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In those days I-25 between Cheyenne and Fort Collins was still pretty clear of civilization. Saw pronghorns and the occasional helicopter servicing a missile silo out there on the prairie, but it was pretty empty. (A glance at the map says it's still pretty empty.)
Anyhoo, on the drive home we'd often see lightning, way out on the prairie. Flashing lights out on the eastern horizon, I can't imagine what it must have been like back in the day for the inhabitants. For us, we were in the steel cocoon of my Volkswagen Jetta, headed home to the safety and warmth of our apartment.
Sometimes those storms would track in and run along the Front Range. We could get some pretty heavy rain and some spectacular thunder-boomers out of that. But we were safe from the storm, we were together, all we had to do was wait for the storm to pass.
Things in Omaha were a little more interesting, we had no mountains to our rear, we were out there on the plains. Sure it was built up and very civilized looking. Mother Nature didn't care, her storms would sweep in and rattle everyone's nerves. We were lucky, the closest we ever got to a tornado was about a mile.
I had no problems with missing out on that.
Again though, we were together as we waited out the storm. Knowing that one way or another, it would pass.
What we're facing in this country right now is a mess. A storm of idiocy and bad decisions I can say I've ever seen before. (From what I remember of the Cuban Missile Crisis, that was close to being the worst I've seen in this country.)
War in Ukraine, war against the middle class, when and where is this nonsense going to end? The so-called "experts" have never been right about anything that I can see. They're all just a new wannabe nobility who just want more power and more money. Not sure how long it's going to take for this storm to pass.
I just hope we can stick together through all this, much as my family and I have done over the years, supporting each other, loving each other, and trusting that all would be well.
God, I surely hope this passes soon.
My ability to wait is not what it used to be.
I believe these times will pass, though at my age I may not live to see the end of them. For the short run, and this may be years, it will get worse and we must be ready to take care of us and ours as best we can.
ReplyDeleteThe Roman empire collapsed several times it looks to me. Collapsed in that the changes left it way different from what it was but the name stayed the same. Did the people notice? I suspect that is happening to our civilization as we watch...
DeleteAnonymous - I'm starting to feel that way.
DeleteRob - Good question.
DeleteWe are arguably all Romans even today.
Delete60 percent of English vocabulary has Roman or Greek roots.
Law, especially civil law is mostly based on Corpus Iuris Civilis.
Even military is influenced via Reneissance with Roman military organization of Legions.
US Constitutionalists made herculean effort to make Republic Rome-like but to avoid roots of its downfall.
Highways of today are just like Roman roads of old, except less durable.
Romans even had fast food stalls on streets of their cities, and our sports events are bloodless gladiators on arenas strikingly similar to Colosseum.
I rest my case.
Um, weak case. English has its roots in the Germanic languages, there are a lot of "big" words derived from Latin and Greek. Sixty percent, that number is really too high.
DeletePatience is dwindling the older I get Sarge. Have no faith in either party these days, the left is running towards Socialism/Communism/Wokeism while the right engages in Kabuki theater.
ReplyDeleteThe Uniparty is anathema to what the Founders had in mind. They serve only themselves and the people be damned.
DeleteI say, "Damn them and a pox on their houses."
There is too much going on all at once for this all to be just bad luck or a string of bad decisions.... there is a guiding hand and it's agenda (what ever that is) going on behind one of the curtains. Yes there is more than one curtain with a wizard behind it!
ReplyDeleteThis war in the Ukraine started in 2014 when the US got rid of the pro-Russia elected govt and it sounds like (there is no unbiased news today!) steps have been taken to prevent talks about peace.
The elections in the US, the cabal running things, the owned media, nukes on the table in Europe and Japan-S Korea talking about needing them too... World wide injections for the "pandemic", shutting down farms "to save the planet", digital money, ... there is actually too much to list going on right now.
I think it all has to do with someone's idea (not necessary a single person) of "how the world should be"... The tools (technology) are now there to take stab at it.
Anyone ever watch the TV show "StarGate-SG1"? I think of the Goa'uld System Lords and their meetings as kinda like how the earth is being run.
DeleteLot's of players at the table, all with some very real power and they ALL want to have it all...but they (at times) have to work together. They all know that if one gets the advantage that one will make it's run so they are all very cautious.
Modern technology is making the world smaller and giving more control to those holding the power..
Rob - Some interesting points there. I too believe that there are sinister forces at work based on the ideas of some "elite" group pulling the levers behind the scenes.
DeleteHaven't watched that series, but what you describe sounds about right.
DeleteYou need to trace it back. Start with the "Students for a Democratic Society". Look at who their members were. Go to the Weather Underground, the same thing. Then there was the 1983 Senate Building Bombing. Look at who was involved and who went to prison. Then look at who commuted their sentences. This is a plan. If you want the blueprint, Google "45 Goals of the Communist Party.
DeleteIt really does go back that far, and the people in power did nothing to stop it, it many cases, I believe, they were part of it.
DeleteAn AF guy who didn't watch SG-1? Another one of my unchecked preconceived notions blown-up and sunk! :-)
DeleteIt happens. 😎
DeleteGood piece My Friend.
ReplyDeleteYUP, "a fine mess things are" just now - an unattended Mulligan stew of issues - social-political-domestic-foreign - anyone of which can lead to deeper kimchi if not looked after. If our day of multiple issues share anything, it's their common trait of being a petulant child demanding attention and leadership's near-total lack of common sense in arriving at solutions.
In solution, best I can offer is a remix of Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No!" campaign. Instead of her intent, We the People need to start saying "NO!". No to all forms of social-political idiocy and wokeism. We best start saying "NO!" before latter day Howard Beale's get mad as hell.
An aside; as a young teen, I lived across the bay from MacDill during the missile crisis. Recall aircraft coming & going at all hours, fathers of schoolmates with open-ended duty hours and scuttlebutt that soldiers awaiting "GO" camped out in-between runways.
Yes, "this too shall pass" but into what? Our political parties are just a shade off-color from being one. Neither one has recently exhibited redeeming substance. As an oft cited observer once said; "it's a big club and we ain't members".
And while US are at it, re-introduce "Constitutional Awareness" as a requirement for high school graduation. A periodic refresher course or "Constitution" month for all federal employees wouldn't bust the budget.
I wish there was some way to enforce the oath the office holders take. Too bad that those very same oath breakers control the system.
DeleteWill we have a Lexington-Concord moment? I don't want that but fear that it's necessary.
Enforce the oath they took? Hmmm.... Take'em to court? At the very least they (as your representative of some sort) did not live up to their oath, that shouldn't be hard to show on some of them. Sounds like someone is owed damages, mental anguish at the least, from the oath breaker "personally". Put a personal cost to breaking your oath.
DeleteThat would be great, doubt you could make it work. Can't expect those who game the system to allow such a thing. Sad, innit?
DeleteA neighbor, a hugely intelligent and knowledgeable lady, was contributing to our little clique's conversation with the observation people in general haven't changed but our ways of communicating have, alluding to "Al Gore's invention" and cell phones. The question, whether the struggle between good and evil has changed, or has the struggle become more transparent, prompted her contribution.
ReplyDeleteSatan, to put a name to evil, seems to be in ascendance. I live with the belief that good will prevail, but the next few generations will suffer. That galls me to no end. My sons, and my grandchildren, and their children will inherit a worse world than the one my parents and grandparents left me.
I feel the same way WSF.
DeleteWhat I find frightening, is that so many people seem to be cheering Satan on.
DeleteUseful idiots.
Delete"What we're facing in this country right now is a mess. A storm of idiocy and bad decisions I can say I've ever seen before."
ReplyDeleteThis comes, in my not so humble opinion, from Johnson's failed "Great Society" experiment, a sort of westernized Great Leap Forward, since which it was preached that the State (government at all levels) is supposed to Do Something!!! about every issue and fix every problem, and do it instantly, with no time for thought or planning.
Politicians run on that platform. Since their continued place in office demands that they are continually Doing Something!!! they have become adept at finding, creating, and imagining new issues about which Something Must Be Done!!! And, of course, all too many of the people...make that ...The People... can't stand the thought of politicians not Doing Something!!! and have come to expect perpetual panem et circenses, The People, especially the altruists, in their infinite inventiveness, keep finding issues and nonissues about which Something Must Be Done!!! and done instantly. Anyone who objects to this, who dares to say, "Wait! That isn't something that the State should have any say over!" is obviously a class enemy, obstructionist, and H8er, who must be silenced by any means.
Until we can change that mindset we will be mired in our own Cultural Revolution and beset by our own version of Red Guards (BLM) and Sturmabteilung (Antifa).
Shack.
DeleteI'm not up on the jargon....Shack?
DeleteAh, air-to-ground term, means a direct hit.
DeleteThanks.
Delete👍
Delete...Sometimes the best thing to do about something is nothing...
DeleteSometimes ...
DeleteDunno. I see the symptoms, but do not understand the cause. I recognize the perpetrators, but fail to see many eager or viable replacements who would do much better. That is just the domestic level.
ReplyDeleteOn the international level, it gets even bleaker. Our age-addled President is absolutely not the right man for the job, and his clueless, cackling back up is even scarier. The opposition we face includes a certifiable pot-bellied dictator with nukes; religious zealots who believe that a calamitous conflagration of civilizations is desirable for some goofy religious salvation; two near peer powers with leaders hell bent on expansion of their geographic domination, and a disregard for the potential cost in human lives to achieve their obsession. Worse, one of them reportedly has serious health issues, and that may throw all normal self-preservation instincts out the window so that going out in a nuke blaze of glory may be more appealing to him than to others with longer life expectancy.
But, not to worry, we have an ALL GIRL FLYOVER for the big game!
I dislike sitting around helpless, hapless and hopeless, but am not sure what might be the best options to prepare for the many likely bad things.
One day at a time, I guess. At least I can enjoy the company here and at some related places.
Just like kidney stones, this too will pass. Hopefully with little pain, and great relief afterwards.
Oh, and just what the heck are these tin cans we are shooting out of the stratosphere over the great white up? We got enough without extraterrestrials deciding they want an away game...
John Blackshoe
The situation can best be described as "confusing." Having an addled sock puppet for a President and a cackling idiot for VP comforts me not at all.
DeleteYep, one day at a time...
DeleteIt's all we can do, brother.
DeleteSarge, I see the symptoms as well and am somewhat shocked by the fact that we continue to seemingly pick every bad policy that we can and follow that. All I feel I can do is quietly prepare as best I can for whatever comes after.
ReplyDeleteWhen nations start splintering, this will be the equivalent of the End of Roman Empire. The Empire held together more or less until the mid-300's, when generals started trying to carve out parts of the Empire for their own. There were never quite successful, but they ruptured the systems to the point that it would never be able to be put back together, even if the territories themselves could have all be reconqured.
Civilization is actually a pretty fragile thing (like modern economics). Many people like to think they can tinker with it to "improve" it, which almost never works.
Usually makes it worse.
DeleteThe State Department exists to make things worse.
ReplyDeleteNot really, it's in the hands of incompetents and Leftists at the moment. Has been for a while.
DeleteI know it makes me sound paranoid, but I think that it's not even the Prez (or his Obama-era cronies) that are ruining/running the country, but the global elites that just want to take us down a peg, see us eat ourselves from within, and end our dominance and leadership of the world. Why they think that's good for the US or the world, I can't fathom. Somehow they now own the Dems, the media, our elections, and are forcing economic chaos and destructive climate change policies, not to mention ruining our food supply, that our downfall is accelerating.
ReplyDeleteMoney talks.
Delete