Prophet of Doom

These days the 'sad' emoticon on FB gets used more than any other.  I no longer have the energy to be angry at everything that I should be. I wish they would add a BS icon that is easy to use. Instead, I use the HaHa making it do double duty.

If it were not for pictures of people's kids, people's pets, people's cows, and miscellaneous other critters, my NewsFeed would be beyond redemption. Which is pretty well how I feel about the world right now. I am not privileged enough to ignore the world around me.

Just the high spots:

• Putin is in the process of keeping himself in power for life, by changing the constitution.
• That same constitution change also says Russia is not bound by any international law if it clashes with the constitution, not that they have ever paid any attention to international law anyhow, or their constitution for that matter.
• Putin has been busy resurrecting Stalin, including passing a law that allows prisoners to be used for slave labour aka the Gulag rides again. China and America have been doing this for years anyhow.
• I need to get an outside opinion on Zelensky but am afraid I already know the answer. The crooks and oligarchs still hold the whip. And yes, there are good things happening too.
• Merkel and Macron seem to be siding with Russia on implementation of the Minsk agreements, leaving Ukraine isolated.
• Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Lybia, Syria, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan and on and on.
• Conservative governments, particularly those of Ford and Kenney, are busy wrecking their respective provinces all in the name of paying for tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations. Wall already did Saskatchewan and Moe is just keeping things going.
• We are currently running 10C to 15C above the long term average, as is European Russia and Western Siberia (I have not checked the Far East). But we had a cold snap on the prairies, not unheard of in January, though this one broke a few records, and the usual suspects were out hollering that this proved climate change is a hoax. 
• Lev Parnas just blew the lid off the intertwined corruption of the Trump administration. His information did not surprise those who oppose Trump and had no impact on those who support him.
• Trump is at Davos, warning people not to listen to the prophets of doom regarding the climate. The rich of course are quite able to insulate themselves from any ill effects of climate change.
• The White House will not mount any real defense against the articles of impeachment, arguing instead that the impeachment is illegal under the constitution and that presidents have unlimited power so cannot be charged with abuse of power.

Now I shall be a prophet of doom. 

• Having predicted that 2012 would be the last fair and free election in the USA and that a Republican would be elected president in 2016 (I never predicted Trump), I shall repeat my prediction that 2020 will be the last presidential election that even resembles an election.
• The Senate will find Trump not guilty and Trump will double down on the use of executive power claiming the verdict proved it was unlimited. Since no one has stopped him to date, no one will stop him after this.
• Trump will win the 2020 election via the Electoral College, with a little help from his friends, where necessary. The GOP will hold the senate the same way.
• The first four years of Trump will seem like nothing compared to the next four years as there is no legal way to stop him from doing anything he wants so long as he owns SCOTUS, the Senate, and DOJ.
• He will use the DOJ increasingly to go after anyone he perceives as an enemy, which is to say anyone who is not fawningly loyal. Journalists will be on the front lines.
• In 2024, Trump will run for a third term and win and no one will stop him. Other than the second amendment, the constitution will be observed more in the breach, like the Russian one.

Prove me wrong.