Snoopy

 

What Will 2023 Look Like?

Of course, the starting point, the contemporary context, would be:

• the recent history of COVID lockdowns; 
• massive government spending and inflation and constrictive energy policies driving up energy and food prices, as well as most “downstream prices,” and wiping out retirement savings; 
• Fed strategies depressing the market; war in Ukraine threatening nuclear confrontation; China’s rising political aggression; 
• political corruption of government institutions and apparent government-led attacks on the First Amendment, at least according to the “Twitter Files”; rising urban crime; 
• a surge in illegal immigration bringing drugs, crime and a disrupted labor market; a growing culture war on women, fueled both by the Dobbs decision and the rising political activism of the trans community; 
• and chaos in the American educational system, leading to a sharp decline in student performance.

Few would call 2020, 2021 and 2022 “good years” for America. Some might call them disasters — and 2023 may well be worse.

To begin with, there is no sign that the forces fueling these problems will abate or be reversed. If anything, they may become more intense.

Rightly or wrongly, the White House and the Democrat-led Senate, as well as most progressive interest groups, read the midterm elections as support for current policy directions. The White House will not make any centrist tack and will continue full speed ahead on high-spending and fossil fuel-constraining policies. 

The suicidal support for the omnibus budget and spending bill by Republicans in the Senate handicaps the incoming Republican-led House from moving to get the budget, appropriations, and spending under control. 

It also assures another round of inflation, and insulates the Democrats from political attack since Senate Republicans went along with it and now partly own the coming inflation, rising interest rates, and economic contraction or recession predicted by many financial leaders and economists.  READ MORE...

MIA Veterans - KIA Veterans - Disabled Veterans

I am a Vietnam Era Veteran, and would not be a Veteran at all, if it were not for the US Military Draft that officially ended in 1973...

While I did not get harmed while I was in the military, many soldiers did get wounded, resulting in death, or becoming handicapped for the rest of their lives...  

I cannot imagine what life would be like as a disabled veteran...

Throughout this holiday period, there has been several organizations asking for money to that they can help disabled veterans, as well as first responders who have been injured or killed during domestic investigations of crimes, fires, or other natural disasters.

While that is a problem, these natural disasters, why is it the problem of Americans to take care of the families of these employees?  Shouldn't that be the responsibility of the employer?

Also, if our Presidents did not stick their noses into the wars taking place in other countries, then we would not have KIAs, MIAs, disabled vets from those wars either.  They say it is to protect the US from Communism, but those other countries need to learn to take care of themselves.

For example...

We are not sending the US military over to Ukraine to fight the Russians, but we are sending military equipment.  Therefore, there will be no disabled vets from that war at all...

This is the way it should have been for Vietnam, Korea, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan and other wars that we have sent our soldiers into...   

Why do our leaders have the desire to send someone else into a war zone, rather than themselves?  Why are wealthy people given a waiver from military service?

It is easy for wealthy people to send other average Americans off to fight and die for them...  because we are fighting communism or protecting democracy and freedom...   and then not set aside the money to take care of the soldiers...  expecting the general public to make donations...

That attitude is dispicable...

Skeletons

 

Republican Elected Santos Lied

A Republican congressman-elect is under investigation in New York after he admitted he lied about his education and work experience.

The Republican district attorney for Nassau County said she will look into the "numerous fabrications and inconsistencies" on George Santos's CV.

Allegations about discrepancies in his backstory were first made in a New York Times report last week.

Mr Santos is scheduled to be sworn in on 3 January.

The newspaper published an investigation in this month alleging Mr Santos - who was elected to Congress in the November midterm elections - had made several lies on his resume.

Those included that he had graduated from Baruch College in New York and worked at high-profile Wall Street firms Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

Mr Santos admitted earlier this week he had never worked for either firm directly and had lied on his CV about graduating from college, saying he was "embarrassed" that he had not.

Regarding accusations he had misrepresented his Jewish ancestry, he told the New York Post in an interview published on Monday that he was Catholic and never claimed to be Jewish but when "I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was 'Jew-ish'".

Mr Santos said he was "not a criminal" and said that the scandal would not prevent him from serving his two-year term in the House of Representatives.

"My sins here are embellishing my resume," Mr Santos told the Post. "I'm sorry."  READ MORE...

Without Darkness There Can Be No Light

FOREVER...

since the universe was created...

there has been a struggle between good and evil...  even though in nature, there is no good or evil, just survival...

it is mankind that has interpreted survival as being a struggle between good and evil...

we portray this struggle from the stanpoint of colors or lack thereof...  moving from white to black...  

moving from dark to light...  as in the darkness of night to the lightness of day...

If you are a painter, you understand that without darkness you have no light....  

we visualize life around us in terms of the contrasts between light and dark...  understanding that light only shows up if and when it is surrounded or bordered by dark colors...

Without the concept of evil, there was no goodness...

Let me explain...

In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, as the story goes, lived in a world of goodness.

Did they have a choice?

Yes...  they could choose good or they could choose good...

Were they really offered a choice?

No...

So, what happened?  Evil was introduced in the form of a serpent (referred to as the devil) and from that point on, Adam and Eve did have a choice...

They could choose good or they could choose evil or a combination of the two...

Adam and Eve would be considered the light...

The serpent would be considered the dark...

Without these two choices, life has no choices...  both must exist in our life...

Without the understanding of light and dark, we would just survive like the animals of nature...

But, that is not what our creator envisioned...  is it?

 

Niagra Falls

Chunks of ice and snow-capped rocks could be seen at the base of the Niagara Falls after a huge winter storm swept over the US and Canada.


Plunging temperatures over the Christmas period transformed the waterfalls into a wintry sight to behold.


The blizzard caused huge disruption across North America, and left 34 people dead in New York State.

Many of the deaths were in the city of Buffalo, just south of the falls.


The storm brought over 4ft (1.2m) of snow to the city, causing major traffic problems and leaving many households without power.


Slightly warmer weather is now on the way.


Cascades of water could still be seen thundering down the falls, situated on the US-Canada border, in spite of the frozen areas.


In 2015, a Canadian ice climber stunned visitors by scaling a frozen section of the gorge.

Peanuts

 

Thanks to Everyone

 

Careful

HOLIDAY - New Year's Day

 

HOLIDAY - New Year's Eve

VINTAGE NEW YEAR'S EVE MUSIC

FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT

IN 2022

 

High Walk

Tesla Charging Fiasco

Maintaining a Global Balance

We, as Americans, see ourselves as different and better than the rest of the world...

Different because of our Constitution and Democratic Republic...

Better because of all our freedoms...

Better because of our quality of life...

Better because we have laws and safeguards to protect our citizens from business that want to take advantage of our greed...

Better because of all the natural resources that we have in this country and because our productivity is higher than any other place in the entire world...

On the other side of the coin, we are no better than other countries because:

• Americans lie
• Americans cheat
• Americans steal
• Americans hide the truth
• Americans bully other countries
• Americans interfere with elections in other countries
• Americans take advantage of other's ignorance
• Americans try to change global cultures

We think that we are better when in reality we are not better and in many cases we are worse...   as we hide behind democracy and our religious beliefs...

America is in crisis because of immigration, inflation, our divided political beliefs, racism, and wealth...  it is this division that will come close to destroying our  country and at the very least, force us off the top of the hill as the global leader...

Who will take our place?

China

Russia

India

China certainly has the ability to be global leader with its growing economy, growing military, growing space program, and growing population...  but, it has not been tested with WAR...   having a big stick is not the same as being able to use that big stick effectively.

Russia, at one time, had the ability and determination to be a global leader, but hell, they cannot even defeat a small country like the Ukraine unless they use nuclear weapons...  it would appear that their global bullying days are politically over unless something drastically changes.

I am not even going to address India...  as they are just trying to build internal wealth through global commerce and their ability to provide back office skills.

The US of A is, right now and in my opinio, IMPOTENT, and no longer has the wherewithall to provide global leaders although several billionaires disagree with me.  Billionaires influence but they cannot control the masses.

Our global affairs will be divided equally among the top countries...  it's just that they do not know it yet.  The US of A will FAIL and they will FAIL BIG but they will always be needed in some capacity by the rest of the world...  if for no other reason but to maintain a global balance.

It Ain't That Funny

 

Future of Religion in USA

Since the 1990s, large numbers of Americans have left Christianity to join the growing ranks of U.S. adults who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.” This accelerating trend is reshaping the U.S. religious landscape, leading many people to wonder what the future of religion in America might look like.

What if Christians keep leaving religion at the same rate observed in recent years? What if the pace of religious switching continues to accelerate? What if switching were to stop, but other demographic trends – such as migration, births and deaths – were to continue at current rates? To help answer such questions, Pew Research Center has modeled several hypothetical scenarios describing how the U.S. religious landscape might change over the next half century.

The Center estimates that in 2020, about 64% of Americans, including children, were Christian. People who are religiously unaffiliated, sometimes called religious “nones,” accounted for 30% of the U.S. population. Adherents of all other religions – including Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists – totaled about 6%

Depending on whether religious switching continues at recent rates, speeds up or stops entirely, the projections show Christians of all ages shrinking from 64% to between a little more than half (54%) and just above one-third (35%) of all Americans by 2070. Over that same period, “nones” would rise from the current 30% to somewhere between 34% and 52% of the U.S. population.  READ MORE...

SOCIALISM takes America Into COMMUNISM

 SOCIALISM VERSUS COMMUNISM

The main difference is that under communism, most property and economic resources are owned and controlled by the state (rather than individual citizens); under socialism, all citizens share equally in economic resources as allocated by a democratically-elected government.

Socialism and communism both place much value on creating a more equal society and removing class privilege. The biggest difference between them is that socialism is compatible with liberty and democracy, while communism depends on an authoritarian state to create an “equal society” that denies basic liberties.

The US of A and its liberal citizens want to create a society of equality and equity...  which means that can be no wealthy people in the US of A....  all of its citizens must have the same amount of wealth as their neighbors have...

• No more wealthy Hollywood actors and actresses
• No more wealthy professional athletes
• No more wealthy musicians
• No more wealthy artists
• No more wealthy CEOs and business owners

What you may not realize or want to realize is that the US of A is actually moving into this direction...  this movement is being pushed by the blacks, liberal democrats, and the liberal media...  and they are doing this under the guise of equity and equality...

What these liberal people do not understand is that AMERICANS ARE NOT EQUAL AND WILL NEVER BE EQUAL...

• How do you change ugly?
• How do you change one's height?
• How do you change one's mental ability?
• How do you change one's physical ability?

Think about this...   how are you going to make everyone as smart as Einstein?  Or, as physically gifted as Michael Jordan?  Or, have the musical voice of Bing Crosby singing White Christmas?  Or, have the acting ability of Tom Hanks or Meryl Streep?

The more we try to make all people equal, the more we move towards countries like China and Russia.  In these two countries, individual skills and abilities are supressed unless you are training for the Olympics or dancing in the Russian Ballet.   

We are all different and we will always be different and we will never achieve equality and equity.

United States Forecasts for 2023

International relations predictions to impact the United States in 2023 include:

• The government mobilizes USD $200 billion to fulfill its Partnership for Global Infrastructure (PGII) pledge to low- and middle income countries over the next 5 years through grants, federal financing, and private sector investments for sustainable infrastructure. Likelihood: 80 percent
• The Omnivore Agritech and Climate Sustainability Fund 3, a venture capital fund investing in the agriculture, food systems, climate, and the rural economy in India, generates USD $130 million. Likelihood: 70 percent
• The US, Australia, India and Japan jointly announce a joint regional infrastructure scheme designed as an alternative to China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative and an attempt to counter Beijing’s growing geopolitical influence. Likelihood: 70%

Politics related predictions to impact the United States in 2023 include:

• California is first state to ban the sale of fur clothing, beginning in 2023.

Government related predictions to impact the United States in 2023 include:

• Global Insurance Report 2023: Reimagining life insurance.
• Renewable power’s growth is being turbocharged as countries seek to strengthen energy security.
• The 'office apocalypse' is upon us.
• Solar installations in US now exceed 2 million and could double by 2023, new figures show.
• California is first state to ban the sale of fur clothing, beginning in 2023.

Economy related predictions to impact the United States in 2023 include:

• The Federal Reserve launches a real-time payment service (Called FedNow) between 2023 and 2024 to accelerate the modernization of the US payments network. This initiative will help the poorest Americans by helping them get access to money faster and pay fewer bank fees overall. Likelihood: 90%

Technology related predictions to impact the United States in 2023 include:

• Adoption of AI-augmented automation for infrastructure and operations teams in the US will increase to around 40 percent this year. Likelihood: 70 percent.
• Global Insurance Report 2023: Reimagining life insurance.
• Apple advances user security with powerful new data protections.
• The End of High-School English.
• A conversation with Kevin Scott: What’s next in AI.
• Big Tech is laying staff off, but climate tech is hiring.

Culture related predictions to impact the United States in 2023 include:

• It is now legal for college athletes in California to hire agents and make money from endorsements. (Likelihood 70%)

Defense related predictions to impact the United States in 2023 include:

• The Navy starts deploying the anti-ship version of the Tomahawk cruise missile with a range of nearly 1,000 miles and the Harpoon missile with a range of about 70 miles. Likelihood: 60 percent
• The Air Force's AI-powered 'Skyborg' drones start flying alongside fighter jets, supporting the execution of dangerous missions. Likelihood: 50 percent
• The Army starts testing the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapons capable of flying at five times the speed of sound. Likelihood: 70 percent

Infrastructure related predictions to impact the United States in 2023 include:

• Vineyard Wind, an 800-megawatt, USD $2.8-billion joint venture starts pumping energy into the New England grid. Likelihood: 60 percent
• The number of solar panel installations in private and commercial buildings now exceeds 4 million nationwide, up from 2 million in 2019. Likelihood: 70%
• A conversation with Kevin Scott: What’s next in AI.
• Solar installations in US now exceed 2 million and could double by 2023, new figures show.

Environment related predictions to impact the United States in 2023 include:

• California becomes the first state to ban the sale of fur clothing. Likelihood: 100%
• Global Insurance Report 2023: Reimagining life insurance.
• Remote work is closing the geographic pay gap.
• The 'office apocalypse' is upon us.
• California is first state to ban the sale of fur clothing, beginning in 2023.

Science related predictions to impact the United States in 2023 include:

• A cross-country solar eclipse will occur this year, starting on October 14th. Likelihood: 100%
• The collapse of insects.
• A conversation with Kevin Scott: What’s next in AI.
• Get ready for 2 solar eclipses coming to the US in 2023 and 2024.

Health related predictions to impact the United States in 2023 include:

• How AI That Powers Chatbots and Search Queries Could Discover New Drugs.

SOURCE:  QuantumRun.com