WildernessPunk:  Why The ‘Greatest’ Generation and the Boomers have Failed and Destroyed the United States

The above title isn’t some sort of click bait. I don’t get clicks. It is simply how I feel and what I believe. In this case, I also happen to be right.

The United States has experienced few times without turmoil and acting upon fiendish desires. We began the country with genocide against the first world tribes. For more than a third of our existence we continued with the worst of humanity’s curses, slavery. More recently we have abused underdeveloped countries robbing their resources and taking advantage of their cheap labor.

I guess it should come as no surprise we have entered another age of evil. Like usual, this one is fueled by greed. Except the greed this time is different. We can no longer steal land and everything else from the first world tribes, because we have taken it all already. Slavery is illegal, at least officially. Third world countries have woken up and grown stronger and will have to be conquered for us to steal their resources.

But since the rich only get greedier, this time the victim will be us, their own countrymen.

After WWII America had a peak of unity, a unity which we have lost. Companies gave bonuses, landlords charged something closer to what people could handle, and services were affordable. These have all but disappeared. Over the past ten years many rents have doubled, most food has, and every business who can is outsourcing middle class and factory jobs to AI any chance they get.

Nothing has become more important than accumulating cash and attempting to be one of the few who gets to live large and once a person starts down this road there is never enough. We have become the sheep in Animal Farm, but instead of the farmer leaving, he has moved us into a pit and cut our feed in half so he can put a new pool in his fourth vacation home.

Why I blame the ‘Greatest,’ and Boomer Generation for Bringing Us Here

After the constant need for international conflict died down in the mid seventies, the United States tried to clean up and cement its reputation. It passed the Civil Rights laws, approved more right for women, including abortion, environmental protections were enforced and for a while the Untied States was a good place to be. If nothing else at least you knew we were trying.

Something else was happening as well. All the wealth taken from underdeveloped countries mixed with the vast resources still left from what the Europeans took from the first nation people let a whole generation live better than any people who walked the Earth had ever lived before. Great wealth met minuscule prices in a perfect storm of prosperity. College was a few hundred dollars a semester. Two story houses cost little over ten grand.

It was big fat pie and almost everyone got a slice.

Almost anyone could be a home owner. More people went to college than ever before. A few decades later those twenty thousand dollar houses would be worth thirty times as much and those owning property of any kind could write their own ticket.

But something else happened as well. The oh so ‘Greatest’ and the Boomer generations began to feel they must be special. No one had ever done as well as them and, from the looks of things no one else would ever come close. Gen X couldn’t do it on a scale even close to their parents and grandparents. And millennials were working two jobs just to be able to share an apartment with roommates and wouldn’t pay off their student loans until they were a few decades older than when their grandparents bought their first home.

They couldn’t pull off what the Greatest/Boomers had done. They weren’t even in the same field. This began to make the pre Gen Xers feel like they did it all better than everyone, were better than everyone, probably deserved more than anyone. Gone was the desire to protect the Earth. They saw people richer than them and wondered how they could match the levels of wealth they witnessed.

Not everyone would be able to make it. Things would need to be cut. Animal rights, the environment, worker’s rights, and fair wages. If people wanted health care they should have worked harder to get a job where it would be easy to afford. Greed overrode the animals, the planet, and their fellow man. No other generation would ever be the same or as worthy as them. They deserved what their genius has bestowed on them. They would take it and everything else.

If other countries were waking up, they would just rob from their own. Nothing was as important as getting more. They would lie, cheat, steal, plunder and then do it all again next week. Their God had turned away from the teaching of their prophet and embraced the Prosperity Gospel. Their only prophet was profit. Your worth was determined by your bank account. Rich people were more important. Rich children more valuable. They were smart enough to make all this money so who else would be smart enough to lead? Who else deserved…was entitled to getting their way?

America has been destroyed by the Boomers with the help of the ‘Greatest.’ They took something that was running well, stole all the parts and left the husk of the vehicle which can’t go anywhere.

Gas prices, inflation, rental costs, what do they care when with a good accountant they barely have to pay their fair share of taxes. Cut services and health care so the outdated, fossils, who make billions off their outdated fossil fuels, can once again steal from other countries. They have forced money which could be used to help Americans to pay for war and death so the billionaires can make more while killing the planet in the process.

Maybe you have a different opinion, but I see a few generations which had things better than any of us will ever see. They took their luck and then just kept taking and taking. Greed replaced empathy, humanity, and good will, all the while throwing the environment under the bulldozer.

They are the people in charge. They could have embraced green energy, but they didn’t. They could have used all the money they wasted on wars supporting the dying fossil fuel system on supporting the Earth and its people, but they didn’t. For the price of our wars in Iraq the government could have put free solar energy on every home, apartment, and business in the United States, but they didn’t. They could have let women keep their rights but they didn’t. You could have led the way in protecting the environment but you didn’t.

So yeah, great job taking it, hoarding it, and then ruining it. The final grade is coming due and as far as I see it. You got an F.

Maybe when you are gone the rest of us will have a chance to try to start over, but because of you, it might be too late.

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You can grab some WildernessPunk or find out how it started at its main site here.

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WildernessPunk:  Ten Years

For the handful of people who have followed my journey, or are at least aware of it, in two days I’m going to have my tenth anniversary of leaving the Illusion of what most consider ‘The Real World,’ behind me. April 9th 2016 was the last day I was allowed to work at the job I’d had for over twelve years. I was fired because certain lies were leaked to the paper. In a way, this was alright with me for it was harder to make a proper presentation at my former place of employment after I was set up and hit the floor hard. At the time losing my ability to see my young boys, have access to any of the possessions I spent decades accumulating, and have a stream of decent income sent me into a spiral of struggle, oscillating between camping in the forest, couch surfing, and traveling when able.

Although WildernessPunk would officially begin four months later, in truth it had begun the day I’d lost my job three days after already losing my boys and everything I owned. Sure, I still pay my taxes for goods and I’m back to driving a car presently, but in many ways I turned my back on trying to live a normal life ten years ago and set out on my own trail. This path, after years of terror and torment, did lead to me gaining complete custody of my boys and getting married to a woman better than I ever imagined a person could be. So yes, I am no iconoclastic writer living in the forest on the fringe of civilization, (Anymore) my children attend schools and I shop at Albertsons. I admit, as much as I’d like to deny or avoid it, I’m part of the culture, an American culture which values blood over food, and money over common sense.

As the belt of overpopulation and climate change tightened around our gluttonous country we had two real choices. Embrace the future and channel tax dollars into alterative energies and shift to human focused funding or double down on the last of a dying system.

One favored old money and the billionaires, so I guess we know which one the appointed fascists picked. The only thing which surprised me was how quickly we started killing people so we could steal their resources. This leaves me to wonder; if we are doing this now, while things are still clinging to the illusion of a status quo, what will our government be like if we really start to run dry on resources?

I’m sure we’ll find out before another ten years has passed.

Funny how my experience which began ten years ago has mirrored our country’s experiences in many ways. Ten years ago, our normal was replaced by trashy hate and blatant lies much as my personal life was.

 After Covid we returned to some level of normalcy but there was always the fear of the madness and blatant hate lurking in the background, ready to pounce. With the aid of the villainous billionaires, a raging hate filled narcissist was able to convince the majority of voters that hate was more important than prosperity and racism was more important that billionaires stealing their dreams, while making their own more bloated and grotesque.

So where has ten years of lies and hate gotten us?

Murder, war, genocide…sounds like I’m reading someone’s holy book.

As supplies run short and the climate turns more once fertile farmland into desert, I have a feeling that lies about who one should hate will lead to more wars and murder, while those who can, steal for those who can’t fight back. I suppose the real question is, are we going to bounce back from this? Will we get leaders willing to spend money on people and renewable energy instead of fear, thievery, and death, or is this the beginning of the new us?

How do you feel about this being the new you? Is the death of hundreds of Venezuelans worth lowering our gas prices by ten cents for two weeks? How do you like being part of the infrastructure of this country who bombs babies for billionaires?

I know I’m not keen on the idea and I hope we get a swing back to rational. Remember we just have to keep as much of the truly real world, and by this I mean our biodiversity, alive until the lights go out. Even if we don’t make it, maybe some of the animals can, and I’m more inclined to vote for them.

Check back in with me in another ten years. Who knows maybe we’ll all be WildernessPunkers by then.

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You can grab more WildernessPunk or find out how it started at its main site here.

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WildernessPunk:  Limited

As most of the Bonemen head back into the wilds and wonders of New Mexico. A few things become obvious before we get more than barely started.

  • Air conditioning when driving through the desert is very useful especially when taking care of an elder and youngins. Oh well, I guess we must rough it old schoolish.
  • My boys, especially by older 6 foot 2 son is probably ready to have his own bed and not share one with his brother. The three of us together create a vortex of little, if no, sleep.
  • I am about to head out after packing, driving, and loading, for ten hours and then getting little sleep, into the warmest winter the Gila has suffered through in recorded history

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Back and blasted.

Did four hours of switchbacks, hiked to the ruins, helped my youngest to learn to fish in the nuclear sun but I’m back and sitting in a room of my own. I’d prefer to read or write with a frosty, but I suppose I’ll need to gather the troops since none of us has had a real meal all day. I’m sorry but those centennial breakfasts don’t count.

Throughout it all I accepted a theme for the day.

Limited.

We all have limited time. Time for ourselves, times with our loved ones, hours spent with friends. The world has limited resources. But I was reaching beyond such obvious takes.

It started when I thought about the absence of Winter in the high country. At about 7000 feet in February, I shouldn’t be cursing myself for not wearing shorts. Is the environment running on borrowed years? Are the animals and nature I see here limited and will soon be forced to evolve, migrate, or perish.

But other things nagged at me as well. How much more time will my boys have with their grandfather, or me for that matter. How should we be spending our days before he flies back to greet the New England green spring?

I often gaze at my youngest. I still have a young child full of wonder who hasn’t dived into his sullen teenaged years. Am I getting the most out of my last chance to be a part of youth’s growth. This is the last year I’ll be picking a child up at an elementary school and see children dancing and laughing while I wait for him to run to the gate.

How should someone live their life? Should one focus on themselves for we all have just a short ride and if we don’t not many others will? Should we be striving to help those younger than ourselves, build memories, grow ideals and skills, and know they are loved?

I caught my father taking a picture of me teaching my youngest how to fish. Yeah, pretty cliché, but aren’t some of those cliches what people should be striving for? We all have a short window, a limited window, soon he may forget about such things and be flung into the world of teenager angst and drama, or worse yet, video games and social media.

Shit, I am being a downer.

I guess it comes back to what we should be doing with our limited time, resources, money, and everything else. What are the right answers? Ask ten people and you’ll get ten different replies. One person might think accumulating capital is the smartest thing he can do for his family while another thinks board game night was his best idea.

But what if you have no family? It could be the circles I run in, but the number of childless friends I have far outnumber people I know with families. In the end what are they fighting and striving for? With no one to hand their knowledge and property down to when they pass, I can’t help but thinking they are doing things like accumulating goods and sometimes property just to leave a big mess for their sister to sort through.  I know striving to leave something for the next generation is a stereotype but if you aren’t doing it for that reason what other reason is there? In the end we all have limited time with limited resources and personally I would be sad to continue striving for no other reason than make a bigger mess for some friends or relatives to guiltily toss in their trunk or the dumpster.

So what is the answer? What should we be doing with our limited time? Fighting to make the world a better place for those who come after through politics or accumulating capital? Striving to teach the new generations humanity and a love for the life which remains on this planet? It certainly shouldn’t be to churn through the Earth in order to collect as many things as we can. For if that is the only reason to live we won’t have many more generations to pass things down to.

To live is to strive. We all travel our own road. Others can join us in our journey sometimes for a few hours there and here, sometimes for years and decades. Somehow we evolved into beings which can read these thoughts on a glowing rectangle miles away from where I sit looking out at a tree which will outlive me.

What are we competing for? To have the most stuff to fluff our ride. But if we are working too long we’ll enjoy less of that ride. Who is winning the guy relaxing, drinking tea while reading a used book on an old front porch or the man in a Tesla driving by him?

What are you going to do with the rest of your limited? Me I’m going to drive my father and my boys to the catwalk near Glenwood so they can take in more of the majesty of this world, but in three days from now who knows. Let’s all do what we can so families a hundred years from now still have a chance to live as well, and see the same plants and animals as we currently can. Maybe that should be everyone’s goal.

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Dak is ordered to hunt down renegade clones. His main problem, he’s in love with one.

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WildernessPunk:  Within the Evil Empire

Looking back at my younger days I think I was sixteen when I first began to become enlightened enough to know most of what I was presented with was manipulation, lies, and undue sense of temporal importance. During college, my Anthropology degree exposed me to the swath of horrors the US and the rest of the more developed world inflicted on the underdeveloped countries. By the time I reached a Punk Rock crescendo in 1992, while publishing my underground Zine C.H.A.O.S (Collected Humans Against Outdated Systems), I was around twenty-five and I decided that many of the larger US corporations, and the government which was owned by them, were more evil than not.

Funny how they attempted to keep those things hidden back them.

Not anymore.

But what do you do when you live within an evil empire? Some things like funding Israel, invading Middle Eastern countries so we or they can oppress people, and the like, have always loomed over us. Things are no longer half hidden deals made by the elite behind closed doors, we live in an age where you can see how vile and dangerous our country has become on an hourly basis.

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I’ve mentioned before that in an issue of C.H.A.O.S I predicted when the environment degrades to a level which effects profits and resources become scarcer, the rules would change. The government, and the money which controls it, will no longer bother playing nice. Instead of investing in green technology or funding schools instead of soldiers, they will lock themselves in their mega-mansions and refuse to change a game they are winning. The billionaires and their sick-o-phants have chosen to bleed every drop they can from the plants, animals, and peoples of this planet until it wastes away. Even then, the military will protect them so they can live off the corpse they created as long as they can.

This article is not about exposing the horrors of the ultra-rich, that’s already been done. Instead, I am asking myself and you… what do we do when we are living within a country set on the edge of becoming an actively evil empire, both without and within?

I mean this on a daily basis. What should you do now? What should you do tomorrow? What is it alright to do on a casual basis? Is it okay for me to post funny memes on Facebook or should I be trying every minute to fight back against the system which has threatened to do their best to transform the people they don’t arrest and kill, into little more than employed slaves staring at screens and hoping we can still afford food next month.

There is something to say for the “Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down,” contingent. “I not going to let them ruin my life,” is a worthy sentiment. Certainly, we should keep and cherish the moments we get to spend in nature, and with friends and family. We must remember what we’re fighting for and what normal is. Also maintaining a sense of humor, even through the worst of times, is a noble and powerful thing.

Yet we also must avoid ignoring the tragedy of our times and treat this as a, ‘New Normal.’ As the environment starts its death throes, and this is hurried along by data farms, all of us will have to define our own New Normal. Clinging on to our past assumptions and lifestyles like some half assed versions of the elite which are roasting us while they prepare their bunkers, doesn’t seem like a long term solution.

But is harping on it with daily memes to people who mostly agree with you doing any more? I get the need to make a statement about how much it sucks to see the world screwed over by assholes you wouldn’t let into your Dungeons and Dragon’s game, but is this any better than showing people food pics?

If I decided I wanted to do something to fight back and posting memes wasn’t the way, what would I do? Political action? Fight like tigers against a gerrymandered system to let in people who won’t grow the military but will let it remain at its ponderous size, while hiring more police, and still only using fractions of our wealth to provide for the people living on the edge? The poor get a bandaid while as the climate, health insurance, and economy grows worse there will just be more and more poor and homeless as AI erases jobs and tears through the environment.

Protest? Besides some cool drone shots on CNN have the two biggest protests in US history stopped us from killing people in Venezuela? Has voting kept someone who we 100% knew was evil out of the White House?

So what can we do?

How about everything we can. Spread the word. Make people think. Outside of your own bubble would be best. Don’t preach to the converted use guerilla tactics to spread ideas. We live in the information age but if people’s eyes are whitewashed by propaganda it doesn’t matter because they don’t have a chance to see reality. They need to have a chance to find it out themselves.

Perhaps Truth could be the new conspiracy theory. People can research unseen web sites and discover…oh wait. I didn’t know that was real. I never looked at it this way before. No one has ever told me about this.

Maybe stickers would do what algorithms can’t. Perhaps it is time to stop living and arguing online and through talking heads and instead, be in the same room and engage. That guy might be wearing a MAGA hat, but unless he’s more than a millionaire we’re all going to be swimming in the same flash flood in the next few years.

Personally, I give the US about one more year, maybe fourteen months.

Time to do two things. Fight for every inch you can and get ready for the real battle to come.

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Dak is ordered to hunt down renegade clones. His main problem, he’s in love with one.

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WildernessPunk:  Data Centers and Scrolling to Death

When we speak of the dangers of Doom Scrolling it is usually involves the psychological damage to the individual and our culture. Some worry about the time and money which may be wasted binge watching streamed shows while nothing is accomplished other than increasing your waistline. Others speak out on the economic impact of services like Amazon who horde consumer spending profits while local businesses are destroyed,

However, all these things have a darker more hidden aspect which is rarely discussed and this is the use of Data Centers. It is hard to track the number of Data Centers in the US because Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft, and a few others do their best to keep the plants undiscovered. They rightly fear that if the truth was known about the real costs of these facilities even Americans might consider changing their habits.

All the You Tube videos, streamed movies, music, catalogs of endless products, and so many things we adore are all kept ‘live’ in these data centers. Most of us enjoy our online fun…but at what cost?

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The cost we pay for these Data Centers is almost beyond human understanding. Just one small Data Center in Nebraska, for instance, uses the same energy in a year to provide electricity to 400,000 homes during the same period. The percentage of total energy use in the United States by Data Centers rose 9% in the last 10 years bringing it currently up to 12% of our nation’s total energy use. The introduction of AI is estimated to raise this energy need more than 10 times bringing from 7.5 Kilowatts per hour to 85 Kilo Watts per hour. So depending on how things could work out, we could be looking at the need to create 5 times as many Data Centers as we already have so they can drain 60% of the energy we currently produce within the United States. In other words, we’ll have to produce about 50% more than we currently do, just to support AI and Date Centers.

Such things as green energy we acquire from hydroelectric dams, solar, and wind farms become a side note and won’t even cover half of this requirement while leaving 100% of our normal energy requirements untouched. Things like solar panels on your own roof have zero effect on this energy burden. Yes, they power the electricity your television, Alexia use to run, and charge your cell, but that is just the smallest fraction of the energy these services require to bring you data from the cloud.

For example, things like printed books pay off their energy production requirement in the first ten minutes of reading an e-book. Depending on how fast you read, a six hundred page e-book costs the same amount of energy and resources to print 20 books which can be reread, shared, gifted, inherited, or resold.

If pollution or the effects of Climate Change matter to you, then you should keep in mind these centers currently emit 300,000 Kilograms of greenhouse gases and pollution an hour. Again, if the AI cost ups this by the estimated factor of 10 we are looking at 3,000,000 KG of pollution per hour or 26,280,000,000 KG a year. This makes any sad attempt we might try to lower Greenhouse gases laughable. How can we expect to lower anything when the introduction of AI will create over 26 Trillion KG of pollution which wasn’t even there 15 years ago and this is just centers in the US. Any benefits you created by taking public transportation to work are erased by streaming a two hour movie or scrolling 20 minutes on your cell.

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The horror doesn’t end there. The real danger, the true threat to many of us, in our decade long drought ridden regions, is the amount of water these Data Centers require. Currently Data Centers use a million gallons of water daily or 1.83 billion gallons a year. If we assume the ten-fold increase AI could require we are looking at 18,300,000,000 gallons a year. Places like Los Vegas, Pheonix, and Tucson will become ghost towns as the water dries up, property values sink to pennies on the dollar, and a fifth on the country’s population becomes climate refugees.

If you think there is an economic gain for the communities allowing these Data Centers to come in rob them of their water, increasing their energy bills, while droning 24/7 loud enough to rattle windows, think again, for some states are giving them up to a billion dollars in tax exempt discounts while they only hire around 100 employees from the area.

What is the answer when conserving energy, water, and controlling pollution becomes useless? The world was barely concerned with Climate Change before and big tech drove a dagger through the heart of any attempt to keep it under control and AI requirements will finish the job.

Look, I get it. I’m still using the internet too. I am currently a big fan of You Tube, my kids stream shows, and I hate to say it, but I love listening to music on our Alexia, while I cook. You are reading this online article, I posted, on a screen and before you got to the end it undid any savings you created riding your bike to the grocery store or using an energy efficient dishwasher might have saved you.

So what is the answer, sell your Alexia, toss your cell phone into a river, and see if you can still find a blue ray for sale? I don’t think we have the ability or self control to do a lot of those things. However, keep in mind any use of AI is a stab through the environment’s heart. It isn’t cool, it’s criminal. All things done offline should be rewarded and admired. Do as little online as your sanity and employment will allow you to get away with. Lastly realize moving any practice that wasn’t online to online is not an advancement toward anything except ensuring our culture’s quickly approaching destruction.

Author’s note: I know I threw out a lot of facts and figures I gleaned from multiple sources and failed to reference them. I looking to do a deeper dive into the source material and perhaps produce a more detailed article on this subject in the near future which will include references.

Thank you, I’m off to prepare a Role Playing Game for my wife which will create a zero carbon footprint and requires no online assistance. Prepare yourself for you own future and…roll initiative.

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Dak is ordered to hunt down renegade clones. His main problem, he’s dating one.

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The Top Seven Things I Have Learned from Bad Relationships

Author’s Note: One of the bench marks of realizing how horrible a relationship was, is knowing how wonderful the right one can be. So, I want to point out my current relationship is better than I ever thought one could be, and it helps clarify how awful and unnecessary many of the other things I experienced were.

  1. Realizing I Don’t Have to Prove I’m Right

When you know you’re right about a subject, your fast draw reaction is to demonstrate why your position is correct. If you could just explain yourself, it would be impossible for others to not embrace your conclusions. But…

I’m sure you’ve seen the state of our Ununited States, or should I just say the States. Thinking you can convince someone of something which, if they were to admit it was true, would make them look foolish, wrong, or damage their Cultural World View, is between impossible and difficult, or could become a yearlong ordeal. If you think it is a simple matter, you haven’t argued with many people and are disregarding the obvious reality.

Instead, I learned I don’t have to prove I’m right. Doing so is an agonizing waste of time. My job isn’t to teach the world. If something is next to impossible, I have better things to do. I know the truth and so do the people I want to spend time with. You may think the irrational person could gloat or you should prove yourself, but if it’s just wasted time and words, the best stance is silence and avoidance. Soon you will be free.

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2. How Important is it to Maintain Your Healthy Friendships

I’m sure you’ve heard one of the first things toxic people do it try to separate their mate from their support network. Family and friends will be constantly insulted and put down. No matter what happens, if you don’t respect the person who’s speaking the words, you don’t have to respect what they say.

I’ve had some of my friendships for over 40 years, and I’ve never dated anyone for much over a decade. Unless you have found your real lover, relationships come and go. Friendship and family usually last a lifetime while more often than not, relationships eventually fade. Stay true to your friends, the dysfunctional mate wants them to abandon you, because in a tight spot, good friends always have your back and will help you get back onto your feet.

3. There Are Times You Have to Work Harder

If the house is a mess, you don’t like it that way, but you know the other person is doing far less than their share of cleaning, you must let it go. Just because they are a dysfunctional loser, you aren’t required to join them. If they won’t get off their ass unless you’re done cooking them dinner it doesn’t mean you have to live in squalor.

One of the first things you should do when you find yourself locked within a horrid relationship, is no longer think of yourself as a couple. Change your attitude, your other is now just a shitty roommate you can’t get rid of yet. Just because they are a lazy waste of space, doesn’t mean you must live with dirty dishes and cluttered rooms. Remember, if you were living by yourself, you’d have to do all the work. Just think of your life as you are already living by yourself and required to do everything and just do it. No need for you to live like a loser too.

Many rebel against such notions thinking it’s not fair or if you do everything the partner will just dig in and do less. Don’t look at it like that. Instead know you are being strong, they will have less to try to bitch about, and you are just practicing for when you are finally free.

4.  Life is Almost Never Fair

I’d like to say life is never fair, but once in a while it comes up even, like if you and three buddies all pitch in ten bucks for some pizza, but when was the last time that happened? Thinking life should be fair will just slow you down and you’ll make yourself depressed. Someone always does more and usually that someone ends up being you. If it isn’t, you might be the villain in this article.

Once you understand you’ll never even the scales, it gives you the freedom to do whatever you like. Your life is meant to be lived by you and you are the yardstick used to measure your self worth. Don’t worry if you are doing too much, if you’re doing things which make your life better, do more. Soon you’ll drop the slop, and everything you’ve done to improve your life will elevate you and empower your new beginning.

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5. Letting Lies and Insults Go

Why should you care about what an illogical, ignorant, or lying person says? This goes back a bit to number one on this list but if you don’t respect how a person is living or what they are saying, you certainly don’t have to acknowledge when they are trying to pick a fight or manipulate you.

This can dip into gaslighting and other forms of control. Ignore the bait and don’t validate them with an argument for there is little to gain arguing with someone with mental illness.

They want a reaction out of you. Even a negative one shows you have a passion for the relationship. Don’t give them the satisfaction. Better to just nod your head and walk away. The best reaction is often no reaction. What a toxic person says doesn’t matter and it will matter less as soon as you escape and never have to hear their imaginary nonsense again.

6. Keep Your Possessions Separate

Sure, maybe legally you may each own all your things together, but there are things which you know are yours and with community items like frying pans and end tables you can always buy better versions later. If you are with a selfish toxic mate, you are probably going to lose most of your things but don’t be bitter. You’ll be free and it will be worth it.

Depending on how bad things are getting and how much capital is on hand, I would suggest renting a small storage unit. Each day on your way to run all the errands, while your partner binge watches some trashy series, drop a box or two of your things off at the unit.

Do this because…

  1. The crappy partner can’t break them in a fit.
  2. They can’t try to steal your things later.
  3. You aren’t arguing over what is whose in the middle of a caustic break up
  4. Moving into a new place is so much easier. Half your things are already packed.

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7. You Need to Prepare an Escape Plan

This is often difficult. Your name may be on a lease, or if you own your home, ouch. Also, there could be children involved. Still not living in the same place isn’t the same thing as not living up to your obligations. You could still pay your rent and, if allowed, care for your children. Still, in these days where raising your voice counts as domestic violence (Its the law. Look it up.) you need to set up a safe place to escape to. If you are with an irrational person for whom you are providing, they aren’t going to want you to leave and will do everything in their power to make you stay.

Standing around in your house packing while they scream at you or looking up rentals while they hover over you isn’t going to work. Driving around with a car packed full of your things with no plan isn’t much better. Friends can help but they’ll be ten times happier to know your needs in advance. Don’t just show up and ask to crash on their sofa for a month. In most cases I would recommend you have a place to go before you break up and if you are smart enough you might already have a sofa of your own there.

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Dak is asked to hunt down renegade clones. His main problem, he’s dating one.

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The Top Ten Easy Ways Everyone Can Help Protect our Environment

1. Only Read Real Books.

Reading a 400 page e-book using roughly 40 times the energy as reading a printed book and printed books can be reread and shared.

2. Grow a Garden

Even vegans use 60% as much energy as the most carnivorous consumer due to transportation and growing costs. Growing a garden is the best method to combat this huge cost of food production.

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3 Engage in Silence

Many of us now feel we need a podcast, music cranking from an Alexa, or a YouTube video blasting all the time. Intelligence, personality, and peace grow in silence. Also, any streamed media uses a huge amount of energy.

4. Do Whatever it Takes to Minimize Wasting Food

In the US it is estimated that some families waste up to 1/3 of the food they buy. This hurts their wallet as well as the environment. All the food the US wastes could feed Mexico and the energy used to create it could fuel 100% of the energy needs for three Tanzanias. (Also save roughly a 1000$ per person a year.)

5, Have Driving Free Days

If we all the people in the US pledged to not drive at least one day a week we would save 4 billion dollars a month and roughly 50 billion a year.

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(Low ball estimate of 5 dollars a day x 4 = 20$ x 200,000,000 drivers = 4 billion$ or for you about 40$ a month and 500$ a year. No driving = sometimes as much as 3,500 a year. I didn’t drive for 19 of my adult years so 66,500$ or about 4 x what I paid for my last car.)

6. Make a Compost Pit

Any veggies you throw away have their nutrients wasted while it creates more greenhouse gases. Instead, you can make a part of your yard full of bountiful life or, of course, use this nutrient rich soil in your garden.

7. Find a Hobby Which Can Use Recycled Products

We’ve all heard of the three Rs, but what about doing these things ourselves? Preserve veggies with old jars, make art out of items once bound for the landfill, start plants in plastic containers, or my personal favorite, make Dungeons and Dragons scenery out of former trash.

8. Try to Order Things by Delivery as Seldom as Possible

I know this is a hard one for some people, but remember if you really needed something you would already have it. Plan all your future requirements so they are gathered in one trip, preferably on your way to do some other tasks and not some giant truck running 20 trips after the crap has already been shipped across the Pacific.

This goes the same for ordering food delivered. These days it costs almost twice as much as it would have if you picked it up on your way home or about 10 times as much if you made it yourself. It is also wasteful and horrible for the planet. If you shop once a week just think of each Door Dash as doubling your carbon footprint for getting food on the table.

9. Find Hobbies and Pastimes You Can Enjoy Without Wasting Resources

Not everything in life must be streamed. Social media, Netflix, online video games have huge energy costs. Our ancestors didn’t need any of this crap to be happy. Do things for fun which help the planet instead of hurt it or buy things with one and done costs, like printed books, board games, horseshoes, cooking, and bike riding. Watch out or you might even burn a few calories and get some muscle tone back.

10. Don’t Use Artificial Intelligence

AI wastes a huge amount of energy to use. Create yourself, educate yourself, come on you are better than this.

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Dak is asked to hunt down renegade clones. His main problem, he’s dating one.

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WildernessPunk:  The Mask is Off and Fascism is Here

When I was about 16 I came to the realization our government was not to be trusted and acted accordingly. I also became an anarchist of sorts for I certainly made my own rules on what was appropriate and what wasn’t and strived to live by them. About 8 years later, I had learned more about third world exploitation and read a great deal on what fascism really was/is. In 1992 I wrote an article called Friendly Fascism in issue 7 of the underground zine C.H.A.O.S or Collected Humans Against Outdated Systems.

At the time I believed the United States was a country controlled by Fascists and would be Fascists, but back then they kept the mask on. Democrats wanted you to think of them as the party of humanitarianism and Republicans just wanted to keep government small, almost like anarchists, right?

I also knew, and I know I’ve dived into this more than a few times, that once the environment started to collapse and there were less goods for more people, the governments would turn to Fascism and do everything in its power to make sure the mega-rich could still enjoy their luxurious lifestyles while the world slowly suffered and burned.

What I didn’t expect is how quickly the mask of normalcy would come off, get tossed away, and burned. We went from getting checks to help us survive Covid to masked military invading our cities in less than 4 years.

But do you believe the United States is Fascist? Do you think the Dems will lick em’ in the midterms? Is the USA going to bounce back in a few years and inflation will chill while Generation Z starts a new middle class and begins buying up homes?

Well in case you are on the fence here are the eighteen signs a country has become fascist, all of which the United States has adopted.

Eighteen Signs You Live in a Fascist Country

  • Using Secret Police
  • Denying Reality with Constant Lies
  • Controlling Media
  • Normalizing Corruption
  • Rejecting Election Results
  • Controlling Education
  • Using the Military on Civilians
  • Appointing Incompetent Loyalists
  • Rewriting History
  • Ignoring Due Process
  • Labeling Minorities as Enemies
  • Using Fear to Gain Power
  • Replacing Science with Ideology
  • Accusing Others of Your Crimes
  • Protecting Criminal Loyalists
  • Normalizing Political Violence
  • Suppressing the Vote
  • Erasing and Faking Government Data

Think about it, really think about it. If a government is doing eighteen of the key forms of Fascism, is it Fascist?

I’m going to say yes.

I guess the question is what are we going to do about it now? Lots of people are doing many things to fight against it, but posting memes doesn’t count. Being depressed doesn’t count. Bitching and moaning doesn’t count unless you do something afterwards.

The people in the country and most others must come to some realizations and do it quickly.

  • Is the environment going to become more plentiful? No.
  • Is the middle class going to grow? No
  • Are the ultra greedy going to give what they have taken back? No.
  • Are huge percentages of the population going to suddenly wake up and turn on the overlords they idolize? No.
  • Is someone coming to help you? No.
  • Are we in trouble? Yes.

When the tanks come riding into your town are you going to be able to ride it out? When the neighbor’s children ask you for your food can you say no? When your son is drafted so we can steal the resources from another country, are you going to hide him?

I wish I had answers but I’m not sure I do. Trying to buy land with water somewhere sounds reasonable, but not everyone can do that. If they catch you living free and autonomously they will come for you if they can.

In the book, Replace the State by Sasha Davis, he strongly suggests one of the best ways to fight against a corrupt state is to develop local communities, families and individuals who can work together and help each other. Fascists can always triumph over the individual. Joining together, creating reciprocity, and doing your best to survive off the grid is a powerful first step.

A second is unplug and I mean from everything as much as you can. Not just social media, but e-books, video games, GPS, apps, and streaming. Do things with your hands. When AI takes your job and the national guard are patrolling your streets wearing masks and carrying rifles, what’s going to matter more, how many hits someone else’s meme you posted got, or that you made a better awning for your garden?

Step up, stand tall, and shout out.

We can survive this and maybe our grandchildren will be riding horses over the seas of grass.

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Dak is asked to hunt down renegade clones. His main problem, he’s dating one.

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The Top Ten Reasons Role Playing Gamers are More Prepared Than You


  1. They are used to facing down fascist totalitarian overlords
  2. Gamers spend whole days dealing with hidden surprises trying to tear out their throats
  3. Sooner than later huge groups of guards are hunting them down
  4. Each day they are living through an apocalypse with limited supplies
  5. Gamers understand life is usually a handful of allies vs an almost unconquerable state
  6. They never use their real names
  7. Disguises and infiltration are smarter than always fighting
  8. RPGers always have snacks
  9. They can have fun for hours without spending a dime
  10.  Rolling their 30 year old dice isn’t melting the icecaps

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Dak is asked to hunt down renegade clones. His main problem, he’s dating one.

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The Top Ten Reasons Why Someone Should Work for ICE

  1. Your self hate can be channeled elsewhere
  2. It will distract people away from how small your penis is
  3. Mask conveniently hide ugly faces
  4. Reminds you, you aren’t the biggest loser in town each time you ruin someone’s life
  5. You’ll look more muscular with all that padding
  6. You always wanted to be a Nazi
  7. Someone, besides your AI girlfriend, will finally take you seriously
  8. Your Klan hood is in the laundry
  9. People different than you are scary and make you pee a little
  10.  You’ll be able to get a lot of free sandwiches

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Dak is asked to hunt down renegade clones. His main problem, he’s dating one.

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