“Without law, Commander, there is no civilization.” – Bridge on the River Kwai
You’d be surprised at the number of Civil War battles that were fought on National Parks.
We’re at part II of the review of Thomas W. Chittum’s book, Civil War Two: The Coming Breakup of America. You can find part I here (Book Review: Civil War Two, Part I).
I’m happy to report that I was wrong – you can buy Civil War Two: The Coming Breakup of America on Amazon© on their Kindle® store. Doing a normal search will take you only to the used hard copies, and those hard copies are still only available from resellers.
I encourage you to buy a copy of the Kindle® edition if you’ve downloaded the book on .pdf. I bought one – because it puts money in the author’s pocket. I’ve left a link below, and, as usual, I don’t make a dime if you buy anything linked here. I’ve been thinking about it, but not right now. Anyway, buy it. As of this writing it’s only three bucks. It’s a bargain at that price, so, pony up.
How did I find out that Mr. Chittum’s book was still available on Amazon? Mr. Chittum emailed me and told me so. I’m glad, and I’ve already revised my previous post, as well.
Last week we left off at the end of Phase I, the Foundational phase. This week, we start off at Phase II – The Terrorist Phase. Chittum felt that this phase would last between five and twenty years. It’s been over twenty since it was written. What did Chittum predict?
And we can prevent Civil War II if we just hold hands, because then no one will have hands to hold guns.
- More of Phase I.
- More riots, driven by ethnic conflict, some of multiple day duration, involving barricades and heavy weapons. This is spot on from Ferguson to Baltimore and beyond, with the exception of heavy weapons, which to my knowledge have not been employed.
- Ethnic militias, cults, gangs. I’ve certainly seen the gangs, but if “militias” and cults have been increasing, I’ve missed them.
- Increasing talk of secession and civil war. I read once that couples that use the word “divorce” are more likely to have one, so I’ve forbidden the use inside the house. People talk about what they want, and these terms on the tips of tongues from Ticonderoga to Tallahassee to Tacoma to Toluca Lake. Oh, yeah.
- Increasing bombing and sabotage against the government. This is another item that seems to be missing – people are mad at each other, not at the government.
- Increasing small group attacks.
- Small scale ethnic cleansing. I’ve read multiple articles about displacement of one ethnic group by another. The one that comes immediately to mind are blacks being driven out of traditionally black areas in Los Angeles by Hispanics.
- Demographic and political Reconquista of the Southwest. In progress, as I keep hearing that schools find the American flag . . . racist?
- Food riots as government attempts to shut of welfare. Welfare is in full swing.
- Racial factions and politicizing of the military. I have no idea if the military is racially fragmenting. I’m willing to bet this will light up the comment section. But the officer corps seems to be broadly moving left, based on the rumors I’ve heard about elimination of upper ranks due to political reasons. West Point appears to be corrupted to the point a communist graduated. Although they kicked him out, it would appear that Congress has a place waiting for him.
- Splitting American institutions based on ethnic or political lines. In progress. When a the FBI® has groups attempting to overthrow the government, and the Boy Scouts™ are admitting girls, the institutions of the country are splitting apart. A little.
- Abandonment of certain city areas by the police.
- Gangs will have political goals and militarize. Outside of the cartels, if this is happening, it’s not happening publically.
- White people begin to wonder if the establishment is working for them. The white vote appears to be polarizing, although I personally doubt we’ll ever see the 90/10 split seen in many minority voting blocs.
- An armored car will be destroyed. A child is shown in the media foraging for food in a dump. Neither of these have come true, to my knowledge, but photos of the homeless camps in California are common.
Phase II is where we are now – but it keeps getting worse, seemingly on a monthly basis.
The next phase Chittum outlines is Phase III: Guerrilla Warfare. By inspection, we’re not there. The skirmishes that Antifa© provokes aren’t it – imagine if Antifa™ has weapons and secures an area, killing people in the process – that’s the level of violence expected. This is actual warfare, but limited in time and location. Areas will be lost to the guerrillas. Chittum expects this to be shorter than the current phase, and this lower-scale warfare will last ten to twenty years.
The final phase is Phase IV: All-Out, Continuous Warfare. It’s just as on the label – actual armies moving in the field. This is civil war – and the outcome cannot be predicted, especially if it takes place ten or twenty years from today. Massive forces will be unleased, like never before in the country, and (this is me, not Chittum) we won’t have the structure that provided cohesion after the first Civil War.
Chittum spends some time analyzing the United States and safer places to be, but this is tied back to 1997 demographics and I don’t live in the places he talks about, so, those are interesting primarily due to his analytical methods and I’d suggest you give that a read to see how your mileage may vary. I’d suggest spending time doing your own research on what you feel is a “safe” location. Although finding a safe location might be hard, it’s probably easy to find places that won’t be safe, so you could probably start just by avoiding places that you know will turn into a post-apocalyptic hell-hole in five minutes if the microwave at the 7-11® breaks.
It’s easy to predict places where you’re not safe – you know, the places with bars over the windows and the local priest carries an AR. Think those neighborhoods will be better after the world caves in? Well, I’m pretty sure real estate prices will be down, but that’s primarily due to the wailing coming from the direct pit to hell that will open up after things get bad.
Birthday at Casa Wilder is always exciting!
But how do they go from normal to “pit to hell”, anyway? One particular line from Chittum in a later chapter breaking down stability by using Europe as a model had this sentence in it: “With each and every passing day, more and more Americans of all ethnic groups are perceiving their tribal affiliation as more self-definitive and more important that their common American nationality.”
This is the key to the unravelling we’re seeing in the country right now. The United States transformed from a nation that had little diversity (in 1960, the country was 85% non-Hispanic white) to today, where the country is 60% non-Hispanic white. In 1960, by and large the identity of all the citizens in the country was: American. Americans were of all ethnicities. Were there groups that were excluded? Certainly – Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights movement gained popularity by pointing out unfairness in treatment of blacks in America. And America responded – we wanted to believe that being an American could transcend racial differences that seem to rip apart countries across the world. We did our best.
Problem fixed, right?
No. Not as long as each ethnic group defines itself through identity.
Also, the Egyptians should have seen that pyramid scheme from the start.
Chittum hints at the possibility that complete Imperial Conversion might be one way to avoid Civil War, and lists several requirements to complete the transformation of the United States from it’s former form to an Empire. In the end, Chittum feels that Civil War at least provides hope, whereas Empire doesn’t. Chittum even provides (23 years ago) a direct time and place where the Civil War will start – 5/5/2020, in a city park in Los Angeles. For reasons that I’ll get into below, I think this is a little soon.
Chittum’s advice on preparation is pretty common in the prepper world, at least in 2019. Locations near borders along ethnic faultlines are out. Locations that have logistical dependencies (think water) on other locations . . . out. Military bases? Out. Large cities? Out. Near the border of the “new nations”? Out.
Also, have some food and don’t tell other people that you have food. At least enough for your family for a year. Also, a gun and at least 5,000 rounds of ammo. Chittum speaks about gun caliber in general, but I’ve seen the fights that gun caliber selection sets off in the comments section, so I’ll leave that for later when I want to make sure you’re reading. He suggests caching your food and ammo and gun away from the house, and, although I understand his reasons, it’s not something I do, at least currently. As I get older, it’s even less likely. If I make it to a retirement home, I’ll probably hide bullets in my walker.
Finally, Mr. Chittum has a checklist (in no particular order) of things that will be there before Civil War II hits. I’ve put the ones I think have already occurred in bold:
Always remember item 6 – “Wear Pants”
- Ethnic classifications become more prominent.
- Illegal aliens allowed to vote, even locally.
- Attack on the Second Amendment.
- Juries that split on racial lines – shows that justice isn’t justice anymore.
- Military taking police duties.
- Internal (for use in the United States) elite military force.
- Mobs in Washington D.C.
- Blacks demanding facilities without whites (dorms, etc.).
- Replacement of individual rights with group rights – health care, for instance.
- Non-governmental organizations acquiring military power.
- Real political power shifting to the courts.
- Political power shifting to international bodies.
- Leftists and minority control spreads of basic institutions.
- Secessionist movements and groups seeking autonomy.
- Race-based political parties.
- No-go areas left to gangs.
- Reparations.
- Court voting manipulation (against gerrymandering).
- Unrest in other multiethnic empires in the world at the time.
- “Gated” communities for the wealthy.
- Increased media hoaxes.
- Increased minorities in the military.
- Out of court settlements in cases of racial discrimination (method to transfer money to radical groups).
- More restrictions on freedom of speech, including getting speakers fired or SWATed.
- Police abandon traditional uniforms for military-style uniforms.
- Groups of cops that form to oppose unconstitutional actions. Chittum thought they would be clandestine and ethnic, but the Oath Keepers are neither.
- An affirmative action agency (EEOC for instance) to have armed agents.
- Dollar collapse.
- Geographic segregation and mention of it in the press.
- Signs American military dominance challenged in a serious way.
- Breakup of Canada.
- More Americans moving to Canada than vice versa.
- Parallel ethnic political and legal organizations have more power than base organizations.
- More help wanted ads requiring bilingual applicants.
- Greater role for UN in the world.
- Photo of burned out American tank on US soil.
So, of this list, by my count about 18 (your mileage may vary) of Chittum’s 36 item checklist have happened. Some of the above are more important than others.
As noted, I recommend the book. It’s good, and not everything is covered in the 4,000-odd words that are in this review. It’s also a pretty quick read with decent flow.
How has the prediction held out? Certainly, better than any prediction that I did in 1997. I think the biggest missing piece is Leftist ideology. The Leftists have done a really good job of keeping together a rickety coalition of communists, Islamists, racial agitators, and ideologists without ideas. This has led to increased stability that would have been hard for Mr. Chittum to foresee from 1997.
Additionally, the work on prepping has moved on in twenty years. The basics remain the same, but the general philosophy has had 20 years of thought, refinement, and improvement. But we haven’t had 20 years of thought on what will cause a civil war and how likely that is.
But, oddly, the Leftist coalition is keeping the country from splitting into dozens of pieces – right now it’s just two pieces. I think this increased stability has extended the time until Civil War II breaks out. What brings stability down? Economic hardship. The 2020 election.
And there is a price to be paid. Can the Left control the forces of discontent and hate that it has unleased? Can the Right control the forces that are a reaction to the demographic change in society?
Tough questions. (Shakes Magic 8 Ball®)
MAGIC 8 BALL
Weird, the Amazon link does not appear in the email version of this post.
That’s odd – it shows up on my cell. But not the mail. Hmmm.
Is it just me? Or, Is 17 missing?
Ok. That’s weird. I’ll have that fixed in a jif.
Sure, you can buy Mr. Chittum’s book at Amazon and make Bezos even richer if you want, or you can just read it right now at archive.org.
Or just download the pdf from there if you wanna. ‘Murica.
https://archive.org/details/CivilWar2/page/n2
OK, so I felt guilty about downloading the PDF and ponied up to spend the $3 on the ebook. I really did.
The joy of making quixotic gestures is more than worth it.
https://www.enmnews.com/2019/08/19/paging-big-brother-in-amazons-bookstore-orwell-gets-a-rewrite/
You’re awesome! I hope it makes a difference for him!!!
Yup. But while Bezos won’t notice, Chittum will.
Maybe the perfect American is Libertarian enough not to be a Nazi or a Commie and Christian enough to be moral.
Part of the reason the USA is collapsing today seems to be education is bad, machines have made people dependent, regulations have protected the stupid from being killed, and welfare has made people weak.
A hundred years ago, the dumb would have been killed off if they were careless, weak, or lazy. Now there are seatbelts, helmets, technology, and welfare.
Modern society is bogged down by a large number of useless eaters who would have died off in the past.
Fascists think the weak should be sent to death camps to be killed, but Libertarians would rather return to a natural order with voluntary free market organizations, personal responsibility, families, and charities replacing government regulations and welfare.
Everyone likes to have a safe life, but one of the problems with government force are unintended consequences.
How can the government know what is best for you?
Although Americans think welfare and regulations mean safety, who would want to work if hard work is punished with taxes and laws and laziness is rewarded with handouts?
A more libertarian America presupposes an ethnically homogeneous society with strong borders, something that most beltway “libertarians” reject out of hand. The biggest problem with advancing a libertarian agenda is the average libertarian and virtually all libertarian “leaders”.
Amen on that Arthur…What libertarians don’t understand is that to have what they want they would have to force people to do it which destroys their very foundation…They don’t take into account human nature…
True, and they tend to assume everyone has the intellect to understand the principles of freedom. Once you realize we’re dealing with a world where 80% of the global population has an IQ below 85, you see how impossible it would be to NOT govern the dum-masses somehow.
I’m a libertarian, and I’ve made a similar point many times. I believe a minimalist, libertarian type government is the only ‘just’ kind. I don’t trust any government power, because they’ve proven time and again they can’t be trusted. But, I’m aware of the problems – such a society only works with a homogenous, relatively honest and intelligent population. A high trust society where people generally share similar beliefs and values. We most assuredly do not have that kind of society, and it gets worse every single day.
It would have to be the only society in the whole world for it to work otherwise you would have to have a form of government to be able to defend yourself against outside threats… Technology has closed the door on being left alone so if you aren’t on par with other forces then you are going to be overrun…Might want to be looking into a different way of thinking if you want to survive…
As a bonus, Mr. Chittum’s book is on Kindle Unlimited so if you want to read it you can sign up for a trial and read it for free, although yes that doesn’t send any money his way.
No, it does. But you have to read the whole book to maximize his money.
Is there a way we can just send the author a “donation” rather than giving a single dime to Amazon? Thoughts of Bezos makes bile creep up my esophagus…
I’ll check with him! Great idea.
The main reason, IMHO that some and not all of Mr. Chittum’s predictions are not coming to pass is economics. The Sheeple, Normies, Cucks, and Romans 13 Robots have plenty of debt bucks and plastic for bread and circuses, school clothes, and the latest and greatest electronic pacifiers. It was pointed out in another post how two blocks away from that nonsense in Portlandia over the weekend, people were quietly going about their business in safe, clean neighborhoods. Nothin will seriously and drastically change until the bottom falls out of the “Amerikan Financial System.” Bleib ubrig.
Now imagine the chaos that could be unleashed because people don’t have a clue…
100% correct. But when/if it goes? The pent up energy? Yikes.
As far as ethnic cults and militias ( item #3 ), I suggest you dig into Ja’amat al-Fuqhra, and their several enclaves across the FUSA. Check out the fate of Christian pamphleteers in al-Dearbornistan as the local LE stood by and did squat. Heavy weapons were interdicted entering Long Beach during the reign of Bubba n de Bitch, courtesy of Lurch Reno sending out a memo on imminent sweeps by BATF, allowing Chinese princelings to skip town …. do ya think that has stopped ? Hmm ?
And forgive my cynicism ( I try to be cynical, but it’s too hard to keep up : Lily Tomlin ) but I reasonably expect that staged / false flag shooty events INCREASE through the end of Orangeman term 1. We certainly have seen innumerable examples of the FBINSACIADOJONI acting in service to the Banksters and against the People. Remember who coined the label ‘conspiracy theorist’
That’s concerning: the idea that the weapons are here, staged, and ready to go. Hadn’t heard of Long Beach interdiction.
Yes, full-auto AKs, DshK heavy machine guns ( Comblock version of our .50 ) and RPG’s. They even interdicted a ‘demilled’ Scud or three. Their security tech is operational for a long time at Long Beach Yards. They own the Panama Canal ( bought by Hutchinson-Whampoa) and have invested big time in deep-water port development in Meheeco and C/Am. Gotta give credit to any entity that takes the long view and undertakes to secure their infrastructure. Damn if I archived the story/sources/links; it was 25+ years ago.
MaoMart is snatching up shuttered industrial districts across the Great Lakes watershed, and is gonna turn them into Special Development Zones. They will then control traffic from Superior down to the Rust Belt. Smart. When I hear ‘experts’ predicting they ‘crash’ it ignores the fact they’ve run up debt on building muscle and guts – infrastructure, industry, tech and housing … not on brand new SUVs and plasma screens in every room.
When al-Amerikwa spirals down into reality, they’ll wake up to see new BFFs in Canada, and CA and on our southern border, courtesy of the Han
BTW, jmdakin is the proprietor of Bison Blogger, a fact-based, contrarian, DGAS site that features very PIC assessment, and recommendations, of the upcoming sportiness. Check him out – you vill not be disappointed,
#22. If you include Special Ed kids as minorities, the military is mostly minority. At least the officer class. And Diversity Hires would be another minority.
Something tells me you have a story or two?
Oh, come on. Officers aren’t retarded. They just act that way. It’s nurture, not nature. After all, they’re all college graduates.
I read about one school where a bunch of kids were mistakenly signed up for a college class. When they found out, kids that HAD NEVER ATTENDED A SINGLE CLASS were getting A’s.
Would highly recommend Selco’s “The SHTF Anthology” as reference as to what a modern (Balkan) “civil war” might be expected to look like. Selco also recounts what up to the Balkan civil war (newspapers and media fanning the discontent between factions, tearing down of monuments of historical figures, etc). Some pretty strong parallels to events that are occurring today.
The Mrs. bought that one for me – “just because.”
re:
Chittum Checklist, item 4 == jurors
Thirty-five years ago, I was a juror for a civil trial, the youngest among geezers.
The plaintiff was a geezer, the defendant was twenty-years old.
The youngster never had a chance at ‘justice’.
Pathetically, neither lawyer presented witnesses nor evidence… there was no case!
The other eleven jurors voted based solely on age instead of facts.
Yeah. I was a kid and was hit by a “retired officer” from Big City. When the cop gave him a ticket he almost came unglued. Guess that sometimes the system works . . .
Only one point to quibble over is heavy weapons not having been deployed yet to quelle the rabble. About a year after festivities had settled down in Ferguson, Craig B Hulet talked about confirmed local reports from Ferguson, which weren’t discussed by the MSM (who would’ve thought?), that a piece of microwave machinery was seen on the streets which emitted a loud, abrasive and annoying noise, which could be heard for blocks.
60 Minutes, years ago, did a segment on these new fangled weapons that were field tested in Iraq. In theory, the weapons were designed to not to permanently harm people, rather temporarily disable them, freezing them in their steps. In practice however the very focused & directed microwave beam weapons fried people ftom the inside-out. I know this is tinfoil type stuff but there were also some reports of these new weapons in the 1989 Panama invasion.
Those are bad enough in the hands of the authorities. But what about in the hands of the unorganized?
John, the book is available in paperback on the Amazon.uk store for around $19 including shipping, for those old farts like me out there that like to read out of papyrus.
I like paper, too. I’ve had good wine out of a red Solo cup, but still prefer a nice glass.
I just started reading Chittum’s book and he specifically mentions armored personnel carriers as an example of “heavy weapons”. They were used in the Ferguson, MO riots for example. I imagine that is quite common now that the Fed’s have militarized all of our small police forces.
— More riots, driven by ethnic conflict, some of multiple day duration, involving barricades and heavy weapons. This is spot on from Ferguson to Baltimore and beyond, with the exception of heavy weapons, which to my knowledge have not been employed. —
We’re getting close. I knew we were using APCs, but *both* sides using heavy weapons was my interpretation. If the rioters at Ferguson had pulled out a bazooka, then we’re in for sure territory.