The Three C's of the Apocalypse
But sure, let's have a parade!
As of this moment, Putin is still attacking Ukraine after illegally annexing Crimea. Israel, while ethnically cleansing Gaza, launched an attack on Iran and Iran is now defending itself while launching retaliatory strikes on Israel. Nuclear-capable Pakistan and India have, at least for now, pulled back from striking each other after deadly attacks on tourists in Kashmir. Somalia is under attack by Al-Shabaab, and tension is rising between Cambodia and Thailand. For now, China has not invaded Taiwan, and the United States has not attacked Mexico, Canada, or Greenland yet, so I guess there’s that.
In Iceland and Finland where education is valued, news is not constrained by billionaires with advertisers and algorithms, and voting is allowed, encouraged, and votes are counted, people elevate leadership with the intellectual capacity, integrity, vision, and plans necessary to improve the quality of life and the future for every citizen.
For many years due to geographic advantages, technological leadership, a strengthening economy, and innovation, the United States, over the last half of the 20th century, grew to be the most powerful nation in the world. In the allocation of tax revenue, the United States used much of its economic advantage by investing in military capability, often spending as much money on “defense” as the total spent by the next twenty nations. As such, the arsenal of the United States includes an array of the most advanced and diversified Nuclear weapon capabilities of any other nation. Although notably, Russia maintains a similar and dangerously lethal volume. It’s also important to understand that the President of the United States (POTUS) has the sole authority to authorize the use of U.S. nuclear weapons.
Unfortunately for the United States and the world, in the United States, many have been trained to distrust the so-called "Intellectual Elite". While occasionally, perhaps accidentally elevating capable people to lead such as former President Barack Obama who taught Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago, more commonly we elect the co-star to a chimpanzee, a beer-swilling National Guard washout who was proud of his “C”-student status, or the current criminal-elect, a corrupt, ignorant, hate-filled racist incompetent who evaded the draft, avoided his tax responsibility, and led several businesses to end in bankruptcies or fraud settlements.
This criminal-elect then appoints a leadership team filled with the inexperienced, the incompetent, the corrupt, alcoholics, television show hosts, and WWE Wrestling executives who share two key attributes -they have pledged absolute fealty to him, and are committed to destroying whatever Federal agency for which they are responsible.
Meanwhile, to ensure the most idiotic socio-economic policies are implemented, we surround the Moron in Chief with people who are nearly equally corrupt, ignorant, and devoid of any ethics, morality, or empathy. Need examples? Images are worth thousands of words.
Some elected officials who enjoy a world-class Ivy-League education create a perception of "aw shucks" humility such as JD “Shillbilly” Vance (Yale), Josh Hawley (Yale), Treasonous Tom Cotton (Harvard), Ron DeFascist (Yale/Harvard), and Elise “The Mouth” Stefanik (Harvard).
Some of those appointed by the criminal-elect are just plain hate-filled racist xenophobes.
In our modern, complex, and dangerous world, there is a generational, and sometimes multi-generational price to be paid for elevating the pathetically unqualified.
For example, Ronald Reagan, arguably the worst person to occupy the White House in the twentieth century, implemented an array of economic and taxation policies putting the United States on a path to erode guardrails, weaken, and eventually replace democracy with a plutocracy. That is a society controlled by a handful of those who have benefitted from favorable wealth-concentrating policies leading to the accumulation of extreme wealth such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, and others to have perpetual power and control over the nation.
George W. Bush (“Dubya”), proud of his “C” student status attacked and occupied Iraq and Afghanistan, blaming them for the 19 terrorists who attacked the United States on 9/11, despite 15 being from Saudi Arabia, 3 from the United Arab Emirates, 1 from Lebanon, and 1 from Egypt. Before Dubya’s regime change in Iraq, the relationship between Iran and Iraq was marked by deep hostility, territorial disputes, religious rivalry, and one of the bloodiest wars of the 20th century. After Dubya’s disastrous decision to invade and occupy Iraq, Iran has been able to turn its military and political attention toward destabilizing the Middle East and confronting Israel. Aside from problematic foreign policy, Dubya followed Reagan’s tax policies favoring the wealthy and wealth concentration leading the United States to the precipice of an economic disaster requiring a trillion dollars of taxpayer funds to bailout the banking and financial system.
After the Obama administration stabilized the U.S. economy, (despite monumental efforts to obstruct a “Main Street” bailout by Mitch McConnell and the GOP complaining of the debt ceiling -(yes, the same debt ceiling the GOP now seeks to raise by $5 trillion to make room for tax cuts for their wealthy donors) voters grew tired of an experienced statesman leading and governing the United States and thought it was time for a carnival barker and failed businessman, Donald J. Trump. Trump immediately went to work even prior to his inauguration by undermining the Obama administration’s sanctions on Putin and Russia for violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine by annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and Putin’s state-sponsored interference in the 2016 U.S. elections.
Despite two impeachments, thorough investigations providing evidence of Trump campaign coordination with Putin and Russian oligarchs, the attempted extortion of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and multiple indictments leading to conviction on 34 felony counts, one-third of U.S. voters thought another Trump crime wave would “Make America Great Again” and one-third of the voting population could not determine the difference between a highly-qualified public servant and a criminally corrupt carnival barker, or couldn’t be bothered to vote, Trump was elected President in the 2024 election cycle.
The criminal elect, feeling vindicated by the immunity “for official acts” decision rendered by the Supremely Corrupted Court of the United States, as well as a clear mandate -having received a few more votes than his qualified opponent has started his second major crime wave in the United States with renewed energy and aplomb.
While using the 900+ pages of Project 2025, Heritage Foundation’s all-out plan to destroy federal government and democracy in the United States (something the criminal elect denied any knowledge), he has been fast in extending tax cuts for his wealthy donors, reversing vital climate action, destroying policies protecting against discrimination, eviscerating Women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights, launching economic attacks on important U.S. trade partners, authorizing kidnappings and trafficking of immigrants, refugees, and in some cases citizens and legal residents, ignoring court orders, authorizing the intimidation and arrests of political opponents, inciting political violence which thus far has led to multiple shootings and murder, and inviting a major donor to create a team of people to gain access to previously secure private healthcare, banking, financial, and other sensitive data about U.S. citizens. As of this writing, Trump is now deploying U.S. Marines, a formidable and lethal armed service into Los Angeles because it’s not only good political theater, but California is a “Blue” state and the Governor has not pledged absolute fealty to the criminal elect. There is an array of other immoral, illegal, and/or unconstitutional actions committed by this so-called President, but that would require far more data center storage for the rest of the article (similar to the actions of Reagan such as Iran/Contra).
Trump, the criminal elect, is the demented volatile, corrupt, ignorant, narcissistic racist who has the sole authority to authorize a nuclear strike. But hey, “liberal tears” are worth it, even if we lose access to healthcare, shoot a few people “Kent State”-style, cuddle with murderous tyrants, kidnap and disappear people from schools, streets, and workplaces across the United States using secret police, and finally retire those woke bastards: Ernie, Big Bird, and the Cookie Monster, and/or destroy life on Earth via nuclear war and the subsequent nuclear winter.
The good news about the criminal-elect’s administration? Less worry about future planet- destroying meteor(s).
The Doomsday Clock, managed by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, now stands at 89 seconds to midnight—the closest it's ever been to a symbolic global catastrophe. This update was announced on January 28, 2025, notably a week after the criminal-elect was handed the nuclear football. I suspect the reason for the one-week delay was the hope that perhaps SCOTUS would announce they were just kidding about immunity. Or the electoral college might say, “Look, we have college in our name, we cannot allow this corrupt criminal-elect carnival barker to become President, not after the first crime wave.” But alas, no. For those unaware, the doomsday clock is a symbolic measure intended to warn the world of existential threats like nuclear war, climate change, biotechnology risks, and AI, kind of like this article.
This brings us to the 3 C’s of the Apocalypse: Conflict, Climate, and Concentration of Wealth.
I don’t talk about biotechnology risks in the scope of this article, because the title starts to become far more complex. Similarly, I don’t talk about a more deadly version of COVID-19 eviscerating all human life because then the title becomes unwieldy. Besides, with a brain ravaged by a worm, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has everything under control, just make sure you load up on cod liver oil, vitamin A, bleach, UV lights, Hydroxychloroquine, and Ivermectin and you’ll be just fine.
The 3 C’s, and a B and a P of the Apocalypse simply doesn’t work well as a title.
At a time when the challenges and complexity of the world are growing, instead of elevating leadership who will recruit a Cabinet and team of advisers with the intellectual capacity, education, experience, integrity, and energy to lead on science, climate, diplomacy, economics, and public health, all committed to the principles of democracy, equality, and justice, we have a confederacy of dunces committed to doing nothing more than remain out of prison and enrich themselves while seeking revenge and retribution of anyone who has stood in their way such as judges, lawyers, universities, and liberals.
This means that instead of the de-escalation of global tensions and conflict, the United States is adding to it through nationalistic isolationism, destabilizing trade, abandoning allies and treaties, threatening the territorial integrity of neighbors and allies, and providing weapons being used in genocide and ethnic cleansing. Even if the current Administration was removed, the global damage to the reputation of the United States as a stable partner in defense, climate agreements, human rights initiatives, and trade will take multiple generations to repair.
Therefore, one “C” of the apocalypse is Conflict: World War III.
In his book “Doomsday Machine”, Daniel Ellsberg notes that “we humans almost universally have a false self-image of our species. We think that monstrous, wicked policies must be, can only be, conceived and directed and carried out by monsters, wicked or evil people, or highly aberrant, clinically ‘disturbed’ people. People not like ‘us.’ That is mistaken. Those who have created a continuing nuclear threat to the existence of humanity have been normal, ordinary politicians, analysts, and military strategists.”
However, now monsters, criminals, incompetents, and alcoholics are in charge. But again, ha ha ha … liberal tears!
In the meantime, while global conflict and tensions rage, the climate burns. This brings us to our 2nd “C”: Climate.
Despite death, destruction, and the beginning waves of climate refugees fleeing previously livable regions now prone to fire, floods, extreme storms, and rising sea levels, the criminal-elect is ready to act in the best interests of the United States.
By seeking bribes.
Trump promised to scrap climate laws if US oil bosses donated $1bn – report: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/09/trump-oil-ceo-donation
Don’t worry, the Supremely Corrupted Court will ensure important government entities such as the Richard Nixon-created Environmental Protection Agency will continue to regulate and enforce protections…
“The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling today in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo dealt a severe blow to the ability of federal agencies to do their jobs by ending the 40-year-old precedent of “Chevron deference.” Instead of deferring to the expertise of agencies on how to interpret ambiguous language in laws pertaining to their work, federal judges now have the power to decide what a law means for themselves. As a result, despite not being accountable to the people, judges will now be able to expand their role into the realm of policymaking.” -Jeff Turrentine for the NRDC.
See more: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/what-happens-if-supreme-court-ends-chevron-deference
The climate reality is that Big Oil has known for multiple generations of the correlation between fossil fuel-driven greenhouse gas, and catastrophic climate change. Furthermore, they have gone to great lengths attempting to create doubt and delay through funding propaganda and junk science, undermining climate action through lobbying and outsized political “donations”, and burying the facts and evidence. For more detail, I highly recommend the book and documentary of the same name, “Merchants of Doubt” (See: https://www.merchantsofdoubt.org).
They knew: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/apr/13/climate-change-oil-industry-environment-warning-1968
And with the criminal elect at the helm and human garbage like Lee Zeldin in charge of the Environmental “Protection” Agency, any hope of vitally necessary climate action leadership from the United States is a little footnote in history that can be filed under “An Inconvenient Truth”.
There are still climate heroes and hope for the future, however, the Doomsday Clock does not stop for billionaires with insatiable greed or for the willfully ignorant who are happy to see their neighbor’s home burn because … ha ha ha … liberal tears!
If we somehow manage to avoid a planet-destroying WW3 and new global cooperation can take bold, meaningful (albeit very late) climate action to reverse our present disastrous path, we arrive at the next inflection point that is: the 3rd “C”: Concentration of Wealth. The insatiable greed of billionaires and the politicians who act exclusively on their behalf.
The concentration of wealth continues to pave a path to tyranny and a dystopian future. The criminal elect, his wealthy donors, and his corrupt cabal are providing an unfortunate example for us in real-time.
Artificial intelligence (AI), notably not a steak sauce, will accelerate the concentration of wealth faster than any new invention, innovation, or technology.
Artificial intelligence (AI), notably not a steak sauce, will accelerate the concentration of wealth faster than any new invention, innovation, or technology.
The 3rd “C”: Concentration of Wealth
Some of you familiar with some of my previous insights about wealth know that I am not against all forms of wealth. To quickly summarize, I continue to celebrate wealth when it is earned through vision, innovation, risk, and effort. The Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak story of Apple is an example where wealth was earned through risk and innovation, leading to the creation of personal wealth for them and their investors, and the creation of a large, successful global enterprise. Through their initial garage-based effort they expanded the “wealth pie” and some of that expansion could in turn be used to fund additional ventures and services growing even more “pie” -the creation of value. Creating economic incentives leading to growth and expansion of value (new high-paying jobs generating taxation revenue which can then be allocated toward education, infrastructure, public safety, and more yielding a better future and more opportunity for all).
All too often, when significant wealth has been accumulated it is not directed toward “growing the pie”. Large amounts of wealth are directed at political donations (bribes), lobbying, changing policy, regulation, and enforcement. For example, compliance with environmental protections and regulations diminishes the profit margins of the fossil fuel industry. Pumping millions of dollars to minimize or eradicate societal protections can generate billions in profit for Exxon, Chevron, Shell, and BP. (If I provided a mechanism for you to invest $1,000 with me, and I could return $10,000 to you a week from now, who wouldn’t jump at the opportunity?)
When the Supremely Corrupted Court of the US opened the door to political bribery through the “Citizens United” decision, they provided the legal mechanism for vast amounts of money to be directed at destroying important environmental protections. This destruction generates more profit for Big Oil.
Does this expand the “wealth pie”? No, it transfers the costs of preventing the next Deepwater Horizon, Exxon Valdez, or other environmental catastrophe from Big Oil to society.
When a refinery could pay $10 million in improvements to reduce pollutants so a nearby community doesn’t have to endure respiratory health emergency costs, or, as an alternative, spend $100K to gain a majority on a local air quality governance board, they are delighted to produce an extra $9.9 million of profit while sickening the local community. Shifting business or industry costs to another entity is called externalizing costs. The transferred cost itself is called an externality.
The commercialization and general availability of AI and robotics offer the potential to yield important new value for society. For example, the application of AI in healthcare for more accurate diagnosis and treatment of disease is a simple example. Using AI to make sure a new medication for a patient won’t create unexpected risks when taken in conjunction with another medication can prevent unexpected and potentially lethal consequences for a patient. A self-driving car would greatly increase the likelihood of my safe arrival when having to drive from my home to the grocery store at night (or more probably to a Thai food restaurant) based upon my diminishing night vision). Provided AI and robotics don’t acquire a machine version of human road rage (Steven Spielberg -here’s an idea for Duel, the Sequel).
The problem with the commercialization and general availability of AI and robotics is the loss of jobs. Some futurists have stated that with the commercialization and growth of a brand new industry will come new jobs, such as those writing improved prompts for various AI models. If you are the CEO of a large enterprise you are working to grow your revenue and reduce your costs because simply put, your revenue minus your costs represents profit. If the majority of your costs are related to labor (maybe you have to employ 1,000 financial analysts and 2,000 call center representatives) and you can implement an AI-based solution, producing the same amount of revenue with automation, your revenue remains constant, you eliminate most of your expenses, and now all that remains is profit while 3,000 people who may have had a paycheck and health benefits are now looking for work.
When you then project this at a societal level you have a massive amount of people looking for work while shifting all of the profit that has been created (not through expanding the “wealth pie”) to a handful of institutional investors and those already holding extreme wealth.
AI can and is being applied to law, accounting, finance, the entertainment industry, and more.
If we fail to reimagine economics in a society driven by profit, we will rapidly accelerate the concentration of wealth in which a handful of people hold most of the wealth, power, and control of society while everyone else is competing for a few crumbs to provide basic necessities for themselves and their family.
The rise of the corrupt, incompetent criminal-elect, his Cabinet cabal tasked with destroying the Federal government, and the entire criminal organization, formerly a political party known as the Republican Party or GOP is not the cause of the United States’ rapid fall into an authoritarian plutocracy. They are merely a symptom of the disease which is insatiable greed, which is killing any aspirations of democracy, equality, and justice in the United States. By examining recorded history we know the consequences of prolonged and extreme wealth inequality. A society succumbs to authoritarian tyranny, then there is a major uncontrollable inflection point, and then a massive disruption leading to violence, death, destruction, suffering, and a failed state.
And the tears then will not be limited to liberal tears.
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And I'd like to add one more name to your cast of characters of the current regime, now that I've just lost ten minutes of time watching her at yesterday's WH press briefing: Karoline Leavitt. Amazing how she can make light of his lack of observance of the day on Juneteenth.
Very thoughtful. Great work, but I admit you wore me out.