Charlie StrossJun 30

Groundless speculation: if Trump's big bill gets through this week, expect him to announce "Independence Day" on July 4th, with a slew of measures including suspending term limits and making it a felony to deny America's greatness (however he chooses to define it). That's the culmination of the trajectory the USA has been on since January 20th, 2025.

The imperial phase is over, decaying into a neurotic dictatorship that lacks the self-confidence to cope with internal criticism.

Show threadjwzJun 30
@cstross I have lost track of who said it, but it has been haunting me: paraphrasing, a European wondered when it would be safe to travel to the US again, and someone said something like: at least 20 years, but by then you won't have to worry about it because you'll be dealing with the wheat crops failing and wondering where your next meal is coming from.
Show threadCharlie StrossJun 30
@jwz That tracks. Although so far this century is running on fast-forward, so it might be as little as ten years.
Show threadsiderealJun 30

@cstross @jwz lotta crops already failing! Also, tons of food sitting rotting on the vine in fields in the USA right now, cos the farm corps can’t find workers.

It should be the height of strawberry season right now, but you can’t find a locally grown strawberry anywhere around here.

The USA is already in a low intensity civil war, it was already pretty unsafe to visit, there are already crop failures due to climate change. We’re already here, folks, in every way! The apocalypse!

Show threadHighlandLawyer
@sidereal @cstross @jwz
That is the actual goal of a faction of the Republicans- LARPing the book of Revelations, thus specifically provoking war in the Middle East, plague, famine, etc.
As opposed to another faction which just wants to provoke a societal collapse so that they can emerge as the tech lords of a neo-feudal system where the reduced population will accept its servile role beneath them.
Jun 30 at 12:36pmTusky
Show threadschrotthaufenJun 30
@HighlandLawyer @sidereal @cstross @jwz Yep. It’s also why the christo fascists fervently support Israel, and especially its expansion. (Israel needs to be wholly within its biblical borders, and *all* Jews need to live there.)
Show threadDamien (TIG BUSINESS)Jun 30
@HighlandLawyer @sidereal @cstross @jwz the latter is adding fuel to deporting immigrants by freeing up the lowest paying jobs to push the proles down into