Closer and closer…
AE Pilot Jim posted this on FB-
I’ve been seeing the term “Othering” being bandied about more and more often lately, so let’s talk about balkanization.
Balkanization or Balkanize, as a term, was born out of the fragmentation of the Balkan peninsula at the end of the Ottoman empire. Sources I’ve read say between 1820 and 1912. At this time the region, once controlled by the Ottoman empire, fragmented into small states roughly divided by ethnic lines. This region also saw several small conflicts fought for control of the lands with areas changing hands several times prior to the outbreak of WW1.
The fragmentation and hostilities that followed are what lead to the, I think, interesting definition of balkanization.
Balkanization is a term used to describe the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states that are often hostile or uncooperative with one another.
Hostile or uncooperative…
Go read the whole thing, HERE. I’ll wait…
A little over a year ago, Steve Scalise and three others were shot in Alexandria by a Clinton supporter, HERE. They were saved by his security team, who took the shooter under fire, pistols against a rifle, and took him out. Had Scalise not been there, with his security team, the outcome probably would have been significantly different, with multiple dead Republicans.
This crap of the left against the right, and never compromise is coming to a breaking point… Media and personalities are calling the right, and anyone who voted for Trump Nazis, etc.
Maxine Waters incited people to commit violence through harassment in this video on Saturday…
She said cabinet members and highly visible Trump enablers should expect harassment at restaurants, gas stations, shopping places, and even their homes until they change their immigration policy. Several have already been confronted at public places.
You REALLY don’t want to try that whole mob rule thingie there Maxine! You won’t win, simply because John Q. Public outside your little safe space in Cali won’t let it happen. Full article and video, HERE.
DHS Secretary Neilson was harassed out of a restaurant in DC last week, Florida AG Pam Bondi and boyfriend were confronted in a theater in Florida, Sarah Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant in Northern Virginia, and after she and her hubby went home, the rest of her family were harassed at another restaurant by the owner of the first restaurant and others…
At what point is there going to be more overt violence, and someone dying? At what point is someone going to have had enough, and kill a protester that gets too close, or threatens their children? Either in public, or at their homes???
Discussions with some friends in law enforcement indicate they think the lid is about to blow off, possibly in the next couple of months.
I think Jim’s final comment may be priescent- “I’m willing to bet money that it will be long, bloody, painful and will leave scars on this continent that will last for centuries.”
Linkin Park’s song, ‘One Step Closer’ is eerily close to reality right now…
Unfortunately, I agree, and it scares the crap right out of me.
The thing I marvel at is how “worried” everyone was about what Trump would do when he lost…and when you look at the last 2 years worth of foot stomping and pouting…it is just sad. But I do think someone had a quiet word with Maxine, not that I think it will help, but she was on MSNBC last night saying she hadn’t called for violence, just protesting…and I thought about how that has worked out on the college campuses and in Virginia.
I am afraid it will be a long, hot summer, in more ways then one…
I’ll be honest: I didn’t expect a link to Linkin Park here.
I’m worried about the nation. We are fractured so utterly. People are shocked to find out that I’m “one of them.” But I’m not one of any, except for me.
AE Pilot Jim’s thoughtful post is worth the read.
People need to stand the hell down, and question what the end-game is, here. Because at the rate we’re headed, we’re going to remember these as the halcyon days, and wish that we could take back some things.
We are far less fractured than the Political Left Establishment would like you to believe. All this fuss and feathers stems from the fact that they seriously expected to win in 2016, and it didn’t happen. I’m sure they pulled out all the stops, too. I’m mortally convinced that if an honest investigation took place we would find that the polling organizations were deliberately forecasting a Hillary win, and damn the data. That millions of illegal votes were cast for Her Shrillness, and Hillary did not truthfully win the popular vote. That Obama and the Justice Department were trying their damndest to tilt the playing field.
And Hillary lost anyway.
That’s what they are in such terror about. For decades they have been able to cheat to create the impression that far more of the country agrees with them than actually does, and that is falling apart.
It’s going to be messy, it may well be painful, but it ain’t gonna be long. These Bozos have worn out their welcome.
“I’m willing to bet money that it will be long, bloody, painful and will leave scars on this continent that will last for centuries.”
It will not be just this continent. With world more interconnected today than anytime in the past, if the US is removed as a major player on the world stage, I foresee the first true World War starting.
104 years ago, a Serbian nationalist, assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, thus lighting the fuse of “The Great War.” This was the ultimate expression of “Balkanization.” The Serbs wanted to annex the portion of “Grater Serbia” located within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Break-up of the U.S. into smaller warring factions would collapse the world economy, and uncork the simmering passions throughout the world. I don’t think civilization survives.
This is something that is a bit upsetting to me because I spent 8 years metaphorically sitting on hotheads and begging that it was time to educate, organize, and persuade, not the time to climb up on a clock tower with a rifle and a sack lunch. Now maybe I’m not seeing it on the other side because I’m on the outside, but I’m not seeing much of what I did post 2008.
Schumer and Nasty Pelosi have seen the handwriting on the wall, (written in blood) and hopefully are seeking to scale back the rhetoric. If the direction of the left continues toward a violent confrontation, no-one will avoid the inevitable bloodshed.
Question,
California splits into 3 states. There are only 50 states in the Union. Do the other two states automatically enter the US with 4 additional senators given to the west coast? Do we get to choose one and trade the other two to Mexico for a couple of draft picks?
Interesting times are coming.
Creating new states from existing states can only take place with the agreement of the state(s) involved and Congress. West Virginia even arguably met this criteria – the politicians controlling West Virginia being recognized as the legitimate government of Virginia. No state may be deprived of its representation in the Senate, and each state is apportioned at least one representative in the House. If California were to split into three, each one gets two senators, and a share of the representatives.
If the House votes for it. Correct?
See Article IV, Section 3 of the Constitution, which uses the term “Congress.” That suggests to me it would require a vote from both House and Senate.
Part of the ‘3 state divided’ proposition is that each new state has as a central point one of the vile, leftwing, high-population shite-holes that the separationists are trying to get away from.
San Fran in the ‘North,’ Sacramento and environs in the ‘Central,’ and Los(t) Angeles in the ‘Sud.’
So, instead of 1 liberal state and 2 conservative states, the three-state proposal actually gives more power to the left, by increasing the lefty numbers of senators overall.
A much better proposal is the Two-State California – New California proposal, wherein all the lefty cities are contained in the California state and the smaller, more conservative cities and towns and farms and people are in New California. Thus effectively giving an equal number of left and right senators to Congress, while maintaining roughly the same number of liberal representatives and increasing the number of conservative representatives.
That is the proposal that I am for. The Three-State version? Looks like some liberal devised it in order to increase their power in Congress.
Just saying.
The current proposal takes your Two State version but breaks at bit differently. LA up the coast to SF then inland to Sacramento as California, everything north as Northern California, and everything south of Sacramento and inland as Southern California (anchored by San Diego and Orange County).
Two new conservative states, one dying socialist state.
Ah, that explains that. Last time I looked at 3 states it was 3 states, with 2 red territories dominated by their big blue cities.
Well, it’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out. What did Yogi Berra say? “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
His view has much validity. My hope is the free exchange of ideas will cause some to rethink their positions. That, and the 2,000,000+ monthly NCIC background check requests.
Maybe it’s time for CALEXIT – Volume 2?
As almost always, comments to a blog post are as educational as the post itself. Thanks everyone.
I want my bowel movements regulated as much as possible. That’s good regulation. And I realize there has to be SOME regulation for the life to work comfortably for everyone.
But I want as little “you MUST do this” in my life as possible. Forcing me to contribute my hard-earned cash to better the lives of illegal immigrants in Los Angeles frosts my ass. (And it’s near impossible to have a regular bowel movement when your ass is frosted!)
Leave me alone. I’ll leave you alone. We’ll get along fine.
But there is something about lefty thinking that causes them to want to regulate the rest of us.
I’m just damned glad I live in a rural area. When the UNTHINKABLE happens, my neighbors and I are ready.
I hope Jim’s wrong, but I fear he’s right. Fortunately, we don’t see much of that discord up here. If history is any indicator, Alaska will lag behind the rest of the U.S. for anywhere from six months to five years … unless a civil war breaks out in the Lower 48. Then we may be dragged into it despite our reluctance.
He brings up the concept of ‘Othering,’ reducing the opponent to a semi-human concept, much as the USA did to the Germans by calling them “Huns” during WWI. (As soon as I said ‘Hun’ you got the image of some slathering barbarian in a coal-scuttle helmet, didn’t you?)
Which is a problem on our part. The lefties portray us as one group – I’ll use the term ‘Deplorables’ because it is such a negatively connotative word that many of us took as our own in defiance. We aren’t. We, the deplorables, the ‘Jacksonians’ are really a conglomeration of individuals. Which is the problem. It is easy to separate the individual who is loosely connected to other individuals. It is easy to attack the one. Until we band together in groups and punch back, hard (thus the Jacksonian comment above.) We’ll punch back until resistance disappears, and then dissolve into individuals again. Like the groups that have fought Antifa. Band together to stand and fight, break up afterwards.
But the left isn’t like that. They really are, in many ways, a group-mind right out of a bad sci-fi story. There are not individuals, really. The individual part is somewhat-separate, but that part (person, family, subgroup) still considers itself a part of the whole. Which is the problem. Punch Moldy-Locks, and they all feel it and respond as a group. (Moldy-Locks punches Right Warrior, well, dude, why didn’t you block? is what we say. See? )(“What did you do that for” or something like it is a common phrase out of our mouths when someone does something stupid like stub a toe or break an arm or get punched by… Moldy-Locks. (Admit it, you say or think like this, don’t you?))
And that’s the problem. So they get away with attacking Scalise and the other Republicans. They get away with assassinating and mass shootings and stalking and harassing, firebombing, bombing, monetary warfare (like cancelling credit card purchases or not remitting monies collected) and such. We see it as one person attacking, who is affiliated with certain ideals, or one small group doing it. Which it isn’t. Unfortunately.
It really is the reality of the pseudo-pod extending out from the amoeba that is doing the damage. It really is a part of the whole attacking us, with the whole’s consent.
When Antifa attacks, the more moderate liberal says it’s our fault. When Mad Maxine calls for semi-violence (which will lead to more actual physical violence) it is the vocally ugly mouth on pseudo-pod #111429 telling pseudo-pods all over to do action.
Sad. A generalization, but there is much truth in it. It has become a war of the individual (or individuals) against the collective (the Borg, if you will.)
And it has already become ugly. I can’t talk with ‘friends’ because I am their version of the bloody ‘Hun.’ There are stores that have not accepted me or my money because of my perceived political beliefs from the way I dress and talk (quoting Heinlein, or Mattis, or The Donald, is a no-bueno in some places in my city, same with wearing cargo pants, loose t-shirts and a boonie hat and not being covered in lawn waste.)(These stores gladly accepted my dress and my money during the ‘O’ years, but not during the era of the ‘Golden Haired one.’ (seriously, not kidding.))
The actual shooting-shooting part, where we individuals finally fight back, is drawing nearer and nearer. There’s still plenty of ‘turning point’ possibilities to move away from conflict. But we are just maybe 4 ‘mad bombers’ or ‘lone gunmen’ (who aren’t mad or alone) from the fracture point. And depending on the target, it could be as close as 1 MB or LG.
It’s quite a bit beyond Scary because of how the process will be structured: Not At All.
When Civil War II is discussed I suspect some, if not most, have a mental image of Blues vs Grays, and that’s not how it will play out. First, there will be no rules, no such thing as non-combatants, non-combatant dependents or safe areas; everyone will be targeted. Dresden will resemble a Sunday school picnic in comparison.
Second, there will be no controlling authority on the insurgents’ side; it will be individuals and small groups, none of which will interact with other individuals or groups, all of which will proceed to “settle scores’ until their “scores to be settled” lists are empty. Meaning it won’t be a two-week thing, but go on for months, maybe a year or more. Crying “uncle” and trying to negotiate a truce will be useless because there won’t be anyone in charge to negotiate with.
If it starts – and I deeply, sincerely hope the Left comes to its senses and stops well before then – it won’t end until the last individual or small group says it’s over. The huge downside is that the United States as a 50-state Representative Republic united around a common theme of liberty and economic, social and political intercourse will almost certainly cease to exist. What will come next is anyone’s guess, but I’d guess several semi-independent regional enclaves, any “unity” being in name only, at which point the world will be a vastly different place to live.
I don’t know how to convince the Left, and especially the radical Left, what the end result of their actions will be, or even if it’s possible to get anything along that spectrum to register. It may already be too late.
More like ‘Sharks vs Jets.’ Bitter, ugly gang fighting at its worse. Not looking forward to it. On our side, it’s always the one lone person pushed too far that lights the fire.
It was bad in 2009, but this is ridiculous. I have a feeling that May/June 2018 may just set overall records for recorded gun sales. Just don’t forget the rest of your preps. It’s storm season, and I’m not just talking about tornado or hurricanes.
Beans, I’m afraid that Civil War II would resemble the Troubles in Northern Ireland with random, unpredictable tit-for-tat attacks and killings and the deaths and injuries among the peaceable majority just seen as collateral damage by the activists on both sides.
All- Thanks for the comments, as Greybeard said, the comments are better than the original post! Thank you!
Posted from my iPhone.
The comments wouldn’t be so great if the foundation you laid wasn’t so good. It’s something you and OldAFSarge are so darned good at. Giving us good topics and a great place to run our fingers at.
Not only did Sec. Neilson get hounded out of a restaurant, there was an early morning ‘demonstration’ at her residence – complete with an angry mob armed (this time) with bullhorns. Why they weren’t rounded up and arrested for unlawful assembly and/or disturbing the peace, who knows.
Add to that the ‘professor’ from NYU releasing the PII on almost 1600 ICE agents – in hopes they will get the same treatment, we are just waiting for a catastrophic event.
This is something to think on.
The music sucks on both…but it’s pretty much on target.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw1yuv1OY6U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMlfALvRUXY
They could have picked no music or something that didn’t make it sound so…ufo’ish
Hey Old NFO;
I am afraid that the left in their “Righteous anger” will push people too far and there will be a lot of pushback and it won’t be neat or pretty. I use the term “When the Saxons began to hate” and when that happens, it will not be good. I don’t want a civil war, but the left is pushing really hard like they are expecting us to back down like we have been doing since the 1990’s and people have been backed into a corner and they have a lot of pent up anger and rage for all the indignities and insults suffered over the years and the left don’t realize what they are messing with.
In a civil war you want to take the Capitol.
That’s what we face right now.
We took the Capitol November 8th, 2016.
The enemy is trying to take it back.
It’s not draining the swamp, it’s cleaning out the rebel holdovers..
What I’d love to see in these restaurants is a focused organization that sucks up all the reservations for an evening, orders iced tea, and then when it arrives,whips out MGA hats, chants “Bigot!Bigot!”for a bit, then walks out.
As for California, let them secede. Pull all federal personnel out and assign them to man the new borders. No crossin vs until they sign a treaty that we agree to. All US military withdraws, destroying bases behind them. Is there a downside?
All- Great points, thanks!
Posted from my iPhone.
If the current situation turns to civil war, I agree with those who believe the war will soon turn to a multi-sided, Lebanese-style civil war. The number and sizes of the combatant groups is unpredictable and will constantly shift as will alliances between groups. It will be messy.
What concerns me nearly as much is what various outside actors will attempt during the war. Obviously they will work to take our place on the world stage, but worse I believe they will also actively intervene on our territory. This will add another unpredictable element to the witches’s brew.
We need to pray that some cooler heads emerge and are heeded, and for a nice, cool summer.