CitizenKong

One day older, a lot more convinced.

Which makes a solid case for communism.

Uff, normalerweise liebe ich ja Postillon, aber heute kann ich nicht darüber lachen. :(

Germany will follow suit and we will get a conservative hardliner (and sexist boomer) with CDU's Merz who once voted to keep rape in a marriage legal. He will pave the way for the real fascists from the AfD, who will feel a lot more emboldened now.

I agree that he probably won't last the four years but even if he does he is already too senile to set any policy. He was also already more than happy for others to do the actual work of creating policy because he's incredibly lazy last time.

So I think Vance (and Musk) will be the real rulers behind King Trump. I don't think either is really that much interested in religion and racism but both are incredibly sexist and/or transphobic. So sadly a lot of horror and pain will be delivered to women and transgender people. (Which doesn't mean immigrants are safe.)

Musk will also push for deregulation/privatization of technology so that he can become even richer. This will lead to more monopolization/enshittification and stifle innovation for years, maybe decades. Vance will go along with it due to the Thiel-connection.

Additionally, Putin has made sure that Musk will also champion his interests even if Trump is unable to due to senility. The US will become a de facto ally of Russia and a geopolitical enemy of Europe in a similar vein as China (meaning not openly).

The military-industrial complex will quickly warm to the new reality of an autocracy and the US will start a new war somewhere. Probably in the Middle East. Maybe not within the first four years though. It will be used to distract from a crashing economy and the very real climate catastrophe (mirroring Ruzzia).

I wish all of this were ideas for an alt-history book and not a possible scenario for our future.

As a German aware of my country's history I can only shake my head in sad recognition and try not to feel utterly hopeless not only about the future of a once-great country but the entire world.

We're in the endgame now.

Noch nicht ganz genauso. Aber ich fürchte Merz wird der AfD komplett in die Hände spielen, weil er Deutschland noch mehr herunterwirtschaften wird als die Ampel und soziale Ungerechtigkeit noch mehr fördern.

Er wird sich wahrscheinlich auch blendend mit Trump/Vance und Putin verstehen. Skrupellose Machtmenschen unter sich halt.

I really like the Bobiverse but the constant nerdy references in those books almost as grating as in Ready Player One.

It more than makes up for it with likable characters and great ideas.

While we're trading reading suggestions, books by Adrian Tchaikofsky are also really good.

"Children of Time" and its sequels for a more hard sci-fi read and the "Final Architecture" trilogy for more of an epic sci-fi action romp. The latter reminded me a lot of "The Expanse" but with many weird alien species (one is colony of roaches in a suit, another a giant crab mostly communicating in picturals, yet another a crystal the size of a moon).

So, we don't have any place left in the party for Glorfindel. But he mainly knows how to slay Balrogs and what are the chances we're going to meet one of those?

The older I get the more I'm convinced we're the mirror universe.

His death will almost cancel out that of Robin Williams.

As a German, I have to sadly tell you that that's not enough.

It's important to teach media literacy and critical thinking too.

Young women. One shouldn't underestimate the incel vote.