and how petulant public servants can be when they do not get their funding. Under Obama, there was much petty government intimidation. Remember how he hired extra people to make sure our open-air national parks were kept shut so citizens could not just walk through them?

Heavy-handed goons run a swollen government monster that intimidates its funders, the taxpayers. It is structurally incapable of spending just a little less than it did the year before and seeks revenge when asked to live within its means. This shutdown teaches us that it is no big deal getting 25 percent of the government out of our lives. Americans will adapt. Let’s shut down most of the government and just hire back any part that we miss.

With historically high employment, I suggest we let about one-third of government employees find real jobs in the real world. You know, jobs that require accountability and productivity. Trump should keep government closed. If you can find it in the Yellow Pages or online, government does not need to be doing it.

Washington and the Deep State hate Trump no matter what he does, even when he does Obama-like things. He has done prison reform, run a huge deficit, is pulling troops out of Syria and Afghanistan, etc. If Trump doesn’t stop acting like Obama, he might ask to see his own birth certificate.

Since the Democrats won the House, the stock market has cratered. The Dems want to investigate, not legislate. House Speaker Paul Ryan has ceded power and decided to let someone else not get anything done.

Schumer, Pelosi and fellow libs run our overreaching, ineffective and expensive government. Should we be happy when government is back? It feels to me like my niece got back together with an abusive husband when that happens.

Trump made an unannounced trip to Iraq over Christmas. With Mueller on his tail and Democrats spending inordinate time wanting to use the blunt force of the federal judiciary to investigate him further, Trump stands as the only president to go to a war-torn area for peace and quiet.

Government shutdowns have become a well-worn path of a dysfunctional Washington. It is like Schumer and Pelosi are walking the marble halls of the Capitol and 20 feet ahead of them they see a banana peel. They both say, “Here we go again.”

The government shutdown over border wall funding is petulant politics at its best. Government means more to Democrats like Schumer and Pelosi because it is their lives. There is no easy off ramp for either side on this standoff. Now it is a waiting game to see who blinks first. And Nancy Pelosi has had so much work done on her face that she can’t blink anymore. So expect her to not rest until she fully embarrasses Trump (a particularly hard man to embarrass) or she captures all 101 Dalmatians.

When the federal government was not working, Trump probably called Tech Support in India to get advice. He told the guy government isn’t working, and the Tech Support guy said, “Just try turning it off for a while, then back on and see if that does the trick.”

The Fake News Media Doesn’t Even Put Up A Pretense Anymore.

All fake news, all the time. If you still do not believe that our national media establishment is 100% in the pocket of the Democrat Party and coordinates messaging with that political party on a daily basis, consider the following story.

We are now in Day 9 of a partial “government shutdown” that exists over the issue of illegal immigration. Early this week, in the midst of this “government shutdown,” a California law enforcement officer was murdered by an illegal alien who he was attempting to arrest for what would have been the illegal’s THIRD DUI crime. Yes, that’s right: thanks to California’s sanctuary laws, this illegal had already been arrested for and convicted of two DUIs, has known gang affiliation, and despite all of that had been allowed to just get out of jail and roam free on the state’s highways to put more lives in danger.

Behold a pale horse, and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hell was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with plague and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Anyway, that murder took place four days ago now, and in all that time, not one Democrat officeholder has been asked by one intrepid “journalist” to comment on the situation. Think about that: California has 53 members of the house and 2 U.S. senators, and not one of them has had to field a single question about how they can continue to support open borders and sanctuary laws when their state’s police officers and citizens are being murdered by illegal aliens.

The reason why is obvious: The media and the Democrats are coordinating on a narrative, and that narrative dictates that only Republicans must field difficult questions about illegal immigration. Any “journalist” who violates the narrative runs the risk of being dis-invited from all the best dinner parties. This is not complicated, folks.

Speaking of fake news... – two other fake news stories dominated the fake media this week, and boy, were they doozies.

First, you had the “bone spurs” story. This story, which we’ve heard many, many times before, made a comeback this week, with “new” information. That “new” information came in the form of the two daughters of the doctor who treated Donald Trump for bone spurs in 1968 claiming that her father – who is conveniently dead – told them that he faked the diagnosis on orders from Trump’s father Fred Trump, so that Donald Trump could avoid the military draft in effect at the time.

1968 is half a century ago, for those who are chronologically challenged.

So, first of all, who cares? Other than a bunch of pedantic Millenial soy boys and valley girls staffing the fake reporter desks at CNN and MSNBC, that is.

Second of all, why should we believe these two women? In all seriousness – there is literally no reason at all to believe they are anything other than liberal attention-seekers. They bring with them zero supporting evidence – no documentation, no statements from their father or any other doctor. No media outlet would have dreamed of going forward with this story were it leveled at a Democrat president, yet every media outlet in America has parroted the claim this week.

Third of all, who cares? Yes, that deserves repeating.

The next big fake story of the week came from the pathetic McClatchy News Service, which updated its claim from earlier this year that ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen had visited Prague during the 2016 campaign to hold secret meetings with Russian agents. This story has been debunked more times than the one about the moon landings being faked, but that didn’t stop McClatchy running with an update claiming that...

“A mobile phone traced to President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen briefly sent signals ricocheting off cell towers in the Prague area in late summer 2016, at the height of the presidential campaign, leaving an electronic record to support claims that Cohen met secretly there with Russian officials, four people with knowledge of the matter say.”

Those “four people with knowledge of the matter”? They are not merely anonymous sources – they are anonymous sources being quoted by other anonymous sources, as Brit Hume so ably pointed out:

Brit Hume? @brithume It turns out that the new McClatchy story on Michael Cohen in Prague is not based on intel their sources saw but what their sources’ sources said they saw. The story remains exclusive. (https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/28/michael-cohen-prague-mcclatchy/)

5,914 11:42 AM – Dec 28, 2018 Twitter Ads info and privacy

Michael Cohen Report Is Based On Third-Hand Information, Reporter Reveals McClatchy reporters did not see Cohen intelligence for themselves.

(dailycaller.com) 3,741 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy The reason why McClatchy’s story remains “exclusive” is that it is so obviously faked that none of the other fake media outlets want to touch it.

This is the sort of nonsense your OUR President has to put up with on a daily basis. It is intentional, it is relentless and it is unending.

The lowlife filth at AP clearly demonstrated their fake plan and hatred for Conservatives in the obit for Bre Payton, a conservative writer at The Federalist and frequent guest on television news outlets including Fox News Channel. AP is filth.

EVERYTHING can be blamed on Anthropogenic Global Warming.

Here is the short list of things the media blamed on AGW:

Acne, agricultural land increase, Afghan poppies destroyed, Africa devastated, Africa in conflict, African aid threatened, African summer frost, aggressive weeds, air pressure changes, airport malaria, Agulhas current, Alaska reshaped, moves, allergy season longer, alligators in the Thames, Alps melting, Amazon a desert, American dream end, amphibians breeding earlier (or not), anaphylactic reactions to bee stings, ancient forests dramatically changed, animals head for the hills, animals shrink, Antarctic grass flourishes, Antarctic ice grows, Antarctic ice shrinks, Antarctic sea life at risk, anxiety treatment, algal blooms, archaeological sites threatened, Arctic bogs melt, Arctic in bloom, Arctic ice free, Arctic ice melt faster, Arctic lakes disappear, Arctic tundra to burn, Arctic warming (not), Atlantic less salty, Atlantic more salty, atmospheric circulation modified, attack of the killer jellyfish, avalanches reduced, avalanches increased, Baghdad snow, Bahrain under water, bananas grow, barbarisation, beer shortage, beetle infestation, bet for $10,000, better beer, big melt faster, billion dollar research projects, billion homeless, billions face risk, billions of deaths, bird distributions change, bird loss accelerating, birds shrinking, bird strikes, bird visitors drop, birds confused, birds decline (Wales), birds driven north, birds return early, bittern boom ends, blackbirds stop singing, blackbirds threatened, Black Hawk down, blood contaminated, blue mussels return, bluetongue, brain eating amoebae, brains shrink, bridge collapse (Minneapolis), Britain one big city, Britain Siberian, brothels struggle, brown Ireland, bubonic plague, budget increases, Buddhist temple threatened, building collapse, building season extension, bushfires, business opportunities, business risks, butterflies move north, camel deaths, cancer deaths in England,cannibalism, cannibalism again, caterpillar biomass shift, cave paintings threatened, childhood insomnia, Cholera, circumcision in decline, cirrus disappearance, civil unrest, cloud increase, coast beauty spots lost, cockroach migration, coffee threatened, cold climate creatures survive, cold spells (Australia), cold wave (India), computer models, conferences, conflict, conflict with Russia, consumers foot the bill, coral bleaching, coral fish suffer, coral reefs dying, coral reefs grow, coral reefs shrink , coral reefs twilight, cost of trillions, cougar attacks, crabgrass menace, cradle of civilisation threatened, creatures move uphill, crime increase, crocodile sex, crops devastated, crumbling roads, buildings and sewage systems, curriculum change, cyclones (Australia), danger to kid’s health, Darfur, Dartford Warbler plague, death rate increase (US), deaths to reach 6 million, Dengue hemorrhagic fever, depression, desert advance, desert retreat, destruction of the environment, disappearance of coastal cities, disasters, diseases move from animals to humans, diseases move north, dog disease, Dolomites collapse, dozen deadly diseases, drought, ducks and geese decline, dust bowl in the corn belt, early marriages, early spring, earlier pollen season, Earth biodiversity crisis, Earth dying, Earth even hotter, Earth light dimming, Earth lopsided, Earth melting, Earth morbid fever, Earth on fast track, Earth past point of no return, Earth slowing down, Earth spins faster, Earth to explode, earth upside down, earthquakes, earthquakes redux, earthquakes redux 2, Egypt revolt, El Niño intensification, end of the world as we know it, erosion, emerging infections, encephalitis, English villages lost, equality threatened, Europe simultaneously baking and freezing, eutrophication, evolution accelerating, expansion of university climate groups, extinctions (human, civilisation, logic, Inuit, smallest butterfly, cod, ladybirds, pikas, polar bears, possums, walrus, toads, plants, salmon, trout, wild flowers, woodlice, a million species, half of all animal and plant species, mountain species, not polar bears, barrier reef, leaches, salamanders, tropical insects) experts muzzled, extreme changes to California, fading fall foliage, fainting, famine, farmers benefit, farmers go under, farm output boost, fashion disaster, fever, figurehead sacked, fir cone bonanza, fish bigger, fish catches drop, fish downsize, fish catches rise, fish deaf, fish get lost, fish head north, fish stocks at risk, fish stocks decline, five million illnesses, flames stoked, flesh eating disease, flood patterns change, floods, floods of beaches and cities, flood of migrants, flood preparation for crisis, Florida economic decline, flowers in peril, fog (more) in San Francisco, fog (less) in San Francisco, food poisoning, food prices rise, food prices soar, food security threat (SA), football team migration, footpath erosion, forest decline, forest expansion, frog with extra heads, frostbite, frost damage increased, frosts, fungi fruitful, fungi invasion, games change, Garden of Eden wilts, geese decline in Hampshire, genetic diversity decline, gene pools slashed, giant oysters invade, giant pythons invade, giant squid migrate, gingerbread houses collapse, glacial earthquakes, glacial retreat, glacial growth, glacier grows (California), glacier wrapped, global cooling, global dimming, glowing clouds, golf course to drown, golf Masters wrecked, grandstanding, grasslands wetter, Great Barrier Reef 95% dead, Great Lakes drop, great tits cope, greening of the North, Grey whales lose weight, Gulf Stream failure, habitat loss, haggis threatened, Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, harmful algae, harvest increase, harvest shrinkage, hay fever epidemic, health affected, health of children harmed, health risks, heart disease, heart attacks and strokes (Australia), heat waves, hibernation affected, hibernation ends too soon, hibernation ends too late, HIV epidemic, homeless 50 million, hornets, high court debates, human development faces unprecedented reversal, human fertility reduced, human health risk, human race oblivion, hurricanes, hurricane reduction, hurricanes fewer, hurricanes not, hydropower problems, hyperthermia deaths, ice age, ice sheet growth, ice sheet shrinkage, icebergs, illegal immigration, illness and death, inclement weather, India drowning, infrastructure failure (Canada), industry threatened, infectious diseases, inflation in China, insect explosion, insurance premium rises, Inuit displacement, Inuit poisoned, Inuit suing, invasion of cats, invasion of crabgrass, invasion of herons, invasion of jellyfish, invasion of king crabs, invasion of midges, island disappears, islands sinking, itchier poison ivy, jellyfish explosion, jets fall from sky, jet stream drifts north, Kew Gardens taxed, kidney stones, kidney stones again, killer cornflakes, killing us, kitten boom, koalas under threat, krill decline, lake and stream productivity decline, lake empties, lake shrinking and growing, landslides, landslides of ice at 140 mph, lawsuits increase, lawsuit successful, lawyers’ income increased (surprise surprise!), lawyers want more, legionnaires’ surge, lives saved, Loch Ness monster dead, locust plagues suppressed, Lopsided Earth, lush growth in rain forests, Malaria, mammoth dung melt, mango harvest fails, Maple production advanced, Maple syrup shortage, marine diseases, marine food chain decimated, Meaching (end of the world), Mediterranean rises, megacryometeors, Melanoma, Melanoma decline, methane emissions from plants, methane burps, methane runaway, melting permafrost, Middle Kingdom convulses, migration, migration difficult (birds), migratory birds huge losses, microbes to decompose soil carbon more rapidly, minorities hit, monkeys on the move, Mont Blanc grows, monuments imperiled, moose dying, more bad air days, more research needed, mortality increased, mountain (Everest) shrinking, mountaineers fears, mountains break up, mountains green and flowering, mountains taller, mortality lower, Myanmar cyclone, narwhals at risk, National security implications, native wildlife overwhelmed, natural disasters quadruple, new islands, next ice age, NFL threatened, Nile delta damaged, noctilucent clouds, no effect in India, Northwest Passage opened, nuclear plants bloom, oaks dying, oaks move north, ocean acidification, ocean acidification faster, ocean dead zones unleashed, ocean deserts expand, ocean waves speed up, oceans noisier, opera house to be destroyed, outdoor hockey threatened, ozone repair slowed, ozone rise, Pacific dead zone, penguin chicks frozen, personal carbon rationing, pest outbreaks, pests increase, phenology shifts, plankton blooms, plankton destabilised, plants lose protein, plants march north, plants move uphill, polar bears aggressive, polar bears cannibalistic, polar bears deaf, polar bears drowning, polar bears eating themselves, polar tours scrapped, popcorn rise, porpoise astray, profits collapse, prostitution, psychiatric illness, puffin decline, radars taken out, railroad tracks deformed, rainfall increase, rape wave, refugees, reindeer endangered, release of ancient frozen viruses, resorts disappear, rice threatened, rice yields crash, rift on Capitol Hill, rioting and nuclear war, Rise and Fall of Rome, river flow impacted, rivers raised, roads wear out, robins rampant, rocky peaks crack apart, roof of the world a desert, rooftop bars, Ross river disease, ruins ruined, Russia under pressure, salinity reduction, salinity increase, Salmonella, Salmon Decline, satellites accelerate, school closures, sea level rise, sea level rise faster, seals mating more, sewer bills rise, severe thunderstorms, sex change, sexual promiscuity, shark attacks, sharks booming, sharks moving north, sheep shrink, shop closures, short-nosed dogs endangered, shrinking ponds, shrinking shrine, ski resorts threatened, skin cancer, slow death, smaller brains, smog, snowfall increase, snowfall heavy, soaring food prices, societal collapse, soil change, songbirds change eating habits, sour grapes, space problem, spectacular orchids, spiders invade Scotland, squid aggressive giants, squid population explosion, squid tamed, squirrels reproduce earlier, stingray invasion, storms wetter, stormwater drains stressed, street crime to increase, subsidence, suicide, swordfish in the Baltic, Tabasco tragedy, taxes, tectonic plate movement, teenage drinking, terrorism, threat to peace, ticks move northward (Sweden), tides rise, tigers eat people, tomatoes rot, tornado outbreak, tourism increase, trade barriers, trade winds weakened, traffic jams, transportation threatened, tree foliage increase (UK), tree growth slowed, trees in trouble, trees less colourful, trees more colourful, trees lush, tropics expansion, tropopause raised, truffle shortage, truffles down, turtles crash, turtle feminised, turtles lay earlier, UFO sightings, UK coastal impact, UK Katrina, uprooted - 6 million, Vampire bats, Vampire moths, Venice flooded, violin decline, volcanic eruptions, volcanic eruptions redux, Iceland volcano eruption, walrus pups orphaned, walrus stampede, war, war between US and Canada, wars over water, wars sparked, wars threaten billions, wasps, water bills double, water scarcity (20% of increase), water stress, weather out of its mind, weather patterns awry, Western aid cancelled out, West Nile fever, whales lose weight, whales move north, whales wiped out, wheat yields crushed in Australia, wildfires, wind shift, wind reduced, wine - harm to Australian industry, wine industry damage (California), wine industry disaster (US), wine - more English, wine - England too hot, wine -German boon, wine - no more French , wine passé (Napa), wine stronger, winters in Britain colder, winter in Britain dead, witchcraft executions, wolves eat more moose, wolves eat less, workers laid off, World at war, World War 4, World bankruptcy, World in crisis, World in flames, Yellow fever.

Best Explanation Of A Politician.

While stitching the hand of a 75 year old farmer, whose hand was caught in the squeeze gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man.

Eventually, the topic got around to politicians and their role as our leaders.

The old farmer said, "Well, as I see it, most politicians are 'Post Turtles'."

Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a 'post turtle was.

The old farmer [rancher] said, "When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle."

The old farmer saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain. "You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't even know what to do while he's up there, he's elevated beyond his ability to function, and you just wonder what kind of dumb arse put him up there to begin with."

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