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by monotreme1000 | February 20, 2021 The Grid
The recent near-failure of the grid in Texas should remind us how fragile is our lifeline to warmth, water and food. Despite numerous warnings over the years, the most critical piece of our infrastructure has been allowed to deteriorate.
This is not just a Texas issue. Had ERCOT failed, as it almost did, there would have been national consequences. 29 million Texans could not survive without electricity for months. They would have had to evacuate. But to where?
What is the federal government plan for dealing with this eventuality? I don't think there is one. Either the federal government has to take a firm hand in strengthening the grid, or it has to prepare to care for tens of millions of cold, dehydrated and hungry Americans. Why is no politician talking about this?
The Evil Mosaic
How to understand Xi Jinping's China? There are three influences:
1. Ancient China. One ruthless Emperor must hold together disparate provinces with his iron will. Xi Jinping thinks he is that Emperor.
2. Nazi Germany. Xin Jinping and his fellow Han supremacists have consciously modeled their concentration camps on Nazi death camps. They want to enslave and exterminate all non-Han people. They have started with the Uiygers, a Turkic people. Xi Jinping won't stop with them.
3. The modern Russian Empire (the Soviet Union). After WWII, Americans wanted their soldiers home. Stalin did not give his Red Army that option. As a result, he took half of Europe and would have taken the other half if the United States had not had nuclear weapons. Once the Russians reached rough nuclear parity, only brinkmanship on the part of the US, the signaled willingness to use nuclear weapons in a European war, which would put American cities at risk, saved the world from absorption into the Russian Empire.
The Chinese Empire is rapidly building up its nuclear forces so that Xi Jinping can threaten American cities if we try to stop his conquests in Asia, the Pacific and Europe.
Nepal, Bhutan, Laos and Cambodia are already in the process of absorption. Burma (Myanmar) is now in play.
There are 2,035,000 active duty personnel in the PLA. There are 1,300,000 active duty personnel in the US military. China has a much larger population it can draw from and Xi Jinping has no concerns about how the Chinese would respond to a draft. The technological superiority of the US is the world's only protection against a growing Chinese Empire ruled by a man determined to conquer the world and exterminate all non-Han. And that technological supremacy is at risk as a result of theft, treason and the weakening of American intellectual standards.
Hard Things or Degeneracy?
KimT commented on the Prepping thread that growing your own food is hard work. That's true. Farming has always been hard work. It's been made easier by new technology, but I suspect it will always require substantial physical and mental effort for people to grow their own food. And that is a good thing, in my opinion.
Humans must either do hard work or they will degenerate. If you don't use your muscles, they will atrophy. You will become physically weak. If you don't use your brain, it will atrophy. You will become mentally weak.
Binge-watching stupid shows on Netflix is bad for you. It will make you physically and mentally weak. Planning and tending a garden is good for your body and your mind.
There has never been a better time to improve our minds with free and easy access to education. Yet, many Americans waste their precious time and damage their brains by watching endless hours of Hollywood/mass media trash.
We tell girls and young women that they should enter STEM fields. But who is presented to them by Hollywood and mass media as role models? Women who dress in meat and take pictures of their butts (Lady Gaga and Kim Kardashian).
After Sputnik, the politicians and military leaders in the US realized that our educational system was poor and that American kids were behind in Math and Science. As a result, the National Defense Education Act was passed. For a brief time, standards in US schools were raised. Intellectual achievement was rewarded. Many Americans became engineers and scientists. We were able to keep ahead of the Russians in technology, which ultimately saved the world. I don't know that the US federal government or States or local school boards are willing to stiffen their curricula and require hard work in schools. They are fighting Hollywood and mass media. Right now, Hollywood and mass media is winning. Parents may have to educate their own children. The mind of a child is the most important, and difficult, garden to tend. Math is hard. And that is a good thing.
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'A man who does not think and plan long ahead will find trouble right at his door.'
--Confucius
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