........So What Now?

The Rubicon has been crossed, what does that mean for Americans?

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Now for the Screaming.

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It’s now been a few days since the Verdict Heard ‘Round the World, and most people in media (including here on Substack) are talking about the specifics of the trial, Trump’s chance at a successful appeal, and what this means to the 2024 presidential campaign. All of these are extremely important questions, and there’s no doubt that future articles will cover many of those topics.

But today, I want to throw a little curveball into the mix and answer perhaps the most important question following the verdict: What now? Not for Trump or Biden, but for US — the everyday, average American trying to hold on while Clown World spins out of control.

It’s no surprise that outrage is the prevailing emotion in media — traditional OR social media. At some point the “big brains” realized that keeping people outraged increases “engagement” (and thus the amount of ads the company serves) — so outrage is what we get. Hour after hour, day after day, week after week.

I wish I had bookmarked the thread, but this weekend I came across somebody who believed he had uncovered a “fake outrage botnet” full of literal AI accounts that do nothing but inflame tensions — often on both sides of an issue. Their entire purpose seems to be to ‘increase the temperature’ of the country (or world).

It’s easy to fall into the outrage trap when everything you see all day long is fostering that emotion. “Can you believe what X said?” “Can you believe what Y did?”

This is something I try to avoid (imperfectly, to be sure). I often get messages or comments appreciative of the fact that I’m not just out here calling people names and spewing hate. The simple reason for this is that I believe the vast majority of people out there are reasonable and reachable — and the goal is to eventually get those people in our camp. (Prevailing wisdom seems to believe calling your political opponents nasty names will turn them to your side. I disagree.)

Four years ago, the only people who had heard of “SimulationCommander” were the guys I play Rocket League with. However, during covid I realized that I couldn’t sit by and allow the liars who “lead” us spout their nonsense uncontested. And the first step of resistance was simply standing up and speaking the truth. It’s been one heck of a wild ride since then, and one by one the covid lies have been exposed for (some of) the world to see.

As this happens, many people who initially succumbed to the fear and propaganda campaign that defined our “covid response” have come around and ‘joined our side’. Not because they were forced to, but because at some point the fear faded and rational thought once again took control.

This happens on a different schedule for everybody, and this is true about every issue that we discuss here at Screaming into the Void. It’s almost certain that all of you, at some point, trusted the government and trusted the experts — right up until you didn’t. I like to say that nobody ‘accidentally’ becomes libertarian — you only get there after you see through the bullshit propaganda that’s constantly being spewed out from the television and mouths of politicians.

Meandering back to the point, last week’s Trump verdict opened the eyes of a lot of Americans to the actual tyrannical threat we face. Many of you have been following this trend along with me for a while, so government’s lawfare is no real surprise. After all, we saw it when the FBI investigated — at the Biden administration’s request — parents who DARED state their kids’ public school should be open (like the private school Gavin Newsom sent HIS kids to). We saw it when the Biden administration started seeking decade-long sentences for non-violent anti-abortion protestors. (On the other hand, seemingly every day there’s a new story of somebody who’s been arrested 20 times but is still walking free committing more crimes.) We saw it when government censored completely true information about covid and Hunter’s laptop.

Every blatant violation of basic American rights has opened the eyes of a segment of the population. (And it seems to me this snowball only rolls one way.) In fact, it seems like everything that’s happened since 2020 has been part of “The Great Sorting” — determining who will stand against tyrannical ‘leaders’ and who will be all to happy to report you to those leaders for ‘wrongthink’.

These questions transcend party politics or left/right divisions. After all, your personal politics should be WAY DOWN on the list of things that define you — they simply aren’t that important in what makes you YOU.

But what IS important — ESPECIALLY in America — are our basic values. Do you believe in free speech, or do you believe government has the duty to correct “bad” information, which may be true? Do you believe that elected officials should be “public servants”, or do you believe they exist above the people? Do you believe in the rule of law, or in the rule of “might makes right”?

Some people have defined this as a battle of good vs. evil. I tend to view it more as a battle of freedom vs. tyranny — but either way, the stakes are the same…….everything. As George Washington knew, without the ability to speak truth to power, government would quickly turn into a despotic cesspool of sociopaths.

A censorious government decides what you can read.

A censorious government decides what you can say.

A censorious government decides what you can do.

Ultimately, this means a censorious government decides HOW YOU THINK.

And if — despite all the odds — you break through this onslaught of propaganda and disagree with government, a censorious government decides who you can vote for. (Once that happens, you will obviously NEVER vote your way out of the situation. That’s as good of a definition of tyranny as any.)

Put into those terms, the lines couldn’t be clearer. Are you on the side of self-determination and free thinking, or are you on the side of the WEF and other groups that see you as something between a line on a spreadsheet and livestock to be “handled”?

I know which side I’m on, and I’m proud to stand there with the vast vast majority of you. But we can’t do it alone — we need all the help that we can get….even from the people who were standing (or may still be standing) on the other side.

What does that mean? Well, you might want to contact that person who you haven’t talked to since the covid hysteria. Maybe they’re not the same person they were in 2021. Maybe they’re just as upset now as you were four years ago, but don’t know how to join us. (Maybe they don’t even know we exist in the first place!)

After all, everybody’s paying same price at the grocery store. Everybody’s funding two wars (that we know of) halfway across the world that don’t really make Americans safer. Everybody sees cities blowing up their budgets to house illegals while homeless veterans are ignored. These issues, and many more besides, are waking up Americans hand over fist.

But it takes work to find these people and bring them into fold. This means it’s time to get out and knock on doors in your neighborhood. Host a cookout. Talk to people at your church, or your friends on the softball team. Get involved with your community — whatever that looks like. As I said earlier, the first — and hardest — step is standing up and saying ENOUGH. Courage, like fear, is contagious. Every person who stands up makes it easier for the NEXT person to stand up, who makes it easier for the NEXT person to stand up.

I’m guessing many — if not most — of you lost good friends due to the insanity of the last four years. How much better would your life be with JUST ONE more friend you could really count on with the shit hits the fan — somebody who’s already gone through the “Sorting”?

People who know me know that not a huge fan of Trump as a person. I certainly wish we had somebody else to rally around, but he DOES have the qualities it takes to stand up to the shitstorm in a way basically all politicians don’t.

But when the deck is stacked against us so badly, we’re forced to use whatever advantage we have — because the truth is that our #1 priority right now is removing The Swamp from power. Right now that means kicking Joe Biden out of office, but in the future very well could mean kicking somebody like Nikki Haley out of office. (The Swamp is famously bipartisan.)

Nothing is more powerful than human cooperation, so let’s get to it! I’ve been rambling long enough today — so I’ll leave you with this brief Tucker Carlson video that I believe explains the situation clearly:

They’re in charge, you’re not. So the truth is it’s very hard to fight that. I’m not exactly sure how, but I know that it begins with the strength inside you. If you are weak, you will never prevail — and that explains their determined effort to MAKE you weak.

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