A top government official with energy industry holdings huddles in secret with oil company executives to work out the details of a potentially lucrative “national energy policy.” Later, that same official steers billions of government dollars to his former oil-field services company. Well-paid elected representatives act with impunity, routinely trading government contracts and other favors for millions of dollars. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens live in fear of venal police forces that suck them dry by charging fees for services, throwing them in jail when they can’t pay arbitrary fines or selling their court “debts” to private companies. Sometimes the police just take people’s life savings leaving them with no recourse whatsoever. Sometimes they steal and deal drugs on the side. Meanwhile, the country’s infrastructure crumbles. Bridges collapse, or take a quarter-century to fix after a natural disaster, or (despite millions spent) turn out not to be fixed at all. Many citizens regard their government at all levels with a weary combination of cynicism and contempt. Fundamentalist groups respond by calling for a return to religious values and the imposition of religious law.
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Need a better way.
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Need to scrape the barnacles off the hull of this country.
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🙂
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44 minutes of stick walking before coming down to the Nuevo Vallarta. Cold and clear.
Day 4: 48+44=92 minutes
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Sunset is at 4:05 so is it evening already?
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Been night for some time. Evenings are short this time of year.
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“America’s descent into a third world style kleptocracy”
Search for it.
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Den already found a copy. The whole is quite depressing reading. Have some cheer on hand.
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Too many issues, too few solutions.
FUBAR
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Traffic a mess with all the sheeple going to Tahoe in their Silver SUV’s.
Personally I prefer a plain simple get together with old friends.
My usual gathering has been marred this year by the Host being diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer earlier this year. The last T-Day for John as he fades to black.
Stupid Cancer.
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Home via the grocery store.
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A few hundred people in Spokane will have Thanksgiving without power.
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No sign of Carol.
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Just might be real busy right now…
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