I’ve long been an admirer of Ace of Spades HQ and its eponymous proprietor. Ace has a gift for the penetrating phrase, the ultimately concise expression of an important truth. Just yesterday, he fired off one that’s probably his best ever. No, I’m not going to present it baldly; it must be contextualized for best impact.

     The context was a statement by a former high official of the Central Intelligence Agency:

     When it comes to domestic extremists such as those who stormed the Capitol, a longtime CIA officer argues that the U.S. should treat them as an insurgency.

     That means using counterinsurgency tactics — similar in some ways to those used in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

     Robert Grenier served as the CIA’s station chief for Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2001. He went on to become the CIA’s Iraq mission manager and then director of the CIA Counterterrorism Center from 2004 to 2006.

     “We may be witnessing the dawn of a sustained wave of violent insurgency within our own country, perpetrated by our own countrymen,” Grenier wrote in The New York Times last week. And without national action, he argues, “extremists who seek a social apocalypse … are capable of producing endemic political violence of a sort not seen in this country since Reconstruction.”

     Pretty dramatic, eh? It conjures up visions of FBI / CIA “midnight raids” of the homes of “insurrectionists;” loyalty drives akin to those of the House Unamerican Activities Committee; drone strikes against Americans in America. Could we be facing such developments in the near future?

     Ace points out the ground-truth reality that underpins it all:

     And it is so.

     I’ve yet to move the relevant essays here from the old site, so please excuse the lack of a link. I once wrote:

     A class is defined by its legal and social privileges. The aristocrats of medieval times were not distinguished by their lineages or their deeds, but by the things they were allowed to do, without penalty, that commoners were not. There is reason to believe that the majority of medieval aristocrats were fairly responsible stewards of their lands and of public order within them. That does not justify the creation of a class of men who could wield high, middle, and low justice over others, but who would normally escape all consequences for deeds for which a commoner would be severely punished.

     The American response to the failings of traditional aristocracies was the Rule of Law: the fundamental principle that the law must treat all men impartially, regardless of their identities or station in life. The old shorthand for this principle was “blind justice,” meaning that the law must not see one’s person, only one’s deeds. In a society that respects the Rule of Law, a king would stand in the same dock as a trash-hauler, were the two accused of the same offense. All that would matter would be the evidence for their guilt or innocence.

     In the absence of a scrupulously observed Rule of Law, classes with differing degrees of privilege will emerge. The flourishing of the members of each class will be influenced, often heavily, by the class’s privileges and how effectively they can be exploited. Men being what we are, we will be moved to use those privileges in our own interest, both against competitors within our class and against other classes.

     Success breeds emulation. If there are advantages to be had from the ruthless exploitation of a class privilege, over time more and more members of the class will be drawn into doing so. Thus, the coloration given to the class by its privileges will become stronger and more inclusive over time.

     This is not an unbounded progression; as in all other things, a tendency toward equilibrium will ultimately assert itself. However, the mechanisms by which equilibrium is restored are always unpleasant. The deterrents that curb full exploitation of a class privilege, if any exist at all, will be applied by other classes, whether through the law, other social institutions, or “informally.” “Informally” usually means lynching: the application of extra-judicial, often unmerited punishment to members of one class by members of another. In the usual case, the lynchers come from a more numerous class than the lynchees, though there are occasional exceptions.

     Lynching, if it goes unpunished, is itself a class privilege. There are satisfactions in it that are incomprehensible to moral men who live in ordinary times. As with other activities with innate satisfactions, the popularity of the practice will grow over time. A mob that’s tasted the blood of one aristocrat is seldom satisfied with just that one sip.

     Lynching writ large is genocide.

     Ponder that for a few moments while I put up another pot of coffee.

     Implied, not expressed, in the above citation from my well-known piece “The New Segregationists” is the foundation of privilege: the ability to enforce one’s class privileges. Two conditions are required for this:

1. A preponderance of effective force in the hands of the privileged class;
2. The tacit approval of whoever controls the State.

     Concerning item #1, effective force is force that is actually deployed, as opposed to “potential force:” i.e., weapons and the ability to use them that “stay home.” For example, there are approximately 100 million Americans who possess one or more firearms, which constitutes the largest potential force that has ever existed. However, the 30,000 troops currently garrisoning Washington, D.C. constitute a preponderance of effective force, for no greater body of arms and wielders has arisen to challenge them.

     The privileged aristocrats of medieval Europe maintained their privileges through a social system founded on monarchy, nobility, primogeniture, and other concepts that Americans have never respected, much less observed. They lived, in Isabel Paterson’s famous phrase, in Societies of Status, in which one’s personal identity and lineage determined what privileges one possessed. The Constitution’s prohibitions on titles of nobility made explicit that the law is to make no status distinctions in these United States.

     But persons who claim special status have always been among us. In America, they’re not born to noble families. Here, they go into politics and government. Those who rise sufficiently high acquire many privileges. Some acquire the power to confer privileges on others as well.

     The method of government is coercion. Its expressions are violence and intimidation. Those things require weapons and persons willing to wield them. The aristocrats and knights of medieval Europe were the only persons who could legally own lethal weapons. The privileged ones of contemporary America don’t wield weapons themselves. However, they command “the forces of order:” our military and the police forces that act at the behest of our 88,000 governments.

     Without those tools, no degree of privilege could be maintained.

     Consider in light of the above the riots that have reduced so many American cities to rubble. The rioters constituted a force of sorts, though they were largely unarmed and usually unorganized. The police of the afflicted cities were instructed to stand aside and let them “act out.” As citizen militias dedicated to preserving life and property did not materialize, there was no effective force to impede the rioters. They got away with immense amounts of violence, vandalism, and theft.

     The riots demonstrated with a deadly clarity what privilege means in contemporary America—and who possesses it.

     The heavily armed American citizenry is similarly passive at this time. We constitute a potential force that could bring the Usurper Administration crashing to earth, but we lack the will and the organization to do so. Thus, the preponderance of effective force remains with the Usurpers. They will exercise their privileges freely and openly unless and until a larger force arises to confront them…which might mean forevermore.

     Should the Usurpers choose to wield their forces against political opponents and dissidents, Americans who believe in the Constitutional compact and the liberty of the individual will face a severe test. That test may already be under way; it’s too soon to tell. Whatever may arise, the hard truth of the matter is this: all privileges are maintained by force and the willingness to use it.

     Violence is the root of all privilege.

Newsmax had Mike Lindell on recently and Lindell wanted to talk about election fraud. Newsmax’s Bob Sellers pulled out all the stops to shut him down with determined, relentless talking over him and revealing that Newsmax, quote unquote, has checked into this and found that there was no fraud. Yes, and the courts have all ruled against this absurd idea.

You have to marvel at the energetic performance of Sellers to shut down talk of election fraud. God bless Lindell for not having any of it and continuing to talk while Sellers was trying to get him to talk about butterflies and cute puppies. You can tell that there’s elite hysteria on this point when you see such disgraceful manners.

It’s bizarre too to see on Newsmax, which is supposedly one of the new Valhallas for refugees from Fox, pull out all the stops and abandon all semblance of courtesy or journalistic objectivity. Newsmax was in full sell, sell, sell mode. But maybe it’s not so bizarre if Sellers is right that Newsmax has gone full “see no evil.” Clearly Sellers was pushing the management line, even to the extent of walking away from the camera.

It’s getting so you can’t trust the media any more.

Watch this toad debase himself:

“WOW Newsmax Anchor Walks Off Mid-Interview with Mike Lindell.” By Danielle D’Souza Gill, rumble, 2/2/21.

Militias have gotten a bad name in recent years. The very mention of them seems to trigger a horror of their supposed intentions to revolt against the government.

Why?

Is it because the government has declared a monopoly on citizens organizing to defend themselves and their communities? Brought heavy criminal action against anyone working with a non-governmental group that is dedicated to protection of nearby citizens against violence? Or, has the idea become corrupted by the actions of a few outliers?

Or, all of the above?

American Greatness makes an argument for citizens working together in small groups, training to be an effective local defense, and acting independently of government, to protect local interests. That group is meant, and designed, to be the first line of defense against enemies – foreign and domestic.

As they have traditionally been.

Almost all of the State Guards have been brought into the umbrella of the National Guard (SC is an exception – it still maintains a state-sponsored Home Guard).

Those entities are filled with younger men and women. Their periodic training is geared primarily towards short-term local defense, disaster drills, and, over the last 20 years, periodic use in the many foreign actions the federal government wants to conduct, without having to call up a draft.

But, they cannot and do not protect the neighbors from government.

The peasants had a go at one of the hedge funds in the GameStop spasmatron last week and this was not good at all.  Shorting a stock can be a legitimate move based on analysis of market and/or company realities.  Make it a big enough short, however, and other investors might sit up and take notice possibly causing the short become a self-fulfilling prophecy.  If the target company falters as a result of the revelation of its predicament, the decline in its stock price, supplier hesitancy, lender alarm, and other sequelae, well, that’s too bad.  Learn to code, chaps.

But if some mere blokes and babes learn how to work the pedals in a different fashion then that, pilgrims, is a horse of a different color.  Can’t have THAT.  As Mr. McMaken points out in his article the reaction of the anointed ones is unalloyed horror.

This “exemption from free market discipline” is what Wall Street is all about these days. The financial sector has become accustomed to enjoying bailouts, easy money, and the resulting financialization which puts ever greater amounts of the US economy into the hands of Wall Street money managers. The sector is now built on corporate welfare, not “free markets.” No matter what happens, Wall Street expects the deck to be stacked in its favor.^[1]

McMaken suggests that it’s not quite what meets the eye and bigger, more experienced entities may also have found it advantageous to take the upside position of this play, if I’ve got the Wall Street lingo correct.  But, by and large, it appears to be a Peasant Play and outrage ensued.

I remember my father in the 1950s poring over his subscription to a print investment publication called “The Value Line.”  This arrived by snail mail and his focus in managing his investments was on company underlying health, management competence, and growth.  Now, God only knows how small investors look at the market.  As I’ve written with great regularity, I think their incentive is to (1) throw money into the stock market to escape vaporous returns on their money in mere savings accounts (it is to laugh), (2) hopefully do better than that in the market, and (3) even stay ahead of inflation (horse laugh) which is zooming right along. 

Well, that’s one class of investor but Dad seems definitely in the relic class now in a world of day traders, discount brokerages, deindustrialization, dumb ass hysteria over “climate change,” superstitious hostility to “fossil fuels,” and the worship of foreigners and minorities.  Take the matter of high-frequency trading where sophisticated computer-based trading takes place with, are you ready, a fraction of an advance peek at the stock market numbers available to the HFT traders.  Doesn’t that just scream level playing field to you? 

Then there’s the matter of the hedge fund(s) in the GameStop shortfest shorting more GameStop shares than there are GS shares in existence.  Nothing to see here, ‘chachos. 

Yes, those cheeky peasants threatening to upset these and other manipulations and under-the-table scams.  A menace to decency and good order, dudes, and that’s a fact. 

It counts as one of the great tragedies of the four years of the Trump administration that Mr. Trump remained clueless about the huge insider game that Congress, Wall Street, the media, and the massive corporate monopolies play.  To the end he remained wedded to the notion that a manipulated stock market bubble of epic proportions was an indicator of economic health.  Yet the rot was all around him and he proved unable to articulate the nature of the problem or rally his supporters behind specific initiatives as opposed to vague “oppose the deep state” twittering.

Notes
^[1] “The GameStop Rebels Vs. ‘Too Big To Fail’.” By Ryan McMaken, ZeroHedge, 2/3/21.

Draw your own conclusions.

Kim Novak, who has just published a book about her life, also has a website with her art. The originals have been made into prints for sale to the general public.

I was mildly interested, and happened to click on the link.

Boy, I was surprised! She really is quite an artist. Her techniques are polished, her facility with illustration is evident, and – were the prints not just a might out of my price range – I’d buy one or more.

They may not appeal to you. The commentary on the artworks is decidedly Leftist. But, I’d suggest you check them out – these are not the kind of awkward, primitive-type works that attempt to hide lack of talent. She really can draw.

I have little personal knowledge of Myanmar (formerly called Burma), or its politics. What I do know of it is concerning its Woke-Beloved, now deposed leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is the putative head of National League for Democracy (NLD).

Here’s what CNN has to say about it (and we all know how reliable that media source is).

Boy, THIS sounds familiar (from the CNN story).

Myanmar’s election commission had previously rejected the allegations made by the military, saying any errors, such as duplicated names on voter lists, were not enough to impact the result of the vote.

That ousted leader is not without her blemishes.

The arrest of Nobel laureate Suu Kyi marks a potentially volatile moment for the fledgling democracy.

“Though her international reputation has been tarnished in recent years by allegations of genocide against the Rohingya, the former democracy icon remains enormously popular in Myanmar where she commands broad and loyal support, especially among the country’s majority Bamar ethnic group.”

So, for CNN, that ‘allegation’ is simply not that important, unlike similar allegations against the military. As long as she commits genocide against the ‘right groups’.

On the other hand, Vox Popoli has a different take on the situation.

“…it soon became apparent, according to the military, that massive vote fraud had taken place. On January 15, the USDP released 94,242 cases of election fraud in six townships, and subsequently called for a new, fair election supervised by the military and the country’s election commission.

The weak-willed election commission, which was appointed by the NLD, declined to acknowledge the evidence. “Weaknesses and errors in voters lists cannot cause voting fraud,” the election commission said in their response.”

Who is the opposition to question the results? We all know that

Election Fraud – Enough to Matter – is Just Impossible.

All the Right People – who KNOW these things – tell us that we should just go back to our boring little lives and let the Elite run things.

I’m torn when it comes to playing The Mamas and The Papas songs.

On one hand, the sleaziness of John Phillips is almost beyond belief – even for a Rock & Roll group leader. I won’t go into a discussion of the details, suffice to say that it’s a very sordid and – for Mackenzie Phillips, sad story.

The music is breathtakingly beautiful, mixing folk, rock, and old-time musical style influences in one of the most recognizable of the 60’s sounds.

But, enough of nostalgia – on to current events and commentary!

If The Left could figure out a way to kill of The Deplorables by COVID, without risking their own health, is there anyone who would doubt they’d do it? Such a position is probably why they resisted all of Trump’s efforts to fast-track the search for a vaccine (several different types came out of that push), and distribute it.

Despite that deliberate foot-dragging, Trump managed to get the vaccines ready for delivery and in the arms of those needing protection. And, then, the mistakes/deliberate sabotage began, making the Official Narrative of Trump Couldn’t Even Manage a Simple Roll-Out the Talking Point of the early Biden administration.

The individual states SHOULD have had their prioritizing of the to-be-vaccinated people in place – they could have been doing that, rather than huffing about “That Man!” for months.

The medical/nursing/health care community should have had plans in place, with teams ready to go into action, as soon as the vaccines became available.

Amazon COULD have volunteered their delivery support earlier than they did (they didn’t bother until after Biden was sworn in).

The airlines could have prepared their underused planes to ferry the shipments to drop points, and trained the crews on handling the meds appropriately.

Instead, this became a scramble that the individual states had to manage – and, it’s pretty clear, by now, that SOME governors are more competent than others. I’m proud to announce that WV, the state my father grew up in, is the BEST at distribution, with about 10% of the population already injected.

Naturally, states like NY and CA are failing miserably. In one case, workers who made a judgement call to use some leftover vaccine on people who weren’t on the list, are facing potential felony charges.

One New York health-care network that briefly offered vaccinations to elderly New Yorkers who weren’t in the highest priority group is now under investigation by the state police and the department of health for “health-care fraud.”

There are even more terrifying abuses of power that target health care workers.

In a classic case of “elite panic,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced an executive order threatening any health-care provider that administers the vaccine to an unapproved person with a $1 million fine and the loss of medical licenses. With the state’s infection rate surging beyond even last spring’s horrific levels, the governor decided to focus on menacing providers who vaccinate too broadly. Doubling down, he also threatened providers with $100,000 fines if they don’t administer their vaccines fast enough.

One way or another, Cuomo will bring those “wreckers” to account!

The Faux Administration continues the Graft-Seeking Opportunities (GSO) that were so ubiquitous during the Obama years. They’re not even TRYING to hide it anymore.

Here are some links:

Frank Biden advertises for clients who want a ‘connected guy’.

James Biden, even before the election results, knew The Fix was in.

And, in weather/family news, my Chicago-based daughter is just about snowed in. The Cleveland family reports – so far – that the snow has not reached their location.

…The more that tech tries to do more, the more likely it is to fail.

Think about it. A relatively simple technology, such as a Raspberry Pi (can be assembled with cheap plug & play elements), still fails at times. I had to return my first Pi4, as it would crash when stressed. When I re-ordered the replacement, I paid a few extra bucks to add more working memory. Don’t know whether that was the failure point, but one thing you will never regret is more memory on a high-tech component.

The linked article points out the many places where a ‘robot worker’ simply won’t be able to handle the job. Outside of the factory floor, the world is non-standard, and navigating that takes either a lot of robot ‘smarts’, or a human, who is uniquely capable of improvising in new circumstances – what we call learning.

So, men and women need to work on shoring up their Strong Suit – their adaptability and capability for learning new things, which doesn’t diminish as quickly as you might expect. We’re really good about learning new physical skills, and those skills that are an extension of previous learning.

I’m almost 70. In the last 10 years, I’ve learned:

• The layout of a new city, including the ability to get to places without GPS assistance.
• How to put a computer together, install software, and manage computer tasks, using a Raspberry Pi and Linux. Still learning, with the help of a Linux-savvy brother, and internet assistance (thank you, unseen Linux community!).
• How to get a radio license, upgrade to long-distance communication, operate a handheld radio, GMRS, and weather spotting.
• Operation of a new sewing machine – far more high-tech than my previous, non-electronic machine (45 years old).
• How to operate a Smartboard (2 different types), virtual conferencing, use of online class management system, and various science data collection equipment.
• Qualified for my insurance license, specialized certification in Health Care insurances, and yearly re-certification of different insurance lines.

That’s just a short summary. My next project will be upgrading my gardening skills, drying some of the harvest, and canning most of the rest. None of which I’ve done by myself. Also, shifting to making bakery products – bread, muffins, biscuits, pies, cakes, and other baking output, with the goal of deleting the need for grocery runs.

My husband is interested in learning beekeeping. He is 73.

We are not unique. What skills we haven’t the time or interest to acquire, we can exchange money/barter for. We are not hopeless or helpless, in the face of a hostile government or corporate structure.

We can always chose to go Galt.

So, no, humans will NOT be replaced. Not anytime soon.

VoxDay has a point – why the worry about dissident thought/speech? Why are they cracking down, harder and harder?

Well, we KNOW why. It’s because the Reality is not the Leftist Message.

They are working overtime on forcing the Leftist ‘Pravda’ to be the ONLY permitted ‘Truth’. So, that does mean that we are winning Hearts and Minds.

Keep pushing. Keep that message in distribution:

• By links to the original messages.
• By emails/texts to your contacts.
• By printing it out and stealthily placing it in communal places – coffee shops, bulletin boards, tables at work in the break room, at church, handing it out on the streets, if necessary.
• Using the cheap DVDs/USB drives/other portable means to pass the messages along to others. What’s known as Sneakernet. Use door-to-door drop-offs at trusted neighbors/network contacts.
• Use radio-nets – utilizing FRS, for which NO license is required, to move that message OUT. Set a changing channel, set a privacy code, and let ‘er rip. READ the message to a needy world.

When they are THAT afraid, it’s time to push back.

Short Answer – Not Us

The Sultan Knish – Daniel Greenfield – has an essay that contrasts cultures by type, and seems to say that we are on the way out.

Civilizations are divided into three types:

• Barbarian
• Vigorous
• Decadent

By his standards, we have moved beyond the Vigorous type, and ended up in the Decadent control type. By those definitions, he seems to see little but chaos and destruction of the remaining remnants of the Vigorous culture, until they are overwhelmed by the Barbarians again.

The question, for me, is who those Barbarians will be?

China doesn’t count as Barbarian – instead, they are more of a Technocratic and Decadent civilization.

The Euros? Pure Decadence.

Russia? Despite some elements of Barbarism, their society mostly functions as Decadent. They are more defensive of their territory than expansive.

Which leaves nearby Barbarians:

• Blacks who already function in Barbarian mode (not all, or even most, of the group). This would be the gangs, who have no connections to any monetary part of The System, other than raiding it/stealing from it, and otherwise working around the fringes. They have been coddled/tolerated and used to keep others who might challenge State control powerless.
• Foreigners
  • Mostly Hispanic – Mexican criminals near the border, immigrants who could be ‘persuaded’ to join, and home-grown gangs
  • Mid-East peoples, who already exist on the fringes of American life. They enforce marriages with other Tribal members, often importing brides/grooms into America. They run various scams (a little-acknowledged scam that is nearly all theirs is the various food stamp types, run by the small storeowners, who operate their stores as an employment agency for their non-citizen relatives, who provide cheap labor).
  • Indians/Pakistanis – one side effect of importing doctors and other medical people is that they bring in their business values. Scamming the government/other companies is not unknown in India, but held in check by the sure retribution of other Tribal groups. In America, it’s Open Season, hence the many Medicare/Medicaid scams, the pill mills, and other schemes that drain our Decadent Federal system.
• And, lest I be misunderstood, the substantial number of White people who have adopted the culture of the underclass. The division that separates them is largely Christianity, but also could be described as Morality. That White guy who is living off the system, and taking no action to raise his own children right? He’s one of them. That guy who is wallowing in drug/alcohol addiction? Yep. That woman who is living off public money, raising kids with different (absent) fathers, and not making any efforts to change that? Yes. Not all poor people are Barbarians. But, all who won’t put the effort in to take care of their own self, without assistance/scams/crime, are.
  • If you are disabled, you’re not a automatically a Barbarian, despite your dependency on public assistance. But, you need to work – HARD – to keep from falling into that classification.

So, is there any hope that we could reclaim our country, and re-install a Vigorous Civilization?

Not a chance.

At this point, the best-case scenario is for families to circle the wagons, school/train their own children, and link up with others of the same mind outside of the cities. Let the cities (and the funding Federal Government) destroy themselves.

If your region/location is defensible, you MIGHT survive. If not, you will join the others who resisted the Barbarian Hordes. My son is planning a move, from the outer fringes of the city he lives in, to a location that provides the opportunity to buy some land, along with that house. By moving sooner, rather than later, he has time to network locally, lay in supplies, and outlast The Troubles.

It won’t come quickly – at first. Expect the Decadent government to throw out cash to calm the coming storm. That gives us some time.

But, not a lot. Don’t waste it trying to prop up a dying system.

Insert F bomb after “Here we.”

[Secretary of State nominee Antony] Blinken displayed his hubris a few minutes later when he said, “The door should remain open” for Georgia to join NATO under the justification of curbing Russian aggression.

* * * *

Blinken’s framing of the issue exposes his disingenuous approach. Russian aggression is a term used by Washington insiders to describe a Russian reaction to western aggression. Blinken knows that the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia was not Russian aggression, he calls it that because it suits his agenda and the American press is dependably ignorant enough to not ask questions.

In the 2008 war, Georgia was the aggressor against the South Ossetians . . . .^[1]

This is an excellent article. The real money quote from it is:

War should be the last resort to defending America’s people and it’s homeland from foreign invasion; it should not be the last resort to enforcing America’s utopian vision on the world . . . .^[2]

That utopian vision is what winds me up on any day of the week between Monday and Sunday. Can’t we just have a foreign policy run by people like Wally in “My Dinner with Andre“? (Link to full movie.) He was majorly into a simple, uncomplicated life where just a cup of coffee in the morning was something to be savored.

It’s a great movie let it be said. The contrast between the two characters is delicious to anyone who happens to have noticed the yawning gulf between our Beautiful People and the rest of us peasants. Years ago when I first watched it the movie was merely a delightful personality study contrasting dreamy stupidity and intelligent pragmatism. Now dreamy stupidity governs the whole shootin’ match.

Notes
^[1] “Former Navy SEAL: The Miseducation Of Antony Blinken.” By Kenny MacDonald, ZeroHedge, 1/29/21 (emphasis removed).
^[2] Id.

If you thought 2020 was off the hook, how do you like 2021 so far?^[1]

What I’m getting from this Gamestop oopsie is that it’s as Mr. Jeftovic says: “a generalized revolt against financial repression and asymmetric rulesets (a.k.a ‘rules are for thee, but not for me’).” I don’t understand how the day trading peasants got together to drive the Gamestop stock price high but it’s clear that the in crowd rallied to prevent the horrific result that some dirtbag, scum-sucking, bottom-feading, manipulative hedgefund got to drown in its own insider cleverness.

So what isn’t patently lunatic is fixed. And The Great Reset is a benign course correction for which we can all be grateful.

Jeftovic’s article also sheds light light on the manipulated nature of the silver market. I can’t add any insights to that other than my plebian observation that no matter where you look America closely resembles the opening scenes of Ingmar Bergman’s movie “The Seventh Seal.” Or what could be seen of that Other Place when Ned Wilcox of Stephen King’s novel From a Buick 8 opened the trunk of that strange car impounded in the highway patrol garage.

Who are these swine who decide what we can do, think, read, and say and change the rules at will?

An aside: King’s book was a pleasure to read for its portrayal of the people working at that Highway Patrol post as kind-hearted, normal people. Refreshing in retrospect after years of lies about the portrayal of all of our cops as psychopaths and our institutions as irredeemably rotten.

Notes
^[1] “Could #WallStreetBets Be The Early Innings Of A Financial Arab Spring?” By Mark Jeftovic, ZeroHedge, 1/29/21.

I have been dismayed by Trump’s failures to act on various issues but his actions or failures to act have to be understood in the light of the immense and scurrilous attacks on him by the the Department of Justice and key national security organs of the American government:

For more than two years, the United States and the world have had two competing narratives: that an elected president of the United States was a Russian agent whom the Kremlin helped elect; and its rival narrative that senior officials of the Justice Department, FBI, CIA, and other national intelligence organizations had repeatedly lied under oath, misinformed federal officials, and meddled in partisan political matters illegally and unconstitutionally and had effectively tried to influence the outcome of a presidential election, and then undo its result by falsely propagating the first narrative. It is now obvious and indisputable that the second narrative is the correct one.^[1]

Notes
^[1] “‘The greatest constitutional crisis since the Civil War’: Conrad Black on how American institutions plotted and schemed in the 2016 election – then blamed Russia.” By Conrad Black, Daily Mail, 2/23/19.

He’s no Hemingway (I read his book a while back. Not a Deep book, but really funny in his take on the Deep State and Their Official Cronies).

But, Donald Trump, Jr. either has a terrific staff person to write these tweets, or he’s got a true gift. And, since the tone is pretty consistent, I’m going out on a limb, and saying this is him (perhaps with an assist, but still largely him).

@DonaldJTrumpJr

Hedge funders should really just “Learn To Code” or to “install solar panels”
Am I doing this right??? I’m told those are the rules.

@DonaldJTrumpJr

Any Republican in Washington DC worth a damn should be calling for an immediate investigation into Robinhood and Citadel.

And while they’rere at it, subpoena Janet Yellen; lets find out if there was pressure coming from the Biden Admin to protect their cronies on Wall Streeet!!

@DonaldJTrumpJr

It took less than a day for big tech, big government and the corporate media to spring into action and begin colluding to protect their hedge fund buddies on Wall Street. This is what a rigged system looks like, folks!

@DonaldJTrumpJr

I wish the SEC had as much of an issue with Insider Trading as they seem to have with Outsider Trading.

Saturday Update: Enjoy these Powerline Memes – guarantee you will LOL at many.