The fall of the USSR, as seen by a witness
Link here. The witness, Oleg Atbashian, is also the founder of The People’s Cube, one of the best websites for clever satire making fun of the left. His insights and review of the break-up of the Soviet Union twenty-five years ago is definitely worth reading. It is even more important to read it because of his thoughts on today’s America:
In 1994 I emigrated to America, hoping to raise a family in a country ruled by reason and common sense. But lately I’ve been noticing a shortage of these commodities in the U.S. as well. While the ratio of reasonable people in this country may still be greater than elsewhere in the world, the ignorant passion for Soviet-style politics is very alarming.
Just as it was in the USSR, American media now publishes articles that read like Pravda’s updates on this week’s current truth. American entertainers and moviemakers are consistently pushing the politically correct party line. Social media giants are seriously considering political censorship. Indoctrination in American schools and colleges is worse than what I’ve seen in the Soviet Union, where getting a real education was actually important. And finally, just as it was in the USSR, more and more people begin to resent the “progressive” establishment and mock the lying media.
He is justly worried by the large number of Americans who, for reasons that are inexplicable, have bought into the fantasy that communism and government rule is the best way to get things done, when all of history proves otherwise.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Link here. The witness, Oleg Atbashian, is also the founder of The People’s Cube, one of the best websites for clever satire making fun of the left. His insights and review of the break-up of the Soviet Union twenty-five years ago is definitely worth reading. It is even more important to read it because of his thoughts on today’s America:
In 1994 I emigrated to America, hoping to raise a family in a country ruled by reason and common sense. But lately I’ve been noticing a shortage of these commodities in the U.S. as well. While the ratio of reasonable people in this country may still be greater than elsewhere in the world, the ignorant passion for Soviet-style politics is very alarming.
Just as it was in the USSR, American media now publishes articles that read like Pravda’s updates on this week’s current truth. American entertainers and moviemakers are consistently pushing the politically correct party line. Social media giants are seriously considering political censorship. Indoctrination in American schools and colleges is worse than what I’ve seen in the Soviet Union, where getting a real education was actually important. And finally, just as it was in the USSR, more and more people begin to resent the “progressive” establishment and mock the lying media.
He is justly worried by the large number of Americans who, for reasons that are inexplicable, have bought into the fantasy that communism and government rule is the best way to get things done, when all of history proves otherwise.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
While I agree with the American Russian’s point of view about the years past and what the media and our political class has perpetrated on the people of America. I have to give some real world, real time feed back from the front lines that might just be a peek at what is to come. Both the media and especially the political class have been big downers and have projected much un American negativity for 8 plus years. I felt it myself to the point where I felt much relieved and encouraged knowing that Hillary was not going to be empowered by the people of America and Obama and his BS agenda was soundly rejected.
Im comparing my retail numbers from December 2015 and December 2016, my numbers are up 30+ percent for the same month, year to year. Im scratching my head, its a bit crazy. Why I am asking?
Could the reasonable explanation for such a jump specifically in that one month with Christmas and New Years eve going into a new year with a new president and course for the country?
(Thanksgiving day specifically was up aprox. the same %)
Could there be that much optimism stirring in the country? ( I am not doing much of anything that different from previous years to my thinking that justifies such a jump.)
After eight years of the Leftist blathering about how America was a Muslim country, and every other subversive and treasonous word that issued forth from the mouth of the president and all the rest of the accompanying media crap and politico crap being flushed down the toilet, are the American people that much more happy and optimistic because of it? (where I do business the voting is slightly skewed to the Democrats 55 /45 aprox.)
That is my real word report, lets see what some of the retail numbers are on Tues of next week and see if they correspond with my own. If this is an optimistic tell by the public and it indicates that the country actually will be driven to the center right and we will be reconnecting with our foundation where are the limits?
Trump is going to have a very, very rare, historically rare opportunity, lets how he manages it.
(if nothing else, its going to be interesting)
Cotour–
Good deal on your numbers!
Just anecdotally & (very) limited; I’ve noticed a distinct rise in the overall outlook amongst people I interact. ( Including myself I must add.) The hard-core leftists are still in a state of denial but “everyone else” is cautiously optimistic at a minimum.
Not a religious guy myself, but I do thank God, HRC is not President. That was an existential threat, that had to be dealt with. But the war rages on…. I ended up selling my soul to DJT, Priebus, Ryan, and McConnell, in the bargain.
But, that having been said,
I am cautiously optimistic, and I haven’t been able to say that for 8 years, minimum.
Have a good new year!
Good man, this Oleg Atbashian.
Cotour wrote: “and all the rest of the accompanying media crap and politico crap being flushed down the toilet”
In my part of the country, that crap was backing up and flowing out of the toilet and onto the floor. I think that the optimism is that the reverse flow seems to be about to stop, and now the cleanup can start.
Cotour wrote: “Trump is going to have a very, very rare, historically rare opportunity, lets how he manages it.”
We had similar optimism when Obama took office. We thought that finally we would be a post-racial America, not a most-racial America. What a disappointment.
We can only hope that this lifelong liberal Democrat president is different from our current lifelong liberal Democrat president. How did all that hope work out for us with that last lifelong liberal Democrat?
So, since the stated strategy was to get Trump into office, then work to make sure he did good, what specific things are you going to do to make sure he does good? How are you going to see to it that he does not actually nominate those poor choices for Cabinet — and other positions — but re-chooses good candidates? And how about that extra $10 trillion he plans to spend above and beyond the already established overspending? Etc.
Otherwise, we may follow the USSR into historical oblivion.
Edward, you wrote: “We had similar optimism when Obama took office. We thought that finally we would be a post-racial America, not a most-racial America. What a disappointment.”
Race is an identity given and defining reality. You have to face it. It will always make a difference, because it is natural choice to prefer people, which share more similar gens, appearance and behavior as others. The (enforced) approach to mix all up races, which seems to be a basic element of US political system, is true racism, because it is going to eliminate white race at the end as the practical result.
Alex,
What you write may be true, but whether or not there is such a preference, in the United States the races were getting along pretty well, seven and a half years ago, and the American press was adamant that we would soon be post-racial. Then professor Gates decided he was superior to his local police, who were literally there to protect him and his property.
The infamous, unproductive “Beer Summit” had a destabilizing effect on American race relations, because it became clear that the president had no interest in uniting anyone or anything in America. Intolerance, dissatisfaction, and disharmony soon became the order of the day, or rather of the administration.
The situation deteriorated with every passing poor statement from Obama, as he lead from his behind on race relations, until the Only Black Lives Matter crowd was allowed to shut down with impunity the free speech of anyone who suggested that any lives matter other than black ones. President Racial Disharmony got worse when he implicitly cheered as police officers were killed, after the OBLM crowd literally called for dead cops now.
You may be right, Alex, but a third of a century’s evidence, up until Obama, suggested that we could be capable of getting along just fine. Obama single handedly set us back so far it is hard to tell whether we will recover in our lifetime. Worst president ever. Hands down.
Welcome to Obama’s America, land of the formerly tolerant.