For the first time in the lifetime of myself and most of humanity, I begin a day without a Queen Elizabeth on the throne of England replaced instead with a King Charles. A few thoughts:

This is not very respectful but the first thought that came into my head and stayed into my head for all of Thursday was a remix of the classic Steve Martin song “King Tut” remade as “King Chuck” with verses like this:

,

King Chuck

First wife was kind of curvy

King Chuck

HIs brothers kind of pervy.

Born inside a palace, never been to Dallas,  King Chuck

King Chuck

King Chuck

Never wore a beardo

Funky Chuck

His son married a weirdo

Ears just like a Donkey, Now he's the head honkey, 70 years he's waitin'  now they say "God Save Him" King Chuck

It’s has to be something to go from punchline to the most prominent King in the world in 24 hours


Elizabeth is a tough act to follow but Charles has several large advantages that she did not

  1. Decades of experience in his royal duties as the longest serving Prince of Wales in History
  2. Decades watching his mother perform her Royal duties at the highest possible level
  3. Rather low expectations
  4. One of the most inept collection of heads of state in the world to be compared to

I mean how tough is it to be a better example than Joe Biden or Vlad Putin?


Of course in the Expectations game he’s almost certainly can’t end up worse than the first King Charles who was beheaded by Cromwell or the 2nd King Charles who had to flee the country after his father execution and ended up with plenty of illegitimate children but no heir.

Ironically his first wife Princess Diana was descended from one of those illegitimate children which means that if either of his sons come to the throne England will once again have a king who is a descendent of all three King Charles.


There is another interesting parallel to history in Charles ascension to the throne. That of course is King Edward VII whose mother Queen Victoria was like Elizabeth II after her, the longest reigning British monarch at the time of her death.

The Edwardian age of course is celebrated in culture as one of the great era in British history, a time of peace and prosperity that came before the first and second world wars led to the dismantling of the British Empire and it’s place in the world.

Given the collapse of western Civilization over the last few decades such an outcome is unlikely but I suspect nobody predicted such a result from King Edward either.


Yesterday Charles completed his first full day as King including a speech to the nation.

Not a bad speech and hit all the right notes. The speech looks even better when you consider that he’s in mourning for his mother.

Of course getting the first thing right is as much of a guarantee as a successful reign as the Bills opening day victory over the defending champion LA Rams means they’re a lock for the Superbowl, but it certainly doesn’t hurt.


Charles is not only Head of State as of yesterday, but is now also the head of the Anglican Church. While both positions are largely ceremonial I expect to see him challenged in all of those positions by those with various agendas.

It will be how he handles those challenges that his reign will be judged and given his age it is very likely that I might live to see his entire reign and be in a position to evaluate it.

It suspect it won’t be boring.

Unless you live under a rock you will know that Queen Elizabeth II died yesterday at the age of 96 as the longest reigning monarch in English History. Here are some thoughts:

My first thought is that it’s kind of weird. I’m nearly 60 and for my entire life Elizabeth has been Queen of England. It will be very odd to think of someone else as the monarch of England. Particularly Charles


My second thought was with the death of Elizabeth II the most famous living World War 2 vet is now…Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI who as Joseph Ratzinger was conscripted into German anti-aircraft corps.

I suppose that might be considered a tiny bit of irony that Benedict outlived her although in fairness he is a year younger. It’s also odd to note that two most famous long lived vets of WW II were both leaders of a Christian Church (Church of England, Roman Catholic).


There are a few bricks being thrown at Elizabeth for being a monarch, for the various grievance people had with the British Empire, one might even gripe about her unwillingness at the head of the Anglican Church to stand up for the faith rather than let it collapse.

But in the end all those complaining about what she did or didn’t do have exactly 0 days experience at being a British Monarch, so I think I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that she was a better expert on how to do it wisely than any of her critics might be.

Besides this isn’t the time to be throwing rocks even if you think she deserved it.


It will be something to see the pomp and ceremony of the coronation of Charles as King of England. Given the degree of unbelief in the nation, the no longer primarily English nationality of the population, and the general rejection of all the norms of society it will be almost comical to see the Brits try to pretend that all is as it was.

And given the turmoil within the family generated by the new king’s daughter in law her presence at the events from the funeral to the coronation is going to be very…interesting.


Finally I have a nasty feeling that this tweet which was slightly premature is accurate:

British civilization has been dying for decades, it will likely be officially put in the ground with Elizabeth.

My Facebook newsfeed was jam-packed with condemnation of Joe Biden’s Independence Hall diatribe.  The same holds true for all of the Conservative and Libertarian websites I visited that day.  I have never witnessed such outrage.  

To make sure all of the fury was justified, I read the full transcript of Biden’s loathsome speech.  This first section made my blood boil.

Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic.

Now, I want to be very clear, very clear up front. Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology. I know, because I’ve been able to work with these mainstream Republicans.

But there’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And that is a threat to this country.

By the time I was finished with this next section I was also nauseated and heartsick.

And here, in my view, is what is true: MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election, and they’re working right now as I speak in state after state to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself.

MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards, backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love. They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fanned the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country.

I have studied World War Two in great detail.  This infuriating diatribe was very much akin to Hitler’s Nuremburg Rally SpeechStalin and other socialist dictarors often made similar speeches before sending their secret police to round up political opponents and dissidents.  To me this diatribe is a warning sign that Joe Biden may be considering something similar here. 

Thankfully we have the Second Amendment here to discourage such tyrannical notions emanating from our elected officials.  Joe Biden has enough functioning brain cells to understand that this wisest of amendments is a major obstacle to such truly un-American moves.  That is why Progressives have been working for decades to abolish the Second Amendment.  Check out this statement Joe Biden made after arriving on Marine One.

So the idea of these high-caliber weapons is of — there’s simply no rational basis for it in terms of thinking about self-protection, hunting.  I mean, I just — and remember, the Constitution, the Second Amendment was never absolute.  You couldn’t buy a cannon when the Second Amendment was passed.  You couldn’t go out and purchase a lot of weapons. 

And those who — not many are saying it anymore, but there was a while there where people were saying that, you know, the Tree of Liberty is watered with the blood of patriots, and what we have to do is you have to be able to take on the government when they’re wrong.  Well, to do that, you need an F-15, you know?  Or you need an Abrams tank.

What I find most infuriating about that last quote is how our illegitimate president takes a huge metaphoric dump on our most important founding principles while using a bunch of historically inaccurate gibberish to trash the Second Amendment.

The following video clip from Biden’s press secretary leaves no doubt about the Biden Regime being a bunch of totalitarian collectivists.

Those of us who believe in individual liberty, and everything else the United States stands for, must never be the first to use violence.  The purpose of the Second Amendment is for We the People to defend ourselves against a tyrannical government.  We have not reached that level yet.  I pray that we never will.

“First we must cross the river,” Benito was saying.  “Do you believe me now when I tell you that you must not attempt to swim it, or even get wet from it, or must you try that too?”

“What happens if I just dive in?”

“Then you will be as you were in the bottle.  Aware and unable to move.  but it will be very cold, and very uncomfortable, and you will be there for all eternity knowing that you put yourself there.”

Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle Inferno 1976

What was your first thought when you saw this:

and this:

For many their first thought would be California’s new rules mandating electric cars by 2035 and how all said car owners are not able to charge under these rules.

My thought was this picture of North Korea:

And it struck me that the people of North Korea have no choice on who leads them and that to change the situation they are in, they have to risk their lives.

People in California don’t have that out. They have repeatedly voted for and allowed their state to become more and more a third world country. Moreover for decades people have warned them over and over that their policies would have this effect.

They ignored them.

What has happened in North Korea is a tragedy because it was done to the people there. What is happening in California is comedy because they have done it to themselves.

BTW if you want to know how it’s going to end, it will end like this:

Sir Humphrey ApplebyBut if you knew they were crooks

Sir Desmond GlasebrookWe didn’t

Sir Humphrey Appleby: But you could have made enquiries..

Sir Desmond Glasebrook: You don’t make enquiries of that sort in the city. They seemed like decent chaps and decent chaps don’t check up on decent chaps to see if they are behaving like decent chaps.

Sir Humphrey Appleby: And ignorance is worth paying 14 million pounds for?

Sir Desmond Glasebrook: Ignorance is safety it’s not a crime to be deceived and it’s not our own money is it? [Turning to the waiter handing the him the check] Oh thank you.

Sir Humphrey Appleby: So What’s going to happen?

Sir Desmond GlasebrookWell there’s only one answer. The Bank of England must bail out Philips Berrison. No publicity keep it in the family, and that way we get our money back.

Sir Humphrey Appleby: At the taxpayer’s expense.

Sir Desmond Glasebrook: Of course.

Yes Prime Minster A conflict of interest 1987

In the end California will ask the federal government to bail them out. It won’t be this year, it won’t be next year but within the next decade the state will be begging for a federal bailout to save them from the hole they dug for themselves.

Remember you heard it here first.

I’ll give the last word to Christine Pushaw

Closing thought to all those who have fled California over the last decade: If you continue to vote for the left in the state where you fled to, all of these problems will follow you to where you are now.