We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Sic transit gloria mundi

46 comments to Sic transit gloria mundi

  • Fraser Orr

    I looked very carefully and didn’t see samizdata on the list. Was it perhaps 11th, just off the bottom?

  • What purpose does “Xvideos” serve?

    🙂

  • Natalie Solent (Essex)

    As the possessor of an aol.com email address for twenty years, I was interested to see that although AOL lost its top slot in 2000, when it was getting just over 400 million monthly visits, it continued to gain subscribers until late 2005. It was at well over a thousand million monthly visits in November 2005, though down to fourth place. For quite a long while the rising tide did raise all ships, though of course the tide turned eventually.

    Remember, Google, thou art mortal.

  • Lee Moore

    Shamelessly pivoting …. the 1950s Tory Party would have been sic transit gloria mundi-ing like crazy if they’d seen today’s Tory leadership vote – yer Ethnics getting more than half the vote (and yer Birthing Persons also getting more than half the vote.).

    A bitter day for the racism and sexism outrage industry.

  • Mr Ed

    How much of the Twitter traffic is bots?

    Asking, ahem, for a friend.

  • How much of the Twitter traffic is bots?

    Well, since Twatter seem to be foolish enough to be distracted by Elon in a court case, looks like we might find out pretty soon, or at least find out what both sides think the bot traffic is, which will be interesting.

  • Paul Marks

    I can see why Corporations love the ESG system and the rest of the Corporate State ideas (Agenda 2030 and all that) – left to market forces (consumer choice) any Corporation can be destroyed, AOL being an vast example.

    It must be very frightening for Corporate people to know that free competition can destroy them – no wonder they are so fanatically determined to destroy free enterprise, and replace it with a planned society – where their own position would be secure.

    To give an example….

    Presently I am watching GB News where Mark Steyn and Neil Oliver are talking to some of the victims of the Covid “vaccines” (many other people are dead). As the living victims point out – Facebook removes their complaints (including about loved ones killed by the injections) as “fake news”. The “Twitter Mob” (the same people who lie constantly about American, and other, politics – I know them well) take vicious delight in tormenting Covid vaccine victims, especially the families of the dead (no prizes for guessing that a certain Bill being pushed presently will NOT protect these victims of “on line harm”).

    There are other social media sites, indeed I am told that Mr Zuckerberg’s site is going down – but, tragically, the “On Line Harm” Bill (or whatever it is called) may demand that ALL social media sites remove the truth as “fake news”, because it offends the NHS and the pharma companies.

    One can not allow free competition – or Facebook might be destroyed (and then who would pay half a Billion Dollars to rig the election?) and even the pharma companies might possibly be threatened – if government and corporate media (public-private partnership) did not protect them, and if they were subject to (for example) being sued in the Common Law courts (rather than being above the law)./

    The Corporate State needs control of money (it must be able to create money from nothing – it must not have to bid for Real Savings from ordinary savers), and it must be able to crush competition with regulations and by smear campaigns in the media – otherwise its position is not secure. As any company (no matter how big) can be destroyed – IF free competition is allowed.

  • Snorri Godhi

    I believe that there are only a few websites in the video that i visit pretty much every day:
    the BBC (fake) News
    Wikipedia
    IMDb

    In addition, i visit pretty much every day by proxy (DuckDuckGo):
    Google
    Youtube

    — I take this opportunity to ask samizdatistas’ opinions about the leadership contest.
    What about Kemi? What about Suella?
    Are they too young and untested?

  • Sorry Snorri. I wish I knew. Across the pond, living in a one-party state, I’m watching with popcorn the knives in the Democrat Party come out, trying to “Macbeth” Biden. Early attempt by the governor of my state of California to seize the initiative, but he is a dead meat in the rest of the country (and hated intensely in his home state, but not by enough voters to get past the lethargy/machine vote).

    On the Republican side I’m watching if the RSS Titanic, AKA Trump, is going to throw his hat in the ring, while a lot of the party have mixed feelings about this, preferring Ron DeSantis. With my fellow CA Republicans (a negligible party in my state) they lean more DeSantis because “Trump is toxic”. I don’t like the man; I do like his policies.

    On your side of the pond, I kinda liked the tousle-haired graduate of Eton and Balliol who was able to pretend to be “in touch with the masses”, and his Brexit sympathies. I dance on the demise of Corbyn and his Labor party, but the Tory seem to have no back bench to speak of. They all seem, on both sides of Parliament, to either be earnest and deluded radicals or professional seat warmers.

    At least you guys get plenty of reps in Commons. Here our House of Representatives mostly represents the US Federal Government to the provincials.

  • Snorri Godhi

    PS: I cannot help wondering why Pornhub is more famous than XVideos, when the latter seems to be more popular.

    I am also surprised that such a site only appears in the top 10 so late: it was my understanding that pornography constituted a substantially larger proportion of web traffic early on.
    But maybe it was divided between too many sites.

  • bobby b

    Matthew H Iskra
    July 13, 2022 at 10:01 pm

    “Early attempt by the governor of my state of California to seize the initiative, but he is a dead meat in the rest of the country (and hated intensely in his home state, but not by enough voters to get past the lethargy/machine vote).”

    But he only has to be less hated than Trump (if he runs.) Joe Biden even met that threshold, and he was a goofy plagiarizing nullity.

  • Fraser Orr

    @bobby b
    But he only has to be less hated than Trump (if he runs.) Joe Biden even met that threshold, and he was a goofy plagiarizing nullity.

    It is my hope that the last chance for America is that Trump does not run and throws his weight behind Desantis. He is full on America first, without a lot of the baggage (though he is definitely a bit of a wiley politician, which is not a word I use as a compliment.) However, I suspect that Trump’s massive ego, and huge sense of “I was robbed” means that he will run. (Unless Biden’s DoJ goes all out and criminally prosecutes him for something, which I think is definitely a possibility.)

    Things are so bad that it is not impossible (though perhaps unlikely) that 2024 brings us Desantis and 60 republican senators. I have mixed feelings about this, because republicans are often so loathsome, and we all know what happens with absolute power. But something needs to be done to stop the train wreck that is America. It may be too late.

  • bobby b

    Fraser Orr: I loved having Trump as our President. I would vote for him again in a heartbeat – IF I didn’t suspect that he is so hated/feared by so many that he would lose. But I know many people who are so in love with the guy that they will likely stay home if he’s not the candidate. So I fear we’re going to shoot ourselves in the foot again with a split party.

    Trump-love seems personal. Desantis-love . . . well, there’s really no such thing, but to me he’s the one we ought to be electing. Boring technocrat, but with the right principles. Just no presence. And presence counts. It was all Trump had back in 2016. And, boy, did he have it.

    But it’s never too late. It may be too late for a painless fix, but there are other ways. Heck, did Ben Franklin say it was too late when the Germans were coming ashore at Duluth?

  • John

    — I take this opportunity to ask samizdatistas’ opinions about the leadership contest.
    What about Kemi? What about Suella?
    Are they too young and untested?

    I believe the gatekeepers responsible for whittling the admittedly poor field down to the final 2 are 358 largely untalented and uninspiring nonentities whose priorities seem to be preserving their seats at any cost to the country and toadying up to the candidate most willing to promise them an appointment or promotion. Hell, more than a few of them would trade their support in return for a slightly larger office.

    Given a choice of 4, 5 or even 6 candidates for the party membership to consider Kemi or Suella would be very strong contenders. As it is the fix is well advanced pitching Sunak against warm favourite by default Mordant. Any resultant change in the country’s direction will be barely detectable.

  • As it is the fix is well advanced pitching Sunak against warm favourite by default Mordant. Any resultant change in the country’s direction will be barely detectable.

    Exactly correct.

  • Paul Marks

    Fraser Orr – you remark that the American situation is bad, and you are correct. Perhaps more correct than you know.

    Even if we exclude all entitlement promises (Social Security, Medicare, and so on) the Federal debt is some 31 TRILLION Dollars (I can remember when it was it first crossed ONE Trillion Dollars in 1981 – now it is THIRTY ONE Trillion Dollars), if one includes the entitlement promises – then the debt is about one-million-Dollars per taxpayer, and it will be vastly worse by 2025.

    My fear about Governor DeSantis is that that he is a “good manager” – and he is a good manager, that he will try and “deal with the problem” by this or that piecemeal moves. That a President DeSantis would desperately try and save-the-system – a system which can-not-be-saved.

    That ship has sailed, it sailed many years ago. The system, both government and corporate, is bankrupt – totally bust.

    I think President Trump grasps that. He knows the bubble “economy” up-close-and-personal and he is not scared of words such as “bankruptcy” and “default” – and knows that physical assets continue to exist AFTER such events. What goes – never really existed in the first place.

    The present system can not be saved – the question is what replaces it?

    The international establishment (the WEF, Bill Gates and co) have their ideas about what will replace the present system (and their ideas are supported by the former British Chancellor Rushi Sunak and PERHAPS by Penny Mordaunt as well) – but Donald John Trump has totally fallen out with these people (largely for personal reasons – their efforts to destroy him since 2016) and so may be open to other ideas.

    I repeat – the present financial system can mot be saved (things have gone too far for that) – the question is, “what will replace it?”.

    I hope that Governor DeSantis knows that as well – but I fear he will try and save the system if he became President in 2025, and it is much too late for that (it is much too late now – let alone in January 2025).

    If President Trump was in office in 2025 he would be old enough (and angry enough) to just toss this system down the garbage chute – which is where it needs to go.

    The “Finance Economy” (essentially importing everything from China and “paying” in IOUs) has had its day – time to go back to actually MAKING THINGS.

  • Paul Marks

    Elko Nevada is, perhaps, not a morally virtuous place – there are casinos and legal brothels, although there are also various Christian churches and a Mormon Temple is being (the population is diverse in beliefs and ways of life).

    But it does have a lot of gold mining, ranching, and so on – whether it is services (see above), or beef and other resources – it does produce stuff. And gold has a lot of practical uses – and has been a medium of exchange and store of value for thousands of years.

    I suspect that small cities such as Elko Nevada (even the entire statistical area is below 100 thousand in population – so, under international establishment rules, it should not be allowed to exist) will do much better over the next few years than large cities such as New York and Chicago.

    “And better than London Paul?” .. you might say that, I could not possibly comment.

  • Paul Marks

    For the energy industry – Casper Wyoming would be a good example of a place that may prosper over the next few years (although it needs the once near by refinery back).

    By the way, that is another place which, under international establishment rules, should not be allowed to exist, as its statistical areas is under 100 thousand in population.

    It will be interesting to see (for those people who are still around to see) just how far the international establishment will go in pushing Agenda 2030 and all the rest of the Corporate State stuff.

  • Peter MacFarlane

    Interesting.

    I lived through all of that period as a very active internet user, but I had no idea Yahoo remained on top for so long.

    The animation must start at the end of Compuserve’s dominance, I suppose – and yes I am one of those sad people who can still remember their Compuserve login id…

    Until now I had never even heard of Yandex.

    Every day’s a school day…

  • JohnK

    Paul:

    I agree with your assessment of our credit bubble economy.

    Imagine if “Wall Street” ceased to exist. All those “derivatives” which are so important. If they were not there, would we miss them?

  • Snorri Godhi

    I believe the gatekeepers responsible for whittling the admittedly poor field down to the final 2 are 358 largely untalented and uninspiring nonentities whose priorities seem to be preserving their seats at any cost to the country and toadying up to the candidate most willing to promise them an appointment or promotion.

    Is it a secret ballot? If not, then voters could put pressure on their MPs. I know that is not going to happen, though.

  • Fraser Orr

    @Paul Marks
    Even if we exclude all entitlement promises (Social Security, Medicare, and so on) the Federal debt is some 31 TRILLION Dollars

    Sure but the government is actually decreasing that value of the debt by crashing the value of the currency. They are also, insanely, talking about spending lots more money.

    I think President Trump grasps that. He knows the bubble “economy” up-close-and-personal and he is not scared of words such as “bankruptcy” and “default” – and knows that physical assets continue to exist AFTER such events. What goes – never really existed in the first place.

    I think Trump was no better on the debt than anyone else. He massively increased government spending even before Covid. Trump is a “debt” person. And you are right, he is not afraid of bankruptcy and default, however, if you think that is the solution — burning down the world — I have to disagree. American bankruptcy would lead immediately to Chinese hegemony, and liberal society would not recover from that for a century.

    So what is the alternative? I don’t know, but I know this: when you are at the bottom of a pit, the first thing to do is stop digging.

    And BTW, @bobby, I agree with you about the Trump cult love, that is why I said Trump would need to advocate for Desantis to make it work. In a sense it might be the only hope, because he definitely likes the role of puppet master. It might also be good to add that gal from up in your neck of the woods, Kristy Noem. She has boobs, which seems to be a plus point in American politics, she also has that same Mike Pence cool charisma and excellent debating skills that would add a lot to the ticket.

  • @bobby, I agree with you … Trump would need to advocate for DeSantis

    It is always easy to solve political problems if everyone’s ego can be set aside. One of Trump’s famous deals would seem to be indicated, with ticket President Trump and Vice-President DeSantis (given charge of specific areas that the deal says Trump will just rubber stamp – there’s enough work for two draining the swamp) and maybe Trump undertaking to resign after two years or so – or maybe not given that there is indeed enough work (and enough media hate) for two. If he does, DeSantis then gets to be president for a while before running for president for two full terms if he can manage it.

    As I said, it is ever so easy to solve political problems from one’s chair. It also seems a bit off-topic – unless we regard the message of the video as being that a wise king anticipates being succeeded and so chooses his successor.

  • Snorri Godhi

    there is indeed enough work (and enough media hate) for two.

    Yes, Trump is very useful as a lightning rod.

    I also like his policies, though: mostly making America more like Europe, where Europe is more sensible; and where there is disagreement with Europe, as on defense spending and Russian gas imports, the Europeans have come around to Trump’s way of seeing things. Which just goes to show how delusional are the people who call him “extreme”.

  • Paul Marks

    Frasor Orr – you have not grasped that the system CAN NOT be saved. Bankruptcy is inevitable – either open or by route of massive inflation.

    As for domination by the People’s Republic of China – that is exactly what the system is leading to, and it is one of the reasons that its end must come.

    What must be grasped is not only that the present system is NOT free enterprise – it is nothing to do with free enterprise.

    Wall Street and the other financial centres are not “the world” – but they are going to “burn down”, whether any of us like it or not.

    And, at this point, the financial entities and Western governments are so joined at the hip – that they are, essentially, parts of the same thing.

  • Paul Marks

    “Why does a company such as Google support de facto Fascism?”

    Well partly their support for “Stakeholder Capitalism” (i.e. Fascism – rather than free enterprise) is due to the “education” of Corporate managers – but there is also the nagging fear that if customers are allowed any say at all, Google will go the way of AOL.

    Remember Google (the largest website) is a massive FRAUD – it is not the “neutral search engine” it constantly claims to be, it rigs searched (systematically rigs searches) to push its leftist cultural and political agenda – even the “Bing” search engine of Mr Gates is less left wing than Google.

    Imagine that you are a Google executive – you know that your entire operation is based on a massive FRAUD (your false claim that you are a neutral search engine) – your greatest fear would be consumer choice, the fear that ordinary people might find out that when they “Google” something, the search results are being manipulated.

    The lawyers tell you that you can not be sued – because people do not actually pay to use Google, so whilst it is a moral fraud, it is not a financial fraud that ordinary people can sue you for.

    But what if ordinary people find out? Then you, Google, go the way of AOL.

    So much better to establish Fascism (Agenda 2030 and all that) where what little is left of consumer choice is eliminated – they you, the Corporate executive, will be safe.

    As for the present system.

    The figures are very clear – the present Credit Bubble system can-not (can-not) be saved. So the question is what comes AFTER the present system has collapsed.

    The Fascist (Corporate State) “Davos” crowd, have long developed their ideas for what comes after the present system has collapsed – it is necessary for their enemies to also work out plans for what will replace the present system.

    Desperately trying to save what can-not be saved, is a fatal distraction.

  • Paul Marks

    If people would turn their attention to developing places that still have an economic foundation (I have given a couple of examples – there are many others), rather than desperately (and hopelessly) trying to save Wall Street and so on (which can not be saved), the situation would have some hope in it.

    Stop trying to save what can not be saved – build something new.

  • Paul Marks

    Snorri – I doubt that President Trump wanted to make the United States “more like Europe”, although it is true that he wanted more immigration from advanced European countries (not the endless welfare dependent Third World immigration that the American left have pushed since the “Teddy” Kennedy Immigration Act of 1965).

    Also there is the question of “what is Europe?” The largest European country, both in land area and in population, is Russia – is Russia to be the model for the United States? The enemies of President Trump would say “yes that is what he wanted!” – but that is utter nonsense.

    As for the European Union – well Poland and Hungary may have things to teach the United States (although they are far from perfect countries), but it is hard to see what the rest of the E.U. has to teach the United States – and (yes) the same thing could be said of the United Kingdom.

    In the past the Scots and German legal systems had things to teach America – they were “lands without plea bargains” and the other corruptions of the American legal system, but that is not true any more.

    As for the financial and monetary system – well Switzerland used to have some sort of link to sanity, but that ended in the 1990s.

    European countries also have Credit Bubble financial systems and unsupportable Entitlement programs.

    And most of them are not seriously trying to defend their borders against “fundamental transformation” from Africa and the Middle East. Some are – but most are not.

    The largest Western European city is London – and whilst it is true that it is not the nightmare that most American Big Cities are, it is hardly sound economic model.

  • Snorri Godhi

    it is hard to see what the rest of the E.U. has to teach the United States

    Election integrity? (in every country)
    Lack of political corruption? (in some countries, notably the Nordics)
    Abortion laws decided democratically, rather than by judicial fiat? (in every country)
    De-regulation? (in some countries, perhaps)
    Border walls?

    In every one of these issues (except possibly deregulation, not sure that that has been quantified) Trump has made the US more like Europe.

    True, he fought election fraud and political corruption out of personal interest, but the result is the same.

    Nor am i the only person to notice this: Glenn Reynolds and others have also noticed.

    For good measure, Trump seems to favor Central European ladies over Americans.

  • Snorri Godhi

    And most of them are not seriously trying to defend their borders against “fundamental transformation” from Africa and the Middle East. Some are – but most are not.

    At least, those that are not trying seriously are trying half-seriously, which is more than can be said for the US 🙂

  • Mr Ed

    it is hard to see what the rest of the E.U. has to teach the United States



    Abortion laws decided democratically, rather than by judicial fiat? (in every country)

    Sir, (unless it be your infelicitous wording) you have got Dobbs completely wrong, the whole point of Justice Alito’s majority opinion was that it is a matter for the States to determine democratically, not the United States or its judicial branch; Roe v Wade was the judicial fiat.

  • Snorri Godhi

    Mr Ed: I thought that i was clear enough in context: I did write further down that Trump made the US more like Europe in every one of the above issues, including the repeal (if that is the proper legal term?) of Roe vs Wade.

  • Snorri Godhi

    Oh, and btw: IIRC, when an Italian mayor in Calabria tried to make his town a sanctuary town, he soon ended up in jail, which is where he belongs.

    In the US, sanctuary towns were under no threat even under Trump.

  • Fraser Orr

    @Paul Marks
    Frasor Orr – you have not grasped that the system CAN NOT be saved. Bankruptcy is inevitable – either open or by route of massive inflation.

    I’d say several things in response to this — you are probably right but not for economic reasons, were the country managed effectively we could dig out of this mess, though it would take a long time. But rather for political reasons — the people don’t care about the mess, and don’t have the will to fix it. On the contrary, there is strong political pressure to do exactly the wrong things. So in that sense you are right.

    Secondly, even if the inevitable end is bankruptcy or currency collapse there is still the question of how long it will take. I’d like to keep breathing for another 30 years, so if we can keep on keeping on for that long then that is ok with me. (Shame for my kiddos though.) Yeah, I know, you are going to tell me we can’t last that long. But it is fair to say that libertarians have been preaching the imminent collapse for at least 30 years.

    Thirdly there is a huge difference between bankruptcy and currency collapse. Bankruptcy is brutal and singular, currency collapse can be spread out over time (in fact we are in slow motion currency collapse right now) this gives us more time to adapt; maybe even time for the raging masses to adopt a different politics: we can only hope. And for the rest of us, time and opportunity to make enough resources and then get the hell out of Dodge. I’ve been making fairly decent money recently shorting the markets.

    Fourthly, (and I suspect the reason for the last 30 years where we kept on keeping on) one should never underestimate the impact of technology. Technology expands our wealth at an exponential rate. Government destruction has a pretty hard time keeping up with that, though they are willing give it the good old college try.

    For sure, we can’t do a “big fix” and solve the problem for ever, but we can make the journey more enjoyable.

  • Chester Draws

    it is hard to see what the rest of the E.U. has to teach the United States

    Health care that is not entirely state nor entirely private. Health care that is mostly local, and yet has some competition or other incentives to do better. Health care that covers the poor, but does not penalise the rich just for being rich.

    They manage to get better results than both the NHS and the US with less expenditure.

  • Fraser Orr

    @Chester Draws
    They manage to get better results than both the NHS and the US with less expenditure.

    That is like saying “look at the dumb USA, it spends 3.5% of GDP on defense, whereas Germany only spends 1%. Damn stupid Americans!”

    Germany spends 1% of GDP on defense because the USA pays for most of Germany’s defense. Germany pays less for healthcare because the American medical system MASSIVELY subsidizes the German medical system. Most research and development, most new drugs, medical devices, new procedures, journal articles, research studies and on and on are paid for by the American medical consumer while European systems leach from them. And then they have the audacity to mock the hand that feeds them.

    A vial of insulin costs $300 in the USA, and $5 in Mexico. Same stuff, same factory. Why? Because US medical consumers pay the cost of R&D whereas Mexicans do not. Tear down import tariffs and barriers and the price would quickly equalize. However Big Pharma pays off our politicians to prevent this so that Americans have to pay half the cost of medical care in Germany as well as half the cost of defending Germany. Kind of like the Versailles treaty in reverse, really.

    Rather than sneering at us, we’d rather you just said thank you. Or even better, we’d rather you paid your own bills.

  • Snorri Godhi

    I’d like to stress that my comments above were specifically about Trump’s policies, not about differences between the US and Europe. Thus, health care is not relevant. The main point was that it is insane to say that Trump is an extremist.

    Since my comments were off-topic, i cannot complain when others go off the topic of my comments; but i can try to avoid misunderstandings.

    — Another way in which Trump made the US more like Europe came to mind this morning: lower corporate taxes.

  • Paul Marks

    Fraser Orr – I think the numbers are overwhelming. Like me you have likely seen the United States “Debt Clock” (looking at the page via a computer screen, is like looking into Hell itself) and the reports of the Truth in Accounting website.

    Let us say that he Federal Government came under the control of Saints – all the corrupt “Deep State” types resigning, and the Collectivist politicians voted out of office.

    The system would still collapse into bankruptcy – open, or de facto. It is just too late to stop that – indeed the fatal changes (Entitlement programs and so on) were made in the 1960s. And the last links with sanity in the monetary and banking system were destroyed by Mr Alan Greenspan – who became head of the Federal Reserve in the late 1980s – 2008 was his doing, and the reaction to 2008 has been to “double down” on insanity.

    That is why a President Ron DeSantis (or whoever) must stop thinking in terms of what will “save the system” (which can not be saved) and start thinking in terms of what will take its place AFTER breakdown – the Collectivists (the “Davos” crowd and so on) already have their plans well advanced – there needs to be a pro freedom alternative to their Collectivist vision.

    Aa for Europe – most European countries are governed by World Economic Forum types. The economic policies of the former British Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, were bizarre – to give a small example, one day closing down all restaurants, the next subsidising people to go and eat in restaurants.

    Some 450 Billion Pounds (a number so large that the human mind can not grasp it) was wasted, on-top-of the existing vast government spending, on various demented schemes with the magic word “Covid” being given as an excuse for them.

    And the main alternative to Mr Sunak, for the leadership of the Conservative Party, is Penny Mordaunt – someone who wrote a deeply anti Conservative book “Greater Britain After The Storm” – only last year.

    In short British politics offers us a “choice” between two followers of the WEF and the rest of the international “Woke” elite.

    It does not do to dwell on British politics too much (or that of most European nations), especially if one has Depression and is prone to suicidal impulses.

  • Fraser Orr

    @Paul Marks
    Fraser Orr – I think the numbers are overwhelming

    Did you say the same thing when it hit $5 trillion? $10 trillion? $20 trillion? I did. But if one’s predictions of doom are always wrong one might want to wonder why. A lesson that could be useful for some other issues today as well.

    I’m not saying that a reckoning isn’t coming, but I am saying there are some very important confounding factors. some of which I enumerated above.

  • Paul Marks

    Fraser Orr – I think we are really in basic agreement.

    We agree that a reckoning is coming.

    We must also understand what the reckoning is – it is NOT “how do we save the system”, the system can not be saved (it is utterly irrational), the question is what will replace the current system.

    The international Collectivist establishment (Davos and all the rest) have their vision – and a pro liberty counter proposal must be worked out. Otherwise the enemy win-by-default.

    Remember, when things do fall apart the education system and the media will be quick to blame “capitalism”, it must be made very clear that the present system is NOT capitalism, that it is in no way Free Enterprise based on Real Savings (actual Capital).

  • Mr Ed

    Snorri,

    My apologies, I mis-read your comment, I now see what you meant.

  • Lee Moore

    Niall : One of Trump’s famous deals would seem to be indicated, with ticket President Trump and Vice-President DeSantis

    This is more or less impossible, and near enough not to be worth trying. The 12th Amendment provides :

    “The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves

    Trump and DeSantis are both inhabitants of Florida. Thus in the usual case – Florida electing Floridian Electors, the Florida Electors would not be allowed to vote for both Trump as President and DeSantis as Vice President. Thereby wasting 30 valuable EVs in the VP race.

    I think the workaround would be to appoint Florida Electors who were inhabitants from say South Carolina, but that would instantly generate lawsuits and challenges of the Electoral Count.

    Of course if Trump and DeSantis were both from New York, there’d be no problem, as they wouldn’t be getting any Electors from NY anyway.

    In any event, the deal would not be in either man’s interest. DeSantis is forging a reputation as a conservative populist who is not hostile to Trump, but who is his own man. The whole point of Trump is his ego, and he requires the sort of subservience that DeSantis won’t provide.

  • Snorri Godhi

    No problem, Mr Ed, the tone of your comment yesterday was quite reasonable.

  • bobby b

    Lee Moore: It seems to me to be a trivial matter for Trump to move residency to Trump Towers, NY.

    But I agree with your final comment. Just wouldn’t fit Trump, and I think DeSantis does better on his own.

    (But . . . if that was the only way to rescue a split party in 2024, I’d support it.)

  • Paul Marks

    bobby b – Donald John Trump will never move back to New York, the endless legal harassment he gets from there wold be a thousand times worse if he was a legal resident.

    A President Ron DeSantis must grasp that the system CAN NOT BE SAVED (can not) that will be hard thing for a man whose background is in military intelligence to accept.

    But then the jump to accepting that the present system is going to go, and that a pro liberty vision must be produced (to counter the Collectivist vision of the Corporations and so on) is very hard for anyone to make – not just Governor DeSantis.

    The temptation in January 2025 will be to try and “save the system” – it can not be saved, it must be let go. And something new, and rational, must be built.

  • Paul Marks

    “How do we build something new and rational in January 2025?”.

    By GETTING OUT OF THE WAY – and letting ordinary people build it.