Category: Current Events

It Is Past Time To Make Lists

I really wanted to post this a few weeks ago, but life seemed determined to keep me offline. Perhaps it is well, for instead of a single list, I want to talk a bit about the lists we need for what is to come.

First, make a note of those who support violent responses to peaceful protest. From the RCMP who bragged openly about wanting to bash heads and trample people simply for disagreeing with the government, to those here in the US — particularly those in law enforcement — who agreed with them. Make a note of those not in LE who did so. Most of all, be sure to make a note of your “friends” and family who did so.

Then, cut those people out of your life. Family or other politics may make it where you have to stay “friends” with them, but they no longer need access to your home or to have the first clue about plans, vacation destinations or bug out plans. If push comes to shove, yes, you should be ready to do unto them before they can do unto you, because trust me, they will cheerfully do unto you just as fast as they would a stranger. You are no longer real, but othered. Accept it, plan for it, move on.

Look for those with whom you share common bonds, and who aren’t going all fascist. Make a list. These are people who can be of mutual assistance later.

Then, make a list of the things you need to survive (and survive with comfort is even better). Those you don’t have, start getting. Make a list based on priorities, and work your way down it as you can. It’s going to be getting harder and harder as we blast into record prices, inflation, and recession if not depression.

Make those lists, and be prepared to implement them.

As always, feel free to hit the tip jar in the upper right or do the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, and for all the help and prayers that have been offered. Please know they are very much appreciated.

Answers, Ramblings, And A Bit More On Vladimir and the Ukraine

First, to answer a question I saw elsewhere: Yes, I am Laughing Wolf who used to post at Blackfive. I started here, had the honor of being asked to be an author there as well, and continue here as I can.

Yes, I did get hit by lightning. Yes, it has led to a number of health and related issues. Yes, it did lead to open heart surgery. No, we still don’t have everything under control. Hence my effort to start A New Life. More info on parts of this through that link, as well as the archives here.

Am I out of my flippin mind? Well, that’s debatable (even though the neuro people tell me I’m good for now post strike). When it comes to Vladimir and the Ukraine, I don’t think I am, though I am sure there are some (including those now crying that they alone understand all that is going on) who would beg to differ. I make no claim to having a lock on things, only observations that may or may not be getting a lot of play elsewhere.

As for my thoughts on cyberwar and the use of nukes, some background is in order. I’ve talked about the subject before, but everything going on now revolves strongly around the concept of mores. No, not s’mores or anything like it, but the concept pronounced MORE-A-zzz. These are the cultural blinders we all wear, that how things are done around here is the way they are done elsewhere. Within the intelligence game, it is probably the single largest unforced error routinely made. While analysts suffer from it, politicians seem particularly adept at falling into the trap.

Politician A presumes that how power and corruption take place in location A is universal. Yet, how it is done in location B can be, and often is, very different. In location A, a great deal of public attention may be given to “listening to the people” even as the people are ignored as the real deals are made behind the scene (Indiana statehouse caucus sessions for one example). In location B, however, there may not be as much public pomp on listening to the people even as things happen in an even more bare-knuckled way. It also can come down to the same words or phrases having very different meanings. For example, peace can be defined as a condition where a variety of groups coexist without strife; or, it can be defined as the absence of all opposition. Two very different meanings.

Right now, we are dealing with a combination of definitional differences as well as different ways of operating. In Vladimir’s world, there is no such thing as independent actions by groups. Groups that do such only do so if their actions are approved in advance, otherwise they and their leadership tend to get gutted. A hacking group taking on the West in response to provocations against the Rodina? Approved in advance and usually orchestrated at the behest of the government so as to avoid official acts. If you think the shoot down of a civilian airliner by dissidents in “breakaway” segments of the Ukraine happened without the knowledge and full approval of Vladimir, you’re nuts.

Right now, you are getting a lot of warnings like this one because even if you took Vladmir and other top Russian leaders on a ghost-of-Christmas-X type trip and showed them Anonymous and other groups deciding to act on their own, they literally would be unable to believe it because it is so far outside of how things work in their world. Their brains would boggle. Because of that, they see every unofficial action as being a covert official action. Add to it the previously discussed NGO issue, and what sounds like paranoid conspiracy theory to us sounds like something perfectly rational to them.

Now, add in a Vladimir who has shown signs to many (including me) of mental deterioration. Does that mean he’s completely lost it and unfit? No. It simply means he is not tracking as well as he used to in at least some areas. Does he appear to be taking some things far more personally than he used to? In my opinion, yes. And there’s part of the rub.

He knew going in that there would be sanctions, grandstanding, and other twaddle in response to the invasion. Yet, I don’t think he expected the extent or level of response, given that little to nothing realistic was done after his doing the same thing to Georgia years back; the shootdown of the airliner; or even his previous operations in the Ukraine. The fact that his invasion has forced the Germans to rearm and re-assess (one hopes they will actually do something concrete instead of continuing to fellate Vladimir); that the Finns (and others) are now looking at joining NATO (and if there was anyone, anywhere, who didn’t predict this response to the threat from Russia, they are ignorant of the Finns and history, and probably too stupid to breathe on their own); and, that the sanctions are harder, deeper, and more personal than ever before. Now, add to that the actions of Anonymous and other groups, which they see is covert action by one or more Western governments….

I will note that it is not necessarily a sign of mental deterioration that Vladimir apparently believed all the good readiness reports from the military. One, the Red Army, Soviet or Russian, was/is noted for gundecking reports on a regular basis. Two, it is pretty much an international (hell, probably intergalactic) phenomena for militaries to tell leaders what they want to hear, rather than reality.

However, I think he was surprised by both the strength of the resistance and how badly the military failed. This report (hat tip Insty) shows a lot of the why, and that clearly the logistics required for any form of shock-and-awe were not only there but unlikely to have been practiced on any realistic scale at any time. It also suggests a tactic for the irregular forces since taking out truck tires (that they can’t replace) does not require large caliber weapons, and would allow them to play Finland 1939 to great effect. If in the next few weeks they are foolish enough to get off into the mud, break out the horses and Hakka Palle!

At the failure of the initial effort, the Ukraine won some key battles on several levels. Make no mistake, these were much needed and hard won victories. That said, they now face some very hard choices. Thwarted in his initial ambitions, Vladimir will be quite content to go back to slow, ruthless, and grinding. He’s quite content to feed troops into the furnace as quantity makes up for quality. The Ukraine is likely to lose in the long term, as much of their country, along with standing armies, are destroyed. They have hard choices to make now and in the next few days. To prevent the complete destruction of many military units, they will need to break out to the West and reform, which means giving up, for now at least, the eastern third of the country. It could mean giving up the eastern two thirds of the country. They key is getting as many units and troops out of encirclement by the Russians and keeping the Ukrainian military alive as a viable fighting force.

Now, though, comes the fun part. Vladimir, nor anyone else involved, is operating in a vacuum though to read many reports and analyses you would think otherwise. There is a great deal of synergistic “energy” involved as well.

Cyberwarfare is ongoing and escalating. The efforts by Anonymous and other groups are being taken as covert governmental attacks, and as such any response is, in the eyes of Vladimir and others, fully justified. It is going to get worse, I suspect much worse.

The logistics problems of the Red Army can’t be overstated. Tires are only one part, and none of the parts can be replaced in the quantities needed. This not only effects military operations (and budgets), but the civilian economy as well. They can grind the Ukraine under, but if they do so they are likely to be a shadow of what they once were. Even if they maintain minimal capability, others are no longer scared of them because it has been shown they CAN be beaten by much weaker foes.

The sanctions are hurting their economy in ways they never dreamed. Your average Russian now can’t use Apple Pay or other systems for everyday expenses — and they were massive users of such systems. It is hitting them hard. The oligarchs are now running scared, just look at the number of them moving their yachts (which are targets of some actions) away from Europe and into the Indian Ocean. That’s just the tip of the iceberg as it were, and the oligarchs and the economy are taking a beating since not even Switzerland is a safe haven for funds (or anything else) anymore.

Now, Vladimir and his captive (and non-captive) oligarchs face some tough choices. Vladimir has already shown, as I mentioned before, that he has upped his personal paranoia/security. Doesn’t mean he can’t be reached, just that it will be more difficult. So, don’t necessarily expect much direct and in person from the oligarchs or anyone else. There’s also a reason he’s at his bunker in the Urals… Now, away from him, well, the military can effectively choose to ignore certain orders (especially strategic nuclear) and get away with it. He can be isolated, and that is a possibility. That said, I don’t expect it anytime soon.

He is still in charge. He is unlikely to commit to grinding the Ukraine under conventionally if it will gut the military as it could. Even if he could do so, it is unlikely that other leadership, civilian or military, would allow it. Which brings us to the use of special weapons. There are already reports of thermobaric weapons being used. I expect to see more, and more open, use of same. That said, keep in mind that both Soviet and Russian military doctrine have long called for the use of nuclear weapons. Unlike the West, they don’t have a bright and shiny line that clearly differentiates between tactical and strategic use. Their line is more, er, flexible. Remember mores in this context, as we are going to see most uses as strategic rather than tactical simply because of how our military and civilian theoreticians view it. Also keep in mind that per their doctrine, the use of a nuclear weapon is not an attack but a response. If we respond in kind, they are going to see THAT as an attack and an escalation based on their mores. My thoughts on their doctrines for preventing full escalation are not printable, any more than I respect some of the similar on our side.

One area where I see the potential for special weapon use is in the west, near the border with Poland. In fact, I’m a bit surprised that we have not already seen Belorussian forces attacking south and west in an effort to block the resupply of the Ukraine. If it happens, I don’t expect them to be shy about incursions into Poland or Polish airspace even though it is poking NATO; and, the Poles are unlikely to tolerate such on their own. Yes, we should have been front-loading them with weapons for months, but you are asking for competence out of the same gang that gave us the Afghanistan withdrawal (and if you don’t think that debacle didn’t encourage Putin in this…). Right now, the weapons, ammunition, humanitarian supplies are crucial — and frankly even more exposed than the current targets in the east. If the full weight of airpower is brought in to cut off the lines of resupply…

None of the decisions to come will be made in a vacuum. Vladimir wants/needs his cordon sanitaire if he is to have any shot at his dream of a new Russian Empire/restored Soviet Union. He’s very serious about that, and while I think he’s overplayed his hand it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a hand to play. He is going to respond to everything that happens through the lens of his mores, as will those around him. Right now, they see their way of life as being threatened with extinction, and are unlikely to simply calmly accept such. When you look at the doctrines, the fix they are in, and all the other factors, the odds of things suddenly getting happily-ever-after are pretty fucking slim. The odds of them going seriously pear shaped are much higher even if someone took Vladimir completely out of the equation right now.

So, there’s your cheery thoughts for the day. I hope and pray for good decisions and effects, but also acknowledge that the chances of bad decisions or outcomes is — sadly — much higher. All we can do is hope and pray for the best, and wait to see what comes. Meantime, make what preparations you can.

If you like what you are reading, hope you might help me out. You can hit the tip jar in the upper right, or I’m also working on A New Life following the lightning str

Russia, Two Reads

If you are wondering what is going on with Russia, the Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, have two reads for you.

First read is an excellent read that ties together a lot of information. HT to Amy Poindexter (non-blogger) for this one. We’ve talked about the buffers and how Russia (Putin) views the NGOs and NATO expansion before, and this lays out the case very well. Keep in mind Vladimir and the leaders of Belarus and other Collective Security Treaty Organization are desperate and scared. This is not the basis for good decision making. Oh, and if you are not familiar with NED, this read gives some pretty good info.

The second read is sadly one dimensional, but still worth a read for more detail on terrain and buffer zones.

The situation has not improved since the last time we discussed it here. In fact, it has gotten worse. Also, keep in mind that Putin has absolutely no trust in the current administration. That’s because of things that happened in the Obama administration (of which the current is take two with quite a few of the same players) that led to a perception by Putin of betrayal/lying/etc. This was made even worse by a major blunder by the W administration that only amplified the distrust.

Take a read, keep your eyes open, and find non-US news sources to keep an eye on both what happens in Kazakhstan and the Ukraine. Whatever happens is going to have far reaching consequences.

Farewell 2021, Hello 2022

I come not to praise the year that was; yet, I shall not condemn. At least not completely.

On a purely personal level, one could see it as a flaming train wreck. Various automotive and other issues were there. I was hit by lightning in June and ended up having emergency open heart surgery in October, quite likely as a result of said lightning strike. There were cognitive issues that went with the lightning strike, and while those are dealt with for now, there are unfortunately good odds that there will be further cognitive and/or neurological issues. Then, there’s the whole being out of work since mid-October.

Looked at another way, however, it was a year of miracles large and small. In March, I switched jobs and found myself in a place where they actually liked me and were glad I was there; and, I got to make use of prior knowledge and experience to have fun and help our customers. So much fun that I even was made employee of the month at one point. When all the fun with my health started, they have been very good to me and have let me know that if possible they want me back.

I survived being hit by lightning. A secondary strike it is true, but it was an electrifying experience that had good odds of killing me. While it most likely led to the cardiac problems I’ve experienced, it may have been for the best. One of the theoreticals discussed is that it may have “activated” something dormant or building and forced it out into the open. Even if not, the fact that I was getting cardiac care allowed a suddenly rapidly deteriorating situation to be identified and care sought.

That care quite literally saved my life. My “quick” visit to the ER turned into an admission, a heart cath the next day, and open heart surgery the next. Again, while the odds were good, when you have multiple things going on it can and does change those odds. To my mind, it is another miracle that I survived and that I am healing as well as I am. For all I will complain about the slow pace, know that I do realize just how well and fast things are going. Compared to even five years ago, it is amazing.

So, while 2021 was in many ways a barely warm buffet of fat warty hairy suckitude leftover from 2020 — and that will NOT be missed — I have to look at it as the year I was in many ways reborn. The thing is, miracles and getting another chance do come with some obligations. I do feel there is something I am supposed to do, possibly more than one. I wish that such things were clearer, as I tend not to get subtle. Keep in mind, it took a lightning strike to start getting and holding my attention…

So, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. I’ve spent the last few years, quite a few in fact, trying to rebuild my life. 2021 saw an abrupt end to the life that was, and in many ways provides a clean start. I think that is one of the things I am supposed to take advantage of…

Before 2021, the major medical issue in my life, aside from allergies, was arthritis and related inflammation. Both shoulders are, eventually, going to need replacement or real regenerative medicine. Given all I’ve done, including jumping out of perfectly good airplanes a time or two, my hips and knees are in fair shape, though my lower back seems to be trying to make up for that. The cold and humidity up here are not good for me, and sudden pressure changes can be literally crippling.

I’ve been advised to move to a warmer climate for a year or two now — including by doctors — and I think it’s time to make that happen. The recent surgery and such has made me feel the cold like I never have before. Given all, the desert Southwest has been rather strongly recommended and I need to go visit for a bit to explore options and get things in place so I can move out there. It’s also time to quit with the ‘pain and suffering are good for the soul’ thing and get the orthopedic mattress also recommended a while back.

The financial issues that have been more than a minor impediment go back a number of years. Let’s just say that while parts of that were my fault for bad decisions (getting talked into helping start yet another charity was not a good one), having a false diagnosis of cancer followed a couple of years later by a botched colonoscopy made life far more interesting than it should have been. The former came from someone making a diagnosis on the basis of a visual exam, not pathology, but they were backed up by an oncologist who declared that the first person had the experience to make such a claim even before doing a cursory exam. Net result, I stepped down from a job to deal with this, and after getting to a real doctor who did a surgical procedure and proved via pathology that I did NOT have cancer, had to take a lower-level job to get by. That job went away in the aftermath of the botched colonoscopy (among other things, my manager had not wanted me to have the colonoscopy to start with), which resulted in something lower paying to get by yet again. It seemed like each time I got to a position where I could start to move up and/or rebuild, the stuffing got knocked out of me.

This time does not feel that way, despite the fact that I am still out of work and likely to be out into or through February. Why? I’m not sure of all the reasons. One is that I do feel guided. Another is the incredible generosity from people hitting the tip jar here and offering up prayers for me. I honestly feel that without both, I might not have made it this far. Just as it took me a while to accept that I needed help with my health, it has taken me a while to realize I need help to start over. Accepting help is not one of my strong points, but just as I had to accept the help of nurses and others to stand, walk, and do the basics of life in the hospital until I was able to do them on my own again, I need the help of others to stand back up and get into position to do all the things I am supposed to do with this new life. Not easy. Scary. On more levels that I want to admit. But, I think getting into a better place (on every level) is part of what is intended for me to do in 2022.

So, don’t be surprised to see a fundraiser started in the next few days. Contribute if you will; if you want to help but don’t want to do that, feel free to hit the tip jar at the top of the page. Also, as always, prayers are most welcome. I’m praying for that which is right to be, and I hope you will too.

Meantime, I will not mourn nor miss 2021. I simply hope that 2022 builds on the good that did happen in my life in 2021 to take me where I need to be, and to do that which I need to do. I wish I better understood what it is I’m supposed to do, but I also have faith that I will be shown. Hopefully without another lightning strike to get my attention.

Our Broken Military

There are no words for the disgusting and despicable political actions of our current military leadership. From a congresscritter using National Guard soldiers in uniform as a prop (and a threat) to the multiple attacks on Tucker Carlson because he dared criticize the current push to put SJW priorities before warfighting capabilities. While Ted Cruz has pushed back, and Kurt Schlichter has a good take on things, don’t expect anything to come of it. There may be a little show, but the politization will continue. This despite a series of war games in which the U.S. is defeated by China; and, the increasing military and nuclear threat from Russia that I’ve talked about before.

For those who wonder why I’ve said that if faced with an unlawful order, the best case is that the military shatters. Look at those who attacked Tucker Carlson for daring criticize their emphasis on SJW issues rather than training (note, Carlson did NOT criticize female troops): do you really think that they would not hesitate to obey an illegal order? Look at the NG troops in mentioned above who knowingly and willfully took part in a political event in uniform. If they disobey one illegal order, why would anyone thing that they would not obey another? I have to agree with Glenn’s take that they seem far more interested in domestic control than in successfully confronting our enemies.

Oh, before I forget: if you decide to look up the series of stories about our being beaten by China in the war games, you might note that in none of the stories do they discuss how badly we lost. That may, perhaps, speak volumes.

While it is with a heavy heart, I will also note that I am one of many who is no longer recommending joining the military to most who are interested. What you see above is but a shadow of what is to come (unless China and/or Russia act first).

Dear Resident Xiden

Your event last night was many things, most of which I will leave to others. However, I will address one part with the care and thoughtfulness it deserves.

You spent time telling American Citizens what they can or cannot do. Who they can spend time with, and who they can’t, and in what size of groups. What activities they can take part in, and those they can’t. The exhortations to obey were trite and wearisome.

Despite all that is going on, the avalanche of executive orders, the bills to eliminate our individual liberty and freedoms, we are still American Citizens. The government does not tell us what or what not to do. We tell the government what to do. You (you and your puppet masters) are supposed to be servants, not the civil masters you believe yourselves to be.

So, please feel free to **** off.

Sincerely,

LW

Happy Warrior 3: Finding the Happy in the Warrior

Today, we have another guest post by River, which I hope you enjoy. It is well worth the read.

The political news continues to be relentlessly bad. Our enemies domestic, the Democrats in power, now openly Socialist, are going down their wishlist with but little resistance to the policies that will fundamentally transform our Republic into a totalitarian state. Our enemies foreign are preparing for war; worldwide economic collapse is imminent (whether through runaway inflation or stagflation, take your pick).

 So how to find the happy in the warrior? First, I think we have to accept that the first Republic is gone. Denying reality is the specialty of the other side; let’s not fall into that hole in the sand ourselves. It’s going to be very hard to face the reality of the depth of the hole we’ve fallen into. Figuring out how and why is useful, if depressing. Figuring out how to get out of it is where the happy lies.

 The question is how do we get from where we are now to the Second Republic.  There was a joke when the Iron Curtain fell and the Eastern Bloc countries were reinventing themselves, and we were sending all sorts of political and economic consultants over there: Why not give them our Constitution, we’re not using it…. The Constitution can and should be the bedrock of the Second Republic. 

 Also still applicable are the battlecries of the first American Revolution: “Taxation with Representation.” “Give me liberty, or give me death!”  “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

 “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.”

 So the people who are framing the potential violence to come as a Civil War II are wrong. This is not about states rights, it’s not about continuing the vile practice of slavery. It’s about a return to the individual freedoms we as Americans have the right to enjoy. This is not CWII, it’s ARII.

 Of course, one of the reasons ARI worked was that it was a conservative revolution, that is, it wasn’t seeking to change the form of government, it was seeking to restore it from those who were changing the rules. So we have that on our side, because that’s what we’re trying to do, too.

 Another reason ARI succeeded was that the usurpers were, at that point, essentially foreigners. And another was that we were already self-governing, with all the machinery in place, and didn’t need control from afar.

 And that’s not quite the case for ARII. The people seeking to control us are homegrown, and all the machinery for governance is in their hands. However, we do have a perfectly good, if heretofore unreliable, antidote to their machinery, in the Republican party. The next step on the path is for as many of us as possible to join the party, support Trump’s efforts at reform, and provide some backbone and organization for the necessary changes to come.

 And at the same, we should be rooting out the influence of our foreign enemies. While the Republic’s usurpers are homegrown it will be a useful exercise for the revolutionaries of ARII to discover and make public the names of those who are subsidized (and/or controlled by threat of embarrassment or violence) by foreign influence. I’m talking hard proof, not rumors, but serious forensic accounting, serious investigative reporting. If it were easy, anybody could do it. We’ll need dedicated armchair warriors—in the most serious sense of the phrase–and we’ll need those who can protect them while they are at their work.

 This is a war that will be fought on many fronts, and almost assuredly the most important of them will not be the cartridge box, but the box that sits on your desk or in your pocket. This is a 21st century war, and information, and culture, will be just as important as brave men with guns. About which more later.

The Posts In Proper Order

Since I got guest poster River’s posting order wrong, I thought I should do a quick post to make it easy for you to read them in the proper order.

The proper first post is here.

The proper second post is here.

There is some good food for thought here, and I highly recommend you not only read River’s posts, but read them in the right order.

The Happy Warrior

Today features another guest post by “River” and it really should have been the first one up. So, when you finish reading it, go read The Happy Warrior Lives in All of Us. Sorry about that River…

Whether you believe the American Republic died on January 6th or January 20th (and I believe a case can be made for the death date being when the Roberts court failed to strike down Obamacare as unconstitutional), the Republic as we knew it is gone.

All that remains is to see what we—you and I—are going to do about it.

We believe in American Exceptionalism. But we also believed it couldn’t happen here. Yet all around us we see our countryman content with grotesque erosions of our freedoms. So we see that yes, indeed, it can happen here. (I refer you to Dennis Prager’s excellent essay “The Good German.”)

But American Exceptionalism isn’t some magic force that’s going to save us. American Exceptionalism is how we respond to tyranny.

Trump proved he was not the despot he was made out to be. Oh, not because he couldn’t have been—because it was clear, he could have been a Caesar, returning the country to a republican form of government by decree. But for better or worse, he declined to be that guy. Did not want to be remembered as that person. Instead, he insisted that we citizens use the forms of government and law laid down by the Founding Fathers to restore the Republic. We failed.

So Donald Trump will be remembered as the last lawfully elected President of the Republic, Joe Biden its first Socialist “Beloved Leader,” propped up by all the force of a corrupt bureaucracy, and with the collusion of Big Tech and other large “private” industries that need the protection of a government enforced monopoly to exist.

So we failed to overthrow a blatantly stolen presidential (and then senatorial) election. That’s on us. It’s going to be that much harder now to succeed. They think they’ve run the table, that there’s not stopping their every country-destroying move. But the one good piece of news is that we now can see, without a doubt, exactly where the enemy of the Republic lies, how deep the corruption is. Not just a few crazy representatives and Senators, but the FBI, local district attorneys, secretaries of state, election boards, the Supreme Court, the rulers of Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, CNN, and beyond. All those calling for purges, for jail time for the exercise of free speech and assembly.

It’s a big task. And the cockroaches are all over the kitchen.  (Not an anti-Semitic metaphor—just and anti-Socialist one!)

How do we clean house?

Well, we won’t do it with despair in our hearts. We know—and Trump’s 4 years proved—that if you return to first principles, you win. You can place America’s interests first, have  a strong defense, peace from your enemies, a thriving economy, and freedom for your citizens. So we must go forward knowing that the only reason the other side was driven to cheating is because they’d lost the war of ideas. Oh, they won the war of rhetoric, big time. But they didn’t win the war of reality. And reality counts.

We must go forward knowing that if we hold true to the Christian principles this country was founded on—and I say this as a nonbeliever—we will win over those who only have hatred to carry them through. Hatred of human life, hatred of Trump, fear of freedom, fear of making their own choices. We must love our neighbor, even as he is willing to betray us and our cause. Not an easy task. But as my brother reminds me—we hate the sin, not the sinner. We have to help them to the light.

And each one of us will have a part in this. Some of us will be writing under our own names. Others using pseudonyms. We will take our business away from those who would hurt us, and create new networks of those who adhere to the principles of freedom of conscience. We will do without—sometimes, and that’s okay.

And we must reform the only political party we can influence. About which more, next time.

The Happy Warrior Lives in All of Us

Today I’m glad to host what I hope will be the first of many posts by “River.” Enjoy and share!

Despite the failure to convict Trump, the news has been relentlessly bad since January 6th. The powers of totalitarianism have run the table. They control all three branches of the Federal government, the Army, the cities, the Federal intelligence forces, Big Tech, Big Media, and your local school board.

Hard to keep up a smile in those circumstances. Things will only get worse. We know from history the next steps. First, the economic geniuses making our fiscal policy decisions have led us to a point where either runaway inflation or a simple economic collapse are inevitable. You can only keep writing checks against future income so long as your creditors believe you are good for it. No one thinks that anymore. (Hamiliton knew that; these are not new problems.)  My prediction is that this will start within the next 6-18 months.

What do totalitarians do when that happens? They confiscate resources. Henry the VIII took the monasteries, the French took the artistos’ land, Hitler took the Jews’ . Our Democracy ™ if I may use a term from Michael Anton’s piece here: https://amgreatness.com/2021/02/23/why-do-the-elections-defenders-require-my-agreement/, is already telling us who they will target: businesses that are “racist.” How do they know you are racist? If you didn’t vote for them, or donate to them, q.e.d, you are a racist. Or they may target health care deniers—people who refuse to get vaccinations, wear masks, whatever the latest decree is that is for the good of Our Democracy TM. Or both. Why think small?

With Big Tech’s help, you are easy to identify.

What this means for anyone who actually remembers freedom—and this is people over 40, by the way; most of the younger generation has no problem philosophically with any of these measures—is that we will be fighting a guerilla civil war. We will be the “Underground” in our own country. And we won’t be getting support from outside the borders, like the successful undergrounds did in WWII and like we provided for people of Eastern Europe under the Soviets.

It’s going to get ugly, and it’s going to get ugly fast. The freedom lovers are completely unprepared for this. We don’t have the parallel systems in place we need to organize. We don’t have the banks, the server farms, the shadow government ready to take over.

This is going to take generations. And our children’s children are going to curse us for not heading this off before it came to bloodshed.

Where does the happy part come in? Don’t judge your freedom lovers. Most of us are going to have to conform, or lose everything. Especially the young people, who are trying to build careers, trying to raise children, who do not have a nest egg or the means to retreat to a more free State. People who need access to what remaining health care there is. They will have to knuckle under.

If anyone is to fight back, we will need many within the system to provide cover for them, to be an Underground Railroad, to keep them supplied, to provide havens.

Max Morton goes into more detail here: https://amgreatness.com/2021/02/23/the-last-stop-before-thermopylae/  about what is needed.

But my happy warrior message: don’t beat up on the people who agree with you,but must stay legal. And for those of us who can’t, either because their previous work makes them anathema, or who just can’t stand the tyrant, cut them some slack, too. The purges are coming. Let’s try to connect with and support each other as much as possible before that happens.