Here’s another article about the violence. BLM has been mostly peaceful. But radical elements are moving in.
Something needs to be done before the situation gets completely out of control.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/portland-oregon-protest-turns-violent-arrested-71594643
We’re a long way from “completely out of control” or “the end of America.”
A long way.
Even the Washington Post has written about the improvised weapons used in Portland.
I understand BLM isn’t responsible. This is radical elements from the Left and Right creating chaos.
I am preparing myself to deal with the possibility of the end. Our system relies on the government itself following the laws, especially the laws that limit it’s power and requires it’s adherence to the law. A significant portion of the people have never accepted that and actively worked against it, and have at this point succeeded in bringing us to the brink of failure. If Trump is re-elected and there is not sufficient power in the congress to halt his destruction of the rule of law then it will be the end. I don’t know what I would do in that case but I’m simply going along with it.
I’m doing nothing and I think it is nutjob chicken little territory. Honestly posters on this board that go on about this shit in a semi-serious way, some of whom I otherwise like, get up my ass a bit. The USA may be in a rather different place in 2025 than it was in 1955 but it will still be limping along and people will be, with varying degrees of enthusiasm and success, trying to fix the many things broken about it.
However as others have said even if my cynicism about the ultra-cynical and excitable is wrong, there is zero I could do about. It’s not like I’m going to quit my job and move to Belgium. I can’t even speak Flemish.
Nope, I can’t imagine an "end of America"happening in the next 10-15 years. On the other hand my wife and I are evaluating our options in a semi-serious way for going overseas. We both have some opportunities for welling paying jobs in South America though not in the same country and we can at least see this place turning into something we’d rather not be in with our kids.
It’s a weird feeling.
Fourth of July, I was sitting out back, listening to the war going on, and thinking that next year, I should get a new firepit. Then I had just a momentary flash of wondering, “Will there be a next year?”
I make plans as though the world will keep spinning, as though civilization will truck along. I hire employees, negotiate leases and loans, and purchase equipment and supplies as though what I do will matter in a few months.
Made my first appointment for after the election the other day. That was a little odd.
I think that as long as most of us do, then it will. If too many of us assume that the world is going to come to an end, and prepare for that, then it just might.
What’s worse than preparing for a tomorrow that never comes? Not preparing for a tomorrow that will.
I think America will survive. There may be a period of violent unrest. But it will sort itself out.
We survived the Civil War. It cost an estimated million casualties, but the country did survive.
If Trump is “re-elected,” it will mean two things:
A significant portion of the electorate (the country) is hopelessly susceptible to misinformation.
Trump and the GOP have likely irrevocably tilted the system of elections and the rule of law in their favor. And they will do whatever they can with their power to maximize that power to ensure they have it for a very long time.
The result is that wealth inequality, which is already the worst we’ve seen in more than 100 years, will explode out of control. And when that happens, violent unrest is not going to be far behind. That’s a prediction based on the long history of how the human animal behaves under similar circumstances.
As I reflect on where we are now as a country, I often reflect on the aftermath of 9/11. In that moment of pain, we understandably had a lot of anger, which was a logical and even necessary emotion. But we also had an opportunity to reflect on our standing in the world and how others perceived us, and in the end, we chose not to reflect. We opted for jingoism.
“They hate us for our freedom.”
“They hate us because we can buy a house.”
Shit, most people in this country realize we’re not free and fewer and fewer people can afford to rent a studio, let alone buy a house.
Even had the South won, the United States of America would have continued along side the Confederate States of America. The question before and during the Civil War was, what would the United States of America look like. The Civil War answered that question: it included the same states in 1865 as it did in 1861, but history could have turned out differently. Never assume that the same circumstances produces the same results.
Are you talking Levy?
Sounds like reconstruction. Haven’t gotten over that yet. 
I’ve got a friend who is seriously trying to talk me into quitting my current job and move three counties further into rural Indiana because he is absolutely convinced that one night black and brown people are going to break down my door, rape me repeatedly, and steal all my stuff.
I’d laugh if he wasn’t so damn serious.
He also doesn’t get that those little rural oasis don’t want me - I’m too Jewish for them. My friend doesn’t care, he likes Jewish people, he just doesn’t seem to realize how many of his buddies and neighbors don’t.
Yeah, it’s up to nearly 6000 people! The end is near! 
No, I don’t think the end is near for America specifically. I AM a bit nervous about how fragile our entire civilization is right now across the globe. I feel I’m a bit paranoid on this point, however, as most don’t seem to be particularly worried about it, but ISTM that if we get hit with one more big thing this year (or in the next few years) it’s going to be really, really bad.
But that’s just when my depression kicks in. Generally, I think we (the US and the world) will muddle through fine, and I’m looking forward to Trump being kicked out in November as a high point of an otherwise shitty year.
I have a MAGA hat that I got before the last election to troll repubs at a local polling place. (“Vote for Trump. He’ll keep out the blacks and the mexicans” while sticking my belly out through a dirty T-shirt over my belt and looking deranged and unkempt). Now, I hope it may be what keeps me out of the gulags.
Good plan. Where may I obtain a hat?
The CSA ( The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord) was active when I was in high school and college. Their Compound was called The Farm. The Feds raided it in 1985. There’s been speculation they may have ties to the OK City bombing. AFAIK never proven.
Currently there’s a lot of activity in Pope County.
I don’t think their actively looking for trouble. But I’d strongly recommend leaving them alone. Don’t poke the sleeping bear.
I’m not necessarily concerned about anything that could be described as “the end of America”. However, based on my experiences since 2016, if Trump is reelected, I do seriously intend to begin apply to jobs overseas. I’ve been doing some preliminary research aimed at making sure I’m not unduly influenced by rose-colored glasses, and I recognize it would be a move with a lot of serious tradeoffs, but with a STEM PhD and a career in the medical genetics field, it seems I’d have a better chance than most to make the move.
People who believe in this scenario should send me all their good stuff. You’ll need to travel light to get to those wonderful places where all the mass migration out of the U.S. will end up.