The Tortoise and the Boulder

[update for clarity: This post by Dan T, not by Germaine!]

Like many of us, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since the election. Well, before that, too. I agree with Germaine that we are headed for an authoritarian regime. I say that not with the conceit that I know the future–I don’t, and I sure hope I’m wrong. That just looks to me like where we’re headed. So what to do? Germaine is resolved to fight on. I respect that. 

I’m not resolved to fight on. When the boulder was rolling toward the cliff, it made sense to try to stop it. We did try. Now that the boulder has rolled off the cliff, I don’t see any sense in trying to stop its descent. The only outcome I can see from that is getting crushed.

I have not been reading a ton of news, though I skim some headlines. “The problem is this, the problem is that; the Democrats should have done this, they should have done that.” I think that’s all pissin’ in the wind. The problem is a majority of the electorate thought Donald Trump was an acceptable candidate; and a majority of those who thought he was acceptable actually wanted him. After everything he’s done over the past nine years to show us and tell us he is monumentally unfit for public office. A plurality of voters wanted him back in office. 

I can’t solve that problem. The boulder is going to take its course. It will eventually land, and when it does, it will probably shatter into pieces. I don’t know if that’s six months, six years, or sixty years from now. And I don’t know how it will happen, or what will happen next. If I’m still around and have the opportunity, I will try to help shape what comes next. In the meantime, it feels liberating to let go of trying to fight against where the world seems determined to go.

In the meantime, I will practice the Way in my daily life. That has always been more important than my politics anyway. Is that wisdom, or cowardice, or both? I don’t know, but I’d wager both. I don’t expect to be very active on dispol going forward, which is not to say I’ll never come around or make comments. But I think the likelihood of retribution for speaking out is real, if not imminent. And I am interested in self-preservation. So I’m going to tone it down. 

I’ll close with a story from Chuang Tzu. For context: Back in the day the Chinese would use tortoise shells for divination. They would throw the shell into the coals until it cracked from the heat, then read the cracks like we would read someone’s palm today. Here’s the story:

Once, when Chuang Tzu was fishing in the P'u River, the king of Ch'u sent two officials to go and announce to him: "I would like to trouble you with the administration of my realm."

Chuang Tzu held on to the fishing pole and, without turning his head, said, "I have heard that there is a sacred tortoise in Ch'u that has been dead for three thousand years. The king keeps it wrapped in cloth and boxed, and stores it in the ancestral temple. Now would this tortoise rather be dead and have its bones left behind and honored? Or would it rather be alive and dragging its tail in the mud?"

"It would rather be alive and dragging its tail in the mud," said the two officials.

Chuang Tzu said, "Go away! I'll drag my tail in the mud!"

This isn't good-bye, exactly, since I’m not planning on completely going away. But it does feel like a death. I wish everybody here fulfillment, safety, comfort and opportunity on our journey. Godspeed.

Following the flow of power and the battle for minds: Headlines & commentary

One can get a sense of where things are and will probably go from a scan of some headlines from two different points of view, the MSM and MAGA.

From the MSM

"Democrat propaganda": Marjorie Taylor Greene plans to team up with Musk to defund NPR -- Germaine's 11/6/24 prediction: Federal funding for NPR and PBS will either be shut off, or they will be turned into authoritarian propaganda outlets. 

Texas bill would reclassify abortion drugs as controlled substances -- The bill is modeled after a Louisiana law that doctors say has created chaos for other gynecological issues best treated by these drugs

Trump’s cabinet is filling up with Project 2025 authors despite him saying he has ‘no idea’ what it is -- Trump said he didn’t know who’s behind the blueprint for his return. He just hired the authors for key roles

Elon Musk and the age of shameless oligarchy -- We’ve never seen a political donor this loud, proud, and culturally influential -- “We are in an era that I call ‘in-your-face oligarchy,’” says Jeffrey A. Winters, a professor at Northwestern who researches oligarchs and inequality. Twenty years ago, it was a challenge to get his students to understand that there were oligarchs in the US. Now, he says, “I have a very hard time getting students to accept the idea that there’s democracy.”

Why Elon Musk can never balance the budget, in one chart -- Elon Musk wants to slash trillions in “waste.” Good luck, buddy! -- Germaine: Here, the MSM authors don't get it. Musk can cut trillions by calling what is cut waste even if it isn't. That's the point. Here's the budget.

Big cuts are not going to come from

defense, so where will they come from?

Trump Pentagon pick attacks UN and Nato and urges US to ignore Geneva conventions -- Revealed: Pete Hegseth writes scathingly of key institutions and says ‘If you love America, you should love Israel’ -- Germaine: "Ignore Geneva conventions" = mass slaughter of Palestinians -- Germaine's 11/6/24 prediction: There will be hideous genocide in Gaza, Lebanon and the Ukraine. 

From MAGA

Antony Blinken Holding Therapy Cry Sessions After Trump Win -- The Washington Free Beacon reported earlier this month about certain therapy sessions the State Department had been hosting for employees dealing with election fallout. 

The 2024 Presidential Election Landslide -- The SWAT raid on P’Nut’s house symbolizes an out-of-control totalitarian government. Elon Musk grasped this symbolism in his pithy posts on X. Thus, Elon Musk and Joe Rogan called P’Nut’s killing “proof America is no longer the land of the free...” P’Nut may be gone, but, with the election over, we can look back at the statist behemoth that killed him, and that may finally be reaching its end, leaving room for the Founders’ vision to bloom again.

P’Nut was killed by an out-of-control 

totalitarian statist behemoth

America is no longer the land of the free

Justice for P’Nut and Fred the Raccoon!!

Let’s say man is changing the climate. So what? -- if anthropogenic climate change were occurring, why should we assume it wouldn’t be beneficial? Oh, it’s not just that the Earth is greener and crop yields are higher when CO2 levels are greater [that is actually true but misleading]; it’s not just that relative warmth breeds life [that's incoherent]. It’s also this: Some scientists have said the Earth will soon enter, or has already entered, a significant cooling phase. Others even contend that another ice age is nigh. And if this is so, any man-caused temperature increase would merely mitigate this naturally induced but deadly phenomenon. [expert consensus says that is false]

Migrant murders put American communities on edge as over 1.4 million avoid deportation with shady tactics -- Laken Riley, Lizbeth Medina, Jocelyn Nungaray and Rachel Morin are among Americans allegedly killed by illegal immigrants -- VENEZUELAN MIGRANT GANG TREN DE ARAGUA NOW OPERATING IN 16 STATES: REPORT -- Question: Is it mostly migrant murders or mostly demagoguery about migrant murders that put US communities on edge, assuming "US communities" are "on edge"?

Leftists Are Fleeing X for Bluesky, But One Telling Statistic Reveals the Truth About Them -- “In the past 24 hours, we have received more than 42,000 reports (an all-time high for one day),” the Bluesky Safety team posted to its platform on Nov. 15. .... Of particularly notable concern, the safety team added: “We’re triaging this large queue so the most harmful content such as [child sexual abuse material -- CSAM] is removed quickly.” To say nothing of the CSAM content, that whole post is a bit telling, no? A public square is flooded by whiny leftists, and complaints exponentially skyrocket? That should tell you everything you need to know about the modern left in a nutshell. Leftism, at its core, is about division, and that’s why it just doesn’t work. Oh sure, it pretends to be all-inclusive, but inclusivity is the antithesis of intersectionality, and the latter is the primary currency of the left. -- Question: Does Bluesky trying to block CSAM support the allegation that leftists are whiney or that all Bluesky users are leftists? 

‘Sarah’ McBride Isn’t Just A Congressman In A Dress But A Trojan Horse To Force Men Into Women’s Spaces Everywhere -- McBride and his allies want women to give up privacy and safety, and all of us to give up our integrity and become complicit in their lies. -- The state of Delaware has elected a dude in a dress to the House of Representatives. Sarah (formerly Tim) McBride is a man who pretends to be a woman, and he will be going to Congress next year, which has provoked a fight over where he will, well, go when he is in Congress next year.

Q: Can you feel a difference in tone and degree of good will in MSM vs MAGA reporting?

The state of American ignorance/misunderstanding; About echo chambers

Lots of Americans are ignorant or misinformed about a lot of important things. Tom Nichols posted this bit of data on Bluesky. It's from a 2022 YouGov poll.

More data from the poll.

Nichols wrote the 2017 book The Death of Expertise (book review here). His key points include (i) there is a growing belief that everyone's opinions are equally valid, regardless of expertise or knowledge, (ii) many people are increasingly resistant to learning and hostile towards established knowledge, despite having unprecedented access to information, and (iii) metacognition, the ability to recognize one's own limitations and lack of knowledge in certain areas, is important to understand for democracy to survive in the face of toxic social media and dark free speech generally. He argues that rejection of expertise poses significant risks to society and democratic institutions.

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AOC posted this interesting thought about echo chambers on Bluesky:

It's coming to Canada too..........

 I too, am dismayed, that Trump won so easily. So, spending the last couple of weeks reading what the pundits have had to say and listening to talk radio, everyone is an expert all of a sudden on HOW it happened and WHY it happened.

It's coming to Canada too. The talk has started. And when the ruling Liberals lose, and the Conservatives under Pierre Poilievre win, the same experts and pundits will have their say.

Just for fun, after the Trump win, one radio program I listened to decided to simply gauge their audience and the results might surprise you.

Not much about the well-oiled Republican propaganda machine, not even much about Kamala not being a good choice. Every day Americans calling in and simply saying............. we aren't being listened to.

I hear it here too now. Here in Canada. Just every day people saying Trudeau has tuned them out. They are getting fed up with being ignored.

Now, before I go further - even if Poilievre wins, he is NO Trump. There will be no attacks against abortion rights, or gay marriage or any move to "replace" our universal health care. But the themes will be similar......

Americans "felt", whether we acknowledge the fact or not, that the left and Democrats were tuning them out. The fact that Trump will do worse didn't factor into their calculation. Or maybe it did factor in, and they decided, hey, you ain't listening to us so what do we have to lose?

Tent cities. Unchecked illegal immigration. Transgender males beating girls in sports. Being forced to use the correct pronouns. Unsafe streets. Rising food prices. Watching anti-Semitism rise on college campuses. Being told constantly that we are being bigots for being upset by the things that we see.

Now in Canada, the same dialogue. 

In the town I lived for 30 years prior to moving back there was NEVER a tent city. Now tent cities everywhere. Rising crime as well. Complain, and be called intolerant, bigoted, small-minded.

People are angry. Not as angry as Americans, because, well because Canadians aren't quite as angry in general as Americans tend to get. Is it OK to say that?

Now the ads have come out, and you would swear they resemble the attacks made by the Right in the US, just watch........

Could the message be any more obvious? And how will the Liberals respond? Like this...............

A positive instead of a negative ad. As it should be................

 Problem is, it dismisses grievances that Canadians are expressing. It simply says we are a great people and should all get along. But when you speak against issues the left support, you get put down. You don't "get it." 

So, when you hear and read "how could Americans have voted for Trump, is something wrong with Americans? Were they hoodwinking? Were they taken in by rightwing media and Fox? Were we stupid?'............

THEN, you will know why Americans voted for Trump and likely,why Canadians will vote for Poilievre.