Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
Disabled Alaskan Monarchist doomer
User ID: 2666
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
23hr ago
military reserves who in practice just steal the budget
Only until there's an actual conflict.
I'm reminded of this 2020 Los Angeles Times piece: "California once had mobile hospitals and a ventilator stockpile. But it dismantled them"
In 2006, citing the threat of avian flu, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the state would invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a powerful set of medical weapons to deploy in the case of large-scale emergencies and natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires and pandemics.
“In light of the pandemic flu risk, it is absolutely a critical investment,” he told a news conference. “I’m not willing to gamble with the people’s safety.”
The state, flush with tax revenue, soon sank more than $200 million into the mobile hospital program and a related Health Surge Capacity Initiative to stockpile medicines and medical gear for use in outbreaks of infectious disease, according to former emergency management officials and state budget records.
But the ambitious effort, which would have been vital as the state confronts the new coronavirus today, hit a wall: a brutal recession, a free fall in state revenues — and in 2011, the administration of a fiscally minded Democratic governor, Jerry Brown, who came into office facing a $26-billion deficit.
And so, that year, the state cut off the money to store and maintain the stockpile of supplies and the mobile hospitals. The hospitals were defunded before they’d ever been used.
Much of the medical equipment — including the ventilators, critical life-saving tools that are in short supply in the current pandemic — was given to local hospitals and health agencies, former health officials said. But the equipment was donated without any funding to maintain them. The respirators were allowed to expire without being replaced.
Together, these two programs would have positioned California to more rapidly respond as its COVID-19 cases exploded. The annual savings for eliminating both programs? No more than $5.8 million per year, according to state budget records, a tiny fraction of the 2011 budget, which totaled $129 billion.
Better to have and not need, than need and not have, after all.
And as for idle courtiers, they may have been individually of little use, but they generally came from accomplished families; thus, if nothing else, they represented a reserve of quality genes, in a way a modern welfare bum most certainly does not.
And, of course, today’s monarchies spend gobs on welfare
Which monarchies are you thinking of here? Are you counting the monarchies-in-name-only that are democracies plus a powerless figurehead? Or are you talking about Middle East petro-states distributing shares of oil revenues to the citizenry, much as we do here in Alaska via the Permanent Fund Dividend?
Neither Bhutan nor Eswatini seem to be particularly generous welfare states — and is there anyone in Monaco poor enough to need one?
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
23hr ago
Given the (pretty good, IMHO) case Michael Lind lays out in this Tablet piece about how demographic trends still strongly favor utter dominance by the Democratic Party, what can people on the right do, then? Note, I'm not asking what the Republican party does, which is move left to capture moderate voters so to remain electorally viable (per the median voter theorem and Duverger's law); I'm asking what voters who care about the policies that would thus be abandoned, as opposed to the "politics as sports" folks who are happy just so long as "their team" beats the other guy.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
23hr ago
The inciting incident was supposedly a Spanish captain boasting that Christian missionaries were but a prelude to Iberian conquest.
Well, there was also the Shimabara rebellion, which seriously cranked up enforcement of the ban, and of sakoku more generally.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
2d ago
It helps if you learn to appreciate unflavored tea.
Already got you there. Never been a coffee person, and have quite the selection of loose-leaf teas in my cabinet. (It helps to have a "tea and spice" shop half a mile away.)
But ultimately, there are some people out there whom I love, who love me, and as long as they're alive and in touch with me, I don't want to hurt them.
This is the same position my therapist takes. It works, somewhat, but there are I times where I seriously begin weighing the benefits of "being selfish," and at what point ending my suffering will outweigh any grief I may cause my family. (At the very least, once my Mom passes…)
Did you ever watch "The Wire"?
Nope.
In the meantime, I try to find little pleasures in life
Yeah, I don't really have those — not nearly enough to "fill the days."
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
2d ago
I do think it’s a failure state to be aware of, though.
Sure.
But then, how do you suppose an American monarchist like me might go about becoming more politically active locally, particularly while keeping in mind and avoiding said failure state?
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
3d ago
or anything resembling belief in an almighty God
I don't know; from where I sit, there's not a huge difference between "the arc of history" and "Divine Providence." Plus, the way some talk about being "on the right side of history" sounds rather like being "right with Jesus."
There's also the whole "paladin" instinct to moral crusading I discussed here as a "Puritan" trait.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
3d ago
But why should I bother to do any of this at all? What reason to lose weight at all? Why not eat myself to death, given that I want to die?
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
3d ago
for example walking a couple of miles twice a week.
I don't own a car, and public transit here isn't great. I go for walks daily, either to get someplace or for exercise. Thus, I'm already doing at least this mutch.
And, again, why bother? "enjoy life a little more in general"? Life sucks. It's terrible, and the sooner it's over, the better.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
3d ago
I don't disagree with any of this. I'm not one of the Nietzschean "master morality" types. That's why I've been commenting on this thread — because some have been talking as if every non-religious person on the "far-right" is this sort of "boo Christianity, boo slave morality" sort. And that isn't so.
Having X Tribe lords and masters who, despite that, take into consideration the existence of Y tribe as a culture and accept that they have a right to exist - that's slave morality Christianity.
Indeed; and I see much more of that here on the Red side than the Blue.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
3d ago
Why do you want to continue to live at all?
That's part of the problem… I don't, really.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
3d ago
To you, well, you might be all of the above but you're far from a single issue posting Eeyore-maxxer like Skookum, so I'm just pointing out my exasperation at people who think this is report worthy.
And I thank you for that, and appreciate it.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
4d ago
Medicaid may cover a dietician
From what I've seen (with respect to relatives trying to see a dietician), the answer to that is "no." Besides, I'm not sure what more information they can give me.
Your primary care may have some routine health suggestions
"Eat less, work out more." That's what she always says.
And the key point is — why should I even bother with all this effort, anyway? It sounds like so much effort… to what end?
Why shouldn't I just let the fat pack on and on?
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
4d ago
not because he literally believes blacks should be exterminated.
Did you miss the part where he literally believes Jews should be exterminated? We went to high school together, so I've seen his views evolve from the Heinleinian right-libertarian sort to Trad-Cath Fascist (that's not an insult, that's self-identified).
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
4d ago
Given how much of the population was involved in agriculture pre-Industrial Revolution and how little economic surplus above subsistence their was to redistribute, I'd question that. And there's definitely a difference between an "idle courtier" and your average modern welfare recipient.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
4d ago
you should discuss this with your primary care doctor and psychiatrist
I did, many years ago, and got the pat "diet and exercise" advice I mostly already knew. Edit: because it at least partially comes down to what Medicaid covers.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
4d ago
All political radicals face this issue, no communist thinks they’d be a manual laborer on the collective farm, they think they’d be a playwright in good standing or an academic or on the politburo.
Also, as a separate point, as a monarchist/feudalist, I get this sort of critique sent my way quite often: "you only support that because you want to be king/you think you'd be a lord/etc." (despite my protestations to the contrary). But I also end up getting a sort of reverse of it, where I'm told I should think that way.
Specifically, whenever I ask how to go about being politically active — "think globally, act locally," "be the change you want to see…" and all that — as a monarchist in modern America, and on multiple occasions, I've had people respond that the only way to be an active monarchist is to try to personally become king, and if you're not a would-be king, you should do nothing at all. (This, for one, ignores that no man* has ever won a crown for himself purely through his personal actions alone; every such has had plenty of loyal supporters essential to the effort.)
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
4d ago
Twitterati edgelords are on a whole other level
Agreed
going on unbidden rants on the subject doesn't seem particularly common
No, because they've got jobs to keep, because they've got kids to feed. But in private conversations, or anonymous online spaces…
or support for ethnic cleansing or population control
I know a trad-Cath civil engineer who hates suburbs, and argues that instead of the "white flight" retreat that drove their growth and "urban decay," whites should have defended the inner city by "just shoot[ing] all the n*****s." (He's also a rabid antisemite of the "gas the k***s" variety, and has been on some TRS podcasts.) Then there's the Russian Orthodox Native guy who said that of all the terrible things the white man brought to this continent, the worst, above alcohol and smallpox, is black people.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
4d ago
Do you have a major problem with your weight or is it a minor one?
My BMI is 40. When I was first put on antipsychotics, I went from 150 pounds to 300 in less than a year.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
4d ago
They actually don't like white people. If you listen to their podcasts or read their writing, they actually have nothing for disdain from them.
So very much this. IMO, it's one of their worst traits.
Sure, I might complain from time to time about the views of older "normie conservatives" — like my parents — but only in much the same way that I complain about my dad's tendency to reckless driving, or my mom's need to call me at random times to double-check her (basic) math. They're still my people, flaws and all. And yes, I'll take a Clarence Thomas, a Larry Elder, or a Ben Carson over a Richard Spencer any day.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
4d ago
The main problem is that these guys think that under the perfect 'no Christian egalitarian shit' system, they would be LORDS AND MASTERS.
They wouldn't.
Absolutely agreed when it comes to the Spencer set.
Meanwhile, there are those of us who want the "lords and masters" that we already have to stop with the lies and pretense, and just admit that they're in charge, and that they don't actually care what us "ignorant, servile, and downtrodden" peasants think. That, and preferably to have "lords and masters" who aren't Blue Tribers unremittingly hostile by nature to the continued existence of the Red Tribe as a culture.
(This piece in Tablet from B. Duncan Moench is somewhat relevant, though — as always — his solutions are a bit lacking.)
Like I keep telling people, I don't want us to replace meaningful elections where the people select representatives who wield power on their behalf with a semi-hereditary elite who believe themselves entitled to rule as they see fit without care what the peasants think, I want us to admit that this already happened generations ago.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
4d ago
I think some of these DR types are too racist for actual Christian reactionaries in real life
I'm not so sure, given that the Christian reactionaries I know IRL can get pretty racist, despite (or maybe even because of) being mixed-race in some cases (Elwood "Chief Red Cloud" Towner was not unique).
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
4d ago
I do not think that there is much emphasis on a process to adopt heathens into one of the castes.
I recall once reading online one Hindu arguing that there is no such process — that it is impossible for mleccha non-Indians to become Hindu — the best they can hope for is to be born Hindu in their next life.
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
4d ago
I completely agree. All political radicals face this issue, no communist thinks they’d be a manual laborer on the collective farm, they think they’d be a playwright in good renown or an academic or on the politburo.
I keep telling people that my ideal regime — or any near it — would have me executed for being a useless parasite. And yet…
Capital_Room
rather dementor-like
4d ago
I don’t think it is is a bad thing and don’t really care whether we call it racism or not.
Except you're not in charge, the "race theorists" are, so what you think or care about doesn't matter, only what they think and care about.
Is there really anything more to Balaji Srinivasan’s whole “network state” idea beyond that tech billionaires should get to build city-states, with groups auditioning online for their patronage; combined with a serious mischaracterization/misunderstanding of Zionism, and Herzl’s role within it?
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