Book Review: The Storm Before the Calm by YNot1989, literature
Literature
Book Review: The Storm Before the Calm
Summary in BriefDr. George Friedman, founder of STRATFOR and Geopolitical Futures, and one of the biggest contributor to how I have come to view geopolitics has released a new book, The Storm Before the Calm: America's Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond. The book's prologue is Friedman to the core, and the thesis statement perfectly encapsulates the dispassion that he's known for: "we are simply passengers on the American roller-coaster." The book is filled with statements like these, devoid of condemnation or endorsement, a feature of his that has led many to feel he is overly fatalistic, while more regular reade
Nightmare Scenario: American ISIS by YNot1989, literature
Literature
Nightmare Scenario: American ISIS
I've been worried since the beginning of this administration that any form of removal from office will precipitate the opening shots of a sectarian conflict in the United States. Not so much Civil War II, as an American version of the Troubles, or the War Against ISIS. A conflict fought by far-right insurgents, with little-to-no centralized leadership or formal territory beyond a quasi capital with tendrils of control stretching out like a tumor over nearby towns. So, here it is, another Nightmare Scenario, one I REALLY want to be wrong about:BackgroundThroughout the fall of 2019 House Democrats continue their investigation of President Trump
Prologue
We open on Aloy a few months after the events of Horizon Zero Dawn leading a tribe of Nora and Oseram warriors across the high desert in the far north of the Carja Sundom's territory. The group speaks in hushed tones as they finally come upon what they've been searching for: the ruins of some ancient buildings situated in the middle of an unassuming valley. Ruins that are crawling with Eclipse cultists of the Shadow Carja. The game opens on a mission to scout the area and we learn that the Eclipse has been traveling to this place for many weeks, and Aloy was specifically asked by Sun King Avad to track them after the cult's activitie
2018 - The Midterms - The summer campaign season continues to heat up. Republicans are resisting the surge of energetic, first time Democratic candidates, but the wave of incumbent Republicans retiring or being unseated by Trump Republicans in ugly primary battles, the party knows they are facing an uphill battle to keep majorities in both houses of Congress. Robert Mueller's investigation continues to heat up and the President's campaign of opposition to the investigation and demanding its closure has spread like a cancer among Republicans in the House and the GOP base. Congressional Republicans spend almost every month attempting to throw t
I'm thinking of adding a new page to the wikia and going into detail about something that's been on my mind for a while now: a period of civil unrest in America during the 2020s.
I've alluded to there being instances of violence by right-wing nationalists and neo-Nazis during the 2020s of the Second Renaissance, but I've never really elaborated on it because, I've kinda been scared of thinking about the depths of the horror we're in for in the coming decade. But I'm reaching a point where I can't not think about it. So buckle up because this is going to be one of my longer posts detailing what I think is leading to what I'm calling the Ameri
The Incredibles 2: Fantasy Pitch by YNot1989, literature
Literature
The Incredibles 2: Fantasy Pitch
13 years after the end of the Incredibles, our story centers around Violet and Dash. Violet is the lead of our story, she’s now 27, living in a crappy apartment she can barely afford even with 2 roommates; working in the city for Amazon after the retail store she worked at closed down, and still not getting much use out of her Bio-Science degree. She goes super heroing in the evenings with her roommates and any other Supers who've come out of hiding (most of them are close to her age) and on the weekends when she actually has a few spare minutes to herself, and while she loves it she just doesn’t have the time to put into it like
Conservatives and Reactionaries by YNot1989, literature
Literature
Conservatives and Reactionaries
The meaning of words is too important to ignore in politics, and there is one word that has been mutilated into something grotesque by the worst elements of our political discourse. Conservative. Its an idea that advocates trying to preserve things as they are by emphasizing stability and continuity. It is an ideology that does not fear change, but simply wishes for it to be managed well. Too many politicians identifying as conservative today are in fact reactionaries. Reactionaries oppose modernism and seek a return to "the way things were," a goal historically being both futile and self destructive; something the current Republican party is
Our higher education system is medieval, backwards, and in many ways more broken that our public education system.
Sure, students shoulder 70% of the financial burden for operating costs of most colleges.
Yes, professors get tenure that makes them immune to criticism and insultingly bad teaching and failing rates.
And it is true that students have no rights whatsoever to negotiate the contracts they signed with their respective schools.
That is not the biggest problem though.
The biggest problem, for engineering colleges at least, is the way they breed a culture into our future movers and shakers that discourages cooperation, and does no
Halfway through 2011 we find ourselves in a much more complicated world than anytime since the Age of Enlightenment.
In America 52% of the country has stated that they don't have a problem with Gay Marriage and the US Military has begun the process to let gays and in many cases Women serve openly. Texas, California, and New Mexico have all become Majority Minority States and the others will soon join that status. A larger percentage of Americans are in favor of Legalizing Marijuana today (46% as of 2010) than ever before.
In the Middle East a new generation of activists have in many cases peacefully overthrown old authoritarian governments
April 14th, 2019: New Shepard, Texas
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Lauri and Mona sat in the waiting room of the local Fertility Institute ready to make the biggest decision of their lives, and all either could do was hold onto the other's hands in the cold and crowded waiting room, watching countless other perspective parents come and go. Some looked elated, others simply looked just as anxious as they did.
"Lauri and Mona Flores," an older nurse called out, "Dr. Chella will see you now."
Mona was the first to rise, still clutching her wife's hand as if to pull her up with her. The two had talked about this for more than three ye