I had a birthday over the weekend and am now 81 yo. Hegseth has his generals, God has his angels, I'll still suck air until the Reaper moves, and he's near. The "shutdown" theater is back in town, troops are being sent to Portland while wholly not needed there, and posturing is afoot, as it's always been.
I've few years left, good or bad, and from there can speak my mind and bear consequences.
I feel great sympathy for the young, who will have a nation less than the nation my generation took over and fucked over, with me being no part of the disaster, other than a contrarian looking in powerless.
The young, I have no easy answers for them. They are stuck in the position that if they, (or those that do), speak out will be noted and blacklisted because we have more people than we have good lives to allocate, and the line is already long with Ivy League grads hungry and unprincipled.
It's not the nation it could be. It shouldn't be the way it is, but the way it is gets handed out by those holding power. That being so, the propagation of power, and wealth, is set by a system favoring those having wealth and power to serve their families and their class within the class war they wage upon the rest of us. Some get along better than others, but there is Carlin's big club that gets along very well. We do, and should resent them. They stand on the rest,and take more than they need.
So, happy birthday. It's a better world living in it, than dying out of it, so I will not complain too much.
Enjoy this fall, and leaf raking. The trees have evolved to survive, and none of the trees take undo advantage over the other ,trees. They are good trees. each over its natural lifetime. And - they don't need religion.