Armageddon

There are quite a number of threats to the survival of our culture ... even our people. Whether they actually mean that the Earth will turn into Mars is dubious, but some actually might pose this menace. I have listed below real and imagined Armageddons ... in a descending order I consider reasonable. Each deserves its own extensive blog entry ... which I may well do. You may differ with the sequencing, but I doubt that you will dispute these items themselves:

Nuclear Proliferation — Nukes in the hands of lunatics

Top-dog Hegemony — China vs. Russia vs. USA vs. radical Islam ... unless the U.S. wins, things will be over

Plague — Biological weapons or natural pandemics might easily wipe out huge numbers of people

Artificial Intelligence — The nutroots are constantly predicting that robots will rule us. I am dubious.

Climate Change — the Earth has been getting warmer since 1750. Will it burn up as many predict? Maybe in a few million tears ... but not tomorrow.

Green Energy — I think that capturing energy from the wind and tides may present some unintended consequences.

Recreational Drugs — opium once almost took down China. It is conceivable that the legalization and propagation of mind-altering drugs could profoundly affect our future outlook.

Designer Babies — DNA-altering medicine will be changing our offspring and lives in ways not fully understood. Are we in for a planet full of Frankensteins?

Population Bomb — thirty years ago this was close to the number one fear. However populations are leveling off and declining everywhere bu Africa. Thus threat is therefore small.

Famine — the reduction of population pressure combined with higher crop yields reduces the possibility of widespread famine.

Big Data — although not threatening the end to civilization, the collection of massive amounts of personal data through social media and otherwise does pose a serious danger to our freedoms.

UFOs — Sorry Tucker ... not a threat.

Democrat Derangement

I don’t know about you, dear reader, but my impression is that the Earth is getting real close to spinning out of its orbit. Previously level-headed people now seem hell-bent on making outright silly statements ... driven by some internal angst about Trump’s constant tweeting of his mind. Presidents are not supposed to do such nonsense. They are supposed to gulp when the opposition megaphones their inanity ... and hope America will ignore it. Not Trump! He will respond to the most innocuous slight or “fake news” with his own take on things ... which is often maddeningly reflective of America’s collective common sense. If Trump is patriotic, then they, like Kaepernick, hate their country.

This Democrat derangement drives the media and other vacuous pundits to extremes ... to the point where they double down on their original craziness. “Trump is a dictator for holding a July 4th celebration that honors our military.” “Trump is trying to kill immigrant children in his concentration camps on the Mexican border.” “Trump wants to get the US into a full-out shooting war with Iran!” “Trump is a white supremacist, misogynist, homophobe, anti-Semite, Islamophobe, racist ... and a Nazi to boot!” All said with a spittle-flecked certainty and a knowing smirk.

Do these knee-jerks not see their growing mindlessness when compared to yesterday’s partisanship? Perhaps not ... or is it that they are driven by a manic compulsiveness that has captured their souls? Whatever the reason, at some point an event is bound to shake them out of their crazed illogic and return them to a semblance of sanity ... red-faced and in self-denial. The Mueller Report could have done it, but it only turned up the heat ... possibly on purpose.

What will occur to jolt Democrats back to reality I can’t predict ... but, hopefully, it will not be Armageddon ... inspired by a foe’s misreading of our current divide.

Armageddon?

I guess we won't really know for a few days, but having watched much of hurricane Irma coverage today, I am getting the impression that it did not live up to its breathless forecasts (except in the Caribbean). I really hope so. The words used to describe what was in store for Florida were super superlatives ... biblical, epic, historical, horrendous, Armageddon, a monster storm, etc. Yes, there has been extensive damage and some loss of life ... but, believing the TV coverage, I was expecting a lot worse. Don't get me wrong, this would be a fortunate turn of events.... for which I would be happy.

But it seems that the TV networks vie for viewership by hyping the size and scope of things. "It's now a category 3 hurricane but, when it passes over the extremely warm waters north of Cuba, it is likely to strengthen back to a category 4 or even a 5." "The wind damage has not been too extensive, but we are really worrying about the storm surge that could be as high as 15 feet. This means that many homes will be flooded to their first floor ceilings or even higher." "Many building cranes in Miami are collapsing or in danger of doing so."

It was initially predicted that the hurricane path was  up the east coast or through the center ... which could devastate all of Florida's major cities. Now the western path somehow seems equally onerous. And one needs to distinguish between "wind gust speed" and "sustained wind speed" ... big difference. Often wind gusts were implied to be sustained in order to exaggerate things. And I didn't see one reporter blown over by Irma. Yes, a few signs were blown down and some tree limbs shorn, but I saw no yachts in people's front yards or roofs blown off. Maybe, this was because of more stringent building codes imposed since the last big one, Andrew (a cat 5 by the way), or perhaps the unprecedented preparation by Florida's Governor Rick Scott?

I truly hope that my first impressions of the consequences of hurricane Irma are borne out and that the damage is just a few tens of billion dollars and not over a hundred billion as projected... and the loss of life is minimal. Armageddon? Maybe not. Fingers crossed.