Burn Brightly

Posted on by accordingtohoyt

It is the day before what might very well be the most important — and disastrous — election in the country’s history. And it if goes that way, the last one too.

Before I woke up I ran through my head the things I should say and cover.

But I’ve been sitting in front of the computer for an hour, staring at the screen, because, what is there to say?

I can tell the people holding back and deciding not to vote or to vote for Biden because Trump is “Uncouth” and “mean tweets” and “not presidential” that they’re idiots. But they won’t believe me. They’ll believe it later, when the boot is on their neck, and they’re starving. Or maybe not, because the media will tell them it is the fault of someone else, some evil person who did something to them to prevent the paradise of free money and not having to work, and everyone loving everyone else from coming about. I’ve seen it before. In Portugal it was saboteurs and hoarders when things got bad. And people believed. The same people who believe that Biden is kindly uncle Joe who will make everything great.

I can tell people screaming that Trump is shredding the constitution that he’s actually been bizarrely respectful of states rights. When Feds went to states it was only to protect federal property. Otherwise, he let the governors and mayors handle it.

They won’t believe me, because the media told them that Trump is an evil tyrant and literally Hitler.

Is there anything more ironic than their calling themselves “woke”when their entire approach to reality is to treat it as a fluid dream, in which they remember nothing and follow whatever the pack leaders bay right now?

For my entire adult life every Republican president has been “literally Hitler” even though since Reagan at least they’ve been for reducing government reach, allowing for more individual rights, and treating people the same regardless of race. So, you know, the opposite of literally Hitler.

So what’s the use of telling people this, when they’re blinded by their own need to belong, to be part of the herd and to believe whatever they’re told is true.

Many of them will die without ever realizing they’ve been lied to, because their memory extends no more than the beginning of the latest screaming.

It’s global too. The left is going crazy in unison. I was flabbergasted, yesterday, to find that those who oppose Brexit blame Russia interference for its winning.

Okay, Russian interference was insane here, originating in a Hilary Clinton favor from the Russians to discredit her opponent Donald Trump. We KNOW this. It’s been proven. It’s only the deep rot of our investigative agencies that has prevented arrests from being made before the election. Having cooperated with Obama and his administration — and speaking of shredding the constitution — to confound and destroy Trump’s presidency itself, those agencies now thing helping Biden win is part of helping their own survival. Besides, every communist regime needs their own secret police, and these people are in line. No more sentimental nonsense about individual rights. They’ll be able to do onto you, until the end of time. They like that.

This is something else that’s no use telling the left here. They know everything they don’t like is Russia. So, Brexit is, of course, Russia.

It doesn’t matter that Russia was much closer to the Obama administration who, after all, were more flexible. And it doesn’t matter that Putin endorsed Biden. And it doesn’t matter– It’s all “Russia.” And when Biden turns on a dime and talks about our friends, the Russians, they’ll turn too, and forget everything.

Sometimes I wonder if there’s hallucinogenics in the water.

But what the long and horrible history of the 20th century showed us is that it’s just humans. Humans are capable of the most horrendous things.

Like, destroying the most successful system the world has ever seen, the one that has fed, clothed and raised the living standards of most of the world, in return for one that has never achieved anything ever except misery, destruction and mass graves.

Above I’ve used Communism and socialism as what will be brought in on us. I know that purists, and particularly idiots of the left will try to argue this on the basis of “economic organization.”

But it really doesn’t matter. Once the system stops being by and for the benefit of the individual who is allowed to make unfettered economic decisions, it always ends up the same. Call it communism, call it socialism, call it feudalism, call it Cuba, call it North Korea.

Once that train is set in motion and people can’t call it back, the people who have the power will work to concentrate more power and more money into their hands. What they call it, and the justification they use to stomp on the human face is irrelevant. Those with power end up very very rich, and the rest of the people end up starving. Until it eventually all collapses.

As for why I think this is what the left proposes to do to America? It starts with removing our ability to protest what they do to us, to defend ourselves from false charges, or even to demand reward for our labor, and decry injustices done to us. All of which is already being done through platforms and press aligned with the left and working to bring on this regime.

Also neither Biden or the functioning brain of the two will deny they want to open the borders, pack the courts, abolish the police (except THEIR police, of course), lock the populace down to defend us from a virus (that’s not how viruses work, but they won’t tell people that) forbid gas-powered vehicles, and generally work to destroy our economy, so they can squat, fat and poisonous above the ruins of our nation.

I could — I have — shouted that from the rooftops. It doesn’t matter. even people on our side don’t realize that this time, this once, the left HAS to play for all the chips. Even on our side people think this is just a game, and if they just sit this one out to punish Trump for “mean tweets” or whatever, they can vote the way they want the next election, and nothing much bad will happen in the interim.

The problem is the left are cornered rats. Not only is the tech going against them, with communications ever more distributed (despite their dominance of platforms) but during Trump’s presidency their ineptness and rage has revealed more about how they work than the people have ever known before.

For now, their captive media is holding back the full deluge of their horrible actions from the public. To do it, they only had to destroy the economy and put us all under house arrest, which is an extreme measure and also a measure of their desperation.

They must win, you see, because otherwise they face dissolution.

And incompetent as they are, they know — THEY KNOW — they must win. While our side thinks it’s politics as usual.

There is nothing I can do or say to change that.

So all I can say is this, should we not receive as a miracle, from almighty G-d that we beat the margin of fraud and all the fail-safe machinations already in place for our destruction, remember:

Even in the depths of tyranny people resist. Sometimes it means dying, sometimes it means working in small and patient ways.

Even if there’s no hope in our life time, teach the children well and send them forth. Ideas are hard to kill. They have no bodies of their own.

Even if we must burn, remember the falling star. It burns most brightly as it is destroyed.

And generations yet unborn will read of it and marvel, and wonder and know that humans, no matter where and how they live, are not just evil and dark, and made to live in mud and vileness.

If we must burn, my friends, burn brightly. Make such a fire in the night that it will illuminate the human mind forever.

298 thoughts on “Burn Brightly”

  2. While our side thinks it’s politics as usual.

    This I must take issue with. I don’t see anyone acting like business as usual; it is all “fight like your life depends on it” repeated in a thousand different ways.

    Business as usual doesn’t result in 50 mile long Trump Parades in New York.

    1. True, but much of the establishment Republicans have, including the insane Never Trumpers and the ones who are too afraid to punch back twice as hard in campaigning to keep their seats.

          1. Compared to the baseline of 2016?
            Not so much.
            ..
            At this point, the masks are off. The stakes are clear.
            The only illusions are willfully deliberate and self-inflicted.
            Are we still a righteous people?
            It is time to find out.
            Have faith.
            Pray for mercy.

          2. Heh. How many are actually listening to them, Sarah…?

            Not nearly as many as you might think. The GOP’s sole goals for the last FIVE decades…only slightly less as long as I’ve been on the Earth…has been to “gracefully” lose to the Dems.

            F-that-noise. It doesn’t go back to the way it was.

        2. Their votes matter, and at least before Trump Derangement Syndrome they didn’t actively campaign against their party’s candidate. The fact that they are doing so now, when it is clear the Democratic Party has gone full commie, shows how utterly outright insane they have become, as compared to having simply been feckless previously.

          1. The Establishment republicans have decided that, as usual, they’re going to lose. So heavily have they bought into this that essentially they’re turning against their own side in the hopes that they will be put up against the wall/eaten last. Their naivete is quite strong in this respect.

            2. The most insider-y, Establishment Republican I know (and I know a few), who voted for Herself because “How can I explain to my sons that it’s OK for the President to say p*ssy but not OK for them,” is voting for Trump tomorrow. There are more like him out there. Be of good cheer and fear not.

              1. “How can I say to my sons…?”
                “So long as you live in our house and are under our authority, you will abide by our standards. We believe using “p*ssy,” in that way is insulting to women. If, when you’re grown and on your own, you decide you want to be insulting to women, that will be your choice. Until then, don’t.”

                How is that so hard?

                1. Alternately, they could explain that voting for someone doesn’t mean you agree with everything they say, and that they may not like the way Trump talks but how he governs is far more important than how he talks.

                  There’s LOTS of ways they could explain that, if they’re actually wanting to explain rather than virtue-signal.

              2. First, he wasn’t president when he said that.

                Second, at least he wasn’t using interns for humidors.

                Third, it is true — that’s why Harvey Weinstein gt away with his shenanigans for so long. Female hypergamy is an evolutionary fact, s do not deny the science. Do not exploit that fact, either – that’s a cad move.

                Finally, while that is a vile thing to say, much less do, it isn’t half so vile as selling our foreign policy for personal profit.
                –

                1. In truth Trump’s p#ssy comment was trash talk said in private to a group of men, typical trash talk amongst the guys. We were all still learning at that time that cameras and microphones are everywhere now.
                  And trash talk with the guys is something that men just do. I defy any grown man to claim he’s never said a vulgar word when kicking back with his buddies. And I condemn any grown man who does it in mixed company unless all are known to be OK with that type of language.
                  Thing is women do it too. My first job out of high school was in a factory that employed 5,000, 500 of them men who did the heavy lifting, and the rest women who are much better at repetitive tasks such as small parts assembly. As I was barely 18 I got quite an education in vulgar language from those ladies. This was 1969 – 1974 so things may be somewhat different today, but as human nature has not changed all that much I doubt it.

                    1. It is better to take Victory Road, crush your opponents, drive them before you, and hear the lamentations of their soybois.

                  3. Be in a room full of Little Ol’ Biddies; what they say and what they talk about would make a sailor blush and stammer…

                2. What enraged so many lefty women is that they know that what Trump said is true because they’d done just that. Harris is a notorious example.

                  My wife worked as an engineer at one of the big TV networks and she could tell you stories. Everyone knew and nobody said.

              3. Perhaps you might explain to them that not all women deserve respect, and the sort of women Trump was referring to, he referred to quite truthfully and appropriately.

                Perhaps you might explain to them the difference between the locker room and the public square, and that men are more forthright and crude when speaking amongst each other than in mixed company, where it’s expected (or used to be expected) that they moderate their language for feminine ears.

                Perhaps you might mention it is generally understood that there used to be something called ‘honor’ that would urge one to hesitate to record another man’s private conversation and make use of it in such a low way.

                And (assuming the insider is female) perhaps you might inform her that it is not the business of women to police the private speech of men.

                  1. It’s not so much the socialism; poverty treats women like shit. Socialism just drags us all down to poverty and squalor, even the elites. Big shots in Cuba and Venezuela barely live like middle-class Americans. That suits them, because everybody around them is so much worse off. It’s less important that they be rich, than that everybody else be poor.
                    ———————————
                    Nobody has so little that some asshole doesn’t want to take it.

          2. Actually…

            While Trump is the first Republican president that the Republican Establishment has opposed (to varying degrees), we have had Senate and House of Representative candidates over the last couple of decades that the Establishment essentially torpedoed when the Establishment candidate lost in the primary.

        3. Being a GoF, I remember Nelson Rockefeller running for POTUS. If any of you think he would have supported DJT you’re certifiable. He was just another of a long line of RINOs which include Harding, Hoover…

          The world needs all of those of us who really care about individual liberty to keep explaining the Zero Aggression Principle, and explaining why it’s critical for self ownership, and why self ownership is the proper state of sapient beings.

      2. And we have been seeing a gradual turnover of those twits since Reagan defeated Carter. Too gradual, but it HAS been happening.

        And after the Biden train wreck plows into the station and brings the roof down, maybe we’ll see some not-completely-fascist Democrats try to take back the remains of their Party.

        1. It happened after Dukakis, when Billy Jeff Clinton and others formed a centrist Democrat coalition. There are roots of it showing now, which will grow whether Biding Harris win or lose.

          Byron York’s Daily Memo: The hidden Trump vote in Pennsylvania
          [SNIP]
          Sam DeMarco is chairman of the Republican Committee of Allegheny County and also an elected Allegheny County councilman at large. Allegheny County, which includes Democratic Pittsburgh, went for Hillary Clinton with 56.5 percent of the vote in 2016 to Trump’s 40 percent. “I’m an elected official,” DeMarco said in an interview Sunday. “I have had at least a dozen Democratic elected officials tell me that they are voting for Trump. They say they don’t like where their party has gone, so far to the left, but as Democratic elected officials they can’t come out and say it.”

          More from DeMarco: “Look at the unions. When they endorse, they apply a lot of pressure on their guys to fall in line and support the candidate. That’s not happening now.” He mentioned a recent large oil and gas industry conference that included some union local leaders. “They said they’ve given up on trying to get their guys to vote Biden,” DeMarco recalled. “I can’t guess at the number, but if it’s in law enforcement, the building and trade unions, and oil and gas, these folks are voting Trump.”
          [SNIP]
          So it is not a surprise to hear so many Pennsylvanians say they know someone who plans to vote for Trump but doesn’t want to talk about it. It is not a surprise to hear that some centrist Democratic officials, dismayed at their party’s turn left, plan to vote for Trump, too. In this nation of the secret ballot, there are plenty of reasons some people don’t announce their vote. That applies perhaps more than ever in 2020.
          –

          1. That’s another reason Democrats LOVE fraud by mail: their functionaries get to see how you voted every time so you can vote properly.

          2. > In this nation of the secret ballot

            If you’re using an electronic voting machine, or a printed-on-the-spot paper ballot with a barcode or QR code, don’t put much faith in the “secret” part.

            “Data is forever.” And it leaks. It might not officially become part of the public record, but it will be available to those who want to know who to hire, promote, or endorse. Just like the “secret” SPN codes in the Fed’s DD214 military records

    2. Dear Lord, Ian. So many of my friends and colleagues, even the ones not on the left.
      And the Christians who “in conscience I can’t vote for Trump” and….

      1. People who want to virtue signal loudly will also allow their votes loudly. Most Trump voters are secret ballot voters, not broadcasting. But we will see if we can beat the fraud too.

        I think the situation is dangerous, but not hopeless.

          1. He’s made himself an idjit, and we’ve known that for a while.

            Admittedly, you have to be an idjit to belong, at the idjit cocktail parties. But you’d also have to be an idjit to want to belong, unless you’re also making that sweet sweet grifter money. But money is temporary, and voluntary self-brainwashing lasts the rest of your life (unless you’re lucky).

    3. Or down the highway we were on last night. Truck parades are pure Americana, and in healthy communities both the left and the right deck their vehicles out and people cheer.

      I’m not surprised that when the establishment shut down our Memorial-, and Founders’-and Court of July-Day parades, the Biden supporters and never-Trumpers just shut up and hid, or took to the streets for loot and burn parties.

      But I am so tickled to see team America dusting out thoae car and truck parades. Don’t let anyone kid you that this us all about the Orange Man. He’s just the rally flag. This is about rambunctious, can’t-be-shut-up or shut down realio-trulio America busting out all over.

      Very cheering.

        1. There have been Trump rallies in San Mateo County!

          (that’s Silicon Valley, for those who are unaware – basically, southwest side of the Bay Area, excluding San Francisco)

        3. I was driving along Harry Wurzbach towards the back gate to Fort Sam Houston today, and passed a guy in some kind of uniform (security guard it looked like) holding a big Trump flag on a staff. Yeah, I honked and waved and made a ‘thumbs up.’

    4. Business as usual doesn’t result in 50 mile long Trump Parades in New York.

      ❤

      Two words for how it's changed:
      Cocaine Mitch.

      1. How did he get that name?
        I like, “Murder Turtle,” but I have no idea where that came from either.

        1. The “turtle” nickname (I see “War Turtle” more often than “Murder Turtle”) is because he bears a passing resemblance to the character Yertle the Turtle.

          Cocaine MItch is from the speed with which he’s been pushing Trump’s judicial nominees through the nomination process.

        3. In pre-Trump days when he didn’t seem to care one bit about moving any of the Republican agenda through, people (mostly on the right) called him Constipated Turtle, partly for his looks and partly because he took forever to get anything done. With Trump, as was the case with some other Republicans, he suddenly acquired balls and became a pretty good fighter, esp.when it came to judicial appointments. Hence he’s been upgraded to War Turtle or Murder Turtle, both of which make me think of Godzilla Monster movies 😀

    5. I admit I’m seeing fewer Libertarians still claiming that “both sides are the same” and hopefully not just because I snoozed a bunch of them a while ago. So that might mean something on the positive side.

    1. The point KH missed was that the cartoon black man was too damn lazy to scramble up the bank to get to the rope. Or that both men started with the exact same resources at birth, nothing; and it was their parents, or lack thereof, and not government mandated confiscations and selective handouts that made all the difference which path they were on.

      1. Oh. He**. The way it works now. Both men start out with exactly the same resources at birth, nothing. But the minority disadvantaged refuse to see the government mandated confiscations and selective handouts are meant to make sure they have the same resources at death as they have at birth, nothing, and that is their heritage to pass down to the generations following.

        1. There is an additional point — the person (in Harris’ instance, a black man) starting out on a lower rung has advantages the other lacks, such as greater incentive to learn the benefits of hard work, self-discipline, thinking carefully beforehand of consequences and risks. Because he has to struggle harder he develops muscles and habits, he develops toughness of character the other guy never gets. He also develops empathy, and (if he is smart) gratitude — qualities which enable him to better connect with his fellows and better mentor those under him.

          We see this in sports all the time. Michael Jordan famously said that as a kid, in junior high and high school and even in college he saw plenty of guys with more talent than he had — but he had a work ethic they lacked. While they were enjoying the attentions of “the ladies” he was honing his skills, perfecting his powers of concentration and “full court” awareness that made him arguably the most dominant basketball player of all time.

          We also see this in school — “brilliant” students who rarely have to crack a book or even pay much attention to the teachers … students who one day find themselves in college without having ever learned to study or take notes in class, students who can no longer coast and cannot get up to speed.

          Adversity builds strengths, coddling, constantly having one’s way smoothed ahead, produces snowflakes who melt at the sun’s first touch.
          –

          1. We also see this in school — “brilliant” students who rarely have to crack a book or even pay much attention to the teachers … students who one day find themselves in college without having ever learned to study or take notes in class, students who can no longer coast and cannot get up to speed.

            –
            Personal experience. My first degree GPA is nothing to write home about. Best I can say for myself is I wouldn’t give up. Subsequent … did much better. Overall GPA works out to be just under 3.5 (ish). Those classmates could not understand why I didn’t qualify for graduation honors (because class standing is based on ALL college level grades, not just current program grades). Again. I didn’t give up (nor was I forced to).

            Contrast to our HS valedictorian. Flunked out college sophomore year. To be sure, now, has a number of PHd’s, curtsy of Uncle Sam and US Army (had finished up his 3rd or 4th at our 15th HS reunion, I haven’t been to one since, so IDK, now; plus probably retired).

  4. God Bless Donald J. Trump, and the United States of America.

    We need all the help we can get.

    1. Uggh Philadelphia is known for 100% turnout with 100% for a particular candidate. Sometimes even 105% turnout. It makes Chicago in the Daley days look like a troop of boy scouts.

      1. I’ve never understood how 105% turnout never leads to immediate investigation. Each precinct has records of who voted and who is registered. The “surplus” voters can be identified with a simple search and it wouldn’t be hard to find out who was at the table giving them a ballot when they either weren’t on the registered voter list or had already been marked as having cast their ballot.

        1. Indeed in any rational situation alarm bells would be going off like mad. However, for it to be investigated someone like a prosecutor or attorney general has to refer it to a grand jury. But they’re in on it (and may benefit from it) or at least turn a blind eye. Essentially they just silence the alarm and walk away. With the media not investigating it (because they’re effectively as Instapundit says they are democrat operatives with bylines) it’s soon forgotten.

          1. In this case, PA’s Democratic Attorney General already said that Trump “cannot win Pennsylvania” and that the only way he could do so would be to have hundreds of thousands of ballots thrown out. This should be understood to be an admission that Democrats have engaged in massive fraud in PA in the 6 figure range of bogus ballots.

            1. I understand that the Pennsylvania Attorney-General has reversed that assertion, although my casual search does not turn up such a statement.

              In related news:

              DOJ Announces Election Day Monitoring in Dozens of Counties
              The Department of Justice has announced a number of individuals will be deployed to dozens of counties around the country on Tuesday to ensure federal election laws are followed.

              “The Justice Department today announced its plans for voting rights monitoring in jurisdictions around the country for the Nov. 3, 2020 general election. The Justice Department historically has monitored in jurisdictions in the field on election day, and is again doing so this year. The department will also take complaints from the public nationwide regarding possible violations of the federal voting rights laws through its call center,” DOJ released in a statement. “The Civil Rights Division enforces the federal voting rights laws that protect the rights of all citizens to access the ballot. Since the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, the division has regularly monitored in a variety of elections around the country throughout every year to protect the rights of all voters, and not just in federal general elections.”

              Here is the list of counties, courtesy of the Department:

              -Coconino County, Arizona;
              -Maricopa County, Arizona;
              -Navajo County, Arizona;
              -Los Angeles County, California;
              -Orange County, California;
              -Broward County, Florida;
              -Duval County, Florida;
              -Hillsborough County, Florida;
              -Miami-Dade County, Florida;
              -Orange County, Florida;
              -Palm Beach County, Florida;
              -Fulton County, Georgia;
              -Gwinnett County, Georgia;
              -City of Chicago, Illinois;
              -Cook County, Illinois;
              -Montgomery County, Maryland;
              -City of Boston, Massachusetts;
              -City of Lowell, Massachusetts;
              -City of Malden, Massachusetts;
              -City of Quincy, Massachusetts;
              -City of Springfield, Massachusetts;
              -City of Detroit, Michigan;
              -City of Eastpointe, Michigan;
              -City of Flint, Michigan;
              -City of Hamtramck, Michigan;
              -City of Highland Park, Michigan;
              -City of Jackson, Michigan;
              -Shelby Township, Michigan;
              -City of Minneapolis, Minnesota;
              -Bergen County, New Jersey;
              -Middlesex County, New Jersey;
              -Bernalillo County, New Mexico;
              -Mecklenburg County, North Carolina;
              -Wake County, North Carolina;
              -Cuyahoga County, Ohio;
              -Allegheny County, Pennsylvania;
              -Lehigh County, Pennsylvania;
              -Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania;
              -Richland County, South Carolina;
              -Harris County, Texas;
              -Waller County, Texas;
              -Fairfax County, Virginia;
              -Prince William County, Virginia; and
              -City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

              “Our federal laws protect the right of all American citizens to vote without suffering discrimination, intimidation, and harassment,” Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Eric Dreiband released in a statement about the move. “The work of the Civil Rights Division around each federal general election is a continuation of its historical mission to ensure that all of our citizens can freely exercise this most fundamental American right.”
              –

              1. Son of a Gun it sounds like someone may have read “First Lensman” and the Galactic Patrol has been deployed. Or it least we can hope it has. We don’t have to defeat corruption totally (we can’t and sadly there are no inherently incorruptible Lensman L1, L2 or L3) we just need to keep its margins limited so it can’t overwhelm the margin of victory. It will be very interesting to see what goes on this evening.

          2. And as a sailor I learned several valuable lessons, one of which was that while you may be able to silence the bilge high-water alarm, it doesn’t mean that you aren’t sinking.

        2. The functionaries who would do the investigating all belong to Party that did the fraud. Anyone else would be denied cert or simply ignored.

          Besides, it shows their power than they can shove it in your face and there’s nothing you can do about it.

          “Welcome to the real world.”

          Ready for my Powerball Election System yet?

          1. Yep, and it appears Democrats are very confident that the fix is in for PA:

            ttps://www.foxnews.com/politics/pennsylvanias-democratic-trump-lose-before-votes-counted

            Needless to say Twitter had no problem with this.

            1. welp at this point what he’s saying is going to be scrutinized *very* closely. he should expect a subpoena in 3… 2… 1…

  6. It’s possibly presumptuous this posting here, but I think the archbishop’s letter to our President is an important read this day:

    ARCHBISHOP VIGANÒ’S OPEN LETTER to the President of the United States of America…

    Sunday, October 25, 2020
    Solemnity of Christ the King

    Mister President,

    Allow me to address you at this hour in which the fate of the whole world is being threatened by a global conspiracy against God and humanity. I write to you as an Archbishop, as a Successor of the Apostles, as the former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America. I am writing to you in the midst of the silence of both civil and religious authorities. May you accept these words of mine as the “voice of one crying out in the desert” (Jn 1:23).

    As I said when I wrote my letter to you in June, this historical moment sees the forces of Evil aligned in a battle without quarter against the forces of Good; forces of Evil that appear powerful and organized as they oppose the children of Light, who are disoriented and disorganized, abandoned by their temporal and spiritual leaders.

    Daily we sense the attacks multiplying of those who want to destroy the very basis of society: the natural family, respect for human life, love of country, freedom of education and business. We see heads of nations and religious leaders pandering to this suicide of Western culture and its Christian soul, while the fundamental rights of citizens and believers are denied in the name of a health emergency that is revealing itself more and more fully as instrumental to the establishment of an inhuman faceless tyranny.

    A global plan called the Great Reset is underway. Its architect is a global élite that wants to subdue all of humanity, imposing coercive measures with which to drastically limit individual freedoms and those of entire populations. In several nations this plan has already been approved and financed; in others it is still in an early stage. Behind the world leaders who are the accomplices and executors of this infernal project, there are unscrupulous characters who finance the World Economic Forum and Event 201, promoting their agenda.

    The purpose of the Great Reset is the imposition of a health dictatorship aiming at the imposition of liberticidal measures, hidden behind tempting promises of ensuring a universal income and cancelling individual debt. The price of these concessions from the International Monetary Fund will be the renunciation of private property and adherence to a program of vaccination against Covid-19 and Covid-21 promoted by Bill Gates with the collaboration of the main pharmaceutical groups. Beyond the enormous economic interests that motivate the promoters of the Great Reset, the imposition of the vaccination will be accompanied by the requirement of a health passport and a digital ID, with the consequent contact tracing of the population of the entire world. Those who do not accept these measures will be confined in detention camps or placed under house arrest, and all their assets will be confiscated.

    Mr. President, I imagine that you are already aware that in some countries the Great Reset will be activated between the end of this year and the first trimester of 2021. For this purpose, further lockdowns are planned, which will be officially justified by a supposed second and third wave of the pandemic. You are well aware of the means that have been deployed to sow panic and legitimize draconian limitations on individual liberties, artfully provoking a world-wide economic crisis. In the intentions of its architects, this crisis will serve to make the recourse of nations to the Great Reset irreversible, thereby giving the final blow to a world whose existence and very memory they want to completely cancel. But this world, Mr. President, includes people, affections, institutions, faith, culture, traditions, and ideals: people and values that do not act like automatons, who do not obey like machines, because they are endowed with a soul and a heart, because they are tied together by a spiritual bond that draws its strength from above, from that God that our adversaries want to challenge, just as Lucifer did at the beginning of time with his “non serviam.”

    Many people – as we well know – are annoyed by this reference to the clash between Good and Evil and the use of “apocalyptic” overtones, which according to them exasperates spirits and sharpens divisions. It is not surprising that the enemy is angered at being discovered just when he believes he has reached the citadel he seeks to conquer undisturbed. What is surprising, however, is that there is no one to sound the alarm. The reaction of the deep state to those who denounce its plan is broken and incoherent, but understandable. Just when the complicity of the mainstream media had succeeded in making the transition to the New World Order almost painless and unnoticed, all sorts of deceptions, scandals and crimes are coming to light.

    Until a few months ago, it was easy to smear as “conspiracy theorists” those who denounced these terrible plans, which we now see being carried out down to the smallest detail. No one, up until last February, would ever have thought that, in all of our cities, citizens would be arrested simply for wanting to walk down the street, to breathe, to want to keep their business open, to want to go to church on Sunday. Yet now it is happening all over the world, even in picture-postcard Italy that many Americans consider to be a small enchanted country, with its ancient monuments, its churches, its charming cities, its characteristic villages. And while the politicians are barricaded inside their palaces promulgating decrees like Persian satraps, businesses are failing, shops are closing, and people are prevented from living, traveling, working, and praying. The disastrous psychological consequences of this operation are already being seen, beginning with the suicides of desperate entrepreneurs and of our children, segregated from friends and classmates, told to follow their classes while sitting at home alone in front of a computer.

    In Sacred Scripture, Saint Paul speaks to us of “the one who opposes” the manifestation of the mystery of iniquity, the kathèkon (2 Thess 2:6-7). In the religious sphere, this obstacle to evil is the Church, and in particular the papacy; in the political sphere, it is those who impede the establishment of the New World Order.

    As is now clear, the one who occupies the Chair of Peter has betrayed his role from the very beginning in order to defend and promote the globalist ideology, supporting the agenda of the deep church, who chose him from its ranks.

    Mr. President, you have clearly stated that you want to defend the nation – One Nation under God, fundamental liberties, and non-negotiable values that are denied and fought against today. It is you, dear President, who are “the one who opposes” the deep state, the final assault of the children of darkness.

    For this reason, it is necessary that all people of good will be persuaded of the epochal importance of the imminent election: not so much for the sake of this or that political program, but because of the general inspiration of your action that best embodies – in this particular historical context – that world, our world, which they want to cancel by means of the lockdown. Your adversary is also our adversary: it is the Enemy of the human race, He who is “a murderer from the beginning” (Jn 8:44).

    Around you are gathered with faith and courage those who consider you the final garrison against the world dictatorship. The alternative is to vote for a person who is manipulated by the deep state, gravely compromised by scandals and corruption, who will do to the United States what Jorge Mario Bergoglio is doing to the Church, Prime Minister Conte to Italy, President Macron to France, Prime Minster Sanchez to Spain, and so on. The blackmailable nature of Joe Biden – just like that of the prelates of the Vatican’s “magic circle” – will expose him to be used unscrupulously, allowing illegitimate powers to interfere in both domestic politics as well as international balances. It is obvious that those who manipulate him already have someone worse than him ready, with whom they will replace him as soon as the opportunity arises.

    And yet, in the midst of this bleak picture, this apparently unstoppable advance of the “Invisible Enemy,” an element of hope emerges. The adversary does not know how to love, and it does not understand that it is not enough to assure a universal income or to cancel mortgages in order to subjugate the masses and convince them to be branded like cattle. This people, which for too long has endured the abuses of a hateful and tyrannical power, is rediscovering that it has a soul; it is understanding that it is not willing to exchange its freedom for the homogenization and cancellation of its identity; it is beginning to understand the value of familial and social ties, of the bonds of faith and culture that unite honest people.

    This Great Reset is destined to fail because those who planned it do not understand that there are still people ready to take to the streets to defend their rights, to protect their loved ones, to give a future to their children and grandchildren. The leveling inhumanity of the globalist project will shatter miserably in the face of the firm and courageous opposition of the children of Light. The enemy has Satan on its side, He who only knows how to hate. But on our side, we have the Lord Almighty, the God of armies arrayed for battle, and the Most Holy Virgin, who will crush the head of the ancient Serpent. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31).

    Mr. President, you are well aware that, in this crucial hour, the United States of America is considered the defending wall against which the war declared by the advocates of globalism has been unleashed. Place your trust in the Lord, strengthened by the words of the Apostle Paul: “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13). To be an instrument of Divine Providence is a great responsibility, for which you will certainly receive all the graces of state that you need, since they are being fervently implored for you by the many people who support you with their prayers.

    With this heavenly hope and the assurance of my prayer for you, for the First Lady, and for your collaborators, with all my heart I send you my blessing.

    God bless the United States of America!

    + Carlo Maria Viganò
    Tit. Archbishop of Ulpiana
    Former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America

  7. Sadly, in contemporary America the evidence indicates we will, instead, burn stupidly. Because our would-be rulers are none too bright.
    –

    1. Or the burning bright could be a very literal result of an attack by our adversaries around the world who would feel confident in outright nuking us (or even setting of just a high-altitude nuke for the EMP pulse) because they see us as either so weak, so self-hating and/or so sympathetic to them that no serious responsive action would be taken. That could even occur much sooner than later if the Democrats foment the chaos they have openly stated they would orchestrate in order to prevent a second Trump turn if our adversaries believe the chaos will not result in a response. At the very least, look for China to invade Taiwan and for Iran to make a go at “wiping Israel off the map” (the second of which would certainly result in Israel responding with nukes, and if that happens, who knows what happens with India/Pakistan, etc).

      The Democrats lust for power and Trump Derangement Syndrome could literally lead to nukes being tossed about. Because unlike in leftist fantasy world, adversaries do act aggressively and outright attack if they believe their is enough weakness and enough of an advantage to do so successfully.

      I have no doubt that there is a hefty chunk of the Democrats who would simply blame Trump and Republicans, claim that we deserved to be attacked, and use the attack to further their grab for absolute power.

      1. EMP. One of the reasons why I oppose fully electronic voting. Give me a hard copy every time.

        1. My county has the electronic ballot assist to a printed ballot, which is the one counted. It’s the only sort of electronic voting that should be allowed.

          1. I once wore the +10 spiked jackboots of Network Security. I have firm opinions about the subject.

            Paper. With legal chain of custody, counted out in the open under observers.

            Accept no substitutes.

            (when my county ran paper ballots, polls closed at 8, final results were phoned in at 9, and lights were out at 9:30. Final tally at Little Rock by10. Contrast to the *days* some jurisdictions using electronic systems claim to require to tally a vote…)

            1. You notice that, for all the craziness about California, that you don’t tend to hear about election fraud? It’s because there’s things like the open counting of ballots (cast, spoiled, and extra), the fact that NO party affiliation can have a majority of poll workers at a location (which made my mom, L, and me, unaffiliated, very popular as workers), and like you said, a clean chain of custody.

              The propositions do an end run around the process, which explains a lot of the mess, but the elections themselves seem to be clean.

      2. “I have no doubt that there is a hefty chunk of the Democrats who would simply blame …”

        If there is one attribute of the Democrats which has persisted these last two centuries it is their ability to absolve themselves of any responsibility for consequences of their actions.

        –

      3. Honestly, that is what I dread most – that an outside power would take advantage of Dem incompetency and indecision, and stage something like that.

      4. That is how the U.S. got Texas. Mexico was so sure the U.S. was weak sauce (and Europeans confidently expected a repeat of 1812) they were slavering for war and looking for an excuse to start one. And of course, the wideband, Polk and crew gave ’em one, because they wanted to grab all that sweet, sweet Western territory.

        But if they hadn’t believed the U.S. weak (and IIRC, we gave ’em reason to believe it) Mexico probably wouldn’t have attacked. Wonder if Texas would still be the LSR on our border?

        1. Well — Texas was already committed. What the US got from that war was basically everything north of the Rio Grande. A Huuuuge chunk of everything that Mexico claimed, but aside from small settlements in New Mexico and California .. nothing they were able to creatively exploit.
          And the fact that Americans found gold in California shortly thereafter … just sweetened the deal.

      5. My personal worry is whenever the various “out of an abundance of caution,” nonsense boils over and people start ignoring it someone (can anyone say “CCP?” Though it might be a third party) will release a real bioweapon, and nobody will cooperate when it really matters.

        2. #metoo. Terrifies me.

          I’ve read fiction that critics complain that it is “too unrealistic”. Where a mild pandemic overreaction (CCP-C19), caused the population to later ignore a later major pandemic. Still applies. Fiction has to be realistic. Real life doesn’t.

          One of the benefits of the homeless of society. They start dropping dead in the streets, I’ll worry. OTOH will they report it?

          We have had problems with Rats in the suburbs. We’ve lived in this area since ’85. In our house since late ’88. I grew up in this area since ’63. Technically we aren’t that far from farms/fields/green areas. If anything, the fields/farms have been pushed outward, claimed by suburban neighborhoods (our house sits on land that was strawberry & bean fields prior to ’70). Mice, non-poisonous garter snakes, possums, turkeys, squirrels, birds, we’ve seen (very fringes skunks). The first two, if only because the cats “leave presents”. Until recently, we’ve NEVER seen rats. Rats are now numerous enough that they are being seen in the daytime.

          Reasons for population explosion of rats have been:

          1) Fires forcing them into town … Um, yes the Holiday Fire is relatively closer to us than say Corvallis. BUT, it is still across the river and valley, miles east of us. The fire didn’t even reach into the eastern hills & suburbs of Springfield.

          2) Backyard chickens and bird feeders. Um, that is new? Okay, chicken coops are newer since the ’90s. Bird feeders? No.

          3) Ability to put food leftovers in yard debris cans. This is different than putting in paper bags in regular garbage how? Putting food leftovers in yard compost piles. Also, “not new”.

          4) Homeless. Okay. Homeless in our area is “not new”. BUT where the homeless camps are being allowed to congregate, and the size of the camps, are new. To the point where they are invading the borders of neighborhoods, and sometimes into the neighborhoods themself.

          Why is point #4 important? The garbage that is piled up between cleanup. The fact that there are rumors of suppressed reports of incidents of plague. Yes, plague does happen in the west. Plague is endemic in the rodents of the west, including squirrels and chipmunks. But the reported incidents are typically through people who recreate in the wilderness who get unlucky. Not in homeless populations. Yes plague incidents are reported, and published, or suppose to be. Do I believe plague incidents are reported? Yes. If the source is innocuous. Plague incidents among the homeless? Report suppression, not reported, removal, or buried deep is guarantied.

          Rant over.

          * In a place where someone can/will pick apart the rant, but won’t scream at me for ranting.

  9. There will likely still be elections for the foreseeable future even if Trump loses. The question is whether those elections will mean anything.

      1. Russia (and before it, the USSR) has elections. Venezuela has elections. Cuba has elections. Iran has elections. All maintain the form if not the function.

        Back during Jim Crow the “Solid South” had elections — and everybody knew that if you wanted your vote to matter you had to enroll among the Democrats because the only election that really mattered was the primary.

        We still see that certain parts of the US, witness AOC and her fellow squad-mates or California. I would cite some GOP states where that has been the case but as we saw in Alabama with election of Doug Jones and are seeing in South Carolina & Georgia this year, it ain’t necessarily so.
        –

    2. Dworkin’s jurisprudence is what’s taught in the law schools. To them form is justice. An election with one candidate is just if it follows the election rules. Nothing more.

      My pessimism stems from this. We didn’t get here in four years or even twelve. It’s been going on for over one hundred years and everything has crumbled before it.

      1. It’s even worse than that. Law schools now teach that free speech and due process are inherently racist and are meant to prop up white supremacy.

        1. Well. White supremacy is the supremacy of ordinary mainstream American culture. Preferring that culture to India’s, China’s, the assorted welfare ghettos (academic or urban) or Somali, or Mexico’s, is racism.

          So yes. Free-speech and due process do support [white supremacy] and to be anti racist you have to shut them down.

          In addition, currently only people experiencing whiteness are socially and publically permitted to prefer ordinary mainstream American culture, and prefer freedom of speech and assembly, the right to self defense, rule of law, universal human dignity and Christianity. That’s making for some interesting game-play in reaction.

    3. Expect Glorious Gavin’s Bear Flag Peoples Republic-style “jungle primaries” nationwide, after the “Truth and Reconciliational Justice Commission” takes over the census results and redistricting that follows, which will yield two candidates from the same party on the “real” election ballot when they always mysteriously beat out the other party and get the top two vote totals in the primary.

      It’s for Teh Justice.

  10. I’m still feeling oddly optimistic. Mostly because I’m seeing a lot of stories showing up on websites of how “tight” some places are going to be on election day. And, how people are “getting ready to deal with Trump fraud” across the line.

    I could be wrong, I haven’t been very right the last few months. But, I can hope and I will see what happens tomorrow. Hopefully, there will be cages rattled and people will discover how wrong they were.

    Just, you know, not me.

    1. Those screams of “Trump fraud” are a facade designed with the help of media and tech monopolies to mask the massive fraud Democrats will be engaging in and to silence any exposure of that fraud. I expect the Democratic Party propaganda arm to declare victory on election night, even after their repeatedly saying the winner won’t be known for days if not weeks, and to then claim that any other result (such as there actually being more votes for Trump) is a fraud by Trump to steal the election and to demand that action be taken to remove him from office immediately.

      1. Which is why if I was a Trump advisor, I wouldn’t concede until all the votes were counted and we made sure any possible acts of fraud had been fully checked out if a state is lost by a close vote.

        Hell, even if we won by a close vote, we should still fully check out any case of fraud. Be all bipartisan and everything.

      2. The tactic of screaming ‘Yrump fraud’ might work against a Romney. Against Trump it will only inspire him to expose THEIR fraud, and the cram it up their arse.

        1. I have every reason to expect that if they start going down the “fraud” route, Trump is going to start returning fire with even wore cases of outright fraud. Once again, if I was his advisor, I’d be having these all queued up and ready to go, firing them off in every single direction I can find and punching back at least twice as hard as any other accusations.

    2. Based on the loss of the Fraud ground game thanks to shutting down, say, bus fills of folks going to as many polling places as they go can hit in a day… I think it could go either way.

      1. You are underestimating the massive fraud that widespread mail voting allows for, especially in states that officially or effectively allow ballot harvesting; after all, unattended ballot boxes can be stuffed by anyone-just look at the voting for any professional sports all-star game.

        Indeed, I suspect that Democrats already have their truckloads of mail in ballots already ready to go to be added to the real votes in order to swing the crucial districts and states in order to steal the election.

        1. Okay. We know Vote-by-FraudMail is solid in Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado, and other established long term vote by mail states, they’ve had time to perfect the process, will be for Biden (really hoping the Portland metro in-charge are pissed scared enough that they refrain from the fraud, but won’t throw a tantrum & turn blue to expect that to happen). BUT fingers crossed, the states who haven’t had this in place, the fraud can’t be organized enough to attempt, or if they do attempt, they get caught. Result the worst case is Biden wins the Popular Vote, which we know means shit, nothing but a tantrum fit. President Trump wins a second term on the Electoral College vote, which is Everything.

  11. That Brexiteers blaming Russia is an illustration that what lies below all of this is a very small number of people — Davos Man, the Acela corridor, The MSM — who have benefited, a much larger number of people who have allowed themselves to be blinded by hatred, and another group who have sold their souls to China. If the worst happens, we’re going to need to remember just how small and concentrated it is. Our lives may depend on it

    Archbishop Vigano and Cardinal Sarah have written about this recently. They have no power in the Curia at the moment since the Lavendar mafia is ascendant but are worth reading anyway. We are not alone. Cardinal Sarah and others like him give me hope that Africa might bring the faith back to us.

      2. Well, Russia did more thoroughly penetrate Britain back during the Cold War, but they penetrated the left, not the right, and the left was all-in against Brexit, so this is just a transAtlantic example of “the left projects like IMAX”.

  12. “They’ll believe it later, when the boot is on their neck, and they’re starving. Or maybe not,”

    They won’t.

    Not even when they’re being torn apart, and when thugs and killers come for them, they’ll stab anyone who tries to defend them in the back.

    All the nice, elderly Democrat women who just want things to go ‘back to normal’ as if you can live side by side with an Orc after the human mask and phony Dwarf beard have fallen off and are only being held in place by weak glue. All the ’empowered’ young women who projected themselves into Hillary and now project themselves onto Kamala (and hate ABC cause they’re scared she’ll take away their precious Roe v Wade, or maybe it’s just cause they’ve been trained to hate anyone who accomplishes anything without the feminist system hoisting them up). They’ll tear down the walls and disarm the people protecting them, all for that sweet, sweet hit of public approval, and they’ll have all the self-awareness of a deer in headlights when the consequences hit.

    5. There’s now at least one poll that predicts a popular-vote victory for POTUS (as well as a substantial Electoral College victory). If that happens, one nice side effect will be the memory-holeing (totally a verb) of the National Popular Vote equine excrement.

      1. Got a link to the poll?

        And, I think one of the reasons why most people are willing to listen to the NPV idea is that they haven’t been taught-truly-why we have our weird little system. You can claim by accident or maliciousness, but they still don’t know.

        1. They don’t learn civics or history, so of course they don’t know. But it is annoying when people say big cities in big states _should_ determine the winners, because small states live off the bounty of big states. (Spit.)

          1. because small states live off the bounty of big states

            –
            Without the small populated states, the large populated states (for the most part) … Starve.

            Just saying.

            1. Now, now, since we can’t eat eat at that posh little bistro because we’re all gonna die of COVID if we sit down, food comes from delivery, that little grocery on the corner, or we make the trip up to Whole Foods for our big shop.

            2. California *could* support itself… and a good chunk of the rest of the country. But the progs have taken great care to make sure that the only water that escapes the rivers flowing out of the Sierra Nevadas goes to San Francisco.

              1. Last time I was down through CA (it has been awhile, ’15) there were a lot of fields with trees uprooted, because they can’t water them. Per husband, who, until last year, was going through every year, hasn’t improved. Guess they could eat olives, almonds, and grapes … whoops grapes went up in smoke this last summer & fall …

                At one time, I’d agree. There is still cattle, for both beef & milk, at least for now. But a lot of the non-luxury crops have been sent south of the border.

                Oregon has some truck crops planted throughout the state. But if had to rely on just the state, Oregon would be in trouble too. There are crops. But you see a lot of non-edible – Christmas Tree, Hay/Alfalfa, Grass Seed, etc.

                1. The common thread of socialist regimes is that the vast majority of people starve. Socialism is the Sauron of ideologies.

          2. As I said before, farmers make up only 2% of the popular vote. What happens if their opinions and needs are ignored by the Big Cities?

            1. Perhaps the time then comes to make the cities die on the vine. It is hard to protect all of the water and power infrastructure and all bridges that let goods into the cities.

            2. What do farmers have to do with it? Food comes from restaurants. Or grocery stores if you’re into that sort of thing. Sometimes from convenience stores. All packaged in brightly colored plastic, just as Nature intended.

            3. I think California has been running an experiment on that in the Klamath River basin. Or is it a different California river where they’re training farmers to grow without water?
              –

              1. Why, sure, that’s simple! Just reduce their water supply and make them produce the same amount of food.

              2. Don’t get me started on the Klamath River basin clusterfark! Ain’t “training”, it’s “Tough shit, sucker!”

                ‘Tis an unholy alliance: California tribes downstream complaining about fish (salmon?), tribes in Oregon (sucker fish and some salmon), Warren [spit] Buffett’s Pacific Power (who would rather we pay to remove the dams than build fish ladders), California who neglects to mention that the Trinity River dams do as much or more to reduce water flow in the Klamath River than the 4 KR dams. Oh yeah, bunch of feds “helping”. Not sure when it started, but the Bush 43 admin was as helpful to Oregon farmers as a tub of wet socks.

                Oh yeah, win-win; Cali democrats get the benefits* of removing the dams, while Oregon conservatives pay for it, both by losing water and having to pay to remove the dams.

                (*) OTOH, there’s a boatload of silt in the reservoirs. Gonna do wonders for the spawning pools when the dams go.

                (waits a few minutes for the blood pressure meds to kick in….)

                1. OTOH, there’s a boatload of silt in the reservoirs. Gonna do wonders for the spawning pools when the dams go.

                  –
                  If our local flood control dams are anything to go by … um, DUH!

                  Fern Ditch Mud Hole, as Fernridge is affectionately called by those of us that don’t sail, is affectionately called. We never took our son to swim at the used-to-be-popular, when I was a kid, swim area. Because it is full of reeds and brown muddy water. You can’t see kids swimming. It was not clear water when I was a kid, but it wasn’t that bad. The other flood control dams up the Willamette forks, are better, because they are much deeper. But when water is down in preparation for spring melt & rains, you can see the silt. When the water expected doesn’t come, it is in-your-face visible, all summer & fall … sometimes along a major freeway (Shasta Lake) …

          3. …
            The truly sad thing is? I know far too many people who think this way. Assuming they thought about it at all. They’re also the same kind of people that think meat magically appears at Whole Foods, wrapped in plastic.

        2. You mean the Electoral College? We had *nothing* about that in school. My high school didn’t have anything like “Civics” or “American Government” as some people have described. We had “American History” in the 11th grade; four 9-week propaganda courses, basically. I took “Pre-Soviet Russian History” as one of the American History quarter-courses due to a schedule conflict.

          *Much* later, I read about how the American government was supposed to work. It was interesting, but it didn’t seem to have any bearing on politics as I was beginning to understand it.

          1. I think my Junior High taught us about it, mostly because our teacher for it at the time was fascinated by it. And, after I got out of school, I got fascinated by it as well. It’s a weird little system and it probably kept America from becoming like Revolutionary and Post-Revolutionary France far too many times.

          2. You mean the Electoral College? We had *nothing* about that in school. My high school didn’t have anything like “Civics” or “American Government” as some people have described.

            –
            I don’t remember anything in school, specific class either. But that was a long, long, time ago. What I do remember was a simulated process for student Class Presidents and School President, in middle school (JHS back then). Each Social Study class got X electoral votes based on class size. Which for Class Presidents, essentially was popular vote, because individual classes within each of the 3 grades were approximately the same size. But School President that didn’t apply. The oldest grade, 9th grade, had a lot fewer students vs the 7th & 8th grade classes. Simulation went through what happens when there isn’t a clear Electoral College vote winner, because there wasn’t. Didn’t go as far as what would happen if Senate got involved. This was 1968 (my class was the 7th grade, largest class).

            I remember the process being vaguely tied to the Presidential election. What I don’t remember is it being made clear the difference on how Electrical College votes are allocated and the difference between populated states VS non-populated or CA VS OR or MT. Given that the individual class states (SS) had the same number of Electoral votes. Hinted at because the total class Electoral votes were different, but not dramatically different.

          1. Sounds about right. I don’t think we’ll have a huge Trump wave, but the only choice for the Democrats is to accept the Trump win and let their food soldiers have their fun looting the cities they control, or formally pull the trigger on the boogaloo.

    6. If he also wins the popular vote, then it’ll mute the shrieking about the electoral college.

      1. Nope, if he wins the popular vote, Democrats will claim that it is simply proof of widescale vote suppression and fraud, because the media polls all had Biden winning handily.

        1. Meh. Democrats claim their [poop] don’t stink (and if it does it is only because Republicans slipped something into their food) but that don’t make it true.
          –

    7. Which, of course, will start the screaming that the Electoral College is racist and sexist and bigoted yet again.

      At the moment, their stopping would be more of a surprise.

  14. I fully realize that those of us here who are Christian Orthodox can be counted on the fingers of one hand, but here is the prayer our priest commended to us to pray this week:

    “O Lord Jesus Christ, eternal God, who within time has become perfect man from the womb of the Virgin: from thy heavenly throne hearken to our prayer for this land, the United States of America. Prepare it for us as a temporal homeland such that we may easily and safely travel therefrom to our true homeland with thee. Give strength to the people and bless them with peace. As Joseph prospered when he sojourned in Egypt, so prosper the Orthodox Church and her leaders during our sojourn in this land. Adorn our earthly rulers with the faith of Ehud, the hope of Barak, the steadfast trust of Jephthah, the holiness of Samuel, the prudence of Moses, the meekness of David, the wisdom of Solomon, the courage of Hezekiah, the zeal of Josiah, and the nobility of Zerubbabel.

    “Correct the laws of this land to guide aright men’s deeds and so make their hearts upright, and let us no longer shed innocent blood and be putrid with it, defiling ourselves with works of darkness. Make our households to be like flocks of sheep, and our children like olive trees around our table. Go forth, O God, with our armed forces, protecting those that serve in them by the power of thy Cross. Grant peace to our cities, towns, and countryside, and by thy mighty right hand and wisdom support and guide the police and all those charged with enforcing the law. Enlighten with the true light of the Gospel the minds of all the educators of this land, to whom we commend the instruction of ourselves and our children. Send us rain and sunshine and also snow and wind from thy storehouses, all in due season. Make our harvests bountiful and multiply them to feed the poor of our land and of the whole world. Make honest the scales of merchants and bankers, and make the earthly economy of this land ever more to reflect, even as in a mirror darkly, the supernal economy of thy Father. Guide aright the hands of all doctors, nurses, and other healers in this land, and grant that they may employ their arts for the sake of health and life in this world leading unto true life and salvation, and not for the sake of death and the devil.

    “Have mercy and strengthen our bishops and priests ever to offer prayers at evening, morning, and noonday, and to serve the holy Liturgy in righteousness and purity so that all who repent and turn to thee may partake of thy Flesh and Blood and so become one Body with thee in thy holy Church. Bless our monasteries and those who dwell there, and multiply in our land them that aspire to the angelic life on earth. Hearken, Lord Jesus, and we shall give thanks to thy holy Name and bless thy wondrous works, proclaiming them with rejoicing. For thou art the Son of the heavenly Father who rulest also the seas and the dry land, and thine is the dominion, together with the same Father and thine All-holy Spirit, our King and Comforter. Sweet is thy mercy, O Lord, from age to age. Amen.”

    1. Amen, and amen.
      Although having just finished rereading the Book of Judges my eyebrows are going up at some of those adjectives.
      On second thought, I can see how they might fit.

        1. Archbishop John Carroll’s Prayer for Government
          Composed for the Inauguration of George Washington

          (He was archbishop of Baltimore, and a cousin of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the Declaration. This gets reprinted a lot on July 4, but it’s not so much an elections prayer.)

          We pray you, O God of might, wisdom, and justice,
          through whom authority is rightly administered,
          laws are enacted, and judgment decreed,
          assist with your Holy Spirit of counsel and fortitude
          the President of these United States,
          that his administration may be conducted in righteousness,
          and be eminently useful to your people, over whom he presides;
          by encouraging due respect for virtue and religion;
          by a faithful execution of the laws in justice and mercy;
          and by restraining vice and immorality.

          Let the light of your divine wisdom direct
          the deliberations of Congress,
          and shine forth in all the proceedings and laws
          framed for our rule and government,
          so that they may tend to the preservation of peace,
          the promotion of national happiness,
          the increase of industry, sobriety, and useful knowledge;
          and may perpetuate to us the blessing of equal liberty.

          We pray for the governor of this state,
          for the members of the assembly,
          for all judges, magistrates, and other officers
          who are appointed to guard our political welfare,
          that they may be enabled, by your powerful protection,
          to discharge the duties of their respective stations
          with honesty and ability.

          We recommend likewise, to your unbounded mercy,
          all our fellow citizens throughout the United States,
          that we may be blessed in the knowledge
          and sanctified in the observance of your most holy law;
          that we may be preserved in union,
          and in that peace which the world cannot give;
          and after enjoying the blessings of this life,
          be admitted to those which are eternal.
          Grant this, we beseech you, O Lord of mercy,
          through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

    7. Before adding mine own “amen”, what does this mean?!?
      Make our households to be like flocks of sheep, and our children like olive trees around our table.
      I know very little about sheep and nothing about olive trees. I am, however, aware of households and tables, for what that’s worth.

      1. I don’t pretend to be a theologian, but I think this is an allusion to being productive and wealthy, as flocks of sheep and olive trees were measures of success and wealth in the biblical world.

  15. And on another front, we went grocery shopping at our local commissary this weekend, and they were rationing. They were rationing a lot of stuff. Canned soup, for one (and the selection was down). Dried beans. Paper products, of course. Bottled water. Some cleaning supplies. Chicken wings -but since it was game day in the south, I think that might have been a one-off. The rest of the chickens were unrationed.

    Dropped by the local Publix today and picked up the soup the commissary didn’t have, plus this and that. Food prices are higher, but they had the stuff. Even if I did have the experience of helping another shopper find the soup she wanted – it felt very much like a treasure hunt. “Look! Here it is! Down on the bottom shelf to the left!”

  16. Finally fixed my wordpress account so I can comment and not have my old dead free account linked. I’ve been reading your blogs for years, Sarah. You’re thoughtful and you have insights from a different perspective that help illuminate some of the darker, thornier corners of issues.
    I think it’ll be okay. Historically, Republicans have sat on their hands and declined to enforce existing law for fear of rocking the boat. Now, the boat is rocking fit to sink no matter what, and there’s a sort of perverse freedom that comes with that. (Not to be mean about it, but see Lindsey Graham’s sudden spine transplant shortly after Trump took office.)
    I expect there will be rampant cheating, of course, but for the first time there will be fighting back against the cheating. We’re seeing more examples now *because they’re finally getting caught.* We should do our best to show up and supply a popular vote that they can’t outnumber with fakes, whether we think it’s possible or not. So many people are discouraged because they say every fake vote nullifies a legit one, but the reverse is also true: every legit vote nullifies a fake.
    Meanwhile, I’m trying my best to follow your advice to build over, build under, build around! 🙂 I think a big part of creating a healthier culture is helping our friends and families steer away from the mainstream entertainment industry and into individual creators. Indie entertainment can be hard to find because it’s scattered and the signal-to-noise ratio in search results is skewed toward big media. So I created a website to showcase indie creators of books, comics, games, movies and more. It should be linked correctly in my profile this time. I’d appreciate it if you’d check it out!
    Thanks so much for all your posts over the years. And also for the hopeful fairytale retellings 🙂 They are a joy and a relief to read.

  17. The Left has gone too far. They will literally try and burn down the country rather than concede. I hope that Trump doesn’t concede either since that would just result in a quieter slide into tyranny. If the election is close in a legal sense, the real fight will be in often corrupt courts and the streets and begin on November 4. There are elaborate plans to cause chaos and attempt to seize the White House and various Federal buildings. We all need to plan for what we will do to survive during this period and try to help freedom win in the end.

    1. And some of those things are why I’m bringing both arms and my plate carrier to work beginning tomorrow. Particularly since I am working in NE Portland at the moment

        1. I have a mission, and I will execute the mission. Currently, that’s “provide for the family”. FRAGO would change that to “be alive for family”. Both are exceedingly doable.

  18. I’m . . . calm. At this point, I’ve done what I can do, how I can do it, for the short term. I’m staying away from political news and that part of the net as much as possible tomorrow, and focusing on prayer, Day Job, and writing. I can control those (as much as one controls Day Job!).

    3. From A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum:

      I’m calm,
      I’m calm,
      I’m perfectly calm,
      I’m utterly under control.
      I haven’t a worry:
      Where others would hurry I stroll.
      I’m calm,
      I’m cool,
      A gibbering fool
      Is something I never become.
      When thunder is rumbling
      And others are crumbling,
      I hum.
      Hm–hmmm–hmmmmm!!!!!
      HMMMMM!!!!
      H-M-M-M!!!!

      I must think calm comforting things,
      Butterfly wings,
      Emerald rings,
      Or a murmuring brook,
      Murmuring, murmuring, murmuring…look,
      I’m calm,
      I’m calm,
      I haven’t a qualm,
      I’m utterly under control.
      Let nothing confuse me
      Or faze me– [yawn] —
      Excuse me.
      I’m calm.
      Oh so calm.
      Oh so–
      –

  19. I voted today, wearing a bright red shirt and my Medieval Plague Mask. One of the poll workers liked it so much, he took a picture.

    There is nothing more to do. Now it’s all over but the waiting. Wednesday morning I will see what there is to see.
    ———————————
    John Sheridan: “You can’t kill the truth!”
    (pause)
    “Well, you can, but it always comes back to haunt you.”

    1. OMG that’s seriously funny even for the Bee. I now await some fact checker trying to say that look the Pentecostals are not turning to Biden in 3 2 1. (nor will the support a Lunar naval fleet).

    2. Wait, is that the Bee, or Not-The-Bee? That is the question. 😛

      ‘Cause I could see that one going either way.

    5. I’ve just discovered that I have the spiritual gift of slander.

      I’m not sure this AI pastor scheme is working. I thought it up to cash in on the Covid research funding craze, and I’m not sure we can get approved for Phase III funding.

      Seriously, folks, do I want to do a search for “machine learning” and “theology”? Because I think I’m a little scared of what I may find.

  21. This title brings to mind a song I learned in Children’s Choir ages ago, which I think was a Hanukah song: Light in the darkness, symbol of happiness. Burning so brightly, burning for all.

    Someone here can enjoy the earworm too, I’m sure, and it strikes me as not a bad song for this time.

    1. Hmm maybe the Macabees are not a bad example. Here’s hoping the temple oil holds out for the 8 days of counting the votes…

        1. Check out the outrrrrageous haircuts and costumes! Not a Mohawk, facial piercing, or pair of studded leather pants to be seen. And what are those things around their necks, anyway?

          Obviously not serious musicians…

    2. Maoz Tzur.
      I first heard it on a Christmas Revels album, but l love this version.

      And yes, it is a fit song for this week.
      “And thy word broke their sword, when our own strength failed us!”

      1. Ahh that brings memories. When I worked for DEC there was a tradition of singing groups singing carols a week or so before the Christmas Holidays. However, In Nashua at Spit Brook Road we had several folks who also asked if we couldn’t add a couple Hanukkah songs. One of our members actually composed and took Ma oz t’zur and did a 4 part harmony as well as harmonies for several others (O Hanukkah and some others I can’t remember).

  22. -20°F. up here on top the world when I awoke this morning. I’ve been splitting a little firewood (splits much easier when cold) and going over Alaska’s election pamphlet before voting tomorrow.

  23. Burn brightly… As I was taught by Tom Kratman:

    Build a man a fire, and keep him warm for a night. Set a man on fire, and keep him warm the rest of his life.

    Burn brightly, indeed. Heh.

    We win. They lose. No one said “easy win”. But we win. They lose.

  24. The Dems know they cheat, thus the only way they can be beaten is if Trump cheats, too!

    James Clyburn Starts to Panic About Black Voters Shifting to Trump
    Democrat Congressman James Clyburn is berating black voters who are choosing President Donald Trump over former Vice President Joe Biden. In fact, he’s so panicked about Trump winning that he’s already blaming “voter suppression.”

    “It’s a close race. It’s all about turnout at this point. I suspect we will find out in 48-hours how successful these suppression tactics have been. That is one concern that I have. The only way in my opinion for Joe Biden not to be successful on Tuesday is for voter suppression to be successful,” Clyburn claimed during an interview Sunday with Fox News.

    [SNIP]

    “I’m tired. I’ve been a Democrat, I am a Democrat, all my life. Sixty-four years. Last four years I voted for Hillary Clinton. This year, I decided to vote for President Trump. I’m not a bootlicker. I’m not an Uncle Tom. I’m none of those things. I’m somebody who is in a poor, impoverished community,” Flint, Michigan City Council Member Maurice Davis said during a recent Trump campaign event. “People are losing everything and when Mr. Trump said ‘what the hell do you have to lose?’ He was talking to me.”

    [SNIP]

    Polling shows President Trump has tripled his support from black voters since 2016.
    –

    1. Speaking of voter suppression …

      Daughtorial Unit voted early because work schedule is unconducive to going to the polls tomorrow, but Beloved Spouse & I resolutely vote on Election Day. Because we are among the unharvested we have been getting multiple phone calls every day for the last week and more — I tend to be the one who picks up the phone (usually hanging up within five seconds) and have jokingly told Beloved Spouse that all these nagging calls beginning, “Hi! This is Donald Trump and I’m running for …” have me almost ready to vote Biden.

      Yesterday we received one from a living person, with whom I engaged briefly, and who advised me the polling places have been changed from past years. News to us! Also, as a quick check of our county’s web pages confirmed, FALSE.

      Yesterday also featured a (robo)call from Dr. Alveda King (it even admitted as much on the caller ID) with a nicely phrased message about “If you’re a pro-Life voter you know who to vote for in the presidential and senate races.”

      TODAY I received a (ROBO)call from somebody identifying as the Reverend Somebody Or Other, telling me that Donald Trump and the Republicans claim to be pro-Life but have allowed over 230 thousand Americans to die and have denied health care to many more.”

      I admit I am a cruel and mean-spirited wallaby who likes to listen to the spiels and try to figure which buttons they are trying to push, but this is the first election I can recall (and I can recall them all the way back to 1972) in which the effort to suppress my vote has been so blatant.

      SOMEbody is running scared.
      –

      1. Just received a call from a woman claiming to be a “former staffer for Mike Pence” and a “lifelong Republican” who “as a member of the Coronavirus task force” saw “first hand how this administration does not take the Coronavirus seriously.”

        So she’s voting for Joe Biden and encourages me to do the same.

        Damn they’re desperate.
        –

        1. I got a robocall from some super PAC out of Georgia from the Reverend so and so that definitely favored Trump.

          One thing that pleases me is that while spending 3 weeks in a college town the Methodist church stayed so neutral I have no idea who the pastor(s) favored. Aside from reminding folks of their heavenly citizenship, without linking it to any form of “social justice.”

          And the city church we’ve been streaming while our little church is shut down has been equally neutral. It’s quite refreshing.

          1. I canna understand it! Rob-hams are adorable and entertaining:

            So, why are robo-calls annoying?
            –

      2. Yipe.

        My polling place actually did change — I got an official mailing and it’s on the website. It is no longer in a retirement home.

    2. “The Dems know they cheat, thus the only way they can be beaten is if Trump cheats, too!”

      The day may have arrived when the only way our side CAN win is to cheat. May the best cheater win, cuz…

      1. If President Trump can’t keep the Dems from cheating, I hope his campaign creates 35 million Trump ballots for CA, and 20 million for NY.

        1. There’s a story from the Old Days about how the downstate Illinois Republicans would delay sending in their election totals until after they saw how much fraud the Democrats in Chicago produced.

          1. Maybe they knew something we didn’t… yeah, it does no good to play fair when the other side egregiously cheats. If we’re past the point of ever again a fair election, what else can we do?

          2. The 1960 presidential election was effectively decided when downstate Illinois submitted their count before Cook county (I believe there was a reported Daley head-fake that fooled them but cannot state it with assurance).

            ONE reason Nixon did not challenge the Cook county totals was because patriotism prevented him disrupting our transition, causing chaos that would heve been exploited by the USSR.

            ANOTHER reason is that re-counting Cook would also have prompted a recount in downstate and the fraud in both areas would have been revealed.
            –

  27. A Modest Proposal

    As tomorrow is Election Day and many of us will be avidly scanning news for hints as to the outcome, there seems little point to an expansive essay tomorrow. Besides, Sarah is clearly showing strain. I propose we go with an open forum, with perhaps a brief post of the “Free at last, thank G-d Almighty, free at last” from the election campaign.

    Huns can post observations and anecdotes about our voting experience and once polls close in Florida (at EIGHT o’clock – don’t let the networks mislead you about the panhandle’s hours!) we can even watch the returns together, but as many of us will have our time taken during the day and nobody needs fingernails chewed to the knuckles, let’s make it relaxed, eh?

    That way, come Wednesday, we’ll probably all be ready for the “What fresh new Hell is this?” stage.
    –

    2. Probably Eta.

      …No, I don’t believe it’ll dissipate over the Yucatan, or just be a low. I’m betting it comes off the peninsula, turns back into a hurricane, and smacks us next week.

    3. I’d planned to stop by Wilder’s (Wilder Wealthy and Wise) once I find out what Q wrapped for the Trumpslide (no, not that Q. The spork) once the work day is done. But I’d love to swing by here and live chat the election with you lovely weirdos.

    4. Indeed. I’m going to try and find a little piece of peace myself tomorrow. There’s nothing more to say now. What will be, will be.

      Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

  28. Our usual voting site was not available this year, either. (Son figured it was because all of the Phoenx area’s Community Centers have been closed since spring.) Fortunately I discovered that when I was looking for drop-box sites.

    This year we are allowed to vote in person/drop off our ballot at ANY authorized voting location in the county, so we drove to the ritziest resort in our area to do the deed last Friday. Lovely scenery, very friendly volunteers, no lines, no waiting. Checked online today and our three ballots have been signature verified and counted. Yay!

    It feels like a worthwhile accomplishment even if there wasn’t any broken glass to crawl over.

  29. I’m one of those who has openly said that I don’t LIKE Trump because of the way he handles himself. All the over-done hyperbole and name calling and nasty tweets really turns me off. I don’t like people who act like that. Why would I want to award someone who acts like that with a vote?

    HOWEVER, then I look back on how the Democrats have acted in the last few years.
    – Constant lies about having evidence of Russian collusion… that was never produced.
    – Constant claims of crimes that turn out to be made-up whole-cloth.
    – The above looks more and more like it goes all the way to the very TOP in the Democrat party, and they KNEW they were lying the entire time.
    – Holding impeachment hearings in private, bragging about evidence that, once again, was never produced.
    – Whatever the fsck that whole Kavanaugh thing was.
    – Holding hearings and inviting people to testify, only to spew invective at them and then “reclaim their time”.
    – Cheering on, and in some cases openly supporting violent riots and calling them “Peaceful protests”.
    – Businesses burned.
    – Innocent people killed (some of them children).
    – THEN, when positive legislation is proposed that might actually help matters, they won’t even consider it because it might be seen as “a win for Trump”. Heck, they won’t even propose anything themselves without loading it down with liberty destroying, Marxist crap, because if it was worthwhile, Trump might actually sign it. They won’t even give Trump that little bit. So I guess they would rather say “To Hell with the American people.”

    Hell, that’s just the few things off the top of my head. There’s so much more, I just got tired of typing it all.

    Frankly, the Democrats have shown themselves to be behaving just as (actually more) odious, so that easily cancels out a few badly worded tweets.

    Then I look at what Trump has actually done (other than being an ass). Lower taxes for (nearly) everyone. YAY! Reduced government red tape. YAY! Better economy, low unemployment (even in… particularly in… minority groups that have often missed out on such opportunities). More Originalists on the Supreme Court (Scalia has always been my favorite Justice, even if I didn’t always agree with him) and a whole slew of awesome things that, frankly, he had to work AROUND the Democrats to get done.

    So, Trump got my vote. I made sure to fill out the entire circle, nice and dark, so the voting machine would be sure to pick it up.

    I still don’t LIKE Trump as a person. BUT, I voted FOR him. Not against Biden, although there are plenty of reasons to, but FOR Trump. And I really hope if he wins he’ll settle into his second term and keep doing good stuff… but maybe lay off being an a-hole on the Internet? Is that too much to ask?

    1. Joe Biden, when chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee had privately advised the GOP that a SCOTUS nominee with a record as outstanding as Judge Bork’s would sail through the confirmation. Instead we got backstabbing, demagoguery and Justice Squish Kennedy.

      Joe Biden also assured Clarence Thomas that hearings for his nomination to the Supreme Court would go smoothly and be easy. According to David Harsanyi, writing in the NY Post,

      To be fair to Biden, he was an exceptionally incompetent and indecisive chairman, easily cowed and unable to control the hearings. After promising to support Bork, he switched his vote. After promising to afford Thomas some semblance of due process, he presided over what the future justice famously called a “high-tech lynching.”
      https://nypost.com/2020/03/13/joe-biden-owes-clarence-thomas-an-apology-and-so-does-the-entire-left/

      Joe Biden is directly responsible for the Charlie Foxtrots that Supreme Court confirmations have become, helping change them from pro forma processes for which nominees used to not even appear to the live character assassinations they’ve become.

      That is far worse than any of their complaints about Trump’s deportment. Frankly, they only complain because he acts toward Democrats the way they act toward Republicans. Look at recent tweets from Democrat senators regarding originalism for the evidence.
      –

      1. Yes, if you’re spoiled for choice in capable, Constitution-respecting men chock full of fighting spirit, by all means weed out the extras with the proper decorum filter. I’m not being snarky. We could use more civilized behaviour.

        But until that glorious day, selecting first for “…rarely says obnoxious things” …

        Here are my dogs playing chase with my eyeballs.

        1. The thing is, there are a lot of people in our society who actively work to make it hard to tell them no. You tell them no, and they don’t listen. They bargain. And if you don’t agree, they complain to your manager and say nasty things about you on Twitter. Some of them are Karens, some of them aren’t quite, but they make life more difficult for millions of us.

          I had this happen to me tonight. This near-Karen basically added a half-hour to my day, because she just wouldn’t take no for an answer, and I knew our managers would back her up and make my day last even longer. I’m sure near-Karen was happy with her win, but I sure wasn’t.

          So honestly, if you are a boss and have the power to tell people off, and you don’t tell these people where to go, you find yourself implicitly and explicitly giving them their way… because these people set it up that way. You have to hit them over the head with a cluebat. They won’t take a polite, reasonable no for an answer. They won’t even take a bulldozer for an answer. Why are they always encountering people who are slow to grant their so-reasonable demands? Why are so many people giving them bad service or being mean to them? Because the Karens themselves set it up that way.

          But a boss who tells a Karen no, and sticks with it, is a hero.

          Trump says no. Heck, he turns their stupid game around on them, and trolls them, and basically gets revenge for all the nice reasonable people.

          Some nice reasonable people enjoy this. Some resent it. Some try to ignore it. The Karens and near-Karens really really hate it.

          1. But a boss who tells a Karen no, and sticks with it, is a hero.

            Amen.

            And I’ve spent money I probably shouldn’t at a store where the karen demanded a manager– or the manager noticed what was going on, and came over– and did exactly that.

            Just realized it’s about 50/50 on male female I’ve seen doing that supposedly bad service option, too. Hm.

        2. “… until that glorious day, selecting first for “…rarely says obnoxious things” …”

          I place high importance on not saying obnoxious things.

          Things like:

          Hell yes, we’re going to take your guns!

          Religion should not be used as a license to discriminate, and as president I will oppose legislation to deny LGBTQ+ equal treatment in public places.

          I want Elizabeth Warren to be Secretary of Treasury, Bernie Sanders to be Secretary of Labor, and Randi Weingarten to be Secretary of Education.
          –

    3. I still don’t LIKE Trump as a person. BUT, I voted FOR him.

      –
      Everything you said …

      My summary comment is “I don’t want to date the guy. I just want him to follow through on his campaign promises.” Preferably in a way that makes it difficult for his eventual successor to not reverse. Mostly he has done that despite the House D-Rats Democrats.

  30. New Jersey has no polling places. If you demand to vote on Election Day they’ll issue a provisional ballot that may or may not be counted. The county boards of election have set up boxes that purport to be under surveillance, one in each town. Mine is right next to the men’s room door at the local county park. My wife refused to vote at the public toilet despite my pointing out what an apt metaphor that was and we trusted the USPS not at all so we voted on Friday at another town’s library.

      2. I have to agree with Mathew. if we lose tomorrow it will take longer and be a harder road but in the end we win and they lose because we’re right. You’ve been a beacon for a lot of people for a long time so you should, to steal a phrase, burn brightly.

        Despair is the deadliest of sins.

  33. So tomorrow is going to be interesting in all sorts of ways…
    Wife and I have the day off for her birthday, so we’re also going to go vote (in-person,) then run her Mom to the bank.

    The hard part is going to be trying to AVOID news about the election so I / we can ENJOY our couples massage and dinner later.

    And, I’ll admit, 2016 I voted for Gary Johnson (L) because of the three main candidates (and yes, I know, the point could be argued about the Libertarians,) the Libertarians were both closer to my political leanings AND I could stomach him over (in order:) Trump, sHillary. This time around, I’m seriously contemplating voting Trump (don’t tell my wife, she can’t stand him, and she voted for Johnson too)

    1. Civics 101. In a system like the United State’s, a third party vote is a vote for whichever main party won. Sorry, kiddo, you and all the Jill Stein fanboiis voted Trump. (Thank God)

      So yes, if you are equally appalled (or relaxed) about either a Mr. Biden or a Mr. Trump presidency, go play Pontius Pilate and write in The Grey Lensman.

      But don’t kid yourself about what you are doing. I helped send the Clinton crime family to D.C. when I was old enough to know better. Now you do too.

      2. Sadly, the Republicans have been banking on that for way too many years. I got tired of the fake promises from the Republicans to support small government and reduce deficit spending, only to have them spend like there is no tomorrow once elected. I got tired of basically being told “shut up kid, we own you. Who you gonna vote for? The Democrat?” So yea, I changed to Independent, and I’ve been either voting NO on both or voting third party for years. Sadly, that doesn’t work unless a lot more people do it.

        in 2016, I didn’t vote Trump because I didn’t TRUST Trump. I expected him to fall flat on his face and I couldn’t tell if that would be better or worse than Hillary. Nobody steering the ship can be ok, or it can be worse than a criminal lunatic steering the ship.

        To my surprise, in spite of being an ass on the Internet (which, btw, does hurt America’s standing in the world. I have noticed how foreign views of Americans has gotten worse) Trump actually kept his promises. He did good things. So he earned my vote in 2020, and while I did have to hold my nose (a little) because I don’t like the guy, for once I didn’t feel like he thought he OWNED my vote.

        Frankly, the way Biden has been talking about the black vote, If I were black there is no way on earth I would vote for that man. Reading between the lines, Biden seems to believe he OWNS the black vote… LITERALLY.

        1. He’s on the Democrat ticket. All blacks always vote Democrat. So they’ll vote for him. It’s the natural order of things. No need to campaign or kowtow to a demographic when the fix is already in.

          You just don’t see the reality of things because you’re not a *professional* politican like Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., 47th Vice President of the United States, and a Senator for dog’s years. And he’s backed by an election committee also composed of professionals, backed by hundreds of millions of dollars of campaign contributions, and the backing of the Democratic Party, the most powerful political party in the world. And… wait, I’m losing the signal… what? Who cares about convoys driving around, that’s not proper political rallying. No… hang on, let me get back to you.

        2. STUART: his tweet does NOT hurt America’s standing in the world.
          Take our press, multiply it by a 100 and that’s the foreign press. WE HAVE NO STANDING TO HURT.
          Europe loved Obama because black, nothing to do with what he did. He was chic.
          Trump could eat a baby on a lvie feed, and they wouldn’t’ think less of him: because hating Trump is social signaling.
          STOP TRYING TO IMPRESS EUROPEANS. The ones that believe their press hate us and fear us and love to revile us. The ones who don’t believe their press — the smart ones — are fit to be tied with envy of us, that we have Trump and they don’t.
          TRUMP’S TWEETS DON’T HURT ANYTHING. THE WAILING YOU HERE IS THE LEFT BECAUSE THEY HATE THEM.
          IF YOU FALL FOR THAT YOU’VE FORGOTTEN WHY THE LEFT WAILS: BECAUSE IT HURTS THEM.

      1. And, frankly, that’s why I’m seriously considering holding my nose.
        I’ve even been contemplating doing something I’ve NEVER done, voting straight ticket…

        Except for the “non-partisan” side of our ballot, and there I’ll trust the folks on a firearms forum for my state as to the two State Supreme Court justices to go with.

        1. Not sure if it’ll help any, but you’re not exactly voting straight ticket– you just can’t vote for the folks who are both willing to associate with the stuff the Progressives are doing (AntiFa, for example, and their “hey yeah let’s copy tactics from pre-WWII Germany”) and haven’t taken a stand that will upset those same crazies.

          Which means there aren’t a lot of options left.

  34. I’m rather excited about the possible election results. Not a personal thing, mind you, at 80+ I have to admit that in the long term it won’t affect me greatly, but, I do worry about folks like Sarah who, as stated in her header; wanna take over the world & leave it ruthlessly alone, oh well, alas, the time when we could do that is past.

    Me, I’m not really at all worried about my savage teen age granddaughter or my semi-civilized son nor daughter, they’re all up here on top of the world and have dealt with snares, bears, chairs and elite airs without problems. I’m quite assured whatever the world throws at them, they can throw it back, or cook it and eat it.

    On the other hand, Sarah, other folks in the lower forty eight, that I don’t know face to face, but, have to admit, I care about, I do worry how, if you have the wherewithal, to deal with it if the fit hits the shand.

    So! I’m voting tomorrow like your life depends upon it, and so should you!

    1. Good on you, Grandad!* You did the greatest thing a man can do for his country and raised a passel of great descendents. Hats off!

      (*Apologies for the familiarity, Mr. Alaska)

  36. Stay safe from the mostly peaceful, totally spontaneous display of the Will of the People that may or may not happen tomorrow night, folks.

  37. We went down to southern Virginia and once you get there 50 miles out of Northern VA, it was Trump country. Huge signs all the way to Blacksburg and people were all fired up, even some rallies. Without the mail in vote Trump would win Virginia. So even here there is hope.

    On the other hand we are concerned about what the radicals have planned for DC. There is even a map with all the organizations that support Trump. They also are putting up unscalable fencing around the White House area and have troops in reserve.

    All we can do is hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

  38. Anyone know when we’ll have the election results? I am dreading another election like Bush vs. Gore in 2000.

      1. If Florida goes Biden a Trump win is unlikely. If Trump takes Pennsylvania Biden has a hard time of it.

        There is much more to it, but those are probably the best early markers. Although, with the mystery vote absentee ballots requiring extensive counting it may be a while before we know.

        Mind, I say “we” but the analysts will probably have a good idea simply by the numbers turning out in key precincts. Not that they will tell us.
        –

  40. Take not counsel of your fears — nor your hopes. BUT if this is true …

    Last Call: Undecideds Now Breaking for Trump. Shy Trump Voter Profile Has Changed. Young Dems Voting…Trump?
    Matt Vespa
    Posted: Nov 03, 2020 2:40 AM
    It’s one of the great scenes in the film My Cousin Vinny, when Joe Pesci’s character talks about the “yuts.” Of course, he meant youths. And in elections, these votes matter especially for Democrats. Young people were energized by Barack Obama, yes. But that era is over. It’s done. Hillary Clinton had the mindset that the Obama coalition was transferable. It wasn’t. And right now, it appears the youth vote is simply not energized to vote this year, especially for Joe Biden. If early vote totals are down, you know these kids aren’t showing up Election Day. In Minnesota, only three percent of ballots came from the 18-24 age bloc. To boot, we have a survey indicating that maybe one in three young Democrats are voting for…Donald Trump. College Finance did a general survey of this demographic, asking respondents about issues facing this age group. There were questions about the economy, but also COVID, student loan debt, and “the security of America’s economic future.” You can read the full study here, but how did these Gen Z voters break down for their 2020 decision:

    Donald Trump received much more support from his own party than Joe Biden did from his, at least as far as Gen Z voters are concerned. While 75% of Republicans wanted to stick with Trump, Democrats were not as resoundingly behind Biden. In fact, more than a third of Democrats (34.4%) said they intended to vote for Trump. As one 21-year-old man articulated, “I think President Trump has done an excellent job making people from both sides skeptical of the government and its intentions.” A 22-year-old woman voiced concern over “memory issues” from which Biden may suffer in office.

    Biden certainly had some supporters, however. Almost a quarter of Republican Gen Z voters intend to check his name in the ballot box this year, and 40% of those without a political affiliation would be choosing him as well. As one 19-year-old woman shared, “I feel that unseating the current president is a large priority right now, so while I don’t completely agree with many of the Democratic candidate’s values, I believe he is the better choice …”

    More than 1 in 10 Gen Zers intended to not vote at all, however.

    The study also noted that nearly three in five Gen Z voters will be voting for the economy over their personal values. Additionally, the same margin feels that Donald Trump will best handle Post-COVID-19 economic stability, including over four in ten Democrats and almost four in five Republicans. Overall, 52% believe Trump is the candidate that will best ensure the security of America’s economic future. Now, we have to be upfront here. The survey was less than 300 respondents. It was 252 to be exact.

    [END EXCERPT]

    Wallaby Weaction: I don’t believe it, I refuse to believe it But … I hope & pray it is so. Town Hall knows what their readership wants to believe but they’d be fools to fall into telling us what we want to hear with potential repudiation less than eighteen hours away.
    –

    1. > you know these kids aren’t showing up Election Day.

      “Kids.” That’s the sort of attitude that gets an upraised middle finger and an “up yours, boomer” instead of a vote.

      Insulting people tends to not make them do what you want. Imagine that!

    2. And one of the leading search terms is “how to change my vote” after the Infamous Laptop’s kiddie pr0n broke. A few states do allow it, as I vaguely recall.

  41. The idea that Russia (the regime) would prefer Trump to Biden makes no sense whatsoever. The country’s primary export is oil and natural gas, and increased American energy production is a direct undercutting of its value.

    Former KGB agent that he is, Putin seems to be a person with some subtlety, and I can easily imaging him adopting a visible policy of Trump support with the aim of actually undercutting Trump.

  42. Well. Made my vote. Wasn’t told that I’d already voted before so I guess my vote is counted. Hope it’s enough.

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