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Heinberg: Awaiting Our Own Reichstag Fire
Millions of Americans now share the profoundly disturbing experience of watching and waiting as their nation lurches toward authoritarianism. In a previous essay, I described the Trump administration as a “presidency in search of an emergency”—i.e., a crisis that could be used as a pretext for seizing unchecked power. I opined that the emergency could come in the form of an economic meltdown, a terrorist attack, or a natural disaster.
As a result of the events of the last two weeks we now know what the crisis will almost certainly be (a terrorist attack) and how it will be used—namely, to do the following:
- Nullify the constitutionally mandated independence and authority of the courts. More on this below.
- Shut down congressional investigations. These are soon likely to include probes into collusion with Russia to influence the election (if the worst of the allegations are substantiated, Senators and Representatives could soon be bandying a word that starts with “T” and rhymes with “reason”), along with financial conflicts of interest that go vastly beyond the recent dustup with Nordstrom’s. The evidence of profound misdeeds is getting so hard to ignore that even a Republican Congress will likely eventually get rambunctious. The forced departure of national security adviser Michael Flynn can only fan the furor, rather than quelling it (again, more below).
- Criminalize dissent. Millions have already taken to the streets to voice their displeasure with the new administration, and thousands are showing up regularly at congressional town hall meetings. The time-proven ways authoritarian governments discourage anti-government activism are to increase surveillance and to heighten the perceived risks entailed in joining protests (prison time or worse).
- Rein in and discredit the mainstream media. White House strategist Steve Bannon has called the media “the opposition party.” Authoritarian regimes always attempt to marginalize and control the press and broadcasters. Given a sufficiently compelling national emergency, criticism of the government could be declared unpatriotic and even criminalized (as happened during World War I).
The events of the week of February 6 provided some clues on how Trump’s war on the judiciary is likely to play out. Jack Goldsmith writes that the way the executive order banning entry by residents of seven Muslim-dominated nations was drafted suggests a couple of possible interpretations. One is that White House Counsel Donald McGahn is simply incompetent; the other is that the executive order was deliberately botched in order to flush out judicial opposition for later retribution: “….Trump [may be] setting the scene to blame judges after an attack that has any conceivable connection to immigration. If Trump loses in court he credibly will say to the American people that he tried and failed to create tighter immigration controls. This will deflect blame for the attack. And it will also help Trump to enhance his power after the attack.”
In a New York Times column titled “When the Fire Comes,” Paul Krugman recalls that “The Bush administration exploited the post-9/11 rush of patriotism to take America into an unrelated war, then used the initial illusion of success in that war to ram through huge tax cuts for the wealthy.” He opines, “the consequences if Donald Trump finds himself similarly empowered will be incomparably worse.”
Krugman might easily have dug a bit further back in history to mention the Reichstag Fire of 1933, which Hitler and the Nazis used as an excuse to suspend civil liberties and round up enemies. Some historians now believe the Nazis planned the arson as a false flag operation.
I’m not suggesting that Trump can or will do something of the sort. But by demonizing Muslims, Trump has implicitly invited some sort of attack. Indeed, he almost literally does so in this tweet:
All of this speaks to the new administration’s evident intent to go full authoritarian on us. But success in carrying through with such intent is far from guaranteed. Donald Trump stands at the head of a cadre of insurgents that has managed to seize an extraordinary level of power in a very short time, but he and his merry band are opposed by an old guard that is not likely to exit the stage quietly or willingly. That old guard includes appointed officials and career staffers in Executive Branch agencies including the Justice Department, FBI, CIA, NSA, and DHS. Each agency has its own institutional agenda that is independent of the White House. To succeed, Trump’s team must neutralize, co-opt, enlist, or replace as much of this bureaucracy as possible, as quickly as possible. Indeed, Trump has already completely restructured the National Security Council in a way that is completely unprecedented: White House strategist Steve Bannon and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus have been given permanent seats on the NSC’s Principals Committee, while the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are now to be included in meetings only when requested for their expertise; the Secretary of Energy and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations are excluded entirely. Meanwhile, the White House has purged nearly the entire State Department senior staff. So far, most observers agree the job of transforming the Executive Branch is proceeding in fits and starts, and suffers from poor planning and leadership.
In addition, there is Congress to manage. The Democratic Party is of course utterly opposed to the new administration, but it’s sidelined with little real power; meanwhile, though Trump is a Republican and has captured the presidency for his party, his crew is by no means entirely in sync with the old Republican guard. Indeed, top Republican senators have called for a probe of the Flynn/Russia situation. For now, Congress is largely still working in line with the White House—but its acquiescence is not to be taken for granted.
Next comes the Judiciary. It will simply take too long to replace enough federal judges so as to entirely neutralize opposition within this branch of government, even given the imminent prospect of a conservative-dominated Supreme Court. That’s why silencing the judiciary in the aftermath of a national emergency makes sense.
Finally there are the American people. No regime can afford to entirely ignore the will of the public. Within the White House, the faction around chief strategist Stephen Bannon appears to be consolidating power and keeping the faith of Trump voters by forging ahead with campaign promises to expand the Mexican border wall, bar entrants from Muslim countries, step up deportations of undocumented residents, and downshift the NATO alliance. Nevertheless, popular opposition to Trump is very large and growing, and even in the face of a national emergency this could pose a significant obstacle to the administration’s plans.
It must always be borne in mind that the true objectives of the Trump administration differ somewhat from the issues that energized Trump voters. White House strategy almost certainly includes doing away with regulatory constraints on global banking while privileging U.S. banks and corporations wherever possible. The Trumpists also hope to fan economic growth with a combination of increased fossil fuel production, a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan, and a revitalization of American manufacturing. Trump’s foreign policy strategy evidently includes partnering with Russia on oil and gas projects and on fighting ISIS in Syria, while also driving a wedge between Russia and China wherever possible. At the same time, White House strategists seem intent on pursuing a civilizational war with Islam. Every autocrat needs a villain, and Iran is being set up in the role of immediate and proxy foe. The ultimate prize is the Middle East’s remaining oil, which Trump has said we should “take”—whatever that means in practical terms.
Not all of this is completely anathema to the existing Washington consensus. As Nafeez Mossadeq Ahmed argues, the Trump crew actually represents an existing segment of the Washington elite, “…an interlocking network of powerful players across sectors which heavily intersect with the Deep State: finance, energy, military intelligence, private defense, white nationalist ‘alt-right’ media, and Deep State policy intellectuals.” Ahmed believes “we are seeing a powerful military-corporate nexus within the American Deep State come to the fore. Trump, in this context, is a tool to re-organize and restructure the Deep State in reaction to what this faction believe[s] to be an escalating crisis in the global Deep System.” The guiding philosophy of this far-right nexus, which has exponents in Europe and Russia as well, has been labeled “traditionalism”—an ideology I hope to unpack in my next essay.
Flynn is an early casualty of infighting among elites within the Executive Branch. But he won’t be the last. Intelligence professionals appear to be deliberately withholding daily information from the president (who seems minimally interested in any case). Leaks are helping to undermine morale (it was a White House leak that brought Flynn down). The sharks are circling and there is blood in the water. If it is to succeed, the Trump presidency needs its emergency sooner rather than later. Even then there is no sure prospect of maintaining control for long.
It’s important to remember that the elites with whom the Trump insurgency is at war have failed in their objectives and have misled the American people for many years. Neoconservative foreign policy was responsible for needless and failed wars, as well as a steady stream of lies that squandered public credibility and support; meanwhile, neoliberal economic policy oversaw the erosion of the American middle class through globalization and financialization. It is these entrenched elites, for whom Hillary Clinton served as a lightning rod, who are therefore ultimately responsible for Trump’s ascendancy.
It may be a mistake to assume that one faction or the other will prevail. At least, that’s the implication of a recent essay by Peter Turchin, a Russian-American ecologist specializing in the study of cultural evolution. Without specific reference to the Trump insurgency, Turchin posits that America has entered a period of greatly heightened intra-elite competition, one measure of which is the vast recent increase in sums spent on election races. There is always competition among elites for positions of authority and power, but when positions are limited and aspirants are many, the result is a breakdown of social norms and the appearance of competing power networks “which increasingly subvert the rules of political engagement to get ahead of the opposition.” Once societies enter such phases, there is no return. Elites cannibalize society’s resources in rivalry over power, resulting in a breakdown of the myriad daily instances of cooperation that enable society to function. The re-establishment of intra-elite cooperation never occurs, and the state disintegrates. Turchin’s theory (developed from Jack Goldstone’s earlier work) has been tested on data from Ancient Rome, Egypt, and Mesopotamia; medieval England, France, and China; European and Russian revolutions during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; and the Arab Spring uprisings.
Steve Bannon has declared that he wants to “bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment,” but he evidently wants to do so in service to his vision of a restored white, Christian, hierarchical order ruled by a spiritually superior caste (again, more about this next week). However, as Nafeez Ahmed argues in his recent book Failing States, Collapsing Systems: Biophysical Triggers of Political Violence, we are actually facing not a “clash of civilizations” (Islam versus the Christian West) but rather a “crisis of civilization.” The former can at most merely temporarily disguise the latter. Our real crisis, only partly acknowledged or understood by any of the elites, consists of the end of the fossil fuel era, the end of economic growth as we knew it during the 20th century, and ultimately the end of an entire phase of human social and economic organization.
In this war of the elites, those who understand the “crisis of civilization” and are working to build community resilience as a response should be wary of hyper-partisanship. It may be essential over the short run to oppose both the rise of an authoritarian state and the dismantling of national climate policy. But no matter how fierce the contest, it is vital to remember that getting rid of Donald Trump will not make America great again. The only way forward with any prospect of success consists of creating a new pattern of existence within the shell of the existing one—a way of life that doesn’t require endless fossil-fueled economic growth or consumerism, and that brings people together rather than pitting them against one another.
The Über-Lie
Our new American president is famous for spinning whoppers. Falsehoods, fabrications, distortions, deceptions—they’re all in a day’s work. The result is an increasingly adversarial relationship between the administration and the press, which may in fact be the point of the exercise: as conservative commenter Scott McKay suggests in The American Spectator, “The hacks covering Trump are as lazy as they are partisan, so feeding them . . . manufactured controversies over [the size of] inaugural crowds is a guaranteed way of keeping them occupied while things of real substance are done.”
But are some matters of real substance (such as last week’s ban on entry by residents of seven Muslim-dominated nations) themselves being used to hide even deeper and more significant shifts in power and governance? Steve “I want to bring everything crashing down” Bannon, who has proclaimed himself an enemy of Washington’s political class, is a member of a small cabal (also including Trump, Stephen Miller, Reince Priebus, and Jared Kushner) that appears to be consolidating nearly complete federal governmental power, drafting executive orders, and formulating political strategy—all without paper trail or oversight of any kind. The more outrage and confusion they create, the more effective is their smokescreen for the dismantling of governmental norms and institutions.
There’s no point downplaying the seriousness of what is up. Some commentators are describing it as a coup d’etat in progress; there is definitely the potential for blood in the streets at some point.
Nevertheless, even as political events spiral toward (perhaps intended) chaos, I wish once again, as I’ve done countless times before, to point to a lie even bigger than the ones being served up by the new administration—one that predates the new presidency, but whose deconstruction is essential for understanding the dawning Trumpocene era. I’m referring to a lie that is leading us toward not just political violence but, potentially, much worse. It is an untruth that’s both durable and bipartisan; one that the business community, nearly all professional economists, and politicians around the globe reiterate ceaselessly. It is the lie that human society can continue growing its population and consumption levels indefinitely on our finite planet, and never suffer consequences. Yes, this lie has been debunked periodically, starting decades ago. A discussion about planetary limits erupted into prominence in the 1970s and faded, yet has never really gone away. But now those limits are becoming less and less theoretical, more and more real. I would argue that the emergence of the Trump administration is a symptom of that shift from forecast to actuality.
Consider population. There were one billion of us on Planet Earth in 1800. Now there are 7.5 billion, all needing jobs, housing, food, and clothing. From time immemorial there were natural population checks—disease and famine. Bad things. But during the last century or so we defeated those population checks. Famines became rare and lots of diseases can now be cured. Modern agriculture grows food in astounding quantities. That’s all good (for people anyway—for ecosystems, not so much). But the result is that human population has grown with unprecedented speed.
Some say this is not a problem, because the rate of population growth is slowing: that rate was two percent per year in the 1960s; now it’s one percent. Yet because one percent of 7.5 billion is more than two percent of 3 billion (which was the world population in 1960), the actual number of people we’re now adding annually is the highest ever: over eighty million—the equivalent of Tokyo, New York, Mexico City, and London added together. Much of that population growth is occurring in countries that are already having a hard time taking care of their people. The result? Failed states, political unrest, and rivers of refugees.
Per capita consumption of just about everything also grew during past decades, and political and economic systems came to depend upon economic growth to provide returns on investments, expanding tax revenues, and positive poll numbers for politicians. Nearly all of that consumption growth depended on fossil fuels to provide energy for raw materials extraction, manufacturing, and transport. But fossil fuels are finite and by now we’ve used the best of them. We are not making the transition to alternative energy sources fast enough to avert crisis (if it is even possible for alternative energy sources to maintain current levels of production and transport). At the same time, we have depleted other essential resources, including topsoil, forests, minerals, and fish. As we extract and use resources, we create pollution—including greenhouse gasses, which cause climate change.
Depletion and pollution eventually act as a brake on further economic growth even in the wealthiest nations. Then, as the engine of the economy slows, workers find their incomes leveling off and declining—a phenomenon also related to the globalization of production, which elites have pursued in order to maximize profits.
Declining wages have resulted in the upwelling of anti-immigrant and anti-globalization sentiments among a large swath of the American populace, and those sentiments have in turn served up Donald Trump. Here we are. It’s perfectly understandable that people are angry and want change. Why not vote for a vain huckster who promises to “Make America Great Again”? However, unless we deal with deeper biophysical problems (population, consumption, depletion, and pollution), as well as the policies that elites have used to forestall the effects of economic contraction for themselves (globalization, financialization, automation, a massive increase in debt, and a resulting spike in economic inequality), America certainly won’t be “great again”; instead, we’ll just proceed through the five stages of collapse helpfully identified by Dmitry Orlov.
Rather than coming to grips with our society’s fundamental biophysical contradictions, we have clung to the convenient lies that markets will always provide, and that there are plenty of resources for as many humans as we can ever possibly want to crowd onto this little planet. And if people are struggling, that must be the fault of [insert preferred boogeyman or group here]. No doubt many people will continue adhering to these lies even as the evidence around us increasingly shows that modern industrial society has already entered a trajectory of decline.
While Trump is a symptom of both the end of economic growth and of the denial of that new reality, events didn’t have to flow in his direction. Liberals could have taken up the issues of declining wages and globalization (as Bernie Sanders did) and even immigration reform. For example, Colin Hines, former head of Greenpeace’s International Economics Unit and author of Localization: A Global Manifesto, has just released a new book, Progressive Protectionism, in which he argues that “We must make the progressive case for controlling our borders, and restricting not just migration but the free movement of goods, services and capital where it threatens environment, wellbeing and social cohesion.”
But instead of well-thought out policies tackling the extremely complex issues of global trade, immigration, and living wages, we have hastily written executive orders that upend the lives of innocents. Two teams (liberal and conservative) are lined up on the national playing field, with positions on all significant issues divvied up between them. As the heat of tempers rises, our options are narrowed to choosing which team to cheer for; there is no time to question our own team’s issues. That’s just one of the downsides of increasing political polarization—which Trump is exacerbating dramatically.
Just as Team Trump covers its actions with a smokescreen of controversial falsehoods, our society hides its biggest lie of all—the lie of guaranteed, unending economic growth—behind a camouflage of political controversies. Even in relatively calm times, the über-lie was watertight: almost no one questioned it. Like all lies, it served to divert attention from an unwanted truth—the truth of our collective vulnerability to depletion, pollution, and the law of diminishing returns. Now that truth is more hidden than ever.
Our new government shows nothing but contempt for environmentalists and it plans to exit Paris climate agreement. Denial reigns! Chaos threatens! So why bother bringing up the obscured reality of limits to growth now, when immediate crises demand instant action? It’s objectively too late to restrain population and consumption growth so as to avert what ecologists of the 1970s called a “hard landing.” Now we’ve fully embarked on the age of consequences, and there are fires to put out. Yes, the times have moved on, but the truth is still the truth, and I would argue that it’s only by understanding the biophysical wellsprings of change that can we successfully adapt, and recognize whatever opportunities come our way as the pace of contraction accelerates to the point that decline can no longer successfully be hidden by the elite’s strategies.
Perhaps Donald Trump succeeded because his promises spoke to what civilizations in decline tend to want to hear. It could be argued that the pluralistic, secular, cosmopolitan, tolerant, constitutional democratic nation state is a political arrangement appropriate for a growing economy buoyed by pervasive optimism. (On a scale much smaller than contemporary America, ancient Greece and Rome during their early expansionary periods provided examples of this kind of political-social arrangement). As societies contract, people turn fearful, angry, and pessimistic—and fear, anger, and pessimism fairly dripped from Trump’s inaugural address. In periods of decline, strongmen tend to arise promising to restore past glories and to defeat domestic and foreign enemies. Repressive kleptocracies are the rule rather than the exception.
If that’s what we see developing around us and we want something different, we will have to propose economic, political, and social forms that are appropriate to the biophysical realities increasingly confronting us—and that embody or promote cultural values that we wish to promote or preserve. Look for good historic examples. Imagine new strategies. What program will speak to people’s actual needs and concerns at this moment in history? Promising a return to an economy and way of life that characterized a past moment is pointless, and it may propel demagogues to power. But there is always a range of possible responses to the reality of the present. What’s needed is a new hard-nosed sort of optimism (based on an honest acknowledgment of previously denied truths) as an alternative to the lies of divisive bullies who take advantage of the elites’ failures in order to promote their own patently greedy interests. What that actually means in concrete terms I hope to propose in more detail in future essays.
A Hard-Nosed Optimism
In last week’s essay I used the phrase “hard-nosed optimism” to describe the attitude needed now as “an alternative to the lies of divisive bullies who take advantage of the elites’ failures in order to promote their own patently greedy interests.” This is the optimism Antonio Gramsci probably had in mind when he coined the memorable phrase, “Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.”
For those who are paying attention to what’s happening in the world these days, pessimism of the intellect is easy enough to muster. There’s gloom in the air, especially in the United States, where Trump voters responded positively to what was easily the most downbeat pitch from any politician in living memory. In his inaugural address Trump spoke of “American carnage,” and in his campaign speeches and debates he often described the U.S. as virtually a blasted ruin, its cities in a state of advanced decay due to “crime, gangs, and drugs.” Jobs are gone, hope is nearly extinguished; “You walk down the street, you get shot.”
Now, following the election, what is arguably a more reality-based, anger-tinged melancholy has spread to those who voted against Trump. In an interview with Chris Hedges, Kali Akuno, the co-director of Cooperation Jackson and an organizer with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement in Jackson, Miss, paints about as grim a picture as possible, but one that would likely resonate in the minds of many American progressives:
“All forms of dissent will soon be criminalized. Civil liberties will no longer exist. Corporate exploitation, through the abolition of regulations and laws, will be unimpeded. Global warming will accelerate. A repugnant nationalism, amplified by government propaganda, will promote bigotry and racism. Hate crimes will explode. New wars will be launched or expanded.”
But for those who are really paying attention, the apprehension goes even deeper. The fact is, we are living at history’s greatest inflection point, as I tried to explain in my 2007 book Peak Everything. We today face an extreme ecological crisis (resource depletion, climate change, overpopulation). In addition, there are good reasons to conclude that our financial economy is a house of cards vulnerable to a moderately strong puff of wind. It’s time to brace for impact.
Without pessimism of the intellect, our behaviors are disconnected from reality. If you’re in a ship that’s sinking, it may be possible to act in a way that increases the number of survivors (perhaps only by one). But that requires, first of all, an acknowledgment of the dire situation; denial that your vessel is in trouble merely forecloses possibilities.
But without optimism of the will, intellectual pessimism is paralyzing. What exactly did Gramsci mean by “optimism of the will”? Permit me to speculate a little.
Crisis can often bring out the worst qualities in people. Tumult creates opportunities for . . . well, opportunists—bullies and hucksters. We have an example readily at hand: someone of Donald Trump’s character probably could not have arisen in American politics during a period of generally growing affluence such as prevailed in the 20th century (yes, we endured some dullards and crooks—but no one even approaching Trump’s level of pugnacious mendacity). But while bullies and hucksters can gain power and sow discord, they can’t be looked to as agents for improvement of our long-term survival prospects. For that, entirely different qualities of character are required.
As global industrial civilization fragments, persistence of the best of what we humans are and have achieved will require us to build resilient, enduring communities—ones with high internal levels of mutual trust, and that are capable of adapting quickly to changing conditions and responding effectively to a range of threats. Such communities arise and sustain themselves only by nurturing and prizing certain qualities of character on the part of their members.
The people who are most likely to be of use in such communities are those who exhibit old-fashioned virtues, including honesty, bravery, self-control, cheerfulness, humility, and generosity. The ability to amuse and entertain oneself and others will be a welcome bonus; likewise the ability to speak convincingly, and the willingness both to endure discomfort and to find satisfaction in small things. I think qualities like these may start to get at what Gramsci meant by “optimism of the will.”
None of us scores 100 on the character test. In fact, writing about noble qualities of character is uncomfortable, because doing so inevitably invites investigation into the character of the writer—and I’m certainly not proposing to set myself up as an example. All I can say is, I’m trying (not hard enough, I’m sure some would say). Nevertheless the subject of character seems unavoidable.
Initially, character is formed by early childhood experiences, by culture, and perhaps also by heredity. Consumer culture reliably produces generations of self-absorbed whiners, and social media don’t seem to be helping much with that. But even with such excuses readily at hand, no competent adult can abdicate the responsibility for character building, which is an ongoing and cumulative task.
Indigenous people knew all about this. They had to rely on direct daily interactions with one another for nearly everything, and everyone knew that habitual complaining, lying, and boasting could eventually get you ostracized—effectively a death sentence. Reading accounts by early European explorers, or by later first-contact field anthropologists, one cannot help but be struck by the degree to which people in the simplest societies held themselves and one another to a high standard of speech and behavior.
Modern economies appear to run less on character, more on energy, resources, investment, debt, and innovation. But in the world that’s coming, who we are may once again matter more than what we have.
Notice I haven’t mentioned technology much in this essay. Most future gazing, whether of the utopian or dystopian variety, focuses on tools and what they can do for us. If civilization gets downsized in the next few decades, then knowing how to build and operate low-tech devices for meeting human needs will undoubtedly aid with survival. But really effective preparation for what’s coming may best begin not with our choice of gadgetry, but with ourselves.
Unless we are able to build human cultures that truly deserve to survive, what’s the point of survival? And such cultures must be comprised of, and sustained by, people who hold quality of character as the highest good.
If it takes a Donald Trump to remind us of this ancient truth, then at least he will have done us that service.
75 Comments on "Heinberg: Awaiting Our Own Reichstag Fire"
Hubert on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 12:31 pm
PREDICTABLE BRAIN-DEAD LIBERAL.
penury on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 1:12 pm
Things will change, probably for the worse for most of us, and maybe better for the rich, nothing stays the same and some always win and some will always lose.
peakyeast on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 1:33 pm
“Millions of Americans now share the profoundly disturbing experience of watching and waiting as their nation lurches toward authoritarianism. ”
If the americans has just voted Hillary. Then she would have fixed all that is wrong – like for example these few examples below…
1. Indiscriminate Surveillance of everybody on earth – by doing shady swapping of information with other secret organisations.
2. Accept of remote controlled random killings anywhere on earth with 10% accuracy and acceptance of 90% innocent people considered as useless meat-products. Thus creating terrorists in order to justify increased military spending the world over.
3. Incarceration and extermination without due process. No laws No judges – just kill whoever you do not like.
4. Invasions, inciting revolt, supporting extremely violent raving madmen – all to either get resources or to get influence or just to annoy “someone”.
5. No progress mitigating world-wide catastrophes like empty oceans, pollution, extermination of wildlife and so forth… But actually accelerating them.
6. Government financial terrorism – supporting the very people who were about to collapse the world economy.
7. Closing down NIF and making them focus on micro-nuclear weapons
8. Accelerating government and private debt and increasing income inequality.
And many MANY others…
Now that Trump is there – these are ALL his fault…
Not Obama, Not Bush? Trump is THE bad guy.
He personally made the world into a shit-hole.
Ghung on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 2:00 pm
“The ultimate prize is the Middle East’s remaining oil, which Trump has said we should “take”—whatever that means in practical terms.”
The short-term prize is preserving the petro-dollar hegemony that enables and motivates these freaks of nature.
Other than that, what Richard said.
Ghung on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 2:02 pm
penury said; “…some always win and some will always lose.”
Sometimes, everybody loses. That’s the age we’re in.
Davy on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 2:36 pm
What Heinberg does not want to admiit is Trump is his legacy along with the rest of the managerie of victimization and petty privilege. Trump is all of our legacy. We allowed a system to produce a Hillary Clinton and a deep state of globalism. We deserve the consequences when we start pointing fingers. There are innocents but they are unheard and clueless.
I don’t like Trump except the way he calls out everyone in the establishment. That is what the establishment needs. This will not end well but I get sick and tired of it being blamed on Trump when it is our collective faults.
Anonymous on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 2:48 pm
The more hienberg talks like this, the less I respect him. which after this, is pretty much nil.
So rich is worried about the following:
Nullify the constitutionally mandated independence and authority of the courts.
-Something called the ‘constitution’ might mandate this, but the courts serve the
corporate and war state, just like all the other ‘constitutionally mandated independent’ branches do. uS courts have sided with the war state and corporate polluters often enough you would think heinberg would have noticed there was something wrong uS courts nominal ‘independence’ by now.
Shut down congressional investigations.
-Do those even work in the uS? Ive seen lots of these where uS banks, Wall st types, oil, automakers whatnot get called before these, and nothing ever seems to come of them. Heinberg seems to have a rather high opinion of the efficacy of these PR exercises.
Criminalize dissent. Millions have already taken to the streets to voice their displeasure with the new administration
-Heinberg is a little late on this one. Dissent has long been criminalized in the uS, and it wasn’t the trump that did that. It was his hero’s shillary, barack obomber and the all the feel-good types at the pentagon and DHS etc that were pulling the strings of whoever sat in the WH that did it. Dissent in the uS suppressed, often brutally as a matter of policy. Secondly, many of these ‘protesters’ are being funded and directed by Soros linked orgs.
Rein in and discredit the mainstream media
-Heinberg is either a full on shill, or has lost his mind if he thinks amerikan ‘MSM’ is even remotely credible. If anything, the main culprit discrediting the uS media is not DJT, but uS MSM itself. Does he even watch CNN, faux, MSNBC etc? If he did, he wouldn’t be trying to portray them as credible. They have zero credibility these days, but Richard doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo on that one either. If the MSM showered love on trump the way they do and did for idiots like shillary clinton and Barack, donny likely wouldn’t have much to say about the MSM. Wouldn’t change the underlying problem with uS medias zero credibility problem either way though.
The trump likely has little issue with the fundamentally deceitful nature of uS media at all, nor does richard heinberg apparently, but trump does have a problem with it largely because it is so implacably hostile towards him. I doubt trump grasps the real reasons for this however.
peakyeast on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 2:51 pm
@Davy: Completely agree with you here.
Mr. Pockets on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 3:06 pm
Anonymous, with the angry anti-liberal screed of the day…. As if Hillary and Obama began the criminalization of dissent, not the pig before him. Cool story, bro. … Also, if the mainstream media had “zero credibility,” it wouldn’t exist. … For all their missteps, it’s still the mainstream media that led to Flynn’s resignation – and that’s a good thing. … Hate them all you want, but you wouldn’t be 1/10th as aware of current events if there was no “MSM.”
shortonoil on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 3:30 pm
Mr. Trump, and most of the American people do not want the same Muslim invasion that is now pulling Europe apart. It looks like Richard has gone a little myopic in his old age.
Davy on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 3:32 pm
MSM is completely corrupted and nothing but spin. They are spinned by the deep state and spinned by their corporate owners. They are also just spinning their own oversized egos. What is lost in this process is the truth and some sort of reality. What is real these days since we have the 24/7/365 news cycle we are all addicted to? It is rare to find real talent and intelligence today in journalism. It has gotten so bad. They were once the trusted one. MSM, has destroyed this country but so has TV, cars, and a long list of other modern entropy.
Cloggie on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 4:55 pm
Also, if the mainstream media had “zero credibility,” it wouldn’t exist. …
Is that so? Take the WaPo, a financial bleeder if there ever was one. Yet Amazon’s Jeff Bezos stepped in and bought the newspaper to use it as a globalist propaganda channel with global reach. It may lose money but it represents political power nevertheless.
Thanks to the internet the MSM are continuously losing market/attention share and their image is lousy. And it won’t get better with this war Trump is waging against the MSM.
For all their missteps, it’s still the mainstream media that led to Flynn’s resignation – and that’s a good thing.
It was mainly Flynn who shot himself in the foot by lying. The intelligence agencies got wind of it and leaked for no other purpose than to embarrass Trump, who had no choice but to fire Flynn.
Mr. Trump, and most of the American people do not want the same Muslim invasion that is now pulling Europe apart. It looks like Richard has gone a little myopic in his old age.
Richard Heinberg is a Mexifornian liberal who quietly dropped the peak oil theme and now is venturing into Trump bashing terrain.
Midnight Oil on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 4:57 pm
Daaa, the Twin Towers already fit the bill…
Some people are so slow to realize….
Cloggie on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 4:58 pm
Heinberg’s article:
Some historians now believe the Nazis planned the arson as a false flag operation.
Rubbish, there is no doubt that the fire was put by a Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marinus_van_der_Lubbe
According to Ian Kershaw, writing in 1998, the consensus of nearly all historians is that Van der Lubbe did, in fact, set the Reichstag fire. Although Van der Lubbe was certainly an arsonist, and clearly played a role, there has been considerable popular and scientific debate over whether he acted alone.
Heinberg is chiming in with the ludicrous allegations that Russia somehow “interfered” in a decisive manner with the elections (how?) and thus kept poor Hillary Clinton from becoming the first female president.
Criminalize dissent. Millions have already taken to the streets to voice their displeasure with the new administration
We are talking about a democratically elected president here. What’s the deal… overthrow Trump like happened to Yanukovitch in the Ukraine in a color coded revolution? Communists like Heinberg have no respect for democracy and will try to overturn legal election results through street pressure.
Rein in and discredit the mainstream media. White House strategist Steve Bannon has called the media “the opposition party.” Authoritarian regimes always attempt to marginalize and control the press and broadcasters.
Lying Heinberg is now going in the overdrive by suggesting that the MSM are NOT the opposition party:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtJvYdX4GKM
How willfully blind can you be? You may call the style of Trump authoritarian, but since the sixties ALL western media are globalist. There is no such thing as an “independent press”. Furthermore we have freedom of speech, so Trump is perfectly allowed to criticize the MSM, that’s what the MSM does as well. The MSM has declared war against Trump early on, now Trump is shooting back, boohoo.
I’m not suggesting that Trump can or will do something of the sort.
What a vile manlet this Heinberg is. The title of this shoddy piece of text is clearly: “Awaiting Our Own Reichstag Fire”, picture included. Leftist demonization in high gear.
Finally there are the American people.
Wrong, should read: finally there are the American people’s. The American people no longer exists but is split in the middle like never before.
Every autocrat needs a villain, and Iran is being set up in the role of immediate and proxy foe.
Every US administration has done so since the Iranians kicked out their US Shah satrap.
As Nafeez Mossadeq Ahmed argues, the Trump crew actually represents an existing segment of the Washington elite
Oh please, not this London-based Muslim Ahmed chap again, falsely promoting the idea that Trump somehow represents a white-nationalist branch of the deep state, where in reality the kosher-dominated deep state is fighting Trump tooth and nail. There is only one deep state and that is George Soros, Richard Haas, Janet Yellen, MSM, etc. Unguarded whites need not apply.
makati1 on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 5:56 pm
“It’s time to brace for impact.”
That sums it all up. I read most of this article, and it could be summed up in those six words. The similarities to the U$ today and Germany of the 30s is eerily close.
“Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it”- Edmund Burke.
Most of those who fought in WW2 are now gone and with them, the memories of that world prior to, during and after. The West was full of war mongers then as now. It had its bakers controlling many country’s fate, just as today. It had its energy and resource problems, just as today. Yes, history rhymes, if it doesn’t repeat.
“It’s time to brace for impact.”
Davy on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 6:08 pm
Those who dwell in the history of the 20th century for answers in the globalized interconnected 21st century are sure to find failure. You could do this between the 18th – 19th centuries and 19th – 20th centuries. Another issue today is the paradigm of growth and decline. You can argue we are not in decline but it is far harder to argue against a plateau with real growth likely over. Populations are considerably different. Modernism and homogeneous lifestyles from the internet and media have change this world profoundly.
Anonymous on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 6:21 pm
Most interesting thing I see is, how many keep referring to the uS deep state, Soros, NWO types as ‘liberals’.
Cloggo keeps referring to them as ‘liberal-commie types, but clog is a fucking retard himself so that, at least, tracks. But back to the larger point, there is nothing ‘liberal’ about the ‘globalists’ types, even if they have skillfully co-opted some of the imagery , buzzwords and language of ‘liberalism’ in some instances. Just because the globos are villains with better PR, does not make them any less the villains, and it certainly does not earn them the ‘liberal’ label.
The only way anyone could call certifiable imperialist war-criminals types like say, Condi Rice, Killary Clinton, Samantha ‘invade em to save em’ Powers, and the current grand poo-bah of faux ‘liberals’ everywhere, barack obomber, is through sheer ignorance of the term. Or a complete lack of imagination maybe. If ya think those people are ‘liberals’, who is working the other side of the fence? Genghis Khan, Emperor Palpatine?
makati1 on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 6:38 pm
Davy, obviously you have zero knowledge of the real history of WW2. Most of the problems that led to that war were about money, trade, and resources and are very, very similar to today’s situation. Get educated and THEN rant about your prejudices.
Apneaman on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 7:09 pm
Davy, I get you on the Trump blaming, but not everyone who criticizes Trump blames him for where the humans are at today. For instance, I was one of the first people to tell the liberal environmentalists who were all hair on fire about AGW as soon as Cheeto won, that he is only as responsible (footprint) as any other billionaire and that the humans were screwed decades ago. Then I linked to all the big metrics CO2, ocean acidification, species extinction all increased under Obama and US oil extraction Boomed under Obama and a bunch of other numbers. I’ve taken many shots at the big Cheeto, but always maintained he is a symptom of a dying system and I’m far from the only one to both criticize him and acknowledge that he is another product of end stage America. Oh you should here the things I’ve been accused of on those sites – the’re just like clog, but rabid barking delusional liberals instead. How old are you? Take your age and calculate how many years tribe left has been “in charge” 😉 and how many years tribe right has been “in charge”;) Now since it’s close to 50/50 how is it the two tribes can lay so much/all the blame upon each-other and each others team captains? Methinks it has to do with the Big Club members paying good money to clever Propaganda wizards to drive a wedge between y’all. Divide and rule.
Like I said before the election, I hope Trump wins just for the sheer amount of material it will give me to work with. How anyone can actually take this theater of the absurd seriously is beyond me.
Apparently when the Titanic was sinking and there were no more life boats left some were freaking out, some were guzzling booze and some were playing music and some were listening to it. Each to his own I guess.
Apneaman on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 7:52 pm
Anonymous, well said – insightful.
makati1 on Tue, 21st Feb 2017 11:01 pm
“Anytime you have an entire nation so mesmerized by the antics of the political ruling class that they are oblivious to all else, you’d better beware.”
“Most of us did not want to think about fundamental things and never had. There was no need to. Nazism gave us some dreadful, fundamental things to think about—we were decent people?—and kept us so busy with continuous changes and ‘crises’ and so fascinated, yes, fascinated, by the machinations of the ‘national enemies’, without and within, that we had no time to think about these dreadful things that were growing, little by little, all around us.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-21/illusion-freedom-police-state-alive-and-well
The frogs in the pot….
Hubert on Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 2:41 am
@peakyeast,
Do you really know anything about Hillary?
Hillary Clinton Body Count Documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoE73WNoCXo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__UQQEHuRws&t=94s
peakyeast on Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 3:48 am
@Hubert: I can positively say that I am very impressed with your conclusion indicating that my comment was positive towards Hillary. I wouldnt have thought it possible.
DerHundistlos on Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 4:15 am
Some at this blog would have us believe there’s no difference between the Dems and the Repubcons. I assume this statement applies to environmental issues as well since I do not recall qualifications. Oh really?
Meanwhile, Monarch butterfly numbers continue to nose dive according to an analysis by my beloved alma mater, the University of Missouri- Columbia. The analysis concludes that the iconic Monarch has reached or is close to reaching functional extinction due to a perfect storm of large habitat loss in the US, deforestation in Mexico, and pollution.
Thankfully, Trump and the Republican congress are responding to the mass extinction emergency with alacrity. The Trump White House and congress are proposing legislation that will repeal the highly successful Endangered Species Act (don’t let success get in the way). Until then, Trump will refuse endangered status to any newly proposed species. Most recently, the critically endangered Rusty Patched bumblebee was told to go extinct by Trump/
joe on Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 4:22 am
When Americans get a president they don’t like it’s ‘tyranny’. The job by definition is tyrannical, like the old roman Consul. But it’s temporary nature and the powers of judiciary and Senate makes it hard to be a tyrant. You know the system is working cause everyone is pissed off, especially Trump. Its when opposition has been silenced, like in Turkey, Germany, and Russia that you know the system is broken.
Dredd on Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 4:58 am
“Some commentators are describing it as a coup d’etat in progress …”
It doesn’t have to be a “coup d’etat,” a coup will do the job (A Tale of Coup Cities – 13).
Davy on Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 5:36 am
Der Hund, on my farm here in the MO Ozarks I have left a significant portion of the farm to wildlife. I only graze a portion of it. In fact when this is done right the grazed part contributes to habitat diversity. If there is one things animals (and people) like it is habitat diversity. I have left significant milkweed and Canadian thistle areas for the monarchs and many other butterfly. I have so many butterflies because of it. Hummers and the bees like it too. I have 10 bee hives on the place. Many farmers spray these weeds especially the thistle. I manage them by burning, mowing, and grazing as I do other species. I try to maintain a relative balance. I have many other invasives like sericea lespedeza and cheatgrass. I have learned to live with them. Part of the reason I have goats is to manage invasive weeds and brush.
I have a question for you der hund and that is does it really matter anymore? Look around you and how much worse it got under Obama. He didn’t do anything but lip service. Trump is horrible for the environment and so are the Repugs in general. I tried to be a green party person but the green party in the US is not coherent and meaningful. I voted Nader in 2000. Actually I really dislike politics and avoid it except this year. I am delighted by Trump and his destructive policies for an establishment that must be turn on its head. Your Dems and their menagerie of victimization and blame are central to that corrupt and delusional hypocritical establishment. Yes, I despise the anti-environmental policies of the Repugs. You are correct with that but really it is a lost cause. I believe in doing something local and quit wasting time on the global.
Do you really think it matters what Trump does to the environment? I don’t. Market based capitalism runs global environmental policy when all is said and done. It was going away anyway with or without Trump. Your Dumbs are hypocrites and give the environment lip service as they allow other pet projects to destroy the environment and climate. This is more than party politics. Modern society has gone too far to turn back extinction. You are focusing your environmental anger on Trump and missing the bigger picture. The climate and the environment are toast not because of politics but because of modern globalism that is accelerating and accelerating as much from your Dumbs as the Repugs. You are wasting your time whining. I understand you feels but you are just like all the other groups projecting their anger on one man and missing the real picture that is blame for themselves as a member of a civilization with no hope.
Cloggie on Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 6:14 am
Rein in and discredit the mainstream media. White House strategist Steve Bannon has called the media “the opposition party.”
Sure, Heini:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8gS3M9USBQ
Another illustration that in the Trump-West MSM have become nothing but globalist opposition machines, who couldn’t care less about providing unbiased news.
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/donald-trump-gibt-sich-milde-und-greift-hart-gegen-immigranten-durch-a-1135687.html
http://www.spiegel.de/stil/new-york-fashion-week-das-waren-die-highlights-a-1134932.html
All “German” CIA-Soros imperial media: one giant sneer against Trump.
Cloud9 on Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 7:08 am
If Deagel is right, we have not seen anything yet. http://www.deagel.com/country/United-States-of-America_c0001.aspx
Mark Ziegler on Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 7:36 am
Stop the wars and you stop the immigration.
Who would have figured?
JuanP on Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 1:36 pm
I used to like reading Heinberg but I couldn’t get past the third paragraph of this crap. When he jumped on the Russian bullshit bandwagon he lost me. US Liberals are having a fit because Trump won. I am a liberal, have been all my life, yet I am happy that Trump won. I know the guy is a narcissistic prick but Clinton is a narcissistic warmongering sociopath. I like Trump better. I just pray that the USA won’t start a world war to have someone to blame for its collapse. It looks like the US government is murdering Russian ambassadors all over the world. What will these fuckers do next?
I hope all these delusional Americans who defend the Bushes, Obama and the Clintons rot in hell. Those motherfuckers are scum. Pretending that Trump is worse doesn’t sit well with me. Trump is a fucking prick but so are all the rest. Did the USA ever have a president who was not a murdering prick?
Anyone but Hillary! Go Trump! Russia rules! Long live President Putin!
Davy on Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 1:51 pm
I have to agree with you Juan. Great comment from someone who lives in America but who is not American.
Gerald Anderson on Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 6:45 pm
GET READY
DerHundistlos on Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 9:56 pm
@ Davy
As long as I am alive I will do everything in my power to preserve God’s creation. I have and continue to make a demonstrable difference by buying and preserving in perpetuity critical habitat. My work focus is Colombia due to a greater amount of biodiversity existing in Colombia than any other country. I provided half of the funding to buy and preserve 11,000 acres to prevent the extinction of the Yellow Eared parrot. The effort was successful beyond expectations. The parrot is continuing to recover, the local community benefits economically from ecotourism, and our reserve provides the people with a clean and free source of clean drinking water as well as hope for a better future. Since then, I created two new reserves totaling 6,900 additional acres under protection. The local people guard their investment fiercely- no poaching, no hunting. We provide the compesinos with work, pride, and hope.
You are entitled to continue convincing yourself there is no hope (and at times I do feel hopeless) and there is no difference between Dems and Republicans on the environment. Facts do not matter to people who are emotionally wed to a position. This is a proven fact.
GregT on Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 10:23 pm
“I have to agree with you Juan. Great comment from someone who lives in America but who is not American.”
You’re a lost cause Davy. You’re so fucking brainwashed that it’s beyond belief.
makati1 on Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 10:37 pm
GregT, he is so many things, I have put him on my “ignore” list again. He thinks I am gay. Seems he does not understand, trading help to develop a family farm in return for a lifetime lease on a bit of it to build a home and live, as possible. It has to have some sexual, financial, or legal twist.
If you don’t agree with him, he has to find some reason to try to put you down. Blind to facts all around him. So typical of many Americans today.
DerHundistlos on Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 10:43 pm
Davy, I apologize for not recognizing your personal efforts and you are making a bigger difference than you may realize. You are setting a positive example for neighbors and others to emulate. Keep up the great work.
I think you are deeply conflicted so you are attempting to rationalize the actions of Trump and the Cons. Trump and the Cons hatred of the natural world, which is an extension of the War on Science, is for me so sick and twisted that it represents the essence of evil. While I may agree with Trump on some points, he loses my support based on his attitude and actions toward the natural world.
Apneaman on Thu, 23rd Feb 2017 12:12 am
The Trumpocene: Darkness Gathers
https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.com/2017/02/22/the-trumpocene-darkness-gathers/
This guy, xraymike, always has the coolest artwork and he’s an excellent writer.
Apneaman on Thu, 23rd Feb 2017 12:38 am
Another Cheeto Swamp Rat exposed.
Thousands of emails detail EPA head’s close ties to fossil fuel industry
“The newly released emails reveal a close and friendly relationship between Scott Pruitt’s office and the fossil fuel industry, with frequent meetings, calls, dinners and other events,” said Nick Surgey, research director for the Center for Media and Democracy, which has sued to compel the release of the emails.
The emails highlight an often-chummy relationship between Pruitt’s office and Devon Energy, a major oil and gas exploration and production company based in Oklahoma City. The correspondence makes clear that top officials at the company met often with Pruitt or people who worked for him. Devon representatives also helped draft — and redraft — letters for Pruitt to sign and send to federal officials in an effort to stave off new regulations.
“Any suggestions?” a deputy solicitor general in Pruitt’s office wrote to a Devon executive in early May 2013, including a draft of a letter the office was planning to send to the EPA regarding proposed regulations of methane emissions.”
http://wapo.st/2meQPw8
Davy on Thu, 23rd Feb 2017 1:06 am
Did I hurt your widdle feeling Gregor? Go play with Makati he likes you.
Davy on Thu, 23rd Feb 2017 1:34 am
No der hund, not conflicted, I am fine. In fact I am getting tierd of politics. It has been interesting and fun seeing so many squirm but it’s getting old. People on both sides so entrenched with ideology. It is one big personality disorder.
I am a doomer and prepper with passion. I am happy that destructive change is in motion. That’s it. I don’t really care about most of the issues becuase there are no solutions to most of the issues per the status quo only alternatives pathways. There is mostly whining here about the symptoms but little about the condition and even less on solutions.
I offer solutions and it’s called get a grip and downsize with dignity. Practice relative sacrifice and anticipate a world of perpetual less. If that does not happen wonderful but all indications are it will and is.
Many agendas are here on this board. Mine is to spit in the face of anti-Americans and preach doom and prep. I live close to nature and have a loving family. Life is good now with less becuase it fits my lifestyle and attitude. I am afraid but not unreasonably where I have to live in a disconnect of denial and cognitive dissonance. I am not into blame and complain. I am not conflicted becuase I am on another level.
Good luck with you party politics. If I talk about it then it is to argue balance not demonstrait interest. Nothing has change. The corruption is still knee deep. The system is flawed and dying. You can try to change it and it will just bow out like a ballon somewhere else.
Theedrich on Thu, 23rd Feb 2017 1:40 am
Heinberg is developing Alzheimer’s. He can be excused. The entire Left has settled on the single canard that Trump and/or Bannon are/is Hitler/Satan (but somehow never Stalin, so beloved of the Pars sinistra). Accordingly, Heinie and his Post Carbon Institute have switched from the investigation of fossil fuels, etc., to political advocacy for neo-Communism, whereby deplorable Whites can be consigned to gulags (politically correct concentration camps to be established after the Left has gotten someone to assassinate the Evil One, that is.)
Au contraire, whatever Trump & Co. may do, it is to be hoped that enough chaos can be created so that the new version of the Post Carbon Institute and all of the other taxpayer-supported institutions of useful idiots will eventually lose their income and follow the rest of the anti-White waste down the cosmic commode.
Cloggie on Thu, 23rd Feb 2017 3:03 am
You’re a lost cause Davy. You’re so fucking brainwashed that it’s beyond belief.
Not wanting to defend someone who is perfectly capable of defending himself, but why is Davy “brainwashed”? For defending his own people? His response to JuanP’s post was far from jingoistic. Are we being spiritual again?
Go hug a tree, Greg.
P.S. makati is NOT gay.lol
P.S.2 makati has NOT put Davy on the ignore list as this forum doesn’t provide the means to do so. Every time again makati will put his nose under the blankets to verify how bad it smells this time.lol
makati1 on Thu, 23rd Feb 2017 5:06 am
Cloggie, those smells are from your own bullshit. I have a personal ignore list and you just got on it. Old farts like you give us old people a bad name.
You and Davy are living in dying countries and cannot accept the fact. Too bad. It soon will be too obvious to ignore as the West collapse’ around you. Wave those flags and brag, but the rest of the world is just moving on and ignoring you.
Cloggie on Thu, 23rd Feb 2017 6:01 am
Cloggie, those smells are from your own bullshit. I have a personal ignore list and you just got on it
I have lost count on how many times you “put me on ignore”. Empty threat as I am not going to ignore you.
You and Davy are living in dying countries and cannot accept the fact.
That’s what you hope Filipino. Without the white world around however the Philippines would collapse. And so would the rest of the turd world.
http://tinyurl.com/hj4xnqe
And don’t believe for a second that you can shield yourself off from 101 million hungry Filipinos on that silly farm of yours, if it really exists in the first place.
Forums btw exist by the grace of controversy. Opting out means undermining the foundations of any living forum.
Putting people on ignore means hoisting the white flag and saying “I am no longer going to defend myself”, which will increase attacks on you, since you defined yourself as an easy scalp.
You way want to escape the “civil war”, but the “civil war” wants you. There is no option but fighting until death.
Davy on Thu, 23rd Feb 2017 6:28 am
Makati, it is an honor to be on your “fake” ignore list which means I give you discomfort. I have been on it now for two years and it is apparent you read many if not most of my posts. You are just a braggart and blowhard. Anyone who is on the attack and at the same time promoting himself is exposed to hypocrisy and untenable positions. You are routinely contradicting yourself to maintain your agenda. In fact you often appear ridiculous and redundant. You suffer intellectually lazy tendencies to copy and paste the same data over and over. Maybe you forget who is on your list because you have told me so many times I am on it. That is a sure sign of dementia.
Davy on Thu, 23rd Feb 2017 6:31 am
Well said Clog and I admire your fortitude with so many here who want your scalp!
“Forums btw exist by the grace of controversy. Opting out means undermining the foundations of any living forum. Putting people on ignore means hoisting the white flag and saying “I am no longer going to defend myself”, which will increase attacks on you, since you defined yourself as an easy scalp.”
peakyeast on Thu, 23rd Feb 2017 7:06 am
Cloggie is passing through the three stages.
First he is ridiculed.
Then he is violently opposed (fake comments)
At last he is accepted as an integral part of the community here..
😀
Davy on Thu, 23rd Feb 2017 7:18 am
Peak, I don’t always agree with him but he is a nice guy and polite. He goes on the attack and he should when attacked. It is the Dutch warrior in him. LOL.
Apneaman on Thu, 23rd Feb 2017 7:31 am
peakyeast, clog is passing through the first three stages of senility – first he drools on himself, then he pisses himself, at last he shits himself. Davy’s next. In fact, I think he’s already started the drooling stage. At least he has over Cheeto.