Slope of Hope Blog Posts
Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.
Eleven/Nine
So here we are. In just a few days, we will be in the thick of election day, and by Tuesday evening, we should have a good idea as to what the next four years are going to be like.
I started off this year with a post about the election, and I’ve written about it from time to time since then. The entire post can be summarized with its closing line: “It’s as simple as that. Status Quo means Hillary. Financial Mayhem means Bernie. Fear means Trump.”
Unfortunately, we didn’t get financial mayhem, so Bernie’s out of the picture. As some of you know, this saddened me greatly, because the country at last had a chance at a truly moral leader. His endorsement of Clinton now baffles me, considering the disgusting behavior that the DNC took toward destroying him, but I suppose his reasoning is the same as 90% of Clinton’s supporters (“He’s not Trump”), so………shrug.
Voting with the Stars
A hodgepodge of “celebrities” have vowed they will move (typically to Canada) should Trump win. They include Miley Cyrus, Cher, Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O’Donnell, Jon Stewart, and Bryan Cranston.
As a point of reference, here are the stars that pledged they would leave the country in 2000 and 2004 if Bush was elected President:
- Alec Baldwin
- Kim Bassinger
- Tina Fey
- Barbra Streisand
- Robert Altman
- Sean Penn
And here’s the list of those who actually followed through with their pledge.
- .
There is only one appropriate response to this:
No One Will Be Happy
Near the end of the book The Big Short, there is a scene in which two of the principal characters are sitting outside in downtown Manhattan during the throes of the financial crisis. The entire financial world is in absolute pandemonium, but as they look around them…………nothing. Birds are singing. Children are playing. People are walking around, getting their errands done. A guy passes by on a bicycle. Nothing is different than it ever was.
That’s always been one of my favorite parts of the book, because the contrast between what those guys were experiencing (being completely and utterly enveloped in global chaos) and what was going on in the normal world is applicable in so many facets of life.
I begin this post with that anecdote because, with but a single week left until we have elected a new President, it seems everyone is convinced that Things Will Be So Different once the deed is done.
Thiel Speech
Let me be VERY clear out the outset that this video in no way is an endorsement. I simply think Peter Thiel’s speech is the best political speech I’ve heard in this entire ridiculous election, and it’s sort of ironic since he’s a Paypal co-founder and has nothing to do with D.C.
