There are three reasons to write a predictions post. One is it is familiar stuff that everyone does this time of year. It is easy content. The other is you can have some fun with the predictions. Saying that the coming year will bring the death of your enemies is both fun for the writer and the reader. You can be serious about it and try to figure out what the next year brings. Of course, a blend of all three is like a trip to the old fashioned all-you-can-eat buffet. Good living.

The first prediction I made last year turned out to be a miss. The murdering in Lagos did not follow the familiar pattern. Odd number years are usually good years for killing, as the locals struggle with factoring. This year the pattern did not hold as the city is not going to break a record. Barring a very productive couple of nights, Baltimore will clock in with about the same number of murders as last year, despite a record number of shootings and a decline in the number of cops.

That said, there are rumors that the city is faking the statistics, so time will tell if the current figures hold. Baltimore has faked its crime stats in the past. There was a time when they stopped recording rapes entirely, so it is not out of the question for them to classify murders as accidental deaths. In most cases, no one really cares about the victims, so they could get away with it for a while. Regardless, this predication has to go in the loss column for now.

On the other hand, I was stunningly precise with my Covid predictions. “The Covidians will not back down. There will be reports of “vaccinated people” getting Covid and that will be enough to keep the panic rolling. Covid has now replaced climate change as the left-wing religion of fear.” For that call alone they will be making documentaries about my predictive powers in the future. I know my left-wing crazies as well as anyone can truly know the mind of the insane.

I kinda-sorta got the economic forecast right. The lack of specificity gave me some wiggle room, which is the hallmark of a good prediction. I did not mention inflation, but I got the general trend right. I also was right about the media trying to run cover for the economy as has been the case recently. The fact is the economy is so weird right now it is hard to judge it. Millions not working, despite millions of open jobs contradicts what we have been told about economics for a century.

The big miss in last year’s prediction was on Biden. I did not think they would let that idiot stay in office beyond Labor Day. Every seer has their weak spots and mine is in underestimating the stupidity of the people in charge. I figured they would pillow Biden before anyone realized that Harris was an obnoxious moron. Instead, they seem to be stuck with both of them. That and Biden has avoided the Grim Reaper, despite his condition and multiple Covid outbreaks in Washington.

I think I got it right on Trump. If not for the Left trying to keep him in the news, most people would have forgotten about him by now. The Trump phenomenon was like that one amazing summer you had in your youth. You have fond memories of that time, but there is no going back. That chapter is closed. We have serious issues facing us now and his frivolous brand of self-promotion seems out of place. Flight 93 crashed and no one really wants to revisit the crash site.

I was wrong and right about the Republicans trying to help the Democrats loot what is left of the middle-class. They helped get some things passed, but they held the line on some others, like the Build Back Better stuff. They did not push for an amnesty, but they have not said much about Biden’s open border lunacy either. The Republicans would love to vote for amnesty, but the Democrats refuse to give them the opportunity, so the Republicans are being saved from their own idiocy.

I will say I was right about the shifting posture of this side of the divide. Over the last year the number of people who think we have a systemic problem along with a hopelessly corrupt ruling class has grown rapidly. Lots of people now call themselves dissidents, without really knowing what it means, but they have come to loath the people in charge with the zeal of a communist. It is less and less about policy and more and more about the structure of society.

This is why you see more high profile people aping dissident rhetoric. They feel the ground shifting and they are looking for a safe place. This is something else I got right in last year’s predictions. Charlie Kirk and Ben Shapiro sound like paleo-conservatives all of a sudden, because that is where the audience is now. These grifters will always be with us and they are a good barometer. They are being told by their handlers to embrace populist themes because that is the market now.

All-in-all it was a strong performance from the hardest working man in dissident politics, but not a flawless performance. Like everyone, I am disappointed that Biden did not drop dead, but that gives us something to look forward to in 2022. Like last year, I think we may look back at this year and see it as a good time. The immediate future looks grim, more so than this time last year. Accepting it is not pessimism, but simply being realistic, which is another word for prudent.

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