“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

It is striking to me how few people appear to realize how terrible things are going to get starting tomorrow. At a time when we should be metaphorically manning the barricades, people are going about oblivious. You may think this post is about the inauguration tomorrow and the slew of executive actions that will be put forth, and it certainly is. You may think this is about the impact of mass deportations on individuals and the inevitable deaths that will occur, and it is. You may also think that this post is about the rapid increase in the severity of damages and deaths stemming from Climate change, and it is. You may think that it is about the coming crashing of the economy from those tariffs, mass deportations, and disastrous fiscal policies, and it is. You may also think this is about the threat of bird flu, and it is. Lastly, you may think it is about our mad rush towards creating artificial general intelligence and how that will fundamentally cost millions of jobs as AI takes over those jobs across the economy, and it is. Yet it is really about the fact that all of these things will be happening to a large extent over the next four years, when we will have a government run by the most incompetent and corrupt administration likely ever in American history.

© by Daniel DeMarle 1/19/25