Quote from: K-Dog on Sep 03, 2026, 06:23 AM

QuoteI presume that this statement displays your disgust with bombings and American power projection regardless of which head of which party happens to be doing the bombing?

True that.  And people not giving a shit that we have a serial killer running the country only turns up my disgust knob.

I think it is reasonable to argue that ANY American President is a killer, serial or otherwise, by default. Federal executions, occasional bombings through outright war, refusing the care owed to veterans (one of whom I just sold a motorcycle to this very afternoon!), cutting programs that keep people alive be it food stamps to health care to whatever. Be nice to wave a wand and pretend humans really aren't shits if they just --fill in your favorite social structure that does the same thing but just has a different name.

Fundamentally, humans are just shits, and however they organize themselves post Nenderthal it tends to be bigger shits at the top, and screwing over littler shits to stay there.

Quote from: TDoS on Sep 07, 2026, 04:33 PMI think it is reasonable to argue that ANY American President is a killer, serial or otherwise, by default. Federal executions, occasional bombings through outright war, refusing the care owed to veterans (one of whom I just sold a motorcycle to this very afternoon!), cutting programs that keep people alive be it food stamps to health care to whatever. Be nice to wave a wand and pretend humans really aren't shits if they just --fill in your favorite social structure that does the same thing but just has a different name.

Fundamentally, humans are just shits, and however they organize themselves post Nenderthal it tends to be bigger shits at the top, and screwing over littler shits to stay there.

Given Amerika has made War against SOMEBODY during just about every Presidential term and the POTUS is Commanser-in-Chief, it's fair to say they have all been murderers, although war legalizes murder.

However, since many other countries have leaders who did NOT make war on anyone, you can't blame this on "all homo saps are shits".  In fact most are not shits.  Amerika however is organized to reward shity behavior.  That organization is the RACKET called Capitalism.





RE

Quote from: RE on Sep 08, 2026, 10:51 AM

Quote from: TDoS on Sep 07, 2026, 04:33 PMI think it is reasonable to argue that ANY American President is a killer, serial or otherwise, by default.

Given Amerika has made War against SOMEBODY during just about every Presidential term and the POTUS is Commanser-in-Chief, it's fair to say they have all been murderers, although war legalizes murder.

However, since many other countries have leaders who did NOT make war on anyone, you can't blame this on "all homo saps are shits".  In fact most are not shits.  Amerika however is organized to reward shity behavior.  That organization is the RACKET called Capitalism.
RE

Reference to issues with other favorite systems previously cited. Capitalism stinks, but that doesn't mean someone else's personal favorite is any better. 

Quote from: TDoS on Sep 03, 2026, 08:44 AM

USATODAY.COM 2026-09-03

Democratic socialists and MAGA share a dangerous flaw

Democratic socialists and MAGA nationalists both advocate sweeping government economic control which historically causes stagnation shortages and democratic erosion as seen in Cuba Venezuela and Soviet Union examples.

The Magic Triple Digit $100 Oil looms again!  With only 2 months to the election.

Chump promises $40 Oil "when we WIN the War"!  Does anyone really believe this nonsense?  How does he plan on winning it?

RE

Quote from: TDoS on Sep 08, 2026, 03:23 PMCapitalism stinks, but that doesn't mean someone else's personal favorite is any better. 

Currently, my personal favorite on the Nation-State level is Norway.  I think they do better.  They certainly don't kill as many people.  More equitable distribution of wealth also.

RE

Quote from: RE on Sep 08, 2026, 06:26 PM

Quote from: TDoS on Sep 08, 2026, 03:23 PMCapitalism stinks, but that doesn't mean someone else's personal favorite is any better. 

Currently, my personal favorite on the Nation-State level is Norway.  I think they do better.

They might. I've worked with Norwegians on a couple of projects, they were decent, smart, and didn't seem unset with their country, politically speaking. But SHITFIRE were they pissed about what happened to their take home pay compared to the cost of living. It didn't seem to be any one thing, but their bitch was all the money flowing out they couldn't keep. And when they discussed prices of items that I thought were reasonable here in the US, they were higher there. Import taxes to protect Norwegain industries maybe? I presume this was just a side effect of good health care and whatnot, the same beefs I heard wehn I lived in Canada. Not socialist, but just folks trying to provide health care for all and irritating the crap out of the citizens.

Quote from: REThey certainly don't kill as many people.  More equitable distribution of wealth also.
RE

If by more "equitable" you mean everyone feels poor except their elite political, business and capitalistic classes, sure. And as far as America killing people, well, countries go with what they are good at if they can.

Americans been good at killing people since they wiped out the natives to steal their land. You get good with practice.

Not talking about how they feel.  Talking Stats.  What I mean is their % of Homeless is about .07, while the FSoA is 3X that at.22.  6% of the FSoA population lives in extreme poverty, while in Norway it's around 0.2%

Amerikan Presidents being good at killing is exactly the issue we are addressing.  It's NOT a matter of it being human nature to be shits, as you postulated.  It's an artifact of the Capitalist system the country was founded on.

RE

Iran knows the pain.  MAGA does not.  It will take more billions before the pitchforks come out, but it is a matter of time, they will.  Iran will give maximum midterm pain, as they play the long game.

Quote from: RE on Sep 09, 2026, 05:55 PMIt's NOT a matter of it being human nature to be shits, as you postulated.  It's an artifact of the Capitalist system the country was founded on.
RE

Really? So Romans wiping out Carthage was just good old fashion non-capitalism fun? Genghis Khan was just a happy go lucky guy? Forced into being murdering shits by the horrors of capitalism? Or just people being shits?

Mao murdering how many millions by starving them to death certainly wasn't capatalism, that was just happy socialists leaning hard into the wonders of the strict version of socialism. Don't take my word for it. It was explained by my previous refernece.

Come on...capitalism...sure it ain't everybody's tea, but humans being shits is BUILT IN.

I never said it's an exclusive club.  Capitalism isn't the ONLY system that rewards Violence & Evil.  Its precursor Feudalism was much the same, as were the early Ag based Empires.  Monarchies had both violent and beneficent rulers over the centuries.  Going back to neolithic living, they tended to be peaceful except in existential circumstances when it was a  matter of survival.  Broadly speaking, as the size of the social organization shrinks, it becomes more cooperative.  On an evolutionary level, we're most similar to Bonobos, sharing 98% the same DNA.  As Great Apes go, very peaceful and friendly species.

I could go into more of the anthropology that impacts on behavior, how trade, Ag, property ownership and money changed behavior over the millenia, but it's too long and involved a topic to do a decent treatment of for me these days.  Suffice it to say that when organized in groups around the size of Dunbar's Number within around 2 orders of magnitude, human nature rewards cooperative behavior more and it predominates.  Larger than that, greedy and self serving behavior is rewarded better.  Once we have a sufficient population crash, we can look forward to the Inner Bonobo in Homo sap to reemerge.🥰




RE

The latest expansion of the War pretty much guarantees high fuel prices through the election, which should translate to Chump losing both houses of CONgress.  I don't think even the promise of $5000 if you go out and Vote Repugnant will hold the majority, although  if he adds a few more dirty tricks to influence the election ya never know.

Far as the actual shipping situation goes, all they need to do to really bollocks it up is to hit the Suez Canal and nearly all ME oil will be bottled up nicely.  With no end in sight to the Ukie War either, it could be a very cold winter in Europe.

The less Oil that flows out, the closer the wars edge to going to Tactical Nukes.  I've been reading more articles seriously discussing their use, particularly for the goal of "Breaking Up" Russia  The chaos that would ensue from that plan would be enormous.  It might neuter them as a military threat, but the economic results would be catastrophic.  Even less Oil would move, at much higher prices.

Overall, the situation is spinning up out of control.

RE

Quote from: REOverall, the situation is spinning up out of control.

RE

What! Please!! This is a collapse blog....things are always spinning out of control..and if they aren't obvious...we find some and claim it anyway! It is the entire purpose of these types of blogs! Pointing out to innocents who so easily succumb to claims of....DOOM!  To the common man this is the usual nonsense geopolitical crap expected when idiots are in charge and their idiocy plays out in the field of global geopolitc events, said effects being correlated with the idiots stature in the politico sphere. 

It is counter-intuitive that if in fact we are already collapsing (as defined previously) that this half baked self inflicted idiots Persian Gulf nonsense from Our Dear Leader and its consequences matter in the least! 360,000 children are born each day. Therefore a claimed collapse has to have more than 360,000 people a day expiring, for a decrease in population. The 10's or even 100's dying a week during the Orange Ones adventures in the Middle East is INVISIBLE compared to the 360,000 people a day required to have humanity beginning collapse. It isn't even a rounding error!

Now, with the nuke theory..maybe..MAYBE...you can contribute more than the 10's or 100's. But if a nuke only does Hiroshima or Nagasake damage (call it 180,000 for 2 nukes, so we'll round up to 100,000 per nuke used) then we need  3+ of those a day to create just the bare minimmum to match what ALREADY has to be happening to create a collapse. So then you have ongoing collapse, MINIMUM of 360,000/day, keep adding 360,000 infants a day, then add in 300,000 more for dropping 3 nukes on population centers every day, assume we don't run out of nukes, or population centers, 8.3 billion people, it would be like.....and it would take.... 75 YEARS TO ERASE HUMANS ENTIRELY!

Even THAT implausible scenario of induced collapse takes WAY too long....unless of course you are in one of those population centers in the first 10-20 years.

But at least collapse would be undeniable by anyone. As opposed to just currently hopes and dreams.

Quote from: TDoS on Sep 11, 2026, 01:54 PMTherefore a claimed collapse has to have more than 360,000 people a day expiring, for a decrease in population. The 10's or even 100's dying a week during the Orange Ones adventures in the Middle East is INVISIBLE compared to the 360,000 people a day required to have humanity beginning collapse. It isn't even a rounding error!

Your math viewed in a mirror seems technically correct, but it is as morally hollow as an empty box.  A society doesn't need mass extinction to collapse when nobody who matters cares enough to stop it.  Imagine you are hanging 100 feet in the air from a tree branch and it breaks.  Technically you are alive for 2.49 seconds.

On this website you are dead as soon as the branch breaks.  Get used to it.

The fall begins when the branch breaks, not when you hit the ground. Collapse is not dead bodies per day.  Collapse is the silence after the first broken promise.  It is denial and ignored warnings, it is when the last person who can make a change stops believing change is possible, that person certifies collapse.

You wait for bodies to pile up before acknowledging collapse.  With that attitude I don't think it is possible for you to catch a train on time, any day in the week.

Quote from: TDoS on Sep 11, 2026, 01:54 PMthis is the usual nonsense geopolitical crap expected when idiots are in charge and their idiocy plays out in the field of global geopolitc events, said effects being correlated with the idiots stature in the politico sphere.

The fact that idiots are in charge itself is an indicator of collapse. 😀

RE

QuoteThe fact that idiots are in charge itself is an indicator of collapse.

I had that exact thought yesterday, about 10:30 in the morning.  With idiots in charge, it can't happen any other way.  With idiots in charge, there is no way out.

But who is the bigger idiot?  The idiot with the power, or the idiots who let him have the power.