Les,
Joseph Balletti’s review of Douglas Valentine’s book “The CIA as Organized Crime” on the Dissident Voice site posted on February 8th, under the heading “Chaos Theory” may bring some understanding of the puzzling behavior protesters display these days.
Tim.
So that those of us who don’t have time to pick up yet another book can know that high points–or the points most meaningful to you.
A. Look to see what happens to other countries when there economies fail, like Venezuela, Argentina, and Ukraine. You can see both, hyper and hypo states, i.e. decreased or stagnant wages for the majority and increased prices due to shortages, i.e. Egypt.
B. Systems to put in place. Be producers instead of consumers, i.e., grow food and raise animals, be able to provide heat and supply water for yourself. Develop skills that were essential from another era, like the 1800's.Become part of a community that develops those skills, thats hard cause most will only want to make changes only when they are forced too.
C. Evolve too what? Good point. We have nation states with top down authority.Has't worked to good and no matter how bad its working, those in power never voluntary want to give it up.I kinda like Switzerland's non-hiearchial governance. I think we would have to organize from the ground up at local level and attempt to keep the psychopaths out, which is a tall task.
D Provide for themselves like our great grandfathers did. Think like the Amish skill set.
E We are living in a fantasy world with liquid fuels making it possible. This is just a short blip in human kind.
Thing that is most frightening, is our police state, asset forfeiture and no knock warrants are a sign of uncontrolled authority, we are not that far from Nazi Germany or Stalin's Russia.
I haven’t read the book yet. What I was recommending was a review of the book.
According to the reviewer the book explains the generally unrecognized insidious effects of our current total immersion in deep state propaganda. This review provides insight into the reasons for the apparent cognitive dissonance shown by the recent protests aimed at Trump as opposed to the complete lack of criticism during Obama’s two terms in which military actions actually killed Muslims instead of just prohibiting their travel. I recommended the review to Les and the PP community because it gives some explanations for the questions he asked in his post.
Tim.
century, got your mare settled?
i think small ruminants, eaten as a whole by a group, hides, browsing habits, make good third world choices.
Dimitry Orlov posts on facebook a link an article by the Deep Green Resistance Network:
Sustainability is Killing the Earth
What is it we are trying to sustain? A living planet, or industrial civilization? Because we can’t have both. Somewhere along the way the environmental movement – based on a desire to protect the Earth, was largely eaten by the sustainability movement – based on a desire to maintain our comfortable lifestyles. ...
Sustainability advocates tell us to reduce our impact, causing less harm to the Earth... [But l]ess harm is still a lot of harm.... Most of the popular actions that advocates propose to achieve sustainability have no real effect, and some even cause more harm than good. The strategies include reducing electricity consumption, reducing water use, a green economy, recycling, sustainable building, renewables and energy efficiency. Electricity ... the electricity grid is inherently unsustainable. No amount of reduction or so-called renewable energy sources will change this. Mining to make electrical wires, components, electrical devices, solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal plants, biomass furnaces, hydropower dams, and everything else that connects to the electricity grid, are all unsustainable. Manufacturing to make these things, with all the human exploitation, pollution, waste, health and social impacts, and corporate profits. Fossil fuels needed to keep all these processes going. Unsustainable.I know that I have heard this idea here before:
A sustainable lifestyle is what the 10% who survive the rupture of industrial civilization will have the option of exploring.
Mine has not changed in 30 years perhaps. The discussion hear has not changed that much either. I can think of hundreds of posts I could have cut and pasted into this discussion that would have been apropos. It is interesting to watch the “larger world” devolve and think about what has changed.
Back in the late 60 early 70’s the same discussions were being had, but there was a lot more optimism. The economy was still booming, but early warning signs, even then, were flashing for those who were paying attention.
Now disaffection with the mainstream narrative has almost become common place. Fewer and fewer people take either the Lame Stream media or our politician seriously. I mean it is really endemic.
Alternative energy is not alternative any more, it is main stream, not something activist do, who ever can afford it is doing it. Young people think electric cars are cool, if they are thinking about owning a car at all.
Gardening is now much more common place, the response is no longer, “wow you do?”. Yeah, I have a little garden too, I put in some tomatoes and cucumbers.
Environmental awareness has gone mainstream. There are the deniers and the belligerents, but they have become the minority. There is a general awareness that something has got to change, most people are generally frightened or concerned about what they see happening.
Everybody is starting to see that a permanent state of recession is upon us. Most young people think they are not going to see social security. The “good old days” are gone for good, few people would argue the point any more.
We are at the bottom of the curve of the “hockey stick” with a lot of things that get discussed a lot. One thing that I think that is also starting to take off exponentially, is awareness. There is information overload, but there is also a rise in what I would call the self informed. Viewership at conventional media outlets is plummeting.
Awareness about the quality of food and its relationship to health has exploded, people are much more mindful about what they eat and how they think about food. “Alternative” medical practices are no longer alternative.
Activism is about to go into hyperdrive. The next “event” could trigger another social movement, another spontaneous occupy movement, that could radically shake the political system. Shocks are going to become more frequent, and the propaganda thicker than ever, but I think it will become an exercise in diminishing returns. It will be more transparent and ridiculous than ever.
Alternative narratives, outside the DC propaganda mill, are becoming main stream. But as we used to say a long time ago, “the revolution will not be televised”. Those railing against “the system” will soon be battling paper tigers, inflated by a media that no one believes any more.
Will awareness catch up with circumstances in time, who knows. It certainly doesn’t look like it in many ways, but I think that things are about to get very interesting. The tone of things now is radically different than it has ever been. I think if continue to reflect only on the institutions at the center of power, and those with a lot of wealth, we will miss a very important story. I think things have shifted beneath our feet a lot further then we currently imagine.
If I sounded over the top about the Marianne Williamson poem earlier, it’s because I mentally confused her with the Pulitizer winning author Marlynne Robinson. Anyhow the poem stands on it’s own merits and I think its wonderful and inspiring.
Agree w CHSmith on this. The economy (both US and worldwide), environment (especially oceans), and political systems are all poised to implode, but finance has to be front runner for first to go. At this point there is no solution, no way out. It’s like a game of musical chairs where the music plays uninterrupted for hours. Everyone knows that can’t continue forever, but it’s good music so no one cares that it hasn’t stopped. What’s really problematic is more and more people keep joining the game, while the number of chairs decreases. It’s great that everyone is able to stay in the game for so long, but the music must inevitably stop, and then the scramble for chairs is going to be intense and most players will lose out.
If finance collapses, hard to envision how the economy won’t follow. Then it’s hard to imagine anything but widespread anarchy, political and social collapse. Big question is: how much longer? Decades? Years? Months?
Yes the world is waking up. People demand a paradigm shift in ideology, politics, economics and conservation. That’s great. REALITY CHECK the human race NOT the individual is a slave to the immutable laws of human behavior. You cannot move a million people, let alone 8 billion, in any new direction with optimism and convincing rhetoric. History tells us only pain and suffering provides sufficient incentive to motivate change. And change is still a lottery requiring decades of unrest to finally reach a new stability.
It’s still important to get the message out so that after revolution such an education can be put to good use but to think the world can be fixed by lecturing our leaders or relying on democracy to vote in the better political party is to completely misunderstand human behavior.
To ascend as a society people need to learn how to audit their thinking. By understanding the flaws that human behavior forces upon civilization, society could be improved. But this requires a new culture, based on more practical religions to get people from all levels of intellect, race, sect, clan and belief systems to walk the same path. That means getting rid of a lot of superstitious belief systems first, a process that will take centuries assuming human kind doesn’t revert to tribalism in the wake of environmental apocalypse.
Well, after many years of hard work on the homestead I am questioning whether any of it is going to pan out.
Yesterday I determined that neither of my bee hives made it, and my best guess is that the constant warm (too warm!) spells followed by normal cold was just too much for my girls. I have honey left in there, but the hives are dead…again. !^%@^%@!
Next, we’ve had the warmest February on record which led to the buds all developing early on the fruit trees.
Last year that happened but then we got a 17 and a 19 degree night in April that just crushed the entire fruit season. Zero peaches anywhere in the state.
So I had my fingers crossed for this year, but…we just got completely farked over again.
sigh
After a full two weeks of 50 and 60 degree weather we could have tolerated a normal run of 20 degree weather…but I had my hopes that we’d avoid the Arctic blast of last year.
No such luck. Worse than last year by far.
Seven, then six, then fifteen degrees!!
Oh well. we may have to leave the region if we want to have any dreams of gardening for sustenance.
This is intolerable.
I don’t know of any varieties that can manage this level of chaos.
From 70 degrees on March 1st to 7 degrees(!!) the night of March 3rd.
Again, !^%@^!%@!
And while this is clearly happening, and while the bumblebee slips onto the endangered list, the Matrix™ is all enamored with the fact that the central banks have rammed the stock indexes to new all time highs. Whoop-de-doo. Good for them. Their level of mastery and control of digits on a screen is really impressive.
But out here in the real world, things are breaking.
I am witnessing it and I can feel it. We need a confirmation of the old story like we need a hole in the head. New highs on the stock market are absolutely to be loathed, not celebrated, to the extent that such numbers allow people to cling to a failed fantasy.
In that light, I consider Janet Yellen, et al, to be an extreme danger to humanity.
I have heard it said that species can adapt–if the change is slow enough. Sudden changes kill.
These weather changes are sudden and dramatic. Record high’s in a couple of research stations in Antarctica this week.
My fruit trees are budding as well, and freezing temps are forecast tonight. 
So we will probably loose them.
Rob Sheppler lives in the mountains of New Mexico at altitude. From what I can gather of his facebook page (Potter’s Ranch) he is growing peaches in a high tunnel green house.
Maybe this will be the route we will have to take. For both climate change reasons, and possibly to shelter from fallout. Doubly Sad.
Here is one of Rob Sheppler’s big hoop green houses where he will plant fruit trees.
Getting ready to plant peach trees
Frost on the Mountain’s with the ranch and green houses in the foreground
The peach trees are in the ground.
Below, a heater is running in a green house on a freezing night.
(((())))
I know what it’s like to lose a fruit crop due to untimely temperature swings. It’s discouraging but hang in there and whatever you do don’t rip out the trees.
In the meantime, plant lots of annual crops.
We are right on the cusp of freezing in our area. Average last frost is March 20th. Our best crops are winter crops. Onions, broccoli, and lettuce usually make it through the light frosts that we have. Asparagus just started poking out of the ground and our fruit trees are putting on the first blossoms.
My heartfelt condolences for your loss Chris. We can truly grieve for more than just people.
We are challenged with the exact same issues up here in Alaska. We grow apple trees by using crab apple root stock and grafting various varieties of apples onto the main root or branches. We are learning grafting and pruning skills. Season extenders enable a little more control. Bees are a challenge and I am hoping that a hardy variety can be bread that will adapt to our climate. I understand putting down a colony and starting new each year can be heartbreaking as wintering over in Alaska is difficult for bees. Perhaps years of experience will enable some locals to become successful, Time will tell. Two winters ago we had an early snow that was wet and heavy and many trees that still had leaves bent over and broke. Our property looked like a hurricane came through and selectively decimated any weak trees. To look at the forest and see the destruction was alarming, only for a few of us though. Most don’t notice. People connected to nature notice and wonder.
Adaptation will be a valuable skill. Lessons from life to share.
AKGrannyWGrit
…to find a model that is going to carry at least a few of us through the coming cataclysm. Maybe it’s not going to be enough to take on an early 20th century lifestyle in which everyone grows a lot of their own food, fixes their own broken tools, we use gold and silver as money, etc. Maybe it’s not even going to be enough to take on an 18th century lifestyle like Robie where everyone is a farmer and raiser of livestock first (on a pre-Industrial Revolution level). Maybe we’re going to be forced way, way, way back to being hunter-gatherers, where life is “nasty, brutish, and short.” At least I have some skills and temperament for that (unlike gardening and animal husbandry)! But once I run out of my mountain of ammunition I’m going to be toast as I’m too old to compete for long with 18-25 year olds with blunt objects and primitive edged weapons. 
But maybe there won’t be enough 18-25 year olds left to find me…
Nature indeed bats last, and when she steps to the plate she apparently isn’t going to distinguish between those of us who’ve been raping and pillaging her and those of us who have been trying to be good stewards of her gifts.
“Welcome to the Hunger Games. And may the odds be ever in your favor.”
Hope you guys faired ok otherwise. Sad to hear about the bees.
High Wind Warning For Southern New England
I doubt we’ll get back to hunter gatherer days before anyone over 30 or 40 is gone and if we do it would probably be due to major chaos and calamity. If we do, your probably right about nasty brutish and short at least at first, but remember once our ancestors perfected the art of living on the land, it was more like leisurely and nearly as long as our lives today, at least if you made it past early childhood, the relatively rare famine, and the slow attrition of of accident and infection in adulthood. Some hope for our great great grandchildren?
Sorry Chris. It really is sad to see the real world falling apart in that way while everyone else is lost in a fantasy world of digits and entertainment. Deeply, profoundly sad. I checked my fruit trees after the 74° day on Friday (record high here in Albany for the Dec-Feb winter season by 2°) and nothing much seemed to have happened. Of course there were 4 more warm days since then. I can only hope as I head out there today.
As for bees, just down the slope from my yard in the woods is a white pine with an opening to the hollow core about 3 inches wide extending from head height up about 5 feet. Most years, there is a busy highway of wild honeybees between the tree and (mostly) my yard where the neighborhoods best resource of growing-season-long bee food is. I don’t get honey, but I don’t do any work either. I wonder if there is a way to encourage this. I also wonder if my bees are vulnerable too. So far, so good.