Burn the Forest

Kiss it goodbye

Long time readers of the KOTCB blog are wondering why I have not yet commented on the Nov. 6th elections considering their critical importance in our national direction and the massive amount of bell ringing events that transpired in and around that day. The short answer is, I'm working on it, and the slightly longer answer is that the elections are not over and the final outcome from counting  outstanding ballots will directly impact what I have to say. In the mean time I've been busying myself with celebrating what's good and truly important in this world and that includes attending The Game held annually between the Episcopal High School and Woodberry Forest School for the past 118 years. This years contest was held at Woodberry on a sunny, windy, crisp Autumn afternoon between to equally matched teams and those present saw one of the best high school football games ever played between these two storied programs. The day began with the tailgating on each side at about noon in preparation for at 2PM kickoff and many old friends and acquaintances from both sides gathered together to recount days gone by at their respective corners - the two schools are allocated their own parking areas on opposite sides of the main road but there is a lot of cross over mixing the Orange and Black with the Maroon and Black in a jarring visual stew of friendship and southern hospitality. Before kickoff the cheerleaders from each school ran on to the field and taunted their opposition but then the choirs from each school took center field to sing our national anthem in unison. Special mention was made of the passing of Sen. John McCain (EHS class of '54) but not a word was mentioned regarding loser Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke (WFS class of '91*) and the coin toss went to the home team giving me the pleasure of watching my nephew make the first tackle of the game when he ran down the Tiger's return man.

Burnt the Forest

The contest was hard fought but clean (to a point) with the Maroon scoring early but missing the extra point and the Tigers roaring back in Q2 to take a 14-6 halftime lead. EHS had the ball in the WFS red zone as the first half closed but a sure TD pass was dropped and the final seconds FG was blocked.  As is the tradition every time The Game is played in Orange some of the WFS alumni got to one of the referees and pay him off to toss his yellow hanky at every opportunity to penalize the Maroon but turn a blind eye to the Tigers transgressions - this blindness was obvious twice in the second half on 1. a Tiger fumble which was ignored and 2. a flagrant late hit personal foul committed by a Tiger DB on a valiant Maroon who was clearly out of bounds after a long gain. Yes, I'm talking about you, you fat, white haired SOB and I hope you did something good with that money. Even with the officiating handicap the EHS team fought on and clawed their way back into the game ending Q3 trailing by 21-19. Five minutes into the last quarter of football the EHS starting QB is injured and sophomore(!!!) Emmett Morehead gets up from the bench and marches onto the field where he tosses a 40 yard pass for a game winning TD - are you figg'n kidding me?! Awesome. The game was not over and the Tigers got two more shots in the last 5 minutes but the first ended in a 4th down INT and the second ended in another 4th down defensive stop 1 yard short of a first down. A testament to everything great about the Heart of America which just so happens to be located in the Virginia Piedmont.

The night before the big game EHS held a dinner celebrating 50 years of integration headlined by keynote speaker Jesse Jackson who's granddaughter is currently enrolled at The High School. As it happens, "Beto's" father, Pat O'Rourke, served as the state chairman of Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign and though I have no doubt, based on the results of the football game, where Rev. Jackson's loyalties lay, it is an interesting example of how this world turns. The notion of the 1968 Jesse Jackson contemplating in his wildest dreams that 50 years hence he would be speaking truth to power at the Episcopal High School (founded 1839) where his own family member was sitting in the audience on the "power" side of the isle is very funny and a testament to omnivorous appetite of the U.S. establishment. I'm not trying to imply that fire of racial strife is extinguished, far from it, but the logic that underpins white privilege and minority oppression takes a hit when Jesse Jackson's granddaughter hangs her sheepskin on the office wall. I am sure that this young woman was in the student section at the game shouting out the age old cheers chanted with heartfelt passion by generations of boys and girls including John McCain, yours truly and countless other white oppressors - "Go back, go back, go back into the woods...", "What do we eat? Tiger meat" and "Burn the Forest."

And that brings me to the California forest fires which erupted and devastated Paradise about the same time that EHS was honoring its commitment to diversity and torching its historic rival in football. The events are chronicled by the NYTimes Daily pod cast hosted by Michael Barbaro who is, as this blog has pointed out, slowly - ever so slowly - getting Red Pilled by current events. The podcast is terrifying in recounting the desperate exodus from the small NoCal town and the unholy synchronistic emergence of a sister fire devouring Malibu and after taking shots at Trump for tweeting about forest management which, after talking about it a while they have to admit does have something to do with these fires, they come to the official position of California's state government which can be summed up in the phrase "New Normal" and Mr. Barbaro is having trouble choking this one down. The discussion of the new normal starts at minute 16:30 in the podcast and I strongly recommend that everyone listen to these two reporters wrestle with the concept of accepting the impossible as normal. President Trump's solution of cutting down trees that provide fuel to these wildfires might seem insensitive to Californians who are rummaging through the ruins but what do they make of Gov. Jerry Brown's alternative which is, "get used to it" because California ain't gonna change.

California is just fine the way it is. California just replaced Gov. Moonbeam with an even bigger kook named Gavin Newsom. California just elected veto-proof supermajorities in state Legislature run by Democrats. California has forced an exodus of it's people to neighboring states that elected women like Kyrsten Sinema as Arizona's junior Senator. Coming full circle, it should be noted that California (and NYC)  funded Beto's assault on Texas and turned the state purple. California Über Alles.

Who's the real nationalist?

I've got nothing against The Golden State, per se, but I have come to the conclusion that it's people, broadly speaking, believe they have a superior culture to the one championed by Red State, Trumpian America and they will not compromise on their vision of civic order which they consider the "New Normal" and everyone else in America better get used to it. These are the passions that lead to conflict and on the 100th anniversary of the Great War's termination the same competing visions of superior Kultur that brought conflagration to the nations states of Europe are burning in the various states that make up our union. When the first EHS vs. WFS football game was played California had 1.5 million people living in it and 8 Representatives in the US Congress which made the entire Pacific coast a far away place with marginal influence on domestic affairs. Those schools were still dealing with the aftermath of America's great Civil War (or War Between the States as they liked to call it) and they still had the taste of blood and dirt and death in their mouth because it lingers longer than the uninitiated might think. But now California is the 6th largest economy on the planet and they use their economic, agricultural and legislative (12% of all US Reps) power to impose a "new normal" on the entire nation and have no intention of "integrating" with the rest of the country - why should they? I'm not going to offer any constructive solution to this problem because I don't think there is one. If armed occupation and martial law could knock some sense into the California voter then I'd invade the place today but, knowing them as I do, this strategy would backfire and only increase their obstinance and self-righteousness which is unbearable as it is. The only option, and it pains me to say this, is to let these beautiful people burn their state to the ground until every bear and bird is ash on the Westworld set and we can build it back only better. Life West of the I-5 is not real and it exists at a very real expense and detriment to the rest of the country. It's time, long past time, to put an end to it before it puts an end to us.

The New Normal