Time will tell. The current Russian Phobia Hoax in American politics means the U.S. Is kinda stuck with little influence. With a United front against Russian & Chinese aggression, but not the hype today, we'd have a better shot at defusing this time bomb.
But historically, until there's a Pearl Harbor or Zimmerman Note, the U.S. political system is fractured too much for us to do so. And by then, the war is already on.
Or in Alexandria, the Temple of Sobek became a monastery, after the statues were destroyed and the crocodile mummies were tossed into the sea.
Or in Alexandria, where the Library was burned. Multiple times. The only quote I recall was the Caliph Omar, "If those books are in agreement with the Quran, we have no need of them; and if these are opposed to the Quran, destroy them". Which sums up an entire man made political religion pretty well. Amazingly like certain folk in Oregon & D.C., Eh?
Imagine what it will be like when the state begins social scoring you based on your Farcebook postings. What??? You don't Farcebook? Well that's double plus not good! NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!
You don't Farcebook? Well that's double plus not good!
I can see how that would work. Like China's social credit system. The more PII you hand over to the state, the higher your credit rating. If you always keep location services, bluetooth, and wifi on, and check in at every location you visit, you get a tax credit or something like that.
It's coming, it's just a question of when. Insurance companies can offer reduced rates in exchange for GPS tracking. Which of course the Gov can monitor. Hell, google's doing it already but without reducing your insurance rate.
I keep saying it, Alex Jones has been closer to the truth than CNN all along.
Don't discount the idea the Russians are tapping communication cables. We did it to them. But that was the secure undersea phone line to their Naval base, so we could tap military traffic. The Russians now can tap the Internet, and feed anything they want into it without any trace it comes from Russia, as well as record all traffic including your credit card and personal information. ( you never bought anything from overseas? No matter, it's a NET, interconnected world wide )
Now that the action arm of the Communist Party ( Antifa ) has announced they will throw acid at people, like the we-refuse-to-report-who-because-we-are-cowards people have been doing in England, escalating from the "Remainer's" milk shake assaults, ANY person throwing a liquid at you is reasonable cause to fear you are being attacked with lethal, or at least blinding, disfiguring Force.
You have to use good judgment. It's unlikely a water balloon tossed at a pool party, or by children, is deadly. But anyone with a black mask near a political protest?
I seriously avoid such places. Best way to avoid a fight is not to be where they commonly happen. Running away is a solid #2.
But if you are over run by a protest, because of your job etc. Beware.
Remember, even a completely clean and justified use of deadly force where no charges are pressed against you, has a typical money cost equiv. to buying a luxury SUV and immediately driving it off a pier. Then you get sued for pollution.
Over a year ago, a buddy who watches now banned YouTube videos by "right wing conspiracy nuts" was going on and on about how the political & Hollywood Elite were involved in a pedophile coverup and the feces was about to hit the rotary air impeller.
Crazy talk. Obviously. and.. I figured he was pushing one of my buttons. I'm Olde School Liberal ( not Progressive...Rush is wrong to use the stolen label for them ) and on matters of sex & privacy, I have ONE standard I insist on, and the details of your kink don't matter to me as long as that ONE premise is met. "Consenting Adults".
Consent is the difference between party time and rape. No Consent, it's rape. If the other person is drugged, or drunk unconscious, or incapable of informed consent, it's not allowed. Period.
Adults. There's some leeway on that one. Arguably, anyone under an arbitrary age is a minor and incapable of consent. That age varies State to State and era to era. I'm not going to advocate any specific age, as people differ greatly in maturity and intelligence. I will point out that 18 is/should be legal for pretty much anything, ( liquor, driving, military service, consent ) ( except where jerks want to raise the age for selfish reasons, like keeping the college kids out of their bars, or making a political point ) 14 is marrying age, with parental consent, is some states, and Romeo & Juliet were 18 & 13, idiots, who died of suicide and stupidity. My least favorite play by the Bard of Avon, the POINT of R&J was they were idiot kids who went super drama queen & died tragically.
So... Consenting....Adults.
I don't care what your attitude is on anything else, That's my baseline, and stories of widespread pedo rape are sure to "trigger me". ( which has a slightly different meaning with snowflakes or folk who keep medieval axes around )
Yep, caraaaazy talk.
Um.No. I don't know about the Pizza parlor sex dungeon, but big time actors have been credibly, multiple times accused of sex with underage kids, and now it looks very much like Epstein will either "tell all" to try to avoid a life sentence, or be murdered to shut him up. ( Clinton is involved, after all. )
A lot of arrests during the Trump Administration....
They hate him for a lot of reasons, but hating him because he's put them in prison for diddling children is pretty serious incentive to lie.
Of course, not all Trumps opponents are pedophile monsters. Most are just the Pigs from Animal Farm. But today, as I catch the news, I will wonder if Jim Acosta or Corey Booker ( just for example ) has a thing for 12 year old boys or girls.
Make mental note: Don’t ask soldiers living in dark age conditions to help other dark age civilizations get better. If it doesn’t occur to you not to shit where you eat, perhaps your assistance is not required.