This is where I go full old man.
This no-good, horrid year of 2022 draws to a close--none too soon for my taste--and I can only hope that 2023 will prove better. Will it? While I have no great powers of observation and foretelling, what little I do have tell me that things will not get any better. Sorry to be so cheerful.
The impending death of the current year has me reflecting on my own life, and what I have done and not done with it. First, my own life. What have I done? Not much really. I spent some 34 years in the State Department; my tenure there will pass, as they say in Spanish, "sin pena ni gloria," i.e., unnoticed one way or another. I devoted my adult life to what I thought was my country, its values, and interests. I am now wracked with doubts that that was the case. As we see from the "Twitter Files," the doubts I had about what was really going on have proven out. I am deeply saddened and depressed by that. Those institutions with which I worked closely for so many years, e.g., FBI, CIA, DOJ, have turned out to be the real enemies. The Taliban, AQ, PRC, or the USSR, could not undermine our nation to any degree comparable to what has been done by our high-tech mafia, allied with the pro-regime media, and the key institutions of the Deep State. The enemy is here; they are in our house, and as we so graphically see every day on our border are openly working to tear it apart. Not just here. I see the same happening in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and all over Western Europe.
The assault on the values, even the most basic ones, of our civilization is relentless. The world we leave our grandchildren is a horrid one: Twerking drag queens in our libraries and schools; feral youth owning the streets; malicious cretins dominating our legal, educational, and public health institutions; an entertainment industry promoting violence and perversion. Not cheerful.
My own life?
Well, I can't really complain. Misbegotten though slightly adventurous career aside, I have been fortunate in finance and family. My investing motto always has been, "Don't invest in anything you don't understand; invest in what the progs are against." I, for example, stayed away from Enron or bitcoin because I simply did not understand the business models. Throughout the 80s and 90s, I bought GTO: Guns, Tobacco, and Oil. The dividends and capital gains from Ruger, Raytheon, Philip Morris, and BP, put my kids through college--now, that would be a waste--and got me into real estate, when it was still good. Can't complain on that score.
Day after tomorrow, the Diplowife and I leave for a couple of weeks in Spain. We will see family, enjoy great food, and check on the work underway on our places there. The reports seem positive. I hope those prove so, and that that silly entertainment will keep us from reflecting too much on David.
Anyhow, we will soon be off--weather permitting. I will try to write something or another from Spain. Maybe more cheery.
All the best, and despite everything, let's try to make 2023 a better year.
Happy New Year.
The nihilists do not reproduce. The newer generations among those whose parents are paying attention, attending church, homeschooling their kids, and providing values are numerous, growing, and far stronger than their gaming-pot-and-porn-addicted peers. This coming generation is going to be difficult, but there is much hope.
ReplyDeleteOne commentator recently pointed out that the prohibition of bans on contraceptives put in place by the old activist supreme court was the real backstab to marriage as it prohibited the promotion of marriage as a child-bearing institution. This isn't an argument regarding contraception, but about the supreme court creating a new 'right of privacy' by prohibiting bans of contraception... it's the prohibition which sent the countrywide the signal that 'marriage is to be about self-gratification'. It told the whole country "you cannot have marriage be primarily about procreation," and the rest of the agenda cascaded from there to bostok and these new 'equity' laws. Basically... this isn't something that got screwed up in the last 10-20 years... the last 10-20 years is a culmination of screwups like Griswold which weren't/haven't-yet been dealt with in the 50 years since. (I don't personally advocate contraception bans because I'm a bit too libertarian for that... but I don't think the supreme court should have unilaterally prohibited such bans within each and every state as it sent quite the wrong signal.) Clarence Thomas is quite correct to call these things out as they are.
- reader #1482
Cheer up Dip. The fight is not over yet. While the odds don't look that good sometimes I see enough young people looking to follow the values that made our societies successful in the past that I am still hopeful for the future.
ReplyDeleteHappy 2023 to all.
Morning David. You will see 2023 long before most of us. I agree, the fight is not over, it is just getting underway. Our common enemies are not 10 feet tall and they stand on little more than sandstone. Just a bit of push back seems to send them into fits of panic.
DeleteHope to see you in '23.
G'day Whitewall [& JK]
DeleteI'll lift a glass in your direction at New Year.
Here's to a good 2023
Thanks David! Looks like some of your media people got the year off to a bang...or was it a thud?
DeleteI pray that 2023 will be better than the last three years. I don't want to leave this mess to my son and grandson. We are doing what we can to leave them something in the future.
ReplyDeleteBeth, I think you will agree that for me at least 2023 will be an improvement over 2022.
DeleteMy cabin burning down on Christmas Eve was just the cap on 2022.
Sorry for your losses Scott
Deletetrying to conjure a name
for '22 but Stink Stank
Stunk was used up,
so decided to focus
On '23 in Honor of
Scott's Cabin refit!
Put some teeth into
it Men! Go Badger!
& USA all the way~~~
On Watch~~~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N7SGEfaAyk
"Let's Roll"
Five years ago I started a five year plan to retire at the end of 2022. I had a 7 figure 401k and a military pension. I have lost over a third of real value of the 401k and I have a new retirement target date that is 4 years from now if I get to retire at all.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of retirement was about borrowing from other people's future earnings in order to live out some last years.
DeleteBirth rates have plummeted, no future left to borrow from. Times may be lean.
- reader #1482
I recently contacted the bank that handles my company's 401K and asked them to stop transferring money from my paycheck. I'm turning 44 in about a month and the economy sure as hell isn't going to last another two decades.
DeleteAs Solomon said, eat, drink and be merry while you still can.
Enjoy your time in Spain, Dip. On the flight in, see if you can catch a glimpse of those LNG tankers lined up waiting along the Spanish coast.
ReplyDeleteYou are right to have little hope for the near future. But there is no need to be despondent. We lived during what may turn out to have been one of the peak periods of human civilization -- which is something most of our ancestors did not. Some form of collapse is almost inevitable in the not-too-distant future. But give it a generation or two. Things will ultimately improve -- even if our descendants find themselves living in a Chinese-speaking world.
Happy New Year!
Dear Dip, I commented here awhile ago, replying to one of your down in the dumps posts, FWIW I'll say it again; this ain't our first rodeo. We've come back from civil war, Woodrow Wilson, Pearl Harbor, Alger Hiss, and so on and on It ain't over till we say it's over and we haven't lost till we give up. To quote the philosopher David Hill as we got on the plane to go and fight in Rhodesia, "The fuck it's over, they ain't whipped me yet!" Words to live by.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard not to be sad about a lost loved one, but you'll see him again.
ReplyDeleteAs a man, it would probably bother you a lot to think that your own death would harm your loved ones. After you go, you want them to remember you, but move on and be happy.
You owe that to David.
Happy New Year Dip and to all the readers
ReplyDeleteCertainly it's getting interesting and not the better kind.
I have retired. There will be no time like the present. I will probably outlive my stash but we will see.
ReplyDeleteAs to how soon things will get back to something like normal, never is my answer. they, the Democrats, have institutionalized the steal in 4 key states. The one state with a fighter, the courts have abdicated their position. We will seem more two tiered law enforcement. That could provide the impetuous for revolt but we shall see.
Recently I've noticed a small flicker of re-interest in the Kennedy assassination. What can it mean? Is someone trying to tempt somebody to try to bump off Lezgo Brandon? Would that then be an excuse for a violent clampdown on domestic "terrorists"?
ReplyDeleteOnce you realise that the swine are a bunch of ruthless conspirators you can begin to imagine conspiracies everywhere.
To steal from George Templeton Strong’s diary: Poor old 2022 (1861)…. It has been a gloomy year of trouble and disaster. I should be glad of its departure, were it not that 2023 (1862) is likely to be no better.”
ReplyDeleteDo not despair that your service in the State Department was without effect. I'm reminded of General Patton's fight speech - the full-length version that didn't make the film. He stressed that EVERY member of his army was doing something important. That the men driving trucks with food, gas, and ammunition were as essential to victory as the tank crews. Much of the work at the State Department, like that done by the civilian workforce of the Department of Defense, goes unheralded. But it has an effect. Never forget that.
ReplyDeleteAnd do not be surprised by a recall to the colors. We're going to need a clean sweep fore and aft in the next administration.
Peace to you. Happy new year.
ReplyDelete"...things will not get any better.
ReplyDeleteSorry to be so cheerful..." -wla
As usual "Old Man"~~~
On Target, running,
HOT STRAIT and,
NORMAL~~~
Happy New Year
to you & Mrs Dip!
Prayers & Wishes
for a safe trip and
joyful return home~~~
On Watch~~~
P.S. Hat Tip &
a Hand Salute~~~
for revealing the
hard Truths, and
oftentimes, Lies
foisted on US in
the Year of 2022~~~
"Let's Roll"
Hopeful signs, and the US should give Trump's foreign policy the credit it is due: Exiting the JCPOA drastically increased the pressure for regime change *within* Iran.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/iran-protesters-want-regime-change
- reader #1482
When I heard that O [mal-] administration was beating up on Uganda for having laws against sodomy on the books, I figured it was a matter of time before Uganda became a Chinese sphere of influence. Also, I said a prayer of thanks that I got RIFfed from dear old Foggy Bottom.
ReplyDeleteKepha
Just what are your pollies doing up there? Still no leader of the House of Reps after three days and counting.
ReplyDeleteSome of them need a good shaking to bring them back to reality - it's not about them it is supposed to be run for the good of your country.
Still it does reinforce the notion that a lot of them are in it for their own benefit and not for the benefit of those who elected them.
David, not to worry. Just democracy in action.
DeleteFigured ol' JK orter do a check-in in the offchance y'all might worry I'd checked out.
DeleteThis'uns for you David:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/01/house-gop-causing-panic-on-the-left.php
A'course we'll have to see how it all shakes out far as "our" pollies goes - Frankly I think our hopes for DC coming to our rescue will be for naught.
Dip, OW, Kepha & et all, Best In This New Year
JK
"I think our hopes for DC coming
Deleteto our rescue will be for naught." -JK
Affirm Brother! Seems apparent nowadays,
that the '.Rat FED Admin & their CCP providers
have no intention of staying in their Congressional lanes.
thus obviating the tactical survival necessity, for our REP,
Statesmen to prep our State drivers, and our Teams of Patriots, for the grueling State races ahead~~~
Bumper to Bumper & Door to Door~~~
"Let's Roll" ~~~
OW~~~
P.S.
Nice to see your colors JK,
still waving in the fresh
clean air~~~of our by G-d,
USA Freedoms~~~
Happy New Year```
Thanks JK.
ReplyDelete