I never expected the End of the World to be boring, but here we are.

A few people proximate to power are warning Trump is going to nuke Iran to demolish “Pickaxe Mountain.” This will salt (irradiate?) the earth after a purported “Blue Wave” rebuke of Trumpism. Even in MAGA-obsessed Texas, James Talarico is (reportedly) 5-6 points up on graft-obsessed adulterer Ken Paxton.

Yesterday, a LearJet 60 crashed, killing all nine onboard. The co-pilot, apparently a 20-something woman, kept the mic keyed on the way down. I’m ashamed to say I listened as it auto-played on my Threads feed last night. Her last words were:

Fuck…We’re out of time.

Depending how the next few days go, that might be the epitaph for our nation, or our civilization. (I won’t say “Our World” because in true George Carlin tradition…the planet’s not going anywhere. We are.)

Going Nuclear

So, let’s stipulate that they put “Battlefield Nukes” back on the order-of-battle. This is a full one-way-door, can’t-unring-the-bell situation. No one has used an atomic weapon for 81 years, because any such usage was the end of detente.

Once we walk through that door, you’d better believe Russia will follow suit in Ukraine.

Then, India and Pakistan, which will have climatalogical implications, world-wide (Read: nuclear winter) and kill tens (hundreds?) of millions.

Then, escalation to “full commitment.” My daughter sits at this writing 5 miles east of the main B-1B Bomber base in the US. My house is 23 miles from Ft. “Don’t Call it John Bell” Hood

Europe at Unrest

Decades of policy decisions led to unrest in Europe. It’s above my pay-grade to discuss why but some candidates seem to be:

  • Demography: like the US, Europe is getting older. Unlike the US, each constituent country has a significant Welfare State to support, including full-pension retirment, socialized medicine, and federal-government run schools.
  • Economy: European economies are sclerotic at best, non-functional at worst. You CANNOT FIRE ANYONE. Even for gross incompetence. So, people stay on and remain a leech on the organization. Worker productivity has been declining
  • Immigration: Europe has been the front-line in the Mideast and African immigration crisis since the turn of the century. Peple fled Syria, Egypt, Somalia, and did not assimilate.

Unsurprisingly, countries like France need to make hard choices, and French people aren’t thrilled with that.

American Politics

Simply:

  • Midterm voting is breaking records
  • Polling is indicating Democratic victory in both the Senate and House, even in “safe” places like Texas.
  • No one knows how the bunker-mentality of DJT will react. Martial Law? Suspend Habeas Corpus? (See “Going Nuclear”)

Econonmy

Our economy is a ridiculous combination of overvalued, transformational stocks (NVIDIA, the forthcoming Anthropic IPO) and fundamentals that don’t make sense. Our “Middle Class” of people who could generate enough income from 1 or 2 jobs to own a house with a reasonable mortgage interest rate, have 1-2 cars, take a vacation every year WITHOUT INCURRING MASSIVE DEBT simply does not exist anymore.

In Sum

I really despise heights. As in youtube videos that show heights make me nauseated. The above all feels like I’m standing on the edge of some bottomless gorge, covered in fog. I don’t know what the slip will be but it seems inevitable at this point.