Morning thoughts on Trump's capitulation, the real meaning of Vance in Budapest, Melania's hasty Epstein presser, Bibi's butchery in Lebanon, and...Avignon?
Great points: Trump has outlived his usefulness, Vance is auditioning for Putin’s favor, Hungarian voters may deliver a major blow to Putin’s attempts to undermine the EU, Melania is running interference ahead of another release by an Epstein survivor. It’s such a service for an extremely intelligent person like Greg to put the time in to keep up with this constantly traumatizing news, think clearly about the picture as a whole and reflect back to us his thoughts. Share and subscribe.
The Pope canceled his U.S. visit because it’s not a safe environment here, nerves still jangling since last Tuesdays threat of nuclear war, thanks for the week in hell synopsis.
So much to unpack, great coverage of the batshit stuff that happened this century, oops, sorry I mean this week.
For a long time I believed that the dumbass is so stupid, if you gave him enough rope he'd hang himself. Perhaps this week he is finally starting to tighten the noose. Sadly the expression keeps turning up like a bad penny seems more appropriate.
I do strongly believe that Vlad is done with the imbecile. Vlad's return on investment is huge, time to sell and take the profit. Perhaps he has a quick way out unlike the US, he won't bother with the 25th Amendment or impeachment. If he hesitates it may be that he is unsure of anyone who uses eyeliner.
Time will tell, we shall miss The Five & 8, have a great weekend.
I don't trust Vance as far as I can throw him. He is totally amoral, and a puppet of higher powers. But once one is the POTUS, and has all that power, that could potentially change things, right? Does he really want to spend the rest of his life being universally loathed? If the bar is "better than Donald," that's attainable, even for him...
It is hard to believe anyone could be worse than trump. Vance is college educated, Ivy no less, proven to read and write. Seems not to like all this military bullshit, suspect Hegseth would be gone in a heartbeat. Question, will the dark forces controlling him look beyond a nanosecond and soften things to ensure their continued existence as a way to offset the possible blue way.
Yes, what a week. I hope I find your optimism on these topics. Russia and Iran work together, Russia and trump are bedding together, Vance went to Hungary to dis outside interference of elections from other countries.. Vance is involved with negotiations with Iran. Who has benefitted from this? Keith Olbermann yesterday says the two week, repetitive delay is due to trumps mistiming of this 'special operation-WAR' and the two week delay will continue 10-12 times until we near the elections when trump will declare a state of emergency in our country which will interfere with the midterm elections. I thought I was out of my mind until I read Phillips P OBriens piece today, it all is clear as a bell. https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/zelensky-speaks-the-truth-and-trump?r=fa5ey&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
The point being what if he did this whole operation for Russia?
and Shankar Narayan pointed out that the Biden team did not interfere with an Iran/Russia joint venture to build a humongous drone factory. I began yesterday throwing out my Biden paraphanalia
I had heard a clip that trump "Didn't Know" what Melania was saying about trump. The big take away from her presser, was that she practiced the speech and stuck to the script. Thank you- Greg
and Bibi is out there on his own, with bombs supplied by us. but he is worse than all the rest as he bombs everything away screaming, Hezbollah and Hamas as his excuse.
Biden was not tough enough on Putin, and trusted that Bibi would not be a genocidal butcher. Those two mistakes cost him re-election. I knew on October 7 that Biden would be harmed in the fallout. Very disappointing indeed.
I'm not sure Trump has a plan at all, just various desires he wants fulfilled that he improvizes ways to consummate as he goes along. He wants to stay in power, and he wants to hurt people, and he wants martial law, so when the opportunity presents itself, he will do that.
Just watching a clip of Irans' Entourage entering negotiating talks 30 plus people with experience fighting and negotiating, we have JD, 'his wife"(?), Kutchner and Witkoff. representing the US. MEH double sigh
These trite self absorbed people destroying the most powerful country in the world, responsible for deaths in the US and world wide, ruining a globally powerful dollar and stealing billions from Americans for what? New clothes? Fucking awful lying criminals convinced God is on their side?
What people think of him is the small cereal and milk experience in families…. Few listen to the reliable news or even news; they prefer to read the box. I don’t think they will realize anything much other than they need food delivery. The comment will be Melania looks good. I wish I could have faith that the shallowness of the American public was launching more people onto dry land of reason but this, I’ve given up on. To think people have to have values to work from or because of…I’m not seeing values at work. I’m only seeing drifting opinions at work shaped by soap opera scripts. People didn’t bomb us because they wee afraid, or had respect, or at least some admiration and thought we had the secret to greatness. There is no reason left to respect us. None.
That’s the only way out of this???? Have you been reading what I’ve been writing about getting him to resign? Or getting him to apologize and change his ways, including firing all his hires before he and Vance resign? Thinking outside the box is in order here.
Oh wouldn't it be nice (cue music). But fat chance of any of that happening. Trump never admits he was wrong about anything. You can't reason with a narcissist, meglomaniac, etc. Believe it or not, I have prayed that Trump would be converted, really become a Christian, realize the error of his ways, and either resign or start undoing the damage. Obviously my prayers haven't been answered.
Finally read what I think you meant me to read: your version of a letter from Trump apologizing for what he's done. Was that it? I still don't buy he would ever do that or resign. I wish he would, but his ego would never allow it.
Read more. It doesn't serve any good for people to bat back surface critiques. Like little wars. Comment sections are places for us to think about what has been said and to be smart together.
I haven't had a chance to deep dive on it in the way I need to. To be honest, it's hard for me to focus on it.
I've offered two feasible plans for how to remove him, the Dems likely won't bother with either one, and one great piece of advice my father gave me is: stop trying to solve insoluble problems.
That doesn't mean the work you're doing, you and the brilliant group you've assembled, isn't worthy and worthwhile and may very well bear fruit. It's just an assessment of my own brain and spirit at this moment. Please understand: I have been shouting from the rooftops for almost ten years now, the people in power rarely take anything I say seriously, despite my track record of being right about Trump, and after a while, it wears one down. I will keep on doing what I do, of course, but what I do is all I can do.
You've done what you've done and it never "works," in response to my suggesting things that could work? Better: "Wow, some original ideas to pursue."
"What I do is all I can do" is pretty much the position of everyone now. All siloed. Some brilliant -- like you.
Well, that's why I do what I do. And is it hard to even get to my natural allies, everyone is so stressed by what it takes to put out what they put out.? And here we are. Powerless.
Please pay attention to my ideas for how to get this administration gone.Thanks to your recommendation, I get a lot of subscribers coming from you. Even you and I having some dialogue would have an audience.
MSNOW which I watch sometimes, Nicole and Lawrence primarily, totally missed the Melania connection yesterday, no one they spoke with had a clue what it was all about, but you Greg have at least sussed out what it may be about. Anyone that has paid attention can see that they all are up to their necks in the Epstein fiasco. They were all party people, they partied in NYC, they partied in West Palm, they partied on their airplanes, they didn’t work like the rest of us, they partied their way through life. Their currency was either their beauty or their wealth, which had to be accompanied by a total lack of any moral fiber, which allowed them to use anyone and everyone with impunity. The Russians have nude photos of Melania on private jets, which I have read regularly are featured on RT. How many of us have been around naked models/women on airplanes? Putin has leverage on the clown, something going back decades that he will do anything to keep from being made public. When I used the word “anything” I meant it, it would include treasonous acts that only a president would have knowledge of. Tuesday’s threats to obliterate Iran show just how far gone he really is, and the repugnantkin party is shitting all over themselves because they can see it as well as any of us, and are too terrified to act. Did they really think confirming Petty Boy was going to work out well? The guy was a pretty face couch sitter on a weekend morning news show, who watches news in the mornings on the weekends? That’s where the clown found him, cabinet material indeed. It figures! The coming days are going to be very interesting. 🙏
Oh my god, that's so discouraging. It's not like this was some revelatory idea I had. It was all over social media. Ten minutes on Twitter and anyone looking would have made that connection. I like both of them, but legacy media just blows.
The photos of Melania on the jet are from a photo shoot she did, and are not "real." But they know the real deal, and maybe after this interview airs, so will we. (I am 99 percent sure I know the real deal, but I'm not at liberty to say.)
He will do anything, yes. Up to and including blowing up the world.
OMG. It's all just too much. But the Melania thing? The card house is definitely collapsing. *Pablo Pascal grinning in the convertible GIF*
My latest thought (and this is no doubt not original) is that Jared is a plant, arranged and encouraged by family friend Uncle Bibi to marry his way into the Russian investment. The Venn Diagram of Epstein, Netanyahu, Kushner, and Putin is getting very single circle-y.
When you look at it like it's mafia, or even like medieval duchies and principalities, it all makes perfect sense. Two semi-powerful families joining forces through marriage to form an even more powerful entity. As LB has been saying for years, Trump is afraid of Jared, treats him like he treats Putin and Ghislaine. Why? For reasons you laid out.
First, thanks for a few LOL's, Greg. Always need laughs every day (one of the best therapies or coping mechanisms for our times: why I watch Daily Show, Kimmel monologue, and Colbert monologue every night [record so after watching one I can switch to the other]).
Second, that's quite the rollercoaster you took us on: first hope (the end [of Trump] MAY be near, then the despair at everything Israel is doing (the executing Palestinians in custody legislation was news to me), then hope again at the end. But the hope is just hopeful; that is, there's no sign anything will be done about Trump.
[original passage deleted due to repentance; maybe the worst sin is to cause other people to sin--in this case, I wrote my sinful thoughts and it might have caused others to have sinful thoughts. Please forgive me, anyone to whom that happened.]
Why doesn't the rest of world do anything not only about Trump/USA, but Putin/Russia, Netanyahu/Israel, and Orban/Hungary? They are individually and collectively making the world a worse place--and a dangerous place for the whole human race. If they set off WWIII, that could be the end of us all. Anyone recall "On the Beach"? The after effects of nuclear war gets us all ultimately.
I think they--unlike Captain Kirk and all subsequent captains--follow the Prime Directive: don't interfere with other life forms in their evolution. But Kirk and all the others in "Star Trek" series and movies do interfere, usually with positive results. There may have been an episode here and there with negative results, but I can't recall, and haven't watched the most recent ST series on Paramount+ because I don't want to pay for another streaming service until I actually have time to watch what's on it (retirement, in other words). Arthur C. Clarke had the same basic idea in his novel "2010," the first sequel to "2001": when humans tried to land on ... Europa? the Jupiter moon that had life evolving on it, their ship burned up. The race that created the solar system-within-the solar system sent a message echoing God in Genesis: "All these worlds are yours to use, but do not attempt to land on Europa." Same as prime directive: don't interfere. God or the gods seem to be of the same mind: I or We gave you what you need; now you work it out yourselves. Sadly, we're not working it out.
P.S. However, that Big Crunch to new Big Bang theory was crunched when it was discovered that the expansion of the universe isn't slowing down but expanding ever faster (because of dark energy?). So there will never be a cycle of crunch to bang to crunch to bang--I know. The end result will still be heat death because of entropy. But will AC or God start it all over again? Only time will tell. :)
Finally read your post from back in 2022, right? Ah, those were the days. I also commented on your comments on others. In case you don't see those, the one thing I will say hear is, Watch "2001: A Space Odyssey." It's not on Sight and Sound's list of 100 greatest films for nothing. And if you love "The Last Question," you should also love the ending of "2001." Also, if you are still able to use a treadmill, I recommend listening to the "Dune" books on audio. I got through them all that way and liked them so much I even read (listened to) Frank Herbert's son's continuation of the series.
I don't want to wade into choppy waters with your suggestion -- and let me be clear, to any government agencies whose AI picked this up, that I am only speaking in hypotheticals here, and don't condone violence etc -- but the only argument against would be, if those four are removed, even worse men (always it's men who are this evil) will replace them.
Maybe that's true in Russia and Israel. Not sure it's true here. Certainly not true in Budapest. But...perhaps we should test that theory?
To bring it back to the Bible, it's like when Lot was trying to convince G-d not to destroy Sodom. "If you can find ten good men..." But in reverse. "If you can distill it down to four men..."
Uh-oh. Methinks I ought to change my name to an avatar and scrub the LS image if I can figure out how to do that. When I subscribed, I didn't see an option to do that. I didn't choose the LS screenshot--at least not for this. I chose it years ago for a chatroom on AMC for discussing episodes of "Mad Men" and somehow when I subscribed to this substack it was in the code or whatever and popped up.
Any Catholic priests on this list? I think I might need absolution.
Oh, and the reverse S & G scenario where ABRAHAM (not Lot) bargains with God to get him not to wipe out everything for the sake of X good people (I think Abe got God down to 10, but I'd have to check)--anyway, the idea of the reverse scenario: "God, just whack these 4" is funny. Thanks.
I don't condone violence either; I think I wrote out of frustration that these bad actors are doing what they will without restraint or pushback from the rest of the world. Even Kim Jong Un seems tame now in comparison.
But I shouldn't have written what I wrote, so I'm going to edit it. And I looked up when confession is at my local church but I already missed it. Next week.
No question, Greg: Trump has to be removed from office. Yesterday would not be soon enough. But I'm not holding my breath since his dimwitted sycophants in Congress would have done so long ere this if they had so much as an ounce of morality between the lot of them. Or common sense, for that matter.
The elections in Hungary in two days will certainly be telling. Will Putin's mouse, Orbán, go quietly when he loses? (He will lose according to all the polls, if the elections and the vote-counting are not completely rigged.) The question, though, is what will Orbán do to cling to power? How extreme are the measures that he will take in order to stay in office going to be? Could the aftermath of the situation there provide a template for our elections in November? Or if Orbán is ousted from power, will Trump call off our elections altogether under some pretext or other (even if it means following Putin's example re. Chechnya , as horrible a thought as that is)?
But forewarned is forearmed: it is as well for us to be on guard.
Thanks, Homi. I agree, Budapest is like opening the new play in Provincetown and working out the tweaks before bringing it to Broadway. We have to be vigilant and learn from what they're doing. But who will learn? And who will do anything about it? I hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
Please don't let me glimmer of hopefulness be interpreted as numbness to the atrocities. It's so beyond, I can't even. Every day is something worse. The ICE concentration camps, for example. Horrifying. Nazi shit.
Thanks for being there, doing what you do.
Thanks for reading and watching and supporting!
Great points: Trump has outlived his usefulness, Vance is auditioning for Putin’s favor, Hungarian voters may deliver a major blow to Putin’s attempts to undermine the EU, Melania is running interference ahead of another release by an Epstein survivor. It’s such a service for an extremely intelligent person like Greg to put the time in to keep up with this constantly traumatizing news, think clearly about the picture as a whole and reflect back to us his thoughts. Share and subscribe.
Thanks so much, Andrea. I hope that, apart from all the world craziness, you are doing well.
The Pope canceled his U.S. visit because it’s not a safe environment here, nerves still jangling since last Tuesdays threat of nuclear war, thanks for the week in hell synopsis.
If it's Trump v the Pope, my money's on the Pope...
Thank you!
Greg
So much to unpack, great coverage of the batshit stuff that happened this century, oops, sorry I mean this week.
For a long time I believed that the dumbass is so stupid, if you gave him enough rope he'd hang himself. Perhaps this week he is finally starting to tighten the noose. Sadly the expression keeps turning up like a bad penny seems more appropriate.
I do strongly believe that Vlad is done with the imbecile. Vlad's return on investment is huge, time to sell and take the profit. Perhaps he has a quick way out unlike the US, he won't bother with the 25th Amendment or impeachment. If he hesitates it may be that he is unsure of anyone who uses eyeliner.
Time will tell, we shall miss The Five & 8, have a great weekend.
Was Trump ordered by Putin to agree to a cease fire?
Putin lost Syria. He cant afford to lose Iran.
Donald is between a rock and a hard place. Or, I suppose, Iran and a hard place.
Be just handed it off to Vance.
It just got crazier.
Out of control.
Thanks, Old Man.
I don't trust Vance as far as I can throw him. He is totally amoral, and a puppet of higher powers. But once one is the POTUS, and has all that power, that could potentially change things, right? Does he really want to spend the rest of his life being universally loathed? If the bar is "better than Donald," that's attainable, even for him...
or so I tell myself.
It is hard to believe anyone could be worse than trump. Vance is college educated, Ivy no less, proven to read and write. Seems not to like all this military bullshit, suspect Hegseth would be gone in a heartbeat. Question, will the dark forces controlling him look beyond a nanosecond and soften things to ensure their continued existence as a way to offset the possible blue way.
Yes, what a week. I hope I find your optimism on these topics. Russia and Iran work together, Russia and trump are bedding together, Vance went to Hungary to dis outside interference of elections from other countries.. Vance is involved with negotiations with Iran. Who has benefitted from this? Keith Olbermann yesterday says the two week, repetitive delay is due to trumps mistiming of this 'special operation-WAR' and the two week delay will continue 10-12 times until we near the elections when trump will declare a state of emergency in our country which will interfere with the midterm elections. I thought I was out of my mind until I read Phillips P OBriens piece today, it all is clear as a bell. https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/zelensky-speaks-the-truth-and-trump?r=fa5ey&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
The point being what if he did this whole operation for Russia?
and Shankar Narayan pointed out that the Biden team did not interfere with an Iran/Russia joint venture to build a humongous drone factory. I began yesterday throwing out my Biden paraphanalia
Good to listen to your ramble. https://shankarnarayan.substack.com/p/survival-in-the-age-of-drones?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=post%20viewer
I had heard a clip that trump "Didn't Know" what Melania was saying about trump. The big take away from her presser, was that she practiced the speech and stuck to the script. Thank you- Greg
and Bibi is out there on his own, with bombs supplied by us. but he is worse than all the rest as he bombs everything away screaming, Hezbollah and Hamas as his excuse.
Yep
Thanks, Sara. Zelenskyy is, of course, right.
Biden was not tough enough on Putin, and trusted that Bibi would not be a genocidal butcher. Those two mistakes cost him re-election. I knew on October 7 that Biden would be harmed in the fallout. Very disappointing indeed.
I'm not sure Trump has a plan at all, just various desires he wants fulfilled that he improvizes ways to consummate as he goes along. He wants to stay in power, and he wants to hurt people, and he wants martial law, so when the opportunity presents itself, he will do that.
Sigh.
Just watching a clip of Irans' Entourage entering negotiating talks 30 plus people with experience fighting and negotiating, we have JD, 'his wife"(?), Kutchner and Witkoff. representing the US. MEH double sigh
These trite self absorbed people destroying the most powerful country in the world, responsible for deaths in the US and world wide, ruining a globally powerful dollar and stealing billions from Americans for what? New clothes? Fucking awful lying criminals convinced God is on their side?
I've given up trying to understand them. I just want them gone.
What people think of him is the small cereal and milk experience in families…. Few listen to the reliable news or even news; they prefer to read the box. I don’t think they will realize anything much other than they need food delivery. The comment will be Melania looks good. I wish I could have faith that the shallowness of the American public was launching more people onto dry land of reason but this, I’ve given up on. To think people have to have values to work from or because of…I’m not seeing values at work. I’m only seeing drifting opinions at work shaped by soap opera scripts. People didn’t bomb us because they wee afraid, or had respect, or at least some admiration and thought we had the secret to greatness. There is no reason left to respect us. None.
Ah, but she didn't look good... ; )
You're right, no one respects us, and should not.
lolol... she looked ready!
https://youtu.be/NL7nLSSSWjw
That’s the only way out of this???? Have you been reading what I’ve been writing about getting him to resign? Or getting him to apologize and change his ways, including firing all his hires before he and Vance resign? Thinking outside the box is in order here.
Oh wouldn't it be nice (cue music). But fat chance of any of that happening. Trump never admits he was wrong about anything. You can't reason with a narcissist, meglomaniac, etc. Believe it or not, I have prayed that Trump would be converted, really become a Christian, realize the error of his ways, and either resign or start undoing the damage. Obviously my prayers haven't been answered.
Please look at what I’ve written and then come back with your critique.
Where do I find what you've written, Sue? I only see the post that I responded to.
Click on Suzanne Taylor’s Now What? next to SUE Speaks.
Finally read what I think you meant me to read: your version of a letter from Trump apologizing for what he's done. Was that it? I still don't buy he would ever do that or resign. I wish he would, but his ego would never allow it.
Read more. It doesn't serve any good for people to bat back surface critiques. Like little wars. Comment sections are places for us to think about what has been said and to be smart together.
I haven't had a chance to deep dive on it in the way I need to. To be honest, it's hard for me to focus on it.
I've offered two feasible plans for how to remove him, the Dems likely won't bother with either one, and one great piece of advice my father gave me is: stop trying to solve insoluble problems.
That doesn't mean the work you're doing, you and the brilliant group you've assembled, isn't worthy and worthwhile and may very well bear fruit. It's just an assessment of my own brain and spirit at this moment. Please understand: I have been shouting from the rooftops for almost ten years now, the people in power rarely take anything I say seriously, despite my track record of being right about Trump, and after a while, it wears one down. I will keep on doing what I do, of course, but what I do is all I can do.
You've done what you've done and it never "works," in response to my suggesting things that could work? Better: "Wow, some original ideas to pursue."
"What I do is all I can do" is pretty much the position of everyone now. All siloed. Some brilliant -- like you.
Well, that's why I do what I do. And is it hard to even get to my natural allies, everyone is so stressed by what it takes to put out what they put out.? And here we are. Powerless.
Please pay attention to my ideas for how to get this administration gone.Thanks to your recommendation, I get a lot of subscribers coming from you. Even you and I having some dialogue would have an audience.
MSNOW which I watch sometimes, Nicole and Lawrence primarily, totally missed the Melania connection yesterday, no one they spoke with had a clue what it was all about, but you Greg have at least sussed out what it may be about. Anyone that has paid attention can see that they all are up to their necks in the Epstein fiasco. They were all party people, they partied in NYC, they partied in West Palm, they partied on their airplanes, they didn’t work like the rest of us, they partied their way through life. Their currency was either their beauty or their wealth, which had to be accompanied by a total lack of any moral fiber, which allowed them to use anyone and everyone with impunity. The Russians have nude photos of Melania on private jets, which I have read regularly are featured on RT. How many of us have been around naked models/women on airplanes? Putin has leverage on the clown, something going back decades that he will do anything to keep from being made public. When I used the word “anything” I meant it, it would include treasonous acts that only a president would have knowledge of. Tuesday’s threats to obliterate Iran show just how far gone he really is, and the repugnantkin party is shitting all over themselves because they can see it as well as any of us, and are too terrified to act. Did they really think confirming Petty Boy was going to work out well? The guy was a pretty face couch sitter on a weekend morning news show, who watches news in the mornings on the weekends? That’s where the clown found him, cabinet material indeed. It figures! The coming days are going to be very interesting. 🙏
Oh my god, that's so discouraging. It's not like this was some revelatory idea I had. It was all over social media. Ten minutes on Twitter and anyone looking would have made that connection. I like both of them, but legacy media just blows.
The photos of Melania on the jet are from a photo shoot she did, and are not "real." But they know the real deal, and maybe after this interview airs, so will we. (I am 99 percent sure I know the real deal, but I'm not at liberty to say.)
He will do anything, yes. Up to and including blowing up the world.
OMG. It's all just too much. But the Melania thing? The card house is definitely collapsing. *Pablo Pascal grinning in the convertible GIF*
My latest thought (and this is no doubt not original) is that Jared is a plant, arranged and encouraged by family friend Uncle Bibi to marry his way into the Russian investment. The Venn Diagram of Epstein, Netanyahu, Kushner, and Putin is getting very single circle-y.
When you look at it like it's mafia, or even like medieval duchies and principalities, it all makes perfect sense. Two semi-powerful families joining forces through marriage to form an even more powerful entity. As LB has been saying for years, Trump is afraid of Jared, treats him like he treats Putin and Ghislaine. Why? For reasons you laid out.
Has Melonia gone off the reservation? I kept hearing moose and squirrel.
She only cares about herself, and remaining in her little bubble, and profiting off it. I can't wait to witness her fall.
First, thanks for a few LOL's, Greg. Always need laughs every day (one of the best therapies or coping mechanisms for our times: why I watch Daily Show, Kimmel monologue, and Colbert monologue every night [record so after watching one I can switch to the other]).
Second, that's quite the rollercoaster you took us on: first hope (the end [of Trump] MAY be near, then the despair at everything Israel is doing (the executing Palestinians in custody legislation was news to me), then hope again at the end. But the hope is just hopeful; that is, there's no sign anything will be done about Trump.
[original passage deleted due to repentance; maybe the worst sin is to cause other people to sin--in this case, I wrote my sinful thoughts and it might have caused others to have sinful thoughts. Please forgive me, anyone to whom that happened.]
Why doesn't the rest of world do anything not only about Trump/USA, but Putin/Russia, Netanyahu/Israel, and Orban/Hungary? They are individually and collectively making the world a worse place--and a dangerous place for the whole human race. If they set off WWIII, that could be the end of us all. Anyone recall "On the Beach"? The after effects of nuclear war gets us all ultimately.
The gods are deaf.
I think they--unlike Captain Kirk and all subsequent captains--follow the Prime Directive: don't interfere with other life forms in their evolution. But Kirk and all the others in "Star Trek" series and movies do interfere, usually with positive results. There may have been an episode here and there with negative results, but I can't recall, and haven't watched the most recent ST series on Paramount+ because I don't want to pay for another streaming service until I actually have time to watch what's on it (retirement, in other words). Arthur C. Clarke had the same basic idea in his novel "2010," the first sequel to "2001": when humans tried to land on ... Europa? the Jupiter moon that had life evolving on it, their ship burned up. The race that created the solar system-within-the solar system sent a message echoing God in Genesis: "All these worlds are yours to use, but do not attempt to land on Europa." Same as prime directive: don't interfere. God or the gods seem to be of the same mind: I or We gave you what you need; now you work it out yourselves. Sadly, we're not working it out.
"THE LAST QUESTION" BY ISSAC ASIMOV
P.S. However, that Big Crunch to new Big Bang theory was crunched when it was discovered that the expansion of the universe isn't slowing down but expanding ever faster (because of dark energy?). So there will never be a cycle of crunch to bang to crunch to bang--I know. The end result will still be heat death because of entropy. But will AC or God start it all over again? Only time will tell. :)
Can the entropy of the universe be reversed?
My pleasure
Hari Seldon
Hahaha! I got it.
My pleasure
Hari Seldon
Well, I just spoiled it for myself by Googling the story and reading a summary. But even that evoked a "Wow!" from me. Thanks for the reference, Cal.
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/sunday-pages-the-last-question?utm_source=publication-search
: )
Finally read your post from back in 2022, right? Ah, those were the days. I also commented on your comments on others. In case you don't see those, the one thing I will say hear is, Watch "2001: A Space Odyssey." It's not on Sight and Sound's list of 100 greatest films for nothing. And if you love "The Last Question," you should also love the ending of "2001." Also, if you are still able to use a treadmill, I recommend listening to the "Dune" books on audio. I got through them all that way and liked them so much I even read (listened to) Frank Herbert's son's continuation of the series.
Good, it's good you edited it.
THOU SHALT NOT PASS
lol
Thanks for this, Lincoln.
I don't want to wade into choppy waters with your suggestion -- and let me be clear, to any government agencies whose AI picked this up, that I am only speaking in hypotheticals here, and don't condone violence etc -- but the only argument against would be, if those four are removed, even worse men (always it's men who are this evil) will replace them.
Maybe that's true in Russia and Israel. Not sure it's true here. Certainly not true in Budapest. But...perhaps we should test that theory?
To bring it back to the Bible, it's like when Lot was trying to convince G-d not to destroy Sodom. "If you can find ten good men..." But in reverse. "If you can distill it down to four men..."
Uh-oh. Methinks I ought to change my name to an avatar and scrub the LS image if I can figure out how to do that. When I subscribed, I didn't see an option to do that. I didn't choose the LS screenshot--at least not for this. I chose it years ago for a chatroom on AMC for discussing episodes of "Mad Men" and somehow when I subscribed to this substack it was in the code or whatever and popped up.
Any Catholic priests on this list? I think I might need absolution.
Oh, and the reverse S & G scenario where ABRAHAM (not Lot) bargains with God to get him not to wipe out everything for the sake of X good people (I think Abe got God down to 10, but I'd have to check)--anyway, the idea of the reverse scenario: "God, just whack these 4" is funny. Thanks.
I don't condone violence either; I think I wrote out of frustration that these bad actors are doing what they will without restraint or pushback from the rest of the world. Even Kim Jong Un seems tame now in comparison.
But I shouldn't have written what I wrote, so I'm going to edit it. And I looked up when confession is at my local church but I already missed it. Next week.
TGIF🎉🎉🎉One week closer…
One week closer!
No question, Greg: Trump has to be removed from office. Yesterday would not be soon enough. But I'm not holding my breath since his dimwitted sycophants in Congress would have done so long ere this if they had so much as an ounce of morality between the lot of them. Or common sense, for that matter.
The elections in Hungary in two days will certainly be telling. Will Putin's mouse, Orbán, go quietly when he loses? (He will lose according to all the polls, if the elections and the vote-counting are not completely rigged.) The question, though, is what will Orbán do to cling to power? How extreme are the measures that he will take in order to stay in office going to be? Could the aftermath of the situation there provide a template for our elections in November? Or if Orbán is ousted from power, will Trump call off our elections altogether under some pretext or other (even if it means following Putin's example re. Chechnya , as horrible a thought as that is)?
But forewarned is forearmed: it is as well for us to be on guard.
Thanks, Homi. I agree, Budapest is like opening the new play in Provincetown and working out the tweaks before bringing it to Broadway. We have to be vigilant and learn from what they're doing. But who will learn? And who will do anything about it? I hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
I’m encouraged by your take on the shift, and at the same time horrified by the atrocities being committed by this regime.
Please don't let me glimmer of hopefulness be interpreted as numbness to the atrocities. It's so beyond, I can't even. Every day is something worse. The ICE concentration camps, for example. Horrifying. Nazi shit.
Russia make “like” vance but they don’t like him. He’s a
f🦆king tool….like every human that is useful to the greedy and megalomaniacal (I’m not sure that’s a word but that’s what they are)
They also always become disposable at some point. Like toilet paper in the course of its existence.
🧻 🚽
Unlike JD Vance, toilet paper is useful to everyone...and people are always happy to have it around!