We are not going to surrender or "throw in the towel" because of these things. First, these actions by the CCP and its forces will re-unify the USA. The same way the Pearl Harbor attacks did in WW2. But, it will be a time of chaos and severe disruption. We will have to focus on internal security and rebuilding/rewiring the infrastructure, relying on "old school" ways of doing things (for example, going back to using the mail and writing checks).
All of this will reduce our ability to effectively wage war overseas, which is the point of doing these thing to us. It will be tough, but we will ultimately prevail.
As far as preparation goes, few if any are prepared. At least get yourself some water purification gear, and some cold weather sleeping gear. Get at least 100 lbs of rice, and some solar powered lights. Those are the absolute minimum basics.
I think you're more optimistic about our resilience than some. For the children, I hope you're correct. But I'm not going to bet on it. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best is accurate here. But hope is a hollow emotion that we have to project for the people around us. Even if conditions are truly dire. I personally am prepping to the max and could be considered a doomsday prepper. Your book scared the Hell out of me after you published it, but now I actually think you're a bit pollyannish, with all due respect. And I do respect you highly, for your help has meant a lot to me. Thank you . But I think John's gloomy outlook is trending more likely. Maybe not the nuking of cities, though.
The coming war with China/Russia will be a tough slog, and we will get through it in roughly the same shape as Britain/France post WW1.
After that, the decline we are experiencing will only accelerate. Countries/Governments as now known will not survive.
As a religious person, I believe this is what is prophesied in the Bible. And in the end it turns out very well for those with faith who are committed to that faith and its teachings.
Joe Biden forgot when he was vice president and when his son died, lawyers say
Federal prosecutors say the US president cannot be prosecuted for mishandling classified documents because his memory is so poor
Yet he's good enough to be President of the united States?
Joe Biden’s memory is so poor he struggles to recall when he was vice president or when his son died, federal prosecutors have said.
Lawyers who interviewed the US president in October as part of an investigation into his handling of classified documents found he had “hazy” recollections of his time in office under president Barack Obama, and struggled to remember key details.
On Thursday, the Department of Justice released a report into Mr Biden’s handling of classified documents after leaving the Obama administration in 2016.
The report concluded that he should not be prosecuted for mishandling the material as jurors would see the full extent of his mental decline and conclude he was simply a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”.
A series of gaffes this week have raised concerns about Mr Biden’s cognitive abilities, including two speeches in the past week where he claimed to have spoken to former world leaders who were dead at the time.
Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker, said the report was evidence that Mr Biden was “unfit” for the presidency.
“A man too incapable of being held accountable for mishandling classified information is certainly unfit for the Oval Office,” he said.
The White House immediately launched a fightback against the indictment of Mr Biden’s memory, saying the interviews were conducted in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas October 7 attack.
Robert Hur, the Department of Justice’s special counsel, outlined in detail the gaps in Mr Biden’s memory.
“He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended, and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began,” Mr Hur wrote.
“He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died. And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him.
“Among other things, he mistakenly said he ‘had a real difference’ of opinion with General Karl Eikenberry, when, in fact Eikenberry was an ally whom Mr Biden cited approvingly in his Thanksgiving memo to President Obama.”
The report revealed that Mr Biden asked the lawyers interviewing him: “If it was 2013 – when did I stop being vice president?” He also asked: “In 2009, am I still vice president?”
Mr Hur, who concluded that Mr Biden had inappropriately stored classified documents, said that he may not have been aware at the time and that if he faced trial, a jury would find him to be a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”.
Mr Biden said he was “pleased to see they reached the conclusion I believed all along they would reach – that there would be no charges brought in this case and the matter is now closed”.
New series of gaffes
While Mr Biden has always been prone to gaffes, his latest string of remarks raise further questions on whether he is fit for a second term.
Speaking at two fundraisers in New York, the US president told the same anecdote in which he referred to speaking to Helmut Kohl and Francois Mitterand at a G7 summit in Cornwall in 2021.
Mr Kohl died in 2017 and had not been the country’s leader since 1998.
“When I first got elected president, I went to a G7 meeting with the seven heads of state in Europe and Great Britain,” Mr Biden said, as reported by the White House pool.
“I sat down and I said, ‘Well, America’s back’. And the president of France looked at me and said, ‘For how long?’ I never thought of it this way.
“Then Helmut Kohl of Germany looked at me and said, ‘What would you say Mr President, if you picked up the London Times tomorrow morning and learned that 1,000 people had broken down… the doors of the British Parliament and killed some [people] on the way in [to] deny the prime minister to take office.”
Mr Kohl, who stood down more than 20 years ago, was not alive when the US Capitol was stormed by supporters of Donald Trump. He died some four years before his supposed conversation with the US president took place.
Mr Biden mistakenly referred to Mr Kohl again when he gave the speech for a second time on the same day.
Delivering an almost-identical speech in Las Vegas on Sunday, the US president claimed to have talked to Mr Mitterand about the January 6 riots at the G7 meeting in Cornwall.
Mr Biden apparently told world leaders that “America is back”, prompting “Mitterrand from Germany” to offer his opinion.
“Mitterrand from Germany – I mean, from France – looked at me and said, ‘You know, what... why… how long you back for?” he said, apparently referring to Emmanuel Macron.
Mr Mitterand was elected French president in 1981 and remained in office until 1995, dying a year later.
In what has shaped up to be a bruising week for Mr Biden, the Democrat leader on Tuesday appeared to forget the name of Hamas and stumbled over his words when speaking to the press in the White House.
After delivering an address urging Republicans to back a bipartisan immigration and border deal that would provide funding for Ukraine and Israel, he was asked for an update about hostage negotiations involving Hamas.
“There’s been a response from the opposition,” he said, appearing to pause until a reporter suggested the word he was searching for was “Hamas”.
“Yes, I’m sorry, from Hamas,” Mr Biden continued. “But it seems to be a little over the top. We’re not sure where it is. There’s a continuing negotiation right now.”
Despite his age, the Democrats have insisted they have no Plan B if Mr Biden was forced to pull out of the 2024 election for any reason.
If he was suddenly to depart, the party would be left to scramble to pick another nominee at their August convention.
Voters from both parties have told pollsters they are concerned about the age of Mr Biden, who will be 86 at the end of his second term if he is re-elected.
In recent weeks, Mr Trump, 77, has also suffered verbal or mental slips, seeming to mix up Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi when he was talking about the events of January 6.
As a religious person, I believe this is what is prophesied in the Bible. And in the end it turns out very well for those with faith who are committed to that faith and its teachings.
Faith in God is essential, because without it there is no meaning in life, which always ends.
I personally favor Christianity, because, from my rational perspective, it's the only religion that makes any sense. However, faith in any deity that espouses "good" qualities is probably better than no faith at all.
The coming war with China/Russia will be a tough slog, and we will get through it in roughly the same shape as Britain/France post WW1.
After that, the decline we are experiencing will only accelerate. Countries/Governments as now known will not survive.
As a religious person, I believe this is what is prophesied in the Bible. And in the end it turns out very well for those with faith who are committed to that faith and its teachings.
If you could elaborate on the Biblical prophecy please.
The coming war with China/Russia will be a tough slog, and we will get through it in roughly the same shape as Britain/France post WW1.
After that, the decline we are experiencing will only accelerate. Countries/Governments as now known will not survive.
As a religious person, I believe this is what is prophesied in the Bible. And in the end it turns out very well for those with faith who are committed to that faith and its teachings.
If you could elaborate on the Biblical prophecy please.
I will switch over the Theology thread for this. Just look for my post there. Want to allow the discussion here to remain on "topics of the day".
I knew Biden was bad off, but I didn't know it was this bad
Biden isn't running much of anything. Right now the White House is controlled by Jill Biden, Ron Klain (former Chief of Staff) and other high level advisors.
More and more, hopes to keep the war between Israel and Hamas "contained" are disappearing. I doubt Israel's going to care about international pressure for a cease-fire at this point. I didn't know exactly when or how, but I knew at some point Hamas was going to do something big enough to where Israel decided to squash them, world opinion be damned.
I haven't forgotten how we felt after September 11th, with even bleeding-heart liberals ready to turn Afghanistan into a graveyard. Given the October 7th attacks were more brutal, with hundreds raped, tortured, and murdered, many of whom had been sympathetic to the Palestinians. Netanyahu might not be popular, but any repercussions will wait until after the conflict. If we weren't in the region, Israel would likely hit them even harder. The Middle East is a powder keg at the best of times, but once the war includes Hezbollah en masse, I'd expect that to be the point of no return.
One thing to keep in mind about China: we won't be fighting them alone. At a minimum, they've got South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines, the last of which is crucial to our strategy. Given their hysterical response to their congratulations to the winner of Taiwan's election, common diplomatic protocol, they've managed to alienate almost everyone. North Korea and Pakistan can offer little but cannon fodder. Russia might sell them oil and gas, but if there's no other source thanks to an Allied blockade, I can guarantee Putin will take full advantage.
Cyberattacks are a greater worry for me in the early stages than China's military. They haven't fought a conflict since the Sino-Vietnamese War, in which their performance was poor. Actually being able to invade Taiwan, a mountainous island, is a daunting task, and they've been prepared for decades. While I don't think China will be able to shut everything down, they'll still manage to inflict a great deal of damage.
And China's moment is fading. 15-20 years ago, it was common thought that they'd replace us as the world superpower, and we should just accept it. However, given that their population is shrinking, to the point where they recovered a decrease in 2022. (If the CCP is publicly admitting their population's shrunk, it's likely been doing so for several years) Their economy is slowing, and world investment into their nation has already disappeared, thanks to Covid. Japan had a similar difficulty, but they became rich before they became old. For all their growth, China is still a middle-income country, with 1/4th the income per capita that the U.S. possesses, assuming the CCP numbers are accurate.
In 1941, Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor was motivated by more than mere fanaticism. Japan's Navy at the time were stronger than their American counterparts, but they couldn't hope to keep up with American production, with was starting to move to a war footing. That gap would grow with time, and Japan couldn't hope to keep up. Hitler attacked the Soviet Union for a similar reason in June 1941: he was as strong as he was going to be in comparison to his real enemy, and was already suffering from shortages in food and fuel. It was now or never.
. But I think John's gloomy outlook is trending more likely. Maybe not the nuking of cities, though.