Monday, July 27, 2026
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 132nd Edition. Voting with their feet
For the first time in US history, more Americans are moving to Europe than the other way around.
Indeed, European immigration to the US is at historic lows. US emigration is at historic highs.
Why?
Simple, the US has become a dumpster fire. It's no longer really a democracy but a semi democracy presently ruled by an insane (if we don't assume worst) megalomaniac who is destroying the economy. We look like uneducated morons, which a lot of us actually seem to be. There are absolutely no positive indicators which the US tops the charts at. We are the 23d happiest country on the planet. Finland, Iceland, and Denmark are the first three. We cling to obsolete signs of greatness, such as refusing to have a national health care system and having a tax system that grossly under taxes Americans and funds a government that benefits us little, while people like Reid Rasner campaign for even lower taxes. We've gone from being a country that had nearly no military to having one that has a bloated military that serves an insane President.
What's not to love?
Well, there is the country, but that involves being realistic, which will get you accused of being a left winger (which should not in and of itself be regarded as an insult) by insufferable twat waffles like Chuck Gray.
We are really due for an overhaul.
Ironically, the orange buffoon destroying the White House probably helps show us the way on this. He's shown us where we have massive institutional defects. And he's taken us off the global map as a great power and made us a second rate one. Part of our descent into ignorance was a legacy of what was then a noble Cold War response to things, including a big military and governments that meddled bigly.
Now we are going to have to dance to the tune of others, but the good thing is that the others are adults.
To progress at all, which doesn't mean a return to high immigration or anything of that sort, we're really going to have to get back into education, which people like the Wyoming Freedom Caucus and other right wing zealots hate. Better to be dumb is their default position.
Better to be smart, and educated, and face our problems honestly.
And the sooner the better.
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CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 131st Edition. Ballroom Blitz
Wednesday, December 31, 2025
Thursday, December 31, 1925. Reining in New Years.
The first attempt at a worldwide New Year's celebration was made via international radio when the United States sent out musical entertainment and New Year's greetings from the consuls general of various foreign countries in New York.
There was an effort in many locations in the US to rein in New Years celebrations, which if they were in compliance with the law, should be dry:
European flooding which had broken out on the 29th hit Belgium.
Today In Wyoming's History: December 31: 1925 The legendary Swan Land & Cattle Company issued its corporate holdings report for the year.
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Wednesday, December 30, 1925. Ben-Hur.
Monday, October 20, 2025
Thursday, October 16, 2025
Friday, August 1, 2025
Friday, August 1, 1975. The Helsinki Accords.
The Helsinki Accords were signed by the leaders of 35 nations in Finland, including the 15 member states of NATO and the 7 Warsaw Pact nations.
The text: The Helsinki Accords.
The Satellite Instructional Television Experiment commenced in India. It brought television for the first time to 2,500 villages in six Indian states and territories.
"KNM ER 3733", a woman of the species Homo ergaster, assuming that's a distinct from homo erectus, which it probably is not, was discovered by Bernard Ngeneo. She'd passed away 1,750,000 prior.
The Republic of Cabinda declared independence, ineffectively.
Friday, April 4, 2025
What Americans Can Learn As Europe Prepares For War Civil preparation pamphlets are being distributed in case of war with Russia. They offer an interesting glimpse into post-Cold War prepping.
While the Mango Mussolini shows his business ineptitude, Europe is preparing for war. . . and the shooting kind. . .
What Americans Can Learn As Europe Prepares For War
Civil preparation pamphlets are being distributed in case of war with Russia. They offer an interesting glimpse into post-Cold War prepping.
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Monday, April 2, 1725. Birth of Giacomo Girolamo Casanova
Better known simply by his last name, Casanova remains famous for his sexual exploits and libertine lifestyle.
He was born in the Republic of Venice and died in 1798 in Bohemia, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. Late in life he wrote his memoirs, which is why he is remembered today. A lawyer by training, he was mostly a seducer in society and a gambler, and was working as a librarian at the time of his death. Given his behavior, he is thought to have fathered several children, including a child by one of his own illegitimate daughters.
Interestingly, his final words were "I have lived as a philosopher and I die as a Christian", perhaps showing a late in life conversion back to Catholicism.
I wasn't going to post this anniversary at all, but decided to do so as Casanova was illustrative of the lack of morals in European high society of his day. He serves as an illustration of how gross and disgusting behavior in the age of Musk, Trump, Weinstein, Hefner, Cosby and Epstein isn't something wholly new to our own age.
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