I just wanted to post a quick note. I’m really not actually trying to depress, scare, upset, and/or anger anyone here, though I’m not surprised if everyone thinks I am. I’ve already done two threat assessments on this insanity we’re living with – one in November that covered the transition and one started the night of 6 January covering the attack at the capitol and what it might lead to – and I’m currently working on a third one. I’m hoping to have it done before 13 August, which is Mike Lindell’s day of miracles or something.
I think everyone has figured out I’m incredibly concerned. Every bit of my professional experience and expertise is screaming at me right now. While hope and I stopped talking a long time ago, and don’t even get me started on faith, nothing would please me more than to write a marking my beliefs to market post in a couple of months about how the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate managed to overcome all the obstacles and pass voting rights and electoral integrity legislation. A second post come November 2022 about how the Democrats kept the House and the Senate. And a third one come November 2024 about how the constitutional order held and we’ve moved from being in a moment of respite to actually making real headway against the revanchism and authoritarianism that so many of our fellow citizens have embraced.
Only time will tell if I’m Cassandra of Troy or James Jesus Angleton lost in the wilderness of mirrors. Until then, I’m going to make a real effort to not post about this stuff anymore.
Once I hit post I’m going offline for the evening. But this is an open thread for whatever you like.
I’m truly sorry that we all have to live through this. I’m also very sorry to those I’ve upset or angered in trying to make clear what I think the threats are. And that’s not a “if you are offended” apology. I know I’ve made some of you quite angry and upset and I’m sorry that that has been the effect of my posts and comments on this topic, which is why I’m going to try not to post or comment on it anymore.
Everyone have a great night. I’ll catch you all on the flip.
Open thread!
Martin Schafer
While I’ve not always been able to bear to read (rather than skim) your posts I do appreciate you making them. I appreciate your professional view and all the work you go to to lay the terrifying case.
I’ll just keep hoping we slide by the worst of this.
Winston
So, I just watched UFO declassified on Netflix. I came away with the truthiness that we’ve been lied to about exaterrestrial aliens all along.
N M
+1 to what Martin said!
Adam, I for one truly value your posts and hope you take up the torch again.
VeniceRiley
What? They’re the most Informa I’ve posts on here! Don’t stop. Keep goin’.
Jerzy Russian
@Winston:
I don’t have TV, so I haven’t watched this. How did you come to the conclusion that we have been lied to? Who was lying to us? What are the nature of those lies?
wonkie
I don’t really understand why people responded to you with anger. I thought the stuff you said was obviously true. SO we fight. Well, that’s the perspective of a lifelong doom freak. I made the decision back in the seventies to not have children That was my response to learning about climate change in a college biology class. I have neither expected or wanted to live past 2030. I am very sorry for people younger than me, NOne of this gloom leads to passivity or quitting, at least to me. I am already making monthly donations to several GOTV organizations. Last fall I wrote hundreds of letters to voters and I am prepared to write hundreds more.
Jerzy Russian
Regarding the topic of the post, I think some kind of voting rights legislation will get passed in time. They (the Senate) are cutting it real close, mainly thanks to Manchin an What’s-her-Name from Arizona).
Winston
@Jerzy Russian: This is a netflix documentary. Much of the coverup of events, like Roswell has been declassified in the last few months and in other countries as well. This could be the biggest story in the history of mankind.
Edmund Dantes
If John wants answered how has this placed changed, we have people running off a valuable front pager (that isn’t just stirring the pot for pots sake) because it’s too much to hear or don’t harsh my vibe.
what a joke
Adam, please keep on this topic. We need to keep pushing so the powers that be don’t get complacent.
If you don’t understand what your enemy is doing, there is no way to truly counter act their game plan. I have utilized your well thought out and written pieces many times for people in day to day life that go “no it can’t be that bad. “.
you are a valuable resource and it’s a shame there are a bunch of people on here that can’t deal with it.
dnfree
I read and appreciate your posts.
Fourth of July weekend I met a couple at a social gathering. He said his parents had escaped the Holocaust, and he and his wife both said they feel the alarm bells ringing here. I said I do too. Maybe that’s an exaggeration, and I would be glad if it turns out to be. But we can’t be complacent.
Princess Leia
Adam, I find what you are predicting to be terrifying, overwhelming, unthinkable. And I am also glad to have to face hard things. Keep up the posts, please.
lol chikinburd
A thought I’ll develop further when I actually have time:
The constitutional order will fall, someday. That someday may not be in the next couple election cycles, though the probability of that is distressingly high. It may not be this century, though I’d hardly see how it wouldn’t. In any case, it will end because things end, every edifice humans build will one day fall to dust, that’s just our reality. Acknowledging this is only doomsaying if you idolatrize a piece of paper drafted in 1787, or won’t consider end-of-life planning because you think it’s planning to fail.
Investing more thought — more than none, anyway — into what could ultimately replace it, and what we could do to steer the post-1787-Constitution toward better alternatives, wouldn’t be a bad idea.
HumboldtBlue
How about those Cubs?
sanjeevs
What Martin said.
Jerzy Russian
@HumboldtBlue:
They seem to be winning tonight, at least. Two more outs to go.
ETA: Zero outs to go.
Chetan Murthy
Adam, I sure hope you don’t stop posting on these subjects. Your long-running seminar, starting with The Maskirovka Slips, has been immensely valuable to me and I’m sure others. I can’t imagine who could be sending you negative feedback about this, and I’m sorry it’s happening.
I keep wondering when you’re going to be announcing your book deal. B/c your work merits wider distribution, that’s for sure.
topclimber
Here I was hoping your next post would tell us more about effective countermeasures. Ergo, don’t stop now!
Emma from Miami
No. You.Don’t.Stop.
I”m one of the ones that can get palpitations reading your posts. BUT they are the informed view of an expert. I need — we all need — reality now. Every idiot and his brother has an opinion in the internet and I want someone that gives me the unvarnished truth as he sees it from a point of his expertise. And as you say, you have never claimed the godlike ability to set the future in stone. I trust you to point out where and if your evaluation went off the rails.
Edmund Dantes
Spring of 2020:
Dr Fauci could you stop posting so much about how worried you are due to your years of expertise on infectious diseases. It’s distressing to some blog readers.
Blows my fucking mind this is happening to Adam on this blog.
Aziz, light!
Adam, I think you are a modern volcanologist in first century Pompeii. Please keep trying to drum the same level of apprehension into all and sundry.
Dan B
Adam; I appreciate your posts. They are disturbing but I do not find them to be depressing. There seem to be threats that could coalesce into something that puts us into Jim Crow 2.0 or Orban / Erdogan territory. I feel like I’m not alone in wondering how we get through these threats to democracy in the midst of a pandemic of Covid and toxic disinformation. It feels like we need superpowers to push back the demons but I’ve survived the horrors of being a deviant sex criminal (gay in the 50’s and 60’s) and AIDS. Each time it was terrible to face the reality but it was the only way. Putting one foot in front of the other when it was never certain that each step was in the right direction is emotionally draining. But there were times when the Mafia failed to kill us, the Vice Squad didn’t throw us in Cook County Jail, and the APA decided to do research on our status in the DSM. Changes happened quickly because we laid a foundation of people who would support justice and fair treatment. I could not avoid serious threats because if who I was. I feel it’s the same with other minorities. I’ll do what black women believe needs to be done and skip the big leaps that utopian dreams require.
One step at a time.
laura
I appreciate a glass of ice water to the face when there’s vital information about clear and present danger and I’m sorry that your expertise comes at the cost that Cassandra has always paid.
TXSwede
Adam,
A main reason I lurk here is your deep expertise. Please don’t let people drive you off.
The truth sometimes hurts, but it really matters.
trollhattan
Adam, most importantly, your work here is valued, appreciated and if/when also disturbing, it’s just a product of our disturbing times.
That these truths are neither widely accepted much less understood, is the product of a million problems. Some can be fixed, others…?
Lyrebird
@Chetan Murthy: Thanks, you said what I was thinking, and more clearly than I could right now.
Adam, I could never ever handle doing what you do for work. That does not mean I don’t think you should do it. I could never be a dentist, either! Your “hold the line” post made a huge difference in how I faced life post 11/9/2016. No one is right all the time, but I am so glad that I can learn from some of your informed observations.
I see your raising the alarm as constructive. You don’t use the same tone as Cole does when he is in “everybody wake the — up now this is bad!” mode. You are not clones!
Omnes Omnibus
@Edmund Dantes:
Oh, fuck off. People disagree with him. I do. I don’t disagree too much with his analysis of the situation. I do disagree with his prognosis. Oddly enough, Marx did a really good analysis of the problem he studied, but his prognosis was off the mark as well. In addition, the main problem with Adam’s threads on this topic is that they bring out every doom merchant in the commentariat to talk about how we are minutes from the Lord of the Flies with extermination camps. This is, at best, unhelpful. So, to sum up, fuck off.
Brachiator
@Winston:
I didn’t watch the show. I don’t believe in ET visitation or ET invasion.
But even so, here’s the deal. Let’s say we were lied to. What material difference has it made?
ET ain’t coming to save us.
David Fud
I view your posts as very necessary and enlightening as well. There are so many comments about the community in JC’s thread of skipping a post. For those who are too upset by your posts, Adam, they should skip them. The rest of us need to see and hear what you see and hear so that we have some idea about what to do.
Now, if you don’t want to do it anymore, that is fine, but please don’t let some voices here stop you. It is too important that someone lay down markers of how far through the looking glass we have gone.
piratedan
With the constant assault on our institutions a recurring theme that runs thru these maneuvers is that these people behind the scenes are well nigh untouchable because they’re hidden from view of any scrutiny or even indirect repercussions of their actions. Does it make sense to do a better job requesting who is behind the curtain and drag them into the light?
Nelle
Thank you for all you’ve written. I hope you continue. My daughter has been asking if she needs to get out of the country because her Jewish side is screaming, Germany 1930’s. I’m less interested in how this makes people feel than how we best act and react. What you’ve shared with us is important. And vital.
Jerzy Russian
@Edmund Dantes: Dr. Fauci is an actual scientist, who is an expert in an actual scientific field. Political science has a lot more opinion built in, and others can disagree with those opinions. All involved are human and can fuck up, but Dr. Fauci is not equivalent to Dr. Silverman here.
It might help if Dr. Silverman could stop losing his shit on the front page and in the comments. He doesn’t do it often, but still…
Dan B
@Princess Leia: Well put!
I’m often shocked and then realize it’s partially because I’ve bern feeling this anxiety and suppressing it until I could figure out if I’m alone in these feelings. Could I be off base? It’s discouraging to feel so uncertain. Making change requires some leaps into the uncertain and the unknown. Any improvement in our vision is valuable.
Edmund Dantes
@Omnes Omnibus: then stay the fuck out of his post comments.
MomSense
Adam, please don’t stop posting about this. Yes, it is incredibly upsetting but it is the reality we have to face and fight. We need information to fight this effectively.
I find it difficult to comment on your posts in real time because I need to digest them. They are invaluable.
Gbear
My favorite FM oldies station in the Twin Cities just started running MyPillow ads. I emailed them last night telling them that they’re supporting a seditionist and I was considering contacting their other advertisers. Got a letter back saying they’re a small company (which they are) and they’ll review it but that, basically, all money is green. Wrote back that that didn’t cut it this time. Now I need to figure out how far to carry the threat
Auntie Anne
I admit I struggle with Adam’s posts a bit. I generally read them slowly and often have to click away and come back to them. But what they say is very valuable. Adam, this is important information – we can’t fight what we don’t understand or know about. I also encourage you to keep writing.
Winston
@Brachiator: Watch the show. I came away with the idea they are trying to save us, for their own agenda. Like we are a reserve army for their billion year war.
CaseyL
Adam, I appreciate your posts enormously. As others have said, you’re not just “some guy on the internet,” but a SME in this area. Keep plugging.
If I have any caveat, it is simply that you don’t say much about what to do about the mess we’re in. IIRC< you’ve stated that isn’t your area of expertise, so you don’t feel comfortable weighing in on it.
But if you could offer an example/analysis of a country, or even region of a country, that has been to this brink and managed to escape intact* without widespread violence, that would be nice.
*”intact” meaning the asshole fascists did not succeed.
Jerzy Russian
@Brachiator:
Most people don’t realize how thoroughly most of the night sky is imaged nightly in various large-scale surveys (PANSTARRS, the Zwicky Transient Surveys, Evryscope, etc.). Airplanes and satellites (launched by humans) are a constant nuisance. Given the huge number of people involved, I seriously doubt any extraterrestial craft have been visiting us.
MomSense
BTW I’m listening to Rachel Bitecofer on the Bob Cesca podcast and she thinks we are in a more precarious position now than we were a year ago.
Omnes Omnibus
@Edmund Dantes: Dude, if I disagree with front pager, I will feel perfectly free to express my disagreement.
Mel
@VeniceRiley: Seconded!
Adam, I appreciate the expertise and perspective that you bring to assessments of current events. Just because it scares the hell out of me doesn’t mean it isn’t important for me to know.
That being said, sometimes I take a break from reading the posts for a few days b/c things are just too overwhelming and a break is essential to not losing myself to fear and worry and anger at the insanity going on around us all.
But I appreciate having your posts and Cheryl’s posts to turn to when I’ve pulled myself together again for a while.
Edmund Dantes
@Omnes Omnibus: Then don’t whine about having to read the comments.
Dopey
Adam, i greatly appreciate your posts, and find that many times you correct my thinking. Other times, you make me aware of the gaps in my understanding of the situation.
You are often the first poster i scan for. Don’t be gone too long.
There are no explanations for UFOs, for the simple reason that there are no little green men traveling to Earth to observe / manipulate us. What you are witnessing are ghost stories and tales of witches abroad in the night. We have more important -and far more urgent – matters threatening us.
Billions of people walk around with excellent cameras on their person, yet no one has produced an incontrovertible photo. As Enrico Fermi asked, “Where are they?”
Mel
@VeniceRiley: Off topic, but did you see that Suranne Jones is going to be back in a second season of “Gentleman Jack”?
Looks like it’s currently in production, at least as of late last month.
Omnes Omnibus
@Edmund Dantes: Don’t whine about my whining. That’s so derivative.
Winston
@Jerzy Russian: Watch the show.
RaflW
Seeing horrible toadie and Wisconsin-wrecker Scott Walker’s YAF now nakedly calling for an end to *legal immigration*, coupled with insane barking of Ron DeSantis that it’s Biden’s fault that immigrants are bringing in Covid, I have to agree with at least some level of Adam’s sense of crisis.
Each of the previous ratchets have not caused the level of condemnation and ostracization that it absolutely should have. Oh, and having Rod Dreher and Tucker Carlson off publicly licking Viktor Orban’s boots in Hungary. <chef’s kiss of awful>
We are way, far beyond the looking glass. That said, I want to know what to do. I don’t just want to be alarmed. I want to take appropriate, measured action to be on the good side of whatever shit is coming.
eta: @MomSense: I certainly feel we’re more on the knife’s edge (OK, I guess that’s precarious!). But what I mean is, it could go very badly. Or this budding wave of people saying “fuck you vaccine and mask deniers, we’re heading to school in weeks and you’re fucking everything up” could be a very positive turning point. It’s developing quickly, as is the Delta surge.
Brachiator
I value Adam’s posts. I don’t always agree with him. But I am never frightened or discouraged by his posts.
I get more frustrated with people who insist that they need happy talk and a happy place or they just can’t hang.
The bottom line is that we need the input, wisdom and positive action of people of good will to continue the good fight.
And we always need the most accurate assessment of where we stand.
But if the most accurate assessments are too overwrought or off-putting, they may get rejected despite any good intention to inform.
James E Powell
No worries. I think everyone gets where you’re coming from.
People don’t all respond the same way to stress. Some need to be alarmed in order to be energized. Others find it debilitating.
For anyone unduly depressed, scared, upset, or angered, I recommend taking action. Get involved with your local Democratic Party, start building your own network of people you will get to the polls.
LeftCoastYankee
Your content is compelling. Your presentation… I believe the word is “editor”.
Some of it is this blog, where there’s no Adam Silverman bio for newbies saying “who is this guy?”. Consequently, there’s a bit more “why I’m qualified” and “why I know this” content to navigate than is necessary for frequent readers.
Headers or bullets are nice too for navigation. Not sure if this site allows that too much, but give it a shot some rainy day.
Winston
@Dopey: Yet there are photos and videos. You are like the Repubs who didn’t watch the hearings for 1/6.
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@RaflW: not his boots, though
Jackie
Adam, I value your thoughts and concerns. I get scared, then I get mad and more resolved to fight. I won’t give up on democracy and will continue to do what I can to save it for my grandchildren and their grandchildren.
Whenever I despair, I remember how deliriously happy I felt when Biden won, and, then how against all odds we won TWO SEATS in Georgia and took back the Senate. Then, I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and fight, again.
Please keep sharing your thoughts and concerns.
HumboldtBlue
The men’s skateboarding final was epic.
Y’all motherfuckers over here being triflin’.
Sports is all about the comebacks.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Jerzy Russian: I generally take any “ancient ET” stories as refusing to admit that our ancestors were as smart (or possibly smarter a bit (long story)) as we are, and did not have the thousands of years of often poorly kept knowledge we have today. “Modern ET” stories I believe are a mixture of poorly kept secrets, mis-understanding, bad faith, and psychosis. Not unlike conservative politics these days.
As far as the red flashing lights on the future of our democracy Adam? I completely agree with you. The Republican party is not remotely sorry for attempting to install a military coup January 6th. Embarrassed, yes. Afraid of repercussions, yes. Sorry that they tried it in the first place, not at all.
I remember a long time ago, with you, Adam, talking about counterrorism, with the white, black and grey portions of a population. The historically unusual, with both Trump and Biden, stability of their public approval numbers is terrifying. It tells me that Trump massively reduced the grey zone during his term. And without a healthy grey population, bad things often happen.
Ksmiami
@wonkie: forewarned is forearmed. And the other side is brain dead and lusting for power. But their numbers are smaller
UncleEbeneezer
Your posts use military/war-speak but the tone of concern really isn’t any different than I have heard from Marc Elias, Adam Schiff, Brian Schatz and heck, even Amy Klobuchar. I’m heartened by the fact that many of our Reps/Sens seem to get it and are starting more and more to sound the alarm. I also think that presenting a new version of Voting Rights (that addresses Gerrymandering and election subversion) is a good sign that they take this threat very seriously and think there is a way to get Manchinema onboard somehow. But yes, most of the people I know who don’t follow politics closely are treating this like a Trump victory in 2016 (laughing it off as ridiculous) and that scares me.
RoonieRoo
@Omnes Omnibus: :: stands next to Omnes Omnibus:: ::Hands over a mostly empty box of aluminum foil:: ::shrugs::
Brachiator
@Winston:
If ET don’t show up and openly talk to us, I ain’t interested.
This also sounds too much like a religious sensibility displaced onto alien invaders.
Instead of “we must understand and do God’s will,” it is now “we must understand and do ET’s will.”
Sorry. I got better things to do.
ETA is there a good book or movie about alien invaders who turn out to be intergalactic grifters selling ET style snake oil?
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Brachiator: I’m sure there are many, Kindle Unlimited is an amazing source for stories like that.
Jerzy Russian
@Brachiator:
I seem to recall, and I won’t Google this because it is not important enough, that there was this movie called “Morons from Outer Space.” As you might gather from the title, some aliens came to Earth one day, and they (the aliens) were a bunch of morons.
Jay
Keep posting Adam,
there is a big difference between raising the alarm and inciting panic.
I read everything you write and all the comments.
There is this stupid idea, that the person who points out the problems, is also supposed to have all the answers.
I value everything you have written.
scav
This place would be — will be — immeasurably poorer without Adam’s contributions.
And I really don’t like the happy talk tone police insisting their needs and personal style be catered to. They’re hitting the same nerve that’s been worn out by the anti-vaxers and economically-anxious white males insisting their whims and demands be constantly first in line.
Edmund Dantes
@scav: and it’s completely contrary to the history of this blog.
Ksmiami
Don’t stop posting the reality of where we are. But we need to squash the growing fascist movement like a bug, right fucking now. By any and all means necessary.
HRA
Adam I would rather be informed than not be informed by someone who has the experience and knowledge of the subject. I always look forward to your writings.
Raven
Fucking Peacock
Winston
@Brachiator: I get what you are saying. You and I will probably not be here when it happens. Sucks to be us. But there is plenty of documentation in the Netflix Video that you refuse to look at that makes you a republican McCarthy, so fuck you.
Keith P.
@Winston: Wouldn’t their amazing technology be better used making an army (robots/drones, clones, etc) than trekking light years across nothingness to recruit a bunch of primitives to fight for them? (BTW: This is almost verbatim my major complaint about “The Tomorrow War”)
HumboldtBlue
@Raven:
NBC Olympics dot com
grammypat
Adam, You do you. You’re here to write of your lived experiences and expertise. Please keep doing so, refreshingly platitude-free.
If *people* get angry or scared or simply disagree with what you write … then “fuckem” as a wise man once said. If they can’t deal and don’t want to feel uncomfortable by a dose of reality, then they should just skip your posts and stick with the abundance of feel-good OTR / garden / canning / duck posts.
Yeah, I’ve thought that you sometimes write as if you’re hair’s on fire, but I appreciate your passion. Your posts are informative and valuable. I would consider this place lessened by their absence.
Winston
@Keith P.: Well The Tomorrow war wasn’t a documentary. but I liked the movie. The netflix documentary is not a movie. So unless you have watched it, what is your point?
Raven
@HumboldtBlue: Ive got Peacock, I want to be able to record it instead of being up in the middle of the fucking night
HumboldtBlue
Here’s Snoop Dogg and Kevin Hart hanging with Kenny Mayne.
Youse need to have a beer and a bowl.
Raven
Not one trey!
HumboldtBlue
@Raven:
Well, good luck.
Dan B
@Omnes Omnibus: Your disagreements verge regularly into insults and put downs. There seems to be fueled by emotion and doses of machismo. When you don’t use these your intelligence is evident.
Raven
@HumboldtBlue: No luck to it, I up watching this horror show!
Dan B
@Omnes Omnibus: Can’t let go. Not a good look. What are you defending?
Winston
Why don’t you fuckers just watch the fucking movie?
Citizen Alan
@Nelle: I was going to leave in 2004. Then, my father had a serious accident that left him largely an invalid, and my mother begged me not to move away. So I didn’t. There hasn’t been a day since when I haven’t wondered: “Have I waited too late?”
James E Powell
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]:
I do not think any of them are embarrassed and I do not think they fear repercussions. They are shameless and only interact with their adoring fans. And the next time they face repercussions will be the first time.
They have no doubt that the obstruction and the racism is going to work and that they are going to win big in 2022.
PIGL
@Omnes Omnibus: have not Bothered to post here in quite a while; sorry to see that you haven’t changed a bit.
PIGL
@Edmund Dantes: hear him!
hear them both!
JCJ
@Raven: KD to the rescue!
Raven
@JCJ: And just D!
suffragette city
Tucker Carlson in Hungary praising Viktor Orban on Fox
Chris Roach writing favorable screeds about a Portuguese authoritarian, António de Oliveira Salazar.
Curtis Yarvin advocating for an American Caesar.
Ben Domenech on Fox claiming patriots will do whatever it takes to preserve civilization (white supremacy).
New Gingrich on Fox pushing the Replacement Theory
We need your expertise. We really do. I’m sorry others get so upset, but they can scroll on by. You educate and separate the bull from the ..shite. Thank you so much!
Brachiator
@Winston:
I don’t have Netflix and am not going to get it for a single show. If the evidence is compelling, it must be available somewhere else.
I have noted that I am not interested in peekaboo aliens. If they are hiding and will not reveal their plans until I am long gone, why should I care?
If they have a workable plan to help defeat Republicans, then they might get my attention. Otherwise I have no obligation to pay any attention to at best speculative stuff that has no material impact on my life.
Morzer
We won’t get anywhere if we just indulge the people who refuse to face the harsh truths of our times. We desperately need people who will tell us how bad things are and how we can fight back and defeat the forces of hate, malice, corruption and tyranny that are howling at the door of civilization. Adam, I am asking you not to stop posting because of a few people who don’t want to face the situation we are in. What you and your comrades do is extremely valuable and we can’t afford to stop listening to you now. Please, don’t quit at a time when we need you more than ever.
Edmund Dantes
@James E Powell: my favorite is the belief we win in 2020, we can do it again. Just need to tinker around the edges while they spent 4 years of trump presidency lining up the courts, and everything else to go into hyperdrive voter suppression and election tampering.
The voting rights bill is the insane bare minimum that needs to be done (and that’s like putting a piece of bubble gum in the 10 foot tall crack in the Hoover dam), and the Dem establishment is acting like “hey we got this. We’re going to canvass really really hard. We are going to try to pass a really watered down bill on voting rights (if we pass anything at all).”
and we’re the doomsayers for pointing out that the entire gop apparatus has been lining up for decades on stacking the courts, states, etc to make elections go their way but don’t worry “vote” in the system they are handily rigging left and right.
and their is only so much on the ground people can do. A lot of what needs to be done relies on politicians taking real concrete actions to counteract this stuff. Recognizing that the need for quarter steps and half measures is way behind us.
A lot of the noise out of the centrist Dems is okay we’ll consider calling the ensigns to start manning the bilge pumps when the water in the holds is already tipping over the tops of the waterproof bulkheads. Actually it’s worse than that as they are still acting like the filibuster is something to be saved. And it’s not just Sinema and Manchin on the filibuster.
Anotherlurker
@Winston: The show is bollocks. All it is is a continuation of of The “History” Channel’s descent into the dumbing down of society. Until you actually see research, not speculation, consider shows like this nothing but sensational click bait.
http://Skeptoid.com
Start your own research by going to Skeptoid.com and searching for UFOs. Brian Dunning, the creator of Skeptoid has 2 recent podcasts dealing with the recent UFO “revelations”.
BTW, before you label me as bad and as closed minded as a Republican, please know that I am a former casual believer in UFOs. At least I was before I started to look into the matter. What I found is that the closer you look at the anecdotal “evidence”, the less convincing it becomes. Get familiar with the concept of Occam’s Razor.
For the record: I would love to SCUBA Dive with Nessie and take a day trip to Alpha Centauri in a 2 seater flying saucer piloted by a hot alien Babe and do shots of Jamison with Bigfoot and Mothman.
Morzer
@Edmund Dantes: I agree with you 100%. The question that needs to be asked is this: what if the GOP succeed in giving themselves the power to just choose the results of any election they like? What can the Democrats do, other than rolling over and smiling for the cameras? As I see it, there are two possible answers: knuckle under to a racist, repulsive tyranny of morons, fanatics and creeps, or… refuse to be part of the illegitimate system they have constructed and constitute a legitimate system of our own. You know, the old no taxation without representation thing.
VeniceRiley
@Mel: OFFTOPIC and yes. I’m looped in on FB. ;-)
We need you, Adam, precisely because we do not have the luxury of time. Global warming means we don’t get to kick the can down the road and fix it twenty years or so hence and history marches on. That’s not how this will go down if we lose. Don’t silence the alarm bells.
Morzer
@Anotherlurker: Everything I know about aliens, I learned from the X-files.
the pollyanna from hell
Regarding ufos: humans have evolved to recognize causation by personality even when it doesn’t exist. The last few centuries of scientific advance have taught us to save that kind of pattern matching for a very last resort. Sci-fi is my preferred literary poison, and I expect ufo research to give the same thrill: the gods are about to speak! When the physical mysteries are cleared up, I expect to be equally thrilled by every explanation. Actual creation is plenty enough scripture of the creator until the demon-gods arrive.
Morzer
@the pollyanna from hell: My demon-gods are choosy about their treats and miaow disapprovingly when they don’t get them. They walk among us!
Anotherlurker
@Morzer: LOL! All the “proof” that is vomited by the UFO crowd can be found in “The X Files”.
It was a great show, BTW.
Anotherlurker
@Winston: Winnie, Baby, I just started watching the “UFO De-classified” show that you speak of. You really are one of the truly feeble minded to fall for this warmed over UFO bullshit.
All this show is is a re-vomiting of all the tired, tropes and rumors coupled with clever editing and out of context quotes.
BTW, I will never get back the time I wasted on this bullshit show.
BTW. Fuck you, troll.
eddie blake
adam, i for one very much appreciate your well-thought out posts. it’s important to understand what your enemy is doing, and why.
(i also enjoy the deep well that is your comics and genre knowledge.)
Another Scott
I’m surprised and disappointed to read this. I thought that we were wrasslin’ to get a better understanding. Sorry if my probably poorly expressed disagreement has caused you distress.
Hope to see you back soon, even if we don’t see eye to eye on a topic or few.
Cheers,
Scott.
Richard
Trying to tell people what is likely true but that they don’t want to hear is a thankless gig.
Dan B
@Another Scott: Your comments always seem strong and maybe a touch of grumpy but clear and not veering into ad hominem attacks. I don’t agree that we need to avoid doom and gloom but I do agree most of us can be overwhelmed. At the same time Covid and extreme weather have everyone on edge and we need to cut each other some slack and push back against people who continue to insult differing opinions.
NobodySpecial
Was there some great number of comments in that thread that got deleted or something? Because I didn’t see any orgiastic outpouring of hatred towards Adam in the responses I read.
Now, I DID see some people get despairing, but this shit has been going on for years and there’s a global pandemic on top of it and everyone has a breaking point, so I’m not too concerned with that.
What DOES concern me are the ancients who insist that this is Kristallnacht and we should all abandon our properties and livelihoods and go run to places already ecologically fragile or prepare to shoot my neighbor down the block because he had an anti-Pritzker sign in his yard and he’s coming in the dead of night to burn my house down with me in it.
They’re having to get this extreme because they know the jig is up, and even their worst efforts can’t stop what’s coming. They did this gerrymander thing last time, too, and they lost a bunch of close seats because of it. They’re unpopular, tied to the most ridiculous President of the last century, and they keep having to chop the districts so finely that they have zero margin for error.
To paraphrase a movie I loved as a kid, the more they tighten their grasp, the more places will slip through their fingers.
Tehanu
@Martin Schafer: Totally agree with you. Adam is a treasure.
@Morzer: Adam, I too am asking you not to stop posting — or at least, if you’re sick & tired of dealing with this crap and need a break, to come back after you catch your breath. Your posts really help me understand whatever you write about.
way2blue
Adam, I value your analysis of current events from your military intelligence background. We need that perspective in the mix as we grapple with the ongoing dismantling of America’s democratic framework. Desperately. Please don’t silence yourself because some want to ‘shoot the messenger’. We’ve already lost Cheryl’s voice…
lurker
For what it’s worth, I come here for unvarnished takes from somewhat reasonable people. If the christmas tree is all showing red (talk from my submarine buddies), don’t pull a Bob Woodward and sit on it for six months until your book comes out.
It helps to have leavening or layering or something food-related involving open threads (“How about those cubs” is a classic), picture essays, recipes (meaning to mess up a few of those in the kitchen someday) and other info. Also, for all that David seems incapable of supplying sufficient referee threads, his health care stuff is pretty good… maybe really good.
I also let off some steam by venting with snark to high heavens. Some of my departed relatives have told me they can see my piles of snark from up in heaven, and that is why they are not letting me in.
Keep on keeping on.
ColoradoGuy
Adam, thank you ever so much for your deeply thoughtful and superbly-researched postings. If we can’t see them here, please tell us where to look in the future, because these are must-read items we will NOT see in the mainstream press.
It’s clear we are fighting a war with something that looks like the Fascist International, which is backed by the two most powerful fascist states in the world … Russia and China … as well as an association of the mega-wealthy in the West. We need to know what the most likely next moves are. Rupert Murdoch clearly has a key role, but the other players are not as obvious.
sab
My long comment just got eaten. Sigh.
Adam, please keep posting. I share your concern. Election rules feel really broken now. It’s frightening, but we shouldn’t just ignore it.
I come down somewhere between Adam and Omnes, but more on Adam’s side. I really have no patience for people trying to shut the discussion down. They can just go participate in a respite thread, but we need to be discussing this.
We had an armed mob attack the capitol. We had a letter from a Trump flunky at DOJ encouraging election interference and none of the lawyers there thought the American public needed to be informed about it, and a national press that thought they were heroic for not signing the damn thing. We have had rubber stamped lifetime judicial appointments of guys with no experience who could barely pass the bar exam. We have state legislatures putting mechanisms in place to overturn elections.
I think a lot of people are fighting back, but I am still alarmed. Ignoring things certainly won’t fix them.
Mary G
Coming to the thread late, but just chiming in to agree that if you feel you can take the crap that people throw at you, I hope you’ll continue. First of all, it gives me a kick in the ass when I’ve gotten a bit lazy about calling/writing reps, donating, and writing to voters. Second, you sent me an email responding to my questions a month or two ago, and it made me evaluate my position as to whether to try to bug out or not and stay and fight. I would rather stay and fight, plus there are a dearth of countries willing to take a fat old woman in a wheelchair who isn’t rolling in dough. I did make a contingency plan so I have done everything I feel I can and will just keep battling. There’s no shame in losing if I fight as hard as I can, the only shame would be in giving up or pretending that there are not very perilous times, by far the worst of my life. At least it’s not boring.
swiftfox
This is the opposite of what the blog needs. These days 70% of the posts are done by two people who do not write their own material. My comment would be to keep writing but do judicious editing. Your posts are too long.
Rob
@Lyrebird:This
@David Fud: And this. Adam, please don’t cut back on your posting. This lurker finds your posts to be very informative and hopes to see more of them.
Geminid
I have no problem with Mr. Silvermans posts on the topic of the subversion of our democracy, in form or in content. I can see why he would want to restrict them going forward, though. I just hope he will continue contributing on topics ranging from Israeli politics to a man rescuing his pup from a gator while keeping his cigar, and what is between. These are of lesser magnitude in importance than that referenced in this post, but Adam’s posts on them are thought provoking and worthwhile.
MagdaInBlack
I look forward to your posts, Adam, and would certainly miss them if they stopped. You pull together all the little pieces I see as I’m rooting around the internet swamps. Do they upset me? Of course they do. Much of what I read in my rooting around upsets me. But we have to have some idea whats going on else how are we to fight it.
DCrefugee
Adam, please keep posting, if not here then somewhere else accessible. My only suggestion would be to judiciously edit your posts (or let me do it, ‘cuz it’s something I do for a living. This applies to Josh Marshall over at TPM, too, but that’s another gripe). Don’t forget to insert the “show full post on front page” tag after a couple of grafs.
When there’s so much craziness out IRL, it’s incredibly valuable to have someone with the background and training to break it down in what I would call macro-political terms. I don’t see that kind of content anywhere else — though I’m sure it’s out there, I’m too lazy to go find it.
Thanks for all you do.
Ksmiami
@Morzer: burn it to the ground. start over and we will have the majority with us… if the institutions are failing all at once, then stop funding or living under them…
WereBear
Please go on! This is supposed to be a full service blog :)
Just put the bulk of your analysis behind a cut or something. I don’t read the sports posts and the other folks don’t have to read your posts.
That’s democracy. Everybody wants to stay used to it!
Antonius
Okay, I’ve been reading this blog for about 15 years or so, and I think I’ve substantially commented once, other than wishing John and other readers well after some mishap or downright tragedy, but really, I’ve had enough of some of the commentariat here. If you find a font pager’s posts disturbing, then don’t fucking read them. It’s that simple. Cheryl’s decamped, and it appears that some of you are are intent on driving out the other real expert on this blog, not by disagreeing, but by being assholes to him. You know who you are. Stop it. Either disagree politely, STFU, or don’t read the poster you vehemently disagree with. For Christ’s sake, get a grip people. Writing here is a FUCKING VOLUNTEER JOB that’s difficult and takes a lot of time, so I’ll thank you to stop giving shit to people who are just trying to help out others with their goddam FREE EXPERTISE. And no, I’m not going to get into a long discussion about how I feel about this, or whether I’m right, or whether my point is improperly nuanced. Grow the fuck up and stop looking a gift horse in the mouth. The End. See you in another 16 years if you haven’t driven off every post beyond cute pets, unless someone works up a problem with those too.
Circularreasoning
Long time (like 10 years) lurker, first time poster here. Adam, content like yours is exactly why this blog is in my daily read pattern. Please continue!
Kay
Oh, Adam ignore them.
They know perfectly well they’re free to skip your posts if the posts are “too scary” – it’s freaking ridiculous that we can’t have a range of opinions on the potential outcomes of this.
Write what you want to write. You should also write a book but I think you probably know that and perhaps don’t need my encouragement :)
debbie
@MomSense:
Exactly! Not talking about this won’t make it disappear.
Mousebumples
Add me to the chorus of those who appreciate your perspective and posts, Adam… Even though I’m also in the hoping and praying group that we’ll head things off at the pass and they won’t come to fruition. Thanks for your efforts.
debbie
Having skimmed the entire thread, I stand with Adam. Some of his thoughts are over my head (I’m only a fine arts major, after all), but I know they come from a place of knowledge and a wealth of experience, so I depend on them for a better understanding of what a fucking shitstorm we’re in the middle of.
I must say that sometimes the disagreements in the thread help me better understand the situation, so they shouldn’t stop, but they do need to remain respectful and without whininess. And least of all, no one should be suggesting how to fucking format these posts. Copy and paste, and reformat to your heart’s content.
Wayne
Adam, you make me know what I didn’t know, what I didn’t even not know what I should know. Or some thing like that. Keep at it.
wenchacha
Adam, I look forward to your posts. If they upset me too much, I guess I can gloss over them, same as I do with animal/gardening posts or other stuff that I may not need to delve into at the time.
Please keep telling us what you see! And I second the request of maybe pointing us toward ways to counteract the fascists. What works? What fails?
I thank you for sharing your insights here.
Procopius
@Winston: I wish you would look at this evaluation of the Navy videos. Go down to the clip titled “New Navy Videos Explained.” It may not convince you, but it convinces me the the lies are the ones we’re being told now that they can’t explain these images. The tell is where the guy says, “I’m looking at these ships…,” when he’s not looking at ships, he’s looking at images on a cathode ray tube. It indicates to me he’s already persuaded himself these are aliens, instead of the more probable explanations. I’m not saying the laws of physics as we understand them are immutable truth, that would not be science. Frankly I would love to have them be interstellar travelers, because that might mean we could send settlers to other worlds, and might also persuade our government to stop provoking hostility that could lead to nuclear war. And maybe they have evidence still classified that doesn’t have such easy explanations as these — I would expect so. It’s just that I’ve been seeing images very much like these presented as evidence for 70 years, and if they can’t get better resolution than this they just aren’t trying.
Josie
@Antonius:
You have expressed the feeling I was having as I read this post and the comments. Thanks for saying this. The scroll feature on the computer is a really helpful one when one doesn’t like what is being written. It works much better than hateful comments.
Adam, please don’t stop posting.
Ixnay
OK. Been mostly lurking here since the early part of the century. +1 for Dr S. Keep the pieces coming, and as EFG always said, “fuckem.”
AJ
Adam I find your posts some of the best reading of the last few years.
I hope you will keep posting them and not hold anything back. I don’t want to wake up in an Orban regime here and have you or anyone else ever thing “if only we were more direct and honest before all this happened.”
Please keep sharing your perspective and expertise.
Denali
Adam, your posts are invaluable if a bit lengthy. We all are alarmed at the events and the mild reactions to the insurrection. We all are looking for anwers to what to do in these frightening times. My son is working and has a family in Hungary-what can he do about Orban? All the political emails I receive end up asking for money. I am not a millionaire. What I can give is meaningless in the face of billionaires. I protested against the Iraq war- what difference did that make? Our governement lied to us then. That showed that they will lie when it it to their advantage. This frustration with answers to the terrible situation we are in is why there was such a strong response to. Adam’s article. But I think we still need to hear the truth.
Chief Oshkosh
@Edmund Dantes: I don’t see that anyone is running anyone off. If Adam doesn’t want to engage after posting his essays, that’s too bad, but I don’t see that anyone is running him off. It’s a freakin’ political blog. People are going to disagree.
@Edmund Dantes: Again, it’s a blog. You post something, someone’s going to disagree. Why shouldn’t they?
Bex
@RaflW: Late to the party, but for more on Orban & Co., read Ben Rohdes’s book After the Fall.
zhena gogolia
I hope you rescind this decision. We need all the voices right now. People here are smart enough to take in what they need and want. If it upsets them they don’t have to read it.
zhena gogolia
@debbie:
I must have missed a lot of whinging overnight!
Freemark
We need your posts. If you no longer feel comfortable posting here because of the reality averse please post elsewhere and let us know where.
Obdurodon
Not quite a regular, not quite a lurker, but I’ll add my two cents: Adam is one of the best things about this blog. Always *super* informative, and very patient even in the face of significant provocation.
Also I’ve noticed that one of the worst things about this blog has been uncharacteristically absent on this thread (so far). Maybe after seeing how it went for OO they’re learning a lesson, though somehow I doubt it.
New Deal democrat
Adam:
FWIW, it’s good to find out that I am not alone as one who has become alarmed by the course of events in the last 4+ years.
For the last 2 years, I have read many histories of Republics to try to find out why they succeed (Venice, Switzerland) or fail (Florence, or Rome after a good 500 year run). In that regard, the appearance of brownshirts (a coercive armed segment of a political faction) in the past year has been truly alarming.
Quinerly
@Antonius: very late to all of this. Hope you see this response from me… Thank you so much for saying this. Much appreciated. So on target.
Bex
@Wayne: Seconded. I look forward to any posts Adam does.
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
Right. The site’s all bunnies and flowers, then return and it’s snarling jackals! Be careful out there!
Quinerly
@Josie: ?
????
JimV
I don’t think I’ve commented on any of your posts so far, so thanks very much for all of your posts.
Spanish Moss
Adam, please continue to post on these topics. I find your posts fascinating, and I don’t get this kind of information anywhere else. I wouldn’t even know where to look. And it is important.
Chris Johnson
@Omnes Omnibus: This. I also think Adam is to some extent wrong in his projections.
Specifically, I think his notion of the optics of all this, has some problems. (a) Republicans doing what he expects is bad optics, and that damages them electorally. (b) the only way they can hang on to their base through that kind of behavior is to plausibly establish that the Democrats are literal demons setting up camps to kill everyone, or at the very least, establish that the Democrats are attacking first without due process.
I think Dem obsession with optics and (failing) institutions actually plays to our advantage here, and it’s not by accident. My hope is that folks (such as those at the Capitol) prepare, and are wary, but we have got to let the Trumpists overstep, and then operate from justice rather than vengeance (or worse, preemptive destruction).
It’s not for moral reasons, it’s for practical reasons. It is very easy to let pattern recognition turn stuff into monsters for you, something I try to keep some awareness about. For me it becomes blog paranoia, but I trust the electorate a bit more. For Adam, it seems to be a belief that the Republicans will pull off a coup and then people will just ACCEPT it and we’ll be done. For a thousand years, presumably.
If they got anything near that it would be their weakest position in decades. A lot of people need a pretense of, y’know, America being America. This is no time to flip into an authoritarian coup. Maybe if it was at the beginning of Trump’s term and there had been no pandemic? Right now, the problems of that approach are super obvious and the literal only refuge the right-wingers have is to insist ‘it’s immigrants who caused it!’.
phdesmond
for some reason i keep misreading Orban as … Rodan.
Chris Johnson
@New Deal democrat: Those who know me know I’m a weird fandom person (some know the only alt I ever made, which I ditched when I lost faith in the leftiest left).
In furry fandom we had the brownshirts for like TEN YEARS. There’s a famous incident a bunch of years ago in which some of the Nazis gassed a furry convention with a chlorine attack, injuring people (thankfully nobody got killed). If you think the brownshirts are just in the last year and therefore they’re suddenly mainstream and dangerous, you’re mistaken.
They’ve been here and they’ve been dangerous for many years and people don’t like them. SEEING them is actually a good sign, because they cover more ground (towards doing things like attacking people, terrorist attack etc) when you don’t see them.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
I would prefer Adam keep posting on these topics. People can disagree with his assessments and even be mad or weepy because they think they are right or it is too hard to think about. At the end of the day, though, we are all adults here. Any effort to shut down people who don’t agree with you is flat out immature. Its not like he’s posting on civil rights issues. He’s giving his personal threat assessments based on his knowledge and that is valuable. If you can’t handle it, stop reading and stay out of the comments. Go for a walk. Take a bubble bath. Watch a happy movie. Do what you need to then come back ready to fight for the future.
scribbler
@Antonius: Bravo.
I have been lurking here a long time too, and also don’t comment much. Agree completely with your well stated assessment!
grubert
Seldom comment but read daily.. over 10 years, blah blah.
Adam should keep on keeping on. He’s one of the best reasons to read this blog. I regularly refer people to his posts, via text messages and FB.
Every blog’s comment section has one or two people who have been there so long they start acting like hall monitors. Ignore em.
Jude
This is frustrating to read. Adam, your posts are fuel to continue fighting.
Living in a rural red community is exhausting. Our vote numbers are 2 Dem votes for every 3 Repug votes, so it’s not all lost. That means if I can squeeze a stone and get some lazy voters out in a mid-term, I can help mitigate the voter suppression in WI’s larger cities.
Adam, your posts help me keep going when I want to go back to being a lazy Dem. This is a war we’re losing because people want to relax. Well, that’s a certain defeat if we do.
Laura Too
Adam, I hope this isn’t too late for you to find. I can’t tell you how invaluable your posts have been for me. You know the drama from Minneapolis, I think you have a good idea how useful the knowledge I gleaned from them was. I do hope sometime we can meet IRL but until then, virtual hugs. Thank you for sharing your wisdom here.
PaulWartenberg
I woke up this morning to news of trump selling (of course he would $50 a pop) TRUMP Cards to show allegiance to him and nothing else.
I swear to God my first thought was to that TV movie I saw back in school about a teacher who pulled a social experience on his classes to demonstrate how fascism works – true story by the by – and I remembered one of the things that class did was issue their own membership card. It’s the same shit the Nazis and the Commies both pulled (BE PART OF THE ELITE, Y’ALL).
Christ. The MAGA Coup is ongoing and getting worse.
jlowe
I recall a post you wrote back in February about the Sadrists in Iraq craving legitimacy and thinking about the parallels to today’s Republican party. I live in a Red district in the Inland Northwest. It feels a bit like being behind enemy lines, with an armed wing of the GOP located not more than an hour’s drive from me. “Armed propaganda”, similar to what the CIA taught to the contras 40 years ago, is slowly becoming apparent here. However, are they ready for governing? All of the gunz in the world aren’t going to contain the outrage if you can’t keep the county’s wastewater treatment plant in operation.
I’ve concluded that professional Democrats do not have a concept of power projection, a gap that is starting to sink in for some. Over the lockdown last year, some of the readings I did alerted me to an authoritarian vibe growing among the more leftish portion of our political spectrum. The climate governance set is starting to lose its nerve about societal inaction over climate change and is becoming seduced by the writings of Carl Schmitt. Even reading Bruno Latour these days is becoming scary. Climate activist Andreas Malm published a book earlier this year titled, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, about direct action in the Anthropocene. I expect to be reading it soon, but what I’ve heard of it so far leads me to believe that Malm doesn’t really understand power or conflict and their roles in the impacts created by climate change. I don’t think he plays enough wargames.
There might be a glimmer of hope if the GOP wanted to be legitimate and run things but events over the last several years has left the impression there’s no real interest in “running things” and that it’s all about the cruelty and the grift.
I’m not creating threat assessments about this, rather, I’m writing scenarios for board games. Monetizing the rot that it is, I think more people will play a game before reading a document.
jlowe
I recall a post you wrote back in February about the Sadrists in Iraq craving legitimacy and thinking about the parallels to today’s Republican party. I live in a Red district in the Inland Northwest. It feels a bit like being behind enemy lines, with an armed wing of the GOP located not more than an hour’s drive from me. “Armed propaganda”, similar to what the CIA taught to the contras 40 years ago, is slowly becoming apparent here. However, are they ready for governing? All of the gunz in the world aren’t going to contain the outrage if you can’t keep the county’s wastewater treatment plant in operation.
I’ve concluded that professional Democrats do not have a concept of power projection, a gap that is starting to sink in for some. Over the lockdown last year, some of the readings I did alerted me to an authoritarian vibe growing among the more leftish portion of our political spectrum. The climate governance set is starting to lose its nerve about societal inaction over climate change and is becoming seduced by the writings of Carl Schmitt. Even reading Bruno Latour these days is becoming scary. Climate activist Andreas Malm published a book earlier this year titled, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, about direct action in the Anthropocene. I expect to be reading it soon, but what I’ve heard of it so far leads me to believe that Malm doesn’t really understand power or conflict and their roles in the impacts created by climate change. I don’t think he plays enough wargames.
There might be a glimmer of hope if the GOP wanted to be legitimate and run things but events over the last several years has left the impression there’s no real interest in “running things” and that it’s all about the cruelty and the grift.
I’m not creating threat assessments about this, rather, I’m writing scenarios for board games. Monetizing the rot that it is, I think more people will play a game before reading a document.
tybee
@Mousebumples:
+5
Miss Bianca
I think your posts are extremely valuable, Adam.
As to whether or not I always like what I’m reading…hell, no. Do I like hearing that I have high cholesterol and need to be taking medication for it? Also, hell no. But neither do I quibble with experts in their field about what they think it’s necessary for me to know. Keep on keepin’ on, Dr. Silverman!
schrodingers_cat
Why is everyone piling on Omnes ? All he said in the last thread that he agrees with AS’s analysis but not his prognosis, why is that so egregious?
StringOnAStick
Adam, you are why this blog has become my home base, and no one else here or out there is writing in this topic with your level of expertise or experience. My heart dropped when I read the title of Cheryl’s goodbye post because I was afraid it was you leaving. Your insights are invaluable and provide me with motivation to do more to stop them; I even like how long they are!
Jude
@StringOnAStick: I had the same thought and feeling too! So grateful for both their insights over the years.
Ann Marie
Adam, please keep posting! I appreciate your warnings and explanations. You are, of course, just one part of the many reasons I love this site, but I would very much miss your posts.
J R in WV
As usual, I may be the last poster on this thread. I’m OK with that, as everyone knows.
Adam, thanks so much for all you’ve written for this site. So valuable to learn from an expert in the field of politics and strategy!
Please, after you spend some time chilling, come back to Balloon-Juice to edumacate us some more. Many of us really need the education!
I will second the suggestion to move the bulk of a long written piece below the fold, but that isn’t criticism, just a typology suggestion. Take care friend, Delta Coronavirus is out for all of us!! Esp. in Florida!
JR
Juliet
Adam I read every word you say and am so glad you post. I love my dad but he was a Goldwater Republican and still thinks Nixon didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t want him or his political type in charge of anything!
flagpole
@Martin Schafer:
Never done this before, but here goes. Adam, please don’t stop. I’m theoretically an historian/analyst of all things Soviet and Russian, as well as of the Third Reich (theoretically because I got side-tracked into the private sector, in Russia, and therefore saved from a life of academic abuse). Your posts are hugely valuable to me, as something of a connoisseur of how fucking weird all this stuff is, and possibly moreso to people who have never had to grapple with such things. I’ve been pretty much terrified since returning Stateside in 1997, after most of 10 years all over the former Soviet Union, to find that, don’t look now, we’re headed into the same crypto-fascist rabbit-hole and most people can’t, and/or don’t want to, see it.
Kayla Rudbek
Adam, please keep on posting!