An old reader asked me if I had the copy of my article on Trump being a Manchurian candidate for the Pentagon. I said not now but that Social Matter had it. He informed me that it was not coming up. I checked and nope, looks like Social Matter is either private or completely gone. I felt a twinge of sadness.

I should have known it was coming because the podcasts and whatnot had left too much dox material out there. I noticed on occasion an old essay I would look for would be missing (too edgy now?) or that an author name had changed. I wanted to share “Why Right Wing Activism Always Fails” by Mark Yuray because it was a great essay. The author name had changed to Alex Straits. Other writers disappeared entirely. Better just to wrap it all up.

That is how things go though in our realm. One day, someone disappears and all of their accounts and sites go away. Sometimes they leave things up, and the sites just sit frozen in time. It adds an extra depressing element to our samizdat, dissident realm. Our stuff does not even stay around. It is why I published Bryce’s essay earlier. I missed the guy, and any site I was a part of would welcome him. There are others out there like that.

Social Matter was lots of fun. I loved writing there. I loved coming up with the pseudos for new guys. I had three pseudonyms myself. I wish others had written more. I was constantly looking for new writers. I failed. I didn’t sell it well enough to others. I was also always hoping all that brainpower in Hestia would turn into great, steady content production. They failed. Trust me, I shit on them enough about that.

If you do feel the itch to write, keep in mind that there are people far beyond who you could imagine who are reading what you write. Liberalism is dying. What comes next is the big question. Illiberals, post-liberals, Marxist authoritarians, Maoist zealots, Tucker Carlson Nationalism, Orbanism, it is up for grabs. Any type of rebel needs a patron, but patrons also need to know there is a population out there supporting new ideas. This was a theme Mosca played with regarding rising new elites and power blocs in societies. You will not get paid in the dissident life, so it has to be a passion. On to the links…

The Chinese Empire – Fantastic long read on how there is no stopping China, just slowing it, and that it is going to look and act a bit different than the current American Empire. We will see how long that lasts though as the history of empires is to change motivations and behaviors as it ages.

Interview with Liu Cixin – This interview with the sci-fi author from China has some gems in it. He openly states democracy would make China a hell. He also seems like a fun guy to drink with day or night. The essay also reflects how it has not yet dawned on the progressives that there is more to running a society than liberation and faux political freedom, but China is forcing them to turn their heads and maybe, just maybe face this fact.

Wall Worse Than Trump’s – Trump hasn’t built a wall but the Euro nationalists have enacted an invisible wall around the EU. The boats could be stopped at any time, there just needed to be men at the helm who wanted to stop them.

California’s Venezuelan Present – Planned blackouts in a state that need not have a single one. This is all because of unlimited immigration for decades and the aggressive environmental policies that those Mexican vote banks enabled.

The F35 Flying Duck – A Booz Allen consultant once told em that once the F35 gets in the sky, no one will complain. Does not look to be the case. Forget the plane, do you trust the Pentagon and American military industrial complex to deliver on a golden goose or just give us an inconsistent duck?