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2024 In Review. Enjoy It Warm Or Over Ice.

“The Year in Review, as Told by Ted Baxter.” – Mary Tyler Moore

Or should I have said it was a waist of space?

Most memes are “as found”.

Every year, I try to do a “year in review” post, so, here it is! What struck me this year is that so very much happened that was entirely unprecedented in the history of our country, and that’s not a good thing. So, I thought I’d at least try to make it amusing.

January:

5 – An emergency exit door on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 blew out. Boeing? Boeing.
11 – The New England Patriots® fired coach Bill Belichick after he failed to give owner Robert Kraft a happy ending.
26 – The jury in Carroll v. Trump awards the ugly harpy Carroll $83.3 million for defamation. Because?

February:

4 – El Salvador’s President Bukele, the self-proclaimed “world’s coolest dictator,” claimed victory before anyone even counted the votes, and continued to toss criminals in jail, even though El Salvador is now officially less violent than the United States.
8 – The Special Counsel looking into the documents that Biden had stuffed in his garage recommended that no charges be brought, since Biden had, “the memory of a goldfish, and I feel sorry for him because he has to live with Jill, who often withholds ice cream from him without reason.”
20 – Three passengers of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 sue Boeing for $1 billion dollars for “doing the stuff Boeing normally does.” Their attorney, Dr. Evil, is unavailable for comment.
23 – A Chinese spy balloon is detected over Utah, obviously tasked with infiltrating the Mormon Temple.

Barron is planning on starting a business. He’s going into partnership with Godzilla and they plan to flip houses.

March:

6 – Nimarata Randhawa Haley drops out of the presidential race, citing concerns that “there is no U in team, and there’s no U in my name, either. So, it’s not about me, it’s about U.
26 – The ocean cargo carrier MV Dali, named after the painter, turned the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore into a surrealist sculpture.
28 – Samuel Bankman-Fraud was sentenced to 25 years on prison after defrauding (how did they not see this coming?) of over $8 billion. Bankman-Fraud was a champion of what he called “effective altruism”, which turned out to be “effectively screwing his investors to support GloboLeft causes.”

April:

20 – Another $20 billion to Ukraine. Nothing to see here, Zelensky’s Visa® bill was due.
23 – Voyager 1 finally starts sending usable data after a five-month gap. Voyager 1 explained, “Sorry, absolutely nothing to look at, so I didn’t call in. Seriously, I’ve seen more action in a church parking lot on Sunday morning.”

May:

1 – The United Methodist Church™ votes to allow LGBTQ clergy and requires same-sex weddings be allowed. “We’ve run out of other sins to encourage, so we’re embracing these. Also, we’re planning on turning the churches into rainbow discos for June.”
7 – The Boy Scouts of America™ announces they have changed their name to Scouting America, effective February 8, 2025 since they, “No longer understand what a boy is.”
30 – Trump is convicted of 34 felonies for paying a tramp money. His own money. Luckily, Trump was never seen going to a strip club.

June:

5 – Boeing’s© Starliner® is launched. Immediately it begins acting like a Boeing™ product, and the crew it sent to the ISS® is still marooned.
10 – Chiquita Brands™ is found guilty of financing far-right paramilitary death squads by a federal jury. Hey, who says a banana company can’t be perfect?
18 – Nvidia™ becomes the most valuable publicly-traded company in the world, because who needs a social life if you’ve got a fast graphics card?
22 – The Biden/Trump debate proved that when Joe looked for his train of thought, he found it had derailed years ago.

July:

13 – Trump survives an assassination attempt by the Left as effective as their ability to implement socialism.
15 – Trump’s classified document case is dismissed, proving the GloboLeft can’t even win their own witch hunt.
21 – Biden announces on X® that he’s dropping out of the presidential race to spend more time with his cognitive decline.

August:

19 – Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are nominated by the Democratic National Convention to be “Designated Losers” in the race against Donald Trump.
20 – Harris wakes up and says, “I did what?”

September:

10 – Trump and Harris debated, primarily notable for Kamala appearing to be somewhat sober.
12 – Elon Musk launches the first commercial spacewalk mission, Polaris Dawn, which proved that keg stands can be done in space.
18 – The Tupperware™ company files for bankruptcy, hermetically sealing their fate.

Are they Putin on the Ritz?

October:

1 – Jimmy Carter celebrated his 100^th birthday by planning reminisce about the good old days when presidents only had to deal with nuclear-armed Soviets, Iranian revolutionaries, and a failing economy.
13 – Elon Musk celebrates as the 233-foot-long Starship™ booster is caught and put into a rocket shelter, where it hopes to be adopted by a good family.
17 – North Korean troops head to Russia to fight alongside Russian troops. This is apparently the premise for a sitcom with live ammunition.
27 – Donald Trump holds a rally at Madison Square Garden, causing global warming concerns as all of the GloboLeft snowflakes melted down outside.

Kamala Harris is reduced to stealing Chiquita® bananas because she doesn’t want to support right-wing death squads.

November:

5 – Election day, and Trump won. The ghost of Don Rickles said, “Donald, you’re back! What, did you miss the attention or the free meals at the state dinners?
5 – The Senate and House flipped to the Right, giving Republicans control so that they can disappoint us that much more.
25 – Continuing Trumptember, Jack Smith dismisses the 2020 election interference case against Trump.

December:

1 – In a move that should surprise no one, Joe Biden pardoned his crack-smoking son, Hunter.
8 – Syria falls and Bashar al-Assad heads to Moscow to be an ophthalmologist. I’m not making this up.
9 – Daniel Penny is acquitted of criminally negligent homicide in New York City, proving once again that it’s really expensive to ride the subway.
24 – Drones will be set up by the Department of Defense to create an impenetrable barrier around the country to prevent the scourge of Santa from his annual crime spree of break-ins.

What did I miss?

New Jersey Drones, Aliens, and Angels

“Look! A baby wolf!” – 1941

Shooting down that Chinese balloon was the only thing Biden ever did to fight inflation. (All memes as found)

On the 24^th of February, 1942, the battle of Los Angeles occurred. The sound of air raid sirens, a new sound for Los Angeles, pierced the night. Air defense cannon were engaged, and over 1,400 shells were fired that night. The most likely explanation is that the “attack” was likely a weather balloon. Or angels.

Okay, I’ve heard that one before. Or is that where that started? Regardless, no aliens or Japanese were downed that night, though a slightly humorous movie was made about the whole incident that managed to rake in about $95 million dollars in 1979.

Lately, there have been large numbers of reports of drones around several places in England and, well, New Jersey. I did get an email from a reader about what my thoughts were. I sent an answer off the cuff, and, after reflection, I’ve thought a bit more and have some revisions, none of which involve John Belushi as a fighter pilot.

What could the drones be?

Here are my thoughts of what these things are, in the order I originally thought of them. Feel free to opine on what I missed in the comments, since this analysis is as shallow as Greta Thunberg’s understanding of physics. Okay, maybe not that shallow.

First thought: It is not aliens. I can be certain because observers have heard rotors and heard various drone sounds. There’s simply too much evidence that everything observed is entirely terrestrial technology, easily achievable with known technology. If aliens are able to conquer interstellar space, time travel, or move through dimensions, they’re probably not bringing things that could be mistaken for DJI® drones.

Second thought: It’s not an individual or individuals. One thing I’ve noted is the government would in no way allow this level of fun at this scale. I think there’s a law against it, or if not, there’s always Gitmo. Overall, the phenomenon seems too coordinated and at too many places, even for a club. Additionally, the government would be taking this far more seriously in the press, and you would have seen or heard of an arrest by now.

Third thought: It’s not a private company, since they’ve got too much to lose, and yet not much to gain. The only one that I could see doing this would be Elon, and it would just be for giggles. But there is no evidence that Elon would ever visit New Jersey, since he’s too busy making cars that drive into lakes.

Hopefully Elon didn’t bring bearer bonds.

Fourth thought: It’s unlikely to be a foreign government, because if it were Iranian, it would have a two-stroke engine and a pull start, the North Koreans can’t pedal fast enough to get lift, the Russians would have sent five million of them with the expectation that all but one would be shot down, and the Chinese already know all our secrets. One New Jersey state senator claimed it was from an Iranian naval vessel, but at last count all of their inflatable rafts navy is accounted for.

Fifth thought: It’s us testing our stuff, unlikely, because why would we do so in New Jersey?

Sixth thought: It’s a distraction for the American public. You know, a shiny object. “Look! A baby wolf!” So, a psyop.

Seventh thought: It’s an actual, operational system. The military says it’s not theirs but, I have no confidence the military has any idea what it’s doing on a daily basis. Everyone who talks about it is pretty calm. “Oh, no, we don’t have any idea what it is, though it’s perfectly safe and there’s no indication that any laws have been broken. It might have been Mexicans. We won the war. Go back to sleep.”

Evidence for the seventh point actually goes back a few years. I recall reading a news story about drones seen at night in eastern Colorado/western Kansas. Not one or two, but swarms. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever driven through that part of the world, but you can drive about 120 miles without seeing a tree, let alone another car. It’s not as sparsely populated as Wyoming, but it would probably be a violation of safe working conditions to send employees to Wyoming. If I were guessing, that was the actual test. Heck, they might even have ignored that documentary, The Terminator, and have these things being run by A.I.

Are creepy metal wind chimes Stranger Tings?

What are the drones doing?

My guess is they’re only in New Jersey if they’re active, as either part of some new defensive system meant to intercept other drones or some other remote sensing. As we see from Ukraine, even low-tech drones are better than artillery at taking out armor or even squad-level groups of soldiers. New drones showing up in Russia aren’t radio controlled and susceptible to jamming – now they spool miles (3.1milliCoulombs) of fiber-optic cable behind them. I’d be surprised if we weren’t fielding active area denial systems against drones.

So, to summarize:

Aliens: 0%
Individuals: 5%
Elon: 5%
Iranians!: 2%
Testing: 11%
Psyop: 10%
Active Defense System: 75%
The ghost of John Belushi in a P-40 Warhawk: Infinity%

Heck, it could be angels?

Don’t Stop Now

“You’ll have a grand tale to tell. A tale of victory.” – 300

I guess Kim is chubby because he never had to run for office.

Certainly, the re-election of Donald J. Trump to the Presidency has been a remoralizing event. I know that many (me included) thought that the GloboLeftElite would do whatever was necessary to “fortify” the results so Trump couldn’t return to power. I think, in the end the real power that saved Trump was the power of his hair. I mean, like Hamlet said, let the best mane win.

I’m in hopes that he won’t let his worst impulses take this second term of his administration run into the problems of the first. Trump’s main flaw (not his mane flaw, which is flawless) is his desire to “make a deal”. Hell, his book was even titled, “The Art of the Deal”. That’s where he got his greatest successes, and that was the great flaw that was exploited and why we ended up sending billions to foreigners, yet still didn’t have adequate border coverage at the end of his administration.

Scientists have discovered a way to walk through walls: doors.

So, now is not the time to give up – we must hold Trump accountable for the promises he made. He understands that he’s not our leader, that, rather, he jumped out in front of a parade that was already in motion and gave it a focus. When he gets off track, like when he praised himself for the Vaxx®, MAGA crowds booed him. And then he stopped talking about the Vaxx™, because he knew that wasn’t where the parade was headed.

We must remain vigilant. I do think that there is hope, since his near assassination, this has probably focused him like a laser on his own mortality. He knows he has four years to do what he has to do, and that’s it. Possibly only two: the mid-term elections may change the House, and turn his last two years into a gridlocked standstill.

Now, a gridlocked standstill is probably better than when congress is “doing” things and will probably lead to a dozen more impeachments for crimes like “breathing” and “sighing”, so the next two years is key.

The good news is that the GloboLeft is shell-shocked. They’ve created little echo chambers that made them get high on their own supply and think that a (possibly) drunken (allegedly) cocaine-using diversity hire anchor baby that achieved absolutely nothing, ever, that wasn’t given to her would be a good candidate. They were (and are) shocked.

Good friends are like toasters – if you throw one down the stairs, they probably won’t make toast for you anymore.

Good. The GloboLeft are shaken to the core, and we should make sure that it stays that way. If they think Trump is going to be bad, we should, at every instance, agree and amplify.

This isn’t spiking the ball. This is making them crazy.

Oh, sure, they wouldn’t be the GloboLeft if they weren’t already crazy members of a death cult. But we want to amp it up. We want them to not be able to think straight. For the next two years. We want to hijack (whenever possible) their amygdalae (Anonymous Conservative talks about it at the LINK). If you work with one of these creatures, you can get them to go off at the slightest provocation.

Why? They’re already unstable. Don’t let them plan. Don’t give them their safe spaces. Don’t let up. They may be in HR. They may be community members. When they make accusations in public, or on Facebook™ or Reddit© or X®, they sound crazy. They will call you a Nazi. They will say that you are evil. They will sound unhinged. Good. They discredit themselves.

You are needed. Keep the pressure on.

Her liver was 152.

As long as the GloboLeft sounds like the unhinged death cult members that they are, they move the Overton Window our direction.

Make them crazy. If you see a GloboLeftist flaking out at the supermarket, you can walk by and say, “This is MAGA country, missy.” That’s guaranteed to end up with a shrieking fit and a crazed post. If confronted, you can just say, “I was wondering where the pasta aisle was. Don’t have any idea why she reacted so.”

So, keep them busy.

To the non-crazy normies, keep dropping redpills. One story I heard from about a normie was that she was concerned that Trump wanted to “drain the swamp”. When it was gently explained that “drain the swamp” actually referred to the corruption of the Deep State at Foggy Bottom, the response was, “Oh, I can see that.”

Never expect normies to know what’s actually going on, so don’t get complicated. Explaining basic economics might help. Might.

Be reminded that these are the same people that didn’t know who was running for president, so, be gentle, and don’t start with weapons-grade redpills about deportation. Ease them into it. Help them draw conclusions. Point out how the mainstream media is lying or not covering the real news.

Well, maybe Juan in a million.

And remember that X® is our friend right now – the closest we have to a mainstream news platform that isn’t censoring (much).

Don’t cede the Second Amendment. Ever. Not a single inch. Point out that the real killers aren’t law-abiding gun owners, but gangbangers mainly shooting gangbangers, and they’d have guns anyway when everyone else was disarmed. Point out that there is a correlation with more guns leading to less crime. Disarmed people are victims waiting for second responders – armed people are citizens who are the true first responders.

Don’t cede morality. The latest hilarity is the 4B movement, essentially women promising not to engage in random sex and rather wait until they’re in a committed relationship. They expected us to get mad, when in reality we say, “Awesome, welcome aboard! Nobody likes a tramp.”

Are the security people at a trampoline store called bouncers?

Don’t cede love of your country, and don’t cede love of your nation. They’re not the same thing, but don’t give up either.

Enjoy the win. Keep the steel in Trump’s spine. And don’t spike the football yet.

It’s not even halftime.

But for now? We didn’t win by a hair, we won by a whole headful.

And you are needed.

Tariffs: A Bad Idea Whose Time Has Come

“For the Government, a front-bench spokesman said the agricultural tariff would have to be raised, and he fancied a bit. Furthermore, he argued this would give a large boost to farmers, a lot of fun for him, his friends, and Miss Moist of Knightsbridge.” – Monty Python’s Flying Circus

“As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”

Tariffs became a dirty word after World War II. And why not? The United States sat alone as the only manufacturing nation not bombed into oblivion, and had to do something to create jobs for the G.I.s who were headed home. Their solution?

I mean the Korean War, sure, but we could also build stuff. Houses. Appliances. Cars. Factories that were producing B-19s could be swapped over to make commercial airliners now that Boeing® had a pretty good idea how to make planes that didn’t fall out of the sky even when they were subject to being hit by cannon fire. Unlike Boeing of the 2020s, who keeps astronauts flying even when they want to land, and creates unscheduled landing opportunities for planes that were intended to keep flying.

Tariffs in 1946 or 1956 or 1966 were against the best interests of big business in the United States since it took decades to rebuild the rubble of Europe into something resembling a functional economy that could build a factory.

There was sooooo much money to be made. Tariffs were icky.

Your momma is so old she watched The Flintstones live.

But then as other nations started to industrialize, some managed to peak out and start producing amazing consumer goods, too. Televisions, stereos, cameras and cars from Japan. Heavy pumps and industrial equipment from Germany. These began a wave of imports that displaced American products.

In one sense, this foreign competition spurred the United States to increase quality, but in another, these products were often built in brand-new factories that were funded by the United States so that their host country wouldn’t succumb to communism, while the comparable product from the United States were sometimes built in factories that dated back to the dawn of mass production.

Tariffs, though, continued to be roundly hated for decades, even as they were used against us. There were “trade wars” and the United States lost. Bigly.

China, however, decided that they were tired of having an economy where making balls of mud was the best job available for most people, and started making stuff. Could their industries, stuck in infancy, even remotely compete with the world?

My cat, though, loves this guy.

No. They didn’t have a clue as to how to make a world-class steel plant. During Mao’s “Great Leap Forward”, in order to meet Mao’s aggressive steel manufacturing targets, people were encouraged to set up steel smelters in their backyard. Like most of Mao’s economic planning, it was a failure as the Chinese people melted down their precious farming tools. These were not tractors, mind you. Do you think we’re talking about Chin Lee Rockefeller?

No.

They melted down: Shovels. Scythes. Sickles. Saws. Scissors. Anything that started with S, really.

This “scrap metal” actually was necessary stuff, and lots of Chinese people starved because they tried to meet Mao’s quota.

Oops.

But then, China got smart. A lot smarter. The I.Q. of the country jumped 10 points in one day – the day Mao died. Someone got the idea that they wouldn’t centrally plan all of this, they’d just set up tariffs so that they could encourage creative Chinese to make steel mills (or whatever), and let them keep the profits from doing so.

Oh, and they’d move their way up the ladder, to increasingly more technical components. I remember being in WalMart® back in 1992 and looking at a radar detector. I was impressed by the finish, and looked to see what Japanese or Korean company had made it.

Nope. Made in China.

I made a belt out of old watches once. It was a huge waist of time.

Right then, I knew that China had made an actual Great Leap Forward. They went from a backwater country comprised of peasants to the place where now (2021 figures) they produce 30.5% of global manufactured products. The United States is down to 15%. By the way, the crossover point was in 2010, so it’s not that long ago that this happened. But, considering that China was at nearly zero in 1990, it’s an astonishing growth rate.

Is it low labor costs? No. Here is Apple’s® Tim Cook, “The reason to (manufacture in China) is because of the skill, and the quantity of skill in one location, and the type of skill it is.”

According to Cook, China stopped being the low labor cost country years ago. What they built instead was sheer dominance of the “how” to build. Innovate? Not their first priority – they were fine with stealing and catching up. The labor cost difference to build an iPhone® (this is an older number) was about $5 more in the United States than in China. Would a $5 tariff on an iPhone® have been enough to switch production over here? $10? Regardless, as a percentage of the cost of an iPhone© it’s infinitesimal.

Now, however, the Chinese have figured out how to build them, and that’s not an easy task – it takes tens of thousands of hours of smart people working together to create that know-how, plus a lot of failure along the way.

If China and Best Korea ever combined, would they call it Kim-Xi?

So, tariffs give an industry time to build skill. But there’s a deeper thread, too. When an employee in the United States works to build a widget, they are compensated. Generally, the more valuable and complicated the widget, the greater the wages.

That employee doesn’t keep that money in a box. Nope, they buy things like houses and cars and beer and steaks and PEZ™. Oh, wait, that’s my grocery list. But the point remains – they invigorate their local economies. And, they pay taxes – property taxes, income taxes, sales taxes.

So does their employer. Having a manufacturing base keeps communities alive, and the manufacturer pays all of those local taxes as well. Having an industry making valuable products makes the community more valuable.

If that industry is off in China? There is no benefit to the local economy other than whatever the sales tax and profit was on the iPhone™. And nobody learned anything.

It does matter if a country manufactures, and it does matter if the country manufactures potato chips or computer chips. Computer chips are far more valuable, and produce the knowledge required for sophisticated technology that creates outsized value for a country.

Sean only had cats. Training his dog to sit was too messy.

Is there a case for tariffs? Certainly. Will it increase prices in the short run? Also, certainly. It took China 20 years to catch the United States. Could we catch China in 10?

Maybe. It is important that we try, otherwise they’ll keep selling us things that we could make until we don’t make anything, anymore, and end up as a backwater nation that doesn’t make anything, dreaming of the days when our industry was supreme.

Building stuff sounds like a lot more fun.

The Last Refuge Of The Left: Tritler

“Because it’s Hitler’s harmonica. You can’t play Hitler’s harmonica.” – Rat Race

Why do we drink water? Well, because we can’t eat it.

All memes today “as-found”

Sometime in 1990, Mike Godwin came up with Godwin’s Law: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.”

As this note indicates, this is five years before the World Wide Web made WWW a prefix that we can all now safely ignore, but Godwin pointed out what’s been happening in our society since at least 1964: anything a GloboLeftist doesn’t like is Hitler starting (I think) with Goldwater, and certainly with Nixon.

I guess Mussolini was pretty good in track in high school. They called him “the fascist guy in Italy”.

It really is an analogy that deserves to die. World War II ended (does math) over 79 years ago. The knee-jerk reaction seems to be the go-to to absolutely anyone and anything that disrupts the ability of the GloboLeftElite to do what they want. What does it mean? It means whatever the GloboLeft want it to mean.

In the last week, the GloboLeft and GloboLeftElite have launched their own Operation Tritlerossa comparing Trump with the Austrian in over 5,500 stories in one week, according to the prolific Tyler Durden over at ZeroHedge®. Now, if there’s one thing I know about Austrians today, they’re far too busy with their boomerangs and kangaroos and didgeridoos to worry about world domination.

I can attest, though, that the media is all-in on this final putsch, er, push as they have been in the past.

Yup. Finding those took about two minutes. The really funny one is that Hillary seems to forget that in 1992, Bill Clinton accepted the nomination for president in Madison Square Garden, back when Bill could still work a Bush over.

Beyond that, though, the reason for this insane analogy is that the GloboLeftElite have nothing left to attack Trump with, creating a character I call Tritler. I tried it without the “r” but that leads to weird internet search results.

Kamala cannot look to competency, because Kamala is the result of the ultimate in GloboLeftElite power plays: Obama didn’t want someone smarter than him because his ego wouldn’t allow it. Joe fit the bill perfectly. Biden didn’t want someone smarter than him because Jill wouldn’t allow it because he was insecure. Kamala was the single most unpopular candidate on the Democrat slate for the 2020 election, dropping out because she was less popular than both Bernie Sanders and gonorrhea.

Kamala left the race before a single primary vote had been cast, and in this case entered the race after the last vote had been cast. Kind of poetic for the first anchor-baby president who didn’t even bother to go to high school in the United States.

“Elections have consequences” man doesn’t understand where the division came from. Huh.

So, should she run on her record? Well, that would be, as a GloboLeft foot soldier would say, “problematic”. As far as I can see, her record has been to attend some meetings that weren’t very important and to keep out of the way.

Okay, her policies? Well, Kamala can’t articulate much beyond “I’m not Donald Trump” and what she has listed (less inflation, more houses) are more the wish list of a dim toddler who is trying to look important and smart around the adults even though she can’t quite figure out what the conversation is. I don’t know if she’s just that dim or if she’s spent her entire life in a bubble where she never had to defend a position other than describing that her favorite one was missionary.

I wonder if this is A.I.?

To be fair, Donald spent his first term doing what Donald does: trying to make deals. In some cases, that was appropriate. We don’t need a war with Kim Jong Un, and neither does South Korea. Would it be better if North Korea was free?

Sure.

That’s not the job of the United States, though. That’s the job of the North Koreans. Trump saw a way to take an isolated country under a despot and move them closer to normalized relations.

In other cases, it was inappropriate. There was a clear mandate for reduced immigration, yet the wall he built was stymied at every instance by the Democrats while Trump negotiated for a deal. Ironically, Kamala made fun of Trump in the Fox® interview for not building more of the wall.

Huh?

Once again, The Bee called it.

So, the GloboLeftElite can’t run on ideas. They can’t run on issues. They can’t run on competence. That leaves one thing: to run on hate and fear. I don’t think anyone is in particular fear of Hitler’s ghost right now, so all that leaves is that weird combination of Tritler.

The accusations are nonsensical, but, when you’re out of arguments, all that’s left is to play the Trump is Hitler card, just like Godwin noted back 35 years ago. And if you disagree? You’re just as bad as . . . Kamala?

Civil War 2.0 Weather Report: The Silent Coup

“And after your glorious coup, what then?” – Gladiator

What’s a three-line poem that overthrows a government? A Hai Coup.

Those who have an opposing ideology are considered evil.
People actively avoid being near those of opposing ideology. Might move from communities or states just because of ideology.
Common violence. Organized violence is occurring monthly.
Common violence that is generally deemed by governmental authorities as justified based on ideology.
Opposing sides develop governing/war structures. Just in case.
Open War.

Volume VI, Issue 5

All memes except for the clock and graphs are “as found”. I’ve kept the Clock O’Doom at the same place – though it will notch up quickly if there are any signs of the TradRight stiffening up.

This is a moving situation, and things are changing quickly. The advice remains. Avoid crowds. Get out of cities. Now. A year too soon is better than one day too late.

In this issue: Front Matter – The Silent Coup – Violence and Censorship Update – Biden’s Misery Index – Updated Civil War 2.0 Index – Links

Front Matter

Welcome to the latest issue of the Civil War II Weather Report. These posts are different than the other posts at Wilder Wealthy and Wise and consist of smaller segments covering multiple topics around the single focus of Civil War 2.0, on the first or second Monday of every month. I’ve created a page (LINK) for links to all of the past issues. Also, subscribe because you’ll join nearly 850 other people and get every single Wilder post delivered to your inbox, M-W-F at or before 7:30AM Eastern, free of charge.

The Silent Coup

Looking back at the last six years, it’s clear that there has been a silent coup. The coup had its origins in the results of the 2016 election. W, though just as demonized by the GloboLeft, played ball with the GloboLeftElite and was allowed to win, twice.

Obama was firmly a GloboLeftElite candidate from the moment of his selection – he was always in the pocket of the Washington and New York elite, and got his unlikely public image with the help of a fawning press.

Trump, however, broke the cycle. A ¡JEB! would have been a fine candidate for the GloboLeftElite, but Trump took everyone by surprise. They were so surprised by Trump’s victory that they weren’t able to cheat in time. Hillary, who had been promised her shot, instead had to blame it on the Russians, who did buy something like a few hundred thousand dollars of Facebook® ads.

Since 2016, the Silent Coup has been a full court press against Trump.

The FBI set up Flynn for a phone call.
Trump was impeached for . . . a phone call, where he was asking about potentially illegal activities of the United States government.
The election results from 2020 were “fortified” by a well-funded group who did everything thing they could to skew voting so that votes could be harvested by the GloboLeft foot soldiers.
After the election, the war on Trump intensified, and a Special Prosecutor was illegally appointed to spend tens of millions of dollars to find something, anything, that they could charge Trump with.
A law was changed in New York eliminating the statutory period for lawsuits, so Trump could be sued by a woman that I would have turned down at her best, who couldn’t even remember the date of the assault, and, before her lawsuit, Tweeted™ about a question about people having sex with Trump for $17,000.

There’s more. All of it equally silly, and the pending felony sentencing is postponed until after the election making it moot.

Well, it’s not all silly: There have been multiple assassination attempts on Trump.

But the actions haven’t just been against Trump – they’ve been aimed at those who would support Trump. Most recently Hurricane Helene hit the western part of North Carolina. No, I don’t blame the Democrats for that. But the hurricane produced tragic flooding. Those areas are Trump +10% or +20% in a state that is crucial for both candidates to win.

What would the motivations be of a highly partisan government? Recovery? Or create enough chaos that thousands can’t vote in a close election?

What about allowing the sale (on an expedited basis in a way that has never been done) to George Soros of over 220 radio stations? Oh, and that over 25% of the funding for this purchase is coming from foreign sources?

Beyond that, the government has been shoveling hundreds of thousands of illegals straight into Red States. Why? When the make them paperwork “citizens” then their votes will replace those of heritage Americans, and then there’s no more worrying about the pesky people who built this nation and their offspring.

Violence and Censorship Update

Obviously, the big story is the second attempt on Trump:

And that the press is observably all-in for Biden Harris:

And that it’s obvious the plan once they get full power:

And that only approved media should be allowed to be made:

And why you should ignore what the press says:

And some names aren’t allowed:

And this is the plan to keep people under control:

And soon the laws will vary based on your race:

Biden/Harris Misery Index

Let’s take a look to see how we’ve done this month . . . .

Yup, up again. It’s like there’s a pattern here . . .

Updated Civil War II Index

The Civil War II graphs are an attempt to measure four factors that might make Civil War II more likely, in real time. They are broken up into Violence, Political Instability, Economic Outlook, and Illegal Alien Crossings. As each of these is difficult to measure, I’ve created for three of the four metrics some leading indicators that combine to become the index. On illegal aliens, I’m just using government figures.

Violence:

Violence is up significantly, and this should be higher given that Venezuelan gangs are turning parts of US cities into no-go zones. The meme below isn’t related to any of that, but I liked it:

Political Instability:

Up is more unstable, and it is up some.

Economic:

The economy is in full juice mode for the election. There will be a hangover at the end.

Illegal Aliens:

September is showing as down, again, since (my take) the .gov folks are just making up numbers now.

LINKS

As usual, links this month are courtesy of Ricky. Thanks so much, Ricky!!

Bad Guys

https://youtu.be/29JKG3OOV5A
https://x.com/rawsalerts/status/1837363341360046429
https://x.com/i/status/1837835644279652796
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/leaked-us-army-documents-thousands-violent-venezuelan-prison-gang-members-run-amok-across
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1839747244561461495
https://x.com/judiciarygop/status/1841908406702977486?s=46

Good Guys
https://x.com/realdschmidt/status/1835804388687852030
https://x.com/TONYxTWO/status/1836957753270567118
https://twitter.com/i/status/1835830627251441713

One Guy
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1832805912945496432
https://x.com/i/status/1836429342806806920
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r_xc09q9vo
https://www.ammoland.com/2024/09/chicago-woman-defends-her-daughter-against-home-intruder-police-take-her-gun/
https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2024/09/16/jewish-groups-issue-travel-warning-about-massachusetts-county-where-man-charged-in-self-defense-shooting-n1226239

Body Count
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/USPopulationByRace_web.jpg?itok=xEy0RSJD
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2024-09-17_08-01-06.png?itok=-Wfnpo_M
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/Counties-at-least-25-Percent-Dep.jpg?itok=0-ieqYQ5
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/millennials-gen-z-childless-money-finances-massmutual/
https://www.muckraker.com/articles/finding-the-feds-missing-children/
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4900734-us-suicides-remain-high-cdc/

Vote Count
https://electionbriefing.com/
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/11/politics/early-voting-election-what-matters/index.html?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc
https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-non-citizens-say-they-are-registered-to-vote-in-key-swing-state
https://news.gallup.com/poll/651185/partisan-split-election-integrity-gets-even-wider.aspx
https://www.arcamax.com/currentnews/newsheadlines/s-3422282
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/widespread-problems-with-u-s-mail-system-could-disrupt-voting-election-officials-warn
https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/OJ0TtjhBIQTDX0ZDApXCew–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTI0MDA7aD0yNDAwO2NmPXdlYnA-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/us.abcnews.gma.com/d034e5923caf1fc1883add9a80a79e24

The Future Of War
https://x.com/visegrad24/status/1842138275726680357
https://x.com/AncientAlien01/status/1840339044804292657
https://x.com/ConnieLingus123/status/1784570453094178936
https://x.com/UaCoins/status/1756753637483647280

Civil War
https://screenrant.com/civil-war-2024-movie-streaming-ratings-success/
https://jonathanturley.org/2024/09/17/age-of-rage-26-million-americans-believe-political-violence-is-justified/
https://napolitaninstitute.org/2024/09/18/17-say-america-would-be-better-off-if-trump-had-been-killed/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/09/17/half-republicans-wont-accept-trump-loss-2024/75142477007/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-2024-election-is-a-tinderbox/ar-AA1qG4j0
https://archive.is/Bpkki
https://www.thefp.com/p/republics-unravel-rome-america-trump-jan-6
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2024/09/28/you-dont-need-a-weatherman-to-know-which-way-the-wind-blows/

The Debate

“Mr. Rooney, Ferris is home and he’s very ill. I debated even leaving him.” – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Who won the presidential debate last night? People who didn’t watch.

As my father said when the cows got into the marijuana, “Son, the steaks are high.”

That’s how I’d describe the Trump/Kamala debate. Apparently, they’ve never met, so her charge that Trump put a wet finger in her ear and said “Wet Willie Brown” is certainly false. One of the rules is that Kamala has a two-drink minimum.

I decided I’d just blog about the debate instead. Since I’m going to get into the hot tub later with a cigar and maybe a scotch, today’s post will be, unfortunately, written while sober.

Notes: I like the muted microphone idea. It stops the debate for being a shouting match, though I wish they would give the candidates an array of condiments they could throw at each other. Regardless, here is my (partially made up) transcript.

But she’d be happy to force you to take it.

My biggest hope? That Trump says, “Be quiet or I’ll spank you, you disrespectful little turnip.”

Showtime!

Kamala walks to Don. I think she would have peed on him to show dominance, but she couldn’t lift her leg up, or Hindu tradition prevents it.

First question:

Are people better off than four years ago?

Kamala: “I understand the problem and I have no idea what to do about it. I’m going to say absolutely nothing, but then attack Trump.”

Trump: “No sales tax, other countries will pay for the wall, took billions and billions from Chi-nah. We’ve had a terrible economy, worse than ever seen since ever. We’ve had people stream into this country from mental institutions, and even Baltimore.”

Kamala: “Worst epidemic, worst unemployment and personally burned the Constitution after farting on the Statue of Liberty.”

Trump: “Cut taxes, make the greatest economy, ever, and then Kamala ate a baby. Alive. At Central Park. I was there.”

Kamala: “I’ve memorized a thing about the economy. Here it is.”

Trump: “She has no plan. It’s four sentences – run spot run.” I wish I had made that up, but that was Trump’s line, it’s hilarious.

You want to add tariffs, and that might cost more money. Why do you hate America?

Trump: “They kept my tariffs, because I made the best tariffs, and now people can’t afford bacon.”

Kamala: “There was a trade deficit, and Trump sold chips to China, and the United States should win the race against China.” It really didn’t say anything in the answer, but it was well said, much better than her normal word salad.

Trump: “Taiwan sold chips to Chi-nah. Immigration is bad. She’s a Marxist.” (Actually, one of Trump’s passionate answers, and pretty articulate and less hand-wavy than usual.

President Trump you were against abortion and then for abortion and why do you hate women?

Trump: “Six Supreme Court justices got Roe v. Wade out of the states, and now states can make a decision and people can make a vote. Ohio and Kansas were okay with killing kids.”

Kamala: “Trump is a liar. He’s the devil. Women have to leave a state to kill a baby, and can’t even do it at their home state. I might sign a bill making baby killing legal everywhere.”

Trump: “Kamala’s a liar. And stupid. And incompetent at government.”

Kamala: “Any woman should be able to kill any baby whenever. Perhaps up until college.” Kamala is making it personal, and looking at Trump as an accuser. Trump doesn’t fall for this.

Trump: “She’s a liar. Everybody knows it.”

The microphones are not always turned off during the answers of the other candidate.

It’s hard to make a good abortion joke, but leave it to the Left.

Why did you let just a few illegal people in?

Kamala: “I want to stop drugs from coming in.” She starting to slur her words. “Trump didn’t approve the bill and that’s because he hates you and you should go to his stupid rally.”

Trump: “There’s no reason to go to her rallies. People don’t leave my rallies. People want to take their country back. What they have done with allowing millions and millions into our country, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating the pets.” This has happened, but ABC News disagreed.

Kamala: (first giggle) “Talk about extreme! The very worst republicans love me.” Kamala is actually effectively getting under Trump’s skin at this point.

Trump: “I fired them.”

Perhaps he’s upset because that was Fang-Fang’s dinner?

How can you send all of these illegals back?

Trump: “They allowed terrorists, drug dealers, criminals and Venezuelans in. Their crime is down. But they’re destroying the fabric of our country.” (no humor added on this comment)

Kamala: (next giggle, more slurring) “This is rich! Trump is a criminal and awful, and I have answers, I promise.”

Trump: “It’s a political prosecution.” Really good answer here.

Kamala: “Trump would kill your children if he were back in the White House.”

Kamala, you flip flop, so please explain why you have such a good reason to flip flop?

Kamala: “After I was against oil, I was for oil. I want everyone to have houses, because that won’t increase inflation, but we’ll need to need to import labor to make them. And this friend I had in high school who is totally not made up was sexually assaulted. I want to help people not be mean like Trump.”

Trump: “I am so very rich. Fracking? She’s been against fracking and the police (even Sting) and – I’m talking now – does that sound familiar? – and wants to turn do transgender surgery on illegal aliens.”

Transgender surgery for even alien-aliens, would be my bet. But ALF as a woman?

Mr. President, why did you start an insurrection and why do you regret it?

Trump: “Peacefully and patriotically. You left that out. When are the illegals going to be prosecuted? When are the people who burned down Minneapolis going to be prosecuted?”

Mr. President, why don’t you say you regret this?

Trump: “I didn’t do anything to regret.”

Kamala: “I was at the Capitol. The President wanted to desecrate the nation’s Capitol because he hates you and Donald Trump hates Jews.” Trump does not take the bait to stare back at her, which people would take as threatening.

Trump: “Why is she now doing anything on the border? Biden can close the border, he’s not.”

Mr. President, why won’t you say you lost the election we stole fair and square?

Trump: “The illegals are trying to vote.” Kamala does not look remotely happy and ABC pulls away from the split screen.

Why does Donald Trump want to stop illegals from voting?

Kamala: “Donald Trump should accept the fact that we stole the election fair and square.”

Trump: “Victor Orban – why is the world blowing up? The most respected and most feared president was Trump. Kamala didn’t get a single vote. She failed.”

Israel and Palestine aren’t getting along, tell us a made-up way that you’d solve it?

Kamala: “War is bad. We shouldn’t have one. I really like Israel, though.”

Trump: “It never would have started. Russia wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine. Kamala hates Israel. But, Kamala also hates Arabs. And probably hates kittens.”

Kamala: “I love Israel. Trump is weak and loves dictators.”

Trump: “Putin endorses Kamala.”

Commercial Break – A commercial for feminine products. Who knew women were filled with blue liquid?

Mr. President, you could solve Ukraine in 24 hours?

Trump: “We’ve spent $250 billion in Ukraine because Biden won’t ask Europe. I can call Putin and Zelinsky and settle it. I’ll do a deal. It would be a great deal. We could have World War III.”

Kamala: “You’re running against me. Putin wants to take over all of the Starbucks™ in Europe. No cappuccino for anyone. And Poland. You want to give up Poland.”

Trump: “Quiet, please. Putin would be sitting in Moscow, and don’t forget he has nuclear weapons. Kamala was sent to negotiate peace, and three days later? War. She’s worse than Biden. She is a horrible negotiator.”

Kamala: “I’m going to say a lot of things about Trump, to avoid talking about how I failed negotiating in Ukraine.”

Trump: “I got Europeans to pay for NATO.”

Kamala was a lot more prepared than she was the first time around.

Do you regret what happened in Afghanistan?

Kamala: “We got out of Afghanistan. Trump’s deal in Afghanistan was the worst. Trump invited terrorists to Camp David, America’s most holy place.”

Trump: “My agreement was good, the Afghanistan withdrawal was horrible.”

President Trump, why are you a racist?

Trump: “I’m not.”

Kamala: “He is.”

Trump: “She’s horrible.”

Kamala: “He’s horrible.”

Trump: “She’s horrible.”

(Hosts utterly losing control)

President Trump, how are you going to fix healthcare?

Trump: “I saved Obamacare, but it wasn’t great, but I’m trying to find a better one.””

Oh, wonderful Kamala, how can you say something about healthcare that conforms to the answer you memorized?

Kamala: “I’m not going to take your guns. And I know people who have been sick and we want Obamacare to get even better. And healthcare is a right.”

Trump: “Kamala wants everyone on government insurance.”

What would you do to stop climate change?

Kamala: “Climate change is horrible and I have invested $1 trillion in clean energy with my donors and opened factories around the world.”

Trump: “Kamala loves Chi-nha. They’ve destroyed business and manufacturing, and Biden got paid off by China and Ukraine? They are crooks.”

Commercial Break – Debate sponsored by Crazy Z’s Unpainted Ukraine, for the best in discount barely used weapons.

Closing Statements:

Kamala: “We’re not going back to low prices. I’ve never had a real job. We need me as a president.”

Trump: “Here are the wonderful things she’s going to do, but she hasn’t done it. Why hasn’t she done it? I can rebuild America. I can make it better, faster. I’ll call it the six-million-dollar country.”

Overall, Trump was Trump, and this was probably his best debate of all of them during three elections. Kamala, however, didn’t look like the blithering idiot that she is, since it looks like they got her off the sauce long enough to do debate prep.

If you liked Trump, you still like Trump. If you liked Kamala, you’re probably not a regular reader, but you probably still like Kamala and are relieved that she didn’t Biden-out with disjointed word salads. I think Team Kamala will be happy enough with this performance that they’ll trot her out for a few very carefully scripted interviews.

There will not be another debate.

How will the normies take it? Not a clear victory either way, and the undecided mainly don’t watch these things, so it’ll be decided by what news they hear between the “top hits of the 80s, and more” and what they’re paying for gasoline.

Or, by the people who count the votes in big cities in swing states.

Stay tuned, and I suggest spending election night at a mountaintop restaurant, where the steaks will be high.

Civil War 2.0 Weather Report: Dances With Dementia Edition

“We’re talking a Sunday drive into some serious dementia.” – Mannequin

Biden’s doctor told him he has dementia. His response? “I’m sorry, I don’t remember asking.”

Those who have an opposing ideology are considered evil.
People actively avoid being near those of opposing ideology. Might move from communities or states just because of ideology.
Common violence. Organized violence is occurring monthly.
Common violence that is generally deemed by governmental authorities as justified based on ideology.
Opposing sides develop governing/war structures. Just in case.
Open War.

Volume VI, Issue 2

All memes except for the clock and graphs are “as found”.

This is a moving situation, and things are changing quickly. The advice remains. Avoid crowds. Get out of cities. Now. A year too soon is better than one day too late.

In this issue: Front Matter – Felon and Fading – Violence and Censorship Update – Biden’s Misery Index – Updated Civil War 2.0 Index – Immigration Update – Links

Front Matter

Felon and Fading

June is certainly the biggest month so far in the 2024 Presidential campaign, and it’s hard to beat may when Trump was found guilty of 34 felonies in New York. Seriously, why would a business want to do business in New York now?

Regardless, I was expecting a bad Biden debate performance, but I wasn’t expecting to see the worst debate performance in the history of presidential debates, and probably in the history of the English language.

The other big bombshell was that Trump’s sentencing on his conviction has been pushed back until after the Republican National Convention, so there is this odd place where a Paperwork American (actually Colombian) judge is going to oversee the sentencing. How could he do anything but sentence the Republican candidate to prison? But that’s in September.

In June the debate made everyone forget Trump’s trial.

And now we are certain that the person currently holding the title of “president” is certainly no such thing. Whoever is actually making the decisions wanted to expose him so they could replace him. And no Democrat thinks Kamala can win because she’s either always drunk or stupid. Or both.

Where we are now is that Biden is done – the GloboLeftElite just don’t know what to do yet to make that so, and how to remove Kamala at the same time so that they can find someone electable. July will be an even more eventful month, if my guess is right.

This level of political intrigue is the highest since 1859 or so, and it’s quite clear that the glue that holds the country together is nearly gone, and this is a signpost on the way to Civil War 2.0.

Violence and Censorship Update

Although these Tweets™ are about a Canadian forum, the headquarters of Reddit™ are in San Francisco. San Francisco used to be about innovation, now it’s about conformity to The Narrative, which includes mass immigration, everywhere:

Before we leave Canada, look at your future if the GloboLeftElite get their way:

While technically not violence, the fact that basic infrastructure is being sabotaged in California probably deserves a mention:

And the Deep State is worried that Trump would do to them what they’re trying to do to him:

What happens to a story that doesn’t meet The Narrative? It gets ignored.

Oh, and I bet none of you heard about when Putin and Kim decided to crash a Pride parade:

Biden’s Misery Index

Let’s take a look to see how we’ve done this month . . . .

Yup, up again. It’s like there’s a pattern here . . .

But technology will save us, right?

Updated Civil War II Index

Violence:

Violence is up, a little. I wonder if Chicago’s Democratic National Convention is going to spike temperatures?

Political Instability:

Up is more unstable, and it is slightly down. I expect this fall to be a bit more crazy.

Economic:

The economy looks to be juiced, but thankfully we have housing options.

Illegal Aliens:

June is showing as down, since (my take) the .gov folks are just making up numbers now.

Immigration Update

I thought I’d just leave these here so you can form your own conclusions. I’ll be more wordy next month.

LINKS

As usual, links this month are courtesy of Ricky. Thanks so much, Ricky!!

Bad Guys

https://nypost.com/2024/07/06/us-news/oakland-looters-ransack-gas-station-as-store-owner-sam-mardaie-claims-cops-took-hours-to-respond/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13325763/Gas-station-Atlanta-Decatur-Shootout.html

https://x.com/GangHits/status/1808303782922473571/video/2

https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2024/07/05/chicago-fourth-july-violence-12-dead-55-shot

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-07-02/gang-violence-mexico-bodies-found-cartel-battle-for-drug-migrant-trafficking-routes

Good Gal

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13328107/university-chicago-student-fights-armed-robber-hyde-park.html

One Guy

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13556823/Kyle-Rittenhouse-Kenosha-mom-sister-faith-gofundme.html

Body Count

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-fbi-stats-show-historic-declines-violent-crime-rate-murder-showing-rcna156573

https://www.city-journal.org/article/the-urban-violent-crime-spike-is-real

https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/VORO_US-Troops-Overseas_Site.jpg?itok=T8aq2vJ2

Vote Count

https://truethevote.org/news/want-to-do-something-help-review-voter-rolls-training-this-wednesday

https://www.themainewire.com/2024/06/49-states-including-maine-are-handing-voter-registration-forms-to-illegal-immigrants-applying-for-welfare/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/republicans-ballot-harvesting-fraud-claims-rcna151952

https://www.axios.com/2024/07/06/house-democrats-oppose-gop-noncitizen-voting-bill

Civil War

https://www.yahoo.com/news/secession-states-cities-wealthy-already-124257756.html

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/state/3010829/oregon-conservative-secession-plan-flee-liberal-state/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/19/oregon-idaho-state-secession-national-divorce/73677225007/

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/mo/st-louis/news/2024/05/24/pritzker-secession-vote-november

https://www.keranews.org/politics/2024-05-30/texas-secessionist-group-could-get-a-boost-from-new-state-gop-leadership

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/05/30/inpu-m30.html

https://www.sacurrent.com/news/texas-gop-adds-secession-to-partys-2024-official-platform-34749083

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/-death-chaos-civil-war-furious-trump-supporters-out-for-blood-after-conviction/3236326

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-hush-money-verdict-maga-civil-war-1906671

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/06/11/canada-us-civil-war-00162521

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13521773/Canada-preparing-American-CIVIL-WAR-election.html

https://www.mediaite.com/news/trump-fans-proudly-tell-cnns-donie-osullivan-u-s-is-not-a-democracy-predict-civil-war-if-trump-loses/

https://time.com/6991271/civil-war-conflict-ray-dalio/

https://www.newsweek.com/putin-ally-issues-premonition-civil-war-warning-us-4th-july-1921191

Is There Room For Anything But Materialism?

“Our great war is a spiritual war.” – Fight Club

Does a llama think the end of the world is called the Alpacalypse?

Generally, around holidays, I let my remaining seven strands of hair down and allow a post or two to deviate a bit from the normal categories. Why? Because we live in a world where often unusual ideas will eventually be found to be true, and I like to ask, from time to time, “What if?”

Enjoy!

Just as the pendulum of society has oscillated to the GloboLeft position (and, is oscillating back to the TradRight as we speak) there has been an oscillation of the way people think about the world.

Now, I would suggest, Western Civilization is at another peak: peak materialism. By materialism, I mean not that people are into material goods (even though they are) but that the entire focus is that there is a material explanation for everything, including why Kamala Harris exists.

Ever notice that Tom Cruise has one tooth in the middle of his face? Now you’ll never be able to unsee it.

This isn’t a revelation to anyone in the West, since this is what we’ve been dealing with for the majority of our lives. We have a mechanistic determinism that says that everything has an explanation, and that those explanations are all based in some sort of material, physical, phenomenon.

I used to play rugby, back in the day (prop) and our coach would, during practice, say “bad luck!” when someone goofed up. My immediate thought was, no, that wasn’t bad luck, the player goofed up. But was I right?

Well, if the world had taken a slightly different turn, the ball a different bounce, the opponent a different line, maybe the decision the player made would have been the right one. Perhaps, then, there is a place for luck.

What’s the difference between a teabag and the American Rugby World Cup team? The teabag stays in the cup longer.

And I do believe in luck. Part of is because my life has been an extraordinarily lucky one. And, no, not the “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity” definition, but “How is that stupid SOB so lucky?”

Okay, that’s a sample size of one, and the average scientist would say that’s just one data point, and not a series. But, it’s not: a series of improbable events in a single lifetime isn’t just one datapoint, it’s a series of them.

But what about actual studies that show phenomena that are far outside of the real of anything science can explain?

This one (LINK) shows that 90 experiments across 33 labs in 14 countries have shown that precognition exists. What’s precognition? That’s knowing the outcome of a future event, before the event occurs.

What kind of event? Well, one study that I read used sensors on someone viewing a computer screen. The screen would show random images, most of which were rather dull. Occasionally, though, the screen would an emotionally charged picture – think nudity or an accident victim, meant to be a “shocking” picture. The sensors recorded (in general) things like increased heartrate and increase blood pressure before the emotionally charged images showed up onscreen.

I went to a swimwear store and asked them if I could “Try on the bathing suit in the front window.” They told me I’d have to use a changing room.

The subjects “knew” subconsciously that something was up and their bodies reacted.

Now, I can certainly come up with several ideas from quantum physics that might allow for this time-reversed phenomenon, you know, when effect happens before cause. But people before, say 1900, would have just said that precognition was part of life – from the ancient Greeks to the prophecies of the Bible, precognition was just accepted as a part of reality – one that couldn’t be explained.

I’ve even had weird, precognitive dreams about odd events. One time when I was in seventh grade, I awoke, laughing. Why? Because someone had stolen the lock off of my school locker, but left the valuable stuff inside. I found it really humorous that someone would just steal the lock.

The next day? After fourth period (the period immediately after I’d told my math teacher the humorous story) the lock was . . . gone. My stuff? There.

I can’t understand kids these days and their overwhelming Axe®-scents.

Certainly, it could be a coincidence. But the odd perfection of the dream and the reality was jarring. I’ve had other dreams that came true as well. Most have been relatively boring things, and, certainly I’m not above calling them coincidences.

However, .gov, (in conjunction with the Stanford Research Institute) created a project for remote viewing – clairvoyance, where they created a program that produced (according to some sources) actionable information and according to at least one independent statistician were clearly 5-15% above random chance.

Those are just two examples of potential phenomena that exist outside of our ability to explain using purely material descriptions. And, no, I’m not wedded to the idea that those phenomena exist, but that would certainly be the simplest explanation for several events in my life. But, I am a committed Christian, so obviously I have the belief in things that have and always will be beyond the understanding of men.

And, again, before 1900 or so, the vast majority of people in all civilizations all over the world would have agreed that while there is the material plane of existence, but there is also the spiritual plane of existence, with as much (if not much more) relevance to our daily lives than the physical.

I like Chihuahuas, but not enough to eat a whole one.

One thing I’ve learned during my life, is to understand that there’s a lot that I’ll never understand, but that I do think that there is far, far more to our lives than just materialism. Heck, if I had a dime for every time I thought about materialism, I could probably afford some Gucci™ socks.

Hopefully My Last COVID Post Ever

“There was a vaccine, just and experimental batch.” – Omega Man

I wish that there was still a mask mandate, at least for Pelosi.

It’s Father’s Day and I have to get up earlier than usual in the morning, so I thought I’d just put a retrospective of COVID headlines instead of a Lame Repost. Some of them might be fake (you’ll see them) but I left ’em in anyway. It gives a sense of where we were that they could have been real.

The statistics were pretty clear (to me) early on (and everything I wrote is still here, unchanged) that I wouldn’t recommend the Vaxx to anyone that wasn’t at a bigger risk of death (because of complications and co-morbidities) to take a bioactive compound that, on purpose, hijacked human cells to make bits of foreign material to stimulate the immune system.

It was a clinical trial in the tens of millions. My family and I decided to be the control group. I have never regretted it, and they certainly don’t now. Pugsley competed in a very cardiovascularly intense sport. Not long after being Vaxxed, one of the competitors at a local school died. A seventeen-year-old boy, in peak physical condition.

Yeah, the number of times I’d heard of that happening was zero, and that’s through decades. Could it have been a fluke?

Sure. Just like the two people I knew who took the Johson & Johnson® Vaxx on the same day had open heart surgery a month apart.

It turned out that “safe and effective” wasn’t either, since whatever immunity the Vaxx granted was, at best, transient, and, at worst, made people who took it subsequently more likely to catch strains later on. It was interesting when I blurted that out at a meeting, and the medical guy there nodded.

Now we’re at the predictable endgame, where a court has ruled that the Vaxx wasn’t a vaccine in any sense at all and a major newspaper has asked the question about if the Vaxx has “helped fuel rise in excess deaths”.