Sit Down, Shut Up, Hang On

That's all there is to do for the lame duck period.

I was startled to discover the enormous enthusiasm gap between Harris and Trump.

But having been through some things in my life, the period of disbelief was just a few minutes.

I’m going to share some observations, and then make some suggestions.

Attention Conservation Notice:

When the Soviet Union collapsed there were stories about older people wandering the streets, clutching their icon style paintings of Lenin, unable to grasp what had happened. There’s a bit of that vibe now, so if you’re subject to that, come on in.

Recommended Reading:

There were three books in Reinventing Collapse. I just checked and they’re still in that post. If you must do SOMETHING, order one, and start reading.

If objective reality is not your thing at the moment, the best piece of fiction I can recommend is Bruce Sterling’s Distraction. When I don’t know what to do next, in the great big sense of that phrase, I round up another copy and re-read it. There are a lot of conspiratard ninnies blabbing about “Qanon prophecies” but this 1999 political thriller is THE prophecy that has guided me all these years.

And dare I say it … The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is a book I read as a young man, then again twice in the last decade when things seemed like they were about to go sideways. If you’ve never read this classic, you’ve got ten weeks before inauguration.

Observations:

I see a group of doctors asking about how to emigrate, and that’s another hit atop all the ones that have fled red states with crazy anti-abortion policy.

Several people with foreign born parents that enable them easy access to the home country have done the paperwork to take advantage of that.

Two people I know sold property and got out of the U.S. well before any of this started, specifically citing concerns that we would end up here.

Several other people I know have just arrived at the “putting property on the market” phase of leaving.

Two career staff types are both retiring just a little bit early, specifically to avoid the inevitable scrum in 2025.

After every election there are people who blow off steam by declaring their intent to move to Canada. That is not what this is, these are sober adults with careers and property who are mindfully preparing to leave a country they believe will become dangerous for them due to their career, their ethnicity, or some other factor that would not BE a factor in a functioning democracy.

Directions:

First and foremost, the loss has already occurred.

The ship hit the iceberg. The doctor asked you to sit down before sharing the test results. Any of coulda, shoulda, or woulda is of no value at this point. Acceptance of the loss is your first task.

My ex-wife relapsed around the turn of the century after thirteen years of sobriety. The family are Polish/Russian Jews from Chicago, her uncle owned a controlling interest in the Flamingo, that joint on the strip in Las Vegas. I have a LOT of practice dealing with potentially violent stalkers and law enforcement corruption. Folks eventually figured out what happened and stopped taking her seriously, but it was pretty sporty there for a while. You do not have the benefit of my lived experiences …

When you need to get out of the heat, it’s best to have a nice shade tree handy. Which you can not plant and hasten to maturity in the eleven weeks of the lame duck period. There are things I’ve just habitually done for years that are going to pay off imminently, but there’s no way for a new person to just snap their fingers and have a seasoned presence like that. Hence the “Shut Up” in the title.

Cautions & Prohibitions:

There are a lot of people writing about the need to form a “Resistance”.

The vast majority of those people would not have anything to do with me, or anyone that was as much of a lightning rod as I have been. They’re trying to organize … a way to remain relevant … when they literally have at best a theoretical idea of what conflict with hate groups is really like.

Having participated in most of the social movements in this country over the last fifteen years, I have seen …

Two people I knew murdered, both remain unsolved.

Two people I know had their homes torched with pets inside.

One guy’s wife was kidnapped and sex trafficked.

A bunch of people got locked up.

Some of them had actually earned that.

Lots of assaults, often by law enforcement.

Frivolous litigation and malicious prosecution.

Newly hatched nonprofits looted and law enforcement disinterest in pursuing.

Divorces, firings, ID theft, swatting, and all the other chan culture attacks.

And absolutely nobody new that hasn’t been in law enforcement covert investigations or an intelligence case officer is going to have fuck all to offer in terms of compartmentalization and vetting. These new groups are going to be hopelessly insecure right from the start.

Dark Triad psychopaths persist in human populations because people inclined to get out in front, instigate trouble with little concern for their own safety, and who sleep peacefully after doing absolutely awful things … they have proven utility in times of great trouble. Learn to recognize them, learn how to stay outside the blast radius of their schemes, and never EVER trust anything that is at their beck and call. They’re either already compromised … or soon will be …

Self Care:

I’ve written on self care and the need to take breaks from the action at least once a month since this Substack launched. That being said …

There is a lot of activity in terms of news, most of it appear to be bad, but I don’t know the particulars because I am simply not looking.

I know what I can and can not influence. There’s nothing going on now that needs my input. Trying to stay on top of it would just deplete my adrenaline and send my cortisol levels through the stratosphere. Apple Conversion Process is how I’ve chosen to spend my time, and one that settles down I’ll be back to AI pursuits.

If you’re trying to disconnect after being hyperinformed and/or overstimulated, now would be a great time to put in an order for some L-tyrosine. If your dopamine levels are gorked up there’s nothing better than wallowing in the dopamine precursor while you’re trying to get your feet back on the ground.

Conclusion:

If you’ve never buried your first love, or watched your spouse slip out of objective reality never to return, or had your physical health diminish precipitously and permanently, if you’re one of those people who’s lived a charmed life, I get how this could be utterly overwhelming.

But it is what it is, as I’ve been saying, “The loss has already occurred”. It may not have been realized in a concrete manner where you can see, but the damage is done.

There will be burdensome tariffs, perhaps as soon as February. Did you already buy something that’s going to be hard to obtain? I have skills beyond what I write about here, so one of my patrons has scheduled $800 in equipment for delivery. Once I show them a solution, they’ll probably sink a bunch more money into this project, in anticipation of demand and no supplies.

So get out there, start picking out those practical Christmas gifts … but maybe wait till the Boxing Day sales begin. Go hard on the filling holiday comfort food … and light on the alcohol.

For me, this inflection point for our species evokes a line from Wanderers.

“Long summers, mild winters, rich harvests, plentiful game—none of them lasts forever.”