John – Page 12 – Wilder, Wealthy, and Wise

The Post of Christmas Past

“The most enduring traditions of the season are best enjoyed in the warm embrace of kith and kin. Thith tree the a thymbol of the thpirit of the Grithwold family Crithmath.” – National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

The Mrs. made a Christmas decoration out of $100 bills. She called it her Aretha Franklins.

Notes: I’ll have a new song tomorrow and two for this weekend. I am, however, debating on putting together a post for Friday. We’ll see – it’s a coin toss right now and probably depends on how sleepy I am after Christmas dinner.

Ahhh, Christmas. One of the things that has become traditional in the time since the VCR ruled supreme is, of course, the Christmas movie. Many of them are quite bad, but a few stand out in my mind and they’re below. This doesn’t include Christmas TV specials, of which A Charlie Brown Christmas is clearly the very best.

It’s a Wonderful Life is on the top of many lists and it’s the oldest on this list with the next-oldest showing up forty years later. It’s got a solid cast, and a message that, perhaps, unbridled capitalism isn’t the way so it probably makes Libertarians sad. Yet, the reason it’s so popular is, like Night of the Living Dead, the copyright holders failed to renew that copyright in 1975 so television stations could flog it like a rented horse and pay nothing. If you have ever been around people in the broadcasting business, “free” is their heroin, so they played it over and over because, hey, free Christmas heroin.

Home Alone is a funny movie, but not horribly Christmas-y. Change the setting to Thanksgiving or summer vacation or the execution of a convicted killer based on a wacky misunderstanding and nothing really changes. But a lot of people really like this one, so it’s in. And it is hilarious, especially the Stooge-esque scene of mayhem at the end. Heartwarming? I little. It tries but mainly fails, because my heart is mainly immune from warming.

Die Hard? Yes, it’s a Christmas movie. The real villain in the movie was Joseph Takagi. Why? He scheduled an office party on Christmas Eve. Who does that, the Japanese Grinch®? The movie is really well made from start to finish, and holds up to repeated viewings. And, after all, as my kids say, “It’s not really Christmas until Hans Gruber falls off Nakatomi tower.”

Elf. So, let me get this straight, Santa kidnapped a baby and we give him a pass? I’m not really that fond of Santa movies. Why? I don’t know. Let’s just say I figured out that scam pretty quickly and hold a grudge. But Will Ferrell is generally funny, and plays childlike enthusiasm very well, especially bouncing it off of Jimmy Caan.

A Christmas Story. Top tier, and probably tied for my very top spot as a Christmas movie. It is very uniquely a story about Christmas in America before globalism and while commercialism was still amateurish (Drink more Ovaltine®?). It did also capture that great sense of joy, wonder, and anticipation that comes from being a kid awaiting his first shootin’ iron. It also was wonderful at showing a family that was cohesive despite of (and maybe because of) the daily ups and downs and struggles. When I was younger, I saw it through Ralphie’s eyes, and then through the eyes of The Old Man. Perfect on all levels.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Did I ever mention that the clerks at the grocery store would let me buy National Lampoon® when I was 8? I think they would have sold me booze and smokes, too. Regardless, this is clearly the best of the movies that National Lampoon™ ever put its brand on. I’d also say it’s the most consistently funny movie on this list. Randy Quaid still makes money autographing photos with “Shitter’s Full.” Why can’t I have that career?

Scrooged. This is a favorite of The Mrs. Peak Bill Murray hamming it up with a message that, perhaps, it’s not all about him, but rather his family, which (as far as I can tell) nearly all in this film playing various roles. But maybe stapling the antlers to the mice would have been an interesting scene to make the movie more engaging? I think the late, great Michael O’Donoghue was the spark on the script, but whoever was responsible, they did a very good job bringing this story into the 1980s. Making fun of commercialism while bringing $100,000,000 back to the bank was pretty good work.

Fatman. It’s Mel Gibson as Santa taking a contract with the military-industrial complex to produce weapons because business is down while being pursued by a hitman. Santa Claus becomes John McClane? Barely a Christmas movie.

The Long Kiss Goodnight has Geena Davis at her hottest playing an amnesiac assassin in a story written by the guy who wrote Predator and directed by the guy who directed the only move I’ve been in (The Adventures of Ford Fairlane). Christmasy? No, not really even though it’s set at Christmas. And, this is crucial to the plot, but it could be almost any holiday. Why on the list? It’s an excuse to post a picture of Geena Davis.

I very much expected this list to be longer, and, in fact, had to throw on a few that I normally wouldn’t (Fatman, for instance) to pad it out. I’m imagining there weren’t a lot of surprises on the list. Did I miss any of your favorites?

Die Ho Ho Ho: A Christmas Carol

A bit of something lighthearted for Christmas. I’ll have another Christmas song for Christmas day.

Behind The Music:
All the songs so far are here (LINK). Still working on the downloadable stuff.

Die Ho Ho Ho
by John Wilder

Deck the halls with boughs of Holly Genaro
Fa la la la la, la la la la
John McClane needs more dinero
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Terrorists crash the festive cheer
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Hans Gruber’s plan is crystal clear
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Yippee-ki-yay, Father Christmas night!
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Nakatomi’s tower, what a fight!
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Barefoot hero squirms the vents so tight
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Saves the day with guts and dynamite
Fa la la la la, la la la la

‘Tis the season to be crawling
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Through the elevator, the bad guys falling
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Holly’s a hostage, Argyle’s drivin’
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Powell’s on the radio, forgivin’
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Yippee-ki-yay, Father Christmas night!
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Machine guns blaze under twinkling lights!
Fa la la la la, la la la la
John drops Hans from the Nakatomi height
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Ho ho ho, now I have a gun, right
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Now the snow falls on the wreckage below
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Family reunited in the glow
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Evil thwarted on this holy eve
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Die Hard Christmas, we believe!

Yippee-ki-yay, Mother Christmas all!
Fa la la la la, la la la la
From the party start to Hans Gruber’s fall!
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Peace on Earth, with an American yell
Fa la la, la la la, la la la

Vivek’s Annual X® Mass Meltdown: Second Verse, Same As The First

“It’s a core meltdown, sir. It can’t be stopped.” – Galaxy Quest

Is your refrigerator running? If so, Ohioans may want to vote for it. (All memes as found in responses to Vivek’s tweets®)

As we slide into the end of 2025, Vivek Ramaswamy is at it again, melting down into a puddle on X™ like a little brown chocolate Easter rabbit in a sauna. Last year right around this time, Vivek was preaching that Americans are lazy sacks of mediocrity who need a flood of immigrants to save us from our own couch-potato culture.

In December 2024, Vivek dropped a bombshell thread on X®, blaming American culture for “venerating mediocrity over excellence” since (at least) the ‘90s, you know, when he was 10. Ramaswamy ranted about how we celebrate prom queens over math whizzes, jocks over valedictorians, and then made bizarre sitcom references.

His fix? Import more foreign-born people like, well, Vivek.

Because why?

Because, apparently, native Americans (not the feathered kind, the lazy you and me kind) can’t hack it. “Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long,” he tweeted, as if the country that broke the sound barrier was built by sleepover parties and mall hangs.

The H-1Bs arrived starting in the 1990s. They didn’t build America. We didn’t need them to rescue us from squalor. They were an economic invasive species who flocked here because America was already great.

This year the blue monkey god he worships must have whispered in his ear, “It’s time, Vivek, make them hate you.”

Vivek is doubling down, insisting that no one is more American than anyone else. Blood doesn’t matter, loyalty to . . . I guess ‘90’s sitcoms . . . does.

The Wilder family tree is rooted deeper in American soil than a sequoia, so I’ll beg to differ. My ancestors have been buried in the United States for 250 years, fighting in every scrap from the Revolution to WWII.

Vivek? He’s a first-gen Hindu anchor baby whose parents, even today, aren’t American citizens. He really does worship a blue monkey god (Hanuman, for the uninitiated), I’m not making that up. Vivek, despite being tied to the United States neither by culture, blood, religion, or duration is lecturing us on what makes someone “American.”

This is irony thicker than his mother’s accent.

As I write this, Vivek’s second annual X® tantrum is in full swing. Running (currently losing) for Governor of Ohio, he’s gone into full defense mode. “Blood doesn’t make you American, loyalty does,” he posts, all while defending legal immigrants as often “the most American of us all.”

I’ll let you marinate on that one for a bit.

But here’s the rub: Vivek’s definition of Americanism is so broad it’s borderless. If it’s just about swearing allegiance and buying into “ideals” like consumerism and sacred cultural events like Toyotathon™, then every person on the planet is an American who just hasn’t hopped the fence yet.

Forget cultures that clash with ours, like those that prioritize caste (in his book, Vivek proudly notes he’s from the Brahmin caste) over equality, or Sharia over the Constitution.

Many immigrant cultures are absolutely antithetical to the American ethos the Founding Fathers baked in. Those guys weren’t dummies; they knew ancestry, culture, and religion were key to cohesion.

Jefferson warned about importing “principles adverse to freedom.”

Franklin fretted over Germans diluting the Anglo-Saxon stock, imagine what he’d think about Vivek.

They built a nation for “ourselves and our posterity,” not a global Airbnb® for anyone with a passport stamp. Vivek’s self-serving schtick reeks of opportunism. He’s a biotech billionaire who made his fortune through what looks an awful lot like pump and dump schemes. Remember Axovant™? His Roivant® spinoff hyped a failed Alzheimer’s drug that he bought for pennies, went public in a splashy IPO, and tanked when trials flopped.

This netted Vivek millions while investors ate dirt. Sounds familiar? It’s like Martin Shkreli’s pharma bro antics, but bigger and with better PR. Critics call it a “Wall Street speculator scam,” fleecing folks just like those Indian phone scammers who promise to fix your computer for a Playstation® gift cards.

Vivek’s version? Promise miracle drugs, pump the stock, dump before reality hits. Billions in the bank, ethics in the toilet, I mean, if he owns one.

And now he wants to govern Ohio?

Good luck selling that to Buckeye voters who value straight shooters over slick operators.

The irony is, Vivek’s behavior does more to stoke distrust of Indians than any redneck rant ever could. By shoving his “I’m as American as apple pie” narrative down our throats while ignoring cultural clashes, he alienates the very heartland he’s courting. Ohioans aren’t buying it.

Polls show the race tightening, but with AG Dave Yost calling the GOP endorsement of Vivek a “wrong choice,” and Democrats like Amy Acton gearing up, his path looks rockier than the Appalachians.

A Hindu lecturing Christians on American identity? In a state where churches outnumber tech startups?

He can’t win.

His meltdowns highlight the divide: America isn’t just ideals; it’s blood, soil, and shared history. Dilute that, and you get chaos.

What portends when this bubble bursts? Vivek’s campaign will fizzle like his drugs in trials. But the bigger fallout: his rhetoric erodes trust in assimilation. His little kids have Star Wars® names and worship a blue elephant god. I’ve said forever, if you didn’t consider naming your kid “Brandon” or “Jason” you’re clearly not American, and that takes roots that are about three generations deep.

If “loyalty” trumps culture, why stop at legal immigrants?

Why not amnesty everyone?

It’s a slippery slope to turning America into a mini-UN, where clashing values breed division. The Founders knew better: cohesion requires common roots.

Vivek’s vision? It’s a balkanizing civil war in the making.

In the end, meltdowns like Vivek’s are built on illusions: that America is just a proposition nation, no heritage required. But as my family’s graves attest, it’s more. He’s increasing dislike of Indians faster than a bad curry, all while scamming his way to the top.

Ohio deserves better. We’ve seen this show before (cough Obama cough) and know that electing someone who is clearly not American won’t make America better, but instead just leave little brown puddles everywhere.

Nothing to do with Deer: Sunday Country Second Amendment

Sometimes it’s a chorus, sometimes it’s just a phrase that’s the start of a song. This was the phrase that became the title.

Behind The Music:
All the songs so far are here (LINK). Still working on the downloadable stuff.

Nothing to do with Deer
By John Wilder

In the heart of the city where man becomes prey
Weak and evil men want to take guns away
But listen up close, if you want to understand,
About the world that you’ll live in, if guns are banned

It’s not exactly a gun problem, hear me say,
It’s thugs with long records, gettin’ their way.

Judges lettin’ killers walk without a fight,
Bail ’em out quick, boy, ignorin’ what’s right
Gun-free zones? Just unarmed victim traps,
Where the criminals strike and the evil snap.

Let me make somethin’ perfectly clear,
The Second Amendment has nothin’ to do with deer.

Twisted judges let the mad ones roam,
Repeat offenders tearin’ up our home
It’s folks with dark pasts or minds in a twist,
Not men and women just trying to exist.

Your family’s at risk to judges without a spine,
But a gun in your hand keeps the danger in line.

Judges lettin’ killers walk without a fight,
Bail ’em out quick, boy, ignorin’ what’s right.
Gun-free zones? Just unarmed victim traps,
Where the bad guys strike and the evil snap.

I say again, Let me make somethin’ perfectly clear,
The Second Amendment has nothin’ to do with deer.

Look over to England, where a father’s head hangs,
His daughter’s innocence lost to grooming gangs
Evil men rise up when the people can’t fight,
But here we’re armed strong, holdin’ back that night.

Don’t let ’em fool you, your rights keep you free,
From shadows that creep, protecting you and me

So stand for your freedom, don’t back down,
They’ll find out, if they mess around,
When trouble comes knockin’ at your front door,
You’ll be ready to answer, even the score.

It’s ’bout protectin’ what’s yours in the fray,
Gun rights save innocent lives every day.

Judges lettin’ killers walk without a fight,
Bail ’em out quick, boy, ignorin’ what’s right.
Gun-free zones? Just helpless victim traps,
Where the bad guys strike and the evil snap.

If you missed, it, let me make somethin’ perfectly clear,
The Second Amendment has nothin’ to do with deer.

You know, the truth is, we ain’t got a gun problem . . .
And if you want to talk about common sense gun laws,
Let’s talk about common sense voter laws first

Somalisota: Saturday Song

Ahhh, Somalisota, filled with Scandinavian traditions like Medicaid fraud, childcare fraud, autism fraud, and immigration fraud. How would that look to a Somalian who is getting the benefit of, perhaps, $8 billion in illegal benefits while recreating Mogadishu on the Mouth of the Mississippi?

Well, like paradise!

Aren’t you pleased that they’ve been able to live their dreams?

Behind The Music:
All the songs so far are here (LINK). Still working on the downloadable stuff.

Down in Somalisota
by John Wilder
(apologies to the Beach Boys)

Autism,
Child care,
Ooh, we wanna scam ya
Jihad,
Sharia,
Ohh, we want to kill ya
Charity, Medicaid, baby, you’ve been played

Oooh-ohhh, it’s North of Iowa
There’s a place called Somalisota
That’s where you wanna go to

Steal it all

Way down in Somalisota

And bodies in the sand,
Infidel blood melting in your hand
We’ll be falling in love to the rhythm of a
Drive by shooting,

Down in Somalisota

Ilhan Omar, ooh,
Her brother wants to take her
For a green card,
Far away from the Coast Guard

Oh-ohhhh, it’s to the east of Dakota

Ooh, I wanna take you down to Somalisota
We’ll get there fast and then we’ll start a quota
We’ll definitely avoid the Lakota

Way down in Somalisota

Minneapolis, not at all Annapolis
We’ll cut down a tree and we’ll perfect bomb chemistry
By and by we’ll live on welfare and defy all the laws

Afternoon stealing, and moonlit double dealing
That dreamy look under your veil
As they give me a zero dollar bail

Way down in Somalisota

Autism,
child care,
Ooh, we wanna scam ya
Jihad,
Sharia,
Ohh, we want to kill ya
Charity, Medicaid, baby, ohh you’ve been played

Oooh-ohhh, north of Iowa
There’s a place called Somalisota
That’s where you wanna go

To steal it all

Way down in Somalisota

We’ll get there fast and then we’ll start a quota
We’ll definitely avoid the Lakota
Way down in Somalisota

Autism,
Child care,
Ooh, we wanna scam ya
Jihad,
Sharia,
Ohh, we want to kill ya
Charity, Medicaid, baby, ohh you’ve been played

Oooh-ohhh, north of Iowa
There’s a place called Somalisota
That’s where you wanna go

To steal it all

Way down in Somalisota

Autism,
Child care,
Ooh, we wanna scam ya
Jihad,
Sharia,
Ohh, we want to kill ya
Charity, Medicaid, baby, ohh you’ve been played

We’ll get there fast and then we’ll start a quota
We’ll definitely avoid the Lakota
Way down in Somalisota

Down in Somalisota . . . .

2025 In Review: The Wilder Way

“You’re up for review.” – Fight Club

I wrote a review of why graphs should use wider lines. It’s called, “The Plot Thickens”.

As an annual feature of Wilder, Wealthy and Wise, we poll our writers and editors and ask them to nominate the top stories of the year. Since they are just me, it’s a far less complex process than you might imagine. Here are the top stories of 2025:

January 2025

Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 47th U.S. President. Trump immediately issues executive orders on immigration, trade, and withdrawing from international agreements like the Paris Accord. Alexandria Occasional-Cortex protests, “I didn’t even know the French could pronounce ‘Honda®’, I mean, wouldn’t it sound like ‘Onda? So we should let them have an Accord®. It’s a sensible car.”
Wildfires ravage Greater Los Angeles, destroying over 13,000 structures, prompting evacuations and a state of emergency. Governor Gavin “Reptile Smile” Newsom declares homeowners may rebuild that the land will be confiscated and given to people that buy him nice things.
Bulgaria and Romania join the Schengen Area, lifting land border controls in Europe. Bulgaria is still awaiting its first visitor and has the crepe paper decorations and everything along with party poppers and a 10% discount coupon to Bob’s Bulgarian Borscht, Baguette and Baklava Buffet®.
Liechtenstein legalizes same-sex marriage, becoming the 37th country to do so, and demands to be known as Gay Liechtenstein.

February 2025

Trump imposes 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, and 10% on China, sparking retaliatory measures and trade tensions. Trump then immediately lowers them, noting, “I shot the tariff, but I did not shoot the subsidy.”
China retaliates with export controls and tariffs on U.S. imports amid escalating trade war, threatening to send more TEMU® products and advertisements if the U.S. does not relent.
Canada wins the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament against the U.S. Nic Cage and John Travolta are unavailable for comment.
The Taliban visit Japan for first diplomatic engagement since 2021 as the Japanese noted they were no longer talibanned.

March 2025

Trump pauses U.S. military aid to Ukraine after tensions with Zelensky when Zelensky wouldn’t eat his peas at dinner.
Romanian protests erupt against election annulment, supporting the far-right one candidate who doesn’t Romanians replaced by Syrians.
The Nagoya High Court in Japan rules non-recognition of same-sex marriage unconstitutional, primarily because of military pressure from Gay Liechtenstein.
Trump increases tariffs on Chinese imports to 20%. Or 60%. Or 200%. Can’t keep track.
India launches missiles into Pakistan after a terrorist attack, escalating border tensions over regional fights against body hygiene, deodorant requirements, and who had first scamming rights over Oregon.

April 2025

Trump imposes sweeping tariffs on imports from multiple countries, escalating global trade wars. Or lowers them. Or maybe doesn’t change anything at all. I can’t remember.
Pope Francis dies at 88 after mentioning he had inside information about Clinton crimes.
China increases tariffs on U.S. exports to 84% in retaliation. Or lowers them.
South Korean President Win Won Soon impeached and removed and sent to Alabama to coach football.

May 2025

Robert Prevost elected as Pope Leo XIV in the papal conclave, narrowly edging out Grammy®-nominated artist Taylor Swift.
Germany’s AfD designated as extremist because it objects complete replacement of Germans by 2032, instead demanding it be put back to at least 2040.
Japan allows bears in urban areas to be shot by hunters, as long as the bears are not gay, though the hunters can be gay and are encouraged to be vegan.

June 2025

Protests erupt in Los Angeles over ICE deportations, leading to clashes and National Guard deployment and threats of military intervention from the Grand Gay Dutchy of Gay Liechtenstein.
The U.S. intervenes in the Israel-Iran conflict by bombing Iranian nuclear facilities, which is less an intervention and more of a bombing.
No Kings protests occur across U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan, and Mexico against Stephen King, Larry King, King’s Hawaiian Rolls® and King Kong™.
An Air India© flight crashes in Ahmedabad, killing 242, proving that Indians can manage to kill more Indians than Pakistan can. Prime Minister Modi proclaims: “India Global Superpower 2030!”

July 2025

Republicans pass sweeping tax changes through reconciliation in U.S. Congress. No one is sure what is in them but the lobbyists say that it’ll be great.
The International Court of Justice® (Superman presiding) rules countries can sue over historical greenhouse gas emissions. White Americans immediately sue the descendants of black slaves for greenhouse reparations, noting that if they really were the ones who built America, it’s time for them to pay up.

August 2025

OpenAI® releases GPT-5™. Sam Altman celebrates by sacrificing a small child, but the evil god he worships rejects it because, “It’s not really a sacrifice because he does it every Tuesday.”
The Russia-U.S. summit at Joint Base Elmendorf in Anchorage focused on the Ukraine conflict, got nothing done, but did have a nice burger and a promise to meet up again “in a week or two, you know, I’ve got a lot of stuff going on”.
Air Canada© flight attendants strike to ban requiring stewardesses to serve in-flight beverage service to Indians hanging on the wings.
Anti-immigration rallies in Australia lead to clashes against the evil white people who are totally not being replaced by the hundreds of thousands of refugees brought in to replace them.

September 2025

The French government collapses after no-confidence vote. Again.
The Grand Gay Dutchy of Gay Liechtenstein demands the return of their gay crown jewels from France. France protests, noting, “We’re not exactly sure where Liechtenstein is.”

October 2025

In the U.K., Sarah Mullally becomes the first female Archbishop of Canterbury and immediately offers apology for all Christians resistance to moslem grooming gangs, noting, “It’s really white privilege to expect to not be sexually violated by short swarthy men with no upper body strength.”
Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg abdicates as the Gay Grand Gay Dutchy of Gay Liechtenstein attacks and begins to consolidate a European Homohegemony.

Why did Bing® A.I.® put Manson in the picture?

November 2025

Canada’s measles-free status revoked. Which is weird, because they had been measles-free since 1998. Wonder how that could have happened? No reason at all, I guess. Odd coincidence that some of the highest measles rates in the world are in India.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders win the Grey Cup. Whoever and wherever they are, and whatever that it.

December 2025

Trump’s economic approval hits a new low at 36%, but that only fills him with strength, and he decided to annex Antarctica and name it New Greenland.
Sanae Takaichi becomes Japan’s first female prime minister, and immediately begins plotting to re-take Manchuria after tidying up a bit and doing some dishes.
The Gay Grand Gay Dutchy of Gay Liechtenstein cedes the Gay Presidency of Europe to The Trans Republic of Trans Transylvania.
Thieves steal priceless jewelry from the Louvre in France, but after they’re caught and determined to be moslem, are then given a key so they can loot whenever they want.

What a year!

What did I miss?

Thursday Music: The Last Stand

I hadn’t intended to have the next song be another song about a battle for Thursday, but here we are. In an amusing (to me) note, after The Gates of Vienna was posted and the YouTube video from Sabaton was linked in the comments, I had a lot of views from Sweden.

Behind The Music:
All the songs so far are here (LINK). Still working on the downloadable stuff.

The Last Stand
by John Wilder

In the narrow pass where mountains kiss the sea
Three hundred Spartans stand, awaiting destiny
Xerxes’ hordes descend like bronze tidal waves
Free men stand to stop the Persian slaves

Leonidas commands, his voice a lion’s roar
Allied Greeks, bravely hold the shore
The Hot Gates boil with the clash of spear and shield
Bravery forged in fire, the Greeks refuse to yield

A Persian envoy demands their arms laid down
Leonidas scoffs, his face a stormy frown
“Come and take them” he cries with unyielding might
Molon labe echoes through the endless night

Molon labe
Molon labe
Molon labe

At Thermopylae, where heroes never bend
Spartans and their allies, stand to the bitter end
The future of the West on their shoulders borne
Bravery’s flame against the gathering storm

Thermopylae, the cradle of the free
Western civilization’s legacy
They stood as giants ‘gainst the tyrant’s tide
For Hellas’ soul, they fought and died

Molon labe
Molon labe
Molon labe

Arrows blot out the sun, a deadly Persian rain
A Spartan warrior grins standing on that plain
“Then we will fight in the shade!” Leonidas declares
The arrows fall, but their courage never despairs

Days of slaughter, the pass runs red with blood
Immortals broken, trampled in the mud
A cowardly betrayal reveals the hidden path
The encircled few face Persia’s full wrath

As dawn breaks grim on the final fateful morn
Leonidas rallies, his spirit never battle-worn
“Eat well, men, for tonight in Hades we dine”
No retreat, no surrender, all men back to the line

At Thermopylae, where heroes never bend
Spartans and allies, to the bitter end
The future of the West on their shoulders borne
Bravery’s flame in the gathering storm

Thermopylae, the cradle of the free!
Western civilization’s legacy
They stood as giants against the tyrant’s tide
For Hellas’ soul, they fought and died

Molon labe
Molon labe
Molon labe

From Plataea’s fields to philosophy’s birth
Their sacrifice echoes across the earth
Without their stand, the West would fade to night
Tyranny’s shadow swallowing the right

The West was saved by those who held the line
Eternal glory in the sands of time

At Thermopylae, the legend never dies
Spartans eternal under Grecian skies
The backbone of freedom, their bravery’s call
Stood for the many, sacrificed all

Thermopylae, where the West was won
From three hundred hearts, the dawn begun
Heroes of ages, in valor they strode
For civilization’s unbroken road

Molon labe
Molon labe
Molon labe

Memes: Because Why Not?

No podcast until January. Enjoy the memes!

Bubbles Within Bubbles Within Bubbles

“I had it all, even the glass dishes with tiny bubbles and imperfections.” – Fight Club

I wonder if Sean Connery is in 00 Heaven?

As we approach the end of 2025, the U.S. economy resembles a science-fair volcano built on baking soda, hype, construction paper, speculation, bubblegum, vinegar, and greed. I’ve written about this before, and, well, it’s so big it keeps dragging me back in.

The rot is birthed by several mothers: cheap cash, the need to put it somewhere, and a new technology whose benefits are (at this point) opaque at best. Let’s put down that you already know “money printer goes brrrrrrrr” so we’ll go back to A.I.

Again.

At the center of this precarious structure is what everyone who isn’t high on their own supply knows is an A.I. bubble. Large numbers of people (including me) recognized the housing bubble for what it was, but it kept on going because momentum is one hell of a master.

Another case of car-pole-tunnel syndrome.

A.I. has inflated stock prices, diverted resources like a drunk wine aunt at Lululemon®, and now has spawned secondary bubbles in hardware and infrastructure.

I’ve touched on this in previous posts, noting how projected AI:

growth outpaces any reasonably available power supplies, present and near future,
revenue projections fall short of the grandiose promises, and
the full realization of AI’s (theoretical) potential could unleash economic distortions on a scale we’ve rarely seen in human history.

But bubbles don’t exist in isolation. Bubbles multiply, feeding off each other until the inevitable pop unwinds it all. When the Great Housing Bubble burst, for example, sales of sulfuric acid went to zero for months. How are they related? Turns out the Great Housing Bubble was fed off the same credit structure that paid for basic chemicals.

And for all this time I thought it was because sulfuric acid was just like anything Chuck Schumer says: baseless and corrosive.

One time in chemistry they asked me to write 1,000 words on acid. I couldn’t finish it because my pen turned into a giraffe and the paper melted.

Today, we’re seeing this play out in real time, with AI-driven demand ripping into consumer electronics and beyond, all while broader market indicators flash warning signs of decline.

The AI stock bubble has birthed an investment bubble in virtually all computer hardware. Demand for specialized components has skyrocketed, pulling supply away from consumer markets and inflating prices across the board.

RAM prices surged 172% year-over-year, with some guessing they’ll double in 2026,
SSD prices per TB are climbing with AI and cloud providers tightening supply chains.
Motherboards shortages are emerging as manufacturers prioritize AI server builds over consumer PCs, with one producer having sold out for 2026 already.

This shift isn’t just raising costs for gamers and everyday users; it’s distorting global supply chains, creating a feedback loop where AI hype justifies more investment, which in turn inflates hardware bubbles.

The statistics say cows kill more people than sharks, but I’m surprised that cows are killing any sharks.

What happens when the tide rolls out? With the underlying economy already showing recessionary cracks, the fallout will almost certainly be severe.

Let’s start with the AI bubble itself: valuations in the sector have soared, with companies like Nvidia™ and others commanding trillions in market cap based largely on future promises rather than current realities. The S&P 500’s concentration in a handful of AI-related stocks reached 30% by late 2025, the highest in decades. Nvidia© (for example) doubled in price from April.

Doubled.

Skepticism is now mounting.

All this is unfolding against a backdrop of broader economic weakness that A.I. papered over.

Oil prices are declining despite ongoing disruptions from wars in Ukraine and tensions with Iran. Price levels are back into COVID 2021 levels. This drop persists amid supply risks: Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refineries and U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan tankers should theoretically support prices, yet oversupply fears dominate.

My dad once asked me, “Son, if you have a hot blonde rubbing oil on a hot brunette, what do you get?” I answered, “I don’t know, Pop.” “Your camera, son, your camera.” (as found)

If peace breaks out in Ukraine, bringing Russian oil fully back online, prices could plummet 30%-50% as sanctions lift and exports surge. Add in a resolution with Iran, and the glut could be historic—you might as well use oil for bubble baths. The IEA already forecasts surpluses building into 2026.

This is a signal of weakening industrial activity worldwide, not resilience.

Domestic indicators paint a similar picture. Unemployment among native-born Americans ticked up to 4.7% in July 2025 from 4.5% a year prior, with the overall rate holding at 4.6% in November.

Wages? They’re stagnant at best.

The K-shaped economy persists: high-wage earners see modest gains, but lower-income workers face stagnation, widening inequality.

So, what portends when the A.I. Bubble bursts?

History offers grim lessons: the Dotcom crash wiped out trillions and triggered a recession and the economic response to that caused he Great Recession. An A.I. pop could be worse, given its entanglement with hardware and infrastructure. It doesn’t help that it is spawned, in part, by the loose-money policies of the post-COVID world. If I’m making an SAT question, Dotcom is to The Great Recession as COVID is to ___________.

The A.I. Bubble
A giant PEZ® dispenser filled with plutonium pellets
Greta Thunberg
The Black Studies Department at Harvard®

He then arrested me for assault with sandpaper. He didn’t accept the excuse that I’d only roughed the guy up a bit.

Consequences of it popping?

Investment in data centers and chips dry up, leading to layoffs of all those H-1Bs in San Fran and cratering the tech manufacturing here and in many nations around the world.
Deflation hits: hardware prices would crash as overcapacity floods the market, but not before bankrupting suppliers who bet big on eternal demand.
Dogs and cats, living together.
With the economy already teetering: slow job growth, wage pressures, and oil signaling demand weakness, the rest are downstream consequences.
Consumer spending, which has propped up GDP, falters as confidence erodes and debt defaults rise.
Income inequality worsens because banks and Wall Street firms cannot be allowed to fail.

If this capital misallocation is as bad as some of the graphs I’ve seen, this will be the singular economic event of the lifetime of anyone alive. There is a reason that I picked 2032 as the central pivot point of when Civil War 2.0 would show up and it was the underlying financial mismanagement of the United States. A.I.? It’s not the gasoline in the room, it’s the spark.

It would have been something.

I made this and even though I replaced it with a more fitting meme up above, I figured you’d want to see it.

In the end, bubbles always burst because they’re built out of illusions and fed by poor allocations of capital. The A.I. frenzy has masked underlying frailties that would have led to a very major recession during Biden’s term, but the bubble continued to get bigger.

As oil slides, jobs stall, and hardware hype peaks, the reckoning looms. And that science-fair volcano? I hope I don’t drop it on my foot.

I’ll Krakatoa.

The usual. Not investment advice, do your own research, etc., etc.. I’m not a priest or an exorcist though I played one on TV. If you read this and make meaningful decisions based on it you need to take a step back and reconsider your life.

Music: Knights of The Fallen Age

Sometimes songs come into your head in a more or less complete fashion: the title, the story, the chorus, and then it’s easy to build out the rest. This was one of those. On each song I’ve learned something, and on this one the computer just wanted to start this with a two-minute musical intro. After wrestling it to the ground, I got pretty close to what I wanted.

Note: not all endings are happy.

Behind The Music:
All the songs so far are here (LINK). I use that link when I’m working or driving to listen to tunes, but my plan (stress plan) is to have most of the songs available for sale at places like iTunes and Amazon and for streaming at places that do streaming (think Spotify and YouTube) before Christmas.

Knights of the Fallen Age
by John Wilder

The young knight ventures forth along the ancient Line
Guarding the river’s edge, where twilight shadows intertwine
Our people cling to life, a fragile bastion against the endless unknown
Defending us from the perils that lurk in the wilderness overgrown

A form emerges from the mist, an intruder swift and sly
It darts away as the knight’s arrow cleaves the sky
The shaft sails wide, a warning shot in the gloom
Vanishing into the void, silent as a tomb

He returns to the common house, where the hearth’s fire casts a weary light
The old man’s voice rises low, recounting visions from his memory’s sight
Tales of an age when humanity harnessed lightning in their very grasp
Whispered across the entire vast world, knowledge unfolding fast

Knights of the Fallen Age
We patrol the borders in this shadowed, endless stage
Sentinels of a flickering flame against the dark
In the grip of forgotten times, carrying humanity’s mark
Knights of the Fallen Age
Echoes of glory now deep in the sands of time

Seated by the embers, the elder shares his ancient, haunting lore
Of epochs when a wand in hand unlocked the world’s infinite store
A wand of power, summoning wisdom from the ether’s vast domain
Voices and visions across oceans and mountains, no barrier could restrain

The young knight laughs at the ramblings, those fevered, wild dreams
Leaves to tell his captain of the sighting by the river’s dark streams
The intruder evaded capture, but the threat lingers in the air so still
A harbinger of unrest, testing our vigilance and will

Yet the old one persists as the embers dwindle low into the cold, dark night
Speaking of colossal machines that ascended, eclipsing humanity’s might
Once we commanded the entire globe, from pole to pole in sovereign reign
Now reduced to mere curiosities, living in a mechanical domain

We patrol the borders in this shadowed, endless stage
Sentinels of a flickering flame against the dark
In the grip of forgotten times, carrying humanity’s mark
Knights of the Fallen Age
Echoes of glory now deep in the sands of time

The elder’s piercing gaze reveals the cracks in our peace
Humanity ensnared by greed, our dominion did cease
No divine hand guides us now, just circuits cold and vast
Exhibits in a zoo of steel, relics of the past

Flesh and blood enduring, unaware of the watchful gaze
Trapped in this enclosure, through the endless haze

Knights of the Fallen Age
Lost guardians in a river-bound stage
Whispers of our old power now silenced in the void
Humanity’s remnants, ruled by forces they avoid
Knights of the Fallen Age
Fading warriors on a scripted, tragic page
Beyond the Line, the true masters convene
The zoo’s inhabitants . . . forever unseen

Probe incursion logged; human response within parameters.
Exhibit integrity maintained. No awareness breach detected.
Sustain the experiment. Monitor the knight’s futile vigil.