Friends And Enemies

Date: June 7, 2022
Canonical: 27552
Archive: 27552 [history]
Categories: Badder Thoughts , Culture , Politics

Imagine you are an advisor to a politician facing a difficult re-election campaign in the fall and you are tasked with planning a campaign strategy. If you are a rational person, you would first start with the polling. What are the big issues on the minds of the voters and how do they rank your guy on those items. The best way to get back in good standing with the voters is to show them you care about their issues and most important, you agree with them on those issues.

Now, this is easier said than done. If the top issue with voters is energy prices and your guy has spent his career talking about the need to ratchet up energy costs in order to please Gaia, then you have a problem. The voters are stupid, but there are limits and your guy is a true believer. In fact, you worship Gaia as well, so the idea of speaking against the climate cult is a bridge too far. Still, you have to figure out a way to convince people that Gaia cares about gas prices too.

This is the problem with impractical politics. When public policy is about putting two cars in every garage and a chicken in every pot, politicians are free to acknowledge error and change gears to chase the voters. In happier times, politicians were the guys chasing the parade, hoping to get to the front so they could pretend to be the parade leaders come election time. That can only work when the only thing you believe in is being on the good side of the voters.

When politics is dominated by true believers, then the range of choices is limited to what ideology permits. Even worse, disconfirmation, those bits of reality that contradict the tenets of the faith, must be seen as a plot against the faith. After all, to acknowledge reality would require questioning the ideology. Instead, the ideologue is required to attack reality as a challenge to the faith. Politics for the ideologue is reduced to the friend-enemy distinction.

We see this today. The number one issue for voters is gas prices. The ruling class likes high gas prices because it pleases Gaia. They also like it because it harms the Dirt People, which reinforces the friend-enemy distinction. The Cloud People are largely defined by not being Dirt People. It is why administration officials start giggling whenever they are asked about gas prices. It is also why they cannot pivot to take the side of the voters and promote policies that lower gas prices.

Getting back your job of promoting a candidate in bad odor with the voters, this ideological trap is a problem. If the reason the voters are unhappy is an issue like gas prices and your guy is giggling about it in public, then there is no way you can fix his problems on that issue. That only leaves one option. You have to find some other issues on which your guy is good with the voters. With the right “messaging” you can distract the voters from the bad stuff and focus on good stuff.

This works if there are issues where your guy’s ideology is popular with the voters or issues outside of ideology. Right there is the problem. Since ideology is political, everything political will fall within ideology. In other words, there is nothing within the political space that falls outside of ideology. You could have your guy campaign on the latest sports scores, but the voters would just assume he lost his mind. They expect him to talk about the political. That is the point of politics.

Since the Cloud People define themselves in opposition to the Dirt People, it means their ideological position on all things political must in someway be in opposition to the very nature of the Dirt People. When hunting around for issues to distract the voters, your guy will inevitable stake out a position that separates him from the Dirt People as a matter of ideological identity. Even when trying to distract the voters you run the risk of alienating them on these secondary issues.

We see this with the current frenzy of gun grabbing in Washington. The Biden people put out word that they were going to distract people from the economy by grifting on the latest school shooting. The problem is the gun grabbers are consumed with spiting normal people who support gun ownership. Instead of the issue being a way to distract voters, it is a reminder that the people in charge hate the voters. The distraction quickly becomes a reminder of why people are unhappy.

The upcoming January 6 show trials are another example. The whole point of this thing is to remind the Dirt People of their place. They could sell some of this right after it happened, as most Dirt People are in favor of order. At this point, when shelves are empty and gas prices are soaring, the Dirt People are starting to wonder if the QAnon Shaman was onto something. This show trial is exactly what the party should be avoiding, but they cannot stop themselves. It is who they are.

Of course, from your perspective as an advisor, none of this matters. If your guy loses in the fall, you will still have a job. You may not be working for an office holder, but you will catch on at a think tank or cable channel. Politicians are just actors hired for the role and the supply is endless. You just have to remember who your friends are and who are the enemies and you will be just fine. After all, friends take care of friends who never forget who is the real enemy.

This is the crisis in American politics. The primary thrust of American politics is defending the prevailing orthodoxy from challenges. This reinforces class identity and that friend-enemy distinction. As a result, public policy is about maintaining the great divide between the Cloud People and the Dirty People in order to maintain ideological and class solidarity. This informs all of their actions. Pragmatic solutions to current problems are seen as apostacy.

If you like my work and wish to kick in a few bucks, you can buy me a beer. You can sign up for a SubscribeStar subscription and get some extra content. You can donate via PayPal. My crypto addresses are here for those who prefer that option. You can send gold bars to: Z Media LLC P.O. Box 432 Cockeysville, MD 21030-0432. Thank you for your support!

Promotions: We have a new addition to the list. Havamal Soap Works is the maker of natural, handmade soap and bath products. If you are looking to reduce the volume of man-made chemicals in your life, all-natural personal products are a good start. If you use this link you get 15% off of your purchase.

The good folks at Alaska Chaga are offering a ten percent discount to readers of this site. You just click on the this link and they take care of the rest. About a year ago they sent me some of their stuff. Up until that point, I had never heard of chaga, but I gave a try and it is very good. It is a tea, but it has a mild flavor. It’s autumn here in Lagos, so it is my daily beverage now.

Minter & Richter Designs makes high-quality, hand-made by one guy in Boston, titanium wedding rings for men and women and they are now offering readers a fifteen percent discount on purchases if you use this link. If you are headed to Boston, they are also offering my readers 20% off their 5-star rated Airbnb. Just email them directly to book at sa@******************ns.com.

To keep Z Man's voice alive for future generations, we’ve archived his writings from the original site at thezman.com. We’ve edited out ancillary links, advertisements, and donation requests to focus on his written content.

Comments (Historical)

The comments below were originally posted to thezman.com.

225 Comments

Long Thoughts #307072 June 10, 2022 3:37 pm 0

[…] The number one issue for voters is gas prices. The ruling class likes high gas prices because it ple… They also like it because it harms the Dirt People, which reinforces the friend-enemy distinction. The Cloud People are largely defined by not being Dirt People. It is why administration officials start giggling whenever they are asked about gas prices. It is also why they cannot pivot to take the side of the voters and promote policies that lower gas prices. […]

EnzyteBob #306738 June 8, 2022 2:24 pm 0

“QAnon Shaman” Trump & Co. have left enough hints about this that if you don’t believe it’s coming from them by now, you’re not paying attention.

Anson Rhodes #306595 June 8, 2022 1:29 am 0

I don’t get the whole Cloud People/Dirt People thing. Where is the dividing line? Seems to me that the really important group, which Zed’s scheme doesn’t much account for, is the middle class, the getting-educated class, the thinking-and-feeling class – the endless machinations of which is what society actually is. The polarized view of society that I see on here seems to involve a mass of idiots who are as inert as radon, and a set of elites who are like unto the gods. That is surely very wide of the mark.

Steve retiredrecovering lawyer #306598 June 8, 2022 5:53 am 0

The “middle class” IS the “dirt people.” They are not nobly indigent like the welfare class (who are only indigent for reasons attributable to the ill intent of others, and never because they are too lazy, stupid, evil or a combination of all three). Nor are they enlightened, as are the cloud people, whose enlightenment largely consists of perceiving themselves as superior regardless of actual merit. What cloud people have in common with the welfare class is the disdain for actual work, by which I mean the production of tangible things and whereas the nobly indigent simply do not work, the cloud people employ themselves in endeavors that do not require physical activity, instead finding a source of income from cerebral pursuits, much like their Laputan progenitors. It is also possible to define the cloud and dirt people as the city folk and country folk as limned in the marvelous essay by the late Angelo Codevilla, which I highly recommend.

Anson Rhodes #306681 June 8, 2022 11:16 am 0

Everyone’s gone to the next thread by now, but thanks for the Codevilla mention, which is new to me. I’m none the wiser though as to where the line is drawn between this supposed grand division in society. I need actual examples. Where’s the cut-off level? How much influence does someone need to have before they are one of the ‘elite’?I find the whole cloud/dirt conception simplistic, unhelpful, and downright fallacious. It seems to derive from an obsession with the idea of the shadowy ‘elites’ (especially of a certain persuasion) as if they rule by divine right or hereditary principle, coupled with sheer envy that some people have got rich and influential. In any case, it is never stated clearly who these ‘elites’ are.Call me grounded, but the plain reality is that western society is governed by the most influential of the emergent middle class (tech entrepreneurs, business school deans, bombastic showmen, etc) – those who rise temporarily out of the bourgeois scrum, mainly on account of their presentation skills.

370H55V #306584 June 7, 2022 6:14 pm 0

“If the reason the voters are unhappy is an issue like gas prices and your guy is giggling about it in public, then there is no way you can fix his problems on that issue.” Except in this case it was a girl giggling. Cunts gotta cunt.

RoboFascist 1st #306581 June 7, 2022 5:20 pm 0

Democracy is dependent on the suckers believing the results of election insanity and criminality world.It doesn’t really matter who you voted for.It doesn’t matter how many votes a candidate got.It doesn’t matter who counts the votes.It doesn’t matter what the actual results are.It doesn’t matter who won an election.What matters is who announces the winner of an election and if you’re equally insane to believe them and live with it.As a bright yellow school bus filled with victims drives around the place with DUI at the helm… the suckers in a democracy are prompted to vote as to whether or not they should all stop at a red light or stop sign or gun it to the next anti-Christ shitty world casino. Turns out you’re going anyway.Ultimate reality and the moral gravitation field it exist in are usually on display at funerals. But you are now living in a world where you need to know what to actually look for in the open casket of democracy.As the fake cause of death is listed by Madison Avenue prozac junkies you can usually find the toe tag that reads…”Killed by artisan liars”. Now… what are you going to do about it?

Steve retiredrecovering lawyer #306599 June 8, 2022 5:55 am 0

What do you propose?

RoboFascist 1st #306761 June 8, 2022 4:39 pm 0

“But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness…”Matthew 6: 33

Catxman #306579 June 7, 2022 5:17 pm 0

The politician has to please two masters: his political party and the public. Often torn between the two, he vacillates and does nothing. Under the big dome of voting you can choose “abstain” if you want to back off slowly and raise your hands non-threateningly. A politician might do surprisingly well if he disregarded BOTH party and public, and never abstained his vote. If he were vigorous, definite, and strong. These qualities make the man in private. Throw in a goodly dose of charisma and you have the recipe of a winning leader.

miforest #306577 June 7, 2022 4:43 pm 0

the election may not go as we think. there a lot of “emergencies” that could come up requiring the election to be on line or even postponed.https://off-guardian.org/2022/06/01/the-real-agenda-behind-the-created-food-crisis clearly a lot of planning is going into destroying our food system so that they can “build back better” , and of course they will own it all after they have built it , eventhough it it will be built at our expense.

The Wild Geese Howard #306578 June 7, 2022 5:13 pm 0

The upcoming Brazilian election is worth paying attention to since Bolsonaro has been based on the coof and said, “Não!” to the WHO plandemic treaty: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/how-brazil-saving-world-catastrophic-food-crisis We can bet the controllers will do everything in their power to fraud the newly released felon Lula back into power down there.

PeriheliusLux #306568 June 7, 2022 3:30 pm 0

Listening to a back episode (202) where ZMan talks about how the US Women’s Soccer team managed to be so caustic in the Anti-American (read anti “deplorable” non-coastal elite white men), that a huge part of the country rooted against them. That is a great insight. It applies.I can tell you from first hand experience of more than a handful of people who have either had verbal job offers rescinded or outright been retired to make way for a “diversity” candidate. These were director and executive level positions. I have a former report who is Asian who is hesitant to transfer inside of the monolith because diversity hires pre-empt him. He is astounded at what is happening. Said company has made, “Diversity and Inclusion”, “strategic” to your career. That is bound to create discontent. Lt. Col Lohmeier’s book tells of Asian service men who resigned in disgust over the blatant Black Supremacist racism levied against whites that causes all other minority groups to be ignored.My point here is to address the despair. Believe me I suffer my share of it. But, there are major problems in this project. The Grand Bargain that Obama’s coalition has made is, “Hey we all claim the society is racist and against us the most. Therefore, we take it over and because we are the most aggrieved we will sit at the head of the table just because, well we say so.” If you are a highly successful Asian or hard working Latin/Hispanic person, why would you accept that bargain? If you did, why would you maintain it when you discover the ineptitude and vitriol of who sits at the head of the table in this arrangement? This is a bargain that has nothing to offer. They realized that in early ’21 and invented the Asian “Hate” Crime spree. Every Asian I know knows who was perpetrating those crimes. This is a kabuki theater of the performers for the performers. They could drive good people into engaged opponents of the regime.There are also the financial arrangements and the climate catastrophe narrative. This thing is held together on a lot of delusions and falsehoods. The revolutionaries are being very aggressive and people are waking up. Maybe not as fast as would be desired, but this has been poured on thick and heavy, Normies in significant positions are being taken out and more are being blocked. 70% of the NASDAQ depends on borrowed money because cash flows are insufficient. Interest rates are rising. Netflix and Tesla are starting layoffs. A blood bath in the tech industry is not out of the question. The Fed is stuck between a rock and a hard place. At the same time the brazen racist caste system is full steam ahead. Something may give here. Be patient. Prepare. Observe. Act Rationally.In short, this is a house of cards, and it could fall fast. More Cloud People than you think could find themselves sucking dirt. Some have already been hit on the target on their backs. Now is the time to not be extreme and when you know somebody, say, “Hey. No. This is not the time for reparations. Did you ever harm someone or take their opportunity? No! Good. So get pissed off. You do not owe nobody anything. Let me show you some quotes by people who are racist against you. It is okay to know, feel and say that this is wrong. Why don’t you sue? Here are some links to WLL. Think about it. Send them to your friends. Even if the suit goes nowhere, send a message to make people think twice.” Then share links – dip the toe links or for your personal blog where you discuss the issues in a way they get it and you can tailor it for them to share with their friend who just got replaced or is seeing this everywhere. Ben Crump is leading a suit against Google because folks in their little diversity hire ghetto are bitter and angry that they haven’t been promoted in six years. Biden’s cadre is starting to say his administration is White Supremacist. Cuckoos do go Cuckoo.I am rambling. In short, do not despair. They want that. If the Winter Soldiers could march around the snow barefoot and starving, evading the Brits, or Caesar’s legions at Alesia could be surrounded on both sides by the Barbs and not flinch, then we can sit in our air conditioning with ample food and keep our heads and evaluate the regime’s weaknesses and exploit them. The current regime makes the US Women’s Soccer team seam like decent, but cranky Americans at this point. Catch my drift? There are opportunities here. This is a long game. Let’s engage like it.God Speed!

Ben the Layabout #306603 June 8, 2022 8:22 am 0

Thank you for an excellent rant. People may be slowly waking up. Some people arise on the first alarm, others hit the snooze button a couple times. The real lazy ones get dumped onto the floor when looters steal the mattress. NASDAQ: most of my portfolio is in puts. I may lose my ass, but if the market tanks I will be able to afford a whole herd of donkeys 😀 Actually, not so much: the bulk of my retirement money (not in my control) is in stocks, and would take a beating, so I view it as a hedge…

Christopher Chantrill #306510 June 7, 2022 12:10 pm 0

“Friend-enemy distinction” Somebody has been reading Carl Schmitt. But I must say that I prefer the “real simple” version from Curtis Yarvin: “there is no politics without an enemy.”

Chet Rollins #306512 June 7, 2022 12:16 pm 0

It’s amazing how a German philosopher thrown to the dustbin of history is picked up and reinvigorated to the point that his most famous quotes are known and understood by the average dissident. In most times these people would not be studied outside of Academia. Also impressive how many on the mainstream right, while not knowing the person specifically, are aware enough of the general idea it starts to affect how they interact in politics.

Apex Predator #306514 June 7, 2022 12:21 pm 0

“real simple” in reference to something Curtis Yarvin wrote is nearly any oxymoron. 😉 I’m glad that there is a least one idea that could classify that way because I can tell you when thinking of Mencius Moldbug, real simple, would be at the bottom of most lists. Arcane, obfuscated, verbose, dense, these are the normal descriptions.

Ben the Layabout #306605 June 8, 2022 8:29 am 0

I’ve never read Moldbug. I’m the resident Nietzsche whore. As much as I like him, he too is no doubt guilty of many of those adjectives you use. Specifically, he launches similar charges against earlier philosophers including biggies like Kant und Schopenhauer. Come to think of it, I’m not sure Herr Fritz has anything positive to say about any matter he treated save his few pet ideals like his mythical Superman 😀

Ploppy #306506 June 7, 2022 11:54 am 0

I keep thinking about this Cloud and Dirt distinction, and it belies a blindspot of the dissident right. We aren’t actual Dirt people fighting for Dirt people power, we’re just in the dirt. Same as the Jewish Bolshevik in 1900 Russia, our problem is being smart people boxed out of having any influence by an elite hostile to our ethnic group. If we somehow took over, it seems likely to me that frustration with the peasants would eventually manifest into a similar form of elitism.The real Dirt people are indeed frustrating. Surely we’ve all had that experience where we try to drop some dissident ideas in conversation and the other guy isn’t having any of it. Not because he’s a shitlib, but because he’s only really interested in bugman entertainment or talking about the tramp stamp he has tattooed on his bicep. These guys will eat the shit the politicians feed them, they’ll even jump onto a charlatan like Trump promising false reform, but in the end they’re always going to be peasants. Biden may spit on them for not having an electric car or their genitals surgically turned inside out, but we also spit on them for not noticing Biden spitting on them.

Xman #306580 June 7, 2022 5:19 pm 0

Yep. As long have they have their Negro Felon League, a lite beer, their pledge of allegiance, their flag and a truck, they think they live in “the freest country in the world” and will gladly accept the gay propaganda, the gun control, and the miscegenation that GloboHomo is currently cramming down their throats. And by God, they’re glad that our veterans defeated Hitler, ” ‘Else we’d be speakin’ German right now!” Of course, “Israel is our best ally, ever…”

Mr C #306586 June 7, 2022 6:20 pm 0

Gave you a smiley face. Your comment sums up my issue with the dirt/cloud distinctions. We aren’t dirt and I know that’s not the intent, but language matters. I smart, and I’m a smart ass, probably like you. There are true dirt people. These are the NFL consumers, the simps who accept what they’re told, etc. That’s not me and that’s not you. Also, not sure if GH a-holes are cloud people either. I’d say they are pretentious and conniving. But the lack class and taste just like the NFL consumer.

the_Cman #306585 June 7, 2022 6:15 pm 0

This. You are right, the current is just another case of botched renewal of the elite.

Eloi #306587 June 7, 2022 6:29 pm 0

I completely agree with your distinction. The only caveat, I suppose, is that the dynamic is useful not for considering our perspective but for analyzing the perspective of our overlords (in which we are certainly dirt people).

Dennis Roe #306590 June 7, 2022 8:10 pm 0

You sound like a stupid rich cunt who never had to stick a shovel in the dirt to keep the heat on, food on the table , and the bank off your ass.. Fuck you and the kosher coin you rode in on.

Ploppy #306591 June 7, 2022 8:56 pm 0

I literally spent the last two weeks digging up the yard for a rental because the previous good, honest, salt of the earth simple true American folks renting the place were under the impression that a yard is a free landfill.

karl von hungus #306597 June 8, 2022 5:40 am 0

mr roe is a raving lunatic. just ignore his comments, they never have anything remotely interesting or useful in them. he’s got a bad case of jew brain.

Ben the Layabout #306606 June 8, 2022 8:41 am 0

You have just described why I have on my wish list for my next home a location where rentals of any form are prohibited. The distinction between your pig tenants and a AirBNB rental that hosts a party of 100 youths which ends in a gun battle is only one of degree.I know owner-occupant only communities exist but are fairly rare. For the record, I live in an HOA where that exists in a mild form (a home, once purchased, cannot be leased for the first year.) Also, I can lay claim to being a 2nd generation landlord, although my experience was slight as might be expected from a Layabout, in marked contrast to Dad who owned several properties his final two decades. While on the whole his investing was very profitable, I saw some of the messes that the duds left behind. Also one of his tenants shot and killed his wife.

Pozymandias #306596 June 8, 2022 1:35 am 0

One of the best comments I’ve seen here lately. Hope you stick around Ploppy.

PrimiPilus #306604 June 8, 2022 8:28 am 0

I think the “Cloud – Dirt” distinction refers to their perspective on or of us. They see us as dirt. They see themselves as the god-like.

Ben the Layabout #306610 June 8, 2022 8:48 am 0

Akin to Blacks tending to have high self-esteem? 😀

The real Billl #306497 June 7, 2022 11:16 am 0

Regarding the question of how the military and police can be expected to act, should the current Cold Civil War turn hot:Lots of good points being made!• What is driving the current push to make the military ‘woke’? Bringing in gays and trannies, and angry women of color, while purging “extremists”— patriotic White guys.Could it be in anticipation of the time when orders will come down to move against legacy Americans?• Could that be one reason why they’re letting in so many illegal immigrants and hooking them onto the Entitlements Tit of welfare and subsidized housing? In anticipation of the day when conservative Whites have all been purged from the military, and replaced by immigrants who won’t hesitate to follow the orders of those paying their salaries?• Ditto the police: it’s already the case that fewer and fewer White men are contemplating careers in law enforcement. And that trend will surely be increasing.Is that another place they envision using all these “asylum seekers”? Will the day come when the cops that show up at your door will be twitchy Somalis and gang-tatted Salvadoreans?• Undoubtedly this will vary greatly by locale.Certainly it’s my impression that there are still plenty of patriotic cops out there, who can be counted-on to do the right thing and resist any unconstitutional orders from above.In western CO where I have the good fortune to be living, several dozen County Sheriffs have publicly announced that they will NOT be enforcing the “red flag laws” passed by the liberal CO legislature.• So will we be seeing wildly-varying outcomes, depending on location?• One thing I know for sure: the farther you are from a big city when the chaos begins, the more likely it is that those around you will be of a similar mind.

Chet Rollins #306505 June 7, 2022 11:53 am 0

> In western CO where I have the good fortune to be living, several dozen County Sheriffs have publicly announced that they will NOT be enforcing the “red flag laws” passed by the liberal CO legislature.This is why they want to federalize the police forces, so they can put foreigners in problematic areas who will obey orders. As it is now, the balkanization will make the laws coming out of D.C. more and more useless, and enforcement has become so incompetent they can only really go after people who brazenly put their heads above the reeds.They’re hoping they can solve this through tech and financial manipulation, and they can do a lot of damage here, but the financial apparatus is already getting brittle, and I can see a time when people in the U.S. start using foreign currency for transactions.

Hemid #306509 June 7, 2022 12:09 pm 0

The Norman Rockwell soldier/cop of recent memory already hated “civilians” enough to slaughter our children in their beds. Having a black tranny with clacking plastic fingernails do it instead is just *fun*. Ideally, sheriffs have more decent motives/incentives. A couple standouts have even done right by the people recently. So the system is routing around them. See, e.g., a glow-op called the Reflective Democracy Campaign, one of whose jobs is to plant media stories about the “outsized power” of elected sheriffs. The plan is not in its preliminary stages.

Nick Noltes Mugshot #306518 June 7, 2022 12:30 pm 0

Imagine an updated Andy griffith show with Sheriff Taylor played by a “twitchy Somali”, Barney Fife is a “gang-tatted Salvadorean” and Aunt Bee is a crack addicted pole dancer. Progress!

The Wild Geese Howard #306527 June 7, 2022 1:23 pm 0

I’d bet there are already legions of infiltrators and sleeper cells that have slipped into the US for years, maybe decades, just waiting for the go code.

trumpton #306548 June 7, 2022 2:17 pm 0

They are called universities.

Ben the Layabout #306613 June 8, 2022 8:59 am 0

I would say your assumption is largely inaccurate, for the following reasons. Except for the case of specifically trained government operatives (e.g. spies and other espionage) most of our “enemy” is domestic. The majority, I conjecture, native born. Yes, immigrants qualify too. But as the “university” comment above implies, most of the “enemy” is bred domestically, over long time periods. This is not to say that deliberate ideological manipulation occurred (e.g. the old Soviet Union) but mostly it’s probably a freelance movement of similar ideologies (Leftism and its variants) in positions f power and that power gradually coalescing. The stereotypical East European Jew, a man of socialist or even communist leanings, who immigrated in the 1930s and became a tenured university professor or a powerful businessman certainly left his influence on younger generations, but can that really be called a deliberate conspiracy?

Ostei Kozelskii #306558 June 7, 2022 2:38 pm 0

Sadly, that is the sort of “progress” Andy Griffith and Ron Howard would support wholeheartedly.

La-Z-Man #306601 June 8, 2022 8:00 am 0

Not Andy Griffith. There is a clip of him commemorating the anniversary of Virginia Dare’s birth on the David Letterman show, sometime back in the 90s I think.

Vajynabush #306592 June 7, 2022 9:23 pm 0

Thing is, the diverse tend to be rather inconsistent when it comes to discipline and obeying orders, as well as smarts and competence. A thin silver lining.

Ben the Layabout #306614 June 8, 2022 9:01 am 0

Due to inflation, the silver lining was replaced with a copper-nickel alloy beginning in 1965 🙂

Citizen of a Silly Country #306496 June 7, 2022 11:13 am 0

This article by former NYT reporter Chris Hedges shows that the gun issue isn’t some secret plan to get guns out of the hands of blacks. The Cloud People simply hate and fear working-class whites. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/there-will-be-no-gun-control-for-many-white-americans-the-idea-of-the-gun-is-all-they-have-left/ar-AAYb0de?bk=1&ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=421d65def3254436826a2d434f850a52

The real Bill #306499 June 7, 2022 11:23 am 0

And I’ll go one step further, and speculate that the Cloud People are *delighted* to see Blacks shooting each other; though of course they’d never admit to it. They know damn good and well what the result will be, when they decriminalize Black crime, and forbid cops from doing traffic stops on Blacks or frisking them for guns. The ensuing chaos is what they’ll point to, to justify taking guns away from law-abiding Whites.

Spingerah #306569 June 7, 2022 3:31 pm 0

What is the law? what is the justice system? Currently they are weapons to be used against dissent.Elections are stolen, high level corruption is aided & obviously widely participated in by our betters. Those who control the levers of power have murdered What once was a functioning society, the country is a dead shell. I will not comply. I will not.I will resist no matter the price.

JR Wirth #306490 June 7, 2022 10:52 am 0

Don’t forget the sedition charges against the Gavin McInness fan club leaders. Even after one was a proven dime dropper. They’re pulling an additional, very old weapon out of the box, one generally wielded during times of war. Is this a time of war? Perhaps it is given their behavior. A war for the perfection of man under their color revolution. All threats will be eliminated in this quest to liberate man, once and for all, from nature itself….and especially God.

Ostei Kozelskii #306479 June 7, 2022 10:36 am 0

There is another reason Cloud politicians are unlikely to abandon an ideological stance even when doing so makes eminent political sense: his opponent in the upcoming election, more often than not, holds the same position. Anybody with a lick of sense knows the Republicans are Clouds pretending to be Dirts. The enlightened voter, therefore, really has no choice. He can vote for an envirocultist with a D in front of his name or an envirocultist with an R in front of his name. There is, therefore, little reason to switch to sanity on an issue when the voter cannot help himself by voting for your opponent.

Maxda #306468 June 7, 2022 10:09 am 0

The gun nonsense doesn’t seem to have pushed aside the inflation and gas prices – that is just too in-your-face to most Americans. It has sent the Ukraine debacle to the back-burner. Maybe a bit of win come election time since that whole thing is just a reminder that the stole $50 Billion from the economy and gave it to themselves and their friends.

Jack Dobson #306472 June 7, 2022 10:22 am 0

The Ukraine grift was amazing. As soon as the $54 billion was appropriated and Mitch and Chuck got their envelops passed out the story disappeared. Strange, that.The inflation debacle illustrates what someone wrote here the other day. When faced with an actual crisis, the Regime is hapless and impotent. Imagine several real crises at once. The retardation has floated up, too.The unaffordable fuel and food were supposed to be features, not bugs, of utopia, quickly memoryholed by guns or Russians or White supremacists. When people did not ignore the inflation because it could not be ignored, the Regime was impotent and hapless. Whether it will make a difference or not, the Regime and increasingly the Clouds they serve are incompetents at the end of the day. That may be a White Pill.

Alzaebo #306458 June 7, 2022 9:55 am 0

“they were going to distract people from the economy by grifting on the latest school shooting.” While we’re getting the daily Uvalde in the U.S., the people of Keev are getting rocket attacks from the Party.Shades of Airstrip One in 1984.

Alzaebo #306449 June 7, 2022 9:45 am 0

Liberal democracy has the same goal as communism: to make everyone equal. In this, meritocracy based on competition is replaced by meritocracy based on compliance.

The real Bill #306459 June 7, 2022 9:55 am 0

Right! And since raising everyone to the same level isn’t possible, the only ‘equality’ they can achieve is to drag everyone down to the lowest common denominator.

imnobody00 #306475 June 7, 2022 10:27 am 0

Democracy is communism in slow motion. Voters tend to vote who gives more things. These gifts are never withdrawn because it is unpopular to do so. In addition, you need to reward your followers and create patronage networks so you need more spending.So the public spending grows more and more and, hence, the taxes and the debt increase to allow this spending. There are more and more civil servants, more and more taxes, less and less free market until we get to communism.“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”Attributed to Alexander Fraser Tytler ( 1747 – 1813)Change “dictatorship” with “communist dictatorship in disguise”

The Wild Geese Howard #306530 June 7, 2022 1:26 pm 0

I prefer Erdogan’s modern take on democracy: “Democracy is like a streetcar. When you come to your stop, you get off.”

trumpton #306516 June 7, 2022 12:27 pm 0

The word is dependent, not equal.

Captain Willard #306430 June 7, 2022 9:22 am 0

Politics has become religion in the US. Obama dusted off the old Civil War-era rhetoric, but after Covid and the Trump hysteria, the transition (pun intended) was complete. The J6 stuff shows it perfectly because they treat that minor farce like an assault on their cathedral.Reframing politics and issues as religious matters is a really good strategy for the Elite. Peasants throughout history have shown great willingness to endure misery, and of course kill each other, for whatever gods/religions on offer from the Elite. When everybody is bloody, starving and exhausted, we can start all over again – this is the pattern of history.

Drew #306438 June 7, 2022 9:31 am 0

The problem the elites have is that their religion is a hatred of the masses, and only the extremely gullible and self-loathing will cotton to it. Most other religions try to bridge the gap between rulers and ruled by providing a common ground, but the current religion of the rulers tries to widen the gap.

The real Bill #306463 June 7, 2022 10:01 am 0

And the other advantage to framing political issues in quasi-religious terms is that religious zeal is driven by feelings, not facts. Quibbling about facts seems trivial when the Survival of the Planet is at stake! So when the facts aren’t on your side, go for the emotions. Those who disagree with you are raping Gaia! Are you saying you’re OK with that?

Mow Noname #306474 June 7, 2022 10:26 am 0

The bad people not only want to destroy the earth (“You can’t destroy Earth. That’s where I keep all my stuff!”), but the bad people also don’t care if you die from Covid or that Russia is going to enslave our second greatest ally.Also, they’re racist, which is the worst thing ever.

Bilejones #306602 June 8, 2022 8:06 am 0

The planet will be just fine. The main purpose of the “We are destroying the planet” rhetoric is to serve as a means of voluntary identification for a bunch of self-righteous ignorant dipshits. It does it well.

G Lordon Giddy #306424 June 7, 2022 9:14 am 0

I know that a reasonable energy policy could improve gas supplies and the ceasing of Gaia worship could help things immensely but one thing I do wonder about and that is how much did all this zero interest money play on our oil and gas supply’s during last 10 years or so?Drilling a fracking well is very expensive compared to a traditional well and on top of that the oil or gas well drilled using fracking methods does not produce the oil or gas as long requiring more wells to keep up the production.Loose monetary policy helped finance a lot of our oil and gas surpluses in North America.To actually make money using fracking oil and gas, prices need to stay high.No one wants to hear that, least of all the Maga’s but I believe it’s true.We could go back to coal for powering our grid which would help get us cheaper energy.But will we?

Anonymous White Male #306432 June 7, 2022 9:26 am 0

“We could go back to coal for powering our grid which would help get us cheaper energy.” What’s wrong with nuclear energy? Aside from the fact that the same idiots that are afraid of guns and want them confiscated are the idiots that don’t want nuclear energy. “What about Three Mile Island?!!!” What about it? BFD as I recall. “What about Chernobyl?!!!” That was a communist paradise. Why do you want a communist America?

G Lordon Giddy #306435 June 7, 2022 9:30 am 0

Good point Nuclear energy is better than coal.But againWill we?Do we have the will anymore?

ProZNoV #306453 June 7, 2022 9:49 am 0

Or the ability? “Someone should do something!” Assumes there is a talent pool to draw from. After 20-30 years of dumbed down college for all, I’m not sure there is much of a well to draw from anymore.

The real Bill #306465 June 7, 2022 10:05 am 0

So…. surely you’re not implying that Sha’niqua and De Juan aren’t capable of running that nuclear reactor?!? What are you, some kind of racist?!? 😂

Spingehra #306473 June 7, 2022 10:26 am 0

All you gotta do is watch some YouTube videos & your golden.

The Infant Phenomenon #306566 June 7, 2022 3:02 pm 0

“After 20-30 years of dumbed down college for all, I’m not sure there is much of a well to draw from anymore.”20 or 30?? Try 50 or 60.But you are generally right. But it’s more than mere dumbing down. It’s the destruction of social cohesion such that we are no longer capable of large-scale undertakings like NASA. That includes building nuclear power plants or even running schools. The population is dumbed down, yes, but worse than that is that it is fragmented beyond unity ANY of purpose. There are still plenty of smart people who could run a nuclear plant, but there is no longer the social cohesion necessary to a large-scale, long-term undertaking.

Paintersforms #306450 June 7, 2022 9:45 am 0

I’m glad TMI didn’t fully melt down because I like existing.

Anonymous White Male #306455 June 7, 2022 9:50 am 0

Everyone needs to realize one fundamental truth about their existence. Nobody gets out alive. The danger of nuclear energy is an infinitesimal fraction of the danger of getting in your car every day, but you’re going to do it anyway. Fear is how you get lockdowns and mandatory vaccinations. Stop being afraid.

Paintersforms #306461 June 7, 2022 9:58 am 0

It seems like nuclear energy is quite safe until something goes wrong, and then it’s disastrous. I can see how it could be worth the risk, but I don’t think it is, because my family could’ve been wiped out. We got extremely lucky with TMI. One of those things that’s distant until it isn’t, and the consequences go on for a long time. I still won’t eat Pacific seafood on account of Fukushima.

karl von hungus #306493 June 7, 2022 11:01 am 0

yu big fucking pussy, go hide under a bed.

Paintersforms #306553 June 7, 2022 2:25 pm 0

TMI is decommissioned. Couldn’t compete with natural gas. The company that owned it lobbied for a bailout, but the political will wasn’t there. Money and pussies I guess lol

Woodpecker #306562 June 7, 2022 2:46 pm 0

There’s reasonable doubt nuclear proponents have taken safety sufficiently seriously. Specifically, dealing with the decay heat after reactor shutdown is not fail safe and depends on the diesel generators staying up. That’s what did for Fukushima after the generators were swamped, and it was decay heat removal that did for TMI. There was also a very close near miss in France, similar to Fukushima, when a coastal reactor lost at least one generator to flooding after shutdown.This is all shown up by Oregon-based NuScale, who have a reactor design based on passive cooling, designed to stay safe even with complete lights-out total power loss.The anti-nuclear hysteria has made sensible examination of safety impossible, but it’s not clear to me the other side have been entirely sensible either.

ProZNoV #306583 June 7, 2022 6:00 pm 0

“A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once.” – WS

Ben the Layabout #306623 June 8, 2022 9:14 am 0

The only nuclear plant in my general area (central FL) was built in the mid-70s and operated for 33 years. Various structural problems (deterioration) were detected in 2009, repairs were considered, but it was decided to permanently decommission the plant. Is this sample representative?

verbalfarce #306511 June 7, 2022 12:11 pm 0

“…I still won’t eat Pacific seafood on account of Fukushima…” Stay. Away. From. Water’s. Edge. Or Pacific seafood might eat you.

Spingerah #306571 June 7, 2022 3:40 pm 0

We have a beach house on the Washington coast.Within just a couple months tons of debris began to appear from the gulf of Alaska down into California.It’s all goodThe clams we dig are bigger, taste just as good and cook themselves lol.

Evil Sandmich #306532 June 7, 2022 1:33 pm 0

Just to note that both TMI and Chernobyl were caused by operators who didn’t trust the safe guards in use by their reactors. Fukishima is the only legit disaster and even then only because the engineers didn’t put quite enough safe guards in to protect against a direct hit from a wave of Armageddon.

miforest #306576 June 7, 2022 4:32 pm 0

the point isn’t that there isn’t enough cheap energy, the point is that the dirt people must suffer untill they comply , accept the digital ID(social credit score). then they will move us into the pods and you WILL eat the bugs.

Captain Willard #306433 June 7, 2022 9:27 am 0

You cannot get a loan to drill a well these days and good luck finding a crew for your rig if you get the loan. The industry is in liquidation in N. America. This won’t change because the Karens running the public and private pension funds have proscribed energy investing and public policy opposes new drilling. (Your analysis of the impact of cheap money on the shale boom is accurate I believe).

Horace #306504 June 7, 2022 11:40 am 0

“… Karens … have proscribed energy …”It has been noted by both George Orwell and Arthur Koestler (and probably others) that young women tend to be the most fanatical communist cadres. The Chinese ‘Cultural Revolution’ put tens of millions at risk for death by starvation. Communist authorities decided the crazy had to go back into the box and of course rediscovered that stopping stampedes of proletarian cattle is much harder than starting them.I read years ago that part of their solution was to shoot about a thousand of the most hysterical ChiKarens. They did this to get the rest to shut up so they get everyone back to work and avoid the level of mass starvation that occurred during their previous brush with crazy, the ‘Great Leap Forward’.We don’t have a ‘Great Leap Forward’ level starvation event in our history to provide warning, so I expect that we will have to experience mass starvation (with consequent change in leadership) before there would be willingness to sacrifice a thousand to save 50 million. Given that most of this hypothetical GAE 50 million would be the white leftists and diversity invaders infesting what used to be our cities, I am in favor of holding strictly to our traditional high standards of conduct.

Ben the Layabout #306625 June 8, 2022 9:19 am 0

If the USA were to get a conflict similar to our civil war, we might expect at least six million dead, and that is just combat fatalities. [Assumption based simply comparing our population then and now.]Our infrastructure is far more inter-linked (e.g. fragile) than it was in 1861. How many more civilian deaths would be added? 🙁

Drew #306445 June 7, 2022 9:40 am 0

Globohomo maintains it’s power, in large part, by maintaining a complex disjointed economy. It would be immensely more practical, at this point, to have a larger number of smaller, decentralized manufacturing facilities instead of moving everything component by component across thousands of miles. Thus, to a certain extent, the end of petroleum based energy is the end of globohomo. Ethanol fuel would be a viable substitute if, and only if, there were fewer engines operating for fewer hours each, that is to say if production was decentralized and consumption was more seasonal and localized. The common complaint is that all the current farmland in the world can’t completely replace gas, which is true, but it tends to ignore how unnecessary a lot of fuel use is, since it’s used to essentially ensure that globohomo keeps it’s monopoly by centralizing production of assemblage and producing components all across the globe.

Citizen of a Silly Country #306422 June 7, 2022 9:09 am 0

Our rulers can’t ignore inflation. It’s the one thing that gets Joe Normie riled up. They see it every day, all day.But it’s more than high prices. Inflation undermines the entire system. It turns the “rules” upside down and destroys people faith in those rules, in the morality of the system. Instead of being rewarded, middle class values such as hard work, saving and delayed gratification are punished and make anyone who lives by those morals a sucker.Inflation changes how you look at life. As someone once wrote, “…next to language, money is the most important medium through which a modern society communicates. What happens when this medium does not function properly anymore, when it loses its trustworthiness and ultimately wreaks havoc?”Inflation undermines people’s trust not just in the currency but in the entire system and the rules of that system.Our rulers would be wise to get inflation under control because the Dirt People will not be distracted by other issues.

3g4me #306467 June 7, 2022 10:08 am 0

Citizen: But said inflation hasn’t touched our ‘rulers’ so they really don’t give a damn. Everyone grumbles about costs. There are people genuinely suffering due to inflation today, but the average family is still grumbling, not making significant lifestyle changes. People are still taking cruises and vacations and keeping less than a week’s food in their pantries.

Citizen of a Silly Country #306492 June 7, 2022 11:00 am 0

Agree. Inflation hasn’t hit hard enough to cause real problems. And it probably won’t reach that level. But it is pissing people off.Inflation hasn’t reached the level where it undermine faith in the system, but it has that power if left unchecked. The problem for our rulers is that inflation is their best way out of the debt situation. Paying down the debt simply isn’t an option.The world has a problem with debt. There are no good options to solve that problem. Either inflate it away, default or pay it down. Each one of those will cause real problems. No avoiding the pain.

trumpton #306494 June 7, 2022 11:02 am 0

In the same way that lockdowns and work closures had zero effect on government employees.they had never been more important. Daily super important emergency meetings from home, endless email chains to save the planet and micro phased changes every day on your committee working group spreadsheet, or back to planning out dog shit patrols on the local council. what would you choose?

RoBG #306540 June 7, 2022 1:46 pm 0

The so-called “rulers” are the cause of it. The countries that didn’t “lock down” during Covid are doing better on every metric than those that did. And don’t get me wrong, I’m glad a lot of people here are doing well for themselves. But the US median wage is still ~$35K and the median household income is ~$66K. Inflation is destroying them and their hopes for a better future. It’s hard to stock-up if you live paycheck to paycheck.

The real Bill #306416 June 7, 2022 9:00 am 0

One more tactic at the disposal of the Cloud People: trying to convince the Dirt People that most other Dirt People don’t share their views.You could see this happening with regard to gay marriage: advertising campaigns and TV shows and movies aimed at normalizing it. The message being sold was: ‘See? Everyone else is on board with this. What’s wrong with you that you still oppose it?’They did the same with abortion: trying to portray public opinion as if the most of public were in favor of unlimited ‘abortion rights’, when in fact most were in favor of imposing some limits.Aside from that, they’re stuck with making it a moral issue: ‘No good person would act in a way that harms Gaia.’And with giving it a great sense of moral urgency: as if what is at stake is our very survival, and hesitating will be fatal: ‘Time is running out! If we don’t want to see Florida under water and all the polar bears pitifully dying-off, we need to immediately switch to Green Energy.’Appealing to peoples’ religious impulses, by planting the notion in peoples’ minds that it’s all about the age-old struggle of Good vs Evil. It’s not about being correct or incorrect regarding the data: it’s about whether you’re on the side of the Saviors of the Planet or on the side of the Greedy Despoilers.And they can put further pressure on adults by brainwashing their kids. ‘Are Mommy and Daddy evil ‘climate deniers?’

Severian #306437 June 7, 2022 9:31 am 0

The problem with that tactic is it assumes a certain level of trust in The Media, which The Media have destroyed at Ludicrous Speed. As our host put it a while back, if the New York Times published my birth certificate on the front page, I’d seriously doubt my own existence. They are forcing people to get lean, get small, and get local — the very things that will destroy them in the end.

The real Bill #306470 June 7, 2022 10:12 am 0

Yep. Sometimes I wonder whether one effect of the Information Overload isn’t to keep folks in whatever niche they find themselves in. With so many competing ‘facts’ flying around, and when it’s harder and harder to distinguish information from disinformation, pondering it all can come to seem like a waste of time.

Mysteerious Rooshian Vooman #306521 June 7, 2022 1:03 pm 0

” … trust in The Media, which The Media have destroyed at Ludicrous Speed.” Laughable. What planet do you live on??

The Greek #306414 June 7, 2022 8:57 am 0

Overall excellent essay. I agree with the gist, however, there are a few key addendums:1) With voting shenanigans at an all time high, voting and caring about the voters opinions matters rather little anymore anyway.2) Using your example of being a politician with an odious stance on energy prices, the state media will run cover for you. They will hide insane quotes and simply not show clips of you laughing about having an electric car. They will also create convoluted arguments “Fact Checks” that will blame your opponent’s policies. The most obvious example of this is how the media screams every “unarmed” Black Death at the hands of the police, but no one knows Tony Timpa’s name (or Cannon Hinnant for that matter). Editorial discretion is the greatest power of the media and they are true believers that run cover exclusively for the left. Half this country takes CNN and MSNBC as “the Truth” and question very little that is stated there. So in the end, that election advisor only has to give “the message” to the hive queens and then the entire media scene acts as the campaign’s PR.

Mysteerious Rooshian Vooman #306522 June 7, 2022 1:10 pm 0

“Half this country takes CNN and MSNBC as “the Truth” and question very little that is stated there.” Amusing (and revealing) that only three or four comments upthread, 19 people agreed with the poster (20 in all) that the media have destroyed their credibility. But here, 25 readers agree that the media have no credibility. And it’s all the same readers. Betcha.

Mysteerious Rooshian Vooman #306523 June 7, 2022 1:12 pm 0

But here, 25 readers agree that the media have complete credibility. (My typo error.) And it’s all the same readers. Betcha.

Good ol Rebel #306588 June 7, 2022 7:34 pm 0

Roush, 50% does not mean “complete.” It means 1/2 complete. But you are also ignoring what “credibility” means.For those 50% that dont automatically assume MSM is lying or fabricating everything now, they are true believers, for whom believability is based solely on credentialism, not truth or credibility. They have faith in Don Lemon’s truthiness, irrespective of his credibility. He and his ilk have no credibility – no one belives they are “reporting” factually accurate information. Arguably, the lack of credibility makes them more popular and followed: their willingness to stare into the sun and claim it is darkness excites the fervored lunatic true believer to greater ecstasy.

Evil Sandmich #306537 June 7, 2022 1:43 pm 0

Both can be true. The people who don’t believe the media do not, obviously, but there’s also a large cohort that are just repeaters for BigPoz (and while usually liberal, they may not be). Point being though, during my brief sojourn to Facebook there were *very* few time when crazed liberals in my timeline said “well CNN sez…”. If they cited any source it was some unverifiable scumbag commie blog.

Sand Wasp #306555 June 7, 2022 2:30 pm 0

“The media has lost credibility” is a pervasive right wing cope. After watching what happened with C19, I would have think they may be more powerful than ever. Just because a bunch of dissidents in their internet ghettos know the score, it doesn’t really mean much. The changing demographics and lowering of the IQ means a greater proportion of society is susceptible to the media’s propaganda.

Good ol Rebel #306589 June 7, 2022 7:41 pm 0

Maybe. Someone i know, a Boomercon and lifelong npr listener and supporter, gave up listening because “they lie! I mean, they just lie and lie and never say anything true.”Everyone has a tipping point where they lose faith in the system. Some will require a ball peen hammer and a car battery to get to their public repentance of belief in our “who we are rules based democracy system of our values” but it comes eventually

Ben the Layabout #306634 June 8, 2022 9:46 am 0

I think your overall argument is valid, but I would tighten up the language just a bit. The media does indeed have high credibility, in the sense that a large fraction of its consumers believe what they are told.Of course, for the occasional skeptic or critical thinker, one is aware that quite a few of the media’s claims do not answer to the facts. Sometimes a claim is laughably false, revealed by irreconcilable contradictions within the same article or report, analogous perhaps to a fake gold coin made out of brass. Other times, outside knowledge is required to falsify their claim, akin perhaps to real gold being used to make a higher quality counterfeit, perhaps of a very rare coin.People in general love their illusions and often resist arguments, or even evidence, to the contrary. And it’s not only the gullible viewer of CNN or reader of legacy websites that are susceptible, either. You are a very rare individual indeed if you do not hold some erroneous* beliefs.*”Erroneous” here means thoughts that somehow fall short in common practice. As some thinkers argue, we often hold “false” beliefs that are actually useful. For example, it can be shown that Euclidean geometry or Newtonian physics are “false” in the sense that they don’t correctly describe all known reality. Yet for all practical purposes they are a nearly perfect model of reality.

Wkathman #306413 June 7, 2022 8:55 am 0

“Politicians are just actors hired for the role and the supply is endless.”That right there is why I seriously doubt many office holders/seekers are “true believers” in anything beyond what directly benefits them personally. They’re just playing whatever role is necessary to butter their own bread. Are those who genuinely hold power — bankers and those at the top of a handful of industries, as opposed to the mere “actors” — true believers? Hard to say. They may simply be promoting various ideological causes and propaganda for no other reason than to increase their own power. Then again, it’s possible some of them really do buy into their own bullshit. Maybe it doesn’t matter much whether they sincerely believe in their causes or push those causes solely as a matter of self-aggrandizement. After all, seems the public is royally screwed either way.

trumpton #306417 June 7, 2022 9:01 am 0

So who is doing the hiring on both sides? Who decides, on what criteria? Who then controls all the selection posts and ticket entries? Who provides the funds and support to the actors? Who ensures media marketing is pre-seeded for the future product release? How is such media placed and coordinated? You hire actors specifically to say lines written already in a film you are producing and directing. Or is it another instance where the very language idiom of a directing hand is proof it does not exist?

Glenfilthie #306431 June 7, 2022 9:24 am 0

Who’s doing the hiring? Funny you should ask! As per yesterday, on Blab: https://gab.com/PhilosopherAnonymous/posts/108430769408307623 Mind ya P’s and Q’s, Dissidents! You are being watched!!! 🙂

Alzaebo #306469 June 7, 2022 10:10 am 0

Ye gods did somebody say hive queens

Spingerah #306574 June 7, 2022 3:48 pm 0

I’m sure I’ve been on lists for years.That is why it’s important to make your own local accountability lists.

The real Bill #306476 June 7, 2022 10:30 am 0

Are politicians true believers?I suspect the process works to make them that way:Even assuming that they first arrived in Washington with a sincere desire to serve the people and change things for the better— and weren’t driven by ego and narcissism all along— once they get there:• they realize that the position comes with a great deal of prestige, and many perks; and they discover that they REALLY like it: getting invited to all the right parties, being the center of attention, the guy whose opinion everyone wants to hear; making a decent salary while having to do no actual work• and it’s a short slide from really liking it, to *really wanting it to continue*.So their goal quickly morphs from ‘Serving my constituency to the best of my ability’ to ‘Getting re-elected, whatever that takes’• and human nature being what it is, it’s extraordinarily easy to convince yourself that these two goals are actually ONE AND THE SAME: ‘What’s best for the country’ IS that I get re-elected.• and there we are….

Wkathman #306498 June 7, 2022 11:17 am 0

I think you’re on to something. It becomes much easier to believe in ludicrous ideological fads when they also happen to serve one’s personal self-interests. My only quibble with your remark relates to that bit about “serving my constituency to the best of my ability.” It’s naive to assume that even novice politicians are genuinely interested in that. The system selects for those who can best EXPLOIT their constituencies for personal gain. Always has, always will.

The real Bill #306502 June 7, 2022 11:31 am 0

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on not understanding it.” — Upton Sinclair

Mysteerious Rooshian Vooman #306524 June 7, 2022 1:16 pm 0

It’s mass-media power. That’s the only important factor, and it is near-universal. TV mediates reality for nearly ALL people everywhere. Somebody upthread hit the nail on the head: The media tell you that nobody agrees with you and that you are bad because nobody agrees with your Neanderthal attitudes and ideas. An d *everybody* believes the media.

Din C. Nuttin #306487 June 7, 2022 10:47 am 0

Years ago, a gentleman explained to me some office seekers wanted the office for personal aggrandizement, but some wanted it to address a problem or problems they felt needed addressing. I’ve always tried to vote for the latter, which is why I voted for Trump rather than Hillary.

Wkathman #306495 June 7, 2022 11:10 am 0

That “gentleman” was either lying or severely deluded. The system selects for narcissists and sociopaths. As for Trump, it appears the problem that really interested him was that his personal brand wasn’t quite gargantuan enough prior to him running for president. He proved just as much a festering EGO as the rest of the political class.

The Infant Phenomenon #306526 June 7, 2022 1:20 pm 0

“Years ago, a gentleman explained to me some office seekers wanted the office for personal aggrandizement, but some wanted it to address a problem or problems they felt needed addressing. I’ve always tried to vote for the latter, … ” Which is an exercise in futility, since what you vote for does not even exist. Voting is the PROBLEM.

TomA #306407 June 7, 2022 8:29 am 0

As lazy as Joe Normie is, he will still roll off the couch and mosey over to the polls in November along with a lot of suburban moms in a snit over food prices and vote for the RINO in the upcoming election. This means that Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schmer will have one last opportunity to bankrupt the country during the lame duck session. Will they succeed? We can only hope so because it will bring on the desperately needed collapse. The new Congress will then come roaring into DC with verbal-diarrhea-a-blazing and, THIS TIME, pitch a fit to beat the band and teach them libs a lesson or two. This faux spasm of rectitude will then allow Joe Normie to return to the couch and open another bag of Doritos. Ain’t America Great!

Rando #306410 June 7, 2022 8:51 am 0

I might show up one more time just to vote for DeSantis. And no one else. He may be a rabid Zionist but at least he ended the lockdowns. I’m a pragmatic man and don’t need the hassle of my state being run by some wine aunt lunatic. If he tries to run for president though I’m done for good.

BeAprepper #306457 June 7, 2022 9:54 am 0

Even if DeSantis wins, he will encounter the same level of subterfuge, attacks, muck racking, and general harassment as did Trump, to say nothing of the ensuing rioting, looting and burning by the likes of BLM & Antifa, the enforcement arms of the Trotsky party.

The real Bill #306477 June 7, 2022 10:34 am 0

Will he learn from Trump’s mistakes? Will Trump’s experience enable DeSantis to start out being suspicious of the entrenched bureaucracy? To realize that not everyone who pretends to be on his side actually is? IDK…..

yo #306491 June 7, 2022 10:55 am 0

POTUS Trump’s natural bombastic personality, his history as TV personality, big shot NYC guy, womanizer, and his tendency for exaggeration made it very easy for the bad guys to caricature him and very easy for the various bad guy factions put aside their internal squabbles to join together to go after him. This proved insurmountable in the end. I would suspect Desantis’ more measured cadence in his speech, and lack of obvious scandals makes it much harder to caricature and therefore harder for the bad guys to organize against. But not impossible. We’ll see.

Alzaebo #306471 June 7, 2022 10:16 am 0

From the web: “You might want to get really drunk on selection night, ’cause on November 2nd, all your Dumbocrat friends are going to be unbearable (yes, even more so than usual), rubbing their “overwhelming election mandate” in your face.” Pence-Haley versusButtigieg-Harris2024 gonna be LIT

The Infant Phenomenon #306528 June 7, 2022 1:24 pm 0

This faux spasm of rectitude will then allow Joe Normie to return to the couch and open another bag of Doritos. Excellent!

Tykebomb #306399 June 7, 2022 8:18 am 0

Congress held a hearing on gas prices. They grilled the Biden staff member about it and she replied that she drove an electric vehicle. The democrats on the panel laughed. The fact that Republicans haven’t plastered that as an attack ad shows they aren’t serious.

Wolf Barney #306408 June 7, 2022 8:30 am 0

There are so many gifts presented to the Republicans that they don’t use. We see them all the time. The video clips showing the insanity and evilness of the elites we see on Gab, Bitchute, etc are the kind of material no political party has ever had the chance to use in history. There’s even a video of the Dem’s Supreme Court black lady saying she’s unable to define a “woman.” That’s gold, Jerry, GOLD!

Wkathman #306421 June 7, 2022 9:08 am 0

That Republicans ignore at least 99 % of the “gifts” their opposition serves up on a platter is Exhibit # 1,537 proving that the game is thoroughly rigged. In truth, there is only one PARTY. You could call it the Establishment Party. Or maybe the Plutocrat Party. Zman might be partial to the Cloud People Party. I myself call it the Technocratic Oligarchy Party. All these political clowns are owned by the same cretins.

BeAprepper #306460 June 7, 2022 9:57 am 0

Trotskyites all.

The real Bill #306480 June 7, 2022 10:37 am 0

Yep! And their pretense of disagreeing is all done to further the illusion that “we have a choice”

3g4me #306419 June 7, 2022 9:06 am 0

Tykebomb: Anyone who ever thought a politician was ‘serious’ was a fool – and I count myself among them, so no personal offense intended. Every mile a politician travels, by whatever means, he accounts as job related/’community service’ and he doesn’t pay for the travel, the vehicle/plane, or the gas. What does he care?People don’t realize just how insulated these people are. Not just your local school board or city council, who have long disregarded parents and heritage Americans, but the cloud people in D.C. They have aides and advisors and lobbyists for everything and they pay for almost nothing. Talk to anyone, diplomatic or military, who ever served on a codel (congressional delegation). The entitlement is beyond parody – and extends in particular to family members they love to bring along.When I was a kid we would routinely take out of town visitors into the Capitol – the actual congressional chambers were open when not in use and you could wander around unescorted. It’s been over 20 years (probably more like 40 years) since that was possible. People truly don’t realize that Zman referring to them as Cloud People is NOT an exaggeration. They are so removed from everyday life or tasks or aggravations that they literally view the average ‘citizen’ the way people view zoo animals. Gas or grocery prices? Personal safety and security? Snort. Giggle.

Jack Dobson #306442 June 7, 2022 9:35 am 0

This has been true a very long time. I recently came across a typed letter from a then-prominent senator to my grandmother about an inquiry she made about keeping the local post office open. The letter was written in the immediate aftermath of WWII. The tone would have shocked Gogol, and basically the senator wrote that he did not dirty his hands with such things and to take it up with her congressman. He might as well have written FU, peasant. I think the only reason the senator responded was to denigrate her.Liberal democracy depends on two things: stupid Normies AND a steady supply of sociopaths in elected office to keep the grift going. Both are in large supply.

The real Bill #306483 June 7, 2022 10:41 am 0

And more and more, the System is such that it selects for sociopaths. So much dishonesty and disingenuousness is required that fewer and fewer non-sociopaths can stomach it. One of the factors in Trump’s success was that he LOVED the limelight and was energized by conflict.

trumpton #306489 June 7, 2022 10:51 am 0

As the Police captain says in BladeRunner. “You know the score, pal. You’re not cop, you’re little people.”

The Infant Phenomenon #306531 June 7, 2022 1:30 pm 0

“The fact that Republicans haven’t plastered that as an attack ad shows they aren’t serious.” The problem is precisely that they ARE serious. What you mean is that they are abysmally stupid. Mencken was right: “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

Ben the Layabout #306398 June 7, 2022 8:18 am 0

Another near-perfect essay. The only flaw I see is your claim that friends will always be there to take care of you. In good times, mostly true. But the minute adversity strikes, no. The minute one no longer is of use to the Cause, you are redundant. At best, one is put out to pasture. At worst, one is disappeared. The Soviet Union was infamous for this. It’s why Trotsky and no doubt many others were (literally) airbrushed out of history, the page sent down to the Memory Hole. The West is not immune either. Read a brief history of how the UK treated Alan Turing after he helped them win WW II.

3g4me #306425 June 7, 2022 9:15 am 0

Ben: People ‘ghosting’ you once you are of no use to them is a very old thing, not in any way restricted to politics or ideology today. Try ‘helping’ a friend (what most people today refer to as ‘friends’ are generally not much more than what I would term ‘acquaintances’) during hard times, or proposing to stand up for a group of office mates. One learns pretty quickly to be cynical and not to trust most people.Assume the worst and you won’t be disappointed. I’m continually warning my most religious friend that various people she trusts are grifters taking advantage of her. She insists that this time is different, and each time I’m proven right (‘wonderful’ caregiver for elderly parents caught on camera stealing; ‘sincere’ lady who needs some free job training demands obscene salary and takes said training to competitor, etc. ad nauseam).Most recently I finally forced her to say “You were right” in the vain hope that she might be less trusting and thus less easily victimized.

The real Bill #306488 June 7, 2022 10:49 am 0

I wonder whether being religious— believing the ‘good news’ despite the insufficient evidence; seeing ‘faith’ (continuing to believe in spite of the lack of evidence) as a virtue— doesn’t set a person up for believing other unbelievable things? Once you start believing things because they make you feel good, rather than because that’s what the evidence supports— where does it end?

Ploppy #306501 June 7, 2022 11:28 am 0

It ends with preachers being able to afford very expensive watches and cars.

3g4me #306503 June 7, 2022 11:35 am 0

The real Bill: While my friend is a devout Christian in a way that I am perhaps not, I am a practicing and believing Christian. I am just less trusting and more cynical – less a ‘nice person’ than she is. I love being trusting and generous with people, but my trust is not given easily. I’ve learned the hard way to question people’s motives and watch my back. Experiencing and trusting in God’s grace does not imply any credulity or gullibility – on my part at least – when dealing with other people.

The Infant Phenomenon #306542 June 7, 2022 1:48 pm 0

“Experiencing and trusting in God’s grace does not imply any credulity or gullibility – on my part at least – when dealing with other people.”Christ never taught us to be stupid doormats. Your friend is not really a Christian. She has adopted the idiotic “religion” of abysmally ignorant dopes, that’s all.“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”“And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.”I’d bet the rent that your “Christian” friend has NO idea what is in the Scriptures. All she knows is that she is “loving.” Because “love is God.”Betcha.The number of Christians in America is vanishingly small. We l3arned that during the Chinkypox crisis. No danger to anybody, but SHUT DOWN THE (so-called) CHURCHES!!”A far cry from those who risked horrific torture and death to “forsake not the assembling of [themselves] together.”You needn’t look for Christians nowadays.

The Infant Phenomenon #306535 June 7, 2022 1:39 pm 0

3g: She is a willing–even eager–victim. Nuttin’ you can do. She regards her stupidity as a Christian virtue. Trust me on that.

3g4me #306570 June 7, 2022 3:39 pm 0

Infant: In this particular case I’d have to disagree, at least in regards to my friend. She’s been reading scripture since she was a child, her grandfather was a preacher, etc. Get her ‘hillbilly’ up and she’ll tear you a new one, but it takes a LOT to get her to that point. She sincerely believes she’s called to love everyone although she simultaneously believes in putting her family first. I tell her I’m her flip side, to balance things out, because I think Christian hatred of evil (people as well as ideology) is a virtue.

The Infant Phenomenon #306534 June 7, 2022 1:36 pm 0

“It’s why Trotsky and no doubt many others were (literally) airbrushed out of history, … .” AIRBRUSHED? Trotsky?? AIRBRUSHED??

Ben the Layabout #306646 June 8, 2022 10:10 am 0

Are you being humorous? I can’t tell. It’s a popular internet meme: https://images.app.goo.gl/KVRNtBpxYAv7e16N7

Xman #306394 June 7, 2022 8:13 am 0

“The problem is the gun grabbers are consumed with spiting normal people who support gun ownership. Instead of the issue being a way to distract voters, it is a reminder that the people in charge hate the voters.”It’s true that the elites like to use gun control as an excuse to spit on the proles… but it is most assuredly not a “distraction.”Elites want gun control so that the proles cannot challenge the power structure. That’s why they’re going after “assault weapons” despite the fact that rifles are used in only the tiniest fraction fraction of crimes. They couldn’t care less about Negro thugs spraying bullets at each other while holding a pistol sideways in a drive-by… that poses zero threat to Army checkpoints in the streets of Washington or militarized SWAT cops in Bearcats wearing Level IV body armor.On the other hand… rifles in the hands of white guys keep them awake at night.

thezman #306396 June 7, 2022 8:14 am 0

The elite has the army and they have militarized police departments. They have no fear of normie and his pea shooters.

Xman #306402 June 7, 2022 8:21 am 0

Yet. Wait until the power grid fails, gas is $10, unemployment is 30% and interest rates are 20%.

Forever Templar #306415 June 7, 2022 8:59 am 0

So? In that scenario the Army will be one of the few guaranteed paychecks around and people are notorious for doing bad things when the alternative is perceived as worse. The darker the skin the more this is true.

Horace #306508 June 7, 2022 11:57 am 0

It’s an old saying “it is better to be the King’s soldier than the King’s peasant.”

Ben the Layabout #306403 June 7, 2022 8:24 am 0

That sounds a bit dismissive, Z. I agree that the local hunting club of rural Virginia or Maryland is unlikely to make a successful assault on the Imperial Capital. But those “pea shooters” are very large in quantity, very dispersed, and not susceptible to easy collection by the Deep State. I conjecture that what really keeps the Planners awake at night is the risk, never zero, that in a crisis, our Military might spontaneously become two militaries, if you get my meaning. There is historical precedent. Yes, they can (and have been) purging the ranks for years. But, since we have not yet resorted to harsher methods, the discharged service member no longer has easy access to the tools of the trade, but he retains all of his training and knowledge.

Bartleby the Scrivner #306404 June 7, 2022 8:26 am 0

I don’t know about that Z. There’s an article on lewrockwell.com that articulated past events where the “Agents on the ground” committed atrocities because they were afraid of the folks with the pea shooters. It’s a good reminder.

Forever Templar #306429 June 7, 2022 9:22 am 0

The dweeb who wrote that is a moron. If you’re not concerned about the people packing you’re simply not mentally fit for that kind of work. The larger point is Americans with all their guns is a check against government over-encroachment, but not a solution to it. An armed citizenry would cost to the government would too high…which applies if said government isn’t ran by batshit crazies.

Wakeupandsmellthecovfefe #306405 June 7, 2022 8:26 am 0

“….militarized police departments.” Great performance by those ‘soldiers in blue’ down in Texas …. not. “…has the army…” Have you seen the recruiting ads lately? Chubby young women, flabby neckbeard men. I say they can HAVE ‘the army’. Look, I live around a suburban gaggle of Normie too – not quite the soy you likely swim with inside the Beltway, but surely close. I ask: What would you rather have, tens of thousands of Chinese coming across the Yalu, many of them carrying no arms, or one grenade … or the modern iteration of ‘the Marines?’

thezman #306406 June 7, 2022 8:28 am 0

That same police force in Texas will happily open fire on a crowd if ordered to do so.

Wakeupandsmellthecovfefe #306411 June 7, 2022 8:51 am 0

I am sure they will. But unlike the outcome in Solzy’s Gulag book, what happens when the crowd fires back? What vision seems more likely in the above event:a. Heroic militarized LEO hold the line with the discipline of Recoats.b. Cowardly militarized LEO flee in disarray at the first crack of incoming fire.

Mow Noname #306412 June 7, 2022 8:54 am 0

Derek Chauvin was convicted for muder for arresting an obese black man.The Mexican police watched their children slaughtered in Texas because they got the message from: stand down, no matter what.

LFMayor #306418 June 7, 2022 9:06 am 0

I find your terms acceptable. You may begin when ready.

ProZNoV #306420 June 7, 2022 9:06 am 0

Utopia builders ALWAYS end up in the same place: mass starvation, horrific brutality, and total surveillance. What is the GAE and the Great Reset other than a utopian vision? This time will be no different. A few pea shooters aren’t going to save you from your government. But they make keep you alive from your neighbors, at least for awhile.

Rando #306423 June 7, 2022 9:10 am 0

Yes. I believe they would. I’m not going to go into details, but there are ways to strike back against the cloud people without having to resort to direct confrontation that is favorable to them. If you go up against an armored vehicle you’re daft. But our “pea shooters” can still be of use if we’re smart about it.

3g4me #306439 June 7, 2022 9:32 am 0

Zman – Valid points on both sides; I would argue one does not necessarily exclude the other. Absolutely the cloud folks rely on their personal protection (Secret Service, armed forces, cops, private hired security) and don’t fear the average individual – they are currently extraordinarily insulated from the average individual.At the same time, however, there is a great deal of anger among an admittedly small portion of the population. The failure thus far of smarter people to pick better targets is partly due to the risk/reward calculation. Let the situation get as dire as some are predicting, and who knows?Sure, the guys paid with status and access (and eventually food for their families) will not hesitate to shoot at ‘voters’ or ‘citizens.’ But allegiances and numbers may change. I am the last to predict any general uprising, but I also try to avoid normalcy bias even in this. Right now surface life is still ‘normal’ in that basic services, while degrading, still function.I hesitate to predict how bad things may get in the next few years, or how degraded individual people are willing to become or what sort of inputs would serious shift the risk/reward calculations for payback or confrontations. Of course, every time I read of someone in ‘x’ city shoved onto subway tracks or stabbed or raped, I am amazed that any sane person is still so utterly unaware of demographic and behavioral patterns, so there is that factor to take into account as well.

Forever Templar #306440 June 7, 2022 9:34 am 0

@rando – I personally know American cops who are disgusted with things. These guys are not unaware of how they’re perceived by us. There’s a lot of overlap between LEO and veterans groups and other underground associations. These guys still inside are in a weird place. Reform isn’t going to work and frankly not worth it, yet they can’t just up and leave for various reasons beyond the pension.

PrimiPilus #306482 June 7, 2022 10:40 am 0

I think it’s a little more complex than that, Z-man. I spent some decades in the military; dealing extensively among the services, as well as Guard and Reserve components. Conversations with mid-level leaders of late indicate a clear understanding by some that something is very wrong, and a less clear, but generalized sense of discomfort and basic recognition of the deep problems on the part of many more.As to normie, he gets a bad rap on these (and other) columns. Yes, his behavior seems perplexing, vexing and stupid to those closely following things every day. But I think we should hold out on final judgment for a while yet.Since retirement I’ve lived among rural & small-town normie in several areas across the US, some places quite remote. Except for the certain dullards, most I’ve talked to know something bad is afoot. They just have no idea what to do about it, and see themselves as powerless. So they go to the lake on the weekend, or take their family out to eat and to the zoo. Yes, they want something that is gone, and play act the past to help maintain their sanity and ability to go on.Their behavior is frustrating to us, and we blame them for not acting now …. but most where I’ve been DO buy and use firearms — hunt, shoot and live a more physical and outdoor life. Many are toughX and believe, but they just don’t have the spark to jump start the whole system.I’ve spent the last years since iretirement talking to them about it to figure out what’s going on in there.What they lack is a practical construct — a plan — a way to view this train wreck. And they lack strong, creative and committed leadership. The right, and “our side” provides little of that.They did the one thing they could, and voted en mass for Trump. In him they reposed their hopes. Of course ….We need to remember that you can only ask of people what they can reasonably give, if you want them to participate and stay the course.Recall that at Cowpens in 1781, General Daniel Morgan only asked the colonial militia to form the lead rank and fire two shots, then they could break and run as part of the plan. The tactic succeeded. Incidentally, Daniel Morgan was a common man, but very successful, who started in the Army as a private soldier.And Admiral Stockdale, as senior prisoner at the Hanoi Hilton, established and disseminated rules on the separated and dispirited prisoners. He gave them context and a structure — a way to actually have some (little) agency and thus some control and ability to ”win”.One rule was they had to take “significant torture” before revealing anything. He left it up to each man’s varying capacity to determine what was “significant” for themselves. Thus, with the tap code, this rule and other things he did, they were able to resist.Apparently, long-term mental health problems were less among those he directly lead.The key point is not the particular action, but the fact that while normie is limited, he does desire to support the effort and to do his part. But he requires a leader somewhere to follow. But they are not there … yet.As others have said, Trump was not the solution, but the warning to our ruling class.And, of course, for us, that solution is not now and never now can be the Republican Party, Republican politicos, or “conservative” talking heads and actors.We await our Uncommon Men.

The Wild Geese Howard #306434 June 7, 2022 9:29 am 0

One thing to note about the Korean era US military is that, at the beginning of the conflict, it was repeatedly noted how soft and sloppy it had grown in the 5 short years following WW2.

3g4me #306446 June 7, 2022 9:40 am 0

Wild Geese: Good point. I’ve read the same, and how much that contributed to early losses in the Korean conflict. But the same applies to all sides – not just the organized military. This applies to grillers, of course, but also ex-military or 40-70 year old guys who generally don’t recognize or acknowledge just how much their minds and bodies have degraded.Genuine hardship can sift people pretty quickly. What we have right now are extreme inconveniences, and financial problems, but not genuine hardship (sorry, but other than perhaps White people in Appalachia, there is no genuine ‘hunger’ in America). When/if that changes, then we shall see.

KGB #306543 June 7, 2022 1:53 pm 0

Don’t forget that Truman ordered the military desegregated in 1948, surely a boon to morale.

The Infant Phenomenon #306544 June 7, 2022 2:04 pm 0

None of this stuff matters. At all.The numbers simply are not there. The oogly-boogly “government” simply does NOT have the power (and isn’t going to have it) to suppressa population of more than 300 million in a country of 3 million square miles where 140 million people live in rural areas. The whole “government will suppress citizens with their pea shooters” is high-school-girl level silliness.a total-surveillance police state would require 100% acquiescence on the part of the population AND an unfailing supply of electricity in a country where the power grid can NOT be defended against even 50 men determined to prevent a total-surveillance state.This is not debatable. It’s a matter of physical reality and limitations.EVERYTHING is LOCAL. And ALL military activities are LOGISTICS problems. Period.

Tars Tarkas #306448 June 7, 2022 9:45 am 0

This is just not true. They can’t say what they really think, which is that they want African Americans to not have guns. All the big blue cities have massive “gun violence” problems coming almost exclusively from one demographics.They don’t fear the patriots and have no reason to fear the patriots. Police are literally robbing cars on the side of the road. The law is weaponized. The government doesn’t care what the law is. The courts just decided bumble bees are fish so they could enforce laws about fish on bumble bees.If the patriots were going to act, they would have acted a long time ago. Just pick any random day in the post war period and uprising would have been perfectly justifiable.There were 16 million young men with real experience fighting right after the end of the second world war. They use their gun as pacifiers. Their alleged line in the sand is the guns (just in case the US government every becomes tyrannical, as if it were not already tyrannical).

The Infant Phenomenon #306545 June 7, 2022 2:08 pm 0

“If the patriots were going to act, they would have acted a long time ago.” Ridiculous. How would you know such a thing, since it is by its nature unknowable. U R talking drivel.

Tars Tarkas #306582 June 7, 2022 5:29 pm 0

@The Infant PhenomenonNot only do we have their track-record of taking everything ever dished out, we have their own words, which is that the guns themselves are the red line. This is retarded. A gun is a tool. If you lock your tool up in a lock-box and refuse to use it in any other circumstance other than taking the tool, the tool is nothing more than a pacifier.How much more does the government need to do in order for “patriots” to see the tyranny?Voting changes nothing. They will not follow their own rules (the law) and have weaponized it through, among other ways, selective enforcement.They are changing the very nature of the country by flooding the country non-stop with hostile and incompatible foreigners. They then do everything in their power to gin up hatred of us in these new foreign residents. No amount of voting or bitching at poillsters ever changes it.They literally are holding people up on the side of the road. They enforce “de facto” (not de jure) laws. A good example is carrying cash on domestic air flights. It is de facto (but not de jure) illegal now. People are robbed of many millions of dollars a year being caught doing something legal on paper, but is in fact illegal in reality.Police sit outside while children mandated by law to attend public schools are gunned down like animals. Uvalde is not the first or 2nd or 3rd example.They have created categories that are obviously unconstitutional. The whole concept of “prohibited possessor” and “prohibited weapons” (with a 200 Dollar “exemption tax stamp) are recent inventions (the 60s and 80s respectively).They have eroded the savings of all Americans by printing money and giving it to themselves and their buddies.The list of offenses is extremely long and goes back a century and more. Even putting technology aside, none of the founders could ever have predicted, nor would they recognize modern American if they were transported through time. The list of usurpation of powers by the federal and state governments is 100 times longer than the list of usurpation listed in the Declaration.Yes, we all have different thresholds for the time to act. But we are way beyond even the most patient patriot’s threshold. We were beyond it 50 years ago.

Citizen of a Silly Country #306426 June 7, 2022 9:16 am 0

Our future lies in separation, not confrontation. However, I disagree with you in the sense that those pea shooters can be extremely effective in the right form of resistance. The Irish Troubles or Muslim communities in Europe come to mind. Cops are very vulnerable when just performing their day-to-day duties. The cost of occupation is made much, much higher when the other side has pea shooters when used in the right way.

The Wild Geese Howard #306436 June 7, 2022 9:30 am 0

I believe Lenin said something like, “Where you find steel, retreat. Where you find velvet, push.”

Citizen of a Silly Country #306464 June 7, 2022 10:02 am 0

Everyone has to go the grocery store or walk their dog or mow the lawn sooner or later. Whites loves to think in heroic, big battle terms. Most civil wars aren’t like that, especially civil wars based on race or religion. Those wars are grinding, low-level conflicts. They’re personal and nasty.

Mr. Generic #306427 June 7, 2022 9:17 am 0

The elites have armies and police forces, but they also have friends, families, and homes. All the armies and police forces in the world won’t do anything for you when there are murderous thugs outside your bedroom window at 3:00am.

3g4me #306451 June 7, 2022 9:46 am 0

Mr. Generic: When people stop insisting “I would NEVER do ‘x'” or caviling about various actions being against their morals or principles, then the algorithm changes. I know that most online are still bothered when I strongly urge even social shunning. Taking actual physical action against people’s families and vulnerabilities is considered beyond the pale, but the left does that routinely. Until that becomes normalized among traditional and dissident Whites nothing will change.

The Infant Phenomenon #306549 June 7, 2022 2:17 pm 0

3g: Exactly one year ago, a national poll found 66% of Southern Republicans and 66% of independents in the South ready for secession. That is real. Oh, hes, they haven’t got a clear idea of what that would mean, but nobody in 1860 or in 1914 had a clear idea of what was VERY SOON to happen. The “country” has already broken apart. It remains now only to draw new lines on the map. THAT will be accompanied by bloodshed. The population is already sorting itself out. IT’s already baked into the cake.

The Infant Phenomenon #306547 June 7, 2022 2:13 pm 0

“All the armies and police forces in the world won’t do anything for you when there are murderous thugs outside your bedroom window at 3:00am.” True, but also irrelevant. Doesn’t ANYBODY here have even a faint grasp on the sheer SIZE of the USA? And the TOTAL number of armed thugs available to ALL levels of government EVERYWHERE? And the simple arithmetic involved? These fantasies of cowardly dolts with “pea shooters” up against a super-powerful and super-smart and super-diabolical “government” are downright childish. (And I’m not talking to you personally.)

The Infant Phenomenon #306550 June 7, 2022 2:19 pm 0

a national poll found 66% of Southern Republicans Correction: 50% and 66%.

Jack Dobson #306573 June 7, 2022 3:48 pm 0

@IP: Actually, the number was 50 percent in January and had risen to 66 percent by June among Southern Republicans, and from memory it was roughly the same from Independents. The polling then stopped. In California and the West Coast, the Left wants to split. The sorting indeed is underway. How it unwinds is anyone’s guess.

Spingerah #306575 June 7, 2022 4:15 pm 0

TallibanViet congIRARobert the BruceScythiansDetermination

Tars Tarkas #306441 June 7, 2022 9:35 am 0

A hypothetical fight between the patriotards and the military will almost certainly never happen and even it did, the equipment which so impresses everyone will be of little to no use.The real war, assuming the patriotards ever found their testicles would be against the police. They are just never going to fight the police. The conservatives and patriot types are totally unprepared for this kind of war. This is why they will not act and have never acted even after the largest government expansion in our history under FDR and then later on.They only draw one line in the sand and that’s the guns themselves, which is pointless. The elite could start sacrificing our first born children to a volcano god the partriatards will be in the background saying “they’ll take my gun from my cold dead hands”

Drew #306500 June 7, 2022 11:24 am 0

If there is ever a civil war in this country, it will most likely be small gangs of civilians ambushing and killing LEOs. That’s why they want to grab guns.

Tars Tarkas #306519 June 7, 2022 12:32 pm 0

If they were ever going to do it they would have already done it.This is aside from the fact that are totally unprepared mentally for such a war. They will fold from the propaganda alone. At least 1/2 of them believe large numbers of cops would join them in their war. They are the same people flying blue lives matter flags. They are same people who constantly idolize the troops, troops and cops they say they are prepared to SHOOT. Ain’t gonna happen. Just wait until their kid comes home from school describing the patriots as white supremacist terrorists with a report assignment to trace the history of hate or some other similar BS.

The Infant Phenomenon #306551 June 7, 2022 2:22 pm 0

“A hypothetical fight between the patriotards and the military will almost certainly never happen and even it did, the equipment which so impresses everyone will be of little to no use.” Silly. Childish. You are talking about yourself.

Jack Dobson #306452 June 7, 2022 9:47 am 0

I have noticed the Regime does fear many of the men it has sent to fight pointless wars for fun and profit, and retired cops and agents with lethal skills. Every once in a while, “Homeland Security” or some such police state outfit will list these types as potential domestic terrorists.There have been societies in the past, and the particular ones are escaping me now, who routinely killed their equivalents of the Praetorian Guard. The custom here has been to have them transition into lucrative private employment, but those jobs apparently are drying up (mercenaries in Ukraine are a current exception but apparently they are tucking their tails and running out of there now).Along these lines, some of the most racially based people I’ve known have been retired federal agents, who licked boots and oppressed Whites while on the dole but thoroughly hate non-Whites and will tell you so privately. The Regime’s fear there may not be unfounded.I do agree with you that all the lamenting about private firearms ownership largely is cosplay and part of the carny act.

The Wild Geese Howard #306533 June 7, 2022 1:35 pm 0

Patrick O’Neill, the SEAL who allegedly shot an elderly, unarmed Tim Osman…oops, I meant Osama bin Laden recently tweeted his thought canceling 2A was a great idea, his fervor to come grab our guns, and that all us civvies should just shut up and take it because he holds two Silver Stars and some other medals he won in central banker wars. Unfortunately, there are signs he is not the only special operator who thinks like this.

The Infant Phenomenon #306552 June 7, 2022 2:25 pm 0

“Patrick O’Neill, the SEAL who allegedly shot an elderly, unarmed Tim Osman…oops, I meant Osama bin Laden recently tweeted his thought canceling 2A was a great idea, ” Yeah? So what? Pointless. jabbering. Wake me up when the blowhard captures a mid-sized city in Kansas. Yawn.

Jack Dobson #306572 June 7, 2022 3:40 pm 0

I do not discount there are plenty like O’Neil, too. But the fact remains DHS and similar Stasi outfits routinely list White veterans and former cops as potential domestic terrorists. O’Neil may want to put on a White man’s minstrel show, but the State still hates his guts. From memory, the Obama DOJ made him the subject of an investigation already for “leaking” what that crew intended to leak.

Ben the Layabout #306658 June 8, 2022 10:29 am 0

All but the most deluded career civil servant, or service member who perhaps himself grew up as a military brat, or even the elite shitlibs, cannot be blind to certain realities. They may speak the Party Line and their work may even be part of The Hive. But at some point, the rubber meets the road. They have children. Even they may draw the line about where the kids go to school, with whom, and being taught about what. Point: as matters go to extremes, whether via insane policy, external events or a combination, dissension will arise in the ranks, even among the Cloud People.

BeAprepper #306466 June 7, 2022 10:08 am 0

Of what use is a country to the elites if they shoot up all the people who make it run? Who is going to fly the planes, perform heart surgery, and do your root canal, teach your kids algebra?

Jack Dobson #306392 June 7, 2022 7:59 am 0

“This show trial is exactly what the party should be avoiding, but they cannot stop themselves. It is who they are.”I’m not so certain this would have been a good idea in a good economic environment let alone The Great Depression II. Their best hope at this point is for people to tune the show trial out, which in fact likely will happen since nothing can hold public attention longer than five minutes now. In fact, the constant D.C. carny act is a direct consequence of people becoming less and less interested and invested in what the central government does. This is why we lurch from one purported crisis and outrage to the next with increasing intensity. Tuned out, Normie only wants what the late Earl Butts said of blacks: good shoes, good sex, and a warm place to go the bathroom (sanitized for public consumption). What will Normie do when all are gone? As little as possible, obviously, but the loathing of the Regime will grow all the stronger.People frequently point out that the collapse is the cure, and while that is largely true, in a like way apathy is also. The Clouds will grow more and more oppressive in their desire to command the attention of the Dirts, but the shelf life of that approach is not really long. The smart move would be to keep Normie fat, shod, and satiated, but even (especially?) the Clouds are stupid and batshit crazy at this point.“The primary thrust of American politics is defending the prevailing orthodoxy from challenges.”The definition of the prevailing orthodoxy changes so rapidly that this seems to be impossible at this point, so they have gone straight to oppression. Again, it works until it doesn’t.

The Infant Phenomenon #306554 June 7, 2022 2:30 pm 0

the Clouds are stupid and batshit crazy at this point. True, and they are also not running the local sheriff’s office. And they are not GOING to be running it. It’s LOCAL. The clouds have no LOCAL power.The Capitol Police are not going to enforce a police state in Ypsilanti. They can’t. They aren;t THERE. The laws of physics and logistics are the important things in all this, not the stupidity of the general p0opulation or the nuttiness of the clouds.

Spingerah #306390 June 7, 2022 7:56 am 0

I’m starting to think Pol Pot was on to something

3g4me #306454 June 7, 2022 9:49 am 0

Spingerah: Absolutely. Strongly agree for minimum required comment length.

Spingehra #306486 June 7, 2022 10:46 am 0

machine shop in every other garage. Chemicals aplenty.Many “technicians”Peashooters are part not all

The Infant Phenomenon #306556 June 7, 2022 2:32 pm 0

machine shop in every other garage. Chemicals aplenty.Many “technicians”Peashooters are part not all Well said.

usNthem #306387 June 7, 2022 7:45 am 0

It would appear that even the leftard idiotlogues have overstepped many bounds lately and are apparently due for a major bitch slapping come November – for what it’s undoubtedly not worth. I definitely enjoy dirtbag demoncraps losing whenever and wherever possible, simply because I can’t stand them. Unfortunately, as most know, the “conservative” alternatives are hardly any better. As George Carlin said, it’s a big club and we ain’t in it.

Stranger in a Strange Land #306428 June 7, 2022 9:18 am 0

Groucho corollary: I don’t care to belong to a club that would have me as a member.And, risking a slight paraphrase “Beware of ‘politicians’, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

The Wild Geese Howard #306443 June 7, 2022 9:36 am 0

uNt- I expect the Left to print so many fake ballots they wake the dead to retain power.

NateG #306386 June 7, 2022 7:37 am 0

The Biden administrations campaign strategy will be to find out more ways to print mail-in-ballots.

Wolf Barney #306401 June 7, 2022 8:20 am 0

Mail-in ballots because of an planned monkey pox shutdown in the fall is what I’m thinking.

3g4me #306456 June 7, 2022 9:54 am 0

Wolf Barney: It will be fascinating to see if the monkey pox truly has legs. The CDC is now urging public masking due to said pox, although comments note masks do nothing to prevent sexual contact. And this morning I saw that they’re urging pregnant women with the pox (number probably <0) give birth via Caesarian so as not to transmit it. Thus far it appears that most rationally assume this is an STD overwhelmingly afflicting homosexuals. Whether the authorities and media can convinced Karen she's in genuine peril remains to be seen.

Alzaebo #306485 June 7, 2022 10:43 am 0

Re the latest pox, the CDC’s recommendation should be “don’t have sex with queer Congolese immigrants at the next Stuttgart Pride rave”

Horace #306515 June 7, 2022 12:24 pm 0

I’m laughing at the whole thing. This is simply natural selection in action. Mother Gaia is clearing the underbrush.

Alzaebo #306481 June 7, 2022 10:38 am 0

The MSNBC hive queens are betting on the threat from crazed Trump miltias.

DYSPEPSIA GENERATION Blog Archive Friends and Enemies #306385 June 7, 2022 7:36 am 0

[…] ZMan looks behind the curtain. […]

imbroglio #306384 June 7, 2022 7:31 am 0

Do “voters matter?” Do “elections matter? I think not.Elections can be rigged but even if they couldn’t be, “all politics is local.” My enemy is my neighbor. He wants my tax money to finance drag queen hour at his kid’s school while I want his tax money to go to improving the roads in my neigborhood.Besides, we vote the candidate, not the issue. I vote my race, my gender, my latest utopian fantasy. Issue-wise if one candidate says that girl soccer players should get paid the same as boy soccer players, he/she/they get my vote. Anyhow, statistics show (I read this somewhere) that the candidate who has the deeper voice gets elected nine times out of ten.Ideology implies coherence if not conviction. What we have today is effective or ineffective marketing of whatever the marketer is looking to sell which merchandise changes with the seasons.

The Infant Phenomenon #306557 June 7, 2022 2:37 pm 0

What we have today is effective or ineffective marketing EXACTLY!

karl von hungus #306383 June 7, 2022 7:09 am 0

seems like dem voters are all on-board with mr potato head. and normie’s don’t notice that the gop is jobbing them. the system is solid.

The Wild Geese Howard #306444 June 7, 2022 9:39 am 0

The sad reality is that they’ve successfully sold half the country on all the idea all current problems are Putin’s fault. Heck, they even believe Putin planted the laptop and forced Joe to do all that sniffing.

The Infant Phenomenon #306561 June 7, 2022 2:42 pm 0

“The sad reality is that they’ve successfully sold half the country on all the idea all current problems are Putin’s fault.” These specimens believe that Putin’s power is godlike. What is he not capable of doing? The smallest details of ordinary life throughout the whole WORLD are under his power. It’s astonishing the things the marketers have the dimwit population believing about Putin’s omniscience and omnipotence. He has the power to pull a hat out of a rabbit.

The Infant Phenomenon #306559 June 7, 2022 2:38 pm 0

seems like dem voters are all on-board with mr potato head. and normie’s don’t notice that the gop is jobbing them. TRUE. the system is solid. FALSE.

Coalclinker #306382 June 7, 2022 7:03 am 0

” This is the crisis in American politics. The primary thrust of American politics is defending the prevailing orthodoxy from challenges.”Actually this isn’t a problem at all for the Cloud People. If the going gets rough, and it looks like one of them is going to lose an election, they just hand an envelope of dineros off to some Dominion official, and ….presto!!…their problem is fixed. It’s that simple.Of course, it also helps to own the potential opposition candidate at the same time. Everyone has some kind of dirt or vice in their closets, and the Imperial State has a whole litany of tools to dig it out. Then they’re owned by The State.. That is called the Uniparty, where all opposition is controlled.The fact is none of this can be fixed. We’re in the advanced stages of collapse right now, and that will fix it good and hard. Sad thing is, most people can’t even see the ongoing death of their country. We’re right up there with the citizens of the Soviet Union circa Summer of 1991.

BeAprepper #306389 June 7, 2022 7:47 am 0

“The primary thrust of American politics is defending the prevailing orthodoxy from challenges.” Vaclav Havel’s important handbook on fighting tyranny: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_the_Powerlessfbclid=IwAR0Ap4dtwCqV_Xno8puP25dKl9AbioULmmMweTUlmkzw91cROu-RKIAYsq0 A second culture, parallel systems. Passive aggressiveness, mockery. Underground economy. Throw sand into the gears whenever you can. Stop voting, it only legitimizes a corrupt system.

Bartleby the Scrivner #306391 June 7, 2022 7:58 am 0

It appears that, just like the Strategic-Culture links on Straight Line Logics site, this particular Wiki link is not working. The SLL links are all in Russian, and have a big “403 Forbidden” on them. Would want people to be “Misinformed”.

Bartleby the Scrivner #306393 June 7, 2022 8:00 am 0

Wouldn’t want is what I meant to say.

3g4me #306462 June 7, 2022 9:59 am 0

BeAprepper: Although I resisted (for various reasons) reading this for quite a while after first hearing it recommended, I’m finding Selco Begovic’s recollections on surviving the Balkan war (“The Dark Secrets of SHTF Survival) to be full of basic truths most people have chosen to forget.(https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087N92QDT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o00?ie=UTF8&psc=1).

ProZNoV #306484 June 7, 2022 10:43 am 0

It’s the best read out there that I’m aware of that will disabuse anyone of the “Red Dawn” resistance fantasy trope. Your guns won’t save you. Your neighbors, if you can trust them with your life, might.

BeAprepper #306513 June 7, 2022 12:20 pm 0

Thanks for the heads up 3g4me.

David Wright #306395 June 7, 2022 8:14 am 0

As Ed McMahon would say, you are correct sir! Seems early comments to this piece are that even if the dems shoot themselves with their asinine positions and show trails, they still may steal many elections.Of course republicans winning would ,slightly, maybe, slow the rot but not much good will come. Degeneracy and prosperity have done the work of weakening the populace. The future of day to day living will be much harder and taxing on our spirit and will gut the will of people fighting back. God I hope I am proven wrong and thinking of all of this doesn’t stop me and I will still resist and fight back any way I can.That last scene in the Thing when Kurt Russell says, we’re not getting outta here alive but neither is that thing. I draw comfort from that thought. The mindset we should have.

The Wild Geese Howard #306447 June 7, 2022 9:42 am 0

DW- I’ve been thinking about that same scene inThe Thinga lot in recent weeks, but focused on different dialogue. Childs: “How will we make it?” MacReady: “Maybe we shouldn’t.”

The Infant Phenomenon #306563 June 7, 2022 2:47 pm 0

“I draw comfort from that thought. The mindset we should have.” Nope. The proper attitude is that “they” will die at OUR hands, and that WE shall live long and prosper. Your “comfort” thoughts have already doomed you.

La-Z-Man #306600 June 8, 2022 7:46 am 0

Agreed. Childs and McMurphy died so that humanity may live. The equivalent today would be a dirt person surrendering his life if it meant all the clouds would be swept away.

A.B Prosper #306593 June 7, 2022 11:00 pm 0

The Infant Phenomenon is right. Our side needs to embrace masculine values and a will win attitude or we will lose wthout tryingThe other guys are good plotters and planners and venomous as a serpent but they aren’t powerful against us when we stop the learned helpfulness, start putting the group and its values first and actually fight.One by one we are better but as Stalin liked to say, quantity has a quality of its own. We get stompedNow in groups, making sure that the group isn’t subverted from within (something else the enemy is good at) we are quite mighty.Our enemy is not The Thing no matter what we thought. They are ordinary communist subversives and degenerates, gallows bait.Bet the hangman, learn to hate, learn to love and learn to fight.

Xman #306400 June 7, 2022 8:19 am 0

“We’re right up there with the citizens of the Soviet Union circa Summer of 1991.” Actually, more like 1981. We’re run by geriatric party hacks. Our Gorbachev has not arrived yet. The System won’t collapse until someone actually tries to fix it, only then will it become evident that it can’t be fixed.

Coalclinker #306478 June 7, 2022 10:35 am 0

When the shelves go completely empty as they are in the process, that is when everyone will know we are collapsing. By this time next year there will be no doubt.

The Infant Phenomenon #306565 June 7, 2022 2:54 pm 0

When the shelves go completely empty That is not going to happen. Shortages, of course! “Completely empty” shelves, no. In some countries, yes, In ours, no. Do you *really* think that NOBODY will do ANYTHING? That there are no truck drivers or farmers or anybody else–NOBODY–who will do ANYTHING? That’s a childish fantasy. REALITY REMAINS A THING. And 300+ million Americans are not going to just lie down and die. SNAP OUT OF IT!

Coalclinker #306594 June 7, 2022 11:08 pm 0

LOL, we lost 70% of our fertilizer supply when sanctions were enacted against Russia and Ukraine. and what is left was not delivered on time to the farmers because after the railroads furlowed many employees (Union Pacific got rid of 25,000 and closed yards), they couldn’t ship it. .Also, God knows what diesel fuel costs will be in a year. And we produce few manufactured goods, and one stroke of the pen in China will end the supply of parts for about everything. I could go on and on.All it takes for the just-in-time supply system to fail is just one part to go down. We have multiple failures.

Evil Sandmich #306546 June 7, 2022 2:10 pm 0

Gorby was tasked with saving the system, though it was way too late by that point. Whoever replaces the current regime will be similarly tasked, in a similar situation.

The Infant Phenomenon #306564 June 7, 2022 2:50 pm 0

The System won’t collapse until someone actually tries to fix it, only then will it become evident that it can’t be fixed. Well, don’t look now, but the system is already in an advanced–and terminal–state of collapse. And it’s already evident that it can’t be fixed. And that nobody WANTS to fix it.

Ben the Layabout #306409 June 7, 2022 8:46 am 0

I agree that it’s beyond repair. To undermine Hungus’s comment above, the system is not solid, but it may appear solid. An analogy I’ve read (and even seen a few times): Have you even seen a majestic old tree, perhaps an Oak, a century or even two old? Then along comes a storm comes and blows it down. Only then is the truth revealed: the main trunk was almost completely rotted, parts of it even cavities, a hidden flaw just awaiting a crisis to emerge. Quick biology lesson: the living part of a tree is mostly the outer circumference. The inner part is dead, sort of like our hair. As dead matter, it is fair game for scavengers. The tree doesn’t even “need” the inner wood to live. But as bugs eat out the dead wood, what suffers is structural integrity.Coalclinker, I agree that we live in uncertain times. It might be 1991 in the [former] USSR. But I fear a more apt analogy would be Czarist Russia. I’m not sure if it’s 1906 or 1916, but the potential of a 1917 in our future cannot be dismissed out of hand. 🙁

Coalclinker #306507 June 7, 2022 11:55 am 0

Bolshevik Russia could still produce commodities to fuel their murder machine. We can’t produce a thing except food basics and firearms. There won’t be anything to take over, but at least we’ll be able to shoot.

Zarchive

Comments (Historical)

225 Comments