We may finally have a start date for Armageddon: Saturday, February 15, 12:00 PM EST. What that means is that if you love someone, even if you just like them a lot, you might as well go ahead and tell them on Friday. Buy the chocolate. Eat the fancy dinner. Go to that concert you can’t afford. Indulge. This could be your last chance.
Am I fear-mongering a bit? Yes, intentionally to make a point. In the past three and a half weeks, we’ve already become so accustomed to one alarming headline after another that we’re starting to ignore the ones that don’t appear to directly affect us. As a result, developments that could genuinely bring about the beginning of the end go ignored because they’re not sitting in your back door, don’t have an immediate effect on your pocketbook, and may not disturb your spring break plans. As stressful as it is, though, we need to pay more attention.
Here’s what’s happened in the past twenty-four hours:
King Abdullah II of Jordan is scheduled to meet with Punk in Washington later this morning. Expect the toughest possible diplomatic language to be thrown about. Jordan’s laws prohibit taking refugees. Since Punk has no respect for anyone’s laws, including our own, he’s taking a ‘don’t give a fuck’ attitude. Plans for an upcoming visit by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt appear to have been scrapped, according to Arab media. El-Sisi isn’t inclined to play games with the US presidork and will turn to Iran and Russia in a heartbeat.
Are you beginning to see how this all could blow up in our faces? The more Punk pushes, the more Middle East and adjacent countries are balking. The decades of diplomacy necessary to keep a shaky level of peace in the region are coming undone just to placate the ego of a maniac.
Worst case scenario: noon passes on Saturday, which is about sundown in Israel (which is important), and Israel decides the abandon the ceasefire and bomb ‘the hell’ out of Gaza. Iran retaliates and brings both Egypt and Jordan into the fight, possibly along with Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. Turkey’s involvement would put pressure on European NATO countries to be involved. Putin hates NATO, so if they become involved then so will Russia, initially sending weapons and ammo, but troops if the conflict grows. Should Russia become directly involved, it’s doubtful that the Punk-In-Chief is going to sit on the sidelines. This would be the excuse for war that he’s been wanting. Once the US is directly involved, it’s WWIII and all bets are off the table.
But we have the superior armed forces, right? Uhm, about that…
Fifteen cases of measles were reported in a small West Texas county with a high rate of vaccine exemptions. Do stupid things, get stupid results. However, 15 cases in one county are alarming and are almost certainly going to spread to adjacent counties.
Now put all that together, let all those bacterium mix and mingle around in the human body. Anyone is sufficiently deadly on its own. In any combination, the lethality is something no health organization in the world is ready to fight. Troop strength, across the board, plummets quickly as everyone is at risk.
Now there’s some fear-mongering for you. This is all hyperbole. There is a decent chance that absolutely nothing will happen. Saturday will come and go as we rant and rail about more irrelevant and idiotic executive orders being handed down. The sun might even shine.
So, why write about it at all? Because in the flood of nonsense coming out of Washington, we easily lose our ability to think critically and strategically. One tends to not worry about the rain when being swept away by the water. We look to secure our personal security first and when that appears to be at such high risk, we become ignorant of larger, more dangerous monsters sneaking up on our backside. While worst-case scenarios are highly speculative, we still have to acknowledge the possibilities and, at least in the back of our minds, have an adequate response waiting.
The Internet is full of comparisons between this administration and the rise of Nazism in Germany. Too many of them are accurate. It has gotten so bad that yesterday, the American Bar Association felt that it needed to release a statement supporting the Rule of Law. One would think that attorneys supporting the Rule of Law would be a given, but the situation in DC has gotten so out of hand that they need to make sure everyone’s on the same page.
I was out with the dogs last night, trying to get Hamilton to tire out a bit before settling down for the night. We were roughhousing and playing when I took a hard faceplant. My first thought was to call out for help, but I didn’t. Everyone had a tough day. No one needed to add me to their list of problems. Nothing was injured beyond my pride. As both dogs came running to make sure I was okay, I picked myself up, brushed off the mud, came inside, and changed out of my clothes.
This morning, I’m in pain. I’m hoping meds and a hot shower will help. Perhaps this is a metaphor for where we are as a country. We’ve fallen, but the safeguards that would normally help us up are missing. We’ve endured so much that we’re in pain, hoping that we can fix everything that’s wrong by taking a hot shower and hoping that the Rule of Law makes everything better.
I’m not sure which is worse: too little fear or too much. Both are dangerous. Good luck finding the balance point.
Save The Date
We may finally have a start date for Armageddon: Saturday, February 15, 12:00 PM EST. What that means is that if you love someone, even if you just like them a lot, you might as well go ahead and tell them on Friday. Buy the chocolate. Eat the fancy dinner. Go to that concert you can’t afford. Indulge. This could be your last chance.
Am I fear-mongering a bit? Yes, intentionally to make a point. In the past three and a half weeks, we’ve already become so accustomed to one alarming headline after another that we’re starting to ignore the ones that don’t appear to directly affect us. As a result, developments that could genuinely bring about the beginning of the end go ignored because they’re not sitting in your back door, don’t have an immediate effect on your pocketbook, and may not disturb your spring break plans. As stressful as it is, though, we need to pay more attention.
Here’s what’s happened in the past twenty-four hours:
King Abdullah II of Jordan is scheduled to meet with Punk in Washington later this morning. Expect the toughest possible diplomatic language to be thrown about. Jordan’s laws prohibit taking refugees. Since Punk has no respect for anyone’s laws, including our own, he’s taking a ‘don’t give a fuck’ attitude. Plans for an upcoming visit by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt appear to have been scrapped, according to Arab media. El-Sisi isn’t inclined to play games with the US presidork and will turn to Iran and Russia in a heartbeat.
Are you beginning to see how this all could blow up in our faces? The more Punk pushes, the more Middle East and adjacent countries are balking. The decades of diplomacy necessary to keep a shaky level of peace in the region are coming undone just to placate the ego of a maniac.
Worst case scenario: noon passes on Saturday, which is about sundown in Israel (which is important), and Israel decides the abandon the ceasefire and bomb ‘the hell’ out of Gaza. Iran retaliates and brings both Egypt and Jordan into the fight, possibly along with Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. Turkey’s involvement would put pressure on European NATO countries to be involved. Putin hates NATO, so if they become involved then so will Russia, initially sending weapons and ammo, but troops if the conflict grows. Should Russia become directly involved, it’s doubtful that the Punk-In-Chief is going to sit on the sidelines. This would be the excuse for war that he’s been wanting. Once the US is directly involved, it’s WWIII and all bets are off the table.
But we have the superior armed forces, right? Uhm, about that…
Ebola cases in Uganda have risen to 9, while 265 others are being monitored under quarantine. This is the level at which it begins to spread to other countries, including the US.
Scientists warn Punk’s medical research cuts endanger patients as judge blocks the move for now. Remember how quickly a vaccine was found for the last pandemic? Punk would remove funding for the agencies that can prevent millions of people from dying. So much for healthy troops.
Fifteen cases of measles were reported in a small West Texas county with a high rate of vaccine exemptions. Do stupid things, get stupid results. However, 15 cases in one county are alarming and are almost certainly going to spread to adjacent counties.
AND THEN, A new strain of bird flu is detected in a Nevada dairy worker. Because, you know, the two strains that we already had going weren’t enough, apparently.
Now put all that together, let all those bacterium mix and mingle around in the human body. Anyone is sufficiently deadly on its own. In any combination, the lethality is something no health organization in the world is ready to fight. Troop strength, across the board, plummets quickly as everyone is at risk.
Now there’s some fear-mongering for you. This is all hyperbole. There is a decent chance that absolutely nothing will happen. Saturday will come and go as we rant and rail about more irrelevant and idiotic executive orders being handed down. The sun might even shine.
So, why write about it at all? Because in the flood of nonsense coming out of Washington, we easily lose our ability to think critically and strategically. One tends to not worry about the rain when being swept away by the water. We look to secure our personal security first and when that appears to be at such high risk, we become ignorant of larger, more dangerous monsters sneaking up on our backside. While worst-case scenarios are highly speculative, we still have to acknowledge the possibilities and, at least in the back of our minds, have an adequate response waiting.
The Internet is full of comparisons between this administration and the rise of Nazism in Germany. Too many of them are accurate. It has gotten so bad that yesterday, the American Bar Association felt that it needed to release a statement supporting the Rule of Law. One would think that attorneys supporting the Rule of Law would be a given, but the situation in DC has gotten so out of hand that they need to make sure everyone’s on the same page.
Today, we’ll likely see how the administration responds to a federal judge saying that the White House ignored his ruling on aid spending. There’s that whole Rule of Law issue, again. There’s so much going on that no one seems to be standing up to the ‘pause’ in federal law prohibiting foreign bribes. A new survey of global corruption shows the US slipping from a score of 69 to 65, putting us in 28th place. Who’s the least corrupt? Denmark, Finland, Singapore, and New Zealand, in that order, to no one’s surprise.
I was out with the dogs last night, trying to get Hamilton to tire out a bit before settling down for the night. We were roughhousing and playing when I took a hard faceplant. My first thought was to call out for help, but I didn’t. Everyone had a tough day. No one needed to add me to their list of problems. Nothing was injured beyond my pride. As both dogs came running to make sure I was okay, I picked myself up, brushed off the mud, came inside, and changed out of my clothes.
This morning, I’m in pain. I’m hoping meds and a hot shower will help. Perhaps this is a metaphor for where we are as a country. We’ve fallen, but the safeguards that would normally help us up are missing. We’ve endured so much that we’re in pain, hoping that we can fix everything that’s wrong by taking a hot shower and hoping that the Rule of Law makes everything better.
I’m not sure which is worse: too little fear or too much. Both are dangerous. Good luck finding the balance point.
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