PugJesus

Mandatory Note: Being prepared for shit to go down is different than advocating any sort of lone wolf action. Organize first and foremost. We may yet salvage something out of this debacle without an outright civil war or like burst of violence, though certainly not without brave folk on the streets physically resisting the fascists and making it impossible for them to quietly oppress the American people and make it the new 'normal'.

In either case, comrades are invaluable. Yes, even ones you might disagree with on matters other than "Holy fucking shit, the administration really dialed up the fascism"

The bullet is an option, and an option we must acknowledge and prepare for, but still an option of last resort.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deluge_(history/)

That fish looks enlightened af

Explanation: Diocletian was a Roman Emperor of the late 3rd century and early 4th century AD who royally fucked the government he took over, and then promptly retired to a nice villa in the Balkans. When one of his co-emperors wrote to him begging him to come back and unfuck the mess he seeded, Diocletian responded “If you [the messenger] could show the cabbage that I planted with my own hands to your emperor, he definitely wouldn’t dare suggest that I replace the peace and happiness of this place with the storms of a never-satisfied greed.”

His cabbage palace is really nice, though, you can still visit it today

Explanation: The Muslim-dominated Ottoman Empire, Safavid Empire, and Mughal Empire are all sometimes known as the Gunpowder Empires for their extensive and successful use of a then-new technology, gunpowder, to expand their domains and consolidate their existing holdings.

All three would hit different rocks on the road to modernity.

The Ottomans would never fully economically recover from the damn Euros figuring out how to make long-distance naval voyages. Europe being able to access Asia by sailing around Africa (or the Americas) destroyed the prior Ottoman monopoly on eastern trade that funded their government, and the Ottomans would slowly stagnate after the 1600s.

The Safavids would run into the core issue of having never fucking reformed their fundamentally ad hoc feudal government system and be slowly subsumed and effectively vassalized by their Russian and Ottoman neighbors.

The Mughals would fare the best, running into the 18th century as the foremost industrial/economic power in the world, a center of culture and technology. Unfortunately, deep and long-standing ethnic tensions would eventually shatter the central government in that same century, leaving India a collection of princely states just in time for the Euros to come sniffing around, looking for colonial concessions.

Who's on first?

Explanation: The Greek leader Pyrrhus of Epirus led an army of Greeks in support of Greek city-states in Italy against Rome. While he was an accomplished general, the Roman forces were stubborn, and made Pyrrhus’s victories so costly that he supposedly said “One more such victory against the Romans, and we shall be ruined” giving rise to the phrase “Pyrrhic Victory” for a victory that costs more than it’s worth!

Explanation: In the prelude to Caesar's Civil War in the Late Roman Republic, Caesar was engaged in negotiations with the Senate due to his enemies in Rome wanting to have him executed for the crime of being too popular. Though the negotiations started fruitfully, the intransigence of the conservative wing in the Senate eventually forced the moderates to offer a hardline position, wherein Caesar was offered no guarantees against being executed in exchange for giving up his legions and returning to Rome.

For obvious reasons, Caesar was not keen on this 'generous' offer, and instead opted to return Rome's legions to the Republic in a more... direct way.

Vond de Nederlander

Explanation: On the left, a cat has left pawprints in wet concrete in a modern-day construction, thus leaving its mark etched in history.

On the right, a cat has left pawprints in a medieval manuscript, thus leaving its mark etched in history.

Explanation: During the Age of Sail, it was common for states and monarchs to offer 'letters of marque' to certain [ahem] enterprising individuals. By sailing with a letter of marque, one agreed to only attack and plunder ships belonging to whatever nation your patron was at war with at the moment. In exchange... you got to attack and plunder merchant ships (of certain countries) without being wanted for piracy! And you don't even have to sign your entire life away to the Royal Navy!

All the benefits of being a pirate, none of the noose-related drawbacks! I mean, unless the enemy caught you. Or you became politically inconvenient.

Explanation: This is in reference to an infamous friendly-fire incident early during the War in Afghanistan, wherein a US pilot on a 'go-pill' attacked some allied Canadian troops after mistaking them for hostiles, causing the first Canadian deaths of the war. Spurred in no small part by said incident, amphetamines are no longer approved as 'go-pills' for US pilots.

Traditionally, 'go-pills' (often amphetamines, but usually not methamphetamine) have been used to induce alertness in pilots called for a sortie on short-notice since WW2. The thinking being that being exhausted and drowsy is a bigger danger than being a little 'keyed up' when it comes to flying into a warzone. However, the increased danger of friendly fire incidents with effective CAS and need for careful distinction between similar-looking targets has decreased the efficacy of such 'traditional' methods, as seen by the mentioned friendly-fire incident in Afghanistan.