An inordinate amount of problems ultimately are stemming from far too many people. From Private Individuals, to Companies large and small. As well as the Government making the conscious decision to embrace squalor because it’s ultimately cheaper. The Private Citizen is concerned with saving money. Many of the companies are preoccupied with padding reports for shareholders to score bonuses for upper management. And the bureaucrats and politicians have a billion and a half pet projects and things they’d prefer to fund if they don’t just straight up embezzle the funds.
A sure sign of the health of a population is the condition of their architecture. We ultimately become what we surround ourselves with. Bland and uninspired cheap cookie cutter cubes. For a population exhausted in more ways than one. I suppose in a funny sense. The ‘Rule of Cool’ and its effects on the psyche long term can often matter more than most would think in a metaphysical and spiritual sense.
Fixing these issues permanently will ultimately require cultural and societal level changes from the people. Actions from on high are helpful but it relies on people choosing to maintain what those actions restore.
The riots initially started as Sports Riots. Which on its own is retarded but not particularly out of character for most Western Countries. The imports however took over the riots.
Random Judge strikes again
Ironically Washington was literally the only Founding Father who tried to practice that.
The rest talked a big game. But had their blind spots when it came to personal politics. They condemned other treaties of course. But when it came to their blind spots. Those treaties and entanglements were always different. Jefferson was notably perturbed we didn’t initially back Revolutionary France. Some of the Federalists as another example were known to be sympathetic towards Britain.
The unspoken downside. They’ll scatter to the winds and go into private practice or get jobs with corporations and cause us problems there.
So more cases that should never make it to a Judge, let alone a Jury end up clogging the legal system.
Frivolous Lawsuits against parts of his agenda will get filed in random courts spear headed by these Yahoos. Some will undoubtedly seek Judgeships and Judicial appointments in State and Local Courts.
So it’s a double edged sword. Sure they aren’t able to work against him internally. But externally they can still cause both him and the general population no shortage of problems.
If it’ll serve as a Defense Asset for Washington D.C. that carries the implication that it will be capable of launching and recovering a wide variety of Drones with a variety of Ordnance. Likely with a variety on permanent standby.
Which would indicate the facilities present would be well above and beyond what one would expect if the Drones there were supposed to be simple perimeter security for the White House.
Combined with what other information he’s released about the Ballroom project. I would say the indicators are he’s turning the White House into a Hardened Military Headquarters Complex.
Mexico has historically bounced between corrupt Governments. Civil Wars never really fixed anything. The Closest things they’ve gotten to more or less not overtly corrupt. In that they weren’t dramatically better or worse than comparable Western Nations.
Either lost Wars with the United States and subsequently lost the ensuing civil war as various internal groups took advantage of their weakness, A Monarchy that was imposed on them by the French and subsequently lost the ensuing civil war, or was overthrown by corporate interests in the United States that triggered more civil wars they subsequently lost.
Aside from that. They’ve mostly bounced between corrupt governments. With the Rebels of the first conflict more or less sliding seamlessly into the new role of corrupt government. When a new band of plucky upstarts rises to challenge them.
Balkanization will probably be unlikely to develop on its own at least. At least for most of Mexico. Places where local native tribes predominate. Such as areas of Southern Mexico could probably make a bid for it. But most of it doesn’t have the history to put any serious weight or support of the people behind it.
There is a technique thats been in use for decades uses Mosquitoes that are infertile to help control Mosquito populations. Meaning Eggs don’t hatch. Which also subsequently controls the spread of Mosquito related diseases.
Is this one of those types of ‘Specialty treatments’? Or is this some untested science experiment that they don’t even have any idea what the effects will be let alone long-term human effects?
Potentially. Though If there was going to be any distribution of said theoretical funds. It’ll likely take the form of Monthly Payments. Easier to filter the funds into circulation without massive economic upsets/price hikes.
A small portion of it is owned by foreign countries. Most of it, once you get through the legions of middlemen and shell companies is owned by a variety of American Companies, and Financial Firms. Companies and Firms in turn owned by a variety of extremely wealthy individuals. From the big names everyone’s heard of. To more obscure people
There’s a joke here. But that’s such low hanging fruit that I’ll restrain myself from making it.
AI became a convenient excuse and Boogeyman for the Corporate World to point the public’s ire at. Rather than have people realize the Corporate World and their Greed once again fucked the country in a spectacular fashion with their own poor decision making.
The results of decades of poor decision making, over expansion, mergers that shouldn’t have happened, industry consolidation that shouldn’t have happened are hitting right about now.
This is combined with the fact that available Capital for investment is shrinking as the Boomers are either hitting retirement in mass, or are several years into retirement. So massive amounts of Capital are being transferred into safer harbors and less risky investments.
Several Industries more or less relied on periodic infusions of investor capital to remain with their heads above water. Now that it’s no longer guaranteed. They have to cut weight.
This is combined with the effect of turning off USAID. Combined with the fact companies way overhired during COVID. Tech and Entertainment in particular. So now they need to cut weight.
There’s also a plethora of unresolved racial issues. Best illustrated as an example by the Indians and their tendency to only hire Indians and or outsource operations to India once they hit management. But that’s far from the only issue of that nature.
Not to mention the onrushing Demographic Bomb. Of the fact the generations are shrinking. And the problems that will inevitably have on the economy. Given the unwritten rule of thumb for the last couple centuries has been each generation will be the same size or larger than the one that preceded it. Meaning things were built with the expectation of a certain level of consumption in mind. Which will take a degree of economic adjustment.
This is combining with something akin to the .com bubble. Meaning a bunch of people are going all in on Data Centers. Thinking it’s a get rich quick scheme. Hence the retarded monetization schemes. They’ll loose their shirts when the Bubble pops. Only the bright side we’ll likely see the opportunity for AI to come into its own much like the internet did after the .com bubble popped. And the opportunity for improved systems that’ll be less energy/water intensive than current systems to be developed and supplant current standards.
I get that much. A few Bars I get kinda just letting it go and trusting your people to have a reason. But you’d think at 300+ bars for a grand total of 40+ Million in cash tied up for seemingly no clear use or benefit. IE he’s not suddenly producing more actionable intelligence. To indicate he’s bribing people for instance. It would start raising questions and result in requests for proof on what it was being used for.
Rather than just taking their word for it. As it is an organization of spies. Essentially professional liars and bullshitters.
It’s difficult to tell which part of the story is the worst.
The fact he was hired in the first place. Or the fact he managed to con them into giving him 40 million+ in Gold for ‘Work related Expenses’ with no questions being asked.
Now the only question is. Will they be going after the Executives who set the policy? Or the Faceless Peons who carried it out?
The Peons are a dime dozen and easily replaceable. The Executives are who you go after to affect real change.
The problem with Modern Western Civilization is somewhat ironically many of its fundamental animating principles as laid out in the enlightenment were never envisioned with clear limits or definitions. Points where we Civilizationally could reliably say “The Cause of Liberty has advanced enough.”
What one man may decide to accept. Such as the unchosen bonds of family, culture, and community. Another man may view the very existence of such notions as an intolerable and unacceptable assault upon the cause of individual liberty. For would the idea that a Man might have certain unchosen duties and obligations to a community and culture that birthed and raised him. Not in of itself be considered Tyranny of a form?
One man may accept the fact his Business may not make him as much money as it could. Because hiring locally and using quality ingredients and materials costs more. But as long as his customers and employees are taken care of and he’s making some profit. He’s content with his narrower margins.
A different man may view the idea of having any obligation to hire his countrymen or use quality ingredients and material as an intolerable assault upon his right to make as fat a profit as possible. Why shouldn’t he be allowed to hire foreigners for peanuts and mass import them into local communities? Why shouldn’t he use subpar ingredients and make a product that’s simply ‘good enough’ instead of excellent? Why should he care about the negative consequences it’s having on his community and country. The other Businesses should have just adapted to the competition he provided and cut corners and imported foreigners like he did.
Essentially as much as many of those ideas and notions. Ultimately allowed us to achieve massive highs. They ultimately also gutted Western Society. Triggering Civil Wars and constant unrest and conflict. As those with different definitions of what Liberty, Capitalism, Limited Government etc all actually mean and look like. Ultimately came to blows repeatedly across Western Civilization.
Also why no ‘Conservative’ faction has actually ever been able to successfully conserve anything. Because their very rhetoric is used against them time and time again. Standards for socially acceptable behavior become unacceptable infringements on individual liberty and freedom of expression with little rhetorical effort. Expectations you maintain the exterior of your property and keep it at the very least clean becomes an accusation of Statist Tyranny. So on and so forth.
The U.S has more or less functioned as a Representative Democracy with a very loose Republican Framework in practice since the early 1800s after the States started expanding the Franchise. In part because since the people guaranteed the right to own firearms but who couldn’t vote under the system as originally envisioned. Also decided they wanted the right to vote.
As originally envisioned. Most of the population including most Whites could not vote. And the States could and frequently did arbitrarily raise or lower additional barriers to voting of their own accord.
So technically on paper at least. There’s a difference. In reality we’ve functioned more or less as a representative democracy for most of our history. Instead of the Aristocratic Republic originally envisioned. Which was more or less a dead concept with the first expansion of the right to vote.
Ironically the steady expansion of the Franchise was a point of contention and concern for some of the founding fathers in their later lives after they retired from public life. As Democratic influence on the Republican experiment rapidly spiraled far outside the scope of what they initially intended.
There’s going to be a lot of people both foreign and domestic with entrenched interests financial and otherwise seeking to influence the outcomes of the Datacenter debacle.
Risking rather justifiable concerns. Such as issues with Water usage getting buried under the additional noise, rhetoric, and hypothetical situations being used to argue both for and against.
Something worth keeping in mind. It’s rather cheap and not all that difficult to develop influence networks online now. Especially in the hyper partisan political environment. Use the right buzzwords and you’ll have a lot of people from one side or the other eating out of the palm of your hand. Hire a few people to be the ‘face’ and you can have what at a cursory glance looks like a Grassroots activist/citizens group. When a look beneath the hood would reveal the funding trails and the fact the ‘grassroots’ organization is anything but a collection of concerned citizens.
Much like with the Datacenters. Businessmen like O’Leary serving as ‘The Face’ can help disguise the funding and groups/people building the centers.
Women are also the ones most likely to the most fiercely devoted to the prevailing political/social orthodoxy. Which has more or less been a perpetual liberalism since the 60s
It’s probably a mix of people just wanting the free Money to stand around. And true dyed in the wool believers who wanted one last ride pretending they are still the daring counter-culture of their Youth before the inevitable slow decline in retirement homes their kids, if they had any, will shove them in.
It's always amazed me that people would even consider living in a home right next to an industrial area. They are under the false assumption that it must be safe or they would not let people live there... right?
Likely it wasn’t a Chemical Plant initially when the property developments went in. Which would likely change people’s risk calculation. A Fire or explosion at a Factory or storage warehouse can be a different beast than a fire or explosion at a chemical plant. With the fallout being contained largely to the factory property. Versus Chemical Gas which can spread over a large area in a matter of minutes.
Though in this case we have a fairly good idea of what the cause was already. It was GKN the company who owns an operates the plant actively not maintaining safety measures/equipment. In order to save money. With an established paper trail of citations showing it to be a consistent pattern of behavior from the Company.
They’ll probably get fucked in court if it goes that far unless they bribe the Judge
According to the last study of only fans users and creators. Many are reportedly married. Divorce Lawyers are probably salivating at the thought of all the money they stand to make.
Skyrocketing Demand after WW2. Not to mention the forced diversification in the 60s and 70s. Driving more demand for suburbs. So the prospect of large sums of Money to be made. Not to mention local corruption. It’s rather effective in getting restrictive zoning laws relaxed and changed on the fly.
Plus It’s not like the people who built the development would be living there. So the chance of an accident at the Industrial facility won’t affect them at all. So why would they care? Whether there’s an accident at the facility is the problem of both the company that owns the facility and the people stupid enough to buy the houses they sold them right next to the chemical plant.
That sort of thing also tracks with many modern Businesses both large and small.
Complying with Safety Regs and OSHA costs money. Money Owners/Shareholders would rather not spend.
Hence my comment on the fact that as long as it’s the Poors and Middle Class getting hurt, getting sick, and doing the dying. The people running these companies won’t care all that much and won’t change how they do things. It’s when it starts affecting other rich people who may have the resources to make their lives difficult that they start caring.
And Government largely won’t care. Because the people running these Companies pay for election campaigns.
Likely only reason California is suddenly putting the heat on. Is because they can’t afford to be seen doing nothing. Even though they willfully acknowledged they knew about problems there for years.
According to what little I’ve found so far. It looks like it may have been a pre-existing Industrial Facility that GKN acquired and converted. So it would likely have been grandfathered in. GKN has been in operation there since the 90s. So finding anything about the lot reliably predating the start of their operations in 93. Is a bit iffy.
But it would explain why it was allowed to operate with Californias nanny state. That and no one with money was inconvenienced or endangered until fairly recently. So it would track with historic U.S precedent. In that as long as it’s the poors and Middle Class getting sick and doing the dying. Most levels of Government from Federal on down to the local and Wealthy don’t particularly care all that much.
Strictly speaking biologically we’re hardwired with a tendency towards overeating. As food for significant portions of our history was far from being consistent. Everyone also did far more manual labor. So you got used to eating heartily when you were able to. As there was no guarantee you could later. If the Harvests failed, herds moved, ships never arrived etc. You starved. But you also still had work to do often enough.
The tendency towards overeating isn’t helped by the fact that processed foods is deliberately engineered to be addictive at a biological level and hyper palatable to boot. With them going a step further and using psychological tricks and conditioning with the advertising and packaging. One of the biggest employers of chemists, and Psychologists outside of Medicine. Is the Food industry. With their main goals being engineering food that is even more addictive and hyper palatable than it is already. And discovering new psychological techniques for use in advertising. Significant portions of the Food in this country is quite literally the product of Frankenstein science experiments.
It’s also been only been comparatively recently historically speaking that food, processed or otherwise, has been plentiful enough. That being fat has become an issue for every level of the economic hierarchy and not just the Rich. The Body hasn’t quite caught up to the physical reality. Which is even poor people can afford to be walking around looking like Beachballs these days. And often enough even the people doing back breaking labor for a living are sporting impressive guts.