178 you don't have to live like...

So to summarize, we have an abundant planet with one species running amok. We the people, through the simple pursuit of life, liberty, happiness, and more and more stuff, are turning this amazing green and blue sphere into a brown and orange wasteland.

(Pretty sure we don't have any photos from Venus surface, but hey, it's the internet!)

Here in the United States of America, we were the most active polluters and consumers. We didn't set out to be the global over-eater, it was just a happenstance of history. Right place, right time.

We knew it wouldn't last. Nothing does. 

But we were hopeful. So some people voted for a leader who promised to turn the clock back. He couldn't, of course.

Now, the opposition party is offering another choice of leader who also represents turning the clock back. 

None of this will work, the clock doesn't go back.

So here we are, reckoning. On the scale of reckoning, so far, we've had it pretty easy. Some smoke, some wind, some water, a virus, some poverty. These are all deadly, but they're arguably less frightening than say, getting carpet bombed, or droned, or invaded, the kind of reckoning we've been delivering since becoming the world champion battlemasters after WW2.

Now what? 

Do we cling to our hope that the opposition party, who have bombed and tax cut and underfunded social spending nearly as much as dear leader's party, will fix everything? 

Do we run for the border?

Do we hunker down in front of the mirror and say, what needs to change in this picture?

Do we stick our heads in the sand, say this is how it's always been, out of our control, and hope there's cell phone reception in our burrows?

Do we look up at the red sky, brush the ash from our windshields, change the channel on the radio to tune it all out, and drive to work like it's...

Oh... Wait. Drive to work? Drive? Work? 

Hmmm...

Maybe things are changing whether we like it or not. Maybe dear leader will gain another term, and ride this bad boy all the way into the ground. Maybe the great experiment is over. Maybe it's time.

Do I want this? No, not really. I liked the old days. I was young. Young is fun! All that energy, my gosh. 

And you know what? Young is what comes next. We may be heading toward darker moments, but there will be a dawn, and with that dawn will come the golden glimmer of all life's possibilities. 

Do we want to trudge wearily to our early graves, beholden to a lifestyle that is killing us all? Or do we want to look around at the best and brightest, follow their lead, and excel?

This was a very busy bar. It's currently a pretty busy sidewalk.

They've blocked the wind and added tables. I imagine there will be some sort of tent added for the rainy season. (Which unfortunately may be delayed due to La Nina.)

They're up to four TVs and looking to add more.

Wonder if the city signed off on this little bit of Irish engineering.

Because as we know, the city likes to sign off on stuff.

Come on people. They're  taking away social security from old ladies so they can give themselves a tax cut, and they got us arguing over whether black people or cops are more important. What the actual fuck?

Online is a big big place. Before yesterday, I'd never heard of "Telegram."

Speaking of neo-nazis...

A DHS report found of 38 incidents of "domestic terrorism" in the past two years, 28 were linked to "white" supremacists. 

But that doesn't fit with fear leader's story, so the snoops were told to alter the language.

At this point, I'm pretty much shutting out any talk of Russia and our elections. Look around, people. We don't need Russia's help. We have our own razvaluha to deal with.

Been holding onto this next screencrap for a while. Sometimes, it's helpful to have a little perspective.

The fires aren't the problem. It's people living in fire zones that has created this hazard.

Do I feel awful for everyone who is struggling through this? Hell yes I do. 

When Tom Petty once sang, "No you don't have to live like a refugee," he was a rock star, and it was a love song about hope.

But when Sierra Leone's All Stars sang "Living like a refugee is not easy," they were in a camp. It's about tarps.