It's hard to fathom what we're seeing in America these days. Rioting. Vandalism. Bullying. Threats of all sorts used to silence those who disagree with what's going on. Defunding police. Calls to abolish the Electoral College and remake America as a radically socialist country.

The forces of Marxism, socialism and anarchy openly terrorize our streets, threatening to abolish the values and ideals on which America was founded, values enshrined in our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Radical Marxists inspired revolutionaries show no signs of stopping their assault on these precious hard won truths which lift and inspire true Americans. Seeing leftist politicians, main stream media and privileged high profile 'celebrities' tacitly accepting and approving the lawlessness and mobocracy these radical revolutionaries promote, openly supporting its continuance and increase, is beyond sickening.

America has to choose between two paths. We can embrace and reaffirm the foundational principles that created this great nation of limited government and individual liberty. Or we can go along with those who trash these principles, who teach our children that America was illegitimate from the start, who want to see the majority of Americans subservient to an all-powerful openly socialist central government with no remaining ties to America as she's been known and loved across the centuries.

If sanity is going to be restored and American values upheld, the time to join the fight against the destructive ideology of the radical left is now. This isn't a fight between liberals and conservatives over whose vision for traditional America should prevail. This is a far larger fight over whether America as we've know her continues to exist at all. This is a fight over whether we'll enjoy freedom, peace and prosperity, or like good communists elsewhere we subject ourselves to strictly enforced speech codes, the whims of 'cancel culture', and enforced ideological conformity 'antifa' style.

We've seen this play out around the world and it's never turned out well for those who bend the knee to such radicals. America through the centuries has embraced a higher set of principles that became the envy of the world. Today we're loosing our mooring and drifting with the tide to a lowest common denominator 'big brother knows all' form of socialism that is prepared to ax our remaining freedoms, gut our beloved Constitution and Bill of Rights, and turn America into another failed socialist state among the many already littering the landscape of the world.

Wake up America! We'll either rise up in great numbers and defeat this radical Marxist inspired socialist threat we're facing, or we'll sleep through the fight only to wake up and find America as we've known her is no more.

Scott, thanks for the video outlining the four family power structure that controls California. As Jack said, not terribly surprising given the political history of that state and its radical leftist bend.

It helped me better understand why California finds itself in the mess it's in financially, socially, and politically. Finally I grasp why Nancy Pelosi is as far to the fringe left as she is, and cringe to think that she and her ilk, potentially holding power under Biden, could run our country into the ground like she and her family have been party to running their socialist version of California into the ground.

I'm glad the CA video was interesting. Thanks to all contributors for perspective.

My read is the mainstream news outlets have abandoned responsible journalism as we knew it. Replacing it with propaganda and commentary designed to court a gullible audience. When it becomes reality and a validation mechanism for hatred, violence, destruction and what some believe is oppression things have run off the rails. As Bob Grant said many years ago, "It's sick out there and getting sicker." The phrase has more value now then when it was aired many years ago.

As for America, I believe it's still basically a conservative country and will vote accordingly. Americans will also vote with their wallets. This knits many of us together across political, ethic, age, gender and walks of life. November 3rd should prove this out. That said, a democracy functions best when it's accurately informed. Presently this isn't happening in our news outlets, papers, social media and schools to name a few traditional information sources. Voting is a fundamentally important right and our vehicle for change. History teaches us voting can be influenced by lies, fear mongering, deception, false promises, cheating, bullying, misinformation and propaganda. We need look no further than Germany circa 1933 - 1939 to see how effectively this plays out. America isn't exempt from repeating history or a close proximity of it. I'm not betting against America being savvy enough to make the calls in its best national interests. Keeping the rubber side down isn't a slam dunk either. A laudable goal is trying to create factual awareness and let people draw their own conclusions. Those consumed with hate, mentally ill or ill equipped for adulthood probably will come to different conclusions from the same data. That's life in a country with over 360M people in it. So you lead the horse to water but can't make it drink.

As for socialism, it's the entry level drug to communism. Neither of which has been or will ever be popular in America. Look no further than Venezuela for a good example of socialism. America could repeat this and that should be a wake up call to everyone.

Efforts here are to bring in some facts and figures to promote intelligent debate, corrections, additions, points of view and most importantly - awareness. Awareness is the BIG one. If each of us can create some of that, then it's a job well done. Work in progress I would imagine and an uphill climb. I'm hoping the expression, "For those that know, no explanation is needed and for those that don't know, no explanation is possible." will be an incorrect assumption. As we can all learn, change our thinking and perhaps do a bit better making the world.

Some continued thoughts on the pandemic:

The Democrats deserve credit in the context of their ongoing mission to undo the 2016 election, for immediately politicizing covid-19, as if it were the Black Death, and pinning the blame on Donald Trump. It's impossible to think rationally under the influence of a great fear, and they've instilled one in us. To hear them tell it, the Trumpster, cackling fiendishly, deployed a fleet of military crop dusters by night to spray the virus across the country. They've since done a workmanlike job of keeping the panic alive in the hope of preventing his re-election. Any why not, since it's all his fault? Here are two sets of facts to shed light on the situation:

A. In Colorado, where I live, 1,919 deaths have occurred in six months.

1) Out of a population of 5,759,000, that is, three tenths of a tenth of one percent. According to the CDC, the vast majority were elderly people with 2.6 pre-existing conditions. They're chalked up as succumbing to covid, but only six percent were attributable to it alone. The rest, 94%, were associated with pre-existing conditions. No kid anywhere has died of covid or caused someone else to die of it. For comparison 3,049 people died in Colorado in 2018 in accidents, 2,636 of lower respiratory diseases and 568 of the seasonal flu.

2) Nationally 170,000 deaths attributable to covid have occurred to date, but 163,600 people died of heart disease in 2018 and 149,100 of cancer.

3) We die of stuff, and for the majority of us, covid-19 is unlikely to be the cause.

B. The United States is a republic. Power devolves to the states and to the people and their elected representatives. Donald Trump didn't order the ongoing lock-downs, and he isn't the one maintaining them. Nor is he empowered to rescind them—only the state governors are. Their response so far has been to mandate economic recession, high unemployment, social alienation and denial of classroom education to children. The President has made it clear he wants us to reopen the economy, but our governors are dragging their feet. Create enough misery, fear and confusion, they believe, and Kamal Harris and her sidekick Joe Biden will be a shoo-in in November. I'd call it a plandemic.

Foot Notes: 1) HERE. 2) HERE. 3) HERE.

Much of the violence, cancel culture and destruction we're seeing in America now was touched off by the George Floyd incident. So for that reason (and others) it's significant. The videos below offer some interesting commentary and insight into some things we should be thinking about.

Candace Owens on George Floyd
Candace Owens Fact Checked

I guess that's enough for this posting.

Many are concerned about an accurate and fair election process. Our county (pop 4500) has mail in ballots. One on the election committee is our neighbor. Here the process is scrutinized by both parties. Nothing is handled, tabulated or counted without two parties being present. Signatures are all verified to avoid ballots coming in from pets, dead people, etc. This is a very time consuming process. And this is one little small county in one state. To expect a national election system of mail in ballots to ramp up to 10 in a few short months isn't realistic. Accuracy and integrity WILL BE compromised. Votes should be handled just like cash when it comes to care, caution, accuracy and security. This could be accomplish but not in the time allotted before the election. There are perfectly safe ways to get people in/out of mechanical voting areas without undo risks. A small percentage of mail in ballots can supplement the voting process. Providing the controls and oversight are in place for honest counts. I think this election will be the most scrutinized in the country's history. We'll see how this plays out.

As for the Biden/Harris ticket mentioned above, the videos below will be enlightening:

O'Reilly on Biden/Harris Ticket
Dinesh D'Souza on Harris

Sadly we're going to see more violence on the way to Nov 3rd and probably even more after the election. Death, personal injuries and the willful destruction of property accomplish nothing. Yet it's allowed to continue.

It is a different culture here, and many other places too. I go to Japan a lot, or did until the pandemic, and have a lot of friends there. There, like here, guns do not remotely enter our daily thinking. I would reframe your question of "How could you guys let that happen ?" to why on earth do you think they are necessary? I can only think of one person who owns a gun, and never saw it out of his cupboard.
Do we need it for protection? From who? The idea that it is necessary for protection may be obvious in the US, but not at all here, and in Japan would be considered very strange indeed. So protection from government? Sorry but that would never enter our thinking as a necessity. I'm not criticising that you do, just stating that the imperatives are not the same here or in Japan at all. I know New Zealand and the UK also very well, and can confidently say that the same applies there.
I was discussing this a few days ago while out on a 4 day bike ride, and asked what would happen if a rider came along to a bike rally that is currently running with a gun in their possession, and all said immediately that the person would be ejected from the event. That's the way it is.

You mention Japan. Here is a quote from Firearms Owners Against Crime web page.....

"The ancient eastern martial arts are, almost without exception, the creations of people who were deprived of their weapons. Kung Fu, Karate, Judo, and so many more systems of self-defense were created by people desperate to defend their homes and families from tyrannical governments."
NOTE: I have not fact checked everything on these pages but the drift of the matter is spot on. An interesting statement on this page is:

"Australia has disarmed it’s citizens, and a year later the homicide rate in the largest province is up 300%. The burglaries of seniors is “dramatically” up."

!

Australia was not disarmed. There are still plenty here. What were removed were the automatics that enabled a quick massacre in 1996, by a conservative Prime Minister, the most right wing leader in a generation, and with the support of the population. Those figures about homicide and burglaries are I have to say are just plain wrong.
The most recent figures I could find were 2017 = 198 gun deaths 2018 = 206 gun deaths. The numbers are very small, and includes suicides, homicides, accidents etc. We have not had a massacre since 1996.
As for Japan, a place I have been many times, guns are almost non-existent. I read a report that said the Tokyo Police Department a year or two ago expended 6 bullets in total for the year, for a city population of 33 million.
My neighbour had some South Africans move in next door, and the first thing they did was put up a tall fence lined with floodlights. Took them a while to realise no one was going to charge in with a gun, and eventually they demolished it all. You'll just have to accept that these are different cultures to the US, a totally different mindset that does not include fear of goverments or armed attacks by anyone. Just does not happen.

It is a different culture here, and many other places too. I go to Japan a lot, or did until the pandemic, and have a lot of friends there. There, like here, guns do not remotely enter our daily thinking. I would reframe your question of "How could you guys let that happen ?" to why on earth do you think they are necessary? I can only think of one person who owns a gun, and never saw it out of his cupboard.
Do we need it for protection? From who? The idea that it is necessary for protection may be obvious in the US, but not at all here, and in Japan would be considered very strange indeed. So protection from government? Sorry but that would never enter our thinking as a necessity. I'm not criticising that you do, just stating that the imperatives are not the same here or in Japan at all. I know New Zealand and the UK also very well, and can confidently say that the same applies there.
I was discussing this a few days ago while out on a 4 day bike ride, and asked what would happen if a rider came along to a bike rally that is currently running with a gun in their possession, and all said immediately that the person would be ejected from the event. That's the way it is.

.....Victor Davis Hanson...(is) a deep thinker and presents provocative insights. Welcome relief from our mainstream news outlets. None of which I watch anymore. Enjoy. ..