In his 2005 book “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed,” Jared Diamond listed three indicators that a society was going to collapse. He based his findings on a study of three historical societies: the Pueblo civilization in Chaco Canyon between 850 and 1250 CE, the Mayan civilization in Mesoamerica from 250 to 950 … Read more
Christopher Browning, an historian of Nazi Germany, has heretofore resisted calling Donald Trump a fascist because he felt it was an imprecise use of the term. However, he is worried about the future. I still deny that Trump’s presidency was fascist; but I’m concerned that if he wins another trip to the White House, he could … Read more
Some people on Facebook are beginning to rave about a new movie called “The Sound of Freedom” starring Jim Caviezel. The movie purports to be the true story of Tim Ballard, a former Department of Homeland Security agent who rescues children from sex trafficking in Colombia. Caviezel and others have claimed that the movie, which … Read more
Right-wing Republicans, at the behest of their meme masters at FauxNews, are loudly fighting a war against “wokeism.” As usual, they do not bother to define the term. They simply use the terms “woke” and “wokeism” as weaponized catchall terms to represent the fictional nefarious program of the imaginary “evil libs” that they fear. The … Read more
Traditional capitalism is dead. It has been for a while. As far as the really big money and power is concerned, the traditional industries, manufacturing, construction, and transportation, with their long-standing tension between capital and labor, were replaced by finance beginning in the 1980s. Finance is an interesting “industry” because, for all its self-importance, obscene … Read more
Something seems to have broken with capitalism. Albert Edwards Albert Edwards is an economist for the Societe Generale investment bank. He is concerned that capitalism is no longer working as it should. During a time of a slowing economy – with higher commodity prices and a labor shortage (as during the 4th quarter of 2022) … Read more
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;That ye may be the children of your Father … Read more
At the end of the Sunday Morning session of the April 2023 General Conference, LDS Church President Russell M. Nelson expressed concern about the loss of civility and decency in the world. Civility and decency seem to have disappeared during this era of polarization and passionate disagreements. Vulgarity, faultfinding, and evil speaking of others are … Read more