"No Tanks on Park Avenue"

 

I have used the Public bathroom analogy to explain socialism.  How do you get people that can't throw trash away properly or flat out piss on the seat to have the enlightened self interest to worry and work with and care about and be concerned with  others in a group based economy.   Yeah...We seen those people on carnival cruises, and leaving "Shopping Carts"  all over the place, you have to have a hi-trust society to even have a chance for it to succeed, and we flat out don't have one., there will always be those people that will look to get something without working for it and they will hustle and scam the system to get it relying on the goodwill of others to provide for them, and this doesn't work hence the fallacy of socialism and communism, Humans are flawed creatures and there will be those that will make poor decisions despite all evidence to the contrary, then blame others for their failures in life.

    Yes I ripped this off.....I distributed this to the masses  😁

Socialism isn’t people just being nice to each other – there is a big difference between being social and being a socialist – socialism is the gateway drug to Marxism and Marxism is the precursor to communism and all of those three are always despotic.

Even the “social democracies” of the UK, the EU, and the Nordic states have inequality and soft despotism.

At least back in the bad old days, Marxists, along with their fellow travelers and useful idiots, were open about “the revolution”. They were brutal – but at least they attacked you from the front in direct combat. Not today. No tanks are rolling down Park Avenue in New York City - it is coming in on the tiny, soft padded feet of a bunch of furry little kitties.

If I wanted to ease a nation and its people into a state of Marxism, especially a nation that fought communist ideology successfully for over 80 years, the fastest way to enslave them would be through massive, debt financed spending – especially spending that produces nothing but the inevitable generational taxes that must exist to pay the bill.

I would heap mountains of Byzantine laws and useless and wasteful regulations upon every daily transaction in the attempt to overcome the choice of individuals and force the outcome I desire, and when it didn’t deliver the promises I made, I would teach people it was free market capitalism that did this to them.

I would convince people not to trust those who claim they “just want to be left alone” because we all know that in their silence, they are planning something.

I would use unfalsifiable words and concepts like “equity”, “fairness”, “inclusion”. I would substitute objective terms and ideas for subjective ones and then convince the people that every idea, feeling, intent, want, need and desire is equally valid and achievable and that my movement is like Pedro’s campaign from Napoleon Dynamite – if you vote for me, all your wildest dreams will come true.

And then when people noticed scarcity and mutual exclusivity are part of reality, I would tell them that the real problem is choice – that there are just too many choices being made by unpredictable and unreliable people, so choice must be controlled…limited.

And those unpredictable people who often buck the conventional wisdom, often become rich and because they are rich, you are poor. I would convince people that creators are stealing from them.

Even though the least intellectually capable among us know there are things, like water and fire, that cannot exist in the same place at the same time, people would vote for Pedro because Pedro promised burning water.

And people really, really wanted burning water, so I would use that impossibility to convince the Pedro-ites that the guy who figured out how to catch a rocket in reentry because he wanted to go to Mars should have his fortune confiscated, be arrested, imprisoned, and then executed and the burning water people who promise everything but deliver nothing should be elected to run the country.

To a normal, logical person all of that might sound contradictory but for the committed collectivist, contradiction is a way of life.

Since the election last week, I have heard a cavalcade of Democrats, leftists and outright communists claim capitalism (free market economics) has failed. That statement is made unironically not because the free market has really “failed” but because they have not been able to alter the fundamentals of a free system to generate their desired outcomes.

They portray the free-market economy as a wild bull rampaging through town: despite lassoing its neck and horns, they might steer it slightly but cannot stop it.

And never once have they thought that it might not be the bull that is the problem.

It might be the ropes – that bull was just fine in his pasture until they tried to restrain it and bring it to town. When he got loose and was forced into an environment with which he was unfamiliar, all hell broke loose.

I’m old, old enough to remember growing up in Mississippi during desegregation and busing. I attended an all-white elementary school until third grade, when I was bused to a new school where I knew few children. The move was traumatic. The politics of integration mattered less to me than the distress of leaving most of my friends behind.

I remember the news reports about the Soviets invading Czechoslovakia in 1968. I remember daily Vietnam War body counts on the Huntley-Brinkley Report at 6 pm. I remember East Germany before the Berlin Wall fell. I remember Checkpoint Charlie. I remember the Warsaw Pact and the hard line, pre- “glasnost” Soviet leaders, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko. I can remember when China was essentially a closed society and a mystery to the West…at least until Richard Nixon visited there in 1972.

I remember the violent suppression carried out by these Marxist/communist governments, something that Americans under the age of 45 only read about in history books. To them, China has always been open, there never was a USSR and they have never seen a communist state roll an army into a neighboring nation because they were insufficiently communist. They have never heard miraculous stories of daring escapes from East Germany and the terrible accounts of the 171 people killed trying to reach freedom.

So, spare me the mealy-mouthed excuses for Marxism, the admiration of communist China, how a little socialism is a good thing for America and how it is going to work this time.

I saw what it looked like in practice.

37 years since the Berlin wall Came down.

 

I saw the vote and how it went and that we have 50% of the college students want to try socialism because they think it is "fair" because we have done such a poor job of teaching history, and those of us that lived during those times are becoming fewer each year.  I am proud to been part of a pivotal part of history and I have done what I can to properly 'splain what it was like back then, but many don't want to listen because they believe that they can get it right this time because they just have to get the right people in charge.   I was gonna post this earlier but I got squirreled, hey it happens.   November 9th 1989 was a big deal.

Hard to believe that it has been 37 years ago that the wall came down.  It was surreal experience for us.  We were watching TV and it felt like the "Twilight Zone".

Closeup of my Picture

Map of Wall Location

Piece of Wall

This  is a repost of a post that I did back in 2014, it did talk about the fall of the Berlin Wall and my experiences.  When I was talking about the petulant "Boy King" I was referring to President Obama who was president in 2014 not to President Trump who is president now in 2026

I have Blogged about Berlin a lot since I started blogging back in 2011.  I have a connection to that city as I have for Stuttgart.  I remember walking around the city from the West Berlin part to the East Berlin part and how different they were, the vibrant West and the Dour East. 

When the Second World War was finally over, Germany was divided up into four occupation zones among the Allied forces. Berlin was also divided up into four sectors between the USA, the UK, France, and the Soviet Union. Tensions between the Soviets and America, the UK, and France grew strong over the following two years which culminated in the latter three uniting the non-Soviet controlled zones of the city into one to promote reconstruction in post-war Berlin

   As many of y'all that visit my little corner of the internet know that I spent 5 years in Germany, I got there in mid 1986, and DEROS's back to the world in 1991 where I mustered out.  I spent the first 18 months attached to the 1st Infantry Division (FWD) at Cooke Barracks in Geoppingen Germany.  I then transferred to a corp level asset in 1988 at Echterdingen or SAAF(Stuttgart Army Airfield). That is where I was when we got deployed to the Persian Gulf for Desert Shield then Desert Storm.  But I was stationed in Germany when they unified in 1989.
     I will intersperse my experiences with some photo's I took of my souvenirs.  You know what they say about G.I's...."We souvenir anything long time".  My first time in Berlin was in 1987 while I was attached to Wobeck a station near Helmstedt a part of Field Station Berlin.  I took my Mustang down the Helmstedt autobahn, The Helmstedt Autobahn is the only land route that we as Americans can drive through East Germany to Berlin.  We have to use "Flag Orders" to traverse the Autobahn to Berlin.  We would have to stop at 2 Soviet checkpoints.  We would be in class "A's" uniform, get out of the vehicle, present our flag orders to the soviet representative  at Magneburg and at Potsdam.

 This is a copy of a set of flag orders, Mine has my SSN on it and for obvious reasons, I ain't posting that one......

 Well when I went to Berlin, it was  a surreal experience, this is a link of my travels and various postings, West Berlin was a 24 hour party and east Germany was very subdued.  We exercised our rights of travel in East Berlin on a regular basis.  I would walk around and explore the sights.  I saw scaffolding everywhere, like they were rebuilding, but the wood for the scaffolding was dry rotted.  the buildings still had bullet pock marks in the wall when the Soviets took the city in 1945.  If we were hassled by the east Germans we would ask or demand "Ich murste mit eine Soviet Officer mit zum sprechen".  I want to speak to a Soviet officer.  Since the Soviets were in charge of East Berlin and the Western powers were responsible for West Berlin.

     I remembered President Reagan speech in 1987 in West Berlin.

   This is when we had a President that behaved like a President rather than the petulant boy-king we have now.  But when the East Germans were going through Czechoslovakia and Hungary to get to the West and the East German Government started cracking down and we increased out alert status because we had doubts on what the Soviets will do, for in the past they did interfere with protest like they did in East Germany in 1953, Hungary in 1956, and Czechoslovakia in 1968.  Poland almost got invaded by the "Warsaw Pact" in the early 80's during the Solidarity Protest but the Polish government declared martial law and other draconian measures to basically placate the soviets so they didn't get the "assistance" from the Warsaw pact like the other places did.

        When the unrest grew, we increased our surveillance  to see what the Soviets would do.  when the wall started to come down, we were confined to garrison for 2 reasons, one to prevent an incident with an American near the border and in case the Soviets attacked, we would be able to ramp up to a wartime footing.   Luckily such things didn't happen.  But watching the party and celebration on AFN was like being in the twilight zone, we were watching history before our eyes and all we could do was hold on for the ride and hope for the best.

       We started seeing the ""Trabbi's" on the autobahns and nothing like doing 130 MPH's and seeing a trabbi doing 50 mph packed full of "Osters" going to the west to see the sights.
     Well I did collect some souvenirs of my time after the wall fell.

Beer Stein

My flag orders and a "DDR" country tag

A picture of the Brandenburg Tor with British Tanks in front of it.  A "SMLM" ID tag in front of it.

A bunch of my Soviet and East German hats, I got a lot of stuff with some dollars and Western Pron magazines.

The Sector sign that is immortalized.

 East German hat and helmets.

Yes that is a Soviet and East German flag.   My "man-cave" has a lot of stuff from my travels.

    I do want to go back to Berlin and Germany to  see how things have changed.   I hope to do this journey fairly soon and take my son with me and he can see how things were and how things have changed.   We saw some exciting times and were on the fore front of history

USAF "Widebody underproduction may hamper Civil Reserve Air Fleet"

 

I never knew of such a thing until I started reading "Tom Clancy" and the book "Prodigal Soldiers" and yes you can find that book on amazon.  Well anyway when I was reading about the activation of a "Civil Reserve Air Fleet" and that it was activated for Desert Storm for the first time. and fictitiously in Tom Clancy books.   They say that Amateurs talk tactics, and professionals talk logistics. and nobody does it like we can.

Kaletta's 747 are one of many wide bodies available to the "Civil Air Reserve Fleet"

KISSIMMEE, Florida–The aircraft industry’s inability to meet growing demand for widebodies could, in the long term, hurt the U.S. military’s ability to rely on the nation’s civil reserve air fleet (CRAF) if needed, the Air Force’s mobility boss warned.

A long-term forecast of commercial wide-body production will present a“strategic challenge that we don’t fully appreciate yet,” Air Mobility Command (AMC) leader Lt. Gen. Daniel Tulley said at the Airlift/Tanker Association Symposium here.

Airbus and Boeing build relatively few widebodies, with the existing fleet already so large, but approximately 3% of those aircraft age out each year, Tulley said, citing a briefing he received at a recent National Defense Transportation Association event. Over the next 10 years, requirements will outpace production, he warned.

“The CRAF depends on commercial widebody capability and capacity for a number of things,” Tulley said in a Nov. 7 interview at the symposium. “There’s the passenger-hauling portion of the CRAF, but we find great value in the cargo haulers that help us out through [U.S. Transportation Command]. If those aircraft are not available when we need them, that’s something we should pay attention to.”

While the CRAF can currently meet the military’s needs, it could be a problem further out. In an April discussion with the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, former AMC Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Rebecca Sonkiss highlighted the November 2025 crash of the UPS Airlines MD-11 aircraft as something that affected a “significant capacity” of the CRAF fleet. The crash came as airframers no longer produce major four-engine aircraft and are instead shifting more to underbody cargo, she said.

Tulley highlighted newcomers like JetZero’s Z4 blended wing body design and Radia’s Windrunner cargo aircraft as welcome developments. But these designs are still in work and rely on Pentagon interest and funding.

“It’s great that American industry is bringing that type of innovation forward,” he said. “It’d be great if industry built those things without requiring the Air Force to build them.”

Under the typical model, the military leads development, and commercial industry leverages it—not the other way around.

“I really hope that this is something that our economy and our innovative defense industrial base can get,” Tulley said.

Veterans Day

 

Take today,, call your fellow vet friends, give them a ration of crap...just because they will do the same to you. go get a free mean with your friends and raise a glass to those that have already reported to Fiddlers Green(Army) or what your service equivalent is and just enjoy the comrade and fellowship.  Today is special to us.

This day was created originally as "Armistice Day" after the "War to end All Wars" and people wanted to honor the veterans from that conflict.  The Day was set as 11/11/11/11th.  Or November which is the 11 month, the 11 day, the 11th hour and the 11th minute.  The day was called "Armistice Day" until after WWII, it then was called "Veterans Day."

There are 3 holidays that honor the United States Armed forces,
  We have Armed Forces Day that honors those that are serving
  We have Memorial Day that honors those that died in service or those of us that crossed over to Valhalla or Fiddlers Green.

 And Veterans Day to me traces its lineage to those of us that stood watch on the borders of our civilization since the days of the Romans standing watch on the Danube to guard the frontier so those of our people could sleep secure at night knowing that they were safe from the bad people.  Veterans like me and those like me presented a blank check to Uncle Sam to write in any amount including our lives if necessary.  We mustered out but we know many of us that didn't make it to this stage and that is where Memorial Day comes in and Veterans day honors those of us that did make it and this day honors us and those like us.  It is a unique category because the veterans in our society is a small segment like a warrior class and Veterans tend to come from family traditions, meaning that it is a father son, uncle cousins nieces, Aunts, moms kinda thing.  This Day humbles me to a great degree because of what it means and I will honor those of us that crossed beyond.  Our job as Veterans is to ensure that the traditions are not forgotten and passed on to the next generations.

"The Vibe Shift"

    I can't add to this except to say that *the Free Sh!t Army" will spend us into insolvancy as a nation and they don't care, because to them tomorrow may never come.  I keep trying to be optomistic but trying to overcome generations of sloth encouraged by the education system. 

For my friends who argue against my position that this election result was due to a demographic shift - or simply say “Hey, we don’t suck, it is just the cycle! It will swing back!”, please read this post by Spencer Pratt because he is dead on with his analogy here (reproduced from X for those who don't do X):

*******

𝑊𝑒'𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑒𝑟𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑏𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦.

𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚 𝑝𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑. 𝑁𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑 "𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑", 𝑛𝑜𝑡 "𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡". 𝐴𝑟𝑒 𝑁𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝐵𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒? 𝑁𝑜𝑝𝑒. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒? 𝑁𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡. 𝐷𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒? 𝑁𝑜𝑝𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑑.

𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡, 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑. 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠. 𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑤𝑙𝑦-𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠? 𝑂𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡. 𝐴𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒? 𝑁𝑜, 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑒, 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑏𝑢𝑡...𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑆𝑎𝑢𝑙 𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑: 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘.

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑑𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 2 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠...𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑧𝑒𝑟𝑜 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟, 𝑧𝑒𝑟𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡...𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠. 𝐴𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦? 𝑁𝑜, 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑦.

𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑠 100% 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔'𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑦. 𝐷𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑠ℎ𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑦 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑢 𝑎𝑛𝑑 (𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑛𝑎𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑠) 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠? 𝑁𝑜𝑝𝑒...𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙. "𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑓𝑓!" 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑉𝐸𝑅𝑌 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒'𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑎 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑔𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑢𝑚𝑠, "𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒" 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦. 𝐼𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 "𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒" 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡...𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡, 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 "𝐹𝑅𝐸𝐸!" 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑.

𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 9 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑜𝑙𝑑. 𝐼 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑛𝑒, 𝑠𝑜 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑦, 𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 "𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑓𝑓!" 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑢𝑛𝑐ℎ 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒. 𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑥 𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑂𝑧𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑐, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑂𝑧𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑐...𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠. 𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑓𝑓...𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑙𝑙 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑘? 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠.

𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 5%, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑦 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠. 𝐼𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟? 𝑁𝑜𝑝𝑒. 𝐼𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑏𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙? 𝐴𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡, 𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑢𝑝 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑔𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑘, 𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑙 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑎.

𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡, 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑. 𝐴 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑏𝑎𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔...𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 "𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑦" 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑢𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛; 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑖𝑛ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔...𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡. 𝑍𝑜ℎ𝑟𝑎𝑛 𝑀𝑎𝑚𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑖 𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑡...ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑓𝑓. 𝐼𝑛 𝑎 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑝ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑣𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑍𝑜ℎ𝑟𝑎𝑛 𝑛𝑢𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑎𝑦𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑖𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑡. 𝐵𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑒, 𝑀𝑎𝑚𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑖 𝑔𝑜𝑡 2 𝑀𝐼𝐿𝐿𝐼𝑂𝑁 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑠, 𝑞𝑢𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑃 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 10𝐾 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑠. 𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 "𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑠, 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑤?"...𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚.

𝑌𝑒𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑓𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠. 𝑅𝑖𝑧𝑧 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑗𝑜𝑏 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑐 2024 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑔𝑛...𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑟𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑑𝑎𝑝𝑡 𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑒.

"𝑁𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚 𝑖𝑠, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒!" 𝐴𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑜𝑛? 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡? 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 20 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠? 𝑈𝑛𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑠, ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑑𝑟𝑢𝑔 𝑧𝑜𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒, 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐹𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑗𝑎ℎ 𝑖𝑛 2004...𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑠, 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑁𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝐵𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒...𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑠ℎ.

𝐴𝑑𝑎𝑝𝑡 𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑒.

*******

The demographic shift is more than just numbers - it is more than just we “olds” aging out and the “youngs” coming in. It is the MINDS of the “youngs” that have changed, they are conditioned to emotionally react to the instant gratification (and confirmation) of tweets, posts, podcasts and influencers, most of whom do not know sh*t from shinola, but sound like they do and look good on camera.

For example, the Jew-hating, communist-loving Hasan Piker looks good and is absolutely confident in his bullshit, as is Candace Owens, whatever she has turned into.

I made fun of Kamala Harris when she talked about a “vibe shift” in the 2024 election, but sometimes stupid, clueless people are right in their ignorance. Even a blind hog finds an acorn every now and again - or maybe she was just spilling the beans on a Democrat strategy she had been told about but didn’t understand she was supposed to keep quiet about.

What Pratt describes in this post is that “vibe shift” of dumbed down people with the “economic knowledge of a 9 year old”.

I touched a little on this yesterday when I noted that voters saw the New York playboy Trump rather than the President he has become. The Playboy didn’t give two flying fornications about them and their pain at the pump where the President has delivered a resurgent economy and a path to a successful future.

But the kiddies can’t wait that long for their orange slices. They have to have them right now.

Where do you suppose the “OK, Boomer” blame game came from? A while back I used the lyrics from Mike and the Mechanics song, “The Living Years”:

“Every generation blames the one before and all of their frustrations come beating on your door…”

This is literally the battle cry of the “youngs”, built entirely by Democrats and featuring not only hatred for the success of their parents and grandparents, but any successful person in society regardless of age.

And they are clueless this was created by old hippie millionaire commies in the Democrat party as a branding project. It is a purge modeled after Mao’s extermination of the “olds” - old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits. It explains why there is a new fascination with communism – and even Islam. Neither free market capitalism or Christianity has failed – they both have been infected to such a degree with the very gene altering “vaccines” that they look like something from the Island of Doctor Moreau, neither human or animal, but something in between.

This is the mindless rule by raw nerve and it is especially significant because these are the products of social, political, and educational systems we have bitched about for decades (because the Democrats have been building them) but we never took ourselves serious enough to really do anything about them.

None of these means I am conclusively right, but please take a broader look at the things we did not do to fight this when we had the chance. If this is truly a shift of the mind due to a demographic change, the Gramscian capture of the institutions may have already brought about the endgame and we may not get another shot. Blame the internet or social media but also realize this is just the first wave breaking on the shore – if it is the internet and social media, they will be adding to the inventory of dumb by churning out replacements for today’s voters every hour, day, week, month, and year to come until Malthus’ prophecy comes true and some cataclysm changes the priorities and direction of society.

I’m certainly not the smartest peanut in the bin, but something is different this time around and what Pratt hit on in the attached post is falsifiable with information we already have.

And Holy Hell folks, we have been talking about this wave for half of my life.

Now it is here.

Monday Music "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Around The Old Oak Tree" By Tony Orlando and Dawn

 To me, for some reason, 1979 ain't that long ago.....Memory is a funny thing.  

Yellow ribbon flown in 1979 by Penne Laingen when her husband, US diplomat Bruce was held captive during the Iran hostage crisis; among the first of the modern "yellow ribbons."

I decided to change gears and go with an early 70's song, I heard this song on my Sirius/XM on my "70's channel." on the way in this morning and I remembered that the "Students" seized our embassy on the 4th of November 1979  and the resulting rescue attempt and multitudes of failures at "Desert One" I remember the song when it first came out and it did sound good and was easy especially for a kid to follow.  I also remember the yellow ribbons when they came out during the hostage crisis when the kooks in Iran overran our embassy due to our allowing the deposed Shah of Iran to enter the country for medical attention.    It later showed up all over the place when I was deployed to the Gulf in 1990 and 1991.  And it is associated with the returning of the troops.  When my brother was deployed in his first tour to Iraq, I had a yellow ribbon around a tree and it stayed up the entire 16 month deployment of his 1st armored division.   We combat vets are superstitious lot, and I was afraid that if I removed the ribbon, the good luck for my brother would dissipate so it stayed until his return.  It did look kinda rough at the end though.

During the Iran hostage crisis, the yellow ribbon was used a symbol of support for the hostages held at the United States embassy in Tehran. In November 1979, a committee headed by Suzan E. Garrett of the Jaycees ladies service organization in Leitchfield, Kentucky organized a campaign to "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" around public trees as well as encouraging people to wear tied ribbons on lapels in support of the U.S. hostages being held in Iran. She was interviewed on ABC-TV by Ted Koppel on the newly created Nightline late-night news program and later by Peter Jennings for ABC's World News Tonight.
This symbolism continued and gained further notoriety in December 1979, when Penelope Laingen, wife of Bruce Laingen who was the most senior foreign service officer being held hostage, tied a yellow ribbon around a tree on the lawn of her Maryland home. The ribbon primarily symbolized the resolve of the American people to win the hostages' safe release. Yellow ribbons featured prominently in the celebrations of their return home in January 1981.
The yellow ribbon saw renewed popularity in the United States during the Gulf War in the early 1990s. It appeared along with the slogan "support our troops", in the form of yellow ribbons tied to trees, and countless other contexts. It often had the implied meaning of "bring our troops home" from the Desert Shield and Desert Storm troop deployments. It appeared again during the 2003 invasion of Iraq with similar meanings, most prominently in the form of a yellow ribbon printed on magnetized material and displayed on the outside of automobiles.

"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" is a song by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando. It was written by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown and produced by Hank Medress and Dave Appell, with Motown/Stax backing vocalist Telma Hopkins, Joyce Vincent Wilson and her sister Pamela Vincent on backing vocals. It was a worldwide hit for the group in 1973.
It reached number one on both the US and UK charts for four weeks in April 1973, number one on the Australian charts for seven weeks from May to July 1973 and number one on the New Zealand charts for ten weeks from June to August 1973. It was the top-selling single in 1973 in both the US and UK. In 2008, Billboard ranked the song as the 37th biggest song of all time in its issue celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Hot 100.

The song is told from the point of view of a prisoner who has completed his three-year sentence but is uncertain if he will be welcomed home.
He writes his love, asking her to tie a yellow ribbon around the "ole oak tree" in front of the house (which the bus, bringing him home from prison, will pass by) if she wants him to return to her life; if he does not see such a ribbon, he will remain on the bus (taking that to mean he is unwelcome). He asks the bus driver to check, fearful of not seeing anything,.
To his amazement, the entire bus cheers the response – there are 100 yellow ribbons around the tree, a sign he is very much welcome.

The origin of the idea of a yellow ribbon as remembrance may have been the 19th century practice that some women allegedly had of wearing a yellow ribbon in their hair to signify their devotion to a husband or sweetheart serving in the U.S. Cavalry. The song "'Round Her Neck She Wears a Yeller Ribbon", which later inspired the John Wayne movie She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, is a reference to this.
The symbol of a yellow ribbon became widely known in civilian life in the 1970s as a reminder that an absent loved one, either in the military or in jail, would be welcomed home on their return.
The story of a convict who had told his love to tie a ribbon to a tree outside of town is an American folk tale, dating to before 1959. In October 1971, newspaper columnist Pete Hamill wrote a piece for the New York Post called "Going Home". In it, he told a variant of the story, in which college students on a bus trip to the beaches of Fort Lauderdale make friends with an ex-convict who is watching for a yellow handkerchief on a roadside oak in Brunswick, Georgia. Hamill claimed to have heard this story in oral tradition.
In June 1972, nine months later, Reader's Digest reprinted "Going Home". Also in June 1972, ABC-TV aired a dramatized version of it in which James Earl Jones played the role of the returning ex-con. A month and a half after that, Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown registered for copyright a song they called "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree". The authors said they heard the story while serving in the military. Pete Hamill was not convinced and filed suit for infringement. Hamill dropped his suit after folklorists working for Levine and Brown turned up archival versions of the story that had been collected before "Going Home" had been written.

^{In April 1973, the song reached No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 (chart date April 21, 1973) in the US, and stayed at No. 1 for four weeks. "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" sold 3 million records in the US in three weeks. It also reached N. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and BMI calculated that radio stations had played it 3 million times from seventeen continuous years of airplay. It also reached No. 1 in the UK and Australia, and has sold 1 million copies in the UK.}