Tag: history

Confirmation bias, Government, Politics

Which Tribe Are You?

Quite a while ago I wrote a little missive on tribes. I remembered it this morning as I watched all the left-leaning talking heads desperately try to spin the latest videos of Captain Applesauce (our commander in chief) as nothing more than deceptive editing and fake news. The problem is that there’s a new video (or two) virtually every day. The leader of the free world has to be led around so he doesn’t get lost or wander off. His hands are often in some weird frozen state. He experiences frequent “statue” moments where he’s gazing off into space with a slack jawed vacant look on his face. He frequently falls asleep. He spouts unintelligible sentences and has random angry outbursts. It’s actually sad to see. The man has Parkinsons and onset dementia. It’s clear and obvious to everyone who chooses to be honest about what they’re seeing. This is what fascinates me – the liberal media as a whole chooses not to broadcast those images or discuss them. They’ll go out of their way to attack anyone who accuses the president of not being of sound mind. Why?

Remember when Trump was president and he walked gingerly down a ramp after giving a speech at West Point? There was an avalanche of press reports “raising new health concerns” at the time. Clearly the press can question the president’s health when they choose to. It’s not any surprise that the media is left-leaning. That’s the tribe they identify with. Politics are possibly the most tribal part of the human condition, even more so than sports. The confirmation bias that happens within political tribes is a spectacular thing to see.

Watching the left twist themselves into pretzels trying to ignore Biden’s health issues, inflation, or explain that the border really is shut down, is comical. But the right is just as bad. To the Trump crowd, the man walks on water. He made disastrous personnel choices, gave us Fauci and Birx, a vaccine that didn’t work, implemented nationwide lockdowns, didn’t build the wall, and added $8 trillion to the national debt. Mention any of those things and the MAGA crowd will shout you down like the Nancy Pelosi lover you must be. You don’t disparage the leader of the tribe.

So the question I have – is tribalism worse today? A number of people have floated the theory that the advent of social media, and especially X/Twitter, has fostered an environment of toxic tribalism that is the worst we’ve ever seen. We’re all so busy electronically shouting at each other, have we created a chasm so large that it can’t be crossed? Could the country come together and share some common ground if we had the right leadership? Or are we headed towards a civil war?

I’m not sure. Certainly X/Twitter has made it easier than ever to fling poo at the other side like a deranged howler monkey. And the advent of podcasts and alternative news/media options has made it easier for tribes to retreat to the information sources that feed their particular narrative. But does that mean we feel more allegiance to whatever tribe we belong to than people did in the past? I’m not sure about that. I suspect that you would have had a pretty hard time convincing an auto worker in the 70’s to listen to anything a Republican had to say and visa versa.

I’d like to think my conclusion from the piece I wrote years ago still holds true. Tribalism is magnified by economics. A middle class that is prosperous and expanding is less interested in tribes. You’ll be a lot more open to other ideas when your refrigerator is full, you can afford a home, jobs are plentiful, and you can take a vacation from time to time. Take those things away and people tend to withdraw to their tribe and get territorial.

I’m not sure I believe that any more. Economically the country was in demonstrably better shape during the previous administration (pre-pandemic). Everyone was benefiting. Yet the Trump derangement syndrome never dissipated for the left after the election. They hate that man with a white hot fury. The left spent his entire presidency doing everything in their power to destroy him, despite the country prospering. That’s a level of tribalism we haven’t seen before and it certainly hasn’t gone away. The idea that the bad orange man is the candidate again, and appears to be on a path to win, is making the left insane.

Sadly, I think we’re at a level of tribalism that’s dangerous. I suspect the left will do anything to prevent Trump from taking office again. And should he win… whoo boy, that’s going to make them big mad. The riots and protests we saw last go around will be nothing compared to what’s coming.

I’ve come to the conclusion that we’re asking the wrong question. It’s not, is tribalism worse. It’s who stands to benefit from increased tribalism? Of course, it’s our old friend the Deep State. The Enterprise. The Military Industrial Complex. Whatever you want to call it, I suspect years from now history will show that the intelligence agencies have had a hand in fomenting unrest here in the US. Creating a toxic environment in which neither party can be effective. Why? To maintain the status quo. To keep the spending going. To keep the forever wars going. As long as we’re busy bickering amongst ourselves, there’s little room to affect any meaningful change in Washington.

The CIA and DIA have been fomenting revolutions and civil unrest in country after country from their inception. The FBI has been actively interfering in US politics for years. The intelligence agencies have had their hands all over the levers of US news censorship in the past and massively in the present day. You’d be foolish to not think they’d be trying to influence the direction of this country for their own self-interests (which is a scary topic all on its own).

So what can be done about it? I’m not sure we can do anything. The cynical side of me says that it’s too late. I fear that the spending and warmongering monster that is Washington has grown too powerful to limit, regardless of who we elect.

But if there is a chance, that inflection point is this election. If the evil orange man gets elected, AND he picks a powerful VP who can succeed him… maybe we can slow down the deep state. I’m not optimistic. There’s about a thousand things that can still derail Trump at this point, elected or not.

I keep repeating myself, I know… but I need to say it again. Regardless of the outcome of this election there’s going to be some spicy chaos going on. Neither side will be happy and they’re going to find someone to take it out on. I’m happy I live in a mountainous enclave that’s far away from big cities. If you’re unlucky enough to live in one of those big cities – now’s the time to prepare for the unrest that coming.

Motivation, Solving the wrong problem

Uncomfortable Truths

As a forewarning, I’m ’bout to lay down some uncomfortable truths that might make you a little squeamish. Ready? The nature of man is violence. Always has been, always will be. I know you don’t want to hear that, but it’s true. The problem is that the “civilized” West has forgotten this and I fear we’re going to be reminded of it at some point.

I can already hear the pink haired liberal arts students and latte sipping soccer moms denouncing me as a Neanderthal who probably lives in one of those fly-over states (I bet he owns guns too, they whisper). To not think that violence is at the very core of our being, ignores history. I suppose it’s understandable. Roughly three quarters of the population is under 60. World War Two, Vietnam, Korea, the Ku Klux Klan… are already ancient issues in history books. Almost fifty percent of the population is under 40, which means they were likely brought up in the modern, woke education system. A system that tells children that our most pressing issue is climate change and that white colonizers are the most dangerous people on the planet.

I get it. We have been blessed with a level of security unimaginable in most of the world for the last fifty years. When you’re blessed with financial and physical security it’s easy to make the plight of the spotted owl your top priority. I don’t think that’s going to last much longer.

Man is a violent and brutal animal. The history of the world is built on conquest. From the Romans to the Vikings, and up to our own settlement of the nation – it was done through violent conquering of existing people. Mankind has always understood this and knew that violence was kept at bay by… violence. If you tolerate criminals, you’re going to get more crime. If you don’t prepare for invasion, you’re going to get invaded. These are not hard concepts to grasp.

But apparently they are. Somewhere along the line we decided that prioritizing clean energy electric buses was more important than having cops on the street. We decided that prosecuting criminals and keeping them in jail was bad for their self-esteem. And the results have been predictable. I guess we’re not allowed to talk about it because of race or DEI or something. But hey, if nothing else the New York City police department now has a killer new dance team. All cities should follow their lead. Just imagine, we can have a nationwide police dance-off!

And while police departments are dancing and criminals are looting stores at will, we have a literal invasion happening at our border. We don’t even pretend anymore. I guess as a nation we simply decided that everyone on the planet is welcome to come. No worries, we’ll just print more money to take care of all our wonderful new residents. What could possibly go wrong?

Well clearly there’s about a thousand things on the list that could go wrong, but number one… October 7th. You know, that little incident in Israel. The savage, barbaric nature of that attack IS the true nature of man. That is what historically happened when towns were invaded. Do you think the Romans took care to spare civilians when they conquered a city? What do you think the aftermath of the various crusades looked like? When one group hates another, or needs resources, all bets are off. Mankind will do some truly horrible things to one another.

I know that here in the West we don’t want to think of such things. We’re more civilized than that. We’ve evolved. Besides, those are problems for over there. We’re untouchable.

Lest we forget, 19 people carried out 9/11. We’re currently at 7.5 million people who have streamed across our border in the last three years. You don’t think out of all those people there are another 19, or a thousand, or ten thousand who wish us harm? You’re a fool if you don’t.

The Islamic Caliphate is real. They hate us and Israel with a passion. Do you think that went away when we left Afghanistan? Silly rabbit. October 7th? It’s going to happen here, mark my words. Meanwhile, there’s nothing to stop the cartels from simply moving in and taking over US cities mob-style.

Mankind hasn’t changed. Weakness begets violence. Israel got complacent and worried about left-wing public opinion. Hamas, prompted by the Islamic State, took advantage. And given a chance, they’ll do it again. And because of that, Israel is doing the right thing in their response.

Historically when you invaded a city, you killed all the fighting age males, kept the children, and sold off the women as slaves. Why? Because if you didn’t, they’d come back and invade you in retaliation. Do you really think things are different today? Wars and conflicts end when the enemy has lost the ability to continue. It’s not pretty, but if Israel doesn’t end Hamas completely… they’ll be right back at the same place in a few years.

And the same holds true for us. If we don’t end the nonsense at the border and sort out who’s here, we’ll be right back in the Global War on Terror. We’re going to suffer a 9/11 on steroids, we’ll respond with a bombardment of Iran, and then we’re off to the races.

I know it’s not fashionable to say, but man is violent. Roman Emperor Hadrian first said “peace through strength or, failing that, peace through threat.” Reagan repeated it in the 1980’s. It was true then and it’s true today. It holds true for crime in the streets as well as keeping the Mongol hordes at bay. The latte sipping leftists are going to learn it one way or another.

History is a bitch, ’cause it just keeps repeating.

Government, Motivation

A Look Back At How It Started

Just like the ‘shot heard around the world’ that ostensibly kicked off the revolutionary war on a bridge just outside of Concord, nobody is sure who fired the first shot. Some say it was a Texas National Guard MP. There’s even speculation that it came from across the border. Regardless, the dozen Border Patrol agents and four US marshals quickly returned fire. Six national guard solders were killed and several more wounded. The dead and wounded soldiers were all unarmed – members of an engineering group installing fencing, who attempted to stop the Border Patrol group from entering their staging area.

The Major overseeing the local deployment of the Texas Tactical Border Force assumed from the panicked radio chatter that a large armed force was attacking his troopers. He quickly surged all available MP’s and Texas state troopers to the area. Word passed down that the soldiers killed were unarmed, fueling revenge and anger.

When the first humvees rolled into the staging area and saw the carnage… the Border Patrol agents and Marshals milling about never stood a chance. They made the fatal mistake of pointing service weapons at the rage filled incoming troops. All Border Patrol agents and Marshals were killed almost immediately.

Hindsight, as they say, is 20-20. Most pundits claim that the decision by Texas governor Abbot to secure the scene and declare Texas jurisdiction was the gasoline that sparked the fire. Abbot sealed off a roughly ten mile area and refused to allow any federal officials into the vicinity. By not allowing federal officials to participate in the incident investigation, he sparked a flurry of state sovereignty vs federal power discussions throughout DHS and the White House. Both sides immediately appealed to the Supreme Court.

Chief of the Border Patrol, Jason Owens, was furious. After fuming for days at not being allowed access to the crime scene and his dead agents, he made a fateful decision. He directed several BORTAC teams to infiltrate and secure the staging area that had been initial point of battle. He authorized use of deadly force to reclaim what felt was a federal government controlled area of operation.

BORTAC teams are elite, SWAT-like units, that rival military special forces in their selection process, training, and skills. The BORTAC teams infiltrated under cover of darkness. Unfortunately no amount of skill or training can overcome overwhelming numbers without air support. Texas national guard, state troopers, even Texas Rangers, all took part in the multi-day battle that ensued.

The BORTAC teams were cut off by hundreds of soldiers, unable to retreat. They fought valiantly, but were no match for the rage-fueled Guard units. Memories of Sam Houston and ‘Remember the Alamo’ revenge are still a very real thing in Texas. In all, 48 BORTAC agents were killed, along with 7 Guard soldiers, and 2 state troopers.

So that’s how we got to this sorry state of affairs. Texas has seceded. The fifteen Texas military bases continue to be a mess of Federal and State battle for control. New Mexico is vowing to stay neutral. With the cartels now locked out of Texas, they began surging drug and human trafficking to Arizona. In response Arizona was forced to take control of their border, pushing out Federal units, similar to Texas. The Western Forces states are now beginning to coalesce around the idea that they will be eventually attacked by the remaining loyalist states.

History will tell if this new President can pull the nation back together. Will he be a Lincoln, or something else? Ultimately, the wise Benjamin Franklin’s words have come back to haunt us.

His response after the September 17th, 1787 constitutional convention, in reply to Elizabeth Willing Powel’s question: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”

“A republic, if you can keep it.”

Government, Motivation, woke

Who Controls the Narrative?

With every passing day I’m more in awe of how prescient George Orwell was with his novel 1984. It’s even more impressive when you realize it was first published in 1949. One could go on and on with analysis of how accurate it is today, but there’s one concept from the book that seems strikingly true now:

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

The current progressive, woke culture mob is doing everything possible to erase the past. Removing statues. Remaking films with appropriate ratios of all persons of color and identity. Changing past temperature history to match the global warming narrative. Everywhere you look past culture is being erased. This is on purpose. Kids growing up today will have zero sense of our history. The very fabric of what made this country great has been vilified. The youth of today will arrive at adulthood believing that everything about this nation was profoundly immoral and wicked, and a new set of values must be set forth.

The great reset is succeeding. Why? It’s not because it’s a great battle of ideas happened and the right one won. No, it’s because of violence. The quote that captures it best is:

“He who controls the violence, controls the narrative”

I wish I remember where I got that quote from, because it’s so true. The BLM/Antifa riots of 2020 had members of congress, the FBI, and police on their literal knees in solidarity. People were falling all over themselves to post their support of BLM on social media in fear that someone might mistakenly think they supported evil white men. Law enforcement did virtually nothing to stop the violence for fear it might provoke more destruction.

During the Trump years, the left happily got in the faces of innocent people at restaurants and chanted Black Lives Matter and anti-Trump slogans. Progressive members of congress encouraged people to get in the face of Trump supporters and tell them they weren’t welcome. Congress launched a nonstop barrage of investigations, accusations, and impeachment hearings the moment Trump was elected. There were riots in the street after the inauguration, with half of Hollywood threatening to leave the country. The left doesn’t hesitate to employ violent or disruptive tactics to drive their agenda.

Today the favorite tactic seems to be “swatting”. Call the police and say you’re at the address of a conservative person and claim some sort of shooting or assault. Naturally the police descend upon the address with guns drawn, not knowing that it’s a hoax. The hope, obviously, is that with emotions running high someone gets shot or at least arrested.

The other fun tactic today is the “protest” that shuts down streets and highways. Whether it’s about climate change, BLM, or pro Palestinian/Hamas – the goal is to disrupt normal people as much as possible. If they can provoke an outburst from a frustrated driver or the police, even better. It’ll be on camera and posted all over social media in a nanosecond. Police stand by, paralyzed with fear of lawsuits and negative social media.

What do all these actives have in common? Violence. City councils and police departments are loath to stand up to calls to remove a statue because they know it will start protests which costs money in police services and damage cleanup. It’s easier to just remove the statue than fight it. You better not dare to question the trans activist activities because you’ll instantly be labeled all sorts of racist, intolerant names. Your business and social media will be targeted. You’ll be arrested and removed from school board meetings. It’s much easier to go along to get along.

This has been true from the beginning of time. If you control the violence you get to dictate what the narrative is.

Good luck disparaging the past regimes of the Mongols, Vikings, the Catholic Church, Russia, North Korea, etc… Go against the status quo of those rulers and you’ll be disappeared, or historically, your head would simply be put on a pike.

What’s interesting today is the mob is the one controlling the violence. Government is afraid of the mob. The progressive horde is slowing taking over government. Orwells 1984 becomes more of a reality every day. He saw it coming. Maybe it’s just the natural progression of a society run by benevolent rulers?

What was once an unruly mob, is slowly becoming the status quo. The big question is – will there be a new mob that forms to fight against this current woke regime and its new direction? Human history is remarkably consistent. Unfortunately, what’s consistent is that change only happens one way.

He who controls the violence, controls the narrative.

I’m not sure the woke regime appreciates the volatility of the tinderbox they’ve created. Then again, I’m not sure the anti-woke forces have the spine to employ the same tactics the progressive crowd used to take over. It’s going to be an interesting battle.

Cool

I Might Be An Earl

Genealogy has never been my thing. I vaguely knew that my fathers side was Swedish, and that my mothers side had something to do with Arizona in the early days. That’s it. I didn’t grow up in an environment with lots of relatives swapping stories so I never had an opportunity, or desire, to pay attention to my lineage. I was a mutt from California with no strong ethnic or heritage history to be proud of.

And then of all things, a Hollywood type got me interested in my history. The actor James Woods is a big history buff and is constantly posting details of events and battles of the American Revolution on X/twitter. He posted something the other day about a group called the “Sons of the American Revolution”. Its members are people who can trace their lineage back to someone who fought in, or materially supported the Revolutionary War. It triggered a memory of my grandmother and some of the genealogy research she had done when I was a kid.

I knew she had spent years compiling family records, all via letter writing and phone calls. This was the 1970’s and there was no internet or Ancestry.com to reference. She had to get copies of letters and notes from family bibles to piece together the history. When she was done, she put together a book documenting the family tree and gave a copy to all the immediate family. I might not even have been a teenager when I got my copy. I probably glanced at it and put it in the closet.

Fortunately I managed to hold on to it all these years. James Woods’ X/twitter post prompted me to rummage through boxes to find that book. Wow. The level of detail my grandmother put together is impressive. I spent hours pouring through it, reading accounts of gun fights in the old west, relatives that moved west via ox cart, attending early universities, and business success. It really is a picture of America.

On my grandmothers maternal side, the family left England and sailed to Providence Rode Island in 1645. Two family members then served during the Revolutionary War with the Orange County Militia, Fourth Regiment from 1777 to 1779.

On her paternal side, that family left Scotland for America in about 1790. Her great grandfather was a colonel for the Union Calvary during the Civil war. He went on to start the First National Bank in Phoenix Arizona. His son was Mayor of Phoenix in 1909.

My paternal, Swedish, side of the family came to the US in the 1880’s. Interestingly, they changed their last name when they got here because the original Swedish name (Erikson) was too common. So all in all – we’ve been here for a while.

Now that I have all this data, I’m in the process of applying for membership to the Sons of the American Revolution. I don’t know what I’ll do with it when all done… but I do think it’s pretty cool to know that your ancestors had something to do with the founding of this country. It makes me question what I’ve done for my country? But that’s a topic for another day.

Oh, and the Earl comment in the title? My grandmother was able to trace lineage back to the year 1050. One of the branches shows that someone’s daughter married the Earl of Northumberland somewhere around 1100.

So basically I’m royalty. And I expect to be treated as such. I wonder if I’m allowed to carry a sword around now?

Government, Politics

Shuffle The Deck

Enjoying the clown show? It might almost be funny to sit back and watch this administration flail about if the consequences weren’t so dire. I do not underestimate the ability of these clowns to blunder us into an actual, serious armed conflict involving U.S. forces. Now don’t think I’m just blaming the democrats for where we’re at. It’s taken decades of incompetence, grift, and arrogance from both parties to get to this point. And along the way, we’ve managed to create a fourth branch of government that is unelected, unsupervised, and unchecked – the Federal Bureaucracy. a.k.a. the deep state.

As the old saying goes, while Putin and Xi are playing 3D chess, we’re playing checkers. Well, to be fair this administration is playing tic-tac-toe. Russia and China plan the long game. We plan for the latest news cycle. The EU worshiped at the Church of Climate Change. They now need Russia’s oil and gas. Germany is fully in bed with Russia. You’ll notice that Europe is doing virtually nothing about all this. Putin correctly judged that our economy is in trouble and we’re too busy arguing over pronouns and which bridges are the most racist. In all likelihood the sanctions will end up hurting us more than Russia. We’ll do nothing (hopefully), and he knew it. Game, set, match. Russia will now have a heavily defended buffer zone against NATO. Meanwhile, the US spent billions trying to set up yet another puppet state in the name of “democracy” that failed. Sound familiar? It’s like Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown. How come we never learn? Since WWII, we have failed at every single foreign policy intervention we’ve attempted. All at the cost of trillions and thousands upon thousands of lives. And yet we continue to listen to the same foreign policy “experts”.

And now we’re at the brink of a serious inflection point. I’m honestly surprised that China hasn’t moved on Taiwan yet. That’s the big test. What would we do? Are we going to get into a shooting war with China? I’m pretty sure that won’t go well. I’m sorry if I sound skeptical, but the same people who planned the Afghan withdraw, fired SOF folks for refusing the jab, and seem more worried about white rage and DEI in the military, are still in charge. It’s ok though, just like with every conflict, the UN will write a strongly worded letter.

So, what are we to do? Create a new, third party like Andrew Yang thinks? Term limits? I think term limits absolutely needs to be a part of any change. The corruption and self-interest in Washington (and state politics) is endemic. These people are dug in like ticks on a hound. If we have any hope of staving off our total demise, we need to start getting rid of the political establishment. But how do you get someone to vote for something that’s not in their self-interest?

It’s time to shuffle the deck. How? VOTE THEM OUT. Who? ALL OF THEM. Every single one of them. Both parties. Regardless of party, choose someone new. Do not re-elect the same clown. Everyone gets primaried. Even if the same clown gets re-elected, make them fight for it. Demand accountability. And next election cycle – do it again. We need to keep shuffling the deck until we get the hand we want.

Is that realistic? Nope. Is it going to happen? Nope. As negative as that sounds, I do see a tiny sliver of hope. There is a sense of frustration in the country. People are getting tired of the authoritarians. They’re pushing back against CRT and mask mandates, and censorship. At the moment, it looks like the next election cycle will be a bloodbath for the left. Will the right do something with it, or revert to politics as usual? If the new congress starts behaving like representatives of the people, AND, if we elect an actual leader (no, not Trump) with the next presidential cycle… there’s a small chance we can start to right the ship.

I give it a 10% chance. I fear that it’s probably already too late. History shows that once you start that downslide, it’s pretty hard to fight momentum. Realistically it’s not an issue for my generation – this will be for the next generation to live with. Unfortunately, this new generation aren’t much for learning from history. Because, like, you know, history is all racist or something.

It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

 Upton Sinclair