This report comes from folk who accidentally got caught up in a riot in Portland. They were beaten with rocks and bats after being hit with strobe lights and pepper spray. Antifa Reality Check
“Very basic background. My friend is a prior service 1st LAR 0311, 0351. (from Wiki: 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion is a fast and mobilized armoredterrestrial reconnaissance battalion of the United States Marine Corps.) Multiple tours in the early to late 2000s, then DoE, then was put through selection and went to work for Colonel G____ as a team member. Since leaving, he has been doing contract work.
He is an experienced and capable meat eater and the furthest thing from a pussy or coward. Try to learn from his experiences.
“Me and three of my buddies were in Portland this weekend, got attacked by Antifa. There’s a Twitter video with millions of views on it. They ended up on Hannity and Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro etc., of us getting beaten with bats and rocks the size of cantaloupes thrown at us, getting spit on etc. We were all carrying pistols as well. Opportunity, ability and jeopardy, we were in a deadly force situation and we could easily articulate the use of deadly force, but they had pepper sprayed us. They were using industrial strobe lights on us, etc. We couldn’t PID our target and what lied beyond it, They did a great job of taking our situational awareness away, it was fucking incredible.
Bro my perspective on this changed so much.
The reason we were there wasn’t to counter protest or some shit, **** and *****, two of the guys with me, one of which is a bronze star and Purple Heart recipient. They’re both in the hiring process for the Portland Police Department. One is from Ohio and one is from Virginia. They both flew in that day just so they could come check out the city before they move their families across the nation.
Something else that I should make perfectly clear. We went to the Federal Courthouse first. There wasn’t a whole lot going on down there. We walked around and took some pictures. Bumped into a Sheriff at one point. Talked to him for a while. We asked him if the riots were over? He said fuck no, they’re trying to fuck a police station up right now on 47th and Burnside, We asked him if we could go, and he said yeah, it’s still a peaceful assembly, it hasn’t been declared a riot yet…. So, legit, we walked into this thing blind, in hindsight it was stupid on our part, I had no idea that they were like that. If it had been a full-blown riot we would not have gone. Bottom line, man, if you had ever given me a scenario like this and said hey, you’re sober, and you have a gun, and somebody is hitting you with a bat and throwing rocks at you that could kill you or put you in a coma, you try to get away but they cut you off with a convoy of vehicles and the assault starts again. They impede your movement and beat you with bats…
Would you shoot?
I’d be like, yeah what fucking planet are you from?
But in all the training that I’ve been through my life, I’ve never been in one where in the first five seconds of the scenario you’re blinded with a strobe light and sprayed with pepper spray…. That changes everything. They were throwing these rocks from 15 feet back in the crowd, you couldn’t see who the fuck through it, etc. things like that…. It’s just a good talking point for guys that carry concealed, but you need to think through all these different scenarios.
It got way worse after that video ended, they chased us for 11 city blocks. They had a convoy of about 25 vehicles that cut us off at the next intersection, They had scouts on the corner with radios, they had a drone following us, they had a bull horn calling us Nazis, and the crowd was following a red strobe light that was up in the air on a stick, so they would announce Nazis and then people would follow the red strobe light, That video is just the beginning, I’ve got a fucking fractured hand from a baton, everyone of us has black and blue bruises up and down their legs and back, I had a guy spit in my face from 6 inches away, call me a pussy and a coward for not doing anything about it, and then tell me that he was going to find where I live, rape my mother, rape my children in front of me and then kill me.
I’ve never been more angry about something in my fucking life, the level of restraint that it took for us to not fight back in any capacity whether that was with a gun or fists is incredible. All of us have kids at home. The only thing going through all of our minds was we have to be able to justify deadly force if we’re going to go that route, there’s also hundreds of these people, we can’t see straight because of all the pepper spray, and it’s hard to PID exactly who is throwing these rocks and hitting us with batons, because they would hit you and fucking run and their buddy would run up and hit you. It was an incredibly stressful situation, they did a very good job tactically of taking away your situational awareness, and in my opinion complicating your legal defense when you split one of their faces open with a hollow point.
As we were running from the crowd after about the third block or so, we’re sprinting because the mob head caught back up to us and vehicles were trying to cut us off, I put my hand on the back strap on my appendix, And I heard somebody yell “Hey bro, whatever you’re reaching for, don’t reach, just keep running, they’re still 30 feet behind you. Keep running straight.”
We get 11 blocks down the road and this black Chevy Impala is ghosting us down the street, he’s kind of been in our shadow since block two or three He rolls his window down and starts asking us a bunch of questions. Why are we here, what are we doing, telling us we need to get the fuck out of here, asking us where our car is etc., we pretty much told him to get the fuck away from us because we didn’t know who he was. I finally asked him at one point, Who the fuck are you, man, you need to leave us alone, and he was like I’m the fucking police, bro, who are you? So he pulled his car over and he and his partner talked to us. He was one of the special programs guys, either with SWAT or SRT or whatever. He was the one that yelled at me not to reach, and tried to help us out. He said he knew that we’ve been pepper sprayed and we’re having trouble seeing, I kind of snapped at him, Like hey motherfucker, You’ve been watching this whole thing fucking unfold and you didn’t intervene at all or light the crowd up or something? He started laughing and he was like, Man, if I got out and tried to help you guys, my fucking car would be on fire right now, and I’d be running next to you.
Bottom line: don’t go to an Antifa protest where you can put yourself in that situation. And if you find yourself in that situation, expect them to employ tactics that take away your situational awareness, and complicate the use of force continuum.”
Whether for good or for bad, the United States always sets an example for the rest of the world, and right now people all over the globe are watching violence fill the streets of our major cities. For years, we could all see anger building to extremely dangerous levels in our society, but I think that most Americans never believed that it would actually cause such an eruption. It has been heartbreaking to watch Americans fighting Americans, and I wish that all of our politicians would come together and form a united front in calling for an end to the violence. Instead, they just keep blaming one another, and things just continue to escalate.
And when I use the word “escalate”, I am not exaggerating one bit. There are more than 100,000 gang members living in the city of Chicago today, and according to the FBI 30 gangs in the city “have made a pact” to shoot any police officer that draws his or her weapon in public…
A federal intelligence alert from the FBI field office in Chicago, Ill., warned that about 30 gangs in the city have made a pact to shoot police officers if they draw their weapons in public, ABC 7 reported on Monday.
Can you imagine what police officers in Chicago must be feeling right now?
I hope that they are well paid, because they are literally risking their lives on a nightly basis. This new intelligence report specifically said that these gangs have agreed to “shoot on-sight” any officer that draws a weapon, and the purpose of this violent pact is “to garner national media attention”…
The alert states that Chicago gangs have agreed to “shoot on-sight any cop that has a weapon drawn on any subject in public.”
“Members of these gang factions have been actively searching for, and filming, police officers in performance of their official duties,” the alert continues. “The purpose of which is to catch on film an officer drawing his/her weapon on any subject and the subsequent ‘shoot on-sight’ of said officer, in order to garner national media attention.”
Of course a lot of people have been shooting at Chicago police officers already. According to Chicago police superintendent David Brown, the number of CPD police officers that have been shot at this year has already smashed the all-time yearly record…
According to CPD Superintendent David Brown, there is an overall “sense of lawlessness” felt by local police, and the ‘danger to police officers is real and increasing.’
“I think it’s bigger than a suggestion,” said Brown. “I think 51 officers being shot at or shot in one year, I think that quadruples any previous year in Chicago’s history. So I think it’s more than a suggestion that people are seeking to do harm to cops.“
It is so sad to watch Chicago descend into complete and utter lawlessness.
Each weekend, the violence in Chicago makes national headlines, and last weekend was no exception. 50 people got shot, and that included “a mass shooting at a pancake house”…
Brown, now more than four months into his tenure, did not mention the grim milestone while talking to reporters. He also did not dwell on the toll from the weekend: at least 10 people killed and 40 others wounded by gun violence that included a mass shooting at a pancake house on the Far Southwest Side. A man died and four others were wounded as diners with children scattered.
In a little more than three hours beginning around 2 a.m. Sunday, Chicago police responded to 10 separate shootings, including three homicides and an attack on two officers who exchanged gunfire with an armed teen. All three were wounded.
In Portland, we are witnessing a different sort of chaos.
Political protests have been rocking the city on a nightly basis for three months straight, and on Monday night the protesters decided to target the mayor’s house…
Protesters in Portland gathered outside Democrat mayor Ted Wheeler’s apartment Monday night to ‘celebrate’ his birthday by letting off fireworks and singing ‘happy tear gas to you’.
A fire was lit in the street outside the 58-year-old’s apartment block in an upmarket area in the north of the city, as around 200 people gathered while blasting music, sounding horns, banging pots and pans, and playing drums.
This is a perfect example that shows why the violence is not going to end no matter who wins the election in November.
Ted Wheeler is not a Republican.
He isn’t even a moderate Democrat.
In fact, he is one of the most far left mayors in the entire country.
But they targeted his home anyway.
As I detail in my new book, so many people warned us in advance that tremendous rioting, looting and violence would erupt in our major cities. In some instances, these explosions of anger are being fueled by political unrest, but in other cases we are seeing acts of violence that are completely and utterly mindless. A perfect example of this is an incident which just took place in Baltimore…
Video emerged Monday on social media showing a man crossing a street and another man sneaking up behind him and slamming him in the back of the head, which resulted in the victim falling face-first to the sidewalk.
Just before the victim was hit in the head, a voice — presumably from one of the people recording the video across the street — can be heard whispering, “bitch you bet’ not run.” After the victim falls to the sidewalk, at least two people can be heard laughing and hollering in response.
Video of this deeply disturbing attack has been posted on Twitter, and watching it made me incredibly sad.
How evil do you have to be to celebrate when some random person is knocked unconscious by a brick to the head?
I truly wish that the entire country could come together and agree to bring an end to the violence. But of course that isn’t going to happen. If anything, societal tensions are likely to get even higher as we approach election day in November.
It should deeply grieve all of us when we see Americans fighting Americans. There is so much anger and hatred all around us, and any nation that becomes utterly consumed by anger and hatred has no future.
Ultimately, what we really need is to learn how to truly love one another, but unfortunately that is not a very popular message at all these days.
President Trump: Please explain to loyal Americans, as soon as possible, why they should not be exercising their 2nd Amendment rights to deter — or kill if necessary — those who are killing them, burning their property, and ruining cities, as well as planning to destroy their Constitution, economy, liberties, and future. This is especially important because the national government appears unwilling or unable to act to defeat the attacks on Americans coming from the sources noted below. This really is a pretty simple question and, I think, merits a timely and forthright answer. Following are few of the reasons that the question is, in my view, extremely pertinent less than 100 days before the presidential election.
–1.) Americans of all colors are seeing their property destroyed and kin killed in Portland, Seattle, Chicago, New York, and other Democrat-run cities.
–2.) Americans of all colors see that multiple Democratic governors are flooding the country with the many thousands of felons they released from prisons, including murderers and rapists, some of whom already have resumed attacks on the citizenry.
–3.) Americans of all colors have had their parents and grandparents murdered by Democrat governors in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and California who ordered them into old-folks’ homes to die from the Chinese Virus.
–4.) Eligible American voters of all colors know that the Democrats are preparing to negate their votes via a corrupt system of mail-in voting, and then install the tyranny they already have installed in several states, major cities, and the House of Representatives.
–5.) All Americans are learning – from reputable doctors, including famous epidemiologists – that tens of thousands of their fellow citizens have died of the Chinese Virus because Dr. Fauci, Bill Gates and his vaccine-maniacs, the senior-most levels of government’s health bureaucracy, and the media blocked the use of hydroxychloroquine. A noted Yale epidemiologist recently reported that 100,000 more could die if that safe-drug is not used. (NB: As I write, late on 28 July 2020, the Tech overlords are racing to delete all of the doctor statements urging the drug’s use to save lives. (See, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v3cUxCMsM4)
–6.) Americans of all colors know that a large group of Democratic politicians – including Obama and Biden and several Cabinet secretaries – and many senior federal civil servants and U.S. military flag officers were involved in a coup attempt against you, your administration, and those who voted for you. Americans also know these people cemented the treasonous nature of their actions by enlisting the aid of foreign governments.
–7.) All Americans of faith have seen the plans of the Democrats and their allies to end the practice of Christianity in America, keeping Christian churches closed while identifying liquor stores and gambling casinos as essential, and, in several states, exempting abortions from banned selective surgeries and arranging for doctors to conduct abortions “at home”.
–8.) All Americans are learning that the lock-down, the use of face masks, the ruining of businesses, the job losses, and the closing of schools were scare tactics designed by the Democrats to test if citizens would take even-stupid and bankrupting orders from their would-be masters, the Democrats.
–9.) Americans of all colors know that the Democrats and some Republicans have kept the long-ago-lost Afghan War going, and so have kept U.S. military personnel – the children of Americans – in a position to be killed or maimed.
–10.) All Americans are seeing, hearing, and learning that Joe Biden and his family are thieves and Chinese intelligence assets; that Biden is mentally ill and getting worse, and, if elected, will serve as the lead puppet for installing a socialist-criminal tyranny on America by following the orders of Obama, Hillary Clinton, Sanders, China, and the gangsters, terrorists, Big Tech cretins, and media outlets that are aligned with them.
–11.) Increasing numbers of Americans are becoming aware of the pledges of Obama’s keeper Valerie Jarrett and Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) that the Democrats would remember those Americans who tried to undo “Obama’s Legacy” and punish them when the Democrats regained the White House.
–12.) All Americans of all colors know that their 1st Amendment, free-speech rights are being extinguished by the Democratic Party and its partners in Big Tech and major media companies, as the latter two serve that party by censoring enormous amounts of non-leftist material on social media. This practice is now being followed by FOX NEWS; twice this week FOX refused to show the harrowing film of Portland rioting that dispoved Congressman Nadler’s claim that Democrat-sponsored terrorism is a “myth”.
–13.) All Americans of all colors know that those who teach their children – backed by the Democratic Party and the party-owned teacher unions – are indoctrinating them to hate their own country and to support those who want to destroy the republic.
–14.) All Americans of all colors know that the Democratic Party intends to open all of the nation’s borders to any foreigner who wants to enter, thereby ensuring that this human detritus will always vote for the party and that future elections will be an endless reaffirmation of Democratic tyranny.
–15.) White Americans know that they and their children will be treated by future Democratic governments exactly as White South Africans are being treated by the murderous Black government that Mandela built and left as his racist legacy; that is, an attempt will be made to exterminate them.
These matters, Mr. President, need to be put on the road to removal soon. Unless they are near their end by election day, it is likely that the only result that will be accepted by your supporters and other loyal Americans, is your reelection. Given the items outlined above, Sir, to accept the addled Biden as president would amount to welcoming a China-backed, fascist regime bent on killing any Americans who oppose it. Very few of us, Mr. President, will go quietly into the valley of death the Democrats have built for us and our children. We all saw how Nadler’s vicious Democratic swine abused Attorney General Barr on Tuesday. What chance would a dissenting ordinary citizen have if those animals had power? Only one chance, Sir, the 2nd Amendment.
The Barbarians are at the gates, the cities are in flames, the war for the soul of America is in full swing. What I say here I do not say lightly. America is on the brink of falling, and if history is a guide and a repeating cycle, there will be very little to stop the demise of the greatest nation in the world, just like there was little at the end that could stop the fall of the Roman Empire once the decay and rot had set it.
What we are watching in our streets is nothing that happened overnight, it’s a product of years of social decay, corruption, indoctrination, and just flat out apathy. For as long as I have been active in politics, twenty-five years, which isn’t that long, I have seen the decline of this country, the spread of the corrupt cancer that’s been eating the heart and soul of America spread from the federal government to the states, to the smallest towns. It’s in our colleges, schools, our movies, television shows and in the very fabric of our everyday lives. Now add to that a virus that some would say is dubiously overblown and regulations that a year ago would have been laughed off as insane paranoia but are now seen as patriotism that must be enforced, and you have the perfect storm for the complete downfall of this republic.
George Who?
The fear and pent up resentment reached a flashpoint with the death of George Floyd, who barely gets any mention anymore. Which proves that he was simply used as the match to the fuse that is sparking riots not only all over in our cities, but also round the clock protests in even the smaller communities that don’t get much mention on the nightly news. Companies and sports venues quickly caved in out of fear of being protested next for simply not picking a side. Multimillionaire athletes are now en masse kneeling during the National Anthem before every game or, in the case of the WNBA, walking right off the court altogether. These things would have been unheard of a decade ago, now they’re seen as “taking a stand”.
Monuments are being ripped down, an act that many said would not stop with Confederate statues. It now includes anything that simply offends anyone else. Christopher Columbus, the Founding Fathers, memorials to fallen police officers, military, and veterans, are all targets. We all watched a historic church in Washington, DC nearly be burnt to the ground by anarchists who have been emboldened by liberal politicians who not only have ignored their actions, but in some instances have joined with the protesters against police, all while businesses are being vandalized, looted, and burned.
Today New York’s Attorney General Letitia James announced that she was suing the National Rifle Association with one goal, to dissolve it entirely. Now, I have had many bones to pick with the NRA over the years, and it appears that there has been a lot of mismanagement at the top for a long time, but one thing that everyone needs to see, with eyes wide open, is that if the liberals start with the NRA, they won’t stop there. You can bet they will look into finding a way to shut down every organization that they don’t like, or that stands up to them to defend your rights. The fact that an Attorney General from any state unveils a massive lawsuit against what for decades has been seen as the face of the Second Amendment in America with less than three months to go before perhaps one of the most pivotal elections in America’s history has got to be looked at for what it is, a political move to knock the NRA out of being able to lobby or fundraise for any candidates.
I hope I am wrong, but I feel that the violence we’re seeing is only going to get worse, egged on by the fact that there seem to be no consequences for those who loot and burn, while if you have a business and violate one of the many arbitrary rules that make no sense, you risk having your business shut down, being fined or even facing jail time. In some cities, if you get caught without a mask on, it’s a stiff fine, whereas we all see, night after night, a protest somewhere in this country where it seems that the rioters and looters have been given complete control of the streets.
Our country has been turned upside down, and hardworking, law-abiding citizens are on the bottom and are being trampled by the rioters and the regulations coming from blue states that worsen from day-to-day.
What Americans seem to have lost is hope, and I think that is intentional. The media on every channel beats the public down with talk of sickness, possible school closures, the economy, riots, violence, and politics. There never seems to be any good news, and all the while, everyone is told to stay home whenever possible while protesters are told that their actions are patriotic and, in some cases, necessary to get their point out. Good people are living in fear while the cities are in free fall. So of course, they feel helpless and are at the mercy of their elected officials. Speaking out is not only not good, but it’s going against the grain. Americans are told to not question what’s happening, just shut up, put on your mask, and do as your told.
Where this country goes from here is anyone’s guess, and I am not someone who is simply into the “buy guns and ammo” crowd. You don’t try to buy guns and ammo during a crisis, you should have had them before this all began. A crisis rarely takes a lot of time to spring up, giving you the chance to stock up. I think people should be looking to their own, thinking about where they live and putting away supplies of all kinds. I’m not saying go out and hoard toilet paper, but you can bet if things head south, what you saw at the grocery stores in March will only be an inkling of what they will look like.
America is going through a serious crisis right now, and it’s not just about the Covid virus. The real virus is what we’re seeing elected officials doing to their citizens while allowing criminals to go free or not be arrested at all.
The real virus is the fear that’s now rampaging through the country, making Americans afraid to even go outside for the fear they will catch something that is proving to be far less deadly than we were told. The real virus is the mobs of looters and rioters we’re seeing in our streets every single night, trashing buildings, cars, and destroying businesses while the media calls their actions peaceful. It is yet to be seen if the virus infecting America right now will be fatal to the republic or if we will be able to rally and fight it off. One thing is for sure, we’re running out of time to save the patient.
On Saturday, hundreds of Trump supporters gathered in the outskirts of Portland in a “Cruise Rally” in pick-up trucks with a lot of Trump 2020 flags decked out all over the cars.
After their rally, they then decided to drive into Portland. They were set upon, in the words of the media, by “counter-protesters” otherwise known as radical leftists/Antifa folk.
Leftist tried to block some of the cars, other cars they threw things at, threatened or stole flags from. Some of the Trump supporters defended themselves with pepper spray or paintball guns. There were multiple fights between the two groups.
Antifa assaulted Trump supporters in the convoy with urine sprays and projectiles before facing retaliation. pic.twitter.com/MEOwDGWc5r
Antifa rioters try to physically block the Trump cars from driving in downtown Portland. They get maced instead of run over. #PortlandRiotspic.twitter.com/qx3mJFz24K
They cornered Patriot Prayer’s Joey Gibson and beat the heck out of him. He survived because the folks in the gas station saved him and pulled him inside. Then Antifa tried to besiege the station.
But as we reported earlier, the worst incident was when a man came up and apparently walking up to the Trump supporter and fired point blank, killing him.
Tonight in Portland BLM terrorists and Antifa murdered a Trump supporter in cold blood.
No altercation, no fight. He walked up behind him and assassinated him because of his political views.pic.twitter.com/jNDs0YJcGn
Then they celebrated the death of the Trump supporter, cheering when one of their leaders announced he was dead, even burning an American flag in the celebration, after slandering the man calling him a “nazi” and saying “our community held its own. they “took out the trash.”
“He was a f—ing Nazi! Our community held its own.”
Antifa & BLM in Portland celebrate the homicide of a purported Trump supporter who was affiliated with Patriot Prayer, a Portland-area conservative group. pic.twitter.com/xjIWk0KHN2
After finding out that it was a “blue lives matter” supporter who was killed, antifa in Portland are very happy. They’re dancing and chanting now. #PortlandRiotspic.twitter.com/PeqyVUXfNE
Antifa burn a US flag to celebrate the death of the man shot in downtown Portland. They call him a “fascist” despite not knowing who he is. #PortlandRiotspic.twitter.com/3CjdcWDl1S
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Here’s another reported shot of the apparent shooter, looks like he has a distinctive tattoo on his neck that some are describing as the socialist fist which should make it a lot easier to figure out who he is, not to mention the distinctive outfit he was wearing.
This is the suspected shooter in the white short, seen from the back, in Portland where a blue lives supporter was shot and killed. pic.twitter.com/WufdzWN0xW
Update 9/4/2020: Yesterday Michael Reinoehl admitted to being the shooter in this incident, but claimed it was self defense. The same evening he was killed by law enforcement after Reinoehl pulled a gun when they attempted to arrest him. “Initial reports indicate the suspect produced a firearm, threatening the lives of law enforcement officers. Task force members responded to the threat and struck the suspect who was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Somewhat related – Colion Noir’s take on the Kenosha, WI shooting:
“I can’t sugarcoat this. We’re at Threat Level: Midnight!” – The Office
People actively avoid being near those of opposing ideology. Might move from communities or states just because of ideology.
Common violence. Organized violence is occurring monthly.
Opposing sides develop governing/war structures. Just in case.
Common violence that is generally deemed by governmental authorities as justified based on ideology.
Open War.
We are at step 9. Step 9. is, of course, two minutes to midnight on the clock. Violence continues to be commonly justified by local and state authorities.
In this issue: Front Matter – Talking About Divorce – Violence and Censorship Update – Updated Civil War 2.0 Index – Living Two Minutes To Midnight – Links
Welcome to the latest issue of the Civil War II Weather Report. These posts are different than the other posts at Wilder Wealthy and Wise and consist of smaller segments covering multiple topics around the single focus of Civil War 2.0, on the first or second Monday of every month. I’ve created a page (LINK) for links to all of the past issues. Also, feel free to subscribe and you’ll get every post delivered to your inbox, M-W-F at 7:30 Eastern.
Talking About Divorce
I read an article once that said that couples that talk about getting a divorce are much more likely to get a divorce. Heck, when my ex-wife said she wanted a divorce on Valentine’s Day, I was surprised – I wasn’t planning on spending that much. But talking increasing the divorce risk – that made sense to me: every time you talk about an event, you tend to bring the event closer to becoming real.
How?
It’s not magic or a witch’s incantation, or at least I didn’t see my ex-wife doing incantations, though there was a smell of sulfur around midnight. It is simply that when people talk about divorce, they start imagining what it would be like. When divorce fantasy is better than marriage reality, the lawyers get called in.
In a recent “war game” of different election scenarios, John “Spirit Cooking” Podesta played the role of Joe “stay in the basement until November” Biden. Crucially in the war game scenario where Biden lost, “Biden’s team sought to encourage large Western states (California, Washington, Oregon) to secede unless pro-Democracy reforms were made.”
Both sides are talking about divorce.
Violence and Censorship Update
Violence associated with the protests is now so common that stories that would have made national news four months ago are, at most, up for a single news cycle. “Peaceful” protester draws an AK on someone driving by and gets ventilated? Yawn. Two women (I guess) are frolicking on an interstate at night and get (inadvertently) mowed down by someone driving a car?
It’s bad. In Chicago, 2,249 people have been shot this year as of July 29 (LINK), which is nearly 700 more than in all of 2019. At this rate, more people will be shot in just Chicago this year than during the entire Falkland Island War between Great Britain and Argentina. This is patent proof that black lives don’t matter to Black Lives Matter®, since deaths of unarmed black people at the hands of cops in all of 2019 were, according to USA Today™ (LINK) only . . . 25.
The Civil War II graphs are an attempt to measure four factors that might make Civil War II more likely, in real time. They are broken up into Violence, Political Instability, Economic Outlook, and Illegal Alien Crossings. As each of these is difficult to measure, I’ve created for three of the four metrics some leading indicators that lead to the index. On illegal aliens, I’m just using government figures.
July was generally better than June, which is like saying that World War I was “better” than World War II. Let’s go to the graphs. As is custom at Wilder, Wealthy, and Wise, the graphs are presented with girls in bikinis, because if civilization is collapsing what better time is there for bikini graphs?
Violence:
Up is more violent. June pegged the scale of violence. This measure because the way it’s constructed, doesn’t go higher than 300. It’s lower this month. Does that mean it’s less violent this month? Certainly riots are down, but the measure is a measure of how people feel about the violence. Since it’s so common now, it’s not spiking. That is, in my opinion, very bad – we’re getting used to this nonsense.
Political Instability:
Up is more unstable. Instability is down only slightly, which might seem weird, but the political system is still stable overall. I expect this to spike in the next two months, and may introduce a new measure based on the election as we get closer to November.
Economic:
Down indicates worse economic conditions, but this month it’s up. The part of me that hopes, hopes we’re on a real upswing. The part of me that thinks says we’re nowhere near the bottom.
Illegal Aliens:
Down is good, in theory. This is a statistic showing border apprehensions by the Border Patrol. Down, probably related to WuFlu, unemployment, and riots. This is near a five year low for this time of year.
Living Two Minutes To Midnight
Two minutes to midnight is a tough place for the United States to be sitting, and we’re here. The confluence of great events, economic, political, and social is upon us. It’s in these times of upheaval that systems collapse in complexity from a high level to a lower one. Highly complex society provides us nice things like video games and delivery of eyeglasses made in China in a week.
Societies of low complexity struggle to feed themselves and live in mud huts. Low complexity societies are always on the edge – a famine could mean real death due to starvation, not that the shake machine is broken at McDonalds® again so you have to go to Sonic™ if you want a shake.
In order to grab or consolidate political power, there are politicians that would gladly drop our standard of living to that of starving people in mud huts. Those that would support them imagine a world where they’ll be allowed to be artists and poets and philosophers and the mud huts will be left for those who oppose the new way of doing things.
Living in this time, I have one suggestion: be as prepared as you can be for nearly anything to happen. Understand that things you’ve taken for granted your entire life can change in a day. I never thought I’d live in a society where rioters could stop cars of peaceful citizens with impunity and the tacit approval of local and state governments, but here we are.
Eventually, the country is going to go with law and order, for, no matter how the liberals’ recoil from the phrase and its associations with Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon, without law and order there is no justice and there is no peace. What Nixon said in ’68 remains true: “The first civil right of every American is to be free from domestic violence.”
Is Joe Biden forfeiting the law-and-order issue to Donald Trump?
So it would seem.
“Republicans Use Law and Order As Rallying Cry” was the top headline on The New York Times’ front-page story on Vice President Mike Pence’s acceptance speech at Fort McHenry Wednesday night.
The Wall Street Journal Page One headline echoed the Times: “Pence Accepts Nomination as GOP Puts Focus on Police.”
In his address, Pence charged Biden with sinning by silence in failing to denounce the rioters, looters and arsonists who have for months attacked police and pillaged Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, Kenosha and other cities.
Said Pence: “Last week, Joe Biden did not say one word about the violence and chaos engulfing cities across this country.
“Joe Biden says that America is systemically racist, and that law enforcement in America has… ‘implicit bias against minorities.’ When asked whether he’d support cutting funding to law enforcement, Joe Biden replied, ‘Yes, absolutely.’
“Joe Biden would double down on the very policies that are leading to unsafe streets and violence in American cities. … You will not be safe in Joe Biden’s America.”
Now, it is inexact to say Biden would “defund” the police. When the big agenda item of Black Lives Matter was first raised, Biden rushed to say he would reform the police and increase spending.
And, late Wednesday afternoon, probably after seeing an advance of Pence’s speech, Biden tweeted from Delaware about the chaos that has engulfed Kenosha since Sunday night’s police shooting of Jacob Blake:
“Needless violence won’t heal us. We need to end the violence.”
Biden’s belated and tepid condemnations of the riots and pillaging of America’s cities by “peaceful protesters” gone rogue night after night testifies to the dilemma in which he finds himself.
It is three months since George Floyd ceased to breathe under the knee of that Minneapolis cop. But it is also three months to the election. And the political tide is turning, visibly and hard, against the arsonists and anarchists conducting the nightly rampages against cops across America.
The weariness of the public with the riots is palpable. The claim that these are but the understandable excesses of “peaceful protests” is getting stale. And the reaction against the riots and ruin in the Black communities, for whom they are allegedly being conducted, is growing.
Black leaders in urban areas are saying we want good cops, but we also want more cops to protect our people from gun-toting gangbangers who are running up rising weekly kill rates.
Tuesday, video surfaced of a mob of radicals surrounding, berating, cursing and threatening a woman at a D.C. diner. Her crime? She had refused to submit to demands she raise her fist in a Black Power salute and proclaim, “Black Lives Matter!”
“White silence is violence!” screamed the mob.
It looked like a training exercise for aspiring Nazi Brown Shirts.
We are beginning to see how this all unfolds. And from here, it looks like the Democratic left is going to be the loser on all counts.
First, the big mandate — “Defund the police!” — has backfired.
The Biden media daily testify to its unpopularity by insisting Biden never endorsed it. Where police department budgets have been cut, shooting and homicide rates have soared. And Biden’s refusal to endorse the mandate tells you what Democrats’ polls are telling them.
The police bill passed by Nancy Pelosi’s House featuring restrictions on chokeholds has been ignored by the Senate, and Republicans do not appear to be suffering for having ignored it.
The smashing of statues, which has escalated from Columbus to Catholic missionaries and saints, to Confederate generals and statesmen like Lee, Jackson and Jefferson Davis, to the four presidents on Mount Rushmore — Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, TR — is now seen even by liberal elites as excessive.
Eventually, the country is going to go with law and order, for, no matter how the liberals’ recoil from the phrase and its associations with Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon, without law and order there is no justice and there is no peace. What Nixon said in ’68 remains true: “The first civil right of every American is to be free from domestic violence.”
The mega-demand of BLM and its collaborators — reparations for slavery and segregation — is not wildly popular. Yet, reparations, which ultimately involves trillions in wealth transfers, is an issue on which Biden will have to choose between the Bernie-BLM-AOC wing of his party and the Scranton Democrats among whom he was raised.
The decisive question:
Are the nation’s police forces shot through with systemic racism and overpopulated by white cops who relish using violence on Black folks? Or are our police the first of the first responders, the thin blue line standing between America and anarchy?
The Republicans have chosen. They stand with the cops.
And if and when Biden comes out of the basement again, he is going to have to take a stand. Declaring evenhanded neutrality won’t cut it.
I was finishing up the next two articles in the Survival Strategies series, when the world, particularly the US, started going even more nuts than it has been.
Yet another shooting and more misinformation and the ensuing riots that seem to accompany everything these days. I wrote a little bit about this on my Facebook page, but I want to expand on it.
We are at a crossroads right now that many have never seen in our country.
If you have missed the current goings-on from the last few days, here it is in a nutshell.
In Kenosha, WI, there was an OIS involving a young black man. Initial reports painting him as innocent, unarmed, and executed turned out to be wrong. As we have seen, that is all it takes in the current US climate to create a firestorm. “Protests” started, this time obviously as a pretense, as the violence soon took over. An entire car lot torched, several churches, and many businesses. An important part, which will become material later, is that many minority-owned businesses were destroyed.
The violence went on for two days/nights. Last night, the third night, was a turning point. Citizens showed up with rifles. The first reports are three shot, two dead.
Why I say this is a turning point, you might ask?
Simple, this is now an escalation that can lead to outright, open, armed conflict between groups. It doesn’t matter whether or not you believe one side or the other or think the defenders were white supremacists. This is and always has been an indicator of crossing the Rubicon. Once we pass this point, it is a different game.
Now is the time to tighten everything up that you have been working on with your preps.
Do you have your food, water, meds, etc.?
Where are you a little light? Can you fix that fast, or do you need alternate planning and supply?
Do you have a network established for mutual support, defense, and, once again, supply?
Do you have barter goods?
Do you have medical supplies, weapons, a plan for different events that might happen?
Have you gamed out what might occur?
The reason I am asking these questions is twofold.
First, to encourage you to patch any holes you might have, and second, we have entered the next phase of the game.
Shipping and supplies will become short supply/high demand if this continues, and even worse if this escalates more.
On the personal front, people will start getting clannish and not accept ‘outsiders’ as readily as they might have before, which puts you in a tighter spot if you haven’t made those alliances.
We are not quite at the door of civil war.
We are definitely in a time of extreme civil unrest, and strongly in the throes of a 4th generation warfare event. The agitators, rioters, and insurgents have pushed very hard, and now, push back is occurring. This may help quiet events for a little while, hopefully giving calmer heads a better chance of prevailing, but hope is not a plan.
This could also be what launches us straight into whatever version of the Troubles or Balkanization will come out of the American culture. No matter which way it goes, this is what we have been supposed to have been prepping for, and, as there is never a dress rehearsal, we need to have it right. The beautiful thing is, we had a mini rehearsal with the initial response to Covid-19, and hopefully saw our weaknesses and worked to address them.
All of this unrest, violence, propaganda, and conflict is now leaving our major cities and moving into areas previously thought safer. Would anyone have ever predicted Kenosha WI as a tinder box that lit a broader conflict? Two months ago, would anyone have thought rioters would move into neighborhoods at midnight with bullhorns to disturb and frighten the residents? If you have studied the history of low-level conflict, terrorism, etc., you will notice this is following some very well established patterns.
Look up the recent history in Belgium and the La Terreur, and its tactics. It was an affluent, European country, and these events happened there. Germany in the 70s was a hotbed of this kind of activity.
I just wanted to send a warning and encouragement. The warning signs are there. History is at least rhyming at the moment. We need to be proactive in taking care of ourselves and our loved ones. We can no longer deny what is happening and what it might bring about.
Stay safe, keep your head about you, fix the gaps you have in your plan and supplies. Remain flexible. Don’t buy any hype or propaganda. Make sure you know whether something is true or false before you act on it. You are fighting for you and yours, don’t become a pawn for another.
Keep your eyes open, act when needed, be reserved when you can.
Tom Luongo of Gold Goats ‘N Guns blog has a few words to say about the direction of the country in After Kenosha — Divided We Stand.
It would always come to this. At some point there would be a reckoning for BLM and Antifa.
The shootings in Kenosha, WI are a dividing line for America.
This is the moment where normal people finally said, “Enough. There will be consequences. “
This is a war between radicalized lunatics bathed in unquenchable envy and self-pity and those who refuse to act like victims.
But they are victims.
All of us are. On both sides of the divide.
We are victims of a vicious program to divide and conquer the U.S. through a culture war designed to dehumanize each other.
We fight among ourselves over scraps while the people who manipulated events to this point walk away laughing at the destruction.
They want the violence. They love it. They relish it. It brings them power and prestige.
To maintain their power, as the systems they’ve built fail, they have set us against each other: paid looters and rioters to become cannon fodder in their war against common decency, culture, communities and family.
All for control over the levers of political power.
In 2016 we tried to tell them, peacefully, enough was enough. We elected Donald Trump, of all people, to be our standard bearer. We did it the way we were taught was the right way, through the ballot box.
It was supposed to be the hallmark of our enlightenment, the peaceful transfer of power. It’s been anything but.
For four years we’ve endured a non-stop parade of political venality unmatched in modern history. The quest for regaining the power of the White House brooked no holds being barred.
And if Trump wouldn’t go willingly and we didn’t learn our lesson, then they would activate every cell to flood the streets with disaffected and nihilistic youths to loot and rob; using their outrageous sense of entitlement as fuel for their rage against a machine they are, unwittingly, the main cogs of.
But having watched one young man clear in his purpose to defend his town from roving thugs in Kenosha be forced (under clear conditions of self-defense) to kill two people is a dividing line we’re not coming back from.
Wars are only profitable for those that promote them. Those that fight the wars are the real victims. This kid, a hero by my personal reckoning, is also a victim and there’s no coming back from what he’s had to do.
Killing while justified is still killing. It scars you, no matter if you wear a blue uniform, fatigues or a green t-shirt.
The animals I see on the streets under the auspice of what the media calls ‘peaceful protests’ beating people to within inches of their lives for the crime of being white and defending their property have no humanity.
My livestock have more decency than these people.
And yet, in order for us to survive this dark period of history, we will still have to reach out to them and offer them peace and assistance back from the insanity that grips them now.
That will be the hardest thing for us to do, while also maintaining the resolve to do what we feel is necessary to preserve something of what we’ve built.
That is the dividing line for many of us.
Only you know where that limit is. There are a lot of people out there right now confronting that limit for the first time.
As my dad used to say, as NYPD, “I’d rather be judged by twelve than carried by six.”
We are up against people who brook no limit on their behavior. Everything is justified in the pursuit of their righteous cause. You can see in it all the video footage.
And they know it. They know that we’d rather not fight back. That, unfortunately, to people empowered by the mob and turned into bullies, is misinterpreted as weakness.
Having humanity is not weakness. It is strength.
And nothing bursts the bubble of false bravado on display by Anfita/BLM at this point than strength of character, which defines limits, creates boundaries and establishes consequences.
The sad truth is that this is only the beginning of what’s to come. The line is crossed and from town to town, that line will be more difficult to assess than ever before.
The myth of policing is failing. There aren’t enough cops to quell these riots. The State has been revealed as their enablers.
The law has been used against property owners told they shouldn’t defend themselves or their businesses.
They’ve been afraid of being the ones who cross the line while the looters overwhelm the streets. That impulse will continue to wither. This anarcho-tyranny will not stand for much longer.
That’s what we saw it on the streets of Kenosha.
We’ll see more of it, until a new form of order asserts itself.
Part of the “new normal” in America seems to be battle zones erupting across the nation. I’m not just talking about protests, but full-on sieges that may last for days, weeks, or even months. Some of these began due to acts of police brutality, while others have taken on lives of their own with wholesale looting and violence.
The United States of America we see today is incredibly different from the one we saw at the beginning of the year. We’ve been wracked by a pandemic, a subsequent economic catastrophe, and massive, widespread civil unrest.
Let’s take a look at these pockets of violent behavior. (WARNING: This article contains videos with violent content.)
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Yesterday, police officers shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, in the back as he tried to enter the vehicle where his children were. Blake is in stable condition and expected to live, but the shocking video has spread virally across social media. You can see the cell phone footage below. (Violence Warning)
Police shot Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black father, several times in the back today in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He was getting into his car after apparently breaking up a fight between two women. His three sons were inside the car and witnessed a cop shooting their father! He’s pic.twitter.com/3maVuX5qYk
Kenosha, a city in Wisconsin of about one hundred thousand people, quickly erupted in protest of the shooting. (Never think these things only happen in large cities – here is an inside look at the Ferguson riots of 2014.)
Protests, riots, and looting are expected to continue in Kenosha.
Denver, Colorado
Not only is Colorado currently beset by wildfires, but it’s also plagued with violent civil unrest. Over the weekend, rioters set out to destroy property in downtown Denver.
One Twitter user reported that a group of protesters had gathered in front of a police department in Denver, and that a van pulled up to hand out shields.
A protest in front of Denver Police headquarters is small but has escalated quickly. About 50 protesters are here right now, many with shields and helmets. A van pulled up and passed out shields to protesters. Protesters are at a standoff with a SWAT team now #9Newspic.twitter.com/XlzmcenfG9
The Denver “protesters” called for the abolition of police.
A group of about 40 people protested outside the Denver Police Department headquarters Saturday night and marched through streets in the area, blocking traffic. Some clashed with officers, set fires and broke windows…
…Chemical agents were deployed to control the crowd and eight people were taken into custody…
…Copter4 was over 13th and Delaware when people in the group were breaking windows.
People in the group set two small fires, which were quickly extinguished. (source)
Portland, Oregon
Riots have been ongoing in Portland for months, and this weekend, several notable events occurred.
On Saturday, rioters fought one another in the streets.
Protesters at Portland rallies to show support for police and President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign engaged in physical combat repeatedly with counterprotesters Saturday without police intervention. Members of the chaotic crowd used an array of weapons, including baseball bats and firearms to beat and threaten those they opposed…
…Pro-Trump demonstrators, people carrying shields with references to the QAnon conspiracy theory and members of the Proud Boys — a self-described chauvinist group that regularly engages in violence — all gathered around noon, some carrying rifles…
…Counterprotesters from anti-fascist groups like Popular Mobilization PDX also gathered Saturday, and the two groups quickly began shouting at each other and engaging in tense, face-to-face confrontations in front of the Multnomah County Justice Center.
Within an hour of meeting, protesters began to push each other and throw objects. Some demonstrators on the pro-police side fired paintball guns and deployed pepper spray on counterdemonstrators. Other protesters used baseball bats. Many people wore helmets and body armor as they punched, kicked and tore at each other. (source)
This isn’t just a few people yelling and chanting. This is outright fighting – physical violence.
Conservative rioters left the area in the afternoon, but the remaining rioters continued to become increasingly violent into the night until teargas was released to disperse crowds.
The police did not declare an event because they “didn’t have the resources to handle one.”
In a press release distributed Saturday afternoon, Portland police said its officers did not intervene to stop the fighting because those involved “willingly” engaged, its forces were stretched too thin from policing 80+ nights of protests, and the bureau didn’t feel the clashes would last that long.
“Each skirmish appeared to involve willing participants and the events were not enduring in time, so officers were not deployed to intervene,” the release states. (source)
On Sunday night, the NY Post reported that rioters set fire to a police precinct.
Black Lives Matter militants set fire to a police station in Portland Sunday night during yet another night of violence in the Oregon city.
The march on the Portland Police Bureau’s north precinct had already been declared an unlawful assembly as police say they were pelted with “rocks and bottles” and had “powerful green lasers” pointed at them.
But a mob of at least 300 continued to advance despite repeated warnings by police — and lit an awning on the precinct ablaze… (source)
The fire was extinguished without injuries.
A week ago, a man was seriously injured when he was pulled from his vehicle and brutally attacked during an “otherwise peaceful demonstration.”
A crowd gathered around him and repeatedly punched and kicked him in the head until he was bloody.
Witnesses told police the man had been helping a transgender female who had an item of hers stolen, and he was dragged out of the car and beat by nine or 10 people. When police arrived the man was unconscious.
Portland police said their response to the assault was “complicated by a hostile group.” (source)
It’s important to note that Portland’s new district attorney, Mike Schmidt, has refused to prosecute protesters that commit criminal acts. The New York Times reports that since he took office on August 1 of this year, he has dismissed charges against half of the more than 600 people who have been arrested for crimes like interfering with the police, disorderly conduct and trespassing. Charges that involve assaulting officers will “require closer scrutiny, with prosecutors taking into account in filing charges whether the police fired tear gas into crowds.”
Unsurprisingly, local law enforcement believes that Schmidt’s policies are making matters worse.
Mr. Schmidt said Portland police leaders told him that they were concerned the directive would lead to more police injuries, though he said nothing prevented officers from making lawful arrests they deemed necessary. (The Portland police chief, Chuck Lovell, said the force “will continue to do the job the community expects of us.”)
The sheriff, Mike Reese, warned Mr. Schmidt in an email that some protesters were bent on “starting fires, damaging property and assaulting police, community members,” adding, “They may feel even more emboldened if there is a public statement that appears to minimize their activities.” In response to one of the sheriff’s concerns, Mr. Schmidt said he revised the policy to greenlight prosecutions for rioting in cases where a defendant was accused of serious offenses.
The Oregon State Police also took a parting shot at Mr. Schmidt as troopers pulled back after a two-week deployment at the protests this month, saying they preferred to put resources in “counties where prosecution of criminal conduct is still a priority.” (source)
The violence in Portland shows no sign of relenting.
This is an excerpt from a sermon from Dr. Samuel Langdon in 1775 after being named president of Harvard College and given before the Congress of the colony of Massachusetts Bay.
And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy Counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called the City of Righteousness, the faithful City. – Isaiah 1:26
We have lived to see the time when British Liberty is just ready to expire;—when that constitution of government which has so long been the glory and strength of the English nation, is deeply undermined and ready to tumble into ruins;—when America is threatened with cruel oppression, and the arm of power is stretched out against New-England, and especially against this Colony, to compel us to submit to the arbitrary acts of legislators who are not our representatives, and who will not themselves bear the least part of the burdens which, without mercy, they are laying upon us. The most formal and solemn grants of Kings to our ancestors are deemed by our oppressors as of little value; and they have mutilated the Charter of this Colony in the most essential parts, upon false representations▪ and new invented maxims of policy, without the least regard to any legal process. We are no longer permitted to fix our eyes on the faithful of the land, and trust in the wisdom of their counsels, and the equity of their judgment; but men in whom we can have no confidence,—whose principles are subversive of our liberties,—whose aim is to exercise lordship over us, and share among themselves the public wealth:—men who are ready to serve any master, and execute the most unrighteous decrees for high wages,—whose faces we never saw before, and whose interests and connexions may be far divided from us by the wide atlantick,—are to be set over us as counsellors and judges, at the pleasure of those who have the riches and power of the nation in their hands, and whose noblest plan is to subjugate the Colonies first, and then the whole nation to their will.
That we might not have it in our power to refuse the most absolute submission to their unlimited claims of authority, they have not only endeavored to terrify us with fleets and armies sent to our Capital, and distressed and put an end to our trade, particularly that important branch of it, the fishery; but at length attempted, by a sudden march of a body of troops in the night, to seize and destroy one of our magazines, formed by the people merely for their own security; if, after such formidable military preparations on the other side, matters should be pushed to an extremity. By this, as might well be expected, a skirmish was brought on; and it is most evident, from a variety of concurring circumstances, as well as numerous depositions both of the prisoners taken by us at that time, and our own men then on the spot only as spectators, that the fire began first on the side of the King’s troops. At least five or six of our inhabitants were murderously kill’d by the Regulars at Lexington, before any man attempted to return the fire, and when they were actually complying with the command to disperse: and two more of our brethren were likewise kill’d at Concord-Bridge by a fire from the King’s soldiers, before the engagement began on our side. But whatever credit falsehoods transmited to Great-Britain, from the other side, may gain, the matter may be rested entirely on this,— that he that arms himself to commit a robbery, and demands the traveller’s purse, by the terror of Instant death, is the first aggressor, though the other should take the advantage of discharging his pistol first and killing the robber.
The alarm was sudden; but in a very short time spread far and wide: the nearest neighbours in haste ran together, to assist their brethren, and save their country. Not more than three or four hundred met in season and bravely attacked and repulsed the enemies of liberty, who retreated with great precipitation. But by the help of a strong reinforcement, notwithstanding a close pur|suit, and continual loss on their side, they acted the part of Robbers and Savages, by burning, plundering, and damaging almost every house in their way, to the utmost of their power, murdering the unarmed and helpless, and not regarding the weaknesses of the tender sex▪ until they had secured themselves beyond the reach of our terrifying arms…
We have used our utmost endeavors, by repeated humble petitions and remonstrances,— by a series of unanswerable reasonings published from the Press, in which the dispute has been fairly stated, and the justice of our opposition clearly demonstrated,—and by the mediation of some of the noblest and most faithful friends of the British constitution, who have powerfully plead our cause in Parliament,—to prevent such measures as may soon reduce the body politic to a miserable, dismembred, dying trunk, though lately the terror of all Europe. But our King, as if impelled by some strange fatality, is resolved to reason with us only by the roar of his Cannon, and the pointed arguments of musquets and bayonets. Because we refuse submission to the despotic power of a ministerial Parliament, our own Sovereign, to whom we have been always ready to swear true allegiance,—whose authority we never meant to cast off,—who might have continued happy in the cheerful obedience of as faithful subjects as any in his dominions,—has given us up to the rage of his Ministers, to be seized at sea by the rapacious commanders of every little sloop of war and piratical cutter, and to be plundered and massacred by land by mercenary troops, who know no distinction betwixt an enemy and a brother, between right and wrong; but only, like brutal pursuers, to hunt and seize the prey pointed out by their masters.
We must keep our eyes fixed on the supreme government of the ETERNAL KING, as directing all events, setting up or pulling down the Kings of the earth at his pleasure, suffering the best forms of human government to degenerate and go to ruin by corruption; or restoring the decayed constitutions of kingdoms and states, by reviving public virtue and religion, and granting the favorable interpositions of his providence. To this our text leads us; and though I hope to be excused on this occasion from a formal dis|course on the words in a doctrinal way, yet I must not wholly pass over the religious instruction contained in them.
Let us consider—That for the sins of a people God may suffer the best government to be corrupted, or entirely dissolved; and that nothing but a general reformation can give good ground to hope that the public happiness will be restored, by the recovery of the strength and perfection of the state, and that divine providence will interpose to fill every department with wise and good men.
Isaiah prophesied about the time of the captivity of the ten tribes of Israel, and about a century before the captivity of Judah. The kingdom of Israel was brought to destruction, because its iniquities were full; its counsellors and judges were wholly taken away, because there remained no hope of reformation. But the sceptre did not entirely depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, till the Messiah came: yet greater and greater changes took place in their political affairs; their government degenerated in proportion as their vices increased, till few faithful men were left in any public offices; and at length, when they were delivered up for seventy years into the hands of the king of Babylon, scarce any remains of their original excellent civil polity appeared among them.
The Jewish government, according to the original constitution which was divinely established, if considered merely in a civil view, was a perfect Republic. The heads of their tribes, and elders of their cities, were their counsellors and judges. They called the people together in more general or particular assemblies, took their opinions, gave advice, and managed the public affairs according to the general voice. Counsellors and judges comprehend all the powers of that government; for there was no such thing as legislative authority belonging to it, their complete code of laws being given immediately from God by the hand of Moses. And let them who cry up the divine right of Kings consider, that the only form of government which had a proper claim to a divine establishment was so far from including the idea of a King, that it was a high crime for Israel to ask to be in this respect like other nations; and when they were gratified, it was rather as a just punishment of their folly, that they might feel the burdens of court pageantry, of which they were warned by a very striking description, than as a divine recommendation of kingly authority.
Every nation, when able and agreed, has a right to set up over themselves any form of government which to them may appear most conducive to their common welfare. The civil Polity of Israel is doubtless an excellent general model, allowing for some peculiarities; at least some principal laws and orders of it may be copied, to great advantage, in more modern establishments.
When a government is in it’s prime, the public good engages the attention of the whole; the strictest regard is paid to the qualifications of those who hold the offices of the state; virtue prevails; every thing is managed with justice, prudence, and frugality; the laws are founded on principles of equity rather than mere policy; and all the people are happy. But vice will increase with the riches and glory of an empire; and this gradually tends to corrupt the constitution, and in time bring on it’s dissolution. This may be considered not only as the natural effect of vice, but a righteous judgment of heaven, especially upon a nation which has been favor’d with the blessings of religion and liberty, and is guilty of undervaluing them, and eagerly going into the gratification of every lust.
In this chapter the prophet describes the very corrupt state of Judah in his day, both as to religion and common morality; and looks forward to that increase of wickedness which would bring on their desolation and captivity. They were a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that were corrupters, who had forsaken the Lord, and provoked the holy One of Israel to anger. The whole body of the nation, from head to foot, was full of moral and political disorders without any remaining soundness. Their religion was all mere ceremony and hypocrisy, and even the laws of common justice and humanity were disregarded in their public courts. They had Counsellors and Judges, but very different from those at the beginning of the common wealth. Their Princes were rebellious against God, and the constitution of their country, and companions of thieves, giving countenance to every artifice for seizing the property of the subjects into their own hands, and robbing the public treasury. Every one loved gifts and followed after rewards; they regarded the perquisites more than the duties of their office; the general aim was at profitable places and pensions; they were influenced in every thing by bribery; and their avarice and luxury were never satisfied, but hurried them on to all kinds of oppression and violence, so that they even justified and encouraged the murder of innocent persons to support their lawless power, and increase their wealth. And God in righteous judgment left them to run into all this excess of vice to their own destruction, because they had forsaken him, and were guilty of wilful inattention to the most essential parts of that religion which had been given them by a well attested Revelation from heaven.
The Jewish nation could not but see and feel the unhappy consequences of so great corruption of the state. Doubtless they complained much of men in power, and very heartily and liberally reproached them for their notorious misconduct. The public greatly suffered and the people groan|ed, and wished for better rulers and better management. But in vain they hoped for a change of men and measures and better times, when the spirit of religion was gone, and the infection of vice was become universal. The whole body being so corrupted, there could be no rational prospect of any great reformation in the state, but rather of its ruin; which accordingly came on in Jeremiah’s time. Yet if a general reformation of religion and morals had taken place, and they had turned to God from all their sins; if they had again re|covered the true spirit of their religion; God, by the gracious interpositions of his providence, would soon have found out methods to restore the former virtue of the state, and again have given them men of wisdom and integrity, according to their utmost wish, to be Counsellors and Judges. This was verified in fact, after the nation had been purged by a long captivity, and returned to their own land humbled, and filled with zeal for God and his law.
By all this we may be led to consider the true cause of the present remarkable troubles which are come upon Great-Britain and these Colonies; and the only effectual remedy.
We have rebelled against God. We have lost the true spirit of christianity, tho’ we retain the outward profession and form of it. We have neglected and let light by the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and his holy commands and institutions. The worship of many is but meer compliment to the Deity, while their hearts are far from him. By many the gospel is corrupted into a superficial system of moral philosophy, little better than ancient Platonism. And after all the pretended refinements of Moderns in the theory of christianity, very little of the pure practice of it is to be found among those who once stood fore|most in the profession of the Gospel. In a gene|ral view of the present moral state of Great Britain it may be said—There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and commiting adultery, their wickedness breaks out; and one murder after another is committed, under the connivance and encouragement even of that authority by which such crimes ought to be punished, that the purposes of oppression and despotism may be answered. As they have increased, so have they sinned; therefore God is changing their glory into shame. The general prevalence of vice has changed the whole face of things in the British government.
The excellency of the constitution has been the boast of Great-Britain, and the envy of neighbouring nations. In former times the great departments of the state, and the various places of trust and authority, were filled with men of wisdom, honestly, and religion, who employed all their powers, and were ready to risque their for|tunes, and their lives for the public good. They were faithful counsellors to Kings; directed their authority and majesty to the happiness of the nation; and opposed every step by which despotism endeavoured to advance. They were Fathers of the people, and sought the welfare and prosperity of the whole body. They did not exhaust the national wealth by luxury and bribery, or convert it to their own private benefit, or the maintenance of idle useless officers and dependents; but im|proved it faithfully for the proper purposes, for the necessary support of government, and defence of the kingdom. Their laws was dictated by wisdom and equity; and justice was administred with impartiality. Religion discover’d it’s general influence among all ranks, and kept out great corruptions from places of power.
But in what does the British nation now glory?—In a meer shadow of it’s ancient political system?—In titles of dignity without virtue?—In vast public treasures continually lavished in corruption, till every fund is exhausted, notwithstanding the mighty streams perpetually flowing in?—In the many artifices to stretch the prerogatives of the crown beyond all constitutional bounds, and make the king an absolute monarch, while the people are deluded with a meer phantom of liberty? What idea must we entertain of that government, if such an one can be found, which pretends to have made an exact counterbalance of power between the sovereign, the nobles and the commons, so that the three branches shall be an effectual check upon each other, and the united wisdom of the whole shall conspire to promote the national felicity; but which, in reality, is reduced to such a situation that it may be managed at the sole will of one court favorite? What difference is there betwixt one man’s choosing, at his own pleasure, by his single vote, the majority of those who are to represent the people; and his purchasing in such a majority, according to his own nomination, with money out of the public treasury, or other effectual methods of influencing elections?—And what shall we say, if in the same manner, by places, pensions, and other bribes, a minister of state can at any time gain over a nobler majority likewise, to be intirely subservient to his purposes; and moreover persuade his royal master to resign himself up wholly to the direction of his counsels? If this should be the case of any nation from one seven years end to another, the bargain and sale being made sure for such a period, would they still have reason to boast of their excellent constitution?— Ought they not rather to think it high time to restore the corrupted dying state to its original perfection?—I will apply this to the Roman senate under Julius Caesar, which retained all its ancient formalities, but voted always only as Caesar dictated. If the decrees of such a senate were urged on the Romans as fraught with all the blessings of Roman liberty, we must suppose them strangely deluded, if they were persuaded to believe it…
Into what fatal policy has the nation been impelled by its public vices! To wage a cruel war with its own children in these colonies, only to gratify the lust of power, and the demands of extravagance! May God, in his great mercy recover Great Britain from this fatal infatuation; shew them their errors; and give them a spirit of re|formation, before it is too late to avert impending destruction. May the eyes of the King be opened to see the ruinous tendency of the measures into which he has been led, and his heart inclined to treat his American Subjects with justice and clemency, instead of forcing them still farther to the last extremities! God grant some method may be found out to effect a happy reconciliation, so that the colonies may again enjoy the protection of their Sovereign, with perfect security of all their natural rights, and civil and religious liberties.
But, alas! have not the sins of America, and of New-England in particular, had a hand in bringing down upon us the righteous judgments of heaven? Wherefore is all this evil come upon us? Is it not because we have forsaken the Lord?…
“Here’s my neighborhood, Mike: An elderly man, enjoying dinner w/his wife at an outdoor restaurant, punched in the face. A woman waiting for the subway to come stabbed in the back. An older neighbor pausing to catch his breath told to pay two dollars in protection money or get “the fuck off that particular street corner. This is just the ten block radius from where I live in the last six days.” Other friends from NY talk about shattered business districts, drugstores with locked shelves, and hundreds of homeless people and parolees, including sex offenders, being moved into hotels on the Upper West Side adjacent to schools and playgrounds, which are filled with needles again like in the 1970s. Friends in Philadelphia report large homeless encampments in the city center and being robbed at gunpoint.
Friends in LA talk about squatters taking over empty homes in professional class neighborhoods whose residents fantasize about emigrating to Canada. Friends in all three cities have seen police officers refuse to get out of their cars while large-scale lawbreaking takes place in front of them. That’s in addition to the obvious mayhem being perpetrated on a nightly basis in Portland, Seattle and Chicago. Estimates are that up to one million people have already fled New York City — meaning nearly everyone who has the means to leave has left.
Minneapolis is a smoldering ruin that has sustained untold damage to its immigrant neighborhoods. This is not what I am reading. This is what I am hearing from people directly.
Make no mistake about it: America is now in the middle of a 70s style urban crisis whose root is a well-founded fear of violent crime and social collapse in the midst of a pandemic. The destructive spiral that has been unleashed by leftwing play-acting at revolution and pursuit of stupid fantasies of abolishing the police is destroying our greatest cities.
As urban residents vote with their feet, we are being left with empty urban shells with no tax base and no meaningful employment. The fact that the business of Washington DC is the Federal government and the national media is now centered here is blinding our society to what’s actually happening in other big cities across the country.
What’s happening is this: Thirty years of very meaningful social and economic progress in our cities — which has hugely benefited minorities — is being undone by a toxic coalition of professional ideologues and “organizers,” rich kids in Che t-shirts, well-coiffed Mayors, and a National Democratic Party that pretends that the ongoing destruction of minority owned businesses and the social and economic infrastructure that is a primary engine for raising African American and immigrant families into the middle class is somehow about “civil rights” or “racial inequality.” It is not.
It is about a war on the American middle class being waged from above and below by people whose response to the values and the struggles of average American families
Former Director for Strategic Planning for the National Security Council Rich Higgins writes The Three Perils Threatening the United Statesfor Unconstrained Analytics, citing internal and external threats.
The Republic is in grave danger.
There, I said it.
Does anyone really doubt it? America is stumbling and the vultures are circling. What is the nature of these perils that afflict us?
America sits atop a global system created at the outset of the 20th century. That century saw the United States elevated to the status of global imperial power, having been victorious in two world wars and the beneficiary of an international monetary system that, post World War II, provided for a vast global, if not regional, peace. Sure, there was a Cold War with the Soviet Union and other limited wars, but no true great global war in which the entire geo-political order came into question.
Times have changed. Today the United States is faced with three enormous perils:
an external threat,
an internal threat, and
a fulcrum on which the two interoperate to synchronize a multi-prong attack on America.
1
The first peril is that China has emerged as a geopolitical and economic challenger to the United States. The simmering geopolitical threat from China is multilateral in nature. In fact, a geopolitical reordering on an historic scale is taking place.
Supported by financial stakeholders, China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” seeks no less than the unification of the Eurasian landmass. This geopolitical and economic reordering has seen China peel off NATO ally Turkey, make common cause with Iran, align with Pakistan, and subsume Hong Kong. Even European Union nations, beneficiaries of 75 years of American security, are drifting into the arms of the Chinese Communists.
2
The second peril, a domestic counter-state, has emerged pressing a Marxist revolutionary insurrection in alignment with China’s objectives. With a century of Marxist subversion in the making, this counter-state manifested as a silent or soft coup attempt in 2017, and subsequently has evolved into a Marxist revolutionary insurrection rising to a boil inside the United States.
This insurrection has both overt and clandestine components, and while the underground remains largely anonymous, much of it is hidden in plain sight and is clearly visible to anyone familiar with unconventional warfare tactics.
One hallmark of this emergent insurrection is the state-within-the-state:
institutional control over executive branch function even when their affiliated political party is out of power,
control over media organs,
state employees elevated above citizens in the application of laws,
selective enforcement of laws based on political affiliation or policy desires (i.e. sanctuary cities), and
the abuse of intelligence, law enforcement, judicial and regulatory structures to punish or control political enemies.
It is important to note that all of the outcomes sought by this insurrection support Communist China’s ambition to see the United States displaced from her perch as global leader.
3
The third peril is a biological-economic crisis brought about by the Chinese, and exacerbated by the domestic revolutionary insurrectionists and their allies in the media and public health sector.
This public health crisis and its derivative economic calamity was spread intentionally throughout the world by China and its allies. COVID-19 has upended the global economic system and decreased the domestic productivity of most nations, thereby increasing governance challenges and opening the door to greater state controls.
Inside the United States, the Marxist insurrection is capitalizing on the virus and the counter-state’s control of the public health system to:
enact draconian population control measures,
extraconstitutional legal maneuvers,
propaganda and psychological warfare operations,
economic warfare targeting the middle-class business owner, and
intermittent escalatory violence including the use of anarcho-communists operating under the rubric of critical race theory.
Never let a crisis go to waste!
Any one of the three perils is potentially lethal in its own right. In the aggregate, this is a crisis of epic proportions.
Unfortunately, the underground revolutionary insurrectionists operating inside the government institutions interfere with executive branch function and make matters much more difficult to qualify, rectify, or even acknowledge. In so doing, these meddling government officials betray their oaths to defend the Constitution.
Many Americans see the vultures circling. The signs are everywhere; debt exploding, unemployment skyrocketing, currency uncertainty, the gold price rising, and record-high gun sales. The herd is nervous. Sides are being chosen. The tectonic plates are rumbling.
People are looking for crisis leadership that comprehends the three perils, is prepared to deal with them, and most importantly realizes that America is worth defending.
Even as I write the title for this article, I wonder: Is that in fact possible? Can we be prepared for a hostile takeover?
The other day I was speaking with a friend about the ongoing insanity in some of our greatest cities: Seattle, Boston, NYC. We bemoaned the reappearance of the “democratic socialist” in the United States. It seemed incomprehensible to us—and horrifying, like a slow-growing metastasis or an insidious dementia. I wondered how we could prepare ourselves for the eventuality of a horde of lunatics reaching our otherwise peaceful community or worse—occupying the White House.
With years of experience as a doctor of pharmacy in critical incident work, including 9/11, she was the right person to ask. I also knew that her understanding of these things had been shaped by having had a father who risked his life in the Dutch Resistance, survived and escaped three concentration camps, and lived to be liberated from Nazi Europe. He was a complex man with a two-sided nature: aloof and critical but also a hero, having sacrificed a good part of his health and emotional well-being in order to save Jews and Christians he didn’t even know.
I asked her a simple question: if you had a time machine and wanted to warn your father, or the Jews or Ukrainians in the late ’20s and early ’30s, what would you tell them?
Her response surprised me: “Keep your eyes open, look for the truth, don’t be afraid to speak up, keep the faith and trust in God.”
While I wholeheartedly agreed with her reliance on the Lord, my heart co-opted my tongue with the words I had expected to hear from her: “I would tell them to run as fast as they can, now, get out, drop everything and come here, to us.” The image of a hen gathering her chicks with the shadow of a hawk passing overhead came to mind.
And in 1932, that was a blessed and real option. Today, for us, however, there’s no “us” anywhere else. Where would we go? France? The United States, the last great hope of millions upon millions of refugees, is under siege from within. It appears that in this world, as Americans, we really are on our own.
Now what?
Is there more than one way to be prepared? Is there any way to be truly prepared? The following are just some options.
Prepare by Arming Ourselves.
The first piece of legislation enacted after Hitler took power was the confiscation of weaponry in the civilian population.
He was a madman, but he was no fool. He knew that you couldn’t shove a well-armed populace into cattle cars or ghettos. We know that the next step in Germany was to defund the police. The only weapons then were in the hands of goose-stepping soldiers.
In the Second Amendment of the Constitution our forefathers saw the danger of ever- consolidated power in an oligarchic government and they made the most important provision…resistance.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
This form of preparation is normally best left in the hands of younger people who have access to the wisdom of the experienced. Whether that’s possible given our current demographic status is the subject of another discussion.
Prepare by Building a Cache.
It is a common understanding that Mormons have a year’s supply of foodstuffs and other essentials in the basements of their homes. The toilet paper craze of 2020 has made the wisdom of their ways perfectly clear. Things we took for granted as ubiquitous can disappear overnight.
What to store? Tools, batteries, warm clothes, paper towels, candles, precious metals, freeze-dried foods, medicines, water, water and water. Have a list. Don’t forget a freshly-stocked backpack, cash or some other form of tender. A subset: keep a percentage of your portfolio liquid and readily available.
Prepare to Take a Stand
At some point you will be called either to stand up for what you believe and what you know is right or to surrender. To take a stand, you may be required to lay down your life.
The stakes might just get that high. Take stock. Be honest. What do you stand for? What are you willing to die for? To live for? How important is liberty? How important is comfort? Consider an older call to stand in strength:
Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” 1 Peter 3:13-14
Prepare in the Spirit
This is, in my mind, the most important option. We are still one nation under God, whether or not it “trends.” It entails that we take the time now to cultivate relationships, spend time in prayer, and trust in the right things, which are overwhelmingly not in this world. On the geopolitical map in the natural world, we may be alone, but in truth we are not. We are held together and empowered by the Creator who really does know what He is doing. Even when we can’t see it…or understand it. And, when (or if) the time comes for us to show what we’re made of, we may be braver and stronger than we can imagine from our more comfy vantage points right now.
My friend’s father is a powerful example, even 70 years later. She shared a story she’d only recently learned from her elderly aunt.
Her father, who was about 18 years old at the time, had hidden the family car in a nearby woods, camouflaged by a thicket. He’d kept it so he could smuggle Jews out of Germany and into homes with hiding spaces. On one occasion, with lives literally and immediately in the balance, he arrived at the border between Holland and Germany only to be confronted by soldiers who demanded to inspect his papers. He told them in perfect German that the commander himself had given him his orders. The soldier said, “We need to see the orders. We’ll call the commander ourselves.”
Thinking on his adrenalized feet, he said, “You go right ahead. He’s in a foul mood. Better you than me.”
They let him through.
Can you ever be prepared for something like that? I don’t know.
My husband is sure that washing his car is a ritual that inevitably brings rain. Sometimes I have a similar idea about preparations…if you spend a lot of time preparing and have it all perfectly organized, nothing will happen.
Here’s John Wilder of Wilder, Wealthy, and Wise with his latest Civil War 2.0 Weather Report.
This is an excerpt from a sermon from Dr. Samuel Langdon in 1775 after being named president of Harvard College and given before the Congress of the colony of Massachusetts Bay.Mike on Twitter: “I’ve been exchanging messages with friends about what what’s happening in our cities: NY, Philadelphia and LA especially. A lot of disturbing things are not making the news. Even Republicans aren’t drawing attention to it. Here’s a message from a friend about life in NY today:
Lower Valley Assembly 