I'm currently in Paradise. PG&E's PSPSes are not notified consistently or accurately. The power is on as of 10/26/2019 1:35 am, but it may go out at any minute.

I'm currently in Paradise. PG&E's PSPSes are not notified consistently or accurately. The power is on as of 10/26/2019 1:35 am, but it may go out at any minute. Also, they don't seem to follow the conditions around the HV lines with actual risks... power was on during high heat periods with winds and low humidity, but out during lower heat. Decay is slow and gradual to people who live here all of the time. If you're like Chris Hedges and live abroad for some years and come back, the decline is noticeable over a longer timescale. (Slowly boiled frog.) And then there are folks like Chalmers Johnson who predicted empire and democracy are mutually exclusive, and you can see the current US military budget, undeclared wars and hundreds of bases around the world. Some examples of decline include: - massive corruption of the political establishment - crackdowns on publishers and journalists who don't tow the establishment line - apathy of the middle (low voter turn-out) - electing demagogues - crumbling infrastructure: roads, bridges - rust belt / lack of manufacturing - declining birth rates - rising xenophobia, provincialism and nationalism - increase in volatility and political polarization of average people - grotesque inequality with millions of homeless - questioning capitalism bifurcating into leaning either towards fascism or socialism - magical, tribal belief cults like flat-earth, anti-vaxx and conspiracy theorists - highest incarceration rate on Earth (per capita) except Seychelles - clueless leadership/elite class who cling ever more to utopian nonsense like libertarianism, meritocracy, consumerism, and technological progress/fashion - national debt leading to insolvency