These Are the Things I Think About

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Tim Walz has been dominating the left-nutjob news cycle for the last week or two.  But his compatriots in the “Gopher State” (also sometimes nicknamed more accurately as “New England of the West”) decided to provide him with some cover so they decided, “Let’s just go insane and force ICE agents to shoot us!”  Someone named Renee Nicole Good decided to menace ICE agents with her car and when they ordered her to get out of her car she drove toward the officer standing in front of her car and got herself shot.  She subsequently died and now she is a martyr for stupid leftists everywhere.  But refusing to be upstaged Walz has declared that he is going to call in the National Guard to repel the ICE agents.  Now that is what I call dialing the stupid up to eleven.

Things seem to be accelerating.  Well, why not?  I hope Trump is preparing to send special forces into the Minnesota Governor’s Mansion and provide Tampon Tim with the cell next to President Maduro.  And while he’s at it he might as well add Mayor Frey to his collection of annoying political losers.  Now some people are worried this stuff will boil over into civil war.  I’m not.  Now if we are talking about war, then we can find better things to worry about.  Russia, China even Iran have some dangerous military assets and a track record for war.  But Tim Walz does not have a history of fighting.  He is willing to allow rioters to burn down various urban centers in his state as is Mayor Frey.  But personally get involved in war?  No, he resigned from the National Guard when his unit was scheduled to go to Iraq.  So no, Walz doesn’t do war.  I read that Trump declared that he has proof that George Soros is funding the Antifa violence and he’s going to go after him for it.  Well, what has he been waiting for?  Don’t tell us, show us.  Give Soros the cell next to Walz.  I’m sure listening to Walz for even a short time would drive Soros to suicide.

But things definitely seem to be reaching some kind of crescendo.  Maybe I was wrong about Iran.  It’s starting to look like the anti-government protests are reaching some kind of critical mass where the mullahs might actually flee the way Assad did in Syria in December, 2024.  Imagine if the Iranians actually end the Islamic republic and go back to just being a normal country.  Suddenly Hamas, Hezbollah and half of the other crazies in the Middle East would lose all their funding.  Maybe all those terrorists would have to get jobs and work for a living.

But I will miss the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei chanting Death to the Great Satan!  Of course, the previous Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini chanted the same thing.  And you know, their names are really similar.  Coincidence?  I don’t think so!  And they look a lot alike.  I think they had the same beard.  Hey, maybe they’re really the same guy!  Maybe he just made believe he died to get the life insurance money.  Well, it’s too bad Jimmy Carter couldn’t have lasted a few more years.  He could have lived to see the guys who lost him his re-election bounced out of Iran.

These are the things I think about.

Ancient European History – Part 3

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In H. G. Wells’ “The Outline of History,” He writes a couple of paragraphs at the conclusion of his description of the Fall of the Roman Empire.   He discusses the phenomenon of “Caesarism.”

“But while the smashing of the Roman social and political structure was thus complete, while in the east it was thrown off by the older and stronger Hellenic tradition, and while in the west it was broken up into fragments that began to take on a new and separate life of their own, there was one thing that did not perish, but grew, and that was the tradition of the world empire of Rome and of the supremacy of the Cæsars. When the reality was destroyed, the legend had freedom to expand. Removed from the possibility of verification, the idea of a serene and splendid Roman world-supremacy grew up in the imagination of mankind, and still holds it to this day.

Ever since the time of Alexander, human thought has been haunted by the possible political unity of the race. All the sturdy chiefs and leaders and kings of the barbarians, who raided through the prostrate but vast disorder of the decayed empire, were capable of conceiving of some mighty king of kings greater than themselves and giving a real law for all men, and they were ready to believe that elsewhere in space and time and capable of returning presently to resume his supremacy, Cæsar had been such a king of kings. Far above their own titles, therefore, they esteemed and envied the title of Cæsar. The international history of Europe from this time henceforth is largely the story of kings and adventurers setting up to be Cæsar and Imperator (Emperor). We shall tell of some of them in their places. So universal did this “Cæsaring” become, that the Great War of 1914-18 mowed down no fewer than four Cæsars, the German Kaiser (= Cæsar), the Austrian Kaiser, the Tsar (= Cæsar) of Russia, and that fantastic figure, the Tsar of Bulgaria. The French “Imperator” (Napoleon III) had already fallen in 1871. There is now (1920) no one left in the world to carry on the Imperial title or the tradition of Divus Cæsar except the Turkish Sultan and the British monarch. The former commemorates his lordship over Constantinople as Kaisar-i-Roum[274]; the latter is called the Cæsar of India (a country no real Cæsar ever looked upon), Kaisar-i-Hind.”

 

Mr. Wells had his finger on something.  There is a fascination, not with the reality of the actual Roman Empire, but with the fantasy of it as this just, omnipotent, supremely competent and efficient ruler and government.  Now as any student of that era knows this was an almost polar opposite of what the empire actually was.  The oligarchs who reaped the lion’s share of the benefits from the empire’s permanence were heartless creatures who thought of the poor (slave or free) as nothing but animals to be harvested in every way imaginable.

And maybe this gives us a clue as to what kind of government we’re supposed to have.  We’re looking for a system where the humans aren’t treated like animals.  The first thing that comes to mind is the evolution of Socialism and Communism as secular stand-ins for the Christian church.  The “love your neighbor” part of it puts us in mind of the utopian brotherhood that Marx and the other socialists touted as their goal.  But of course, we all remember how those experiments end; death camps, oligarchs (commissars) and bread lines.

The opposite is capitalism with a capitol K.  And we’re currently living through that right now.  And once again we get oligarchs.  But this bunch just send our jobs to China and tell us to stop having children to “save the planet.”  So somehow, we’ve got to figure out a third way.

 

Different thinkers have tried to come up with different ways to allow representative government to more satisfyingly express the needs and will of the people.  Robert A. Heinlein thought that the vote should be restricted to veterans of the armed services.  Some have thought that only people with children should be able to vote.  And, of course, women think they’re the only ones qualified to vote.  There have been schemes whereby the number of votes you have should be based on things like how much you pay in taxes or receive in government benefits.  In other words, the more you pay into the system the more you get to decide.

There’s one guy named Curtis Yarvin who believes we need a monarch who should be chosen and overseen in the same way that a company selects and oversees a CEO (Chief Executive Officer).  In some ways this is an interesting idea.  The concept becomes a little fuzzy when he tries to describe what the equivalent is to the Chairman and other members of the Board of Directors.  But he’s right in the sense that the leader of this country needs much more authority in order to get things done.  It seems pretty clear that our system of checks and balances between the three branches of government have failed to produce good governance.  The bureaucracy has become bloated and arrogant and need to be pared back radically.  The judiciary is a hornet’s nest of special interests and influence peddling as are the Houses of Congress.  And the stalemate between the Left and Right is maddening to anyone who wants this country fixed.  We seem to be at a dead end.

What’s the answer?

You Won’t Have Tim Walz to Kick Around Anymore

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Tim Walz, that hero of the George Floyd Riots (I mean protests), the only politician stupid enough to make Kamala Harris look like the smart half of the ticket, is not running for re-election.  Well, well, well.  How the knuckleheaded hath fallen.  Okay, now things will get interesting.  The ongoing investigations into Somali scams that ate up billions of dollars should be very interested in exactly what Tim knew and when he knew it.  Who knows, maybe Tim might have to defend himself in court against charges that he was complicit in the large-scale fraud that occurred in the state he ran as governor.  Or maybe he wasn’t part of the fraud.  Maybe he really is as stupid as he says he is.  If that’s the case then it’s the voters of Minnesota who are at fault.  They elected and re-elected this guy.  After all he was the one at ground zero when the George Floyd riots were getting started and he did nothing to stop them.  In fact, he enabled them in every way he could.  When some National Guard troops could have put a stop to the looting and arson, he let it happen and even justified it as “peaceful protests.”

And during the COVID fraud he went along with the school and work shutdowns and the mask mandates and all the other nonsense that crippled this country and deprived kids of their education.  Yes, at every turn Tim’s been a rolling disaster of a nincompoop.  Whether it was putting tampon dispensers in the boy’s bathrooms in the high schools or resigning his military position right before the Iraq War, Tim has been at the forefront of unmanly behavior wherever he was.

And yet the interesting thing is that Kamala Harris selected him, not only because he was almost as stupid as she was but because they thought he would appeal to white male voters.  As a white man I find this incredibly insulting.  They must think we really are idiots.  What normal man thinks Tim Walz represents him?  Even a cursory glance at his history or his statements would clearly show him to be a radical progressive with a clear hatred of traditional values and white men.  He is the antithesis of J. D. Vance and this was openly apparent in the vice-presidential debate during which Vance made Walz look like a low-grade moron (which he is).

So just a little over a year after Tim Walz helped Donald Trump become president of the United States again, Tim will be helping Trump show the country just what dishonest and incompetent politicians the Democrats are.  California, Minnesota, New York and Illinois are all floundering in debt and dysfunction.  Tim will be a symbol of how the leaders of that party are personally responsible for the fraud and waste that went on during the Biden presidency.  Walz may be lucky that he’s leaving now.  Even his incompetency may soon be eclipsed by the spectacle of Mayor Mamdani turning the largest city in the nation into a third-world hellhole.  But even so Tim Walz has earned himself a spot on the Wall of Shame.  Adios Knucklehead.  We hardly knew ye.

05JAN2026 This ‘N’ That

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Sunday January 4th is the end of my vacation.  So, I’ll be busy with a bunch of stuff; work, book launch and various chores and repairs.  So today I’m luxuriating in a trifecta of “Christmas Carol” viewings and so I’ll be steeped in “peace on Earth, goodwill toward men” right before I go back to despising the citizens of Dunwich on a face-to-face basis.  Honestly, the bureaucratic nightmare that is unfolding has me questioning my current status and I may decide to walk away from all this nonsense but we’ll have to see.  Ethically I’ll have to give notice and let them find someone as stupid as me to volunteer to suffer through all this.  And I’d have to train my replacement so relief would still be delayed by weeks.  But it is fun to contemplate escape.  Even this short venting has lifted my spirits.  Okay, enough for now.

The world stage is becoming increasingly troubled but for now I’ll restrict myself to Venezuela.  Now this crisis is actually the most manageable.  Essentially letting the US military eject the Cubans, guard the oil fields and end the drug shipments to the United States might all be within the abilities of the Trump administration.

Theoretically the oil infrastructure that was nationalized by Maduro’s predecessor could be returned to the western oil companies and very reasonable arrangements could provide enormous money for Venezuela’s people and also flood the American market with cheap oil and gas.  This would have the effect of lowering American transportation and energy costs and thereby lowering the cost of living here.  Now actually making this happen without major problems is a different question.  But I think Trump sees this as an opportunity to attack the cost-of-living problem head on.  If nothing else you have to admire his guts.  I’ll take a wait and see attitude (since I don’t have any choice anyway).

And finally, it’s only seventeen days until the publication on Amazon of my magnum opus, “The Sniper” I’m hoping everyone who has friends that might be interested in a right-wing, alternate history, techno-thriller will let them know about this great event.  In the run-up to the launch, I will become increasingly annoying with my constant shilling and repetitive praise of this product of my literary labor.  I apologize in advance to everyone but I must do my best to drum up business.  So, if hyperbole makes you break out in hives be warned this will be ground zero for such stuff.

Alright, that’s enough of that.  On a local weather note it has been snowing either a little or a lot every couple of days for the last couple of weeks.  Now I’m pretty used to this but lately it’s been getting mixed up with freezing rain and ice.  That’s a lot less fun.  So, I’ve been spending a lot more time on driveway surface preparation.  Because of this I haven’t had as much time for thinking up stuff for my posts.  So, I hope after this weekend things will be better for the next couple of weeks.  Thank you for your patience.