Hope lasted only a microsecond
In previous item I mentioned my brief hope that Trump might use his mob connections for positive purposes. The moment of hope was even briefer than I remembered!

Reprinting from November 21, 2016, two weeks after the "election".

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I'm still impressed by the fireworks aimed at a shimmering hologram of "Trump". The hologram is talking about changing the status quo, and the forces of reaction (who call themselves rebels) are screeching and throwing rocks at it.

Meanwhile the real Trump is gathering all the old neocons and WallStreeters around him, preparing to continue the ClintonBushObama status quo.

This bizarre light show doesn't really matter. Our equally imaginary empire is quickly losing its outer boundaries. Since it was built on holograms and visions, it's infinitely fragile and is already dissolving. Trump is just a drop of sweat from the terminal fever. [Guinness record for number of incompatible metaphors in one paragraph.]

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Earlier empires were built on real exchanges of real value and real skill. The colonies supplied raw materials, providing jobs for farmers and miners; the center country used the materials to make real products, providing jobs for highly skilled artisans and salesmen.

Before WW2, USA had a real-value empire. It wasn't as large as the British or Japanese Empire because it didn't have to be large. We have most raw materials within our boundaries. Central and South America and parts of the Pacific provided the tropical crops and minerals that we couldn't grow or mine here.

After WW2 we replaced real value with bad theories. We continue to expand an Empire but we no longer use the colonies for anything meaningful or material. We don't provide farming and mining and oil-drilling jobs for colonials, and we don't provide manufacturing jobs for Americans. Instead we provide the raw materials and the colonies do the manufacturing.

Some colonies do nothing at all; we justify them by stationing troops and missiles to "defend" us against a Russian "threat" which never existed.

The flipped colonial model began with a sane-sounding purpose. MacArthur built up Japan's industry so Japan could be prosperous through normal trade. American internal propaganda urged us to sacrifice our food and work to "prevent the resurgence of nationalism". A false premise because Japan and Germany were IMPERIALISTS, NOT NATIONALISTS.

At some point, maybe initially or maybe later, American corporations figured out that an inverse colonial model would enable them to fulfill their long-lasting dream of canning salmon with ledgers. No need to pay wages to those deplorable AmuriKKKans. Good old slavery was back. Pay almost nothing, get low-quality shit that can be sold for pure profit. Loan money to the AmuriKKKans so they can buy the shit, receive high interest as pure profit. Pure ledgers! Yaaaaay!

Now that we're culturally and mentally insane the colonies, largely inhabited and ruled by sane people, don't want to encourage our wild psychosis. Now that we're economically bankrupt, our bribes aren't large enough to keep the colonies in the same cage with the rabid demon. So the colonies are drifting over to Russia and China. Russia is comparatively sane, and China knows how to run an old-fashioned real value empire.

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Next day: Perfect illustration. Adjacent headlines on Reuters:



The fictional hologram of "KKK HITLER TROLL TRUMP" created and cartooned by Sorosian media continues to provide Sorosian "reasons" for the upcoming total Sorosian EXTERMINATION of Christians and Muslims. At the EXACT SAME TIME, the actual physical Trump fades back into ordinary Repooflican territory, identical with Bush or Romney or Clinton. We're fucked beyond recognition.

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  ¶ 2:50 AM