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Praetorium Honoris

Sunday, May 5, 2019

Barbarians

For millennia they have stood on the fringe. Looking in at civilization, not part of it, but mindful of it. Not contributing to it, but living off of it, parasites. They do not build, they do not sow, they tear down, they take.

The world has always been this way.

Now it's just that we hear about it on the news, 24/7, it fills the airwaves, it streams over the Internet, it is seemingly inescapable.

For much of my time in the military, we were encouraged, even required, to stay abreast of current events. I often wondered what did I care if there was trouble in some far off land, how could that possibly impact the way I performed my duties?

While staying at Big Time's and The WSO's house over the past week, the television in the main living area always seemed to be on. When I'd get up in the morning, it would be silent, but as soon as my son-in-law got up (he was on the late flying schedule last week) the television would come on, normally tuned to Fox News.

So I was a bit more cognizant of national and world affairs while I was out there. Local commercials were often odd, extolling the virtues of electronic vehicles (as if the energy to power them was somehow magically produced and wasn't derived from fossil fuels) and other environmental concerns. Most of them of somewhat spurious provenance.

Yes, in California one has to occasionally ask for a straw, if a straw was provided, it was usually paper. One had to drink quickly as those things tend to fall apart rather rapidly. It's a good thing we let some nine year old kid with a hazy grasp of scientific principles dictate our behavior, isn't it?

At least he can claim ignorance due to his young age, unlike some of his "adult" counterparts whose science is meant to push a social agenda. It's a new religion of sorts, it's about control, nothing more, nothing less.

Politicians have ideas, ideas based on wishful thinking and playing to the fears and hopes of a poorly educated populace. They need your money, my money, in fact our money to make these poorly conceived ideas happen. We all know they never will.

Yesterday I had an epiphany of why during my time on active duty the higher ups wanted us cognizant of current affairs. If you don't understand the context of the times you live in, how can you possibly prepare for a threat? Dimly perceived at first, the threats always seem to be a surprise when they arise. Not for those who were paying attention, but for those of us content to just roll along, living our lives with no regard for outside events.

In past ages, the protectors of civilization stood on the ramparts and watched. Watched for the dust clouds on the horizon which signaled something was out there, something moving, something perhaps coming their way.

The barbarians are out there, they are looking for weakness, they will strike when they find it. It may not be possible to always drive them back. There are those among us who will assist those barbarians for their own selfish and short-sighted reasons. We have to keep an eye on them.

But we need to stand on those ramparts and pay attention, always.

For there is rising dust on the horizon, something is coming.

These are troubled times.



46 comments:

  1. Barbarians AND Quislings.

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    1. Yes, the quislings, the party ranks (both sides) are riddled with 'em.

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  2. Electric cars are like meat from the supermarket that comes in a Styrofoam tray & wrapped in plastic. The dirty part of the job is done out of sight.

    Yes, troubled times.

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    1. Nice analogy Rob, very accurate as well.

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    2. Meat with really short shelf life and priced at Wagu levels.

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  3. Oh, and harped on in hour long segments, ad nauseium! And trying to blame each other.

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    1. Oh dear yes, the hour long segments which serve absolutely no purpose other than to boost the egos of the "news" team.

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  4. The Barbarians are no longer at the gate. They are among us.

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    1. Some of them, the vast majority are still out there.

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    2. But they have completely taken over the leadership of the Democratic Party.

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    3. The Democrats have no leadership, it's every man/woman for themselves, just look at the mob they ave announcing for President. I mean, come on, Biden? The lights are on but no one is home with that guy.

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    4. There is leadership in the party, but it is behind the scenes leadership. There's a puppetmaster somewhere in there. My bet is it looks like an old Hungarian ex-camp worker...

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    5. I know who you mean. And I think you're right, at the very least he's the paymaster.

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  5. My wife and I have this conversation on occasion.... "Why do you read so much about XYZ?" "You never know what will be valuable tomorrow!" I've been blindsided before, and I didn't like it much. Keeping abreast is mandatory now.

    Had a quick conversation with the lunch lady the other day, a stunning beauty by the by.... "Why do you think measles is such a deal now?" "Oh, anti-vaxers, must be..." "There were anti-vaxers a few years back and no measles, what changed?" We wound up wondering if large movements of un-vetted people into the country could have a downside.... Her face showed she had never even considered that....

    Proselytizing.... It's good!

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    1. There's a reason for screening people coming in, bringing medieval attitudes, diseases rubbed out in this country are some of them. Want to be here? Become one of us, don't want that? Stay where you are and improve that place.

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    2. Yup. It is sadly enjoyable to twist the conversation in such a way that the clue-bat hits them squarely in their derriere. I'm personally working on the ex-methhead Bernie lady down the way... slowly... By the Election I hope to have her voting for OMB!

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    3. Revealing my cultural ignorance once again, who is OMB? (Certainly not the Office of Management and Budget.)

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    4. OrangeManBad. A not-so-secret nickname for President Trump.

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    5. Why did I not see that? It's one of my favorite comebacks to stupid comments. Of course, I always say the whole thing.

      D'oh!

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  6. Barbarians! Aye!!
    Dust clouds! Aye!!
    Watch for Trojan horses!!!

    Some days I think it boils to a lack of critical thinking on the part of us poor, unwashed, deplorable masses. I will be listening to the radio or the TV, or reading some article on-line...and think "Wait! What?!?! No, way!! That makes absolutely no sense!! What a bunch of crap!" And I don't know if I should feel proud I caught "our betters, the elite" trying to pull a fast one, or insulted because they thought they could slip one by me.

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    1. That's the crux of it right there, lies because they want to betray us AND because they think we're stupid.

      Truth be told though, some are stupid. Far too many.

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    2. They (the shadowy leftist-elites) have removed critical thinking from our culture. It was evident back in '68 and '72, but it is far worse now.

      And as to stupid, people enjoy and praise being stupid. That's a very scary thing.

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    3. It does seem that stupid is all the rage now.

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    4. It astonished me, how popular being stupid. I never thought we would have people in this country, who were called " thought leaders ", and " Influencers ". I find this most disconcerting.

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  7. Right there with you Sarge - have at them!

    https://youtu.be/FWBUl7oT9sA

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    1. Ah, quote Monty Python to me and I'm yours. In a manly, non-threatening way, of course.

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  8. Bringing their Trojan horse inside the gates is one thing, but our (cough, cough) "betters" in the District of Criminals are busily building the horses for them to use against us. Torches, anyone?

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    1. District of Criminals... Spot on man! Mind if I borrow that term?

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    2. Last I checked there were only roughly 500+ criminals in that city. (Not all of Congress, just most of 'em.)

      Don't tar the whole town with the same brush. Remember the bureaucrats are simply the minions of those we elect.

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    3. "Remember the bureaucrats are simply the minions of those we elect." It is my belief that the bureaucrats are high on the list of the enemies of the Constitution of the United States of America. As for the main enemy, it has become unfashionable and sometimes dangerous to name them in public places. All of this just makes a war in our country more likely.

      Thanks for the post.
      Paul L. Quandt

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    4. The bureaucrats are definitely NOT on the side of the angels. Their main interest is keeping the jobs they don't wish to do properly.

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  9. It was (un)funny back when 'The Hunger Games' and its two sequels came out, watching young people make the connection between the Districts and Capital. In clothing, vehicles, food, entertainment, the dirt people of the Districts are radically different than the glittery people of Capital.

    Just like, well, the dirt people of the fly-over lands and the glittery people of the Coastal Elites.

    Sigh.

    As to barbarians, well, barbarians have always carried disease and strife deep into the host nation. At least in Minneapolis, one barbarian will finally get his just rewards. But will the citizens of that city have learned the lesson not to trust their security in the hands of the barbarians? No..... most likely not.

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    1. The stupid will only learn when the lesson becomes very painful.

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    2. The stupid may not even learn when the lessons become really painful. They are that stupid. Sigh.

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    3. There is that, very concerning.

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  10. Troubled times indeed, sir. My problem is figuring out where the line is between staying updated on the overall situation while managing my blood pressure reading about them.

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    1. It's a precarious balance between those two things for me as well.

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  11. My horizon was expanded.circa 1964-1966 as we prepared sites for man portable Atomic Demolition Munitions along the East German/Czech border. Added reading about current events to drinking beer and chasing (usually unsuccessful) frauleins. Have never stopped reading about current events. Marriage supplanted the other two activities.

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    1. Being aware of the threat is important. Somewhere along the way I had forgotten that.

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  12. It's awareness like this post that makes it so hard to even care about my blog anymore.

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    1. Ah, but your blog brings me and others happiness. We need places like yours to remind us that there is good in the world.

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    2. You are such a sweet friend.
      You and Juvat.
      Sometimes I feel foolish blogging such silly stuff while such ugly things are happening in real time.

      It's hard to keep my heart in it.

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    3. I know, but if we lose those things that are beautiful, what's the point of life?

      Stay strong BC. The world needs places like yours to visit and just forget the badness.

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Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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