Negotiating the Pre-Travel Obstacle Course

I am wiped out. I haven’t done anything but work on travel plans today.

It’s a shame countries and airlines don’t do a better job of laying things out for travelers. It would be simple to post comprehensive lists of entry requirements, but instead, you see one rule here and another rule there. Surprises keep popping up just when you think you’ve got things covered.

Today I found out Rhodah and I have to fill out health certificates before we enter Turkey. That was news. I found a Turkish site and filled out the forms, but they require you to do it right before you travel, so today’s forms will not be acceptable. I filled them out just so I would have the required information handy when I have to do the job over.

What do the forms say? Nothing, really. They tell who we are and which hotel we’re using. Not sure why this is helpful. I’m also not sure why these forms can’t be filled out at the Istanbul airport. I’ll bet they can.

I had a scare over Rhodah’s tickets. She is required to use an approved Turkish air carrier when she arrives, and I had her coming into Istanbul on Turkish Airlines. Today I realized she would actually enter Turkey on another airline and then switch to Turkish Airlines for a final leg to Istanbul. I thought I was going to have to cancel her flight and mine and go through the horror of trying to find new bookings that worked. That would have sent well over a thousand dollars down the chute.

I called Turkish Airlines, and they told me there was no problem. What matters is where she goes through immigration, not where she physically enters.

I have had excellent experiences with Turkish phone and email help. The Turkish government responds in minutes, and they are extremely polite. Turkish Airlines will put you on the horn with a very capable non-Indian human being in a few seconds, and their reps actually know the answers to the questions you ask. I don’t know why Americans make support such a bad experience.

Sometimes I want to find the lady who recorded all the American phone system messages that lead me in circles and give her a piece of my mind. You know her. “For English, press ONE.” She must have hung up on me ten thousand times.

You can actually see her on Youtube. It’s almost scary hearing that hateful voice coming out of a real human being. Her name is Elita Bradley.

I really hate talking to machines. I didn’t realize that until today, when I considered the issue. Being forced to talk to a machine is degrading. It tells you you’re not important enough to talk to a human being. It tells you no one cares about your problems, even when you’re paying their bills. Often, machines tell you there is literally no way to make yourself heard or stand up for yourself. It is disempowering.

When I got the arrival question answered, I moved on to another crisis. My airline has suddenly decided to impose draconian mask rules. More degrading than mask rules were to begin with. I have to wear a real mask or something that looks like one. They require N95, KN95, FFP2, or surgical masks. Last time I flew, I bought special flimsy masks that don’t work, so I could fly with as little breathing resistance as possible. I must have spent an hour and a half today, trying to find something new that would pass muster with the COVID Luftwaffe. I came up with a couple of things, but I think I’m in for an unpleasant flight to Istanbul.

I had to look at every layover location and make sure neither of us needed transit visas. I confirmed it. I wrote a long document containing that information, along with flight details and other important facts. I listed the contact numbers for all of the airlines. I listed the hotel’s address. I found out how we could get COVID tests before leaving, and I included the URL of a company that will test us at our hotel.

Neither of us has to be tested on the way to Turkey, but both of us have to be tested on the way home. Rhodah has to take a real test. The USA will let me get by with a quick antigen test. Should I do it? Antigen tests are fast, and they have the benefit of generating more false negatives. A false negative could prevent me from being trapped in Turkey. I don’t want to spread coronavirus, though.

I’m so used to resisting hysterical anti-COVID measures, resistance is my natural response. I have to remember not to resist measures that have some basis in reality.

I had to find out how to get us our tickets and boarding passes. This is a confusing area now. Near as I can tell, some airlines don’t provide tickets. They send receipts, and you can check in and get boarding passes a few days before your flight takes off, but they don’t send you anything that says “e-ticket” at the top.

Remember when you could call an airline and make a reservation without paying for it? Remember when they would mail you real tickets long before your trip? Yeah, I do, too. I remember having stewardesses tell me it was fine for kids like me to bring their pocket knives onboard.

I did all this stuff, and then I found out Turkey had just put out a new list of coronavirus restrictions. I mean within the last two weeks. The restrictions are very bad. People have to have PCR tests to travel between cities, go to crowded events, and so on.

I was pretty upset. We would have had to take at least three tests each, and what if either of us had failed one?

Then I saw this, on our State Department’s Turkey page: “The COVID-19 related restrictions apply to all citizens and residents of Turkey. Tourists are exempt from COVID-19 restrictions.”

Thank God for that.

I think I can relax now. My hope is that no new landmines will go off before the trip. I’m extremely glad we can go to Turkey without being tested. I would rather be stuck in Turkey in a nice hotel with Rhodah than stuck here without her.

Arf

Rhodah and I have been trying to arrange to meet so we can satisfy the State Department’s requirement that married individuals have an opportunity to do you know what before applying for green cards. It’s touching that our government is so interested in promoting romance, but it’s also annoying, because the whole thing is a sort of legal fiction, and it subjects people to a lot of expense and aggravation. They’re not going to have cameras in our hotel room, so for all they know, we might get together for a week and play Monopoly.

From the outset, coronavirus and the low marketability of Zambian passports have caused problems for us. Strongholds have surrounded us. Countries rejected us for spurious reasons. Countries that would have accepted Rhodah shut their doors before we could apply. Countries that are willing to accept Rhodah, including the United States and Switzerland, put up barriers that made it too hard to get to their representatives so she could apply.

I saw these problems for what they were: Satanic strongholds. I saw the people who kept telling us we couldn’t get together for what they were: barking dogs.

A long time ago, God told me, “There is usually a barking dog outside a stronghold.”

A real stronghold doesn’t need a barking dog. The purpose of a barking dog is to scare people away from a stronghold that can’t withstand attack. A barking dog’s purpose is to convince you a weak stronghold is bigger than you and God are.

Remember how Saddam Hussein barked before we attacked Iraq? We were in for “the mother of all battles.” When the allies went in, Iraq’s stronghold collapsed in a few days. America has the most powerful military on earth. We don’t run around telling other countries their cities will be vaporized, because we don’t have to.

Actually, Donald Trump was known to bark, but that’s because he’s from New York.

Oddly, dishonest people are the ones who are most likely to mount a ridiculous intimidation offensive, and honest people are most likely to believe it. Honest people project their honesty onto other people. Dishonest people tend to assume everything they’re being told is lies. In this respect, dishonest people have a more accurate worldview.

We learned that Turkey was supposed to be an easy country to visit, but when we tried to get a visa, we were met with considerable barking. The Turkish government said some things that were not true, perhaps because of translation problems, the local embassy in Zambia said things that were not true, and a friend of Rhodah’s who is in Turkey also said things that were not true.

I persisted in digging and pushing. I applied for an e-visa on the Turkish government site, and the visa came through. The language on the site said we couldn’t do it without betting thousands of dollars on tickets first, but when the visa itself was emailed to us, I saw that this was not correct. We could get the tickets later. We still had conflicting information from the local embassy. I persevered, and today they admitted the e-visa was sufficient.

Here’s another stronghold: the ticket prices were exaggerated.

Rhodah pretty much has to use Turkish Airlines in order to satisfy Turkish entry requirements. They wanted $2600 or more for a round-trip ticket. On a lark, I checked one-way prices. We should be able to get her there and back for something like $1300. I don’t know why it works like that, but it does. A round-trip ticket should save money, but it costs much more.

Things are looking good. We have a nice hotel booked, and I have a house sitter who is a very good shot, so my property should be okay.

While Rhodah and I were working on finding a solution, we cursed the strongholds and bound the spirits working against us, and we called on God for help. I reminded him of his promise. He had told me his name was above every stronghold. It’s good that I persevered in the natural, but our supernatural resistance is what shattered the stronghold. God did the work.

Ordinarily, I would not tell blog readers if I traveled, but this time my house will be well guarded, so we may post photos during the trip.

Never forget the real source of all victory. After all, Moses didn’t part the Red Sea; God did.

Fresh Reminders That This is Really Happening

What a week.

Remember me writing about flooding as a likely sign that God is preparing the world for the tribulation? I mused about Hurricane Ida, which was about to hit New Orleans, wondering whether it would signal a continuation of the global flooding crisis. After I wrote that, Ida did terrible damage in Louisiana, and yesterday, it flooded places like Manhattan, New Jersey, and Philadelphia!

I read that New York City had just issued its second flash flood warning in history. There were also floods there in August, when Henri passed over.

During the last week, there have been floods in New Zealand, Nepal, and Mexico.

Seems like the run-up to the rapture is really happening. The flooding problem is not going away. It will be interesting to see if it carries on into the fall.

When I chose this house, I made sure it wasn’t in a flood area. The government has a site where you can check every property in the country.

Of course, leftists look at the floods and blame global warming, which is a backhanded jab at capitalism, which is a backhanded jab at Christianity, America, and white people.

A gradual increase in global temperatures shouldn’t cause an abrupt increase in flooding, which appears to be what we are seeing. Doesn’t matter. Global warming causes every problem, regardless of what it is. It’s not a scientific conclusion. It’s a fundamental premise of a political religion.

My wife knows a lady who prophesies and prays for people. Sometimes she visits the lady. The lady is young, but she has said she expects to die before long, because God will take her before things get bad. This week, my wife dreamed about her. She saw her in church, saying she would be taken away like T.B. Joshua. In the dream, she told the lady they needed to pray to prevent it, but the lady refused. As they were talking, my wife saw a beautiful, green place full of mountains.

The heavenly place turned into an earthly place where a man swam in a river like the Nile. The river looked like blood. A voice asked if Satan was going to come and bring 6 plagues to the earth.

Rhodah is not an end times buff. She is young, and she wants to live out a normal life here. I would be thrilled if the rapture came tomorrow, but Rhodah is less enthusiastic. She has not studied the end times much.

Was T.B. Joshua taken because the tribulation was coming?

The book of Enoch says that when God decided to flood the world, he chose to wait until Methuselah, the grandfather of Noah and the son of Enoch, died. Methuselah was a righteous man, and God did not want to flood the earth while he was alive. When God told Abraham he was going to destroy Sodom, he agreed to forbear if 10 righteous men could be found, but when God sent angels to look at Sodom, the homosexuals there tried to gang-rape them, and 10 righteous men could not be found. God has demonstrated a pattern of sparing the wicked while the righteous are among them. In a parable, he said it was best to let weeds and wheat grow together instead of ripping the weeds out and burning them before the harvest. He said the best thing was to harvest the wheat and then burn the weeds.

Joshua is not well-known in the US, but he was one of the world’s most famous preachers. He did many miracles, and he never had a scandal. He didn’t beg for money or sell his help. He was a youthful and vigorous 57 when he died, and he went quickly, without suffering. Maybe it’s true that God took him because he wanted to spare him.

As signs become clearer, Rhodah is getting more interested in the end times.

On the subject of end times concerns, I decided to get myself some ivermectin, figuring there was no down side to it. When I visited Tractor Supply, I saw that ivermectin was not available, and there was a little notice cautioning people against taking it. I guess they sold out. I bought three tubes on Amazon, though, and Rhodah is bringing some ivermectin for humans to Turkey.

For what it’s worth, I learned that ivermectin has a sister drug which is also active against coronavirus microbes. The name also ends with “mectin,” and people are not rushing to buy it yet. Useful info if you can’t find ivermectin.

Another interesting end time fact: the silicon chip shortage is getting worse, and it wasn’t caused by coronavirus. Trump battled with China because we were being abused in our trade relationship, and that caused some problems with the chip supply. Then a major supplier had a big fire. On top of that, a drought hit Taiwan, making it hard for chip factories to get water for cleaning, which is essential to manufacturing. Right now, a huge number of vehicles is sitting in lots because automakers can’t get chips to finish manufacturing them. Automakers are shutting down production. Electronics manufacturers have products backordered, so you may not see your favorite video console (or motherboard, if we have to talk about things that are actually important to mature adults) until 2023.

Remember, the tribulation will be ushered in by murder and hate, death and disease, and shortages. See Revelation 6. We have all three problems, and we can’t blame coronavirus for all of it, so it’s not like our predicament can be traced to one natural cause or even a few.

By the way, beef is going to be in short supply for at least a year, and rubber supplies are expected to dry up shortly.

There is good news regarding our belated honeymoon, which has been delayed by coronavirus-related visa issues. We had our time wasted by Sweden, Iceland, and Spain, which rejected our applications, and we started looking for other options. We did not want to go to a New World destination, and we didn’t want to go to Egypt again.

We learned that Mexico, which is one of the top easy dates when it comes to visas, would not let Rhodah in unless she applied in South Africa. We looked at third-tier European nations. We learned that Georgia is a good safety nation for a Zambian. They let them in without visas.

We checked Turkey out. I thought it was just another depressing Muslim nation, but I learned that wasn’t true. The Turks are backsliders, so they’re easygoing. They have bars. They let women wear bikinis to beaches. They have a strong reputation for friendliness and great food, and the country is set up well for tourists.

We had some confusion about Turkish visas. Turkey has a website that dispenses electronic visas, but the embassy people in Zambia gave Rhodah the impression she would have to apply in person, which would take weeks.

The e-visa site said visitors from Zambia were required to have tickets from one of three airlines before applying, and I didn’t want to buy tickets in advance because if her application had been rejected, we would have lost a lot of the ticket money. Also, the only airline that offered round-trip flights for the needed route was very expensive.

I decided to apply on Rhodah’s behalf, and I clicked the box saying she already had a ticket. I figured I would find out whether they were checking before awarding visas. If they were not, we could always buy the ticket afterward. If they rejected her, we wouldn’t get a visa, but I would learn something useful.

It took me about 10 minutes to get her a valid visa. The visa itself merely said she had to prove she had a ticket on an approved airline WHEN SHE TRAVELED. That’s a piece of cake.

We are still hearing information from a friend of Rhodah’s, claiming she needs to apply in person in spite of the e-visa, but nothing the Turkish government says in emails or publishes on the web agrees with him. I am making inquiries. We should get final confirmation by Monday.

Now that we have a visa, I’m looking at videos and reading up on Turkey. The exchange rate is insane, so we can expect to pay about $7 for meals for two. The food picture is amazing. Istanbul has restaurants of every type, and the standards are said to be very high. Istanbul is on the water, so there should be things like dinner cruises. We can also visit Ephesus and see the city Paul wrote about.

The temperatures should be below 80, so it won’t be like Egypt, where we had days 35 degrees warmer.

I’m looking forward to visiting another country where Muslims are friendly. In the past, most of my impressions of Turkey came from the movies Midnight Express and Lawrence of Arabia, so it wasn’t a place I wanted to visit. Of course, I was crazy to think movies bore any relationship to reality. I mean, I’ve seen Deliverance, a preposterous movie in which the danger of being sodomized is low in cities and high in rural Appalachia, instead of precisely the other way around, the way it is in real life.

I feel bad about having the wrong idea about people. Turkey’s government may be anti-Semitic, and for all I know, terrorists are getting significant support from individual Turks, but I clearly misjudged the character of the nation.

I’m not crazy about visiting a place controlled by a man who has it in for Israel, but I can’t have everything the way I want it.

The Turks have had floods in 2021. Figures. But they happened on the Black Sea coast, and I don’t plan to go there.

People are supposed to be very nice in Georgia, and the scenery is beautiful, but the food is somewhat scary, and the country isn’t set up all that well for tourism.

My understanding is that Georgians have a love affair with bread stuffed with meat and cheese. They serve many variations on this theme. Sounds good to me, but I don’t know if I could handle it for a more than a couple of days.

Here at the house, things are going great, but I haven’t managed to trap the squirrel that has been chewing on my gate. I put out a live trap, and the bait disappeared twice. Then I tried triggering the trap and saw that it didn’t work. That would have made it more of a feeder than a trap, except that the second bait was a big chunk of rat poison. Whatever critter stole it is probably dead.

I fixed the trap, but the bait disappeared again. I have a theory that a bigger animal is reaching in and taking the bait without setting it off, so I got a larger trap and set it next to the little one. Yesterday, I found a coon in it.

Getting rid of a coon is always a blessing, but the job is not pleasant. I had to shoot it in the head with a .22 pistol. Because it was raining and I didn’t want to carry the coon to the burn pile in bad weather, I chucked it over a fence into some bushes.

Today I went back in dry weather, thinking maybe I should move the coon. It was gone. Evidently, coyotes and/or bobcats remove dead coons without even being asked. That’s nice.

I don’t know how many times I will have to empty the traps. Quite a few, I would think. It’s part of rural life, so I need to get used to it instead of becoming a sissy city transplant who names the squirrels that eat his patio furniture and tries to pet rabid coons.

A disturbing thing about dispatching game and pest animals with firearms is that it makes you understand that you could do the same thing to a person if you had to. Reluctance to shoot is grounded in moral questions and fear of negative consequences, not the repugnance of the act itself, which can be overcome by willing one finger to move. People who live in the country are used to overcoming it because they hunt. A typical hunter has ended many more lives than all but the rarest soldiers, and many are capable of much better stalking and marksmanship than ordinary combat veterans.

Our cities are experiencing a very sudden murder epidemic, and it will surely bleed over into suburbs and the country eventually. When that happens, spoiled urban terrorists who are used to dealing with police who are hampered by rules of engagement and career concerns will find themselves up against millions of civilian men and women who face far fewer constraints and don’t think twice about shooting a warm-blooded creature and pulling its organs out with their bare hands. Video-game-trained urbanites in search of easy prey will probably face an extremely steep learning curve, with lessons written in their own blood. Hope I will not be on earth to see it.

I hope I’m right about the Bible predicting a thousand-year age of love, led by Jesus himself and staffed by rapturees, following the tribulation. It would be wonderful to see the world function the way it ought to.

Rural Citizens Falling Back on Horse Sense to Defeat Coronavirus

I learned something fascinating about the coronavirus saga today.

People keep telling us we have to trust “the science.” It’s not “science” any more. It’s not “medical science.” It’s “THE science.” Somehow seems more reverent.

The sad thing is, THE science keeps turning out to be wrong. It leads us down the primrose path over and over, only for us to find that the conclusions in which we had put our trust were erroneous.

Example: over 100 years of THE science said masks didn’t prevent the transmission of viral respiratory diseases. Then, suddenly, THE science said they did. Now there are studies saying they really don’t, unless you have a great mask, you keep it clean, and you fit it perfectly. Even then, they’re not very good. And nobody does all those things.

Example: lockdowns were the way to stop coronavirus. We bought into that, and then we saw coronavirus statistics that showed that some places with lockdowns had terrible infection rates, while others that did not fared much better.

Example: our dubious new vaccines would prevent a high percentage of coronavirus infections. Later, we found out the percentage wasn’t nearly that high, and then we learned the percentage would drop with time.

Example: even if our vaccines let some people get infected, those people would not develop serious symptoms. Unfortunately, a large percentage of people who are being hospitalized have been vaccinated. The vaccines seem to be helping a lot, but the doctors who said it was essentially impossible for a vaccinated person to be seriously ill look like morons.

They did say that, by the way.

Now THE science is telling us not to use ivermectin, a deworming drug which has been associated with reduced infections and quick recoveries. Some studies seem to show it doesn’t work, but others suggest it does. A few Americans who are bad at cross-multiplication have made themselves somewhat ill by consuming overdoses of horse dewormer, so the CDC is telling the rest of us to avoid ivermectin. We might get tummy aches.

Guess what I found out today? Africans take ivermectin.

My wife is African. I mentioned the ivermectin controversy to her today. I was thinking maybe I should take a tube of horse medicine to her. She said deworming drugs were available over the counter in Africa. She, herself, had been dewormed many times. It’s a normal thing over there because worms are a problem in Africa. They deworm babies, and people deworm themselves every so often in order to keep from developing serious infestations.

Time to mention a related fact: Africa has a relatively low coronavirus rate. Vaccinations, right? Of course not. The vaccination rate is very low; it’s under 2% in some countries. Many Africans have serious hygiene issues, and they’re doing a poor job of social distancing and wearing masks. Still, things haven’t been that bad there.

When I heard my wife say she had been dewormed more than once, I wondered whether ivermectin was lowering the African coronavirus rate.

I took a look online, and sure enough, there are studies suggesting ivermectin is the reason Africa has done so well.

I don’t know whether ivermectin works or not, but I know it’s considered harmless, and I know my vaccination won’t necessarily prevent me from getting sick or dying. I also know masks don’t work, and I don’t wear one anyway. Why not take ivermectin? It won’t hurt me, it might prevent me from getting sick, it might cure me if I do get sick, and for all I know, I may have a few worms.

The web is full of stories about individuals who died while using horse paste. The writers seem to be gloating breathlessly. “Trump-Supporting Anti-Vaxxer Dies of COVID While Taking Horse Dewormer!” Oddly, these stories are touted much more loudly than the thousands upon thousands of stories about masked, vaccinated, socially isolated people who have died.

I live in horse country. I can hop in my car and bring home a tube of horse paste in 15 minutes. I see no reason not to do it. I think I’m good enough at math to tell the difference between a human dose and a horse dose, and if I get a bad old tummy ache and throw up a couple of times, well, that’s exactly what happened last year when I had coronavirus or something like it. Not a big deal. I’m not scared of nausea. When I was in college, no weekend evening was complete until I had thrown up.

I got myself vaccinated, and I try to use common sense. No one ever invites me to parties, but if they did, I think I would decline. I’m not that far out on the fringe. Still, it seems to me I should make some effort to avail myself of remedies supported by strong anecdotal evidence and some of THE science.

Coronavirus came from sin, so I am hoping my increasing efforts to stay close to God will keep me safe. I see zero hope for humanity as a whole. There is still no widespread call for repentance and prayer, so there is no reason for God to help humanity. When plagues come and people do not repent, things are supposed to get worse, so that’s what I expect. Coronavirus, shortages, and hatred will increase, and we will probably see other epidemics that are considerably worse. At least we don’t have to worry about having our feelings hurt by “victim-shamers.”

Panic among godless people will increase, too, and that will insure a continued curtailment of our liberties. Even though doctors have admitted vaccinated people are dying and spreading disease, hatred of the unvaccinated and unmasked is being fanned to a white-hot rage. People are being fired from jobs. The panick-stricken godless are talking about imposing economic penalties on the unvaccinated, depriving them of the ability to buy and sell. They’re completely serious, and they will be even crazier soon.

When the vaccines came out, some people thought vaccination was the mark of the beast. I said that was impossible. The timing was wrong, a shot isn’t a mark, and the beast’s mark has to be on the forehead or right arm. I said the shots were not the mark of the beast, but I also said they were probably being used to train people to accept the mark. I still say that.

We have put up with gigantic infringements on our freedom. They started small and ramped up. Now a large segment of the population will do almost anything Dr. Fauci says, with no hesitation.

Fauci isn’t mentioned in the Bible, and he’s not forcing people to worship Satan, but he and his coreligionists are applying powerful training pressures to the general population. They are teaching us to submit quickly to crazy demands without questioning.

When the mark finally arrives, we’ll be conditioned to jump on command. Nearly everyone will run to get it. The people who force it on the world will surely have a pretext that sounds important. Maybe it will be a new variant of coronavirus with a high death rate. Maybe it will be a worse disease. The mark will be connected to some worldwide problem people will be ashamed not to fight. “If you don’t take the mark, you’re killing children!” We’ll hear things like that. We already hear them, literally, about masks and shots. Shame and peer pressure will send people to hell.

In other end-time news, Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans about as hard as possible, and there is flooding. I wrote about this the other day. I think the floods we’re seeing all over the world are messages from God.

New Orleans is like Las Vegas. It’s a hub of unrepentant sin. Voodoo is big there, and drunkenness and fornication are pretty much the only reasons people visit, unless you count gluttony. I saw a Youtube advice video for New Orleans visitors, and the man in the video advised people to expect to have to step over vomit in the French Quarter.

When Katrina hit, Christians noted that the storm’s name comes from the same root as “catharsis,” which means, “cleansing.”

I have been wondering how Ida would affect Biden’s reputation. I thought there would be a lot of news stories after the storm, but there are not. It’s nothing like the post-Andrew or post-Katrina news cycles. Why is that? A major American city is without power and running water, and Ida stories are relatively few compared to Andrew and Katrina stories.

Wild guess: our leftist press wants a break from the public disintegration of their demented savior. Also, they probably want to keep attention off of the poor preparedness of a mostly black area controlled by leftists, as well as any bad behavior that may follow the storm.

After Katrina, we learned that most of the drowning victims and displaced people were black. We also learned that many stayed home, below sea level, because they were afraid to miss their welfare checks. We saw endless photos of black people looting stores, stealing things like electronics and beer, which were unrelated to survival. Then there was the Superdome. Mostly-black survivors were housed there and given benefit cards. They filled the stadium with filth and litter, a seven-year-old girl was raped and killed, there were beatings and other murders and rapes, and when the time came for people to go home, many of the survivors refused to leave.

The press doesn’t want to see such scenarios splashed before the public eye again, especially not when Biden’s dementia is manifesting itself in his mishandling of Afghanistan and America’s energy needs.

If things go really badly in Lousiana, the press will have to find someone to blame. Will they go after the black female leftist mayor, LaToya Cantrell? Will they go after the male leftist governor? Will they blame Biden? No matter what, they’ll have to attack a target who belongs to the protected class of leftists.

I’m sure they’re already looking for ways to blame Donald Trump.

Russia, Thailand, Mexico, Spain, and Cambodia are among the last week’s flood locations, and the American Northeast may be next. Ida is headed there, and the ground is already wet, so it can’t absorb a lot of rain. I wonder if we are going to see floods continue through the fall and winter.

I feel like I am glued to a bench after being taken out of a game, watching my team get destroyed while I am unable to participate. But is humanity my team, when most people are against God? I am reminded of something God said in Psalm 110: “Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”

That Psalm is about the tribulation. Here it is:

The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.

The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.

He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.

He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.

The day of God’s wrath is the tribulation. The things mentioned in the Psalm have not occurred yet. It can’t be about past events.

God once gave me this phrase: “I am no man’s enemy,” so I don’t think I’m supposed to fight people. If I belong to Jesus, though, I should share in his destiny, and I should sit while God makes the enemies of Jesus his footstool. God may have said I was no man’s enemy, but it’s unquestionable that many people are enemies to me and my kind.

I hope the rapture is close and that I’m not going to have to go back out into the cursed world. I’m very happy living as I do. I don’t want to wear a mask all day, work so hard I have no time for God, and call men Zoe and Isabel.

Isabel is a real person, by the way. He works for a brokerage where I have an account. I called them, and a deep voice said, “My name is Isabel.”

I can’t tell you what to think about ivermectin, but I thought I should say what I know, so I’ve done that. If you try it, I hope you don’t get coronavirus and your worms die most miserably.

Flames Everywhere

This morning I am struck by a contrast.

Last night, I dreamed I was in some kind of resort area near Miami. There was a beautiful freshwater lagoon there. It must have been fed by a strong stream, because the water was cool and clear. My dad’s boat was anchored in the lagoon.

Some guy was on the boat, holding his pet python by the tail. He was lowering it into the water so he could swim with it. The snake was enormous. Maybe 30 feet long. It was not on board with his plans. It was confused.

He asked me to hold it for him while he got in the water. After he got in, I let the snake go. I wondered if it was a good idea to swim with a python that was likely to wrap itself around him and cause him to drown, but that was not my problem.

I found myself walking in a building next to the lagoon. The building was open, like a parking garage. There were no windows. Just short walls. There was a huge swimming pool by the building, and it bordered the lagoon.

For some reason, the actress Tea Leoni was swimming in the pool. No idea what that was all about. I wanted to swim in the lagoon, but I was afraid it was cold. I came up with a plan. I would go in the pool first. It would be warmer than the lagoon. It would get me used to being in the water, and then I would move to the lagoon. I took off my shirt and implemented my plan.

The whole time, I felt joy, like a horse rolling in the grass and sniffing the air because it’s so happy to be alive. I still feel it.

I also felt a lot of joy yesterday.

I have a new cordless chainsaw, which I bought because tool shortages are expected any day now, and I needed to cut up a big oak that had fallen in my pasture. I got my saw and took the tractor out to the oak.

I limbed the whole thing in about 20 minutes. I was zipping through limbs and then grabbing them with my right hand and flinging them out of the way. I felt power flowing through me, as though I were a superhero. I was working more for the purpose of feeling the joy than the need to move the tree.

I feel that kind of joy often these days. I feel it when I run errands. When I go to stores, I often park far from the doors so I can enjoy the sensation of walking. I feel more like I’m flying.

I believe the joy comes from praying in tongues.

This morning, however, I saw what other people are going through, or, more accurately, what’s going through other people. I went to a website called The Hill. You may know of it. It’s a prominent news site, and they allow comments.

I saw a story about a conservative radio host who died from coronavirus. His name was Marc Bernier, and he called himself “Mr. Anti-Vax” because he did not trust the vaccines.

I knew the comments would be filthy, but I decided to look anyway, just to confirm my understanding of the way the world is descending into hatred.

Here are some things I saw.

The rest of the comments are similar, except that many are obscene. This is about a dead man who suffered.

Try and imagine this happening in, say, 1960. If people had been able to comment on news stories about the presidential race between Nixon and Kennedy, or about the communist threat, do you think a major news organization would have printed garbage like this? Would the public have accepted it, or would we have demanded action against the people responsible?

The world of 2021 is not the world of 1960. It’s a different culture.

God tells me little phrases from time to time, and several years ago, he said, “The hate is already here.” He was referring to the hate that would result in a murder pandemic during the final days, as a result of the release of the red horseman of the apocalypse. Wow; he was not joking. America is already full of people who are fully ready to kill, rob, rape, and torture those they disagree with.

How can I feel so good when everyone else feels completely wretched?

I have often said that people who are close to God live in a different reality. The world of the wheat is not like the world of the tares. We are blessed and looked after. Our future is too bright to be described. We take pleasure in things like love and graciousness. The tares enjoy ideation on violence. They dream of descending on the rest of us like stinging insects. They already do it whenever conservatives or Christians hold an outdoor event.

Look at what brings them pleasure in life. Worse, their future is horrible. They will be plucked up and burned, not just for a while, but forever. We’ll be gone, safe in the arms of a being composed of power and love, and they will be shrieking and sobbing in complete, permanent loneliness and obscurity.

They abuse and insult us, and many of us take the bait and fight back with the same weapons. When one of us does that, he thinks he’s opposing them, but he’s really joining them and opting into their future of failure and agony.

As an example of our increasing inability to self-monitor, there is a group of conservatives called the Angry Vikings. Have you ever heard of anything so stupid? Why would any intelligent person want to identify with Vikings? The Vikings were a plague to everyone around them.

I know what’s happening. Many white conservatives feel that white culture is bland and tame. It bothers them that people don’t find white men threatening. They look at violent urban blacks, and they feel they are connected to primitive, tribal energy white people lack. They try to compensate by reaching back to pitiable Northern European religions practiced by bloodthirsty, terrifying tribes of blue-eyed barbarians. They want the world to know white people can be scary, too.

Basically, they want to undo centuries of evangelism. They want to share in the defeats of failed cultures because it makes them feel tough and important. They want to wallow in drama, just like urban gang members, instead of succeeding as peaceful, loving citizens.

The weird thing is that the descendants of the actual Vikings are extremely tame and orderly. They’re boring. Scandinavia is known for its blandness.

When you choose God, you choose love, joy, and victory. When you choose BLM or the Proud Boys or the Angry Vikings, you choose hate, cruelty, frustration, defeat, and the drug you love more than any other: drama.

You also choose silliness. “Angry Vikings”? Come on. How can a grown man be excited about calling himself an Angry Viking?

Organizations like Antifa, BLM, the Proud Boys, and the Angry Vikings are gangs. It’s as though Americans were using the movie Gangs of New York as a template for living. Some gangs are much worse than others, but a gang is a gang.

I love joy, just as I love love. It’s very pleasant, having these things pour through me. A lot of the time, I feel as though I’m about to leave the ground and fly; as though I could jump off the world and depart. Maybe it’s about to happen; I keep thinking the rapture is close.

I want to stay clean so nothing holds me down when the time comes. I want God’s character–the fruit of the Spirit–to dominate inside me from now on. It’s not just morally right; it feels good.

I always say people who use drugs are trying to replicate the sensation of God’s presence inside them. It’s true. When you feel God inside you, it’s very much like being on drugs. He brings sensations of euphoria, peace, and power. People who are gorging on hate are cutting themselves off from all this.

It’s no wonder America is in love with weed. Weed appeals to angry, worried people. It’s not for pleasant individuals who are easy to get along with. It makes jerks feel better about life so they don’t have to change. People are using dope as a salve to soothe open wounds God is supposed to cover.

I can’t thank God enough for getting me off social media and for advising me not to read a lot of news comments. He was so right. I can’t wait for the day when I know I will never have to stare into this dumpster fire again.

Puppy-Skinner as Protagonist

It’s funny how little things can make big impressions.

Today I somehow saw the movie Cruella mentioned. I have seen the title before, but I never thought much about it. Disney gives me the creeps, and besides, I’m an adult. Today I thought about it, and I said something to the only other person present: Marvin the parrot. I said something like, “Don’t tell me. It’s about how Cruella de Vil is actually the victim.”

Why did I say that? Because we live in a time when people love evil and hate good. I’ve seen the evil-as-good theme pushed a number of times in movies, TV shows, and musical performances. I think it’s part of Satan’s Antichristian offensive.

In 1959, Disney made Sleeping Beauty. In that movie, the character Maleficent was a fairy, or demon, as Christians would call her. She is called “the Mistress of All Evil.” When Sleeping Beauty is born, Maleficent is not invited to her christening, but she shows up anyway and curses the princess. We all know the story. Maleficent should have been caught and burned. She was not the protagonist.

In 2014, Disney made an eponymous movie about Maleficent herself. In the 2014 film, she’s not evil at all. She’s a very sweet demon with ugly brown wings and nasty horns. If she’s not the villain, who is? The human race, of course. She falls in love with a man, and he amputates her wings so his dad can take over a forest. Nice. Disney combined so many elements of Satan’s agenda: humanity as a pest species, misandry, demons as victims, and nature as something more valuable than human beings.

Of course, Maleficent eventually defeats the prince who vivisected her. She’s the heroine of the story. The prince falls to his death because he continues trying to kill her. Because, you know, that’s how human males always are. They drive pickup trucks and eat factory veal, for crying out loud.

The name “Maleficent” means “doing harm.” Funny name for someone you’re supposed to admire.

After I spoke to Marv, who was not interested, I thought I should check Wikipedia for details about Cruella. Maybe I wasn’t being fair. Maybe I was judging things based purely on Trump-loving, Bible-clinging bias. I took a look.

No. I wasn’t unfair.

In case you don’t know, Cruella de Vil was the hateful antagonist of the cartoon 101 Dalmatians and its sequels. She was rich and vicious, and she wanted to cut 101 Dalmatian puppies up and wear their fur.

In the new movie, Cruella’s living stepmother is murdered by Cruella’s biological mother, using Dalmatians. The mother abandoned Cruella and handed her over to a servant to be murdered. The servant hid her instead and raised her. Eventually, the real mom finds out and commands a herd of Dalmatians to run the stepmom off a cliff.

It’s an amazing thing. We started out with innocent puppies who needed to be saved from a psychopathic narcissist, and now the puppies are killers and the psychopath is the heroine.

It’s as if Satan is making fun of us. We’re so crazy and blind, he’s filling our entertainment with blatant reversals of good and evil, knowing creatures created in God’s image will clap and cheer. I think Satan takes pleasure in making people who look like God applaud the very evil that destroys them.

How far off can the rapture be? How much deeper into insanity can we plunge?

I used to go in for virtue-reversal entertainment. I enjoyed TV shows centering around the character Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I got used to liking vampires and demons. I don’t know what I was thinking. I thought it was harmless fantasy, but a long time ago, God told me this: we become what we imitate. I’m glad I dropped that stuff.

Similar reversals took place in the Hannibal Lecter films. In the first movie, Lecter was a vile insect who needed to be murdered in his cell. Later, he became a tortured individual who generally killed people who really deserved it. He was full of rage because his little sister had been eaten by cannibals, so it was understandable if he was cranky.

The author of the Lecter books wrote that Lecter specialized in killing rude people, calling them “free-range rude.” How could anyone complain about that?

There was also a heroic TV serial killer named Dexter. He channeled his sickness for good, killing other criminals.

Antiheroes are the new heroes. I mean that in two ways. First, they’re obviously heroes in many, many modern works, so they are doing what heroes do. Second, they have become just as trite as heroes. There are only so many plots movies and books can have, and we started scraping the bottom of the barrel maybe 60 years ago. Writers were fatigued with actual heroes, because they had been done to death. They fell back on evil heroes to pump some new blood into the system. Now evil heroes are a bore, but writers can’t come up with anything further, so we are stuck with them.

Dad is a hitman who uses his ninja skills to rescue his kids from the Proud Boys. Uncle Bob is a closet vampire who saves the town from the Westboro Baptist Church. Mom is a hooker who kills a pedophile priest. Enough, already.

This weekend, a California teacher became famous for a) removing the American flag from her room because it made her uncomfortable, and b) telling kids they could pledge allegiance to the sodomy flag, which she had put in the room because it did NOT make her uncomfortable.

I can’t even guess what my parents would have done had they found out my school forced me to sit in a room with a flag celebrating men shoving their male organs into each other’s mouths and anuses. As for pledging allegiance to it, well, there might have been assault charges.

I think it will be far worse in a year, when leftists have even more clout. Sexual deviants were very polite and timid when they didn’t have power, but when they’re in charge, they are different. Ask any good-looking young man who has been in prison or served on a naval vessel. I suspect homosexuality will become the dominant preference very soon, and once that happens, no man’s rear end will be safe. I think we will soon see Sodom-style rape mobs. It has happened before. There is no reason why it can’t happen again, especially during the tribulation, when there will be nothing left on earth to mitigate evil.

The trend is already present. In Great Britain, male rape has increased by a factor of NINE since 1995. Of course, that only includes reported offenses. Many men keep their humiliation private. GQ, hardly a Christian publication, says that when a man joins the military, his chances of being raped increase by a factor of 10. Yearly rape figures for men in our armed services run between 10,000 and 20,000.

Strange how no one mentioned these things when gays were pushing for the right to serve.

Useful info for modern men: the right to use lethal force applies to rape victims. You can shoot, mutilate, burn, blind, or otherwise harm a potential rapist without committing a crime. Good thing to know if you have doubts about your coworkers, youth pastor, camp counselor, or scoutmaster.

I can’t even guess what bizarre movie remakes are in store for us. Independence Day with city-vaporizing extraterrestrials as the heroes? Schindler’s List with Hitler as the victim? Maybe they’ll remake Alien and call it Undocumented.

It is rapidly becoming impossible to parody Satan’s leftists, because reality is sillier, more absurd, and more evil than anything a writer can imagine.

Maybe we’ll see a remake of The Exorcist in which the priests and possessed girl are villains because the girl supports Trump and won’t get vaccinated, and the demon wants to join BLM and Stonewall.

I hope God takes us soon. This place is a mess.

Pride Eventually Flags

Interesting stuff is happening here.

A few days back, my wife told me her cousin was under supernatural attack. His relatives were trying to kill him through witchcraft.

Believe it or not, this is a common thing in Zambia. My wife has had the same problem.

Zambia is a Christian nation. Its constitution makes Christianity the official religion, and the Muslim population is very low. At the same time, African religion, i.e. voodoo, has not gone away. Many people practice witchcraft along with Christianity. There are many individuals who have prominent positions in churches yet continue to cast spells and so on.

When a Zambian does too well in life, his relatives may start cursing him in secret. They do this out of envy.

The cousin has close relations who practice witchcraft, and he asked for prayer because he knew they were attacking him. Rhodah and I started fighting for him this week.

Early this morning, I had a dream. I was in my dad’s house in Miami. Relatives were there, although I couldn’t see anyone. We were getting ready to go on a trip together.

I had just gotten out of the shower. I was wearing a towel. I had left an AK-47 in the living room by the fireplace. Someone had taken it, and I knew it was a relative. I didn’t know who it was. I was concerned that a child might have gotten it.

I heard a large number of gunshots in rapid succession. They sounded exactly the way gunshots sound in real life when you hear them from inside a house. I thought some relative or other had taken the AK and was shooting criminals who were after us.

I got down on my stomach to present less area to gunfire, and I waited. Then I found myself in the front yard, still on the ground

A tall man who looked Indian walked to me. He was taller than a human being; about nine feet. He was wearing dress pants and a nice grey sportcoat. He had a pistol in his hand. The slide was locked back, showing he had emptied it at someone.

He offered me the pistol, so I reached up and took it. I was very careful to hold it by the barrel so I didn’t look like I was the shooter.

A bald policeman was in the yard. I held the gun up so he could see it and come for it. He took it. The Indian man was gone.

I found myself in darkness, as though I were in my bedroom. A bright light flashed in my eyes, as though I were under the covers and someone thrust a flashlight under them briefly. I saw strange green flashes of light. Then I woke up.

I felt there were spirits in the room. I thought I saw some shadows. Of course, I started cursing them with failure and telling them to leave. I wasn’t scared, but I had the feeling I used to get way back when I had nightmares. My blood was pumping hard, and I felt my skin tightening up. I felt that if I went back to sleep, a nightmare would follow. I was in a nightmare-prone state.

Of course, things were fine after I addressed the problem. God stood by me, as always. I went back to sleep.

This morning, I called Rhodah, and before I told her what had happened to me, she said she had not slept well. She said witches were attacking her because we were praying for her cousin. I told her about my dream. We fought the hostile spirits and people using supernatural means.

After that, her cousin showed up at her house, and I am waiting for him to leave so Rhodah and I can pray.

The tall man who shot the criminals and brought me the gun looked like an usher from Trinity, the corrupt church I used to attend in Miami Gardens. The usher was Indian, and he was always very professional. People respected him.

I think maybe he represented an angel sent to defend Rhodah and me. My relatives probably represented Christians.

The tall man was the only one who fired a shot. I could tell that by the rhythm of the sounds. No oe fired back. He didn’t use my AK, and he made a point of showing me what he did use. A pistol is a very weak, ineffective weapon compared to a good semiautomatic rifle, but he had no trouble shooting and defeating my enemies with it.

I suspect he took the AK so I wouldn’t try to defend myself with my own tools. This would show that God handled the problem for me.

My towel was dark red. The shower presumably represented sanctification through prayer in tongues. Maybe the red towel showed I was not finished with the sanctification process. In the Bible, bloodstains on clothing represent guilt.

I don’t want to fight with people. It’s a lot of work, it drags me down to their carnal level, and I don’t do it as well as God does. I can’t fight spirits with my body. I have to invoke God’s power. He is welcome to the work and the glory. I just want the victory.

Last night, I saw there had been a deadly flood in Tennessee. It made me think about the other floods we’ve seen this year. China, Europe, India, the Middle East, New York City, Arizona, Kentucky, London…seems like a lot of activity. I tried to find out whether this year’s flooding was truly unusual or merely more conspicuous because of increased coverage. It looks like there really are more floods. In various places, people are saying they got floods so severe they ordinarily occur only once in a century or millennium.

The thing that stands out here is the fact that Germans and Austrians couldn’t protect themselves from flood damage and deaths. You’re not supposed to say it in public, but people like the Germans, Austrians, and Scandinavians are more capable than nearly everyone else. They rank right up there with the Japanese, Singaporeans, and the Jews. They’re not supposed to die in floods, which are not that hard to prepare for.

It’s not a big surprise when Indians or Africans or Haitians die in a disaster other nations would shrug off with few or no casualties. It’s shocking to see Germans drown.

Certain types of people are more able than the rest of us, and they have much more reason to trust in their own strength. When people from such a group flounder in a disaster, it’s a humbling.

Journalists who specialize in exposing the many lies of the Communist Chinese government claim thousands of people have died in the Chinese floods. I think they’re telling the truth. Many people were trapped underground in tunnels. There are memorials set up in public, and the numbers of people who have been seen honoring the dead suggest that casualties were very high.

It seems safe to say the world is going through an extraordinary time of flooding, on most if not all settled continents. What does it mean?

God promised he would not destroy the world with water a second time, but he never said there would be no more floods, and floods are clearly signs of his disapproval. He used a flood against the entire human race, and later, he used a miraculous flash flood to drown a pharaoh and his army. He had Jesus and Peter walk on water, he saved Noah’s family, and he held the Dead Sea up in walls for the Hebrews to show that being lifted above water and being protected from submersion are indications that he is pleased.

Jesus said he would return when times were like the days of Noah. Because of the rainbow and his promise, I didn’t expect floods to be involved in the end times. I thought he was only referring to a worldwide abandonment of God, like the falling away of Noah’s time. Nonetheless, floods are here. He isn’t drowning all of humanity, but he seems to be shaking his fist.

Things are going to get worse. Virtually no one is connecting the problems of our times with God’s anger, and almost no one is calling for repentance or prayer as solutions. Instead, we are shaking our fists right back at God. We are intensifying our support for homosexuality and Americans are forcing it on other nations who don’t want it.

Zambia had a corrupt president. He just lost an election. He loved China, and under his rule, China got heavily involved in the exploitation of Zambia, which is full of things like copper and gold. Zambians do not like the Chinese because they are selfish and overbearing. Whites used to come and run businesses, and they took wealth out of the country, but they were kinder bosses, and they built things like schools and infrastructure. They left a lot of good things behind.

The Chinese have a reputation for building shoddy things that fall apart when they leave. They are not building schools or hospitals. They don’t send missionaries. They are not building good roads. They work people hard and pay them little, and they leave junk behind.

When Zambians look at the state of their country, they joke that they threw the white people out too soon. It’s a joke, but it’s based on truth. Other African countries that gained independence later are much more advanced.

Now that Zambia has a new president, Westerners are rushing to go in and invest. The new president favors the West. Guess what China is doing? They’re telling people Americans are coming so they can force acceptance of homosexuality on Zambians. The sad thing is that it’s completely true! We have a history of applying economic screws to Africans who resist sexual perversion.

Zambians are actively discussing the problem. Homosexual relations are banned by law there, and the people support the law. They don’t want rainbow flags all over their Christian country, but they are tired of the Chinese, and they want an economic revival.

Think of the contrast. America used to be the world’s leading exporter of Christianity, and that brought us dominance and prosperity. Now we are the world’s leading exporter of homosexuality and sexual sin. If sending Christian missionaries brought us God’s favor, what will we get for sending Biden’s missionaries of sodomy?

Americans don’t trust God. They trust America. They think our young nation and its dominance are permanent things. They think Americans are better than other people, which is clearly not even close to true. They think our wealth and the oceans that make invasion difficult will always keep us on top. It’s insane. The British were stronger than we are, and they ruled for longer, but look at them now.

Today one of my favorite Youtubers felt compelled to discuss Psalm 49. Here is part of it:

They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;

None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:

(For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)

That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption.

For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.

Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.

Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.

This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings.

God says exactly what I’ve been saying for years. Why? Because I was repeating things he generously put in my mind.

Consider Babylon. It had an extremely powerful empire and a walled city that was considered impervious to attack. One night, Nebuchadnezzar’s son Belshazzar had a drunken party at which people used the sacred vessels of the Jewish temple to get drunk. Even as they were gloating and carousing, beneath the city, their enemies were entering under the walls through a drained river so they could leap out and take over. God even told Belshazzar why he was about to lose his empire. At the party, a hand appeared by a wall and wrote, “Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin.” Daniel was called to interpret. He said God was going to punish Belshazzar for pride and for offending the God of heaven, and he interpreted the words this way:

This is the interpretation of the thing: Mene; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.

Tekel; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

Peres; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

Belshazzar knew God had driven Nebuchadnezzar mad for 6 years because of pride, and Daniel reminded him. He had learned nothing from his father’s experience, so God had no reason to spare him.

We’re just like the Babylonians. We know who God is, but we don’t care, and we’re busy planting “pride” flags all over the world. We are feeding hidden supernatural enemies who will be released suddenly. When things go sideways, we’ll claim we didn’t see it coming, but that will be a lie. We had the Bible, and we had people to warn us.

My best guess is that the floods will continue without destroying the world. Sooner or later, we should start seeing earthquakes, too.

New Orleans has been evacuated, and a storm that may hit Category Four is on the way. That means another flood, if the hurricane’s eye passes to the east. We all know how well people there respond to warnings. I wonder if irresponsible people will stay and drown again. If they do, will the press blame Biden, the way they unfairly blamed Bush and ignored the residents and local Democrats who were really responsible?

There has to be a way to hang this around Donald Trump’s neck. This, solar flares, the breakup of the Beatles, and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Our politicians aren’t really the primary causes of our problems. Apostasy and idolatry are. If we were right with God, we would have competent leaders. He would set them over us instead of giving us over to political leaders like poor, demented Biden and cultural leaders like sleazy, slutty Megan Thee Stallion.

For the umpteenth time since the pandemic started, my area is experiencing grey, overcast weather resembling the days before a hurricane. This has been happening all summer, even when no storms have been near Florida. Over and over, a strange sense of foreboding has settled on the place. It’s as though God were calling for silence and asking people to reflect before he brings judgment.

I’m ready. I hope the rapture comes as soon as possible, and I hope I’m taken. Human beings know they’re doing wrong. They’ve made their choices. Maybe if the tribulation starts, their increased suffering will motivate them to do the right thing. The soft approach isn’t working.

MORE

My brain was in reverse when I said New Orleans might flood if Ida passed to the EAST. I should have said WEST. I knew storms rotated counterclockwise, but when I pictured it in my head, I saw it the other way.

People in Kabul Aren’t Feeling Gay

Tell me whether you think this is a revelation.

In Genesis, God said, “My spirit will not strive with man forever. Because he is flesh, his days shall be 120 years.” Many people think this means modern humans have limited lifespans because God was saying he was shortening them.

Problem: Noah lived 950 years, and 350 of those years passed AFTER the flood and AFTER God said man’s days would be 120 years. Noah is not alone. Abraham lived long after Noah, and he lived to be 175. Isaac died at 180. Israel died at 147.

Uh oh.

Other people believe God was saying, “I am not going to continue wasting effort trying to save a human race which clearly will not listen, so in 120 years, I will destroy them.” That seems to make more sense.

Googling around, I see that we are not certain how much time passed between the day Noah received his assignment and the day the flood began, but we know it was around 100 years. We don’t know the date of God’s announcement that he would shorten man’s days to 120 years, but it is mentioned before the command he gave Noah. There appears to be no reason why the 120-year announcement could not have taken place 120 years before the execution of the human race, and there is also no other good explanation for the announcement.

We know the tribulation will be the second destruction of the human race. It won’t be as thorough as the flood, because God will end it in order to prevent total extinction, but effectively, it will be a repeat performance, except people will be drowned spiritually, not physically. God will use fire, not water, to cleanse the earth.

God gave us the rainbow to document his promise that he would not destroy the earth with water a second time. He also said he would return, which will happen at the end of the tribulation, when things are as they were in the days of Noah, when human beings were given over to evil. It’s notable that homosexuals, whose activities are extremely offensive to God, use the rainbow on their flag, and that they call it the “pride” flag.

Pride is almost synonymous with homosexuality. Google “pride” and see what pops up. It won’t be Charlie. Other search engines give somewhat mixed results, but the Google Kidz have their site rigged up so the results are gay, gay, gay.

Here is what occurred to me last night: what if God intends to bring the tribulation 120 years after giving the world a final dispensation of grace? He left Noah to preach here for 120 years, and he got nowhere, and God works in repetitive patterns. What if God started counting the years at the beginning of the revival of baptism with the Holy Spirit?

Many people think the charismatic movement started in 1906, in Los Angeles, in a church on Azusa Street. That isn’t true. In America, it started no later than 1901. The first known manifestation which fed into the charismatic movement took place in Topeka, Kansas, with a woman named Agnes Ozman. Another manifestation, which failed to get traction, took place near Murphy, North Carolina, in 1896. Ozman’s experience appears to be the match that lit the fire.

Ozman’s pastor and 34 other people began manifesting the gift, it spread to California, and the rest is history.

What is 1901 plus 120? It’s 2021.

People may shout, “Jesus said he didn’t know the day or the hour,” but he said that a long time ago, and surely he didn’t mean neither he nor anyone else would ever know. He can’t return unless he knows the day and hour. Also, 2021 is not a day or an hour. It’s a year. If God tells us the year the tribulation will begin, we will still be in the dark regarding the day and hour.

If we reckon from 1906, when the real explosion occurred, 120 years will be up in 2027. Still not far off.

It seems pretty clear to me that the 4th seal of Revelation 6 has been opened, and the 5th seal may also have been opened. If the 5th seal is open, then once the events it heralds are finished, the 6th seal will open, and that’s a very bad seal. It will indicate that the nicer part of the tribulation has begun. During the 6th-seal period, people will be saved and martyred. The 7th seal period is where the heavy-duty tribulation sets in.

Here’s what happens when the 6th seal is opened:

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

More 6th-seal events:

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,

Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Things look pretty bad during that time, but 7th-seal events are much worse. It appears that every person who prays and serves God will be gone from the earth by the time the 7th seal opens, so everyone here will be like those who are already in hell. They will feel God’s wrath without a buffer, because God doesn’t have to hold back his fury to protect his children, and because no one on earth is repenting or praying for mercy.

During the 7th-seal period, Many people of the earth will be destroyed with plagues, including things like being roasted with fire.

Is this how it works? Are we nearly at the end of a 120-year probation period? Is this why the weather is so strange and an air of foreboding has pervaded my county for the last year and a half? Is this why people are frozen in place, waiting for the end of a bobbing-and-weaving pestilence that will never go away?

Is this why we elected an arrogant, lying, demented dotard who is currently presiding over our downfall? Biden is sitting in the Oval Office feeling great about achieving his narcissistic dream, with no idea how to cope with the events that are swirling around him. It’s as though he were elected captain of the darts team on a burning ship. He’s clutching his treasured prize, but it might as well be a sack of manure.

To add to my questions, the other day my wife heard an audible voice. It said, “October 26th.” What does it mean? Is it the day of the rapture? Is it the day she will get a tourist visa to come to America? We don’t know.

It’s remarkable that some Christians don’t believe in the rapture. The Bible describes it with considerable specificity, and there have already been at least three raptures. Enoch, Elijah, and Jesus have already been raptured. The flood was a picture of the rapture, even though no one was lifted to heaven.

Noah represents Jesus. The 8 people on the ark represent a new beginning, because a week has 7 days, and day 8 starts a new week. Noah’s children were lifted above the earth while people below were killed miserably, and when they returned, they owned the entire earth, and they gave rise to every race on the planet.

In the rapture, Jesus takes us away, we spend 7 years in heaven, and then he returns us here, to lead the survivors of the tribulation and start a new human race.

In Genesis, God said he had shortened man’s time because men were flesh. Enoch said God brought the flood because the sons of the angels were giants in the flesh but not in the spirit. It looks like God was saying the same thing Enoch said. Right now, a gigantic percentage of human beings are ruled by the flesh. The parallel is obvious.

We’re putting homosexuality flags up at our embassies abroad, along with the US flag. Not everyone agrees. Jamaicans have protested this celebration of abomination. I am on their side. The embassy may be our soil, but godly Jamaicans have to look at that flag. I wonder if we have homosexuality flags up in places like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. I’ll bet we don’t. Leftists are loud but not brave.

We did put flags up in the UAE, the Vatican, and Afghanistan. In Kabul, the flag was intended to celebrate June, which is Pride Month. How is it that blacks got stuck with February, the worst month of the year, and homosexuals got June? It’s interesting that Kabul fell after we insulted the God that gives us victory.

Biden is amazing. I just read that ISIS set off two suicide bombs in Kabul, including one at the airport. Raise your hand if you didn’t see that coming. Remember all those ISIS victories on US-occupied ground during Trump’s term? Neither do I. Biden is bringing back the good old days of Obama and Bush.

People are so deluded and dishonest, they’re actually debating whether it was a good idea to forgo creating a withdrawal plan and allow the country to collapse at the whims of our terrorist enemies. The news says we left the Taliban arms and other military items worth $28 billion, and that includes Blackhawk helicopters, which they are now operating. Armed versions of the Blackhawk are very nasty weapons, and you can destroy one with a single bomb, so why didn’t we do it? Why didn’t we have our soldiers drive tanks and MRAP’s over rifles instead of handing them over?

I can destroy an M16 in three seconds, and so can you. A person with a jug of gasoline and a lighter can burn out a vehicle or an aircraft in a couple of minutes. I can put uniforms, boots, and ballistic helmets in piles and set fire to them. I’m not even in the military. Somehow, these ideas never occurred to Biden. It looks like our military leaders never thought of them, either, but they did have time to form and implement plans to promote male-on-male anal sex.

The Germans and Japanese destroyed arms and other resources as they retreated. So did the Soviets. Are Americans just too dumb to do the same thing?

How can we be this stupid? Supernatural delusion is the only explanation. No one is this dumb without help.

The Taliban said they agreed the airport should stay open, and Biden believed them. He believed the enemy, because that’s who smart leaders go to for wartime advice. Did ISIS make the same promise, or did Biden just forget to invite them to the talks?

I can’t believe leftists are still arguing about what will happen in Afghanistan. Here’s what will happen: we will leave, Biden will keep calling it a victory, the Taliban’s enemies will be arrested, tortured, robbed, raped, and murdered, and the Taliban and ISIS will crank up terrorism both inside and outside Afghanistan. Other terrorists will smell dotard blood in the water and follow suit. You don’t have to be Nostradamus to figure these things out. They’re already happening.

China and Russia will be emboldened because they look at America and see grandpa asleep at the wheel of the Family Truckster. Thank God the Chinese Navy is so feeble. If it weren’t, we could probably expect to hand the Taiwanese their own Bay of Pigs this year. I wonder how Biden or Harris would try to spin that.

Biden drove gas prices up by destroying the Keystone Pipeline and sending the gas to China. He’s also going after fracking and drilling. He’s begging OPEC to pump oil to help us fix the problem he and his supporters caused. Remember how oil importers had to pay buyers to take oil under Trump? Wasn’t that great? Now Biden is pumping air into the furnace of international terrorism, which always raises oil prices. Is there anything else he could do to put us at the mercy of our enemies? Maybe it would help if we had gays dance around our domestic rigs and chant for more crude in the name of pride.

It’s only August, and Biden’s America already has two wheels in the ditch.

I can’t swear God’s 120-year punishment has been repeated for the modern world, but it seems very plausible, so I plan to pray about it. I hope it’s true, because as much as I enjoy life, I know my wife and I are living behind enemy lines, and it won’t be long before persecution in America starts to look like persecution in Iran, except with more men in dresses.

Expect to be Rejected

It’s amazing how Spirit-led Christians get separated from people who don’t know God.

My family has an LLC, and it owns some land. A long time ago, we stupidly offered a purchase option to a shady corporation. We signed an authorization allowing my sister to sell the option for X dollars. The buyer provided a check for X/10, and on the front, they wrote that the check was for the option. They did not include any language saying it was payment in full.

We thought the price offered was too low, so we revoked the option. The buyer sued. The case sat in court for about a decade. At least twice, the court itself sent out orders to show cause. The plaintiff had let the case lie dormant, and the court demanded to know why it should not have been dismissed. We did not oppose the plaintiff’s attorney when lame excuses were presented.

When this case came up, my dad and I offered to handle it for nothing. My dad was the best lawyer I ever knew. My grandfather got rich through practicing law and investing, along with some other unsavory practices, and my relatives think he was a superhero, but he never saw the day he could practice against his son-in-law.

My family insisted on giving the case to my cousin, who expected a fee. My cousin is no litigator. He didn’t move for dismissal based on failure to prosecute. He also chose not to file for dismissal based on failure of consideration, which means he didn’t contest the claim that a 10% payment was sufficient. It was not. The law clearly states that in cases where there is failure of consideration (including insufficient consideration), a contract will generally be rescinded.

The plaintiff sued the LLC as well as all its members individually. My cousin never filed for dismissal of the individual defendants. You can’t sue an individual personally for the actions of an LLC of which he is a member, barring certain unusual circumstances which are not applicable in our case.

I emailed my family, including my cousin, from time to time, and they usually didn’t respond. I didn’t expect anything from my co-defendant relatives, based on their history, but failure to communicate with a client is a very serious thing. Lawyers get suspended for it all the time.

A couple of weeks back, I heard the plaintiff had filed a motion for judgment. I was never served. I couldn’t get a copy of it. I started trying to contact my cousin, calling his office, texting, and so on. I didn’t get an answer until last night.

Basically, he made a point of talking to every LLC member except me, he dodged my communications, and then he came to me claiming they all wanted him to settle the case by giving up. He said they wanted him to do exactly what the plaintiff wanted.

Only a litigator could understand how bad this is.

Here is what you do when you get a case:

1. Make sure you are competent to handle it.
2. Get out the rules of procedure and write out a complete calendar of all deadlines and procedures.
3. Research the law and write a comprehensive, up-to-date analysis.
4. If possible, move for dismissal based on the insufficiency of the complaint.
5. If dismissal at this stage is not possible, perform discovery to determine the facts.
6. File such motions as are appropriate as the facts emerge. You may still be able to get a dismissal before trial.

As far as I can tell, my cousin did a little of #5 and none of the other things. He has never filed a motion. When I asked him for his research, he had nothing to say. Ask me about any case I’ve handled, and I can email you every piece of research in half an hour. This is normal. I still have research and briefs done by my father.

My cousin is a prosecutor, not a full-time private attorney. He practices in the same little backwoods area where my grandfather got rich, and most lawyers up there are very weak. They practice a very rudimentary, informal type of law. The good ones generally leave. That’s what happened to my dad. The lawyers in Eastern Kentucky could never begin to deal with a real litigator. I think that atmosphere made my cousin soft.

My dad practiced almost exclusively in federal courts, all over the country, routinely shutting down Ivy League attorneys. When I worked with him, I worked against real litigators, addressing complex issues. In Eastern Kentucky, a real lawyer like my dad or me would be like Mike Tyson sparring with old ladies at a strip mall Tae Kwon Do dojo.

I’ll digress with an amusing story. My dad was handling a labor matter. The union attorneys showed up. They said they were Harvard lawyers. One of them said they had beaten the last attorney they faced, and they would beat my dad, too. He said, “If you do, I’ll buy you a drink, and if you lose, you can buy me a drink.” They lost and ran off, and my dad never got his drink.

My dad took criminal cases when he was young, to feed his family. He handled 11 murder cases and got 10 acquittals. In the remaining case, the defendant and victim were both black. After the verdict, my dad heard one juror tell another, “Got rid of two at once.” He tried to get his client to let him file for a retrial based on jury misconduct, but the client said he didn’t want to bother. He said he had been to the pen before, and it didn’t bother him to go back.

The motion opposing counsel sent my cousin is pathetic. It wasn’t accompanied by a brief, which amazes me. That’s malpractice anywhere except Eastern Kentucky. It contained a huge stack of irrelevant deeds. It also contained a copy of the check, which we should be using to get a dismissal. It asked for remedies that made no sense. Opposing counsel is clearly incompetent, but we are rolling over for her as though she were Ben Cardozo.

It’s a shame my family would not let my dad and me handle this. Would we have gotten a better result? I believe we would have done away with the case in a couple of months. We certainly could not have done worse than giving up to a dimestore attorney AND charging a fee.

We are literally in the same place we would have been had we done nothing and received a default judgment, except that we will have to pay someone, and we lost the benefit of investing the proceeds from the sale.

When I talked to my cousin, I could not get him to agree with basic assertions of fact and law. I hadn’t heard from him in years, and he said he was satisfied with his communication. It was like talking to someone who was hypnotized and unable to perceive the truth. Whenever I made a point, he changed the subject.

Later on, I prayed about it and asked God what was going on. Then I realized it was just another step in my isolation from unsaved people and stubborn people. It was completely natural for everyone in the family to ostracize me. I’m the only real litigator in the family, and they all know it, but it was natural for them to side with my cousin, against their own interests, because he is one of them, and I am not.

He even cited my sister’s opinion. My sister is a convicted felon who is no longer allowed to practice law, and her right to represent the family was taken away because of her character. No one in the family can stand her, my father, my aunt, and my grandfather have all thrown her out of their houses, and my cousin talked to her first and listened to her legal opinion and cited it back to me.

None of it makes sense, but then it wasn’t supposed to make sense. When supernatural forces are at work, nonsensical things happen.

Last night, I asked God if he would multiply back to me and my wife whatever we lost because of my family’s bad decisions. I felt that he said he would, and I let it go. I felt separated from anger, and I want it to stay that way.

I don’t need the money. Things are going great for me. I am unquestionably a bad and undeserving person, but I am trying to submit to God, and he has been extremely merciful to me, giving me a life which is far better than I deserve. I don’t expect to have to work ever again. I live on a pleasant farm, nicely isolated from the urban insanity of the dawning apocalypse. I have no debt. I have a very attractive wife who is a magnificent companion and prayer partner. The worst people in my life are dead or far away and powerless. For my relatives, things are not going like this. They have marriage problems, money problems, addictions, mental torments, and degenerative diseases. Not all of them have every type of problem, but all of them have some. I can’t name one who is not unhappy.

For years, I have been praying for God to cut my financial ties to my family. We are sitting on useless land we started inheriting in 1994. They will not stand together and get it sold. I keep asking God what I am doing wrong to be held up like this. My financial situation will not be affected greatly one way or another, so that isn’t what concerns me. I just want the connection severed. I don’t want to be tied to people who consistently make the worst possible decisions. I can’t wait to see the last piece of land sold.

Why haven’t I taken action in the past? I hated the scrapping. My grandfather left a very bad will, and it brought out the worst in people. I figured God would take care of me, and I thought he did not want me taking over my own representation or filing to force sales.

The other day, I had a dream. I was in a big, luxurious Lincoln Town Car, from the days when luxury cars really were luxurious. I saw a punk outside my window. He took the form of a shallow guy I knew in college. Nice guy, but not much there. Women chased him, and he went along with the crowd. In the dream, he had some kind of assault rifle. It looked like a toy made of plastic.

I took out my Glock and fired at him three times. The rounds went off with weak noises, and if they hit him, I didn’t see it. I reached out and ripped his gun out of his hands, and I drove off with the windows closed.

I believe God was telling me my carnal weapons were not much good. I won’t get much by fighting people in court or by striving with them. The car, like all motorized vehicles in my dreams, represented God’s help. If I am led by the Spirit, then he protects me with his power and defeats my enemies. The punk represented people who want desperately to fit in to this world. He was not a spirit.

The children of darkness give people disfavor, on Satan’s behalf. The only remedy is God’s favor.

You can’t expect to be part of the gang when you belong to God. Jesus said the world would hate his followers, and of course, what he said was true. By “followers”, I don’t mean people who sit in church once in a while or people who haven’t received the baptism with the Holy Spirit. I don’t mean what my wife calls “nominal Christians.” I mean people who are seriously trying to get close to God and stay there, through the gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve prayed for my relatives. It just doesn’t work. I baptized one cousin in my pool, but apart from her, I don’t have a single relative who speaks in tongues, seeks correction, and understands any of the deep things of God.

People have free will, so often, we pray over and over to God when the only ones who can answer our prayers are the people we are praying for. God is offering them every kind of help, but they turn it down. That’s the way life works. I have no idea whether any of my relatives will change before the tribulation or even afterward.

When I was a kid, I was extremely grateful for my family. I loved my aunts and cousins. I loved two of my uncles. The other was sadistic and scary, and he hated me because I was my grandfather’s favorite. I loved going home for summers and holidays. I looked forward to seeing everyone. I loved big family meals. I thought I had something special. As time passed, however, we grew apart. Now the people who are closest to me are my wife and former strangers I got to know through my walk with Christ.

My relatives ignore me, and when they do get in touch, it generally leads to be being dragged into a vexing problem they caused. They never contact me about anything but business. They have visited Florida and come very close without even telling me. They had a big Thanksgiving dinner and informed me afterward. My new family sends me cards and gifts. They pray for me. They tell me they love me. They come for visits. I have their photos on my walls. The only biologicals whose photos are on my walls are my mother’s parents.

It’s terrible to see people you love fall into delusion and accept it. I wish we could have the warmth we used to have. Those days are gone, though. My grandparents’ estates served as wedges to pry down the facade.

I have never taken a penny for doing anything for the estates. I offered to work for them for nothing, as though they were indigent pro bono clients. I have never received a cent of estate money that wasn’t given to me out in the open. I have never taken the smallest item of personalty unless it was on record and officially sanctioned. I have never fought over anything. I haven’t gone after items people have said were stolen from my share. I used to get along with everyone. There is no natural explanation for the way things have turned out.

I forgive everyone who has taken part in creating this mess. I took part, myself. I got off the train eventually, but I was there to help put the wheels on, before I turned to God.

I don’t think there is any point in continuing to pray for them. I have been doing it for 14 years, and only one apple fell from the tree. In a parable, Jesus only gave an unfruitful tree one year.

People who miss the rapture will still be able to be saved during the tribulation, but they will wish they were dead. There is hope for my loved ones who won’t listen during the present age. I hate to think of what they may go through if they get stuck here.

If you get close to God, expect to lose people. It has happened to every person I know who has tried it. Don’t blame yourself. Don’t look for a natural reason. What’s happening to you is preparation for the rapture or death. You’re being cleansed and equipped.

If you lose your coworkers, friends, kids, spouse, or relatives, don’t worry. God has a new famiy for you. He promises he sets the solitary in families. He takes people out of dysfunctional biological families, and he puts them together with his other children.

Thanks for All the Help, CDC

I am posting this because it is helpful information most people don’t know about: reputable online sources say people who have not had recent flu shots are something like 3 times as likely to have severe coronavirus cases. For some reason, the flu shot is reducing the severity of coronavirus problems for many people.

I learned this on my own. It just popped up while I was Googling around.

I have slacked about getting flu shots for about 5 years, but I have an appointment on Tuesday. I just made it.

I also scheduled a pneumonia shot. Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common bacterium that causes bacterial pneumonia in coronavirus patients. It’s not unusual to have both diseases at once. The web says there is evidence that the first pneumonia vaccine people are instructed to get (there are two) appears to reduce the severity of coronavirus attacks.

Other sources say things like varicella, the chickenpox virus, can cause pneumonia in coronavirus patients. Maybe I should see about a vaccine. I had chickenpox when I was a kid, and I’m sure I’ve been vaccinated on top of that, but varicella also causes shingles, and the web says chickenpox will not give you immunity to shingles. I have no idea whether the shingles vaccine prevents varicella pneumonia, but I don’t want shingles. A cousin of mine had it, and it was so painful, he couldn’t stand to wear clothes and decided to wander around his house naked.

I don’t know why our keepers aren’t telling us these things. It’s not tinfoil-hat nonsense. It’s coming from real researchers.

Soon Civil Rights Will Only be for the Rich

What a rewarding day this must be for “conservatives” who voted for Biden because they wanted to punish Trump. Biden just banned the importation of Russian-made ammunition. Never-Trumpers must be rejoicing as they contemplate what may turn out to be a permanent ammunition shortage, accompanied by prices that make 9mm look like .50 BMG.

Prices were already insanely high before Biden acted. The other day I saw an ad bragging about 9mm selling for about $27 per box. The last time I bought 9mm, I paid $7.35.

Anyway, wonderful work, Trump-haters. At least you have a president who doesn’t hurt your feelings.

Pro-civil-rights news outlets are claiming Russia made about 40% of the ammunition currently offered for sale in the United States. That’s a pretty high percentage to lose. The market can’t absorb that kind of hit during an ammo glut. It certainly won’t be able to do it during a severe shortage.

There are people who like to brag that they don’t buy Russian ammunition. They claim the quality is low and the steel cases hurt their guns, and they say the ban will not affect them. That’s a ridiculous position for a number of reasons.

1. The quality isn’t low. Commercial Russian ammunition is reliable and safe, and the primers are not corrosive. Low-priced Russian ammunition may not be as accurate as top-shelf products from other countries, but generally, this is true of cheap ammo regardless of where it’s made.

2. Contrary to keyboard-warrior scuttlebutt which is peer-reviewed at barbecues by individuals under the influence of Shiner Bock, the steel-cased stuff does not damage firearms.

3. Now that Russian ammo is disappearing, people who used to buy it will start competing with snobs for ammunition made elsewhere. That ammunition, which is already overpriced and in very short supply, should become much more expensive and harder to find. The only people who won’t be affected are the few individuals who are hoarding enough ammunition for a lifetime and who don’t lose their stashes to theft or fire.

4. It doesn’t matter that Russian manufacturers aren’t big factors when it comes to many calibers. A panic caused by a ban applying to any category of ammunition will drive people to stock up on every other type.

Russian ammo kills countless deer and other game animals every year, it’s perfect for people who use a lot of ammo practicing for armed confrontations, and the Russians make deadly, reasonably priced rounds for taking out home invaders. Anyone who thinks Russian ammo is garbage and serves no useful purpose in the hands of a discriminating consumer is living in a fantasy world.

The price of 7.62x39mm has already gone way up, and the ink on the ban is barely dry.

I decided to pick up another box in this caliber, as well as what should be enough .22 LR to get me through a year. I paid about 10 cents per round for the .22 shells. That’s not great, but it beats paying twice as much, the way people were a few weeks back.

Biden’s excuse for the ban is that the Russians are making neurotoxins and infringing human rights. It is believed they poisoned a dissident named Navalny.

When I heard about the ban last night, I got very angry at Biden. I could not help myself. Obviously, this ban has nothing to do with intelligent or principled political tactics. If we cared about human rights, we and the rest of the world would have blockaded China a long time ago. The Chinese have a huge system of political prisons, they have legions of slaves, they harvest organs from dissidents, they occupy Tibet, they persecute Christians, and they’re destroying the Uighurs. Biden isn’t banning Chinese goods.

Biden isn’t concerned about human rights or the manufacture of a little bit of poison. He’s probably trying to show his conspiracy-addled supporters he’s standing up to Trump’s alleged puppetmaster, and he’s pumping up his base by striking an extremely damaging blow to our exercise of our civil right to keep and bear arms.

Our big imports from Russia are oil, precious stones and platinum, iron and steel, fertilizers, and inorganic chemicals. How can ammunition be a priority?

Biden will be happy to let his order expire as early as 12 months from now, provided the Russians do things like promising not to make nerve gas, letting us inspect, and paying restitution to Mr. Navalny. There is no way they will do any of those things. Maybe they would be more malleable had we stopped buying steel and oil, but Biden doesn’t have the guts or integrity to go after those things, and I don’t think he wants to. I think this whole thing is an anti-freedom scam. I believe Biden and his leftists pals wanted a way to make the ammunition shortage worse while appearing to stand up to Putin. I think Biden would be extremely disappointed if Russia caved in.

The news for shooters isn’t all bad. Biden also released a gigantic, multi-billion dollar store of excellent American weapons and ammunition, and he gave it away to anyone who wanted it. Unfortunately, it’s in Afghanistan, and the people who took it are Taliban soldiers. Here they are, wearing our uniforms and carrying our rifles while they make fun of us.

If that photo doesn’t break your heart, you should be deported.

Those things on their heads appear to be night vision systems, which cost US taxpayers as much as a nice used car. Presumably, if the Taliban can figure out how to use them, they will employ them to shoot collaborators and whichever Americans are unfortunate enough to remain in the country too long.

Destroying a rifle or a night vision system is not hard or time-consuming. It can be done in a few seconds. Bend the rifle’s barrel in a vise and throw the monocular at a concrete floor. Done. Our troops and Afghan friendlies could have been ordered to do it before Afghanistan collapsed. Somehow, this was not a priority to Biden, but he had time to plan a cowardly attack on our civil rights.

I was angry about the ban, and I even said some nasty things about Biden, but after I corrected myself, all I felt was a sense that the world was in the process of collapsing.

Back in 2015, I dreamed the rapture had come. I heard a long, low, loud blast from an enormous horn, and I started floating up through the ceiling. I knew everyone on earth could hear the horn. I was not scared, but I felt a heavy sense of how serious the moment was. It was extremely sobering. I felt vicarious dread on behalf of the unprepared world. Last night after reading about Biden’s pandering ban, I felt the same thing.

Of course, there are other signs of the end and the abandonment of reason. This morning I got up and checked to see if any of my Youtube subscriptions had posted anything interesting, and I saw stories of Australia’s coronavirus ban. I had not been paying attention to Australia and its 25 million people, so I was surprised to see how bad things were.

Evidently, many parts of Australia have been under lockdowns since last year. People are losing their minds. Now that more cases are popping up, the house-arrest rules are getting worse.

I learned that Australia is fining people $3000 to $5000 (70-cent Australian dollars) for doing things like leaving their homes and going for drives…alone! That’s astonishing.

Australians are protesting. Guess what the police do? They arrest the people who coordinate the protests. Not for protesting or bothering the police. For encouraging others to protest! Of course, they arrest protestors, too.

I saw a smug leftist celebrity on Youtube the other day, claiming America was not the greatest country on earth. He issued various criticisms, and he said we were not distinguished by freedom. He claimed 187 countries were free.

To leftists, “free” doesn’t mean what it means to the rest of us. It doesn’t mean you have freedom of speech, except when it comes to the vilest types of sexual obscenity. There are “free” countries where you can now be prosecuted for criticizing homosexuality or pagan religions. Canada is one of them. Australia certainly is not free if you can’t leave your house, can’t protest, and can’t even tell others they should protest.

I can’t imagine being locked in my house for months. Last year, there were times when I couldn’t enter certain local businesses, and I have had to wear masks for brief visits to other businesses, but apart from one excursion outside the state, during which I had to pretend to wear masks for long plane trips, I have never had to give up much freedom. I don’t know how I would stand what Australians are going through.

Freedom is not a luxury. It’s very important. I won’t call it a basic human right, because after what I’ve seen, I’m not sure it is, but it’s not something to be given up merely because you might get a respiratory disease. Australians handed their freedom over, and many Americans have done the same thing and want to force others to follow suit.

For centuries, Americans have had a policy of sacrificing lives–ours and those of our enemies–for freedom. We killed about 200,000 Japanese with atomic bombs in defense of freedom. We firebombed German cities in defense of freedom. We sacrificed 400,000 of our own citizens in World War Two in defense of freedom. When did we become more afraid of sickness than tyranny?

For a long time, I’ve been saying Americans didn’t actually care about freedom. I grew up surrounded by people who enjoyed claiming Americans loved freedom so much they could not bear life without it. Maybe that was generally true at one time; I don’t know. It’s not true now. Some of us love freedom, but many are excited about the prospect of increased control by government and unelected technocrats. A huge percentage of Americans seriously think our keepers should be trusted with everything we have, to the point where “liberty” only means freedom to comply.

If westerners who love to spout off about freedom are imprisoning their citizens and treating them like kids who get caught wandering around without hall passes, simply because they might get a disease that kills a tiny percentage of its victims, you have to wonder what other excesses are on the way.

The ammunition ban, which also applies to firearms, is disturbing for more than one reason. It’s terrible to know that our president is willing to nullify the Second Amendment on a lark, using a constitutional loophole. It’s also disturbing to think about all the freedom-lovers out there who may react badly to this decision. I don’t believe in using guns to fix our political problems, but many people do, and this is the wrong time in history to provoke them.

Store shelves may go dry, but Obama and Biden spurred a prolonged frenzy of buying, and there are more firearms, cartridges, and associated products in private hands than ever before. Conservatives are armed to the teeth, many are at least as highly trained as the police and the military, and they have things like night vision and plate carriers. Even leftists have been arming themselves; hypocrisy is a fundamental part of leftism. If Biden manages to toss the right match into this mess, he’s going to set off a firestorm. In his senility and arrogance, he is willing to toss matches, probably because he lacks the ability to understand what he’s doing. Who knows what he’ll do next? Who knows what Harris will do when he steps down? She has even less common sense than he does.

I think leftists are pulling the tiger’s tail. They are simply not able to fight conservatives. They don’t have as much training, ammunition, or armament. They may think they’ll have the government on their side, but the problem with that hope is that the police and the military are full of conservatives who will revolt and side against them. They’ll have to fight us by freezing bank accounts and keeping us off the web and cell networks. Will weapons like that be useful when people are shooting each other in the streets?

I can’t wait for the rapture. I wish it would come today. I have no intention of joining up with right-wing guerrillas when things go sideways, and I could never help the left. I don’t want to get caught in a carnal battle between two factions which are both controlled by demons. The truth is despised, and only a small number of Americans are led by the Holy Spirit, who is the only author of harmony. Regardless of who seems to win an armed conflict, it will be a catastrophe followed by an era of unending hatred and vengefulness.

I’m not sure why I bought AK-47 ammo yesterday. I’m not going to join in an armed resistance. I suppose it was reflexive. I want to be sure I’ll have enough for target shooting, plus a little for home defense, so the ban made me nervous, but I haven’t fired a round of 7.62x39mm for several years. I will probably have almost all of my AK ammo when I leave the earth.

People really need to get to know the Holy Spirit. They need to be ready for the end, because it looks like it’s almost here. I am highly confident that nominal Christians will be left behind when the rapture arrives. We need to fight anger and unforgiveness. We need to be aligned with God in our hearts and minds.

What Biden has done is a clear, deliberate act of oppression and provocation. If a president is crazy enough to do something like this, at the worst possible time, there is no telling what kinds of surprises the future holds for us.

When Neurosis Becomes Policy

Rhodah and I, obviously, have not had our honeymoon yet. She applied for visas a while back, and we have not heard any news. Meanwhile, the nations of Europe appear to be playing a game of visa roulette. One border opens, and another one closes. European nations have to make double-sure coronavirus doesn’t arrive within their borders! Thank goodness that has never happened.

For a while (if I understand things correctly), Greece was open to us. We found out while we were in Egypt. Before we could do anything about it, the door snapped shut. Then Sweden and Spain opened up. We applied. Now the web says they’re closed.

The people in Zambia who process Swedish and Spanish visas say they haven’t heard anything, but you can’t put a lot of faith in what you hear from Africa. The rest of the world isn’t knocking itself out to fill Africa with current information.

I have read that a valid visa is not a guarantee that a person will be allowed into a country. I don’t know what to make of that. If Rhodah applies for a visa before a border closes and receives the visa afterward, does it mean the visa is no good? Would her visa be “grandfathered” in? You can’t really spend 5 figures on tickets and hotels and show up at a border, just hoping they’ll see things your way.

Imagine being turned away in a situation like ours. You’ve spent somewhere in the neighborhood of a full day traveling, and they tell you to get lost. You would have to sit in an airport, using your phone to buy new tickets at whatever prices were offered. You would have to wait for the planes to take off. Then you would have a day or so of travel in front of you, with no sleep and no bathing.

Clearly, we would need some kind of assurance before taking off, but if the information on the web is right, we won’t get it. In fact, it indicates she won’t get Swedish or Spanish visas at all.

Out of our three choices, the only reasonably desirable country we are confident we can enter as a couple is Iceland, which is not a place either of us is excited about. It’s either that, Mexico, or one of a long list of dreary Muslim countries.

There is very good news, however. France just opened to Zambians. That’s a good honeymoon country.

As I’ve said before, we have been hoping to parlay a Swedish, Spanish, or Icelandic visa into a Swiss visa. The Swiss want Rhodah to go to South Africa, at great expense and at some personal risk, to get a visa, but they may relent if she has a pre-existing visa from another country in the Schengen area. Sweden, Spain, and Iceland fit that description.

The Swedish embassy in Zambia is handling our existing applications, and they say they are also doing France.

To sum up, Iceland looks like a lock, France can be done if we are willing to wait, and Switzerland, our number one choice after hermetically-sealed Israel, is also a possibility.

I do not particularly want to go to France. Places like Israel, Switzerland, Greece, Austria, and Italy are better. France is okay, though. France has alps, like Switzerland, so it would make losing Switzerland less painful. We don’t actually have to go to Paris like everyone else. We can go to an alpy area, squint, and pretend we’re in Lucerne. The food will be better than Swiss food, and my creaky French will be plus utile than it would have been in Switzerland.

It’s funny, but I have little interest in the UK and Ireland, even though I speak the language and most of my ancestors came from these places. In my mind, English-speaking countries offer bad food, second-rate scenery, resentful service, disappointing art, street crime, and negative attitudes toward Americans. Maybe I’m mistaken, but this is the impression I have gathered from the news, the Internet, and personal conversations. The British are gross these days. Americans used to see them as witty and civil, but now they can’t seem to get a sentence out without saying something filthy, and they appear to be angry all the time.

The UK’s tallest mountain is something like 3000 feet high. It doesn’t have a Mediterranean or a Rhine. The architecture is tacky. There isn’t much Renaissance stuff. The food is a bummer. The people seem unhappy. We could get mugged, in a country with no Second Amendment. It’s just not inviting.

The problem with UK anger and violence is not new. Many years ago, when I lived on a kibbutz, there was tension between the gentile volunteers and the kibbutzniks. Why? Because some British morons had a disagreement with the volunteer liaison, and one of them beat him with a soccer shoe. While I was there, a Scottish volunteer told me he was afraid to be outdoors in Edinburgh at night. For some years, the gun-deprived British have been using kitchen knives on each other, and knife attacks are so common, they’re trying to ban pointed blades.

When your citizens are so childish they can’t be trusted with sharp tools that are used safely in places like Pakistan and Somalia, it may well be time to put razor wire around your country and tell everyone else to stay away. In the rest of the world, blunt scissors are only for very small children. It’s strange to see similar items being forced on a nation’s adults. Can it be that after centuries of brewing and drinking, the British still can’t handle beer?

The UK has outdoor cameras everywhere now, which is another implicit comment on the maturity of the populace.

I have no interest in pubs or drinking. I don’t care for the theater. I don’t know what I’d do in London, after seeing the few tourist attractions every American sees by his third day.

Britain has a rich (past) culture, but I can take that in here, through books.

As for my UK ancestors, they were poor and oppressed, they didn’t leave the British Isles on good terms, some were slaves of the British in America, and when they and their revolutionary compatriots got free, the British came after them and burned their capital. The British weren’t really allies of America until the 20th century, and even then, America always picked up the checks. We owe the French a lot more. They helped us throw the British out. The British would never have given us a statue representing liberty. Our Statue of Liberty is really a monument to British military weakness and the humbling of a cruel empire that did things like shooting crowds of Indian protestors, starving the Irish, and forcing China to import drugs.

I don’t want to say the British Empire was all bad. In 1790, they changed their laws so it was no longer legal to burn female traitors alive, and during the next couple of decades, they stopped executing people for minor thefts.

America hasn’t always been great to England, either. We let them help us design atomic bombs, and once we had the know-how, we classified it and refused to give it to them. We did something similar with supersonic flight.

Then we stole The Office. I would have let them keep that.

I like the British in spite of the deterioration of their culture, but the things I hear about the tourist experience do not make me eager to visit. Not when there are so many places I would put higher on my list.

In unrelated news, I saw something very odd today. CNN is being harder on Joe Biden than Fox.

Afghanistan is lost, which was to be expected. No one with any brains thought we could help these people. Their culture is too corrupt. They won’t do what they should do, so all other countries can do is occupy them temporarily and restrain them. Our failure as nation-builders was inevitable, as was our exit. What may not have been inevitable were the ignominious collapse of the nation under Biden, as well as our failure to rescue Afghans who put their families in danger by cooperating with us.

I could have told you we would give up in 2005, as could most intelligent people, yet Biden behaves as though the Taliban’s victory was a sudden surprise. He had 9 months to plan, if you count the days beginning with his inauguration. If you include his stint as vice president and Trump’s term, which should be included, given Biden’s standing under Obama and his hopes of becoming president, he has had close to 13 years to write himself a little note: “Plan for the end in Afghanistan.” He didn’t do it.

It’s not that hard to move people out of an occupied country. We ran Afghanistan. Americans weren’t scurrying around behind rocks. We could have driven people to Kabul and put them on planes instead of abandoning them to torture, prison, and murder.

Today, Drudge has linked to a site showing a photo of two tiny specks beneath an airborne C-17. They are Afghans, plummeting to the ground after grabbing the airplane in a desperate effort to escape Kabul. You have to wonder what they did to help us, and what other Muslims have threatened to do do them, to make them so afraid of reprisals.

In June of this year, Biden said, “There’s going to be no circumstance where you’ll see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy of the United States from Afghanistan.”

I’ll post the famous Saigon photo, followed by a now-famous Kabul photo. This is fair use of cropped, low-resolution photos for purposes of comment.

You can decide for yourself whether Biden was wrong, and whether he should have done something to prevent this.

The weirdest thing about this is seeing a number of articles on CNN’s site, criticizing Biden. How can that be? Ordinarily, they lick his feet and ignore his long history as a perennial also-ran laughingstock. Generally, it’s as though Inspector Clouseau became the president of France and people determined to justify their votes started building him pyramids. Why the sudden honesty?

Surely they’re not preparing the ground for a Harris coup. We are told that leftists are panicked by the prospect of a Harris presidency because the public can’t stand her. Is that untrue? Or is it that CNN is so addled by Marxist fervor, its pundits seriously believe Harris will be an improvement?

I know one thing for certain: CNN’s coverage is not motivated by journalistic integrity. That’s why I am searching for other explanations.

We should get used to spectacles like this. Biden is running on fumes, so he will continue to lack to plan for predictable crises. He lacks the capacity to plan. Planning requires concentration and a working memory. These are the two main things dementia destroys.

Without a leader, his team will bicker and trip over each other while working on personal CYA strategies and cultivating private-sector contacts so they’ll get cushy jobs when Biden leaves no later than January of 2025. A team needs one man to define a coherent plan and force everyone to stick to it.

Another weird thing about Afghanistan: I actually agree with Biden’s assessment. He says we should pull out if Afghans can’t or won’t fight for themselves. That’s absolutely true. But if that was how he felt, why didn’t he provide a way to save Afghans who fought alongside of us?

This morning, I realized Saigon and Kabul remind me of the rapture. The rapture will come when God realizes the people of Earth are no longer worth trying to help. Like Vietnam, Somalia, and Afghanistan, we are proving the cost of leaving God’s precious pearls down here is not worth the return.

Fortunately, unlike Biden’s Kabul blowout, the rapture will be peaceful and orderly, because the leader who planned it isn’t demented. He has been preparing his embedded collaborators for years. When the rapture comes, we will be ready to get out.

Over the last couple of days, I’ve been watching tours of graveyards full of famous people. The saddest thing about it was seeing how people who are almost certainly in hell are literally worshiped by their fans. Michael Jackson still gets more flowers in a week than most people get at their funerals.

I saw graves belonging to Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, and various rock and roll degenerates who died young. I saw Hugh Hefner’s resting place, which, like more than one showbiz grave, was adorned with lip prints. People kissed it.

I saw the grave of Isadora Duncan, the dancer. It was adorned with adoring notes. I thought, “She must have been a lesbian and a Marxist.” I looked at Wikipedia. Yep. She had sex with women, and she was a communist. Why else would the godless world love her so much?

The grave tours made me realize how sad it is that people who belong to God try to become rich and admired in this world. Satan runs most things, and he decides who gets the huge monuments adorned with flowers, photos, and stuffed animals. When we’re young, we are not told this, so many of us waste years being blackballed and torpedoed while children of darkness with less ability take our prizes.

I can name a few people whose decorated graves I saw.

Jimi Hendrix. Drug addict who washed out of the army and died at age 27 from injecting too much heroin and inhaling his own vomit.

Janis Joplin. Drug addict who died from a heroin overdose at age 27.

Amy Winehouse. Alcoholic who died from alcohol poisoning at age 27.

Jim Morrison. Drug addict who died from a heroin overdose at age 27.

Hugh Hefner. A pimp who made pornography mainstream in the US.

John Belushi. An actor who specialized in lowbrow comedy and poisoned a whole generation of young people with his role in Animal House. Died at 33 from a combination of heroin and cocaine, administered by a famous rock groupie who was not his wife.

Michael Jackson. A famous singer and pedophile who died young, alone, single, and without fathering children, from an overdose of a drug intended to make him sleepy.

Voltaire. Entombed in the Pantheon in Paris, Voltaire was a gifted humorist who distinguished himself during his era by calling Christianity “the most absurd and the most bloody religion which has ever infected this world.” He promulgated a number of debunked myths about Christianity in an effort to destroy it.

One of Satan’s best jokes is having his children decorate and idolize the grave of a person who is below it, in hell, crying, screaming, and shaking.

The world is so perverse; we love evil and hate good. No wonder God is giving up on this place.

I guess I have rambled enough for one day. Hope Rhodah and I make it to Europe while Christians are still allowed to have passports.

My New Perspective on Childhood Entertainment

Sometimes you realize something, and you can’t believe it took you decades. It’s so obvious, it’s shocking you missed it.

Here is what I realized last week. You remember the old Tom & Jerry cartoons? It finally dawned on me that Tom was the hero.

In case you’re so young you’ve never seen Tom & Jerry, possibly because your snowflake overlords had decided good cartoons were too violent/racist/sexist/fattist/speciesist/colorist/whatever, I can sum up the premise. Tom is a cat. Jerry is a mouse. Jerry lives in Tom’s house, and he regularly pops out of his little mouse apartment and wrecks everything. Tom, understandably, tries to kill him.

This is exactly what you’re supposed to do to a mouse. Mice are pests. They spread horrible diseases. They break into food containers and contaminate them so food has to be thrown out. They damage houses. They need to be killed.

A long time ago, I read a book or a story or something, and there was a scene in which a character stamped on a mouse. I thought that was shocking. I couldn’t believe a person could just put his foot down on a squirming mammal. Now I live in an area with mice, and so far this year, I have stamped on two of them. It’s the best way to kill them fast. My whole attitude toward mice has changed.

Maybe three weeks ago, I was sitting in my living room when I heard a noise. I looked toward the fireplace, and I saw a fat mouse flop off the screen and into the room. He took off. I couldn’t believe it. How, in 2021, could there still be a chimney not designed to keep mice out?

I put out the glue traps and poison I already had on hand, and I waited for success.

I had chosen the poison carefully. I picked bromethalin, a neurotoxin, in chunks of green mouse food.

In the old days, warfarin, an anticoagulant, was the mouse poison of choice. It made blood pour out of mice’s rear ends until they died. There were three problems with it. First, a mouse had to eat it for several days before it worked. Second, it was likely to poison anything that ate the dead mice. Third, many mice were immune to it. Their ancestors had developed resistance.

I didn’t want immune mutant mice wasting my time.

Bromethalin, supposedly, kills mice in one feeding. I read that immunity was not an issue, and I also read that if I threw a dead mouse out in the yard, it wouldn’t hurt whatever ate it.

My mouse ate the bait. He ate it for days. He throve on it. I kept thinking, “Tomorrow, he dies,” but it never happened.

I also set one of my old wooden Victor traps. I baited it with meat. I fixed it so the mouse absolutely had to pull on the trip mechanism. He tripped the trap, ate the meat, and retired, victorious.

He also stepped in at least two glue traps and shook them off. He dragged one most of the way down my stairs before freeing himself completely.

I got more serious. I bought Victor mouse baits with diphacinone, a newer anticoagulant. The mouse grabbed the little balls of bait and took them to various corners of the house for snacking. The poison didn’t seem to bother him.

I bought bigger glue traps, but the mouse would not go near them. They were white, which was supposedly to make it easier to see dead mice once they were trapped. Maybe the mouse preferred the black ones.

I got a bunch of small Catchmaster Gluee Louee traps. They were so useless, they didn’t even catch bugs.

I also bought two plastic Tomcat traps. These are nice because you can set them instantly with one hand. The trip mechanism has a little cup in the center, with a hinged platform around it. The mouse reaches into the cup for the food, he puts a foot on the platform, and the trap crushes his spine. That’s what the instructions said, anyway.

I put peanut butter in the cups and stuck balls of poison in the peanut butter for good measure. The mouse took the poison, ate the peanut butter, and laughed at me.

One day I decided to examine a trap carefully. I poked the trip mechanism over and over, and it was impossible to make the trap go off. I could not believe it. I had been feeding the mouse from what was, effectively, a safety feeder.

I started manipulating the trap, setting and resetting it, and for some reason, it started going off reliably. I had a pair of these traps, so I also worked on the second one. I baited them again, and the next day, I had a dead mouse with a broken neck.

Nice.

Why does the Tomcat company make traps that have to be broken in before they work? No clue here.

The mouse amazed me with its ability to defeat poisons. It reminded me of the death of Rasputin.

In case you don’t recall, on the night he died, Rasputin was fed a large quantity of cyanide-filled cakes, along with poisoned wine. He showed no ill effects at all. His attackers shot him in the chest and prepared to dispose of the body. He surprised them by coming back to life and leaping on them. He chased them until they shot him several more times. Then they bound his hands, wrapped him in cloth and threw him in a river. Some witnesses claimed that when the body was found, Rasputin’s hands were free, as if he had gotten them loose and started to work his way out of the cloth.

Rasputin has nothing on my late mouse.

I lost several pounds of beef jerky, along with most of a bag of diastatic malt powder and maybe 7 pounds of jasmine rice. The mouse didn’t eat much. He just made sure everything was defiled.

Yesterday, I had to go around the bottom floor of the house, cleaning out the corners where he liked to dine. I had to mop one staircase, too. I hope I won’t find any more surprises.

My recommendation is to be very serious and completely heartless with mice. It’s astonishing how much one mouse did to disrupt my house.

If I ever see a Tom & Jerry cartoon in the future, my sympathies will be completely with Tom. Now that I think about it, I wish Elmer Fudd had shot Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. They were annoying, and hunting is a virtuous, productive activity.

If you try those Tomcat traps, make sure you test them before you use them. Otherwise, your mice may die from gout and strokes before the traps themselves get them.

One More Thing I Shouldn’t be Making

The maple cream candy I made yesterday is doing what it’s supposed to. It’s turning soft and crumbly. It tastes fantastic. May be the best candy I’ve ever had.

In case anyone wants to try it, I’ll give the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

1-1/2 cups maple syrup (not fake maple)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Dump the syrup and salt in a deep saucepan. It will bubble up, so you don’t want a shallow pan. Heat until it boils gently. Add the cream slowly. You don’t have to stir it.

You can add the vanilla at the start, or if you’re afraid boiling will hurt it, you can drizzle it on the candy right before you pull it. Pulling will work it into the candy.

Boil the mixture until it hits 260°. When you start getting close to the final temperature, get a pan ready to chill the candy. Put several teaspoons in the pan, concave side down. Fill the pan with ice and water, a little deeper than the height of the spoons. Butter a smaller pan.

When the candy is ready, put the small pan in the big pan and pour the candy into it. When the candy is cold enough to remove with your hands, remove it and form it into a long rod. Stretch the rod, fold it, and stretch it again. You want to do this for about 5 minutes. The candy will develop a satiny look.

Stretch the candy until it’s thin enough to make pieces of a convenient size. Cut it into small pieces with shears. Set it aside until it “creams,” meaning until it turns soft and chalky. This may take a whole day.

You should be able to use any flavoring you like. You could buy menthol crystals and make peppermint candy. You would need to use table sugar instead of syrup. A cup of sugar is about equivalent to 3/4 cup syrup.

I want to make this candy with Jack Daniel’s and cover the pieces with chocolate. My relatives would freak out. Cream candy is a big deal in Eastern Kentucky, and so are bourbon balls, but no one combines them, and all the bourbon balls I’ve had were made pretty badly.

Let me know if you try this stuff.

In other news, I decided to try Popeye’s spicy chicken sandwich today. I read a roundup of fast food chicken sandwiches, and Popeye’s came out on top. They beat Chick-fil-A. I found that hard to believe, but I found it easy to believe that our anti-Christian, pro-homosexuality press would lie, so I had to find out the truth.

I went to a nearby Popeye’s. Let’s just say it was different.

At Chick-fil-A, they have long lines of cars, and they have courteous kids outside taking orders and directing traffic. I was the fifth car in line at Popeye’s. After about 10 minutes of sitting still, I went inside. I ended up getting my food before people who arrived earlier than I did.

One of the things I noticed was that one of the employees was wearing what appeared to be fishnet-panel yoga pants. Another employee was on the phone in the dining area. A third employee was using a table to do the books.

The place was filthy. I was nervous about eating the food. A bunch of employees were bustling around busily, and one was mopping, but I didn’t see anything fresh coming out of the fryers. The chicken was piled up under lights, and there was a small clump of fries in one small corner of the fry area.

I ordered a spicy chicken combo with “Cajun” fries and a lemonade.

Chick-fil-A makes fresh lemonade all the time. They use water, lemons, and sugar. The Popeye’s lady gave me a cup and a straw, and I made my way to the dispensing machine. I wondered about bacteria in the ice. They serve Minute Maid “lemonade,” and the tag on the tap said, “0% JUICE.”

If it doesn’t have lemon juice in it, how can it be lemonade?

Chick-fil-A is always spotless, and they put little vases with fresh flowers on the tables. It’s also crowded. No other customers showed up inside Popeye’s while I was there.

I took my food and drove home, wondering if I should eat it.

When I got home, I found that the chicken and fries were only slightly warm. I ate my food, drank half the drink, and threw the rest out.

My surprising verdict is this: I would definitely eat Popeye’s chicken sandwiches from now on, IF they did a few things. They need to train their employees, clean the restaurant, put something other than pickles and sauce on the sandwiches, and sell real lemonade, even if it’s prepackaged.

The sandwich was beautifully spiced. Unfortunately, it was lukewarm, and it wasn’t juicy. There was no lettuce on it. There was no cheese on it. There was no tomato. Just sauce and pickles. If Chick-fil-A used Popeye’s seasoning along with their cheese, sauce, and vegetables, their sandwiches would be even more popular than they are now. The difference would only be like 10%, though.

I put “Cajun” in quotation marks when mentioning the fries, because there was nothing Cajun about them. Cajun seasoning is required on “Cajun” fries, and Popeye’s didn’t apply any.

Because Chick-fil-A is clean and otherwise properly managed, and Popeye’s is not, Chick-fil-A still wins. Like I always say: I would say the people at Chick-fil-A treat me like family, but my relatives don’t treat me that well.

For me, Chick-fil-A is not a practical option. I visit rarely because it’s so popular. They rush you through the long lines, but it still takes a while to get food. Also, the nearest Chick-fil-A is a long way from my house.

Chick-fil-A doesn’t expand quickly, possibly because they pay their owner/managers squat, so I don’t think things will improve for me soon.

There is another Popeye’s near me. Maybe I’ll try it, but it’s so close, it may be owned by the same lame franchisee who owns the one I visited today.

Anyway, it may well be that the people who rank Popeye’s sandwiches above Chick-fil-A are right, provided their conclusion is limited to Popeye’s locations that aren’t run by lazy bums.

Maple Cream Candy

Today I decided to try my hand at making cream candy.

You may not know what cream candy is. People in Eastern Kentucky make it. It’s a strange, light, rich, buttery, chalky candy that collapses and dissolves in your mouth. My grandmother used to make it over the holidays.

I have wanted to make it for years, simply for nostalgic reasons. I wasn’t absolutely crazy about it though, and I figured it was a big project, so I put it off. I knew I was supposed to have a marble slab for making cream candy. Where do you get a thing like that? I didn’t care enough to find out.

To make it, you heat a mixture of sugar solution and cream until it reaches the “hard ball” stage. Then you dump it on a very cold slab, and it crystallizes or something. Then you have to pick it up and stretch it over and over, like taffy. Eventually, you cut it in pieces with scissors. Then you have to let it sit overnight. As it sits, it becomes very soft and fragile.

I still don’t have a marble slab, and I am not willing to drop boiling candy on a stone counter. I decided to try something different: an aluminum pan in a bed of ice. Cold is cold, right? Should work.

The one unsatisfying thing about cream candy is the flavor. It’s just vanilla. I thought maple would be better, so I’m using maple syrup from Walmart instead of sugar and water. I don’t know if this will work. Sometimes you just have to experiment.

Bourbon would also be a good flavoring.

I’m trying to make a traditional sweet, but I’m using a flavor from a different part of the country. You have to try what works instead of banging your head against tradition.

A mature person would not have changed so many variables at once. I’m pretty confident my approach will work, though.

According to various sites, the “hard ball stage” occurs when a sugar solution hits about 92% sugar. If you take candy at this stage and drop it in cold water, it forms a ball which is hard, but not so hard you can’t deform it.

I don’t know what pulling the candy does, but it must be important. It reminds me of taffy, which is also pulled. My understanding is that before it softens overnight, cream candy is taffy. I guess I’ll know soon.

MORE

I just finished pulling the candy and cutting it into pieces. Even if it never turns into cream candy, it’s wonderful taffy.

I don’t think I understood how the process worked when I first read about it. I had always been told I needed a super-cold marble slab to cool the melted candy, so today, when I poured it into the cold pan, I waited until it got very cold. That made it so hard it cracked in places. It was impossible to pull until I wrestled with it for about 10 minutes. After some very hard work, it loosened up so I could finish.

I believe “hard ball” just means “Sugar Daddy consistency.” If you’ve ever eaten a Sugar Daddy, you have eaten candy very much like the hard ball candy I made today. It wouldn’t flow, but it was also impossible to crack at room temperature.

It’s embarrassing to say it, but Eastern Kentucky is not a hub of engineering creativity. I don’t know why people there are still using heavy marble slabs to cool candy. I used one pan sitting in another pan. I filled the lower pan with ice and water. I put 4 upside-down spoons in the lower pan to keep the upper pan from rocking. It seems like it worked just fine, and I don’t have a slab to contend with.

Now that I’ve made the candy, I think I understand the purpose of chilling a marble slab in a freezer. I thought maybe it was necessary to have a super-cold slab in order to cool the candy extremely quickly and cause some kind of weird crystal formation. I think that’s wrong, since it’s very clearly undesirable to get the candy very cold. I now believe the only reason for a cold slab is to speed up the cooling process so you don’t have to stand in the kitchen and wait forever.

I thought I would also be able to change the cutting technique. People say you have to use scissors. I thought that was silly. They also say you have to chill the scissors for at least an hour in a freezer to keep the candy from sticking. That made no sense to me at all, since scissors get as cold as they can possibly be in maybe 10 minutes.

When I tried a cleaver on the candy, it was useless. Poultry shears snipped pieces right off, however. The traditional approach was correct. I didn’t have to chill them. They worked just fine.

By this time tomorrow, I’ll know whether this is cream candy or just extremely delicious semi-hard candy. Either way, it’s a win. The flavor is magnificent. I like traditional cream candy pretty well, but this stuff will be a home run if it works. I’m already thinking of other uses for reduced maple syrup.