Walker88

I have two reasons for staying out of the US until the dust settles on the absolute disaster and real American carnage that will be 47. One is that I'm not a fan of dictatorships, where anyone who criticizes the weak man is "deranged", an "enemy within", and will be the target of a "military tribunal" or alleged kiddie-diddler Gaetz' proxy retribution-ist (All nominees will be installed via recess appointments, so spineless Repubs need not fear a mean Tweet or being "primaried"). I also know the economy is going to collapse with an abject incompetent---the clown who inherited a growing economy and 4.8% UE and left his successful successor a Recession and 6.8% UE, who was the first POTUS since Hoover to leave office with fewer Americans working than when he entered, and who even before Covid produced the lowest GDP growth since the end of WWII, who at least had a few guardrails as 45, but will have none as 47---at the helm of the economic Titanic. On the plus side for his cult, there might be a couple of strawberry-picking jobs, at least in the early stages of the Administration, where their lack of education will not be an impediment to 'success' and the 'Merikan Dream. Get your Moonpies and RC Cola while you can! The second reason is with the shutting down of the FBI (per Elon and Vivek, at the request of the crybaby who thinks he should be able to steal thousands of highly classified documents and pay no price) and with Tulsi as DNI, I know the intel community's best are leaving and bugging out of the US. The US WILL face a major terrorist attack in the next few years (I expect BOTH a dirty bomb and a bioterror weapon, as the combo of no US intel service of any skill, plus a total lack of liaison sharing makes the US an easy target), transnational crime will find a new home, kiddie diddlers and kiddieporn fans will have no FBI to stop them, serial killers---you know, great guys like Hannibal Lecter---will only have to fool donut-munching local cops, foreign intel services will recruit clandestine assets in every govt department, China and France will recruit clandestine assets in every cutting edge AI/quantum computing/materials science/etc. corporation, and drugs will flood in not over or under 52 miles of non-Mexican funded wall, but straight through the ports. Oh, and we'll be at war with Iran, because 45 wanted to do that before the 2020 election (and he wanted to attack China after he lost, per Gen Milley, as 45 assumed a war would allow him to declare an emergency and stay in power), and because 47 will not want to have a military under his command and NOT attack SOMEBODY, as he thinks that will make him less than the bloated, cowardly girlyman he is. 47 will blame Biden, MSNBC, Liz Cheney, Adam Schiff, George Soros, Taylor Swift, etc., and his House and Senate, along with his cult members in this Forum, will say "Nobody could have seen all this coming" (you know, like Covid, where he was warned by the agency as early as Nov 2019). And most important, the people will have gotten that for which they asked. Yes, elections DO have consequences. I'll be in my bugout location, sitting back and enjoying a case of '97 Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino along with a heaping plate of schadenfreude. Now all of his cult members here can come back in 4 years (if you are still alive, especially those on a USG pension who---if they still get it---will be paid in worthless USDs) and laugh at those of us who never drank the Kool-Aid and were never fooled either by painfully transparent 45/47 or Nigerian 419 scammers. Remember, though, that he who laughs last, laughs best. Danderman, wherever you are, I tip my glass to you! The cult, like the dinosaurs, simply could not see the asteroid coming.

You mean the way 45 did after Biden beat him in 2020? Besides being illegal, that sure looked like girlyman behavior to me.

Admittedly the Dems are really bad at messaging, while the Repubs are quite good at blowing up statements made by the uber far left into alleged Dem policy. Repubs are also quite skilled at hypocrisy. Case in point..... The Elon and Vivek Show known as DOGE is being given the mandate to close down whatever agencies and departments they think should go. Among others such as the Dept of Education, the ATF, the IRS (good luck with the National Deficit), one on the chopping block is the FBI. (Remember the outrage over one or two fringe Dems saying something about defunding the police?). Elon and his sidekick are not just talking about defunding the FBI (per the request of the POTUS-elect, who thinks he had every right to steal TS, SCI, SAP, Codeword, HCS and RD documents and keep them at his golf club/wedding planning facility, where anyone willing to pony up $200K---such as Chinese MSS operatives---can join), but shutting it down altogether. Efrem Zimbalist, Jr would be outraged! Now the FBI does an important and valuable job, for those of you who do not know. Get rid of that agency, and we all better hope the typical donut-munching cop in Keokuk, Iowa is up to speed on al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, La Cosa Nostra and Russian Mafia, serial killers, drug lords, forieng intel agents from everywhere from Iran to North Korea to Israel to Russia operating in the US, importers of fake medicines, movement of radioactive material such as U-235 and plutonium, various forms of trans-national crime, human trafficking, kiddieporn, and assorted other threats and security risks that are rather unlikely to be part of the knowledge and skillset beat cops bring to the table. Couple this with a total shutdown of liaison intelligence cooperation because nobody in Five Eyes, the BND, DGSE, NPA or NISSK, trusts the POTUS-elect, much less Tulsi Gabbard, and the US instantly becomes a much less secure nation. I guess the G in MAGA means when Al Capone ran free, and Jeffrey Dahmer ate whatever whomever he wanted. We also might as well just make copies of all secret US weapons system, the NATO Order of Battle, the capabilities of the nuclear triad, etc. and send them to Putin and Xi, because absent the FBI, nobody is going to stop domestic espionage. Mentally disturbed kids can post their manifestos and plans for mass school shootings online, too, since nobody will be watching (and with no Bureau or ATF), even a ten year old will be able to buy an AR-15 with dozens of mags and oodles of 5.56 NATO rounds. Nice work, Elon and Vivek!

It seems there are allegations of sexual assault against SecDef nominee Pete Hegseth. No wonder 47 chose him....birds of a feather. Defending Hegseth against the news, mouthpiece Cheung used the usual hyperbolic drivel that spews from that coming Administration: “We look forward to his confirmation as United States Secretary of Defense so he can get started on Day One to Make America Safe and Great Again,” Steven Cheung said. Safe and Great...Again (the quote used the caps)? There hasn't been a terrorist attack in the US in years, and in terms of great, a GDP running 3 times the G7 average is not chopped liver, and neither is 4% US, especially after 47 left Biden 6.8% and a Recession.

As always, the cult comes in to explain 'what he really meant'. Parsing POTUS is funnier and displays more pretzel logic than when folks write in awe of how Nostradamus even predicted who would win the World Cup in 2024. Now, apparently, it's 'a little humor'. I guess it's a joke like when he said "maybe we should inject a little disinfectant", or when he finally made a statement about the terrorists who attacked the Capitol on 6 Jan 2021, and said, "We love you all". Yes, he loves people who beat 140 cops and defecated on the floor of the Capitol, erected gallows, and chanted about hanging the Vice President. Maybe that last one is his playing the Second Coming and forgiving sins like Jeebus does. That's like those 'very fine people' who chanted "Jews will no replace us" in Charlottesville. As for humor, has he ever laughed, except when he was talking about violence? Oh, and as expected, his post election stock market rally lost a bit of steam yesterday. (Always fade the initial reaction, I have read posted here). I also noted a week ago that his talk and his deportation plan absolutely will result in hate crimes against Hispanics, and I see this is already beginning: https://www.yahoo.com/news/don-t-rights-mexican-southern-003056649.html Once the deportations start, likely using the military under recess-appointed Fox News host Hegseth, it will get much much worse, with hate crimes certainly spreading to East Asians, Sikhs and others who look "different". Plus, we've already seen the rise in misogyny with the latest meme of "Your body, my choice". The little dweeb Johnson, a Born Again (and again and again) Christian, is another one seemingly bereft of a sense of humor, unless he can find a way to "own the libs". He and the POTUS-elect have discussed "bringing back prayer in public schools", as if the Founders and their separation of church and State thing never happened. I'll go out on a limb and say such "prayer" is unlikely to be anything from the Qoran, The Teachings of Buddha, the Talmud, the Bhagavad Gita, the Book of Mormon, much less the Satanic Bible. Maybe it might come from The Handmaid's Tale, but otherwise it will be pure Born Again drivel about that all-loving skydaddy whose Master Plan and mysterious ways involved tsunamis and childhood cancer. What a guy! All kids should start their day chanting to him!. It's all shaping up as expected.....a TV Talking Head who never ran even a lemonade stand in charge of a $900 billion entity like defense, a Putin sycophant who also sided with Assad when he gassed his Syrian citizens as DNI, a steroid-using but vaccine hating guy with a dead worm in his brain to run Health and Human Services, a guy still under investigation of kiddie diddling to head the Department of Justice, and the planned closing of the Dept of Education (which would also de-fund programs for special needs kids), because who needs a Dept of Ed when kids can just pray for success on their math test. I'm still waiting for the QAnon Shaman to be named Surgeon General.

Five Eyes will go into hibernation for 4 years. Add to those on long sabbatical, in terms of liaison cooperation, the BND in Germany, the DGSE in France, the NPA in Japan, and the NIS in South Korea. Even Mossad, burned once by 45, who mouthed off to FM Lavrov and Amb Kislyak, is going to pull back. None of those foreign intel agencies trust 47, and certainly none is going to trust Tulsi Gabbard, the sole person who backed Assad in Syria after he used chemical weapons on his own people, plus someone who is against any sort of action against Putin for his invasion of Ukraine. If Gabbard takes to the skies in a C-17, I doubt the plane will even get clearance to land in any major US ally nation. Of course she would get clearance to land in Moscow. The US will be markedly less secure---both from hostile nations and international terrorism---under 47. Best to stay from from coasts and major US cities for the next few years. Many planned terrorist attacks were uncovered and squelched specifically due to liaison cooperation with the US intel community. That is halted completely until at least January 2029. Just in case, kiss your kids goodbye.

Gee, I'm Harvard and Stanford, served in the intel community under cover, was ostensibly a diplomat, and have run businesses. Why didn't 47 call me? I was even a regular guest on CNN Business, back when I was in finance, so I've got the Talking Head chops. Hegseth will be running a $900 billion entity with 2.5 million men and women in uniform and 700,000 civilian contractors. He hasn't even ever run a lemonade stand, and even in the NatGuard, he never supervised more than a few dozen people at most. Also, having been in the NatGuard doesn't mean one knows his way around the Pentagon, defense contractors, plus have some diplomatic skills. What do you think he will do when the US faces its first post-Biden geopolitical crisis? Do you think he knows how to deploy the 7th Fleet? What parts of the nuclear triad he should put on notice? Is he skilled enough both in modern warfare and in the up=and-coming technology that will be at the forefront of future offensive and defensive capabilities? I suspect like Gaetz, Hubbard and RFK, Jr, Hegseth will be a recess appointment, giving him 210 days or so before even the chance his confirmation comes up in the Senate.

Perhaps this is apocryphal, but I've "heard" that when RFK, Jr takes over as Health and Human Services Secretary, they're going to carve in the marble of the Dept: "When vaccines are outlawed, only outlaws will be vaccinated". By the way, neither polio nor smallpox vaccines are good for life. Their efficacy wears off with time, but "immunity" relies on the vast majority of folks being vaccinated and unable to transmit the viruses. Best to be up to date, especially since al Qaeda has long had plans to weaponize smallpox, and lots of soccer Moms have bought into RFK, Jr's conspiracy theories.

So what will it be for you, Uganda or Russia as your next home? Both are gay unfriendly? If what Thailand chooses to do offends you, I understand there are many flights daily leaving from Suvarnabhumi. Don't even think about going back to Repub-controlled USA, because there you've got CPAC Chief Matt Schlapp, Sen Lindsey Graham, many Born Again "Conservative" Christian leaders like Jerry Falwell, Jr., and lots of others still deep in the closet. As for Arabs, well, there's a couple of jokes that might cause some consternation on this site, so I won't relate them. As one who did time in the Middle East, I know that the death penalty thing is not implemented equally. And no, I have never engaged in any sort of same sex behavior, as my wiring is 100% hetero (though I know it is no more a conscious choice than what drives Lindsey Graham or Matt Schlapp).

You need to qualify your statement. He cared about those whom society has left behind, due to the modern technological economy and the need for workers who can offer needed skills, only so long as he needed their votes. He gave them false hopes, knowing the forlorn will embrace false hopes if those are the only hopes they can get. Now that he's won, he no longer needs the Loser Class, so he will pander solely to the elite. The minions who voted for him are going to have to deal with his incompetence---such as paying for his tariffs and also the likely increasing inflation he will cause via his massive budget deficits and requisite money printing to fund them. Reductions in 'regulations' will allow Flint Michigan to have the same quality of water as the rest of the nation, or rather the rest of the nation will have Flint, MI-quality water, but the elites will be drinking Evian and Panna. Oh, and 'deporting' tens of millions of illegals and Dreamers might free up strawberry-picking jobs for his SSDI-receiving rallygoers, but generally it is going to increase the cost of everything. I will go out on a limb and guess that the undocumented workers at Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster will avoid deportation, as rules do not apply to someone whose every act is "official" and whose hand-picked Supreme Court has ruled he is immune from prosecution.

You forgot 'carried interest' a favorite of hedge fund managers like Ken Griffin, Bill Ackman and John Paulson, that allows those multi-billionaires to avoid taxes on their gains. Does anybody think those guys think 47 is some kind of wonder boy 'stable genius'? They know he's a self-serving idiot who understands nothing except the price it takes to buy favors from him when he yields power and authority.

Since you are clearly not up to speed on matters of intelligence or intelligence itself, I'll explain what an experienced SecDef might do if a CCP spy balloon took a leisurely flight over the entire US.... Such a SecDef would know that there is nothing such a balloon could gather that they couldn't get from a Google search. No harm done. The SecDef would also know that capturing such a balloon would reveal the capabilities of Chinese spy tech. Oh, and by monitoring the balloon during its path, the telemetry or how it might send any data to receiving stations, plus where those stations might be, would also be gained. It appears the balloon was a rogue operation by an idiot general in the PLA, and his stupidity was the US' gain. Now about the Afghanistan withdrawal.....Biden had to deal with a 20 year war with $hundreds of billions of equipment delivered over those two decades, and do it AFTER his predecessor had not only set the timetable for withdrawal, but had also released 5000 Taliban prisoners being held by the US and Afghanistan govt. Many of those prisoners now run the country, while others were battle-hardened jihadis. The withdrawal had to happen with those 5000 not only free, but angry and out for retribution, such as engaging in suicide bomb attacks. Had Biden/Austin done what critics bark about---such as withdrawing 20 years of equipment, how many more soldiers would you have been willing to sacrifice for that? Do you think the Taliban would have just sat back and not taking pot shots at soldiers and contractors gathering and shipping gear back to the US? The withdrawal involved not only US troops and contractors, but also Afghanis who had assisted the US throughout the 20 year war. I guess you would have abandoned them and let the Taliban slaughter all of them and their families. If you had ever served in a war zone or in Afghanistan, you would know that it is impossible to defend against every type of attack. Troops are exposed simply because the mission requires it. Remember the soldiers killed in Mali while 47 was 45? Whose fault was that? Also, do you considerate it appropriate for a President, when speaking with the spouse of one of the dead, telling her to "get over it; he knew the risks"? How about the soldiers injured when Iran sent missiles to a base near Irbil in Iraq during 45's term, especially when he claimed 'no harm done', when in fact many were seriously injured? That attack was a response to 45's order to take out Gen Suleimani.

The reason they cannot get recruits is they have an IQ cut off, and the dumbing down of the nation makes it difficult. There are also drug issues. This talk of 'real men' is kind of silly. The fans of 47 I have seen tend toward obesity, lack of definition, constant whining, and having absolutely no game when it comes to women. That's why he captured the Incel demographic. Most would require a test to see if they even carry a Y chromosome before I would believe they are men. Before you ask, yes, I served, albeit in a way that had me going out against bad guys, alone, in disguise, with fake docs, and a hope that my language skills would keep me off YouTube in a graphic video. The govt spent a lot of time and money teaching me how to stay alive, and yes, I was scared to death many times while working. If that makes me a girly man, so be it. If you haven't "been there, done that", then you have no clue.

Cute comment. Since you're a fan of the POTUS-elect, maybe you can share with us a photo of his library? I understand he's big on Proust.

Yes, he won, and he's filling up the clown car. Matt Gaetz as Attorney General suddenly makes the Whittaker guy---remember his deep toilets for well hung men, and his time share in time travel machines?---look like King Solomon. Not much better is Tulsi Gabbard as DNI, Ratcliffe as DCI, Fox TV Talking Head Peter Hegseth as SecDef, Kash Patel as DirFBI....I'm just waiting for him to name Lauren Boebert as a Fed Chair and maybe the QAnon Shaman as Surgeon General. Sane and rational folks just have to laugh, grab the popcorn and watch this disaster develop.

The POTUS-elect has always greenlighted miscreant behavior. When the tikitorch marchers in Charlottesville chanted "Jews will not replace us", he said there were "very fine people...on both sides". That was the all clear for racists, especially when he added his comments about s-hole countries (Africa), and asked why the US couldn't get more immigrants from Norway. When he fomented the insurrection on 6 January 2021 ("Come to DC on the 6th; it'll be WILD!" in a Tweet, and then his speech telling them to march to the Capitol and 'fight like hell'), he gave the all clear to political violence when he finally asked them to stop, but said "We love you all very much". A few weeks ago he said he was going to "Take care of women, whether they like it or not". That kind of suggests a patriarchal society where men hold sway over women, which is just what loser Incels and misogynists wish society was like. It's almost no wonder South Korea's 4B movement has been adopted by some women in the West. Of course the Incels won't miss what they never had, and perhaps some religious leader will give them the only kind of philosophy they might be able to use: "Love thy brother as thyself". LOL

No, it's just weak and insecure men, many of whom are Incels, who lack the cojones to be a real man and do well with women. Men need to ask themselves why their relationships failed, and be honest. All of these Incels, losers and misogynists who have crawled out from under their rocks now that 47 has won, are still going to be losers, as women simply do not want such partners. Treat a woman with respect and as an equal, and every pleasure imaginable is within one's grasp. It's not rocket science, it's basic human dynamics, something totally alien to the Loser Class. The other thing real men do is accept responsibility when things come up short. This is all good news for decent and strong men everywhere. We've always done well with the opposite sex, and trends like 'Your body, MY choice" pretty much guarantee clear sailing for us for the next 4 years. I knew there had to be something positive about 47's win.

I saw no reason to be limited geographically by the accident of my birth, so early on in life I decided I was going to test out a host of countries in which to live. One needs at least two years in a land to develop at least a minimal understanding of it, so I divided the average lifespan by 2 and figured I'd get to experience at least that many countries. A few became more interesting than I expected, so I broke the 2 year rule. I was also never religious, at least after about age 12, but the various widely subscribed superstitions of humanity made me curious. Why did some superstitions catch on so well in some places, and fail in others? What in each culture made something click, whereas it would fail miserably in another? Is existence fate, or something where humans have 'dominion' and a bit of control? How might that be reflected in a land's development? (That's another whole thread for you, Gamma.......no way Francis Bacon could have been anything but from a Judao-Christian background.) I've had two careers, and both allowed for extensive travel and a peripatetic lifestyle...a 'diplomat' and a hedge fund manager. The first sent me lots of places, the second became much more flexible as the internet took hold. In terms of the favored national superstition, I've lived in lands where folks embraced Jesus, Yahweh, Buddha (and its associated religions like Shintoism and Daoism), Allah and Shiva/Krishna and the other 10 million deities of that belief system. I developed my own way of describing 'morality' in ways particular to each faith. For example, in Buddhism and probably Hinduism, if a person does something wrong, and nobody else knows you did it, then it's not wrong. In Islam, if one does something wrong and isn't instantly struck down by Allah, it musn't really have been wrong. In Christianity, if one does something wrong, punishment will be meted out after death, when one learns that it really was wrong, although most rules are pretty clear. In Irish Catholicism, one is punished even if they don't do anything wrong, just to remind them they can never get away with anything. In Judaism, what does this Yahweh guy know about wrong? I've now settled in Thailand, where the ostensible faith is Buddhism, but it's really that old fashioned paganism with a thin coating of Buddhism spread on top, like marmalade on toast. It IS, contrary to what foreigners who embrace it say, a religion every bit the same as the other few thousand belief systems humans have concocted to make sense of existence and provide hope for a better and endless future. At the retail level, every religion is the same: false hope. I have found that the most honest faith is Hinduism. Ideally an adherent eschews all worldly goods and needs, but in my experience the majority of believers want first to experience great wealth, admiration, and endless babes "just so Krishna knows I'm sincere when I say I don't want these things, as how would I really know unless I've had them?" Excuse me, Gamma, for describing my own journey in terms of faith (in reality I'm just endlessly curious about everything, which is why I'm now here), but the thing that baffles me the most is the concept of good and evil as reflected in the Christian god and Satan. Growing up in the US, I was taught it is that ultimate bad guy Satan who makes us do things like lie, cheat, steal and engage in infidelity or maybe even put our appendages in forbidden places (I never have put it anywhere except where nature intended). Oddly, all of those are minor peccadilloes compared to tsunamis, earthquakes, child cancer and other maladies inflicted by an "all loving" and omnipotent deity. A marital infidelity can get one eternal damnation, but killing 400,000 humans via a tsunami is either a "mysterious way" or part of a "Master Plan". The Christian god is a great job if one could land it. Maybe next life, eh? My final comment about religion is that most of them place great importance on female virginity. This is something I really don't get, as I remember the few times when I dallied with virgins, back when I was one myself or shortly thereafter, and I do no recall them as particularly entertaining. I'm happy to leave virgins to the pious; give me a woman who knows what she likes from experience! Now THAT is heaven/Nirvana. Oh, and welcome to Thailand!

There's often a caveat. In the case of the booming Biden economy, where the US is growing 3 times faster since 2020 than the average G7 nation, and both consumer spending and consumer savings rates are up, it is crucial to have a marketable skill. Unskilled labor hasn't been able to benefit, because not much of it is needed in the modern technological economy. That leaves most of his cult out, as he owns the poorly educated and unskilled. The even harsher reality for them is that not only can he not do a thing to help them, he no longer even cares, since he got the only thing he needed from them: their vote. He will spend the next few years claiming he inherited a basket case, when the reality is nobody can help the kind of labor the world has left behind. No matter who won, those in society who lack educational credentials and/or marketable skills would have suffered. They are simply no longer necessary. They bought into his false promises and pie-in-the-sky dreams, because that is all they have. As the OP noted, he fooled them in the most cynical manner. You CAN fool some of the people all of the time. For those who have skills and talents, the last 4 years under Biden have been a bonanza, the best times since the late 1990s under Clinton. Wealth has never accumulated faster into the hands of the haves. The POTUS-elect cannot fix this intractable trend toward a kind of Darwinian Capitalism. The strong have not only survived, we have prospered as never before. If your net worth is down since 2020, it means you have been obviated by the modern world. He cannot help you, even if he still cared after 5 November, which he does not. If you cannot pony up $200K to join his garish club, you're what he would call a "loser".

I do kind of understand where the cultists are coming from when they whine about illegal immigration, because I understand the whiners are probably under performers in their own lands, but think they are "self-made". We all are where we are and what we are merely through an accident of birth. One person is born female in a poorly developed, corrupt and economically disadvantaged land, that happens to have national borders. If he or she had been asked beforehand, she would have said "Please let me materialize as a male in a G7 country, because then I can ride the coattails of people probably superior to me and find gainful employment, make some money, and even have the chance to get a retirement visa in Thailand, because Thailand would view me as a 'quality' person". Similarly, most members of the Cult 47 would probably have preferred to be born better than they were...with an above average IQ, a better physique, not prone to obesity, perhaps having the discipline and personal drive to avoid becoming obese or an unskilled worker obviated by the modern tech economy. Certainly the POTUS-elect knows how to appeal to those who wish they were born better, even though they were whelped in a land of opportunity. I guess the liberal in me more easily feels compassion for the young woman who materialized in a poor, misogynistic, dangerous nation....and must literally fight for her life and safety, plus get some luck along the way, just to survive unscathed into adulthood. I naturally feel more compassion for her than the male born in a G7 nation who goofed off in school, never amounted to much of anything, but through that sheer accident of birth can live a comfortable life, bark about immigrants---legal or illegal---ruining his culture, and then do all his whining while enjoying life in a distant land like Thailand, where he stands out both from appearance and behavior. Few of us are "self-made", though most of us like to think we are and end up where we are because of our great skill and discipline. That's a delusion. I admit I was born lucky...as a mostly white male in a major developed nation, of highly intelligent parents of above average height, who were also quite athletic. Through my own accident of birth, I kind of naturally drifted to tops in my class, a multi-sport star, recruited to the best universities in the world, easily able to find interesting employment opportunities, with natural financial skills, all allowing me to become a multi-millionaire before age 30, and just grow my wealth from there. I know the data, so it is fair for me to guess I am not only more intelligent than most everyone on this site, but with the exception of maybe Danderman, the wealthiest by far, a multi-billionaire (at least in baht). Did I deserve any of this? Does it make me better than all of you? Hardly. Just dumb luck and a win in the Birth Lottery. At least I admit it is mostly dumb luck. The understanding of my own dumb luck in regards to the time, place and manner I materialized in this Universe has given me a similar understanding of the trials and tribulations of folks born less lucky...whether a female in a savage land or a below average sycophant of 45/47 in a land where failure is almost an impossibility---yet so many of his cult are failures. Now all of the above does not put me in favor of unfettered immigration; it just allows me to have a little more compassion. For example, a person who was dragged into the US as an infant or young child by an illegal migrant, but a child who has grown up in the only land they really ever knew, and who is a contributing, tax paying member of US society, ought to be given special consideration when deciding what happens in 45/47's draconian deportation scheme. Such people were given the name "Dreamers" under a previous Administration, but under 45/47, all they will get is a nightmare---forced out to a land they never knew. I see many here applauding this deportation scheme, usually tossing in the straw man argument of "rapists and murderers", ignoring the reality that even illegal migrants commit far less violent crime than native born citizens. I doubt many illegals stormed the Capitol on 6 January 2021, but those terrorists are going to be pardoned by the POTUS elect---even the ones who shat on the Capitol floor and rubbed their own feces on the wall, as well as those who used American flags to beat law enforcement officers. Dreamers, OTOH, are being shown the door. So all of you cultists can continue to cheer these actions and pat yourself on the back for all of your 'great achievements' in life, ignoring the reality that few of you achieved anything on your own, and are merely lucky to have been born where better people than you set the table for your cushy life, whether you're still at home or enjoying your dumb luck by being able to reside in an alien culture far away, probably irritating a good many of the native born Thai people merely by your presence. There is, or should be, a middle road. Nobody can correct for the inherent unfairness of the Universe, but a little compassion and understanding can go a long way. Maybe part of that middle road is letting Dreamers remain, and also bolstering the system that hears petitions for asylum (which is not part of the deportation plan and border enhancement plan). Even illegal immigration has been a net benefit to the US, and migrants have been the lifeblood of the US for generations (consider Musk, Jobs---born of a Syrian dad, Grove, and half the CEOs of hi tech). Then again, all of you can just say kick the (insert a racist epithet of your choosing here) out, and let all of you enjoy what you think you deserve, forgetting you are merely the recipient of dumb luck in an unfair and random Universe.

The election 'disaster' was because the Dems wildly underestimated the number of Incels, QAnons, Whackadoodles, Moonbats and Conspiracy theorists who have been left behind in the modern technological economy. What the winner knew better than Harris is that losers will take false hopes and pie-in-the-sky, if that's all they can get. They're also prone to accept things in their simplest form, such as absolutely meaningless slogans than can fit on a red baseball cap. Of course reality will now hit them, as they slowly realize two things: 1) their messiah has absolutely no clue how to help them; he just needed their votes, and 2) their messiah really no longer cares if his supporters live or die, because he will never need their votes again. "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."

Perhaps you missed it, but the US under Biden produces more energy than it uses. Also, there are more than 9000 already approved leases that no one has decided to assume and begin drilling. Gas prices nationally average less than $3. As for prices, you'd better hope he has more than a 'concept of a plan'. Inflation has been a worldwide phenomenon since the end of Covid. Biden got it to drop from 9% to 2.8% in the US, and that without causing a Recession. Economic growth in the US, since 2020, has been running 3 times the average of the other G7 nations, and US inflation is lower than other G7 nations.

The effect his 2nd term will have will vary according to the characteristics of individual people, both American and otherwise. In a nutshell, here's what I expect. Members of the cult are free to disagree, but in 1-2 years, I suspect even the cult will be disillusioned. Ukrainians: His victory is bad for you. All US aid will be halted, NATO will begin to disintegrate, Putin will be given the green light to turn Ukraine into an abattoir, and Ukrainians will eventually be fighting as Einstein once said about WW IV..."with sticks and rocks". Poles, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians: You're next. NATO will collapse and Putin will rebuild the empire of his historical heroes, from the various Nicholases to Stalin and the dictators who followed. Hispanics (and maybe Asians) in the US: I'm talking legal ones, maybe even 2nd and 3rd generations....his mass deportation scheme will be used to let the racist views of his goobers erupt in action. There will be a huge increase in what the law defines as 'hate crimes', as members of his cult will go after legal folks who look Hispanic. His deportation scheme and its focus on those of Hispanic descent will turn out to the greatest recruiting tool ever for MS-13. Recall there was a huge jump in attacks against Asians, when as 45, he began calling Covid the "Chinese Flu". History repeats, so Hispanics will be the new target. Asians might be tossed in as a bonus, since they ‘look different’. Muslim Americans: Ironic that many voted for him when he will do for Netanyahu what he will do for Putin: Green Light whatever they want. Palestinians have had it tough enough under Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, and Hezbollah, but now they will suffer even greater at the hands of the IDF. Resentment will grow against anyone even remotely responsible for their suffering, so whole new generations of terrorists will be born. Iranians: The US will ally with Israel to attack Iran. Mr "No War" is just another lie he foisted on his cult. Had he not abrogated the incredibly effective JCPOA, the leadership of the mullahs in Iran might already have ended. The JCPOA had taken Iran completely out of the nuke game, and the mullahs---not facing the possible wrath of Israel or other nations---would have had nothing to unite their own citizens, people increasingly ready for change and with a desire to join the community of nations for a better life and economic prosperity. The JCPOA could have been used as a stepping stone---as was its secondary intent---to get Iran to change even more of its behavior. Instead, with the abrogation of JCPOA, Iran started up its enrichment program, rebuilt smashed high-speed centrifuges, and gained the cooperation of folks willing to share the secrets of nuclear technology (e.g., Pakistan, China). Americans: Americans will feel the effects of 47 in many ways....economically, in violence, and ideologically. 47 is incompetent. His business record is proof. He will bring that incompetence to the White House again, but this time he won't have people like Gary Cohn to get in his way. Tariffs are going to cause serious inflation. His other ideas---or are they still just 'concepts of a plan'?---will explode the deficit and lead to a funding crisis. Foreigners still fund a sizeable part of the US' yearly deficit, and it's likely many will turn elsewhere, leaving the US to try to fund itself. 47 might try to do the Fed's job re interest rates, but the market eventually decides what rates will be, either by jacking them up to Volcker Era levels, or by collapsing the USD. So we'll see inflation from tariffs and inflation from rates or USD moves. I'm sure 47 will try to blame Biden, or Pelosi or maybe even Hugo Chavez, but the carnage will be his fault alone. Americans will also suffer from acts of terror. Lots of new terrorists are going to be created by what 47 allows his "allies" like Putin and Netanyahu to do. Not all of those terrorists are going to be Muslim. I suspect some will be Ukrainians, angry at what 47 allowed and encouraged. The US has been quite lucky since 2001 in that domestic acts of terror by Muslims have been minimal. In fact, even the FBI and Homeland Security under 45 noted more than 70% of all domestic terror incidents since 2001 were carried out by white supremacists and other far right groups. Personally, I know a number of Muslim-driven terror attacks that were stopped because of good intelligence. That, too, is going to lessen, and that for two reasons. First is that the foreign intel services with whom US intel cooperates do not trust 47, so they will withhold intel, fearing exposure of their own 'sources and methods', just as 45's big mouth (in the Oval Office with FM Lavrov and Amb Kislyak) led to the outing and death of an Israeli penetration of ISIS. The stolen documents incident further discourages anyone---whether foreign liaison or potential clandestine assets---from risking exposure due to the reckless actions of 47. Finally, true patriots who work in US intel are going to leave, because they know enough about autocrats to see what 47 intends to be, and since serving under such an Administration goes against the oath we all took, they will leave. Like most organizations, US Intel operates under the Pareto Principle, where 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people. The good ones are going to leave, and the bad ones cannot do the job effectively. I know from experience it is not easy---but it is dangerous---to try to get close to terror organizations or even the inner circle of hostile nations such as Russia. The dregs left behind will be incapable of doing the job. The overall security of the US will be increasingly under threat, and the US is likely to experience another major terror attack. Terror groups are always aiming toward something bigger and 'greater', such as a dirty bomb or a bioterror weapon, and groups such as al Qaeda have spent years having their own best and brightest trained in the world's top universities. Also, Americans abroad will become targets of terror and retribution, and that might even be in Thailand, as Thailand remains an important base of Islamic terrorists. It did not end with the capture of Hambali, nor the slight change in the customer demographic of a certain (unnamed) Bangkok hotel. Freedom and liberty inside the US is also going to be impacted by 47. He has stated on many occasions his intent to go after anyone and anything that upsets his fragile ego, even if no crime was committed. His comments about such things as 'military tribunal for Liz Cheney' to taking away the broadcast licenses of networks ABC and CBS are clear indications about what he really thinks of freedom, liberty and in particular the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution. I'll remind again the words of Maya Angelou: "When a person shows you what they are, believe them". Under 47 and an (R) govt, expect other freedoms to go by the wayside, such as a woman's right to control her own body. All of his cultists had better hope their wives or girlfriends or daughters do not get raped, because abortion will be outlawed---despite ballot measures in individual States last week---so the cult best get ready to offer 'love and support' to lots of zygotes that get carried to birth. I believe we can also expect there to be some alteration of the 'separation of church and State', so that a fanatical form of Born Again Christianity becomes at least semi-official. Such (R) stalwarts as Lauren Boebert have said the US should be governed by the Christian Bible, not the US Constitution. Gee, why didn't Jefferson or Madison think of that? Recall also that not only did 47 release a Chinese-printed autographed Christian Bible to grift off his goobers, he also had law enforcement violently break up a 1st Amendment-allowed peaceful protest in Lafayette Park just so he could do a photo op in front of a church holding a Bible upside down. Those actions show two intents: to lessen the separation of church and State plus change the 1st Amendment to put conditions on peaceful protest, such as 'don't get in the way of performance art'. We also know that 47 intends to relax or eliminate posse comitatus laws and use the US Military domestically. 47 has also said he plans to allow a kind of day of reaping, where law enforcement will be given a free hand to ignore various Constitutional amendments or Miranda Rights "in order to get crime under control", despite the fact it fell considerably under Biden. That reeks of Duterte in the Philippines, and goes against everything the USA was intended to be. 47 additionally has said he plans to rid govt agencies of 'disloyal' people, meaning those loyal first and foremost to the US Constitution, rather than him. That smacks of autocracy. I would put the odds of a breaking up of the 50 US States at maybe 20%. Neither the west coast nor the northeast has any good reason to remain part of the 50. Most of those States not only have strong economies, but they are also net contributors to the Federal Government. I can see an India-like post-WWII Partition (West and East Pakistan) where CA, OR, WA and HI secede, as well as NY, NJ, New England and western PA secede. Poor Illinois, stuck in the middle of mediocrity! I believe some, maybe even all of these things happen under 47. Cult members are free to laugh, but let's come back and revisit this in two years to see who gets the last laugh. I planned for this possibility, and am using this transition period to try to immunize myself as much as possible from the carnage I believe will come. The stock market rally will allow me to liquidate assets (always fade the initial reaction to major news), and I've already secured a range of international properties to where I can bug out. I’ll also be legging out of the USD, as I expect it to collapse before 2028. Unlike some folks who threaten, I absolutely have no intention of being in the US during 47's term, which maybe never ends (and is just passed down to his surrogates). I’ll end with a quote I like to read every once in a while, from H.L. Mencken in the 1920s: “On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

The guy is a walking contradiction, though that might be the fault of the dead worm. He injects steroids whose ingredients are sourced from poorly or non-regulated Chinese labs, but eschews FDA-approved vaccines. I think a better alternative career for him would be doing a remake of the Chipmunks Sing Christmas Carols, as that voice is rather unique, just like Alvin.

To the OP...are you out of shape? Pre-diabetic? Both age you faster and take the wind out of your sail, so to speak. Hit the gym, get shredded, and both the energy jumps, mood improves, as does the testosterone level----and that naturally. If you opt for TRT, note that in most cases it will be for life, as your body stops producing its own testosterone. Much better to be 'natty'. If you have muscular definition and a six pack, you are likely to feel much better about yourself, too. The benefits of fitness are both physical and mental.