All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!
Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty. One person may even perceive deformity, where another is sensible of beauty; and every individual ought to acquiesce in his own sentiment, without pretending to regulate those of others.
David Hume
The world is changing. Of that there is no doubt. Look at the realignment that is going on in this country and around the world. The Democrats have abandoned their former allies in the working class and embraced the plutocrats that run corporate America. The Republican voters have abandoned establishment Republicans and are embracing populism and nationalism wherever they can. And around the world the post-WWII military, financial and cultural hierarchy is in a shambles and is desperately trying to resist the forces of change that are breaking out in places like Poland, Hungary, Russia, China, India, Brazil and elsewhere.
What remains to be seen is whether this crisis is part of a well thought out plan by those in charge of the globalist order or just something they’ve cobbled together to control the reaction by the victims of the excesses that have ravaged post-industrial America and Europe. Right now, they’re working to eliminate the descendants of the people they think they no longer need. Part of that program is to eliminate the parts of the economy that used to support these people. So, manufacturing jobs have been off-shored to China and now we have the attempt to eliminate fossil fuels and make energy much more expensive. Also, the personal ownership of farmland and other valuable commodities is being made unattainable for all but the truly wealthy.
So far, the program is moving along at a rapid clip. The oligarchs have managed to collapse the economic basis of the working class using the COVID “crisis” as an excuse. The election fraud in 2020 was unchallenged except for the January 6th protest and that has been stifled using gestapo tactics to intimidate and silence all resistance. Basically, all the levers of power have been captured and even the military has been captured by the Democrat regime.
But what hasn’t been taken into account is that the basis of America’s strength as the global hegemon was its strength, both militarily and economically. And both those strengths have been degraded as part of the global program. During Obama’s fundamental transformation of the military, he was instrumental in replacing white men who were the backbone of the officer corps with women and minorities who weren’t selected based on merit but rather for their race or sex. This has had a corrosive effect on the whole military structure. Currently there are indications that military preparedness in each of the branches of the military is below the level needed to be able to win a war against a modern army. This means that the deterrence that formerly prevented second tier militaries like Iran and North Korea from getting involved in military adventurism against their neighbors may no longer hold.
And having transferred our industrial base to China our status as an economic superpower is also unjustified. Look how the sanctions we levied against Russia over the Ukraine war have boomeranged back against us. With the US once again dependent on foreign oil and gas we are the ones suffering from the consequences of trying to embargo Russia’s energy products. The skyrocketing cost of fossil fuels is crippling American and European economies and impoverishing their citizens.
So, it may turn out that the New World Order has become a house of cards that will fall without the people it thought it could dispense with. If our economy and military have been hollowed out by the elimination of the deplorables then maybe it’s not too late to head off the whole rotten project.
Of course, that’s a pretty big maybe. And even if it happens there is going to be hell to pay when the American Empire falls off its perch. So, we’re going to see very interesting things in the next few years. The regime has lost the support of about half its citizens. And that will alter this country in a profound way. You’ll notice it and it will alter the way you feel about America and how you live your life.
The times they are a changing.
Avarice, the spur of industry, is so obstinate a passion, and works its way through so many real dangers and difficulties, that it is not likely to be scared by an imaginary danger, which is so small, that it scarcely admits of calculation. Commerce, therefore, in my opinion, is apt to decay in absolute governments, not because it is there less secure, but because it is less honourable.
David Hume
Anyone who has looked at my macro-photographic pictures knows that I like to photograph insects in general and bees in particular. I find them interesting.
About 25 years ago I established a honey bee hive in my yard. I did all the things that the books said to do. I bought the packaged bees with the included queen and installed them in the approved hive with its rack of frames and other accoutrements. I had the bee suit and the smoker and I fed them syrup and checked on them every once in a while, and they seemed to thrive. And even though New England winters are awful they survived into the next year and seemed to be thriving. But after the second winter they were all dead.
This was disappointing. But I persevered and started all over. A new hive, new bees and away we went. But this time they were dead by the next spring. I read up on what had happened. Tracheal mites and varroa mites had become the scourge of beekeeping. Hives were dying off by the thousands. Eventually chemical treatments became the “solution” for keeping honey bees alive in the Age of Varroa.
But I was unwilling to keep bees that needed to be loaded with poison to survive. Beyond the question of whether honey produced by semi-poisoned bees was safe or appetizing I just didn’t see the sense in raising creatures that were incapable of surviving on their own. But I kept an ear open hoping for an announcement of the discovery of bees that were resistant to varroa mite infestation. Decades passed and I lost track of the whole thing.
But this week I watched a YouTube video by a beekeeper up in Vermont named Kirk Webster (how’s that for a New England name!) who has been raising bees without medication for twenty years. It was very interesting. So, this Webster guy lost lots of his bees in the varroa mite plague. And earlier he lost lots of hives to the previous tracheal mite outbreak. But apparently, the surviving hives had better genetics and their descendants were able to thrive in the environment that contained these parasites.
And it seemed a big part of the answer had to do with Mr. Webster’s embrace of natural selection. By allowing the mites to eliminate the weaker hives the stronger bees became the basis of his new stock and they thrived. And possibly part of that selection was a race of Russian bees that he had adopted during that time. Possibly bees that had been exposed to the enormous range of climates and fauna found in the vast Eurasian continent gave them a distinct advantage over the European bees.
Well, I warned Camera Girl that sometime in the indeterminate future she might see me walking around the grounds wearing a bee suit. She shook her head and went back to preparing food for tomorrow’s party while mumbling disparaging remarks about someone or other. Well, not everyone is as enlightened and innovative as some other people. But the takeaway is that there are definitely beekeepers who have found success with keeping bees without dousing their hives with insecticides and poisons. Something for me to think about.
So, my ridiculous Dunwich post was an outgrowth of a political meeting I went to last night. I’m getting involved in town government for the first time in my life and it already looks to be a nightmare of cosmic proportions. Although I’m happy to say it probably does not include the risk of being eaten alive by a squid-headed dragon from deep space.
But it will involve getting involved with some fairly offensive progressives on a one-on-one basis. Yeah me!
But I guess if we’re ever going to make progress on fixing things, somebody is going to have to get his hands dirty and why shouldn’t that somebody be me? I won’t bore you with the details but it will be directly involved in elections so you might say I’m getting right down to brass tacks.
In contrast to my contempt for the Stupid Party in Dunwich, the actual Republicans in my town are good people. Being in New England means we’re always swimming against the current of blue state government and its toxic agenda. But we have managed to stave off the worst of their programs and influence. This off year election will probably not be a good one for Republicans at the state level. The state employees own the state and runaway tax increases seem to be the default position used to keep the pension bubble pumped up. When that dam finally breaks it’s going to be a flood of red ink that won’t be fixable. But until then let the good times roll, I guess.
You know, today I was reading some of the Democrat happy talk about how the “inflation reduction” act would win them the mid-terms. Is it possible they believe that? The only two choices I could come up with is:
I’ll leave it up to the readers to pick which one of these two choices it is. Or add a third choice of your devising.
I’ve been ploughing through the Yellowstone photos. I’ve got about three thousand files. They’re mostly landscape and some wildlife but I was happy to see that a lot of the plant and flower shots look good. There are some very interesting flowers in that locale and they make good macrophotography and close-up photography shots. But it’s still going to take me a while to make much progress. With end of summer activities and all my other responsibilities breathing down my neck it’s slow going.
So, we’re about eighty days before election day. Joe Biden’s approval rating has soared up to 40%. And the Democrats are flogging the inflation reduction meme as hard as they can. I guess they have to do something. Maybe they plan the October surprise to be an indictment of Trump right before the election. I’m of two minds whether that would make things better or worse. Maybe that goes under the same idea that doing something is better than doing nothing.
And finally, I was thinking about how nice it must be to live in a state like Florida or Wyoming where the majority of people are like me and get to have the state government that I would want. I’d just like to say for the record how much I envy all of you in the solidly red states. I feel like it would make my life feel twice as happy to not hate my state government and not have to endure the constant bombardment of harmful and maddening government actions.
Well, I better get back to writing my campaign victory speech, “Fourscore and seven days ago …”
It is a great mortification to the vanity of man, that his utmost art and industry can never equal the meanest of nature’s productions, either for beauty or value. Art is only the under-workman, and is employed to give a few strokes of embellishment to those pieces, which come from the hand of the master
David Hume
Huh. Maybe CNN really does want to be considered an actual news network. Well anyway, whatever else CNN does they’ve just made tv less stupid and less creepy by a wide margin. Brian Stelter wasn’t the stupidest person at CNN because Don Lemon is still there. And Toobin was the infamous zoom masturbator. How could anyone top that for skin crawling repulsiveness.
So is it possible that the new owners of CNN have thought about what an actual news organization would consist of and are now trying to put one together? It’s a tantalizing idea. It’s been so long since a network even pretended to play it right down the middle that it would feel almost unnatural. But it’s a hell of an idea.
Of course, I’ll wait to see if they get rid of the rest of the woke crew there. But maybe it’s true. Meanwhile the thought of Stelter and Toobin on the unemployment line is a rare pleasure. And it remains to be seen if anyone would actually employ either one of them again in any capacity. Each one is loathsome in several ways. Possibly we’re at the beginning of a cycle where no one needs people like them for anything. It’s a pleasant thought.
Here in Dunwich the Evil Party and the Stupid Party cooperate. Typically, First Selectman Cthulhu represents the Evil Party and negotiates with the Stupid Party to determine whom he’ll eat first and whom he’ll leave for last. In between these two cases the order of the other meals can be a surprise both for Cthulhu and the ingestees. Basically, they’re all living in the moment. If the First Selectman happens to be feeling a might peckish then even without any provocation from the various entrees, he may decide to indulge in a snack. And conversely, if the partisan antics of the Stupid Party are indulged in too strenuously, then even a sated or even a queasy Cthulhu may be forced to quiet the proceedings by the process of elimination.
But after those discussions were done, we got down to the business of making the Great Old Ones great again. Apparently, Dunwich has a four hundredth anniversary this year. On that day in 1622 Cthulhu ate his first Englishman and really, really liked it. For that reason, he signed in blood (someone else’s) the official charter allowing Puritans the exclusive right to colonize what would come to be known as Dunwich. Although back then it was known as New Dunwich. In exchange, the inhabitants agreed to forfeit their immortal souls and pay an eight percent sales and real estate tax in perpetuity. That Cthulhu really is evil. Anyway, the anniversary committee gave its report and recommended fire works and a school pageant. Blah, blah, blah.
At the meeting I was held forth as a candidate for the office of Keeper of the Condiments. This is a high honor and comes with the additional perk that as the purveyor of barbecue sauce for the First Selectman I would be very unlikely to be eaten. Of course, it is a highly demanding job and some folks think it slightly cruel. Before every meeting of the selectmen, I am charged with slathering them with barbecue sauce from head to foot. Most nights it’s just a formality but then again you never know. It would also be my job to keep on hand a thousand-yard spool of nylon rope to be available for use as dental floss as needed. But of course, replenishing the supply is only a very occasional chore.
I must confess that I have my qualms about accepting the nomination. I mean, it’s not that I don’t despise all of the members of the Stupid Party. After all, they are invertebrates of the first water with no hint of courage or even conscience. As cocktail hors d’oeuvres for a squid headed dragon they would enjoy their finest hour. But wasting that much barbecue sauce on these slugs just rankles. If it was just ketchup or mustard, I think I’d be okay with it but my upbringing was always “waste not want not.”
But what the hell. I need the cash. Things have gotten expensive and the job comes with a pension and a tax exemption and eight percent is eight percent after all. And all things considered it’s not the worst position in the town hall. I’ve heard being the First Selectman’s Keeper of the Bicarbonate is a lot worse. I don’t like to think about that one.