The late-night talk shows are still drunk on Trump jokes, the left-wing media is still drunk on Trump’s tweets, and according to the 2017 ABC News radio year-in-review show, one of the major stories in 2017 was still Trump’s election victory (which occurred in 2016).
Hollywood has had one too many in trying to figure out what moral standards they’ll use to determine what’s right and wrong, now that they’ve “done away” with God’s standards for right and wrong. Those of us they label “religious bigots,” whatever that means, have enjoyed these recent weeks of peace and are comforted by the fact that our Savior has come.
And yet, our God has placed us here to deal with the world before us. As the new year arrives, we better get our act together. The self-centered culture that surrounds us better start focusing on its long-term future and “sober up” as Peggy Noonan so eloquently puts it in her recent Wall Street Journal piece.
This next year could be a time when our country will be tested.
It won’t be about the election cycle and those who think 2018 will change things electorally will be greatly disappointed. Republicans and Democrats will struggle with “who they are and what they’re for,” and both will fail to gain the moral high ground. The wheels of justice will take care of that. We will remain a deeply divided nation.
It won’t be about the media who, since Dateline and the exploding trucks (“Google” it), has always been confident they can “police” themselves. They can’t, and these days, in many cases they won’t. In their reactive posture they have become unhinged from reality, which is a problem if “truth” is their currency of exchange. They will find that throwing “ink by the barrel” at Trump will just leave them with less ink.
Since well before the last election, I’ve been telling you about the inevitability of war. It was going to happen regardless, even if Hillary had won. The Hermit Kingdom is dying and the world has never known how a communist monarchy implodes. Marx and Engels never envisioned this. We’ll see it in the coming years. Frankly, the North Koreans don’t worry me. The North Koreans goaded on by other rogue states scares me greatly.
That’s why last weekend’s demonstrations in Iran are of great concern. Their “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Khamenei has known for some time that unless the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps holds the people in check, their theocratic dictatorship is over. Want to know when the Iranian regime is going to start something? Watch the Revolutionary Guard. As of this writing, it appears that they are on the sidelines, though threatening to intervene on behalf of the Ayatollah. Still, Iranian women—on camera—are removing their hijabs and shouting “death to Khamenei.” Things are getting serious there if people are willing to risk not only their own lives but the lives of their families as well.
Just yesterday the “supreme leader” in North Korea sounded conciliatory, and almost a peacemaker. Military leaders will tell you that this indicates he needs time, and probably won’t start anything until after the Olympics. Considering the rapid military developments of 2017, he probably needs time for the military complex in his own country, home to the world’s fourth largest standing army, to catch up. We will, of course, comply, as we would not strike first.
Tragically, the death toll coming from a war on the Korean peninsula will be high. We should never want war, but in many cases, we prevent it by talking about it, preparing for it, and expressing our willingness to engage it. The last administration didn’t do a lot of that. But, no matter how they have received the impression that we’re weak, North Korea and Iran have reached the conclusion they’ve reached. World Wars have started on less. In that scenario, Satan will have a field day.
You’ve seen a couple of warnings in the media from some Generals or former Generals about the impending war on the Korean peninsula. Like me, they didn’t reach their conclusions by agreeing with Morning Joe what’s-his-name or the Late, Late Show. Like me, they’ve been watching the enemy, and have seen the world through the enemy’s eyes. Should North Korea, pushed on by Iran, try something preemptively, the forces for good will ultimately prevail. I just wouldn’t want to be living in or around Tehran, Seoul or Pyongyang.
Maybe they won’t. Maybe the demonstrations will be suppressed and the Iranian people will just continue in their oppression. Maybe the North Koreans will still find their bodies riddled with parasites as they attempt their escapes to asylum in the South. Those who try will also put their families at risk back home. Things are serious there.
In 2018, we would do well to buck up on what it means to be a citizen of this great nation, and be prepared to defend our country and its way of life. Communism could die another death this coming year, and socialism will suffer as well. Bernie followers should take note. The late-night talk shows will continue to give the world the impression that America is inept, and by inference, impotent. If there’s a war, the world will sober up and find out differently.
You should, too. Happy New Year.