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So my question is, what does a regular citizen such as myself do in a situation like this? To survive, and to help set us on a correction course. I know I won't be alive to see it resolved, but what steps can I take to help initiate the change needed? I advocate for voting, and register as many as I can to vote in the future. Observe, orient, decide, act. I observe the disaster ahead of us, and I want to act. I would be happy to collaborate with like minded people like you who give a damn.

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I am so tired of being enraged. I am weary of the criminality and fake patriotism . I am so tired waiting for justice . I am so tired of ppl being ignoramuses and not voting. We are full steam ahead with fascism . History repeats itself on our borders this time. Instead of Hitler , Putin is winning the war against our democracy and way of life. The MAGATs are creating the chaos and dismantling every institution in the US. Covid mismanagement tears apart healthcare and public schooling . Now transportation with electrical grids . Tainting the FBI and DHS as if they are terrible . THEY WANT NO GOVT but for a small militia . We can’t have nice things anymore .

What is terrible is Congress men and woman being bolstered by Russia being traitors ! And the media spewing propaganda or celebrity nonsensical BS. The hope for a brighter future is barely a thread .

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Steve, please help spread the word about the primary nemesis creating the West's water shortage: the livestock industry. Here follow scientific findings by sustainable water-use expert Brian Richter and his team of researchers, which backs up the meme that emerged a decade ago during the western USA mega-drought— eating just 1 lb of meat uses a water amount (mainly for growing cattle-feed crops) equaling 4-6 months of daily showering. Here's the main finding: "irrigation of cattle-feed crops (including alfalfa and grass hay and haylage, corn silage and sorghum silage) is the single largest consumptive user at both regional and national scales, accounting for 23% of all water consumption nationally, 32% in the western US and 55% in the Colorado River basin."

In reading the findings of Richter et al., one realizes that a large-scale shift to plant-based diets is called for in order to drastically save freshwater resources (not to mention, as should be well known, that shifting to plant-based diets is also the #1 way to alleviate the other eco-horror consequences of the global meat/dairy industry: CLIMATE CHANGE (CO2 and methane emissions from ruminant animals), DEFORESTATION, HABITAT LOSS, TOPSOIL LOSS (erosion), and the major KILLER DISEASES of humans (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity):

Here are just a few excerpts from the crucial article by B.Richter, et al.:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-0483-z

Nature Sustainability | VOL 3 | April 2020 | 319–328 | www.nature.com/natsustain

Water scarcity and fish imperilment driven by beef [and dairy] production

[Summary:] Human consumption of freshwater is now approaching or surpassing the rate at which water sources are being naturally replenished in many regions, creating water shortage risks for people and ecosystems. Here we assess the impact of human water uses and their connection to water scarcity and ecological damage across the United States, identify primary causes of river dewatering and explore ways to ameliorate them. We find irrigation of cattle-feed crops to be the greatest consumer of river water in the western United States, implicating beef and dairy consumption as the leading driver of water shortages and fish imperilment in the region. […] . Long-term water security and river ecosystem health will ultimately require Americans to consume less beef that depends on irrigated feed crops.

[…]

Irrigated agriculture clearly has a dominant influence on river flow depletion across the western US (Table 1). More specifically, irrigation of cattle-feed crops (including alfalfa and grass hay and haylage, corn silage and sorghum silage) is the single largest consumptive user at both regional and national scales, accounting for 23% of all water consumption nationally, 32% in the western US and 55% in the Colorado River basin.

[…]

We estimate that two-thirds of the cattle feed being irrigated from western US rivers ends up as beef products, with the remainder going to dairy products. The areas of the western US most heavily dependent on rivers to irrigate cattle-feed crops are shown in Fig. 4a and Supplementary Fig. 2. The patterns in these figures mirror our depletion maps in Fig. 2 to some degree, because irrigation of cattle-feed crops is the dominant water consumer in the western US.

[From the concluding Discussion section:]

Ultimately, water security and river health in the western US will depend on the willingness of urban and rural water users to collaborate in design of demand-management strategies, the ability of political leaders to secure funding to implement those strategies, and the willingness of beef and dairy consumers to reduce their consumption or select products that do not depend on irrigated cattle-feed crops [e.g., protein foods sourced from plants].

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Thanks for reading this and PLEASE get some of this info. out to your many readers……

THANK YOU!

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Guess the way to describe 2023 politically can be done in one word: BLEAK! Hate to be so cynical, but as the saying goes,”It is what it is!” The American citizens with their disengagement and lack of concern have brought this on!

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We must all learn to live smaller and love on a wider scale.

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These international elites have acquired an entitlement that those who call the titles out are always lost in academia and the destiny of excellence. I suggest this, Steve. What you have written today should be in the Washington Post. But it should not end as an editorial. It should be taken on by journalists that will start the real undertaking of this moment. They must be relentless and aggressive. What is the paper's motto? The elitist approach to global issues has already caused devastation. Political devastation. The incapacity around the world to solve the concatenation of problems that arise. Elitists have no clue because it is wealth the only factor that drives this group, wrapped in language that seduces just like the jets lined side by side for all to see. To see what? To see that they have no understanding at all about what are problems on a global scale and how to solve them. They are the problem. And they are a handful. And it is what is moving the majority, a barely one, in the House.

A Warning. Traitors characterized by the lowest of morals and the most egregious presence of incompetence and DANGER to the country have been assigned central roles in Highly Sensitive Congressional Committees. That the likes of Gosar and Taylor, under the leadership of McCarthy, Scalise and Stefanik, have been given this extreme responsibility is to be rebuked. Loudly. McCarthy should be ousted. As for Davos, it shames Switzerland. But, just like any worthy influencer traveling to Dubai, they shame us all. What is the next step for all of us? Read another book? All the tools needed have already been written. And if we remain in a state of shame, they win. And it will make the nightly breaking news at Fox News, the Murdoch Empire, the successors of The Americans and foreign spies operating in American soil. The fiction about foreign Soviet spies among us as invisible passing national secrets invisibly to a vicious regime. Fifty plus years later, the spies have infiltrated the country openly and are now fully visible with visible assets in the American Congress.

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I agree with Steve. Usually do, though I can’t “like” what I have read. Teddy Roosevelt was correct to be concerned about individuals having too much money. The proof of his concern is so visible today. What is the second billion for? Well just take a look. Bigger jets, bigger yachts, bigger estates and so on. I am so uneasy when I read about Putin, Orban, Belsanaro, Bibi, J Jordan, K McCarty and their trusty sidekicks. Uneasy is the wrong word. I am terrified.

Lack of attention to water and power seems like major issues, but our congress wants to focus on a lap top in order to damage a sitting President. A President who is a pauper compared to previous Presidents. Default on one of the most important strengths of America, confidence and trust that an investment in America is safe. But you torch on Mr M. Or should I say mr Sadistic. Bang your gavel and grin Nero.. where do we go when America is lost?

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Thank you for your warning, Mr. Schmidt--is ANYONE in a position of power/influence listening, though? I strongly doubt it. We are far too focused on what a member of Britain's Royal Family thinks of his family members, etc.--stupid irrelevancies which have zero impact on our lives.

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I'm struggling to understand the premise that "the age of delusion is cracking"

Your take on this is extremely broad, citing everything from Davos to the looming water crisis in AZ . (On the local PHX news today, there is a story about the City of Scottsdale cutting off the water supply for a town named Rio Verde Foothills)

How is the age of delusion "cracking"? It seems to be that it's thriving:

- A man named George Santos (or Anthony Devolder or Anthony Debrovsky) has been elected to Congress. His lies are so prolific and all encompassing they make Trump seem like an amateur. He was filmed at a Stop The Steal rally wearing a stolen Burberry scarf. Not only won't the GOP rebuke him, they've assigned him to committees

- The "age of Jim Jordan" is dawning with phony investigations into everything except his own criminality at Ohio State and on 1/6/20. It will electrify the right and their State TV outlets will beat the drum 24/7 for 2 years. 10s of millions will be sucked in and Tucker's ratings will skyrocket

- Boebert, MTG et al are more powerful than ever.

- No one seems to care that there is damning evidence of MTG dropping off pipe bombs in DC

- Garland is the new Rip van Winkle

- A "man" who lost his race for an AZ Senate position by 48 points just shot up a bunch of homes because the election was "stolen".

- Kari Lake has supposedly set up a Potemkin Governor's office in her home and demands to be addressed as "The Duly Elected Governor"

- Don Jr. is selling "conservative insurance" that millions will buy.

- DeSantis is quadrupling down on his Floridian Brave New World

I could do this all day. All week.

And I haven't even mentioned McCarthy, DeSantis, Scalise, or 10s of other vapid elected GOP officials.

Or Schlapp.

So while I get your point about Davos, closer to home we are only at the incipiency of the "Great American Age Of Delusion". As ugly as all this is today, it will get unbelievably worse.

I have a 22 year old daughter. She's about to graduate ASU with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I've told her to strongly consider a career internationally

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I long for the time when elites would do their strutting on the Riviera and spend the winters in Gstaad skiing. As for Kevin McCarthy's coming out party, he will need knee pads for all his backroom dealing. We are in an Era where corruption is the norm instead of the exception. A truly dangerous time, I hope Joe is up for the fight and not still battling the windmills of his mishandling of documents.

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Chilling. Wake up America!

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When will we get to the point where the real story is that people shouldn't move to the American southwest (especially Arizona) unless absolutely necessary until and unless the impending water and power catastrophe is mitigated?

I live in a coastal area in the PNW (it rains a LOT) and I'm already seeing climate refugees buying up every available space around us because living in Arizona has become intolerable, even if all they can do is park a trailer there for a few months.

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Unfortunately, I have to agree with your predictions for the next two years. I believe that this frightening information is going to drive more people to put their heads deeper into the sand, and declare that it doesn't matter what "we" do...so they do nothing.

I make this statement as someone who is very involved in my local Democrats group, both on the Board and volunteer activities. Unfortunately, I live in Trump country in Carroll County, in the "Live Free or Die" state of NH. (Steve, you should have knowledge of this area) The election deniers won across the board in our last election and are now in Concord proposing 6 week abortion bans and bills to transfer more of our tax dollars from Public schools to Charter, Religious or home schooling.

Thankfully, the votes in the more populated areas saved our Congressional candidates, and the seats of Hassan, Pappas and Kuster were preserved.

We also found that a lot of our registered Independents voted Dem on the National level, but Republican at the State level.

Knowing the hell that the MAGA crazies are going to inflict on America during 2023-2024 is pushing me closer to moving to another country.

Ever since Trump came down that escalator the Mainstream Media has totally failed the American people!

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WELCOME TO DYSTOPIA. Your dire predictions are most likely going to happen. Let’s face it. Humans are not capable of being in control of the planet. The thirst for power, greed, ignorance, self centeredness, and lack of foresight have us all doomed. Nobody is paying enough attention to climate change, which is affecting the entire world. We are allowing the devastation of the rainforest. We have no plan for the mass migration that is already happening. We also have very little compassion for the people who are forced to leave their country, who walk 1000 miles carrying children, to find a better way of life. We are experiencing drought, forest fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, sea rise, extreme temperatures, melting of the polar ice. Are we really doing anything about it? Many government leaders still want to drill for oil. Why? Because it’s lucrative for them. These autocrats like Putin should be stopped by the western world. What he is doing is unthinkable and unbelievable. And he is doing it without restraint. We all simply watch the news and see Ukrainian people slaughtered and their country devastated. Why? Because mankind has created nuclear weapons and self destruction is evident with a protracted war with Russia . WELCOME TO DYSTOPIA.

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Living in AZ Rio Verde is the first town to fall from lack of water. The town of Scottdale refuses to sell them water so that it can preserve the water for its own citizens. The corrupt GOP made terrible arrangements with the Saudis and out of control developers. When will the people rise up against all the corruption made legal by MAGA madness.

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Steve, you are always so prescient, which is great to read on the one hand, but utterly depressing and distressing on the other.

I see commenters ask here: “What can the average person do?”

I, for one, want to stand in the middle of a public plaza and read your posts out loud, and in lieu of that, share them everywhere on social media, but they are behind a subscription paywall. I’m definitely interested in defining what else can we do? We vote, we volunteer, we help canvass during elections, but what else? Do we just roll over and wait for the quite avoidable “inevitable”?

For those of us close to retirement it just seems hopeless, but I’m not one to throw my arms and give up. My wheels are always turning, what else can “I” do?

Do you have any ideas we can share with other action driven thinkers ?

Also how can we share your content more freely? Podcast?

We hear you, we need ideas. Keep sharing!

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