By The Pricking Of My Thumbs

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

Some people wonder if time runs both ways. I mean, if our minds are unmoored in time, and we keep them in the prescribed place by an effort of the conscious thought.

No, I don’t have cites, but are they really needed? Mostly it comes down to I spent a lot of time, in my life, reading a lot of philosophers on the subject of time; reading a lot of researchers on the subject of precognition; reading a lot of science fiction (which might be the most honest speculation of all); and ultimately, the reason I did it is because I have “hunches” or “feelings” or “senses.”

No, it doesn’t tell me the lottery numbers, but that might be its least annoying characteristic. (And yes, it annoys me.) The most annoying one?

Well, I don’t like woo woo stuff. Not even (particularly not) when it happens to me. So I have explanations. A lot of my feelings or hunches come from the fact I read a lot, I read voraciously, fiction and non fiction and current events (a mass ton of current events.) In fact of the things I’ve wasted my life on, surfing the news might be the most prominent. We used to subscribe to four daily newspapers, and heaven knew how many magazines (depended, but never less than five a month.)

You put enough stuff in the hopper, I tell myself, and the subconscious will suddenly pluck a “this fits.” Or a “this is right.”

But there’s stuff that doesn’t fit that. Stuff that makes no sense whatsoever. Like, while packing for five days in Colorado knowing with absolute certainty I would need a dress. But I reviewed our plans. there was no way I needed a dress. So the dress stayed at home, hanging in the closet. Yes, I needed a dress. No, it wasn’t even close to something I could have foreseen. “But Sarah,” you’ll say. “You just wanted to be prepared.” No. Most of my trips I don’t need a dress. Certainly not when I’m not going to a con.

There have been a couple of other incidents like that. Lately. They seem to be coming more often, more tightly together. They’re stupid little things. They should make no difference. Also, I’ve been regularly ignoring them, because they make me uncomfortable.

But this is not about how comfortable I am. And in the list of things I’m “sensing” right now, the feel overwhelming in my mind is probably not woo woo. Probably not woo woo at all. It’s probably that I’ve read a lot of things and my subconscious has picked up on something I can’t quite pinpoint except… with a feeling.

A “late winter 2019” feeling. A “pick your partner for the last dance of the evening” feeling. A “the bar is closing” feeling. A “these are the last of the good ol’ days” feeling. Like last last. Like last week, maybe if it extends that far.

But Sarah, you say we win they lose.

Yes. And I still believe that. It’s just the feeling is huge, and obscuring everything after. I have a sense of what comes after. I don’t think I’ll like it, but I think it’s the best it can be, and that in time (probably not in my lifetime) America will be more America than ever.

But until then–

We were talking about how every culture has prophecies. Sometimes they are hilariously wrong. Maybe this will be one of them.

Sometimes they’re bizarrely flexible. Look at Nostradamus. You can cram anything into that thing. Maybe this will be one of them.

And sometimes…. the road map is there, though it makes no sense to the human mind and eye. I can’t see a map. Just something obscuring the map.

I don’t know what to tell you, except “It’s big. It’s near. I can’t see.”

Maybe one of you should wake me in the middle of the night and ask what’s going to happen. Actually I don’t advise it. I doubt it would be coherent. And Dan might throw the phone across the house if it rings in the middle of the night. Best would be to co-opt Dan and have him ask, but heaven knows what I’d say. Probably something out of a dream, and the dreams have been of novels.

It’s driving me insane, and I don’t have a name for it, or even anything to really explain it. Yeah, things are upgeffuckt, but there’s a lot of ruin in a nation. Perhaps this is personal and close by, who knows? Crazier things have happened. Perhaps it has nothing to do with the nation. Except other friends have hinted the same, and we’re all over the country.

All I can tell you is this: Check your preps. Food, water. Pet food and water. Transportation. Rendez vous point with family you want to come with if needed. Tools. Of all sorts. Including books, and ways to access the net that might not be obvious.

Look, it won’t hurt if you have it and don’t need it. The other way, though…

Perhaps it’s the storm blowing up the East Coast. Perhaps it’s this cold going away. I always get a little depressed when getting over a cold. Perhaps it is all a mare’s nest.

I hope it is all a mare’s nest.

But how can I know? It’s a weird time, and weird things have been happening.

Check. Prepare. Hope it’s nothing.

“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.”

188 thoughts on “By The Pricking Of My Thumbs”

  1. If you plan for the worst you generally will be pleasantly surprised.
    If you always expect the best situation most often you will be disappointed.
    As much as possible I try to control my own life and situation, but since I consciously chose to not live a hermit in a cave I must accept that outside factors will intrude on my carefully laid out life so it’s only prudent to anticipate all those things which could possibly go wrong.
    My wife hated what she called my negative attitude concerning most things. One reason why she’s my ex. These days whenever she has a major decision to make she will call me up and say “Here’s what I’m thinking to do, tell me everything that could go wrong.”
    In our current national environment it appears to me that a fair number of chickens are coming home to roost for certain “powers that be,” and one can only assume that like any cornered animal they will lash out with as much violence and destruction as is at their command. I see no way things do not go pear shaped sometime in the next 14 months which coincidentally is the time frame leading up to the next national election.

    Liked by 2 people

  2. There does seem to be something ominous on the horizon. I keep waiting for it to break, but it hasn’t yet. I hate waiting, i’m no good at it. Once it breaks, I’ll deal with whatever it is, but the waiting? Ugh.

    Speaking of over the horizon, Sino-Ocean is the latest Chinese property firm to suspend bond payments. Unlike the others, Sino-Ocean is Central CCP owned, not “private” nor regional government. I still hold that the US is the one eyed man in the land of the blind.

    Unless what’s over the horizon is a coup. China paid good money for our politicians and will want a big return on their investment.

    Liked by 5 people

      1. China’s increasingly a mess right now, and events are probably making Xi a lot twitchier than he usually is. The South Africa screw-ups (the translator getting blocked, and Xi missing a speech he was supposed to deliver) are likely due to the absence of Qin Gang. Qin was the guy in charge of Xi’s diplomatic events, and apparently was meticulous in planning things. He knew exactly how everything was supposed to go, right down to how many steps Xi would take when the music started playing.

        But he disappeared a few months ago after being caught up in a sex scandal.

        Whoever is running things right now appears to be completely incompetent. That’s yet another thing that will keep Xi off-balance while he tries to figure out how to deal with millions of citizens angry over the flooding that’s going on right now. And the Rocket Force espionage scandal. And…

        Liked by 4 people

        1. The purge is one of Marxism’s sacraments. Stalin wrote this up in his Foundations of Leninism. Xi wants to be Mao and Mao wanted to be Stalin. Mao’s China split with the USSR when they stopped Stalin’s purges. It was the easing that caused the split. Mao was all in on the purges,

          China is not a normal nation, it’s a Marxist Leninist state, which means it’s a warped theocracy. Normal logic doesn’t apply.

          I doubt very much that the “elders” said anything to Xi. It doesn’t work that way.

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        3. and, and . . . I think some of the other party bigwigs are starting to think he might drag them down as well, hence some of the rehab of some of the other non-people he and they hid away for whatever offense.

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        4. Oooh…

          Here’s an interesting China tid-bit.

          Evergrande filed for bankruptcy protection in August… and did it in the US (Chapter 15), not in China.

          To answer your obvious question, it’s probably because much of Evergrande’s value is apparently tied up in American bonds.

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    4. 2020 was the coup. We’ve been watching consolidation. The next step is the final blow…or so they hope.

      I do not believe it will go nearly the way they think it will.

      It’s going to be messy. You won’t entirely recognize the results. But we’re past any other outcome.

      Liked by 2 people

        1. I think the New Mexican Governor took a pre-emptive shot at using a public health emergency to suspend the 2A, and failed in a spectacular manner. I think that’s part of the plan.

          Liked by 1 person

          3. I saw a video on Yoo Toob with a reporter asking, “Do you expect this executive order to stop criminals from carrying guns and using them to commit crimes?”

            Lujan: “No.”

            Unfortunately, there was no follow-up question. Such as:

            “Then what do you expect to accomplish with this decree which you admit will have no effect on the criminals that are shooting people? It won’t prevent a single murder.”
            ———————————
            ‘Progressives’ will do the wrong thing just because the people they hate do the right thing.

            Liked by 1 person

    5. Problem with a US coup?

      Hard to do a sudden, violent seizing of power from an armed population.

      And even disarmed places are armed. That’s why they have most of the gun crime. And a lot of non-crime folks got armed during the Fiery But Mostly Peaceful times.

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      1. And the attempts to Fix that Problem have been going so badly for them for so long that they have reached — so far — peak desperation.

        Thus the states going LA LA LA LA LA LA BRUEN DOESN’T EXIST. And then the Supreme Dictatrix of New Mexico, who’s own anti-gun AG is publicly refusing to support her.

        Liked by 2 people

  3. Things are falling apart. It doesn’t have to be due to something supernatural, an aether based contortion or woowoo, it can and likely is the result of our culture ceasing to have confidence in itself, and the build-out of the frontier being complete. That said, what I and a lot of my acquaintances talk about is how systems have fallen into decay, and will collapse. those are both physical, such as the power grid, spiritual and emotional. Coworkers seem to be dreamwalking on the job. Do the minimum, think of home. No one has a positive outlook on the future. I hate to say that a lot of this may come from the 2020 covid hysteria and the election, but I think it is. The world, the country they grew up in is not as they were taught to believe. It was shattering. Something that is shattered is never the same, no matter how much glue and painstaking work goes in to putting it back together. The result is brittle, as the glue has a different strength as the original material, and more like a corpse of the thing, than the thing itself. Many fervently believe what they hear and see in the news, hoping to regain that sense of normalcy they had before. But they know it’s wrong. Some day, I truly believe we, the people, will recover. But like the man said in the song, “Sometimes you got to go through hell before you get to heaven.”

    Liked by 2 people

    1. The Japanese developed a peculiar art form, where a broken ceramic was mended using gold. It was a way of acknowledging the damage as a part of the piece’s history, even as it continued in useful life…and even added beauty, of sorts.

      There is a certain glory in surviving a crushing blow. We forget that sometimes.

      Liked by 3 people

    2. Well, you know those times
      When you feel like there’s a sign there on your back
      Say’s I don’t mind if ya kick me
      Seems like everybody has
      Things go from bad to worse
      You’d think they can’t get worse than that
      And then they do

      You still walk the straight and narrow
      And you don’t know where you are
      Use the needle of your compass
      To sew up your broken heart
      Ask directions from a genie in a bottle of Jim Beam
      And she lies to you
      That’s when you learn the truth

      If you’re going through hell
      Keep on going, don’t slow down
      If you’re scared, don’t show it
      You might get out
      ‘Fore the devil even knows you’re there

      Well, I been deep down in that darkness
      I been down to my last match
      Felt a hundred different demons
      Breathing fire down my back
      And I knew that if I stumbled
      I’d fall right into the trap that they were laying, yeah

      But the good news is there’s angels everywhere out on the street
      Holding out a hand to pull you back upon your feet
      The one’s that you been dragging for so long
      You’re on your knees, you might as well be prayin’
      Guess what I’m saying

      If you’re going through hell
      Keep on going, don’t slow down
      If you’re scared, don’t show it
      You might get out
      ‘Fore the devil even knows you’re there

      Yeah, if you’re going through hell
      Keep on moving, face that fire
      Walk right through it
      You might get out
      ‘Fore the devil even knows you’re there

      If you’re going through hell
      Keep on going, don’t slow down
      If you’re scared, don’t show it
      You might get out
      ‘Fore the devil even knows you’re there

      Yeah, if you’re going through hell
      Keep on moving, face that fire
      Walk right through it
      You might get out
      ‘Fore the devil even knows you’re there

      Yeah, you might get out
      Before the devil even knows you’re there
      Yeah

      Rodney Atkins

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  4. They are going mad up there north of Richmond. I pray for the safety of the liberty minded, everywhere. And for the scales to fall from the eyes of the politically blind, who do not see the peril.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. It seems like we’re reaching the end point of a bunch of problems that there’s just no good logical solution for, but that we also have no way to get out of. Social security, for one controversial example. The money just ain’t there, yet we also can’t not pay those who were stolen from before. There’s no logical way out, and the can can’t be kicked down the road anymore because both payers and payees are just barely getting by as costs continue to balloon. And it isn’t even just one bad program, everything seems to be stuck in a web of unworkable stupidity. Like we’re on a runaway train that just keeps speeding up as we approach the end of the tracks.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Kuro says:September 15, 2023 at 9:02 am
      It seems like we’re reaching the end point of a bunch of problems that there’s just no good logical solution for, but that we also have no way to get out of. Social security, for one controversial example

      My mom “knew” that Social Security wouldn’t be there for her, back in at-17 college.

      … she recently hit retirement age.

      So not sure if it’s “controversial” or “ongoing problem.”

      Like

  6. “Trouble ahead Trouble behind and you know that notion just crossed my Mind”
    “Trouble with you is the trouble with me we have two good eyes but still won’t see”
    “Come round the bend we know it’s the end the fireman screams but the engine just gleams”
    “Riding that train high on cocaine Casey Jones you better watch your speed”
    ‘Trouble ahead, trouble behind and you know that notion just crossed my Mind”

    Casey Jones

    Liked by 1 person

      2. You will prevail.

        Student nurses are compelled to become outstanding time managers.

        Our History of Nursing instructor (out of the History department, not Nursing) told us her nurses were the only students who ever handed in papers early.

        Liked by 3 people

        1. I figured out I needed one of the opening Bad Guys to survive and be the leading Big Bad at the end (at least before Sudden Dragon Eruption) so I’ve been filling in gaps of “*Stuff goes here” in the first 20 pages to set that up. So, progress!

          Liked by 2 people

              1. Mind sending me some good vibes on that front? I keep getting stuck. Stress, most likely (no, it’s not JUST the news doing it, either). Haven’t had any luck getting ANYTHING that I want done when I want it done. There’s always something else popping up that needs to be hammered down first. I’m that far away from thinking every problem is a nail.

                :more hugs: Seriously, seriously glad that your story is moving. I want to see it! I’m loving the bits you have put up. They always brighten my day: “Oh, she’s got another one up! I have something to read today that’s FUN! Yay!!!!”

                (Unfortunately I don’t always have the brain power to comment, but I ALWAYS make sure to read. ALWAYS.)

                Liked by 1 person

                1. We can all use the good vibes for that….

                  I hear you on the “something else always has to be done”. Yesterday I had to, among other things, move a very heavy piece of furniture so the landlords will have their 4′ clearance to replace the windows… whenever they get there. ATM we can only estimate when they will by their current speed on other spots. Very stressful.

                  So yeah. I keep getting stuck too. ATM I’m trying to fill in gaps in the beginning in hopes the bunnies will work up the energy to attack the end again!

                  Liked by 2 people

  8. Something wicked this way comes
    Something dangerous to hold.
    Something wicked this way comes.
    With forgotten powers of old.

    Something wicked this way comes
    Something slow and hard to see.
    Something wicked this way comes,
    Hunting you and me.

    Something wicked this way comes
    And it is not alone.
    Something wicked this way comes,
    Something sharp and close to home.

    Something wicked this way comes,
    And still do not despair
    Something wicked this way comes,
    But it’s power is not the snare.

    Something wicked this way comes,
    Rooted in ancient rot.
    Something wicked this way comes,
    To steal, maim, and plot.

    Something wicked this way comes,
    With shadows as it’s shroud.
    Something wicked this way comes,
    But it cannot sway the crowd.

    Something wicked this way comes,
    In pain and yet in fear.
    Something wicked this way comes,
    But the truth it cannot bear.

    Something wicked this way comes,
    So raise your light up high.
    Something wicked this way come,
    But the morning yet is nigh.

    Liked by 4 people

    2. I tell you naught for your comfort,
      Yea, naught for your desire,
      Save that the sky grows darker yet
      And the sea rises higher.

      Night shall be thrice night over you,
      And heaven an iron cope.
      Do you have joy without a cause,
      Yea, faith without a hope?

      -GK Chesterton

      Liked by 2 people

  9. I’m feeling the same way. Something’s coming, and the waiting in apprehension is driving me nuts. I’d prefer that it wait until after our con season ends, but there’s a big part of my mind that wants to Just Get It Over With, because I’m sick of waiting.

    Liked by 3 people

      1. I keep continually reading the news, hoping I will see that one spark that starts the fire so I can be ready for it. And still the sparks fall into the tender with only smoke.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone will recognize the spark until after the fact. That’s the thing – there are always so many potential trigger events, but most of them get muddled through. Then there’s the one event that catches people when they’re feeling just disgruntled enough to not let it go when they otherwise might have, and suddenly the world catches fire.

          Ceaucescu died because the audience didn’t applaud. Sure, there were a bunch of prior events that led up to that. But the response to his speech was the immediate trigger.

          The Berlin Wall came down because a confused official flubbed his public response to a question. Again, there were events that led up to the flub. But the flub was the immediate trigger.

          In both cases, events of massive significance were caused by seemingly innocuous – even silly – triggers.

          Liked by 3 people

          1. The overwhelming results of seemingly-minor local events are almost never foreseen:

            A small detatchment is sent to confiscate the arms of a small town.
            A bunch of hotheads can’t wait, and fire a warning shot a local fort.
            A semi-competent (if that) nationalist assassinates an incompetent Archduke.

            And, not to trivialize it, it’s popcorn time again. :-(

            Liked by 1 person

  10. I had one of those middle-of-the-night thoughts, too. I wrote it down.

    I keep a notebook and a mechanical pencil where I can find them in the dark. :-P

    So, what I thought of is: The Left wants humans to behave like animals.

    Humans can plan their actions based on rational thought — however few of them actually make use of that ability. Animals react without thought, based on their feelings.

    The Leftroids that have taken over our schools tell children to ‘feel’ rather than teaching them to think. ‘Feelings’ are gooood, rational thought is Eeevul. Math requires rational thought, so math is Eeevul. And so on.

    I might even have a guest post on that subject in me.
    ———————————
    How can you trust a government that considers shooting a burglar in your house more undesirable than the burglar shooting you?

    Liked by 3 people

    1. I agree with the idea of wanting folks to behave easy and predictable like animals so much I made a character whose flaw is that. :D

      Now, that said….

      Humans can plan their actions based on rational thought — however few of them actually make use of that ability

      A lot of the time, it’s not that they’re not rational.

      It’s that they’re on other information.

      Teaching how to test information helps.

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      1. Just look at how they treat violent criminals, setting them free instead of putting them in prison.

        …because animals are not responsible for their actions.

        At the same time, the innocent must be ruled with an iron fist by a totalitarian government. Must be kept under strict control, because they can’t be trusted to control themselves. If allowed to exercise rights and freedom, they might do things the Leftroids disagree with!

        I’m still working this out.

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    2. Imaginos we’re kind of on the same wavelength here. It’s not quite that they want animals. Rather what the Brahmandarins want is subservient serfs and slaves. They want the caste like order of “Brave new World”. They want the Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons for all the menial tasks to provide for their needs of all types. They want obsequious brown nose Betas to do the work for them and praise them for their genius and elegance. They betas they are creating in the universities and by importing people with H1b visas who can be controlled by their visa status. The lower castes they create by ruining the educational prospects of the poor and doing things to make sure their family ties are weak. The also import third world types by not enforcing immigration and then holding that status above their heads like a sword of Damocles. Do the wanna be Alphas do this intentionally? Probably not I don’t think they’re that competent, but it’s what their gut wants even if they don’t acknowledge it at a conscious level.

      Liked by 1 person

  12. I’m a strong believer in magic, or whatever. I’ve seen, felt, experienced far too many things defying rational explanation over the years not to.

    Having said that I depend on reason in my day to day; sun always rises, two plus two equals, thirty two feet per second per second, utilize windage and elevation.

    Or whatever occurs, sometimes, but not dependable, don’t know when it will, doesn’t work every time.

    I try to be a latter day, Be Prepared, Robert Baden-Powell. Results not guaranteed but prepare as best you can.

    Evaluate available information, factual, hypothetical, magical whatever. Once done, once prepared as best I can, fretting’s off the table, don’t make no nevermind so ain’t gonna bother doing such.

    Yep I can find my… in the dark (Done that, found … OK), or a hurricane (Done that too), or an earthquake or flood (Yep, yep).

    Will I be able to when the next hhit sappens? DamnedifIknow but I’ve Baden-Powelled as best I can.

    Not telling anyone else what to, but me, I plan to enjoy the rest of the day, including some time studying practical ballistics.

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  13. My maternal grandmother was a great one for sensing things under the surface. My father recounted how he’d call her (sometimes spur-of-the-moment) and the phone wouldn’t ring because she’d pick it up and say, “Hello” and his name. My tíos say she just knew.

    Right now, hidden things are rising to the surface, like rot floating. Yesterday I was surprised to see MSN – yes, that one – had reporters uncover law firms and interconnected nonprofits going after local residents of Monroe, Michigan, who oppose a battery plant pushed by Governor Whitmer. She and her ilk are rotten; the stink is noticeable even if for people who are supposed to be on their side. I’m a little anxious because they have to get theirs while they hold power: the side-deals, the control-through-bad-court-decisions, etc.

    That feeling of “keep going; don’t look back and don’t look sideways” is everywhere in my circles (work, church, writing groups). I can’t decide whether it’s liberating or frightening.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. My mom has an ability to say The Wrong Thing that defies explanation.

      No, really. If something sucky just happened, she’ll call you up and ask about it.

      Talk about blessed with suck.

      Liked by 1 person

  14. We were talking about how every culture has prophecies. Sometimes they are hilariously wrong. Maybe this will be one of them.

    You know, the Romans had a thing where prophecy was what the gods said would happen.

    While the God of Abraham has prophecies that are either “I am proving it,” or “if you don’t do X change, then Y will result.”

    While I joke that America is where the shards of Rome actually managed to rebuild and take root * , I think we’re more Christian than Ancient Rome.

    Guess we’ll see.

    Context is some folks in Europe getting pissy about American historical re-enactors, and trying to drive them off. No, they weren’t from Italy. ^.^

    Liked by 3 people

  15. Also – this is just an aside – the sense of foreboding is rising because the stupidity of our “betters” shows up in our shopping carts and the odd messages we get from financial institutions. For example, the high-deductible health insurance led me to open an HSA several years ago; now the manager of the account is sending out suggestions that I put that money into interest-bearing accounts (Without FDIC coverage? No, thanks!). But I wonder what’s coming down the pipe; why the sudden urgency for it to invest my money into its schemes?

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Canadian food inflation over the past two years was 18.7% according to a government report.

      What did the Shiny Pony do? Called all the owners of the big food retailers to a meeting in Ottawa and threatened them with a new tax.

      That’s his go-to plan for reducing food inflation, shake the tax bludgeon at Loblaw’s Inc. (Which company -still- hasn’t paid a nickel for being caught red handed fixing the price of bread, by the way. Just so y’all Americans know what’s what here.)

      Which is all, obviously, media theater. But he’s STILL DOING IT ANYWAY, knowing that we already know he’s lying.

      Clearly a scam.

      The über-scam is to keep the peasants oppressed with rising prices and depressed by bad news. It doesn’t matter what party is in power, that scam keeps going.

      Liked by 3 people

  16. Coming at this from The Fourth Turning perspective… (I can’t help myself; the most recently read theory consumes my brain – anyone have something else for me to read?)

    The theory is that things started “breaking” (this time around) in the 60s. The boomers never really wanted to govern, so they’ve just let things do as they will without much civic direction (as the generation raised post-crisis always does). We’re now reaping the whirlwind of that. The center cannot hold.

    This will resolve when there is some crisis that overrides the partisan divide (yes, that means big crisis) and we all agree again; institutions are rebuilt, creating a new center that holds, and we all ride (merrily?) into the next cycle. Ugh.

    The relevant point here: The crisis is still some ways off. We’re dealing with mini-crises (“regenerations” in their parlance) that aren’t enough to push us over the edge into unity and often push us further apart, rather than foreshadow the eventual coming together.

    The more I think about it, the more I agree with his timing: 2030ish.

    For example, even if the 2024 elections are stolen even more blatantly than 2020, what will happen? It’s not as if the country is going to descend into civil war the next day. Even if Trump wins, it’s not as if the leviathan state is going to suddenly change. If there is going to be a civil war, leaders must emerge, goals (which may change) must be set, partisans recruited (Antifa may make a decent base, but they’re hardly sufficient), etc… These things take time.

    While there will be (already are for lots of people) hard times between now and then (2030 or whatever date you prefer), the big blow up, assuming there is one, is still quite a few years away.

    Exogenous shocks (e.g. Chinese cyber attack taking down the power grid) are another issue.

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    2. and we all agree again

      The idea that “we all agree” is BS. You can’t get everyone to agree even in a single village. The authors have deluded themselves based off of a projection from centralized media.

      Liked by 1 person

    3. Color me skeptical.

      Something will happen in the 2030s, though, and not because of any mini-crisis building to a major crisis. The 2030s are the current target decade for all of the “get rid of non-renewables and internal combustion engines” crap that the left is rapidly trying to push through as many legislative bodies (including the ones in DC) as possible.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. That’s when they think their arrow of history will land.
        When I was younger, they were smarter and kept doing 30-year plans, then 20-years plans. Close enough to seem plausible and worth doing something about, far enough out the impossibility of logistics and tech wasn’t an impossible barrier.

        Now they’re doing less than 10 years, after the flaming failure of decade after decade of egg on their face. Snowfalls will be a thing of the past, eh, Guardian?

        When the comet fails to take them home, the sane leave the room, and the apocalyptic cult just gets crazier.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Not to be crude, but one hopes that when they feel the Comet is coming by they’ll find their nice pills and throw plastic bags over their head to let the aliens take them out of here and leave the rest of us to just get on with living. Of course that’s never the way it works they’re going to tear everything down around them in a tantrum like a toddler not getting its way.

          Liked by 1 person

        2. Now there is a thought. I imagine that one night all of Washington DC will be seized by a spiritual madness and, by the next morning, all the denizens will have followed Heavens Gate to celestial glory. I think I feel a tingle running up my leg.

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  17. I think the left is going to activate the illegal immigrant horde to savage the country like locusts. They’ll find someone pushing back against a criminal illegal and turn that illegal into an immigrant Floyd, and openly tell the illegals to attack the citizens. The left will then say the attacks will continue until the right is destroyed.

    They will tell everyone to vote for them or their mobs will kill them.

    It will get UGLY.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. That will go fast and bloody, and poorly for those calling for it, and those pushing it. Even in the blue zones . . . I could be wrong, but some of the poor folks in the riot prone areas are getting a bit fed up with this tactic

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Have you seen what’s happening in deepest Royal Blue NYC today? Little Jerry Nadler and Alexandria Occasional Cortex getting shouted down by protesters.

        Just let the flood of immigrants rise some more, and those imbeciles might actually vote Republican.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. I don’t know Phantom, those folks MIGHT stop voting for the idiots (though I wouldn’t bet on it) but the inanimate majority will likely keep voting democrat on into eternity (quite literally).

          Liked by 1 person

          1. But of course. The Democrats have always depended on the graveyard vote.
            ———————————
            Grandpa voted Republican until the day he died — but he’s been voting Democrat ever since.

            Liked by 1 person

    2. That would be really unfortunate for the illegals. Even if there are 20 million of them in this country, that kind of action would prove that they are a lethal menace to all Americans and the only solution will be their extermination, unfortunately along with a lot of other people who just look different and not from around here.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Yeah, there’s simply not enough of them to do more than cause trouble in an area or two before getting stomped on. Even MS-13 is careful about operating openly (though I suspect they’re pulling the strings in some areas).

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  18. “A “late winter 2019” feeling. A “pick your partner for the last dance of the evening” feeling. A “the bar is closing” feeling. A “these are the last of the good ol’ days” feeling.”

    Yes, absolutely. I have been plagued by this feeling that everything is spinning out of control and she’s going to fly apart, Captain.

    That sense of foreboding and menace is the result of a propaganda campaign. The Western media in all its forms, from news to novels to radio, TV and movies, is trying to freak you out.

    Because if you are tired, depressed, and you think everything is over… you won’t fight. You’ll just give up.

    They need you to be listless and in despair for November 2024, when they crown the next DemocRat President and DemocRat majority in the next obviously crooked and stolen election.

    Why do I think that? Well, apart from the fact that they already did it once in 2020, electing an obviously senile house plant in an obviously crooked election (Come on, Michigan? Arizona? They didn’t even try to hide it) there are the signs and portents apparent for all to see in the media.

    What’s the biggest selling comic? It’s MANGA, and it is from Japan. Because the Marvel/DC stuff is depressing shite. To the point where an author has just put his comic book series into the public dominan to -protect it- from DC Comics, his publisher.

    https://comicbook.com/comics/news/bill-willingham-releases-fables-into-the-public-domain/

    Mr. Willingham’s comments on the nature of DC management are chilling, to say the least. Basically anyone with an ounce of moral fiber has quit or been fired, and then he goes downhill from there.

    What are the biggest songs right now? They are either appallingly depressing dreck coming out of California (all written by the same 20 people, year in and year out by the way) or they are K-Pop. K-Pop is bouncing its way into the North American charts despite everything they’re doing to keep it out.

    What are the biggest shows on TV? Korean soaps and fantasies. Everything from Hollywood tanks.

    What’s the biggest movie? Barbie. Which is a feminazi screed with a pink bow on it. Why is it the biggest movie? Because its the -only- movie. There’s literally nothing else except the depressing atomic bomb movie.

    What’s in the news? DOOM! WE’RE ALL GONNA DIEEEEEEE!!!!11! It’s doom, 24/7, every day every week. Has been since the 1970s at least.

    Its a scam.

    They’re screwing with your head. Put down the black pill and go do something fun.

    Or write something fun, that’s what I do. I write about giant tanks blowing shit up, because at least in my own story I can have a non-depressing, politically incorrect fun time shooting eldritch eeeevile in the face. Two megatons per second, baby! That’s going to leave a mark.

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Right? I try to limit the news I see, and I -still- am getting wound up by stuff all over the place. Even just in our little tiny puddle of science fiction fandom, it is hot and heavy.

        Willingham released his own work to public domain, he says, because A) DC management was stiffing him on royalties and B) they were going to use his series for their own purposes, which purposes would change depending on who was running the show that week.

        I don’t know Mr. Willingham, and I have never read his comic. It was on DC Vertigo, meaning it was Lefty, artsy and most likely stupid by my personal standards. I don’t really care about the comic or him, to be perfectly honest, and I don’t want to waste perfectly good brain cycles on his troubles.

        But to see a guy do that to protect his work from his own publisher? That’s a big deal. I’d rather not know, but having seen, I cannot un-see.

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        1. Willingham is “conservativish” (that’s what Clownfish called him in the video they posted about this), with minor bits praising Israel, suggesting abortion might be bad, and a few other things along those lines. Nothing major. For example, he didn’t run a story arc that condemned abortion. It was never directly addressed, and no abortions happened in his stories afaik. But a few comments that were almost background noise suggested that it might be a Bad Thing(tm). Thus, after he made his announcement, the usual types took to Twi… I mean X to warn people that they MUST NOT APPLAUD this decision by a known bigot.

          Okay, there was one major thing that I forgot about. Goldilocks is a communist revolutionary (the very violent type), and she’s one of the bad people.

          I’ve read several chapters of Fables, and enjoyed them. I’ve played the Telltale Games game, and enjoyed it. Unfortunately, from the sound of things DC stiffed him on the royalties from the video game.

          Liked by 2 people

      2. My Barber told me about the visit where his doc diagnosed his high blood pressure. He said the doc asked if he watched a lot of news. I retorted, “Does he not know you are a Barber with the TV always on?”

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    2. Then there is Sabaton (Swedish band), Powerwolf (German, I believe) and “lower key” singers like Francesca Battistelli, Tom MacDonald, Oliver Anthony, and a few others. Indie is doing well, Mark Walhberg is planning an alternate Hollywood in Nevada, and there are fan writers and movie makers galore who work on other things.

      People are fighting. You just have to know where to find them.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Devin Townsend, who I believe is self-distributed. Recent albums include Empath and Lightwork, both of which have a lot of super-positive messaging.

        In heavy metal multi-tracking with occasional almost operatic vocals, because why not. (Well, there’s a lot that’s much less on the metal side, because he’s at a stage of his career where he brings in WHATEVER he likes, which apparently includes tinges of mid-20th century stage musicals and goth country.)

        Liked by 1 person

      1. I did not see him mention the House of the Mouse, but he may have. The calendar matches, give or take a bit.

        DC has been on the skids since the early 1990’s, but they didn’t really put the pedal to the metal until about 2010. Just like Marvel.

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          1. No, AT&T had it as part of Time Warner, but sort of sold it to Discovery about a year ago. You may be thinking of Marvel, which Disney has owned for over a decade now.

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      1. They’re pissing you and me off, for sure, but you and I are both goats, Sarah. Non-standard response to stimuli, third sigma intelligence on several axes, and hyper vigilance.

        Some guys did a study of depressive language in popular literature in German, English and Spanish.

        https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2102061118

        “Can entire societies become more or less depressed over time? Here, we look for the historical traces of cognitive distortions, thinking patterns that are strongly associated with internalizing disorders such as depression and anxiety, in millions of books published over the course of the last two centuries in English, Spanish, and German. We find a pronounced “hockey stick” pattern: Over the past two decades the textual analogs of cognitive distortions surged well above historical levels, including those of World War I and II, after declining or stabilizing for most of the 20th century.”

        The results are enlightening, in that they show the German graph spiking during the Nazi regime, and spiking harder now. What are the Nazis famous for? Big Lie Propaganda.

        When you don’t see the lie, its depressing. That is the point of it.

        When you do see the lie, it enrages you. Our advantage over 1930s Germany is the Internet. We can see the lie, sometimes. Once or twice is enough for a goat. Sheep have to be beaten half to death with it before they look up.

        My original point is that media is selecting for that cognitive distortion they’re talking about in the paper. Reviewers are looking for “serious themes” and Bechdel Test and “challenges” etc. but what they are really looking for is that depressive bent that finds the bad in everything.

        Example, it’s not enough for Sauron to be bad, according to Amazon Prime. Galadriel and Elrond must be bad too.

        That’s all I meant. Its a scam. They’re doing it deliberately.

        Liked by 1 person

    5. “Because if you are tired, depressed, and you think everything is over… you won’t fight. You’ll just give up.”

      Hmm. Works on some people.

      Me, I’ve been through that rinse-wash-hell cycle a few times. Now it just makes me mad.

      And determined to live, if only to spite my enemies.

      Liked by 1 person

  19. “We win, and they lose” – but the battle itself leaves painful wounds, so winning isn’t all sweetness and light. Old King Pyrrhus knew all about that.

    Liked by 2 people

  20. That may be what they think they are going to do. But it won’t work. If for no other reason than that you can’t aim mobs. Remember that they thought that Occupy Wall Street, and various other movements would cause workers to spontaneously rise up and join them.
    Which is not to say that it won’t get ugly.

    Liked by 3 people

  21. So many ways for this to go all pear shaped. China and Taiwan… Do we honor our treaties with Taiwan? Russia and Ukraine… Will Putin let the magic smoke out of the box? What will the world do in response, if he does the unthinkable? The US 2024 elections… How big are they going to fraud this time? Will anyone in the MSM call them out for it (no…) ? Texit… Can we manage it? American, until Texas secedes. That’s likely MY best option. For a lot of reasons.
    Just hang on tight, and enjoy the ride.

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  22. If I remember correctly, you’ve had this feeling before. You sensed it all building up to some terrible crisis point in August … of 2021.

    I don’t know whether that’s comforting or dismaying in current circumstances. To borrow from Abraham Lincoln, the tug has to come. If it doesn’t do so in the next few days or weeks or months, is that good news or bad? In Lincoln’s case, he thought it a necessary evil. I have the same feeling myself — I have had it for years — but it’s a heavy responsibility to be willing for something terrible to happen on the assumption that it will only be worse if it comes later. (And much worse still if it does not come at all.)

    I’m torn between hoping you are wrong and hoping you are right. I’ll split the difference and hope that you, and the others here, are prepared for what is next. I’ll be keeping one eye a little wider open, too.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Lincoln was the evil. The mess we have now is a result of the foundation he laid. He is often called “The Great Emancipator.” It would be far more accurate to call him “The Great Centralizer.”

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      1. Well, that went off-point in a shrieking hurry. That should teach me not to use American history to comment on American current events. I’m not saying it will, but it should.

        One brief reply to the tangent: we will never know what Lincoln might have done to unwind the centralization he instituted to win the Civil War. He was not granted the chance, due to the actions of a man who considered him “the evil,” though for different reasons.

        Oh, and since I neglected it in my original message:
        Republica restituendae.

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        1. Most the centralization of the US started long after the American Civil War, starting in the Progressive Era and later.

          Lincoln get blamed for stuff that he had nothing to do with.

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          1. Well, I will blame Lincoln for violations of the 1st Amendment in his shutting down newspapers critical of his war efforts. At least that’s my understanding of the history of it. Did that make the difference between the Union winning or losing? I don’t know. I do suspect that had the North lost the Civil War, we’d all be speaking German or Japanese today.

            Liked by 1 person

          2. “Most the centralization of the US started long after the American Civil War”

            But without burying the 10th Amendment at Appomattox Court House, it would have been much harder.

            Once the principle was established that no state could leave the United States without being able to resist the armed forces of the national government, the ultimate ability of Progressives to tell the states “Obey or we’ll kill you” was assured, because it had already been done once.

            Oh, and it looks like my commenting ability outside the WP Reader is back.

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            1. This sort of thing annoys me.

              I’m tempted to ask anybody who repeats it if they are pro-slavery. :twisted:

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              1. Go ahead and ask. The answer is no.

                Of course, asking that question might mean that you don’t recognize the concepts of Unintended Consequences or trade-offs.

                The ability to centralize power requires that you are unable to escape it. Why do you think the Left has moved as many rules as possible to the federal level?

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                1. It’s “interesting” that nobody talks about the ACW when the morons talk about California leaving the US.

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                  1. The process for a state to leave the Union is pretty much the reverse of how they’re accepted into the Union. But the point is, even if the state legislature, and the popular vote of the state approve secession, it still requires a majority vote by Congress to approve it. Which is why the Confederate states couldn’t legally secede. And they failed in their revolution against the U.S.

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                    1. This is almost always overlooked in discussing the Southern secession, and probably one of the best arguments I’ve yet seen for the North’s legal standing in the War Between The States.

                      I’ve often argued that the CSA states used the “right” measure (secession, over “State’s Rights”) for the wrong cause (it was the states’ rights to the institution of slavery that they were fighting to keep), and the North’s fight was the wrong measure (war) for the “right” reason (maintaining the Union of states– abolition being rather incidental to their primary purposes until the Emancipation Proclamation). You’ve made me reassess this. Thank you.

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                    1. LOL :lol:

                      And there’s no practical reason to keep California.

                      There were practical reasons for keeping those idiot Southern states (or at least some of them).

                      IE: It made good economic sense to keep control of the Mississippi in Northern hands. :wink:

                      Liked by 1 person

                    2. No, there is a very practical reason to keep California. If we let them secede, the Chinese already fairly well own the civilian ports. Leave them on their own, and it’s going to be full of military bases by their owners in no time flat, pumping all the oil they’ve been choking off production of.

                      You want that on just the other side of the Rockies from most of the US? How long before we lose the rest of the coast and Hawaii, for lack of logistical support?

                      Ah, and do you think the Chinese would stop there?

                      We are not the only people in the world, and many of the others are NOT friendly toward us.

                      Liked by 2 people

                    3. My Dear Dorothy, letting California secede means that certain Constitutional restrictions are no longer active.

                      As it is, the US Government can’t rescue the sane parts of California from the lunatics that control the State.

                      We could encourage them to secede from the People’s Republic of California and allow them to rejoin the US.

                      Of course, People’s Republic of California wouldn’t have the military to prevent those areas from leaving especially if the US Military supports their secession.

                      It would be interesting to see how much of the People’s Republic of California would be left if the sane parts decide to rejoin the US. :lol:

                      As for China, a sane US government wouldn’t allow China to set foot on North America. After all, China wouldn’t dream of invading Canada no matter how many of Canadian elites just love the Chinese. :twisted:

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                    5. If we had a sane US government, California would leave the US.

                      Of course, if we had a sane US government, the blue states would leave the US and the sane parts of those states would/could rejoin the US leaving the insane parts outside of the US.

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                    6. The Reader is waiting for the ‘we will secede’ declarations if Trump wins in 2024 from the blue states. After all, the Democrats did it the last time.

                      Liked by 2 people

                    7. I’d like to see the red counties secede from the blue states.

                      IE Chicago area leaves the US while the rest of Illinois remain in the US.

                      Like

                    8. You can pretty much draw a line down the inside of the coast range. Yes, Sacramento runs blue, but that’s hardly surprising since that’s where all the legislative folk end up. End up with the PRC government in Benicia (again), and Sacramento would swing back to reddish purple very quickly.

                      All of the farmland would want to get away from the coast.

                      Liked by 2 people

          3. Lincoln centralized things quite a lot, and his toadies followed on. Without Lincoln, we don’t have the mess we have now.

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            1. Personally, I find this line of argument silly and I’ve decided to not argue with you (and others) about it anymore.

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            2. There were plenty of points where that train gathered steam. I think the single biggest cause of the current mess is the “progressive” amendments of the early 1900s that gave us the federal income tax and popular election of senators. Federal government didn’t have to give a rat’s ass about what the states wanted after that, and the path to the Leviathan state was assured.

              Ben Franklin said we had a republic, if we could keep it; Americans in 1916 said they didn’t want it.

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      1. I understand the building tension only too well. I was worried that Florida 2000-01 might get, er, kinetic. That is a long time to feel the rumbling, not that it was always so distinct.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. In most other countries, the 2000 election shenanigans would have set off a civil war. Some foreigners expected one. Instead, we just cleaned up the mess and moved on.

          Which ‘proved’ to the Democrats that they can get away with anything because we won’t shoot them down like dogs.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Technically, they didn’t get away with anything, since they didn’t get away with making Al Gore President.

            As to what 2020-21 proved … perhaps I should take the Fifth. Or a fifth. (And I don’t drink.)

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  23. I think we’ve ALL felt that something was coming for some time now. As said, the more prepared the better. And if we end up “looking silly” for it? That’s the BEST THING. I’d FAR rather be a “kook” than a “hero.”

    Liked by 2 people

  24. One: Stop harvesting nettles with your bare hands. ;-)

    Two: The human brain is even more amazing than even the most optimistic scientists realize. Feed it enough information, shut down your conscious filtering (like when you’re sleeping and dreaming, or if you’re really good at it, meditating) and the most amazing things will pop through, and often true.

    Three: I think Foxfier is right. Violent reactions of the population are going to be sporadic at first. And the government is not going to react well to them. But it may take 6 months to a year before we see the country reach critical mass with enough fed up people agreeing to descend on Washington and other points and remove the problem people, That WILL be messy, because a lot of the guilty will escape, and a lot of innocents will get swept up and harmed instead.

    Four: I recognize I’m on the depressive pessimistic side of things at the moment due to my work situation going half into the crapper. All the more reason to look at the good things, and thank God for the blessings we do have.

    Five: I hope there are enough patriotic leaders left in the military to stay out of the domestic problems, and remain vigilant against our foreign adversaries who will definitely want to take advantage of our Troubles.

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    1. Remember Coups seem to always be run by lt col. Since the competent ones don’t get promoted, they end up leading the coups. So the generals won’t matter. You want the other side to be lead by the incompetent.

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              1. Many of us like and respect Col. K. I’m not sure I’d want to draft him to the job. I know how I’d respond to being drafted to be a politician.

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            2. I would direly love to buy him a beer.

              And he would utterly hate the job. I just think someone should put his columns and books in the required reading list of whoever takes charge.

              Liked by 1 person

  25. Prophecy, I am the prophet who doesn’t trust prophets. Divine prophecy seems paradoxic. It and free will are entangled. The best prophecy is the one that does not happen, because you repented. Jonah gets mad when those he is called to condemn, repent. So his prophecy does not happen. Was he a false prophet?

    What use is a prophecy if you can’t correct your trajectory. Have had several experiences where time was broken, or at least bent. I told God I didn’t have $500 to do something. Later heard “I’ve told you what to do, you must get out of the boat.” Accepted. Later the exact amount I told Him I didn’t have became available, but only after I stepped out in faith. This is why I call myself the Charismatic Calvinist.

    Liked by 1 person

  26. One of the biggest problems I see is the damage being done to modern infrastructure even as the aspiring leftist totalitarians lose their grip. Once those power plants that use gas, coal and oil are shut down and once the refineries are closed, building new ones takes time and expense, and it needs people who know how to build stuff. Given the “Ignorance is Strength” education system, that is no sure thing.

    That doesn’t even count the possibility of a foreign adversary that decides it has nothing to lose and launches an all out attack against us (yes, I know their capability is oft overstated, but if even 1% of their nukes work, it can cause a lot of damage).

    We win, they lose, but the getting to that point and the clean-up is likely to be very ugly. I still suspect that Starship Troopers ends up being the best case scenario, and it slides own from there to things like Judge Dredd and worse.

    Liked by 1 person

  28. I’m having all of the lovely “issues” of working for a startup, watching as things go to Hell, and all after dealing with my mother’s death and the cleanup from that.

    Oh, and the fact that the Great Aunt and I share all those lovely genetic issues where we come from people with a very high famine:feast ratio.

    There’s a reason why I’m not going anywhere near any of the really big cities any time soon. Especially with the hatred of the “North of Richmond” people that’s just bubbling away.

    Liked by 1 person

      2. Mel Tappan, a prominent survivalist from Rogue River , Oregon back in the 70s, called his spare tire his “portable, modular emergency caloric supply.”

        Liked by 1 person

  29. You are Americans, the product of up to 400 years of selective breeding for Liberty and Success. You have to try -hard- to fail. Never quit, and you win the long game. All the enemy has is lies and lying.

    We’ve got this. You were born for this. You will know what to do, and when.

    Meanwhile, smile and enjoy what you have, and express gratitude for it. It absolutely pisses off the enemy, thus goading their mistakes.

    Liked by 1 person

  30. Cheer up, people.

    I will admit that I think we are nearing a crisis that can only be solved through resolute action. I fear that we are in a situation where it’s a choice between Franco and Mao…and while the former is painful, the latter is lethal.

    I’ve been piecing together a doctrine I call Muscular Conservatism. Orthodox conservatism of the old Buckleyite type was a mix of laissez-faire economics and small-l libertarianism. It was fundamentally defensive…which was the problem. Muscular Conservatism takes the offensive. And does not cede one square inch of soil to the Left, does not consign one American to a Leftist jackboot.

    What Muscular Conservatism does call for is the enforcement of self-sufficiency and social norms. Harsh enforcement. It won’t be pleasant…but it will work.

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    1. You are about 30 years too late. Maybe you should look at the groups who have actually held ground, and then taken large swaths of territory from the enemy both legally and culturally?

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  31. Sarah: Maybe your discomfort and resistance to things “woo-woo'” is due to a simple misunderstanding of how it works. Einstein and others have stated that the number of minds in the Universe is one. Accept information from that source and see what happens.

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      1. There are billions of minds. Most are essentially self-absorbed. Some few of us see what’s ahead and agree with you that there is turbulence ahead; but we’re not alone.

        Liked by 1 person

  32. Oh, that’s just I’m almost, almost finally about to get Dust of the Ocean published!
    :-P
    (Everything that can go wrong, has gone wrong on this one.)

    We’ll get through this. We’re too stubborn and American not to!

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Hey, we’ve just gotta stumble along like Chesterton said Mary described us…

        But you and all the kind of Christ
        are ignorant and brave,
        And you have wars you hardly win
        And souls you hardly save.

        …
        The men of the East may spell the stars,
        And times and triumphs mark,
        But the men signed of the cross of Christ
        Go gaily in the dark.

        (And the inevitable outcome will come. To quote Chesterton again,)

        That though you hunt the Christian man
        Like a hare on the hill-side,
        The hare has still more heart to run
        Than you have heart to ride.

        That though all lances split on you,
        All swords be heaved in vain,
        We have more lust again to lose
        Than you to win again.

        Liked by 1 person

  33. I’m in favor of your being awakened in the wee hours; it might speed the writing process.

    Now please excuse me why I go see why the dogs are making a racket. Maybe I mid-heard.

    Liked by 1 person

  34. S,
    Pay attention to those odd prompts. You have a rich and broad idea set that is more coherently verbalized than most. If you will, God can use the idea set that you have to draw your attention particular ways.

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