The Lie of “Both-Siderism”
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Anthony Freda
Originally published on the Doomstead Diner on December 10, 2018
“I think there are good people on both sides.”
â Donald J. Trump
Let's be clear: this article rejects the notion that both the right and left are equally culpable in the endless political battle for hearts and minds. This is sometimes expressed as the "k'rupt duopoly," ""both sides do it," and "voting doesn't matter." While true that many of the problems afflicting this country span decades and include administrations from both parties, much of what we face stems from the tendency to kick the can down the road and avoid the pain of near term electoral consequences.
Just this week, the unindicted co-conspirator otherwise known by his new nickname, "Individual 1" noted, that the national debt would reach a critical mass only after his possible second term in office, replied, “Yeah, but I won’t be here.” All too typical.
"Both-siderism" is a feeble, lazy attempt on the part of media to "balance" their coverage by resorting to the trope that "both sides" are equally culpable. This is part of "gaslighting the world," as […] Continue Reading…
The Meat-o-Saurus Survey
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Published on the Doomstead Diner on December 10, 2018
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The raising of beef and its consumption are of great concern to many Diners. There are all sorts of problems with this, given the large population size of Homo Sap currently inhabiting the earth. It's very water intensive, it takes over habitat from other species who use the same land they graze on, the cattle are often raised, fed and slaughtered in inhumane ways and various other reasons as well. Many Kollapsniks advocate we all go Vegan in order to Save the Planet and be nicer to animals. Here on the Diner though, many of us are Politically Incorrect Meat-o-Sauruses, and still love a good Steak despite all the global negatives to this diet. Eventually of course, we will just about all end up either Vegan or Insectovores, the current production and distribution of beef can't last through Collapse. For us Meat-o-Sauruses when this time comes, we will have to make the decision of whether to become Bug & Veggie Eaters, or Punch our Tickets to the Great Beyond.
In the meantime though, here in the FSoA […] Continue Reading…
Alaska Quake Diary: Page 2
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Published on the Doomstead Diner on December 9, 2018
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I am taking this week off from Ranting to do an Update on the Earthquake situation up here in Alaska. It's been a full week since the Earthquake hit, and mostly it is good news as far as repair work is concerned.
I personally have all my services back, electricity, heat, water and flushing toilets. My unit sustained no major visible damage, although some of them did with cracked foundations, boilers ripped off the walls and so forth. Management was rather slow in responding, but they appear to be on the job now. Perhaps this will get them to fix some other long standing issues which predate the quake as well.
On the road and rail infrastructure front, the Alaska Railroad which carries both passengers as well as freight & coal between Seward, Anchorage and Fairbanks is back up and running after about 4 days, the track was busted up just north of where I live. Minnesota Drive which connects Anchorage and Ted Stevens has been partially repaired and travel to and […] Continue Reading…
Fireside Rant: Mexican Standoff
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Published on the Doomstead Diner on December 2, 2018
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Prior Rants: Wildfires; Politics 2018; Potpourri
For many more, go to the archives of the Diner SoundCloud Channel
It was another big week in Collapse storiez, and I originally started scripting this rant intending on covering 6 of them:
1- Mexico Border Conflict
2- Ukraine-Russia Conflict
3- Oil Price Crash
4- French Fuel Riots
5- GM cuts 14,700 Jobs
6- Asteroid 2018LF16
However, any one of these topics is worthy of a rant of it's own, and beginning with the Mexican Standoff, the script got so long that if I tried to do them all I would end up with a rant an hour or more in length. Nobody listens to rants that long, the audience trickles off after about 6-7 minutes. Attention spans for Audio are not very long. Well, attention spans for text are not that long anymore either, 240 words in a Tweet is about what the average millenial will read.
So, this rant will just look at the immigration and refugee crisis as it is manifesting itself down on the Mexican […] Continue Reading…
An Earthquake Fast Collapse Diary – Day 1
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Published on the Doomstead Diner on December 1, 2018
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As just about everybody knows, we had a major Earthquake this morning here on the Last Great Frontier. I am still without electricity, heat or water. The epicenter was between Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna river valley, coming in officially as a 7.0 but it felt much stronger than that around here. This has to do with many factors, primarily the soil type, which can liquefy with enough shaking.
Damage to the infrastructure both in Anchorage and up here in the Matanuska-Susitna river valley is extensive. Parts of the Glenn Highway which runs North-South and connects the Valley and Anchorage have completely disappeared. The valley serves as a bedroom community for Anchorage, and many people (relatively speaking, this is Alaska of course) do this 40-50 mile or so commute every day.
Also severely damaged were the main roads connecting Anchorage to Ted Stevens International Airport, which will make it difficult for the many Energy Industry Workers and Executives to do their shuttling down to the Bakken and up to the North Slope. Not […] Continue Reading…
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Collapse Fireside đ„ Rant: Potpourri
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Published on the Doomstead Diner on November 25, 2018
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Previous Fireside Rants: Compounding Conflagrations of Collapse; Politics 2018
Sunday Brunch has rolled around again, so it's time for another rant. đ This one is a Potpourri of a variety of collapse topics which hit the newz in the last week. Covered in this week's edition of the Fireside Rant:
Conspicuous Consumption
Thanksgiving brings us both conspicuous food consumption and the buying frenzy of Black Friday, now stretched out over a week in the internet era to include "Cyber Monday". The blowoff top of the Collapse of Industrial Civilization.
Wildfires
The big fires are now mostly contained, but the last week saw some interesting new developments worth updating on.
Road system limits
Prison inmates as firefigthers
Alcohol related death increases
Apparently people are drinking more and dieing more often from various alcoholism related causes. Big surprise there in the era of collapse. Most notable cause to cover: Sucide. I do.
Suicide during collapse
Are you surprised more people commit suicide in a collapsing civilization? You shouldn't be.
Less Sex for millenials
In related newz, apparently millenials are having […] Continue Reading…
A Hermit Thanksgiving 2018
Off the keyboard of RE
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Published on the Doomstead Diner on November 22, 2018
RE Thanksgiving of Yesteryear
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If you are a follower of my Diner Menu thread inside the Diner, you probably thought my Thanksgiving Dinner image would look like the one at the top of the page, and at one time they did look like that.
When we returned from Brasil and moved into My House in Flushing Queens in New York, we held a big Thanksgiving Dinner for all the relatives on my mother's side of the family. Although we still had contact with some of my father's side of the family after the divorce, they lived down in Norfolk Virginia for the most part The ones that did live in NY held their own family Thanksgiving celebrations so it was pretty strictly my mom's side of the family. At the time, we had the biggest house with the biggest table, a behemoth we brought back from Brazil hand carved from Jacaranda Rainforest Hardwood that could seat 12, although 8 was much more comfortable. We also usually had to set up a card table for the […] Continue Reading…
C5 Snowed In For The Winter
Off the keyboard of Category5
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Published on the Doomstead Diner on November 22, 2018
(photo from 2016 noreaster)
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C5 Snowed In For The Winter And The Snow-plow-pocalypse-End Day
Posted on November 22, 2018 by Dark Green Mountain Survival Research Centre
With your snug as a bug Host, Category5.
It’s minus 12c below freezing out there. Feels like minus 22 with the windchill. An extra foot of snow fell last night. More importantly, MrsC5 got the newish Subaru up the hill last night… and almost bogged down. Knowing more snow was coming, I gave her the disproving finger point as to the where the car should be. The bottom of the hill. Its that time of years again. From here on in, we walk up the hill through snow mounds.
It’s THAT day of our calendar. It’s a symbolic day and a day of contemplation. Are we ready for the winter shut in. Did we get everything heavy in before this point. I also go over my accomplishments of the year… or mull over what didn’t get done. This was a good year for accomplishments. Our winter will be much easier this year. […] Continue Reading…
Collapse Fireside đ„ Rant ©: Politics 2018
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Published on the Doomstead Diner on November 18, 2018
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Last week's Fireside Rant © , Compounding Conflagrations of Collapse did remarkably well in its first week on the air (or in this case over fiber-optic cables), particularly since I haven't done any Audio Rants in quite some time. You tend to lose audience if you don't keep the content running regularly, but the numbers for the first week are so far very good on that Rant at 193 Listens.
For this week, I'm ranting on our sitting POTUS Donalditry Trumpovetsky and his International Diplomacy ineptness, rising Fascism in the Western Industrialized Nations, and Right Wing internet Trolls who infest the commentariat of a variety websites. The spin down of Collapse continues to accelerate here as 2018 comes to a close, and I don't expect things to improve in 2019. It brings out the Scum of the Earth in the commentariat, and this can be a real problem as time goes by. It plays havoc with the idea you can both have "Free Speech" and a decent and […] Continue Reading…
C5 Gets Wood- Part I- The Blue Pill Moment
Off the keyboard of Category5
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Published on the Doomstead Diner on November 13, 2018
Posted on November 14, 2018 by Dark Green Mountain Survival Research Centre
Suckers. Nope. I’m not here to get my kink on or talk about sexual disfunction. I’m here to talk about the other wood.
“There is not enough liqueur and therapy in the world to undo that” Archer
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With your host, Category5. Budumt dup.
It’s early winter. We all know what time of year this is, Right? Its time to start cutting NEXT YEARS firewood. For those even further ahead of the game than me, it’s really time to be cutting next, next years firewood, since the most efficient firewood has seasoned for two full years. That aint me. I’m rarely that far ahead… though I do have an extra years firewood in the barn in reserve. Its about 5 years cured. Its there in case I ever get injured, have a heart attack, the saw dies… or I die. MrsC5 will have an extra year to figure out what to do next. She has my permission to replace me as quickly as possible. And I […] Continue Reading…
Compounding Conflagrations đ„ of Collapse
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Published on the Doomstead Diner on November 11, 2018
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Numerous Diner Lurkers have emailed me expressing disappointment with the disappearance of the Frostbite Falls Daily Rant audio I did for a long time, covering numerous Collapse topics. Mostly these rants can be found on the Diner Soundcloud Channel. I stopped doing them for many reasons, the main one though being that with my ever expanding health problems, working up the energy to do one of these things, scripting it and producing it just got to be too much for me. It's a whole lot EZier just to pound out a text blog on the keyboard, although generally not quite so much fun.
BUT, I am BACK! Not that I am much healthier these days, but I gotta screw myself down to the task at hand of informing readers about collapse issues before I am pushing up daisies, and Audio is quite appealing to many people. Unlike text blogs, you can listen to them while you do other things, like plant your permaculture collapse garden or drive through […] Continue Reading…
đłïž Election Special Edition
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Published on the Doomstead Diner on November 5, 2018
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I don't light up the Full Panentheist Shrine too often, it's only for Special Occasions like the Summer & Winter Solstice and the Spring & Fall Equinox. However, this Midterm Election qualifies as a Special Occasion, and I felt it important to bring FULL CANDLE POWER to bear here in the attempt to sway the election. This may not be as effective as Ruskie meddling and hacking, but hopefully it does something. Since I am not laundering money in real estate for Ruskie Oligarchs, it's the best I can do.
Midterm elections are generally a referendum on the sitting POTUS, and Trumpovetsky hasn't exactly lit up the world with his Leadership Genius, although there still is a "base" of complete morons who will support him until the Sun goes Red Giant even if he rapes little girls on the corner of 5th Avenue and Central Park South. Overall though, Trumpty-Dumpty opposition has been energized, and this is bound to affect the outcome of many of the mid-term elections now up for grabs. Where it […] Continue Reading…
Diners Litigate the Civil War (War of Northern Aggression)
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Published on the Doomstead Diner on November 4, 2018
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Diners have a constant battle ongoing about interpretations of the causes and reasons for the Civil War, or the War of Northern Aggresion as it is knowm in Old Dixie. With all the talk of secession and new Civil War recently, I thought I would treat the Diner Blog Lurkers to some of the Diner Opinions on this topic. Particularly apropos I think with the "election" upcoming on Tuesday.
From Eddie
I don't consider the DOC to be any kind of really legitimate organization.It's a club for women whose ancestors fought in the Civil War for the South, and at one time it might have been considered to be some kind of tie to an idealized genteel Southern past, but any connection to reality has been gone for a long, long time, and I'm not sure why any modern woman would join, except perhaps to make her grandmother happy, or maybe David Duke.
But, with that said, it never ceases to amaze me how far these "woke" people will go to vilify what is now nothing […] Continue Reading…
Responding to Collapse, Part 2: Climate Change
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Published on The Easiest Person to Fool September 15, 2018
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These squash just climbed up and helped themselves to a seat.
The title for this series of posts started out as "Preparing for collapse", but in my last post I immediately went into a rant about how I see a hard, fast, world-crippling collapse as pretty improbable. What I'm observing instead is a slow collapse that has already been happening for several decades and will continue for several more, albeit with much the same end result as a fast collapse. KMO, one of my favourite podcasters and a follower of this blog, suggested a better title would be Responding to Collapse, and that's what I'll be using from now on. Thanks, KMO.
Of course, I expect that the degree of collapse will become more intense as time passes, and it is that which we should try to prepare for (or respond to). Times will become gradually harder and occasionally bad things will happen that make things quite a bit worse all at once. But things will be much worse in some areas than […] Continue Reading…
This Week in Doom, Oct.28: Hate Speech in the Streets
From the keyboard of Surly1
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Originally published on the Doomstead Diner on October 28, 2018
“Violence is as American as cherry pie.”
â H. Rap Brown
It was almost inevitable. that after two years of lies, white nationalism, xenophobia, and demonization of the press, political enemies, and everyone who failed to take the knee, the rhetoric of #NotMyPresident would result in tragedy. The week's news was defined by pipe bombs sent to the top tier of Democratic politicians and at least two former Presidents. A marginal personality, one Cesar Sayoc, was apprehended after mailing the bombs to critics of the Trump administration, in an attempt at large scale political assassination. And the cesspool of anti-Semitic messages and symbols that social media has become bred a new supertroll, a gunman who invaded a Pittsburgh synagogue and left behind a string of casualties and grief. Meanwhile, the Prevaricator of the Potomac called for "unity" one minute, then a litany of complaints, accusations, whining and blame the next.
There is no acceptably sardonic or funny take on this news. News reports indicate that a random fingerprint and some DNA on at least one of the bombs was enough for the authorities to ID Sayoc. From The New York Times:
Mr. Sayoc, a registered Republican, has […] Continue Reading…
Make Canada Great Briton Again
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Published on the Doomstead Diner on October 24, 2018
(I have no rights to that photo. See bill c-42 article 29 on fare use for education, parody or satire),,,
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Posted on October 22, 2018 by Dark Green Mountain Survival Research Centre
…(I have also been told, no one is getting the Briton joke. See nonsensical statement comment. If you want to tell one really good joke, you have to be willing to tell 10 bad ones. I’m leaving it as is)
With your host, Category5.
I am soon going to be working on a very serious article that will be my most challenging yet. I am feeling mildly overwhelmed by this but impossible tasks is what I do. You may or may not hear from me for a few months as I pull this off.
In the face of that… I needed a little levity.
I had a face palm moment yesterday. I saw an article about someone selling “Make Canada Great Again” hats. Didn’t read it. There is only so much enraging stupid human tricks I am willing to put into my brain. But it immediately brought […] Continue Reading…
Machinery for a Post Collapse World: Charcoal Tractor
Off the keyboard of NearingsFault
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Published on the Doomstead Diner on October 17, 2018
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Welcome to my kick off post. I find it the height of arrogance to blog as I claim no mastery in the subjects that interest me most. I’m a greenie, a builder, a single dad, an alternative energy enthusiast, a gardener, and deeply concerned about the sustainability of the world we have created. I probably won’t write all that often but look in from time to time as I muddle my way through building a better life. For today the topic will be My charcoal powered tractor.
Years ago I launched a search for a fossil fuel free way to charge my batteries in my off grid home. The amount of useable sun in the winter on my solar array would drop to 1.5 hours from a summer high of 5. Most off grid homes resort to propane generators to make up the difference. Propane was not cheap and like any good doomer I understood how precious it was. Steam, thermo electrics, stirling engines, Hydrogen brown gas, you name it I researched and tinkered. […] Continue Reading…
This Week in Doom Oct. 14: Getting Away with Murder
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Originally published on the Doomstead Diner on October 14, 2018
“I have left my home, my family and my job, and am raising my voice. To do otherwise would betray those who languish in prison. I can speak when so many cannot… Saudi Arabia has not always been as it is now. We Saudis deserve better.”
â Jamal Khashoggi
This was a week in which Hurricane Michael made landfall as a Cat 4 in the Florida Panhandle, and flattened Panama City and erased Mexico Beach. As of this writing, the crack SWAT teams of the Trump Administration had mustered a post-Maria Puerto Rican-style recovery effort, meaning that aside from the Red Cross, residents are on their own. We learned that Sears, once the largest retailer in the world, is closing hundreds of stores under the guidance of designated looter Fast Eddie Lampert. As Sears stores fail, Fast Eddie's real estate company buys out their leases and re-rents the space to flea markets and crack dealers, thus improving the American suburb. The Trump administration is weighing new family separation efforts at the borders.
A West Virginia politician who told liberals to “get you’re [sic] coathangers [sic] ready” in preparation for the overturning of abortion […] Continue Reading…
Michael – The Path of Total Destruction
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Published on the Doomstead Diner on October 14, 2018
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We've been tracking the progress of Michael Inside the Diner in our Strafing Run of Mother Nature thread since before he ever made it to Cuba, as we do with most cyclones that are either exceptionally huge and potentially destructive or which look like they have the potential to impact the FSoA in some location. We also watch the storms in the Pacific that generally hit the Asian continent also, but since most of the Diners live in the FSoA, these storms get more attention.
At the beginning, Michael didn't look like much, a Cat 1 bound for Cuba, but the track projected by the Supercomputer Models took it through the gap betwen Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. The projected track made a beeline for the Panhandle of Florida, and thus it became a Hurricane worth watching, despite the fact it was only Cat 1 at the time.
Once into the "abnormally" warm waters of the Gulf, Michael went through not one, but 3 cycles of rapid intensification, or […] Continue Reading…
The Geopolitics of Petroleum
Off the keyboard of Geoffrey Chia
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Published on The Doomstead Diner on October 12, 2018
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This was a presentation to the members of ReNew/ATA (renewable energy advocates) at the Peace Centre in Brisbane in late September. Even though it is almost 90 minutes long, it is just a basic introduction. It is a much abridged version of topics already covered in articles previously written (see weblinks in text description beneath video)
Link to full talk:
Knarf plays the Doomer Blues
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