1) I've was out of town working at a cabin with no cell reception on the Wyoming/Colorado border pretty much all last week. Hard work but a strange combination of work and vacation given the setting. It was nestled among these super cool rock formations that I returned to with my daughter on Sunday to explore around. I'll include some pics I took in this post.

One thing that struck me while I was there was the absolute unthreatening absence of any daily noise from our never-ending distraction cycle, which I propose as the term to replace "news cycle."

2) There are two "stories" that I think are interesting and worth reflecting on, for your consideration. The first came to me last night while watching Ben Shapiro (rightly) ridicule Nancy Pelosi for appearing on Drag Race and talking about how drag queens embody America or something (which is either ludicrous or actually contemporarily accurate; probably both). I like to watch Ben and now also Dave as ways to get a good sense for where the bulk of the Conservative movement is at any given time, kind of like I do with NPR and The New York Times but for the other side. Anyway, it dawned on me that there's something missing from Ben lampooning Pelosi and the barrage of daily YouTube clips I'm recommended of Dave's Direct Message bearing a title along the lines of "Press Secretary said can't answer this question about INSANE Biden claim" (I swear to God as I was finishing that last sentence I got a YouTube notification from Dave's Direct Message about MSNBC hosts roasting Biden over inflation or something). That missing something is the awareness that despite how completely unserious and inept our Progressive overlords are, they're the side that's winning. Making fun of them is fun, but it only goes so far in the dissident playbook for unseating them from power. Yes, ridicule is important. But it must be paired with very simple explanations of what is required to not be ruled by these people anymore. A lot of this stuff comes across as players heckling goofy-looking opponents on the team that's savagely whipping their ass.

Note: Ben and Dave are among the few dissidents that actively preach importance of leaving the control of The Regime. They both fled California and are building new institutions to replace the old ones. My criticism is based on the bulk of their daily content, which is not typically geared towards helping their viewers learn how to do the same. I think this is rooted in correct actions and intuitions based on incorrect paradigms, which make it difficult to reproduce or expand on those intuitions in other settings. Many of our ancestors had correct intuitions and actions they explained with incorrect paradigms, which led to a strange combination of good and bad decisions. I really think there's been a similar phenomenon playing out on The Right for probably close to a century at this point (which is why they can have the facts on their side but still consistently lose in every meaningful way). Food for thought.

3) The only noteworthy story of late is the bipartisan gun reform package. After reading over the text, I suspect "Red Flag Laws" can be interpreted to include people who express anti-government views, "misinformation," or any speech that can be labeled "violence" (which is pretty much any speech they disagree with). This reinforces the point that places not currently controlled by The Regime be reinforced to prevent that from happening. Red Flag Laws are enforced by judges. Many judges are activists themselves (who do you think is removing children from the custody of parents that do not affirm their gender identity?), and the ones who aren't can be gotten to. While the jury (judges?) is still out, it does seem interesting to me that SCOTUS has delayed ruling on the abortion case that was leaked. I genuinely do not know what will happen there, but the point is that they can be gotten to and influenced just like anyone else.

As an aside, the main things to look out for is anything that substantively and demonstrably weakens our ability to resist The Regime. Remember, the primary reason The Left cares so much about gun control is because they see it as disarming their enemies, which is a very practical and understandable perspective. When deciding what you should and should not be alarmed or threatened by, always filter it through the lens of whether or not it is a tangible concern, rather than mere derp rhetoric. Most of it is derp rhetoric.

4) Top Gun Maverick was amazing, go see it in theaters while you still can.

5) I watched Bill Burr's new comedy special on Netflix last night, and was super thrilled to see that quite literally half of his set was about Kyle Rittenhouse being a racist nazi moron, and then Burr brought out Michelle Wolf (less funny Rachel Maddow who did that abortion parade on her short-lived show), who did an entire set of what was basically woke comedy, aka woke monologue. All I could think was we just lost Norm, Saget, and Godfried, and this is what's Left (literally 🥁).

6) One last thing that is potentially interesting. I can't tell if anyone is actually watching or cares about these 1/6 hearings. What's your impression?