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I’ve been mighty quiet on The Running Iron Report. I don’t feel good about it. Actually, I feel negligent. The strange and disconcerting thing is that, now that the Crash that Rullman and I have been anticipating for years is upon us, I don’t seem to have much to say about it. I feel like I’m just standing by some metaphorical LA aqueduct, like William Mulholland announcing the arrival of the torrent of water he stole from the Owens Valley. All I can say is:
“There it is. Take it.”
*
Some of my friends have urged me to turn my pen on the bizarre phenomenon of President Donald Trump. Not interested. There is nothing about that man that cannot be explained by the simple dictum that I have applied since 2016:
Follow the narcissism.
I do not wish to spend any more time than I am forced to in the company of a man unworthy of consideration, much less the highest office in the land. And it’s not as though his manifest failures of leadership are an aberration in an otherwise functional polity. Failures of leadership can be found at every turn, and on both ends of the political spectrum. Unsurprisingly, the farther out into the ideological zone one goes, the more frequent and profound those failures of leadership become.
I recently wasted time and effort I won’t get back — on social media (I KNOW) — decrying the pathetic state of chaos that the mayor of Portland and governor of Oregon have allowed to fester for the better part of two months in the downtown core of a city I used to love. Now we have federal snatch teams on the street rolling up nihilistic vandals who have latched like parasites onto protests stemming from the killing of George Floyd, to indulge in wanton destruction and a minor siege of the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse.
PORTLAND, OR — JULY 17: Protestors set off smoke grenades on the steps of the U.S. District Court building on July 17, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. Federal law enforcement agencies attempt to intervene as protests continue in Portland. (Photo by Mason Trinca/Getty Images)
I don’t like it; I don’t applaud it. There is no good outcome from this kind of action, which will be exploited by everyone with a dog in the 2020 electoral fight to grandstand and promote bullshit narratives.
Things should never have come to this pass. Municipal authorities have thrown up their hands and abdicated responsibility for the security and livability of their own city, and the governor has refused to act since June 1, so somebody is gonna do something. Targeted action would seem to be both more effective and less provocative than wholesale head-cracking — but that doesn’t seem to register with those whose fixation on Trump won’t let them see anything outside the context of Trump. Which, ironically, is exactly how Trump views the world himself…
Pointless, I know. All of it. Everything is viewed through an ideological lens these days and people simply believe what they want to believe. I could spend hours every day calling out hypocrisy and double-standards. Many of the very same people who are wringing their hands about the action in Portland were demanding action when the Bundy Gang took over federal property at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. That includes Governor Kate Brown, who then demanded federal action and is now demanding that the feds leave Portland.
I didn’t hear those of my friends who were appalled at the Malheur takeover saying that we should “listen to the protestors and acknowledge that there is a problem.” And they sure as hell shed no tears when LaVoy Finicum was killed. And, on the flip, people who were ready to fight the feds over the Bundy claims are perfectly happy to see them rounding up “Antifa” in the big city. And so it goes.
But blazing away at fish in a barrel is not how I want to spend my time.
*
Which leads me back to questioning what I might write, what tale that I might tell, that actually offers value. I recoil at merely contributing one more screed to the howling cacophony of cultural noise. The prospect of falling into that mode literally makes my skin crawl. It is important to me that my work be generative. I just don’t know how to do that here right now. I may have shot my bolt on useful commentary back in March with Mattias Tannhauser, Man of the Hour.
Put no faith in political saviors; trust not in institutions co-opted and corrupted by the mighty. Take care of your family — blood kin and found. Know your dearest friends — and what, for their good, you are willing to do.
Mac Hay says
Jim, as usual, well said. A sad state of affairs both in Oregon and the U.S., and for that matter worldwide.
It’s difficult to be patient AND keep one’s mouth shut!
Please keep you writing and thought coming, I appreciate them.
Thank you Mac.
lane batot says
“Everyone with a dog”? Really? Those with dogs at least have one(or more, as in my case) good example(s) to emulate! My dogs could care less about the madness, and are ready to bite ANY invader, whatever their political leanings! Now that’s just good philosophy! Maybe it’s about time you got you another dog, and have it teach you what’s really important! And, by-the-by, I happen to know where a SPLENDID White German Shepherd could be had(ahem!).….
Good dogs!
slm says
Uncle Bob pretty much hit the nail on the head 55 years ago >
Maggie comes fleet foot
Face full of black soot
Talkin’ that the heat put
Plants in the bed but
The phone’s tapped anyway
Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May
Orders from the D.A.
Look out kid
Don’t matter what you did
Walk on your tiptoes
Don’t try “No-Doz”
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don’t need a weatherman
To know which way the wind blows
Well played.
“The revolution must be carried out in a life-and-death struggle. A true revolution cannot be disguised.” — Che Guevara.
Today the wait time in Oregon for background checks before you can pick up your firearm is 4 days…3700 waiting. Two weeks ago it hit a record 5100 in one day.
We are in the midst of a civil war, 21st Century, Super Power model. Welcome to the jungle…
Greg Stohl says
Well put!
Paul Harvey’s prediction of the past is coming true. We cannot have self government without self discipline.
Maybe if everyone made it personal by living with Your Life Matters, we might learn to live in harmony.
Chris Youman says
Jim — the quote at the end (also in Man of the Hour post) — I’m printing it to hang on the wall of my bunker (metaphorically speaking, of course), so to whom shall I attribute it? It is wise.
That’s mine. Extrapolating off of Tannhauser’s outlook and mode of operation.
Jim says
Well said and equally frustrating.!! I’ve read enough. I can nod in agreement or shake my head and disgust but I don’t learn a whole lot of anything new. I sworn off most news except for the first five minutes of the day. After that it’s reading the classics.
First it was Moby Dick and now it’s the Brothers Karamazov. I figure if it’s written in the last 60 years it’s gonna piss me off. And if that doesn’t work, cat videos on YouTube.
Y’know, that is an excellent program. Seriously.
Ugly Hombre says
The little Communist/ Socialist/Anarchist bastards burning down cities, attacking police, tearing down statutes, destroying and burning stores don’t give a damn about George Floyd. The horrific tragedy of Mr. Floyd to them was to them, a page from the “Never let a crisis go to waste” Neo Bolshevik play book.
The destruction was planned for any incident that they could use to destroy well in advance of the murder of Mr Floyd.
Its a counter revolutionary soft and hard war directed at over throwing the American revolution. Masters of deception the leftist destroyers compromised education, the media, infiltrated the government including the intell agencies and even the military.
We all know whats coming- Russia 1917, China 1949, Cambodia, Laos. Vietnam 1979 etc. it won’t be pretty.
The bizarre phenomenon of President Donald Trump will soon be gone replaced by the more the bizarre phenomenon of A Chicom puppet President Joe Biden. The rabid left will then take revenge, in spades.
Trump is crude and crass but as I have said before- he is not a hate America first jive @$$ like the previous occupant, and he alone among all the Rinos and Neo- Communist Democrats stood up to the Communist Chinese.
The hate Trump blame Trump mantra is beyond understanding Esp. Concerning the Wuhan plague..
The Chinese Communist party unleashed hell on the world. They killed over a half million people world wide, killed 140,00 Americans and counting- yet to the media the, mainstream news, the entertainers, and the New Communist Democratic Party its all Trumps fault. The Wuhan virus was man made Imo, and we know the Communists let it out of China by design once it had infested the city of Wuhan.
In 2021 when the New Democrats take power with Omar, AOC, Bernie, pulling Biden’s strings it will be the end for the Constitution, and traditional American values that they despise. The whole country will be CHAZ/CHOP.
First thing they will do is come after the means to resist. They will do that with glee and do it hard.
Tighten down your helmet straps. Like they say in Thailand.
“What you (will) do is up to you.”
Matthew says
The Art of Manliness has a great podcast of the rise of woke culture and its philosophical antecedents.
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/podcast-628-the-rise-of-secular-religion-and-the-new-puritanism/
TJ says
My oldest is experiencing the same woke triggered culture in the military at some levels. It’s everywhere unfortunately. He recently told someone in his chain of command, “Respectfully, I’m not here to make friends.”
I’m not sure if I should be proud, feel sad, or apologize to him.
What some view as extreme and in most cases is misunderstood, is the desire for the basics and to be left alone. We are being flooded with Washington residents looking for that same breath of air (unfortunately the crooks too) and even Oregon is looking for their “Own Private Idaho “.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/4789936002
Good law and order folks generally want the basics covered and to be left alone. I’d subscribe to the utopian dream if it worked. It doesn’t and there are bad guys, biological / natural realities and human behavioral certainties that will prevail, no matter how we try to redefine God’s natural order. I know, the G word.….
In the mean time, make reasonable efforts to protect yourself and provide your own sustainability. As was mentioned, love, appreciate and enjoy what’s close to you and feed the same with your energy, as opposed to the negative media and crappy humans.
The good folks still outweigh the knuckle-heads, but we are really under performing as a species currently. It’s alright to be happy, even with others choose not to be. And yah, a dog is a great idea.
🇺🇸
Perfect.
Indeed. Perfect.
Quixotic Mainer says
Well said as always. I keep looking at various examples from history and telling myself we’ve been through worse. Age has taught me I’m not always right though. I’ll keep cultivating mindfulness and hand loading.
J.F. Bell says
We’re not to the point where we need to quit talking, I don’t think. That said…we may be at the point of realizing it doesn’t do much good. We’re seeing the full-grown product of half a century of division in this country. As yet we don’t have a complete breakdown…just the minor opening skirmishes. In the big picture it’s still penny-ante shit. The hotheads are writing the news. The sort of thinking that could solve this, if it can in fact be solved, is not the brand of sound-byte journalism that fits into 140 characters or plays well on the evening news, sandwiched as it might be between the Hollywood gossip and national sports scores.
Human nature is hit or miss on a good day in the First World. Take away power, flush toilets, and first responders and know that adversity will not improve this — and know that into this vacuum formed of our abdicating leadership will come some form of order. Probably it will be terrible. In some quarters, assuredly violent.
We’re hearing the initial warning growls from our darkened perimeter. When the fighting breeds come out and start to roar it’ll be something else altogether. With the revelation (to some) that 95+% of our elected leadership is rotten and useless at every level and the further realization that certain elements are smelling blood and feeling their oats…we’ve safely arrived at the Interesting Times.
Fine time to be on the side of a mountain with a dog and a good rifle.
lane batot says
.….and then certain things occur to put things in perspective(which can be encouraging). I saw some comparisons with the rioting, protesting, burning, and police/military brutality with what is occurring now, and the 1960’s, and how the adult generations of that era(which I witnessed and listened to as a kid) were SURE this was the end of society as we knew it. It wasn’t. In fact, some things(socially) did improve. So I feel there is hope. I hope there is hope! One SUPERB thing I saw on my local news, was an unbiased, non-partisan effort to DISSECT each and every local(North Carolina) political advertisement, and damn well bluntly “Fact Check” them all! Not surprising there was both blatant lies and a bit of manipulation in them all! Not only was this a simple but effective move(I hope they are doing this elsewhere!), also quite revealing as to who the better options might be in an upcoming election. It is a great wake-up call that WE THE PEOPLE are responsible for policing and controlling our politicians, nobody else, and if we don’t, we have only ourselves to blame for them getting away with so much bullshit. Yeah, FACT CHECK them ALL, CONSTANTLY. Hold them accountable for lying, and maybe we can weed out the greedy, selfish ones(if there are any that aren’t), and(eventually) pick actual good, skilled, honest and honorable leaders! It will be a process, and for awhile, we are going to have to pick the best options of not-so-good choices, but if we all remain vigilant, and quit fighting EACH OTHER and concentrate on fighting the politicians, our society might just EVOLVE into something much, much better! It IS NOT beyond the realms of possibility. But still not a bad idea to keep those sides of the mountains undeveloped for retreat(and future generations!), with yer guns and yer dogs!